CHAPTER II--ANCIENT ENGLAND UNDER THE EARLY SAXONS
The Romans had scarcely gone away from Britain, when the Britons began towish they had never left it. For, the Romans being gone, and the Britonsbeing much reduced in numbers by their long wars, the Picts and Scotscame pouring in, over the broken and unguarded wall of SEVERUS, inswarms. They plundered the richest towns, and killed the people; andcame back so often for more booty and more slaughter, that theunfortunate Britons lived a life of terror. As if the Picts and Scotswere not bad enough on land, the Saxons attacked the islanders by sea;and, as if something more were still wanting to make them miserable, theyquarrelled bitterly among themselves as to what prayers they ought tosay, and how they ought to say them. The priests, being very angry withone another on these questions, cursed one another in the heartiestmanner; and (uncommonly like the old Druids) cursed all the people whomthey could not persuade. So, altogether, the Britons were very badlyoff, you may believe.
They were in such distress, in short, that they sent a letter to Romeentreating help--which they called the Groans of the Britons; and inwhich they said, 'The barbarians chase us into the sea, the sea throws usback upon the barbarians, and we have only the hard choice left us ofperishing by the sword, or perishing by the waves.' But, the Romanscould not help them, even if they were so inclined; for they had enoughto do to defend themselves against their own enemies, who were then veryfierce and strong. At last, the Britons, unable to bear their hardcondition any longer, resolved to make peace with the Saxons, and toinvite the Saxons to come into their country, and help them to keep outthe Picts and Scots.
It was a British Prince named VORTIGERN who took this resolution, and whomade a treaty of friendship with HENGIST and HORSA, two Saxon chiefs.Both of these names, in the old Saxon language, signify Horse; for theSaxons, like many other nations in a rough state, were fond of giving menthe names of animals, as Horse, Wolf, Bear, Hound. The Indians of NorthAmerica,--a very inferior people to the Saxons, though--do the same tothis day.
HENGIST and HORSA drove out the Picts and Scots; and VORTIGERN, beinggrateful to them for that service, made no opposition to their settlingthemselves in that part of England which is called the Isle of Thanet, orto their inviting over more of their countrymen to join them. ButHENGIST had a beautiful daughter named ROWENA; and when, at a feast, shefilled a golden goblet to the brim with wine, and gave it to VORTIGERN,saying in a sweet voice, 'Dear King, thy health!' the King fell in lovewith her. My opinion is, that the cunning HENGIST meant him to do so, inorder that the Saxons might have greater influence with him; and that thefair ROWENA came to that feast, golden goblet and all, on purpose.
At any rate, they were married; and, long afterwards, whenever the Kingwas angry with the Saxons, or jealous of their encroachments, ROWENAwould put her beautiful arms round his neck, and softly say, 'Dear King,they are my people! Be favourable to them, as you loved that Saxon girlwho gave you the golden goblet of wine at the feast!' And, really, Idon't see how the King could help himself.
Ah! We must all die! In the course of years, VORTIGERN died--he wasdethroned, and put in prison, first, I am afraid; and ROWENA died; andgenerations of Saxons and Britons died; and events that happened during along, long time, would have been quite forgotten but for the tales andsongs of the old Bards, who used to go about from feast to feast, withtheir white beards, recounting the deeds of their forefathers. Among thehistories of which they sang and talked, there was a famous one,concerning the bravery and virtues of KING ARTHUR, supposed to have beena British Prince in those old times. But, whether such a person reallylived, or whether there were several persons whose histories came to beconfused together under that one name, or whether all about him wasinvention, no one knows.
I will tell you, shortly, what is most interesting in the early Saxontimes, as they are described in these songs and stories of the Bards.
In, and long after, the days of VORTIGERN, fresh bodies of Saxons, undervarious chiefs, came pouring into Britain. One body, conquering theBritons in the East, and settling there, called their kingdom Essex;another body settled in the West, and called their kingdom Wessex; theNorthfolk, or Norfolk people, established themselves in one place; theSouthfolk, or Suffolk people, established themselves in another; andgradually seven kingdoms or states arose in England, which were calledthe Saxon Heptarchy. The poor Britons, falling back before these crowdsof fighting men whom they had innocently invited over as friends, retiredinto Wales and the adjacent country; into Devonshire, and into Cornwall.Those parts of England long remained unconquered. And in Cornwallnow--where the sea-coast is very gloomy, steep, and rugged--where, in thedark winter-time, ships have often been wrecked close to the land, andevery soul on board has perished--where the winds and waves howl drearilyand split the solid rocks into arches and caverns--there are very ancientruins, which the people call the ruins of KING ARTHUR'S Castle.
