vivors to retreat on the division of Hengist, which was engaged unbroken with the van of the British army commanded by Ambrosius. The brunt of the battle now fell on Hengist, who, straitened by the skilful advance of Gortimer, though he made a long resistance and caused a great loss to the Britons, at length, what he had never done before, fled. It is reported by some writers that Hengist subsequently fought three battles in the same year against the Britons, but could not make head against the proved valour of Gortimer and the superior number of his forces; so that once he was driven into the Isle of Thanet and once to his ships, and dispatched messengers to recall the Saxons who had returned to their own country.

The year following, when Leo was emperor, who reigned seventeen years, Gortimer, the flower of the youth of Britain, fell sick and died, and with him ended the victories and the hopes of his countrymen. Encouraged by his death, and strengthened by the recall of his auxiliaries, who had for a time left the island, Hengist, with his son Esc, prepared for war at Creganford1; while the Britons mustered four powerful bodies of men, under four of their bravest chiefs?. But when the game of war commenced they were disheartened by the unusual superiority of the Saxons in number. Besides the newly-arrived were chosen troops, who dreadfully gashed the bodies of the Britons with their battle-axes and long swords; nor was there any respite till they had cut down and sláin all the four leaders, and the Britons fled in the greatest terror out of Thanet, as far as London. They never again appeared in arms in Kent, where Hengist and his son Esc thenceforth reigned, the kingdom of Kent dating from the eighth year after the arrival of the Angles.

In those times [A.D. 429] Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, who was illustrious for his sanctity and miraculous powers, together with Lupus, bishop of Troyes, came into Britain

1 Crayford, the ford of the river Cray, near Bexley, in Kent.

2 The Saxon Chronicle says nothing of this division; but states that four thousand Britons were slain. Henry of Huntingdon, who seems to have had before him some of the worst MSS. of the Saxon Chronicle, ingeniously perverts the text, but very naturally kills the four leaders of the four divisions he has conjured up.-See Ingram, Sax. Chron.

to extinguish the Pelagian heresy. In confirmation of their arguments, to convince the assembled people, he restored sight to the daughter of a tribune, who had been blind ten years; and he also stopped the burning of a cottage wrapt in flame, in which lay a sick man, who was thus rescued from the conflagration. He placed in the tomb of St. Alban the relics of several other martyrs, carrying away from it a particle of dust still red with the blood of the saint; on the same day, and at that place, converting to the Lord a vast crowd of people. Meanwhile, the Saxons and Picts having united their forces, made war upon the Britons, who implored the aid of the holy Germanus. The saint promised to be himself their leader. Acting, therefore, as general, he drew up the army in a valley surrounded by hills, posting it in the quarter at which the enemy was expected to approach'. And now the scouts announced that their savage foes were in sight. Immediately the holy man, raising the standard aloft, exhorted them all to repeat his words with a loud voice. The enemy was advancing carelessly, thinking to take them by surprise, when thrice he cried "Hallelujah," and thrice the priests repeated it. The word was resounded by all the people. Their shouts were multiplied by the echoes of the surrounding hills, and the enemy was struck with terror, believing that not only the overhanging cliffs, but the very skies themselves, were falling upon them. Such was their terror that they fled in disorder; and their feet being hardly swift enough to carry them from the scene of their alarm they threw away their arms, well satisfied if they could escape the danger with only their naked bodies. Many in their retreat, blinded by their fears, plunged into the river which they had crossed, and were swept away by the torrent. The Britons unhurt looked on while they were avenged of their enemies, and joyfully collected the spoils which their heavenwrought victory had secured. The prelates exulted in a triumph gained without bloodshed, by faith, and not by human strength. The foe thus conquered, the prelates, blessed both in body and mind, returned to their own

1 This battle was fought near Mold, in Flintshire. See Note to Bede's History, p. 31 of the present series.

country. Not long afterwards, the Pelagian heresy bursting forth again, Germanus, at the entreaty of all the priests of Britain, returned again, accompanied by Severus, Bishop of Treves, and, re-establishing the orthodox faith, healed the son of Elafius, a chief, who was lame from a contraction of the tendons of the knee, in the sight of all the people. Having restored order he then went to Ravenna, to implore peace for the Armorican nation. There, having been received with the greatest honour by Valentinian, he departed to Christ. Not long afterwards Valentinian was murdered by the followers of Etius, the patrician, whom he had put to death; the same to whom the Britons addressed the letter before quoted. With Valentinian ended the empire of the West.

