Opening
CASSELL'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND
From the Roman Invasion to the Wars of the Roses
With Numerous Illustrations, Including Coloured and Rembrandt Plates
VOL. I
The King's Edition
Cassell and Company, Limited London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne MCMIX
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I. THE ROMAN RULE IN BRITAIN. PAGE
Earliest Notices of the British Isles--The Celts--Their Settlement in Britain--Their Character and Customs--Druidism--Its Organisation and Authority--Its Tenets--Stonehenge and other Remains--Cæsar's Preparations--The First Invasion--Peril of the Romans and their Retirement--The Second Invasion--Cæsar's Battles with Cassivelaunus--Claudius in Britain--The Resistance of Caractacus--His Defeat and Capture--His Speech before Claudius--The Conquest of Anglesea--Boadicea's Rebellion--The Capture of Camulodunum and London--Her Defeat and Death--Agricola in Britain--His Campaigns and Administration--His Campaign against the Caledonians--His Recall--The Walls of Hadrian and Severus--Rivals to the Emperor--Constantine's Accession--Christianity in Britain--Invasions of the Picts and Scots--Dismemberment of the Roman Empire and Departure of the Romans--Divisions and Administration of Britain under the Romans 2
II. ROMAN REMAINS IN BRITAIN
Two Varieties of Masonry--Dover Castle--Richborough Castle--Newport Gate, Lincoln--Hadrian's Wall--Its Direction and Construction--Outworks--Ornamental Detail--Roman Roads and Camps 19
Chapter III
THE FOUNDATION OF THE ENGLISH KINGDOMS AND THEIR CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY.
The Jutes, Angles, and Saxons--Their Village Communities--Larger Combinations, Gradations of Rank--Morality and Religion--Hengist and Horsa found the Kingdom of Kent--The Kingdoms of Sussex, Wessex, and Essex--The Anglian Kingdoms--Mercia--The Welsh--Gregory and St. Augustine--Augustine and Kent--Conversion of Northumbria--England becomes Christian--The Greatness of Mercia--King Offa 25
IV. RISE OF WESSEX AND OF THE SOCIAL SYSTEM OF ENGLAND
Ceawlin and his Successors--Cedwalla--Ina--Subjection to Mercia--Accession of Egbert--He subdues his Rivals--His Wars with the Welsh and Danes--Land-owning System--Local Assemblies--The Hundred Moot--The Shire Moot and its Business--Methods of Trial and Punishments--The Wergild--The Witena-gemot--Its Powers--The King--Class Distinctions--The Church 31
V. THE DANISH INVASIONS AND THE REIGN OF ALFRED
Character of the Invaders--Reign of Ethelwulf--Reigns of Ethelbald and Ethelbert--The Conquest of East Anglia--Battles near Reading--The Accession of Alfred--The Extinction of the Kingdom of Mercia--The Invasion of Wessex--The Year 878--Alfred at Athelney--Death of Hubba--Victory of Alfred and the Treaty of Wedmore--Renewal of the War--Alfred's fleet--Expeditions of Hastings--Remainder of the Reign--Character of Alfred--His Rules of Life--His Legislation--Encouragement of Learning 38
VI. EDWARD THE ELDER AND DUNSTAN
Settlement of the Danes--Edward the Elder and his Cousin--Reconquest of the Danelagh--Edward becomes King of all England--Conspiracy of Alfred against Athelstan--Wars in Northumbria--The Death of Edwin--The Battle of Brunanburgh--The Power of Athelstan--Edmund's Wars with the Danes--Their Submission to Edmund--Rebellion and Reconquest--The Conquest of Cumberland--Death of Edmund--Final Conquest of Northumberland--The Rise of Dunstan--His Banishment--Edgar's Rebellion--His Accession to the Throne--Wars with the Welsh--Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury--His Ecclesiastical Policy--The Reign of Edward the Martyr--Dunstan's Struggles with the Opposition--Death of the King 46
VII. ETHELRED THE UNREADY
The Retirement of Dunstan--Character of Ethelred--Sweyn in Denmark--Character of the Invasions and the Resistance--The Danegeld--The Arrival of Sweyn--Ethelred's Expedition--The Massacre of St. Brice's Day--Return of Sweyn--Defeats of the English--Edric Streona--Failure of the English Fleet--Treacheries of Edric--Death of St. Alphege--Sweyn's Conquest of England and his Death--Return of Ethelred and Departure of Canute--Misgovernment of the King--Canute's Return and the Death of Ethelred 57
VIII. EDMUND IRONSIDE AND CANUTE
A Double Election--Battles of Pen Selwood and Sherstone--Treacheries of Edric--Division of the Kingdom--Death of Edmund--Election of Canute--His Treatment of his Rivals--The four Earldoms--Canute's Marriage with Emma--His Popular Government--His Expeditions to Northern Europe--Submission of the King of Scots--Canute at Rome--The Story of his Rebuke to his Courtiers--His Death 63
IX. EARL GODWIN AND HAROLD
Harold and Harthacanute--The Murder of Alfred--Accession of Harthacanute--His Reconciliation with Godwin--The Punishment of Worcester--Edward the Confessor--His Election--Influx of Normans--The Family of Godwin--Conduct of Sweyn--The Outbreak at Dover--Godwin's Rebellion and Outlawry--William of Normandy's Visit to England--Godwin's Attempt to Return--His Appearance in the Thames--His Restoration to Power--Death of Godwin--His Place taken by Harold--Siward's Invasion of Scotland and his Death--Death of Leofric and Punishment of Ælfgar--Church Building of Harold and Edward--Harold's Conquest of Wales--Turbulence of Tostig--Death of the Atheling Edward--Candidature of Harold 66
X. THE NORMAN INVASION
The Normans--Their Settlement in France--Their Gradual Civilization--Richard the Good--Robert the Devil--William's earlier years--His Consolidation of Power--Harold's Adventures in Normandy and the Story of his Oath to William--Death and Character of Edward--Election of Harold--William's Claims--He Obtains the Sanction of the Church--His Preparations--Proceedings of Tostig--Harold's Forces dwindle--Invasion of Tostig and Harold Hardrada--Battle of Stamford Bridge--Landing of William--Harold in London--Desertion of Edwin and Morcar--Negotiations--Harold at Senlac--Account of the Battle--Death of Harold and Discomfiture of the English--His Burial--Legend of his Escape 75
XI. ENGLISH AND NORMAN ARCHITECTURE AND CUSTOMS
Saxon Architecture; Theories about it--Documentary Evidence--Ancient Churches--Characters of the Saxon Style--Illustrations from an Anglo-Saxon Calendar--Old Manuscripts--English Scholarship--Music and the Minstrels--Musical Instruments--Games and Sports--Costume--The Table--Household Furniture--Material Condition of the People--Norman Costumes--Condition of Learning and the Arts--Refinement of the Normans--The Bayeux Tapestry 83
XII. THE REIGN OF WILLIAM I
After Hastings--Election of Edgar Atheling--Submission of London and Accession of William--Tumult during his Coronation--Character of his Government--Return to Normandy--Affairs during his Absence--Suppression of the First English Rebellion--Rebellion in the North--The Last National Effort--The Reform of the Church--The Erection of Castles--Plan of a Norman Castle--End of Edwin and Morcar--"The Last of the Saxons"--Affairs in Maine--Conspiracy of the Norman Nobles--The Execution of Waltheof--Punishment of Ralph the Wader--The Story of Walcher of Durham--Expeditions to Scotland and Wales--Quarrels between William and his Sons--Domesday Book--The Creation of the New Forest--Punishment of Odo of Bayeux--The Death of William--Incidents at his Burial--Character of William 107
XIII. REIGN OF WILLIAM II
William's Surname--How he obtained the Throne--Rising in favour of his Brother Robert--Bishop Odo's Ill-fortune--Surrender of Rochester Castle--Flight of Odo--Failure of the Conspiracy--Death of Lanfranc--William's Misrule--Randolf the Firebrand--Appointment of Anselm to Canterbury--Rufus Invades Normandy--Treaty between the Brothers--Siege of Mount St. Michael--Malcolm Canmore's Inroad into England--Building of Castle at Carlisle--Death of Malcolm--Illness of William--His Treachery towards Robert--Welsh Marauders--Earl Mowbray's Hard Fortune--The King's Exactions--He obtains possession of Normandy--The Hunt in the New Forest--Death of the Red King 123
XIV. THE FIRST CRUSADE
The Institution of Chivalry--Affairs in the Holy Land--Pilgrimages--Persecution of Christians--Peter the Hermit--Crusade Decided on--Progress of Peter's Mission--The Council of Clermont--Attitude of Pope Urban--The Truce of God--Expedition of Walter the Penniless--Excesses of the Crusaders--Defeat of the Christians by the Turks--Conduct of the Emperor Alexius--Disaster in Hungary--Geoffrey de Bouillon--March of his Army--Robert of Normandy and his Troops--Imprisonment of Hugh of Vermandois--Arrival of Godfrey before Constantinople--The Byzantine Court--The Church of Santa Sophia--Scenes of Magnificence--Reception of Godfrey by the Emperor--Tancred's Army leaves Italy--Bohemond's Submission--Count Raymond at Constantinople--Arrival of Robert of Normandy--Siege of Nicæa--Treachery of the Emperor--Severe Struggle with the Turks--Bravery of Robert--Flight of the Turks--Crusaders' Sufferings on their March--Siege and fall of Antioch--Defeat of the Persians--Pestilence at Antioch--Arrival of the Crusaders before Jerusalem--Fall of the City--Vengeance of the Crusaders--Godfrey elected King of Jerusalem--Hospitallers and Templars--Close of the First Crusade 132
XV. THE REIGN OF HENRY I
Accession of Henry I.--Robert's Delay in Italy--The Charter of Liberties--Henry's Popularity--Offers his Hand to Matilda--Her Lineage--Obstacles to the Marriage--The Church decides in Favour of it--London at this Period--Coronation of Matilda--Roger of Salisbury--The Marriage--Punishment of William's Favourites--Arrival of Robert in Normandy--Prepares to Attack Henry--Anselm's Services to Henry--Peace effected between the Brothers--Henry's Dispute with Anselm--Strange Policy of the Pope--The Dispute Settled--Death of Anselm--The Earl of Shrewsbury Outlawed--Visit of Robert to England--Campaigns in Normandy--Robert and Edgar Atheling taken Prisoners--Fate of Edgar--Captivity and Death of Robert--Normandy in Possession of Henry--The English King and his Nephew--Return of the King to England--Betrothal of Henry's Daughter Matilda to the Emperor of Germany--War with the Welsh--Death of the Queen--Renewed War in Normandy--Henry before the Council of Rheims--Battle of Brenneville--Treaty of Peace--Shipwreck and Death of the King's Son--Henry's Grief--Character of Prince William--More Trouble in Normandy--The Empress Matilda declared Successor to the Throne--Her Marriage with the Count of Anjou--Death of William of Normandy--Last Years of the King's Life--Death of Henry 152
XVI. REIGN OF KING STEPHEN
Stephen of Blois--Arrival in England--His Coronation--Pope Innocent's Letter--Claims of Matilda--The Earl of Gloucester's Policy--Revolt of the Barons--The King of Scotland Invades England--The Battle of Northallerton--Outrage on the Bishops of Salisbury, Lincoln, and Ely--The Synod of Winchester--Landing of the Empress Matilda--Outbreak of Civil War--Battle at Lincoln--Defeat and Capture of Stephen--Matilda's Arrogant Behaviour--Rising of the Londoners and Flight of Matilda--London Re-occupied by the King's Adherents--Matilda Besieged in Winchester--Exchange of the Earl of Gloucester for the King--Stephen Resumes the Crown--Reign of Terror--Siege of Oxford--Flight of Matilda--Desultory Warfare--Death of the Earl of Gloucester--Stephen's Quarrel with the Church--The Interdict Removed--Further Dangers from Normandy--Divorce of Eleanor--Her Marriage with Prince Henry--Landing of Henry in England--Unpopularity of the War--Violence and Death of Eustace--Treaty Arranged between Henry and the King--Death of Stephen 167
XVII. THE REIGN OF HENRY II
Accession of Henry Plantagenet--Royal Entry into Winchester--Expulsion of the Flemings--Henry's Dealings with the Barons--Siege of Bridgenorth Castle--The King's Quarrel with Geoffrey--Henry's Magnificence--War with, and Submission of, the Welsh--The King in Brittany--Alarm of the King of France at Henry's Schemes of Aggrandisement--Henry's Designs on Toulouse--Origin of Scutage--Peace with Louis--The People of Languedoc--Louis' Third Marriage--Fresh Rupture between the Two Kings--Marriage of Henry's Son and Louis' Daughter--The Two Popes--Renewed Reconciliation 180
Chapter XVIII
THE REIGN OF HENRY II.(continued).--CAREER OF THOMAS BECKET.
Early Life of Becket--Rapid Advance in the King's Service--Magnificence of his Embassy to Paris--The King, the Chancellor, and the Beggar--Depravity of the Clergy--Becket's Reforming Zeal--Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury--Extraordinary Change in his Habits--At Frequent Issue with the King--The Council of Clarendon--Becket Defies the King--Popularity with the People--His Flight from Northampton--Arrival at St. Omer--Obtains the Support of Louis and the Pope--Henry's Edict of Banishment--Defeat of the English by the Welsh--Insurrection in Brittany--Becket Excommunicates his Opponents--Henry's Anger--The Pope's Action against Becket--Interview between Becket and the King--The Two Reconciled--Return of Becket to England--His Christmas Sermon--The King's Fury--The Vow of the Conspirators--Scene in Becket's House--Murder of the Archbishop--Henry's Grief--Review of Becket's Career 187
XIX. THE REIGN OF HENRY II. (concluded)
Events in Ireland--The Irish People--Henry's Designs in Ireland--Nicholas Breakspeare (Pope Adrian IV.)--The King of Leinster's Outrage--Dermot obtains Henry's Patronage--Siege of Wexford--Strongbow in Ireland--Siege of Waterford--Henry and the Norman Successes in Ireland--Arrival of Henry near Waterford--His Court in Dublin--The King Returns to England--His Eldest Son Rebels--The Younger Henry at the French Court--The English King's Measures of Defence--Defeat of the Insurgent Princes--Success of the King's Cause in England--Henry's Penance--Capture of King William of Scotland--Revival of Henry's Popularity--The King Forgives his Rebellious Sons--Period of Tranquillity--Fresh Family Feuds--The King at Limoges--Death of Princes Henry and Geoffrey--Affairs in Palestine--The Pope's Call to Arms for the Cross--The Saladin Tithe--Richard's Quarrel with his Father--Henry Sues for Peace--The Conference at Colombières--Death of the King--Richard before his Father's Corpse--Character of Henry II.--The Story of Fair Rosamond 199
XX. NORMAN ARCHITECTURE
Introduction of Norman Architecture--Remains of Saxon Work--Canterbury Cathedral--St. Albans and other Edifices--Periods of Norman Architecture--Its Characteristics--Towers--Windows--Doorways--Porches--Arches--Piers and Pillars--Capitals--Mouldings and Ornaments 212
XXI. REIGN OF RICHARD I.: THE THIRD CRUSADE
Richard's Show of Penitence--His Coronation--Massacre of the Jews--Results of the Second Crusade--Richard raises Money for the Third Crusade--The Regency--Departure for the Holy Land--The Sicilian Succession--The Quarrel concerning Joan's Dower--Richard's Prodigality--His Interview with the Monk, Joachim--Treachery of Philip, and Richard's Repudiation of Alice--Richard's Betrothal to Berengaria--Adventures on the Coast of Cyprus, and the Conquest of the Island--The Siege of Acre and its Fall--Dissension between Richard and Philip, and Return of the Latter to France--Massacre of Prisoners on Both Sides--The Battle of Azotus--Occupation of Jaffa--The Advance towards Jerusalem--Quarrels among the Crusaders, and Negotiations with Saladin--Chivalry of Saladin--Death of Conrad, and Charges brought against Richard--Last Advance upon Jerusalem--Battle of Jaffa--Truce with Saladin 217
XXII. REIGN OF RICHARD I. (concluded)
Shipwreck of Richard--His Arrival in Austria--His Capture by the Archduke Leopold--He is surrendered to the Emperor of Germany--Events in England--Renewed Persecution of the Jews--The Massacre at York--Quarrel between Longchamp and Pudsey--Stories about Longchamp--His Rupture with John, and Temporary Compromise--Imprisonment of Geoffrey of York--Longchamp takes Refuge in the Tower--His Deposition and Flight to France--Intrigues between John and Philip--Rumours of Richard's Imprisonment--The Story of Blondel--Richard before the Diet--Loyalty of Richard's Subjects, and Collection of the Ransom--Richard's Reception in England--His Expedition to France--Administration of Hubert Walter--William Fitz-Osbert--Recommencement of Hostilities with France--The Bishop of Beauvais--Defeat of Philip--Death of Richard before Chaluz--His Character 235
XXIII. JOHN AND THE GREAT CHARTER
Accession of John--His Position--Arthur of Brittany--Peace between John and Philip of France--John's Marriage with Isabella of La Marche--Rupture with France--The Struggle Begins--Capture of Arthur--The Stories of his Death--The Loss of Normandy--Peace with Philip--Quarrel with the Pope--The Kingdom Laid under an Interdict, and Excommunication of John--John's Desperate Measures--Expedition to Ireland--John is deposed--Arrival of Pandulph in England--Surrender of the Kingdom to the Pope--Successes of John--Langton Arrives in England--He Becomes Leader of the Baronial Party--The Battle of Bouvines--Insurrection in England--The Barons Confront John--His Intrigues--Meeting at Brackley--Occupation of London--The Meeting at Runnymede--Greatness of the Occasion--Provisions of the Charter--Duplicity of John--Siege of Rochester--John in the North--His Cause Supported by the Church--The Crown offered to Louis of France--He Enters London--Sieges of Dover and Windsor--Reported Conspiracy--John's Disaster at the Wash--His Death and Character 251
XXIV. THE REIGN OF HENRY III
Accession of the King--Renewal of the Great Charter--Messages of Conciliation--Battle of Lincoln--Destruction of the French Fleet--Departure of Louis--Reduction of Albemarle--Resumption of the Royal Castles--War with France--Characters of Richard of Cornwall and Henry III.--Fall of Hubert de Burgh--Peter des Roches--Henry is his own Minister--The House of Provence--The King's Marriage Articles--The Marriage and Entry into London--Influx of Foreigners--Papal Aggressions--Persecution of the Jews--Oppression of the Londoners--A Religious Ceremony 277
XXV. THE REIGN OF HENRY III. (concluded)
The King's Misfortunes Abroad and Exactions at Home--Ambition and Rapacity of the Church of Rome--The Council of Lyons--The Kingdom of Sicily--Henry Accepts the Crown for his Son--Consequent Extortions--Richard becomes King of the Romans--Disputes between the King and the Barons--Simon de Montfort--He becomes Leader of the National Party--The Mad Parliament and the Provisions of Oxford--Banishment of Aliens--Government of the Barons--Peace with France--Henry is Absolved from the Provisions of Oxford--The Barons Oppose Him--Outbreak of Hostilities--The Award of Amiens--The Battle of Lewes--The Mise of Lewes--Supremacy of Leicester--The Exiles Assemble at Damme--The Parliament of 1265--Escape of Prince Edward--Battle of Evesham and Death of De Montfort--Continuance of the Rebellion--The Dictum de Kenilworth--Parliament of Marlborough--Prince Edward goes on Crusade--Deaths of Henry D'Almaine, Richard of Cornwall, and the King--Character of Henry 290
