O R IG IN S

EN GL I S H H I STO R Y

CH ARLES ELTON . F .S .A .

P M EL LOW o r Q U E E N ’

S CO LL EGE , owo m ) ; o m : o r H ER Mu ssrv’

s CO UN SE L ; AU '

I H U R

. U RE S OF K ENT ; ” “TH E LAW O F cowmo v s A \ O WA STE L A ND S '

s LAW O F co vvnom s AND CUSTOM A RY T EN UR E S O F LA ND '

SECOND EDITION REVI SED .

LON D ONBE R NAR D Q U AR I TC H . 1 5 P I C C A D I L LY.

1890 .

PR EFA CE TO TH E F I R ST ED I TI ON

H E object of this work appears so fully in its intro

ductory' chapter that it is almost needles s to add

anything by way of formal preface . It has been th e

writer’s wish to colle ct th e be st and earliest evidence as to

the different people s with which th e English nation in any

of its branche s is conne cted by blood and de s cent .

There are few that have studied th e fas cinating subject

of th e trade and trave l of th e Greeks from th e time s when

they sailed in th e track of th e Ph ce nic ians to th e great

age of the ir dis c overies wh ich followed th e conque sts of

Alexander,who have not been astonished at th e extent

and accuracy of the knowledge wh ich th e earliest classical

writers possessed concerning th e North of Europe , as

compared with the comparative ignorance and confusion

of later times .

To an Engl ishman th e voyage of Pytheas is especially

interesting,not only because h e was th e first explorer of

th e British I slands,but al so because h e brought back with

h im a singularly minute ac count of what h e had seen and

heard in the marshes and forests,from which long after

v i Or igins of Eng/219k H istory .

wards the “three great Engl ish kindreds came . But

h is visit to the Amber I slands and h is storie s of th e

brilliant Arctic summer became for th e Greeks th e founda

tion of all the fantastic tales of Thule , wh ich for a time

brought the whole s cience of Geography into contempt .

Th e people who are found in Britain at th e time of the

Roman invasions— usually c lassed as Ce l ts— are divided

into a Gaulish stock,which is first des cribed

,as far as

material s exist,and the Celts or Gael s of an earl ier

migration,whose col onie s were found in every part of the

British I slands that was not held by th e Belgian nations .

Th e subject involves an inquiry into th e character and

d istribution of those forgotten people s which everywhere

throughout Western Europe underlie th e dominant Aryanrace . Th e description of th e British Gauls is accordingly

followed by an account of th e remaining traces of insti

tutionsowing their origin to the serie s of races that begins

with the m en of the Later Stone Age and covers th e

tribe s that introduced th e use of Bronze into Britain .

The m en of th e long heads,who built long barrows and

polished their weapons of stone,and th e m en of the round

skulls , who were buried in round tombs and had learned

to work in metal,have left abiding influences on th e

population of Britain,and the survivals of their primitive

religion and laws appear in th e form of local superstitions

and customs which have descended even to modern times .

P ref a ce . v ii

Some th ing of this kind m ay help to explain th e anomalous

customs of inheritance,the wide prevalence of which

under the name of Borough Engl ish has l ong been a

subj ect of speculation to all who have studied the curious

details of the English L aw of Real Property. A lawyer’s

reading enables h im al so to gather together m any frag

ments of customs and tenures which point back to th e

same barbarous antiquity and enab le th e critical student of

history to form at least a s c ientific gue ss at the civilisation

and social ideas of th e forgotten Pre-Ce ltic population.

In conclusion th e writer desires to express h is obli

gations to the many kind friends who have assisted h im

during th e progress of this work , and to acknowledge h is

spec ial indebtedness to th e writings of Profes sor Rhys ,th e late Professor Rolleston and Sir H enry SumnerMaine .

PR EFA CE TO TH E SE COND ED I TI ON

N preparing a second edition of the Origins ofEnglishH istory ”

th e author h as endeavoured to take adv an

tage of th e observations and friendly advice to which th e

appearance of th e former edition gave rise . S ince the

work was first published many fresh dis coverie s have been

made in th e provinces of philology and archaeological

viii Origins of E nglis/z s iary .

s cience . Much fresh light h as been thrown on the problems

of Celtic history by th e continuous labours of Professor

Rhys at home,and of M . Gaidoz

,M . B

’

Arbo is de Jubain

ville and many other eminent s cholars abroad , while some

of the best-known landmarks of archm ology have been

al tered by th e re sults of the recent explorations made by

General Pitt-Rivers at Rushmore . Th e earlier chapters

of th e work,dealing with th e important discoveries of

Pytheas,th e Greek romance s of travel

,and th e ancient

languages and institutions of th e Celtic peoples,have been

carefully revised,without much alteration in their main

argument or th e arrangement of th e principal facts . Some

doubtful points have been omitte d as well as s ome few

appeals toauthority which seemed to be no longer required .

Th e des criptive catalogue of classic authors c ited in th e

work has been entirely re -arranged,and references are now

given to th e pages on wh ich they are c ited in th e text .

An Index L o corum has been added,and care h as been

taken to distinguish those place s which have anything to

do with customary modes of inheritance from those which

are more inc identally mentioned in th e purely historical

chapters . The General Index h as been reconstructed

and greatly enlarged,and a Table of Contents has been

added .

\e nsrw nron , SOM E RS ET ,

D ecem l'er and, 1889 .

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CH APTER I .

Object of the workPrehistoric inhabitants of BritainThe Welsh bards on the first settlementTh e ancient Fauna o f th e islandCommencement of authentic historyThe H yperborean legendsThe travels o f Pytheas in BritainMarseilles in the age of Alexander the GreatH er commerceR ivalry with CarthageM ineral riches of SpainExtensive depo sits o f tinTh e Phoenician commercePlans for interfering with trade o f CarthageVoyage of discovery propo sedTh e scientific discoveries of PytheasH e is chosen as leader o f an expeditionH is writingsCourse of the expeditionFrom Gadeira to th e TagusE rroneous notions of Spanish geographyH avens o f the ArtabriS ituation of th e Cassiterides

D escription of the inhabitantsVisit of Publius CrassusTheory as to the Scilly I slandsCarthaginian d iscoveriesThe voyages of H anno and H im ilco

Course o f H im ilco’

s voyageTh e tin districtsThe Sargasso SeaTeneriffe

x Orig ins of E ng/is/z I I is iory .

Pytheas at FinisterreR eligious rites o f nativesTh e Pyrenees and Ligurian shoreTh e Lo ire and Island o f Am n is

Barbarous ritualTh e Morbihan and Celtic IslandsTh e Co llege o f D ruidessesVoyage to BritainPytheas travels in BritainH is observationsE rroneous measurem entsMistakes as to siz e o f the WorldState of Kent and Southern BritainWheat-cultivationMeth eglin and beerAgricultureMode o f dressing c ornPytheas v isited E astern coasts onlyVisit o f PosidoniusTraditions o f Stoneh engeBritish trade in tinBritish co ins from Greek m odelsD istricts where tin is foundTh e island of I ctis

Probably the same as ThanetD escription o f tin-worksPortus I tinsThanet formerly an islandS t. Michael’s Mount

CH APTER I I .Pytheas v isits Germany and th e BalticCritic ism by StraboSummary o f routePliny on northern geographyThe Germany

’

o f Tac itus

Contenis .

The Gothones and SuionesTh e Northern OceanTh e Amber CoastObligations o f Tacitus to Greek writersR oute of PytheasPassage to CelticaThe Ostians or OstionesTheir mode o f livingTh e CimbriThe Chauc i

North GermanyThe H ercynian ForestI ts Fauna in the time o f PytheasTh e reindeerThe elk

The urusTh e aurochsTh e country o f the C im briThe Guttones

Th e Amber IslandsExtent o f commerce in amberVoyage to ThuleD iscoveries in the Arctic C ircleR eturn to BritainReturn to Marse illesCharacter of Pytheas

CHAPTER I I I .

Imaginary travels based on discoveries o f PytheasTheir confusion with records o f real travelBeginning of scep ticism on the subj ectCriticism of D icaearchus

Th e acceptance o f Pytheas by E rato sthenesEuhemerus the rationalist : h is account o f Pancha iaArgument based on h is fictionsR eply o f E ratosthenes

x i

x ii Orig ins of E ngZis/z H istory .

Criticisms by Polybius and StraboGeographical romancesP lato ’s use o f the Carthaginian trad itionsAtlantisOrigin o f the stories o f monstrous m en

Th e Wonders beyond ThuleThe ep itome o f PhotiusP lot o f th e romanceStories o f Germany and ThuleOf the Germ ans and the H ercynian ForestStories about Brita inTh e legend o f Saturn and BriareusThe Northern Pygm iesStory preserv ed by Procop iusIsland o f Brittia

Th e conducto rs o f th e dead

Th e c om munism of ThuleTh e K ing o f the H ebridesModern variations of the legendE van th e Th ird and h is law

Mediaeva l use of th e legendTh e romance o f “Th e H yperboreansD escription by L elewelStories o f th e Arctic OceanBritain described as E lixo ia

Th e Circular TempleThe Boread KingsSo lar legendsA description o f the H yperborean custom s

Th e suic ides of th e old m en

H istorical weight o f th e legendFamily-cliffs and family-clubsBarbarous p ractices o f northern nationsMention of other romancesTh e Attacosi

Th e description o f the Fortunate I s lands , by jam bulusH is accounts o f strange kinds o f m en

Fictions rejected by Tacitus

Conients . xiii

PAGECHAPTER IV

Recap itulationLater Greek travellersArtemidorusPo sidonius the Sto icH is travels in Western EuropeCondition o f th e Celts in BritainD ifficulty o f framing general rulesD ivision o f population into three stocksBritish GaulsInsular BritonsOther tribesMethods o f finding their ancient settlementsAntiquarian researchPhilological methodDivision o f th e Celtic languages .

Living forms in WalesI relandScotlandMan

BrittanyD ead formsWelsh o f StrathclydePictishCornishGaulishThe Celtic of Thrace and GalatiaOriginals from which th e group s are derivedLingua BritannicaAffinities o f Old WelshWhether more re lated to th e Irish or th e GaulishTheory o f th e division o f th e Celt ic stockBrythonic and Go idelic racesOrigin o f the TheoryS imilarity o f Welsh and Gaulish languagesTh e likeness explainedIt arose from independent causes

x iv Origins of E nglis/z H is iory .

Th e languages not similar at the same timeLikeness betwen old forms of Welsh and IrishWelsh and Irish at one time unitedOccupation o f Britain by one Celtic hordeSeparation o f Welsh and I rish languagesBritish language distinct from GaulishPractical result of accepting the theory

CH APTE R V

The Gauls in BritainI nvas ion by the King o f So issonsO lder settlementsKingdoms o f KentForest o f AnderidaThe TrinobantesExtent o f the ir dom inionsThe I ceniTh e Catuvellaunian ConfederacyC iv il isation o f the Gaul ish sett lersTh eir physica l app earanceDressOrnamentsEquipm ents in peace and in war

Scythed chariotsAgricultural knowledgeCattleDomestic lifeA Gaulish feast

CH APTER

Population outside the Gaulish settlementsH ow classifiedStone Age

Conienis .

Bronz e AgeI ron AgeSpec ial evidence as to Brita inPalaeolithic AgeLater Stone AgeTombs o f the KingsCromlechsR ites and superstitionsWayland ’s SmithyTrous des NutonsClassification of barrowsChambered and unchambered varietiesTheir contentsPhysical characteristic s o f th e Tomb-buildersTh e nature o f their societyLake-dwellingsSurv ival o f the neolithic raceLegends o f I rish bardsTh e FirbolgsBlack CeltsTh e S iluresTheir character and h abitsCommencement o f Bronz e AgeOn the ContinentI n BritainTribes of Finnish typeContents o f their tombsTheir imp lementsOrnamentsAgricultureNature of the ir society

CH APTER V I I .

Oldest settlements in BritainTheories of British ethnologyFair and dark races

X V

xv i Orig ins of E ngZis/z f I istory .

Theory as to IberiansAquitaniansVariety o f Iberian customsBasque TribesOrigin o f M ilesian legendsMr. S kene ’s view as to the S iluresE thnological tableSurviva ls o f th e pre-Celtic stocksEvidence from language and mannersCom parison of Aryan customsLocal namesPersonal namesAbnorm a l words and constructionsC lassical notices : VitruviusTacitusH erodianD ion CassiusCaledonians and PictsRock-carvings and sculptured stonesCustoms o f suc cessionCoronation ritesR elics o f barbarism in mediaeval ConnaughtAnc ient custom s in WalesSt. Alm edha

’

s FairCursing-customsS in-eater

CHAPTER V I I I .

Customs foreign to Celtic and Teutonic usage .

Anomalous laws of inheritanceBorough-EnglishMaineté and Jungsten-RechtTheories o f their originTheir wide extentPrimitive forms in Wales and ShetlandIn Cornwall and BrittanyDistribution o f Junior-right in England

Conz‘en i‘s . xvii

South-eastern districtD anish townsCustoms o f KentCustoms in SussexTh e neighbourhood o f London

Manor o f Taunton-D eane

North-western France and FlandersTheel-boors ” o f East Friesland

GermanyBornholm and RussiaAttempts to explain the customE arly forms of primogeniturePrinc ipals

”or Préciput

E ldest daughterTh e L aw o f th e SwordGlanvilleExtension o f customBraetonCustom of th e Pays de CauxIreland and NorwayR eligious origin of customsLaws of Manu

Survivals o f a domestic religionTh e fire and hearthTh e remembrance bowlH ousehold sp iritsFeast o f All SoulsBrande E rbeAnalogous origin o f Junior-rightE arly extension o f Altaic peoplesMongolian and Ugrian customsTchudic superstitionsThe mandrake

CHAPTER IX .

Physical condition o f th e c ountryMisrepresented by R oman oratorsIts state under Agricola

xviii Origins of Engli sh s z‘ory .

U nder th e P lantagenets and E l iz abethNo genuine early descriptionsSources o f Bede ’

s statem entsAnc ient accounts o f Ire landThe p icture o f Britain by G i ldasTrue sources o f inform ationPl iny, Aneurin , Giraldus

D escription o f British vi l lageTh e Ce lts o f North and West Brita inH ow affected by the English invasionsE v idence from languageTribes o f the South-WestThe ir culture and tradeD escription o f their ship sThe Si luresThe Dobuni o f the CotswoldsTh e Cornav ians

The OrdovicesThe central tribesThe Coritav i

Notices by Strabo and CaesarM igratory tribesThe northern confederationQueen Cartism andua

Rules a Brigantian tribeCom mands th e Brigantian armyD efeats CaractacusBrigantians compared with Irish

CH APTER X .

R eligion of the British tribesIts influence on the l iterature o f romanceTheories about D ruidismTh e We lsh TriadsLegend of H ugh the M ightyMytho logical poems o f the bardsTaliessin

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xx Or igins of English H istory .

Moon-worsh ipD egradation o f British godsPrincipal families o f godsChildren o f Don

O f NuddOf L ir

Legend o f Corde liaBran and Manannan

R elic s o f sun-worshipFire-worshipRustic sacrificesOfferings to sa intsSacred animalsProhibition o f certain kinds o f foodClaims of descent from animalsTotemism

CH APTE R X I .

Character of the R oman ConquestTh e century o f peace after Caesar’s invas ionIncrease o f commerce with GaulFresh sett lements of Gauls in BritainTh e Atrebates

, Belgae and ParisiiMeta l lurgyList of exportsEnd of th e peaceTh e capture o f CamulodunumThe triumph o f ClaudiusMassacre o f the captivesEnro lment o f British regimentsConquest of the Southern districtsThe colony o f CamulodunumTyrannical m easuresR evolt o f the I ceniVictory o f Paul inusThe constitution o f th e prov inceAgrico la ’

s gov ernm ent

Contents . xx i

H is campaignsThe visit o f H adrianDescription o f CaerleonD iscip l ine o f the legionsGrowth o f townsH adrian’s Wal lD escription o f its remainsThe Wa ll of AntoninusTablets erected by the soldiersThe ir worship and superstitionsTh e expedition o f SeverusTh e revo lt o f CarausiusInfluence o f th e FranksD ioc letian ’s scheme o f governmentConstantius and Constantine the GreatA new system o f administrationTh e military roadsTh e mediaeval highwaysWatling StreetSystem of c ommunicationsThe lines from north to southTransverse routes in th e northConnections in th e south and westThe Saxon ShoreThe I kenild Way

Th e Antonine ItineraryTh e Peutingerian TableE ffect o f th e new constitutionIncrease o f taxationChristianity establishedGradual decay o f paganismPantheistic religionsState o f th e frontiersThe Picts and ScotsTh e Franks and SaxonsVictories o f Theodo siusTh e revo lt of MaximusThe successes o f Stilicho

xxii Orig ins of E ngtisn H istory .

U surpation of ConstantineThe treason o f Gerontius

Independence o f Britain

CH APTER X I I .

Troub les o f th e BritonsFresh invasions o f Picts and ScotsThe Saxon p iratesThe H a l le luia v ictoryThe appea l to AetiusBeginnings of th e E nglish conquestE arly We lsh poemsN ennius

R om ances o f ArthurThe history of G i ldasIts dramatic natureI ts imitation of the VulgateTh e story o f VortigernH is war with th e mercenariesTh e v ictory o f AmbrosiusThe Mons Badonicus

E ngl ish acc ounts o f th e conquestInfluence o f anc ient ba l ladsD escription of the invasion

Saxons , Jutes , and AnglesTheir continenta l h omeOther inv ading tribesTh e FrisiansArgum ent from local namesTh e c onquest o f KentWe lsh traditionsH orsa

’

s tombLegends o f H engistThe conquest of SussexD estruction o f Anderida

Fate o f th e R oman townsR ise of th e H ouse o f Cerd ic

Contents . xxiii

Conquest o f WessexVic tories o f Cerdic and CymricTh e wars and fate o f Ceawlin

Genealogies o f the kingsTh e conquest o f NorthumbriaE ast Anglia and MerciaR eign o f I da

We lsh traditionsR eign o f IElle

O f E th elfrith

General description of th e conquestAncient poemsTh e sea-kings described by SidoniusThe lord and h is companionsD egradation of th e peasantryFree townsh ip sCo -operativ e husbandryVillage customsSurv iv als o f heathenismFestivalsSacrificesCharacter o f E nglish paganismConversion o f NorthumbriaO f SussexOf the remaining kingdoms

APPENDIX I .

Knowledge of the ancients as to Northern and WesternEurope

APPEND I X I I .

A list of the principal Greek and Latin writers to whichreferences have been made

INDEX'

LOCORUM

GENERAL INDEX

L I S T OF M A P S .

SPAIN (from the edition of Ptolem y printed at Rome in

TH E WORLD OF TH E ANC IENTS (from the Pto lemy o fEASTE RN E UROPE (from the edition of Ptolemy printed at

Strasburg in

NORTH ERN E UROPE (from the H istoria de Gentibus Septen

trionalibus o f Olaus Magnus , printed at Basle in 1 5 67

GAUL (from th e Ptolemy o f

TH E BR ITISH I SLE S (from the Ptolemy o f

SOUTH -EASTE RN BR ITAIN (from th e Tabula Peutingeriana) .GE RMANY (from th e Ptolemy o f

TH E I SLE OF THANET (from Dugdale’

s Monasticon ,edition

of 165 5

TH E BR IT I SH I SLE S (from the Ptolemy o f

ORIGINS OF ENGLISH HISTORY.

C H AP TER I .

Object of th e work—Preh istor ic inh ab itants o f Britain—Th e We lsh bards on the

first settlem ent —Th e anc ient Fauna o f th e island — Com m encem ent o f auth entich istory .

—Th e H yperborean legends—Th e trave l s of Pyth eas in Britain .

M arse i lles in th e age o f Alexander th e Great— H er com m erce—R ivalry withCarth age —M ineral rich es o f Spain —E xtens ive deposits o f tin —Th e Ph oenic iancom m erce—Plans for interfer ingwith trade of Carth age —Voyage o f d iscov eryp roposed —Th e sc ient ific d isco veries o f Pyth eas —H e is ch osen as leader of anexped ition —H is writings— Course of th e expedit ion .

—Gade ira .—Th e Tagus .

E rroneous notions o f Spanish geography .

—H avens o f th e Artabri . —S ituat ion o f

th e Cassiterides .—D esc ription o f th e inh abitants—Visit o f Publ ius Crassus .

—Th eory th at th e Cassiterides were th e Sc illy I slands d iscussed—Carthaginiand iscoveries—Th e voyages o f H anno and H im ilco — Course o f H im ilco

’

s v oyage .

—Th e tin d istricts—Th e S argasso Sea .

—Teneriffe .—Pyth eas at Finisterre .

R el igious r ites of nat ives—Th e Pyrenees—Th e Lo ire and I sland of Am mis .

Barbarous ritual .—Th e M orb ih an and Celtic Islands—Th e Co l lege of D ruidesses.

—Voyage to Britain — Pytheas trav e ls inBrita in—H is observations —E rroneousm easurem ents—Anc ient ideas of th e extent o f th e world —State o f Kent andSouth ern Britain —Wh eat cultivation —M eth egl in and been—Agriculture .

M ode of dressing corn—Pyth eas did not v isit I re land , or th e West o f Br ita in .

Trad itions o f Stoneh enge —Brit ish trade in tin .—Brit ish co ins from Greek

m odels—D istricts wh ere tin is found —Th e Island o f I c tis—I ts situationProbably to be identified with Thanet .—V isit o f Posidon ius —D escript ion of tin

works— Portus I t ins—Th anet form erly an island —St . M ichael's M ount .

H E following chapters are th e re sult of an attempt

to rearrange in a convenient form what is known

of th e history of th is country from those obscure ages

which pre ceded the Roman invasions to th e time when theEnglish ac cepted th e Christian re ligion and th e civilising

influences of the Church . Th e subj ect must always be

i nteresting to those who care'

to trace th e development ofsociety from its remote and savage beginnings . Th e

compiler’s task is lightened by th e labours of a multitude

of s cholars,from th e Greek trave l lers who first explored

the wonders of th e northern world to th e Welsh scribe

who m ight have seen King Arthur and from them to the

2 Origins of E ngtis/z I I istory .

masters of comparative history who have lately traced th e

origin and growth of most of our modern institutions . Th e

compilation m ay stil l be useful or convenient , though th e

fiel d h as been wel l- laboured for centuries , and“hardly a

gleaming-grape or ear of corn is left when th e vintage and

harvest are done .

”

Th e real ly prehistoric times are th e province of th e

archaeologist,and must be explored by h is technical

m ethods , though every one who approache s th e subject of

Engl ish history must fee l a desire to know something of all

kinds of m en who have colonised or traversed our islands .

Our principal ance stors,no doubt

,came late from th e shore s

and flats between th e Rh ine and th e Gulf of Bothnia. But

th e Engl ish nat i on I S compounded of th e blood of manydifferent races andwe might claim a personal interest '

not

only in th e Gaelic and Belgic tribes who struggled with th eRoman legions

,but even in th e first cave -m en who sought

their prey by th e s l owly-re ceding ice -fields,and th e many

forgotten peoples,whose relics are explored in th e sites of

lake-vil lages or seaside refuse -heaps or in th e funeralmounds

,or whose memory is bare ly preserved in th e names

of mountains and rivers . For it is hardly possible that; arace should ever be quite exterminated -or extingu ished :th e blood of th e conquerors must in time become mixedwith that of th e conquered and th e pre servation of m en

for slave s and of women for wives wil l always insure th econtinued existence of the inferior race , however much itm ay lose of its original appearance , manners , or language .

Th e We l sh bards indulged their fancy in des cribingth e state of Britain before the arrival of m an . According toth e authors of th e earliest Triads

,th e swarms of wil d bee s

in the woods gave its first name to th e Isle of H oney

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4 Orig ins of E ngtis/z TI istory .

Th e authentic history of Britain begins in th e age of

Alexander th e Great , in th e fourth century before Christ ,when th e Greeks acqu ired an extensive knowledge of th ewestern and northern countries from Gibraltar to th e mouthof th e Vistula, and as far north as the Arctic C ircle . We

shall show how th e knowledge was acquired , and afterwardsobscured by th e inab ility of later writers to distinguishbe tween th e facts of trave l and th e inc idents of popularromances . When these parts of th e northern tracts wereredis covered many generations afterwards by th e Romans

,

it h ad becom e impossible for them to separate historyfrom fable

,and they took credit for finding a new worl d

as if it had not all been des cribed in the ir ancient books .So America and th e regions of Central Africa werediscove red and lost

,and rediscovered and lost again

,

probably many time s in succession : and so th e col ony ofOld Greenland flourished for centurie s

,til l it de cayed from

th e ravage s of plague and barbarian invasion and for nearly

300 years its very situation and dire ction were forgotten .

Th e earliest literature of Greece shows th e existence ofa rumour or tradi tion that somewhere to th e north of the

hil ls of H am pstead . Th e w ild cattle stil l rem ain at Chil l ingham , and in

several other parks in England and Sco tland . Th e beaver was m entionedby Giraldus Cam brensis as ex isting in this country in the re ign of H enrythe 2 nd .

“The Te ivy (in Cardiganshire) has another singularity, being th eon ly river in Wales, or even in England, wh ich has beavers . I n Sco tlandthey are said to be found in one rive r, but they are ve ry scarce . (Itin .

Wal l . ii. 0. H e adds that they were at that tim e abundant in Germ anyand the no rth of Europe . (Topogr. H ibern . i . c . H ector Boece,writing

in 15 2 6, said that beavers were st il l to be found in Loch Ness, but they are

not m entioned in an Act deal ing w ith the fur-trade, which was passed in

14 2 4 . (See H arting’

s Extinct British An im als, and Boyd D awkins, Cavehunfing, 76 )

Orig ins of E nglis/z f I istory . 5

Euxine and beh ind the Gulf of Adria,th e re sort of th e

amber merchants,th e H yperborean people l ived “

at th e

back of th e north wind , and worshipped th e Delian Apol lowith he catombs of wild asse s in a land of perpetual sunshine

,

where th e swans sung l ike nightingales,and life was an

unending banquet . We need not p ause v ery'

long overthe consideration of th e origin of these fancie s

,wh ich

acquired a fre sh popularity when later poets and novelistsincorporated th e Boread legends with travellers ’ descriptions of th e ritual of a solar worship and th e brightnes s of

an arctic summer :1 but we will pass at once to a detailed

examination of the dis coverie s of Pytheas,

“th e H umboldt

of antiqu ity,

” whose writings for several centuries were the

1 There are two dist inct sets of H yperborean legends, which appear to begeneral ly confused together in the books which deal with Stonehenge and

th e supposed relations of th e anc ient Britons w ith the Levant . Th e first isalm ost as o ld as Greek l ite rature : it refe rs to the nations north of the

Eux ine , th e countrym en o f the Scyth ians Abaris and Anacharsis and of th e

v irgins who cam e to D e los. For these H ecataeus of M iletus was the chiefautho rity : see the ful l details in H erodotus iv . 3 2 36 . For th e 6

'

e ExcirojuBo I ,see Pindar’s l o th Pythian Ode . H um bo ldt considered that the Six go ldbearing districts of Altai, th e regions of the Arim aSpi and th e Griflins, wereth e sites of “ the m eteo ro logica l m ythus of these H yperboreans. Cosm os

(Sabine) , ii. 14 1 . For a co l lec tion of info rm ation as to passages bearingon the local ity of these Scythians, see H erbe rt ’s “ Cyc lop s Christianus.

N iebuhrwas inc l ined to p lace th e H yperbo reans of H erodotus to the northo f Italy . H e rodotus him se lf offered no opinion , and sm iled to think thatpeop le were al ready writing c ircum nav igations of th e worldwithout knowinganyth ing about geography .

”

(H erod . iv . c . 3 The earl iest trace of

acquaintance with th e brief n ights of the No rthern sum m er is perhap s to befound in th e e

'

yy i/g yop VUKTOQ Te Ka i ijp a roc eio'i ne'

AevOor"o f Odyss . X . 86 .

Th e o the r legend com es from H ecataeus o f Abde ra, wh o l ived soon afterAlexande r the Great, and who wove the sto ries about Britain and NorthernEurope into connection with th e m o re anc ient legends . See Scho l ia ad

Apollon . R hod . ii . 675 , and ad Pindar . 01. iii . 2 8 . I Elian . H . A . x i . 1 . D iod .

ii. 0 . 47, and H ecataeus in M iiller’

s co l lec tion, H ist . Graec . Fragm . ii. 2 83 .

6 Or igins of E ngZis/z I I istory .

only source of knowledge respe cting th e north of Europe .

H is diary m ay have been extant in a connected form as late

as th e sth century, since a copy of h is works se ems to have

been quoted by Stephanus of Byzantium,not long b efore

th e time of th e Emperor justinian . I t h as now to b e

sought in th e fragments,extracts

,and references , preserved

by geographers and h i stori ans,who used h is book as

an inexhaus tible source of information ; and th e mostimportant writers of antiqu ity were content with h is auth o

rity . It has snfiered chiefly from th e violent attacks ofStrabo

,whose own system of geography was

,as we m ay

Safely admit,inconsistent in several points with th e ideas

of th e o ld f explorer.

This chapter wil l be concerned with an attempt toreconstruct th e narrative of h is travels from Marseille s

round the Spanish coast,and as far as th e south of

Britain , leaving for th e next chapter th e considerationOf h is m a t to Germany and th e Bal tic

,and h is famous

voyage to Thule . In connection with th e earl ier partof h is voyage we shall deal inc idental ly with some other

trad itions re lating to th e subj ect,of which some have

'

general ly been be l ieved without proof,and others rej ected

without reason . We shal l deal with a kind o f historicalmatter which is found in th e course of every attempt toexplore the history of an anc ient nation . B etween th e

region of fancy and th e province of authenticated historyl ies a border- land of tradition

,full of difficulties

,which can

neither be passed without notice,nor ever perhaps very

clearly or final ly explained . Th e hal f- l ost annals of a

debateable time , worn out by age and obscured by negle ct,

and preserved p ie ce -meal in imperfe ct extracts from books

which have perished,in th e notes o f a s chol iast or epitom ist

,

Or igins of E ngtisn H istory .

or in. the language of ancient criticisms wh ich have chancedto Survive th e obj e cts of their attack .

Th e travel s of Pytheas opened. th e commerce in tin and

amber to th e Greek merchants of Marseilles about th emiddle of the 4th century before Christ . Th e exact datecannot be as certained

,but is found approximate ly by th e

facts that th e astronomical dis coverie s of Pytheas werenot mentioned by Aristotle

,but were controverted on

some points by D icaearchus,th e pupil of Aristo tle

,b

whose

writings were published not long after th e famous

philosopher’s death .

Th e merchants of Marseil le s and th e other Greek colonists

of th e Ligurian coast seem to have been anxious to strike

a blow at their Carthaginian rival s,who had almost a

complete command of th e m m eral wealth of Spain .

Colaeus of Samos h ad l ong before dis covered th e wealth ofTarshish along th e Andalusian shore

,and h ad brought home

glowing ac counts of th e riches of th e West,and of th e

simple barbarians who all owed their visitors to load their

ships with precious ore for ballast . But the Phoeniciansh ad soon secured a monopoly of th e mineral trade : the

m en of Tarshish . were their merchants with silver,iron

,

tin,and lead

,they traded in th e fairs of Tyre ” 1 Th e

'

1 These wo rds are taken from the descrip tion of the com m erce of Tyrein E z ek . xxv ii. For the earl ier m entions of Tarshish, or the coast ofAndalusia, see Gen . x . 4 , and Exod . xxv iii . 2 0 , where the berylfzor chryso l iteof th e high-p riest ’s breastp late is cal led tarsis in th e original ; for the p revalenteast winds which im peded the trade , see PS . x lv iii. 7, and com pare Strabo iii.144 . See also Isaiah ii. 16 , and th e burden of Tyre , c . xx iii. For m entionsof Chittim or the region of th e .Pyrenees, see th e chapter last c ited, and Ez ek .

xxv ii. There appears to have been no c ity of Tarsh ish, but th e nam e p roperlyapp l ies to the who le of th e Andalusian coast between Guadiana and CapeTrafalgar. The Baetis or Guada lquiv ir and th e Anas or Guadiana R iver

8 Orig ins of E ng/is/z H istory .

town of Ampurias,in th e Gulf . of Lyons

,preserve s th e

name of th e emporium where th e Greeks attempted toengross some part of th e Spanish commerce ; but south

of that point th e whole country was at first under th e in

fluenc e of -the Phoenic ians , and afterwards under th e powe rof Carthage .

l I t must always b e rem embered that Spain

were form erly no ted for their go ld-bearing grave ls, though neither was as

rich as th e Tagus in th is respec t .The region Tartessus co rresponded in exten t with the coun try of

the Turduli and Turdetan i, whose nam e appears to be derived from the

sam e root . On th e west it was bounded by the m outh of th e Anas on

th e east by the p ro longation of th e hil ls, which border the val ley of th e

Baetis on the SE . and term inate in a low sandy po in t at Cape Trafalgar .I n th e R om ish tim es , howev er, th e nam e was m ore wide ly extended, andinc luded the coast eastward of G ibraltar . Beyond th e Anas was th e

c ountry of th e Cynetes (H erod . ii. extending to th e Sacred Prom onto ryor Cape St. Vincent, th e m ost westerly po in t of Europe . Kenrick.

Phoen ic ia . c . 3 .

1 The Greek nam e for tin,xa a a irEpog, (cassiteros, ) appears to be connected

W ith kastira , th e Sanskrit nam e for th e m etal . The island Cassitira m usthave been som ewhere near th e Straits of M alacca, the chief source o f our

m odern supp l ies . Stephanus of Byz antium is th e authority for a desc rip tionof Cassitira as an island in th e o cean near India , as D ionysius says in h isBassaric i, from which th e tin com es .

”

For details of th e m odern tin’

trade ,

see Sir H enry D e la Beche , Geo logy of Co rnwal l . For th e anc ient trade ,see H eeren

’

s Essays on th e Com m erce of th e Anc ients. H um bo ldt po intedout that th e R om ans were acquain ted with th e ex istence of tin in th e

country of the‘

Artabri and Callaic i, in th e north-western parts of Iberia .

H um boldt , Cosm os . (Sab ine) ii . 1 2 8 .

“When Iwas in Gal ic ia , in 1799 (he

adds) ,“ before em barking for th e Canaries , m in ing operations were stil l

carried on ,on a v ery poor scale , in the gran itic m ountains . The occurrence

o f tin in this local ity is of som e geo logica l im po rtance, on accoun t of theform er connec tion o f Gal ic ia, the pen insula of Brittany and Co rnwall . ”Kenrick gives us the fo l lowing useful sum m ary There can be no doubtthat tin was anc iently found in Spain and in its southern regions . Th e

Guadalquiv ir brought down stream -tin (Eustath ius ad D ionys . Perieg.

and, according to Festus Av ienus, the m ountain in which this river rose was

cal led Cassius from Cassiteros, and A rgentarius from the bril l iancy of the

tin which it p roduced. The m ines of th e south of Spain have been neglec ted

Orig ins of English H istory . 0

was th e Mexico of th e anc ient world . The Tagus rol ledgold

,and th e Guadiana silver th e Phoenician sailors were

said to have replaced their anchors with masse s of silverfor wh ich they had no room on board

,and th e Iberians to

have used gold for mangers and s ilver for their vats of beer .Th e western and northern coasts we re equally rich : a

mountain of iron ore stood near Bilbao,and th e whole

coast from th e Tagus to the Pyrenees was said to be“ stuffed with mines of gold and silve r

,lead and tin ,

”

th e moor-lands we re ful l of tin-pebble s,th e river-gravel s

m ixed with broken strings and branche s of tin,which th e

Iberian girl s were able to win by light “stream-work,

”

washing th e ore from th e soi l in wicker cradles and,as in

Cornwal l,th e tin was often m ixed with gold

,and th e lead

with silver . We learn th e anc ient wealth of the country

S ince the discovery of Am erica, with th e excep tion of th e quicksi lve r m inesof Alm aden

,and therefo re it would be unreasonable to cal l these p rec ise

statem ents in question , because tin is not now known to be found there .

W ith regard to th e north-western p rov inces of th e peninsula , there can be

no doubt that tin anc ien tly abounded in them . Posidon ius , quoted by Strabo ,

says that in the land of th e Artabri, th e m ost rem o te in th e north-west, theso il glitters with silver , tin , and wh ite go ld (Strabo . iii. Th e tin was

the black stream -tin, and no lodes appear to have been wo rked . Th e accoun tgiven by Pl iny is m uch the sam e :

“ T in ,it is now we l l ascertained , is

p roduced in Lusitania and Gal ic ia , som etim es of a black co lour on th e

surface of the sandy so il, and distinguishable on ly by weight (perox ide o f

tin) , som etim es in m inute pebbles in th e bed of dried torrents (stream -tin)which are co l lec ted, washed, and fused in furnaces . I t is a lso som etim es

found in go ld m ines, and separated by washing in baskets, and subsequentm e lting (H ist . N at. xxx iv . c . The geo logica l struc ture of Ga lic ia and

the adjacen t part of Portugal is very S im ilar to that of the m etal l ife rousdistricts of Cornwal l ; and as m any as seven differen t local ities, in wh ichtin h as been p rocured, are enum erated in a recent wo rk on th e geo logy o fthe form er country (Schulz , “ D escripc ion Geognostica di Gal ic ia , pp . 45 ,

The nam e of a v il lage in the ne ighbourhood of V iseu, in Po rtugal ,indicates the rem ains of old tin-wo rks. Kenr ick . Phoen ic ia . 2 14 .

10 Orig ins of E ngtis/z f I istory .

from th e reports of Greek travel lers,and from th e Romans

wh o inherited th e riche s of Spain,when th e power of

Tyre and th e careles s magnificence of Carthage h ad

pas sed away,and before th e m ineral deposits h ad been

very sensibly dim inished .

At th e t ime which we are now considering, the jealousy

of th e Carthaginians h ad hindered th e Greeks and Romansfrom learning th e secrets of th e seas we st of th e Pillars ofM elkarth . There were

,doubtless

,vague reports of th e

temple of Moloch which crowned th e last point ofEurope,

of a beetl ing cliff lashed by perpetual surf,a river that rol led

sands of gold , and i slands where th e ground gleamed withsilver and tin . H erodotus

,

1a century before

,h ad heard

th e name of th e Cassiterides,though h e confesse d a doubt

as to the ir existence,in th e absenc e of eye-witnesse s from

th e west of Europe . Th e knowledge of th e tin-depositswas th e most valuable secre t of Tyre and Carth age. Th e

difli cult manufacture of bronze was th e most important art

1The passage in which H erodo tus confessed h is ignorance of WesternEurope re lates both to th e tin-trade and th e com m erce in am ber . Of thatpart of Europe which is nearest to the West I cannot speak with dec ision .

I by no m eans be l ieve that the barbarians give th e nam e of E ridanus to a

river em ptying itse lf into th e N orthern Sea , whence (as it is said, ) our

am ber com es ; nor am I better acquainted with the I slands cal led the

Cassiterides, from which we are said to get our tin . H erod . iii. 1 15 .

Po lybius considered that all th e reports about Northern and Western Europeup to h is tim e were “

m ere fable and invention ,and not th e fruit of any real

search or genuine info rm ation . The early trave l lers, acco rding to h im ,

were not content with p lain and sim p le truth, but “ invented strange and

inc red ible fictions and p rodigies and m onsters, repo rting m any things whichthey never saw,

and o thers which had no ex istence . Po lyb ius . H ist . iii. 4 , 5 .

I t should , however , be obse rved, that the c ritic ism s of Po lybius dealt withstatem ents of Pytheas which h ad been accep ted by Eratosthenes and

H ipparchus and that, in fac t, from th e tim e of Alexander th e Great, th eanc ients h ad a very fair notion of the geography of Britain .

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1 2 Orig ins of E ngtis/z H istory .

Marse illes,h e seems to have inquired as to th e chance of

e stabl ishing a new trade with Britain,hoping thereby to

do an injury to th e wealth of Carthage . Polybius is the

authority for th e story,and for th e statement that no one

in th e c ity coul d tell th e Roman anything worth mentioning

about th e north and al so that nothing coul d be learnedfrom th e merchants of Narbonne , or of

“th e City of

Corb elo,

” 1 which was said to have been a flourishing place

in th e age of Pytheas , though th e later Romans were

ignorant even of its s ituation . Th e fore igner was told of

th e danger of all attempts to interfere with th e Carthaginiancommerce

,how a sh ip-master of Gaddir

,on h is way to

th e tin islands,was tracked by a Roman merchant-m an

,

but ran h is ship upon a shoal,and led h is enem ie s into th e

same de struction . Th e captain was saved on th e floating

wreck,and was rewarded by th e Senate of Carthage with

th e price of th e sacrificed cargo .

” 2

When th e proj ect of a voyage of discovery was firstundertaken atMarseil les

,a committee of merchants engaged

th e service s of Pytheas,an em inent mathematician of that

c ity,who was alreadv famous for h is measurement of the

declination of th e ecliptic,and for th e cal culation of th e

latitude of Marse illes,by a m ethod wh ich h e h ad recently

invented of comparing th e height of a gnomon or pillarwith th e length of th e solstitial shadow .

3 Pytheas was al s o

1 Corbelo is said to be Co iron on the Lo ire , near Nantes (M artin , H ist .France , i . For the sto ry from Po lyb ius, see Strabo , iv . 190 .

2 Strabo , iii. 175 .

8 On th e use of the gnom on by Pytheas , see Gassendi, Proport . Gnom on .

iv . 5 30 ; Gosse l in ,R eche rches Géogr. Ant . iv . 6 1 . What kind of gnom on

h e used is not known . H e appears to have fixed the ratio in question at

2 4 : 7. Strabo m isquoted h im , as if h e h ad m ade it out to be 6oo z 2 9 .

(See Strabo . i . M odern experim ents conduc ted at M arseil les have shown

Origins of E ngtzsn TI istory .

known for h is propos ition “that there is no star at th e pole,

but a vacant spot where th e pole should b e,marked at a

point which make s a square with the three nearest stars ”1

and for h is studie s on th e influence of th e moon uponth e tides .2

Pytheas was chosen as th e leade r of a northern expedition to explore th e Iberian coast

,and then to proceed

north as'

far as th e “Cel tic countries,

”and as much further

as m ight seem expedient . Anothe r expedition was sent

s outhwards to explore th e African coast,under th e direc

tion of Euthym enes,another m an of s c ience

,with whose

dis coveries we are not here concerned . But we m ay say

that h e reached a river where crocodile s and hippopotam iwere seen in great abundance

,which was probably th e

River Bam bothus of H anno ’s expedition,and that th e

records of h is voyage are almost comple tely lost . I t wil l

be seen hereafter that Pytheas was more fortunate,a good

Pytheas to be correc t within a trifling frac tion of 40 seconds : as to this,see Aout

’

s pam phlet on th e subjec t , Etude sur Pytheas.

”

(Paris .

1 It should be rem em bered that, in th e age of Pytheas,the conste l lation of

th e Little Bear had not yet been p laced in th e Greek ce lestia l sphere . As to .

th e discovery of the po le-star, see H ipparchus ad Aratum . i . c . 5 . Strabo , i . 3 .

A work attributed to Eratosthenes cal ls it or th e lode-star of the

Phoenic ians The sam e po int is also m entioned by M an iliusSep tem illam stellae certantes lum ine signant,Q ua duce per fiuctus Graiae dant ve la carinae.

Angusto Cynosura brev is torquetur in orbe ,

Quam Spatio tam luce m ino r : sed judice v incitM ajorem Tyrio . Astronom ica . iv . 304 .

2 Pytheas considered that th e t ide was caused by the wax ing and wan ingof th e m oon . Stobaeus, Append . (Gaisford) , iv . 4 2 7 . Plutarch. De p lac it .Philosoph . iii. 17. Strabo accuses Pytheas of stating the ebb cam e to an

end (dym firetg n eparofiofla t) , by Which h e appears to have m eant that thecurrent from Cadiz ended at th e Sacred Cape .

14 Origins of E nglis/z H istory .

many fragments of h is work having been pre served , not

only by Eratosthenes and other great geographers,who

ac cepted h is accounts as corre ct,but al so in th e critic isms

of Po lyb ius,which have been preserved and exaggerated

in Strabo ’s work . It is known that h is ac count was pre

served in th e shape of a diary,recording th e times of

passage from port to port , and it is bel ieved that this diary

was embodied in two books , called“Th e Circuit o f the

Earth,

”and

“Commentarie s concern ing th e O cean ”

; and

s ome have supposed that these represented th e results oftwo voyage s

,th e one to Britain

,and th e other from Cadiz

to th e But a comparison of th e fragments

Shows clearly enough th at on ly one voy age was des cribed,

its c ourse being from Marseil le s round Spain to Brittany,

from Brittany to Kent and Several other parts of B ritain ,from th e Thames to th e Rhine

,round Jutland al ong th e

Southern shore of th e Baltic to th e mouth of th e Vistulathence out of th e Baltic and up th e Norwegian coast to th e

Arctic“Circle ; then to th e Shetlands and th e north of

Scotland , and afterwards to Brittany again and so to th emouth of th e Garonne , where h e found a route leading

'

to‘

Marseille s .

Th e ships first touched at Gaddir,th e Tyre of th e We st

,

where th e merchants l ived quietly after th e manner of

th e S idonians , care le ss , and secure , and in th e posse ssionof riches .” H ere they reached th e limit of Greek geogra

ph ical knowledge , th e P illars or Tablets of H ercules,

whom th e Phoenic ians called M elkarth .

1 Th e voyage to1 Th e Greeks gave the nam e of M e licertes to th e Tyrian god, wh o is alsobe l ieved to have been the o riginal o f that M idacritus, who fi rst brought tinfrom the Island of Cassiteris (Plin . H ist . N at. v ii . c . The descrip tiono f Gadeira by Pytheas h as been partial ly p reserved in Strabo ’

s critic ism s

on Eratosthenes. Strabo, iii . 148 . The c ity of Gadeira was built on an

(Or ig ins of E ngtisn H istory . 15

Gi strym nis,o r Cape St . Vincent

,took no les s than fiv e

days,though th e distance cannot be more than 300 m iles

along th e coast,and th e prevailing winds are favourable

to a western voyage . And Strabo quoted the al legationt o

tcast dis credit “

on Pytheas,though Artemidorus

,a later

traveller,de clared that h e h ad taken nearly as long a time

for th e j ourney : but there was a nearly general ac cept

ance of what Pytheas h ad reported of th e situation ofGaddir, and of th e general geography of th e Spanish coast .

1

All th e trave llers appear to h aVe been unaware of theexistence of th e strong south-eastward current which com

m ences at th e harbour of Cadiz . Pytheas noticed itseffects ; but h e seems to have attributed them to th e

general flow of th e ocean,which all th e poe ts h ad des cribed

as a vast and swift river enc irc ling th e habitable earth ; andh e was surprised on rounding th e southern face of th e capeto find t h at th e current h ad ceased .

island separated from th e coast by a strait on ly a furlong in breadth at its

narrowest part . Th e tem p le of Saturn stood on th e western '

extrem ity of

th e island, that of H ercules on th e eastern ,where th e strait narrows itse lf to a

stadium ,and in the R om an t im eswas c rossed by a bridge . This tem p lewas

said to be coeval with the first establ ishm ent of th e Tyrian co lony, and to

have rem ained, without renovation ,un im paired . The distinc tion between

the Tyrian and th e Theban H ercules was we l l known to the anc ients ;but after Gades becam e the resort of m erchants and trave l lers fromall parts of th e world , th e tem p le of H ercules received offerings and

m em orials, be longing rather to th e'

Grec ian than th e Phoenic ian god . I tcontained two co lum ns of a m etal m ixed of go ld and silver, with an

insc rip tion in unknown charac ters,and therefo re variously interp reted as

contain ing m ystical doctrines , or a reco rd of th e expenses of erecting the

tem p le , ” Kenrick, Phoen ic ia, 1 2 4 , 1 2 7. Th e Greeks took the Pil lars of

H ercules to be th e m ountainous m asses of G ibra ltar and th e opposite shorebut the first Pil lars of . M elkarth

,m en tioned in H anno

’

s voyage, werep robably v otive tablets, and not p il lars ; and they were afterwards identifiedwith the co lum ns above m entioned .

1 Strabo . i . 64, ii. 1 06, iii. 148 .

16 Orig ins of E ngtisn H i story .

I n three days more they came to th e mouth of theTagus , lying between a l ong sharp promontory to th e southand th e extremities of th e mountain-range wh ich reachesth e sea at Cape Rocca. We must stay to ‘

consider verybriefly th e notion of th e ancient geographers about thisdistrict

,because it is only by that means that we can

as certain the situatlon of th e Cassiterides : they are oftentaken for th e S cilly I sle s

,but a comparison of th e oldest

authorities shows clearly enough that th e name wasintended to be appl ied to th e islands situated in th e

n eighbourhood of Vigo Bay and Corunna .

Th e anc ients thought that th e we st side of Spain

extended from Cadiz to a point but l ittle north of Lisbon,

and that Cape St . Vincent was as nearly as possible the

central point of th e western coast . Th e country between

Capes Rocca and Carbo e ira was considered to form one

large promontory,from. which th e northern coast stretched

as far as th e foot of th e Pyrenean range . All th e districts,

therefore,between this promontory and Finisterre or

Nerium,we re

,ac cording to the ir ideas

,a portion of th e

northern coast . Lusitania ended at th e present northern

boundary of Portugal,and b etween that point and Cape

Nerium were situated th e “H avens of th e Artabri,

”

in th e

mouths of th e rivers between Vigo and Finisterre ; andhere

,not far from th e shore

,are th e islands which were

long known as th e Cassiterides.

Th e influence of th e old tradition reported by H erodotus ,or the hab it of using is lands as convenient marts , m ay

have caused th e whole of the’

tin -trade to be attributedto th e islands fronting on th e coast : but there certainly

seem to h ave been some m ines on th e islands themselves .

Th e Cassiterides are hardly ever connected with Britain,

Origi ns of E ngZis/z H istory . 17

but are always treated as having some relat ion to Spain .

When Posidonius de s cribed th e tin-trade,h e said that th e

m etal was dug up among th e barbarians beyond Lusitania,and in th e islands called Cassiterides

,and h e added

that it was also found in Britain,and transported to

M arse il les . 1 D iodorus quote s th e same account . “ I n

many parts of Spain tin is al so found,but not upon th e

surface,as some h istorian s report ; but they dig it , and

me l t it down l ike gold and s ilver . Above Lusitania there is

much of this me tal in th e little islands,lying o ff Iberia in

th e O cean,which are therefore called Cassiterides ; and

much is likewise transported out of Britain into Gaul .

P om ponius M ela,who was a Spaniard himse lf, and

p articularly wel l acquainted with th e north -we stern

d istricts of th e country,de s cribed th e whole region

b etween Nerium and th e Douro as b elonging to th e

C e l ts ; h e next gave an account of th e islands of Spain

and th e North,saying

,

“Among th e Ce ltic i are severalislands

,all cal led by th e single name of Cassiterides

,

because they abound in tin .

” 2 H e then passes to th e

I sle of Sena “in th e British Sea

,

”and to Britain itself

and th e islands beyond it . Strabo,writing about th e

year A .D . 2 0,certainly raised a doubt about the identity

of th e Cassiterides and th e islands on th e coast of Spain .

H e does not bring th e tin-is lands to Britain,but h e

carrie s them out to sea in a way which seems to indicatesome knowledge or rumour about th e Azore s . “Northwards and opposite to th e Artabri are th e islands cal led th e

Cassiterides,s ituate in th e high seas

,somewhere about

1 Strabo . ii. 1 2 9 , 146 . D iod . Sic . v . c . 2 .

1 M e la. iii. 3 , 6 .

18 Or ig ins of E ngtis/z H istory .

th e same latitude as Britain . Th e islands,h e added ,

“are ten in numb er : one is deserted , but th e others are

inhabited by people who wear black cloaks and longtunic s reach ing to th e feet , girded about th e breast theywalk with long staves , and look l ike th e Furie s in a

tragedy they subsist by their cattle , leading for th e mostpart a wandering l ife : and they barter hides

,tin

,and

lead with th e merchants in exchange for potterv , salt ,and implement s of bronze .

”

When Publius Cras sus1 visited th e northern coast of

Spain,h e is said to have found th e way to th e Cassiterides,

th e situation of which h ad not up to that time been known

to th e Romans . “As soon as h e landed there,says

Strabo,

“h e perce ived that th e m ine s were worked at a

very slight depth,and that th e native s were peaceable

and employing themse lves of their own accord in navi

gation : so h e taught th e voyage to all th at were wil ling,

although it was l onger than th e voyage to Britain . Thusmuch about Spain

,and th e islands lying in front of it .

”

It is somewhat diffi cult to say whether this mean s thatth e voyage from Spain to the se islands was longer than

that from Spain to Britain,or that th e distance of the se

islands from Spain was greater than their distance from

Britain,or merely that itwas thought worth while to carry

th e tin round to Marse illes,even though th e merchants

of that place h ad an easier way of getting it by th e caravan

route across Gaul . Th e question is,however

,much

reduced in importance by th e fact that Pliny,who was

himself Procurator of Spain in th e next generation ,went

back to th e old statement,that “ opposite to Celtiberia

1 See Caesar . D e Bel l . Gal l . iii. c . 2 0 . Mariana H ist . H ispan . iii. c . 18 .

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2 0 Orig ins of English H istory .

Th e subject of th e Carthaginian voyage s is extremely

interesting,but it h as little to do with th e history of

Britain . H im ilco can b e traced not to th e S cil ly I slands ,or even to th e Bay of Bis cay, but to th e ne ighbourhood of

th e Azores , and of th e Sargas so Sea : and h e appears tohave returned by a route which passed Madeira and th e

Peak of Teneriffe .

“In th e flourishing time s of Carthage ”

(no nearer date is known ) , H anno and H im ilco,two

brothers be longing to th e dominant clan of Mago,were

despatched by th e Senate to find new trading stations,and

to found new colonies of th e half-bred Liby-Phoenicianpopulation

,from whose presence th e State was always

anxious to be freed . Each adm iral was in command of apowerful fleet . H anno was directed to go south from th e

Pil lars of H ercules,and to skirt th e African coast : H im ilco

was in l ike manner dire cted to keep to the coast of Spain .

Th e re cords of both voyages were l ong preserved upontablets in th e temple of Moloch and H anno ’s account isstil l extant in a Greek translation . H im ilco

’

s tablet is l ost,

though it seems to have been extant as late as th e fourthcentury of th e Christian era ; but its form is known fromthe “Periplus o f H anno

,

”and its substance is

,to some

extent , preserved in th e extracts of Av ienus.

1

By a comparison of these authorities we find thatH im ilco started from Gaddir and rounded th e SacredCape , proceeding northwards

,and founding factories and

colonies , which afterwards be came fil led with a largeCarthaginian population : that h e reached th e Cassiterides

1 The details of H anno’

s voyage m ay be read in Cory ’

s“ Fragm ents of

Phoem cxan, Carthaginian , and other Autho rs

,

”

and in M iiller’

s Geograph .

G raac i. vol. i . Avery good version wil l also be found in th e first vo lum e

o f Purchas’

s Pilgrim s .

Orig ins of English H i story . 2 1

or ( Estrym nic I slands,where h e found a proud and

active race of m en,ready for all kinds of commerce

,and

ac customed to pass between th e islands and to visit th emainland in canoe s or coracles of wicker-work covered with

hide s : th e later poets long gave them th e formal epithetsof “rich and magnanimous Ib erians .” From this pointth e fleet ventured into the open sea and were driven to

th e south . Thick fogs h id th e sun and th e ships drovebefore th e north wind . Afterwards they came to a

warm er sea and were becalmed,where vast plains of sea

weed stretched for many days ’ j ourney,and th e ships

could hardly b e pushed through th e interlac ing branches .There seemed to be no depth of water

,as if th e fleet was

passing over submerged land ; and they dreaded the neigh

bourhood of dangerous reefs . Shoal s of large tunnie s and

other fish,as was afterwards noticed in th e same place by

Columbus,swam in and out between th e ships

,and “

th e

sea-animal s crept upon th e tangled weed .

” With a littlegood fortune th e admiral would have dis covered America

more than years before th e b irth of Columbus , but“th e magicians on board ” were too powerful to all ow th e

1 H im ilco’

s descrip tion of the fog as paraphrased by Av ienuswil l be foundin th e Appendix . A m ore graceful version of th e inc ident by M . Flaubert ,in h is we l l-known rom ance of ancient Carthage, seem s to be wo rthy ofquo tation . H e desc ribes th e courage of the pilots, wh o were bo ld enough

to exp lore th e recesses of the ocean without com pass or astro labe , and thusdep icts a possible inciden t of th e voyage :

“ I ls continuaient dans l’Ouestduran t quatre lunes sans rencontrer de rivages, m ais la p roue des nav iress

’

em barrassait dans les herbes : des brouil lards couleur de sang obscurcissaientle so leil , une brise toute chargée de parfum s endorm ait les équipages : et ils

me p ouvaient rien dire, tant que leur m ém o ire était troublée .

” Coleridgeappears to have m ade great use of th e Sam e inc idents in the

“Anc ientM ariner .

2 2”

Orig ins of English I I istory .

prosecution of th e adventurous voyage . They h ad arrived

at th e Sargasso Sea,which is said to b e seven times as

large as France .

“At th e point,

” says . H umboldt,

“where

th e Gulf- stream is deflected to th e east by th e banks o f

Newfoundland,it sends o ff an arm towards th e south

,not

far from th e Azores : this is th e situation o f th e Sargasso

Sea,or that great sea of weed or

' bank of fucus,which

made so strong an impre ssion on th e imagination ofColumbus

,and which Oviedo calls sea-weed meadows :

these evergreen masse s of F ZlCZtS na ta ns (one of th e mostwidely-distributed of th e soc ial sea-plants ) , driven gentlyto - and -fro by m il d and warm breezes

,are th e habitation of

a countles s number of small marine animal s . ” Th e sailorsof Gaddir used to des cribe “

th e de serted tract in th e

ocean four days ’ sail to th e south -west,

” which was fullo f seaweed and tangl e

,th e home of shoals of tunny-fish

of wonderful s ize and fatness . 1 Th e Carthaginian fleetappears to have turned homewards from this point andto have touched at th e Island of Madeira

,which was

described on their return in such glowing language thatothers undertook th e voyage

,until th e Senate

,be ing afraid

of an exodus from Carthage,forbade all further visits to

“th e Fortunate I slands ” on pain of d eath . H im ilc o

seems also to have visited Teneriffe,th e des cription of the

volcano not being found in the Periplus of H anno,though

Pliny must have taken h is picture of Mount Atlas fromone or other of th e Carthaginian voyagers , to whoseauthority h e expressly refers . “Th e wonderful high

crown of th e mountain reached above th e clouds to th eneighbourhood of th e c ircle of th e moon

,and appeared at

1 De M irab . Auscult . 13 2 .

Orig ins of E ngliSh H istory . 2 3

night to be all in flames,re sounding far and wide with th e

noise of pipes,trumpe ts

,and cymbal s . ”1

Enough has now been said of H imilc o ’

s voyage to show

that it is most improbable,to say th e least

,that h e visited

th e Cornish coast . We will therefore return,after this

l ong but ne cessary digre ssion,to our consideration of th e

voyage of Pytheas .Leaving th e Cassiterides

,th e travel lers came to

Nerium or Finisterre,then occupied by Iberian tribe s

,

but afterwards “ cal led ‘

th e Ce ltic promontory . Little is

known of this passage round th e northern coast,but Strabo2

h as pre served th e observation of Pytheas that th e j ourney

t o th e north" of Spain woul d have been made much moree as i ly overland than by th e sea—voy age which they h adundertaken

Coming to th e neighbourhood of th e Pyrenee s,they

made a pas sage of two days to a deserted shore of th eLigurians

,

” to take a phrase from the careless Av ienus,

and at any rate in a short time arrived at th e mouth of th eLoire

,then th e northern boundary of th e Aquitanian

population,and th e . limit of th e Celtic advance . Some

where in this neighbourhood they appear to have com e

upon an island,where th e native s worshipped th e earth

godde sse s with shrill music and noisy rite s in honour of

Ce res and Proserpina.

3 I n a bay near th e mouth of th eLoire they visited another island inhab ited by women

,

who worshipped a barbarous god with bloody and orgiastic

rite s . Th is island iwas called Am nis or Sammis,and th e

1 Pliny . H ist . N at. i . introd . and ibid. v . c . i. 2 Strabo . iii. 148 .

3 Th e Greek trave l le r Artem idorus reported or confirm ed the trave l ler'ssto ry of a worship be ing paid to Ceres and Proserp ina “with a Sam othrac ianritual in an island of th e Britannic seas. Strabo . iv . 198 .

2 4 Origins of English H istory .

tribe to whom it belonged were called Am nites,th e

“noble Am nitae of the poets . No m an m ight land on

their sacred island ; but th e prieste sses might cros s to th e

mainland in their coracles as occasion required . A temple

stood on the island,which was unroofed once a year

,th e

custom requiring that th e roof should be rep laced in one

day before th e sun went down . Each woman h ad an

al lotted burden of material s and an appointed share of th etask ; if any one of them let h er burden fall

,sh e was

torn in pieces by h er horrible companions and it was saidthat th e feast never passed without one at least of th epriestesses b eing sacrificed in this fash ion . O ther wil d rite swere performed by night

,and th e appearance of th e ivy

crowned women dancing in their tumultuous proce s sionswas compared to that of th e Maenads on the hil l s ofThrace .

1

1 D ionys . Perieg. 5 70 . M artin (H ist . France, i . 63) considers all theserituals to have belonged to convents of D ruidesses engaged in th e serv ice of

K oridwen, th e White Fairy or M oon-

goddess, to whose cul t the Ce lticp riestesses were said to be devoted . Strabo p rend K oridwen pour Kore,Proserp ine .

” “L es ném édes (tem p les) des colléges ou m onasteres de

d ruidesses, dont ils (les écrivains grecs ou latins) nous révélent l’

ex istence

sont situés dans les i les les p lus sauvages d’

Arm orique et de Bretagne .

Dans une de ces i les sac rées, vo isine de la cOte britann ique se célébrent,

dit-on , des m ysteres pareils a c eux de Sam othrace et d’

Eleusis, c’

est-a-direles m ysteres de K oridwen . U n i lo t situé en face de l

’

em bouchure de la

Lo ire est le theatre de m ysteres p lus redoutables encore . L es prétresses

qui l’

habitent, et qui appartiennent a la nation arm oricaine des N annétes,

sont m ariées ; m ais leurs m aris n’

osent app rocher de leur inv io lable asile ;ce sont el les qui vont les v isiter de nuit sur le rivage ades époques déterm inées . L e p lus fam eux de tous les co l leges de druidesses est ce lui de l ’i lede Se in ou de Sena, p res de la cOte des Corisosp ites, Cornouail le Francaise .

Sur um rocher p resque inabordable jeté dans la haute m er; en face da R az

de Plogoff , de ce vaste p rom onto ire de gran it o ii le continent européenv ient m ourir tristem ent dans un océan sans bo rnes, résiden t neuf

prétresses vouées com m e les Vestales de R om e 5 une perpétuel le v irginité .

Orig ins of English H istory . 2 5

Shortly after leaving th e mouth of th e Loire,th e

trave llers Skirted th e shore s of th e Morb ihan,and found

themse lves among th e Celtic I slands . Th e mainland inth e vicinity of Vannes

,as far as th e extremity of Cape

Finisterre,was held by th e “Ostim ii

,and tribes cal led

Osism ic i,

” or “Osistam nii,words which are either

corrupt and various readings of a manuscript,or th e names

of different clans living near each other . Th e cape itse lfwas

known to Pytheas as “Calbion,

” or “Cabaion .

”Opposite

to this promontory they found an island then known as

“Axanto s

” or “U x isam a

,

”and now called th e I sle of

Ushant,which they des cribed as being “three days ’ sail

,

”

or 1 5 00 stadia, from th e headland .

1 H ere they landed,and

On assure qu’

el les guérissent les m a ladies qui échappent ala sc ience des

Ovates, qu’

e l les soulévent et apaisen t par leurs chants les vents et les flots,

qu'

e l les em p runtent a v olonté la figure de tous les an im aux , qu’

e l lesdom inen t sur la Nature entiere, et saven t les secrets de l ’aven ir, m ais ne les

dévo ilent qu’

aux seuls nav igateurs em barqués dans le but un ique de

consulter les orac les. Ces neuf v ierges sem blent dans la c royance populairela p lus grande puissance des Gaules. H e adop ts the best reading of

Pom pon ius M e la, iii. 6 , Gal l i Senas vocant, instead of Gallicenas or

Barrigenas, and interp rets the root sen to denote awe and respec t, “ L e

radical sen exp rim e la vénération et l’

autorité .

”

Th e who le subjec t is veryuncertain , resting on ly on a faint repo rt of what was said by Pytheas ; butit m ay be fairly supposed that if there were two islands north of th e Lo ire ,in which the Ce ltic rituals were p rac tised , the one m ay be identified as

Ushan t (Ux isam a) , and th e other as l’

I le des Saints (Sein) , not far fromBrest .

1 The lengt h of th e stadium , after som e disputes, is now fixed at 60 0

Greek feet , wh ich is equa l to th e 600th part of a degree or the tenth part ofa nautical m ile (See Bunbury ’

s Anc . Geog. i . Th e calculation of

distance m entioned in th e text was erroneous, and led E ratosthenes to m akea false estim ate of th e extension of Gaul and Britain to the west . Pytheasconsidered Brittany to be 300 m iles further west than the Straits of Gibraltar ,and to th is was added the headlands, inc luding that of the O stim ii, cal ledCabaeum , and th e adjo ining islands, th e last of wh ich, cal led U x isam a

, was

2 6 Or igins of English H istory .

found ano ther temple ,where nine virgin prie stesses

maintained a perpetual fire and attended to a famousoracle . The se ve stal s profe ssed to have magical powers ,to be able to transfo rm themse lve s into th e shapes ofanimals

,and to have fine weather and favouring winds on

sale for trave llers,with a curious similarity in the ir

customs to th e arts of th e later Lapland wit ches . 1 H ere ,without knowing it

,Pytheas was at h is nearest point to

th e Co rnish tin - country of wh ich h e was in search : and

there is no h int of any trade then existing b etwe en th e

Bretons and th e people of th e oppo site coast,such as

Po sidonius soon afterwards found existing b etween th e

insular Britons and th e people of th e neighbourhood ofVannes ; so that it seems probable that th e regular mode

of communication was by coasting as far as th e Straits ofDover

,where th e passage was les s perilous than a voyage

over th e broad and stormy Channel. Pytheas himse lf atall events was unaware of h i s Vi cm i ty to Cornwall , for h esailed up th e Channe l as far as Cantion

,at the eastern

extremity of th e island .

2

Pytheas remained for some t ime in Britain,th e country

to which,as h e said

,h e paid more attent i on than to any

other which h e visited in th e course .o f h is trave l s ; and

h e claimed to have visited most of th e access ible parts ofth e island and to have c oasted al ong the whole length of

d istant (according to Pytheas) a three days ’

sail (Strabo . i. A l l thesecalculations were acco rdingly described as inventions of Pytheas.

1 M ela . iii . c . 6 .

2 Cantion is usual ly identified with the No rth Fore land, but it is notc lear that th e earlier writers d id not give the nam e to D over . Caesardesc ribed th e south-eastern angle of th e island as being at Cantium ,

wherenearly all th e ship s from Gaul put in . D e Be l l . Ga l l . v . c . 13 . This wasp robably the em porium used by the Veneti. Strabo . iv . 194 .

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2 8 Orig ins of English H istory .

magnetic needle and of th e use of th e compass renderedth e most detailed itinerarie s of the Greeks and Romansextreme ly uncertain

,for a want of knowledge of th e

dire ction or angle with th e meridian .

“The universalgeography of Ptolemy h as th e merit of presenting to us th ewhole of the anc ient world graphical ly in outl ines

,as we l l

as numerical ly in positions assigned ac cording to longitude ,latitude

,and length of day ; but often as h e affi rms th e

superiority of astronomical results over itinerary e stimate s

by land and water,we are unfortunately without any mean s

of distinguishing among these assigned position s th e natureof th e foundation on wh ich each re sts

,or th e relative

probab ility wh ich m ay be ascribed to them ac cording to

the itine raries then existing .

” 1 For these reasons we neednot dwe l l very much upon those exaggerated estimates ofdistance which led Pytheas to suppose that Britain was acontinent of enormous size

,a miniature world ,

” or a

“new world

,

” to use th e phrase s of those who re lied uponh i s authority . As far as we can j udge by th e extracts in

th e works of Strabo and D iodorus,h e more than doubled

some of th e proper measurements . H e considered thatthe island of Britain was of a three - cornered shape

,

something l ike th e head of a battle -ax e,th e southern s ide

,

lying oblique ly near th e coast of Gaul,being th e shorte st

,

on th e as sumption that th e whole line from Cantion to th ewe sternmost promontory was about 7 50 miles in length ;th e eastern side h e estimated at double that length ; andth e western side

,which h e h ad not visited in person ,

was

thought to b e about m iles l ong . Th e total circuitof Britain was therefore about mile s . 2 I n considering

1 H um b . Cosm os. ii. 190 (Sab ine) .

2 Pl iny c ites Pytheas as com puting that Britain was distant from

Orig ins of English H istory . 2 9

these measurements we must rem ember at th e same t imethat th e whole habitable worl d was then believed to b e

v ery small. Th e world was thought to be twice as long

as its own breadth : th e total breadth,from th e Spice

Countries and Ceylon to th e frozen shore s of Scythia, beingtaken at about miles ; th e length , from Cape

'

St .

V in cent to th e ocean east of India,at double that amount .

These cal culations were upset by th e exaggeratedmeasurements of Pytheas , which (if correctly reported)appear to have been inconsistent among themselves

,as

well as contradictory of th e ideas which Were then most

general ly received . Pytheas h ad placed th e south of

Britain at a point about mile s north of Marse il les,

and th e northern point of th e is land at a distance of nearlym il es from that c ity

,th e distance from Cape Oreas in

S cotland to Thule be ing e stimated at a further distance of

six days ’ and nights ’ sail to th e northward . I t is not

surprising therefore that considerable confusion re sulted

from such new and revolutionary e stimates,or that some of

th e later geographers should have inveighed against th e

traveller as a dece iver and detected impostor ; but th e

impartial student will probably discover a motive for a

m ore charitable e stimate in th e fact,that S trabo ’s own

measurements are as wild in their own way as any wh ich

are as cribed to th e ol der writer .

W e m ay now leave th ese barren cal culations , and c on

sider th e few details of a more valuable kind which are

all that remain of th e des cription of Britain by Pytheas ,H e appears to have arrived in Kent in the early summer .

Gessoriacum (Boulogne) about 5 0 R om an m iles, and that th e who le c ircuito f th e island was m iles . Pliny . H ist . Nat. iv . 0 . 3 0 .

30 Or igins of English H istory .

and to have remained in this country until after th e

harvest,returning for a second visit after h is voyage to

th e north . H e estimated th e length of th e day at

Midsummer at 19 hours ; on th e shortest day th e sun

“ascended not more than 3 cub its in th e sky ”

; and in

those parts of Gaul where th e sun rose 4 cub its at th e

winter so l stice,h e cal culated th e length of th e l ongest day

at 18 hours ; in th e extreme north of th e island th e nights

Were s o short in summer that there was hardly any dimi

nution of light between th e sunset and th e sunrise ; and

further north stil l,in th e neighbourhood of Thule

,

“if

there are no clouds in th e way , th e splendour of th e sun

can be seen through th e night,for h e doe s no t rise or set

in th e ordinary way , but move s along th e horizon from

west to east . ”

I n th e southern districts h e saw an abundance of wheatin th e fields

,and observed th e neces sity of thrashing it out

in covered barns,instead of using th e unroofed floors to

wh ich h e was ac customed in th e sunny climate of Mar

seilles . “Th e natives,

”

h e said,

“collect th e sheaves in great

barns and thrash out th e corn there,

“ be cause they haveso little sunshine

,that our open thrashing-places would b e

of little use in that land of clouds and rain .

”H e added

that they made a drink “by m ixing wheat and honey,

which is still known as metheglin ”in some of our

country districts ; and h e is probably th e first authorityfor th e des cription of th e British beer

,which the Greek

phys ic ians knew by a We lsh name,and against which

they warned the ir ,patients as a

“drink producing pain inth e head and inj ury to th e nerves . This last detail

,how ~

ever,m ay come from Posidonius , who visited th e island in

a later generation, and who -wasp erh aps th e author of a

Or igins of English H istory . 3 1

de s cription of harve st in another part o f Britain,where

th e people have mean habitation s constructed for th e most

part of rushes or sticks,and the ir harve st cons ists in cutting

o ff th e ears of corn and storing them in p its under-ground :they take out each day th e corn which h as b een longeststored

,and dre ss th e ears for food ” 1 To understand this

de s cription one should compare with’

it a passage from

Mart in’s “D es cription of theWestern I slands of Scotland,

”

which was published in 1703“A woman

,

”h e said

,

“ sitting down,take s a handful of corn

,holding it by th e

stalks in h er left hand,and then sets fire to th e ears

,which

are pre sently in a flame . Sh e h as a stick in h er right hand,

wh ich sh e manage s very dexterous ly , b eating o ff th e grains

at th e very instant when th e husk is qu ite burnt for if sh em is s of that

,sh e must use th e kiln ; but experience h as

taught them th e art to perfection . Th e corn m ay b e so

dressed,winnowed

,

-ground,and baked

,within an hour after

reaping from th e ground .

” We learn from a confused

passage of Strabo , that Pytheas described th e different

forms of agriculture and mode s of living in several parts of

th e c ountry : “for th e cele stial signs and s cientific survey

h e seems to have made ample use of the phenomena of th e

Arctic zone,as that there are cultivated fruits

,a great

abundance of some dome stic animals and a s carc ity of

others that th e inhabitants feed on millet and other

1 D iod . v . 2 1 . Posidonius appears to have v isited the eastern parts of

,Britain ,as we l l as the Co rnish m ining

-distric ts . H is desc rip tion of th e

Tham es and th e reflux of the tida l stream ,

“four days’ journey from the

Sea,”

appears in Prisc ianus Lydus. Solutiones ad Ch osroem (Bywater) 7 2 .

“Th e desc rip tion is used by M e la , w ithout quoting the travelle i’

s nam e .

M ela . i i i. c . 6 . Jornandes c ites th e sam e passage , with a refe i ence to a lostaccount of Britain in the Annals of Tac itus.

i

Jornand . D e R eb . Ge tic . c . 2 .

3 2 Orig ins of English H istory .

vegetables,and on fruit and th e roots of plants that they

have wheat and honey,of which they make a b everage

,

with th e other details already quoted as applicable to th e

southern districts . 1

Pytheas appears to have known th e eastern coasts from

th e Shetland I slands to th e North Fore land,but not to

have visited Ire land or even th e western regions ofBritain ; and th e ancient critics argued against h is ac curacyfrom the fact that h e des cribed a great numb er of smal li slands lying north of S cotland

,but did no t say any thing

about Ire land . This place must in the ir view have comeunder h is notice

,if h e h ad been in those regions at all ; for

I re land,as they thought

,was an Arctic island

,lying due

north of Britain,

“where th e savage s find living verydiffi cult on account of th e cold .

”

It h as been supposed that h e m ay have visited th e westo f Britain

,on account of th e very early reports which

reached th e Greeks of an immense round temple in Britain,

that was dedicated to th e worship of th e sun . Some of th eGreek travellers who followed h im m ay have seen Stonehenge

,but th e evidence is against th e theory that P y theas

was ever in those parts . Doubtless h e learned somethingabout th e tin-trade , th e chief obj e ct of h is visit to th e islandand h e was probably th e originator of that commerce inth e metal which was established after h is time on th e routeb etween Marseil les and th e Straits of Dover . Many of

are b e lieved to be earlier than th e se cond century B .C .

are modelled on Greek money of th e age of Ph il ipo f M acedon ; but it is thought that these were c opied

1 Strabo . iv . 2 0 1 .

Origins of English H istory . 33

from Gaul ish patterns,and that th e Britons did no t co in

for themse lve s earl ier than 2 00 years before Christ .1

From th e best modern ac counts of th e regions wheretin m ight have been produced at that time

,we m ay

take them as being subdivided into th e district ofDartmoor and th e country round Tavistock , at one

time a very fertile source of stream -tin : th e parts round

St . Austell,including several valleys opening to th e

southern coast of Cornwal l : th e St . Agne s district,on th e

northern coast (where , howeve r , th e tin l ies too deep for usto attribute a knowledge of it to th e prim itive inhab itants )and th e rich country between Cape Cornwall and St . Ives

,

to wh ich th e same remark seems to apply “From th e

s earch,

” says S ir H enry D e la B eche,

“wh ich h as during

so many centurie s been made for stream -tin in Cornwal land Devon

,it is difficult to obtain sections of unmoved

ground . H ence we can form a very inadequate idea of th egreat accumulations which must have been first worked

,

and consequently of th e tin-stone pebble s swept into th ebottoms of val leys or into bas in- shaped depress ion s by th ebody of water which appears to have passed over th is land .

Trace s of stream -works (pits and fburrows’

) are to be seen

from Dartmoor to th e Land ’s End,often in depressions on

the higher grounds as,for exam ple

,on th e former elevated

region,whence tin-pebble s have l ong ceased to b e obtained

,

being th e works of th e ‘ old m en,

’

as th e anc ient m iners are

universal ly termed in Devon and Cornwal l . ” 2

Th is evidence m ay help us to explain th e meaning of1 Evans, Co ins of th e Anc ient Britons, 2 6 . Rhys, Ce l tic Brita in ,

19 .

Som e o f the co ins, however, are said to have th e appearance o f beingcenturies o lder than Caesar ’s first expedition . M onum enta H istorica

Britann ica . introd . 1 5 1 .

2 Geo logy o f Cornwall , 40 1 .

34 Orig ins of English H istory .

Timaeus,th e contemporary of Pytheas

,when h e mentioned

an is land called ‘ M ic tis’

(or‘I ctis at a distance of six

day s ’ sail from Britain,

‘in an inward direction

,

’ fromwh ich th e tin comes : to which island th e natives makevoy ages ‘ in their canoes of wickerwork s ewn round with

Whatever th e meaning m ay be of th e phrase

in an inward direction ,and from whatever po int these

native s ni av be supposed to have commenced the ir six

day s ’ voyage,th e important fact remains that th e tin was

dug up in West Devon and Cornwall,and was stored at

some place,which was supposed to have lain at six days ’

voyage from th e m ineral district ; and it seems reasonableto identifv it with th e I sle of Thanet , at wh ich th e martswere established

,from wh ich th e merchants made th e

shorte st passage to Gaul . Th e pas sage in this View mustbe taken to m ean

,that th e native boats took a week to

pass b etwe en th e t in districts and th e parts visited byPy theas . 1 Th e m ineral region was des cribed by Posidonius

,

whose travel s have already b een mentioned ; h e drew a

liv elv picture of th e inhab itants and th e nature of theircommerce

,wh ich is preserved in th e colle ct ions of

D iodorus . Th e account of h is visit to Cornwal l,wh ich

h e called Belerium,

”

a name afterwards appropriated

1 T im aeus H istoricus i‘

i Britann ia introrsus sex dierum nav igatione

abesse d ic it insulam M ictim,in qua candidum p lum bum proven iat ; ad cani

Britanno s v itilibus nav igiis corio c ircum sutis nav igare . Pl iny . H ist . Nat. iv .

c . 30 . Professo r R hys c onsiders it to be c lear that this is a m ere c lerical erro rfor

“I c tis . Ce ltic Brita in . 2 99 .

1 Pl iny be l ieved it to be a fable of th e Greeks, that th e tin was fetchedfrom islands in th e Atlantic , ” and carried there in th e w icker-boats sewnround with h ides , H ist . N at. xxx iv . c . 16 : though such boats were stil l inuse am ong th e Britons in h is day , d id . v i 1. c . 5 7 . Caesar . De Bel l . Civ . i .

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36 Or igins of English H istory .

Th e port whence most of th e traffic went to Gaul musthave been at th e narrow p art of th e Channel , as it wasin th e time of Cm sar. I t wil l be remembered that h e

made h is passage from th e Portus I tius,supposed to be

th e village ofWissant,and that this was not far from Cape

Grisnez which,according to Ptolemy

,was known as th e

I c ian or “ It ian ” Promontory . Th e island forming a

peninsula at low water, where the stores of tin werecolle cted

,m ay easily have been th e I sle of Thanet

,wh ich

h as only been j oined to th e mainland in modern time s .Bede tell s us

,that in th e 7th century there was a ferry

over th e e stuary between Thanet and Kent,which was

nearly half a m ile across at h igh tide,

and '

th e broadstream with ferry boats and people fording th e passage at

low water is depicted on c ertain ancient maps wh ichb elonged to Saint Augustine ’s Abbey at Canterbury . Th e

estuary,now repre sented by th e s lender stream of th e

Wantsum e River,was no t complete ly silted up at any

point until th e re ign of H enry VI I I .,when a chronicler

cited th e testimony of eight m en then l iving,who had seen

barges and merchant vessel s sail at high tide along th ewhole channe l from Richborough to Reculver . 1 Therewould probably have been no doubt about th e identity ofth e island of “ I ctis with th e island lying so nearlyopposite to th e I tian Port

,

”if it were not for th e silting

up of those channe l s,which in anc ient times h ad made

th e Kentish islands along th e southern bank of th e

estuary . of th e Thames to seem l ike peninsulas at th e ebb,

while they were true islands at th e flood . But as th epecul iar c ircumstances of th e case be came forgotten ,

it

-1 Twine , De R eb . Albion . i . 2 5 . The old m ap.

of Thanet in th e

Appendix was first publ ished by Dugdale in the M onasticon .

”

Origi ns of Engli sh H istory . 37

be came usual to look for “ I ctis in another direction ;and it is now very frequently supposed to be identical

with St . M ichae l ’s Mount in Mount ’s Bay , th e only placeon th e southern coast wh ich

,in th e pre sent day ,

corre sponds to th e detail s of th e original des cription .

But it Should be remembered,that from th e existence

of th e submarine fore st in Mount ’s Bay, and th e Cornish

tradition that in anc ient time s th e ne ck between th e

mount and th e mainland was never reached by th e tide,

it is very possible that in th e age of Pytheas th e

pre sent island or peninsula would not have corresponded

with th e des cription of th e island of I otis . And this

theory is borne out by an old Cornish name for the

Mount,which Le land and

'

Carew have pre served,and

wh ich they interpret as meaning “ th e H oar Rock in th eWood .

H ere we m ay leave th e subject of th e visit of Pytheas

to South Britain,and wil l pas s in th e next chapter to

what is known of h is travels in Germany and th e Baltic,

and of h is celebrated j ourney into th e Arctic C ircle .

1 Carew, Survey of Cornwal l , 15 4 . For th e argum ents in favour of theidentity of I ctis and St . M ichae l ’s M ount , see Kenrick , Phoen ic ia, 2 2 0 ;

H awkins, T in Trade of th e Anc ients ; Sm ith ’

s Cassiterides, and D e la

Beche , Geo logy of Cornwal l , 5 2 4 . Professo r Rhys considers that “the

peop le of th e south-west conv eyed their tin eastwards to som e po int on thecoast, to be there so ld to fore ign m e rchants, ” that p lace be ing perhapsthe Is le o f Thanet . This View, h e says, would exp lain Caesar ’s singularstatem ent, that British tin cam e from th e inland parts of th e country ;but th e question of the transit is too difficul t for us to settle . H e does

not think tha t th e Veneti of Caesar's tim e traded direc tly with Devon and

Cornwal l : if there were any direct trade in tin between the tin-distric ts ofBritain and th e Lo ire , it m ust have been utterly unknown to Caesar

,wh ich

is not l ike ly to have been the case , h ad it ex isted . Celtic Brita in , 46 , 47 ,

38 Origins of Engli sh H istory .

C H APTER I I .

V isit o f Pyth eas to Germ any and the Balt ic .— Crit ic ism by Strabo —Sum m ary o f route .

—Pliny ’

s north ern geography.—D escrip t ion of Germ any by Tac itus—Th e

Go th ones and Suiones.—Th e North ern Ocean—Th e IE styi o f th e Am ber Coast .

Obl igations o f Tac itus to Greek writers—R oute o f Pyth eas — Passage to Celtica .

—Th e O stians or Ostiones—Th eir m ode o f liv ing—Th e C im bri —Th e Ch anc i .N orth Germ any

—Th e H ercynian Forest.— I ts Fauna in the tim e of Pytheas .

Th e re indeer .—Th e elk—Th e urus—Th e auroch s—Th e country of the C im br i .—Th e Guttones—Th e Am ber Islands—E xtent o f com m erce in am ber—Voyageto Thule —D iscov eries in th e Arctic C irc le—R eturn to Britain—Passage toM arse il les — Ch aracter o f Pyth eas.

H E visit of Pytheas to Germany must always beinteresting to those who regard th e North Sea coasts

as th e true fatherland of th e English people . I t is besidesof great historical importance

,as being th e source of all

Greek knowledge of th e countrie s beyond th e Rhine,with

th e s ingle exception of th e trave l s of Posidonius,of which

some fragments re lating to Germany are extant . Even latein th e first century after Christ th e Romans were forced torely mainly on the old geographers for information aboutth e regions east of th e Elbe

,or

,in other words

,upon th e

works of Pytheas and h is commentators .Strabo indeed denied boldly that any Greek h ad pene

trated east of th e Elbe,and gave the reason for h is be lief.

If they h ad sailed there,h e said

,th e ships must have come

out near th e mouth of th e Caspian Sea,

” which certainlyhad never happened . H e concluded

,therefore

,that nothing

was actually known of those parts of th e world,and pro

fe ssed a complete ignorance of th e nations who inhab itedthose northern lands

,if,indeed

,any people could inhab it

a region of such terrible cold .

Th e general notions of Pytheas about th e countries

Or igins Of English H istory . 39

beyond th e Rhine m ay b e briefly summarized as follows,

th e detail s of his diary being reserved for closer exam inationafter a notice of c ertain general statements in th e works ofPliny and Tacitus .

A Ce ltic country,cal led “

Germ ara,

” 1 or by some suchname

,stre tched east from th e Rhine to S cythia

,and north

wards from th e Orcyn ian forest” to th e sea Th e coast as

far as th eElbewas o ccupied by th e Ostions,or Ostim i

”

next to them th e Cimbri filled the ir famous Ch ersonesussouth and east of them dwe l t their al lie s th e Teutones .Th e C imbric peninsula ran up to th e mouth of an immensee stuary or gulf

,called M entonom on

,o f wh ich th e

southern shore s were occupied by tribes called“Go th ones

”

or Guttones,

”as far as th e Vistu la

,which seem ed as if

it were a branch of th e great River Tanais,dividing Asia

and Europe,while another rive r seemed to b e no t unl ike

th e Borysth enes .

” There were several is lands near th e“S cythian shore

,

”

and further out in‘

th e gulf,and also

beyond its mouth,an immense arch ipe lago stretched from

Scania ” to Cape Rub eae,th e northern po int of th e world .

By passing northwards from is land to island a travellerwould come to Thule

,which m ight itse l f be an island

,or

m ight be part of th e unknown Scyth ian continent . I n th e

ne ighbourhood of Thule was th e Dead or S luggish Sea,

and further still to th e north a frozen or encrusted ocean .

1 Th e wo rd “Germ ara was app l ied to a tribe in Ce ltica, who could

not see in th e day-tim e,

” by Eudoxus of Cn idos, who l ived about the tim e o f

Pytheas. See D e M irab . Auscul t. 2 4, and Stephan . Byz ant . sub v oce

Germ ara .

”Pytheas m ade a river cal led the ‘ Tanais

’

the l im it of h isnorthern discoveries, but h e seem s to hav e known that it was no t real lyth e sam e as the D on . H is j ourney was, howeve r, frequently desc ribedas having extended “ from Gades to the Tanais.

”See Strabo ,

ii . 104 .

L elewel considered that th e Tanais of Py theas was the E lbe .

40 Or igins of English I I istory .

If we compare this sketch with Pliny’s account of th e

Baltic,or with th e more e laborate ac count of Germany by

Tacitus,we shall find that a good deal of knowledge on

th e subj ect had been acquired in th e first century of our

era,which cannot fairly be said to have b een borrowed

from Pytheas .Pliny seems to have been acquainted with th e greatrange of mountains wh ich separates Sweden from Norway .

“Mount Sevo ”

(th e clas sical name for th e mountains in

question) , and th e promontory of Jutland formed in h is

notion th e horns which en c ircled a gigantic gulf,th e S inus

Codanus,

”

in which were s cattered th e S candinavianislands .1 S candia

,

”h e said

,

“is th e most famous of these :

one part of it alone contains fiv e hundred settlements,and

it seems like another world : then there is

which is said to be about as large . People say , that fromth is point round to th e Vistula th e whole country is

inhab ited by Sarmatians and Wends that there is a bay

cal led Cylipenus, with an island at its mouth . Going west,

one comes to th e Bay of L agnum ,quite c lose to th e

Cimbric peninsula : th e promontory in which th e peninsulaends is called Cartris it runs a long way into the sea

,and

is nearly cut o ff by th e waters .3 On th e other side of th epromontory th e islands begin

,of which twenty-three have

been reached in th e Roman wars,th e be st known being

1 Pl iny, H ist . N at . iv . o . 2 7.

2 “En ingia

”

is taken by Besse l l (Pytheas, to be Zealand . I t isca l led “

Ep igia by th e Irish m onk D icuil. I t is identified w ith Fin landby O laus M agnus, H ist . Septent. i. 2 and this seem s to be m ost in accordance with Pl iny ’

s descr ip t ion . Th e m ap o f the no rthern countries in the

Appendix is taken from an early edition of O laus M agnus.

3 The L iim Fjord . The Bay of Cylipenus m ay be the Frische H af at

Dantz ig.

Or igins of E nglish H istory . 4 1

‘ Burchana,

’1 wh ich th e soldiers cal led th e I sle of Beans,

from a vegetable wh ich they found growing wil d anothe ris Glessaria

,or Amber I sland

,wh ich th e native s cal led

Austrania ;2 but th e later Greeks have called all th e islands

from Jutland to th e Rh ine Ele ctrides,

’ or Amber I slandsand some say that there are others cal led Scandia

,Dumni

,

and B ergi,and Nerigo

,th e largest of all

,from which th e

voyage to Thul e is made .

Th e des cription of th e same countries by Tac itu s is nots o ac curate in its details

,but is p erhaps more intere sting .

H is ac count of northern Germany is interspersed with

several ane cdote s o f trave l lers and fragments of old Greektradition . It is remarkable indeed that

,though h e was an

intimate friend of th e younger Pliny,Tacitus does no t

seem to have drawn upon th e stores of information aboutGermany

,which Pliny th e El der h ad collected for a

h istory of th e German wars and it is extremely doubtful

whethe r th e great natural ist would have agreed with th e

de tail s of th e account wh ich Tacitus re ce ived or comp iled

concerning th e origin and manners of th e whole Germannation .

