after in arms, headed by Boadicea, the Queen of the Iceni, who had been
treated in the most ignominious manner by the Roman tribunes, and had
already attacked with success several settlements of their insulting
conquerors; the Romans, and all strangers, to the number of 70,000,
resident in London, are said to have been massacred: thus determined were
the British to cut off all hopes of peace or compromise with the enemy.
But this cruelty was revenged by Suetonius, in a great and decisive
battle, where 80,000 Britons perished, and Boadicea herself, rather than
fall into the hands of the enraged victor, put an end to her own life by
poison. But the dominion of the Romans was not finally established till
A.D. 80, when the Roman legions were placed under the command of Julius
Agricola. This celebrated commander formed a regular plan of subduing
Britain, and rendering the acquisition useful to the conquerors. He
carried his victorious arms northward, defeated the Britons in every
encounter, pierced into the forests and mountains of Caledonia, reduced
everything to subjection in the southern parts of the island and chased
before him all the men of fiercer and more intractable spirits, who
deemed war and death itself less tolerable than servitude under the
victors. Agricola endeavoured to secure his conquest by erecting a chain
of forts across the isthmus between the Frith of Forth and the Clyde, and
in the year 84 he extended a chain of stations from Solway Frith to
Tynemouth. He introduced laws and civilization among the Britons, taught
them to desire and raise all the conveniences of life, reconciled them to
the Roman language and manners, instructed them in letters and science,
and employed every expedient to render those chains which he had forged
both easy and agreeable to them. The inhabitants having experienced how
unequal their own force was to resist that of the Romans, acquiesced in
the dominion of their masters, and were gradually incorporated as a part
of that mighty empire. The chain of stations erected by Agricola was
afterwards connected by an earthen rampart, raised by the Emperor Adrian
as an obstruction to the Caledonians, who frequently descended and
committed the most dreadful ravages in the Roman territories.
The early commerce of the ancient Britons was carried on by barter,
without the aid of money, but about the commencement of the Christian era
a mint master was invited over to Britain from the continent. A mint was
erected at Colchester, and money of gold, silver and copper was coined in
that city; about forty different specimens have reached our times. Mines
both of silver and gold were worked in the island during the reigns of
Augustus and Trajan. The Romans drew their revenues from various
sources; commerce, mines, legacies, houses, and lands all contributed to
supply their exactions; and as they had suggested to the natives the mode
of making money, they did not fail to supply the exhausted treasury of
Rome from the industry of Britain. A succession of ages had almost
identified the Britains with the Roman conquerors; and when the Emperors,
pressed by difficulties at home, and weakened by their possessions
abroad, began to withdraw their legions from this island, the inhabitants
importuned them to remain, to protect them from the incursions of the
Picts and Scots. The wall of Severus was no longer a barrier to these
semi-barbarians. During the residence of the Romans in this island,
comprehending a period of 400 years, many great public works were
accomplished, and they left behind them numerous monuments of their skill
and industry. The conquered country was divided into six provinces, each
of them governed by a prætor and præstor, the former charged with the
general administration of government, and the latter with the management
of finances.
In the year 450, two years after the last Roman legion had quitted
England, Hengist and Horsa, two brothers, reputed descendants in the
fourth generation from Wodin, one of the principal gods of the Saxons,
embarked their army, to the number of 1,600, on board three vessels, and
landing in the Isle of Thanet, immediately marched to the defence of the
Britons, who had invited them over to protect them against their northern
invaders. Having expelled the enemy, the fertility and richness of the
country presented a temptation too strong to be resisted by the ambition
of these newly acquired friends, who soon began to aspire to the
possession of the island. The Saxons of Germany soon after reinforced
Hengist and Horsa with 5,000 men, who came over in seventeen vessels.
Roused by this display of treachery, the native inhabitants flew to arms,
and fought many battles under Vortimer with their enemies; the victories,
however, in these actions are disputed by the British and Saxon annalist,
but the progress made by the Saxons proves that the advantage was
commonly on their side. It was about the year 455 the Hengists aiming at
an independent sovereignty in Britain, began the conquest of the
territory, and a series of battles ensued between Hengist and Horsa on
the one side, and Vortimer and Catigern, two sons of Vortigern, on the
other. The battle of Aylesford is memorable for the death of Horsa on
the side of the Saxons, and of Catigern on that of the Britons. But
Hengist, continually reinforced by fresh numbers from Germany, carried
devastation into the most remote corners of Britain; and being chiefly
anxious to spread the terrors of his arms, he spared neither age, sex,
nor condition, wherever he marched with his victorious forces. The
private and public edifices of the Britons were reduced to ashes, the
priests were slaughtered on the altars; others deserted their native
country and took shelter in Armorica, where, being charitably received by
a people of the same language and manners, they settled in great numbers,
and gave the country the name of Brittany.