XXVI. ARCHITECTURE OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY
Transition from Norman to Gothic Architecture--The Period of Change--The Early English Style--Examples and Characteristics of the Style--Towers--Windows--Doorways--Porches--Buttresses --Pillars--Arches--Mouldings and Ornaments--Fronts 314
XXVII. THE REIGN OF EDWARD I
Accession of Edward--His Adventures while on Crusade--Death of St. Louis--Arrival of Edward at Acre--Fall of Nazareth--Events at Acre--Departure from Palestine--Edward in Italy--The "Little Battle of Châlons"--Dealings with the Flemings--Edward lands at Dover--Persecution of the Jews--Edward's Designs on Wales--Character of the Welsh--Rupture with Llewelyn--Submission of the Welsh--Conduct of David--Second Welsh Rising--Death of Llewelyn--Execution of David--Annexation of Wales--Edward on the Continent--Sketch of Scottish History--Attack of the Norwegians--Deaths in the Royal Family--Death of Alexander--Candidature of Robert Bruce--Death of the Maid of Norway--Candidates for the Throne--Meeting at Norham--Edward's Supremacy Acknowledged--He Decides in Favour of Balliol 319
XXVIII. REIGN OF EDWARD I. (concluded)
Banishment of the Jews--Edward's Restorative Measures--Edward's Continental Policy--Quarrel with France--Undeclared War--Edward Outwitted by Philip--Re-conquest of Wales--The War with France--Position of Balliol--He is placed under Restraint--Edward Marches Northwards--Fall of Berwick--Battle of Dunbar--Submission of Balliol and Scotland--Settlement of Scotland--Sir William Wallace--He heads the National Rising--Robert Bruce joins him--Submission of the Insurgents--Battle of Stirling Bridge--Invasion of England--Edward Defeats Wallace at Falkirk--Regency in Scotland--Oppression of the Clergy--The Barons refuse to help Edward--The Expedition to Flanders--A Constitutional Struggle--Peace with France--The Pope claims Scotland--Defeat of the English--Edward's Vengeance--Capture and Death of Wallace--Bruce takes his place--Death of Comyn--Defeats of the Scots--Death of Edward--His Character and Legislation--Sketch of the growth of the English Parliament 335
XXIX. REIGN OF EDWARD II
Character of the new King--Piers Gaveston--The King's Marriage--Gaveston is Dismissed to Ireland--His Return--Appointment of the Lords Ordainers--Their Reforms--Gaveston Banished--His Reappearance--Rebellion of the Nobles and Death of Gaveston--Successes of Bruce in Scotland--The Battle of Bannockburn--The Establishment of Scottish Independence--Edward Bruce in Ireland--Power of Lancaster--The Despensers--They are Banished--Sudden Activity of the King--Battle of Boroughbridge--The King's Vengeance--Peace with Scotland--Conspiracies against Edward--Machinations of the Queen--She Lands in England--Edward is Deserted and taken Prisoner--Dethronement of Edward--Indignation against Isabella--Murder of Edward--The Lessons of the Reign--Abolition of the Templars 363
XXX. THE REIGN OF EDWARD III
The Regency--War with Scotland--Edward is Baffled--Peace with Scotland, and Death of Bruce--Kent's Conspiracy--Overthrow of Mortimer--Edward assumes Authority--Relations with Scotland--Balliol Invades Scotland--Battle of Dupplin Moor--Edward supports Balliol--Battle of Halidon Hill--Scottish Heroines--Preparations for War with France--The Claims of Edward--Real Causes of the Quarrel--Alliances and Counter-Alliances--Edward Lands in Flanders--Is Deserted by his Allies and Returns to England--Battle of Sluys--Dispute with Stratford--The Breton Succession Question--Renewal of the War--Derby in Guienne--Edward Lands in Normandy--Battle of Creçy 387
XXXI. EDWARD III. (concluded)
Siege of Calais--Battle of Neville's Cross--Capture of the Scottish King--Institution of the Garter--The Black Death--Disturbances in France excited by the King of Navarre--Battle of Poitiers--The King of France taken Prisoner and brought to England--Disorders in France--Affairs in Scotland--Fresh Invasion of France--The Peace of Bretigny--Return of King John to France--Disorders of that Kingdom--The Free Companies--Expedition of the Black Prince into Castile--Fresh Campaign in France--Decline of the English Power there--Death of the Black Prince--Death of Edward III.--Character of his Reign and State of the Kingdom 420
XXXII. THE REIGN OF RICHARD II
Accession of the King--Attitude of John of Gaunt--Patriotic Government--Insurrection of the Peasantry--John Ball--The Poll-tax--Wat Tyler--The Attack on London--The Meeting at Mile End--Death of Wat Tyler, and Dispersion of the Insurgents--Marriage of the King--Expedition of the Bishop of Norwich--Death of Wycliffe--Unpopularity of Lancaster--He Retires to Spain--Gloucester Attacks the Royal Favourites--Committee of Reform--The Lords Appellant--The Wonderful Parliament--Richard sets Himself Free--His Good Government--Expedition to Ireland--Marriage with Isabella of France--The King's Vengeance--Banishment of Hereford and Norfolk--Arbitrary Rule of the King--His Second Visit to Ireland--Return of Hereford--Deposition and Murder of Richard 449
XXXIII. THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND
Power of the Church--Ecclesiastical Legislation--Rapacity of the Papacy--Resistance of the Clergy--The Bull "Clericis Laicos"--Contests between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Power--The Scottish Church--Literature, Science and Art--State of Learning--The Nominalists and Realists--Medicine--The Universities--Men of Learning and Science--Roger Bacon and his Contemporaries--Historians--Growth of the English Language--Poetry--Architecture--The Early Decorated Style and its Characteristics--Domestic Buildings--Sculpture and Painting--Music--Commerce, Coinage, and Shipping--Manners, Customs, Dress, and Diversions 486
XXXIV. REIGN OF HENRY IV
His Coronation--The Insecurity of his Position--He courts the Clergy and the People--Sends an Embassy to France--Conspiracy to Assassinate him--Death of King Richard--Rumours of his Escape to Scotland--Expedition into Scotland--Revolt of Owen Glendower--Battle of Homildon Hill--The Conspiracy of the Percies--The Battle of Shrewsbury, where they are Defeated--Northumberland Pardoned--Accumulating Dangers--Second Rebellion of the Percies with the Archbishop of York--The North Reduced--The War in Wales--Earl of Northumberland flies thither--The Plague--Battle of Bramham Moor--Reduction of the Welsh--Expedition into France--Death of Henry 515
XXXV. THE REIGN OF HENRY V
Character of the King--Oldcastle's Rebellion--Attempts to Reform the Church--Henry's Reasons for the French War--Distracted Condition of France--Henry's Claims on the French Throne--Conspiracy of Cambridge--Fall of Harfleur--The March to Calais--The Battle-field of Agincourt--Events of the Battle--Visit of Sigismund to England--French Attack on Harfleur--Anarchy in France--Alliance between the Queen and the Burgundians--Henry's Second Invasion--Final Rebellion and Death of Oldcastle--Reduction of Lower Normandy--Siege and Capture of Rouen--Negotiations for Peace--Henry Advances on Paris--Murder of Burgundy--His Son Joins Henry--Treaty of Troyes--Defeat of the English at Beaugé--Henry in Paris--His Death 545
XXXVI. HENRY VI
Arrangements during the Minority--Condition of France--Death of Charles VI.--Bedford's Marriage--Battle of Crévant--Release of the Scottish King--Battle of Verneuil--Gloucester's Marriage and its Consequences--Rivalry of Gloucester and Beaufort--Siege of Orleans--Battle of the Herrings--Joan of Arc--The March to Orleans--Relief of the Town--March to Rheims--Coronation of Charles--The Repulse from Paris--Capture of the Maid--Her Trial and Death--Coronation of Henry--Bedford Marries again--Congress of Arras--Death of Bedford--The Tudors--Contests between Beaufort and Gloucester--Henry's Marriage--Deaths of Gloucester and Beaufort--Disasters in France--Fall and Death of Suffolk 576
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Landing of the Romans on the Coast of Kent 1
Stonehenge 4
Stonehenge (restored) 4
Druids inciting the Britons to oppose the Landing of the Romans 5
Julius Cæsar 8
Caractacus before Claudius 9
Britons with Coracle 12
Roman Soldiers passing over a Bridge of Boats 13
Roman Soldiers leaving Britain 17
Coins of the Roman Republic and the Empire 20
Newport Gate, Lincoln 21
Transverse Section of the Roman Wall 22
Longitudinal View of the Roman Wall 22
Cornice from Vendalana (Chesterholm) 22
Capital from Cilurnum (Walwick Chesters) 23
Doorway from Bird-Oswald 23
Roman Masonry at Colchester 23
Basement of Station on the Roman Wall 23
Roman Urns 24
Glastonbury Abbey 25
Treaty of Hengist and Horsa with Vortigern 28
Edwin of Northumbria and the Christian Missionaries 32
Meeting of the Shire-Moot 33
Map of England showing the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms and Danish Districts 37
Danish Ships 40
Alfred in the Neat-Herd's Hut 41
The "Lady of the Mercians" Fighting the Welsh 45
Ethelwulf's Ring 48
Anlaff entering the Humber 49
Dunstan rebuking Edwy in the Presence of Elgiva 52
Edgar the Peaceable being rowed Down the Dee by eight Tributary Princes 53
Assassination of Edward the Martyr 56
Crucifixion of St. Peter and Martyrdom of other Saints 57
Martyrdom of Alphege 61
Meeting of Edmund Ironside and Canute on the Island of Olney 64
The Riot at Dover 69
The Death of Siward 72
Taking Sanctuary 73
Harold taken Prisoner by the Count of Ponthieu 76
Pevensey Castle 77
William I., surnamed the Conqueror 80
Death of Harold at the Battle of Hastings 81
Gateway of Battle Abbey 84
Building of the Tower of Babel 85
Tower of Sompting Church 86
Window (Saxon) of Deerhurst Church, Gloucester 87
Window (Saxon) of Jarrow Church, Durham 87
Doorway (Saxon) of Barnack Church, Northamptonshire 87
Anglo-Saxon Calendar 88
Anglo-Saxon Calendar 89
Anglo-Saxon Calendar 90
Saxon Calendar 91
Fragment of Copy of the Evangelists, in Latin 91
First Two Lines of Horace's Ode to Mæcenas 92
English Writing of the Sixth Century 92
English Dinner Party 92
Gleemen Juggling 93
Balancing 93
Musical Instruments 93
Dance with Lyre and Double Flute 93
Grand Organ, with Bellows and Double Keyboard 94
Harp of the Ninth Century 94
English Game of Bowls 95
Ladies Hunting 95
Norman Costumes of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries 96
Hawking Party in the Eleventh Century 97
Hawking 98
Harold 98
Umbrella for Hawks 98
The Lure 99
Sword Play 99
Ancient Quintain 99
Bob Apple 100
Saxon Costumes 100
Saxon Costumes 100
English Crowns 100
English Shoes 101
English Dinner Party 101
Cloak-pin, Buckle, and Pouch of the Twelfth Century 101
Early English Candlestick 102
English Bed 102
Chairs 102
Saxon Comb and Comb-Case 102
Norman Vessel of the Twelfth Century 103
Norman Soldiers 103
Norman Bowmen of the Eleventh Century 103
Woman Spinning 104
Sacramental Wafer Box of the Twelfth Century 104
Incidents copied from the Bayeux Tapestry 105
Incidents copied from the Bayeux Tapestry 106
Great Seal of William I. 109
Plan of a Norman Castle 112
Norman and Saxon Arms 114
Waltheof's Confession 116
Robert asking His Father's Pardon 120
Fitz-Arthur forbidding the Burial of William 121
Departure of Bishop Odo from Rochester 124
William II., surnamed Rufus 125
Great Seal of William II. 128
Surrender of Bamborough Castle 129
St. Helena discovering the True Cross 132
Initiation into the Order of Knighthood 133
Pope Urban II. preaching the First Crusade in the Market-Place of Clermont 136
The Mosque of Santa Sophia, Constantinople 137
Bird's-Eye View of Christian Constantinople 140
Circus and Hippodrome of Christian Constantinople 141
Statue of Godfrey de Bouillon, Brussels 144
Robert of Normandy rallying the Crusaders 145
Throne of the Emperor of Constantinople 147
Costume of Empress of Constantinople 147
Procession of the Crusaders round the Walls of Jerusalem 148
Pilgrim, Palmer, Hospitaller, Templar Knight, and Conventual Templar 149
Great Seal of Henry I. 153
Robert of Normandy paying Court to the Lady Sibylla 156
Marriage of Henry I. and Matilda 157
Duke Robert's Son before King Henry 161
Shipwreck of Prince William 164
Henry I. 165
Stephen 168
Great Seal of Stephen 169
Silver Penny of Stephen 172
Interview between the Empress Matilda and Queen Maud 173
Flight of Matilda from Oxford Castle 176
Great Seal of Henry II. 177
English Costumes in the Time of Henry II. 181
Silver Penny of Henry II. 183
Heroism of St. Clair at the Siege of Bridgenorth Castle 184
Becket before his Enemies in the Council Hall at Northampton 185
Henry II. 189
Repulse of the English at Corwen 192
Interview between Becket and King Henry 193
The Murder of Becket in Canterbury Cathedral 197
The Siege of Waterford 200
Henry on His Way to Becket's Tomb 205
Henry receiving the News of John's Treachery 209
Crown of the Twelfth Century 211
St. Clement's, Sandwich, showing the Norman Tower 212
The Chapel in the White Tower, Tower of London 213
Portion of Doorway, Durham Cathedral 215
Castle Rising, Norfolk 216
Richard I. 217
Coronation of Richard in Westminster Abbey: the Procession along the Aisle 220
View in Genoa: the Dogana 221
Isaac of Cyprus begging for the Release of His Daughter 225
Richard at the Battle of Azotus 228
Fountain near Jaffa 229
Jaffa, from the Sands 232
Richard landing at Jaffa 233
Richard assailed by the Austrian Soldiers 237
Arrest of Archbishop Geoffrey in a Monastery at Dover 240
South-West View of Old St. Paul's, showing the Chapter-House, &c. 241
Great Seal of Richard I. 244
Reception of Richard on His Return from the Continent 245
Map of the English Possessions in France 248
Bertrand in Presence of Richard 249
John 253
Great Seal of John 256
Murder of Prince Arthur 257
Interior of Rouen Cathedral 261
John doing Homage to the Pope's Legate 264
St. Peter's Church, Northampton 265
John refusing to sign the Articles of the Barons 269
Runnymede, from Cooper's Hill 272
Specimen of the Writing of the Great Charter 273
The Disaster to John's Army at the Wash 276
Winchester Cathedral 277
Defeat of the French Fleet in the English Channel 281
Great Seal of Henry III. 284
Banquet at the Marriage of Henry and Eleanor of Provence 285
Henry III. 288
Silver Penny of Henry III. 292
Gold Penny of Henry III. 292
View in Sicily: the Amphitheatre, Syracuse 293
Henry's Quarrel with De Montfort 296
The Barons submitting their Demands to Henry 297
Oxford Castle 301
Flight of Queen Eleanor: the Scene at London Bridge 304
Lewes (Sussex) 305
Battle of Evesham: King Henry in Danger 309
Prince Edward introducing Adam Gourdon to the Queen 312
Interior of the Temple Church, London 313
The Choir of Lincoln Cathedral 317
Capital from Salisbury Cathedral 318
Capital from Lincoln Cathedral 318
Tooth Ornament from Lincoln Cathedral 318
View in Tunis 321
Great Seal of Edward I. 324
Edward I. 325
Llewelyn's Last Fight 328
Edward presenting his Infant Son to the Welsh 329
Norham Castle 333
Earl Warrenne showing his Title to his Estates 336
The Sailors' Quarrel near Bayonne 337
The Coronation Chair and "Stone of Destiny," Westminster Abbey 341
The Abbot of Arbroath before King Edward 344
The Abbey Craig and Wallace Monument, near Stirling, with the Ochil Hills 345
Revolt of the Barons against the King 349
Penny of Edward I. Groat of Edward I. Halfpenny of Edward I. 352
Dunfermline Abbey and Church 353
Wallace on his Way to Westminster Hall 356
Capture of Bruce's Wife and Daughter at Tain 357
South Transept, Westminster Abbey 361
Great Seal of Edward II. 364
Edward II. 365
Piers Gaveston and the Barons 368
Piers Gaveston before the Earl of Warwick 369
The Bore-Stone, Bannockburn, in which Bruce planted his Standard 372
Bannockburn: Bruce reviewing his Troops before the Battle 373
The Auld Brig, Stirling 376
Halfpenny of Edward II. Penny of Edward II. 377
Escape of Roger Mortimer from the Tower 381
Berkeley Castle 385
Great Seal of Edward III. 388
Robert Bruce's last Orders to Douglas 392
Melrose Abbey 393
Edward III. 396
Interrupting Balliol's Christmas Dinner 397
Black Agnes at the Siege of Dunbar Castle 401
Porch of the Golden Virgin: Amiens Cathedral 404
The Countess De Montfort inciting the People of Rennes to resist the French King 409
The Church of St. Etienne: Caen 413
Edward the Black Prince 416
The Black Prince at the Battle of Creçy 417
View in Calais: Rue de la Citadelle showing the Belfry 421
Queen Philippa interceding for the Burgesses of Calais 425
Edward receiving King John of France 429
Coins of the Reign of Edward III. 432
The Church of Notre Dame, Calais 433
The Cathedral, Coutances 436
Marcel and the Dauphin of France 437
The Black Prince and the French King's Herald 441
John Wycliffe appearing in St. Paul's Cathedral to answer the Charge of Heresy 445
Alice Perrers at the Death-bed of Edward III. 448
John Wycliffe 453
Great Seal of Richard II. 456
One of Wycliffe's "Poor Priests" preaching to the People 457
Coins of the Reign of Richard II. 461
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster 465
Betrothal of the Princess Isabella to Richard 469
Arrest of the Duke of Gloucester 473
The Tower of London: the White Tower 480
Conway Castle 481
Arrest of King Richard 485
Costume of Bishop of the Fourteenth Century 488
Facsimile of part of the First Chapter of St. John's Gospel in Wycliffe's Bible 489
The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century Colleges of Oxford University 493
Geoffrey Chaucer 497
Queen Eleanor's Cross, Northampton 499
Window from Meopham 500
Window from St. Mary's, Beverley 500
Decorated Capital, from Selby 501
Ball Flower, with Roll Moulding and Hollow 502
Four-leaved Flower, with Filleted, Round, and Hollow moulding 502
Minstrels at a Banquet in the Fourteenth Century 504
Fair at Westminster in the Fourteenth Century 505
English Ships of the Fourteenth Century 509
Costumes of the Fourteenth Century 512
English Merrymaking in the Fourteenth Century: riding at the Quintain 513
Henry IV. 517
Great Seal of Henry IV. 520
Arrest of the Conspirators at Cirencester 521
Charge of the Scots at Homildon Hill 525
Warkworth Castle 529
Shilling of Henry IV. 532
The French Fleet arriving at Milford Haven 533
The Dukes of Orleans and Burgundy, at the Church of the Augustines 537
Prince Henry before Judge Gascoigne 541
King at Table (Fourteenth Century) 544
Great Seal of Henry V. 545
Henry V. 549
The English before Harfleur 553
The Thanksgiving Service on the Field of Agincourt 557
Reception of the Emperor Sigismund 561
Rouen from St. Catherine's Hill 564
Cardinal Orsini's Visit to Henry 565
Henry's Wooing of the Princess Catherine 569
Monmouth Castle (Birthplace of Henry V.) 573
Henry VI. 577
Rothesay Castle 581
Great Seal of Henry VI. 584
Escape of Jacqueline 585
Joan of Arc before Charles 589
The Cathedral, Rheims 593
Trial of Joan of Arc 596
Place de la Pucelle, Rouen 597
Denbigh 601
Angel of Henry VI. 604
Arrest of the Duke of Suffolk 605
LIST OF PLATES
ILLUMINATED TITLE PAGE.
