155- V, '*3 Qlortipll Htttnpratty ICtbrarg 3tljara. Jfrm ^ork 1 ^B^^^^^ 1 1 ^H I H 1 ^^^^^^^.'' 1 ^M ^H 1 H I 1 1 1 M-r\, ■ \. '-^/ KCHi^UW-O •I . KI- THE CELTIC LIBRARY PRESENTED BY CLARK SUTHERLAND NORTHUP CLASS OF 1893 Cornell University Library DA 135.P85 Britannia antique 3 1924 027 947 245 The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027947245 BEITANNIA ANTIQUA. BRITANNIA ANTIQUA. ANCIENT BRITAIN BROUGHT WITHIN THE iLimits of ^tttljentic i^istorg. BEALE POSTE, AUTHOR OT THE " BfilTANNIC nESEARCHES", AND OF THE "COINS OF CUNOBELIKE AND or THE ANCIENT BRITONS." LONDON: JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE. JIDOfiCLTII. T. RICHARDS, 37, GREAT -QUEKN STREET. THE MOST NOBLE THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND (with permission) THESE PAGES AEE VERY EESPECTFULLY DEDICATED THE AUTHOR. Bydews Place, HEAR Maidstone, 12th Nov., 1850. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Vindication of the Histories of Asser, Gildas and Nennius, and of the ancient British Poets : with observations on the Historical Triads : and on ancient British Coins . 1-16 CHAPTEK II. Scrutiny and dissection of the work of Nennius, and remarks on Gildas as an historian ; also observations on the epic poem of the Cambreis, and on the other works of the elder Gildas (Gildas Albanius) .... 17-80 CHAPTER III. Contributions to the earlier part of the British histor}" of the sixth century, comprising the life, reign, and acts of Arthur Mabuter, king of the Britons, pp. 81-190 : viz. Part 1. His birth, parentage, and chronology of his reign ...... 81-115 Part 2. Miscellaneous particulars relating to him . 116-132 Part 3. His expeditions to Gaul ; and the War of Camlan ...... 133-152 Part 4. His kindred, friends, adherents, and con- temporaries ..... 152-163 Part 5. The discofery of his remains, etc. . . 163-190 Tin CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. PAGE Strathclyde affairs in the sixth century, or the Battles of Arde- rydd and Gododin ..... 190-244 CHAPTEE V. The ancient sea coast of Britain illustrated . . . 244-291 CHAPTER VI. Observations on the Government work of the Monumenta Historica Britannica ..... 291-298 CHAPTER VII. Emblems and Memorials of the early Christians in Britain . 298-303 CHAPTER VIII. Proofs to show that Constantine the Great was born in Britain 303-307 CHAPTER IX. The Belgic Gauls in Britain ; and remarks on the craniology of ancient Britain ..... 307-310 CHAPTER X. Roman strategical works in Central Britain, or the chain of intrenched camps formed against the Iceni . _ . 310-312 CHAPTER XI. - The Roman walled towns in Britain .... 312-321 CHAPTER XII. Notes on the history and on the career of Carausius . . 321-328 CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER XIII. PAGE The Attacotti of Britain ; the " Bellicosa hominum natio" of Ammianus Marcellinus ..... 329-331 CHAPTER XIV. Details from various sources relating to the career of Aurelius Ambrosius . . . , . . 331-335 CHAPTER XV. Remarks on the nature and scope of Celtic titular names . 336-340 CHAPTER XVI. On the name Vitalis, as occurring in various Roman British inscriptions ...... 341-342 CHAPTER XVII. Account of the various manuscripts still extant in public libra- ries purporting to be works of Richard of Cirencester . 342-346 CHAPTER XVIII. Particulars relating to Ponticus Virunnius, the commentator ■ on the Classics, of the era of Ludovicus Sfortia, Duke of Milan, and author of a History of the Britons . . 346-348 CHAPTER XIX. Extracts from an early Teutonic Chronicle giving an unique account of ancient Britain .... 348-356 CHAPTER XX. Remarks on some ancient accounts of Britain . . 356-361 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXI. Miscellanea relating to ancient British history, geography, and ethnology ; viz., Remarks on JuUus Sextus Frontinus, the classic author, propraetor in this country in the first cen- tury. — Forts in the rear of the Roman Wall on the northern coast. — Ancient Britons in Armorica. — Supposed grant of lands by Constantino of Armorica to the church of Llandaff.— Hengist. — The Demetee in Britain and their territories. — Eboracum or York, its rank as a Roman town. — Remarks on the three Chesters. — The Girvii. — The Prophecies of Gwinclan. — Historical sources of the British Chronicles. — Merddin Emmrys, and his history as disguised by tradition. — ^Varying accounts of the parent- age of Caractacus reconciled. — Cunedda. — Supposed proof of the former existence of Druidical tree circles in Sussex. — The Descriptio Utriusque Britanni^e, the supposed lost work on Britain of John de Salisbury, the friend of Becket. — Unique Inscription referring to the Fourteenth Roman Legion. — Territories of the Northern Britons. — Ancient London, — Ostorius, the Roman propraetor, in Britain ....... 361-375 MAP of the territories of the Northern Britons, and those of Bernicia, etc., etc. . . . to face page CHAPTER I. ASSER, ETC. To face Page I TERRITORIES OF THE A. TheWaJX of ^nioninus. B . Th& Htxmpajri ofihe ChdfrcuZ. C . TJi£- WctlL of S&venzg. Ashbee SzDcmgeriield,, ZZBedfbrd St. (hvent (jrccrden- , BRITANNIA ANTIQUA. CHAPTER I. THE AUTHENTICITY ASSERTED OF THE HISTORICAL WORKS OF ASSER, GlhDAS AND NENNIUS, AND OF THE ANCIENT BARDIC POEMS OF BRITAIN.' TOGETHER WITH REMARKS ON THE ANCIENT BRITISH TRIADS AS MATERIALS FOR HISTORY. It might seem almost superfluous to vindicate the genu- ineness of the works of the three historians whose names are mentioned as above, and who, for ages past, have held their position, and received such share of attention, as the barbarousness of their age might seem to warrant; and, imperfect recorders as they are of the times they have selected to illustrate, much light, indeed, do they throw on a lengthened series of events, which, without their aid, would be involved in the darkest obscurity. Yet, as one modern writer of reputation has considered their works as little better than forgeries, and as unworthy of being used as authorities in history, and has repeatedly brought the subject forward, it may be as well to canvass the question ; in order either to receive the evidence supplied by them, if worthy of credit, or to repudiate it if spurious. Mr. Wright, the gentleman alluded to, cannot be justly dis- pleased with a fair discussion of their authenticity and genuineness : more especially as he must be sensible that we are only supporting the opinion of the majority of histo- rical readers, with whom these ancient writers have hitherto passed current. In executing our task we shall have to controvert a series of objections which, be it understood, if substantiated, would tend to subvert, not only the earlier 2 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. secular histories of our island, but the earlier church his- tories as well. It may excite surprise, that a writer of undoubted talent, learning, and extensive acquirements, as the one on whom we now animadvert, should place himself in so untenable a position ; but the opinions, it is believed, were adopted in the earlier part of his literary career, and not duly re- considered since. However, under whatsoever circumstances the said vieWs may have been formed, there is no question but that the cause of historical literature is much indebted to Mr. Wright, for bringing forward his objections on the said authors in a tangible shape, and collecting them, as it were, in one focus. The best way of treating our subject is to state the ob- jections against our three early historians seriatim, and to show that they are wholly void of any due basis : the con- sequence of which will be, the fully and completely evinc- ing the genuineness of these three ancient writers, and the restoring them to their proper position as recorders of events in their own respective eras. As far, then, as Asser is concerned, the attack first ap- peared in vol. xxix. of the Archceologia, for 1842, pp. 192- 201 ; afterwards in Mr. Wright's Biographia Britannica lAteraria, 8vo., 1842, vol. i. pp. 405-41 3. We will state the objections accordingly in due order, as they appear in the last mentioned work, and afterwards endeavour, as briefly as possible, to make their entire futility clear and manifest. Objections as in the Biographia Britannica Literariii, there alleged to show that the Life of Alfred hy Asser, bishop of Sherborne, is spurious. Obj. 1. — The uncertainty of the identification of the pre- sumed author of the Life of Alfred. For whereas Alfred, in the preface to his Pastorale, addresses a "certain ecclesi- ''"astic as "Asser, my bishop", that person must have been ^an English bishop, from the mode of address employed ; but no Asser, an English bishop, is mentioned in that age, except Asser, bishop of Sherborne ; and Alfred, in the same preface, addresses another person, named Wulfsige, as the bishop of Sherborne [Biographia Literaria,%\o.,\SA:'2, vol. i pp. 405-6). I.] ACTHENTICATION OF ASSER. , 3 Ohj. 2.— The improbability that Alfred should have taken sufficient interest in Asser, before he had seen him, to in- vite him from Wales to his court ; and that Asser hesitated to come (vol. i. p. 408). Obj. 3. — The improbability that the lAfe of Alfred should be written in his lifetime, when he was in the vigour of his age (in his forty-fifth year) ; and that Asser, his biographer, who is believed to have survived him five years, should not have continued it (vol. i. p. 408). Ohj. 4. — That the lAfe is an unskilful compound of his- tory and of legend (vol. i. p. 408). Ohj. 5. — That the historical part of it, «.e. that from 851 to 887 is evidently a mere tr anslation from the Saxon Chro- nicle, with a few personal anecdotes added ; whereas the Saxon Chronicle, according to the writer of the objections, was not in existence, most probably, till long after Alfred's death (vol. i. p. 409). Ohj. 6. — That the Life contains matters that could not have been written by bishop Asser ; such as the statement ' which makes Alfred, a prince, complain that his education had been so neglected in his youth, that, when in child- hood he was desirous of learning, he could not find instruc- tors (vol. i. p. 409). Obj. T. — That he takes from a legendary Life of^i^^eoJ the account of Alfred's misfortunes at Athelney, which he\ has added to what is said on the point in the Saxon Chro- \ nick (vol. i. p. 409). " 1 Ohj. 8. — That this Life of St. Mot, from which Asser I copied, was not. written till thenar 974 ; there being every! reason to suppose that it was not indited till his relics were ''■ removed into Huntingdonshire in that year (vol. i, p. 410). The above series of objections may be considered as not without interest, as containing the strongest arguments which can be brought against the genuineness of Asser's Life of Alfred. We will, however, merely answer them gene- rally, noticing one or two of the principal ones, which, if they be shown not to be of importance, the others, which are quite subordinate to them, may be safely passed by. None of them, we may affirm without risk, are of a very overwhelming nature. First, as to the identification of Asser, and whether he were bishop of Sherborne, Or not. The ambiguous passages 4 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. 1 in the preface to Alfred's Pastorale are usually accounted for thus. Alfred, we elsewhere find, had given him the c hurch of Exete r, with a certain district annexed to it, which the Icing might have consideredjhiisbish^^^ and addressed him accordingly, as having given hiEfTa bishop's jurisdiction within it. Thence he might have been styled " Asser, mybishop.,", Wulfsige then being bishop of Sher- borne; while on Wulfsige's death he might have been made bish2p!Ql.SheiiuamfiLJiself. That he was bishop of Sherborne is stated in various ancient dgcumen^s, and among them injhe L^tirLfiapy-SfAlfre^^ We cannot cite Cambrian accounts to corroborate Asser's biography as we find it in his Life of Alfred. However, there is but little doubt that he was the Geraint Vardd Glas of the Camhxians. of whom it is recorded that heTTveJl aSouFtheyear 900. He was a poet and grammarian, and his reputation in that age would appear to have been great; but his literary works, with the exception of a few frag- ments, are lost (see Owen Pughe's CqroJmM^^SSI^Mi 12mo, 1803. ; and EicTiard's Eminent Welshmen, 8vo7lo59). Besides this testimony, it appears from the Chronicle of Carado c_ofXanca rvan, that there was an ecclesiasiffcliamed Asser appointed archbishop of St. David^s^in 905 ; who must have been the same as our_A^fiii. The sai3~Caradoc records his death in the ensuing year, 906. We now come to what may apparently be considered his main objection^ namely, that Asser's Life of Alfred contains passages which show that the Saxon Chronicle has been in many places copied into the historical part. We may here bring forward the Anglo-Norman poet, Gaimar, against the objection ; — an author whom Mr. Wright himself has. edited. Gaimar distinctly says that Alfred caused the Saxon Chronicle, or the Book of Winchester, to be compiled from such materials as could be found. (See his Estorie des Engles, as edited in the Monumenta Historica Britannica, v, 2316, et seq., and v. 3451 ; and also his Episode, v. 33). Asser, then, might as easily_have compiled from the Saxon Chronicle, as an auiEoLxif^-thelSmEISflGe^geTir^^ght have done iromtheLmdmi^CUtzdhsjdJihaLx!^^ con- sequently all difficulty on that head is thusat.QnGej:einQ£ed. The next principal objection is, that the Life of Alfred, by Asser, purporting to ibe written in the year 887, has re- 1.] AUTHENTICATION OF GILDAS. 5 ference to the lAfe of Si. Neot, which is believed not to have appeared till the year 974. The answ^er to which is, that j the same may easily be credited to be nothing more than { marginal r eferen ces, which have been graduallyj^ken into \ the text, from time to time, in copies made in monasteries \ of As&ex'n^nfs^f.^Alfaed. This might Kav^nBeen HByTEe ' way of "aSdmg further details, and might have been more readily done as the passages in question were taken from i the life of a saint. The foregoing objections being thus- answered, Asser may be considered as restored to the universal and uncon- ditional acceptance with which his work has ever been re- ceived both in medieval and modern times. We now turn to vindicate another of our ancient historians against the attacks of the same modern writer. Objections against the authenticity and genuineness of Gildas, hy the author hefore cited. ■ These may be found in vol. xxxii. of the Archoeoh^ia, and in the Biographid Britannica Liter aria; as also scattered about in various detached works and periodicals by the same pen. We may now principally collect them from the Biographia Literaria. Obj. 1. — That the accounts of Gildas are legendary, con- fused, iand contradictory. In particular, that the chrono- logies given in the two Narratives of his life ; the one attri- b uted to Carad og^of Lancarvan, and the other to a monk ai the "monastery ofEhuySjliT Normandy, are totally in- consistent {BiograpTnoBrhanmca'TIMemfM^ vol. i., p. 124) ; and that in regard to reconciling their contradictory data, it is not admissible to allege that there were two persons of the name {Ihid. p. 123). Ohj. 2. — That from the invectives it contains against the British clergy, the most due and practical conclusion is that it was a forgery, by some Anglo-Saxon or foreign priest, concocted during the controversies which took place between the two churches in the seventh century [Ibid, p. 128, and the Archceologia, vol. xxxii.jj . 335). Our answer to these objections, as in the case of those against Asser, will be brief ; because any lengthened reply would be Avholly unnecessary. 6 AJiCIENT BRITISH. HISTORIANS. [cHAP. We would observe of the name Gildas, that it is generic, and implies "Princeps — minister", that is, the "Prince, the priest"; and consequently any prince or_nobleinan_iecom- ing an ecclesiastic, would be entitled to the appellation. Dr. C. O'Conor, in his R^rmrn^ihfirnir.arum Scri ptores . part ii. p. xxix,, informs us, that he believes he could find a tTiousan d jCj-grfTig nf th^ name of Gild as connected with Irish litfiia- ture. We do not want so many for our argument ; but most writers, as archbishop Usher, Mr. Stevejison, Mr. Petrie, Dr. O'Conor, and others, suppose that there were two per- sons in this country of that name, which will fully remove all difficulties of cEronoldgy. In short, the dates which respect the first Gilda s. as traceable in various ancient works (see the account of Gildas in the Britannic Researches, p. 166), go down in a regular series from the year 425 to 512; and those which refer to the second, from 492 to 570 {Hid.). In answer to Mr. AVright's second objection, it does not at all apply : for not only ill-feeling exis ted between the Latin communion and the British churches on account of tfielEaster controversy, which began- about the year 634, and ended in the year 762, by the appointment ofElhoSus, archbishop of GwynedETby the Pope ; but also it arose as early as the middle of the fi fth century, on account of the Pelagian heresyij.s^^juffi£i^32^^orious. We find that the mission of Germanus to Britain, in the interest of the Latin church, to combat the doctrine of Pelagius, took place as early as the year 429. (See Bede's Ecclesiastical History, i. 17, and Prosper's Chr onicle.) We wiU now notice the objections set forth against Nennius, by the same author, in the two literary vehicles before cited. Objections against the genuineness of the British history of Nennius, from the Biographia Britannica Literaria and the Archceologia. Ohj. 1. — That the work of Nennius is a forgery, as con- taining allusions of a late r. date than the seventh (eighth) century, which was the era of the ecclesiastic of that name, the disciple of St. Elb odus, whom the fabricator intended to per.gongte {BiograpUa Literaria, vol. i. pp. 137-140). Ohj. 2. — That the genealogies were introduced by the I.] AUTHENTICATION OF NENNIUS. T forger with the intent of confirming the fictitious date he assigned to the history; but that imperfectly understanding chronology, he has fully convicted himself, by: intr oduc ing anachronisms [Ibid. vol. i. pi 140). - — Obj. 3. — That the history of Nennius is an absolute for- gery, fabricated just before Jie_JiisiQry:_irf_JW^^^ Malmesbury was writtenj__which appeared_ jn_the_year lisa (Arc/icedJoffia'^'oi. xxxii. p. 337) ; or otherwise it_is oT^n ^ancertaiii date (Ibid. p. 338). We may observe on these objections, that we may well understand them to have had considerably more weight at the time they were made, some twelve years ago, than they can have at the present time, when every thing relating to the first publication of the history of Nennius, owing to the labours of the Hon^.,Mg£rnon Herbert, and the Rev. DrJ[£dd, is so much better understood. We now do not suppose any edUKinjpf_the,_seventht..c&n,tur.y ; and Avhy not ■? Because those two gentlemen, in their Dublin Edition, 4to. J 1847, very incontestably ascertained that the first manu- script edition was in the . yj^jufi22, J3.y,. Mai£US!.»aJBjalQlt. who was an Irish bishop ; and that the editions properly of Nennius do not come in till about the middle of_the ninth century ; - and that afterwards there was a rejjjoduction, in 946, of the edition of Marcus, with additions from the 'Jfennian editions^ The fact of these editions is now noto- rious, and we have adverted to them elsewhere ; and we need not do more here than refer to the statement supplied by the Irish Nennius, which, we believe, has not been con- tradicted. This explanation will of course remove the two first objections, which it immediately meets ; as also the third, which seems only a species of corollary from them. The most mistakeable points connected with Nennius are in this way put right : and thus we have given a few rea- sons why this author, together with Asser andGildas, should be continued among our early historical authorities. We have not intended to disparage Mr. Wright's Biographia Britannica Liter aria, which is a history of Anglo-Saxon and Norman literature, and is obviously otherwise a work of merit, and contains much fruit of his own manuscript re- searches ; but have felt bound to endeavour to correct what we conceive his erroneous views in respect to the subject on which we have animadverted.. HISTORICAL MATERIALS. [CHAP. The Ancient British Poets. It should not excite surprise, that the compositions of these primitive poets, going back, as they do, to consider- able antiquity, should have been attacked and considered spurious by some. They have been so ; and in the begins ; ning of the present century there has been a certain amount of controversy respecting them, in which the late eminent critic and scholar, Sharon Turner, took a part. That con- troversy has now mostly died away ; and we find a distin- ' guished author, lately deceased, the Hon. Algernon ^Her-' bert, who paid much attention to Celtic literature, receiving u^^servedly these ancient compositions. The controversy, nevertheless, has not so entirely disappeared but that some lurking scepticism may be occasionally traceable. One of the works which most readily presents itself is a work by the same author whose views we have lately had occasion to scrutinize, — who, in the Wandering o f an Antiquary , as published in the Gentleman s Magazine, October, 1853', and also separately, has consigned .the bards, or rather their productions, to a mere ideal existence, and supposes that they have been personated by modern forgers, who have taken advantage of popular prepossessions and prejudices, and composed poems in their name. So thought Mr. Rit- .sofrhalf a century ago, and some others of that day, when the Macgherson question was more particularly mooted ; and this question of the Ca mbrian bards would appear to be the sequel to that. AVe now propose a few remarks on the genuineness oT^the productions attributed to these writers, which may very appropriately follow up the vin- dication of our three ancient and important historians, which we have submitted to our readers in our previous pages. If, then, the numerous Welsh poems, extending from thei sixth to the twelfth centuries, were forgeries, they must have been fabricated much in the same way that Fer e Hardo uin supposed that the ancient_ classics, with an exception of Pliny's Natural Histdry and a few other VKQ^ks, werCpra- ^ce3~; that is, as it were, by a simultaneous consent and a species of conspiracy of a whole body of men of genius and learning, and great impostors, too, at the same time ; impostors, indeed, necessarily of surprising magnitude. I.] ANCIENT BRITISH POETS. 9 This monstrous supposition, we need scareely say, never obtained currency among the literati of that time ; nor will the readers of the present day be very readily inclined to receive the corresponding one in regard to the Cambrian poets. It comes too much under the head of bold scepti- cism. We may therefore express a regret that a writer of undoubted learning and talent, and in many instances of sound judgment, should have again agitated the question, which it appears scarcely justifiable to do. We will enter upon the topic : but as to do so fully would only be to go over the same ground as has been so satisfac- torily traversed by the eminent Sharga Xuxaer, — who has devoted a volume to the subject, entitled his VjndicatimL Mf tIw_AndenLBdMsh-£&d»^&MO:^\Si}^t.isr-\i will suffice to offer some few observations ; not with the idea to treat of it in all its branches, like Sharon Turner,' but to show summa- rily the genuineness of the Cambrian bards, on an incon- trovertible basis. First, we may observe, that the antiquity and obsolete- ness of the language entirely suit some of the older bards, as Taliesin and Aneurin. So ancient is their diction, that they are not, without the greatest difficulty, comprehensible to the moderns. There is also an entire correspondency in the subjects of which they treat to their respective times. You see traces in them of still lurking Druidism ; the peculiar, wild manners of the sixth century ; the primitive customs of bardism ; and the Saxon war still in its earlier stages. With all this, these ancient poets, some of them, are contained in manuscripts as early as the twelfth cen- tury : as, for instance, in the Blade Book of Carmarthen, in the Hengwrt library. Consequently, this nefarious gang of forgers, whose existence we are obliged to admit, if the Cambrian bardic poems be forgeries, must have been actively at work, regardless of the troubles of their country just previous to its final fall ; and just before, too, the era of Giraldus Cambrensis, who must have grossly neglected his duty as an historian, in not having given a full account of their proceedings. We imply, then, that these ancient compositions were in existence as early as the twelfth century : and here, as corresponding to their antiquity, it will be right to point out the remarkable and very frequent recurrence of ellipses ID HISTORECAL MATERIALS.. [cHAr. i-n them/wJiich is very highly signifiGant; . Ellipses in com- position: are not a characteristic of the later period of the.- middle ages; but rather, the contrary, a wearisome fulness. We. may account for it in the earlier Welsh bards, thafe wi'iting their poems not without some view of vocal, per-; formance, they omitted many connecting lines for the sake? df brevity; and thus.it happens that these productions! have only reathed us in this form. Take Taliesin's poem, the Battle ofArgjaed Llwyfain, and it will clearly appear- that about as many lines necessary for connexion have been If-ft out as are iriseirted. ' The use of rhyme, again, has been objected tO' against; the authenticity of the Welsh poetical compositions of the. earlier period ; but Sharon Turner, in his Vindication of the. Ancient British PoetSi, pp, 250-267:, shows the employment of it, by numerous instances, between the fourth and ninth, centuries ; and quotesa passage from St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo in the fifth century, relative to its adoption, and the feasbns for it! The. Author of \he Bioffraphia Britannica Literdria (yo\. ii. Introduction,^. 11) erroneously, supposes: that .rhyme was a hew feature in poetry in the twelfth century, and that it was first adopted by Hilarius, a poet of that era, . Giraldus Cambfensis has no express treatise on the Welsh bards ; but in his Liber Distinctiomm,c, 9, he men* tions their "Cantores historic!", which implies that he knew of the existeince of the poems ; for if they were historical singers, it surely must be implied that their songs, the sub- ject of their singing, were written, :; . Having Welsh manuscripts as old as the twelfth; cen- tury, there is of course no dispute as to the existence oi Ca.mbrian bards from that period, We find a series of them in the work of Sharon Turner, We can obtain some testimony from them of the earlier bards of all, and may take the following proofs from his pages. Elidir Sais, a Cambrian poet, lived between the years 1160 and 1220, and mentions both Taliesin and Merddiu Wyllt, who both lived in the sixth, century, — Bihia.w» ap Gwgawn lived between 1200 and 1260, and mentions LlowarchHen, a Cambrian bard of the sixth century.— Phylyp Brydydd hved between 1200 and 1250, and men- tions Taliesin,— David Benvras, who lived between 1190 I.] . THE TRIADS. 11 and 1240, notices Merddyn Wyllt, Llowaroh Hen, and Aneurin and his Gododin, and :has an allusion to Taliesin, though he does not mention his name.— Llygad Gwa, who lived between 1220 and 1270, alludes to a passage in Ta- liesin about Ida, king of Northumberland, styled the " FlamddTvyn", or the Flame- bearer. — Gwilym Dhu, who lived between 1280 and 1320, mentions Taliesin and his ".riamerbearer", Llowar.ch Hen, and Merddin Wyllt. These, like the first, were all Welsh poets ; and seven others, who lived previous to the year 1400, mention one or the other of the bards of the sixth century, whose names are given as.above, and hint nothing of their spuriousness. Enough, .therefore, may possibly have been said to show that the .poems of the early Welsh bards are not " pseudo-ancient", as the author of the Biocfraphia Britanniea Idteraria asserts, and. that their principal productions, at least, are genuine. The British Historical Triads. These ancient relics- may, with great propriety, be sub- joined to Asser, Gildas, and Nennius, and to the early British :poets ; and a few observations on them may not be irrelevant. They are about as old, in their presertt shape, as the tenth or eleventh century, having been formed out of a prior work of the seventh century, broken up for that purpose. This appears to be the main fact connected with their origin ;; and as they are found at times to be much disparaged in various quarters, as to their antiquity, it is necessary to advert to that point. It is. objected that there are portions of them which relate to events as late as the. twelfth century; and that the language in which they are written, pretty much corresponds tp the same date; . and, consequently, that they are no more than fictions con- .cocted at that era. In brief answer it may be replied, as -it is not intended to go into this subject at any length, that, had the numerous historica,! materials in the Triads been fictions of the twelfth century, they would have been worked up with greater extravagancies, according to the custom of the times ; whereas there are scarcely more in- credible circumstances in them than are usually mixed up with early Middle Age histories, and many of their details are very satisfactorily confirmed from independent sources. 12 ' HISTORICAL MATERIALS. [cHAP. Now as the objectors do not pretend to deny the princi- pal facts,— indeed, they neither deny nor admit them, but merely object to the form in which they appear,— -the general credibility of the contents of the Triads must be left to rest on its own basis; a course we must pursue with all medieval histories,— and, indeed, with many mo- dern ones. But with regard to the two objections which have been noticed, it seems an obvious remark, that, as from time to'time, new transcripts of the Triads have been made, both modern additions have been united with them, and the language modernized. Many of our standard his- tories, we find, have had professedly modern additions, as time has progressed; and the orthography of Shakespeare, Milton, and Popej is iiow given in a modernized form, very different from that which they had at the time their works appeared; and if, in the case of the Triads, the phrase and diction, as well as the orthography, may have been much altered, the greater latitude allowed to an editor and reproducer of literary works in the middle ages, must be considered. The text of some few writers of ecclesias- tical histories, or of other authors, who, from some reason, were much esteemed, may have been kept sacred ; but we find that neither the language of Gildas, nor of Nennius, has come to us unaltered ; particularly of the latter; and that the text of some of the ancient British poets has been much varied. We shall have an opportunity to advert briefly to this point again. In the meanwhile, a few words may be necessary on the characteristic features of these ancient compositions. The Triads form an unique class of literary productions, for there is nothing similar to them in the literature of the whole of Europe. We may commence by observing, that the practice of iteration and reiteration forms a somewhat peculiar and very notable circumstance in ancient British poetry : that is to say, an emphatic reiteration, not of pre- cisely the same ideas, but of ideas as nearly similar as could be selected, introduced, with the recurrence of the same formulary, at stated intervals. We are inciined'to think that this is a legitimate part and parcel of the materia poetica; and it is certainly a means of producing a striking effect, as used by Llowarch Hen in his Morunad, or monody •on the death of Urien Rheged, and in his other poems; t] THE TRIADS. 13 by Aneurin in his Gbdodin ; and by Taliesin in his Battle ofMenab, and in his Recompense of tfrien. It was not, how- ever, adopted by the Greeks, or Latins ; nor has it been by our English poets, probably from the fear of the notable fault of tautology, which, it must be confessed, has been in part incurred, though its bad effects have been avoided, and it has been improved into an exquisite beauty by the skilful management of the Celtic versifiers. This practice must have suited the taste of the times, from obtaining the currency it did ; and it is extremely probable that it sug- gested the species of reiteration which we find in the compositions which form our present subject of remark, although they are not in verse but prose. Well, what are the Triads % They are, in fact, an old British history broken up into a constantly recurring series of comparisons, each comprising three separate subjects. Whether the author of the Triads had read Plutarch is unknown ; but, if he ;had, he must have exulted in surpassing him ; for whereas the comparisons of that author only comprise two subjects, those of the Triads invariably comprehend three, whether they be persons or things. In this way the author ranged through the whole compass of ancient British history, re- cording events sometimes evidently very obscure and un- important, where the triple similitude could be pointed out ; while other transactions, which could not be so, were of course omitted. However, with a genius so fertile as that of the author of the Triads, in finding the threefold similitude, the historical facts disqualified for admission were possibly not numerous. It is a circumstance connected with the Triads, that it can be almost demonstrated that only one ancient history of the Britons was used. in forming them. It is easy to imagine that the monastery or community, of which the author was a member, might, in those times, have been in the like case with Sir Roger de Coverley, in the Spectator, with his Sir John Baker's chronicle, and only possessed oiie history of their country ; which, we may add, must have been a very copious one. It is certain it was not the British history of Gildas,or of Nennius, nor that of Tysilio ; and whoever has read the works of those authors with attention, and notices how numerous the circumstances are in the Triads, which are not in them ; and notices again. 14 HISTOEICAL MATERIALS. [cHAP. that rwliere :the same facts are related, which can be founfl elsewhere, they have almost invariably a different turn, he •will feel an entire : conviction that none of. those writers have heen consulted; nor, in fact, is there the slightest tiace in any other quarter where the materials could -have .been obtained. All we can know, of the lost history is from, as it were, the reflection of it in the Triads. It may be pronounced, with certainty, from the internal evidence •they afford,-*-which it would be too long to treat of here, — that it was of bardic composition, and more a civil history than a military one; entering into a detail of conspiracies and political combinations, and, in particular, being very fulL where the bards were concerned. . Now between this bards and the Latin Church there was ever a feehng near akin to enmity. But the tone of theoriginal was evidently truly Cambrian. No wonder then, this circumstance con- sidered, that there was a wish in the monastery ta which it is supposed to have belonged, to put it in" another form ; to get rid of the objectionables, to omit what they pleased of pagan r-ites and ceremonies, and bardic tenets and per- ; versions, which were truly very inveterate, as is only too -well known ; and, at the same time, to retain the- parts which were so congenial to their patriotism, and to their .'general ideas on other subjects. We can now perceive that, admitting the original history to have been written in the seventh century, and thrown into the, form of Triads in the tenth or eleventh, there might be a^good cause for the alteration of phrase and lan- guage. The principal change would of course take place wheh this was done ; and the work having taken a more popular shape, the alterations. of the next hundred or hun- dred and fifty .years, tp suit it to common readings might more naturally be expected. , The dates of the seventh, centyiry assigned here to the .original, and of the tenth or eleventh century to the trans- formation, are entirely from internal evidences. It is easy to see that the main narrative stops at ,the epoch of the seventh century; concluding, in fact, with the reign of , Cadwallon, the son of Cadvan, who ascended the throne in the year 638. As to the second particular, the assigning the date of the tenth or eleventh century for the transmu- tation, the same seems rather the most applicable, as at ,] . . THE TRIADS. 15; hat time tlie Druidtc and bardic influence had been already ong in the wane, which the change of form of the work voiild seem necessarily to imply. Besides, there is a -men-' ion of the Normans in Triad 12, which may or may not )e indicative of date. ■ '; The Triads are first mentioned,.aSjSources of historical, nformation, in a work entitled The Reformed History of England, as cited in Speed's History, fol., 1614, p. 280 ; and ;here referred to as the Booh of the Triads. Nevertheless, though they may have been thus cited, ;hey seem to have been scai'cely known a hundred and fifty ((■ears ago, when the celebrated Edward Lhuyd announced ihat such documents were, extant. They were printed in Welsh in the My vyrian Arehceoloffy, in the beginning of the present century ; and have appeared once or twice since, ■a an English dress, as a portion of other works relating- to "Wales. They still, therefore, are somewhat in the back- ground, and the following statistics of them may be of use. ., The historical Triads, as' originally published, were a fciundred arid twenty-six in number; and, in 1840, eleveOi supplementary Triads were added, which are believed to be pf good authority. We may give the subjoined estimate of the subjiects of the whole hundred and thirty-seven, which probably, approaches nearly to truth. . They may be stated to contain about a thousand alleged historical and ethnographical facts or allusions, of which about three hundred are mythological, or next akin to that class; Of the remaining seven hundred facts or allusions, about four hundred are mentioned elsewhere in the circle of, "Welsh or Caledonian literature; while the remaining three hundred are found solely in these documeiits ; and we are almost entirely destitute of other evidence as to their veracity or falsehood ; but the truth, or partial truth, of the greater portion of them is to be presumed. . We have thus endeavoured to set forth the case of the Triads, which, from the great illustrations they supply to ancient British history, notwithstanding the draAvbacks which have been noticed, might well deserve a greater share of attention. They are the more important as pre- senting our early national history dissimilar, in various points of view, from other authorities. The facts and allu- sions in them, which want collateral support, are certainly 16 HISTORICAL MATERIALS. [CHAP. very numerous. But all idea of forgery may be dismissed ■ and we may take them for their value as the representa- tives of an early medieval bardic history now lost, which appears to have been written with good faith and sincerity, according to the best of the author's knowledge and belief, and tinged, of course, by his errors and prepossessions* , Ancient British Coins. Though it might be out of place to make the present pages a numismatical treatise, yet we cannot but notice the great value of ancient British coins for the illustration of the early state of the island. The whole number of states of South Britain, great and small, amounted to twenty* three, which were under the sway of three superior sove- reigns, who formed the predominating powers of those days. We have the coinage of these three leading king- doms clear and indisputable : that of the Trinobahtes and dependencies, and of the Iceni and Brigantes. Likewise, besides these coinages, we have what we may denominate the ancient British provincial moneys of six of the minor or component states of the said principal ones ; that is, of . the Atrebates, Cangi, Cassii, Dobuni, Dumnonii, and Iceni- Coritani, as also of about as many cities. The various different types which have legends, amount to several hun- dreds ; and, as there are the names of numerous sovereigns inscribed on them, some mentioned by ancient authors, and some not, together with, very usually, their titular dis- tinctions, and, in some cases, with the names of their states expressed at the same time, it may be justly asked, — ^how can this be, without a greatly increased knowledge of an- cient Britain being the result 1 The answer is obvious ; and, in fact, the explorations made of late years in the sub- ject of ancient British coins, have dissipated much of the darkness which before hung over the first, or British, period of the history of our island. 17 CHAPTER II: remarks on the british history of nennius, and on the kindred historical memoir of gildas, entitled "de excidio Britannia"; and on its author. A. CERTAIN amount of the early history of our island is contained in the work we have first mentioned as above, svhich has never yet been sufficiently brought forward. Many have written on this production of Nennius ; but the account he gives us has not always been examined with a, due attention to his untutored style and his early era; and critics, neither finding the polish nor arrangement of William of Malmesbury, or of William of Newburgh, in liis pages, his real historical value has been overlooked, and even, sometimes, his work recommended to oblivion. Some excellent editions, it is true, have been published ; yet they are not such as would necessarily make the work rery popular. For instance, that of Mr. Stevenson, and that of the late Mr. Petrie, in the Monumenta Historica Britannica, are chiefly to set forth a correct text ; very accessary, from the corrupt form in which it has reached us. These editions do not give explanatory notes, or only extremely few ; nor do they profess to display the historical scope of the author. Mr. Gunn's edition, in 1819, is, for the most part,-confined to Cambrian aflPairs; while the last edition, that of Dublin, by Dr. Todd, is scarcely procur- able in this country. In reality, few know the contents of Neimius ; and the same is undoubtedly the case with regard to the kindred history of the old British author, Grildas, a writer so connected with our present topic as to require to be mentioned ; who has scarcely had a less share jf obloquy and disparagement, and equally undeservedly JO. This author will need, in the sequel, some separate D 18 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. remarks ; but we will, in the first instance, merely bring him forward to make a comparison between his work and that of Nennius. We shall thus be able to see the scope of both histories, and better estimate them ; for sometimes they both supply the same events, and sometimes one of them has an entirely different series of transactions from the other. Both are valuable historians ; and why 1 Be- cause, either separately or in common, they narrate facts which are not recorded elsewhere. No further defence of them is necessary here ; except to say that they are not answerable for the mistakes, often absurd enough, which various chronologists and critics have made in regard to them : mistakes as to the era in which they lived : mis- takes as to their identity : and mistakes as to their motives in writing. They can well afford to stand on their own evidences, as authors of their respective periods. We will now range the principal data and occurrences, as recorded in the work of Gildas, in columns, against those of Nennius. The leading points of both histories will thus be concisely and correctly shewn what they are ; which must not be considered superfluous, as the facts given by these authors are often so erroneously connected by casual readers with events to which they do not at all relate, that some correct explanations seem more especially required. Besides, it will be thus at once seen what one author supplies, and the other omits. Afterwards, we may continue with some further comments on Nennius. It may be necessary to say that the references to the chapters of Nennius will be given as they are arranged in the edition of this author in the Monumenta Historica Britannica. Those in Mr. Stevenson's slightly vary ; while the Dublin copy entirely differs ; and Mr. Gunn's has no divisions of the kind. With regard to these editions, then, the present references, by number of the chapter, will apply to those paragraphs where the respective chapters should begin. The division into chapters in Gildas is nearly uniform in the various editions. Several editions of the ancient manuscript copies of Nennius will be occasionally found mentioned in the fol- lowing page's. That there should be multiplied manuscript editions of what is no more itself than a manuscript, may surprise a casual reader; but so it is with our author. II.] GILDAS AND NENNIUS. 