The Making of England ... With maps

Preface

. The present work is only a partial realization of an old-standing project of mine, for it is now some ten or twelve years since I made collections for, and actually began a history of England up to the Norman Conquest. This work, however, was interrupted by the preparation of my Short History, and has since been further delayed by my revision and expansion of that book ; and now that my hands are free the state of my health forbids my carrying out this earlier plan in its full extent. I have thought it better, therefore, to gather uj) and complete what I could of the history of the earlier times up to the union of England under Ecgberht, and this the more because these years form a distinct period in our national history whose interest and importance has I think still to be fully recognized.

They form in fact the period of the Making of England, the age during which our fathers conquered and settled over the soil of Britain, and in which their political and social life took the form

PREFACE.

. VI which it still retains. The centuries of administrative organization which stretch from Ecgberht to Edward the First, the age of full national development which extends from Edward's clay to our own, only become intelligible to us when we have fully grasped this age of national formation. I cannot but feel, there fore, that it is no slight misfortune that such a period should remain comparatively unknown, and that its struggles, which were in reality the birth throes of our national life, should be still to most- Englishmen, as they were to Milton, mere battles of kites and of crows. Whether I have succeeded in setting these struggles in a truer and a more interesting light, my readers must decide. The remoteness of the events, the comparative paucity of historical materials, no doubt make such an undertaking at the best a hazardous one ; and one of the wisest of my friends, who is at the same time the greatest living authority on our early history, warned me at the outset against the attempt to construct a living portraiture of times which so many previous historians, themselves men of learning and ability, had left dead.

Nothing but my own vivid interest in the subject could have encouraged me in spite of such a warning to attempt to convey its interest to others. In doing so, how ever, I have largely availed myself of some resources which have been hitherto, I think, unduly neglected.

PREFACE.

. VII Archæological researches on the sites of villas and towns, or along the line of road or dyke, often furnish us with evidence even more trustworthy than that of written chronicle ; whilethe ground itself, where we can read the information it affords, is, whether in the account of the Conquest or in that of the Settlement of Britain, the fullest and the most certain of documents. Physical geography has still its part to play in the written record of that human history to which it gives so much of its shape and form ; and in the present work I have striven, however imperfectly, to avail myself of its aid. Even Bæda has supplied me with new material. Freely as he has been used for the ecclesiastical and political history of his time, the social information which lies scattered up and down his work has been left comparatively untouched.

Bæda was no Gregory of Tours ; the seclusion of his life, and his relation to the race whose history he drew, precluded him from giving us such a picture of our forefathers as the bishop-statesman of Tours was enabled by his position and the difference of his Roman blood to give of the Frankish conquerors of Gaul. But, in spite of this, Bæda incidentally tells us much, and a careful gleaning of these inci dental facts gives us at any rate glimpses into the social life of England in the seventh and eighth centuries which can hardly fail to make the time more real to us.

PREFACE.

. VIII The maps, in which I have endeavoured for the first time to trace the boundaries of the various English powers at different epochs, will no doubt be found in some respects susceptible of correction. The grounds on which the main lines of division are drawn I have stated in my book ; — what I wish to explain here is, that in some of the minor details of these maps I have been driven by the absence of information to rely on what seemed to me the proba bilities o things, or the natural conclusion to be drawn from other facts of the time. This is especially the case in the boundary line between the English and the Britons. The battle of Deorham brought the conquerors to the Severn, while in Wulfhere's day they had reached the western border of Hereford shire ; but there is nothing to tell us by what steps during the century that elapsed they had advanced from the one point to the other.

Under these circum stances I could only represent them in the maps that touched on the intervening period as advancing gradually from the Severn to the Wye. We are in the same utter darkness as to the advance of the English over the upper valley of the Severn. At the end of the sixth century, their March or border land only reached to the line of water-parting which forms the eastern boundary of that vale, and we hear nothing of their advance over it till almost the close of the eighth century, when the conquests of Offa

PREFACE.