KING JOHN GRANTING MAGNA CHARTA. (By Ernest Normand) Frontispiece
PHŒNICIANS BARTERING WITH THE ANCIENT BRITONS. (By Lord Leighton) To face p. 2
"THE ROMANS CAUSE A WALL TO BE BUILT FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE SOUTH." (By W. Bell Scott, R.H.A.) " 15
THE DANES SAILING UP THE ENGLISH CHANNEL. (By Herbert A. Bone) " 41
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR GRANTING A CHARTER TO THE CITIZENS OF LONDON. (By J. Seymour Lucas, R.A.) " 118
PETER THE HERMIT PREACHING THE FIRST CRUSADE. (By James Archer, R.S.A.) " 135
CRUSADERS ON THE MARCH. (By Sir John Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S.) " 150
THE BATTLE OF THE STANDARD. (By Sir John Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S.) " 177
MAP OF THE PLANTAGENET DOMINIONS IN FRANCE, A.D. 1185 " 206
ST. BERNARD PREACHING THE SECOND CRUSADE. (By James Archer, R.S.A.) " 219
PRINCE ARTHUR AND HUBERT. (By W.F. Yeames, R.A.) " 257
THE TRIAL OF SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. (By Daniel Maclise, R.A.) " 354
QUEEN PHILIPPA INTERCEDING FOR THE BURGHERS OF CALAIS. (By J.D. Penrose) " 426
INTERVIEW OF RICHARD II. WITH HIS UNCLE, THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, AT THE CASTLE OF PLESHY, IN ESSEX. (From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum) " 449
TOURNAMENT AT ST. INGLEVERE, NEAR CALAIS. (From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum) " 465
THE CHARITY OF WHITTINGTON. (By Henrietta Rue--Mrs. Normand) " 478
THE CORONATION OF HENRY IV. IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. (From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum) " 515
THE MORNING OF AGINCOURT. (By Sir John Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S.) " 554
CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
I. THE ROMAN RULE IN BRITAIN
Earliest Notices of the British Isles--The Celts--Their Settlement in Britain--Their Character and Customs--Druidism--Its Organisation and Authority--Its Tenets--Stonehenge and other Remains--Cæsar's Preparations--The First Invasion--Peril of the Romans and their Retirement--The Second Invasion--Cæsar's Battles with Cassivelaunus--Claudius in Britain--The Resistance of Caractacus--His Defeat and Capture--His Speech before Claudius--The Conquest of Anglesea--Boadicea's Rebellion--The Capture of Camulodunum and London--Her Defeat and Death--Agricola in Britain--His Campaigns and Administration--His Campaign against the Caledonians--His Recall--The Walls of Hadrian and Severus--Rivals to the Emperor--Constantine's Accession--Christianity in Britain--Invasions of the Picts and Scots--Dismemberment of the Roman Empire and Departure of the Romans--Divisions and Administration of Britain under the Romans.
Separated from the continent of Europe by the sea, the British isles were not known to the nations of antiquity until a somewhat late date. Herodotus was ignorant of their existence; but Strabo, a contemporary of Cæsar, tells us that the Carthaginians had for a long period carried on a considerable commerce with the Cassiterides, or tin-islands, which are usually identified with the Scilly islands, and doubtless included also part of the Cornish coast. Again, Pytheas, a merchant of Marseilles, who lived about 332 B.C., visited this country in the course of his life, and fragments of his diary are still extant. He seems to have coasted round a considerable portion of what is now England, and his observations on the inhabitants are singularly acute. About two centuries later, Posidonius, another Greek traveller, visited Belerion, as he called it--that is, Cornwall; but, until the invasion of Cæsar, the extent of these islands, their main geographical features, and the tribes that inhabited them, were practically a matter of more or less complete ignorance to the civilised world that dwelt round the shores of the Mediterranean.
From the narrative of Cæsar, we gather that the bulk of the population of England, Scotland, and Wales at the time of his invasion was of Celtic origin; that is, it belonged to one of the branches of the great family of nations which is commonly known as the Indo-European, or Aryan, and which includes the Celts, the Greeks and Italians, the Germans, the Lithuanians and Slavs in Europe; and in Asia the Armenians, Persians, and the chief peoples of Hindustan. Of the Aryan nations, the Celts were probably the first to arrive in Europe from the East, though the date of their migration is purely conjectural. They pushed across the great central plateau, until the vanguard reached the ocean; and at first probably occupied a very large portion of Europe, but, being driven out by the stronger Germans, were gradually confined to the Iberian peninsula, France, Switzerland, and the British isles.
As it is impossible to fix the date of the Celtic migration into Europe, so it is equally impossible to conjecture the when and why of the Celtic invasion of Britain. It is pretty certain that they found other races here on their arrival; and that they did not succeed by any means in thoroughly exterminating them. It has been surmised, indeed, that the Silures, who played a prominent part in the resistance to the Romans, and who inhabited the south of Wales and Monmouthshire, belonged to some more primitive race than the Celts. After the Celts, in the same way came the Belgæ, who were of German origin, and who settled on the southern coast. But the mass of the population was, as we have said, purely Celtic, and was composed of two large divisions--the Gaels, who dwelt on the northern and western coasts of what are now called England and Scotland, and over the great part of Ireland; and the Britons, who occupied the country south of the Friths of Forth and Clyde, with the exception of what is now Hampshire and Sussex, where dwelt the Belgæ.
It was with the Britons, therefore, that the Romans were chiefly concerned, and we would fain have some information of their manners and customs other than that derived from the enemy, impartial though Cæsar and Tacitus were. But there was no British historian to chronicle the mighty deeds of the Celtic warriors, or to describe the home-life of the people. The picture we are able to construct, therefore, is derived almost entirely from the Romans; nevertheless, it is a fairly complete one. They describe a tall and finely built race, recklessly brave, strikingly patriotic, and faithful to the family tie; courteous also in manner, and eloquent of speech, and very fond of novelty, especially when it took the form of the arrival of a stranger in the village. At the same time the Britons were an unpractical race, never constant to any one object, quarrelsome amongst themselves, and utterly unable to combine against a common enemy.
Such was the moral character of the Britons. They dwelt in villages, in which the cottages were wattled and thatched with straw, and in time of danger repaired to a fortified and entrenched stronghold, or dun. The name of London records the site of one of these ancient places of refuge. They had large quantities of cattle, and grew corn, which they stored, in some districts at any rate, underground. Their breed of hunting dogs was also celebrated. Pytheas informs us that they made a drink of mixed wheat and honey, which is still drunk in part of Wales under the name of mead; while other writers, probably deriving their information from him, tell us that they drank another liquor made of barley, which is also not unknown in these days. They fought under their kings and chiefs, and were well armed with sword, spear, axe, and shield. The chiefs also fought from chariots, which they managed with great skill, and the onslaught of the British host was accompanied by loud cries and the blowing of horns, with which each man was provided.
Religion was in the hands of the Druids, who combined the character of prophet and priest. It was dark and mysterious as the gloomy forests in which it first drew birth, and in whose deepest recesses they celebrated their cruel rites. Its ministers built no covered temples, deeming it an insult to their gods to attempt to enclose their emblems in an edifice surrounded by walls, and erected by mortal hands; the forest was their temple, and a rough unhewn stone their altar. They worshipped a god of the sky and thunder, whom they identified with Jupiter; a sun-god, whom, when they were Romanised, they called Apollo; a god of war, afterwards called Mars; and a goddess who presided over births, like the Latin Lucina; and Andate, the goddess of victory. Besides these, who may be regarded as their superior deities, they had a great number of inferior ones. Each wood, fountain, lake, and mountain had its tutelary genius, whom they were accustomed to invoke with sacrifice and prayer.
The Druids were ruled by a chief whom they elected; they were the interpreters of the laws, which they never permitted to be committed to writing, the instructors of youth, and the judges of the people--a tremendous power to be lodged in the hands of any peculiar class. There were also Bards, whose duty it was to preserve in verse the memory of any remarkable event; to celebrate the triumph of their heroes; and, by their exhortation and songs, excite the chiefs and people to deeds of courage and daring on the day of battle.
It is impossible not to be struck by the profound cunning which presided over the organisation of this terrible priesthood, and concentrated all authority in its hands. Its ministers placed themselves between man and the altar, permitting his approach only in mystery and gloom. They wrought upon his imagination by the sacrifice of human life, and the most terrible denunciations of the anger of their gods on all who opposed them. As the instructors of youth, they moulded the pliant mind, and fashioned it to their purpose; as the judges of the people, there was no appeal against their decisions, for none but the Druids could pronounce authoritatively what was the law, there being no written code to refer to; they alone possessed the right to recompense or punish: thus the present and future welfare of their followers alike depended upon them.
The severest penalty inflicted by the Druids was the interdiction of the sacrifice to those who had offended them. Woe to the unhappy wretch on whom the awful sentence fell! He ceased to be considered a human being. Like the beast of the forest, his life was at the mercy of any one who chose to take it. He lost all civil rights, and could neither inherit land nor sue for the recovery of debts; every one was at liberty to spoil his property; even his nearest kindred fled from him in horror. They were also accustomed to sacrifice human victims on their altars, or burnt them as offerings to the gods, in wicker baskets.
It is now time to give some account of the dogmas of this extinct religion, once the general faith of Britain. Like the monks of the Middle Ages, the Druids of the higher orders lived in community in the remote depths of the vast gloomy forests, where they celebrated their rites. In these retreats they initiated the youthful aspirants for the priesthood, who frequently passed a novitiate of twenty years before being admitted. Disciples of all ranks flocked to them, despite the severity of the probation, tempted, no doubt, by the honours and great privileges attached to the order, amongst which exemption from taxation and servitude was not the least. The mistletoe is said by Pliny to have been a peculiarly sacred plant in their rites.
The Druids taught the immortality of the soul, and its transmigration from one body to another, till, by some extraordinary act of virtue or courage, it merited to be received into the assembly of the gods. Cæsar, in his "Commentaries," also informs us that they instructed their pupils in the movements of the heavenly bodies, and the grandeur of the universe. Their knowledge of mathematics must have been considerable, since we find it applied to the measurement of the earth and stars. In mechanics they were equally advanced, judging from the monuments which remain to us. Of these, the most remarkable in England are Stonehenge, consisting of 139 enormous stones, ranged in a circle; and that of Avebury, in Wiltshire, which covers a space of twenty-eight acres of land. But the largest of all the Druid temples is situated at Carnac, in the department of Morbihan, in France. It is formed of 400 stones, varying from five to twenty-seven feet in height, and ranged in eleven concentric lines. It should be mentioned, however, that some authorities consider these erections to belong to a period anterior to the arrival of the Celts in Europe, though they were probably utilised by them.
Such was the country and such the condition of its inhabitants when in 55 B.C. Cæsar undertook its invasion, to which he was led not so much by the thirst of dominion as by the necessity he found himself under of doing something to acquire a great name at Rome. He had already partially subdued the Gauls, and determined on striking a blow at Britain. Having decided on the expedition, the victorious general commenced his preparations with his accustomed energy. His first care was to obtain hostages from the Gauls: he questioned the merchants and others who had visited Britain as to its resources and extent, the natives which inhabited it, their manners, customs, and religion, and sent Commius, whom he had created King of the Atrabates in Gaul, to demand the submission of the islanders.
On the first news of the intended descent, the Britons, excited by the Druids and Bards, assembled in arms, in order to defend their coasts, but at the same time did not neglect other means of warding off the danger which threatened their independence, and despatched ambassadors to Cæsar with offers of alliance. They were received courteously, although the wily Roman knew that, incited by their priests, they had arrested his messenger, and kept him in chains. Meanwhile Cæsar prepared his fleet, and assembled his soldiers for the expedition. He embarked the infantry of two of his legions in eighty vessels, which he assembled at Itius Portus, supposed by some writers to be Calais, by others the village of Wissant, between that place and Boulogne. He divided the vessels amongst his principal officers, and set sail with a favourable wind during the night. Eighteen galleys at a distant part of the coast had received his cavalry, and sailed about the same time. At ten the following morning the expedition appeared off the coast, where the inhabitants were seen in arms, ready to receive it. The spot, it would seem, was unfavourable for landing, and Cæsar hesitated, and dropped anchor till three in the afternoon, hoping for the arrival of his other galleys. Disappointed in this expectation, he sailed along the coast, and finally decided on disembarking at Deal, where the shore was comparatively level, and presented less difficulty for such an enterprise. But here, too, the Britons were prepared, a considerable force being collected to oppose him. The galleys drew too much water to permit the invaders to land at once upon the beach, and the soldiers hesitated. There was a momentary confusion amongst them. "Follow me, comrades!" exclaimed the standard-bearer, "if you would not see the eagle in the hands of the enemy. For myself, if I perish, I shall have done my duty to Rome and to my general." At these words he plunged into the waves, and was followed by the men, who leaped tumultuously after him, ashamed, most likely, of their previous cowardice and hesitation. On reaching the shore, they fell with the utmost fury on the enemy, whose undisciplined ranks could ill sustain the shock of the Roman legion; still, they fought desperately, incited by their bards and priests, who sang the songs of victory, and exhorted them to renew the combat each time they seemed to waver. At last they were compelled to give way, and retreat to the shelter of the woods, with their chariots and broken ranks. Cæsar himself informs us that he was prevented from pursuing the victory by the absence of his cavalry, a circumstance which he bitterly laments, since its presence alone was wanting to crown his fortune.
Although he did not venture to follow the fugitives, they sent ambassadors, accompanied by Commius, whom the Britons released from prison and chains, to sue for peace. The victor complained, and with some show of justice, of the reception he had met with, after they had sent envoys to him in Gaul with offers of submission, and also of the arrest of his ambassador; and lamented the blood that had been shed. To this harangue the Britons artfully replied that they had imprisoned Commius in order to preserve him from the fury of the people, and with this excuse Cæsar either was, or affected to be, content. He granted the peace they came to solicit, and demanded hostages, which were promised, for the future.
A storm dispersed the eighteen galleys which were to transport the cavalry of Cæsar, and drove them back upon the coast of Gaul. This was not the only misfortune the Romans endured. That same night the moon was at its full; it was the season of the equinox, and the tide rose to an unusual height, filling the vessels which Cæsar had drawn out of the reach of danger, as he imagined, on the sands. The larger ships, which had served him as a means of transport, were driven from their anchors, and many of them wrecked.
Although perfectly aware of the perils which menaced their invaders, the Britons appear to have proceeded with the utmost caution. Whilst a league was secretly being formed to crush the Romans, their chiefs appeared daily in their camp, professing unbroken friendship. Suddenly they fell upon the seventh legion, which had been sent to a distance to forage. The plan was well contrived to defeat the enemy in detail. Many of their leaders remained in camp, in order to lull suspicion, whilst their confederates surprised the Romans, who, having laid aside their arms, were soon surrounded, and must have been cut off but for the timely arrival of Cæsar, who, warned by his outposts that a cloud of dust thicker than usual had been seen at a distance, guessed immediately what had occurred. With a portion of his army he fell upon the assailants, and, after a desperate struggle, disengaged the threatened legion, and returned with it to the camp in safety. The lesson was a sharp one, and the rains soon afterwards setting in, the invader did not attempt to renew the battle.
The islanders, meanwhile, had not been idle: messengers had been despatched in every direction, calling on the various nations to take arms; the Druids preached war to the death; and a sufficient force was soon assembled to attack the Romans in their camp. Discipline, however, again prevailed against the courage of the barbarians, as Tacitus contemptuously calls them; although he admits at the same time their bravery, and adds that it was a fortunate thing for Cæsar that the country was so divided into petty states that the jealousies of their respective rulers prevented the unity of action which alone could ensure success. Had the Britons been united, they might have bid defiance to the legions of Rome. Once more the islanders demanded peace, which Cæsar granted them; in fact, he was scarcely in a position to do otherwise, for he already meditated a retreat. He embarked the army suddenly in the night, and retired to Gaul, taking the hostages he had received with him. Although the senate of Rome ordered a thanksgiving of twenty days for the triumph of the Roman arms, the first expedition against the island cannot be regarded as other than a failure.
For the second invasion, which took place in the following year, preparations were made commensurate with the importance of the task proposed. Cæsar having assembled 800 vessels, on board of which were five legions, and 2,000 horsemen of the noblest families in Gaul, set sail, and landed without opposition at Ryde. This time there was no enemy to oppose him; for the Britons, terrified at the appearance of this immense armament, had retreated to their natural fastnesses, the forests. Leaving ten cohorts and 300 horsemen to guard the camp and fleet, under the orders of Quintus Atrius, Cæsar set forward in search of the enemy, whom he discovered, after a march of twelve miles, on the banks of a river, where they had drawn up their chariots and horsemen. Profiting by their elevated position, they accepted, or rather engaged, the combat, and when repulsed withdrew into an admirably fortified camp, which was not taken without much difficulty. The Britons, as usual after a defeat, retreated once more to their woods, where it was impossible for the legions of Rome to follow, or the cavalry to act against them.
On the following morning, just as the victorious leader was about to re-commence his march, news arrived from the camp that a violent tempest had seriously damaged the fleet. Many of his vessels were wrecked, and others rendered unfit for service. Like a prudent general, Cæsar at once returned to the camp, to assure himself of the extent of the injury done to his fleet, and found it more considerable than he imagined. Forty vessels were lost; the rest could be repaired, though not without great labour and time. Every artificer in his army was set to work; others were sent for from the continent; and instructions written to Labienus in Gaul to construct new galleys to replace those which were lost. The next step was worthy the genius and reputation of Cæsar. After having repaired his ships, he caused his legions to draw them out of reach of the tide, high up on the shore, and enclosed the whole of them in a fortified camp--an immense work, when we consider that it was executed in an enemy's country, and the scanty means at his command for such an undertaking.
Meanwhile the Britons had united under Cassivelaunus, head-king of the tribes north of the Thames, and Cæsar advanced to meet him. The king proved a doughty opponent, seldom venturing upon a pitched battle, but harassing the Romans by sudden attacks, in which the chariots proved particularly formidable. At length Cæsar managed, with difficulty, to cross the Thames somewhere above London, and ravaged the king's territory. Fortunately the powerful tribe of the Trinobantes, who inhabited part of Middlesex and Essex, came over to him at this juncture, having old scores to pay off against Cassivelaunus, and they were followed by other tribes. Cæsar was therefore able to storm Verulam, the stronghold of the British king, and then, finding that his camp on the coast was being besieged by the four kings of Kent, that his troops were being wearied out by the constant alarms, and having, in addition, received unpleasant news from Gaul, he accepted the offers of peace made by Cassivelaunus, and departed. So ended Cæsar's invasions of Britain.
For nearly a century, that is, until A.D. 43, Britain remained undisturbed by the Romans; but at length the Emperor Claudius determined that the island should be thoroughly conquered. Accordingly his general, Aulus Plautius, landed with an army, and, after gaining considerable successes, wrote to Claudius inviting him to pass over to the island and conclude the war himself. The emperor accepted the invitation, and took the command of his legions in Britain. He crossed the Thames, and seized upon the fortress of Camulodunum (Colchester or Malden, authorities are divided as to which), receiving in his progress the submission of a number of petty kings and chiefs. This had been the stronghold of Cunobelinus, the Cymbeline of Shakespeare. Having reduced a part of the country to the condition of a Roman province, Claudius returned to enjoy the honours of a triumph in Rome. It was celebrated with a degree of unusual magnificence, splendid games, and rejoicings.
