The Britons were in perilous condition after the Romans had left the
island (S33). They had lost their old spirit (SS2, 18).[2] They were
no longer brave in war or faithful in peace. The Picts and Scots[3]
attacked them on the northwest, and the Saxon pirates (S29) assailed
them on the southeast. These terrible foes cut down the Britons, says
an old writer, as "reapers cut down grain ready for the harvest."
[1] Reference Books on this Period will be found in the Classified
List of Books in the Appendix. The pronunciation of names will be
found in the Index. The Leading Dates stand unenclosed; all others
are in parentheses.
[2] Gildas, in Bohn's "Six Old English Chronicles"; but compare
Professor C. Oman's "England before the Norman Conquest," pp. 175-176.
[3] The Picts and Scots were ancient savage tribes of Scotland.
At length the chief men wrote to the Roman consul, begging him to help
them. They entitled their piteous and pusillanimous appeal, "The
Groans of the Britons." They said, "The savages drive us to the sea,
the sea casts us back upon the savages; between them we are either
slaughtered or drowned." But the consul was busy fighting enemies at
home, and he left the groaning Britons to shift for themselves.
Finally, the courage of despair forced them to act. They seemed to
have resolved to fight fire with fire. Acting on this resolution,
they accordingly invited a band of sea rovers to come and help them
against the Picts and Scots. The chiefs of these Jutes[1] or Saxon
pirates did not wait for a second invitation. Seizing their
"rough-handled spears and bronze swords," they set sail for the
shining chalk cliffs of Britain, 449(?). They put an end to the
ravages of the Picts and Scots. Then instead of going back to their
own country, they took possession of the best lands of Kent and
refused to give them up. (See map opposite.)
[1] The Jutes, Saxons, and Angles appear to have belonged to the same
Teutonic or German race. They inhabited the seacoast and vicinity,
from the mouth of the Elbe, northward along the coast of Denmark or
Jutland. These tribes which conquered England, and settled there,
remained for a long time hostile to each other, but eventually, they
united and came to be known as Anglo-Saxons or English. (See map
opposite.)