[Transcriber's note: This production is based on
http://www.archive.org/details/popularhistoryeng01guiz.
Spoiler alert: If you expect to hear about Cinderella and Prince
Charming living in Camelot, here are some of the most frequently
used words in this book, ordered by number of occurrences.
war, armies, enemies, soldiers, weapon, prison, attack,
defence, conquer, battle, invade, fortifications, dead, suffer,
anger, seize, kill, insurrection, threat, fight, traitor,
surrender, fear, escape, pursue, opposition, strike, wound,
condemn, blood, victor, quarrel, insurgent, punish, capture,
rival, pirate, danger, crime, violence, destroy, arrest,
trouble, archer, unhappy, murder, disorder, combat,
reinforcement, pillage, dying, anxiety, exile, besiege,
repulse, executed, captive, hostages, cruel, bitter,
conspiracy, insult, revenge, humiliated, imprisoned, ruin,
assassin, plunder, barbarian, rampart, jealous, confiscate,
avenge, alarmed, usurpation, tyrannical, savage, malcontents,
massacre, slaughter, despair, military, misfortunes,
unfortunate, widow, detested, succumb, die, dagger, languished,
assault, mercenaries, disaster, armor, booty, perjury, drown,
repugnance, fatal, slave, armistice, robber, odious, greed,
poison, incursion, false, foe, impeached, ambush, capricious,
perfidious, scaffold, dungeon, decapitated.]
[Image]
Murder Of Thomas A-Becket.
{1}
A Popular History Of England
From the Earliest Times
_To The Reign Of Queen Victoria</i>
M. Guizot
Author of "The Popular History of France," etc.
_Authorized Edition_
Illustrated
Vol. I
New York
John W. Lovell Company
150 Worth Street, Corner Mission Place
{2}
{3}
Volume One.
Murder of Thomas A'Becket -- Frontispiece.
Caractacus and his Wife before Claudius. -- 16
Augustine preaching to Ethelbert. -- 32
Alfred in the Herdsman's Hut -- 44
Canute by the Seashore -- 72
William the Conqueror reviewing his Troops. -- 98
Robert's Encounter with his Father -- 110
Azelin forbidding the burial of William the Conqueror -- 116
Death of William Rufus -- 122
Escape of the Empress Maud from Oxford. -- 144
Richard Removing the Archduke's Banner. -- 188
Richard's farewell to the Holy Land. -- 192
King John's Anger After Signing Magna Charta. -- 214
King Henry and his Barons -- 228
That is the Title by which I Hold my Lands. -- 242
Bruce warned by Gilbert de Clare -- 262
Robert Bruce Regretting His Battle-Axe. -- 274
The Battle of Sluys. -- 294
Van Arteveldt at his Door -- 298
Queen Philippa on her knees before the King. -- 314
King John Taken Prisoner by the Black Prince. -- 320
The Black Prince Serving the French King. -- 322
Death of Wat Tyler. -- 346
{4}
{5}
Table Of Contents.
Chapter I. Ancient Populations of Britain
--Roman Dominion (55 B.C. to 411 A.D.) -- 9
Chapter II. The Rule of the Saxons to the Invasion of
the Danes (449 -832) -- 24
Chapter III. The Danes. -- Alfred the Great (836-901) -- 37
Chapter IV. The Saxon and Danish Kings.-- The Conquest
of England by the Normans (901-1066) -- 59
Chapter V. Establishment of the Normans in England (1066-1087) -- 103
Chapter VI. The Norman Kings. -- (1087-1154) -- 117
William Rufus
Henry I.
Stephen
Chapter VII. Henry II. (1154-1189) -- 146
Chapter VIII. Richard Cœur-de-Lion.-- John Lackland. --
Magna Charta (1189-1216) -- 182
Chapter IX. King and Barons. -- Henry III. (1216-1272) -- 218
Chapter X. Malleus Scotorum -- Edward I. (1272-1307.)
-- Edward II. (1307-1327) -- 238
Chapter XI. The Hundred Years' War. -- Edward III. (1327-1377) -- 285
Chapter XII. Bolingbroke. -- Richard II. (1377-1308).--
Henry IV. (1398-1413) -- 335
{6}
{7}
Preface.
"The History of France," related to his grandchildren by M.