After passing four years on the island, Plautius was recalled to Rome, where the jealousy of the emperor limited the honours decreed to the victorious general to a simple ovation. He was succeeded by Ostorius Scapula, who found, on his arrival, the affairs of his countrymen in the greatest disorder. The Britons, trusting that a general newly arrived in the island would not enter on a campaign in the beginning of winter, had divided their forces, to plunder and lay waste the territories of such persons as were in alliance with Rome. Ostorius, however, contrary to their expectations, pursued the war with vigour, gave the dispersed bands no time to unite or rally, and commanded the people whom he suspected of disaffection to give up their arms. As a further precaution, he erected forts on the banks of the Avon and the Severn.
The moment appeared favourable to the victorious general to subdue the Silures, a fierce and warlike nation, who, under their king, Caractacus, still held out against the Roman arms (A.D. 50). Hitherto clemency and force had alike proved unavailing to reduce them to submission, and Ostorius prepared his expedition with a prudence and foresight worthy of the struggle on which the establishment of the supremacy of Rome in the island, in a great measure, depended. He first settled a strong colony of his veteran soldiers at Camulodunum, on the conquered lands, to keep in check the neighbouring tribes, and spread by their example a knowledge of the useful arts. He then set forth at the head of his bravest legions in search of Caractacus, who had retreated from his own states, and transported the war into the country of the Ordovices, in the middle of Wales. The warlike Briton had assembled under his command all who had vowed an eternal resistance to the invaders, and fortified his position by entrenchments of earth, in imitation of the Roman military works. In Shropshire, where the great struggle is supposed to have taken place, there is a hill which the inhabitants still call Caer Caradoc. It corresponds exactly with the description which Tacitus has given of the fortifications erected by Caractacus, and answers to the Latin words Castra Caractaci. This warrior, whose devotion to the liberties of his country merited a better fate, did all that a patriot and a soldier could do to excite the spirit of his countrymen. He reminded the chiefs under his command that the day of battle would be the day of deliverance from a degrading bondage, and at the same time appealed to their patriotism, by reminding them that their ancestors had defeated the attempts of Cæsar. The address was received with acclamation, and the excited Britons bound themselves by oaths not to shrink from the darts of their enemies.
The cries of rage with which the invaders were received, the resolute bearing of the Silures, astonished the Roman general, who examined with disquietude the river which defended the rude entrenchment on one side, the ramparts of earth and stone, not unskilfully thrown up, and the rugged rock, which towered above them, crowned with numberless defenders. His soldiers demanded to be led on, urging that nothing was impossible to true courage; the tribunes held the same language, and Ostorius led on his army to the attack. Under a shower of arrows it crossed the river, and arrived at the foot of the rude entrenchment, but not without suffering severely. Then was seen the advantage of discipline over untrained courage. The Roman soldiers serried their ranks, and raising their bucklers over their heads, formed with them an impenetrable roof, which securely sheltered them whilst they demolished the earthworks. That once accomplished, the victory was assured. The half-naked Britons, with their clubs and arrows, were no match against the well-armed legions of Rome; but from the summit of the rocks still poured death upon their enemies, till the light troops succeeded in slaying or dispersing them. The victory of the Romans was complete. The wife and daughter of Caractacus were taken prisoners, and the illustrious chief of the Silures soon afterwards shared a similar destiny. His mother-in-law, Cartismandua, Queen of the Brigantes, to whom he had fled for shelter, delivered him in chains to his enemies. Ostorius sent him and his family to Rome, as the noblest trophies of his conquest.
The fame of Caractacus had penetrated even to Italy. The Roman citizens were anxious to behold the barbarian who had so long braved their power. Although defeated and a captive, the natural greatness of his soul did not abandon him. Tacitus relates that his first remark on beholding the imperial city was surprise that those who possessed such magnificent palaces at home should envy him a poor hovel in Britain. He was conducted before the Emperor Claudius, who received him seated on his throne, with the Empress Agrippina by his side. The prætorian guard were drawn up in line of battle on either side. First came the servants of the captive prince; then were borne the spoils of the vanquished Britons; these were followed by the brothers, the wife, and daughter of Caractacus, and last of all by Caractacus himself, calm and unsubdued by his misfortune.
Advancing to the throne, he pronounced the following remarkable discourse, which Tacitus has preserved for us:--"If I had had, O Cæsar, in prosperity, a prudence equal to my birth and fortune, I should have entered this city as a friend, and not as a captive; and possibly thou wouldest not have disdained the alliance of a man descended from illustrious ancestors, who gave laws to several nations. My fate this day appears as sad for me as it is glorious for thee. I had horses, soldiers, arms, and treasures; is it surprising that I should regret the loss of them? If it is thy will to command the universe, is it a reason we should voluntarily accept slavery? Had I yielded sooner, thy fortune and my glory would have been less, and oblivion would soon have followed my execution. If thou sparest my life, I shall be an eternal monument of thy clemency." To the honour of Claudius, he not only spared the life of his captive, but the lives of his brothers, wife, and daughter, and treated them with respect. Their chains were removed, and they expressed their thanks, not only to the emperor, but to Agrippina, whose influence is supposed, not without reason, to have been exerted in their favour.
The public life of Caractacus ended with his captivity; for the tradition that he afterwards returned to Britain, and ruled over a portion of the island, rests on so uncertain a foundation as to be unworthy of belief. The senate, in its pompous harangues, compared the subjection of this formidable chief to that of Syphax by Scipio, and decreed the honours of a triumph to his conqueror, Ostorius, who died, however, shortly afterwards, worn out by the perpetual attacks of the Silures.
Ostorius was succeeded in the government of Britain by Avitus Didius Gallus, who, unlike his warlike predecessor, sought to establish the Roman dominion in the island by fomenting internal dissension. He made an alliance with the perfidious mother-in-law of Caractacus, Cartismandua, Queen of the Brigantes, whose subjects had revolted. His government lasted but four years, during which period the armies of Rome made but little progress on the isle. Nero assigned the government of Britain to Veranius, who died a year afterwards, in a campaign he had undertaken against the Silures.
Suetonius Paulinus, who was despatched to Britain by Nero in 58, proved himself fully equal to the task he had undertaken. Hitherto the Britons had been excited to revolt by the exhortations of the Druids, whose principal sanctuary was in the island of Anglesea, which, up to the period of his government, had preserved its independence, and served as a refuge to the malcontents and vanquished. Of this important spot Suetonius resolved to obtain possession, as the most effectual means of crushing the spirit of resistance still existing amongst the people. By means of a number of flat-bottomed boats, which he had constructed for the purpose, he crossed the arm of the sea which separates Anglesea from Britain. Tacitus has left a vivid description of the effect produced upon the Romans on approaching the island: the army of the enemy drawn up like a living rampart on the shore, to oppose their landing; the women, in mournful robes of a sombre colour, rushing wildly along the sands, brandishing their torches and muttering imprecations; the Druids, with their arms extended in malediction. The invaders were appalled; and, but for the exhortations of their leaders, the expedition, in all probability, must have suffered a defeat. Excited by their reproaches, the standard-bearers advanced, and the army, ashamed to desert their eagles, followed them, striking madly with their swords, and crushing all who opposed them. Finally, they succeeded in surrounding the Britons, who perished, with their wives and children, in the fires which the Druids had commanded to be kindled for their hideous sacrifices. The victory was a terrible blow to the influence of the Druids, who never recovered their power in the island; and its consequences would have been even more severely felt, but for an insurrection which shortly afterwards broke out in that portion of Britain which had been reduced to the condition of a Roman colony.
The imposts were excessive, and exacted with rigour. Hundreds of distinguished families saw themselves reduced to indigence, and, consequently, to servitude. Their sons were torn from their hearths, and compelled to serve on the continent in the auxiliary cohorts. All these evils, great as they were, might have been borne, had not an outrage been added more infamous than any the insolent invaders had yet ventured to perpetrate: an outrage which filled the hearts of the Britons with fury, and drove them once more to rebellion. Prasutagus, a king of the nation of the Iceni, had for many years been the faithful ally of Rome; on his death, the better to ensure a portion of his inheritance to his family, he named the emperor and his daughters as his joint heirs. The Roman procurator, however, took possession of the whole in the name of his imperial master, a proceeding which naturally aroused the indignation of Boadicea, the widow of the deceased prince. Being a woman of resolute character, she complained bitterly of the spoliation, and for redress was not only beaten with rods like a slave, but her daughters were dishonoured before her eyes. On hearing of these indignities, the Iceni flew to arms; the Trinobantes and several other tribes followed their example, and a league was formed between them to recover their lost liberties.
The first object of their attack was the colony of veterans established at Camulodunum, where a temple, dedicated to Claudius, had been raised, the priests of which committed infamous exactions, under the pretence of thus honouring religion. It was affirmed, as is generally the case on the eve of any great event, that numerous omens preceded the catastrophe. The statue of Victory fell in the temple with its face upon the ground; fearful howlings were heard in the theatre; and it is even pretended that a picture of the colony in ruins had been seen floating in the waters of the Thames. The report of all these prodigies, which, if they really took place, were doubtless the contrivances of the Druids, froze the veterans with terror, and raised the courage of the Britons to the highest pitch. In the absence of Suetonius, the colonists demanded succour of the procurator, who sent them only 200 men, and those badly armed; and with this feeble reinforcement, the garrison shut themselves up in the temple.
With the cunning which seems peculiar to all semi-barbarous nations, the Britons continued to reassure their enemy of their pacific intentions. The consequence was that instead of raising a rampart and digging a ditch round the building, which they might easily have done, the Romans remained in a state of fancied security, neglecting even to send away their women and children, and such as from age and sickness were unable to bear arms. Suddenly the mask was thrown off. The insurgents, who had gained sufficient time to collect their forces and mature their plans, fell upon the colony, destroying everything before them, and sparing neither sex nor age. After a siege of several days, the temple was taken by assault, and the garrison put to the sword.
Emboldened by their success, the victors marched to meet Petillius Cerealis, who, at the head of the ninth legion, was hastening to the assistance of his countrymen. After a bloody battle, in which the Britons massacred all his infantry, the Roman lieutenant was compelled to seek refuge with his cavalry in the camp. Terrified at the disaster which his avarice and cruelty had caused, the procurator, Cato Decianus, fled to Gaul, followed by the maledictions of the inhabitants of the province on which he had brought so many evils.
Whilst engaged in the subjugation of the natives of Anglesea, Suetonius Paulinus received intelligence of the revolt of the Britons against the colonies of the eastern parts of the island. Immediately he set out on his march for London. This is the first mention which we have in history of this city by the title of Londinium--a city destined, in after years, to become the chief centre of political power and commercial enterprise in Europe; to rival, if not to eclipse, the most famous cities of antiquity in splendour and in influence. But the small force under his command was unable successfully to govern it against the fury of the native enemies, who eagerly panted for the destruction of a town which was at once the monument of Roman triumph and the stronghold of Roman tyranny. Anxious that his small army should not be destroyed in an attempt to defend what was hopeless, Suetonius resolved to retreat and give up the city to the plunder of the Britons. All such as were willing to leave it were taken into his army, and, amid the cries and lamentations of the inhabitants, the city was abandoned by the Roman troops. It was not long before the storm burst upon the wretched inhabitants, whom the insurgents massacred without pity or remorse, although the majority of them consisted of their own countrymen, against whom their rage appeared quite as much excited as against the Romans, on account of their submission to the common enemy. Seventy thousand are computed to have perished in the slaughter. Never before had such an indiscriminate destruction been witnessed in the island. Tacitus, in speaking of the Britons, says:--"They would neither take the vanquished prisoners, sell them, nor ransom their lives and liberties; but hastened to massacre, torture, and crucify them, as if to avenge themselves beforehand for the cruel punishments which the future had in store for them."
Suetonius, uniting the fourteenth legion, the auxiliaries of the twenty-first, and the garrisons of the neighbouring towns, soon found himself at the head of 10,000 men; and with such an army no longer hesitated to meet the enemy, before whom he had hitherto deemed it advisable to retreat. With great skill he took up his position at the entrance of a narrow defile, his infantry in the centre, the cavalry forming the wings. The Britons, a countless multitude, advanced to battle without order or discipline, animated by the desire of vengeance and the hope of recovering their liberty. Before the struggle commenced, a chariot was seen, drawn slowly through their ranks; in it was a female of tall stature and dignified bearing, enveloped in the folds of a long mantle, a chain of gold round her waist, and her long hair floating to the ground. It was the outraged Boadicea, who, accompanied by her daughters, appealed to the courage of her countrymen. "The Britons," she cried, "are accustomed to fight under the command of a woman; there is no question now of avenging my illustrious ancestors from whom I am descended, my kingdom, or my plundered treasures. Avenge me as a simple woman, as one of your own class. Avenge my outraged liberty; my body torn by the scourge; and the dishonoured innocence of my daughters! The Romans respect neither the age of our old men nor the chastity of our children; their avarice is insatiable. Are not our persons taxed? do we not pay even for the permission to bear our heads? Nor is that all; the tax must be paid for those who cease to live. It was reserved for the execrable tyranny of the Romans," she added, "to raise a revenue from the dead. But there are just gods, avenging gods. A legion that dared oppose us has perished; the rest of the Romans conceal themselves, or already think of flight. They cannot hear without trembling the cries of so many thousand men; how, then, will they support the shock of your blows? Consider your countless battalions, reflect on the motives of this war, and you will understand that the day has arrived on which we must vanquish or die. Such will be, such shall be the fate of one woman; let men live slaves if they will."
Animated by these inspiring words, the recollection of their injuries, and the blood they had already shed, the Britons commenced the combat. The legion, with their eyes fixed upon their chief, waited the signal. It was given, and they advanced in a triangular battalion; the auxiliaries followed the impetuous movement, and the squadrons charged with their lances in rest. Nothing could resist that fearful shock. The immense multitude was put to flight, but the chariots containing their wives and children, who had followed to be spectators of their victory, barred the way. The victors spared neither women, children, nor animals. The carnage was fearful: 80,000 Britons remained dead upon the plain. Boadicea, the witness and victim of this sad defeat, kept the promise she had made, not to fall into the power of the Romans, but ended her life by poison. This victory re-established the reputation of the Roman arms; but it was not permitted to Suetonius to complete the task he had begun; he was shortly afterwards recalled to Rome, to answer charges brought against him by his enemies, and, although acquitted, he lost the favour of a prince in whose reign no man of celebrity was spared.
In the reign of Vespasian, his general, Cerealis, reduced the Brigantes in the years A.D. 69 and 70, and his successor, Julius Frontinus, conquered the Silures. But it was reserved to another general to achieve the conquest of a proud and warlike nation, and to render it durable by the qualities of justice and moderation. The great man who gave this useful lesson to the world was Agricola, named governor of Britain in the year 78 of the Christian era. He had already visited the island, having served in the army as tribune under the command of Suetonius Paulinus, who esteemed and treated him as a friend. His first step was to repress the revolt of the Ordovices, whom he punished with rigour; he next renewed the attack on the island of Anglesea, which he took, owing to the courage of his German auxiliaries, who, not having vessels at their command, swam over the arm of the sea which divides it from Britain. In the following campaign he extended the limits of the Roman government to the Tay, leaving strong garrisons at all the important points. In his fourth campaign Agricola crossed the Forth to the southern frontier of Caledonia, or the Scottish Highlands, and erected, to repress the invasion of the warlike inhabitants, a line of fortifications between the Forth and the Clyde.
But it is as an administrator or civil governor that Agricola chiefly merits our praise. He lessened, as much as possible, the tribute levied on the vanquished Britons by an equitable adjustment, suppressed the most onerous monopolies, and multiplied the means of transport and commerce. Having succeeded in gaining the good opinion of the people he was called to rule over by his valour and equity, the governor next tried to keep them peaceable by inculcating a taste for the arts and pleasures. He encouraged the erection of temples and forums, aided all public works by grants from the treasury, and caused the sons of the principal chiefs and princes to be instructed in the sciences. Gradually those who had disdained the language of the conquerors devoted themselves to its attainment. They assumed the toga, and affected the tastes, and in too many instances the vices, of their masters.
Titus, who had succeeded to the throne of his father, Vespasian, reigned but two years, and left the empire to Domitian, who, like most men of suspicious nature, felt jealous lest any other name should become greater than his own. He did not venture, however, to recall Agricola, who was permitted to pursue his career of glory, and, in the fifth year of his government, advanced with his legions to the west, as far as the coast opposite to Ireland. A statesman, administrator, and soldier, like the illustrious pupil of Suetonius, must have comprehended the advantage of conquering the sister island; the facilities which it would afford to the increasing commerce between Spain, Gaul, and Britain: he renounced, however, the enterprise from some unknown reason, and Ireland, for nearly a thousand years longer, preserved her independence.
He now turned his attention to the people north of the Forth, whom Tacitus calls the Caledonians. In his first campaign against them, which commenced in the sixth year of his government, the Romans experienced a severe check, as the enemy nearly forced their camp, and were only repulsed after causing considerable damage. In the seventh and last year of his residence on the island, Agricola made his great attempt to subdue these ferocious nations, and his preparations were worthy his great military reputation and the magnitude of the task he had undertaken. He joined to his legions and auxiliaries from the continent cohorts of Britons, drawn from the southern portion of the island; and supplied his army by means of a numerous fleet, which sailed along the coast.
The Romans advanced without encountering any serious obstacle as far as the Grampians, where the Caledonians, under the celebrated chief Galgacus, were drawn up to oppose them, 30,000 strong. The first ranks, consisting of the bravest of the tribes, occupied the level plain; the next and secondary ones covered the sides of the mountain, rising in half-circles one above another, as in a vast amphitheatre. At the sight of the Caledonians, it became difficult to keep the Romans in the entrenchments, and Agricola, seeing their impatience for battle, exhorted them to conquest. "Defeat itself," he said, "will not be without glory; but you will not yield. The bravest of the Britons have been already overcome; those who remain are cowardly and timid, as you behold on the heights which you will illustrate by a memorable victory. Put an end," he concluded, "to so many expeditions, and add another great day to fifty years of triumph!" At these words the ardour of his soldiers could no longer be repressed. They quitted the camp, and their brave leader ranged them in order of battle: the auxiliaries on foot, to the number of 8,000, in the centre; 3,000 horsemen formed the wings; the legions being held in reserve. The first line of the Caledonians descended to the plain, which trembled beneath the galloping of the horses and the rolling of the war-chariots. Agricola, seeing the superiority of the enemy in point of numbers, deployed his ranks, resolved neither to fly nor yield. Favoured by their position, the barbarians had the advantage as long as they fought at a distance with javelins and arrows; which became useless, however, when, the Roman general having commanded the auxiliaries to engage man to man, they rushed to the encounter with their long sharp swords; another body assailed the rocks, which they carried by assault, and the Caledonians retreated behind their horsemen and chariots; whilst the Roman cavalry, falling on the confused mass, completed the rout. The plain soon became one wide scene of carnage; 10,000 Caledonians perished; whilst their enemy lost only 360 men. The victors passed the night in drunkenness and pillage, whilst the vanquished, men and women, wandered about the country, yielding to despair. In their rage they destroyed their habitations, to prevent them from being plundered by the Romans.
Agricola rendered an account of his victory to the emperor, in terms remarkable for their modesty and simplicity. The jealous Domitian received his letter with apparent joy, but secret wrath: with his usual cunning, however, he dissembled his real sentiments till time had weakened the enthusiasm of the people and the favour of the army for the man he hated. Gradually a report gained ground that the victorious general was to be recalled from the scene of his triumphs, to take the command in Syria, and Domitian demanded for him the honours of a triumph. The victor dared not, however, present himself to the acclamations of the people, for fear of exciting the jealousy of his imperial master. He entered Rome privately, and by night, and presented himself before the tyrant, who received him coldly and in silence. He soon became confounded with the crowd of courtiers, and only escaped from the peril of his glory by appearing himself to forget it.