King Arthur, in the year 518, almost expelled the Saxons from the island;
but after the death of this monarch, the Saxons again prevailed under
various leaders, and the island was divided into seven kingdoms. Thus
was established the Heptarchy, Shropshire being included in the kingdom
of Mercia, which reached from London to the Mersey. In the kingdoms of
the Heptarchy, an exact rule of succession was either unknown or not
strictly observed, and thence the reigning prince was continually
agitated with jealousy against all the princes of the blood, whom he
still considered as rivals, and whose death alone could give him entire
security in his possession of the throne. From this fatal cause,
together with the admiration of the monastic life, and the opinion of
merit attending the preservation of chastity, even in a married state,
the royal families had been entirely extinguished in all the kingdoms
except that of Wessex; and Egbert was the sole descendant of those first
conquerors who subdued Britain, and who enhanced their authority by
claiming a pedigree from Woden, the supreme divinity of their ancestors.
The Mercians, before the accession of Egbert, had very nearly attained
the absolute sovereignty over the Heptarchy. He had reduced the East
Angles under subjection, and established tributary princes in the
kingdoms of Kent and Essex. Northumberland was involved in anarchy, and
no state of any consequence remained but that of Wessex, which, being
much inferior in extent to Mercia, was supported by the great qualities
alone of its sovereign. Egbert led his army against the invaders,
obtained a complete victory, and, by the slaughter executed on them in
their flight, gave a mortal blow to the power of the Mercians. Egbert,
however, allowed Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumberland the power of
electing a King, who paid him tribute, and was dependent on him. Thus
were united all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy, in the year 823, in one
great state, near 400 years after the first arrival of the Saxons in
Britain. The fortunate arms and prudent policy of Egbert at last
effected what had been so often attempted in vain, by other princes.
Union in the government gave the people hopes of settled tranquillity,
but these fair expectations were speedily blasted by the re-appearance of
the Danes, who for some ages had kept the Anglo-Saxons in a state of
perpetual alarm. For upwards of forty years, and through five successive
reigns, the Danes continued the struggle, and, at the death of Etheldred,
his brother Alfred, the successor to the throne, was obliged to abandon
the field, and seek an asylum as a swine-herd. Emerging afterwards from
his retreat, he expelled the invaders, and contributed essentially to lay
the foundations of those institutions on which the glorious
superstructure of English liberty, was finally erected. Alfred soon
perceived that an army without a maritime force, must ever be at the
mercy of every piratical plunderer, determined to store his ports with
shipping; and vessels larger than those in use in the surrounding nations
were built, many of which carried sixty oars. The unremitting attention
of this illustrious prince to the navy, contributed to increase the
blessings of his reign, and has obtained for him the title of “Father of
the British Navy.”
Of the Saxon system of government it may be observed, that it had in it
the germ of freedom, if it did not always exhibit the fruit. In religion
they were idolators, and their idols, altars, and temples, soon
overspread the country. They had a god for every day of the week.
_Thor_, the God of thunder, represented Thursday; _Woden_, the God of
battle, represented Wednesday; _Friga_, the God of love, presided over
Friday; _Seater_, the God of Saturday, had influence over the fruits of
the earth; _Tuyse_, the God of the Dutch, conferred his name on Tuesday;
they also worshipped the sun and the moon, each conferring a name on one
of the days of the week; _Sunnan_, on Sunday; and _Monan_, on Monday.
The merit of eradicating this baneful superstition, by the introduction
of Christianity, was reserved for a Roman Pontiff. Gregory, surnamed the
Great, who, in the year 597, sent Augustine, a monk, into the south, and
Paulinus into the north of England, by whose preaching the Christian
religion made such rapid progress, that it soon became the prevailing
faith, and Augustine was elevated to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, and
Paulinus was made Archbishop of York. He was the first to preach
Christianity in Mercia, where he followed the victorious arms of Edwin,
King of Northumbria.
