-^s«fei;^^iii^iystt LIBRARY ■ mmsny Of cAumm ORIGINS OF ENGLISH HISTORY ORIGINS OF ENGLISH HISTORY BY r: CHARLES I. ELTON. F.S.A. )M21IME FELLOW OF ijrEEx's i;i)I.LEr,E, OXFORD; ONE OK HER MaJESTy's COUNSEL; AUTHOR OF "l-HE TENURES OF KENT;" "THE LAW OF COMMONS AND WASTE LANDS;" "the LAW OF COPYHOLDS AND CUSTOMARY TENURES OF LAND;" " NORWAY. THE ROAD AND THE FBLL," ETC. SECOND EDITION REVISED. LONDON: BERNARD QUARITCH. 15 PICCADILLY. 1890. £S/ LONDON : G. NORMAN AND SON, PRINTERS, HART STREET, COVENT GARDEN. PREFA CE TO THE FIRST EDITION. np^HE object of this work appears so fully in its intro- -*- ductory chapter that it is almost needless to add anything by way of formal preface. It has been the writer's wish to collect the best and earliest evidence as to the different peoples with which the English nation in any of its branches is connected bv blood and descent. There are few that have studied the fascinating subject of the trade and travel of the Greeks from the times when they sailed in the track of the Phoenicians to the great age of their discoveries which followed the conquests of Alexander, who have not been astonished at the extent and accuracv of the knowledge which the earliest classical writers possessed concerning the North of Europe, as compared with the comparative ignorance and confusion of later times. To an Englishman the voyage of Pytheas is especially interesting, not only because he was the first explorer of the British Islands, but also because he brought back with him a singularly minute account of what he had seen and heard in the marshes and forests, from which long after- vi Origins of English History. wards the "three great English kindreds" came. But his visit to the Amber Islands and his stories of the brilliant Arctic summer became for the Greeks the founda- tion of all the fantastic tales of Thule, which for a time brought the whole science of Geography into contempt. The people who are found in Britain at the time of the Roman invasions — usually classed as Celts — are divided into a Gaulish stock, which is first described, as far as materials exist, and the Celts or Gaels of an earlier migration, whose colonies were found in every part of the British Islands that was not held by the Belgian nations. The subject involves an inquiry into the character and distribution of those forgotten peoples which everywhere throughout Western Europe underlie the dominant Aryan race. The description of the British Gauls is accordingly followed by an account of the remaining traces of insti- tutions owing their origin to the series of races that begins with the men of the Later Stone Age and covers the tribes that introduced the use of Bronze into Britain. The men of the long heads, who built long barrows and polished their weapons of stone, and the men of the round skulls, who were buried in round tombs and had learned to work in metal, have left abiding influences on the population of Britain, and the survivals of their primitive religion and laws appear in the form of local superstitions and customs which have descended even to modern times. Preface. vii Something of this kind may help to explain the anomalous customs of inheritance, the wide prevalence of which under the name of Borough English has long been a subject of speculation to all who have studied the curious details of the English Law of Real Property. A lawyer's reading enables him also to gather together many frag- ments of customs and tenures which point back to the same barbarous antiquity and enable the critical student of history to form at least a scientific guess at the civilisation and social ideas of the forgotten Pre-Celtic population. In conclusion the writer desires to express his obli- gations to the many kind friends who have assisted him during the progress of this work, and to acknowledge his special indebtedness to the writings of Professor Rhys, the late Professor Rolleston and Sir Henry Sumner Maine. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. T N preparing a second edition of the " Origins of English -■- History " the author has endeavoured to take advan- tage of the observations and friendly advice to which the appearance of the former edition gave rise. Since the work was first published many fresh discoveries have been made in the provinces of philology and archaeological viii Origins of English History. science. Much fresh light has been thrown on the problems of Celtic history by the continuous labours of Professor Rhys at home, and of M. Gaidoz, M. D'Arbois de Jubain- ville and many other eminent scholars abroad, while some of the best-known landmarks of archaeology have been altered by the results of the recent explorations made by General Pitt-Rivers at Rushmore. The earlier chapters of the work, dealing with the important discoveries of Pytheas, the Greek romances of travel, and the ancient languages and institutions of the Celtic peoples, have been carefully revised, without much alteration in their main argument or the arrangement of the principal facts. Some doubtful points have been omitted as well as some few appeals to authority which seemed to be no longer required. The descriptive catalogue of classic authors cited in the work has been entirely re-arranged, and references are now given to the pages on which they are cited in the text. An Index Locorum has been added, and care has been taken to distinguish those places which have anything to do with customary modes of inheritance from those which are more incidentally mentioned in the purely historical chapters. The General Index has been reconstructed and greatly enlarged, and a Table of Contents has been added. Whitestaunton, Somerset, Decern hr 2nd, 1889. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Object of the work Prehistoric inhabitants of Britain The Welsh bards on the first settlement The ancient Fauna of the island Commencement of authentic history The Hyperborean legends The travels of Pytheas in Britain Marseilles in the age of Alexander the Great Her commerce . Rivalry with Carthage Mineral riches of Spain Extensive deposits of tin The Phoenician commerce . Plans for interfering with trade of Carthage Voyage of discovery proposed The scientific discoveries of Pytheas He is chosen as leader of an expedition His writings. Course of the expedition . From Gadeira to the Tagus Erroneous notions of Spanish geography Havens of the Artabri . Situation of the Cassiterides Description of the inhabitants . Visit of Publius Crassus Theory as to the Scilly Islands . Carthaginian discoveries . The voyages of Hanno and Himilco Course of Himilco's voyage The tin districts The Sargasso Sea Teneriffe PAGE I 2 3 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 -II 9 9 II 12 12 12, 13 13 14 14 14, 15 • 15. 16 16 . 16 -23 18 18 16 -19 20 20 20 21 22 22 Origins of English History. PAGE Pytheas at Finisterre 23 Religious rites of natives 23-4 The Pyrenees and Ligurian shore 23 The Loire and Island of Amnis . 23 Barbarous ritual .... 24 The Morbihan and Celtic Islands 24 The College of Druidesses . 25 Voyage to Britain 26 Pytheas travels in Britain . 26 His observations 27 Erroneous measurements . 28 Mistakes as to size of the World 29 State of Kent and Southern Britain . 30 Wheat-cultivation 30 Metheglin and beer 30 Agriculture .... 31 Mode of dressing corn 31 Pytheas visited Eastern coasts only 32 Visit of Posidonius • Ji. 34 Traditions of Stonehenge 32 British trade in tin , 32 British coins from Greek models 32 Districts where tin is found 33 The island of Ictis . 34-37 Probably the same as Thanet 34 Description of tin-works 35 Portus Itius .... 35-6 Thanet formerly an island 36 St. Michael's Mount 37 CHAPTER II. P}thcas visits Germany and the Baltic Criticism by Strabo Summary of route Pliny on northern geography The ' Germany ' of Tacitus 38 38 39 40 41 Contents. XI PAGE The Gothones and Suiones 42-3 The Northern Ocean 42 The Amber Coast 43 Obligations of Tacitus to Greek writers 45 Route of Pytheas 45 Passage to Celtica 46 The Ostians or Ostiones 46 Their mode of Hving 47 The Cimbri .... 48 The Chauci .... 49 North Germany . . . 50 The Hercynian Forest • 51-57 Its Fauna in the time of Pytheas 52 The reindeer .... 52-3 The elk .... 54-5 The urus .... 55-6 The aurochs 56-7 The country of the Cimbri . 57-8 The Guttones 58-9 The Amber Islands 60-1 Extent of commerce in amber . 62-3 Voyage to Thule . 64-67 Discoveries in the Arctic Circle 67-70 Return to Britain 71 Return to Marseilles . 72 Character of Pytheas 1Z CHAPTER III. Imaginary travels based on discoveries of Pytheas Their confusion with records of real travel Beginning of scepticism on the subject Criticism of Dicsearchus The acceptance of Pytheas by Eratosthenes Euhemerus the rationalist : his account of Panchaia Argument based on his fictions Reply of Eratosthenes 74 75 75 75 1^ 75 75 76 xii Origins of English History. Criticisms by Polybius and Strabo . . .76 Geographical romances ... 77 Plato's use of the Carthaginian traditions . -77 Atlantis . . • • • 77 Origin of the stories of monstrous men . . 78 " The Wonders beyond Thule " . . 78 The epitome of Photius . • . .78 Plot of the romance .... 79 Stories of Germany and Thule . . . 78-81 Of the Germans and the Hercynian Forest . 80 Stories about Britain . . . .81 The legend of Saturn and Briareus . . 81 The Northern Pygmies . . . .81 Story preserved by Procopius . . . 81-83 Island of Brittia . . . . .82 The conductors of the dead ... 82 The communism of Thule . . . -83 The King of the Hebrides . . . . 83-4 Modern variations of the legend . . .84 Evan the Third and his law ... 84 Mediaeval use of the legend . . .84 The romance of " The Hyperboreans " . . 85 Description by Lelewel . . . -85 Stories of the Arctic Ocean ... 86 Britain described as " Elixoia " . . .86 The Circular Temple .... 86 The Boread Kings . . . .86 Solar legends .... 86 A description of the Hyperborean customs . . 87 The suicides of the old men ... 88 Historical v^eight of the legend . . . 88-9 Family-cliffs and family-clubs ... 88 Barbarous practices of northern nations . . 89 Mention of other romances ... 89 The Attacosi . . . . .89 The description of the Fortunate Islands, by Jambulus 89 His accounts of strange kinds of men . . 89 Fictions rejected by Tacitus ... 90 Contents. Xlll I'AGE CHAPTER IV. Recapitulation gi Later Greek travellers 91-2 Artemidorus 91 Posidonius the Stoic 92 His travels in Western Europe . 92 Condition of the Celts in Britain 93 Difficulty of framing general rules 93 Division of population into three stocks 93 British Gauls 93 Insular Britons .... 93 Other tribes .... 93 Methods of finding their ancient settlements . 93 Antiquarian research . 94 Philological method 94 Division of the Celtic languages . 94 Living forms in Wales 94 Ireland .... 94 Scotland .... 94 Man .... 94 Brittany .... 94 Dead forms .... 94 Welsh of Strathclyde 94 Pictish .... 94 Cornish .... 94 Gaulish .... 94 The Celtic of Thrace and Galatia 94 Originals from which the groups are derived 95 Lingua Britannica 95 Affinities of Old Welsh 95 Whether more related to the Irish or the Gaulish 95-6 Theory of the division of the Celtic stock 96 Brythonic and Goidehc races 96 Origin of the Theory . . . . 97 Similarity of Welsh and Gauhsh languages 97 The likeness explained 97-8 It arose from independent causes 98 XIV Origins of English Histoi'y. The languages not similar at the same time Likeness betwen old forms of Welsh and Irish Welsh and Irish at one time united Occupation of Britain by one Celtic horde Separation of Welsh and Irish languages British language distinct from Gaulish Practical result of accepting the theory . PACK 98 99 99 99 100 100 lOI CHAPTER V. The Gauls in Britain Invasion by the King of Soissons Older settlements Kingdoms of Kent Forest of Anderida The Trinobantes Extent of their dominions . The Iceni The Catuvellaunian Confederacy Civilisation of the Gaulish settlers Their physical appearance . Dress Ornaments Equipments in peace and in war Scythed chariots . Agricultural knowledge Cattle . Domestic hfe A Gaulish feast . 102-119 102 102-3 103-4 104 105 105 106 107 108 109 no III 1 1 2-3 114 115-6 117 117 118-9 CHAPTER VI. Population outside the Gaulish settlements How classified Stone Age .... 120 121 121 Content'^. XV PAGE Bronze Age .... 121 Iron Age .... 121 Special evidence as to Britain . 122 Palseolithic Age .... 123 Later Stone Age 124 Tombs of the Kings 124 Cromlechs .... 125 Rites and superstitions 125-6 Wayland's Smithy 126-7 Trous des Nutons 128 Classification of barrows 128 Chambered and unchambered varieties 129 Their contents 129-30 Physical characteristics of the Tomb-builders . 130 The nature of their society 130-2 Lake-dwellings .... 132 Survival of the neolithic race 133 Legends of Irish bards 134 The Firbolgs 135 Black Ceks .... 136 The Silures .... ^^1 Their character and habits 138 Commencement of Bronze Age . 139 On the Continent 140 In Britain .... 141 Tribes of Finnish type 141 Contents of their tombs 142 Their implements 143 Ornaments .... 144 Agriculture .... 145 Nature of their society 145.6 CHAPTER VII. Oldest settlements in Britain Theories of British ethnology Fair and dark races 147 148 148-9 XVI Origins of Ejiglish History. PAGE Theory as to Iberians 149 Aquitanians .... 149 Variety of Iberian customs • 149-50 Basque Tribes 150 Origin of Milesian legends . 151-2 Mr. Skene's view as to the Silures 153 Ethnological table 154 Survivals of the pre-Celtic stocks 155 Evidence from language and manners 156 Comparison of Aryan customs . 157 Local names .... . 158-60 Personal names 160-1 Abnormal words and constructions . 161-2 Classical notices : Vitruvius 163 Tacitus .... 164 Herodian .... 164 Dion Cassius .... • 164-5 Caledonians and Picts 165-6 Rock-carvings and sculptured stones 166-8 Customs of succession 169 Coronation rites .... 170-1 Relics of barbarism in mediaeval Connaught 172-3 Ancient customs in Wales . 174 St. Almedha's Fair 175 Cursing-customs .... . 175-6 Sin-eater .... 176 CHAPTER VIII. Customs foreign to Celtic and Teutonic usage Anomalous laws of inheritance . Borough-Enghsh Mainete and Jungsten-Recht Theories of their origin Their wide extent Primitive forms in Wales and Shetland In Cornwall and Brittany Distribution of Junior-right in England 178 178 179 179 180 180 I8I-2 183 183 Contents. xvii South-eastern district .... 183 Danish towns ..... 184 Customs of Kent .... 185-6 Customs in Sussex .... 187-8 The neighbourhood of London . . . i8g Manor of Taunton-Deane .... 189-go North-western France and Flanders . . igo " Theel-boors" of East Friesland . . • . igi Germany ..... ig2-3 Bornholm and Russia .... ig3 Attempts to explain the custom . . . ig4-6 Early forms of primogeniture . . . igy " Principals " or Freciput . . . ig8 Eldest daughter ..... 198-g The Law of the Sword . . . igg Glanville ..... 200 Extension of custom .... 201-2 Bracton ..... 203 Custom of the Pays de Caux . . . 203 Ireland and Norway .... 204 Religious origin of customs . . . 205 Laws of Manu ..... 205 Survivals of a domestic religion . . . 206-7 The fire and hearth .... 207 The remembrance bowl . . . 208 Household spirits .... 209 Feast of All Souls .... 210 " Brande Erbe " . ' . . . .211 Analogous origin of Junior-right . . 212 Early extension of Altaic peoples . . . 212 Mongolian and Ugrian customs . . 213 Tchudic superstitions .... 214 The mandrake .... 215-6 CHAPTER IX. Physical condition of the country . • 217 Misrepresented by Roman orators . . .218 Its state under Agricola , . • 218 xviii Origins of English History. PAGE Under the Plantagenets and Elizabeth . . 219 No genuine early descriptions . . • 220 Sources of Bede's statements . . . 220-1 Ancient accounts of Ireland . . . 221-2 The picture of Britain by Gildas . . . 222 True sources of information . . . 223 Pliny, Aneurin, Giraldus .... 224 Description of British village . . . 225 The Celts of North and West Britain . . 226 How affected by the English invasions . . 226-7 Evidence from language .... 227-8 Tribes of the South-West . . . 229 Their culture and trade .... 230 Description of their ships . . . 231 The Silures ..... 232 The Dobuni of the Cotswolds . . . 232-3 The Cornavians ..... 233 The Ordovices . . . 233-4 The central tribes .... 234 The Coritavi .... 234-5 Notices by Strabo and Caesar . . . 234-5 Migratory tribes .... 236 The northern confederation . . . 236-7 Queen Cartismandua .... 237-9 Rules a Brigantian tribe .... 237 Commands the Brigantian army . . 238 Defeats Caractacus .... 239 Brigantians compared with Irish . . 240-1 CHAPTER X. Religion of the British tribes . . . 242 Its influence on the literature of romance . . 243 Theories about Druidism . . . 243-4 The Welsh Triads .... 244-5 Legend of Hugh the Mighty . . . 245-6 Mythological poems of the bards . . . 247-8 Taliessin . ... 248-g Contents. xix PAGE Religion of the Gauls .... 249-50 The greater gods . . . . 251 Reckoning by nights . . . .251 Mercury and Minerva .... 252 The worship of Belenus .... 252 Adoration of plants .... 253-4 Mistletoe and club-moss .... 253 Water-pimpernel .... 254 Teutates, Esus, Taranis .... 254-6 Camulus ..... 255 Goddesses ..... 256-7 The Mothers .... 257 Giants ..... 257 Origin of Druidism .... 258 Druidism in Britain .... 258-g Scottish and Irish Druids . . . 258-9 Their magic ..... 259 Position of the Druids in Gaul . . . 259-60 Human sacrifices .... 261 In Britain and Ireland . . . 262 Slaughter of hostages .... 263 Sacrifices for stability of buildings . . 263-5 Doctrines of the Druids .... 265 Metempsychosis .... 266 Disappearance of Druidism . . . 267 In Ireland and Scotland . . . 267-8 Other remains of British religions . . . 268 In legends of saints .... 268-9 In romance ..... 269 St. Bridget's. fire .... 270 Nature of the idols .... 271 Superstitions about natural phenomena . . 272-3 Mirage and sunset .... 272 Laughing-wells .... 274 Pin-wells ..... 274-5 Worship of elements .... 275 The Irish gods ..... 275-7 The Dagda . . . . . 275-6 XX Origins of English History. PAGE Moon-worship .... 276-7 Degradation of British gods 277-8 Principal famihcs of gods . . 278-81 Children of Don 278 OfNudd .... 279 OfLir . . 279-81 Legend of Cordelia 280 Bran and Manannan . . . , 281 Relics of sun-worship 282 Fire-worship 282-3 Rustic sacrifices .... • 283-4 Offerings to saints 284-6 Sacred animals . . 285-7 Prohibition of certain kinds of food 288 Claims of descent from animals 288 Totemism .... 288-9 CHAPTER XL Character of the Roman Conquest 290 The century of peace after Caesar's invasion . 291 Increase of commerce with Gaul 292 Fresh settlements of Gauls in Britain . 292-4 The Atrebates, Belgae and Parisii 292 Metallurgy .... 293 List of exports 293-4 End of the peace 294 The capture of Camulodunum . 294-5 The triumph of Claudius . • 295-6 Massacre of the captives 297-8 Enrolment of British regiments 298 Conquest of the Southern districts 299 The colony of Camulodunum 300 Tyrannical measures . 301 Revolt of the Iceni 301-3 Victory of Paulinus . 303-4 The constitution of the province 305 Agricola's government 306 Contents. XXI PAGE His campaigns . . . 306-7 The visit of Hadrian . 308 Description of Caerleon 309 Discipline of the legions 309-10 Growth of towns .... . 310-11 Hadrian's Wall 312-15 Description of its remains . . . . 315 The Wall of Antoninus 316 Tablets erected by the soldiers 316-7 Their worship and superstitions . 317 The expedition of Severus 318 The revolt of Carausius 319 Influence of the Franks 320 Diocletian's scheme of government 321 Constantius and Constantine the Great 321-2 A new system of administration . 323-4 The military roads 324 The mediaeval highways 325-6 Wathng Street .... 326 System of communications 327 The lines from north to south 328 Transverse routes in the north . 328-9 Connections in the south and west . 329 The Saxon Shore 329-30 The Ikenild Way 330-1 The Antonine Itinerary 331 The Peutingerian Table . 332-3 Effect of the new constitution 334 Increase of taxation 334-5 Christianity established 335 Gradual decay of paganism 336 Pantheistic religions . 337 State of the frontiers 338 The Picts and Scots . 338-9 The Franks and Saxons . 338-9 Victories of Theodosius 339-40 The revolt of Maximus 340 The successes of Stilicho 341 XXI 1 Origins of EnglisJi History. Usurpation of Constantine The treason of Gerontius Independence of Britain PAGE 341 342 342 CHAPTER XII. Troubles of the Britons Fresh invasions of Picts and Scots . The Saxon pirates The Hallekiia victory The appeal to Aetius . Beginnings of the English conquest . Early Welsh poems Nennius Romances of Arthur . The history of Gildas Its dramatic nature Its imitation of the Vulgate The story of Vortigern His war with the mercenaries The victory of Ambrosius The Mons Badonicus English accounts of the conquest Influence of ancient ballads Description of the invasion Saxons, Jutes, and Angles . Their continental home Other invading tribes The Frisians Argument from local names The conquest of Kent Welsh traditions . Horsa's tomb Legends of Hengist The conquest of Sussex Destruction of Anderida Fate of the Roman towns Rise of the House of Cerdic 343 343 344 344-5 345-6 346 346 347 347-8 348 349 349 349 350 350 351 352 352-3 353 354-6 354-7 357 358 358-9 359-61 361-2 362-3 363-5 366 367 368-9 369-70 Contents. XXlll PAGE Conquest of Wessex . 371-2 Victories of Cerdic and Cynric 373 The wars and fate of Ceawlin 374-7 Genealogies of the kings . 378 The conquest of Northumbria . 378 East Anglia and Mercia . 378-80 Reign of Ida 380-1 Welsh traditions . 381 Reign of iElle 381 Of^thelfrith . 381-2 General description of the conquest 382 Ancient poems . 382 The sea-kings described by Sidonius 383-4 The lord and his companions . 384-6 Degradation of the peasantry 386-7 Free townships . . 388-9 Co-operative husbandry 390 Village customs . 390 Survivals of heathenism 390-2 Festivals 393 Sacrifices .... 394 Character of English paganism 394-6 Conversion of Northumbria 396 Of Sussex 397 Of the remaining kingdoms 398 APPENDIX I. Knowledge of the ancients as to Northern and Western Europe , . . . . 399 APPENDIX II. A list of the principal Greek and Latin writers to which references have been made . 425 INDEX LOCORUM 431 GENERAL INDEX. 439-50 LIST OF MAPS. 1. Spain (from the edition of Ptolemy printed at Rome in 1478). 2. The World of the Ancients (from the Ptolemy of 1478). 3. Eastern Europe (from the edition of Ptolemy printed at Strasburg in 1525). 4. Northern Europe (from the Historia de Gentibus Septen- trionalibus of Olaus Magnus, printed at Basle in 1567 5. Gaul (from the Ptolemy of 1478). 6. The British Isles (from the Ptolemy of 1478). 7. South-Eastern Britain (from the Tabula Peutingeriana). 8. Germany (from the Ptolemy of 1478). g. The Isle of Thanet (from Dugdale's Monasticon, edition of 1655-73)- 10. The British Isles (from the Ptolemy of 1525). ORIGINS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. CHAPTER I. Object of the work. — Prehistoric inhabitants of Britain. — The Welsh bards on the first settlement. — The ancient Fauna of the island. — Commencement of authentic history. — The Hyperborean legends. — The travels of Pytheas in Britain. — Marseilles in the age of Alexander the Great. — Her commerce. — Rivalry with Carthage. — Mineral riches of Spain. — Extensive deposits of tin. — The Phoenician commerce. — Plans for interfering with trade of Carthage. — Voyage of discovery proposed. — The scientific discoveries of Pytheas. — He is chosen as leader of an expedition. — His writings. — Course of the expedition. — Gadeira. — The Tagus. — Erroneous notions of Spanish geography. —Havens of the Artabri. — Situation of the Cassiterides. — Description of the inhabitants. — Visit of Publius Crassus. — — Theory that the Cassiterides were the Scilly Islands discussed. — Carthaginian discoveries. — The voyages of Hanno and Himilco. — Course of Himilco's voyage. — The tin districts. — The Sargasso Sea. — Teneriffe. — Pytheas at Finisterre. — - Religious rites of natives. — The Pyrenees. — The Loire and Island of Amnis. — Barbarous ritual. — The Morbihan and Celtic Islands. — The College of Druidesses. — Voyage to Britain. — Pytheas travels in Britain. — His observations. — Erroneous measurements. — Ancient ideas of the extent of the world. — State of Kent and Southern Britain.— Wheat cultivation. — Metheglin and beer. — Agriculture. — Mode of dressing corn. — Pytheas did not visit Ireland, or the West of Britain. — Traditions of Stonehenge. — British trade in tin. — British coins from Greek models. — Districts where tin is found. — The Island of Ictis — Its situation — Probably to be identified with Thanet. — Visit of Posidonius. — Description of tin- works. — Portus Itius. — Thanet formerly an island. — St. Michael's Mount. THE following chapters are the result of an attempt to rearrange in a convenient form what is known of the history of this country from those obscure ages which preceded the Roman invasions to the time when the English accepted the Christian religion and the civilising influences of the Church. The subject must always be interesting to those who care to trace the development of society from its remote and savage beginnings. The compiler's task is lightened by the labours of a multitude of scholars, from the Greek travellers who first explored the wonders of the northern world to the Welsh scribe who might have seen King Arthur : and from them to the Origins of English History. masters of comparative history vA\o have lately traced the origin and growth of most of our modern institutions. The compilation may still be useful or convenient, though the field has been well-laboured for centuries, and "hardly a gleaning-grape or ear of corn is left when the vintage and harvest are done." The really prehistoric times are the province of the archaeologist, and must be explored by his technical methods, though every one who approaches the subject of English history must feel a desire to know something of all kinds of men who have colonised or traversed our islands. Our principal ancestors, no doubt, came late from the shores and flats between the Rhine and the Gulf of Bothnia. But the English nation is compounded of the blood of many different races ; and we might claim a personal interest not only in the Gaelic and Belgic tribes who struggled with the Roman legions, but even in the first cave-men who sought their prey by the slowly-receding ice-fields, and the many forgotten peoples, whose relics are explored in the sites of lake-villages or seaside refuse-heaps or in the funeral mounds, or whose memory is barely preserved in the names of mountains and rivers. For it is hardly possible that a race should ever be quite exterminated or extinguished: the blood of the conquerors must in time become mixed with that of the conquered ; and the preservation of men for slaves and of women for wives will always insure the continued existence of the inferior race, however much it may lose of its original appearance, manners, or language. The Welsh bards indulged their fancy in describing the state of Britain before the arrival of man. According to the authors of the earliest Triads, the swarms of wild bees in the woods gave its first name to the " Isle of Honey :" Origins of English History. and the first settlers were supposed to marvel at the bears and wolves, the humped cattle of the forest, and the colonies of beavers in the streams. We need not follow the poet in his prehistoric flight, but we may be sure that down to the dawn of history a great part of the island must have been given over to wild beasts : even in the historical period, the Caledonian bears were known in the Roman circus, the beavers' colonies were long remembered in Wales and Scotland, the wild boar survived into the 17th century, and the w^olf remained for some generations later in the more remote recesses of the island.^ ^ The Scottish bear is mentioned by Martial: ''Nuda Caledonio sic pectora preebuit urso." (Epig. vii. 3, 4.) The city of Norwich gave a bear every year to Edward the Confessor, "and six dogs for the bear 5" but the native bears were probably extinct before the loth century. (Boyd Dawkins, Cave-hunting, 75 ; Harting, Extinct British Animals, 24.) The manor of Henwick, in Northamptonshire, \^'as held by the family of Lovett, or Luvet, by the service of chasing the wolf, " fugacionem lupi quam dictus Johannes mihi pro terra de Henwyht debebat." (Nichol. Collect. Topogr. vi. 300.) The Luvets bore for their arms "Argent, three wolves passant." The service of the Luvets is recognised in a fine between Engaine and Luvet, in the loth year of King John. The "Testa de Nevil " refers to the grant by William the Conqueror to Robert de L^mfreville, of the valley and forest of Riddesdale, by the service of defending that part of the country from enemies and wolves with the sword which the King wore, when he first came to Northumberland. The family of Engaine held Pytchley, in Northamptonshire, by the service of hunting the wolf across the county wherever he pleased. (Pleas of the Crown, 3 Edw. I., r. 20.) The account-rolls of Whitby Abbey show that wolves must have been common in Yorkshire during the reign of Richard the 2nd. Professor Newton states that they were probably not extinct in England till the end of the 15th century. (Zoology Anc. Eur., 24; Harting, Ext. Brit, Anim. 151.) There is some evidence that the wolf survived in Scotland till i743> and in Ireland till 1766, or a few years later {ibid. 204). As to the survival of the wild boar, see ibid. loi. Stow's " Survey of London " contains a well-known description of the forest of Middlesex in the reign of Henry H., where the citizens were wont to hunt the wild bull and the boar on the T * Origins of English History. The authentic history of Britain begins in the age of Alexander the Great, in the fourth century before Christ, when the Greeks acquired an extensive knowledge of the western and northern countries from Gibraltar to the mouth of the Vistula, and as far north as the Arctic Circle. We shall show how the knowledge was acquired, and afterwards obscured by the inability of later writers to distinguish between the facts of travel and the incidents of popular romances. When these parts of the northern tracts were rediscovered many generations afterwards by the Romans, it had become impossible for them to separate history from fable, and they took credit for finding a new world as if it had not all been described in their ancient books. So America and the regions of Central Africa were discovered and lost, and rediscovered and lost again, probably many times in succession : and so the colony of Old Greenland flourished for centuries, till it decayed from the ravages of plague and barbarian invasion and for nearly 300 years its very situation and direction were forgotten. The earliest literature of Greece shows the existence of a rumour or tradition that somewhere to the north of the hills of Hampstead. The wild cattle still remain at Chillingham, and in several other parks in England and Scotland. The beaver Mas mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis as existing in this country in the reign of Henry the 2nd. "The Teivy (in Cardiganshire) has another singularity, being the only river in Wales, or even in England, which has beavers. In Scotland they are said to be found in one river, but they are very scarce." (Itin. Wall. ii. c. 3.) He adds that they were at that time abundant in Germany and the north of Europe. (Topogr. Hibern. i. c. 21.) Elector Boece, writing in 1526, said that beavers were still to be found in Loch Ness, but they are not mentioned in an Act dealing with the fur-trade, which was passed in J 424. (See Harting's Extinct British Animals, and Boyd Dawkins, Cave- hunting, 76.) Origins of English History. Eiixine and behind the Gulf of Adria, the resort of the amber merchants, the Hyperborean people lived " at the back of the north wind," and worshipped the Delian Apollo with hecatombs of wild asses in a land of perpetual sunshine, where the swans sung like nightingales, and life w^as an unending banquet. We need not pause very long over the consideration of the origin of these fancies, which acquired a fresh popularity when later poets and novelists incorporated the Boread legends with travellers' descrip- tions of the ritual of a solar worship and the brightness of an arctic summer •} but we will pass at once to a detailed examination of the discoveries of Pytheas, "the Humboldt of antiquity," whose writings for several centuries were the ^ There are two distinct sets of Hyperborean legends, which appear to be generally confused together in the books which deal with Stonehenge and the supposed relations of the ancient Britons with the Levant. The first is almost as old as Greek literature: it refers to the nations north of the Euxine, the countrymen of the Scythians Abaris and Anacharsis and of the virgins who came to Delos. For these Hecataeus of Miletus was the chief authority : see the full details in Herodotus iv. 32-36. For the uviov Ua.TOjj.l3oi, see Pindar's loth Pythian Ode. Humboldt considered that the six gold- bearing districts of Altai, the regions of the Arimaspi and the Griffins, were the sites of "the meteorological mythus " of these Hyperboreans. Cosmos (Sabine), ii. 141. For a collection of information as to passages bearing on the locality of these Scythians, see Herbert's " Cyclops Christianus." Niebuhr was inclined to place the Hyperboreans of Herodotus to the north of Italy. Herodotus himself offered no opinion, and " smiled to think that people were already writing circumnavigations of the world without knowing anything about geography." (Herod, iv. c. 36.) The earliest trace of acquaintance with the brief nights of the Northern summer is perhaps to be found in the " eyyvg yap pvktoc te i:ai i'lfxaTOQ ticrX KiXtvdoi" of Odyss. x. 86. The other legend comes from Hecataeus of Abdera, who lived soon after Alexander the Great, and who wove the stories about Britain and Northern Europe into connection with the more ancient legends. See Scholia ad Apollon. Rhod. ii. 6jr^, and ad Pindar. Ol. iii. 28. ^lian. H. A. xi. i. Diod. ii. c. 47^ and Hecataeus in Muller's collection. Hist. Graec. Fragm. ii. 283. Origins of English History. only source of knowledge respecting the north of Europe. His diary may have been extant in a connected form as late as the 5th century, since a copy of his works seems to have been quoted by Stephanus of Byzantium, not long before the time of the Emperor Justinian. It has now to be sought in the fragments, extracts, and references, preserved by geographers and historians, who used his book as an inexhaustible source of information ; and the most important writers of antiquity were content with his autho- rity. It has suffered chiefly from the violent attacks of Strabo, whose own system of geography was, as we may safely admit, inconsistent in several points with the ideas of the old explorer. This chapter will be concerned with an attempt to reconstruct the narrative of his travels from Marseilles round the Spanish coast, and as far as the south of Britain, leaving for the next chapter the consideration of his visit to Germany and the Baltic, and his famous voyage to Thule. In connection with the earlier part of his vovas^e we shall deal incidentallv with some other traditions relating to the subject, of which some have generally been believed without proof, and others rejected w^ithout reason. We shall deal with a kind of historical matter which is found in the course of every attempt to explore the history of an ancient nation. Between the region of fancy and the province of authenticated history lies a border-land of tradition, full of difficulties, which can neither be passed without notice, nor ever perhaps very clearly or finally explained. The half-lost annals of a debateable time, worn out by age and obscured by neglect, and preserved piece-meal in imperfect extracts from books which have perished, in the notes of a scholiast or epitomist, Origins of English History. or in the language of ancient criticisms which have chanced to survive the objects of their attack. The travels of Pytheas opened the commerce in tin and amber to the Greek merchants of Marseilles about the middle of the 4th century before Christ. The exact date cannot be ascertained, but is found approximately by the facts that the astronomical discoveries of Pytheas were not mentioned by Aristotle, but were controverted on some points by Dicasarchus, the pupil of Aristotle, whose writings were published not long after the famous philosopher's death. The merchants of Marseilles and the other Greek colonists of the Ligurian coast seem to have been anxious to strike a blow at their Carthaginian rivals, who had almost a complete command of the mineral wealth of Spain. Colasus of Samos had long before discovered the wealth of Tarshish along the Andalusian shore, and had brought home glowing accounts of the riches of the West, and of the simple barbarians who allowed their visitors to load their ships with precious ore for ballast. But the Phoenicians had soon secured a monopoly of the mineral trade : the men of Tarshish were their merchants ; "with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in the fairs of Tyre."^ The ^ These words are taken from the description of the commerce of Tyre in Ezek. xxvii. For the earher mentions of Tarshish, or the coast of Andalusia, see Gen. x. 4, and Exod. xxviii. 20, where the beryl or chrysolite of the high-priest's breastplate is called tar sis in the original ; for the prevalent east winds which impeded the trade, see Ps. xlviii. 7, and compare Strabo iii. 144. See also Isaiah ii. 16, and the " burden of Tyre," c. xxiii. For mentions of Chittim or the region of the Pyrenees, see the chapter last cited, and Ezek. xxvii. There appears to have been no city of Tarshish, but the name properly applies to the whole of the Andalusian coast between Guadiana and Cape Trafalgar. The Baetis or Guadalquivir and the Anas or Guadiana River 8 Origins of English History. town of Ampurias, in the Gulf of Lyons, preserves the name of the emporium where the Greeks attempted to engross some part of the Spanish commerce ; but south of that point the whole country was at first under the in- fluence of the Phoenicians, and afterwards under the power of Carthage.i It must always be remembered that Spain were formerly noted for their gold-bearing gravels, though neither was as rich as the Tagus in this respect. "The region Tartessus corresponded in extent with the country of the Turduli and Turdetani, whose name appears to be derived from the same root. On the west it was bounded by the mouth of the Anas 5 on the east by the prolongation of the hills, which border the valley of the Baetis on the S.E. and terminate in a low sandy point at Cape Trafalgar. In the Romish times, however, the name was more widely extended, and included the coast eastward of Gibraltar. Beyond the Anas was the country of the Cynetes (Herod, ii. 2)?))> extending to the Sacred Promontory or Cape St. Vincent, the most westerly point of Europe." Kenrick. Phoenicia, c. 3. ^ The Greek name for tin, KCKrcrirepoc, (cassiteros,) appears to be connected with kastira, the Sanskrit name for the metal. The island Cassitira must have been somewhere near the Straits of Malacca, the chief source of our modern supplies. Stephanus of Byzantium is the authority for a description of Cassitira as " an island in the ocean near India, as Dionysius says in his Bassarici, from which the tin comes." For details of the modern tin trade, see Sir Henry De la Beche, Geology of Cornwall. For the ancient trade, see Heeren"s Essays on the Commerce of the Ancients. Humboldt pointed out that the Romans were acquainted with the existence of tin in the country of the Artabri and Callaici, in the north-western parts of Iberia. Humboldt, Cosmos. (Sabine) ii. 128. "When I was in Galicia, in 1799 " (he adds), "before embarking for the Canaries, mining operations were still carried on, on a very poor scale, in the granitic mountains. The occurrence of tin in this locality is of some geological importance, on account of the former connection of Galicia, the peninsula of Brittany and Cornwall." Kenrick gives us the following useful summary : — " There can be no doubt that tin was anciently found in Spain and in its southern regions. The Guadalquivir brought down stream-tin (Eustathius ad Dionys. Perieg. 3.37), and, according to Festus Avienus, the mountain in which this river rose Avas called Cassius from Cassiteros, and Argentarius from the brilliancy of the tin which it produced. The mines of the south of Spain have been neglected Origins of English History, was the Mexico of the ancient world. The Tagus rolled gold, and the Guadiana silver ; the Phoenician sailors were said to have replaced their anchors with masses of silver for which they had no room on board, and the Iberians to have used gold for mangers and silver for their vats of beer. The western and northern coasts were equally rich : a mountain of iron ore stood near Bilbao, and the whole coast from the Tagus to the Pyrenees was said to be "stuffed with mines of gold and silver, lead and tin;" the moor-lands were full of tin-pebbles, the river-gravels mixed with broken strings and branches of tin, which the Iberian girls were able to win by light ''stream-work," washing the ore from the soil in wicker cradles ; and, as in Cornwall, the tin was often mixed with gold, and the lead with silver. We learn the ancient wealth of the country since the discovery of America, with the exception of the quicksilver mines of Almaden, and therefore it would be unreasonable to call these precise statements in question, because tin is not now known to be found there. With regard to the north-western provinces of the peninsula, there can be no doubt that tin anciently abounded in them. Posidonius, quoted by Strabo, says that in the land of the Artabri, the most remote in the north-west, the soil glitters with silver, tin, and white gold (Strabo. iii. 147)." The tin was the black stream-tin, and no lodes appear to have been worked. The account given by Pliny is much the same : " Tin, it is now well ascertained, is produced in Lusitania and Galicia, sometimes of a black colour on the surface of the sandy soil, and distinguishable only by weight (peroxide of tin), sometimes in minute pebbles in the bed of dried torrents (stream-tin) which are collected, washed, and fused in furnaces. It is also sometimes found in gold mines, and separated by washing in baskets, and subsequent melting" (Hist. Nat. xxxiv. c. 16). The geological structure of Galicia and the adjacent part of Portugal is very similar to that of the metalliferous districts of Cornwall j and as many as seven different localities, in which tin has been procured, are enumerated in a recent work on the geology of the former country (Schulz, '' Descripcion Geognostica di Galicia," pp. 45, 47). The name of a village in the neighbourhood of Viseu, in Portugal, indicates the remains of old tin-works. Kenrick. PhcEnicia. 214. lo Origins of English History. from the reports of Greek travellers, and from the Romans who inherited the riches of Spain, when the power of Tyre and the careless magnificence of Carthage had passed away, and before the mineral deposits had been very sensibly diminished. At the time which we are now considering, the jealousy of the Carthaginians had hindered the Greeks and Romans from learning the secrets of the seas west of the Pillars of Melkarth. There were, doubtless, vague reports of the temple of Moloch which crowned the last point of Europe, of a beetling cliff lashed by perpetual surf, a river that rolled sands of gold, and islands where the ground gleamed with silver and tin. Herodotus,^ a century before, had heard the name of the Cassiterides, though he confessed a doubt as to their existence, in the absence of eve-witnesses from the west of Europe. The knowledge of the tin-deposits was the most valuable secret of Tyre and Carthage. The difficult manufacture of bronze was the most important art ^ The passage in which Herodotus confessed his ignorance of Western Europe relates both to the tin-trade and the commerce in amber. " Of that part of Europe which is nearest to the West I cannot speak with decision. I by no means beheve that the barbarians give the name of Eridanus to a river emptying itself into the Northern Sea, whence (as it is said,) our amber comes j nor am I better acquainted with the Islands called the Cassiterides, from which we are said to get our tin," Herod, iii. 115. Polybius considered that all the reports about Northern and AVestern Europe up to his time were " mere fable and invention, and not the fruit of any real search or genuine information." The early travellers, according to him, were not content with plain and simple truth, but "invented strange and incredible fictions and prodigies and monsters, reporting many things which they never saw, and others which had no existence." Polybius. Hist. iii. 4, 5. It should, however, be observed, that the criticisms of Polybius dealt with statements of Pytheas which had been accepted by Eratosthenes and Hipparchus 5 and that, in fact, from the time of Alexander the Great, the ancients had a very fair notion of the geography of Britain. Origins of English History. 1 1 of the ancient world, before the Celts discovered the method of making the hard Noric steel. Weapons and implements of all kinds were made of a compound of tin and copper, the zinc-brass made with the calamine-stone being little used in comparison with the use of bronze. The Phoenician sailors busied themselves in all known regions of the world in seeking for the precious ore. " Who are these," said the sacred poet, " that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?"^ The seas were covered with their sails, and the harbours full of their ships, which they loaded with metal smelted from the tin- bearing gravels of the Eastern Cassitira. Such were the rivals with whom the Greeks were about to compete. Tin had been found in Gaul, perhaps in several districts,^ and it is possible that the Celts had some knowledge of British tin before the Greek discoveries. The Greeks hoped to find tin-countries in the unexplored north, and might expect to light on the source of the amber trade, which for ages had come by '' a sacred road " from some Scythian region to the head of the Gulf of Adria. There seem to have been reports or traditions that tin as well as amber came from the north: and an old legend passed current about a statue of tin having been erected on an island near the trade road which all the barbarian tribes respected, somewhere in the neighbour- hood of Venice or Trieste.^ When Publius Cornelius Scipio made his expedition to ^ Isaiah Ix. 8. ^ Professor Boyd Dawkins states that stream-works of the Bronze Age are known to have been carried on in the Morbihan, or country of the Veneti. Early Man in Britain. 403 j Rhys. Celtic Britain. 48. Tin has also been found at Montebras, in Auvergne. ^ De Mirab. Auscult. 81. (Westermann, Paradox. 23.) j 12 Origins of English History. Marseilles, he seems to have inquired as to the chance of establishing a new trade with Britain, hoping thereby to do an injury to the wealth of Carthage. Polybius is the authority for the story, and for the statement that no one in the city could tell the Roman anything w^orth mentioning about the north : and also that nothing could be learned from the merchants of Narbonne, or of " the City of Corbelo,"^ which was said to have been a flourishing place in the age of Pytheas, though the later Romans w^ere ignorant even of its situation. The foreigner was told of the danger of all attempts to interfere with the Carthaginian commerce, — " how a ship-master of Gaddir, on his way to the tin islands, was tracked by a Roman merchant-man, but ran his ship upon a shoal, and led his enemies into the same destruction. The captain was saved on the floating wreck, and was rewarded by the Senate of Carthage with the price of the sacrificed cargo. "- When the project of a voyage of discovery was first undertaken at Marseilles, a committee of merchants engaged the services of Pvtheas, an eminent mathematician of that city, who was already famous for his measurement of the declination of the ecliptic, and for the calculation of the latitude of Marseilles, by a method which he had recently invented of comparing the height of a gnomon or pillar with the length of the solstitial shadow.^ Pytheas was also ^ Corbelo is said to be Coiron on the Loire, near Nantes (Martin, Hist. France, i. 90). For the story from Polybius, see Strabo, iv. 190. ^ Strabo, iii. 175. ^ On the use of the gnomon by Pytheas, see Gassendi, Proport. Gnomon, iv. 530 ; Gossehn, Recherches Geogr. Ant. iv. 61. What kind of gnomon he used is not known. He appears to have fixed the ratio in question at 24: 7. Strabo misquoted him, as if he had made it out to be 600 : 29. (See Strabo. i. 92.) Modern experiments conducted at Marseilles have shown Origins of English History. 13 known for his proposition " that there is no star at the pole, but a vacant spot where the pole should be, marked at a point which makes a square with the three nearest stars "^ ; and for his studies on the influence of the moon upon the tides.^ Pytheas was chosen as the leader of a northern expedi- tion to explore the Iberian coast, and then to proceed north as far as the " Celtic countries," and as much further as might seem expedient. Another expedition was sent southwards to explore the African coast, under the direc- tion of Euthymenes, another man of science, with whose discoveries we are not here concerned. But we may say that he reached a river where crocodiles and hippopotami were seen in great abundance, which was probably the River Bambothus of Hanno's expedition, and that the records of his voyage are almost completely lost. It will be seen hereafter that Pytheas was more fortunate, a good Pytheas to be correct within a trifling fraction of 40 seconds : as to this, see Aout's pamphlet on the subject, "Etude sur Pytheas." (Paris. 1866.) ^ It should be remembered that, in the age of Pytheas, the constellation of the Little Bear had not yet been placed in the Greek celestial sphere. As to the discovery of the pole-star, see Hipparchus ad Aratum. i. c. 5. Strabo, i. 3. A work attributed to Eratosthenes calls it ^oivIk^, or the lode-star of the Phoenicians. The same point is also mentioned by Manilius : — " Septem illam stellae certantes lumine signant. Qua duce per fluctus Graia; dant vela carinse. Angusto Cynosura brevis torquetur in orbe, Quam spatio tarn luce minor : sed judice vincit Majorem Tyrio." Astronomica. iv. 304. ^ Pytheas considered that the tide was caused by the waxing and waning of the moon. Stobaeus, Append. (Gaisford), iv. 427. Plutarch. De placit. Philosoph. iii. 17. Strabo accuses Pytheas of stating the ebb came to an end (a/iTTwreie 7r£paroDcr0ai), by which he appears to have meant that the current from Cadiz ended at the Sacred Cape. 14 Origins of English History. many fragments of his work having been preserved, not only by Eratosthenes and other great geographers, who accepted his accounts as correct, but also in the criticisms of Polybiiis, which have been preserved and exaggerated in Strabo's work. It is known that his account was pre- served in the shape of a diary, recording the times of passage from port to port, and it is believed that this diary was embodied in two books, called " The Circuit of the Earth," and "Commentaries concerning the Ocean"; and some have supposed that these represented the results of two voyages, the one to Britain, and the other from Cadiz to the " Vistula." But a comparison of the fragments shows clearly enough that only one voyage was described, its course being from Marseilles round Spain to Brittany, from Brittany to Kent and several other parts of Britain, from the Thames to the Rhine, round Jutland along the southern shore of the Baltic to the mouth of the Vistula ; thence out of the Baltic and up the Norwegian coast to the Arctic Circle ; then to the Shetlands and the north of Scotland, and afterwards to Brittany again ; and so to the mouth of the Garonne, where he found a route leading to Marseilles. The ships first touched at Gaddir, the Tyre of the West, where the merchants lived "quietly after the manner of the Sidonians, careless, and secure, and in the possession of riches." Here they reached the limit of Greek geogra- phical knowledge, the Pillars or Tablets of Hercules, whom the Phoenicians called Melkarth.^ The voyage to ^ The Greeks gave the name of MeHcertes to the Tyrian god, who is also beheved to have been the original of that Midacritus, " who first brought tin from the Island of Cassiteris " (Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. c. 57). The description of Gadeira by Pytheas has been partially preserved in Strabo's criticisms on Eratosthenes. Strabo^, iii. 148. The city of Gadeira was built on an Origins of English History. 15 CEstrymnis, or Cape St. Vincent, took no less than five days, though the distance cannot be more than 300 miles along the coast, and the prevailing winds are favourable to a western voyage. And Strabo quoted the allegation to cast discredit on Pytheas, though Artemidorus, a later traveller, declared that he had taken nearly as long a time for the journey : but there was a nearly general accept- ance of what Pytheas had reported of the situation of Gaddir, and of the general geography of the Spanish coast.^ All the travellers appear to have been unaware of the existence of the strong south-eastward current which com- mences at the harbour of Cadiz. Pytheas noticed its effects ; but he seems to have attributed them to the general flow of the ocean, which all the poets had described as a vast and swift river encircling the habitable earth ; and he was surprised on rounding the southern face of the cape to find that the current had ceased. island separated from the coast by a strait only a furlong in breadth at its narrowest part, " The temple of Saturn stood on the western extremity of the islandj that of Hercules on the eastern, where the strait narrows itself to a stadium, and in the Roman times was crossed by a bridge. This temple was said to be coeval with the first establishment of the Tyrian colony, and to have remained, without renovation, unimpaired. The distinction between the Tyrian and the Theban Hercules was well known to the ancients ; but after Gades became the resort of merchants and travellers from all parts of the world, the temple of Hercules received offerings and memorials, belonging rather to the Grecian than the PhcEnician god. It contained two columns of a metal mixed of gold and silver, with an inscription in unknown characters, and therefore variously interpreted as containing mystical doctrines, or a record of the expenses of erecting the temple," Kenrick, Phoenicia, 124, 127. The Greeks took the Pillars of Hercules to be the mountainous masses of Gibraltar and the opposite shore : but the first Pillars of Melkarth, mentioned in Hanno's voyage, were probably votive tablets, and not pillars ; and they were afterwards identified with the columns above mentioned. ^ Strabo. i. 64, ii. 106, iii. 148. 1 6 Origins of English History. In three days more they came to the mouth of the Tagiis, lying between a long sharp promontory to the south and the extremities of the mountain-range which reaches the sea at Cape Rocca. We must stay to consider very briefly the notion of the ancient geographers about this district, because it is only by that means that we can ascertain the situation of the Cassiterides : they are often taken for the Scilly Isles, but a comparison of the oldest authorities shows clearly enough that the name was intended to be applied to the islands situated in the neighbourhood of Vigo Bay and Corunna. The ancients thought that the west side of Spain extended from Cadiz to a point but little north of Lisbon, and that Cape St. Vincent was as nearly as possible the central point of the western coast. The country between Capes Rocca and Carboeira was considered to form one large promontory, from which the northern coast stretched as far as the foot of the Pyrenean range. All the districts, therefore, between this promontory and Finisterre or " Nerium," were, according to their ideas, a portion of the northern coast. Lusitania ended at the present northern boundary of Portugal, and between that point and Cape Nerium were situated the " Havens of the Artabri," in the mouths of the rivers between Vigo and Finisterre ; and here, not far from the shore, are the islands which were long known as the Cassiterides. The influence of the old tradition reported by Herodotus, or the habit of using islands as convenient marts, may have caused the whole of the tin-trade to be attributed to the islands fronting on the coast : but there certainlv seem to have been some mines on the islands themselves. The Cassiterides are hardlv ever connected with Britain, Origins of English History. ij but are always treated as having some relation to Spain. When Posidoniiis described the tin-trade, he said that the metal was dug up " among the barbarians beyond Lusitania, and in the islands called Cassiterides," and he added that it was also found in Britain, and transported to Marseilles.^ Diodorus quotes the same account. "In many parts of Spain tin is also found, but not upon the surface, as some historians report ; but they dig it, and melt it down like gold and silver. Above Lusitania there is much of this metal in the little islands, lying off Iberia in the Ocean, which are therefore called Cassiterides ; and much is likewise transported out of Britain into Gaul," Pomponius Mela, who was a Spaniard himself, and particularly well acquainted with the north-western districts of the country, described the whole region between Nerium and the Douro as belonging to the Celts ; he next gave an account of the islands of Spain and the North, saying, " Among the Celtici are several islands, all called by the single name of Cassiterides, because they abound in tin."^' He then passes to the Isle of Sena "in the British Sea," and to Britain itself and the islands beyond it. Strabo, writing about the year a.d. 20, certainly raised a doubt about the identity of the Cassiterides and the islands on the coast of Spain, He does not bring the tin-islands to Britain, but he carries them out to sea in a way which seems to indicate some knowledge or rumour about the Azores. " North- wards and opposite to the Artabri are the islands called the Cassiterides, situate in the high seas, somewhere about ^ Strabo. ii. 129, 146. Diod. Sic. v. c. " Mela. iii. 3, 6. Origins of English History. the same latitude as Britain." " The islands," he added,, '' are ten in number : one is deserted, but the others are inhabited by people who wear black cloaks and long tunics reaching to the feet, girded about the breast : they walk with long staves, and look like the Furies in a tragedy : they subsist by their cattle, leading for the most part a wandering life : and they barter hides, tin, and lead with the merchants in exchange for pottery, salt, and implements of bronze." When Publius Crassus^ visited the northern coast of Spain, he is said to have found the way to the Cassiterides, the situation of which had not up to that time been known to the Romans. "As soon as he landed there," says Strabo, "he perceived that the mines were worked at a very slight depth, and that the natives were peaceable and employing themselves of their own accord in navi- gation : so he taught the voyage to all that were willing, although it was longer than the voyage to Britain. Thus much about Spain, and the islands lying in front of it." It is somewhat difficult to sav whether this means that the voyage from Spain to these islands was longer than that from Spain to Britain, or that the distance of these islands from Spain was greater than their distance from Britain, or merely that it was thought worth while to carry the tin round to Marseilles, even though the merchants of that place had an easier way of getting it by the caravan- route across Gaul. The question is, however, much reduced in importance by the fact that Pliny, who was himself Procurator of Spain in the next generation, went back to the old statement, that " opposite to Celtiberia ^ See Caesar. De Bell. Gall. iii. c. 20. Mariana, Hist. Hispan. iii. c. 18. Origins of English History. 