CHAPTER XIII

 

(B)
TEUTONIC CONQUEST OF BRITAIN

450-477

 

According to Bede, who wrote his Ecclesiastical History about A.D. 731, the Teutonic invasions of Britain began during the joint reign of Marcian and Valentinian III, that is, between the years A.D. 450 and 455. Bede states that the invaders came from three powerful nations, the Saxons, Angles, and Jutes. From the Jutes came those who occupied Kent and the Isle of Wight with the adjacent coast of Hampshire, from the Saxons came the people of Essex, Sussex, and Wessex, and from the Angles the East Anglians, Middle Anglians, and Northumbrians. He adds that the Saxons were sprung from the Old Saxons and that the Angles came from a district called Angulus, which lay between the territories of the Jutes and those of the Saxons, and was said to be still unoccupied in his day. The leaders of this invasion, according to Bede, were two brothers named Hengest and Horsa, from the former of whom the Kentish royal family claimed to be descended. They were summoned in the first place by the British king Wyrtgeorn (Vortigern) to defend him against the assaults of his northern foes, and received a reward in territory in return for their assistance, but a quarrel soon broke out on account of the alleged failure of the king to redeem his promises. The Saxon Chronicle amplifies Bede's account by mentioning certain battles, the result of which was to transfer Kent to the possession of the invaders. Of these events, however, a far more detailed account is furnished by the Historia Brittonum known by the name of Nennius, which narrates that the British nobles were treacherously massacred by Hengest at a conference, and that the king himself was captured and only released on the cession of certain provinces. After this a heroic resistance was offered to the invaders by the king's son Vortemir.

The Saxon Chronicle is our only authority for two stories dealing with the early history of the kingdoms of Sussex and Wessex. The foundation of the former kingdom is attributed to a certain Aelle, who is said to have landed in 477. This person is mentioned by Bede as the first king who gained a hegemony (imperium) over the neighbouring English kings, though he gives no account of his exploits and assigns no date for his reign. The foundation of the kingdom of Wessex is attri­buted in the Chronicle to a certain Cerdic and his son Cynric, who are said to have arrived about forty years after Hengest and to have eventually established their position after a number of conflicts with the Britons. This story is connected, according to the same authority, with the occupation of the Isle of Wight, which is said to have been given by Cerdic to his nephews Stuf and Wihtgar (530).

It is difficult to determine how much historical fact underlies these stories. Little value can be attached to the dates given in the Saxon Chronicle. It is clear too that we have to deal with an aetiological element, especially in the West Saxon story. Indeed this story is the most suspicious of the three. In making Cynric the son of Cerdic the account is at variance even with the genealogy contained in the Chronicle itself, while it is also very curious that Cerdic, the founder of the kingdom', bears what appears to be a Welsh name.

The only reference to the invasion which can be regarded as in any way contemporary occurs in an anonymous Gaulish Chronicle which comes to an end in the year 452. It is there stated that in 441-2 after many disasters the provinces of Britain were subdued by the Saxons. This date would appear to be irreconcilable with that given by Bede for the arrival of Hengest, and the discrepancy has given rise to a good deal of discussion. Yet another date 428-9 is given by an entry in the Historia Brittonum, the source of which cannot be traced.

The difference in all these cases is of comparatively little moment. Some scholars however hold that the invasions began at a much earlier time, during the latter half of the fourth century. The authority of the passage in the Historia Brittonum which states that the Saxons came in 375 can hardly be upheld. More importance is perhaps to be attached to the fact that part of the coast of Britain is called Litus Saxonicum in the Notitia Dignitatum, which was drawn up in the early years of the fifth century; as this may indicate that Saxon settlements had already taken place in this island. Yet if this be so these Saxons must have been subject to the Roman authorities. Whether they had any connection with Hengest's invasion we have no means of determining.

