THE MYTHICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND
THE illustrious poet, Milton, in his “History of England,” is the author
whom we chiefly follow in this chapter.
According to the earliest accounts, Albion, a giant, and son of Neptune,
a contemporary of Hercules, ruled over the island, to which he gave his
name. Presuming to oppose the progress of Hercules in his western march,
he was slain by him.
Another story is that Histion, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah, had
four sons, Francus, Romanus, Alemannus, and Britto, from whom descended
the French, Roman, German, and British people.
Rejecting these and other like stories, Milton gives more regard to the
story of Brutus, the Trojan, which, he says, is supported by “descents
of ancestry long continued, laws and exploits not plainly seeming to be
borrowed or devised, which on the common belief have wrought no small
impression; defended by many, denied utterly by few.” The principal
authority is Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose history, written in the twelfth
century, purports to be a translation of a history of Britain brought
over from the opposite shore of France, which, under the name of
Brittany, was chiefly peopled by natives of Britain who, from time to
time, emigrated thither, driven from their own country by the inroads of
the Picts and Scots. According to this authority, Brutus was the son of
Silvius, and he of Ascanius, the son of Æneas, whose flight from Troy
and settlement in Italy are narrated in “Stories of Gods and Heroes.”
Brutus, at the age of fifteen, attending his father to the chase,
unfortunately killed him with an arrow. Banished therefor by his
kindred, he sought refuge in that part of Greece where Helenus, with a
band of Trojan exiles, had become established. But Helenus was now dead
and the descendants of the Trojans were oppressed by Pandrasus, the king
of the country. Brutus, being kindly received among them, so throve in
virtue and in arms as to win the regard of all the eminent of the land
above all others of his age. In consequence of this the Trojans not only
began to hope, but secretly to persuade him to lead them the way to
liberty. To encourage them, they had the promise of help from Assaracus,
a noble Greek youth, whose mother was a Trojan. He had suffered wrong at
the hands of the king, and for that reason the more willingly cast in
his lot with the Trojan exiles.
Choosing a fit opportunity, Brutus with his countrymen withdrew to the
woods and hills, as the safest place from which to expostulate, and sent
this message to Pandrasus: “That the Trojans, holding it unworthy of
their ancestors to serve in a foreign land, had retreated to the woods,
choosing rather a savage life than a slavish one. If that displeased
him, then, with his leave, they would depart to some other country.”
Pandrasus, not expecting so bold a message from the sons of captives,
went in pursuit of them, with such forces as he could gather, and met
them on the banks of the Achelous, where Brutus got the advantage, and
took the king captive. The result was, that the terms demanded by the
Trojans were granted; the king gave his daughter Imogen in marriage to
Brutus, and furnished shipping, money, and fit provision for them all to
depart from the land.
The marriage being solemnized, and shipping from all parts got together,
the Trojans, in a fleet of no less than three hundred and twenty sail,
betook themselves to the sea. On the third day they arrived at a certain
island, which they found destitute of inhabitants, though there were
appearances of former habitation, and among the ruins a temple of Diana.
Brutus, here performing sacrifice at the shrine of the goddess, invoked
an oracle for his guidance, in these lines:
“Goddess of shades, and huntress, who at will
Walk’st on the rolling sphere, and through the deep;
On thy third realm, the earth, look now, and tell
What land, what seat of rest, thou bidd’st me seek;
What certain seat where I may worship thee
For aye, with temples vowed and virgin choirs.”
To whom, sleeping before the altar, Diana in a vision thus answered:
“Brutus! far to the west, in the ocean wide,
Beyond the realm of Gaul, a land there lies,
Seagirt it lies, where giants dwelt of old;
Now, void, it fits thy people: thither bend
Thy course; there shalt thou find a lasting seat;
There to thy sons another Troy shall rise,
And kings be born of thee, whose dreaded might
Shall awe the world, and conquer nations bold.”
Brutus, guided now, as he thought, by divine direction, sped his course
towards the west, and, arriving at a place on the Tyrrhene sea, found
there the descendants of certain Trojans who, with Antenor, came into
Italy, of whom Corineus was the chief. These joined company, and the
ships pursued their way till they arrived at the mouth of the river
Loire, in France, where the expedition landed, with a view to a
settlement, but were so rudely assaulted by the inhabitants that they
put to sea again, and arrived at a part of the coast of Britain, now
called Devonshire, where Brutus felt convinced that he had found the
promised end of his voyage, landed his colony, and took possession.