19 are a number of islands, which the Greeks called Cassiterides, because of their abundance of tin."i It has been a common belief, ever since the revival of archaeology in the days of Camden, not only that the Scilly Isles were the Cassiterides of the Greek writers, but that they were discovered by the Carthaginians in very early times ; the authority being found in a geographical poem of the fourth century, written by Festus Avienus, a foolish writer, whose onlv merit lies in the fact that he has preserved a fragment of the voyage of Himilco, which had been engraved on a votive tablet in a Cartha- ginian temple many centuries before his time.^ ^ See Strabo. ii. 120, iii. 175. Pliny. Hist. Nat. iv. c. 22. " Mr. Kenrick adopted the view that the Cassiterides were the Scilly Isles. (Phoenicia. 217.) The following is his translation of the account given by Avienus : — " Beneath this promontory spreads the vast QEstrymnian gulf, in which rise out of the sea the islands CEstrymnides, scattered with wide intervals, rich in metal of tin and lead. The people are proud, clever, and active, and all engaged in incessant cares of commerce. They furrow the wide rough strait, and the ocean abounding in sea-monsters, with a new species of boat. For they know not how to frame keels with pine or maple, as others use, nor to construct their curved barks with fir j but, strange to tell, they always equip their vessels with skins joined together, and often traverse the salt sea in a hide of leather. It is two days' sail from hence to the Sacred Island, as the ancients called it, which spreads a wide space of turf in the midst of the waters, and is inhabited by the Hibernian people. Near to this again is *the broad island of Albion." The latter name represents the "insula Albionum " of the poet. Avienus was probably thinking of the British Isles j but it may be observed that there were " Albiones" in the region of the Artabri, according to the better reading of Phny, Hist. Nat. iv. c. iii. "A flumine Navia Albiones, Cibarci, &:c." See, on the whole subject. Die Kassiteriden und Albion. Rhein. Mus. Philol. N.F. 38 (1883), p. 157. Mr. Kenrick added, that in the Scilly Islands tin is not now worked ; and according to Borlase, the ancient workings were neither numerous nor deep. Borlase, Cornwall, 30 ; Lyson s Cornwall, 337. 20 Origms of English History. The subject of the Carthaginian voyages is extremely interesting, but it has little to do with the history of Britain. Himilco can be traced not to the Scilly Islands, or even to the Bay of Biscay, but to the neighbourhood of the Azores, and of the Sargasso Sea : and he appears to have returned by a route which passed Madeira and the Peak of Teneriffe. " In the flourishing times of Carthage " (no nearer date is known), Hanno and Himilco, two brothers belonging to the dominant clan of Mago, were despatched by the Senate to find new trading stations, and to found new colonies of the half-bred " Liby-Phoenician " population, from whose presence the State was always anxious to be freed. Each admiral was in command of a powerful fleet. Hanno was directed to go south from the Pillars of Hercules, and to skirt the African coast : Himilco was in like manner directed to keep to the coast of Spain. The records of both voyages were long preserved upon tablets in the temple of Moloch ; and Hanno's account is still extant in a Greek translation. Himilco's tablet is lost, though it seems to have been extant as late as the fourth century of the Christian era ; but its form is known from the " Periplus of Hanno," and its substance is, to some extent, preserved in the extracts of Avienus.^ By a comparison of these authorities we find that Himilco started from Gaddir and rounded the Sacred Cape, proceeding northwards, and founding factories and colonies, which afterwards became filled with a large Carthaginian population : that he reached the Cassiterides * The details of Hanno's voyage may be read in Cory's " Fragments of PhcEnician, Carthaginian, and other Authors," and in Miiller's " Geograph. Graeci." vol. i. Avery good version will also be found in the first volume of " Purchas's Pilgrims." Origins of English History. 21 or " (Estrymnic Islands," where he found a proud and active race of men, ready for all kinds of commerce, and accustomed to pass between the islands and to visit the mainland in canoes or coracles of wicker-work covered with hides : the later poets long gave them the formal epithets of "rich and magnanimous Iberians." From this point the fleet ventured into the open sea, and were driven to the south. Thick fogs hid the sun ;^ and the ships drove before the north wind. Afterwards they came to a warmer sea and were becalmed, where vast plains of sea- weed stretched for many days' journey, and the ships could hardly be pushed through the interlacing branches. There seemed to be no depth of water, as if the fleet was passing over submerged land; and they dreaded the neigh- bourhood of dangerous reefs. Shoals of large tunnies and other fish, as was afterwards noticed in the same place by Columbus, swam in and out between the ships, and "the sea-animals crept upon the tangled weed." With a little good fortune the admiral would have discovered America more than 2,000 years before the birth of Columbus, but "the magicians on board" were too powerful to allow the ^ Himilco's description of the fog as paraphrased by Avienus will be found in the Appendix. A more graceful version of the incident by M. Flaubert, in his well-known romance of ancient Carthage, seems to be worthy of quotation. He describes the courage of the pilots, who were bold enough to explore the recesses of the ocean without compass or astrolabe, and thus depicts a possible incident of the voyage : " lis continuaient dans I'Ouest durant quatre lunes sans rencontrer de rivages, mais la proue des navires s'embarrassait dans les herbes: des brouillards couleur de sang obscurcissaient le soleil, une brise touts chargee de parfums endormait les equipages : et ils ne pouvaient rien dire, tant que leur memoire etait troublee." Coleridge appears to have made great use of the same incidents in the "Ancient Mariner." 22 Origins of English History. prosecution of the adventurous voyage. They had arrived at the Sargasso Sea, which is said to be seven times as large as France. "At the point," says Humboldt, "where the Gulf-stream is deflected to the east by the banks of Newfoundland, it sends off an arm towards the south, not far from the Azores : this is the situation of the Sargasso Sea, or that great sea of weed or bank of fucus, which made so strong an impression on the imagination of Columbus, and which Oviedo calls sea-weed meadows : these evergreen masses of Fucus natans (one of the most widely-distributed of the social sea-plants), driven gently to-and-fro by mild and warm breezes, are the habitation of a countless number of small marine animals." The sailors of Gaddir used to describe "the deserted tract in the ocean four davs' sail to the south-west," which was full of seaweed and tangle, the home of shoals of tunny-fish of wonderful size and fatness.^ The Carthaginian fleet appears to have turned homewards from this point and to have touched at the Island of Madeira, which was described on their return in such glowing language that others undertook the voyage, until the Senate, being afraid of an exodus from Carthage, forbade all further visits to " the Fortunate Islands " on pain of death. Himilco seems also to have visited Teneriffe, the description of the volcano not being found in the Periplus of Hanno, though Pliny must have taken his picture of " Mount Atlas " from one or other of the Carthaginian voyagers, to whose authority he expressly refers. " The wonderful high crown of the mountain reached above the clouds to the neighbourhood of the circle of the moon, and appeared at ■* De Mirab. Auscult. 132. Origins of English History. 23 night to be all in flames, resounding far and wide with the noise of pip6s, trumpets, and cymbals."^ Enough has now been said of Himilco's voyage to show that it is most improbable, to say the least, that he visited the Cornish coast. We will therefore return, after this long but necessary digression, to our consideration of the voyage of Pytheas. Leaving the Cassiterides, the travellers came to " Nerium " or Finisterre, then occupied by Iberian tribes, but afterwards called the Celtic promontory. Little is known of this passage round the northern coast, but Strabo' has preserved the observation of Pytheas that the journey to the north of Spain would have been made much more easily overland than by the sea-voyage which they had undertaken. Coming to the neighbourhood of the Pyrenees, they made a passage of two days to " a deserted shore of the Ligurians," to take a phrase from the careless Avienus, and at any rate in a short time arrived at the mouth of the Loire, then the northern boundary of the Aquitanian population, and the limit of the Celtic advance. Some- where in this neighbourhood they appear to have come upon an island, where the natives worshipped the earth- goddesses with shrill music and noisy rites in honour of Ceres and Proserpina.^ In a bay near the mouth of the Loire they visited another island inhabited by women, who worshipped a barbarous god with bloody and orgiastic rites. This island was called Amnis or Samnis, and the ^ Pliny. Hist. Nat. i. introd. and ih'id. v. c. i. ^ Strabo. iii. 148. ^ The Greek traveller Artemidorus reported or confirmed the traveller's story of a worship being paid to Ceres and Proserpina "with a Samothracian ritual" in an island of the Britannic seas. Strabo. iv. 198. 24 Origins of English History. tribe to whom it belonged were called Amnites, the " noble Amnitae " of the poets. No man might land on their sacred island ; but the priestesses might cross to the mainland in their coracles as occasion required. A temple stood on the island, which was unroofed once a year, the custom requiring that the roof should be replaced in one day before the sun went down. Each woman had an allotted burden of materials and an appointed share of the task ; if any one of them let her burden fall, she was torn in pieces by her horrible companions : and it was said that the feast never passed without one at least of the priestesses being sacrificed in this fashion. Other wild rites were performed by night, and the appearance of the ivy- crowned women dancing in their tumultuous processions was compared to that of the Maenads on the hills of Thrace.^ ^ Dionys. Perieg. 570. Martin (Hist. France^ i. 6"^ considers all these rituals to have belonged to convents of Druidesses engaged in the service of Koridwen, the White Fairy or Moon-goddess, to whose cult the Celtic priestesses were said to be devoted. " Strabo prend Koridwen pour Kore, Proserpine." " Les nemedes (temples) des colleges ou monasteres de druidesses, dont ils (les ecrivains grecs ou latins) nous revelent I'existence sont situcs dans les iles les plus sauvages d'Armorique et de Bretagne. Dans une de ces iles sacrees, voisine de la cote britannique se celebrent, dit-on, des mysteres pareils a ceux de Samothrace et d'Eleusis, c'est-a-dire les mysteres de Koridwen. Un ilot situe en face de I'embouchure de la Loire est le theatre de mysteres plus redoutables encore. . . . Les pretresses qui I'habitent, et qui appartiennent a la nation armoricaine des Nannetes, sont marieesj mais leurs maris n'osent approcher de leur inviolable asilej ce sont elles qui vont les visiter de nuit sur le rivage a des epoques determi- nees. Le plus fameux de tons les colleges de druidesses est celui de File de Sein ou de Sena, pres de la cote des Corisospites, Cornouaille Francjaise. Sur un rocher presque inabordable jete dans la haute mer, en face du Raz de Plogoff, do ce vaste promontoire de granit oil le continent europeen vient mourir tristement dans un ocean sans homes, resident neuf pretresses vouees comma les Vestales de Rome a une perpetuelle virginite. Origins of English History. 25 Shortly after leaving the mouth of the Loire, the travellers skirted the shores of the Morbihan, and found themselves among the Celtic Islands. The mainland in the vicinity of Vannes, as far as the extremity of Cape Finisterre, was held by the " Ostimii," and tribes called *' Osismici," or " Osistamnii," words which are either corrupt and various readings of a manuscript, or the names of different clans living near each other. The cape itself was known to Pytheas as ''Calbion," or "Cabaion." Opposite to this promontory they found an island then known as "Axantos" or " Uxisama," and now called the Isle of Ushant, which they described as being "three days' sail," or 1500 stadia, from the headland.^ Here they landed, and On assure qu'elles guerissent les maladies qui echappent a la science des Ovates, qu'elles soulevent et apaisent par leurs chants les vents et les flots, qu'elles empruntent a volonte la figure de tous les animaux, qu'elles dominant sur la Nature entiere, et savent les secrets de I'avenir, mais ne les devoilent qu'aux seuls navigateurs embarques dans le but unique de consulter les oracles. Ces neuf vierges semblent dans la croyance populaire la plus grande puissance des Gaules." He adopts the best reading of Pomponius Mela, iii. 6, " Galli Senas vocant," instead of Galliccnas or Barrigenas, and interprets the root sen to denote awe and respect, " Le radical sen exprime la veneration et I'autorite." The whole subject is very uncertain, resting only on a faint report of what was said by Pytheas ; but it may be fairly supposed that if there were two islands north of the Loire, in which the Celtic rituals were practised, the one may be identified as Ushant (Uxisama), and the other as I'lle des Saints (Sein), not far from Brest. ^ The length of the stadium, after some disputes, is now fixed at 600 Greek feet, which is equal to the 600th part of a degree or the tenth part of a nautical mile (See Bunbury's Anc. Geog. i. 209). The calculation of distance mentioned in the text was erroneous, and led Eratosthenes to make a false estimate of the extension of Gaul and Britain to the west. Pytheas considered Brittany to be 300 miles further west than the Straits of Gibraltar, and to this was added " the headlands, including that of the Ostimii, called Cabaeum, and the adjoining islands, the last of which, called Uxisama, was 2,6 Origms of English History. found another temple, where nine virgin priestesses maintained a perpetual fire and attended to a famous oracle. These vestals professed to have magical powers, to be able to transform themselves into the shapes of animals, and to have fine weather and favouring winds on sale for travellers, with a curious similarity in their customs to the arts of the later Lapland witches/ Here, without knowing it, Pytheas was at his nearest point to the Cornish tin-country of which he was in search : and there is no hint of any trade then existing between the Bretons and the people of the opposite coast, such as Posidonius soon afterwards found existing between the insular Britons and the people of the neighbourhood of Vannes; so that it seems probable that the regular mode of communication was by coasting as far as the Straits of Dover, where the passage was less perilous than a voyage over the broad and stormy Channel. Pytheas himself at all events was unaware of his vicinity to Cornwall, for he sailed up the Channel as far as ''Caution," at the eastern extremity of the island." Pytheas remained for some time in Britain, the country to which, as he said, he paid more attention than to any other which he visited in the course of his travels ; and he claimed to have visited most of the accessible parts of the island and to have coasted along the whole length of distant (according to Pytheas) a three days' sail " (Strabo. i. 64). All these calculations were accordingly described as " inventions of Pytheas." •^ Mela. iii. c. 6. ^ " Cantion " is usually identified with the North Foreland, but it is not clear that the earlier writers did not give the name to Dover. Ccesar described the south-eastern angle of the island as being at Cantium, "where nearly all the ships from Gaul put in." De Bell. Gall. v. c. 13. This was probably the " emporium " used by the Veneti. Strabo. iv. 194. Origins of English History. 27 its eastern side.^ He appears to have taken a great number of astronomical notes and measurements, which became the foundation of the system of geography started by Eratosthenes, and improved by the celebrated Hipparchus. This was in time superseded by the Ptolemaic system, which enjoyed a long popularity, until it was over-set in its turn by the results of mediaeval discoveries. The measurements of distance by the Greek travellers appear to be all equally valueless. Their want of scientific instruments led them to adopt a rough calculation of the number of miles that a particular ship would go in an hour, allowing as best they might for wind and currents and other accidental sources of mistake. They employed indeed the more scientific methods of calculating the distance between particular points by the height of the sun at the winter solstice, the length of the longest day, the ratio of the gnomon to the solstitial shadow, and other similar processes, but the results were not of a valuable kind. Pytheas has left several of these calcula- tions with reference to different stations in Britain, but it does not seem to be worth while to examine them minutely. His system, and those of the great geographers who followed his methods, must be disregarded ; for w^e are assured with regard to the more precise learning of Ptolemy, that " the entire ignorance of the polarity of the ^ " Polybius," said Strabo, "told us in his Chorography, that it was not his intention to examine the writings of the ancient geographers, but the statements of their critics, such as Dicaearchus, Eratosthenes, and Pytheas, by whom many have been deceived. It is this last writer who states that he travelled all over Britain on foot^ and that the island is over 40,000 stadia in circumference." Strabo. ii. 104. It is clear that the word t\i^aC(jv, " on foot," was used by mistake for i\i^aTov, referring to the parts which were " accessible." 28 Origins of English History. magnetic needle and of the use of the compass rendered the most detailed itineraries of the Greeks and Romans extremely uncertain, for a want of knowledge of the direction or angle with the meridian." " The universal geography of Ptolemy has the merit of presenting to us the whole of the ancient world graphically in outlines, as well as numerically in positions assigned according to longitude, latitude, and length of day ; but often as he affirms the superiority of astronomical results over itinerary estimates by land and water, we are unfortunately without any means of distinguishing among these assigned positions the nature of the foundation on which each rests, or the relative probability which may be ascribed to them according to the itineraries then existing."^ For these reasons we need not dwell very much upon those exaggerated estimates of distance which led Pytheas to suppose that Britain was a continent of enormous size, " a miniature world," or a "new world," to use the phrases of those who relied upon his authority. As far as we can judge by the extracts in the works of Strabo and Diodorus, he more than doubled some of the proper measurements. He considered that the island of Britain was of a three-cornered shape, something like the head of a battle-axe, the southern side, lying obliquely near the coast of Gaul, being the shortest, on the assumption that the whole line from Caution to the westernmost promontory was about 750 miles in length ; the eastern side he estimated at double that length ; and the western side, which he had not visited in person, was thought to be about 2,000 miles long. The total circuit of Britain was therefore about 4,250 miles.^ In considering ^ Humb. Cosmos, ii. 190 (Sabine). ^ Pliny cites Pytheas as computing that Britain was distant from Origins of English History. 29 these measurements we must remember at the same tune that the whole habitable world was then believed to be very small. The world was thought to be twice as long as its own breadth : the total breadth, from the Spice Countries and Ceylon to the frozen shores of Scythia, being taken at about 3,000 miles ; the length, from Cape St. Vincent to the ocean east of India, at double that amount. These calculations were upset by the exaggerated measurements of Pytheas, which (if correctly reported) appear to have been inconsistent among themselves, as well as contradictorv of the ideas which were then most generally received. Pytheas had placed the south of Britain at a point about 1,000 miles north of Marseilles, and the northern point of the island at a distance of nearly 2,500 miles from that city, the distance from Cape Oreas in Scotland to Thule being estimated at a further distance of six days' and nights' sail to the northward. It is not surprising therefore that considerable confusion resulted from such new and revolutionary estimates, or that some of the later geographers should have inveighed against the traveller as a deceiver and detected impostor; but the impartial student will probably discover a motive for a more charitable estimate in the fact, that Strabo's own measurements are as wild in their own way as any which are ascribed to the older writer. We may now leave these barren calculations, and con- sider the few details of a more valuable kind which are all that remain of the description of Britain by Pytheas, He appears to have arrived in Kent in the early summer. Gessoriacum (Boulogne) about 50 Roman miles, and that the whole circuit of the island was 38,125 miles. Pliny. Hist. Nat. iv. c. 30. 30 Origins of English History. and to have remained in this country until after the harvest, returning for a second visit after his voyage to the north. He estimated the length of the day at Midsummer at 19 hours ; on the shortest day the sun "ascended not more than 3 cubits in the sky"; and in those parts of Gaul where the sun rose 4 cubits at the winter solstice, he calculated the length of the longest day at 18 hours; in the extreme north of the island the nights were so short in summer that there was hardly any dimi- nution of light between the sunset and the sunrise ; and further north still, in the neighbourhood of Thule, "if there are no clouds in the way, the splendour of the sun can be seen through the night, for he does not rise or set in the ordinary way, but moves along the horizon from west to east." In the southern districts he saw an abundance of w^heat in the fields, and observed the necessity of thrashing it out in covered barns, instead of using the unroofed floors to which he was accustomed in the sunny climate of Mar- seilles. "The natives," he said, "collect the sheaves in great barns and thrash out the corn there, because they have so little sunshine, that our open thrashing-places would be of little use in that land of clouds and rain." He added, that they made a drink "by mixing wheat and honey," which is still known as " metheglin " in some of our countrv districts ; and he is probably the first authority for the description of the British beer, which the Greek physicians knew by a Welsh name, and against which they warned their patients as a " drink producing pain in the head and injury to the nerves." This last detail, how- ever, may come from Posidonius, w4io visited the island in a later generation, and who was perhaps the author of a Oi'igins of English History. 31 description of harvest in another part of Britain, '' where the people have mean habitations constructed for the most part of rushes or sticks, and their harvest consists in cutting off the ears of corn and storing them in pits under-ground: they take out each day the corn which has been longest stored, and dress the ears for food."^ To understand this description one should compare with it a passage from Martin's "Description of the Western Islands of Scotland," which was published in 1703 : — "A woman," he said, " sitting down, takes a handful of corn, holding it by the stalks in her left hand, and then sets fire to the ears, which are presently in a flame. She has a stick in her right hand, which she manages very dexterously, beating off the grains at the very instant when the husk is quite burnt ; for if she miss of that, she must use the kiln ; but experience has taught them the art to perfection. The corn may be so dressed, winnowed, ground, and baked, within an hour after reaping from the ground." We learn from a confused passage of Strabo, that Pytheas described the different forms of agriculture and modes of living in several parts of the country: "for the celestial signs and scientific survey he seems to have made ample use of the phenomena of the Arctic zone, as that there are cultivated fruits, a great abundance of some domestic animals and a scarcity of others ; that the inhabitants feed on millet and other ^ Diod. V. 21. Posidonius appears to have visited the eastern parts of ^Britain, as well as the Cornish mining-districts. His description of the Thames and the reflux of the tidal stream, " four days' journey from the sea," appears in Priscianus Lydus. Solutionesad Chosroem (Bywater) 72. 'The description is used by Mela, without quoting the traveller's name. Mela. iii. c. 6. Jornandes cites the same passage, with a reference to a lost account of Britain in the Annals of Tacitus. Jornand. De Reb. Getic. c. 2. Origins of English History vegetables, and on fruit and the roots of plants ; that they have wheat and honey, of which they make a beverage," with the other details already quoted as applicable to the southern districts.^ Pvtheas appears to have known the eastern coasts from the Shetland Islands to the North Foreland, but not to have visited Ireland or even the western regions of Britain ; and the ancient critics argued against his accuracy from the fact that he described a great number of small islands lying north of Scotland, but did not say anything about Ireland. This place must in their view have come under his notice, if he had been in those regions at all ; for Ireland, as they thought, was an Arctic island, lying due north of Britain, "where the savages find living very difficult on account of the cold." It has been supposed that he may have visited the west of Britain, on account of the very early reports which reached the Greeks of an immense round temple in Britain, that was dedicated to the worship of the sun. Some of the Greek travellers who followed him may have seen Stone- henge, but the evidence is as^ainst the theorv that Pvtheas was ever in those parts. Doubtless he learned something about the tin-trade, the chief object of his visit to the island ; and he was probably the originator of that commerce in the metal which was established after his time on the route between Marseilles and the Straits of Dover. Manv of the ancient British coins, of which specimens exist which are believed to be earlier than the second centurv B.C., are modelled on Greek money of the age of Philip of Macedon ; but it is thought that these were copied ^ Strabo. iv, 201. Origins of English History. 33 from Gaulish patterns, and that the Britons did not coin for themselves earlier than 200 years before Christ.^ From the best modern accounts of the regions where tin might have been produced at that time, we may take them as being subdivided into the district of Dartmoor and the country round Tavistock, at one time a very fertile source of stream-tin : the parts round St. Austell, including several valleys opening to the southern coast of Cornwall: the St. Agnes district, on the northern coast (where, however, the tin lies too deep for us to attribute a knowledge of it to the primitive inhabitants): and the rich country between Cape Cornwall and St. Ives, to which the same remark seems to apply. " From the search," says Sir Henrv De la Beche, "which has during so many centuries been made for stream-tin in Cornwall and Devon, it is difficult to obtain sections of unmoved ground. Hence we can form a very inadequate idea of the great accumulations which must have been first worked, and consequently of the tin-stone pebbles swept into the bottoms of valleys or into basin-shaped depressions by the body of water which appears to have passed over this land. Traces of stream-works (pits and 'burrows') are to be seen from Dartmoor to the Land's End, often in depressions on the higher grounds ; as, for example, on the former elevated region, whence tin-pebbles have long ceased to be obtained, being the w^orks of the 'old men,' as the ancient miners are universallv termed in Devon and Cornwall."^ This evidence may help us to explain the meaning of ^ Evans, Coins of the Ancient Britons, 26. Rhys, Celtic Britain, 19. Some of the coins, however, are said to have the appearance of being '■'centuries older than Csesar's first expedition." Monumenta Historica Britannica. introd. 151. ^ Geology of Cornwall, 401. 3 34 Origins of English History. Timaeus, the contemporary of Pytheas, when he mentioned "an island called ' Mictis ' (or 'Ictis'), at a distance of six days' sail from Britain, ' in an inward direction,' from which the tin comes : to which island the natives make vova^es ' in their canoes of wickerwork sewn round with hides.' " ^ Whatever the meaning may be of the phrase "in an inward direction," and from whatever point these natives may be supposed to have commenced their six davs' voyage, the important fact remains that the tin was dug up in West Devon and Cornwall, and was stored at some place, which was supposed to have lain at sLx davs' voyage from the mineral district; and it seems reasonable to identify it with the Isle of Thanet, at which the marts were established, from which the merchants made the shortest passage to Gaul. The passage in this view must be taken to mean, that the native boats took a week to pass between the tin districts and the parts visited by Pvtheas." The mineral region was described bv Posidonius, whose travels have already been mentioned ; he drew a lively picture of the inhabitants and the nature of their commerce, which is preserved in the collections of Diodorus. The account of his visit to Cornwall, which he called " Belerium," a name afterwards appropriated ^ " Timseus Historicus a Britannia introrsus sex dierum navigatione abesse dicit insulam Mictim, in qua candidum plumbum proveniat ; ad eam Britannos vitilibus navigiis corio circumsutis navigare." Pliny. Hist. Xat. iv. c. ,30. Professor Rhys considers it to be clear that this is a mere clerical error for "Ictis." Celtic Britain. 299. ^ Pliny believed it to be a fable of the Greeks, that the tin -was fetched from " islands in the Atlantic," and carried there in the "wicker-boats sewn round with hides," Hist. Nat. xxxiv. c. t6: though such boats were still in use among the Britons in his day. Hid. vii. c 57. Ceesar. De Bell. Civ. i. c- 54- Origins of English History. 35 by Ptolemy to the particular cliff now called Land's End, is to the following effect: — "The inhabitants of that promontory of Britain which is called Belerium are very fond of strangers, and from their intercourse with foreign merchants are civilized in their manner of life. They prepare the tin, working very skilfully the earth in which it is produced. The ground is rocky, but it contains earthy veins, the produce of which is ground down, smelted, and purified. They make the metal up into slabs shaped like knuckle-bones, and carry it to a certain island lying in front of Britain called Ictis. During the ebb of the tide the intervening space is left dry, and to this place they carry over abundance of tin in their waggons. And a very singular thing happens with regard to the islands in these parts lying between Europe and Britain ; for at the flood the intervening passage is overflowed, and they seem like islands ; but a large space is left dry at the ebb, and then they seem to be peninsulas. Here, then, the merchants buy the tin from the natives, and carry it over to Gaul ; and after travelling overland for about thirty days, they finally bring their loads on pack-horses to the outlet of the Rhone." ^ He appears to refer in his last sentence to the junction of the Rhone and Saone, where the wharves for the tin-barges were erected. ^ Diod. V. c. 22. It will be noticed that the island is described in such a way as to suggest that it was one of several lying between Britain and Germany^ which were only separated from the mainland at high tide. The passage in Mela, as to the islands " contra Germaniam vectce,'' is important in this connection. Mela. iii. c. 6. Other names which may be connected with Ictis are those of Vectis or the Isle of Wight, those of the Itian port and promontory, the old Irish name of " Muir-n-Icht " for the English Channel, and " Osericta," a German island, where amber was produced, according to the account of Mithridates. l^liny. Hist. Nat. xxxvii. c. 2. 36 Origins of EnglisJi History. The port whence most of the traffic went to Gaul must have been at the narrow part of the Channel, as it was in the time of C^sar. It will be remembered that he made his passage from the Portus Itius, supposed to be the village of Wissant, and that this w^as not far from Cape Grisnez, which, according to Ptolemy, was known as the " Ician " or " Itian " Promontory. The island forming a peninsula at low water, where the stores of tin were collected, may easily have been the Isle of Thanet, which has only been joined to the mainland in modern times. Bede tells us, that in the 7th century there was a ferry over the estuary between Thanet and Kent, which w^as nearly half a mile across at high tide, and the broad stream with ferry boats and people fording the passage at low water is depicted on certain ancient maps which belonged to Saint Augustine's Abbey at Canterbury. The estuary, now represented by the slender stream of the Wantsume River, was not completely silted up at any point until the reign of Henry VIII., when a chronicler cited the testimony of eight men then living, who had seen barges and merchant vessels sail at high tide along the whole channel from Richborough to Reculver.^ There would probably have been no doubt about the identity of the island of " Ictis " with the island lying so nearly opposite to the " Itian Port," if it w^ere not for the silting up of those channels, which in ancient times had made the Kentish islands along the southern bank of the estuary of the Thames to seem like peninsulas at the ebb, while they were true islands at the flood. But as the peculiar circumstances of the case became forgotten, it • ^ Twine, " De Reb. Albion." i. 2^. The old map of Thanet in the Appendix was first published by Dugdale in the " Monasticon." Origins of English History. yj became usual to look for " Ictis " in another direction • and it is now very frequently supposed to be identical with St. Michael's Mount in Mount's Bay, the only place on the southern coast which, in the present dav corresponds to the details of the original description. But it should be remembered, that from the existence of the submarine forest in Mount's Bay, and the Cornish tradition that in ancient times the neck between the mount and the mainland was never reached by the tide, it is very possible that in the age of Pytheas the present island or peninsula would not have corresponded with the description of the island of Ictis. And this theory is borne out by an old Cornish name for the Mount, which Leland and Carew have preserved, and which they interpret as meaning " the Hoar Rock in the Wood."^ Here we may leave the subject of the visit of Pytheas to South Britain, and will pass in the next chapter to what is known of his travels in Germany and the Baltic, and of his celebrated journey into the Arctic Circle. ^ Carew, Survey of Cornwall, 154. For the arguments in favour of the identity of Ictis and St. Michael's Mount, see Kenrick, Phoenicia, 220 ; Hawkins, Tin Trade of the Ancients j Smith's " Cassiterides," and De la Beche, Geology of Cornwall, 524. Professor Rhys considers that "the people of the south-west conveyed their tin eastwards to some point on the coast, to be there sold to foreign merchants," that place being perhaps the Isle of Thanet. " This view," he says, " would explain Caesar's singular statement, that British tin came from the inland parts of the country; but the question of the transit is too difficult for us to settle." He does not think that the Veneti of Caesar's time traded directly with Devon and Cornwall: " if there were any direct trade in tin between the tin-districts of Britain and the Loire, it must have been utterly unknown to Caesar, which is not likely to have been the case, had it existed." Celtic Britain, 46, 47, 207, 299. 38 Origins of English History. CHAPTER II. Visit of Pytheas to Germany and the Baltic. — Criticism by Strabo. — Summary of route. — Pliny's northern geography. — Description of Germany by Tacitus. — The Gothones and Suiones. — The Northern Ocean . — The yEstyi of the Amber Coast. — Obligations of Tacitus to Greek writers. — Route of Pytheas. — Passage to Celtica. — The Ostians or Ostiones — Their mode of living. — The Cimbri. — TheChauci. — North Germany. — The Hercynian Forest. — Its Fauna in the time of Pytheas. — The reindeer.— The elk. — The urus. — The aurochs. — The country of the Cimbri. — The Guttones. — The Amber Islands. — Extent of commerce in amber — Voyage to Thule. — Discoveries in the Arctic Circle. — Return to Britain. — Passage to Marseilles. — Character of Pytheas. THE visit of Pytheas to Germany must always be interesting to those who regard the North Sea coasts as the true fatherland of the English people. It is besides of great historical importance, as being the source of all Greek knowledge of the countries beyond the Rhine, with the single exception of the travels of Posidonius, of which some fragments relating to Germany are extant. Even late in the first century after Christ the Romans were forced to rely mainly on the old geographers for information about the regions east of the Elbe, or, in other words, upon the works of Pytheas and his commentators. Strabo indeed denied boldly that any Greek had pene- trated east of the Elbe, and gave the reason for his belief. If they had sailed there, he said, the ships must have come out near the mouth of the " Caspian Sea," which certainly had never happened. He concluded, therefore, that nothing was actually known of those parts of the world, and pro- fessed a complete ignorance of the nations who inhabited those northern lands, if, indeed, any people could inhabit a region of such terrible cold. The general notions of Pvtheas about the countries Origins of English History. 39 beyond the Rhine may be briefly summarized as follows, the details of his diary being reserved for closer examination after a notice of certain general statements in the works of Pliny and Tacitus. A Celtic country, called "Germara,"^ or by some such name, stretched east from the Rhine to Scythia, and north- wards from the " Orcvnian forest " to the sea. The coast as far as the Elbe was occupied by the "Ostions," or "Ostiaei": next to them the Cimbri filled their famous Chersonesus: south and east of them dwelt their allies the Teutones. The Cimbric peninsula ran up to the mouth of an immense estuary or gulf, called " Mentonomon," of which the southern shores were occupied by tribes called ''Gothones" or " Guttones," as far as the Vistula, which seemed as if it were a branch of the great River Tanais, dividing Asia and Europe, while another river seemed to be not unlike the " Borysthenes." There were several islands near the "Scythian shore," and further out in the gulf, and also beyond its mouth, an immense archipelago stretched from "Scania" to Cape Rubeae, the northern point of the world. By passing northwards from island to island a traveller would come to Thule, which might itself be an island, or might be part of the unknown Scythian continent. In the neighbourhood of Thule was the Dead or Sluggish Sea, and further still to the north a frozen or encrusted ocean. ^ The word " Germara " was applied to " a tribe in Celtica, who could not see in the day-time," by Eudoxus of Cnidos, who lived about the time of Pytheas. See De Mirab. Auscult. 24, and Stephan. Byzant. suh voce "Germara." Pytheas made a river called the 'Tanais' the limit of his northern discoveries, but he seems to have known that it was not really the same as the Don. His journey was, however, frequently described as having extended "from Gades to the Tanais." See Strabo, ii. 104. Lelewel considered that the ' Tanais ' of Pytheas was the Elbe. 40 Origins of English History. If we compare this sketch with Pliny's account of the Baltic, or with the more elaborate account of Germany by Tacitus, we shall find that a good deal of knowledge on the subject had been acquired in the first century of our era, which cannot fairly be said to have been borrowed from Pvtheas. Pliny seems to have been acquainted with the great range of mountains which separates Sweden from Norway. " Mount Sevo " (the classical name for the mountains in question), and the promontory of Jutland formed in his notion the horns which encircled a gigantic gulf, the " Sinus Codanus," in which were scattered the Scandinavian islands.^ " Scandia," he said, " is the most famous of these: one part of it alone contains five hundred settlements, and it seems like another world: then there is 'Eningia,'^ which is said to be about as large. People say, that from this point round to the Vistula the whole country is inhabited by Sarmatians and Wends : that there is a bay- called Cylipenus, with an island at its mouth. Going west, one comes to the Bay of Lagnum, quite close to the Cimbric peninsula: the promontory in which the peninsula ends is called Cartris ; it runs a long: wav into the sea, and is nearly cut off by the waters.'^ On the other side of the promontory the islands begin, of which twenty-three have been reached in the Roman wars, the best known being ' Pliny, Hist. Nat. iv. c. 37. ^ " Eningia " is taken by Bessell (PytheaSj 132), to be Zealand. It is called " Epigia " by the Irish monk Dicuil. It is identified with Finland by Olaus Magnus, Hist. Septent. i. 2 3 and this seems to be most in accord- ance with Pliny's description. The map of the northern countries in the Appendix is taken from an early edition of Olaus Magnus. ^ The Liim Fjord. The Bay of Cylipenus may be the Frische Haf at Dantzig. Origins of English History. 41 ' Burchana,'^ which the soldiers called the Isle of Beans, from a vegetable which they found growing wild : another is Glessaria, or Amber Island, which the natives called Austrania f but the later Greeks have called all the islands from Jutland to the Rhine ' Electrides,' or Amber Islands ; and some say that there are others called Scandia, Dumni, and Bergi, and Nerigo, the largest of all, from which the voyage to Thule is made." The description of the same countries by Tacitus is not so accurate in its details, but is perhaps more interesting. His account of northern Germany is interspersed with several anecdotes of travellers and fragments of old Greek tradition. It is remarkable indeed that, though he was an intimate friend of the vouno^er Plinv, Tacitus does not seem to have drawn upon the stores of information about Germany, which Pliny the Elder had collected for a history of the German wars : and it is extremely doubtful whether the great naturalist would have agreed with the details of the account which Tacitus received or compiled *' concerning the origin and manners of the whole German nation." He includes in Germany all the countries lying north of the Danube and west of the line of the Vistula, as far as the Arctic Regions : taking in Bohemia, Silesia, Poland, Pomerania, and a vast number of Slavonian districts besides, over an area about three times as large as that which is now allowed to the Teutonic stock. The case, indeed, is very much as if one should take the modern German Empire, adding Poland and Bohemia and several neighbouring countries, and were then to proceed ^ The small portion which the sea has not swept away is called the Isle of Borkum. ^ The island of Ameland, off the coast of West Friesland. 42 Origins of English History. to describe the whole population as having exactly the same laws, customs, and physical appearance. Tacitus wrote in much the same way of his "Germania," with its heterogeneous crowd of nations. c. 1. "The German nations," he said, "are divided from Gaul and the Alpine and Illyrian provinces by the Rhine and the Danube, and from the Sarmatian and Dacian tribes either by ranges of mountains or mutual fears of war. Their own boundarv is the encircling ocean, which sweeps through broad gulfs and around islands of immense extent."^ c. 4. "For myself I agree with those who hold that the peoples of Germany were never crossed with another race in marriage, and that they belong to no one but themselves, and are a pure stock unlike any other in the world. This is the reason that in such a vast multitude of men all have the same bodily character, fierce blue eyes and red hair, and stout bodies, good only for a charge : in fatigue and hard work they have not a corresponding endurance, and they are but little able to bear thirst or heat, though accustomed to cold and hunger by their climate or the nature of the soil." c. 44. " Beyond the Lygians are the Gothones, who are ruled by kings a little more strictly than the other German nations, but yet not more than is consistent with freedom. Then, close on the ocean, we come to the Rugians and Lemovians. And all these nations may be known by their ^ The key to the confused geography of the " Germania," as regards Northern Germany, ^\'ill be found in a comparison of the passages in which he mentions the " Oceanus," or ocean-current, as distinguished from the seas which were crossed or divided by its stream. The Islands of the Suiones, or the Danish Isles and Southern Scandinavia, are described as being actually encircled by "Oceanus." Origins of English History. 43 round shields and short swords, and their loyalty towards their kings. At this point, in the actual stream of the ocean, are the states of the Suiones, whose strength lies in ships as well as in arms and men. Their ships are of an unusual build, being double-prowed, and so always able to run to shore. They are not worked by sails, and have no banks of oars fixed to their sides ; but the oars are loose, as in some river-boats, and can be changed about from one side to the other, as occasion requires. They have a great respect for riches, and are therefore under the sway of a single king, to whose rule in this case there are no exceptions of liberty, and whose power rests not on any consent of theirs." c. 45. " To the north of the Suiones is another sea, sluggish and nigh unrippled, which men believe to be the girdle and frontier of the world, because there the brightness of the setting sun lasts until his rising, so as to pale the starlight : and they are further persuaded that strange sounds are heard by night, and that forms of divine beings and a head crowned with rays are seen. At this point, it is said with truth, the world comes to an end. Here, therefore, on the right-hand shore of the Suevic Sea, we find the ^styans dwelling by the waves. ^ Their religion and dress are Suevic, their language rather like the British. They worship the Mother of the Gods, and wear the images of wild boars as the symbol of their belief. This serves instead of weapons or any other defence, and ^ The right-hand shore would according to the usual rule be the eastern end of the sea in question : but in this instance it must be renieniljered that the reader is supposed to have come to the M'orld's end, and then to turn back toward the inhabited lands. The iEstyi in this view would bo the ancestors of the English, living near the mouth of the Elbe, along the coast of Schleswig-Holstein. 44 Origins of English History. gives safety to the servant of the goddess even in the midst of the foe. Thev rarelv use iron, but mostlv have wooden clubs. They cultivate corn and other fruits of the earth with more patience than usually belongs to the idle Germans. Nav, thev even search the recesses of the sea, and are the only people who pick up the amber (which thev call glesum) in the shallows and along the shore. But, like true savages, they have never inquired or found out what it is, or how produced. And for a very long time it used to lie unnoticed among the other scum cast up by the sea, until our luxury gave it a name among them. Among themselves it is of no use : it is gathered in rough pieces and carried across Europe in shapeless lumps, until at last they receive a price which amazes them. One may suppose, however, that it is the resin of some tree, because in so many pieces are glittering forms of creeping and even winged things, which must be caught when the gum is liquid, and afterwards shut in as the mass becomes solid." Plinv's account is verv similar. He considered that the ^^ glesitm^' was a resin, produced in Germany. He says that it was picked up on the shore of " Glessaria," which the natives called " Austrania," and was carried thence for a distance of 600 miles to Carnuntum in Pannonia (not far from the modern city of Vienna).^ These calculations enable us to fix the site of the "^styi " of Tacitus, who have been so strangelv transferred, on the strength of a similarity of names, to the furthest recesses of the distant Gulf of Riga."^ ^ Pliny, xxxvii. c. 2.3. Carnuntum was the frontier-town of the Empire. Its site is said to be at Petronell, near Vienna. ^ The " Easte," or Esthonians, sent an embassy to Theodoric the Ostro-goth, thus described by Gibbon, who was amused at the idea of Origins of English History. 45 We may omit for the present his description of the population between the Rhine and the Elbe. It will be sufficient for our present purpose to deal with the account of the Baltic tribes, starting from the Vistula and passing westwards along the shore. In his picture of the "vast gulf," and of the nations which fringed its southern coast, Tacitus certainly seems to have copied passages from the older Greeks. It has even been suggested that the whole account of "Suevia," or, at least, of the northern portions, including the countries of the ^styi and the Anglii, with which Englishmen are most concerned, was taken direct from the " Geographica " of Eratosthenes, which, as far as the north is concerned, was founded on the observations of Pytheas : and much might be said in favour of the opinion ; but the fact must remain doubtful for want of explicit evidence. We will now examine somewhat more closelv the fragments of the diary of Pytheas which relate to the people of those coasts. From some place near " Caution," probably the port near the mouth of the Thames or about the neighbourhood of Sandwich, to which the Gallic mer- chants resorted from the "Itian Port" Pvtheas crossed Cassiodorus quoting Tacitus to the rude natives of the Baltic : — " From the shores of the Baltic the 'iEstians,' or Livonians, laid their offerings of native amber at the feet of a prince whose fame had excited them to undertake an unknown and dangerous journey of 1,500 miles " (Decl. and Fall, c. 39). The learned niinister of Theodoric returned a most friendly letter, inviting the " dwellers by the ocean " to keep up their acquaintance with the Court of Ravenna, and giving them an account of the amber "from the writings of one Cornelius," with suggestions for a renewal of the traffic. (Cassiodorus, Varia. v. 2.) The historian has not observed that the wild Esthonians would be far outside any possible boundaries of the " Germania " of Tacitus. ^6 Origins of English History. over to " Celtica." to a point near the mouth of the Rhine which cannot now be identified. The changes \vhich have taken place in the courses of the Rhine and ^laas have completelv idtered the general conformation of the coast of the Netherlands. According to the diarv, the passage took two davs and a half : and the statement was probably accurate. Strabo scofted at it. on the ground that, accord- ino- to his ^^eoj^raphv. the mouth of the Rhine and the eastern point of Kent were within sight of each other. It will be remembered that the distinction between Gaul and Germanv was at that time unknown: the whole country between Brittanv and Jutland was treated as part of " Celtica" : and " the Gauls " were in like manner thought to include all the races "who lived along the shores of the Ocean as far to the east as Scythia."'^ The people who then occupied the coast about the mouth of the Elbe were called " Ostiones " bv Pvtheas. or "Ostitei"" according to the reading adopted bv his follower Timceus. Another name for the same people, or perhaps for a neighbouring tribe, is found in the following passage from Stephanus of Bvzantium : — " The Ostiones. a nation on the coast of the western ocean, whom Artemidonis called Cossini, and Pvtheas called OstiL^i." The name of this nation appears in that of the Estian Alarsh.- and ^ Diod. Sic. V. 25. Prof. Kawlinson, "Ethnology of the Cimbri," Proc. Anthrop. Inst. vi. 151 (1S76), points out, that the later writers divided Germany from Gaul by a sharp line at the course of the Rhine, and coimted all the tribes east of the river as Germans, using tlie temi in a creographical rather tlian an etlmological sense. ^ See the account of "Estia Palus" in Mela. iii. c. 2. "Mare quod oremio littoriun accipitur nusquam late patet, nee usquam man simile, vervun aquis passim interfluentibus ac scepe transgressis vagmn atque diftusum facie amnium spargitur.' Origins of English History. 47 probably in that of the " ^styi " of Tacitus. Dr. Latham, however, considered the last-named tribes to have been the occupants of the present coast of Prussia and Cour- land : the reference to the amber trade, in his opinion, "fixes the locality as definitely as Etna would fix Sicilv, or Vesuvius Campania," But it will be presentlv shown that the true story of the amber trade fixes this people in a locality different from either Prussia or Courland ; and that they must be transferred to the fens and islands near the mouth of the Elbe, of which mention has already been made. There is not very much known about the habits of these ''Ostians." They occupied the territories of the Frisians and Chauci, and of the other tribes who afterwards took part in the settlement of England ; so that we may regard them as having probably been among our ancestors. Their language seems to have been an old form of German, as far as we can judge from the few words which remain. The name of the people is believed to mean "the East-men," and there seems to be suflScient reason for attributino; the word " Thule " to their idiom: the celebrated name is said to have Gothic affinities (signifving an "end" or "extremity"), so that we should not attribute it to the Cimbri who guided travellers on the northward journev, though some of the local names mentioned in the vovage to Thule appear to be of Cimbric origin, and to have formed part of a vocabulary akin to the Welsh. Our traveller, and the writers of the succeeding age who borrowed his picturesque descriptions, gave a pitiable account of the life among the Ostians and the Cimbri. Their time seems to have been consumed in a perpetual struggle with the sea, which they had not yet 48 Origins of English History. learned to confine with dykes and embankments. With a high tide and an inshore wind their homes and Hves were always in danger of destruction, A mounted horseman could barely escape bv galloping from the rush and force of the tide. The angrv Cimbri, it is said, would take their weapons and threaten the gods of the sea : they lost more men in a year by water than by all their wars. Others said that "the Celts practised, fearlessness in letting their homes be overwhelmed in the flood, and building them on the same spots as soon as the waves retired"; and " the Celts, who did not fear earthquake or flood," passed into a proverb as early as the time of Aristotle.^ It is now, of course, well known that the sea has from ancient times been attacking and encroaching upon all the shores between Friesland and Ditmarsh ; on one occasion in historical times the devouring force of the German Ocean is said to have drowned all Friesland and destroyed a hundred thousand men. Most of the great inundations of the North Sea have broken into the area of Friesland." Yet Strabo could not believe the fact. Accustomed to a soft and gradual motion of the tide in an inland sea, he thought that the violence of the Northern Ocean must be a fiction. " The regular action of the tides and the limits of the foreshore which thev covered must have been too well known to allow of such absurdities. How can it possibly be believed (he wrote) that, where ^ Ethic, iii. 7 \ Eudem. Ethic, iii. i 5 yElian, Var. xii. 23. For the passages from Pytheas, Ephorus, and Clitarchus, see Strabo, vii. 293. As to the miserable condition of the Cimbri and Teutones in Ditmarsh and its neighbourhood, see Mela, iii. c. 2. '^ The most important floods in this quarter of Europe are described in Turner's "Anglo-Saxons," ch. i. Lelewel, in his Essay on Pytheas, mentions those of a.d. 1200, 1218, 1221, 1277, 1287, and 1362, Origins of English History. 49 the tide flows in twice a dav, the natives should not at once have perceived that the thing was natural and harmless ; they would see that it was not peculiar to themselves, but common to all who live by the shores of the ocean." And he put down the story as another proof of the falsehood of the pretended discoverer of Thule/ The account of the Chauci aff"ords the best confirmation of the accuracy of Pytheas. " Twice a day in that country the tide rolls in and covers the land. The miserable natives get upon hillocks or on artificial banks which they have made after finding out how high the water will go. In their huts upon these banks they look like sailors aboard ship w^hen the tide is in, and like shipwrecked men at the ebb ; and they hunt the fish round their hovels as they try to escape with the tide. They have no cattle, and so they cannot live on milk like their neighbours, nor can they even fight with wild beasts when every stick is carried out to sea. They weave fishing-nets out of sea- tangle and rushes ; and they pick up handfuls of mud, which they dry in the wind, — for they have not much sunshine, and so they make a fire to scorch their food, and their bodies too all stiffened by the cold of the north." ^ This picturesque description of the German fen-levels before the erection of their dykes and embankments accords with the physical circumstances of the case and with the fragmentary traditions which are preserved in the criticisms of Strabo. ^ Strabo, vii. 293. He describes "the Sigambri, and Chaubi, and Bructeri, and Cimbri, the Cauci, and Caulci, and Campsiani," and many- other coast tribes, whose shifting nomenclature it is now hardly worth while to investigate. ^ Pliny, Hist. Nat. xvi. c. i. 4 50 Origins of English History. It is difficult to understand how Tacitus, who must have been famiUar with the learning accessible to Pliny, could have drawn the imaginative picture in which he presents the same Chauci as the noblest nation in Germany. " They are neither greedy nor feeble ; but, staying in their quiet homes, they challenge no wars and fear no invading plunderers. And it is the best proof of their courage and streniith that thev do not insult others to show their superior force. Yet every man's sword is ready, and on occasion they raise an army with a mighty force of men and horses ; but in time of peace their glory is none the less. Other writers have given very dismal accounts of the German mode of life. Some said that the people were so rough and savage that they would pick the meat off any old skin of an ox or animal killed in the chase ; others thought that they were cannibals : " those who live in the north are the most barbarous, and it is said that some of them eat men."^ It must be remembered, however, that the last charge is quite unproved, though it was commonly brought against all the tribes which for the time being were beyond the limits of civilization. The Greek horror of uncooked food was often distorted into an accusation of cannibalism against the northern barbarians. The Brahmins of the Rig-Veda brought charges of the same kind against the " goat-nosed" Turanians, who worshipped *' mad gods," and kept up no sacred fires : "they eat raw meat, and will even devour men,"^ We must now return to the journey of Pytheas. It ^ Tac. Germ. c. '>)^. ^ Diod. V. c. 32 ; Strabo, iv. 200. Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi. c. 20; vii. c. 2. ^ Miiller, Chips from a German Workshop, ii. 328. Origins of English History. 51 was probably during his visit to the Ostians that he first heard anything of the Hercynian Forest. His account was adopted at once by the Aristotelian school of physicists, and was afterwards embodied bv Eratosthenes in a geographical work, from which it was long afterwards extracted by Julius Cassar. The fragment of the traveller's diary formed the material for several chapters of the ''Commentaries." They form a valuable record of the knowledge which the Greeks had attained of those remote tribes of Celts who "lived on the shores of the ocean, and were bordered bv the mountains of the Orcvnian range. "^ "The Hercynian Forest," in Gibbon's words, "over- shadowed a great part of Germany and Poland." It stretched from the sources of the Rhine and Danube to regions far beyond the Vistula. Its relics remain in the Black Forest, the forests of the Hartz, and the woods of Westphalia and Nassau. Only one portion remains in its primeval state : the Imperial Forest of Bialowicza^ covers 350 square miles of marsh and jungle in Lithuania, and is reserved by a benevolent despotism as the home of the aurochs and the elk. In the davs of Pvtheas the natural forest stretched eastwards from the Rhine "for more than two months' journey for a man making the best of his way on foot."^ •^ The quotation is from Diodorus, v. c. 32. The original spelling of the name was " Arcynia," or "Orcynia." For old descriptions of the forest, see Strabo, vii. 291, and Hermolaus Barbaras, cited by Olaus Magnus. Hist. Septent., xviii. i. 35. In Cluver's Germania Antic^uaj iii. c. 47, will be found an interesting account of " the small and scattered remains of the Hercynian Wood." ^ See Gibbon's "Decline and Fall/' c. 9, and Baron De Brincken's '■' Memoire Descriptif sur la Foret Imperiale deBialowicza " (Warsaw, 1826). ^ Caesar, De Bell. Gall. vi. 26. Tacitus mentions the forest as the home ^2 Origins of English History. He does not appear to have visited the forest in person. He collected the native reports of its vast extent, and of the habits of the strange animals which were found there ; and these will now be cited at length from the transcripts which we find in the " Commentaries." Caesar first refers to certain fertile districts which were scattered about the forest, and then proceeds to describe the forest itself under the name of the Hercynian Wood, "which I find," he says, "to have been well known to Eratosthenes, and to certain other Greeks, under the name of Orcynia."^ " Of this Hercynian Wood the breadth is about nine davs' journey for a quick traveller ; for the boundaries can- not be ijiven in anv other wav, nor did thev (i.e. the Greek travellers) know how to measure these days journeys. It appears that there are many kinds of wild beasts there which are not seen elsewhere : the following differ most from the common kinds, and seem to be most worthy of mention here." I. The Reindeer. — "There is a beast shaped like a stag, with a horn projecting from the middle of its fore- head ; it is longer and straighter than anv ordinary horn, palmated at the top, and branching into several tynes. The male and female are like each other, and their horns are of the same size and shape." There is, perhaps, some confusion here between the of the chivalrous Chatti, the ancestors of the modern Hessians. In one of his boldest metaphors the nation is described as " stretching as far as the hills extend, and dwindling by degrees ; and the Forest follows her children until she leaves them on the plain." " Durant siquidem coUes paullatimque rarescunt : et Chattos suos saltus Hercynius prosequitur simul atque deponit " (Tac. Germ. c. 30). 1 Caesar, Dc Bell. Gall. vi. 26, 27. . Origins of English History. 53 branching horns of the deer and the long spiral tooth of the narwhal, which was long passed off as the unicorn's horn, ^lian and the stories attributed to Aristotle will supply us with several other legends, which are only interesting as far as they confirm the fact that the Greek travellers had reached the north as earlv as the age of Alexander the Great. The reindeer was said to change colour like the chameleon, and to have a hide impervious to the keenest dart. In each case the exaggeration was founded upon the truth. The deer changes its colour in winter like other northern animals ; and jerkins made of its hide were long considered as good as coats of mail. The discoveries in natural historv, which resulted from the conquest of Asia, had roused the Greek world to great activity in a science which had till then been neglected. Any fact about a new animal was caught up and passed on, and was often spoiled in the telling.^ ^ See vElian's Nat. Hist. ii. 17, and Mirab. Auscult. 30, where the " tarandus " is described as a beast found among the Scythian Geloni, with a head Hke a stag, and hke an ox in size. It was said to change its colour Hke the polypus. The same story was told of the African " tarandus," or " parandrus." Solinus, 30. Pliny gets nearer to the proper description. " The tarandus is as big as an ox, with a head not unlike that of a stag, but that it is greater, carrying branched horns, cloven-hoofed, and with hair as deep as that of a bear." Pliny, Hist. Nat. viii. c. 34. We are not much concerned with the reindeer in the history of Britain : the Orkneyinga Saga, however, states that in a.d. 1159 the Norsemen hunted "red-deer and reindeer" in Caithness. There may, perhaps, be some doubt whether the statement should not have been confined to red-deer. See Orkn. Saga. c. 112, and Dr. Smith's Essay in the 8th vol. of Proc. Soc. Antiqu. Scotland. The mediaeval writers on Scandinavia made a mistake which is worth remarking. They knew of the reindeer with the " cornua rnmosa ;' but they could not reject anything stated as a fact by Caesar ; and they solved the difficulty by defining the animal as a three-horned deer. SeeOlaus Magnus, 54 Origins of English History. 2. The Elk. — "There are also animals called elks {Alee). In their figures and spotted skins they are like wild goats ; but they are rather larger, and have broken horns, and legs without joints ; nor do they lie down to rest, nor if they fall by accident could they get up again. The trees are their resting-places : they lean against them to take a little sleep ; and when the hunters have noticed where they resort for this purpose, they either undermine all the trees in that place at the roots, or cut them so far through as to leave only the semblance of a growing tree ; and so, when the elks as usual lean against them, they make the tottering tree fall over, and they fall with the tree."^ Hist. Septent. xvii. 26, 28. " Errat Thevetus qui in Cosmographia sua unicornem facit rangiferum: errant Olaus Magnus, Gesnerus et Jonstonius, qui tricornem depingunt " (Pontopp. Nat. Hist. ii. 10). Most of the mediaeval woodcuts in works on natural history represent the reindeer with three long branching horns. ^ Caesar's reference to the Greek authorities for these passages shows that Pliny's account of the animals in the Hercynian Forest may have been derived from the works of Pytheas. " There are few savage beasts in Germany : howbeit that country bringeth forth certain kinds of goodly great wild beasts. There is a certain beast called Alee, very like to a horse, but that his ears are longer and his neck likewise with two marks, by which they may be distinguished. Moreover, in the island of Scandinavia there is a beast called Machlis (mcl. lect. 'Achlis'), not much unlike to the Alee above named. Common he is there, and much talk we have heard of him; howbeit in these parts he was never seen. He resembleth, I say, the Alee 3 but that he hath neither joint in the hough nor pasternes in his hind-legs, and therefore he never lieth down, but sleepeth leaning to a tree. And therefore the hunters that lie in wait for the beasts cut down the trees while they are asleep, and so take them. Otherwise they should never be taken, so swift of foot they are that it is wonderful. Their upper lip is exceeding great, and as they graze and feed they go retrograde." Pliny, Hist. Nat. viii. c. 15. The stratagem of cutting through the trees was first told of the Elephant-hunters on the coast of the Red Sea by Agatharchides. De Mari Rubro. c. 25. Diod. iii. c. 2. Strabo. xvi. 771. Origins of English History. 55 Pausanias described the Celtic elk "as an animal but very rarely seen : according to him it was a beast in size between a stag and a camel, and was gifted with a surprising sense of smell. "^ 3. The Urus {Bos primigenius). — "The third beast," says Caesar, " is the Urus. It is almost as large as an elephant, but in shape and colour it more resembles the bull. These animals are of great strength and speed, and they never spare man or beast after once catching sight of them. The Germans take great trouble in catching them by pitfalls ; and the young men gain hardness and experience in this laborious kind of hunting. Those who kill most bulls carry back the horns as a glorious trophy of the chase. The Urus cannot be accustomed to mankind or tamed, even if taken very young. The great spread of the horns and their general appearance are very different from those of our domestic cattle. The horns are carefully sought : they are set in silver and used by the Germans at their extravagant feasts."^ This seems to be a confused account of two distinct animals, the Aurochs or Zubr {Bos Urns) of Lithuania,^ and The island in question is called " Gangavia " by Solinus, and " Gravia " by the monk Dicuil. ^ Pausanias, ix. c. 21, In another passage he says that the females were without horns, but that the males had horns " over their eyebrows/' Hid. v. c. 12. The description is quoted by Hermolaus Barbarus, Cluver. Germ. Antiqu. iii. 217, and Olaus Magnus, Hist. Septent. xviii. i. The old German name must have been " elg," or some word of the kind. The modern forms are "elenthier," and "els" or "els-dyr" in Danish. ^ Caesar, De Bell. Gall. vi. c. 28. As to the tribute of Urus-hidcs imposed on the Frisians, see Tacitus, Annal. iv. c. 72. ^ Pliny's account shows that the Greek travellers were aware of the dis- tinction. " The Bison is maned with a collar like a lion : and the Urus is 56 Origins of English History. the extinct Urus {Bos primigenius) which Charlemagne is said to have hunted near his palace at Aachen. The latter animal was akin to the wild cattle preserved in the parks at Chillingham and Chatelheraiilt,! and is supposed indeed to have been the original progenitor of all our English cattle except the polled and shorthorned breeds of the Highlands and parts of Wales. The extinct " Urus " had massive and wide-spread horns, and a very small mane, if we may judge at all by the Chillingham bulls, which have bristles of about an inch in length. But the Wissent, or Aurochs, has very small horns, and a large shaggy mane nearly reaching to the ground. " This Zubr is exceedingly shy and avoids the approach of man. They can only be approached from the leeward, as their smell is extremely acute. But when accidentally and suddenly fallen in with, they will passion- ately assail the intruder. In such fits of passion the animal thrusts out its tongue repeatedly, lashes its sides with its tail, and the reddened and sparkling eyes project from their sockets, and roll furiouslv. Such is their innate wildness that none of them have ever been completely tamed. When taken young they become, it is true, accus- tomed to their keepers, but the approach of other persons renders them furious."^ There are onlv a few hundreds of a mighty strong beast and a swift." (Hist. Nat. viii. c. 15.) The Aurochs, or maned Bison, is also called the Wissent and the Bonassus. For an allusion to the old accounts of the Urus and Elk, see Virg. Georg. ii. 373» " Silvestres uri assidue capreaeque sequaces, Illudunt." ^ Dr. Weissenhorn's Monograph on the " Zubr/' cited in Cox's Sketches, Nat. Hist. 1849. See a good description of the animal by Franc. Irenicus, vii. 13, cited by Olaus Magnus, Hist. Septent. xviii. .35, 2)^: " Barbas Origins of English History. 57 them left, and the permission of the Emperor of Russia under his sign-manual is required before one of them may be killed. Both animals inhabited Britain at some early period ; but the Aurochs is quite prehistoric. The bones of Caesar's Urus have lately been found in ancient pitfalls which have been excavated in the neighbourhood of Cissbury. The presence of these animals in the pit may be explained by Caesar's description of the mode of capture. ' Hurdles of gorse were probably arranged on the principle of the wicker hoops in a decoy, and it is easy to see how, by such a plan, eked out perhaps by the firing of heaps of the same useful material, a wild bull, or a herd, might be driven over a pitfall.'^ After leaving the countrv of the Ostians, presumably from a port in the estuary of the Elbe, Pytheas made a vovage of three davs and a half to the head of the Benin- sula which was then inhabited bv the mvsterious Cimbri ; and the traveller was almost certainly the first to applv to the countrv the long-remembered name of the Cimbric Chersonesus. Hardly anything is known of his adventures among the people who were afterwards to become the terror of the world. But soon after his return, Philemon the poet recorded the fact "that the northern ocean was called bv the Cimbri ' Morimarusa ' or the Dead Sea, from their own country as far as Cape Rube as : beyond that cape longissimas habent et cornibus breviusculis apparent." He describes the narrow pits in which they were caught, the sides being constructed of solid beams on account of the strength of the animal. 1 Prof. Rolleston, in Proc. Anthrop. Inst., 18765 Proc. Soc. Anticju. Scotland, ix. 66"]. 58 Origins of English History. they called the ocean ' Cronium.' "^ The passage is important, as being the earliest in which the Cimbri are mentioned bv name, and also because the local names appear to have a Celtic origin. ^'' Mor niarwth'' is said to be good Welsh for the " sea of death "; and " nior croinn^' or some similar form, might signify " the frozen sea." In the dearth of information about the ethnic affinities of the Cimbri, small circumstances like these become important for determining the question of their origin.- The Teutones, who afterwards accompanied the Cimbri as friends and allies in their great southward migration, were settled, in the time of Pytheas, in the districts south and somewhat to the east of Jutland. They adjoined the country of the " Guttones," along the Baltic coast ; and, according to Pytheas, they made a trade of purchasing from their barbarous neighbours the amber which was collected on the Pomeranian shore. The Guttones inhabited the whole southern coast of the Baltic or " Gulf of Mentonomon " from Mecklenburg to Courland and Riga Bay. The name was given late in the Middle Ages to the Lithuanian and Esthonian tribes who inhabited the neighbourhood of Konigsberg ; and it seems to have been used at last in a contemptuous sense, to express the old-fashioned ways of the pagans in those parts, who refused to accept the gospel from the crusading brotherhood of the Teutonic Knights.^ 1 Pliny, Hist. Nat. iv. c. i6. "^ Upon the difficult question as to the intermixture of Celtic and German tribes to the east of the Rhine see the discussion on the origin of the Cimbri in Latham's " Germany of Tacitus j" Prof. Rawlinson's " Ethnography of the Cimbri," Proc. Anthrop. Inst. vi. 151 (1876) ; and Pallman's " Kimbern und Teutoner," Berlin, 1870. ■' I'heir name is variously spelled, as Gothones, Gutthones, Guddons, Origins of English History. 59 Pytheas appears to have paid great attention to the question of the amber-trade ; and he may reasonably be supposed to have originated a commerce in that article between Marseilles and the country of the Teutones, which must have interfered with the way of trade by Trieste. That the latter traffic was not quite superseded is due to the fact, that the region which supplied Marseilles was distant some hundreds of miles from that which had from ancient times been in direct communication with the Adriatic . Amber is found in two ways. In Courland, which has always been a principal seat of the trade, the fossil is found in strata underground, sometimes extending to a thickness of thirtv or fortv feet. These strata are mixed with a vegetable substance like charcoal and with the branches and stems of the fossil amber-pine.^ In other parts of the Baltic, and in many places on the North-Sea coasts, the amber is washed up at the high tides and in &c. ; and some even have proposed to identify them with the "Cossini," mentioned by Artemidorus. (Tac. Ann. ii. 62 ; and Germ. 43, 45.) Latham, as we have seen, identified the Ostians of Pytheas \\\\\\ the " ^styi " of Tacitus 'and the " Guttones " of PHny. This theory rests on a supposed necessity for taking the amber-trade outside Germany, and into the vicinity of Courland. The region beyond the Vistula was a principal source of the later traffic, but A\'as not the only source, as will presently be shown in the text. ^ Compare a well-known passage in the " Amber Witch ": "While she was seeking for blackberries in a dell near the shore, she saw something glistening in the sun, and on coming near she found this wondrous god- send, seeing that the wind had blown the sand away from a black vein of amber" (ch. 9). The note adds, that the dark veins held amber mixed with charcoal, and that " whole trees of amber have been found in Prussia, and are preserved in the ^Museum at Konigsberg." Both passages appear to contain accurate descriptions of the local phenomena. 6o Origins of English History. stormy weather ; and this source of the supply is thought to be due to the disturbance of submarine amber-beds/ The principal district for the tide-washed amber was the coast between the Helder and the promontory of Jutland. From the Rhine to the estuary of the Elbe stretched a chain of islands, called Glessariae and Electrides by the ancients, which are now much altered in numbers and extent by the incessant inroads of the sea. Here a Roman fleet in Nero's time collected 13,000 lb. of the precious ^^ gicssuni " in a single visit; and the sailors brought home picturesque accounts of the natives picking up the glassy fossil at the flood-tide and in the pools left by the ebb ; ''and it is so light," they said, "that it rolls about and seems to hang in the shallow water."" Pytheas appears to have mentioned the Courland trade as well as the traffic in the amber rolled up by the sea. Philemon at any rate, who copied his works, describes both kinds of commerce in the following passage. He said " that amber was a fossil, and was dug up at two places in Scythia." The supply from one of these places was white and waxv, and this was called Electrum ; from the other place came the tawny or honey-coloured variety, which people called Sualiternicum. Pytheas, however, believed that the great estuary called Mentonomon was inhabited for its whole length of 6,000 stadia by " the ^ For the distinction between the supplies of tide-washed amber and those from inland pits and quarries, see Humboldt, Cosmos (Sabine), ii. 128, and Werlauff's Ravhandel's Historie (1835), where the discoveries of Pytheas are discussed. ^ " Adeo volubile ut in vado pendere videatur." — Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxvii. c. 2. It is to this visit that Pliny attril)utes the Romans' knowledge of the German amber-shore. Hist. Nat. xxxvii. c. 11. Solinus says that the amber was given to Nero by a German king. Polyh. c. 2c. Origins of English History. 6 1 Guttones, a German people," and that at one day's distance from the estuary lay the island of Abaliis, where the spring-floods carry the amber. Pytheas himself thought that this substance was the scum of the Encrusted Sea, and said that the natives of those parts used it instead of wood for their fires, and that they also sold amber to their neighbours the Teutones. Timasus believed this, but called the island Basilia : and he tells us that there is an island opposite to Scythia which is called Raunonia, about one day's journey from shore, where the amber is cast up by the waves in the spring ; and Xenophon of Lampsacus added that at the distance of three days' sail from the Scythian coast was an island of immense extent called Baltia, being the island which Pytheas called Basilia/ Diodorus quoted a slightly different version : — " In the Scythian region beyond Gaul there lies an island in the ocean which is called Basilia ; and on this island, and nowhere else in the world, the amber is cast up in great quantities in the spring of the year ; it is collected on the island and carried by the natives across to the mainland opposite."' The island of Abalus, one day's journey from the estuary, may have been, and probably was, one of the great islands near Ditmarsh and the mouth of the Elbe, " the Saxon Islands " of Ptolemy, which in the course of ^ Pliny, Hist. Nat. iv. c. 15 ; xxxvii. c. 2. There were ancient relations between Courland and the Greeks of the cities on the Euxine before the days of Pytheas. Humboldt, Cosmos (Sabine), ii. 128. The Roman acquaintance with the Courland amber-districts was probably not earlier than the age of the Antonines. The word " Raunonia " looks as if it had some connection with " rav," the Scandinavian name for amber. ^ Diod. V. 23. 62 Origins of English History, a^es have been torn and ravaofed by the sea. It is useless indeed to speculate on the exact configuration which these shifting coasts may have shown more than seventy gene- rations ago. But the details of the old description and the distances measured from " the Scythian shore " are sufficient to show that many of these islands belonged to the Baltic, and were situated east of the Sound. The Danish writers indeed, as Werlauff in the " Ravhandel's Historic," and other local witnesses, have endeavoured to prove that hardly any sea-washed amber was ever found east of Copenhagen. But this opinion rests on the fact that little is found in that way, or looked for, in our own time. The mediaeval authorities are precise about the great fortunes made by the guilds of amber-merchants who had licences from the King of Poland and the Duke of Prussia to collect the storm-tossed treasure " along the Finnish and Livonian seas and the Pruthenic or North- Prussian shore." The Duke of Prussia gained a con- siderable revenue from a tax on several thousand casks of amber which were yearly collected upon his coast-land.^ There was also an ancient British trade in amber with the " Ostians " or Germans of the shore. The traffic was regulated by the Romans in the first years of the Empire, and converted into the source of a trifling revenue." But the exploration of the funeral barrows in the counties south of the Thames has shown that the commerce must have dated from a much higher antiquity. An expert might tell the place of production from the colour and quality of the ^ Olaus Magnus, Hist. Septent. xi. 9. ^ "The Britons bear moderate taxes on their exports and on their imports from Celtica, which consist of ivory, bracelets, amber, glass, and such-like petty merchandise." StrabOj iv. 278. Origins of English History. 63 discs, beads, and rings which have been found in the Wilt- shire tumnli. In one instance a necklace of a thousand beads was discovered in the tomb of a chief ; in a Sussex grave was found a cup carved from a solid block ; and in another excavation a collar formed of two hundred beads and large quadrangular dividing-plates : "The tablets were perforated with a delicacy which indicates the use of a fine metallic borer : the collar when worn must have extended from shoulder to shoulder, hanging half-way down to the waist." Amber was a charm supposed to protect the living w^earer from evil influences, and, as we may suppose, to help the dead man in his journey to the world of the dead. Hence the custom of burying one bead at least in the grave, which is generally found attached or lying near the neck of the skeleton : hence the reference in the ancient Welsh poem called the Gododin, in which the British chiefs are described with Homeric minuteness : — " Adorned with a wreath was the leader, the wolf of the holm ; Amber-beads in ringlets encircled his temples ; Precious was the amber, and worth a banquet of wine."-^ The amber found in the graves is of the red transparent kind, and never of the blackish or honey-coloured varieties. The product is found on our eastern coasts, as at Rams- gate and Cromer, and in Holderness, and on some parts of the Scotch coast near Aberdeen ; but the great abundance of the remains in the tumuli^ especially in the southern counties, favours the hypothesis that the main supply was brought from over the sea. •• Aneurin's Gododin, st. 4. The other instances will be found, with much additional information, in Sir R. Hoare's Ancient Wilts, vol. i. ; Dr. Thurnam's work on British Barrows in the Archeeologia, vols. 43, 43 ; and Wright's " Celt, Roman, and Saxon," 489. 64 Origins of English History. We must now mention the voyage to Thule, which has given rise to such intricate and interminable controversies. ^^ Pythias a dej a fatigue dcs centaines d'ecrivains^ qui dans Tespace dc 2,270 ans Tout conibattu avcc acharnement^ ou se sont cfurccs dc V expliquer et dc lui rendre justiccr^ " Uhima Thule," the furthest of the " Britannic Isles," has been identified with all sorts of localities since the time when Pytheas sailed with his Cimbric guides to the country of the midnight sun. The controversy is boundless, and its details are too tedious to be examined at length. But we mav select sufficient evidence to show w^hv the storv of the journev should be believed, and to justify the selection of Lapland as the northern limit of the expedition.- Most of our information on the subject is derived from Strabo's querulous complaints, added to a few words from the traveller's diary which have been preserved by Cleomedes and Geminus. We will take Strabo's criticism first, and add the other fragments in such order as seems convenient. ' Lelewel, Pytheas de Marseille, i. ^ Thule has been most commonly identified with Iceland. The earliest passage to this effect is in the Mensura Orbis of the Irish monk Dicuil, written about a.d. 825. Gassendi took the same view, and said, " Et in Islandia tropicus pro arctico est," adopting the phrase of Pytheas. Columbus, about A. D. 1477, speaks in his journal of "Thule or Friesland " (Iceland), a country with which the Bristol merchants had a thriving trade. Among the writers who have accepted the same theory may be mentioned Adam of Bremen, Saxo Grammaticus, Arngrim Jonas in his Tract upon Iceland ; Pontanus and Ramus in their descriptions of Northern Europe ; Cluver. Germ. Antiqu. iii. '^<) ; Mannert. Geogr., i. 83 ; Bougainville, Acad, des Inscrip., xix. 147 ; and Bessell in his Essay on Pytheas, We may pass over the old suppositions that Thule was in North Britain or Shetland, and Malta Brun's idle proposal to identify it with the peninsula of Jutland. Among those who have taken Thule to be part of the Scandinavian main- land we may mention the Swedish historians Dalin and Lagerbring, Karl- Origins of English History. 65 Strabo makes the following criticism in his comments on the second book of Eratosthenes. "Pytheas said, that the furthest parts of the world are those which lie about Thule, the northernmost of the Britannic Isles, 'where the summer tropic is the same as the arctic circle' : but he never said whether Thule was an island, or whether the world is habitable by man as far as the point where the circles coincided. I should think myself that the northern limit of habitation lies much further to the south ; for the writers of our age say nothing of any place beyond Ireland, which is situate in front of the northern parts of Britain, where the savages can hardly live for the cold. I think, therefore, that the limit should be placed at this point. Eratosthenes computed the distance Strom, "Thule Veterum," and Rudbeck, Atlantica, i. c. 19. Before Iceland was known to them, the Byzantine writers were accustomed to identify the Thule of Pytheas with Sweden, and sometimes with the whole peninsula of Scandinavia. For an elaborate description of Thule from the last point of view see Procopius, De Bell. Gothic, ii. 14. 15 ; the passage was trans- lated by Archbishop Magnus, in his history of the Goths and Swedes, and is cited by Olaus IMagnus, Hist. Septent., i. c. 5. For part of the passage in question the reader has the advantage of an extract in the words of Gibbon : — " One of the sovereigns (of Sweden), after a voluntary or reluctant abdication, found a hospitable retreat in the palace of Ravenna. He had reigned over one of the thirteen populous tribes who cultivated a small portion of the great island or peninsula of Scandinavia, to which the vague appellation of Thule has been sometimes applied. That northern region was peopled, or had been explored, as high as the 68th degree of latitude, where the natives of the polar circle enjoy and lose the presence of the sun at each summer and winter solstice during an equal period of 40 days. The long night of his absence or death was the mournful season of distress and anxiety, till the messengers who had been sent to the mountain-tops descried the first rays of returning light, and proclaimed to the plain below the festival of his resurrection. And this with the men of Thule is the greatest of all feasts." — Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. 49. See also Jornandes, De Reb. Getic. c. 3, and Paulus Diaconus, De Reb. Langobard. i. c. 5. 5 66 Origins of English History. from the Dnieper to the parallel of Thiile, which Pytheas affirmed to be 'six days' sail north of Britain,' to be about 1,150 miles. But who in his senses would believe this? For Pvtheas, who described Thule, has been shown to be the falsest of men ; and the travellers who have seen the British ' lerne ' yet say nothing of this Thule, though they mention other small islands round Britain. Again, a traveller starting from the middle of Britain and going about 500 miles to the north, would come to a country somewhere about Ireland, where living would be barely possible ; consequently the still more distant situation which Pytheas assigned to Thule would not be habitable at all ; and on what possible theory Hipparchus could fix that measurement between Thule and (the mouth of) the Dnieper I cannot understand."^ We have a bare mention of the Scandinavian islands of Bergi, and Nerigo, the largest of them all, ''from which men make the voyage to Thule"; and it is perhaps a possible etymology which connects these names with the district of Bergen and the province of Norge, or Norway proper, which ends not far from the city of Trondhjem. It will be remembered that the winding fjords would make it almost impossible for the first travellers to distinguish the promontories and peninsulas of the coast from islands ; and that a Greek would be apt to conceive the northern voyage as a passage along the vast Ocean-river threading the outer islands, which were supposed to form a ring round the great central continent. It is easy to imagine the voyage towards the Lapland coast through the long summer-day and the strange level sunshine of the northern night. The ship would be kept as long as possible inside ' Strabo, i. 64. Origins of English History. 67 the unnumbered stacks and rock-islets which form "the Skerry-guard" of the coast of Norway. When the arctic circle is crossed, the traveller will reach the mouth of the West Fjord and traverse a tract of open sea. Sailing over the broad gulfs to the towering cliffs of the region that stretches to the north, or looking across to the peaks and fantastic shapes of the Lofoden Islands lying low in the west, the Greeks might well think that they had come to Thule, " the end " or at least the beginning of the end of the world. ^ Pytheas did not say that this new country was itself an island. It seems likely that he supposed the land to turn from the North Cape to join the continent of Scythia. Nor do we find that he observed any signs of human habitation. The king of Thule and his romantic people, and the felicities of the arctic summer, are the products of later fancy. His attention seems to have been mainly directed to the phenomenon of the midnight sun. " In some places," he said, "the night was three hours long; in others it was two hours long ; at last the sun used to rise almost as soon as he had set." Again, " the sun revolved from west to east and shone through the whole of the summer night " ; the sun did not rise or set, but only crossed along the horizon. " Where the whole tropic of Cancer was above the horizon the day was a montJi long ; and where onlv part of the tropic circle appeared, the day was long in proportion." " At the pole itself the day and night are each six months long." And the list of fragments might easily be lengthened, for every astronomer who lived after him endeavoured to record ^ "Inveniet vasto surgentem vertice Thulen." Avienus. Orb. Terr. 760. 68 Origins of English History. or explain something of the phenomena reported by Pytheas/ Two of his phrases, by their obscure and archaic diction, have given rise to repeated controversies. The first is the celebrated saying that " in Thule the summer tropic is the same as the arctic circle," the latter term being used in its old Greek sense to denote the heavenly circle containing all the stars which never dip below the horizon ; and in this sense of the term every latitude had its own arctic circle. The meaning of Pytheas was that at some point in the north the sun never set during the summer. The uncouthness of the expression was probably caused by a notion that the tropic of Cancer was a physical line traced by the sun's passage above the horizon. The second obscurity is contained in the passage pre- served by Geminus. " The barbarians used to point out to us the lair or sleeping-place of the sun ; for the nights at one place were only three hours long, at another place only two hours," and so on. Several writers have raised unnecessary difficulties by taking the passage to mean, that the barbarians showed Pvtheas where the sun set at different times in the year, or that, though the weather was dark, they showed him the true point of sunset, and the like. What the savages meant was plain enough. They had watched the sun's places of rising and setting as they went north, and at last had discovered the spot on the horizon 1 With the passages collected in the Appendix should be compared the following passage from Priscianus Lydus. " Dicitur autem nox eis fieri usque ad unam horam apud quos arcticus est aestivus tropicus ; sicut juxta Thylen insulam scribunt per diem et noctem solem super terram ferri : eos enim qui dicunt semenstrem diem noctemque aequalem, aut etiam quaedam borealium partium nunquam illuminari solaribus radiis, rationibus aliis demittimus." Solut. ad Chosroen. Priscian. Lyd. (Bywater.) 67. Origins of English History. 69 immediately above the cave or home where the divine spirit or creature lived/ There could have been nothing very strange in this to Pytheas, who had himself contested a theory of certain Stoics, that the earth was a kind of enormous animal, whose breathings and spoutings caused the flux and reflux of the tide.^ Another passage about a substance resembling the "sea-nettles" or medusce, which in Greek were called ^'sea-lungs," has become celebrated for its difficulty of interpretation. "After one day's journey," he said, "to the north of Thule men come to a sluggish sea, where there is no separation of sea, land, and air, but a mixture of all these elements like the substance of jelly-fish, through which one can neither walk nor sail, I have seen the stuff like jellv-fish, but all the rest I have taken on hearsay."^ We cannot feel certain as to the nature of this floating and blubber-like mass. The simplest explanation, and perhaps the best, attributes the reference to the rotten and spongy ice which sometimes fills those northern waters. ' Compare Homer's "home and dancing-places of the Dawn" : oQl t Wovq ypiyeveirjQ 'OiKia Kcii yo(>o'i lt(TL Kin avroXai 'HeXjoto. — Odyss. xii. 4. " Allen Gestirnen werden bestimmte Stiitten, Platze und Stiihle beigelegt, auf denen sie Sitz und Wohnung nehmen : sie haben ihr Gestell und Geriiste. Zumal gilt das von der Sonne die jeden Tag zu ihrem Sitz, oder Sessel niedergeht." (Grimm. Deutsch. Myth. 66'^.') ^ This was the opinion of Athenodorus, cited in Strabo, iii. 17,3. See also Seneca, Nat. Quaest. iii. 15. Mela. iii. c. i. Solinus. c. 23. The whole subject is discussed by Martin in his ' Notions des Anciens sur Ics Marees et les Euripes.' (Caen. 1866.) Pytheas seems to have been the first to attribute the tidal movement to the action of the moon. Stobaeus. (Gaisford). App. iv. 437. Plutarch. De Placit. Philosoph. iii. 17. ^ Strabo, ii. 142. JO Origins of English History. Others take the matter literally, and refer it to the inedusce, so common about Norway and the North Sea, which may have been familiar to Pytheas before he commenced his journey.^ Gassendi, who took Thule for Iceland, explained the matter as referring to the dense fumes from Hekla. Others take it for a description of cold and clinging fogs ; others, with Make Brun, as a picture of the quicksands near the northern shores of Jutland.^ Many stories were afterwards told about the sluggish waters described by Pytheas, and when the locality of Thule was shifted to Shetland by the Roman writers, it was duly noticed that " the waters are slow, and yield with difficulty to the oar, and they are not even raised by the wind like other seas."^ From the description of the " Mare Pigrum," which has been alreadv cited from the "Germania," and the mention in that place of the divine forms, and the head crowned with rays, and strange sounds heard by night, we may infer that the ancient travellers saw the Aurora Borealis. The ray-crowned head may represent the dark segment of ^ For the abundance of these creatures in Norway, and also in the salt- water lake of jNIortaigne, near Narbonne, see Pontopp. Nat. Hist. ii. 182, and Kircher's Mundus Subterraneus, ii. 129, there cited. It is, perhaps, worth noticing that the Frozen Sea is or was called by the Norwegians " Leber Zee," or " sea of a substance like liver." Pontanus, Descr. Dan. 747. ^ The different opinions are collected and compared in Arvedson's first note, which is printed in the Appendix. ^ Tac. Agric. c. 10. "This agrees with the sea on the N.E. of Scotland, not for the reason given by Tacitus, but because of the contrary tides, which drive several ways and stop not only boats with oars, but ships under sail " (Wallace, Essay concerning Thule, 31). "The tides in Orkney run with such an impetuous current, that a ship is no more able to make way against them than if it were hindered by a remora." (Wallace, Orkney, 4. 7.) Origins of English History. 71 sky enclosed in the electric arch and the meteoric rays which have given the name of the "Merry Dancers" to the flickering Northern Lights.^ Pytheas did not, so far as appears, explore any part of the mainland of Thule, nor do we know the point at which he turned his ship for the southward voyage. We must suppose that he never reached the ''ruddy-tinged granite" of the cape that looks upon the Polar Sea. All that he actually said was, that beyond the dead sea "Morimorusa" was a sea called " Cronium," covered with a solid crust; and, knowing nothing of the nature of the frozen ocean, he conjectured, as we have seen, that the amber washed upon the coast might perhaps be broken morsels of scum or crust from the unknown sea. Turning from Thule, they sailed south for six days and nights before they reached the shores of Britain. They probably touched at the Orkneys, of which the three largest were then, or soon afterwards, known as Dumna, Ocetis, and Pomona : the last name has remained till modern times, and from its classical form has been the origin of curious myths as to the fruitfulness of the northern zone. Among the islands to the north of Britain the travellers noticed an extraordinary rush of the tides in tortuous and funnel-shaped channels between the cliffs : if Pliny's quotation" is correct, the water rose 80 cubits or ^ The Aurora is called " the Morrice Dancers " in Shetland. The early- writers on northern phenomena published some amusing speculations on the origin of the Aurora, Some took it for the reflection of distant volcanoes, or the refracted image of the sun ; and " the celebrated Wolfius described it as immature lightning, or an imperfect tempest." Pontopp. Nat. Hist. i. 7. ^ Pliny, Hist. Nat. ii. 897. See Buffon, Thcorie de la Terre. ii. 97, and Humboldt. Cosmos. (Sabine) i. 298. 72 Origins of English History. 1 20 feet. This height of the tide is not greater than has been measured in the Bay of Fundy, and it is probably approached in the narrow inlets of the* Faroe Isles; but the circumstance is so rare in any part of the world that we must suppose some mistake to have been made in the calculation or in the course of making the extract. We know hardly anything of the remainder of the voyage. He must have skirted the eastern shore of Britain as far as Kent and the neighbourhood of Gaul, landing (as he said) when he could, so as to explore the accessible parts of the island. The expedition returned by the Channel and the Bay of Biscay, as far as the mouth of the Gironde. Pytheas appears to have been unwilling to repeat the tedious journey round Spain ; and we may suppose that he accordingly ascended the Garonne, and from the neigh- bourhood of the modern Bordeaux succeeded in reaching his native city by a journey over-land. Here ended the voyage of Pytheas. Apart from later criticisms and controversies we know nothing more of his life or works, except that an early scholiast preserved an isolated passage about the volcano of Stromboli from his book on the Circuit of the World. ^ His discoveries were in the highest degree interesting and important. His reputation at first rose high, and was afterwards unjustly depreciated ; but his merits have been fully recognized in modern times. " Vcnit iniJii Pytheas ^ The passage will be found in the Appendix. It embodies the well- known legend about the forges where men left iron ore and a proper sum of money, and next day would find the sword or weapon for which they had bargained with the unseen workmen. The description is terse and picturesque, like everything else that he wrote. " This seems to be the home of Hephaestus, for one hears the roar of fire and a terrible bellowing, and here the sea boils." Origins of English History. 73 cornmendandiLS^'' said the scholar Gassendi ; and he de- scribed the old traveller as "an honest man and a learned, who said what he thought and distinguished what he had seen from matters of guess-work or hearsay."^ ^^ Habile astronome (added Bougainville),^ ingenienx physicien,geo- graphe exacts hardi navigateiir, il rendit ses talents utiles a sa patrie : ses voyages^ en fray ant de noiivelles routes an commerce^ ont enrichi Ihistoire naturclle, ct contribue a perfectionner la connaissance dn globe terrestre^ ^ Gassendi. Opera, iv, ^30. ^ Bougainville, in the Memoires de I'Academie des Inscriptions, xix. 146. The best sources of information about Pytheas, besides the authors quoted in the text, are the Fragments published by Arvedson at Upsala, in 18245 the Essay on Pytheas by Lelewel, published in Polish (182 1), in German at Berlin (183 1), and in French at Paris (1836) ; Mannert's Geographic, vols. i. and ii. ; Fuhr's Pytheas (Darmstadt, 1842)5 Redslob's " Thule " (Leipzig, 1855) and Bessell's Pytheas von Massilien (Gottingen, 1858). We may conclude the subject with a passage selected by Arvedson. " Pytheas war ein Humboldt seines Zeitalters, nur als soldier kann er im Zukunft betrachtet werden. Ein Mann, der schon drei Jahrhunderte vor unserer Zeitrechnung als Mathematiker, Astronom und als Muster der Nachahmung glanzte, verdiente schon durch den Besitz dieser Wissenschaften das grosste Zutrauen, noch mehr, wenn er, entflammt durch Liebe zu diesen, weder Aufwand noch Gefahr scheute, und zur Bereicherung seiner Kentniss und der Erdkunde, die damals einen wichtigen Zweig der Astronomic ausmachte, sich auf feme Reisen wagte, die Niemand vor ihm und Niemand nach ihm unter den gebildeten Volkern des Alterthums unternahm. Pytheas war ein Mann, der weit liber seinen Zeitgenossen stand, und dem die Himmelskunde nicht weniger zu verdanken scheint als die Erdkunde " (Brehmer, Entdeckungen im Alterthum, ii. p. 345). 74 Origins of English History. CHAPTER III. EARLY GREEK ROMANCES ABOUT BRITAIN. Imaginary travels based on discoveries of Pytheas. — Their confusion with records of real travel. — Beginning of scepticism on the subject. — Criticism by Dicsearchus. — The acceptance of Pytheas by Eratosthenes.— Euhemerus the rationalist. — The Land of Panchaia. — Argument based on his fictions. — Reply of Eratosthenes. — Criticisms by Polybius and Strabo. — Geographical romances.— Plato's use of the Carthaginian traditions. — Atlantis. — Origin of the stories of monstrous men. — " The wonders beyond Thule." — The epitome of Photius. — Plot of the romance. — Stories of Germany and Thule. — Of the Germans and the Hercynian Forest. — Stories about Britain. — The legend of Saturn and Briareus. — The Northern Pygmies. — Story preserved by Procopius. — Island of Brittia. — The conductors of the dead. — The communism of Thule. — The King of the Hebrides. — Modern variations of the legend. — Evan the Third and his law. — Mediaeval use of the legend. — The romance of " The Hyperboreans." — Description by Lelewel. — Stories of the Arctic Ocean. — Britain described as " Elixoia." — The Circular Temple. — The Boread kings. — Solar legends. — A description of the Hyperborean customs. — The suicides of the old men. — Historical weight of the legend. — Family-cliffs and family-clubs. — Barbarous practices of northern nations. — Mention of other romances. — " The Attacori." — The description of the Fortunate Islands by Jambulus — His accounts of strange kinds of men. — Fictions rejected by Tacitus. IT is proposed to deal in this chapter with certain romances and vokunes of imaginary travel which were based on the discoveries of Pytheas soon after his return from the North. It was a time of excitement and scientific activity. The story of the new world was received with a general enthusiasm ; and the popularity of the subject soon led to the publication of geographical romances tricked out and coloured with the fashionable learning. They were not, of course, intended to be treated seriously ; but in time they had the effect of obscuring and of almost effacing the Greek knowledge of Britain. Origins of English History. 75 The process will be illustrated in this chapter by extracts from some of these curious works ; and it will be shown that they were the real source of many of the legends and strange traditions which have perplexed historical inquirers. It need not be supposed that their publication had at first any effect in the way of confusing the popular belief. For a century or more after the termination of the northern voyage, its real incidents were kept apart from the fictions of its imitators. A few criticisms by Dicaearchus did not diminish the general faith in the traveller's accuracy. The great scholars of Alexandria endorsed the popular opinion, and the earliest maps laid down "the parallel of Thule" at that distance from the equator which Pytheas had roughly calculated. But even in the lifetime of Eratosthenes (b.c. 275 to B.C. 195) we can trace the beginnings of the scepticism which destroyed the credit of the philosopher of Marseilles. The keeper of the great library of Alexandria had cited Pytheas for many statements in his " Geographica," of which not many sentences have survived the destruction of the library by fire. But he was already pressed with the new argu- ment, that these old travels could hardly be distinguished from others which were clearly fictitious. Euhemerus of Messene, the inventor of the system w^hich "rationalised" the current mythology, had lately published an account of the Land of Panchaia, which may still be examined in the undiscriminating collections of Diodorus. This Arabian land was described as the home of the heroes whom the populace worshipped as Zeus and Apollo, and of all the other beings who were counted among the gods of Greece. The fable was a useful vehicle for the 76 Origins of English History. spread of dangerous opinions. The author had merely anticipated the stratagem of Rabelais ; but some were so foolish as to take the falsehood for genuine history. Others used the occasion to attack the new geographical science. " How," they said, " can these travellers' tales about the North be distinguished from works of fiction ? Here are things which one could not believe, if Hermes himself came down from heaven as a witness ; and why should thev be of more account than what the Messenian has told us of his Holy Land?" But Eratosthenes would only reply, " I trust Pytheas, even where Dicasarchus doubted ; but I think that Euhemerus lies like the man of Berga."^ The answer failed to satisfy the later critics. " It would have been better," said Polybius, " if he had believed the Messenian ; for he only told falsehoods about one country, but this Pytheas pretended to have been to the world's end, and to have peeped into every corner of the north." And Strabo added, that " Eratosthenes must have been joking," and used the matter as a warning for other men of science. We find him saying of some story related by Posidonius, "This is mere nonsense from Berga, almost as bad as the falsehoods of Pytheas, and Euhemerus, and Antiphanes ; we can excuse it in people whose business it is to tell wonderful stories, but not in a grave philosopher, one of the champions in the arena of science." ' Eratosthenica (Bernhardy, 1822), no, 22. Compare Strabo, ii. 104, and iii. 148. The "man of Berga" was Antiphanes, only known for having pubhshed some fictitious travels. The proverbial phrases, Bepya7oc av^p, Bepyaii^eiv, and IBepyaioy iu'iyqfxa, preserve his reputation for mendacity. He is cited by Antonius Diogenes, and by the anonymous author of the " Periplus of Scymnus," who wrote about a century before the Christian era. Didot. Geograph. Graec. Minor, i. introd. 66. Origins of English History. jj The Greeks had a peculiar skill in the construction of geographical fiction. Every novelist was ready with a sham voyage, or a didactic work in the form of news from Utopia. Lucian's gay burlesque shows the existence of a whole literature of adventures " among monstrous beasts and cruel savages, and in strange forms of life," as curious in their way as his own pictures of travel in the land of the Hippogriffs. Plato himself, in two of his Dialogues, had used the Carthaginian voyages as material for didactic fiction. The unfinished story of Atlantis shows his knowledge of the oceanic weed-beds and the nature of the minerals to be found in Spain. " The island disappeared, and was sunk beneath the sea ; and that is the reason why the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable ; because there is such a quantity of shallow mud in the way, caused by the subsidence of the island." And he thus described the splendours of the palace of Atlas before the occurrence of the legendary catastrophe : " The entire circuit of the wall they covered with a coating of brass, and the circuit of the next wall they coated with tin, and the third, which encompassed the citadel, flashed with the red light of orichalcum."^ The curious subject of these romances of travel will be found to have some bearing on the history of northern Europe. They help to show the level of the knowledge which was current at the date of their publication, and they afford some evidence as to the habits of our barbarian ancestors before the dawn of history. They indicate the real origin of the fables, which amused the Greeks, and ^ The extracts are from " Timaeus " and " Critias," in Prof. Jowett's translation. Plato, Dial. ii. 521, 599, 607. 7 8 Origins of English History. were afterwards accepted as history by compilers who had lost all sense of historical perspective and were ready to record anything which bore the shape of a tradition. Hence came the travellers' tales of one-footed men, of Germans with monstrous feet and ears, of fantastic kings in Thule, and Irish tribes who thought it right to devour their parents, " The cannibals that each other eat, The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads Do grow beneath their shoulders."^ The book called "Wonders beyond Thule" was written by one Antonius Diogenes, who probably Hved in Syria in the 2nd century before Christ, though it was the opinion of Photius that the work was written soon after the death of Alexander the Great." It was current as late as the 9th century, when its twenty-four volumes were summarised by the Patriarch Photius, who com- pressed the works of nearly three hundred authors into one volume to beguile the tedium of a residence in ^ Phny's monsters continually reappear in the mediaeval records of travel, their locality being shifted, to suit the circumstances of the case, to all parts of Africa, India, and the northern countries. AVe may study their habits in the pages of the painstaking Mandeville. " In an yle towards the southe dwellen folk of foule stature and of cursed kynde, than han no heds and here eyen be in here scholdres ; and in another yle ben folk of foule fasceon and schapp, that han the lippe above the mouthe so gret, that whan thei slepen in the sonne thei keveren alle the face with that lippe : and in another yle ben folk, that han hors' feet, and thei ben strong and mighty." We find the same stories in the old Icelandic Sagas. The Norsemen in Labrador, according to an early Saga, met " a onefoot-man of glittering appearance," who shot one of the Greenland captains, and fled swiftly over the sea. - For the epitome of this work, see Photius. Myriob. 3/55, the Melanges of Chardon de la Rochelle, Dunlop, Hist. Fiction, i. 9, Chassang, Hist, dii Roman, 375. Origins of English History. 79 Bagdad. Our knowledge of the novel is gained partly from this epitome, and partly from the fragments which can be gathered from the later classical writings/ The plot turns on the loves and adventures of a Syrian maiden and Dinias, a traveller from Arcadia, the story of whose lives Avas recorded in a manuscript which Alexander the Great was supposed to find in their tomb. After a surprising series of events, with which we are not now concerned to deal, the principal personages in the story were assembled in the polar circle with leisure to verify all the astronomical wonders which had been announced to the world by Pytheas. They make friends with the simple inhabitants of Thule : and some of the company pass above that country to the shores of the Encrusted Sea. Here they find themselves in the neighbourhood of the moon, and we owe the preservation of several frag- ments of the novel to the curiosity excited by their lunar discoveries." The story appears to have contained fanciful descriptions of the whole of the north of Europe. Here was probably the first account of the blue-eyed Germans who could not see by day, and were guided at night ^ Notices of the work will be found in Porphyrins' Life of Pythagoras, c. 13, in the Scholia on Virgil's Georgics and Lucian's Vera Historia, and in the Letters of Synesius, Bishop of Cyrene, who in the 5th century A..D. wondered "what kind of place that Thule might be, which privi- leged all its visitors to tell such shameless lies." Synesius, Epist. 148. Chassang thinks that these legends were based on fact. " Dinias repete des traditions confuses des Lapons, lorsqiiil dit avoir vu au dela de Thule des peuples qui ont des nuits d'u?i inois, de six mois, et meme d'un r/w." Hist, du Roman, 381. ^ As to the supposed nearness of the moon to the northern islands, see Diod. ii. c. 3. Allusions to the same legend will be found in the tract " De facie in orhe Luntc," in Plutarch's Moralia. Plutarch (Wyttcnbach), iv. 729, 808. 8o Origins of English History. through the Hercynian gloom by the light of strange luminous birds. Some of the natives of the fens had horses' hooves for feet, and others had flapping and mon- strous ears/ The northern seas were thought to be full of monsters, which appear in many a subsequent chapter of history, as when the soldiers of Germanicus brought home tales of "fabulous birds, and monsters of the deep, and strange shapes, half-human, half-beast-hke," which they had seen off the German shores. Tacitus seems to refer to the same stories when he mentions the animals found in the " Outer Ocean " and the unknown sea beyond.^ There are several other legends, which, from their context, must be attributed to the same romance. Thus we read of " an isle Ogygian lying far out at sea," five davs' sail to the west of Britain, with others lying beyond it, " a little nearer to the rising of the summer sun." The western island is shown by its astronomical description to be one of the islands mentioned by Pytheas : 1 Mela places these tribes in the islands opposite Sarmatia, which are " peninsulas at low water." Among them were the Oaeones, living on birds' eggs, whom Cssar placed among the wild tribes at the mouth of the Rhine (De Bell. Gall. iv. c. lo.), the Hippopodes, and the flapping-eared tribe who more properly belonged to Indian and African legends. Mela. iii. c. 6. Tac. Germ. c. 46. ^ Tac, Annal. ii. c. 24. Germ. c. 17. See also the quotation from Pedo Albinovanus in Seneca, Suas. i. 14, relating to the same expedition of Ger- manicus : '• Jam pridem post terga diem solemque relinquunt. Jam pridem notis extorres finibus Orbis Per non concessas audaces ire per umbras. Ad rerum metas, extremaque litora mundi : Nunc ilium, pigris immania monstra sub undis Qui ferat, Oceanum, qui snpvas undique pristes yEquoreosque canes, ratibus consurgere prensis." Origins of English History. " the sun sets for less than one hour for thirty days in succession, and this short night is attended with slight darkness, and a twilight glimmering out of the west."^ Here, we are told, " Saturn was charmed to sleep by Briareus ; he was laid in a golden-coloured cave of pumice- stone ; birds brought him ambrosia, and genii waited for his commands." We have also descriptions of the men of Thule, feeding in the spring on the herbage with their cattle, on milk in summer, and in the long winter on the store of fruits which they have laid up. We recognise exaggerated versions of stories from Homer and Herodo- tus, dressed up to suit the Polar latitudes, in the stories of the men who sleep for six months on end, and live at ease like the Lotos-eaters, and of the Pygmies or Lilliputians, opposite to Thule and near Britain, who were a span long, "very short-lived, and armed with spears like needles."^ We may here add a legend preserved by Procopius, " a tradition," to use his own words, " very nearly allied to fable, and one which has never appeared to me to be true in all respects." The origin of the fable is unknown, and perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is the continu- ance of the belief among the fishermen of Holland and Brittany, which has been attested by trustworthy visitors. " In the northern ocean," so ran the tale, " lies the island Brittia, opposite to the mouths of the Rhine, between Britannia and the Isle of Thule." Then follow descrip- tions of the Roman wall and of other circumstances which show that Procopius took Brittia to be the country which 1 Plutarch (Wy ttenbach) , iv. 808, in the essay " Dc facie in Orlc Lunasy ^ See Eustathius, in Iliad, iii. 6, p. 281. Stephan. Byzant. s.v. " Gennara." 