Guizot, is now universally known. It has supplied a want which
every one must have felt; it has been welcome both to children
and to parents. Our national history enjoyed one indisputable
privilege: it had everywhere the right to the first place. But
after the "History of France," my father had related for the
benefit of his grandchildren the "History of England." He had
adopted a plan slightly different from that which he had followed
in his previous narratives. He felt that in this case the
knowledge which would enable the reader to supply any hiatus is
less extended; he was, in consequence, careful to preserve the
regular and chronological sequence of events. I have collected
these lessons as I collected those of "The History of France." My
father foresaw that he would not himself make use of the notes
which I preserved. He therefore requested me to edit them, and he
took a pleasure in re-perusing my work. I have thus written this
"History of England," step by step, as he related, and in great
part revised it; and I now publish it in accordance with his
desire, and, in the hope of enabling others to share in the
useful instruction which we all derived from it, both parents and
children.
{8}
The French have often been charged with ignorance of the history
of foreign nations. It is time to remove that reproach. For us
the "History of England" is important and interesting above all
others. In peaceful times and in times of war it is everywhere
connected with our own by a national bond, which all the causes
of dissension have not been able to destroy. In studying the
History of England we study again the History of France; and we
may draw from it useful lessons for the service and the welfare
of that country whose trials and sorrows have rendered her a
thousand times dearer to us.
Guizot De Witt.
[Henriette Guizot de Witt, daughter of François Guizot.]
{9}
History Of England.
Chapter I.
Ancient Populations Of Britain.
Roman Dominion, 55 B.C. TO 411 A.D.
The earliest periods of English History are obscure, and even the
origin of its inhabitants is still a subject of discussion. The
first authentic information which we possess with regard to them
is derived from their conqueror. Julius Caesar remarked their
resemblance to the Gauls, and modern researches have confirmed
his testimony. Every thing seems to show that the inhabitants of
Britain were Celts, or Gaels, a name which the population of the
highlands of Scotland retain to this day. On the Southern Coasts,
an invasion of Cimrys, or Belgians, appears to have mingled with
the Celtic population and to have brought with it some elements
of civilization. Long before the advent of Cæsar, the Phoenicians
and Greeks established at Marseilles, had entered into relations
of commerce with the Scilly Isles, which they called the
Cassiterides, and also with the extremity of the County of
Cornwall, where the tin-mines were situated.
{10}
Pytheas, who lived at Marseilles at the commencement of the
Fourth Century B.C., has related his voyage along the coast of
Britain; but it is with the invasion of the Romans that the
history of England commences. It is here that we penetrate for
the first time into those islands which, though separated from
the rest of the world, sent to the Gauls, who were struggling for
their independence, succor, which furnished Cæsar with a pretext
for the attempt to conquer them. After his fourth campaign in
Gaul, about the year 55 B.C., the great Roman general set sail on
the 26th of August for Britain. He had brought with him the
infantry of two legions,--about twelve thousand men, and he
disembarked near the point where the town of Deal is now
situated. The Britons had gathered in a mass upon the shore. A
great number were on horseback, urging their horses into the
waves, and insulting and defying the foreigners. They were almost
entirely naked, having cast off the clothing of skins with which
they were ordinarily covered, in order to prepare for the combat.
Their war chariots were driven rapidly along the shore. For a
moment the Roman soldiers hesitated, troubled by the unaccustomed
sight, perhaps from a dread of offending the unknown gods of
people celebrated among their Gaulish brethren for the devotion
with which they surrounded the Druidical faith. The
standard-bearer of the tenth legion was the first to precipitate
himself into the sea. "Follow me, my fellow-soldiers," said he,
"unless you will give up your eagle to the enemy. I at least will
do my duty to the Republic and to our general." His comrades
followed his example, and the savage inhabitants of Britain
retired in disorder, driven back, in spite of their bravery,
after a short engagement.
On the morrow, ambassadors from the Britons came to solicit
peace. At the first rumor of the projected invasion they had sent
emissaries into Gaul to offer their submission to the Romans, in
the hope of turning them from their enterprise.