”H e include s in Germany all th e countrie s lying

north of th e Danube and west of the l ine of th e Vistula,

as far as th e Arctic Regions : taking in Bohemia, S ilesia,Poland

,Pomeran ia

,and a vast number of Slavonian

districts be side s,over an area about three tim e s as large

as that which is now allowed to th e T eutonic stock . Th e

case,indeed

,is very much as if one should take th e

modern German Empire,adding Poland and Bohem ia and

several neighbouring countries , and were then to proceed

1 The sm al l po rtion wh ich the sea has not swep t away is cal led the Isleof Borkum .

1 The island of Am e land, off the coast of West Friesland .

4 2 Or igins of English H istory .

to des cribe th e whole population as having exactly th e

same laws,customs

,and physical appearance .

Tac itus wrote in much the same way of h is Germania,with its heterogeneous crowd of nations .c . .

“Th e German nations,

’’

h e said,

are divided fromGaul

l

and th e Alpine and I l lyrian province s by th e Rhine

and th e Danube,and from th e Sarmatian and Dac ian

tribes e ither bv ranges of mountains or mutual fears of

war. The ir own boundary is th e encircling ocean,wh ich

sweeps through broad gulfs and around islands of immense

extent . ”1

c . 4 .

“For mysel f I agree with those who hold that

th e peoples of Germany were never crossed with anotherrace in marriage

,and that they be l ong to no one but

themselves,and are a pure sto ck un like anv other in th e

world . Th is is th e reason that in such a vast multitude of

m en all have th e same bodily character,fie rce blue eyes

and red hair,and stout bodie s

,good only for a charge :

fatigue and hard work they have not a corre sponding

endurance,and they are but l ittle able to bear th irst or

heat,though ac customed to cold and hunger by their

cl imate or th e nature of th e soil . ”

0 . 44 . Beyond th e n ians are th e Go thones,who are

ruled by kings a little more strictly than th e other Germannations

,but yet not more than is consistent with freedom .

Then,close on th e ocean

,we come to th e Rugians and

L em ov ians. And all these nations m ay be known by the ir1 Th e key to th e confused geography of th e Germ an ia, as regards

N o rthe rn Ge rm any, w il l be found in a com parison of th e passages in whichh e m entions the

“ Oceanus, or o cean-current,as distinguished from th e

seas which were c rossed or d iv ided by its stream . Th e Islands o f the

Suiones, or th e Dan ish I sles and Southe rn Scandinav ia, are described as

being actual ly enc irc led by “Oceanus.

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44 Origins of English I I istory .

gives safety to th e servant of th e goddess even in th e

m idst of th e foe . They rare ly use iron,but mostly have

wooden c lubs . They cultivate corn and other fruits of th e

earth with m ore pat ience than usually belongs to th e idle

Germans . N ay , they even search th e recesses of th e sea,

and are th e only people who pick up th e amber (whichthey cal l gles i ini ) in th e shallows and along th e shore .

But,like true savage s

,they have never inquired or found

out what it is,or how produced . And for a very long

t ime it used to lie unnoticed among th e other scum castup by th e sea

,until our luxury gave it a name among them .

Among themselves it is of no use it is gathered in roughpiece s and carried across Europe in shapeless lumps

,until

at last they receive a price which amazes them . One m ay

suppose,however

,that it is th e res in of some tree

,because

in so many p ie ce s are glittering forms of creep ing and

even winged things,which must be caught when th e gum

is liquid,and afterwards shut in as th e mass become s

solid .

” Pl iny ’s account is very similar . H e consideredthat th e “

gles i i in”

was a re sin,produced in Germany .

H e says that it was p icked up on th e shore of Glessaria,

”

which th e native s called “Austrania

,

”

and was carriedthence for a distance of 600 m iles to Carnuntum in

Pannonia (no t far from th e modern city ofVienna) .

1 Thesecal culations enable us to fix th e site of th e “

fE styi ofTacitus

,who have been s o strangelv transferred , on th e

strength of a similarity of name s,to th e furthest recesse s

of th e d istant Gulf of Riga .

2

1 Pliny . xxxvu. c . Carnuntum was th e frontier-town of th e Em p ire .

I ts site is said to be at Pe trone l l , near Vienna .

2 Th e“Easte , or Esth onians, sen t an em bassy to Theodo ric the

Ostro-go th , thus described by Gibbon , who was am used at the idea of

Or igins of English f I istory . 4 5

We m ay om it for th e pre sent h is de scription of th epopulation between th e Rhine and th e Elbe . I t will besufficient for our pre sent purpose to deal with th e ac count

o f th e Baltic tribes , starting from th e Vistula and passingwe stwards along th e shore . I n h is picture of th e

“vastgulf

,

”

and of th e nations which fringed its southern coast,

Tacitus certainly seems to have copie d passage s from

th e older Greeks . It h as even been sugge sted that th ewhole ac count of “Suevia

,

” or,at least

,of th e northern

portions,including th e countrie s of th e f Estyi and th e

Anglii , with which Engl ishmen are most concerned,was

taken direct from th e“Geograph ica

” of Eratosthene s,

which,as far as th e north is concerned

,was founded on th e

observations of Pytheas : and much m ight b e said in

favour of th e opinion ; but th e fact must remain doubtfulfor want of explicit evidence .

We wil l now examine somewhat more clo se ly th e

fragments of th e diary of Pytheas which relate to th e

people of those coasts . From some place near “Cantion,

”

probably th e port near th e mouth of th e Thame s or about

th e neighbourhood of Sandwich,to which th e Gallic m er

chants resorted from th e“I tian Port

,

” Pytheas crossed

Cassiodorus quoting Tac itus to the rude natives of th e Baltic Fromthe sho res of th e Baltic th e

‘ I Estians,’

or Livonians, laid their o fferings o f

native am ber at th e feet of a p rince whose fam e h ad exc ited them to

undertake an unknown and dangerous journey of m iles (D ec l .and Fa l l , c . The learned m in ister of Theodoric returned a m ostfriend ly letter, inv iting th e

“ dwe l lers by the o cean”

to keep up the iracquaintance with th e Court of R avenna , and giv ing them an account o fth e am ber “

from the writings of one Co rne l ius, ” with suggestions for arenewal of th e traffic . (Cassiodorus, Varia . v . Th e histo rian h as not

observed that the wild Esthon ians would be far outside any possibleboundaries of the Germ ania of Tac itus.

46 Or igins of English H istory .

over to Ce ltica. to a po int near th e mouth of th e Rh ine

wh ich cannot now be identified . Th e changes which havetaken place in th e course s of th e Rhine and Maas havecompletel y altered th e general conformat ion of th e coastof th e Neth erla nds . According to th e diary, th e passage

took two day s and a half ; and th e statement was probablv

accurate . Strabo sco ff ed at it , on th e ground that . accord

ing to h is ge ography ,th e mouth of th e Rh ine and th e

eastern point o f Kent were within s ight of each other . I t

will be remembered that th e distinction between Gaul and

Germ anv was at th at time unknow n: th e whol e countrybe twe en Brittan y and Jutla nd was treated as part ofCelti ca "

and th e Gauls were in l ike manner thought

to include all th e races who lived al ong th e Shores of th e

O cean as far to th e east as c th ia .

1

Th e people wh o then occupied th e c oast about th e

mouth of th e Elbe were called 1“O stiones ‘

bv Pv th eas. or

Ostife i”

according to th e. reading adopted by h is follower

s f

Timaeus . Anoth er name for th e sam e people ,or perhaps

for a neighbouring tribe . is found in th e fo l l owing passagefrom Stephanus of s antium :

“Th e Ostiones . a nation

on th e coast of th e wester n ocea n. whom Art em idoruscal led Cossini . and Pv th eas cal led Ostice i .

n

Th e nam e of

this nation appears in that of th e Estian Marsh,

2and

1 D iod . Sic . v .-5 . Prof . R awl inson “

E thno logy of th e Cim bri, Proc .

Anth rop . Inst . v i . 15 1 po ints out,that th e later wr iters div id

Ger many from Gaul bv a sharp l ine at th e c ourse of th e R hine . and

counte d all th e tr ibe s east of th e riv er as Ge rm ans . using th e ter m in a

ge ographical rather than an etlm ological sense .

2 See th e acc ount of "Estia Pa lus ”

in M ela . iii. c . 2 . Blare quod

grem io littorum acc ipitur nusquam late patet, nec usquam m ari sim ile .

v e rum aquis passim interfluen tibus ac scepe t mnsgressis vagam atquediffusum fac ie am uium Spargitur.

”

Or igins of English H istory . 47

probably in that of th e f E styi of Tac itus . Dr . Latham ,

however,cons idered th e last-named tribes to have b een

th e oc cupants of th e pre sent coast of Pruss ia and Courland : th e reference to th e amber trade

,in h is opinion

,

“fixe s th e l o cal ity as definite ly as Etna would fix S ic ily,

or Ve suvius Campania . But it will be pre sently shownthat th e true story of th e amber trade fixes this peoplein a lo cality different from either Prussia or Courland ;and that they must be transferred to th e fens and islandsnear th e mouth of th e Elbe

,of which ment ion has already

been made .

There is no t very much known about th e hab its of theseOstians.

’ They occupied th e territorie s of th e Fris iansand Chanci

,and of th e other tribe s who afterwards took part

in th e settlement ofEngland s o that we m ay regard them

as having probably been among our anc estors . The ir

language seems to have b een an ol d form o fGerm an,as far

aswe can j udge from th e few words wh ich remain . Th e

name of th e people is bel ieved to mean “th e East-m en

,

”

and there seems to be suffic ient reason for attributing th eword “Thule ” to the ir idiom : th e ce lebrated name is

said to h ave Goth ic affinities (signifying an end”

or

so that we should not attribute it to th e

Cimbri who gu ided travellers on th e northward j ourney,

though some of th e lo cal name s mentioned in th e voyageto Thule appear to be of C imbric origin

,and to have

formed part of a vocabulary akin to th e Wel sh .

Our traveller,and th e writers of the suc ceeding age

who borrowed h is picture sque des criptions,gave a

pitiable ac count of th e l ife among the Ostians and th e

Cimbri . The ir time seems to have been consumed in a

perpetual s truggle with the sea,which they h ad not yet

48 Or igins of E nglis/z H is iory .

learned to confine with dykes and embankments . With a

h igh t ide and an inshore wind the ir homes and live s were

always in danger of de struction . A mounted horseman

could barely e s cape by galloping from th e rush and force

o f th e t ide . Th e angry Cimbri,it is said

,would take

the ir weapons and threaten th e gods of th e sea : th ev

l ost more m en in a year by water than by all the ir wars .

O thers said that “the Celt s prac tised fearlessness in lettingthe ir homes be overwhelmed in th e flood

,and building

them on th e same spots as soon as th e wave s retired ”

and“th e Celts

,who did no t fear earthquake - or flood

,

passed into a proverb as early as th e t ime of Aristotle .

1

I t is now,of course

,well known that th e sea h as from

ancient time s been attacking and encroaching upon all

th e shores b etwe en Frie sland and D itm arsh ; on one

occasion in h istorical times th e devouring force of th eGerman O cean is said to have drowned all Frieslandand destroyed a hundred thousand m en . Most of th egreat inundations o f th e North Sea have broken into th earea of Friesland .

2 Yet Strabo could not bel ieve th e fact .Accustomed to a soft and gradual motion of th e tide in an

inland sea,h e thought that th e violence of th e Northern

O cean must be a fiction .

“Th e regular action of th e

t ides and th e l imits of th e fore shore which they coveredm ust have been too well known to allow of such absurdities .H ow c an it possibly be be l ieved (h e wrote ) that , where

1 Eth ic . iii. 7 ; Eudem . Ethic . iii . 1 3 fElian , Var. xu. 2 3 . For th e

p assages from Pytheas , Epho rus, and Clitarchus, see Strabo , V ii . 2 93 . As

to the m iserable cond ition of the C im bri and Teutones in D itm arsh and its

neighbourhood ,see M e la

,iii. c . 2 .

2The m ost im portan t floods in this quarter of Europe are desc ribed in

Turner ’s “Anglo-Saxons, ch . i . Lelewel, in h is Essay on Pytheas,

m entions those of A. D . 1 2 00,1 2 18 , 1 2 2 1

,1 2 77 , 1 2 87, and 136 2 ,

Or ig ins of E nglis/z f f is iory . 49

th e tide flows in twice a day , th e natives should no t at oncehave perceived that the thing was natural and harmless ;they woul d see that it was not pe culiar to themse lves

,but

common to all who l iv e by th e shore s of th e ocean .

”

And

h e put down the story as another proof of th e fal sehood ofth e pretended dis coverer of Thule .

1

Th e ac count of th e Chanci affords th e best confirmationof th e accuracy of Pytheas . “Twice a day in that countryth e tide roll s in and covers th e land . The m iserablenative s 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 sailorsaboard sh ip when th e tide is in

,and like shipwrecked m en

at th e ebb ; and they hunt th e fish round the ir hovels asthey try to e s cape with th e tide . They have no cattle

,

and so they cannot l ive on m ilk like their neighbours,nor

can they even fight with wi ld beasts when every stick iscarried out to sea . They weave fish ing-nets out of seatangle and rushes ; and they pick up handfuls of mud

,

which they dry in th e wind,—for they have not much

sunshine,and so they make a fire to s corch their food

,and

their bodies too all stiffened by th e cold of th e north .

” 2

This picture sque des cription of th e German fen- level s

before the erection of their dyke s and embankmentsaccords with th e physical circumstance s of th e case and

with th e fragmentary traditions which are preserved in

th e critic isms of Strabo .

1 Strabo , v ii. 2 93 . H e describes “the Sigam bri, and Ghanb i, and

Bructeri, and C im bri, th e Cauc i, and Caulc i, and Cam psian i,”

and m anyo ther coast tribes, whose shifting nom enc lature it is now hardly worth whileto investigate .

2 Pliny, H ist. Nat. xv i . c . 1 .

5 0 Orig ins of E ngZis/z f f isz‘

ory .

I t is difficult to understand how Tac itus , who must have

b een fam iliar with th e learning acces sible to Pliny, coul dhave drawn th e imaginative p icture in wh ich h e presents

th e same Ch auc i as th e 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 th e best proof of their courage and

strength that they do not insul t others to show theirsuperior force . Yet every man ’s sword is ready

,and on

occasion they raise an army with a m ighty force of m en

and horses ; but in time of peace th eir glory is none th e

less . ”1

O ther writers have given very dismal accounts of th eGerman mode of life . Som e said that th e people were s orough and savage that they would pick th e meat off any

old skin o f an OX or animal killed in th e chase ; othersthought that they were cannibals those who live in th eno rth are th e most barbarous

,and it is said that s ome of

them eat m en .

” 2 It must be remem bered,however

,that

th e last charge is quite unproved,though itwas commonly

brought against all th e tribes which for th e time being wereb eyond th e limits of c ivilization . Th e Greek horror ofuncooked fo od was often distorted into an ac cusationof cannibal ism against th e northern barbarians . Th e

Brahmins of th e R ig-Veda brought charge s of th e samekind against th e goat-nosed Turanians

,who worshipped

m ad gods,

and kept up no sacred fire s : “they eat raw

meat,and wil l even devour m en .

”3

We must now return to th e j ourney of Pytheas . It

1 Tac . Germ . c . 3 5 .

2 B iod . v . c . 3 2 ; Strabo , iv . 2 00 . Pl iny, H ist . N at . v i. 0. 2 0 ; v ii. c . 2 .

3 Mul ler, Chips from a Germ an Workshop , ii. 3 2 8 .

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5 2 Orig ins of E ngZis/z s i‘ory .

H e does no t appear to have visited th e forest in person .

H e collected th e native reports of its vast extent,and of

th e hab its of th e strange animal s which were found there

and these will now be cited at length from th e transcripts

wh ich we find in th e Commentaries .Caesar first refers to certain fertile districts which werescattered about th e fore st , and then proceeds to describe

th e forest itself under th e name of th e H ercynian Wood,

“wh ich I find,h e says

,

“ to have been well known to

Eratosthenes,and to certain other Greeks

,under th e name

of Orcynia .

” 1L

“O f‘ this H ercynian Wood th e breadth is about nine

davs ’ j ourney for a qu ick traveller ; for th e boundaries c an

not be given in any other way , nor did they ( i . e . th e Gre ek

travellers ) know how to measure these days j ourneys . I t

appears that there are many kinds of wild beasts therewh ich are not seen elsewhere : th e fo llowing differ mostfrom th e common kinds

,and seem to be m ost worthy o f

mention here .

”

1 . TH E RE INDEER .

“There is a b east shaped like a

stag,with a horn proj ecting from th e m iddle of its fore

head ; it is l onger and straighter than any ordinary horn ,

palmated at the top , and branching into several tvnes .

Th e m ale and female are like each other,and their horns

are of th e same size and shape .

”

There is, perhaps , some confus ion here between th e

o f the chivalrous Chatti, the ancestors o f th e m odern H essians . I n one

of h is boldest m etapho rs th e nation is desc ribed as“stretch ing as far as

the h il ls extend , and dwindl ing by degrees 5 and the Fo rest fo l lows h erchildren until sh e leaves them on the p lain .

“ Durant siquidem co l lespaullatim que rarescunt : et Chattos suos saltus H ercyn ius p rosequitursim ul atque depon it (Tac . Germ . c .

Caesar, De Be l l . Ga ll . Vi . 2 6 , 2 7.

. Orzgins of E ngZis/z [J isz‘

ory 5 3

branching horns of th e deer and th e l ong spiral tooth of

th e narwhal,wh ich was l ong passed o ff as th e unicorn’s

horn . f Elian and th e stories attributed to Aristotle wil lsupply us with several other legends

,which are only

interesting as far as they confirm th e fact that the Greektravellers h ad reached th e north as early as th e age ofAlexander the Great . Th e re indeer 'was said to changecolour like th e chame leon

,and to have a hide impervious

to th e keenest dart . I n each case th e exaggeration wasfounded upon th e truth . Th e deer changes its colour inwinter like other northern animal s ; and

“ j erkins made ofits hide were long cons idered as good as coats of mail .Th e discoveries in natural h istory

,which re sulted from th e

conquest of Asia,h ad roused th e Greek world to great

activity in a s cience which h ad till then b een neglected .

Any fact about a new animalwas caught up and passed on,

and was often spoiled in th e telling .

1

1 See fElian’

s . N at. -H ist . ii . 17, and M irab . Auscult . 30 , where the

tarandus is desc ribed as a beast found am ong th e Scythian Ge loni, witha head l ike a stag, and l ike an ex in siz e . I t was said to change its co lourl ike th e po lypus . The sam e story was to ld of th e African tarandus,

”or

parandrus .

”

Solinus, 30 . Pl iny gets nearer to th e p roper desc rip tion .

Th e tarandus is as big as an ox , with a head not un l ike that of a stag, butthat it is greater, carrying branched horns, c loven -hoofed, and with hair asdeep as that of a bear . ” Pl iny

, H ist . N at. v iii. c . 34 . We are not m uchconcerned with the reindeer in th e histo ry of Britain : the Orkney inga

Saga, however , states . that in A .D . 1 15 9 th e N orsem en hunted “red-deer

and re indeer ” in Caithness . There m ay , perhaps, be som e doubt whetherthe statem ent should not have been

_

c onfined to red-deer . See Orkn .

Saga . c . 1 1 2 , and D r. Sm ith ’

s Essay in th e 8th vol. of Proc . Soc . Antiqu.

Scotland . The m ediaeva l writers on Scandinav ia m ade a m istake wh ich iswo rth rem arking. They knew of the re indee r w ith th e cornua ram osa

but they could not rejec t any thing stated as a fac t by Caesar ; and they so lvedthe difficulty by defin ing the an im al as a three-horned deer . SeeO lausM agnus,

5 4 Orig ins of E ngZis/z H istory .

2 . TH E Em a—“There are also animal s cal led e lks

(A loe) . I n the ir figures'

and spotted skins they are l ike

wil d goats ; but they are rather larger, and have broken

horns,and legs without j o ints ; nor do they lie down to

rest,nor if they fal l by accident coul d they get up again .

Th e trees are the ir resting-places they lean against themto take a little s leep and when th e hunters have noticedwhere they resort for th is purp ose , they e ither underm ine

all th e trees in that place at th e roots , or cut them so far

through as to leave only the semblance of a growing tree

and so,when th e elks as usual lean against them

,they

m ake th e tottering tree fal l over , and they fal l with th e

tree .

H ist . Septent . xvu. 2 6,2 8 . Et rat Th evetus qui in Cosm ograph ia sufi

un icornem fac it rangiferum : errant O lau‘

s M agnus, Gesnerus et jonston ius,

qui tricornem dep ingunt”

(Pontopp . Nat. H ist . ii . M ost of th e

m ediaeval woodcuts in works on natural h isto ry rep resent the reindeer withthree long branching horns .

1 Caesar ’s reference to the Greek authorities for these passages showsthat Pl iny ’

s account of th e an im als in the H ercyn ian Forest m ay havebeen derived from the works of Pytheas . There are few savage beasts inGerm any : howbe it that country bringeth fo rth certain k inds of goodlygreat wild beasts. There is a certain beast cal led Aloe, very l ike to a

horse , but that h is ears are longer and h is neck l ikewise w ith two m arks, bywhich they m ay be dist inguished . M oreover , in th e island of Scandinav ia

there is a beast cal led iWac/t lis (m el. lec t. not m uch un l ike to

the Alce above nam ed . Com m on h e is there, and m uch talk we haveheard o f h im ; howbe it in these parts h e was never seen . H e resem bleth ,

I say , the Aloe ; but that h e hath ne ither jo int in the hough nor pasternesin h is hind-legs , and therefo re h e neve r l ieth down ,

but sleepeth lean ingto a tree . And therefo re th e hunters that lie in wait for th e beasts cut

down the trees while they are asleep , and so take them . Otherwise theyshould never be taken, so swift of foo t they are that it is wonderful . The irupper lip is exceeding great, and as they graz e and feed they go retrograde .

Pl iny, H ist . N at. v iii. c . 1 5 . The stratagem of cutting through th e treeswas first to ld of th e E lephant-hunters on the coast of the R ed Sea byAgatharch ides . D e M ari Rubro . c . 2 5 . D iod . iii. c . 2 . Strabo . xv i . 771 .

Or ig ins .of English H istory . 5 5

Pausanias de s cribed th e Celtic elk“as an animal but

very rarely seen ac cording to h im it was a beast in sizebetween a stag and a camel

,and was gifted with a

surprising sense of smell . ” 1

3 . TH E UR US (Bos p rinzzgen ins) .

“Th e third beast,

says Caesar,

“is th e Urus . I t is almost as large as an

e lephant,but in shape and colour it more resembles th e

bul l . The se animal s are of great strength and speed,and

they never spare m an or beast after once catching sight ofthem . Th e Germans take great trouble in catching themby pitfalls ; and th e young m en gain hardness and

experience in this laborious kind of hunting . Those who

kill most bulls carry back th e horns as a glorious trophy of

th e chase . Th e Urus cannot be ac customed to mankind

or tamed,even if taken very young . Th e great spread of

th e horns and their general appearance are very different

from those of our domestic cattle . Th e horns are carefully

sought they are set in silver and used by th e Germans attheir extravagant feasts .”2

This seems to be a confused ac count of two distinct

animal s,th e Aurochs or Zubr (Bos U rns ) of Lithuania,

3and

Th e island in question is cal led Gangav ia by Solinus, and Grav ia byth e m onk D icuil.

1 Pausan ias, ix . 0. 2 1 . I n another passage h e says that the fem ales wereW ithout horns, but that th e m ales h ad horns over their eyebrows, ibid. v .

c . 1 2 . The desc rip tion is quoted by H erm olaus Barbatus, C luver . Germ .

Antiqu. iii. 2 17, and O laus M agnus, H ist . Septent . xv iii. 1 . Th e old

Germ an nam e m ust have been “elg,

”

or som e word of the kind. The

m odern form s are“elenth ier, and els or

“els-dyt in D an ish .

2 Caesar, D e Bel l . Gal l . v i . c . 2 8 . As to th e tribute of Urus-h ides im posed

on th e Frisians , see Tac itus, Anna] . iv . c . 72 .

.

3Pl iny ’

s account shows that th e Greek travel lers were aware of th e dis

tinction .

“The Bison is m aned w ith a co l lar l ike a l ion and th e Urus is

5 6 Or igins of E nglis/z H istory .

th e extinct Urus (Bos prim igen ia s ) wh ich Charlemagneis said to have hunted near h is palace at Aach en i Th e

latter animal was akin to th e wil d cattle pre served in the

parks at Ch illingham and Chatelh éraultaand is supposed

indeed to have been th e original progenitor of all ourEnglish cattle except th e pol led and sh orthorned breeds of

th e H ighlands and parts of Wale s .

Th e extinct Urus had massive and wide - spread horns,

and a very small mane , if we m ay judge at all by th e

Chillingham bul l s,which have bristles of about an inch in

length . But th e Wissent , or Aurochs , has very smal lhorns

,and a large shaggy mane nearly reaching to th e

ground .

“This Zubr is exceedingly shy and avoids th eapproach of m an . They can only be approached from th e

leeward,as the ir smel l is extreme ly acute . But when

accidental ly and sudden ly fallen in with,they will passion

ately assail th e intruder . In such fits of passion the

animal thrusts out its tongue repeatedly,lashes its side s

with its tail,and th e reddened and sparkl ing eye s proj e ct

from the ir sockets,and rol l furiously . Such is their innate

wildness that none of them have ever been completelytamed . When taken young they become

,it is true

,ac cus

tom ed to their keepers,but th e approach of other persons

renders them furious .”1 There are only a few hundreds of

a m ighty strong beast and a swift . (H ist . N at . v iii . c . Th e Aurochs,or m aned Bison

,is also cal led the W issent and the Bonassus . For an

al lusion to th e old accounts of th e Urus and Elk ,see Virg. Georg. ii.

3 73,

Silvestres uri assidue capreaeque sequaces,

I Hudunt1 Dr. Weissenh orn

’

s M onograph on the Zubr, c ited in Cox ’

s Sketches,Nat. H ist . 1849 . See a good desc rip tion o f the anim al by Franc . I ren icus,

v ii. 13 , c ited by Olaus M agnus, H ist . Septent. xv iii. 3 5 , 36 :“ Barbas

Or igins of E ngZis/z H istory . 5 7

them left,and th e perm is s ion of th e Emperor of Russia

under h is sign-manual is required before one of them m ay

be killed .

Both animals inhabited Britain at s ome early period ;but th e Aurochs is qu ite prehistoric . Th e bone s ofCaesar’s Urus have late ly b een found in ancient pitfal l s

which have been excavated in th e ne ighbourhood of

Cissbury . Th e pre sence of the se animals in th e pit m ay

be explained by Caesar’s de s cription of the mode of capture .

H urdle s of gorse we re probably arranged on th e principle

of th e wicker hoops in a decoy,and it is easy to see how

,

by such a plan,eked out perhaps by th e firing of heaps of

th e same useful material,a wil d bul l

,or a herd

,m ight be

driven “over a pitfall . ’1

After leaving th e country of th e Ostians,presumably

from a port in the e stuary of th e Elbe,Pytheas made a

voyage of three days and a half to th e head of th e Penin

sula which was then inhab ited by th e mysterious Cimbri ;and th e trave l ler was almost certainly th e first to apply to

th e country th e long- remembered name of the CimbricCh ersonesus.

H ardly anything is known of h is adventure s among th e

peopl e who were afterwards to become th e terror of theworld . But soon after h is return

,Philemon th e poe t

recorded th e fact “ that th e northern ocean was cal led

by th e C imbri ‘ Morim arusa’ or the Dead Sea

,from their

own country as far as Cape Rubeae : beyond that cape

longissim as habent et cornibus brev iusculis apparent . H e desc ribes thenarrow p its in wh ich they were caught, th e sides being constructed o f so l idbeam s on account of th e strength of the an im al .

l Prof . R o l leston,in Proc . Anthrop . Inst ,

1876 Proc . Soc . Antiqu.

Scotland, ix . 66 7.

5 8 Or igins of E nglis/z H istory .

they cal led th e ocean ‘ Cronium . Th e passage is

important,as being th e earliest in which th e Cimbri are

mentioned by name,and also because th e local name s

appear to have a Ce l tic origin . M or nza rwt/z”is said to

be good Wel sh for th e “sea of death ”

; and ni or croinn,

”

or some s im ilar form ,m ight signify th e frozen sea.

”I n

th e dearth of information about th e ethnic aflinities of th eCimbri

,small circumstances l ike these become important

for determining th e question of their o rigin .

2

Th e Teutones , who afterwards ac companied th e Cimbrias friends and allies in the ir great southward migration

,

were settled,in th e time of Pytheas

,in th e districts south

and somewhat to th e east of Jutland . They adj oined th ecountry of th e “

Guttones,

”along th e Baltic coast ; and ,

ac cording to Pytheas,they made a trade of purchasing

from their barbarous neighbours th e amber which wascollected on the Pomeranian shore .

Th e Guttones inhab ited the whole southern coast of th eBaltic or “Gulf of M entonom on

” from Me cklenburg toCourland and Riga Bay . Th e name was given late in th e

M iddle Ages to th e Lithuanian and Esthonian tribe s whoinhabited th e ne ighbourhood of Konigsb erg and it seemsto have been used at last in a contemptuous sense

,to

expre ss th e old-fashioned ways of th e pagans in thoseparts , who refused to accept th e gospe l from th e crusadingbrotherhood of th e Teutonic Knights . 3

1 Pliny, H ist . N at. iv . c . 16 .

2 Upon the diffi cul t question as to the interm ixture of Ce ltic and Germ an

tribes to the east o f the R hine see the discussion on th e o rigin of the C im briin Latham ’

s“ Germ any of Tac itus ; Prof . R awl inson ’

s“Ethnography of

th e C im bri, Proc . Anthrop . Inst . v i. 15 1 ( 1876) 5 and Pallm an’

s Kim bernund Teutoner,

”

Berl in,1870 .

Their nam e is variously spel led, as Gothones, Gutth ones,

i

Guddons,

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60 Or igins of E ngZis/z H istory .

s tormy weather ; and this source of th e supply is thought

to b e due to th e disturbance of submarine amber-beds .“

Th e principal district for th e t ide -washed amber was th ecoast between th e H elder and th e promontory of Jutland .

From th e Rhine to the e stuary of th e Elbe stretched a

c hain of islands,cal led Glessariae and Electrides by th e

ancients,which are now much al tered in numbers and

extent by the inces sant inroads of th e sea . H ere a Romanflee t in Nero ’s time col lected lb . of th e prec ious

glassnrn in a singl e visit ; and th e sailors brought homepicturesque ac counts of th e native s picking up th e glassyfossil at th e flood-t ide and in th e pools left by th e ebb ;“and it is so l ight

,

” they said,

“ that it rolls about and

seems to hang in th e shallow water . ”

Pytheas appears to have mentioned th e Courland tradeas we l l as th e traffic in th e amber rol led up by th e sea.

Philemon at any rate , who copied h is works , de scribe sboth kinds of commerce in th e fol l owing passage . H e

said “that amb er was a foss il,and was dug up at two

place s in Scythia , Th e supply from one of these placeswas wh ite and waxy

,and this was called Ele ctrum ; from

th e other place came th e tawny or honey-coloured variety,

wh ich people cal led Sualiternicum . Pytheas,however

,

be l ieved that th e great e stuary called M entonom on was

inhab ited for its whole length of stadia.bv

“the

1 For th e distinction between the supp l ies of tide-washed am ber and

those from inland p its and quarries , see H um bo ldt, Cosm os (Sabine) , ii. 1 2 8 ,and VVerlauff

’

s R avhandel’

s H istorie where the discoveries of

Pytheas are discussed .

2 Adeo v o lub ile ut in vado pendere v ideatur . — Pl iny, H ist . N at .

xxxvu. c . 2 . I t is to this v isit that Pl iny attributes the R om ans’ knowledge

o f th e Germ an am bera sh ore . H ist . N at. xxxv ii. c . 1 1 . Solinus says thatth e am be r was given to N ero by a Germ an king. Po lyh . c . 2 0 .

Orig ins of E ngZis/z H istory . 6 1

Guttones,a German people , and that at one day ’s distance

from the e stuary lay th e i sland of Abalus,where th e

spring-floods carry th e amber . Pytheas h imse lf thoughtthat this substance was th e s cum of th e Encrusted Sea

,

and said that th e natives of those parts used it instead o f

wood for the ir fires,and that they al so sold amber to their

ne ighbours th e Teutone s . Tim mus believed this,but

cal led th e island Bas ilia and h e te l l s u s that there is an

island opposite to Scythia which is cal led R aunonia,about

one day’s j ourney from shore , where the amber is cast up

by th e wave s in th e spring and X enophon of Lampsacusadded that at th e distance of thre e days ’ sail from th e

S cythian coast was an island of immense extent called

Baltia,being th e island wh ich Pytheas called Basil ia.

1

D iodorus quoted a sl ightly different version I n th e

Scythian region beyond Gaul there l ie s an island in th e

ocean which is called Basilia ; and on this island,and

nowhere else in th e worl d,th e amber is cast up in great

quantitie s in th e spring of th e year it is collected on th e

is land and carried by th e native s across to th e mainland

opposite .

Th e island‘

of Abalus,one day’s j ourney from th e

estuary,m ay have b een, and probably was, one of th e

great islands near D itm arsh and th e mouth of th e Elbe“th e Saxon I slands ” of Ptolemy

,which in th e course o f

1 Pl iny, H ist . Nat. iv . 0 . 15 5 xxxv ii. c . 2 . There were anc ient re lationsbetween Courland and th e Greeks of th e c ities on the Eux ine befo re the

days of Pytheas . H um bo ldt, Cosm os (Sab ine) , ii. 1 2 8 . The Rom an

acquaintance with th e Courland am ber-distric ts was p robably not earl ie rthan the age o f the An ton ines . The word R aunon ia looks as if it h ad

som e connection with rav ,th e Scandinav ian nam e for am ber .

2D iod . v . 2 3 .

6 2 Origins of E ngZis/z H istory .

ages have b een torn and ravaged by th e sea . It is useless

indeed to speculate on th e exact configuration which these

sh ifting coasts m ay have shown more than seventy generations ago . But th e details of th e old de scription and

th e distance s measured from“th e S cythian shore ”

are

sufficient to show that many of these islands belonged to

th e Bal tic , and were situated east of th e Sound . Th e

Danish writers indeed , as Werlauff in th e “R avh andel’

s

H istorie ,”and other local witne sses

,have endeavoured to

prove that hardly any sea-washed amber was ever found

east of Copenhagen . But this opinion rests on th e factthat little is found in that way , or looked for, in our own

time . Th e m edim v al authorities are precise about th egreat fortunes made by th e guilds of amber-merchantswho h ad licen ces from th e King of Poland and th e Duke

o f Prussia to collect th e storm—tossed treasure along th eFinn ish and Livonian seas and th e Pruth en ic or NorthPrussian shore .

”

Th e Duke of Prussia gained a c on

siderable revenue from a tax on several thousand casks of

amber wh ich were y early col lected upon h is coast-land .

1

There was al so an ancient British trade in amber with

th e Ostians or Germans of th e shore . Th e trafli c was

regulated bv th e Romans in th e first years of th e Empire,

and converted into th e source of a trifl ing revenue .

2 But

th e exploration of th e funeral barrows in th e counties southof th e Thames h as shown that th e commerce must havedated from a much h igher antiquity . An expert m ight tell

th e place of production from th e colour and qual ity of th e

1 O laus M agnus, H ist . Septent. x i. 9 .

2 “The Britons bear m oderate taxes on the ir expo rts and on their

im ports from Cel tica , which consist of ivo ry , brace lets, am ber, glass, and

such-l ike petty m erchandise . Strabo, iv . 2 78 .

Orig ins of English H istory . 63

dis cs,beads

,and rings which have be en found in th eWilt

shire tanza li . In one instance a necklace of a thousandbeads was dis covered in the tomb of a ch ief ; in a Sussex

grave was found a cup carved from a sol id blo ck and in

another excavation a collar formed of two hundred beads

and large quadrangular dividing-plates “Th e tablet s wereperforate d with a delicacy which indicate s th e use of a fineme tallic borer : th e col lar when worn must have extended

from shoulder to shoulder,hanging half-way down to the

waist . ” Amber was a charm supposed to protect th e living

wearer from evil influence s,and

,as we m ay suppose , to

help th e dead m an in h is j ourney to th e world of th e dead .

H ence th e custom of burying one bead at least in th e

grave,which is generally found attached or lying near the

neck of th e skeleton hence th e reference in th e ancientWel sh poem cal led th e Go dodin

,in which th e British

chiefs are de scribed with H omeric minutenes s

Ado rned with a wreath was the leader , th e wo lf of th e ho lm ;

Am ber-beads in ringlets en c irc led h is tem p les ;Prec ious was th e am ber , and worth a banquet of w ine .

Th e amber found in th e grave s is of th e red transparentkind

,and never of th e blackish or honey- coloured varieties .

Th e product is found on our eastern coasts,as at Rams

gate and Cromer,and in H olderne ss

,and on some parts of

th e S cotch coast near Aberdeen ; but th e great abundanceof th e remains in th e tanznli

,e spec ially in the southern

countie s,favours th e hypothe sis that th e main supply was

brought from over th e sea .

1 Aneurin ’

s Gododin , st. 4 . Th e other instances wil l be found, with m uchadditional info rm ation , in Sir R . H oare ’

s Anc ient Wilts, vol. i . ; D r.

Thurnam’

s work on British Barrows in th e Arch aeologia, vols. 4 2 , 43 and.

Wright’s Ce lt , R om an , and Saxon ,

”

489 .

64 Orig ins of E ngZis/z H istory .

We must now mention th e voyage to Thule,which h as

given rise to such intricate and interminable controversie s .

Py tnéa s a dé/af a tzgné a’es centa ines d

’

écriva ins, gni a

’ans

Z’

espa ce n’a ans Z

’

ont cornba ttn a vec a c/za rnernent,on se

sont ej‘

orcés a’o Z

’

exptigner at de Zn i rena’rej astice.

”1

Ultima Thule,

”

th e furthe st of th e Britannic Isle s,

h as been identified with all sorts of local ities since th e timewhen Pytheas sailed with h is Cimbric guide s to th e countryof th e m idnight sun . Th e controversy is boundless

,and

its de tails are too tedious to b e exam ined at length . But

we m ay select sufficient evidence to show why th e story of

th e j ourney shoul d be be lieved , and to justify th e se le ction

of Lapland as th e northern lim it of th e expedition .

2

Most of our information on th e subject is derived from

Strabo ’s querulous complaints , added to a few words

from th e travel ler’s diary which have been preserved by

Cleom edes and Gem inus . We wil l take Strabo ’s criticism

first,and add th e other fragments in such order as seems

convenient .

1 L elewel, Pythéas de M arseil le, 1 .

1 Thule has been m ost com m only ident ified with Ice land . The earl iestpassage to this effect is in the M ensura Orb is of the Irish m onk D icuil

,

written about A . D . 8 2 5 . Gassendi took th e sam e V iew,and said

, Et in

I slandiatrop icus pro arctico est,”

adopting the phrase of Pytheas . Co lum bus,about A . D . 1477, speaks in h is journal of “Thule or Friesland (Ice land) ,3 country with which th e Bristo l m e rchants had a thriv ing trade . Am ong

th e wr iters wh o have accep ted the sam e theo ry m ay be m entioned Adam of

Brem en , Saxo Gram m aticus, Arngrim Jonas in h is Trac t upon Ice land ;Pontanus and R am us in the ir desc rip tions o f N orthern Europe ; C luver .Germ . Antiqu. iii. 39 ; M annert . Geogr.

, i . 83 ; Bougainv il le, Acad . des

I nscrip ., x ix . 147 ; and Besse l l in h is E ssay on Pytheas. We m ay pass

over th e old suppositions that Thule was in N orth Britain or Shetland , and

M alte Brun ’

s idle p roposal to identify it with th e pen insula of Jutland .

Am ong those who have taken Thule to be part of th e Scandinav ian m ain

land we m ay m ention the Swedish histo rians Dal in and Lagerbring,Karl

Orig ins of E nglisn H istory . 65

Strabo makes th e fol l owing criticism in his comments on

th e second book ofEratosthenes .“Pytheas said

,that th e furthest parts of th e world are

those which lie about Thule,th e northernmost of th e

Britannic Is les,

‘where the summer tropic is th e same as

th e arctic circle ’

: but h e never said whe ther Thule was

an island,or whether th e worl d is hab itable by m an as far

as th e point where th e circle s coincided . I should thinkmyself that th e northern l imit of hab itation l ie s much

further to th e south ; for th e writers of our age say nothingof any place beyond Ireland , which is situate in front of th enorthern parts of Britain

,where th e savages can hardly live

for th e cold . I think,therefore

,that th e l imit should be

placed at this point . Eratosthene s computed th e distance

strom ,Thule Veterum ,

and Rudbeck, Atlantica, i . c . 19 . Before Ice landwas known to them , th e Byz antine writers were accustom ed to identify theThule of Pytheas with Sweden ,

and som etim es with the who le peninsulaof Scandinav ia . For an e laborate desc rip t ion of Thule from th e last po intof View see Procopius, D e Be l l . Gothic . ii . 14 . 15 ; the passage was translated by Archb ishop M agnus, in h is histo ry of the Goths and Swedes, andis c ited by O laus M agnus, H ist . Septent . , i. c . 5 . For part of the passagein question the reader has the advantage of an extrac t in the wo rds of

Gibbon One of the sovereigns (of Sweden) , after a v o luntary or

re luctant abdication , found a hosp itable retreat in th e palace of Ravenna . H e

had reigned over one of the thirteen populous tribes wh o cultivated a sm allportion of th e great island or pen insula of Scandinav ia, to which the vague

appel lation of Thule h as been som etim es app l ied . That no rthern regionwas peop led, or h ad been exp lored, as high as the 68th degree of latitude,where the natives of the po lar c irc le enjoy and lose the p resence of the

sun at each sum m er and winter so lstice during an equal period of 40 days .

The long n ight of h is absence or death was the m ournful season of d istressand anx iety, til l the m essengers wh o had been sent to the m ountain-topsdesc ried th e first rays of return ing light, and proc laim ed to the plain belowthe festival of h is resurrection . And this with th e m en of Thule is the

greatest of all feasts .— G ibbon , D ec l ine and Fal l , 0. 49 . See also J ornandes,

D e R eb . Getic . c . 3 , and Paulus D iaconus, De R eb . Langobard. i. c . 5 .

66 Origins of English H istory .

from th e Dnieper to th e parallel of Thule,wh ich Pytheas

affirmed to be ‘six days ’ sail north of Britain

,

’ to be aboutm iles . But wh o in h is sense s would b el ieve this ?

For Pytheas,who described Thule

,has been shown to be

th e fal sest of m en ; and th e trave l lers who have seen th e

British ‘ Ierne yet say nothing of this Thule,though they

mention other smal l islands round Britain . Again,

a

traveller starting from th e middle of Britain and go ingabout 5 00 m ile s to th e north

,would come to a country

somewhere about Ire land,where living would b e barely

possible ; consequently th e st il l more distant s ituation

which Pytheas assigned to Thule woul d no t b e hab itableat all ; and on what possible theory H ipparchus could fix

that measurement be tween Thule and (th e mouth of) th eDnieper I cannot understand .

”1

W e have a bare mention of the S candinavian islandsof B ergi

,and Nerigo

,th e largest of them all

,

“from wh ichm en make th e voyage to Thule and it is perhaps a

possible etymology which connects these names with th edistrict of Bergen and th e province of Norge

,or Norway

p roper, which ends no t far from th e city of Trondhj em .

I t will be remembered that th e winding fj ords would makei t almost impossible for th e first trave l lers to distinguishth e promontories and peninsulas of th e coast from islandsand that a Greek would be apt to conceive th e northernvoyage as a passage along th e vast O cean-river threadingth e outer islands , which were supposed to form a ringround th e great central continent . It is easy to imaginethe voyage towards th e Lapland coast through th e longsummer-day and th e strange level sunshine of th e northernnight . Th e ship would be kept as long as possible inside

1 Strabo , i. 64.

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68 Or ig ins of English H istory .

or explain something of th e phenomena reported by

Pytheas . 1

Two of h is phrases , by their obscure and archaic diction,

have given rise to repeated controversies . Th e first is th ece lebrated saying that “ in Thule th e summer trop ic is th e

same as th e arctic circle ,”

th e latter term being used in its

old Greek sense to denote th e heavenly circle containing

all th e stars wh ich never dip be l ow th e horizon ; and in

this sense o f th e term every latitude h ad its own arcticcircle . Th e meaning of Pytheas was that at some point

in th e no rth th e sun never set during th e summer . Th e

uncouthness of th e expression was probably caused by a

notion that th e tropic of Cancer was a physical l ine traced

by th e sun ’s passage above th e horizon .

Th e se cond obscurity is contained in th e passage pre

served by Geminus . “Th e barbarians used to point outto us th e lair or sleeping-place of th e sun for th e nights

at one place were only three hours l ong,at another place

only two hours,

”and so on . Several writers have raised

unnecessary difli culties by taking th e passage to mean,that

th e barbarians showed Pytheas where th e sun set at diff erenttimes in th e year

,or that

,though th e weather was dark

,

they showed h im th e true point of sunset,and th e like .

What th e savages meant was plain enough . They hadwatched th e sun ’s place s of rising and setting as they wentnorth

,and at last h ad disc overed th e spot on th e horizon

1With th e passages co llected in the Appendix should be com pared the

fo l lowing passage from Prisc ianus L ydus . D ic itur autem nox e is fieri

usque ad unam horam apud quos arcticus est aestivus trop icus ; sicut jux taThylen insulam scribunt per diem et noctem so lem super terram ferri eos

enim qui d icunt sem enstrem diem no ctem que aequalem ,aut etiam quaedam

borealium partium nunquam illum inari solaribus radiis , rationibus aliis

dem ittim us . Solut . ad Chosroen . Priscian . L yd . (Bywater) 6 7 .

Origins of E nglish H istory . 9

immediate ly above th e cave or home where th e divinespirit or creature lived .

1 There could have be en no thingvery strange in this to Pytheas , who h ad h imse lf contested

a theory of certain Stoics,that th e earth was a k ind of

enormous animal , who se breathings and spoutings caused

th e flux and reflux of th e tide .

2

Another passage about a substance re sembl ing th e

sea-nettles or nzea’nsav

,wh ich in Greek were called

sea- lungs,

”h as be come celebrated for its difli culty of

interpretation .

“After one day’s j ourney,h e said

,

“to th e no rth of

Thule m en come to a sluggish sea,where there is no

separation of sea,land

,and air

,but a m ixture of all the s e

elements like th e substance of j e l lyfi sh,through which

one can neither walk nor sail . I have seen th e stuff l ikej elly-fish

,but all the re st I have taken on hearsay .

” 3

W e cannot fee l certain as to th e nature of this floating

and blubber-like mass . Th e simple st explanation,and

perhaps th e b est , attribute s th e reference to th e rotten and

spongy ic e which sometimes fil ls those northern waters .

1 Com pare H om er ’s hom e and danc ing-

p laces of th e D awn5 61 T

’ ’

H ofig mower/ sing’

Ou: t'

a Ka i Xopoi £101 Ka i c’

wroka i’

H eMoco .

’— Odyss . X 11. 4 .

A l len Gestirnen werden bestim m te Statten,Platz e und Stiih le beigelegt ,

auf denen sie Sitz und Wohnung nehm en : sie haben ihr Gestel l undGerii ste . Zum al gilt das von der Sonne die jeden Tag zu ihrem Sitz

,oder

Sesse l n iedergeht . (Grim m . D eutsch . M yth .

2 This was th e opin ion of Athenodorus, c ited in Strabo,iii . 173 . See

a lso Seneca , N at . Q uaest . iii . 15 . M e la . iii. c . 1 . Solinus . c . 2 3 . The who lesubjec t is discussed by M art in in h is N otions des Anc iens sur les M aréeset les Euripes .

’

(Caen . Pytheas seem s to have been th e first toattribute th e tida l m ovem en t to th e action of th e m oon . Stobaeus .

(Gaisford) . App . iv . 437 . Plutarch . D e Plac it . Ph ilosoph . iii . 1 7.

3Strabo , ii. 142 .

70 Or igins of English H istory .

Others take th e matter l iterally, and refer it to th e ni ea’usaa

,

so common about Norway and th e North Sea,which m ay

have been famil iar to Pytheas before be commenced h isj ourney .

1 Gassendi,who took Thule for I ce land

,explained

th e matter as referring to th e dense fumes from H ekla .

Others take it for a des cription of cold and clinging fogsothers

,with Malte Brun

,as a picture of th e qu icksands

near th e northern shore s of Jutland .

2

Many sto ries were afterwards told about th e sluggishwaters described by Pytheas , and when th e l ocal ity ofThule was shifted to Shetland by th e Roman writers

,it

was duly noticed that “th e waters are sl ow,and yield with

difficulty to th e oar,and they are not even raised by th e

wind l ike other seas . ” 3

From th e description of th e “Mare P igrum ,which has

been already c ited from th e“Germania

,

”and th e mention

in that place of th e divine forms,and th e head crowned

with rays,and strange sounds heard by night

,we m ay

infer that th e ancient travellers saw th e Aurora Borealis .Th e ray

-crowned head m ay repre sent th e dark segment of

1 For th e abundance of these c reatures in N orway, and also in the saltwater lake o f M ortaigne , near Narbonne , see Pontopp . N at . H ist . ii. 18 2

,

and K ircher ’s Mundus Subterraneus, ii. 1 2 9 , there c ited . It is , perhaps,wo rth notic ing that th e Frozen Sea is or was cal led by th e N orwegiansLeber Z ee , ” or sea o f a substance l ike l iver . Pontanus

, D escr.

D an . 747 .

2Th e different op in ions are co l lected and com pared in Arvedson ’

s firstnote , which is printed in the Appendix .

3Tac . Agric . c . 10 .

“This agrees with the sea on the N .E . of Scotland,

not for th e reason given by Tac itus, but because of the contrary tides,

wh ich driv e severa l ways and stop not on ly boats with oars, but ship s under

sail (Wal lace , Essay concerning Thule, Th e tides in Orkney run

with such an im petuous current , that a ship is no m ore able to m ake wayagainst them than if it were h indered by a rem ora .

”

(Wal lace , Orkney, 4 .

Orig ins of English H istory . 7 1

sky enclosed in th e electric arch and th e meteoric rayswhich h ave given th e name of the “Merry Dancers ” to

the fl ickering Northern Lights .1

Pytheas did not,so far as appears

,explore any part of

the mainland of Thule,nor do we know the point at which

h e turned h is ship for th e southward voyage . We mustsuppose that h e never reached th e “ruddy-tinged granite ”

of the cape that looks upon th e Polar Sea . Al l that h eactual ly said was

,that beyond th e dead sea “M orim orusa

”

was a sea cal led Cronium,covered with a sol id crust ;

and,knowing nothing of th e nature of th e frozen ocean

,

h e conj e ctured,as we have seen

,that th e amber washed

upon th e coast might perhaps be broken morse l s of scumor crust from the unknown sea.

Turning from Thule,they sailed south for six days and

nights before they reached th e shores of Britain . Theyprobably touched at th e Orkneys

,of which th e three

largest were then,or soon afterwards

,known as Dumna

,

Oc etis,and Pomona : th e last name h as remained til l

modern times,and from its classical form has been th e

origin of curious myths as to th e fruitfulness of th e

northern zone . Among the is lands to th e north of Britain

th e trave l lers noticed an extraordinary rush of the tides in

tortuous and funne l - shaped channels between th e cl iff s : if

Pliny’s quotation2 is correct,th e water rose 80 cubits or

1 Th e Auro ra is cal led “the M orrice Dancers in Shetland . The early

writers on northern phenom ena publ ished som e am using speculations on

the origin of the Auro ra . Som e took it for th e reflection of d istantvo lcanoes, or th e refrac ted im age of th e sun ; and th e celebrated Wolfius

described it as im m ature l ightning, or an im perfec t tem pest . Pontopp .

N at . H ist . i . 7 .

2Pliny , H ist . N at. u. 89 7. See Buffon, The

’

orie de la Terre. 11. 97, and

H um bo ldt . Cosm os . (Sabine) i . 2 9 8 .

7 2 Orig ins of English H istory .

1 2 0 feet . This height of th e tide is not greater than h asbeen m easured in th e Bay of Fundy, and it is probably

approached in th e narrow in lets of I sles ; but

th e circumstance is so rare in any part of th e world that

we must suppo se some m istake to have been made in th ecal culation or in th e course of making th e extract . We

know hardly anything of th e remainder of th e voyage .

H e must have skirted th e eastern shore of Britain as far

as Kent and th e ne ighbourhood of Gaul,landing (as h e

said) when h e could , so as to explore th e accessible partsof th e island . Th e expedition returned by th e Channeland th e Bay of B is cay , as far as th e mouth o f th e Gironde .

Pytheas appears to have been unwilling to repeat th etedious j ourney round Spain ; and we m ay suppose that

h e accordingly ascended th e Garonne,and from th e neigh

bourhood of th e modern Bordeaux succeeded in reaching

h is native city by a j ourney over- land .

H ere ended th e voyage of Pytheas . Apart from latercritic isms and controversies we know noth ing mo re of h islife or works

,except that an early s choliast pre served an

isolated passage about th e volcano of Stromboli from h is

book on th e Circuit of th e World .

1

H is discoveries were in th e highest degree interestingand important . H is reputation at first rose h igh

,and was

afterwards unj ustly deprec iated but h is merits have beenfully recognized in modern times . Ven it m ih i P yth eas

1 The passage wil l be found in the Appendix . It em bodies the wel lknown legend about th e forges where m en left iron ore and a p roper sumof m oney, and next day would find the sword or weap on for which theyhad bargained with th e unseen workm en . Th e desc rip tion is terse and

p ic turesque , l ike everything e lse that h e wro te . This seem s to be the

hom e of H ephaestus, for one hears th e roar of fire and a terrible bel lowing,and here the sea boils.

”

Origins of English H istory . 73

conznzencla nclns,said th e s cholar Gassendi ; and h e de

s cribed th e old traveller as “an honest m an and a learned,

who said what h e thought and distinguished what h e hadseen from matters of guess -work or hearsay .

”1 “H a hile

a strononze (added Bougainville ) ,2inge

'

n ienx phys ic ien , ge’

o

graph e exa ct,h a ra

’i na v iga teur, il renn

’i t ses ta lents ntiles

a sa pa trie : ses voy ages , en fray a nt a’e nouv elles routes

a n com m erce,ont enr ich i l

’

h istoire na tzzrelle,et contr ibne

'

aperfectionner la conna issance o’u globe terrestre .

”

1 Gassendi. Opera, iv . 5 30 .

2 Bougainv il le , in th e M ém o ires de l’Académ ie des Insc riptions, x ix . 146 .

The best sources of inform ation about Pytheas, besides th e authors quotedin th e text , are th e Fragm en ts published by Arvedson at Up sala , in 1 8 2 4 ;

th e Essay on Pytheas by L elewel, publ ished in Po l ish in Germ an at

Berl in and in French at Paris ( 1836) M annert’

s Géographie , v o ls . i .

and ii. ; Fuh r’

s Pytheas (D arm stadt, R edslob’

s“Thule (Leip z ig,

1 85 5 ) and Bessell’

s Pytheas von M assilien (Gottingen ,We m ay

conc lude th e subjec t with a passage selec ted by Arvedson . Pytheas war

e in H um boldt seines Zeitalters, nur als so lcher kann er im Zukunftbetrachtet werden . E in M ann, der schon drei Jahrhunderte vor unsererZe itrechnung als M athem atiker

,Astronom und als Muster derN ach ahm ung

gléinz te , verdiente schon durch den Besitz dieser Wissenschaften das

griisste Zutrauen ,noch m ehr, wenn er, entflam m t durch Liebe zu diesen ,

weder Aufwand noch Gefahr scheute , und zur Bereicherung se ine r K entn iss

und der Erdkunde , die dam als e inen w ichtigen Z we ig der Astronom ieausm achte , sich auf ferne R eisen wagte , d ie N iem and vor ihm und N iem and

nach ihm unter den gebildeten V iilkern desAlterthum s unternahm . Pytheaswar e in M ann , der weit iiber se inen Zeitgenossen stand , und dem die

H im m elskunde n icht wen iger zu verdanken sche int als die Erdkunde ”

(Brehm er, Entdeckungen im Alterthum ,ii. p .

74 Orig ins of English H istory .

C H A P TER I I I .

EARLY GREEK ROMANCE S ABOUT BR ITAIN .

I m aginary trav els based on d iscoveries of Pytheas—Th eir confusion with records ofreal travel—Beginning of sceptic ism on th e subject—Critic ism by D icaearchus.

-Th e acceptance of Pyth eas by E ratosth enes—Euh em erus th e rat ional ist .Th e Land o f Panch aia—Argum ent based on h is fictions —R ep ly o f E ratosth enes .

—Critic ism s by Po lybius and Strabo —Geograph ical rom ances— Plato '

s use of

th e Carth aginian trad it ions .—Atlant is.

—Origin of th e stories of m onstrous m en .

Th e wonders b eyond Thule .

” —Th e ep itom e o f Ph otius—Plot of th e

rom ance— Stor ies of Germ any and Thule —Of th e Germ ans and th e H ercynianForest— Stories about Britain —Th e legend of Saturn and Br iareus—Th eNorthern Pygm ies — Story preserved by Procop ius ,

—Island of Brittia—Th econductors of th e dead—Th e com m unism of Thule—Th e K ing of th e H ebrides .

—M odern v ariat ions o f th e legend —E van the Th ird and h is law.—M ed iaeval use

of th e legend—Th e rom ance of Th e H yperboreans .

"-D esc r iption by L elewel.

—S tories of th e Arct ic Ocean—Br itain descr ibed as E lixoia .—The C ircular

Tem p le —Th e Boread kings — So lar legends—A descript ion o f th e H yperboreancustom s —Th e suic ides of th e old m en —H istorica l we igh t o f the legend .

Fam i ly-c l iffs and fam ily-clubs .

—Barbarous p ract ices o f north ern nations.

M ention of oth er rom ances . Th e Attacori . —Th e descr ipt ion of th e FortunateI slands by jam bulus—H is accounts o f strange kinds of m en .

-F ictions rejectedby Tac itus.

T is proposed to deal in this chapter with certain

romances and volumes of imaginary travel whichwere based on th e discoveries of Pytheas soon after h is

return from th e North . It was a time of excitement and

s cientific activity . Th e story of th e new worl d was

received with a general enthusiasm ; and th e popularityof th e subje ct soon led to th e publication of geographicalromances tricked out and coloured with th e fashionable

learning . They were not,of course

,intended to b e treated

seriously ; but in time they h ad th e eff ect of obscuring

and of almost effacing th e Greek knowledge of Britain .

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76 Or igins of English H'

istory .

spread o f dangerous opinions . Th e author h ad mere ly

antic ipated th e stratagem of Rab elais but some were so

foolish as to take th e fal sehood for genuine history .

Others used th e occasion to attack th e new geographicals c ience “H ow

,

” they said,

“can these travellers ’ tales

about th e North be distinguished from works of fiction ?

H ere are th ings which one coul d no t b el ieve,if H ermes

h imself came down from heaven as a witne ss ; and why

should they be of'

m ore account than what th e Messenian

h as told us of h is H oly Land But Eratosthenes wouldonly reply

,I trust Pytheas , even where D ic aearchus

doubted but I think that Euhemerus lies l ike th e m an of

Berga .

” 1

Th e answer failed to satisfy th e later critics . I t woul dhave been better

,

” said Polyb ius,

“if h e h ad bel ieved th e

Messenian for h e only told falsehoods about one country,but this Pytheas pretended to have been ' to th e world ’send

,and to have peeped into every corner of th e north .

”

And Strabo added,that Eratosthene s must have been

j oking,

and used th e matter as a warning for other m en

o f science . We find h im saying of s ome story related byPosidonius

,

“This is mere nonsense from Berga,almost as

bad as th e fal sehoods of Pytheas,and Euhemerus

,and

Antiph anes we can excuse it in people whose business itis to tel l wonderful storie s

,but not in a grave ph ilosopher

,

one of th e champions in th e arena of science .

”

Eratosth enica (Bernhardy , 2 0,2 2 . Com pare Strabo , ii. 1 04 , and

m . 148 . The m an of Berga was Antiph anes, on ly known for hav ingpubl ished som e fic titious trave ls . Th e prov erb ial phrases, Bspya iog amap,Bepya llew,

and Bepya i ov Buiymua , p reserve h is reputation for m endac ity .

H e is c ited by Anton ius D iogenes, and by the anonym ous author of th ePerip lus of Scym nus,

”wh o wrote about a century before th e Christian era.

D idot . Geograph . Graec . M inor . i . introd . 66 .

Orig ins of English H istory . 77

Th e Greeks h ad a peculiar skill in th e construction ofgeographical fiction . Every nove l ist was ready with a

sham voyage,or a didactic work in th e form of news from

Utopia . Lucian ’s gay burle sque shows th e exist ence of awhole literature of adventure s “ among monstrous beastsand crue l savages

,and in strange forms of life

,

”as curious

in the ir way as h is own picture s of trave l in th e land of

the H ippogriff s .Plato himse lf

,in two of h is Dialogues , h ad used th e

Carthaginian voyages as material for didactic fiction .

Th e unfinished story of Atlantis shows h is knowledge of

th e oceanic weed-beds and th e nature of th e minerals to befound in Spain .

“Th e island disappeared,and was sunk

b eneath th e sea ; and that is th e reason why th e sea in

those parts is impassable and impenetrable be cau se thereis su ch a quantity of shall ow mud in th e way , caused by

the subsidence of th e island .

”And h e thus des cribed the

splendours of th e palace of Atlas before th e occurrence ofth e legendary catastrophe :

“The entire c ircu it of th e wal l

they covered with a coating of brass,and th e c ircu1t of th e

next wal l they coated with tin,and th e third

,which

encompassed th e citadel,flash ed with th e red light of

orichal cum .

Th e curious subject of these romances of travel wil l be

found to have s ome bearing on th e history of northern

Europe . They he lp to show th e level of th e knowledgewhich was current at th e date of their publication

,and they

afford some evidence as to th e habits of our barbarianancestors b efore the dawn of history . They indicate the

real origin of th e fable s,which amused the Greeks , and

1 Th e extracts are from “ Tim aeus and “ Critias, in Prof . Jowett’stranslation . Plato , D ial . ii . 5 2 1 , 5 99 , 60 7.

7 8 Orig ins of English Elistory .

were afterwards accepted as h istory by compilers who h ad

l ost all sense of historical perspe ctive and were ready torecord anything wh ich bore th e shape o f a tradition .

H enc e came th e trave llers’ tales of one -fo o ted m en

,of

Germans with monstrous fee t and ears,of fantast ic kings

in Thul e , and Irish tribe s who thought it right to devour

their parents ,Th e cann ibals that each other eat

,

Th e Anthropophagi , and m en whose headsD o grow beneath the ir shoulders .

” 1

Th e book called “Wonders beyond Thule was writtenby one Anton ius D iogene s , who probably lived in Syria

in th e 2 nd century before Christ,though it was th e

opinion of Phot ius that th e work was written soon,after

th e death of Alexander th e Great . 2 I t was current as

late as th e 9th century , when its twenty-four volumeswere summarised by the Patriarch Photius

,wh o com

pre ssed th e works of nearly three hundred autho rs into

one volume to beguile th e tedium of a re sidence in

1 Pl iny ’

s m onsters continual ly reappear in th e m ediaeva l records of

travel , the ir local ity be ing shifted ,to suit the c ircum stances o f th e case

,to

all parts of Africa ,India, and th e no rthern countries . We m ay study their

habits in th e pages of the painstak ing M andev il le . I n an“

yle towards th esouth e dwellen fo lk of foule stature and of cursed kynde , than han no hedsand here eyen be in here sch oldres and in another yle ben fo lk of foulefasceon and schapp ,

that ban th e l ippe above th e m outhe so gret, that whanthei slepen in th e sonne the i kev eren al le th e face w ith that l ippe : and in

another yle ben fo lk , that h an hors ’

feet , and the i ben strong and m ighty .

We find th e sam e stories in th e old Ice landic Sagas . Th e N orsem en in

Labrado r, according to an early Saga , m et“a onefoot-m an of gl ittering

appearance , wh o shot one of th e Green land captains, and fled swiftly overthe sea.

2For the epitom e of th is work, see Photius . Myriob . 3 5 5 , the llle

'

langes of

Chardon de la R ochel le , Dun lop , H ist . Fic tion, i . 9 , Chassang, H ist. (inRom an, 375 .

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80 Or igins of English H istory .

through th e H ercynian gloom by th e light of strangeluminous b irds . Some of th e native s of the fens h adhorses ’ ho ove s for feet , and others h ad flapping and m on

strous ears . 1 Th e northern seas were thought to be ful lof monsters

,wh ich appear in many a subsequent chapte r

of history,as when th e soldiers of Ge‘rmanicus brought

home tales of “fabulous b irds , and monsters of th e deep ,and strange shape s , half-human ,

half-beast- like,which

they had seen o ff th e German shore s . Tacitus seems torefer to th e same stories when h e mentions th e animal sfound in th e

“Outer O cean and th e unknown sea

beyond .

2 There are several other legends,which

,from

their context , must be attributed to th e same romance .

Thus we read of “an isle Ogygian lying far out at sea

,

”

fiv e days ’ sail t o th e we st of Britain ,with others lying

beyond it,

“a little nearer to the rising of th e summer

H

sun . Th e western island is shown by its astronomical

description to b e one of th e islands mentioned by Pytheas

M ela p laces these tribes in th e islands opposite Sarm atia,which are

peninsulas at low water .” Am ong them were th e a ones, l iv ing on b irds’

eggs, whom Caesar p laced am ong th e wild tribes at the m outh of th e Rhine(De Bel l . Gal l . iv . c . th e H ipp0podes, and th e flapp ing

-eared tribe wh om ore properly belonged to Indian and African legends. M ela. iii. c . 6 .

Tac . Germ . c . 46 .

2Tac . Annal . ii. c . 2 4 . Germ . c . 17. See also th e quotation from Pedo

Alb inovanus in Seneca, Suas. i . 14 , relating to th e sam e expedition of Ger

m anicus

Jam pridem post terga diem solem que relinquunt,

Jam pridem no tis extorres finibus OrbisPer non con cessas audaces ire per um bras,Ad rerum m etas , extrem aque litora m undi

Nunc illum , pigris im m an ia m onstra sub undis

Q ui ferat, Oceanum , qui saevas undique pristes

q uoreosque canes, ratibus consurgere prensrs .

Orig ins of English Elistory . 8 1

“the sun sets

’

for less than one hour for thirty days insuccession

,and this short night is attended with slight

darkness,and a twilight gl immering out of the west . ”1

H ere,we are told

,

“Saturn was charmed to sleep byBriareus h ewas laid in a golden-coloured cave of pumicestone ; birds brought h im ambrosia

,and genii waited

for h is commands .” We - have als o de s criptions of them en of Thule

,feeding in the spring on th e herbage with

their cattle,on m ilk in summer

,and in th e long winter on

th e store of fruits which they have laid up . We recogniseexaggerated versions of stories from H omer and H erodo

tus,dre ssed up to suit th e Polar latitudes

,in th e stories of

th e m en who sleep for six months on end,and l ive at ease

l ike th e Lotos-eaters,and of th e Pygmie s or Lilliputians

,

opposite to Thule and near Britain,who Were a span

l ong,

“very short-lived,and armed with spears like

needles .”2

We m ay here add a legend preserved by Procopius,

a tradition,to use h is own words

,very nearly allied to

fable,and one wh ich has never appeared to m e to be true

in all respects . ” Th e origin of th e fable is unknown,and

perhaps th e most remarkable th ing about it is th e continu

ance of the belief among th e fishermen of H olland and

Brittany,which has

’

been attested by trustworthy visitors .

In the northern ocean,

” so ran th e tale,

“ lie s the islandBrittia

,opposite to th e mouths of th e Rh ine , between

Britannia and th e I sle of Thule . Then follow descrip

tions of the Roman wal l and of other circumstance s wh ichshow that Procopius took Brittia to be th e country which

1 Plutarch (Wyttenbach ) , iv . 808 , in the essay D ef acie in Orhe L ance .

2See Eustath ius, in I l iad . iii. 6 , p . 2 8 1 . Stephan . Byzant . s. v . Germ ara.

6

8 2 Origins of English H istory .

others cal l Britain . On th e eastern side of th e wal l all is

c ivil ised : but “on th e western s ide it would be imposs ible

for a m an to l ive half an hour . ” Omitting many of th el ess important detail s we will come to th e main legend ,which th e learned Senator could hardly bring himself tobel ieve . I have frequently heard it

,

”h e said

,from m en

of that country,who related it most seriously

,though I

would rather ascribe their asseverations to a certain dreamyfaculty which possesses them . On th e coast Opposite toBrittia are many vi llages inhabited by fishermen and

labourers,who in th e course of trade go across to th e

is land . They declare that th e conducting of soulsdevolves upon them in turns . At night they perceivethat the door is shaken

,and they hear a certain indistinct

vo ice summoning them to the ir work . They proceedto th e shore not understanding th e necessity whichthus constrains them

, yet neverthel es s compel led by

its influence . H ere they perceive vessel s in readiness ,wholly void of m en

,not however their own but strange

vessel s ; embarking in these they lay hol d on their oars,

and fee l their burden made heavier by a multitude of

passengers,th e boats being sunk to th e gunwale and

rowlocks and floating scarce a finger from th e 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 vesse l s they arrive there with difficultyeven in a night and a day . They say that they hear a

certain voice there,which seems to announce to such as

receive them th e names of all who have crossed over withthem , describing the dignities which they formerly posses sedand cal ling them over by the ir hereditary titles : and

if women happen to cross over with them,they call

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84 Origins of English H istory .

Such is th e p icture of life in the H ebride s,and in Thule

a little to th e north , which was long accepted as true . Th e

story next appears in a legal form,fam iliar to the student

of Blackstone . In this shape it recounts th e oppre ss ionsof Evenus

,

” or “King Evan th e Third,

” or “Evan th eSixteenth

,

”

according to various versions,who at some

time before th e Christian era made a law appropriating

th e wives of h is subj ects to himself ; but after a quarrel,

which lasted for about years,the barbarous tribute

was,at th e request of King Mal colm ’s Queen

,commuted

for a money payment . It h as been dis covered after muchresearch that th e ancient king

,h is law and its repeal

,are

all equally mythical . But th e story remained down to

recent times th e stock example of th e horrors of th e feudal

system . Every p ayment made at a marriage was explainedas a redemption of some su ch prim itive claim . It might beonly a fee to the clergy for their licences and dispensations

,

or a fine to th e lord of th e manor to compensate h imfor the marriage of a vassal or a serf or th e landlord

and neighbours might claim a supper,

“a fowl and a bottle

of wine but th e payment was continually regarded,and

often des cribed in manorial records,as being given in

exchange for some right which was thought to haveexisted “

in th e heathen times,

” or before th e beginningof th e memory of m an .

1

The p rinc ipal authorities on the subject, besides the app rop riate titles inDucange, are Grim m

, D eutsch . Alterth . 384, 444 ; Grupen , D e Uxore

Theotiscd ; K eysler, Antiga . S eptent. Fischer, H ochz eile Boyer, D ecisiones ;

Fléch ier, L es grands 7 0am d’

Auvergne D e Gubernatis, Usi M a trim oniali

local custom s col lected in th e appendix to M . M artin ’

s H istoire de France,v ol. v . ,

and Bouthors, Cozztzlm es locales da Bailliage d’

Am iens ; Essays byM . J . J . R aépsaet, M . Louis Veuillot, and M . Delp it, R e

’

ponse d’

un

Orig ins of English H istory . 8 5

Th e celebrated novel of “Th e H yperboreans,was as

remarkable as th e romance of Thule for its humourous

exaggeration of th e contemporary discov eries of Pytheas .I t contains a description of Britain which must always

be interesting, though its importance is sometimes exag

gerated . It has been said that th e work of the later

H ecataeus is on th e subj ect of anc ient Britain “th e one

voice that breaks th e ominous silence of antiqu ity . But

a more ac curate estimate of its value m ay be found in th efollowing extract from th e works of an eminent Polish

s cholar“H é catée a publié un fameux ouvrage dont le titre

dé c‘

ele une v ie il le idée poétique raj eunie sous sa plume .

El le devait s ’allier aux nouve l les dé couvertes et y prendreune place ém inente au detrim ent de la s cience et du bon

sens . H ecatée,énumérant tous les étres m v stérieux de la

geograph ie septentrionale,enrichit leur nomenclature d’une

riviere scythique ré cemment trouvée en Orient par le con

quérant, qu’

il a appele’

e Paropam isos et . plus encore des

promontoire s et des i les Celtiques,qu ’il a probablement

puisé es dans les re lations véridiques de Pytheas pour les

entre lacer dans les plages superboréennes.

We wil l not discus s th e details of th e imaginary geo

Cam pagnard it an Parisien ; and Schm idt’s i ns prim az noctis. A l ist ofthe l ight l iterature of the subjec t, from a p lay by Beaum ont and F letcherto the Folle 7 ourne

’

e and the nove ls of Co l lin de Plancy , m ay be found in

an Essay on M anorial R ights by Labessade (Paris,1 Th e work

,

"Tr ip ri m

'

T1rep430pelwv , is supposed to have been writtennot long after th e death of Alexander the Great by H ecataeus of Abdera .

H e m ust be careful ly distinguished from th e m uch o lder H ecata us of

M iletus, wh o first co l lec ted th e H yperborean legends.

2 L elewel. Pyth éas , 45 .

86 Orig ins of English H istory .

graphy,except to notice that th e Polar Sea was called

Am alc ium ,

”a nam e wh ich was afterwards adopted by

science,as m ay be seen in th e m ap of ancient Scandinavia

in th e Appendix . Th e traveller’s route from th e Indian

Paropam isus to the Bal tic and th e German O cean m ay be

studied in th e collections of D iodorus.

Britain appears in th is book as“Elixoia

,an island about

as large as Sicily, lying in the Ce ltic O cean in front of th emouths of a m ighty river . Th e climate was so soft that

the crops ripened twice in th e year . There are several

allusions to th e insular worship of th e sun,the phenomena

of th e arctic cl imate,and th e habits of th e northern

savages,which are all deserving of attention

,as wil l be

seen from the foll owing extracts from D iodorus and

Pliny .

We wil l first deal with th e temple,so often connected

with Stonehenge,and with “ the Boreads

,

”in whose name

h as been traced an al lusion to th e power of th e Bards .

There is in that island a magnificent temple of Apollo,

and a circular shrine,adorned with votive offerings and

tablet s with Greek inscriptions suspended by travel lersupon th e wall s . Th e kings of that city and rulers of th etemple are th e Boreads

,who take up the government from

each other according to th e order of their tribes . Th e

c itizens are given up to music , harping , and chaunting inhonour of th e Sun .

” Every 19th year , we are told (withinc idents which remind us of th e folk- lore about th edancing of th e Easter sun) , th e god himself appeared toh is worshippers about th e vernal equinox

,and during a

l ong epiphany “would harp and dance in th e sky until th erising of the Pleiades .

1 Biod . ii. c . 3 .

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88 Orig ins of English H istory .

Th e story of th e old m en“ tired of the feast of l ife , is

based on a tradition of customs which are said to have

once existed in th e North . Even in comparatively moderntimes th e Swedes and Pomeranians were accused of kil l ingtheir old people in the way indicated in th e passage s quoted

above . Perhaps a tribe of poor and hungry m en would

easily fall into th e habit of kil ling th e useless m embers of

th e family and the practice m ay have survived long after

th e dreadful necessity h ad ceased . We find a notice of

th e tradition in th e Saga of Gottrek and Rolf. “H ereby our home

,

” says th e hero,

“is Gil lings-rock we call it

th e family cliff , because there we lessen th e number of th efam ily when evil fortune comes . There all our fathers

went to Odin without any stroke of disease . Th e old folkhave free acce ss to that happy spot

,and we ought to be

put to no further trouble or expense about them . Th e

children push th e father and mother from th e rock,and

send them with j oy and gladne ss on their j ourney to Odin .

Th e situation of several of these “Valhalla C liff s ” is saidto be known in Sweden . Th e lakes

,which stretch be low

,

were called “Valhal la-meres ” or “Odin-ponds .” “Th e

old people,after dances and sports

,threw themselve s into

th e lake,as th e anc ients re lated of th e H yperboreans ”

but if an old Norseman be came too frail to travel to thecliff , h is kinsmen would save h im th e disgrace of “dyinglike a cow in th e straw

,and would beat h im to death with

“th e fam ily- club .

”1 S im ilar stories are told of th e H eruli

1 Ge ijer, H ist . Sweden , 3 1 , 3 2 . One of th e “ fam ily-c lubs is said to

be stil l p reserved at a farm in East Goth land . As to th e H erul i, see Procop ius, D e Be l l . Goth . ii. 14 , and G ibbon , Dec line and Fal l, c . 39 . As to

stories about Ice landers, Westphal ians , Slavs, and Wends, see Grim m ,

D eutsch . Alterth . , 486, 489 . D ie K inder ihre altbetagte E ltern Blutfreunde

Or igins of Engli sh f l istory . 89

in the dark fore sts of Poland ;

’

and among th e Pruss iansall th e daughters except one were destroyed in infancyor sold

,and th e aged and infirm

,th e sick and th e de

formed,were unhesitatingly put to death ”

:1 practice s as

remote from the poetry of the Greek des cription as fromthat reverence for th e parents ’ authority which m ight have

been expected from des cendants of “th e Aryan household .

”

Of some of these Greek nove l s it is suffic ient to knowth e name s and subj e cts . One Am om etus published a

poetical description of a nation of “Attacori , l iving in a

sunny country beyond th e H imalayan range,wh ich seems

to have closely re sembled th e ac count of th e H yperboreans

,and to have al so dealt with th e hab its of certain

cannibal tribe s who were supposed to live in th e S cyth ian

de serts . 2 Jam bulus, a writer who is best known byLucian’s parody

,de scribed th e inhab itant s of th e Canarie s

or Fortunate I slands ; but h e seems to have known nothingof th e real story of th e intere sting Guanche rac e . H is

imaginary voyage m ay b e studied in Purchas ’ Pilgrimsand it will be found that h e was responsible for th e creation

of some of th e monstrous kinds of m en,whose fantastic

und andere Verwandten, auch die so n icht m ehr zum Kriege oder Arbe itdienstl ich , ertiidteten darnach gekocht und gegessen ,

oder lebendigbegraben , &c .

”

(ibid .

1 M ac lear, Conversion of the Slav s, 166 . K eysler, Antiqu. Septent . 148 ,

c ites severa l curious instances of this custom in Prussia from writers of

local authority. A Count Schulenberg rescued an old m an who was be ingbeaten to death by h is sons at a p lace cal led Jam m erholz , or

“ woefulwood, ” and the intended v ic tim l ived as the Coun t ’s hal l-po rter for twentyyears after h is rescue . A Countess of M ansfe ld , in th e 14th century, issaid to have saved the l ife of an old m an on the L iineberg H eath unde rsim ilar c ircum stances.

2Pliny, H ist. Nat. iv . o . 1 2 .

90 Origins of English H istory .

manners and customs threw so much dis credit on th e truereports of th e first explorers of th e world . We m ay use

th e words of Tacitus , when h e refused to adm it the creatures of fancy into h is “Germany .

” “All th e rest is l egend,

as that these people have the faces and l ooks of m en but

th e bodies and limbs of beasts,and th e like : of which

matters I know nothing for certain and therefore will leavethem alone .

” 1

l Tac . Germ . c . 46 .

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9 2 Orig ins of English H istory .

other of th e Greek explorers who followed on the track of

Pytheas .Of these later travel lers Pos idonius is the most important .1 H e seems to have vis ited every corner of th eWe st

,

soon after th e destruction of th e C imbric horde ; and h islive ly descriptions , first published in h is lecture -room at

Rhodes,are still among the be st authoritie s for th e

customs of th e people s whom h e visited . H e rece ivedfrom th e lips of Marius th e story of th e massacre of th eTeutones

,and drew that strange and bril liant picture of

th e barbarian arm ies which Plutarch h as preserved in h isb iography of th e Roman conqueror . We have alreadytaken from Posidonius some parts of h is description ofNorthern Spain

,where stood “ those mountains of unco ined

m oney heaped up by some bounteous Fortune,

” where theso il was not s o m uch “rich ”

as“absolute ly made of

riches ” we have borrowed from th e sket ches of life inCornwall

,and on th e mud-flats of th e German shore

,which

are believed to be fragments of h is H istory ; and h is

authority will be cited again,when we come to consider th e

manners of th e Gaul s in Britain . But h is work survivesonly in extracts wh ich cannot now be pieced together .Enough remains to show h is enthus iasm of research

,and

th e vividnes s and elegance of h is style : but th e loss of h isvolumes on th e Celts and the Germans must always becounted among th e great disasters of literature .

From th e remains of such anc ient des criptions,and from

th e discoveries of modern research,we shall endeavour to

1 See Bake '

s Posidonius (Leyden ,

'

18 10 ) and for extrac ts and anecdo tesf rom the fifty v o lum es of the H isto ries

, see Strabo , iii. 2 1 7, iv . 2 87, v ii .

2 93 ; Diod. v . 2 8 , 30 ; Athenaeus, iv . 1 5 3 , v i. 2 33 ; Eustath ius, in Odyss.

v iii. 475 , and in I l iad . 9 15 .

Or igins of English H istory . 93

reconstruct another portion of our history : and we shallseek in this part of th e work to col lect what is known of

th e Celts in th e South of Britain,at a time when the ir

lo cal diff erences were not yet merged in th e spread of th eRoman culture .

Th e obvious difficulty pre sents itsel f,that no single

description wil l suit an as semblage of tribe s differing in their

origin,language

,and customs . We can hardly attribute

the population to le ss than three separate stocks : and it isnot improbable

,that th e most prim itive of these m ay be

re solved into several e lements . Th e c ivil ised Gauls hadsettled on th e eastern coasts before th e Roman invasion sbegan

,and were to spread across th e island before th e

Roman conquest was complete . Th e Cel ts of an oldermigration were e stablished to th e north and west and ruled

from th e Gaulish settlements as far as the Irish Sea and

here and there we find th e trace s of still older peoples,

who are be st known as th e tomb -bu ilders and th e con

structors of th e pre -h istoric monuments .I t is difli cult

,after th e lapse of so many age s

,to ascertain

th e boundarie s and l imits of th e ancient settlements .Something

,howeve r

,h as been learned by th e exploration

of caves and tombs,by following th e lines of ol d trading

roads,and by tracing ol d earthworks and boundary-dy kes

and th e highest gratitude is due to th e numerous s cholarswho have engaged in these spec ial fie lds of re search . Evenmore

,perhaps

,has been gained by th e systematic measure

ment of ancient skul l s and skeletons,and th e comparison

of th e s cattered ornaments,and implements of stone and

metal,which are found in the tombs of th e Chieftains .

But th e safest method must cons ist in the study of th e

Celtic language s,or of their slight remains , surviving in

94 Origins of English H istory .

glosses or marginal interpretations of th e words used

in ancient manuscripts , in th e t itles of gods and legendarykings , in th e local names o f Gaul and Britain , or in

fragments of th e superscriptions upon altars , coins , and

m edal s .Th e phil ol ogists have become familiar with th e subj ectof th e Ce ltic tongues . Very l ittle indeed was known

about th e matter till Zeuss , with wonderful patience ,constructed h is comparative grammar . Th e s cience h as

now advanced so far, that some of h is most strikingconclusions seem doubtful in th e l ight of th e later

evidence ; but h is methods are stil l fruitful , and it m ay

b e said that h is very m istake s are instructive .

Th e Ce l tic languages are for th e most part dead,and

of some even th e tradition is now almost forgotten .

Those wh ich survive are found in Wale s and Ire land,

in some parts of th e H ighlands,in th e I sle of M an

,and

in Brittany . Of those that are dead we m ay mention ,for our own country

,th e Pictish and th e We l sh of Strath

clyde,and th e Cornish1 or We st-Welsh

,which died out

in Devon in th e time of Queen Elizabeth,and finally

d isappeared in Cornwal l a little more than a century ago .

In close connection with these is th e l iving “Brez onec”

of Brittany,wh ich m ay have been carried across th e seas

by refugees from Britain . There are traditions besides ofseveral we stern idioms

,which m ay all be classified as

Gaulish ; a very similar form was once used in Galatia ;2

of some others used in “Ce l tiberia ”we c an only know

1 There were six dialec ts of Cornish . M any of the words are stil l in useam ong the country peop le . SeeWil l iam s

,Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum , 186 2 .

2 “ Galatas propriam linguam ,eandem que pene habere quam

Trev iros, nec referre si aliqua exinde corruperint .

— St. Jerom e, Com m ent .

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96 Orig ins of English f l istory .

s ince those forms are found to differ so wide ly from eachother . Were th e Inland Britons

,as distinguished from

th e Bry thonic or Gal lo -British race,more nearly akin

to th e Irish Gael , or th e sem i-Latin tribes of C isalpine and

Transalpine Gaul ? Th e que stion is of great importancefor

,according to th e answer received

,we shal l lose or

retain a clue to several historical prob lems . In th e one

case,th e study of th e Irish antiquities will throw light

upon those of Britain ; but in th e other case we mustremain in th e darkne ss that has gathered round th e history

of th e Gauls .

Th e answer has usually been,that th e Irish and the

We l sh were as far apart and distinct as was possibleconsistently with th e admitted fact

,that both were of th e

Celtic blood . I t was said that th e original stock wasdivided into two main families : that th e Gael ic branch

was repre sented in th e West by th e Irish and emigrantsfrom Ireland ; while th e

“Cymric branch was taken to

include both th e Welsh and th e Gauls,and almost all

th e other Ce lt s whose presence had been traced in

Europe .

I t is conjectured,by those who adopt this view

,that th e

Gae l s,or Goidels

,were th e first to arrive

,and that of th e

two main divisions they were th e more numerous and themore important swarm . By th e name s of mountains andrivers the ir line of march h as been traced along what in

any case was a Celtic route,from th e Steppe to th e be lts

of sand between th e Baltic and th e Central Fore st ; th elo cality of their princ ipal settlements is found near th e

Rhine and th e Moselle ; and th e l ines of the ir later

m ovements are shown to lie northwards to Britain and

eastwards as far as Galatia. Th e later imm igrants are

Or ig ins of English f f istory . 97

stated,on th e same hypothe s is

,to have followed a different

course . H aving arrived at th e Alps,they are said to have

spread outwards from that centre , downwards to Italy and

across th e mountains to Gaul and Spain . I n course of

time,as it has b een supposed , s ome tribes of the ir company

were led or driven to Britain ,where they attacked and

drove out of th e country th e long- settled clans of th e

Gael . 1

Th is theory h as derived its main support from th e

belief,that th e Irish language d iffered as radically from

th e We lsh as it undoubtedly diff ered from th e Gaul ish .

W e are not bound to debate th e whole problem of th eCeltic dispersion . But it is important for our purposeto consider whether that belief was corre ct

,so far as this

country is concerned .

Th e intimate connection between th e We l sh and th e

Gauls was inferred from th e s imilarity of their language s,

espec ially in those po ints on which they both differed from

th e oldest I rish . Th e earl ie st Wel sh manuscripts werecompared with th e Gaul ish vocabulary

,as it h as been

gathered from proper name s and from inscriptions to th el ocal gods ; and it was found that th e language s possesseda common stock of sounds and letters

,as P

,TH

,and S

between vowel s , wh ich h ad been dropped in Old Irish,

even if they h ad eve r bel onged to its store . But upona closer examination of th e subject it was found that the

1 Taylor, Wo rds and Places, 1 2 9 , 15 7, 163 ; Arno ld , H ist . R om e , 1. 433 .

Professor R hys gives th e nam e of Go ide ls to th e m em bers o f th e

Gae l ic group ,wh ich inc luded the Ce lts of th e Gae l ic -speaking districts o f

Ire land , Sco tland ,and th e Isle of M an . Th e nam e Brythons ” rep resents

the Ce lts of eastern Britain ,whose language sp read intoWales , Cum bria ,

and

parts of D evon and Co rnwal l . Celtic Britain , 3 .

98 Or igins of English H istory .

deduction was wrong, though th e examples appeared to

be corre ct . The re semblance is deceptive,because th e

common characterist ics did not exist in both language s at

th e same tim e . Th e l ikene ss arose from cause s whichworked independently of each other ; and th e steps by

which th e language s arrived at th e same stage of growthwere separated by long interval s of time . Th e

“Bry

thonic” tribes

,l ike their kinsmen th e Continental Gaul s

,

h ad used th e sounds in question for some centuries beforeth e Goidelic people s had learned them ; and by th e

time that they were e stabl ished in Wales,in th e fifth

or sixth century after Christ,th e Gaulish tongue h ad

either ceased to exist,or was so nearly lost in Latin

,

that it could only be distinguished as a rustic mode ofspeaking .

1 But it appears that th e languages of Wales,

and Ireland,during th e same centurie s

,re sembled each

other in th e v ery po ints on which they afterwards differed .

It is true that th e oldest of th e Welsh manuscripts are

m uch later than th e end of this period of resemblance ;and it m ay be obj e cted , that no sufficient proof could begiven of th e theory which has found favour with th e

philological authorities . 2 But th e answer l ie s in th e factthat th e forms of th e ancient Welsh had been re covered

1L

'

agonie rla v ieux Celtigue se prolongea longtemps sous ces nouveaux

m a itres (les — D e Belloguet, Gloss . Gaul . 49 . Th e instancesof late Gaul ish , down to th e seventh century, are co l lected in h is

introduction .

2 The o ldest of th e We lsh M SS. is th e Juvencus Codex ,assigned

to the n inth century . There are poem s by several authors desc ribingsom e of the inc idents of the Engl ish Conquest ; but they surv ive in versionsof which th e language has been considerably m odernised . See Skene,Four Anc ient Books of Wales. V illem arqué, M anuscrits des Anc iensBretons.

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100 Orig ins of English H istory .

change and shift its form ,exhib iting l ike an organi sed

b eing its phases of growth , decl ine , and decay ; and,in

th e case of these divided peoples , it is hardly to be sup

posed that their unwritten idioms would follow pre cisely

th e same course of phonetic alteration . There is no

reason to disbe lieve in their original un ity , mere ly because

th e We l sh e ither approached or were forced to adopt th eBrythonic or Gaul ish form : it wil l be remembered that

th eWelsh itse lf broke up during th e historical period intoseveral diff erent idioms ; and this m ay help us to understand how th e change of th e older language was eff e cted .

1

Taking th e theory,then

,to be suffic iently e stabl ished

for our purpose,we shal l now endeavour to put it to a

practical use . It wil l be found,that not onlv m ay the

British history be illustrated by what is known aboutIreland

,but that th e difference s between th e We l sh and

th e Gauls will he lp us to fix approximately th e S i te s of

th e Gaulish colonies . 2 There are proper name s enough,

1 W il l iam of M alm esbury noticed but a sl ight difference in h is tim e

between Welsh and Breton .

“ Lingua nonn ih il a nostris Britton ibus

degeneres Gesta . i . 1 . Giraldus cal ls th e Breton an old-fashionedWelsh . M agis antiquo l inguae Britann icae idiom ati app rop riato .

Deset . Cam br. c . 6 .

