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 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
 PREFACE.
The history of the English, from their arrival in Britain to his own
times, has been written by Bede, a man of singular learning and
modesty, in a clear and captivating style. After him you will not, in
my opinion, easily find any person who has attempted to compose in
Latin the history of this people. Let others declare whether their
researches in this respect have been, or are likely to be, more
fortunate; my own labour, though diligent in the extreme, has, down
to this period, been without its reward. There, are, indeed, some
notices of antiquity, written in the vernacular tongue after the
12
manner of a chronicle, and arranged according to the years of our
Lord. By means of these alone, the times succeeding this man have
13
been rescued from oblivion: for of Elward, a noble and illustrious
man, who attempted to arrange these chronicles in Latin, and whose
intention I could applaud if his language did not disgust me, it is
better to be silent. Nor has it escaped my knowledge, that there is
14
also a work of my Lord Eadmer, written with a chastened elegance
of style, in which, beginning from King Edgar, he has but hastily
glanced at the times down to William the First: and thence, taking a
freer range, gives a narrative, copious, and of great utility to the
15
studious, until the death of Archbishop Ralph. Thus from the time
of Bede there is a period of two hundred and twenty-three years left
unnoticed in his history; so that the regular series of time,
unsupported by a connected relation, halts in the middle. This
circumstance has induced me, as well out of love to my country, as
respect for the authority of those who have enjoined on me the
undertaking, to fill up the chasm, and to season the crude materials
with Roman art. And that the work may proceed with greater
regularity, I shall cull somewhat from Bede, whom I must often
quote, glancing at a few facts, but omitting more.
The First Book, therefore, contains a succinct account of the
English, from the time of their descent on Britain, till that of King
Egbert, who, after the different Princes had fallen by various ways,
gained the monarchy of almost the whole island.
But as among the English arose four powerful kingdoms, that is
to say, of Kent, of the West Saxons, of the Northumbrians, and of
the Mercians, of which I purpose severally to treat if I have leisure; I
shall begin with that which attained the earliest to maturity, and was
also the first to decay. This I shall do more clearly, if I place the
kingdoms of the East Angles, and of the East Saxons, after the
others, as little meriting either my labours, or the regard of posterity.
The Second Book will contain the chronological series of the
Kings to the coming of the Normans.
The three following Books will be employed upon the history of
three successive kings, with the addition of whatever, in their times,
happened elsewhere, which, from its celebrity, may demand a more
particular notice. This, then, is what I purpose, if the Divine favour
shall smile on my undertaking, and carry me safely by those rocks of
rugged diction, on which Elward, in his search after sounding and
far-fetched phrases, so unhappily suffered shipwreck. “Should any
16
one, however,” to use the poet’s expression, “peruse this work with
sensible delight,” I deem it necessary to acquaint him, that I vouch
nothing for the truth of long past transactions, but the consonance
of the time; the veracity of the relation must rest with its authors.
Whatever I have recorded of later times, I have either myself seen,
or heard from credible authority. However, in either part, I pay but
little respect to the judgment of my contemporaries: trusting that I
shall gain with posterity, when love and hatred shall be no more, if
not a reputation for eloquence, at least credit for diligence.
 THE HISTORY
OF THE