The first reference to the Saxons occurs in a work dating from the middle of the second century A.D., namely the Geography of Ptolemy, in which they are said to occupy the neck of the Cimbric Peninsula (presumably the region which now forms the province of Schleswig), together with three islands off its west coast. The Angles are mentioned half a century earlier by Tacitus in his Germania (cap. 40). No precise indication is given of their position, but they are clearly represented as a maritime people and the connection in which their name occurs would suggest the Baltic coast, though Tacitus appears to have little knowledge of that region. Such indications as are given are perfectly compatible with the traditions of later times, which place the original home of the Angles on the east coast of Schleswig. To the Jutes we have no reference earlier than the sixth century.

 

The Invaders. Early notices

 

The Saxons no doubt belonged to the same stock as the Old Saxons of the Continent. In the fourth century we find this people settled in the district between the lower Elbe and the Zuiderzee. According to their own traditions they had come thither by sea, and certainly we have no evidence of their presence in that region during the first century, when it was well known to the Romans and frequently traversed by their armies. Whether the Saxons who invaded Britain came from the peninsula or from the region west of the Elbe cannot be decided with certainty, but since they appear to have been practically indistinguishable from the Angles the former alternative seems more probable. In any case they were a maritime people and their piratical ravages are fre­quently mentioned from the close of the third century onwards.

The Angles, on the other hand, are never mentioned by Roman writers from the time of Tacitus until the sixth century, when they were settled in Britain. In their case however we have certain heroic traditions which appear to have been preserved independently both in England and Denmark. These traditions centre round an old king named Wermund and his son Offa, of whom the latter is said to have won great glory in a single combat, the scene of which was fixed by Danish tradition at Rendsburg on the Eider. From him the Mercian royal family traced their descent, while the royal family of Wessex claimed to derive their origin from a certain Wig the son of Freawine, both of whom according to Danish tradition were governors of Schleswig under the kings above mentioned. The date indicated by the genealogies for the reigns of these kings is the latter half of the fourth century.

It is a much debated question whether the Jutes who settled in Britain came from Jutland. In the course of the sixth century we hear twice of a people of this name which came into conflict with the Franks, probably in western Germany, but it is by no means impossible that this also was a case of invasion from Jutland. The same name probably occurs also in connection with the heroic story of Finn and Hengest, with regard to which our information is unfortunately very defective.

We have no satisfactory evidence of any linguistic differences between the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. The divergences of dialect which appear in our earliest records are at first only slight and such as may very well have grown up after the invasion of Britain. The language as a whole must be pronounced homogeneous, its nearest affinities being with the Frisian dialects. Nor with regard to customs or institutions have we any evidence of a distinction between the Angles and Saxons. On the other hand the Kentish laws exhibit a marked divergence from those of the other kingdoms, in respect of the constitution of society, a divergence which can scarcely have come into existence subsequent to the invasion. We have no information with regard to the characteristics of the Hampshire Jutes.

It may he doubted whether all those who took part in the invasion of Britain belonged to the three nationalities which we have been discussing. The attempts made from time to time to trace the presence of settlers belonging to other peoples cannot be pronounced successful, and when Procopius speaks of Frisians inhabiting our island together with Angles and Britons it is possible that he may mean either the Jutes or the Saxons. Yet considering the numbers which must have been required for such an undertaking, it is highly probable that the invading forces were augmented by adventurers from all the regions bordering on the North Sea, perhaps even from districts more remote.