2 Professor Rhys disagrees with th e theory that th e Ce ltic of the Ogaminsc rip tions underwen t changes in th e course of tim e which shaped it intoth e dialects cal led We lsh and Old Co rnish . H e thinks that the Ce lts wh ospoke th e language of th e Ce ltic Ep itaphs in th e 5 th and 6th centuries were“ in part th e ancesto rs of th e We lsh and Co rnish peop le , and that theyafte rwards changed their language from a Gae lic or

“ Go ide lic form to a

Gal lo -British or“Brython ic ”

fo rm .

“ I n o ther wo rds, they were Go idelsbe longing to th e first Ce ltic invasion of Britain, of whom som e passed overinto Ire land, and m ade that island also Ce l tic . At that po int, or st il learl ier, all th e British Islands m ay be treated as Go ide l ic , excep t certainparts where the Neo l ith ic nat ives m ay have been able to m ake a stand

Orig ins of English H istory . 10 1

ins cribed on coins or m entioned in th e narrative of th eRoman wars , to furnish some slight glos sary for such a

purpose . Nor can one fai l to gain some useful knowledgefrom them by th e use of th e phonological tests

,if it be

remembered that th e Gaul ish imm igration was a long andgradual proce ss , and if al l owance be made for th e carelessness of classical writers -in transcribing th e barbarian

names .

against th e Go ide ls but at som e later period there arrived another Ce lticpeop le, wh ich was p robably to all intents and purposes th e sam e as that ofthe Gauls .

”— Ce l tic Britain,2 15 .

102 Origins of English H istory .

C H AP TER V .

T H E GAU L S I N BR ITA I N .

I nvasion by th e King of So issons—O lder settlem ents—Kingdom s o f Kent .—Forest o fAnderida —Th e Trinobantes—E xtent o f th e ir dom inions—Th e Iceni—Th eCatuvellaunian Confederacy .

—C iv il isation o f th e Gaulish settlers — Physicalappearance —D ress .

—Ornam ents .

— Equipm ents in peace and in wan—Scyth edch ariots—Agricultural knowledge—Cattle .

—D om estic life .

IETY years or more before th e Roman invasionsbegan th e King of Soissons1 had extended h is

rule over th e southern portions of our country . Th e

transitory conque st m ay have increased th e intercoursebetween th e I sland and th e Continent ; but th e origin ofthat intercourse must be referred to an older date .

There are signs that an imm igrat ion from Belgium h ad

been proceeding for several generations before th e age

of D iv itiacus. There was a striking similarity betwe enth e language and manners of th e Gauls on both s ides of

th e Straits,the m en of Kent in particular being nearly as

much civilised as their kinsmen across th e water ; and

there were also such slight differences as would natural lybe found in colonies long separated from their parentstates . At a period not very remote from th e l ife -time ofCaesar himse lf several Belgian tribe s h ad invaded th e

country for purposes of devastation and plunder ; and,

finding th e place to their liking,they had remained as

1 “Apud eos (scil. Suessiones) fuisse regem ,nostra etiam m em oria,

D iv itiacum ,totius Galliae potentissim um , qui quum m agnae partis harum

regionum tum etiam Britann iae im perium obtinuerit.” —Caesar, De Be l l .

Gal l . ii. c . 4 .

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104 Orig ins of Engli sh fi h

’

story .

of Anderida .

1 Th e Gaul ish2 kingdoms,with their th ickly

packed villages and the ir “ infinite number of inhab itants,

”

must have lain to th e east of th e fore st,skirting th e sea

upon th e south and bounded to th e north by a wide district of fens and tidal morasses which at that time re ce ived

th e spreading and s cattered waters of th e Thame s . 2

1 This forest m ust at one tim e have covered m ost of south-easternBritain , and was p robably connected with th e other fo rests that stretchedfrom H am p shire to D evon . Th e Andred

’

s-Wo ld c om p rised th e Wealdso f Kent , Surrey , and Sussex , tak ing in at least a fourth part of Kent , the

Seven H undreds of the Weald, and all the interior of Sussex as far as

the edge of the South D owns, and a be lt of about twe lve m iles in breadthbetween the hil ls and the sea . Lam barde describes th e Weald of Kent asbeing “

stuffed with h eardes of deere and droves of h ogges, and adds

that “ it is m an ifest , by th e Saxon Chron ic les and o thers, that beginn ingatWinchelsea it reached in length an hundred and twenty m iles towardsth e west , and stretched thirty m iles in braidth towards th e north . Per

am bul . Kent , 2 09 . See Farley ’

s Weald of Kent, i. 3 72 ; and Kem ble ,Anglo-Saxons, ii. 304 .

2 Caesar , D e Bel l . Gal l . v . 1 2 , 14 . Th e Gaul ish nam es to be noticedare those of th e four kings, Cingetorix , Carv ilius, Tax im agulus , and

Segonax , and that o f th e Chieftain Lugotorix : upon th e co ins , those of

Ep illus and Dubnov ellaunus ; and com pare the local nam es, Toliapis for

Sheppey, and Rutup iaz for R ichborough , which appear in Pto lem y ’

s Tables .

2 Sir George A iry h as publ ished a paper on th e C laudian Inv asionof Britain (Alhenceum , N o . in wh ich the anc ient state of the

Tham es is careful ly described . Whatev er m ay be the date of th e m ightyem bankm ents which have given its p resent form to the river-channel ,there can be no doubt that they did not ex ist in th e tim e of C laudius .

Those vast tracts known as the Isle of D ogs , th e Greenwich M arshes, theH am and Plum stead M arshes (wh ich are now about e ight feet lower

than h igh-water) , were then extensive slobs cov ered with water at eve rytide . The water below London was then an enorm ous estuary, extendingfrom th e hil ls or hard slop ing banks o f M iddlesex and Essex to those of

Surrey and Kent , with one head towards the val ley o f th e Tham es and

ano ther head towards th e v al ley of th e L ea ; and , on th e who le , o ffering a

greater resem blance to the Wash , though longer in p ropo rtion to its breadth,than to any other p lace on the Engl ish coast .

Or igi ns of English H istory . 10 5

Th e Trinobante s , another Belgian tribe , h ad se ttled in

such parts of th e modern M iddlesex and Essex as were

no t covered by th e o ak-fore sts or o v erflowed by th e sea .

The ir we stern boundary m ay be fixed in th e Valley of th e

L ea and al ong th e edge of th e “Fore st of M iddlesex,

”

which once Spread northwards from th e swamp at Finsburyand covered th e Weald of Essex .

1-Their northern l im it

was fixed at th e Valley of th e Stour,a flat and marshy

tract which is thought to have been covered at that time

by th e sea for a distance of m any m ile s above th e term il

nation of th e modern e stuary .

2

Above them lay th e territory of another Gaulish nation .

1For an account of this tribe see Rhys, Ce lt ic Britain,

17 , 3 10 , andWe lshPhilo logy, 19 2 . For a descrip tion o f th e fo rest, of wh ich som e sm a l lrem ains exist in our own tim e , see Robinso n,

H ist . H ackney, 3 8 . D r. Guestdesc ribes part of the tribal boundaries in an E ssay on th e Origin of London(Athenaaum ,

1 866 , N o .

“ As th e western boundary o f th e

Trinobantes was undoubtedly th e m arshy val ley of th e L ea, the questionnatural ly arises , What becam e of th e d istric t be tween th e L ea and th e

Brent ? H ere we h ave the larger part o f our m etropo l itan countyunac counted for. Th e distric t was m ere l y a m arch of the Catuvellaun i,

’

a com m on through which ran a w ide track-way , but in wh ich was neithertown ,

v il lage , nor inhabited house .

”

2Sir G . Airy has desc ribed the boundary in h is Essay on the C laudian

Invasion .

“Th e Stour, traced upwards from H arwich , p resents first a

large estuary ; secondly, a large m arshy v al ley, which I have seen coveredwith water for m any m iles in length , and wh ich probably in th e anc ient

tim es was estuary .

”H e po ints out th e l ines of defence which guarded

the Trinobantian country .

“ In regard to defence from th e m outh of th e

L ea to . the m outh of th e Stour it was we l l p rotec ted by th e estuary andthe sea. The Lea is in a w ide m arshy valley and to its m arshes fo l lowthose of th e Stort . Th e only p art open to easy attack is the Space

between th e Upper Val ley of th e Stour and th e Upper Val ley of the

Stort ; and th is, l ike th e gate of a castle, presents th e fac il ities requiredfor sal ly ing out upon the rest of th e country .

”H e was referr ing in

this passage to a Rom an occupat ion of Essex ; but th e descrip t ion is

equal ly va luable when app l ied to the earl ier invasion of th e Trinobantes .

106 Origins of English A h

'

story .

Th e I ceni,or “

th e E c ene (if we name them ac cordingto the legend on their coins) ,

1 had seized and fortified

th e broad peninsula, which fronted on th e North Sea and

th e confluence of rivers at th e Wash,and was cut o ff in

almost every o ther dire ction by th e tidal marshes and th e

great Leve l of th e Fens . This region included all th e

dry and higher-lying portions o f th e district which wasafterward known as East Anglia . On th e we stern s ide

,

wh ere a ridge of open country rose between th e fens and“th e dense woodlands of Suffolk

,

”I cenia2 was guarded by

1 NVe should note th e nam e of th e K ing Prasutagus, which is shown to

be Gaul ish by the use of th e letter “ p ,

”

and by the position of th e“S

”

between vowe ls. Seve ra l o the r unm istakably Gaul ish nam es are found

upon the Icenian co ins . Such is “ Addedom arus,”

spe lt in som e cases

with the c rossed “ d and with th e theta : it h as been identified with the“Assedom arus of a cont inental insc rip tion . Othe r abbrev iated fo rm s are

aesu,”

anted, and antth th e last is taken for Anteth rigu,”

a titlefound on co ins from th e West of England . See Rhys, We lsh Philo logy,193 , 194 ,

and Ce ltic Britain , 3 6 , 2 77 . Evans, Anc . Brit . Co ins, 43 , 44 .

The co ins are found in go ld and in copp er p lated with thin leaves of go ld .

Com pare the desc rip tion ,ibid . 43 , of a discovery o f im p lem ents for striking

Spurious im itations of th e M acedon ian state r . M r. Akerm an first attem p ted(Archwologia ,

xxx iii. ) to m ap the positions of th e tribes by m eans of th e

discoveries o f buried co ins . App lying h is m ethod to the Iceni and th e

Trinobantes, h e found that he could m ark out a l ine where co ins of th e

latter p eop le had been found , which env ironed , if it did not strictly l im it,

th e Icenian country , excep t whe re th e fens in te rvened .

“The co ins of

Cunobelin or with the m int-m ark of Cam ulodunum have been found not on lyat Co lchester , but also at D ebden ,

Chesterfo rd , Sandy, and Cam bridge .

”

See

Akerm an’

s essay and m ap in th e Archaeologia,“Pieces with the letters

‘ece

’

and‘ecen

,

’ which in the op in ion of num ism atists are co ins of th e

Icen i, hav e been found at Weston,between Norwich and D ereham ,

Num ism . Chron . xv . 98 . To this c lass is assigned a go ld co in found at

Oxnead , about ten m iles from Weston : none such are authenticated as

found westward of M arch in Cam bridgeshire . Taylo r, Topogr. East .Counties p , 43 .

2 For th e Icen ian boundaries , see Spelm an s I cenia Cam den ’

s Britan

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108‘

Orig ins of English H istory .

Brockley H ill to th e woodland of th e Colne Valley,and

thence to th e Brent , and down th e Brent to th e Thames .”1

But we have l ittle el se to guide us,except th e knowledge

that th e state in question included th e Site of OldVerulam,

and that th e “Cassii” seem to have left traces of their

name in Cash iobury and th e H undreds of Cash io inH ertfordshire .

Though th e earlier Brythonic se ttlers were nearly as

much c ivilised as the ir continental neighbours,they are re

ported to have been Simpler in their ways,perhaps because

they h ad no t as yet gained wealth b y a conque st of th em ineral districts . They h ad not even learned to bu ildregular towns

,though their kinsmen in Gaul h ad founded

citie s with walls and streets and market -places . What theycalled a town

,or a

’nnnm

,was still no more than a refuge

for times of war,a stockade on a hill - top or in th e marshy

thickets . 2 When peace was re stored,they returned to

their open village s built of high bee-hive huts with roofsof fern or thatch

,like those which m ight b e seen in th e

rural parts of Gaul . 3 These wigwams were made of

planks and wattle -work,with no external decoration except

th e trophies of th e chase and th e battle -field for a chief’shouse

,it se ems

,would be adorned with th e Skulls of h is

enemie s nailed up against th e porch among th e Skins andh orns of beasts . Th e practice was de s cribed by Posidoniusas prevailing “

among th e northern nations and h e c on

1 Guest , Origin of London (At/zenceum ,1 866

, N o . Agreat m any earthworks are known as Grim sd itch es, Grim sdykes , and bys im ilar nam es ; and it is probable that they often rep resent th e course o f

old triba l boundaries . See D r. Guest 's exp lanation of the m atter in h is

Early Engl ish Settlem ents, and com pare Archwologia (Sal isbury,2 Caesar, D e Be l l . Ga l l . v . 2 1

, and v ii . 3 , 14 ,2 8

, 4 2 , 5 8 .

Strabo , iv . 2 9 7.

Orig ins of English H istory . 109

fessed that , though at first disgusted,h e soon becam e

ac customed to th e Sight . The succes sful warrior woul d

Sling his enemy’s head at h is saddle -bow and th e troph ie swere brought home in a triumphal proce ssion

,and were

e ither nailed up outside,or in Spec ial cases were embalmed

and preserved among th e treasure s of th e family .

1

AS they had but re cently settled in th e is land,we m ay

supp ose that in feature s and phys ique they re sembled the irkinsmen on th e continent . If th e inference b e corre ct

,it

fol lows that they diff ered in several respe cts from th e

Briton s of th e preceding m igration . All th e Ce lts,ac cord

ing to a remarkable consensu s of authorities,were tall

,

pale,and light-haired ;

2 but,as between th e two stocks in

question,we learn from Strabo that th e Gauls we re the

1 Strabo ,iv . 30 2 ; D iod . Sic . v . c . 2 9 . For th e p revalence o f the hab it

am ong th e Bretons, see Valroger, Gaule Ce l tique , 30 1 . For sim ilar hab itsam ong th e Ce lts general ly , see Sil. Ital . Pun ic . x iii . 48 2 am ong th e Irish ,R evue Celtique, ii . 2 6 1

, D’

Eckstein’

s“ Catho l ique, and M artin , H ist .

France , i . 3 5 ; am ong the Bo ii, Livy , xxiii . 2 4 ; am ong th e Lom bards ,Warnefrid, ii. 2 8

,Gibbon , D ec l . and Fal l , 0 . 4 5 ; am ong th e Scandi

nav ian nations, K eysler, Antiqu. Septent. 363 , c iting the “ A tla-Mal,

and

the stories in th e H eim skringla of M im ir’s head , and o f “M albrigd withthe buck-tooth, Ynglinga

-tal, c . 4 . H ara ld H aarfagre’

s Saga , Laing,Sea-kings of N orway , i . 2 18 , 2 9 1 , and R obe rtson ,

Early K ings of Scotland ,

i . 46 . The Museum of Aix contains has-re l iefs rep resenting Gaulishknights carrying hom e th e heads of their enem ies : and on a co in o f the

E duan Dubnorix“ le chef tient (1. la m a in une téte coupe

’

e.

”

N apoleon ,

Vi e (le Ce’

sar, ii . 36 , 36 1 .

‘1 See Livy, xxxv iii. 17 , 2 1 Lucan , Phars . 11. 108 ; Am m . M arc . xv . 10 .

Ukeovdfo vreg pub/ow c

’

iyptdrnn p eyéfla Ka i Ea r/ 66m m .

”

Eustath . ad

D ionys . on th e passage ,M i m i re (pi ke: ve

’

p ovra r.” Com pare th e Gauls

on the Sh ie ld o f JEneaS , go lden-haired and decked with go ld,

Aurea c aesaries o l l is atque aurea vestis ,V irgatis lucent sagulis. Tum lac tea co l laAuro innectuntur.

—Virg. JEn . v iii . 65 9 .

1 10 Orig ins of English H istory .

Shorter and th e stouter of l imb , and with hair of a palercolour . 1 Th e accuracy of th e ol d de scriptions of th e Gauls

,

(so far, at least , as concerns th e kings and the chieftains , )h as been as certained by comparing th e figure s that remain

upon monuments and medal s,and by an examination of

th e Skeletons from Gaul ish tombs in France . Th e women,

espec ial ly, were singularly tall and handsome ; and their

approximation to th e m en in s ize and strength is th e best

evidence that th e nation h ad advanced out of th e stage ofbarbarism . If we m ay trust Ammianus Marce llinus

,who

had a personal knowledge of th e people , th e women weremore formidable opponents than th e m en ; on a quarrel

arising between h er husband and a stranger,th e Gaulish

woman would throw herself into th e fight,like a fury

,with

streaming hair,and would strike out with h er huge snowy

arms or kick,with th e force of a catapult . ” 2

Th e m en and women wore th e same dress,so far as we

c an judge from the figures on th e medal s of Claudius .When Britannia is represented as a woman th e head isuncovered and th e hair tied in an elegant knot upon th e

neck ; where a male figure is introduced,th e head is

covered with a soft h at of a modern pattern . Th e costumeconsisted of a blou se with Sleeves

,confined in some case s by

a b elt,with trousers fitting close at th e ankle

,and a tartan

plaid fastened up at th e shoulder with a brooch . Th e

Gauls were expert at making cl oth and l inen . They wovetheir stuffs for summer

,and rough felts or drugge ts for

winter-wear,wh ich are said to have been prepared with

1 Strabo ,iv . 2 78 . Tacitus, Agric . c . 1 1 .

“Q uum il la ponderans n iveas ulnas et vastas, adm istis calc ibus,

em ittere coeperit pugnos ut catapultas tortilibus nerv is excussos.—Am m .

M arc . xv . 1 2 . See Athenaeus, x iii . 8 .

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1 1 2 Or igins of English H istory .

with wh ich we are deal ing ; but in th e next generation th e

fashion changed , and that finger was left bare while all th e

rest were loaded .

1

A ch ief dressed in th e Gaul ish fash ion must have been

a surprising sight to a traveller . H is clothe s were of aflam ing and fantastic hue ; h is hair hung down like a

ho rse ’s mane,or was pushed forward on h is forehead in a

th ick shock,if h e followed th e insular fash ion . Th e hair

and moustaches were dyed red with th e “Gal lic soap,

”

a

m ixture of goat’s fat and th e ash e s of be echen logs . They

d ecked themselves out in this guise to l ook more terriblein battle ; but Posidonius , when h e saw them first

,de clared

that they l ooked for all th e world l ike Satyrs,or wild

m en of th e woods . ” 2

Th e equ ipment of th e Belgians in war3 has been often

Britain ,because th e natives were as yet unable to m ake bron z e (Caesar ,

D e Be l l . Gal l . v . and glass-m aking is said to be the concom itant of th em anufac ture of that m etal . The scorice from the bronz e -furnaces are in

fac t a kind o f glass , a sil icate of soda , co loured blue or green by the S ilicateo f copper . Figuie r, Prim . M an (Tylo r) . As to th e green glass found in

Scand inav ian tom bs, and attributed to a com m erce with Phoen ic ia , seeN ilsson , Stone Age (Thorns) , p . 8 2 .

1 “Galliae Britanniaeque in m edio (annulum ) dicuntur usae. H ic nunc

So lus exc ip itur ; ceteri om nes onerantur, atque etiam p rivatim articul im inoribus a llis (Pl iny , H ist . N at . xxx iii. c .

D iod . Sic . v . c . 2 8 ; Caesar, D e Be l l . Gal l . v . 13 . D em ens im itareBritanno s, Ludis et externo tincta n itore caput (Propert . E leg. ii . 18,

Prodest e t sapo , Galliarum h oc inv entum rutilandis cap illis : fit ex seboet c inere . Optim us fagino et cap rino .

”

(Pl iny, H ist . N at . xxv iii . c .

The Germ ansused th e sam e wash or dye ,whichwas cal led “

Spum a Batava(M art . Ep ig. v iii. Caustica Teuton icos accendit spum a cap il los( il ia

’. x iv . Flavus co lo r be l lum m inatur

, ceu cognatus sanguin i

(Clem ens . Paedagog. i i . Th e subjec t of the ha ir-dressing of th e

northern nations is d iscussed with m uch detail in th e 4th part of Grupen ,

D e U xore Th eo tisc fr.”

2 For the Gaul ish weapons , see D iod . Sic . v . c . 30 ; Strabo , iv . 197 .

Orig ins of English f l istory . 1 13

and minutely des cribed . Th e Shie l d was as h igh as a

m an . Th e he lmet was ornamented with horns and a highplume

,and was j oined to th e bronze cheek -pieces

,on

which were carved th e figures of b irds and th e face s ofanimals in high re l ief. Th e cuirass was at firs t of plaitedleather

,and afterwards was made of chain-mail or of

paralle l plate s of bronze . For offenc e they wore a pon

derous sabre,and carried a Gaulish pike

,with flam e -like

and undulating edge s “so as to break th e flesh all in pieces . ”

I n addition to th e bow,dart

,and Sling

,th e ord inary

miss ile equipment,they h ad some other weapons of which

th e use is more difficult to explain.

Strabo m entions,for instance

,a kind of wooden dart1

used chiefly in th e chase of b irds,which flew further than

any ordinary j ave l in ,though it was thrown without the aid

o f th e“casting- thong .

”

Th e“ni a ta ris

”was another

miss ile,of wh ich th e nature is now fo rgotten . It m ay be

th e weapon wh ich is depi cted on some Gaul ish coins,

where a horseman is seen throwing a lasso to which :

a

hammer-Shaped m issile is attached . And if th e supposi

tion is correct,it wil l explain many obs cure passages in

ancient writings,where th e weapon is de scribed as return

ing to th e hand of th e person who cast it .

2

L e M use’

e ale Z urich posséde une cuirasse gauloise f orm e’

e a’e longue plagues

de f er . Au L ouvre cl ou M use’

e de Sa int-Germ a in il existe des cuirasses

gauloises en bronz e. L a cotte de m a illes (e’

tait une) invention gauloise.

”

(Napo leon , Vie cle Ce’

sar, ii. 34 .

” Ben 58 Ka i ypéa tpg) form ic Eékov , s’

ic xetpog o iiic £5 c’

rym’

zkng totep évov ,7 nXe/3eké rspov Ka i fiékov g judlkw

'

ra Ka i npdg The o’

puéwv xpé vra t Glypag.

Strabo , iv . 19 7 .

2 Th e m a taris is described in the sam e passage o f Strabo , Ma rapic

ar tilvrov TL si i og. C icero m entions it as a weapon o f the Gauls (Ad H erenn .

iv . The co ins m entioned in the text are cop ied in the Revue Celtique,

8

1 14 Origins of English H i story .

Th e s cythed chariots , or covini , should be noticed

in this connection . They seem to have been low twowheeled carts

,drawn by two or four horses apiece

,on

which a number of foot- soldiers , or rather dragoons , couldbe carried with in th e enemy’s l ine . Th e captain or driverof th e chariot was in command of th e party . Th e ch a

i . 7, where they are connected with th e wo rship of D is Pater, and of th e

E truscan Charu or Charon . The weapons which returned to th e throwerwere the c lub of H ercules, which was suppo sed to be attached to a lassosee Serv ius on Virg. fEn . v ii . 74 1 ,

“Teuton ico ritu soliti torquere cate iamthe ham m er and the “

anv il of Thor, which returned to th e p laces fromwhich they were thrown : th e c lub and th e hand-stone of th e “

D agda,”

a chief figure in the I rish m ytho logy : th e go lden bal l , or“app le

used as a weapon of this k ind acco rding to th e legend of Fionn s

Enchantm ent, R evue Celtique, ii. 19 6 the iron bal ls which have beenfound in late Ce ltic tom bs , which are m arked with grooves for attachm entto th e string ; and, according to th e authorities next-m entioned, th e

jave lin of Cephalus and the aquif o/ia desc ribed by Pliny . The interestof th e question lies in th e fac t that these reflex ive m issiles are som etim es

confused with th e Austra l ian boom erang, which if skilful ly cast wil l wheelback in the air to the thrower ; and several strange ethno logical theorieshave been founded on this supposition . See Ferguson ’

s Essay on th e

Antiquity of th e Boom erang, Trans . R oy . Ir . Acad . , 1838 and Sm yth ,Aborigines of Victoria , 3 2 7. They treat th e cateia ,

”

or Spear as hav ingbeen connected in som e way w ith th e Austral ian im p lem ent . The m ino rautho rities c ited are th e l ine of Virgil above m entioned , Festus, sul’ v oce

“ C lava , ” th e “

pandacate ia”

of Sil ius Ital . Punic . iii . 2 74 ,

“torquens cateias

”

in Val. Flacc . , Argon . v i . 83 , Am m . M arce l l . xxx i . 7 , and a passage fromthe Origines of Isidore of Sev il le

,which is chiefly rem arkable for its

om ission of th e thong m entioned by Serv ius .

“ C lava est qualis fuitH ercul is, dicta quod sit

’

clav is ferreis inv icem religata, et est cub ito sem is

facta in longitudine . H aec est cateia, quam H oratius Caiam dic it . Est

genus Gal l ic i tel i ex m ateria quam m ax im e lenta : quae jactu quidem non

longe , p ropter grav itatem ev olat, sed ubi perven it v i n im ia perfringit .

Quod si ab artifice m itta tur, rursus redit ad eum qui m isit. H ujus

m em init V irgilius , dicens‘ Teuton ico ritu etc .

’ Unde et eas H ispan i‘ Teutones ’

v ocant . Isidore Orig. xv iii. c . 7 . On a rem arque’

que

l’

Espagnol clit encore Chu'

z on , pour un grand javelot ; m ais ce nzot n’

est

aulre, je pense, que le Basque Chuz oa.

”

D e Belloguet, Gloss . Gaul . 2 09 .

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1 16 Orig i ns of Engli sh H i story .

and they h ad learned to make a permanent separation of

th e pasture and arable , and to apply th e manures wh ichwere appropriate to each k ind of fie ld . We find no traceof a c o -operative husbandry

,such as was afterwards

establ ished in th e Engl ish settlements . Th e plough wasof th e whee led kind , an invention that superseded th e old“over-treading plough ,

” held down by th e driver ’s foot,of

which a repre sentation in bronze has b een dis covered inYorksh ire .

1

They relied greatly upon marling and chalking th e land .

Th e same soil,however

,was never twice chalked

,as th e

effects were visible after standing th e experience of fiftyyears .” 2 Th e effect of th e ordinary marl was of evenl onger duration

,th e benefit be ing visible in some instances

for a period of e ighty years . Pliny said that h e neverknew a case where th e marling required to be repeated .

But th e proces s needed some care for th e marl had to bem ixed with salt

,and s cattered th inly over th e grass

,or

ploughed into th e arable with a proportion of farm-yardmanure and even then th e effects were hardly noticeablefor a year or two .

3

The ir stock was much th e same as that which their

1 For the invention of th e wheeled p lough , see Pliny , H ist . N at. xv iii . c . 18 .

W ith respect to the figure m entioned in the text , see Wright, R om an

Cel t and Saxon ,2 5 6 . Th e figure was found at Piersebridge , and is said

to be in Lord L ondesborough ’

s co l lection .

2 A rthur Young, Annals xx ii. 5 47, 5 5 3 , where th e who lesubject is discussed with reference to Pliny . The chalk-m arl was cal ledargentaria the l im e-m arl , a ston ier kind

, was known by the Gaul ishnam e of “ acaunu-m arga . Afte r the intercourse with Gaul becam e m oreconstant , other v arieties of m arl cam e into use , as th e red, dove-co loured,sandy, and pum ice-l ike varieties . (Pliny, H ist . N at . xv i. c .

3 “Alioquin novitate

, quaecunque fuerit (m arga) , so lum laedat, me sic

quidem prim o post anno fertilis. (Pl iny, H ist . N at. xv ii. c .

Or igins of Engli sh [f is tory 1 17

successors used for many years afterwards ; for there can

be little doubt , that almost all our dome stic animal s hadbeen brought to this country from th e East by th e race s

that pre ceded th e Ce lts . Th e exceptions are th e domesticfowl

,th e pigs des cended from th e wild swine

,and th e

cattle of th e Urus type . Their horse s,or ponie s as we

Should rather call them ,were used apparently for food

,as

well as for purposes of draught . Their cattle were oftwo varieties : some were of th e smal l Welsh breed (B os

L ong if rons) wh ich is called“th e Ce ltic Short -horn

,

”

and

others of th e Ky l oe or Argyllsh ire variety,which is hardly

to be distinguished from th e wil d cattle of Ch illingham,

th e des cendants of B os P rznz igen ius . It h as been doubtedwhether th e Sheep was known in these i slands before th e

Roman invas ions,chiefly because it is diffi cult to distin

guish its remains from those of th e goat . But th e latest

dis coveries are in favour of th e theory,that th e goat h ad

b een to a great extent superseded by th e Sheep as early as

th e beginning of th e British Age of Bronze .

1

With th e aid of the se detail s we c an form a reasonablyclear idea of th e outdoor l ife of th e people . And we are

not without information concerning their social practices

for Posidonius has left us th e de scription2 of a Gaulishbanquet

,which wil l he lp to explain th e state of so cie ty

among th e Gaul s who h ad settled in Britain . Th e travellerwas de lighted at th e antique Simplic ity of h is hosts

,and

amused at their Gallic frivolity and readine ss for fighting

1 0m this part of the subjec t,see Prof . R o l leston '

s essay on the

Prehistoric Fauna, in “ British Barrows,

”

730 , 75 0 . As to th e dom esticfowl , ibid. 730 ; the p ig, ibid. 73 7 ; th e Sheep , ibid . 740 ; as to Bos

Prim igenias, ibid. 743 .

2 Athen . iv . 15 1 , 1 5 3 ; Strabo , iv . 2 77 D iod . Sic . v . c . 3 1 ; Eustath . in

I l iad . iii . 2 7 1 , v iii . 3 2 1 , pp . 9 15 , 160 6 .

1 18 Or igins of English H i story .

at meal -times . “They were just like th e people in H omer’

st ime .

”N ot til l after th e feast m ight th e stranger be asked

h is name and the purpose of h is j ourney . But they differedfrom the Greek warriors in some ways , according to th e

m inuter critics for they thought a cut from th e haunch to

be th e best part of th e animal ; even th e Germans , their

ne ighbours,had lost th e heroic fashion , and roasted th e

j o ints separate ly instead of taking “ long Slices from th e

chine s of pork and besides,h e said

,they drank milk

,or

wine unmixed with water . Th e guests sat on a carpet ofrushes

,or on Skins of dogs and wolves , not far from th e

pots and sp its of th e fireplace ; or they would sometimes

Sit in a circle on th e grass in front of l ittle tables ,1on which

th e bread was set in baskets of British work . There was

always plenty of meat,both roast and boiled

,of which

they partook rath er after th e fashion of l ions , for theywould take up th e j o int and gnaw at it ; but if a m an

could not get th e meat off, h e would use h is little bronzeknife

,wh ich h e kept in a separate sheath by th e s ide of h is

Swo rd or dagger . They drank beer and hydromel,which

was carried about in m etal beakers or j ugs of earthenwareand th e boys were always busy at taking it round

,be cause

th e guests only drank by l ittle mouthfuls,

“pouring thebeer through their long moustaches like water through a

S ieve or a funnel .” The minstre l s sang2 and th e harpers

1 Com pare the l ittle tables of th e Germ an s,“Sua cuique m ensa,

Tac itus, Germ . c . 2 2 .

2 Posidon ius did not suffic iently app rec iate the bards .

“The Ce lts

(he said) take about with them a sort of parasites to S ing their praisesin publ ic (Strabo , iv . 2 77 D iod . Sic . v . c . Com pare the desc rip tionof the Irish m instre ls in Fro issart

’

s Chron ic le . A knight of th e court ofR ichard the Second was appo inted to look afte r four Irish kings. Whenthey were seated at table , they would m ake their m instrels and p rinc ipal

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1 2 0 Origins of English H istory .

C H A PTER V I .

C E LT S AN D N O N -C E LT I C T R I B E S .

Th e population outside th e Gaul ish settlem ents — Insular Celts—Pre-Celtic tribes .

H owc lassified —Th e Stone Age .

—Bronz eAge .—I ron Age—E v idence o f sequence

in use o f m etals — Spec ial ev idence as to Britain —R em ains o f Palaeolith ic Age .

Bri tons o f th e Later Stone Age — Tom b s o f th e kings .—Crom lech s—R ites and

superstitions c onnected with th em —E xam p les—Stor ies of Wayland '

s Sm ithy.

Trous (les NMons—Classification of barrows— Ch am bered and unch am beredvarieties—Th e i r contents — Physical ch aracter istics o f th e Tom b-bui lders —Th enature o f th e ir soc iety —Lake dwell ings .

—Surv iv a l of th e neolith ic race .

—Legendsof I rish bards — Th e Firbolgs .

—Black Celts —Th e S ilures—Th eir ch aracter andh abits —Com m encem ent of Bron z e Age—Oh the Continent—I n Britain .

—Tribesof Finn ish typ e

—Contents o f th e ir barrows— Im p lem ents—Ornam ents—Th e iragr iculture—N ature of th eir soc iety .

H E Gaulish settlers had become so nearly c ivilized

that they were ready to adopt th e fash ions of th eSouth , almost as soon as they felt th e approach of th e

Roman power . Their fitful Spirit yie l ded in advance ;and their conquero rs observed with contempt “how soonSloth fol lowing on ease crept over them

,and how they lost

their courage along with their freedom .

”

H enceforth weShall have to do with th e history of bolder rac es

,as much

excelling th e Gaul s in th e v igour and ingenuity of theirdefence , as they fe l l short in m atters of culture and

refinement .Th e districts undisturb ed by th e new colonies were he l d

by tribes surviving from th e ages of stone and bronze .

We Shal l be concerned later with th e history of th e

Orig ins of English H istory . 1 2 1

Ce ltic tribes ; but we must begin by analyzing in th e

first place th e more primitive elements , of which th e pre

sence is stil l to be observed in portions of th e modern

population .

Th e periods of pre -h istoric time,s o far as relate to th e

growth of our own so ciety , are useful ly distinguished by

th e transitions from th e posse ssion of,pol ished flint and

bone to that of bronze , and afterwards of iron . Th e

date at which a metal or al l oy be came known to particularpeoples must have depended in each case on a varietyof l ocal c ircumstances . No one Speaking general ly for

all th e world coul d te ll whether th e working of iron

preceded or foll owed th e manufacture o f bronze . Th e

existence of the alloy implies a previous knowl edge of

the components . Copper “ celts are found in Ire landand Switzerland

,and copper axes in S cotland

,I taly

,and

H ungary :1 while th e word “

ax e”itself is said to be

phonologically th e same as an old Celtic name for copperso that we m ay conclude that th e invention of bronze was

th e result of an attempt to harden th e edge s of the weapon sof pure copper . As to tin again

,no remains have b een

found of its use in a pure state,except a few beads , co ins,

and knife -handles,of comparative ly re cent time s but we

are not without evidence that it was used in Central Asiamany centuries b efore th e Christian Era . Its Eastern

name impl ies that it was introduced to supply th e place

formerly given to l ead,whichwas anc iently cal led K azdir

its western nam es,su ch as stan and

“stagnum ,

”

have

come from some unknown tongue .

These cal culations would take us back to th e vast

antiqu ity of th e Asian Empire s . But if th e inquiry is1 Westropp ,

Preh ist . Phases, 71 Wilde , Catal . R oy . Irish Acad .

1 2 2 Or igins of Engli sh H istory .

confined to our own country,and the ne ighbouring coasts

from which its population has been from time to time

derived,we shal l find that th e “

age of polished stone ,”

when no metal s were known but gold,was succeeded

suddenly and abruptly by a period distinguished by th e

number and variety of its weapons,tools

,implements

,

and‘ j ewe l s of bronze ’

; and that several centuries musthave elapsed before th e art of working in iron prevailed .

Th e nations of pre -h istoric Britain m ay b e class ifiedaccording to a system derived from th e history of th e

metal s . Th e oldest races were in th e pre-metallic stage

,

when bronze was introduced by a new nation,sometimes

identified with th e olde st Celts,but now more generally

attributed to th e Finnish or Ugrian stock . When th e

Ce lts arrived in their turn,they m ay have brought in th e

knowledge of iron and silver ; th e Continental Celts are

known to have used iron broad—swords at th e Battle of th eAnio in th e fourth century b efore Christ

,and iron was

certainly worked in Sussex by th e Britons of JuliusCaesar’s time ; but as no obj e cts of iron have been

recovered from our Celtic tnnznli,except in some instances

of a doubtful date,it will be safer to assume that th e

British Ce lts bel onged to th e Later Bronze Age as wellas to th e Age o f Iron .

W e Shall now deal in order with what is known of the seseveral kinds of m en

, following as far as m ay b e th e courseof the ir immigration from th e East . We Shall collect th emo st striking re sults of th e inquirie s into their anc ientcustoms , so that having thus cleared th e ground we m ay

form some useful estimate of th e influence wh ich can be

attributed to their des cendants .We need not des cribe in detail th e re lics of th e palm o

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1 2 4 Orig ins of English H istory .

No continuity of race c an be proved betwe en these

savages and any tribe or nation wh ich is now to be found

in th e We st of Europe . We shal l therefore pass to th e

Neolith ic Age , on which so much research h as been oflate years expended

,that we can form some clear idea of

th e hab its of th e people o f that time,of th e nature of their

homes,and even of the ir phys ical appearance .

Th e most important rel ics o f that period are th e greatmounds or “Tombs of th e Kings

,

”

th e vaults and tribals epulchres

,which remain still buried in earth or denuded

as cromlechs and standing-stone s , all round th e BritishI slands and along th e opposite coasts

,from Brittany in one

direction to th e inner regions of th e Baltic in th e other .Th e mounds have b een in most cases disturb ed by earlytreasure -hunters

,or by persons searching for saltpetre

,or

farmers who requ ired th e mould for th e purposes of agriculture . Th e massive structure s o f stone

,which were

thus laid bare,have b een the subj e ct of all kinds of fan

c iful theorie s about serpent -worsh ip and th e ritual of th eDruids and in former age s they were generally regardedwith superstitious fee l ings

,

“ fears of th e brave and folliesof th e wise

,

”

wh ich now only linger among th e most ignorant peasantry . Their name s are of such forms as th e

G iant ’s Grave and th e FairyToote,

” 1 H ob 0’

th’

H urst ’s

peop le of th e lower races, “whose fathers he would have disdained to set

with th e dogs of th e flock Flee ing into th e w ilderness in form er tim e

deso late and waste , to dwe l l in th e c lefts o f the val leys, in caves of th e

earth and in rocks am ong th e bushes they brayed ; under the nettles theywere gathered together . ” (Job xxx . 1

, 3 , 6 ,1 An im po rtant and interesting account of the exp lorat ion of the longbarrow cal led the Fairy Toote , at N em pnet , near Bath , by M r.

T . Bere in1789 , wil l be found in the Gent . M ag. 1 789 -179 2 , v ol. lix . 1 . 39 2 , and

2 . 60 2 ; lxu. 2 , 10 8 2 , 1 1 88 .

Orig ins of Engli sh f f istory . 1 2 5

H ouse,th e Pixy Rocks and Odin ’s Stone ; or in some

cases they recal l th e legend of th e dragon which h ide s th eenchanted treasure . In France th e name s are of th e samekind

,or arise from th e story of some legendary god or

hero,as Roland or Gargantua

,or of some pre cious obj e ct

buried there,as at th e D olm en a

’es P ierres a gnoises . Th e

uncovered long barrows of th e Province of Drenthe,in

H olland,are known as f f u

’

nehecla’en,or Giants ’ B eds

,and

th e chamb ered mounds of Denmark as f ettestuer, or

abodes of giants .

A few examples m ay b e sele cted from th e abundant

l iterature of this subj ect,to illustrate in th e first place th e

nature of th e rite s which took place at th e funeral mounds,

after their original purpose was forgotten and secondly,

t o Show h ow these barrows be came connected with th e

ancient story of Rob in Goodfe llows that would mend oldirons in those o lian is les of Lipari

,

” of wh ich one versionh as been quoted from a fragment of th e writings of Pytheas .Th e first instance is taken from th e life of th e Apost le

o f G ermany . When St . Boniface began th e conversionof Friesland

,at th e beginning of the e ighth century

,h e

found that one of th e megal ithic tombs in th e Province of

Drenthe h ad been turned into an altar for human sacrifices .Th e wil d Teutons “ sent to Woden any stranger who

fel l into their hands,making h im first creep through th e

narrow openings of th e stones that supported th e altar .”

Th e latter practice was observed till late in th e M iddleAges

,especial ly when they caught a m an from Brabant ” ;

but th e bloodthirsty offeringwas abolished by th e influence

of th e saint .1 Monuments of this kind are known to

1 This little-known sto ry m ay be found in K eysler, Antiqu. Septent. 4 1,

in the Trac t upon Stonehenge . It is c ited from Sch oenh ov ius, De Origine

1 2 6 Or igins of E nglish H i story .

have b een used as altars in H olstein and in places near

th e mouth of th e Elbe ; and a ce lebrated Ordinance ofCarloman ,

promulgated in A .D . 743 , forbade th e Franksto continue th e rites which they performed “upon th e

stones . ”1 Th e way in which th e cromlechs were regardedby th e Celts in Britain m ay be inferred from th e archaicsuperstitions wh ich survive among th e Bretons of th e

L e’

onna is,a district chiefly colonised by emigrants from

Britain,where th e peasant-women make offerings for go od

fortune in m arriage to th e fairies and dwarfs who are

believed to haunt th e grave s .5

Th e other example relates to th e cromle ch cal ledWayland’s Smithy

,

”2at Ashbury

,in Berksh ire

,so named

et Sedibus Francorum ; M atthaeus, Analecta, i . 36 . I t m ay be useful toco l lect som e of the references to anc ient writings which notice th e

Continental ‘ long barrows .

’

Som e wil l be found in th e Baltic and No rthernN ewsletters (publ ished in Latin) for 1699 , 1700 ,

170 2 . Th e altar nearth e E lbe was described by R istius, Colloqu. M enst. D ial . 6 ; others inH o lstein by Torlzill Arnkiel, D e R e ligione ethn ica Cim brorum ; Worm ius,

M onum . D an . i . 8 ; S chaten,H ist . Westphal . v ii . 486 ; H em eon . Frisia, 76 ;

Van S lichtenhorst, Geldersse Geschieden . 78 . For th e pyram idal tum ulusat M entz , see S chedel, Chron . Nurem berg, 39 , and Tenz el, Colloqu. M enst.

2 70 . A catalogue of early tracts upon the subjec t is given byK eysler, pp . 1 10

,1 13 .

1 Quae fac iunt supra petras. See th e Indiculus Superstitionum , am ong

th e Ordinances of the M erov ingian kings .

1 For“Wayland ’

s Sm ithy , ” see Dr. Thurnam’

s trac t in th e Wilts .

Archaeo l . M ag. v ii. 3 2 1 5 Archae ologia , x l iii. 2 0 5 ; and Akerm an’

s account,

Arc/rec ologia ,xxx ii. 3 12 ; H oare ’

s Anc . Wilts . ii. and the notes to SirW . Scott ’s Ken ilwo rth . Aubrey ’

s desc rip tion in h is stil l unpubl ishedlilonum entu Britannica was as fo l lows : About a m ile from WhiteH orse H il l , on th e top of th e hil l

, are a great m any great stones,which were layed there on purpose ; but as tum bled out o f a cart, withoutany o rder ; but som e of them are p laced edgewise . H e added, after av isit to th e p lace , that “ th e sepulchre was 74 paces long and 2 4 broad ,

and was l ike “the rude stones ”

of th e c rom lech cal led Y Leche at

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1 2 8 Or ig ins of Engli sh H istory .

cavern,if a proper fee was left upon a ne ighbouring stone .

Th e country people living near th e remains of an“altar ,

”

o r l ong barrow,in D itm arsh

,were accustomed in like

manner to leave some gift at th e standing-stone s in th e

hope o f finding a present of money, when they came tosearch th e recess . 1 I n th e Belgian caves , which are called“L es Trous a

’es q tons ,

”

a kind of dwarfs,like metal

m en,

” were supposed to Shoe th e horses,or to rep air

th e broken article s of metal , which th e vil lagers depos ited

for th e purpose with a gift of cakes , of which th e N utons

were e spe cially fond ;‘m a i s

,a n j our, les v illageois

aura ient m e‘

lé cles cena’res a la pdte les a tons ina

’

ignés

se sera ient empressés a’e quitter ces lieux

,et n

’

y aura ient

plus repa ru.

”

Th e tombs o f th e Neolith ic Age in England are of twokinds

,distingu ished by th e absence or presence of a stone

vault or a series of such vaults . Th e huge unchamberedmounds of Dorse t and South Wilts are thought to havebeen built as tribal grave s by th e earl iest of th e immigrantsfrom Asia . They are buil t for th e most part in picturesque

1 An account of this barrow is c ited by K eysler from the Baltic Newsletter , 1699 , p . 2 86 ; Antiqu. Septent . 44 . For the O ldenburg custom ,

see D r. Thurnam’

s tract m entioned in the p receding note . Prof . BoydD awkins refers to a story from Elbingrode , in th e H artz M ountains, whereth e dwarfs were asked to lend m etal vesse ls for weddings then the appli

c ants retired a l ittle way ,

“and when they cam e back , found everything

they desired set ready for them at the m outh of the cave 5 when the

wedding was over they returned what they had borrowed , and in token of

gratitude offered som e m eat to the ir benefac to rs . (Cave-hunting, p . 2 ,

from Behren ’

s H ercynia Curiosa . ) The story of th e Nutons, in som e partso f Belgium cal led L utons, Solta is, and Sarrasins, and th e references col

lected for its il lustration , wil l be found in Dupont’s L ’

H om m e pendant les

Ages de la. P ierre, 2 4 1 . Com pare the legend of Sim ilar m agica l loans at th eStone on Bo rough H il l near Frensham , Surrey . Ke ightley , Fairy Myth . 2 9 5 .

Orig ins of Engli sh H istory . 12 9

and striking s ituations , whence they might be seen from

far and wide ;“Salisbury Plain is guarded by a series of

such Long Barrows,which look down on its e s carpments

like so many watch -towers and th e same care in th e

choice of positions for th e tnm a li m ay be observed on theYorkshire Wolds . Th e Vaulted Tombs , or th e ru ined

remains of their chambers , are found in many parts of th e

South of England,in North Wales

,and in th e North of

S cotland ; and th e closest Similarity in construction is

observed in barrows at place s so far apart as Gloucester

Shire and th e extremity of Caithness , th e earthen moundsbeing in each case hel d together by two or three paral lelwalls

,bu ilt inwards in a heart—shaped curve on th e side of

th e entrance-passage . Some Scotch tombs of th e same age

retain this last peculiarity,but in other re sp ects resemble

th e circular tombs of S candinavia ; and examples of th esame type m ay be found in Brittany and in th e ChannelI slands

,in th e Giants ’ Chambers ” of the S cilly I sles

,th e

Maes H owe pyramid in Orkney,and th e great chambered

barrows of N ew Grange and D owth on th e banks of th eBoyne .

The se tombs,except in districts where th e fashion of

cremation prevailed,are usual ly found to contain th e frag

ments of a great number of skeletons,huddled together

and disordered,as if there h ad been temporary or pro

visional burials while the monument was in course of

construction . I t is sel dom that relic s of any great importance are found in British barrows of the se early types .Th e l ist of dis coveries includes a few de l icate leaf- Shapedarrow-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

130 Or igins of Engli sh H i story .

boars,Skul ls of oxen

,and th e bone s of geese or bustards ,

wh ich seem to have been thrown into th e grave s by th e

guests at th e funeral banquets .From th e bones which have been taken from th e tombs ,

and from th e ancient flint-m ines uncovered in Sussex and

Norfolk,th e anatomists have concluded that th e Neolithic

Britons were no t unlike th e modern Eskimo . They were

short and slight,with muscles too much devel oped for

the ir slender and ill-nurtured bones ; and there is thatmarked disproportion between th e Size of th e m en and

women,which indicates a hard and m iserable life

,where

the weakest are over-worked and constantly stinted oftheir food . Th e face must have be en of an oval Shape

,

with mild and regular features : th e skulls , though bulky

in some instance s,were generally of a long and narrow

shape,depressed sometime s at th e crown and marked

with a prom inent ridge,like th e keel of a boat

reversed .

Of their way of living we can judge in part by th echaracter of their implements and weapons

,and in part

by th e bones of animal s found in th e refuse-heaps of th efish erm en

’

s village s,or in th e mountain-caves

,or about the

lacustrine settlements . They had certainly passed out ofth e mere “hunter’s l ife and were possessed of most ofth e domesticated animal s .1 According to a prevalent

1 They seem to have h ad no ch ickens, but th e skeleton of a goose was

found in a long barrow at Stonehenge, with bones of a stag and of a

short-ho rned ox . Archae ologia,

,x l iii. 1 83 . Prof . R o l leston states, that no

one , with the ev idence p roperly befo re h im , can doubt that the goat, sheep ,ho rse , and dog, were im po rted as dom esticated an im als into this country inthe earl iest neo l ithic tim es. (British Barrows, And though the

natives m ay have trapped and tam ed the young of th e Urus and wild swine ,it appears by the autho rities al ready quoted, that the Bos L onn rons and the

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13 2 Or igins of English H istory .

cover with heaps of manure : th is make s a refuge in

winter,and a storehouse for th e crops ; be cause in the se

places th e hardness of th e frost is eas ier to bear,and

.

when

an enemy invades h e ravages th e open country , while th ehiding-places e ither remain unknown, or es cape discoveryfrom th e very necessity of search ing for them .

”1

More authentic remnants of th e dwellings of th e

Neol ithic Age have been dis covered in the We l sh and

English lakes,

and in some of th e m ereS and“broads

of Norfolk . The villages seem to have been raised on

piles or on heaped -up fas cines of faggots and brushwood,

in th e fens or over th e reaches of Shallow water in th e

lakes,with galleries leading to th e land for th e daily

passage of th e cattle . Th e lake -dwe llings of the Stone

Age were always near th e Shore,but it seems that in th e

Bronze Age a greater Skill or boldnes s was acquired and

by us ing whole trees for supports,and by pil ing up stones

for a foundation,th e villages were bu ilt over the deep

water at a safer distance from th e land . Th e heaps ofstone were sometimes raised above th e surface of thewater

,as in th e

“Crannoges,or artificial islands of th e

Scotch and Irish lakes : a mass of fern and boughs wassunk into th e m ud and covered with layers of logs and

stone s,and th e who le structure was upheld and bound

together by a stockade of j oists and b eams . Of th e

numerous descript ions of this kind of lacustrine settlementth e best is still th e picture which H erodotus drew of th evillagers on th e R oum elian Lake .

“Platforms supportedon tall piles stand in th e m iddle of th e lake

,and are

approached from th e land by a s ingle narrow bridge . Atfirst th e piles which bear up th e platforms were fixed in

1 Tac itus, Germ ania, c . 16 .

Origins of English h ’istory . 133

their places by th e whole body of th e citizens ; but Sincethat time th e custom which h as prevailed about fixingthem is this : they are brought from a h il l cal led Orbelus

,

and every m an drive s in three for every wife that h emarries .1 Now th e m en have all many wives apiece

,and

th is is th e way in which they live . Each has h is own

hut,wherein h e dwe l l s, upon one of th e platforms ; and

each h as also a trap -door giving ac cess to th e lakebe low ; and their wont is to tie their baby children by

th e foot with a string,to save them from roll ing into the

water .” 2

As the Romans advanced we stwards in the ir Britishconquests they observed that certain tribes were differentin manners and appearance from th e Gaulish and the Insular

Celts ; and they were led , by a mistaken e stimate of th evic inity of Ire land to Spain

,to account for this fact by the

hypothesis of a Spanish m igration .

“Who were th e

original inhabitants of Britain ”

( said Tacitus , in a passage

L e detail est aussi plus curieux gu’

encore aujourd’

hui dans la valle’

e de

L uchor ex iste en France un usage analogue. L’

arbre de S t. j ean est dzi par

le dernier m arie’

de l’

aunc’

e, qui est tenu d’

aller le chercher dans le m ontagne,

cl de le dresser d ses f ra is sur la place publique.

”Bertrand , Arche

’

ol.

Celtique, introd. x iv .

2H erod . v . c . 16 . The fo l lowing is an interesting desc ription of a hut

found at a depth of 16 ft. in th e D rum kellin M arsh .

“I ts area was about

5 ft. squ. and its height 10 ft. it inc luded two stories, each about 45 ft. high .

The roof was flat, and the hut was surrounded by a fence of piles, doubtless intended to separate it from other adjacent huts, th e rem ains of whichare stil l to be perce ived . Th e who le construc tion had been executed bym eans of stone instrum ents, a fac t that was p roved by th e nature of the

cuts that were stil l v isible on som e of th e p ieces of wood . Added to this,a hatchet, a chise l and an arrow-head , all m ade o f fl int, were found on the

floo r of the cab in,and left no doubt on this po int ; th is was in fac t a

habitation be longing to th e Stone Age .

— Figuier, Prim . M an (Tylor) ,2 3 1 Lyel l , Antiquity of Man, 3 1 .

34 Or igins of English H istory .

which evidently reports th e personal Opinion of Agricola) ,“and whether they sprang from th e soil or came from

abroad is unknown ,as is usual ly th e case with barbarians .

Their phy sical characteristics are various , and from thisconclusions m ay be drawn . Th e red hair and large limbsof th e Caledonians point clearly to a GermanOrigin . The

h igh com plexion of th e S ilures,their usual ly curly hair

(colora ti v a ltas et torti plerum gue crines1

) , and the fact that

Spain is th e opposite shore to them ,are evidence that

Iberians in some earlier age crossed over and occupied

those parts .Th e I rish bards played upon th e Similarity of such local

names as Braganza and Brigante s,H ibernus and Iberia

,

Galicia and Galway ; and it became an article of faithamong their countrymen

,that th e island was discovered

soon after th e F lood by three Spanish fish erm en2

and it

appears by th e Book of Invasions , and particularly by

1 Tac . Agric . c . 1 1 . Th e phrase is am biguous and has been variouslyinterp reted as referring to a l ight red-faced and curly-haired peop le , or to a

race with “ les cheveux raides et cassants , le teint clair et or to a

swarthy race with Short friz z ly hair , le teint olivdtre, les cheveux crépus

Jornandes expands th e passage in the latter sense .

“Sylorum co lorati

vultus, torto plerique c rine et n igro nascuntur

, qui H ispan is a

quibusque attenduntur S im iles . (D e Getar. Orig. c . This is p robablyth e correct interp retation .

2For th e bardic traditions, see Keating’

s H isto ry of Ireland, and

O’

Flah erty’

s Ogygia . These wild legends are not unfrequently p ressedinto th e serv ice of the theory, that th e dark population in parts of th e

British Islands and th e Basques o f th e Pyrenees are descended from a

com m on stock . For the theory that th e I rish were Basques (Basclenses or

N avarri ) , see Geoff . M oum . iii. c . 1 2,and H enry of H untingdon , i . 1 1 .

For the m odern d iscussion , see H ux ley ’

s Critiques and Addresses,134 , 16 7 ; Boyd-D awkins, Cave-hunting, 2 2 5 ;

“Th e Basque and the

Ke lt , Journ . Anthrop . Inst . v . 5 ; Webster, Basque Legends ; Blade,E tudes, 2 1 7, 5 37 and M . M artin in the p roceedings at the Congres Celtique

(St. Brieuc) , p . 17 1 .

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136 Orig ins of English H i story .

Whether or no t th e Fir-Bolgs of Irish tradition can be

connected with th e pre-Celtic tribes , it is clear that in

many parts of Ireland there are remnants of a Short andblack-haired stock

,whose tribal names are in many case s

taken from words for th e Darkness and th e M ist,and

whose phy s ical appearance is quite different from that of

th e tall light Celts . 1 Th e same thing h as been Observedin th e Scottish H ighlands

,and in th eWe stern I sles

,where

th e people have a strange fore ign look,”and are dark

Skinned,dark-haired

,dark-eyed

,and small in stature .

” 2

And it is a matter of familiar knowledge,that in many

parts ofEngland and Wales th e people are al so short and

The editor adds, that the Fir-Bolgs were never driven out of th e Barony ofBal l intober, and th e chief portion of the inhab itants are distinguished fromthe M ilesian race by their jet black hair and sm al l stature (il~id .

1 The enslaved tribes of H y-M any for serv itude are th e D ealbhna fromth e Ford on the Shannon to where th e R iver Suck Sp rings from th e we l l . "(Mid . This tribe

,the ed ito r adds

,were general ly cal led Dealbhna

Nuadhat . See O'

Flaherty , Ogygia , pt . iii. c . 8 2 . This is a reference to

Nuadha or Nudd, th e anc ient god of the sea. M r. Fitzgerald quotes a

num ber of tribal nam es of th e sam e kind, e g. th e Co rca-Oidce and Corca

Duibhne , the children of darkness and the n ight-fo lk, and a western tribecal led H i D orchaide

, peop le of darkness,whose territo ry was cal led “

th e

n ight-country . Anc ient I rish (Fraser, Com pare Wilde , Ethno l .Anc . Irish , 6 , 7 , and Girald . Cam br. Conquest of Ire land , ii. 1 8 .

2 M cL ean, H ighland Language and Peop le, Journ . Anth r. Inst . v ii. 76 .

I n these respec ts the H ighland people bear a strong resem blance to the

We lsh , the South-western Engl ish , th e Western and South-western Irish .

”

(H id ) Cam pbe l l , West H ighland Tales , iii. 144 ,speaks of the Short, dark

natives of Barra Behind the fire sat a girl with one of those strange fo re ignfaces which are occasional ly to be seen in th e Western Isles

,a face which

rem inded m e o f the N ineveh sculp tures, and of faces seen in St. Sebastian .

H er hair was as black as n ight, and h er c lear dark eyes gl ittered through thepeat-sm oke . H er com p lex ion was dark , and her features SO un l ike thosewh o sat about her, that I asked if She we re a nativ e of th e island , and learnedthat She was a H ighland girl . ”

Orig ins of English fi li story . 137

swarthy,with black hair and eye s

,and with heads of a

long and narrow Shape . This is found to be th e casenot only in th e ancient S iluria (comprising the moderncounties of Glamorgan

,Brecknock

,Monmouth

,Radnor

,

and H ereford) , but in several districts in th e easternfen-country

,and in th e south-western counties of Cornwal l

and Devon,with parts of Gloucestershire

,Wilts

,and

Somerset . The same fact has been noticed in the

midland counties , in districts round Derby, Stamford,Leicester , and Loughborough , where we m ight haveexpected to find nothing but a population with light hair

and eye s,and where “

th e names of the towns and vil lagesShow that th e Saxon and Danish conquerors o ccupied th edistrict in overwhe lming numbers . ” 1

1 Prof . R o l leston ,in British Barrows, 679 . As regards the earl ier of

th e two pre-historic races,we have in th is count ry do l icho-cephaly com bined

with low stature and dark com p lex ion in a v ery considerable num ber of our

population . Th e fac t of th e ex istence of this stock, or we m ay perhap s sayof its surv ival and its re-assertion of its own distinctive charac ter in th e

districts of D erby , &c . ,was po in ted out in th e year 1 848 by the late Prof .

Phill ips, at a m eeting of the Br itish Assoc iation at Swansea . M o re extendedobservations, but to th e sam e effec t , are put on reco rd by Dr. Beddoe, in Soc .

Anthrop . London,ii. 35 0 (il Genera l Pitt R ivers has lately desc ribed

h is discovery of the rem ains of a rem arkably sm al l race of R om an ised

Britons, buried in th e p its and ditches ”of C ranborne Chase, in D o rset .

It was known, h e says , by an exam ination of th e long barrows that along-headed race of sm a l l stature

,whose average height is estim ated at 5 feet

6 inches, inhabited Britain in the Stone Age but h e h as now discoverednum erous rem ains of a race of Britons whose stature d id not exceed 5 feet2 6 inches for the m ales , and 4 fee t 1 09 inches for the fem ales . ProfessorR olleston also describes th e Short, dark, round-headed stock in South Germ any .

AS to Be lgium , it was asce rtained by a Governm en t inquiry in 1 879 , that th epeop le of theWa l loon Prov inces (and of th e French Coast as far as Boulogne)are of an excep tional ly dark type , attributed to a survival of the pre-histo ricpopulation . The Bretons are m ostly dark , w ith sho rt and broad heads ,excep t in the L e

’

onnais, which was co lonised by Celts from Britain .

138 Or igins of Engli sh ffi'

story .

These facts render it extreme ly probable that somepart of the Neo l ithic population h as survived until th epresent time

,with a constant improvement no doubt from

its crossing and intermixture with th e many other race swho have success ive ly passed into Britain ; and this factgives a particular interest to everyth ing which c an

b e definitely ascertained about th e Special characteristicsof th e Silurians . ”

The ir ferocious courage appears in the history of theirdesperate wars with Rome . No d isaster or l oss of leaders

was su fficient to break their obstinate spirit ; and th e

Roman generals,accustomed to th e frivolity of th e Gaul s

and th e“wild inconstancy ” of th e ordinary Britons

,vowed

in vain “ to extinguish th e name of th e Silure s . ”1 Solinus

h as left an account of th e primitive simpl icity of theirmanners in an age when Britain ,

for th e most part,was

fam iliar with th e continental culture “A stormy sea,

”h e

said,

“divides th e S ilurian island2 from th e region hel d

1 Tac . Annal . x ii . 33 , 39 . Com pare th e account by G iraldus of th e

peop le of M onm outhshire . I t seem s worthy of rem ark, that the peop leof what is cal led Venta are m o re accustom ed to war, m ore fam ous for

valour, and m o re expert in archery, than those of any other part of Wales .

”

H e then gives exam p les of their skil l in archery, and adds,“What m ore

could be expected from a balista ? Yet th e bows used by th is peop le are

not m ade of horn ,ivo ry , or yew, but of wild elm ; unpo lished, rude and

uncouth , but stout ; not calculated to shoot to a great d istance , but ableto infl ic t very severe wounds in c lose fight . G irald . Cam br. ,

Itin .Wal l .

ii. c . 4 . Th e translation is taken from Wright ’s edition .

2 Solinus, c . 2 4 . The sea d iv iding the “ island of th e Silures from

the opposite coast is intended for th e Bristo l Channe l . We do not

hear o f the nam e Sylina Insula being app l ied to the Sc il ly Isles untilthe tim e of Sulp ic ius Severus, who l ived in the fifth century . (Sulp . Sev .

ii . Pl iny m akes the Silurian country extend as far as the coast nearestto Ire land . (H ist . Nat . iv . 0. Th e D am nonia of Solinus inc ludedD evon and Co rnwal l .

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140 Origins of English H istory .

Britain itself is concerned,we know nothing of th e se cond

race before they h ad become accustomed to th e use ofbronze . The ir appearance in this country seems to havebeen co inc ident with th e introduction of th e metal ; for all

th e grave s where it is found contain their remains , either

alone or in company with those of th e Neolithic people

but where th e bones of th e Stone -Age m en are buried bythemselve s , no trace of th e metal weapons h as ever yet

been discovered .

Th e invaders were tal l m en of th e fair Finnish typethat still prevails so large ly among th e modern inhab itants

o f Denmark and in th e Wendish and S lavonian countries .They differed remarkably from th e straight-faced ovalheaded m en who are identified with th e Celts

,th e Ger

mans of pure blood,and th e

“Anglo -Saxons ” of our earlyh istory . They were large—limbed and stout

,th e women

be ing tall and strong in proportion,as in a community

where life was easy and food cheap . Th e m en seem tohave been rough -featured

,with large j aws and prominent

ch ins,and skulls o f a round short Shape

,with th e forehead

in many cases retreating rapidly,as if there were need of

an o ccipital balance to carry off th e heaviness Of the largel ower jaw. Th e eyebrows of these powerful m en

”

(saysProf. Rolleston1) ,

“if deve loped at all in corre spondence

with th e large underly ing frontal sinuses and supra-orb ital

1 British Barrows, 644 . H e c ites sim ilar desc riptions given by D r.

Thurh am of the round-headed peop le of the Bronz e Age in th e South-west ofEngland . We have in ce rtain p arts o f Great Britain and Germ any , l ightha ir and com p lex ion com b ined with considerable stature and with do l ichocephaly, so as to p reserve for us what excavations, com b ined with m easurem ents and with traditions, entire ly justify us in speaking of them as th e

Teuton ic or Germ anic type . Second ly , we have the sam e hair, com p lex ion,

and stature , com b ined with brachy-cephaly , in the Firms, in the Danes, in

Orig ins of English f f istory . 14 1

ridges,must have given a beetl ing and even forb idding

appearance to th e upper part of the face,wh ile th e boldly

outstanding and heavy cheek-bones must have produced

an impress ion of raw and rough strength and ponderosity

entire ly in keeping with it . Overhung at its root,th e nose

must have proj e cted boldly forwards,not merely beyond

th e plane of th e forehead,but much beyond that of th e

prominent eyebrows themselves . ”

W e have stil l some remaining indications of th e courseof th e conquest . General Pitt Rivers states that “

in

th e Yorkshire Wolds unmistakeable traces are seen of th elanding and subsequent operat ions of an united people

,

extending for m iles into th e interior of th e country .

” 1 Theyseem to have mingled peaceably in these parts with th epeople of th e older settlements for th e round barrows of

th e Bronze Age in this quarter contain almost an equal

proportion of long-Shaped and Short-Shaped Skulls and it

is reasonably argued,that this is evidence that th e new

occupants agreed and intermarried with th e people of th eolder type , e spec ially as skul l s have not unfrequently beenfound which appear to comb ine th e characteristics of thesedifferent kinds of m en . I n other parts

,and espe cial ly in

th e ne ighbourhood of Stonehenge , th e invaders appear tohave expelled th e older tribe s ; for no m ixed forms have

som e Slavs, and in m any of not the least v igorous of our own countrym en .

Th irdly , hair, com p lex ion , and stature, all al ike of just the Opposite cha

racter, m ay be found com b ined w ith brachy-cephaly in South Germ any,and in som e o ther parts of th e Continent , as for exam p le in Brittany .

”

(I bid. The e longated and fairly we l l-filled Anglo -Saxon c ran ium is

the preva lent form am ongst us in England in the p resent day . (RM.

Com pare Thurnam’

s Crania Britann ica, and Guibert , E thno logieArm oricaine,

”

in th e Proceedings at the Congres Celtigue (S t. Brieuc) .

1 Archce ologia, x l ii. 5 2 .

142 Origins of English f -f i story .

h itherto been found in th e multitudinous grave s which are

crowded round th e ru ins of th e temple ;1and those remains

which have been discovered c an b e attributed definite ly

e ither to th e age of the l ong barrows or to that of th e

people who built the ir round tombs in crowds on every

spo t wh ich had been sacred among th e O l der race .

2

Th e round barrows are found in almost every part ofEngland .

They vary Sl ightly in form ,being for th e most

part bowl-shaped in th e north , and al so in parts of Somerset ;in Wiltshire and Dorset they are mostly oval or shapedlike a bell or a circular dis c .

3 Taken as a whole,they

contain many evidences of a considerable advance in culture . The pottery is very much finer than any which isfound in th e tombs of th e Stone Age , and occurs not only

1 General Pitt R ivers desc ribed in h is Presidentia l address before the

British Assoc iation (Bath , twenty-six ske letons found in CranborneChase the head-form app roached that of th e neo l ithic long-barrow peop le ,with a probable adm ix ture of either R om an or bronz e-age types .

1 This h as been observed with respec t to th e groups of barrows nearK its Co ty H ouse , at Avebury , in Anglesea , and in fac t in alm ost everypart where the long barrows, or the ir ruins, have been found .

‘ There are

indications at Stonehenge , that th e peop le of th e Bronz e Age were th e actualconstructors of the tem p le on a site which had p rev iously been selec ted as

a burial-ground for the ch ieftains of th e neo l ithic tribes. Dr. Thurnam states,

that two o f th e round barrows near Stonehenge appear to be contem porary ,or very sl ightly poster io r, to th e date of the c irc le itse lf . I n digging downto the ir base chippings and fragm ents not m ere ly of th e S arsens werefound, but l ikewise of the blue felspathic hornstones fo reign to Wiltshirewhich assist in the form ation of the m egal ithic struc ture .

”

(Archaeologia ,

x l iii .11D r. Thurnam m entions con ical barrows in Norfo lk and Sussex which

are real ly cam pan ifo rm , and disc -shaped barrows on th e Sussex D owns .

The shapes vary m ost in W iltsh ire , as wil l be seen by the accounts inS ir R . H oare ’

s m agn ificen t work on Anc ient Wilts .

“The com parative

rar ity of the m ore e laborate types of tunzuli , even in counties th e nearestto Wiltshire, is very rem arkable . The bowl -Shaped barrows abound .Ou

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144 Origins of E ngZis/z [f istory

strung s ide by s ide in the form of a flexible necklace .

1

Where this material did not exist,analogous substance s

were used for making th e ornaments,as Kimmeridge shale

in Wil ts and Dorset,or lignite from th e Devonshire beds

,

or Cannel coal in Shropshire . Some few of th e article s ofadornment

,beads

,cups

,earrings

,and th in

'

plates to befastened on th e dre ss

,were made of th e native gold

,or

rather of th e m ixed gold and silver which th e smiths h ad not

yet learned to separate and though th e patterns as a rulewere copied from th e rough designs upon th e pottery

,th e

style of th e workmanship was excel lent . Th e plate s ofmetal were hammered over engraved moulds of wood

,or

th e back was “tooled in th e manner of repoussé work ”

and th e separate pie ces were skilfully dove -tailed or rivetedtogether without th e use of any kind of solder . 2 Many

other kinds of ornament have been from time to time

‘ The true jet is chiefly found in th e neighbourhood of Wh itby ; butsm al l deposits have been discovered at Crom er

, at Watchet in som erset,

and in the beds of the Aberthaw has on the opposite Glam organshire

coast . The finest exam p les o f the o rnam ents have been found in Sutherland and in the distric t round H o lyhead . Th e m ost abundant exam p lesare seen in Yorkshire , D erbyshire , and Northum berland 5 the m ost southernlocality where a spec im en of the wo rked jet has been found is Soham Fen

,

2 These ornam ents are found chiefly in p laces where the native go ld waswo rked, as in Co rnwal l and Devon , parts of N o rth and South Wales, Cum

I nhab . Deum . (Thorn s) 138 . Com pare the account given by H erodotuso f th e M assagetae, a nation l iv ing in th e ne ighbourhood of the Casp ianSea had no iron or silver, but p lenty of go ld and coppe

r:their

lances and ax es were of copper, and the ir caps and be lts were decoratedwith go lden o rnam ents. (H erod . i. c .

Orig ins of English H istory . 145

discovered in th e innznli ; such as ivory pins and beads,

and cre scents made of th e wolf s teeth and boars ’ tuskswhich were perforated and worn as charms ; and ne cklaces

of D en ia linrn,th e shell called th e E ar of Venus

,and

nerite-shell s,and th e j oints of th e fossil sea-lily that are

known as“St . Cuthbert ’s beads .

Th e exploration of these barrows h as produced a greatbody of evidence to illustrate th e l ife of th e Bronze-Age

Britons . I t is clear that they were not mere savages,or

a nation of hunters and fishers,or even a people in th e

pastoral and m igratory stage . Th e tribes h ad learned th es impler arts of society

,and had advanced towards th e

refinements of c ivilised life before they were overwhelmedand absorbed by th e dom inant Celtic people s . Theywere

,for i nstance

,th e owners of flocks and herds ; they

knew enough of weaving to make clothes of l inen and

wool,and without th e potter ’s whee l they could mould

a plain and useful kind of earthenware . Th e stonequerns or hand-m il l s

,and th e seed-beds in terrace s on

th e h ill s of Wale s and Yorkshire,show their acquaintance

with th e growth of some kind of grain ; wh ile their pits and

hut-circles prove that they were sufli c iently civilis ed tolive in regular villages .At what time and by what process they became incor

porated with th e Ce l tic people s must remain al together

uncertain . Where th e rule of cremation h as prevailed itis difficult to distingu ish their ornaments and weaponsfrom those of th e Ce ltic type ; and even where a roundheaded population stil l actually survives

,it is usually hard

1 Anc . Wilts, i . 1 14 , 2 0 2 . Dr. Thurnam describes a D o rsetshire barrowcontain ing a perforated boar ’s tusk , and an urn at the feet of the ske letoncontaining the burnt bones of a fox or badger . (Archaeologia , x l iii.

146 Or igins of English H istory .

to separate it from the stock of th e latter Danes . It isclear

,however

,that th e older Bronze-Age tribes remained

in some parts of th e country as late as th e period of th eRoman invasion ; and it seems probable that th e furtherlabours of philologists wil l confirm th e theory that th elanguages of th e Ce lts in Britain were sensibly influencedby contact with the idioms of those Finnish tribes whowere th e earl ier occupants of th e country .

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148 Or igi ns of English H istory .

were able to hold their own until in course of time th e two

races be came fused and interm ixed .

It is th e obj ect of th is chapter to colle ct what is known

about their descendants within th e h istorical period . We

shal l endeavour to distinguish between th e traces of th etal l Finnish race and those of th e more prim itive settlers .It must remain impossible in many cases to sepa rate th e

old forms of language and traces of primeval customswhich are due to one or another of th e prehistoricsoc ieties but it will stil l be useful to deal collectively with

th e various traces of their presence , and to estimate what

allowance is to be made for th e continuance in an Aryan

nation of foreign and primitive e lements .We have chosen th e s implest of th e theories propounded

in a long debate . We have seen traces of at least twonations established in these

'

islands b efore th e era of th eCe ltic settlements . Some prefer to include in one widedes cription all th e fair tribes of high stature with red or

golden hair and blue or grey-blue eyes ; and they countas true Celts all of that kind who were neither Danes nor

Germans . Som e clas s together in th e same way all th e

short peoples with black hair and eyes,whether pale

skinned or ruddy in complexion,calling them Iberians on

account of their supposed affinity with th e dark racesremaining in th e south of Europe . All th e tall

,round

headed and broad-headed m en are des cribed together as

comprising “th e v an of th e Aryan army

,with whom

became intermingled tall and dark red-haired m en fromS candinavia , and fair people of Low-German descent . Allth e short and dark races

,whether long-headed or round

skulled,are treated as descendants of a primitive non

Aryan stock,including “

th e broad-headed dark Wel sh

Orig ins of English H istory . 149

m an and th e broad—headed dark Frenchman,

and con

nected by blood not only with the modern Basque,but

with the ancient and little-known Ligurian and Etruscanraces .It has sometimes been stated , that th e resemblance of

th e dark British type to th e ancient Aqu itanians is one of“th e fixed points in British ethnology.

” But when weexam ine th e grounds for th e assertion

,we find that there

is hardly any aflirm ativ e evidence in its favour . To learnanything of th e Aqu itanians we must go to Strabo ’saccount of their country . We find a meagre notice ofa s core of little tribes living near th e coast between th eGaronne and th e Pyrenee s . “ They differ

,

” said the

geographer,

“from th e Gaulish nation both in physicalappearance and in language

,and they rather re semble th e

Iberians and,from Agricola’s remark about th e Silure s ,

we must suppose that Strabo referred to their swarthy

complexion and dark and curly hair . But when we turn

to h is more minute de scription of th e various Iberian

tribes,we find nothing to help us to a clearer notion of

what Aquitanians or Silures were l ike .

Th e nations of the Peninsula diff ered from each otheron such important po ints as language

,religion , and govern

ment . Each province h ad a grammar and alphabet toitself. Some h ad no gods at all : others sacrificed heca

tombs of goats,horse

,and m en to a god of war ; th e

Celtiberians and their neighbours to th e north danced all

night at th e full moon in honour of “a namele ss god ”

;

some would cut off their captive s ’ right hands,and offer

them as oblations at th e altar . I n some tribes m en dancedsingly to th e sound of th e flute and trumpet ; others pre

ferred th e fashion of danc ing in a huge ring , m en and

150 Orig ins of Engli sh I’

s tory .

women together . Some wore mitres in battle , otherscaps of sinews knotted together, and others used t h e

helmet with a triple plume . According to Strabo ,“ they

married l ike th e Greeks .” We should rather say that theyl ived under th e Mutter-recht , which some have thoughtto be a re lic from an Amazonian stage of society. Foramong the Iberians

,as among th e anc ient Lycians

,the

women were exalted above th e m en . Th e wife governedth e family ; th e daughters inherited th e property, subj e ctto dowries for th e sons on marriage th e name and pedigree were traced from th e mother’s side th e inferiority ofth e father was marked by the curious symbolism of theConoa o’e

,th e mother going to work in th e fields

,while

th e husband and chil d were careful ly nursed at home . Al lthese abnormal c ircumstances should be taken into accountby those who assert th e identity of th e Iberians with th eBritons of th e Silurian type . Several of th e customs abovede scribed have left distinct traces in th e usage s which stil lprevail in th e region of th e Pyrenees . But at pre sentthere seem s to be no point of connection between themand anything which was ever observed in this country .

Th e test of language h as been applied,but with equal ly

little success . On th e assumption that th e modern Basquehas a connection with one or another of th e Iberian diale cts ,some have sought to correlate th e British local name s withsimilar words in Basque .

“Britannia ”h as been derived

from a locative Etan,

”and Siluria ” from “

U r,

a wordfor water . Th e roots l

”and

“U r occur in old Spanish

appellatives , and have been seen in some of th e name s ofrivers and islands in Scotland . But it still seems to beagreed that nothing c an be made of th e matter . Th e

Basque language is ancient in structure,but modern in its

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15 2 Orig ins of English H istory .

a bag,“clornhnoin

,deep

,and gni ,

”

a spear . Th e Fir

bolgs were th e “m en of th e bag

”

: th e Greeks h ad sub

jected them in Thrace to great hardship and s lavery,

obliging them to dig earth and raise mould,and to carry it

in leather-sacks and place it on rocks to make a fruitfuls oil ; and it was out of th e sacks that they made th e

hide -bound boats for travelling to th e Irish Sea. With

th e like futility th e name of th e Damnonians was derivedfrom th e pits which they dug in th e Thracian hil ls to getmould for th e “

m en of th e bag”

; and th e title of th e“Fir

Gaillian,

”

another of th e legendary tribes,was taken from

th e long spears that they bore for th e prote ction of the irbrethren as they worked . We have be en told by personsof great learning and power of research that “it is not

difficult to recognise in this tradition th e people whoworked th e tin by digging in th e soil and transporting itin bags to their h ide - covered boats and it is added

,that

th e“traditions ” of th e physical appearance of th e early

Irish colonists wil l lead us to th e same conclusion .

1

Ifwe ask for th e source of these last—named traditions,

we are referred to th e“Genealogies ” of M acFirb is

,an

old bard who wrote at th e end of th e 17th c enturv .

O’

Curry2 cites passages to th e fol lowing effe ct from th e

strange rambling preface . Th e white -sk inned warriors,

brown—haired , bounteous and brave,are th e descendants

of th e sons of M i ledh in Erinn .

” “Every one who isfair, revengeful , and big, and every plunderer

,and every

musical person and profes sor of mus ic and entertainment,

and allwho are adepts in Druidism and magic,these are th e

children of th e Tuath a D e D anann in Erinn .

” But every

1 Skene, Cel tic Scotland, i. 177 .

2 M SS. M aterials for Irish H istory,2 2 3 .

Orig ins of English H istory . 1 5 3

peasant who listened to th e history knewwell enough,or

thought h e knew,that th e fair revengeful tribe h ad fled t o

th e secret palaces inside “ th e fairy-hills for there were nomortal affinities in th e Trib e of Gods

,or “P lebs D eornni

,

”

as their early worshippers h ad cal led th e personifiedpowers of nature . L et u s pass

,however

,to th e picture of

“th e m en of th e bag, th e p it , and th e sp ear, to j udge forourselves whether it fairly repre sents

,as we are tol d

,th e

S ilures of th e Severn Valley,and

“th e lowest type of th e

Iri sh people .

” “Every one who is black-haired and a

tattler,guileful

,tale -tel ling

,noi sy

,and contemptible

,every

wretched,mean

,strolling

,unsteady

,harsh

,and inhospitable

person,every s lave

,and every mean thief

,these are th e

s ons of th e Fir-Bolg,of th e Fir-Gailiun

,and of th e Fir

D om hnan in Erinn .

On th e other hand,we are told th at th e black c loaks

and goats ’ beards of th e m en in th e Tin I slands are to b e

taken in a non-natural sense .

“They seem to be an

exaggerated and d istorted repre sentation of th e darkness

of th e com plex ion ,'

and th e curled hair attributed to th e

S ilures . ” Cornwal l itself is turned into an archipe lago ofH esperide s lying out at sea away from th e D am nonian

shore ; and th e plain words of th e old Greek travellers

are twisted into these obscure meanings to suit Camden ’s

geography,and to preserve th e apparent value of notions

prevail ing among th e people themselves of their ethmol ogy

,their supposed descent

,and their mutual relation to

each other .” 1

We have shown our reasons for rej e cting th e authority

of such false traditions . But it would not be proper t o

1 Skene, Ce ltic Sco tland, i . 167, 1 79 .

15 4 Or igins of English H istory .

pass from th e subj ect without no ticing th e ethnologicaltable which h as b een constructed by those who attach a

real importanc e to th e existence of these anc ient rumours .

Th e following m ay b e taken as a fair summary of th e clas

sification in question .

Jl In th e Neolithic Age a people

possessing th e physical characteristics of th e Iberians h ad

spread at one time over th e whol e of Great Britain and

Ire land . The ir representatives were (a ) th e tin-workers ofCornwall and th e Scilly I slands : (6 ) th e tribe of th e

S ilures in South Wales : and, (c) th e people called th e

Firbolgs in th e legendary h istory of Ire land . The se

tribes were invaded by th e people o f th e round-headedskulls

,otherwise cal led th e Celtic Race . They were

divided into two chief branches,marked respective ly by

the ir Gaelic and British forms o f language,both branche s

having originally b e longed to one stock . Each of these

great branches is taken to hav e been further subdivided ,th e Gael ic branch including (1 ) a fair- skinned

,large

limbed,and red -haired race

,represented in Britain by th e

people of th e interior, (2 ) th e Tuath a D e D anann of th e

legendary history of Ireland, (3 ) th e

‘Cruithnigh ,

’2a name

1 See Skene ’

s Celtic Scotland, i . 164 , 2 2 6 , 2 2 7.

2 Acco rd ing to the Irish legends, it was in the reign of E iream hnon th e

M ilesian , that the Cruitn igh , or Pic ts , “ a peop le from Thrace , ” landed at

Wexf ord H arbour , but were driven to th e ne ighbouring Caledon ian shores .

Th e chief interest in th e sto ry l ies in the c lue which it affords to th e

m ethods of its m anufacture . These Picts are cal led th e children o f Gleo in

M ac Ercol, or in other words, th e children of Gelonus the son of

H ercules, and they were nam ed Agathyrsi . These are obv ious al lusionsto Virgil ’s “

Pic tosque Gelonos, Geo rg. ii . 1 15 , and to th e paintedAgathyrsi of H erodutus. Latham quotes a passage from a tenth-cen turyLife of St . Vodoal, which p laces th e m atter beyond a doubt . “

Th e

Blessed Vodoalwas Sp rung from th e arrow-bearing nation of the Ge loni,who are bel ieved to have com e from Scythia . Concerning whom th e poet

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1 5 6 Orig ins of English H istory .

As to language,we must trust to those who (in the

words of Professor Rhy sl ) are engaged in th e laboriousbut not impossible task of de ciphering “th e weather-wornhistory ” of th e Ce ltic tongue s . By th e help of welle stablished rules of phonology th e s earch for th e origin of

th e verbal and grammatical forms in We l sh and Irish has

already been carried out with great success “some of th emost stubborn words of th e vernacular have been forced

,

one after another,to surrender th e se crets of the ir pedi

gre e ;” wh ile others can only b e explained on th e theory

that they came from some source al ien to every languagein th e Aryan or Indo—European family .

As to th e proof from anomalous customs and usages,

we must stil l b e in th e main indebted to th e labours ofphilological s cholars . It h as been dis covered by th e

patient comparison of th e surviving Aryan vocabularies,

that th e primitive ancestors of th e Indo-German or IndoCeltic nations

,before their dispersion into th e eastern and

th e western groups,h ad attained to what m ay be fairly

called a high standard of civilisation . Th e p icture oftheir so ciety has b een traced by th e skilful author of th eIndo-German Lexicon from th e words for their customsand fam ily relationsh ips

,their homes

,hab its

,food

,and

inc idents of daily life . They are shown to have beenorganised in communities framed on th e mode l of th epatriarchal household . They h ad adopted th e system . ofregular marriage

,a fam ily religion

,and a method of

agnatic des cent through males wh ich was conne cted withtheir p iety and reverence for th e dead . I n th e householdth e father was th e king and priest

,but th e wife ruled h er

own department and bore o ffi ce in th e family government .

Lectures on We lsh Philo logy, 6 , 89 .

Origins of English H istory . 15 7

Outside th e househol d th e gradations in rank between th echief and h is noble kinsmen

,and down to th e servants of

th e clan,were marked with th e strictest accuracy . The

people had made great progre ss in th e arts of industry

they bui lt the ir timber house s with doors and windows,

and knew how to fence th e home stead against wil d-beasts,

to harness th e horse for draught and th e oxen for work at

th e plough . The ir name for th e moon,

“th e measurer

,

”

shows that they divided their years and months by h erperiods . They m et in common meal s by th e family hearth

,

where th e m eat and pul se were cooked in cauldrons,and

th e offerings and l ibations were made to th e sacred fireand such was th e importance that they paid to these

detail s,that in most of the derivative language s th e eating

o f uncooked meat h as supplied epithets of l oath ing and

disdain for outcast and barbarian m en .

But when we examine the condition of some of th etribes in Britain

,we shall find some that remained late

into th e historical period far l ower than th e leve l of th eAryan culture

,re sembling rathe r those rude Esthonian

hordes,wande rers of th e Baltic coasts and th e fore sts

beyond th e Vistula,to whom th e notion of th e family and

th e state and th e benefits of social order were th ingswhich were hardly known . I n su ch an inqu iry we shall

derive assistance from th e mediaeval writers,who were

quick to notice th e ev ill and wil de uses,

” which were

fore ign to their own experience . Spenser was one of th e

first to give a philosophical account of the matter . H is

View of the State of Ire land shows that h e well understood th e importance of a comparison of abnormal customsand beliefs in tracing th e descent of nations . H e was

desirous of showing how much th e Irish had borrowed

15 8 Orig ins of English f f istory .

from th e first old nations which inhabited th e land

and h e saw that in th e absence of authentic tradition muchm ight b e gained by th e study of archaic usages ,

“oldmanners of marrying, of burying , of dancing , of s inging, offeasting

,of cursing ” and though some of h is theories have

ceased to b e instructive , th e value of h is instances has stil l

remained unimpaired .

We must deal in th e first place with th e vestiges of th eunknown languages

,in l ocal and tribal names

,in sepul chral

inscriptions , and in those idioms and grammatical or verbalforms which are thought to b ear sign s of th e al ien influence .

It is unfortunate that th e sele cted tests , th e occurrence of

th e letter “p,

”and th e use of th e “ s ” between vowe l s

,

should fail us in England itse lf ; but th e mark , whichdenotes th e existence of non-Celtic tribes in th e districts

which th e Gaul s did no t oc cupy, be comes ambiguous in a

place where th e l ocal names m ay have been given by a

col ony or a regiment from th e Continent . Th e presenceof th e “Parisii ” in H olderness

,of th e Be lgians in Wilts

and Somerset , and th e title of Belisam a,

” borrowed from

a Gaul ish goddess for th e name of a river in Lancashire,

must render vain for those parts of th e country th e appli

cation o f th e phonological rule,however sure we m ay feel

for other reasons that th e non-Aryan elements existedamong th e dark Lancastrians or in th e mixed populationsof th e wolds and th e western hills .We must choose those remoter districts which m ay be

taken as free from th e Gaulish influence,as th e Grampian

H ills,th e Irish town “

I sarnn inni,th e river “Ansoba fall

ing into Galway Bay , and th e country of th e“E rp ea

’itan z

surrounding th e waters of Lough E irne .

One of th e regions inhabited by th e tribes in question

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160 Or igins of English H istory .

Th e country last de scribed seems to have formed one

st ation in a range of non-Aryan districts , which included

th e bleak region round “Octapitarum ,

” or S t. David’s

H ead,Angle sea and M an

,some of th e western is lands

,

and in Ireland th e parts about Dubl in , and at least a

port ion of Munster . Th e opinion is based on th e prev a

lence of certain typical names which appear to be relatedto words of a S ilurian origin . Th e forms M enap ia and

“M enev ia are appl ied,with trifling variations

,to th e

C ity of St . David ’s , th e Isl e of Man,th e Menai Straits

,

and th e coast between Dublin and Wicklow and we can

hardly attribute their oc currence to any contact with the

M enap ii” of th e coast of Flanders Then there are

p aral le l forms , as“Mona ”

and“M y nyw,

wh ich in severalinstance s are given to th e same M enapian districts . Th e

I sle of M an is cal led indifferently M onapia,” or “Mona

,

”

or“Manaw ”

; in Ptolemy’s Tables it appears as

“Monao ida . Anglesey is “M on or “Mona

,and its channel

was known as th e Menevian Strait . Th e S cottish I sle ofArran is Ptolemy’s I sland of “M onarina . It is held byc ompetent authorities that all the se words are connectedwith such names as Monmouth or “Mynwy

”on th e

M onnowRiver,and

“Mum hain or Mom onia,th e ancient

title of Munster : and Professor Rhys h as concluded thatthey are all alike “vestige s of a non-Aryan people whomthe Celts found in possession both on th e Continent and inth e British I sle s . ” 1

Someth ing has also been learned from th e evidence of

p ersonal nam es,

. o c curring in early ep itaphs or in otherkinds of ins criptions

,or found in lists and pedigree s of

k ings , or in th e mythological tales and legends which pass1R hys, Welsh Phi lology, 18 1 , 18 2 . Skene ’

s Ce ltic Scotland, i. 69 .

Origins of English Alistory . 16 1

for history . H undreds of name s m ight b e found in thesevarious repositories wh ich cannot b e made to corre spondwith th e ordinary rule s prevailing in th e Aryan tongues .We m ay take s uch example s as th e names of Conn

,Gann

,

and Sreng, from th e myth ical history of Ire land ; or Grid ,Ru

,W id

,and th e like

,from th e list of th e Pictish kings

,

or th e epitaph of Nudd the D am nonian wh ich was found

on h is tomb at Yarrow. But it is laid down by th e

phil ologists that th e ancient personal name s in a pureAryan language were always formed by th e compositionof two distinct ideas ; a m an would be cal led by such

a name as“wh ite-head

,or “god-given

,

” or “wolf ofwar

,

” but not by such simple t itle s as “wh ite,

” “gift,

”

or “wolf.” H ence came th e s imilarity in structure ofsuch words as Caturix th e lord of war

,Theodorus and

D ev adatta,H athowulf

,Bronwen of th e fair bosom

,Tal

h aearn of th e iron brow. And even where monosyllable sare used as proper names

,as Gwyn

,

” white,or “Arth

,

”

th e bear,we are assured that they can be traced back to a

double form which h as suffered compre ssion or elision .