The greater part of this country was inhabited by the Cornavii and
Ordovices, the first of which occupied the eastern side of the Severn,
whose capital was Uriconium, now Wroxeter, and the latter were confined
to the western side of the Severn. Though the troops of the Cornavii
were registered in the declension of the empire, it is supposed that they
submitted to the Roman yoke upon easier terms than their neighbours, who
held out some time ere their liberty was wrested from them. The Romans
allotted one side of the Severn, eastward, to Britannia Prima, and the
western side to Britannia Secunda. The Saxons made Watling street, that
runs through the middle of the county, the boundary between them and the
Danes, but when the compact with the Danes was broken, it returned to the
former division of England and Wales. After the Romans had abandoned the
Island, part of Shropshire was included in the kingdom of Powis, which
comprised portions of the counties of Chester, Flint, Denbigh, Radnor,
and Brecon, and the whole of Montgomeryshire, of which Pengwern
(Shrewsbury) was the capital. For near two centuries this section of
Powisland was the theatre of frequent and sanguinary contests between the
Britons and the Saxons; it was finally subdued and incorporated with
Mercia, the most powerful of the seven kingdoms forming the Saxon
Heptarchy. When the Danes invaded this island, and, by their formidable
incursions, seemed to threaten its total subjection, this part of the
kingdom of Mercia, though it suffered less than others, came in for a
share of the general calamity, and its chief city, Uriconium, was
destroyed. About the year 777, the seat of the Prince of Powis was
removed from Pengwern to Mantraval, in Montgomeryshire. The Britons, who
had made incursions into Mercia, were forced not only to abandon all
their conquests there, but also that part of their country which lay
between the Severn and OFFA’S DYKE, which that King threw up as a new
boundary between them and Mercia, instead of Severn, their former
boundary. The Britons had made their incursions into Offa’s territories,
while he was employed in subduing the Saxon kings, and having no
opposition, they were very successful, till at length Offa, being obliged
to conclude a peace with the English, that he might dispossess them of
their new acquisitions, in which he proved so successful as to force
their retreat, and to prevent their ever returning, threw up the
before-mentioned ditch. This ditch extended from the river Wye along the
counties of Hereford and Radnor, to Montgomeryshire, and thence near the
road between Bishop’s Castle and Newtown. It then passed by Mellington
Hall, where there is an encampment, and on to Leighton Hall, not far from
which it is lost for upwards of five miles, the channel of the Severn
probably serving for that space, as a continuation of the boundary. It
is again seen at Llandysilio and Llanymynech, from whence it runs to
Tref-y-clawdd, and below the race course, at Oswestry. It then passes
above Selattyn, whence it descends to the Ceriog, and goes by Chirk
Castle, and crosses the Dee and Rhuabon road, near Plas Madoc, and being
continued through Flintshire, ends a little below Holywell. Offa, after
having carried his arms over most parts of Flintshire, and vainly
imagined that his labours would restrain the Cambrian inroads, and
prevent incursions beyond the limits which he had decreed to be the
boundaries of his conquests. It is observable, says Pennant, that in all
parts the ditch is on the Welsh side, and that there are numbers of small
artificial mounds, the sites of small forts along its course. These were
garrisoned, and seem intended for the same purpose as the towers in the
famous Chinese wall, to watch the motions of their neighbours, and to
repel hostile incursions. The folly of this great work appeared on the
death of Offa, for the Welsh, with irresistible fury, carried their
ravages far and wide in the English marshes. Harold made an ordinance
that all Welshmen found beyond Offa’s Dyke, within the English pale, with
a weapon about him, was to have his right hand cut off by the King’s
officers.
In the year 1013, Seneyn, King of Denmark, landed with an army in this
country to revenge a cruel massacre of the Danes, which had taken place a
short time before; having brought his fleet up the Trent to Gainsborough,
and landed his forces, it created such a terror that the whole kingdom
was soon brought under his yoke; he, however, did not long enjoy his
success, for he died the following year, and was succeeded by his son
Canute, between whom and Edmund, the Saxon, several sanguinary
engagements took place, and the kingdom was for a short time divided. In
1041, Edward the Confessor was by the unanimous voice of the people
raised to the throne; having reigned twenty-five years he died, and with
him ended both the Saxon and Danish rule in this kingdom. Harold, the
son of Godwin, was the next to take possession of the throne, but he was
opposed by his brother Tosti, who formed a confederacy with Harfrager,
King of Norway; he entered the Humber with a considerable force, and
landed his troops in Yorkshire, where, in a deadly conflict, they were
completely overthrown by Harold, who left his brother and Harfrager among
the slain. Harold having retired to York to rejoice over his victory,
received information that William Duke of Normandy had landed with a
numerous and warlike army at Ravensey, in Sussex, to meet this unexpected
foe. Harold immediately marched his forces to Hastings, where in an
unsuccessful battle he lost his life. William the Conqueror had no
sooner taken possession of the throne, than he set up various claims to
his new possessions, but his principal right was that of conquest, and if
his sword had not been stronger than his titles, so many English estates
would not have been placed at his disposal. William brought in his train
a large body of Norman adventurers, and the roll of Battle Abbey, given
by Ralph Holinshead, contains the names of 629 Normans, who all became
claimants upon the fair territory of Britain, and the Saxon lords were
forced to resign their possessions. The landed property in this county
was chiefly given to Roger de Montgomery, his kinsman, whom he created
Earl of Shrewsbury, and of him, it was mostly held by knights’ service;
to William Pantulf he granted 29 lordships, of which Wem was the
principal, and he therefore made it the head of his barony. Ralph de
Mortimer had fifty manors, of which nineteen were held under Roger de
Montgomery; Roger Lacy had 23 manors: Roger Fitz Corbet 24 manors;
Osborne Fitz Richard nine; and Guarine de Meez one manor.
