The Rule Of The Saxons
To The Invasion Of The Danes (449--832).
Discord prevailed in Britain. The petty rival chiefs, sometimes
triumphant, sometimes defeated, united in vain against the Picts
and Scots, whom the Roman walls no longer impeded now that the
Roman power had disappeared.
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In this disorder, the Britons were dwindling in numbers day by
day, when Vortigern, chief of Kent, conceived the project of
calling to his assistance the Saxons, a famous people who
inhabited the northern coasts of Germany and Denmark and extended
their power even to a portion of the territory now known as
Holland. Several tribes were descended from a common origin. The
Jutes, the Angles, the Saxons (properly so called) all led the
life of pirates, and many a time had they suddenly appeared upon
the coasts of Britain or of Gaul, scattering terror among the
inhabitants, whose houses they pillaged and burnt, killing all
who resisted them. For a long time they risked their lives and
sported with the dangers of the sea in mere skiffs; but in 449,
when Vortigern called to his aid two celebrated pirates among the
Jutes, named Hengist and Horsa, the Saxon vessels were long,
strongly built, and capable of carrying a considerable number of
men and of wrestling with the fury of the waves. The pirates
responded promptly to the appeal, and for some time they
faithfully observed their engagements, driving the Picts and
Scots back into their territory and fighting for Vortigern
against his British enemies. It is related that the Saxon
Hengist, having fortified himself at Thong-Caster, situated in
the county of Lincoln, gave there a feast to King Vortigern.
Hengist had sent for his daughter, the beautiful Rowena, who,
bending the knee before the British sovereign, offered him the
cup of welcome. Her beauty enchanted Vortigern, and he could not
rest until he had obtained her hand.
Whether from a weakness for the father of his wife, or from
gratitude for services, or from the impossibility of ridding
himself of the allies whom he had sent for, Vortigern permitted
Hengist to establish himself in the isle of Thanet; and gradually
fresh vessels arrived bringing reinforcements for the foreign
colony.
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Angles followed Jutes; and the Britons began to be anxious about
these powerful neighbors. At the first quarrel swords were drawn
from their scabbards. Their blades were equally good and keen;
for the Britons had derived their military equipments from the
Romans, and the Saxons, passionately fond of iron, attached more
importance to their arms than to any other possession. But the
Britons had been weakened by their old dissensions; the Saxons
allied themselves with the Picts and Scots, against whom they had
been originally called to fight, and several indecisive battles
ended in a truce. It is even related that the two parties being
assembled at a banquet at Stonehenge, on the 1st of May, Hengist
cried out to the Saxons, in their language, "Draw your swords!"
and, at the same moment, the long knives concealed under the
garments of the Saxons were plunged into the hearts of their
entertainers. Vortigern alone was spared, no doubt at the
intercession of Rowena. The war began; the Britons were defeated,
and Eric, son of Hengist, became in 457 the first Saxon king of
the county of Kent, the Isle of Wight, and that part of the coast
of Hampshire which faces that island.
The success of Hengist and Horsa naturally attracted new hordes.
In the year 477 the Saxons, under the command of Ella, founded
the kingdom of Sussex (South Sax), which comprised only the
present county of Sussex. In the year 519 other Saxons, under the
orders of Cerdic, completed the invasion of South Britain, and
extended themselves from the county of Surrey, bordering upon
Sussex and Kent, to the eastern extremity of England; they
occupied also Surrey and all that portion of Hampshire not in the
possession of the Jutes, together with Hampshire, Wiltshire,
Somersetshire, and Devonshire, not even leaving to the Britons
the whole of the county of Cornwall. This new kingdom took the
name of Wessex (West Sax).
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The invaders grew bolder. In 530 a new body of Saxons, the name
of whose leader is not recorded in history, arrived, and
established themselves upon the northern border of the kingdoms
of Kent and Wessex, founding there the kingdom of Essex (East
Sax), the importance of which was due to the Thames and London,
since it comprised only the county of Essex, the small territory
of Middlesex, and the southern part of the county of Herts.
"Thus," says M. Guillaume Guizot in his _History of Alfred the
Great_, "the Saxons originally rested their power upon the
first state founded by the Jutes at the south-eastern extremity
of England. They surrounded it by their own settlements, and all
established themselves in the southern part of the island." They
had scarcely completed their migrations when the Angles, who had
then arrived only in small numbers, and were mingled with the
Jutes, began on their own account to invade the eastern coast.
About the year 527 several bands of Angles arrived under
different chiefs, but it was not until some years later that they
united to form the kingdom of East Anglia, which comprised the
counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, the isle of Ely, and
probably a portion of Bedfordshire. The territories of Norfolk
and Suffolk owe even their names to two tribes of Angles, the
North folk and the South folk, while the entire race have given
their name to England. This new kingdom, still isolated as well
as defended by the sea, was fortified by fens and by many rivers.