{11}
Cæsar had listened to them with kindness and had had them
conducted by his own envoy Comius, king of the Belgian Atrebates;
but he did not relinquish his intentions, and the Britons in
their irritation had put the delegate of Cæsar in irons. This was
the first matter with which the conqueror reproached them, at the
same time demanding hostages for their future good behavior. Some
hostages were immediately given. The British chiefs asked for
time to send others, and Cæsar entered into separate negotiations
with the chiefs who came one after the other to treat with the
conqueror.
During these negotiations the sea rendered aid to the Britons.
Great part of the Roman fleet was destroyed. The barbarians
perceived their advantage and were dilatory in sending the
hostages. Meanwhile Cæsar had promptly set his soldiers to the
task of repairing the vessels, and making requisitions upon the
Gauls for the materials which were required. The vessels were
beginning to be in a state to take the sea when the seventh
legion, detached on a foraging expedition in the country, was
surprised in the only field of grain then standing, by a number
of Britons who were lying in ambush concealed by the long stalks
of the corn. Horsemen and war chariots issued forth from the
surrounding forests. The Romans ran the risk of being crushed,
when Cæsar came to their assistance with the remainder of his
forces, and defeated the barbarians, who sued for peace. The
equinox was approaching. The general did not even wait for the
hostages, but set sail for Gaul in the middle of September,
sending at the same time news to Rome which induced the Senate to
decree twenty days of public thanksgivings to the Immortal Gods.
In his _Commentaries_, however, Caesar modestly describes
this first campaign in Britain as a reconnoitring expedition. He
cherished the design of returning thither later.
{12}
Accordingly in the following year (54 B.C.), Caesar embarked at
the same point upon the coast of Gaul, in order to land at the
same spot, though with very different forces. He carried with him
the infantry of five legions (about thirty thousand men) and two
thousand cavalry. Eight hundred transport vessels covered the
sea.
From the summits of their cliffs the Britons had perceived this
formidable expedition, and had sought refuge in the vast forests
which cover their shores. Cæsar marched forward to drive them
back into their retreats, when a violent tempest destroyed forty
of his ships and drove a great number ashore. The first care of
the conqueror was to protect his fleet against the fury of the
sea and the hostility of the islanders. He caused all his vessels
to be hauled ashore, in order to surround them afterwards by a
strong intrenchment. His largest galleys were diminutive in
comparison with our vessels of war. His transport ships were
hardly more than barges. The Roman soldiers labored without
intermission ten days and ten nights before they had rendered
their fleet secure.
They then resumed their march against the Britons, whose army was
still increasing. All the chiefs had united their forces under
the orders of a commander-in-chief, Cassivelanus, king of the
Cassii, renowned for his bravery and skill. The Britons avoided a
general engagement. Assailing the Romans incessantly with their
cavalry and their war-chariots, which they conducted with the
ease of habit even along the edge of precipices, they retired
again into the forests from the moment that the advantage was no
longer on their side. But this barbarian intrepidity was not
accompanied by experience. Cæsar's cavalry, supported by three
legions, having scoured the country in quest of forage, the enemy
had remained concealed all day, when suddenly they issued in a
mass from the neighboring forests and swept down upon the Romans
who were scattered about the country.
{13}
Already the Britons imagined themselves victors; but the
well-disciplined Roman detachments formed again as if by
enchantment, the horsemen rallied, and the Britons, enclosed in a
formidable circle, sustained losses so great that on the morrow
the allies of Cassivelanus nearly all deserted him and returned
into their territories, leaving him to face the Romans
unsupported. The king in his turn fell back upon his kingdom,
which was situated on the left bank of the Thames.
In their pursuit the Romans had traversed the fertile country
which now forms the counties of Kent and Surrey, while this
skirmishing species of warfare continued, often with results
favorable to the Britons. But the fatal want of union common to
barbarous tribes lent aid to the Romans. Cassivelanus was
detested by his neighbors the Trinobantes, who sent ambassadors
to Cæsar, asking the restoration of their king Mandubratius, a
fugitive in Gaul, where he had implored the protection of the
Romans against this same Cassivelanus, who had conquered and put
to death the father of his rival. On this condition the the
Trinobantes offered their submission. Some other tribes followed
their example. These seceders acquainted the Romans with the road
to Cassivelanus's capital situated on the environs of the spot
now occupied by the town of St. Alban's. This was a collection of
huts reminding beholders of the dwellings of the Gauls. They
rested on a foundation made of stones, from which arose the walls
composed of timber, earth, and reeds, and surmounted by a conical
roof which served at once to admit daylight and to allow smoke to
escape through a hole in the top. Fens and woods surrounded by a
ditch and earthworks protected this primitive capital, which soon
fell into the hands of the Romans.
