ABRIDGMENT
OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
Edmund Burke
The Caledonians, or
(as they are called) the Picts, made very frequent
and sometimes successful attempts upon this barrier, taking advantage more particularly of every change in government, whilst the soldiery throughout the Empire were more intent upon the choice of
a master than the motions of an enemy. In this dubious state of unquiet peace and unprosecuted war
the province continued until Severus came to the purple, who, finding that Britain had grown inA. D. 207. to one of the most considerable provinces of
the Empire, and was at the same time in a dangerous situation, resolved to visit that island in person, and to provide for its security. He led a
vast army into the wilds of Caledonia, and
was the first of the Romans who penetrated to the
most northern boundary of this island. The natives, defeated in some engagements, and wholly
unable to resist so great and determined a power,
were obliged to submit to such a peace as the emperor thought proper to impose. Contenting himself with a submission, always cheaply won from a barbarous people, and never long regarded, Severus made no sort of military establishment in that country.
On the contrary, he abandoned the advanced work which had been raised in the
reign of Antoninus, and, limiting himself by the plan
of Adrian, he either built a new wall near the former, or he added to the work of that emperor such considerable improvements and repairs that it has
since been called the Wall of Severus.
? ? ? ? 216 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
Severus with great labor and charge terrified the
Caledonians; but he did not subdue them. He neglected those easy and assured means of subjection
which the nature of that part of Britain affords
to a power master of the sea, by the bays, friths,
and lakes with which it is everywhere pierced, and
in some places almost cut through. A few garrisons at the necks: of land, and a fleet to connect
them and to awe the coast, must at any time have
been sufficient irrecoverably to subdue that part of
Britain. This was a neglect in Agricola occasioned
probably by a limited command; and it was not rectified by boundless authority in Severus. The Caledonians again resumed their arms, and renewed their ravages on the Roman frontier. Severus died before
he could take any new measures; and from his death
there is an almost total silence concerning the affairs of Britain until the division of the Empire.
HIad the unwieldy mass of that overgrown dominion been effectively divided, and divided into
large portions, each forming a state, separate and
absolutely independent, the scheme had been far
more perfect. Though the Empire had perished,
these states might have subsisted; and they might
have made a far better opposition to the inroads
of the barbarians even than the whole united; since
each nation would have its own strength solely employed in resisting its own particular enemies. For,
notwithstanding the resources which might have been
expected from the entireness of so great -a body, it
is clear from history that the Romans were never
able to employ with effect and at the same time
above two armies, and that on the whole they were
very unequal to the defence of a frontier of many
thousand miles in'circuit.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 217'
But the scheme which was pursued, the scheme of
joint emperors, holding by a common title, each governing his proper territory, but not wholly without authority in the other portions, this formed a species
of government of which it is hard to conceive any
just idea. It was a government in continual fluctuation from one to many, and from many again to a single hand. Each state did not subsist lont enough
independent to fall into those orders and connected
classes of men that are necessary to a regular commonwealth; nor had they time to grow into those virtuous partialities from which nations derive the
first principle of their stability.
The events which follow sufficiently illustrate
these reflections, and will show the reason of introducing them in this place, with regard to the Empire in general, and to Britain more particularly.
In the division which Diocletian first made of the
Roman territory, the western provinces, in which
Britain was included, fell to Maximnian. It was
during his reign that Britain, by an extraordinary
revolution, was for some time entirely separated from
the body of the Empire. Carausius, a man of obscure birth, and a barbarian, (for now not only the army, but the senate, was filled with foreigners,)
had obtained the government of Boulogne; He was
also intrusted with the command of a fleet stationed
in that part to oppose the Saxon pirates, who then
began cruelly to infest the northwest parts of Gaul
and the opposite shore of Britain. But Carausius
made use of the power with which he had been intrusted, not so much to suppress the pirates as to aggrandize himself. He even permitted their depredations, that he might intercept them on their
? ? ? ? 218 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
return, and enrich himself with the retaken plunder. By such methods he acquired immense wealth, which he distributed with so politic a bounty among
the seamen of his fleet and the legions in Britain that
by degrees he disposed both the one and the other to
a revolt in his favor.
As there were then no settled principles either
of succession or election in the Empire, and all depended on the uncertain faith of the army, Carausius made his attempt, perhaps, with the less guilt, and
found the less difficulty in prevailing upon the provincial Britons to submit to a sovereignty which seemed to reflect a sort of dignity on themselves.
In this island he established the seat of his new dominion; but he kept up and augmented his fleet, by which he preserved his communication with his old
government, and commanded the intermediate seas.
He entered into a close alliance with the
a. D. 286.
Saxons and Frisians, by which he at once
preserved his own island from their depredations
and rendered his maritime power irresistible. He
humbled the Picts by several defeats; he repaired
the frontier wall, and supplied it with good garrisons.
He made several roads equal to the works of the
greatest emperors. He cut canals, with vast labor
and expense, through all the low eastern parts of
Britain, at the same time draining those fenny
countries, and promoting communication and commerce. On these canals he built several cities. Whilst he thus labored to promote the inA. D. 290.
ternal strength and happiness of his kingdom, he contended with so much success against his
former masters that they were at length obliged not
only to relinquish their right to his acquisition, but
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 219
to admit him to a participation of the imperial titles.
He reigned after this for seven years prosperously and
with great glory, because he wisely set bounds to his
ambition, and contented himself with the possession
of a great country, detached from the rest of the
world, and therefore easily defended. Had he lived
long enough, and pursued this plan with consistency,
Britain, in all probability, might then have become,
and might have afterwards been, an independent and
powerful kingdom, instructed in the Roman arts,
and freed from their dominion. But the same distemper of the state which had raised Carausius to
power did not suffer him lang to enjoy it. The
Roman soldiery at that time was wholly destitute of
military principle. That religious regard to their
oath, the great bond of ancient discipline, had been
long worn out; and the want of it was not supplied
by that punctilio of honor and loyalty which is the
support of modern armies. Carausius was
assassinated, and succeeded in his kingdom
by Allectus, the captain. of his guards. But the murderer, who did not possess abilities to support the
power he had acquired by his crimes, was in a short
time defeated, and in his turn put to death, by Constantius Chlorus. In about three years from the death
of Carausius, Britain, after a short experiment of independency, was again united to the body of the Empire. Constantius, after he came to the purple, 304
cnose this island for his residence. Many
authors affirm that his wife Helena was a Briton. It
is more certain that his son Constantine the Great was
born here, and enabled to succeed his father principally by the helps which he derived from Britain.
? ? ? ? 220 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
A. D. 306. Under the reign of this great prince there
was an almost total revolution in the internal
policy of the Empire. This was the third remarkable
change in the Roman government since the dissolution of the Commonwealth. The first was that by which Antoninus had taken away the distinctions of
the municipium, province, and colony, communicating
to every part of the Empire those privileges which
had formerly distinguished a citizen of Rome. Thus
the whole government was cast into a more uniform
and simple frame, and every mark of conquest was
finally effaced. The second alteration was the division of the Empire by. Diocletian. The third was the change made in the great offices of the state, and the
revolution in religion, under Constantine.
The prcefeeti prcetorio, who, like the commanders
of the janizaries of the Porte, by their ambition and
turbulence had kept the government in continual ferment, were reduced by the happiest art imaginable. Their number, only two originally, was increased to
four, by which their power was balanced and broken.
