Read Ebook: The Saxons in England Volume 1 (of 2) A history of the English commonwealth till the period of the Norman conquest by Kemble John Mitchell Birch Walter De Gray Editor

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Footnote 23:

Tac. Hist. iv. 12, about A.D. 69. "Diu Germanicis bellis exerciti; mox aucta per Britanniam gloria, transmissis illuc cohortibus, quas vetere instituto, nobilissimi popularium regebant."

Footnote 24:

Dio. Cas. lxxi. lxxii. Gibbon, Dec. cap. ix. At a later period, Probus settled Vandals and Burgundians here: Zosimus tells us : ????? ?? ?????? ???? ?? ??????? ?????, ??? ?????????? ??????????? ?? ??? ????? ??????????, ???????????? ???? ????? ?????, ???????? ??????? ????????. Procopius even goes so far as to make Belisarius talk of Goths in Britain, but the context itself proves that this deserves very little notice. Bell. Got. ii. 6.

Footnote 25:

Carausius was a Menapian: but in the third century the inhabitants of the Menapian territory were certainly Teutonic. Aurelius Victor calls him a Batavian: see Gibbon, Dec. cap. xiii. Carausius, and after him Allectus, maintained a German force here: "Omnes enim illos, ut audio, campos atque colles non nisi teterrimorum hostium corpora fusa texerunt. Illa barbara aut imitatione barbariae olim cultu vestis, et prolixo crine rutilantia, tunc vero pulvere et cruore foedata, et in diversos situs tracta, sicuti dolorem vulnerum fuerant secuta, iacuerunt.... Enimvero, Caesar invicte, tanto deorum immortalium tibi est addicta consensu omnium quidem quos adortus fueris hostium, sed praecipue internecio Francorum, ut illi quoque milites vestri, qui per errorem nebulosi, ut paullo ante dixi, maris abiuncti ad oppidum Londiniense pervenerunt, quidquid ex mercenaria illa multitudine barbarorum praelio superfuerat, cum direpta civitate, fugam capessere cogitarent, passim tota urbe confecerint." Eumen. Paneg. Const. cap. 18, 19.

Footnote 26:

Footnote 27:

Pancirolus would date this important record in A.D. 438. Gibbon, however, refutes him and places it between 395 and 407. Dec. cap. xvii. I am inclined to think even this date inaccurate, and that the Romans did not maintain any such great establishment in Britain, as that herein described, at so late a period. For even Ammianus tells us in 364, "Hoc tempore Picti, Saxonesque et Scotti et Attacotti Britannos aerumnis vexavere continuis," , which is hardly consistent with a flourishing state of the Roman civil and military rule. The actual document we possess may possibly date from 390 or 400, but it refers to the arrangements of an earlier time, and to an organization of Roman power in more palmy days of their dominion.

Footnote 28:

The document itself may be consulted in Graevius, vol. vii. The "littus Saxonicum per Britannias" extended at least from the Portus Adurni to Branodunum, that is, from the neighbourhood of Portsmouth to Branchester on the Wash. In both these places there were civil or military officers under the orders of the Comes littoris Saxonici.

Footnote 29:

Professor Leo, of Halle, has called attention to a remarkable resemblance between the names of certain places in Kent, and settlements of the Alamanni upon the Neckar. A few of these, it must be admitted, are striking, but the majority are only such as might be expected to arise from similarities of surface and natural features in any two countries settled by cognate populations, having nearly the same language, religious rites and civil institutions. Even if the fact be admitted in the fullest extent, it is still unnecessary to adopt Dr. Leo's hypothesis, that the coincidence is due to a double migration from the shores of the Elbe. Rectitud. sing. person. pp. 100-104. It has been already stated that Constantius was accompanied to Britain by an Alamannic king; and I cannot doubt that under Valentinian, a force of Alamanni served in this country. Ammianus says: "Valentinianus ... in Macriani locum, Bucinobantibus, quae contra Moguntiacum gens est Alamanna, regem Fraomarium ordinavit: quem paullo postea, quoniam recens excursus eundem penitus vastaverat pagum, in Britannos translatum potestate tribuni, Alamannorum praefecerat numero, multitudine, viribusque ea tempestate florenti." Hist. xxix. c. 4. The context renders it impossible that this "numerus Alamannorum" should have been anything but genuine Germans.