Where natural defences were wanting the Angles raised earthworks,
long known as the Giant's Dyke, then as the Devil's Dyke. In
spite of the draining of the fen, the line of these works can be
traced to this day.
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In the year 547, new bands of Angles, led by a chief named Ida,
landed upon the north-east coast and founded there the kingdom of
Bernicia, which comprised Northumberland and the south of
Pentland, between the Tweed and the Firth of Forth. Some years
later, in 560, other Angles, no less enterprising than their
predecessors, established themselves from the southern limit of
Bernicia as far as the Humber, and from one sea to the other,
occupying all the territory of the counties of Lancaster, York,
Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Durham. This was the kingdom of
Deira. These two colonies were united under the same sceptre in
617, and took the name of Northumbria.
The Angles began to advance from the coasts. In the year 586 they
occupied all the country bounded on the north by the river Humber
and the kingdom of Deira; on the west, by Wales, which alone
remained in the hands of the Britons; on the south, by the Saxon
kingdoms; and on the south-east, by the Angles of East Anglia.
Mercia, as the new kingdom was called, comprised then on the
south-east the northern part of the counties of Hertford and
Bedford; on the east, all the counties of Northampton,
Huntingdon, and Rutland; on the north, the counties of Lincoln,
Nottingham, Derby, and Chester; on the west, Staffordshire,
Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire; in the centre of
the island, Warwickshire and Leicestershire; on the south,
Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and the county of Buckingham. In
this kingdom, the most extensive of all, the British population
had not been destroyed or driven back, as they had in the greater
portion of other parts; they continued to inhabit their ancient
country, mingled with and subject to the Angles.
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Such was the division of Britain among the conquerors, and the
constitution of the Saxon kingdoms. This is what is known as the
Heptarchy, or Octarchy, according to whether we place the
denomination before or after the union of the kingdoms of Deira
and Bernicia in a single kingdom of Northumbria. Such was the new
scene of the wars which were destined to break out again and
deluge Britain, now become England, with blood.
A more gentle influence was soon to exercise its effect upon the
sanguinary passion of the barbarous races. The British
Christians, though vanquished and driven back into the narrow
territory of Cambria or Wales, do not seem to have attempted to
convert their conquerors. For a moment they had themselves run
the risk of falling into the heresies of Pelagius, an Irish monk
who denied the doctrine of original sin; but the missionaries
from Gaul, Saint Germain and Saint Loup, had succeeded in 429 and
446 in uprooting among them these disastrous tendencies. One day
Saint Germain, who had been a soldier before being a bishop,
found himself in the presence of a band of Picts and Saxons who
were laying waste the coast. Putting himself at the head of his
flock, he marched against the enemy amidst loud cries of
"Alleluia!" These cries taken up by the neighboring echoes
terrified the pirates, who fled; hence this peaceful victory
became known by the name of "The Battle of the Alleluias."
The Britons were not heretics, but with the independence which
always characterized their race they differed from Rome and from
the Eastern Church upon various points of little importance in
themselves, though they had often created divisions in
Christendom.
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For no reason that has come down to us the Britons celebrated
Easter in accordance with the customs of the Eastern Church--that
is to say, at the fourteenth day of the moon, whatever might be
the day on which that event fell, in imitation of the Jews who on
that day offered up the Paschal lamb. The Western Church, on the
contrary, postponed the celebration of Easter till the Sunday
following. Nothing more was needed to breed dissensions between
the British bishops and the missionaries despatched from Rome by
Pope Gregory the Great. For some years previously, Gregory, not
yet become a bishop, and being in fact only a simple priest,
passing through the slave-market in Rome, had been struck by the
handsome appearance of some young persons offered there for sale.
Learning that they belonged to the race of Angles, or Saxons,
"They would not be Angles but angels," he exclaimed, "if they
were Christians;" and he conceived the project of going himself
to preach the faith of Jesus Christ to a people so well endowed
by nature. His friends were only able to prevail on him to
renounce his intention by inducing the Pope to forbid his
departure from Rome. When in his turn he was elevated to the
episcopal dignity in the most important see of the Western
Church, he did not forget the Saxons whose conversion had
previously occupied his thoughts. He endeavored first to inflame
with his zeal the young slaves whom he had caused to be placed in
convents; but the Saxons were apparently not disposed to become
Missionaries, for in the year 595 the Pope despatched to Britain
a young monk named Augustine, prior of the Convent of St. Andrew
at Rome, accompanied by forty friars. They took the road towards
Gaul; but they had scarcely arrived at Aix, when they heard such
terrible accounts of the ferocity of the Anglo-Saxons that they
were alarmed and wrote to the Pope to ask his leave to retrace
their footsteps. Gregory, on the contrary, encouraged them to
persevere in their enterprise, and furnished with interpreters by
the good offices of Brunehaut, who was reigning over Austrasia in
the name of her grandsons, they arrived in 597 in the Isle of
Thanet. Augustine sent immediately one of his monks to Ethelbert,
king of Kent, announcing his intention of coming to preach
Christianity to his court.
