Badon (Bath) in 520, and that he met his death in the field at Camelon in 542. A.D. 526. Erkenwin founds the East Saxon king dom (ESSEX.) Uffa lands on the east coast. A.D. 530. The isle of Wight conquered by the West Saxons, and granted to Stuf and Wihtgar. A.D. 534. Cerdic dies, and is succeeded by Cynric. A.D. 547. Ida founds the kingdom of NORTHUMBRIA A.D. 550 (circa). Kentigern, a Scot, founds a bishop's see at St. Asaph. A.D. 560. Ceawlin (Bretwalda) succeeds in Wessex. Ella succeeds in the southern part of Northumbria'. Ethelbert (Bretwalda) succeeds in Kent *. A.D. 565. Columba, a priest from Ireland, converts the Northern Picts, and builds a monastery in Hii (Iona). A.D. 568. The West Saxons make war on Ethelbert, and drive him into Kent. A.D. 575 (circa). Ethelbert marries Bertha, a Christian princess; Luidhard, a Gallic bishop, accompanies her. A.D. 577. Gloucester, Cirencester, and Bath captured by the West Saxons. The conquests of this chief laid the foundation of the kingdom of East Anglia, but the title of king was not assumed till 571, by another leader of the same name. r The conquests of Ida extended from the Humber to the Frith of Forth, but on his death they were divided into the two states of Deira and Bernicia. Ella, the son of Yffa, a Saxon prince, seized on the former, and only the latter, which lay between the Tweed and the Frith of Forth, remained to Adda, the son of Ida. His nephew Ethelfrith, however, recovered Deira in 593. Ethelbert's kingdom was larger than the modern county of the same name, but it was limited by the West Saxons. A.D. 584. Cutha, the brother of Ceawlin, killed in battle at Frethern (near Stroud, in Gloucestershire): "and Ceawlin took many towns, and spoils innumerable; and wrathful he thence returned to his own." Crida founds the kingdom of Mercia. A.D. 588. Death of Ella of Northumbria; he is succeeded by Ethelfrith of Berniciat. A.D. 591. Ceawlin defeated at Woddesbeorg (perhaps Woodborough, in Wiltshire, but more probably Wembury, in Devonshire), by his brother Ceol, and driven from his kingdom. A.D. 593. Ceawlin and Cwichelm, and Crida of Mercia, killed. Ethelfrith of Bernicia succeeds to the whole of Northumbria. A.D. 597. Augustine, despatched by Pope Gregory the Great to attempt the conversion of the Saxons, arrives with a few companions in Kent. Ceolwulf succeeds in Wessex. He fought and contended incessantly against either the Angles, or the Welsh, or the Picts, or the Scots." A.D. 599. Redwald (Bretwalda) succeeds in East Anglia. A.D. 600 (circa). Ethelbert of Kent issues the earliest collection of laws now remaining to us". A.D. 602. Augustine fixes his archiepiscopal seat at Canterbury. A.D. 603. The Scots invade Northumbria, but are defeated at Degsastan (probably Dalston, near Carlisle). Ella left an infant son, Edwin, who, after many years of exile, became the first Christian king of Northumbria. See p. 154. Augustine holds two conferences with the British bishops; they decline communion with him*. A.D. 604. The East Saxons converted by Mellitus. The sees of London and Rochester established. A.D. 605. Death of Augustine, May 26. A.D. 607. "Ethelfrith of Northumbria led his army to Chester, and there slew numberless Welshmen; and so was fulfilled the prophecy of Augustine, wherein he saith, 'If the Welsh will not be at peace with us, they shall perish at the hands of the Saxons.' There also were slain 200 priests, who came to pray for the army of the Welsh; their ealdor' was called Brocmail, who with some fifty escaped thence"." ceeds. A.D. 611. Ceolwulf of Wessex dies; Cynegils suc A.D. 614. Cynegils defeats the Britons at Beandune (Bampton, in Devonshire). A.D. 616. Death of Ethelbert of Kent, February 23 Eadbald succeeds him, and after some lapse of time is baptized. A.D. 617. Ethelfrith of Northumbria killed by Redwald of East Anglia. Edwin, son of Ella (Bretwalda), The dates 599, 601, 602, 604 have also been assigned for these conferences, but that in the text is considered the best supported. The place is believed to have been Aust, on the Severn. One MS. of the Saxon Chronicle places this battle in 605; the Cambrian Annals and the Annals of Tigernach in 613. The "prophecy" was uttered at the second conference of Augustine with the British bishops. Ethelbert was canonized, and was commemorated in the old English Church on the 24th of February. Ethelbert of East Anglia, killed by Offa, was also sainted, and commemorated on the 20th May. Several churches exist dedicated to the memory of one or the other of these holy kings. succeeds, "and subdues all Britain, the Kentish-men excepteda." A.D. 619. Death of Laurentius, archbishop of Can ́terbury, Feb. 2. A.D. 624. Death of Mellitus, archbishop of Canbury, April 24. A.D. 625. Edwin marries Ethelburga, the daughter of Ethelbert of Kent. She is accompanied by Paulinus, who is ordained bishop of the Northumbrians", July 21. A D. 626. Eanfleda, daughter of Edwin, is baptized by Paulinus, at Pentecost, June 8. Edwin wars successfully against the West Saxons. A.D. 627. "King Edwin and his people are baptized by Paulinus on Easter-Day," April 12. "This was done at York, where he first ordered a church to be built of wood, which was consecrated in the name of St. Peter. There the king gave Paulinus a bishop's see, and there he afterwards commanded a larger church to be built of stone." Penda succeeds in Mercia. A.D. 628. Battle between the West Saxons and Mercians, at Cirencester. A.D. 632. Eorpwald, king of East Anglia, is baptized. A.D. 633. Edwin is killed in battle by Penda of Mercia, and his ally Cadwallader, a British chief, at Hatfield chase, in Yorkshire, October 14c. The conquest of the Picts and of the Mevanian isles (Man and Anglesey) is also ascribed to him; but if subdued, the Picts recovered their independence soon after. b A bishop's see had existed in the time of the Romans at York, but the names of only three of the holders have been preserved. Edwin was canonized, and was commemorated on the 4th October in the ancient English Church. A church exists at Coniscliffe, in the county of Durham, dedicated to him. Paulinus retires to Kent, with Edwin's queen and daughter d. A.D. 634. Osric, a cousin of Edwin, succeeds in Deira, and Eanfrith, the son of Ethelfrith, in Bernicia, but both are soon expelled by Oswald (Bretwalda), another son of Ethelfrith, who reigns over the whole of Northumbria. Aidan, a Scot, establishes a bishop's see at Lindisfarne. Birinus commences the conversion of the West Saxons. A.D. 635. Cynegils of Wessex is baptized by Birinus; as is Cwichelm, his son, in the following year. A.D. 636. Felix preaches to the East Angles. A.D. 639. Cuthred of Wessex, son of Cwichelm, baptized by Birinus. A.D. 640. Death of Eadbald of Kent. "He overthrew all idolatry in his kingdom, and was the first of the English kings who established the Easter fast." Ercombert succeeds in Kent. WALES. ABOUT this time1 Dyvnwal Moelmud, a descendant of the British settlers in Armorica, is said, in the Welsh triads, to have come from that country, and having esta She was named Eanfleda, and became the wife of Oswy of Northumberland. • Birinus, a Benedictine monk, was the first bishop of the West Saxons; his episcopal seat was at Dorchester, in Oxfordshire. This is the era assigned by Mr. Aneurin Owen; other writers place him far before the Christian era. See p. 41. |