Their authority was not lessened, but its nature was
totally. changed: for it became from that time a dignity and office merely civil. The whole Empire was divided into four departments under these four officers. The subordinate districts were governed by their vicarii; and Britain, accordingly, was under a
vicar, subject to the prcefectus prcetorio of Gaul. The
military was divided nearly in the same manner;
and it was placed under officers also of a new creation, the magistri militice. Immediately under these were the duces, and under those the comites, dukes
and counts, titles unknown in the time of the Repub
lie or in -the higher Empire; but afterwards they ex
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 221
tended beyond the Roman territory, and having been
conferred by the Northern nations upon their leaders,
they subsist to this day, and contribute to the dignity
of the modern courts of Europe.
But Constantine made a much greater change with
regard to religion by the establishment of Christianity. At what time the Gospel was first preached. in this island I believe it impossible to ascertain, as it
came in gradually, and without, or rather contrary
to, public authority. It was most probably first introduced among the legionary soldiers; for we find
St. Alban, the first British martyr, to have been of
that body. As it was introduced privately, so its
growth was for a long time insensible; but it shot
up at length with great vigor, and spread itself widely, at first under the favor of Constantius and the protection of Helena, and at length under the establishment of Constantine. From this time it is to be considered as the ruling religion; though heathenism
subsisted long after, and at last expired imperceptibly, and with as little noise as Christianity had been at first introduced.
In this state, with regard to the civil, military, and
religious establishment, Britain remained without any
change, and at intervals in a tolerable state of repose,
until the reign of Valentinian. Then it was attacked
all at once with incredible fury and success, and as it
were in concert, by a number of barbarous
A. D. 364.
nations. The principal of these were the
Scots, a people of ancient settlement in Ireland, and
who had thence been transplanted into the northern
part of Britain, which afterwards derived its name
from that colony. The Scots of both nations united
with the Picts. to fall upon the Roman province. To
? ? ? ? 222 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
these were added the piratical Saxons, who issued
from the mouths of the Rhine. For some years they
met but slight resistance, and made a most miserable
havoc, until the famous Count Theodosius was sent to
the relief of Britain, - who, by an admirable conduct
in war, and as vigorous application to the cure of domestic disorders, for a time freed the country from its
enemies and oppressors, and having driven the Picts
and Scots into the barren extremity of the island, he
shut and barred them in with a new wall, advanced
as far as the remotest of the former, and, what had
hitherto been imprudently neglected, he erected the
A. D. 368. intermediate space into a Roman province,
and a regular government, under the name
of Valentia. But this was only a momentary relief.
The Empire was perishing by the vices of its constitution.
Each province was then possessed by the inconsiderate ambition of appointing a head to the whole; although, when the end was obtained, the victorious province always returned to its ancient insignificance,
and was lost in the common slavery. A great army
of Britons followed the fortune of Maximus, whom
they had raised to the imperial titles, into Gaul.
A. D. 388. ' They were there defeated; and from their
defeat, as it is said, arose a new people.
They are supposed to have settled in Armorica,
which was then, like many other parts of the sickly Empire, become a mere desert; and that country, from this accident, has been since called Bretagne. The Roman province thus weakened afforded opportunity and encouragement to the barbarians again
to invade and ravage it. Stilicho, indeed, during the
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 223
minority of Honorius, obtained some advantages over
them, which procured a short intermission of their
hostilities. But as the Empire on the continent was
now attacked on all sides, and staggered under the
innumerable shocks which it received, that minister
ventured to recall the Roman forces from Britain, in
order to sustain those parts which he judged of more
importance and in greater danger.
On theintelligence of this desertion, their
barbarous enemies break in upon the Britons, and are no longer resisted. Their ancient protection withdrawn, the people became stupefied with terror and despair. They petition the emperor for succor in the most moving terms. The emperor, protesting his weakness, commits them to their own defence,
absolves -them from their allegiance, and confers on
them a freedom which they have no longer the sense
to value nor the virtue to defend. The princes
whom after this desertion they raised and deposed
with a stupid inconstancy were styled Emperors. So
hard it is to change ideas to which men have been
long accustomed, especially in government, that the
Britons had no notion of a sovereign who was not to
be emperor, nor of an emperor who was not to be
master of the Western world. This single idea ruined Britain. Constantine, a native of this island,
one of those shadows of imperial majesty, no sooner
found himself established at home than, fatally for
himself and his country, he turned his eyes towards
the continent. Thither he carried the flower of the
British youth, - all who were any ways eminent for
birth, for courage, for their skill in the military or
mechanic arts; but his success was not equal to his
hopes or his forces. The remains of his routed army
? ? ? ? 224 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
joined their countrymen in Armorica, and a baffled
attempt upon the Empire a second time recruited
Gaul and exhausted Britain.
The Scots and Picts, attentive to every advantage,
rushed with redoubled violence into this vacuity.
The Britons, who could find no protection but in
slavery, again implore the assistance of their former
masters. At that time Aetius commanded the imperial forces in Gaul, and with the virtue and military skill of the ancient Romans supported the Empire, tottering with age and weakness. Though he was then hard pressed by the vast armies of Attila, which like
a deluge had overspread Gaul, he afforded them a
small and temporary succor. This detachment of Romans repelled the Scots; they repaired the walls; and animating the Britons by their example and instructions to maintain their freedom, they departed. But the Scots easily perceived and took advantage of
their departure. Whilst they ravaged the country,
the Britons renewed their supplications to Aetius.
They once more obtained a reinforcement, which
again reestablished their affairs. They were, however, given to understand that this was to be their last relief. The Roman auxiliaries were recalled, and the
Britons abandoned to their own fortune forever.
When the Romans deserted this island,
A. D. 432.
they left a country, with regard to the arts
of war or government, in a manner barbarous, but
destitute of that spirit or those advantages with which
sometimes a state of barbarism is attended. They
carried out of each province its proper and natural
strength, and supplied it by that of some other, which
had no connection with the country. The troops raised
in Britain often served in Egypt; and those which
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT:OF. . ENGLISH. HISTORY. 22b
were employed for the protection of this island were
sometimes from Batavia or Germany, sometimes from
provinces far to the east. Whenever the strangers
were withdrawn; as they were very easily, the province was. left -in the hands of men wholly unprac-'
tised ill war. After a peaceable possession of more
than three hundred years, the Britons derived but
very few benefits from their subjection to the conquerors and civilizers of mankind. Neither does
it appear that the Roman people were at any time
extremely numerous in this island, or had spread
themselves, their manners, or their language as extensively in Britain as they had done in the other
parts of their Empire. The Welsh and the AngloSaxon languages retain much less of Latin than the
French, the Spanish, or the Italian. The Romans
subdued Britain at a later period, at a time when Italy herself was not sufficiently populous to supply so
remote a province: she was rather supplied-from her
provinces. The military colonies, though in some
respects they were admirably fitted for their purposes, had, however, one essential defect: the lands
granted to the soldiers did not pass to their posterity;
so that the Roman people must have multiplied poorly in this island, when their increase principally depended on a succession of superannuated soldiers. From this defect the colonies were continually falling
to decay. They had also in many respects degenerated from their primitive institution. * We must add,
* Neque conjugiis suscipiendis neque alendis liberis sueti, orbas
sine posteris domos relinquebant. Non enim, ut olim, universe legiones deducebantur cum tribunis et centurionibus et suis cujusque
ordinis militibus, ut consensu et caritate rempublicam efficerent, sed
ignoti inter se, diversis manipulis, sine rectore, sine affectibus mutuis,
VOL. VII. 15
? ? ? ? 226.
ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
that in the decline of the Empire a great part of the
troops in Britain were barbarians, Batavians or Germans. Thus, at the close of this period, this unhappy country, desolated of its inhabitants, abandoned by its masters, stripped of its artisans, and deprived of all
its spirit, was in a condition the most wretched and
forlorn.
quasi. ex alio genere mortalium repente in unum collecti, numerus
magis quam colonia. - Tacit. Annal. XIV. 27.
? ? ? ? BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
THE ENTRY AND SETTLEMENT OF THE SAXONS, AND THEIR
CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY.
AFTER having been so long subject to a A. D. 447.
LA. foreign dominion, there was among the
Britons no royal family, no respected order in the
state, none of those titles to government, confirmed
by opinion and long use, more efficacious than the
wisest schemes for the settlement of the nation.
Mere personal merit was then the only pretence to
power. But this circumstance only added to the
misfortunes of a people who had no orderly method
of election, and little experience of merit in any of
the candidates. During this anarchy, whilst they
suffered the most dreadful calamities from the fury
of barbarous nations which invaded them, they fell
into that disregard of religion, and those loose, disorderly manners, which are sometimes the consequence of desperate and hardened wretchedness, as well as the common distempers of ease and prosperity.
At length, after frequent elections and deposings,
rather wearied out by their own inconstancy than
fixed by the merit of their choice, they suffered Vortigern to reign over them. This leader had made
some figure in the conduct of their wars and factions.
But he was no sooner settled on the throne than he
? ? ? ? 228 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
showed himself rather like a prince born of an exhausted'stock of royalty in the decline of empire than
one of those bold and active spirits whose manly talents obtain them the first place in their country, and
stamp upon it that character of vigor essential to the
prosperity of a new commonwealth. However, the
mere settlement, in spite of the ill administration of
government, procuredc the Britons some internal repose, and some temporary advantages over their enemies, the Picts. But having been long habituated to defeats, neither relying on their king nor on themselves, and fatigued with- the: obstinate attacks of
an enemy whom they: sometimes checked, but could
never remove, in one of their national assemblies it
was resolved -to call in the mercenary aid of the Saxons,. a powerful nation of Germany, which had been
long by their piratical incursions terrible not only to
them, but to all the adjacent countries. This resolution has been generally condemned. It has been
said, that they seem to have. through mere cowardice
distrusted a strength not yet. worn down, and a fortune sufficiently prosperous. . But as it was taken by
general counsel and consent, we must believe that
the: necessity. of such a step was felt, though the
event was dubious. . The event, indeed, might be
dubious:. in a state radically weak, every measure
vigorous enough for. its protection must endanger
its existence.
There is an unquestioned tradition among the
Northern nations of Europe, importing that all that
part of the world had suffered a great and general
revolution by a migration from Asiatic Tartary of a
people whom they call Asers. . These everywhere expelled or subdued: the ancient inhabitants of the Cel
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT! OF: ENGLISH HISTORY. 229
vuc and Cimbric original. The leader -of this'Asiatic
army was called Odin or Wodin: first their general,
afterwards their tutelar deity. The time of this great
change is lost in the imperfection of traditionary history, and the attempts to supply it by fable. It is,
however, certain that the Saxon nation believed themselves the descendants of those conquerors: and they
had as good a title to that descent as any other of
the Northern tribes; for they used the same language
which then was and is still, spoken, with small variation of the dialects, in all the countries which extend
from the polar circle to the:Danube. This people
most probably derived their name, as well as their
origin, from the Sacae, a nation of the Asiatic Scythia.
At the time of which we write they had seated themselves in the Cimbric Chersonestis, or Jutland,- in
the countries of Holstein and Sleswick, and thence
extended along the Elbe and Weser to the coast of
the German Ocean, as far as the mouths of the Rhine.
In that tract they lived in a sort of loose military commonwealth of the' ordinary German model, under several leaders, the most eminent of whom was Hengist, descended from Odin, the great conductor of the Asiatic colonies. It was to this chief that the Britons
applied themselves. They invited him by a promise
of ample pay for his troops, a: large share of their
commron plunder,: and the Isle of Thanet for a settlement.
The army. which came over under:Hengist did not
exceed fifteen hundred men. The opinion which the
Britons had entertained of the Saxon prowess was
well founded; for they had the principal share in a:decisive victory which was obtained over the Picts
soon after their arrival,:a victory which: forever freed
? ? ? ? 230 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
the Britons from all terror of the Picts and Scots, but
in the same moment exposed them to an enemy no
less dangerous.
Hengist and his Saxons, who had obtained by the
free vote of the Britons that introduction into this
island they had so long in vain attempted by arms;
saw that by being necessary they were superior to
their allies. They discovered the character of the
king; they were eye-witnesses of the internal weakness and distraction of the kingdom. This state of
Britain was represented with so much effect to the
Saxons in Germany, that another and much greater
embarkation followed the first; new bodies daily
crowded in. As soon as the Saxons began to be
sensible of their strength, they found it their interest to be discontented; they complained of breaches
of a contract, which they construed'according to their
own designs; and then fell rudely upon their unpre-pared and feeble allies, who, as they had not been
able to resist the Picts and Scots, were still less in
a condition to oppose that force by which they had
been protected against those enemies, when turned
unexpectedly upon themselves. HIengist, with very
little opposition, subdued the province of Kent, and
there laid the foundation of the first Saxon kingdom.
Every battle the Britons fought only prepared them
for a new defeat, by weakening their strength and
displaying the inferiority of their courage. Vortigern, instead of a steady and regular resistance,
opposed a mixture of timid war and unable negotiation. In one of their meetings, wherein the business, according to the German mode, was carried on amidst feasting and riot, Vortigern was struck with
the beauty of a Saxon virgin, a kinswoman of Hen.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 231
gist, and entirely under his influence. Having married her, he delivered himself over to her counsels. His people, harassed by their enemies, be-. 452
trayed by their prince, and indignant at the
feeble tyranny that oppressed them, deposed him, and
set his son Vortimer in his place. But the change
of the king proved no remedy for the exhausted state
of the nation and the constitutional infirmity of tl:e
government. For even if the Britons could have
supported themselves against the superior abilities
and efforts of Hengist, it might have added to their
honor, but would have contributed little to their
safety. The news of his success had roused all
Saxony. Five great bodies of that adventurous
people, under different and independent commanders, very nearly at the same time broke in upon as many different parts of the island. They came no
longer as pirates, but as invaders. Whilst the Britons contended with one body of their fierce enemies, another gained ground, and filled with slaughter and
desolation the whole country from sea to sea. A
devouring war, a dreadful famine, a plague, the most
wasteful of any recorded in our history, united to
consummate the ruin of Britain. The ecclesiastical
writers of that age, confounded at the view of those
complicated calamities, saw nothing but the arm of
God stretched out for the punishment of a sinful
and disobedient nation. And truly, when we set
before us in one point of view the condition of almost all the parts which had lately composed the Western Empire, --of Britain, of Gaul, of Italy, of
Spain, of Africa, --at once overwhelmed by a resistless inundation of most cruel barbarians, whose: inhuman method of war made but a small part of
? ? ? ? 232 ABRIDGMENTOF;ENGLISH HISTORY.
the miseries with. which these nations were afflicted,
we are almost driven out of the circle of political
inquiry: we are in a maier compelled to acknowledge the hand of God in those immense revolutions by which at certain,periods He so signally asserts
His supreme dominion, and brings about that great
system of change which is perhaps as necessary to
the moral as it is found: to be in the natural world.