After a little time Hengist the king and Esc his son, supported by the auxiliaries from beyond the sea, collected an invincible army in the seventeenth year after their arrival in Britain'. Against this was gathered the whole strength of Britain, in twelve columns, admirably arrayed. The armies met at Wippedesflede, where the battle was long and obstinate, until at length Hengist overthrew the twelve chiefs, taking their standards, and putting their followers to flight. He, too, lost many of his troops and principal leaders; one especially, called Wipped, from whom the place where the battle was fought took its name. This victory was therefore a source of regret and lamentation on both sides, so that for a long time neither the Saxons invaded the territories of the Britons, nor the Britons ventured to come into Kent. But still, though there was a respite from foreign, there was none from internal, war3. Amidst the ruins of the cities which the enemy had destroyed, the inhabitants who had escaped the ruin fought with one another. While, indeed, the calamities they had suffered were fresh in their memories, both kings and priests, chiefs and people, maintained their respective ranks; but

1 [A.D. 465.] From this date to the year 527, Henry of Huntingdon introduces many recitals, for which it is not known whence he collected materials.

2 Wippedfleet, or Ebbfleet, Kent.

3 Bede, book i. 22.

when a younger generation grew up, which had no experience beyond the present settled state of affairs, all the sanctions of truth and justice were violated and subverted, so that, not to say all traces of them, the very memory of their existence, remained to very few indeed. God, therefore, sent over from time to time from amongst the German nations most cruel chiefs, to be destroyers of the nation which was hateful to Him. Among the principal of these was the chief Ella, with his three sons, Cymen, Pleting1, and Cissa.

[A.D. 477.] Ælla and his sons having fitted out a fleet, in which a large body of troops was embarked, appeared off Cymenesore, where their landing was opposed by vast numbers of the Britons, who flew to arms from the neighbouring districts, and with loud shouts gave them battle. The Saxons, who were vastly superior in stature and strength, received their attacks with much coolness; while the onset of the natives was disorderly, as rushing on without concert, and in desultory bands, they were cut down by the serried ranks of the enemy, and those who escaped increased the confusion by reports of their disaster. The defeated Britons fled to the shelter of the neighbouring forest, which is called Andredsleige; while the Saxons possessed themselves of the sea-coast of Sussex, continually occupying more territory from time to time, until the ninth year of their descent on that coast. Then, however, their further advance was so audacious that the kings and chiefs of the Britons assembled at Mercredesburne, where they fought a battle with Ella and his sons. The issue was doubtful, both armies being greatly crippled and thinned, and, vowing against a continuation of the conflict, retired to their own districts, while Ella sent messages to his compatriots entreating aid. Ella came into Britain about the thirtieth year after the arrival of the Angles.

[A.D. 488.] Hengist, King of Kent, died in the fortieth

1 Wlencing.

2 Shoreham, in Sussex; some, however, place it near Selsey.

3 The Anderida Sylva of the Romans, and Coed-Andred of the Britons; the vast forests of which the wealds of Sussex and Kent are the present remains.

year after his invasion of Britain, and his son Esc reigned 34 years, in the time of the Emperor Zeno, whose reign lasted 17 years. Esc, inheriting his father's valour, firmly defended his kingdom against the Britons, and augmented it by territories conquered from them.

[A.D. 490.] The kingdom of Sussex, which Ælla founded, he long and valiantly maintained. In the third year after the death of Hengist, in the time of Anastasius, Emperor of Rome, who reigned 27 years, Ella was joined by auxiliaries from his own country, with whose assistance he laid siege to Andredecester, a strongly-fortified town". The Britons swarmed together like wasps, assailing the besiegers by daily ambuscades and nocturnal sallies. There was neither day nor night in which some new alarm did not harass the minds of the Saxons; but the more they were provoked, the more vigorously they pressed the siege. Whenever they advanced to the assault of the town, the Britons from without falling on their rear with their archers. and slingers drew the Pagans away from the walls to resist their own attack, which the Britons, lighter of foot, avoided by taking refuge in the woods; and when they turned again to assault the town, again the Britons hung on their rear. The Saxons were for some time harassed by these manœuvres, till, having lost a great number of men, they divided their army into two bodies, one of which carried on the siege, while the other repelled the attacks from without. After this the Britons were so reduced by continual famine that they were unable any longer to withstand the force of the besiegers, so that they all fell by the edge of the sword, with their women and children, not one escaping alive. The foreigners were so enraged at the loss they had sustained that they totally destroyed the city, and it was never afterwards rebuilt, so that its desolate site is all that is now pointed out to travellers.

[A.D. 495.] In the forty-seventh year from the arrival of

1 Saxon Chronicle, 24 years.

2 Saxon Chronicle. Pevensey Castle is supposed to stand on the site of Andred-cester, though some antiquarians place it elsewhere on the coast of Sussex. Its name, and the subsequent details of Henry of Huntingdon, show that it stood on the verge of the great wood mentioned in a preceding

note.