as we have no mention made of her; but it was otherwise with his third consort, who was debauched by his own nephew, Mordred. This produced a rebellion, in which the king and his traitorous kinsman, meeting in battle, slew each other. Questions for Examination. 1. Who ravaged England with impunity? 2. To whom did the Britons have recourse for assistance in their distress? 3. What character is given of the Saxons? 4. Where did the Saxons land? 5. Whom did the Saxons defeat? 6. By what means can the easy conquest of the Britons be accounted for? 7. How did the Saxons obtain possession of the province of Kent? 8. Were not many of the British nobility treacherously slaughtered? 9. Who laid the foundation of the South Saxon kingdom? 10. Who gave rise to the name of the West Saxons? 11. 12. What celebrated British prince opposed the Saxons with success? 13. What extraordinary feat of valour is related of him? 14. What domestic troubles afflicted Arthur in the decline of life? "While undecided yet which part should fall, 3. Bishoprick, s. a part of the kingdom, un- 4. Expul'sion, s. the act of being driven out.] Hep'tarchy, s. the united government of seven kingdoms. 7. Mis'sionaries, s. persons sent to promulgate religion. 8. Pa'gans, s. Heathens. 9. Fraternity, s. society, association, brotherhood. 11. Coer'cive, a. causing restraint. 1. (A.D. 575.) In the mean time, while the Saxons were thus gaining ground in the West, their countrymen were not less tive in the other parts of the island. Adventurers still continuing to pour over from Germany, one body of them, under the command of Uffa, seized upon the counties of Cambridge, Suffolk, and Norfolk. and gave their commander the title of King of the East Angies', which was the fourth Saxon kingdom founded in Britain. 2. Another body of these adventurers formed a kingdom under the title of East Saxony, or Essex, comprehending Essex, Middlesex, and part of Hertfordshire. This kingdom, which was dismembered from that of Kent, formed the fifth Saxon principality founded in Britain. 3. The kingdom of Mercia was the sixth which was established by these fierce invaders, comprehending all the middle counties, from the banks of the Severn to the frontiers of the two last-named kingdoms. The seventh and last kingdom which they obtained was that of Northumberland 2, one of the most powerful and extensive of them all. This was formed from the union of two smaller Saxon kingdoms, the one called Berni'cia, containing the present county of Northumberland, and the bishoprick of Durham; the subjects of the other, called Dei'ri, extending themselves over Lancashire and Yorkshire. 4. These kingdoms were united in the person of Ethelred, king of Northumberland, by the expulsion of Edwin, his brother-in-law, from the kingdom of the Deiri, and the seizure of his dominions. In this manner, the natives being overpowered, or entirely expelled, seven kingdoms were established in Britain, which have since been well known by the name of the Saxon Heptarchy. 5. The Saxons being thus well established in all the desirable parts of the island, and having no longer the Britons to contend with, began to quarrel among themselves. A country divided into a number of petty independent principalities, must ever be subject to contention, as jealousy and ambition have more frequent incentives to operate. 6. After a series, therefore, of battles, treasons, and stratagems, all their petty principalities fell under the power of Egbert, king of Wessex, whose merits deserved dominion, and whose prudence secured his conquests. By him all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy were united under one common jurisdiction; but, to give splendour to his authority, a general council of the clergy and laity was summoned at Winchester, where he was solemnly crowned king of England, by which name the united kingdom was thenceforward called. 7. Thus, about four hundred years after the first arrival of the Saxons in Britain, all the petty settlements were united into one ⚫ Comprehending Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and the Isle of Ely. 2 Northumberland, that is, the land north of the river Humber, contained six counties in England, and as far as the Frith of Edinburgh in Scotland.(See Map.) great state, and nothing offered but prospects of peace, security, and increasing refinement. It was about this period that St. Gregory undertook to send missionaries among the Saxons, to convert them to Christianity. 8. It is said, that, before his elevation to the papal chair, he chanced one day to pass through the slave-market at Rome, and perceiving some children of great beauty, who were set up for sale, he inquired about their country, and finding they were English Pagans, he is said to have cried out in the Latin language, Non Angli, sed Angeli, forent, si essent Christiani. They would not be English, but angels, had they been Christians 3." 9. From that time he was struck with an ardent desire to convert that unenlightened nation, and ordered a monk, named Augusʼtine, and others of the same fraternity, to undertake the mission into Britain. This pious monk, upon his first landing in the Isle of Thanet, sent one of his interpreters to Eth'elbert, the Kentish king, declaring he was come from Rome, with offers of eternal salvation. 10. The king immediately ordered them to be furnished with all necessaries, and even visited them, though without declaring himself as yet in their favour. Augus'tine, encouraged by this favourable reception, and now seeing a prospect of success, proceeded with redoubled zeal to preach the Gospel. 11. The king openly espoused the Christian religion while his example wrought so successfully on his subjects, that numbers of them came voluntarily to be baptised, the missionary loudly declaring against any coercive means towards their conversion. In this manner the other kingdoms, one after the other, embraced the faith and England was soon as famous for its superstition, as it had once been for its averseness to Christianity. 3 Inquiring further the name of their province, he was answered Deiri, (a district of Northumberland;) “Deiri,” replied St. Gregory," that is good; they are called to the mercy of God from his anger; that is, DE IRA." "But how is the king of that province named?" He was told, ELLA, or ALLA; "Alleluiah!" cried he, "we must endeavour that the praises of God be sung in this country."-Hume. Bede gives a particular account of their conversion in lib. 1, 2, 3, and 4, of his History. According to him, and other authentic historians the kingdoms of the Heptarchy embraced Christianity in about the following order The Saxon ecclesiastics were in general men of great piety and learning; the most celebrated among them was the venerable Bede, born A.D. 673, died A.D. 735, whose history of the Anglo-Saxon Church was so highly valued by King Alfred, that he translated it into Saxon. Questions for Examination. 1 Whence did adventurers continue to come? What counties formed the fourth kingdom of the Saxons? 2. What counties did the fifth Saxon kingdom comprehend? 3. What was the sixth kingdom called? What was the seventh kingdom? and how was it formed? 4. What was the general name given to the seven Saxon kingdoms? 5. What happened to the Saxons after the Britons were subdued? 6. Under whose power did all the petty principalities fall? 7. At about what period were missionaries sent among the Saxons, to convert them to Christianity? 8. What was the circumstance which occasioned the sending missionaries into Britain? 10. How were the missionaries received by the Saxon monarch? 11. What effect was produced by the king's example? THE INVASION OF THE DANES. FROM THE END OF THE HEPTARCHY TO THE REIGN OF WILLIAM "The war-whoop echoes still our island round, Like wave on wave, the robbers crowd to land. 1. Unanim'ity, s. agreement in opinion. 2. Fero'city, s. savageness, fierceness, wildness. 3. Indiscrim'inately, ad. without distinction. 1. (A.D. 832.) PEACE and unanimity had been scarcely established in England, when a mighty swarm of those nations called Danes 1 and Northmen, subsequently corrupted into Normen or Normans, who had possessed the country bordering on the Baltic2, began to The Danes were inhabitants of Denmark, a kingdom in the north of Europe. The Baltic is an inland sea in the north of Europe. |