But whatever was the condition of the other parts
of Europe, it is generally agreed that the state of
Britain was the worst of all. Some writers have
asserted, that, except those who took refuge in the
mountains of Wales and in Cornwall, or fled into
Armorica, the British race was il a manner destroyed. What is extraordinary, we find England
in a very tolerable state of population in less than
two centuries after the first invasion of the Saxons;
and it is hard to imagine either the transplantation
or the increase of that single people to have been
in so short a time sufficient for the settlement of
so great an extent of country. Others speak of
the Britons, not as extirpated, but as reduced to a
state of slavery; and here these writers fix the origin
of personal and predial servitude in England.
I shall lay fairly before the reader all I have
been able to discover concerning the existence or
condition of this unhappy people. That they were
much more broken and reduced, than anlly other nation which had fallen under the German power I think may be inferred from'two considerations.
First, that in all other parts of Europe the ancient
language subsisted after the conquest, and at length
incorporated with that of the' conquerors; whereas
in England the Saxon language received little or
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 233
no tincture from the Welsh; and it seems, even
among the lowest people, to have continued a dialect of:pure Teutonic to the time in which it was
itself blended with the Norman. Secondly, that on
the continent the Christianll religion, after the Northern irruptions, not only remained, but flourished.
It was very early and universally adopted by the
ruling people. In England it was so entirely extinguished, that, when Augustin undertook his mission, it does not appear that among all the Saxons there was a single person professing Christianity.
The sudden extinction of the ancient religion
and language appears sufficient to show that Britain
must have suffered more than any of the neighboring nations on the continent. But it must not be
concealed that there are likewise proofs that the
British race, though much diminished, was not wholly extirpated, and that those who remained were not,
merely. as Britons, reduced to servitude. For they
are mentioned as existing in some of the
a. D. 500.
earlier Saxon laws. In these laws they are
allowed a compensation on the footing of the meaner
kind of English; and they are even permitted, as well
as the English, to emerge out of that low rank into
a more liberal condition. This is degradation, but
not slavery. * The affairs of that whole period are,
however, covered with an obscurity not to be dissipated. The Britons had little leisure or ability to
write a just account of a war by which they were
ruined; and the Anglo-Saxons who succeeded them,
attentive only to arms, were, until their conversion,
ignorant of the use of letters.
It is on this darkened theatre that some old writers
+ Leges Inwe, 32, De Cambrico Homine Agrum possidente. - Id. 54.
? ? ? ? 234 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
have introduced those characters and actions which
have afforded such ample matter to poets and so
much perplexity to historians. - This is the fabulous
and heroic age of our nation. After the natural and
just representations of the Roman scene, the stage
is again crowded with enchanters, giants, and all the
extravagant images of the wildest and' most remote
antiquity. No personage makes so conspicuous a. figure in these stories as King Arthur: a prince whether of British or Roman origin, whether born on this island or in Amorica, is uncertain; but it appears
that he opposed the Saxons with remarkable virtue
and no small degree of success, which has rendered
him and his exploits so large an argument of romance that both are almost disclaimed by history.
Light scarce begins to dawn until the introduction of
Christianity, which, bringing with it the use of letters and the arts of civil life, affords at once a juster
account of things and facts that are more worthy of
relation: nor is there, indeed, any revolution so remarkable in the English story.
The bishops of Rome had for some time meditated
the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. Pope Gregory,
who is surnamed the Great, affected that pious design
with an uncommon zeal; and he at length found a
circumstance highly favorable to it in the marriage of
a daughter of Charibert, a king of the Franks, to the
reigning monarch of Kent. This opportunity induced
Pope Gregory to commission Augustin, a monk of
Rheims, and a man of distinguished piety, to undertake this arduous enterprise. . 600.
years after the coming of the first Saxon
colonies into England, that Ethelbert, king of Kent,
? It was in the year of Christ 600, and 150
? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 235
received intelligence of the arrival in his dominions
of a number of men in a foreign garb, practising several strange and unusual ceremonies, who desired to
be conducted to the king's presence, declaring that
they had things to communicate to him and to his
people of the utmost importance to their eternal welfare. This was Augustin, with forty of the associates
of his mission, who now landed in the Isle of Thanet,
the same place by which the Saxons had before entered, when they extirpated Christianity.
The king heard them in the open air, in order to
defeat,* upon a principle of Druidical superstition, the
effects of their enchantments. Augustin spoke by a
Frankish interpreter. The Franks and Saxons were
of the same origin, and used at that time the same
language. He was favorably received; and a plade
in the city of Canterbury, the capital of Kent, was
allotted for the residence of him and his companions.
They entered Canterbury in procession, preceded by
two persons who bore a silver cross and the figure of
Christ painted on a board, singing, as they went, litanies to avert the wrath of God from that city and
people.
The king was among their first converts. The
principal of his nobility, as usual, followed that example, moved, as it is related, by many signal miracles, but undoubtedly by the extraordinary zeal of the missionaries, and the pious austerity of their
lives. The new religion, by the protection of so respected a prince, who held under his dominion or
influence all the countries to the southward of the
Humber, spread itself with great rapidity. Paganism, after a faint resistance, everywhere gave way.
* " Veteri usus augurion" says Henry of Huntingdon, p. 321.
? ? ? ? 236 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
And, indeed, the chief difficulties which Christianity
had to encounter did not arise so much from:the
struggles of opposite religious prejudices as from the
gross and licentious manners of a barbarous people.
One of the Saxon princes expelled the Christians
from his territory because the priest refused. to give
him some of that white bread which he: saw distributed to his congregation.
It is probable that the order of Druids either did
not at all subsist amongst the Anglo-Saxons, or that
at this time it had declined not a little from its ancient authority and reputation; else it is not easy to
conceive how they admitted: so readily a new system,
which at one stroke; cut off from their character its
whole importance. We even find some chiefs of the
Pagan priesthood: amongst the foremost in submitting to the new doctrine. On the first preaching of
the Gospel in Northumberland, the heathen pontiff
of that territory immediately mounted a horse, which
to those of his order was unlawful, and, breaking into
the sacred inclosure, hewed to pieces the idol he had
so long served. *
If the order of the Druids did not subsist amongst
the Saxons, yet the chief objects of their religion appear to have been derived from that fountain. They,
indeed, worshipped several idols under various forms
of men and beasts; and those-gods to whom they
dedicated the days of the week bore in their attributes, and in the particular days that were consecrated to them, though not in their names, a near resemblance to the divinities of ancient Rome. :But still the great and capital objects of, their worship were
taken from Druidism, -trees, stones, the elements,
* Bede, Hist. Eccl. Lib. II. c. 13.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 237
and the heavenly bodies. *, These were their principal devotions, laid the strongest hold upon their
minds, and resisted the progress of the Christian religion with the greatest obstinacy: for we find these
superstitions forbidden amongst the. latest Saxon laws.
A worship- which. stands, in need of the memorial of
images or books to support it may perish when these
are destroyed; but when a superstition is established
upon those great objects of Nature which continually
solicit the senses, it is extremely difficult to turn the
mind from things that in themselves are striking, and
that are always present. Amongst the objects of this
class must be reckoned the goddess Eostre, who, from
the etymology of the name, as well as from the season, sacred to her, was probably that beautiful planet
which the Greeks and Romans worshipped under the
names of Lucifer and Venus. It is from this goddess
that in. England the paschal festival has been called
Easter. t To these they joined the reverence of various subordinate genii, or demons, fairies, and goblins,
-fantastical ideas, which, in a state of uninstructed
Nature, grow spontaneously out of the wild fancies
or fears of men. :Thus, they worshipped a sort of
goddess, whom they called Mara, formed from those
frightful. appearances that oppress men in their sleep;
and.