KINGS OF ENGLAND.
 BOOK I.
CHAP. I.
Of the arrival of the Angles, and of the Kings of
Kent. [A.D. 449.]
In the year of the incarnation of our Lord 449, Angles and
Saxons first came into Britain; and although the cause of their arrival
is universally known, it may not be improper here to subjoin it: and,
that the design of my work may be the more manifest, to begin even
from an earlier period. That Britain, compelled by Julius Cæsar to
submit to the Roman power, was held in high estimation by that
people, may be collected from their history, and be seen also in the
ruins of their ancient buildings. Even their emperors, sovereigns of
almost all the world, eagerly embraced opportunities of sailing
hither, and of spending their days here. Finally, Severus and
Constantius, two of their greatest princes, died upon the island, and
were there interred with the utmost pomp. The former, to defend
this province from the incursions of the barbarians, built his
celebrated and well-known wall from sea to sea. The latter, a man,
as they report, of courteous manners, left Constantine, his son by
17
Helena, a tender of cattle, a youth of great promise, his heir.
Constantine, greeted emperor by the army, led away, in an
expedition destined to the continent, a numerous force of British
soldiers; by whose exertions, the war succeeding to his wishes, he
gained in a short time the summit of power. For these veterans,
when their toil was over, he founded a colony on the western coast
of Gaul, where, to this day, their descendants, somewhat degenerate
in language and manners from our own Britons, remain with
18
wonderful increase.
In succeeding times, in this island, Maximus, a man well-fitted
for command, had he not aspired to power in defiance of his oath,
assumed the purple, as though compelled by the army, and
preparing immediately to pass over into Gaul, he despoiled the
province of almost all its military force. Not long after also, one
Constantine, who had been elected emperor on account of his name,
drained its whole remaining warlike strength; but both being slain,
the one by Theodosius, the other by Honorius, they became
examples of the instability of human greatness. Of the forces which
had followed them, part shared the fate of their leaders; the rest,
after their defeat, fled to the continental Britons. Thus when the
tyrants had left none but half-savages in the country, and, in the
towns, those only who were given up to luxury, Britain, despoiled of
19
the support of its youthful population, and bereft of every useful
art, was for a long time exposed to the ambition of neighbouring
nations.
For immediately, by an excursion of the Scots and Picts,
20
numbers of the people were slain, villages burnt, towns destroyed,
and everything laid waste by fire and sword. Part of the harassed
islanders, who thought anything more advisable than contending in
battle, fled for safety to the mountains; others, burying their
treasures in the earth, many of which are dug up in our own times,
proceeded to Rome to ask assistance. The Romans, touched with
pity, and deeming it above all things important to yield succour to
their oppressed allies, twice lent their aid, and defeated the enemy.
But at length, wearied with the distant voyage, they declined
returning in future; bidding them rather themselves not degenerate
from the martial energy of their ancestors, but learn to defend their
country with spirit, and with arms. They accompanied their advice
with the plan of a wall, to be built for their defence; the mode of
keeping watch on the ramparts; of sallying out against the enemy,
should it be necessary, together with other duties of military
discipline. After giving these admonitions, they departed,
accompanied by the tears of the miserable inhabitants; and Fortune,
smiling on their departure, restored them to their friends and
country. The Scots, learning the improbability of their return,
immediately began to make fresh and more frequent irruptions
against the Britons; to level their wall, to kill the few opponents they
met with, and to carry off considerable booty; while such as escaped
fled to the royal residence, imploring the protection of their
sovereign.
[A.D. 447.] REIGN OF VORTIGERN.

At this time Vortigern was King of Britain; a man calculated

neither for the field nor the council, but wholly given up to the lusts
of the flesh, the slave of every vice: a character of insatiable avarice,
ungovernable pride, and polluted by his lusts. To complete the
picture, as we read in the History of the Britons, he had defiled his
own daughter, who was lured to the participation of such a crime by
the hope of sharing his kingdom, and she had borne him a son.
Regardless of his treasures at this dreadful juncture, and wasting the
resources of the kingdom in riotous living, he was awake only to the
blandishments of abandoned women. Roused at length, however, by
the clamours of the people, he summoned a council, to take the
sense of his nobility on the state of public affairs. To be brief, it was
unanimously resolved to invite over from Germany the Angles and
Saxons, nations powerful in arms, but of a roving life. It was
conceived that this would be a double advantage: for it was thought
that, by their skill in war, these people would easily subdue their
enemies; and, as they hitherto had no certain habitation, would
gladly accept even an unproductive soil, provided it afforded them a
stationary residence. Moreover, that they could not be suspected of
ever entertaining a design against the country, since the
remembrance of this kindness would soften their native ferocity. This
counsel was adopted, and ambassadors, men of rank, and worthy to
represent the country, were sent into Germany.
The Germans, hearing that voluntarily offered, which they had
long anxiously desired, readily obeyed the invitation; their joy
quickening their haste. Bidding adieu, therefore, to their native fields
and the ties of kindred, they spread their sails to Fortune, and, with
a favouring breeze, arrived in Britain in three of those long vessels
21
which they call “ceols.” At this and other times came over a mixed
multitude from three of the German nations; that is to say, the
Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. For almost all the country lying to the
north of the British ocean, though divided into many provinces, is
justly denominated Germany, from its germinating so many men.
And as the pruner cuts off the more luxuriant branches of the tree to
impart a livelier vigour to the remainder, so the inhabitants of this
country assist their common parent by the expulsion of a part of
their members, lest she should perish by giving sustenance to too
numerous an offspring; but in order to obviate discontent, they cast
lots who shall be compelled to migrate. Hence the men of this
country have made a virtue of necessity, and, when driven from their
native soil, they have gained foreign settlements by force of arms.
The Vandals, for instance, who formerly over-ran Africa; the Goths,
who made themselves masters of Spain; the Lombards, who, even
at the present time, are settled in Italy; and the Normans, who have
given their own name to that part of Gaul which they subdued. From
Germany, then, there first came into Britain, an inconsiderable
number indeed, but well able to make up for their paucity by their
courage. These were under the conduct of Hengist and Horsa, two
brothers of suitable disposition, and of noble race in their own
country. They were great-grandsons of the celebrated Woden, from
whom almost all the royal families of these barbarous nations
deduce their origin; and to whom the nations of the Angles, fondly
deifying him, have consecrated by immemorial superstition the
fourth day of the week, as they have the sixth to his wife Frea. Bede
has related in what particular parts of Britain, the Angles, Saxons,
 22
and Jutes, fixed their habitations: my design, however, is not to
dilate, though there may be abundance of materials for the purpose,
but to touch only on what is necessary.
[A.D. 449.] ARRIVAL OF HENGIST.