6 82 Origins of English History. others call Britain. On the eastern side of the wall all is civilised : but " on the western side it would be impossible for a man to live half an hour." Omitting many of the less important details we will come to the main legend, which the learned Senator could hardly bring himself to believe. " I have frequently heard it," he said, " from men of that country, who related it most seriously, though I would rather ascribe their asseverations to a certain dreamy faculty which possesses them. On the coast opposite to Brittia are many villages inhabited by fishermen and labourers, who in the course of trade go across to the island. They declare that the conducting of souls devolves upon them in turns. At night they perceive that the door is shaken, and they hear a certain indistinct voice summoning them to their work. They proceed to the shore not understanding the necessity which thus constrains them, yet nevertheless compelled by its influence. Here they perceive vessels in readiness, wholly void of men, not however their own but strange vessels ; embarking in these they lay hold on their oars, and feel their burden made heavier by a multitude of passengers, the boats being sunk to the gunwale and rowlocks and floating scarce a finger from the water's edge. They see not a single person : but having rowed for one hour only, they arrive at Brittia : whereas, when they navigate their own vessels they arrive there with difiiculty even in a night and a day. They say that they hear a certain voice there, which seems to announce to such as receive them the names of all who have crossed over with them, describing the dignities which they formerly possessed and calling them over by their hereditary titles : and if women happen to cross over with them, they call Origins of English History. 83 over the names of the husbands with whom they lived. These then are the things which men of that district declare to take place : but I return to my former narrative."^ There is another curious subject, of greater historical importance than the legend which perplexed Procopius, which seems to have a close connection with the old romance of Thule. The inhabitants of Britain were from the most ancient times accused of an ignorance of marriage, and the institutions by which the family is main- tained among civilised people. Whether from the old stories of the Arcadian customs of Thule, or from their levity in matters of marriage and divorce, they were said to live in a state of communism that prevailed in Plato's republic and was found by More in Utopia. In the work of Solinus we find a picture of the life of a northern island, which connects this accusation with a great number of fanciful stories, which long passed current as genuine history. '''' Es war ein Konig in Thiihy The king was taught justice by poverty, and equity by the generosity of his subjects. He had nothing of his own, but his subjects gave him their all, and maintained him at the public expense. The people took it in turn to entertain him at a gratuitous feast. But though he had free-quarters in all his islands, it was feared that he might become avaricious or selfish if he had anything which he could call his own ; and he was therefore forbidden to have a wife or family, though he was provided with temporary companions.^ ^ Procop. De Bell. Goth. iv. c. 20. The translation is taken from the Monumenta Historica Britannica. For a modern version of the fable, see Souvestre, Dernier s Bretons, i. 37. 2 SolinuSj c. 22. See also Rhys, Celtic Britain. ^^, 56. 6 * 84 Origins of English History. Such is the picture of life in the Hebrides, and in Thule a little to the north, which was long accepted as true. The story next appears in a legal form, familiar to the student of Blackstone. In this shape it recounts the oppressions of " Evenus," or "King Evan the Third," or " Evan the Sixteenth," according to various versions, who at some time before the Christian era made a law appropriating the wives of his subjects to himself; but after a quarrel, which lasted for about 1,100 years, the barbarous tribute was, at the request of King Malcolm's Queen, commuted for a money payment. It has been discovered after much research that the ancient king, his law and its repeal, are all equally mythical. But the story remained down to recent times the stock example of the horrors of the feudal system. Every payment made at a marriage was explained as a redemption of some such primitive claim. It might be only a fee to the clergy for their licences and dispensations, or a fine to the lord of the manor to compensate him for the marriage of a vassal or a serf ; or the landlord and neighbours might claim a supper, "a fowl and a bottle of w^ne ;" but the payment was continually regarded, and often described in manorial records, as being given in exchange for some right which was thought to have existed "in the heathen times," or before the beginning of the memory of man.^ ^ The principal authorities on the subject, besides the appropriate titles in " Ducange," are Grimm, Deutsch. Alterth. 384, 444; Grupen, De Uxore Theotisca; Keysler, Antiqii. Septent.; Fischer, Hochzeite ; Boyer, Decis'wnes; 'S\^c\nQV, Les grands Jours d'Auvergne ; De Gubernatis, Usi Matrimojiiali ; local customs collected in the appendix to M. Martin's Histoire de France, vol. v., and Bouthors, Coutumes locales du Bailliage d' Amiens; Essays by M. J. J. Raepsaet, M. Louis Veuillot, and M. Delpit, Rcponse d'lm Origins of English History. 85 The celebrated novel of " The Hyperboreans,"^ was as remarkable as the romance of Thule for its humourous exaggeration of the contemporary discoveries of Pytheas. It contains a description of Britain which must always be interesting, though its importance is sometimes exag- gerated. It has been said that the work of the later Hecataeus is on the subject of ancient Britain " the one voice that breaks the ominous silence of antiquity." But a more accurate estimate of its value may be found in the following extract from the works of an eminent Polish scholar r — " Hecatee a public un fameux ouvrage dont le titre decele une vieille idee poetique rajeunie sous sa plume. Elle devait s'allier aux nouvelles decouvertes et y prendre une place eminente au detriment de la science et du bon sens. Hecatee, enumerant tons les etres mysterieux de la geographic septentrionale, enrichit leur nomenclature d'une riviere scythique recemment trouvee en Orient par le con- querant, qu'il a appelee Paropamisos ; et plus encore des promontoires et des iles Celtiques, qu'il a probablement puisees dans les relations veridiques de Pytheas pour les entrelacer dans les plages superboreennes." We will not discuss the details of the imaginary geo- Campagnard a un Parisien ; and Schmidt's ^iis primce noctis. A list of the light literature of the subject^ from a play by Beaumont and Fletcher to the Folle yournee and the novels of Collin de Plancjy, may be found in an Essay on Manorial Rights by Labessade (Paris, 1878). ^ The work, 'Tnip twp "Tirep(iopEi(i)y, is supposed to have been written not long after the death of Alexander the Great by Hecataeus of Abdera. He must be carefully distinguished from the much older Hecataeus of Miletus, who first collected the Hyperborean legends. ^ Lelewel. Pytheas, 45. 86 Origins of English History. graphy, except to notice that the Polar Sea was called "Amalcium," a name which was afterwards adopted by science, as may be seen in the map of ancient Scandinavia in the Appendix. The traveller's route from the Indian Paropamisus to the Baltic and the German Ocean may be studied in the collections of Diodorus. Britain appears in this book as "Elixoia," an island about as large as Sicily, lying in the Celtic Ocean in front of the mouths of a mighty river. The climate was so soft that the crops ripened twice in the year. There are several allusions to the insular worship of the sun, the phenomena of the arctic climate, and the habits of the northern savages, which are all deserving of attention, as will be seen from the following extracts from Diodorus and Plinv. We will first deal with the temple, so often connected with Stonehenge, and with " the Boreads," in whose name has been traced an allusion to the power of the Bards. " There is in that island a magnificent temple of Apollo, and a circular shrine, adorned with votive offerings and tablets with Greek inscriptions suspended by travellers upon the walls. The kings of that city and rulers of the temple are the Boreads, who take up the government from each other according to the order of their tribes. The citizens are given up to music, harping, and chaunting in honour of the Sun." Every 19th year, w^e are told (with incidents which remind us of the folk-lore about the dancing of the Easter sun), the god himself appeared to his worshippers about the vernal equinox, and during a long epiphany " would harp and dance in the sky until the rising of the Pleiades."^ ^ Diod. ii. c. 3. Origins of English History. 87 Our next extract relates to the " happy suicides," and incidentally to certain barbarous customs which are stated to have prevailed at one time in the Baltic regions. " Behind the Rhiphoean hills, and beyond the North Wind, there is a blessed and happie people, if we may believe it, whom they call Hyperboreans, who live exceed- ing long, and many fables and strange wonders are reported of them. In this tract are supposed to be the two points or poles about which the world turneth about, and the verie ends of the heaven's revolution. For six months together they have one entire day, and night as longe, when the sun is cleane turned from them. Once in the year, namely at our midsummer, when the Sun entereth Cancer, the Sun riseth with them, and once likewise it setteth, even in midwinter with us, when the Sun entereth Capricorn. The countrie is open upon the Sun, of a blissful and pleasant temperature, void of all noisome wind and hurtful aire. Their habitations be in woods and groves, where they worship the gods both by themselves and in companies and congregations. No discord know they. No sickness are they acquainted with. They die only when they have lived long enough: for when the aged men have made good cheere, and anoynted their bodies with sweet ointments they leape off a certain rocke into the sea. This kind of sepulture is of all others the most happie." And in another short passage relating to the six months' daylight, we read that " they sow in the morning, reape at noone, at sunsetting gather the fruits from the trees, and in the nights they lie close shut up within their caves. "^ 1 Pliny, Hist. Nat. iv. c. 12. 88 Origins of English History. The story of the old men " tired of the feast of life," is based on a tradition of customs which are said to have once existed in the North. Even in comparatively modern times the Swedes and Pomeranians were accused of killing their old people in the way indicated in the passages quoted above. Perhaps a tribe of poor and hungry men would easilv fall into the habit of killing the useless members of the family ; and the practice may have survived long after the dreadful necessity had ceased. We find a notice of the tradition in the Saga of Gottrek and Rolf. " Here by our home," says the hero, "is Gillings-rock : w^e call it the family cliff, because there we lessen the number of the family when evil fortune comes. There all our fathers went to Odin without any stroke of disease. The old folk have free access to that happy spot, and we ought to be put to no further trouble or expense about them. The children push the father and mother from the rock, and send them with joy and gladness on their journey to Odin." The situation of several of these " Valhalla Cliffs " is said to be known in Sweden. The lakes, which stretch below, were called "Valhalla-meres" or "Odin-ponds." "The old people, after dances and sports, threw themselves into the lake, as the ancients related of the Hyperboreans": but if an old Norseman became too frail to travel to the cliff, his kinsmen would save him the disgrace of "dying like a cow in the straw^," and would beat him to death with " the family-club."^ Similar stories are told of the Heruli I Geijer, Hist. Sweden, 31, 32. One of the "family-clubs"' is said to be still preserved at a farm in East Gothland. As to the Heruli, see Pro- copius, De Bell. Goth. ii. 14, and Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. 39. As to stories about Icelanders, Westphalians, Slavs, and Wends, see Grimm, Deutsch. Alterth., 486, 489. "Die Kinder ihre altbetagte Eltern Blutfreunde Origins of English History. 89 " in the dark forests of Poland"; and among the Prussians " all the daughters except one were destroyed in infancy or sold, and the aged and infirm, the sick and the de- formed, were unhesitatingly put to death ":^ practices as remote from the poetry of the Greek description as from that reverence for the parents' authority which might have been expected from descendants of " the Aryan household." Of some of these Greek novels it is sufficient to know the names and subjects. One Amometus published a poetical description of a nation of " Attacori," living in a sunny country beyond the Himalayan range, which seems to have closely resembled the account of the Hyper- boreans, and to have also dealt with the habits of certain cannibal tribes who were supposed to live in the Scythian deserts.^ Jambulus, a writer who is best known by Lucian's parody, described the inhabitants of the Canaries or Fortunate Islands ; but he seems to have known nothing of the real story of the interesting Guanche race. His imaginary voyage may be studied in " Purchas' Pilgrims ;" and it will be found that he was responsible for the creation of some of the monstrous kinds of men, whose fantastic und andere Verwandten, auch die so nicht mehr zum Kriege oder Arbeit dienstlich, ertodteten darnach gekocht und gegessen, oder lebendig begraben, &c." {ihid. 488). 1 Maclear, Conversion of the Slavs, 166. Keysler, Antiqu. Septent. 148, cites several curious instances of this custom in Prussia from writers of local authority. A Count Schulenberg rescued an old man who was being beaten to death by his sons at a place called Jammerholz, or " woeful wood," and the intended victim lived as the Count's hall-porter for twenty years after his rescue. A Countess of Mansfeld, in the 14th century, is said to have saved the life of an old man on the Llineberg Heath under similar circumstances. ^ Pliny, Hist. Nat. iv. c. 12. go Origins of JEnglish History. manners and customs threw so much discredit on the true reports of the first explorers of the world. We may use the words of Tacitus, when he refused to admit the crea- tures of fancy into his "Germany." "All the rest is legend, as that these people have the faces and looks of men but the bodies and limbs of beasts, and the like : of which matters I know nothing for certain and therefore will leave them alone. "^ • Tac. Germ. c. 46. Origins of English History. 91 CHAPTER IV. Recapitulation. — Later Greek travellers. — Artemidorus. — Posidonius the Stoic— His travels in Western Europe. — Condition of the Celts in Britain. — Difficulty of framing general rules. — Division of population into three stocks. — British Gauls. — Insular Britons. — Pre-Celtic tribes. — Methods of finding their ancient settle- ments. — Antiquarian research. — Philological method. — Division of the Celtic languages. — Living forms in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Man, Brittany. — Dead forms : Welsh of Strathclyde, Pictish, Cornish, Gaulish, the Celtic of Thrace and Galatia. — Originals from which the groups are derived. — Lingua Britannica. — Affinities of Old Welsh— Whether more related to the Irish or the Gaulish. — Theory of the division of the Celtic stock. — Brythonic and Goidelic races. — Origin of the theory. — Similarity of Welsh and Gaulish languages. — The likeness explained. — Arose from independent causes. — The languages not similar at the same time. — Likeness between old forms of Welsh and Irish. — Welsh and Irish at one time united. — Occupation of Britain by a Celtic horde. — Separation of Welsh and Irish languages. — British language distinct from Gaulish. — Practical result of accepting the theory. WE have dealt, as best we might, with a subject that must always remain obscure. We have seen how Pytheas revealed a new world to the Greeks, and how the story became confused with legend until it seemed no better than an idle fancy, " as if a name and a tale were invented about a country which never had been."^ By the aid of the ancient criticisms we are able to guess very near to what the traveller said, even where his personal authority cannot now be cited, and wherever his actual words remain we may, of course, feel confidence in the reconstructed history. It is possible, however, that an incident here or there, a GalHc or a German custom, should rather be attributed to Posidonius or Artemidorus, or some ^ Plutarch, Julius Caesar, lO. 92 Origins of English History. other of the Greek explorers who followed on the track of Pytheas. Of these later travellers Posidonius is the most impor- tant.^ He seems to have visited every corner of the West, soon after the destruction of the Cimbric horde ; and his lively descriptions, first published in his lecture-room at Rhodes, are still among the best authorities for the customs of the peoples whom he visited. He received from the lips of Marius the story of the massacre of the Teutones, and drew that strange and brilliant picture of the barbarian armies which Plutarch has preserved in his biography of the Roman conqueror. We have already taken from Posidonius some parts of his description of Northern Spain, where stood " those mountains of uncoined money heaped up by some bounteous Fortune," where the soil was not so much "rich" as "absolutely made of riches" : we have borrowed from the sketches of life in Cornwall, and on the mud-flats of the German shore, which are believed to be fragments of his Historv ; and his authority will be cited again, when we come to consider the manners of the Gauls in Britain. But his work survives only in extracts which cannot now be pieced together. Enough remains to show his enthusiasm of research, and the vividness and elegance of his style : but the loss of his volumes on the Celts and the Germans must always be counted among the great disasters of literature. From the remains of such ancient descriptions, and from the discoveries of modern research, we shall endeavour to ^ See Bake's Posidonius (Leyden, rSro) ; and for extracts and anecdotes from the fifty volumes of the "Histories/" see Strabo, iii. 217, iv. 287, vii. 2935 Diod. V. 28, 30 ; Athenaeus, iv. 153, vi. 233; Eustathius, in Odyss. viii. 475, and in IHad. 915, Origins of English History. 93 reconstruct another portion of our history : and we shall seek in this part of the work to collect what is known of the Celts in the South of Britain, at a time when their local differences were not yet merged in the spread of the Roman culture. The obvious difficulty presents itself, that no single description will suit an assemblage of tribes differing in their origin, language, and customs. We can hardly attribute the population to less than three separate stocks : and it is not improbable, that the most primitive of these may be resolved into several elements. The civilised Gauls had settled on the eastern coasts before the Roman invasions began, and were to spread across the island before the Roman conquest was complete. The Celts of an older migration were established to the north and west and ruled from the Gaulish settlements as far as the Irish Sea ; and here and there we find the traces of still older peoples, who are best known as the tomb-builders and the con- structors of the pre-historic monuments. It is difficult, after the lapse of so many ages, to ascertain the boundaries and limits of the ancient settlements. Something, however, has been learned by the exploration of caves and tombs, by following the lines of old trading- roads, and by tracing old earthworks and boundary-dykes ; and the highest gratitude is due to the numerous scholars who have engaged in these special fields of research. Even more, perhaps, has been gained by the systematic measure- ment of ancient skulls and skeletons, and the comparison of the scattered ornaments, and implements of stone and metal, which are found in the tombs of the chieftains. But the safest method must consist in the study of the Celtic lansfuasres, or of their slight remains, surviving in ^4 Origins of English History. " glosses " or marginal interpretations of the words used in ancient manuscripts, in the titles of gods and legendary kines, in the local names of Gaul and Britain, or in fragments of the superscriptions upon altars, coins, and medals. The philologists have become familiar with the subject of the Celtic tongues. Very little indeed was known about the matter till Zeuss, with wonderful patience, constructed his comparative grammar. The science has now advanced so far, that some of his most striking conclusions seem doubtful in the light of the later evidence ; but his methods are still fruitful, and it may be said that his very mistakes are instructive. The Celtic languages are for the most part dead, and of some even the tradition is now almost forgotten. Those which survive are found in Wales and Ireland, in some parts of the Highlands, in the Isle of Man, and in Brittany. Of those that are dead we may mention, for our own country, the Pictish and the Welsh of Strath- clyde, and the Cornish^ or West-Welsh, which died out in Devon in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and finally disappeared in Cornwall a little more than a century ago. In close connection with these is the living '' Brezonec " of Brittany, which may have been carried across the seas by refugees from Britain. There are traditions besides of several western idioms, which may all be classified as Gaulish ; a very similar form was once used in Galatia f of some others used in "Celtiberia" we can only know ^ There were six dialects of Cornish. jMany of the words are still in use among the country people. See Williams, Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum, 1862. ^ " Galatas . . . propriam linguam, eandemque pene habere quam Treviros, nee referre si aliqua exinde corruperint." — St. Jerome, Comment. Origins of Eyiglish History. 95 that they were confused by intermixture with the lost languages of Spain, ^ But several of the languages in this list may be grouped under more general headings. The Old Welsh, for instance, or '^ Lingua Britannica," may be treated as the parent not only of modern Welsh, but of the dialects of Cornwall and vStrathclyde, as well as of the idiom which has survived in Brittany. The oldest Irish is found in the same way to be the original not merely of the modern Erse, but also of the Manx, which has been somewhat corrupted by admixture with the Norse, and the Gaelic of the western Highlands : and in like manner the continental dialects might be summed up in one description as having been derived from the oldest Gaulish. We are concerned here w^ith none but these parent- forms. Taking therefore the oldest known varieties of Welsh, Irish, and Gaulish, and comparing them together, we shall find that they differed widely among themselves, though all bear marks of a common descent from some primitive Celtic original. Comparing them with other Aryan tongues, we find that the Gaulish languages bore a close resemblance to Latin and the cognate Italian dialects. The Irish, on the other hand, seems to be of all the Celtic languages the furthest removed from the Latin. The question then arises, whether the oldest Celtic spoken in Wales was more like the Irish or the Gaulish, ad Gal. ii. introd. ; Valroger, Gaule Celtique, 52. M. Perrot {Revue Celtique, ii. 179) shows that St. Jerome is untrustworthy on points of this kind. > As to the lost languagesTof Spain, see W. v. Humboldt, Urbewohner Hispaniens (Berlin, 1821), Hoffmann, Iberer. (Leips. 1838), and Luchaire, Origines Linguistiques de I'Aquitaine (Paris, 1877). 96 Origins of English History. since those forms are found to differ so widely from each other. Were the Inland Britons, as distinguished from the ''Brythonic" or Gallo-British race, more nearly akin to the Irish Gael, or the semi-Latin tribes of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul ? The question is of great importance ; for, according to the answer received, we shall lose or retain a clue to several historical problems. In the one case, the study of the Irish antiquities will throw light upon those of Britain; but in the other case we must remain in the darkness that has gathered round the history of the Gauls. The answer has usually been, that the Irish and the Welsh were as far apart and distinct as was possible consistently with the admitted fact, that both were of the Celtic blood. It was said that the original stock was divided into two main families : that the Gaelic branch was represented in the West by the Irish and emigrants from Ireland ; while the "Cymric" branch was taken to include both the Welsh and the Gauls, and almost all the other Celts whose presence had been traced in Europe. It is conjectured, by those who adopt this view, that the Gaels, or Goidels, were the first to arrive, and that of the two main divisions they were the more numerous and the more important swarm. By the names of mountains and rivers their line of march has been traced along what in any case was a Celtic route, from the Steppe to the belts of sand between the Baltic and the Central Forest ; the locality of their principal settlements is found near the Rhine and the Moselle ; and the lines of their later movements are shown to lie northwards to Britain and eastwards as far as Galatia. The later immigrants are Origins of English Uistorv. 97 stated, on the same hypothesis, to have followed a different course. Having arrived at the Alps, they are said to have spread outwards from that centre, downwards to Italy and across the mountains to Gaul and Spain. In course of time, as it has been supposed, some tribes of their company were led or driven to Britain, where they attacked and drove out of the country the long-settled clans of the Gael.^ This theory has derived its main support from the belief, that the Irish language differed as radically from the Welsh as it undoubtedly differed from the Gaulish. We are not bound to debate the whole problem of the Celtic dispersion. But it is important for our purpose to consider whether that belief was correct, so far as this country is concerned. The intimate connection between the Welsh and the Gauls was inferred from the similarity of their languages, especially in those points on which they both differed from the oldest Irish. The earliest Welsh manuscripts were compared with the Gaulish vocabulary, as it has been gathered from proper names and from inscriptions to the local gods ; and it was found that the languages possessed a common stock of sounds and letters, as P, TH, and S between vowels, which had been dropped in Old Irish, even if they had ever belonged to its store. But upon a closer examination of the subject it was found that the ^ Taylor, Words and Places, 129, 157, 163 ; Arnold, Hist. Rome, i. 433. Professor Rhys gives the name of " Goidels " to the members of the Gaelic group, which included the Celts of the Gaelic- speaking districts of Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. The name "Erythons" represents the Celts of eastern Britain, whose language spread into Wales, Cnmhria, and parts of Devon and Cornwall. Celtic Britain, 3. ^8 Origins of Eiiglish History. deduction was wrong, though the examples appeared to be correct. The resemblance is deceptive, because the common characteristics did not exist in both languages at the same time. The likeness arose from causes which worked independently of each other ; and the steps by which the languages arrived at the same stage of growth were separated by long intervals of time. The " Bry- thonic" tribes, like their kinsmen the Continental Gauls, had used the sounds in question for some centuries before the Goidelic peoples had learned them ; and by the time that they were established in Wales, in the fifth or sixth century after Christ, the Gaulish tongue had either ceased to exist, or was so nearly lost in Latin^ that it could onlv be distinguished as a rustic mode of speaking.^ But it appears that the languages of Wales, and Ireland, during the same centuries, resembled each other in the very points on which they afterwards differed. It is true that the oldest of the Welsh manuscripts are much later than the end of this period of resemblance ; and it may be objected, that no sufficient proof could be given of the theorv which has found favour with the philological authorities.- But the answer lies in the fact that the forms of the ancient Welsh had been recovered ^ L'a^onie du vieux Celthjue se prolovgea longtemps sous ces noiiveaux ■maitres {/es barlares)." — De Belloguet, Gloss. Gaul. 49. The instances of late Gaulish, down to the seventh century, are collected in his introduction. " The oldest of the Welsh MSS. is the " Juvencus Codex," assigned to the ninth century. There are poems by several authors describing some of the incidents of the English Conquest ; but they survive in versions of which the language has been considerably modernised. See Skene^ Four Ancient Books of Wales. Villemarque^ Manuscrits des Anciens Bretons. Origins of English History. 99 from sepulchral inscriptions, containing Latinized proper names and sometimes bearing epitaphs in the same "Ogam character" as is used for the oldest Irish inscriptions.^ The result of these enquiries has been to establish a presumption of identity between the earliest forms of Welsh and Irish, which renders it highly probable that the nations themselves were once united. There are many indications that at one time they possessed a common stock of religious and social ideas ; nor indeed is there any evidence against their original unity, except the fact that their languages became different in form. But " length of time and remoteness of place introduce wonderful changes in a language.""" In the lapse of centuries many differences would naturally grow up between the nations, separated by the sea and possibly in each case by contact with the peoples whom they found already in possession. One chief difference would of course consist in a gradual divergence of idiom. Every language must continually ^ The Ogam characters date from about the 5th century a.d, ; they are believed to have been invented by Goidels acquainted with the Roman alphabet. Rhys, Celtic Britain, 250. " At one time," says Professor Rhys, " I had a notion that the Ogmic monuments on this side of St. George's Channel represented an early stage of Brythonic speech ; but that is a view which I have long ceased to hold." Archceol. Camhr. 5th Series, vi. No. 23 The inscriptions are found chiefly in South Wales and South-western Ireland, a few occurring in North Wales and Devon. The Ogam inscrip- tions in Scotland seem to be of later date. They have not yet been interpreted. See Brash, Ogam Inscribed Monuments, c. 15, and Rhys, Celtic Britain, 251. ^ Arnold's Rome, i. 437. "The Bronze period was long enough to admit of quite as great a differentiation in any single language as that Avhich exists between Gaelic and Cymric at present, or to allow of the importation of one already differentiated dialect in more than one not-recorded invasion." — Prof. RoUeston in " British Barrows," 622>- 7 * loo Origins of English History. change and shift its form, exhibiting like an organised being its phases of growth, decline, and decay ; and, in the case of these divided peoples, it is hardly to be sup- posed that their unwritten idioms would follow precisely the same course of phonetic alteration. There is no reason to disbelieve in their original unity, merely because the Welsh either approached or were forced to adopt the " Brythonic " or Gaulish form: it will be remembered that the Welsh itself broke up during the historical period into several different idioms ; and this may help us to under- stand how the change of the older language was effected/ Taking the theory, then, to be sufficiently established for our purpose, w^e shall now endeavour to put it to a practical use. It w^ill be found, that not only may the British history be illustrated by what is known about Ireland, but that the differences between the Welsh and the Gauls will help us to fix approximately the sites of the Gaulish colonies." There are proper names enough, 1 William of INIalmesbury noticed but a slight difference in his time between Welsh and Breton. " Lingua nonnihil a nostris Brittonibus degeneres." — Gesta. i. i. Giraldus calls the Breton an old-fashioned Welsh. " INIagis antiquo linguae Britannicse idiomati appropriato." — Descr. Cambr. c. 6. ^ Professor Rhys disagrees with the theory that the Celtic of the Ogam inscriptions underwent changes in the course of time which shaped it into the dialects called W^elsh and Old Cornish. He thinks that the Celts who spoke the language of the Celtic Epitaphs in the 5th and 6th centuries were " in part the ancestors of the Welsh and Cornish people," and that they afterwards changed their language from a Gaelic or " Goidelic " form to a Gallo-British or " Brythonic " form. " In other \^'ords, they were Goidels belonging to the first Celtic invasion of Britain, of whom some passed over into Ireland, and made that island also Celtic. At that point, or still earlier, all the British Islands may be treated as Goidelic, except certain parts "where the Neolithic natives may have been able to make a stand Origins of English History. loi inscribed on coins or mentioned in the narrative of the Roman wars, to furnish some slight glossary for such a purpose. Nor can one fail to gain some useful knowledge from them by the use of the phonological tests, if it be remembered that the Gaulish immigration was a long and gradual process, and if allowance be made for the care- lessness of classical writers in transcribing the barbarian names. against the Goidels ; but at some later period there arrived another Celtic people, which was probably to all intents and purposes the same as that of the Gauls." — Celtic Britain, 215. 102 Origins of English History. CHAPTER V. THE GAULS IN BRITAIN. Invasion by the King of Soissons. — Older settlements. — Kingdoms of Kent. — Forest of Anderida. — The Trinobantes — Extent of their dominions. — The Iceni. — The Catuvellaunian Confederacy. — Civilisation of the Gaulish settlers. — Physical appearance. — Dress. — Ornaments. — Equipments in peace and in war. — Scythed chariots. — Agricultural knowledge. — Cattle. — Domestic life. FIFTY years or more before the Roman invasions began the King of Soissons^ had extended his rule over the southern portions of our country. The transitory conquest may have increased the intercourse between the Island and the Continent ; but the origin of that intercourse must be referred to an older date. There are signs that an immigration from Belgium had been proceeding for several generations before the age of Divitiacus. There was a striking similarity between the language and manners of the Gauls on both sides of the Straits, the men of Kent in particular being nearly as much civilised as their kinsmen across the water ; and there were also such slight differences as w^ould naturally be found in colonies long separated from their parent- states. At a period not very remote from the life-time of Caesar himself several Belgian tribes had invaded the country for purposes of devastation and plunder ; and, finding the place to their liking, they had remained as 1 "Apud eos {sal. Suessiones) fuisse regem, nostra etiam menioria, Divitiacum, totius Galliae potentissimum, qui quum magnae partis harum regionuin turn etiam Britanniae imperium obtinuerit." — Caesar, De Bell. Gall. ii. c, 4. Origuis of English History. 103 colonists and as cultivators of the soil. Caesar could recognize the names of several clans, and could point out the continental states from which the several colonies had proceeded/ This can no longer be done ; but we may still hope, by such methods as have already been mentioned, to distinguish and identify the situations of the Gaulish kingdoms in Britain. The Gauls of a later generation pushed far to the north and west; but in Caesar's age they had not yet advanced to any great distance from the shores of the German Ocean. They were probably not yet established in the East Riding or to the westward of Romney Marsh ; but their settlements were spreading all round the estuary and up the valley of the Thames ; and it seems likely that they had occupied all the habitable districts on the coast between the Wash and the Straits of Dover. The four kingdoms of the "Cantii" stretched across East Kent and East Surrev between the Thames and the Channel, and the whole south-eastern district was doubt- less under their power. But it should be remembered that a great part of this extensive region was then unfitted for the habitation of man. The great marshes wxre still unbanked and open to the flowing of the tide ;- and several hundreds of square miles were covered by the dense Forest 1 De Bell. Gall. v. c. 14. Compare Pliny's mention of the " Britanni " in Belgium, Hist. Nat. iv. c. 17. "- See Prof. Pearson's Historical Maps with reference to the configuration of the coast at this time. With respect to Romney Marsh, which was not reclaimed until long afterwards, see Sir G. Airy's Essay on the Claudian Invasion of Britain. He stated that, if the sluice at Rye were broken, the whole low-lying district as far as Robertsbridgc would become a great tidal morass, and that such was undoubtedly its condition in the age of Caesar. 104 Origins of English History. of Anderida.^ The Gaulish"^ kingdoms, with their thickly- packed villages and their " infinite number of inhabitants," must have lain to the east of the forest, skirting the sea upon the south and bounded to the north by a wide dis- trict of fens and tidal morasses which at that time received the spreading and scattered waters of the Thames.^ ' This forest must at one time have covered most of south-eastern Britain, and was probably connected with the other forests that stretched from Hampshire to Devon. The Andred's-Wold comprised the Wealds of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, taking in at least a fourth part of Kent, " the Seven Hundreds of the Weald/' and all the interior of Sussex as far as the edge of the South Downs, and a belt of about twelve miles in breadth between the hills and the sea. Lambarde describes the Weald of Kent as being " stuffed with heardes of deere and droves of hogges," and adds that " it is manifest, by the Saxon Chronicles and others, that beginning at Winchelsea it reached in length an hundred and twenty miles towards the west, and stretched thirty miles in braidth towards the north." Per- ambul. Kent, 209. See Farley's Weald of Kent, i. 3725 and Kemble, Anglo-Saxons, ii. 304. "^ Caesar, De Bell. Gall. v. 12, 14. The Gaulish names to be noticed are those of the four kings, Cingetorix, Carvilius, Taximagulus, and Segonax, and that of the chieftain Lugotorix : upon the coins, those of Epillus and Dubnovellaunus ; and compare the local names, ToUopis for Sheppey, and Rutnp'ue for Richborough, which appear in Ptolemy's Tables. ^ Sir George Airy has published a paper on the Claudian Invasion of Britain {Atheiueum, No. 1683), in which the ancient state of the Thames is carefully described. " Whatever may be the date of the mighty embankments which have given its present form to the river-channel, there can be no doubt that they did not exist in the time of Claudius. Those vast tracts known as the Isle of Dogs, the Greenwich Marshes, the West Ham and Plumstead Marshes (which are now about eight feet lower than high-water), were then extensive slobs covered with water at every tide. The w^ater below London was then an enormous estuary, extending from the hills or hard sloping banks of Middlesex and Essex to those of Surrey and Kent, with one head towards the valley of the Thames and another head towards the valley of the Lea ; and, on the whole, offering a greater resemblance to the Wash, though longer in proportion to its breadth, than to any other place on the English coast." Origins of English History. 105 The Trinobantes, another Belgian tribe, had settled in such parts of the modern Middlesex and Essex as were not covered by the oak-forests or overflowed by the sea. Their western boundary may be fixed in the Valley of the Lea and along the edge of the " Forest of Middlesex/' which once spread northwards from the swamp at Finsbury and covered the Weald of Essex.^ Their northern limit was fixed at the Valley of the Stour, a flat and marshy tract which is thought to have been covered at that time by the sea for a distance of many miles above the termi- nation of the modern estuary,^ Above them lay the territory of another Gaulish nation. ^ For an account of this tribe see Rhys, Celtic Britain, 17, 310, and Welsh Philology, 192. For a description of the forest, of which some small remains exist in our own time, see Robinson, Hist. Hackney, 38. Dr. Guest describes part of the tribal boundaries in an Essay on the Origin of London {Athenceum, 1866, No. 2,022). "As the western boundary of the Trinobantes was undoubtedly the marshy valley of the Lea, the question naturally arises, What became of the district between the Lea and the Brent ? Here we have the larger part of our metropolitan county unaccounted for. The district was merely a march of the ' Catuvellauni,' a common through which ran a wide track-way, but in which was neither town, village, nor inhabited house." ^ Sir G. Airy has described the boundary in his Essay on the Clandian Invasion. " The Stour, traced upwards from Harwich, presents first a large estuary ; secondly, a large marshy valley, which I have seen covered with water for many miles in length, and which probal^ly in the ancient times was estuary." He points out the lines of defence which guarded the Trinobantian country. " In regard to defence from the mouth of the Lea to the mouth of the Stour it was well protected by the estuary and the sea. The Lea is in a wide marshy valley and to its marshes follow those of the Stort. The only part open to easy attack is the space between the Upper Valley of the Stour and the Upper Valley of the Stort ; and this, like the gate of a castle, presents the facilities recjuired for sallying out upon the rest of the country." He was referring \\\ this passage to a Roman occupation of Essex ; but the description is equally valuable when applied to the earlier invasion of the Trinobantes. io6 Origins of English History. The Iceni, or "the Ecene " (if we name them according to the legend on their coins)/ had seized and fortified the broad peninsula, which fronted on the North Sea and the confluence of rivers at the Wash, and was cut off" in almost every other direction by the tidal marshes and the great Level of the Fens. This region included all the dry and higher-lying portions of the district which was afterward known as East Anglia. On the western side, where a ridge of open country rose between the fens and *' the dense woodlands of Suffolk," Icenia^ was guarded by ' We should note the name of the King Prasutagus, which is sho\\'n to be GauHsh by the use of the letter " p," and by the position of the "s " between vowels. Several other " unmistakably Gaulish names " are found upon the Icenian coins. Such is " Addedomarus/' spelt in some cases with the crossed "d" and with the tlieta : it has been identified with the " Assedomarus " of a continental inscription. Other abbreviated forms are " eesu," "anted," and " antth " 5 the last is taken for " Antethrigu/' a title found on coins from the West of England. See Rhys, Welsh Philology, 193, 194, and Celtic Britain, 2)6, 277. Evans, Anc. Brit. Coins, 43, 44. The coins are found in gold and in copper plated with thin leaves of gold. Compare the description, ibid. 43, of a discovery of implements for striking spurious imitations of the Macedonian stater. Mr. Akerman first attempted (Archceologia, xxxiii.) to map the positions of the tribes by means of the discoveries of buried coins. Applying his method to the Iceni and the Trinobantes, he found that he could mark out a line where coins of the latter people had been found, which environed, if it did not strictly limit, the Icenian country, except where the fens intervened. " The coins of Cunobelin or with the mint-mark of Camulodunum have been found not only at Colchester, but also at Debden, Chesterford, Sandy, and Cambridge." See Akerman's essay and map in the Archceologia, " Pieces with the letters ' ece ' and ' ecen,' which in the opinion of numismatists are coins of the Iceni, have been found at Weston, between Norwich and Dereham, Numism. Chron. xv. 98. To this class is assigned a gold coin found at Oxnead, about ten miles from Weston : none such are authenticated as found westward of March in Cambridgeshire." Taylor, Topogr. East. Counties (1869), p, 43. ' For the Icenian boundaries, see Spelman's Icenia ; Camden's Britan- Origins of English History. 107 a rampart and fosse, now called the Devil's Dyke, which in time became the limit between East Anglia and Mercia.^ The other Gaulish settlements of Caesar's age were included in the " Catuvellaunian State, "^ a central kingdom which had been formed or much extended by the con- quests of Cassivellaunus. Though his power was checked in the Roman war, it revived and spread when the legions were withdrawn : and it is difficult for this reason to ascer- tain the primitive boundaries of the kingdom. They have been traced in part along the northern limit of Middlesex, by following an earthwork called the Grimesditch, "from nia, 330 3 Babington, Ancient Cambridgeshire, <,() ; and Taylor, Topogr. East, Counties, 18, 40, 6'^), where the district is described as co-extensive with the old Diocese of Norwich. Dr. Evans assigns to this tribe the whole Eastern region (comprising Norfolk, Suffolk, and parts of Cam- bridgeshire and Huntingdonshire), which was afterwards included in East Anglia, For a description of the fen-district in the eighth century, see the extract from Felix of Croyland in Leland, Cygn. Cantil. 62 : and for early instances of draining and inclosure, see Gale, Decern Script. 77, 94 ; Hallam, Midd. Ages, iii. 362. ' " On the marsh-land side of Norfolk another Devil's Dyke, a line of defence like the Cambridgeshire ditches, crossing a dry district between fens, is said to extend with some intermission from Narburgh to Brandon." Taylor, Topogr. East, Count. 40 ; Babington, Anc. Cambridge, 64. ' There are many forms of this name. The form used in the text was adopted by Dion Cassius, and its correctness is shown by an inscription found at Cambeck in Cumberland, " Civitate Catuvellaunorum, &c.," Horsley, xxvii. The people are also called " Catyeuchlani," on the authority of Ptolemy's Tables. In some of the MSS. they are said to be " also called Capellani," a reading which is followed by Nobbe in the edition of 1843, Florus, whose '"Epitome" was published not long after Ptolemy's work appeared, calls the British chieftain " one of the Cavelian kings." The name of the state seems to be connected with the Gaulish "catu," signifying war. See Revue Celthjue, i. 32. All the forms of the word are of an essentially Gaulish character ; and this may also be said of the name "Cassii " and " Cassivellaunus." Compare the continental names, " Vercassivellaunus," and " Vellaunudunum," io8 Origins of English History. Brockley Hill to the woodland of the Colne Valley, and thence to the Brent, and down the Brent to the Thames."^ But we have little else to guide us, except the knowledge that the state in question included the site of Old Verulam, and that the "Cassii" seem to have left traces of their name in Cashiobury and the Hundreds of Cashio in Hertfordshire. Though the earlier " Brythonic " settlers were nearly as much civilised as their continental neighbours, they are re- ported to have been simpler in their ways, perhaps because they had not as yet gained wealth by a conquest of the mineral districts. They had not even learned to build reirular towns, though their kinsmen in Gaul had founded O JO cities with walls and streets and market-places. What they called a town, or " diuumi^' was still no more than a refuge for times of war, a stockade on a hill-top or in the marshy thickets.'^ When peace was restored, they returned to their open villages built of high bee-hive huts with roofs of fern or thatch, like those which might be seen in the rural parts of Gaul.''^ These " wigwams " were made of planks and wattle-work, with no external decoration except the trophies of the chase and the battle-field : for a chiefs house, it seems, would be adorned with the skulls of his enemies nailed up against the porch among the skins and horns of beasts. The practice was described by Posidonius as prevailing " among the northern nations " ; and he con- ^ Guest, "Origin of London" {AtJiencciim, 1866, No. 2,022). A great many earthworks are known as Grimsditches, Grimsdykes, and by similar names ; and it is probable that they often represent the course of old tribal boundaries. See Dr. Guest's explanation of the matter in his "Early English Settlements," and corm^axe. Archceolog'ia (Salisbury, 1849). - Ceesar, De Bell. Gall. v. 21, and vii. 3, 14, 28, 42, 58. Strabo, iv. 297. Origins of English History. 109 fessed that, though at first disgusted, he soon became accustomed to the siglit. The successful warrior would sling his enemy's head at his saddle-bow ; and the trophies were brought home in a triumphal procession, and were either nailed up outside, or in special cases were embalmed and preserved among the treasures of the family/ As they had but recently settled in the island, we mav suppose that in features 2Ci\^ physique "dx^y resembled their kinsmen on the continent. If the inference be correct, it follows that they differed in several respects from the Britons of the preceding migration. All the Celts, accord- ing to a remarkable consensus of authorities, were tall, pale, and light-haired f but, as between the two stocks in question, we learn from Strabo that the Gauls were the ^ Strabo, iv. .302 ; Diod. Sic. v. c. 39. For the prevalence of the habit among the Bretons, see Vahoger, Gaule Cehique, 301. For similar habits among the Celts generally, see Sil. Ital. Punic, xiii. 482 • among the Irish, Revue Celt'u/ue, ii. 261, D'Eckstein's " Catholique," and Martin, Hist. France, i. 35 ; among the Boii, Livy, xxiii. 24 ; among the Lombards, Warnefrid, ii. 28, Gibbon, Decl. and Fall, c. 45 ; among the Scandi- navian nations, Keysler, Antiqu. Septent. 2^;^, citing the " Atla-Mal," and the stories in the Heimskringla of Mimir's head, and of " Malbrigd with the buck-tooth," Ynglinga-tal, c. 4. Harald Haarfagre's Saga, Laing, Sea-kings of Norway, i. 218, 291, and Robertson, Early Kings of Scotland, i. 46. The Museum of Aix contains bas-reliefs representing Gaulish knights carrying home the heads of their enemies : and on a coin of the ^duan Dubnorix " /e chef tient a la main une tcte coupce." Napoleon, Fie de Cesar, ii. 2>^, 361. 2 See Livy, xxxviii. 17, 21 ; Lucan, Phars. ii. 108; Amm. Marc. xv. 10. " X\\EovdCovT£Q ^loi'ov aypioTrjTL fjnyidei kuI ^avOoTTjri." Eustath. ad Dionys. on the passage, " Xevko. te (piiXa rfj^oi'Tcu." Compare the Gauls on the shield of yEneas, golden-haired and decked with gold, " Aurea caesaries ollis atque aurea vestis, Virgatis lucent sagulis. Tum lactea colla Auro innectuntur." — Virg. ^n. viii. 659. no Origins of English History. shorter and the stouter of limb, and with hair of a paler colour/ The accuracy of the old descriptions of the Gauls, (so far, at least, as concerns the kings and the chieftains,) has been ascertained by comparing the figures that remain upon monuments and medals, and by an examination of the skeletons from Gaulish tombs in France. The women, especially, were singularly tall and handsome ; and their approximation to the men in size and strength is the best evidence that the nation had advanced out of the stage of barbarism. If we may trust Ammianus Marcellinus, who had a personal knowledge of the people, the women were more formidable opponents than the men ; on a quarrel arising between her husband and a stranger, the Gaulish woman would throw herself into the fight, like a fury, with streaming hair, and would strike out with her huge snowy arms or kick, "with the force of a catapult.'"^ The men and women wore the same dress, so far as we can judge from the figures on the medals of Claudius. When Britannia is represented as a woman the head is uncovered and the hair tied in an elegant knot upon the neck ; where a male figure is introduced, the head is covered with a soft hat of a modern pattern. The costume consisted of a blouse with sleeves, confined in some cases by a belt, with trousers fitting close at the ankle, and a tartan plaid fastened up at the shoulder with a brooch. The Gauls were expert at making cloth and linen. They wove their stuffs for summer, and rough felts or druggets for winter-wear, which are said to have been prepared with ^ Strabo, iv. 278. Tacitus, Agric. c. 11. - " Quum ilia .... ponderans niveas ulnas et vastas, admistis calcibus, emittere coeperit pugnos ut catapultas tortilibus nervis excussos." — Amm. Marc. XV. 12. See Athena^us, xiii. 8. Origins of English History. ill vinegar, and to have been so tough as to resist the stroke of a sword. ^ We hear, moreover, of a British dress, called giianacum by Varro, which was said to be "woven of divers colours, and making a gaudy show."" They had learned the art of using alternate colours for the warp and woof, so as to bring out a pattern of stripes and squares. The cloth, says Diodorus, was covered with an infinite number of little squares and lines, " as if it had been sprinkled with flowers," or was striped with crossing bars, which formed a chequered design. The favourite colour was red or a ' pretty crimson : ' " such colours as an honest-minded person had no cause to blame, nor the world reason to cry out upon."^ They seem to have been fond of every kind of orna- ment.'* They wore collars and "torques" of gold, neck- laces and bracelets, and strings of brightly-coloured beads, made of glass or of "a material like the Egyptian porce- lain."^ A ring was worn on the middle finger, at the time 1 Pliny, Hist. Nat. viii. 48. " Strutt, Chron. 275. ^ Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxii. i : " Behold the French inhabiting beyond the Alpes have invented the meanes to counterfeit the purple of Tyrus, the Scarlet also and the Violet in graine : yea, and to set all other colours that can be devised, with the juice onely of certaine herbs " (Holland, ii. 115). Then follows the sentence quoted in the text. For the other passages, see Diod. Sic. V. c. 30 ; Pliny, Hist. Nat. xvi. c. 18; Pausanias, x. 2)(^. See also Logan's Scottish Gael. i. c. 6, for an account of the ancient Highland dress, and of the manufacture of tartan in the Hebrides. " Bark of alder was used for black ; bark of willow produced flesh-colour. Crotil geal, a lichen found on stone, was used to dye crimson, and another called Crotil duhh, of a dark colour, only dyes a philamot." ^ Diod. Sic. V. c. 27 ; " Les Gau/ois portaient des colliers, des louc/es d'oreilles, des bracelets, des annenux pour les Iras en or et eJi cuivre, sinvant leur rang, des colliers en ambre," &c. (Napoleon, Fie de Cesar, ii. 30). ^ Archceologia, xliii. 499. The glass is thought to have been brought from the Alexandrian factories. It is unlikely that it could have been made in 112 Origins of English History. with which we are dealing; but in the next generation the fashion changed, and that finger was left bare while all the rest were loaded/ A chief dressed in the Gaulish fashion must have been a surprising sight to a traveller. His clothes were of a flaming and fantastic hue ; his hair hung down like a horse's mane, or was pushed forward on his forehead in a thick shock, if he followed the insular fashion. The hair and moustaches were dyed red with the "Gallic soap," a mixture of goat's fat and the ashes of beechen logs. They decked themselves out in this guise to look more terrible in battle ; but Posidonius, when he saw them first, declared that thev looked for all the world like Satyrs, or " wild men of the woods. "^ The equipment of the Belgians in war'^ has been often Britain, because the natives were as yet unable to make bronze (Caesar, De Bell. Gall. v. 12), and glass-making is said to be the concomitant of the manufacture of that metal. " The scor'uc from the bronze-furnaces are in fact a kind of glass, a silicate of soda, coloured blue or green by the silicate of copper." Figuier, Prim. Man (Tylor). As to the green glass found in Scandinavian tombs, and attributed to a commerce with Phosnicia, see Nilsson, Stone Age (Thoms), p. 82. ^ " Galliae Britanniaeque in medio (annuluni) dicuntur usae. Hie nunc solus excipitur ; ceteri omnes onerantur, atque etiam privatim articnli minoribus aliis " (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxiii. c. 4). " Diod. Sic. V. c. 28; Caesar, De Bell. Gall. v. 13. " Demens imitare Britannos, Ludis et externo tincta nitore caput" (Propert. Eleg. ii. 18, 23). " Prodest et sapo, Galliarum hoc inventum rutilandis capillis : fit ex sebo et cinere. Optimus fagino et caprino." (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxvnii. c. 12.) The Germans used the same wash or dye, which ^vas called " Spuma Batava " (Mart. Epig. viii. 23). " Caustica Teutonicos accendit spuma capillos "' {Hid. xiv. 26). " Flavus color bellum minatur, ceu cognatus sanguini " (Clemens. Paedagog. ii. 3). I'he subject of the hair-dressing of the northern nations is discussed with much detail in the 4th part of Grupen, *' De Uxore Theotisca." ^ For the Gaulish weapons, see Diod. Sic. v. c. 30 ; Strabo, iv. 197. Origins of English History. 113 and minutely described. The shield was as high as a man. The helmet was ornamented with horns and a high plume, and was joined to the bronze cheek-pieces, on which were carved the figures of birds and the faces of animals in high relief. The cuirass was at first of plaited leather, and afterwards was made of chain-mail or of parallel plates of bronze. For offence they wore a pon- derous sabre, and carried a Gaulish pike, with flame-like and undulating edges " so as to break the flesh all in pieces." In addition to the bow, dart, and sling, the ordinary missile equipment, they had some other weapons of which the use is more difficult to explain. Strabo mentions, for instance, a kind of wooden dart^ used chiefly in the chase of birds, which flew further than any ordinary javelin, though it was thrown without the aid of the "casting-thong." The ^^ mataris'' was another missile, of which the nature is now forgotten. It may be the weapon which is depicted on some Gaulish coins, where a horseman is seen throwing a lasso to which a hammer-shaped missile is attached. And if the supposi- tion is correct, it will explain many obscure passages in ancient writings, where the weapon is described as return- ing to the hand of the person who cast it." *' Le Musee de Zurich possede line cuirasse gauloise formee de longue placjues de fer. Au Louvre et au Mus:^e de Saiiit -Germain il existe des cuirasses gauloises en bronze. . . . La cotte de mailles {etait une) invention gauloise." (jNTapoleon, Fie de Cesar, ii. 34. ^ ' EcTi C£ Kai -/pu(T(p(i) loiKog t,vXoy, Ik y^Eipvc ovk IE, aytcvXijc 'tcpiefiii'oi', ~r]\ej-jt\u)Te^ov kuI jjeXovq w ^luXiaTa Kat irpuc tciq opiiioi' ^pwvrat di'ipag. Strabo, iv. 197. ^ The mataris is described in the same passage of Strabo, Marapic -uXtov Ti eicog. Cicero mentions it as a weapon of the Gauls (Ad Herenn. iv. 33). The coins mentioned in the text are copied in tlie Revue Celtique, 8 114 Origins of English History. The "scythed chariots," or " covini," should be noticed in this connection. They seem to have been low two- wheeled carts, drawn by two or four horses apiece, on which a number of foot-soldiers, or rather dragoons, could be carried within the enemy's line. The captain or driver of the chariot was in command of the party. The cha- i. 7j where they are connected with the worship of Dis Pater, and of the Etruscan Charu or Charon. The weapons which returned to the thrower were the club of Hercules, which was supposed to be attached to a lasso : see Servius on Virg. .