After so great an agitation as that produced by the conquest, some years
were necessary to restore a calm. A violent struggle was made to expel
the Normans, and York was the rallying point of the patriot army. To
suppress this formidable insurrection, William the Conqueror repaired in
person into the north at the head of a powerful army, swearing by the
“splendour of God,” his usual oath, that not a soul of his enemies should
be left alive. According to William of Malmesbury, confirmed by others,
the whole of the country was laid waste from the Humber to the Tees, and
for nine years neither spade nor plough was put in the ground, which was
the reason why _vasta_ so often occurs in Doomsday book. Knowing the
detestation in which he was held, the Norman Bastard, as historians
designate him, entertained a constant jealousy of the English, and he
obliged them every night at eight o’clock to extinguish their fires and
candles at the toll of a bell which obtained the name of “Curfew.”
Having by these sanguinary atrocities reduced the country to repose, the
Conqueror, in 1080, caused a survey to be taken of all the lands in the
kingdom, on the model of the book at Winchester, compiled by order of
Alfred the Great. This survey was registered in the national record
called the _Doomsday Book_, in which is the extent of the land in each
district, the state it was in, whether meadow, pasture, wood, or arable,
the name of the proprietor, the tenure by which it was held, and the
value at which it was estimated, were all duly entered. In order to make
this document complete, and its authority perpetual, commissioners were
appointed to superintend the survey, and the returns were made under the
sanction of juries of all orders of freemen in each district. After a
labour of six years the business was accomplished, and this important
document, the best memorial of the Conqueror, written in Roman, with a
mixture of Saxon, is still preserved in the Chapter House, Westminster.
For many years Doomsday Book remained unprinted, but in the 40th of the
reign of George III. his Majesty, by the recommendation of Parliament,
and with a proper regard to public interest, directed that it should be
printed for the use of the Members of Parliament, and also be deposited
in all the public libraries in the kingdom. The counties of
Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham, are not described
in Doomsday Book, probably owing to the desolation in which they were at
that time involved. Through all ages this “book of judicial verdict”
will be held in estimation, not only for its antiquity, but also for its
intrinsic value. At the time it was completed, it afforded the king an
exact knowledge of his own land and revenue; while the rights of his
subjects in all disputed cases were settled by it; and to the present
day, it serves to show what manor is, and what is not ancient demesne.
As the various parish histories of this county contains frequent extracts
from this document, it may be necessary to explain the land measures and
other obsolete feudal terms used at the time to which it refers. A
_perch_, five yards and a half; an _acre_, 160 square perches; an _ox
gauge_, or _bovate_, as much as an ox can till, or 28 acres; a _virgate
or yard of land_, 40 acres; a _carucate_, _carve_, or _plough land_,
generally eight ox gangs; a _hide_, as much as one plough would cultivate
in one year; a _knight’s fee_, five hides, or 200 acres of land;
_berewicks_ are manors within manors; _merchet_, or _maiden’s rent_, a
fine anciently paid by inferior tenants for the liberty to dispose of
their daughters in marriage; a _heriot_, a fine paid to the lord on the
death of a landholder; _tol_, a tribute for liberty to buy and sell;
_theane_, a liberty to a lord of a manor for judging bondmen and villeins
in his own court; _infangtheof_, a privilege of certain lords of manors
to pass judgment of theft, committed by the servants within their
district; _thelonia_, a writ lying for one who has the king’s demesne in
fee-farm to recover reasonable toll; _sockmen_, tenants who hold by
servile tenure; _borderers_, cottagers; _villein_, a member belonging to
a manor. In the time of the Conqueror _Earls_ began to be _feudal_,
_hereditary_ and _patrimonial_; and these, as appear by Doomsday, were
styled simple Earls, as Earl Hugh, Earl Roger, &c. Afterwards Earls were
created with an addition of the name of the place over which they had
jurisdiction, or of the principal seat where they resided; and they had,
as had been customary, the _third penny_ from the county where they
resided for their support. Soon after the conquest they began to be
created by charter, without any ceremony further than the delivery of it.
King John is the first mentioned who used the girding of the sword, by
which they were said to be invested with this honour. Thereupon the
Sheriff had command to make livery unto them the third penny of the plea
of the county, after which the Earl had a certain sum only allowed him
out of the profits of his county, as expressed in the patent for his
better support and dignity, and sometimes great possessions were given in
lands for the same purpose.