The Angles were eagerly met on all sides upon their arrival: from
the king they received thanks, from the people expressions of good-
will. Faith was plighted on either side, and the Isle of Thanet
appropriated for their residence. It was agreed, moreover, that they
should exert their prowess in arms for the service of the country;
and, in return, receive a suitable reward from the people for whose
safety they underwent such painful labours. Ere long, the Scots
advanced, as usual, secure, as they supposed, of a great booty with
very little difficulty. However, the Angles assailed them, and scarcely
had they engaged, before they were put to flight, whilst the cavalry
pursued and destroyed the fugitives. Contests of this kind were
frequent, and victory constantly siding with the Angles, as is
customary in human affairs, while success inflamed the courage of
one party, and dread increased the cowardice of the other, the Scots
in the end avoided nothing so cautiously as an engagement with
them.
In the meantime, Hengist, not less keen in perception than
ardent in the field, with consent of Vortigern, sends back some of his
followers to his own country, with the secret purpose, however, of
representing the indolence of the king and people, the opulence of
the island, and the prospect of advantage to new adventurers.
Having executed their commission adroitly, in a short time they
return with sixteen ships, bringing with them the daughter of
Hengist; a maiden, as we have heard, who might justly be called the
master-piece of nature and the admiration of mankind. At an
entertainment, provided for them on their return, Hengist
commanded his daughter to assume the office of cup-bearer, that
she might gratify the eyes of the king as he sat at table. Nor was the
design unsuccessful: for he, ever eager after female beauty, deeply
smitten with the gracefulness of her form and the elegance of her
motion, instantly conceived a vehement desire for the possession of
her person, and immediately proposed marriage to her father;
urging him to a measure to which he was already well inclined.
Hengist, at first, kept up the artifice by a refusal; stating, that so
humble a connection was unworthy of a king: but, at last, appearing
to consent with reluctance, he gave way to his importunities, and
accepted, as a reward, the whole of Kent, where all justice had long
since declined under the administration of its Gourong (or Viceroy),
who, like the other princes of the island, was subject to the
monarchy of Vortigern. Not satisfied with this liberality, but abusing
the imprudence of the king, the barbarian persuaded him to send for
his son and brother, men of warlike talents, from Germany,
pretending, that he would defend the province on the east, while
they might curb the Scots on the northern frontier. The king
assenting, they sailed round Britain, and arriving at the Orkney Isles,
the inhabitants of which they involved in the same calamity with the
Picts and Scots, at this and after times, they finally settled in the
northern part of the island, now called Northumbria. Still no one
there assumed the royal title or insignia till the time of Ida, from
whom sprang the regal line of the Northumbrians; but of this
hereafter. We will now return to the present subject.
[A.D. 520.] MASSACRE OF THE BRITISH NOBLES.