 

Archaeological and Literary evidence

 

With regard to the state of civilization attained by the maritime Teutonic peoples at the period when these settlements took place, a good deal of information is afforded by their earliest cemeteries in this country as well as by others on the opposite side of the North Sea. Amongst the latter perhaps the most important is that of Borgstedterfeld near Rendsburg, where the remains found show much affinity to those discovered in this country. Much is also to be learnt from the great bog-deposits at Thorsbjaerg and Nydam in the east of Schleswig, the latter of which appears to be only slightly earlier than the cemetery of Borgstedterfeld. In a district slightly more remote, at Vi in Fyen, a still larger deposit has been found dating from about the same period. Among the most interesting objects found at Nydam were two clinker-built boats about seventy feet long which are preserved practically complete. A very large number of weapons were also found in this and the other deposits. At Nydam were found 550 spears and 106 swords, a large number of which bear the marks of Roman provincial workshops. At Vi was discovered a complete coat of mail containing twenty thousand rings. Fragments of such articles together with silver and bronze helmets were found at Thorsbjaerg. This deposit also yielded some articles of clothing in a fair state of preservation, among them cloaks, coats, long trousers, and shoes. Taken together the evidence of the various deposits shows conclusively not only that the warriors of the period were armed in a manner not substantially improved upon for many centuries afterwards, but also that certain arts, such as that of weaving, had been carried to a high degree of perfection.

The form of writing employed by the invaders of Britain was the Runic alphabet. The origin of this is uncertain, but it was widely used by the inhabitants of Scandinavian countries from perhaps the fourth century A.D. until late in the Middle Ages. A few early inscriptions have been found in Germany. In England itself we have scarcely any inscriptions dating from the first two centuries after the invasion, but in the seventh century the Mercian kings engraved their coins with it, and about the same time and perhaps down to the end of the eighth century it was used on sepulchral monuments in Northumbria as well as on various small articles found in different parts of the country.

It may be noted that inscriptions in the same alphabet were found in the deposits at Thorsbjaerg and Nydam and also on one of the two magnificent horns found at Gallehus in Jutland, which perhaps represent the highest point reached by the art of the period.

Apart from this archaeological evidence a considerable amount of information may be derived from the remains of ancient heroic poetry. For although these poems, as we have them, date only from the seventh century, there is no reason for supposing that the civilization which they portray differs substantially from that of a century or two earlier. The weapons and other articles which they describe appear to be identical in type with those found in the deposits already mentioned, while the dead are disposed of by cremation, a practice which apparently went out of use during the sixth century. The poems are, essentially court works, and scanty as they unfortunately are, they give us a vivid picture of the court life of the period with which they deal. This period is substantially that of the Conquest of Britain, namely, from the fourth to the sixth century, but it is a remarkable fact that these works never mention Britain itself and very seldom persons of English nationality. The scene of Beowulf is laid in Denmark and Sweden and the characters belong to the same regions, while Waldhere is concerned with the Burgundians and their neighbours. Many of these characters can be traced in German and Norse literature, and the evidence seems to point to the existence of a widespread court poetry which we may perhaps almost describe as international.

 

Religion. Calendar. Agriculture

 

Concerning the religion of the invading peoples little can be stated with certainty. Almost all that we know of Teutonic mythology comes from Icelandic sources, and it is difficult to determine how much of this was peculiar to Iceland and how much was common to Scandinavian countries and to the Teutonic nations in general. The English evidence unfortunately is particularly scanty. However there is little doubt that the chief divinity among the military class was Woden, from whom most of the royal families claimed to be descended. Thunor, presumably the Thunder-God, may be traced in many place-names and Ti (Tiw) is found in glosses as a translation of Mars. All these deities together with Frig have left a record of themselves in the names of the days of the week. The East Saxon royal family claimed descent from a certain Seaxneat who appears to have been a divinity. There is evidence also of belief in elves, valkyries, and other supernatural beings.

On their forms of worship we have scarcely any more information. In Northumbria at any rate there seems to have been a special class of priests who were not allowed to bear arms or to ride except on mares. Sanctuaries are occasionally mentioned, but we do not know whether these were temples or merely sacred groves. A number of religious festivals are also recorded by Bede, especially during the winter months. It may be remarked in passing that the calendar appears to have been of the "modified lunar" type with an intercalary month added from time to time. The year is said to have begun — approximately, we must presume — at the winter solstice. There are some indications however which suggest that at an earlier period it may have begun after the harvest.