{14}
Cassivelanus had only one hope left. He had given orders to the
four chiefs who had the command in Kent to attack the Roman
vessels. They obeyed, but the detachment charged with the
protection of the fleet was on its guard. The Britons were
repulsed. Cassivelanus, beaten and discouraged, humbled himself
so far as to sue for peace. Nevertheless when Cæsar at the
commencement of September retired once more to Gaul, he left in
Britain neither a soldier nor a fortress. The second campaign,
longer and more fortunate than the first, had not produced any
greater results.
Ninety-six years elapsed; the Roman Republic had become the Roman
Empire; but the Britons had been troubled by no new invasion. The
Belgian population of the sea-coast had continued to cultivate
their fields, to which they already knew how to apply marl for
manure. They had woven in peace their long brogues, or chequered
breeches, their square mantles, and their tunics. The Celts, more
savage, had seen their flocks multiply around them. Even this,
the only kind of wealth among barbarous tribes, did not exist in
the northern part of Britain. The rude inhabitants of Scotland
depended only on the products of the chase, and found a shelter
for their almost naked state in the hollow of rocks or in the
obscurity of caverns; but no invader had come to trouble their
wild liberty up to the day when the Emperor Claudius, in the year
45 of the Christian Era, conceived the project of marching in the
footsteps of Cæsar and subduing the savage land of Britain. One
of the most experienced of his generals, Aulus Plautius, sent
forward with a force of fifty thousand men, obtained at first
some successes, notwithstanding the resistance of the chief of
the Silures, Caractacus.
{15}
When the Emperor arrived, the capital of this people was
captured, and several tribes had submitted almost without a
struggle. Claudius returned to Rome to enjoy there the honors of
an easy triumph.
Thirty battles fought by Aulus Plautius were insufficient to
reduce Caractacus. Ostorius Scapula was the first to succeed in
establishing on the Severn a line of forts separating from the
rest of the island the country, now become Roman, which comprised
nearly all the Southern tribes. The Britons, who appeared to be
subdued, were disarmed. But a new insurrection soon broke forth.
The Iceni, who occupied the country now known as the counties of
Norfolk and Suffolk, were the first to rise. The Cangi followed
their example; and in order to reduce them the Praetor was
compelled to pursue them as far as to within one day's march of
the sea which separates England from Ireland. From the territory
of the Brigantes, which embraced a portion of the present
counties of Lancashire and York, Ostorius hastened to invade the
Silures, who inhabited the southern portion of Wales, and who
were always the most indomitable opponents of a foreign
domination. "Behold the day which is to decide the fate of
Britain!" exclaimed Caractacus at the sight of the Romans.
"To-day begins the era either of liberty or eternal slavery.
Remember that your ancestors were able to drive back the great
Cæsar, and to save their liberty, their life, and their honor!"
He spoke in vain. The naked breasts and bare heads of the Britons
could not resist the broad swords of the Roman soldiers. The
massacre was horrible. The wife and the daughter of Caractacus
were captured, but the chief himself had disappeared. Hoping to
renew the struggle, he had taken refuge with his mother-in-law,
Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes. She delivered him up to the
Romans.
{16}
Caractacus was sent to Rome with his family. "How can men who
possess such palaces make such efforts to conquer our miserable
hovels?" exclaimed the British hero, while traversing the streets
of Rome. He appeared before the tribunal of the emperor.
Agrippina was there by the side of her husband. The wife of
Caractacus threw herself at her feet, imploring her pity; but the
conquered chief asked for nothing, and exhibited no sign of fear.
This greatness in defeat penetrated to the heart and to the
sluggish mind of Claudius. He gave the order to set the captives
free. Tradition states that he even restored to his prisoner a
portion of his territory, but Tacitus does not mention this; he
leaves the story of the vanquished chief at the point where the
fetters fall from his hands.