Little is known of the state of Britain from Domitian to Hadrian, when many of the nations who had been subject to the yoke of Rome began to show signs of impatience, and all the cares of the new emperor were to confirm the peace of the world. He re-established the system of Augustus, abandoned the conquests of Trajan, and limited the empire in the east to the Euphrates. He visited the provinces, and arrived at last in Britain, where he corrected many abuses, and built, in order to repress the incursions of the Caledonians, the celebrated wall (a description of which will be found in the following chapter) which bore his name. It extended upwards of eighty miles, from the north of the Tyne to the Solway (A.D. 120). Rome thus abandoned without a struggle the country included between the wall of Hadrian and that of Agricola, an extent of about 100 miles; a portion of it, however, was regained under Antoninus Pius, the adopted son and successor of Hadrian, in 139, when a rampart was constructed between the Forth and the Clyde; it was subsequently strengthened by the Emperor Severus, in 208, and hence is generally called by his name.
During the third century the empire was agitated by numerous competitions for the purple, but it was somewhat appeased on the accession of Diocletian. The legions in Britain now adopted the practice of setting up emperors of their own. One of them, Carausius, reigned from 287 to 294, and was only got rid of by assassination. The murderer, Allectus, attempted to succeed him, and maintained himself in the island till defeated by Constantius, who was created a sub-emperor, with the title of Cæsar; thus Britain was once more united to the empire. The victor made himself loved by the Britons, by his equitable and wise administration, and continued to reside amongst them till the abdication of Diocletian. At his death, which occurred in York in 306, he recommended to the army, who were devoted to him, his son, the celebrated Constantine, who was immediately saluted emperor and Augustus. He was beloved by the Britons, being the son of a British mother, the "fair Helena of York."
Constantine was a Christian, but, before his accession, had been compelled to execute the imperial commands against the followers of that faith. Many of the Romans, who had received the new religion, and fled from the persecutions of Claudius and Nero, found refuge in Britain, where the imperial edicts were less rigorously obeyed, till the persecution of Diocletian, when the churches throughout the empire were ordered to be closed, and the refusal of the new sect to offer sacrifice to the gods of Rome was punished with death. Much as Constantine condemned, he dared not annul the impious mandate he had received. Ascending his tribunal, before which the principal officers of his army and household had been summoned, he read aloud the edict, and added that those who professed the new faith must decide on abandoning either their faith or their employments. Many, doubtless, chose the former alternative; since we are told that the prince, in great indignation, dismissed the apostates from his service, observing that it was impossible for him to trust those who had denied their convictions. His lieutenants, however, were less scrupulous, and Christian blood was shed to maintain the State religion of the empire. Alban, the protomartyr, as the latter designation implies, was the first who suffered; and the names of Julius and Aaron, citizens of Caerleon, upon the Usk, have also been handed down to posterity as two of the earliest victims. But on the accession of Constantine to the throne, religious toleration was restored throughout the empire. Christianity now made rapid progress in the island. A hierarchy became established, and at the Council of Arles, in 314, three English bishops assisted--those of York, London, and Camulodunum.
After the death of Constantine the Caledonians disappear and are replaced by the Picts. There is every reason to believe, however, that these are only two names for the same race, the Picts (picti) being the "painted" or "tattooed" men. The Scots, another race of northern invaders, were of different origin: they originally came over from Ireland, where they inhabited the eastern coasts, settled in the neighbourhood of Loch Lomond, and made an alliance with the nearest tribes, for the purpose of ravaging the possessions of the Britons. Both these peoples were of Celtic origin, and the Scots, or Milesians (from Lat. miles, a soldier), were the dominant race in Ireland. Other plunderers also attacked the weakened empire, of whom the most important were the Saxons, of whom we shall read more later on.
They were severely chastised by Theodosius, who visited Britain in 343. He succeeded in expelling them from the Roman provinces and driving them back to their wild retreats.
Maximus, who afterwards assumed the title of Augustus, while in Britain, carried on the war against the Picts and Scots with unrelenting severity; his ambition, however, led him to attempt the conquest of the whole western empire, in which he failed, and was beheaded at Aquileia. His army, comprising a large majority of Britons, never returned to their native country, which consequently was left in a great measure defenceless. So favourable an opportunity did not escape the vigilance of the Picts and Scots, who made successive inroads in the island, and returned to their mountain fastnesses laden with plunder.
The power of Rome was now shaken by the irruption of barbarians of various denominations, who, issuing from the east and north, depopulated her fairest provinces. Assailed at so many points at once, it seemed as if the nations of the earth had been let loose to uproot her supremacy, and break the shackles which for so many ages had fettered the greater part of the world. The Goths, led by Alaric, crossing the Julian Alps, swept like a torrent over the fertile plains of Italy. Other German tribes devastated Gaul, and the Roman legions in Britain, deprived of all communication with the Emperor Honorius, fell back upon their custom of electing an emperor for themselves.
The first whom they selected for the purple was Marcus, whom his soldiers, very soon after elevating him to the imperial dignity, put to death; after him came an adventurer named Constantine, who paid for his short-lived dignity with his life. A third usurper arose in Gerontius.
When the Emperor Honorius heard of this revolution, he wrote to the states of Britain, to say that they must provide for their safety, and govern themselves; by which concession the rule of Rome in the island was looked on as at an end. The Britons, in despair, rose and drove out their civil governors. About 367 years after the landing of Plautius, the evacuation of Britain was complete. No doubt to a large number of the Imperial soldiers this withdrawal meant the severance of many tender ties, and some of the leave-takings must have been painful enough.
How frequently do we read, in the history of the world, of a nation urged by an irresistible, though unknown, impulse, to pursue the path of conquest, not for their own advantage, but for the ultimate benefit of the people whom they subject! Such was the result of the Roman invasion of Britain, which proved neither profitable nor advantageous to the conquerors. Appianus of Alexandria, who flourished A.D. 123, wrote a history of all the nations which Rome had subdued, in twenty-four books. In this work he says: "The Romans have penetrated into Britain, and taken possession of the greater and better part of the island; but they do not desire the rest, because that which they already possess is not of the slightest benefit to them." The historian was right, for despite the taxes, the produce of the mines, and the exportation of corn, the island could never have been a source of great profit to the victors; notwithstanding which, we trace them, urged by a resistless combination of events, progressing step by step, till the greater part of the country was subdued.
For nearly a century, the portion of Britain which had submitted to their yoke formed but a single province; it was first separated into two during the reign of the Emperor Severus. This division was afterwards extended to five, the positions of which are not very accurately determined.
1st. Flavia Cæsariensis, which is thought to have consisted of the western portion of the island.
2nd. Britannia Prima, the country between the Thames and the Humber.
3rd. Britannia Secunda, lying between the Severn and the sea, now known by the name of Wales.
4th. Maxima Cæsariensis, lying to the north of the two preceding ones, extending to the Wall of Hadrian, between the Tyne and the Solway.
5th. Valentia, comprising the lands from the Wall of Hadrian to the Forth and Clyde.
Each of these provinces, before the period when anarchy set in, had a separate ruler, subject to the governor-general of Britain, who was named by the emperor under the title of vicar. He exercised all but sovereign authority, and united in his hands both the military and judicial power. Under him was a procurator, or quæstor, who levied the taxes, and administered the revenues of the island. The principal sources of revenue were a poll tax, a tax on funerals and inheritances, on slaves, on all public sales, and an impost upon cattle and agricultural produce. The tax upon cattle, which was called scriptura, from the collectors visiting the pastures and writing down lists of the number and kind which each estate nourished, was particularly oppressive to the Britons, and one of the most frequent causes of revolt. In addition to these burdens, the Romans levied imposts upon merchandise, either imported or exported, which formed a considerable item in their revenue, the commerce between the empire and Britain having been greatly extended. Agriculture also made immense progress in the island, in which cities of considerable importance were built. Of these the most important, in a commercial point of view, were Clausentum and London. In the second century, Britain contained upwards of a hundred cities; the principal were London, Colchester, Bath, Gloucester, York, Chester, Lincoln, and Chesterfield; most of them were built upon lands which the emperors had bestowed upon the veterans of those legions whose descendants formed the greater part of the population. The larger cities, about ten in number, enjoyed the jus Latii, which conferred, amongst other privileges, the right of electing their magistrates. The inferior ones, called stipendiaries, paid tribute to the emperor, and were governed by officers under the authority of the prefect. It is extremely improbable, however, that any real amalgamation of the two races ever took place, or that Roman civilisation left any permanent effects upon the British character. The Romans were in fact, from first to last, an army of occupation among a hostile people.
II. ROMAN REMAINS IN BRITAIN
Two Varieties of Masonry--Dover Castle--Richborough Castle--Newport Gate, Lincoln--Hadrian's Wall--Its Direction and Construction--Outworks--Ornamental Detail--Roman Roads and Camps.
The remains of Roman architecture in Britain, though numerous, do not exhibit any perfect buildings, and the workmanship in general is not equal to that of the Continental remains. The buildings seem to have been inferior and of smaller dimensions, and there is very little of ornamental detail to be found, except the tesselated pavements, of which many fine examples yet remain in the Roman villas which have been discovered from time to time in various parts of the kingdom.
The principal places where Roman remains are now to be seen are Lincoln, Dover Castle, St. Albans, Richborough Castle, Porchester, York, Cirencester, Leicester, and Colchester. But in all these there is little ornamentation or detail left, the remains consisting chiefly of plain walls, the masonry of which has peculiarities of character which mark its date. Of the masonry there are two principal varieties; the first, and that which is most readily recognised, consists of alternate layers or bands of pebbles, or small stones embedded in mortar, and tiles or flat stones. These bands consisted of three or four courses of tiles or stones laid through the wall, and were placed at two or three feet from each other, the intermediate spaces being raised with a sort of cement composed of mortar and pebbles, or sometimes rag-stones, or such materials as the country afforded. In this manner are built the Mint wall at Lincoln, the Jewry wall at Leicester, and the walls at Verulam (St. Albans), Porchester, Richborough, York, Pevensey, Chesterford, Colchester, Wroxeter, and Silchester.
The other variety consists of walls formed of square stones or ashlar, as the Roman wall in Northumberland. These are sometimes very large, as in the north gate (or Newport gate), Lincoln. Smaller kinds of ashlar, of almost cubical blocks, occur in the multangular tower and other buildings at York. The mortar used in all these walls is in general mixed with pounded brick.
It will not be necessary here to go into a description of all these buildings, but a few of the most remarkable may be mentioned; one of the most curious and interesting of these is the Pharos in the Castle of Dover, though it has undergone much alteration, particularly in the fifteenth century. "Wherever the outer casing is worn away, or has been removed by violence, the walls exhibit the usual mode of Roman building with the material of the districts; in this case with tufa or stalactite, brought perhaps from the opposite coast of France, and flint, with layers of large flat Roman bricks, some of them two feet long, each layer two courses deep, placed regularly and horizontally in the walls at equal intervals, or nearly so. No less than eight of these layers of brickwork are visible on the south-east side; other layers are apparently concealed by the external and subsequent casing of flint and stone, and where the casing of flint is perfect, quoins of stone appear at the angles. This tower is externally octagonal in form; internally the space enclosed forms a square. The doorway, recently blocked, is on the south side, and the arch, turned and faced with a single row of large Roman bricks, springs from a kind of rude impost moulding, somewhat resembling that of the Roman gateway at Lincoln; but this is not now visible. In the interior, the constructive features of the original Roman work were, before the entrance was closed up, far more visible and perfect than on the exterior, and the facing of the bricks was quite smooth; yet the effect of the alterations is here also plainly apparent, and the original windows, the arches of which are turned with Roman brick, have been filled up with flint masonry. Both the external as well as the internal facings of the entrance doorway on the south side were, a few years back, when the interior could be readily examined, far from perfect. Over this doorway were two windows, one above the other, each arched with brickwork. On the east side of the tower is a rather lofty arch faced with stone, the soffit of which, however, appears to have been turned with brick; this probably communicated with some building adjoining. Over this arch is a window now blocked up."
Richborough Castle, in Kent, is another of the most important of the Roman remains in England. It is a large parallelogram, including within it an area of five acres. The walls to the height of six feet are more than eleven feet thick, and above that ten feet eight inches; and the masonry is thus described by the Rev. C. H. Hartshorne:--"At Richborough, commencing at the ground, there are on the north side, where the masonry is displayed in its most perfect state, first of all, four courses of flint in their natural form, then three courses dressed; to these succeed two courses of binding tile, and then they rise above each other in the following order: seven courses of ashlar and two of tile; seven courses of ashlar and two of tile; seven courses of ashlar and two of tile; again, seven courses of ashlar and two of tile; eight courses of ashlar and two of tile; nine courses of ashlar. The extreme height of this wall is twenty-three feet two inches, and its thickness ten feet eight inches."
One of the most perfect and most interesting of Roman remains is the archway at Lincoln, called Newport Gate, and styled by Dr. Stukely "the noblest remnant of this sort in Britain." It was the north gate of the Roman city of Lindum, and from it a military way, called the High Street, leading to Winteringham, on the Humber, may now be traced. This still forms the principal entrance into the city from the north. It is supposed to have had a large central arch, and two smaller ones at the sides, that on the west having been destroyed, the larger being about fifteen feet, and the lesser ones seven feet in width. It is built of squared stone, out as far as the top of the arch, of remarkably large size. It is without ornament of any kind, but is said by Rickman to have had architrave and impost mouldings. That of the architrave, if it ever existed, has entirely disappeared; but there is, or was lately, a small portion of the impost moulding remaining, on the west side of the large arch. The masonry, which exhibits none of the usual binds of tiles so frequent in other buildings, will be best understood by reference to the engraving on page 21.
There is another piece of Roman work in the neighbourhood of Newport Gate, which is a piece of wall built with ashlar and binding courses of tile. It is known as the Mint Wall.
But perhaps the most interesting of all the Roman remains in Britain is the Roman Wall, which reaches across the narrow part of the island in Northumberland and Cumberland, commencing at Wallsend, on the Tyne, running through Newcastle and Carlisle, and terminating at Bowness, in Cumberland. A most interesting and fully illustrated account of this wall has been given to the world by the Rev. J. Collingwood Bruce, from whose work we have (by permission) copied the two illustrations on p. 22.
Arguments have been brought forward by some antiquaries to show that the wall and the vallum by which it is accompanied belong to two different periods; but Dr. Bruce contends that they are both to be considered as forming part of the great engineering work of Hadrian. It consists of a stone wall, or murus, and a wall of earth, or vallum. These two run always near together, but not always parallel. The vallum is likewise rather the shorter, terminating at Newcastle on the east, and at Drumburgh, about three miles from Bowness, the western extremity of the wall.
"The most striking feature in the plan, both of the murus and the vallum, is the determinate manner in which they pursue their straightforward course. The vallum makes fewer deviations from a right line than the stone wall; but as the wall traverses higher ground, this remarkable tendency is more easily detected in it than in the other. Shooting over the country, in its onward course, it only swerves from a straight line to take in its route the boldest elevations. So far from declining a hill, it uniformly selects one.
"For nineteen miles out of Newcastle the road to Carlisle runs upon the foundations of the wall, and during the summer months its dusty surface contrasts well with the surrounding verdure. Often will the traveller, after attaining some of the steep acclivities of his path, observe the road stretching for miles in an undeviating course to the east and the west of him, resembling, as Hutton expresses it, a white ribbon on a green ground. But if it never moves from a right line, except to occupy the highest points, it never fails to seize them as they occur, no matter how often it is compelled, with this view, to change its direction. It never bends in a curve, but always at an angle. Hence, along the craggy precipices between Sewingshields and Thirlwall, it is obliged to pursue a remarkably zigzag course; for it takes in its range, with the utmost pertinacity, every projecting rock."
Though no part of the wall now retains its full height, it has been calculated that when entire it was about eighteen or nineteen feet, including the parapet. Its general thickness is about eight feet, though it varies in different parts from six feet to ten and a half feet. It is "throughout the whole of its length accompanied on its northern margin by a broad and deep fosse, which, by increasing the comparative height of the wall, added greatly to its strength. This portion of the barrier may yet be traced, with trifling interruptions, from sea to sea."
The masonry of the wall is somewhat peculiar; it has none of the binding courses of tile which are, in many parts of England and on the Continent, so characteristic of Roman work. No tiles are used in the construction. The outer face of the wall on both sides is formed of squared blocks of stone, usually called ashlar, and the interior of rubble, embedded in mortar. These blocks are about eight or nine inches thick, and ten or eleven wide; their length is considerably more, sometimes as much as twenty-two inches, and tapering to the opposite end, which was firmly bedded into the rubble. The whole rested on a course of large foundation stones.
On or near the wall were placed, at tolerably regular intervals, stationary camps, or "stations," about seventeen or eighteen in number; and at still shorter intervals, that is, about a Roman mile from each other, were placed smaller towers, called, from this circumstance, "mile castles." These are in general placed against the south side of the wall, and had mostly only one entrance, which was from the south; but in the most perfect of those at Gawfields there are two entrances, one on the south, and another through the main wall on the north.
More of ornamental detail seems to have been bestowed on the architecture of these stations and mile castles than on the wall, which was intended for defence. The walls have moulded basements and cornices, of which there are woodcuts on this page and the next; the one from Vendalana (Chesterholm) exhibits also the peculiar ornamentation of the surface of the stone work, which is produced by cutting lines in various directions, either lozenge-wise or parallel, horizontal, upright, oblique, or zigzag-wise, thus producing considerable variety. In the extremely interesting Saxon crypt at Hexham, which was built out of the ruins of the Roman Wall, many varieties of this peculiar tooling, or "broaching," occur, along with ornamental mouldings, &c., and inscribed slabs, one of which has been cut to form the semicircular head of a doorway. The beautiful fragment of a capital also given was found in the station of Cilurnum (now Walwick Chesters). It has probably belonged to the portico of a temple. It appears to be a late variety of Corinthian or composite. It serves to show that there must have been considerable expense bestowed on these stations, which were, in fact, military cities, in which the commanders resided. The doorway from the station of Bird-Oswald is valuable as showing a peculiar form of door-head, cut out of a solid stone. It forms the entrance to the guard-chamber from the gateway of the station.
The Roman altars, sculptured fragments, inscribed stones, coins, implements of war, articles of personal ornament, and utensils for domestic use, which have been found along the line of the wall, are extremely numerous. But far more striking memorials of Agricola and his great successors in Britain are the Roman roads. Easy means of communication were, of course, a necessity for the Romans, dwelling, as they did, as a military garrison among a people notorious for their propensity to break into wild rebellion at a moment's notice; and hence the country was traversed by a complete system of roads leading from station to station. The method of their construction varied, but they were invariably raised above the surface of the country, and ran in an almost straight line regardless of hill and valley. The more important roads were very elaborately constructed with a foundation of hard earth, a bed of large stones, sometimes two more layers of stones and mortar, and above all the causeway paved with stones. The four most important roads were Watling Street, the Foss, Icknield Street, and Ermine Street. Of these, Watling Street ran from London to Wroxeter (Uriconium), and thence was continued into Wales, while part of the same system connected London with Dover. The Foss ran from the sea-coast, at Seaton in Devonshire, to Lincoln, with a continuation known as the High Street to the Humber. The Icknield way started from near Bury and ran to Wantage, and thence to Cirencester and Gloucester. Ermine Street ran through the Fens from London to Lincoln. These by no means exhaust the Roman roads, traces of which are to be found in almost every neighbourhood of England, but they are the "four Roman roads" so frequently mentioned in the legislation of the Middle Ages.