There is no doubt that the invading peoples possessed a highly developed system of agriculture long before they landed in this country. Many agricultural implements have been found among the bog-deposits in Schleswig. Representations of ploughing operations occur in rock-carvings in Bohuslan (Sweden) which date from the Bronze Age, at least a thousand years earlier than the invasion. All the ordinary cereals were well known and cultivated, though on the other hand the system of cultivation followed in this country was probably a continuation of that which had previously been employed here. There is no evidence that the heavy plough with eight oxen was used before the invasion by the conquerors. The water-mill doubtless first became known to them in Britain, and for ages afterwards it failed to oust the quern. In horticulture the advance made was very great: the names of practically all vegetables and fruits are derived from Latin, and though the knowledge of a few of their names may have filtered through from the Rhine provinces, there can be little doubt that the great bulk were first acquired in this country.

These considerations bring us to the much disputed question as to what became of the native population. The insignificance of the British element in the English language is scarcely explicable unless the invaders came over in very large numbers. On the other hand, many scholars have probably gone too far in supposing that the native population was entirely blotted out. British records say that they were massacred or enslaved. In later times, i.e. in the eleventh century, the number of slaves in England was not great, but it is not safe to infer that such was the case four or five centuries earlier. Indeed the little evidence that we have on this question suggests that in some districts at least they were a very numerous class. There can be little doubt at all events that the first invasions were essentially of a military character. Attempts have been made to trace in various quarters settlements of kindreds especially from the occurrence of place-names with the suffixes -ingas, -ingatun, etc., but the evidence is at best exceedingly ambiguous. Among the Scandinavians who took part in the great invasion of 866 we can trace various grades of officials (eorlas, holdas, etc.) between whom the land appears to have been partitioned, and although we have no contemporary evidence of what took place in the Saxon invasion, there is a prima facie probability that a similar course was followed. To the present writer it seems incredible that so great an undertaking as the invasion of Britain should have been accomplished without the employ­ment of large and organized forces. The earliest records we possess furnish abundant evidence for the existence of a very numerous military class of different grades, while the provincial government appears to have been vested in the hands of royal officials and not in popular bodies.

From archaeological evidence and from the character of local nomenclature we can to a certain extent determine the area occupied by the invaders at various periods, although very much remains to be done in these fields of investigation. Thus the practice of cremation is found in early cemeteries in the valley of the Trent and in various parts of the Thames valley as far west as Brighthampton in Oxfordshire, but there is scarcely any evidence for its employment further to the west. In local nomenclature again changes may be observed thus the proportion of place-names ending in the suffix -ham to those ending in the suffix -ton decreases as we proceed from east to west. So far as the evidence is at present collected it would seem to indicate that the eastern and south-eastern counties, together with the banks of the large rivers for some distance inland, show an earlier type of Saxon nomenclature than the rest of the country. But it is highly probable that as in the case of the invasion of 866 a much larger area Was ravaged by the invaders than was actually settled by them at first.

The account of the invasion given by Gildas, vague as it unfortunately is, points distinctly to the same conclusion. He speaks in the first place of a time when the country was harried far and wide, when the cities were spoiled, and the inhabitants slain or enslaved. Then came a time when the natives under Ambrosius Aurelianus began to offer a more effective resistance, from which time forward war continued with varying success until the siege of Mons Badonicus. From the time of that siege until the date when Gildas wrote, the Britons had had no serious trouble from the invaders, though faction was rife among themselves. Unfortunately he supplies us with no means of dating the course of events with certainty except that apparently the period of comparative peace had lasted forty-four years. The Cambrian Annals date the siege of Mons Badonicus in 518, but they also date in 549 the death of Maelgwn king of Gwynedd who is mentioned by Gildas as alive. The majority of scholars accept the latter of these dates and reject the former, placing the date of the siege towards the end of the fifth century. The evidence of Gildas then on the whole leads us to conclude that the Conquest of Britain may be divided into two distinct periods. The first occupied some fifty years from the beginning of the invasion, while the second can hardly have begun much before the middle of the sixth century.