19 Besides the Irish copies, there are the editions of 822, 840, 858, 906, and 946, which are mostly certified by the years of the kings' reigns, with which they are dated. All the various dates in the different editions of Nennius should be taken in good faith ; and there is really no ground for conjecturing forgery upon forgery, and deception upon deception, in them, as some have done. It is difficult to imagine any object which a scribe could have, who had made a new copy or edition of Nennius, to subjoin to it a wrong date ; whilst it is easy to conceive the inducements he may have had to give a right one. In fact, the work of Nennius was altered and varied, enlarged and abridged, at several consecutive periods. A Comparison of the Contents of the British Histories of Gildas and Nennius. GiLDAS. 'Description of the pagan worship of the ancient is- landers, c. iv. The invasion of Claudius, c. V. Implanting of the Gospel in Britain in the latter part of the reign of this emperor, or beginning of Nero : the name of the missionary not stated, but believed to have been Aristobulus, otherwise Arwystli; c. viii. The persecution of Dio- cletian in Britain, and the martyrdoms of St. Albanus, Nennius. Various theories of the ori- gin of the early inhabitants of the island, c. ii. — x. and xii. — xiii. The invasion of Julius Cae- sar, c. xiv. — xvi. Ibid., c. xvii. The conversion of the Bri- tons by Lucius, in the reign of Antoninus ; c. xviii. 20 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [chap. Ibid., c. xxvii. and cc. xx. xxii. XXV. Ibid., 0. XX. Ibid., c. xxii. Ibid., c. xxvii., and com- pare c. xxiii. GiLDAS. Nennius. Aaron, and Julius, as also of Amphibalus; c. x. Dissensions caused by the Arian heresy inBritain,c. xii. The three rebellions a- gainst the Romans in Bri- tain (cc. vi. vii. xiii.),viz. : — I. The relffeUion of Carau- sius, cc. vi. vii. II. The rebellion of Maxi- mus,c. xiii. , in connexion with which is described the return of the B,oman legion to Bri- tain ; or, as it should properly be expressed, two legions and auxiliaries,afterthe rebellion was put down ; c. xiv — xv. Rebellion of Constantine the Tyrant. Dubl. edit., c. xxvii. in fine, p. 75. (" But again, the Roman tribute," ettr.) It has been apparently omitted by copyists in aU other editions. The Dublin edition has, in the above instance, retained the correct text ; but the whole of the editions of Nennius have struck out the mention of Constantine the Tyrant, which, according to the context (compare cc. xx. xxii.) appears originally to have stood in c. xxv., and have in- serted Constantine of Armorica instead. Mr. Gunn, in his edition of Nennius, p. 146, erroneously supposes that Con- stantine the Tyrant is the person intended in the said c. XXV., even in its present form. Mr. Petrie, the editor of the Monumenta Historica Britannica, thought that Constan- tius, father of Constantine the Great, was meant (see p. 61 of that work), forgetting, or unmindful, that he had already been mentioned just before, in the preceding c, xxi. Com- pare Britannic Researches, p. 38. III. Devastations of the island by the Scots and Picts, Ibid., Dublin edition, c. xxvii., in fine p. 75, and c. "•] GILDAS AND NENNIUS. 21 GiLDAS. consequent on Constantine's rebellion ; c xvi. (" Ilia le- gione cum triumpho," etc.) Ibid., c. xvii. ("Atilli— cursus accelerantes," etc.) And compare c. xviii. The Romans leave Britain entirely, c. xviii. The Ro- mans, on their leaving, build [repair) towers on the south fqu., of the vrain) on the sea shore. Ibid. The Picts and Scots break through the Roman wall, and devastate Britain, and the Irish Scots make descents; c. xix. Other fierce invasions of Britain about the year 432, c. xix. in fine. Afterwards a famine in Britain, c. xix. in fine. •The Brigantes apply to Aetius, the Roman general in Gaul, for aid against the Picts and Scots ; c. xx. Nennius. xxvii.; all other editions also in fine. (" Britones autem propter," etc.) The Roman legion which, according to some accounts, was, under Gallio, sent over to Britain forty years after the rebellion of Maximus, which would have been in the year 423. Compare c. xxvii. in fine, and c. xxviii. The first mission of St. Germanus to Britain, about A.D. 429 ; cc. XXX. xxxix. 1. The mission of Palladius to the Scots about the same time, c. Iv. The mission of St. Patrick to the Irish about a.d. 432, who resides also some time in Wales and Cornwall; c.lviii. 22 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [chap. Gild AS. Afterwards another fa- mine, c. XX. Afterwards the invaders are several times defeated, c. xxii. Nennius-. A period of great plenty, date uncertain ; c. xxii. After which a severe pes- tilence, c. xxii. in fine. A council is held of the British kings and chiefs, to consult in what way the Scots and Picts might be repelled, c. xxii. in fine. Vortigern, the king of the Britons (a.d. 449), with the advice of his council, invites the Saxons to act as allies against their northern ene- mies; c. xxiii. The Saxons murmur in respect to their supplies of food, c. xxiii. in fine. Second mission of St.Ger- manus to Britain, about a.d. 447, c. Ix. ; and compare the ancient Capitula to Nennius, cc. xlviii. and liii. Hengist and Horsa arrive accidentally on the coast of Kent (in a.d. 449), c. xxviii. They are taken into Vor- tigern's serviccj and receive the Isle of Thanet ; c. xxix. They are encamped there, c. xxxvi. Ibid., c. xxxvi. Hengist obtains leave of Vortigern to send for rein- forcements. In consequence, sixteen ships arrive ; and Hengist's daughter, coming II.] GILDAS AND NENNIUS. 23 GiLDAS. War commences between the Saxons and the Britons, c. xxiii. in fine. Nennius. over with them, is, in the sequel, married to Vortigern, and the Saxons receive Kent for her portion ; c. xxxvi. Hengist obtains leave of Vortigern to send for his son Ochta, and Ebissa, son of his wife's sister (Irish Nen- nius), who come with forty ships, and occupy the country about the Wall ; c. xxxviii. Vortigern's incest,c.xxxix. Faustus, Vortigern's son, dedicated to a monastic life, c. xxxix. Vortigern consults magi- cians, c. xl. Vortigern is unable to buildacastle inNorth Wales, cc. xli. and xlv. ; but builds one " in sinistrali parte Bri- tannise", i. e., in the western part of Britain, in Gunnis (varied to Guenet, etc., etc.) or Gwent ("?) i. e. in Erging in Herefordshire : " sinistra- lis" here signifying, as Gunn shows, p. 170, the Cambrian side of the Severn. The castle, Nennius informs us, was called Cair Guorthegirn ; and the same may be under- stood to have been Arico- nium ; c. xlv. Ibid., c. xlvi. First battle with the Sax- ons on the Derwent, i. e. Da- renth ; c. xlvii. Second battle, at Episford 24 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [chap. GiLDAS. From about 473 to 481, the Saxons take and destroy many towns all through Bri- tain, from the east to the west : fires not ceasing till they had burnt up the whole face of the country; churches yield to the flames. The whole of the Roman-British walled cities and towns (coloniae), i. e. all such that came into their possession, are levelled by the battering-ram. The inhabitants of these places, with the heads of the church, and priests, are driven from their homes, and stricken down. Multiplied scenes of terror occur: the captured Nennius. (Aylesford, see Matthew of Westminster), c. xlvii. Third battle, also at Ayles- ford, but at Saissenaig Hai- bal, apparently a different locality thereabouts, where Horsa and Catigern are slain ; c. xlvii. Fourth battle, at Lapis Tituli, on the sea shore ; e. xlvii. The Saxons are driven to their ships, c. xlvii. Vortimer, the leader of the Britons, dies, and the Saxons return ; c. xlvii. About A.D. 469, Vortigern cedes provinces in the west of Britain to Aurelius Am- brosius ; c. xlv. The massacre, about a.d. 473, at Stonehenge ; c. xlviii. II.] GILDAS AND NENNIUS. 25 GiLDAS. towns present to the view swords brandishing on every side, flames crackling, walls, towers, and buildings falling, and many crushed by the ruins of them, even in the middle of the streets, and left there for a prey to the birds and beasts ; c. xxiv. In these times many emi- grate, while others screen themselves among woods, hills, and precipices, where they are often surprised, and slaughtered in heaps ; till at length, many of the Saxons having returned to their own country, and the scattered Britons being joined by nu- merous fugitives from the destroyed towns, and having for their leader AureliusAm- brosius, who was both brave, and faithful to their inte- rests, they begin to make head against their conque- rors: C. XXV. Nennius. From about 481 to 492, the Britons carry on the war with various success : some- times conquerors, sometimes conquered, till the year of the siege of Mount Badon, when occurred the greatest Death of Vortigern (about A.D. 481), c. 1. His son. Pas- cent, is allowed by Aurelius Ambrosius to retain posses- sion of the districts Built and Guorthigirnian, in Wales; c. liii. ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [chap. GiLDAS. aughter till then known of le invaders ; in the 44th ear after their arrival, one lonth of it being elapsed 1:49+43), i.e. 492 ; c. xxvi. Nennios. Supposed allusion to Ar- hur, in the Epistola of Gil- as, c. xxxii. (" Ut quid in lequitiae," etc., etc.) From about a.d. 517 to 525, Arthur's battles take place, in the north of Britain, and in Caledonia, against the Saxons. First, the battles on the river Glein, in North- umberland; thesecondjthird, fourth, and fifth battles on the Dubglas in Limnuis, i.e. the Dunglas in Lothian ; the sixth, on the Bassas, possibly the river Pease, also in Lo- thian ; the seventh, in the forest of Celidon, which ap. pears to imply the Sylva Ca- ledonia itself, in the country of the Picts, who had at this time for many years been the allies of the Saxons ; the eighth at Castle Guinnion, i.e. Vinovium, or Binchester, in Durham. For all these engagements, see c. Ixiv. A.D. 525-532. Arthur's other battles, all in other parts of England, one ex- cepted, were, the ninth, at Caerleon, supposed to be meant for Warwick ; the tenth on the river Trat Treu- roit, unknown; the eleventh, at Agned, which is the same as Edin, or Edinburgh, and is called, in one copy, the battle of Agned Cathbrego- mion; the twelfth, at C^r-. n.] GILDAS AND NENNIDS. 27 GiLDAS. NeNNIUS. Vyddaw, or Sil Chester, not Mount Badon, or Bath, as has been frequently supposed (see Britannic Researches, p. 63). The error has been widely diffused : c. Ixiv. Notwithstanding these suc- cesses, the Saxons were re- inforced more and more from Supposed allusion to Ar- Germany, and invited princes thur, Epistola, c. xxxiii. over thence to rule provinces ("Nonne in primis adoles- in the island; and this pro- centiee," etc. cess was perpetually repeat- ed: c. Ixv. We have given the main framework of the histories of both authors in the above short abstracts, leaving the minor details, the fillings- up of the framework, to those who may make more particular researches, ours being merely a general one to illustrate the nature and scope of the two histories. With regard to the historical information afforded by this comparison of the two authors : they sometimes re- mind one of the two beams of a scale, inasmuch as when the one author is up and stirring to give us information, the other is down and quiescent ; while, again, at other times, they both render us their services. With all this, not unfrequently, and indeed it is very usually the case, they are alike silent as to known facts which might have been thought to come within the scope of both their his- tories. Here an obvious remark seems to suggest itself. It is much to be regretted that Bede, who must have had excellent means of information, did not narrate the latter Roman events connected with Britain more his- torically. His details are sketchy, slight, and incorrect. He takes them almost entirely from Gildas, who himself compiled them from a sneering account of Britain, drawn up some years previous to his time, when civil and reli- gious contests ran very high, on account of the Pelagian heresy and the defections of Britain from Eome in the time of Maximus and Constantino the Tyrant. Bede was a Saxon, and undoubtedly had strong prepossessions against 28 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. the British race, which might have influenced him. But ii^dependently of this, he may be easily supposed to have laid down a rule among those he imposed upon himself in writing his Church history, to follow none but Ecclesias- tical authorities ; and absolutely to take nothing from a pagan, or British, or heretical source. Hence may have been a prime cause of his work being so meagre in regard to Roman aff'airs, relating to the latter part of the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth. In observing this, we may add, that there are one or two other points in the narratives of Gildas, Bede, and Nennius to which we may advert. Gildas acquaints us in his c. 4, that he derived his information from an account drawn up in a foreign country ; but he tells us that he only intended to give the political relations of Britain with Eome, as a subject state, and often rebellious. There is no question that his authority had a somewhat detailed account of the three rebellions against the Roman power which were so remarkable : those of Carausius, Maximus, and Constantino ; because it is obvious it would have been entirely within the scope of the work from which he tells us he copied. Nor can we suppose but that it gave an account of the gradual process of the Romans leaving the country. However his purpose being, as has been said, he does not keep the various transactions distinct, but, in a kind of capriccio strain, dilates here and there, as he could best bring in his own somewhat peculiar views. He only professes to give the general bearing of the conduct of Britain to Rome, and does no more. Bede, on the other hand, writing about two centuries afterwards, and wanting an historical sketch of Britain at this period, as a species of prefix to his Historia Ecclesiastica, and finding this ready to his hand, and written, too, by a person whose reputa- tion for sanctity was great, adopts it for history, and so, in fact, gives currency to a most imperfect representation of events. The same was somewhat the case with Marcus, the original compiler of the History of the Britons, after- terwards re-edited by Nennius. He, inditing from certain annals of the times which he had before him, gives more properly a view in extenso of the British afiairs of which he treated, than a chronological transcript or abbreviation of them. But Marcus was not like Gildas, writing as a II.] THE GENEALOGIES OP NENNIUS. 29 controversialist, so he preserves somewhat more the thread and consistency of the narrative ; and it was aftervi'ards transferred pretty nearly in the same form to the pages of Nennius. We are thus able to have some correct intimation of vv^hat occurred from these two last writers, together with many details of chronology, which we never could have collected from Gildas or Bede. However, to continue. The history of Gildas ends properly at the battle of Mount Badon in 492, and that of Nennius with the vic- tories of Arthur ; that is, about the year 532. But there are certain additaments to this last in the shape of Saxon genealogies, which contain fragments of British and Saxon ■history. We may note some principal points in these genealogies, with which, of course, we have nothing to correspond in Gildas, from the reason we have just men- tioned. We will now treat of their contents. Their main subject is the state of the ancient kingdom of Brigantia in early Saxon times. This originally com- prlsed^thecompass and extent of the present counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Durham, Lancashire, and Yorkshire ; and having become a province under the Romans, they found it necessary, as we find in Pausanias, in his eighth book, c. 43, to reduce its strength in the reign of Antoninus, by making a subdivision of its territories. The Sistuntii, mentioned by Ravennas, appear to have been divided oif on the west coast, and the Parisii on the east, the latter possessing the Yorkshire sea-coast, and some considerable breadth of territory inland. The former appear to have corresponded to the kingdom of Southern Cumbria (Cumberland, etc.), of the existence of which there is notice as early as the year 388 (see Row- land's Mona Antiqua, p. 183); whilst the Parisii must have occupied the tract known afterwards as Deira. These several divisions having existed in the province under the Romans would make it more likely that they should con- tinue after they left. This we find was the case. Triad 39 mentions that three chiefs, each of bardic rank, whose names were Gall, Difedel, and Ysgavnell, possessed Deira and Bernicia ; the date not specified ; but they could only have possessed them as sovereigns after the Romans had relinquished the island. Bernicia was the territory north 30 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. of Deira, extending to the Roman wall ; but the Triad does not give its then British name, nor is the history of the three chiefs further recorded. In the days of Vortigem, Hengist sent for Ochta and Ebissa, as we have seen at a preceding page, to act against the northern enemies of the Britons. These chiefs made a cruising voyage, ravaged the Orkneys, and ultimately settled down in Bernicia. As to the British cause, they deserted it, and made a treaty of alliance with their enemies the Picts. We may give a date to this epoch of the year 456, at which time the Britons held the province of Deira, as should seem ; the western parts of the ancient Brigantia, or the southern Cumbria, as also some middle parts of the ancient province ; while the Saxons had become possessed of the maritime district before mentioned, or of a great part of it. Such was the state of affairs in the part of the island to which the genealogies principally apply. We may observe, in speaking generally of their contents, that they treat of the successors of Ida, a Saxon chief of great fame, who is reported to have come over to check the Britons after the successes which had been obtained by Arthur. However this may be, he became king of Bemicia ; and Ella, who was of distant consanguinity to him, appears to have been, about the same time, king of Deira; and in their days, the two provinces began to assume the name of the king- dom of Northumberland. It was called in Latin some- times Regnum Northambriorum, and sometimes Regnum Nordorum. This kingdom had the peculiarity connected with it, that subsequently it was occasionally held by one and the same monarch, and occasionally by two. The genealogies likewise show that the kingdom of Mercia, formed about the year 586 by the Saxon chief Crida, was only at first a dependency on the kings of Northumberland, but became independent about a century afterwards, in the time of Penda, the son of Pybba. They also treat of the kings of East Anglia and Kent, and give an account of the conquest of a certain territory named Elmet, as we shall see. In regard to Ida, his reign, according to the Saxon Chronicle, commenced in the year 547, and is con- sidered to have terminated in 565. He was called Flamddwyn, or the " Flame-bearer", as is recorded by Taliesin, and in the Triads From some unknown cause, II.] THE GENEALOGIES OF NENNIUS. 31 he is not mentioned by Bede in his Ecclesiastical History, but only in his Supplementary Chronology. It will be better, in continuing with the subject of our genealogies which refer to a very complicated series of transactions, to note some of the events they supply in their chronological order. This may be the more neces- sary, as in some measure the said events are only to be met with in these fragments ; or else vary essentially from the form in which they are elsewhere to be found. The dates which we have given are of course supplied. To revert to the origin of the kingdom of Deira, as in our genealogies. It may be inferred, that about the time that Ochta and Ebissa seized Bernicia, the immigration and invasion of other bodies of Saxons in these quar- ters was very great. Simultaneously, as would appear by these our sources, the seizure of this territory was made, which we will accordingly commence with, as it stands at the head of the short abstract which we now offer. (About the year 455.) Soemil, great grandfather's grandfather, of the Ella we have just spoken of, first sepa- rated the kingdom of Deira from that of Bernicia. (About the year 565.) Hussa, son of Ida, is represented as being at war with four British kings — Urbgen (Urien Rheged), B,iderch-hen, Guallauc, and Mordcant ; the first being the person of that name so celebrated by Taliesin in his Battle of Argoed Llwyfain. But the said chief, as we are informed by the poet just mentioned, was opposed to the leader surnamed the " Flamddwyn", who is usually supposed to be Ida himself. Hussa, then, just recorded by Nennius, could wily have been hisgeneral, and this battle may be placed in consequence, as weTiave done in the last year of Ida's life — that is, in the year 565. Urien, according to his name E,hi-Ged, would have been king of Gadeni, the neighbounng~Hate to the Ottodini, on the north-west. The transaction is described by Taliesin with very great animation ; and the two states, though attacked by a powerful army divided into four bodies, succeeded in liberating themselves. Taliesin, in his Moranad, or monody on the death of Owen, son of Urien, verses 16, 30, informs us that he slew Ida, having succeeded in surprising that chief and his army by a night attack. There is a proba- bility that this event followed close upon the battle, and 32 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [CHAP, that the invasion of Northumberland, recorded by the genealogies, took place soon after both transactions ; and thus that the three events occurred in one year; the battle of Argoed Llwyfain, the death of Ida, and the inroad upon the Bemician kingdom. A fourth, disastrous to the Britons, was soon to happen ; for these fragments go on to mention that, after some vicissitudes of the war, Urien having be- leaguered Deodric, son of Ida, and his sons in the Isle of Medcaut, or Lindisfarne, he was assassinated by Mordcant, one of the four associated princes, out of envy for his supe- rior talents. This check to the victorious career of the Britons at this juncture, is believed to have been highly- detrimental to their cause. Regarding the death of Urien : Lowarch-hen has a long Moranad, or monody, on the event. He does not assign the cause ; but as he speaks of Mordcant with complacency, it may be inferred that he was not slain from envy, but fell in a fray in which there was wrong on both sides, and, possibly, some circumstances not to the credit of the illus- trious chief. We cannot otherwise construe his silence. Lowarch-hen was himself a British prince, who ruled one of the Caledonian kingdoms, and accompanied the British army at the time. He informs us that, after some days, he bore away the head to the burial ; by which it is known that this valiant leader had been decapitated. In narrating the reign of Ida, the passage occurs in the • genealogies of Nennius, "Et unxit Dinguardi Guurth-Ber- neich," which is interpreted with some little diversity. Some suppose that the words imply that he was notable as uniting (junxit) the two provinces of Deira and Bemicia ; others receiving that it is intended to be said that he lived (vixit) at Dinguardi, in Bernicia, by which they conceive to be meant Bamborough, which seems, indeed, the best interpretation. The passage is somewhat uncertain, and even has been doubted by readers in the Middle Ages ; for it has been made a subject of comment on the margin of one of the earliest manuscripts we have of Nennius ; i.e., that of the Corpus Christi Library, Cambridge, of the thirteenth century, which is the one marked 3 by Mr. Petrie, and K by Mr. Stevenson. The text, indeed, appears to be corrupted at the place. Collaterally the words are of import in another point of view : as in Bemicia, being [I.] THE GENEALOGIES OF NENNIUS. 33 jailed a Guorth, that is, an " Honour", or " Barony", the 5upremacy~of~the kingdom of Kent at that time may be supposed to be alluded to. It may readily be believed to [lave been subordinate to the kingdom of Kent ; the first Saxon occupation of it having been by Ochta and Ebissa, ;he son and nephew of Hengist ; or, at any rate, his lieu- tenants, who was then king of that part of the island. After this, the battle of Gododin, so celebrated by Aneu- rin in his poem, took place, much to the north of the .ocalities before mentioned, in immediate proximity to the ivall of Antoninus, about the year 670. The parties in ;his conflict were the Strathclyde Britons (including, by ;hat denomination, several northern states) on the one side, md the Saxons, Bernicians, and some of the Brigantes, called Loegrians, and the Picts on the other. The prin- cipal leaders of the Britons were Mynyddawg, prince of Strathclyde, and Tudvuleh, prince of Edin, both killed, )nd others, their chiefs, are mentioned in great profusion. Singular to say, the poem records not the Saxon com- nanders ; and, though it names Bun, the Bearnoch of the genealogies, sister-in-law of Owen (see Triad 105), and ividow of Ida, who accompanied her people, the Bernicians, nto battle, and was still young and beautiful, and was rilled, it seems only done to stigmatize a traitress, who ivas born a Briton. In regard to the Picts, it is said that Donald Brych led them, and was also killed. The result >iven of the conflict, is, that the British army was routed ivith immense slaughter. This battle, though it be not •ecorded in Nennius, is nevertheless mentioned here to preserve the connexion of events. It should be noted likewise, in this place, that there ivere several other battles, which occurred between the lorthern Britons and the Saxons of the kingdoms of Deira md Bernicia, about these times. The precise period of ;heir occurrence, and their localities, are somewhat uncer- ;ain. As to the first particular, they apparently were 'ought between the years 560 and 585 : as to the latter, it s pretty certain that they took place in the eastern por- ion of the old Strathclyde, or in Northumberland. The iltimate result of them to the northern Britons, was the isual one to their countrymen, of losing their eastern terri- ories, and retaining their western ones. The names of 34 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. these contests are given thus : Menao, Gwenn-'Estrad, Kir- chine, and Eaganstone. They have been very learnedly illustrated by G. Vere Irving, Esq., in the Journal of the British ArchoBological Association for 1855, who has laboured in this field of research with much success. We need not do more, at this place, than to mention the names of the confederate Britons, who were those of Strathclyde Proper, the Selgovse, Novantes, and the states of Edin, Rheged, Argoed, and* the southern Cumbria ; which passes, in the Genealogies, under the name of Gwenedota, i. e.Gwynedd, because it was held as a province, in these times, by the kings of Gwynedd, or North Wales. Llowarch-hen, prince of Argoed, was obliged to flee, and take refuge in Cambria, on the success of the Saxons ; and we may possibly be indebted for his applying himself to poetry, to his retire^ ment from his kingdom. * (About A.D. 600.) Ethelfrith, son of Ealdric, and conse- quently grandson of Ida, who has a bad reputation in history for his ferocity, is next introduced on the scene. The Chronicle of Tysilio upbraids him for his inhumanity ; and the Triads, on two several occasions, accuse him of eating human flesh. This narrative merely gives him the opprobrious name of " Flesawr", or, as in some copies, ''riemawr",that is, in one case, the Devastator, in the other, the Runagate, alluding probably to his defeat at Bangor, so celebrated in the Cambrian annals, in the year 613. (About A.D. 616.) It was not till the reign of Edwine, son of Ella, the flrst king of Deira, and contemporary with Ethelfrith, that the powerful Northumbrian kingdom wrested Elmet, the central province of Yorkshire, from the Britqns, and added it to its own sway. Elmet now forms that part which is the environs of Leeds, and is not far to the south-west of Eburacum,orYork. The candid inquirer after truth will acknowledge that great probability is aflbrded to Tysilio and to the Chronicle accounts, who repre- sent Eburacum in the hands of the Britons in the middle of the previous, century. (About A.D. 626 and 627.) Eanfled, daughter of the said Edwin, is first baptized, with all her followers, men and women ; and the ensuing year Edwin himself is bap- tized, and twelve thousand men with him. Rum Map- Urbgen, i.e. Rhun, the son of Urien, baptized them ; and. ri.] THE GENEALOGIES OF NENNIUS. 35 for forty days continuance, did not cease to baptize the Saxon race. The account here seems pointedly intended to contradict Bede, who says the baptism was performed by Paulinus, afterwards bishop of Rochester; but it is possible that E.hun ap Urien, and Paulinus, who was bishop of Rochester, may have been one and the same person. . (About A.D. 63.4.) CathgwoUan (Cadwallon) king of Gwynedd, defeats Edwine and his two sons at the battle of Meicen (Hatfield, in Yorkshire, Bede, ii. 20), and they are all killed in the battle. Penda, son of Pybba, and king of Mercia, we are informed by Bede, was the ally of Cad- wallon in this battle. (About A.D. 635.) Oswald Lamngwin, or Oswald White- sword, king of Bernicia, defeated and slew the said Cath- gwallon, or Cadwallon, at the battle of Catscaul, or Denis- bourne, or, as it was otherwise called, Hefenfelth, or "Heaven Field",' on account of the miracles which were supposed to be wrought in the vicinity of the cross which was set up at this place just before the battle. (See Bede, iii. 2.) (About A.D. 640.) Mercia, under Penda, the son of Pybba, becomes independent of the kingdom of Northum- berland. There is also some notice of the ~ Saxon civil wars. (About A.D. 642.) Penda, son of Pybba, confederate with Onna, king of the East Angles, being at war with Oswald, king of Northumberland, the latter was defeated and slain in the battle of Cocboy, or, as it is called in Bede, iii. 9, the battle of Maserfield. (About A.D. 655.) The kings of the Britons, who went out with Penda, or Pantha, to the city of Abret luden, or " Redemption of the Jews", were slain. THeTocalityTby Bede, iii. 24, is called the banks of the Winwed, by others, Inchkeith, or Camelon, near Stirling. Catgaibal, king of Gwynedd, or, as we are here to understand, of the southern Cumbria, or Cumberland, escaped, having withdrawn with his forces in the night : whence he was called Catgaibal Cat- guommed, which was a play of words upon his name ; for whereas Catgaibal(Cad-gafael) implies " Battle-maintainer", so Catguommed means " Battle-avoider". Respecting the town named Abret luden, there seems no sufficient explanation. Bede, i. 12, speaks of a Giudi 36 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. in the middle of the Roman wall, which would appear to be Carlisle. Jews might have lived there, and have been particularly protected ; or it might have been some other place. (About A.D. 658.) Catguallart, king of the Britons, slew Pantha, or Penda, king of the Mercians, at the battle of Gai. This appears very differently narrated hy Bede, iii. 24 (About A.D. 664.) Catguallart, king of the Britons, dies of a great p'Istilence, which occurs in the reign of Oswy, king of Northumberland. According to the Annates Cam- hrice, he died of a plague which occurred in the year 682. (About A.D. 685.) Echgfrid, king of Bernicia, is totally defeated and slain by his uncle Birdei, king of the Picts, after which the Picts cease to pay tribute to the Saxons. The Genealogies likewise, among which these historical memoranda are interspersed, themselves afford consider- able materials to the chronologist. We may add, that they seem to be the production of a Briton, and to be written with British feeling, as an expression of animosity to the Saxons occasionally breaks forth, who are called "Am- brones", or marauders. These Genealogies do not occur in all the copies of Nennius ; and in one copy, in Corpus Christi library, Cambridge, Nennius intimates that he would have used materials of this kind more largely, but that his master (qu. abbot ]), Benlan, wished him to desist, since, as applying to the pagans, he thought them useless. Most moderns, however, will rather coincide with the boy Nennius, the conventual novice, than with his superior, in thinking that such memoranda should be preserved : in- deed, we find that similar genealogies are supplied by Florence of Worcester, Simeon of Durham, and others ; but it is but justice to say that there are none which give so much original information relating to British affairs as those of Nennius, limited though they be. The Genealogies tell us incidentally that Cunedag and his sons left the northern parts of Britain, Manaw Guoto- din (Manj:s a race), or the Otodini, one hundred and forty-six^ years before the reign of Mailcun (Maelgwyn Gwynedd). However, a word or two as to the date and probable origin of these compositions. The Genealogies are carried down to the respective dates, as under : II.] THE GENEALOGIES OF NENNIUS. 37 Kings of Kent, to the year . . 674 Kings of the East Angles, to . 664 Kings of the Mercians, to . . 716 Kings of Deira and Bernicia, to 738. All these genealogies, except one, begin from Woden ; and we know that the same, being the genealogy of Hen- gist, would have done so too, had the earlier parts of it been given. What are we to conceive is meant by this 1 In answer it is to be replied, that it is a point clearly explained by the analogy of the ancient British coinage. (See the Coins of Cunoleline, p. 222, et alibi.) We may understand, in fact, from this, that it was common for the kings of ancient Saxony, at that time, to take the name of their favourite god. We have several similar instances among the early Celtic kings of Britain. The historian, Hume, who once had some considerable reputation, but who was no archeeologist, and who did not understand this point, launches forth some contemptuous remarks against the barbarism and credulity of the Saxons for their believing, as he in good faith supposed, that the ancestor, in the fourth generation, of Hengist, was the god Woden, or the Teutonic Mars. (See his History of England, 8vo., 1767, vol. i. pp. 18 and 60.) It is singular that he should have forgotten what he must have read, that Dio- cletian was named Jovius, and Maximinian, Herculeus, in the polished days of the Roman empire ; and are often so mentioned by historians : which are precisely cases in point, to say nothing of the analogy of the ancient British coin- age before alluded to, with which we may easily suppose he was unacquainted. In another passage, he pronounces the international wars among the Saxons as of no more signification than the conflicts between crows and kites. But, much as aU war is to be deplored, the ultimate result of the aggregate of those wars, was the ascendancy of Egbert, and the bringing England under one head ; which has ever been an important circumstance in the flux of events, in placing this country in its present position. Had the ascendancy not been acquired, there seems no imagin- able reason why it was not possible that the Teutonic tribes in Great Britain might have ultimately settled down in separate states, as they have done in Germany. However, to continue with our Genealogies. We may }8 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [CHAP. tbserve that, as they, as far as they apply to Britain, begin vith the Saxon arrival, so they relate to this island for ibout two hundred and twenty-five years. Now, imagine he pedigrees and successions of the English sovereigns for iuy two hundred and twenty-five years of our English listory, to be drawn up in one narrative, as a species of chool-boy's exercise ; the said narrative to comprise all heir offspring, as well those that succeeded them, as those i^ho did not ; ^nd, with this, some few of their acts to be Qentioned, and some especial battles of their times ; and hen, further, suppose the whole detail to be copied and ecopied a number of times, till errors have become ex- eedingly multiplied, — and a true idea may be formed of he motley mass which these fragments supply to us. Yet, n this heterogeneous mixture are contained many lines of British history of which there is no trace elsewhere. We must conclude that Nennius had the pedigrees before dm, as well as a history of the times, to account for the onfused way in which these genealogies and successions f princes have come down to us ; and that, in his tran- criptions and abridgments of the two, he mixed some por- ions of both together. His historical authority seems to have been very parti- ular and minute, as it gives the original division of the rovince of the Brigantes into two portions, and their re- mction ; notes when Mercia became independent ; ex- lains matters frequently more in detail, and more clearly, lan in Bede, or other writers ; and frequently adds coUa- jral anecdotes omitted by others. It varies from Bede, le authors of the Saxon Chronicle, and other writers in the axon interest, in bringbig the British princes on the stage f events. Though, as has been observed, there are indications that le original document used by Nennius was written by a iriton, as is obvious from the British feeling visible in it, st he seems to have compiled it from Saxon memoranda, r partially so, as appears from the numerous, allusions to axon affairs. However, though this may have been the ise, yet it is quite evident that there is not the slightest ace of the original in any work which is now extant, ixon or British. It was not identical with Bede's History, 3r with the Saxon Chronicle, nor with Ethelwerd, or Flo- II.] THE TWO PROLOGUES OP NENNIUS. 39 rence of Worcester, or with any of the narratives which take the Saxon Chronicle for their basis. Nor does it in the least agree with Tysilio's History, or with the original history, now lost, from which the Triads have been formed, as will be seen by a comparison with Triads 28, 35, 45, and 80, which treat of corresponding events with the Genea- logies. In short, it is clear that it was a composition dis- tinct from any of which we have knowledge, and appears to have been one of fairness and value. Among other things, we may observe, it did not neglect the literature of the country ; for it treated of the poets who have been most famous in the earlier part of the Middle Ages ; and, as it places Talhaiarn at the head of the bards, who was connected with Strathclyde, it may be presumed that the author of the lost history was connected with Strathclyde too. From its having been an independent narrative, we have a series of names of places which vary from any that are elsewhere mentioned. These particulars seem obvious, though the document itself has utterly perished. On the Authorship op the Work known as THE History of Nennius. There seems an opening for some inquiries on this head, more than have hitherto been made. In particular, the two ancient prefaces, or prologues, attached to the work, may be examined. Afterwards, we may revert to some other particulars. We may give the two prologues in a translated form, which will run thus : The Greater Prologue. Nennius, the humble minister and servant of the servants of Christ, and, by the grace of God, a disciple of St. Elbodus, sendeth health to aU that hear and obey the truth. Be it known to your benevolent minds, that, though uncultivated in understanding, and unpolished in my language, and not, indeed, relying on my ov?n attainments, which are either none at all, or very trifling, I have presumed, nevertheless, to deliver over and appropriate these the contents of my history to the use (" Latinorum auribus idiomatizando tradere") of those of the Latin communion. In regard to this commencing passage of his prologue, we fully concur in the principles laid down by the Honble. A. Herbert, in his edition of \h.e Irish Nennius, Introduction, 1:0 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. >. 