I t is only when an Aryan language h as been influenced

by contact with an alien form,as Latin by Etruscan

,that

th e system of nomenclature is changed . But such un

m eaning monosyllables as those above sele cted bearno such trace s of existence in th e compound form

,and

must therefore be supposed to have come from a non

Aryan source . There are said,moreover

,to be double

names in th e I rish and Welsh inscriptions wh ich indicate

their foreign origin by th e very methods of theircomposition

,

“ They are quas i- compounds fashionedafter non-Cel tic m odel s .” Such are th e double wordswhich in effect are merely patronymics , and those by

1 1

16 2 Orig ins of English f l istory .

which a m an was designated as “the slave of a favourite

god .

1

A few old words are found imbedded in the Ce ltic lan

guage s wh ich seem to have been derived from an earl iersource

,as b irnb

,

”a word for silver, preserved in Cormac

’sGlossary

,fern meaning good

,

”and ona

7 for a “ stone ,”

and lon,when used in th e sense of ‘ an elk

’

in th e legends

o fWales and th e Scottish H ighlands . 2

It is of more importance to observe that a Finnishidiom h as been traced in several of th e British languages .

Th e Welsh,for example

,is said to show signs of contact

with a grammar in which th e verb and th e noun were as

yet used indis criminately : th e infle ction of th eWe l sh prepos itions

,erof

” for m e,

erot ” for thee,and th e l ike

,h as

been lately connected with a Magyar usage ; and the sameUgrian influence h as been seen in th e incorporation or

infixing of th e pronoun in th e verb which occurs in th e

early forms of Welsh and Irish,and to some extent in th e

more modern dialects of Brittany .

3

We must pass to th e written evidence for th e factthat th e fair race

,pre sumably established in these islands

in the Bronze Age , lived on in some parts of th e country,and maintained their primitive usages

,l ong after a higher

standard of culture h ad been introduced by the Ce lts .That such tribes were known to th e Romans admits of no

1 See the rem arks of Professor Rhys on the subjec t of such nam es as

M ogh-Nuadhat, th e slave of Nudd, “M ogh-Neid, ” the slave of Neidthe Irish god of war, or as M ae l-Brigd, th e servan t of Brigid, and M ae lU m i, the servant of the bronz e . Celtic Britain ,

2 6 2 . We lsh Philo logy ,4 2 6 .

9 For an account of som e of these words, see R hys, Ce l tic Britain , 2 70 .

3 Sayce , Sc ience of Language, i . 85 . Com pare the discussion on“The

Basque and th e Kelt, Journ . Anthr. Inst ,V . i. 2 6 .

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164 Orig ins of English f f istory .

brown hair,and Germans with their pale lo cks twisted

into knots and curls .1

Everyone must be rem inded , by th e de scription of the setall

,red-haired m en

,of th e Caledonians as drawn by

Tacitus,and h is Germans “with their fierce blue eye s ,

and huge bodies only fit for a sudden exertion . H e m ay

have borrowed and '

m isapplied th e words of th e passage ofVitruvius but

,whether this be so or not

,it is clear that

h e was m istaken in attributing a German origin to th e

people of th e Grampian range , and it appears highly probable that they were des cended from one of th e namele ssnations who h ad pre ceded th e advance of th e Ce lts .They appear in H erodian’s sketch as naked savage s

,

tattooed with th e strange shape s of beasts and birds,of

which the remembrance is preserved in Claudian ’s fineal lusion to “th e figures fading on th e dy ing P ict .” They

passed their days in th e water,swimming in th e northern

estuaries,or wading with th e stream as high as th e waist .2

D ion Cassius adds,with h is characteristic vivacity

,that

they would hide in the m ud for days together,with nothing

but their heads out of th e water . As late as th e thirdcentury after Christ they had hardly be come familiar withth e use of iron ; for they wore it in col lars and bands ontheir necks and l o ins

,and regarded it in th e place of gold

as an ornament and a sign of wealth . I n their wars they

used chariots drawn by mountain-ponies,wh ich could

Com pare Strabo ,iv . 2 78 Lucan

’

s“ Flav is m ista Britannis , Pharsal.

111. 78 3 and th e we l l-known passage of JuvenalCaerula quis stupuit Germ ani lum ina, flavamCaesariem , et m adido torquentem cornua c irro ? —Sat. x iii. 164 .

2 H erodian,iii. 14 ; D ion Cassius (X iph iline) , lxxv i. 1 2 . Com pare

Opp ian’

s”

Aypca aaxa Bpsrdv vwv a iokoré rwy , Cyneget. i . 470 ; C laudian,

Bel l . Getic . 4 17 ; Solinus, c . 2 4 .

Orig ins of English [f istory 165

hardly exce l th e speed of th e troops on foot . They seem

to have been s cantily armed ; they had not even th e

clumsy Ce ltic broad-sword,but fought with target and

dagger,and a short pike with a clattering bal l of bronze

on th e shaft to frighten th e enemy with its noise .

Dion Cassius gave a pitiful ac count of their squalid andbarbarous ways . They have

,h e said

,no towns

,or fiel ds

,

or house s,but roam on th e wil d and waterle ss mountains

,

or in deserts and marshy plains . Their s canty subsistencewas gained in hunting

,though they got some smal l sup

plie s of food from their herds and flocks ; and they ekedit out with herbs

,with fru it and nuts

,and even with th e

bark of th e tree s in th e forest . They h ad dis covered a

satisfying root,an earth -nut1 of a sweet cloying taste

,

which could be dried and made into a kind of bread and

of this (said D ion) if they eat a piece as large as a bean,

theyneither hunger nor thirst . With a superstition like that

of th e Eskimo they refused to taste fish,though they had

an abundant supply within reach and it h as been noticed,

that though th e ancient Irish were fish-eaters,there were

certain parts of th e country,as we ll as some H ighland dis

tricts,where “

th e Saxons ” were despised and dis liked for

th e practice ; and it has been suggested that this absti

nence was a rel igious observance,

“derived from someanc ient colonists from As ia .

” 2

They l ived naked and barefooted,in a savage com

m unism,without any organisation of State or family ; and

even th e wive s and children were regarded as the propertyzof th e horde . Their only merit

,if we trust th e Greek

1 This seem s to be the Conopodium D eanda tm n,or o rdinary p ig

-nut

another “p ig-nut, cal led Carum Bulbocastanum ,is found chiefly on chalk so ils .

2 Bonwick , Anc . Irish , 73 . Com pare Ware, Antiquit. H ibern . c . 2 2 ,

Cam p ion , Trac t on the Anc ient I rish , 2 5 , 1 13 .

166 Orig ins (yr English Elistory .

des cription,was a neglect or an ignorance of th e practice

of infanticide,which is treated by th e classical historians

as an unexpected and startling instance of natural virtue .

We hear but little in later times of the se strange and

wil d communitie s . It seems to b e clear,however

,that

they became merged or included in th e Pictish nation,

and it m ay be hoped that something more wil l be learnedabout them when th e Pictish s culptures are interpre ted .

Th e materials for one part of th e inqu iry m ay be roughlyclassified as follows .I n various parts of Sweden and Denmark there are

ins criptions and rock-carvings of th e Bronze Age , cut outon th e faces of smooth cl iffs

,or on th e p illars and c ap

stones of th e megalithic tombs . I n th e case of th e tuni nlusat Tegneby

,in Zealand

,from which th e earth h as not

been l ong removed,there are pictures of war- canoes

,and

crosses contained in c ircles which seem to be intended forchariot-wheels .Some of these rocks (especial ly those at Tegneby

,

Kivik,and Ax ev alla in Sweden) contain pictures of th e

Bronze-Age m en pursuing their labours by sea and land .

We can distinguish a sea-figh t with long lines of warcanoes

,l ike those of th e South

’

gSea Islanders , l ittle boats

crossing a shallow reach,cattle and chariots driven

through stil l waters,bowmen and spearmen

,and tal l

naked m en fighting with bronze axe s fastened to longhandle s 1 We have e l sewhere th e sketch of a m an

driving a chariot through a pasture where sheep are feeding, a swordsman leading a string of captives

,and rows

of hooded figures draped in long black robes . Thesepictures help us to realise th e life of the tribes des cribed

1 M ontélius, C iv il isation of Sweden (Woods) , c . 2 .

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168 Orig ins of English H istory .

The s culptured stones of S cotland are found on th e

coasts and islands from Aberdeen to Shetland , and in

some of the cave s in Fifeshire . Some of them appear tobe of mediaeval date . They are covered with th e symbol sof some forgotten heral dry

,such as eagles and dragons ,

worm kno ts,conventional figure s of the elephant

,dogs or

sea-snake s fighting . Some of these have al so been foundon the Scandinavian monuments . There m ay b e someconnection between this symbol ism and th e tattoomarks of th e ancient Picts

,

“th e shape s of th e heavenly

bodies,and of all kinds of beasts and birds

,of which we

read in H erodian ; but th e subj e ct is too obscure for anypos itive statement to be hazarded . Th e figure s of th ecomb

,m irror

,and brooch

,can be explained as denoting

the obj ects buried with th e dead,as seems to have been

first noticed in Wal lace ’s De s cription of the Isles ofOrkney As th e work is rare

,it m ay be well to

extract th e passage At the west end of the mainland,

on th e top of high rocks above a quarter of a mile inlength , there is someth ing like a street

,all set in red clay

,

with a sort of reddish stones of seve ral figure s and magnitudes , having th e image s of several things

,as it were

,

engraven upon them ; and,which is very strange

,most of

the se stones,when they are raised up

,have that same

image under,which they had engraven above . Likewise

,

in the Links of Tranabie in We stra have' been found

grave s in th e sand,in one of wh ich was seen a m an lying

with h is sword on th e one hand and a Danish ax e on th e

other ; and others that have h ad dogs,and combs

,and

knives buried with them .

Such is th e principal evidence for th e theory that th eBronze-Age tribes , th e

“dolmen-builders,

and construo

Orig ins of English f f istory . 169

tors of th e great stone-circle s , c an b e distinguished insome parts of Britain down to a time which we m ay cal lre cent

,having regard to the s cope of our inquiry . On

this part of th e subj ect we will only add a few details ofcustoms which have been observed in Scotland and

Ire land and which cannot easi ly be corre lated with any

thing that is known to be of Aryan origin .

Th e first example relate s to th e rule of succession to th ePictish Crown

,which was noticed by Bede in the Opening

chapter of h is history,and which h as been e lucidated by

Mr. Skene ’s investigation of th e names oc curring in th e

several dynastie s down to the t ime of th e venerable historian . I t was th e custom in P ictland

,as th e saying went

,

that th e kingdom should come from women rather thanm en . Th e dign ity

,it seems

,never went from father to

son but when th e king died,th e crown went to h is next

brother,or in default

,to h is sister’sson

,or in any event to

th e neare st male relation claiming through a female,and

on th e female s ide . Th e l ist contains no instance of a son

b earing h is father’s name,or of the same name be l onging

to both father and mother and th e on ly fathers of kings

of whom any ac count has survived are certainly known to

have been fore igners,th e one a prince of Strathclyde and

th e other a grandson of th e English king of Northumbria .

We have instance s here of th e rules,that brothers shal l

inherit in the place of sons,that bl ood-relation ships shal l

only be traced in th e female line , and that it shal l no t be

lawful for a woman to marry within h er dome stic tribe ,which prevail among th e savage peoples of Polynes ia and

th e rudest of th e As ian aborigine s . I t is no t sufficient tosuggest

,with Mr . M cL ennan

,that th e Ce l ts were lax in

their moral s,and m ay have found it expedient that th e

170 Orig ins of English f f istory .

children ’s claims shoul d always be traced through the

mother .1 H e h as carried,as h e h as said

,th e l ine of

human progress far back towards brutishness . But thereis an abundance of positive evidence that th e Aryannations had establ ished th e “

agnatic system,by which

th e family was confined to male s and unmarried womendescended from a patriarchal ancestor

,even before th e

divisions began which brought th e Ce l ts into Europe .

Th e Picts in th e North,and th e Spartans in th e South

,

m ay have ignored th e system of descent through male s onwhich civilised society was based but it is easier in eachcase to b e lieve in th e persistence of customs belonging to

an ol der people,than to suppose that a se ction of th e

civilised race h ad retained or revived th e practice s whichtheir ancestors h ad already forgotten when encamped on

th e banks of th e Oxus .We re ly for our next instance on a story from Giraldus

Cam brensis,

2 which h as been vehemently denied by writers

upon Ce ltic history,but is supported by independent testi

mony from th e chronicles of th e Pictish kingdom . The

story is generally told as if it must ne cessarily relate toth e great fam ily of th e “

H y Nyall,” whose kings were

crowned at Tara . But Giralda s only said that in one

part of the ir dominions was a nation that practised a

barbarous rite in their mode of electing a king . A whitemare

,or a cow by another account

,was sacrificed in the

m idst of th e people : th e candidate was forced to crawl inon all-fours

,and to lap the broth and taste th e flesh

,with

1 M’

Lennan , Studies in Anc ient H istory, 10 1 , 145 5 Skene , CelticScotland, i . 2 33 5 H earne , Aryan H ouseho ld, 1 5 3 .

2 Girald . Cam br. Topog. H ibern. iii. 2 5 . See Cam p ion’

s Trac t on‘

Anc ient I reland, and Ware , Antiqu. H ibern . ii . 64 .

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17 2 Origins of English H istory .

Th e chiefs sat or stood on other stones,sometimes

arranged in a c ircle of twelve and surrounding th e chair ofhonour . Th e people applauded

,as the knee ling bard or

sennachie rec ited th e royal pedigree ; and the ancientceremony was compl eted in Christian times by anointmentand consecration .

Many ve ry strange customs existed in Spenser’s dayamong th e Northern Irish and some of th e H ighlandtribes

,

“ such wild uses,

”as h e said

,that h e could only

compare such m en to th e Tartarians and people round

th e Caspian Sea. For those S cyth ians,

“when they wouldb inde any solemn vow or combination amongst them

,used

to drink a bowle of blood together , vowing thereby to

spend their last bl ood in that quarrell , and even so do th ewild Scots and some of th e Northern Irish . Th e S cythians

used to sweare by their king’s hand ; and so do th e Irish

use now to sweare by their lord'

s hand,and to forsweare

it they hol d it more crim inall than to sweare by God .

Th e S cythians also used to seethe th e flesh in th e hide,

and so do th e Northern I rish . Th e Scythians used todraw th e blood of th e beast living

,and to make meat

thereof,and s o do th e Irish in the North sti l l . ”1

insign ia of the K ingdom of Scotland) th e K ing of England had carried away.

Skene,Co ronation Stone .

’

Proc . Soc . Antiquaries, v ii. 68 . Chron .

Pic ts and Scots, 2 80 . Skene, Ce l tic Scotland, i. 2 83 . See a lso K eysler,

Antiqu. Sep t . 2 5 , 30 5 Bonwick, Anc . Irish, 5 0 . For the Scandinav ian

exam p les, see O laus M agnus, H ist . Sep t . v iii. 1 , K eysler, Antiqu. Sep t . 93 ,and Scheffer , U p salia , c . 17 .

1 Spenser ’s “ View,

”&c . , 8 2 , 99 . Com pare th e custom s m entioned in

Cam pion’

s Trac t on Anc ient Ire land, and inWare ’

s Antiquitates H ibern icae.

As a ratification of a league they drink each other’s blood,which is shed

for th e purpose this custom has been handed down to them from the ritesof th e heathen . G irald . Cam br. Topogr. H ibern . iii. 2 2 . For the“Abyssinian practice of using the l iv ing an im al for food

,see Logan , Scott.

Orig ins of English H istory . 173

We will take our next example from Giraldus.

1Th e

adventure of a ship’s crew

,in what was cal led in th e 12 th

century th e unexplored expanse of th e Sea of Connaught,

is tol d in the very words of th e m en who saw th e naked

yell ow-haired savages . “Some sailors told m e

,said th e

trave l ler,

“that being driven by a storm into that seathey lay for she lte r o ff a small island

,and when th e storm

abated they saw at no great distance the outline of anunknown coast .” Soon afterwards they noticed a smal lcanoe approaching them

,made of wattled sticks covered

over with hides of beasts . I n it were two m en without

any cloth ing, except broad be lts of skin round their waiststhey h ad “long yel low hair

,like th e Irish

,fal ling below

their shoul ders and covering most of the ir bodie s . ” Finding that these m en were from some part of Connaught

,

and could speak th e Irish language , th e sailors took them

on board . Th e m en were found to be pagans,who h ad

never even heard of Christianity : they h ad never beforese en a sh ip

,and everything indeed that they saw appeared

to excite their surprise . Bread and cheese being offered

to them,they refused to eat

,not knowing what they were .

They said that they l ived entirely o ff flesh,fish

,and milk

,

and never wore cl othe s,except sometime s th e skins of

beast s in case of a great necessity. Th ey knew nothing

of th e measurement of th e month or th e year,and the

Gae l . ii . 1 1 2 . Com pare the c lassical desc ription of th e custom s: of; theConcan i in Spain

Visam Britannos h0 5p itibus feros,Et laetum equino sanguine Concanum .

H orat . Carm . iii. 4 , 33 .

Nec qui, M assageten m onstrans feritate parentem ,

Corn ipedis fusasatiaris Concane , vena.

”

Silius Ital . Punic . iii. 360 .

1 Topogr. H ibern . iii . 2 6 .

174 Orig ins of English fi fistory .

names of th e days of th e week were matters entirelybeyond their conception .

We m ay conclude this part of th e subj e ct with a few

instance s of peculiar usages,long continuing in th e districts

about th e frontier of Wales,which can hardly be referred

to any other origin than th e persistence of ancient habits

among th e des cendants o f th e S ilurian tribe s . We neednot dwel l on such facts as that th e country—people ofAnglesea or St . David’s

,or of th e legend -haunted Vale of

Neath,were prone to be l ieve in fearful goblins

,in magical

we ll s,and rocks that spoke or flew by night

,in half-human

snakes,and

“ stones of contention ”at which th e domestic

animals would dance and fight as if possessed by a demon .

Th e strangeness of th e “ lower mythology prevailing inWales and Brittany m ight afford some evidence in favourof its pre -Celti c ori gin . But no country in Europe is freefrom those gross superstitions which seem to indicate an

underworld of barbarism and remnants of forgottennations not yet penetrated bv th e culture of th e dominant races . We find instances of a more special andl o cal ised kind in th e pe culiarities noted by Giraldus

among th e brown- skinned and black-haired people,whom

h e cal led Dardanians,

” thinking that their forefathers h adfled before th e Gre eks upon th e plains of Troy

,but in

whom more modern ethnologists have recognised th e

remnants of th e Neolithic tribes .We m ay observe , for instance , h is account of th e Silurian

Soothsayers,who were found on ly in th e districts that

were he l d by th e dark—skinned race .

“There are certainpeople there

, (h e said, )“whom you wil l never find any

where e l se : when consulted upon any doubtful event , theyroar out violently

,and are be side themselves and as it were

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176 Orig ins of English H istory .

of th e wel l would cause the victim to pine and die unles s

th e curse'

should be wil l ingly remov ed .

1

Our last example of these abnormal usages shall betaken from th e superstition of the S in-eater

,which

certainly prevailed in H erefordsh ire,though it m ay be

doubtful whether it extended to th e ne ighbouring parts ofWale s . “ I n th e County of H erefo rd

,

” said Aubrey,

“it

was an old custom at funeral s to hire poor people whowere to take upon them th e s ins of th e person deceased .

Th e manner was that , when th e corps e was brought ou tof th e house and laid upon th e bier

,a loaf of bread was

brought out and de livered to th e S in-eater over th e corpseas al so a Mazard-bowl of maple -wood full of beer wh ichh e was to drink up

,and Sixpence in money

,in cons idera

t ion whereof h e took upon h im it so fa cto all th e sins o fth e defunct and freed h im or h er from walking after theywere dead .

”2 Mr . Wirt Sike s in h is work upon Welsh

1 St. E lian ’

s We l l in D enbighshire is described as“the head of the

Cursing-we l ls .

” A ful l descrip tion of the cerem onies wil l be found in

M r. Wirt Sikes’ Co l lec tion , British Gobl ins, 35 5 . Am ong the authoritiesc ited are Cam brian Pop . Antiq . 2 47, and Archaeo l . Cam br. l st Ser. i . 46 .

Com pare Souvestre’

s account of th e Chapel of N otre D am e de la H aine at

Treguier in Brittany. Une chapelle dédie’

e a Notre-D am e de la H a ine

existe toujours pre’

s de Tre'

guier, et le peuple n’

a pas cesse’

de croire a. la

puissance des prie’

res qui 3/ sont f aites. Parfois encore, v ers le soir, on v oit

des om l-res honteuses se glisser f urtivem ent v ers ce triste edifice place’

an haul

d’

un coteau sans verdure. Ce sont des jeunes pupilles lasse’

s de la surveillance

de leurs tuteurs, ales oeillards jaloux de la p rosperite’

d’

un voisin, des f em m es

trop rudem entf roisse’

es p ar le despotism e d’

un m ari , qui v iennent laprier pour

la m ort a’e l

’

oljet de leur haine. Trois‘Ave,

’

de’

votem ent répéte’

s, am énent

irre’

vocalzlem ent cette m ort dans D erniers Bretons, i . 9 2 . I t is said

that “cursing-stones were known in D evonshire and in parts of Ire land .

2 Aubrey , in the “ R em ains of Gentilism e , publ ished by the Folk-loreSoc iety ; Sikes, British Gobl ins, 3 2 5 5 H one , Year-book , 85 8 .

“ I rem em

ber,”says Aubrey, “ one of these Sin-eaters, h e was a long, lean ,

ugly,

Orig ins of English H istory . 177

Folklore,c ited an apposite passage from S chuyler’s

Travels in Turkestan : One poor old m an se emed c on

stantly engaged in prayer . On cal l ing attention to h im,

I was tol d that h e was an‘isha tch i

,

’

a person who gets h isl iving by taking on him se lf th e sins of th e dead

,and thence

forth devoting him se l f to prayer for their souls : h e

corresponds to th e Sin-eater of th e Wel sh border .” 1

lam entable poor rascal , and l ived in a cottage on R oss h ighway. Thiscerem ony , though rare ly used in our days , yet by som e peop le was observedin th e stric test days of the Presbyterian governm ent . ”

1 Sikes, British Goblins. Schuyler , Turkestan , ii. 2 8 .

178 Or ig ins of English H istory .

C H APTER V I I I .

CUSTOM S OF INH ER ITANCE AND FAM ILY RELIG ION .

Custom s fore ign to Celt ic and Teuton ic usage —Anom alous laws o f inh eritance .

Borough -English .

—M ainete’

.—7 angsten-R ech t.

—Var ious th eories o f th e ir origin.

Th e ir wide extent —Prim it iv e form s in Wales and Sh etland— I n Cornwall andBrittany — D istribution o f Junior-righ t in E ngland .

— South -eastern d istric t .D an ish towns — Custom s o f Kent — Of Sussex—N e igh bourh ood o f London .

M anor ofTaunton-D eane .

— D istr ibut ion on th e Continent .—N o rth -western Franceand Flanders .

‘Th ee l-boors” o fE astFriesland —Germ any—Bornh olm —Russia .

—Attem pts to exp lain th e custom .

— Com parison with early form s o f prim ogeni

ture .

— “ Princ ipals ”or Pre

’

cipua—E ldest daugh ter .—Th e L aw o f th e Sword .

Glanv i lle .

—Brac t0n .—Old prim ogeniture custom s in th e P ay s de Caux

— Ireland—N o rway —Ath ens .

-R el igious origin — Priesth ood o f th e eldest . —Laws o f

M anu.

—Th e dom est ic rel igion and its surv iv als—Th e fi re —Th e rem em brancebowl .—H ouseh o ld sp irits—Feast o f All Souls .

—“Brande E rbe .

”— Th eory o f

analogous origin o f th e Jun ior-righ t — E arly extension of U ra l-Al taic peop les .

M ongo l ian and Ugrian jun ior-righ t .—Tchudic h ouseh o ld superstit ions —Th eM andrake .

NE might colle ct a large assemblage of Engl ishcountry customs h aving no apparent afli nity to

Celtic or Teutonic usage s,some l iving st il l in remote and

simple districts,some dying and some dead

,but all im

portant and interesting to th e student of ancient history .

There are ceremonies of an old idolatry and re l ics ofth e worship of animals which will be more convenientlyconsidered in a chapter devoted to mythology . Othersare mere remnants of old codes and do oms of powers andprincipalities that have long since been merged in the

modern kingdom ; and for some no origin can even be

guessed .

We shal l confine our attention for th e present to thatanomalous class of usages

,which inEngland are commonly

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180 Orig ins of E nglish H istory .

rate s cores,if no t hundreds

,of l ittle districts in England

where th e right h as extended to females,—th e youngest of

th e daughters or,as th e case m ay be , th e younge st sister or

aunt being preferred above th e other cohe iresses .

These extensions of th e custom are all cal led “boroughEnglish ” by anal ogy to th e principal usage

,but they

should be class ified under some more general name . It isnot easy

,however

,to find th e appropriate word . We

have a choice between “ultimogeniture

,

”

th e awkwardterm proposed by th e Real Property Com miss ioners of th elast generation

,and such fore ign forms as f itngsten -R ech t

,

and f a v ezgner ie, which can hardly be exce lled fors impl ic ity

,or one must coin a new phrase like juniority

or j unior-right .Every kind of explanation has been off ered to ac countfor th e origin of the se customs . To some they have

appeared unnatural,to others they seem so simple that

they m ight have been expected to grow up in every quarterof th e world . But h itherto all th e explanat ions appear to

have been unsuc cessful and it m ay be that th e problem isnot only difficult but insoluble . Th e subj ect

,however

,is

so interesting and so important t o th e comparative history

of society,that it seems to be worth wh ile to deal with th e

discussion once more,or at least to collect some of th e

material s which m ay hereafter be used for th e solution ofth e long- standing diffi cul ty .

If we are to des cribe th e area from which we mustcolle ct examples of th e j unior-right

,we shall find that it

h as flourished no t only in England , and in most parts ofCentral and Northern Europe

,but also in some remote

and disconnected regions with wh ich our subj e ct is not at

present concerned . We shal l find it occurring among

Orig ins of English H istory . 18 1

Ugrian tribes about th e Ural Mountains,in H ungarian

villages,and in S lavonic communitie s ; and we might

trace its pre sence in Central Asia,on th e confines of

China,in th e Punj ab ,

1 in th e mountains of Arracan,and

even,it is said

,among th e N ew Zealand Maoris . It is

plain that we must to some extent re strict th e s cope ofour inquiry . We shal l find reason late r for extending it

over a wide r tract compris ing th e regions in th e North and

East of Europe and th e neighbouring parts of Asia. But

our attention wil l for th e pre sent be mainly dire cted to th e

Ce l tic countries and to those of th e we stern peoples withwhom th e Engl ish nation is conne cted .

W e have no t as yet found examples of this exceptional

law e ither in Scotland or in Ire land .

2 I n th e Shetland

I sles,however

,it was th e practice

,from whatever source

derived,that th e youngest child of e ither sex should

have th e dwe l ling-house when th e property came to

division .

3

Th e custom appears in Wales in what was probably its

most primitive form . According to th e laws of H oel th e

Good,dating from th e tenth century at latest

,th e inherit

1 I n all enquiries into th e origin and dev e lopem ent of rural institutions inth e Punjab , th e K angra D istric t h as spec ia l im po rtance and interest . Am ong

the Kanets of K odh Sowur (in this d istrict) th e custom was,that th e Vands,

or separate ho ldings, were indiv isible . I f a m an died possessed o f one

Vand on ly , it went to h is K anna l‘e’

ta , or youngest son ; if h e held two , theo ther wen t to th e nex t youngest . ’ Tupper , Punjab Custom ary Law,

1 8 2 , 1 83 . Com pare the custom s of th e Frisic Thee l - lands , post, 19 2 .

2 For a discussion of th e question ,whether a p reference of th e youngest ,

sim ilar in kind to the custom of borough-Engl ish , can be traced in thel

old

I rish fam ily settlem ents, see M aine , H ist . Earl . Inst . 2 1 0 ,2 16 , 2 2 3 5 Senchus

M or. ii . to . 2 79 5 iii . cxl. 5 M cL ennan , Studies, 45 2 . As to H ungary,see K ovy , Sum m . Juris . H ungaric . s . 3 5 1 .

2 Wa l lace , D escrip tion of Orkney, 9 1 .

18 2 Origins of English H istory .

ance was to be so divided that th e home stead , with eight

acres of land and th e be st implements of th e household,

should fall t o th e youngest son . Th e different editions ofthese laws are contained in th e D im etian Code for SouthWales

,and in th e Venedotian Code for “Gwynnedd

” or

th e northern parts of th e princ ipality . Both are to th esame effect as regards th e po int in question ; but th e

former is th e more prec ise and best adapted for quotation :“When brothers share their patrimony (so ran th e

enactment or statement of custom )“th e younge st is to have

th e principal messuage and all th e buildings and

e ight acres of land,and th e hatchet

,th e boiler

,and th e

ploughshare,because a father cannot give the se three to

anyone but h is youngest son,and though they are pledged

yet they can never be come forfeited : then let every sontake a homestead with eight acres of land ; and th e

youngest is to divide,and they are to choose in suc cession

from th e e ldest unto th e youngest . ”1 But th e rule onlyapplied to e states comprising at least one inhabited house ;and on dividing a property of any other kind th e youngestson was entitled to no exceptional privilege .

Th e privilege of th e youngest existed in other C eltic

1 Leges VValliae, (D im et . Code) , ii, 2 3 , (Venedot . Code) , ii . 1 2,16 .

M r. J . A . Corbett , in h is edition of R ice M errick ’

s Book of Glam organ ,

refers to th e suggestion that this p reference o f th e youngest m ight hav e ledto a regular Bo rough—Engl ish Tenure , and says though this tenure is th e

usual one for custom ary lands in th e Va le of Glam organ ,I do not know o f

its ex istence in th e H il ls , and in th e M anor of Co ity, which is div ided in toCo ity VVallia and Co ity Angl ia ,

the descen t of custom ary lands in th e firstwas to sons equal ly, and in th e second to th e youngest son . I think itp robable that Bo rough-Engl ish was introduced from England, perhap s frombeing th e m ost conven ient custom for tenants in v ille inage . (M organn iae

Archaiograph ia ,

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184 Orig ins of English H istory .

in a ring of manors encircl ing ancient London,and to a

less extent in Essex and th e East-Anglian district .There are few examples in H ampshire

,but further west a

great part of Somerset in one continuous tract was under

th e law or custom in question . I n th e M idland counties

th e usage was comparatively rare,at th e rate of two or

three manors to a county ; but it occurred in four out of

th e fiv e great Danish towns,v iz . ; in Derby

,Stamford

,

Leicester,and Nottingham

,as we l l as in o ther impo rtant

boroughs,as Stafford and th e C ity of Gloucester . To th e

north of a line drawn be twe en th e H umb er and Merseyth e usage appears to have been unknown .

1

3 M r. Corner gives the fo l lowing instances Th e custom is m uchm ore extensive than is general ly supposed . I n Co rnwal l I have foundone m ano r subjec t to it 5 in D erbyshire the town of Derby 5 in D evon two

m anors 5 in Gloucestershire th e c ity of Gloucester, where it governed the

descen t of freeho lds . I n H am p shire, where th e custom is cal led ‘cradle

ho lding, ’ h e found n ine m anors subjec t to it ; in H erefo rdshire four ; inH ertfordshire one ; in H untingdonshire three 5 in Leicestershire one 5 in

Linco lnshire th e town of Stam ford ; in M iddlesex sixteen m anors 5 inNorfo lk twe lve ; in Northam ptonsh ire one .

“ I n th e town of N ottingham thiscustom ary m ode of descent is now unknown, but it ex ists at Sc rooby andSouthwe l l , and in three other m anors in th e county in Shropshire in three 5in Staffordshire in part of the borough of Staffo rd and two m anors . I n

Suffo lk there are thirty,in Surrey twen ty-eight, in Sussex 140 m anors, and

in Warwickshire two , in which the custom of bo rough-Engl ish is the law of

descent . ” “Borough-Engl ish in Sussex ,

”

13 , 14 . Som e of th e distric ts herecounted as sim p le m anors are in rea lity Sokes, com p rising in each case a

num ber of subo rdinate m anors . H e on ly no ticed one instance in Ken t,

whereas th e custom at one tim e ran throughout th e who le county . Th e

m anors of Pencarne and L iswery in M onm outhshire , and the m anors o f

Co ity and other lordship s in the Vale of Glam o rgan,should be added to the

forego ing l ist . M r. Charnock found th e custom prevailing in th e fo l lowingp laces in Essex , v iz . , at A lresford, Boxted H al l, South Bersted, Chesterford,Chishal l , Dedham H al l , Beaum ont

, M aldon ,W ivenhoe , W ikes, Wrabness,

Waltham stow,and Woodfo rd, where th e custom is extended to younger

brothers. M anorial Custom s of Essex, 9 .

Orig ins of English H istory . 18 5

It will be sufficient to exam ine two or three of th e mostimportant districts . We shal l consider th e character ofthis local law as it anciently existed in Kent

,and as it is

found in Sussex,in the vicinity of London

,and as far to th e

we st as th e Valley of Taunton Deane .

Every one knows that most of th e land in Kent is subj ectto th e “Custom of Gavelkind

,

” or in other words that onth e death of a landowner who leaves no wil l h is sons willinherit equal ly

,without any preference of th e e ldest .

There are other qual itie s attached to lands of this tenurewhich need not be here discussed . But there was at one

time a custom throughout th e county,which is des cribed

in th e lo cal codes with considerable m inutenes s of detail,

by which a distinct birthright was secured for th e youngesto f th e customary heirs . We shall quote th e entire passagefrom th e thirteenth -century Custumal .

1 .

“ If any tenant in gavelkind die,having inherited

gave lkind lands and tenements,let all h is sons divide that

h eritage equally . And if there be no male heir,let the

partition be made among th e females in th e same way as

among brothers . And let th e me ssuage (or home stead )al so b e divided among them

,but the hearth-place shal l

bel ong to th e youngest son or daughter (th e others rece iving an equ ivalent in money) , and as far as 40 feet roundth e hearth -place

,if th e s ize of th e heritage wil l al low it .

And then let th e e lde st have th e first cho ice of theportions and th e others afterwards in the ir order .” 1

1a . S i ascun tenant en gauylehende m urt, et seit inherite

’

ale terres e de

tenem entr. in gauylehena’e, que touz ses fi tz partent cel heritage per ouele por

czoun. E t si nul heir m adle ne sezt, seit la partyef ei t entre les f em ales si com e

entres les f reres . Et la m esnage seit autreci entre eua: départi, m es le astre

dem orra al pune’

[ou al pune’

e] , e la value seite a’

e ceo livre’

a chescun (les

186 Orig ins of English H istory .

Th e next paragraph relates to th e case where severalhouse s had been bu ilt within th e inclosure or curtilageof one homestead : and here again th e youngest he irenj oyed a

“junio r-right,

” being allowed in each house

th e principal fire -place,on making contribution to th e rest

as before .

2 . I n l ike manner as to other house s which shall be foundin such a homestead

,let them be equally divided among

th e heirs,foot by foot if need b e

,except th e cover of th e

hearth which remains to th e younge st , as was said before :

neverthe le ss,let th e youngest make reasonable amends to

h is c o—parceners for their share by th e award of good” 1

m en

These,it is added

,were among th e usages of th e

Kentishmen “before th e Conqu est,and at th e Conquest

,

parceners ale cel lzéritage a xl. pes de cel astre, si le tenem ent le peut suf rir.

E t don/22 le eyne’

[f rere] cit la prim ere electioun , e les autres apre’

s per degree.

”

Th e reading fo l lowed is that of th e copy be longing to L am barde th e antiquarian

,which was adm itted in ev idence to p rove th e custom s of Kent, in th e

case of L aunder v . Brookes, in th e re ign of Charles I . , Cro . Car. 5 6 2 . See

L am barde , Peram b . Ken t, 5 49 5 R ob inson ’

s Gave lkind, 35 5 . The words

within brackets are om itted in Tottel’s p rinted edition of th e ConsuetudinesK anc iae, 1 5 5 6 , and th e M S. at L inco ln ’

s I nn , which are considered to

be of inferior autho rity.

1 b. Easem ent ale m esons que serront troues en tieus m esuages, scient

departye entre les heirs per ouele porcioun, ceo est asavoir per peies sil est

m istier, sauue te couert del astre, gue rem eynt al pune’

on at pune’

e sicom e il

est auandist, issi que neguerlont que le pune’

f ace renable [reasonable] gre’

a

ces parceners de la partye que a eux uppent par agard de bone gentz .

”

Th e

word astre is o ften used in old docum ents for th e hearth,and for th e

dwe l l ing-house . Bracton ,ii. 85 ; Coke upon Litt . 8 b . ; L iber Assisarum ,

3 . A p rov inc ia l use of th e wo rd in th e latter sense in Shrop shire isno ticed by L am barde , Peram b . Kent , 5 63 . See

“ Tenures of Kent,

1 71 .

Other instances are found in th e local idiom s o f M ontgom e ryshire , and inm any parts of th e“f est of England ,

where “Auster- land ”

is that which hada house upon it in anc ient tim es .

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188 Origins of English H istory .

th e tenant was first admitted to Soke -land and afterwardsto Bond- land th e heir—at—law should inherit both ; and if h e

was first adm itted to Bond - land then h is youngest son

should inherit both ; but if h e was adm itted to bo th at th e

same time,then h is eldest son should take th e whole .

”

There is a similar usage in th e manors of Fram field and

Mayfield , where in each case th e written col le ction ofcustoms forms a valuable repos itory of anc ient law. I n

those districts,and in many others in th e neighbourhood

,

th e copyhold lands which have been reclaimed from th e

fore st-waste are known as“Assart- lands .” Th e distinc

t ion b etwe en them and th e more anc ient holdings appearsin th e following extract If any m an or woman be firstadm itted to any of th e Assart—lands and die se ised ofAssart- lands and Bond- lands

,then th e custom is that th e

e l dest son be admitted for heir to all,and if h e or sh e have

no son,then th e e l de st daughter likewise . And if th e said

tenant be first admitted to Bond - land,th e youngest son

or youngest daughter shall b e heir to all h is customarylands . ” 1

I n Pevensey al so there are three different - tenure s of

freehold lands,o f wh ich th e first goes to th e common -law

he ir,and th e others to th e y oungest son

,and in other

parts of th e same county,as in th e manor of Plumpton

,

and on th e lands “between th e watch - crosses at Box

grove ,” there are freeholds that are subj ect to th e

customary rule .

1 At R oth erfield the custom is stil l m ore intricate . There are threek inds of land , Assart , Farthing- land

, and Cotm an- land . To the first thee ldest son is he ir : to th e second th e youngest son

, and in defaul t of

sons th e youngest daughte r ; and the Cotm an - lands descend to the youngestson ,

but fa il ing a son are div ided am ong all th e daughters .

Orig ins of English f f istory . 189

I n th e cluster of manors round London th ere are severalvarietie s of th e custom . I ts benefit in I sl ington and

Edmonton was confined to th e y ounge st son ; at Eal ing,

Acton,and Is leworth

,it extended to th e brothers and

male col lateral heirs and in a great number of instance s

th e privilege was given to females as we l l as to male s in1 These variation s are of noevery degree of relationship .

very great importance,th e custom b em g modified in all

parts of th e country by th e rule,that spec ial proof must b e

given of any extension of that strict form of boroughEngl ish for th e benefit of th e youngest son of wh ich aloneth e courts have cognizance . I t is of greatest intere st toobserve

,that in several places near London “

it is th e

custom for th e land to des cend to th e youngest,if it is

under a particular value,as fiv e pounds ; but if it is worth

more,it is parted among all th e sons .” 2

We hav e shown th e existenc e of a wide district,ex

tending along th e whole line of th e “Saxon Shore,

” from

th e Wash to th e neighbourhood of th e Solent,and taking

in th e whole of th e seven south -eastern countie s,in wh ich

th e anomalous custom is known to have e spe cially prevailed . We shall now turn to that extensive district in

Somerset wh ich is known as th e Manor of Taunton

Deane . Throughout this large tract of country,which

extends over no less than twenty-six parishe s , th e custom ofpreferring th e youngest h as survived in a pe culiarly definiteform . Th e manor is perhaps best known for its strange

exaggerat ion of th e law of dower : “ If a tenant dies seisedof copyhol ds of inheritance

,h is wife ought to inherit th e

1 As at Fulham ,Putney

, Sheen , M ortlake , Battersea, R oeham pton,

Wim bledon , Wandswo rth , D own , Barnes , and R ichm ond .

2 R eal Property Com m ission,I St Report ; Ev idence, p . 2 5 4 .

190 Origins of English [f istory

same lands as heir to h er husband,and to b e adm itted

thereto to hold th e same to h er and h er he irs for ever .But we are mo re concerned he re with th e case in which

th e tenant dies without leaving a widow to inherit . In

that case,says th e Custumal , “if h e hath more sons than

one,th e youngest hath used to inherit th e same as sole

he ir to h is father and so l ikewise of daughters,if h e die

without issue male , th e younge st daughter ought to inherit

th e same as sole he ir to h er father . But if h e h as neitherwife nor son nor daughter, then th e younge st brother is to

inherit,and if h e h as no brother then th e youngest sister

and if h e h as ne ither brother nor sister,then this is a rule

in th e said custom that th e youngest next of kinought and hath used to inherit and hol d th e lands to h imand h is he irs for ever . ” 1

When we pass to th e Cont inent,we find example s too

numerous to be mentioned in detail : but the ir distributionwill appear suffic iently from th e foll owing general list :

a . Th e Junior - right existed,under th e names of

M a inete’ ”

and Madelstad,

”and in forms ranging be

tween th e des cent o f th e whole inheritance and th e privileged success ion to articles of household furniture

,in

Picardy,Artois

,and H ainault

,in Ponthieu and Vivier

,in

th e districts round Arras,Douai

,Am iens

,Lille and

Casse l,and in th e ne ighbourhood of St . Omer . 2 Th e

1 Shil l ibeer, Custom s of Taunton D eane , 4 2 5 Locke , Custom s of th e

M anor of Taunton , 2 5 Watkins, Copyho lds , App . 1 2 5 Co l l inson , H ist .Som erset, iii. 2 33

2 Bouth ors . Coutum es locales du Bail liage d’

Am iens, (Am iens,The fo l lowing is a l ist of th e custom ary d istric ts in Picardy and

Arto is, desc ribed by M . Bouth ors “Adinfer , Arras , Bavaincourt, Bla irv il le ,Brontelle , Callien

, C roy, Gouy, Guém appes, H ebuterne , H o rnoy, L ig

n ieres, Rassery , Rettem bes, R éz encourt, Se l incourt , VVarlus, VVancour.

”

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19 2 Or igins of English H istory .

c . Another set of instance s m ay b e taken from localcustoms

,now supe rs eded by th e Civil Co de , inWe stphalia

and those parts of th e Rh ine province s wh ich were unde r

th e“Saxon L aw

,and in th e Department of H erfo rd

near M inden,of which th e native s claim to belong to th e

pure st Saxon race . So strong, we are told,is the hold of

th e custom on th e peasants that “until quite re cently no

e l der ch il d ever demanded h is legal obl igatory share : th e

children acquies ced in th e succession of th e younge st , even

if no portions were left to them ,and never dreamed of

claim ing under th e law of indefeasible inheritance ; and

even if th e peasant died without making th e usual wil l th echil dren acqu ie sced in th e passing of th e undivided inherit

ance to th e youngest son .

” 1

a’. A fashion of a sim ilar kind h as b een noticed in Silesia

and in certain parts of Bavaria, where th e laws of succe ssion failed to break down th e time -honoured privilegeof th e youngest

,h is rights being preserved by a secret

settlement or by th e force of l ocal Opinion .

2

zugle ich v ie le Sohne und der Vater stirbet so behal t der jiingste Sohn die

Erb -Th eele fli r sich a l lein , als des Vate rs jiingster Erbe , die andernBriider aber m ogen als ehe liche E rben ein jeder e in Th eele , so bald sie

sich verh eurath et, und eher n icht angreiffen und Banren -R echt thun und

v errichten . H at er aber e in K auff-Thee l,und verstirbet , so konnten d ie

K inder,so v ie l deren sind, e in jegl icher e inen ganz en Thee l , wie vorhin

von denen Erb-Th eelen v erm e ldet , n icht angre iffen , sondern dann

div idiren sie e inen Th eele unter sich al lein . Wenckebach, 7 us Theelachticum R ediv ivum p . 69 . See Edinb . R ev . vol. xxx ii . for

an artic le on th e Frisian Custom s,and R obertson , Early K ings of Scotland ,

2 5 3 , 2 66 . But th e rules are difficul t of com p rehension ,excep t by the l ight

o f th e cases and refe rences contained in Wenckebach ’

s e laborate treatise .

1 Fo re ign Office R epo rt on Tenures of Land, 1869 , i . 2 3 5 , 4 2 4 (H arrisGastrell) .

2See the R eport on Tenures, i . 79 , ii . 133 , as to a sim ilar p rac tice in

certain distric ts in Wiirtem berg.

Or ig ins of English H istory . 193

e . There are properties,called “H ofguter, in th e

Forest of th e,Odenwald and in th e thinly populate d

district to th e north of the Lake of Constance,wh ich

cannot be divided,but des cend to th e younge st son

,or in

default of sons to th e e l dest daughter . Many examplesm ight be found in Suabia

,in th e Grisons

,in Elsass and

other German and partly German countries,where old

customs of this kind still influence th e fee lings of th epeasantry

,although they have ceased to be legal ly

binding .

1

f. There is no s ign of th e Junior-right in Denmark or

on the Scandinavian mainland . But th e younge st son has

h is p rivilege in th e I sland (once th e Kingdom ) of Bornholm ,

an outlying appendage of th e Danish Crown : and th e tracesof a s imilar right have been observed in th e territory of the

old Republic of Lube ck .

2

g . I n the south and west of Russia it is becoming th efashion to break up th e j oint fam il ie s and to e stablish th e

children in houses of their own ; and it is said that th e

youngest son is regarded in such cases as th e propersuccessor to th e family dwe ll ing-house . I n th e northern

provinces,however

,th e ordinary rule of primogeniture is

preferred .

Th e general similarity of th e customs which we havefound a l ike among Celts

,Germans

,and S lavonians

,must

lead to th e belief that they h ad their origin in some such

1 R epo rt on Tenures, i . 94 . For other instances see Ducange , s . v .

Locum h abuisse in fam iliaH och statanaauc to r est Guicc iardinusin D escriptione Be lgii. “

I n Corve i erbte der jiingste Sohn das H aus.

I m H ofe Or fo lgte der éilteste , im H ofe Cho r der jiingste Sohn . Grim m,

Alterth . 475 . For E lsass, see Bastian , R ech tsverh ., 185 5 and as to Al ten

burg, see Giitting. Ge lehrt . Anz . 45 32 R eport on Tenures, i . 94.

194 Or igins of English H istory .

common principle as that th e youngest son h as a specialinterest in th e place which th e parents have inhab ited.

But so capriciously is th e belief distributed , and in suchwide ly separated areas

,that it seems almost impossible to

as certain th e l ines along which i t has passed , or th e centre sfrom which it h as radiated . Th e explanations which have

been put forward are too narrow to cover the facts ; and

on a wider survey, which has only o f late years become

possible,we are forced to surrender th e arguments that

formerly found a sufficient origin for th e custom in th e

principles of th e English law.

We need not repeat th e stories which passed current acentury ago , accounting for th e preference of th e younge stby th e tyranny of heathen lords , by wil d tale s of barbarism ,

and fantastic legends of Thule . Nor need it be supposedthat (in th e words of a learned antiquary )

“th e custom

was catched we know no t how,and

' by th e name m ay

seem to have been brought in by some whims ical oddAngle that meant to cross th e world ”1 Nor do we attachimportance to that passage in the preface of Thomas deWal singham where h e derive s th e Northern practice from

an age before th e taking of Troy .

2 Th e reason advancedby Littleton “had a greater air of probability

,

”and it m ay

b e taken as th e best exposition of th e arguments which a

lawyer might employ,if engaged in support ing th e custom .

For it is true,no doubt

,that “th e youngest son after th e

death of h is parents is least able to help himself and mostlikely to be destitute of other support and therefore (aswe are told) th e custom provided for h is maintenance

“ by

1 N . Bacon , Laws o f England 66 ; Corner, Custom of BoroughEnglish, 4 .

2 See Blackstone, Com m . ii. 2 , 6 ; Walsingham , Ypodeigm a Neustriae, 1 .

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196 Origins of English H istory .

a sim ilar train of thought, to a practice observed byTac itus . I t was no t th e German habit for anyone to bear

arms before h is capacity was approved by th e State . A

chieftain,in a publ ic meeting , or th e father or one of th e

kinsmen,invested th e boy with a spear and shie l d . That

was their way of com ing of age , th e first step towardshonour . “Up to that time th e boy was regarded as partof a household

,but afterwards as a member o f th e corn

m onwealth .

”1 It is assumed,but without much reason

,

that th is entitled a y oung m an to be supported in futureby th e state ; and that in general th e younge st son alonewould remain in a subordinate position as part of h isfather ’s household . While there was land enough to spare

,

th e emanc ipated children would,on this theory

,be inde

pendent ; and,by th e time that all the lands h ad been

distributed,th e right of th e younge st must be supposed to

have risen in dignity,and h is brothers to have lost their

inheritance,mere ly because th e elder brothers among

the ir ancestors h ad original ly received an al lotment .When we look to th e words of Tacitus

,

2 it seems farmore probable that th e Germans of h is day d ivided theinheritance among all th e sons

,with some reservation of a

b irthright or extra share for the el de st . A privilege of

th is kind h as often been se cured by th e cus tom of a districtto th e el de st son or daughter ; th e house and a plot ofland “as far as a ch icken could fly

,

” or particular articlesof furniture

,were exempted from th e usual partition .

3

1 Tac . Germ . c . 13 .

2 Tac . Germ . cc . 1 8, 2 0, 3 2 .

2 I n France th e custom ary p riv ilege was cal led Vol da chapon .

Gentilhom m e qui n’

a que desfilles, les doit partager e’

galem ent m a is l’

a ine’

e

outre sa portion aura la m a ison paternelle et te vol du chapon . Etabliss. St.

Louis, i . 10 .

Or igins of English H istory . 197

Notwithstanding th e aff ection displayed for th e sister’schildren

,a man’s own sons

,said Tac itus

,succeeded to th e

whole of h is property ; and if there were no sons,th e next

in degree to inherit were th e brothers and the uncle s on

both sides . So we are told that the wife ’s portion of cattle

and armour was left to de scend to h er sons and it was

on ly in one tribe that th e war-horse was given to the son

who was most distinguished for brave ry,instead of passing

as an heir-loom to th e eldest ac cording to th e German

fashion .

I t is in th e history of primogeniture that we must lookfor th e origin of th e privilege of the younge st . Th e

rights of th e elde st have been gathered from many sources ;but at present we shall not stop to consider how the rightof the elde st heir to th e kingdom was e stablished in th e

M iddle Ages,or by what steps an artificial rule of inherit

ance was extended by th e feudal lawyers . Th e point of

importance for our argument is that an anc ient custom of

primogeniture or benefit of eldersh ip prevailed in many

parts ofEngland before the feudal system was invented .

In Bede ’s Life of St. Benedict a passage occurs , whichshows that some su ch privilege was even in h is day

re served to th e e l de st son “as th e first-fruits of th e family

,

when a heritage came to be divided according to th e laws

of Northumbria.

1 In some parts of We stphalia,it is said

,

th e des cent of th e peasants ’ holdings h as always been from

th e father to the eldest son . I n parts ofWfirtem berg it is

usual for th e eldest son to succeed to th e farm,even in h is

father’

s lifet ime,th e father usual ly re tiring to a cottage on

1 “ Quom odo terren i parentes, quem p rim um partu fuderint, eum

princ ip ium liberorum suorum cognoscere , et ceteris in partienda sua

hereditate praeferendum ducere so lent . ” Bede , V ita S . Bened . s . 1 1 .

198 Or igins of English H istory .

th e same property .

1 I n certain districts of our own countryth e b irth-right took th e form of a succe ssion to th e house ,or th e best of th e houses

,or th e be st of each kind of

furniture . In th e d istrict ofArch enfield,between H ereford

and Monmouth,where th e old local codes show a curious

mixture of Welsh and English customs,th e house and

lands were divided between th e sons on th e death of theirfather but there is th is difference

,says an anc ient

record of their laws,

2 that certain princ ipa ls,as they cal l

them,pass to th e elde st as heirlooms

,and are no t subj ect

to partition,such as th e best bed and furniture

,th e best

table and the like,all wh ich th e m en of Arch enfield retain

as derived to them from great antiquity even before th e

Norman Conque st . I n th e same way by th e custom of theH undred of Stretford3 in Oxfordsh ire th e e lde st son wasentitled to keep for h is “principals ” th e best article ofeach kind of chatte l

,as th e best waggon and plough , the

best table and chair,th e best of th e chests and cups and

platters . A right of this kind was very common in

France,where th e benefit of th e e l dest was known as th e

P réczjtut.

Th e preference of th e e ldest daughter in th e succes sion

to th e cottages and c opyhol d tenancies in several Englishdistricts appears to indicate th e survival of some anc ient

1R eport on Tenures, i. 2 35 -4 2 7. Com pare Grim m

’

s account ; D ie

oldeste sohne weren neger bi den lande te bl iven .

”

L oener, H of-R echt.s . 49 . Noch heut zuTag pflegt be i m anchen Erbschaften der iilteste Sohnoder die iilteste Tochter e in ige Stiicke v oraus zu em pfangen .

”

D eutsch .

Alterth . 475 For an Indian paral le l to th e Wiirtem berg usage, see PunjabCustom ary Law, ii. 19 2 .

2 R ot . de Q uo Warr . 2 0 Edw. I . Blount ’s Tenures, 165 . H az l itt,Tenures of Land, s . v . I rch infield .

"

Coke, First Inst . 18 b.

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2 00 Or igins of English H istory .

Glanville which appears to have been equal ly app licable toth e state of England and S cotland in th e twelfth century .

Glanville took,in th e first place

,th e case of a knight or a

tenant by m ilitary service . To such th e new Norman law

was appl icable,and th e firstborn son succeeded to th e

whole of h is father’s property . But if th e estate was heldby a money-rent or by th e rendering of agriculturalservices

,which was called a tenure in socage

,th e custom

of th e district was left to determ ine whether th e inheritance should pass to all th e sons

,or to th e e l dest

,or to th e

youngest son .

“If h e were a free -socman,th e inheritance

in that case wil l be divided among all th e sons according totheir number in equal shares

,if th e socage tenement were

partible by ancient custom th e chief mes suage was,however

,reserved for th e firstborn son in honour of his

seniority,but only on th e terms of h is making compensation

to h is other brothers from th e rest of h is property . But ,if it were not anciently partible

,then by th e custom of

some places th e firstborn son will take th e whole inheritance but by th e custom of others th e youngest son is

th e heir .

1 “Cum quis h aereditatem habens m oriatur, si un icum filium h a redem

habuerit,indistinc te ve rum est quod filius il le patri suo succedit in toto .

Si plures reliquerit filios tunc distinguitur utrum il le fuerit m iles seu per

feodum m ilitare tenens, an l iber sockm annus. Quia si m iles fuerit vel perm ilitiam tenens, tunc secundum jus regn i Angl iae prim ogen itus filius patrisuccedit in to tum , ita quod nul lus fratrum snorum partem inde de jurepetere p otest . Si vero fuerit l iber sockm annus tunc quidem div idetur

haereditas inter om nes filios quotquot sunt per partes aequales, si fueritsocagium illud antiquitus div isum ; sa lv o tam em cap ital i m essuagio p rim o

gen ito filio pro dign itate m snec iae suae, ita tam em quod in aliis rebus satisfac iat aliis ad valentiam . Si v ero non fue rit antiquitus div isum ,

tuncprim ogenitus secundum quorundam c onsuetudinem totam haereditatem

obtineb it ; secundum autem quorundam consuetudinem postnatus filius

Or igins of English f j'

istory . 2 0 1

I n th e course of th e century following, th e rule of primogeniture was extended in several directions . Th e Kingclaimed a prerogative of abolishing such laws and customs

as dim inished the strength of th e kingdom,or at least

to change them . by h is spe cial grace in the case of a

de serving and faithful follower ; and th e right was freely

exercised in Kent , both by th e King and by th e Archb ishopof Canterbury

,to whom th e privilege was de legated

,until

it was disal lowed in part by th e j udge s in th e reign ofEdward I I .

,and soon afterwards became wholly obsolete .

1

haeres est. Item si filiam tantum unam reliquerit quis h eredem ,tunc id

obtinet indist incte quod de filio dic tum est. Sin autem p lures filias, tuncquidem indistinc te inter ipsas div idetur hereditas, sive fuerit m iles sive

sockm annus pater earum , salvo tam en prim ogenitae filiae cap ital i m essuagio

sub fo rm apra scripta.

”— Glanv . v ii . 3 .

1 Th e question was discussed in Gatewyk’

s Case, com m enced in 6

Edw. I I . and adjourned into th e Com m on Pleas ; 9 Edw. I I . C . B. R ot .

2 40 ; R ot . Cart . 4 Edw. I . No . 17 . Th e Charter on wh ich th e case turnedwil l be found in th e Al'brev ia tio P lacitorum ,

in R obinson ’

s Gave lkind, c . 5 ,

and in the Tenures of Kent, 369 . This notable reco rd ”

contains a p lea,that the tenure of th e land was changed to kn ight-serv ice by th e grantof th e lord, confirm ed by th e K ing, and ought therefore to descend to the

e ldest son : th e K ing wrote a letter to the judges inform ing them of h is

p rerogative , but apparently without m uch effec t ; and in th e course of h is

letter h e quoted at length th e fo l lowing charte r granted by Edward IEdwardus, D ei gratia arch iep iscop is &c . et fidelibus suis salutem .

Ad regiae celsitud in is potestatem pertinet et offic ium ,ut partium snarum

leges et consue tudines, quas justas et utiles censet, ratas habeat, et obser

vari fac iat inconcussas ; il las autem , quae regn i ' robur quandoque dim inuerepotius quam augere aut conservare v identur, abolere convenit, aut saltemin m e l ius apud fideles suos et bene m eritos de Spec ial i gratia com m utare :

cum que ex d iutina consuetudine , quae in com itatu K anc iae quoad div i,

sionem et partitionem terrarum et tenem entorum , quae in gavelikendam

tenere so lent , frequenter acc iderit, ut terrae et tenem enta, quae in quorun

dam m an ibus integra ad m agnum regni subsidium et ad v ictum m ultorum

decenter sufficere so lent, in tot partes et particulas inter coh ze redes postm odum distracta sun t et div isa, ut eorum nul l i pars sua saltem sufficere

2 0 2 Origins of English f f istory .

There are indications that such a right was claimed bysome of th e barons without a special licence from th e

Crown . It appears at any rate that S imon de‘Montfort

granted a charter dated in 1 2 5 5“whereby as a great

favour to h is burgesse s of Leice ster,at their earnest suppli

cation and for th e benefit of th e town,and with th e ful l

assent of all th e burgesses,th e Earl granted to them that

thenceforward th e e l de st son should be th e heir of h is

father instead of th e youngest,as was then th e custom of

th e town .

”1 But th e same eff ect was afterwards obtainedover a great part of th e country by th e more simple

method of reversing th e old pre sumption that primogeniture

was a local exception to th e ordinary rule of partition ,and

p ossit ad v ictum : N os obsequium laudabile dilecti et fidelis nostriJohann is de Cobham , quod nob is gratanter exh ibuit, gratia spec iali et

honore p rosequi v o lentes, concedim us e idem et pra c ip im us pro nobis et

h a redibus nostris ut om nes terra et tenem enta sua qua ad gavelykendam

in feodo tenet et habet in com itatu pra dicto ad prim ogen itum suum vel

a l ium ha redem suum propinquiorem post ipsum , sicut et il la qua per

serjantiam tenet vel per serv itium m ilitare, integre et absque partitioneinte r al ios inde fac ienda descendant , et e idem et ejus h a redibus sub

eadem lege , salv is in om nibus cap italibus dom inis suis serv itiis et con

suetudinibus, aliisque rebus om n ibus qua ad eos de d ictis tenem entis

p ertinere so lent im perpetuum rem aneant ; pra sertim cum in nul lius prajudic ium cedere v ideatur, s i c irca terras et possessiones, quas aliis extraneis licenter concedere posset, ad ejus instantiam et consensum succes

s ion is sua m odum com m utem us. Quare volum us et firm iter pra c ip im us

pro nob is et ha redibus nostris, quod om nes terra et tenem enta, qua

p ra dictus Johannes in gavelykendam in feodo tenet et habe t in com itatu

pra dicto , ad prim ogen itum suum vel al ium h a redem suum prop inquiorem

post ip sum , sicut et il la qua per serjantiam tenet v el per serv itium m ilitare, integre absque partitione inter a l ios inde fac ienda descendant, et

e idem et ejus h a redibus sub eadem lege , salv is in om n ibus capitalibus

dom in is suis serv itiis et consuetudin ibus, aliisque rebus om n ibus, qua ad

eos de dictis tenem entis pertinere so lent , im perpetuum rem aneant, sicut

p ra dictum est. H is Testibus, D ated M ay 4th , 4 Edw. I .1 Corner, Custom of Borough-Engl ish, 1 2 .

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2 04 Or igins of English H istory .

There are other relics of th e same ancient system to befound among th e Celtic

,Teutonic

,and Scandinavian peoples .

I n Ireland,for example

,

“th e cattle and land were equally

divided,but th e house and office s went in addition to h is

own share to th e eldest son .

1 And so in Norway,under

th e Odal -law,

every freeholder,ac cording to Pontopp i

dan,h ad vanity enough to think himse lf as good as a

noble and this law consists (h e said ) in having fromt ime immemorial th e right of primogeniture united with

th e right of redeem ing th e land from purchasers,which

h as always existed in Norway .

” 2 I f we turn to th e ancientworld we find that at Athens the e l dest son took th e

father’s house as an extra share by virtue of h is Presbeia”

or privilege of el dership .

3 I n l ike manner by th e Laws

en puisse etre dispose’

a son prejudice, ny qu’

il soit tenu enf a ire re’

com pense

ausdits puisnerzz. Succ . au Bail liage de Caux , i bid. 74 .

“On a pen a

'e

lum iere (says R ichebourg, in h is learned note on the last-c ited passage) ,touchant l

’

origine des Coutzim es da Bailliage de Cause. Ce qui paroist plus

vrai-sem blable est que le Pays de Caux, se’

pare’

da reste de la Prov ince de

N orm andie par la riv iére de Seine, f aisoit partie de la Gaule Belgique car

c’

e’

toit cette riviere gui distinguoit la Gaule Celtique de la Belgique. E t

com m e ces peuples e’

toient difie’

rens dans leurs m oeurs, que par les Coutiim es

des Belges, qu’

ils avoient tirées des Allem ands leurs v oisins, tout l’

he’

ritage

dem euroit a. l’

a isne’

, les Cauchois qui f a isoient partie des Belges avoient aussi

conserv e’

le m em e usage. On v oit en eflet que dans la Prov ince v oisine da

Pays de Caux , qui est la P icardie, laquelle e’

toit aussi de la Belgique, la

condition des a isnex y est avantageuse. L es Cauchois, quoique re’

unis sous nu

m em e S ouvera in avec la reste de la N orm andie, continuérent d’

en user com m e

auparavant.”

1 H earne, Aryan H ouseho ld, 80 , 8 2 5 O ’

Curry, M anners of th e Anc ientI rish (Sul livan ’

s clxx ix .

2 Pontopp idan , Nat. H ist . N o rway, ii . 0. 10 , s . 6 .

3 D em osth . , Pro Ph orm ione 34 5 and see D e Coulanges, L a Cite’ Antique,9 2 . Th e m ost anc ient R om an custom s are unknown ,

owing to th e

R evo lution in 4 5 0, which resulted in th e establ ishm ent of the Laws ofthe Twelve Tables .

Origins of English H istory . 2 0 5

of Manu th e e ldest son was entitled to a double share .

1

Th e s ons were directed to divide th e patrimony ; butbefore th e partition they were all under th e rule of th ee lde st

,as M . D e Coulange s showed in L a Cité Antique .

’

As to th e origin of these customary rights we shal l find

th e be st and th e earl ie st explanation in some passages of

th e laws of Manu . The e lde st son,it was said

,h ad h is

very being for th e purpose of ac complishing th e rites of

th e family religion,of offering the funeral cake

,of

providing th e repasts for th e spirits of th e dead . Th e

right of pronouncing th e prayers belongs to h im who

came into th e world th e first . “A m an must regard h is

e lder brother as equal to h is father . By th e eldest,

at th e moment of h is birth,th e father dis charges h is debt

to h is own progenitors : th e e lde st son ought thereforeb efore partition to manage th e whole of th e patrimony .

”

S ir H enry Maine drew a distinction between suchcustoms of the tribe ”

and that s trict modern form ofprimogeniture which h e h as traced to th e power of th echieftain . Taking primogeniture in th e sense of an

exclusive suc cession of th e elde st son to property,h e finds

no sign of its existence before th e irruption of the barbarians into th e provinces of th e Roman Empire . I t was

unknown,h e said

,to th e H e llenic and th e Roman world .

“Even when th e Teutonic race s Spread over WesternEurope

,they did not bring with them primogeniture as

the ir ordinary rule of succe ssion th e allodial property ofth e Teutonic freeman

,that share which h e h ad th eoreti

cal ly re ce ived at th e original settlement on the ir domain

of th e brotherhood to which h e belonged,was d ivided

1 Laws of M anu,ix . 105 , 106, 107, 1 2 6 . See also the whole section on

L e droit d’

Ainesse,”

in c . 6 of L a Cite’

Antique.

2 06 Or igins of English f j'

istory .

at h is death,when it was divided at all

,equally between

h is sons or equal ly between h is sons and daughters .”1

There is no necessary opposition between this statementand th e theory of M . D e Coulange s . Th e former dealswith that official primogeniture which became th e bondof th e feudal society

,a prerogative of th e King

,or of

th e chief or the manager of an undivided household,

over a demesne b elonging to h im in a spec ial sense and

descending as an appanage of office to h is succes sors .Th e other is confined to th e old customs of th e Aryanhousehold

,connecting th e position of the e l dest son

with th e duty of guarding th e hearth and pe rform ing

the fam ily rites . From th e latter source is traced the

wide -spread local usage that th e e l dest son should takeh is father’s dwelling-house when a property fell intopartition . There is nothing perhaps which marks moredistinctly th e inherent difference between these forms ofprimogeniture than th e fact

,that in th e local customs it is

not usual ly a double share or a larger value which is givento th e el dest son

,but th e pecul iar privilege of retaining

th e hearth -place on condition of making compensation to

the other heirs .

We need not repeat the detail s of th e domestic re l igion .

I t is enough to observe that in the East and th e West,in

th e ancient and modern worl d,we find abundant traces of

th e worsh ip of th e de ified ancestors,as household gods to

whom th e father offered prayers and fragments from th e

common meal,and for whom th e mother of th e household

maintained th e perpetual fire . Th e spirit s of the dead

1 M aine , Early H ist . Inst . , 19 8 . The adm ission of the daughters toinherit by the Visigo ths, and som e other Teutonic nations, m ust apparentlybe ascribed to the influence of the Rom an Law.

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2 08 Or igins of English f f istory .

Northern Sagas,where it was nece ssary

,before th e high

c hair was as cended,that th e loving-cup or remembrance

bowl ” should be drunk in honour of th e dead,after

passing th e goblets backwards and forwards through th e

fire in th e centre of th e hal l or th e temple . Th e Prince ssH ildegonda, in one of th e most lifelike of the se histories

,

m ake s ready at h er father ’s command to carry th e ale roundto th e Vikings . Sh e take s th e s ilver cup and bows as

sh e begins th e ceremonies ; and drinks H ealth to all

Ylfing m en : this cup to th e memory of Rolf Kraka .

I n a later form of th e rite th e honour o f th e loving- cupwas transferred from th e dead ancestors to St . John

o r St . Gertrude,or a prophet or archangel chosen

as th e patron of a family or a drinking—guild . We see

th e point of transition in th e story of th e Vikings of

Jom sburg. King Swend of Norway was giving a success ion -feast after th e death of King H arold h is father

,

“and h e sent word to th e Vikings to come to drink th efuneral ale for their fathers at th e feast which h e was

giving . Th e king’s high -seat was on th e m iddle of a

b ench,and other benches were ranged round th e central

fire ; the ale was passed round in great bowls and washanded through th e flame ; th e first day of th e feast ,before Kind Swend went up into h is father

’s seat,h e drank

th e bowl to h is father’s memory,and made a solemn vow to

go with h is army to England,and from this he irship -bowl

all drank who were at th e feast ; then th e large st horn thatcould be found was filled and drunk for th e ch iefs of th eVikings ; when that bowl was emptied all m en drank

another to Christ ’s remembrance,and a th ird to th e memory

o f St . Michae l .11 Enn er that m inni var afdruckit, tha scylldi drecka Cristz -m inni al ler

Or igins of English H istory . 2 09

Th e subject m ight b e il lustrated by reference to a mul

titude of superstitions connected with th e family fire -place,

th e reverence for th e snake , th e cricke t, and moths flying

round th e light , th e“Wel come

,Grandfather ! ” of th e

Russian peasant when th e fire raked from th e old stove isbrought to th e new home of th e family

,

1and th e household

fairie s for whom th e hearth must be swept and food and

water left by night . I t is probable that all th e househol d

Spirits,th e Brownie s and Pixies

,the Irish “Pookas and

L eprachauns,”th e long-locked “

Gruagach for whom th e

H ighland girl s leave bowls of milk on th e gruagach

stone s,

”are shadows or reminis cences of gods dethroned .

Burton’s list of their labours will suffice for our purpose .

2

I n almost every family in I celand,said h is ancient authors

,

they had some such famil iar spirits,and they were common

in many places in France . Paracelsus re ckons up manyplaces in Germany where they do usual ly walk in littlecoats some two feet l ong . A b igger kind there is of themcal led hobgoblins and Rob in Goodfellows that would inthose superstitious time s grind corn for a me ss of milk

,cut

wood,or do any manner of drudgery work , to draw water,

dres s m eat or any such thing .

” These were th e

Portunes,whom Gervase of Tilbury professed to have

m enn . H it thridia var M ich ials m inni, oc drucko that allir. Enn eptir

tha t drack Sigvalldi Jarl m inni ftidor sins,” O laf Tryggvasson ’

s Saga,

H eim skr. v i . 0 . 39 . Com pare th e fo l lowing Sagas in th e sam e work, i. c .

4 1 5 iv . c . 1 6 5 V11. 0. 1 13 5 K eysler, Antiqu. Septent. 35 7, 35 9 5 Jom sv iking

Saga, c . 2 7. Grim m m entions th e survival of “m inne-drink ing ”

as a

re ligious rite in som e parts of Germ any : a chal ice of wine was blessed bythe p riest and handed to the congregation to drink as 7 ohannis-S egen , St.

John ’

s Blessing 5 D eutsch . M ytho l . 5 2 .

1 R alston , Songs of Russia , 1 2 0 , 13 8 .

2 Anatom y of M elancholy, i . pt. 2 , p . 1 2 5 .

2 10 Or igins of English H istory .

known in England .

1 They are de scribed as little old m en

with patched coats,who h e lp in th e housework and warm

th emselves by th e fire when th e fam ily have left th e room .

They are repre sented in another form by M ilton ’s “lubberfiend

,

” by th e Yorkshire “Boggart,

”the Luridan in th e

O rkneys,th e German “

H einz elm'

anner”and Kobolds , th e

“N isseys of th e Danish and Norwegian farms , and th e

old m an of th e house ” to whom th e Swedish peasant setsout an annual dole of cloth and tobac co and a shovelful ofc lay .

2

Th e ancient ritual survive s in its strongest form in thoseannual observance s on the Feast of All Souls which werecommon at one time to Celts

,Germans

,and Slavs

,and

which stil l survive in a modified form in almost every part

of Europe . Among th e S lavs,as we are told

,

3a yearly

feast is held for th e dead,to which th e departed souls are

actually be l ieved to re turn :“silently little b its of food

are thrown for them under th e table,

and people havebelieved “that they heard them rustle and saw them feedon the smel l and vapour of th e food .

”I n Brittany

,says

Mr . Tylor,th e crowd pours into th e churchyard at

evening,

“to kneel bareheaded at th e grave of deadkinsfolk

,to fi ll th e hollow of th e tombstone with holy

water or to pour l ibations of m ilk upon it in no householdthat night is th e cloth removed

,for th e supper must be left

for th e souls to come to take their part nor must th e firebe out

,where they wi ll come to warm

1 Cerv . T ilbur. Otia I m perialia , Scrip t . R er. Brumov . i . 980 . A transla

tion and m any il lustrative passages w il l be found in K eigh tley’

s FairyMytho logy, 2 85 .

2 Keightley, 147 5 Grim m, D eutsch . M ytho l . 473 , 49 2 .

2 H earne , Aryan H ouseho ld, 60 .

‘1 Tylor, Prim . Cult . ii. 34 .

“L es m ets sont la isse

’

s sur la table : car une

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2 1 2 Orig ins of English H istory .

and we are brought to th e further conclusion that th e

ol d form of primogeniture,by which th e e ldest got th e

advantage of th e father’s house,h ad come down from a

people who thought it right,that th e e l dest son should

take th e lead in the dome stic prie stho od , and in th e

performance of th e funeral and commemorative cere

monies .Th e question m ay be worth proposing

,whether th e

before -mentioned Celtic,Ge rman

,and S lavon ic forms of

th e Junior-righ t m ay no t have been derived from someother dom estic re l igion

,based on th e worship of ancestors

and a consequent reverence for th e hearth -place,but

belonging to a people who saw no natural pre -eminence inth e el dest . I t m ay be impossible to prove th e existenceof a race with such rel igious views in Europe within th e

historical period . But there is evidence which tends in

that direction ; and it shoul d b e remembered that th e

ethnologists have only late ly begun to enquire into th e

h istory of th e people s who spread outwards from the

Ural and Altai Range s,into their possible identity with

th e m en of th e Bronze Age in Northern Europe , and th e

trace s which they m ay have left on th e languages and

customs of th e modern worl d . I t s eems to be certain thatsome great proportion of th e population of th e We stern

Countries is connected by actual des cent with th e preCel tic o ccupant s of Europe ; and it must b e regarded as

h ighly probable'

th at one branch or layer of these earl ierinhab itants ought to be attributed to that Ugrian stock ,which comprises th e Quains, Finns , Magyars

,Esthonians

,

Livonians,and several kindred tribes who se territories

abut upon the Baltic,th e White Sea

,and th e Volga. It

is said that a case can be made out for an early extens ion

Or igins of English H istory . 2 13

of th e Livonians,or Liefs of Courland

,and of certain

Esthonian races,as far west as th e Oder and possibly as

far as th e mouth of th e Elbe : and we have seen that atone time some branche s of th e Finnish race m ay havereached as far west as the Atlantic shore s . On th e otherside of th e world all these nations are connected by bloodwith th e Mongol s of Central Asia.

1

Among these wide ly—separated nations we find a con

tinual recurrence of th e rule that th e younge st son oughtto inherit h is father’s dwell ing-place . As early as th e days

of Pere Du H al de it was known that th e custom prevailedamong th e Mongols of th e Chines e Emp ire .

2 In H ungaryit was th e law of th e country districts that th e younge st

1 M . D e M eso -K owesd , in the R epo rt on th e French Sc ientific Expedition to Russia

, Siberia, and Turke stan (L es Bachhirs, L es Vepses, 810 ,

iii. c . h as p rov isional ly c lassified th e A ltaic peop les as fo l lows : Theyform ,

h e says, a fam ily of the M ongo l ic peop les, and are subdiv ided intoseveral stocks, one of which com p rises th e four div isions o f th e UgroFinns . These four div isions are distinguished as fo l lows a . Finns of th eBaltic , or Western Firms 5 b. Eastern Finns 5 c . the Finns of the Vo lga 5and d. th e Ugrians p roperly so -cal led . The Baltic Finns are further div idedinto two p rinc ipal c lasses, v iz . Carelians , inc luding th e Scandinav ian and

Bothn ian Q uains and the“ Suom is

”

of the Baltic coast ; and Tchuds,

inc luding th e Esthonians,th e Livonians, and th e a lm ost lost Cours of

Courland, th e “Votes ”

in th e p rov inces of Novgorod and St. Petersburg,and the

“ Vep ses or N o rthern Tchuds, l iv ing m ostly in th e neighbourhoodof the Lakes Ladoga and Onega . For ev idence of th e identity of the Bronz eAge m en with tribes between th e Am oor and Vo lga, see Aspelin , Ant.

Nord . Finno-Ougriens (Paris, i . 45 , 77 .

2U tdsch igin (Feuerh iiter) h iess der jiingste Sohn bei den M ongo len ,

als erbend .

”Bastian , R ech tsverh . 1 85 . See a lso Gotting. Ge lehrt . Anz eig.

45 3 , and H eidelb . Jah rb . 2 10 . For the story of th e pre

ference of the youngest am ong th e Scythians, see H erod . iv . 5 , 10 ;

Bergm ann , L es Getes (Paris, 8 2 5 and as to Prester John ,

f ratrum suorum m inim us, see A lbe ric . Trium Fontium . ii. 5 08 . The

latter instances m ay be connected with the we l l -known p reference of the

youngest in th e fairy tales.

2 14 Or igins o f English H istoz ‘

y .

son should inherit th e father’

s house,making a proper

com pensation to th e other co -heirs for th e privi lege .

Am ong th e Northern Tchuds,although th e chief of th e

fam ilv can de legate his power to th e e l dest or y oungestson

,or even to a stranger if h e s o please s

,v et th e house

in whi ch h e live s must go to th e v oungest son at h is

death .

1

ll'

e find traces among th e sam e peoples of a worship ofancestors conn ected wi th a respect for th e fam ilv hearth .

Th e foll owing extract from th e French report on th e

peoples of Central Asia relates to th e Northern Tchuds,

who maintain th e privi lege of th e y ounge st son in its

simplest and m ost usual form .

“L’

esp r it de la m a ison est

nu f i zrflzdet, lutin bienfiz z’

sa nt gui se tient derri i’rc le

pot/e . S i on la isse tc iuber duf eu da ns le f ain ,il l

'

e'

teint.

Oua nd on construit un c n o i / z'

elle m a ison,on l

’

inv ite a

a’

enzcurer a vec v ous . On prend i

‘

i cet ef et dc la ccndre

da ns le poéle ct on l'

emp orte da ns la nou‘

z'

ellc m a ison .

Ouand on o'uv re la porte de la i zoui 'elle m a ison

,on doit

entrer da p ied droit etj eter nupa in noi -r da ns la ch am bre.

Ensuite on fa it entrer nu cog, ct s i le cog ch a nte c’

est nu

bon s igne,cela S ign ifie que le lutin est la et gu

’

i l prendrasoin des nouv eaux a rr iv es :

1 See th e R eport of M . D e M e i -Kovesd to th e French Gov ernm ent (L esBachlzirs, les 7 6 ses, iii . 8 1 ,

“L e grand

-

pere ou l'

a ieul est le c/zef a l'

solu

de la f am ille. I I p eut se f a i re succe’

a’

er com-m e chef de f am ille par le cadet de

ses fi ts , si l’

c‘

iine’

ou les autres lui de’

pla z'

sent pour une ra ison ou une autre

L e pere de f am ille a le droit d’

instituer com m e son he’

ritier 9112 [on lui sem ble

parm i sa f am ille, m ais la m a ison gu’

il habite doit appartenir ou plus jeune des

fils .

”

For th e H ungarian law , see R ovy, Sum m a Juris H ungaric i . 35 1 .

2 Keightley, Fairy Myth o l . 4 88 . Com pare Burton , Anat . M elan ch . 1. p t . 2,

p . 1 2 5 .

2 D e M ez b—Kovesd (L es Bachlci'rs, les I'

éspes , iii . 84 . C om pare

M r. Lang’

s Essay on th e Fo lk- lore of France , Fo lk- lore R ecord, i . 10 1 .

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2 16 Origins of English H istory .

important for our purpose to observe,that th e idol

,or

“Galgen-m annle in,became th e property of th e younge st

son on condition that h e buried with th e body a morse l

of bread and a piece of money according to th e old pagan

practice . If th e youngest son died in h is father’s l ife time ,th e question arose whether th e e l dest son could take th e

Alraun or mandrake and. it was said that th e dome sticidol would fal l into h is share

,if h e h ad fulfilled th e

ceremony of th e bread and money on th e occasion of h isyounger brother’s funeral .

of an ido l of this k ind wh ich was p reserved in h is tim e in th e co l lection of

D r. H e insius . Antiqu. Septent . 5 06 . A Spec im en m ay be seen in thisc ountry in th e Museum of th e R oya l Co l lege of Surgeons. K eysler p rintsa letter from a c itiz en of Le ip z ig to h is brother in Livon ia, dated in 15 75 ,

in which after d iscussing h is bro ther ’s bad fortune in every m atter of

h is househo ld h e p roceeds as fo l lows — “So habe ich m ich nu v on

deinetwegen ferner bem iih et und b in zu den Leuten gangen ,die so lches

gehabt haben , als bey unsern Scharff—R ichter, und ich habe ihn dafii r gebenals nehm lich m it 64 Thaler und des Budels Knecht e in Enge ls-K le idt zuD rinckgeldt so lches so l l dir nu l ieber Bruder aus L iebe und Treuegesch encket sein

, und so soltu es lernen wie ich d ir schre ib in diesen

Brieve wen du den E rdm an in deinen H ause oder H ofe iiberk iim m est so

lass es drey Tage ruhen ehe du darzu gehest , nach den 3 Tagen so hebe es

uff und bade es in warm en Wasser, m it dem Bade soltu besprengen deinVieh und d ie Sul len deines H auses do du und die deinen iibergeh en so

wird es sich m it d ir wo l l bald anders schicken ,und duwirst wo l l wiederum

zu den de inen kom m en wen du dieses Erdm'

anneken w irst zu rade haltenund du so l t es al le Jahr v ierm ah l baden und so o ffte du es badest so so ltdu es w iederum in sein Se iden K leidt winden und legen es bey de inen

besten Kle idern die du hast so darffstu Ihnen n icht m ehr thun u. s .w . Nun

l iebe r Bruder dis Erdm ’anneken schicke ich dir zu e inem gliickseeligen

neuen Jahr und lass es n icht v on dir kom m en das es m agk beha lten deinKindes-kind hiem it Gott befohlen .

O rigins of English f j'

istory . 2 17

C H A P T E R I X .

TH E BR ITON S OF TH E INTER IOR .

P hysical cond ition of th e country—M isrepresented by R om an orators— I ts state underAgrico la , th e Plantagenets and E l iz abeth—Absence o f genuine early descript ions—Sources o f th e statem ents of Bede—N ot ice o f British pearl-fisherieS—Comparison o f th e accounts o f I reland—Th e p icture of Britain by G i ldas—Truesources of inform ation— Spec ial records—Allusions of wr iters on general h istory—G iraldus , Aneurin ,

Pl iny—Th e Celtic races of N orth ern and Western Br itain—L ittle affected by th e Engl ish inv asions—Th e ev idence from language o f

uncerta in va lue—Th e tr ibes of th e South -West— Th e ir super io r culture— Th e irfore ign trade—D esc rip tion o f th e ir sh ip s—\Vestern tribes o f low c iv i l isation and

m ixed blood—Th e S i lures—Th e D obuni o f th e Cotswo lds— Th e Cornav iansTh e Ordov ic es o f N orth Wales— Th e ir m ixed descent—The Central Tribes—Th enam e Coritav i app l ied to several d istinc t races— N ot ices by Strabo and Caesar—Th e ruder tr ibes m igratory—Th e confederated tribes of th e N orth—Th e i rsuccess in war—Th e story of Queen Cartism andua—Sh e rules a Brigantian tr ibe—Com m ands th e Brigantian arm y—Th e Brigantians com paredwith th e I rish byTac itus—Th e ir life at h om e and in th e field .

E turn from th e spe culation on th e origin of theseanc ient customs to colle ct what I S known about

th e Britons of th e Interior before they adopted th e Gaul ish

fash ions,or were drawn by Agricola’s pol icy

,step by step ,

to “th e lounge,th e bath

,and th e banquet ” and all that

provincial refinement which was but a disgu ise of their

servitude . We shall endeavour to de scribe their manners

and hab its of l ife ; but it will be nece ssary in th e first

place to take some general view of th e physical conditiono f th e country .

It was a land of uncleared forests,with a climate as yet

not m itigated by th e organised labours of mankind . Th e

province in course of time became a flourishing portion of

2 18 Or igins of English H istory .

th e Empire ; th e court-orators dilated on th e wealth of“Britannia Fe lix ”

and th e heavy corn-fleets arriving fromth e granaries of th e North ; and they wondered at th e

pasture s almost too deep and rich for th e cattle,and hills

covered with innumerabl e flocks of sheep “with uddersful l of milk

,and backs weigh ed down with wool . ” Th e

picture was too brightly coloured,though

,drawn in th e

Golden Age . It is certain that th e island,when it fe l l

under th e Roman power,was little better in most parts

than a cold and watery desert . According to all th e

accounts of th e early travellers th e sky was stormy and

obscured by continual rain,th e air ch illy even in summer

,

and th e sun during th e finest weather h ad l ittle power todisperse th e steaming m ists . Th e trees gathered and c on

densed th e rain ; th e crops grew rankly , but ripened slowly,for th e ground and th e atmosphere were alike overloadedwith moisture . Th e fallen timb er obstructed th e streams ,th e rivers were squandered in th e re edy morasses , and

only th e downs and hil l-tops rose above th e perpetual

tracts of wood .

It is diflficult to measure th e s l ow advance of agriculture .

We know that at one t ime th e wolve s swarmed in Sherwood and Arden

,th e wild boar roamed in Grove ley, and

th e white -maned Urus was hunted in th e northern forests .

Th e work of re claim ing th e wilderness began in th e daysof Agricola . Th e Romans fel led th e woods al ong th e

l ines of their m ilitary roads ; they embanked th e rivers and

threw causeways across th e morasse s,

and th e nativescomplained that their bodies and hands were wo rn out in

draining th e fens and extending th e clearings in th e

forests . I n th e course of centuries th e woodlands shrank

to a mere fraction of their former extent . Th e ground

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2 2 0 Origins of English H istory .

o riginal settlements would of course be clustered roundth e iiestuaries, and th e later colonists would o ccupy th e

interior val leys,following as much as poss ible th e course

o f th e i

griv ers, and avo iding th e thick woods and th e

watery lengths ” of moor .Th e general statements on this point of Bede and h is

m edia v al im itators appear t o be based upon no original

authority . They are evidently founded on a few allusions

in th e classical writings , and these in their turn upon th e

reports of merchants who were only fam iliar with th e

coast . A part of B ede’s de s cription1 relate s only to th e

relics of th e Roman dom inion ,th e vineyards and baths at

th e H ot Wells,th e remains of cities and s cattered forts

,

th e iron-works,and m ine s of copper and m ixed silver and

lead . Th e rest would be more useful for our purpose ifwe h ad reason to be l ieve it corre ct . Some parts of th epicture

,however

,are true enough . Britain was rich in

corn and trees,and fit for th e pasturing of herds and flocks

it abounded with b irds,and th e rivers were covered with

waterfowl and well-stored with ee l s and salmon . H e addedthat whales seal s and dolph ins were continual ly taken but

th e statement is probably a mere reminiscence of Juvenal’s

simile .

2 We are told of a great abundance of she l l s .Among them were “

th e clams and musse l s,produc ing not

o nly th e pure wh ite pearl s,but othe rs of th e finest quality

in all kinds of colours,some pink or purple

,some as blue

as j acinth,and others as green as grass . ” Th e truth seems

to be that th e pearl-fish ery was a thorough failure,so th at

1 Bede , H ist . Ecc les . i. c . 1 .

2 Com pare H en ry o f H untingdon :“ Cap iuntur et sa pe de lph ines et

balena : unde Juvenalis (Sat. x . Quantum de lphinis bala na Britannicam ajor . ” H ist . Angl . i . c . 1 .

Or igins of English H istory . 2 2 1

m en hardly be l ieved in th e British origin of th e cors le twh ich Caesar suspended in th e Temple of Venus . 1 “Th e

British O cean,

” said Tacitus,

“produce s pearls,but they are

of a dusky and l ivid hue some think that those who collectthem have no t th e requisite skil l

,since in th e R ed Sea th e

l iving animal is torn from th e ro cks,while in Britain they

are gathered just as they are thrown upon the shore . I

would rather b elieve that th e pearls have a natural defectthan that Romans were wanting in keenne s s for gain .

” 2

According to Bede there was almost too great an

abundance of th e whelk,or m urex

,wh ich produced the

s carlet dye and th e l ove ly tint never fade s in th e sun orth e rain

,but becomes more beautiful with age .

” But it isnot known that th e she ll-purple was ever m ade in Britain

,

“nor is it l ike ly that th e simple blood of a she l l -fish

,how

ever beautiful at first,coul d have proved a lasting dye .

”

I t h as be en thought that both th e purple and th e s carletdye s were fixed by a preparation of tin in grains2 ; and

there m ay have been some manufacture of th is kind inRoman Britain .

Th e ac counts of I re land were of th e same vague and

inaccurate kind ; and on this point we m ay fairly adoptthe criticism of Giraldus.

‘1 Th e island is rich in meadows

1 “Uniones in Britann ia parv os atque deco lores nasc i certum

est : quoniam D ivus Jul ius th oracem quem Veneri Genetric i in tem p loejus dicav it ex Britann ic is m argaritis factum voluerit intelligi .

”

Pl iny ,H ist . N at. ix . 0 . 5 7. Com pare Sueton ius, Jul. Ca s . 47 . The sto ry beginsto be exaggerated in Solinus, Polyh ist. c . 5 3 . fElian ca l ls th e Britishpearls go lden -co loured, and with a dul l and dusky surface . H ist . xv . 8 .

2 Tac . Agric . c . 1 2 .

2 H awkins,T in Trade of th e Anc ients, 2 4 .

2G irald. Cam br. Topogr. H ibern . i . c . 6 . H e adds, that in Bede

’

s t im e

there were possibly a few v ineyards there , and that St. D om inic of Ossory,

2 2 2 Origins of English H istory .

and pasture s,in milk and honey

,and also in wine though

not in vineyards . Bede indeed says that it do es no t lackvineyards

,while Solinus and I sidore affirm that there are

no bees . But with all respe ct for them they m ight havewritten j ust th e contrary

,that vineyards do no t exist there

,

and that bees are found in th e island . B ede al so

affirms that I reland is famous for th e hunting of stags andwil d goats

,whereas it is a fact that it did not anc iently

posse ss anv wild goats and is stil l without them .

Another very old ac count of Britain m ay b e read in th eH istory o f Gildas ; but its details are quite inconsistentwith th e actual h istorical evidence .