Thus far the object of this rapid sketch has been to show the improbability of our earliest records being anything more than ill-understood and confused traditions, accepted without criticism by our first annalists, and to refute the opinion long entertained by our chroniclers, that the Germanic settlements in England really date from the middle of the fifth century. The results at which we have arrived are far from unimportant; indeed they seem to form the only possible basis upon which we can ground a consistent and intelligible account of the manner of the settlements themselves. And, be it remembered, that the evidence brought forward upon this point are the assertions of indifferent and impartial witnesses; statesmen, soldiers, men of letters and philosophers, who merely recorded events of which they had full means of becoming cognizant, with no object in general save that of stating facts appertaining to the history of their empire. Moreover, the accounts they give are probable in themselves and perfectly consistent with other well-ascertained facts of Roman history. Can the same praise be awarded to our own meagre national traditions, or to the fuller, detailed, but palpably uncritical assertions of our conquered neighbours? I confess that the more I examine this question, the more completely I am convinced that the received accounts of our migrations, our subsequent fortunes, and ultimate settlement, are devoid of historical truth in every detail.

Footnote 30:

Widukind in Leibnitz, Rer. Brunsw. i. 73, 74; Repgow, Sachsensp. iii. 44, ? 2. It is amusing enough to see how the number of ships increases as people began to feel the absurdity of bringing over conquering armies in such very small flotillas.

Footnote 31:

Galf. Monum. H. Brit., vi. 11. Thong castle probably gave a turn to the story here which the Oldsaxon legend had not. The classical tale of Dido and Byrsa is well known to every schoolboy. Ragnor Lodbrog adopted the same artifice, Rag. Lodb. Saga, cap. 19, 20. Nay the Hindoos declare that we obtained possession of Calcutta by similar means.

Footnote 32:

To the traditional history of the tribes peculiarly belong the genealogies of their kings, to which it will be necessary to refer hereafter in a mythological point of view. For the present it is enough that I call attention to the extraordinary tale of Offa, who occurs at an early stage of the Mercian table, among the progenitors of the Mercian kings. This story, as we find it in Matthew Paris's detailed account, coincides in the minutest particulars with a tale told by Saxo Grammaticus of a Danish prince bearing the same name.

Footnote 33:

Vit. Offae Primi, edited by Wats.

Footnote 34:

The form itself in which details, which profess to be authentic, have been preserved, ought to secure us from falling into error. They are romantic, not historical; and the romance has salient and characteristic points, not very reconcilable with the variety which marks the authentic records of fact. For example, the details of a long and doubtful struggle between the Saxons and the Britons are obviously based upon no solid foundation; the dates and the events are alike traditional,--the usual and melancholy consolation of the vanquished. In proportion as we desert the older and apply to later sources of information, do we meet with successful wars, triumphant British chieftains, vanquished Saxons, heroes endowed with supernatural powers and blessed with supernatural luck. Gildas, Nennius and Beda mention but a few contests, and even these of a doubtful and suspicious character; Geoffry of Monmouth and gossipers of his class, on the contrary, are full of wondrous incidents by flood and field, of details calculated to flatter the pride or console the sorrows of Keltic auditors: the successes which those who lived in or near the times described either pass over in modest silence or vaguely insinuate under sweeping generalities, are impudently related by this fabler and his copyists with every richness of narration. According to him the invaders are defeated in every part of the island, nay even expelled from it; army after army is destroyed, chieftain after chieftain slain; till he winds up his enormous tissue of fabrications with the defeat, the capture and execution of a hero whose very existence becomes problematical when tested by the severe principles of historical criticism, and who, according to the strict theory of our times, can hardly be otherwise than enrolled among the gods, through a godlike or half-godlike form.

