THE ANGLES AND SAXONS IN BRITAIN
8. The Saxon Invasion (cir. 449)
The Venerable Bede, the author of the passage given below, was born
about 673 in Northumberland and spent most of his life in the
Benedictine abbey of Jarrow on the Tyne, where he died in 735. He was
a man of broad learning and untiring industry, famous in all parts of
Christendom by reason of the numerous scholarly books that he wrote.
The chief of these was his _Ecclesiastical History of the English
People_, covering the period from the first invasion of Britain by
Caesar (B.C. 55) to the year 731. In this work Bede dealt with many
matters lying properly outside the sphere of church history, so that
it is exceedingly valuable for the light which it throws on both the
military and political affairs of the early Anglo-Saxons in Britain.
As an historian Bede was fair-minded and as accurate as his means of
information permitted.
The Angle and Saxon seafarers from the region we now know as Denmark
and Hanover had infested the shores of Britain for two centuries or
more before the coming of Hengist and Horsa which Bede here describes.
The withdrawal of the Roman garrisons about the year 410 left the
Britons at the mercy of the wilder Picts and Scots of the north and
west, and as a last resort King Vortigern decided to call in the
Saxons to aid in his campaign of defense. Such, at least, is the story
related by Gildas, a Romanized British chronicler who wrote about the
year 560, and this was the view adopted by Bede. Recent writers, as
Mr. James H. Ramsay in his _Foundations of England_, are inclined to
cast serious doubts upon the story because it seems hardly probable
that any king would have taken so foolish a step as that attributed to
Vortigern.[70] At any rate, whether by invitation or for pure love of
seafaring adventure, certain it is that the Saxons and Angles made
their appearance at the little island of Thanet, on the coast of Kent,
and found the country so much to their liking that they chose to
remain rather than return to the over-populated shores of the Baltic.
There are many reasons for believing that people of Germanic stock had
been settled more or less permanently in Britain long before the
traditional invasion of Hengist and Horsa. Yet we are justified in
thinking of this interesting expedition as, for all practical
purposes, the beginning of the long and stubborn struggle of Germans
to possess the fruitful British isle. While Visigoths and Ostrogoths,
Vandals and Lombards were breaking across the Rhine-Danube frontier
and finding new homes in the territories of the Roman Empire, the
Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from the farther north were led by their
seafaring instincts to make their great movement, not by land, but by
water, and into a country which the Romans had a good while before
been obliged to abandon. There they were free to develop their own
peculiar Germanic life and institutions, for the most part without
undergoing the changes which settlement among the Romans produced in
the case of the tribes whose migrations were towards the
Mediterranean.
Source--Baeda, _Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum_ [Bede,
"Ecclesiastical History of the English People"], Bk. I.,
Chaps. 14-15. Translated by J. A. Giles (London, 1847), pp.
23-25.
[Sidenote: The Britons decide to call in the Saxons]
They consulted what was to be done,[71] and where they should seek
assistance to prevent or repel the cruel and frequent incursions of
the northern nations. And they all agreed with their king,
Vortigern, to call over to their aid, from the parts beyond the
sea, the Saxon nation; which, as the outcome still more plainly
showed, appears to have been done by the inspiration of our Lord
Himself, that evil might fall upon them for their wicked deeds.
[Sidenote: The Saxons settle in the island]
In the year of our Lord 449,[72] Martian, being made emperor with
Valentinian, the forty-sixth from Augustus, ruled the Empire seven
years. Then the nation of the Angles, or Saxons, being invited by
the aforesaid king, arrived in Britain with three long ships, and
had a place assigned them to reside in by the same king, in the
eastern part of the island,[73] that they might thus appear to be
fighting for their country, while their real intentions were to
enslave it. Accordingly they engaged with the enemy, who were come
from the north to give battle, and obtained the victory; which,
being known at home in their own country, as also the fertility of
the islands and the cowardice of the Britons, a larger fleet was
quickly sent over, bringing a still greater number of men, who,
being added to the former, made up an invincible army. The
newcomers received from the Britons a place to dwell, upon
condition that they should wage war against their enemies for the
peace and security of the country, while the Britons agreed to
furnish them with pay.
Those who came over were of the three most powerful nations of
Germany--Saxons, Angles, and Jutes. From the Jutes are descended
the people of Kent and of the Isle of Wight, and those also in the
province of the West Saxons who are to this day called Jutes,
seated opposite to the Isle of Wight. From the Saxons, that is, the
country which is now called Old Saxony, came the East Saxons, the
South Saxons, and the West Saxons. From the Angles, that is, the
country which is called Anglia, and which is said, from that time,
to remain desert to this day, between the provinces of the Jutes
and the Saxons, are descended the East Angles, the Midland Angles,
Mercians, all the race of the Northumbrians, that is, of those
nations that dwell on the north side of the River Humber, and the
other nations of the English.