Kent is the most famous of the seven Saxon kingdoms, because theChristian religion was preached to the Saxons there (who domineered overthe Britons too much, to care for what _they_ said about their religion,or anything else) by AUGUSTINE, a monk from Rome. KING ETHELBERT, ofKent, was soon converted; and the moment he said he was a Christian, hiscourtiers all said _they_ were Christians; after which, ten thousand ofhis subjects said they were Christians too. AUGUSTINE built a littlechurch, close to this King's palace, on the ground now occupied by thebeautiful cathedral of Canterbury. SEBERT, the King's nephew, built on amuddy marshy place near London, where there had been a temple to Apollo,a church dedicated to Saint Peter, which is now Westminster Abbey. And,in London itself, on the foundation of a temple to Diana, he builtanother little church which has risen up, since that old time, to beSaint Paul's.
After the death of ETHELBERT, EDWIN, King of Northumbria, who was such agood king that it was said a woman or child might openly carry a purse ofgold, in his reign, without fear, allowed his child to be baptised, andheld a great council to consider whether he and his people should all beChristians or not. It was decided that they should be. COIFI, the chiefpriest of the old religion, made a great speech on the occasion. In thisdiscourse, he told the people that he had found out the old gods to beimpostors. 'I am quite satisfied of it,' he said. 'Look at me! I havebeen serving them all my life, and they have done nothing for me;whereas, if they had been really powerful, they could not have decentlydone less, in return for all I have done for them, than make my fortune.As they have never made my fortune, I am quite convinced they areimpostors!' When this singular priest had finished speaking, he hastilyarmed himself with sword and lance, mounted a war-horse, rode at afurious gallop in sight of all the people to the temple, and flung hislance against it as an insult. From that time, the Christian religionspread itself among the Saxons, and became their faith.
The next very famous prince was EGBERT. He lived about a hundred andfifty years afterwards, and claimed to have a better right to the throneof Wessex than BEORTRIC, another Saxon prince who was at the head of thatkingdom, and who married EDBURGA, the daughter of OFFA, king of anotherof the seven kingdoms. This QUEEN EDBURGA was a handsome murderess, whopoisoned people when they offended her. One day, she mixed a cup ofpoison for a certain noble belonging to the court; but her husband drankof it too, by mistake, and died. Upon this, the people revolted, ingreat crowds; and running to the palace, and thundering at the gates,cried, 'Down with the wicked queen, who poisons men!' They drove her outof the country, and abolished the title she had disgraced. When yearshad passed away, some travellers came home from Italy, and said that inthe town of Pavia they had seen a ragged beggar-woman, who had once beenhandsome, but was then shrivelled, bent, and yellow, wandering about thestreets, crying for bread; and that this beggar-woman was the poisoningEnglish queen. It was, indeed, EDBURGA; and so she died, without ashelter for her wretched head.
EGBERT, not considering himself safe in England, in consequence of hishaving claimed the crown of Wessex (for he thought his rival might takehim prisoner and put him to death), sought refuge at the court ofCHARLEMAGNE, King of France. On the death of BEORTRIC, so unhappilypoisoned by mistake, EGBERT came back to Britain; succeeded to the throneof Wessex; conquered some of the other monarchs of the seven kingdoms;added their territories to his own; and, for the first time, called thecountry over which he ruled, ENGLAND.
And now, new enemies arose, who, for a long time, troubled Englandsorely. These were the Northmen, the people of Denmark and Norway, whomthe English called the Danes. They were a warlike people, quite at homeupon the sea; not Christians; very daring and cruel. They came over inships, and plundered and burned wheresoever they landed. Once, they beatEGBERT in battle. Once, EGBERT beat them. But, they cared no more forbeing beaten than the English themselves. In the four following shortreigns, of ETHELWULF, and his sons, ETHELBALD, ETHELBERT, and ETHELRED,they came back, over and over again, burning and plundering, and layingEngland waste. In the last-mentioned reign, they seized EDMUND, King ofEast England, and bound him to a tree. Then, they proposed to him thathe should change his religion; but he, being a good Christian, steadilyrefused. Upon that, they beat him, made cowardly jests upon him, alldefenceless as he was, shot arrows at him, and, finally, struck off hishead. It is impossible to say whose head they might have struck offnext, but for the death of KING ETHELRED from a wound he had received infighting against them, and the succession to his throne of the best andwisest king that ever lived in England.