Читать книгу The Leading Facts of English History - D. H. Montgomery - Страница 10

36. The Britons beg for Help; Coming of the Jutes, 449 (?).

The Britons were in perilous condition after the Romans had left the island (S33). They had lost their old spirit (SS2, 18).[2] They were no longer brave in war or faithful in peace. The Picts and Scots[3] attacked them on the northwest, and the Saxon pirates (S29) assailed them on the southeast. These terrible foes cut down the Britons, says an old writer, as "reapers cut down grain ready for the harvest."

[1] Reference Books on this Period will be found in the Classified List of Books in the Appendix. The pronunciation of names will be found in the Index. The Leading Dates stand unenclosed; all others are in parentheses. [2] Gildas, in Bohn's "Six Old English Chronicles"; but compare Professor C. Oman's "England before the Norman Conquest," pp. 175–176. [3] The Picts and Scots were ancient savage tribes of Scotland.

At length the chief men wrote to the Roman consul, begging him to help them. They entitled their piteous and pusillanimous appeal, "The Groans of the Britons." They said, "The savages drive us to the sea, the sea casts us back upon the savages; between them we are either slaughtered or drowned." But the consul was busy fighting enemies at home, and he left the groaning Britons to shift for themselves.

Finally, the courage of despair forced them to act. They seemed to have resolved to fight fire with fire. Acting on this resolution, they accordingly invited a band of sea rovers to come and help them against the Picts and Scots. The chiefs of these Jutes[1] or Saxon pirates did not wait for a second invitation. Seizing their "rough-handled spears and bronze swords," they set sail for the shining chalk cliffs of Britain, 449(?). They put an end to the ravages of the Picts and Scots. Then instead of going back to their own country, they took possession of the best lands of Kent and refused to give them up. (See map opposite.)

[1] The Jutes, Saxons, and Angles appear to have belonged to the same Teutonic or German race. They inhabited the seacoast and vicinity, from the mouth of the Elbe, northward along the coast of Denmark or Jutland. These tribes which conquered England, and settled there, remained for a long time hostile to each other, but eventually, they united and came to be known as Anglo-Saxons or English. (See map opposite.)

37. The Saxons and Angles conquer Britain.

The success of the first band of sea robbers in Britain (S36) stimulated other bands to invade the island (477–541). They slaughtered multitudes of Britons and made slaves of many more. The conquerors named the parts of the country which they settled, from themselves. Each independent settlement was hostile to every other. Thus Sussex was the home of the South Saxons, Wessex of the West Saxons, Essex of the East Saxons. (See map opposite.) Finally, a band of Angles came from a little corner, south of the peninsula of Denmark, which still bears the name of Angeln. They took possession of all of eastern Britain not already appropriated. Eventually, they came to control the greater part of the land, and from them, all the other tribes, when fused together, got the name of Angles or English (S50). (See map opposite.)

38. Resistance made by the Britons; King Arthur.

Meanwhile the Britons had plucked up courage and made the best fight they could. They were naturally a brave people (SS2, 18). The fact that it took the Saxons more than a hundred years to get a firm grip on the island shows that fact. The legend of King Arthur's exploits also illustrates the valor of the race to which he belonged. According to tradtion this British Prince, who had become a convert to Christianity (S25), met and checked the invaders in their isolent march of triumph. The battle, it is said, was fought at Mount Badon or Badbury in Dorsetshire. There, with his irresistable sword, "Excalibur," and his stanch British spearmen, Arthur compelled his foes to acknowledge that he was not a myth but a man[1] able "to break the heathen and uphold the Christ."

[1] See "Arthur" in the "Dictionary of National British Biography"; and Professor Rowley in Low and Pulling's "Dictionary of English History," p. 434. See also Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of the Britons" and Tennyson's "Idylls of the King."

39. The Saxons or English force the Britons to retreat.

But though King Arthur may have checked the pagan Saxon invaders, he could not drive them out of the country. They had come to stay. On the other hand, many Britons were forced to take refuge among the hills of Wales. There they continued to abide. That ancient stock never lost its love of liberty. More than eleven centuries later their spirit helped to shape the destinies of the New World. Thomas Jefferson andseveral of the other signers of the Declaration of American Independence were either of Welsh birth or of direct Welsh descent.