Vortimer, the son of Vortigern, thinking it unnecessary longer to

dissemble that he saw himself and his Britons circumvented by the
craft of the Angles, turned his thoughts to their expulsion, and
stimulated his father to the same attempt. At his suggestion, the
truce was broken seven years after their arrival; and during the
23
ensuing twenty, they frequently fought partial battles, and, as the
chronicle relates, four general actions. From the first conflict they
parted on equal terms: one party lamenting the loss of Horsa, the
brother of Hengist; the other, that of Katigis, another of Vortigern’s
sons. The Angles, having the advantage in all the succeeding
encounters, peace was concluded; Vortimer, who had been the
instigator of the war, and differed far from the indolence of his
father, perished prematurely, or he would have governed the
kingdom in a noble manner, had God permitted. When he died, the
British strength decayed, and all hope fled from them; and they
would soon have perished altogether, had not Ambrosius, the sole
survivor of the Romans, who became monarch after Vortigern,
quelled the presumptuous barbarians by the powerful aid of warlike
Arthur. It is of this Arthur that the Britons fondly tell so many fables,
even to the present day; a man worthy to be celebrated, not by idle
fictions, but by authentic history. He long upheld the sinking state,
and roused the broken spirit of his countrymen to war. Finally, at the
24
siege of Mount Badon, relying on an image of the Virgin, which he
had affixed to his armour, he engaged nine hundred of the enemy,
single-handed, and dispersed them with incredible slaughter. On the
other side, the Angles, after various revolutions of fortune, filled up
their thinned battalions with fresh supplies of their countrymen;
rushed with greater courage to the conflict, and extended
themselves by degrees, as the natives retreated, over the whole
island: for the counsels of God, in whose hand is every change of
empire, did not oppose their career. But this was effected in process
of time; for while Vortigern lived, no new attempt was made against
them. About this time, Hengist, from that bad quality of the human
heart, which grasps after more in proportion to what it already
possesses, by a preconcerted piece of deception, invited his son-in-
law, with three hundred of his followers, to an entertainment; and
when, by more than usual compotations, he had excited them to
clamour, he began, purposely, to taunt them severally, with sarcastic
raillery: this had the desired effect, of making them first quarrel, and
then come to blows. Thus the Britons were basely murdered to a
man, and breathed their last amid their cups. The king himself,
made captive, purchased his liberty at the price of three provinces.
After this, Hengist died, in the thirty-ninth year after his arrival; he
was a man, who urging his success not less by artifice than courage,
and giving free scope to his natural ferocity, preferred effecting his
purpose rather by cruelty than by kindness. He left a son named
25
Eisc; who, more intent on defending, than enlarging, his
dominions, never exceeded the paternal bounds. At the expiration of
twenty-four years, he had for his successors, his son Otha, and
Otha’s son, Ermenric, who, in their manners, resembled him, rather
than their grandfather and great grandfather. To the times of both,
the Chronicles assign fifty-three years; but whether they reigned
singly, or together, does not appear.
After them Ethelbert, the son of Ermenric, reigned fifty-three
years according to the Chronicle; but fifty-six according to Bede. The
reader must determine how this difference is to be accounted for; as
I think it sufficient to have apprized him of it, I shall let the matter
26
rest. In the infancy of his reign, he was such an object of
contempt to the neighbouring kings, that, defeated in two battles,
he could scarcely defend his frontier; afterwards, however, when to
his riper years he had added a more perfect knowledge of war, he
quickly, by successive victories, subjugated every kingdom of the
Angles, with the exception of the Northumbrians. And, in order to
obtain foreign connections, he entered into affinity with the king of
France, by marrying his daughter Bertha. And now by this
connection with the Franks, the nation, hitherto savage and wedded
to its own customs, began daily to divest itself of its rustic
propensities and incline to gentler manners. To this was added the
very exemplary life of bishop Luidhard, who had come over with the
queen, by which, though silently, he allured the king to the
knowledge of Christ our Lord. Hence it arose, that his mind, already
softened, easily yielded to the preaching of the blessed Augustine;
and he was the first of all his race who renounced the errors of
paganism, that he might obscure, by the glory of his faith, those
whom he surpassed in power. This, indeed, is spotless nobility; this,
exalted virtue; to excel in worth those whom you exceed in rank.
Besides, extending his care to posterity, he enacted laws, in his
native tongue, in which he appointed rewards for the meritorious,
and opposed severer restraints to the abandoned, leaving nothing
27
doubtful for the future.
[A.D. 618.] EDBALD.