. IX carry their frontier to Offa's Dyke on the west of Shropshire. Here, however, the map itself helps us. Cheshire had become English at the beginning of the seventh century, while Herefordshire was English by the middle of it, and a glance at the map will show how inevitably these two facts imply a corresponding advance of the intervening frontier, as I have drawn it, to the course of the Severn. In the same way we have hardly anything to throw light on the. advance of the West-Saxons across Dorsetshire. All we know is, that it could not have begun till about the middle of the sixth century, and that it was certainly completed by the beginning of the eighth. Difficulties of another kind presented themselves in accurately defining the political relations of one or two of the smaller states, such as Sussex or Essex, about which through long periods of time we have little or no information.

Here I have been compelled to assume that their political course during the years in which it is unknown to us was mainly the same as in the years in which it is known ; — in other words, that when not known to be subject to any other power, Sussex owned the supremacy of the West- Saxons, and Essex followed the fortunes of East-Anglia. I may add, in explanation of the reappearance of a few passages, relating principally to ecclesiastical matters, which my readers may have seen before, that

PREFACE.

. X where I had little or nothing to add or to change I have preferred to insert a passage from previous work, with the requisite corrections and references, to the affectation of rewriting such a passage for the mere sake of giving it an air of novelty. John Richard Green. Mentone, November,' 1881. CONTENTS.

Introduction

. BRITAIN AND ITS FOES. T> - - PAGE Britain fortunate in the moment of its conquest . . . .1,2 Rapidity of its organization and development . . . .2,3 Shown in its roads and its towns . . . . . .34 But this civilization of little depth 5 Britain indeed little more than a military colony ... 6 Its civilization hindered hy the physical character of the country 7, 8 Its downs 9 Its waste and fen 10 Its woodlands .......... 11 Effect of this on the provincials 12 Probable severance between the Romanized mid un-Romanized provincials . ........ 13 This heightened by misgovernment and disaffection 14 The severance perhaps accounts for the success of the Pictish inroads 15 While Picts attack by land Scots and Saxons attack by sea . 15 The pirate boats of the Saxons . 16 Letter of Sidonius describing their piracy 1G, 17 Their work mainly slave-hunting 18 Effect of their presence in the Channel ..... 19 Creation of the Saxon Shore 20 Fortresses of the Saxon Shore .... ...

CONTENTS. XII PACE The Roman troops strong enough to guard Britain to the last . 22 Withdrawal of the Roman troops "3 The province defends itself for thirty years 24 But at last strives to divide its foes by calling in pirates against the Picts 25, 26

Chapter I. The Conquest Of The Saxon Shore

449— c. 500. 4.49. Three Jutish keels land in Thanet 27, 28 Their landing-place at Ebbsfleet 29, 30 Their encampment in Thanet ....... 31 The Jutes aid the Britons 32 455. Quarrel between Jutes and Britons ...... 32 Obstacles in the way of Jutish attack ... 33 Their sack of Durovernum . . ...... 34 March on the Medway valle}- ....... 35 Battle of Aylesford . 36 457. Battle of the Cray drives Britons to London .... 37 Revolution in Britain under Aurelius Ainbrosianus ... 37 Aurelius drives back the Jutes into Thanet 38 The fortress of Richborough 38 465. The final overthrow of the Britons at Wipped's fleet ... 39 465-473. Conquest of the rest of the Caint 39, 40 The Jutes forced to halt by physical obstacles .... 40 Descents of the Saxons on either flank of the Caint ... 41 477. Saxon war-bands under Ælla land at Selsey ..... 42 477-491.