8, that Nennius does not mean to say that he was per- ionally the disciple of St.Elbodus, but that he only adopted lis rule and doctrine, Elbodus having been known as being nainly instrumental in bringing Cambria into the Latin communion. He accepted, indeed, in the year 762, the irchbishopric of North Wales from the Pope, and contri- auted greatly to the termination of the contest respecting Easter, which continued altogether one hundred and twenty- jight years ; the repugnance of the Cambrians, after" his ;ime, gradually subsiding. Nennius, then, in the first sentence of the prologue, proclaims himself of the Latin communion ; and in the second sentence, that he had pre- pared a history of Britain intended solely for the reading Df his confederates in the same tenets. He goes on to say : I have collected the materials of ray history partly from the traditions )f our ancestors (majorum), partly from writings (scriptis), partly from ;he documents (monumentis) of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly Tom the annals of the Romans, and, besides, from the chronicles of the loly fathers ; that is to say, Isidore, Jerome, Prosper, Eusebius ; as also Tom the histories of the Scots and Saxony, though our enemies. My ;ask has been performed, not as I should have wished, but as I could; ind what I have done, has been in obedience to the commands of my seniors. Thus I have collected together this little history from every quarter, prater as I am ; and bashfully and timidly I have provided for ;he handing down to posterity a short summary of deeds performed; joUecting them like ears of corn (spicas actuum), lest, being trampled mder foot, they should be entirely lost. A similar, but more ample larvest has been aforetimes snatched away, on different occasions (spar- jim), by the inimical reapers of foreign nations. - Great light is thrown on the History of Nennius by the foregoing passage. It appears from it, that the work was a species of joint-stock concern, concocted in one of the monasteries of Wales ; and, as it may very .naturally be supposed, in some great and important one. Nennius Qow appears in his true character, as a monk and dili- o-ent scribe of the monastery, who was employed to col- lect materials for a species of history, or historical sketch, 3f Britain ; for the Latin Church had now gained the ascendancy in the island, and they required a history written in their own interest, wishing to discountenance ill bardic and other histories, of which Britain then pos- sessed its share, as can be clearly shown. (See Britannic Researches, pp. 51, 290, et alibi.) This will then be found such a history, in all respects, as they wanted ; one in jr.] THE TWO PROLOGUES OF NENNIUS. 41 I which the monastic community had a mutual interest ; and our prologue being evidently in a different style of writing from the body of the work, we have only to sup- pose it was supplied, not by Nennius, but by some other member of the monastic body, who might be desirous of aiding the work. But it may be said that there is the same parade and profession in the prologue, as if Nennius had compiled the original work of Marcus, instead of having merely tran- scribed the same, and made some trifling additions to it, which we now know was all he did. (See Gunn's Nennius, 8vo., 1819, p. 26 ; and th.e Dublin edition, from Galic manu- scripts, 4to., Dublin, 1847, Introduction, p. 18.) This is granted ; but there are said to be very similar instances in the literature of the Middle Ages ; and we know not how far the preface writer knew that the compilation was a transcript of a former production. Regarding other matters of information, or surmise, which the preceding passage may suggest to us, we may note that the Annals of the Romans mentioned, may be those of the Roman Britons (see Gunn's Nennius, pp. 48, 59, 145) ; and that it is uncertain whether, by the annals of the Scots, he means, in reality, of the Caledonians, or of the Irish, or of both. The name of the two races, in early medieval times, was the same. The meaning of the prologue writer, when he speaks of the harvest of history of the island snatched away by ini- mical foreign reapers, is of course obscure. Two conjec- tures may be hazarded upon it: (1), that he speaks of annals which the Roman Britons, considered as Romans, may have written ; and (2) that he alludes to annals writ- ten by the Saxons, of the nature of the Saxon Chronicle, — a primary Saxon chronicle, in fact, which might have formed a nucleus, or basis, of that larger and more com-, plete work which Alfred caused to be compiled afterwards. However, to continue with the prologue : Wherefore, I have had to contend with many obstacles ; and I who profess myself scarcely able to understand, even superficially, as I ought to do, the instructions of others (dictamina), still less possessing any genius of my own, like a rude and unpolished person have disparaged the language of others. Nevertheless, my breast has been inwardly dilacerated lest the name of my nation, once so known and distinguished, should sink into oblivion, and vanish like a mere- vapour. Thus I had G 42 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [CHAP, rather be the historian of Britain, than that there should be none at all ; and as there are many who could better acquit themselves of this labour, which has been ordered me to do (injunctum), I humbly intreat my readers who may be offended at the uncouthness of my style, to excuse it, as they are bound to do, as I am only obeying the wishes of my superiors. Many may fail who only use feeble endeavours; whilst, as for me, success is secured, as far as ardour will command it. But may kind favour do that for me which I cannot accomplish by any beauties of style ; and may thus truth not be disdained from my mouth, on account of its rusticity. I say it is better to imbibe a true narrative, as it were, out of a rude and homely vessel, flian to be drenched with the poison of falsehood, mixed with the honey of a specious eloquence, out of a golden cup. The prologue writer, who, in the above passage, person- ates Nennius, appears to speak of him as a mere youth, who had not yet completed his education ; a youth to whom a task had been assigned by the seniors of his monas- tery, of compiling an account of his country from certain historical writings and documents, which he, as a young Briton, zealous for his nation's honour, seems to have entered upon with ardour. To this agree the verses in the Cambridge copy, F. f. i. 27, in which Nennius is represented as a Samuel, or attendant, to Benlan, which name implies the "caput fani",or abbot. (See Britannic Researches, "p.lbi.) In one copy he is said to consult with the said Benlan as to what he should insert in the text. (Ibid. p. 185.) We therefore conclude that Nennius wrote this history during his noviciate at an abbey in Wales, to which he is usually supposed to have belonged. We now again continue with this prologue or preface : Nor mayest thou regret, diligent reader, having separated the grains of history from the chaff of words, to be able to deposit them in the store- house of memory. It is not of importance who may be the narrator, or what may be the style of the narrative, so much as that what shall be said be true. Nor is a jewel less prized for having laid in the mire, since, being wiped and cleaned, it may be replaced in a casket. I yield, moreover, to those that are greater and more eloquent than me, who, kindled into a benign ardour, have endeavoured to bring into the full sweep of Roman eloquence (literally, " verricido", i. e. sweep-net) the irregular material of our jarring dialect. I only bargain that they should leave unshaken the column of history (the column of truth), which I have determined myself to preserve. It is highly probable that he alludes, in this somewhat enigmatical passage, to the Chronicle, or History of Tysilio, which maybe judged to have had a first publication, endr ing with the death of Cadwalader, which appears to be lost ; and the second edition, which we now have, only II.] THE TWO PROLOGUES OF NENNIUS. 43 to have come down to us. This History of Tysilio is indeed elegantly written, but is not remarkable for truth. Were there this first edition, rt would have been already published in 840, which was the date of this prologue.- (See Miscellanea Britannica, 8vo., 1855, p. 26.) We have thus completed our task with the idea of benefiting our weaker ones (so), and of doing nought invidious to our superiors, in the year of the Dominical Incarnation eight hundred and fifty- eight, and in the twenty-fourth year of Mervin, king of the Britons ; and I request, for my reward, to be recompensed by the prayers of my superiors (in the convent). The preceding observations will be sufficient for a preliminary: suppliant obedience shall do the rest. With regard to the chronology given in the last para- graph : there were two Mervins, one, Mervin Vrych, king of the Britons, who reigned twenty- six years, from the year 817 to 843 ; the other, king of North Wales only, and reigning fifteen years, from 877 to 892. This would make the date of our prologue 840 ; but the earliest manu- script, that of the Cambridge University library, which now contains it, i« of the end of the twelfth, or beginning of the thirteenth century. The dates of various other ancient editions of Nennius vary, it appears, on examina- tion, from the year 822 to 946. In remark on the Greater Prologue, we may truly say, when its contents are of the above nature : Have the many critics who speak contemptuously of it, ever taken the pains to translate it, and ascertain its meaning % The Lesser Prologue. This is indited thus : I, Nennius, the disciple of St. Elbodus, have been diligent to write certain Extracts of history, which the dulness of the British nation had neglected, because they were unskilful, and had recorded nothing of such knowledge of the island of Britain in books. I, however, have collected together all that 1 could find, as well from the Annals of the Romans as the Chronicles of the sacred fathers, that is, of Jerome, Eusebius, Isidore, and Prosper ; and from the Annals of the Scots and Saxons ; as also from the traditions of our ancients. Many teachers (qu. ecclesiastics and book-compilers, lihrarii) have endeavoured to write such a history ; and I know not from what difficulties they may have relinquished the under- taking, except from the frequent mortalities occasioned by pestilence, and from often recurring defeats in war. I entreat that every reader of the book will pardon me, that I have dared, as a chattering bird, or im- perfect performer, after such persons of eminence (namely Eusebius, Jerome, and the others mentioned) to record these things. However, be 14 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. t understood, that I yield to him, whoever he may be, who jpossesses nore knowledge of these things than myself. Such are the two prologues. And the question may now be asked, whether it is probable that Nennius wrote either af them 1 which we may answer at once in the negative. We may see frorii the first prologue, taken in connexion with the way in which he speaks of himself in c. 66, as com- piling his History under the superintendence of Benlan, the " caput fani", or abbot, that he could have been but l^oung. The same appears yet more strongly by a further passage, c. 3, standing earlier in the History, in which he iescribes himself (" ego) Samuel, infans magistri mei, id 3st, Benlani presbyteri". In English, "I, Samuel, the infant jf my master, that is, of Benlan the priest." He then styles himself the " Samuel" of Benlan, in other words, his religious eUve; the idea being apparently taken from the Samuel and Eli of the Old Testament. See also the ancient i^erses, as in the Cambridge University MS., F. f. i. 27, addressed to the same Benlan by Nennius, in which the Like idea of pupil and teacher appears to be carried out ; md for some remarks on the said verses, see Britannic Researches, pp. 184-185. On the whole, it may be con- cluded that he was but a youth ; and, as we may judge, ibout seventeen or eighteen years of age. Having these data, we shall scarcely form any other jpinion, but that both the prologues were written for him jy some members of his monastic community, who were iesirous to show that they cooperated in the work. Hei-e ve may have some safe and conclusive grounds to go upon. Receiving this as a fixed point, we should say that the shorter one, which is in a style harsh and barbarous, was jroduced first ; of which the longer one, though it be lively md sentimental, is merely an amplification of it in a better Iress. It is, in fact, nothing else than a species oijeu d'esprit, md, as such, the effusion of some more polished associate n the convent. The two have nearly the same contents, 15 has been said; but the longer prologue speaks more ixplicitly of the existence of documental and historical ividences of ancient Britain ; which the shorter only im- )lies, or, according to some, omits. But this point will equire to be somewhat examined, whether it does so, or lot. II.] THE TWO PROLOGUES OF NENNIUS. 45 The shorter prologue makes a specific complaint of the dulness of the Britons, that they had not recorded their early history in books ; but the Irish Nennius, which gives the shorter prologue, entirely qualifies this, and informs us that the historical matters neglected by the dulness of the Britons, were ethnological accounts of their origin, the passage there being, " Because the folly and ignorance of , the nation of Britannia have given to oblivion the history and origin of the first people." [Irish Nennius, p. 25.) The author, besides, appears afterwards to quote the Annals of the Britons, under the name oi Experimenta [c. 12); and we have also the Annals of the Romans, of which we have before explained the import, occurring in both prologues. According, then, even to the shorter prologue, the ancient Britons were not "without historical documents : indeed, William of Malmesbury, in his History, quotes the Gesta Britonum and Scripta Seniorum, probably the same as the Experimenta; and there is much reason to suppose that the account of St. Germanus by Marcus may have been par- tially compiled from the ecclesiastical record called the Literce Catholicw Britannice. (See Stevenson's iVewmMSj p. xiv.) There must have been some very peculiar circumstances to have given the very extensive, and, indeed, unlimited currency to the work of Nennius, which it possessed. We are told (see the Irish Nennius, Introduction, p. 18) that it was only a species of enlarged edition, made after the lapse of about eighteen years, of a prior work written by a British bishop named Marcus, who resided some considerable time in Ireland. The fact seems sufficiently established ; and we have likewise seen it ascertained, at a shortly preceding page, that this edition was made by a youth, possibly not more than about seventeen years old, as he is called " in- fans". These things appear to have been so ; and yet the copies of it were multiplied to an extraordinary degree, so that when the original work itself, that of Marcus (now known as the Vatican copy, and Gunn's edition) was tran- scribed in the year 946, additions were made to it from the subsequent work of Nennius (see the /mA Nennius, Introduction, p. 18) ; and all the three copies used in form- ing the Dublin edition, it seems, had been translated from it. [Ihid. p. ix — xi.) But there is a fourth Irish copy, which formerly belonged to Sir William Betham, and is 1:6 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. still not edited. {Ihid. p. x.) In short, the great success of ;his work seems to have dliven all preceding historiea ;hen current out of use, so that they have hecome entirely ost to us. Why was thisi Ostensibly because this work seems to lave had, first, the sanction of some considerable monas- ;ery ; and, secondly, the whole patronage of the Latia I!hurch. Thus we can easily imagine that the others would lave gradually fallen into disfavour, and at length disap- peared. The inedited manuscript copy of Nennius, mentioned as ibove, is a portion of the Book of Hy-many, a collection >f Irish histories ; and is at present in the possession of the Earl of Ashburnham, of Ashburnham House, near Battle, Sussex, who is stated to decline his manuscripts being con- sulted for literary purposes. We should not omit to notice the circumstance, that nany of the manuscripts of our author have the name of jrUdas in their title or heading, and notify nothing con- 3eming Marcus or Nennius. This seems to afford a fair aasis for supposing that even Marcus was not the original jomposer, but took his ethnological particulars, at least, irom the earlier writer GUdas ; and how much more we inow not. Hence, as the work of Gildas remained long jxtant, he might have been believed to be the author of ;his history from many of his literary materials being recognized ; but, though we mention this to obviate diffi- culties and objections, yet we will go no higher for the luthorship of the work than Marcus, as being the original composer ; referring to the proofs adduced in the Introduc- Hon to the Irish edition, and considering them sufficient 'or all practical purposes. We have the advantage of three editions of Nennius, ;ach essentially distinct : i., that of the Vatican manu- icript, which formed Mr. Gunn's text, at present a unique ;opy ; II., the various manuscript editions of Nennius, isually so called ; and iii., the Irish text from Galic manu- icripts. The most genuine original text is undoubtedly that of he Vatican manuscript, which bears strong evidences of jeing nearly in the state in which it was as at first written )y Marcus, the Irish bishop, though with the additions II.] THE HISTORY OF NENNIUS. 47 from the later work of Nennius we have mentioned. The text called that of Nennius, is varied much, at places, from the Vatican manuscript; being sometimes amplified, some- times contracted : besides the additions of certain other portions united to the work, as the Wonders of Britain, the Genealogies, List of Chapters, etc. The Irish text, which is highly important and illustrative, is formed from some manuscript of the Nennian edition not now extant. For instance, it has the Nennian text excessively abridged at places, but generally without the omission of any mate- rial circumstance; at other times it is amplified exceedingly, and introduces a variety of additional and highly illustra- tive particulars of information, which gives reason to sup- pose that the work of Nennius, or that of Marcus, or both, once existed in a much dilated form. But the amplified part, we should say, bears rather the impress of the style of Marcus than that of Nennius. We have not entered into the chain of reasoning, as in the Introduction to the Irish Nennius, to show that Marcus was the author of the original edition now known. Sufl&ce it to say, that his name stands in the heading of the work, and that Heric of Auxerre, in his Life of St. G-ermanus, informs us that Marcus, the British bishop, recounted various of his acts. The original date of the work of Marcus, according to the said Introduction, is supposed to be noted in certain of the manuscripts, where the chrono- logy, ostensibly, of the time of writing is brought down to the fourth year of Mervin, or to 820. Twenty years after- wards the first Nennian edition appeared, according to the Greater Prologue, which gives the date of the twenty- fourth year of Mervin. (See before.) This was published under the superintendence of the abbot Benlan, and the convent. Nennius made additions ad libitum of the Gene- alogies, Wonders of Britain, etc., etc. ; and we find that the Genealogies were partly omitted, in one copy, by the desire of Benlan (c. 66). The abbot also himself transcribed one copy, for which Nennius addressed him, in acknowledg- ment thereof, in certain monkish rhymes, " Formiter qui digitis scripsit," etc., etc. Nennius not only hesitated to admit the Saxon Genealogies, but also scrupled with regard to one other genealogy, in- c. 3, applying to the mythical period of Roman history ; and which he thought 48 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. was not sufficiently connected with the Britons. As sub- sequent editions were propagated, all mention of Benlan was left out, as well as the verses in which Nennius had endeavoured to do honour to his name. The shorter pro- logue seems to have been inserted indifferently to some editions. One copy, that of the Cambridge University Library, as before said, has them both ; and there is no reason whatever to suppose that the shorter one is not equally anci^t as the other. They are both highly inter- esting pieces of medieval literature. The Ancient British History entitled " De Excidio Britannijs", and its Author. This history, though obscure, is very important, in order to understand the early state of our island, civil and eccle- siastical. Ask Bede whether he considered it important, who referred much to it. Indeed, from it we know of the first introduction of Christianity into the island; and of the persecution and martyrdom of many of its professors about a century and a half afterwards. But, though this historical work be of interest, nevertheless there have been some doubts as to the authorship of it. It has been attri- buted to two persons, Gildas Albanius, and another Gildas, called Gildas Badonicus, whose biographies both require attending to. We will accordingly begin with the prior of them, the first named ; the account of whom, as far as it illustrates his reputed literary works, will be as follows : Gildas Albanius. We find him mentioned in the work of Ponticus Virun- nius, which is a species of sketch of ancient British history, based on the Chronicle of Geoffrey of Monmouth, with occasional additions from the researches of the author, derived from sources not now accessible. This Gildas and another ancient of the same name, are both mentioned by Ponticus Virunnius ; and those passages in this author are requisite to be brought forward, as an exaipination of them will afford some decisive conclusions. They are to be found at pp. 2, 4, 7, 10, 28 bis, 29, 31, 32,. and 43, of Powel's edition, 12mo., 1582, of Ponticus Virunnius, and 11.] GILDAS ALBANIUS THE CAMBREIS. 49 will receive due attention in the sequel ; but as the majo- rity of the passages refer to an epic poem, we must first make that a somewhat especial topic in order to render our remarks intelligible. The " Cambreis", or " Britannia", the Epic I'oEM of Gildas Albanius. It is clear that Ponticus Virunnius regarded the poem in hexameter and pentameter verse, of which fragments are given in Geoffrey of Monmouth and John de Fordun, as being the history of Gildas, which has been considered of so much celebrity ; and that the name of it was the Cambre is. It is equally clear that this author constantly speaks of the same history and the same Gildas through- out, except in one instance, in which he speaks of the other Gildas (" alter Gildas"), and of his work, the De Excidio; bating this, the other nine passages apply to the Cambreis and its author. It must be explained, however, that Ponticus Virunnius, in reference to certain passages of the poem, calls them " Epigrams". To this we must observe, that he does not use the word in the limited sense in which we are accustomed to express ourselves, when we say the epigrams of this or that author ; but he appears to speak of the said extracts or passages as being written in epigrammatic metre, that is, in hexameters and penta- meters, as aforesaid : the epigrams of Propertius and others being very commonly written in it. Much in the same way, Lilio Gregorio Gyraldo (see Robert's Tysilio, p. 195) calls it an elegiac poem (" elegiarum carmen") because, as it would appear, the same metre was frequently styled elegiac. We thus clear away some of the encumbrances of our subject, which tended to render it obscure. But, besides this, it is further necessary to set forth clearly and distinctly, that we have only one historical poem of Gildas, the same Cambreis of which we have made mention. We identify this as the sole historical poem passing under the name of this author ; and we reject the idea of any second to it, indited by him, as some have thought. We have been, as it will be seen, careful to point out that the terms Cambreis, Liber Epigrammaton, and Carmen Elegiarum, do not necessarily imply separate and distinct poems, as some. H 50 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTOKIANS. [cHAP. may have been inclined to suppose, but are one and the same literary production. However, we must say a word or two as to the genuine- ness of the poem ; and we will accordingly bring to notice how well its ostensible date coincides in reality with the era in which we suppose its author to have lived. It would appear to have been written before the age of the Trouba- dours, from -the extract given of it in Roberts' TysUio, p. 195, from the Wynnstay manuscript ; as it is evident from that extract, that it affects an imitation of the classics, which, indeed, is tolerably well sustained. The verses are : Bruti posteritas Albanis associata Anglica regna premet peste, labore, nece, Regnabimt Britones Albanae gentis amici, Cum Scptis Britones propria regna regent, etc. In English : " The posterity of Brutus, in league with the Britons of Strathclyde, shall bear hard upon the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons with plague, toil, and death (and thus) the Britons of the south shall reign ascendant, ia friendship with those of Caledonia : (and with regard to Hibernia) the Britons and the Irish shall each confine themselves to their own proper kingdoms": that is, shall not any more invade each other. Again, the same passage wUl show it to have been written before the year 751, as the Strathclyde kingdom, from the tenor of it, must have been then in its vigour : indeed, the league there referred to may be judged to be the one which, as far as chronicle evidence goes, we may understand was first made between the Caledonian and Southern Britons about the year 487. The Irish, in these verses, are called " Scoti", which was their name in times of remote antiquity. Having before said that this historical poem is what is' called the history of Gildas, it may be as well to say that it amounts to a species of proof that this said work of Gildas actually was a metrical history, inasmuch as all the passages alleged to be quoted from it are in Latin verse, and none, in any instance, in prose. We will likewise here briefly note a circumstance which, perhaps, may not be entirely without interest, that our Cambreis, or metrical history, appears to have formed in part the basis, but by no means entirely, of a work usually reputed of very mysterious origin, that is, of the Chronicle 11.] GILDAS ALBANIUS. THE CAMBREIS. 51 of Tysilio ; and our argument is this : The two previous British histories to that of Tysilio were (1), that in the eighth century, from which, arguing from induction (see Britannic Researches, p. 289), we collect that the historical documents called the Triads were composed ; and (2), the History of Marcus, written in the year 822 {Ihid., p. 182). Now the History or Chronicle of Tysilio, which, in the form in which it is come down to us, dates about the year 1000 [Ibid., p. 195), coincides with the Cambreis in exclu- sively adopting the Trojan theory of the origin of the Britons, which is not received in the Triads, and only slightly alluded to in Marcus ; so there is reason to sup- pose that it was partially, at least, composed from it. There is no need to say that historical poems are almost invariably worked up from prose narratives ; but here we presume the very rare reverse, an alleged prose history, as that of Tysilio, based on an historical poem. But there may be a very obvious reason. Tysilio wrote after the era of the Troubadours had commenced, when fiction was at a premium, embellishment the great desideratum, and the age daily becoming more and more indifferent as to mat- ters of fact. We will now enter somewhat further upon the topic of this poem, as far as the few extant relics of it enable us, observing that it is not impossible that it may still con- tinue in existence in the recesses of some of the numerous libraries of the continent of Europe- One thing we know with sufficient certainty, that the long line of ancient British kings before the time of Caesar, which TysUio has, was not in the poem of Gildas. Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us expressly, iiTttrpreface, that neither Gildas had this line nor Bede : indeed we know the same from other writers. Apparently, then, Tysilio added this line from metrical genealogies, like those mentioned in the Irish Nennius, and from the historical ballads of those times resembling the originals of Ossian, whence very abundant materials might have been supplied; but which there is scarce need to say might be expected to be of a somewhat vague description. Lilio Gregorio Gyraldo, one of the literati of the latter part of the Middle Ages, read this work of Gildas in the fifteenth century ; but Ponticus Virunnius, who perused 52 ANCIENT BKITISH HISTORIANS. [CHAP. it somewhat later and towards the end of the same century, appears to have been the last modem who saw it. The nine references, of which we have before spoken, are given us by him, to show us what details this author supplied to Geoffrey of Monmouth's History, and therefore are the more illustrative. The scheme, structure, and general contents of this poem of the Cambreis are pretty evident from Ponticus Virunnius, and we may give a sketch of it in extenso, as»under. Book i. — The Trojan Myth. Book ii. — The Prophecy in the days of Rhiwallon. Book hi. — The Molmutian Laws. Book iv. — The Contention between Ludd, Tting of Britain, and Nennius,or Nynyaw his brother, regarding the name of London. Book v. — The Roman Invasion, including the Le- gend of Arviragus ; and Book vi. — The Saxon Invasion. Various verses of the poem, in a very classical style, may be found in the usual copies of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Chronicle, at the beginning : as also in Roberts' edition of Tysilio, pp. 17, 18, 195, and 196, and a few further de- tached lines in Ponticus Virunnius, at page 28 j and in all cases the style is not only classical, as above observed, with little exception, but also remarkable for that peculiar ani- mation and vividness of expression noticeable in Taliesin and Aneurin, and which without doubt pervaded the whole poem. This epic, though written in hexameters and penta- meters, was obviously intended to be a close^^imitation of the JEneid in style as also in several parts of the story. Thus we have the reference to the Trojan myth, in which a poetical origin from ^Eneas was assigned to the Britons ; a prophecy of the union of the Strathclyde Britons and Cambrians, which was a kind of parallel to the prophecy respecting Rome in Mneid, vi. 756-886 ; and the war of the Britons and Saxons, a parallel with that of the Trojans in Latium. The episode of Arviragus and Genuissa in the war with the Romans, seems intended, though of course with much variety in the incidents, as a kind of counter- part to that of ^neas and Lavinia in the JEneid. Does the reader inquire what was the general purpose of the poem ■? It seems evident that it was intended to cement more firmly the union then subsisting between the Cam- brians of Caledonia and the Cambrians of Britain, and to animate them in their resistance against the Anglo-Saxons. II.] GILDAS ALBANIUS.— THE CAMBREIS. 53 However, we will now notice, seriatim, the references in Ponticus Virunnius to the poem and its author, as, in fact, he is the only person who has given us any sort of account of it. Page 2. He cites the following passage relating to the Trojan myth, which is also found in the Chronicle of Geof- frey of Monmouth. Brutus is supposed to speak — Diva potens nemorum terror silvestribus apris, Cui licet anfractus ire per sethereos Infernasque Domus, terrestria jura resolve, Et die quas terras nos habitare velis, Die Certain sedem, qua te venerabor in sevum, Qua tibi virgineis templa dicabo cboris. The answer : Brute, sub occasu solis trans Gallica regna Insula in Oceano est undique clausa mari, Insula in Oceano est babitata Gigantibus olim, Nunc deserta quidem gentibus apta tuis : Hanc pete, namque tibi sedes erit ilia perennis. Hlc fiet natis altera Troja tuis, Hie de prole tua reges nascentur, et ipsis Totius terrse subditus orbis erit. The remark of Ponticus Virunnius is, " The verses are of Gildas, a most distinguished British poet, who lived about the time of the Emperor Claudius Augustus," etc., »'.e., Romulus Augustulus (see Britannic Researches, p. 167) ; with whom indeed Gildas Albanius, or the elder Gildas, in the earlier part of hisTiie~was coht«nporafy^(/J?rf. p. 166). These verses of Gildas have been elegantly translated into English by Mr. Pope, and we may give his lines as fol- lows : — Application, poetically feigned, of Brutus, on his voyage to Britain, to the Pagan oracle at Legetta (Leucadia), for super- natural direction. Goddess of vroods, tremendous in the cbace To mountain boars and all the savage race, Wide o'er th' ethereal walks extends thy sway, And o'er th' infernal mansions void of day, On thy third realm look down, unfold our fate, And say what region is our destined seat. Where shall we next thy lasting temples raise, And choirs of virgins celebrate thy praise ? Response in the same strain of the Pagan oracle : Brutus, there lies beyond the Gallic bounds An island which the western sea surrounds : 54 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [CHAP. By giants once possess'd; now few remain To bar thy entrance, or obstruct thy reign. To reach that happy shore thy sails employ ; There fate decrees to raise a second Troy, And found an empire in thy royal line. Which time shall ne'er destroy, nor bounds confine. Mr. Pope's translation, we may observe, is written in his usual flowing style : and we may pronounce as to the Latin verses themselves that they attain almost to the summit of ^etical excellence. They are written on a principle still perseveringly followed at Eton of introduc- ing two or three words in each line from verses in Virgil, which will not fail to impart a certain smoothness, how- ever lifeless the thoughts may be. Here, however, the conceptions are well sustained, and the imagery as well as the harmonious composition kept up to the Virgilian stan- dard. Some have thought these verses a forgery of Geof&rey of Monmouth : but he did not adopt this style, as the fol- lowing specimen of his versification from his Vita Merlini, verses 983-6, will show — Crimen quod memini cum Constans proditus esset, Et diffugissent parvi trans sequora fratres Uther et Ambrosius. Coeperunt illico bella Per regnum fieri, qu6d tunc rectore carebant. Which lines, it will be admitted, have not the Virgilian touch. Page 4. He, speaking of the legend of the contention between Ludd and Nennius regarding the name of London, says he enters not upon the subject, as it had been treated of at length by Gildas the famous poet and historian. TysiKo and Geoffrey of Monmouth also refer to the point in question. Page 7. Speaking of the prophecy (see above), he says that Gildas had treated of it in a fine epigram. Various lines of this part of the poem are given by John de Fordun, and by the Wynnstay manuscript of Geoffrey of Mon- mouth's Chronicle at the end, which, from their variation, show the text is corrupted in this part : the four first lines seem only to be depended upon, beginning " Bruti posteri- tas, etc.", which we have already inserted at a preceding page. Geoffrey of Monmouth does not give the verses in his History, assigning as a reason, according to some copies, that he put no faith in the prophecy. (See Roberts' 11.] GILDAS ALBANIUS. THE CAMBREIS. 65 9, p. 39.) But another reason might have been that he preferably adopted the prophecy of Merlin instead, as applying to later times. Page 10. He mentions Gildas described as the historian and noble poet, and as the translator of the Molmutian laws. Tysilio and Geoffrey of Monmouth also make the same assertion. We are not, strictly speaking, informed that the translation was part of the poem : but it may be inferred from the connexion in which Virunnius speaks of the translator that it was. i^ Page 38, his. Virunnius informs us that Gildas the poet calls the (supposed) daughter of Claudius Inuenissa, but that her name was actually Gennissa. In the same page, he informs us that Gildas, the famous British poet, in his fifth book of Epigrams (i.e., hexameters and penta- meters, see before), had given an account of the marriage of Arviragus and Inuenissa (or Gennissa), and of the build- ing of Gloucester, and of its being named after the emperor Claudius. However, he informs us, in some lines which are given rather in a broken form, that the poet affects to reproach his lyre for passing on to another topic. Sambuca tu ruis ex Venere, Nunc tibi vilescit omnidasituus That is O harp ! thou leavest this love subject, and now thy whole diapason becomes abased. To which a reply of , the harp is feigned that it had supplied him with the whole poem Jucundse toties cecini tibi carmina Cambres. The Cambres in this line probably should be Cambris, for b Page ^^. Ponticus Virunnius informs us he regards Cambre to be the same as Britannia ; and the term used to imply Liber Britannicus, that is the British book or any British book ; but in this case this poem of Gildas in par- ticular. Page 31. He informs us that Gildas had related many things respecting Lucius. In page 32. He speaks of the other Gildas, author of the De Excidio (alter Gildas), and lastly, Page 43. He acquaints us that Gildas the famous poet had narrated many things generally concerning Britain. Such was the poem of the Cambreis, the lAber Britannicus 56 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP.. of the day, when the name Cambria imported all that existed in the island, whether in the north or the south, which was most potent in resisting the Anglo-Saxon aggression. There is no line of British kings before Caesar, as already observed, mentioned in the Camhreis; and Geof- frey, as also before specified, particularly informs us there was not. Henry of Huntingdon tells us the same thing in his De Origine. (See Britannic Researches, p. 209.) We have 'before alluded to the topic of the Cambreis as being a metrical history, and we need only further ob- serve that it seems evidently to have passed for such with Ponticus Virunnius ; and we have every reason to believe it did so unreservedly among all readers in the Middle Ages. We have supposed, at a preceding page, that it sug- gested the groundwork of Tysilio's Chronicle, which, if so, must be an additional proof of the influence it once pos- sessed. Henry of Huntingdon, Geofirey of Monmouth, and some of the earlier chroniclers evidently had this work, before them. It seems to have held its ground, till the popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History, or rather British History and Romance, threw it into the shade and it rapidly disappeared ; and its loss has occasioned some points in the literature of the Middle Ages to be doubtful, which we have endeavoured to clear up. Now as to the question which we have hitherto assumed in the affirmative, whether the elder Gildas, called Gildas Albanius, were the author, — we have, in absence of more decisive proof, four inferences which will bear on the subi ject ; the two first of which would apply to either of the two persons who were known by the name of Gildas, but the two last only to him of whom we speak. We may arrange them thus ; i. Had this poem of the Cambreis been written by any one of the order of the bards, we should have expected a mention of the author in the Triads ; "but there is no allusion to it there, or to the producer of it, and these two princes of Strathclyde would not in ordinary cir- cumstances have been members of the order of bards, and still less as ecclesiastics, ii. Either of those two princes, as Strathclyde Britons, would have been anxious to bring forward the Britons of those parts, which this poem does. However, as to reasons for fixing it to the elder Gildas, iiijGeoffery of Monmouth, speaking of this work in his pre- 11.] GILDAS ALBANIUS. THE CAMBREIS. 67 face to his History, which we may conceive to be admissible as evidence in this case, positively assures us that it had no mention of Arthur the British king. In fact, the elder Gildas, or Gildas Albanius, died before his time ; for he deceased in 512, and Arthur only began to reign in 517. IV. The contest feigned in the poem as to giving a new name to London after its supposed embellishment, between the two brothers, Ludd and Nynyaw, has again a special bearing on our second point. It seems to intimate that the Britons continued to have an interest in the place, whereas it was wrested from them after about the year 544, when the younger Gildas, the one surnamed Badonicus, was still in middle age, for he survived to the year 575. It is true that this gay, lively, highly decorated, and somewhat fanciful poem, as we see from the extracts, is not very consistent with the habits of discipline and austerity which are ascribed to them both ; but the poem might have been written somewhat early in life by the elder Gildas. Ac- cording to the Scotichronicon of John de Fordun, the league between the Caledonian and southern Britons began in the year 487, but there might have been a still earlier one than that. We have been obliged to rely on internal evidence in the foregoing views as to appropriating the poem to Gildas Albanius, since Tysilio, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Lilio Gy- raldo, and Ponticus Virunnius, merely assign the poem generally to a person named Gildas. It is true that the last mentioned has given us a species of left-handed date (see p. 53, ante), which is of some value, but which is useless without conjectural emendation. Having arrived at the above conclusions, we may im- mediately make use of them by dispensing with the Gildas Cambrius of the old bibliographer Bale, whom he makes a third Gildas, now we have the right Gildas Cambrius. We may consider the difficulties as connected with this matter disposed of; but, before we treat of the other works of this Gildas Albanius, it may be requisite to make a remark or two on the personage whom he makes the heroine of his poem. Genuissa, the Heroine of the Cambreis. This name has much the appearance of being the cor- 58 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. responding feminine name to Venusius, who, as mentioned by Tacitus, is described by him as being at first connected with the lugantes, or Iceni Coritani, and afterwards as being married to Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes, and thus became transferred to that state. The name Venusius seems formed on the same principle as Phaebitius, and Delphidius, lovius, and the like ; and the inference is that he was a British prince, who, like others of the age, took a cognSmen from a heathen divinity. Genuissa ap- pears to be a feminine name formed in the same way ; that is, to be Venusia in a Celtic shape : however, she is wholly unmentioned in classical authors. , According to Tysilio's Chronicle, Arviragus, that is Caractacus, married a daughter of Claudius the emperor, at the conclusion of the war, which was in the year 51 ; and the other British chronicles- give Genuylles, Generis, Genuissa, or Gwenisa, as her name. Now putting these last aside, as Tysilio mentions the existence of such a person, described as the daughter of Claudius, which term would perhaps imply natural or adopted daughter only ; and as Gildas Albanius gives her name, there is of course a strong presumption, though not a certainty, that we may have his authority for the affiUa- tion, as also for the marriage,, which might have taken place, not at the conclusion of the war, but after the re- lease of Caractacus. The occurrence of the names Venu- sius and Venusia in Britain is rather a singular coinci- dence, as they are not found otherwise in classic authors ; and there is no reason to suppose an affinity between the two persons. It would have been interesting to know how the story was worked up in the Cambreis; but we should not have known Genuissa, or Venusia, or Inue- nissa, according to Ponticus Virunnius, was mentioned at all in it, had not the introduction of an unusual word, " sambuca", for the lyre, arrested the attention of that author, and caused him to comment on the word and the few verses connected with it. The Ethnological Treatise of Gildas Albanius. We have ^own that Gildas Albanius is to be regarded the author of the Cambreis, which Ponticus Virunnius pronounced to be the Idber Britannictis, as it ranked, ac- II.] GILDAS ALBANIUS. ETHNOLOGICAL TREATISE. 