(as they are called) the Picts, made very frequent
and sometimes successful attempts upon this barrier, taking advantage more particularly of every change in government, whilst the soldiery throughout the Empire were more intent upon the choice of
a master than the motions of an enemy. In this dubious state of unquiet peace and unprosecuted war
the province continued until Severus came to the purple, who, finding that Britain had grown inA. D. 207. to one of the most considerable provinces of
the Empire, and was at the same time in a dangerous situation, resolved to visit that island in person, and to provide for its security. He led a
vast army into the wilds of Caledonia, and
was the first of the Romans who penetrated to the
most northern boundary of this island. The natives, defeated in some engagements, and wholly
unable to resist so great and determined a power,
were obliged to submit to such a peace as the emperor thought proper to impose. Contenting himself with a submission, always cheaply won from a barbarous people, and never long regarded, Severus made no sort of military establishment in that country.
On the contrary, he abandoned the advanced work which had been raised in the
reign of Antoninus, and, limiting himself by the plan
of Adrian, he either built a new wall near the former, or he added to the work of that emperor such considerable improvements and repairs that it has
since been called the Wall of Severus.
? ? ? ? 216 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
Severus with great labor and charge terrified the
Caledonians; but he did not subdue them. He neglected those easy and assured means of subjection
which the nature of that part of Britain affords
to a power master of the sea, by the bays, friths,
and lakes with which it is everywhere pierced, and
in some places almost cut through. A few garrisons at the necks: of land, and a fleet to connect
them and to awe the coast, must at any time have
been sufficient irrecoverably to subdue that part of
Britain. This was a neglect in Agricola occasioned
probably by a limited command; and it was not rectified by boundless authority in Severus. The Caledonians again resumed their arms, and renewed their ravages on the Roman frontier. Severus died before
he could take any new measures; and from his death
there is an almost total silence concerning the affairs of Britain until the division of the Empire.
HIad the unwieldy mass of that overgrown dominion been effectively divided, and divided into
large portions, each forming a state, separate and
absolutely independent, the scheme had been far
more perfect. Though the Empire had perished,
these states might have subsisted; and they might
have made a far better opposition to the inroads
of the barbarians even than the whole united; since
each nation would have its own strength solely employed in resisting its own particular enemies. For,
notwithstanding the resources which might have been
expected from the entireness of so great -a body, it
is clear from history that the Romans were never
able to employ with effect and at the same time
above two armies, and that on the whole they were
very unequal to the defence of a frontier of many
thousand miles in'circuit.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 217'
But the scheme which was pursued, the scheme of
joint emperors, holding by a common title, each governing his proper territory, but not wholly without authority in the other portions, this formed a species
of government of which it is hard to conceive any
just idea. It was a government in continual fluctuation from one to many, and from many again to a single hand. Each state did not subsist lont enough
independent to fall into those orders and connected
classes of men that are necessary to a regular commonwealth; nor had they time to grow into those virtuous partialities from which nations derive the
first principle of their stability.
The events which follow sufficiently illustrate
these reflections, and will show the reason of introducing them in this place, with regard to the Empire in general, and to Britain more particularly.
In the division which Diocletian first made of the
Roman territory, the western provinces, in which
Britain was included, fell to Maximnian. It was
during his reign that Britain, by an extraordinary
revolution, was for some time entirely separated from
the body of the Empire. Carausius, a man of obscure birth, and a barbarian, (for now not only the army, but the senate, was filled with foreigners,)
had obtained the government of Boulogne; He was
also intrusted with the command of a fleet stationed
in that part to oppose the Saxon pirates, who then
began cruelly to infest the northwest parts of Gaul
and the opposite shore of Britain. But Carausius
made use of the power with which he had been intrusted, not so much to suppress the pirates as to aggrandize himself. He even permitted their depredations, that he might intercept them on their
? ? ? ? 218 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
return, and enrich himself with the retaken plunder. By such methods he acquired immense wealth, which he distributed with so politic a bounty among
the seamen of his fleet and the legions in Britain that
by degrees he disposed both the one and the other to
a revolt in his favor.
As there were then no settled principles either
of succession or election in the Empire, and all depended on the uncertain faith of the army, Carausius made his attempt, perhaps, with the less guilt, and
found the less difficulty in prevailing upon the provincial Britons to submit to a sovereignty which seemed to reflect a sort of dignity on themselves.
In this island he established the seat of his new dominion; but he kept up and augmented his fleet, by which he preserved his communication with his old
government, and commanded the intermediate seas.
He entered into a close alliance with the
a. D. 286.
Saxons and Frisians, by which he at once
preserved his own island from their depredations
and rendered his maritime power irresistible. He
humbled the Picts by several defeats; he repaired
the frontier wall, and supplied it with good garrisons.
He made several roads equal to the works of the
greatest emperors. He cut canals, with vast labor
and expense, through all the low eastern parts of
Britain, at the same time draining those fenny
countries, and promoting communication and commerce. On these canals he built several cities. Whilst he thus labored to promote the inA. D. 290.
ternal strength and happiness of his kingdom, he contended with so much success against his
former masters that they were at length obliged not
only to relinquish their right to his acquisition, but
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 219
to admit him to a participation of the imperial titles.
He reigned after this for seven years prosperously and
with great glory, because he wisely set bounds to his
ambition, and contented himself with the possession
of a great country, detached from the rest of the
world, and therefore easily defended. Had he lived
long enough, and pursued this plan with consistency,
Britain, in all probability, might then have become,
and might have afterwards been, an independent and
powerful kingdom, instructed in the Roman arts,
and freed from their dominion. But the same distemper of the state which had raised Carausius to
power did not suffer him lang to enjoy it. The
Roman soldiery at that time was wholly destitute of
military principle. That religious regard to their
oath, the great bond of ancient discipline, had been
long worn out; and the want of it was not supplied
by that punctilio of honor and loyalty which is the
support of modern armies. Carausius was
assassinated, and succeeded in his kingdom
by Allectus, the captain. of his guards. But the murderer, who did not possess abilities to support the
power he had acquired by his crimes, was in a short
time defeated, and in his turn put to death, by Constantius Chlorus. In about three years from the death
of Carausius, Britain, after a short experiment of independency, was again united to the body of the Empire. Constantius, after he came to the purple, 304
cnose this island for his residence. Many
authors affirm that his wife Helena was a Briton. It
is more certain that his son Constantine the Great was
born here, and enabled to succeed his father principally by the helps which he derived from Britain.
? ? ? ? 220 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
A. D. 306. Under the reign of this great prince there
was an almost total revolution in the internal
policy of the Empire. This was the third remarkable
change in the Roman government since the dissolution of the Commonwealth. The first was that by which Antoninus had taken away the distinctions of
the municipium, province, and colony, communicating
to every part of the Empire those privileges which
had formerly distinguished a citizen of Rome. Thus
the whole government was cast into a more uniform
and simple frame, and every mark of conquest was
finally effaced. The second alteration was the division of the Empire by. Diocletian. The third was the change made in the great offices of the state, and the
revolution in religion, under Constantine.
The prcefeeti prcetorio, who, like the commanders
of the janizaries of the Porte, by their ambition and
turbulence had kept the government in continual ferment, were reduced by the happiest art imaginable. Their number, only two originally, was increased to
four, by which their power was balanced and broken.