For a moment Nero, who had become emperor, thought of abandoning
the conquest of Britain, so difficult to secure. It was not until
the year 59 A.D. that Paulinus Suetonius, at that time prætor,
resolved to crush the resistance of the Britons in their
innermost retreat. The island of Mona (now Anglesey) was
consecrated to the Druid worship; the priests had nearly all
taken refuge there, and there the defeated chiefs found an
asylum. Religion even then exercised a considerable power over
the minds of the inhabitants of Britain. In no part were the
Druids more numerous and powerful; nowhere had they a greater
number of disciples diligently occupied during long years in
engraving upon their memory the regulations of their worship, the
sacred maxims, the ancient poems, which the priests did not allow
to be committed to writing. Great, therefore, was the emotion in
Britain when the Romans were seen to attack the holy isle.
[Image]
Caractacus and his Wife before Claudius.
{17}
On the shore a great crowd awaited the advance of the enemy,
"savage and diversified" in appearance, says Tacitus. The armed
men were assembled in a mass; the women, attired in sombre dress,
running about with dishevelled hair, like furies brandishing
their torches; and the Druids were standing, clothed in their
long white robes, as if about to sacrifice to their gods, their
heads shaved, their beards long, their hands raised to heaven,
while they pronounced the terrible maledictions of the Celtic
races against the enemies of their people and their divinities.
The Roman soldiers hesitated; their limbs seemed paralyzed by
fear, and they exposed themselves, without resisting, to the
blows of their enemies. Their general urged them to advance. At
length, each encouraging the other to despise the infuriated
cries of a band of priests and women, they rushed upon the
Britons, and precipitated them upon the stakes which they had
prepared in order to sacrifice the Roman prisoners to their gods.
A garrison was placed on the island; the sacred grove was cut
down; and the fugitive Druids disappeared, to seek an asylum
among the tribes which still offered a resistance.
The number of these tribes had increased in the absence of the
prætor. The infamous treatment inflicted upon Boadicea, queen of
the Iceni, and her children, by order of the procurator Catus,
had aroused the indignation of her neighbors as well as of her
own subjects. By secret intrigues the malcontents from all
quarters were invited to strike a great blow for the recovery of
their liberty. The colony of Camalodunum was first attacked and
put to fire and sword. Suetonius hastened from the isle of Mona,
and marched first towards London, already an important and
populous city. Defence was impossible. The prætor withdrew the
garrison to protect the rest of the provinces, and all the
citizens who had not been able to retire under the shelter of the
Roman eagles were massacred. The Roman colony of Verulam suffered
the same fate.
{18}
It is said that more than 70,000 Romans and their allies had
already perished under the blows of the insurgents, when the two
armies found themselves confronted. Queen Boadicea rode along the
ranks of the Britons, clothed in a robe of various colors, with a
golden zone around her waist. She reminded her countrymen that
she was not the first woman who had led them to battle, since the
custom of the country often called to the throne the widow of a
sovereign, passing over his children. She spoke of the
irreparable insults which she had undergone, of the misfortunes
of the nation, and she exhorted the warriors to immolate all the
Romans to Andrasta, the goddess of victory. The Romans remained
motionless; they were awaiting the attack of the Britons.
The barbarians, excited by the glowing words of the queen, rushed
upon the legions; the Romans bestirred themselves at length, and
their broad swords opened for them a passage through the midst of
the mass of Britons. The latter fell without flinching; but their
enemy advanced to the line of chariots, and put to the sword
women and children. It is said, though no doubt, with the usual
exaggeration of the time, that 80,000 Britons perished on that
day. Boadicea, resolved not to survive her hopes of vengeance,
poisoned herself upon the battle-field.
Successive prætors had failed to establish tranquillity in
Britain, or to obtain the submission of the people, when
Agricola, father-in-law of the celebrated historian Tacitus,
arrived in his turn in this indomitable island. His brilliant
exploits soon caused him to be respected; but, while pursuing
year by year the course of his conquests, he endeavored to found
the Roman rule upon the most durable basis. In his hands the
civil administration became milder; the Britons governed with
justice, became gradually less estranged from their conquerors.