59 cording to his ideas, as a British history of the time ; and now we continue in the proper line of our subject, which is, to show the distinction between the two writers of the name of Gildas, Gildas Albanius and Gildas Badonicus. To do this, we will proceed to notice some other works assigned to this first-named ancient, examining their claims to the attribution. With this introduction, we may say that our author is very generally supposed to have written an account of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, particularly noting the various early colonies it had received. This obtains general credence ; but it would be very difficult to bring forward what is called legal or exact proof of the point, though it is pretty certain that the greater part of the twelve ethno- logical chapters in the usual editions of Nennius are either abstracted or extracted from it. We have much of the actual treatise, no doubt ; but we cannot sufficiently con- nect it with its supposed author. All our arguments are here but approximations ; such as our knowing that Nen- nius, or Marcus before him, necessarily copied ethnological matters from some previous treatise, and that there were none other so relative to the purpose as his that they could have obtained. Again, the manuscript of Nennius ( British Museum, Nero D. viii), has in its title " Exceptiones de Libro Gildse Sapientis quem composuit de primis habita- toribus Britannise"; that is, " Extracts from the Book of Gildas Sapiens, which he composed concerning the first inhabitants of Britain." The name of Gildas also occurs in the titles of seventeen other manuscripts of Nennius : and one other- of the manuscripts of this author, as it should seem, which is in the public library at Basle, ac- cording to Haenel's catalogue, has for its title " Gildas de Primis Habitatoribus Britannise." It is probable that this treatise of Gildas went no further than to illustrate the origin of various ancient British races, as the supposed titles of it seem chiefly to refer to the first inhabitants ; in other words, to its earliest population. But this, again, is not certain. Admitting Gildas to have been the author of this work, it must be confessed he would have been extremely quali- fied for it, being a learned person^ the son of a Strathclyde prince, consequently in connexion with the Picts and Cale- 60 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. donians, and having also been a resident in Gaul, Ireland, and Britain. The Lives and Acts of the Saints Germanus AND Lupus, by Gildas Albanius. This vpork is attributed to him on the authority of Geof- frey of Monmouth, vi. 13, who says that Gildas gave an account, in his elegant treatise, of the many miracles which they wrouglit. It is believed that this is the chief and only authority on the subject ; consequently it will be seen that the matter is not without uncertainty in several points of view. There were two persons of the name of Gildas ; and the other Gildas might have mentioned him in one of his treatises, while giving a history of the Church of this island, as we shall see. Verses on Sextus. These are contained in the manuscript in the British Museum marked Vespasian, E. vii., p. 85, and seem only attributed to Gildas by a species of poetical licence, under the idea that certain prophecies announcing that a sixth king of Britain would be surpassingly great, and conquer Ireland, were written by him. But there is no internal evidence to connect these verses with Gildas. On the con- trary, they are far from being written, in point of style, with that easy flow and elegance which seem to charac- terize the genuine poetic fragments attributed to him ; being, in fact, indited in a species of miserable doggerel, and with a disregard to metre, unless the text be exten- sively corrupted. They begin : Ter tria sinistra tenent ciim semitempora Sexti, Sus vagiens imprimis pedem, de fine resumit. In English: "After thrice three years, forming half the reign of Sextus, have been unfortunate, the boar, who had been lamenting the loss of his foot, at length recovers it," etc. "We only need say, in explanation of the import of these verses, that the hieroglyphic of a boar whose foot is bitten off by a wolf, forms one of the leading features in these verses to Sextus. The writer of the verses implied by the boar, a king or potentate ; and the loss of the foot, and its being resupplied, represented the abstraction of 11.] GILDAS 'ALBANIUS. VERSES ON SEiXTUS. 61 certain territories from the said power, and their being recovered. We may consider the origin of the verses to have been this. Gildas had imitated in his Cambreis, of which we have before treated, the Prophecy, of Anchises in Virgil, and had introduced, by way of poetical ornamentation, a prediction of the future union of Strathclyde and Cambria, or of the North and South Britons, and of the victories they should gain as the fruits of their alliance. The pre- diction was not verified, as we know ; but the name of Gildas becoming notorious as a prophet, it was surrepti- tiously added to some verses concocted after the Conquest, being pretendedly prophetic of the affaia:s of the Normans and Britons. The date of them we may judge was about 1090 ; and it is quite an error to suppose that Henry II was intended to be signified by the name Sextus, and that they were a forgery of his day, as asserted in Gfroerer's Pseudoprophetce, p. 365, and in Mr. Wright's Biographia Britannica Idteraria, vol. i, p. 133. In fact, Henry II was not the sixth from the commencement of the line in the person of William the Conqueror, but the fifth. We may rather presume -the case to have been, that immediately after the Norman Conquest it was judged probable, from the increased power of the larger island, that it would in the course of a few reigns subdue the lesser one, and that the prophecy was shaped accordingly. Thus, as Mr. Her- bert, in the Irish Nennius,^^. xxxv, very properly observes, we are not to look for the completion of the prophecy in Henry II or any one else : it being a pretended prediction. We may add, that it has some points of correspondence with the Prophecy of Merlin ; which last may be seen as given in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History, book vii. Principal Events in the Life of Gildas Albanids. Taking the account furnished by Archbishop Usher for our basis, from that and from other sources we may collect the following dates respecting him. Gildas Albanius, or Gildas the elder, was born a.d. 425, in Strathclyde, which was frequently called Albania. His father was Caw, or Gawolan, a prince in Strathclyde. He 63 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTOEIANS, [cHAP, seems to have become early an ecclesiastic, and a.d, 455, at the age of 30, as is stated in a life of him attributed to Caradoc of Lancarvan, went to Armorica for seven years to study. Thence he returns, a.d. 462, set. 37, with a very great quantity of books (cum magni mole diversorum voluminum, Caradoc of Lancarvan), and became a preacher at Cair Morva, a maritime place near St. David's Head, in Pembrokeshire, His fame being very great for learning through the then three principal kingdoms of Britain (tria Regna Britannise, Caradoc), i. e., Strathclyde, Cam- bria, and Dumnonia, multitudes of scholars flocked to him soon afterwards, who were very accurately instructed by him in the seven sciences, and qualified to become teachers themselves. He also at this time, as afterwards, accord- ing to Caradoc, practised many austerities in his usual mode of life. a.d. 484, aet. 59, he passed over to Ireland, at the invitation, as it is said, of St. Bridget ; but appears to have returned again to Britain, but to what part ap- pears not mentioned, a.d. 498, set. 73, he went to Ireland for ten years, where he endeavoured to re-establish the churches which, since the death of St. Patrick, had fallen into disorder, and opened a college or academy at Armagh, where multitudes of scholars flocked to him and where he preached, a.d. 508 he returned to Britain, and under- took the care of the school in Lancarvan, in Glamorgan- shire, without emolument. In the year 509, set. 84, he retired to the Isle of Eckni, or Steepholmes, in the Bristol Channel, where he commenced the life of a hermit, and appears to have intended forming a permanent establish- ment there. An anecdote is recorded of him while settling himself at this place, which should not be passed by. He took some timber which was lying in a forest on the banks of the Wye, having probably had a grant of it from the king of Gwent, or from some local ruler, but it had been felled for the use of the bishop of Llandaff. He had loaded a boat with it, and had already reached the Severn and was cross- ing that river, when, behold, its restitution was demanded by St. Dubricius, at that time the bishop of the see ; which GUdas refusing, continued his course to his insular retreat. The Liber Landavemis, which gives the details, places the occurrence in the episcopate of St. Oudoceus ; whereas, II.] GILDAS BADONICtrs. HIS LIFE!. 63 accordinig to the requirements of chronology, it must have happened in the time of St. Dubricius. A.D. 610, set. 85, being molested by pirates, he went to Glastonbury, a.d. 511, set. 86, he lived as a hermit on the banks of the Axe, near Glastonbury; and a.d. 512, set. 87, he died, and was buried before the altar of St. Mary, in the Abbey church, till it was burnt down in the year 1184, when Ms remains were taken up and placed in a silver box. The account by the ancient chronographer of Glastonbury says, he died in the year 522. This, omitti-ng miracles and legends, appears to be a faithful sketch of his life. It presents no inconsistencies, and there are no material contradictions in any quarter. We thus may possibly have succeeded in placing the biography of the ancient historiographer Gildas, as he is called, in a better position, and so far illustrated his times. Gildas Badonicus, or the younger Gildas. As the elder Gildas is very properly called Gildas Alba- nius, from Strathclyde or Albany, the place of his nativity, so the present Gildas is called Badonicus, from want of a more proper appellation, on account of his referring very particularly to a battle at Mount Badon or Bath. An account was written of him' in the eleventh century, sup- posed to be by a monk of Ehuys, in Normandy, a monas- tery which he had founded, and from this various particu- lars of his life may be obtained, though some caution is required in the selection, as he is occasionally confused by the writer with Gildas Albanius, of whom we have just treated. It is well drawn up, and written with great elegance in the best style of medieval Latin, though ex- tremely legendary. It is imperfect at the end ; but one- third of the whole is taken up with a species of historical notice of Rhuys Abbey after his death. The precision with which; the monk speaks of his four brothers, Howel, Mailoc, Aleccus, and; Egreas, and his sister, Peteova, ap- pears to render it pretty clear, that among his legendary materials he- had also some others of a more correct de- scription. He gives no dates throughout ; but on com- paring his account with our other sources, it will appear that he considered that Gildas left Ireland finally in 534, 64 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [CHAP, and Britain in 535, and spent the rest of his life chiefly in Armorica. We must seek then our chronological materials elsewhere ; and here the Primordia, or Church History of Archbishop Usher has been of the most essential service. Gildas Badonicus was born in the year 492, as we find recorded in his own work, De Excidio, c. 26, which is a somewhat important chronological date, and, indeed, the only one which his work supplies. Mr. Petrie, in the Monumenta Mistorica Britannica, p. 106, denies the exist- ence of any dates whatever in it. This, therefore, is a point in which it may be of utility to show Mr. Petrie 's mistake, and to be sufficiently explanatory. We may add a few further remarks, though the topic has already been attended to in the Britannic Researches, p. 63. The pas- sage as it usually stands is, — " usque ad annum obsessionis Badonici Montis, qui prope Sabrinum Ostium habetur, novissimseque ferme de furciferis non minimae stragis, qui- que quadragesimus quartus, ut novi, oritur, annus, mense jam primo emenso, qui jam et meae nativitatis est." The meaning we have given as above referred to, namely, that it fixes the year of his birth as taking place forty-four years after the landing of the Saxons, is the same as Bede understood, and as was received by Josseline, who was secretary to Archbishop Parker, and the first editor of a correct text of the author. The contrary interpretation, that Gildas says the battle of Mount Badon was forty-four years from the time he wrote it, must be allowed has had considerable currency, and has been adopted by some emi- nent scholars, as by Mr. Stevenson, Mr. Petrie above men- tioned, Dr. Giles, and others. With all due deference to eminent names, it may be suggested that they have not compared sufficiently the context of the passage with what the author had before said. Gildas, in this part of his work, was giving chronologically a series of events from the landing of the Saxons. In doing this, he comes to an occurrence, the said siege of Mount Badon, which he de- scribes took place when the forty-fourth year was com- mencing. It may be asked, from what % And the answer will be, certainly from that first coming of the Saxons of which he spoke before, and not that he simply meant that the year in which the siege took place had elapsed forty- four years before the time he indited the passage in ques- II.] GILDAS BA.DONICUS. HIS LIFE. 65 tion. The reader must be reminded, Gildas says, " quique annus oritur," or " orditur," implying that very year of the battle was the one which arose, or came in order : the Latin word being either " oritur" or " orditur" in different manuscripts. Eegarding the state of the text in various editions as relates to the passage, Polydore" Vergil, in his printed edi- tion, either used an imperfect copy, or designedly omitted the words " quique quadragesimus quartus," etc., to "jam emenso." In the Cambridge manuscript, which is marked F. f. i. 27, instead of the first jam, " anni vel uno," is inter- lined, w^hich is apparently the true reading, and favours the construction here given. The"primo" therefore of the Cambridge manuscript which follows would appear to be erroneous. Mr. Petrie, in the Monumenta Historica Bri- tannica, p. ,59, gives the English as if the Latin words in the original had stood, " a quo quadragesimus quartus evolvitur annus," etc., which is very far from being the case. To continue. Gildas Badonicus, in his early youth, was placed under the instruction of St. Iltutus, at Llaniltyd, in Glamorganshire, and afterwards went to Ireland to con- tinue his studies, apparently about a.d. 513, set. 21. He may be understood to have continued no long time there, but to have returned to Britain after a short interval, pro- bably about the year 616, set. 24. From the tenor of the accounts respecting him, he appears to have exercised one kind of life as a teacher and preacher, at times in Ireland and at times in Britain. He appears to have been return- ing from the former country in or about the year 534, set. 42, soon after his brother Howel's death. His only work now extant, his De Excidio, would seem to have been in progress during ten years ; but of that we will further speak. He published it ultimately in Armorica, in 545, aet. 53. At what period afterwards he returned to Britain, or whither he went, is not communicated ; but according to Usher, we find him making another voyage from Bri- tain to Armorica, a.d. 554, when he was setatis 62. His time there was employed in teaching, and during his resi- dence in those parts he founded the Abbey of Rhuys or Rieux, in Normandy, and a small Oratory near on the banks of the river Blavet. About this time also, accord- ing to his biography by the monk of Rhuys, he went to 66 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP, Eome, and would probably have continued in Armorica the remainder of his life ; but on an invitation from king Aumeric he went over to Ireland, a.d. 566, set. 74, where he reformed many of the churches and died a.d. 570, set. 78, having lost his patron, Aumeric, the previous year in battle. These appear to have been the main facts of his life pretty accurately, and he is shown clearly to have been a distinct person from the other Gildas. We have not touched on the legendary particulars con- nected with the story of our Gildas Badonicus. They are very numerous ; much more so, indeed, than those which are narrated respecting the elder saint of the same name. We may forbear comment upon them, except on one, the connexion of which with Cambrian history is very evident. The incident belongs to Britain, though we know not by what mistake it has been related as taking place in Armo- rica ; and is even so referred to by Gregory of Tours. The ill character of Maelgwyn Gwynedd is somewhat pro- minent in ancient British history, and our monk of Rhuys describes him in his lAfe of Gildas, under the name of Conomerus {i.e., Cuno-mawr, or great king), as the mur- derer of several j>f his wives and as the oppressor of his people. The saint is represented as bringing dowA judg- ments on this reprobate, and as restoring his murdered consort, Trifina, daughter of a potentate named Weroch, to Hfe, whose name appears to be unknown in British story, as is also that of her son ; who is related to have acquired the name of Trechmore. This last name would be the same as " Draig-mawr," or great dragon, by which the title Pendragon, or chief king of the Britons, appears to be implied ; and this was actu- ally held by Rhun, the son of the British king, though after him the family did not obtain the distinction for two generations. Regarding Weroch mentioned in this narra- tive, the father of Trifina, the appellation is merely titular, and signifies gwr-uch, or high magnate, and no more. His subjects are called Venetenses, a name which would apply equally to the Veneti in Gaul and to the inhabitants of Gwynedd, or Venedocia, in Britain. Here the matter might rest with a very good colourable proof of what we have advanced ; but if we turn to the II.] GILDAS BADONICUS. HIS LIFE. 67 Epistola of Gildas, c. 35, the origin of the legendary tale becomes pretty evident. Maelgwyn Gwynedd is there roundly accused of putting to death his first wife, as also his nephew, in order that he might marry his widow, being incited to do so in both instances by this last-men- tioned person, who afterwards became his queen. Gildas says that he murdered only one wife, the legend extends the number to several ; Gildas merely says, " put to death," but the legend connects the crime with circumstances of harrowing atrocity : however, a legendary narrative may naturally be expected to be much dilated and distorted. We may as well give the words of our author in his said c. 35, relating to these circumstances : — " Spernuntur namque primse tamen proprise conjugis prsesumptivse nuptise, alii viri viventis non externi sed fratris filii ada- mata. Ob quae dura cervix ilia multis jam peccaminum fascibus onerata, bino parricidiali ausu, occidendo, supra- dictum,uxoremque tuam aliquamdiu habitam,velut summo sacrilegii tui culmine de imis ad inferiora curvatur. De- hinc illam cujus dudum coUudio ac suggestione tantse sunt peccatorum subitse moles, ut etiam publicse fallacis parasitorum linguae tuorum conclamant summis tamen la- biis, non ex intimo corde, legitimo, utpote viduatam, thoro, ut nostrae vero, sceleratissimo adscivisti connubio." In English : — " Your first nuptials with your consort of your first selection have been despised, notwithstanding they were lawful nuptials ; and the reason has been that you fell in love, not with the wife of a stranger, but of your own brother's son. It is on account of these things that the stubborn neck of yours, already burdened with many sins, is bowed down stiU lower by this double parricide thus daringly perpetrated ; namely, by putting him to death, your nephew above mentioned, and her also who had been your wife for some considerable time. After- wards you took this woman, by whose collusion and sug- gestion so short a time before such a weight of crime was brought upon you, as if to your lawful wife. Your para- sites indeed pronounced it a lawful union at the top of their voices, but not from the bottom of their hearts, on the ground that she was a widow ; but we, the Church, regarded it and proclaimed it as a most wicked alliance." There is the less scope for finding confirmation of these 68 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [CHAP. circumstances thus alluded to by Gildas, and, as we suppose, alluded to also by the monk of Rhuys, in his life of this last-mentioned personage, because Maelgwyn Gwynedd seems to have taken special care to stand well with the order of the Bards. He entertained Taltesin as his court poet, and Gildas describes his devotion to this poetical tribe thus, in his chapter 34 : " Arrecto aurium auscultantur captu, non Dei laudes canora Christi tyronura voce suavitA: modulante, neque ecclesiasticae melodiae, sed proprise quae nihili sunt, furciferorum refertae mendaciis, simulque spumanti phlegmate proximos quosque foedaturo praeconum ore ritu bacchantium concrepante." We may translate this not very complimentary description of the bards thus : " No longer you seek to hear the praises of God modulated by the musical voices of Christ's disciples, nor church melodies ; but now it is your own praises which you listen to, which are absolutely of no import. These are, indeed, resounded in strains crammed full with falsehoods by the rogues whose business it is to celebrate them : they are, in fact, bawled out amidst spuming and drunken revelries and bacchanalian rites, in which these applauders beslaver one another." Whatever may be said of this description, we see the means by which silence was extensively purchased, and why Maelgwyn Gwynedd's misconduct is not recorded in the Triads ; nor, indeed, with one instance only excepted, in other bardic compositions. That exception is supplied to us by Taliesin, the hard before mentioned, who, according to some accounts, was court poet to the Celtic monarch ; and, if so, would have been included in the tumultuous assemblage which Gildas described. He has left five verses directed against him with great virulence, which are certainly not much to the honour of the illustrious wiiter, and may be considered as a species of bardic imprecation. They are as follow : Ny bo rhad na gwedd ar Vaelgwn Gwynedd ; Drwy na dialler ar Run y etyvedd, Boed byr vo y vychedd boed diffaith vo y diredd, Boed hir diuroedd o Vaelgwn Gwynedd. TaKessin benn Beyrdd ae cant. That is, "May Maelgwyn Gwynedd be unlucky, and pleas- ing to nobody ; only, so that Rhun, his son, receive no injury from it. May his life be short, his lands without II.] GILDAS BADONICUS. HIS LIFE. 69 crops, and himself an exile from his own possessions. Thus sings the chief of the bards, Taliesin." To turn to a different topic, as we now enter upon some miscellaneous particulars connected with the ancient of whom "We treat. The name Gildas, which both these saints bore, is not only one of a titular description, but also is singularly peculiar, and in an especial manner connected with the times in which they lived. Gildas, or Gilli-tasc, is, literally, "Minister- princeps", or, the Prince the minister, or ecclesiastic, in the same way as Gillimore is the great minister, or ecclesiastic; or, as other instances might be alleged, tasc is an abbreviation for the Celtic word tascio, implying a chief. (See the Britannic Researches, p. 302, and Coins of Cunoheline, p. 200.) It also may be noted that the form "^sh" is still current in Scotland as a portion of personal names. The Life, by the Monk of Rhuys, speak- ing of the younger Gildas, says that his name was some- times varied to Gildasius, which, in its termination, is of course a still nearer approximation to the root, tascio. It follows, that the title was unlikely to be borne except by the son of a king : and here again some useful explanation can be afforded. Both the persons of the name of Gildas, of Avhom we have now treated, are said to have been the sons of Caw, otherwise Gawolan, or Caunos, or Can. The Monk of Rhuys has Caunos ; and Giraldus Cambrensis, Capgrave ; John of Glastonbury, and the Life of St. Cadoc, have Can. (WnghLt'sBioffraphiaLiteraria,Yol. i. p. 115.) Wherefore we may understand the reading. Nan, of the two Museum manu- scripts of the life of the elder Gildas to be an error ; while the name Caw would seem merely to have been adopted by moderns after Rowland and Owen Pughe, who received that reading. Now Can, or Caunos, appears to be nothing more or less than the Celtic title cuno, in some of its rami- fications over again. It is obvious we have it modified in the names Duncan, Morgan, and Gwrcan, in aU of which it signifies king ; and we have it also in the appellation Canmore, in John de Fordun's Chronicle, where it implies great king : and the country, in either case, in which this Can, or Caunos, i. e. king, is said to have resided, was Cale- donia, in the first instance, or, as it appears by the context Strathclyde ; and in the second, this last named region also. 70 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [CHAP. The two persons, then, of the name of Gildas, were hoth kings' sons, and their fathers had both rule in the district of Strathclyde. According to common opinion, they are both supposed to have been obliged to leave their country from the incursions of the Saxons ; but such idea appears to be groundless, and is not countenanced by either of their biographies yet extant, which allude to nothing of the kind. Indeed, the battle of Gododin, the great cata- strophe in tliese parts, did not take place till after the younger Gildas had already left ; and the western portion of the kingdom of Strathclyde continued in existence even two centuries after that. Their adopting the life of eccle- siastics must, therefore, be solely referred to their own choice. The one left his country for Armorica, to resort to the foreign professors of the day ; the other was sent by his father to an eminent teacher in Cambria. They both appear to have been eminent men in their day, in the capacity of teachers, preachers, missionaries, and authors ; and it is highly to be regretted that we have not a larger portion of their works remaining extant. We have a bio- graphy of each still in existence ; and an additional one in French, which was formerly Reginald Heber's, has been of late years acquired by the British Museum [Egerton M88., No. 745, fol. 77), to which we may recur presently. Their being both avowed champions of the Latin Commu- nion, in opposition to the ancient British Church, has, without doubt, tended to preserve accounts of them. The style of Gildas Badonicus is so idiomatic, that it shows he was constantly in the habit of speaking Latin ; and not merely speaking it, but doing so with great volu- bility, and with an intimate acquaintance with the lan- guage. His periods appear to have been poured put in one continual stream of declamation, with great attention to cadence, euphony, and rhythm, but with an entire dis- regard, not to grammatical concordances, — which we may rather consider to be usually observed when the text is correct, — but to simplicity in the arrangement of his words, and with an entire disregard likewise to keeping his sentences within reasonable length. He crowds very numerous ideas into one paragraph, which it frequently requires some nicety to unravel. It is presumable that, at the time he wrote, a person whose vernacular idiom was II.] GILDAS BADONICUS. HIS LIFE. 71 Latin, and who was accustomed to his usual style of ex- pressing himself, would have understood his writings with sufficient readiness ; but moderns, whose vernacular idiom Latin is not, and who consequently consider a Latin para- graph'more in its separate parts, that is, in parts of a few words together, than as a whole, often find this writer very enigmatical : particularly in those passages where any uncertainty exists as to the correct text. Regarding the biographies of persons named Gildas, Caradoc of Lancarvan and the Monk of Rhuys, intending to write the life of one individual, have, in fact, confused the accounts of two distinct persons, whom they have made one and the same. We have now a grea,t facility of investigating and ascertaining this, as the Life of Gildas, attributed to Caradoc of Lancarvan, and that by the Monk of E.huys, are both printed by Dr. Giles in his Documents relating to the Ancient Britons, 8vo., 1847. The first has also been printed by Mr. Stevenson in his Edition of Gildas, 8vo., 1838; a third, in the Egerton Manuscript, No. 745, has not been printed. It relates to Gildas Badonicus, and we may give a few lines of it, and briefly advert to its contents. At the beginning it seems to have been copied from an obliterated original, as several words are here and there omitted, for which no spaces are left. There is also an obliteration or two in this page itself, so that the first four- teen or fifteen lines are not so legible ; but all the rest of the biography seems to be sufficiently so. It is an abridgment of the Life by the Monk of E.huys. It gives the story of Maelgwyn Gwynedd, and of the mes- sage of St. Bridget to Gildas, and some other particulars in the Monk's narrative. It omits others, and has an addi- tion or two of its own ; but, in particular, it omits nearly all the names of persons and places, which the author it follows had given rather numerously. The manuscript is of the fourteenth century ; and the first paragraph may be inserted, the words to which the asterisk is affixed being wholly omitted in the original, and, as well as the others between brackets, are supplied conjecturally. "ic^' commence la vie Monseigneur S. Gildas. — Sanct Gil- dase fu nez de Bretaigne de tres noble lignie, et fut bailies a entroduire a sanct Phyleberte, qui done estoit abes de 72 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP, Toumay! II fut baptisies et (*demeuroit a) une isle qui etoit done nouve(llement) dessoya (i. e. desechee) et qui fu entreus de(sable) lascie (*de la mer) et sans hom. Sanct Gildas se ne prenoit viande de fort (*que) trois fois la semaine seulement (*de) vers la age de xv. ans (thirty in margin) au le jour de sa mort : et servoit a Dieu en veuilles et oroisons," etc., etc. In English : " Here begins the life of Monseigneur Saint Gildas.— Sailit Gildase was bom in Britaiii, of a very noble lineage, and was given over into the hands of St. Plulibert to be made a priest, who then was abbot of Tournay. He was baptized, and dwelt in an isle recently become dry land, and which was full of sand banks, which had been cast up by the sea, and was uninhabited. St. Gildas, from about the fifteenth year 9f his age (in the margin, thirtieth) to the day of his death, only partook of solid food three times a week ; and served God continually in watch- ings and prayers," etc., etc. Gildas Badonicus, it will be observed, is partially con- fused with the elder saint named Gildas ; for it was Gildas Albanius who went to study in Armorica. We now come to speak of the De Excidio of this author, which we possess, and of another work of his, which is lost. The value of the De Excidio as a history is very consider- able, though merely intended by the author as an historical sketch, to bring his various points of censure and reproba- tion duly to bear, and to make them intelligible. Other- wise, it appears to have been no part of his purpose to write merely as an historian ; and he could have but little suspected that much of what he related would, in after times, rest solely on his testimony. Viewing him, then, not strictly as an historian, but as an ecclesiastic of the Latin Communion in controversy with the insular British Church, and reproving the vices of the times, we may be rather surprised on the whole, not that he introduced so little historical detail, but that he intro- duced so much. It was, in fact, his lengthy style of decla- mation that induced him to give that singularly drawn up sketch of Roman British events which he introduces, — a sketch moulded indeed to his purpose, and written with a particular bias, but at once novel and striking, and derived from a source now no longer extant. That source, 11.] GILDAS BADONICDS. THE DE EXCIDIO. 73 it appears, was a Roman compilation, indited, it should seem, to reprobate the Britons for their insurrections against the Roman government (see Britannic Researches, p. 173) ; and that such a work existed, may intimate to us the great extent of ancient literature which has been lost. The De Ezcidio has certainly been a constant butt of the critics, who many of them have not been sparing of their most severe remarks. Some of their strictures it has deserved to the full; but, in other cases, they have not well considered the object of the writer, nor made sufficient allowance for the comparative rudeness of those times* The De Excidio of Gildas Badonicus is a lamentation on the state of Britain at the particular period at which the author wrote ; and the second part of it, the Epistola, is a severe attack on the British kings at that time reigning, the two Pendragons of the day, — for the supreme power was then divided, — and the subordinate rulers. He attacked them as the champion of the Latin Church ; and the whole British clergy also came in for their share of reproofi His chidings are distinguished for much asperity ; but there is no doubt that his intentions were good, and that he was a true patriot at heart. As to date of publishing, it is almost necessarily fixed to the year 545, for then Constantino the Third was still alive^ and Arthur Mabuter dead, both of which are requirements to the work as it now stands. But we judge from c. 1 of the Historia that the Epistola was produced first, — even about ten years before ; and by a comparison of cc. 1 and 29, it appears that, when the whole work was ultimately pub- lished, Gildas was in Armorica. It is very true that Gildas, in his said c. 1, does not say that he had actually written his work ten years before. What he does say is, that he had revolved most anxiously his " Admonitory History", as he calls it (" Historia et Ad- monitiuncula"), in his mind for that period. But when he describes the so pressing solicitations of his friends for the Historia to be written, we may infer that his Epistola had been completed before, and that his friends, who may be considered to have been members of the Latin Church, and mostly inimical to that of Britain, wished to see it joined with a violent invective against the misconduct and 74 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP. demoralization of Britain in past times as well. We will give an extract from this chapter with all possible brevity. " Silui fateor cum immenso mentis dolore et animi com- punctione cordisque contritione, ut (orig. et) attonito sensu ssepius hsec omnia in animo revolvere : Et spatio bilustri temporis vel eo amplius prsetereuntis imperitia, sicut et nunc una cum carissimis mei amicis imperantibus ut qualemcumque gentis Britannicse historiolam sive admo- nitiunculam scfiberem. In zelo igitur domus Domini, sacrse legis cogitatuum rationibus, vel fratrum religiosis precibus coactus, nunc persolvo debitum multo tempore antea exactum," etc. In English : " I kept silence, I conr fess, with immeasurable grief, and compunction of mind and contrition of heart, that, moved as every feeling was, I might the more often revolve .all these things in my mind : Even for ten years or more did I feel myself at a loss, as I do now, though commanded by my dearest friends, how I should write any kind of History and Admonition of the British nation. Zealous, therefore, for the House of God, influenced by my reasonings from the Holy Scriptures, or by those from my own thoughts, — nay, even constrained by the religious prayers of my brethren,— I discharge now the debt incurred a long time ago," etc. ^ The Monk of Rhuys, in his Life of GiMas, c. 19, ex- pressly says that ecclesiastics from Britain came to him in Armorica on the subject of his Epistola. This may imply that they were returning from a mission in Britain to the Continent, and thus made their way to their old friend, who had become established in Gaul at that conjuncture, - Admitting that the Epistola oi Gildas was written about the year 535, as rather appears from what he has commu- nicated on the subject, Arthur, the pendragon of the island, was not only then alive, but had not at that time left Britain for his Gaulish expedition. Now the reproofs in his Epistola fell severely on the principal British kings and rulers; and there can exist no reasonable doubt but that the said Arthur was among the number originally Ireproved : nay, more, a collateral circumstance appears to inform us that he was reprehended together VBith one Cuneglas, a minor insular king, who, from Gildas' account, seems not to have been a person of a very good character, and who, we may understand, was an abettor of the acts II.] GILDAS BADONICUS. THE DE EXCIDIO. 75 of his superior, and a species of companion to him. It is easy for us to see, from the context of the c. 32 of the Epistola, that, in the said reproof, some allusion was made to the name Arthur, which, being dissected, might be inter- preted "Arth-erch", or fierce bear. However, at the ulti- mate publication of the Epistola and Historia, or De Excidio, in 545, Arthur was dead ; and therefore the part applying to him would necessarily have been struck out. This, no doubt, was done ; but the lines relating to Cuneglas, the in- vective on whom, we have judged, was somewhat conjoined with that on Arthur, was, by accident or design, left unal- tered. Thus this Cuneglas still stands mentioned, "Auriga currus Ursi", or " driver of the Bear's chariot", according as he had been at first described. We shall have again occasion briefly to refer to this circumstance at a subse- quent page. The above are some remarks out of many which we might make on this ancient composition, so much con- nected with our island. We should, perhaps, add that the De Excidio, like the Triads, of which we have spoken at a previous page, is to be considered a perfectly unique production, nothing of the kind having appeared in Europe from the time of the writer to the present day. There was, indeed, a peculiarity of its own in the case, which was not likely to occur again : and wishing as Gildas did to reprove the flagrant misdemeanours of the times, various concurring circumstances promoted the work. He must have had less reluctance to stigmatize the unworthy rulers and the priesthood, reprehensible as it was in many points, for it does not appear that he considered himself the sub- ject of any one of the five kings of whom his celebrated circular treated ; nor in writing against the British clergy was he, strictly speaking, at issue with his own order, for he belonged to the Latin communion. It is easy to see that the case could scarce ever occur that the same line of conduct should be adopted by any other ecclesiastic. In regard to his other literary performances, the state- ment of Giraldus Cambrensis is probably strictly correct, that he, at one time of his life, wrote the Acts of Arthur Mabuter, and an account of his family ; but that, on hear- ing of the death of his brother Howel by that prince, in a feud, he threw the volumes which he had composed into 76- ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP, the sea. This is related in the De Illaudibilihus Camhrice of Giraldus, c. 27, as in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, vol. ii., p. 448, c. 11. We have no ascertained dates to be able to introduce these circumstances among our chronological details; but it may be suggested that the ^c^s could not have been written till the peace with the Saxons in 532;. and, according to the tenor of the accounts, GUdas landed from Ireland in about 534, when he was received by Saint Cadoc and several British chiefs, among whom was Arthur himself: at which time the feud, which, according to the customs of medieval times, would have descended as a species of legacy to Gildas, was composed, and a pacifica- . tion eifected between them. See Caradoc of Lancarvan's Life of Gildas, cc. 5 and 6, in which it plainly appears that these things took place before Arthur departed for his Gaulish expedition, about the year 636. The reader may be referred to some further details in the ensuing chapter (iii., pt. I.), where likewise the passage of Giraldus apply- . ing to this case, will be extracted. Another and very principal work of Gildas Badonicus was his Victoria Aurelii Ambrosii, or, as we should say, his " Victorious Career of Aurelius Ambrosius", the word " vic- toria" meaning, in Latin, not one victory merely, but a victorious career : in the same way as prosperity, in usual acceptation, means a succession of auspicious events, and not one such event only. This, like the ethnological trea- tise of the other Gildas, that is, of Gildas Albanius, became lost, both from a contrary cause from that by which other works usually disappear,^ — that is, not from being disused, but, in fact, from being used too much ; or, in other words, so much mixed up and incorporated with other works,, that the original no longer was kept distinct and separately preserved. As we know not what portion of the treatise of Gildas Albanius, De Primis Habitatoribus BritannicB, we have in the twelve ethnographical chapters of Nennius, so we know not how much of the Victoria Aurelii Ambrosii we have in Tysilio, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and Bede. From the similarity of the account of the early Church in those three authors, and the acknowledgment of one of them, it would seem that it formed the accustomed source from which the primeval history of the British Church was sup- plied. The one who makes the acknowledgment is Geof- II.] GILDAS BADONICDS. THE VICTOKIA. 