ceeded by his sons Gratian and Valentinian the younger. Gratian has Gaul, Iberia and Britain. A.D. 379. Theodosius (son of the pacificator of Britain) is associated in the empire by Gratian. A.D. 382. Clemens Maximus repels the Picts and Scots who had made incursions on Britain. A.D. 383. The army in Britain revolt, and make Maximus emperor, who passing into Gaul, puts Gratian to death, August 23. A.D. 384. Maximus fixes his seat of government at Treveri (Treves). A.D. 387. Maximus, with a large army of Britons and Gauls, invades Italy, and expels Valentinian. A.D. 388. Maximus defeated and killed in Italy, and his son Victor in Gaul. The Britons of the army of Maximus establish themselves in Armorica (Britanny). A.D. 392. Valentinian killed by Arbogastes, a Gaul, May 15. A.D. 393. Chrysanthus, vicar (or lieutenant) in Britain. A.D. 394. Ninias, a Briton educated at Rome, is ordained to the bishopric of the Southern Picts by Pope Siricius. A.D. 395. Theodosius dies, January 17. His sons Arcadius and Honorius succeed, and the Roman empire is henceforth divided into the Eastern and Western. A.D. 396. The Britons, harassed by the Picts and Scots, apply to Honorius, the emperor of the West, for aid. A legion is despatched to their assistance by Stilicho, the general of Honorius, and the invaders are repulsed. A.D. 400. The wall of Severus repaired. Pelagius, a Briton, begins to spread his heretical doctrines about this time f. f He denied the doctrine of original sin, and the necessity of grace, and asserted that man could attain to perfection. Nearly thirty councils were called, at all of which his opinions were condemned. His chief disciple was Cœlestius, an Irishman. A.D. 402. The Roman legion being withdrawn, the Picts and Scots resume their inroads. A.D. 403. The Goths invade Italy. A.D. 407. The Vandals penetrate into Gaul, and threaten Britain. The army in Britain revolts, and declares Marcus emperor. Marcus is killed, and Gratian, a native of Britain, assumes the purple. Gratian is deposed and killed, four months after his elevation. Constantine usurps the empire in Britain, and collecting a fleet and army invades Gaul and Iberia. A.D. 408. Sarus, despatched against Constantine, besieges him in Valentia, but is himself obliged to flee into Italy. Constantine makes his son Constans Cæsar. Honorius recognises Constantine as his partner in the empire. Arcadius dies, and is succeeded by his son Theodosius II. A.D. 409. Gerontius, a Briton, revolts against Constantine. The Britons arm themselves against the invading barbarians, and also expel the Roman magistrates. A.D. 410. Rome captured and sacked by the Goths, under Alaric, August 24, in the 1163rd year of its foundation 8. Honorius writes letters to the British cities absolving them from their allegiance, and urging them to provide for their own security. A.D. 411. Gerontius kills Constans Cæsar, and causes Maximus to be elected emperor. This is according to the Dionysian computation. Bede says the 1164th year, and the Saxon Chronicle about the 10th." Some authorities assign the year 409, others 410, on which Muratori remarks, "It is strange that the precise year of so great a catastrophe should be so uncertain.' Constantius, the general of Honorius, defeats and kills Constantine and his son Julian. Gerontius is killed by his own soldiers, and Maximus deprived of the purple. EVENTS IN GENERAL HISTORY. Julius Cæsar completes the conquest of Gaul B.C. 51 The Roman Empire established by Octavianus (Augustus) 31 Jerusalem taken by the Romans The Emperor Hadrian makes the Euphrates the limit of the Roman Empire A. D. 70 117 354 war on the 377 406 414 The Persian Empire founded by Ardisheer The Vandals establish themselves in Gaul BRITAIN INDEPENDENT. A.D. 418. "This year the Romans collected all the treasures that were in Britain, and some they hid in the earth, so that no one has since been able to find them; and some they carried with them into Gaul 1.” h " With this passage from the Saxon Chronicle the authentic history of Britain ceases for a period of nearly sixty years. In the interval are usually placed certain events mentioned in the writings of Gildas and Nennius, but nothing is to be drawn from their statements that can be reduced to chronological accuracy; for the first h Passages thus marked, during the Saxon Era, unless some other work is cited, are taken from the English version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, published in the Monumenta; and although I have found it necessary, especially in the poetical portions, slightly to condense, I have the authority of the surviving Editor of that invaluable work for saying that the sense of the original has been carefully preserved. gives no dates, and the few found in the latter are contradictory. Though some, perhaps several, of the events may be true, it is impossible to assign dates to the reputed marriage of Guorthigirn (Vortigern) to the daughter of Hengist; the murder of the British nobles; the numerous battles said to have been fought with various success by Guorthemir (Vortimer) and Ambrosius against the invaders; the death of Horsa, or the foundation of the first Saxon kingdom. By comparing, however, these statements with the few scattered notices to be found in Zosimus and other writers of the period, we learn that, the Roman power being finally withdrawn, the British cities formed themselves into a varying number of independent states, usually at war with each other, but occasionally united by some common danger into a confederacy, with an elective chieftain whose power lasted no longer than the emergency. Such a ruler probably was Vortigern, who, -pressed at once by the northern tribes and the sea rovers, and by rivals for power, of whom one named Ambrosius, of Roman extraction, was the most formidable, bears the reproach of having called in the aid of the Saxons against both his foreign and domestic foes. Recent inquirers have attempted to shew that the well-known names of Hengist and Horsa', ascribed to their leaders, are not proper names, but rather titles of honour, (signifying war-horse and mare,) bestowed on many daring leaders of bands, and that the first employment of mercenaries, who soon leagued with the enemy, and at length became numerous enough to rule the country they were hired to guard, should be placed at least as early as the year 429, or twenty years before the era usually assigned. It seems hopeless to attempt to identify the sites of In the original, Hengst or Hengest, and Hors. the numerous battles that ensued, or to assign satisfactory dates to them; indeed, the whole sum of our knowledge on the matter may be said to be comprised in the statement of the Saxon Chronicle under the year 473: “Hengest and Æsc fought against the Welsh (Walas or Wealas), and took spoils innumerable; and the Welsh fled from the Angles (Englan) like fire.” Several applications for aid are stated by Nennius to have been made to the Romans, particularly one addressed to "Etius thrice consul," which is couched in most abject terms, and is known in history by the title of the " 'groans of the Britons;" some succour seems occasionally to have been afforded, but it had no permanent effect on the contest. In addition to the miseries of war the Britons suffered at this time from religious dissensions, until the spread of the Pelagian heresy induced them to apply to the bishops of Gaul for spiritual aid. Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, twice visited the island for the purpose (probably in 428 and 446), and on one occasion he also gave them military assistance, by leading a body of newly baptized Britons against their enemies, and gaining a victory known as the "Hallelujah," from the cry with which his converts fell upon their heathen foes. Meantime the western division of the mighty empire of Rome, of which Britain had so long formed a part, was falling into utter ruin. Rome was abandoned by the emperors (A.D. 404), who, surrounded by barbarian mercenaries, sought ignoble safety amid the marshes of Ravenna, where they were in reality little more than puppets in the hands of their ministers. Iberia was occupied by the Vandals as early as 410; Gaul was about the same time partitioned among the Visigoths, the Burgundians, the Germans, and the Roman settlers, and ere k Therefore, if made at all, between the years 446 and 454, when he was consul for the fourth time. |