Equally numerous are the remains of Roman camps, constructed with great engineering skill. Even when it was necessary to remain stationary for a very brief period, the Romans were accustomed to surround the space to be occupied by the soldiers' tents by an earthen rampart with stakes at the top (agger or vallum), which was in turn surrounded by a fosse or trench (fossa), usually nine feet deep and twelve broad. The spot selected was always one that commended itself from its defensive capacities, and therefore could not be overlooked, and had a command of water. The streets were sometimes as much as a hundred feet broad, with a public meeting-place or forum near the general's tent, which was usually pitched on the highest ground. There was a vacant space of two hundred feet between the tents and the ramparts called the intervallum. The shape of the camp in later times varied according to the nature of the ground, although in the days of the Roman republic it was as a rule rectangular. Of these temporary camps the most perfect is that situated near Kirkboddo, five miles to the south-east of Forfar. It was probably constructed by Agricola; all its six gates exist, and the entrenchment, even now, seems to have lost but little of its original height. It is about two thousand two hundred and eighty feet in length, and one thousand and eighty in breadth; and, apparently because it was necessary to find lodging for more men than the camp was originally intended to hold, there is a procestrium or enclosure without the south-east angle of about one hundred thousand square feet. Permanent camps, which were smaller than the temporary camps, soon lost their original features and grew into towns.
The establishment of an infirmary (valetudinarium), a farriery (veterinarium), and a forge (fabrica) within the rampart were quickly followed by the settlement of a civilian population, and the birth of trades and industries. In many of the English towns, which by the termination cester or chester or the prefix caer betray their Roman origin, hardly a trace of the original Roman camp is to be found, but during the period of the Roman occupation of Britain the military element in them was probably in the ascendant.
Chapter III
THE FOUNDATION OF THE ENGLISH KINGDOMS AND THEIR CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY.
The Jutes, Angles, and Saxons--Their Village Communities--Larger Combinations, Gradations of Rank--Morality and Religion--Hengist and Horsa found the Kingdom of Kent--The Kingdoms of Sussex, Wessex and Essex--The Anglian Kingdoms--Mercia--The Welsh--Gregory and St. Augustine--Augustine and Kent--Conversion of Northumbria--England becomes Christian--The Greatness of Mercia--King Offa.
After the departure of the Romans, the Britons were left to contend as best they could against the hordes of invaders who pressed upon them from the north, and on the eastern coast from overseas. The Saxons reappeared, and were accompanied by the kindred nations known as the Jutes and Angles. It is from this last nation that England takes her name, the land of the Angles, or English, and we shall soon cease to talk of Britain.
The Angles, Jutes, and Saxons formed a confederacy of tribes dwelling at the mouth of the Elbe, in the district known now-a-days as Schleswig-Holstein. They were of German race, so that the well-known description of that country and people given by Tacitus in the Germania applies to them, and is, moreover, confirmed in a remarkable way by what we know of their institutions and customs after they had conquered Britain. Perhaps the most striking feature of the society of our forefathers is that they had no towns. They dwelt in village communities, as the rural inhabitants of India do at the present day, and we are able from other sources to form a very exact idea of the way in which these communities were constituted. The land belonged to the whole of the little society, and the district occupied by it was known as the Mark. In the centre was the village. Beyond the village lay the arable land, in which each member of the village had a share, but this he could only cultivate in the same way as his neighbours. These shares were frequently redistributed, so that no man might permanently hold a more fertile portion than his neighbour, and the right to leave property by will was strictly limited. The head man of the village was elected by the community. Beyond the village came the common pasture land, into which the cattle of the community were turned to feed as they pleased; and farther still came the waste or belt of woodland or moor which separated one village from the next.
The village, called the vicus by Tacitus, was the administrative unit; but, for purposes of common defence, a neighbourhood of villages was combined into a district, or pagus, corresponding to what, after the English had settled in Britain, was known as the hundred, that is, the territory occupied by a hundred heads of families. Its chief is called by Tacitus the princeps, who is known in later times as the alderman, that is, the "older," and therefore more reverenced, man. A union of pagi formed a tribe, but our forefathers had not yet advanced to the formation of a nation. In war the hosts were led by generals, called duces by Tacitus, and probably elected by the principes of the different districts. The confederacy had as yet no kings; kingship was the result of the conquest of the foreign country of Britain, the victorious general deriving an immense accession of authority from the vast quantities of land which fell to his disposal.
Free as were their institutions, our forefathers recognised nevertheless gradations of rank. There was the eorl (earl), or man of noble birth. Then came the ceorl, or churl, a term which has now become one of contempt, but which then signified the freeman who was entitled to his share of the common land. Lowest in the social scale came the laet, or landless man, who cultivated the soil for his lord. It is improbable that slavery existed to any considerable extent before the conquest of Britain, when the conquered, if not exterminated, sank into a position to which death must have been preferable. Every man above the rank of laet was free in theory; but the origins of dependent relationship are seen in the institution called by Tacitus the Comitatus, and by the English the Gefolge or Gesith. This was the bodyguard of the princeps, who fought round him in battle, and over whose interests he watched, probably rewarding them with grants of land whenever a permanent conquest or occupation was effected.
The morality of the Germans is said by Tacitus to have been very high. "They are almost the only barbarians who are content with one wife; there being, however, a few exceptions among them who contract more than one marriage, not from motives of passion, but on account of their nobility of birth." "Good customs," he says in another place, "are of greater influence there than good laws elsewhere;" and much respect was paid to women. Justice was rude, as might be expected, every man being his own avenger; but, even in the earliest times, murder might be atoned for by the payment of a money fine called by the English the wergild, which was graduated according to the rank of the person slain.
Our ancestors were heathens, and worshipped gods whose names are preserved in some of the days of the week. Woden, the god of wars, has given his name to Wednesday; Thor, the god of thunder, to Thursday; Friga, the goddess (and wife of Odin), to Friday. Tuesday is called after Tew, the god of night; the attributes of Sætern, after whom Saturday is named, are not clearly known. Sunday and Monday are the days, of course, of the sun and moon. Another deity of our forefathers is perpetuated in Easter, the day of Eostre, the deity of the dawn. Our ancestors believed in a future abode called the Walhalla, where the brave warrior, after death, would sit at the feast, quaffing from the skulls of his slaughtered enemies.
Of the conquest of Britain by the Angles and the other members of the confederacy, little can be asserted as proven, for our chief authority, the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," was not written until more than two hundred years later. The familiar story is that in the year 449, the chiefs of Britain were holding a council as to the most efficient means of repelling the invasion of the Picts and Scots, when intelligence was brought of the landing of a body of Jutish pirates under Hengist and Horsa, on the neighbouring coasts. Vortigern, one of the most powerful princes, proposed that the strangers should be invited to assist them against the common enemy, which proposal was adopted. In consequence of this arrangement, a negotiation with the strangers was entered into; the Jutes were promised money and supplies in exchange for their swords and arms. The offers were acceded to, and the Picts and Scots driven back to their own country. Although the Jutes were far from being numerous, Vortigern became anxious to secure their services for the future, and a treaty was accordingly concluded between him and the two brothers, Hengist and Horsa, by which the latter bound themselves to return with a much larger number of their countrymen, on condition of receiving a tract of land and subsidies of various kinds. The island of Thanet was devoted to them for their abode. Faithful to their promise, the allies returned with considerable reinforcements, and landed on the coast of Kent. For some time the Jutes remained faithful to their engagement; but becoming tired of fighting for others, their pride increased with their success, and they demanded a large increase of territory, which was indignantly refused. That which they could not obtain by concession they resolved to gain by conquest, to which end they treacherously entered into an alliance with the Picts and Scots, whom they had hitherto combated. This fatal treaty made the Britons comprehend at last the error they had fallen into. Instead of allies, they had made for themselves masters. Indignation at the treachery, however, did not permit them at once to succumb; the struggle was a fierce and protracted one. Several British chiefs immortalised themselves in the battle which was fought at Aylesford by deeds worthy of the heroic age; amongst others the son of Vortigern, who, being pressed in battle, tore up a young tree by its roots, with which he killed Horsa, and the Jutes were put to flight. It is evident that the writer of the "Chronicle" imagines that the Britons obtained several victories, for Hengist and the rest of his companions re-embarked, and for five years the island was free from their presence. The Jutes once more returned under the leadership of the surviving brother, Hengist, in formidable numbers, and soon afterwards gained the battle of Crayford, the result of which was the cession of the greater part of Kent to the conquerors in 473. Eight years later they obtained a second victory, which assured Hengist in his new possessions, from that date called the kingdom of East Kent, to which was afterwards added West Kent and the Isle of Wight.
Twenty-eight years after the first landing of the Jutes, Ælla, a chief of Saxon race, who boasted himself the descendant of Odin, arrived with his three sons in the same number of vessels, on the coast of Kent, and took the old Roman fortress of Anderida (Pevensey). He eventually founded the kingdom of Sussex.
The third kingdom founded by the invaders was that of Wessex, which in time became the mightiest of them all. This, too, was created by Saxons, who, settling to the west of the people of Sussex (South-Saxons), called themselves West-Saxons. It began by an invasion of what is now Hampshire by Cerdic and his son Cymric in 495, who, like the other victorious chiefs, soon assumed the title of king. From them are descended the royal family of the present day. They gradually conquered the country up to the Severn, and as far as the limits of what are now called Oxfordshire and Berkshire. From the Britons, or Welsh as they called them, "the speakers," that is, "of a strange tongue," they met a vigorous resistance, and the war was doubtless carried on with hideous ferocity. From the few Welsh words in the English language it is clear that little or no admixture of races took place. The men were exterminated or driven into the mountains; the women were probably kept as slaves. The hero of the Welsh resistance in the west was the famous Arthur, whom legend has so entirely taken for her own that very little positively can be asserted about him. It is certain, however, that he won a great battle over the Saxons at Mons Badonicus, identified by Professor Freeman with Badbury in Dorsetshire. Ceawlin, however, the grandson of Cerdic, rallied the Saxons, and after a long and protracted struggle, the resistance of the Welsh was broken for the time being in 577 by the great victory of Deorham, near Gloucester.
The third Saxon kingdom was that of Essex (the East Saxons), which included the greater part of Middlesex, and with it London. No record, however, remains to tell us of the exact process or time of this invasion.
The greater part of England and Scotland was, however, possessed by the Angles; but of these migrations we know far less than those of the Jutes and Saxons. East Anglia is said to have been founded in the fourth century by a chief named Uffa, and there were two settlements formed, Norfolk and Suffolk (the folk of the north and south).
Northumbria was also an Anglian settlement, with an admixture of Frisians, on the banks of the Forth. We know little, however, of the manner in which the two great divisions grew up--Bernicia, including the whole of the country from the Forth to the Tees, with Edinburgh as its capital; and Deira, founded by Ida in 547, answering, roughly speaking, to Yorkshire, with York as its chief town. These two kingdoms were sometimes united under one king; sometimes separate. The first king over all Northumbria was Ethelfrith (600). It is important to notice that the Lowland Scots are as purely English as the people of London; and, curiously enough, we are in ignorance of the date when the present boundary line between the two kingdoms became in any way fixed. The separation probably did not occur before the time of Canute the Dane.
The last of the English kingdoms to be formed was that of Mercia, the march or border-land. It probably owed its origin to the gradual combination of a number of smaller kingdoms, and extended over the greater part of the midlands.
Thus was founded what is sometimes called the Heptarchy; but wrongly so: in the first place, because the word does not mean "seven kingdoms," but "the rule of seven persons;" and in the second, because the number of kingdoms in England was never fixed, but was sometimes fewer than seven, sometimes more. It will be noticed that the Britons, or Welsh, still had possession of an unbroken territory, extending over the whole of the west of England and Scotland. It included Devon, Cornwall, and the greater part of Somerset, the whole of the country west of the Severn, part of Chester, Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, and the whole of the south-west of Scotland, which was called the kingdom of Strathclyde. The Celtic inhabitants of the Scottish Highlands were also unsubdued; and for many years the English fought against the Welsh and between themselves.
The first of the Anglo-Saxon or English kingdoms (to give them the more generally accepted title) to acquire a definite superiority was that of Kent; but it soon gave way to the rising power of Northumbria. Nevertheless, the period of Kentish ascendency is one of great importance, for it witnessed the conversion of England to Christianity. Ethelbert, who reigned from 560 to 616, was the first prominent English king after the various sovereignties had taken shape and consistency. He married a Christian princess, Bertha, the daughter of Charibert, king of the Franks. But although she was allowed to exercise her religion, it does not appear that the new faith made any sensible progress until, in the year 597, Pope Gregory the Great determined to send a monk, named Augustine, to preach the Gospel in the land of the heathen English. The beautiful story of the means by which Gregory's attention was called to this distant land is well known. Before he became Pope, it chanced one day that he was walking in the market-place at Rome and saw some fair boys exposed for sale as slaves. His curiosity aroused, he asked of what nation they came. "They are Angles," was the reply. "Non Angli sed Angeli" ("They are not Angles, but angels"), said Gregory, "and should be the co-heirs of the angels in heaven. But of what tribe are they?" "Of Deira." "Then must they be delivered de ira Dei (from the wrath of God). And who is their king?" "Ella," was the answer. "Then," said Gregory, "shall Alleluia be sung in his land."
When Gregory became Pope he was not long in making good the promise, as far as in him lay.
Augustine's task was easy; Ethelbert permitted him and his comrades to dwell at Canterbury and preach to the people. After a while he went back to the Continent to be consecrated bishop; and on his return, made the church at Canterbury the cathedral of his diocese, whence Canterbury is still the metropolitan see of all England. Although Christianity had been exterminated by the invaders, its dying embers were rekindled among the Welsh by missionaries from the Continent, and an attempt was now made to agree upon a basis of union for the two churches. For this purpose a meeting was arranged between Augustine and the Welsh bishops at a spot on the banks of the Severn, and a conference was held. But although the points of difference were slight, neither side would yield; and so the two churches remained separate.
The greatness of Kent did not endure long after the landing of Augustine, for in 616 Ethelbert, who had been over-king of the whole of England as far north as the Humber, died; and his son Eadbald proved an inferior ruler, and even relapsed into paganism. It was to the north that the balance of power now inclined, where Edwin of Deira became King of Northumbria, having overthrown his rival, Ethelfrith of Bernicia, in a great battle, on the banks of the Idle (617). His marriage with Ethelberga, the daughter of Ethelbert of Kent, led to the conversion of Northumbria to Christianity. She brought with her a priest named Paulinus, and he rapidly succeeded in persuading the people to adopt Christianity. The story of the king taking counsel with his aldermen and wise men concerning the new faith which was preached in their midst, and the fine speech made by one of the thegns, in which he compared the life of man to the flight of a sparrow from the darkness into a warm room at wintertime, and thence out into the darkness and storm again, is told us by Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the Nation of the English. "So it is," said the noble, "with the life of man; it endures but for a moment, and we know not at all of what goeth before it and what cometh after it. Therefore, if these strangers can tell us anything that we may know whence a man cometh, and whither he goeth, let us hear them and follow their law." So Northumbria became Christian for the time being, and a church was built at York with Paulinus as its bishop. But in 633 Edwin was defeated and slain at Heathfield by the King of the Welsh, and Penda the heathen king of Mercia, and the country relapsed for a time into heathendom, until Oswald, Edwin's nephew, known as St. Oswald, brought St. Aidan, a Scottish bishop, to Northumbria, and founded the see of Lindisfarne, in Holy Island, off the Northumbrian coast. There the holy St. Cuthbert lived, until his death in 687, and, going forth over all Northumbria, converted vast numbers of men and women.
Concerning the conversion of the remaining kingdoms, we know comparatively little. Mercia became Christian on the death of Penda, who was overthrown by Oswy of Northumbria, in 655, at the battle of Winwood. Wessex was converted by a bishop called Birinus, who was sent from Rome by Pope Honorius; and though the first bishopric was fixed at Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, the episcopal seat of Wessex was eventually fixed at Winchester, and Dorchester became that of the Mercians. The last part of England to become Christian was East Anglia, which was converted by Wilfrith, who had been driven from Northumberland by King Egfrith, Oswy's son and successor.
In less than a hundred years after the arrival of St. Augustine, England became Christian, and the conversion had been in many cases accomplished by missionaries from Rome. But many of the kingdoms also had been brought to the new faith by bishops from Scotland; Mercia, for instance, and Northumbria finally. These bishops came in many cases from the island of Iona, and they did not acknowledge or follow the customs of the Church of Rome. The great question as to which of the two rituals should prevail was settled at a synod held at Whitby, when Northumbria adopted the Roman use, and from that time ecclesiastical unity prevailed.
The organisation of the Church of England was effected by Theodore of Tarsus, who was sent over to England as Archbishop of Canterbury in 668. He proceeded to organise the various sees, usually following the limits of the old English kingdoms; and though changes were occasionally made, much of his work was permanent, and exists at the present day. So England was one kingdom as far as its religious constitution was concerned, and this unity led in turn, as we shall see, to a civil unity under the kings of Wessex.
By the beginning of the eighth century it had become evident that the struggle for supremacy would eventually be between Wessex and Mercia, for Northumbria, a turbulent state, harassed by succession questions, had already ceased to hold the pride of place. At first Mercia appeared to have the advantage of the struggle. It soon recovered from the overthrow of Penda, and from the years 716 to 819, with one or two intervals of temporary prostration, it was extremely powerful. Ethelbald, the nephew of Penda, reigned from 716 to 755, and built up a great power. Taking advantage of the anarchy in Northumbria, and of the abdication of Ina of Wessex, he subdued his neighbours in a series of successful wars, and claimed to be king "not only of the Mercians, but of all the people who are called by the common name of South-Angles." He was, however, in 754, confronted by a general rebellion, and utterly defeated in a battle at Burford.
In the following year Ethelbald died, and after a year's anarchy was succeeded by Offa. He was not only a great warrior, but a great statesman, and combined a series of conquests with a series of judicious marriage alliances, until he had almost succeeded in making himself king over all England. His most glorious wars were those against the Welsh, whom he drove back from the Severn to the Wye. He built a large dyke from the mouth of the Wye to the mouth of the Dee to keep them back, called Offa's dyke. Offa was reverenced on the Continent almost as much as in England, and we even find him corresponding on terms of equality with the Emperor Charles the Great, known to romance as Charlemagne. Offa was a warm friend of the Church; he created a temporary archbishopric at Lichfield as a rival to York and Canterbury, and founded the Abbey of St. Albans. The power of Mercia, however, depended almost entirely on the personal abilities of her kings, and ended with Cenwulf, who reigned from 796 to 815. After his death it speedily collapsed, partly owing to the failure of the royal line, partly owing to the rising power of Wessex, and partly also owing to devastating raids of the Danes, who had already begun to make their appearance in Britain.
IV. RISE OF WESSEX AND OF THE SOCIAL SYSTEM OF ENGLAND
Ceawlin and his Successors--Cedwalla--Ina--Subjection to Mercia--Accession of Egbert--He subdues his Rivals--His Wars with the Welsh and Danes--Land-owning System--Local Assemblies--The Hundred Moot--The Shire Moot and its Business--Methods of Trial and Punishments--The Wergild--The Witena-gemot--Its Powers--The King--Class Distinctions--The Church.
Hitherto the rise of the kingdom of Wessex has been left out of sight in these pages; but as we are approaching the reign of the great king Egbert, it is necessary to trace the steps by which a great power had been slowly consolidated in the West under a series of able kings. We have already mentioned Ceawlin, the third of the sovereigns of the West Saxons. This prince greatly added to his authority and possessions. Besides defeating the Welsh in numerous battles, and conquering a large district north of the Thames, he seized upon the kingdom of Sussex after the death of Cissa, defeated the King of Kent, and was suspected of entertaining the ambitious project of reducing all England under his sceptre. But his subjects, headed by his nephew, Ceolric, rose against him, and met him in battle at Wodensbury. Being defeated, Ceawlin ended his days in exile. This collapse lost to the kingdom of Wessex all the country which had been annexed to the north of the Thames.
Ceolric, his nephew, succeeded him; he died in 597.
This last-named prince was followed by his brother, Ceolwulf, who defeated the South Saxons, and died in 611.