77' frey of Monmouth, who, in his History, vf., 20, expressly informs us to this effect ; and his assertion being positive, should be received. It may be said, that it is not quote4 by name by Bede : to vs^hich it may be replied, that he may not have quoted it, as finding the information gene- rally known in his time ; and it may be observed, in the like way, that neither Marcus nor Nennius have quoted the ethnological treatise of Gildas Albanius, though they undoubtedly used it. Having premised these remarks, it may be deserving notice to mention that Geoffrey of Monmouth calls it, in the passage to which we have just referred, a"lucidus tractatus", or elegant treatise ; which we may have but little difficulty in believing that it was, for it is not denied that Geoffrey of Monmouth was versed in literary compo- sition, so that he was, in fact, a judge of this particular. It was, of course, a history of a duplex nature, containing the Acts of Ambrosius, in which were recounted his exer- tions against the Saxons ; and a compilation of ecclesias- tical events which had occurred from the earliest times of the island : the actual subject being the checking the Saxons in their conquests by Aurelius Ambrosius, and the reestablishment by him of the churches. As Bede says so little respecting Ambrosius, it is possible that he had only seen an extract of the ecclesiastical part. This is very possible, though perhaps not probable : it is rather pre- sumable, that a jealousy of the British population, if not in the breast of Bede, yet in the breasts of those about him, made him suppress all but a passing mention of this emi- nent chief. The Victoria is to be considered a species of fragment only, though it must have been an interesting and impor- tant one. It is not styled "Vita Aurelii Ambrosii", for it evidently only gave an account of events down to a certain important era. It may be asked, how do we know which of the two persons it was of the name of Gildas who wrote the Vic- toria Aurelii Ambrosii, since ; Geoffrey of Monmouth only says it was Gildas ? In answer to this we have chiefly the testimony of Ponticus Virunnius, the author whom we have before quoted. At the end of his fourth book of Historia Britonum, speaking of the work, he says, " quern 18 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [CHAP. alter Gildas de victoria Aurelii Ambrosii inscripsit"; i.e., '* which the other Gildas — he had before been speaking of Gildas Albanius — ^wrote concerning the victorious career of Aurelius Ambrosius." Ponticus Virunnius, who lived at the end of the fifteenth century, either from his con- nexion with the noble and ancient British Bedouar family, or otherwise, seems to have had access to some rare British books ; that is, to the genuine treatise of the Victoria Au- relii Ambrosii oi Gildas Badonicus, and to the Liber Bri- tannicus, or metrical British history, the Cambreis, in fact, of Gildas Albanius ; both of which works at that time were near their final disappearance. It is almost doubtful whether we can find any internal evidences in the De Excidio that the same author wrote the Victoria. The writer of the first himself nowhere al- ludes to this last mentioned. Even when he describes the courts of the Pagan temples in Britain, and the images of the deities and the introduction of Christianity in Ins De Excidio, cc. 4, 8, 9, we know not whether the same has any reference to aught he had before said in a prior work. With regard to date the probability is, the Victoria was written shortly before the De Excidio. It apparently only went down to the peace of Ambrosius, which continued about two years — from 493 to 495. It did not go down to the death of Ambrosius, or it would have removed the doubts as to the manner in which that event took place. Early Printed Editions of Gildas, and Remarks on SOME Enigmatical Verses contained in one of the Cambridge Manuscripts, and upon some other cir- cumstances connected with it. The verses in question are as follow : — Historiam Gildae Cormac sic perlege sciiptam Doctoris digitis sensu cultuque redactam. Haec tenues superat, multos carpitque superbos. They are sufficiently obscure ; and the nature of the case is such that, connected as they are with some ancient mo- difications of the work, they will be best illustrated by our premising some few data relating both to the former printed and manuscript editions of it. II.] GILDAS BADONICUS. THE CAMBRIDGE MS. 79 The first printed edition of the work was that of Polj'- dore Vergil in 1525, from two manuscripts not now known to exist ; but as he altered his text, ad libitum, according to his own avowal in his preface, his edition is, of course, of the less value for supplying materials to ascertain the genuine text. Secondly, Josseline's, in 1568, using two manuscripts ; the Cottonian Vitelliiis, A. vi., afterwards burnt; and the Cambridge Manuscript, Dd. i., 17, which is the one marked B in the Monumenta Historiea Britannica. Thirdly, we have Gale's, in 1691, from the Cambridge Manuscript, Ff. i., 27, marked A in the Monumenta Histo- riea Britannica, and the above mentioned Cottonian Manu- script, Vitellius, A. vi. Now to explain the verses which occur nowhere else except in the Cambridge Manuscript, marked A, and con- sequently only appear in one of the three first printed edi- tions. The said Cambridge Manuscript is notable for several peculiarities. It ends with the Hisforia, and has no part of the Epistola. Instead of the usual long preface, it has one very much condensed, and at the same time varied ; and has also numerous verbal emendations of the text : likewise, it has the list of Capitula, or headings of chapters, which do not occur in any other manuscripts.' We have here, then, sufl&cient to throw light on the enig- matical lines which seem merely to apply to the alterations made in that particular manuscript edition ; and we can thus, with some degree of confidence, give the English of them, as follows : " Reader, now may est thou peruse the History of Gildas Cormac, edited in a better form, and more correct as to sense, according to the transciipt of the preceptor. It is a history superior to those more timidly written ; for it reproves many of the proud and overbear- ing." The preceptor was, of course, some official person in the Monastery where the copy was made. It will be observed that Gildas is here called Gildas Cormac, which last addition is not an uncommon Celtic name, and implies, " Son of the Church"; i.e., "faithful and warm supporter of the Church." We know no more about it ; this being the only instance in which the two names Gildas and Cormac occur conjoined. But there are still some rather curious particulars con- 80 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. netted with the said Cambridge Manuscript A of Gildas. The medieval editor of it was evidently under a species of mistake or delusion, the circumstances of which we may state to have been these. He was the possessor of merely : a copy • of the Historia without the Epistola : in fact, of only the first part of the work. At the same time he ap- pears to have known by report, or otherwise, that there should be a second part belonging to it, the nature of which, as a cfrcular-letter to the kings and clergy of Britain, as the Epistola in reality is, it is evident he did not understand, but supposed it a common history; and recorded an anecdote which is not otherwise come down to US: — that the potentates of the time, on receiving it, threw it into the fire. Entertaining this idea, that a part of the work was lost, he had the absurdity to suppose that the very significant paragraph which Gildas himself added to his preface to give a summary of his Historia, or first part, was the an- nouncement of his second ; though Gildas had merely given that summary to show his reason for introducing' historical matters into his circular ; in fact, to give a greater colour to his reproofs, from the constant miscon- duct of Britain and its princes from old times, of which he was able to cite instances. Therefore, he reinserted these shorter Capitula at the place corresponding with the end of c. 26 of the present edition; though the manuscripts used by Polydore Vergil and Josseline, plainly show that it never originally stood there. Then he adds a note ia the margin. " Fecit nam que ipse Gildas librum magnum de regibus Britonum et de prceliis eorum, sed quia vitu- peravit eos multum in illo libro incenderunt ipsi librum ilium." In English : " For the same Gildas wrote a great book concerning the kings of the Britons and their wars, which they caused to be committed to the flames, because he blamed them much in it." After this, he concludes with the three verses on which we have already com- mented: " Historiam Gildse Cormac," etc. 81 CHAPTER III. SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ARTHUR MABUTER, KING OF THE BRITONS. PART I. HIS BIRTH AND PARENTAGE; WITH VARIOUS PROOFS OF THE GENUINENESS OF HIS HISTORY, AND A PROPOSED CHRONO- LOGICAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE EVENTS OF HIS REIGN. Before commencing our account of this ancient British king, whose actions were so heroical in the defence of his country, that they almost seem like romance, and of whom, indeed, much romance has actually been written, it may be as well to say a few words respecting Dumnonia, the particular state in Britain over which he reigned ; Britain then being divided into various kingdoms, and his family having been seated on the throne of Dumnonia for many generations. This state was one of those of the highest reputation in the island : and we must be a little descrip^ tive of the territory which it occupied. The Dumnonian kingdom was situated in a part of Britain, which at various periods has had a marked repu-* tation in several respects. It is now considered, from the mildness and salubrity of its climate, the Italy of the island ; and a land of plenty, from the cheapness of pro-* visions ; whilst the monied world knows of it more parti- cularly from its mines, which in some cases, as those of Wheal Basset, and Maria Basset, have produced almost fabulous abundance. For its mines it was also famed from early antiquity : witness Strabo and Diodorus Sicu- lus. A part of it is thickly studded with mountains,, and the inhabitants of those regions seem to have been M 82 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III. regarded as of larger stature formerly. Territorially, ac- cording to modern divisions, this ancient British kingdom comprised Cornwall and Devonshire, and part of Somer- setshire : and it was separated eastward from another ancient British state, called the Belgae, by the rivers Parret and Axe. It appears to have been the part of Britain which first obtained in remote times some comparative degree of civilization, and was the earliest to possess a coinage, as testified by the large collection of gold coins formerly discovered at Karnbre ; which are of the most primitive types known in the island. (See the Coins of Gunoleline and of the Ancient Britons, p. 139.) Its sovereign, Dyfnwal Moelmyd, had an extensive sway in Britain as early ' as two centuries at least before the Christian era : and its inhabitants are considered to have traded from very ancient times with the Phoenicians, to which their advance in civilization may be attributed. In process of time, how- ever, they were eclipsed by the rising power of the Belgic Gauls in the island, who had established themselves, after several invasions, and are believed to have subdued the Dumnonii, under Beli Mawr, or Belinus the Great, their sovereign, about 85 years before Christ. Soon after, they are found to form part of the dominions of Cunobeline, his grandson. On the Roman invasion, in the time of Claudius, these people, together with the Belgae, made a prolonged resistance against the Romans during the years 45 and 46. (See the Britannic Researches, pp. 325- 833.) Nevertheless, when the Romans had completed their conquests here, they appear to have treated them with singular distinction ; since no garrisons are recorded as being placed within their limits, and they continued to exist, though tributaries, as a distinct native power. This seems to have brought them forward to a pre-eminence among the other tribes when the Romans left, and they supplied, in the person of Constantino of Armoiica, who was of the lineage of their kings, though, indeed, he came over to Britain from Gaul, the first independent sovereign of the island. After him, they lost the chief sovereignty for two reigns, those of Vortigern and Vortimer, when it passed to a state of Britain called the Demetse; soon, however, they set up a concurrent dynasty, and recovered PT. I.] ARTHUR MABUTER's BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. 83 the full exercise of the power under Aurelius Ambrosius, in the year 481. They retained it to the year 557, when the progress of the Saxons in the south of Britain became so considerable, and, in particular the newly formed Anglo- Saxon kingdom of Wessex became so formidable, that they began to be someAvhat isolated in their position in Britain, and their communications with the other Britons intercepted. Nevertheless, they continued a vigorous re-, sistance against the Saxons after they had lost the sove- reignty paramount, till they were conquered by Athelstan, in the year 932. (See the Britannic Researches, p. 81.) They still, however, preserved a species of independence down to the time of William the Conqueror, when he made Moreton, one of his retainers. Earl of Cornwall ; and with this all semblance of sovereignty departed from them. So much of the Dumnonii, with whom it has been necessary to acquaint the reader ; the ancient history of our island having hitherto been much neglected in these earlier parts of it, so that many who may consider them- selves well versed in our history, and, perhaps, may be well read in numerous current works, may have never heard of them. Having done this, we may now proceed to enter somewhat briefly on the topic of the birth and parentage of the individual of whom we propose to treat. It appears from the tenor of Cambrian story, that the descendants of Bran ap Llyr, or Asclepiodotus, an ancient British king, had been on the throne of Dumnonia since the year 304. The troubles incident on the rebellions of Carausius and AUectus were ostensibly the means of bringing this family forward ; the said Bran ap Llyr, or Asclepiodotus, having been mainly instrumental at the head of his forces in reducing the latter usurper. Their adherence to the interests of Rome was undoubtedly strong ; and so identified did they become with the people whom they governed, that they very usually are called the Dum- nonian, or Cornubian family. (See Gunn's Nennius, p. 147, and other works.) Several of the heads of this race, besides being rulers of their own state, were elected kings of the Britons. One of the princes of this line acquired, we can- not say how, the chieftainship of a district in North Wales ; and this person, whose name was Conan Meriadaug, made a new feature in their history. And what he did was this. 84 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAF. III. He adopted the cause of Maximus, the well known usurper of the fourth century, and carried over an expedition, composed of great multitudes of the Cambrians, to Armo- rica, where he and they ultimately settled. The family thus became divided into two branches ; the one having sway in their new transmarine location, the other in Britain, Constantine, a distinguished member of the Armorican branch, was iijvited back to Britain, as we have before alluded to, to be the chief in command against the Saxons ; and the branch so returned seems to have obtained, after no long interval, the territories of the other which had remained behind in the island. The Constantine we have mentioned, died possessed of the throne ; but, soon after his death, his two sons, then of immature age, were obliged to be conveyed away, owing to political commotions, to the old quarters of the family, in Armorica. After a time they returned, and Aurelius Ambrosius, the eldest son, ascended the throne of Britain ; and, after some vicissi- tudes, became a very prosperous sovereign as well as a successful commander, but left no offspring competent to succeed him. (See the History of Gildas, c. 25.) Uther Pendragon, therefore, who had been his jjrincipal general, filled his brother's place; and he conducted the affairs of the Britons with very tolerable success from the year 504 to 517 ; and, being the father of our hero, a remark or two may be required respecting him. The impression, from all we read of him, which, with one exception, in Triad 90, where he is incidentally men- tioned, is solely in the ancient British Chronicles , is, that he was a rough, uncultivated Celtic chief, with consider- able military talents, reminding one of several of the Cam- brian leaders of the later Middle Ages. Uther seems to have been a contrast to his brother Ambrosius, who is represented as a person of polish and refinement. As to his acts. He had, it seems, obtained several victories over the Irish and Saxons, as a general to his bi'other Ambro- sius; and, when he came to. the throne, he gained person- ally some further successes over the Saxons, and cultivated a close alliance with the Caledonians, whilst he appears to have left it to his generals to contend with the West Saxons. Uther, except in one instance, as has been said, is unmentioned in the Triads; and that instance relates tO: PT. 1.] ARTHUR MABUTEr's BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. 85 some dealings of his with a conjuror, from whom he extorts his secret. We, perKaps, should add, that the year in which this sovereign came to the throne, is supposed to be sufficiently known by the appearance of a comet, which is mentioned in history. (See Roberts' Chronicle of Tysilio, p. 131, and Britannic Researches, p. 67.) To continue. It chanced that there was a viceroy or deputy in Dumnonia under the preceding king, named Gorlais, who had married a Caledonian lady of beauty and accomplishments, daughter of Amlaud, king of Strath- clyde ; and descended, indeed, from Gael Goedhebaug, the ancient rival of Arthur's family. (See Williams' Mon- mouthshire.) Her name is handed down as Eigyr, Igren or Igerna; and from an illicit connection with this person, afterwards the wife of Uther, Arthur was born. We have this parentage in the Chronicle of Tysilio, but it is also in great part confirmed by Nennius in his History, c. 63, for our hero is there called " Arthur Mabuter", that is Arthur Uther's son. A feud was carried on afterwards between Uther and Gorlais ; and in the end the latter was slain at his fortress of Tintagel, on the Bristol Channel. Leland found a tradition of the country still current in his time, that Arthur was born at Padstow in Cornwall (see his Collectanea, iii, 27) ; but the precise date of his birth is unknown. It probably occurred about the year of the Christian era 499 ; as some represent him eighteen years of age when he came to the throne, in 517, on the death of his father, though others only fourteen. If eighteen, as- Uther was elected king in 504, his birth took place consequently five years before that period, which point we seem necessitated to adopt, contrary to Tysilio, who places the event in the year 504, or soon after. The events connected with his origin are disguised by the form of romance in which they are communicated to us ; but we have confined ourselves to what appears to be the main fact of his parentage ; avoiding romance as much as possible. But some one may say, " I not only disregard the account of his origin, but I disbelieve the whole story of Arthur altogether ; and consider it nothing more than a fabrication of the Troubadours, or some other inventors of 86 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. HI. the same class." We shall endeavour to give proof enough to the contrary. It may be right, however, to make a remark or two on the scepticism which is some- times found to exist in his behalf. The nature, then, of our subject is such, that even in this commencing part of it we are obliged to advert to the point, whether there ever was such a person as Arthur, to be able to know that we are treating of a reality, and not of an imaginary*personage j to show that he is not a mere non-entity, a creation of the fancy, an illusion, an historical will-o'-the-wisp, a spectre of the Brocken, as some have maintained ; and unless we do this, we shall not be pro- ceeding on a due basis. The cavils on this head, we must intimate, are to be met in two ways : by proofs ; and by answering objections ; both which methods it will be necessary to adopt. We have not, however, the whole work to do, as it has par- tially been done before, by various talented individuals, to whom we shall have occasion to refer in the sequel. Our endeavours will now rather be, to render proofs already brought forward more complete, to supply obvious illus- trations of his life and times, and approximate the account of him to the usual line of regular history, as far as avail- able materials permit. The prejudices entertained by many on our present subject, are certainly flagrant and unreasonable; which, when they shall be removed, may enable the evidences and elucidations which can be brought forward to be better estimated. Those who deny the existence of Arthur are not always aware, that they have chronological difficulties to encounter in doing so; and the chronology of his times is sufficiently known, to enable us to bring in an argument with effect on this head. We have a counter objection to propound to objectors, which we have already propounded to them» before, in the Britannic Researches, on this topic, to which we may safely challenge an answer; namely, if Arthur were not king of the Britons from the year 517 to 542, what other person was % It is pretty certain the interro- gation will not be answered ; and the objection* applies the stronger, when it is considered that those were times when, from the pressure of foreign enemies, they could do less than ever without their usual pendragon or leader PT. I.] CREDIBILITY OF ARTHUR MABUTER's HISTORY. 87 in, war. It is known that they had several such leaders before the first of the two dates ; and it is known also, that for a century or two after the last of them, they Avere never without their chief-supreme or generalissimo in war. As to the direct proofs of his existence, they are com- prised within a short compass; and we might as well bring them forward at once, without much comment, as they speak sufficiently for themselves. He is mentioned, then, by the Cambrian poets Taliesin and Merddin Wyllt, who were his contemporaries. His existence is recorded in the Histories of Nennius and Ty- silio, and in the Armorican Chronicle of Mount St. Michael, and in the History of William of Malmesbury, and not denied by William of Newburgh, the sharpest controver- sialist of his day, in regard to topics of ancient British history; nor by Polydore Vergil, who mostly rejected the early chronicles. We have, then, a certain weight of authority, which meets us at the first glance of the busi- ness ; but we shall find, in the sequel, many other evi- dences, and much additional illustration. In pursuing, then, our research, we may remind our readers that Arthur, being of the Dumnonian branch of the British Celts, who, within about fifteen years after his death, were entirely set aside from supplying the sove- reigns paramount of the Britons, and whose separate lite- rature, with but small exceptions, has altogether perished, he became of less national interest to the Cambrians, either of Wales or of Strathclyde, and so did not obtain a suffi- cient annalist among them, while the due and proper historians of his own nation had ceased. It is true, that we can safely argue, by induction, that he must have had a somewhat lengthened page in the original^history from which the Triads were composed ; but we infeFThat, on the appearance of these last, about the beginning of the ten th century, the primary narrative soon became lost or destroyed. It would seem only a very natural consequence, that, in proportion as exact details were wanting, fable would take its place ; so we find the British prince become the subject of innumerable romances and legends ; and, according to Mr. Hoberts, in his History of the Britons, p. 145, his story was often represented in pageants, mean- ing melodramas, or something of the kind. Neither, then, 88 SIXTH CENTURY HISTOllY, "[cHAP, III. the author of the Chronicle, under the name of Tysilio,-— ; believed to have been written about the year 1000, — nor Giraldus Cambrensis, tw^o centuries afterwards, could find detailed accounts of him clear of the extravagant fictions which are usually connected with his name, life, and ex- ploits. His history from that time, and, indeed, before, has become like an entangled ball of twine, requiring both attention and patience to unravel it. We will, however, show the present state of current ideas in respect to the general credibility of the life and acts of this ancient commander and king, of whom we now treat ; and, continuing somewhat in the line of our pre-, ceding research, we may observe, that it is very natural that accounts full of extravagances should make sceptics ; and in this case the main vehicle of what was popularly known respecting him, was the Chronicle of Tysilio, or, rather, the same as incorporated, in a very distorted form, and with many more revolting extravagances still, in Geof-. frey of Monmouth's History. It could, then, no otherwise be expected, but that the eff'ect of which we have spoken, should be produced ; and doubts in abundance have, in consequence, been excited from time to time, not only as to his actions, but as to the reality of his existence. This occasioned Leland, in the reign of Henry VIII, to write his Assertio Arthuris, to show, at least, that there was such a person, and that he was a great commander and prince- in his time. Leland must have had weight ; nevertheless we find Gerebrard, the chronicler, as quoted by Usher {^Primordia, p. 272), expressing his disbelief that there ever was such a person, a little subsequent to the middle of the sixteenth century ; and there is no doubt that Gerebrard represented a numerous class of disbelievers at that time throughout Europe. From Iceland's time, however, opinions have been divided into two classes : some viewing the reality of this insular monarch as an historical fact ; others not being persuaded of it. In this state the question remained in the time of Whitaker, who wrote his History of Manchester in 1773; and in his 4to. edition examined rathen particu- larly the testimonies in favour of the history of this ancient commander ; and, what is more, endeavoured to assign the- localities of his twelve noted battles,— a research declined. FT. I.] CREDIBILITY OF iRTHUR MABUTER's HISTORY. 89 even so long ago as the twelfth century, by Henry of Huntingdon, on the ground that the names were become obsolete. Archbishop Usher, likewise, in his Primordia, had not touched upon this point to any purpose. How- ever, notwithstanding his learning and acut6ness, Whitaker failed considerably in his endeavours to ascertain, with precision, the places in which the twelve engagements severally were fought ; and assigns some of them to Lan- cashire, which certainly, at that time, was no battle-field between the contending parties. Several of his assign- ments were, however, correct ; and the fact that some of the localities could be satisfactorily pointed out, — indeed, many of them : a circumstance which was unexpected, — ■ produced very favourable results. His vindication, also, otherwise proved very effective, and, joined to the printing, in 1811, of the genuine text of the Chronicle of Tysilio, Geoffrey of Monmouth's original; and the various editions of Nennius, in the first half of the present century, and the Cambrian poets becoming more read; — all this has prepared the way for the true state of the question being known. We have also the concurring testimonies in the affirmative of Sharon Turner, Lingard, Lappenberg, and Ritson : we will refer, however, more particularly to the whole class of vindicators in our subsequent pages, as we have first to state, somewhat in detail, the objections which we have to meet. In adverting, then, to the scepticism which, even now, occasionally manifests itself on this topic, there appears" an opening to make a remark to advantage. That part of the literary world which more particularly takes an interest in medieval romances and fictions, in all their endless varieties, is inclined to add this history to the number; not considering any part of it as real history, but as fiction altogether. Indeed, the medieval romances founded on this story, like capriccios in music, deviated much from their subject, and were such as to inspire a merited disbelief; and they would most especially have done so, if they had furnished the whole attainable evi- dence we could have, and there were nought else. Other evidence, however, there was and is. The sentiments, we should say, of historical students are very different ; but even some small portion of these may be biassed, by emi- - ■ N 90 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP. III. nent scholars in medieval literature, of the class we have just mentioned. We have already briefly adverted to a certain series of evidences, to show the proper basis of our present inquiry; we may now, therefore, refer to the objections of a late writer of talent and reputation, whom we must place in the historical class, and who thus may be considered one of the few exceptions to the preceding remark. We must, however, make a qualification, that, though learned and acute, he was somewhat of an irregular genius in various topics of primeval research. Besides, there is scarce a general rule which is not attended by some few exceptions; and we will accordingly take the various objections which he makes, and endeavour to respond to them. They may be found in the Cyclops Christianus of the Honourable Algernon Herbert, 8vo., 1849, pp. 212-216. Mr. Herbert's first, second, third, and fourth Objections against the reality of the existence of Arthur, whichj though enumerated under four heads, in fact involve only one adverse point, are founded on the mystical and cabal- istic ideas connected with his name by the Celts, which ideas and notions of theirs, ranged into various forms of the most shadowy and unreal speculation. But Mr. Herbert ought himself to have been aware of the nature of these vagaries of the Bards, as he treated very fully of them, in the same work whence we have taken these ob- jections. We may observe, that they formed cabalistic and mystical opinions of persons sufficiently known to have existed ; as of Maximus, the Roman usurper in Britain^ and of others: the doing so, in fact, constituted only a part of the machinery of their poetry. Indeed, it is almost sur- prising that so acute an inquirer should have raised a diffi- culty of the kind. If there be any weight in Mr. Herbert's objections, thus propounded, then neither Cunobeline nor Aurelius Ambro- sius, as well as Arthur, had real existence, for mysticism has been ■ busy, with each of them. In fact, the Druids first, and the Bards after them, involved themselves deep in mysticism.. There was, as it were, a species of markd; for this commodity in early Britain; and as fresh food was required, from time to time, for the prevailing taste, the feigned supernatural influences, or wonderful adventures, PT. 1.] MR. Herbert's objections. — gwenhwyvab. 91 of this or that personage, were added to the general stock. There was a plentiful accompaniment of genii and demons; and no hisarre embellishment was spared. The practice went on increasing, down to an advanced period of the Middle Ages, to which many of the magical tales relating to Arthur indeed belong ; and at last it reached its ulti- mate, and;, perhaps, most intense development, in the romances of chivalry. These fictions, after the times of the Druids, were meant for mere amusement; and we may pronounce them harmless, as far as it affects the question of the existence of any known historical character. His fifth Objection is to the name of his father, Uther, which he interprets " supernatural," or " the portent," and as not a name, still less a Roman name, which, in his case, he says, whose lineage is given out as Roman, might have been expected. Accordingly, he considers that this savours of mysticism and romance, more than of reality. In an- swer, the name Uther, compounded of " uch" and " erch," means no more than what would be expressed in Latin as " prse-terribilis," if there were such a word, or " very ter- rible ;" and, in times altogether warlike, such an appella* tion might be given to a child intended from his cradle to be a warrior. Nor was it necessary for him to have strictly a Roman name. Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon, though of Roman descent from Asclepiodotus, their ancestor, yet were Celts by nation, habits, and associations. No ancient authority implies, that the father of the two brothers was a Roman. Gildas merely says, that Ambrosius was of a Roman family — " gentis Romanse," nothing more; imply- ing, that his descent was originally from the Romans; and the head of the family, the Roman ancestor, we know lived many generations previous to his time. Objection sixth is, that Arthur had three wives, all of the same name, Gwenhwyvar, and daughters of different people; which could not be meant for a fact. And why not % Should not that last circumstance have opened the eyes of the certainly highly learned and talented objector, that the name was titular % Gwenhwyvar, Weneveria, or Gwenever, is varied, in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History, IX., 9, in a way aplparently more reasonable than usual with that author ; for he informs us that she was named " Gwanhumara," which imports, in the ancient British 92 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY, [cHAP. HI, language, high lady, or queen. It consequently may easily be imagined, that the wife of the king of the Britons was usually styled so ; at least, in those times. We have not the wife of any other pendragon of this ^ra mentioned by name ; and thus, we are so far deprived of corroboration. However, this explanation removes the inconsistency of the three queens being all of the same name ; and also clears Arthur of being necessarily either a bigamist, tri^ gamist, or polygamist; as there might have been inter- mediate divorces. The usual term " Gwenhwyvar," we may add, has much the same signification ; but the former appears to show the nature and formation of the title more obviously. Ohjection seventh goes to the same point as the first four; namely, that the history of Arthur is a mere myth of the . same class as several in the Mdbinogion ; as the conceal? rnent of Bran's head, the imprisonment of Elphin, etc., etc. In reply, see the answer to the said first four objections. Ohjection eighth is, that neither Gildas nor Bede meu' tion Arthur. In reply, Gildas neither mentions the Bri- tish king ConstaMine, nor his, son Constans, nor Uther Pendragon. Indeed, his subject didnoT" indispensably require it; for that turned on other points besides the line of ancient British history. But here Mr. Herbert might have objected, that likewise Gildas had omitted to mention him in any other historical work ; and duly to respond to this, we must be allowed a short digression, to show that a political feud of the day, attended with a tragical cata» strophe, which came very nearly home to Gildas, prevented him from becoming his biographer. We have already briefly alluded to the afl"air in our preceding chapter, but must here endeavour to set it forth a little more in length, though we can only collect the circumstances of it some- what imperfectly, from the Life of Gildas, by Caradoc of Lancarvan, cc. 5 and 6 ; but the facts seem pretty well ascertained to have been these : Howel, son of the Strathclyde king, whose name we have before mentioned as given with some uncertainty, in the forms Caw, Can, jmd Gawolan, was the eldest of a numerous family of brothers, of whom Gildas Badonicus was one. We are not able to specify which of the Strathclyde states was the one which owned Caw, or Gaw- PT. I.] ME. Herbert's objections. — gildas. 93 olan for its lord: soon, however, after the conclusion of Arthur's Saxon wars in the north and middlemost parts of England, or about the year 534, this Howel, otherwise called Huail, came to the throne after his father's death, and acquired great popularity among the Britons; that is, we may understand, more especially among the Caledonian Britons. We know not the intermediate steps of the affair, hut he put himself forward as a candidate for the pen- dragonship" of the island, and soon became at variance with Arthur, the possessor of that dignity; making frequent inroads into some patrimonial territories which Arthur possessed, near Carlisle. There is no indication, however, that he received much support from the Britons generally. For, according to the tenour of these accounts, his retreat being cut off in one of these inroads, he was fain to flee to the Isle of Man, to which place he was quickly followed by his rival, and slain. Arthur exulted, as having freed himself from a most formidable opponent ; but a heavy load of grief oppressed Gildas, his brother, then engaged in teaching, as a missionary, at Armagh, under the auspices of the Irish king, who was for a time inconsolable. Returning to Britain shortly subsequently, he was received by St. Cadoc, and met by Arthur, with the British princes and clergy, soon after his landing; and the slayer of his brother having asked pardon, was forgiven, and even is said to have received a kiss of peace and a blessing, while the stern British warrior was overcome with tears. The de- scription of the scene is thus given : '-' At ille sicut pri- raitus fecerat cognito rumore de obitu fratris, indulsit inimico: veniam postulanti osculum dedit, et benignissimo animo benedixit osculatum. Hoc peracto rex Arthurus dolens et lacrimans," etc. — Vita Gildce, c. 6. In English: " But he, Gildas, as he had done from the first, when the rumour reached him of his brother's death, forgave his enemy. On his requesting pardon, he gave him a kiss, and when he had done so, blessed him with the greatest benignity; and while this was transacting, the king, Arthur, burst out into wailing and tears," etc. However, though this might have been so, yet to this cause is attributed that the saint never mentioned him in his writings on ancient British matters. Gii-aldus Cambrensis may be allowed to speak on this 94 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III. subject, wlio has a passage in point, in his De IllaudibiUbus IVaUice, — that is, on the objectionable things of Wales,— c. 27, which is only to be found in print in Wharton's Angrlia Sacra, vol. ii., p. 448, c. 11. By that, it appears that Gildas both wrote an account of Arthur and of the Dumnonian family. The words of the author are curious, and are well deserving to be given in the original, with the exact translation. They are as follows : " De Gilda'vero qui adeo in gentem suam acriter in- vehitur dicunt Britones quod propter fratrem suum Alba- nia; principem quem rex Arthurus occiderat offensus hoc scripsit, unde et libros egregios quos de gestis Arthuri et gentis suae laudibus multis scripserat audita fratris sui nece omnes ut asserunt in mare projecit; cujus rei causa nihil de tanto principe in scriptis authenticis expressum invenies." This in English is : " The Britons say, in re- spect to Gildas, who inveighs so much against his own nation, that he wrote under the excitement of the death of his brother, prince of Albania (i.e., Strathclyde), whom Arthur the king had put to death ; also, they assert, that from the same cause, when he heard of his brother's death, he threw a number of excellent books into the sea, in which he had treated with much commendation of the deeds of Arthur, and of those of his family. From this cause, you will find no account of so eminent a prince in authentic writings." We have already explained, at the previous page 79, that the marginal note in the Cambridge Manuscript, A, professing to give information that a history of the British kings and their wars was written by Gildas Badonicus, and that the same was committed by those potentates to the flames, is, in all probability, entirely without founda- tion. It appears, indeed, to have been based on an error entertained by the medieval editor of the said Manuscript, to which we have before sufficiently alluded ; and have pointed out that the fact to which he refers, relates more obviously to quite a different transaction. We thus clear away the superfluous matter ; and the account of Giraldus is thereby the rather substantiated : we mean, so far that no opposite account is set up. The work of Gildas, then, which actually went to the point of being a memoir of Arthur and of his family, is 'T. I.] MR. Herbert's objections.— gildas. 95 )erished. Arthur lost his biographer, the writer Avhom jiraldus would have considered authentic ; the vigorous md truthful touches of whose pen would have saved his nemory from the records of folly and bombast. But it ;eems certain enough that Gildas has an allusion, though nerely an allusion, to Arthur in his subsequent work, De Excidio Britannice, c. 32. That passage is, indeed, one which is singularly enigma- tical ; but is apparently of only one interpretation, vyhich is, that it applies to our British prince. It occurs in the invective addressed by Gildas against one of the island kings named Cuneglas, who was contemporary with him- self. It has been necessary to touch upon this passage before, in ordeT to fix a chronological point connected with the first publication of the De Excidio; and here we must touch again upon it, to meet Mr. Herbert's objections, being much connected with our subject ; and we must likewise now give the words in which it is expressed, which we have not done on the former occasion : "Ut quid in nequitiae volveris vetusta fece, et tu ab ado- lescentise annis Urse multorum sessor, Aurigaque currus receptaculi Ursi, Dei contemtor sortisque ejus depressor, Cuneglase ! Homana lingua lanio (leo) fulve," etc., etc. We may render this into English thus : " And thou, too (of whom I now speak), who hast been wallowing from youth in thine accustomed dregs of iniquity ; thou, the Bear, the ruler of many, and the charioteer of the car of the Bear ; thou art the contemner of God, and the depres- ser of his inheritance (the Church), O Cuneglas ! whose name, translated into the Roman tongue, implies tawny lion," etc. It would seem from this, that, though a reconciliation had taken place between Gildas and Arthur, as we have just seen, yet that, nevertheless, the saint did not consider his late brother's antagonist as exempt from admonitions given, as his were, from a good motive. Arthur, there- fore, at the time of writing the De Excidio, was included in the species of pastoral reproofs addressed, as they now stand, more particularly to five kings, therein named, of the island. There is scarcely any doubt, from the context, that he originally made the sixth. This being so, we have explained sufiiciently before how the name Arthur admits 96 SIXTH CENTURY HISTOKT. [cHAP. Ill, of being interpreted Arth-erch, or "fierce bear"r' and there is but little doubt that Gildas had represented him, under that similitude, as dilacerating his brother. This explains why Cuneglas, who is said to have been a king of a small district between the Severn and the Wye, and whom we may understand to have been Arthur's aider and abettor, is reproached in terms by which Arthur is alluded to : that is, bv calling him a " bear" too ; or one like his master ; the '*Bear's charioteer", etc. We have thus again had occasion to refer to this men- tion of Cuneglas in the De Excidio, so highly useful in illustrating the nature of that work, as also our present subject, of Arthur Mabuter. If the reader will turn to page 75, ante, he will see how it is that the text of Gildas stands as it does at present with regard to the terms used in respect to this person : namely, that Arthur having died before the work was ultimately completed, the part relat- ing to him was struck out ; while the lines applying to Cuneglas were allowed to remain, Lewis Morris, the antiquary, in one of his letters on Welsh history, written in 1 745, and printed in the Gentle^ man's Magazine for July 1790, pp. 589-591, is inclined to think that the expressions implied that Cuneglas was chief .charioteer, i. e.. Master of the Horse to Arthur. We men- tion this to give the reader the benefit of his criticism,, though it does not appear to be of any weight. In regard to Bede r he was writing an ecclesiastical his-^ tory, and therefore might not have mentioned a warrior whose acts were not immediately connected with the topics of which he treated. Objection 9, is, that the actual successes in war of Arthut Mabuter were not considerable enough to establish so high a reputation as he possesses in bardism, since he did not expel the Saxons, and deliver his countrymen ; and that,, therefore, his whole story, from beginning to end, is no more than fiction, and a tale of mythology. In answer, we may maintain the contrary to the first part of the objec- tion, namely, that his successes were considerable, though he did not drive out the Saxons. As to the seeond part, it may be affirmed that Arthur's victories having prevented the Saxons from rapidly consummating their conquest of the island ; and his keeping these fierce invaders at bay FT. I.] MR. Herbert's objections. 