“Th e island ofBritain l ies in almost the utmost c orner of th e earthit is poised in th e divine balance in which th e world iswe ighed

,and stretches from th e south -west towards th e

pole I t is enriched by th e mouths of two noblerivers

,th e Thame s and th e Severn

,two great arms by

which foreign luxuries were of old brought in,and by

other rivers of less importance Th e plains are

spacious th e hi lls set pleasantly and adapted for th e bestof tillage : th e mountains are admirably fitted for th eseasonable pasturing of th e cattle . Th e many-coloured

flowers spread l ike a beautiful carpet beneath th e fee t ofm en . Britain stands like a bride adorned in h er j ewe l s

,

decked with bright springs and full rivulets wandering

over snow-white sands,and th e clear rivers

,as they

murmur by,offer re st and s lumber to th e trave l lers

recl ining on the ir banks .” Th e passage is interesting sofar as it dis cl ose s th e method of th e writer

,who appears to

as som e said, introduced bees long after th e tim e of Solinus . They werep robably very scarce until the d isappearance of th e yew-fo rests, wh ich wouldhave been p rejudic ial to bee-culture .

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2 2 4 Or igins of English H istory .

abundance,from which B erkshire was thought to derive

its name,and of th e Cave -house s of Nottingham which th e

Welsh cal led “Tig—ogobauc Whoever,again

,m ay h ave

been th e author of th e chronicle attributed to Ingulf,no

doubt h as b een cast on th e story of Richard of Deeping,

who made a“garden of de light ” out of th e “horrible fens

of Croyland . Th e H istory ofEly te lls of th e great mereswhich “begirt th e island l ike a wall . ” Two thousandsquare m ile s of fen were given up to wil d beasts and birds

,

stags,roes

,and goats in th e groves

,and

“gee se,coots

,

didappers,ducks and water- crows more than m an could

number,e spec ial ly in th e winter and at th e moulting- time .

Lesley speaks of th e hunting of the mountain—bull i n th e

vast Caledonian Forest . Giraldus de scribes th e greatherds of wild hogs in Ireland

,th e abundance of caper

c ailz ies,or “wild peacocks

,

”as they were cal led from the

brightne ss of the ir plumage,th e immense fl ights of snipe

and woodcock,

“multitudes of quail s and clouds of larkss inging praise s to God .

” 1

Th e wil dness of th e country is shown by many sl ighters igns

,as by th e oc currence of beaver-dams

,where th e

beavers “defended their castle s ” in vain against th e sharppoles of th e we l l -armed hunters z2 it is implied in Aneurin’

s.

picture of th e British chief in h is coat of th e spe ckled skinsof young wolves

,and in Pliny’s story of th e fondness o f

th e Britons for th e meat of th e She l drake,which is now

rather an unfrequent visitor of our coasts .3

fo lk of Som erset, W ilts, and H am pshire , who had not for fear of the pagans.

fled beyond th e sea .

” Asser, Life of Alfred , under th e year 878 .

1 G irald . Cam br. Topog. H ibern . i . c . 10 .

2 Girald . Cam br. It in . Cam b . ii. 0. 3 .

2 Aneurin , Gododin . st. 90 . Pliny describes th e bustard, capercailz ie ,

Or igins of English H istory . 2 2 5

This part of th e subj e ct m ay be appropriate ly cl osedwith a sketch from a work in which all th e de s criptions arebased on th e authority of th e ancient writers . Th e timeof year is th e end of th e summer

,when th e oats and rye

were reaped and th e lawns and meadows round th e homesteads h ad been mown .

“Th e cattle are on th e downs or

in th e hollows of th e h ills . H ere and there are wide beds

of fern or breadths of gorse,and patche s of wild raspberry

with gleam ing sheets of flowers . Th e swine are roam ingin th e woods and shady o ak-glades

,the nuts studding th e

brown-leaved bushes . On th e sunny side of some cluster

of trees is th e herdsman’s round wicker house with its

brown conical roof and blue wreaths of smoke . I n th e

m eadows and bas ins of th e Sluggish streams stand clustersof tal l ol d elms waving with th e ne sts of herons : th e

b ittern,coot

,and water-rail

,are busy among th e rushes and

flags of the reedy meres . B irds are‘churm ing

’

in the

wood -girt clearings,wolve s and foxe s slinking to the ir

covers,knots of maidens laugh ing at th e water-spring

,

beating th e white l inen or flanne l with their washing-bats :

th e children play before th e doors of th e round straw

thatched house s of th e homestead,th e peaceful abode of

th e sons of th e oaky vale . On th e ridge s of th e downsrise th e sharp cone s of th e barrows , some glistening in

white chalk or red with th e mould of a new burial,and

others gre en with th e grass of long years . ”1

We have endeavoured to give a general de s cription ofth e phys ical aspe ct of th e country, and we m ay now

proceed to conside r th e manners and inst itutions of th e

and she ldrake in th e sam e chapter . Quibus lautiores epulas non nov itBr itannia

, ch enerote s fe re ansere m inores .

”

H ist . N at . x . c . 2 9 .

1 Barnes, No tes on Anc ient Britain, 5 3 .

2 2 6 Or igins of English f i istory .

Celtic tribe s of th e interior districts . Th e story of these

Gaelic peoples more nearly concerns ourselves than th e

scanty traditions of Picts and S ilurians , or even th e fuller

history which we posses s of th e civilised Gaulish se ttlers .

Th e Gaul s lived mostly in th e south -eastern half of'

England,

1and their posterity must have been expelled or

destroyed with comparative ly few exceptions in th e later

wars of massacre . The English m ay be credited withturn ing out their enemies “

as complete ly as it has everbeen found poss ible for invaders to do . Some of the

native s must have remained in th e cities and fortifiedplaces

,which long continued undisturbed : a few o f th e

greater chiefs m ay have purchased se curity for their

people,

“espec ial ly in th e districts appropriated by the

smal ler bands of adventurers ” and multitude s of th e

Celtic women must have been retained in marriage orservitude .

2 But it is admitted that to th e north of th eTrent

,and throughout th eWe stern Countie s

,th e character

of th e population suffered no such overwhe lming change .

Th e Signs of th e Ce ltic element in th e nation are apparentin th e tone and even in th e idiom of some of th e provincialdiale cts

,in th e names of our rural geography

,and in th e

words of daily l ife used for common and domestic things ;

1 Professo r Rhys h as est im ated that about one-half of what is now

England be longed in th e tim e of Julius Ca sar to tribes of Gaul ish o r igin ,

that is, all east o f th e Trent, the Warwickshire Avon ,the Parret , and

th e D orsetshire Stour , excep ting a Brythonic pen insula reaching as far as

M alm esbury, and w iden ing perhaps to th e south to take in \Vareh am .

We lsh Philo logy, 1 85 . Against this excep tion h e sets th e Cornav ii,whose

territory seem s to have consisted of a strip of land runn ing from the

neighbourhood of th e Worcestershire Avon , along th e eastern bank of th e

Sev ern ,and continued in a so rt of an arc o f a c irc le dipp ing into the sea

between the D ee and th e M ersey .

” Celtic Britain ,2 19 , 2 2 4 .

2 Stubbs, Const . H ist . i . 6 2 .

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2 2 8 Origins of English H istory .

m ight have been derived from some common Ce lticsource A cape might be called “

th e H eight,or a

stream the Divine,in a number of cognate diale cts ,

without our being able to trace th e name with certainty to

an insular or a cont inental language .

1 Th e safer methodlies in th e comparison of national names . We find“Cantae in Ross -shire and

“Cornab ii

”in Caithness

there were V ennic ones in Forfarsh ire and V ennicnii

on th eWestern Coast of Ireland ; and th e Brigante s appearin Wexford as wel l as in th e great British kingdom whichstretched from th e Lothians to th e l ine of th e H umberand Mersey . There were Damnonians

,or Dum nonians

,

”

not only in Cornwal l and Devon but all over CentralS cotland

,from th e sea above Gall oway to th e mouth of

th e Tay .

2 Th e limits of a third D am nonia c an b e tracedin the midland and western parts of Ireland . Th e Kingsof Connaught and th e famous dynasty of Tara traced theirdescent from th e “

Fir-D am nann,

” whose remembrance h assurvived in old Cel tic names for the Malah ide River nearDublin and the D am nonian Peninsula on th e we sterncoast of Mayo .

3 Another home of th e race was founded

1 M any of the nam es o f h il ls and prom ontories are taken from a wordm eaning high . I t appears in 0 . We lsh as uchel, in 0 . Irish as nasal,

and in Gaulish as uxel in com pound words . Com pare th e British form in

such nam es as Ocelum for Flam borough H ead, Tunnocelum for Bowness,Ochiltree and the Och il H ills, with the Gaul ish Uxella , th e Uxellodunum nearCarlisle , and a p lace with an identical nam e in Gaul . Ca sar , De Bel l . Gal l .v iii. 3 2 5 Rhys, Lec tures, 18 1 . For th e nam es of rivers see Rhys, We lshPhilo logy, R evue Celtique, i . 2 99 , ii. 1 . Joyce , Irish N am es, 434 .

2 Skene , Celtic Scotland, 1. 1 2 7 ; R obertson , Early Kings of Scotland ,11. 2 3 1 .

2 Adam nan’

s Life of St. Co lum ba (R eeves) , 3 1 . Robertson, Early Kingsof Scotland , ii . 35 5 , 3 88 .

Origins of English H istory . 2 2 9

in a later age when th e exiles from Britain carried th e oldnames

,

Et parvam Trojam sim ulataque m agnis

Pergam a,

to th e Wi ld district between the shore of Brittany and th e

Forest o f Bro c éliande .

1

It wil l b e useful to give separate des criptions of several

of th e princ ipal nations,since it is clear that th e difference

in their local c ircumstances must have prevented themfrom attaining to any uniform standard of culture .

We shal l first deal with th e Western Tribes,th e

Damnon ians of Devon and Cornwal l,and the ir neighbours

th e“Duro triges,

” who have left a ve stige of their namein th e modern “Dorchester ” and

“Dorset .” Their territorym ay be taken as extending from th e Land ’s End to th eB e lgian frontier in th e neighbourhood of th e SouthamptonWater . Th e ir eastern limit stret ched from th e N ew

Fore st to th e neighbourbood of“I sch alis

,

” or I l chester,

and to th e great marshes in which the stream of th eParre t was lo st in those early time s . Th e line s of ol d seabeache s about Sedgm oor

,th e remains found far inland

of “is lands where th e sands were drifted and a shingle

beach thrown up,

”and th e Roman antiquitie s found in th e

embankments and silt of th e marshe s,Show that much of

th e land h as been reclaimed within th e historical period .

2

It is probable that these D am nonian tribe s were iso lated

from the ir eastern neighbours by a wide march of woods

and fens . It m ay be that these natural causes he lped to

1 Valroger, Gaule Ce l tique , 2 88 5 D e Coursons, H ist . Bret . i . 2 00 5

H alléguen , Arm orique , i . 1 7 5 R evue Celtique, ii . 74 .

2 D e la Beche , Geo logy of Co rnwal l , 4 2 1 , 42 2 .

2 30 Or igins of Englis1h H i story .

pre serve for them that superiority of culture whichdistinguished them from th e inland tribes .D iodorus h as shown us that these southern nations h adbeen taught to live “in a very hospitable and politemanner ” by their intercourse with th e foreign m erchants .Some of their ports and markets can even now be

identified . Th e discovery of a huge “knuckle -bone ” oftin

,dredged up near Falmouth in 18 2 3 , m arks th e station

on th e Truro River called by Ptolemy “th e Outlets of

Genion a deposit of weapons and gold coins at Oreston

in Plymouth Sound shows th e position of th e anc ient“Tamara ”

; and th e emporium at“ I saca ” cannot have

been far from th e site which th e Romans selected fortheir permanent camp at Exeter . Th e course of th e

m etal -trade m ay be indicated by th e name s of place s on

th e coast-road leading eastward from th e E xe,as Stansa

Bay and Stansi

Ore Point in H ampshire . Th e Greekscame for m inerals

,th e Gauls for furs and Skins and for th e

great wolf-dogs wh ich they used in the ir domestic wars .

There must have been many other source s of information.

by which th e native s coul d learn what was passing abroad .

Th ere were students constantly crossing to take lessons in

th e insular Druidism ; th e slave -merchants followed th e

armie s in time of war,th e pedlars explored th e trading

roads to sell their trinkets of glass and ivory,and th e

trave l l ing sword- sm iths and bronze -tinkers must havehe lped in a great degree to spread th e knowl edge of th earts of civil ised society .

Th e Damnonians h ad th e advantage s of trade and trave l .

It appears from a passage in Ca sar ’s Commentaries th attheir young m en were ac customed to serve in fore ign

fleets,and to take part in th e Continental wars . Th e

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2 3 2 Orig ins of English f f istory .

are told by V egetius that th e ships and the ir sails were

painted blue for th e purpose of making them les s c on

sp icuous at a distance .

We say nothing about th e B elga,th e neighbours of th e

Damnonians to th e eastward,because they were a Gaulish

people whose conque sts m ay have been of a date laterthan th e age of Jul ius Ca sar . We therefore pas s to th eS ilurians across th e Severn Sea , to th e

“D obuni

” of th e

Cotswolds and th e Vale of Gloucester,th e Coritav i of th e

central region,and th e great confederacy of th e Brigantes .

These tribes do no t appear to have shared in th e culturewh ich th e Damnonians h ad gained from the ir intercoursewith foreigners . What little commerce they undertookwas carried on in frail curraghs

,

”in which th e people s of

th e western coast were so bol d as to cross th e Irish Sea .

Boats of that kind are still used in Ire land with th e substi

tution of tarred canvass for the original covering of bull ’s

hide . Th e method of buil ding these boats appears froman ane cdote of Caesar’s Spanish campaign . Being in wantof vessels for transport

,we are told that h e remembered

th e pattern of th e canoes which h e h ad seen on th e

British rivers . Th e kee l and princ ipal timbers were cut

from thin planking and nailed together : then th e s ide swere fil led in with basket-work of willows or haze l s plaitedin and out

,and th e who le was covered with stout coats of

hide .

1 There are figures on th e te sse llated pavements,

1 Ca sar , D e Be l l . C iv il . i . 5 4 5 Solinus, Polyh ist . c . 2 4 . Com pareLucan :

Prim um cana sal ix m adefacto v im ine parvam

Tex itur in pupp im ,ca soque inducta juvenco

Vectoris patiens tum idum superenatat am nem .

Sic Venetus stagnante Pado ,fusoque Britannus

N av igat Oceano .—Pharsal. iv . 13 1 .

Origins of English [f istory 2 33

found at Lydney Park in Glouce stershire,wh ich show th e

British fishermen paddling in little coracles about themouth of th e Severn

,and one figure “

enveloped in a

hooded frieze mantle ”is drawn in th e act of cat ch ing a

large salmon which h e is pulling into th e leather canoe .

These native boats are stil l to be seen in use upon th e

D ee“ they were made of wicker

,and were not oblong

or pointed,but rather triangular in shape

,and were

covered both in side and outside with h ide s . ” 1

These tribes were probably of a m ixed race,if we m ay

judge from th e persistence of th e Silurian features amongth e modern population of th e district . Their ne ighboursth e

“Ordovices

,

” from whom th e Cornav ians were separated by th e shifting waters of th e D ee

,

2are now thought

to have been a“Brythonic people

,who intruded into

th e district of Powys,and eventual ly spread as far we st

ward as Cardigan Bay .

3 They are sometime s des cribed

as holding all North Wales but th is is inconsistent with

what is known of their physical appearance as wel l as

with th e plain words of a passage in th e Life of Agricola .

‘ A tribe of th e O rdovice s ’ in th e year A .D . 78 , h ad

destroyed a regiment of cavalry which was quartered upon

their territory . Th e general made haste to collect an

1 Girald . Cam br. Descr. Cam br. i . 18 . H e adds that “ when a salm on

thrown into one of these boats struck hard with its tail , it would overset th eboat and endanger bo th the vesse l and nav igator . See K ing’

s R om an

Antiquities of Lydney Park .

1 Th e inhab itants of these parts (says G iraldus) assert that the watersof this river change the ir fo rds every m onth, and as it inc l ines m oretowards England orWales they can p rognosticate wh ich nation w il l besuccessful or unfo rtunate during th e year . I tin . Cam br. ii. 0. 1 1 .

2 Rhys, Ce ltic Britain,8 1

,2 18 , 30 2 . See a lso , D e Belloguet, E thnog.

Gaul . 2 63 , and Giraldus Cam brensis, Descr. Cam br. i. c . 6 , and ii. c . 15 .

2 34 Or igins of English [J istory

army and at once made war upon th e whole nation ofwhich th e tribe formed part ; th e Ordovice s abandonedth e fl at country and retired into their mountains

,but were

followed and defeated by th e Romans,and we are told

that “almost th e whole nation was put to th e sword .

Immediate ly afterwards Agricola determined to attack th epeople of Anglesea : and it is clear from th e words of

Tac itus that th e new undertaking was regarded as dan

gerons and important,so that we c an hardly suppose that

th e army was dealing with a mere res idue or fragment of

th e nation wh ich h ad been so nearly exterm inated .

1

Passing from th e western districts we come to a centralregion bounded on th e south by th e Gaul ish kingdoms and

on the north by th e Brigantian territories , and belonging

to a m ixed assemblage of tribe s who became known underone name as th e nation of th e Coritav i . 2 They consisted

in part of Cel tic clans and in part of the remnants of a

ruder people . Th e m ixture of race s is distinctly shown in

th e picture s which Ca sar and Strabo drew of th e rude

aborigines of th e interior .“The m en

,said Strabo

,are taller than th e Celts of

Gaul their hair is not so ye l l ow and their limbs are moreloosely knit . To Show how tall they are I m ay say thatI saw myse lf some of their young m en at Rome

,and they

were taller by Six inches than any one e l se in th e City ;but they were bandy- legged and h ad a clumsy look .

”3

Their customs,h e said

,were in part like those of th e Ce lts

1 Tac . Agric . c . 18 .

2 I n Pto lem y ’

s tim e the ir p rinc ipal towns were in the ne ighbourhood of

th e m odern L inco ln and Le icester Next to th e Cornav ii are the Coritav iwhose towns are Lindum and Rh age (or R ata ) . See M ap VI .

2 Strabo , iv . 2 78 .

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2 36 Or igins of English [distory

permanent vil lage s , raising crops of oats or some rougherkind of grain for food

,and weaving for themselve s garments

of hair,or of coarse wool

,from their puny many-horned

she ep . But th e ruder tribes,who subsisted entirely by

the ir cattle , would naturally follow th e herd,living through

th e summer in booths on th e h igher pasture -grounds,and

only returning to th e valleys to find she lter from th e

winter- storms . There is a line of dry chalk-downs running

transverse ly from th e Yorkshire Wo lds to th e coast ofDorset . “Th is is th e region of th e tuniuli

'

,and on its

surface are seen th e foundat ion s of th e British huts . On

th e h ill s are the ir long boundary-fence s ; below th e edges

of th e h ill s rise innumerable bright streams,and by these

springs no doubt were th e settled habitations . ”1

To th e north of th e Coritav i stretched a confederacy orcollection of kingdoms to which th e Romans appl ied thes ingle name of Brigantia .

” We first hear of the se confe

derated states about th e year A .D . 5 0 , when the ir comb inedterritories extended on one coast from Flambo rough H ead

to th e Firth of Forth,and on th e other from th e D ee or

M ersey to th e valleys on th e upper shore o f th e Solway .

“A line,

” says Mr . Skene,drawn from th e Solway

Firth across th e island to th e Eastern sea exactly

separates th e great nation of th e Brigantes from th e

tribe s on th e north,th e ‘

Gadeni’

and th e‘Otadeni

’

but th is is obviously an artificial separation,as it cl osely

foll ows th e l ine of H adrian ’s Wal l : otherwise it woul dimply that th e southern boundary of these barbarian tribe s

1 R e lations ofArcha ology (Ph il l ipp s) , in the 39th v ol. of the Archa ological

Journal .

Or igins of English H istory . 2 37

was prec ise ly on a l ine where nature presents no physical

demarcation .

” 1

Th e people seem to have been comparatively rich and

prosperous . They were s o eminent in war that theyrepeatedly repulsed th e advance of th e Imperial legions .S eneca boasted that th e Romans had bound with chainsof iron the necks of th e blue-shielded Brigante s : but itwas l ong before th e turbulent mountaineers were actual ly

subdued,and even in the se cond century they seem to

have pre served some remains of their ancient l iberty.

Pausanias,writing at that time

,has noticed one inc ident o f

a forgotten war, and te lls us how th e Emperor Antoninus“ cut off more than half of th e territory of th e Brigante s

,

”

because they had attacked a tribe who were living under

th e protection of Rome .

1

Th e story of Queen Cartism andua is th e be st il lustration of th e character and habits of h er people . Th e luxury

o f h er court m ay have had no existence except in th e

fancy of Tac itus but th e barbarian queen was doubtles srich in h er palace of wicker-work

,in a herd of snow-white

cattle covering th e pastures of th e royal tribe,an enamelled

chariot,a cap or a corselet of gold . Sh e was the chief

1 Skene, Ce ltic Scotland, i . 71 . When Anton inus advanced th e l im it ofth e p rov ince to th e Firths of Fo rth and C lyde h e was said to have takenland from the Brigantes. Pausan . v iii. 43 . The ch ief tribes of the Brigantians appear to have been th e Setantii, whose po rt was not far fromLancaster, th e Gaden i and O taden i of Cum berland and N orthumberland and the districts im m ediately to the north, the Selgova extending a long th e northern shore of the So lway as far as N ith sdale, and the

Gabrantov ic i of th e No rth R iding of Yorkshire .

2Pausan ias, v iii . 43 . Th e Brigantes had invaded the lands of th e

Genun i, a peop le wh o are identified by Professo r Rhys with the

Attacotti, who appear later as the Pic ts of Gal loway . Ce ltic Brita in , 90 ,

2 2 0 .

2 38 Origins of English H istory .

of one of th e many tribes of which th e Brigantian nation

was composed . I n a time when every valley h ad its king,

with an army of vil lagers , an ale -house council,and a

pre carious treasure of cattle gained and held by th e law of

th e strongest , it was seldom possible for th e nation to unite

in any common design , even for th e purpose of re sisting

th e peril of a fore ign invasion . Th e gathering of a

national army was an affair of mee tings,and treaties

,and

solemn sacrifice s to th e gods . When th e sacred rite s werefulfilled

,th e bl ood tasted

,and th e rival de itie s and ch ief

tains united by a temporary bond,th e noblest and brave st

of th e tribal leaders was chosen as a war-king or general in.

command . But as often as not th e treaty failed and th e

clans fought or subm itted as each m ight feel inclined .

“Our greatest advantage,says Tacitus

,in deal ing with

such powerful nations is that they cannot act in concertit is seldom that even two or three tribes wil l j oin in

meeting a common danger ; and so while each fights forhimse lf they are all conquered together .”1

Cartism andua was of such noble blood that sh e was

chosen to l ead th e national armies . Sh e was married toV enusius

,th e chieftain of a neighbouring tribe

,who was

himse lf remarkable for h is Skil l in th e arts ofwar but th eal l iance seems in no way to have diminished h er domesticpower

,and sh e still made wars and alliances on h er own

account . Th e queen was far- see ing enough to understandth e hope les sne ss of a contest with Rome . Sh e knew thata firm and extended sovereignty

,and a share of th e

plunder which seemed like unbounded riches,would be

secured to h er as th e price of submission .

Caractacus,th e Gaulish prince who for n ine y ears

1Tac . Agric . c . 1 2 .

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2 40 Origins of English Alistory .

thought that th e Brigantes were very like th e Irish in

their character and hab its of life .

1.W e find in th e

‘ Polyh istor

’ of Solinus a sketch of an Irish home which will

enable us to understand what Tac itus intended . .I t is,

”h e

said,

“a surly and a savage race . Th e sold ier in th e moment

of victory take s a draught of h is enemy’s blood and smearsh is face with th e gore . Th e mother puts h er boy’s first foodforluck on th e end of h er husband ’s sword and l ightly pushesit into th e infant’s mouth with a prayer to th e gods of h ertribe that h er son m ay have a soldier’s death . Th e m en

who care for their appearance deck th e hilts of theirswords with th e tusks of sea-beasts

,which they pol ish to

th e brightness of ivory : for th e glory of th e warriorconsists in th e Splendour of h is weapons . ” 2 We seem tosee the Brigantian soldier with h is brightly-painted sh iel d ,h is pair of javel ins and h is sword-hilt “as white as th e

whale’

s -bone ”: h is matted hair supplied th e want of a

helmet,and a leath er j erkin served as a cuirass . When

th e line of battle was formed th e.ch am pions ran out

to insul t and provoke th e fo e ; th e chiefs rode up and

down on their white chargers,shining in golden breast

plate s . Others drove th e war-chariots along th e front,

with soldiers leaning out before their captain to cast theirspears and hand- stones : th e ground shook with th e

prancing of horses and the noise of th e chariot-whe els .We are re called to th e s cenes of ol d Irish life which sostrangely reproduce th e world of th e Greek heroes and

th e war upon the plains of Troy . We see th e huntersfol lowing th e cry of th e hounds through green plains and

sloping glens th e ladies at th e feast in th e woods,th e

1 Tac . Agric . c . 2 4 .

2Solinus, Polyh ist. c . 2 4 .

Or igins of English H istory . 2 4 1

gam e roasting on th e haze l—spits,

“fish and flesh of boar

and badger,

”

and th e great bronze cauldrons at th e fire

place in the cave . Th e hero Cuchulainn passes in h ischariot

,and brandishes th e heads of th e slain . H e speaks

with h is horses,of th e ‘ Gray Macha ’

and th e‘ Black

Sainglend,’ l ike Ach illes on th e banks of Scamander . 1

Th e horses,in H omeric fash ion

,weep tears of bl ood

,and

fight by their master’s side : h is sword shine s redly in h ishand

,th e

“ l ight of val our hovers round h im,and a

goddes s take s an earthly form to be near h im and to he lp

h im in th e fray .

1 See th e“D eath of C i

’

i chulainn ,abridged from the Book of Leinster

,

by M r. Whitley Stokes, R evue Celtique, iii . 175 5 th e legend of Fionn ’

s

Enchantm ent , by Cam pbe l l , ibid. i . 174 5 and th e story of the PrincessD e irdre in Loch Etive and th e Sons o f U isneach .

”

For th e nam es of the

horses of Ci’

i chulainn , see Rhys , H ibbert Lec tures, 1886 , 440 .

2 42 Origins of English H istory .

C H AP TER X .

R E L I G I O N .

R eligion o f th e British tribes— I ts influenc e on th e l iterature o f rom ance—Th eor iesabout D ruid ism — Th eWe lsh Triads—Th e ir date and auth ority—Legend o f H ughth e M igh ty—Myth o logical poem s of th e Bards—Taliessin—R e l igion o f th e Gauls

-I ts nature— Th e greater gods— D is Pater—Th e m ode of reckoning by n igh tsTh e Gaul ish M ercury and M inerv a—Th e worsh ip of Belenus—Adoration o f

p lants— Teutates— Cam ulus—Taran is—Goddesses and h e lpm ates o f gods— Loc aldeities—Th e M oth ers—Giants—Or igin of D ruid ism —D ruid ism in Br ita inS cottish and I rish D ruids—The nature o f th e ir c erem on ies— Th e ir m agicPosition o f th e D ruids in Gaul—Th e ir ph ilosophy—H um an sacrifices—R e l ics o fth e pract ice— I ts traces in Britain and I reland— Slaugh ter of h ostages— Sacrificesfor stabi lity o f bui ld ings—D octrines o f th e D ruids— Th e ir astronom y— M etempsych osis—D isappearance o f D ruidism—Th e R om an prov inces—I reland and

S cotland—Oth er rem ains o f British rel igions—H ow p reserved— In legends of

saints— I n rom ance—General ch arac ter o f th e rel igion— N ature o f th e ido lsSuperstit ions about natural ph enom ena—M irage— Sunset—M ineral spr ingsLaugh ing-we l ls—Worsh ip of e lem ents—Th e Irish gods

—Th e D agda—M oon

worsh ip—D egradation of British gods—Th eir appearance as kings and ch iefsTh e fabulous h istory—H ero ic songs

— Princ ipal fam ilies o f gods— Ch i ldren o f

D on—of Nudd— o f L ir—Legend o f Corde l ia— Bran th e Blessed—M anannan

M ac Lir—R itua l—R elics o f Sun-worsh ip—Fire-worsh ip—Rustic sacrifices

Offerings o f anim als to saints— Sacred an im als—Proh ibition o f c ertain kindso f food—C laim s of descent from an im als—Totem ism — Origin o f th ese superstitions .

H E rel igion of th e British tribes h as exercised an

important influence upon literature . Th e m edia v al

romances and th e legends wh ich stood for history are ful l of

th e“fair humanities ” and figure s of its bright mythology .

Th e elemental powers of earth and fire,and th e spirits

which haunted th e wave s and streams,appear again as

kings in th e Irish Annal s or as saints and hermits inWal e s .

Th e Knights of th e Round Table , Sir K ay and Tristram

and th e bold S ir Bedivere,b etray their m ighty origin by th e

attribute s which they retained as heroes of romance . I t

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2 44 Or igins of English H istory .

of Phoenicia and Egypt . Th e mysteries of th e “Thrice

great H ermes ” were transported to th e northern o ak

forests,and every difficulty was solved as it rose by a

reference to Baal and Molo ch . Th e l ines and circlesof “standing—stones ” be came th e signs of a worship ofsnakes and dragons . Th e ruined cromle ch was m istaken

for an altar of sacrifice,with th e rock-bason to catch

th e victim’s blood and a holed—stone for th e rope to bind

h is limbs .Th e Welsh Triads be came th e foundation of anothertheory . They profe s s to re cord th e explo its of a b eingcal led H ugh th e M ighty

,who led th e Kymry from th e

Land of Summer to th e islands of th e Northern O cean .

If th e legend h ad not been accepted by M . Martin and

other French historians as containing th e echo of a realtradition

,we might disregard it as complete ly as th e

adventures of th e Irish in Egypt or th e prophe cie s of th edreamer Merl in . We m ay expect that th e mythicalhistory wil l soon fall back into oblivion but meanwhile itseems neces sary to give some short account of th e storyitself and of th e controversy respecting its origin .

Th e date of th e h istorical Triads h as been approxi

mately fixed by th e form of their language and by otherinternal evidence .

1 Although some few are found in

poems of th e twe lfth century,it is clear that they mostly

bel ong to th e period between th e Conque st of Wales and

th e rebel lion of Owen Glendower . H is bard “ Iolo th eR ed

”was th e ch ief compiler of th e h istory of H ugh

th e Mighty,whom th e We lsh cal l H u Gadarn . The

1 Stephens, Literature of the Kym ry , 169 , 42 9 , 493 5 Turner, H ist .Anglo-Saxon ,

i . c . 2 5 Skene, “ Four Anc ient Books of Wa les, and

Ce ltic Scotland, ” 1. 172 5 Valroger, L es Celtes, 395 .

Origi ns of English H istory . 2 45

principal collection is pre served in th e R ed Book ofH erge st in th e l ibrary of Je sus Coll ege at Oxford

,and th e

pre ceding contents of th e book show that this collectionwas made after th e commencement of th e fourteenth

century . Th e Triads failed to attract much attentionin England until their publ ication in th e Myvyrian

Arch a ology in th e early part of this century . Theywere so on afterwards translated into English

,and were

publ ished by Probert as an appendix to h is “AncientLaws of Cambria. They became famous for a timewhen Sharon Turner in England

,and M ichelet in France

,

vindicated th e historical character of th e ancient British

poems but they seem to have since relapsed into negle ct,

though a few spe culation s are hazarded from time to timeas to th e origin of th e word “Llo egria,

” or th e positionof “th e H azy Sea .

Th e legend of H ugh th e M ighty certainly containsdirect al lusions to th e Wel sh mythology

,but in th e main

it is a travesty of th e life of th e Patriarch Noah,tricked

out with such scraps of learning as a bard might havegathered in a library . It is confused by an intermix tureof th e exploits of H ugh of Constantinople

,a paladin of

romance who took part in th e adventures of th e legendaryarmies of Charlemagne .

Th e language of some of th e poems would suggest

that H ugh th e M ighty was a solar god H is chariot isdes cribed as

“an atom of gl owing heat h e is said to be

greater than all th e worlds,

“ l ight h is course and active,

1 M orTawch m ay m ean th e H az y or th e D ac ian Sea, th e latterwo rd being taken in th e sense of

“D an ish . I f th e last interp retation is

co rrect , th e date of th e Triad in which th e phrase occurs wil l be fixedabout th e twelfth century . Stephens, Literature of the Kym ry, 4 2 8 .

2 46 Or igins of English H istory .

great on th e land and on th e seas and h is two greatoxen are bright constel lations in th e firm am ent .

1

I n th e first age of th e world h e instructed th e Kymry in

th e arts of agriculture,poetry

,and government . When th e

earth was destroyed by fire and water h e saved a remnantof m en and animals in h is ark . Th e monster that caused

th e deluge was dragged from th e waters by th e sacredoxen th e enchanter Gwydion sets a rainbow in th e sky

as th e Sign of a covenant with mankind . Th e Kymry are

settl ed at first in D effrobani,

” which c an only be intendedfor “Taprobane

,th e classical name of Ceylon ; but th e

s cribe h as added in a note,

“th is is where Constantinoplestands . Th e Kymry are followed by th e L loegrians fromGas cony

,whose name is probably derived from that of th e

River Loire,and by th e “Brythons ” from th e shore of

Armorica. Thre e refuge -seeking tribe s ” take she lter inth e H ighlands and th e I sle of Wight ; and there are

allusions to th e Cal edonian Forest,and to th e anc ient

floods which overwhe lmed th e Cimbri . We read of threeinvading tribes

,th e Picts

,th e Coranians of th e eastern

coast,and th e Saxons

,in whose arrival th e secular tragedy

culminate s . “Th e crown of monarchy is wrested from

th e Kymry : th e L lo egrians unite with th e Germaninvaders

,

“and of th e L lo egrians who did not become

Saxon there remain none but those who inhab it Cornwalland th e Commote of Carnoban .

” 2

Th eWe lsh bards retained a stock of tropes and al lus ionswhich derived the ir origin from th e ancient British pa

ganism . There was enough reality for th e purposes of an

1 Nash , Tal iesin , 307 5 Guest ’s M ab inogion , 2 84 .

2 This district is desc ribed in th e Triads as be ing in th e K ingdom of

D eira and Bern ic ia .

”

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2 48 Or igins of English H istory .

Gwion . Pursued at once by th e h ag,“h e changed himse lf

into a bare and fled,but sh e transformed herself into a

greyhound and turned h im and h e ran towards th e river

and became a fish,and sh e in th e form of an otter chased

h im under water till h e was fain to become a b ird of th e

air”

and so on in a series of adventures im itated fromthose which appear in th e Arab ian tale of th e “

SecondRoyal Calender .” 1 Th e first part of th e legend appearsin Sl ightly different forms in th e Irish storie s of Firm m ac

Cumhal,and also among th e adventure s of Sigurd in th e

Song of th e Nibelungs . Th e poet,or school of poets

,

who wrote under th e name of Taliessin,borrowed incidents

and allus ions from every kind of literature . Th e fairyb ecomes th e Muse of Poetry and h er cauldron is th e

fount of inspiration . At another time Sh e resemblesth e M a dre N a tura

,or “th e Witch of Atlas ,

”and turns

,

according to th e minstrel ’s fancy,from a princess to a

“ black scream ing h ag” or a demon of th e air. Th e

dwarf becom e s th e poet himself or an idealised figure ofh is m ind

,flying with th e swiftness of thought through

distant times and on th e confines of space . H e see sLucifer fall from heaven and Absalom h anging in th e oak

tree : h e was in th e Chair of Cassiopeia b efore Gwydionwas born

,and stayed for ages in th e court of a goddess

inhab iting th e Northern Crown . H e was with Nimrodand Alexander : h e des cribes Behemoth and th e oxenof th e goddess who guarded th e streams of th e D e e

:

h e take s th e character of an anc ient prophet , predictingth e invasions of Britain “ their Lord they will praise

,

”h e

cried,

“their Speech they wil l keep,the ir land they will

1 Nash,Tal iesin ,

1 80,1 8 2 ; Stephens, Literature of th e Kym ry, 170 .

Or igins of English H istory . 2 49

lose,except wil d Wales .” 1 And yet through all change s

h e stil l claims to be Taliessin,

“th e prince of song

,and th e

ch ief of th e bards of th e We st .Th e figures of all times and countrie s pass in a strangeprocession

,and we re cognise among them several beings

who were worshipped as gods in Ireland and WesternBritain . But we shal l find nothing about th e Dru ids ;their very name h ad been forgotten for centuries beforethe modern travesty of their doctrines was propounded

under th e title of Bardism . Nor again will anythingbe found about th e Gaulish gods whose rites were transported to Britain

,at first by th e Be lgian settlers

,and

afterwards by Roman soldiers . For them we must re lyon th e classical des crip tions , obscure and s canty as they

are,wherever th e patient research of th e Continental

s cholars h as failed to bring fre sh life into th e almost

forgotten tradition .

I t wil l be convenient to deal separate ly with th e maindivisions of th e subj ect . Som e ac count wil l first be givenof th e religions of Ancient Gaul . We shall treat in the

next place of th e Druids and th e character of theirteaching

,and we shall afterwards try to collect what is

known about th e nature of th e British paganism .

Th e re ligion of th e Gaul s appears to have borne a

general resemblance to that of th e British tribeS .

2 It hasb ecome known by th e sket ch in Ca sar’s Commentaries , byPliny ’s chapters on magic and a few s cattered allusions

of th e Latin poets , and in an even greater degree by th e

modern comparison of th e ins criptions upon ruined altars

and of legends or ob servance s in wh ich some fragments of

1 Nash,Tal iesin , 16 2

, 304 .

2 Tac . Agric . c . 1 1 .

2 5 0 Or igins of English H istory .

th e ol d creed have been by chance retained . A figure ofRoland in th e market -place

,th e cakes at th e village -fair

impressed with th e Sign of Gargantua,th e m iracle s re

curring at th e shrines which replaced th e heathen temple s,

th e processions,th e dances

,and th e devo tions of th e

peasantry,have all hel ped in the ir turns to explain the

nature of th e old be liefs . When th e Church took possession o f th e temples and Sanctuaries of paganism

,th e

heathen rites were often preserved under Chris tian name s .The older re l igion survived in th e dedication - feasts

,th e

January—fires,th e M ay

-games and the M idsummer-fires,

th e garlands set by th e fountains,and th e sacrifices made

at favourite shrine s to avert sterility,or to procure good

fortune in marriage .

1

Th e Roman writers have left us little definite informa

tion on th e subj ect . They seem to have fe l t a naturalcontempt for th e superstitions of the ir barbarous neighbours . Cicero

,for example

,was a friend of th e Druid

D iv itiacus ; yet h e did no t think it necessary to record th eresult of the ir curious dis cussions . Julius Ca sar was h imself a Pontiff , and published a book upon divination

,but

h e noticed th e foreign re ligions only so far as they wereconne cted with public policy. H e doe s not ment ion th e

British rel igion at all ; and as to th e Ge rman b el iefs h em ere ly observe s that they s eemed only to recognise those

gods whose benefits were obvious to th e senses . We owe

h is short sketch of th e Gaul ish Pantheon to the fact thaf,’

for practical purpose s,it was th e same as that of th e

Roman world so that it was clear that,if Druidism could

1 See th e artic le on th e gods of th e A l lobroges by M . Vallentin , R evue

Celtique, iv . 2 , th e sam e writer ’s work on th e local de ities of Vocontium

(Grenoble , and Gaido z , Religion ales Gaulois”

(Paris,

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2 5 2 Or igins of English H istory .

Th e Gaul ish “Mercury and“M inerva were th e most

human of all their de ities . Th e one pre sided over roads ,markets

,and boundarie s

,and was imagined to be th e

discoverer of all th e s c ience s1 : th e other taught mankindthe ir useful arts and labours

,to spin and weave

,to work

in th e smithy,to sow and til l th e ground .

2 Th e goddes s

was worshipped in Britain under th e title of Belisam a,

”

and a re lic of h er ritual is found in th e region of th e riverRibble in Lancash ire

,to which th e later Gaul ish s ettlers

gave th e name of the ir favourite goddess .Next in dignity to th e merchants ’ god came th e god of

th e heal ing powers,in whom th e Romans saw th e radiance

and maj e sty of Apollo . Th e lines in which Ausoniu s

des cribed th e Temple of Belenus at Bayeux,and th e

remains of statue s found at Bath,Show that h is worship

was conne cted with s olar rites . This was th e case,at any

rate , after th e e stablishment of th e state rel igion . But h e

seems at first to have represented th e health -giving watersand herbs themselves

,and to have b een worshipped under

a multitude of local names wherever such th ings werefound . H e was th e Borv o

” of th e boiling springswhich have given th e name of Bourbon to so many placesin France

,th e Grannus of th e wells at Aix -la-Chapelle

,

th e Belisa,

” whose shrine stood at Aquile ia by th e sideof th e Fountain of Belenus.

3 Th e ceremonies observed

1For an accoun t of th e wo rship of M ercury under h is Gaul ish nam es

of Dunates, Vasso , V isuc ius, and M arunus, see M ontfaucon’

s Antiquite’

Expligue’

e, and Gaidoz , Religion des Gaulois, 9 ,10 . Som e of th e tem p les

of th e god are desc ribed in Pl iny, H ist . N at . xxx iv . c . 1 8 5 M inuc . Fe l ix , 49 5

Greg. Turon . H ist . Franc . i . 30 5 Grim m, D eutsch . M ytho l . 70 .

2 Ca sar, D e Be l l . Gal l . v i . 0 . 1 7 .

2 Auson ius, Profess . 4 ,10 5 H erodian , v iii. 7 5 Tertul l ian, Apo log. c .

2 4 ; Gaidoz , Religion des Gaulois, 1 0 5 Valroger, L es Celtes, 145 .

Or igins of English H istory .

in gathering th e herb s and simples are recounted by Pliny

in h is Natural H istory . Th e service at th e cutting of th emistletoe seems to have come from a time at wh ich th eth ing itself had been worshipped . Th e plant when growingupon th e oak was thought to be a panacea

,or all-heal .

Its infusion cured sterility in cattle,th e pounded leave s

healed sore s,and it was used in other forms in cases of

epilepsy and poisoning . Its appearance on th e sacredtree

’

betokened th e pre sence of th e god . Th e servicetook place on a hol iday at th e beginning of a month . A

Druid clothed in wh ite,with a chaplet of o ak-leave s on

h is head . out th e plant with a golden sickle,shaped like

th e moon when six nights old,and caught it in a long

wh ite cloak . As it fell the sacrifices began,and the

company burst out into prayer . A banquet followed,and

at last th e m istletoe was carried home on a waggon drawnby two snow-white bul l s which had never felt the yoke .

1

The club -moss2 (Selago) was a fe’tich e of another kind .

Th e m an who carried th e divine obj ect was secure against

all misfortune and blindness could be cured by th e fumes

o f its spore s dried and thrown upon th e fire . It h ad to begathered with a curious magical ceremony . Th e worshipper

was dres sed in white : he must go to th e place barefoot

and wash h is feet in pure water before approach ing th eplant . No metal m ight be used in taking it

,but after

offerings of bread and wine it was snatched from the

1 Tanta gentium in rebus f rivolis plerum que religio est. Pliny, H ist .

N at. xv i . c . 95 5 K eysler,“D e v isco D ruidum ,

”

Antiqu. Sep tent. 304 .

2 Pliny, H ist . N at. xx iv . c . 4 5 V illem arqué, Barzas Breiz . 6 2 ,“6 . The

c lub-m oss or Ly copodium S elago is said to be stil l used in Cornwal l in cases

o f inc ipient bl indness . Dav ies identified it with a p lant which the We lshca l led gras Duw or

“th e grace of God . Brit . Myth . 2 74 ,

2 80 .

Com pare Grim m . Deutsch . M ythol . 1 15 8 .

2 5 4 Or ig ins of English H istory .

ground with a thievish gesture,th e right hand be ing

darted under th e left arm . Th e Breton peasants are saidto re tain the ir respe ct for th e plant . They call it “l

’

h erbe

d’

or,

”

and th e lucky finder stil l fol lows th e fashion of h is

ancestors ;“pour le cuei llir il faut etre n i t -p ieds et en

ch em ise : il s’

a rra ch e et ne se coup ep a s . Th e“Sarnolus

,

”1

or water-pimpernel , was a Specific against murrain in

swine and cattle . Th e finder was requ ired to go to th eplace fast ing and to pluck th e stalk with h is left hand

,and

then without looking back to carry it at once to th e

drinking-troughs ; and there were many other herbswhich were thought to be gifts from Belenus

,as th e

henbane or insane root,which th e Gauls used for their

poisoned arrows,and th e Belio canda

” which th e Gre ekphysicians made up into poul tice s for wounds . 2

An obscure pas sage in th e Pharsal ia h as preserved th ename s of three gods who cannot be identified withcertainty . Th e poet speaks of th e grim “Teutates

,

” of“H esus

,

” with h is bloody sacrifice s,and of “Taranis”

whose altars were as crue l as those of th e Scythian D iana.

2

1 Th e botanical nam e for this p lant is Sam olus Valerandi . It is akin tothe p rim rose .

2 Pl iny , H ist . N at . xx iv . c . 4 . For an account of th e henbane ,Belinuntia and “Apo l linaris Insana , see Pl iny , H ist . N at . xxv . c . 1 7D iosco rides, iv . 69 , 1 1 5 5 or H yoscyam us Niger, wh ich was cal led Belisa .

2 See Lucan , Ph arsal. i . 445Et quibus im m itis placatur sanguine diroTeutates, h orrensque feris altaribus H esus,

Et Taran is Scyth ica non m ito r ara D iana .

’

The Scho l iast of Lucan took H esus for M ercury, “ since he is worshippedby m erchants, and Taran is for th e N orthern Jup iter . The recentresearches o f M . M owat, as po inted out by Prof . R hys in h is H ibbertLectures, 1 886 , appear to identify H esus

,or Esus, with Silvanus, or som e

equiva lent agricultural d iv in ity . Taranis in th e new theory becom es a god

dess, perhap s the com pan ion of Bsus . Th e ident ity of Teutates appears to

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2 5 6 Origins of English H istory .

Taranis se ems to have been worsh ipped by th e Britons ,1

under titles derived from words for fire and thunder,as

th e summer-god who brought th e rain and sunshine,and

dispensed th e fruits of th e earth . Taranis corre sponds,in

power and attributes,to th e R ed-bearded Thor of Scandi

navia and th e Thunder-god to whom th e Esthonians prayed“ that their straw might be red as copper and th e grain

as yel low as gold,

”and who was transformed by th e

S lavonians into th e Prophe t Elij ah , driving in th e tempestwith a chariot and horse s of fire , and able to withhold therain and dew or to blacken th e heavens with clouds and

wind .

Th e names of a host of minor de itie s appear in the

inscriptions or are vaguely pre served in th e countrylegends . Th e greater powers h ad each h is wife or help

m ate . Th e godde sse s of th e healing springs were honoured

as th e companions of Apollo .

“R osm erta” shared th e

altars of Mercury,and th e war-god was attended by Furie s

like those of th e Irish m v thology .

2 D ivine be ings,or

half-divine , mediated everywhere between mankind and

heaven . Th e sea-nymph of th e Breton shore is stil l

revered under th e name of St . Anne . M elusina’

s fountain,

Sabrina’s throne beneath th e“ translucent wave

,

”

and

Bov inda in h er palace by th e clear-running Boyne,are

1 Th e Irish D inn-Senchus m entions E tirun, an ido l of th e Britons .

The nam e Taran appears in th e We lsh legendary ta les, Guest ’s M abinogion ,

2 5 1 . For a descrip tion of statuettes found in France , supposed to be figuresof Taran is, see Gaidoz , Religion des Gaulois, 1 1 , 2 2 , where a reference to

the sam e nam e is found in th e inscrip tions D eo Taranucno and Iov iTaranuco .

”

2 Nem etona, a Gaulish war-goddess, h as been identified withN em on ,

”

one of the battle-furies who appear so constantly in the Irishm ytho logical tales, R evue Celtique, i. 39 .

Origins of English H istory . 2 5 7

figures showing th e nature of th e worship that waspaid to th e streams . Th e mountains were dedicated toairy powers : th e Pennine Jove ruled on th e Mont St .

Bernard,and

“Arduinna”in th e Fore st of Ardennes .

Every village was protected by th e “mothers,

” or guardian spirits

,who appear in m edia val legends as th eWhite

Ladie s,th e

“ three fairies,

”th e

“we ird sisters,

”

and wild

women of th e woods . Their worsh ip was common to th eCelts and Germans

,and it is uncertain to which race we

should attribute th e numerous inscriptions and image swhich were set up in their honour by th e s oldiers of th eRoman regiments in Britain . I t h as been observed

,how

ever,that th e inscriptions found in England are always to

“th e mothers ” in general terms

,wh ile th e Continental

examples are usually distinguished by some local epithet ;and so it is concluded that th e sol diers wh o erected th e

altars in Britain were worsh ipping th e guardians of their

fore ign b irth -places . 1

Some of th e m inor deitie s reappear as giants in nursery

tale s and legends ; and it seems probable that most of th e

gigantic figures which adorned th e m edia v al processionswere connected with th e worsh ip of some l ocal god . Th e

fe stival s of Gargantua in Normandy and Poitou imply a

pagan origin for th e giants “Gurgunt”

and“Goemagot ,

”

who appear in th e fabulous histories of Britain .

2

1 Wright , R om an Ce l t and Saxon , 347. Th e best British exam p le isthat of th e three figures found at Ancaster. The goddesses are seated on

chairs, and ho ld baskets of fruit and flowers . See as to th e

“m others"

in Gaul and Germ any, Grim m , D eutsch . M ytho l . 40 1 , and K eysler’

s

e labo rate discussion of th e subjec t , Antiqu. Septent. 369 . For sim ilarsuperstitions in Scandinav ia, see O laus M agnus, D e Gent . Septent. iii. c . 9 .

2See th e artic le “

Sur le vra i nom de Gargantua ,

”

R evue Celtique, i .

136 , and th e legends o f the Cornish giants in Geoffr. M onm . H ist . Brit .i . 16 ; K eysler, Antiqu. Sep tent . 2 09 .

2 5 8 Or igins of English H istory .

We have des cribed th e chief figures in th e Gaulish

Pantheon,and we have now to attempt th e more difficult

task of defining th e nature of Druidism . Th e system is

b el ieved to have been invented in Britain ,and its abnormal

character might make it easy to suppose that it was devisedby th e wil d Silurians .1 We m ay infer that it existed among

th e Belgian co lonists from Caesar’s statement,that th e

G auls in Kent differed but l ittle in their way of living

from the ir kinsmen across th e Channe l . We know from

th e words of Tacitus that a college of Druids served a

temple in Anglesea . Th e soldiers of Paul inus wereamazed at a wil d proce ssion ; th e British ranks opened

and a band of women marched out,looking like stage

furies with their floating hair and th e blazing torches intheir hands ; on the ir right and l eft stood th e Druidswith hands uplifted and calling down vengeance fromheaven . But they were soon “rol led in th eir own fires

th e sacred groves were destroyed , and th e al tars leve lled

to th e ground .

2

Our traditions of th e Scottish and I rish Dru ids are

evidently derived from a time when Christianity h ad l ongb een established . These insular Druids are repre sented

as being l ittl e better than conjurors , and their dignity is

as much diminished as th e power of th e king is exagger

ated . H e is hedged with a royal maj esty which never

existed in fact . H e is a Pharaoh or Bel shazzar with a

The doctrine is thought to have been invented in Britain and to

have been carried ove r to Gaul ; and at the present tim e those wh o wishto gain a m ore prec ise knowledge of the system trave l to that country forthe purpose of studying it.

” Ca sar,De Be l l . Gall . v i. 0 . 1 2 .

Tac . Ann . x iv . 30 . Th e al lusion to the Furies is ev idently a rem in iscence of th e Iberians described by Strabo, and of the Iberian originwhich Agricola had invented for the Silurians.

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2 60 Or igins of English H istory .

th e highest rank were eager to belong to their order .According to Dion Chrysostome th e Druids wereobeyed by th e kings

,who served them in th e great

palaces where they sat on their golden thrones . 1 Th e

D ruids of Strabo ’s description walked in s carlet and

gold brocade and wore golden collars and brace lets ; butth eir doctrines m ay have been much th e same as those of

th e soothsayers by th e Severn ,the Irish medicine -m en

,

”

or those rustic wizards by th e Loire , whose oracle was a

sound in th e o ak-trees,and whose de cisions were rude ly

scrat ched upon th e blade-bone of an ox or sheep .

2 The sem en assumed to b e interpreters of th e designs of H eaven ;and they even used a sacred jargon which passed for th elanguage of th e gods . “They tamed th e people as wildbeasts are tamed so runs th e famous description

,which

can only be ascribed to Posidonius . Th e Druids and

the ir subordinates fore told th e future by th e flight of b irdsand th e inspection of victims offered in sacrifice . Th e

Druids of Mona used to slay their captives,and te l l

fortunes from th e l ook of their bodies . Th e Dru ids woulddevote a m an to th e gods and strike h im down with a

sword ; and as h e fe l l they would gather omens from h ismode of fall ing and convulsive movements

,and from th e

flow of blood which fol lowed .

3

1D ion . Ch rysost . Orat . 49 5 Strabo , iv . 2 75 .

2 I n th e com edy of “Q uerolus, adap ted in th e 4th century from the

Aulularia of Plautus, th e discontented hero ,is bidden by the fam iliar sp irit to

go to th e banks of th e Lo ire . Vade , ad L igerim v iv ito . I llic jure ge’

ntiumv ivunt hom ines : ibi nul lum est pra stigium ; ibi sententia cap itales derobore proferuntur et scribuntur in ossibus ; illic etiam rustic i perorant et

privat i judicant ; ib i totum l icet . ” Th e response is, “No lo jura h a c

silvestria . Q uerolus, ii. 1 . See H avet’

s edition of“Le Q uerolus,

”

p . 2 17 .

2 D iod . v . c . 3 1 5 Strabo , iv . 2 77 5 Tac . Ann . x iv . 30 .

i Or igins of English H istory . 2 6 1

Th e Romans were fam il iar with th e idea of human

sacrifice . Th e State h ad often been saved by such meansin ob edience to th e sacred oracles . But they were aston

ish ed at th e recklessne ss of th e Gaulish massacre s . Th e

slaughter was continuous,though no Sibyl h ad spoken and

the nation h ad fallen into no universal danger . If any

person of importance were in peril from disease or th e

chance of war,a criminal or a slave was killed or promised

as a substitute . Th e Druids he l d that by no other meansc ould a man ’s life b e redeemed

,or th e wrath of th e gods

appeased ; and they went so far as to teach that th e cropswould be fertile in proportion to th e richness of th e harvest

o f death .

1 I t be came a national institution to offer a

ghastly hecatomb at particular seasons of th e year . I n

some places th e victims were crucified or shot to deathwith arrows ; e l sewhere they woul d be stuffed into huge

figures of wicker-work,or a heap of h ay would b e laid out

in th e human shape,where m en

,cattle

,and wil d beasts ,

were burned in a general holocaust . Th e memory of th e

public sacrifice s seems to have b een preserved by th e Irishproverb

,in which a person in great danger was said to be

between two Beltain fires .” In th e H ighlands,even in

modern times,there were M ay -day bonfire s at which th e

spirits were implored to make th e year productive ; a feast

was set out upon th e grass,and lots were drawn for th e

semblance of a human sacrifice ; and whoever drew th e

“black p iece of a cake dre ssed on the fire was made toleap three time s through th e flame .

2 I n many parts of

France th e sheriffs or th e mayor of a town burned baskets1Strabo

,iv . 2 75 5 Ca sar, D e Be l l . Gal l . v i . 15 .

2 See Corm ac’

s Glossary , under Beltene . R evue Celtique, iv . 193 5

Grim m, Deutsch . M ytho l . 5 79 .

2 6 2 Origins of English H istory .

fi lled with wo lves , foxes , and cats , in the bonfire s at th e

Feast of St . John ; and it is said that the Breton villagerswill sacrific e a snake when they burn th e sacred boat in

honour o f S t . Anne .

1

Th e. and Irish tradit ions co ntain many o ther

tra ces o f th e custom of human sacrifice . Some of th epenalties o f the an cient laws seem to have originated in

an age when th e crim inal was offered to th e gods . Th e

th ief and th e seducer of women were burned on a pileof logs o r cast into a fiery furnace ; th e maiden who

forgo t h er durv was burned or droxm ed,or sent adrift

to sea .

A human vic tim was off ered in times of disaster and

pest ilence . A sac rifice of this kind is mentioned in a

descript ion o f one of th e fairs wh ich were held at th e

tombs of th e Irish chieftains . A god is invoked at

sunrise to stay th e plagues that atfiic t th e land,and

afterwards th e"

hostages “

are brought out a nd a captiveprince is im molated . I t appears that prisoners were also

1C e

’

ta ii‘ en bm neonp dendroits en France l’

usage de j eter dons le f eu de

la S aint-572m ; a’es m annes ou des p aniers en. osier eonteuant des (1712

cha ts, elziens,rena ra

’s , loups . Au siécle dernier m em e dons plusieurs v illes

c’

e'

tait te nm ire ou les Jehez‘ ins gui j bisaient m ettre dans nu panier w e on

tieus "

a’ousaines o

’e chats p our [ruler dans le f eu de joie. Cette coutum e

eristai t aussi 91 Pa ris , et elle uy a e’

te’

supprim e’

e eu'

au com m encem ent da

regne o’e L ouis X ] lT

"

Gaido z , Eseuisse de la R e’

ligion des Gaulois ,2 1 .

O'

Currv, M anners of the Anc ient I rish , introd . cccxxii. : Liber

L andavensis . 5 2 3 ; Guests M ab inogion , 2 8 2 . Com pare the custom fo r

m erly observ ed by th e m iners on th e h-lendip H ills .

“Whoever am ong

them S tea ls anv th ing, and is found guilty , is thus punished : h e is shut upin a but and th en dry fe rn furzes and such o the r com bust ible m atters are

put round it, and fire set to it : when it is on fire th e c rim inal , who hash is hands and fee t a t l iberty ,

m ay with them ( if h e can ) break down the

hut and get fre eand be gone . This th ey c al l Burn ing of th e H il l .

Ca mden Britannia (Gibson) 185 .

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2 64 Or igins of E i zglz'

s/i H isz‘

ory .

caresses,or gifts of toys and sweetmeats

,until th e last

stone was ready for closing th e aperture .

1

Th e tradition is preserved in tho se househo ld storie swh ich te l l how th e first living being that crosse s th e new

bridge,or enters th e house

,is devoted to th e spirit wh o h as

helped th e builders ; but th e fiend is usually ch eated byth e sending of a dog or c at across th e fatal l ine .

Examples of th is kind of sacrifice are found in th e

H istory of N ennius and in th e Irish mythical tales .King Vortigern is represented as choosing a s ite on

Snowdon for a castle which might be safe against th ebarbarian Saxons . Th e king col lected all th e material sfor bu ilding

,but they disappeared as often as they were

brought to th e chosen spot . Vortigern seeks from h is

magicians a remedy for this waste of labour,and they

reply,

“You must find a chil d born without a father,and

must put h im to death and sprinkle with h is blood th e

ground wh ere'

th e castle is to stand .

” 2 A somewhat similarrite is mentioned in an Irish story cal led th e “Courtship ofBecum a .

’

A queen who has incurred th e displ easure of

th e gods becomes th e wife of Conn th e H undred -figh ter.

A blight comes over th e country and there is a dearth ofcorn and m ilk th e Druids assign th e cause of th e famine

7

1 Grim m , Deutsch . M ytho l . 40 . To m ake Liebenstein Castle im p regnable

,there was wal led- in a child, whom its m other for base go ld had

parted with ; while th e m asons were at work, says th e story,it sat eating

a ro l l , and cal l ing out,‘ M other ! I can see you,

’ then , M other ! I see a

l ittle o f you stil l , ’ andwhen the last stonewas let in , M other ! I see no thingof you now.

’

I bid . 1 09 5 . (Stallybrass, Bech st. Thuring. Sagen .

4 . 15 7. Plutarch , D e Superstitione, ad finem : see also th e instancesm entioned in th e R evue Celtique, V i . 1 2 1 .

2 N enn ius, H ist . Brit . s . 40 . Com pare th e account of building th e stonefort in th e

“ Book of Lecan .

”

The top of th e house o f th e groaninghostages one stone c losed . O

’

Curry , M anners o f th e Anc . Irish, ii . 9 .

Orig ins of E nglis/z H isi‘ory . 2 65

to'

a crime which th e queen h ad comm itted,and an

nounce that it can only be removed “by slaying th e son

of an undefiled couple and sprinkl ing h is blood on th e

door-posts and over th e land of Tara .

”1 A still morestriking example appears in th e Life of St . Columba . I n

th e fabulous story of th e bu ilding of th e church at Ionath e Saint addre sses h is followers in words which point to th enotion of a human sacrifice .

“It is good for us that ourroots should go under earth here it is perm itted that oneof you should go under th e clay of this is land to hallow it .

”

Odran rise s and offers himse lf to h is master . “ If thou

shouldst take m e,

”

h e said,

“ I am ready .

”Th e Saint

readily ac cepted th e offer,and we are told that thereupon

O drau went to heaven .

”2

It is no t ne cessary to inquire m inute ly into th e se cre tsof th e Dru idical doctrine . Th e laws which they adm inis

tered are forgotten . The ir boasted knowledge of ethicsonly provokes a sm ile . We are told that they concerned

themse lves with astronomy,th e nature of th e world and

its proportion to th e re st of th e universe,and th e attribute s

and powers of th e gods . One or two of their dogmas

have been ac cidentally preserved .

‘ Th e world (they said)can never be de stroyed but th e e lements are at war

,and

Fire and Water wil l prevail in th e end .

’

Th e Gauls h ad on ce be l ieved,like the ir Latin ne igh

bours,in a shadowy existence of th e dead in some H ades

or Elysium fashioned after th e type of th e pre sent world .

1 The story is taken from th e Book of Ferm oy . O’

Curry ,M ann .

Anc . Irish , introd . cccxxx iii. See also th e instances from the We lsh Tr iadsin Guest ’s M abinogion , 38 1 .

2 M yth . No tes by Whitley Stokes in th e R evue Celtique, n . 2 0 r Co rm ac’

s

Glossary , 63 . Other instances are co l lec ted in “ Three Irish Glossaries ,xli. ; H erbert, “ I rish N enn ius

, xxv . ; R eeves, Life of St. Co lum ba ,2 03 .

2 66 Orig ins of English H istory .

They used to cast on th e funeral -pyre whatever things

th e dead m an h ad loved,so that h is spirit m ight enjoy

'

th em

in the world to come ; and at th e end of the funeral h is

favourite slaves and dependants were burned al ive on th e

pile to keep their master company . But in the tim e of

Julius Caesar th e Druids h ad learned or invented a totallydifferent doctrine . They endeavoured to persuade theirfollowers that death was but an interlude in a successionof l ives . I n this or in some other world th e soul wouldfind a new body

,and lead another human l ife

,and so

onwards in an infinite cycle of lives and their people,they

thought,could h ardlv fail in courage

,when th e fear of

death was removed . One would have laughed,said a

Roman,“at the se long—trousered philosophers

,if we h ad

not found their doctrine under th e cloak of Pythagoras . ”1

Th e continuance of th e Dru idical hierarchy would havebeen plain ly inconsistent with th e governm ent of a Romanprovince . But we do not find that th e orderwas abolishedby any process of law either in Gaul or Britain . W e are

told indeed by Pliny,that th e “ swarm of prophesying

quacks was suppressed in th e reign of Claudius but th estatement seems only to relate to th e abol ition of th ehuman sacrifices on which the ir principal authority h addepended . They long maintained th e pretence of dragginga victim to th e altar

,and of symbolising th e desire of th e

gods by th e infliction of a ceremonial wound . But th egods themselve s went out of fashion . They were either

1 Valer . M ax . ii. 0 . 6 ; D iod . V . c . 2 8 ; Caesar, De Be l l . Gal l . v i . 13 , 18 ;M ela, iii. 2 . Com pare Lucan ’

s phrase :

regit idem sp iritus artusOrbe al io : longae, canitis si cogn ita, v itaeM ors m edia est. — Pharsal. i . 45 1 .

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2 68 Or igins of EnglishI

H istory .

nate s robed in white,comes out with a magical host

against h im . Th e Druid of a Pictish king threatens toimpede Columba’s voyage ;

“ I c an make th e winds un

favourable,and caus e a great darknes s to envelope thee

and th e Picts of Ire land h ad magicians of th e same kind“ to scorch them with incarnations . ”1

After th e conversion of Ireland was accomplished th e

Druids disappear from history . The ir authority m ay have

be en transferredéwith out much alteration,to th e abbots

and b ishops who ruled th e “fam ilies of th e saints .” The ir

pre-eminence in matters of law m ay have passed in

Ireland to th e Brehons,

” or hereditary lawyers,though

there is no positive evidence that such a succession tookplace .

2

Apart from th e traditions of Druidism th e remains ofth e British re l igions must be investigated by th e samemethods as those which have been used to re store th e

knowledge of th e gods of Gaul . We shall find relics ofth e old creed in heroic poems and in th e nursery talesth e ritual of ancient sacrifice s h as sometime s survivedamong th e usages of th e peasantry

,and even th e lives of

th e saints wil l b e found to contain inc idents which are

obviously of a pagan origin .

Th e names and attributes of mythological beings appearin th e pedigrees of th e “ holy tribes ” of Wales

,and in

th e romance of Irish hagiology . We are told how one

saint created a m iraculous spring on th e“H ill of th e

1 Skene , Ce l tic Scotland, ii. 1 1 1 , 1 14 ; Usher, Trias Thaum at . 1 2 5 ,

Confess . S . Patric . apud Bo l land . (M arch) , i . 5 33 , 5 36 Be tham , Antiqu.

R estit . ii. app . v . Adam nan’

s Life of St . Co lum ba , i. 2 1 , ii. 2 1 . 2 3 .

2 See Sir H en ry M aine’

s observations on this theory, H ist . EarlyI nstit. 2 8 , 3 1 , 3 2 , 35 5 Gaidoz , Esquisse de la Religion des Gaulois, I 7 .

Orig ins of E nglis/z f f istory . 2 69

Sun,which became St . M ichae l ’s Mount : others were

th e owners of wandering bel l s and flying rocks,and of

trees and anim als which could never be hurt or destroyed ;and some of them were ac cused of b eing fierce and

gloomy be ings,ever ready to smite the ir enem ie s with

monstrous kinds of vengeance .

l Th e heads of th e saintlyfam ilie s have ancestors and des cendant s wh o h ear th e

names of Ce ltic gods and heroes . Th e saints Brychan

and Dubric ius were ascribed to th e kindred of th e“maniac kings

,

” whose flocks were th e stars in th e

firm am ent,and who seem in reality t o have b een th e

figures of a conste l lation or a s ign in s ome ancientzodiac : they were th e two oxen of H ugh th e M ighty

,

transformed into beasts for their pride,

a yoke of hornedcattle in th e plough

,one on either s ide of th e h igh

peaked mountain .

” 2 The goddes s of love was turned

into St . Brych an’

s daughter : and as late as th e 14th

century lovers are said to have come from all parts topray at h er shrine in Anglesea

,and to cure their sorrows

at h er m iraculous we ll .3

A god of fire appears in m edia v al romance as“blessed

K ai,

”th e sene s chal of King Arthur’s c ourt . Very subtle

was K ai : when it pleased h im h e could make h imse lf as

tall as th e h ighest tree in th e forest,and so great was th e

heat of h is nature that when it rained harde st whatever h ecarried became dry

,and when h is companions were coldest

it was as fuel to them for lighting their fire .

”

A more s ingular example of this kind is found in the

1See th e l ives of Cadoc and Carannog, R ees, Brit . Saints, 35 8 , 39 7, and

G irald . Cam br. Topogr. H ibern . ii. 5 5 .

Guest ’s M ab inogion ,2 2 9 , 2 36 , 2 8 1 .

3 Sikes, British Gobl ins, 35 0 .

2 70 Orig ins of E ngZis/i H istory .

confusion between St . Bridget and an Irish goddess who segifts were poetry

,fire

,and medicine . Th e saint became

th e Queen of H eaven,and was adored as th e Mary of

th e Gae l but almo st all th e incidents in h er legend can

be referred to th e pagan ritual . H er worship was l ikethat wh ich Pytheas discovered in th e “Celtic I s land

,or

that des cribed by Solinus in h is picture of M inerva’s templeat Bath

,where the goddess “ruled over th e bo iling springs

,

and at h er altar there flamed a perpetual fire wh ich neverwhitened into ashes

,but hardened into a

[

stony mass .”1

Th e symbol of St . Bridge t is a flame,repre senting th e

column of fire which shone above h er when sh e took th eve il . Th e house where sh e dwe lt was said to have blazedwith a flame which reached to heaven . Th e sacred firewas maintained for ages in h er shrine at Kildare it was

extinguished in the l gth century, but was soon renewed

and it remained al ight until the suppression of th e m on

asteries. Each of h er nineteen nuns h ad charge o f it for asingle night

,and on th e twentieth evening th e m m in

attendance said “Erigit l take care of your own fire,for

this n ight b e l ongs to you .

”

Th e women m ight take th ebellows or a fan to increase th e flame

,but m ight no t use

their breath . Th e shrine was surrounded by a brushwoodfence

,within which no male m ight enter on pain of a

m iraculous vengeance . The saint was called “th e greate stof eaters ” and th e

“woman of th e m ighty roarings h er

1 Solinus, c . Geoff . M onm . H ist . Brit . n . c . 10 . A ful l account ofthe tem p le wil l be found in Lyson ’

s Religuioe, and in Collinson’

s H isto ry o fSom erset . Th e titles of th e goddess were Suliv ia ,

”

Sul ina, ” and SuliM inerva She is thought to have been connected with th e “

Sulfae or

sylphs, unef oule de Salenes, [a petite m onna ie de l’

ancienne Suliv ia , who

were worshipped in th e district of Cham onix . D e Belloguet, Ethnog.

Gaul . 2 40 .

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2 72 Or igins of E ngZis/z H istory .

th e twelve subordinate deities were ornamented with plate s

of bronze .

1

Befo re th e Celts used images a tall spear-o ak was a

suffic ient emblem of th e Thundere r : 2 they re cognized th epresence of a god in th e brightness of th e sky

,th e stirring

of th e bubble s in th e spring,or th e lone l ine ss which

Oppre ssed them in th e forest . They easily transformed

natural obj e cts into de ities ; Th e brimm ing rivers were“Mothers ” bringing food and abundance of riches . Th e

whirling eddy concealed a demon,th e lake was ruled by

a l onely queen,and every well and grotto in th e forest

was haunted by its fairy or nymph . They saw th e palace sof Morgan la Faye in the mirage and th e coloured clouds

at sunset,and believed that on th e

“blue verge of th e sea ”

were th e shore s of th e Land of Youth,of O ’

Brasil th e

I sland of th e Blest,and of th e “green isles of th e flood ”

which vanished at the fish erm en’

s approach . Th e earthlyparadise was always on th e sea-horizon ; it was set by

differen t tribes in Somerset,in th e I sle of Man

,and in

fabul ous countrie s off th e Irish Coast . Th e inhab itantsof these home s of summer were a divine race of th e pureCe ltic type , l ong-faced yellow-haired hunters ” and

goddesses with hair like gold or th e flower of th e broom .

3

1 Th e“ Crom -c ruach is described in th e “ D inn-Senchus and in

Jocelyn ’

s Life o f St . Patrick . See also th e R evue Celtique, i. 2 60 .

2 "

Ay a k/ro 5 6 Attic Kehrm dv inlarflxfi 596g. M ax . Tyr . D issert . 3 8 5 Pl iny,H ist . N at . xv i . c . 9 5 .

3 Queen “ M edb,

”

wh o ruled all the“spirits o f the glens, is desc ribed

in th e Irish legends as“a beautiful pale long-faced wom an with flowing

go lden hair upon h er. The Princess Edain h ad hair “ like red go ldor th e flowers of th e bog

-fir in sum m er . O’

Curry , M anners and Custom s

of th e Ancien t Irish, iii. 190 ; Sul l ivan ’

s Introd . lxx iv . Th e Irish O ’

Brasil“th e isle of th e blest ” was drawn in som e of the m ediaeval m aps as a

Orig ins of E nglisn f f istory . 2 73

To a childish people the wrath or favour of H eaven is

seen in every strange appearance of nature . The rough

bearded com et is the sword of God,th e meteors are stars

fighting in th e heavens . “There is some divine troubl ein earth or in air.

”A m ist creeps about th e weed-beds of

th e lake and is taken for an aerial c ity set round with

gardens and pasture s . When th e holy we l l becomes

turbid,or its waters streaked with red from a vein of ore ,

th e credulous worshippers are convinced that it runs withmilk or wine

,or is turned into a river of blood . Th e flat

shore s of an e stuary are covered with string- like sea

weeds wh ich gl itter at sunset like th e surface of broads carlet pool s

,a haze l ooms out at sea in a time of heat

,or

th e wave s at night are lit with ph osphoric flame : and

all these natural phenomena are accepted as miracles or

message s from th e gods.

jl Th e springs and intermittent“winter-bournes which rise suddenly at certain seasons

country lying to th e west of Ireland . (See M ap X .) According to O ’

Curry ,

its inhab itantswere thus described by the fairy-m essenger who carried awayan I rish queen

O Béfinn wilt thougo with m e

To a wonderful land which is m ineThe hair there is as the blossom of waterflags,

Of the co lour of snow is th e fair bodyThere wil l be neither grief nor care ,White th e teeth , and black th e brows,Pleasant to th e eye is th e num ber of our hostsW ith the hue of th e fox-

glove on every cheek .

1 St. Winifred ’

s We l l at H o lyhead was supposed to have sp rung fromthe spo t where th e head o f th e saint was thrown down :

“the stones are

covered with blood,the m oss sm e l ls as frank incense , and the water cures

d ivers diseases .

” There are a great num ber of sim ilar legends about we l lsin Wales and I reland . See G irald . Cam br. Topogr. H ibern . i. c . 7, and

I tin . Cam br. ii . 0 . 9 ; Sikes, British Goblins, 345 , Farrer, Prim itiveM anners

, 306 .

2 74 Or igins of E nglisfi H istory .

in th e chalk-districts were thought to be harb ingers ofpestilence and famine . I n times of trouble every movement of th e elements was watched with wonder and

alarm . Even th e Roman armies were infe cted bythese superstitions . Tacitus h as re corded a long list ofomens which foreboded th e rebell ion of Boudic ca “

a

murmur was heard in th e council-house and a wailing

noise in th e theatre ; in th e estuary of th e Thames m en

saw th e likeness of a sunken town ; th e high sea was

tinged with blood,and as th e tide went down what seemed

to be human forms were left upon the shore ; and all thesethings were of a nature to encourage th e Britons

,while

th e veterans of th e garrison were overwhelmed with

fear .1

There are many mineral -springs which c an be excited

to “ laugh ” or break into bubble s by throwing in somel ittle obj e ct of metal , and others which are troubled whenpieces of bread are cast on their surface .

This s eems to be the origin of those practices of divination

,by which th e name of a thief was dis covered by an

offering of bread at th e fountain,and of all those super

stitions about pin-we lls wh ich prevail so extensively in

Wales and Scotland . There are also wel ls in Englandwhich th e country-girls never pass without m aking th ecustomary offering .

2 There is often a“rag

-bush by

1 Tac . Ann . xiv . c . 3 2 . The descrip tion points to the occurrence of a

severe earthquake in the neighbourhood of Co lchester .2 Farrer, Prim itive M anners, 306 3 H az litt

’

s Tenures of Land,

1 5 1 .

Com pare th e account of the children ’

s Sport in Brocéliande , by M . D e

Villem arqué, Revue de Paris xli. 47 :“Ris done, Fontaine de

Berendou, etje te donnera i une e’

p ingle.

”

See Grim m , Deutsch . Mytho l . 5 6 2 ,and Guest ’s M abinogion ,

67. For an account of th e laughing-we l ls in

Cornwal l , see De la Beche, Geo logy of Cornwal l, 5 17, and as to the Scottish

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2 76 Origins of E nglis/z ffi sz‘

ory .

his cauldron was the vault of th e sky and h is hammer wasth e thunderbolt .1 H e is attended by a company of divineartific ers

,and by a physician who healed all disease . H is

son Lug,

”a personification of th e Sun

,was master of all

th e s ciences . Among h is other ch ildren were {Engus

Mac 00 and th e fiery Brigit and sun -faced Ogma ”

th e

patron of writing and prophecy ?

Th e moon is said to have been worshipped as th e queenof heaven and mother of th e gods . H er gloomy rites weretainted with death and s laughter . H er sacrifice s wereoffered upon th e hills at Midsummer

,and at th e winter

f easts,when th e Spirits of th e dead were propitiated .

3 I n

one form sh e was a battle -goddess and leader of th e Furie sand Choosers of th e S lain . Like Pallas at th e slaying of

th e suitors sh e sits in the form of a b ird to watch th erush of th e battle . Th e fancy of th e Irish transformed th ebirds which fed on carrion into goddesses like grey-neckedcrows ; and in th e moon shin ing on th e battle -field they

1 Rhys, H ibbert Lec tures, 1886 , 154 , 644 . Thor is considered to be h is

N orse equiva lent, ibid. 645 .

2 For th e connection between Ogm a and Ogm ius, th e Gaul ish H ercules,see Luc ian ’

s accoun t of the latter god :“This old H ercules was drawing a

large num ber of peop le after h im whom h e seem ed to have bound by theears with slender chains of go ld and am ber m ade l ike beautiful necklaces.

”

Luc ian (Bekker) , v ii. 2 3 . Rhys, H ibbert Lectures, 1 886 , 14 ,2 96 .

3R evue Celtique, iv . 189 , 194 . As to th e worship of the M oon in

Brittany see th e extracts from th e l ife of N obletz , ibid. ii . 484 : C’

estoit

dams ces m esm es lieux une coustum e receiie de se m ettre d genoux devant la

nouvelle lune et de dire Z’

Ora ison D om inicale en son honneur. Com pare a lsoCam den ’

s account of th e Irish : I cannot tel l whether th e wilder sort ofthe Irishry yie ld div ine honour unto the M oon 5 for when they see h er firstafter th e change com m on ly they bow th e knee and say over th e Lo rd ’

s

p rayer, and so soone as they have m ade an end they speake to th e M oone

with a loud vo ice in this m anner, Leave us who le and sound as thou hastfound us.

’ Cam den, Britann ia (Gibson) , 14 15 .

Or igins of English H is iory . 2 77

saw both th e Queen of th e Night and a lean b ird- likedemon gloating over th e bodies of the slain . Th e “

red

mouthed,sharp -beaked crows ” fluttered and s creamed in

th e confus ion of th e fight,and came at night with satyrs

and Sprites and devil s of the air” to tear th e dead and the

wounded .

1

The gods of Britain suffered th e common fate of theirkind

,and were changed into kings and champions or

degraded into giants and enchanters . Th e great “Belinus ”

Shrinks to th e form of a mortal conqueror . According to

th e mythical histories h e marched to th e siege of Romewhen Gabius and Porsena were consul s h e devastated

Gaul and Dacia h e built Caerleon upon Usk,which in a

later age was to be known as th e City of Legions ; and“he

al so made a gate of wonderful design in Trinov antum

upon th e banks of th e Thame s which th e citizens to this

day cal l Bil lings-gate , after h is name,and over it h e

built a prodigiously large tower,and under it a haven for

ships . ” 2 Most of th e gods of war were converted intoheroes

,who fought under Arthur’s banner against th e

heathen of th e Northern Sea. They m arch with th e hosts

o f Urien and die on the field of Cattraeth . If we turn to

Aneurin’s famous poem we see them fighting in th e ranks

1R evue Celtique, i . 3 2 5 u. 489 . The D inn-Senchus contains a notice of

Neid , th e god of war am ong th e pagan Gaidel, and Nem on h is wife .

”

The I rish Badb or battle-fury seem s to have been a person ification of the

hooded crow . Th e other furies were Nem on , wh o confounded her v ic tim s

with m adness,”M acha wh o reve l led on th e bodies of th e S lain ,

and th e

m oon -

goddess or Morrigu wh o inc ited warrio rs to brave deeds, but

appeared Som etim es in the form of a dem on .

“Over h is head is shrieking,A lean hag quickly hopp ing, Over the po ints of their weapons, and over theirSh ie lds.

— Revue Celtique, i . 39 .

2Geoffr. M onm . H ist . Brit . iii. 0. I O .

2 78 Orig ins of E ngZis/z H istory .

l ike th e O lympians round th e body of Patroclus . Theyare disguised as mortal warriors ; but we recognise a

divine form in Gwydion “th e Eagle of th e Air ”

; it is a

war-god who leads th e herd of Bel i “th e roaring Bull ofbattle ”

; it is a godde ss in th e l ikeness of Aphrodite wholeave s th e foaming b illows and take s h er share in the

ruin of Britain . Th e poet never mentions Owain or

h is father,th e Prince of Beged

,without some al lusion to

th e army of ravens which rose as h e waved h is wand and

swept m en into th e air and dropped them piecemeal to

earth . A battle -goddess is adored before th e fight begins :“th e reapers sang of war

,war with th e sh ining wing ”

Pryderi leads h is army from a land of shadows and

enchantments ; th e ravens hover round th e head of th eGiant E idiol ; and

“Peredur” with h is magic spear

,

Gwyn th e fairy-king,Manannan th e sea-god

,and a host

of other divine beings,take part in th e legendary conflict . 1

There seem to have been three principal fam ilies,th e

children of “Don and Nudd ” and“L ir

,whose wor

ship was common to th e British and Irish tribe s . Th e

first group cons isted of th e heavenly powers whose home swere set in th e stars and conste l lations . Gwydion son of

Don is celebrated in th eWe l sh household tales and in th epoems ascribed to Taliessin . H e is th e great magician

,th e

master of illusion and phantasy,

” who changed th e forms

1 See Aneurin ’

s Gododin , in Skene ’

s Four Ancien t Books of Wales .

M r. Stephens took th e subjec t of th e poem to be an expedition of th e

O ttaden i against th e town of Cataracton in th e Brigantian territo ry . L iter .Kym ry, 3 . See also N ash , Ta l iesin, ch . 3 . Th e p oem s seem not to be

earl ier than th e twe lfth century , though they contain num erous al lusions tolegends as old as the age of pagan ism . I t Should be rem em bered that th eWe lsh histo rians have found a date and a local hab itation for every personwh o is nam ed in these rom ances.

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2 80 Origins of English H isiory .

Erin from that time forth .

”1 In th e We l sh historie s h e

appears as ‘ Lear. ’ According to th e version in Geoffreyof Monmouth ’s history

,which Shakespeare adopted as th e

framework of h is tragedy,King Lear buil t th e town of

Leicester about th e time when Am os was a prophe t inIsrael ; and h is daughter Cordelia is represented as burying h im in a vault under th e River Sore

,which h ad been

originally built as a Temple of Janus ? Cordelia herselfappears in th e We l sh stories as that “Splendid maidenfor whom Gwyn ap Nudd and another myth ical being wereto fight on every First of May until th e day of doom and

th e explanation of th e legend seems to lie in th e traditionof th e Two Kings of th e Severn

,

” wh ich is found in a list

of marvel s appended to some of th e editions of N ennius.

Two lines of waves were said to meet in th e e stuary and

to make war upon each other by pushing and butting l ikerams .3

Th e group of th e “ Ch ildren of L ir included several

other divinities who came t o be regarded as characters ofromance . Th e Lady Brangwaine , who helps and hide s th eloves of Tristram and I seult

,is no other than “Branwen of

1 Joyce , Old Ce l tic R om ances,18 . In the We lsh popular tales L ir

is cal led L lyr L lediaith and “Lludd ”or Lludd

‘

L law Ereint. See

th e stories of “K ilhwch and O lwen,

” “Branwen th e daughter of Llyr,”M anawyddan the son of Llyr

,

”and “ L ludd and L levelys

”in the

M ab inogion .

2 Geoffr. M oum .,H ist . Brit . u. c . 14 . The fabulous narrative contains

Several o ther notices of R om an antiquities, which e ither ex isted in the age

of Geoffrey of M onm outh or were described by o lder writers.

3 See th e Trac t “D e M irabilibus Britanniae,which is o ften p rinted

with the H istoria Britonum . For the We lsh story of Corde l ia , see Guest’sM abinogion , 2 5 1 , 2 5 9 . Professo r Rhys considers that Llyr

, or Lear, h asbeen confused with Llud , ‘

the Ce ltic jup iter, ’ who is th e We lsh equivalentfor N odens . H ibbert Lec tures

,1886 , 5 6 2 , 5 63 .

Orig ins of E nglisn [J is fory 2 8 1

th e Fair Bosom,th e Venus of th e Northern Seas , whose

m iraculous fountain sti ll pre serves her name in an islet offth e shore of Anglesea .

“Bran son of L ir ”has under

gone a more remarkable kind of transformation . A greatnumber of allusions in th e Welsh Triads and th e songs of

th e mediaeval bards Show that Bran and h is son Caradoc

were originally gods of war. But th e forms of their nameswere sufficient in an age of ignorance to identify th e one

with Brennus who led th e Gaul s to Rome and th e otherwith th e brave Caractacus ; and th e legend in its final formshows “Bran th e Ble ssed ”

accom panying h is son intoc aptivity and returning converted from Rome to preachth e faith of Christ to the Kymry .

1

Th e most important character of the group is th e famousManannan Mac L ir. H e was th e patron of traffic and

m erchandise,and according to “Cormac ’s Glossary ”

h e

himselfwas an old and celebrated trader of th e Isle of Man,

who could predict th e changes of th e weather and te l l th e

signs of th e sky. The best weapons and j ewel s fromacross th e sea were thought to be gifts from th e god . In

th e de s cription of the “Fairy H ost,contained in an

Irish romance,th e ch ieftain rides Manannan

’

s mare “sh e

was as swift as th e clear cold wind of spring,and sh e

travelled with equal ease on land and on sea h e woreManannan

’

s coat of mail and had on h is breast th e god ’sc uirass which could not be pierced by a weapon :

“h is

he lmet h ad two gl ittering pre cious stones,one set in front

and one behind,and when h e took it off

,h is face shone l ike

th e sun on a dry day in summer .

1 R ees, We lsh Saints, 77 H addan and Stubbs, Early Counc ils, i . 2 2 5

Stephens, L it. Cym ry , 4 2 9 ; Guest ’s M ab inogion , 385 .

2 Joyce , Old Ce ltic R om ances, 3 8 . O’

Curry , M anners of the A110. Irish ,

2 8 2 Origins of English H isz‘

ory .

We have se en enough of th e re l igion to understand itsgeneral character

,although but a few of th e multitude of

its gods have been described . Th e nature of its ritualmust be inferred from th e superstitions which have l ingeredin th e country districts

,from rural sacrifice s and ceremonial

fires,from service s at th e “cursing- stone s ” or th e “wishing

well . Th e o ld We lsh names for th e cardinal points of

th e sky,th e north b eing th e left-hand and th e south

th e right,are signs of an ancient practice of turning to

th e rising sun .

1

Ve stiges of an adoration of th e sun m ay be seen in

th e devotions of th e Irish peasant ,‘

crawling three time sround th e healing spring in a circuit that imitate s th e

course of th e sun . When Martin visited th e H ebride s h e

saw th e islanders marching in procession,three t imes from

east to west,round the ir crops and the ir cattle : “

if a boatput out to sea it began th e voyage by making these threeturns : if a we l come s tranger visited one of th e islands th einhab itants passed three times round their guest : a flamingbrand was carried three time s round a chil d daily until itwas christened .

” 2 A worship of fire h as survived in th e

curious ceremonies by which th e forced-fire,

” or wil l

fire,

”was produced in th e North of Scotland . If a mur

rain attacked th e cattle a new and pure flame was raisedby th e friction of wood . The instruments employed forth e purpose were of various kinds . I n Mull they used a

wheel turning in th e line of th e sun’s course over nine

11. 30 1 . The “M anawyddan son of L lyr of theWe lsh legends, though a formof th e sam e divin ity, seem s to have l ittle connec tion with the Sea . Rhys,H ibbert Lec tures, 1886 , 665 .

1 Rhys, We lsh Philo logy, 10 . R evue Celtique, ii . 103 .

2 M artin , D escr. West Islands, 1 13 , 1 16 , 140 ,2 4 1 , 2 77.

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2 84 Origins of English f f islory .

After that they use th e same ceremony to th e noxiousanimal s : ‘ This I give to thee

,O fox ! spare thou my

lambs ° this to thee,O hooded crow ! this to thee , O

e agle ! When th e ceremony is over they dine on the

c audle,and after th e feast is finished what is left is h id by

two persons deputed for th e purpose ; but on th e nextSunday they re—assemble and finish th e relics of th e firstentertainment . ”1

Another harmless sacrifice was performed in Martin ’s

t ime in honour of a water-god who was worshipped by th enatives of th e H ebrides . Th e families came together at

H allowe en,and stood by th e shore of th e sea . A m an

c arrying a cup of ale waded out in th e darkness,and cried

a l oud to th e god :“Shony ! I give you this cup of ale

,

h 0ping that you will be so kind as to send us plenty ofsea—weed I After th e libation they all went up to th echurch

,and there stood silent

,until at a given s ignal a

c andle at th e altar was extinguished and all returned totheir homes ?

There are many other instances of sacrifice performedin c omparatively modern times

,either to a local god dis

guised as a saint or to some real person whose memoryh as become confused with a pagan legend . There are

records , for example,of bulls being killed at K irkcud

bright “as an alms and oblation to St . Cuthbert,

” of

bullocks offered to Saint Beuno “th e saint of th e Parish ofC lynnog ” inWal e s

,and to th e patron -saint of Applecross

near Dingwal l . Th e registers of th e Presbytery of Dingwall under th e years 165 6 and 1678 contain many entrie sre lating to th e kil l ing of bul l s on th e site of an ancient

Pennant, Tour in Scotland, 1772 , p . 94.

2 M artin , Descr. West . Islands, 2 9 .

Orig ins of E nglish H istory . 2 85

temple,in honour of Saint M ourie

,or ane god M ourie

,

as h e was sometimes styled by h is worshippers ? I n otherplaces a heifer was killed in case of a failure to produce th eforced fire

”in times of pestil ence : if th e animal was

infected by th e murrain, the diseased part was cut out whileth e beast was al ive

,and solemnly burned in th e bonfire ?

A sacrifice of this kind is said to have b een performed inMorayshire about twenty-fiv e years ago ,

3and it is by no

means uncommon to hear of fowls being buried alive or

killed as a preservative against epilepsy .

4

Th ere were certain restrictions among th e Britons and

th e anc ient Irish , by which particular nations or tribe s wereforb idden to kill or eat certain kinds of animals . It was acrime

,for instance

,in Southern Britain to taste th e fle sh

of th e hare,th e goose

,or th e domestic fowl

,though th e

1 Th e extracts from th e parochial registers and a ful l account of th esupp ression of the ido latrous practices wil l be found in M itchel l ’s Past inthe Present, 2 7 1 , 2 75 . Leland ’

s Itinerary contains a letter desc ribing the

sacrifice of a bul lock to St . Beuno in 15 89 . The offerings to St. Cuthbert took p lace in th e twe lfth century . H orses were at one t im e sac rificedat St. George ’

s Wel l near Abergeleu.