The coast slowly won by these South-Sexe ..... 42 491. Siege of Anderida . . .' . . . . 43,44 Roman life here as shown in villa at Bignor ..... 45 <-. 480 500 Descents of Saxons in district North of the Thames ... 46 Fall of Camulodunum 47 Character of the settlement of these East-Sexe .... 47 Barriers which prevent their advance into the island ... 48 c. 480. Landing of the Engle . CONTENTS. XIII rr, • PAG E sheir German home-land 50 Their conquest of East-Anglia 51 Settlement of the North-folk and South-folk 52 Probably refrained from attacking Central Britain ... 53 Their settlement completes the conquest of the Saxon Shore . 54

Chapter II. Conquests Of The Engle

c. 500— c. 570. The bulk of Britain still guarded by strong natural barriers . 55, 56 D The Engle stretch northward along the coast . . 56 500. They conquer the district about Lindum . . . " .57 Settlement of the Lindiswara 58 Other Engle seize Holderness ....... 59 And establish a kingdom of the Deirans in (he Wolds and district round . CO Eburacum . . . . V. . . . 61, 62 00-520. Fall of Eburacum 63 Conquest of the plain of the Ouse ....... 64 Conquest of eastern and western Yorkshire .... 65, 66 Flight of the Britons shown in remains at Settle .... 67 Attack of the Engle still further north ...... 68 The Roman Wall 69 Little permanent change wrought by Pictish inroads . 70 00-547. Conquest and settlement o the Engle in the basin of the Tweed 71,72 547. Ida sets up the kingdom of the Bernicians at Bamborough . . 72 -c*. 580.

Slow advance of these Bernicians from the coast .... 73 The Engle in the valley of the Trent 74 Physical character of the Trent valley ...... 75 Descent of the Engle from Lindum ...... 76 The Snottingas settle on the edge of Sherwood .... 77 The bulk of the Engle follow the Fosse Road to the valley of the Soar 78 . 550. Fall of Ratæ, and settlement of the Middle Engle ... 79 Meanwhile the Gyrwas break in on the towns around the Wash . CONTENTS. PAGE Their two tribes, the North and South Gyrwas . . .81 The Engle attack our Northamptonshire ..... 82 Its physical character at this time ...... 83 Settlement of the South-Engle 83 A.D. ° c. 560. Advance of the West-Engle ........ 84 The Pec-sætan settle in our Derbyshire ..... 84 The rest of the West-Engle in our Staffordshire ... 84, 85 The West-Engle become known as Mercians or Men of the March 85

Chapter III. Conquests Of The Saxons

e. 500—577. Character of the British coast to the westward of Sussex . . 86 The estuary of the Southampton Water leads up to Gwent . 87 495-514 Attempts of Saxons known as Gewissas to penetrate by this estuary . .......... 87 519 Conquest of the Gwent in battle of Charford .... 88 519. Cerdic and Cynric become kings of the West-Saxons ... 89 520. Gewissas repulsed by Britons at Mount Badon .... 89 530. Conquest of the Isle of Wight, and settlement of Jutes in it . . 90 520 552. Long pause in West-Saxon advance ...... 90 Physical barriers that arrested them ..... 90, 91 552. Cynric again advances to the west ...... 91 552. Fall of Sorbiodunum ......... 92 552-556. Settlement of tho Wil-sætan 93 556. Victory of the West-Saxons at Barbury Hill makes them masters of the Marlborough Downs . . ... . . .94 Conquest of our Berkshire . , . . . . ... 95 Britain now open to the West-Saxons ...... 96 They are able to advance along the upper Thames . . .97 Obstacles which had till now prevented the English advance from the mouth of Thames ........ 98 The water-way blocked by the fortress of London ... 98 Original character of the ground about London ... 99, 100 London not a British town . ..... 101 Its site the centre of a vast solitude ......