91 for a quarter of a century, supported, as they were, by the _ffihele-ef Germany, and, as it may be said, by the north of Europe, is an achievement of great magnitude, and suffi- cient to found a real reputation upon, without its being necessary to suppose that the account of his actions is a mere mythplogical tale of the bards. Mr. Herbert divides Objection 10 into two portions: first, that no poetical evidence is receivable in authentication of mythological heroes and warrior saints, in the way of proving their real existence as military chiefs. But with this we have nothing to do ; not appearing to b6 required to answer it one way or the other ; as we do not class the personage of whom we treat in either category. Secondly, he advances that Arthur (i.e., Yarddur) is only mentioned by Lowarch-Hen, in his Moranad on Geraint map Erhyn; as a mythological being. With this we have again nothing to do, as the same Yarddur who commanded in the battle of Llongborth, in 501, was a different person, and lived somewhat prior to Arthur Mabuter, as we have elsewhere noticed. Mr. Herbert, however, is much in error in sup- posing him, the said Yarddur, to have been invested with a mythological character in the poem, there being no trace whatever of any such thing. The existence of legends and fictions, founded on the life and actions of Arthur, we do not deny. It is only natural, that poets and romancers should take advantage of the scope afforded them by his adventures. We would ask how legendary fictions can be considered of conse- quence in this question. Are not numerous legends con- nected with the name of Charlemagne 1 But Charlemagne had a biographer in his contemporary Eginhart, which has brought him within the pale of regular history: an ad- vantage which has been very imperfectly supplied to Arthur by the British history of Nennius. The actual point is, not what fictions are united and blended with the inform- ation come down respecting a reputed historical personage, but rather, what real proofs are there that such a personage ever existed. Sufficient proofs there are in this case which should satisfy us. It is, of course, a liability of eminent historical characters of remote ages, to become subjects for legend and fiction, when detailed accounts have not been preserved, or requisite authentic memorials ; and 98 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. Ill, that it is so, proves highly embarrassing to investigators of plater times. Mr. Pinkerton, in his Inquiry into the History of Scotland, 8vo., 1789, vol. i., p. 76, is inclined to think that Arthur is no other than Aurelius Ambrosius, who was a great champion of the Britons in his day. The idea is, however, wholly i^co^istent with chronology: Aurelius Ambrosius, who commandedTone of the divisions of the Britons at the battle of Aylesford, in theyear455,asthe CArom'cZe of Matthew ^ofWestminster informs us, could never have survived to the year^l^Twhich was that of Arthur's death. In fact, two kings reigned during the intervening period after him: Uther Pendragon, and Arthur. We shall now touch somewhat cursorily on those authors who have employed their pens to show that he was a real historical character : to whom, indeed, the can- did inquirer after truth is certainly indebted to some con- siderable amount. Leland, of whom we have before spoken, — ^the cele- brated, and indeed, almost the only antiquary of the days of Henry VIII., — was the first who wrote in vindication of that portion of British history which relates to the reality of the reign of our ancient British prince, as king paramount and generalissimo of the Celtic population of our island. His work entitled Assertio Arthuris, was printed in 12mo., 1525, and more recently in vol. v. of his Collectanea, published by Hearne, and forms a species of rude essay on the subject. A casual reader might possibly derive but little benefit from it, owing to the confusion of the arrangement, and the great obsoleteness of the diction : suffice it to say, that the main part of his information is derived primarily from a work of Giraldus Cambrensis, which we shall notice in our subsequent pages, entitled his Idber Distinctionum, which he erroneously calls his Speculum Ecclesice; and secondarily, from a manuscript or two which he saw at the abbey of Glastonbury, at his visit to it before its dissolution; as also from the oral communication of some of the monks. Leland certainly took up a position of importance in his day, as to the inquiry; but iu our times, it may be considered more desirable to consult the Liber Distinctionum itself, at the first hand, as also the Institutio Principis of Giraldus, — which last work Leland PT. I.] VINDICATORS. WHITAKER. 99 does not appear to have seen, — than to endeavour to collect the substance of what that author says from his pages. Thus Leland's work, as to the main purport of it, becomes superseded. Likewise,- it is necessary to notify, by way of caution, that the Assertio Arthuris has been somewhat detrimental to. the investigation of the subject, by intro- ducing a false chronology as respects the disinterment of the remains of Arthur at Glastonbury; as we shall see when we come to treat of that event. From him we may revert to Mr. Whitaker, the historian of Manchester, of whom we have also before spoken, and mentioned his endeavours to assign the localities of the twelve battles of the British king, which excited much notice. Besides his doing this, and his remarks in his History of Manchester, he made personally some investiga- tions at Glastonbury abbey, relative to our present topic, which were not altogether without their results. For instance, he ascertained the real existence of the two obe- lisks, though then applied to common purposes. He veri- fied also the circumstance, that the inscribed cross of lead continued extant down to modern times, having been but a few years before his time in possession of Mr. Chancellor Hughes, of Wells. We shall have occasion, at a subse- quent page, to refer most specially to the obelisks and in- scribed cross, which are much mentioned in the alleged discovery of the remains of this ancient king, in the twelfth century. Subsequent to the foregoing we may place an author, Mr. Ritson, who died in 1803, and is chiefly known as an editor of various volumes of medieval English poetry. He left beside, at the time of his decease, three works : his Letters, his Annals of Strathclyde and Caledonia, and his Life of Arthur, which were afterwards published posthumously, and the latter in 1825. This last work consists of trans- lations, in general extremely faulty, of the account in the Institutio Principis of Giraldus, and of almost every other document in which the name of the British prince is men- tioned. There is besides in it, a long translated extract from William of Newburgh; and also the substance of much of the contents of Nennius and Geoffrey of Mon- mouth is given. It is to be regretted that the work is written somewhat in a scoffing style, which is reprehensible 10.0 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III. altogether ; and his remarks are rather desultory on the main topic of his pages, whilst his notes are numerous on various subjects. The editor in his advertisement says, that in his earlier researches, he (Ritson) had doubted of the reality of the existence of his hero. This implies that these,- his later ones, had convinced him of the fact. It may then be suspected that the work, notwithstanding the profession of the editor, may be somewhat incomplete, otherwise it might be thought that he, Mr. Ritson, would not have omitted alluding to his later-entertained views, which had brought more conviction to his mind than his former ones. Sharon Turner is next to be mentioned as one of the illustrators of the life and times of Arthur. His History of the Anglo-Saxons, dto., 1807, contains so clear a state- ment of the case concerning him, pp. 101-108, that the prevalence and continuance of many notorious errors on the subject since, are almost surprising. Not but that his explanations are extremely brief, and his acquaintance with many of his authorities very superficial ; yet the correctness of his judgment enabled him to point out the true line of events, which would seem the more properly to belong to more extensive research. He devotes nearly the same space to the topic of the origin of the numerous Romances connected with the story of Arthur, pp. 108-116, as he had done to the consideration of the events of this era. He labours to prove this whole series of fictions as exclusively Armorican, shewing the transmigration thither of literary men, clergy, and others, as the Saxon conquests advanced in Britain. He may or may not be correct, that much of the story of Arthur may have been concocted there ; — the poetical parts, we mean, for there is no vestige that the Welch bards ever made it the subject of their lays, their mention of this- prince being only occasional; — ^but he is unquestionably in error in supposing that the original document used by Geofirey of Monmouth, in compiling his History, originated in those regions, there being no internal evidence to that effect in the Chnmcle itself. It is easy to see, that the effect of this part of the theory of Mr, Sharon Turner has b^en disparaging to the existing remains of ancient British literature. Besides this, Mr. Turner certainly knew but little of PT, 1.] VINDICATORS.— LINGARD AND LAPPENBEEG. lOl the international divisions of the ancient Britons. Also; the two^earEeT'authors of the isle, Gildas and Nennius, were then but little understood, in comparison to what they have been since, by the publication of late editions ; he therefore, at times, assumes some facts which are now known not to be correct ; and again, at other times, omits much highly important to his subject, which might be brought forward. Lingard and Lappenberg, whom we have before men- tioned, received this part of ancient British history — ob- viously from their leading ideas on the subject as to the general state of the case, since neither of them were intimately acquainted with its details. Indeed, they had only imperfectly caught the thread of the insular story. Lingard quotes Nennius, c. 1, and Gildas, c. 25, for Am- brosius perishing in the war of Guitolinus ; whereas, in reality, neither of them say a syllable on that point. He wrongly makes Ehiothimus to have been Arthur, and mistakes the Saxons for the Scots, in the victory gained by the Britons in the year 429, called the Halleluiatic victory. Lingard's testimony will be found 'at p. 71 of his History. Lappenberg enjoys a considerable European reputation, and has written an elaborate work, bearing on the early history of this island. Had his testimony been adverse, the impression on the continent would have been almost impossible to remove, owing to the fame of the writer. We have, however, no difficulty of that kind imposed upon us, as Lappenberg admits unreservedly the existence of Arthur, and acknowledges his strenuous exertions for the welfare of his country. (See his Anglo-Saxons, pp. 101, 102, and 110, Thorpe's edition.) Two that we have mentioned at a shortly preceding page, Sharon Turner and Ritson, may be deemed to have laboured under a disadvantage, in having indited their works previous to the appearance of the edition by Roberts of the Chronicle of Tysilio. It would, doubtless, have assisted them both materially in their respective depart- ments. It would have afforded the former intelligent writer much insight into the nature -and structure of the ancient British chronicles, and tended to moderate his Armorican theory; while it would have given to the latter 102 SIXTH CENTURT HISTORY. [CHAP. III. some pprtioii of that further information of which he appeared to be desirous. Though we thus speak in approval of Tysilio's Chronicle^ as published by Roberts, yet it must be confessed, that these editorial labours of the learned author constitute the most unequal performance that perhaps ever appeared. It made < a great advance in some respects, and a great retrogression ^n others. The author frequently forms his conclusions in defiance of dates ; and, indeed, in defiance of the results of his own researches. Hia mistakes are as copious and glaring, as his right conclusions at times are striking. Imaginary difficulties are frequently raised by him, which seem quite unwarranted ; and yet there are instances in which he resolves real obscurities with the greatest tact. He is, besides, very defective in the arrange- ment of his materials. His other work, — -his Sketch of Early British History, — though a very useful compilation, presents the same characteristics. It is a circumstance almost unexampled, and not easUy to be accounted for, that the Cambrians, having a docu- ment so important as the work of Tysilio, for the illustra- tion of the history of their country, should have so long delayed to publish it. It had, indeed, been proclaimed as the original of Geoffrey of Monmouth, so far back as the publication of Wynne's History of Wales, in 1693, who specially directed attention to the manuscript in Jesus College Library, Oxford, inscribed with Tysilio's name in the title, while the same manuscript was also cited by Bishop Gibson, in his edition of Camden's Britannia, as apparently the original of Geoffrey of Monmouth ; but it was the movement in Cambrian literature by Owen Pughe, and the spirit of inquiry he excited, which brought it out, by prompting Mr. Peter Roberts, — a good scholar, though with the abatement we have just mentioned, — to undertake the transferring it from the Celtic, and publishing it, which he did ; and as far as regards the translation, with almost uniform ability; and as to the editorship otherwise, par- tially so. However, in the meantime, an opposition had sprung up to all literature of the Cambrian class ; which has rendered even such valuable labours, under all qualifi- cations, as those of Mr. Roberts, less noticed than should have been the case. Nevertheless, the time for the rise of PT. I.] CHKONOLOGY OF ARTHUR MABUTER's REIGN. 1 03 Celtic literature in this country is coming on; and is even now accelerated, by the numerous able works which have been issued of late years from the Cambrian, and, indeed, from the London press. So much in answer to objections. In continuing our observations generally on this subject, it may be especially pointed out, that it adds to the uncertainty of all we know connected with this prince, that there is a difficulty of obtaining chronological data respecting the times in which he lived. Those who have paid attention to ancient British history, cannot fail to notice what an extensive illustration a few dates, obtained collaterally or otherwise, make in the ijarratives of Aurelius Ambrosius and Vortigern ; but, in the case of Arthur, there is not the same scope of noting time ; save that the dates of his. birth, succession to the crown, and decease, are supposed^opularly to be known. We must, therefore, endeavour to extort a species of chro- nology from what we may term somewhat unwilling data. In the result we are enabled to do this, so as to be able to request the reader's acquiescence and reliance with some degree of confidence. . His battles in the north of Britain, with the Saxons, from a, comparison of all the accounts, seem to have been, with the exception of one of them (which will be noted presently), during consecutive campaigns, till at last a pacification was effected with these his inveterate foes. His hostilities, accordingly, in this quarter, with the excep- tion as above, may all be thought to be included within a lapse of eight years before the year 525 had expired. This agrees with ihe dates in Matthew gf Westminster, which, though we cannot receive them as evidence, not knowing Jtheir{^origin, are, in all probability, altogether^corFect for this part of his career. We must be content to give the names solely of Arthur's twelve battles, without details, except, indeed, partially in one instance ; for though details, to some extent, are sup- plied in Tysilio's Chronicle, pp. 139-141, yet it is not known how far they may be borrowed from romance. However, it is considered that we can depend, at least, upon the names of the scenes of action which have been communicated to us both by Tysilio and Nennius, and also are found in the History of Henry of Huntingdon ; for there is no reason- 104 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY, [cHAP. III. able doubt but that he actually fought and conquered at the places specified. Since the time of Whitaker, several who have taken the matter in hand, have been able to improve much on the data he has given us. We may, therefore, adopt those that have been suggested by one or the other investigator, adding only two variations of our own. The first eight battles appear to extend from the year 517 to 525, Occurring, as has been said, in the north of Britain and in Caledonia: — 1. Battle on the river Glen, or Glein, in Northumberland, where there is such a river. 2, 3, 4, and 5, Battles on the Dubglas, in Limnuis, i.e., on the river Dunglas in Lothian, There is, likewise, such a river there ; and Lothian is called " Loeneis" in a pipe- roll of Henry the Second, 6. A battle on the river Bassas, apparently the river Pease, also in Lothian, though there is likewise another river of the same name on the borders of Lancashire and Cumberland, 7, A battle in the Forest of Celidon, which appears to imply the Sylva Caledonia itself, or the forest of that name in Scotland, in the country of the Picts, who had, at this time, for many years been the allies of the Saxons, 8, A battle at Castle Guinnion. "Castellum", the word used, implies an entrenched Eoman city, or town ; and, more especially, it may be understood a walled city or town. Guinnion would, therefore, be Vinovium, or Binchester, in the county of Durham, which was a walled town. All these places, it will be observed, would have been within the ancient northern kingdoms of the Saxons, or in the country of their allies, the Picts, Nennius does not mention the Saxon commanders to whom he was opposed; but-IysUio specially mentions their names, in his Chronicle, as Cledric (Cheldric), Colgrin, and Baldolf. Suffice it to say, that these personages are entirely unknown in history, but they may be judged to be those who ruled in the Saxon kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira, in those days ; or their generals. The Saxons had become established, as has been noted once or twice before in previous pages, since the year 455, in the north of Britain. They settled there at first, under Ochta and Ebissa, in the time of Hengist, Aurelius Am- brosius and Uther Pendragon contended with them strenu-: ously ; and, subsequently to them, the contest was continued PT. r.] CHRONOLOGY OP ARTHUR MABUTER's REIGN. 105 by Arthur, whose manful efforts seem to have much checked their career. After he was removed from the scene, they had, in course of time, further wars with the Britons, as we have before noticed, in chapter ii. ; and in the year 570 they conquered all the eastern part of the kingdom of Strathclyde immediately to their north : in which year the battle of Gododin was fought, the subject of the poetical talents of Aneurin. These were the people to whom, and their allies, the Picts, Arthur Mabuter was opposed in these eight engagements ; when, we may understand, after so much warlike dispute, a period of peace took place in these northern parts. The voice of antiquity appears to have appropriated to the patriotic British king a species of permanent territory at Carlisle and in that quarter ; where it is implied that he resided during the intervals when there was a lull in the hostilities, and held his court. See the authority quoted by Roberts in his edition of TysUio's Chronicle, p. 225 ; and the Scottish metrical romance referred to by Ritson in his Life of Arthur, p. 93 ; and two passages in Bishop Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poitry, vol. iii., pp. 11, 335- There may be, perhaps, further chronicle or other evidence to the point ; and the idea of his being so much in these quarters, when he is described as engaged in scenes of peace, seems uniformly connected with his holding terri- tories here. Respecting its being a reality, that domain lands were held by the British sovereigns in this vicinity, it may be noted that it is incontestable that the British pendragons,or rulers paramount, had such districts or tracts of lands in various parts of the island. Witness their cemetery at Stonehenge, and the towns they founded, or restored, as noted by John Rouse thejchronicler, who made this the chief point of his^search : which towns seem more particularly to have been where there were no powerful British states established, or where we infer, from various indications, that the power of some British subordinate state had be- come dormant, or extinct, of which instances might be mentioned. But as to our present point. We read, in the History of Nennius, c. 66, of a civil war, and battle between Aurelius Ambrosius and a chieftain, or subordinate king, in these parts, named Guitolinus, at a place called Guoloph. p 106 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. Ill, This, admitting it to have been Castle Wellep (the ancient Galatum, mentioned by Antoninus), is only seventeen miles south-east of Carlisle. Thirteen miles, again, from this, in the same direction, is a place still bearing the sig- nificant name of Pendragon Castle, v^hich is near Kirby Stephens. These data may be sufficient to form grounds for our surmises of the acquisitions w^hich might have been made in this vicinity by the British kings during civil commotions. As for the next seven years, there is only one evidence for his being, during that period, in the north of Englandj that is, the battle of Agned, or Edin, or Edinburgh; for his three other battles take place more properly in central Britain, and one of them as far south as the Thames. It may be suspected, however, as many of his military opera- tions had evidently the character of surprises, where any imperfect details are mentioned, that, from his popu- larity in the North during the Saxon war, and being, able, at all times, to collect together a large body of men at a short notice, he was accustomed to traverse great distances, and to appear suddenly on any point where the Saxons or Picts were in the field in force. The poems of the Bretons certainly seem to favour the idea, for they speak of his army in march suddenly appearing on the hills with all due paraphernalia of war. The appearing thus unex- pectedly with his troops, is evidently an idea now connected with him in Britany ; therefore it may be concluded it was founded on some facts of the case anciently. We may cite a line or two from the Bale Arsur, or "Arthur's March", from the Count de la Villemarque's Bursas Breis, vol. i., p. 84: Mab ar chadour a lavare Lavare d'he dad : eur beure Marc hegerien w^r lein ar bre ! In English : " The warrior's son said to his father one morning, there are horsemen coming over the hills." After which is described the impromptu advance of a most power- ful force of cavalry headed by the redoubtable chief him- self. The conclusion then is, that we do not know for certainty his whereabouts for those seven years, but that it may be suspected to have been stiU chiefly in the north. We now, however, proceed to detail his four last battles. PT. I.] CHRONOLOGY OF ARTHUR MABUTER's REIGN. 107 9. A battle at Caerleon, which preferably, in this case, is Warwick, as John Rouse, in his Chronicle, p. 53, ascertained it to have been anciently so called. It will be admitted that it is not probable that"it was Caerleon in Gwent in South Wales, for the Saxons appear never to have had a footing there ; nor was Caerleon the obvious name of Chester, which was usually called Deva. 10. A battle at the river Trat Treuroit, unknown. IiTiact, strictly speaking, no name is given here ; for the battle of Trat Treuroit appears merely to imply the " battle of the Ford or Passage of the Estuary." It would seem that, in the narrative used by Marcus in 822, from which this list of twelve victories was taken, some place was mentioned at which military transactions occurred : after which this vic- tory was described as gained at the passage of an estuarynear at hand. 11 . A battle at Agned : in one copy of Nennius called Agned Cath Bregonium. Agned was the ancient name for Edin, or Edinburgh, in those days, which was the capital of the eastern part of Strathclyde. This implies the resuscitation of the war in the North, and an invasion of Strathclyde by the Saxons or Picts, their allies, and a battle there by Arthur, to expel them ; which, it appears, he did, for Agned, Edin, or Eiddin, remained down to the year 570 in possession of the Britons. 12. A battle at Caer Vyddau, or Silchester ; not at Mount Badon, with which it has been confused. The battle at Mount Badon was fought by Ambrosius, not Arthur, and about forty years before. In corroboration, Gild as appears to speak of the battle of Mount Badon in connexion with Ambro- sius. The Chronicle of Tysilio, p. 141, seems clear on the point; and the Irish Nennius, p. 113, also supports it: indeed, it must needs be so, for it is obvious, from a refer- ence to the History of Gildas, and the date he gives, that the battle of Mount Badon took place several years before Arthur was born. There is still further evidence in the verses of Taliesin on the battle in question, which we may here give7and they are as follow : Gwae intwy yr invydion pan vy waith Vaddon Arthur benn haelion y lafneu by gochion Gwnaeth ar y alon gwaith gwyr gafynion Gouynion gwaed daredd mach deyrn ygogledd, Heb drais heb drossedd. -f\y^ 108 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. Ill, In English : " Alas ! hapless were they in the hattle of Vaddon, when blood tinged the sword of Arthur, head supreme of the princes, when he revenged the blood which had been shed of the heroes, by whose aid the kingdoms of the North had been long upheld." In remark on the above, it appears obvious enough that Vaddon stands for Vyddau ; and it is perfectly superfluous to say Badon was meant, as the use of the B is quite com- mon in the poems of Taliesin. There is a somewhat detailed, though confused, descrip- tion of the battle of Caer Vyddau, or Silchester, in the Chronicle of Tysilio, and in Buchanan's History of Scotland ' from Scotch^hronicles. We may gather that the Saxons were beleagueringThis fortified city in very large bodies, and that Arthur marched from the north with his army to its relief. It would appear that his approach through the parts which were still held by the Britons was unsus- pected ; and that, arriving within five miles of the Saxon positions in the evening, he found not only that they were unapprised of his advance, but were lying, as they sup- posed, in security, and unprepared for an immediate attack. He therefore made a furious onset upon them the same night, passed their entrenchment, and overthrew them, as they lay encamped, with great slaughter ; and the next day routed them again terribly, when, having somewhat rallied, they had gathered together on the adjoining high ground. This great victory, whfch we may place in the year 532, appears to have been followed by an immediate peace~~with Cerdic and the now powerful West Saxon kingdom. The two former battles also, the ninth and tenth, it will be easily understood, were to prevent the Saxons from occupying the central parts of Britain: an object which they accomplished about forty years later. To continue with our chronological attempt to illustrate our subject. This peace then of 532, for so we assign it, forms the great feature of the times. Kudbome apparently tells truth in regard to this pacification, and adpiits that the British king ceded much to the Saxons. Indeed,' the latter had obtained a great victory at Cerdicsford in 527, and conquered the Isle of Wight, with a great slaughter, in 530. Roberts, however, supposes, in his Chronicle of TysiUo, PT. I.] CHRONOLOGY OF ARTHUR MABUTER's REIGN. 109 p. 181, ttat the Saxons acknowledged his sovereignty of Britain in return for the concession,— as, indeed, is most probable ; which^ nevertheless, if it were so, would only have been a fallacious honour and distinction, in exchange for Kent, Susse^, Hampshire, and some other important districts. However, we must consider the prevailing ideas of the times ; as we find it recorded in history, that Hono- rius, the emperor of the west, ceded, in the year 412, to the Burgundians a district near the Rhine, in Gallia Bel- gica ; as also ^tius, the general of Valentinian III, author- ized, in 440, the' Alans to occupy and possess a territory in Gaul. So much for this peace. Now to make use of it for chronological purposes, we must divide it into two portions. It began, as is usually admitted, about the year 532, and ended in 542, by the battle of Camlan, and the renewal of the Saxon dispute. The dividing point is Arthur's quit- ting Britain to engage in wars in which his allies, the Armoricans, had an interest ; which event we may place in the year 537. There are, then, four or five years in which he is believed to have been less in the north of Britain than on former occasions. One reason for judging so, is, that there was the feud with Howel the Caledonian prince, who became king on the death of his father. We have before noticed his opposition, and the unfortunate catastrophe with which his enterprise was attended. He was put to death, as is well known ; but the loss of their favourite chief must have made Arthur himself unpopular with these Caledonian Britons, and we Tiear of him no more in the North. Indeed, thenext_year he is at Menavia in South Wales, along with the' heads of the Church and other British princes, awaiting the arrival of Gildas from Ireland, the brother of Howel, in order to a reconcilia- tion with him ; which is effected, as noted at a previous page. We judge him, then, not to have been in the North of our island, during this period, for a continuance ; and the more especially as, in this interval, an expedition of some magnitude to the north seas, and what we may deno- minate a flying expedition to Ireland, are to be assigned. We venture then to place against these four years — (l)his residence in his own patrimonial territories of Dumnonia ; (2), his progresses or travels in various parts of Britain ; 110 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORT. [CHAP. III. and (3 and 4), the said military events which have been just alluded to. Eegarding Arthur's metropolis, we find, by Triads 52, 64, and 111, that it was Galliwig, or Celliwig, where his queen resided. Triad 52 tells us that the place was ravaged ; by which it might have become more insignifi- cant in after times ; though some think it was the Caer Celemion men^oned as one of the twenty-eight cities of Britain by Nennius. However, a great difiiculty is presented in endeavouring to identify this place. Usher and various antiquaries have supposed it Camalet. If so, Celliwig was out of Dumnonia, and situated in the adjoining province of theBelgae ; which, no doubt, is not impossible, as the same may be judged to have been, at that time, a dependency. Nevertheless, we venture to conclude rather that the contrary may be the case. Add to this, we are entirely without documental evidence that Celliwig, or Celemion, is Camalet : indeed, on the contrary, the ancient map in Hereford cathedral, going back to the twelfth or thirteenth century, shews pretty clearly that Camalet was then called Cadan, The inference from the above seems to be, that the site of Gal- liwig, or Celliwig, is at present unknown. The Cottonian Manuscript, Vespasian, A. xiv., in the Life of St. Carantoc, mentions Dindraithon as a species of head-quarters of Arthur at one period during the career of that saint. There is, however, nothing to shew how long he continued there, or for what cause he resided there. This place, if not the present Drayton in Shropshire, would appear to have been somewhere in that quarter, as Carrum, i.e. Caer Rhun, or Conovium, in Carnarvonshire, is men- tioned in connexion with it. It may be observed further, that, in the Life of St. Iltutus, in the same collection, it is related that the saint visited the court of Arthur, his rela- tion, sailing thither from Armorica by sea. Beyond this, the situation of it is not described. It will be explained in a subsequent page, that the place called the Palace of Arthur, in the province of Goyr (Gower), in one of the Lives of the Saints, is not to be assigned to the Arthur of whom we now treat (Arthur Mabuter), but belonged to another person. It is likewise not improbable that the court visited by Iltutus comes under the same category. PT. I.] CHRONOLOGY OF ARTHUR MABUTER's REIGN. Ill But tlie voice of tradition is not altogether silent as to his palace and residence, and is said to pronounce that Arthur's palace was in the Hundred of Trigg, in Cornwall ; and there the inhabitants designate a place as " Arthur's Hall", which, they say, was the exact spot. It is inserted in Norden's map, as also in the Ordnance Survey, where it is placed two miles somewhat to the north of east from St. Breward's church. The locality is rather desolate, and only foundations remain, which, notwithstanding it stands in an elevated situation, are, owing to a depression of the ground, covered with water. But little appears known about it ; nor is anything suggested, besides the name, to connect it with its supposed ancient occupant. Several kings of this race, it perhaps should be observed, seem noticeable for their migratory habits, as Constantine of Armorica,Uther Pendragon, and Arthur himself, who all seem frequently to have traversed various parts of the island. In respect to these perambulatory habits. The com- monly received accounts of Arthur represent him as attended by two individuals, who seem to have been his almost constant companions. These two persons are described as Bedwer, his "pincerna", or butler, i. e., the master of his entertainments ; and Cai, his " treasurer", or indeed, lite- rally, his " collector", as his name (Caig) imports. Allow- ing for the early days in which our hero lived, this persoh would be called, as we have done above, a treasurer, in modern times. The Lives of the Saints mention these per- sons to have been his attendants, as also that certain mili- tary chieftains, or knights, were so too. Their accounts likewise imply that he was accompanied by his body-guard. To the topic of his retainers we shall again recur. To speak of the descent on Ireland, which must be placed about this time. Such an event is not improbable, but, it is believed, is wholly unsupported by any collateral testimony, being only mentioned in the British Chronicles. As it is positively asserted, and there is no reason for dis- believing it, we have only to suppose that he took part, for a short time, in some of the civil wars in that island, and went over, with a considerable force, for a brief expe- dition, and returned after achieving some successes. We may place this expedition in the year of his conference with Gildas, 534. 112 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III. In respect to his expedition to the North Seas, and con- juering Denmark and Norway (i. e. parts of them), men- ioned by Tysilio in his Chronicle, it happens that we have positive and very satisfactory collateral evidence that he iid interfere in the wars in those parts. The archbishop, Fohannes Magnus, historian of Sweden, who lived in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and w^ho was brother md predecessor of Olaus Magnus, being both archbishops )f Upsal, gives *us some information very relative to the- Doint. He acquaints us that Harold, a leader of the Danes n those days, being overcome in battle by Tordo, king of Sweden, fled to Britain to King Arthur. He further tells is that Arthur, joining his forces with the said Harold, md fitting out a fleet from Britain, Gaul, and Holland, (ubdued the Danes, then fighting for the Swedes, in a naval mttle in the Cattegat. Johannes Magnus appears to affirm jositively that Arthur conquered Denmark. The testimony, we may observe, is all favourable as far IS it goes. The hiring of ships in Gaul and Holland, we nay admit, may have been necessary to transport a large ;xpedition from Britain to those northern quarters. The dctory in the Cattegat is no impossibility ; and the alleged jonquering of Denmark and Norway amounts to no more ban that the restored king, and his friend the British jhief, were received as conquerors wherever they landed n his dominions. There is so different an air given to the story as in Fohannes Magnus, that it seems pretty clear he did not ;opy from the British Chronicles; and his account removes n^ch of the improbability which hangs over the narrative IS in these latter sources. We assign the expedition to the lear 536. The departure from Britain on the Gaulish expedition leems best placed, as we have before observed, in the year )37. He was there actively employed for some consider- ible time ; when, as Tysilio informs us, he returned again o Britain, and, as we may judge, in the year 539. His tay in Britain appears to have been brief; but it was ignalized, if the accounts may be believed, by scenes of plendour of a very dazzling description. They are related by Tysilio as taking place at Caerleon ipon IJske, and were comprised in a national festival of PT. I.] CHRONOLOGY OF ARTHUR MABUTEr's REIGN. 113 three days, to which all Britain, north and south, seems to have been invited, and many persons of note from foreign countries, but more especially from Gaul, whence he had so lately returned. The festival was to celebrate his re- turn, but, no doubt, had a political object, and appears to have been the chef d'oeuvre of all the feasts given by this monarch, who is supposed to have had a particular talent that way. It may be viewed as a kind of Election treat, on a large scale, to the whole of Britain, to secure their votes and interest in his favour. There was, indeed, some need of his thus canvassing them, having been absent from his kingdom for two years, for objects by no means of obvious utility ; and intending a second immediate depar- ture, he thus endeavoured to leave his kingdom with greater confidence. The description of this national festival, as in Tysilio, is well worthy attention ; and, as Mr. Roberts observes, is drawn up with that minuteness and attention to minor incidents which show that the compiler had seen an account which had been written by an eye-witness. The Gwen- hwyvar, or queen, accompanied by some of the^tuniOT^s^of the minor insular kings, takes a part in the festival ; and ceremonials, during these rejoicings, are observed at both the churches of Caerleon, so that the spectators were some- times attracted to one sacred edifice, and sometimes to the other. A somewhat lengthened description and detail are added ; but perhaps the most graphic incident on this occasion is that noted of Bedwer and Cai, who had been elevated to baronies in Gaul, and now exercised, for the last time, their offices about the king's person, as comp- trollers of the entertainments : the one arranging the de- partment of the viands,, with an immense retinue ; the other, equally well attended, that of the beverages. These two faithful retainers, however, who, in Triad 69 are called "Coronetted Knights of battle", from the said baronies with which they had been invested, were soon to give a more mournful testimonial of their attachment to their master, when, he repaired a second time to the scene of hostilities. These rejoicings ended, he appears to have been quickly on his way to the Continent; and, arrived in Gaul he became totally immersed in the political schemes and military arrangements of the Frankish monarch Childebert Q 114 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP, III. the First. He appears to have served him with the fidelity of the most devoted adherent, though with a great sacrifice of his hrave troops. However, his attention was, in the result, painfully withdrawn to things nearer home ; for he was suddenly recalled in the spring of 541, according to British accounts, by the breaking out of Medrawd's insur- rection, and the renewal of the Saxon war. He was at the time just setting out with the Franks on their expedition to invade Italy: an event placed by chronologists three years earlier, in 538, — a difference, which, considering the im- perfect state of the history of those times, is not surprising. Indeed, even the overthrow of the Roman empire by Odo- acer, is variously placed in the year 476 or 479. But to continue. He had lost, in the preceding season, in one of the furious battles which occurred in that country, his two ancient friends and companions, Bedwer and Cai, and, indeed, the flower of his army ; but still was intent on further expeditions when the urgent recal arrived. We shall make the subsequent contest with Medrawd a separate topic in Part iii. of this chapter : in the mean time we shall merely mention that he was very severely wounded in the battle of Camlan, about the close of the year 541, and died in the beginning of 542. Such is the nearest approach we can make to the chro- nology of the reign of this prince. It will be observed that we place the battle of Llongborth nowhere among the details, because it would seem that it is not an even^ which has any connexion with this British chief, though many have supposed so. We will, thei-efore, to dispose of this question, enter upon some remarks on the subject. The battle of Llongborth, that is, of Portsmouth or the vicinity, took place,"aGe&rding to some, just previous to the year 530. We find it mentioned by Llowarch Hen in his Elegy on Geraint ap Erbyn, slain on the occasion ; but, on the other hand, there seems no reason to suppose that the said event occurred at that date, but rather in the year 501, in the reign of Ambrosius ; for the same battle is mentioned, according to all appearance, in the Saxon Chronicle, and there has the date, duly assigned, of 601. Besides the said conflict is not enumerated by Nennius, Henry of Huntingdon, or Tysilio, as one of his twelve battles ; nor can we discern any corresponding circtim- PT. I.] CHRONOLOGY OF ARTHUR MABUTEr's REIGN. 