Ethelbert died in the twenty-first year after he had embraced the

Christian faith, leaving the diadem to his son Edbald. As soon as he
was freed from the restraints of paternal awe, he rejected
28
Christianity, and overcame the virtue of his stepmother. But the
severity of the divine mercy opposed a barrier to his utter
destruction: for the princes, whom his father had subjugated,
immediately rebelled, he lost a part of his dominions, and was
perpetually haunted by an evil spirit, whereby he paid the penalty of
his unbelief. Laurentius, the successor of Augustine, was offended at
these transactions, and after having sent away his companions, was
meditating his own departure from the country, but having received
29
chastisement from God, he was induced to change his resolution.
The king conversing with him on the subject, and finding his
assertions confirmed by his stripes, became easily converted,
accepted the grace of Christianity, and broke off his incestuous
intercourse. But, that posterity might be impressed with the singular
punishment due to apostacy, it was with difficulty he could maintain
his hereditary dominions, much less rival the eminence of his father.
For the remainder of his life, his faith was sound, and he did nothing
to sully his reputation. The monastery also, which his father had
30
founded without the walls of Canterbury, he ennobled with large
estates, and sumptuous presents. The praises and merits of both
these men ought ever to be proclaimed, and had in honour by the
English; because they allowed the Christian faith to acquire strength,
in England, by patient listening and willingness to believe. Who can
contemplate, without satisfaction, the just and amiable answer
which Bede makes king Ethelbert to have given to the first preaching
of Augustine? “That he could not, thus early, embrace a new
doctrine and leave the accustomed worship of his country; but that,
nevertheless, persons who had undertaken so long a journey for the
purpose of kindly communicating to the Angles what they deemed
an inestimable benefit, far from meeting with ill-treatment, ought
rather to be allowed full liberty to preach, and also to receive the
amplest maintenance.” He fully kept his promise; and at length the
truth of Christianity becoming apparent by degrees, himself and all
his subjects were admitted into the number of the faithful. And what
did the other? Though led away at first, more by the lusts of the
flesh than perverseness of heart, yet he paid respect to the virtuous
conduct of the prelates, although he neglected their faith; and lastly,
as I have related, was easily converted through the sufferings of
Laurentius, and became of infinite service to the propagation of
Christianity. Both, then, were laudable: both deserved high
encomiums; for the good work, so nobly begun by the one, was as
kindly fostered by the other.
To him, after a reign of twenty-four years, succeeded Erconbert,
his son, by Emma, daughter of the king of France. He reigned an
equal number of years with his father, but under happier auspices;
alike remarkable for piety towards God, and love to his country. For
his grandfather, and father, indeed, adopted our faith, but neglected
to destroy their idols; whilst he, thinking it derogatory to his royal
zeal not to take the readiest mode of annihilating openly what they
only secretly condemned, levelled every temple of their gods to the
ground, that not a trace of their paganism might be handed down to
posterity. This was nobly done: for the mass of the people would be
reminded of their superstition, so long as they could see the altars of
their deities. In order, also, that he might teach his subjects, who
were too much given to sensual indulgence, to accustom themselves
to temperance, he enjoined the solemn fast of Lent to be observed
throughout his dominions. This was an extraordinary act for the king
to attempt in those times: but he was a man whom no
blandishments of luxury could enervate; no anxiety for power seduce
from the worship of God. Wherefore he was protected by the favour
of the Almighty; every thing, at home and abroad, succeeded to his
wishes, and he grew old in uninterrupted tranquillity. His daughter
Ercongotha, a child worthy of such a parent, and emulating her
father in virtuous qualities, became a shining light in the monastery
31
of Kalas in Gaul.
[A.D. 664–686.] EGBERT—LOTHERE.

His son Egbert, retaining his father’s throne for nine years, did
nothing memorable in so short a reign; unless indeed it be ascribed
32
to the glory of this period, that Theodore the archbishop, and
Adrian the abbat, two consummate scholars, came into England in
his reign. Were not the subject already trite, I should willingly record
what light they shed upon the Britons; how on one side the Greeks,
and on the other the Latins, emulously contributed their knowledge
to the public stock, and made this island, once the nurse of tyrants,
the constant residence of philosophy: but this and every other merit
of the times of Egbert is clouded by his horrid crime, of either
destroying, or permitting to be destroyed, Elbert and Egelbright, his
33
nephews.
To Egbert succeeded his brother Lothere, who began his reign
with unpropitious omens. For he was harassed during eleven years
by Edric, the son of Egbert, and engaged in many civil conflicts
which terminated with various success, until he was ultimately
pierced through the body with a dart, and died while they were
applying remedies to the wound. Some say, that both the brothers
perished by a premature death as a just return for their cruelty;
because Egbert, as I have related, murdered the innocent children of
his uncle; and Lothere ridiculed the notion of holding them up as
martyrs: although the former had lamented the action, and had
granted a part of the Isle of Thanet to the mother of his nephews,
for the purpose of building a monastery.
Nor did Edric long boast the prosperous state of his government;
for within two years he was despoiled both of kingdom and of life,
and left his country to be torn in pieces by its enemies. Immediately
Cædwalla, with his brother Mull, in other respects a good and able
man, but breathing an inextinguishable hatred against the people of
Kent, made vigorous attempts upon the province; supposing it must
easily surrender to his views, as it had lately been in the enjoyment
of long continued peace, but at that time was torn with intestine
war. He found, however, the inhabitants by no means unprepared or
void of courage, as he had expected. For, after many losses
sustained in the towns and villages, at length they rushed with spirit
to the conflict. They gained the victory in the contest, and having
put Cædwalla to flight, drove his brother Mull into a little cottage,
which they set on fire. Thus, wanting courage to sally out against
the enemy, the fire gained uncontrolled power, and he perished in
the flames. Nevertheless Cædwalla ceased not his efforts, nor retired
from the province; but consoled himself for his losses by repeatedly
ravaging the district; however, he left the avenging of this injury to
Ina, his successor, as will be related in its place.
[A.D. 774–823.] DOWNFALL OF KENT.