The island, not yet Britain, but Albion, was in a manner desert and
inhospitable, occupied only by a remnant of the giant race whose
excessive force and tyranny had destroyed the others. The Trojans
encountered these and extirpated them, Corineus, in particular,
signalizing himself by his exploits against them; from whom Cornwall
takes its name, for that region fell to his lot, and there the hugest
giants dwelt, lurking in rocks and caves, till Corineus rid the land of
them.
Brutus built his capital city, and called it Trojanova (New Troy),
changed in time to Trinovantus, now London;[39] and, having governed the
isle twenty-four years, died, leaving three sons, Locrine, Albanact and
Camber. Locrine had the middle part, Camber the west, called Cambria
from him, and Albanact Albania, now Scotland. Locrine was married to
Guendolen, the daughter of Corineus, but having seen a fair maid named
Estrildis, who had been brought captive from Germany, he became
enamoured of her, and had by her a daughter, whose name was Sabra. This
matter was kept secret while Corineus lived, but after his death Locrine
divorced Guendolen, and made Estrildis his queen. Guendolen, all in
rage, departed to Cornwall, where Madan, her son, lived, who had been
brought up by Corineus, his grandfather. Gathering an army of her
father’s friends and subjects, she gave battle to her husband’s forces
and Locrine was slain. Guendolen caused her rival, Estrildis, with her
daughter Sabra, to be thrown into the river, from which cause the river
thenceforth bore the maiden’s name, which by length of time is now
changed into Sabrina or Severn. Milton alludes to this in his address to
the rivers,—
“Severn swift, guilty of maiden’s death”;—
and in his “Comus” tells the story with a slight variation, thus:
“There is a gentle nymph not far from hence,
That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream;
Sabrina is her name, a virgin pure:
Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine,
That had the sceptre from his father, Brute,
She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit
Of her enragéd step-dame, Guendolen,
Commended her fair innocence to the flood,
That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course
The water-nymphs that in the bottom played,
Held up their pearléd wrists and took her in,
Bearing her straight to aged Nereus’ hall,
Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head,
And gave her to his daughters to imbathe
In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel,
And through the porch and inlet of each sense
Dropped in ambrosial oils till she revived,
And underwent a quick, immortal change,
Made goddess of the river,” etc.
If our readers ask when all this took place, we must answer, in the
first place, that mythology is not careful of dates; and next, that, as
Brutus was the great-grandson of Æneas, it must have been not far from a
century subsequent to the Trojan war, or about eleven hundred years
before the invasion of the island by Julius Cæsar. This long interval is
filled with the names of princes whose chief occupation was in warring
with one another. Some few, whose names remain connected with places, or
embalmed in literature, we will mention.
BLADUD
Bladud built the city of Bath, and dedicated the medicinal waters to
Minerva. He was a man of great invention, and practised the arts of
magic, till, having made him wings to fly, he fell down upon the temple
of Apollo, in Trinovant, and so died, after twenty years’ reign.
LEIR
Leir, who next reigned, built Leicester, and called it after his name.
He had no male issue, but only three daughters. When grown old he
determined to divide his kingdom among his daughters, and bestow them in
marriage. But first, to try which of them loved him best, he determined
to ask them solemnly in order, and judge of the warmth of their
affection by their answers. Goneril, the eldest, knowing well her
father’s weakness, made answer that she loved him “above her soul.”