Footnote 35:

Footnote 36:

Many beyond a doubt found a refuge in Brittany among their brethren and co-religionists who had long been settled there. Conf. Ermold. Nigel. bk. iii. v. 11. in Pertz, ii. 490. The Cumbrians and Welsh had probably been as little subdued by the Romans as they were by the Saxons.

Footnote 37:

Footnote 38:

"Quorum illi qui Northwallos, id est Aquilonales Britones dicebantur, parti Westsaxonum regum obvenerant. Illi quondam consuetis servitiis seduli, diu nil asperum retulere, sed tunc rebellionem meditantes, Kentuuinus rex tam anxia caede perdomuit, ut nihil ulterius sperarent. Quare et ultima malorum accessit captivis tributaria functio; ut qui antea nec solam umbram palpabant libertatis, nunc iugum subiectionis palam ingemiscerent." W. Malmsb. Vit. Aldhelmi, Ang. Sac. ii. 14.

Footnote 39:

Leg. Ini, ? 32, 33.

Footnote 40:

Footnote 41:

I borrow from Hermann M?ller's instructive work, Der Lex Salica und der Lex Angliorum et Werinorum Alter und Heimat, p. 269, the following chronological notices of the Franks in their relations to the Roman empire:--

A.D. 250. Franks, the inhabitants of marshes, become known by their predatory excursions.

Footnote 42:

Procop. Bel. Got. iv. 20.

Footnote 43:

??????? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ????????? ???????? ?? ???? ?? ?? ??????? ??? ???????, ??? ??????? ?????? ????? ?????? ?? ????????, ??? ???????? ??? ????? ????, ? ????? ????????. ????? ???????, ???? ????????? ???? ????? ?????????? ??????? ??????, ????? ??? ????? ???????? ??????? ???????????? ... ????????? ?? ???????? ????????? ???????.... ??????? ?? ??? ??????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ???????. Bel. Got. iv. 20.

Footnote 44:

Procopius tells us that this was done by the dying father's advice, and in consonance with the law of the people. ??????? ?? ? ???? ???????????? ?? ??????? ???????? ?? ?????, ??????? ? ??????? ???? ?????? ?????. Ibid. Conf. Bed. Hist. Eccl. ii. 5.

To deny all historical foundation to this tale would perhaps be carrying scepticism to an unreasonable extent. Yet the most superficial examination proves that in all its details, at least, it is devoid of accuracy. The period during which the events described must be placed, is between the years 534 and 547; and it is very certain that the Varni were not settled at that time where Procopius has placed them: on that locality we can only look for Saxons. It is hardly necessary to say that a fleet of four hundred ships, and an army of one hundred thousand Angles, led by a woman, are not data upon which we could implicitly rely in calculating either the political or military power of any English principality at the commencement of the sixth century; or that ships capable of carrying two hundred and fifty men each, had hardly been launched at that time from any port in England. Still I am not altogether disposed to deny the possibility of predatory expeditions from the more settled parts of the island, adjoining the eastern coasts. Gregory of Tours tells us that about the same time as that assigned to this Angle expedition, Theodoric the Frank, assisted by Sueves, Saxons and even Bavarians, cruelly devastated the territory of the Thuringians; and although it would be far more natural to seek these Saxons in their old settlements upon the continent, we have the authority of Rudolf or Meginhart, that they were in fact inhabitants of this island.

Footnote 45:

The years 534 and 547 are the extreme terms of Theodberht's reign. See Gib. Dec. bk. 38.

Footnote 46:

This fact, which has escaped the accurate, and generally merciless, criticism of Gibbon, is very clearly proved by Zeuss, Die Deutschen, etc. pp. 361, 362.