115 stances. However, we must here digress for a moment. Mr. Moses Williams, an eminent Welsh scholar of the last century, asserts (see his edition of Humphrey Lhuyd's Commmtariolum, 4to., 1731, p. 115), that, the Briton Yar- thur, mentioned as commanding at the battle of Llong- borth by Llowarch Hen, is not to be understood as Arthur the renowned British king, but as some other Briton, bear- ing the name of larddur ; which, were it so, would the better agree with chronology, and would correct the mis- take sometimes entertained on this point, there being only one battle of Llpngborth mentioned by annalists, which occurred in the year 501, according to \h.e Saxon Chronicle. We should, perhaps, make a passing remark on the designation come down to us of Port, the Saxon leader in the battle. The name of the locality having been " Por^ tus Magnus", as we find from Ptolemy, it seems rather apparent that, having acquired this district by right of arms, he received some titular appellation from it ; as we find, about thirty years afterward, Wihtgar did from the Isle of Wight: the name " Wilitgar" signifying defender ^jif-Jhat island. We may understand, therefore, tEathis honorary distinction might have been somewhat of this class : i.e.. Port-tog, or "Port-chief"; or again. Port-sieger, that is, " P^Pconqueror," or the like : which not being comprehended in the Middle Ages, only the first part of the name has reached us. Having thus discussed, in a general way, various chro- nological points, we may the better turn our attention to some miscellaneous particulars concerning this ancient chief. Various of them will further meet objections, afid support the truth, of his history. At the same time it will be as well to say that the details, as collected in the ensu- ing part of the present chapter, will be somewhat desultory, as it has been thought best to insert in one place, together, such materials as have come to hand of this nature. After- wards, the expeditions to Gaul, and the war of Camlan, both of which topics it has been thought better to defer to a subsequent chapter, will come on in due course. 116 CHAPTER III. SIXTH CENTURY HISTOKY. THE LIFE AND TIMES OP AETHUR MABUTER, KING OP THE BRITONS. PART II. VARIOUS MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS CONNECTED WITH THIS ANCIENT BRITISH PRINCE. We have before had occasion to speak of the defective state of the accounts which have come down to us of Arthur Mabuter, notwithstanding there is reason to sup- pose that his services were so remarkable for his country. The point is one of some importance to our present subject, and. we may be doing good service to illustrate it a little further, which we may do by referring to some collateral matters. We shall then observe, to say nothing of the miscarriage of the well-meant attempt of Gildas to perpetuate the memory of his achievements, that there were peculiarities in his position which tended to prevent his name from having any great currency in the literature of his times. For if the archives of Dumnonia, to which section of the island he belonged, have perished, so he could have scarcely expected much commemoration in Cambria, since in regard to Taliesin and Lowarch-Hen, the two great lite^ rati of the day, the first appears to have been in the ser- vice of Maelgwyn Gwynedd, or in that of his son, or to have dwelt in his territories; and between this person and Arthur there are evidences of an outstanding feud : while the second, Lowarch-Hen is recorded, in Triad 112, to have been likewise himself at variance with Arthur. This would have its effect in precluding him from being the ET. II.] ARTHUR MABDTER. — DEFICIENCY OF ACCOUJSTS. IIT subject of their epics. We should say the bards were naturally timid in risking the loss of their emoluments, at the court of a monarch who protected them ; while, on the, other hand, we can find no evidence that Arthur favoured this order, which might be another reason for their heing disinclined, at that day, to celebrate his praises: though their successors, in later periods of the Middle Ages, were fond of mystifying on the topic of his history and prowess. Maelgwyn Gwynedd influenced nearly all of South Britain which was at that time clear of the Saxons, Dum- nonia excepted. Besides, if it were not so, there is no great evidence of Arthur's popularity in Britain, out of Dumnonia. The great stand made against him by Me- drawd, in so bad a cause, seems to imply that he had not that hold on the affections of the Britons of this quarter that might have been expected ; and we may observe, he is somewhat lightly spoken of by Caradoc of Lancarvan, in his Life of Gildas. All these circumstances, together with the loss of the services of Gildas, to which we have before alluded, must have operated as a check to adequate accounts of this great commander and patriot having reached us. The injuries of time have done the rest; and whatever sources were within the reach of Tysilio when he wrote his Chronicle, and whatever were the contents of the history relating to our hero from which the Triads were formed, they have certainly not come down to us. Thus it fared with Arthur; and we can find a very parallel case in another eminent British leader, whose doings seem to have been very great for his country. This was Urien Eheged, king of the Gadeni, whose career altogether seems to have been very splendid. We have given a few particulars relating to him in our previous page 31. According to Tysilio, he attended Arthur in his last expedition to Gaul, and took a part in the campaign of Camlan. Afterwards, as we have seen, he made an extraordinary resistance against Ida and Hussa, at the battle of Argoed Llwyfain, and subsequently even carried the war into the kingdom of Northumberland. Now we only accidentally know of these things from the Genea- logies of Nennius, which we have examined in our second 118 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. Ill, chapter, and which, it so happens, have some historical notes added to them. Taliesin likewise has celebrated the battle of Argoed Llwyfain, in a very brief but animated poem. Thus, from these two somewhat casual circum- stances, the name and actions of Urien Kheged have de- scended to us. . The account of him undoubtedly becomes more definite, to a certain degree, from his adversary, Ida the Flame-bearer, being precisely known ; whereas Chel- dric, who is said to have been Arthur's chief opponent in the major part of his battles in the north of England, is unmentioned in history. He was not the same as Cerdic, the famous Saxon king of the South ; the import of the two names being entirely different, the first implying " King's son," the second, " Leader of the expedition." Did we know more details connected with this prince, the wonder would probably cease, in many instances, at the variety and extent of his successes. One source of his success we know, and we may here more particu- larly allude to it ; namely, the advantages he evidently obtained through his alliances with the Caledonian Bri- tons. A few words, indeed, on this topic may be well bestowed. Of the origin of the Caledonian Britons we have scarce any information. What we chiefly know of them is merely negative : that they were not Picts. Our idea of the inhabitants of Caledonia at this period being, in fact, that they were divided into Scots and Picts ; and though we partially ascertain that the origin of the latter was from Ireland, yet the early history of the former is altogether hidden from our view. Gradually they become mentioned, from about the time of Carausius to the period of the fourth century, when Cunedda migrated from Cale- donia to Wales. After that, we hear of them in the reigns of Aurelius Ambrosius, Uther Pendragon, and Arthur ; again, in the times of St. Kentigern, in the sixth century, when the Caledonian Cambria extended from sea to sea (see the Life of St. Kentigern) ; soon after which, the inroads of Ida, king of Northumberland, the Flame-bearer, and the battle of Gododin, in its disastrous results, deprived them of the eastern portion of their territories, and con- fined them to the more limited district of Strathclyde and some other states in that quarter. This formed an epoch in their annals; and subsequently they retained their PT. II.] ARTHUK MABUTER. THE STKATHCLYDE LEAGUE. 119 ■western territories for several centuries. Now, when the line of Asclepiodotus — that is, the British Constantino family of Dumnonia — became sovereigns paramount of Britain, it might have been thought that their connexion would have been the less intimate with these remote Bri- tons ; but the reverse proved to be the case, for they seem both to have renewed former leagues, and to have made fresh ones. We may add what is known of these alliances as in the Scotichronicon of John de Fordun. He positively pronounces that the league begun in the time of Carausius, and continued in the reign of Conan (in the beginning of the fifth century), was renewed and confirmed by Aurelius Ambrosius, and further continued down since his time. Aurelius Ambrosius, we find, made great use of this alliance in his wars with Ochta and Ebissa, son and nephew of Hengist; and Uther Pendragon also seems gladly to have availed himself of this additional strength. As well as this, matrimonial alliances seem to have been formed by the whole family of Ambrosius with the Strathclyde Britons. His two sisters, Anna and Ada, both married princes of this race; and his brother, Uther, united himself to the daughter of Amlaud the Great,, the king in these regions. Arthur, on becoming king of the Britons, we find, immediately repaired to this quarter; and Strathclyde then being entire, having its dominions from sea to sea, and unharassed by the Saxons, was able to afford aid of the most important description. Arthur thus had a powerful . nation his allies ; and the Saxons making expeditions in the North of England, he became a conqueror, like Ambrosius, in those parts, and apparently from the same reason, by possessing this most efficient aid. Now this was a contingency which did not long continue ; for the Saxons becoming, in process of time, powerful in Northumberland and the adjoining localities, wrested from the Northern Britons much of their territories, and reduced tlieir means. Besides, the Britons soon afterwards became too closely pressed by the Saxons in the South, to be able to interfere in the affairs of the North. We thus take away somewhat of the marvellous and improbable from the exploits attributed to Arthur, and obtain some insight into the true state of the combinations and polities of the island of that period. 120 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP, lit. We have only, as above, merely spoken of treaties and alliances with Caledonia; but we may be thought possibly not to have enlarged enough, in many persons' opinions, as to the influence possessed by our British prince in that quarter. They would, perhaps, prefer to have it said, that his pendragonship, or paramount kingship, which was acknowledged in South Britain, was acknow- ledged also in that country. This we are fully inclined to admit ; and the affair of Ho\vel may be taken in corro- boration, in the same way that an exception is popularly alleged to prove a rule. We find it asserted in our English history, that when Edward the First was medi- tating how he should obtain the sovereignty in Caledonia, he caused the monasteries to be searched for chronicles and histories, to ascertain what predominant power South Britain had at any time held in these Northern quarters. (See Walsingham's History, p. 55.) We may conjecture the fruit of these researches ; for we are informed that this same monarch, in a letter written by him to Rome, to the Pope, asserted his sovereignty over Scotland as arising and resulting from the "conquest" of Arthur. That is, from his having acquired it ; for the word conquest anciently meant acquisition solely, and was not restricted to its present only sense, of obtaining by force of arms. Some have pronounced it a flagrant and scandalous act of Edward, that he did anything of the kind, as if it could have only been affirmed by the grossest deception, tha,t any such evidence could be found. Mistakes, however, should be rectified wherever they are met with ; so here we should specify that Edward's searchers certainly could not find that Arthur had ever possessed the kingdom of Scotland in the same way as our Janies the First ; but they might, and we conclude did find, that he had been the generalissimo and pendragon of the Caledonian Britons ; which dignity, in those days, was considered to convey regal rights. We, perhaps, may be justified in introducing the remark here, that we may find traces of much consistency and probability in the story of Arthur in the following inci- dental coincidences which we may note. This leader having commenced with the profession of arms so early, and having followed it without intermission PT, II.] ARTHUR MABUTER. — HIS HISTORY CONSISTENT. 121 all the first part of his career, must have been a mere soldier in his habits, and nothing more. The accounts accordingly represent him neither as a legislator nor a politician, nor a founder of cities, but describe his talents as consisting in being a great commander in the field, in leading his forces on to victory. His influence also — -ano- ther special requisite for a Celtic chief — is extolled as being very great in inducing the Britons to leave their homes, and assemble round him for thewar. They make him munificent in disposition ; and his intervals of leisure and peace are represented as chiefly spent in regal state or in change of scene, till, tired of a long cessation from arms, he once more seeks wars and adventures abroad. This is again very consistent with the habits of a mere homme de guerre. Further, the feuds themselves in which he was engaged : as that with Howel, and the notable one with Medrawd, are natui-al enough in the recital, and to be expected in the times of war and commotion in which -he lived. In short, whether the accounts be true or not, there is cer- tainly, to use a technical term, a great deal of keeping in the picture which the various accounts of him exhibit; and the whole mass of them, without exception, those of Tysilio, Geoffrey, Caradoc, Nennius, and of the Triads, are to be received as giving many true points of his history, though mixed with much falsehood; but that falsehood we are frequently able to separate, and so prevent its mis^ leading us. "We have entered a little more boldly and decidedly into the Subject of this ancient British king, believing that a very great mistake has been made, from Milton down- wards, on the part of some even most eminent men, in . discrediting the more moderate history of his exploits, and even disallowing that he ever existed. We strongly sur- mise that this has been done, in every instance, from his name being made so much the subject of romance, which, as we have had indeed fall cause to see, has so much mixed itself with every account of him. This ancient commander, however, is to be considered in his capacity as a king as well as in that of a warrior. We will accordingly attend to what is said of him as a ruler and as a man. It is difficult to form a correct opinion of him in his R 122 SIXTH CENTUKY HISTORY. [cHAP. III. exercise of the kingly power. He is rated high in this respect in the Chronicles, and higher still by some romance writers and others in the Middle Ages, who appear to speak of him as a perfect pattern, and as a personification of the highest ideal excellence of this kind to which a sovereign can attain. On the contrary, the writer of the lAfe of Gildas, attributed to Caradoc of Lancarvan, calls him a " rex iniquus", qp unjust king, and a " tyrannus" or tyrant, charging him with being the oppressor and slayer of Howel, the excellent and magnanimous youth, as he is there called, though he was above forty years of age at the time alluded to. The writer of the Life of Si. Cadoc, to which we have before adverted, which, with those of seve- ral others of the British saints, may be found in the Cotto- nian Manuscript in the British Museum, Vespasian, A. 14, likewise speaks disparagingly of him, and, in particular, ascribes to him a great perverseness of disposition in a cer- tain specified instance, — to which we shall again refer in a subsequent page, — when, being in a measure constrained by the influence of the saint to accept a fine of a hundred cows for the slaughter of his three knights, according to the tenor of the laws of Cambria, he demands them with such peculiarities of colour as would effectually prevent their being supplied in Wales, or, indeed, any where else : his requisition being, that the forequarters of the whole number should be entirely red, and their hindquarters entirely white. The saint, however, orders the cattle, such as had been provided, to be brought up to where the party were assembled, and their colours were transformed, by his prayers, into those that were desired ; and then, being driven through the ford of a river, they were delivered over into the hands of those who stood there, on the oppo- site side, ready to receive them, namely, to Cai, Bedwer, and their men. But lo ! to punish the obstinacy of the British king, the cows are aU changed into bundles of fern as soon as they came into their possession. In the Life of St. Padam, in the same volume, he is styled a tyrant again, and described as endeavouring to deprive the saint, by force, of his gold-embroidered tunic, which he had received at his ordination at Jerusalem; from which he is solely prevented by a miracle. It is true these are only legends ; but they show that, at the time they PT. II.] ARTHUR MABUTER. HIS JURISDICTION AS KING. 123 were indited, no overwhelming idea of his magnanimity as a prince existed in the minds of the writers. He is mentioned often in the Triads; but still there is a deficiency in those compilations in the way of commen- dation of him as a ruler, though he is praised as a com- mander. Likewise, the tenor of the ancient Ballads in which he figures is much the same ; mixed with satire on the supposed indiscretions of his Gwenhumaras, or impe- rial consorts. But it may be asked, What sort of a sway and dominion was that which Arthur possessed as sovereign paramount of the Britons, and with what powers was he furnished \ This is a very proper question, and we may briefly advert to the due reply. He was, in fact, merely at the head of the kings of the various independent states of the island for the purposes of national defence. These states, or rather their chiefs, had elected him, one of their number, into that office and command, as is shown in the History of Nennius, c. 56. At any rate, such is the theory of his position, and such was originally the nature of his office in the neighbouring kingdom of Gaul about a century before the Christian era, when the Gauls put their leader, Celtil- lus, to death, for endeavouring to enlarge this species of power. (See Caesar's Commentaries, Gaulish Wars, vii., 4.) In the days of Arthur, however, time had, in spite of Celtic jealousy, somewhat augmented the privileges of these rulers ; the distinction had become partially hereditary, and the Pendragons had acquired some species of territory ; or else how could they have founded towns, as John Rouse considers he had ascertained by his researches "? (See his Chronicle, pp. 53, 54.) These territories, we may easily comprehend, were partly districts which the Romans had kept in their own hands up to the time of their leaving, and were partly casual acquisitions otherwise. This is all that can be said on this particular subject, which is left extremely undefined by our ancient accounts. Still some- thing in the way of remark has seemed to be required. Arthur, then, had no civil jurisdiction over the island. On the contrary, when the war was over, his occupation was in a measure gone ; and he seems to have traversed the island as a species of itinerant till some new enterprise arose. That he was somewhat restless, we might almost 124 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III. conclude from the. passage in the Life of St. Padarn, Cot- tonian MSS., Vespasian, A. xiv., which we have before alluded to, wherein it is said, "a certain tyrant walked up and down these regions (South Wales), .on all sides, by name Arthur", etc. It may be implied that the other Britons had customary dues to pay to the sovereign para- mount, as it is clear enough that they had a body-guard' to some considerable number, who would have been charge- able on the country generally. The collection of such revenues, we know, would, on many occasions, have had the tendency to produce feuds, tumults, and dissensions. Such was the sovereignty paramount of the Britons at this date, which continued for a century and a half after- wards, to the time of Cadwalader the Great, at which period it became blended down to a somewhat different type, and lost many of its distinctive features. On the Continent, the last monarchy of this class was the kingdom of Poland, which was broken up in 1772. The Diet of the German empire is a faint shadow of some similar ancient form, now extinct. "We must not omit the* trait, in speaking of this ancient sovereign, that, like Llowarch-Hen, the bard-prince of Argoed, he possessed a taste for poetry. AVe will not say that he was able to rival that poet in genius ; indeed, we know but little of his merits, as we have one only triplet 1-emaining of his composition, of which it can be merely said, that it is forcibly expressed, and in a somewhat flow- ing strain. It is poetry, at any rate; and as such, is a curious relic of this old king. It occurs in-two forms, in the Myvyrian Arehceology; one apparently more ancient than the other. We give the more modern as most com- prehensible, which is found in that work, vol. ii., p. 62 ; as also it forms part of Triad 29. Sef ynt fy nKri Chadfarchawg, Mael hir, a Llyr Lluyddaug, a Cholofn Cymru Caradawg. That is, in English : These are my three battle knights, Mael the Tall, and Llyr the Brilliant Chief, ^ > And C'aradog the PElar of the Cambrians. In allusion to the subject of these verses, the kings or pendragons of the Britons, we find, as has just been noticed PT. II.] ARTHUR MABUTER. THE TRIADS. 125 above, were ever attended by their body-guard; and v^e may conclude that these three formed part of it, or were three of his generals. We might be inclined to say, that the officers of this body-guard were those persons whom romance has chosen to designate as the Knights of the Eound Table ; but if the round table be not a fancy of after times, Mr. Roberts supposes, in his edition of Tysi- lio's Chronicle, p. 151, that a circular table might have been used, to avoid all cavils in respect to precedency, among the illustrious visitors who came to his festivals — a suffi- cient conjecture on this legendary matter. We may further note, that the specific mention made of the Cambrians, seems to make a distinction between them and the other Celts of the island with whom Arthur Avas accustomed to act, and implies that the Cambrians only formed part of his forces. We have referred to the Triads before : and viewing them as affording a series of anecdotes, of which he is the subject, they are certainly calculated to give the most authentic idea we can obtain of both the public and private life of the man who, in his appetite for festivals and enter- tainments, reminds one of Francis the First; in his valour, of Alexander the Great ; and who was no doubt the most remarkable character of his age. He is then mentioned in the following Triads, referring to them as under by their numbsrs, viz.— 20, 21, 22, 29, 31, 50, 51, 52, 53, 64, 70, 83, 100, 101, 103, 108, 109, 110, 111; 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123,— in all, thirty-one; giving numerous particulars, but entirely wanting that connexion which they undoubtedly once had in that now lost history from which they were taken. (See Britannic Researches, pp. 290-292.) It should be likewise noted, that his retainers, and various persons connected with him, are mentioned in others of the Triads. So that about one third, or nearly that amount, of these ancient frag- ments, take up the subject of him and his affairs. The history whence the Triads were taken was undoubtedly bardic; but bardic of a date when their repugnance to the subject of our present pages may be supposed to have materially abated. The History of Nennius, and the Chronicle of Tysilio, especially notify that this British king espoused the cause 126 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. Ill, of the Christian church of his day, which of course would have injured his popularity with the bards of those times, till some generations had passed. It would rather appear that he came to the throne as king of the Britons, sup- ported, in conformity to his tenets, by the interest of the church. We find it said, in an ancient Life of St. Dubri- cius, as quoted in Leland's Collectanea, vol. v., pp. 20-21, " Perempto tamdem per venenum Aurelio rege et regnante paucis annis ifthero ejus fratre Arturius filius ejus ope Dubricii successit, qui Saxones audacter pluribus prceliis aggressus est, nee tamen illos funditiis a regno extirpare potuit." In English : " Aurelius the king being taken off by poison, and Uther his brother having reigned a few years, Arthur his son succeeded to the throne, by the help of Dubricius, who boldly attacked the Saxons in many battles, but could not entirely extirpate them from the kingdom." In observation on this, we shall find it very probable, from a retrospect of the few materials of British history we possess, that it was so. Constantino of Armo- rica, and Aurelius Ambrosius, are understood to have come in on the interest of the Romans — for many still remained on the island — and that of the church united ; Vortigern, who is believed to have come in on the strictly British interest connected with the Druidical party, had evidently not so much support. In Arthur's days, the Roman interest being nearly worn out, that of the Druids being greatly in the wane, and the Church being much increased in power, this would have formed a stronger motive for an intimate union with it. The tenor, then, we repeat, of Nennius and Tysilio, in- duces us to suppose that he was a firm adherent to the Latin or Western Church of his times ; and there are some other reasons, as we have suggested, bearing on this point. Mr. Roberts, however, in his Cambrian Popular Antiquities, 8vo., 1814, gives a. view of this question, much diversified from that which we have adopted. He seems to suggest two positions. First, that Arthur was a votary of Druidism ; and secondly, — to which he rather inclines, — that he began by supporting that worship, but in the course of his reign became an adherent of Christianity. His line of argument is extremely ingenious, to say no more of it ; but being based entirely on the explanations PT. II.] ARTHUR MABUTEE. — ROMANCES. 127 of Druidism as given in Davies' Celtic Researches, and the Mythology of the Druids, by the same writer, it would be rather superfluous to follow him in his chain of reasoning; for it may be a question whether the principles of Mr. Davies be always correct ; and again, whether Roberts has always properly applied them. This would lead to discussions which might draw us aside too much from our purpose : to say nothing of the mystical nature of the sub- ject in which we should be involved. Regarding the romances formed on the fruitful topic of his life and adventures, they may be divided into two classes: 1 .The collection of fictions connected with his name, mixed up and blended with what are believed occasionally to be more authentic materials, in the Chronicles of Tysilio, Geofl^reyof Monmouth,and others; and 2. Various romances, as those of Lancelot of the Lake, the Sangreal, and the Mort d' Arthur, which profess to set forth his story. The most accurate information we have of these last productions appears to be, that they were translated from Latin ori- ginals, now not extant, and compiled in their present form by Walter Mapes, a well-known author of the twelfth century. This is distinctly stated in an ancient manu- script, containing several of these romances, formerly in the Library de la Valiere, now in the possession of Seymour Kirkup, Esq., of Florence. (See the Journal of the British ArchcBological Association for 1854, p. 181.) To this we may add, that Helie de Bourron, who lived in the thir- teenth century, and completed the kindred romance of Sir Tristan, informs us that Walter de Mapes translated the Mort d' Arthur from a previous work. (See Wright's Biographia Britannica Liter aria, ii., 304.) We find that these romances became known to the Italians, in process of time, by multiplied translations; and Dante has a refer- ence to them in his Paradiso, xvi., 13, " Onde Beatrice," etc. Shortly after the invention of printing. Sir Thomas Malorye published his Mort d' Arthur, which issued from the press of Caxton, and was stated in the preface to be taken out of certain French books. In fact, it was com- piled from Walter Mapes' romances on the same subject. We have to remark, in relation to these works of fancy, thus translated by Walter Mapes into Norman-French, from a Latin original, that they have a totally distinct 128 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP. IIIj story of their own. The Chronicles have none of the same materials, and never introduce their narrative : this would seem a fair argument of the greater antiquity of the pri- mary Chronicle, that of Tysilio, from which the other chronicles are derived. They, it will be recollected, con- stitute a separate class of accounts of this prince, by them- selves ; while the others — the romances of the class of the Mort d' Arthur — leave far and wide out of the case all features of a tf ue narrative, and merely make his story a basis on which to construct numerous romances and fic- tions, or, more properly speaking, extravaganzas, approx- imating in their nature to the tales of chivalry in the Middle Ages, Ancient Ballads come in next in order, after the Chroni- cles, Triads, Legends, and Romances, to which we have before alluded. Of these there are two, which take up direct the subject of the renowned British king, entitled, the first the Death, the second the Legend of King Arthur. They are both preserved in Bishop VexcysReliqiies of Ancient English Poetry, 12mo., 1767, vol. iii., pp. 28 and 37. The first of them is taken from the Mort d' Arthur, the second from Geoffrey of Monmouth. Beside these, there are several which collaterally refer to the subject of his his- tory: as the ballad of Sir Lancelot du Lake, i., 198 ; that oi Sir Gawaine, iii., 11, which are from the class of medie^ val romances to which we have alluded. There are also some others. It perhaps should be mentioned, that our modem poet, Mr. Tennyson, has entered the field in the same path. His Morte d' Arthur, published in his Poems, vol. ii., 12mo., 1846, has pretty much the same subject as Percy's ancient ballad, the Death of Arthur, above referred to. As might be expected, he has worked up the description with richer imagery, though he has retained some of the homely fea- tures of the ballad. It has before been explained, that the works of ima- gination formed on the history of this king afford no argument against his real existence. Those who think otherwise, may be referred, as before, to the monstrous fictions related concerning Charlemagne, to be found in various works. Notwithstanding these fictions, Charle- magne was a real person, PT. II.] ARTHUR MABUTER. MYTHS AND MYTHOLOGY. 129 We may possibly have succeeded in removing some obscurities of our subject, as far as romances and works of f0,ncy have detrimented the question; but we come now to treat of an objection, as unusual as can well be imagined, in an inquiry of this kind : that there are indubitable traces of his being regarded, at some periods and in some localities, in the light of a divinity. Instances perhaps may be found, where this has been considered as almost the very climax of objections ; but it may be as readily accounted for as the rest. We must admit that a widely extended circle of mythological ideas has become con- nected with him. His name has been inserted among the constellations. He may be found mentioned as a species of war-god in ,Welsh poetry, and represented ostensibly as a supernatural being, not only in this island, but in several foreign countries. These are things so well known, that it is hardly necessary to adduce instances ; and we wUl proceed at once to a short remark or two on the point. What then does the above in reality amount to ? Not to a species of deification ; not to anything approaching the paganism of the ancients. On the contrary, it is only a result of the extending of the fictions of romance ; the mere dilating its province; the removing romance to fairy- land. If then, the existence of an historical personage becomes not less real from his being made the subject of romance, it becomes not less real, even if that romance pass its usual limit, and a fairy tale, of which he is the hero, be produced. It is rare, indeed, that romance goes to such a length ; but the works of Menage and others may be consulted, to show that mythological tales have been raised on the supposed adventures of Charlemagne ; and we have before cited the story of Charlemagne several times, to illustrate that of Arthur. It must be allowed that it comes in with great force in the present instance. Further : as we have treated, at a previous page, of mystical and cabalistic ideas connected with the personage who forms our present subject, in our answer to the objections of Mr. Herbert, so we should now repeat, that the poetical use of his name, the magical influences ascribed to him, the deifying him or placing him among the constellations, are all things of the same sort, and are 130 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP. Ill, of no moment as to the question of his real existence. Indeed, the bards are far from being always accustomed to speak of early British history in a sober strain. In this case, the reputation of this individual had pervaded not only romance, but the popular mythology of medieval times. We should merely consider his doing so as a result of his great fame and reputation, and not as a proof that there never was such a person. We are, then, far from considering it any objection, that we hear in this or that part of Europe of the constellation of " Arthur's Harp''^ and elsewhere of " Arthur's Plough", and the like. Sure enough, if the stars in the celestial system were now to be named over again, there would soon be introduced, in this country, the designation of the Wellington Star, and that of Nelson, and so forth. We have already the Her- schel Planet. In' France they would have the Napoleon Star ; in Italy, the Dante Constellation, and the like. Fur- ther, as the renown of this chief, mythological and other- wise, was at its height in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the period of the Crusades, it would only seem very natu- ral that it should formerly have been transferred all over the East, as we are informed was the case, and that our English travellers should unexpectedly hear a name they knew so well at h6me. We can indeed directly account, in some cases, for the transmission of the legendary ac- counts : for instance, in that of Sicily, where tales are cur- rent of him, which have apparentlybeen introduced because the Normans, in the Middle Ages, obtained dominions in that quarter. Hence Richard Cceur-de-Lion is said to have given Tancred, king of Sicily, his sword. (See John Bromp- ton's Chronicle, co. 1195.) And why not % In fact, it should not be thought strange that the sword of the British king should have been preserved to those times, as some of the regalia of Charlemagne were used at the coronation of Napoleon the First. But, in respect to Arthur's name being known in the East, let us mention here an illustration of that circum- stancej which we gain from the labours of one of the Ger- man literati. Professor F. H. Hagen, of the University of Berlin, published a Greek poem in the year 1824, in his Denkmale des Mittelalters, which was entitled " De Rebus gestis Regis Arturi, Tristani, Lanceloti,Galbani, Palamedis,' PT. II.] ARTHUR MABTJTER. LOCAL NAMES. 131 aliorumque Equitum Tabulae Rotundse." It is a fragment, of three hundred and six lines, of a much more extensive composition; and this heading evidently shows it either to have been taken from Walter Mapes' romance of the Mort d' Arthur, published in 1170, or, what is more pro- bable, from the original romance, now lost, from which Walter de Mapes translated his work. The following are the four first lines of it : Neot TraiiUricai, crvv uvtok firjTepe^ evTSKVOvaai,, Kat priyet; inroKeifievoi pTjiyl ri)? ^peTavia<;, 'EcoptBi/ iKirXTjTrofjLevoo to ddpaov tov Trpea^vTOV, To KaXKo, p. 150), notwith- 156 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY, [cHAP. III. Standing it seems he still had the imprudence of leaving him regent. Further, so unsuspicious was he, that he took Cador, his usual viceroy in Dumrionia, with him to Gaul : nor does it appear that he made Constantino even the second in command "of his forces in Britain (see Triads, 20 and 22), considering, possibly, that he and Medrawd stood to each other in the light of rivals, and that dissen- sions might ensue. We should 'mention here, that there appears to be a very improbable account of Arthur and Medrawd given in Caradoc of Lancarvan's Life of Gildas, c. 10. In that compilation, Melwas, a local chieftain, is said to elope with Arthur's consort, and a civil war ensues thereon, and the monks at Glastonbury at last produce a reconcili- ation. Some suppose Medrawd and Melwas to be dif- ferent persons. But in answer to this, it is obvious that the two names, if at all illegibly written, would hardly be distinguishable in an ancient manuscript ; which will be immediately apparent if both these words be written in usual medieval letters and placed together. This variation, then, is not easily reconciled: nor do we seem justified in departing from the customary version of the story as in the Triads and in the Chronicle of Tysilio. Geoffrey of Monmouth has much perverted the narrative as in the' latter, and very unluckily for his own credit as an author; for he ignorantly makes Arthur land at Eichborough instead of Southampton to punish him, whereas the former place at the time was in possession of the Saxons. All accounts represent Arthur when re- turned to Britain as attacking with the utmost vigour and animosity, and the other as resisting with extraordinary pertinacity. Medrawd ransacked and pillaged Arthur's Dumnonian metropolis : Galliwig according to Triad 52, and Celliwig according to Triads 64 and 111; of which we have treated at a previous page ; and Arthur in his turn took the first opportunity to lay waste and destroy the town of Medrawd [Triad 52), for it appears that he had given him some tei-ritory in Dumnonia. At the last great battle of Camlan they both fell, but the advantage remained with the Dumnonian side, and Medrawd's party and the Saxons, with whom he had made common cause, were discomfited. This kept the Dumnonian family on their: PT. IV.] ARTHUR MABUTER. CADOR. , 157 throne: though Medrawd's two sons, and their abettors in alliance with the Saxons, soon afterwards renewed the war. In the sequel they were beaten, and one of them killed in a church at Winchester, and the other in a mo- nastery in London. Commiseration seems to have been raised on account of their premature fate, and in particular Gildas, who is believed to have been their uncle, laments them in his Epistle, c. 28. Notwithstanding the rebellion of their father, he calls them " regii pueri", or royal youths. The battle of Camlan was fought on the banks of the stream of that name in the centre of Cornwall, flowing into the Bristol Channel, and apparently at the spot near Egloshayle, where we have before assigned it. Arthur had by his two former battles driven Medrawd to this place from Southampton or Bittern. The field of battle is usually called the "plain of Camlan", but the ground is too much of an undulating and upland nature to be properly so called. The Triads appear to regret Arthur's tactics in this battle, in dividing his men three times with those of Medrawd, to which they impute the great loss sustained by the Britons [Triad 51). It is ngt easy to see at the first glance what is meant : but by examining the context in the accounts of the fight in Tysiiio and Geofi'rey of Monmouth, we understand it is intended to say that he had not provided sufficient reserves. For we find Med- rawd is described as keeping more than half his army back to provide for contingencies : and this force it was which caused the victory to be so dearly purchased by the Britons, and rendered the battle so protracted, as we have already mentioned in our account of it at a previous page. Cador, Arthur's brother by his mother's side, presents us with a far more pleasing picture. According to Ty- siiio, he was a brave warrior in the field: and accom- panying Arthur to Gaul, he escaped the numerous slaughters there, by which the greater part of Arthur's intimates appear to have been cut ofi^. He returned with him to Britain, and supported him faithfully in the mur- derous contest with the usurper, till he fell himself at the battle of Camlan. He is styled by Tysiiio " Earl of Corn- 158 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP, III. wall", a title, by the way, some centuries later than the era at which he lived : but we are to understand by it that he was subordinate governor, or viceroy, of Dum- nonia. His son Constantino III was one of the combatants at Camlan, and after a short interval rejoined his sovereign in the Isle of Avallon, and according to his wish received the transfer of his crown to himself. He received, in fact, a double sovereignty, for he became not only king of the Britons, but king also of Dumnonia, which last kingdom was possessed by his descendants for three or four cen- turies afterwards. But the kingship of the Britons after a brief period departed from his race, as we shall soon see. This sovereign, on coming to the throne, continued the war with Medrawd's sons and the Saxons : and having gained a victory, caused the two youths to be put to death as has been mentioned. He only reigned himself three years, for at the end of that time he was put to death by Aurelius Conanus, under circumstances of the nature of which we are not apprized, and some say he fell in battle. This Aurelius Conanus was his cousin, and like himself nephew to Arthur : and his reign ending in 557, the sove- reignty of the Britons, of which since Arthur's death Maelgwyn Gwynedd, king of North Wales, held a divided share, entirely devolved to that monarch. It is a somewhat singular feature, that though the ro- mance writers have so multifariously made the companions of Arthur characters in romance, they have not so intro- duced this Constantino. Morgana, asserted to have been Arthur's near relation, and according to some his sister, there is reason to believe was a real existing personage. Her name is truly British, and according to some accounts she was sent for, and came from some distance, to attend him when wounded at Glas- tonbury, and remained tendering her assistance till his death. According to other accounts, she had a residence, retreat, or establishment of her own at Avallon, which is, indeed, by far the best founded opinion, and. more con- sistent with the transfer there of the wounded king. She is not only described in the verses as placing the king on an embroidered couch, and ministering, to him in his FT. IV.] ARTHUR MABUTER. — GWALCHMAI. 