Their authority was not lessened, but its nature was
totally. changed: for it became from that time a dignity and office merely civil. The whole Empire was divided into four departments under these four officers. The subordinate districts were governed by their vicarii; and Britain, accordingly, was under a
vicar, subject to the prcefectus prcetorio of Gaul. The
military was divided nearly in the same manner;
and it was placed under officers also of a new creation, the magistri militice. Immediately under these were the duces, and under those the comites, dukes
and counts, titles unknown in the time of the Repub
lie or in -the higher Empire; but afterwards they ex
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 221
tended beyond the Roman territory, and having been
conferred by the Northern nations upon their leaders,
they subsist to this day, and contribute to the dignity
of the modern courts of Europe.
But Constantine made a much greater change with
regard to religion by the establishment of Christianity. At what time the Gospel was first preached. in this island I believe it impossible to ascertain, as it
came in gradually, and without, or rather contrary
to, public authority. It was most probably first introduced among the legionary soldiers; for we find
St. Alban, the first British martyr, to have been of
that body. As it was introduced privately, so its
growth was for a long time insensible; but it shot
up at length with great vigor, and spread itself widely, at first under the favor of Constantius and the protection of Helena, and at length under the establishment of Constantine. From this time it is to be considered as the ruling religion; though heathenism
subsisted long after, and at last expired imperceptibly, and with as little noise as Christianity had been at first introduced.
In this state, with regard to the civil, military, and
religious establishment, Britain remained without any
change, and at intervals in a tolerable state of repose,
until the reign of Valentinian. Then it was attacked
all at once with incredible fury and success, and as it
were in concert, by a number of barbarous
A. D. 364.
nations. The principal of these were the
Scots, a people of ancient settlement in Ireland, and
who had thence been transplanted into the northern
part of Britain, which afterwards derived its name
from that colony. The Scots of both nations united
with the Picts. to fall upon the Roman province. To
? ? ? ? 222 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
these were added the piratical Saxons, who issued
from the mouths of the Rhine. For some years they
met but slight resistance, and made a most miserable
havoc, until the famous Count Theodosius was sent to
the relief of Britain, - who, by an admirable conduct
in war, and as vigorous application to the cure of domestic disorders, for a time freed the country from its
enemies and oppressors, and having driven the Picts
and Scots into the barren extremity of the island, he
shut and barred them in with a new wall, advanced
as far as the remotest of the former, and, what had
hitherto been imprudently neglected, he erected the
A. D. 368. intermediate space into a Roman province,
and a regular government, under the name
of Valentia. But this was only a momentary relief.
The Empire was perishing by the vices of its constitution.
Each province was then possessed by the inconsiderate ambition of appointing a head to the whole; although, when the end was obtained, the victorious province always returned to its ancient insignificance,
and was lost in the common slavery. A great army
of Britons followed the fortune of Maximus, whom
they had raised to the imperial titles, into Gaul.
A. D. 388. ' They were there defeated; and from their
defeat, as it is said, arose a new people.
They are supposed to have settled in Armorica,
which was then, like many other parts of the sickly Empire, become a mere desert; and that country, from this accident, has been since called Bretagne. The Roman province thus weakened afforded opportunity and encouragement to the barbarians again
to invade and ravage it. Stilicho, indeed, during the
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 223
minority of Honorius, obtained some advantages over
them, which procured a short intermission of their
hostilities. But as the Empire on the continent was
now attacked on all sides, and staggered under the
innumerable shocks which it received, that minister
ventured to recall the Roman forces from Britain, in
order to sustain those parts which he judged of more
importance and in greater danger.
On theintelligence of this desertion, their
barbarous enemies break in upon the Britons, and are no longer resisted. Their ancient protection withdrawn, the people became stupefied with terror and despair. They petition the emperor for succor in the most moving terms. The emperor, protesting his weakness, commits them to their own defence,
absolves -them from their allegiance, and confers on
them a freedom which they have no longer the sense
to value nor the virtue to defend. The princes
whom after this desertion they raised and deposed
with a stupid inconstancy were styled Emperors. So
hard it is to change ideas to which men have been
long accustomed, especially in government, that the
Britons had no notion of a sovereign who was not to
be emperor, nor of an emperor who was not to be
master of the Western world. This single idea ruined Britain. Constantine, a native of this island,
one of those shadows of imperial majesty, no sooner
found himself established at home than, fatally for
himself and his country, he turned his eyes towards
the continent. Thither he carried the flower of the
British youth, - all who were any ways eminent for
birth, for courage, for their skill in the military or
mechanic arts; but his success was not equal to his
hopes or his forces. The remains of his routed army
? ? ? ? 224 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
joined their countrymen in Armorica, and a baffled
attempt upon the Empire a second time recruited
Gaul and exhausted Britain.
The Scots and Picts, attentive to every advantage,
rushed with redoubled violence into this vacuity.
The Britons, who could find no protection but in
slavery, again implore the assistance of their former
masters. At that time Aetius commanded the imperial forces in Gaul, and with the virtue and military skill of the ancient Romans supported the Empire, tottering with age and weakness. Though he was then hard pressed by the vast armies of Attila, which like
a deluge had overspread Gaul, he afforded them a
small and temporary succor. This detachment of Romans repelled the Scots; they repaired the walls; and animating the Britons by their example and instructions to maintain their freedom, they departed. But the Scots easily perceived and took advantage of
their departure. Whilst they ravaged the country,
the Britons renewed their supplications to Aetius.
They once more obtained a reinforcement, which
again reestablished their affairs. They were, however, given to understand that this was to be their last relief. The Roman auxiliaries were recalled, and the
Britons abandoned to their own fortune forever.
When the Romans deserted this island,
A. D. 432.
they left a country, with regard to the arts
of war or government, in a manner barbarous, but
destitute of that spirit or those advantages with which
sometimes a state of barbarism is attended. They
carried out of each province its proper and natural
strength, and supplied it by that of some other, which
had no connection with the country. The troops raised
in Britain often served in Egypt; and those which
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT:OF. . ENGLISH. HISTORY. 22b
were employed for the protection of this island were
sometimes from Batavia or Germany, sometimes from
provinces far to the east. Whenever the strangers
were withdrawn; as they were very easily, the province was. left -in the hands of men wholly unprac-'
tised ill war. After a peaceable possession of more
than three hundred years, the Britons derived but
very few benefits from their subjection to the conquerors and civilizers of mankind. Neither does
it appear that the Roman people were at any time
extremely numerous in this island, or had spread
themselves, their manners, or their language as extensively in Britain as they had done in the other
parts of their Empire. The Welsh and the AngloSaxon languages retain much less of Latin than the
French, the Spanish, or the Italian. The Romans
subdued Britain at a later period, at a time when Italy herself was not sufficiently populous to supply so
remote a province: she was rather supplied-from her
provinces. The military colonies, though in some
respects they were admirably fitted for their purposes, had, however, one essential defect: the lands
granted to the soldiers did not pass to their posterity;
so that the Roman people must have multiplied poorly in this island, when their increase principally depended on a succession of superannuated soldiers. From this defect the colonies were continually falling
to decay. They had also in many respects degenerated from their primitive institution. * We must add,
* Neque conjugiis suscipiendis neque alendis liberis sueti, orbas
sine posteris domos relinquebant. Non enim, ut olim, universe legiones deducebantur cum tribunis et centurionibus et suis cujusque
ordinis militibus, ut consensu et caritate rempublicam efficerent, sed
ignoti inter se, diversis manipulis, sine rectore, sine affectibus mutuis,
VOL. VII. 15
? ? ? ? 226.
ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
that in the decline of the Empire a great part of the
troops in Britain were barbarians, Batavians or Germans. Thus, at the close of this period, this unhappy country, desolated of its inhabitants, abandoned by its masters, stripped of its artisans, and deprived of all
its spirit, was in a condition the most wretched and
forlorn.
quasi. ex alio genere mortalium repente in unum collecti, numerus
magis quam colonia. - Tacit. Annal. XIV. 27.
? ? ? ? BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
THE ENTRY AND SETTLEMENT OF THE SAXONS, AND THEIR
CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY.
AFTER having been so long subject to a A. D. 447.
LA. foreign dominion, there was among the
Britons no royal family, no respected order in the
state, none of those titles to government, confirmed
by opinion and long use, more efficacious than the
wisest schemes for the settlement of the nation.
Mere personal merit was then the only pretence to
power. But this circumstance only added to the
misfortunes of a people who had no orderly method
of election, and little experience of merit in any of
the candidates. During this anarchy, whilst they
suffered the most dreadful calamities from the fury
of barbarous nations which invaded them, they fell
into that disregard of religion, and those loose, disorderly manners, which are sometimes the consequence of desperate and hardened wretchedness, as well as the common distempers of ease and prosperity.
At length, after frequent elections and deposings,
rather wearied out by their own inconstancy than
fixed by the merit of their choice, they suffered Vortigern to reign over them. This leader had made
some figure in the conduct of their wars and factions.
But he was no sooner settled on the throne than he
? ? ? ? 228 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
showed himself rather like a prince born of an exhausted'stock of royalty in the decline of empire than
one of those bold and active spirits whose manly talents obtain them the first place in their country, and
stamp upon it that character of vigor essential to the
prosperity of a new commonwealth. However, the
mere settlement, in spite of the ill administration of
government, procuredc the Britons some internal repose, and some temporary advantages over their enemies, the Picts. But having been long habituated to defeats, neither relying on their king nor on themselves, and fatigued with- the: obstinate attacks of
an enemy whom they: sometimes checked, but could
never remove, in one of their national assemblies it
was resolved -to call in the mercenary aid of the Saxons,. a powerful nation of Germany, which had been
long by their piratical incursions terrible not only to
them, but to all the adjacent countries. This resolution has been generally condemned. It has been
said, that they seem to have. through mere cowardice
distrusted a strength not yet. worn down, and a fortune sufficiently prosperous. . But as it was taken by
general counsel and consent, we must believe that
the: necessity. of such a step was felt, though the
event was dubious. . The event, indeed, might be
dubious:. in a state radically weak, every measure
vigorous enough for. its protection must endanger
its existence.
There is an unquestioned tradition among the
Northern nations of Europe, importing that all that
part of the world had suffered a great and general
revolution by a migration from Asiatic Tartary of a
people whom they call Asers. . These everywhere expelled or subdued: the ancient inhabitants of the Cel
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT! OF: ENGLISH HISTORY. 229
vuc and Cimbric original. The leader -of this'Asiatic
army was called Odin or Wodin: first their general,
afterwards their tutelar deity. The time of this great
change is lost in the imperfection of traditionary history, and the attempts to supply it by fable. It is,
however, certain that the Saxon nation believed themselves the descendants of those conquerors: and they
had as good a title to that descent as any other of
the Northern tribes; for they used the same language
which then was and is still, spoken, with small variation of the dialects, in all the countries which extend
from the polar circle to the:Danube. This people
most probably derived their name, as well as their
origin, from the Sacae, a nation of the Asiatic Scythia.
At the time of which we write they had seated themselves in the Cimbric Chersonestis, or Jutland,- in
the countries of Holstein and Sleswick, and thence
extended along the Elbe and Weser to the coast of
the German Ocean, as far as the mouths of the Rhine.
In that tract they lived in a sort of loose military commonwealth of the' ordinary German model, under several leaders, the most eminent of whom was Hengist, descended from Odin, the great conductor of the Asiatic colonies. It was to this chief that the Britons
applied themselves. They invited him by a promise
of ample pay for his troops, a: large share of their
commron plunder,: and the Isle of Thanet for a settlement.
The army. which came over under:Hengist did not
exceed fifteen hundred men. The opinion which the
Britons had entertained of the Saxon prowess was
well founded; for they had the principal share in a:decisive victory which was obtained over the Picts
soon after their arrival,:a victory which: forever freed
? ? ? ? 230 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
the Britons from all terror of the Picts and Scots, but
in the same moment exposed them to an enemy no
less dangerous.
Hengist and his Saxons, who had obtained by the
free vote of the Britons that introduction into this
island they had so long in vain attempted by arms;
saw that by being necessary they were superior to
their allies. They discovered the character of the
king; they were eye-witnesses of the internal weakness and distraction of the kingdom. This state of
Britain was represented with so much effect to the
Saxons in Germany, that another and much greater
embarkation followed the first; new bodies daily
crowded in. As soon as the Saxons began to be
sensible of their strength, they found it their interest to be discontented; they complained of breaches
of a contract, which they construed'according to their
own designs; and then fell rudely upon their unpre-pared and feeble allies, who, as they had not been
able to resist the Picts and Scots, were still less in
a condition to oppose that force by which they had
been protected against those enemies, when turned
unexpectedly upon themselves. HIengist, with very
little opposition, subdued the province of Kent, and
there laid the foundation of the first Saxon kingdom.
Every battle the Britons fought only prepared them
for a new defeat, by weakening their strength and
displaying the inferiority of their courage. Vortigern, instead of a steady and regular resistance,
opposed a mixture of timid war and unable negotiation. In one of their meetings, wherein the business, according to the German mode, was carried on amidst feasting and riot, Vortigern was struck with
the beauty of a Saxon virgin, a kinswoman of Hen.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 231
gist, and entirely under his influence. Having married her, he delivered himself over to her counsels. His people, harassed by their enemies, be-. 452
trayed by their prince, and indignant at the
feeble tyranny that oppressed them, deposed him, and
set his son Vortimer in his place. But the change
of the king proved no remedy for the exhausted state
of the nation and the constitutional infirmity of tl:e
government. For even if the Britons could have
supported themselves against the superior abilities
and efforts of Hengist, it might have added to their
honor, but would have contributed little to their
safety. The news of his success had roused all
Saxony. Five great bodies of that adventurous
people, under different and independent commanders, very nearly at the same time broke in upon as many different parts of the island. They came no
longer as pirates, but as invaders. Whilst the Britons contended with one body of their fierce enemies, another gained ground, and filled with slaughter and
desolation the whole country from sea to sea. A
devouring war, a dreadful famine, a plague, the most
wasteful of any recorded in our history, united to
consummate the ruin of Britain. The ecclesiastical
writers of that age, confounded at the view of those
complicated calamities, saw nothing but the arm of
God stretched out for the punishment of a sinful
and disobedient nation. And truly, when we set
before us in one point of view the condition of almost all the parts which had lately composed the Western Empire, --of Britain, of Gaul, of Italy, of
Spain, of Africa, --at once overwhelmed by a resistless inundation of most cruel barbarians, whose: inhuman method of war made but a small part of
? ? ? ? 232 ABRIDGMENTOF;ENGLISH HISTORY.
the miseries with. which these nations were afflicted,
we are almost driven out of the circle of political
inquiry: we are in a maier compelled to acknowledge the hand of God in those immense revolutions by which at certain,periods He so signally asserts
His supreme dominion, and brings about that great
system of change which is perhaps as necessary to
the moral as it is found: to be in the natural world.