Cynegils, the son of Ceolric, succeeded him, and divided the kingdom with his brother Quicelm. The two last-named princes obtained a great victory over the Britons in 614. Before the death of Quicelm, which took place in 635, he became a Christian: after his decease the kingdom was again united under Cynegils, also a Christian, who henceforth reigned alone.
Cenwealh, his son, had to carry on a succession of wars with the kings of Mercia. Penda, whose sister he had divorced, drove him from his kingdom, and he remained in exile several years, but was afterwards restored, dying in 672. His widow, Sexburh, was chosen as his successor.
This princess reigned little more than a year, when she died. Some historians say that she was deposed by her subjects, who disliked the idea of being commanded by a woman.
Cedwalla became king in 688. During the life of his predecessor, who was jealous of the affection which the people bore him, he had been compelled to fly. He carried on severe contests with the kings of Kent. He afterwards conquered the Isle of Wight; and would have rooted out all the inhabitants, but for the remonstrances of Wilfrith, Bishop of Selsey. In 688 he undertook a journey to Rome, to receive baptism at the hands of the Pope; for although he was a Christian and a great zealot, he had never been baptised. As he travelled through France and Lombardy, he was everywhere very honourably received; and Cunibert, King of the Lombards, was particularly remarkable for the noble entertainment he gave him. When he came to Rome, he was baptised by Pope Sergius II., who gave him the name of Peter. He had always expressed a wish to die soon after his baptism, and his desire was gratified, for he died a few weeks after, at Rome, and was buried at St. Peter's Church, where a stately tomb was erected to his memory, with an epitaph showing his name, quality, age, and time of his death. His two sons being too young to succeed him, his cousin Ina mounted the throne.
Ina was a king of much ability, and reigned no less than thirty-eight years, i.e. from 688 to 726. He was a man of war, a legislator, and a saint. By arms he succeeded in reducing Kent, Sussex, and East Anglia to obedience, and fought many battles against the Welsh, building the fortress of Taunton to protect his new frontier. As a legislator he made a collection of laws seventy-six in number, which is the earliest English code still in existence with the exception of some fragments of a legal system drawn up by the kings of Kent. His holiness was seen in his large benefactions to the Church. Wessex was divided into two dioceses, the new bishop being placed at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire; he founded and endowed, moreover, several monasteries, and rebuilt the abbey of Glastonbury, the burial place of the famous king Arthur. But towards the end of his reign it did not fare well with Ina. In 714 he fought a great battle with the Mercians, in which so many were slain on either side that the issue was held to be doubtful, and this large loss of life perhaps was the cause of his subsequent defeats by the Welsh. Moreover, the members of the royal house proved rebellious, and their leader Aldbert was not defeated by Ina until a wearying contest had been waged between the two parties. In 726, therefore, Ina, tired of the world, and wishing to provide for the safety of his soul, resigned his kingdom, and went to Rome, where he was received by Pope Gregory the Second, and ended his days as a common man.
The abdication of Ina was not productive of good consequences to Wessex; and for nineteen years, from 733 to 752, the country was subject, as has already been mentioned, to the yoke of Mercia until, led by their king Cuthred, the second in succession to Ina, the people won freedom at the battle of Burford. This stage of the history of Wessex is not very important, and closes in 802, when the great king Egbert ascended the throne.
Egbert had laid claim to the throne on the death of Cynewulf, which took place in 784, but without success. Bertric was elected. Fear of the vengeance of his more successful rival caused him to take refuge at the court of Offa of Mercia, but still pursued by the jealousy of Bertric he eventually withdrew to the court of Charles the Great. A close friendship arose between the two, and Egbert modelled his after-career on that of his benefactor. On the death of Bertric he was elected in his absence by the Witena-gemot, or assembly of the wise men, in due form, and reigned until 836. At once he set himself to win a superiority over the island, as Charles had established a dominion on the continent. In the cases of the southern kingdoms his task was easy, and they submitted without a blow; East Anglia being allowed to retain her line of sovereigns as subordinate kings, Kent, Essex and Sussex being practically annexed to Wessex. But with Mercia the task was not so easy. However, in 823 he defeated the Mercians so completely at the great battle of Ellandune that their subject kingdoms, the names and extent of which are not exactly known, were at once annexed to Wessex; and four years later Mercia itself owned his supremacy, the king becoming his subordinate. In the following year Northumbria, torn to pieces by internal dissensions, submitted on similar terms. He thus became ruler over all England, and is deservedly honoured by the "Chronicle" with the title of Bretwalda, or "Wealder of Britain," which is bestowed on some of his predecessors with far more questionable propriety.
Not only did Egbert set himself the task of mastering all the English; but he determined to conquer territory from the Welsh as well. During the greater part of the reign the struggle went on with varying fortunes, the general result being that Devonshire became English, that after the subjection of Mercia the whole of Wales proper submitted (828), but that he failed to make any impression upon the Celtic peoples north of the Dee. In 835, the year before he died, the West Welsh, or Cornish, rose in arms, and were reinforced by the Danes, who now began to scourge the English coasts. Egbert, however, won a victory over them at Hengestesdun. At the time of his death this great king ruled over the whole country south of the Forth, with the exception of Cornwall and the south-west of Scotland and north-west corner of England. Evidently he must have been a man of first-rate ability; but of his personal character and disposition singularly little is known.
Before coming to the period when the Danish invasions (which, however, had already begun) became a matter of annual occurrence, it may be well to see what changes had been effected in the social system of our ancestors since their migration from the banks of the Elbe.
The system of land-owning was much changed, and private property in land became the rule rather than the exception. At first land was allotted to each village, and every family had a portion, known as a hide, as its share. The dimensions of the hide appear to have varied according to locality; as a rule it comprised from thirty to forty acres, but in later times it covered as much as a hundred and twenty. The remainder of the land was theoretically public property, and hence was called folkland; but it was in the hands of the king, who, with the assent of the Witena-gemot, made grants of it from time to time to his thegns, or to the great monasteries, when it was known as bookland, land that is granted out on copyhold tenure--to use a modern legal equivalent, which is fairly exact. Ethel, or alod, was land held by undisputed possession from the first settlement, and which could be transmitted from father to son. The owners of Ethel had no title-deeds to show, but based their claim to ownership on tradition. Later on, however, the distinction between Ethel and bookland disappears, the owners of the former finding it a safer course to get a charter for their property.
As to the administration of the English kingdoms, the important point to notice is that it was not entirely in the hands of a central authority, but each local community had its own affairs in its hands to a very considerable extent. In viewing the social organism, it will be well to start, as before, from the village community, whether in the form of vicus or rural township, town or group of houses surrounded by a quickset hedge or tun, and borough the dwellings round the fortified house (burh) of a great noble. In each of these there was a moot, or local assembly, presided over by a magistrate or reeve, who was at first elected by the general body of the inhabitants, but later on appointed by the neighbouring nobility. So, too, the judicial functions of these petty assemblies were rapidly taken from them, and cases were tried instead at the manor-courts of the great lords.
A union of villages and towns formed the hundred, and to the court of the hundred each township sent the reeve and four men. Cases which lay outside their jurisdiction were sent up from the town-moots, but here, too, the nobility began to encroach upon the rights of their weaker neighbours; and in cases where landowners had privileges known as sac and soc, the decision in their courts was final, and was not subject to the court of the hundred. The police of the hundred was provided by the system known as frankpledge (peace pledge), by which freemen were grouped into bodies of ten, in which each man had to go bail for any one of the other nine, and produce him before the court if he had done wrong. The landless man in the same way was compelled to find a lord who would be answerable for him.
The division above the hundred was the shire, usually formed on the lines of the old kingdoms, as in the case of Kent and Sussex; or sub-kingdoms as in the case of most of the midland shires. The boundaries of each shire were co-extensive with those of each bishopric. The court of the shire, or shire-moot, was presided over by the sheriff or reeve of the shire, who was appointed by the king. By his side sat the alderman or chief military officer of the shire, and the bishop. The shire-moot met twice a year, and any freeman was entitled to attend it, and to have a voice in its decisions.
Its business was two-fold, taxation and justice. Taxation was a very simple affair, being practically non-existent until the period of the Danish invasion, when, as we shall see, the obnoxious burden known as Danegeld was introduced. Its necessity was obviated by the obligation which lay upon every freeman known as the "three-fold necessity" (trinoda necessitas), by which he was bound to attend the host or fyrd in time of war, to repair the public roads, and to keep the fortifications in good order. Thus no imposts were necessary for what are some of the principal sources of modern rating; while the king lived and kept up his court upon the proceeds of the royal domains.
In the matter of justice the shire-moot acted as a court of appeal from the inferior courts. The influence of the great landowners over it must have been considerable, for the verdict was given by the twelve senior thegns. The methods of trial in this and the other courts of old England in criminal cases were three in number, a statement of innocence on oath, compurgation and ordeal. Compurgation was a mode of defence by which a man was held to have established his innocence if he could get twelve men to swear that he was not guilty of the crime in question. Ordeal was allowed as an alternative to those who failed in or shrank from the process of compurgation or of taking an oath themselves. It was practised either by boiling water or red-hot iron. The water, or iron, was consecrated by many prayers, masses, fastings, and exorcisms; after which the person accused either took up a stone sunk in the water to a certain depth, or carried the iron to a certain distance; and his hand being wrapped up, and the covering sealed for three days, if there appeared, on examining it, no marks of burning, he was pronounced innocent; if otherwise, guilty. There were other and less credible methods of trial by ordeal. The trial by cold water was one of them. The person was thrown into consecrated water; if he swam he was guilty, if he sank, innocent. It is difficult for us to conceive how any innocent person could ever escape by the one trial, or any criminal be convicted by the other. But there was another usage admirably calculated for allowing every criminal to escape who had confidence enough to try it. A consecrated cake, called a corsned, was produced; if the person could swallow and digest it, he was pronounced innocent. Walking on burning ploughshares also appears as an ordeal, but seldom, or never, except in stories that are evidently mythical.
The punishments amongst the English seem to have been exceedingly mild for some offences, since even murder might be atoned for by the payment of a fine.
The laws of Alfred enjoin that if any one know that his enemy or aggressor, after doing him an injury, resolves to keep within his own house and his own lands, he shall not fight him till he require compensation for the injury. If he be strong enough to besiege him in his house, he may do it for seven days without attacking him; and if the aggressor be willing during that time to surrender himself and his arms, his adversary may detain him thirty days; but is afterwards obliged to restore him safe to his kindred, and be content with the compensation. If the criminal fly to the church, that sanctuary must not be violated. Where the assailant has not force sufficient to besiege the criminal in his house, he must apply to the alderman for assistance; and if the alderman refuse aid, the assailant must have recourse to the king; and he is not allowed to assault the house till after this supreme magistrate has refused assistance. If any one meet with his enemy, and be ignorant that he was resolved to keep within his own lands, he must, before he attack him, require him to surrender himself prisoner, and deliver up his arms, in which case he may detain him thirty days; but if he refuse to deliver up his arms, it is then lawful to fight him. A slave may fight in his master's quarrel, and a father in his son's, with any one except his master.
Ina enacted that no man should take revenge till he had first demanded compensation, and it had been refused him.
King Edmund decreed that if a man committed a murder, he might, within a year, pay the fine, with the assistance of his relatives and friends; but if they refused to aid him, he should alone sustain the feud with the kindred of the murdered person.
There is, indeed, a law of Alfred, which makes wilful murder capital; but this seems only to have been an attempt of that great legislator towards establishing a better police in the kingdom, and probably it was not often carried into execution. By the laws of the same prince, a conspiracy against the life of the king might be redeemed by a fine.
The fine to be paid for the murder of a king, or his wergild--a word signifying the legal value of any one,--was by law 30,000 thrismas, nearly 1,300 pounds of present money. The price of the head of one of royal blood (Atheling), was 15,000 thrismas; that of a bishop's, or alderman's, 8,000; a sheriff's, 4,000; a thegn's, or clergyman's, 2,000; a ceorl's, 266. These prices were fixed by the laws of the Angles. By the Mercian law, the price of a ceorl's head was 200 shillings; that of a thegn's six times as much; that of a king's, six times more. By the laws of Kent, the price of the archbishop's head was higher than that of the king. It must be understood that where a person was unable or unwilling to pay the fine, he was put out of the protection of the law, and the kindred of the deceased had liberty to punish him as they thought proper.
The price of all kinds of wounds was likewise fixed by the English law: a wound of an inch long under the hair was paid with one shilling; one of a like size in the face, with two shillings; thirty shillings were the compensation for the loss of an ear; and so forth. There seems not to have been any difference made according to the dignity of the person. By the laws of Ethelbert, any one who committed adultery with his neighbour's wife was obliged to pay him a fine, and buy him another wife.
The court of the nation was known as the witena-gemot, or assembly of the wise men. Originally, no doubt, it was a far more popular institution than it became in later times. In theory every freeman was entitled to be present; but it was gradually confined to a small body of men, and the average number of those who attended it was about thirty. They consisted of royal officials and heads of the church, the bishops, aldermen, and personal attendants of the king spoken of in the laws and chronicles as ministri. Such a body, although it had in theory great powers, was, as Bishop Stubbs points out, practically very much under the control of a strong king.
Its powers were as follows:
(1) All laws, whether national or ecclesiastical, were made with its counsel and consent.
(2) It supervised grants of land, especially the conversion of folkland into bookland.
(3) It was a court of justice in the last resort.
(4) It laid on especial taxes, such as the Danegeld.
(5) It discussed questions of foreign policy.
(6) It elected the aldermen in conjunction with the king, and the bishops in the more important sees. Bishops were, as a rule, however, elected by the clergy.
(7) It could elect and depose kings. Deposition was frequent in some kingdoms, notably in turbulent Northumbria. As to election, "the choice," says Bishop Stubbs, "was limited to the best qualified person standing in close connection to the last sovereign."
Thus we see that the English kings were elected by the assembly of the nation; and they went through some form of election, perfunctory though it was no doubt, even in times subsequent to the Norman conquest. We have already mentioned that the institution of kingship was subsequent to the invasion of Britain, and was due to the immense amount of territory that fell to the disposal of the victorious general and the accession of importance he assumed thereby. The king was the chief magistrate in peace, and the leader of the national host (fyrd) in war; and the introduction of Christianity invested him with new attributes of sanctity. Still, it is important to notice that the idea of treason, and the penalty of death attached to it, was of late development. The penalty for killing a king is only a higher wergild than in the case of an ordinary individual.
The difference between class and class becomes more sharply defined after the invasion of Britain than before it. The bodyguard of the king (comitatus or gesith) is more distinctly dependent upon him. They are known as his servants, or thegns. As regards the bulk of the people they form, however, a noble class. There were king's thegns and lesser thegns; the distinction being apparently regulated by the amount of land which they possessed.
It was possible, however, for men who were not owners of land, to rise to the rank of thegn. Thus Athelstan decreed that a merchant who made three long sea voyages on his own account should be entitled to the quality of thegn. The classes of ceorls, or freedmen, and laets, landless men who cultivated the soil for their lords, continued to exist; but there was also a class of absolute slaves usually occupied in household labour, whose position must have been most unenviable. The power of the master over his slave, however, was not unlimited, for if he beat his eyes or his teeth out, the latter might claim his liberty; and if he killed him, he paid a fine to the king, provided the slave died within a day after receiving his wound.
The English Church was on the best of relations with the various kingdoms with which its dioceses coincided. The bishop sat with the sheriff and alderman in the shire-moot, and was a member of the witena-gemot. The kings and aldermen in the same way took part in the ecclesiastical councils which were convened after the organisation of the ecclesiastical system by Theodore of Tarsus. According to his scheme of reform, a general council of the whole Church was to assemble every August, and he himself presided over two great councils at Hertford and Hatfield. The idea was not carried out after his death with perfect regularity, especially after Archbishop Egbert had successfully asserted the independence of the see of York; still such assemblies were occasionally held, and were of the greatest assistance in developing the idea of national unity. They met at some border town such as Clovesho, an unknown spot near London, where the hostile kings of Mercia, Wessex, Kent, and Essex associating with the bishops, abbots, and occasionally diocesan clergy, learnt to sink their differences, and to realise the greatness of their common interests. Even after the national assemblies had practically resolved themselves into the two provincial synods of Canterbury and York, the comparative unimportance of the northern province frequently invested the proceedings of the southern with a national character. Assemblies of each diocese were also occasionally summoned, which were largely attended by the parish priests, the parish coinciding with the townships in the same way that the diocese coincided with the kingdom or subkingdom.
The English Church was notably a learned Church, and numbered among its dignitaries Bede, the historian of the Church. Despite the intimate connection between Church and State, it was not a distinctly political Church. The sees were often set up at a distance from the great towns; and the bishops made their ecclesiastical duties the chief interest of their lives, seldom degenerating, as on the Continent, into great territorial princes. The Church was also a popular institution. It was supported by voluntary tithes which were not made imperative by law earlier than the year 787. Its main fault was a certain desultoriness of effort, which is to be traced in the failure to carry out Theodore's plans in their integrity. Learning had almost died out at the time of the accession of Alfred, and the invasions of the Danes can only be adduced as a partial excuse. We find that king complaining that very few of his clergy could translate a letter from Latin. The Church was, moreover, excessively monastic. Pious kings founded and liberally endowed numerous monasteries, which rapidly became luxurious and corrupt, until some were religious societies only in name. The system, however, had its advantages when it was necessary to furnish missionaries gratuitously to poor districts.
V. THE DANISH INVASIONS AND THE REIGN OF ALFRED
Character of the Invaders--Reign of Ethelwulf--Reigns of Ethelbald and Ethelbert--The Conquest of East Anglia--Battles near Reading--The Accession of Alfred--The Extinction of the Kingdom of Mercia--The Invasion of Wessex--The Year 878--Alfred at Athelney--Death of Hubba--Victory of Alfred and the Treaty of Wedmore--Renewal of the War--Alfred's fleet--Expeditions of Hastings--Remainder of the Reign--Character of Alfred--His Rules of Life--His Legislation--Encouragement of Learning.
We have arrived at the period of the Danish invasions, which has been divided by Professor Freeman into three parts:
(1) When the Danes came to plunder. (2) When they came to settle. (3) When they came to conquer England.
Of the first division little is to be said, and in part it has already been dealt with incidentally while tracing the rise of the kingdom of Wessex. The first descent upon the English coast seems to have been made upon Northumbria in 787.
The Danes were a brave and unscrupulous race, inhabiting not only Denmark, but also Norway. Bound by a limited territory, in a climate where population rapidly increases, it is not to be wondered at that Denmark and Norway were overstocked with inhabitants, and, consequently, forced to send away large colonies. Their natural inclination to a sea life made these exiles readily abandon their country; and the great booty the first adventurers gained tempted the richest and most powerful of their countrymen to urge their fortune in the same manner; to which end they entered into associations, and fitted out large fleets to seek and ravage foreign countries. These associations were much of the same nature with those formed in later times by the corsairs of Barbary; and they became so entirely devoted to this mode of life, that very considerable fleets were put to sea. They had the authority and example of their highest leaders, who occasionally commanded them in person, for what they did. These leaders were known by the name of Sea-kings. Their fleets made much devastation in several parts of Europe, particularly France, England, and the Low Countries. In France they were called Normans--that is, men of the north; but in England they were generally styled Danes. There is no doubt that the Swedes very often joined with the Danes in their piratical expeditions; and it appears that the Frieslanders also were concerned with them in ravaging the coasts of France and England.
Egbert died in 839, after having reigned thirty-seven years, during the last ten as sole monarch of England. He was succeeded by his son Ethelwulf, in whose reign the ravages of the Danes became yet more frequent. In a great battle fought at Charmouth the English were once more defeated by their fierce enemy, who retired to their own country again with the spoils they had collected, without attempting any settlement.