{19}
A taste for luxury and Roman civilization began to distinguish
the chiefs admitted to the prætorian court; the Roman toga took
the place of the British mantle; buildings arose upon the model
of the Roman constructions; children began to speak Latin; and at
the same time the spirit of liberty and resistance diminished
among the inhabitants of the south of Britain. "The Britons
willingly furnish recruits to our armies," wrote Tacitus; "they
pay the taxes without murmuring, and they perform with zeal their
duties towards the government, provided they have not to complain
of oppression. When they are offended their resentment is prompt
and violent; they may be conquered, but not tamed; they may be
led to obedience, but not to servitude."
The military progress of the Roman general was no less important
than his moral conquests. He had reached the Firth of Forth and
the narrow isthmus which separates this river from the mouth of
the Clyde. After every new victory he protected the subjected
territory with forts. He even constructed a wall, the ruins of
which, crossing the north of England from the Solway to the mouth
of the Tyne, bear to this day his name. In the eighth and ninth
year of his government he passed the line of the forts and
penetrated into Scotland, the country of the Caledonians, savage
tribes who had not yet beheld the Roman eagles. Scarcely had the
conquerors invaded this new territory when the Caledonians, under
the command of their chief, Galgacus, descended from the Grampian
hills and fell upon the invader. On Ardoch Moor traces of the
combat still exist, together with the lines of the Roman
encampment. The struggle lasted all day, and the barbarians were
defeated; but on the morrow at sunrise they had disappeared, and
the Romans found themselves alone in the midst of a wild country.
{20}
In their flight the Caledonians had set fire to their
habitations, and with their own hands had slain their wives and
children, to prevent their falling victims to the vengeance of
the conqueror. The savage tribes had returned into their
mountains, leaving, according to the chronicles, 10,000 dead upon
the field of battle. Agricola made no effort to pursue them.
Falling back towards the south, he despatched his vessels to make
a voyage of exploration all round the island, the northern shores
of which had not yet been visited. The mariners returned,
reporting that no tongue of land connected Britain with the
continent, that they had seen in the distance Thule (Iceland),
enveloped in mists and eternal snow, and that the seas which they
had traversed were of a sluggish kind, heavy under the oar, and
never agitated by wind or storms. Agricola was recalled to Rome
through the jealousy of the Emperor Domitian, but his wise
government had appeased the passions of the Britons, and for
thirty years afterwards the Roman annals contain no mention of
British affairs--an evidence that peace reigned in the island.
An invasion of the Caledonians brought the Emperor Hadrian to
Britain (120 A.D.). Having driven them back beyond the forts
which connected the mouth of the Solway on the west with that of
the Tyne on the eastern coast, he caused to be raised behind this
rampart an enormous wall, fortified by a wide fosse and provided
with towers which received a garrison. This redoubt is still
partly in existence, as is the wall of Antoninus, constructed
some years later across the isthmus of the Forth, after a fresh
invasion of the barbarians.
{21}
No rampart, however, could resist the warlike ardor of these
savage populations; and the disorganization which had attacked
the vast body of the Empire began to make itself felt among the
legions established in Britain. The soldiers often murmured; the
general, Albinus, after having refused the title of Cæsar from
the hands of the Emperor Commodus, accepted it upon the offer of
Septimius Severus, and, suddenly rejecting his allegiance, he was
proclaimed emperor by his troops. Crossing immediately into Gaul
to sustain his pretensions by force of arms, he was defeated near
Revoux, and paid for his ambition by the loss of his head; but he
had brought with him and had sacrificed the best of the troops in
Britain, both Roman and native. The Caledonians took advantage of
this opportunity to redouble their efforts, and the case became
so grave that the emperor left Rome to oppose them (207 A.D.).
Septimius Severus was old and infirm, but his spirit was still
unsubdued. When he entered into Caledonia with his son Caracalla,
he brought in his train enormous armaments. His enemies were
badly armed; they carried only the short sword and the target,
which their descendants in the highlands still employed during
the wars of the last century. But they were skilled to take
advantage of the natural defences of their country, and without
being able to meet the Caledonians in a fixed battle the emperor
had lost, it is said, 50,000 men before abandoning his
expedition. He had carried the name and arms of the Romans so far
that he had no intention of retaining the territory which he had
traversed. He left there neither fortress nor garrison, but when
he had returned into the subjected territory he separated it from
Caledonia by a new rampart, more imposing than all those of his
predecessors. For two years the legions were employed in
constructing it in stone, fortifying it with towers, and
surrounding it with roads. The remains of this gigantic work
attest to this day the power of those who raised it.