^n. vii. 741, "Teutonico ritu soliti torquere cateiam " : the hammer and the "anvil" of Thor, which returned to the places from which they were thrown : the club and the hand-stone of the " Dagda," a chief figure in the Irish mythology: the golden ball, or "apple," used as a weapon of this kind according to the legend of Fionn's Enchantment, Revue Celtique, ii. 196 ; the iron balls which have been found in late Celtic tombs, which are marked with grooves for attachment to the string ; and, according to the authorities next-mentioned, the javelin of Cephalus and the aqidfolia described by Pliny. The interest of the question lies in the fact that these reflexive missiles are sometimes confused with the Australian loomerang, which if skilfully cast will wheel back in the air to the thrower ; and several strange ethnological theories have been founded on this supposition. See Ferguson's Essay on the Antiquity of the Boomerang, Trans. Roy. Ir. Acad., 1838 ; and Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, 327. They treat the " cateia," or spear as having been connected in some way with the Australian implement. The minor authorities cited are the line of Virgil above mentioned, Festus, suh voce "Clava," the "panda cateia" of Silius Ital. Punic, iii. 374, "torquenscateias" in Val. Flacc, Argon, vi. 83, Amm. Marcell. xxxi. 7, and a passage from the Orig'ines of Isidore of Seville, which is chiefly remarkable for its omission of the thong mentioned by Servius. " Clava est qualis fuit Herculis, dicta quod sit'clavis ferreis invicem religata, et est cubito semis facta in longitudine. Haec est cateia, quam Horatius Caiam dicit. Est genus Gallici teli ex materia quam maxime lenta : quse jactu quidem non longe, propter gravitatem evolat, sed ubi pervenit vi nimia perfringit. Quod si ab artifice mittatur, rursus redit ad eum qui misit. Hujus meminit Virgilius, dicens ' Teutonico ritu etc' Unde et eas Hispani ' Teutones ' vocant." Isidore Orig, xviii. c. 7. " 0« a remarque que rEspagnol dit encore Chuzon, pour uri grand javelot ; mais ce mot nest autre, jc pense, que le Basque Chuzoa." De Belloguet, Gloss. Gaul. 209. Origitis of English History. 115 rioteers drove at full gallop along the enemy's front and sought to confuse his ranks by the noise of the charge and the danger of being run down, or of being injured by the scythes attached to the chariots. The soldiers of each party meanwhile hurled darts down as they passed, and, when they saw an opportunity, leaped out and engaged in a fight hand-to-hand. The drivers in the meantime drew off and formed a line, behind which their men could rally in case of need. These tactics appear to have been peculiar to the British Gauls, the Inland Britons being accustomed to rely upon their infantry, and the Continental Gauls being fonder of the cavalrv arm. The Romans were not so much impressed with the use of the bronze-scythes, which they must have often seen in Gaul, and probably in their Eastern campaigns, as with the novelty of the whole manoeuvre and the wonderful skill of the drivers. " They could stop their horses at full speed on a steep incline, or turn them as they pleased at a gallop, and could run out on the pole and stand on the yoke, and get back to their place in a moment."^ The British Gauls appear to have been excellent farmers, skilled as well in the production of cereals as in stock- raising and the management of the dairy. Their farms were laid out in large fields, without enclosures or fences; ^ Ceesar, De Bell. Gall. iv. ^o^r, Tac. Agric. c. 12; Mela, iii. c. 33 Juvenal, iv. 136. Compare Lucan, — " Optima gens flexis in gyrum Sequana frenis, Et docilis rector rostrati Belga covini." (Pharsalia i. 425.) The scythed chariots were common in Gaul, and their remains have not unfrequently been found in the tombs of the Gaulish chieftains. They are said to have been used in Persia, and may have been introduced by the Greeks of Marseilles. 8 * ii6 Origins of English History. and they had learned to make a permanent separation of the pasture and arable, and to apply the manures which were appropriate to each kind of field. We find no trace of a co-operative husbandry, such as was afterwards established in the English settlements. The plough was of the wheeled kind, an invention that superseded the old "over-treading plough," held down by the driver's foot, of which a representation in bronze has been discovered in Yorkshire.^ They relied greatly upon marling and chalking the land. " The same soil, however, w^as never twice chalked, as the effects were visible after standing the experience of fifty years."" The effect of the ordinary marl was of even longer duration, the benefit being visible in some instances for a period of eighty years. Pliny said that he never knew a case where the marling required to be repeated. But the process needed some care ; for the marl had to be mixed with salt, and scattered thinly over the grass, or ploughed into the arable with a proportion of farm-yard manure ; and even then the effects were hardly noticeable for a year or two.^ Their stock was much the same as that which their ^ For the invention of the wheeled plough, see Pliny, Hist. Nat. xviii. c. i8. With respect to the figure mentioned in the text, see Wright, " Roman Celt and Saxon," 256. The figure was found at Piersebridge, and is said to be in Lord Londesborough's collection. 2 Arthur Young, Annals (1793), xxii. 547, ^^^, where the whole subject is discussed with reference to Pliny. The chalk-marl was called " argentaria " • the lime-marl, a stonier kind, was known by the Gaulish name of "acaunu-marga." After the intercourse with Gaul became more constant, other varieties of marl came into use, as " the red, dove-coloured, sandy, and pumice-like varieties." (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xvi. c. 4.) ' "Alioquin novitate, quaecunque fuerit (marga), solum la^dat, ne sic quidem primo post anno fertilis." (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xvii. c. 4.) Origins of English History. 117 successors used for many years afterwards ; for there can be little doubt, that almost all our domestic animals had been brought to this country from the East by the races that preceded the Celts, The exceptions are the domestic fowl, the pigs descended from the wild swine, and the cattle of the Urus type. Their horses, or ponies as we should rather call them, were used apparently for food, as well as for purposes of draught. Their cattle were of two varieties : some were of the small Welsh breed {^Bos Longifrons) which is called " the Celtic short-horn," and others of the Kyloe or Argyllshire variety, which is hardly to be distinguished from the wild cattle of Chillingham, the descendants of Bos Primigenius. It has been doubted whether the sheep was known in these islands before the Roman invasions, chiefly because it is difficult to distin- guish its remains from those of the goat. But the latest discoveries are in favour of the theory, that the goat had been to a great extent superseded by the sheep as early as the beginning of the British Age of Bronze.^ With the aid of these details we can form a reasonably clear idea of the outdoor life of the people. And we are not without information concerning their social practices ; for Posidonius has left us the description' of a Gaulish banquet, which will help to explain the state of society among the Gauls who had settled in Britain. The traveller was delighted at the antique simplicity of his hosts, and amused at their Gallic frivolity and readiness for fighting 1 On this part of the subject, see Prof. Rolleston"s essay on the Prehistoric Fauna, in "British Barrows," 730, 750. As to the domestic fowl, ibid. 7303 the pig, ibid. 7375 the sheep, ibid. 740 j as to Bos Primigenius, ibid. 743. - Athen. iv. 15;, 153 j Strabo, iv. 277 ■ Diod. Sic. v. c, 31 ; Eustath. in Ihad. iii. 271, viii. 321, pp. 915, 1606. 1 1 8 Origins of English History. at meal-times. "They were just like the people in Homer's time." Not till after the feast might the stranger be asked his name and the purpose of his journey. But they differed from the Greek warriors in some ways, according to the minuter critics : for they thought a cut from the haunch to be the best part of the animal ; even the Germans, their neighbours, had lost the heroic fashion, and roasted the joints separately instead of taking "long slices from the chines of pork " ; and besides, he said, they drank milk, or wine unmixed with water. The guests sat on a carpet of rushes, or on skins of dogs and w^olves, not far from the pots and spits of the fireplace ; or they would sometimes sit in a circle on the grass in front of little tables,^ on which the bread was set in baskets of British work. There was always plenty of meat, both roast and boiled, of which they partook " rather after the fashion of lions," for they would take up the joint and gnaw at it ; but if a man could not get the meat off, he would use his little bronze knife, which he kept in a separate sheath by the side of his sword or dagger. They drank beer and hydromel, which was carried about in metal beakers or jugs of earthenware ; and the boys were always busy at taking it round, because the guests only drank by little mouthfuls, "pouring the beer through their long moustaches like water through a sieve or a funnel." The minstrels sang- and the harpers ^Compare the little tables of the Germans, "Sua cuique niensa," Tacitus, Germ. c. 22. 2 Posidonius did not sufficiently appreciate the bards. " The Celts (he said) take about with them a sort of parasites to sing their praises in public " (Strabo, iv. 277 ; Died. Sic. v. c. 31). Compare the description of the Irish minstrels in Froissart's Chronicle. A knight of the court of Richard the Second was appointed to look after four Irish kings. "When they were seated at table, they would make their minstrels and principal Origins of English History. 119 played, and as the company drank they bowed to the right, in honour of their god. The guests sat in three rings, — nobles, shield-bearers, and javelin-men, all in order of their precedence, and everyone of whatever rank had his full share of the meat and drink. If the warriors quarrelled about their helping of food, or on any matter of precedence, they would get up and fight the question out to the death ; and in more ancient times the strongest man would seize the joint and defy the company to mortal combat. If no duel occurred during the meal, the guests were entertained with a sword-play,^ or sometimes a man would die to amuse the rest. The careless Gaul would bargain for a reward to be paid to his friends, and then would lie down on his long shield and allow his throat to be cut or his body to be transfixed with a lance. servants sit beside jthem, and eat from their plates and drink from their cups. They told me that this was a praiseworthy custom of their country, where everything was in common. I permitted this to be done for three days j but on the fourth I ordered the tables to be laid and covered pro- perly, placing the kings at a high table, the minstrels at one below, and the servants lower still. The kings looked at each other and refused to eat, saying that I had deprived them of their old custom in which they had been brought up." (Froiss. Chron. iv. c. 84.) 1 For the German quarrels at meals, see Tac. Germ. c. 22. For the sword-play, iVid. c. 24. " They have but one kind of show, and they use it at every gathering. Naked lads, who know the game, leap among swords and in front of spears. Practice gives cleverness, and cleverness grace : but it is not a trade, or a thing done for hire ; however venture- some the sport, their only payment is the delight of the crowd." I20 Origins of English History. CHAPTER VI. CELTS AND NON-CELTIC TRIBES. The population outside the Gaulish settlements. — Insular Celts.— Pre-Celtic tribes. — How classified. —The Stone Age.— Bronze Age. — Iron Age.— Evidence of sequence in use of metals. — Special evidence as to Britain. — Remains of Palceolithic Age. — Britons of the Later Stone Age. — Tombs of the kings. — Cromlechs — Rites and superstitions connected with them — Examples. — Stories of Wayland's Smithy. — Troui des Nutans. — Classification of barrows — Chambered and unchambered varieties — Their contents. — Physical characteristics of the Tomb-builders. — The nature of their society. — Lake dwellings. — Survival of theneolithicrace. — Legends of Irish bards. — The Firbolgs. — Black Celts. — The Silures — Their character and habits. — Commencement of Bronze Age — On the Continent — In Britain. — Tribes of Finnish type — Contents of their barrows — Implements — Ornaments — Their agriculture — Nature of their society. THE Gaulish settlers had become so nearly civilized that they were ready to adopt the fashions of the South, almost as soon as they felt the approach of the Roman power. Their fitful spirit yielded in advance ; and their conquerors observed with contempt " how soon sloth following on ease crept over them, and how they lost their courage along with their freedom." Henceforth we shall have to do with the history of bolder races, as much excelHng the Gauls in the vigour and ingenuity of their defence, as they fell short in matters of culture and refinement. The districts undisturbed by the new colonies were held by the Celts of the earlier immigration, save where the remoter or less desirable regions may have been retained by tribes surviving from the ages of stone and bronze. We shall be concerned later with the history of the Origins of English History. 121 Celtic tribes ; but we must begin by analyzing in the first place the more primitive elements, of which the pre- sence is still to be observed in portions of the modern population. The periods of pre-historic time, so far as relate to the growth of our own society, are usefully distinguished by the transitions from the possession of polished flint and bone to that of bronze, and afterwards of iron. The date at w^hich a metal or alloy became known to particular peoples must have depended in each case on a variety of local circumstances. No one speaking generally for all the world could tell w^hether the working of iron preceded or followed the manufacture of bronze. The existence of the alloy implies a previous knowledge of the components. Copper " celts " are found in Ireland and Switzerland, and copper axes in Scotland, Italy, and Hungary •} while the word " axe " itself is said to be phonologically the same as an old Celtic name for copper ; so that we may conclude that the invention of bronze was the result of an attempt to harden the edges of the weapons of pure copper. As to tin again, no remains have been found of its use in a pure state, except a few beads, coins, and knife-handles, of comparatively recent times ; but we are not without evidence that it was used in Central Asia many centuries before the Christian Era. Its Eastern name implies that it was introduced to supply the place formerly given to lead, which was anciently called "Kazdir"; its western names, such as " stan " and " stagnum," have come from some unknown tongue. These calculations would take us back to the vast antiquity of the Asian Empires. But if the inquiry is ^ Westropp, Prehist, Phases, 71 ; Wilde, Catal. Roy. Irish Acad. 122 Origins of English History. confined to our own country, and the neighbouring coasts from which its population has been from time to time derived, we shall find that the " age of polished stone," \vhen no metals were known but gold, was succeeded suddenly and abruptly by a period distinguished by the number and variety of its w^eapons, tools, implements, and 'jewels of bronze' ; and that several centuries must have elapsed before the art of working in iron prevailed. The nations of pre-historic Britain may be classified according to a system derived from the history of the metals. The oldest races were in the pre-metallic stage, w^hen bronze w^as introduced by a new nation, sometimes identified with the oldest Celts, but now more generally attributed to the Finnish or Ugrian stock. When the Celts arrived in their turn, they may have brought in the knowledge of iron and silver ; the Continental Celts are known to have used iron broad-swords at the Battle of the Anio in the fourth century before Christ, and iron was certainly \vorked in Sussex by the Britons of Julius Caesar's time ; but as no objects of iron have been recovered from our Celtic tiumili^ except in some instances of a doubtful date, it will be safer to assume that the British Celts belonged to the Later Bronze Age as well as to the Age of Iron. We shall now deal in order with what is known of these several kinds of men, following as far as may be the course of their immigration from the East. We shall collect the most striking results of the inquiries into their ancient customs, so that having thus cleared the ground w^e may form some useful estimate of the influence which can be attributed to their descendants. We need not describe in detail the relics of the palaeo- Origins of English History. 123 lithic tribes, who ranged the country under an ahnost arctic climate, waging their precarious wars with the wild animals of the Quaternary Age. The searching of their caves and rock-shelters, and of the drifts and beds of loam and gravel, in England and the neighbouring countries, has brought to light great numbers of their flint-knives, hammers, and adzes, and instruments for working in leather. The beads and amulets, and the sketches of the mammoth and groups of reindeer which have been found in the French deposits, show that they were not without some rudiments of intelli- gence and skill ; and, at any rate, they could trap and defeat the larger carnivorous animals. We cannot gain a clearer notion of their life than that which is given by the picture of the Fennic tribes of whom Tacitus said, that they attained the most difficult of all things, to be " beyond the need of prayer." " They are wonderfully savage (he said) and miserably poor. They have no weapons, no horses, no homes : they feed on herbs and are clad with the skins of beasts ; the ground is their bed, and their only hope of life is in their arrows, which for lack of iron they sharpen with tips of bone. The women live by hunting, just like the men ; for they accompany the men in their wanderings and seek their share of the prey : and they have no other refuge for their young children against wild beasts or storms, than to cover them up in a nest made of interlacing boughs. Such are the homes to which the young men return, in which the old men take their rest."^ 1 Tac. Germ. c. 46. Good descriptions of the palaeolithic societies will be found in Figuier's " Primitive Man " (Tylor) and in " V Homme pendant lesAges dela Pierre,'" by Dupont (Paris, 1872). Prof. Rolleston aptly cited, in a late Address to the British Association, the complaint of Job against the 124 Origins of English History. No continuity of race can be proved between these savages and any tribe or nation which is now to be found in the West of Europe. We shall therefore pass to the Neolithic Age, on which so much research has been of late years expended, that we can form some clear idea of the habits of the people of that time, of the nature of their homes, and even of their physical appearance. The most important relics of that period are the great mounds or "Tombs of the Kings," the vaults and tribal sepulchres, which remain still buried in earth or denuded as " cromlechs " and standing-stones, all round the British Islands and along the opposite coasts, from Brittany in one direction to the inner regions of the Baltic in the other. The mounds have been in most cases disturbed bv earlv treasure-hunters, or by persons searching for saltpetre, or farmers who required the mould for the purposes of agri- culture. The massive structures of stone, which were thus laid bare, have been the subject of all kinds of fan- ciful theories about serpent-worship and the ritual of the Druids ; and in former ages they were generally regarded with superstitious feelings, "fears of the brave and follies of the wise," which now only linger among the most igno- rant peasantry. Their names are of such forms as the Giant's Grave and the " Fairy Toote,"^ " Hob o' th' Hurst's people of the lower races, " whose fathers he would have disdained to set with the dogs of the flock." "Fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste, to dwell in the clefts of the valleys, in caves of the earth and in rocks ; among the bushes they brayed j under the nettles they were gathered together." (Job xxx. t, 3, 6, 7.) ^ An important and interesting account of the exploration of the long barrow called the Fairy Toote, at Nempnet. near Bath, by Mr. T. Bere in 1789, will be found in the Gent. Mag. 1 789-1 792, vol. lix. i. 392, and 1. 602 J Ixii. 2, 1082, 1188. Origins of English History. 125 House," the Pixy Rocks and Odin's Stone ; or in some cases they recall the legend of the dragon which hides the enchanted treasure. In France the names are of the same kind, or arise from the story of some legendary god or hero, as Roland or Gargantua, or of some precious object buried there, as at the Dolmen des Pier res Turquoises. The uncovered long barrows of the Province of Drenthe, in Holland, are known as Uilnebedden^ or Giants' Beds, and the chambered mounds of Denmark as jfettestuer^ or abodes of giants. A few examples may be selected from the abundant literature of this subject, to illustrate in the first place the nature of the rites which took place at the funeral mounds, after their original purpose was forgotten ; and secondly, to show how these barrows became connected with the ancient story of " Robin Goodfellows that would mend old irons in those ^olian isles of Lipari," of which one version has been quoted from a fragment of the writings of Pytheas. The first instance is taken from the life of the Apostle of Germany. When St. Boniface began the conversion of Friesland, at the beginning of the eighth century, he found that one of the megalithic tombs in the Province of Drenthe had been turned into an altar for human sacrifices. The wild Teutons "sent to Woden " any stranger who fell into their hands, making him first creep through the narrow openings of the stones that supported the " altar." The latter practice was observed till late in the Middle Ages, " especially when they caught a man from Brabant"; but the bloodthirsty offering was abolished by the influence of the saint.^ Monuments of this kind are known to 1 This little-known story may be found in Keysler, Antiqu. Septcnt. 41, in the Tract upon Stonehenge. It is cited from Schoenhovius, De Origine 126 Origins of English History. have been used as altars in Holstein and in places near the mouth of the Elbe ; and a celebrated Ordinance of Carloman, promulgated in a.d. 743, forbade the Franks to continue the rites which they performed " upon the stones."^ The way in which the cromlechs were regarded by the Celts in Britain may be inferred from the archaic superstitions which survive among the Bretons of the Lconnais, a district chiefly colonised by emigrants from Britain, where the peasant-women make offerings for good fortune in marriage to the fairies and dwarfs who are believed to haunt the graves. The other example relates to the cromlech called " Wayland's Smithy,"^ at Ashbury, in Berkshire, so named et Sedibus Francorum ; Matthaeus, Analecta, i. ^6. It may be useful to collect some of the references to ancient writings which notice the Continental ' long barro\^'s.' Some will be found in the Baltic and Northern Newsletters (published in Latin) for 1699, i/oo, 1702. The altar near the Elbe was described by Ristius, Colloqu. Menst. Dial. 6; others in Holstein by Torkill Arnkiel,'De Religione ethnica Cimbrorum ; IFormius, Monum. Dan. i. 8 ; Schaten, Hist. Westphal. vii. 4865 Hamcon. Frisia, 76 ; Van Slichtenhorst, Geldersse Geschieden. 78. For the pyramidal tiunuliis at Mentz, see Schedel, Chron. Nuremberg, 39, and Tenxel, Colloqu. Menst. (1698), 270. A catalogue of early tracts upon the subject is given by Keysler, pp. no, 113. ^ "Quae faciunt supra petras." Seethe Indiculus Superstitionum, among the Ordinances of the Merovingian kings. ^ For " Wayland's Smithy," see Dr. Thurnam's tract in the Wilts. Archaeol. Mag. vii. 321 3 Archceologia, xliii. 205; and Akerman's account, Archccologia, xxxii. 3123 Hoare's Anc. AVilts. ii. 473 and the notes to Sir W. Scott's Kenilworth. Aubrey's description in his still unpublished Moiiumenta Britannica was as follows : " About a niile from White Horse Hill, on the top of the hill, are a great many great stones, which were layed there on purpose ; but as tumbled out of a cart, without any order; but some of them are placed edgewise." He added, after a visit to the place, that " the sepulchre was 74 paces long and 24 broad," and was like "the rude stones" of the cromlech called Y Leche at Origins of Eiiglish History. 127 after the hero Weland, the Vulcan of the Teutonic mytho- logy. The monument consists of a ruined chamber, of some remains of a gallery, and of a second chamber to complete the cruciform plan, which were all at one time buried in the earth and surrounded by a ring of stones, or " peristalith " of an oblong form. It is a Long Barrow of the type which is common in the neighbouring districts of North Wilts. " At this place " (so the legend runs) '' lived formerly an invisible smith, and if a traveller's horse had lost a shoe upon the road, he had no more to do than to bring the horse to this place, with a piece of money, and leaving both there for some little time, he might come again and find the money gone, but the horse new shod." A similar story is said to be current in Oldenburg, where an invisible smith called the Hiller shoed horses in a Caer-Gebi, near Holyhead: "and this great sepulchre called Wayland Smith is not unlikely to be a great and rude monument of Hengest or Horsa, for in their countrey remain many monuments like it." Compare Lambarde's account of the Kentish cromlech called Kits Coty House, near Aylesford : " The Britons returning from the chase erected to the memorie of Catigern, as I suppose, that monument of foure huge and hard stones, which are yet standing in this parish, pitched upright in the ground, &c. For I cannot so much as suspect, that this should be that which Beda and the others do assigne to be the tomb of Horsa." (Peranib. Kent, 409.) The oldest mention of "Wayland's Smithy" implies that it had been long uncovered. King Edred, in a.d. C)<,^, granted an estate at Compton Beauchamp, of which the boundaries were marked by certain barrows called Hilda's Lowe, and Hwittuc's Lowe, " and along to the wide gap east of Welandes Smithan." (Kemble, Codex Dipl. v. ,343.) See Veland le Forgeron, Depping (Paris, 1833), ^""^ Singer's edition (Pickering, London, 1847). I'^'^g Alfred made a curious allusion to the legend in his translation of Boethius : "Who knows now the bones of the Wise Weland, under what barrow they are concealed ? " For a list of places taking their names from the demi-god, see Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. 350. 128 Origi7is of EnglisJi History. cavern, if a proper fee was left upon a neighbouring stone. The country people living near the remains of an "altar," or lone barrow, in Ditmarsh, were accustomed in like manner to leave some gift at the standing-stones in the hope of finding a present of money, when they came to search the recess.^ In the Belgian caves, which are called '''' Ixs Trons des Nittons^ a kind of dwarfs, like "metal- men," were supposed to shoe the horses, or to repair the broken articles of metal, which the villagers deposited for the purpose with a gift of cakes, of which the Nutons were especiallv fond ; " mais^ tlu Joiw, Ics villageois aiiraicnt melt des cendves a la pate ; les JVntons indignes se scr Client empresses de quitter ces lieux^ et ny aiiraient plus reparur The tombs of the Neolithic Age in England are of two kinds, distinguished by the absence or presence of a stone vault or a series of such vaults. The huge unchambered mounds of Dorset and South Wilts are thought to have been built as tribal graves by the earliest of the immigrants from Asia. They are built for the most part in picturesque ^ An account of this barrow is cited by Keysler from the Baltic News- letter, 1699, p. 286; Antiqu. Septent. 44. For the Oldenburg custom, see Dr. Thurnam"s tract mentioned in the preceding note. Prof. Boyd Dawkins refers to a story from Elbingrode, in the Hartz Mountains, where the dwarfs were asked to lend metal vessels for weddings ; then the appli- cants retired a little way, " and when they came back, found everything they desired set ready for them at the mouth of the cave ; when the wedding was over they returned what they had borrowed, and in token of gratitude offered some meat to their benefactors." (Cave-hunting, p. 2, from Behren's Hercxjma Curiosa.) The story of the N'utons, in some parts of Belgium called Lutons, Sottais, and Sarrasins, and the references col- lected for its illustration, will be found in Dupont's L' Homme pendant les Ages de la Pierre, 241. Compare the legend of similar magical loans at the Stone on Borough Hill near Frensham, Surrey. Keightley, Fairy Myth. 295. Origins of English History. 129 and striking situations, whence they might be seen from far and wide ; " SaHsbiiry Plain is guarded by a series of such Long Barrows, which look down on its escarpments like so many watch-towers " ; and the same care in the choice of positions for the tumuli may be observed on the Yorkshire Wolds. The Vaulted Tombs, or the ruined remains of their chambers, are found in many parts of the South of England, in North Wales, and in the North of Scotland ; and the closest similarity in construction is observed in barrows at places so far apart as Gloucester- shire and the extremity of Caithness, the earthen mounds being in each case held together by two or three parallel walls, built inwards in a heart-shaped curve on the side of the entrance-passage. Some Scotch tombs of the same age retain this last peculiarity, but in other respects resemble the circular tombs of Scandinavia; and examples of the same type may be found in Brittany and in the Channel Islands, in the " Giants' Chambers " of the Scilly Isles, the Maes Howe pyramid in Orkney, and the great chambered barrows of New Grange and Dowth on the banks of the Boyne. These tombs, except in districts where the fashion of cremation prevailed, are usually found to contain the frag- ments of a great number of skeletons, huddled together and disordered, as if there had been temporary or pro- visional burials while the monument was in course of construction. It is seldom that relics of any great import- ance are found in British barrows of these early types. The list of discoveries includes a few delicate leaf-shaped arrow-heads, and some other articles of horn and polished stone, and fragments of black hand-made pottery ; and there are occasional deposits of bucks' horns, the tusks of 9 i-^o Origins of English History. boars, skulls of oxen, and the bones of geese or bustards, which seem to have been thrown into the graves by the guests at the funeral banquets. From the bones which have been taken from the tombs, and from the ancient flint-mines uncovered in Sussex and Norfolk, the anatomists have concluded that the Neolithic Britons were not unlike the modern Eskimo. They were short and slight, with muscles too much developed for their slender and ill-nurtured bones ; and there is that marked disproportion between the size of the men and women, which indicates a hard and miserable life, where the weakest are over-worked and constantly stinted of their food. The face must have been of an oval shape, with mild and regular features : the skulls, though bulky in some instances, w^ere generally of a long and narrow shape, depressed sometimes at the crown and marked with a prominent ridge, " like the keel of a boat reversed." Of their way of living we can judge in part by the character of their implements and weapons, and in part by the bones of animals found in the refuse-heaps of the fishermen's villages, or in the mountain-caves, or about the lacustrine settlements. They had certainly passed out of the mere "hunter's life" ; and were possessed of most of the domesticated animals.^ According to a prevalent ^ They seem to have had no chickens, but the skeleton of a goose was found in a long barrow at Stonehenge, with bones of a stag and of a short-horned ox. Archceologia, xliii. 183. Prof. Rolleston states, that no one, with the evidence properly before him, " can doubt that the goat, sheep, horse, and dog, were imported as domesticated animals into this country in the earliest neolithic times." (British Barrows, 750.) And though the natives may have trapped and tamed the young of the Urus and wild swine, it appears by the authorities already quoted, that the Bos Lojigifrons and the Origins of English History. 1 3 1 theory, first suggested by Professor Nilsson with regard to the " gallery graves " of Denmark, the vaulted tombs were copied from subterranean houses, constructed to supply the want of natural caves. It has been doubted indeed in many cases, whether the " Picts-houses " in Scotland, and the Irish '^ Clochdns'' which resemble them, were tombs or subterranean houses ; and near one of the long barrows in Gloucestershire " there were formerly several underground circular dwellings, of which one still remains, furnished with recesses and seats, which can hardly be regarded as other than the abodes of the people by whom the barrow itself was constructed " f and pit- dwellings of a similar kind have been explored at High- field, near Salisbury, and in other parts of England. But on the whole there is a lack of convincing evidence, that any of these earth-houses were used as the homes of the neolithic men. Most of them are too narrow and ill- ventilated to serve for anything but a store-house or a granary ; and even in the cases where this objection is not applicable, we must remember, that the Germans made artificial caves of this sort as late as the age of Tacitus. "They are wont to dig caves underground, which they Asiatic breed of swine \^'ere certainly possessed by the Britons of the Stone Age. ^ Archceologia,i^\\\. 223; Nilsson, Primitive Inhab. Scandin. 132, 152. For the Picts-houses, see Arc]i(vologia,^-yi\Y. ii"] -^ and Logan's Scottish Gael, ii. 10, 12. The Highfield pits are described by Mr. Stevens, in " Flint Chips," as being " single or in groups communicating with each other" : they are of a beehive form, ranging in diameter from 5I feet to 7 feet : " in some exceptional cases they measure as much as 14 feet." "The makers have studied the properties of the chalk, for they have enlarged their dome-like dwellings, when possible, beneath the looser gravel." 9 * 132 Origins of Eiiglish History. cover with heaps of manure : this makes a refuge in winter, and a storehouse for the crops ; because in these places the hardness of the frost is easier to bear, and when an enemy invades he ravages the open country, while the hiding-places either remain unknown, or escape discovery from the very necessity of searching for them."^ More authentic remnants of the dwellings of the Neolithic Age have been discovered in the Welsh and English lakes, and in some of the meres and "broads" of Norfolk. The villages seem to have been raised on piles or on heaped-up fascines of faggots and brushwood, in the fens or over the reaches of shallow w^ater in the lakes, with galleries leading to the land for the daily passage of the cattle. The lake-dwellings of the Stone Age were always near the shore, but it seems that in the Bronze Age a greater skill or boldness was acquired ; and by using w^hole trees for supports, and by piling up stones for a foundation, the villages w^ere built over the deep water at a safer distance from the land. The heaps of stone were sometimes raised above the surface of the water, as in the " Crannoges," or artificial islands of the Scotch and Irish lakes: a mass of fern and boughs was sunk into the mud and covered with lavers of losfs and stones, and the whole structure was upheld and bound together by a stockade of joists and beams. Of the numerous descriptions of this kind of lacustrine settlement the best is still the picture which Herodotus drew of the villagers on the Roumelian Lake. " Platforms supported on tall piles stand in the middle of the lake, and are approached from the land by a single narrow bridge. At first the piles which bear up the platforms were fixed in ' Tacitus, Gerniania, c. 16. Origins of English History. 133 their places by the whole body of the citizens ; but since that time the custom which has prevailed about fixing them is this : they are brought from a hill called Orbelus, and every man drives in three for every wife that he marries.^ Now the men have all many wives apiece, and this is the way in which they live. Each has his own hut, wherein he dwells, upon one of the platforms ; and each has also a trap-door giving access to the lake below ; and their wont is to tie their baby children by the foot with a string, to save them from rolling into the water."^ As the Romans advanced westwards in their British conquests they observed that certain tribes were different in manners and appearance from the Gaulish and the Insular Celts ; and they were led, by a mistaken estimate of the vicinity of Ireland to Spain, to account for this fact by the hypothesis of a Spanish migration, " Who were the original inhabitants of Britain" (said Tacitus, in a passage 1 " Le dt'taiJ est aussi plus cnrieux qii encore aujourcV hui dans la vallee de Liichor existe en France un usage analogue. L'arhre de St. yean est dil par le dernier marie de lannee, '■> Wellbeloved, Eburacum, 62. According to the fable of Nennius Constantius died at Carnarvon. " His sepulchre, as appears by the inscription on his tomb, is still seen near the city named Caer-Segont. Upon the pavement of that city he sowed three seeds of gold silver and brass, that no poor person might ever be found in it." Hist. Nenn. 25. As to this piece of folk-lore, compare the story in the Heimskringla, Ynglinga-Tal, c. '^2)- "There is a long account in the Skioldung Saga about Rolf Kraka coming and sowing gold on the Fyrisvold." Laing, Sea Kings of Norway, i. 245. As to the tomb, Nennius perhaps referred to the real inscription oh the " Ogamstone " of some later King of North Wales, such as that of " Catamanus, Rex sapientisimiis opinatisimus omnium,^^ found in Anglesea, or that rude epitaph of a provincial Carausius found near Carnarvon, " Carausius hie jacit in hoc congeries lapidum." Camden's Britannia (Gibson), 811 ; Rhys, Welsh Philology, 364, 26(). Origins of English History. 323 that his election was chiefly due to the friendly zeal of a German king who had brought his army to Britain to assist in the northern campaign.^ The scheme of government which Diocletian had de- signed was in some respects amended by Constantine. Britain formed one diocese of a vast pro-consulate extend- ing from Mount Atlas to the Caledonian deserts, and governed by the Gallic Prefect through a " Vicar " or deputy at York. The island was divided into five new provinces without regard for the ancient boundaries,^ To each was assigned a governor experienced in the law, who dealt with taxation and finance. The army was under the general jurisdiction of the two Masters of the Cavalry and Infantry, whose task was to supervise the forces of the ^ The chronicler gives the following account of the aid rendered by Chrocus and his AUemanian army : " Cunctis qui aderant annitentibus sed praecipue Croco Alamannorum rege, auxilii gratia Constantium comitate, imperium capit." Victor. Jun. c. 41. "This" says Gibbon "is perhaps the first instance of a barbarian king who assisted the Roman arms with an independent body of his own subjects. The practice grew familiar, and at last became fatal." Valentinian in the same way engaged the services of "King P'raomar." Animian. Marcell. xxix. 4. ^ The names of the provinces appear in the " Notitia." Upper Britain was subdivided into " Britannia Prima " and " Britannia Secunda." Lower Britain was divided in the same way into "Flavia Caesariensis " and "Maxima Caesariensis." " Valentia " was between the Walls of Hadrian and Antoninus. According to Pancirollus, Not. Dignit. Comment. 159, 161, 162, 176, " Britannia Prima" was probably the south-eastern province, and " Maxima " the district between the Wash or the Humber and Hadrian's Wall. Rid. 158. According to Dion Cassius (Xiphiline), Iv. c. 23, Caerleon and Chester were in Upper Britain, and York was in Lower Britain. Rhys, Celtic Britain, 97 ; Scarth, Roman Britain, 96. It seems that the old tribal names remained in use, and were revived when the country became independent. See the list of the British cities by the Ravenna Geographer, and such inscriptions as " Corbalengi jacit Ordous,'' and " Doluni Fabri." Rhys, Welsh Philology, 203, 379, 400. 21 * 324 Origins of English History. Empire in the West. But, so far as this country was concerned, it was under the direct orders of the " Count of Britain," assisted by two important though subordinate officers. The " Duke of Britain " commanded in Upper Britain, and the districts adjoining the Northern walls, while the " Count of the Saxon Shore" held the govern- ment of " the maritime tract," and provided for the defence of the fortresses which lined the South-Eastern coast. ^ The point of chief importance with regard to this system of government is to explain the intricate scheme of roads and fortresses, by which these generals were enabled to secure the free movement of troops from coast to coast, or towards any danger upon the frontiers. In this expla- nation we are helped by the " Notitia " for the period between the reign of Constantine and the retreat of the Roman armies, and for the preceding period by the "Itinerary of Antoninus," which shows the lines of com- munication between all the cities in the Empire.^ With the assistance of these records we are able to trace the principal military routes which connected the northern frontiers with the stations in the South and West, and with the districts on the Saxon Shore. But we must ^ There was another " Saxon Shore " on the opposite coast, with its head-quarters at Boulogne. For a description of the forts on the " Littus Saxonicum per Britannias " see Pancirollus, Not. Dignit. Comment. 161. ^ The " Antoninus " whose name gave its title to the record was Caracalla, the successor of Severus. Several commentators, however, assign the date of the Itinerary to the age of Constantine the Great. The difficulties in using this document arise from the paucity and corruptness of the MSB., and in particular from the errors of mileage appearing in the earliest copy, which can hardly be amended by modern research or conjecture. Origins of English History. 325 first consider whether any help can be gained from the identification of these roads with the four national highways, so famous in the medigeval records, which were for centuries placed under the " King's Peace " and guarded by special laws from injury.^ "It is the general voice," said Gale, " of all our historians, that four great roads or streets ran from several points across this island. But writing long after they were made, and in different times, they have left their accounts of them so obscure and uncertain, both as to the courses they held and the names they were known by, that it is no wonder if we, who come so many ages after them, are still in the dark and so much at a loss to trace any one of these streets from the beginning to the end of it ; and indeed I now conclude it is impossible to do it without great interrup- tions, time and other accidents destroying every day more and more of their mouldering remains."^ ^ These were the "Gluatuor Chimini " of the Norman Laws. Palgrave, Commonw. 2845 Thorpe, Anc. Laws, 192; Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 182. ^ Gale, Essay towards the recovery of the courses of the Roman Ways, in Hearne's Leland, v. 116. The chief difhculties have arisen from trusting to stories taken from the Welsh chronicles. According to the fables of Geoffrey of Monmouth "King Belinus " paved a causeway of stone and mortar running from the Sea of Cornwall to the shores of Caithness, and another across the breadth of his kingdom from St. David's to the Port of Southampton, " and other two he made obliquely through the island for a passage to the rest of the cities." Geoff. Monm. iii. c. 5- According to this scheme, which was adopted by the monkish chroniclers, the Fosse- Way passed from Totnes to Caithness, the Ermin Street from St. David's to Southampton, the Ikenild Street (confused with the Ryknild Way) from St. David's to Tynemouth, and Watling, Street from Dover through Chester to Cardigan. The first step towards accuracy in the matter is gained when these legends are cast aside. The chief authorities for the false description are Henry of Huntingdon, Higden's ' Polychronicon,' and Drayton in his ' Polyolbion.' 326 Origins of English History. The names of these royal highways were the WatHng Street, Fosse-Way, Ermin Street, and Ikenild Street. When the course of the last-named road was forgotten it was confused with another line called the Ryknild Way which followed an old Roman road from Gloucester to Doncaster. There is no doubt that these names were connected with the Teutonic mythology, though the glory of the hero " Irmin" and the craft of the " Wsetlings " is forgotten/ Nor can we doubt, upon a consideration of the antiquarian evidence, that each of these streets represented a combination of those portions of the Roman roads which the English adopted and kept in repair, as communications between their principal cities. The Watling Street repre- sents the old zigzag route from Kent to Chester and York, and northwards in two branches to Carlisle and the neigh- bourhood of Newcastle.^ The Fosse-Way ran diagonally ^ Flor. Wore. Chron. a.d. 1013; Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. 330, citing the Complaint of Scotland, 90; and Chaucer's "House of Fame," ii. 427, " Lo there ! quod he, cast up thine eye, Se yonder, lo ! the Galaxie, The whiche men clepe the Milky Way, For it is white, and some parfay Y-callen it han Watlinge-strete." ^ The old name of the Watling Street is still found in Dover and London : it forms the boundary between Warwickshire and Leicester- shire ; it was the line of division chosen in Alfred's Treaty with Guthrum, the Danes keeping all the country north of " Wathlinga-strete " 5 the monastic records show that the Priory of Lilleshall in Shropshire was situate " prope altam viam vocatam WatUng-Sireet." Hearne's Leland, Itin. vi. i2g ; Dugdale, Monast. Anglic, ii. 145, 147, 942. The road between Ilkley and York is called by the same name. Phillipp's Essay, Archceol. jfourn. No. 39. From York the Watling Street runs due north to the Wall (MacLauchlan, 'The Roman Wall' 3 HLibner, Corp. Lat. Inscr. vii. 213). A passage in Leland's Itinerary shows that the same name was given to the great eastern branch which led from Catterick to Origins of English History. 327 through Bath to Lincoln. The Ermin Street led direct from London to Lincoln, with a branch to Doncaster and York ; and the obscure Ikenild Street curved inland from Norwich to Dunstable, and was carried eventually to the coast at Southampton. But the course laid down for these great streets has but an incidental connection with the scheme of defences which the Romans had invented for the province. The planning of routes between their military stations had nothing to do with the later ideas which led the English to see in the Fosse-Way a road '* between Totnes and Caithness," " From where rich Cornwall points to the Iberian seas Till colder Cathnesse tells the scattered Orcades." ^ The Roman plan was based on the requirements of the provincial government, and on the need for constant com- munication between the Kentish ports and the outlying Carlisle. " The way on Watlyngstrete from Borow Bridge to Carlil. Watlyngestrete lyeths about a myle off from Gillinge and 3 m. from Riche- mount. From Borow Bridge to Caterike .... Mayden Castle diked is hard on the est syde of Wathelynge Strete, 5 miles a this side Brough." Hearne's Leland, Itin. viii. 26. Not far from Wroxeter the Street passes a place called " Wattlesborough " which seems to preserve the name of " Waetla," the father of the " Waetlings." Gale's Essay, 129. ■^ Drayton, Polyolb. xvi. 247. The name of Fosse-Way, according to some accounts, was given to a road from Exeter to Lincoln, thence by Doncaster to York and so northwards, thus encroaching both on Watling Street and the western branch of the Ermin Street. This exaggeration is derived from the Welsh legends already mentioned. The Fosse can be traced from " Stratton-in-the-Fosseway " near Bath to Cirencester, to a " Stratton-in-the-Vorse" near Leamington, and a " Stretton- super- Fosse" in Warwickshire, and so passing near Leicester it proceeds to Lincoln. See the charters of the reign of Henry IIL permitting alterations to be made in the royal street at Newark " super Chiminum Fossae." Gale's Essay, 1 24. The Fosse cut the Watling Street at a place called " High Cross " in Leicestershire. 328 Origins of English History. fortresses on the frontiers. We may therefore leave the task of tracing the mediaeval highways, and confine our attention to the roads which actually defended the Roman province. First then we find three great " meridional lines," which passed from the Upper Wall to the principal cities in the south. One of these led through Carlisle by the head of Windermere and down the coast towards Chester. Another came due south to York and " Danum " or Don- caster ; a branch passing towards Carlisle led from Catte- rick, a little north of York, across the gap upon Stainmoor.^ The third led from " Segedunum," or "Walls-end " on the Tyne, through Cleveland to the Humber, and thence to the colony at Lincoln.^ These were all connected by transverse routes passing east and west, some through York to the coasts on either side, some from Manchester^ to York and Chester, or across the dales to Aldborough, or by the devious " Doctor-gate " to the woodland country round Sheffield.'^ 1 " Luguballlum/' now represented by Carlisle, was a station of great importance. When St. Cuthbert visited the city, the Mayor led his guest to see the old Roman walls and the " fountain of wonderful workmanship." Vita Sti. Cuthberti, 37 j Bede's Life of Cuthbert, 26. A little Temple of Mars long remained standing near the city wall. Will. Malmesb. Chron. Pontif. Bk. iii. introd. Camden's Britannia (Gibson), 1025. Leland describes its remains in the reign of Henry VIII. " Pavimentes of streates, old arches of dores, coyne-stones squared, paynted pottes, money hid yn pottes so hold and muldid that when yt was strongly towched yt went almost to mowlder." Itin. viii. 57- ^ This road afterwards formed part of the Ermin Street. See Gale's Essay in Hearne's Leland, vi. 125. ' For a description of this station and the roads leading from it, see Whitaker's History of Manchester, and Watkins' " Roman Manchester," Hist. Soc. Lane. 3rd Series, vii. 12, 32. * The description of this road will be found in Phillipp's essay on the Origins of English History. 329 The trunk-lines and crossways were continued so as to form connections with all the high roads in the south and west. At Chester, for instance, was a junction of lines to North Wales, to London, to Caerleon, and to the iron mines in the Forest of Dean, From the station at Don- caster a road ran down to the mouth of the Severn.^ The great Lincoln road, or " Ermin Street," threw branches across the Fens^ towards Norwich, and round by Col- chester, and from the " Durobrivian " potteries to the station of the Thracian cavalry at Cirencester.^ The district of the Saxon Shore was intersected in the same way by roads leading from the coast to London, and connected on the other hand with the great trunk roads which traversed the inland provinces. relations of Archaeology to History. Archceol. Journ. No. 39. The mines and hot-baths in Derbyshire were connected by several tracks with the principal roads on either side. 1 This is the road afterwards called " Ryknild Street"; it ran parallel to the Fosse-Way at a distance of about 60 miles to the northward. The descriptions in old deeds show its course near Birmingham and in Stafford- shire (Drayton, Polyolb. 247, 256, and Selden's notes; Dugdale, Mon. Ang. i. 942. Gale's Essay, 139), and another point in its course is marked at Thorpe Salvin, formerly Ryknild-Thorpe, in Yorkshire. (See Hunter, South Yorkshire, i. 309, and Kirby's Quest. Surtees Soc. edit. p. 3.) ^ It passed a station in the Fens called " Camboricum," which seems to be Grantchester near Cambridge. Bede describes the finding of a coffin for St. Ethelreda at a little deserted town, " civitatulam quamdam desola- tam," which the English called " Granta-cestir," probably situated on the road in question. Bede, Hist. Eccl. iv. 10. ^ For the antiquities at Cirencester, see Camden, Britannia (Gibson), 284; Leland, Itin. v. 6^-^ Lyson's "Romans in Gloucestershire " j Hubner, Corp. Lat. Inscr. vii. 29. For an account of the Northampton- shire potteries, extending for about 2c miles on the gravel banks of the Nen, where the blue or gray "Castor-ware" was made, see Birch, Ancient Pottery 528. 330 Origins of English History. A line of forts ran in a curve along the coast-road from " Branoduniim," or Brancaster on the Wash/ to a camp at Caistor near Norwich, and round to the military settle- ment at Colchester ; strong fortresses guarded the channel of Thanet at Reculver and Richborough, and there were other posts at Dover and Lymne, and at various places requiring defence as far west as the Southampton Water. The extremities of this curve were joined by an inland road known afterwards as the Ikenild Street.^ Its course may be traced from the boundary of Norfolk and Suffolk ^ According to the Notitia, "Branodunum" was the station of a troop of Dalmatian cavalry under the command of the Count of the Saxon Shore. The coast-road seems to have led to Cromer, where a line led to the camp near " Venta Icenorum," or Norwich. Either Caistor or Castleacre may have been the site of the camp. There were stations on both shores of the great estuary, which then extended to "Venta": and one of these must have been the station " Ad Taum," marked in the Peutingerian Map. From Brancaster a Roman road, now called the Pedlars' Way, passed southwards to Camulodunum, and remains of another road are found between Cromer and Norwich, leading in the direction of Burgh Castle, the site of "Garianonum." ' For the course of the Ikenild Street, see Gale's Essay, 141, 148. " In Buckinghamshire," he says, " I cannot lind it anywhere apparent to the eye, except between Prince's Risborow and Kemble-in-the-Street where it is still called " Icknell-way." Mr. Taylor cites a deed, temp. Henry III., relating to property at Newmarket, " quod se extendit super Ykenild-weie." Archceologia (Norwich, 1847), ^^^ There are certain records of the perambulations of the Hampshire forests which throw some light on the matter, and support Drayton's statement that the road led from the Chiltern Hills to the Solent. Tower, Misc. Rec. 113. Peramb. Forest, 27 and 29 Edw. I. South. The survey of Buckholt Forest (Apr. i, 28 Edw. I.), contains passages relating to the road in question. " Begin at the Dene- way .... and so ahvaies by the divisions of the Counties of Southamp- ton and Wilts to th'Ikenilde Street, and thence by the same to La PuUe ; " and " from Pyrpe-mere to th'Ikenilde, and so by the same road to Hole- waye." Some writers take the Ikenilde Way as passing from Wantage to Cirencester and Gloucester. See Scarth, Roman Britain, 116. Origins of English History jj to Newmarket, and to a junction with the Ermin Street at Dunstable, the site of a town called " Forum Dianas." We meet it again in Oxfordshire, where it leads across the Thames to the junction of the Roman roads at Silchester. From this point the road passed southwards to Winchester, and thence by one branch to the Southampton Water, and by another to Sarum and the Western districts. A reference to the Antonine Itinerary will show how these roads were used to connect the frontiers with the southern ports, the outlying fortresses, and the central seats of government. The Itinerary contains fifteen routes, of which seven coincide for the whole or the greater part of their course with the various branches of the Watling Street ; three more diverge from that "lusty straggling street " towards Carnarvon, to Carlisle, and downwards to Caerleon and South Wales ; four lead from the junction at Silchester to London, to the south coast, and, to Caerleon by an upper and a lower route ; the remaining road connects London with Colchester and passes upwards along the circumference of the Saxon Shore. ^ ^ The direction of the routes is as follows: — i. From the frontier due south, along the Watling Street to York, and on to Flamborough Head. 2. From Netherby and Carlisle across Stainmoor to York, across to Man- chester and Chester, down to Wroxeter-on -Severn and so to London and the fort at Richborough, never leaving the Watling Street. 3 and 4. Branches to Dover and Lymne. 5- From London to Colchester, and across the Fens into the Ermin Street, taking (after passing York) the western branch of the Watling Street as far as Carlisle. 6. London to Lincoln, by the Watling Street and Fosse-Way, turning at High Cross. 7. Chichester to London, avoiding the forest and passing round by the Ikenild Street as far as Silchester. 8. York to London, as in No. 6. 9. From Caistor, or " Venta Icenorum " round the coast to Colchester and London. 10. From Medio- lanum," a station north of Wroxeter, by Manchester and the west coast, and past the head of Windermere to Carlisle, it. From Carnarvon to Chester. 12. From " Muridunum," or Carmarthen, to Caerleon (Isca 332 Origins of English History. Several of these routes are illustrated by the fragment of the " Peutingerian Table" (Map VII.), the only copy remaining of any part of the official road-chart for Britain. "Tables " of this kind were not maps in the proper sense of the term, but were rather diagrams drawn purposely out of proportion, on which the public roads were projected in a panoramic view. The latitude and longitude, and the positions of rivers and mountains, were disregarded so far as they might interfere with the display of the provinces, the outlines being flattened out to suit the shape of a roll of parchment ; but the distances between the stations were inserted in numerals, so that an extract from the record might be used as a supplement to the table of mileage in the road-book. The copy now remaining derives its name from Conrad Peutinger of Augsburg in whose library it was found on his death in 1547. It is supposed to have been brought to Europe from a monastery in the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, and to have been a copy taken by some thirteenth-century scribe from an original assigned to the beginning of the fourth century or the end of the third. The greater part of the diagram relating to Britain has been destroyed, having unfortunately been inscribed on the last or outside sheet of the roll, the part most likely to suffer by time and accident. But the remaining frag- Silurum), and thence by Abergavenny (Gobannio) to Wroxeter on the Wathng Street. 13. From Caerleon by Bath to Silchesterj this is some times by mistake called " Ermin Street." 14. From Caerleon, by Ciren- cester to the same junction j and 15. From Silchester (by the Ikenild Way) to Winchester, and westwards to Sarum, Dorchester, and Exeter. The occurrence of the names " Moridunum " and " Isca " on this route, and of similar names in the 12th route, has led to a clerical error in the MSS., the line being made first to run from Silchester to Exeter, and then on from Carmarthen, as if it were part of the 12th route. Origins of English History. 333 ment includes the greater part of the Saxon Shore, from the station "Ad Taiim," a few miles from Norwich, to the harbour at Lymne on the coast of Kent. The course of the Watling Street is shown, with three lines leading from the three naval stations to Canterbury, thence by one united road to " Durolevum," an uncertain site, and thence to Rochester and another station on the Medway, and so onwards in the direction of London.^ Another road is marked as running from London along the north coast of Kent, the Thames being crossed at a point due south of " Caesaromagus," or Chelmsford, the route being continued to Colchester, and northwards round the "Saxon Shore" to the immediate vicinity of Norwich.