CONTENTS. xv PAOE Its rapid growth under the Romans 103 Its importance as the centre of their road system .... 104 Stages of its growth 104, 105 Its later greatness 106 It long resists successfully the East-Saxons and the Jutes of Kent 107 Advance of the East-Saxons on our Hertfordshire .... 108 ■0-56O. Fall of Verulamium 108 .0-568. Fall of London 109,110 Settlement of the Middle-Saxons 110 Growth of Kent since its conquest ..... 111.112 568. The fall of London sets the Jutes free to advance to the west . 112 Meanwhile the West-Saxons are advancing on the same tract from the west 113 Their road open to them by the fall of Calleva . . . 114,115 Their advance along the Thames valley 116 568. They meet and defeat the Jutes at Wimbledon . .117 Settlement of the West-Saxons in our Surrey .... 117 The district of the Four Towns 118—120 The Icknield way guides the West-Saxons to it . . . 121 They cross the Thames at Wallingford 122 571 Cuthwulf's victory at Bedford 123 West-Saxons occupy the district of the Four Towns . . . 124 The close of their advance to the North probably due to the presence of the Engle in Mid-Britain 125 577.

They attack the Severn valley 126 League of the Three Towns against them . ... . 127 577. Their victory at Deorhain 128 Their settlement as the Hwiccas along the lower Severn, on the Cotswolds, and by the Avon . . ' . . . .129,130

Chapter IV. The Settlement Of The Conquerors

At the battle of Deorham half Britain has become English . .131 Henceforth the work of the English is that of settlement rather than conquest .... ... 131, 132 Character of the settlement determined by that of the conquest . CONTENTS.

XVI PAGE Characteristics of the conquest — (1) The weakness of the attack .% . • • .132 (2) Stubbornness of the defence . . . . 133 (3) Nature of the conquered country . . . .134 Hence the slowness of the conquest and the driving off of the conquered people . . . . • • • • .135 The Britons not slaughtered but driven off 136 Proofs of this displacement — (1) The new inhabitants know themselves only as Englishmen ....-••■ 137 (2) The unconquered Britons know them only as strangers 137 (3) Evidence of local and personal names . . . 138 (4) Evidence of language 139 (5) Evidence of changed institutions .... 140 (6) Evidence drawn from destruction of towns . 141 — 142 (7) Evidence drawn from the change of religion . 143 — 144 Roman Britain still influenced the new England — (1) It gave it its limits 145 (2) It determined the bounds of kingdoms and tribes . 146 (3) It influenced the social settlement .... 147 But in all other ways Roman life disappeared .... 148 The change shown in the conquest of Kent ..... 148 (1) The Caint in Roman times 149 (2) The Caint after the Jutish conquest . . . 150, 151 The new English society that sprang up on this ruin . . 152, 153 The slowness of the conquest allows the transfer of the whole English life 154 The settlement, that of numerous separate folks . . . 155 Traces of such folks in Kent . 156 But early fusion of such folks in three great kingdoms . . 157, 158 And recognition by the three kingdoms of a national unity . . 158 Character of the English civilization 159 (1) The Saxons long in contact with Rome . . . 159 (2) Their early art . . . .' . . .160 (3) Their literature 161, 162 (4) Their moral temper 163, 164 (5) Their religion 165, 166 (6) Its weak hold on the settlers .... 167,168 (7) Their military life 169, CONTENTS.

XVII The Folk itself. Its shape drawn from war . . . . 171,172 (1) The host . . 173 (2) The military organization shapes the civil organization 174 (3) The Hundred-moot and Folk-moot . . . 175, 176 (4) The King 177 (5) Eorl and Ceorl 178 (6) The Thegn 179 The English Township 180, 181 (1) Its boundaries 182, 183 (2) The Freeman's home 184, 185 (3) The farm and its labour 186,187 (4) The bond of the kin 188,189 (5) The common holding of land 190 (6) The Unfree 191 (7) The Slave 192 (8) The Tun-moot 193, 194

Chapter V. The Strife Of The Conquerors

577—617. Change of relations between conquerors and conquered . . 195 Earlier severance between the two races . . - . . . 196 Shown in the story of Beino 197 This passes away with the battle of Deorham .... 198 The Britons no longer driven from the soil 198 Their increasing numbers as the conquest spreads westward . 199 Change too in relations of the conquerors themselves . . . 200 They divide into greater and lesser powers 201 After-history a strife of the greater powers for supremacy . . 201 The West-Saxons under Ceawlin the leading English power . 202 583. Ceawlin's march on the upper Severn valley .... 204 Storm of Uriconium 205 Ceawlin defeated at Faddiley 206 Rising of the Hwiccas throws Ceawlin back on the older Wessex . 207 591. Ceawlin defeated at Wanborough 208 Internal troubles of the West-Saxons 209 b CONTENTS.