“Th e rich were wont to offer oneto secure a blessing on all th e rest . Sikes, British Goblins, 36 1 .

2 Grim m , D eutsch . Mytho l . 5 76 .

3 M itche l l , Past in th e Present , 2 74 ; Sim pson , Archaeo l . Essays, i . 4 1 ,2 05

i

L iebrech t, Vo lkskunde, 2 93 Revue Celtique, iv . 1 2 1 .

4 For the cure of epilepsy there is stil l practised in the no rth of Scotlandwhat m ay be cal led a form al sacrifice . On the Spot where th e ep ilep ticfirst fal ls a black cock is buried alive with a look of th e patient’s hair andsom e parings of h is nails.

”

M itchel l , Past in the Present, 146 , 2 65 . The

sam e disease is cal led Tegla’

s Ev il ” in Wales, and is cured at St. Tegla ’

s

We l l,near Wrexham ,

by th e offering of a cock or h en acco rding to the sex

o f the sufferer . The fowl is carried round the we l l and also round the

church , and is left by the patient at th e p lace . Should the b ird die it issupposed that th e disease has been transferred to it, and the m an or wom an

is c onsequently thought to be cured .

”

Sikes, British Gobl ins, 330 , 349 ;Archaeo l . Cam br. 1 . i . 184 .

2 86 Origins of E ngli sh H istory .

creature s were reared and kept for amusement ? Th e

reason for th e prohibition is unknown , but it should be probably conne cted with th e fact that in some parts ofEuropethese animal s seem to have retained a sacred character .

W e have seen that in France and in Russia a fowl isoff ered as a propitiation to th e household spirits , and in thelast—named country th e goose is sacrificed to th e gods of thestreams ? Th e hare is now an obj e ct of disgust in someparts of Russia as wel l as in Western Brittany

,where not

many years ago th e peasants could hardly endure to hear

its name ? Th e oldest Wel sh laws contain several allusionsto th e magical character of th e hare , which was thoughtto change its sex every month or year

,and to be th e com

panion of th e witches who were be lieved to assume its

Shape . I n one part of Wales th e hare s are called “St .

M onacella’

s lambs,

”and it is said that up to very recent

t ime s no one in th e district would kil l one .

“When a

hare was pursued by dogs it was bel ieved that if any one

cried ‘ God and St . Monac e l la be with the e it was sureto escape .

”4 I n Ireland also th e local saints were believed

1 Caesar , De Bel l . Gal l . v . c . 1 2 .

2R alston

,Russ. Pop . Songs . 1 2 9 ; R evue Celtique, iv . 190 .

2 Figuier , Prim . M an . (Tylo r) , 2 68 Grim m, D eutsch . M ytho l .

6 79 . Th e peop le of the Swiss lake-dwe l lings are bel ieved to have Sharedth e superstitious fee l ing against eating the hare, but the neo lithic tribes inBritain used the anim al for food . Boyd Dawkins, Cavehunting, 2 17 .

Th e anc ient I rish ate its flesh , and one of th e p rerogatives o f the k ings of

Tara was to be fed on“the hares of Naas. O

’

Curry, M anners of the

Anc ien t I rish, ii. 14 1 .

4 Th e legend is related “ by Pennan t in h is Tour through M ontgom eryshire .

”

See a lso Sikes’

British Goblins, 16 2 . The sacred character of thean im al is indicated by th e legend of Boudicca wh o , according to D ion

Cassius, in X iph iline’

s Ep itom e,“ loosed a hare from h er robe , observ ing its

m ovem ents as a kind of om en, and when it turned p ropitiously, th e who lem ultitude rejo iced and shouted .

”Dion Cass. lx ii. 3 .

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2 88 Orig ins of English H istory .

as th e emblems or cognizances of th e chieftains . Th e

early We l sh poems will furnish another set of examples .

Th e tribes who fought at Cattraeth are distinguished by th ebard as wolves

,bears

,or ravens ; th e fam ilies which claim

des cent from Caradoc or Owain take th e boar or th e ravenfor their crest . Th e fol lowers of “

Gian th e Dog ” are

cal led th e“dogs of war

,

”and th e chieftain’s house is

described as th e stone or castle of “th e white dogs.

” JL

I t seems reasonable to connect th e rule of abstainingfrom certain kinds of food with th e superstitious belief

that th e tribes were de s cended from th e animal s fromwhich their names and cre sts

,or badge s

,were derived .

There are al so several I rish l egends which appear to b ebased on th e notion that a m an m ight not eat of th e anim al

from which h e or h is tribe was named ?

Such facts suggest an inquiry whether th e religion o f

th e British tribes m ay not in some early stage have beenconnected with that system of ‘ Totemism ’ under wh ich“animals were worshipped by tribe s , who were named

after them ,and were be lieved to be of their breed . This

descendants of the wo lf are in Ossory . See on th e who le subjec t M r.

Gom m e’

s Essay on Totem ism in Britain , Archee ol. Rev . iii . 2 1 7, 35 0 .

1 Aneurin’

s Gododin, 9 , 2 1 , 30 ; Guest’s M ab inogion , 3 7, 3 2 8 . Thereare m any traces of th e sam e p rac tice am ong the Teuton ic nations. Theirheroes were be l ieved in m any cases to have descended f rom div ine anim als ,l ike th e children of Leda or Europa . Th e M erov ingian kings p retended to

trace their descent from a sea-m onster,and Sim ilar legends occur in the

West of Ire land . Gom m e, Gent . M ag. Libr . ‘ Traditions,

’

14 . The pedigreesof th e old Engl ish kings contain such nam es as

“ Sigefugel,”

Saefugol,”

and Beorn ,

” which seem to be connected with legends of a descent froman im als . We m ay a lso com pare such patronym ics as D ering, ” H arting, ”Baring, and th e like .

2 I n th e sto ry of th e Death of Cuchulainn,contained in th e Book of

Leinster, som e witches offer the hero a dog cooked on sp its of rowan .

Origins of English fi ’z'

story . 2 89

form of superstition prevail s at th e present day amongIndians in North and South America

,among th e nativ e s of

Australia,and in some of th e African Kingdoms ? Traces

of its existence have been found in th e early history ofGermans

,Greeks

,and Latins

,as wel l as in th e traditions of

th e Semitic nations . In countries where this b el ief h asprevailed it is generally found that relationship was traced

through females exclusively,and it appears that in many

cases marriage in its proper form was at one t ime quiteunknown . I t is

,at any rate , a plausible hypothesis that

these fabled des cents from animal s and plants m ay haveoriginated at a time when paternity was as yet unacknow

ledged,and a fiction of this kind was required to keep the

mother’s offspring united in one fam ily group .

wood . C1’

1chulainn’

s nam e sign ified “th e H ound of Culann . Th e sto ry

turns on th e idea that one of th e things that h e m ust no t do was eating h isnam esake ’

s flesh . See th e translation of the sto ry by M r. Whitley Stokes,

R evue Celtique, iii . 1 76 O’

Curry, M anners of Anc . Irish, ii. 363 . Th e legendof E inglan , king of th e birds, indicates that b irds were considered bysom e Irish tribes to be sac red, Conaire the Great being th e son of the Birdking, and therefore ‘

forb idden to kil l b irds of any kind .

’

O’

Curry , ibid. ,

introd . ccc lxx . Som e of th e C lan Coneely , in th e western parts of

Ire land, were said to have been turned into seals, and th e be l ievers in thestory would no m o re eat of a seal ‘ than they would of a hum an Coneely .

’

M r. Gom m e also states that som e of the Achil islanders believed thatthey were descended from seals .

1 Under th e R ed Indians ’

system of totem ism , the“ totem m ay not be

eaten by any m em ber of the group . Another rule p rov ides that personswith th e sam e

“ totem ”

m ay not interm arry. The theo ry of the wided istribution of Totem ism am ong the nations of th e anc ient world is dueto M r. J . F . M

’

L ennan,wh o first exp lained it in th e Fortnightly R ev iew,

1 869 ,1870 . With regard to th e Sem itic peop les, see an essay on the

subjec t by Professo r R obertson Sm ith in the Journal of Philo logy, 1880 ,ix .

75 . See also Grant Al len ,Anglo -Saxon Britain , 79 , and Lang, Custom

and Myth , 2 74 .

2 90 Orig ins of English H i story .

CH A P TER X I .

TH E R OMAN PROV INCE or BR ITAIN .

Character o f th e R om an Conquest—Th e century of peace after Caesar 's invasionIncrease o f c om m erc e with Gaul—Fresh settlem ents o f Gauls in Britain—Th eAtrebates—Th eBelgae— Th e Parisi i—Prosperityof th e nat ive states—M etal lurgyList of exports— End o f th e peace

—Th e capture of Cam ulodunum —Th e trium pho fClaudius—M assac re o f th e captiv es—E nro lm ent o fBr itish regim ents— Conquestof th e South ern D istricts—Th e co lony o f Cam ulodunum —Tyrann ical m easuresR ev o lt of th e Icen i— V ictory o f Paulinus—Th e p rov ince constituted—Agr icola ’

s

b enefic ial gov ernm ent—Th e v isit of H adr ian—Th e four legions—D escription of

Caerleon—Growth o f towns—H adrian ’

s VVall—D escription o f its rem ains—TheWall o fAnton inus—Tab lets erected by th e so ld iers—Th e ir worsh ip and supersti

t ions—Th e exped ition o f Sev erus—D eath of th e E m peror at York—Th e rev o lt ofCarausius— I nfluence o f th e Franks—D ioc letian ’

s sch em e of governm ent—R eignso f Constantius and Constantine th e Great—A new system o f adm in istration—Them i l itary roads—VVh eth er identicalwith th em ediaev al h ighways—Course o fWatl ingS treet—Th e R om an system of com m un ications—Th ree l ines from north to southTransv erse routes in th e N orth—Connect ions with roads in th e South andWestTh e d istrict of th e Saxon Sh ore— Course o f th e I ken i ld Way

—Th e routes in th eAnton ine I t inerary—Th e Peut ingerian Table—Th e effec t on Brita in o f th e new

constitut ion— Increase of taxat ion—E stabl ishm ent o f Ch rist ian ity in Br ita inGradual decay o f Paganism — Panth e ist ic religions—State o f th e frontiers—Th eP icts and Scots— Th e Franks and Saxons—V ictories of Th eodosiuS—Th e R ev o lto f M axim us— Th e successes o f Sti l ich o—Usurpat ion o f Constantine—The treasono f Gerontius—Th e independence of Br itain .

HERE is something at once mean and tragical aboutth e story of th e Roman Conquest . B egun as th e

pastime of a fool ish despot and carried on under a false

expectation of riches , its mischief was certain from th e

b eginning . I l l -armed country-folk were matched againstdis ciplined legions and an infinite levy of auxil iaries . Vainheroism and a re ckles s l ove of l iberty were crushed in

tedious and unprofitable wars . On th e one side stand th epetty tribes

,prosperous nations in miniature

,already en

riched by commerce and rising to a homely culture ; on

th e other th e terrible Romans strong in their tyranny

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2 9 2 Origins of English H istory .

before th e long- sought Britons ? Too much , it was thought ,h ad been made of a march along th e high-road and th e

fording of a sto ckaded river : th e legions h ad been forcedback to th e coast by an army of chariots and horsemen ; no

princes were sent as hostages,and no tribute h ad ever

been paid .

Th e invasion was of greater importance than th e critics

were disposed to allow,though its eff e cts were chiefly

seen in an increased commerce with th e Continent . I twas th e conquest of Gaul wh ich most affe cted th e nationsbeyond th e Channel . Th e influence of th e empire was feltbeyond its formal boundaries

,and th e provincial fashions

found a crowd of imitators in th e rustic kingdoms on th e

Thames . Another result of th e conquest was an increaseof th e Gaulish settlements in Britain . Com m ius

,th e

Prince of Arras,took refuge from th e Romans in th e

island which h e h ad helped to invade,and th e

‘Atrebateswere thenceforth e stablished on th e Upper Thames

,and

ruled th e country between Silchester and th e h ill-fortre ssat Sarum . Th e ‘Belgae ’ founded a settlement on th e Solent

,

from which they spread we stwards to th e mouth of th eS evern

,and buil t towns at Bath and Winchester

,and at

I l chester in th e marshes of th e Parret . Th e ‘ Parisii ’ lefttheir island in th e Seine

,and settled in th e fens of

H olderness and round the chalk-cl iffs of Flamborough,

and dwel t in th e straggling town of Petuaria “all round

th e fair-havened bay .

”The graves on th e Yorkshire

coast stil l yield the remains of their iron chariots and

h orse-trappings,and their armour decorated with enamel

1 Oceanum que vocans incerti stagna profundi,Territa quaesitis ostendit terga Britannis.

”

Lucan, Phars. 11. 5 71 .

Orig ins of English H istory . 2 93

and th e red Mediterranean coral? Th e prosperity of th enative states was indicated by the rise of regular townsin place of the older camps of refuge

,as we l l as by

the increase of th e continental trade . An advance in

metallurgy was marked by th e use of a silver coinage,

2 bya change from the bronze weapons to the ste el sabres andponderous spears of Gaul

,

3and by th e export not only

of their surplus iron but of th e prec ious ores which werefound and worked in th e west and th e ultimate conque st

was doubtle ss hastened by th e dream of winning a Land

of Gold and a rich reward of victory .

4 Th e returns from

th e imperial custom -houses showed as great an increase inth e agricultural exports

,and th e British chiefs grew rich

with th e price of their cattl e and hides,and of th e wheat

and barley from th e Kentish fiel ds . Th e sporting-dogs

1 These discoveries were m ade in th e tum ul i in th e East R iding of

Yorksh ire .

“At Grim thorpe a Skeleton was found with a spear-head and

swo rd both of iron , th e latter in a curious sheath of bronz e decorated withstuds of red coral . ” Archce ol. x liii. 474 . The bronz e arm lets are em be l l ishedwith scarlet enam e l l ike those found at Beuv ray . Pliny says that coral hadbeen used by th e Gauls down to h is tim e for o rnam enting their arm our.H ist . Nat . xxxii . c . 1 1 . That the art of enam e l l ing was not confined to theCon tinen t is shown by a passage in the Im agines

”

of Ph ilostratus, wherethe philosophe r inform s the Em p ress Jul ia Dom na that this beautifulwork was m ade by th e

“ islanders in th e Outer Ocean . Ph ilostratus

I m ag. i . 2 8 .

2 For an account of th e silver co ins of the Icen i see Sir T . Browne'

s

H ydriotaphia , c . 2 , and Evans, Co ins of th e Anc ient Britons.

’

2 M e la,iii . c . 6 . The rude iron sword-blades found in Sheaves of 70 or

80 together , in or near earth-works in th e South-western Counties are

be l ieved to be of British m anufac ture . Archwol. x l iii. 4 78 , 486 .

4 Tac . Agric . c . 1 2 ; Carew, Surv . Cornw. 7 ; D e la Beche , Geo logy ofCornwal l , 2 18 , 6 1 1 Philipps, Anc . M etal lurgy , Arch . Journ . 185 9 ;

H iibner, Corp . Lat. Inscr. v ii . 2 2 0 . For an account of th e British leadm ines, where m ost of th e S ilver was found, see Pl iny, H ist . N at . xxx iv . c . 49 .

The lead, h e says, lay l ike a thick skin on the surface of the ground .

2 94 Origins of English f f zstory .

formed a separate and valuable class of exports,including

rough terriers or spanie l s which ran entire ly by scent,

lurchers or greyhounds for hare -hunting,and those b ig

British hounds “strong enough to break th e neck of a

bull,

”ugly and somewhat noisy till crossed with the

Thracian breed,but neverthe less esteemed by th e

Roman sportsmen to be as useful as any hounds inth e world ?

Th e discord of th e Brit ish chieftains was th e immediatecause

'

of th e se cond invasion . Th e sons of Cunobelinewere at war with th e H ouse of Com m ius

,to whose

territory Kent and some bordering districts be longed . A

prince of that fam ily,sought refuge and vengeance at

Rome,and th e courtiers of Claudius caught at th e chance

of gratifying their master’s vanity . An army of four legions

was landed on th e south ern coast,and Caractacus and h is

brothers were driven far to th e west,and were afterwards

defeated near a‘ great river

,

’ which seems to have beenth e Thame s . Th e capture of th e chief stronghold at

Camulodunum was reserved for th e Emperor ’s hand? The

batt le seems to have been arranged with Eastern pomp :

The sm al l dog is the“agassaeus o f Oppian , i . 468 , also cal led

petronius .

”See Gratian . Falisc . Cyneg. 178 , 2 0 2 , 2 06 . I t was afterwards

cal led petrunculus,”

as for instance in the Burgundian Laws . The Ce lticgreyhound is th e “

vertragus or“vertraha ,

the “veltre of our m ediaeval

records . Blount , Tenures, 9 , 35 .

“Et p ictam m acula vertraham delige

falsa,

” Gratian . Palisc . Cyneg. 2 03 . Com pare M artial , Ep igr. x iv . 2 00 .

Th e British hound was not th e m astiff, which is a late im portation fromCentral Asia ; it seem s to have rather resem bled th e m ediaeval boarhound .

Com pare also C laudian ’

s desc ription :“M agnaque taurorum fracturae co l la

Britannae, Stilich . iii . 30 1 .

2 ‘ Th e vast earthworks stil l rem aining at Lexden , one m ile fromCo lchester, give som e idea of the strength and extent of th e cap ital ofCunobeline taken by C laudius .

’

Scarth , R om an Britain , 3 8 .

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2 96 Origins of English H istory .

world ’s end is no longer th e end of th e Empire,and

O ceanus turns h imse lf back to look on th e altars ofC laudius .”1 One l ook from Caesar h as subdued th e cliffgirt isle

,th e land of the wintry pole

,

Q uafrigida sem perPraefulget stellis Arctos inocc iduis .

’ ” 2

The re cord of th e rej o icings h as be en pre se rved,and

inscriptions are extant to show th e honours and decorations,

th e col lars brace lets and ornaments,which were lavished

on all who had gained distinction in th e war. First in th etriumph came th e images of th e gods and th e figure s of

th e Emperor’s ance stors,and then th e booty of the war

,

th e crowns sent by th e province s,and gifts from all parts

of th e world . Claudius passed in h is general ’s dress ofpurple with ivory s ceptre and o ak- leaf crown . M essalina

’

s

carriage followed ; and then came th e ofli c ers distinguished

in th e fie ld,march ing on foot and in plain rob es

,except

one wh o h ad been de corated before,and so was entitled

to ride a horse with j ewe l led trappings and to wear a tunic

embroidered with golden palms . On reach ing th e CapitoltheEmperor left h is c ar

,in accordance with th e old routine

,

and m ounted th e steps,praying and knee ling with th e

help of h is sons -in—lawwho supported h im on either side .

2

Another day was given to games in th e Circus,and th e

factions of th e Blues and Greens were prom ised as many

1 Burm ann . Antho l . ii. 84 . The tem p le of C laudius was built at

Cam ulodunum .

”

Th e natives regarded it as th e c rown of their S lave ry,and com p lained that the country was exhausted in p rov iding cattle forth e sac rifices . I t was destroyed in Boudicca ’

s revo lt, and its S ite h as neverbeen exac tly discovered . Tac . Ann . x iv . 2 9 ; H iibner, Co rp . L at. I nscr.

v ii. 34 .

2Burm ann . Antho l . ii. 9 1 .

2 D ion Cass. (X iph ilinus) IX . 2 3 Suetonius . C laud. 17 .

Orig ins of English H istory . 2 97

chariot-race s as could be run betwe en morning and night ?

But th e number was dim inished to ten by th e time takenup in beast -figh ts and other shows wh ich were moreappropriate to th e amphitheatre . Bears we re hunted and

kil led,perhaps in al lusion to the war still raging in th e

northern forests . Gladiators were matched in singlecombat between th e race s ; and as a crowning Show the

famous Pyrrh ica”

was danced by boys of th e best fam iliesin Asia

,who had be en summoned to take part in th e

rej oic ings . At th e sound of a trumpet they appeared inSplendid uniforms

,and counterfeited in th e war-dance all

th e movements used in th e fie ld,advanc ing and retreating

,

and breaking rank and wheeling into l ine again,now

seeming to bend away from an enemy ’s bl ows and now to

hurl th e spear or draw th e bow ?

Afterwards came th e brutal sports which seemed to th eRomans to be the chief reward of victory .

“ It is th egreatest pleasure in l ife

,

” C icero h imself h ad said,

“to see

1 As-

x m auy as twenty-four races were run in one day by Ca ligula’

s

orders in 37, each race taking about half an hour . Th e course wasseven tim es round the h ippodrom e . The C ircus, in th e re ign of C laudius,was constructed to hold. about persons ; but it was v ery m uchen larged in later reigns. Pl iny, H ist . N at. xx xv iii . c .c . 2 4, 10 1 Pausan ias,

v . 1 2 .

2 Dion Cass. (X iph ilinus) 1x . 30 . For descrip tions of th e“Pyrrh ica, see

P lato , L eg. v ii. 18 ; C laudian, Sext . Cons . H onor . 6 2 1 Burm . Antho l . 134 .

Puelli puellaeque v irenti florentes astatula, form a c onsp icui, veste n itidi,incessu gestuosi, Graecan icam saltaturi Pyrrh icam di5 p ositis ordination ibus

deco ros am bitus inerrabant, nunc in orbem rotatum flexuosi nunc in

obl iquam seriem connex i, et in quadratum patorem cuneati et in cate rvadisc idium separati. " Apul . M etam orph . x . 2 9 .

“U t est il le in pyrrh ic z

’

i

versicolorus discursus quum am icti cocco alll, a l ii et luto et ostro et

purpura cret i, a l ii aliique coh aerentes concursant. Fronto . Ep ist . ad Caes .

i . 4 . Com pare the account of the “Trojam entum or“ Ludus Tro jac .

Virg. lEn . v . 5 45 , 602 , and Journ . Philo l . ix . 10 1 .

2 98 Orig ins of English f f istory .

a brave enemy led off to torture and death . Th e Fie ldof Mars

,on th e other side of th e river

,was now chosen as

th e s cene of a fresh entertainment . At a place where th epark was surrounded by water on three s ides a fortre sswas built in imitation o f th e banks and stockades of Camulodunum : and th e straw- thatched palaces and stre ets ofwattled huts were defended

,stormed

,and sacked

,by armie s

of British captives re served to die in a th eatricalwar. Threeyears afterwards

,in A .D . 47 , when Plautius gained h is

triumph for th e conquest of Southern Britain,th e massacre

was renewed in a somewhat diff erent fo rm . Th e prisonerswere enrolled among th e heavy-armed gladiato rswh o fought,as Gauls ” and Samnites

,

”

against th e “Thraciansarmed with th e target and crooked dagger

,and th e

“ retiarii ” with nets and harpoons ready to entangle

their adversarie s as th e fisherman catches th e tunny-fish .

Thousands of Britons are said to have perished in thesecombats

,and in th e chariot-figh ts in wh ich they were com

pelled to exh ibit the ir native methods of warfare?

As th e conquest advanced,other uses were found for

th e native s in th e mine s and public works,or in m il itary

service abroad . As early as A .D . 69 a force ofBritons was enrolled in th e army of Vite l lius

,and in later

times we find the ir levies s cattered in all parts of th e

world,in th e forts on th e Pyrenees and th e Balkans , in

th e H ousehold at Constantinople,and along th e distant

frontiers of th e African and Armen i an deserts ?

1 D ion Cass . (X iph ilinus) lx . 30 . The costum e of th e retiari‘

us is bestknown by th e m osaic of Cup ids fighting,

in th e R om an v il la at Bignor inSussex . Archaeologia , xv iii. 2 03 . See also Dyer ’s Pom pe ii, 2 2 7. Friedl

'

einder quotes th e song of the retiarius :“N on te peto , p iscem peto , quid

m e fugi’ Gal le ? M anners of th e R om ans (Végel) , ii . 2 74 .

2 Tac . Agric . 15 , H ist . i. 5 9 . Th e“Notitia D ign itatum , or Ofli c ial

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300 Orig ins of English H istory .

invaded th e territories of the al l ies,

“because they never

expected that th e new general would take th e fiel d in

winter . ” Some of th e allies themselves began to Showsymptoms of wavering

,and th e I ceni ” shortly afterwards

broke out into open war. Ostorius se ized th e opportunityof e stabl ishing a regular government ; th e invasion wasrepe l led with th e first troops at hand ; and th e I cenian

army was crushed without waiting for th e arrival of th elegions . A line of forts was drawn across th e island from

th e Severn to th e eastern fens :1 and a colony of dis charged

soldiers was settled at Camulodunum,where a pleasant

open town was rising beside th e ruins of th e fortress . Th e“I ceni ” were perm itted a doubtful freedom under a kingwhose private wealth was a sufficient guarantee for peace

,

and several terri tori es in th e South were transferred to

another friendly chieftain ?

Th e wantonne s s of th e Roman tyranny appears by th ecomplaints attributed to th e provincial s

,and by th e record

of those evil doings which led to Boudic ca’

s revolt . The

Tac . Anna l . xn. 3 1 . Rhys, Celtic Britain , 80 .

Som e of the states were given to K ingCogidubnus, wh o l ived down toour own day ,

said Tac itus , “as a m ost faithful a l ly, so that th e R om ans

according to their custom m ight find in kings them se lves fresh m eans of

establ ishing their m astery . Tac . Agric . 14 ; Ann . x ii . 3 1 . This territo ryhad be longed to certain tribes of th e R egn i .

”I ts new capital was

Nov iom agus, about ten m iles south of R om an London . Itwas connec tedwith th e town of th e R egn i,

”in th e ne ighbourhood of Chichester , by a

m ilitary road, cal led the Stone Street , wh ich c rossed the Banstead D owns .

A ce lebrated inscription was found at Chichester in th e last century, relatingto a tem ple of N ep tune and M inerva , built under th e authority of TiberiusC laudius Cogidubnus, King and Lieutenant of th e Em pero r in Britain . Itis difficult to conceive any legal autho rity for these titles, but they m ay referto som e p riv ilege granted to th e first king of the l ine or to one of h is

im m ediate descendants . H iibner, Corp . Lat. Inscr. v ii. 1 8 .

Origins of English H istory . 30 1

legal dues,indeed

,were severe

,but by no means intoler

able . Th e cons cription was nece s sary for repairing th e

drain upon th e other provinces , though th e Britons complained that their sons were torn away

,

“as if they m ight

die for every country but their own .

”Th e tribute

,th e

t ithe of corn,and th e obl igation of feeding th e Court and

th e army,were all endurable

,when th e burden was equally

d istributed but su ch a th ing was never known to happen,

till Agricola came to th e government and “restored h er

good name to Peace .

” 1 Before this time th e Britons weretreated as s lave s and prisoners ofwar : th e colonists thrust

them from their lands the tithe-farmers comb ined to buyup th e stock of corn

,which th e chieftains were forced to

purchase back at a ruinous price to fulfil their duty to the

government . Th e illicit contrivances for gain were moreintolerable than th e tribute itself ? Th e people groanedunder a double tyranny ; each state had formerly beengoverned by a single King ;

“but now,

” they said,

“we

are under both Legate and Procurator ; th e one preys onour blood

,and th e other on our lands th e ofli c ers of th e

one,and th e slave s of th e other

,combine extortion and

insult ; nothing is safe from their avarice , and nothing fromtheir lust .Then foll owed the I cenian mutiny . Prasutagus, famous

for h is great treasure s,h ad made Caesar and h is daughters

j oint heirs,thinking by this re spect to save h is kingdom

and fam ily from insult . But it happened quite otherwisefor h is kingdom was made a p rey by th e captains and

h is house pillaged by the slaves , and,as if the whole

1 Tac . Agric . 2 0 ; Ann . xiv . 3 1 . Agricola took com m and of the pro

vm ce in A.D . 79 .

2 Tac . Agric . 19 (Church) .

302 Orig ins of English H istory .

was now b ecome lawful booty , th e chiefs of th e I ceniwere deprived o f their paternal estates , and those of th eblood-royal were treated as th e meanest slaves . ” l Th e

story of th e actual revolt is too fam il iar to need repetition .

Paulinus was recal led from Mona by th e news that th eNinth Legion was nearly annih ilated . Th e new colony h adbeen de stroyed , and th e temple sacked after a two days ’

s iege : th e nations of Eastern and Central Britain movedin a vast horde to sweep th e he lpless province . Th e

troops were dispersed in forts and blo ck-houses,and th e

barbarians were exhausting th e refinements of crue lty onall who fell into the ir hands , as though endeavouring ( said

th e angry Romans ) to avenge in advance th e terriblepunishments which awaited them . Paulinus acted with

th e spirit and j udgment which became such a famoussoldier . Marching across th e island by th e new military

road,h e reached London with th e Fourteenth Legion and a

few m en of th e Twentieth,and such Gauls and Germans as

h e could get together from stations wh ich h e h ad relievedupon th e route .

“H e could not pre sently resolve whetherto make that place th e seat of war or not

,but determined

at last to sacrifice this one town to th e safety of th e rest ;and no t re lent ing at th e sighs and tears of th e inhab itants

,

wh o entreated h is aid and protection,h e gave orders to

march,re ce iving such as followed h im into h is army ; those

who by weakness of sex or age stayed behind , or weretempted by the ir affection for th e place to remain there

,

w ere de stroy ed by th e enemy .

’2 London was sacked as

1 Tac . Ann . x iv . 3 1 (Cam den) . The revo lt began in A.D . 6 1 , whenSuetonius Paul inus had been two years in com m and .

2 Tac . Ann . xiv . 3 3 (Cam den) . London , Verulam , and Cam ulodunum ,

were all open towns, though founded on th e sites of Celtic fortresses . They

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304 Orig ins of English H istory .

impossible,for th e Fourte enth Legion was drawn like a

wall of steel from cliff to cliff,with th e light troops thrown

forward on a curved front supported on th e flanks bycavalry . Th e Britons covered th e plain with their horsem en

,riding up and down in their troops and squadrons

“ in such numbers as never were elsewhere seen . Theyseem to have delivered the ir assault in th e old Britishfashion

,charging al ong th e enemy’s l ine with masses of

mounted m en,wh ile th e infantry pushed up behind and

drov e back th e R oman skirmishers under a shower ofdarts and stone s . Th e legionaries are des cribed as

standing bare -armed and poising their h eavy jave l ins,and

never moving a step until all their missile s h ad beend ischarged with effect . Then

,suddenly wheeling into a

wedge -shaped formation,they charged and cut th e enemy’s

l ine in two . As th e heavy troops moved out,guarded

with their bucklers,and forc ing a way with the ir short

stabb ing swords,th e auxiliarie s charged al ongside

,hewing

down th e enemy with their sabres,and striking at th e face

with th e spikes of their targets ; and th e cav alrv deployedinto line with spears in rest

,and rode down th e only

force that still remained unbroken . Th e greate st slaughterwas at th e waggons

,with which the crowd of fugitives

became entangled,and th e bodie s of m en women and

horses were piled together in indiscriminate heaps?

sm al lness of our num bers,h ad begun gradual ly to descend and to h em in

th e rear of the v ic torious arm y . Tac . Agric . c . 3 7 (Church) Annal , x iv .

3 5 , 36 .

1 “The v ic tory, says Tac itus

, was very noble , and th e glory of it not

inferior to those of anc ient tim es ; for by the repo rt o f som e the re we reS lain l ittle less than fourscore thousand Britons, whereas the R om ans lostbut about four hundred k il led and h ad not m any m o re wounded .

” Annal .x iv . 37 (Cam den) . Th e battle is supposed to have taken p lace at

Orig ins of English f f istory . 30 5

This battle practically dec ided th e fate of Britain . Largereinforcements were forwarded from th e province s on th e

Rhine ; and th e mutinous and suspected tribes alike wereravaged with fire and sword . Th e punishment was s o

Sharp and long—continued that Paulinus was at last accused

of personal fee ling : “h is pol icy,

”it was said

,

“was arrogant,

and h e showed th e cruelty of one who was avenging a

private wrong . Th e matter came in time to Nero ’s ears,

and one of th e imperial chamberlains was despatched toarb itrate between th e governor and th e party of mercy

,

and if possible to bring th e rebels to terms . Italy and

Gaul were burdened with the vast array of troops and

courtiers . Polycletus,th e enfranchised slave

,a name

hated and feared by all th e Roman world,passed over in

royal pomp to Britain to th e terror of th e general and h isarmies and th e amazement of th e free barbarI ans .

1 It wasfortunate for them that Ne ro never heard of their con

tem ptuous reception of h is favourite . Paulinus was qu ietly

removed,and th e province remained at peace until th e

ac cession of Ve spasian . Even t hen we hear of no greatc ombination s among th e tribes ; th e states of th e Brigantianswere divided in Cartism andua

’

s quarre l,and th e S ilure s

were left to fight alone in the ir final contest with Frontinus ?

Burrough H il l , near Daventry, where th e nature of the ground agrees withth e descrip tion given by Tac itus .

’ I t is said to have afterwards form ed th e

S ite of th e R om an station of Bennaventa . Scarth . R om an Britain , 4 1 .

1 Tac . Ann . 39 ; H ist . ii . 9 5 .

2Cerealis attacked th e revo lted Brigantians in A .D . 69 .

“There werem any battles

,som e by no m eans bloodless, and h is conquests, or

“at least

h is wars, covered a great part o f th e territories be longing to the Brigantes.

Indeed h e would have thrown into th e Shade the act iv ity and renown o f

any o ther successor ; but Jul ius Frontinus, a great m an so far as greatnesswas then possible , p roved equal to the burden and subdued by h is arm s

th e powerful and warl ike nation o f th e Silures . Tac . Agric . 17 .

306 Orig ins of English f f istory .

Th e province was final ly consolidated by th e valour andprudence of Agricola

,who h ad learned to l ike th e people

and to prefer their native wit to th e laboured smartness of

th e Gauls . H e determined to root out “ th e causes ofwar by reform ing th e abuses of th e government

,and by

persuading th e native s to leave their rude ways of living ,to build “temple s and courts and fine houses

,

” to speakLatin

,and to wear th e Roman dress . Th e hostile tribe s

were alarmed by sudden campaigns,and then bought over

by th e off er of a generous peace ? H is first year of officewas taken up by th e expedition against th e Ordovices and

th e conquest of th e I sle of Mona . I n h is se cond campaignh e was engaged with th e tribes of th e western coastb etween th e D ee and th e Solway Firth ; we are tol d thath e always se lected th e place of encampment himself andmarched with h is soldiers in the ir explorations of th ee stuaries and forests . Many of th e nations in those partssubmitted to give hostages and to allow permanent forts tobe ere cted within their territories ;

“and it was observed

by th e b est masters of war that no captain ever choseplace s to better advantage

,for no castle of h is raising was

ever taken by force , or surrendered up on terms , or qu itted

as incapable of defence .

” 2

Th e next campaign was directed against “new nations

and tribe s as yet untouched in th e l ong Brigantian wars .But their hasty levies were easily thrust aside

,and their

lands were ravaged as far as th e mouth of a northern rivercal led “Taus

,

” or “Tanaus,which is usually identified

1 Befo re h e was appo inted to th e chief com m and Agrico la h ad se rvedin Britain under Vettius Bolanus and Cerealis . H is final v icto ry over theCaledon ians was in th e year A .D . 84 .

2 Tac . Agric . 2 2 (Cam den) .

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308 Orig i ns of English H istory .

Thirty-fiv e years after Agricola’s return to Rome th e

Emperor H adrian1 was summoned to th e defence of th efrontier

,and th e epigram te l l s us how h e “roamed among

th e Britons,and shivered in th e S cythian cold .

”

Th e beginning of h is re ign was troubled by border-wars,

and in Britain,as elsewhere

,h e found that th e natives had

broken th e first l ine of defence and were threatening th eh eart of th e province . Th e N inth Legion had suff ered sosevere ly that it was e ither broken up altogether

,or was

united with th e Sixth,which came over with H adrian

,

and was established as a permanent garrison at“Ebura

cum,

”th e site of th e modern c ity of York ?

Of th e four legions wh ich C laudius h ad posted in th e

island only two now remained . Th e“Twentieth Valens

Victrix ” was permanently stationed at “Deva,” or Chester

,

where all th e north -western roads converged ? Th e

1 Spartian . Vita H adrian . c . 1 2 . H adrian arrived in th e year A.D . 1 2 0

th e publication of Pto lem y’

s Geography took p lace about the sam e t im e,

too soon for any no tice of the “Wal l to appear in its tables.

1 Yo rk seem s to have grown out of a R om an cam p , and to have takenth e p lace of I surium now Aldborough , as the c ap ital of th e Brigantiandistrict . We l lbe loved, Eburacum , 3 8 , 1 5 5 ; H iibner, Corp . L at. I nscr. v ii .

6 1 . I surium is cal led “I su-Brigantum in th e Antonine Itinerary, as if

it h ad long retained th e position of th e native capital . An inscrip t ion of

108 Shows that som e R om an buildings were erec ted at York underTrajan ,

whose fondness for such m ural records earned h im th e nam e of“Parietaria or Wa l l-flower.

2There is no actual reco rd of this legion after the death of Carausius

in AD . 2 94 . Th e Sixth and th e Second Augusta ” were in this countrywhen th e Notitia D ign itatum was com p iled, the one legion being thenposted at R ichborough and the other in its old quarters at Yo rk . H iibner,

Corp . L at . I nscr. v ii . 5 . Th e S ites of the so ldiers’

graves, cam ps, and

quarters, can be traced by m eans of the inscrip tions on t iles and o ther potteryleft on the ir routes. The so ldiers were constantly engaged in brickm aking,so that an exam ination and com parison of the tiles shows th e distributionof the m ilitary forces. Birch, Anc ient Pottery, 487.

Origins of E nglish H istory . 309

Second Augusta was chiefly employed in th e West,

with its head-quarters fixed at Caerleon-upon-Usk . Itslabours built th e splendid City of Legions

,th e “towered

Cam elot of romance , of which th e ruins , as they stood inthe twelfth century

,are des cribed in a vivid passage of

Giralda s . Caerleon,

”h e said

,

“was excellently bu ilt by

th e Romans with their walls of brick : and there are stil l

to be seen many traces of its former greatnes s : hugepalaces aping the Roman maj esty with their roofs ofantique gold a giant tower and noble baths

,ruined

temples and theatres,of which th e wel l-bu ilt walls are

standing to this day : and within and without th e city thetravel ler finds underground works

,canals

,and winding

passages and hypocausts,contrived with wonderful Skil l to

throw th e heat from little h idden flues within th e wal l s . ”1

Each legion m ay have numbered at first aboutregulars

,with at least as many auxil iaries

,some trained l ike

th e heavy-armed legionarie s,and others fighting ac cording

to their own methods,and in some cases under the

command of their native chiefs ? But it must be remembered that the numbers were dim inished under the later

1 Girald . Cam br. Itin . Cam br. i . c . 10 . H is words “coctilibus m uris

(wh ich h e also app lies to M uridunum , th e R om an fo rt at Carm arthen ,

ibid. c . 5 ) would im p ly that th e c ity wal ls were of brick ; it is, however, ac lassical phrase m isquoted , and m ade to app ly to m asonry with interm ediate courses of building-tiles. The fac ings of stone m ay stil l be seen

on som e of th e rem ain ing towers. Archwologia, 1 846 (Winchester) , Porch.

Castle, 2 0 ; see also Lee ’

s“An tiquities found at Caerleon ”

; and Le land , Itin .

ix . 10 1 . Of“ Caer-went, or Venta Silurum ,

in the sam e neighbourhood.

Le land says that in h is tim e the p laces where the four gates stood werestil l to be seen And m ost part of the wal l yet standith but alto m inched

and torne in th e towne yet appear pavem entes of th e o lde streete , and

in digging they found th e foundations o f great brykes, tessela ta pav im enta ,

num ism ata argentea , sim ul et cerea .

” I tin . v . 5 .

1' Tac . Ann . iv . 5 . Of the Batav i th e historian says : “M ox aucta per

3 10 Orig ins of English H i story .

Emperors,when an almost absolute reliancewas placed on

th e German mercenaries . Large forces of barbarians-f

were from time to time sent over to assist the legions in

Britain . Thus when Marcus Aurelius had defeated th e

Moravian tribe s,h e compelled them to Send a great part of

the ir army to serve on th e Caledonian frontier ; and in th e

same re ign a contingent of Sarmatians was draftedfrom th e Lower Danube to th e stations between Che sterand Carl isle ; 1 and there are re cords relating to Germansoldiers from districts now included in Luxemburg

,wh ich

Show that in some cases th e whole population of a districtwas attached to one or other of th e auxiliary regiments inBritain .

2

Th e soldiers were pioneers and colonists . A Roman

camp was “a city in arms

,

”and most of th e British towns

grew out of th e stationary quarters of th e soldiery . Th e

ramparts and pathways devel oped into wal ls and streets,

th e square of the tribunal into th e market-place,and every

Britann iam gloria, transm issis illuc coh ortibus quas vetere instituto nob ilissim i popularium regebant.

”

H ist . iv . 1 2 .

1 D ion Cass . i . 7 1 . Capes, Age o f the Anton ines, 95 . M any Lancash ire insc rip t ions rem ain to Show that these Sarm atians were perm anentlyquartered in that ne ighbourhood . H iibner

,Corp . L at . I nscr. v ii. 60 ;

Cam den ’

s Britannia (Gibson) , 9 74 .

2 Th e Pagus Vellaus and th e Pagus Condrustis served in this waywith th e Tungrian coho rts in Eskdale . H iibner, Corp . Lat . Insor . v ii 188 .

They were posted at th e three R om an stations with Carl isle for m other,Netherb ie M iddlebie and Owerbie

,in Eskdale .

” Carlyle , R em m . i. 166 .

Th e notable tabular hil l which Carlyle desc ribed “ h as a glorious R om an cam pon th e south flank of it, th e best p reserved in Britain excep t one, ve lve tSwardcovering the who le, but trenches, &c . , not altered o therwise.

”The country

peop le cal l it th e “Birrens,

”a nam e which a lm ost invariably im p l ies the

ex istence of R om an ruins . Com pare a sim ilar use o f th e wo rd2

“ Burrals.

”

Cam den ’

s Britann ia (Gibson) , 990 . See as to Burrens, or Burwen

Castle, at E lslack in Craven ,Whitaker 's Craven (M orant) , 1 14 .

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3 1 2 Orig ins of English Elistory .

Th e mil itary gen ius of H adrian is attested by th e wonderful Picts ’ Wal l

,

” of which th e ruins still extend form iles between Tynemouth and th e e stuary of th e Solway .

1

Th e merit of th e work has been claimed for Severus,for

th e general s who in th e fifth century brought temporaryhelp to Britain

,and even for th e native princes whom their

masters h ad abandoned to th e enemy . But after a l ongdebate th e opinion now prevails

,that th e whole system of

defence bears th e impress of a single m ind,and that th e

wal l and its parallel earthworks,its camp s , roads , and

stations,were de signed and constructed by H adrian alone .

Th e oldest evidence on th e subj ect is contained in th e

Lives of H adrian and Severus by Spartianus, who state sthat each of th e Emperors buil t a wal l between th e two

oceans . It is probabl e that h e was referring to some repairsmade by th e orders of Severus on th e barrier be tween th eForth and Clyde ; but several later historians took the

writer to refer to th e lower rampart,though all th e archaeo

logical evidence would lead us to attribute it to H adrian .

These historians were copied by th e British chroniclers,

and it is plain from Bede ’s ac count that in h is time it was

Bolanus, wh o gov erned Britain during the c iv il wars which p receded thereign of Vespasian . Tac . Agric . c . 16 .

1 Th e greater part of the wal l was destroyed in th e last century.

When M arshal Wade was sum m oned from N ewcastle to th e defence of

Carl isle against th e Pretender ’s forces, h e was obl iged to turn back at

H exham for wan t of a road p ract icable for artil lery,and on ly reached th e

western S ide of the island by a c ircuitous route and after a m onth ’

s de lay .

After th e rebe l l ion was que l led it was determ ined to m ake a good roaddirect from N ewcastle to Carl isle M arshal NVade overthrew whatthen rem ained o f th e R om an wal l for thirty m iles out of N ewcastle , toconstruc t an agger of h is own with its m assive m aterials. Th e R om ans,

Quart. R ev . N o . 2 13 , p . 1 2 2 .

Orig ins of English H istory . 3 13

unknown whether th e “Wal l of Severus ran along th eupper or th e l ower line .

“Severus

,

” said Bede,

“drew a

great ditch and buil t a strong earthen wall,fortified with

a number of towers,from sea to sea .

”

Th e des criptionwould have b een nearly corre ct if it had been applied toth e

“Wal l of Antoninus,

” or th e rampart between th e

Forth and C lyde ; but , having to account for th e ru insbetween Carl isle and Newcastle

,h e adopted a theory

,

(now complete ly abandoned) , that when th e Romanarmies were withdrawn

,a stone wal l was raised by th e

Britons,assisted by th e legionary soldiers

,along th e line

of th e c ities wh ich h ad been contrived here and there forfear of th e enemy . This des cription h e took from Gildas

,

adding that th e newfortification was on th e course followedby Severus ;

“and this wall

,

”h e said

,

“ so much talked ofand visible to th is day , and built at th e public and privateexpense by th e j oint labours of th e Romans and Britons

,

was e ight fe et broad and twelve feet high , running in a

dire c t l ine from east to we st,as is plain at this day to any

that Shal l trace it .

” 1

For th e works wh ich H adrian h ad thus designed no

better s ite coul d be chosen . Th e tributarie s of th e TyneandEden

,

” to quote a we ll -known des cription ,2 “ris ing near

1 For th e general history of the R om an wal ls, see D r. Co l l ingwoodBruce ’

s various works upon th e subjec t and M aclauch lan’

s surveys and

m em o irs . H iibner, Corp . L at . Iuser . v ii. 99 ,106 . See also Spartian . V ita

H adriani, c . 1 1 ; V ita Severi, c . 1 8 ; G ildas, H ist . 18 ; Bede H ist . Ecc l . i . 5 , 1 2 .

2 Quart. R ev . N o . 2 13 , p . 1 2 3 .

“Th e wal l h ad great num bers

of turrets or l ittle castles , a m ile one from anoth er , now cal led castle-steads,’

and on the inside a So rt of l itt le fortified towns, which they cal l to this dayclzesters,

’

the foundations whereof in som e p laces appear in a squareform . These had turrets between them wherein th e so ldiers were alwaysin readiness.

” “The rem ains of a wal l are all along so very v isible that

3 14 Origins of English H istory .

th e centre,fall into deep trough-like valleys

,th e northern

banks of wh ich rise to a considerable e levat ion in almostcontinuous ridge s ; but in th e centre itself th e land hasb een raised by some primaeval convul sion

,and presents a

stupendous barrier of basal tic cl iffs to th e north,broken

only by abrupt fissures at intervals .” Along th e cliff s,

and cl inging to their edge,ran a wall of stone about twenty

feet h igh and over eight feet thick,guarded where th e

ground perm itted by a fosse on its northern side . I n thiswere set 3 2 0 watch -towers , about a quarter of a m ile apart

,

with a m ile—castle between every fourth and fifth tower .To th e south of th e wal l

,sometimes quite touching its

inner m i litary road and sometimes as far as half a mileaway

,ran a triple series of ramparts strengthened by

another fosse,and below them again another m il itary road

of wh ich th e ruins still in many parts remain on th e l ine ofth e Stanegate between Newcastle and Carlisle .

Twenty-three permanent stations are shown by th e

Notitia D ignitatum” to have lain along th e line of th e

wall,with garrisons drawn from as many different countries ,

so that no two adj oining camps Should be held by so l diersfrom th e same part of th e world . Th e l ist Shows a motley

array of Germ ans and Gauls,of Spaniards

,Moors and

one m ay fo l low th e track ; and in the wastes I m yself have seen p ieces of

it for a long way together standing entire, excep t th e battlem ents on ly,wh ich are thrown down . Cam den, Br itann ia (Gibson) , 1048 , 105 0 .

Som e of th e m ile-castles were standing in 1708 ; one observes where th e

r idge h as been, and also th e trench all befo re it on th e no rth, as also som e

o f the ir l ittle towers or m ile-castles on th e south S ide .

”

I t id . 105 1 . I n

H orsley ’

s t im e the re were st il l three rem ain ing (Brit . R om . but theyare now all destroyed . A desc rip tion ,

of th e year 1 5 72 , gives th e m easureo f th e wal l at that tim e

,

“the bredth iii yardis, th e hygh t rem ain ith in

sum p laces yet v ii yardis . See Bruce , R om an “fall, 5 3 . Scarth , R om an

Britain . 74 .

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3 16 Orig ins of English f f istory .

A brief invasion in th e reign of Antoninus Pius disturbed

th e repose of th e world . Th e free Brigantians of the

hills took vengeance on th e protected clans ; but their

assault was repelled and sharply punished by Lollius

U rbicus,a general who h ad already distinguished himse lf

in a difficult campaign against th e Moors? To ensure

against such dangers in th e future a line of earthworks wasconstru cted on Agricola’s frontier : and th e whole garrison

was summoned to th e building of this new wall,of which

th e ruins remain in th e Graham e’

s Dyke on th e isthmusb etween Forth and C lyde ?

Some little m ay be learned about th e war from the

s culptured tablets erected by th e industrious soldiery

H ere,for instance

,a group of altars h as preserved to our

own t imes th e praises of “Victoria Victrix,

” of H ercules

1 Pausan . v iii . 43 .

2For a desc rip tion of the Graham e

’

s Dyke , see Cam den ’

s Britann ia(Gibson ) , 1 2 86, 1 2 87. It consisted of the works enum erated in the

fo l lowing l ist : “a . A d itch of twe lve feet wide before th e wal l, towards

th e enem y ’

s country . I) . A wal l of squared and cut stone two feet broad,p robably higher than th e wal l , to cover th e defenders and to keep th e eartho f th e wal l from fal l ing into the ditch . c . Th e wa l l itse lf, of ten feet thickness, but h ow high is not known . d . A paved way c lose at the foot of thewal l five feet broad . e. Watch-towers within cal l of one another wheresentinels kep t watch day and n ight . f . A wal l o f squared stone go ing

th rough . th e breadth of the wal l just against the towers .

” A “court of

guard ”

is also described, with its ram parts and outer wal ls of cut stone ;and , besides these , “

great and royal forts strongly entrenched, thoughwithin th e wal l , able to receive a who le arm y together . Th e wal l is firstm entioned by Cap itolinus . Vita Pii, c . 5 . I t seem s to have contained tenp rinc ipal stations and was about twenty-seven Engl ish m iles in length .

H iibner, Corp . L at . Inscr. v ii. 19 1, 2 07. Carausius, acco rding to the legendin N enn ius, repaired this wal l “ and built upon th e bank of th e Carron a

round house of po l ished stone . H ist . Nenn . c . 19 . This was a prehistorictom b, which h as com m on ly been cal led “Arthur ’s Oven .

” Cam den ’

s

Br itann ia (Gibson) , 2 2 2 .

Orig ins of English f f istory . 3 17

who shared the toil,and Epona who guided th e horsemen .

At one point an I tal ian troop set up a chape l and a statueto Mercury

,at another th e Gauls carved inscriptions to

“Mars-Cam ulus,

”and th e Germans to their gods of victory

Th e tablets display th e Caledonian warriors and th e figures

o f crouching captives : th e trooper in one medallion ridesdown th e defence les s savage s

,and in another Peace

returns,and flute-players lead th e soldiers towards th e

al tar and th e victim s ready for th e thank-offering . One

m ay read on these stone s th e army’s thanks to “Britannia,

”

to th e Genius of th e Land,and th e spirits of th e woods

and hil l s . Th e Roman soldiers were content to pray toSancta Britannia

,

” or to Brigantia with h er spear andturreted crown

,just as they deified the ir standards

,th e

Emperor’s maj esty,and even their own good luck : “nos te

,

nos fac im us Fortuna deam ”: and this kind of “Fetichism ”

extended so far that there was hardly a person,place

,or

thing,of wh ich th e es sential part might not be mental ly

detached and feared or adored as a god ?

After th e peaceful age of th e Antonine s th e debatableland about th e Walls became th e s cene of a perpetualwarfare

,which raged or smouldered as th e barbarians burst

across th e l ine or were chased into the reces ses of th e

1 “Gen ium dicebant antiqui naturalem deum un ius cujusque loc i vel

rei aut hom in is .

”Servius ad Virgil . Georg. i . 30 2 ; H erodian . iv . 147.

Com pare Seneca, Epist . 4 1, and th e controversy between Prudentius and

Sym m achus,

“U t an im ae nascuntur, ita populis natales genii div iduntur.

Sym m achus, Epist . 6 1 Prudentius , I n Sym m ach . ii . 7 1 . As to the statueso f Brigantia and Britann ia, see We l lbe loved ,

“Eburacum ,

”1 2

,2 8

, 9 2 .

Professor Rhys connects th e nam e of Brigantia with that of Brigit, the firegoddess . H ibbert Lec t . 1866, 75 , 77. For th e inscrip tions found near theWal l of Anton inus, see H iibner, Corp . Lat. Insor . v ii. 19 1 ; and for representations of som e of the sculp tures m entioned in th e text, see M itche l l ’sPast and Present

,2 45 , 2 46 .

3 18 Orig ins of Engli sh [f istory .

mountains . There are few records of a conflict whichonly became important when th e strength of th e Empirewas fai ling : but we can distinguish some occasions on

which th e fortune of Rome was restored .

Th e expedition of Severus made it certain that th e

H ighland tribes could never be finally subdued . Th e oldEmperor was holding h is court at Rome , when letters werere ce ived from York announcing that th e army h ad beendriven back upon th e fortresse s and that th e barbarianswere ravaging th e land . Severus seems to have beenweary of th e splendour and corrupt ion by which h isdepotism was maintained .

“ I have been all things,

”h e

said,

“and nothing avail s m e . H e determ ined to lead th e

campaign himse lf, and in th e summer of AD . 2 08 the court

was transferred to York and an army massed upon th e

frontier . Th e re storation of th e province was fol lowed by

a further advance which ended in a costly failure . The

plan of invasion was unsuited to th e nature of the country .

Th e e stuaries were bridged and roads were driven through

th e fens,but stil l

,as th e troops pushed their way , the enem v

retreated to more distant places of refuge : and,before a

pre carious peace could b e arranged,it was e stimated that

fifty thousand m en h ad perished in th e never-ending

ambus cades and skirmishes,or h ad died of cold and

disease . Before two years h ad passed th e war broke outagain

,and Severus vainly threatened to extirpate every

tribe in the hil l s . H is death is said to have been hastenedby th e omens of approaching ruin

,and th e trifl ing story is

useful as illustrating h is temperament and th e manners ofh is t ime . When h e went into th e stre et at York to makean offering to some healing god

,h e was led to th e “H ouse

of B ell ona by th e m istake of a rustic soothsayer : black

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3 2 0 Orig ins of English H istory .

Franks,who served as l egionarie s in th e new army and as

sailors on th e sh ips ofwar. Th e usurpationwas condoned,

though th e insult couldnever be forgiven and th e M enapian

was ac cepted as a partner in th e Empire by D iocletian and

Max im ian,whose origin was as humble as h is own

,though

they assumed to rule th e worl d by th e wisdom of Jupiter

and in th e strength of H ercules .

Th e Franks were fast arriving at complete dominion inBritain when Constantius broke their power by a dec isivebattle in which Allectus himself was killed . Th e Romanfleet had successfully b lockaded Boulogne

,th e outpost and

stronghold of th e insular power , and th e friends of Allectuswere weakened by an attack on their settlements near th eRhine . An army of invasion was landed under cover ofa fog at a point west of th e I sle of Wight

,where th e

British galleys were stat ioned . I t is difficult to extract th etruth from th e rhapsodies of th e courtly chronicler : butwe m ay believe that Allectus advanced too rashly and

with too implicit a confidence in h is German followers .It was said that hardly a Roman fe ll

,while all th e hil l

sides were covered with th e bodie s of th e Franks,who

m ight be re cognised by the ir tight clothes and broad be lts,

and by their fashion of shaving th e face,and of wearing

their reddened hair in a mass pushed forward on th e foreh ead? Th e imperial force s at once pushed on to London

,

1 Eum enius, Paneg. Constant . 1 5 , 16

,17 . Com pare the descrip tion of

th e Franks in th e letters and poem s of Sidon ius Apo l linaris .

“ Ipsem edius incessit, flam m eus cocco

, rutilus auro,lacteus serico : tum cultui

tanto com arubore cute conco lo r . Ep ist . iv . 7.

Rutil i quibus arce cerebriAd frontem com a tracta jacet, nudataque cerv ixSetarum per dam na n itet, tum lum ine glauco

Orig ins of English Eli'

story . 3 2 1

where a remnant of th e Franks was defeated .

“Th e

C ity,

”in th e words of its historian

,seemeth not to have

been walled in AD . 2 96 , b ecause , when Allectus th e Tyrantwas slaine in th e field

,the Franks easily entered London

and h ad sacked th e same,h ad not God of h is great favour

at th e very instant brought along th e River of Thamescertain bands of Romane souldiers who slew tho se Franksin every street o f th e C ity .

” 1

I n Diocletian ’s new s cheme of government th e world

was to be governed by two Emperors,administering th e

Eastern and th e I talian provinces,while th e frontiers were

guarded by two associated “Caesars,

”th e one governing

on th e Danube and th e other in the united regions ofSpain Gaul and Britain .

Th e dom inion of th e West was j ustly assigned to Con

stantius,first as

“Caesar,

and then as“Augustus

,

”after

th e re tirement of Diocletian . Constantius resided at York,

and is said to have been suc ce ssful in a war with th e Pictsand Scots : but h e is chiefly remembered as father ofConstantine th e Great

,and as husband of that pious

H e lena whose legend h as taken so many shapes in th e

fabulous chronicles . Th e chil d of a Dacian innkeeperh as be come an island-princess

,daughter of “Coil of

Col che ster,

”as learned divines have maintained

,and th e

famous “Saint H elen of th e Yorkshire wells ?

A lbet aquosa ac ies, ac vultibus undique rasisPro barba tenues perarantur pectine c ristae .

”

Carm . v ii. 2 38 , 2 4 2 .

1 Stowe ’

s Survey of London ( 16 19) 6 .

2 Usher, Cam den , and Stillingfleet, endeavoured in the ir z eal for the

British Church to support th e fiction that H e lena was the daughter o f

K ing Co il . The legend m ay be found in Geoffrey of M onm outh ’sH istory , v . c . 6 . H er father was supposed to have revo lted against K ingA sclep iodotus,

1

a personage constructed by the bards out of the story o f

2 I

3 2 2 Orig ins of English H istory .

Constantius died in th e year 306 , soon after th e close of

th e Caledonian war,

1and Constantine th e Great was at

once chosen by th e soldiers to succeed h im in th e sovere igntyof the We st

,though th e dignity was not legal ly confirmed

until h is marriage in the following year . We are told

the real Asclepiodotus, the general wh o defeated Allectus and h is arm y of

Franks .

“ M r. Carte (says Gibbon) transports th e k ingdom of Co il ,th e im aginary father o f H elen , from Essex to th e Wal l of An ton inus .

”

H ist . D ec l . and Fal l , c . 14 . H er nam e was p reserved in West Yo rksh ireby her ford and we l l near Tadcaster , and two sac red Sp rings at Eshton and

Fernhil l in Craven . St. H e len ’

s We l l near Tadcaster is c lose to th e r ighto f the R iggate, one branch of the great R om an road to York . Th e wateris soft and very c lear : it is m uch esteem ed as a rem edy for weak eyes, andth e adjo ining bushes are stil l hung with votive offerings of ribbons .

Whitaker ’s H ist . Craven (M orant) , 2 39 . She seem s to have been confused

in som e of the We lsh legends with an im aginary personage wh o gave h ernam e to th e “

Sam E len ,

”

or R om an road in No rth Wales.

“The m en

o f Britain would not have m ade these great roads for any save h er alone .

”

Guest’s M abinogion , 449 , 45 6 . R hys, H ibbert Lectures, 1866 , 167.

1 Constantius died at York, and was p robably bur ied there . Eum en ius ,

th e Panegyrist of Constantine, affi rm ed that he was nom inated to the

Em p ire by h is father . “ Thou didst enter that sacred palace not as a

c andidate , but as al ready chosen, and th e househo ld gods at once saw

in thee the lawful successo r of thy father . Bum en . Paneg. v ii . c . 4 .

Som e take this for th e Palace at Treves . Wyttenbach , R om . Antiqu.

Treves, 5 3 ; We l lbe loved , Eburacum ,6 2 . Ac co rding to th e fable of

N enn ius Constantius died at Carnarvon . H is sepulchre , as appears by th einscrip tion on h is tom b , is stil l seen near the c ity nam ed Caer-Segont.Upon th e pavem ent o f that c ity he sowed three seeds of go ld S ilver andbrass, that no poor person m ight ever be found in it. H ist . N enn . 2 5 .

AS to this p iece of folk-lore, com pare th e story in the H e im skringla ,

Ynglinga-Tal, c . 33 .

“There is a long account in th e Sk ioldung Saga

about R o lf Kraka com ing and sowing go ld on th e Fyrisvold .

” Laing, SeaK ings of Norway, i . 2 45 . As to th e tom b

,N enn ius perhaps referred to the

real inscript ion on the Ogam stone of som e later K ing of North Wales,such as that of Catam anus, R ex sapienti

'

sim us opinatisim us om nium ,

”found

in Anglesea , or that rude epitaph of a p rov inc ial Carausius found nearCarnarvon ,

“Carausius lzic jacit in hoe congeries lap idum .

” Cam den ’

s

Britannia (Gibson) , 8 1 1 Rhys, We lsh Ph ilology, 364, 369 .

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3 2 4 Orig ins of English H istory .

Empire in th e West . But,so far as this country was

concerned it was under th e direct orders of th e “Countof Britain

,assisted by two important though subordinate

officers . Th e“Duke of Britain ” commanded in Upper

Britain,and th e districts adj oining th e Northern wal ls

,

while th e “ Count of th e Saxon Shore ” hel d th e government of “

th e maritime tract , and provided for thedefence of th e fortresses which lined th e South -Eastern

coast . 1

Th e po int of chief importance with regard to this systemof government is to explain th e intricate s cheme of roads

and fortresses , by which these general s were enabl ed tosecure th e free movement of troops from coast to coast

,

or towards any danger upon th e frontiers . In this explanation we are helped by th e “Notitia ” for th e periodb etwe en th e re ign of Constantine and th e retreat of th eRoman armies

,and for th e preceding period by th e

Itinerary of Antoninus,

” which shows th e l ines of com

m unic ation between all th e c ities in th e Empire .

2

With th e assistance of these records we are able totrace th e principal military routes which connected th enorthern frontiers with th e stations in th e South andWe st

,

and with th e districts on th e Saxon Shore . But we must

1 There was another “Saxon Shore on th e opposite coast, with its

head-

quarters at Boulogne . For a descrip tion of the forts on th e“L ittus.

Saxon icum per Britannias see Panc irollus , N ot. D ign it . Com m ent . 16 1 .

2 Th e “ Anton inus whose nam e gave its title to the record wasCaracal la, th e successor of Severus. Several com m entators, however,assign th e date of th e Itinerary to th e age of Constantine the Great . The

difficul ties in using th is docum ent arise from the pauc ity and corruptnessof th e M SS . ,

and in particular from the errors of m ileage appearing inthe earl iest copy, which can hardly be am ended by m odern research or

conjecture .

Orig ins of English H istory . 3 2 5

first consider whether any help c an be gained from th e

identification of these roads with th e four nationalhighways

,so famous in the mediaeval re cords

,which

were for centurie s p laced under the “King’s Peaceand guarded by spec ial laws from injury? “ It is th e

general voice,said Gale

,of all our historians

,that four

great roads or streets ran from several points across thisisland . 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 th e 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 th e

dark and so much at a l oss to trace any one of these streets

from the beginning to th e end of it ; and indeed I now

conclude it is impossible to do it without great interrup

tions,time and other accident s destroying every day more

and more of their mouldering remains . ” 2

1 These were th e “Quatuor Ch im in i of the Norm an Laws . Palgrave ,Com m onw. 2 84 Thorpe, Anc . Laws, 19 2 ; Stubbs, Const . H ist . i. 18 2 .

2 Gale, Essay towards the recovery o f th e courses of th e R om anWays, inH earne ’

s Le land, v . 1 16 . Th e chief difli culties have arisen from t rustingto stories taken from the We lsh chronic les . According to th e fables of

Geoffrey o f M onm outh “ King Belinus ”

paved a causeway of stone and

m ortar running from th e Sea of Co rnwal l to th e Shores of Caithness, andanother ac ross th e breadth of h is kingdom from St. Dav id

’

s to th e Port ofSoutham p ton , and o ther two h e m ade oblique ly through th e island for apassage to the rest of th e c ities.

” Geoff . M oum . iii . c . 5 . Acco rding to

this schem e , wh ich was adopted by th e m onkish chron ic lers, the FosseWay passed from To tnes to Caithness, the E rm in Street from St. Dav id

’

s

to Southam p ton, the I ken ild Street (confused w ith the Rykn ild Way)from St. D av id

’

s to Tynem outh, and Watl ing,Street from D over through

Chester to Card igan . The first step towards accuracy in the m atter isgained when these legends are cast aside . The chief autho rities for thefalse desc rip tion are H enry of H untingdon , H igden

’

s Po lychron icon ,

’

and

D rayton in h is Polyolbion .

’

3 2 6 Origins of English H istory .

The name s of these royal highways were th e Watling

Street,Fosse -Way , Ermin Street

,and I kenild Street .

When th e course of th e last-named road was forgotten it

was confused with another l ine called th e Ryknild Way

which followed an old Roman road from Glouce ster toDoncaster . There is no doubt that these names wereconnected with th e Teutonic mythology

,though th e glory

of th e hero I rm in and th e craft of th e Waetlings is

forgotten ? Nor c anwe doubt,upon a consideration of th e

antiquarian evidence , that each of the se streets represented

a comb ination of those portions of th e Roman roads which

th e English adopted and kept in repair, as communicationsbetween the ir principal c ities . Th eWatl ing Street represents th e old zigzag route from Kent to Chester and York

,

and northwards in two branche s to Carlisle and th e ne ighbourh o od of Newcastle ? Th e Fosse -Way ran diagonally

1 Flor . Worc . Chron . AD . 10 13 ; Grim m , Deutsch . M ytho l . 330, c itingthe Com p laint of Scotland, 90 ; and Chaucer ’s H ouse of Fam e , ii . 4 2 7,

L O there quod h e , cast up thine eye ,

Se yonder, lo ! th e Galax ie ,Th e wh iche m en c lepe th e M ilky Way ,

For it is wh ite, and som e parfay

Y- cal len it h anWatlinge-strete .

2 Th e old nam e of the Watling Street is stil l found in D over and

London : it form s the boundary between Warwickshire and Leicestershire ; it was th e l ine of div ision chosen in Alfred ’

s Treaty with Guthrum ,

th e D anes keep ing all th e country north of “Wath linga-strete the

m onastic records Show that th e Pr iory of Lil leshal l in Shrop shire was

situate “

prope altum v iam vocatam Wa tling-S treet. H earne ’

s Le land,Itin . v i. 1 2 9 ; Dugdale , M onast. Anglic . ii. 145 , 147, 942 . Th e roadbetween I lkley and York is cal led by th e sam e nam e . Phil l ipp ’

s Essay ,Arc/zwol. j ourn . N o . 39 . From York th e Watl ing Street runs due northto th e Wal l (M acLauchlan ,

‘The R om an Wal l ’ ; H

'

ubner, Corp . L at .

I nscr. v ii. A passage in Le land ’

s Itinerary Shows that th e sam e

nam e was given to th e great eastern branch which led from Catterick to

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3 2 8 Orig ins of English H istory .

fortres ses on th e frontiers . We m ay therefore leave the

task of tracing th e mediaeval highways,and confine our

attention to th e roads wh ich actual ly defended th e Roman

province .

First then we find three great meridional lines,which

passed from th e Upper Wall to th e princ ipal c itie s in

th e south . One of the se led through Carlisle by th e headof Windermere and down th e coast towards Chester .Another came due south to York and Danum or D on

caster a branch passing towards Carlisle led from Catterick

,a l ittle north of York

,across th e gap upon Stainm oor?

Th e third led from Segedunum ,or Wal l s—end on th e

Tyne,through Cleveland to th e H umber

,and thence to

th e colony at Lincoln .

2

The se were all connected by transverse routes passingeast and west

,some through York to th e coasts on either

side , some from Manchester2 to York and Chester,or

across th e dale s to Aldborough,or by th e devious

Doctor-gate to th e woodland country round Sh efli eld .

4

Luguballium , now rep resented by Carl isle , was a station of greatim portance . When St. Cuthbert v isited th e c ity, th e M ayo r led h is

guest to see the old R om an wal ls and the “ fountain of wonde rfulworkm anship .

” Vita Sti . Cuthberti, 37 ; Bede’

s Life of Cuthbert, 2 6 .

A l ittle Tem p le o f M ars long rem ained standing near the c ity wal l .Wil l . M alm esb . Chron . Pontif . Bk . iii. introd. Cam den ’

s Britann ia (Gibson) ,10 2 5 . Le land describes its rem ains in th e reign of H enry VI I I .Pav im entes of streates

,old arches of dores, coyne -stones squared,

paynted pottes, m oney h id yn pottes so ho ld and m uldid that when yt

was strongly towched yt went a lm ost to m owlder.

” I tin . v iii . 5 7.

2 This road afterwards form ed part of th e Erm in Street . See Ga le ’

s

Essay in H earne ’

s Le land, v i. 1 2 5 .

2 For a desc rip tion of this station and the roads leading from it, see

Whitaker ’s H isto ry of M anchester, and Watkins’ “ R om an M ancheste r, ”H ist . Soc . Lanc . 3rd Series, v ii . I 2 , 3 2 .

4 The descrip tion of this road wil l be found in Phil l ipp ’

s essay on th e

Orig ins of English Elistory . 3 2 9

Th e trunk-l ines and crossways were continued so as toform connections with all th e high roads in the south and

west . At Chester , for instance , was a junction of l ine s to

North Wales,to London

,to Caerleon

,and to th e iron

m ines in th e Forest of Dean . From th e station at D on

caster a road ran down to th e mouth of th e Severn ? Th e

great Lincoln road,or “Erm in Street

,threw branches

across the Fens2 towards Norwich,and round by Col

chester,and from th e

“Durobriv ian

” potteries to th e

station of the Thrac ian cavalry at Cirenceste r . 2

Th e district of th e Saxon Shore was intersected in th e

same way by roads leading from th e coast to London,and

conne cted on th e other hand with th e great trunk roadswhich traversed th e in land provinces .

re lat ions of Archaeo logy to H istory . Archaeol. f ourn . N o . 39 . The m ines

and h ot-baths in D erbyshire were connected by several tracks with the

p rinc ipal roads on e ither side .

1 Th is is th e road afte rwards cal led “ Ryknild Street it ran paral lelto the Fosse -Way at a distance of about 60 m iles to th e no rthward . The

desc rip tions in old deeds Show its course near Birm ingham and in StaffordShire (D rayton , Polyolb . 2 47, 2 5 6, and Selden

’

s no tes ; Dugdale , M on .

Ang. i . 9 4 2 . Gale ’

s E ssay , and another po int in its course is m arkedat Thorp e Salv in , fo rm erly Ryknild-Thorpe, in Yo rkshire . (See H unter,South Yo rksh ire, i. 309 , and K irby’

s Quest . Surtees Soc . edit . p .

2 I t passed a station in th e Fens cal led Cam boricum ,which seem s

to be Grantchester near Cam bridge . Bede desc ribes th e finding of a coffin

for St. Ethe l reda at a l ittle deserted town,

“c iv itatulam quam dam deso la

tam, which the Engl ish ca l led Granta-cestir, ” p robably situated on the

road in question . Bede , H ist . Ecc l . iv . 10 .

2For th e antiquities at C irencester, see Cam den, Britann ia (Gibson)

2 84 ; Le land, Itin . v . 65 ; Lyson ’

s“R om ans in Gloucestershire

H ii bner, Co rp . L at. I nscr. v ii. 2 9 . For an account of th e No rtham p tonshire potteries, extending for about 2 0 m iles on the grave l banks of the

N en , where the blue or gray “ Castor-ware was m ade , see Birch ,Anc ient Pottery 5 2 8 .

330 Origins of English H istory .

A line of forts ran in a curve along the coast-road from

Branodunum,

” or Brancaster on th e Wash,

1 to a camp at

Caistor near Norwich,and round to th e military settle

ment at Colchester ; strong fortre s se s guarded th e channe lof Thanet at Re culver and Richborough

,and there were

other posts at Dover and Lym ne,and at various place s

requiring defence as far west as th e Southampton Water .Th e extrem ities of this curve were j oined by an inlandroad known afterwards as th e I kenild Street? Its coursem ay be traced from th e boundary of Norfolk and Suffolk

1 Acco rd ing to th e Notitia, “ Branodunum was th e station of a troop

of D alm atian cav al ry under th e com m and of th e Count of th e Saxon

Shore . Th e coast-road seem s to have led to Crom er, where a line led to

the cam p near “ Venta I cenorum , or No rwich . Either Caistor or

Castleacre m ay have been th e S ite of th e cam p . There were stations on bothShores of th e great estuary, which then extended to

“Venta ”and one of

these m ust have been th e station Ad Taum , m arked in th e PeutingerianM ap . From Brancaster a R om an road, now cal led the Pedlars ’ Way ,

p assed southwards to Cam ulodunum , and rem ains of ano ther road are

found between Crom er and No rwich , leading in th e direc tion of BurghCastle

,th e S ite o f “Garianonum .

”

For th e course of th e I ken ild Street, see Gale ’

s Essay,14 1 , 148 .

I n Buckingham shire, h e says, “ I cannot find it anywhere apparent toth e eye , excep t between Prince’

s R isborow and Kem ble-in -th e -Streetwhere it is stil l cal led “ I cknell-way .

”M r. Taylo r c ites a deed

, tem p .

H enry relating to p roperty at Newm arket, “quod se extendit super

Yken ild-we ie .

”

Archaeologia (N orwich , 2 2 . The re are certainreco rds of th e peram bulations of th e H am pshire fo rests which throw som e

l ight on th e m atter, and suppo rt D rayton’

s statem ent th at th e road led fromth e Ch iltern H il ls to th e So lent . Tower

,M isc . R ec . 1 13 . Peram b . Forest,

2 7 and 2 9 Edw. I . South . Th e survey of Buckho lt Fo rest (Apr. 1 , 2 8 Edw.

con ta ins passages re lating1to th e road in question . Begin at th e D ene

way and so alwaies by th e div isions of the Counties of Southam p

ton and Wilts to th ’

Iken ilde Street,and thence by the sam e to La Pul le

and“from Pyrpe

-m e re to th’

I kenilde , and so by th e sam e road to H o lewaye . Som e writers take the Iken ilde Way as passing from Wantage to

C irencester and Gloucester . See Scarth , R om an Britain ,1 16 .

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33 2 Orig ins of English f i istory .

Several of the se route s are illustrated by th e fragment

o f th e“Peutingerian Table ”

(M ap th e only copyremaining of any part of the ofli c ial road-chart for Britain .

“Tables of this kind were not maps in th e proper sense

o f th e term ,but were rather diagrams drawn purposely out

o f proportion,on which th e publ ic roads were proj e cted in

a panoram ic view . Th e latitude and l ongitude,and th e

pos i t i ons of rivers and mountains,were disregarded so far

as they might interfere with th e display of th e prov ince s ,the outlines being flattened out to suit th e shape of a rollof parchment ; but th e distance s between th e stations wereinserted in numeral s

,so that an extract from th e re cord

m ight be used as a supplement to th e table of mileage in

th e road-book . Th e copy now remaining derive s its namefrom Conrad Peutinger of Augsburg in whose library itwas found on h is death in 1 547 . It is supposed to havebeen brought to Europe from a monastery in th e Latinkingdom o f Jerusalem ,

and to have been a copy taken bysome thirteenth—century scribe from an original assigned toth e beginning of th e fourth century or th e end of th ethird . Th e greater part of th e diagram relating to Britainh as been destroyed

,having unfortunately been ins cribed

on th e last or outs ide sheet of th e rol l,th e part m ost like ly

t o suffer by time and acc ident . But th e remaining frag

S ilurum ) , and thence by Abergavenny (Gobannio) to Wroxeter on th e

Watl ing Street . 13 . From Caerleon by Bath to Silchester ; this is som e

t im es by m istake cal led “ Erm in Street . ” 14 . From Caerleon,by C iren

c ester to the sam e junc tion ; and 15 . From Silchester (by th e Iken ild

Way) to W inchester, and westwards to Sarum , D orchester, and Exeter .The occurrence of the nam es

“ M oridunum and Isca on this route ,and of sim ilar nam es in the 1 2 th route , has led to a c lerical error in theM SS. , th e l ine being m ade first to run from Silchester to Exeter, and thenon from Carm arthen , as if it were part of the 1 2 th route.

Orig ins of English f f istory . 333

ment includes th e greater part of th e Saxon Shore,from

th e station “Ad Taum,

”a fewm ile s from Norwich

,to th e

harbour at L ym ne on th e coast of Kent . Th e course of

th e Watl ing Stre et is shown, with three l ine s leading from

th e three naval s tations to Canterbury,thence by one

united road to Durolevum,

”an unce rtain Site

,and

thence to Rochester and another station on th e Medway,

and so onwards in th e direction of London?Another road is marked as running from London al ong

th e north coast of Kent , th e Thames being crossed at

a point due south of “Caesarom agus , or Che lmsford,

the route b eing continued to Col chester,and northwards

round th e “Saxon Shore to th e immediate vicinity of

Norwich ?

A memorandum in th e left -hand margin of th e fragmentmarks th e distance between M oridunum and th e D am

nonian“I s ca

,

”and shows b e side s a main road passing from

th e latter station towards Cornwall ?

1 Com pare the second route in the Anton ine Itinerary from “Nov iom agus

to R ichborough .

“R otib is”in the Peutingerian Table wil l be found to

correspond to Durobriv is,”now Rochester, and is p robably m eant for the

sam e word .

2 Com pare the n inth route in the Itinerary. The Sinom agus of the

Table is identified with Sitom agus, which seem s to be Dunwich . The

nam es in the Table are ill-spelt : but they correspond in the m ain w ith th estations on the Antonine route . It wil l be obse rved that in the Peutingerianm ap a road leads from “Ad Ansam to the c oast, wh ich is not m entionedin the Itinerary .

2 R idum o appears to be m eant for M oridunum,wh ich was about

15 m iles from Exeter,according to the Itinerary . But the scribe seem s to

have reversed the ir re lative situations. The on ly ev idence of the ex istenceof a R om an road through Cornwal l , besides this entry

,is th e discovery

m ade in 1 85 3 of a m ilestone in th e wal l of the church of St. H ilary, nearSt. Ives, which was inscr ibed with the t itles of Constant ine I I . H iibner,

Corp . Lat. I nscr. v ii. 13 , 2 07.

334 Origins of English [f istory

Th e completion of this system of defen ce,and the estab

lishm ent of th e D iocletian constitution,cost th e British

province s as much in freedom and importance as theyseemed to gain in security . Th e country suffere d in manydifferent ways . It h ad come to be a mere departmentunder th e Court at Treves , one of several Atlantic regionsregarded as having th e same po litical interests and a

common stock of resources . Th e defence of Britain wassacrificed to some sudden call for soldiers in Spain or on

th e Alpine passes , and th e shrunken legions left behindcoul d barely m an th e fortre sses upon th e frontier . Th e

provinces wh ich might have stood safely by their own

resources were b ecoming involved in a general bank

ruptcy . Th e troops were ill-paid and plundered by theircommanders

,th e labourers h ad sunk into serfdom

,and

th e property of th e rich was so heavily charged by th e ,

State that th e owners would have gladly es caped byre signing the ir apparent wealth . Th e burdens o f taxationwere constantly multiplied by th e complexity of th e systemof government and th e increase of departments and

offices . Th e visit of th e impe rial tax -gatherers was com

pared to th e horrors of a suc cessful assault in war. Awriter of that time des cribes th e s cene in a provincialtown where every head of cattle in th e neighbourhoodh ad been numbered and marked for a tax . All th e p0pulation of th e district was assembled

,and th e place was

crowded with th e landowners bringing in th eir labourersand slaves . One heard nothing but th e sounds of flogging and all kinds of torture ; th e son was forced to informagainst h is father

,th e wife against h er husband ; failing

everything else th e m en were compe l led to giveevidence against thems elves

,and were taxed ac cording

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336 Orig ins of English H istory .

Th e old Latin paganism h ad long ceased to sat isfy th eminds of educated m en

,though its visible emblems were

respected until th e de struction of th e temples about

th e end of th e fourth century . Th e h igh places were stil lreserved for th e greater gods to whom m en tru sted th ekeeping of cities : th e merchants ’ god still guarded th e

market—place , and th e parade was adorned with its Victory

and its shrine for th e standards and eagle s ; beyond th e

walls were th e home s of more awful powers and more dis

turb ing influences , th e temples of Bel l ona and th e Furie sofWar

,th e chapel of Venus and th e field of Mars . 1 But

th e altars and images were used indiff erently by worshippersunder many creeds ; th e titles of Jupiter covered worships

as far apart as those of Tanarus th e Thunderer and O siris“th e nocturnal sun ,

”th e ruler in th e world of th e dead ?

Diana’s name was given as we l l to th e Syrian Astarte as

to th e Moon-goddess worshipped at Carthage and th e

H untre ss to whom th e farmers prayed that th e beastsm ight b e s cared from their flocks . Apoll o represented allbright and healing influence s , and under th e name of Mars

th e s oldiers from every province could re cognise theirl ocal war-god .

3

and other British m artyrs, see G ildas H ist . 10 , 1 1 Bede , H ist . Ecc les . i.

c . 7 H addan and Stubbs, “ Counc ils, i . 5 .

1 Vitruv ius, Architec t . i . c . 7.

2 Pierret, My th . Egyp t, 60 .

2 For a list of R om an tem ples of which th e rem a ins have been found inthis country, see H iibner, Corp . L at . Iuser . v ii . 33 2 . M any of th e ep ithetsused in th e Brit ish insc rip tions are o f unknown o rigin , but they appear

in general to refer to the native country of th e wo rshipper . Jup ite r“ D olich enus, whose title appears in so m any inscriptions, was a god

from H e l iopo l is in Syria, and h is attributes appear to have h ad som e con

nection with iron-m in ing. An a ltar insc ribed to Jup iter Tamarus, ” found at

Chester in A .D . 165 3, is supposed to have been intended forTho r or Thunarthe date of its erection is fixed by its m ention of the Consuls of A .D . 15 4 .

Orig ins of English H istory . 337

Many-

of th e outward forms,and even some of th e

doctrine s of Christianity , were imitated by th e pantheisticre l igions which spread from Egypt and th e East and over

laid th e old rites with th e worship of a World-godde ss

with a thousand names,of th e Sun-god O siris

,or of

M ithras “th e unconquered lord of ages .” We learn from

sculptured tablets,and from ins criptions and symbol s on

tombs,that M ithraism at one time prevailed extensively

in this country : and its influence was doubtle ss strength

ened by th e artifice of its professors in imitating th e

o rthodox ceremonies and festival s . We have no re cord

of its final overthrow,and some have supposed that th e

faith in “Median Mithras ” survived into comparatively

m odern time s in heretical and semi-pagan forms of Gno st ic ism ; but , be this as it m ay , we must assume that itsauthority was destroyed or confined to th e country districtswhen th e pagan worships were final ly forb idden by law?After th e year 386 we find records of an e stablishedChristian Church in Britain

,

“holding th e Catholic faith,

and keeping up an intercourse with Rome and Palestine .

”2

1 For an account of th e Spread of M ithraism in Britain and th e inscrip

t ions to Sol Soc ius,’

Sol Inv ictus M ithras, and th e like, and o f the M ithraiccaves and Sculp tures found near H adrian ’

sWal l , and at Yo rk and Chester,

see Gent . Mag. 175 1 , 10 2 , and 18 2 2 , p t. 2 , 5 45 . We l lbe loved , “Eburacum ,

”

79 , 8 1 , and m ore than twenty insc riptions reco rded by H iibner, Corp . L at.

Insor . v ol. v ii. With respec t to th e general character of th e re l igion, its

connection with M agism and th e wo rship of th e Syrian Venus on the one

S ide, and with the purer doctrines of the Zend-Avesta on th e other, seeH erod . i . 13 1 De H am m er ’s M ith riaca,

”

9 , 3 1, 40 , 83 , 9 2 ; L enorm ant,

Chald . M agic , 195 , 2 34 , 3 36 L obeck , Aglaopham us, 1 2 60 . For its im itation of the cerem onies of th e Church , see Justin M artyr

,Apol . i . 66, D ia l .

70 , 78 Origen , contra Celsum , v i . 2 2 . St. Jerom e describes the destruc tiono f a cave of M ithras at R om e in th e year 3 78, and the sym bo ls used ininit iation ,

Opera , i . 1 5 .

H addan and Stubbs, Counc ils, i . 10 .

“The statem ents respecting

338 Or ig ins of English H istory .

As early as the m iddle of th e fourth century th e Britishprovince s were already persistently attacked by sea and

land . Th e Picts and S cots,and th e warlike nation of th e

“Attacotti” from whom th e Empire was accustom ed to

recruit its choicest soldiers ,1th e fleets of Irish pirate s in

th e north,th e Franks and Saxons on th e southern shores ,

combined together whenever a chance pre sented itself toburn and devastate th e country

,to cut o ff an outlying

garrison,to carry off women and children like cattle

captured in a foray and to off er th e bodie s of Roman

c itizens as sacrifices . Along th e north—we stern coast and

on th e line of th e Lower Wal l we still find traces of these

marauding frays in th e marks of burning,and th e layers of

ashes sometimes two or three deep , as if th e stations: h ad

British Christians at R om e or in Britain, and respect ing apostles or aposto l ic

m en p reaching in Britain in th e first century , rest upon guess, m istake , orfable . I bid . i . 2 2 . Th e evidence for British Christian ity in th e second

century, including th e Letter of Pope E leutherius and th e we l l-knownstory of K ing Luc ius, is also p ronounced to be unhisto rical . p . 2 5 .

M e l lo , a British Christian , was Bishop of R ouen between th e years 2 5 6

and 3 14 ,and in the latter year bishop s from York , London , and Caerleon ,

were p resent at th e Counc il of Arles . I n th e year 3 2 5 th e British Churchassented to th e conc lusions of th e Counc il of N ic aea . I bi

’

d. p . 7 .

1 Th e“No titia D ignitatum m entions several regim ents of Attacotti

serv ing for the m ost part in Gaul and Spain . Two of their regim entswere enro l led am ong th e H onorians

,

”

the m ost distinguished troop s inth e Im perial arm ies . Though the ir country is not certain ly known , it

seem s p robable that they inhabited the wilder parts of Gal loway . M r.

Skene argues that they m ust h ave been p rov inc ials who h ad revo lted aboutth e period of th e great cam paign of Theodosius , A .D . 364 .

“They on lyjo ined th e invading tribes after th e latter had been for four years in possessionof the territo ry between th e Wal ls : and no sooner was it aga in wrestedfrom th e invaders by Theodosius than we find them en l isted in the R om an

arm y . Ce lt . Scot . i . 10 2 . Orosius, speak ing of th e tim e of Stilicho ,about A .D . 400 , cal ls them barbari qui quondam in foedus recepti atque inm ilitiam adlecti H onoriac i vod zntur. Oros. v ii. 40 .

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340 Orig ins of English .H'

istory .

divided h is army to attack th e scattered troops ofmarauderswho were covering th e country and driving off their

prisoners and stolen cattle to th e coast . Th e spoil was

successfully re covered,and th e general entered London in

triumph . H ere h e awaited re inforcements , finding by th e

reports of spie s and deserters that h e h ad before h im th e

forces of a crowd of savage nations,

and be ing anxiousto gain time for re cal l ing th e soldiers who h ad de sertedto th e enemy or h ad dispersed in search of food . At last ,by threats and persuasions

,by stratagems and unforeseen

attacks,h e no t only re covered th e lost army and dispersed

th e confused masses of th e enemy,but even suc ceeded in

regaining all th e frontier districts and in restoring th e

whole machinery of government ?

A few years afterwards occurred the revolt of Maximus,

a Spaniard who h ad served under Theo dosius and had

afterwards gained th e affe ction of th e turbulent soldiery inBritain . Th e Emperor Gratian h ad exhibited a s candalouspreference for th e dre ss and customs of th e Alani

,h is

barbarian allies ; and it was feared or alleged that therewas a danger of the ir occupying th e We stern Provinces .Maximus was proclaimed Emperor in Britain in A .D . 383 ,

and proceeded to justify th e soldiers ’ choice by a Splendidand succe ssful campaign against th e Picts and Scots . I n

th e course of th e next year h e raised a large army ofBritons and Gaul s to supplement h is regular forces

,and

passing over to th e mouths of th e Rhine,h e succeeded in

e stablishing himself at Treves,and was eventually acknow

ledged as Emperor of th e West .Th e Britons of a later age found consolation in thinking

that th e defeat of Maximus in Pannonia “at th e foaming

1 Zosim us, iv . 35 Soz om en . v ii . 13 .

Orig ins of English H istory . 34 1

waters of th e Save,

and th e l oss of th e army wh ich h eh ad led from their shores , were th e proximate causes of

th e English conquest? It is reasonable to suppose thatth e drain of th e continental war was a cause of weaknessto th e province

,and an inducement to th e barbarians on

th e frontiers to renew their attempts at conque st . It isclear that on two occasions at least

,which m ay be

attributed with approximate certainty to th e years 396 and

400 , th e coasts were again attacked by th e Saxons,and th e

country b etween th e Wal ls was occupied by P icts and

invaders from Ire land,until their power was broken by the

sword of Stilicho .

“M e too,

” crie s Britannia in th e

famous poem,

“m e dying at my ne ighbours ’ hands

,did

Stilicho defend,when th e S cot moved all Ierne t o arms

,

and O cean whitened under th e invaders ’ oars .” 2

Th e independence of Britain was a consequence of th einvasion of Northern Gaul by th e Vandal s . Th e com m u

nications with th e body of th e Empire were cut o ff by a

horde of these rude warriors , assoc iated with Suevi from th eGerman forests and Alani from th e shores of th e Euxine .

Th e army determ ined to choose their own leader and in

th e year 407 , after two abortive e lections,they raised a

private so ldier named Constantine to the throne of th eWe stern Empire . H is success in re covering Gaul and

1 Zosim us, iv . 35 , Bede, H ist . Ecc l . i, 1 2 . H i sunt Britones Arm oric i,et nunquam reversi sunt ad proprium so lum usque in h odiernum diem .

Prop ter h oc Britann ia occupata est ab extrane is gentibus, et c ives ejus

expulsi sunt , usque dum D om inus auxil ium dederit il l is. N enn ius, H ist .Brit . 2 3 com pare Gildas, H ist . 13 , I 4 .