The Danes now seldom failed to visit England yearly for the sake of plunder. In 845, the Aldermen Enulph and Osric, aided by Bishop Alstan, obtained a considerable victory over them. In 851, the barbarians landed again on the coast of Wessex, where they plundered the country, but were met by Ethelwulf's general, the Alderman Ceorl, who defeated them at Wembury with great slaughter. Shortly afterwards, Athelstan, the King of Kent, encountered them upon their own element, and succeeded in capturing nine of their ships. Next year the Danes sailed up the Thames with 300 vessels, and pillaged London, after which they marched into Mercia, and would have overrun all England if the preparations of Ethelwulf had not deterred them. They re-passed the Thames, and were defeated at Okely, in Surrey. The year 855 is an important one, for the Danes then wintered in England for the first time, selecting the Isle of Sheppey for their camp.
Ethelwulf appears to have been in some respects a weak, but by no means a cruel prince. He was very religiously minded, and was led for years, in all religious matters, by Swithin, Bishop of Winchester, and Alstan, Bishop of London. By the advice of the former, he is said to have granted to the Church the tithe of all his dominions. He also sent his youngest son, Alfred, when a mere boy, to Rome, and in 855 visited the Eternal City himself. On his return, he passed through France, where he married Judith, or Leatheta, as she is named in the Saxon Chronicles, the daughter of Charles the Bald, a princess only twelve years of age. During his absence, his son Ethelbald and Bishop Alstan plotted against him, and on his arrival in England he was compelled to resign the kingdom of Wessex to the former to prevent a civil war. The aged monarch survived this partition but two years.
Ethelwulf, by his will, disposed of the kingdom of Kent to his second son, Ethelbert, and the kingdom of Wessex to Ethelbald, Ethelred, and Alfred, in order of seniority, and directed his heirs to maintain one poor person for every tithing in his hereditary lands. He died in 857, having reigned eighteen years, leaving behind him four sons and one daughter, who was married to Burhred, King of Mercia, and died at Pavia in 888. Ethelbald, the eldest son, was already in possession of the kingdom of Wessex; and Ethelbert, his brother, succeeded to Kent, Essex, Surrey, and Sussex, comprised under the name of the kingdom of Kent.
Ethelbald, a prince of but little capacity, reigned not quite three years after his father's death, his brother Ethelbert succeeding him. In the reign of the last-named king, the Danes once more renewed their ravages in England, and penetrated as far as Winchester, from which city they were beaten back to their ships at Southampton by the Aldermen Osric and Ethelwulf.
On their landing, in the autumn of the same year, in the Isle of Thanet, Ethelbert offered them a large sum of money to retire, which they promised to do, but broke faith with him, and commenced ravaging the kingdom of Kent, and carried off their booty in safety. In 866 Ethelbert died, and was succeeded by his brother, Ethelred I.
In this reign the Danish invasions assume a more terrible aspect; and the second period, the transition to which was marked by the wintering in Sheppey, may be considered to have fully begun. During his short reign, Ethelred, who was a brave warrior, was engaged in almost incessant conflict with these savage heathens. The struggle began in 867, when the brothers Ingvar and Hubba, thirsting, according to a not very probable legend, to avenge their father, who had been put to death by Ella, the sub-king of Northumbria, landed in East Anglia, and took York. In the following year they marched upon Mercia. Nottingham fell; but Ethelred and his brother Alfred came to the assistance of the Mercian king, Burhred, and drove the enemy back into Northumberland. This success was, however, only temporary, for, advancing from York in 870, under a leader named Guthrum, they conquered East Anglia, and it became a Danish kingdom. The under-king of East Anglia was named Edmund; he was defeated near Thetford, and taken prisoner. For his refusal to abjure Christianity, the barbarians shot at him with arrows while he was bound to a tree, and at last beheaded him; wherefore Edmund was deservedly honoured as a saint. Over the whole of East Anglia and Mercia hardly a church or monastery was left standing. All were committed to the flames.
With East Anglia as a basis of operations, the Danes extended their advance over parts of England which had as yet escaped. In 871 they penetrated into Wessex; but here their task was not so easy. Nine great battles were fought round Reading; some of them being won by the English, some by the Danes. Of these, the most famous was that of Ashdown, in which Alfred bore the brunt of the fray, while his brother was praying for success. At Easter, King Ethelred died, probably from the effects of a wound. His valour and piety gained for him the title of saint.
The general outlook, when Alfred was chosen king of the English in succession to his brother, must have been terrible indeed. The Danes, already masters of Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia, were in the very heart of the kingdom of Wessex; and, notwithstanding the many battles Ethelred had fought with them, they were in possession of several towns; and not only maintained their position in the island, but had reason to hope they should soon complete the conquest of it. The new monarch had only been a month on the throne, when he found himself obliged to take the field against these formidable enemies, who had advanced as far as Wilton, whither he marched to attack them. Victory for some time inclined to his side, then suddenly changed in favour of the Danes; but Alfred's loss was not so considerable as to make him despair, though the victory certainly belonged to the enemy. He laboured incessantly to put his army in condition to give them battle again, before they should be reinforced; they were astonished at his expedition, and, though victorious, sued for peace, finding themselves unable to continue the war. As they offered to march out of his dominions, on condition he would not molest them in any other part of England, Alfred accepted their offer, and gained by this treaty time to prepare against a new invasion.
The Danes, quitting Wessex, retired to London, which they had taken during the late war. Ingvar was gone back to Denmark, having left the command of the army to his brother Hubba, who, being prevented from attacking Wessex, turned his arms against Mercia. Burhred, its king, knowing he was unable to resist, since Alfred was bound not to send him any succours, thought it his wisest course to buy off the Danes with a sum of money, and save his country from their depredations. Upon the receipt of the money, they marched towards Northumbria, designing to take up their quarters with their countrymen; but their provisions running short, in consequence of the devastations they themselves had made there, they were under the necessity of returning into Mercia.
Before they had left Northumbria, they deposed Egbert, whom they had placed on the throne, and put Recsige, a Danish earl, in his room. Burhred, finding they were come again into his dominions, complained of their breach of faith; but without regarding his complaints, they obliged him to give them another considerable sum to save his country from the destruction it was threatened with; and no sooner was the money paid, than they fell to plundering and ravaging, and Burhred found that even his own person was in danger. The fear of falling into their hands obliged him to abandon his kingdom, and retire to Rome, where he spent the rest of his days in the English college. Mercia being thus left without a king, and Alfred being prevented by his own treaty from lending any assistance, the Danes without difficulty became masters of that kingdom, and raised Ceolwulf, a servant of Burhred, to the throne, till they could otherwise dispose of it. Aware of the slight tenure of his office, the new ruler resolved to make the utmost of his time, and so oppressed the unhappy Mercians that they suffered more from the tyranny of their own countryman than from the rapacity of the conquerors. Meanwhile the Danes were beginning to settle in Northumbria, and Alfred was employing himself in winning victories over them by sea.
Whilst Alfred flattered himself with the hope of enjoying comparative peace, new calamities were preparing for his unhappy country. A large party of Danes, under Guthrum, landed in England, and surprised Wareham Castle, the strongest fortress in Wessex. The king was obliged to purchase his retreat. The invaders swore on the holy relics never again to set foot in Wessex, an oath which they quickly violated. From the very nature of their government, no treaty could bind the Danes as a nation, seeing that it was composed of a variety of chiefs and petty powers, who entered into associations independent of each other. The successful return of one expedition merely proved an incentive to others of their countrymen to follow in their track.
Alfred, finding it was in vain to conclude treaties with such a perfidious race of people, resolved to take more effectual measures to secure himself from their treachery. For this purpose he convened a general assembly. He represented to them that they had nothing to trust to but their own valour and courage, to deliver them from their miseries, and urged upon them the absolute necessity of venturing their lives in defence of their country, and of sacrificing part of their estates to preserve the remainder. His eloquent remonstrances having produced the effect he expected, a force was levied, with which he went after the enemy, who had taken Exeter. Finding that they could not be dislodged from the castle, he was once more constrained to treat with the invaders; and though he could place no great dependence upon their promises, it was the only way by which he could put an end to a disastrous war. The new treaty, in which the Danes undertook not to return any more into Wessex, was somewhat better kept than the former one.
The respite, however, was an exceedingly brief one, and in the year 878 Alfred's fortunes were at their lowest ebb. In the beginning of the year the Danes fitted out an expedition with great secrecy, the object of which was to overwhelm Wessex. The attack took place so suddenly that Alfred was ill prepared to meet it. Chippenham was taken, and the dispirited English no longer felt courage to prosecute the war. Many fled, whilst others (and of them not a few) leagued themselves with the Danes, swearing allegiance to them.
So general was the defection, that the unhappy monarch found himself deserted by all but a few domestics and faithful friends, who still adhered to his fallen fortunes. In this extremity, he showed himself greater, perhaps, than when on the throne, and acted with a prudence and wisdom which few princes would have found courage to imitate. He dismissed them all; and, with no other support than his courage and patriotism, set forth a wanderer, alone, and on foot, in the kingdom he had so lately reigned over.
Such was his poverty that the uncrowned king was compelled to solicit shelter in the hut of a neat-herd in the island of Athelney, in Somersetshire, a remote spot, surrounded by a dangerous marsh, wild and desolate as his own fortunes, and only to be approached by a single path, and that but little known. Here the fugitive had time to repair his shattered health, collect his thoughts, and meditate on plans for the future delivery of his oppressed and outraged country. Savage and uninviting as was his retreat, it afforded that which he had most need of, safety.
It is recorded that, whilst Alfred was an inmate of this abode, the neat-herd's wife, who did not know him, having occasion to quit the cottage for a time, set him the task of watching the cakes of rye-bread which were baking on the fire. The king, whose mind was distracted by far more important subjects, neglected his instructions, and when the woman returned she found the cakes blackened and burnt. If tradition speaks truly, the virago chid him soundly, reproaching him that he was more ready to eat than to work.
In this miserable concealment the fugitive remained six months, when fortune, tired of persecuting him, appeared to relent, and once more smiled upon the efforts of the brave, but hitherto unlucky, English.
Hubba, who had been entrusted by his brother Ingvar with the command of his troops, had invaded Wales, laying the country in flames, ravaging, and destroying. He afterwards penetrated into Devonshire, in the kingdom of Wessex, with a similar intent. At his approach the Alderman of Devon retreated with a body of determined men to Kenworth Castle, on the river Taw, in order to withstand them. The Danish chief not long before had decided on attacking the fortress, believing that the scanty garrison would surrender at his first summons; in which opinion, however, he was doomed to find himself mistaken, for the earl, seeing that it was impossible to defend the place with so few men, however devoted, told them frankly that one only course was left for them, to conquer and live free men, or die beneath the swords of their relentless enemy. His harangue had the desired effect: the English, animated by his words, sallied forth, and fell upon the Danes so unexpectedly, that before they could recover from their panic their leader was slain; on seeing which, his followers fled in all directions. The spot where Hubba fell was afterwards called Hubblestain, or Hubblelaw, from the monument raised over his remains by his countrymen.
On hearing the joyful intelligence of this victory, Alfred left his concealment, and called his friends once more to arms. They assembled in separate bodies in various parts of the kingdom, establishing such means of communication as might enable them to join their forces together at the shortest notice; and here a somewhat mythical story is told. It is said that the great difficulty was to ascertain the position of the enemy, which dangerous task the patriot king undertook himself. The story runs that, disguised as a harper, he made his way into the Danish camp, and stayed there several days, secretly noting the disposition of their forces all the while. Having acquainted himself with all he wished to learn, Alfred returned to his countrymen, and named Selwood Forest for the general place of meeting. His directions were carried out so expeditiously, that in a comparatively brief space of time the English monarch was enabled to attack his enemy at the head of a powerful army, consisting of the inhabitants of Somersetshire, Wiltshire, and Hampshire. The Danes, though unexpectedly assailed, defended themselves with their usual bravery, but at last were entirely routed. They attributed their defeat to the loss of the raven standard, which had been taken when Hubba fell, and to which they superstitiously attached magical powers--that it indicated victory and defeat by clapping or depressing its wings. This battle was fought at Edington, not far from Trowbridge, in 878.
The consequence of this victory for the English was the Treaty of Wedmore. By it England was divided between Alfred and Guthrum, the Danish king of East Anglia, the latter receiving by far the larger part of England, but the former keeping London. The boundary line ran along the Thames to the mouth of the Lea, thence to Bedford and the Ouse to Watling Street. Thus Alfred retained Wessex and the south-west of Mercia, where he established an alderman, called Ethelred, who married his daughter, Ethelflæd, shortly to become famous as the "Lady of the Mercians." Guthrum at this time became a convert to Christianity, and was baptised under the name of Athelstan. It was not a glorious peace; but the terms were as good as could be expected, and England was at peace for several years.
The war was renewed in 893. Shortly before this a body of Danes, headed by Hastings, earnestly solicited Guthrum to renew the war in Wessex, but not prevailing, they put to sea, and ravaged the coast of Flanders; and shortly after, another, and no less numerous troop, informed of the great booty the first expedition had met with in Kent, embarked to join them. These two bands, thus united, overran Brabant, Hainault, Flanders, Picardy, and Artois, perpetrating unheard-of cruelties; after which, having again divided into two bodies, one of them sailed back to England, in hopes of plundering the country, where they imagined they should come unexpected. Having landed in Kent, they marched towards Rochester, intending to surprise that city; but Alfred, who, contrary to their expectation, had his army in readiness, hastened to meet them upon the first notice of their arrival, and his approach was sufficient to make them fly to their ships with such precipitation that they left their plunder behind them. His vigilance having prevented their designs upon England, they returned to France, and, rejoining their companions, continued their devastations in that kingdom.
Hitherto the English had acted only on the defensive. Exposed to the continual invasions of the Danes, and uncertain where the enemy would land, they were generally surprised before it was in their power to defend themselves; and the sea-coast being uninhabited, there was nothing to prevent the piratical marauders from landing unopposed. Alfred's first care, therefore, was to equip a considerable fleet, the advantage of which he had already experienced, with which he determined to cruise along the coasts, and attack all Danish ships laden with booty. Sixteen were surprised in the port of Harwich, in East Anglia, part of which were captured and the remainder sunk, and a considerable booty was also obtained.
In 894, the fighting over the south of England was renewed. The Danes, who, under the conduct of their chief, the celebrated Hastings, had ravaged France and the Low Countries, where they acquired immense booty, decided on returning to England, not with the intention of settling there, but led by the thirst of plunder. Dividing their forces into equal parts, they set sail for the island. The first expedition reached the coast of Kent, where they landed, and committed dreadful depredations. The second, under the command of Hastings, entered the Thames, and landed at Middleton, making their way to the Severn, where they were defeated by Alfred's aldermen.
Alfred, who appears to have been in East Anglia at the time of this new invasion, no sooner received the intelligence than he drew together what troops he could; and, after receiving the oaths of the Anglian Danes, marched against the new comers, and defeated another body of the enemy who were laying siege to Exeter. We have no very distinct accounts of the wars which ensued. The Danes, under the command of Hastings, returned to France, perhaps on account of the plague which, about this time, was committing great ravages in the island. The terror which the name of this chief inspired had armed all the sea-coasts of France against him; on discovering which, he resolved to change his course, and steer for the Mediterranean, where he contrived, by an act of sacrilege and deceit, to become master of the town of Luna, on the coast of Tuscany. He pretended that he had merely visited the place in order to gratify his desire of becoming a Christian, and actually received baptism from the bishop. Some little time after he caused the simple prelate to be informed that he was dead, and had left a large sum of money, on condition of his being buried in the church of Luna. By this stratagem Hastings and a considerable number of his followers obtained entrance into the town, under pretence of conducting the funeral, and immediately began to massacre and pillage the inhabitants. The adventurer ultimately settled in the city of Chartres, which Charles the Simple, King of France, assigned to him as the price of peace.
The last battles between Alfred and the Danes occurred in 897, and took place chiefly by sea, but of their details we know very little. On one occasion the Danes having penetrated up the river Lea, Alfred diverted it, and so their ships were stranded. In this year he built a number of large ships, which were a great improvement on his old navy, both in size and swiftness, and they doubtless turned the scale in his favour, for the short remainder of his reign was spent in peace. He was only fifty-two when he died, in 901, but he had lived a life of almost perpetual strife, except during the two brief periods of repose after the peace of Wedmore, and just before his death.
Alfred is one of the most perfect characters in history; not that the information concerning him is very precise, but that the stories all point in the same direction, and embody for us the attributes of a brave, upright, and pious man. He has been accused, but probably unjustly, of not having sufficient insight into the future, and he was, to a certain extent, devoid of originality. A characteristic story told of him is that while he lay concealed in the Isle of Athelney, he made a vow to dedicate to God the third part of his time, as soon as he should be restored to a state of tranquillity. He performed his promise, and allotted eight hours every day to acts of devotion, eight hours to public affairs, and as many to sleep, study, and necessary refreshment. As the use of clocks and hour-glasses was not yet introduced into England, he measured the time by means of wax-candles, marked with circular lines of different colours, which served as so many hour-lines; and to prevent the wind from making them burn unsteadily, it is said he invented the expedient of enclosing them in lanterns.
He also divided his revenues in two parts, one of which was wholly assigned for charitable uses, and subdivided into four portions: the first for alms to the poor; the second for the maintenance of the monasteries he had founded; the third for the subsistence of the teachers and scholars at Oxford; the fourth for poor monks, foreigners as well as English. The other half was divided into three parts: one was expended on his family; another in paying his architects, and other skilled workmen; and the rest was bestowed in pensions upon strangers invited to his court for the encouragement and instruction of his subjects.
As a legislator, Alfred by no means accomplished all that has been attributed to him; indeed, when the facts of his life are considered, the marvel is that he effected as much as he did towards the improvement of the moral condition of his subjects. The statements that he divided England into counties, or that he instituted trial by jury, have long ago been proved to be baseless. What he actually did was to collect and codify the laws of that part of England which was under his sway--Kent, Mercia, and Wessex--preserving on the whole the customs established by previous legislators, like Ethelbert, Offa, and Ina. "I kept," he says, "those that seemed to me good, and rejected those that were not good." Throughout these laws may easily be observed an ardent zeal for justice, and a sincere desire of rooting out oppression and violence. They were indeed mild, if compared with those of later ages, seeing they punished most offences by fines; but the strictness wherewith Alfred caused them to be observed counterbalanced their lenity. If with respect to private persons the rigour of the law was somewhat abated, it was not so with regard to unjust magistrates, for to such Alfred was ever inexorable; and history informs us that he executed four-and-forty judges within the space of one year for corruption.
Alfred was, moreover, himself a scholar, and a lover of learned men. As a scholar, he translated several books from Latin into English, for the benefit of his subjects. As Professor Freeman observes, his choice was limited by the fact that heathen authors were held in great dislike, and he, therefore, did not attempt to acquaint the English people with the beauties of Horace or Virgil. He translated, however, the History of Orosius, the Ecclesiastical History of Bede, the monk of Jarrow, which is our main authority for the century and a half that followed the conversion of England to Christianity, some of the works of Gregory the Great and Boethius' Consolations of Philosophy. This last was a work written by a Roman while under sentence of death, but there is nothing in the work to show that he was a Christian, although every one believed that he was one at the time when Alfred wrote. It is also supposed that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was put into its present shape in Alfred's time, in which case we owe him a great debt of gratitude. To regenerate religion and letters, he drew learned men from other lands, by whose aid the services of the Church were reanimated, schools were founded, and English prose, which Alfred, it should be observed, was the first to write, encouraged. Such men were Asser, who came from Wales, and who afterwards wrote Alfred's life, Grimbald, and John the Old-Saxon, who crossed over from the Continent; while nearer home, in Mercia, he discovered Werfrith and Plegmund who became Archbishop of Canterbury.