PAGE 210 Æthelberht of Kent seizes the opportunity A.r>. 211 c. 584-589. His marriage with Bertha Canterbury . 213 Before 597. Æthelberht's supremacy Its limits . . . - ■ • • ■ " 216 Before 588. War between Bernicians and Deirans 585-588. Gregory and the English slaves at Rome ■"•« 588. Death of ÆUa 218 588. Conquest of Deira by the Bernician king Æthelric . . .218 The union of the two kingdoms in Northumbria .... 218 The three great kingdoms fairly established . . . • 218,219 593. Æthelfrith succeeds Æthelric as king of Northumbria . . .219 597. Roman mission to the English under Augustine . 219 Æthelberht receives the missionaries in Thanet .... 220 They settle at Canterbury . • 221 Future issues of their coming 222 597. Conversion of Æthelberht and his people 223 601. Gregory's plan for the ecclesiastical organization of Britain . 223, 224 Augustine's interview with the Welsh clergy .... 225 Condition of the Britons at this time 225 The stubbornness of their resistance ..... 225, 226 Disorganization of what remained of Britain .... 226, 227 Rejection of Augustine by the British clergy .... 228 Consolidation of the British states ...... 229 Its result a revival of the British strength 230 Alliance of Northern Britons with the Scots ..... 231 603.

Their force crushed by Æthelfrith in the battle of Dægsastan . 232 Northumbrian supremacy established over Northern Britons . 233 Æthelberht at last resolves to carry out Gregory's scheme . . 234 604. Establishment of bishop at Rochester 234 604. Bishop set over the East-Saxons at London 235 Rædwald, king of East-Anglians, baptized at Æthelberht's court . 236 The East-Anglians reject Christianity 236 607. Fall of Æthelberht's supremacy ....... 237 Rædwald establishes a supremacy over Mid-Britain . . 237, 238 This revolution aided by the troubles of the West-Saxons . . 238 And by Æthelfrith's embarrassments with the house of Ælla . 239 The house of Ælla finds shelter among the Welsh, who are attacked by Æthelfrith CONTENTS. XIX PAGE Position and importance of Chester in Roman times . . 240, 241 613.

Æthelfrith's victory at Chester 242 Results of this battle on the Britons and on Northumbria . 243, 244 Æthelfrith drawn to the south by the weakness of Wessex and fall of Kent 245 616. The East-Saxons revolt from Kent at Æthelberht's death . . 246 Æthelfrith brought into collision with Rædwald by the house of Ælla 247 617. Eadwine seeks shelter in East-Anglia 248 Hesitations of Rædwald 249 Eadwine and the stranger 250 617. Æthelfrith defeated by Rædwald at the Idle . . . .251

Chapter VI. The Northumbrian Supremacy

617—659. ,17-633. Eadwine established as king of Northumbria .... 253 The kingdom of Elmet 254, 255 Eadwine's conquest of Elmet 256 His power at sea, and conquests of Anglesea and Man . . 257 He establishes his supremacy over Mid-Britain .... 258 626. His victory over the West-Saxons 259 Eadwine supreme over all the English save Kent .... 259 Character of bis rule over Northumbria 261 He is pressed by his Kentish wife to become a Christian . . 262 627. The Northumbrian Witan accept Christianity .... 263 The new faith rejected in East-Anglia 264 Rising of the Mercians 265 ,26-655. Penda king of the Mercians 266 Penda becomes supreme over Mid-Britain 266 628. His battle with the West-Saxons at Cirencester . . . .267 Probable annexation of the Hwiccan country . . . .267 Strife between Penda and Eadwine for East-Anglia . . .268 Alliance of Penda with Cadwallon 269 The Hatfield Fen 270 633 Eadwine defeated and slain by Penda at Hatfield . . . .271 b xx CONTENTS.