In this desperate state of the affairs of Kent, there was a void of

about six years in the royal succession. In the seventh, Withred, the
son of Egbert, having repressed the malevolence of his countrymen
by his activity, and purchased peace from his enemies by money,
was chosen king by the inhabitants, who entertained great and well-
founded hopes of him. He was an admirable ruler at home, invincible
in war, and a truly pious follower of the Christian faith, for he
extended its power to the utmost. And, to complete his felicity, after
a reign of thirty-three years, he died in extreme old age, which men
generally reckon to be their greatest happiness, leaving his three
children his heirs. These were Egbert, Ethelbert, and Alric, and they
reigned twenty-three, eleven, and thirty-four years successively,
without deviation from the excellent example and institutions of their
father, except that Ethelbert, by the casual burning of Canterbury,
and Alric, by an unsuccessful battle with the Mercians, considerably
obscured the glory of their reigns. So it is that, if any thing
disgraceful occurs, it is not concealed; if any thing fortunate, it is not
sufficiently noticed in the Chronicles; whether it be done designedly,
or whether it arise from that bad quality of the human mind, which
makes gratitude for good transient; whereas the recollection of evil
remains for ever. After these men the noble stock of kings began to
wither, the royal blood to flow cold. Then every daring adventurer,
who had acquired riches by his eloquence, or whom faction had
made formidable, aspired to the kingdom, and disgraced the ensigns
of royalty. Of these, Edbert otherwise called Pren, after having
governed Kent two years, over-rating his power, was taken prisoner
in a war with the Mercians, and loaded with chains. But being set at
liberty by his enemies, though not received by his own subjects, it is
uncertain by what end he perished. Cuthred, heir to the same
faction and calamity, reigned, in name only, eight years. Next
Baldred, a mere abortion of a king, after having for eighteen years
more properly possessed, than governed the kingdom, went into
exile, on his defeat by Egbert, king of the West Saxons. Thus the
kingdom of Kent, which, from the year of our Lord 449, had
continued 375 years, became annexed to another. And since by
following the royal line of the first kingdom which arose among the
Angles, I have elicited a spark, as it were, from the embers of
antiquity, I shall now endeavour to throw light on the kingdom of the
West Saxons, which, though after a considerable lapse of time, was
the next that sprang up. While others were neglected and wasted
away, this flourished with unconquerable vigour, even to the coming
of the Normans; and, if I may be permitted the expression, with
greedy jaws swallowed up the rest. Wherefore, after tracing this
kingdom in detail down to Egbert, I shall briefly, for fear of
disgusting my readers, subjoin some notices of the two remaining;
this will be a suitable termination to the first book, and the second
will continue the history of the West Saxons alone.
 CHAP. II.

Of the kings of the West Saxons. [A.D. 495.]