40. Gregory and the English Slaves.

The next period, of nearly eighty years, is a dreary record of constant battles and bloodshed. Out of this very barbarism a regenerating influence finally arose.

In their greed for grain, some of the English tribes did not hesitate to sell their own children into bondage. A number of these slaves, exposed in the market place in Rome, attracted the attention of a monk named Gregory.

Struck with the beauty of their clear, ruddy complexions and fair hair, he inquired from what country they came. "They are Angles" (S37), was the dealer's answer. "No, not Angles, but angels," answered the monk; and he resolved that, when he could, he would send missionaries to convert a race of so much promise.[2]

[2] Bede's "Ecclesiastical History."

41. Coming of Saint Augustine, 597.

When Gregory (S40) became Pope he fulfilled his resolution, and sent Augustine with a band of forty monks to Britain. In 597 they landed on the very spot where the first Saxon war band had set foot on English soil nearly one hundred and fifty years before. Like Caesar and his legions, Augustine and his monks brought with them the power of Rome. But this time that power did not come armed with the sword to force men to submit or die, but inspired with a persuasive voice to cheer them with new hope.

41. Augustine converts the King of Kent and his People (597).

The English at that time were wholly pagan, and had, in all probability, destroyed every vesetige of the faith for which the British martyrs gave their lives (S25). But the King of Kent had married a French princess who was a devout Christian. Through the Queen's influence, the King was induced to receive Augustine. He was afraid, however, of some magical practice, so he insisted that their meeting should take place in the open air and on the island of Thanet. (See map facing p. 32.)

The historian Bede tells us that the monks, holding a tall silver cross and a picture of Christ in their hands, advanced and saluted the King. Augustine delivered his message, was well received, and invited to Canterbury, the capital of Kent. There the King became a convert to his preaching, and before the year had passed ten thousand of his subjects had received baptism; for to gain the King was to gain his tribe as well.

43. Augustine builds the First Monastery.

At Canterbury Augustine became the first archbishop over the first cathedral. There, too, he established the first monastery in which to train missionaries to carry on the work which he had begun (S45). Part of the original monastery of St. Augustine is now used as a Church of England missionary college, and it continues to bear the name of the man who brought Christianity to that part of Britain. The example of the ruler of Kent was not without its effect on others.

44. Conversion of the North.

The north of England, however, owed its conversion chiefly to the Irish monks of an earlier age. They had planted monasteries in Ireland and Scotland from which colonies went forth, one of which settled in Durham. Cuthbert, a Saxon monk of that monastery in the seventh century, traveled as a missionary throughout Northumbria, and was afterward recognized as the saint of the North. Through his influence that kingdom was induced to accept Christianity. Other missionaries went to other districts to carry the "good tidings of great joy."

In one case an aged chief arose in an assembly of warriors and said: "O king, as a bird flies through this hall in the winter night, coming out of the darkness and vanishing into it again, even such is our life. If these strangers can tell us aught of what is beyond, let us give heed to them."

But, as Bede informs us in his history of the English CHurch (S99), some of the converts were too cautious to commit themselves entirely to the new religion. One king, who had set up a large altar devoted to the worship of Christ, set up a smaller one at the other end of the hall to the old heathen deities, in order that he might make sure of the favor of both.

45. Christianity organized; Labors of the Monks.

Gradually, however, the pagan faith was dropped. Christianity was largely organized by bands of monks and nuns, who had renounced the world in order to lead lives of self-sacrifice and service. They bound themselves by the three vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity, and the monastic law forbade them to marry. Monasteries existed or were now established in a number of places in England.[1]

[1] For instance, at Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, off the coast of Northumberland (see Scott's "Marmion," Canto II, 9–10), at Wearmouth and Jarrow in Durham, at Whitby on the coast of Yorkshire, and at Peterborough in Northamptonshire. (See map facing p. 38.)

The monasteries were educational as well as industrial centers. The monks spent part of each day in manual toil, for they held that "to labor is to pray." They cleared the land, drained he bogs, plowed, sowed, and reaped. Another part of the day they spent in religious exercises, and a third in writing, translating, and teaching.