[Sidenote: Hengist and Horsa]
[Sidenote: The Saxons turn against the Britons]
The first two commanders are said to have been Hengist and Horsa.
Horsa, being afterwards slain in battle by the Britons,[74] was
buried in the eastern part of Kent, where a monument bearing his
name is still in existence. They were the sons of Victgilsus, whose
father was Vecta, son of Woden; from whose stock the royal races of
many provinces trace their descent. In a short time swarms of the
aforesaid nations came over into the island, and they began to
increase so much that they became a terror to the natives
themselves who had invited them. Then, having on a sudden entered
into a league with the Picts, whom they had by this time repelled
by the force of their arms, they began to turn their weapons
against their confederates. At first they obliged them to furnish a
greater quantity of provisions; and, seeking an occasion to
quarrel, protested that unless more plentiful supplies were brought
them they would break the confederacy and ravage all the island;
nor were they backward in putting their threats in execution.
[Sidenote: Their devastation of the country]
They plundered all the neighboring cities and country, spread the
conflagration from the eastern to the western sea without any
opposition, and covered almost every part of the island. Public as
well as private structures were overturned; the priests were
everywhere slain before the altars; the prelates and the people,
without any respect of persons, were destroyed with fire and sword;
nor were there any to bury those who had been thus cruelly
slaughtered. Some of the miserable remainder, being taken in the
mountains, were butchered in heaps. Others, driven by hunger, came
forth and submitted themselves to the enemy for food, being
destined to undergo perpetual servitude, if they were not killed
upon the spot. Some, with sorrowful hearts, fled beyond the seas.
Others, continuing in their own country, led a miserable life among
the woods, rocks, and mountains, with scarcely enough food to
support life, and expecting every moment to be their last.[75]
9. The Mission of Augustine (597)
How or when the Christian religion was first introduced into Britain
cannot now be ascertained. As early as the beginning of the third
century the African church father Tertullian referred to the Britons
as a Christian people, and in 314 the British church was recognized by
the Council of Arles as an integral part of the church universal.
Throughout the period of Roman control in the island Christianity
continued to be the dominant religion. When, however, in the fifth
century and after, the Saxons and Angles invaded the country and the
native population was largely killed off or driven westward (though
not so completely as some books tell us), Christianity came to be
pretty much confined to the Celtic peoples of Ireland and Wales. The
invaders were still pagans worshiping the old Teutonic deities Woden,
Thor, Freya, and the rest, and though an attempt at their conversion
was made by a succession of Irish monks, their pride as conquerors
seems to have kept them from being greatly influenced. At any rate,
the conversion of the Angles and Saxons was a task which called for a
special evangelistic movement from no less a source than the head of
the Church. This movement was set in operation by Pope Gregory I.
(Gregory the Great) near the close of the sixth century. It is
reasonable to suppose that the impulse came originally from Bertha,
the Frankish queen of King Ethelbert of Kent, who was an ardent
Christian and very desirous of bringing about the conversion of her
adopted people. In 596 Augustine (not to be confused with the
celebrated bishop of Hippo in the fifth century) was sent by Pope
Gregory at the head of a band of monks to proclaim the religion of the
cross to King Ethelbert, and afterwards to all the Angles and Saxons
and Jutes in the island. On Whitsunday, June 2, 597, Ethelbert
renounced his old gods and was baptized into the Christian communion.
The majority of his people soon followed his example and four years
later Augustine was appointed "Bishop of the English." After this
encouraging beginning the Christianizing of the East, West, and South
Saxons went steadily forward.
Source--Baeda, _Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum_, Bk.
I., Chaps. 23, 25-26. Adapted from translation by J. A. Giles
(London, 1847), pp. 34-40 _passim_.