The kingdom of the West Saxons,—and one more magnificent or

lasting Britain never beheld,—sprang from Cerdic, and soon
increased to great importance. He was a German by nation, of the
noblest race, being the tenth from Woden, and, having nurtured his
ambition in domestic broils, determined to leave his native land and
extend his fame by the sword. Having formed this daring resolution
he communicated his design to Cenric his son, who closely followed
his father’s track to glory, and with his concurrence transported his
forces into Britain in five ceols. This took place in the year of our
Saviour’s incarnation 495, and the eighth after the death of Hengist.
Coming into action with the Britons the very day of his arrival, this
experienced soldier soon defeated an undisciplined multitude, and
compelled them to fly. By this success he obtained perfect security in
future for himself, as well as peace for the inhabitants of those parts.
For they never dared after that day to attack him, but voluntarily
submitted to his dominion. Nevertheless he did not waste his time in
indolence; but, on the contrary, extending his conquests on all sides,
by the time he had been twenty-four years in the island, he had
obtained the supremacy of the western part of it, called West-
Saxony. He died after enjoying it sixteen years, and his whole
kingdom, with the exception of the isle of Wight, descended to his
son. This, by the royal munificence, became subject to his nephew,
Withgar; who was as dear to his uncle by the ties of kindred, for he
was his sister’s son, as by his skill in war, and formed a noble
principality in the island, where he was afterwards splendidly
interred. Cenric moreover, who was as illustrious as his father, after
twenty-six years, bequeathed the kingdom, somewhat enlarged, to
his son Ceawlin.
The Chronicles extol the singular valour of this man in battle, so
as to excite a degree of envious admiration; for he was the
astonishment of the Angles, the detestation of the Britons, and was
eventually the destruction of both. I shall briefly subjoin some
extracts from them. Attacking Ethelbert king of Kent, who was a
man in other respects laudable, but at that time was endeavouring
from the consciousness of his family’s dignity to gain the
ascendency, and, on this account, making too eager incursions on
the territories of his neighbour, he routed his troops and forced him
to retreat. The Britons, who, in the times of his father and
grandfather, had escaped destruction either by a show of
submission, or by the strength of their fortifications at Gloucester,
Cirencester, and Bath, he now pursued with ceaseless rancour;
ejected them from their cities, and chased them into mountainous
and woody districts, as at the present day. But about this time, as
some unluckly throw of the dice in the table of human life
perpetually disappoints mankind, his military successes were clouded
by domestic calamity: his brother Cutha met an untimely death, and
he had a son of the same name taken off in battle; both young men
of great expectation, whose loss he frequently lamented as a severe
blow to his happiness. Finally, in his latter days, himself, banished
from his kingdom, presented a spectacle, pitiable even to his
enemies. For he had sounded, as it were, the trumpet of his own
detestation on all sides, and the Angles as well as the Britons
34
conspiring against him, his forces were destroyed at Wodensdike;
he lost his kingdom thirty-one years after he had gained it; went into
exile, and shortly after died. The floating reins of government were
then directed by his nephews, the sons of Cutha, that is to say,
Celric during six, Ceolwulf during fourteen years: of these the
inferior with respect to age, but the more excellent in spirit, passed
all his days in war, nor ever neglected, for a moment, the protection
and extension of his empire.
[A.D. 577–626.] CYNEGILS AND CUICHELM.

After him, the sons of Celric, Cynegils and Cuichelm, jointly put
on the ensigns of royalty; both active, both contending with each
other only in mutual offices of kindness; insomuch, that to their
contemporaries they were a miracle of concord very unusual
amongst princes, and to posterity a proper example. It is difficult to
say whether their courage or their moderation exceeded in the
numberless contests in which they engaged either against the
Britons, or against Penda, king of the Mercians: a man, as will be
related in its place, wonderfully expert in the subtleties of war; and
who, overpassing the limits of his own territory, in an attempt to add
Cirencester to his possessions, being unable to withstand the power
of these united kings, escaped with only a few followers. A
considerable degree of guilt indeed attaches to Cuichelm, for
attempting to take off, by the hands of an assassin, Edwin king of
the Northumbrians, a man of acknowledged prudence. Yet, if the
heathen maxim,
35
Who asks if fraud or force availed the foe?

be considered, he will be readily excused, as having done nothing

uncommon, in wishing to get rid, by whatever means, of a rival
encroaching on his power. For he had formerly lopped off much from
the West Saxon empire, and now receiving fresh ground of offence,
and his ancient enmity reviving, he inflicted heavy calamities on that
people. The kings, however, escaped, and were, not long after,
enlightened with the heavenly doctrine, by the means of St. Birinus
the bishop, in the twenty-fifth year of their reign, and the fortieth
after the coming of the blessed Augustine, the apostle of the Angles.
Cynegils, veiling his princely pride, condescended to receive
immediately the holy rite of baptism: Cuichelm resisted for a time,
but warned, by the sickness of his body, not to endanger the
salvation of his soul, he became a sharer in his brother’s piety, and
died the same year. Cynegils departed six years afterwards, in the
thirty-first year of his reign, enjoying the happiness of a long-
extended peace.
Kenwalk his son succeeded: in the beginning of his reign, to be
compared only to the worst of princes; but, in the succeeding and
latter periods, a rival of the best. The moment the young man
became possessed of power, wantoning in regal luxury and
disregarding the acts of his father, he abjured Christianity and
legitimate marriage; but being attacked and defeated by Penda, king
of Mercia, whose sister he had repudiated, he fled to the king of the
East Angles. Here, by a sense of his own calamities and by the
perseverance of his host, he was once more brought back to the
Christian faith; and after three years, recovering his strength and
resuming his kingdom, he exhibited to his subjects the joyful miracle
of his reformation. So valiant was he, that, he who formerly was
unable to defend his own territories, now extended his dominion on
every side; totally defeating in two actions the Britons, furious with
the recollection of their ancient liberty, and in consequence
perpetually meditating resistance; first, at a place called
36 37
Witgeornesburg, and then at a mountain named Pene; and
again, avenging the injury of his father on Wulfhere, the son of
Penda, he deprived him of the greatest part of his kingdom:
moreover he was so religious, that, first of all his race, he built, for
those times, a most beautiful church at Winchester, on which site
afterwards was founded the episcopal see with still more skilful
magnificence.
[A.D. 658.] ACCOUNT OF GLASTONBURY.