 

552-688] The English kingdoms. Growth of Wessex

 

Among the invaders themselves a number of separate kingdoms arose. It is commonly held that these kingdoms were the outcome of separate invasions, but no evidence is forthcoming in favour of such a view, and i t seems at least as likely that several of them arose out of subsequent divisions, as was the case after the Scandinavian invasion in the ninth century. The kingdoms which we find actually existing in our earliest historical records are ten in number: (1) Kent, (2) Sussex, (3) Essex, (4) Wessex, (5) East Anglia, (6) Mercia, (7) Hwicce, (8) Deira, (9) Bernicia, (10) Isle of Wight. There are traces also of a kingdom in the district between Mercia, Middle Anglia, East Anglia, and Essex —perhaps Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire—while from Lindsey we have what appears to be the genealogy of a royal family. There is no clear evidence that Middlesex and Surrey were separate kingdoms at any time, though (if certain disputed charters are genuine) the latter was under a ruler who styled himself subregulus in the latter part of the seventh century. The balance of probability is in favour of the view that both these provinces originally formed part of Essex.

We have already mentioned that little value is to be attached to the dates given for the foundation and early progress of the kingdom of Wessex. They are apparently quite incompatible with the testimony of Gildas. Moreover that part of the story which relates to the Isle of Wight is difficult to reconcile with Bede's account, since it altogether ignores the existence of Jutish settlements in this quarter. According to Bede the Isle of Wight retained a dynasty of its own until the time of Ceadwalla (685-688), by whom it was mercilessly ravaged. The Chronicle states, as we have seen, that the island was given by Cerdic to his nephews Stuf and Wihtgar and barely mentions the devastations of Caedwalla. Further, according to Bede, the greater part of the coast of Hampshire was occupied by Jutes. These likewise are ignored by the Chronicle, which seems to imply that the West Saxon invasion started from this quarter. In view of these difficulties some scholars have been inclined to suspect that the annals dealing with the early part of the West Saxon invasion are entirely of a fictitious character, and that the West Saxon invaders really spread from a different quarter, perhaps the valley of the Thames, and at a later date than that assigned by the Chronicle. It is to be hoped that in the future archaeological research may throw light on this difficult question.

 

The Hwicce. Mercia. Deira [571-615

 

The difficulties presented by Gildas cease when we reach the middle of the sixth century. From this time onwards, although we have no means of checking them, the entries in the Chronicle may be records of real events which took place approximately at the times assigned to them. The first entry of this series is the account of a fight between Cynric and the Britons at Salisbury in 552: the second records a similar conflict in 556 at Beranburg, which has been identified with Barbury Camp near Swindon. In 560 Cynric is said to have been succeeded by Ceawlin, who in 568 had a successful encounter with Aethelberht king of Kent. In 571 another prince apparently West Saxon, by name Cuthwulf, fought with the Britons at a place called Bedcanford, commonly supposed to be Bedford, and gained possession of Bensington, Aylesbury, Eynsham, and perhaps Lenborough. If we are to trust this entry it would seem to mean that Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire were conquered by the West Saxons at this time. In 577 Ceawlin and another West Saxon prince named Cuthwine are said to have fought against the Britons at Deorham (identified with Dyrham in Gloucestershire) and gained possession of Bath, Cirencester, and Gloucester.

Ceawlin is the first West Saxon king mentioned by Bede. The same historian states that he was the first English king after Aelle, whose overlordship (imperium) was recognised by the other kings. We need not doubt that the records of his victories have some solid foundation. About a century later we find in the basins of the Severn and Avon, in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and part of Warwickshire, the kingdom of the Hwicce with a dynasty of its own which lasted down to the time of Offa. This kingdom can hardly have come into existence before Ceawlin's successful westward movements, but we have no information as to its origin, as to the date when it was separated from Wessex, or whether its dynasty was a branch of the West Saxon royal family.