Each monastery had a school attached to it, and each had, besides, its library of manuscript books and its room for the entertainment of travelers and pilgrims. In these libraries important charters granted by the King and important laws relating to the kingdom were preserved.

46. Literary Work of the Monks.

It was at the monastery of Jarrow[2] that Bede wrote in rude Latin the

Church history of England. It was at that in Whitby that the poet

Caedmon composed his poem on the Creation, in which, a thousand years

before Milton, he dealt with Milton's theme in Milton's spirit.

[2] Jarrow, Whitby, etc.; see note 1, above.

It was at the great monasteries of Peterborough and Canterbury that the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" was probably begun (S99). It was the first history of England written in English, and the one from which we derive very important knowledge of the period extending from the beginning of the Christian era down to a time nearly a hundred years after the Norman conquest of the island. Furthermore we find that the history of the country was written by the monks in the form of independent narratives, some of which are of very great value as sources of information.[1]

[1] See six extracts from the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," in E. K. Kendall's "Source-Book of English History," chaps. ii and iii; also William of Malmesbury's "Conquered and Conquerors" (1066) and Matthew Paris's "England in 1257," in the same book, pp. 41 and 78. See also Bogn's "Six Old English Chronicles."

47. Influence of Christianity on Society.

But the power of Christianity for good was not confied to the monasteries; the priests took their part in it. Unlike the monks, they were not bound by monastic rules, though they were forbidden to marry. They lived in the world and worked for the world, and had an immense social influence. The Church, as a rule, in all forms of its activity took the side of the weak, the suffering, and the oppressed. Slavery was then the normal condition of a large class, but when the Church held slaves it protected them from ill usage. It secured Sunday for them as a day of rest, and it often labored effectually for their emancipation.

48. Political Influence of Christianity, 664.

More than this, Christianity had a powerful political influence. A great synod or council was held at Whitby, on the coast of Yorkshire, 664, to decide when Easter should be observed. Delegates to that meeting were sent from different parts of the country. After a protracted discussion all the churches finally agreed to accept the Roman custom. This important decision encouraged a spirit of true religious unity. The bishops, monks, and priests who gathered at Whitby represented Saxon tribes which were often bitterly hostile to each other (S37), but their action on the Easter question united them in a certain way. It made them feel that they had a common interest, that they were members of the same Church, and that, in that Church, they were laboring for the same object. The fact that they bowed to one supreme spiritual authority had a political significance. It suggested that the time might be coming when all the conflicting tribes or petty kingdoms in Britain would acknowledge the authority of one King, and form one English nation.

49. Egbert becomes King of Wessex, and Overlord of the Whole Country, 829.

Somewhat more than a hundred and sixty years later a great step was taken toward the accomplishment of the political union of the different sections of Britain. By the death of the King of Wessex (S37), Egbert, a descendant of Cerdic, the first chief and King of that country, succeeded to the crown. He had spent some time in France at the court of Charlemagne and had seen that great ruler make himself master of most of western Europe. Egbert was not content to remain simply King of Wessex. He resolved to make himself master of the whole country. He began a series of wars by which he, at length, compelled all the other Saxon Kings to acknowledge him as their Overlord. That title marks the beginning, in 829, of a new period in the history of the island.

50. How Britain got the Name of England.

In making himself supreme ruler over the entire English population of Britain, Egbert laid the foundations of what was finally to become the "Kingdom of England." Several causes contributed to this change of name. We can trace the process step by step. First, the people of Kent and the great council held at Whitby (SS42, 48) laid the cornerstone of the National Church; next, the people of Wessex furnished the National Overlord (S49); finally, the preponderance of the people called Angles (S37) furnished the National Name of Angle-Land or England.

It is a fact worthy of notice, in this connection, that from Egbert as a royal source every subsequent English sovereign (except the four Danish Kings, Harold II, and William the Conqueror) has directly or indirectly descended down to the present time. (See Table of Royal Descent in the Appendix, p. xlii.)

51. Alfred the Great.

Of these sovereigns the most conspicuous during the period of which we are writing was Alfred. He was a grandson of Egbert (S49). He was rightly called Alfred the Great, since he was the embodiment of whatever was best and bravest in the English character. The keynote of his life may be found in the words which he spoke at the close of it, "So long as I have lived, I have striven to live worthily."