^ A memorandum in the left-hand margin of the fragment marks the distance between " Moridunum" and the Dam- nonian "Isca," and shows besides a main road passing from the latter station towards Cornwall.^ ^ Compare the second route in the Antonine Itinerary from "Noviomagus" to Richborough. "Rotibis" in the Peutingerian Table will be found to correspond to " Durobrivis," now Rochester, and is probably meant for the same word. ^ Compare the ninth route in the Itinerary. The " Sinomagus " of the Table is identified with " Sitomagus," which seems to be Dunwich. The names in the Table are ill-spelt: but they correspond in the main with the stations on the Antonine route. It will be observed that in the Peutingerian map a road leads from "Ad Ansam " to the coast, which is not mentioned in the Itinerary. ^ " Ridumo " appears to be meant for "Moridunum," which was about 15 miles from Exeter, according to the Itinerary. But the scribe seems to have reversed their relative situations. The only evidence of the existence of a Roman road through Cornwall, besides this entry, is the discovery made in 1853 of a milestone in the wall of the church of St. Hilary, near St. Ives, which was inscribed with the titles of Constantine II. Hiibncr, Corp. Lat. Inscr, vii. 13, 207. 334 Origins of English History. The completion of this system of defence, and the estab- lishment of the Diocletian constitution, cost the British provinces as much in freedom and importance as they seemed to gain in security. The country suffered in many different ways. It had come to be a mere department under the Court at Treves, one of several Atlantic regions regarded as having the same political interests and a common stock of resources. The defence of Britain was sacrificed to some sudden call for soldiers in Spain or on the Alpine passes, and the shrunken legions left behind could barely man the fortresses upon the frontier. The provinces which might have stood safely by their own resources were becoming involved in a general bank- ruptcy. The troops were ill-paid and plundered by their commanders, the labourers had sunk into serfdom, and the property of the rich was so heavily charged by the State that the owners would have gladly escaped by resigning their apparent wealth. The burdens of taxation were constantly multiplied by the complexity of the system of government and the increase of departments and offices. The visit of the imperial tax-gatherers was com- pared to the horrors of a successful assault in war. A writer of that time describes the scene in a provincial town where every head of cattle in the neighbourhood had been numbered and marked for a tax. All the popu- lation of the district was assembled, and the place was crowded with the landowners bringing in their labourers and slaves. " One heard nothing but the sounds of flog- ging and all kinds of torture ; the son was forced to inform against his father, the wife against her husband ; failing everything else the men were compelled to give evidence against themselves, and were taxed according Origins of English History. 335 to the confessions which they made to escape from torment."^ These evils pressed upon the world from the age of Constantine until the Empire was finally dismembered, and the general ruin completed, of which they were a principal cause. The history of Britain during this period, so far as it can properly be said to have had a history at all, is concerned with the establishment of the Christian Church, by which the general misery was alleviated, with several attempts at separating the three Atlantic countries from the crumbling Empire of the West, and finally with the growth of the barbarian kingdoms by which all those countries were overwhelmed in turn. Christianity was not recognised as the religion of the State until the proclamation in a.d. 324, by which Con- stantine exhorted his subjects to follow their Emperor's example in abandoning the errors of paganism ; but it had been tolerated, with few intermissions, from the time when Hadrian had found a kindly excuse for the Christians by confusing them with the worshippers of his favourite Serapis.^ The persecution of Diocletian seems hardly to have much affected this country, where the Caesar Con- stantius had been able to protect the Christians, though he could not prevent the destruction of the sacred buildings.^ ^ Lactantius, De Mort. Persecut. 23. ^ " Illi qui Serapim colunt Christian! suntj et devoti sunt Serapi qui se Christi episcopos dicunt." Vopiscus, Ad Saturnin. c. 8. For the nature of the worship of Serapis, see Tac. Hist. iv. 83 ; Macrob. Saturnal. i. 20 ; Apuleius, Metamorph. xi. 27, 28, and Pierret, Mythologic Egi/ptienne (1879). For an account of the " Serapeum " at York, and British inscriptions in honour of Serapis, see Wellbeloved, "Eburacum," 75, 77, 78, and Hiibner, Corp. Lat. Inscr. vii. 64, 74. ® Lactantius, De Mort. Persecut. i,^, 16. As to the deaths of St. Alban 336 Origins of English History. The old Latin paganism had long ceased to satisfy the minds of educated men, though its visible emblems were respected until the destruction of the temples about the end of the fourth century. The high places were still reserved for the greater gods to whom men trusted the keeping of cities : the merchants' god still guarded the market-place, and the parade was adorned with its Victory and its shrine for the standards and eagles ; beyond the walls were the homes of more awful powers and more dis- turbing influences, the temples of Bellona and the Furies of War, the chapel of Venus and the field of Mars.^ But the altars and images were used indifferently by worshippers under many creeds ; the titles of Jupiter covered worships as far apart as those of Tanarus the Thunderer and Osiris " the nocturnal sun," the ruler in the w^orld of the dead.^ Diana's name was given as well to the Syrian Astarte as to the Moon-goddess worshipped at Carthage and the Huntress to whom the farmers prayed that the beasts might be scared from their flocks. Apollo represented all bright and healing influences, and under the name of Mars the soldiers from every province could recognise their local war-god.^ and other British martyrs, see Gildas, Hist. 10, 11 ; Bede, Hist. Eccles. i. c, 7 ; Haddan and Stubbs, "Councils," i. 5. 1 Vitruvius, Architect, i. c. 7. ^ Pierret, Myth. Egypt, 60. ^ For a list of Roman temples of which the remains have been found in this country, see Hiibner, Corp. Lat. Inscr. vii. 332. Many of the epithets used in the British inscriptions are of unknown origin, but they appear in general to refer to the native country of the worshipper. Jupiter " Dolichenus," whose title appears in so many inscriptions, was a god from Heliopolis in Syria, and his attributes appear to have had some con- nection with iron-mining. An altar inscribed to " Jupiter Tanarus," found at Chester in a.d. 1653, is supposed to have been intended for Thor or Thunar: the date of its erection is fixed by its mention of the Consuls of a.d. 154. Origins of English History. 337 Many of the outward forms, and even some of the doctrines of Christianity, were imitated by the pantheistic religions which spread from Egypt and the East and over- laid the old rites with the worship of a World-goddess w^ith a thousand names, of the Sun-god Osiris, or of Mithras " the unconquered lord of ages." We learn from sculptured tablets, and from inscriptions and symbols on tombs, that Mithraism at one time prevailed extensively in this country : and its influence was doubtless strength- ened by the artifice of its professors in imitating the orthodox ceremonies and festivals. We have no record of its final overthrow, and some have supposed that the faith in "Median Mithras" survived into comparatively modern times in heretical and semi-pagan forms of Gnos- ticism ; but, be this as it may, we must assume that its authority was destroyed or confined to the country districts when the pagan worships were finally forbidden by law.^ After the year 386 we find records of an established Christian Church in Britain, " holding the Catholic faith, and keeping up an intercourse with Rome and Palestine."^ ^ For an account of the spread of Mithraism in Britain and the inscrip- tions to ' Sol Socius,' Sol Invictus Mithras, and the like, and of the Mithraic " caves " and sculptures found near Hadrian's "Wall, and at York and Chester, see Gent. Mag. 175X, 102, and 1832, pt. 2,545. Wellbeloved, "Eburacum," 79, 81, and more than twenty inscriptions recorded by Hubner, Corp. Lat. Inscr. vol. vii. With respect to the general character of the religion, its connection with Magism and the worship of the Syrian Venus on the one side, and with the purer doctrines of the Zend-Avesta on the other, see Herod, i. 131 j De Hammer's " Mithriaca," 9, 31, 40, 83, 92 ; Lenormant, Chald. Magic, 195, 234, 2,3^ ; Lobeck, Aglaophamus, 1260. For its imita- tion of the ceremonies of the Church, see Justin Martyr, Apol. i. 66, Dial. 70, 78 ; Origan, contra Celsum,vi. 22. St. Jerome describes the destruction of a cave of Mithras at Rome in the year 378, and the symbols used in initiation. Opera, i. 15. ^ Haddan and Stubbs, " Councils," i. 10. "The statements respecting 338 Origins of English History. As early as the middle of the fourth century the British provinces were already persistently attacked by sea and land. The Picts and Scots, and the warlike nation of the " Attacotti " from whom the Empire was accustomed to recruit its choicest soldiers/ the fleets of Irish pirates in the north, the Franks and Saxons on the southern shores, combined together whenever a chance presented itself to burn and devastate the country, to cut off an outlying garrison, to carry off women and children like cattle captured in a foray and to offer the bodies of Roman citizens as sacrifices. Along the north-western coast and on the line of the Lower Wall we still find traces of these marauding frays in the marks of burning, and the layers of ashes sometimes two or three deep, as if the stations had British Christians at Rome or in Britain, and respecting apostles or apostoHc men preaching in Britain in the first century, rest upon guess, mistake, or fable." Ihld. \. 22. The evidence for British Christianity in the second century, inckiding the Letter of Pope Eleutherius and the well-known story of King Lucius, is also pronounced to be unhistorical. Ih'ul. p. 25. Mello, a British Christian, was Bishop of Rouen between the years 256 and 314, and in the latter year bishops from York, London, and Caerleon, were present at the Council of Aries. In the year 325 the British Church assented to the conclusions of the Council of Nicaea. Ih'id. p. 7. ^ The " Notitia Dignitatum " mentions several regiments of Attacotti ser\Mng for the most part in Gaul and Spain. Two of their regiments were enrolled among the " Honorians," the most distinguished troops in the Imperial armies. Though their country is not certainly known, it seems probable that they inhabited the wilder parts of Galloway. Mr. Skene argues that they must have been provincials who had revolted about the period of the great campaign of Theodosius, a.d. 364. " They only joined the invading tribes after the latter had been for four years in possession of the territory between the Walls : and no sooner was it again wrested from the invaders by Theodosius than we find them enlisted in the Roman army." Celt. Scot. i. 102. Orosius, speaking of the time of Stilicho, about A.D. 400, calls them "barbari qui quondam in foedus recepti atque in militiam adlecti Honoriaci voamtur." Oros. vii. 40. Origins of English History. 339 several times been sacked, and had been built again as soon as the enemy was forced to retire. We are told that the Saxons were especially to be dreaded for their sudden and well-calculated assaults. They swept the coast like creatures of the storm, choosing the worst weather and the most dangerous shores as inviting them to the easiest attack. Their ships when dispersed by the Roman galleys were re-assembled at some point left undefended, and they began to plunder again ; and they were taught by their fierce superstitions to secure a safe return by immolating every tenth captive in honour of the gods of the sea.^ In the year 368 the Court at Treves was startled by the news that the " Duke of Britain " had perished in a frontier ambuscade, and that the Count Nectarides had been defeated and slain in a battle on the "Saxon Shore. "^ The Picts and Attacotti, and the Scots from the Irish sea- board, had broken through the Walls and were devastating the Northern Provinces f the coasts nearest to Gaul were attacked by the Franks and their neighbours the Saxons, who were ravaging the South with fire and sword."* Theodosius, the best general of the Empire, was sent across to Richborough with two picked legions and a great force of German auxiliaries. On approaching London, "the old town then known as the Augustan Citv," he ^ " jMos est remeaturis decimum quemque captorum per sequales et cruciarias poenas, plus ob hoc tristi quam superstitioso ritu, necare." Sidon. ApoUin. viii. 3, ^ Ammian. Marcell. xxvii. 8; xxviii. 3. ^ The Picts were at this time divided into two nations called the " Verturiones " and the " Dicaledonae." See as to these names, Skene, Celt, Scot. i. 129, and Rhys, Celtic Britain, 94, 166, 313. * " Gallicanos vero tractus Franci et Saxones iisdem confines, quo quisque erumpere potuit terra vel mari, praedis acerbis incendiisque et captivorum funeribus hominum violabant." Ammian, Marcell. xxvii. 9. 22 * 340 Origins of English History. divided his army to attack the scattered troops of marauders who were covering the country and driving off their prisoners and stolen cattle to the coast. The spoil was successfully recovered, and the general entered London in triumph. Here he awaited reinforcements, finding by the reports of spies and deserters that he had before him the forces of "a crowd of savage nations," and being anxious to gain time for recalling the soldiers who had deserted to the enemy or had dispersed in search of food. At last, by threats and persuasions, by stratagems and unforeseen attacks, he not only recovered the lost army and dispersed the confused masses of the enemy, but even succeeded in regaining all the frontier districts and in restoring the whole machinery of government.^ A few years afterwards occurred the revolt of Maximus, a Spaniard who had served under Theodosius and had afterwards gained the affection of the turbulent soldiery in Britain. The Emperor Gratian had exhibited a scandalous preference for the dress and customs of the Alani, his barbarian allies ; and it was feared or alleged that there was a danger of their occupying the Western Provinces. Maximus was proclaimed Emperor in Britain in a.d, 383, and proceeded to justify the soldiers' choice by a splendid and successful campaign against the Picts and Scots. In the course of the next year he raised a large army of Britons and Gauls to supplement his regular forces, and passing over to the mouths of the Rhine, he succeeded in establishing himself at Treves, and was eventually acknow- ledged as Emperor of the West. The Britons of a later age found consolation in thinking that the defeat of Maximus in Pannonia " at the foaming ^ Zosimus, iv. 2)S '■> Sozomen. vii. i2)- Origins of English History. 341 waters of the Save," and the loss of the army which he had led from their shores, were the proximate causes of the English conquest.^ It is reasonable to suppose that the drain of the continental war was a cause of weakness to the province, and an inducement to the barbarians on the frontiers to renew their attempts at conquest. It is clear that on two occasions at least, which may be attributed with approximate certainty to the years 396 and 400, the coasts were again attacked by the Saxons, and the country between the Walls was occupied by Picts and invaders from Ireland, until their power was broken by the sword of Stilicho. " Me too," cries Britannia in the famous poem, " me dying at my neighbours' hands, did Stilicho defend, when the Scot moved all lerne to arms, and Ocean whitened under the invaders' oars."^ The independence of Britain was a consequence of the invasion of Northern Gaul by the Vandals. The commu- nications with the body of the Empire were cut off by a horde of these rude warriors, associated with Suevifrom the German forests and Alani from the shores of the Euxine. The army determined to choose their own leader : and in the year 407, after two abortive elections, they raised a private soldier named Constantine to the throne of the Western Empire. His success in recovering Gaul and ^ Zosimus, iv. 35, Bede, Hist. Eccl. i, 12. "Hi sunt Britones Armorici, et nunquam reversi sunt ad proprium solum usque in hodiernum diem. Propter hoc Britannia occupata est ab extraneis gentibus, et cives ejus expuisi sunt, usque dum Dominus auxilium dederit illis." Nennius, Hist. Brit. 23 J compare Gildas, Hist. 13, 14. ^ Claudian, Tert. Cons. Hon. ^^, Prim. Cons. Stilichon. ii. 250, and Bell. Getic. 416. For an account of the Irish in their ' Curraghs,' " emergunt certatim de curicis," and of the Picts and Scots, " moribus ex parte dissi- dentes, sed una eademque sanguinis fundendi aviditate Concordes/' see Gildas, Hist. 19. 342 Origins of English History. Spain compelled the feeble Court of Ravenna to confirm the usurper's title : but a period of anarchy followed which brought new dangers upon Britain and caused its final sepa- ration from the Roman power. Gerontius, at first the friend and afterwards the destroyer of Constantine, recalled the barbarian hosts which had retreated beyond the Rhine, and invited them to cross the Channel and to join in attacking the defenceless government of Britain.^ The '' Cities of Britain," assuming in the stress of danger the powers of independent communities, succeeded in raising an army and repelling the German invasion. But, having earned their safety for themselves, they now refused to return to their old subjection, if any obedience could indeed be claimed by the defeated usurper or by an Emperor reigning in exile. The Roman ofiicials were ejected and native forms of government established. " Honorius was content to cede what he was unable to defend, and to confirm measures which he was impotent to repeal."^ The final separation of the province took place in A.D. 410, when the Emperor sent letters to the Cities bidding them provide in future for their own defence : " and so having given gifts to the army out of the treasures sent by Heraclian, and having gained to himself the good- will of the soldiers there and in all parts of the world, Honorius dwelt at ease."^ ^ Zosimus, vi. 5. " Herbert, Britannia, 27. The authorities for this period are Zosimus, vi. 4, 5, 6, 10, the Chronicle of Prosper of Aquitaine, written about a.d. 455, and a few passages of Olympiodorus preserved in the collection of Photius. ^ Zosimus, vi. 10. OrigiJis of English History. 343 CHAPTER XII. THE ENGLISH CONQUEST. Troubles of the independent Britons — Fresh invasions of. Picts and Scots— The Saxon Pirates — The Halleluia Victory — The appeal to Aetius — Beginnings of the English Conquest — Character of the authorities — Early Welsh poems — Nennius — Roman- ces of Arthur — The history of Gildas — Its dramatic nature — Its imitation of the Vulgate — -The story of Vortigern — His war with the mercenaries — The victory of Ambrosius — The Mons Badonicus — English accounts of the Conquest — The Anglo- Saxon Chronicle — Influence of ancient ballads — Description of the invasion — The three kindreds — Their continental home — Relative positions of Saxons Angles and Jutes — Theories as to other invading tribes — The Frisians — Argument from local names — The Conquest of Kent — Welsh traditions — Horsa's Tomb — Legends of Hengist — The Conquest of Sussex — Destruction of Anderida — Fate of the Roman towns— Rise of the House of Cerdic — Conquest of Wessex — Victories of Cerdic and Cynric — The fate of Ceawlin — Genealogies of the Kings — The Con- quest of Northumbria — Reign of Ida — -Welsh traditions — Reign of ^EUe — Of Edwin — Of iEthelfrith — General description of the conquest — Ancient poems — The sea-kings described by Sidonius — Their ships and crews — The lord and his companions — Gradual degradation of the peasantry — Life in free townships — Co-operative husbandry — Community of ownership — Village customs — Heathen survivals — Festivals — Sacrifices — Character of English paganism — The gradual conversion of the English kingdoms. A FEW years proved the vanity of the success which the Britons had gained, and extinguished their hopes or dreams of freedom. No fire of patriotism replaced the discipline which had saved the Province from destruction. The Cities were unfit to endure the burden of government, and their territories were soon seized by the upstart kings or by pretenders affecting to continue an imperial authority. Famine and pestilence followed naturally on a civil war which had lapsed into a general brigandage ; a fresh horde of Picts swarmed in between the Walls, and new fleets from Ireland were ravaging the Cumbrian shore.^ ^ Bede, Hist. Eccl. i. 12 3 Gildas, Hist. 20. 344 Origins of English History. The worst danger lay in the raids of the German corsairs. The sea-kings sailed with a few ships from the " Saxon Islands " by the Elbe, to lie off a port or run into an unguarded estuary, ready to fall in with any larger enterprise, to land a pirate-crew and to earn a share of the plunder. Such were the deeds of which the fame remains in songs of Beowulf and the wandering Hengist, of the cruisers on the " flint-gray flood," and treasure gained by axe and sword " over the gannet's bath and over the whale's home." One victorv of the Christians is recorded in the Life of St. Germanus, who visited this country in the year 429 in company with St. Lupus of Troyes. The incidents of the mission were distorted into the romance of " Nennius," where the miracles of the Saint are interwoven with the treacheries of Hengist and the crimes or follies of King Vortigern ; but allusions to the " Halleluia Victory" are found in the best contemporary literature, as in Pope Gregory's Commentaries, in the letters of Sidonius to St. Lupus, and in the biography of St. Germanus compiled by the learned priest of Lyons. ^ The very celebrity of the event is a proof of the general ill-fortune of the Britons. The two bishops had been sent ' Prosper Aquit. Chron. anno 4295 Constantius, Vita Germani. 28; Bede, Hist. Eccl. i. 175 Usher, Primord. ZZZ'j Rees, Welsh Saints, 1223 Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, i. 17, 20. Pope Gregory alludes to the battle in his Commentary on Job : " Ecce ! lingua Britannise . . . coepit Alleluia sonare " : a passage which Bede by an anachronism refers to Augustine's mission. Hist. Eccl. iii i. Sidonius appears to refer to the same battle in a letter to St. Lupus : " Dux veterane et peritissime tubicen ad Christum a peccatis receptui canere." Sidon. Apoll. Epist. vi. i. For the correspon- dence of Sidonius with Constantius of Lyons, see the same collection of letters, Epist. i. i, and vii. 18. Origins of English History. 345 to Verulam to confute the heretics who accused " their Maker or their making or their fate," and sought too great a licence of Free Will. During the spring of the year following, the missionaries resumed their enterprise and visited the Valley of the Dee. The country was infested by Picts and Saxons, and it was feared that they might storm the camp where the British forces were concentrated. The bishops of Gaul were chosen for their political capa- cities : Germanus was accustomed to war, and was easily persuaded to help his converts against the heathen. The Easter Sunday was spent in baptising an army of penitents; the orthodox soldiers were posted in an ambuscade, and the pagans fled panic-stricken at the triple "Halleluia" which suddenly echoed among the hills. An annalist of doubtful authority has reported, under the year 441, that Britain " after many troubles and mis- fortunes was brought under the dominion of the Saxons ":^ but we can hardly date the commencement of the Con- quest before the appeal to the Patrician Aetius or the second visit of Germanus. The bishop returned in a.d. 447, and his biography contains not a w^ord of any such revolution or sudden triumph of paganism. The date of tjlie letters of appeal is fixed by the form of their address : " The groans of the Britons to Aetius for the third time Consul. The savages drive us to the sea and the sea casts us back upon the savages : so arise two kinds of death, and we are either drowned or slaughtered." The Third Consulate of Aetius fell in a.d. 446, a year memor- able in the West as the beginning of a profound calm ^ Prosper Tiro inakes this statement, under the head of the loth jear of TheodosiuSj in his continuation of the Chronicle of Prosper of Aquitaine. 34^ Origins of English History. which preceded the onslaught of Attila. The complaint of Britain has left no trace in the poems which celebrated the year of repose ; and our Chronicles are at any rate wrong when they attribute its rejection to the stress of a war with the Huns.^ It is possible, therefore, that the appeal was never made, and that the story represents nothing but a rumour current in the days of Gildas among the British exiles in Armorica. Of the Conquest itself no accurate narrative remains. The version usually received is based in part on the state- ments in the histories of Gildas and Nennius, and in part upon Chronicles, apparently based upon lost poems in which the exploits of the English chieftains were com- memorated. The Welsh poems throw little light on the matter. The bards were for the most part content to trace the dim out- lines of disaster, and to indicate by an allusion the issue of a fatal battle or the end of some celebrated warrior. Their poems, in the form at any rate in which they have de- scended to our times, are too obscure to be useful for the purposes of history. Here and there one may recognise an episode of the ravages of " the Flame-bearer," or a picture of Ida, or " Ulf at the ford." We admire, without localising the incidents, the elegies on "the cold Hall of Kynddylan " or the graves which " the rain bedews and the thicket covers," or the red and dappled chargers of the brave Geraint. Aneurin's great epic itself is wanting in all precision of detail. It is the history of a long war of races, compressed under the similitude of a battle into 1 Gildas, Hist. 20 ; Bede, Hist. Eccl. i. 13. Seethe poem of Merobaudes on the Third Consulate of Aetius, Carm. v. 5, 8, and Sidon. Apoll. Carm. i. 192, Origins of English History. 347 a few days of ruin, like the last fight in' the Voluspa, " an axe-age, a sword-age, and shields shall be cloven, a storm- age, a wolf-age, ere the World sinks." The British historians were hardly more explicit. The collection of Welsh and Anglian legends which passes under the name of ' Nennius ' contains a few important facts about Northumbria, mixed up in confusion with gene- alogies, and miracles, and fragments of romance. Here, too, we get the list of the twelve battles of Arthur, with their Welsh names " which were many hundred years ago unknown": " but who Arthur was," to use Milton's words, "and whether anv such reigned in Britain hath been doubted heretofore and may again with good reason : for the Monk of Malmesbury, and others whose credit hath swayed most with the learned sort, we may well perceive to have known no more of this Arthur nor of his doings than we now living, and what they had to say transcribed out of Nennius, a very trivial writer, ... or out of a Britith book, the same which he of Monmouth set forth, utterly unknown to the world till more than six hundred years after the days of Arthur."^ We shall therefore say but little of the doings of the Blameless King who "thrust the heathen from the Roman Wall, and shook him through the North." His existence is admitted, though the scene of his doubtful exploits is variously laid at Caerleon, in the Vale of Somerset, in the Lowlands of Scotland and in the Cumbrian Hills ; it seems to be true that he engaged in a 1 The whole account of Arthur in the Third Book of Milton's History- should be compared with the traditions in "Nennius" and the modern interpretations collected by Mr. Skene in the " Four Ancient Books of Wales." "Hie est Arthur de quo Britonum nugae hodieque delirant; dignus plane quem non fallaces somniarcnt fabulae, sed veraces praedica- rent historiae." Will. Malmesb. Gesta. i. 8. 348 Origins of English History. war with the Angles in Northumbria ; but his glory is mainly due to the Breton romances, which were amplified in Wales, and afterwards adopted at the Court of the Plantagenets as the foundation of the epic of chivalry. Gildas is a more important witness. Writing in the middle of the sixth century he may be taken as represent- ing the opinions of men who might themselves have taken part in the war. But he himself made no pretence to anything like historial accuracy. "If there were any records of my country," he said, " they were burned in the fires of the conquest or carried away on the ships of the exiles, so that I can only follow the dark and fragmentary tale that was told me beyond the sea." No lamentation was ever keener in note, or more obscure in its story, than the book in which he recounted "the victorv and the crimes of Britain, the coming of a last enemy more dread- ful than the first, the destruction of the Cities, and the fortunes of the remnant that escaped."^ The purport of his work becomes plainer as we perceive that it is intended for a dramatic description of an episode in the history of Cumbria. It is the story of " the Victory of Ambrosius," told in the language of the Prophet who told of " the burden of Egypt" ; for another Egypt seemed to have been lost by the men who should have been " the stay of her tribes." The drama begins in the year 450, when the Emperor Marcian reigned in the East and Valentinian the Third in 1 Gildas, Hist. 4. The passages following in the text are taken from the five concluding chapters of his History. His account should be compared with Bede's version of the story, Hist. Eccl. i. 15, and with those contained in the Chronicle of Ethelwerd and the History of Henry of Huntingdon. Origins of English History. 349 the West. " The time was approaching when the iniquity of Britain should be fulfilled." The rumour flew among the people that their old invaders were preparing a final assault: a pestilence brooded over the land and left more dead than the living could bury ; and the complaint is swollen by invectives against the stubbornness of ''Pharaoh" and the brutishness of the "Princes of Zoan." We are brought to the chamber of Vortigern and his nobles, debating what means of escape might be found. " Then the eyes of the proud king and of all his coun- cillors were darkened, and this help or this death-blow they devised, to let into our island the foes of God and man, the fierce Saxons whose name is accursed, as it were a wolf into the sheep-cotes, to beat off the nations of the North." The men came over from " Old Anglia " with three " keels," or ships of war, loaded with arms and stores. Their first success was followed by the engagement of a larger force of mercenaries ; but a quarrel soon arose about their pay, which grew into a general mutiny. Their allowance, says Gildas, was found for a long time, and so " the dog's mouth was stopped," as he cites the native proverb : " but afterwards they picked a quarrel, and threatened to plunder the island unless a greater liberality were shown." The historian denounces them in a mystical and fervid strain: they are "young lions " wasting the land, and whelps from the lair of the "German Lioness ": and their settlement in Northumbria is described, in the words of the Prophet, as the wild- vine that "brought forth branches and shot forth sprigs," the root of bitterness and the plant of iniquity. The enemy is next likened to a consuming fire as he 350 Origins of English History. burst from his new home in the East and ravaged the island as far as the Western Sea : and the Chronicler describes with a horrible minuteness the sack of some Cumbrian city and the destruction of the faithful found therein. " And some of the miserable remnant were caught in the hills and slaughtered, and others were worn out with hunger and yielded to a lifelong slavery. Some passed across the sea, with lamentations instead of the sailor's song, chanting as the wind filled their sails, ' Lord ! Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat, and hast scattered us among the heathen' : but others trusted their lives to the clefts of the mountains, to the forests and the rocks of the sea, and |so abode in their country though sore afraid."^ But after some time, when the Angles had returned to their settlements, " a remnant of the Britons was strengthened under the leadership of Ambrosius Aurelius, •the courteous and faithful, the brave and true, the last of the Romans left alive in the shock of the storm." His kindred, some of whom had worn the purple of office, had all perished in the fray ; " and now," says Gildas, "his offspring at this J day, degenerate as they are from those ancestral virtues, still gather strength and provoke their conquerors to arms, and now by the favour of heaven have gained a victory in fanswer to their prayers." '' So, ^ The principal migrations to Brittany took place in the years 500 and 513. In the first of these years St. Samson of Dol is said to have been driven from his bishopric in York. Many curious documents relating to the Britons of the migration v*^ill be found in the Breton Chartularies of the Abbeys of Redon and Landevennec in the National Library in Paris. Extracts will be found in the Appendices to the Histories of Brittany by Halleguen and De Coursons. Origins of English History. 351 after the coming of Ambrosius," he continues, " sometimes our citizens and sometimes the enemy prevailed until the year of the Siege of Mount Badon, the last and not the least of our blows against those brigands ; and this is now the beginning of the 44th year, and one month already gone, since the year of the Siege, in which too I myself was born ; yet not even at this day are our cities inhabited again, but they lie deserted and overthrown ; for though foreign wars have ceased, our civil wars go on. The remembrance of that utter destruction, and that salvation beyond all hope, remained in the minds of those who had seen these marvellous things ; and so the kings and the churchmen and men of every station were each obedient to the rules that befitted their degree. But when they were all dead, and a generation came which knew not the tempest, but only the fair weather that now prevails, all laws of Truth and Justice were so shattered and up-torn, that not a trace or even a remembrance remains of them in all those ranks of men, excepting a few, a very few com- pared with that great multitude which day by day is rushing headlong into Hell." The battle of Mount Badon appears to have secured a long respite for the Cumbrian Britons. We learn from the "Welsh Annals" that it was fought in the year 516, or four years later by some accounts : here, we are told, "fell Colgrim and Radulf the leaders of the Angles": and some of the poems name " Ossa with the knife" as another of the opponents of King Arthur. The battle stands twelfth and last in the series of Arthur's victories, and the fables in " Nennius " shows how early it formed the subject of romance : the Son of Uther fights at the head of all the British kings, " though many were nobler than he," and 352 Origins of English History. storms the Mount in person : '' and in that day fell nine hundred and sixty men by one charge of Arthur, and no man laid them low save he alone, and he was the victor in all the wars."^ In repeating the story from the English side we shall follow as far as possible the actual words of the Chronicles, seeking only to distinguish the fragments of ballads and romances on which the history was based from the addi- tions by which those time-worn records were woven into an easy narrative. We know how the history of the Frankish kings was compiled from " barbarous and most ancient songs," and that the Germans of an earlier age had nothing but such verses to help them in remembering the past. It was a minstrel's task to blend the exploits of the warriors with the legends of the gods, as the harper mingled Beowulf's praises with the dragon-fight of Sigmund the Wanderer, or as Thiodolf sang the " Yngling- tale " for the kings who reigned in Upsala and traced their propitious descent from the beings who brought wealth and sunshine. '' Thus with their lays," said Widsith, " over many lands the glee-men rove, and ever in the South or the North find they one, learned in song and ^ Nennius, Hist. Brit. ^6. The account given by Henry of Huntingdon appears to have been taken from some version of Nennius which has now- been lost 5 the words for "shield" and "shoulder," which are similar in Welsh, have been confused in his account of one of the earlier battles where Arthur was said to have borne the image of the Virgin. Hist. Angl. ii. 1 8. The " Moi^s Badoniciis" was at one time taken for the hill above Bath, owing to an error of an early scribe : Dr. Guest, in his Essay on the Early English Settlements, favoured the theory that the battle was fought at Badbury Rings in Dorsetshire, Archceologia (Salisbury, 1849) ^2» 6s. Mr. Skene, with more probability, selects as its site the Bouden Hill not far from Linlithgow. Four Ancient Books of Wales, 57, 58. Origins of English History. 353 free in his gifts, longing before the nobles his greatness to raise and his lordship to show."^ We are shown how the Britons bethought themselves of the pirates who held the coasts betw^een the Rhine and the Danish Islands, how they sent for assistance to the Lords of the Angles, " and saw not that they were pre- paring for themselves a perpetual slavery," and how a great multitude came from Germany and drove the Britons from their lands with a mighty slaughter, and ever re- mained masters of the field, " so that Britain became England because it took the name of its conquerors.""^ The entries in the Chronicle confirm the truth of the com- plaints of Gildas. " Now came the English to this land, called by Vortigern to help in overcoming his foes : they sailed here with three warships : their leaders were Hengist and Horsa : and first they slew or drove away the foe, and then they turned against the king and against the Britons, and destroyed them with fire and the edge of the sword." The first engagement was at Stamford, if we may trust the old tradition: "The Picts fought with darts and spears, and the Saxons with broad-swords and axes, but the Picts could not bear the burden, and sought for safety in flight, and the Saxons took the victory and the triumph and spoil of the battle."^ 1 "Traveller's Song," 269, 281. See Tac. Germ. 2; Beowulf, 871, 87 j. Eginhard in the 9th century describes the old Prankish songs, " barbara et antiquissima carmina, quibus veterum regum actus et bella cane- bantur." Vita Karoli, c. 29. Compare the poems in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and the use of songs and "tags of Saxon verse" by Henry of Huntingdon, and William of Malmesbury's ballads worn down by time, " cantilenis per successionem temporum detritis," Gesta, ii. 138. ^ Ethelwerd, Chron. i. i. ^ Henr. Hunt. ii. i. Bede uses the expression " sumpsere victoriam," 354 Origins of English History. The invaders belonged to three closely-connected nations of the Low-Dutch stock. Their territories, it is clear, are now included in the modern Schleswig-Holstein and a district in Southern Jutland ; but it is extremely difhcult to ascertain the precise places which they occupied about the time of their migration. The Saxons, who founded the kingdoms to which their name was given, besides several states in the western parts of Mercia, seem to have come from the marsh-lands beyond the Elbe. They were the peoples whom Ptolemy placed on the neck of the adjoining peninsula and in "three Saxon islands," which have been identified with Harde, Eiderstedt, and Nordstrand as it may have been before the great inundation of 1634. The Ravenna Geographer was quite accurate in saying that their country " touched upon Denmark."^ But it must also be remembered that the Saxons were always pushing westwards along the coast into the territories of the Chauci and the Frisians, occupying the various districts which were successively abandoned by the Franks, so that the "Old Saxony," which Bede described as the home of his forefathers, extended across the Low Countries to the immediate neighbourhood of the Rhine. The Jutes came from the peninsula which bears their name, where they held the country as far south as the Sley, a river that runs into the sea not far from Schleswig. In England they afterwards occupied the regions which were united in the Kingdom of Kent, a separate kingdom a paraphrase of the vernacular idiom showing that he copied from some Anghan original. Hist. Eccl. i. 15 ; Guest, Early Engl. Sett. 47. ^ Ravennas, iv. 17; Bede, Hist. Eccl. v. 11 ; Lappenberg, Hist. Engl, i. c. 5. Origins of English History. '\^^ established in the Isle of Wight, and a tract called the "country of the Meon-waras," now the Hundreds of East and West Meon in Hampshire, on each side of the Hamble River to the east of the Southampton Water.^ "Old Anglia " is usually identified with a small district " about as large as Middlesex," bounded on one side by the road from Schleswig to Flensborg and on other sides by the river and an arm of the sea. This is the " Nook " or ^''Angulns^' which in Bede's time lay waste as a march- land between the Jutes and the Saxons, but was occupied soon afterwards by the Danes from the neighbouring islands. That this region was once held by the Angles is certain from many ancient testimonies. " Old Anglia," said the Chronicler Ethelwerd, "is situated between the Saxons and Jutes, and has in it a capital town, which in Saxon is called Sleswic, and in Danish Haithaby." Another description is found in the extracts from "Othere's Voyage " which King Alfred inserted into his edition of Orosius. The merchant Othere, who dwelt "northmost of all the Northmen," told the King that he had been on a voyage southward from " Skiringshael," which is now called the Bay of Christiania. For three days they sailed with Denmark on the right hand and an open sea to star- board : then for two days afterwards they had Zealand and other islands to the starboard, and before thev reached Haithabv there were numbers of islands on both sides ; "and in that country," added King Alfred, "the English dwelt before they came to England."^ ^ Bede, Hist. Eccl. i. 15, iv. 13, \6. Florence of Worcester in the appendix to his Chronicle describes the New Forest as lying " in the Province of the Jutes." ^ See Alfred's Orosius, c. 20, and the "Voyage of Othere out of his. 23 * 356 Origins of English History. We are not obliged to suppose that the Angles were confined to the small district round Schleswig. There is an Island of Anglen and another district on the mainland of the same name now inhabited by a Frisian population. There are other indications showing that the Angles were at one time settled on the Elbe, about the northern parts of Hanover. Both Tacitus and Ptolemy placed them in this neighbourhood, ''fenced in by the river and the forest," and always in proximity to the " Sueves," a nation of the High-German stock with whom the Angles were often associated. But Tacitus gives them also a share in the ownership of the Holy Island situate in the Outer Ocean, where the "Mother Earth" was worshipped in a sacred forest. Her ritual is only appropriate to one of the larger islands. She was borne in her shrine on a waggon drawn by a yoke of kine. "The days," said Tacitus, "are merry and the places gay where the goddess comes as a guest : no man will go to war or seize a weapon, and every sword is locked away : then, and then only, are peace and quiet enjoyed, until the priest restores to her temple the goddess weary of her converse with mankind : then the car and its draperies, and the goddess herself, if one cared to believe it, are purified in a lonely lake, and the slaves who do the work are straightway drowned in its waters."^ The "Traveller's Song," though of no historical authority, may be regarded as a collection of ancient traditions : it contains a legend of Offa, the mythical ancestor of the Countrey of Halgoland," in Hakluyt's Collection. The description in Ethehverd's Chronicle dates from about the end of the loth century. ^ Tac. Germ. 40. His "Anglii" are described as belonging to the Semnones, the chief of the Suevic nations. They are called " Suevi Angili " by Ptolemy. OrigtJis of English History. 357 Mercian kings, which implies a beHef that the Angles had gained a western outlet for their fleets before they under- took their migration. The glee-man is enumerating the tribes about the mouth of the Eider, which he calls "the monsters' gate," from some forgotten story of the sea. "Offa in boyhood won the greatest of kingdoms, and none of such age ever gained in battle a greater dominion with his single sword: his marches he widened towards the Myrgings by Fifel-dor : and there in the land as OfFa had won it thenceforth continued the Angles and Sueves."^ An old historian has told us that " many and frequent were the expeditions from Germany, and many were the lords who strove against each other in the regions of East Anglia and Mercia : and thereby arose unnumbered wars, but the names of the chieftains remain unknown by reason of their very multitude."" It has been thought that some of these invading bands may have belonged to races unconnected with the three great kindreds to whom the conquest is generally assigned. A share in the enterprise is claimed for every nation between the Rhine and the Vistula, for the Franks and Lombards, the Frisians and Danes, the Wends from Rugen, and the Heruli of the Eastern forests. "7b/ tantiqiie petunt simiil gigantesT To this cause it has even been proposed to ascribe the weakness of the later Angles "when, fleeing before the invading Northmen, the sons yielded the dominion of the land which their valiant forefathers had conquered."''^ There is nothing unreasonable in supposing that isolated ^ Traveller's Song, 84, 98. "Fifel-dor" means the gate of monsters. The word " Eider " itself is said to be contracted from " Egi-dor," the gate of dread. " Henr. Hunt. Hist. ii. 17, " Lappenberg, Hist. Engl. i. c. 6. 358 Origins of English History. bands of adventurers from many countries may have occupied portions of our coast, and may even have founded communities independent for a time of the Anglian or Saxon states in their neighbourhood. There is reason, for example, to believe that there were villages of the Frisians in Holderness and settlements of the same people in the southern parts of Scotland; and one would have expected to find traces of far more extensive colonies, considering the closeness of the kinship between Saxon and Frisian, their similar language, and their almost iden- tical laws and customs.^ But there is in fact no evidence to which weight can be attached that any considerable numbers of Frisians were ever established, in this country, and it will be found that the claims of this kind which the Frisian writers have put forward are founded either on vague allusions by English missionaries to their kinship with the Continental Germans," or on a passage in the already cited description of the "Island of Brittia" by Procopius.'^ The recurrence of patronymic names in many parts of England, and in most of the northern countries, has been often regarded as a proof that our villages were colonies or offshoots of a multitude of tribes. Such a name as "Swaffham," for instance, is taken to imply the presence of Sueves, as " Thorrington " of the Thuringians, and ^ See Skene's "Early Frisian Settlements," Proc. Soc. Antiqu. iv. 169; Lappenberg, Hist. Engl. i. c. 6. A comparison of the "Asega-buch " with the Kentish Laws of Ethelbert and his successors will show that the customs of the two nations in the 7th century must have been nearly identical. "" Bede, Hist. Eccl. v. 9. Compare the Life of Suibert, cited by Lappen- berg : " Egbertus sitiens salutem Frisonum et Saxonum eo quod Angli ab eis propagati sunt." ^ Procopius. Bell. Get. iv. ci 20, Ante, 81, 82. Origins of English History. 359 " Wendling " of the Wends. But the wideness and ease of the theory are warnings of the danger of accepting it. It has, in fact, been used to prove the real existence in England of all the personages who figure in the German mythology or are paraded in the "Traveller's Song." The gods of the North are degraded into petty chieftains, the conquerors of a manor or a farm ; Beowulf is found at Bowlby, and the all-ruling " Geat " at Gatton : the Wise Weland works in a real smithy, and Hilda, the cold war- goddess, lies buried at Hilda's-Lowe. It is simpler to suppose that these local names are derived from those of families named after a living founder, as the "^scings" from Eric the Ash, or after some god or hero from the common mythological stock. The names of the tribal form seem to denote the settlements of the nobles. We need not suppose that all who traced their descent to the same divine being were kinsmen of the same blood, or offshoots from the same community : nor are we bound to assign a common origin to all the kings who called themselves Children of Woden, or of those more shadowy beings from whom Woden, as they thought, was descended. We can trace the influence of such myths in the story of the Conquest of Kent, to which we shall now proceed. The pedigrees of Hengist and Eric must have been preserved in such ballads as are mentioned in Beowulf's Lay, when " the harp was touched and the tale was told of Hengist the Child of the Jutes," how he pined in Friesland through the winter, till King Finn gave to him " Hunlafing, a war-flame and best of axes," and how the king and his castle were destroyed by fire and the edge of the sword.^ The glee-man sang the victories of Hengist ^ Beowulf, 1083, 1096, 1 1 27. 360 Origins of English History. and his son, and of their forefathers back to " Witta who ruled the Siieves," and Woden the bestower of valour and wisdom, and beyond him to Freyr the Summer-god and Finn to whom the Frisians prayed, to Geat the father of the Goths and "Scyld" who defended the Danes, to the swift Hermoder, and "Scef " the first of the mystical line, whose lonely voyage w^as in Christian times confused with the story of the Deluge. " This Scef," says the Chronicle, "came in his bark to Scania, a little lad clad all in mail, unknown to the people of that land : and they guarded him as their own, and afterwards chose him for king : and it was from him that our Ethelwulf traced his pedigree." ^ We shall now return to the entries in the Chronicles, beginning with the year 449, in which the Conquest of Kent, according to their reckoning, commenced. The leaders, having landed at " Ypw4ne's-Fleet," at first gave aid to the British king : "but after six years they fought with him at a place called '^gil's-Threp,' and there Horsa was slain, and Hengist and his son 'Ash' took the kingdom; and after two years they fought against the Britons at a place called 'Crecgan-Ford' and there slew four thousand men; and the Britons then forsook Kent-land and in mighty ^ For the complete pedigrees, in which the name of Woden appears half-way down, see the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the years 547, 560, 855, the genealogies inserted in " Nennius," the Chronicle of Florence of Worcester, and Asser's Life of King Alfred : and see the subject discussed in Kemble's Saxons in England, i, c. 7. The names of " Frithuwulf, Frealaf, and Frithuwald " are taken to be synonymes of Frea, the Scandi- navian Freyr, the giver of peace and fertility. Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. 193. "Beowa " or " Beowulf " was a deity with similar attributes. " Heremod" answers to "the swift Hermoder" of the Norse mythology. "Geat" seems to be the same as "Gapt" who is placed by Jornandes at the head of the Gothic genealogies. Origuis of English History. 361 terror fled to London-Burgh."^ The last battle is de- scribed by Henry of Huntingdon in language which seems to have been taken from some heroic poem of which the original no longer exists. " When the Britons went into the w^ar-play they could not bear up against the unwonted numbers of the Saxons, for more of them had lately come over, and these were chosen men, and they horribly gashed the bodies of the Britons with axes and broadswords."^ " And about eight years afterwards Hengist and ' Ash ' lought against the Welsh near Wipped's-Fleet : and there they slew twelve princes: and one of their own thanes was slain, whose name was Wipped, And after eight years were fulfilled, Hengist and ' Ash ' fought again with the Welsh and took unnumbered spoil : and the Welsh fled from the English as from fire. And after fifteen years ' Ash ' came to the kingdom, and for twenty-four years he was king of the Kentish men."^ The outlines of a British account of the war were pre- served in the story of Prince Vortimer. " In those days," so the legend of Nennius runs,^ " Vortimer fought fiercely ^ A. S. Chron. ann. 449, 455,457; Ethelwerd, Chron. i. i. The ex- pression used in the Chronicles "feng to rice" impHes that the chieftains " took to being kings " or "took to the king-ship." The entry appears to refer to the foundation of the two Kingdoms of East and West Kent, of which the hmits corresponded with the sees of Canterbury and Rochester. Eric the Ash was the head of the family of "Ashings": " Oeric cogno- mento Oisc a quo reges Cantuariorum solent Oiscingas cognominare." Bede, Hist. Eccl. i. 5. The surname is said to have meant "the warrior " or "the spear": but in the Frisian legends it appears as " Hoeisch," meaning " soft " or " mild." " Orich cognomento Hoeisch quod Frisonico idiomate proprie sonat mitis et lenis." Kemp. Orig. Fris. ii. 22 ; Hamcon. Frisia, 33. "^ Henr. Hunt. ii. 4. ^ A. S. Chron. ann. 465, 473. * Nennius, Hist. Brit. 43, 44. 362 Origins of English History. with Hengist and Horsa and drove them out as far as Thanet : and there three thues he shut them in, and terri- fied and smote and slew. But they sent messengers to Germany to call for ships and soldiers, and afterwards they fought with our kings, and sometimes they prevailed and enlarged their bounds, and sometimes they were beaten and driven away. And Vortimer four times waged on them fierce wars : the first as was told above, and the second at the stream of Derwent, and the third at a ferry which the Saxons call Epis-Ford, where Horsa and Catigern fell. The fourth war he waged in the plain by the Written Stone, on the shore of the Gaulish Sea, and there he gained a victory, and the barbarians were beaten, and they turned and fled, and went like women into their ships." The commentators have sought in vain to harmonise these conflicting legends. Ebbsfleet in Thanet is usually identified with the landing-place, and the sites of the two principle battles are placed at Aylesford and Crayford on the Medwav. But the matter abounds in difficulties, and it is probable that too much stress has been laid on a slight resemblance of names, and on the statement of Bede's informant, that a monument marked with Horsa's name was in that day standing " in the eastern parts of Kent."^ We may suppose that Horsa's name was inscribed on some pillar, or " standing-stone," in those Runic signs which had long since been imitated or borrowed from the 1 " Duces fuisse perhibentur eorum primi duo fratres Hengist et Horsa ; e quibus Horsa, postea occisus in bello a Brittonibus, hactenus in orien- talibus Cantiae partibus monumentum habet suo nomine insigne." Bede, Hist. Eccl. i. ift. Origins of English History. 363 Roman alphabet.^ But if there were such a memorial, its locality seems to have been unknown as early as the time of King Alfred, the passage in which it was described by Bede having been omitted from the English version of his history. Its site was fixed at Horsted near Aylesford, after many conjectures by the antiquaries, chiefly it would seem because the great cromlech in that neighbourhood had already been assigned to Prince Catigern. The ruins of another Stone-Age tumiihis were found at a little dis- tance to the southward, consisting of " stones partly upright with a large one lying across them": and it was supposed that the chieftain might have been carried up from the battle-field two miles away to lie near his enemy's tomb. When certain antiquaries visited the place in 1763, the villagers showed them a heap of flints in the wood, which had all the appearance of being refuse stones thrown up by a farmer, and this has since that time been accepted as the site of the ancient monument. One point being fixed, it became easy to identify the rest : and hence the apparent certainty with which localities have been settled for almost all the events in the legend of Hengist and Horsa."- It is still, however, a subject of debate if these cham- pions existed at all, and we are permitted to doubt whether " Dan Hengist " landed in Lindsey and fought to the ^ " Runic monuments may be said to have been found in all countries inhabited by nations of Teutonic descent, but the oldest of those monu- ments cannot be regarded as dating before 200 a.d." The Runes them- selves are mostly the capitals of the Roman alphabet, " borrowed from the Romans during the Empire not long after the date of Julius Caesar." Rhys, Welsh Philology, 321. - Camden, Brit. 25:5 Lambarde, Perambul. Kent, 409 j Philipot, Vill. Cantian. 48; Hasted, Hist. Kent^ ii. 177 : Archceologla, ii. 107. 364 Origins of English History. death with Ambrosms, or if Duke Horsa fell at Ayles- ford beneath a giant's blow, ^^ XeXaa-fjuivo^ cTrTroawdcov." We are told that the evidence for their actual existence is *' at least as strong as the suspicion of their mythical character."^ But it is urged on the other hand that the names of " Horse and Mare " are on the face of them symbolical, and should be taken as referring to some banner of the host, some crest or emblem of the tribe, or perhaps to some reverence for the sacred white horses which the Germans supposed to be " aware of the designs of heaven."" Kemble thought that we must connect the chieftains, with pagan deities, seeing beneath the myth *' Woden in the form of a horse," or some such god- like or " half-godlike" form."^ There seems however to be no reason why a popular captain should not be called "the Horse," since we read of others who were nick- named after the Crow, the Wolf, and the Boar:* nor is it easy to see how the cult of the pure white horses, or a belief in the omens obtained from their movements, could ever be transmuted into the story of Hengist the Jute. But there is a stronger objection to the Chronicler's statements in the fact that Hengist is the hero of such numerous and such divergent traditions. The crafty and valiant prince, an Odysseus of the Northern Seas, has left a legend on every coast between Jutland and the Cornish Promontory.^ All the old stories are fastened on his ^ Freeman, Norm. Conquest, i. 10. ^ Tac. Germ. 10. ^ Kemble, " Saxons in England," i. 19. ^ The sons of the mythical Wonred were named " Wolf" and "Boar." Beow. 2964, 2965. Other examples may be found in Mr. Kemble's Essay on the "Anglo-Saxon Nicknames," Archceologia (Winchester, 1845). ^ Numerous examples will be found in the Codex Diplomaticus. Com- Origins of English History. 365 name, of one who bought as much land as an ox-hide would cover and thereby gained a kingdom, of three hundred chieftains in Kent or Thuringia slain with knives concealed at a banquet, and of a princess, as in the legend of Nennius, exchanged for three provinces by the king and his fur-clad councillors. Hengist seems to be ubiquitous, and fills all kinds of characters. In one storv he serves as a legionary in the army of Valentinian the Third : in another he comes as " the wickedest of pagans " to ravage the coasts of Gaul. In the fragmentary poem which is known as "the Fight of Finnesburg" Hengist leads a band of Jutish pirates to burn the palace of the Frisian king: "the hall blazes in the moon-light, the spear clangs, and shield answers to shaft"; but in the legends of the Frieslanders themselves he is claimed as the father of their kings, and as the builder of their strongholds on the Rhine.