{22}
The Caledonians, however, had just attempted another invasion
when the emperor, who was marching against them, died at York
(211 A.D.), and his son Caracalla, compelled to hasten back to
Rome to protect the safety of the empire, hurriedly concluded
with the rude tribes a peace which lasted for some years.
It was not until the year 228, under the reign of Diocletian and
Maximilian, that the dangers which threatened Britain again
disturbed the repose of the Emperors. Her shores were threatened
by Saxon and Scandinavian pirates. A commander of Belgian origin
named Carausius was sent against them, who crowned his success by
causing himself to be proclaimed emperor by his legions.
Diocletian conferred on him the title of Cæsar. This new
sovereign was assassinated at York, and succeeded in the year 297
by his minister Allectus, who himself fell soon after before the
power of Constantius Chlorus. When this prince died at York, his
son Constantine, proclaimed emperor by his troops, carried with
him on leaving Britain a great number of the young men of the
country eager to serve in his armies.
The Roman empire no longer existed. The distant seat of power had
been transferred to Constantinople. The province of Britain
escaped from the imperial watchfulness. It was at the same time
ill defended. The Caledonians at this period had yielded their
place, either in fact or in name, to the Picts, so called perhaps
by the Romans on account of the colors with which they painted
their bodies. Side by side with them, and often driving them back
upon their own territory were the Scots, originally from Ireland,
from which country they crossed over in so great a number in
their little flat-bottomed boats that they finally gave their own
name to the country they invaded. Under the Emperor Valentinian
we find them pursuing their depredations as far as London, and
driven back to their own country with great difficulty by
Theodosius, father of Theodosius the Great. Before him and after
his death, in the year 393, Britain presented a similar spectacle
to that of the other Roman provinces.
{23}
The generals who were in command there, were proclaimed emperors
by their legions, assassinated by their rivals, or decapitated by
order of the sovereign rulers of Rome or Constantinople, from the
moment that they attempted to leave the island to extend their
conquests. Every one of these attempts cost Britain a number of
soldiers and contributed to weaken a race already deteriorated by
foreign domination. In 420, under the Emperor Honorius, when the
Empire was expiring under the attacks of the barbarians, the
Britons deposing the Roman magistrates, proclaimed their
independence, which was immediately recognized by the emperor.
But the Britons were not in a condition to struggle against the
invaders who were pressing them on all sides. Like the Roman
Empire, their country was fated to fall into the hands of the
barbarians.
Like the Roman Empire, however, Britain had already received the
principle which was destined to save her from complete
desolation. In the midst of political disorganization, and of
power distributed among a hundred petty chiefs, all enemies and
rivals, she had already heard the only name which has been given
to men for their salvation. The gospel of Jesus Christ had been
proclaimed upon her shores. At what epoch or by whom is not
known. Probably Rome brought with her arms the Christian faith to
the British people; the Christians were numerous in the imperial
armies, and their zeal often won to Jesus Christ the souls of the
vanquished. Up to the reign of Diocletian the progress of
Christianity in Britain was not impeded by any severity. At that
epoch (303--305) the great persecution which was raging
throughout the empire extended itself to Britain.
{24}
Constantius Chlorus, who was then governor, favorable though he
was to the Gospel, was nevertheless unable to avoid calling
around him the officers of his household and announcing to them
the necessity of either relinquishing their trusts or abjuring
the name of Christ. Those who were cowardly enough to prefer
earthly greatness to Christian fidelity found themselves
disappointed in their ambitious hopes. The general immediately
deprived them of office, remarking that men faithless to their
God would be equally wanting in fidelity to their emperor. But
the moderation of Constantius Chlorus was insufficient to
extinguish the persecuting zeal of the inferior magistrates; and
the British Church soon counted its martyrs. The Christians took
refuge in the forests and the hills. They were able to find
brethren among the rude tribes of the north; for Tertullian tells
us that, in the portion of Britain where the arms of the Romans
had failed to penetrate, Jesus Christ had conquered souls. With
the power of Constantine Christianity ascended the throne; the
British Church was organized; she had sent three Bishops to the
Council of Arles in 314; but Britain was about to undergo a new
yoke: and her dawning Christianity was destined to encounter
other enemies.