The next period, of nearly eighty years, is a dreary record of
constant battles and bloodshed. Out of this very barbarism a
regenerating influence finally arose.
In their greed for grain, some of the English tribes did not hesitate
to sell their own children into bondage. A number of these slaves,
exposed in the market place in Rome, attracted the attention of a monk
named Gregory.
Struck with the beauty of their clear, ruddy complexions and fair
hair, he inquired from what country they came. "They are Angles"
(S37), was the dealer's answer. "No, not Angles, but angels,"
answered the monk; and he resolved that, when he could, he would send
missionaries to convert a race of so much promise.[2]
[2] Bede's "Ecclesiastical History."