^ The Chroniclers next record the beginning of the con- pare the names of Hengistbuiy Head, Hengstdown in Cornwall, Hinxworth, and Henstridge (" Hengestes-ricg ") on the Stour. Kemble. Cod. Diplom. 374, 455, 1002 J " Hengest-helle," Hasted, Hist. Kent, iii. 171. Com- pare also Edwy's donation of twenty "boor-lands" to the monastery of Abingdon : " aliquam terrae portionem, id est secundum estimationem 20 cassatorum tribus in locis, illic ubi vulgariter prolatum est cet Hengestes ige," &c. These " cassates " or "householders" lands " are called " bur- land " in the schedule of boundaries. Cod. Diplom. 1216; Leo. Rect. Sing. Person. 6. ^ Beowulf, 227, 1083, 1096, 1 127. For the "Fight at Finnesburg," see the editions of Beowulf by Thorpe, p. 227, by Kemble, i. 239, and by Arnold, p. 204, and Grein. Biblioth. i. 341. John of Wallingford calls Hengist " omnium paganorum sceleratissimus," and mentions his attacks on the Gaulish coast. The Ravenna Geographer calls him " Anschis," Ravenn. V. 31 : but this was a Frankish name; Duke Anschis was brother of St. Clou and father of Pepin the Short. Will. Malmesb. Gesta, i. 68. The Frisian legends treat Hengist as the founder of Leyden and the builder of a 366 Origins of English History. quest of Sussex, a kingdom at first renowned for the daring exploits of its founders, though its later history is so obscure that nothing is heard about it between the capture of the Roman towns and the conversion of the South- Saxons in the year 68 1 . The little country "shut in among the rocks and forests " was unable in the age of Bede to find support for more than seven thousand households, and the historian drew a lamentable picture of the poverty and rudeness of the people. When St. Wilfrid first preached at Selsey they did not even know how to catch sea-fish, though they had nets for eels, and were so wild and untaught as to have retained the custom of making "the journey to Woden": for we are told that, when pressed by famine, forty or fifty men together would join hands and leap over the cliffs into the sea.^ The charters relating to the See of Chichester show that Sussex was divided into several petty kingdoms, before it sank into the position of a duchy under the Mercian kings.^ The Chroniclers however confine them- temple of " Warns " or Woden at Doccum. Hamcon. Frisia, 2)?) ; Suffrid. Antiqu. Fris. ii. 1 1 ; Kemp. Hist. Fris. ii. 21, 22, 1 Ante p. 88 3 Bede, Hist. Eccl. iv. 13. The peninsula of Selsey was the first point occupied by the South-Saxons. A. S. Chron. amio 477 ; Kemble, Cod. Diplom. 992. The peninsula, when given to Wilfrid, was considered to contain enough land for eighty-seven families. The grant included the inhabitants as well as their lands, and the bishop's first act was to baptize and enfranchise the two hundred and fifty serfs. He found five or six Irish monks established between the forest and the sea at Bosham ; this monastery and the newer foundation at Selsey were after- wards united in the Bishopric of Chichester. Lappenberg quotes the life of St. Wilfrid by iEdde for a description of the condition of the country : " provincia gentilis quee prae rupium multitudine et silvarum densitate aliis provinciis inexpugnabilis exstitit." Hist. Engl. i. c. 7. ^ The following grants are printed by Kemble. Nothelm, King of the Origins of Ejiglish History. 367 selves to the wars of the first invasion. " In the year 477 came ^lle with his three sons to Cymen's-Ore, and there they slew many Welsh, and some they drove into the forest called Andred's-Lea : and when eight years had passed they fought again at a place called Markrede's- Burn," After six years more they encamped against Anderida, a fortress which had been erected for the defence of the " Saxon Shore," and destroyed it so utterly that '' not one single Briton there was left alive. "^ The sack of Anderida is a sign of the blind ferocity which distinguished the first invasions. The ruins near Pevensey have for centuries represented all that remained of the " noble city."^ Many of the towns and castles South-Saxons, with the assent of Wattus, an under-king or " sub-regulus," gives 38 "householders' lands '' to the Princess Nothgith in a.d. 692. Cod. Diplom. 995. King Nunna grants to the monks of Selsey the lands of four holdings in one place and of four households in another, " in Herotonum 4 manentes et Braclaesham-stede 4 cassatos," Hid. 999. Nunna, with the assent of Wattus, gives 20 hides or " tributaries' lands " to the Bishop, ibid. 1000, The kings Nunna and Osmund grant " aliquantulam terram, id est quatuor tributarios " to Berhfrid, who had given himself and all his posses- sions to the Bishop ; and his release is added, ibid. looi. Osmund gives twelve hides of arable with certain woodlands and appurtenances : " id est 1 2 tributarios terrae quae appellatur Ferring cum totis ad earn pertinentibus campis silvis pratis fluminibus fontanis et silvatica Coponora et Titlesham." ibid. 108. The same King with his several "Dukes "gives 15 hides to St. Peter's Church, "aliquantulam terram in loco qui dicitur Hanefeld 15 manentium," ibid. 1009: and eighteen hides, " decem et octo manentes" in another place, ibid. 10 10. In the year 780 a grant to the Church is made by " Oslac Duke of the South-Saxons," and is confirmed by Offa King of Mercia. ^ A. S. Chron. cinn. 477, 485, 491. The three sons of ^lle were called Cymen, Wlencing, and Cissa. The name of the last is preserved in that of " Cissanceastir," or Chichester, formerly the City of the E.egni. ^ " Ita urbem destruxerunt quod nunquam postea resedilicata est; locus J 68 Origins of English History. were doubtless burned and uprooted by the rough tribes who made their homes in the forest, for the new comers hated the Hfe of cities and dwelt like their forefathers in hamlets scattered along the banks of a stream or in the glades of a favourite wood/ Some of the towns, which were spared at first, fell afterwards in the civil wars, and many more were left in contemptuous neglect to crumble in the wind and the rain. But the English kings, as time went on, learned to hold their courts in the fortresses, to choose an ancient city for a metropolis, to grant a Roman town to a favourite retainer, or to set up their own farmsteads on the ruins of the desolated palaces,^ The people, as they became more civilised, began to regard these remnants of the past with feelings of wonder tantum quasi nobilissimse urbis transeuntibus ostenditur desolatus." Henr. Hunt. ii. TO. ^ Tac. Germ. c. i6; Ammian. Marcell. xvi. 2, 13. ^ See Bede's notices of the metropolitan cities of Canterbury, Hist. Eccl. i. 215, 26, ^^•. of London, ibid. i. 29, ii. 3 : of York, Wid. i. 29, ii. 14, 20 : of AVinchester, ih'id. iii. 7, v. 18: of royal "villae" established in Roman towns, at "Derventio," Hid. ii. 9 : at" Cataracta" or Catterick, Hid. ii, 14, iii. 14 : at " Campodunum," Wid. ii. 14 : at the station "Ad Murum," il'id. iii. 22: and see his account of Dunwich and Lincoln, il-'id. ii. 15, 16: of Othona or " Ythan-caestir," Hid. iii. 22 : and of " Calcaria," iVid. iv. 23. Among the towns given to soldiers were " Cnobhere's-burg," the Roman station at Burgh Castle, in which a monastery was afterwards established,. ihid. iii. 19. The Roman station at Reculver was also given to a monas- tery, ih'id. V. 8. See the list of towns in Kemble's " Saxons in England," ii. 550- Compare Bede's account of the foundation of the See of Rochester : " Justum . . . ordinavit in civitate Dorubrevi quam gens Anglorum a primario quondam illius, qui dicebatur Hrof, Hrofaescaestre cognominat." Hist. Eccl. ii. 3. The derivation is omitted in the English version, and other forms of the word indicate that " Hrof " was an imaginary person. See Ethelbert's charter of April 28th, a.d. 604, in which' he grants lands, "in Hrofi-brevi " near ths " Southgate-street " and the " Broadgate." Kemble, Cod. Diplom. t. Origins of English History. 369 and regret. Their poets lamented the destruction of "the joyous halls," of the ruined towers and bare walls coated with frost. " The old time has fled and is lost under night's dark veil." The elegy called "The Ruin" tells how such a castle fell, as the towers of Anderida had fallen, and how the earth was shaken as the furnaces of the baths exploded in flame and steam. " Wondrous the wall-stone that Weird hath broken . . . the roof-tree riven, the gray gates despoiled. Often that wall withstood Raeghar and Readfah, chieftain after chieftain rising in storm. Bright was the burgh-place, and many the princely halls, and high w^as the roof of gold . . . And the court is dreary, and the crowmed roof lies, low in the shadow of the purple arch. Princes of old time, joyous and gold- bright and splendidly-decked, proud and with wine elate, in war-gear shone. They looked on their treasures, on silver and gems and on stones of price, and on this bright burgh of their broad realm. The stone court stands, the hot stream hath whelmed it, there where the bath was hot on the breast,"^ We now pass to the rise of the House of Cerdic and the foundation of the little states of the " Gevissi " which in course of time were united in the West-Saxon kingdom. The country appears to have been occupied by indepen- dent bands of settlers, who governed themselves at first according to the democratic forms to which they had been accustomed at home. The Continental Saxons in the time ^ The extracts are translated from the poems in the Exeter Book ascribed to " Cynewulf." Thorpe, Cod. Exon. 292, 476, 478. The characteristic alliteration has been preserved as far as was practicable. For the personification of "Weird" or Destiny, see Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 400 : " it shall befall us as Weird decideth, the lord of every man." The Fates are the " weird sisters." Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. 377. 24 370 Origins of English History. of Bede were still governed by a great number of chief- tains, each managing the affairs of a province or district, and having authority over the reeves or head-men of the villages : when a war broke out one of the number was chosen by lot to lead the national forces, but on the return of peace they all became equal again. ^ The system resembled in many respects the institutions described by Tacitus : for even in the states which were ruled by kings the chieftains arranged the smaller matters of government, and had the task of carrying out what the people decided in their national assemblies, and we are told that some of the chieftains were elected at the same assemblies to administer justice in the country-districts and villages, each having with him a hundred assessors or " companions " to give advice and to add authority to his decisions.^ The English of the southern settlements soon adopted a fashion, which the Franks had introduced as soon as they had occupied the country round Tongres and Cambray, and chose kings from their noblest families to rule their states and shires.^ ^ Bede, Hist. Eccl. v. lo. The "Old Saxons" here described were established in the neighbourhood of the Rhine. Their customs were not in all respects similar to those of their English kindred. Will. Malmesb. Gesta. i. 80. "- Tac. Germ. 11, 13. The district, or "pagus,"' administered by the chieftain may be regarded as the original " shire," which as the kingdoms increased in size became the subdivision of a larger shire, and in course of time accquired the Frankish name of " Centena " or Hundred. The old county-court on this view represented the national assembly of an extinct kingdom, and the hundred-court the assembly of one of its original districts. ^ " Tradunt . . . (Francos) primum quidem littora Rheni amnis in- coluisse : dehinc, transacto Rheno, Thoringiam transmeasse ibique juxta pages vel civitates reges crinitos super se creavisse de prima et ut dicitur nobiliori suorum familia." Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc, u. 9. The Origins of English History. 371 A later age attributed the whole credit of the West- Saxon conquests to the great princes in whose family the supremacy was finally established ; and we may assume in fact that the kings of the smaller districts would be subordinate to the military head of the nation in all that concerned the repulse of an invasion or the levying of external war. The Chroniclers show us the coming of two chieftains from the Elbe, Cerdic and his son Cynric, claiming to be of the line of Balder the Fair, the brightest of the offspring of Woden/ We are told in one account that they fought on the day of their landing against a large force which had been assembled in expectation of their coming, the Saxons standing firm in front of the ships on the beach, and the Britons exhausting themselves in vain English nobles and free-men were all " long-haired," and the kings were distinguished by a circlet of gold worn round the head. Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 155. Three under-kings concur in a grant by the King of Surrey. Cod. Diplora. 987. There were apparently seven kings in Kent at the same time, ih'id. 151. We are told that Edwin "went against the West-Saxons, and there slew five kings." A. S. Chron. anno 626. Compare Bede's account of the succession of the Kings of Wessex : " acceperunt subreguli regnum gentis et divisum inter se tenuerunt annis circiter decem." Hist. Eccl. iv. 12. ^ With respect to this claim we may refer to William of JMalmesbury. " Possem hoc loco istius (Idae) et alibi aliorum lineam seriatim intexere, nisi quod ipsa vocabula barbarum quiddam stridentia minus quam vellem delectationis lecturis infunderent. Illud tantum non immerito notandum, quod cum Wodenio fuerint tres filii, Weldegius, Withlegius, Beldegius : de primo reges Cantuaritarum ; de secundo, Merciorum ; de tertio, West- Saxonum et Northanhimbrorum, praeter duos . . . originem traxerint." Gesta. i. 44. And again, of Hengist and Horsa he says : " erant abnepotes illius antiquissimi Woden," ibid. i. 5. " Bseldeg " is the Balder of the Scandinavian mythology. Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. 202. For places in England named after this god, as Baldersby, Balderston, and the like, see Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 2)^;;^, and Ethelred's grant of land near Balder's-Lea " in Wiltshire, Cod. Diplom. 1059. 24 * 372 Origins of English History. attempts to break the pirates' line.^ We are shown the spot where they disembarked, by a headland at the mouth of a stream falHng into the Southampton Water,' and can trace their advance along the coast. We learn the places where they fought in the forest and by the ford on the Avon, and where thev overthrew the King in whom some have recognised the majestic figure of Ambrosius, "Now came two Aldermen to Britain, Cerdic and his son Cynric, with five ships, at a place called Cerdic's-Ore, and on that same day they fought against the Welsh : and after twelve years they slew a British king whose name was Natanleod, and with him five thousand men : and after that the countrv was called Natan-Lea as far as Cerdic's-Ford : and when eleven years had passed, they took upon them the kingdom of the West-Saxons, and in the same year they fought once more with the Britons at the place called Cerdic's-Ford : and ever since then the royal race of the West-Saxons has reigned.'" "And on that day," says the historian, "a great 1 " Cerdic's-Ore " is supposed to be a headland at the mouth of the River Itchin. The compound "ore" in such words as Cymen's-Ore and Cerdic's-Ore means " a shp of land between two waters," at the mouth of a river or the outlet of a lake. Laing, Sea-kings of Norway, i. 1195 Kemble, Cod, Diplom. 88, 123, 346, 441, 597. Gaimar, Hist. Engl. 822, speaks of Cerdic's-ore as a place known in his time : " Cerdic od son navire Arriva a Certesore U/i moncel H pert uncore : La arriva il e sonjiz, Engleis rappellerent Chenriz ; Hors e Hefigesju lur ancestre Sicom conte la Veraie Geste.'" " A. S. Chron. ann. 495, 508, 519. In the year 527 the two kings fought another battle in " Cerdic's-Lea/' which is thought to be Bernwood Forest, and in 530 " they took the Isle of Wight, and slew many men at Wihtgar's-Burg." The name of the British king is continued in those of Origins of English History. 373 blow fell upon the dwellers in Albion, and greater yet had it been but for the sun going down : and the name of Cerdic was exalted, and the fame of his wars and of the wars of his son Cynric was noised throughout the land."^ We shall not linger over the monotonous tale of con- quest and shall only cite one more description taken as it is supposed from some lost Chronicle of the Jutes, which shows again how the exploits of the lesser chieftains were used to augment the renown of Cerdic, as Arthur has attracted to his name the exploits of a whole age of chivalry or as Roland towers above his peers in the cycle of Carolingian romance. We are told that in the year 514 " came West-Saxons with three ships to the place called Cerdic's-Ore," where Stuf and Wihtgar, the chieftains of the Jutes, fought with the Britons and put their army to flight: "and their chieftains took the country far and wide, and through their deeds the strength of Cerdic became terrible, and he passed through all the land in his dreadful might." " several places near the New Forest, as Netton and Netley. Compare the form " Natan-grafum " or " Netgrove," Kemble, Cod. Diplom. 90. 1 Henr. Huntingd. ii. 17. 2 Henr. Huntingd. ii. 14. Stuf and Wihtgar are called the nephews of Cerdic, whose sister may have been married to a Jutish prince, though it is possible that interpolations were made in the Chronicle to adapt it to the history of the royal family of Wessex. Their line ruled in the Isle of Wight till the slaughter of the sons of King Arvald in a.d. 686, when the islanders were converted to Christianity. Bede, Hist. Eccl. iv. 16. Their family is mentioned in Asser's Life of Alfred : " His mother was Osburga, daughter of Oslac chief-butler to King Ethelwulf : he was a ' Goth ' (Jute) by nation, descended from the ' Goths ' and Jutes, of the seed of Stuf and Wihtgar, two brothers who were dukes, and who, having received possession of the Isle of Wight from Cerdic their uncle and his son Cynric, slew the few British inhabitants whom they could find in that island at a place called Wihtgara- burgh (Carisbrook) : for the other inhabitants of the island had either been slain or had escaped into exile." Vita Alfred. 2. 374 Origins of English History. The greatness of Wessex begins in the victories of Ceawlin, the " wonder of the English " and the hated destroyer of the Britons, renowned for his long predomi- nance over all the English states and for the tragic disaster in which his kingdom and his life were lost.^ He first appears as a leader of the armies of his father Cynric at the Battle of " Barbury Hill," where the Britons so nearly retrieved their fortunes by adopting the Roman discipline. They formed, it is said, in nine lines, three in the van and three for the supports, the rest being posted in the rear: the archers and javelin-men were thrown out in the front, and each flank was guarded bv cavalrv, in imitation of the tactics which had been used in the Imperial legions. " But the Saxons formed all in one line together, and charged boldly on and fought it out with their swords amid the falling banners and breaking spears, until the evening came on and the victory still remained doubtful."^ A success, gained by Cuthwulf the king's brother, gave to the West-Saxons the command of the Upper Thames and of the rich Vale of Aylesbury, so that their territories covered all the districts now included in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.^ A few years afterwards three British ^ " In the year 552," says the English Chronicle, " Cynric fought against the Britons at a place called Searo-burh (Old Sarum) and put them to flight . . . and in the year ^c^6 Cynric and Ceawlin fought against the Britons at Beranburh (Barbury Hill) . . . and in the year 570 Ceawlin succeeded to the kingdom of the West-Saxons." William of Malmesbury describes Ceawlin as the ruin of his friends and of his foes : " Cujus spectatissimum in proeliis robur annales ad invidiam efferunt, quippe qui fuerit Anglis stupori, Britonibus odio, utrisque exitio." Gesta. i. 17. ^ Henr. Huntingdon ii. 22. ^ A. S. Chron. ami. 571. "Now Cutha {aViter 'Cuthwulf') fought against the Britons at Bedford and took four towns." These places are Origins of English History. 375 kings were slain at the decisive battle of Deorham, and the fortresses of Bath, Cirencester, and Gloucester fell into the hands of the English.^ It was to these exploits that Ceawlin owed that dignity of "Bretwalda," which -^lle before him had gained by the destruction of Anderida : and, whatever may have been the meaning of the title, it is clear that it imported at least a leadership, if not an imperial supremacy, over all the neighbouring territories.^ It is supposed that Ceawlin or his lieutenants passed up the Valley of the Severn soon after the Battle of Deorham, and destroyed the great fortress of "Uriconium" which at that time formed the capital of the kings of Powys. The English, according to the elegy attributed to Llywarch the usually identified with Lenborough a hamlet near Buckingham, Aylesbury, Bensington, and Ensham. Kemble, Saxons in Engl. ii. 295. Guest's Early English Settlements, Arckceologia (Salisbury, 1849) 71. ^ A. S. Chron. ami. 577. "Now Cuthwine and Ceawlin fought against the Britons, and they slew three kings, Conmaegl and Condidan and Farinmaegl at the place called Deorham (Dyrham), and took three cities from them, Gloucester and Cirencester and Bath." The descent of Farin- maegl King of Builth is traced to Vortigern in ' Nennius.' Hist. Brit. 49. "" Freeman, Norm. Conqu. i. 27. Opinions have differed as to the meaning of the word Bretwalda. Palgrave and Lappenberg take it as equivalent to " ruler of Britain." This view is supported by Professor Rhys. Celtic Britain, 136. Kemble construed it "broad-ruling," and saw in it a dignity without duty, hardly more than an " accidental predominance." Saxons in England, ii. 18. The list of those who obtained this " diicatns" includes Ethelbert of Kent, who broke the power of the petty kings as far as the Humber, Redbald of East Anglia who obtained it even in the lifetime of Ethelbert, and the three great Northumbrian kings, Edwin, Oswald and Oswy, whose supremacy did not extend to Kent. The Chronicle adds the name of Egbert of Wessex, in whose case the name may have been used vaguely as an ornamental title of dignity. Bede, Hist. Feci. ii. 5. " Now Egbert subdued the kingdom of the Mercians and all that was south of the Humber, and he was the eighth king who was Brytcnwahhi." A. S. Chron. ann. 827. 376 Origins of English History. Aged, marched from " Pengwern," or Shrewsbury, to the "lusty white town" by the Wrekin. The poet mourns over the death of King Kynddylan and the gloom of his deserted halls. "The Eagle of Pengwern with his gray and horny beak, loud is his scream and hungry for flesh, loud is his clamour and hungry for the flesh of Kynddylan! " And he laments over the ruined towers, the broken shields and blood upon the fallows, and the churches burning beside the red clover fields.^ Seven years after the Battle of Deorham, Ceawlin and his son Cutha fought again with the Welsh on the upper waters of the Severn: "and Cutha there was slain: and Ceawlin took many towns and unnumbered spoil, and wrathful he returned to his own."" It is to this time that we may attribute the founding of the little kingdoms of which the boundaries wxre long preserved in those of the Bishoprics of Hereford and Worcester.^ The West- Saxons had extended their conquests far beyond the line of the Thames and the Somersetshire Avon to which they were afterwards restricted, and within a generation after Ceawlin's death these northern territories had passed to the Kings of Mercia.^ 1 Llywarch's Elegy is preserved in the " Red Book of Hergest." It was translated by Dr. Guest, Archceol. Camlr. ix. 142, and is printed at length in Skene's "Four Ancient Books of Wales," i. 448, 451,11.445. Several legends of Ceawlin's wars with the Welsh are preserved in the " Book of Llandaff." Liber Landav. 133. ^ A. S. Chron. anno 584. The battle was fought at " Fethan-lea," which is thought to be Faddiley, on the borders of Cheshire. Rhys, Celtic Britain, 108. ^ The Kingdoms of the " Hwiccas " corresponded in extent with the old Diocese of Worcester, and the state of the " Hecanas " with the Bishopric of Hereford. Even in the small territory of the Hwiccas there were several kings at the same time. Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 150. * Mr. Freeman considers that the *' cession of the country of the Origins of English History. 2)77 The reim of Ceawlin was closed bv defeat and disaster. A coalition was formed against him between the Welsh enemy and his own discontented subjects : and it is thought that the plot was instigated by Ethelbert of Kent, who had once been defeated by Ceawlin and was now to succeed to his supremacy.^ The forces of the King of Wessex were driven across the Wiltshire Downs, and we are told that ''there was a great slaughter on the Woden's- Hill, and Ceawlin was driven into exile, and in the next year he died."^ Hwiccas and Cea\^'lin's other conquests north of the Avon " was made in the year 628, and cites the Chronicle for that year: " Now Cynegils and Cwichehn fought with Penda at Cirencester and made an agreement there." Wessex was freed from the dominion of Mercia by the victory of Cuthred over Ethelbald at Burford in the year 752. Dr. Plot gave the following account of a local custom by which this battle was supposed to have been commemorated. " Cuthred met and overthrew him there, winning his banner, whereon was depicted a golden dragon; in memory of which victory the custom of making a dragon yearly and carrying it up and down the town in great jollity on Midsummer Eve, to which they added the picture of a giant, was in all likelihood first instituted." Nat. Hist. Oxford. 348. The custom is much more likely to have had a heathen origin and to have been connected with the worship of Fre}T or Balder. ^ Will. Malmesb. Gesta, i. 17. Lappenberg, Hist. Engl. i. c. 7. The Kentish king was defeated by the West-Saxons in the first year of his reign. " In this year Ceawlin and his brother Cutha fought against Ethelbert and drove him into Kent : and slew two Aldermen, Oslaf and Cnebba, at Wibban-dun " (Wimbledon). A. S. Chron. anno 568. ^ A. S. Chron. ann. 592, 593. The place of the battle is uncertain. The Chronicle calls it " Woddesbeorg," Florence of Worcester " Wodnes- beorh, id est Mons Wodeni," and William of Malmcsbury places it at "Wodnesdic," now called the . Wansdyke. It was probably fought at Wanborough in Wiltshire. Woden, having been early identified with Mercury, was worshipped " by the road-sides and high hills " : see the instances collected by Kemble, Saxons in Engl. i. c. 12, and the Con- tinental examples in Grimm's Deutsch. Mythol. c. 7. Compare Hasted's description of the tumulus at Woodnesborough near Sandwich, where the 3/8 Origins of Ejiglish History. At the end of the 6th century Wessex had been restored in dignity and importance by Ceolwulf, another prince of Cerdic's Une, who began to reign in the year of Augustine's mission, and who fought and strove continually "against the Angles and Welsh, and against the Picts and Scots." ^ The power of Ethelbert was predominant in the East as far as the ^borders of Northumbria. The states of the East-Saxons acknowledged the supremacy of his nephew Sasberht : but he enjoyed no real independence, in spite of his dignity as the descendant of " Saxnoth " and as the nominal master of London,'- The two East-Anglian neio-hbouring hamlet of " Cold Friday " retains a trace of the name of " Woden's wife." Hist. Kent, iv. 230. 1 A. S. Chron. aJiiio 597. Ceolwulf died in 61 1, and was succeeded by Cynegils, in whose reign Wessex was converted to Christianity by the labours of Birinus. The Bishop was sent to the parts " beyond the English," where no preacher had ever gone before ; " sed Britanniam perveniens ac Gevissorum gentem ingrediens, cum omnes ibidem paganis- simos inveniret, utilius esse ratus est ibi potius verbum prtedicare." Bede, Hist. Eccl. iii. 7. " See Bede's account of the conversion of Essex by JNIellitus ; " pro- vinciae Orientalium Saxonum quorum metropolis Lundonia civitas est .... in qua videlicet gente Saberct, nepos CEdilbercti ex sorore Ricula, regnabat quamvis sub potestate positus ejusdem CEdilbercti." Hist. Eccl. ii. 3. According to some accounts Ercenwine or CEscwine was the first to acquire the supreme power over all the East-Saxon communities. William of JMalmesbury considered that Sledda, father of Sseberht, who died in 597, was the first who could be said to have reigned : " Primus apud eos regnavit Sledda, a Wodenio decimus." Gesta, i. 98. His fabled genealogy is traced in the Appendix to the Chronicle of Florence of Worcester. Saxnoth was a god of the Continental Saxons and was one of the three deities mentioned in the " Renunciation " imposed on them after their defeat by the Franks. He is usually identified with "Tiw," to whom Tuesday, or "Dies Martis," was appropriated. Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. 184. For names of places derived from him, see Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 351 j Cod. Diplom. iii. introd. Compare the name " Tiowulfinga-ceestir," Bede, Hist. Eccl. ii. 16. Origins of English History. 379 " Folks " were governed by Redwald the Uffing, a prince at that time subordinate like the rest to King Ethelbert, but destined within a few years to succeed to his wide prerogative.^ The great Kingdom of Mercia was not yet constituted ; in its place stood a number of independent states of which little more than the names has been preserved. There were " North-Gyrvians " round Peter- borough, and " South-Gyrvians " in the Cambridgeshire Fens.- The kings of the " Lindisfaras " ruled the region of Lindsev, near Lincoln, and claimed a descent from " Winta" another of the sons of Woden. The Mercians of the North, who became in time the masters of all the rest, were at this time holding the march-lands against the Welshmen of Loidis and Elmet f and there were also Angles of the West and South, and Middle-AngHans whose country was conterminous with the ancient Diocese of Leicester, ^ The settlement of East Anglia is said to have begun in the year 526, but there was no "head-king " before 571, when the dynasty of the Uffings was founded by Offa the grandfather of Redwald. William of Malmes- bury treats Redwald as the first who could be called a king: "Primus idemque maximus apud Orientales Anglos rex fuit Redwaldus, a Wodenio ut scribunt decimum genu nactus : omnes quippe australes Anglorum et Saxonum provinciae citra Humbram fiuvium cum suis regibus ejus nutum spectabant." Gesta, i. 97. - Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 83, 84. These districts were a border- land belonging in part to the East Anglians and in part to the Gyrvians. Great numbers of Britons seem to have taken refuge ui the "wild fens/' if we may rely on the monastic complaints of the continual incursions of "Welsh thieves." Vita Guthlac. Acta Sanct., April, ii. 435 History of Ramsay, 444 j Palgrave, Engl. Comm. i. 462. The genealogy of the Kings of Lindsey is preserved in the Appendix, to the Chronicle of Florence of Worcester. ^ Elmet was an independent British state near Leeds, -which was long dependent on the Kingdom of Westmere or Westmoreland : its hist king was expelled by Edwin of Northumbria. Nennius, Hist. Brit. 6^. 380 Origins of English History. with "Peak-settlers" and " Chiltern-settlers " and many other tribes whose positions can no longer be identified.^ The foundation of Mercia was the work of the valiant Penda, the last champion of paganism and the destroyer of so many of the Christian kings. " Like a wolf in the sheep-fold," it was said, '' he arose and raged against them." He perished in the year 655 at the Battle of Winwidfield, " and with him thirty royal leaders fell and some of them were kings": "and in Winwid's stream," according to the ancient tale, " the death of Anna was avenged, and the deaths of Sigbert and Egrice, and the deaths of St. Oswald and Edwin the Fair."" Somewhat more is known of the earlv historv of North- umbria. The pedigree of King Edwin shows how his ancestor " Sasmil son of Sigefugel " first divided Bernicia from Deira.^ Both countries were governed by judges, presiding over ten associated districts, until Ida set up a ^ Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 80, 84 ; Freeman, Norm. Conqu. i. 25, 37. Compare also the list called " N'umerus Hidarum" under '' Hida" in Spelman's Glossary, and Gale, i. 748. ^ There were kings of the North-Mercians before Penda: but he was the first ruler of the united Midland Kingdom. Henr. Huntingd. Hist. Angl. ii. 37; Bede, Hist. Eccl. ii. 14. " Penda quidam a Wodenio decimus, stirpe inclytus, bellis industrius, idemque fanaticus et impius, apud Mercios regis nomen praesumpsit . . . Quid enim non auderet qui lumina Britanniae Edwinum et Oswaldum reges Northanhimbrorum, Sigebertum Egricum Annam reges Orientalium Anglorum, in quibus generis claritas et vitae sanctitas conquadrabant, temeritate nefaria exstinxit ? " Will. Malmesb. Gesta, i. 74. Compare Henry of Huntingdon : " insurrexit igitur exercitui perituro regis Annae, insurrexit et infrenduit, ' Ut lupus ad caulas Sic super attonitos fertur Rex Penda propinquos.' Devorati sunt igitur Anna rex et exercitus ejus ore gladii in memento." Hist. Angl. ii. 23- Penda came to the throne in the year 626, and was killed at the battle on the Are or " Winwed " near Leeds in the year 655. ^ See the " genealogies " appended to the history of Nennius. Hist. Brit. ^6, 57, 62. Origins of English History. 381 kingdom in Bernicia, and built himself a royal citv at Bamboroueh "which at first was enclosed bv a hedsie and afterwards by a wall."^ In those days, we are told, a prince called Dutigirn fought bravely against the nation of the Angles, and Aneurin and Taliessin and Llywarch the Aged became famous for their bardic poems. The elegies ascribed to their names, of which the substance remains though the form and language have been modernised, contain allusions to many incidents in the wars of the Britons with the Bernicians. We are shown Theodoric *'the Flame-bearer," one of Ida's sons, advancing with four hosts to fight with the Princes of Annandale: the "Death- song of Owain " bewails the death at the Flame-bearer's hands of "the chieftain of the glittering West"; and the minstrel boasts over the white-haired Saxons, and sings the praises of Urbgen, chief of the thirteen kings who commanded the armies of the North. ^ Another kingdom was founded in Deira by ^Elle the father of Edwin : but on his death the whole of North- umbria was seized by ^thelfrith the Cruel. " Of him," wTites Bede, "it might be said that like Benjamin he should ravin as a wolf, and that in the morning he should devour the prey and at night divide the spoil ; for never in the time of the Tribunes, and never in the time of the Kings, did any one by conquering or driving out the Britons bring more of their lands under tribute, or make them empty for the habitation of the Angles."'^ In the ^ A. S. Chron. anno 547. For Ida's pedigree see the same passages, and AVill. Malmesb. Gesta, i. 44. There was a king of Bamborough as late as the reign of Athelstane. A. S. Chron. anno 926. ^ Skene, Four Anc. Books, 348, 3^50, '^dd. ^ Bede, Hist. Feci. i. 34; Nennius, Hist. Brit. 6';',. ^thelfrith, surnamed by the Welsh " the Destroyer," was son of iEtheh-ic, one of the sons of 382 Origins of English History. year 606 he led an army to the Dee, and slew ''unnum- bered Britons" and desolated the City of Legions: "and so," it was said, " was fufilled the word of Augustine, that if the Welsh will not be at peace with us they shall perish at the hands of the Saxons."^ If we try to picture to ourselves the immediate effect of the Conquest, and to know how the people lived before their conversion from paganism, we shall find that more is to be learned from the traditions preserved in old poems and Sagas, in charters and records of ancient custom, than from any bede-roU of the chiefs and kings whose wars are entered in the Chronicles. The annalist summed up the bare result of the struggle, and was content to note that Port, when he landed at Portsmouth, "slew a noble young prince of the Britons," or that Wihtgar, when his wars were ended, was buried in Wihtgar's-Burg.- But in the Song of Beowulf or in the poems of the " Exeter Book," we find the image of an actual conflict. There is the fleet of long war-galleys, swan-necked or dragon-prowed, sailing towards the headlands and "shining cliffs" of Britain: the Warden of the Shore stands with his rustic guard to prevent the landing of the corsairs.^ As the ships are beached the shields are lifted from the gunwale, and the raven-flag is raised that betokens the presence of the war- god ; the pirates charge on with their " brown shining Ida, who in 588 had succeeded in his old age to the inheritance which jElle had usurped. Will. Malmesb. Gesta, i. 46. ■^ A. S. Chron. anno 606. This was the occasion of the massacre of the monks of Bangor : " there were also slain there two hundred priests who came thither that they might pray for the army of the Welsh." Bede,. Hist. Eccl. ii. 2. ^ A. S. Chron. ann. 501, 530. ^ Beowulf, 219, 229, 231. Origins of English History. 383 swords " and long rough-handled spears, " and over the face the likeness of a boar, of divers colours, hardened in the fire, to keep the life in safety." ^ They were ready to ransack a province and to return with their ships filled with "goods from the homesteads of the land-kings," and were equally prepared, if the chance came in their way, to hold the land for themselves, and to send for their families to join them in a new home across the sea. Sidonius saw such crews on his visit to King Euric at Bordeaux, and his letters contain bright descriptions of the Saxons, with their faces daubed with blue paint and their hair pushed back to the crown to make the forehead seem larger." The masters of the sea appeared shy and awkward among the hosts of courtiers who were devouring the wealth of Aquitania ; but when they were once on their clumsy galleys all was turbulence and freedom again. "One would think," said the Bishop, "that each oar's-man was the Arch-pirate himself, for they are all ordering and obeying and teaching and learning at once." Their ships were like the half-decked craft which were used by the later Vikings, in which the rowers sat on eitheir side of a long gangway, the best of the fighting-men being posted in the forecastle or round the chieftains on the quarter- deck. In a description of a sea-fight in the North we read how the King steered till the action began, and then ^ Beowulf, 303, 305, 1229. Compare the account of the customs of the "j^Estyi " : "they wore the images of wild boars as the sign of their belief in the Mother of the Gods ; and this, as they thought, without the aid of word or shield, would give safety to the servants of the Goddess, even in the midst of their foes." — Tac. Germ. 45. Compare also the figures of warriors with the boar-crests, found in 1870 at Bjornhofda in Sweden. Montelius, Civilis. Sweden (Woods), 162. ^ Sidon. Apoll. Epist. viii. 3, 13. 384 Origins of English History. sat on deck in his scarlet cloak : and when the swords became notched and blunted "he went down into the fore- hold and opened the chests under the throne and took out many sharp swords and handed them to his men."^ The scene recalls the descriptions of Beowulf and his thanes, and the simplicity of that ancient time when the chieftain on the ale-bench dealt round to each " companion " a sword or "the blood-stained and conquering spear.'"' Historians and poets alike have celebrated the closeness of the tie between the captain of the "free company" and the retainers, who in return for their food and equipment were bound to guard him and to fight for his renown. A poem preserved in the " Exeter Book " describes the misery of an exile who had lost his lord. " When sorrow and sleep," said the Wanderer, "the lonely one bind, his lord in thought he embraces and kisses and on his knee lays his hand and head, as when of old his gifts he enjoyed : then wakes the friendless one, and sees before him the fallow sea-paths, the ocean-fowl bathing and sprinkling their wings, frost and snow falling mingled with hail, and then all the heavier are the wounds of his heart, and sore after dreaming is sorrow renewed."^ We are shown in the " Germania " the beginnings of the institution which was destined in its later development to change the whole fabric of society. It stood for rank and power, among the nations described by Tacitus, to be surrounded by a troop of young men, " their leader's glory in peace and his safeguard in war." The commander of such a 1 See the description of the great sea-fight in King Olaf's Saga. Heims- kringla, vi. cc. 114, 119 ; Laing, Sea-kings of Norway, i. 139, 475, 480. - Tac. Germ. 14; Beowulf, 2633, 2709. ^ Thorpe, Cod. Exon. 2S6. Origins of English History. 385 band was honoured at home and abroad, and enriched with pubhc gifts, " armlets and raiment and rings." Even the young nobles, the " eorls " who might claim to be kinsmen and ministers of the gods, were content to serve under a successful soldier, to live by his bounty, and to take such rank as his favour allowed. "When it came to war, it was shameful for the leader to be excelled in couraee or for the followers not to equal their captain in daring. It was a lifelong infamy to quit the field where he fell ; and it was the first and holiest of their duties to guard and protect him and to add their own brave deeds to the credit of his renown," ^ On the conquest of a new territory, a rare event before the disruption of the Western Empire, the leader would naturally reward his followers with gifts of land, if onlv for the maintenance of the cattle and slaves that formed their share of the booty. But a conquest would seldom be so complete that all fears of future resistance and all hopes of future plunder were at an end, and while the military relationship subsisted the follower could only hold his estate on the condition of fulfilling his service. On the tenant's death the land must in most cases have re- verted to the lord with the horse and armour and the rest of the warlike equipment which his bounty had provided. The tenant of such a precarious estate could confer no better title on his own dependents ; and thus would arise a class of half-free retainers with nothing that could pro- perly be called their own. The English thanes, or " nobles by service," who in course of time took the place of the "nobles by blood," appear at first as the followers of a successful chieftain to whom land had been allotted as a 1 Tac. Germ. 13, 145 Beowulf, 1195, npfj, 12 18. 25 386 Origins of English History. reward for service. As the chiefs increased in dignity, the position of their " companions " was altered for the worse. Thev stood to their lords in the relation of servants, bound not only to fight when required, but to ride on errands and to act as butlers and grooms. But in relation to their own tenants they were lords themselves, exacting service and labour and exercising jurisdiction in their turn, so that their estates from the first resembled nothing so much as manors of the mediaeval kind. When the kings learned to imitate the majesty of the Empire, it was natural that their officers and chamberlains should be exalted in a pro- portionate degree; the power of the prince was multiplied by the gifts which he lavished upon his followers ; and freedom at last disappeared when all lands were holden of some superior power, and every man was bound to have some lord to whom he owed obedience and from whom he might claim protection.-^ The whole country passed in time under the power of the King, the Church, and the Thanes ; and, as the juris- diction of the lords was gradually converted into owner- ship of the lands in their districts, the descendants of the free men fell under onerous rents and services, and in many cases became serfs and bondsmen. Where the tenure was easiest they had to work on their lord's estate or to pay rents of food and other provisions, as the usage of the district required : and where it was worst they could call nothing their own, but were taxed high and low as the lord pleased, "to redeem their flesh and blood."" ^ Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 178, 183 ; Freeman, Norman Conquest, i. 45. ^ Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 322 ; Cod. Diplom, 461, 1077. See also the " Rectitudines singularum personarum," in the editions of Thorpe and Leo. For a description of most of the agricultural services, see Origins of English History. 387 The degradation of the peasantry began so soon, and spread so far, that it is difficult to realise the life in the free townships into which the original settlements were divided. We know that the villagers, and even the inhabitants of larger districts, were regarded as groups of kinsmen : and the theory of a blood-relationship may account for such customs as that a change of house should be followed by a feast for the neighbours, or that the next householders should have a preferential claim to the purchase of a vacant holding.^ The same belief was connected with Somner's Treatise on Gavelkind, c. i. The following examples will illus- trate what has been said as to bondage-tenure. In the Pleas of the Curia Regis, Trin. 18 Edw. I. Cor. Reg. rot. 12, this entry occurs: "T. R. is the villein of one Folliott, wherefore the latter can tax him de alto et de lasso, and he must pay a fine of mercketum for his flesh and blood " : the same fine was paid at Aulton in Hampshire by every villein on the marriage of his daughter or the sale of his horse. 14 J oh. rot. i, 85. At Fiskerton, in Notts, the custom was for natives and cottagers to plough &c., " and if any ale-wife brewed ale to sell she must pay a fine: if any native or cottager sold a male youngling after it was weaned he paid four-pence to the lord as a fine, or if he killed a swine above a year old he paid a penny : every female native that married paid for the redemp- tion of her blood ^s J[d to the lord." When any customary tenant at Bury in Salop died, "the Bishop was to have his best beast, all his swine, bees, whole bacon, a young cock, a whole piece of cloth, a brass pan, a runlet of ale, if full, and if he married his daughter out of the fee he was to give three shillings." Hazlitt, Tenures of Land, 45, 123. ^ This custom is mentioned in the case of Rowles v. Mason, Brownl. i. 132 ; ii. 85, 192. " A law," says Professor Nasse, "existed in the German villages, by which the villagers had a preference over strangers in the purchase of land, a law which existed in some German towns up to our own times, and has only been abolished by legislation." Nasse, " Village Communities," Contemp. Rev. May, 1872, p. 745. The tribal origin of the village societies is indicated by Bede's use of the word " ma^gth " or " kindred " to signify a province or region, and by the patronymic forms of place-names. " The gdondan, or those who occupied \\\c same land, were taken to be connected by blood. In MS. glossaries wc find gclondan 25 * 388 Origins of English History. the primitive communism by which all the lands in a township were treated as one farm, to be managed by a co-operative husbandry. It is probable that at first there was no individual property, except in the actual houses and the little plots enclosed for yards and gardens, though there were enough " hides of land " held as a common stock to support the members of the several households.^ Our common-field system points to a time when all the arable land was held in undivided shares or divided periodicallv by lot. The ancient English agriculture was nearly identical with that which prevailed in Germany : " the rotation of crops, the times of sowing and lying fallow, the svstem of manurino^ and manv other asfri- cultural customs were the same." Now in several parts of Germany, and especially in the district round Treves and in the valleys of the Saar and Moselle, the peasants held all their land in common, excepting the houses and a few private estates ; all the rest of the land was divided by lot, the drawings for the arable having rendered by fratrueles." Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 82. Compare the use of " maeo--burs^ " for a villao-e belons;ins; to kinsmen, Beowulf, 2887. 1 The question as to the dimensions of the " hide " has been a fruitful subject of controversy. It was originally that measure of land which was considered to be sufficient for the support of one family, and its extent varied in every district according to the local custom and according to the qualit)'- of the soil. Bede (Hist. Eccl. i. 15) estimated the contents of the Isle of Thanet at 600 hides, which were afterwards found to contain nearly 70 " sulings," or Kentish ploughlands, each containing 210 acres according to the measure used in Thanet. In this instance the " hide " is shown to have contained less than 25 acres. In a poorer district it would contain much more. There was a later use of the word which made it equivalent to a "ploughland," or as much arable as a team of oxen could plough in a year: in this case the "hide" represents quantities varying, according to the district, from 100 acres to 210 acres, or even more. Origins of English History. 389 in some cases been annual, and in others having originally been held once in three years but afterwards at longer intervals.^ It is true that there is hardly any documentary evidence to show that the arable in England was ever divided in this way. But the pastures, and notably the lot-meadows and dole-moors, were treated as common property : a primitive usage determined the division of the common-fields into strips and blocks, the rotation of the crops, the erection of fences, and the use of the land after harvest bv the cattle of the whole community ; we see that the same usages prevailed in the German districts where the ownership was certainly collective ; and w^e are thus led to believe that the English farmers were at first joint-owners of all the arable land as well as of the pastures and waste-grounds in the township." There are many popular customs of which the origin must be attributed to a time when the villagers were united by the sentiment of partnership and the tradition of a common descent. The pitching and removal of the fences, ^ The works of De Laveleye, Meitzen, and Hansen, on the subject of early tenures, contain a great number of examples of the system of dividing arable land by lot, which was so common in Germany that in the Middle Ages it was called Mos Theidonicus. ' It is said that the Inclosure Commissioners met with instances of arable which was distributed by lot. See Mr. Blamire's evidence in the report of the Commons Inclosure Committee, 1 844. In the Manor of Hackney certain arable lands appear to have been described as " Terra lottabilis." See also the evidence collected on the subject by Professor Nasse in his "Agricultural Community of the Middle Ages." Compare Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 85, where speaking of the English township, as it appears in historical times, he concludes that " it is in every case either a body of free land-owners who have advanced beyond the stage of land-community, or the body of tenants of a lord who regulates them, or allov.-s them to regulate themselves, on principles derived from the same source." Maine, Early History of Institu- tions, 76, 77. 390 Origins of English History. the admission of a new commoner to the customary privi- lege, the drawing for portions in the lot-meadows and dole-moors, were so many occasions for gathering at a rustic feast. ^ It was not unusual for pieces of the common land to be let to raise funds for a general ale-drinking; and in one well-known case the village-council had the disposal of thirteen " home-closes " of meadow^, called after the names of such officials as the smith and the constable and the mole-catcher, the price of the grass being paid in some cases to the designated officers and applied in others to public uses, as to mend bridges and gates, or "to make ale for the merry-meeting of the inhabitants."^ Manv of the ceremonies were evidentlv survivals from heathen times, altered in some cases to adapt them to the seasons of the Church and in others bearing more openly the marks of their original paganism. Of the first kind are the Mav-games and Whitsun-ales, the bringing in of the boar's-head at the Yule-feast, and the singing and drinking at the holy well.'^ In the latter class we may place the customs of whipping the fruit-trees in Spring, of eating the " Easter-hare," of the leaping and clashing of ^ Compare the accounts, in Hazlitt's Tenures of Lands, of the shepherds' feasts at Hutton-Conyers, the "neighbourhood-feast" at Ripon^ and the ceremonies for making "a free-man of the common" at Ahiwick, under the names of those places respectively. " The customs of the township of Cote and Aston have been described in the Arclueologia, vol. xxxv. 471, and xxxvii. 383, by Dr. Giles in his History of Bampton, and by Professor J. Williams in his lectures on " Rights of Common," 86, 102. ^ For the connection of the boar's-head ceremony A\ith the worship of Frea or Freyr, see Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. 45 5 Kemble, Saxons, i. 3^7. For descriptions of the Whitsun-feasts at Kidlington and Ratby, and the ** Cotsale " on the Cotswold Hills, see Hazlitt's Tenures of Land under the names of those places. Origins of English History. 391 swords in the "Giants' Dance " and calling on the names of Woden and Freia.^ To these examples we may add the customs connected with the " Epiphany-fires." In some parts of Gloucestershire twelve of these bonfires were lighted in a row, and round one which was larger than the rest the farm-servants drank and shouted. In Hereford- shire the "wassailers " made up twelve small fires, and another of a much greater size, round which the companv passed; after supper they adjourned to the wain-house where the master pledged the first ox with a customarv toast ; "the company followed his example with all the other oxen, addressing each by its name," and a cake in the shape ^ The custom of shooting at the trees for luck prevails in parts of Devon. Hasted describes a similar usage of "youling the trees," Hist. Kent, i. 109. As to whipping the apple-trees at Warlingham in Surrey, see Hazlitt, Tenures of Land, 355. The custom of catching hares at Easter for pro- viding a public meal is best known in Pomerania : English instances are found at Coleshill in Warwickshire and at Haloughton in Leicestershire, Hid. 78, 141. At the latter place the profits of lands called Harecrop Leys were applied to providing a meal \\-hich ^\•as thrown on the ground at the " Hare-pie Bank." Nichols, Hist. Leic. ii. 630. These customs were perhaps connected with the worship of the Anglian goddess " Eostre " whose festivals are mentioned by Bede ; " antiqui Anglorum populi, gens mea . . . apud eos Aprilis * Esturmonath ' quondam, a dea illorum quae Eostra vocabatur et cui in illo festa celebrantur, nomen habuit." De Temp. Rat. c. 13. March was called " Rhed-monat " from " Hrede," another Anglian goddess, il'ul. Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. 267, 740, 920. " In some parts of Northern England, in Yorkshire, and especially in Hallamshire, popular customs show remnants of the worship of Fricge (Freia). In the neighbourhood of Dent at certain seasons of the year, especially in autumn, the country-folk hold a procession and perform old dances, which they call the Giants' Dance: they call the leading giant "Woden," and his wife " Frigga," the principal action of the play consisting in two swords being swung and clashed together about the neck of a boy," ih'id. 280. Teut. Mythol. (Stallybrass), i. 304. 392 Origins of English History. of a ring was placed with many ceremonies on the horns of the principal ox."^ It is probable that many other remnants of paganism might be found in the history of customary rents and services for land, especially in the case of ancient charities where the profits of particular fields are devoted to making cakes impressed with figures of an unknown origin f and we may compare with the flower-rents, in which Grimm saw a heathen practice continued into Christian times, our English instances of ancient rents in the shape of a white bull, or two white hares, a red rose for all services, or a chaplet of roses on the Feast of St. John.^ ^ Gent. jMag. Feb. 1791 ; Hazlitt, Tenures of Land, 131, 156. Similar customs are found in Montenegro : and a wheel-shaped cake called a holatch is used in all the Christmas festivities \ " they go to the stall where oxen are sleeping, and the husbandman fixes the ho/atch on the horn of the ' eldest ox ': if he now throws it off, it is of good omen to the household." Evans, " Christmas and Ancestor-worship in the Black Mountain." Macmill. Mag. J 88 1, 233. Similar offerings are made to the " chief goat," and to the fowls and fruit-trees. Hid. 228, 229. Compare TibuUus, "Nunc ad praesepia debent Plena coronato stare boves capite." Lib. ii. Eleg. i. 7, 8. ^ Compare the Twickenham custom described by Lysons, Envir. London, iv. 603, and the distribution at Biddenden in Kent of cakes impressed with the grotesque figures of " the Biddenden Maids." See on the subject of the baked figures, " simulacra de consparsa farina," the Indiculus Superstitionum, sec. 26, and Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. 56. " Nomen placentis in superiore Saxonia Fladen, Oster-Jiaden, quas festis diebus matresfamilias conficiunt." Keysler, Antiqu. Septentr. 337. Com- pare his account of the Yule-cakes, ibid. 159, and Bede's description of February as " Sol-monath, id est mensis placentarum quas in eo diis suis offerunt." De Temp. Rat. c. 12. ^ Grimm, Deutsch. ]Mythol. 52. For the payment of a white bull, see Hazlitt's Tenures of Land, under the titles of Bury St. Edmunds, Lodebrook, and Marlborough, and for the rent of two white hares at Sheffield to be paid on St. John's Day, //7V/. 276, and Gent. Mag. xxxiv. 329. For the Origins of English History. 393 The sources of information as to the character of the English paganism are of extremely various kinds, com- prising such matters as the ancient forms for the confession of penitents, the laws and canons against heathen practices, traditionary spells and incantations, and legends connected with the Runic letters and the plants used in medicine. Other examples are found in the names of places described in the ancient charters, and especially in those of the land- marks by which the townships were originally defined.^ A familiar instance occurs in the names of the days of the week, which probably date from a time long preceding the conquest of England.- Others can be traced in the divisions of the ancient calendar. There were three great occasions, at the two solstices and at the end of the harvest, when the national sacrifices were offered and the public assemblies held.'^ The name of Yule, derived from the turning of the sun in its annual course, was given to the two months which preceded and followed the winter rent of the red rose, generally payable on the same feast-day, see Hazlitt's Tenures of land, 21, 57, 125, 295, 323 ; Rot. Pari. i. loo/-, lyS/-, 179, 4510. ^ " They furnish," says Kemble, " the most conclusive evidence that the mythology current in Germany and Scandinavia was also current here." Cod. Diplom. iii. introd. 13. Compare such names as that of " Thunres- lea" in the Jutish part of Hampshire, Cod. Diplom. 