"written documents" furnished to Bede by the Saxon bishops, abbats, and others, has very forcibly observed, "these must have been the early Chronicles of Wessex, of Kent, and of the other provinces of the Heptarchy, which formed together the groundwork of his history." 15 If, however, any doubt should be still entertained as to the construction which we have ventured to offer of the passage in Bede, "duces fuisse perhibentur" (their chieftains are said to have been), some light may, we think, be derived from K. Ælfred's translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History into the Anglo-Saxon language. The principle which this illustrious monarch adopted in his translations of this and other learned works, is thus explained by him in the preface to his translation of Boethius De Consolatione Philosophia. We will now examine his Saxon translation of the passage in Bede, ante, p. 23. 15 That the Saxons were acquainted with the Runic alphabet previous to their invasion of Britain, is generally admitted, for it has been clearly ascertained that the AngloSaxons were acquainted with the Runic letters when they adopted the Roman alphabet on their conversion to Christianity in the sixth century, as they retained two of those letters b (th) and p (w). The Anglo-Saxon Runic alphabet was derived from the Scandinavian at a period when it had only sixteen letters. (Bohn's Mallet's North. Antiq., p. 230.) Coman hi of prim folcum þam strangestan Lermanie. þær of Seaxum. of Angle. J of Leatum. Of Leata fruman synodon Cant-pape. Piht-sætan. þæt is reo þeod pe Piht þær Єalond oneandað. Of Seaxum þær i of þam lande pe mon hateð Eald-Seaxan coman Eaɲt-Seaxan. J Sud-Seaxan. J Pert-Seaxan. And of Engle coman East-Engle. J Middel-Engle. J το Mynce. Jeall Norð-hýmbɲa cýnn. 1 þær land þe Angulus is nemned betpýh Leatum. Seaxum. Ir ræd of pæne tide pe hi panon gepiton od to dæze þær hit peste punize. Pæɲon pa ænet heopa latteopar heretozan pezen zebɲoðna. Denzert Dopra. Di pæɲon Pihtgÿlser runa. þær fæder pær [Pitta haten, þær fæder pær Pihta haten. þær] fæder pær Poden nemned, of þær strýnde monizɲa mægða cýningcýnn ɲuman lædde·· It will be observed that King Ælfred has translated Bede's "duces fuisse perhibentur," &c., into Saxon as follows:Pæɲon þa ærest heoɲa latteopas heretogan tpezen zebroðra. Denzert Dopra, (their first chieftains or leaders were two brothers, Hengest and Horsa); thus adopting almost the very words of the A.-S. Chronicle, and showing that, in his estimation, and in that of the learned men by whom he was surrounded, Bede did not use the words "fuisse perhibentur” to express any doubt of the fact, but (as we have insisted) merely in reference or allusion to the authorities with which he had been furnished. The learned objectors are thus placed between the horns of a dilemma; they must either adopt K. Ælfred's as a faithful translation — andzit of andzite,— sense for sense,—or must charge him with wilful perversion of the meaning of his author, and with having advanced, as a matter of undoubted historical truth, that which Bede had treated as full of doubt and uncertainty.16 16 This construction of "fuisse perhibentur " appears to be clearly and unquestionably established by a similar passage in Bede's Eccles. Hist., lib. iv, cap. v. (Whelock's edit., With these observations, which we trust have satisfactorily disposed of the first two points of objection, we proceed, Thirdly, to show that Hengist and Horsa, and their followers, were not a Scandinavian but a Germanic tribe, speaking a dialect of the Anglo-Saxon language. We think that the learned antiquary, who alone has ventured to assert (ante, p. 20) “that the Jutes belonged to p. 275), where-after having described the proceedings at a Synod held by Abp. Theodore, on 24 Sept. A.D. 673, at Hertford, at which Bisi, Bp. of the East Angles, was present, and subscribed the X Canons then established-Bede proceeds thus, "Bisi autem episcopus orientalium Anglorum qui in prefata Synodo fuisse perhibetur, ipse erat successor Bonifacii," &c. Bede cannot have here used the words "fuisse perhibetur "as indicating a doubt as to the fact of Bisi's presence at the Synod, because he had already recorded the fact of that bishop's presence, and of his attesting the proceedings with his signature. This mode of expression in Bede seems therefore to be a mere Saxonism, and in both instances ought to have been translated "whom we, or I, have mentioned," &c.; and K. Alfred has actually so translated this latter passage: Þonne pær Byre eart Engla B' þe pe rædon on þam roperppecenan rýnobe pæpe. pær he Bonifacius æfterfÿligend þær bircoper. (Bede Eccles. Hist., lib. iv, cap. v, p. 275, ut