In the basin of the Trent both north and south of that river lay the Mercian kingdom, the name of which seems to imply that it grew out of frontier settlements. Its royal family traced its descent from the ancient kings of Angel, but we do not know whether the kingdom itself was due to an independent movement, or whether like that of the Hwicce it was an offshoot from one or more eastern kingdoms. The first king of whom we have any definite record is a certain Cearl who flourished early in the seventh century and married his daughter to the Northumbrian king Edwin. Eventually the kingdom of Mercia absorbed all its immediate neighbours, Lindsey, Middle Anglia, and Hwicce, together with parts of Essex and Wessex. In the sixth century however it was probably of comparatively limited extent. Chester appears to have remained in possession of the Britons until about the year 615, and it is scarcely probable that the western districts of the Wreocensaete and Magasaete, corresponding to the present counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire, were occupied until still later.

To the north of the Humber we find the two kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia. Concerning the former, which appears to have coincided with the eastern half of Yorkshire, we have very little information. The first king of whom we have record is a certain Aelle who was reigning at the time when Gregory met with English slave-boys in Rome (585-8). The date given for his reign by the Chronicle (560-588) cannot be trusted. Eventually this kingdom came into the hands of the Bernician king Aethelfrith, who married Aelle's daughter. If we are to believe the account given in the Historia Brittonum that Aethelfrith reigned twelve years in Deira, the date of this event would be about 605. The western part of Yorkshire appears to have been known as Elmet and to have remained in British hands until the reign of Edwin.

 

547-605] Bernicia and Aethelfrith. Aethelberht of Kent 

 

The northernmost kingdom founded by the invaders in Britain was that of Bernicia. Ida, from whom subsequent kings claimed descent, is said to have begun to reign in 547. After his death, which took place twelve years later, he was followed by several of his sons in swift succession. Of these the most important was Theodric, who according to ancient chronological computation reigned from about 572 to about 579. The Historia Brittonum relates that he fought against several British kings, amongst them Urien who appears in ancient Welsh poetry, and Rhydderch Hen, who as we know from Adamnan's Life of St Columba reigned at Dumbarton. On one occasion the Britons are said to have besieged Theodric in Lindisfarne. The chief centre of the Bernician kingdom appears to have been Bamborough, but we have no occasion to suppose that it attained to any great dimensions or significance until the reign of Aethelfrith. He seems to have become king in 592-3, and is said by Bede to have harried the Britons more than any other English prince. The chief exploits for which his name has been handed down are firstly his encounter with the Dalriadic king Aedan who came against him probably in support of the Britons in 603, and secondly the massacre of the Britons at Chester about twelve years later. The former of these events is said to have occurred at a-place called Degsastan. If this place is rightly identified with Dawston in Liddesdale, it would seem that the Bernician kingdom had already extended some distance into what is now Scotland; but its northern and western boundaries must be regarded as very uncertain at the time of which we are speaking.

Aethelfrith's successes had the effect of placing the later Northumbrian kings in a position of superiority to their southern rivals. At the close of the sixth century however the chief English ruler was Aethelberht of Kent, whose authority was recognised by all the more southern kings. The precise nature of the imperium which he exercised has been much disputed, but we can hardly doubt that it implied some such recogni­tion of personal overlordship as we find in later times, for example, in the relations of the northern princes with Edward the Elder. His power too was sufficient to guarantee a safe conduct to foreign missionaries as far as the western border of Wessex. He married the Christian Berhta (Bertha), daughter of the Frankish prince Chariberht, and shortly before the close of the century was confronted by Augustine who had been sent to Britain by Gregory the Great. This event had far-reaching consequences in the history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, which will be described in a later chapter of this work.