2 C laudian, Te rt . Cons . H on . 5 5 , Prim . Cons. Stilich on . 11. 2 5 0, and Be l l .Getic . 4 16 . For an accoun t of th e I rish in their Curraghs, ’ “

em ergunt

certatim de curicis, and of the Pic ts and Scots, m oribus ex parte dissidentes, sed una eadem que sanguinis fundendi av iditate concordes, see

Gildas, H ist . 19 .

342 Orig ins of English [f istory .

Spain compe l led th e feeble Court of Ravenna t o confirmth e usurper’s title : but a period of anarchy followed whichbrought new dangers upon Britain and caused its final separation from th e Roman power . Gerontius

,at first th e friend

and afterwards th e destroyer of Constantine,re called th e

barbarian hosts which h ad retreated beyond th e Rhine , and

invited them to cross th e Channe l and to j oin in attacking

th e defence less government of Britain ?

Th e“Citie s of Britain

,

”assuming in th e stress of

danger th e powers of independent communitie s,suc ceeded

in raising an army and repelling th e German invasion .

But . having earned the ir safety for themselve s,they now

refused to return to their old subj ection,if any obedience

coul d indeed be claimed by th e defeated usurper orby an Emperor re igning in exile . Th e Roman officialswere ej e cted and nat ive form s of government established .

“H onorius was content to cede what h e was unable todefend

,and to confirm measure s which h e was impotent to

repeal . ” 2 Th e final separation of th e province took placein A .D . 4 10 , when th e Emperor sent letters to th e Citiesb idding them provide in future for the ir own defenceand so having given gifts to the army out of th e treasuressent by H eraclian

,and having gained to himself th e good

wil l of th e soldiers there and in all parts of th e world,H onorius dwe lt at ease .

”2

1 Zosim us, v i . 5 .

2 H erbert , Britann ia, 2 7 . The authorities for th is period are Zosim us, v i.4 , 5 , 6, 10 , th e Chronic le of Prosper of Aquitaine, written about A.D .

45 5 , and a few passages of Olym p iodorus p reserved in the co l lec tion of

Photius.

2Z osim us, v i. 10 .

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344 Orig ins of English H istory .

Th e worst danger lay in th e raids of th e German

corsairs . Th e sea-kings sailed with a few~ sh ips from th e

Saxon Islands by th e Elbe,to lie o ff a port or run into

an unguarded e stuary,ready to fal l in with any larger

enterprise,to land a pirate - crew and to earn a share of th e

plunder . Such were th e deeds of which th e fame remainsin songs o f Beowulf and th e wandering H engist

,of th e

cruisers on th e flint-gray flood,

”and treasure gained by

ax e and sword over th e gannet’s bath and over th e

whale ’s home .

”

One victory of th e Christians is recorded in th e Life ofSt . Germ anus

,wh o visited this country in th e year 4 2 9 in

company with St . Lupus of Troyes . Th e incidents of th em iss ion were distorted into th e romance of N ennius

,

”

where th e m iracle s of th e Saint are interwoven with th etreacherie s of H engist and th e crimes or follies of KingVortigern ; but allusions to th e “

H alleluia Victory are

found in th e best contemporary lit erature,as in Pope

Gregory ’s Commentarie s,in th e letters of Sidonius to

St . Lupus,and in th e biography of St . Germ anus compiled

by th e learned priest of Lyons?Th e very ce lebrity of th e event is a proof of th e general

ill-fortune of th e Briton s . Th e two b ishops h ad been sent

1 Prosper Aquit . Chron . anno 4 2 9 ; Constantius, Vita Germ ani . 2 8 ;

Bede , H ist . Ecc l . i . 1 7 ; Usher, Prim ord . 333 ; R ees , We lsh Saints,1 2 2 ;

H addan and Stubbs, Counc ils, i . 1 7, 2 0 . Pope Gregory a l ludes to the battlein h is Com m entary on Job Ecce l ingua Britann iae coapit A l le luiasonare a passage which Bede by an anachron ism refers to Augustine’sm ission , H ist . Ec c l . iii 1 . Sidon ius appears to refer to the sam e battle ina letter to St. Lupus : Dux veterane et peritissim e tubicen ad Ch ristum

a peccatis recep tui camere . Sidon . Apo l l . Ep ist . v i . 1 . For th e correspon

dence of Sidon ius with Constantius of Lyons, see the sam e col lection o f

letters, Ep ist . i . 1 , and v ii. 1 8 .

Orig ins of English .H'

istory . 345

to Verulam to confute th e heretics who ac cused “the irMaker or their making or their fate

,

”

and sought too great

a l icence of Free Will . During th e spring of th e yearfol lowing

,th e missionaries resumed the ir enterprise and

visited th e Valley of th e D ee . Th e country was infe stedby Picts and Saxons

,and it was feared that they m ight

storm th e camp where th e British forces were concentrated .

Th e b ishops of Gaul were chosen for the ir political capacities Germanns was ac customed to war

,and was easily

persuaded to help h is converts against th e heathen . Th e

Easter Sundaywas spent in baptising an army of penitents ;th e orthodox soldiers were posted in an ambuscade

,and

th e pagans fled p anic - stricken at th e triple “H al le luia

which suddenly echoed among th e hill s .An annal ist of doubtful authority h as reported

,under

th e year 44 1 , that Britain“after many troubles and m is

fortune s was brought under th e dom inion of th e Saxons :1

but we can . h ardly date th e commencement of th e Con

quest before th e appeal to th e Patric ian Aetius or th esecond visit of Germ anus. Th e b ishop returned in AD .

447 , and h is biography contains not a word of any such

revolution or sudden triumph of paganism . Th e date of

the letters of appeal is fixed by th e form of their addre ss“The groans of th e Britons to Aetius for th e third t ime

Consul . Th e savages drive us to th e sea and th e sea

casts us back upon th e savage s : so arise two kinds ofdeath

,and we are e ither drowned or s laughtered .

”Th e

Third Consulate of Aetius fell in A .D . 446 , a year m em or

able in th e We st as th e beginning of a profound calm

1 Prosper Tiro m akes this statem ent, under the head of the roth yearof Theodosius, in h is continuation of th e Chron ic le of Prosper of

Aquitaine .

346 Orig ins of English H istory .

which preceded th e onslaught of Attila . Th e complaintof Britain has left no trace in th e poems which celebrated

th e year of repose ; and our Chronicles are at any rate

wrong when they attribute its rej e ction to th e stre ss of a

war with th e H uns ? I t is poss ible,therefore

,that th e

appeal was never made,and that th e story repre sents

noth ing but a rumour current in th e days of Gildas among

th e British exile s in Armorica .

Of th e Conque st itse lf no ac curate narrat ive remains .Th e version usually re ce ived is based in part on th e statements in th e histories of Gil das and N ennius

,and in part

upon Chronicles,apparently based upon lost poems in

which th e exploits of th e English chieftain s were comm em orated .

Th e We lsh poems throw little l ight on th e matter . Thebards were for th e most part content to trace th e dim outlines of disaster

,and to indicate by an al lusion th e is sue of

a fatal battle or th e end of some celebrated warrior . Theirpoems

,in th e form at any rate in wh ich they have de

s cended to our times,are too obscure to b e useful for th e

purpose s of history . H ere and there one m ay recognisean episode of th e ravages of “ th e Flame -bearer

,

” or a

picture of I da,or U lf at th e ford .

” We admire,without

local ising th e incidents,th e e legies on

“th e cold H al l of

K ynddylan or th e graves which “ th e rain bedews and

th e th icket covers,

” or th e red and dappled chargers ofth e brave Geraint . Aneurin ’s great ep ic itse lf is wantingin all prec ision of detail . I t is th e h istory of a long warof races

,compre ssed under th e simil itude of a battle into

1 Gildas, H ist . 2 0 ; Bede , H ist . Ecc l . i . 13 . See th e poem of M erobaudes

on th e Third Consulate of Aetius, Carm . v . 5 , 8 , and Sidon . Apo l l . Carm .

i . 19 2 .

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348 Orig ins of English H istory .

war with th e Angle s in Northumbria ; but h is glory ismainly due to th e Breton romance s , which were amplified

in Wales,and afterwards adopted at the Court of th e

Plantagenets as th e foundation of th e epic of chivalry .

Gil das is a more important witne s s . Writing in th e

m iddle of th e Sixth century h e m ay b e taken as represent

ing th e opinions of m en who m ight themselve s have taken

part in th e war. But h e himse lf made no pretence to

anything like historial ac curacy .

“If there were any

records of my country , h e said ,“ they were burned in th e

fire s of th e conquest or carried away on th e sh ips of th eexile s

,s o that I c an only foll ow th e dark and fragmentary

tale that was told m e beyond th e sea .

” No lamentationwas ever keener in note

,or more obscure in its story

,than

th e book in which h e recounted “th e victory and th e

crimes of Britain,th e coming of a last enemy more dread

ful than th e first,th e destruction of th e Cities

,and th e

fortune s of th e remnant that e s caped .

”1

Th e purport of h is work becom es plainer as we perceivethat it is intended for a dramatic des cription of an episodein th e history of Cumbria. I t is th e story of “ th eVictoryof Am brosius

,

” tol d in th e language of th e Prophet whotold of “th e burden ofEgypt ” for anoth er Egypt seemedto have b een l ost by th e m en who should have beenth e stay of h er tribes .Th e drama begins in th e year 4 5 0 , when th e EmperorMarcian reigned in th e East and Valentinian th e Th ird in

1 G ildas, H ist . 4 . Th e passages fo l lowing in the tex t are taken fromth e five conc luding chap ters of h is H isto ry . H is accoun t should be

com pared with Bede ’

s version of th e sto ry , H ist . E cc l . i . 1 5 , and withthose contained in the Chron ic le of Ethelwerd and th e H istory of H enryo f H untingdon .

Origins of English H istory . 349

th e West . “Th e t ime was approaching when th e iniquityof Britain Shoul d be fulfil led . Th e rumour flew among

th e people that their ol d invaders were preparing a final

assault : a pe stilence brooded over th e land and leftmore dead than th e living could bury ; and th e complaintis swollen by inve ctive s against th e stubbornne ss ofPharaoh and th e brutishne ss of th e “Prince s of Zoan .

”

We are brought to th e chamber of Vortigern and h is

nobles,debating what means of e s cape m ight be found .

“Then th e eyes of th e proud king and of all h is counc illors were darkened , and th is hel p or this death-blow

they devised,to let into our island th e foe s of God and

m an,th e fierce Saxons whose name is accursed

,as it were

a wolf into th e sheep-cote s,to beat off th e nations of th e

North .

”

Th e m en came over from “Old Anglia with three

kee ls,

” or ships of war,loaded with arms and stores .

The ir first success was followed by th e engagement of alarger force of mercenaries ; but a quarre l soon aroseabout their pay , wh ich grew into a general mutiny . The ir

allowance,says Gildas

,was found for a l ong time

,and so

“th e dog’s mouth was stopped ,

”as h e cite s the native

proverb :“but afterwards they picked a quarrel

,and

threatened to plunder th e island unle ss a greater liberal ity

were shown .

”Th e historian denounces them in a mystical

and fervid strain : they are “young lions wasting th e land,

and whelps from th e lair of th e “G erman Lioness ” and

their settlement in Northumbria is described, in the wordsof th e Prophet

,as th e wild-vine that “brought forth

branches and shot forth sprigs ,”

th e root of bitterne ss and

th e plant of iniquity .

Th e enemy is next likened to a consuming fire as he

3 5 0 Orig ins of English H istory .

burst from h is new' home in th e East and ravaged th e

island as far as th e We stern Sea : and the Chroniclerdescribe s with a horrible m inutene ss th e sack of someCumbrian city and th e destruction of th e faithful foundthere in “And some of th e m iserable remnant werecaught in th e h ills and s laughtered

,and others were worn

out with hunger and yielded to a lifelong slavery . Somepassed across th e sea

,with lamentations instead of th e

sail or ’s song,chanting as th e wind filled their sails

,

‘ Lord !Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat

,and

hast scattered us among th e heathen ’

: but o thers trusted

their l ive s to th e clefts of th e mountains,to th e forests and

th e rocks of th e sea,andgso abode in the ir country though

sore afraid .

But after some time , when th e Angles h ad returnedto the ir settlements

,

“a remnant of th e Britons was

strengthened under t h e Lleadersh ip of Ambrosius Aurel ius ,t h e courteous and faithful

,th e brave and true

,th e last

of th e Romans left alive in th e Sho ck of th e storm .

”

H is kindred,s ome of whom had worn th e purple of offi ce

,

h ad all perished in th e fray ;“and now

,

” says Gildas,

h is offspring at this ; day , degenerate as they are fromthose ance stral virtues

,still gather strength and provoke

the ir conquerors to arms,and now by th e favour of heaven

have gained a victory in ganswer to the ir prayers .”

So,

1 Th e p rinc ipa l m igrations to Brittany took p lace in th e years 5 00 and

5 13 . I n th e first o f these years St. Sam son of Dol is said to hav e beendriven from h is b ishop ric in Yo rk . M any curious docum ents re lating to

the Britons o f th e m igration wil l be found in the Breton Chartularies ofth e Abbeys o f R edon and Landevennec in th e National Library in Paris .

Extracts wil l be found in th e Appendices to the H istories of Brittany byH alléguen and D e Coursons.

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3 5 2 Origins of English H istory .

storms th e Mount in person and in that day fell ninehundred and s ixty m en by one charge of Arthur

,and no

m an laid them low save h e al one,and h e was th e victor in

all th e wars . ”1

I n repeating th e Story from the English side we shal lfollow as far as possible th e actual words of th e Chronicle s

,

seeking only to distinguish th e fragments of ballads and

romances on which th e history was based from th e additions by which those time-worn records were woven intoan easy narrative . We know how th e h istory of theFrankish kings was compiled from “barbarous and most

ancient songs,

”and that th e Germans of an earlier age

h ad nothing but such verse s to help them in remembering

th e past . It was a minstrel’

s task to blend th e exploits

o f th e warriors with th e legends of th e gods,as th e

h arper m ingled Beowulf’s praises with th e dragon—fight of

S igmund th eWanderer,or as Th iodolf sang th e “Yngling

tale ” for th e kings who re igned in Upsala and traced theirpropitious de scent from th e beings wh o brought wealth

and sunshine .

“Thus with their lays,said Widsith

,

“ over many lands th e glee -m en rove,and ever in th e

South or th e North find they one,learned in song and

1 N enn ius, H ist . Brit . 5 6 . Th e account given by H enry of H untingdonappears to have been taken from som e version of N enn ius which h as now

been lost ; th e wo rds for Shie ld and“Shoulder , ” which are Sim ilar in

We lsh , have been confused in h is account of one of th e earl ier battleswhere Arthur was said to have borne the im age of the Virgin . H ist .Angl . ii. 1 8 . The .M ons Badonicus was at one t im e taken for th e hil labove Bath , owing to an e rro r of an early sc ribe : D r. Guest, in h is Essayo n th e Early Engl ish Settlem ents

,favoured th e theory that the battle was

fought at Badbury R ings in D o rsetsh ire , Archwologi'

a (Salisbury, 1849) 6 2 ,63 . M r. Skene , with m o re p robab il ity, se lec ts as its site the Bouden H il lnot far from Lin l ithgow . Four Anc ient Books of Wales, 5 7, 5 8 .

Orig ins of English IYilstory . 3 5 3

free in h is gifts,longing before th e nobles h is greatness to

raise and h is lordship to Show .

” 1

We are shown how th e Britons bethought themselves of

th e pirates who held th e c oasts between th e Rh ine and

th e Danish I slands,how they sent for as sistance to th e

Lords of th e Angle s,

“and saw no t that they were pre

paring for themselv e s a perpetual slavery,

”and how a

great multitude cam e from Germany and drove th e Britonsfrom their lands with a m ighty slaughter

,and ever re

mained masters of the fiel d,

“so that Britain becameEngland be cause it took th e name of its conquerors .”2

Th e entries in th e Chronicle confirm th e truth of the complaints of Gildas . “Now came th e English to this land

,

called by Vortigern to help in overcoming h is foe s they

sailed here with three warships : their leaders wereH engist and H orsa : and first they slew or drove away

th e fo e,and then they turned against th e king and against

th e Britons , and destroyed them with fire and th e edge of

th e sword .

”Th e first engagement was at Stamford

,if we

m ay trust th e ol d tradition :“The Picts fought with dart s

and spears,and th e Saxons with broad- swords and axe s

,

but th e Picts cou ld not bear th e burden,and sought for

safety in flight,and the Saxons took th e victory and th e

triumph and spoil of th e battle .

”3

1 “Travel ler’s Song, 2 69 , 2 8 1 . See Tac . Germ . 2 ; Beowulf, 87 1, 875 .

Eginh ard in the 9th century describes the old Frank ish songs, barbaraet antiquissim a carm ina, quibus veterurn regum actus et be l la cane

bantur .” Vita Karo l i, c . 2 9 . Com pare the poem s in the Anglo-SaxonCh ronic le, and the use of songs and

“ tags of Saxon verse ” by H enry o fH untingdon, and Wil liam of M alm esbury ’

s bal lads worn down by tim e,

cantilenis per successionem tem po rum detritis, Gesta, ii. 138 .

2 Ethelwerd, Chron . i . 1 .

2 H enr.

‘

H unt . ii . 1 . Bede uses the exp ression sum psere v ictoriam ,

2 3

35 4 Orig ins of English H istory .

Th e invaders belonged to three close ly-conne ctednations of th e Low-Dutch stock . Their territorI es

,it is

clear,are now included in th e modern S chleswig-H olstein

and a district in Southern Jutland ; but it is extremelydifficult to asc ertain th e prec ise places which they occupiedabout the time of their migration .

Th e Saxons,who founded th e kingdoms to which their

name was given , besides several state s in th e western partsof Mercia

,seem to have come from the marsh - lands

beyond th e Elbe . They were th e peoples whom Ptolemyplaced on th e neck of th e adj oining p eninsula and in “threeSaxon islands

,

” which have been identified with H arde,

Eiderstedt,and Nordstrand as it m ay have been before

the great inundation of 1634 . Th e Ravenna Geographerwas quite accurate in saying that their country “touchedupon Denmark .

”1 But it must also be remembered that

th e Saxons were always pushing westwards along th e

coast into th e territories of th e Chanci and th e Frisians,

oc cupying th e various districts which were successivelyabandoned by th e Franks

,so that th e “

Old Saxony,

which B ede des cribed as th e home of h is forefathers,

extended across th e Low Countries to th e immediateneighbourhood of th e Rhine .

Th e Jute s came from th e peninsula which bears their

name,where they he l d th e country as far south as the

S ley,a river that runs into th e sea not far from Schle swi g .

I n England they afterwards occupied th e regions whichwere united in th e Kingdom of Kent

,a separate kingdom

a paraphrase of the vernacular idiom showing that h e cop ied from som e

Angl ian original . H ist . Ecc l . i . 15 Guest, Early Engl . Sett . 47.

1 R avennas, iv . 1 7 ; Bede, H ist . Eccl . v . 1 1 ; L appenberg, H ist . Engl .i . c . 5 .

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3 5 6 Or ig ins of English H istory .

We are not obl iged to suppose that th e Angles wereconfined to th e smal l district round Schleswig . There is an

Island of Anglen and another district on th e mainland ofth e same name now inhab ited

.

by a Frisian population .

There are other indications Showing that th e Angles wereat one t ime settled on the Elbe

,about th e northern parts

of H anover . Both Tacitus and Ptolemy placed them in

this neighbourhood,“fenced in by th e river and th e forest

,

”

and always in proximity to th e Sueves,

”a nation of th e

H igh -German stock with whom th e Angles were often

assoc iated . But Tacitus gives them al so a share in the

ownership of th e H oly I sland situate in th e Outer O cean ,

where th e“Mother Earth ”

was worshipped in a sacredfore st . H er ritual is only appropriate to one of th e larger

islands . Sh e was borne in h er shrine on a waggon drawnby a yoke of k ine .

“Th e days,

” said Tacitus,

“are merry

and th e places gay where th e goddess comes as a guest

no m an wil l go to war or seize a weapon,and every

sword is lo cked away : then,and then only

,are peace and

qu iet enj oyed,until th e priest re stores to h er temple th e

goddess weary of h er converse with mankind : then the

car and its draperies,and th e goddes s herself

,if one

cared to b el ieve it , are purified in a lonely lake,and th e

s laves who do the work are straightway drowned in itsvvatersf

’ 1

Th e“Traveller’s Song

,

‘ though of no historical authority,

m ay be regarded as a colle ction of ancient traditions : itcontains a legend of Offa

,th e mythical ance stor of th e

Countrey of H algoland, in H akluyt’

s Co l lection . The descrip tion in

Ethelwerd’

s Chronic le dates from about th e end of th e ro th century .

1 Tac . Germ . 40 . H is“Anglii are described as be longing to the

Sem nones, th e chief of the Suev ic nations . They are cal led Suev i Angil iby Pto lem y .

Origins of English H istory . 35 7

Mercian kings,which impl ie s a belief that th e Angles had

gained a western outlet for their fleets before they undertook their migration . Th e glee-m an is enumerating th etribes about th e mouth of th e Eider

,which h e calls “th e

monsters ’ gate,

” from some forgotten story of th e sea .

“Offa in boyhood won th e greatest of kingdoms , and noneof such age ever gained in battle a greater dominion withh is single sword : h is marche s h e widened towards th e

Myrgings by Fifel-dor : and there in th e land as Ofla had

won it thenceforth continued th e Angle s and Sueves . ”1

An old h istorian h as told us that “many and frequentwere th e expeditions from Germany

,and many were th e

lords who strove against each other in th e regions of EastAnglia and Mercia and thereby arose unnumb ered wars

,

but the names of th e chieftains remain unknown by reason

of their very mul titude .

”2 I t h as been thought that someof these invading bands m ay have belonged to race sunconnected with the three great kindreds to whom th e

conquest is generally assigned . A Share in th e enterpriseis c laimed for every nation between th e Rhine and th e

Vistula,for the Franks and Lombards

,the Frisians and

Dane s,th e Wends from Rugen

,and the H eruli of th e

Eastern forests . “Tot ta ntigue petunt s ini ul g iga ntes .

”

To this cause it h as even been proposed to as cribe th e

weakne ss of th e later Angles “when,flee ing before th e

invading Northmen,th e sons yiel ded the dominion of th e

land wh ich the ir val iant forefathers h ad conquered .

”2

Th ere is noth ing unreasonable in supposing that isolated

1 Trav el ler’s Song, 84 , 98 .

“Eife l-dor m eans th e gate of m onsters .

The word E ider itse lf is said to be contrac ted from Egi-dor,

”th e gate

of dread .

2 H enr. H unt . H ist . 11. 17 .

2 L appenberg, H ist . Engl . i . c . 6 .

35 8 Orig ins of English f f istory .

bands of adventurers from many countries m ay have

oc cupied portions of our coast,and m ay even have founded

communities independent for a time of th e Anglian or

Saxon states in their neighbourhood . There is reason ,

for example,to believe that there were village s of the

Frisians in H olderne ss and settlements of th e same peopl ein th e southern parts of Scotland ; and one would have

expected to find traces of far more extensive colonies,

considering th e closenes s of th e kinship between Saxon

and Frisian,their Similar language

,and their almost iden

tical laws and customs ? But there is in fact no evidenceto wh ich weight c an be attached that any considerablenumb ers of Frisians were ever establish ed gin th is country ,and it wi ll be found that th e claims of this kind which th eFrisian writers have put forward are founded either on

vague al lusions by English missionaries to their kinshipwith th e Continental Germans

,or on a passage in th e

al ready cited description of th e “I sland of Brittia ” byProcopius . 2

Th e re currence of patronym ic names in many parts ofEngland

,and in most of th e northern countries

,has been

often regarded as a proof that our village s were colonie sor offshoots of a multitude of tribes . Such a name as

“Swaffham,for instance

,is taken to imply th e pre sence

of Sueves,as

“Thorrington ” of th e Thuringians,

and

1 See Skene ’

s Early Frisian Settlem ents, Proc . Soc . Antiqu. iv . 169

L appenberg,H ist . Engl . i. c . 6 . A com parison of the

“Asega

-buch withth e Kentish Laws of E the lbert and h is successors wil l Show that th e custom s

of th e two nations in th e 7th century m ust have been nearly ident ical .2Bede , H ist . Ecc l . v . 9 . Com pare th e Life o f Suibert, c ited by Lappen

berg :“ Egbertus sitiens salutem Frisonum et Saxonum eo quod Angli ab

e is p ropagati sunt .2Pro cop ius. Bel l . Get. iv . c i 2 0 . Anté, 8 1 , 8 2 .

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360 Origins of English H istory .

and h is son,and of their forefathers back to “Witta who

ruled th e Sueves,

”and Woden th e bestower of valour and

wisdom,and beyond him to Frey r th e Summer-god and

Firm to whom th e Fris ians prayed,to Geat the father of

the Goths and“S cyld ” who defended th e Danes , to th e

swift H erm oder,and

“Scef th e first of th e mystical line,

whose lonely voyage was in Christian times confused withth e story of th e Deluge .

“This Scef,says th e Chronicle

,

came in h is bark to Scania,a l ittle lad c lad all in mail,

unknown to the people of that land : and they guardedh im as their own

,and afterwards chose h im for king and

it was from h im that our Eth elwulf traced h is pedigree .

” 1

We shal l now return to th e entries in th e Chronicle s,

beginning with th e year 449 , in which th e Conquest of

Kent,ac cording to their reckoning, commenced . Th e

leaders,having landed at p ine

’s-Fleet,

”at first gave

aid to the British king : “but after Six years they fought withh im at a place cal led ‘

n il ’s -Threp ,’

and there H orsa wasslain

,and H engist and h is son

‘Ash ’ took th e kingdom ;and after two years they fought against th e Britons at a

place cal led ‘ Creegan-Ford ’

and there slew four thousandm en ; and the Britons then forsook Kent- land and in m ighty

1 For the com p lete pedigrees, in which th e nam e of Woden appearshalf-way down , see th e Anglo -Saxon Chron ic le for th e years 5 47, 5 60 , 85 5 ,th e genealogies inserted in N enn ius , the Chron ic le of Florence of

Worcester, and Asser ’s Life of K ing Alfred : and see the subjec t discussedin K em ble

’

s Saxons in England , i. c . 7. The nam es of Frithuwulf,

Frealaf , and Frithuwald are taken to be synonym es of Frea, th e Scandi

nav ian Freyr, th e giver of peace and fe rtil ity. Grim m, D eutsch . Mytho l . 193 .

“Beowa or Beowulf was a de ity with sim ilar attributes . H erem od”

answers to“the swift H erm oder of th e No rse m ytho logy . Geat

seem s to be the sam e as“Gapt

”who is p laced by Jornandes at the head of

the Gothic genealogies.

Orig ins of English H istory . 36 1

terror fled to London-Burgh .

”1 Th e last battle is de

scribed by H enry of H untingdon in language which seemsto have been taken from some hero ic poem of which th eoriginal no longer exists . “When th e Britons went intoth e war-play they coul d not bear up against th e unwonted

numbers of th e Saxons,for more of them h ad late ly come

over,and these were chosen m en

,and they horribly gashed

the bodies of th e Britons with axe s and broadswords . ” 2“And about eight years afterwards H engist and

‘Ash ’

fought against the Welsh near Wipped’

s-Fle et and therethey slew twe lve princes : and one of their own thane s was

slain,whose name was Wipped . And after e ight years

were fulfi lled,H engist and ‘Ash ’ fought again with the

We lsh and took unnumbered spoil : and th e We l sh fled

from th e English as from fire . And after fifteen years‘Ash ’ came to the kingdom

,and for twenty-four years h e

was king of th e Kentish m en .

”2

Th e outline s of a British ac count of th e war were pre

served in th e story of Prince V ortim er.

“In those days

,

”

so th e legend of Nennius runs,

4 V ortim er fought fiercely

1 A . S . Chron . m m . 449 , 45 5 , 45 7 ; Eth elwerd, Chron . i . 1 . The ex

p ression used in the Chronic les “ feng to rice im p l ies that the chieftainstook to being k ings or

“ took to th e king-ship .

”The entry appears to

refer to the foundation of th e two K ingdom s of East and West Kent, ofwhich the l im its co rresponded with th e sees of Canterbury and R ochester .Eric the Ash was the head of th e fam ily of Ash ings

”

:“Oeric cogno

m ento O isc a quo reges Cantuariorum solent O isc ingas cognom inare .

Bede , H ist . Ecc l . i . 5 . The surnam e is said to have m eant “ th e warr ioror

“the spear ”

: but in the Frisian legends it appears as“ H oeisch ,

m eaning“soft or m ild . Orich cognom ento H oei

'

sch quod Frisonico

idiom ate p rop rie sonat m itis et len is. Kem p . Orig. Fris. ii. 2 2 H amcon .

Frisia , 33 .

2 H enr. H unt . ii . 4 .

2 A . 8 . Chron . ann. 465 , 473 .

4 Nennius, H ist . Brit. -43 , 44 .

362 Orig ins of E nglish H istory .

with H engist and H orsa and drove them out as far as

Thanet : and there three times h e shut them in , and terri

fied and smote and slew . But they sent messengers toGermany to cal l for ships and soldiers

,and afterwards

th ey fought with our kings,and sometimes they prevailed

and enlarged their bounds,and sometimes they were

beaten and driven away . And V ortim er four times waged

on them fierce wars : th e first as was told above,and th e

second at th e stream of Derwent,and th e third at a

ferry which th e Saxons call Epis—Ford,where H orsa and

Catigern fell . Th e fourth war h e waged in th e plain by

th e Written Stone,on th e shore of th e Gaul ish Sea

,and

there h e gained a victory,and th e barbarians were beaten

,

and they turned and fled,and went l ike women into the ir

ships .Th e commentators have sought in vain to harmonisethese conflicting l egends . Ebbsfleet in Thanet is usual lyidentified with th e landing-place

,and th e sites of th e two

princ iple battles are placed at Aylesford and Crayford onth e Medway . But th e matter abounds in difficulties

,and

it is probable that too m uch stre ss h as been laid on a

slight re semblance of name s,and on th e statement of

B ede ’s info rmant,that a monument marked with H orsa

’

s

name was in that day standing“in th e eastern parts of

Kent .

” 1

We m ay suppose that H orsa’

s name was inscribed on

some p illar,or “ standing-stone

,in those Runic signs

which h ad long since b een imitated or borrowed from th e

Duces fuisse perh ibentur eorum p rim i duo fratres H engist et H orsae quibus H o rsa , postea occ isus in be l lo a Brittonibus, h actenus in o rientalibus Cantiae partibus m onum entum habet suo nom ine insigne .

”Bede,

H ist . Ecc l . i. 15 .

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364 Origins of E nglish f j'

istorv .

death with Ambrosius,or if Duke H orsa fel l at Ayle s

ford beneath a giant ’s blow, h ek a oyve

’

vos i7r7roa vvafcov . We

are told that th e evidence for their actual existence is“at least as strong as th e suspicion of the ir mythicalcharacter . ”1 But it is urged on th e other hand that th enames of “H orse and Mare ”

are on th e face of themsymbolical

,and Should b e taken as referring to some

banner of th e host,some crest or emblem of th e tribe

,or

perhaps to some reverence for th e sacred white horseswhich the Germans supposed to be aware of th e de signs

o f heaven .

” 2 Kemble thought that we must connect th echieftains

,with pagan deities

,seeing beneath th e myth

“Woden in th e form of a horse,

” or some such godlike or half—godlike ” form .

2 There seems however to beno reason why a popular captain Should not be called“th e H orse

,

”Since we read of others who were nick

named after th e Crow,the Wolf

,and the Boar :4 nor is

it easy to see how th e cult of th e pure white horses,or a

be l ief in th e omens obtained from their movements,could

ever be transmuted into th e story of H engist th e Jute .

But there is a stronger obj ection to th e Chronicler’sstatements in th e fact that H engist is the hero of suchnumerous and such divergent traditions . The crafty and

val iant prince,an Odysseus of the Northern Seas

,h as left

a legend on every coast between Jutland and th e CornishPromontory ? All th e old stories are fastened on h is

1 Freem an,Norm . Conquest , i. 10 .

2Tac . Germ . 10 .

2 Kem ble , Saxons in England, i . 19 .

4 The sons of the m yth ical Wonred were nam ed Wo lf and Boar .Beow. 2 964 , 2 965 . Other exam p les m ay be found in M r. K em ble

’

s

Essay on the Anglo-Saxon N icknam es,”Archaeologia (Winchester,

5 Num erous exam p les wil l be found in the Codex D iplom aticus. Com

Orig ins of E nglish H istory . 365

name,of one who bought as much land as an ox -h ide

would cover and thereby gained a kingdom,of three

hundred chieftains in Kent or Thuringia s lain with knive s

concealed at a banquet,and of a princes s

,as in th e legend

of N ennius, exchanged for three province s by th e king andh is fur-clad councill ors . H engist seems to be ub iquitous

,

and fil l s all kinds of characters . I n one story h e serve s asa legionary in the army of Valentinian th e Third : inanother h e come s as “th e wickedest of pagans ” to ravageth e coasts of Gaul . In th e fragmentary poem which isknown as

“th e Fight of Finnesburg

”

H engist leads a

band of Jutish pirates to burn th e palace of th e Fris ianking : “

th e hal l blazes in th e moon-light,th e spear clangs

,

and shield answers to shaft ” ; but in th e legends of th eFrieslanders themselve s h e is c laimed as th e father oftheir kings

,and as th e bu ilder of their stronghol ds on th e

Rhine ?

Th e Chroniclers next record the b eginning of th e con

pare the nam es of H engistbury H ead, H engstdown in Cornwal l , H inxworth ,and H enstridge H engestes

-rieg on the Stour . Kem ble . Cod . D ip lom .

3 74, 45 5 , 1002“ H engest-be l le , H asted , H ist . Kent , iii. 1 71 . Com

pare also Edwy s donation of twenty “ boo r-lands to th e m onastery of

Ab ingdon “aliquam terrae portionem ,

id est secundum estim ationem

2 0 cassatorum tribus in loc is Illic ub i vulgariter prolatum est azt H engestes

ige, 810 . These “cassates or

“ househo lders lands ”

are cal led “ burland ”

in th e schedule of boundaries . Cod . D ip lom . 1 2 16 ; L eo . R ec t .Sing. Person . 6 .

1 Beowulf, 2 2 7 , 1083 , 1096 , 1 1 2 7. For the “ Fight at Finnesburg,

see the editions of Beowulf by Thorpe , p . 2 2 7, by Kem ble , i . 2 39 , and byA rno ld, p . 2 04 , and Grein . Biblioth . i . 34 1 . John o f Wal lingford cal lsH engist om nium paganorum sceleratissim us, and m entions h is attacks onth e Gaul ish coast . The R avenna Geographer cal ls h im Ansch is, R avenn .

v . 3 1 but this was a Frankish nam e ; Duke Ansch is was brother of St.

C lou and father of Pep in the Sho rt . Wil l . M alm esb . Gesta, i . 68 . The

Frisian legends treat H engist as the founder of Leyden and the builder of a

366 Orig ins of English H istory .

quest of Sussex,a kingdom at first renowned for th e

daring exploits of its founders,though its later h istory is

’

soobscure that nothing is heard about it between th e captureof th e Roman towns and

’

th e conversion of th e South

Saxons in th e year 68 1 . Th e little country “shut in among

th e rocks and fore sts ” was unable in th e age of Bede to

find support for more than seven thousand households,and

th e historian drew a lamentable “picture of th e poverty andrudeness of th e people . When St . Wilfrid first preached

at Sel sey they did not even know how to catch sea-fish,

though they had nets for eel s , and were s o wil d and

untaught as to have retained th e custom of making “th ej ourney to Woden ”

: for we are told that,when pres sed

by fam ine,forty or fifty m en together would join hands and

leap over th e cliffs into th e sea?

Th e charters relating to th e See of Chichester showthat Sussex was divided into several petty kingdoms

,

b efore it sank into th e position of a duchy under th e

Mercian kings ? Th e Chroniclers however confine them

tem p le of“Warns orWoden at D occum . H am con . Frisia

, 33 ; Suffrid .

Antiqu. Fris . ii . 1 1 Kem p . H ist . Fris. ii. 2 1 , 2 2 .

1 Ante p . 88 ; Bede , H ist . Ecc l . iv . 13 . The pen insula of Selsey wasth e first po int occupied by the South-Saxons. A . S . Chron . anno 477 ;Kem ble , Cod . D ip lom . 99 2 . Th e peninsula , when given to Wilfrid

, was

considered to contain enough land for eighty-seven fam ilies . The grantinc luded th e inhabitants as we l l as their lands, and the bishop ’

s first actwas to bap tiz e and enfranchise the two hundred and fifty serfs . H e found

five or S ix Irish m onks establ ished between th e fo rest and th e sea at

Bosham ; this m onastery and the newer foundation at Selsey were after .

wards un ited in the Bishopric of Ch ichester . Lappenberg quotes the l ife of

St. W ilfrid by JEdde for a desc rip tion of th e condition of the countryp rov inc ia gentilis quae p rae rupium m ultitudine et silvarum densitate aliis

prov inc iis inexpugnabilis exstitit . H ist . Engl . i . c . 7 .

2 The fol lowing grants are p rinted by Kem ble . Nothelm ,K ing of the

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368 Or igins of E nglish H istory .

were doubtless burned and uprooted by th e rough tribe s

who made their homes in th e forest,for th e new comers

hated th e life of cities and dwe l t l ike their forefathersin haml ets s cattered along th e banks of a stream or in

th e glades of a favourite wood ? Some of th e towns ,wh ich were spared at first

,fell afterwards in th e civil wars ,

and many more were left in contemptuous neglect to

crumble in th e wind and th e rain . But th e English kings,

as time went on,learned to hold their courts in th e

fortresses,to choose an anc ient c ity for a m etropol is

,to

grant a Roman town to a favourite retainer,or to set up

their own farmsteads on th e ruins of th e desolated palaces ?

Th e people,as they be came more c ivili sed

,began to

regard these remnants of th e past with feel ings of wonder

tantum quasi nobilissim ae urbis transeuntibus ostenditur desolatus. H enr.

H unt . ii . 1 0 .

1 Tac . Germ . c . 16 ; Am m ian . M arcel l . xv i . 2 , 1 2 .

2 See Bede’

s notices of th e m etropo litan c ities of Canterbury, H ist .Ecc l . i . 2 5 , 2 6, 33 of London , ibid. i . 2 9 , ii . 3 of York , ibid. i . 2 9 , ii. 14 ,

2 0 : of Winchester, ibid. iii . 7, v . 18 : of roya l “v il lae establ ished in R om an

towns, at “D erventio ibid . ii . 9 : t “ Cataracta ”or Catterick , ibid. ii. 14 ,

iii. 14 : at Cam podunum , ibid. ii. 14 : at the station “Ad Murum , i bid .

iii . 2 2 : and see h is account of Dunwich and Linco ln , i bid. ii. 15 , 16 : of

O th ona or Ythan caestir,”

i lid . iii. 2 2 : and of“ Calcaria,” i bid . iv . 2 3 .

Am ong th e towns given to so ld iers were Cnobh ere’

s-burg, the R om an

station at Burgh Castle, in which a m onaste ry was afterwards established ,ibid . iii. 19 . Th e Rom an station at R eculver was also given to a m onas

tery , i bid. v . 8 . See th e l ist of towns in K em ble’

s Saxons in England,i i . 5 5 0 . Com pare Bede ’

S account of th e foundation of th e See of R ochester“Justum ordinavit in c iv itate D orubrev i quam gens Anglorum a

p rim ario quondam il l ins , qui dicebatur H rof, H rofaescaestre cognom inat.

”

H ist . Ecc l . ii . 3 . The derivation is om itted in th e Engl ish version , and

o ther form s of th e word indicate that H rof was an im aginary person .

See E thelbert’s charte r of Ap ril 2 8th , A.D . 604 , in which: h e grants lands,in H rofi-brev i ” near th e “

Southgate-street ”and the “Broadgate .

”

Kem ble , Cod. D ip lom . I .

Orig ins of' English H istory . 369

and regret . The ir poets lamented th e destruction of “thej oyous hal l s

,of th e ruined towers and bare wal l s coated

with frost . “Th e old time has fled and is lost under

night ’s dark veil . ” The e legy called “Th e Ru in te l l s

h ow such a castle fell,as the towers of Anderida had

fal len,and h ow th e earth was shaken as th e furnaces of

th e baths exploded in flame and steam .

“Wondrous th ewal l - stone that We ird hath broken th e roof-tree riven

,

th e gray gates de spoiled . Often that wall withstood

n har and R eadfah, chieftain after ch ieftain rising in

storm . Bright was th e burgh-p lace , and many th e prince ly

halls,and high was the roof of gol d And the court is

dreary,and th e crowned roof lie s

,low in th e shadow of

th e purple arch . Princes of old time,j oyous and gold

bright and splendidly-decked , proud and with wine elate,

in war-gear shone . They looked on their treasures,on

s ilver and gems and on stones of price,and on this bright

burgh of their broad realm . Th e stone court stands,th e

hot stream hath whe lmed it, there where the bath was hoton th e breast . ” 1

We now pass to th e rise of th e H ouse of Cerdic and th efoundation of th e l ittle states of th e “Gev issi

” wh ich in

course of t ime were united in th e We st-Saxon kingdom .

Th e country appears to have been occupied by indepen

dent bands of settlers,who governed themselve s at first

according to th e democratic form s to which they had been

ac custom ed at home . Th e Continental Saxons in th e time1 Th e extrac ts are translated from th e poem s in the Exeter Book

asc ribed to“ Cynewulf . Tho rpe , Cod . Exon . 2 9 2 , 476 , 478 . The

characteristic a l lite ration h as been p reserved as far as was p ract icable .

For the personification o f “We ird or Destiny, see Kem ble, Saxons inEngland, i . 400 “ it shall befal l us as We ird dec ideth , th e lord of everym an . The Fates are th e weird sisters. Grim m

, Deutsch . Mythol . 377.

2 4

370 Orig ins of E nglish H istory .

of Bede were stil l governed by a great number of chieftains

,each managing th e affairs of a province or district

,

and having authority over the reeve s or head-m en of th e

villages : when a war broke out one of th e number was

chosen by lot to lead the national forces,but on th e return

of peace they all became equal again? Th e systemresembled in many resp ects th e institutions des cribed by

Tacitus for even in th e state s which were ruled by kingsth e chieftains arranged th e smal ler matters of government ,and h ad th e task of carrying out what th e people decidedin the ir national assembl ies

,and we are tol d that some of

the chieftains were ele cted at th e same assembl ie s toadminister j ustice in th e country-districts and villages

,each

having with h im a hundred assessors or “companions ” togive advice and to add authority to h is dec isions ? Th e

Engl ish of th e southern settlements soon adopted a

fash ion,which the Franks h ad introduced as soon as they

h ad occupied th e country round Tongres and Cambray ,and chose kings from their noblest families to rul e theirstate s and Shires . 2

1 Bede , H ist . Ecc l . v . 10 . The“Old Saxons here desc ribed were

established in the ne ighbourhood of the Rhine . Their custom s were not

in all respects S im ilar to those of their Engl ish k indred . W il l . M alm esb .

Gesta . i . 80 .

2Tac . Germ . 1 1

, 13 . Th e district , or pagus, adm inistered by thechieftain m ay be regarded as th e o riginal Shire , ” which as th e kingdom s

inc reased in siz e becam e th e subdiv ision of a larger Shire , and in course of

tim e accquired th e Frankish nam e of“ Centena or H undred . Th e old

c ounty—court on this V iew rep resented the national assem bly of an extinc tkingdom ,

and th e hundred-court th e assem bly of one of its o riginal d istricts .

2 “ Tradunt (Francos) p rim um quidem littora Rh eni am mis in

coluisse : deb ino , transacto R heno, Thoringiam transm easse ibique jux tapagos vel c iv itates reges crinitos super se creav isse de p rim fii et ut dic itur

nobiliori suorum fam il ia.

” Gregory of Tours, H ist . Franc . ii. 9 . Th e

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37 2 Orig ins of English H istory .

attempts to break th e pirates ’ l ine ? W e are shown th e

spot where they disembarked,by a headland at th e mouth

of a stream falling into the Southampton Water,

2and can

trace their advanc e al ong th e coast . We learn th e placeswhere they fought in th e forest and by th e ford on th e

Avon,and where they overthrew th e King in whom some

have recognised th e maj estic figure of Ambros ius . “Nowcame two Aldermen to Britain ,

Cerdic and h is son Cynric ,with fiv e ships , at a place called Cerdic

’

s-Ore,and on that

same day they fought against th e We l sh : and after twelveyears they slew a British king whose name was Natanleod

,

and with h im fiv e thousand m en and after that th e country

was called Natan-L ea as far as Cerdic’

s—Ford : and when

eleven years had passed,they took upon them th e kingdom

of th eWest-Saxons,and in th e same year they fought once

more with th e Britons at th e place cal led Cerdic ’

s-Ford :and ever s ince then th e royal race of th e We st -Saxons h as

reigned .

” 2 “And on that day ,” says th e historian

,

“a great

1 Cerdic’

S -Ore is supposed to be a headland at th e m outh of th e

R iver I tch in . Th e com pound“ore in such wo rds as Cym en

’

s-Ore and

Gerdie ’

s-Ore m eans a Sl ip o f land between two waters, ” at th e m outh of ariver or th e outlet of a lake . Laing, Sea-kings of No rway, i . 1 19 ; Kem ble ,Cod . D ip lom . 88 , 1 2 3 , 346 , 44 1 , 5 97. Gaim ar

, H ist . Engl . 8 2 2 , speaksof Gerdie ’

s-ore as a p lace known in h is tim e

Cerdic od son nav ire

Arriva. d Certesore

Un m oncel hi pert uncore

L c’

t arriva it e sonfi z ,

Engleis l’

appellerent Chenriz

H ors e H engesf u lur ancestre

S icom conte la Vera ie Geste.

”

2 A . S‘

. Chron . m m . 49 5 , 5 08 , 5 19 . I n the year 5 2 7 th e two k ingsfought another battle in Gerdie ’

s-Lea, which is thought to be BernwoodForest, and in 5 30 “ they took th e Isle of Wight, and S lew m any m en at

Wih tgar’

s-Burg.

”

The nam e of the British k ing is continued in those of

Or ig ins of English H istory . 373

blow fe l l upon th e dwe llers in Albion,and greater yet had

it been but for th e sun going down : and th e name ofCerdic was exalted

,and th e fame of h is wars and of th e

wars of h is son Cynric was noised throughout th e land .

We shal l no t l inger over the monotonous tale of conquest and shal l only cite one more des cription taken as it

is supposed from some lost Chronicle of th e Jutes,which

shows again how th e exploits of th e lesser chieftains wereused to augment th e renown of Cerdic

,as Arthur h as

attracted to h is name th e exploits of a whole age ofchivalry or as Roland towers above h is peers in th e cycleof Carolingian romance . We are told that in th e year 5 14“came West-Saxons with thre e ships to th e place called

Cerdic’

s-Ore,where Stuf and W ihtgar, th e ch ieftains of

th e Jutes,fought with th e Britons and put their army to

fl ight : “and the ir chieftains took th e country far and wide

,

and through their deeds th e strength of Cerdic becameterrible

,and h e passed through all th e land in h is dreadful

11 2m igh t .several p laces near the N ew Fo rest , as Netton and Netley . Com pare the

form Natan-

gréfum or N etgrove ,” Kem ble, Cod . D ip lom . 90 .

1 H eur . H untingd . 11. 1 7.

2 H enr. H untingd . ii . 14 . Stuf and Wih tgar are cal led th e nephews of

Cerdic , whose S ister m ay have been m arried to a Jutish p rince , though it ispossible that interpo lations were m ade in th e Chron ic le to adap t it to th ehisto ry of th e royal fam ily of Wessex . Their l ine ruled in th e Isle of W ighttil l th e S laughter of th e sons of K ing Arvald in A. D . 686 , when th e islanderswere converted to Christ ian ity . Bede , H ist . Ecc l . iv . 16 . The ir fam ily ism entioned in Asser’s L ife of Alfred H is m other was Oshurga, daughterof Oslao ch ief-butler to K ing Ethelwulf h e was a Goth (Jute) by nation ,

descended from th e Goths and Jutes, o f th e seed of Stuf and Wihtgar,two brothers wh o were dukes, and wh o ,

hav ing rece ived possession of the

Isle of Wight from Cerdic their unc le and h is son Cymric , S lew th e few

British inhab itants whom they could find in that island at a p lace cal ledW ih tgara-burgh (Carisbrook) for th e other inhabitants of th e island hade ither been S lain orh ad escaped into ex ile . Vita Alfred . 2 .

374 Origins of English H istory .

The greatness of Wessex begins in th e victories ofCeawlin

,th e “wonder of th e Engl ish and th e hated

destroyer of th e Britons,renowned for h is l ong predom i

nance over all th e English state s and for th e tragic disasterin which h is kingdom and h is life were lost ?

H e first appears as a l eader of th e armies of h is fatherCynric at th e Battle of Barbury H il l ,

” where th e Britonsso nearly retrieved their fortune s by adopting th e Roman

d iscipline . They formed,it is said

,in nine lines

,three in

th e v an and three for the supports,th e re st being posted

in th e rear : th e archers and j avel in-m en were thrown outin th e front

,and each flank was guarded by cavalry

,in

imitation of th e tactics which h ad been used in th e

Imperial legions . “But th e Saxons formed all in one linetogether

,and charged boldly on and fought it out with

their swords am id th e falling banners and breaking spears,

until th e evening came on and th e victory still remaineddoubtful .” 2

A succe ss,gained by Cuthwulf th e king’s brother

,gave

t o th e We st-Saxons th e command of th e Upper Thame sand of th e rich Vale of Aylesbury

,so that their territories

covered all th e districts now included in Buckingham shireand Oxfordsh ire .

2 A few years afterwards three British

1 I n the year 5 5 2 , says the English Chronic le , Cynric fought againstth e Britons at a p lace cal led Searo-burh (Old Sarum ) and put them to flight

and in th e year 5 5 6 Cynric and Ceawlin fought against the Britonsat Beranburh (Barbury H il l) and in th e year 5 70 Ceawlin succeeded

to th e kingdom of the West-Saxons. Wil l iam of M alm esbury describesCeawlin as th e ruin of h is friends and of h is foes Cujus Spectatissim um

in praeliis robur annales ad inv idiam efferunt, quippe qui fuerit Anglisstupori, Britonibus odio , utrisque exitio .

” Gesta . i . 17.

2H enr. H untingdon ii. 2 2 .

2 A . S . Chron . m m . 5 71 . Now Cutha (aliter Cuthwulf foughtagainst the Britons at Bedford and took four towns. These p laces are

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376 Orig ins of English H istory .

Aged , marched from P engwern ,or Shrewsbury

,to th e

“ lusty white town ” by th e Wrekin . Th e poet mournsover th e death of King K ynddylan and th e gloom of h isde serted hal l s . “

Th e Eagle of Pengwern with h is grayand horny beak

,loud is h is s cream and hungry for fle sh

,

loud is h is clamour and hungry for th e flesh of K ynddylan !And h e laments over th e ruined towers

,th e broken shields

and blood upon th e fallows,and th e churches burning

beside th e red clover fields?

Seven years after th e Battle of Deorham,Ceawlin and

h is son Cutha fought again with '

th e Wel sh on th e upperwaters of th e Severn “

and Cuth a there was slain : and

Ceawlin took many towns and unnumbered spoil,and

wrathful h e returned to h is own .

”2 I t is to this time that

we m ay attribute th e founding of th e l ittle k ingdoms ofwh ich th e boundarie s were l ong preserved in those of

th e B ishopric s of H ereford and Worcester ? Th e WestSaxons h ad extended their conquests far b eyond th e l ineof th e Thames and th e Somersetshire Avon to which theywere afterwards restricted

,and within a generat ion after

Ceawlin’

s death these northern territories had pas sed toth e Kings of Mercia ?

1 L lywarch’

s E legy is p reserved in the R ed Book of H ergest . I twas translated by Dr. Guest

, Archae ol. Cam br . ix . 14 2 , and is p rin ted at

length in Skene ’

s“ Four Anc ien t Books of Wales, i . 448 , 45 1 , ii . 445 .

Severa l legends of Ceawlin’

s wars with the We lsh are preserved in the

Book of Llandaff . Liber L andav . 133 .

2 A . 8 . Chron . anno 5 84 . Th e battle was fought at Feth an-lea,

wh ich is thought to be Faddiley, on th e borders of Cheshire . Rhys,Celtic

Britain,108 .

g

2 Th e K ingdom s of th e“Hwiccas corresponded in extent with the

old D iocese of Wo rcester, and the state of th e“H ecanas

” with th e

Bishop ric of H erefo rd . Even m th e sm al l territo ry of th e H wiccas therewere several k ings at th e sam e tim e . Kem ble , Saxons in England , 1. 15 0 .

4 M r. Freem an c onsiders that th e “cession of th e country of the

Orig ins of English H istory . 377

Th e reign of Ceawlin was closed by defeat and disaster .A coalition was formed against h im betwe en th e We lshenemy and h is own dis contented subj ects : and it is

thought that th e plot was instigated byEthe lbert o f Kent,

who h ad once been defeated by Ceawlin and was now tosucceed to h is suprem acy ? Th e forces of th e King of

Wes sex were driven across th e Wiltshire Downs,and we

are told that “there was a great s laughter on th eWoden ’sH il l

,and Ceawlin was driven into exile

,and in th e next

year h e died .

” 2

Hwiccas and Ceawlin’

s other conquests north of th e Avon was m ade in

th e year 6 2 8,and c ites the Chron ic le for that year : N ow Cynegils and

Cwich elm fought with Penda at C irencester and m ade an agreem entthere . Wessex was freed from th e dom in ion of M erc ia by the v ic to ry of

Cuth red o ver Eth elbald at Burford in the year 75 2 . D r. Plo t gave th e

fo l lowing account of a local custom by which th is battle was supposed to

have been com m em orated . Outbred m et and overthrew h im there ,winn ing h is banner, whereon was depicted a go lden dragon ; in m em oryof which V icto ry th e custom of m aking a dragon yearly and carrying it upand down th e town in great jo l l ity on M idsum m er Ev e, to wh ich theyadded th e p ic ture of a giant , was in all l ike l ihood first inst ituted .

”N at.

H ist . Oxford . 348 . Th e custom is m uch m o re l ike ly to have had a

heathen origin and to have been connected with the worsh ip of Freyr orBalder .

1 Wil l . M alm esb . Gesta , i . 17 . L appenberg,H ist . Engl . i . c . 7 . The

Kentish k ing was defeated by th e West-Saxons in th e first year of h is

re ign . I n th is year Ceawlin and h is brother Cuth a fought againstE the lbert and drove h im into Kent : and S lew two A lderm en

, O slaf and

C h ebba,at W ibban-dun (Wim bledon) . A . S . Chron . anno 5 68 .

2 A . 8 . Chron . ann . 5 9 2 , 5 93 . The p lace of the battle is uncertain .

The Chronic le cal ls it Woddesbeorg,

” Florence of Worcester Wodnes

beorh ,id est M ons W oden i,

”and W il l iam of M alm esbury places it at

“Wodnesdic , now cal led th e,Wansdyke . It was p robably fought at

Wanborough in Wiltshire . Woden ,hav ing been early identified w ith

M ercury , was worshipped “ by the road-S ides and h igh hil ls ”: see th e

instances co l lected by Kem ble , Saxons in Engl . i . c . 1 2,and th e Con

tinental exam p les in Grim m’

s D eutsch . Mytho l . c . 7. Com pare H asted’

s

descrip tion of the tum ulus at Woodnesborough near Sandwich, where th e

378 Orig ins of English H istory .

At th e end of th e 6th century Wessex h ad been re stored

in dignity and importance by Ceolwulf, another prince of

Cerdic’

s line,who b egan to reign in th e year of Augustine’s

m ission,and who fought and strove continually “

against

th e Angle s and Wel sh,and against th e Picts and S cots .” 1

Th e power of Ethelbert was predom inant in th e East

as far as th e b orders of Northumbria . The states of th e

East-Saxons acknowledged th e supremacy of h is nephew

Saeberh t : but h e enj oyed no real independence,in spite of

h is dignity as th e descendant of “Saxnoth ”and as th e

nom inal master of London .

2 Th e two East-Anglian

neighbouring ham let of “ Co ld Friday retains a trace of the nam e of

Woden’

s wife .

”H ist . Kent , iv . 2 30 .

1 A . S. Chron . anno 5 97. Ceolwulf died in 6 1 1, and was succeeded by

Cynegils, in whose re ign Wessex was converted to Christian ity by th elabours of Birinus. The Bishop was sent to the parts “ beyond th e

English , ” where no p reacher h ad eve r gone before ; “sed Britann iam

perveniens ac Gev issorum gemtem ingrediens, cum om nes ibidem paganis

S im os inveniret, utilius esse ratus est ibi potins ve rbum praedicare .

”

Bede,

H ist . Ecc l . iii . 7 .

2 See Bede’

s account of the conversion of Essex by M e l l itus ; pro

v inc iae Orientalium Saxonum quorum m etropo l is Lundonia c iv itas est

in qua v idel icet gente Saberct, nepos ( E dilbercti ex sorore R icula,regnabat quam v is sub po testate positus ejusdem (E dilbercti. H ist . Ecc l .ii . 3 . Acco rd ing to som e accounts Ercenwine or ( E scwine was the firstto acquire th e sup rem e p ower over all the East-Saxon com m un ities.

\Villiam o f M alm esbury considered that Sledda , father of Saeberh t, wh o

died in 5 9 7, was th e first who could be said to have re igned : Prim usapud eos regnav it Sledda, a Woden io dec im us . Gesta, i . 9 8 . H is

fabled genealogy is traced in the Appendix to the Chron ic le of Florenceof \Vorcester. Saxnoth was a god of th e Continental Saxons and was one

o f th e three de ities m entioned in th e “ R enunc iation im posed on thema fter the ir defeat by th e Franks . H e is usual ly identified with to

whom Tuesday, or D ies M artis, ” was app rop riated . Grim m,D eutsch .

M ytho l . 184 . For nam es of p laces derived from h im'

,see Kem ble , Saxons

in England , i . 35 1 ; Cod . D ip lom . iii. introd. Com pare the nam e

Tiowulfinga-caestir,”

Bede, H ist . Ecc l . ii. 16 .

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380 Origins of English H istory .

with “Peak-settlers and Chiltern- settlers and manyother tribe s wh ose positions can no l onger be identified ?

Th e foundation of Mercia was th e work of th e valiantPenda

,th e last champion of paganism and th e destroyer of

so many of th e Christian kings . “Like a wolf in th e

sheep -fold,

”it was said

,h e arose and raged against

them . H e perished in th e year 65 5 at th e Battle ofW inwidfield

,

“and with h im thirty royal leaders fell and

som e of them were kings “and in Winwid ’

s stream,

according to th e ancient tale,

“th e death of Anna was

avenged,and th e deaths of S igbert and Egrice

,and th e

deaths of St . O swald and Edwin th e Fair .Somewhat more is known of th e early history of North

umbria . Th e pedigree of King Edwin Shows how h is

ance stor Saem il son of Sigefugel first divided Berniciafrom Deira .

2 Both countries were governed by judges,

pre s iding over ten associated districts,until I da set up a

1 Kem ble , Saxons in England , i. 80 , 84 ; Freem an , Norm . Conqu. i. 2 5

3 7 . Com pare also th e l ist cal led “Num erus H idarum

”under “

H ida

in Spelm an’

s Glossary, and Ga le, i . 748 .

2 There were kings of th e N o rth-M erc ians before Penda : but he was

the first ruler of th e united M idland K ingdom . H enr. H untingd . H ist .Angl . ii . 2 7 ; Bede , H ist . Ecc l . ii. 14 . Penda quidam a Wodenio dec im us,

stirp e inclytus, be l l is industrius,idem que fanaticus et im p ius, apud

M erc ios regis nom en praesum p sit Quid enim non auderet qui lum inaBritann iae Edwinum et O swaldum reges N orthanh im brorum , Sigebertum

Egricum Annam reges Orientalium Anglorum ,in quibus generis c laritas

et v itae Sanc titas c onquadrabant, tem eritate nefaria exstinxit ?” Wil l .

M alm esb . Gesta , i . 74 . Com pare H enry of H untingdon “ insurrex it

igitur exerc itui perituro regis Annae, insurrexit et infrenduit, U t lupus adcaulas Sic super atton itos fertur R ex Penda prop inquos .

’

D evorati

sunt igitur Anna rex et exerc itus ejus ore gladii in m om ento .

”H ist . Angl .

ii. 33 . Penda cam e to th e throne in th e year 6 2 6 , and was k il led at th e

battle on th e Are or VV inwed near Leeds in th e year 65 5 .

2 See th e“genealogies ”

appended to the history of N enn ius. H ist .Brit . 5 6 , 5 7 , 6 2 .

Or igins of English H istory . 38 1

kingdom in Bernicia,and built himself a royal city at

Bam borough“which at first was enclo sed by a hedge and

afterwards by a wall . ” 1 I n those days,we are told

,a

prince cal led Dutigirn fought brave ly against th e nation of

th e Angles , and Aneurin and Taliessin and L lywarch th e

Aged became famous for the ir bardic poems . Th e e legies

as cribed to their names,of which the substance remains

though th e form and language have b een modernised,

contain allusions to many incident s in th e wars of th eBritons with th e Bernic ians. We are shown Theodoric“th e Flame-bearer

,

”one of Ida’s sons

,advanc ing with four

hosts to fight with th e Princes of Annandale : th e “Deaths ong of Owain bewail s th e death at th e Flame -bearer’shands of “th e chieftain of th e glittering We st ” ; and th e

minstrel boasts over th e wh ite -haired Saxons,and s ings

th e praise s of U rbgen , chief of th e th irteen kings who

commanded th e armies of th e North ?

Another kingdom was founded in Deira by f Elle th e

father of Edwin : but on h is death th e whole of North

umbria was seized by E th elfrith the Cruel . “Of h im,

”

writes B ede,

“it m ight be said that l ike Benjamin h e

should ravin as a wolf,and that in th e morning h e should

d evour th e prey and at night divide th e spoil for neve r in

th e time of the Tribunes,and never in th e time of the

K ings,did any one by conquering or driving out th e

Britons bring more of their lands under tribute , or makethem empty for th e hab itation of th e Angle s .”2 In th e

1 A . 8 . Chron . anno 5 47. For lda’

s pedigree see the sam e passages, and

Wil l . M alm esb . Gesta, i . 44 . There was a king of Bam borough as late as

th e re ign of Athe lstane . A . S. Chron . anno 9 2 6 .

2Skene , Four Anc . Books , 348 , 35 0, 366 .

2 Bede , H ist . Ecc l . i . 34 ; Nennius, H ist . Brit . 63 . JEthelfrith , surnam ed

by the We lsh “the D estroyer, ” was son of .tEthelric , one of the sons of

38 2 Or igins of Engli sh H istory .

year 606 h e led an army to th e D ee,and slew unnum

bered Britons ” and desolated th e City of Legions :“and

so,

”it was said

,

“was fufilled th e word of Augustine , that

if th e Wel sh will not be at peace with us they shall perish

at th e hands of th e Saxons . ” 1

If we try to picture to ourse lves th e immediate effect of

th e Conque st , and to know how th e people l ived beforetheir convers ion from paganism ,

we shal l find that more 18

to be learned from th e traditions preserved in old poems .

and Sagas,in charters and re cords of ancient custom

,than

from any bede -rol l of th e chiefs and kings whose w'ars are

entered in th e Chronicle s . Th e annalist summed up thebare re sult of th e struggle , and was content to

’

mote thatPort

,when h e landed at Portsmouth

,

“s lew a noble youngprince of th e Britons

,

” or that Wihtgar, when h is wars .were ended

,was buried in Wihtgar

’

s-Burg? But in th e‘

Song of Beowulf or in th e poems of th e Exeter Book,

”

we find th e image of an actual conflict . There is th e fleetof longwar-galleys

,swan-necked or dragon-prowed

,sailing

towards th e headlands and“Shining cliff s ” of Britain :

th e Warden of th e Shore stands with h is rustic guard to .

prevent th e landing of th e corsairs . 3 As th e ships are

beached th e shiel ds are l ifted from th e gunwale,and the

raven-flag is raised that betokens th e pre sence of th e wargod ; th e pirate s charge on with their “brown shining

I da , wh o in 5 88 had succeeded in h is old age to the inheritance wh ich JElleh ad usurped . Wil l . M alm esb . Gesta , i . 46 .

1 A . S . Chron . anno 606 . This was the occasion of th e m assacre of

th e m onks of Bangor : “ there were also S lain there two hundred p riestswh o cam e thithe r that they m ight p ray for the arm y of th e We lsh .

”Bede ,

H ist . Ecc l . ii . 2 .

2 A . S. Chron . ann . 5 01 , 5 30 .

2 Beowulf , 2 19 , 2 2 9 , 2 3 1 .

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3 84 Or igins of English H istory .

sat on deck in h is s carlet cloak : and when th e swordsbe came notched and blunted “h e went down into th e fore

hold and opened th e chests under th e throne and took out

many sharp swords and handed them to h is m en .

” 1 Th e

s cene recalls th e des criptions of Beowulf and h is thanes ,and th e simpl icity of that ancient time when th e ch ieftain

on th e ale -bench deal t round to each “ companion a swordor “th e blood-stained and conquering spear . ” 2 H istori ans

and po ets al ike have celebrated th e closene ss of th e tie

b etween th e captain of th e“free company and th e

re tainers , who in return for their food and equ ipmentwere bound to guard h im and to fight for h is renown .

A poem preserved in th e“Exeter Book ” describes th e

m isery of an exile who had lost h is lord .

“When sorrow

and s leep,

” said th e Wanderer,

“th e l onely one bind,h is

lord in thought h e embrace s and kisse s and on h is kneelays h is hand and head

,as when of old h is gifts h e

enj oyed : then wake s th e friendless one,and see s before

h im th e fal low sea-paths,th e ocean -fowl bathing and

sprinkl ing the ir wings,frost and snow fal l ing m ingled with

hail,and then all th e heavier are th e wounds of h is heart

,

and sore after dream ing is sorrow renewed .

” 3 We are

shown in th e Germania th e beginnings of th e institutionwhich was destined in its later deve lopment to change th e

whole fabric of society . It stood for rank and power,

among th e nations described by Tacitus,to b e surrounded

by a troop of young m en,

“ their leader ’s glory in peaceand h is safeguard in war. Th e commander of su ch a

1 See th e descrip tion of the great sea-figh t in K ing O laf ’s Saga . H eim s

kringla, v i. cc . 1 14 , 1 19 ; Laing, Sea-kings of Norway, i. 139 , 475 , 480 .

2 Tac . Germ . 14 ; Beowulf, 2 633 , 2 709 .

2 Thorpe, Cod . Exon . 2 86 .

Or igins of Engli sh El istory . 385

bandwas honoured at home and abroad,and enriched with

public gifts,

“armlets and raiment and rings .” Even th e

young noble s,th e eorls who m ight claim to be kinsmen

and ministers of th e gods,were content to serve under a

successful soldier,to . l ive by h is bounty

,and to take such

rank as h is favour allowed .

“When it came t o war,it

was sham eful for the leade r to be exce l led in courage orfor th e fol lowers no t to equal their captain in daring . I t

was a lifel ong infamy to quit th e field where h e fell ; and

it was th e first and holiest of the ir duties to guard and

protect h im and to add their own brave deeds to th ecredit of h is renown .

” 1

On th e conque st of a new territory,a rare event before

th e disruption of th e We stern Emp ire , th e leader wouldnaturally reward h is followers with gifts of land

,if onlv

for th e maintenance of th e cattle and slaves that formed

their share of th e booty . But a conquest would seldom

b e so complete that all fears of future resistance and all

hopes of future plunder were at an end,and wh ile th e

m ilitary relationship subsisted th e follower could only hold

h is estate on th e condition of fulfill ing h is service . On

the tenant ’s death th e land must in most case s have re

verted to th e l ord with th e horse and armour and th e restof the warlike equ ipment which h is bounty had provided .

Th e tenant of such a precarious estate could confer no

better title on h is own dependents ; and thus would arise

a clas s of half-free retainers with nothing that could properly be called their own . Th e English thane s

,or “nobles

by service ,” who in course of t ime took the place of the

nob les by blood,

”appear at first as the followers of a

su ccessful ch ieftain to whom land had been allotted as a1 Tac . Germ . 13 , 14 ; Beowulf, 1 2 18 .

386 Or igins of English H istory .

reward for service . As th e ch iefs increased in dignity, th e

position of their comp anions was altered for th e worse .

They stood to the ir lords in th e relation of servants , boundnot only to fight when requ ired

,but to ride on errands and

to act as butlers and grooms . But in re lation to their own

tenants they were l ords themselves,exacting service and

labour and exercising jurisdiction in the ir turn,so that

the ir e state s from th e first re sembled nothing so much as

manors o f th e mediaeval kind . When th e kings learnedto imitate th e maj esty of th e Empire

,it was natural that

their offi cers and chamberlains should be exalted in a pro

portionate degre e ; th e power of th e prince was mul tipliedby th e gifts which h e lavished upon h is followers ; and

freedom at last disappeared when all lands were holden ofsome superior power

,and every m an was bound to have

some lord to whom h e owed obedience and from whomh e m ight claim prote ction?Th e whole country passed in time under th e power of

th e King,th e Church

,and th e Th ames ; and

,as th e j uris

d iction of th e lords was gradually converted into ownership of th e lands in their districts

,th e des cendants of th e

free m en fe l l under onerous rents and services,and in

many cases became serfs and bondsmen . Where th e tenurewas easiest they h ad to work on their lord ’s e state or to

pay rents of food and other provisions , as th e usage of thed istrict required : and where it was worst they could cal lnothing th eir own

,but were taxed high and l ow as th e

l ord pleased,to redeem their flesh and blood .

”2

1 Kem ble , Saxons in England, i. 1 78, 1 83 ; Freem an,Norm an

Conquest, i . 45 .

2 Kem ble , Saxons in England, i. 3 2 2 ; Cod . D ip lom . 46 1 , 1077. See

also th e R ectitudines singularum personarum , in th e editions o f Thorp eand L eo . For a descrip t ion of m ost of th e agricultural serv ices, see

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388 Origins of English H istory .

th e prim itive communism by which all th e lands in a

townsh ip 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 th e actual house s

and th e l ittle plots enclosed for yards and gardens,though

there were enough “h ide s of land ” hel d as a common

stock to support th e members of th e several households ?

Our common -field system points to a time when all th e

arable land was he ld in undivided shares or dividedperiodical ly by lot . Th e ancient English agriculture was

nearly identical with that which prevailed in Germ anv

“th e rotation of crops

,th e times of sowing and lying

fal low,th e system of manuring and many other agri

cultural customs were th e same .

” Now in several partsof Germany

,and e specially in th e district round Treves

and in th e valleys of th e Saar and Mose lle,th e

peasants he l d all their land in common,excepting th e

houses and a few private estates all th e rest of th e landwas divided by lot

,th e drawings for th e arable having

rendered by f ra trueles . Kem ble , Saxons in England ,i . 8 2 . Com pare

th e use o f“m aeg

-burg for a v il lage belonging to kinsm en, Beowulf ,

2 887.

1 The question as to the dim ensions o f th e“h ide h as been a fruitful

subjec t of controversy . It was o riginal ly that m easure o f land which wasconsidered to be suffic ien t for the support of one fam ily , and its extent variedin every district acc ording to th e loca l custom and according to the qua l ityof th e so il . Bede (H ist . Ecc l . i . 15 ) estim ated th e c on tents of th e Isleof Thanet at 600 h ides, which were afterwards found to contain nearly70 sulings ,

”or Kentish p loughlands , each contain ing 2 10 acres according

to the m easure used in Thanet . In this instance the hide is shown to

have contained less than 2 5 acres. I n a poo rer d istrict it would contain

m uch m ore . There was a later use of th e word which m ade it equivalen tto a

“p loughland, ” or as m uch arable as a team of oxen c ould plough in a

year : in th is case the“ hide ” rep resents quantit ies v arying, acco rding to

th e district , from 1 0 0 acres to 2 10 acres, or even m ore .

Or igins of English H istory . 389

in some cases been annual,and in others having originally

be en held once in three years but afterwards at longerintervals ? I t is true that there is hardly any documentary

evidenc e to show that th e arabl e in England was everdivided in this way . But th e pastures

,and notably th e

l ot-meadows and dole -moors,were treated as common

property : a prim itive usage determ ined th e division ofth e common-fields into strips and blo cks

,th e rotation of

th e crops,th e erection of fences , and th e use of th e land

after harvest by th e cattle of th e whol e community ; we

see that th e same usages prevailed in th e German districts

where th e ownersh ip was certainly colle ctive ; and we are

thus led to be lieve that the Engl ish farmers were at first

j o int-owners of all th e arable land as we l l as of th epastures and waste—grounds in th e township ?

There are many popular customs of wh ich th e originmust be attributed to a time wh en th e villagers were unitedby th e sentiment of partnership and the tradition of a

common des cent . Th e pitching and removal of th e fence s,

1 The wo rks of De L aveleye , M eitz en , and H ansen , on th e subjec t of earlytenures, contain a great num ber of exam ples of the system o f div iding arableland by lo t, wh ich was so com m on in Germ any that in th e M iddle Ages itwas cal led [Mos Theutonicus .

2 I t is said that th e Inc lo sure Com m issioners m et with instances of arablewhich was distributed by lot . See M r. Blam ire

’

s ev idence in th e report ofthe Com m ons Inc losure Com m ittee , 1 844 . In th e M ano r o f H ackney certainarable lands appear to have been described as Terra lotta ln

’

li'

s . See alsoth e ev idence co l lec ted on th e subjec t by Professor N asse in h is

“Agricul turalCom m un ity of th e M iddle Ages .

” C om pare Stubbs, Const . H ist . i . 85 ,where speaking of th e Engl ish townsh ip, as it appears in historical tim es, h e

conc ludes that “ it is in every case e ither a body of free land owners wh ohav e advanced beyond th e stage of land-com m un ity, or th e body of tenantso f a lord wh o regulates them , or al lows them to regulate them selves, onp rinc ip les derived from the sam e source .

”M aine, Early H isto ry of Institu

tions, 76 , 77.

390 Or igins of English H istory .

th e admission of a new commoner to th e customary privi

lege,th e drawing for portion s in th e lot—meadows and

dole -moors,were so m anv occasions for gathering at a

rustic feast ? It was no t unusual for p ie ce s of th e commonland to be let to raise funds for a general ale -drinking and

in one well -known case th e v illage—council h ad th e disposal

of th irteen “ home - closes of m eadow,cal led after th e

names of such official s as th e smith and th e constable and

th e mole-catcher , th e price of th e grass being paid in somecases to th e designated officers and applied in others topublic u ses

,as to mend bridge s and gates

,or “ to make

ale for th e merry-meeting of th e inhabitants . ” 2

Many of th e ceremonies were evidently surv ival s fromheathen times

,al tered in some cases to adapt them to th e

seasons of th e Church and in others bearing more openly

th e marks of their original paganism . Of th e first kind

are th e M ay —game s and Whitsun-ales,th e bringing in of

th e boar’s -head at th e Yule -feast,and th e singing and

drinking at th e holy well ? In the latter class we m ay

place th e customs of whipping th e fruit-trees in Spring,

of eating th e Easter—h are,of th e l eaping and clashing of

1 Com pare the accounts, in H az litt’

s Tenures of Lands, of th e Shepherds ’

feasts at H utton -Conyers,th e

“ne ighbourhood-feast ” at R ipon,

and the

c erem on ies for m aking “a free-m an of th e com m on at Alnwick

, underth e nam es of those p laces respective ly.

2 The custom s of th e township of Cote and Aston hav e been desc ribed inth e Archaeologia , v ol. xxxv . 471 , and xxxv ii. 3 83 , by Dr. G iles in h is H istoryof Bam p ton,

and by Professor J . W il l iam s in h is lec tures on“R ights of

Com m on , 86 , 1 0 2 .

2 For th e c onnection of the boat ’

s -head cerem ony with the worship of

Frea or Freyr, see Grim m, D eutsch . M ytho l . 45 ; Kem ble , Saxons, i . 3 5 7.

For descrip tions of th e Whitsun -feasts at K idl ington and R atby ,and th e

Cotsale on th e C otswo ld H il ls, see H az litt’

s Tenures of Land under thenam es of those p laces .

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39 2 Or igins of English [f istor i z

of a ring was placed with many ceremon ies on th e ho rnsof the princ ipal ox .

” 1

It is probable that many other remnants o f paganismm ight be found in th e h istory of customary rents and

services for land,espec ially in th e case of anc ient charities

where th e profits of particular fie lds are devo ted to makingcakes impre ssed with figures of an unknown origin ;

2and

we m ay compare with th e flower-rents,in which Grimm

saw a heathen practice continued into Christian t imes,our

English instances of ancient rents in th e shape of a wh itebul l

,or two wh ite hare s

,a red rose for all services

,or a

chaplet of rose s on th e Feast of St . John ?

1 Gen t . M ag. Feb . 1 79 1 ; H az l itt,Tenures of Land, 13 1 , 15 6 . Sim ilar

custom s are found in M ontenegro and a whee l-shaped cake cal led a hola tch

is used in all th e Christm as festiv ities they go to th e stal l where oxen are

sleep ing, and the husbandm an fixes th e holo tch on th e horn of th e‘e ldest

ox if h e now throws it off , it is o f good om en to th e househo ld . Evans,

Christm as and Ancesto r-wo rship in th e Black M ountain .

”M acm il l . M ag.

188 1 , 2 33 . Sim ilar offerings are m ade to the ch ief goat , and to th e fowlsand fruit-trees, ibid . 2 2 8 , 2 2 9 . Com pare T ibul lus

,

“ Nunc ad praesep ia

debent Plena co ronato stare boves cap ite .

”L ib . ii . E leg. i. 7, 8 .

2 Com pare the Twickenham custom desc ribed by Lysons, Env ir.

London , iv . 603 , and the distribution at Biddenden in Kent of cakesim p ressed with the gro tesque figures of th e Biddenden M aids . See on

th e subjec t of the baked figures , S im ulacra de consparsz‘

i farin fi,

”

th e

I ndiculus Superstitionum , sec . 2 6,and Grim m

,D eutsch . Mytho l . 5 6 .

“N om en placentis in superio re Saxon ia Fla t/en

, Osterfi aden, quas festis

d iebus m atresfam il ias c onfic iunt . K eysler, Antiqu. Septentr. 337 . Com

pare h is account of th e Yule -cakes , ibid . 15 9 , and Bede’

s descrip tion of

February as Sol-m onath,id est m ensis p lacentarum quas in 6 0 diis suis

offerunt.

”

D e Tem p . R at . c . 1 2 .

2 Grim m, D eutsch . Mytho l . 5 2 . For th e paym ent o f a white bul l

, see

H az litt’

s Tenures of Land,under the titles of Bury St . Edm unds, L odebrook ,

and M arlborough, and for th e rent of two white hares at Sheffie ld to be

paid on St. John ’

s D ay , i tid . 2 76 , and Gent . M ag. xxx iv . 3 2 9 . For the

Or igins of English H istory . 393

Th e source s of info rmation as to th e character of th eEngl ish paganism are of extreme ly various kinds

,com

prising such matters as th e ancient forms for th e confess ionof pen itents

,th e laws and canon s against heathen practice s

,

traditionary spell s and incantation s,and legends connected

with th e Runic letters and th e plants used in m edic ine .

Other examples are found in th e names of place s describedin th e ancient charters

,and e spe cially in those of th e land

marks by wh ich th e townsh ips were original ly defined ?

A familiar instance oc curs in th e nam es of th e days ofth e week

,wh ich probably date from a t ime long pre ceding

th e conque st of England? O thers c an be traced in th edivisions of th e an cient calendar . There were thre e great

o ccasions,at th e two sol stice s and at th e end of th e

harvest,when th e nat ional sacrifice s were off ered and th e

public assemblie s he l d ? Th e name of Yule,derived from

th e turning of th e sun in its annual course,was given to

th e two months wh ich preceded and fol lowed th e winter

ren t of th e red rose , general ly payable on th e sam e feast-day , see H az litt’

s

Tenures of land,2 1 2 95 , 3 2 3 ; R ot. Parl . i . 1 780, 179 , 45 1a .

1 They furn ish, says Kem ble , th e m ost conc lusive ev idence that th em ytho logy current in Germ any and Scandinav ia was also current here .

”

Cod . D ip lom . iii. introd . 1 3 . Com pare such nam es as that of “Thunres

lea in the Jutish part o f H am pshire , Cod . D ip lom . 1 038 , 1 1 2 2 :“Berh tan

wyl, or th e we l l of the water-goddess Bertha , ibid . 3 1 1 H n ices- thorn ,

’

refe rring to the N eckar, or water—gobl in , ibid . 2 68 : and “ H ildes-blaew,

the tom b near Wayland Sm ith ’

s Cave on th e I ken ild Street, i'ti'd . 6 2 1 , 1006 ,

2 Grim m, Deutsch . M ytho l . I I I , 1 14 . Th e chief diffi culties about th e

interp retation o f th e nam es of th e week-days lie in th e confusion between“Fricge

”and Fre ia

,

”

wh o m ay have been th e sam e am ong th e Germ ans,

though they appear as separate deities in the Scandinav ian m ythology,and in th e doubt whether the Germ ans h ad any god who answered to

Saturn . ibid . 2 2 7, 2 76 ; Kem ble , Saxons in England, i . 372 . Com pareSchedius, de D iis Germ . 493 .

2 Grim m, R echts-Alterth . 2 45 , 745 , 8 2 1, 8 2 5 , D eutsch . Mytho l . 3 8 .

394 Origins of English H istory .

solstice ; but th e year began on mothers ’ n ight,

now

Christmas Ev e,when th e wom en took part in a nocturnal

watch? We cannot tell what were their “vain practices ,”

which were afterwards suppress ed by th e Church but welearn that in th e second week of th e feast th e people

dressed themse lves in skins and masks to imitate variousanimal s? Th e next great festival was held in September,or “holy month

,

” wh en thanks were given for th e harvestand offerings made to secure a prosperous winter . Lastly ,covering parts of our O ctober and November

,came th e

“month of sacrifice,

” when th e temple -yards were fi lledwith crowds of noisy worsh ippers

,drinking and dancing

before th e gods,while th e cattle were slaughtered on th e

altar- stones . 2

Th e h istory of th e conversion is ful l of incidents whichillustrate th e character of th e English paganism . We are

told of Ethe lbert ’s care to meet th e m issionaries underth e open sky

,for fear of th e magical influence which they

m igh t gain by crossing h is threshold ; of th e king bowingbefore h is ido l in a road-s ide shrine near Canterbury

,and

taking part with h is noble s in th e oflering o f th e sacrifices,

1 Bede,D e Tem p . R at . c . 1 2 .

“ I p sam noctem nunc nob is sacrosanctam tunc gen til i v ocabulo ‘ M oedre N ech t

,

’

id est M atrum N octem ,

appellabant ob causam,ut suSpicam ur, cerem on iarum quas in ea perv igiles

agebant .

”

2 Kem ble c ites the chapte r in th e“Pen iten tia l of Theodore devoted to

a descrip tion o f th e heathen p ractices .

“ Q ui grana arserit ub i m ortuusest hom o 810 . Siquis pro sanitate filioli p er fo ram en terrae ex ierit, illudqueSpin is po st se concludit Siquis in K al. Januar . in cervulo vel v itulavadit, id est in ferarum hab itus se com m un icant

,et vest iuntur pellibus

pecudum et assum unt cap ita bestiarum : qui vero taliter in ferinas Spec ies

se transform ant quia h oc daem oniacum est.

”Saxons in England,

i. 5 2 5 , 5 2 8 .

2 Bede , De Tem p . R at . c . 1 2 ; Grim m,D eutsch . Mytho l . 3 2 , 34 , 35 ;

V igfi’

i sson and Powe l l , Corp . Poet . Boreal . i . 4 2 9 .

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396 Or igins of English H istory .

were offered to Wo den ? Th e Northumbrian Annalssupplied th e h istorian with h is picture of th e destruction

of ido ls at Godm undham .

“Th e place is stil l shown ,

”h e

says,

“not far from York towards th e East

,beyond th e

R iver Derwent,where th e king ’s ch ief-priest polluted and

destroyed th e altars which h e h imself h ad ble ssed .

” Edwinh ad assembled h is Witan

,as was usual in such case s

,to

de liberate on th e proposed change o f re ligion . Th e h ighpriest spoke throughout as one of th e royal offi cers

,and

complained that others h ad re ce ived more favours and

dignities,though no one h ad ever applied himse lf more

carefully than h e to th e service of th e ungrateful gods . “I tis for you

,oh king to look into this new do ctrine ; but I

confess my own firm be lief that there is noth ing good oruseful in th e religion which we have hitherto held . If our

gods were good for anything they would have he lped m e,

who have always done my best to serve them . And so,

girding himself with a sword and taking a lance in h ishand

,h e mounted th e king’s war-horse ; and firs t h e pro

faned th e temple by cast ing th e lance against its wal l,and

then proceeded with h is companions to de stroy and burnth e altars and th e idols ’ shrines

,and all th e hedges and

pal isades with which the sanctuary h ad be en surrounded ?1 “Atque in eodem fano et altare haberet ad sacrific ium Christi et

arulam ad v ic tim as daem on iorum . Bede , H ist . Ecc l . ii . 16 . Th e ac tualp rocedure at a sac rifice is on ly known from th e N o rse autho rities . Grim m ,

D eutsch . M ytho l . 48 . The K ing, or som e noble act ing as h is deputy,p resided ; “

all kinds of cattle as we l l as horses were slaughtered, and theblood was cal led hlaut hlaut-staves ’ were m ade ,

l ike sp rinkl ing-brushes,

w ith which th e who le o f the a l tars and th e tem p le -wal ls bo th outside and

inside were Sp rinkled ove r, and th e peop le a lso were Spr inkled with

the b lood ; but th e flesh was bo iled into savoury m eat for those whowere p resent . H e im skringla, H akon ’

s Saga, 0 . 16 ; Eyrbyggia Saga, 0 . 10

Laing, Sea-K ings o f N o rway,i. 3 2 9 .

Bede , H ist . Ecc l . ii. 13 ; Grim m, Deutsch . M ytho l . 72 .

Or igins of English H istory . 397

Another story of th e heathen t imes is told in th e Life ofSt . Wilfrid . Th e B ishop was crossing from th e Frenchcoast to Sandwich

,when h is little vessel was caught in a

storm and cast upon th e shore of Sussex . Th e king of

th e district hurried down with h is soldiers to claim th e

spoil and wre ck . In th e battle that en sued th e chiefpriest of th e pagans took h is stand on a high mound

,

curs ing th e strangers and striving to b ind their arms byh is spells . But one of th e B ishop ’s companions took a

stone and slung it,

“and smote this Gol iath in th e forehead

,

”

so that th e magician fel l dead upon th e sand as h e ravedh is curses at th e Christians ; and after a time th e tidecame in and lifted th e boat again

,and so they e scaped

th e danger ? But Wilfrid returned soon afterwards to

ac complish th e conversion of h is enemie s ; and th e pagans

of both sexes,some of the ir own accord and o thers com

pelled by th e king , abandoned the ir idols , and confessed ,and were baptized .

”2

During th e greater part of th e century which fo llowed

th e coming of Augustine , th e people of each k ingdomre lapsed into paganism as often as the ir careless rulers

allowed them a greater l iberty , or a pe stilence or a defeat

in battle recalled th e power of th e ancient gods . Even inKent th e heathen temple s were no t formally abol ished

until th e year 640 , and it is re corded that fiv e years beforethat time not a single church or outward Sign of Christ ianity h ad been set up in th e whole kingdom of Bernic ia ?

1 Quem sicut Goliatum in arenosis loc is m ors incerta p rm ven it .

lEdde , Vita W ilfrid . D ec . Scrip t . 5 7.

2lEdde , Vita Wilfrid . D ec . Sc rip t . 7 2 . The K ing and Queen had been

p rev iously bap tiz ed, th e one in M erc ia and th e o ther at herhom e in H wicc ia.

Bede, H ist . Ecc l . iv . 1 2 .

2 Bede , H ist . Ecc l . i . 30 ; ii. 5 , 15 ; iii . 3 ; iv . 2 7 ; Ep ist . ad Ecgbert, 5

398 Origins of English H istory .

I t seemed as if paganism h ad only changed its name,

wh ile th e wooden temple s were used as churches,and th e

rustics stil l built their booths round th e h oly sites,and

brought the ir oxen to b e killed for a dedication -feast,as

once without much outward difference th e sacrifice s h ad

been offered to th e idols . When th e prospe ct seem ed

darkest a new conversion was eff ected by th e zeal of th eIrish m issionaries . But they in their turn h ad to yiel dto th e stronger claims of Rome ; th e m en wh o h ad final lyprevailed against heathenism were overthrown in th e

Synod of Whitby ; and England , at last united under th erule of one Spiritual ob edience

,was ready to take th e lead

in th e conversion of th e neighbouring barbarians,and to

assert h er claim to an important place among th e c ivilised

nations of th e We st .

Grego rius, Ad M e l litum ,Ep ist . x i . 76 . For th e defeat of th e Irish m onks

at Whitby in A .D . 664, see Bede, H ist . Ec c l . iii. 2 5 .

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400 Or igins of English H istory .

I . EXTRACTS RE LATING TO TH E VOYAGE OFPYTH EAS .

a . COSMAS I ND I COPL E U STE S . (Montfaucon . Co l l . Patr . ii .I C I 3 A A I I

H vflea 9 o M a d a-al i e n?” eu 7rep i

’

Q nea vov o z’

i7 m 9 43770 111:

(0 9 67 1I A 3 h I I 3 I

wapa y evop evcp a 1’

17 cp eu Bopei 07 a 7 0i s 7 077 0 i 9 e’

Set’

nvv ov Oi a v 7 09 iI I t 3 A A A 9

d fiapm 7 771) 7J>WOU n0i 7 77v 009 ex ec 7 um vv /c7 co v c’

i ei fyi vonevwv vrap

0 137 029 .

6 . PLUTARCH . D e plac itis Ph ilOSOphorum ,iii . 17 .

I I vfle'

a 9 d M a o a ah i ai 7 i79 , 7 77 7r7t 77po'

i o'

ei 7 579 a eh ijvm wh iju/i vpa 9A I 3 I

fylvea fla i , 7 77 36 neiwa ei 7 a 9 a pwrwri da 9 .

c . CL E OME D E S . Cyc l . Theor . L ib . i . c . 7 .

I I A IH epi 7 7711 ®ov7t i7v nah ovpi evnv vna ov, e

’

u 77 y eyoveva i (pa c t H vfléa vI I I A Q I

7 011 M a o a ak iwfl wpik oa ogbov , 67tov 7 5 12 eep i vbv 1577877) 7 779 ei va i Koryos,3 9 I I 3 I C ( I

a v 7 ov K a i a pnn nov e i va i . H apa 7 ov 7 0i 9 , o7ro7 au eu nap/a mp o i7M O9

C QA I I I A I77, nip/ ta m

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’rye xa l 7 a 71 67077 7rdv7 a 7 ou napnwov

3 0 33 A 3 I 3 A 3 3 A 3 I 3 Aa ei cpa vn GO

'

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-

i v a v 7 ou

f r!