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The place could not have been better chosen. A powerful prince in
his domains, Ethelbert was their Bretwalda, or general chief of
all the Heptarchy. This title, which was in no way well defined,
but which conferred a certain influence in the counsels of the
seven Saxon states, seems to have been accorded to a kind of
merit understood by all. Two chiefs had already borne it before
Ethelbert-- Ella, first king of Sussex, and Ceawlin, king of
Wessex. The new Bretwalda was a pagan, but he had married a
Christian wife, Bertha, daughter of Charibert, king of Paris: she
had reserved to herself the free exercise of her religion; a
French bishop had even accompanied her. Ethelbert had no
repugnance towards Christianity and he consented to receive the
Roman missionaries. "Be careful to grant them an audience in the
open air," said the pagan priests, however; "their maledictions
will be less powerful there than under a roof." It was therefore
in the open field that the Saxon Bretwalda awaited the approach
of the Christian priests. They advanced bearing a crucifix and a
banner on which was painted the image of the Saviour. They made
the air resound with their grave canticles. The imagination of
the barbarians was no doubt struck by these ceremonies, and when
Augustine by the aid of an interpreter, had explained to the king
the leading doctrines of the Christian faith and asked permission
to preach to his subjects the religion which they had come to
proclaim to him, Ethelbert mildly replied, "I am not disposed to
abandon the gods of my fathers for an unknown and uncertain
faith; but since your intentions are good and your words full of
gentleness, you can speak freely to my people.
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I will prevent any one interfering with you, and will furnish
food to you and your monks." Augustine overjoyed, directed his
steps towards the neighboring city of Canterbury, which he
entered chanting, "O Eternal Father, we supplicate Thee according
to Thy mercy turn Thy anger from this city and from Thy sacred
place, for we have sinned. Alleluia!"
The preaching of Augustine and the sanctity of his life exercised
a powerful influence over the Saxons. Numerous converts already
pressed around him when King Ethelbert decided to embrace the
Christian religion. His conversion attracted his subjects in a
mass to the new Faith, and Pope Gregory, delighted with the
success of the Mission, sent to Augustine the episcopal pallium
[Footnote 1] with the title of Archbishop of Canterbury. At the
same time Gregory advised the new prelate not to destroy the
pagan temples to which the people had been accustomed, but to
consecrate them to the worship of Jesus Christ, and to transform
the pagan festivals into joyful family meetings at which the
Christian Saxons could eat their oxen instead of sacrificing them
to false gods.
[Footnote 1: An ornament of woollen texture, sprinkled with
black crosses, which the Pope sends to the Archbishops and
sometimes to Bishops.]
With these sage counsels Gregory sent a reinforcement of
missionaries; but they did not suffice for the zeal or the views
of Augustine, who resolved to address himself to the British
bishops in Wales asking their assistance in the work of
evangelization. The Britons were jealous and anxious. They
consulted a hermit of great reputation for sanctity upon the
claims of Augustine to their trust and obedience. "If the
stranger comes from God, follow him," said the hermit. "But how
shall we know if he is from God?" asked the Britons. "By his
humility." ... The reply still appeared to the envoys to be
vague.
[Image]
Augustine preaching to Ethelbert.
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"If he rises at your approach, know that he is the leader sent by
God to direct his people," continued the hermit. "If he remains
seated reject him because of his pride." Fortified with this
precise instruction the British priests, with seven Bishops and
the Abbot of Bangor, presented themselves at the conference.
Augustine was seated, and did not rise to receive them. The
question was already settled in their minds when the Archbishop
of Canterbury stated his demands. He desired that the British
priests should henceforth celebrate the festival of Easter on the
same day as the Western Church; that they should employ the Roman
forms in the ceremony of baptism, and that they should join their
efforts with his for the conversion of the Saxons. All these
proposals were rejected. Then Augustine rose and in a loud voice
exclaimed, "You refuse to labor to convert the Saxons! You will
perish by the swords of the Saxons." This prediction was
remembered some years later when all the monks of Bangor were
massacred by the Northumbrians in a Saxon expedition into
Cambria.