1038, 1122: "Berhtan- wyl," or the well of the water-goddess Bertha, ih'id. 311 : •' Hnices-thorn,' referring to the Neckar, or water-goblin, \hid. 268 : and " Hildes-hlaew," the tomb near Wayland Smith's Cave on the Ikenild Street, ihd. 621, 1006, 1091, 1 148, 1172. ^ Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. iii, 114. The chief difficulties about the interpretation of the names of the week-days lie in the confusion between "Fricge" and " Freia," who may have been the same among the Germans, though they appear as separate deities in the Scandinavian mythology, and in the doubt whether the Germans had any god who answered to Saturn, ih'id. 227, 276; Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 372. Compare Schedius, de Diis Germ. 493. " Grimm, Rechts-Alterth. 245, 745, 821, 825, Deutsch. Mythol. 38. 394 Origins of English History, solstice J but the year began on '' mothers' night," now Christmas Eve, when the women took part in a nocturnal watch. ^ We cannot tell what were their " vain practices," which were afterwards suppressed by the Church : but we learn that in the second week of the feast the people dressed themselves in skins and masks to imitate various animals." The next great festival was held in September, or "holy month," when thanks were given for the harvest and offerings made to secure a prosperous winter. Lastly, covering parts of our October and November, came the "month of sacrifice," when the temple-yards were filled with crowds of noisy worshippers, drinking and dancing before the gods, while the cattle were slaughtered on the altar-stones.^ The history of the conversion is full of incidents which illustrate the character of the English paganism. We are told of Ethelbert's care to meet the missionaries under the open sky, for fear of the magical influence which they might gain by crossing his threshold ; of the king bowing before his idol in a road-side shrine near Canterbury, and taking part with his nobles in the offering of the sacrifices, ^ Bede, De Temp. Rat. c. 12. " Ipsam noctem nunc nobis sacro- sanctani tunc gentili vocabulo ' Moedre Necht,' id est Matrum Noctem, appellabant ob causam, ut suspicamur, ceremoniarum quas in ea pervigiles agebant." ^ Kemble cites the chapter in the "Penitential of Theodore " devoted to a description of the heathen practices. " Qui grana arserit ubi mortuus est homo &c. Siquis pro sanitate fihoH per foramen terrse exierit, illudque spinis post se concludit &c. Siquis in Kal. Januar. in cervulo vel vitula vadit, id est in ferarum habitus se communicant, et vestiuntur pelHbus pecudum et assumunt capita bestiarum: qui vero tahter in ferinas species se transformant .... quia hoc dacmoniacum est." Saxons in England, 5. 525, .528. * Bede, De Temp. Rat. c. 12; Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. 32,34,355 Vigfusson and Powell, Corp. Poet. Boreal, i. 429. Origins of English History. 395 and of Augustine in his journey to the West breaking to pieces the image of an idol adored by the villagers/ Ancient traditions preserve the remembrance of the Woden-Hill within sight of the missionaries' landing- place, and of a temple on the site where Westminster Abbey stands, once " a place of dread " on the march-land where several kingdoms joined, but dedicated to the ser- vice of St. Peter by the wealthy " King of London," at the request of his protector Ethelbert.' Bede records the power of the priests, and the rules by which they were restrained from active service in war.^ His friend Aldulf was a personal witness to the Samaritan indifference of King Redwald, whose temple contained a Christian altar beside the blood-stained stone on which the cattle ^ Bede, Hist. Eccl. i. 25, Thorn's Chronicle, Dec. Script. 1760. " Cerne Abbey was built by Austin, the English apostle, when he had dash'd to pieces the idol of the pagan Saxons called He'il, and had delivered them from their superstitious ignorance." Camden, Britannia (Gibson), i. ^6 ; Will. Malmesb. Gesta Pontificum, 142. - AVoodnesborough stands on a high water-shed near Richborough. Compare Kemble's account of Wanborough on the Hog's-back. Saxons in England, i. 344. The legends as to the foundation of Westminster Abbey are very conflicting. The story that Ssebert of Essex was the under-king of London appears in a charter of King Edgar, of which the authenticity was doubted by Kemble. " Imprimis ecclesiam B. Petri quae sita est in loco terribili qui ab incolis Thorneye nuncupatur, ab occidente scilicet urbis Londoniae, quae olim, i.e. a.d. 604, B. iEthelberti hortatu, primi Anglorum regis Christiani, destructo prius ibidem abhominationis templo regum paganorum, a Sabertho praedivite quodam sub-regulo Londoniae, nepote videlicet ipsius regis, constructa est." — Cod. Diplom. 555, 969 3 MSS. Cotton. Titus, A. viii. 4 5 Stowe, Survey of London, 850 3 Dugd. Monast. i. 265, 291 3 Stanley, Mem. Westm. Abbey, 10. ^ " Mellitum vero Lundonienscs episcopum recipere noluerunt, idolatris magis pontificibus servire gaudentes." Bede, Hist. Eccl. ii. 6. " Non licuerat pontificem sacrorum vel arma ferre vel praeter in equa cquilare," Und. ii. I C. 396 Origins of English History. were offered to Woden/ The Northumbrian Annals supphed the historian with his picture of the destruction of idols at Godmundham. " The place is still shown," he says, "not far from York towards the East, beyond the River Derwent, where the king's chief-priest polluted and destroyed the altars which he himself had blessed." Edwin had assembled his Witan, as was usual in such cases, to deliberate on the proposed change of religion. The high- priest spoke throughout as one of the royal officers, and complained that others had received more favours and dignities, though no one had ever applied himself more carefully than he to the service of the ungrateful gods. "It is for you, oh king ! to look into this new doctrine ; but I confess my own firm belief that there is nothing good or useful in the religion which we have hitherto held. If our gods were good for anything they would have helped me, who have always done my best to serve them." And so, girding himself with a sword and taking a lance in his hand, he mounted the king's war-horse ; and first he pro- faned the temple by casting the lance against its wall, and then proceeded with his companions to destrov and burn the altars and the idols' shrines, and all the hedges and palisades with which the sanctuary had been surrounded.^ ^ "Atque in eodem fano et altare haberet ad sacrificium Christi et arulam ad victimas daemoniorum." Bede, Hist. Eccl. ii. 16. The actual procedure at a sacrifice is only known from the Norse authorities. Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. 48. The King, or some noble acting as his deputy, presided ; " all kinds of cattle as well as horses were slaughtered, and the blood was called hiaut ; ' h/aut-stayes' were made, like sprinkling-brushes, with which the whole of the altars and the temple-walls both outside and inside were sprinkled ov^er, and the people also were sprinkled with the blood; but the flesh -was boiled into savoury meat for those who were present." Heimskringla, Hakon's Saga, c. i6j Eyrbyggia Saga, c. 10 j Laing, Sea-Kings of Norway, i. 329. - Bede, Hist. Eccl. ii. 13 ; Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. 72. Origins of English History. 397 Another story of the heathen times is told in the Life of St. Wilfrid. The Bishop was crossing from the French coast to Sandwich, when his little vessel was caught in a storm and cast upon the shore of Sussex. The king of the district hurried down with his soldiers to claim the spoil and wreck. In the battle that ensued the chief- priest of the pagans took his stand on a high mound, cursing the strangers and striving to bind their arms by his spells. But one of the Bishop's companions took a stone and slung it, "and smote this Goliath in the forehead," so that the magician fell dead upon the sand as he raved his curses at the Christians ; and after a time the tide came in and lifted the boat again, and so they escaped the danger.^ But Wilfrid returned soon afterwards to accomplish the conversion of his enemies ; and the pagans of both sexes, some of their own accord and others com- pelled by the king, abandoned their idols, and confessed, and were baptized."^ During the greater part of the century which followed the coming of Augustine, the people of each kingdom relapsed into paganism as often as their careless rulers allowed them a greater liberty, or a pestilence or a defeat in battle recalled the power of the ancient gods. Even in Kent the heathen temples were not formally abolished until the year 640, and it is recorded that five years before that time not a single church or outward sign of Chris- tianity had been set up in the whole kingdom of Bernicia.^ ^ " Quern .... sicut Goliatum in arenosis locis mors iiiccrta pracvenit." ^dde. Vita Wilfrid. Dec. Script. 57. ^ ^Edde, Vita Wilfrid. Dec. Script. 72. The King and Queen had been previously baptized, the one in Mercia and the other at her home in Hwiccia. Bede, Hist. Eccl. iv. 12. * Bede, Hist. Eccl. i. 30 ; ii. 5, \^; iii. 3 ; iv. 27 ; Epist. ad Ecgbcrt, 5 398 Origins of English History. It seemed as if paganism had only changed its name, while the wooden temples were used as churches, and the rustics still built their booths round the holy sites, and brought their oxen to be killed for a dedication-feast, as once without much outward difference the sacrifices had been offered to the idols. When the prospect seemed darkest a new conversion was effected by the zeal of the Irish missionaries. But they in their turn had to yield to the stronger claims of Rome ; the men who had finally prevailed against heathenism were overthrown in the Synod of Whitby; and England, at last united under the rule of one spiritual obedience, was ready to take the lead in the conversion of the neighbouring barbarians, and to assert her claim to an important place among the civilised nations of the West. Gregorius, " Ad MelHtum," Epist. xi. 76. For the defeat of the Irish monks at Whitby in a.d. 664, see Bede, Hist. Eccl. iii. 35. APPENDIX I. KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENTS AS TO NORTHERN AND WESTETvN EUROPE. Extracts relating to the voyage of Pytheas. C. Julius Caesar. Diodorus Siculus. Strabo. Pomponius Mela. C. Plinius Secundus. 7. Cornelius Tacitus. 8. C. Julius Solinus. 9. Dionysius Periegetes. 10. Rufus Festus Avienus. 11. The Ravenna Geographer. 12. Dicuil. 13. Gassendi. 400 On'giJis of Eiiglisli History I. EXTRACTS RELATING TO THE VOYAGE OF PYTHEAS. a. CosMAS Indicopleustes. (Montfaucon. Coll. Patr. ii. 149.) ITu^ea'? 6 Ma(Tcra./\,(coT?7? Iv TolaeL T-7? aeki'^vq^ rd^; 7r\')]fi/jLvpa<; ylveaOai, rfj he fieicoaec ra? dfi7rcoTiSa<;. c. Cleomedes. Cycl. Theor. Lib. i. c. 7. Tiepl ri]v QouXrjv KdX,ovfX€vrjv vrjaov, iv ?} yeyovevai (fyaal Uvdeav Tov yLaaaaXccoTTjv cf>i,\6a'0(f)ov, o\ov rov depLvov virep yrj^ elvat \oyo^, avrov Kol dpKTLKOv elvai. Tlapd rourot?, oirdrav iv KapKLvw yXto'} fl, fir/viala ylverai rj rj/xepa, el ye koX rd p-epT] irdvra rov KapKivov deL(f)avrj earl irap^ avro2<;' el Se pi], e(p' oaov iv role\epiov ol KaTOLKOvvTe<; (^Cko^evoi re hia^epovTW^ ela\, koI hid Trjv twv ^evwv e/XTropcov eTrtfit^iav i^ijfiep- (Ofievoi Ta'i d'ya>yd<; TptdKovTa KaTayovaiv eVl Twv Ittttcov Td (popTia 7r/309 TTJV eK^oXrjv tov 'VoBavov TroTafxov. C. 23. Hepl fxevovv tov KUTTiTepov Toh prjOelaiv apKeaOTjaofiecrOa, irepL Be tov KaXovjievov rjXeKTpov vvv Bie^i/xev t?}? ^KvOla'; r?}? vTrep Trjv VaXaTiav KaT dvTiKpv vyao'i eaTi ireXayia KaTa tov D-Keavov ?; TrpoaayopevofievT] BaatXeia' eh TavTrjv 6 kXvBcov eK/SdWeL Ba^frcXe^ TO KaXovfievov rjXeKTpov, ovBafiov Be tT](; oLKOVfxevTT^ (paivofievov irepl Be TovTov TToXXol T(ov iraXalwv dveypa^^rav jJLvdov^ TravTeXoj^ aTriaTov- fievovi Kol Bed T(ov diroTeXea/JidTcov eXey^ofxevov;. IV. STRABO. —Geographica. I. iv. 2 (Cas. 63). 'E^?}? Be to 7rXdT0oi<; Kal Ta ecnrepia Tot^ kaTrepioL'i, Kal Ta ye €}? KeXrt/c?}? (})T]crt' Kal Ta Trepl tov'; 'flaTi/j,Lov<; Se Kal Ta irepav tov 'V7]vov Ta fJi'^XP'' ^kvOmp TfdvTa KaTe-^ev ravTi]v ridrjai. iv. I. {Cas. 104). TIo\v/3io<; 8e ri^v Fivpcoirrjv ')(wpo]p Se Treplfierpov TrXeiovcov i) rerrdpoiv fivpidhcov d7roS6vTO<; t?}? vi]aov, irpoaiaroprj- (TavTO<; 8e Kal rd irepl rrj^ ©ouA.?;? Aral rS)v tottcov eKeivoiv, ev ol ^lecraTjvla) irtareveiv i) rovro). 6 p^evroL ye eh filav •^copav rrjv Hay^aiav Xeyet irXevaai, 6 Be Kal p-^XP^ ''"'^^ '^'^^ KoapLOv rrepdrwv KarwirrevKevai ri]v rrpoa- upKTLOv ri]'iKvpco7r7]'i TrdaavrjvovB^ dv rS '^ppifj Tncrrevaai ri<; Xeyovn. ^EparoadevT] Be rov puev J^V7]p,epov ^epyalov KaXelv, YlvOea Be mareveiv, Kat ravra p,7]Be AiKaidp^ov iricrrevcravro^. V. 8 {Cas. 114). 'O puev ovv ^iaaaaXicorTjf; Hv6ea<; rd irepl ^ovXrjv rrjv ^opeiordrr]v rcov JiperraviKcov varara Xeyet, 'Trap' ol]\ov rov Bca Bv^avTLOv 8ia MaacraXla'; tto)? l6vT0 rravreXrj rcov 8e airdvLv, Key^po) 8e Koi dypioLeo6ar rrdp ol 'flKeavo). . . . Tov'i he uKpi/Sel'; opov^ OVK e^ofiev (ppd^etv hcd he ri]v dyvocav rcov roircov rovrcov ol ra PtTTata opt] Kal rov^ "Tirep^opelov^ iJbv9orroiovvre<; \6yov rj^lcovrai, Kal d ].lv6ea<; 6 MacrcraXicoT?;? Kare^lrevaaro ravra rfjaKOVTe 154. Z?>1- HiPPARCHUS (2nd century b.c), was the greatest astronomer of antiquity, and the discoverer of the precession of the equinoxes. He commented on Aratus, and attempted to determine latitudes and longitudes. Pp. 13, 27, 66. Isidore, Bishop of Seville (570-646 a.d.), wrote 30 books of " Origines sive Etymologiae." Pp. 114, 222, 235. Jambulus (3rd century b.c.) wrote the romance of "The Fortunate Islands," a translation of which will be found in Purchas' Pilgrims. P. 89. Jerome, St., lived 331-420 a.d. Pp. 94, 95, 337. JoRNANDES, wrote his history of the Goths about 552 a.d. Pp. 31, 65. JuvENALis, D. Junius, was born 42 a.d. and wrote his Satires about the end of the lirst century. Pp. 115, 164, 220. Lactantius, L. C.elius Firmianus, flourished at the beginning of the 4th century. The account of the Diocletian persecution, known as " De Mortibus Persecutorum," is frequently attributed to him. P. '^2)^- Lampridius, iEuius (3rd century a.d.), wrote a life of Alexander Severus. P. 267. LucAN (M. AxN.EUs LucANus), the Poet, was a native of Cordova : he died in 65 A.D. at the age of 26. Pp. 109, 115, 164, 232, 254, 266, 292. LuciAN (2nd century a.d.). His "Vera Historia " is a burlesque of the older geographical romances. Pp. 77, 79, 276. 428 Origins of English History, Macrobius, Aurelius (5th century a.d.), grammarian and philosopher. P. m- Manilius, M. (ist century a.d.), was the author of a poetical treatise on Astronomy. P. 13. Martialis, M. Valerius, born in Spain, flourished between 40 and 104 A.D. He mentions Britain in several of his Epigrams. Pp. 3, 112, 294. Maximus of Tyre (2nd century a.d.), a celebrated Platonist who wrote in the age of the Antonines. P. 272. Merobaudes, a Prankish Poet (circa 450 a.d.). His chief poem, now extant, is the " Third Consulship of Aetius." P. 346. Olympiodorus (circa 425 a.d.). He wrote a history of the Western Empire from 407-425 a.d. P. 342. Oppian (circa 200 a.d.). The author of the " Cynegetica." Pp. 164, 294. Orosius, Paulus, the Historian, flourished at the beginning of the 5th century. Pp. 295, 338, z^^. Pausanias wrote the " Description of Greece" about 174 a.d. Pp. 55, 11 1, 237. 297. Philemon. A writer upon Geography, who was quoted by Pliny and Ptolemy. He is supposed to have written in the 2nd century b.c. Pp. 57, 60. Philostratus of Lemnos (end of 2nd century a.d.). Wrote the "Ima- gines " and other works, for the Empress Julia Domna. P. 293. Photius the Patriarch (9th century a.d.). Wrote the " Myriobiblon," an epitome of 300 authors, many of whose works are only preserved in this way. Pp. 78, 342. Plato the Philosopher (429-347 b.c). Pp. 77, 297. Pliny the Elder (C. Plinius Secundus) lived 23-79 ^.d. His " Natural History " was finished in the last year of his life. Pp. 9, 23, 29, 34-5, 40-1, 44, 49, 50, ^y6, 59-61, 71, 87, 89, 103, 111-2, 116, 138, 221, 224-5. 235, 251-4, 259, 267, 272, 275, 295, 297. Plutarch (born 50 a.d.). Many of the philosophical tracts in the Moralia were by later authors. Pp. 13, 69, 71, 79, 81. PoLYBius the Historian (born about 200 B.C., died 120 b.c). His works contain many valuable notices of Spain, Gaul, and Britain. Pp. 16, 27. PoMPONius Mela, a Spaniard (ist century a.d.). His book "De Situ Orbis" is a valuable compilation of the earlier traditions. It is arranged for a traveller voyaging from Spain. Pp. 17, 31, 2)3, nj, 235, 266-7, 293. PosiDONius the Stoic (ist century b.c). A philosopher, astronomer, and Appendix. 429 geographer, with whom Cicero studied at Rhodes. He made one of the eariiest calculations of the earth's circumference, and left a description of his travels in Western Europe. Pp. 9, 17, 26, 30-1, 34, 38, 91-2, 108-9, 2'^°- Procopius (6th century a.d.) was secretary to Belisarius, and wrote a des- criptive history of his wars. He is generally credited with being the author of the secret history of the Court of Justinian. Pp. 65, 81-3, 88, 358. Prosper of Aquitaine flourished in the first half of the 5th century. He continued the Chronicle of St. Jerome to a.d. 445. Pp. 342, 344-5. Prudentius the Christian Poet, (circa 390 a.d.) engaged in a religious controversy with Symmachus. P. 317. Ptolem.eus, Claudius, (Ptolemy), the astronomer and geographer, lived about 50 to 150. A.D. His great work on geography was published about 120 A.D. Pp. 28, 2>i-6, 104, 107, 151, 160, 227, 234, 308, 354, 356. " Ravennas," or "The Ravenna Geographer," an anonymous writer who lived in the 7th century a.d. He is supposed to have had access to the official Imperial maps of Britain, and mentions some towns not otherwise known. P. 355. Seneca, L. Ann^us (a.d. 2-68). Pp. 69, 80, 317. Servius, Honoratus Maurus, the Grammarian (5th century a.d.), wrote the best commentary on Virgil. Pp. 1 14, 317. SiDONius, C. SoLLius Apollinaris, Bp. of Clermont (lived circa 43r-484 A.D.). His poems and letters give a graphic picture of life in Gaul about the time of the fall of the Western Empire. Pp. 23 5, 320-1, 339, 344, 346, 383. SiLius Italicus, the Poet (25-100 a.d.). Pp. 109, 1T4, 173. SoLiNus, C. Julius (lived about 240 a.d.). He wrote a collection of geographical and historical notes, known as the Polyhistor, which was based on Pliny's Natural History. Pp. ^i, ^^, 60, 6(), 83, 138, 175, 221-3, 232, 270. SozoMENUs, Hermeias (5th ccutury a.d.). Wrote an Ecclesiastical History extending to about 423 a.d. P. 340. Spartianus, Delius, one of the six writers of the Historia Augusta (3rd century A.D.) . Pp. 308, 312-3, 319. Statius, p. Papinius, the Poet (born 61 a.d.). P. 311. Stephanus Byzantinus flourished about the earlier part of the 6th century. His great work on topography is now only extant in the epitome " De Urbibus." Pp. 6, 8, 39, 46, 81. 430 Origins of English History. Strabo (bom in Cappadocia about 66 b.c.)- His great work, the Geo- o-raphica, was finished when he was nearly 90 years old. Pp. 9, 12-13, 23-4, 26-8, 31-2, 48-50, 54, 62-5, 6^, 76, 92, 108-110, 112-3, 117-8, 149, 163-4. 234, 258, 260-1, 275, 291. Suetonius (C. Suetonius TR.vNauiLLUs), author of the Lives of the Caesars, was born about 70 a.d. Pp. 221, 267, 295-6, 299. Tacitus, Cornelius (55-13.'; -^-d-). Pp- 4o-5' 5o-'-^. 5.5. 70,80, 90, no, 118-9, 123, 132, 138, 159, 221, 234-5, 238-240,258,260, 274, 291-3, 295-307, 309, 310,312, ZZ$,2,S?>^ 2>S^, 364, 368, 370, 3S4. Valerius Maximus wrote his collection of 'Memorabilia' about the year 30 A.D. Pp. 259, 266. .Virgil (85-26 b.c). Pp. s^^ 109. ^ H. i54-5' ^97. 3i7- ViTRuvius, the Architect (85-26 b.c). Pp. 163-4, ?)?)^- Voriscus, Flavius (end of 3rd century a.d.), was one of the six writers of the Historia Augusta. Pp. 267, ■^'^i^. ZosiMus, the Historian, wrote in the latter part of the 5th century a.d. Pp. 340-2. INDEX JLOCORUM. The letter " a" prefixed to a name indicates that the place is mentioned in cojtnection with customs of inheritance. PAGES PAGES Abalus, Isle of 61 Atlas Mt. . 22, 323 Aberdeen 63 168 a . Audruic . . 191 Abergavenny . 332 Aulton • 387 Abergeleu , 2S5 Austrania (Glessaria) 41.44. 60 Aberthaw 144 Auvergne II Abingdon . 365 Ax'ebury . . . 142 Achil 289 Aylesbury . • 374. 375 a. Acton 189 Aylesford 127, 362, 363-4 Ad Ansam . 333 Azores 17, 20 a. Adinfer . . 190 Ad Taum • 330 333 Badbury . • 352 Aegils-threp . . 360 Badon, Mt. • 351 Alnwick . . 390 Bala Lake . • 247 a. Alresford . 184 Ballintober . . 136 a. Altenburg . 193 Baltia (Basilia) . 61 a. Amiens . . 190 Bamborough . . • 381 Amnis (Samnis) . 23 Bangor . . 382 Ampurias 8 Banstead . • 300 Ancaster 257 BarburyHill . • 374 Anderida , 103-4, 367-9 375 Barra . 136 Anglesea (Mona) i 42, 160, 174. a Barnes . . 189 234, 258, 260, 269, 302, 306 Bath 124, 252, 270-1, 2C )2, 352.375 Anio . 122 a Battersea . 189 Applecross . 284 a Bavaria . 192-3 a. Archenfield (Irchenfield) 198 a Bavaincourt . 190 Arden, Forest . 218-9 a Bajeux . . 203, 252 Armorica . 24 246, 267 346 a Beaumont . 184 Aspatria . 167 a Begare . 183 a. Arracan . 181 Belerium (Land' s End) 34-5. 229 Arran 160 Belfast (Lugia) . 2S7 a. Arras 190 Belisama, R. (R ibble R.) I5S. 252 c. Artois 190 Bennaventa • 305 Ashbury . 126 Bcnsington . 375 Aston 390 Berendon . • 274 432 Origins of English History. PAGES Bergi . . . . 41, 66 a. Berkshire. . . . 199, 2 2f Bernicia . . 246, 380, 381, 397 Bernwood Forest . . .37- Bettws 159 Biddenclcn .... 392 Big-nor 298 Billingsgate .... 277 Birmingham .... 329 Black Forest . . 51.52,295 a. Blairville . . . .190 a. Bornholm .... 193 Boroughbridge . . -327 Bosham 366 Bouden Hill . . . -352 Boulogne . . 29, 137, 320 Bowlby 359 Bowness 228 a. Boxgrove. . . . . 1S8 a. BoxtedHall . . . . 1S4 a. Brabant . . . . 125, 191 Brancaster (Branodunum) . 330 a. Bray 199 Brecknockshire . . -137 a. Bredenarde . . . .191 Bristol ..... 64 a. Brittany 8, 14, 24-5, 81, 94-5, 124, 126, 129, 141, 162, 167, 174, 176^ 183, 210, 229, 256, 276, 286, 350 Broceliande Forest . . . 229 a. Brontelle .... Brough .... Buckholt Forest Burchana (Fabaria) Burford .... Burgh Castle (Garianonum) 33 Burrough Hill . Burwen (Birrens) Bury (Salop) . Bury St. Edmunds 190 327 330 41 377 io, 368 305 310 3S7 392 Cadiz (Gades) 12-16, 20, 22, 39 Caerleon 277, 309, 323, 329, 331, 332. 338) 347 Caesaromagus (Chelmsford) . 333 Caistor . . . 227,330,331 Caithness 53, 129, 228, 2S3, 325 Calbion (Cabaion) ... 25 Calcaria ..... 368 Caledonian Forest . 223-4, 246 ^7. Callien 190 Cambeck ..... 107 Camboricum .... 329 Cambridge .... 106 Campodunum (Slack) . 255, 36S Camulodunum (Colchester) 106, 255, 274, 294, 298-303, 311, 329-31.333 Canterbury 36,333.361.368,394 Cantion .... 26, 28, 45 Cardigan . .4, 159, 233, 325 Carlisle (Luguballium) 228, 310, 312-4, 326-8, 331 Carnarvon . . . 322, 331 Carnoban .... 246 Carnuntum (Petronell) . . 44 Carthage a. Carvei a. Cashiobury a. Cassel Cassiterides Castleacre a. Castlerigg Cataracton (Catterick) 7, 8, 10-12, 19-22, 336 • 193 108, 199 183, 190-1 . 8, II, 14, 16-19, 23 o Ore a. Caux Cenion . Cerne Cerdic's-Ford, Cerdic's- Channel Islands Chatelhcrault . a. Cheltenham . Chepstow a. Chcrtsey Beaumond Chester 308,310,323,325-6,328-9, 331. 337 • 199 277-8, 2S8, 326-8, 368 203-4 . 230 395 372-3 I2Q 56 199 227 199 a. Chesterford Chichester Chillingham Chiltern Hills a. Chishall Cirencester Cissbury Cleveland 106, 184 300. 331. 366, 367 ■ 4.56. 117 • 330 . . . 184 329-332. 375. 377 ■ 57 . 328 Index of Places. 433 PAGES Clyde . 237, 307, 312-3, 315-6 Clynnog 284 a. Coity .... 182, 184 Cold Friday .... 378 Coleshill . . . -391 Connaught . . -1731 228 Conway R. (Tisobius) . -159 Corbelo (Coiron) ... 12 a. Corlay ..... 183 fl. Cornwall 8, 9, 23, 26, 31, 33-7, 92, 137-8, 144, 153-4, 183-4, 228-g, 246, 253, 257, 274, 325, 333, 364 Cote 390 Cotswold Hills . . . 390 a. Courland . . 47, 58-61, 213 Cranborne Chaee . . . 137 Crayford (Crecgan-ford) 360, 362 Cromer . . . 63, 144, 330 a. Croy ..... 190 Croyland .... 224 a. Cumberland . 144, 167, 199, 237, 299. 343. 347-8, 350 Cymens-ore . . . 367, 372 Danube, R. Dartmoor Dean, Forest , Debden . a. Dedham Hall 51, 310, 315, 321 • 33 219, 329 . 106 184 Dee, R. 219,226-7,233,236,247-8, 306, 345, 382 Deeping .... 244 Deira .... 246, 380-1 Denbigh, Forest . . .219 Denmark 125, 140, 166, 171, 193, 210, 353-5 Dent 391 Deorham (Dyrham) . 375-6 a. Derby .... 137, 184 Derbyshire . . 144, 184, 329 Derventio (Derwent) 362, 36S, 396 a. Derwentwater . . .199 a. Devon 33-4, 37, 138, 144, 183-4, 228-9 a. Dimetia 182 Dingwall .... 284 Ditmarsh . . 48, 61, 128, 167 a. Douai Doncaster Dorchester Dorset . PAGES . 190 326-9 . 143, 229, 332 128, 142-5, 229, 236 Dover 26,32,311,325-6,330-1 a. Down . . . . .189 Drumkellin .... 133 Dublin .... 160, 228 Dumna (Dumni) . . 41, 71 Dunstable (Forum Dianee) . 331 Durham . Durolevum a. Ealing . Ebbsfleet Eden, R. a. Edmonton Eider, R. Eiderstedt 199 333 189 362 313 189 357 354 Elbe, R. 38-9, 43, 45-7, 57, 60- 1 , 126, 213, 295, 344, 354, 371 379 Elmet a. Elsass Ely . Ems, R. . Eningia (Epigia) Ensham . Epeiacum (Ebchester) Episford . Eshton a. Essex Esthonia . Estian Marsh lixe, R. . 193 224 191 40 375 159 362 322 104-5, 184, 322, 378 • 157. 213 46-7 . 230 Exeter (Isaca, Isca) 230, 327, 332-3 Falmouth a. F"arnham Faroe Islands . Fern Hill Fethan-lea (Faddiley) Finisterre, Cape a. Finland . Finsbur)' Fiskerton 230 199 72 322 376 Flamborough a. Flanders 16, 23, 25, 139 40, 62, 212, 215 . 105 • • 387 228, 235-6, 292, 331 160, 183, 191 28 434 Origi7is of English History. PAGES PAGES Ford . 136 a Hofe Or • 193 Forfarshire . 228 Holderness 63, 158, 292, 358 Forth, Firth of : '36 -7, 307, 312-6 Holyhead . 144 a. Framfield . 188, 199 a Hornoy . . 190 Frensham . 128 Horsted . • 363 rt. Friesland 41,48,64,1 25, 191-2,315 Housesteads . • 315 n. Fulham . . 189 Humber, R. . 228, 323, 328, 375 a Hungary . 121, 181, 213-4 Galloway • 237, 338 a Huntingdonshire . 184 Garonne 14. 72, 149 Hutton-Conyers • 390 Gibraltar • 4. 15. 25 a. Glamorganshire I 37. 144, 182, 184 Ictis (Mictis) . • 34-7 a, Gloucester . i 84. 326, 330, 375 Ilkley . ■ 326 Gloucestershire 129, 131, 137, 184, Isca (Damnon.) • 230, 327. 332-3 232, 279, 391 Isca Silurum . • 331 Godmundham • 396 Ischalis (Ilchester) . 229, 292 Gothland . 88 a Isleworth . 189 a. Gouy . igo a Islington . 189 Grampians (Graupius) 158, 164, 303 Isurium (Aldborough) . 308, 328 Greenwich . 104 Itius Portus • 35-6, 45 a. Grimberghe . . 191 Grimthorpe • 293 Jutland 14, 40, 46, 58, 70, 364 a. Grisons • 193 Gristhorpe • 163 Kemble-in-the-Street . . 330 Groveley, Forest . 218 a Kent 14, 29, 72, 102, 183-187, 201-2, a. Guemappes , . 190 258. 293, 326, 354- 359. 361. a. Gwynedd (N. Wal -s) . 182 365. 371 Kidlington 375. 377. 391. 397 • 390 Hackney • . 380 Kildare . 270-1 a. Hainault 190 Kintyre . • 159 Haloughton . • 391 a Kirkby Lonsdale . 199 a, Hampshire 184, 224, 230 Kirkcudbright . . . 284 Hampstead 4 Harde . • 354 Lanarkshire . • 144 Hartz Forest . • 51 Lea, R. . 104-5 Hebrides . 84, 282-4 a Leicester 137, 184, 202, 234, 280, a. Hebuterne . 190 311, 327 Henwick 3 a Leicestershire . 184, 202, 326 Hercynian Forest . 51-4.80 Lenborough • 375 a, Herefordshire . i 37. 176, 184, 391 Leonnais • 126, 137 a. Herford . . 191 a Lewes . . 187 a. Hertfordshire . 184, 199, 255 Lexden . . 294 Hexham • 312 a Lignieres . 190 High Cross • 327.331 a Liile 183, 190-1 Highfield . 131 Lilleshall • 326 a. Hochstadt • 193 Lincoln (Lindum ) 227,234,311, a. Hofe Chor • 193 327. 331. 368 Index of Places. 435 PAGES PAGES Lindsey .... 363, 379 Naas . 286 Linlithgow . . . 227, 352 Narbonne 12, 70 Lismore 159 Narburgh . 107 a. Liswery 184 Natan-lea • 372 Lithuania . . . 5I) 55 Neath . 174 fl. Livonia . . . 62,213,216 Netherbie 310,331 Loch Ness .... 4 Newark . • 327 Lodebrook .... 392 Newcastle 3 12-4, 326 Lofoden Islands . . 67, 137 New Forest . 229 355. 373 Loidis 379 Newmarket 330-1 Loire, R. . 12, 23-5, 246, 260 Nithsdale . . 237 a. London 3, 105, 184-5, 189, 300-3, a. Norden . . . 191 311, 320-1, 326, 329, Nordstrand • 354 331.333. 338-340,361, a. Norfolk i 30, 132, 142 184, 227 368, 378, 395 a. Normandy . 2 03-4, 257 Lome 159 a. Northamptonshire . 3- 199 Loughborough . . • "i^Zl North Sea 38, 48, 59, 70, 80-1, a. Liibeck 193 2++ 277. 295 Lucopibia .... 159 Northumberland . 144, 167, 237 Lydney .... 233, 279 a. Northumbria 169, 197, 347-9, Lympne, (Lymne) . 311, 330-3 378-82 Norway . 14, 40, 66-7 , 70, 204 a. Maldon 184 Norwich . • 3. 327. 329-30, 333 Malmesbury .... 226 a. Nottingham • 154, 179. 184, 224 Manchester . . . 328, 331 a. Nottinghamsh re 179. 184 Man, Isle of 94-5, 160, 199, 272, 281 a. Novgorod . . 213 a. Marden 199 Noviomagus . 300, 333 Markredes-Burn . . . 367 Marlborough .... 392 Ocetis . ^ ^ • 71 Marseilles 12-4, 17-8, 30-2, 295 a. Odenwald , • 193 Matlock 299 Qistrymnides . . 19, 21 a. Mayfield 188 Orbelus, Mt. . , , • 133 Mediolanum . . . .331 Orkneys 70-1, 129, 168, 210 Mendip Hills . . 143, 262, 299 Osericta . • 35 Meon, Hundreds . . , 355 Ossory . 287-8 Mercia 107, 354, 357, 375-380, 397 Othona (Ythai i-Csestir) . . 368 Mersey, R. . . 226, 228, 235 Owerbie . , • 310 Middlebie .... 310 Oxfordshire . . 198, 374 a. Middlesex . 3, 104-5, 1S4-5, 189 a. Middleton Cheney . . . 199 a. Pallacrec • 183 fl. Mongolia . . . 213-4 Parret, R. . 226. 229, 292 a. Monmouthshire 137-8, 160, 184, 227 a. Pencarne . 184 Morbihan , . . 11, 25 Peng\vern (Shi ■cwsbury) • Zl^ Moridunum . . . 332-3 Perthshire • 307 a. Mortlake . . . .189 Peterborough . , . • 379 Mull 282 Petuaria , ^ . 292 Muridunum (Carmarthen) 309, 331 a. Pevensey 1 88, 367 436 Origins of English History. 190, 203-4 . 116 . 199 . 188 a. Picardy . Piersebridge . a. Pirbright a. Plumpton Plumstead .... 104 Plymouth .... 230 Poitou 257 Pomona. . . . • T^ a. Ponthieu .... 190 Powys .... 233, 375 Princes Risborow . . . 330 a. Punjab .... iSi, 19S a. Putney 1S9 Pyrenees . 7, 9, 16, 23, 134, 149, 150, 298, 315 Pytchley .... 3 Radnor . • 137 Ramsgate . . 6-^ a. Rassery . . 190 Ratse (Rhage) • 234 Ratby . . 390 Raunonia . 61 Reculver 36, 330, 36S Regni 299. 300, 367 a. Rellec . . . 183 a. Rettembes . 190 a. Rezencourt . 190 fl. Rhine Provinces . 192 Rhine, R. 2, 14, 3S-9, 42, 45-7, 51, 58, 60, 80-1, 96, 295, 320, 340-2, 353-4, 357, 365, 370 Richborough (Rutupise) . 36, 104, 308,311,330-3,339,368 a. Richmond .... 189 Riddesdale .... 3 Ripon 390 Rochester (Durobrivje) 333,361, 368 a. Roehampton . . . .189 a. Rohan . . . . .183 Romney Marsh . . .103 Rotherficld . . . .188 fl. Russia . . 181,193,209,213 Ryknild Thorpe . . . 329 Salisbury (Sarum) 292, 331-2, 374 Sandy Saxon Islands Saxon Shore fl. Saxony . Scania . Scarborough . Schleswig-Holstein Scilly Isles a. Scrooby . PAGES . 106 61, 344, 354 324, 331-3, 339, 367 . 192 39, 121, 360 • 163 43. 126,354-8 16, 19, 129, 138, 154 . 179. 184 39, 60-1, 172, 213 229 328 190 66-7 223 17.245 • 237 135-6, 159 . 189 • 392 218-9 ,2,64, 70-1, 181 . 144, 1S4 292- 311. 331-3 Sandwich 45. 397 a. Scythia . Sedgmoor Segedunum (Walls- End) a. Selincourt Selsey Selwood . Sena (Sein) . Setantii, Port of Severn, R. 222, 226, 232-3, 260, 280, 292, 299, 300, 329, 375-6 Shannon, R. . fl. Sheen Sheffield Sherwood Forest fl. Shetland . 14 fl. Shropshire Silchester fl. Silesia . . . .41, 192 Sitomagus (Dunwich) . . 333 Snowdon . . 159, 219, 264 Soham Fen .... 144 Solent . . 189, 229, 292, 330-1 Sohvay . . . 236-7, 306, 312 fl. Somerset 137, 142, 144, 184-5, 189, 223-4, 272, 347 Southampton .... 325 fl. South Bersted . . . .184 fl. Southwell . . . 179, 184 St. Austell • • • • 33 St. Agnes .... 33 St. Bees ..... 167 St. Davids (Menevia) 160, 174, 325 St. Hilary . . . -333 St. Ives .... 33, 333 St. Michael's Mount . 37, 269 fl.St. Omer . . . 190- 1 fl. St. Petersburg . . . 213 fl.St. Stephens .... 199 Index of Places. 437 PAGES PAGES St. Vincent, Cape . 8, 13, 15. 16, Twickenham . . 392 20, 29 a. Tynemouth • 199. 312, 325 a. Stafford . . . 184 a. Staffordshire . . 184, 329 Stainmoor . 328, 331 a. Ural Mountains . 181, 212 a. Stamford 137, 184, 353 Uriconium 311,331-2,375 Stansa, Stans Ore . • 230 Uxisama (Ushant) . 25 Stirlingshire . . 307 Stoneheng-e 32, 130, 142 Vannes . . 25-6, 231 Strathclyde • 94-5. 169 Venta Belgarum . 227, 292, 332 Stratton (Foss-way) • 327 Venta Icenorum . 227 a. Stretford . 198 Venta Silurum . 138, 227, 309 Stretton . • 327 Vent-land (Gwent) . 227 a. Suabia . • 163, 193 Verulam (St. Albans) 108, 302-3, a. Suffoltc . . 184 345 59-41,45, 51, 59, a. Surrey . . 104, i 83-4, 199,371 Vistula, R. 10, 14, ; rt. Sussex 63, 104, 122, 1S3-5, 187-8, 130, 142, 179, 198, 366, 397 a. Vivier 157. 235. 357 . 190 Sutherland . 144 Swaffham . . 35S Sweden . 65, 88 139, 166, 210 a. Wadhurst 187-8 a. Switzerland . 121, 286 a. Walthamstow . . . 184 Wanborough . 377. 395-6 Tadcaster a. Wancour . 190 Tamara (Oreston) , . 230 a. Wandsworth . . 189 Tanais, R. 14. 39 Wantsume, R. . . 36 Tanaus, R. (Taus) . 306-7 Wareham . 226 Tara . 170-1, 259 263, 265, 267 Warlingham . . 391 a. Taunton- Deane 185, 189-90 a. Warlus . . 190 Tavistock • 33 a. Warwickshire . 184, 226, 326 Teivy, R. 4 Watchet . . 144 Teneriffe 20, 22 a. Weardale • 199 Thames, R. 14,31,36,45,62,222, West Fjord . . . 67 274,277, 292, 294, 321-331,333. Westminster . • 171. 395 374, 376 a. Westmoreland . 199, 379 Thanet . . 34-S 330, 362, 388 Weston (Norfolk) . 106 Thorney • 395 a. Westphalia . 51, 192, 197 Thule . 6, 29, 39, 41,44,47,49. Westra . . 168 64-6, 7 I, 76-81, 83-5 Wexford . . 154, 22S Tilshead . 142 Weymouth • 143 Tothill . • 253,255 Whitby . 3, 143-4, 398 Totnes , • 325. 327 Wight, Isle of 35-e .320,355.372-3 Tranabie . 16S a. Wikes . . 184 Treguier . . 176 a. Wimbledon • 189, 377 Treves . 322,334, 339. 340. 3SS Windermere . . 315.328,331 Trieste . 11.59 Winwidfield . . 380 a. Turkestan . 177, 212 Wippedsfleet . . 361 nr\ * 29 438 Origins of English History, PAGES PAGES a. Wivenhoe , . . . 184 York (Eboracum) 311,318,320-3, a. Woodford . 184 326-8, 331, 335, 337-8, 350, a. Worplesdon . . 199 368, 396 a. Wrabness . . . 1S4 Yorkshire 3, 103, 129, 141-4, 163, Wrexham . . . 285 210, 236-7, 292, 299, 321 a. Wurtemburg . • 192-3. 197-8 Ypwine's Fleet . . . 360 General Index. 439 GENERAL INDEX. PAGES /EWe, of Deira . . . .381 /Elle, of Sussex . . . 367, 375 /Escings 361 /Ethelfrith 381 ^styi . , . 43-47, 383 Aerfen 247 Aetius 345 Agnatic system . . . 156, 170 Agricola, campaigns 218, 233-4, 306-7 policy in Britain 217-8, 239, 301 239. 307 . 80 plans as to Ireland Albinovanus, poem of Albiones, of Spain Aldulf Alexander the Great 4, Alexander Severus, Emp, . 19 . 395 10,32,78, 85 . 267 Alfred, King Allectus, reign of Allobroges . All Souls' Day . Amber, ornaments 223, 326, 355, 373 . 319-322 ■ 250 207, 210 63, III, 143, 276 Amber-shore . 10, 35, 41-47, 58-62 Amber-trade with Adriatic 5,10,11, 59 . 62-3 . 44 . 47.59.61 348, 350-1, 372 . . 89 . 206-214 207, 210 • 367 63. 277. 346, 381 • 45. 351-7. 381 .291.353-8 379-82 with Britain with Carnuntum with Courland . Ambrosius Aurelius Amometus . Ancestor-worship feast of the dead Andred's-Lea . Aneurin, the Bard Angles (Anglii) Angles and Saxons Anglian Kingdoms Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Animals, sacred 367. 371-8. 381-2 255. 285-9, 364. 383 PAGES Anna, King .... 380 Antonine Itinerary . 324, 331-4 Antoninus Pius, Emp. 237, 313, 316 Apollo, worship of 5, 86, 251, 256, 336 Aquitanians . . 23, 149, 150 Arduinna ..... 257 Artabri . . . 8, 9, 16-7, 19 Arthur, King 243, 269, 277, 347-8, 351-2,373 Arvald, King . . . -373 Aryan customs 89, 148, 156-7, 161, 206 Asclepiodotus . . . 321-2 Asega-buch .... 358 Assart-land . . . 188, 199 Astre 186 Athens, custom of inheritance . 204 Atrebates 292 Attacosi, romance of . . .89 Attacotti . , . 237, 338-g Augustine, mission of 378, 39.5, 39' Augustus, Emp. . . . 291 Aurochs (Zubr) . . .51, 55-57 Auster-land .... 186 Badb (Irish) . . . .277 Badger . . . 145, 219, 241 Balder, worship of . .371, 377 Baltic 14, 40, 86, 124, 155, 157, 212, Bambothus, R. . . . > ^3 Bards 2, 63, 86, 134, 151-2, 244-9, 277. 346,375-6, 381 Barrows, Long . 124-131, 137-142, 166-7, 362-4. 377. 393 Round 122, 139-145. 151. 163, 236 Continental . 124-6, 129, 167 Irish, Scotch, Welsh 126-7, 129, 131, 167, 263 Fairy Toote . . .124 Gavr Innis . . . 167 440 Origins of English History. PAGES Barrows, HIlda's-Lowe 127, 359, 393 Hob o' th' Hurst . . 125 Hwittuc's-Lowe . .127 Kits Coty House 127, 142, 363 Maes Howe . • .129 Wayland's Smithy 126-7, 393 Basques .... i49. 15° Batavi .... 295, 309 Baths, Roman . . 220, 270, 329 Bear .... 3- 288, 297 Beaver . . • • 3- 4' 224 Bede (cited) 197, 220-3, 312-3, 345, 353-5. 362, 366, 368, 371. 378, 381-2, 387-8, 391-398 Bee-culture . • 2, 222, 387 Beer, use of • . • • 3° Belgse 102, 105, 112, 115, 158, 232, 292, 299 Bellnus (Beli) 252, 254, 267, 277-8, 325 Behsama 158 Beltain-feast . . 261-2, 267 Beowulf 344, 352, 359-60, 365, 382-4 Berroc, Wood of . . .223 Beuvray enamel .... 293 Boadicea {see Boudicca). Boar, wild 3, 117, 130, 218, 224, 2S7 Boar-crest .... 43, 383 Bolanus, Vett. campaign of 306, 311-2 Boomerang, use of . . .114 Bondage .... 386-7 Bond-land. . . . 187-8 Boor-land 365 Boreads, legends of . . . 5> 86 Borough -English, meaning of 180-1 origin of custom 179-80, 194-7, 213-16 in Cornwall and Devon . 183 in Kent . . . 1S3, 185-6 in Somerset . . . 189 in Sussex . . 183-5, 187-8 round London . . .189 in other counties 1S3-4, 189, 199 prerogative of abolishing 201-2 extension to females . . 190 Borvo, worship of . . . 252 Boudicca . 274, 286, 296, 300-304 Bovinda (Boyne) . . . 256 PAGES Box-woods .... 223 Bracton 203 Brande-erbe . . • .211 Branwen .... 278,280-1 Brehon Law . . . .268 Bretwalda 375 Brigantes 228, 232-240, 305, 318-320 Brigantia (goddess) . . • Z'^1 Brigit (fire-goddess) . 162, 276, 317 Britain, agriculture in ii5-7> 235-6 conquest by English 226, 342-373 dark tribes in 133-138, I47-I55, 158-162, 174 descriptions of 2, 3, 28-32, 85, 224-5. 235 division into provinces 323-4 dress and ornaments . . 63, 110-113, 240-1 Finnish tribes in 140-8, 162-167, 173 Gaulish settlements in 92-3, 97, 101-117, 158, 226-7 junior-right in . . 183-190 lake-dwellings in . . 132-3 languages of 94-101,156,158-9, 162, 226-7 legends as to . . 81, 83, 86 neolithic age in . .124, 130 paganism in . 238, 242-289 Roman conquest of . 290-307 Roman legions in 294,308-311 Roman roads in . 324-333 Roman walls in . 312-317, 339 scythed chariots . 114-5,240 tattooing, custom of . 164, 235 trade 12, 18, 35-6, 45, 230-1, 293 Britanni, continental . . . 103 Brittany, migrations to 229, 346, 350 cromlechs in . 124, 129, 167 junior-right in . . . 183 language of . . 94-5, 162 paganism . . 126, 210, 256 Pytheas, visit of 14, 17, 23-25, 270 tin-trade in . . 8, II, 37 Brittia, legends of . . 81-3, 358 Bronze Age 99, 117, 121, 139-146, 162-8 General Index. 441 PAGES Bronze Age, weapons 112-5, 12 1-2, 144 lake-dwellings . . . 132 tin-trade . . . .11 Brownies (Boggarts) . , 209-10 Bructeri ..... 49 Brythonic tribes 96-101, 108, 226, 233. 246, 306 Bustard .... 130, 224 Caesar, J. invasion of Britain 26, 37, 102-7, 1 14-5, 226, 231-235, 258, 291-2, 295 his description of Veneti 26, 37, 230-2 of Hercynian Forest . 5i» 56 of Gaulish religion 250-5, 258-61, 266 Caledonia 134, 154, 164, 224, 306, 322 • 139 • 309 255.317 Callais, ornaments Camelot Camulus, worship of . Cangi 159 Cannel-coal .... 144 Cantii .... 103-4 Caracalla, Emp. , .319, 324 Caractacus . . 238-9, 281, 294 Carausius, the chieftain . . 322 Carausius, Emp. . . 316, 319 Carthaginian Voyages 13, 15, 19-23 Cartismandua . . .237-9, 3^5 Carvilius, King .... 104 Cassate of land . . . 365, 367 Cassii .... 107-8 Cassivellaunus . . . .107 Castlesteads . . . • 3^3 Castor-ware .... 329 Catamanus, King . . . 322 Cateia, nature of . . .114 Catigern .... 362-3 Cattle, Celtic . . 56, 117, 130 Cattle, wild . . . 3, 4, 117 Catuvellauni . . . 107-8 Cave-dwellings . 2, 123, 131-2, 224 Ceawlin .... 374, 376-7 Celtiberia .... 94, 149 Celtica . . . . 17, 39, 46 Celtic Islands Celtic nations PAGES 17. 23-5 48, 96-7, lOO-I, 122, 148, 170 Celtic Promontory . . .23 Celts in Britain . . 102-19, 226-34 manners and customs 108-19, 145. 163-5, 171-2, 193. 207 Cenion, tin-mart . . . 230 Ceolwulf ..... 378 Cerdic . . . 371-3, 378 Cerealis Petilius, campaign of 305-6 Chariots (Covini) Chatti Chauci, customs of Chrocus, King . 1 14-5, 240 52, 295 47-50 • 323 Cimbri 39, 47-9, 57-8, 64, 92, 246 Cingetorix .... Circus, games in Cissa ..... Claudius, Emp., his invasion 294, 302, 308 his triumph suppressed Druidism Clochans, Irish . 104 296-8 367 295-7 266 Cnebba Cogidubnus Coinage, British . 131 • 377 . 300 3, 106, 230, 255, 293 no, 113 . 351 94. Gaulish Colgrim Commius, House of . . 292-4 Condidan (Kynddylan) . . 375 Condrustis Pagus . . .310 Coneely, seal-legend . . . 289 Conmsegl, King .... 375 Conn the Hundred-fighter 135, 161 Constantine the Great, Emp. 32 1-4, 335 Constantine, the Usurper, Emp, 341 Constantius, Emp. . . 320-2, 335 Constantius II., Emp. . . 333 Copper implements . . I2I, 144 Copyhold . . 179, 184, 187-190 Coracle (Curragh) 34, 152, 232-3, 341 Coral ornaments . . . 293 Coranians ..... 246 Cordelia, legend of . . . 280 Coritavi . . . 232, 234-6 442 Origins of English History. PAGES PAGES Cornabii (Cornavii) . 2 26, 228, 233 Doctor-gate . 328 Cornish language . 94-5 Dower, customary . 189, 190 Coronation-rites .171-2 Druidesses 24, 267 Cotman-land . 18S Druids, British i 24, 230, 243, 247, Cots-ale . 390 258-264 Couvade, custom of . . 150 Gaulish 249-25 I. 253, 259-261, Cradle-holding . 184 265-7 Crickets, superstitions as tc ) . 209 Irish and Scottish 151 -2, 258-260, Crom-cruach 271-2 264-268 Cromlechs (see Barrows) Drusus, expedition ol . 295 Cvichulainn 241, 288-9 Dubnorix . . 109 Culand, the Smith . 289 Dukes of South-Saxons . . 367 Cunobeline • 295 Durotriges . . 229 Cursing-customs . 158, 175-6, 271 Dutigirn . . . 381 Cutha ■ 374.376 Dwellings of Stone-Age 123,131-3 Cuthred . . , . • 377 Dyes, use of III-2, 221 Cuthwine . . , . • 375 Cuthwulf . . . . 374, 376-7 Cwichelm . . . . • 377 Earth, worship of 23, 43, 356 Cynegils . . . . 377-8 Earth-nut . . . . 165 Cynewulf, poems of 352, 36 9. 382, 384 East Anglia . 107, 357, 378-9 Cynric . . . . 96, 373-4 Edgar • 395 Edwin the Fair 371, 375, 379-81, 396 Eel-fishery . . 220, 366 Dagda (Irish) . 114,275-6 Egbert • 375 Damnonii . . 139, 2 28-230, 232 Egrice . 380 (Irish) 152, 228 Eider, R. . . 357 (Scotch) . 228 Electrides . 41, 60 in West Britain , 228-232 Eleutherius, Pope . . • 338 in Brittany . . 229 Elixoia, legend of . 86 Dancing-customs 149, 391 Elk . . 51, 54-6, 162 David I. (Scotl.) • 171 Embankments . . 106-7, 218, 224 De Coulanges, on inheritan ce 204-6 Enamelling, art of . 293 Diana . . . . 331, 336 Eostra, goddess . . 391 Diancecht . . , . • 279 Epiphany-fires . . 391 Dimetian Code . . 182 Epona, worship of • 317 Diocletian, Emp. 267, 32 0-3. 334-5 Ercenwine . . . . 378 Dis-gavelling, right of 201-2 Eric the Ash 359-61 Dis Pater .... . 114 Ermin Street • 325-332 Divitiacus (Druid) • 250 Etirun, a British god . 256 Divitiacus (King) . 102 Esus (Silvanus) . . 254 Dobuni .... • 232 Ethelbald . • 377 Dogs, British 130, 294 Ethelbert . 368, 375 , 377-380, 394-5 Doles of land . . 167 . 191.389 Ethelwulf . • 360, 373 Dolichenus (Jupiter) . • 336 Etruscans . 114, 149, i6i Dolicho-cephaly • 137 Euric, King • . 383 Don, family of . 278-9 Euthymenes, voj'age f . . 13 General Lidex. 443 PAGES PAGES Evenus, (Evan III) . . . 84 Gauls in Britain 92 -3, 97, IOI-II9, Exeter Book 353. 369. 382, 384 158, 226-7 their customs 109-19, 234, 293 Attrebates . . 292 Fairs . .175,262-3 Belgse . 22 7, 232, 292, 299 Fairies . 135 152, 243, 272, 2S1 Cantii 103-4 Familiar spirits . 209-10, 214-216 Catuvellauni 107-8 Family-club . 88 Iceni . . 106 -7, 227, 300-304 Farinmaegl, King • 375 Parisii . 292 Farthing-land . . 18S Regni 299-300, 367 Fenni, customs of . 123 Trinobantes . 105 Finn, King of Fries land . 359, 360 Gelondan . • . 387 Finn Mac Cumhal . . . 248 Gavelkind . 185-9, 201-2 Finnish tribes . 122, 140, 146-8, Genealogies, English 359-60, 371, 155, 162, 212-5 378-9 Fir-Bolgs . . 135-6, 151-4 Swedish • 352 Fir-Domhnan . 152-3, 228 Welsh 268-9, 288-9 Fir-Gailiun 152-3 Genuni . 237 Fire-worship . 157, 209, 211-4 Germany, descriptions of 38-45, 58-61 Flint-mines . 130 ethnology . 155, 163-4, 295 Fortunate Isles . . . . 89 floods . 48-9 Fosse -Way 325-327. 331. 393 forests of . 51-57 Francalmoigne . . 211 legends 39, 47-49, 78-83, 85, 90 Franks . 126, 320 -I. 338-9.357.378 inheritance in 338-41, 343-73 Fraomar, King . . 323 invasions from 191-3, 196-7, Freia (Fricge) . . 391 205-6 Freyr (Frea) • 360, 377, 390 manners and customs 50, 92, Frisians 47. 192. 315. 356-8 118-9, 131-2 Frontinus, Julius . 305 paganism . 125, 171, 326, Funeral-ale 208-9 336,356.359. 364-366, 371.377- 379. 380, 382- 3. 385. 390-398 Pytheas, visit of . • 39.45-47 Gadeni 236-7 regiments from 295. 302, 310, Gaelic tribes 2, 96-9, 154, 227 314. 320-1, 323, 339 Galatian language . 94-5 village-customs in • 387-389 Galgacus . 307 Germara, legend of . 3 Gargantua . . 125, 250, 257 Gerontius , • 342 Gaul, Druidism in 249-254, 259-267 Geta, Emp, • 319 language of . 94, 97-8, 100, Gevissi • 369. 37S 104, 106, 227-8 Gildas . 222-3, 2 71.313. 349-51 Pytheas, visit to . . 25-6,72 | Gillings-rock . 88 religion of 158, 243, 249-258, Glanville . 200 272. 275,317 Glass-ornaments 62, 111-2, 143, 235 tin-trade in II Glendower, Owen • 244 trade with Britain . 12,18, | Gnomon, use of . . 27 35-6. 45, 230, 293 Gnostics • 337 troops from • 314.319 Goidelic tribes . 96- 100, 154, 226-7 444 Origins of English History. PAGES Gothones (Goths) 39, 42, 58-9, 61, 235 Graham's- Dyke. . . 316-7 Gratian, Emp. .... 340 Greek legends . . 5, 10, 77, 358 Greek romances . . 4. 5i 74-89, 358 Greek trade 6-8, I1-14, 17-19,32-6 Gregory, Pope . . . -344 Grimsdyke (Grimesditch) . . 107 Gruagach-stone .... 209 Gwyn (Gvvydion) 243, 246-8, 278-280 Gyrvian kingdoms . . . 379 Hadrian, Emp. . . 308, 312, 335 Hair-dressing . .112, 164,320 Hallamshire, customs . . 391 Hare . . . 219,286-7,391-2 Head-hunters . . . 108-9 Hearth-superstitions . . 206-212 Hecanas, Kingdom of . . 376 Heil, a Saxon idol . . . 395 Heinzelmann, legend of . .210 Heirlooms . 182-3, i90-i» 196, 198 Helena, Empress . . 321, 322 Hengist and Horsa 127, 344, 353, 59-365. 371 88, 357 . 51-6 367, 388 7. 359. 393 . 127 205, 211 80 181 Heruli Hercynian Forest Hide of land Hilda, the war-goddess Hiller, legend of Hindoo Law Hippopodes Hoel the Good . Hof-giiter . Honorius, Emp. . Hrede, Anglian goddess Hugh the Mighty Human sacrifice . Hwiccas, Kingdoms of Hy-jNIany . Hy-Nyall . 193 342 391 244-6, 269 254-5, 261-6 376-7 135-6 . 170 Hyperboreans, legends of . 5, S7-9 PAGES 371, 380-2 325-327. 330-1, 393 • 143 • 94. 257 . 166 19, 20 94. 249. 256 Ida . Ikenild Street Incense-cups Inscriptions, British of Bronze Age Carthaginian Gaulish Irish andWelsh 96, 99-101, 160- 1 Ogam . . 99, 100, 322 Roman . 308, 310, 315-7, 336 Runic . . . 362-3 lolo, the Bard . . . 244-5 Ireland, described 65, 78, 221-224, 240 customs 109, 1 18-9, 157-8, 165, 169-173, 181, 195, 240, 260-265 dark races 135-6,147-149, 158-160 fair races . . 96-100, 173 invasions from . . 338, 343 kings . . 263, 267, 307 lake-dwellings . . . 132-3 legends . 78,134-5,151-154, 161, 171-2, 240-1, 288 migrations to 93-6, 100- 1, 133-5, 152-4, 171 paganism 153, 207, 209, 256, 261-8, 270-82 tribes, Hy-Many . 135-6 Hy-Nyall . . . .170 Milesians . . 135-6,151-5 Picts (Cruitnigh) 154-5, 170, 268 Scots of Ulster . . 155, 339 Ui-Duinn .... 287 Irmin. ..... 326 Iron, use of 114, 122, 144, 164, 167, 220 Ith, the hero .... 135 Ivory, use of . . .145, 2_^o Iberians Iceni . II, 17, 21, 23, 134, 148-150, 154, 258 . 106, 227, 300-4 Jade .... Jammerholz January-fires Jet .... Julia Domna, Emp. . Junior-right, extent of • in Brittany England Wales and Shetland . 139 . 89 • 250 143-4 • 293 179-216 . 183 183-190 181-2 General Index. 445 PAGES Junior-right, in France . 183, 190-1 Friesland and Flanders 191 -2 Germany . . . 192-3 Hungary . . 181, 212-14 China, India, Asia . 181, 213-4 among Ugrian tribes . . 181 in Russia . . . 193,213 Jungsten-recht . . . 179, 180 Jupiter, worship of 75, 247, 251, 254, 257. 320, 336 Justinian, Emp. .... 6 Jutes 355, 373 Juveignerie . . . .180 Kent, ancient accounts of 26-31, 37, 72 Gaulish kingdoms in . 102-4 local laws of . 185-189,200-2 Kerridwen, worship of 24-26,247-8 Kimmeridge shale . . . 144 Kobolds, legend of . . .210 Kynddylan (Condidan) . 346, 376 Lake-dwellings . Landevennec, Abbey of Land-marks Lear, Llyr Lemovians Leprachaun Lignite ornaments Lindsey, kings of Lindisfaras Lipari Isles (Stromboli) Lir, family of Livonians, customs of Lludd Llywarch, the Bard . Lollius Urbicus . Lombards . Lot-land . Lot-meadows Lucius, King Luga, the fire-god Lugi .... Lugotorix . Luridan, legends of . 2, 132-3, 286 • 350 . 167 278-282 . 42 . 209 • 144 • 379 • 379 72. 125 278-9 45. 212-3 • 279 175-6, 381 • 316 • 357 91-2, 388-9 167, 389 338 279 287 104 210 Lutin, offerings to Lutons, legend of Lygians 214 128 42 Macha (Irish) .... 277 Madelstad, custom . . 190- 1 Mael-Brigd . . . .162 Magic . 151-2,215,248-9,253,259, 264, 269 Maine, Sir H. S., on Brehon Laws 268 on primogeniture 195, 205-207, 211 on village communities • 389 Magyars . .212-3 Mainete, custom of . . 191 Manannan (Manawyddan) 278-282 Mandrake .... 215-6 Manu, laws of . . 205 Marcian, Emp. . . 348 Marcus Aurelius, Emp. • 310 Marl, use of . . . . 116 Mars, worship of 251, 255, 317.328, 336 Mataris, use of . • 113 Math (Mathonvvy) • 279 Matres, worship of 257. 272 Maximian, Emp. . 320 Maximus, Emp. 340-1 May-games 250, 261 Medb, Queen . 272 Melkarth (Melicertes) 10, 14-5 Mello, Bishop . • 338 Menapii . 160, 320 Meonwaras • 355 Merchetum • 387 Mercury-worship 251-2, 256, 317.377 Merlin .... ■ 244 Mertae .... . 287 Metals and mining, calamine II copper . 10, II, 121, 144, 220 gold 9, 10, 122, 143-4, 164 ,260,293 iron .... 122, 164 lead . 9, 10, 121-2, 220, 293 silver . 10, 122, 144, 220, 293. 304 tin 5-26,31-7,121,152-3,221 Metempsychosis 247, 248, 249, 266 446 OrigiJis of English History Metheglin . Midnight Sun . Midsummer Fires Milesian tribes . Minerva, worship of Minne-drinking . Mistletoe . Mithras Moedre Necht . Mogh-Neid Mogh-Nuadhat . Monoxylic coffins Moon-worship . Morgan la P'aye Morigu Morimorusa Moths, superstition as to Moytura, battle of Mutter-recht 35-6, 251-2 PAGES 30. 32 67, 68 ■ 250 151-5 2, 270 208-9 • 253 ■ 337 ■ 394 . 162 , 162 163 7. 336 272 • 277 9.43. 57-8, 71 209 279 150 149 J76- Names, in Aryan languages Natanleod . Neckar (Nissey) Nectarides . Neid (Irish) Nemetona (Gaulish) Nemon (Irish) . Nennius 161 • 372 • 210, 393 • 339 162, 256, 277 . . 256 . 256, 277 322, 351-2, 361-2 Neolithic Age 100, 124, 128-33, ^37-9, 154-5. 174 Nerigo ..... 66 Nero, Emp. ... 60, 305 Nights, reckoning by . . . 251 Nodens (Nuadha, Nudd) Nothelm, King . Nud, the Damnonian Nudd, family of Nunna, King Nutons, legend of O'Brasil . Oseones Oceanus Odal-law . Odin-ponds 136, 162, 278-280 366-7 . 161 278-9 • 367 . 12S 272-3 . 80 45. 80 . 204 OfTa, legends of . Offa, King . Ogam writing Ogma (Ogmius) Ogyrfen Ordovices . Osburga Osiris, worship of Osismii (Ostidamnii) Oslac . Oslac, Duke Osmund Ossian Ostiones . . 39 Ostorius Scapula Oswald Oswy Otadeni O there, voyage of Owain Palaeolithic age . Parisii Paulinus Suetonius Pearl-fishery Penda Peutingerian Table Phoenicians 233 PAGES 356-7 . 379 99, 100, 322 . 276 . 247 4, 306, 323 . 373 . 337 • 25 • 373 • 367 • 367 • 319 46-7. 51, 57. 62 159' 299. 300 . 375. 380 • 375 .236-7, 278 . 355 278, 288, 381 2, 3, 121-123 . 158, 292 258, 302, 305 220-1 • 377. 380 330-3 7-11, 14-5, 19 Picts . . 94, i54-5> 161, 164-166, 168-71, 226, 237, 246, 343, 353 of Scotland of Ireland Picts-houses Picts' Wall Pig-nuts Pixies Plautius, Aulus Ploughland Pomerania . Pooka Port, the chieftain Portunes, legend of Potteries . 129, I43-I45 Prasutagus Preciput 155' 237. 338-9 154-5' 170, 268 131 312 165 209 29S-9 . 388 41, 88, 391 . 209 . 382 209, 210 308, 328-9 106, 301 191, iqS Primogeniture, origin of custom 205-6 General Index. 447 PAGES Primogeniture, domestic religion 205-216 duties of eldest . 205,211-12 sanctity of hearth . 206-212 offerings to the dead 206, 209-10 in England. . 188,197-203 — — in Germany . 193, 196-7, 205 — — in Normandy and Picardy 203-4 in Scandinavia among females Principals . Publius Crassus . Purple dye . Pygmies, legends of . Pytheas, expedition of voyage to Cadiz . to North Spain . to Celtic Islands to Kent to Scotland . 193. 204 188, 193, 199 . 191, 198 . 18 . 221 . 81 7. 12-14 .14-16 . 16-24 25-6, 270 26-31, 37, 72 32, 71 to the Rhine and Elbe 38-9, 45-6 to the Ostians . 46-8,51,59 to the Cimbri to the Baltic to the Amber Coast to Thule his return . influence of his travels account of his works . Quains Quaternary age . " Quatuor Chimini " Quern, use of Quevaise, custom Quief-mez, custom Radulf Redbald . Redwald . Red-deer . 53, Redon, Abbey of Regni Reindeer . Richard of Deeping Riggate • 57 . 58-60 . 61 67-71 . 71-2 74-84, 91 . 12-14, 72-3. 125 212-3 123 325 145 183 191 351 375 • 379. 395 104, 222, 224, 287 • 350 . 299, 300, 367 . 52-54, 123 . 224 . 322 PAGES Rock-carvings . . . 166-168 Rolf Kraka . . . 208, 322 Roman conquest of Britain 290-311 Csesar's invasion 26,37, 102-107, 1 14-5, 231-5, 258, 291-2, 295 camps in Britain . 230,310, 311. 314 divisions of Britain . . 323-4 religion .... 336-7 roads in Britain 314, 322, 324-33 government and taxation . 321, 323-5. 334 trade with Britain . 12,61-2, 221,293 with Germany . . 44, 60 legions 257, 302, 304, 307-317, 320-1, 338, 374 walls. . 81-2,311-317,338 wall of Antoninus 316-7, 322-4 of Hadrian 312-315, 319, 323-4 of Severus \JV OCVC1U3 . Rosmerta . . 256 Rugii . . 42 Ryknild Street . • 325-6, 329 Saeberht . • 378. 395 Saefugel . . 288 Ssemil . . 380 Samolus (water-pimpernelj . 254 Sarmatian regiments . • 310,315 Sarn Helen . 322 Saxnoth • 171.378 Saxon invasions 338-54. 357. 369, 372-3 Saxon Kingdoms 361 , 366, 369-78 Saxons, description of 235. 382-3 Saxony, law of . 192 Scandinavia 129, 139, 148, 168, 171. 193, 204, 257 Scipio II, 12 Scota • . 171 Scotland, descriptions of 29, 32, 164-6 archaeology . 121,129,132-3, 144, 155, 167 barrows in . . . 129, 131 customs . 164-5, 169-72, 181, 200, 207 448 Origins of English History. PAGES PAGES Scotland, ethnolog-y of 136, 228, 236-7 St. Carannog . 269 invasions from 171, 338-43, 353 St. Clou . . . . 365 languages • 94, 97, 159-62 St. Colman . . . 287 legends 162, 172 St. Colomba 265, 267, 268 paganism 258, 261, 267-8, 283-5 St. Cuthbert . 284, 285, 328 — — Roman government in 506-7, St. Dominic . 221 316-19, 331, 338-43 St. Dubricius . 269 Scots of Ulster . . 155, 339 St. Ethelreda . . 329 Scef . . 360 St. Germanus . . 344-5 Scyld . . 360 St. Gertrude . 208 Seals . 220, 289 St. Jerome • 95- 337 Segonax . 104 St. John . . 209 Selago (club-moss) . 253 St. Lupus . • 344 Selgovse • 237 St. Michael . 208-9 Semnones . • 356 St. Mourie . . . . 285 Serapis, worship of • 335 St. Oswald • 380 Severus, Emp. . 312-3,318,324 St. Patrick 135, 267, 271 Sevo, Mt. . . 40 St. Samson of Dol • 350 Sheep -farming . i 17, 130, 219, 236 St. Teuth . • 255 Sheldrake . 224-5 St. T)-dew . . 255 Shony, offerings to . . 284 St. Vodoal . • 154 Sigbert . 380 St. Wilfrid . • 366, 397 Sigefugel . . 288, 380 St. Winifred . . 366 Silurians . 134, i 38, 147-150, 154. St. Almedha's fair • 175 174, 2 27, 258, 299, 305 St. Branwen's well 269, 281 Simon de Montfort . 202 St. Cuthbert's beads • 145 Sin-eater . 176-7 St. Elian's well . . . 176 Slavonians . 140- 1, 210, 256 St. George's well . . 285 Sledda • . 378 St. Hilary's church . . 333 Snakes, superstitions as to . . 209 St. Iltyd's house . . 167 Soke, socage . . 187 St. John's feast . 133, 261-2, 392 Spain, description of . • 7-24 St. Tegla's well . • 285 languages of 94-5, 149-51 St. Winifred's well • 273 legends of • 134, 149 Stane-gate . • 314 mining in . 7-9. 77 Stilicho • 338, 341 St. Adamnan • 151 Stone-circles . 169 St. Alban . • 335 Stonehenge 5, 32, 86 , 125, 130, 141-2 St. Anne . 256, 262 Stone Street • 300 St. Beanus . . . 287 Streams, worship of . • 257 St. Benedict • 197 Stromboli, described . • 72, 125 St. Beuno . . 284, 285 Stuf . . . . • 373 St. Birinus . • • 378 Suevi. . .45,3 41,356-358,360 St. Boniface . 125 Suiones . 43 St. Brendan . 287 Suleves (Sylphs) . 270 St. Bridget 270, 271, 287 Suli-Minerva . 270 St. Brychan . 269 Suling, Kentish . • 388 St. Cadoc . . 269 Sun-worship 24, 65, 2. W, 255, 337, 353 General Index. 449 PAGES PAGES Swend of Norway . 208 Truro, R. . • 230 Sword-play . 119 Tuatha-De Danann . 135. 152-154 Turkistan . 77, 212 Taliessin 247-249. 3SI Turquoise . • 125, 139 Tanarus . . 336 Tarandus . • 53 Uffings • 379 Taranis • 254, 256 Ugrian tribes . .1: 2, 181, 212-4 Tattooing , • 164, 235 Ui-Duinn . . . 2S7 Taximagulus . 104 Uisneach, children of . . 241 Tschudic tribes . .213-4 Ultimogeniture . . 180 Teutates • 254-5 Upsala • 171.352 Teutones . 48, 58-9. 61 Urbgen of Reged • 381 Theel-land . . 181, 191-2 Urus . , 55-7, 130, 117, 218, 224 Theodoric, of Anglia . . 44-5. 3S I Uxella . 22S Theodosius, Emp. • 345 Uxellodunum . 228 Theodosius, the General . 338-40 Thiodolf . • 352 Valentinian III, Emp. • 34S, 365 Thor (Thunar) . . 256, 336 Valhalla-cliffs . . 88 Thracian language . 94 Vand, a customary holding . iSi Thule . 6, 29, 39, 4 I, 44, 64-71, 75, Vandals .341-2 78-9, 81-85, 194 Varro. . Ill Tides .... 13, 48-9, 71-2 Vegetius • 232 Timaeus . , 34, 46, 61 Vellaunodunum . . 107 Tin-trade, in Asia . 121 Venedotian Code . 1S2 of Britain 12 18, 33-6, 45, Vellaus Pagus . . 310 230-1, 293 Veneti, trade of . . 26, 231-2 with Carthaginians . . 7-10 Vennicnii (Vennicones) . 22S of Cassiterides 10, 14, 16-19, Venus, worship of • 247. 336 153-4 Venusius . •23S-9 Cornwall . 9, ] 6, 19,26, 31-34, Vepses, customs of . •213-4 37, 152-4, 221 Vercassivellaunus . 107 Devon 33i 37 \'erulam, walls of • 303 Gaul . II \'espasian, Emp. 299. 305. 312 Ictis . • 34-37 Vicarius Britannia; • 323 Marseilles • 7' 32. 35 Vikings . 20S, 2S3 Morbihan . 11.37 Village-communities . • 387-390 ■ Phoenicians . 7-10 Village-feasts 377. 387. 390 Portugal 9 Villeinage . . .386-7 Tiowulfinge-csestir • . 378 Visigoths . . 206 Titus, Emp. . 299 Vitellius, Emp. . . 29S Tiw, worship of . • . 378 Vitrum (woad) . • 235 Toliapis . 104 Vol du Chapon . . 196 Toot-hill . • 255 Voluspa • 347 Totemism . . 288-9 Vortigern . 264. 353. 375 Trajan, Emp. . 308 Vortimer . .361-2 Triads, Welsh . . 2, 244-246 Vosges, funeral-customs • 215 Trinobantes . 105 Votes, customs of •213-4 450 Origins of English History. PAGES PAGES Wales, customs of inheritance 181-2 Westminster Abbey . • 171.395 ' Druidism . . 243-4, 260-4 Wexford, legends of . . 154 ■ ethnology of . 96-100, 136-g, Whale . 220 147. 153-5. 159-60, 174-5. 233-4 Whitby, Synod of . . 398 holy tribes . . . 26S-9 VVhitsun-ale . 390 language . , 94-100, 161-2 Widsith . • 352 paganism in . 174-7,271-2, Wight, conquest of . • 355. 372-3 277-86 Wihtgar . • 373 Roman roads . 322, 325, 331-2 Winta . 279 wars with Romans 233-4, 306 Wipped • 361 with Angles . . •381-2 Wissent (Aurochs) • 51, 56-7 ■ with Saxons . . . 374-8 Witta • 360 Watling Street . . 325-7.331-333 Wlencing . • . 367 Wattus, King .... 367 Woad • 235, 383 Wayland Smith . 126-7, 359- 393 Woden (Odin) 88, 125 171.359-360, Wealds 104-5 364, 366, 371, 377-9, 391, 395-6 Weapons and armour, bronze . 112 Woden-hills • 377. 395 1 2 1-2, 139-40, 293 Wolf . . 3, 145, 218 , 224, 262, 288 copper .... 144 Wonred . 364 reflexive . . . i 13-4 Wood, weapons of • 44. 113 . stone . .114, 123, 133, 143 Written-stone . . 362 Week, days of . . . 378, 393 Wsetla (Wstlings) . . 326-7 Weird, Weird Sisters . 257, 369 Weland . . . 126-8, 140, 359 Yew-forests . 222 Wells, respect paid to 174-5, 268-70, Ylfings . 20S 274-5, 282, 285, 321-2, 390, 393 Ynglinga-tal • 352 cursing-wells . . -175-6 Youling, custom of • 391 ■ laughing-wells . . . 274 Yule-feast 391-2 pin-wells .... 274-5 Ypwine's-fleet . . 360 wishing-wells . . . 282 Wends . . .40, 88, 357, 359 Zend-Avesta • 337 Wessex, conquest of . . 369-378 Zeuss, theories of • 94 Westmere, kingdom of . . 379 Zubr (Aurochs) . 51. 53. 55-7 C. NORMAN AND SON, PRINTERS, HAKT STRBST, COVENT GARDEN. t. z m^ n**/ 2 ■SECVNDA • EV'ROPE- Plate 11. Plate III. ^o>p(ito..^yi$*%p 1Q' tfii^'^o ^tS* l7«Jttl*3' t^' t^'Pctr »o U- 1 -^ 1 ^'' 1 AUL. (FROM THE LATIN PTOLEMY, 1 478.) ■TIRTIA- BV'ROP^TABVLA- m GAUL. (FROM THE LATIN PTOLEMY, 147^-) •PRIMA. • EVROI'V THE BRITISH ISLANDS, (FROM THE LATIN PTOLEMY, I478.) Plate VII. SOUTH EASTERN BRITAIN (FROM THE PEUTINGER TABLES.) JL t/u/i/Cr r ^j.jL» ABVLA^ I J., 1 a I 30 1 9-0 i *l ( 9-Z 1 9-J \ 9-9- 1 9-^.\ 9-6 \ \ YMBRJ- ^-~'zZ-z (fHE latin PTOLEMY, 147^^.) GERMANY. (.FROM THE LATIN PTOLEMY, 1^7^-) Flate IX. FROM DUGDALE'S MONASTICON, EDIT. 1655-73) THE ISLE OF THANET. (FROM DUGOALES MONASTICON. EDIT. 1655^75 ) » 5? 9 5; ^ Z o ^ p >•» > o v^ 9 -^-^ li (FROM THE LATIN PTOLEMV, 1525.) o DATE DUE UCR MAY 1 1 1983 IIPR M lY '>fi 198 7 UblA ""^ SEP 9 1991 :■>••■ ■ ;■■;■:.!. ■ ^ ~\ r- ' r^ ■^''i:.'' •. UCR MAY 2 2 1995 CAVCORO PRINTRO INU.fl A. ■'K,- .<. ' (\i