But whatever was the condition of the other parts
of Europe, it is generally agreed that the state of
Britain was the worst of all. Some writers have
asserted, that, except those who took refuge in the
mountains of Wales and in Cornwall, or fled into
Armorica, the British race was il a manner destroyed. What is extraordinary, we find England
in a very tolerable state of population in less than
two centuries after the first invasion of the Saxons;
and it is hard to imagine either the transplantation
or the increase of that single people to have been
in so short a time sufficient for the settlement of
so great an extent of country. Others speak of
the Britons, not as extirpated, but as reduced to a
state of slavery; and here these writers fix the origin
of personal and predial servitude in England.
I shall lay fairly before the reader all I have
been able to discover concerning the existence or
condition of this unhappy people. That they were
much more broken and reduced, than anlly other nation which had fallen under the German power I think may be inferred from'two considerations.
First, that in all other parts of Europe the ancient
language subsisted after the conquest, and at length
incorporated with that of the' conquerors; whereas
in England the Saxon language received little or
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 233
no tincture from the Welsh; and it seems, even
among the lowest people, to have continued a dialect of:pure Teutonic to the time in which it was
itself blended with the Norman. Secondly, that on
the continent the Christianll religion, after the Northern irruptions, not only remained, but flourished.
It was very early and universally adopted by the
ruling people. In England it was so entirely extinguished, that, when Augustin undertook his mission, it does not appear that among all the Saxons there was a single person professing Christianity.
The sudden extinction of the ancient religion
and language appears sufficient to show that Britain
must have suffered more than any of the neighboring nations on the continent. But it must not be
concealed that there are likewise proofs that the
British race, though much diminished, was not wholly extirpated, and that those who remained were not,
merely. as Britons, reduced to servitude. For they
are mentioned as existing in some of the
a. D. 500.
earlier Saxon laws. In these laws they are
allowed a compensation on the footing of the meaner
kind of English; and they are even permitted, as well
as the English, to emerge out of that low rank into
a more liberal condition. This is degradation, but
not slavery. * The affairs of that whole period are,
however, covered with an obscurity not to be dissipated. The Britons had little leisure or ability to
write a just account of a war by which they were
ruined; and the Anglo-Saxons who succeeded them,
attentive only to arms, were, until their conversion,
ignorant of the use of letters.
It is on this darkened theatre that some old writers
+ Leges Inwe, 32, De Cambrico Homine Agrum possidente. - Id. 54.
? ? ? ? 234 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
have introduced those characters and actions which
have afforded such ample matter to poets and so
much perplexity to historians. - This is the fabulous
and heroic age of our nation. After the natural and
just representations of the Roman scene, the stage
is again crowded with enchanters, giants, and all the
extravagant images of the wildest and' most remote
antiquity. No personage makes so conspicuous a. figure in these stories as King Arthur: a prince whether of British or Roman origin, whether born on this island or in Amorica, is uncertain; but it appears
that he opposed the Saxons with remarkable virtue
and no small degree of success, which has rendered
him and his exploits so large an argument of romance that both are almost disclaimed by history.
Light scarce begins to dawn until the introduction of
Christianity, which, bringing with it the use of letters and the arts of civil life, affords at once a juster
account of things and facts that are more worthy of
relation: nor is there, indeed, any revolution so remarkable in the English story.
The bishops of Rome had for some time meditated
the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. Pope Gregory,
who is surnamed the Great, affected that pious design
with an uncommon zeal; and he at length found a
circumstance highly favorable to it in the marriage of
a daughter of Charibert, a king of the Franks, to the
reigning monarch of Kent. This opportunity induced
Pope Gregory to commission Augustin, a monk of
Rheims, and a man of distinguished piety, to undertake this arduous enterprise. . 600.
years after the coming of the first Saxon
colonies into England, that Ethelbert, king of Kent,
? It was in the year of Christ 600, and 150
? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 235
received intelligence of the arrival in his dominions
of a number of men in a foreign garb, practising several strange and unusual ceremonies, who desired to
be conducted to the king's presence, declaring that
they had things to communicate to him and to his
people of the utmost importance to their eternal welfare. This was Augustin, with forty of the associates
of his mission, who now landed in the Isle of Thanet,
the same place by which the Saxons had before entered, when they extirpated Christianity.
The king heard them in the open air, in order to
defeat,* upon a principle of Druidical superstition, the
effects of their enchantments. Augustin spoke by a
Frankish interpreter. The Franks and Saxons were
of the same origin, and used at that time the same
language. He was favorably received; and a plade
in the city of Canterbury, the capital of Kent, was
allotted for the residence of him and his companions.
They entered Canterbury in procession, preceded by
two persons who bore a silver cross and the figure of
Christ painted on a board, singing, as they went, litanies to avert the wrath of God from that city and
people.
The king was among their first converts. The
principal of his nobility, as usual, followed that example, moved, as it is related, by many signal miracles, but undoubtedly by the extraordinary zeal of the missionaries, and the pious austerity of their
lives. The new religion, by the protection of so respected a prince, who held under his dominion or
influence all the countries to the southward of the
Humber, spread itself with great rapidity. Paganism, after a faint resistance, everywhere gave way.
* " Veteri usus augurion" says Henry of Huntingdon, p. 321.
? ? ? ? 236 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
And, indeed, the chief difficulties which Christianity
had to encounter did not arise so much from:the
struggles of opposite religious prejudices as from the
gross and licentious manners of a barbarous people.
One of the Saxon princes expelled the Christians
from his territory because the priest refused. to give
him some of that white bread which he: saw distributed to his congregation.
It is probable that the order of Druids either did
not at all subsist amongst the Anglo-Saxons, or that
at this time it had declined not a little from its ancient authority and reputation; else it is not easy to
conceive how they admitted: so readily a new system,
which at one stroke; cut off from their character its
whole importance. We even find some chiefs of the
Pagan priesthood: amongst the foremost in submitting to the new doctrine. On the first preaching of
the Gospel in Northumberland, the heathen pontiff
of that territory immediately mounted a horse, which
to those of his order was unlawful, and, breaking into
the sacred inclosure, hewed to pieces the idol he had
so long served. *
If the order of the Druids did not subsist amongst
the Saxons, yet the chief objects of their religion appear to have been derived from that fountain. They,
indeed, worshipped several idols under various forms
of men and beasts; and those-gods to whom they
dedicated the days of the week bore in their attributes, and in the particular days that were consecrated to them, though not in their names, a near resemblance to the divinities of ancient Rome. :But still the great and capital objects of, their worship were
taken from Druidism, -trees, stones, the elements,
* Bede, Hist. Eccl. Lib. II. c. 13.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 237
and the heavenly bodies. *, These were their principal devotions, laid the strongest hold upon their
minds, and resisted the progress of the Christian religion with the greatest obstinacy: for we find these
superstitions forbidden amongst the. latest Saxon laws.
A worship- which. stands, in need of the memorial of
images or books to support it may perish when these
are destroyed; but when a superstition is established
upon those great objects of Nature which continually
solicit the senses, it is extremely difficult to turn the
mind from things that in themselves are striking, and
that are always present. Amongst the objects of this
class must be reckoned the goddess Eostre, who, from
the etymology of the name, as well as from the season, sacred to her, was probably that beautiful planet
which the Greeks and Romans worshipped under the
names of Lucifer and Venus. It is from this goddess
that in. England the paschal festival has been called
Easter. t To these they joined the reverence of various subordinate genii, or demons, fairies, and goblins,
-fantastical ideas, which, in a state of uninstructed
Nature, grow spontaneously out of the wild fancies
or fears of men. :Thus, they worshipped a sort of
goddess, whom they called Mara, formed from those
frightful. appearances that oppress men in their sleep;
and.
