Julian builds warehouses for the corn received from Britain. The council of Ariminium (Rimini), at which several bishops from Britain are present. A.D. 360. A.D. 375. Valentinian dies, November 17. He is succeeded by his sons Gratian and Valentinian the younger. Gratian has Alypius, vicar (or lieutenant) in Bri- Gaul, Iberia and Britain. tain. The Scots and Picts invade Roman Britain. A.D. 379. Theodosius (son of the pacificator of Lupicinus is despatched to oppose Britain) is associated in the empire by them. Gratian. succeeds. ment 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. 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. months after his elevation. Constantine usurps the empire in Sarus, despatched against Constantine, besieges him in Valentia, but is Chrysanthus, vicar (or lieutenant) of himself obliged to flee into Italy. Britain. 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". Honorius writes letters to the British cities absolving them from their allegiance, and urging them to provide for their own security. A.D. 4II. Gerontius kills Constans Cæsar, and causes Maximus to be elected emperor. 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. A.D. 418. The Goths cross the Danube, and The Vandals establish themselves in A.D. 354 . 377 405 The Gothic kingdom of Spain founded 414 BRITAIN INDEPENDENT. "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 Gauli." 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. 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 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 Am-identify the sites of the numerous brosius 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 It seems hopeless to attempt to 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 Esc 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 i 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. In the original, Hengst or Hengest, and Hors. 1 Therefore, if made at all, between the years 446 and 454, when he was consul for the fourth time, 66 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 long became a Frankish kingdom (A.D. 418). The movements of the various German tribes in Germany itself, and the encroachments of barbarian races, drove the Goths and other nations into Italy, where they took firm root, and it is a Gothic historian who relates how, after the death of Valentinian III., Rome was in the course of twenty years occupied by eight "tyrants" in succession. The last of them, contemptuously styled Augustulus, was in 476 deposed by Odoacer, the captain of the Herulian guard, who, despising the empty name of emperor, governed the country for a while with wisdom and success under the modest title of Patrician, until he in his turn was defeated and soon after treacherously slain by Theodoric, the founder of the Gothic dynasty in Italy (A.D. 493). NOTE. VAGUE KNOwledge of BRITAIN. CONSIDERING the light estimation in which all the countries that they termed barbarous were held by the Greeks and Romans, it is not surprising to find even their best writers abounding in fables and idle fancies, when mentioning a region so remote as Britain. They speak of the country of "the painted Britons," "the horrid Britons," as adjoining Thule, the region of enchantments; and both Strabo and Diodorus Siculus gravely affirm that men live in the neighbouring isle of Ierne with difficulty on account of the cold, and are cannibals. But perhaps the most remarkable instance of how little was really known of Britain after ages of Roman occupation is to be found in the following passage from Procopius, who lived in the sixth century, was a man of action, an extensive traveller, and a senator, yet felt it necessary, "lest he should be charged with ignorance," though evidently not a believer himself, to mix with his History of the Gothic War" so wild a fiction as the following: "In the northern ocean lies the island Brittia, not far from the continent, but as much as 200 stadia, right opposite to the outlets of the Rhine, and is between Britannia and the island Thule. For Britannia lies somewhere towards the setting niards, distant from the continent not less than sun, at the extremity of the country of the Spa 4,000 stadia. "In this isle of Brittia, men of ancient time built a long wall, cutting off a great portion of it: for the soil, and the men, and all other things are not alike on both sides: for on the eastern side of the wall there is a wholesomeness of air in conformity with the seasons, moderately warm in summer, and cool men. The trees with their appropriate fruits flourish in winter. Men inhabit here, living much as other in season, and their corn-lands are as productive as others, and the district appears sufficiently fertilized by streams. But on the western side all is different, insomuch indeed that it would be impossible for a man to live there even half an hour. Vipers and serpents innumerable, with all other kinds of wild beasts, infest that place; and what is most strange, the natives affirm that if any one, passing the wall, should proceed to the other side, he would die immediately, unable to endure the unwholesomeness. Jornandes, bishop of Ravenna, in the sixth century. n De Bell. Gothic., lib. iv. c. 20. of the atmosphere. Death also attacking such beasts as go thither, forthwith destroys them. But as I have arrived at this point of my history, it is incumbent on me to record a tradition very nearly allied to fable, which has never appeared to me true in all respects, though constantly spread abroad by men without number, who assert that themselves have been agents in the transactions, and also hearers of the words. I must not, however, pass 'it by altogether unnoticed, lest when thus writing concerning the island of Brittia I should bring upon myself an imputation of ignorance of certain circumstances perpetually happening there. "They say then that the souls of men departed are always conducted to this place; but in what manner I will explain immediately, having frequently heard it from men of that region relating it most seriously, although I would rather ascribe their asseverations to a certain dreamy faculty which possesses them. On the coast of the land over against this island Brittia, in the ocean, are many villages, inhabited by men employed in fishing and in agriculture; who for the sake of merchandize pass over to this island. In other respects they are subject to the Franks, but they never render them tribute; this burden, as they relate, having been of old remitted to them for a certain service, which I shall immediately describe. The inhabitants declare that the conducting of souls devolves on them in turn. Such of them, therefore, as on the ensu ing night are to go on this occupation in their turn of service, retiring to their dwellings as soon as it grows dark, compose themselves to sleep, awaiting the conductor of the expedition. All at once, at night, they perceive that their doors are shaken, and they hear a certain indistinct voice summoning them to their work. Without delay arising from their beds they proceed to the shore, not under standing the necessity which thus constrains them, yet nevertheless compelled by its influence. And here they perceive vessels in readiness, wholly void of men, not, however, their own, but certain strange vessels, in which embarking they lay hold on the oars, and feel their burden made heavier by a multitude of passengers, the boats being sunk to the gunwale and rowlock, and floating scarce a finger above the water. They see not a single person, but having rowed for one hour only, they arrive at Brittia: whereas when they navigate their own vessels, not making use of sails, but rowing, they arrive there with difficulty even in a night and a day. Having reached the island and been released from their burden, they depart immediately, the boats quickly becoming light, suddenly emerging from the stream, and sinking in the water no deeper than the keel. These people see no human being, either while navigating with them, nor when released from the ship. But they say that they hear a certain voice there, which seems to announce to such as receive them the names of all who have crossed over with them, describing the dignities which they formerly possessed, and calling them over by their hereditary titles. And also if women happen to cross over with them, they call over the names of the husbands with whom they lived." In spite of the historian's distinction in this passage of Brittia and Britain, he afterwards mentions many circumstances which shew conclusively they are in reality one and the same, and that it is Britain which he speaks of, as the place of disembodied spirits. |