supra.) "Then was Byse, the bishop of the East Angles, of whom we said that he was at the before mentioned synod; he was the successor of Bonifacius, the bishop." I have met with no other instance of "fuisse perhibentur” and “fuisse perhibetur" in Bede's Eccles. Hist.; but the meaning of that venerable historian and the fidelity of K. Alfred's translation, seem thus to be established beyond all reasonable doubt, and a somewhat formidable objection to be disposed of. Our Saxon ancestors seem generally to have adopted K. Alfred's mode of translating from Latin into Saxon (sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense, ante, p. 36). We find an instance of this in the Prologue to Ælfric's Pastoral Epistle:-" Ælfricus abbas Vulstano venerabili archiepiscopo salutem in Christo. Ecce paruimus vestræ Almitatis jussionibus transferentes Anglice duas epistolas quas Latino eloquio descriptas ante annum vobis destinavimus; non tamen semper ordinem sequentes, nec verbum ex verbo, sed sensum ex sensu proferentes. . . ." 1. Ur bircopum gedarenað. Þ pe ba godcundan lape. be upe canon ur cæco. 7 eac be ur Cpirter boc læpð, eop ppeostum geopenan on Engliscum gereorde. ropðam þe ge ealle ne cunnon † Læden undepftandan. (Anc. Laws and Institutes of England, p. 452.) "1. It behoves us bishops that we disclose to you priests, in the English tongue, the divine doctrine which our canon prescribes to us, and which also the Book of Christ teaches us, because ye cannot all understand the Latin. . . ." the Scandinavian branch of the great Teutonic family—were a mere fraction of the invaders-a Scandinavian tribe, speaking Jutic," may be referred to the authorities already quoted, which clearly establish that the Saxons, Angles, and Jutes were three Germanic, not Scandinavian, tribes. But, lest we may appear to evade the objection, we will endeavour to show that the Jutes were not Scandinavians, were not a mere fraction of the invaders, and did not speak a Scandinavian, but a Germanic, dialect. The three tribes of Saxons who invaded Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries came from the Cimbric Chersonesus, afterwards called Jutland. The Cimbri, a Teutonic or Gothic tribe, were its first inhabitants recorded in authentic history. In the consulship of Cæcilius Metellus and Papilius Carbo (circ. cxi. years before Christ), these Cimbri, amounting to 300,000 warriors, with their wives and families, left their habitations, and, uniting with the Teutones, overwhelmed Gaul, and after many splendid victories over the Romans, were at length defeated, and almost annihilated by Marius. The Chersonesus-Cimbricus, having been thus abandoned by the Cimbri, was afterwards repeopled by the neighbouring Germanic tribes-Jutes, Angles, Friesians, and Saxons. The Jutes (Geatas, Eotas, Ytas) gave their name (Jutland) to the peninsula. They were not a Scandinavian, but a Germanic or Saxon, tribe. "The Scandinavians, and more particularly the Danes, were quite distinct from these Juths, being their mortal enemies, and being distinguished from them by some strong features in the respective languages. Neither did the Danes originally possess any part of the Chersonesus-Cimbricus, unless it was the very northern point.... In later ages they succeeded in gradually subduing the population of the Chersonesus, and mingling their language with that of the Innates; but this very mixture proves, by its ingredients now visible, that nearly the whole Peninsula was before populated by a race different to the Danes, and similar to the Angles." 17 17 M. Halbertsma on the Friesians. (Bosworth's 4.-S. Dictionary, Preface, p. L.) The Jutes were the earliest of the Saxon tribes who established themselves in Britain, 18 as will appear by the following TABULAR ARRANGEMENT OF THE SAXON OCTARCHY. JUTES. SAXONS. ANGLES. CIRC. A.D. I. . . . JUTES, under Hengist and Horsa, in Kent, Kent,} 449 491 II. SOUTH SAXONS, under Ælla, in Sussex 519 the} 527 IV. EAST SAXONS, in Essex, Middlesex, and the V. EAST ANGLES, in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge- VI. BERNICIA (between the Tweed and the Firth VII. DEIRA (between the Humber and the Tweed), VIII. MERCIA (in the Midland Counties), under 527 547 559 586 Thus, between the years 449-586, the Saxon Octarchy, comprising one Jutish, three Saxon, and four Angle kingdoms 18 Considerable numbers of the Friesians (from the Sea-bord of the Jutland Peninsula), another tribe of the Great Saxon Confederacy, and speaking also a dialect of the same language, also accompanied the invaders; but I incline to think they chiefly joined those under Cerdic, as we find them settled among the West Saxons. (A.-S. Chron., A.D. 797.) |