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d . H IPPARCH U S . Arat . Ph aenom . L ib . i . c . 5 .

A I 3 3 A 3 3 I 9

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‘

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7 e7 paf

ywvov ery'

yi 0'

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M a o-o ak i cb7 i7s.

e. Scholiast . APOLLON . R H OD . iv . 76 1 .

A I I A 3 ' I AEv 7 77 A i vrapa na e 2 7 po'yfyv7t77 (7 e m ALOAOU 86 vnowu a v7 a i ) 8017 6 1.

0 H cpa 10'

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a cpo’dpov . T6 36 7ra7ta i c

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Append ix . 40 1

77967te na ram ceva'

o a t, na 7 aBaXo’

v7 a p i c-B6V. 7 6107 2 (75 770 1 H vflea s e

’

u

fyfis firep i ddrp, Keywv it a l, fidh a o'

a a v e’

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'n

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g. PTOLEMY. Magna Constructio 2 .

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ypa cpen uA A A

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k. STE PHANUS BYZ ANTI NU S . D e U rbibus .

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Tz etz es .

1 These five extracts are given in the order inwhich they occur inM assil iensis Fragm enta, ” by A .Arvedson : Upsala, 18 2 4 .

40 2 Orig ins of English E'istory .

Nora .

1

Omnium prim us veterum scrip torum PYTH EAS Thulen nom inat ,

quem etiam solum, quicum que dein hujus m entionem fecerint ,

auctorem secuti fuisse v identur. ANTON I UM B IOGE NEM , qui

haud ita multo p ost AL EXANDRUM MAGNUM v ixit , quique

incredibilia de Thule com posuit, quorum ideam Bib l iotheca sua

servav it PH OT I U S (R othom . 165 3 , p . 35 5 ex PYTH E ZE

narrationibus snarum quoque hausisse fabularum m ateriem ,om ni

procul dub io est . Quam terrain p er Thulen innuerit PYTH EAS ,

diu m ultum que inter erudito s disc eptatum . Om nia , quae de

Thule sive PYTH EAS sive alii tradiderunt , pro figm entis habuitSTRABo . Thulen sub Arctico circulo nostro sitam fuisse PLIN I U Sautum av it . S ic propem odum ME LA et SOL I NU S . Tac itus autem ,

Thy len, quam adhuc n ix et h iems abdiderat,a classe R omana, Bri ‘

tanniam c ircum v ecta, conspectam tradens , et CLAUD IANU S , Pictorum in Britannico bello caesorum sanguine eam incaluisse canens ,

v ix aliam quam Sch etlandicarum insularum quandam notasseexistim andi sunt . Thulen eadem etiam latitudine sitam ac cep it

PTOL EM ZE U S et STE PHANU S BYZ ANT . PRo c0PI U S vero S candina

viam sine dubio respexit . H E NR ICUS H untingdoniensis, qui saeculoduodec imo v ix it , Thulen extremam esse Orcadum insularum

asseruit . E x quo vero I slandia saeculo nono a Norm annis fuit detecta

,eadem

, cum rem otissim am versus septem trionem illam statuerent

, jam Tha les nomine a plerisque praed icari coep it , reliquos

forsan prm eunte ADAMO Breni ensi , quem dein secuti fuerunt SAXOGram m at .

, PONTANUS , H E NDRE I CH ,BOUGAINVI LLE ,

MANNE RT ,

Z E U NE etc . A l ii recentiorum , ut D’ANVI LLE et FOR STE R Sebet

landicarum insularum aliquam pro Thule h abuerunt , alii vero ,ut

DALIN , L AGE RBR I NG ,MURRAY, SCH oN ING ,

ADE LUNG S candi

nav iae borea l is partem . U nus om nium , quantum sc im us, MALTEBRUN , Jutiam Thules nomine a PYTH EA fuisse indicatam op inatus

est . Loca ip sa adeas ap . STRAB. p . 109 , 1 63 ; PL IN . H ist. N at. ,

1 M r. Arvedson’

s trac t is so rare, and so valuable for its com pressed learning, that itwil l be aswel l , forthereader ’s profit, toquote h is encyc lopaedic noteon Thule in its en tirety .

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404 Origins of English H istory .

Quos retulim us scriptores , om nes om nia h ae c nom ina ex PYTH EA

M assiliensi mutuati sunt , qui ipse sine dub io a Celtic is v el Getic is

incolis illa audita excep it . Morim arusa a inor mare ,’

et inario

mortuus est,’

com positum habetur, quod PLIN I U S ideo recte explicav it p er inare inortuuin. Muir-croi

’

nn H ibernic e S ignificat inure

cougelatuin .

— Cf. SCH GN I NG ,lo c . c it . p . 73 ; SCH L oz E R , p . 1 14 ;

FORSTE R , p . 34 ; ARVEDSON , p . 2 1 .

I I . c . JU LIU S CZESAR .

D e Bell. Gall. iv . 2 0 . Exiguaparte aestatis reliqua, Caesar, etsi inh is loc is, quod om nis Gall ia ad septem triones vergit , m aturae sunth iem es , tam em inBritanniam profic isc i contendit , quod om nibus fereGallic is be llis hostibus nostris inde subm inistrata auxilia intelli

gebat : et , S i tempus anni ad be l lum gerendum deficeret, tamemmagno Sib i usui fore arbitrabatur, S i modo insulam adisset, genus

h om inum p erspexisset, loca , portus , aditus c ognov isset : quae

omnia fere Ga llis erant incognita . Neque enim temere praeterm ercatores illo adit quisquam , neque iis ipsis quidquam , praeteroram m aritim am

, atque eas regiones quae sunt contra Ga llias ,notum est . I taque , ev ocatis ad se undique m ercatoribus , neque

quanta esset insulae magnitudo ,neque quae aut quantae nationes

incolerent , neque quem usum belli haberent , aut quibus institutisuterentur, neque qui essent ad m ajorum nav ium m ultitudinem

idonei portus , reperire poterat .

v. 1 2 . Britanniae pars interior ab 113 incolitur, quos natos ininsula ipsamem oria proditum dicunt ; maritim a pars ab iis, qui

praedae ac be l l i inferendi causa ex Belgis transierant ; qui omnesfere iis nom inibus c iv itatum appellantur, quibus orti ex c iv itatibuseo pervenerunt et bello illato ibi rem anserunt atque agros colerecoeperunt . H om inum est infinita m ultitudo , creberrim aque aedi

fic ia , fere Gallic is consim ilia : pecorum magnus numerus . U tunturaut aere , aut taleis ferre is

, ad certum pondus exam inatis, pro

nummo . Nasc itur ibi plumbum a lbum in m editerraneis regionibus, in m aritim is ferrum sed ejus exigua est cop ia : aere utunturimportato . Materia cujusque generis ut in Ga l l i a est praeterfagum atque abietem . L eporem et gallinam et anserem gustare

Appendix . 40 5

fas non putant haec tamem alunt anim i v oluptatisque caussa.

Loca sunt tem peratiora , quam in Ga l l ia, rem issioribus fri

goribus .

13 . Insula natura triquetra , cujus unum latus est contraGalliam . H ujus lateris alter angulus , qui est ad Cantium , quo fereomnes ex Gall ia naves adpellunturfiad orientem solem ; inferiorad m eridiem spectat . H oc latus tenet c irc iter m illia passuum D .

Alterum vergit ad H ispaniam atque occ identem so lem , qua ex

parte est H ibernia , dim idio minor, ut aestim atur, quam Britannia ;sed pari Spatio transm issus atque ex Ga l l ia est in Britanniam .

I n h oc medio cursu est insula , quae adp ellatur Mona ; c om plures

praeterea minores objectae insulae existim antur : de quibus insulisnonnulli scrip serunt , dies continuos XXX sub brum a esse noctem .

N os nihil de eo p ercunctationibus reperiebam us, nisi certis ex

aqua m ensuris brev iores esse, quam in c ontinente , noctes vide

bam us . H ujus est longitudo lateris , ut fert illorum op inio , DCC .

mi llium . Tertium est c ontra septem triones, cui parti nul la est

obj ecta terra ; sed ejus angulus lateris m axim e ad Germ aniam

Spectat : huic m illia passuum DCCC . in longitudinem esse , existim atur. I ta om n is insula est in c ircuitu vic ie s c entum m i l l iumpassuum .

14 . Ex h is om nibus longe sunt hum anissim i, qui Cantium

incolunt , quae regio est maritim a om nis , neque multum a Gallicé

differunt consuetudine . Interiores plerique frum enta non serunt,

sed lacte et carne v ivunt p ellibusque sunt vestiti . Omnes vero se

Britanni vitro infic iunt, quod cm ruleum effic it c o lorem atque hochorridiore sunt in pugna adsp ectu : c ap illoque sunt prom isso atqueom ni parte corp oris rasa, p raeter caput et labrum sup erius .U xores h abent deni duodenique inter se com munes , et maxim e

fratres cum fratribus parentesque cum liberis sed , S i qui sunt ex h isnati , eorum h abentur l iberi , quo prim um v irgo quaeque deducta est .

v i . 2 1 . Germ an i m ultum ab hac consuetudine differunt : nam

neque D ruides h abent , qui rebus d iv inis praesint , neque sacrific iis

student . D eorum num ero eos so los ducunt , quos c ernunt et

quorum ap erte op ibus juv antur, So lem et Vulcanum e t L unam

reliquo s ne fam a quidem acceperunt . Vita om nis in v enationibus

406 Origins of English H istory .

atque in studiis rei m i l itaris consistit : ab parvulis labori :

a c

duritiae student .2 4. Ac fuit antea tempus , quum Germanos Ga l l i virtute

superarent , ultro be l la inferrent , propter hom inum m ultitudinem

agrique inop iam trans R h enum co lonias m itterent . I taque ea

qum fertilissim a sunt Germ aniae loca c ircum H ercyniam S i lvam(quam E rato sth eni et quibusdam Graec is fama notam esse v ideo ,

quam i l l i Orcyniam adp ellant) , Vo lcae Tectosages occupav erunt

atque ib i consederunt .

2 5 . H ujus H ercyniae S ilva , quae supra dem onstrata est, latitudo nov em dierum iter exp edito patet ; non enim a l iter finiripotest , neque mensuras itinerum noverunt . Oritur ab H elv etiorum

et Nem etum et R auracorum finibus, rectaque flum inis D anubii

regione p ertinet ad fines D acorum et Anartium : h inc se flectit

S inistrorsus , diversis ab flum ine regionibus, m ultarum que gentiumfines propter m agnitudinem adtingit ; neque quisquam est hujus

Germ aniae qui se aut adisse ad initium ejus Silvae dicat , quumd ierum iter LX processerit, aut quo ex loco oriatur ac ceperit.

M ulta in eagenera ferarum nasci constat , quae reliquis in locisvisa non sint : ex quibus qua maxime differant ab ceteris et

mem oriae prodenda v ideantur, haec sunt .2 6 . E st bos cervi figura, cujus a media fronte inter aures

unum cornu exsistit , exc elsius m agisque directum h is, quae nobis

nota sunt , c ornibus . Ab ejus summo , sicut p a lmae , ram i lated iffunduntur. E adem est fem inae marisque natura , eadem form a

m agnitudoque cornuum .

2 7 . Sunt item quae adpellantur Alces . H arum est c onsim i l isc apre is figura et varietas pellium ; sed m agnitudine p aul loantecedunt m utilaeque sunt cornibus et crura sine modis articu

lisque h abent ; neque quietis causa procum bunt, neque , S i quo

adflictae c asu conc iderint,erigere sese aut sublevare possunt . H is

sunt arbores pro cub ilibus : ad eas se adplicant , atque ita paullummodo reclinatae quietem cap iunt : quarum ex v estigiis quum est

anim adversum a v enatoribus , quo se rec ipere c onsuerint, om nes

eo lo co aut ab radic ibus subruunt, aut ac c idunt arbores tantum ,

ut sum ma Spec ies earum stantium relinquatur. H uc quum se

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408 Or igins of English f—[istory

3I I A I ) I

7 7711 ap/c7 0v K 6 L/L 6V77v . Ba o i h ew 7 6 rea r 3vva 0 7 a 9 77 0Mt0v 9 GXGIV, rea l,A A A7rpo9 cih h iik om xa 7 c

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Appendix . 409

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4 12 Origins of E nglish H istory .

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V . POMPON I U S MELA .

D e Si tn Orbis, iii . c . 6 . LI nsnla ] in Celtic is a l iquot sunt quasquia p lum bo abundant uno om nes nom ine Cassiteridas app e l lant .Sena in Britannico mari , Osism ic is adversa littoribus, Gall ic inum inis oraculo insignis est cujus antistites , p erp etuavirginitatesanctae , num ero nov em esse traduntur : Ga lli S enas v ocant ,

putantque ingeniis singularibus praeditas ; m aria ac ventos con

c itare c arm inibus ; seque in quae v elint anirnalia vertere ; sanare ,qu% apud a l ios insanabilia sunt ; sc ire v entura et praedicare .

Triginta sunt Oreades angustis inter se diductae spatiis : septemH aem odae , c ontra Germ aniam v ec tae . I n i llo sinu, quem Codanumdixim us , sex ; ex i is Scandinav ia

, quam adhuc Tentoni tenent , utfoecunditate alias

,itamagnitud ine antestat . Quae Sarm atis adversa

App end ix .

sunt , ob alterno s accessus recessusque p e lagi , et quod spatia quisdistant modo operiuntur undis modo nuda sunt , a l ias insulaev identur, alias una et continens term . I n h is esse a onas qui ov is

avium palustriurn et avenis tantum aluntur : esse equinis p edibus

H ippopodas , et Panotos , quibus magnae aures et ad am biendum

corpus omne patulae nudis alioquin pro veste sunt , praeterquam

quod fabulis traditur, auctores etiam quo s sequi non p igeat invenio .

Thule Belgarum litot i opposita est , Gra iis et nostris c elebratacarm inibus . I n 6 51, quod ibi sol longe occasurus exsurgit , brevesutique noctes sunt : sed per h iem em , sicut aliub i , obscurae ; aestate

luc idae, quod per id tem pus jam se altius ev eh ens, quamquam

ipse non cernatur, vic ino tamem sp lendore proxim a illustrat ; per

solstitium v ero nullae, quod tum jam m anifestiornon fulgore modo ,sed sui quoque partem m axim arn ostentat .

VI . C . PL IN IU S SECUNDU S .

H ist. Nat. 11. c . 77 . S ic fit ut , vario luc is incremento ,in Mero e

longissimus dies X I I horas aequinoctiales et octo partes unius h oraec olligat : Alexandria: vero X IV horas : in ItaliaXV : in BritanniaXV I I . Ubi aestate luc idae noctes , haud dubie reprom ittunt id

quod c ogit ratio credi ; solstitii d iebus accedente Sole prOp iusv erticem mundi , angusto lucis am b itu, subjec ta terrae continuo sdies habere senis m ensibus ; noctesque e diverso ad brum am

remoto . Quod fieri in insula Thule Pytheas Massiliensis scripsit ,sex dierum nav igatione in septem trionem a Britanniadistante .

ii . c . 99 . Omnes autem aestus in Oceano majora integunt spatiainundantque . quam in reliquo mari O ctogenis cub itis supraBritanniam inturnescere aestus Pytheas Massiliensis auctor est .

iv . c . 2 7 . Exeundum deinde est, ut extera Europae dicantur,

transgressisque R iphaeos m ontes, l itus Oceani septem trionalis inlaeva, donec perveniaturGades , legendum . Insulae com plures sine

nom inibus eo s itu traduntur. Ex quibus ante Scyth iam , quae

appellatur R aunonia , unarn abesse die i cursu, in quam veris tem

p ore fluctibus electrum ejic iatur, T imaeus prodidit. R eliqua litora

incertasignata fam a. Sep tem trionalis Oceanus Am alch ium eum

4 14 Origins of E ng/is/z H isz‘

m'

y .

H ecata us app e llat , a Paropam iso am ne , qua S cyth iam alluit ,

quod nom en ejus gentis l ingua significat congelatum . Philem on

Morim arusam a C im bris v ocari , h o c est , m ortuum mare , usquead prom ontoriurn Rubeas : ultra deinde Cronium . XenophonL am p sacenus , a litore S cyth arum tridui nav igatione insulam esseim m ensae m agnitudinis Baltiarn , tradit . Bandem Pytheas Basiliam nom inat .

iv . c . 30 . E x adv erso hujus sitfis Britannia insula , clara Grae c is

nostrisque m onum entis , inter septem trionem et oc c identem jace t

Germ aniae,Ga l l ia

,H ispaniae , m ulto m axim is Europee partibus

m agno interva l lo adversa . Albion ipsi nomen fuit , cum Britanniae

v ocarentur om nes : de quibus m ox paullo dicem us . H aec abest

a Gessoriaco M orinorurn gentis litore prox im o trajec tu quinqua

ginta M .,c ircuituv ero patere tric ies octies centena v iginti quinque

M . Pytheas et I sidorus tradunt .

Sunt autem XL Oreades , m odic is inter se discretee spatiis

V I I Acm odae , et XXX H aabudes : et inter H iberniam ac Bri

tanniam ,Mona , Monap ia ,

R icina , Vectis , L irnnus , Andro s .Infra v ero S iam bis , et Axantos . E t ab adverso in Germ anicum

m are sparsae G lessariae , quas E lectridas Gra c i recentiores app ellav ere

, quod ib i e lectrum nasceretur. U ltim a om nium quae mem o

rantur Thule : in qua solstitio nullas esse noctes indicav im us ,

Cancri signum S o le transeunte , nullosque contra p er brum am dies .

H o c quidam senis m ensibus continuis fieri arb itrantur. Timaeush istoricus a Britannia introrsus sex dierum nav igatione abessedic it insulam M ictim ,

in qua candidum p lum bum prov eniat . Ad

earn Britannos v itilibus nav 1gns corlo c 1rcum sutis nav igare . Sunt

qui et alias prodant , Scand iam ,Dum nam

,Bergo s : m ax im am que

om nium N erigon ,ex qua in Thulen nav igetur. A Thule unius

diei nav igatione mare concretum a nonnullis Cronium a pp ellatur.

xxxvii . c . I I . S otacus credidit in Britannia p etris [electrum ]effluere , quas E lectridas vocat . Pytheas Guttonibus , Germ anm

gente , ac coli aestuariurn Oceani , Mentonom on nom ine , spatiostadiorum sex m il l ium : ab hoc diei nav igatione insulam abesse

Abalum : illuc v ere fluctibus adv eh i , et esse concreti m aris pur

gam enturn : incolas pro l igno ad ignem uti eo , proxir‘

n isque

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N 6 Orzgf z'

i zs of 5 715 15 71 H istor ia

m o-es continui m at s tardius atui ani O cean i atquec A “ 5

;

se s “ : n e que quae i e i e hui c-s o p e “ : s t a c 111 11 4 1 f e t t ni e r e . L num

v 1 v 1“ Q : a fl

t lan

“

c erim . nusquam an u s no m inan m ar e , 1: 1 l h um m um

h y w fl ‘ fi ? ’

.

T~7 ~ f

“ fi ” 7 7 7“ F ! N

T‘ A f‘ afl fi flr

‘

rso

v b. . c a t o n e L i n c c I'

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c ne c r i o r s t e n t s a c t - es c e re c d - I‘

c s o et i,sed

: v w fi - 7 ~ fl ‘ A ; .

7 7 ,

.

Q fi 1 q q

Ln - t_ e i e p e ni tus at a. a u n t i e , C L J u gi s e x am ac m on n ous inseri

’n I

c . 1 3 . D ie gm sp at i a u_ ti‘

a nc st

u orh is m ensur "

1 : n ox Claraet exu em a Britann ias p

e t

te brev is , ti t ‘ 2t i n-em at one in itium lucis

s uo d iscriniine t i t ern osca s

. Ouod si nu‘

oes non ofii c iant ,

asn 1c1 p er nOCte zn sons ulgorem ,i . ec oc cndere et exsurgere sed

e

1 111. c . J t L i t s som x t s .

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it , : ai

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utn p ennae

i caizt e: in terL CCEE I . quam v: s densa nox o t egat

t dense: tenebres L’

n i e h om in es lo c i ii li us pleri i m que noc

turnos excursus sic destinant , ut ilh s utan tur ad praesidiumm

T)

(1

)

H O (J

(

I

)

0E (

D

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i t i n e t is d

irigendi p t eejaci sque p er op aca caliiuni rat ionem v ias.

o“

: tium . I n h oc trac tu san eB O (l

)

1

1

(I)

53 ii

5 FL.

73 9 l 5 B Ha

)

Jg

“?fi’

fi

c

et in om ni sep t enti i on':

pc aga bzsoo tn es ft equen'

t ls s im i. qu

i bov esf ‘ ris sim ii es setosi , c on a jut is h orri da . L itre tauro s p ernic itat e

v igez tes ,c

a

p‘ i a sst: escet e m anu nequeun t . Sunt e

'

t C I‘

I

Taurina c ornua in t antum m odum p rotenduntur, 11: dam p ta ob

insign etn cap ac itatem int er regias m ensas p otanni gerula nant .un t e: alces , m uh s c om paran dg ,

adeo prop enso labro sup eriore ,ut n

isi rec edent es in p osteri ora v est igia p asc i non queant . D e

Germ ani cis insti lls S can dLnat i a m axim a e s t .

c .

” 1 Mult a e'

: alias. c ircum Britanniam ins i i ias e quibus Th vle

(I)

-T

O

ult im a

,in ou

‘

aesti i o solstiti o , sole de Ca n

ri s1dere fac iente

tran sit

uriz , nox p a ne nul-a : brum ali solstiti o di es adc o c onductus,

ti : ortus junCtus sit o c cas ui . A Caledonia prom o : torio Thvlen

p et enti’

ons h idui nav igatione p erfecta exc ip iun t H e t udes insula,

quinque num ero , quam ni incola ne s c iunt fruges : p 1sc ibus tantume : la t t e xi vunt . R ex unus e st univ ersis : 11am . quotq

i '

ot sunt,

Append ix . 4 17

omnes angusta interluv ie div iduntur. R ex nihil suum habet ,omnia universorum : ad a quitatem certis legibus stringitur : ac ne

avaritia divertat a vero , d isc it paupertate justitiam utpote cui

nih il sit re i fam iliaris : verum alitur e publico . Nulla ill i daturfemina propria , sed per v ic issitudines, in quam cum que com m otus

sit , usurariam sum it . U nde e i nec votum , nec spes conceditur

liberorum . Secundam a continenti stationem Orcades pra bent

sed Oreades ab H ebudibus porro sunt sep tem dierum totidem que

noctium cursu, num ero tres . Vacant homine : non habent silvastantum junc e is h erbis inhorrescunt . Cetera earum nuda arena .

Ab Orc adibus Thylen usque quinque dierum ac noctium nav igatio

est . S ed Thy le larga et diutina p om ona cop io sa est . Qui illiohabitant , princ ip io veris inter pecudes pabulis v ivunt , dein lacte .

I n h iem em c om percunt arborum fructus . U tuntur fem inis vulgo ,

c ertum m atrim onium nulli . U ltra Thylen p igrum et concretum

mare . C ircuitus Britannia 4875 m illia passuum sunt . I n quo

spatio m agna et multa flum ina : fontes c alidi Op iparo exculti

apparata ad usus m ortalium : quibus fontibus pra sul M inerva

[m m lect. p ra est Sul-M inerva ] num en , in cujus a de p erpetuiignes nunquam canescunt in favillas , sed ub i ignis tabuit , v ertitin globo s saxeos .

IX . D IONYS IU S PER I EGETE S .

Orbis D escriptio , v. 2 86 .

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4 18 Orig ins of English H isiory

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X . RU FU S FE STU S AVI ENU S .

Om Maritim a .

H ic Gaddir urbs est , d icta Tartessus priusH ic sunt co lumna pertinac is H ercul is ,Abila atque Calp e h a c la v a dicti c esp itis ,(Libya prop inqua est Abi la) duro p erstrepuntS eptentrione , sed loco certa tenent .E t prom inentis h ic jugi surgit caput ,(CE strym nin istud dixit a vum antiquius)Molesque c elsa saxei fastigiiTota in tepentem maxime vergit Notum .

Sub hujus autem prom inentis verticeS inus deh isc it incolis (E strym

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n icus,

I n quo insula sese exserunt CEstrym nides,

Laxe jacentes , et metallo div ites

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4 2 0 Or igins of E nglis/z H istory .

Porro in occ iduam plagam

Ab h is colum nis gurgitem esse interm inum ,

Late patere pelagus , extendi sa lum ,

H im ilco tradit . Nullus ha c adiit freta ,Nul lus carinas a quor illud intulit,D esint quod alto flabra propellentia ,Nullusque pupp im sp iritus c oel i juvetD eh inc quod a thram quodam am ictu vestiat

Ca l igo ,semper nebula condat gurgitem ,

E t crassiore nubi lum perstet die .

Oceanus iste est , orb is effusi proculCircum latrator, iste pontus maximus .

Longo explicatur gurges hujus am b itu,

Produc iturque latere prolixe vago .

Plerum que p orro tenue tenditur salum ,

U t v ix arenas subjacentes o cculat .

E xsuperat autem gurgitem fucus frequensAtque im peditur a stus h ic ul igine .

Vis belluarum p elagus omne internatatMultusque terror ex feris h abitat freta .

H a c o l im H im ilco Poenus Oceano superSpec tasse semet et probasse rettulit

H a c nos, ab imis Punicorum annalibus

Prolata longo tempore , edidim us tibi .

X I . TH E RAVENNA GEOGRAPH ER .

Geogr. i . 3 . Duodec ima ut hora diei Britonum est patria , cujus

post terga , infra Oceanum ub i longius est , duorum dierum cum

suis noctibus prospere nav igantibus iter, m agna insula Britanniarejacet : quam Gra corum ph ilosoph i quasi m icosm in appellant .E t trans ipsam Britanniam trec entis m illiariis spatiis, ubi longius,

S cotorum insula inv enitur qua et H ibernia conscribitur. Nam

Appendix . 4 2 i

jam ultra illam , ut ad occ identalem dicam us plagam , nullo modoab hom inibus terra invenitur.

X I I . D I CU I L .

D e m ensure’

i Orbis. c . 2 9 . Thile ultima in qua a stivo solstitio ,

S ole de Cancri sidere fac iente transitum ,nox nulla . Brumali

solstitio , perinde nul lus dies . Trigesim us nunc annus est a quo nuntiaverunt mihi cleric i qui a K al. Febr. usque Kal. August . in illainsulam anserunt , quod non so lum in a stivo solstitio , sed in diebus

circa illud , in vespertina hora sol abscondit se quasi trans parvumtum ulum ,

ita ut nihil tenebrarum in minimo spatio ip so fiat

In medio illins minim i tem poris medium noctis fi t in medio orbisterra et idc irco m entientes falluntur qui circum earn concretum

fore mare scripserunt, et qui a vernali a quinoctio usque ad autumnale continuum diem sine nocte atque ab autum nali versa viceusque ad vernale a quinoctium assiduam quidem noctem , dum illinavigantes in naturali tem pore magni frigoris eam intrabant ac

m anentes in ip sa dies noctesque semper pra ter solstitii tempusalternatim habebant : sed , nav igatione m inus diei ex illaad Boreamc ongelatum mare invenerunt .

XI I I . GASSENDI .

Vi ta Peireskn . 5 . Exoptaverat Wendelinus m axim am sivesolstitialem Solis altitudinem observari Massilia : ut D iatribam

suam de Solis obliquitate posset expendere ex no straobservatione , comparata cum ea quam sub Alexandri Magni temporaPytheas Massiliensis peregit D icere suffic iat fuisse ex

no stra observatione gnom onem ad um bram ea proportione quamhabent 1 2 0 ad qui fuit juxta illum

“ed.proportione quam habent

4. n

1 2 0 ad 413 .

4 2 2 Origins of E nglis/z H isiory .

Proportio Gnonionis, Epist. 2 .

“Ad Pyth eam redeo , cuius propterea fidei nih ildetrah itur, tam etsi idem p otuit cum ill is proc eribusPtolem a o , H ipparch o , E ratosth ene , p ec catum peccare . Veniti lle potins mih i com m endandus et amore patria e t c iv itatis gratia,qua ut Euthym enem in Austrum sic ipsum in Boream em isit per

Atlanticum ,rec itaturos quid in terris usque ultim is v iseretur. Nec

refert quod, ut Seneca m entitum Euthym enem scribit, sic Strabo ,

Polybium secutus , p lurim a mendac ia Pyth ea adscribit . Quippeet Ph iIOSOphus, ex Cleom ede , fuit , ac v eri pro inde studiosus ; et

quod ad ca lestes quidem observationes attinet , id v idetur sufficere ,quod fuerit Matheseos ac ip sius adeo Astronom ia v a lde p eritus .

Peritiorem certe v el ip so Eudoxo ab H ipparch o ac c ip im us , cum

Eudoxum quidem repreh endit dicentem esse quandam stellam in

eodem semper lo co consistentem , qua quidem Polus mundi fit , etMassiliensem Pyth eam com m endat dicentem

“in Polo nullum esse

stellm n,sed vucuuin esse locum cui tres stellcc udjuceuni , quibuscuni

ipsum Poli punctuin quodrungulum circiter figururn efiiciut ut illud

pra teream , quod ipsi propterea fidem adh ibuit , Eratosth enem

im itatus , dum ex ejusdem laboribus Geograph iam locupletav erit .

Nempe et descripsit terra am bitum , opus Sch oliastis celebratum ,

et m em oratos Gem ino de Oceano scripsit c om m entarios . QuinStrabo quoque ipse tacere non p otest illius perit iam 7r€p i 7 d o z

’

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[ca l ua é’oyuan xc

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t ; causatur so lum v oluisse illum eruditionis sua

pra textu conc i l iare fabulis fidem . E t vide tam en,ut exp erientia

nos jam edocuerit i l la revera contingere in plagis Borealibus

qua Strabo v oluit Pyth ean descripsisse solum 7rposne’

v 7 01. 7 81. oépém a.

K a i, 7 971} p aemca'

ruciyv Oewp i'

a v : ejusm odi sunt , “fructum m itioruni

nihi l, anim ulium que 7nunsuetorurn puruin i bi nasci , ini li is ct ali is

oleribus, fructi bus, ct radicibus vesci hom ines.

” Quod fabula locump otissim um dedit , ip sa est Thule‘

s historia , quam hodie etiamplerique v olunt non esse dictam I sland iam , sed insulam quandamex Orcadibus

, adh a rentes Ptolem a o , qui earn statuit quatuorgradibus c itra Circulum Polarem . Sane vero ,

si nihil terrarumsub eo circulo detectum jam foret , p o sset Pytheas haberi m endax ,

referens se eo pervenisse, ubi cesiivus Tropicus gercret vicam Arctici,

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4 2 4 Origins of E nglisli ffi siory .

m em inerint At quonam modo id excusetur, quod ait

Pyth eas seperagrasse guidquicl est Europa regionum ad Oceanum ex

Gadibus ipsis ad Tanain usque. Sane , quod potuerit H ispaniaGa l l ia ac Germania oras perlustrare ac fortassis quoque

’

D ania

sup erata penetrare longe ad Balth icum S inum, qui fuit o limSarm aticus H yp erboreusque creditus Oceanus , creditus c om plectiScandia Insulas , quas nunc esse Noruegia Suec ia que continentesconstat , nemo infic ias ierit . Quod existim av erit autem se

“acl

Tana in usque”

perv enisse , D eum im m ortalem ! quam id videtur

pro caligine eorum tem porum esse excusatione dignum !

Append ix . 4 2 5

A P PEND IX I I .

A LIST OF TH E PR INC IPAL GREEK AND LATIN WR ITERSTO WH ICH REFERENCES H AVE BEEN MADE .

(The num bers ref er to the pages on which the writers are cited.)

[EL IAN ( 2 nd century A.D .) lived at R om e under H adrian,and wrote on the

Nature of An im als. Pp . 5 3 , 2 2 1 .

AGATH AR C I D ES of Cnidos, publ ished a work on the Eryth ra an Sea aboutB . C . 1 13 . P. 5 4 .

AM M IANUS , M ARCE LL INUS (4th century a Greek of Antioch, whowrote a Latin H istory of the R om an em perors from Nerva to Valens .

AM OM ETU S (grd century one of the Greek writers of im aginarytrave ls . P. 89 .

APULE IUS (2 nd century A.D . ) wrote, besides the fam ous Go lden Ass,

various re l igious and ph ilosoph ical tracts . Pp . 2 97, 335 .

ARIST OTL E (3 84-3 2 2 Pp . 7, 48 , 5 3 .

ARTEM ID O RUS of Ephesus (c irca I OO H e trave l led in Spain and

Gaul , and wrote a geography, abridged by M arc ianv

oi H erac lea . Pp . r5 ,

2 3 , 9 1 .

ATH ENAZ U S (c irca 2 2 0 H is D eipno-Soph ista contains fragm ents

o f 800 writers now m ostly lost. Pp . 9 2 , 1 17.

AusoN i U S , D . M AGNUS , the Poet , was born about 3 2 0 A.D . , and l ived til l theend o f the 4th century . Pp . 2 2 3 , 2 5 2 .

AV I EN U S , R UFUS FESTUS (c irca 35 0 -400 translated Aratus and

D ionysius Periegetes, and wro te a poem desc rib ing th e shores o f the

M ed iterranean , which is im portant as p reserv ing som e fragm ents of the

tablets relating to the Carthaginian voyages. Pp . 19-2 1, 2 3 .

4 2 6 Origins of E nglis/z H istory .

CE S AR , C . J U L I U S ( 103-44 Pp . 1 8 , 2 6 , 34 , 5 1 , 10 2 -

3 , 108 , 1 1 2 ,

1 15 , 2 30- 2,2 35 , 2 5 0

-

5 , 2 5 8-2 6 1 , 2 95 .

CASS I OD O RU S,M . AU RE L IUS , was born in A.D . 468 , and l ived beyond the

m iddle of th e next century . H e was th e m in ister of Theodoric th e

Ostrogoth . P. 45 .

C ICERO , M . TULL IUS ( 106-43 Pp . 1 13 , 2 5 0 ,2 97 .

CLAUD IANUS,CL . (4th century H e wrote panegyrical poem s chiefly

in honour of Stil icho and th e Em pero r H ono rius . Pp . 164 , 2 94 ,2 9 7, 34 1.

CL E OM ED E S (grd century A.D . ) wrote on th e c ircular theory of th e heavenlybodies . P . 64 .

CONSTANTIUS L U GD U N EN S I S (c irca 45 0 wro te th e“ L ife of St .

Germ anus, and corresponded w ith Sidonius Apo l l inar i s . P . 344 .

D EM OSTHENE S th e Orato r (384-3 2 2 P . 2 04 .

D I C JEARCH U S,th e pup il of Aristotle and an em inen t geographer , l ived in th e

grd century , B .C . Pp . 7, 2 7, 75-6 .

D I OD ORU S SI CU L U S (latter part of i st century Pp . 1 7, 2 8 , 35 , 46 ,

5 0- 1 , 86 , 9 2 ,109 ,

1 I 1-2 ,1 17-8 , 2 60 ,

2 66 , 2 75 .

D IOGENES , ANTON IUS ( 2 nd or'

grd cen tury autho r of th e Wondersbeyond Thule .

”Pp . 76 ,

7 8 , 8 1 .

D ION CASS IUS th e H isto rian ( 1 5 5 -2 40 Pp . 10 7, 164-6 , 2 86 , 2 95-8 ,

3 10 .

D ION CH RYSOSTOM US , the Orator , flourished in th e reigns o f D om itian,

N erva, and T rajan . P. 2 60 .

D IOS C O RID ES ( latter part o f th e I St century a Greek physic ian , wh o

wro te on“M ateria M edica .

'

P. 2 5 4 .

EPHORUS the H istorian (363 -300 described th e Celts from th e reportsof the early Greek travel lers . P . 48 .

E RATOSTHENES (2 76 -196 l ibrarian at Alexandria, astronom er and

geographer, was th e first to m easure th e obl iquity of th e ec l iptic : h e

also m ade an im p roved m ap of th e earth . Pp . 10, 13 , 14 , 2 5 , 5 1-2 ,

65 ,

EUHEM ERUS of M essene , lived about th e tim e of Alexander the Great .H is Sacred H isto ry was translated into Latin by Enn ius . Pp . 75

-6 .

EU M EN I US (flor. 2 96-3 10 an orator, and author of the Panegyric on

Constantius . Pp . 3 2 0 , 3 2 2 .

EU S TATH I U S , Archbp . of Thessalon ica ( i 2 th century wrote OOH ]

m entaries on H om er and D ionys ius Periegetes. Pp . 8,

1 09 ,

1 17 .

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4 2 8 Orig ins of E nglisn H isiory .

M ACROBIUS , AURE L IUS (5 th century gram m arian and ph ilosopher.

P. 335

M AN IL IUS, M . ( I st century was the autho r of a poetical treatise on

Astronom y . P. 13 .

M ART IALIS, M . VALE RIUS , born in Spain , flourished between 40 and

104 A.D . H e m en tions Britain in several o f h is Epigram s. Pp . 3 ,

1 1 2,2 94 .

M AX IM US of Tyre ( 2 nd century a celebrated Platonist who wrote inth e age of the Antonines . P. 2 72 .

M E ROBAU D E S ,a Frankish Poet (c irca 45 0 H is chief poem ,

now extant ,is th e Th ird Consulship o f Aetius . P. 346 .

O LYM P I OD ORU S (c irca 4 2 5 H e wrote a histo ry of th e WesternEm p ire from 407-4 2 5 A.D . P. 34 2 .

OPP IAN (c irca 2 00 The author of the Cynegetica . Pp . 164 , 2 94.

O ROS i US,PAULUS , the H isto rian , flourished at th e beginn ing of the 5 th

century . Pp . 2 95 , 338 , 35 5 .

PAUSAN IAS wrote th e D esc rip tion of Greece about 174 A.D . Pp . 5 5 , 1 1 1,

PH ILEM ON . Awriter upon Geography, wh owas quoted by Pl iny and Pto lem y .

H e is supposed to have written in the 2 nd century Pp . 5 7, 60 .

PH I L OSTRATU S o f Lem nos (end of 2 nd century Wrote th e“Im a

gines and o ther works, for the Em press Jul ia D om na . P . 2 93 .

PH OTIUS the Patriarch (9 th century Wrote th e“ M yriobiblon,

an

ep itom e of 300 authors, m any of whose works are only p reserved inth is way . Pp . 78, 34 2 .

PLATO the Philosopher (4 2 9 -347 Pp . 77, 2 97 .

PL INY th e Elder (C . PL IN IUS SECUND US) lived 2 3 -79 A .D . H is NaturalH istory was finished in the last year of h is l ife . Pp . 9 , 2 3 , 2 9 , 34 5 ,

40-1 , 44 , 49 , 5 0 , 5 3-6

, 5 9 -6 1 , 71 , 87, 89 , 1 03 , 1 1 1- 2, 1 16 , 138 , 2 2 1

,

2 2 4-5 , 2 35 , 2 5 1 -4 , 2 5 9 , 2 67, 2 72 , 2 75 , 2 95 , 2 97 .

PLUTARCH (born 5 0 M any of th e philosophical trac ts in the M o ral iawere by later authors. Pp . r3 , 69 , 71 , 79 , 8 1 .

POLYBIUS the H istorian (born about 2 00 B .C . , died 1 2 0 H is workscontain m any valuable notices o f Spain, Gaul , and Brita in . Pp . 16 , 2 7.

POM PON I U S M E LA , a Span iard ( i st century H is book “D e Situ

Orbis is a valuable com p ilation o f the earlier traditions.I t is arranged

for a trave l ler voyaging from Spain. Pp . 17, 3 1 , 3 5 , 1 15 , 2 35 , 2 66-7, 2 93 .

Pos i D ON i Us the Sto ic (rst century A philosophe r, astronom er, and

Appendix . 4 2 9

geographer, with whom C icero studied at Rhodes . H e m ade one of the

earl iest calculations of th e earth ’

s c ircum ference , and left a descriptionof h is trave ls in Western Europe . Pp . 9 , 1 7, 2 6

, 30- 1 , 34 , 38 , 9 1-2 ,

108-9 ,2 60 .

PRO COP i U S (6th century A. D . ) was secretary to Be l isarius, and wrote a des

criptive histo ry of h is wars . H e is general ly c redited w ith being th e

autho r of th e secret histo ry of the Court of Justinian . Pp . 65 , 8 l 3 , 88 ,

35 8

PR OSPE R of Aquitaine flourished in th e first half of the 5 th century . H e

continued th e Chron ic le of St. Jerom e to A .D . 445 . Pp . 34 2 , 344 5 .

PRUD ENT IUS th e Chr istian Poet, (c irca 390 A .D . ) engaged in a rel igiouscontroversy with Sym m achus . P . 3 17.

PTO L EM ZEU S , CLAUD IUS , (PT O LEMY ) , th e astronom er and geographer , l ivedabout 5 0 to 15 0 . A .D . H is great work on geography was publ ished about1 2 0 A. D . Pp . 2 8 , 35 -6 , 104 , 1 07, 1 5 1 , 160 , 2 2 7, 2 34, 30 8 , 35 4 , 3 5 6 .

R AVENNAS , or“Th e R avenna Geographer , ” an anonym ous write r wh o

l ived in the 7th century A .D . H e is supposed to have h ad access to the

o ffi c ia l Im perial m aps of Britain, and m entions som e towns not otherwiseknown . P . 3 5 5 .

SENECA , L . AN NJE U S (A.D . 2 Pp . 69 , 80 , 3 17.

SERV IUS , H ON OR ATU S M AU RUS , the Gram m arian (5 th century wroteth e best com m entary on Virgil . Pp . 1 14 , 3 17 .

SID ON IUS , C . SO L L I U S A POLL INARIS , Bp . of C lerm on t (l ived c irca 43 1-484H is poem s and letters give a graph ic p icture of l ife in Gaul about

th e tim e o f th e fal l of the Western Em pire . Pp . 2 3 5 , 3 2 0 -1, 339 , 344 ,

S i L i U S I TAL I CU S , th e Poet ( 2 5 -100 Pp . 109 , 1 14 ,1 73 .

SOL I N U S , C . J UL IU S (lived about 2 40 H e wrote a co l lec tion of

geograph ical and h istorical notes, known as th e Po lyh istor, wh ich was

based on Pliny ’

s Natural H istory . Pp . 5 3, 5 5 ,60 ,

69 , 83 , 13 8 , 175 , 2 2 1-3 ,

2 3 2 , 2 70 .

SO Z OM ENU S , H ERM E I AS (5 th century Wrote an Ecc lesiastical H isto ryextending to about 4 2 3 A .D . P. 340 .

SPART IANU S , D E L IUS , one of the six writers of th e H istoria Augusta (3rdcentury Pp . 308 , 3 1 2 -3 , 3 19 .

STATI US , P. PAPI N I U S , th e Poet (born 6 1 P. 3 1 1 .

STE PHANU S BY Z ANT I NU S flourished about th e earl ier part of th e 6th century .

H is great work on topography is now on ly extant in th e epitom e De

U rbibus . Pp . 6 , 8 , 39 , 46 , 8 1 .

Origins of E nglis/z H istory .

STRABO (bo rn in Cappadoc ia about 66 H is great work, the Geograph ica , was fin ished when he was nearly 9 0 years old . Pp . 9 ,

1 2 -13 ,

2 3 -4 , 2 6-8 , 3 1- 2

, 48 -5 0 , 5 4 , 6 2 -5 , 69 , 76 , 9 2 ,108-1 10 , 1 1 2

-3 , 1 1 7-8 , 149 ,

163 -4 , 2 34 , 2 5 8 , 2 60- 1

,2 75 , 2 9 1 .

SuETON i U S (C . SUET ON IUS TR ANa L L U S) , author o f th e Lives o f th e

Caesars, was born about 70 A . D . Pp . 2 2 1 , 2 67, 2 95 -6 , 2 99 .

TAC ITUS , C O RNEL IUS (5 5 -13 5 Pp . 40 -5 , 5 0 - 2, 5 5 , 7o , 80 , 9 0 , 1 10

,

1 18-9 ,1 2 3 , 13 2 , 13 8 , 15 9 , 2 2 1 , 2 34-5 , 2 38-2 40 , 2 5 8 , 2 60 , 2 74 ,

2 9 1-3 ,

2 95 -30 7. 309 . 335 . 3 5 3 , 3 5 6 . 364. 368 , 3 70 . 3 84 .

VALE RIUS M Ax i M US wro te h is co l lec tion of M em orab il ia ’

about th e year30 A .D . Pp . 2 59 , 2 66 .

V i RG i L (85 - 2 6 Pp . 5 6 , 109 ,1 14 , 15 4-5 , 2 97, 3 17 .

V i TRU V i U s , th e Arch itec t (85 - 2 6 Pp . 163-4, 33 6 .

V OP I S CU S , FLAV IUS (end of 3rd century was one of th e six writers of

the H istoria Augusta . Pp . 2 6 7, 335 .

Z OS IM US , the H istorian , wrote in the latter part of the 5 th century A.D .

Pp . 340-2 .

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43 2 Orig ins of E nglish f i'

z

'

story .

PAGE SBergi

a . Berkshire . 199 , 2 2 17

Bernic iaBet hwood Forest 3 72

Bettws 15 9

Biddenden 39

Bigno r 2 98

Billingsgate 2 77

Birm ingham 3 2 9

Black Forest 5 1 , 5 2 , 2 9 5

a . Bla irv ille 190

a . Bornho lm 193

Boroughbridge 3 2 7

Bosham 366

Bouden H il l 35 2

Boulogne 2 9 , 13 7 , 3 2 0

Bowlby 35 9

Bowness 2 2 8

a . Boxgrov e 188

a . Boxted H a l l 184

a . Brabant 1 2 5 , 19 1

Branca ster (Branodunum ) 330

a . Bray 199

Brecknockshire 137

a . Bredenarde 19 1

Bristo la . Brittany 2 4 5 , 8 1 , 94 5 , 12 4 ,

176 ,

Brocéliande Forest 2 2 9

a . Brontelle 190

Brough 3 2 7Buckho lt ForestBurchana (Fabaria ) 4 1

Burfo rd 3 77

Burgh Castle (Garianonum ) 330 , 368

Burrough H i l l 305Burwen (Birrens) 3 10

Bury (Sa lop ) 387Bury St. Edm unds 39 2

Cad iz (Gades) 12 -16 , 2 0 , 2 2 , 39Caerleon 2 77 , 309 , 3 2 3 , 3 2 9 , 33 1 ,

Ca sarom agus (Chelm sford) 333Ca isto r 2 2 7 , 330 , 33 1

Ca ithness 5 3 , 12 9 , 2 2 8 , 2 83 , 3 2 5

PAGESCa lb ion (Caba ion) 2 5

Ca lca ria 368

Ca ledon ian Fo rest 2 2 3-4 , 2 46

a . Ga l lien 190

Cam beck 107

Cam boricum 3 2 9

Cam bridge 106

Cam podunum (S lack ) 2 5 5 , 368

Cam ulodunum (Co lchester) 106 ,

2 5 5 , 2 74 , 2 94. 2 98-

303 . 3 11.

3

Canterbury 36 , 333 , 36 1 . 368 , 394

Cantion 2 6 , 2 8 , 45Ca rd igan 4 , 15 9 , 2 33 , 3 2 5Ca rl isle (Luguballium ) 2 2 8 , 3 10 ,

Ca rnarv on 3 2 2 , 33 1

Carnoban 2 46

Ca rnuntum (Petronel l) 44

Carthage 7 , 8 , 10-12 , 19

- 2 2 , 336

a . Ca rve i 193

a . Cash iobury 108 , 199

a . Casse l 183 , 190-1

Cassiterides 8 , 1 1 , 14 , 16- 19 , 2 3

Castleacre 330

a . Castlerigg 199

Catara cton (Ca tterick ) 2 77-8 , 2 88 ,

3 2 6

a . Caux 2 03-4

Cen ion 2 30

Cerne 395

Cerdic'

s Ford , Cerdic ’s O re 3 72 3

Channel Islands 12 9

Cha telh érault 5 6

a . Cheltenham 199

Chep stow 2 2 7

a . Ch ertsey Beaum ond 199

Chester 308 , 3 10 , -9 ,

a . Chesterford 106 , 184

Chichester 300 . 33 1 , 366 , 367Chi l l ingham 1 17

Chiltern H il ls 330

a . Chish a l l 184

C irencester 3 2 9 33 2 , 375 , 3 77Cissbury 5 7C leveland 3 2 8

I ndex of'

P laces . 433

PAGE SC lyde 2 37 , 307 , 3 12

-3 , 3 15-6

C lynnog . 2 84

a . Co ity 182 , 184

Co ld Friday 378

Co leshill 39 1

Connaught 173 , 2 2 8

Conway R . (Tisob ius) 15 9

Corbelo (Co iron) 12

a . Co rlay 183

a . Cornwa l l 8 , 9 , 3 1 , 33-7 , 9 2 ,

137-8 144. 15 3 4 . 183

-4. 2 2 8-9 .

2 46

Co te 390

Cotswo ld H ills 390

a . Courland 47, 5 8-6 1 , 2 13

Cranborne Chaee 137

Crayfo rd (Creegan -ford) 360 , 36 2

Crom er 63 ,

a . Croy 190

Croy land 2 2 4

a . Cum berland 144 , 167 , 199 , 2 37 ,

2 99 . 343 . 347-8 35 0

Cym ens-ore 367 , 372

Danube , R . 5 1 , 3 2 1

Da rtm oor 33

D ean , Fo rest 2 19 , 3 2 9

D ebden 106

a . D edham H a l l 184

D ee , R . 2 19 , 2 2 6-7 , 2 33 , 2 36 , 2 47

-8 ,

D eeping 2 44

D eira . 2 46 , 380- 1

D enb igh , Fo rest 2 19

D enm ark 12 5 , 140 , 193 ,

2 10 » 35 3 5D ent 39 1

D eorham (Dyrham ) 3 75-6

a . D erbyD erbyshire 144 , 184 , 32 9

D erv entio (D erwent)a . D erwentwater 199

a . D evon 33 4 , 37 , 183-4 ,

2 2 8-9

18 2

2 84

PAGESa . Douai 190

Doncaster 3 2 6-9D orchester 143 , 2 2 9 , 332

D orset 12 8 , 142 -5 , 2 2 9 , 2 36

Dov er 2 6 , 3 2 , 3 11 , 3 2 5 -6 , 330-1

(1. Down 189Drum kellin 133Dublin 160 , 2 2 8

Dum na (Dum ni) 4 1 , 7 1

Dunstable (Forum D iana ) 33 1

Durham 199

Durolevum 333

a . Ea l ing 189Ebbsfleet 36 2

Eden , R . 3 13a . Edm onton 189Eider , R . 35 7Eiderstedt 35 4Elbe , R . 38

-9 , 43 , 45 -7 , 5 7 , 6O-1 , 12 6 ,

2 13 , 2 95 , 344 » 35 4» 37 1

Elm et 379a . E lsass 193

Ely . 2 2 4

Em s, R . 19 1

En ingia (Epigia ) 40

Ensham 375Epe iacum (Ebchester) 15 9

Ep isford . 36 2

Eshton 3 2 2

a . Essex 104 5 , 184,Esthon ia 15 7 , 2 13Estian M arsh 46

-7

Exe , R . 2 30

Exeter (lsaca , Isca ) 2 30 , 3 2 7 , 332 3

Fa lm outh 2 30

a . Farnham 199

Fa roe Islands 72

Fern H il l 3 2 2

Fethan lea (Faddiley ) 376

Fin isterre , Cape 2 5 , 139

a . Finla nd 40 , 6 2 , 2 12 , 2 15Finsbury 105Fiskerton 387Flam borough 2 2 8 , 2 35 6 , 2 9 2 , 33 1

a . Flanders 160 , 183 , 19 1

2 8

434 Origins of E nglish H istory .

PAGESFord 136

Forfarsh ire 2 2 8

Forth , Firth of 2 36-7 , 307 , 3 12

-6

a . Fram field

Frensham 12 8

a . Friesland 4 1 , 48 , 64,( 1. Fulham 189

Ga l loway 2 37 , 338

Ga ronne 14 , 7 2 , 149

Gibra ltar 4 , 15 , 2 5

a . Glam organshire 137 , 144 , 182 , 184

a . Gloucester 184 , 3 2 6 , 330 , 375Gloucestershire 12 9 , 13 1 , 137 , 184 ,

2 3 2 1 2 79 1 39 1

Godm undham 396

Go th land 88

a . Gouy 190

Gram p ians (Graup ius) 303

Greenwich 104

a . Grim berghe 19 1

Grim tho rpe 2 93

a . Grisons 193

Gristho rpe 163

Groveley , Forest 2 18

a . Guém appes 190

a . Gwynedd (N .Wa les ) 18 2

H ackney 380

a . H a inault 190

H a lough ton 39 1

a . H am pSh ire 184 ,

H am pstead 4

H arde 35 4H artz Forest 5 1

H ebrides 84 , 2 8 2 -4a . H ebuterne 190

H enwick 3H ercynian Forest 5 1-4 , 80

a . H erefordshire . 137 , 39 1

a . H erford 19 1

a . H ertfordshire 184 , 199 , 2 5 5H exham 3 12

H igh Cross 3 2 7 , 33 1

H ighfield 13 1

a . H ochstad t 193a . H ofe Chor 193

PAGESH ofe O r 193

H o lderness 63 ,

H o lyhead 144

H ornoy 190

H orsted 363

H ousesteads 3 15

H um ber , R . 3 2 8 , 375

H unga ry 12 1 , 18 1 , 2 13-4

H untingdonshire 184

H utton-Conyers 390

I ctis (M ictis) 34-7

Ilkley 3 2 6

Isca (Dam non . ) 2 30 , 3 2 7 , 33 2-3

Isca S ilurum 33 1

Ischalis (Ilch ester) 2 2 9 , 2 9 2

Isleworth 189

Isl ington 189

I surium (Aldborough) 308 , 3 2 8

Itins Portus 35 -6 , 45

Jutland 14 , 40 , 46 , 5 8 , 70 , 364

Kem ble-in-the-Street 330

Kent 72 , 102 , 183-187 , 2 0 1-2 ,

K idl ington 390

Kilda re 2 70- 1

Kintyre 1'

5 9

. Kirkby Lonsdale 199

Kirkcudbright 2 84

Lanarkshire 144

L ea , R . 104 5Le icester 137 , 184 , 2 80 ,

3” 3 2 7

L eicestersh ire 184 , 2 02 , 3 2 6

Lenborough 3 75

L éonna is 12 6 , 137

Lewes 187

Lexden 2 94

Lign ieres 190

L il le 183 , 190-1

Lillesha l l 3 2 6

Lincoln (Lindum ) 2 2 7 , 2 34 , 3 1 1 ,

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436 Orig ins of English H istory .

PAGESa . P icardy 190 , 2 03

-4

Piersebridge 1 16

a . P irbright 199

a . Plum p ton 188

Plum stead 104

Plym outh 2 30

Po itou 2 5 7

Pom ona 7 1

a . Ponth ieu 190

Powys 2 33 , 375

Princes R isborow 330

a . Punjab 18 1 , 19 8

a . Putney 189

Py renees 7 , 9 , 16 , 2 3 , 134 ,

Py tch ley

RadnorRam sga te

a . Rassery 190

Ra ta (Rhage) 2 34

Ratby 390

Raunon ia 6 1

R eculver 36 , 330 , 368

R egn i 2 99 . 300. 36 7a . Rellec 183a . R ettem bes 190

a . Réz encourt 190

a . Rhine Prov inces 19 2

Rhine , R . 2 , 14 , 38-9 , 4 2 , 45 7 , 5 1 ,

80 1 , 96 ,

340-2 . 35 3-4 , 35 7. 365 . 370

R ichborough (Rutup ia ) 36 , 104 ,

308 1 3 1 1 1 339 1 368

a . Richm ond 189R iddesdale

R ipon 390

Roch ester (Durobriia )a . R oeham pton 189a . Rohan 183R om ney M arsh 103Rotherfield 188

a . Russia 18 1, 193 ,Ryknild Thorpe 3 2 9

Sa lisbury (Sarum ) 2 9 2 , 33 1-2 , 374

Sandwich 45 , 397

PAGESSandy 106

Saxon Islands 61 , 35 4

Saxon Shore 32 4 , 33 1 3 , 339 , 367

a . Saxony 19 2

Scan ia

S ca rborough 163

S chleswig-H olstein 43 , 12 6 , 35 4-8

Sc illy I sles 16 , 19 , 1 2 9 , 138 , 15 4a . Sc rooby 179 , 184

a . S cythia 39 , 6o 2 13Sedgm oor 2 2 9

Segedunum (Wa l ls End) 3 2 8

a . Se lincourt 190

Selsey 366-7S elwood 2 2 3S ena (Sein) I 7 , 2 45Setantn , Port o f 2 37S ev ern , R . 2 3 2

-3 , 2 60 , 2 80 ,

-6

Shannon , R . 135-6 , 15 9

a . Sheen 189Shefli eld 39 2

Sherwood Forest 2 18 -9a . Shetland I 4 , 3 2 , 64, 70-1 , 18 1

a . Shropshire 144, 184

S ilchester 2 9 2 , 3 1 1 , 33 1-3(1 . S ilesia 4 1 , 19 2

S itom agus (Dunwich) 333

Snowdon 15 9 , 2 19 , 2 64

Soham Fen 144

Solent -1

Solway 2 36-7 , 306 , 3 12

a . Som erset 137 , 142 , 144 , 184-5 ,

Southam p ton 3 2 5a . South Bersted 184a . Southwel l 179 , 184S t . Austel l 33

S t. Agnes 33S t . Bees 167St . Dav ids (M enewa) 160 , 174 , 3 2 5St. H ilary 333

S t . Ives 33 , 333S t . M ichael ’s M ount 37 , 2 69

a . St . Om er 190- I

a . S t . Petersburg 2 13

a . St . S tephens 199

I ndex of P la ces . 437

PAGE S

St . Vincent , Cape 8 , 15 , I 6 , Twickenham2 0 , 2 9 a . Tynem outh

a . S taffo rd 184

a . S taffordsh ire 184 , 3 2

S ta inm oor 3 2 8 , 33? a . Ura l M ounta ins0 . S tam fo rd 137 , 184 , 35 3

U riconium

S tansa , S tans O re 2 30U x isam a (Ushant)

S tirl ingshire 307

S toneh enge 3 2 , 130 , 142

Stra thc lyde 94-5 , 169

S tratton (Foss way ) 3 2 7

a . S tretfo rd 198

Stretton 3 2 7

a . Suab ia 163 , 193

a . Suffolk 184

a . Surrey 104 , 183-4 , 199 , 37 1

a . Sussex 63 , 104 , 12 2 , 130 , 142 , 179 ,

198’ 366 ’ 39 7 a . V iv ierSuth erland 144

Swaffham 35 8

Sweden 65 , 88 ,( 2 . Switz erland

Tadcaster 3 2 2

Tam a ra (O reston) 2 30

Tana is , R . 14 , 39

Tanaus , R . (Taus ) 306-7

Ta ra 170- 1 , 2 5 9 , 2 63 , 2 65 , 2 67

a . Taunton-D eane 185 , 189-90

Tav istock 33

Teivy , R . 4

Teneriffe 2 0 , 2 2

Tham es , R . 14 , 2 2 2 ,

33 1 333 ,

34-8 , 330 , 36 2 , 388

3956

64 7 1 , 76 8 1 , 83-5

142

168

176

3 2 2 1 3341 339 1 340 1 388

Vannes 2 5 -6 , 2 3 1

Venta Belgarum 2 2 7 , 2 92 , 332

Venta I cenorum 2 2 7

Venta S ilurum 138 , 2 2 7 , 309

Vent-land (Gwent) 2 2 7

Verulam (St . Albans) 108 , 302-3 ,

345Vistula , R . 10 , I 4 , 39

-4 1 , 45 , 5 1 ; 5 9 »

I S7 : 2 35 : 3 5 7190

Wadhurst 187-8

Wa ltham stow 184

Wanborough 377 , 395-6

Wancour 190

Wandsworth 189

Wantsum e , R . 36

Wareh am 2 2 6

Warl ingham 39 1

Warlus 190

.Wa rwickshire 184 , 2 2 6 , 3 2 6

Watch et 144

.Wearda le 199

West Fjord 67

Westm inster.Westm oreland 199 , 3 79

Weston (Norfo lk) 106

.Westpha l ia 5 1 , 19 2 , 197Westra 168

Wexford 15 4 , 2 2 8

Weym outh 143

Whitby 3 , 143-4 , 398

Wight , Isle of 35 -6 , 3 2 0 , 35 5 , 372 -3.Wikes 184

.Wim bledon 189 , 377Winderm ere 3 15 , 3 2 8 , 33 1

W inwidfield 380

Wippedsfleet 36 1

438 Or igins of English f f isfory .

PAGESYork (Eboracum ) 3 1 1 , 3 18 , 3 2 0

-3 ,

3 2 6-8. 33 1, 335 , 337

-8 . 35 0 .

Yo rkshire 3 , 103 , 12 9 , 14 1 4 , 163 ,

2 10 , 2 36-7 ,

p ine’

s Fleet 360

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440 Origins of E nglislz H istm'

y .

PAGE SBarrows , H ilda ’

s-Lowe 12 7 , 35 9 , 393

H ob 0’

th’

H urst 12 5

H wittuc’

s -Lowe 12 7

K its Coty H ouse 12 7 , 142 , 363

M aes H owe 12 9

Way land ’

s Sm ithy 1 2 6-7 , 393

Basques 149 , 15 0

Batav i 2 95 , 309

Ba ths , Rom an 2 2 0 , 2 70 , 3 2 9

Bea r 3 , 2 88 , 2 97

Beaver 3 , 4 , 2 2 4

Bede (cited) 197 , 2 2 0-3 , 3 12

-3 , 345 ,

35 325 1 362 , 366 ! 368» 3 7 1 1

3 78 , 38 1-2 , 387

-8. 39 1-398

Bee-culture 2 , 2 2 2 , 387

Beer, use of 30

Belgae 102 , 105 , 1 12 , 1 15 , 15 8 , 2 3 2 ,

2 9 2 1 2 99

Belinus (Bel i) 2 67 , 2 77-8 , 3 2 5

Belisam a 15 8

Belta in-feast 2 6 1-2 , 2 67

Beowulf 344 , 35 2 , 35 9-60 , 365 , 382 -4

Berroc , Wood of 2 2 3

Beuv ray enam el 2 93

Boad icea (see Boudicca) .Boa r, wild 3 , 1 17 , 130 , 2 18 , 2 2 4 , 2 87Boar-crest 43 , 383Bolanus , Vett. cam pa ign o f 306 , 3 1 1

- 2

Boom erang, use of 1 14

Bondage 386 -7Bond-land . 187

-8

Boor-land 365Boreads , legends of 5 , 86

Borough-Engl ish , m eaning of 180- 1

origin of custom 179-80 , 194-7 ,

2 13- 16

in Cornwa l l and D evon 183in Kent 183 , 185

-6

in Som erset 189in Sussex 183

-5 , 187

-8

round London 189in o ther counties 183

-4 , 189 , 199

p rerogative of abolishing 2 0 1-2

extension to fem a les 190

Borvo , worship of 2 5 2Boudicca ‘

2 74 , 2 86 , 2 96 , 300-304

Bov inda (Boyne) 2 5 6

PAGE SBox-woods 2 2 3

Bracton 2 03

Brande ~ erbe 2 1 1

Branwen 2 78 , 2 80-1

Brehon L aw 2 68

Bretwa lda 375

Brigantes 2 2 8 , 2 3 2 -2 40 , 305 , 3 18-3 2 0

Brigantia (goddess) 3 17Brig it (fire-goddess) 162 , 2 76 , 3 17Brita in , agriculture in 1 15 -7 , 2 35 -6

conquest by Engl ish 2 2 6 , 342 -373da rk tribes in 133

-138 , 147-15 5 ,

15 8-16 2 , 174

descriptions of 2 , 3 , 2 8-3 2 , 85 ,

2 2 4 2 35d iv ision into p rov inces 3 2 3

-4dress and o rnam ents 63 ,

1 10-1 13 , 2 40-1

Finni sh tribes in 140-8 , 16 2 -167 ,

173Gaulish settlem ents in 9 2

-3 , 9 7,

10 1-1 17 , 15 8 , 2 2 6-7junior-right in 183

-190

lake-dwellings in 13 2-3

languages of 94-10 1 , 15 6 , 15 8-9 ,16 2 , 2 2 6-7

legends a s to 8 1 , 83 , 86

neo lithic age in 12 4 , 130

paganism in 2 38 , 2 42-2 89

Rom an conquest“

of 2 90-307

Rom an legions in 2 94 , 308-3 11

Rom an roads in 3 2 4-333

Rom an wa l ls in 3 12-3 17 , 339

scythed cha riots 1 14-5 , 2 40

tattoo ing , custom of 164 , 2 35trade

Britann i , continenta l 103Brittany , m igrations to 2 2 9 , 346 , 35 0

c rom lechs in 12 4 , 12 9 , 167jun ior-right in 183language of 94

-5 , 162

paganism 12 6 , 2 10 , 2 5 6

Pytheas , v isit of 14 , 17 , 2 3-2 5 ,

2 70

tin-trade in 8 , 1 1 , 37Brittia , legends o f 8 1-3 , 35 8

Bronz e Age 99 , 1 17, 12 1, 139-146 , 162 -8

Genera l I ndex .

PAGES

Bronz e Age ,weapons 1 12 -5 , 12 1-2 , 144

lake-dwellings 13 2

tin-trade I IBrownies (Boggarts) 2 09

-I o

Bructeri 49

Bry thonic tribes 96-10 1 , 108 , 2 2 6 ,

Bustard 130 , 2 2 4

Cae sa r , J . invasion of Brita in 2 6 , 37 ,

102 -7 , 1 14-5 , 2 2 6 , 2 3 1

-2 35 , 2 5 8 ,

2 9 1

h is description of Veneti 2 6 , 37 ,

2 30-2

of H ercynian Forest 5 1 , 5 6

of Gaulish re ligion 2 5 0-5 , 2 5 8

-6 1 ,

2 66

Ca ledonia 134 , 15 4 , 164 , 2 2 4 , 306 , 3 2 2

Ca l la is , ornam ents 139Cam elot 309Cam ulus , worship of 2 5 5 , 3 17Cangi I5 9Cannel -coa l 144

Cantii 103-4

Caraca lla ,

' Em p . 3 19 , 3 2 4

Ca racta cus 2 38-9 , 2 8 1 , 2 94Carausius , the chiefta in 3 2 2

Caraus ius , Em p . 3 16 , 3 19Carthaginian Voyages 13 , 15 , 19

-2 3

Cartism andua . 2 37-9 , 305

Carv ilius , King 104

Cassa te of land '

365 , 367Cassil 107

-8

Cassivellaunus 107Castlesteads 3 13Casto r-wa re 3 2 9

Catam anus , King 3 2 2

Ca te ia , nature of 1 14

Ca tigern 36 2 -3

Cattle , Ce ltic 5 6 , 1 17 , 130

Ca ttle , wild 3 , 4 , 1 17

Catuvellaun i 107-8

Cave-dwel lings . 2 , 12 3 , 13 1-2 , 2 2 4

Ceawlin 374 , 376-7

Ce ltiberia 94 , 149

Ce ltica 17 , 39 , 46

44 1

PAGESCeltic Islands 17 , 2 3 5Ce ltic na tions 48 , 96 7 100

Ce ltic Prom ontory . 2 3Ce lts in Brita in 102 -19 , 2 2 6-34

m anners and custom s 108-19 ,

145 , 193 ! 2 07Cenion , tin-m art 2 30

Ceolwulf

Cerdic 37 1-3 , 3 78

Cerea lis Petilius , cam pa ign of 305-6

Chariots (Cov in i) 1 14-5 , 2 40

Chatti 5 2 , 2 95Chauci , custom s of 47 5 0

Chrocus , K ing 3 2 3Cimbri 39 , 47 9 , 5 7 64 , 9 2 , 2 46

Cingetorix 104

C ircus , gam es in 3 , 2 96 8

Cissa 367C laud ius , Em p . , h is invasion 2 94, 302 ,

308

h is trium ph 2 95 -7supp ressed D ruidism 2 66

Clochans , Irish 13 1

Cnebba 377

Cogidubnus 300

Co inage , British 3 2-3 , 106 , 2 30 , 2 5 5 ,

2 93

Gaulish 94 , 1 10 , 1 13

Colgrim 35 1

Com m ius , H ouse of 2 9 2-4

Condidan (K ynddylan) 3 75Condrustis Pagus 3 10

Coneely , sea l-legend 2 89

Conm aegl, .K ing 3 75Conn th e H undred -figh ter 135 , 16 1

Constantine th e Great , Em p . 3 2 1-4 , 335Constantine , the Usurper, Em p . 34 1

Constantius , Em p . 3 2 0-2 , 335

Constantius II . , Em p . 333Copper im p lem ents 12 1, 144

Copyhold 179 , 184 , 187-190

Co rac le (Curragh) 34 , 15 2 , 2 3 2 -3 , 34 1Co ra l ornam ents 2 93

Coranians 2 46

Corde l ia , legend of 2 80

Coritav i 2 3 2 1 2 34-6

442 Orig ins of E nglisn f i istory .

Cornabn (Cornavu)Co rnish languageCo ronation-ritesCotm an- landCots-a leCouvade , custom o f

Cradle-ho ldingCrickets , superstitions as toCrom -c ruachCrom lechs (see Ba rrows)Cuchula inn 2 4 1 , 2 88-9Culand , the Sm ith 2 89Cunobeline 2 95Cursing-custom s 15 8 , 175

-6 , 2 7 1

Cutha 374 , 3 76

Cuthred 3 77Cuthwine 375Cuthwulf 374 , 3 76 -7Cwichelm 3 77Cynegils 377

-8

Cynewulf , poem s of 35 2 , 369 , 38 2 , 384Cynric 96 , 373

-4

Dagda (Irish) 1 14 , 2 75 -6

Dam nonii 139 , 2 2 8-2 30 , 2 3 2

(Irish ) 15 2 , 2 2 8

(Scotch) 2 2 8

in West Brita in . 2 2 8-2 3 2

in Brittany 2 2 9Danc ing

-custom s 149 , 39 1

Dav id I . (Scotl. ) 17 1

D e Coulanges , on inheritance 2 04-6

D iana 33 1 , 336

D iancech t 2 79D im etian Code 182

D ioc letian , Em p . 2 67 , 3 2 0 -3 , 334-5D is-gave lling , righ t of 2 01-2

D is Pater 1 14D iv itiacus (D ruid) 2 5 0D iv itiacus (King) 102

Dobun i 2 3 2

Dogs , British 130 , 2 94Doles of land 167, 19 1, 389D olichenus (Jupiter) 336Dolicho-cepha ly 137D611, fam ily of 2 78-9

PAGESD oc tor-gate 32 8

D ower, custom ary 189 , 190

D ruidesses 2 41 2 67

D ruids , British 12 4 , 2 30 , 2 43 , 2 47 ,

2 5 8-2 64

Gaulish 2 49-2 5 1 , 2 5 3 , 2 5 9

-2 6 1 ,

2 65-7

Irish and Scottish 15 1-2 , 2 5 8-2 60 ,2 64

-2 68

D rusus , exped ition of . 2 95

Dubnorix 109

Dukes of South-Saxons 367

Durotriges 2 2 9

Dutigirn 38 1

Dwellings of S tone Age 12 3 , 13 1-3

Dyes, use of 1 1 1-2 , 2 2 1

Ea rth , worship of 2 3 , 43 , 35 6

Ea rth-nut 165East Angl ia 107, 35 7 , 378 9Edga r 395

Edwin the Fa ir 37 1 , 375 , 379-8 1 , 396Eel fishery . 2 2 0 , 366

Egbert 375Egrice 380

Eider , R . 35 7Electrides 4 1, 60

E leutherius , Pope 338

Elixo ia , legend of 86

Elk 5 1, 5 4-6 , 162

Em bankm ents 106-7 , 2 18 , 2 2 4

Enam el ling , art of 2 93Bostra , goddess 39 1

Ep iphany -fires 39 1

Epona , worship of 3 17Ercenwine 378

Eric the Ash 35 9-6 1

Erm in S treet 3 2 5 -33 2

Etirun , a British god 2 5 6

Esus (S ilvanus) 2 5 4Ethelba ld 377Ethe lbert 368 , 375 , 377

-380 , 394

-5

Eth elwulf

Etruscans 1 14 , 149 , 16 1

Euric , King 383Euthym enes, voyage of 13

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444 Origins of E nglisn H istory .

PAGES

Gothones (Goths) 39 , 42 , 5 8-9 , 6 1 , 2 35G raham ’

s-Dyke . 3 16-7

G ra tian, Em p . 340

Greek legends 5 , 10 , 77 , 35 8

Greek rom ances 4 , 5 , 74- 89 , 3 5 8

Greek trade 6 - 14 , 17-19 , 3 2

-6

Gregory , Pope 344

Grim sdyke (Grim esd itch ) 107

Gruagach-s .tone 2 09

Gwyn (Gwyd ion ) 2 43 , 2 46 8 , 2 78-2 80

Gyrv ian k ingdom s 379

H adrian , Em p . 308 , 3 12 , 335

H a ir-dressing 1 12 ,

H a llam shire , custom s 39 1

H are 2 19 , 2 86-7 , 39 1

-2

H ead-hunters 108-9

H earth-superstitions 2 06-2 12

H ecanas , Kingdom o f 376

H eil , a Saxon ido l 395

H einz elm ann ,legend of 2 10

H e irloom s 182 -3 , 190-1 , 196 , 198

H elena , Em p ress 3 2 1 , 3 2 2

H engist and H orsa 12 7 , 344 , 35 3 ,

35 9 -365 1 37 1

H erul i 88 , 35 7

H ercynian Fo rest 5 1-6

H ide of land 367, 388

H ilda , th e war-goddess 12 7 , 35 9 , 393

H il ler, legend of 12 7

H indoo L aw 2 05 , 2 1 1

H ippopodes

H oe l th e GoodH of-giiter

H onorius , Em p .

H rede , Angl ian goddessH ugh the M ightyH um an sac rificeH wiccas , K ingdom s of

H y-M any .

H y Nyall .

H yperboreans , legends of .

Iberians 9 , 1 1 , 17 , 134 ,

148-15 0 , 15 4 , 2 5 8

Iceni 106 , 2 2 7 , 300-4

PAGESIda 37 1 , 380

-2

Ikenild S treet 3 2 5-3 2 7 , 330

-1 , 393Incense-cups 143

Insc rip tions , British 94 , 2 5 7of Bronz e Age 166

Ca rthaginian 19 , 2 0

Gaulish 94 , 2 49 , 2 5 6

Irish andWelsh 96 , 99- 10 1 , 160-1

Ogam 99 , 100 , 3 2 2

Rom an 308 , 3 10 , 3 15-7 , 336

Runic 362-3

1010 , th e Ba rd 2 44-5

Ireland , described 65 , 78 , 2 2 1- 2 2 4 , 2 40custom s 109 , 1 18

-9 , 15 7

-8 , 165 ,

169- 173 , 18 1 , 195 , 2 40 , 2 60

-2 65

da rk races 135 160

fa ir races 96-100 , 173

invasions from 338 , 343

k ings 2 63 , 2 67 , 307

lake-dwel lings 13 2-3

legends 78 , 134-5 , 15 1

-15 4 ,

m igrations to 93-6 , 100-1 , 133-5 ,

15 2-4 , 17 1

paganism 15 3 , 2 07 , 2 09 , 2 5 6 ,

2 6 1 -82

tribes , H y-Many 135 -6

H y-Nyall 170

M ilesians 135 15 1 5

P icts (Cruitnigh ) 15 4 5 , 170 , 2 68

S cots of UlsterU i-Duinn 2 87

I rm in 3 2 6

Iron , use of 1 14 , 12 2 , 144 , 164 ,

Ith , th e hero 135Ivory , use o f 145 , 2 40

JadeJam m erholz

Janua ry-firesJ etJulia D om na , Em p .

Junio r-right , extent ofin BrittanyEnglandWa les and Sh etland

Genera l fiza’ex .

PAGESJunior-right , in France 190

-1

Friesland and Flanders 19 1-2

Germ any 19 2-3

H ungary 18 1 , 2 12 - 14

China , Ind ia , Asia 18 1 , 2 13 -4

am ongUgrian tribes 18 1

in Russia 193 , 2 13

Jungsten-recht 179 , 180

Jup iter , worship of 75 , 2 47 , 2 5 1 , 2 5 4 ,

Justinian , Em p . 6

Jutes 35 5 1 373

Juve ignerie 180

Kent , anc ient accounts of 2 6-3 1 , 37 , 72Gaul ish k ingdom s in 102 -4

loca l laws of 185 -189 , 2 00-2

K erridwen ,wo rship of 2 4-2 6 , 2 47

-8

K im m eridge sha le 144

Kobo lds , legend of 2 10

K ynddylan (Condidan) 346 , 376

Lake-dwel l ingsLandev ennec , Abbey of

Land -m arksLea r , Lly rL em ov ians

L eprachaun

Lign ite ornam entsLindsey , k ings o fL indisfaras

Lipa ri Isles (Strom bo l i)L ir, fam ily ofLivonians , custom s of

LluddL lywarch , th e BardLo l l ius U rbicus

Lom ba rdsL ot-landLot-m eadowsLucius, K ingLuga , th e fire-godLugiLugotorix

Luridan , legends of

Lutin , offerings toLutons , legend of

Lygians

445

M acha (Irish) 2 77Madelstad , custom 190 1

Ma eleBrigd 16 2

M agic 15 1-2 , 2 15 , 2 48 -9 , 2 5 3 , 2 5 9 ,

Ma ine , Sir H . S . , on Brehon Laws 2 68

on p rim ogeniture 195 , 2 05 -2 07 ,

2 1 1

on v il lage com m un ities 389Magya rs 2 12 -3

M a ineté , custom o f 19 1

M anannan (M anawyddan) 2 78-2 82

M andrake 2 15 -6

M anu, laws of 2 05M a rc ian , Em p . 348

Ma rcus Aure l ius , Em p . 3 10

M a rl , use of 1 16

Ma rs , worsh ip of 2 5 1 , 3 2 8 ,

336

M ataris , use of 1 13

Math (Ma thonWy ) 2 79

M a tres , worship’

o f 2 5 7 , 2 72

M ax im ian , Em p . 3 2 0

Maxim us , Em p . 340-1

May-gam es 2 5 0 , 2 6 1

M edb , Queen 2 72

M elkarth (M elicertes'

) 10 , 14-5Me llo , Bishop 338

M enap ii 160 , 3 2 0

M eonwaras 3 5 5M erchetum 387M ercury-Worsh ip 2 5 1

-2 , 2 5 6 , 3 17 , 3 77M erlin 2 44

M ertae 2 87

M eta ls and m ining , ca lam ine 1 1

coppergo ld 143

-4 ,

iron 12 2 , 164

lead 9 , 10 , 1 2 1- 2 , 2 2 0 , 2 93

silve r 10 , 12 2 , 144 , 2 2 0 ,

tin 5 -2 6 , 3 1-7 , 12 1 , 15 2

-3 , 2 2 1

M etem psychosis 2 47 , 2 48 , 2 49 , 2 66

446 Orig ins of English [J istory

PAGESM ethegl in 30 , 3 2

M idnight Sun 67 , 68

M idsum m er Fires 2 5 0

M ilesian tribes 135-6 , 15 1-5

M inerv a , worsh ip of 2 5 1-2 , 2 70

M inne-drink ing 2 08 -9M istletoe 2 5 3M ith ras 337M oedre Nech t 394

M ogh-Neid 162

M ogh Nuadha t 16 2

M onoxy l ic coffins 163M oon-worship 149 , 2 76

-7 , 336

M organ la Faye 2 72

Morigu 2 77M orim orusa 39 , 43 , 5 7

-8 , 7 1

M oths , superstition as to 2 09M oytura , battle o f 2 79Mutter-recht 15 0

Nam es , in Aryan languages 16 1

Na tanleod 372

Neckar (N issey) 2 10 , 393Nectarides 339Neid (Irish) 16 2 , 2 5 6 , 2 77Nem etona (Gaul ish) 2 5 6

N em on (Irish) 2 5 6 , 2 77N enn ius 3 2 2 , 3 5 1-2 , 36 1-2

N eo lithic Age 100 , 12 4 , 12 8-33 , 137-9 ,

15 4-5 1 I 74

N erigo 66

Nero , Em p . 60 , 305N ights , reckoning by . 2 5 1

Nodens (Nuadha , Nudd) 136 , 16 2 ,

2 78- 2 80

N othelm , K ing 366-7

Nud , the Dam nonian 16 1

Nudd, fam ily of 2 78-9

Nunna , King 367Nutons , legend of 12 8

PAGESOfl

'

a , legends ofOffa , K ing . 379

Ogam writing 99 1 1001 3 2 2

Ogm a (Ogm ius) 2 76

Ogyrfen 2 47

Ordov ices 306 1 3 2 3

O sburga 373

Osiris, worsh ip of 337

O sism ii (O stidam nn) 2 5Oslac 373

O slac , Duke 6 7

Osm und 367

Ossian 3 19

O StIOfl CS 0 39 1 5 1 ) 5 7 ) 6 2

O storius Scapula 15 9 , 2 99 , 300

Oswa ld 375 , 380

Oswy 3 75

O tadeni 2 36-7 , 2 78

O th ere , voyage of 35 5

Owa in 2 78 , 2 88 , 38 1

Palm olith ic age 2 , 3 , 12 1-12 3

Pa risii 15 8 , 2 9 2

Paul inus Suetonius 2 5 8 , 302 , 305

Pearl -fishery 2 2 0-1

Penda 377 1 380

Peutingerian Table 330-3

Phoen ic ians 7-1 1 , 14-5 , 19

Picts 94, 15 4-5 , 16 1 , 164

-166 ,

168

o f Scotland 15 5 , 2 37 , 338-9

of Ireland 15 4-5 , 170 , 2 68

P icts-h ouses 13 1

P icts'Wa l l 3 12

Pig-nuts 165

P ix ies 2 09

Plautius , Aulus 2 98-9

Plough land 388

Pom erania 4 1 , 88 , 39 1

Pooka 2 09

Port , th e chiefta in 382

Po rtunes , legend o f 2 09 , 2 10

Po tteries 12 9 , 143-145 , 308 , 3 2 8-9

Prasutagus 106 , 30 1

Préc iput 19 1 , 198

Prim ogeniture , orig1n of custom 2 05 -6

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448 Orig ins of English H istory .

PAGESS cotland , ethnology of 136 , 2 2 8 , 2 36

-7

inv asions from 17 1 , 338-43 , 35 3

languages 94 , 97 , 15 9-6 2

legends 16 2 , 172

pagan ism 2 5 8 , 2 6 1 , 2 67-8 , 2 83-5

R om an gov ernm ent in 5 06-7 ,

3 16-19 , 33 1 , 338

-43

Scots of Ulster 15 5 , 339

S cef 360

Scyld 360

S ea ls 2 2 0 , 2 89

Segonax 104

Selago (c lub -m oss) 2 5 3

Selgova? 2 37

Sem nones 3 5 6

Serap is , worsh ip of 335

Sev erus , Em p . 3 12-3 , 3 18 , 3 2 4

Sev o , M t . 40

Sh eep-farm ing 1 17 , 130 , 2 19 , 2 36

Sh eldrake 2 2 4-5

Shony , offerings to 2 84

S igbert 380

S igefugel 2 88 , 380

S ilurians 134 , 138 , 147-15 0 , 15 4 ,

174 , 2 2 71 2 5 8 1 2 99 305S im on de M ontfort 2 02

S in-ea ter 176-7

S lav onians 140- 1 , 2 10 , 2 5 6

Sledda 3 78

Snakes , superstitions as to 2 09

Soke , socage 187

Spa in , description of 7-2 4

languages of 94-5 , 149

-5 1

legends of 134 , 149m in ing in 7

-9 , 77

S t . Adam nan 15 1

S t . Alban 335St . Anne 2 5 6 , 2 62

S t. Beanus 2 87

S t . Benedic t 197St . Beuno 2 84 , 2 85St . Birinus 3 78

St . Boniface 12 5S t. Brendan 2 87

S t. Bridget 2 70 , 2 7 1 , 2 87

St. Brychan 2 69

St. Cadoc 2 69

PAGESSt . Carannog 2 69

S t . Clou 365S t . Co lm an 2 87

S t. Co lom ba 265 , 2 67 , 2 68S t . Cuthbert 2 84 , 2 85 , 3 2 8

S t. D om in ic 2 2 1

S t. Dubric ius 2 69

St . Ethelreda 3 2 9

S t. Germ anns 344-5

St . Gertrude 2 08

S t. Jerom e 95 , 337S t . John 2 09

St . Lupus 344

St . M ichael 2 08-9

S t . M ourie 2 85S t . Oswa ld 380

St . Patrick 135 , 2 67 , 2 71

S t. Sam son of D ol 35 0

St . Teuth 2 5 5S t . Tydew 2 5 5S t. Vodoal 15 4

S t.Wilfrid 366 , 397S t . W in ifred 366

S t . Alm edha’

s fa ir 175St . Branwen ’

s wel l 2 69 , 2 8 1

S t. Cuthbert’s beads 145S t . E lian ’

s well 176

St . George ’

s wel l 2 85S t . H ila ry ’s church 333S t. I ltyd

’

s house 167S t . John ’

s feast 133 , 2 6 1-2 , 39 2

S t. Tegla ’s wel l 2 85

S t . Win ifred ’

s well 2 73Stane-ga te 3 14S til icho 338 , 34 1

Stone c irc les 169Stonehenge 130 , 14 1

-2

S tone Street 300

Stream s, wo rsh ip of 2 5 7Strom bo l i , described 72 , 12 5Stuf 3 73Suev i . . 45 , 341 , 35 6 35 8 , 360Suiones 43Sulev es (Sylphs) 2 70

Suli-M inerva 2 70

Sul ing , Kentish 388

Sun-worship 2 4, .65 , 2 44 , 2 5 5 1 3371 35 3

Genera l I ndex .

Swend of NorwaySword-p lay

Taliessin 2 47-2 49 , 38 1

Tanarus 336

Tarandus 5 3

Taranis 2 5 4 , 2 5 6

Ta ttoo ing 164 , 2 35

Tax im agulus 104

Tschudic tribes 2 13-4

Teuta tes 2 5 4-5

Teutones 48 , 5 8-9 , 6 1

Theel-land 18 1 , 19 1-2

Theodoric , of Angl ia 44 -5 , 38 1

Theodosius , Em p . 345

Theodosius , th e Genera l 338-40

Th iodolf 35 2

Thor (Thuna r) 2 5 6 , 336

Thrac ian language 94

Thule 39 , 4 1 , 44 , 64-7 1 1 75 1

8 1' 85 r 194

Tides 13 , 48-9 , 7 1-2

Tim aeus 34 , 46 , 6 1

Tin-trade , in Asia 12 1

of Britain 12 , 18 , 33-6 , 45 ,

2 30

with Ca rthagin ians 7-10

of Cassiterides 10 , 14 , 16-19 ,

I S3' 4

Cornwa l l 9 , 16 , 3 1-34 ,

3 7 , 15 2 -4 , 2 2 1

D ev on 33 , 37

Gaul 1 1

I ctis . 34-37

M a rse il les 7 , 3 2 , 35M orb ihan 1 1 , 37

Phoen ic ians 7-10

Portuga lTiowulfinge-cm stir

Titus , Em p .

T iw, worship of

Toliap is

Toot-hil lTotem ismTrajan , Em p .

Triads , W e lshTrinobantes

Truro , R .

Tuatha-De Danann

Turk istanTurquo ise

449

U fli ngs 3 79Ugr ian tribes 12 2 , 18 1 , 2 12 -4

U i-Duinn 2 87U isnea ch , children o f 2 4 1

U ltim ogen iture 180

Upsa la 17 1 , 35 2

U rbgen of Reged 3 8 1

Urus 5 5-7 , 130 , 1 17 , 2 18 , 2 2 4

U xella 2 2 8

Uxel lodunum 2 2 8

Va lentinian III , Em p .

Va lha l la-c l iff sVand , a custom a ry ho ldingVanda lsVa rro .

VegetiusVellaunodunum

Venedo tian CodeVellaus PagusVeneti , trade of

Venn icnii (Venn icones)Venus , wo rsh ip of

Venusius

Vepses , custom s of

Vercassivellaunus

Verulam , wa lls ofVespasian , Em p .

Vica rius BritanniaVik ingsVillage-com m un itiesVillage-feastsVilleinageVisigo th sVite llius , Em p .

Vitrum (woad )Vol du ChaponVoluspaVortigernVortim er

Vosges , funera l-custom s

votes , custom s of

4 5 0 Orig ins of English H istory .

PAGESWa les , custom s of inheritance 18 1-2

D ruid ism 2 43-4 , 2 60-4

ethno logy o f 96-100 , 136

-9 ,

147 , 15 3-5 , I 5 9-60 , 174-5 , 2 33-4ho ly tribes 2 68-9language 94

-100 , 16 1-2

paganism in 174-7 , 2 7 1

-2 ,

2 77-86

Rom an roads 3 2 2 , 3 2 5 , 33 1-2

wa rs with R om ans 2 33-4 , 306

with Angles 38 1-2

with Saxons 374-8

Wa tl ing S treet 3 2 5-71 33 1

-333

Wa ttus , King 367

Way land Sm ith 35 9 1 393Wea lds 104-SWeapons and arm our , bronz e 1 12

2 93

copper 144

reflex ive 1 13-4

stone 1 14 , 12 3 , 133 , 143

Week , days of 378 , 393

We ird , Weird S isters 2 5 7 , 369Weland 12 6-8 , Yew-forestsW e lls , respect pa id to 174

-5 , 2 68-70 , Ylfings

2 74-5 , 2 82 , 2 85 , 3 2 1-2 , 390 , 393 Ynglinga

—talcurs ing-wel ls 175 -6 Youling , custom o f

laughing-wel ls 2 74 Yule-feastp in

-we lls 2 74-5 p ine

’

s-fleet

wishing-wel ls 2 8 2

Wends 40 , 88 , 35 7 , 35 9 Zend-AvestaW essex , conquest of 369-378 Zeuss , theo ries ofW estm ere , k ingdom of 3 79 Zubr (Aurochs)

G . NO RMAN AND SON , PR INTERS , HART STREET, COVENT GARDEN .

PAGE SWestm inster Abbey 17 1 , 395Wexford , legends o f 15 4Wha le 2 2 0

Whitby , Synod o f 398

Whitsun ale 390

W idsith 35 2

Wight , conquest of 35 5 , 372 -3W ih tgar 373

W inra 2 79

W ipped 36 1

W issent (Aurochs) 5 1 , 5 6-7W itta 360

W lenc ing 367Woad 2 35 , 383Woden (Odin) -

360 ,

364 1 366 1 37 11 377 9 1 3 19 1 395 -6

Woden-hills 3 77 1 395Wo lf 3 , 2 2 4 ,

Wonred 364

Wood , weapons of 44, 1 13W ritten-stone 36 2

Waatla (Waetlings) 3 2 6-7

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