“Since thou so honorest my declining age,” said the old man, “to thee
and to thy husband I give the third part of my realm.” Such good success
for a few words soon uttered was ample instruction to Regan, the second
daughter, what to say. She therefore to the same question replied that
“she loved him more than all the world beside;” and so received an equal
reward with her sister. But Cordeilla, the youngest, and hitherto the
best beloved, though having before her eyes the reward of a little easy
soothing, and the loss likely to attend plain-dealing, yet was not moved
from the solid purpose of a sincere and virtuous answer, and replied:
“Father, my love towards you is as my duty bids. They who pretend beyond
this flatter.” When the old man, sorry to hear this, and wishing her to
recall these words, persisted in asking, she still restrained her
expressions so as to say rather less than more than the truth. Then
Leir, all in a passion, burst forth: “Since thou hast not reverenced thy
aged father like thy sisters, think not to have any part in my kingdom
or what else I have;”—and without delay, giving in marriage his other
daughters, Goneril to the Duke of Albany, and Regan to the Duke of
Cornwall, he divides his kingdom between them, and goes to reside with
his eldest daughter, attended only by a hundred knights. But in a short
time his attendants, being complained of as too numerous and disorderly,
are reduced to thirty. Resenting that affront, the old king betakes him
to his second daughter; but she, instead of soothing his wounded pride,
takes part with her sister, and refuses to admit a retinue of more than
five. Then back he returns to the other, who now will not receive him
with more than one attendant. Then the remembrance of Cordeilla comes to
his thoughts, and he takes his journey into France to seek her, with
little hope of kind consideration from one whom he had so injured, but
to pay her the last recompense he can render,—confession of his
injustice. When Cordeilla is informed of his approach, and of his sad
condition, she pours forth true filial tears. And, not willing that her
own or others’ eyes should see him in that forlorn condition, she sends
one of her trusted servants to meet him, and convey him privately to
some comfortable abode, and to furnish him with such state as befitted
his dignity. After which Cordeilla, with the king her husband, went in
state to meet him, and, after an honorable reception, the king permitted
his wife, Cordeilla, to go with an army and set her father again upon
his throne. They prospered, subdued the wicked sisters and their
consorts, and Leir obtained the crown and held it three years. Cordeilla
succeeded him and reigned five years; but the sons of her sisters, after
that, rebelled against her, and she lost both her crown and life.
Shakspeare has chosen this story as the subject of his tragedy of “King
Lear,” varying its details in some respects. The madness of Leir, and
the ill success of Cordeilla’s attempt to reinstate her father, are the
principal variations, and those in the names will also be noticed. Our
narrative is drawn from Milton’s “History;” and thus the reader will
perceive that the story of Leir has had the distinguished honor of being
told by the two acknowledged chiefs of British literature.
FERREX AND PORREX
Ferrex and Porrex were brothers, who held the kingdom after Leir. They
quarrelled about the supremacy, and Porrex expelled his brother, who,
obtaining aid from Suard, king of the Franks, returned and made war upon
Porrex. Ferrex was slain in battle and his forces dispersed. When their
mother came to hear of her son’s death, who was her favorite, she fell
into a great rage, and conceived a mortal hatred against the survivor.
She took, therefore, her opportunity when he was asleep, fell upon him,
and, with the assistance of her women, tore him in pieces. This horrid
story would not be worth relating, were it not for the fact that it has
furnished the plot for the first tragedy which was written in the
English language. It was entitled “Gorboduc,” but in the second edition
“Ferrex and Porrex,” and was the production of Thomas Sackville,
afterwards Earl of Dorset, and Thomas Norton, a barrister. Its date was
1561.
DUNWALLO MOLMUTIUS
This is the next name of note. Molmutius established the Molmutine laws,
which bestowed the privilege of sanctuary on temples, cities, and the
roads leading to them, and gave the same protection to ploughs,
extending a religious sanction to the labors of the field. Shakspeare
alludes to him in “Cymbeline,” Act III., Scene 1:
“. . . Molmutius made our laws;
Who was the first of Britain which did put
His brows within a golden crown, and called
Himself a king.”
BRENNUS AND BELINUS,
the sons of Molmutius, succeeded him. They quarrelled, and Brennus was
driven out of the island, and took refuge in Gaul, where he met with
such favor from the king of the Allobroges that he gave him his daughter
in marriage, and made him his partner on the throne. Brennus is the name
which the Roman historians give to the famous leader of the Gauls who
took Rome in the time of Camillus. Geoffrey of Monmouth claims the glory
of the conquest for the British prince, after he had become king of the
Allobroges.
ELIDURE
After Belinus and Brennus there reigned several kings of little note,
and then came Elidure. Arthgallo, his brother, being king, gave great
offence to his powerful nobles, who rose against him, deposed him, and
advanced Elidure to the throne. Arthgallo fled, and endeavored to find
assistance in the neighboring kingdoms to reinstate him, but found none.
Elidure reigned prosperously and wisely. After five years’ possession of
the kingdom, one day, when hunting, he met in the forest his brother,
Arthgallo, who had been deposed. After long wandering, unable longer to
bear the poverty to which he was reduced, he had returned to Britain,
with only ten followers, designing to repair to those who had formerly
been his friends. Elidure, at the sight of his brother in distress,
forgetting all animosities, ran to him, and embraced him. He took
Arthgallo home with him, and concealed him in the palace. After this he
feigned himself sick, and, calling his nobles about him, induced them,
partly by persuasion, partly by force, to consent to his abdicating the
kingdom, and reinstating his brother on the throne. The agreement being
ratified, Elidure took the crown from his own head, and put it on his
brother’s head. Arthgallo after this reigned ten years, well and wisely,
exercising strict justice towards all men.