In spite of the coolness of the British Bishops the work of
conversion went on. The zeal of Ethelbert had already engaged his
nephew Sebert, king of Essex, to receive baptism. A church had
been founded in London which possessed a bishop. Another prelate
had his seat at Rochester. Ethelbert had also gained over to the
Christian faith the chief of East Anglia, Redwald, who became
after him Bretwalda of the Heptarchy. But the wife of Redwald was
still a pagan and his subjects were attached to the religion of
their ancestors. The king set up two altars in the same temple,
one dedicated to Odin and the other to the God of the Christians;
but the new faith soon prevailed over its rival, and East Anglia
took its place among the Christian kingdoms of the Heptarchy.
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Christianity had not yet penetrated into Northumbria when the
king Edwin married a daughter of Ethelbert, a Christian like her
father. The queen came accompanied by a Roman bishop named
Paulinus; but the king remained faithful to the worship of his
forefathers in spite of the solicitations of his wife, of
Paulinus, and even of the Pope. He had, however, consented to the
child of Ethelburga being baptized; and the day was at hand when
his scruples were destined to be overcome. In his youth, during a
long exile and in the midst of serious perils, there had appeared
before him, doubtless in a dream, a person of venerable aspect,
who asked him, "What wouldst thou give to one who should deliver
thee to-day?" "All that I possess," replied the Saxon. "If he
asked thee only to follow his counsels, wouldst thou obey?" "Unto
death," was the answer. "It is well," said the apparition, at the
same time placing his hand softly upon his head; "when one shall
return and make thee this sign, follow him." Edwin had escaped
from the dangers which threatened him, and his dream had remained
deeply engraved upon his memory.
One day when he was alone, the door of his apartment opened, and
Paulinus entering softly placed his hand upon his head. "Dost
thou remember?" he asked, and the Saxon, falling on his knees,
promised to do whatever he should desire. Still thoughtful and
prudent, however, while accepting baptism for himself, he
reserved the right of his subjects to act as might seem well to
them. The Council of Wise Men or Aldermen was called together,
and the king having informed them of his change of faith, as the
basis of a new doctrine, asked them what they thought of it. The
chief of the priests was there, and spoke first.
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"Our gods are powerless," he said; "I have served them with more
zeal and fidelity than all the people, yet I am neither richer
nor more honored. I am weary of the gods."
An ancient warrior near the king rose at this speech. "O king,"
he said, "thou rememberest perhaps in the winter days when thou
art seated with thy captain near a good fire, lighted in a warm
apartment, while it is raining and snowing out of doors, that a
little bird has entered by one door and gone out by another with
fluttering wings. He has passed a moment of happiness, sheltered
from the rain and the storm; but the bird vanishes with the
quickness of a glance, and from winter he returns again to
winter. Such it appears to me is the life of man upon this earth.
The unknown time is irksome to us. It perplexes us because we
know nothing of it. If thy new faith teaches us something, it is
worthy of our adherence."
The whole assembly took the side of the two chiefs; but when
Paulinus proposed, as a token of renunciation to false gods, that
their idols should be cast down, all hesitated except the high
priest. He demanded a horse and a javelin in place of the mare
and the white rod which pertained to his old office, and
galloping towards the temple he struck the image with his weapon.
The people trembling awaited some token of the wrath of the gods;
but the heavens and the earth remained silent, and the king was
baptized with all the most distinguished of his people, who were
accompanied by a crowd of warriors. Edwin soon became Bretwalda,
and his reign was an epoch of repose and happiness for his
subjects.
During the struggles which recommenced after the death of Edwin,
three kingdoms fortified themselves, and took the lead over the
others. These were Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex.
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These three divisions of the Heptarchy were predominant in the
year 800, when Egbert, prince of Wessex, returned to his country
after a long exile. He had passed a considerable portion of the
time at the court of Charlemagne, and had thus acquired a
development of intellect and of knowledge rare at that time among
the Saxon princes. The first part of his reign was peaceful; but
from the year 809 forward, the sword of Egbert was drawn from the
scabbard, and for many years he pursued his conquests from
kingdom to kingdom. He had already extended his dominion over the
British people of Cornwall, who had consented to pay him tribute,
when he subjugated Mercia and the kingdom of Kent, Essex, and
East Anglia. He had carried his victorious arms up to the
frontiers of Northumbria. The chiefs, anxious and already beaten
in anticipation, came to meet him, recognizing him for their
sovereign, and promising him obedience. Egbert accepted their
homage, and retired without fighting a battle. Nearly the whole
Heptarchy had accepted his laws, and the title of Bretwalda had
conferred upon him an authority more considerable than in the
case of any of his predecessors. He continued, however, to assume
the simple title of king of Wessex. He reigned until the year
836, happy and powerful; but the last years of his reign were
troubled by the first invasions of the Danes. Egbert repulsed
them with glory; but if he had possessed a spark of the almost
prophetic foresight of Charlemagne, he would have wept, like the
Frankish hero, over the infinite woes with which these men from
the North menaced his country.
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