TAGE Northumbria broken up into its two kingdoms .... 272 634. Penda conquers East-Anglia . 272 635-642. Oswald king of the Bernicians ■ 274 635. Battle of the Hevenfeld 275 From this time the struggle of the Welsh is a mere struggle of self-defence 276 635. Oswald calls for missionaries from Ireland ..... 276 Influence of its physical characteristics on the history of Ireland 277 Early Ireland a huge grazing-ground ...... 278 Its primitive institutions 279 Its contrast with the rest of Europe 280, 281 Story of Patrick 282 The conversion of Ireland 283 The Irish Church moulded by the social condition of Ireland 284, 285 Influence of the Celtic temper on Irish Christianity . . . 286 Its poetic and romantic temper 287 The foreign missions of the Irish Church 288 635. Aidan summoned by Oswald to Lindisfarne 289 The Irish missionaries in Northumbria 290 Oswald re-establishes the Northumbrian supremacy . . 292, 293 642.

Oswald slain by Penda at the Maserfeld 294 Northumbria again broken up 295 64-2-670. Oswiu king of the Bernicians 295 Penda ravages Bernicia 295 651. Oswiu reconquers Deira 296 Final restoration of Northumbria ....... 297 662. Conversion of Penda's son Peada 298 Conversion of the East-Saxons 299 654. Penda reconquers East-Anglia 300 Tenda attacks Oswiu 301 655. Penda defeated and slain at the Winwæd ..... 301 Wreck of the Mercian state 302, 303 Oswiu supreme over all the English 304 659. Revolt of the Mercians under Wulfhere . ... 306 Abandonment by Northumbria of her effort after supremacy 306 — 309 (Note on the Imperium of the early kings) . . . 306 — CONTENTS. XXI

Chapter VII. The Church And The Kingdoms

659—690. PAGE With the failure of Northumbria national union seems impossible 310 Entry of a new element into English life in the Church . . 310 All the English states save Sussex now Christian . . . .311 The organizing force of Roman Christianity 311 But the dominant Christianity in Britain now Irish . . . 312 Activity of the Irish Church in the north after the Winwæd . 313 651 676. The mission work of Cuthbert 314—317 The Irish Church devoid of organizing power .... 317 The success would have brought about a religious schism in Britain * 318 The Roman party in Northumbria ....... 319 Benedict Biscop its head 320, 321 Still more energetic action of Wilfrid 321, 322 664. The Irish party defeated at the Synod of Whitby. . . . 323 The Synod averted the religious isolation and secured the religious oneness of England 324 Importance of the Primacy in the re-united Church . . 325, 326 669.

Theodore, named Primate by the Pope, lands in Britain . . 327 Mercia now the most active English state 327 659-675. Wulfhere king of the Mercians 328 Re-establishes the Mercian supremacy in Mid-Britain . . . 328 661. Extends it over Essex, Surrey, and Sussex 330 669-672. Theodore journeys over all England ...... 331 He is everywhere received as Primate ...... 331 His first ordering of the English dioceses 332 673. Calls a council at Hertford 333 Influence of these councils on national developement . . 3u'3, 334 Establishes a school at Canterbury 335 Influence of this school on English literature .... 336 . 650-690. Ealdhelm in Wessex 336, 337 652. Conquest of the Forest of Braden by the West-Saxons . 338, 339 Maidulf sets up his " burh " of Malmesbury 340 Ealdhelm's work in this forest tract CONTENTS.

XXII PACE Theodore's second organization of the dioceses .... 341 The English dioceses co-extensive with the kingdoms . . . 342 Theodore subdivides them by falling back on the tribal demarcations • • • "43 673. He divides the see of East-Anglia 343 675-678. His division of the Mercian see 343 675-704. Mercia under King Æthelred 344 The monastic movement of this time based on — (1) A passion for solitude , 345 (2) Social impulse which followed it ... . 345 The monasteries rather social and industrial centres than religious 346 Effect of this impulse in reclaiming the country .... 347 The Forest of Arden < 348—350 709. The foundation of Evesham , < . , . .- . 351 The Fens of the Wash 352 Guthlac at Croyland . 353 The Thames valley 354 The nuns of Barking- 355 Survey of the rest of Mid-Britain 356, 357 678.