But since we have arrived at the times of Kenwalk, and the

38
proper place occurs for mentioning the monastery of Glastonbury,
I shall trace from its very origin the rise and progress of that church
as far as I am able to discover it from the mass of evidences. It is
related in annals of good credit that Lucius, king of the Britons, sent
to Pope Eleutherius, thirteenth in succession from St. Peter, to
entreat, that he would dispel the darkness of Britain by the
splendour of Christian instruction. This surely was the commendable
deed of a magnanimous prince, eagerly to seek that faith, the
mention of which had barely reached him, at a time when it was an
object of persecution to almost every king and people to whom it
was offered. In consequence, preachers, sent by Eleutherius, came
into Britain, the effects of whose labours will remain for ever,
although the rust of antiquity may have obliterated their names. By
these was built the ancient church of St. Mary of Glastonbury, as
faithful tradition has handed down through decaying time. Moreover
there are documents of no small credit, which have been discovered
in certain places to the following effect: “No other hands than those
of the disciples of Christ erected the church of Glastonbury.” Nor is it
dissonant from probability: for if Philip, the Apostle, preached to the
Gauls, as Freculphus relates in the fourth chapter of his second
book, it may be believed that he also planted the word on this side
of the channel also. But that I may not seem to balk the expectation
of my readers by vain imaginations, leaving all doubtful matter, I
shall proceed to the relation of substantial truths.
The church of which we are speaking, from its antiquity called by
the Angles, by way of distinction, “Ealde Chirche,” that is, the “Old
Church,” of wattle-work, at first, savoured somewhat of heavenly
sanctity even from its very foundation, and exhaled it over the whole
country; claiming superior reverence, though the structure was
mean. Hence, here arrived whole tribes of the lower orders,
thronging every path; here assembled the opulent divested of their
pomp; and it became the crowded residence of the religious and the
literary. For, as we have heard from men of old time, here Gildas, an
historian neither unlearned nor inelegant, to whom the Britons are
indebted for whatever notice they obtain among other nations,
captivated by the sanctity of the place, took up his abode for a
39
series of years. This church, then, is certainly the oldest I am
acquainted with in England, and from this circumstance derives its
name. In it are preserved the mortal remains of many saints, some
of whom we shall notice in our progress, nor is any corner of the
church destitute of the ashes of the holy. The very floor, inlaid with
polished stone, and the sides of the altar, and even the altar itself
above and beneath are laden with the multitude of relics. Moreover
in the pavement may be remarked on every side stones designedly
interlaid in triangles and squares, and figured with lead, under which
if I believe some sacred enigma to be contained, I do no injustice to
religion. The antiquity, and multitude of its saints, have endued the
place with so much sanctity, that, at night, scarcely any one
presumes to keep vigil there, or, during the day, to spit upon its
floor: he who is conscious of pollution shudders throughout his
whole frame: no one ever brought hawk or horses within the
confines of the neighbouring cemetery, who did not depart injured
either in them or in himself. Within the memory of man, all persons
40
who, before undergoing the ordeal of fire or water, there put up
their petitions, exulted in their escape, one only excepted: if any
person erected a building in its vicinity, which by its shade
obstructed the light of the church, it forthwith became a ruin. And it
is sufficiently evident, that, the men of that province had no oath
more frequent, or more sacred, than to swear by the Old Church,
fearing the swiftest vengeance on their perjury in this respect. The
truth of what I have asserted, if it be dubious, will be supported by
testimony in the book which I have written, on the antiquity of the
said church, according to the series of years.
[A.D. 676.] PYRAMIDS NEAR GLASTONBURY.

In the meantime it is clear, that the depository of so many saints

may be deservedly styled an heavenly sanctuary upon earth. There
are numbers of documents, though I abstain from mentioning them
for fear of causing weariness, to prove how extremely venerable this
place was held by the chief persons of the country, who there more
especially chose to await the day of resurrection under the
protection of the mother of God. Willingly would I declare the
meaning of those pyramids, which are almost incomprehensible to
all, could I but ascertain the truth. These, situated some few feet
from the church, border on the cemetery of the monks. That which
is the loftiest and nearest the church, is twenty-eight feet high and
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