Footnote 47:

The passage is sufficiently important to deserve transcription at length. "Saxonum gens, sicut tradit antiquitas, ab Anglis Britanniae incolis egressa, per Oceanum navigans Germaniae litoribus studio et necessitate quaerendarum sedium appulsa est, in loco qui vocatur Haduloha, eo tempore quo Thiotricus rex Francorum contra Irminfridum generum suum, ducem Thuringorum, dimicans, terram eorum ferro vastavit et igni. Et cum iam duobus proeliis ancipiti pugna incertaque victoria miserabili suorum cede decertassent, Thiotricus spe vincendi frustratus, misit legatos ad Saxones, quorum dux erat Hadugoto. Audivit enim causam adventus eorum, promissisque pro victoria habitandi sedibus, conduxit eos in adiutorium; quibus secum quasi iam pro libertate et patria fortiter dimicantibus, superavit adversarios, vastatisque indigenis et ad internitionem pene deletis, terram eorum iuxta pollicitationem suam victoribus delegavit. Qui eam sorte dividentes, cum multi ex eis in bello cecidissent, et pro raritate eorum tota ab eis occupari non potuit, partem illius, et eam quam maxime quae respicit orientem, colonis tradebant, singuli pro sorte sua, sub tributo exercendam. Caetera vero loca ipsi possiderunt." Transl. Sci. Alexandri, Pertz, ii. 674. This was written about 863. Possibly some ancient and now lost epic had recorded the wars of the Saxon Hea?oge?t.

But if such difficulties exist in dealing with the events of periods which are within the ascertained limits of our chronological system, and which have received the illustration of contemporary history, what shall we say of those whereof the time, nay even the locality is unknown? What account shall we render of those occurrences, which exist for us only in the confused forms given to them by successive ages; some, mischievously determined to reduce the abnormal to rule, the extraordinary to order, as measured by their narrow scheme of analogy? Is it not obvious that to seek for historic truth in such traditions, is to be guilty of violating every principle of historic logic? Such was the course pursued by our early chroniclers, but it is not one that we can be justified in repeating. In their view no doubt, the annals of the several Saxon kingdoms did supply points of definite information; but we are now able to take the measure of their credulity, and to apply severer canons of criticism to the facts themselves which they believed and recorded. If it was the tendency and duty of their age to deliver to us the history that they found, it is the tendency and duty of ours to enquire upon what foundation that history rests, and what amount of authority it may justly claim.

The little that Beda could collect at the beginning of the eighth century, formed the basis of all the subsequent reports. Though not entirely free from the prejudices of his time, and yielding ready faith to tales which his frame of mind disposed him willingly to credit, he seems to have bestowed some pains upon the investigation and critical appreciation of the materials he collected. But the limits of the object he had proposed to himself, viz. the ecclesiastical history of the island, not only imposed upon him the necessity of commencing his detailed narrative at a comparatively late period, but led him to reject much that may have been well known to him, of our secular history. The deeds of pagan and barbarous chieftains offered little to attract his attention or command his sympathies; indeed were little likely to be objects of interest to those from whom his own information was generally derived. Beda's account, copied and recopied both at home and abroad, was swelled by a few vague data from the regnal annals of the kings; these were probably increased by a few traditions, ill understood and ill applied, which belonged exclusively to the epical or mythological cycles of our own several tribes and races, and the cognate families of the continent; and finally the whole was elaborated into a mass of inconsistent fables, on the admission of Cymric or Armorican tales by Norman writers, who for the most part felt as little interest in the fate of the Briton as the Saxon, and were as little able to appreciate the genuine history of the one as of the other race. Thus W?den, Baeldaeg, Ge?t, Scyld, Sce?f and Be?wa gradually found their way into the royal genealogies; one by one, Brutus, Aurelius Ambrosius, Uther Pendragon and Arthur, Hengest, Hors and Vortigern, all became numbered among historical personages; and from heroes of respective epic poems sunk down into kings and warriors, who lived and fought and died upon the soil of England.

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