Theodore invited to organize the Church in Northumbria . . 357 670-685. Ecgfrith king of the Northumbrians 358 670-675. His conquest of northern Lancashire and the Lake district . . 358 Carlisle and its continuous life ..,,,.. 359 Ecgfrith's triumphs over the Picts 360 675. Ecgfrith defeats Wulfhere and recovers Lindsey . . . .361 Condition of Northumbria .._;,,.. 361 Monastic colonies along the coast ..,.,,. 362 Ebba's house at Coldingham ........ 363 Relations of these monastic colonies to the realm and its defence 364 They bring labour again into honour 365, 366 Influence of the movement on poetry ...... 367 Hilda's house at Streonashalh ....;. 367, 368 Story of Cædmon _ _ , 369 Character of Cædmon's poem ...... 370, 371 Influence of the monastic movement en art t 372, 373 Greatness of Bishop Wilfrid 374 678.

Theodore divides the Northumbrian dioceses .... 375 Wilfrid appeals to Rome and is exiled from Northumbria . . 375 He takes refuge among and converts the South-Saxons . . CONTENTS. xxiii A.D. PAGE 679. War between Mercia and Noithumbria 377 Ecgfrith forced to cede Lindsey 377 682. Theodore creates two fresh bishoprics in the North . . . 377 684. Attack of the Northumbrian fleet on the shores of Ireland . . 378 685. Rising of the Picts against Ecgfrith 378 Cuthbert's words of ill-omen 379 685. Ecgfrith and his army slain by the Picts at Nectansmere . . 379 Wilfrid submits to Theodore and is restored to York . . . 380 690. Theodore dies 380 Later completion of the work of organization by the developement of a parochial system, by the endowment of the clergy, and by the provision of discipline within the Church . . . 381

Chapter VIII. The Three Kingdoms

690—829. Silent influence of Theodore's work in promoting national unity . 382 The political disunion seems greater than ever .... 382 Weakness and anarchy of the West-Saxons since Faddiley . . 388 But their real strength not diminished 383 682. King Centwine drives the Britons to the Quantocks . . . 384 685. Ceadwalla unites all the West-Saxons under his rule . . . 385 Conquers Sussex and the Isle of Wight 385 688. Fails in an attack on Kent and withdraws to Rome . . . 386 688-726. Ine re-unites the West-Saxons after an interval of anarchy . . 386 588-694. Forces Kent, Essex, and London to own his supremacy . . 386 710. Attacks the kingdom of Dyvnaint 387 Founds Taunton in the conquered territory 388 Somerset after its conquest 389 Mingling of the two races seen at Glastonbury .... 390 Seen too in the double city of Exeter 391 Ine divides the bishopric of Wessex 391 715.

He repulses the Mercian king Ceolred at Wanborough . . . 392 Fresh outbreak of anarchy in Wessex 393 726. Ine dies on pilgrimage to Rome 393 718-757. Æthelbald king of Mercia CONTENTS. A.D. P^B 728-733. Æthelbald overruns all Wessex 394 733-754. His supremacy owned by all the southern English . , . 396 754. The West-Saxons rise and defeat Æthelbald at Burford . . 396 Meanwhile Northumbria stands apart from the rest of Britain . 396 685-705. Aldfrith king of Northumbria 397 Peaceful growth of learning under his rule 397 673-735. This learning summed up in Ba*jda 398 His life at Jarrow .......... 399 His learning and works ......... 400 His Ecclesiastical History 401, 402 The story of his death 403 His scheme of religious reformation in the North .... 404 735. Ecgberht becomes Archbishop of York 404 738-758.