[Sidenote: Pope Gregory I. sends missionaries to Britain]
[Sidenote: They become frightened at the outlook]
In the year of our Lord 582, Maurice, the fifty-fourth from
Augustus, ascended the throne,[76] and reigned twenty-one years. In
the tenth year of his reign, Gregory, a man renowned for learning
and piety, was elected to the apostolical see of Rome, and presided
over it thirteen years, six months and ten days.[77] He, being
moved by divine inspiration, in the fourteenth year of the same
emperor, and about the one hundred and fiftieth after the coming of
the English into Britain, sent the servant of God, Augustine,[78]
and with him several other monks who feared the Lord, to preach the
word of God to the English nation. They, in obedience to the Pope's
commands, having undertaken that work, were on their journey seized
with a sudden fear and began to think of returning home, rather
than of proceeding to a barbarous, fierce, and unbelieving nation,
to whose very language they were strangers; and this they
unanimously agreed was the safest course.[79] In short, they sent
back Augustine, who had been appointed to be consecrated bishop in
case they were received by the English, that he might, by humble
entreaty, obtain consent of the holy Gregory, that they should not
be compelled to undertake so dangerous, toilsome, and uncertain a
journey. The Pope, in reply, sent them an encouraging letter,
persuading them to proceed in the work of the divine word, and rely
on the assistance of the Almighty. The substance of this letter was
as follows:
[Sidenote: Gregory's letter of encouragement]
"Gregory, the servant of the servants of God, to the servants of
our Lord. Forasmuch as it had been better not to begin a good work
than to think of abandoning that which has been begun, it behooves
you, my beloved sons, to fulfill the good work which, by the help
of our Lord, you have undertaken. Let not, therefore, the toil of
the journey nor the tongues of evil-speaking men deter you. With
all possible earnestness and zeal perform that which, by God's
direction, you have undertaken; being assured that much labor is
followed by an eternal reward. When Augustine, your chief, returns,
whom we also constitute your abbot,[80] humbly obey him in all
things; knowing that whatsoever you shall do by his direction will,
in all respects, be helpful to your souls. Almighty God protect you
with his grace, and grant that I, in the heavenly country, may see
the fruits of your labor; inasmuch as, though I cannot labor with
you, I shall partake in the joy of the reward, because I am willing
to labor. God keep you in safety, my most beloved sons. Dated the
23rd of July, in the fourteenth year of the reign of our pious and
most august lord, Mauritius Tiberius, the thirteenth year after the
consulship of our said lord."
[Sidenote: Augustine and his companions arrive in Kent]
Augustine, thus strengthened by the confirmation of the blessed
Father Gregory, returned to the work of the word of God, with the
servants of Christ, and arrived in Britain. The powerful Ethelbert
was at that time king of Kent. He had extended his dominions as far
as the great River Humber, by which the Southern Saxons are
divided from the Northern.[81] On the east of Kent is the large
isle of Thanet containing according to the English reckoning 600
families, divided from the other land by the River Wantsum, which
is about three furlongs over and fordable only in two places, for
both ends of it run into the sea.[82] In this island landed the
servant of our Lord, Augustine, and his companions, being, as is
reported, nearly forty men. By order of the blessed Pope Gregory,
they had taken interpreters of the nation of the Franks,[83] and
sending to Ethelbert, signified that they were come from Rome and
brought a joyful message, which most undoubtedly assured to all
that took advantage of it everlasting joys in heaven and a kingdom
that would never end, with the living and true God. The king,
having heard this, ordered that they stay in that island where they
had landed, and that they be furnished with all necessaries, until
he should consider what to do with them. For he had before heard of
the Christian religion, having a Christian wife of the royal family
of the Franks, called Bertha;[84] whom he had received from her
parents upon condition that she should be permitted to practice her
religion with the Bishop Luidhard, who was sent with her to
preserve her faith.[85]
[Sidenote: Augustine preaches to King Ethelbert]
Some days after, the king came to the island, and sitting in the
open air, ordered Augustine and his companions to be brought into
his presence. For he had taken precaution that they should not come
to him in any house, lest, according to an ancient superstition, if
they practised any magical arts, they might impose upon him, and so
get the better of him. But they came furnished with divine, not
with magic virtue, bearing a silver cross for their banner, and the
image of our Lord and Savior painted on a board; and singing the
litany, they offered up their prayers to the Lord for the eternal
salvation both of themselves and of those to whom they were come.
When Augustine had sat down, according to the king's commands, and
preached to him and his attendants there present the word of life,
the king answered thus: "Your words and promises are very fair, but
as they are new to us, and of uncertain import, I cannot approve of
them so far as to forsake that which I have so long followed with
the whole English nation. But because you are come from afar into
my kingdom, and, as I conceive, are desirous to impart to us those
things which you believe to be true and most beneficial, we will
not molest you, but give you favorable entertainment and take care
to supply you with necessary sustenance; nor do we forbid you to
preach and win as many as you can to your religion." Accordingly he
permitted them to reside in the city of Canterbury, which was the
metropolis of all his dominions, and, according to his promise,
besides allowing them sustenance, did not refuse them liberty to
preach. It is reported that, as they drew near to the city, after
their manner, with the holy cross and the image of our sovereign
Lord and King, Jesus Christ, they sang this litany together: "We
beseech thee, O Lord, in all Thy mercy, that Thy anger and wrath be
turned away from this city, and from Thy holy house, because we
have sinned. Hallelujah."