He died, and left the kingdom to his sons, who reigned with various
fortunes, but were not long-lived, and left no offspring, so that
Elidure was again advanced to the throne, and finished the course of his
life in just and virtuous actions, receiving the name of _the pious_,
from the love and admiration of his subjects.
Wordsworth has taken the story of Artegal and Elidure for the subject of
a poem, which is No. 2 of “Poems founded on the Affections.”
LUD
After Elidure, the Chronicle names many kings, but none of special note,
till we come to Lud, who greatly enlarged Trinovant, his capital, and
surrounded it with a wall. He changed its name, bestowing upon it his
own, so that henceforth it was called Lud’s town, afterwards London. Lud
was buried by the gate of the city called after him Ludgate. He had two
sons, but they were not old enough at the time of their father’s death
to sustain the cares of government, and therefore their uncle,
Caswallaun, or Cassibellaunus, succeeded to the kingdom. He was a brave
and magnificent prince, so that his fame reached to distant countries.
CASSIBELLAUNUS
About this time it happened (as is found in the Roman histories) that
Julius Cæsar, having subdued Gaul, came to the shore opposite Britain.
And having resolved to add this island also to his conquests, he
prepared ships and transported his army across the sea, to the mouth of
the River Thames. Here he was met by Cassibellaun with all his forces,
and a battle ensued, in which Nennius, the brother of Cassibellaun,
engaged in single combat with Cæsar. After several furious blows given
and received, the sword of Cæsar stuck so fast in the shield of Nennius
that it could not be pulled out, and the combatants being separated by
the intervention of the troops Nennius remained possessed of this
trophy. At last, after the greater part of the day was spent, the
Britons poured in so fast that Cæsar was forced to retire to his camp
and fleet. And finding it useless to continue the war any longer at that
time, he returned to Gaul.
Shakspeare alludes to Cassibellaunus, in “Cymbeline”:
“The famed Cassibelan, who was once at point
(O giglot fortune!) to master Cæsar’s sword,
Made Lud’s town with rejoicing fires bright,
And Britons strut with courage.”
KYMBELINUS, OR CYMBELINE
Cæsar, on a second invasion of the island, was more fortunate, and
compelled the Britons to pay tribute. Cymbeline, the nephew of the king,
was delivered to the Romans as a hostage for the faithful fulfilment of
the treaty, and, being carried to Rome by Cæsar, he was there brought up
in the Roman arts and accomplishments. Being afterwards restored to his
country, and placed on the throne, he was attached to the Romans, and
continued through all his reign at peace with them. His sons, Guiderius
and Arviragus, who made their appearance in Shakspeare’s play of
“Cymbeline,” succeeded their father, and, refusing to pay tribute to the
Romans, brought on another invasion. Guiderius was slain, but Arviragus
afterward made terms with the Romans, and reigned prosperously many
years.
ARMORICA
The next event of note is the conquest and colonization of Armorica, by
Maximus, a Roman general, and Conan, lord of Miniadoc or Denbigh-land,
in Wales. The name of the country was changed to Brittany, or Lesser
Britain; and so completely was it possessed by the British colonists,
that the language became assimilated to that spoken in Wales, and it is
said that to this day the peasantry of the two countries can understand
each other when speaking their native language.
The Romans eventually succeeded in establishing themselves in the
island, and after the lapse of several generations they became blended
with the natives so that no distinction existed between the two races.
When at length the Roman armies were withdrawn from Britain, their
departure was a matter of regret to the inhabitants, as it left them
without protection against the barbarous tribes, Scots, Picts, and
Norwegians, who harassed the country incessantly. This was the state of
things when the era of King Arthur began.
The adventure of Albion, the giant, with Hercules is alluded to by
Spenser, “Faery Queene,” Book IV., Canto xi:
“For Albion the son of Neptune was;
Who for the proof of his great puissance,
Out of his Albion did on dry foot pass
Into old Gaul that now is cleped France,
To fight with Hercules, that did advance
To vanquish all the world with matchless might:
And there his mortal part by great mischance
Was slain.”
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