[Sidenote: The life of the missionaries at Canterbury]
As soon as they entered the dwelling-place assigned them, they
began to imitate the course of life practised in the primitive
Church; applying themselves to frequent prayer, watching, and
fasting; preaching the word of life to as many as they could;
despising all worldly things as not belonging to them; receiving
only their necessary food from those they taught; living themselves
in all respects in conformity with what they prescribed for others,
and being always disposed to suffer any adversity, and even to die
for that truth which they preached. In short, several believed and
were baptized, admiring the simplicity of their innocent life, and
the sweetness of their heavenly doctrine. There was, on the east
side of the city, a church dedicated to the honor of St. Martin,
built whilst the Romans were still in the island, wherein the
queen, who, as has been said before, was a Christian, used to
pray.[86] In this they first began to meet, to sing, to pray, to
say mass, to preach, and to baptize, until the king, being
converted to the faith, allowed them to preach openly, and build or
repair churches in all places.
[Sidenote: Ethelbert converted]
When he, among the rest, induced by the unspotted life of these
holy men, and their pleasing promises, which by many miracles they
proved to be most certain, believed and was baptized, greater
numbers began daily to flock together to hear the word, and
forsaking their heathen rites, to associate themselves, by
believing, to the unity of the church of Christ. Their conversion
the king encouraged in so far that he compelled none to embrace
Christianity, but only showed more affection to the believers, as
to his fellow-citizens in the heavenly kingdom. For he had learned
from his instructors and guides to salvation that the service of
Christ ought to be voluntary, not by compulsion. Nor was it long
before he gave his teachers a settled residence in his metropolis
of Canterbury, with such possessions of different kinds as were
necessary for their subsistence.[87]
FOOTNOTES:
[70] James H. Ramsay, _The Foundations of England_ (London, 1898), I.,
p. 121.
[71] Bede has just been describing a plague which rendered the Britons
at this time even more unable than usual to withstand the fierce
invaders from the north; also lamenting the luxury and crime which a
few years of relief from war had produced among his people.
[72] This date is evidently incorrect. Martian and Valentinian III.
became joint rulers of the Empire in 450; hence this is the year that
Bede probably meant.
[73] That is, Thanet, which practically no longer exists as an island.
In Bede's day it was separated from the rest of Kent by nearly half a
mile of water, but since then the coast line has changed so that the
land is cut through by only a tiny rill. The intervening ground,
however, is marshy and only partially reclaimed.
[74] This battle was fought between Hengist and Vortimer, the eldest
son of Vortigern, at Aylesford, in Kent.
[75] It is by no means probable that the invasion of Britain by the
Saxons was followed by such wholesale extermination of the natives as
is here represented, though it is certain that everywhere, except in
the far west (Wales) and north (Scotland), the native population was
reduced to complete subjection.
[76] That is, the throne of the Eastern Empire at Constantinople.
[77] Gregory was a monk before he was elected pope. He held the papal
office from 590 to 604 [see p. 90].
[78] Augustine at the time (596) was prior of a monastery dedicated to
St. Andrew in Rome.
[79] The missionaries had apparently gone as far as Arles in southern
Provence when they reached this decision.
[80] An abbot was the head of a monastery. Should such an
establishment be set up in Britain, Augustine was to be its presiding
officer.
[81] The Germanic peoples north of the Humber were more properly
Angles, but of course they were in all essential respects like the
Saxons. Ethelbert was not actually king in that region, but was
recognized as "bretwalda," or over-lord, by the other rulers.
[82] For later changes in this part of the coast line, see p. 70,
note 1.
[83] This was possible because the Franks and Saxons, being both
German, as yet spoke languages so much alike that either people could
understand the other without much difficulty.
[84] Bertha was a daughter of the Frankish king Charibert. The Franks
had been nominally a Christian people since the conversion of Clovis
in 496 [see p. 53]--just a hundred years before Augustine started on
his mission to the Angles and Saxons.
[85] Luidhard had been bishop of Senlis; a town not many miles
northeast of Paris. Probably Augustine and his companions profited not
a little by the influence which Luidhard had already exerted at the
Kentish court.
[86] "The present church of St. Martin near Canterbury is not the old
one spoken of by Bede, as it is generally thought to be, but is a
structure of the thirteenth century, though it is probable that the
materials of the original church were worked up in the masonry in its
reconstruction, the walls being still composed in part of Roman
bricks."--J. A. Giles, _Bede's Ecclesiastical History_, p. 39.
[87] Thus was established the "primacy," or ecclesiastical leadership,
of Canterbury, which has continued to this day.