159 afflicted condition, but when dead, according to Giraldus, she duly attended to his funeral obsequies. Romance and mythology have been busy with her memory, and as Arthur was feigned to be conveyed away to Sicily, so she was made to be his attendant fairy. He was believed to inhabit an enchanted palace among the mountains and forests of that island, as we have before alluded to, and she was the fabled divinity of the spot. Together with this, the mirages, optical delusions, and refractions on the coast were called "Fata Morgagna", literally "Morgana the fairy", but perhaps originally more closely associated with the idea of her agency in these phenomena, in the form " Fatti di Morgagna", or the doings of Morgana, being supposed her production, and are so known to this day, not only on the coast of Sicily, but in all other parts of Europe, and indeed of the world. Gwalchmai, son of Anna, daughter of Uther Pendragon by her second husband Gwyar, and consequently half brother to Medrawd and first cousin to Arthur, is another person who figured extremely in those times. He is mentioned in Triad 70 as a naturalist : but it seems, also, he could wield the sword : he was a great warrior, and is recorded as falling, in the battle with Medrawd at the landing at South.ampton. (See the Chronicle of Tysilio, p. 170, and GeoflPrey of Monmouth.) His name was Latinized to Walganus, and in French romances became Walweyn; and as well as it occurring several times in both the above Chronicles, he is mentioned likewise by William of Malmesbury in his History, book iii, who con- firms his lineage and relationship to Arthur, and informs us that his tumulus, fourteen feet long, was discovered on the coast of Pembrokeshire in the year 1086. He says traditions appeared to be uncertain as to the cause of his death. See also Usher's Primordia, p. 269. The medieval French romances in which he figures as a hero are numerous. The foregoing are the persons who are mentioned as Arthur's kindred. There is no proof of any surviving issue ; at any rate, it is quite certain that he left none which came to the throne. Dngdale in his Monasticon, vol. iii, p. 190, from the Register of Llandafi", mentions Noah, the son of Arthur, as giving lands to the church of 160 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III. Llandaff in the days of Dubritius the bishop ; but as this prelate died, or otherwise quitted his see in the year 512, the date may be taken as a suflB.cient proof, in the absence of other evidence, that the two Arthurs were not the same person. Triad 70 spea,ks of Llechen the naturalist as the son of Arthur ; but as we are informed he was slain at the battle of Llongborth (see Williams' Eminent Welshmen), it is thus pre|ty clear that he was the son not of Arthur, but of that other person named " Jarddur", whom we have spoken of before, and who was the commander of the Britons there. Howel ap Emyr, cousin of Arthur, who was distinct from the other Howel, attended him to Armorica, and survived all the battles both in Gaul and Britain. He is said to be buried at Lanyltyd-Mawr in Merionethshire. The other Howel, a prince of the Caledonians and a brother of Gildas, we have seen at a preceding page, fell in a feud with Arthur, having advanced concurrent claims to be king of the Britons. Of his retainers, the most noted were Bedwer and Cai, who, indeed, appear to have been his constant companions and attendants, Bedwer, the first of these, was Arthur's " pincerna" or butler: by which term we may understand, regard being had to the early date of the times of which we treat, that he acted as a species of chamberlain and master of his feasts and entertainments. Together with this he was a military chief; and, according to Tysilio, one of the most active commanders in the Gaulish wars. Arthur gave him a barony in Armorica, and his descendants continued in opulence to the sixteenth century, when they lived in the north of Italy, and maintained their origin from the worthy and valiant knight of whom we speak. (See the History of Ponticus Virunnius, p. 43.) One of them. Count Bedouar, is understood to have excited Ponticus Virunnius to translate and abridge the History of Geofirey of Monmouth, which he did with much elegance and some few additions. Bedwer is called in Triad 69 a coroneted knight of battle. He was killed in Arthur's last encounter in Gaul, at Langres, and is said to be buried at Bayeux, of which city he is reported to have been the founder. Cai or Cais, the treasurer, if that be the correct inter- PT. IV.] ARTHUR MABUTER. THE CHADFARCHAWG. 161 pretation of his name, was his other chief retainer. His office would be then no less necessary, than now in an establishment of a king: but at the present time is dis- tributed into numerous departments. However, his office was honourable, and we find from Tysilio tha,t he attended Arthur to the wars, and was one of his military com- manders. He is called in Triad 69, like Bedwer, one of the three coroneted knights of battle, and like him he received a barony in Gaul from Arthur, and was killed at the same time in the conflict near Langres. Romance appears to have made very free with his name, which has caused the extant accounts of him to be^ very uncertain. In one respect the two retainers differ very much as to the nature of their names : for while that of Cai ma^ be judged to be titular, implying collector or treasurer, we cannot discover that there is any official significancy in the appellation Bedwer. With regard to Arthur's three " Chadfarchawg", or battle knights, who are commemorated in his own verses, which maybe seen at our previous page 124, and also in Triad 29. The last-mentioned of them is Caradoc Vreich- vras, and his name occurs in stanzas xxvi, xxvii and xxxi, of Aneurin's poem of the Battle of Gododin. He is described as falling in that conflict which took place in the year 570, having been killed in the breach of the rampart. He is unmentioned in the Chronicles; but according to Triad 64 he was chief magistrate of Galliwig, Arthur's metropolis. Another copy of the Triads in the Myvyrian Arch(Bology, for Mael hir, or Mael the tall, has Mened, i.e. Menwaed, and for Llyr has Llud. It will be observed, that in treating of the subject of Arthur and his companions, we have declined bringing forward the numerous accounts, where they border too much on the marvellous, of campaigns, battles, sieges, single combats, skirmishes, ambuscades, surprise^ slaughters, assaults, charges, retreats and fightings, which are attributed to him and to them' in the British Chronicles : not but that we judge that much of the accounts may be true, though appearing to us not probable, but embellishments, am- plifications, and extravagancies being introduced in them ad libitum, it is impossible to distinguish the true parts from the false, so that there is no alternative, except 162 SIXTH CENTURY^ BISTORT. [cHAP. III. rejecting everything of this kind : it not being our intention to collect materials of a melo-dramatic nature, but to ap- proximate as much as possible what is most authentically known of this prince to genuine history. More indeed is gained by omitting these embellishments of romance than by introducing them. By excluding them we diminish our mass of materials it is true, but increase much in value what remains? For a pedigree of Arthur in the direct male ascending line, see the Britannic Researches, p. 245. For his lineage through his mother, Igren or Eigyr, see the Appendix of "Williams' Monmouthshire^'wh.eYe one is given from Coel Go- edhebaug, in the beginning of the fourth century, who was the competitor with his male ancestor, Bran apLlyr,or Ascle- piodotus. He thus is shown to have united in some mea- sure the claims of both contending lines, for a party seems to have been kept up for two or three centuries in favour of each of these families : and he is shown also to have had numerous connexions by relationship with persons of emi- nence in Cambria and Strathclyde, two of the nearest of whom, however, Medrawd and Maelgwyn Gwynedd, ap- pear in the light of opponents. It may be required to set forth a short examination of Arthur's contemporaries in Britain during his reign, from 517 to 542. They will be as follows : Maelgwyn or Ma- glocune, king of North Wales ; Meurig ap Teudrig, king of Morganwg and Gwent ; Vortipore, otherwise Gwer- thyver, king of the Demetse, and Cuneglas, whose territories lay between the Severn and the Wye : of the Caledonians, Lotho and Urien Eheged ; and Aumeric in Ireland. Contemporary saints during the same period appear to have been, Gildas Badonicus ; St. Teilo, bishop of Llan- daff; St. David, archbishop of Caerleon and primate of Wales ; St. Cadoc, according to the Cottonian manuscript, Vespasian, A. xiv ; St. Carantoc ; St. Padarn ; St. Doch- dwy, otherwise Dochu ; St. Petrbc ; St. Samson ; St. Bran- dan ; St. Kentigern ; St. Kyiied ; St. Iltutus, abbot, accord- ing to Usher ; St. Columbanus ; the bishops Paulus and Daniel ; arid of women, St. Bridget and St.' Dwynwen. Of these, only two left any writings behind them which are extant, the saints Gildas and Columbanus, of whom the last- mentioned was but young at the time of Arthur's decease^ PT. IV.] CONTEMPORARIES OF ARTHUR MABUTER. 163 We should not omit to say, that in all inquiries respect- ing our ancient British prince, the existence of the other insular ruler, Arthruis, should be constantly borne in mind. He was of later date by half a century ; but it is not impossible that the writers of the liv^s of the saints may have, in casual mention, in some cases confused the two. We find that Dr. Owen Pughe and some other moderns have done so, which should excite the greater suspicion that the same mistake may have been made anciently. This Arthruis, who was the son of Meurig ap Teudrig, had his dominions in Gwent and Morgan wg, and consequently was contiguous to the ecclesiastics both of St. David's and Caerleon. We may find an instance in point in the Life of St. Kyned, in the Collection of the Lives of the Saints before referred to in the British Museum, Vespasian, A. xiv. We have there mention of Arthur's Palace, in the province of Goyr, in the lordship of Gower, in the ancient district called Morganwg. The residence, we may observe, of the said Arthruis is meant in this case, and not of the Arthur who forms our present subject. CHAPTER III. SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. THE LIFE AND TIMES OP ARTHUR MABUTER, KING OF THE BRITONS. PART V. THE DISCOVERY OF HIS REMAINS IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. We need not remind our readers that, in treating of our subject, we are without the usual resource of coins and inscriptions to bring to the aid of the history of this era. When the Romans left the island, they took their art of coining with them ; and it reappeared no more for about 164 SIXTH CENTDRT HISTORY. [cHAP- III. two centuries, when the Anglo-Saxon sceattas began to be struck. It is unnecessary to enlarge on the great utility of this species of illustration, which does not exist in the present case. We have no coins of Vortigern, Vortimer, Constantine of Armorica, Aurelius Arabrosius, Uther Pen- dragon, Arthur, Constantine the Third, Aurelius Con anus, or Vortipore, kings of the Britons. Nor are their heads, likenesses, effigies, or representations, at all known, or those of any of them. We may make an exception with regard to inscriptions, as one is stated to have existed in which his name was mentioned ; and in reference to this we feel bound not to quit the topic of this ancient warrior without adverting to one of the most singular subjects of archaeology, ancient or modern, which has ever come forth to notice, — that is, the reported discovery of his remains at Glastonbury, in the days of Henry the Second, and of a leaden cross in- scribed to his memory. There appears scarcely a doubt that such a discovery took place, being authenticated by Giraldus Cambrensis, who records that he conversed with the subsequent abbot of Glastonbury on the subject ; as also the circumstance is set forth in three or four other ancient accounts, which are come down to us. Neverthe- less, it has evidently become, in the transit, in the way we have received the narrative, somewhat exaggerated, interpolated, and distorted, so as to give a legendary appear- ance to what might have been expected to have been strictly matter of fact and detail. A short explanation will be necessary to show how the explorations were suggested which led to the discovery, as well as a remark or two on the results. The period when the discovery in question was made, was the year 1170, when, the conquest of North Wales having been completed, King Henry the Second was using every means to remove any impediment to the ultimate subjection of the country which might exist, and endea- vouring, in every way, to increase his influence. Now there was a vague legend among the Welsh, either that Arthur was not dead ; or that he would revive, and become their king again. The idea haunted their minds : indeed, his history stated that he had not been killed out- right at the battle of Camlan, but had been removed. PT. v.] THE DISCOVEKY OF THE REMAINS. 165 wounded, to Glastonbury Abbey ; and Matthew of West- minster adds, in his Histonj, in the annals of the year 542, that it was the wish of the wounded king, that, in order not to discourage the Britons, his decease should be for a time concealed. Absurd as the superstition was, it had great influence with the credulous vulgar, and served to keep alive their ideas of independence. It became, then, desirable for Henry and his partizans to check their super- stitious notion ; which, like other wild superstitions, was difficult to be dealt with by reason and argument. At this conjuncture the king happened to be at Pembroke, where a minstrel, in his taking Arthur for its subject, described him as buried in the Glastonbury Abbey cemetery, between two obelisks there. According to another version, as recorded by Leland, the bard who sang the deeds of Arthur happening to be well versed in ancient British history, and being afterwards questioned by the king, became his in- formant. However, the lAher Distinctionum, of which we shall more particularly speak at a subsequent page, says nothing of this, and implies merely that he became apprized of the fact during his perambulations in Wales and his intercourse with the Welsh. Now the abbot, of Glastonbury, Henry de Blois, brother to Stephen the late king', and grandson of William the Conqueror, was the cousin of Henry the Second, — a cir- cumstance, it may be said, favourable to imposition and collusion. But this was merely accidental : the abbacy of Glastonbury being one of the mOst eminent offices of that class in the kingdom, and of course likely to be conferred on an ecclesiastic of distinguished rank. The king com- municated with this person, and directed him to dig at the place indicated. The abbot did so, and the following were the results. At seven feet from the surface was found a large stone slab, on the under side of which was let in a thick plate of lead, in form of a cross, with an inscription, facing to- wards the stone, which read thus, Hic jacet sepultus iNCLiTus Rex -Arthurius in Insula Avalonia. Some accounts add the five following words more, — and even Giraldus does so in his two works, the Liber Distinctionum and Institutio Principis, — Cum Weneveria Uxobe sua se- cuNDA. But this clearly only originates in a mistake. 166 SIXTH CENTCRY HISTORY. [cHAP. III. Digging nine feet further down, they came to a sarco- phagus formed of large timber, having been hollowed out of the trunk of an oak (see lAher DistincUonum, and Insti- tutioPrincipis), in which reposed the remains of the ancient king, then reduced to dust and bones. The sarcophagus of his queen was lying by his side, whose remains were also in a similar state of decomposition. Her hair, how- ever, which, was most elaborately plaited and interwoven, and of a yellow colour, seemed in its natural state ; but when one of the monks rushed down rather rudely into the excavation, and seized it, it fell to dust in his hands. The abbot and convent placed these mortuary remnants in a bipartite stone tomb in the great abbey church, — the king's remains at the west end, the queen's at the east. This was done as Arthur was considered as having been a great benefactor to the abbey in his lifetime. Fourteen years afterwards, the abbey and the greater part of its buildings were burned. About a century after this. King Edward the First, in the year 1276, caused the shrine to be removed to a place before the high altar ; but the skulls of the king and queen were taken out, and exhibited to visitors of the abbey. This information, Leland acquaints us, he had from a monk of Glastonbury, ( Collectanea, v. p. 55.) He also acquaints us, and from abbey sources, as we may understand, as before, that the wound received by Arthur was on the left side of the head, injuring the skull, and severing the ear. Stukeley informs us, in his Hinera- rium Cunosum,f olio IIBG, vol. i. p. 152, that Arthur's tomb was considered to be under the great tower of the abbey, which spot is now covered over with rubbish. The legendary part of the story consists in the large size of the bones related to have been found ; which are unde- scribed, indeed, in the Idber Distinctionum, but are said to have been gigantic in the Institutio Principis; and of which he mentions the skull and the leg bone as seen by himself when he went to Glastonbury, in the time of the subse- quent abbot. We may remark on the large size of the skull spoken of, that, save and except that- this last must needs have been recognized as human, it might almost have been thought that the description applied to fossil bones. Thus Giraldus speaks of them : " His leg bone being placed besides the leg of a very tall man, and set OB- PT. v.] THE DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS. 167 the ground, reached three fingers' breadth above the knee, as the abbot showed us. His skull also was prodigiously- capacious and thick, so that it was a hand's breadth be- tween the eyes and eye-brows. There appeared on it indi- cations of ten wounds or more ; but the bone had cicatrized in every instance, except in the case of one larger than the rest, which caused his death, and left a large chasm." (Institutio Principis, c. 20.) The uncertain part, historically, is the variation of the dates. 1070 has the authority of Giraldus Cambrensis, as we shall again immediately advert to ; while we find 1177 is assigned by Harpsfield in his Ecclesiastical History, i. c. 14. 1180. is given by Ralph Higden and John Cai: 1189 by Leland in his Collectanea, iii. p. 154: while again 1192 is adopted both by Matthew Paris and Matthew of Westminster. The two abbots, Henry de Blois and Henry de Sully, who succeeded him, both having borne the same name, afforded, without doubt, one cause of the error, though there appear to have been others. However, the Antiquitates Glastonienses communicate two circumstances which will go far to set us right. They tell us that the discovery took place consequent to Henry the Second being in Wales ; and again, six hundred and twenty-eight years after the death of the British king, which, as Arthur died in 542, would be 1170 ; and this is further corroborated by Henry the Second never having revisited Wales after the year 1169, as may be seen by a reference to Lord Lyttelton's History of his reign. It should not be omitted to be noticed that the date, whether 1170 or later, has a material bearing on the au- thenticity both of the Chronicle of Tysilio and on that of Geoffrey of Monmouth. These two early chronicles, the one written about the year 1000, the other published in 1 147, had alike pronounced that the British prince died at Avallon or Glastonbury ; and it is well ascertained that Geoffrey of Monmouth was already dead before 1170, the earliest assigned date of the discovery. He died, in fact, in 1152, and his original was the ancient chronicle first spoken of, that is Tysilio's, which he translated and mate- rially altered ; but this fact stands in them both. Giraldus Cambrensis, a contemporary and a person of known research, seems to have had full faith in the dis- 168 SIXTH CENTURT HISTORT. [cHAP. III. covery, for he has left us two rather lengthy accounts of it, but both evidently written at a considerable interval after the event : one entitled Idber Distinctionum, or Book of Chapters, for it has no other name ; the other is his Itistitutio Principis. It is not so clear, however, that he was not imposed upon in the matter of the bones which were exhibited to him, as just noted, on his visit to the convent m^y years afterwards, or else that his work is interpolated at that part. To say nothing of the impro- bable description, he gives of them. It is Edward the First who is described by Leland (see before) as taking the skulls of Arthur and his queen out of the sepulchre. - There are, in fact, two questions to attend to which seem perfectly distinct: the reality of the disinterment itself, and the bones kept for show in the convent. The most judicious opinion appears to be to admit the truth of the disinterment, but to receive with the greatest sus- picion the account of the exhibition of the bones, as some supposititious ones might have been shewn as those of the British prince. The reader is not to suppose that the discovery of this sepulchral deposit is the only instance of the kind. On the contrary, similar cases have not been very unfrequent : witness the stone of king luthael in Llanyltid, or Lantwit Major churchyard, in Merionethshire, in the year 1789, and known previously by tradition to be in that spot (see Sharon Turner's Vindication of the Welsh Poets, 8vo., 1803, p. 137). An instance very much to the same purpose may be cited from Gibson's Camden, in which it is mentioned that, a few years before his time, circular gold plates im- pressed with the form of the cross were dug up near Ballyshannon, from an interment indicated by an Irish harper's song. Some illustrations of this circumstance may be found in the Collectanea Antiqua of Mr. C. Roach Smith, vol. iii, pp. 149 and 244, in the latter of which passages the verses are given from the poem of Moiraitorb, with their translation, thus : Air baiTa sleibe monard !• Ann ata feart churaidh, Sdha fhleasg oir fa chopp an laocli. As fail ortha air a mheura. In English — PT, v.] THE DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS. 16^ On the hill of Sleive Monard There is a giant's cave ; And two gold plates enclose the hero's body, And there are golden rings upon his fingers. Many have suspected a coUusion between the king arid his cousin the abbot in the affair of the disinterment, and have imagined a pretended discovery of remains in order to act on the superstition of the Welsh. We are told that the abbot, when he began to dig, surrounded the spot with curtains. On the whole, we can neither suppose that the abbot of a large convent would have ventured such a pro^ ceeding, or that the object of disabusing the superstition^ of the Welsh could have been worth the attaining by such a complicated fraud and forgery, which would have required the connivance of numerous persons. The abbot, without doubt, sent a due report of the results of the excavation to the king ; but it is scarcely necessary to say no such document is, now, extant. We may be able, perhaps, to add an explanation or two. The mode of interment of Arthur, it may be suspected^ was that of the tumulus class, which would account for the depth of digging down. Small upright stones, or meine Mrion, might or might not have been set on each side of the place of sepulture, but the two obelisks, which it is recorded were there in the time of Henry the Second, were evidently after additions, as will be apparent, when they are described at a subsequent page. The ground, we may observe, according to one of the engraved views, slopes much downwards on the north side of the abbey church, where it has since been raised in a species of terrace near the building, which may have been a cause/ of the tumulus being obliterated in leveling the ground, so that it may have escaped notice. The inscription on the leaden cross may require a re- mark. Pagan times were now over for a season in Britain, The form Dis Manibus, etc., was not at that time extant. The clergy of that day thought they were obliged to vary the pagan form, and no very good style of inscription had become generally adopted. We then have an alleged epitaph for Arthur, as maybe seen at a former pagej not conceived in the classic style, and yet not indited with the well expressed sentiment and appropriate diction which z 170 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III. the monkish thyming epitaphs of the later Middle Ages frequently display ; thus so far affording no grounds for disbelief. It may likewise be noticed that a wood-cut is given of the cross in Camden's Britanma,'as also in S-peed' s Eistori/ of England, which substantiates the idea that the shorter form of the inscription is the genuine one. The cross, as represented^in the wood-cut, has some peculiarities which appear to bespeak its authenticity, Camden, admitting his to have been the prior published delineation, appa- rently had it engraved from a drawing from the original; the said original being extant till within about a century, as will be presently noted. In respect to the two obelisks, to which it is now time to recur, a pretty good account of them may be found in perhaps our oldest topographical work, the Antiquitates Glastonienses, of which we will- further speak in a subse- quent page, and now merely observe that from the descrip- tion in this work, which is tolerably precise, we are able to collect the following details. The Antiquitates Glastonienses inform us that British princes had been buried of old time pretty numerously in the abbey cemetery, who, as we must understand, were British princes of the Dumnonian race. It also appears from the names he gives, that various Saxons of the early times had found an interment there. He describes the obelisks pretty minutely. Of the two, the one which stood a few feet from the original abbey church was the most considerable, being twenty-six feet high and having five sides : the other was eighteen feet high and four sided. Both the obelisks seem to have been intended to obviate the usual mutisme of Celtic tumuli and places of sepulture, which give no inti- mation of the names of the buried ; we have, therefore, lists of names on them and nothing else, save and except that a few words on one of the faces record the name of the founder, which we may understand to be Waimar, son of Canmore, the Tendurus of the Dumnonian annals, whose reign terminated about the year 585 of the Christian era. We happen to have some further record of this person, which it may be interesting to introduce. He is repre- sented in the Idfe of St. Teih as king of Dumnonia, and,= under the name of Gerennius, as hospitably receiving and PT. v.] THE DISCOVEKY OF THE REMAINg, 171 entertaining that saint, who was leading away many of the Britons to Armorica to escape the yellow plague, which was so fatal in Britain in the sixth century, and of which Maelgwyn Gwynedd died in the year, as it is usually as- signed, 560. He returns to Britain after the lapse of seven years and seven months, at which time Gerennius was at the point of death, and shortly afterwards died. This makes his death earlier than even usually assigned, and yet notwithstanding. Usher places it in the year 596. The Gw and W in Celtic names being convertible, we need not point out the identity of Gerennius and Weraeres. Men- tion of Gerennius may be found in the Primordia, pp. 290, 534, and, we may add, that he was not of course, as Row- land supposes in his Mona Antiqua, p. 187, the Gerennius or Geraint ap Erbyn, mentioned by Llowarch Hen in his Elegy as killed at the battle of Llongborth. The appellations, Gerennius, Wemerus, and Waimar, are understood to be the names of one and the same man ; and they are all three of the titular class. Gerennius is only a variation of the so commonly occurring Geraint, imply- ing literally a person, that is, a man, in office ; whilst the other two, Wemerus and Waimar, are merely variations of each other, being only idiomatic forms of the two words placed in conjunction, gwr and mawr, and importing a man high in station and rank. Now Usher, in his Primordia, p. 290, supposes this king of Dumnonia, Gerennius, or Waimar, to have been a son of Constantino the Third ; whereas others consider him son of Canmore. But, on examination, the two assertions will be found only one and the same, Cunomorus, or Canmore, was no other than a title of the king of the Britons. (See the Life of Gildas by the Monk of Ehuys, where it is applied, as we may understand, to Maelgwyn Gwynedd.) Constantino the Third was also king of the Britons, therefore Waimar, who was only king of Dumnonia, was styled son of Canmore ; and there seems sufficient illustration of the point. The other name of Waimar, Tendurus, if the orthography be correct, appears to be personal. We will. now, however, describe the sides of the obe- lisk seriatim, in the order given in the Antiquitates Glas- tonienses ; and the short sentence alluded to in p. 1 70, giving the.name of the builder, is on the third side. 172 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. LcHAP. 111. The first side, then, has a figure insculptured on it in pontifical robes, and is uninscribed. The second side has a crowned figure sitting in regal state, and under it are the words her.sexi.blisyer., in which the traces of the original correct reading appear too n;iuch obliterated for a restoration to be attempted. The third side stood thus,WEMEBEST bantomf pinepegn, of which WQ now proceed with the explanation. We are told that this structure was in a dilapidated state, so that, allowing for the obliterations of time, the original reading would appear to be as follows : wemeres f(ilivs) canmori f(ecit) finejiegni. The fourth side was inscribed, hats pvlfred eanfled. We may suggest that this should be restored thus, viewing the first word as a monogram : h(ic i)a(citn)t s(epvlti) PVLFRED, eanfled. The fifth side had a full-length effigy, or image, insculp- tured, we are not told of whom, and under it the names LOGPOR PESLICAS BREGDEN SPELPES HYIN GENDES BERN, This is called the lowest side (inferior) ; but why does not appear. To pass on to the small obelisk. This does not appeaiv to have been insculptured with any effigies or images, and only seems to have been inscribed on one side, thus: hedde episcopvs bregored beorward. In general remark on the two obelisks^ we may merely further observe, that every inference from them seems to connect them with the sixth and seventh centuries. For instance : Bregored (Blederic I), king of Dumnonia, accord- ing to Tysilio's Chronicle, p. 1^9, sxiA Geoffrey of Monmouth, xi, 13, was killed at the battle of Bangor, in the year 613. Also Beorward (Beorwald) was abbot of Glastonbury in the seventh century, and was successor to Hyin Gendes, if that be the same person as the Hemgiseldus of Dumnonian history. The occurrence of Anglo-Saxon names shows the advance of the Saxons as fax west as Glastonbury at this period. Such was the place of Arthur's interment,— a spot where it seems, by the inscriptions, many persons of eminence were afterwards buried. But we must not dismiss the sub- ject without reverting again to the circumstances of the discovery, and to the authenticity of the usual narrative ©f PT. v.] THE DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS. 173 it. Had the writers of English history properly examined this topic, they would have saved other researchers much trouble ; but it has been but little attended to. Hume does not even mention it at all. He is noted, it is well known, for his disregarding archaeological matters, and for his want of research in the whole earlier part of his work. Even Lord Lyttelton, who professedly wrote the Life and History of Henry the Second, has only a few sentences on the subject, and those very unsatisfactory. He says, vol. vi. 8vo., 1773, p. 383 : " It is pretended, indeed, that the controversy («.e. as to his real existence) was decided in Henry the Second's reign, by his body being found between two ancient pyramids in (the cemetery of) the abbey of Glastonbury, on a search that was made for it by the orders of that king, who had heard from a Welsh bard, that, by digging there to the depth of fifteen feet, they should find it. Giraldus Cambrensis affirms that he saw it himself; but then he says that the bones were those of a giant : and in this description of them the other writers of that age, who mention the discovery of them, concur." His lordship here very incorrectly cites what occurred, in several particulars, as it is scarcely necessary to remark. Giraldus does not say that he was present at the discovery. He was not at Glastonbury till about fourteen years after that time; nor wrote his account till many years after that, as we may notice presently. It is very true he gives an extravagant description of the bones, for which we can- not so well assign a reason. We must here admit that he was either imposed upon, or else gives an untrue account of them. It is thus left even to those of this comparatively late age, after such numerous histories have either contemptu- ously noticed the subject, or passed it over altogether, to show that It is not without its due basis of evidence. To begin, then, with property abbey authorities, that is to say, with those connected with it. There are the two called t\i& Magna Tabula Glastoniensis and i\ie Parvus lAhcr ■ the latter of which is in the Bodleian, and appears to be marked No. 2538 in Bernard's (7«fe%^e of the Manuscripts of England and Ireland, fol. 1697, p. 133. Accordin/to Usher, who mentions them both together in \mPnrmrdia p. 6;l, their contents as to this event are the same, namely' 174 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III. much agreeing with the account in the Liber Disttnctionum of Giraldus ; and one of them, referring to the time of the discovery, six hundred and twenty-eight years after the death of the king, which we have shown at a preceding page, is mainly conducive in supplying us the true date. Again, there are the Antiquifates Glastonienses, the original manuscript of which js in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge^being p. 96, art. 37 of Bernard's Catalogue. Ano- ther copy is in the British Museum, Cottonian MSS., Tibe- rius, A. V. The work is printed by Gale in his Quindecim Scriptores, vol. iii, fol. 1697, and more fully by Heame, in 8vo., 1709. A very good account of it is given in Whar- ton's Anglia Sacra, fol., 1691, vol. i. p. xxxviii. See also the Cottonian Catalogue, Tiberius, A. v. The work, it seems, was originally carried down to the year 1400, but is now only perfect to 1334. The anonymous continuator and editor of the later copy informs us that William of Malmes- bury was the author of the first part, down to the year 1126; and that he retained his words, which Wharton sg,ys he verified by comparison of copies of that portion stiU extant. From 1126 to 1190, he tells us, it is the work of Adam de Domerham ; and from that to the conclusion, his own. Next to the above, though perhaps they may be of supe- rior importance, come the two works of Giraldus, which, as they may be considered to supply some good evidence relative, to the reality of his existence, we may accordingly notice in due order. 1. His lAber Distinctionum, or, literally speaking, Book of Chapters ; for he either gave it no other title, or at any rate it has no other. This, on examination, may be deemed the best authority of the two, as giving the most consistent account on the whole, omitting extravagances ; and pro- bably being written nearest, in point of time, to the events described. There is only one original copy of this work extant, which is in the Cottonian Library in the British Museum. . It -is hitherto unprinted, and aU the first parts are much damaged by fire. Its library mark is Tiberius, B. XIII. , Sir John Fijse, in his Mistorice Britannicce De- fensio, 4to.,1573, pp. 130-133, has printed the part relating* to our present subject ; as also Usher, in his Primordia, pi 64, has inserted a paragraph, or two. This lAber Dis", PT. v.] GIEALDU8 CAMBKENSIS ON THE REMAINS. 175 tinctionum, together with the Parvus Idler of the abbey, according to the extracts given of it by Usher in his Pri- mordia, and ihe Aritiquitates Glastonienses, have been the authorities chiefly followed in the foregoing pages. 2. The Institutio Principis, or, as it is otherwise ca,lled, the Imiructio Principis, i.e., the Instruction of a Prince, was written at the period of the barons' wars, in the reign of King John, in the interest of Louis of France, and con- sequently with a strong political bias. Giraldus thus^ at an advanced period of his life, introduced the account of his exhumation twice, having apparently never before made any notes or memoranda of the transaction, which had occurred so long before. We have, indeed^ the series of events and order of time thus. The exhumation was made in the year 1170. Giraldus visits the convent about the year 1184. After this he is engaged in the turmoils of life for many years ; and about the year 1206, as we judge, writing a volume of church anecdotes, this instance of Arthur occurred to his mind, and he introduces it. Still later, about the year 1216, having become a fierce political partizan, and supporting a pretender out of the kingdom; sensible of his influence as an author, he writes a volume in his interest, and again introduces Arthur and his exhu- mation as an apt illustration. It will be seen that his first account was not written till thirty-six years after the trans- action ; and his second, forty-six, according to the dates we have submitted. In his first account his lapses of memory were so great, that he not only forgot the name of the abbot under whom the discovery was made, but con- fused him with the second abbot, who was at the convent at the time of his visit, about fourteen or fifteen years after. Also he confuses, in this account, the sarcophagus with two divisions, made afterwards to enclose honourably his remains and those of his queen, with that in which he was dug up. In the second account, his lapses of memory are still more noticeable ; and he reiterates his main facts, and supplies some others, but adds nothing in correction of former misstatements. There is one favourable circum- stance, however, in the transmission of the account, that; great as the reputation of Giraldus was as a writer, his narratives either appear not to have been seen, or any rate not to have been followed, by the compiler of the Antiqui- 176 SIXTH CENTURT HISTOKY, [cHAP. Ill, tates Glastonimses; by which means we have an indepenr dent account from that source. Besides the above, this disinterment is mentioned by various chroniclers and medieval writers who have not been alluded to in the preceding pages; but Giraldus, Leland, and the Abbey sources themselves^ seem alone likely to afford original information. There s^ems only one manuscript of the Institutio Prin-' eipis which is at all known, being the one in the Cotto- nian Library, marked Julius, B. xiii. This manuscript has been printed in Dom. Bouquet's Gaulish Historians, fol. 1822, vol. xviii, pp. 121-163 ; but the part relative to our purpose is there entirely omitted, and much besides of the original. It has again been printed, in a more per- fect form, by the Anglia Christiana Society ; 8vo., 1846. In addition to this, Ritson, in his Life of Arthur, has given a translation in full of the part relating to that king, though extremely incorrect (pp. 98-105). A few remarks cannot but suggest themselves on these two works of Giraldus. They both show evident lapses of memory, and give a somewhat contradictory and careless account ; but, on the other hand, are valuable tes|^imonies^ as exhibiting not the slightest wish either to disguise the truth, or to advance a falsehood. Giraldus, when he wrote his second account, seems to have forgotten what was in his first, there being, apparently at least, the ten years interval between them, of which we have spoken. The lAher Distinctionum seems to have been in the nature of a volume of anecdotes, — a species of Giraldiana, with a bearing to uphold the interests of the church of the day. His motive in introducing the account of Arthur, and the moral he would derive therefrom, is to show that the honour due to his remains, as one of the reputed founders of Glastonbury abbey, though so long deferred, was ren- dered at last. His motive in ihe Institutio Prindpis yfdJi to exhibit Arthur as a model of a ruler,— great and victo- rious, devout and pious, and a benefactor to the church* It would be scarcely right were we not to subjoin the full accownt qf the disinterment as in chapters 8, 9, and 10 of the lAber Distinelionum of Giraldus, before mentioned, for the satisfaction of those who may wish to see the most authentic original account, accompanying it also with an FT. v.] GIRALDTJS CAMBRENSIS ON THE REMAINS. Ill English translation. It is necessary to premise that the unique original manuscript, before spoken of, in the British Museum, marked Tiberius, B. xiii., being in places much injured by fire, the defective parts have been supplied from Sir John Vryse' s Befensio Historice Britamice, 4to.j 1573, pp. 130-133, and are printed in italics. At other times, some few broken portions of sentences being wholly illegible in the original, and being not given by Sir John Pryse, have been supplied according to the sense of the context, and are placed between brackets. ' C. VIII. (Eubrical heading gone.) Regnante nostris in Anglid diehus Henrico Secundo coretigit ut apud Glastoniense Coenobium quondam nobile sepulchrum Arthuri regis Bri- tannise, dicto rege monente et abbate ejusdem loci Henrico^ qui ad cathedram Wigornise translatus postea fuit, procu- rante diligenter qusesitum in ccemeterio sacro a sancto- Dunstano dedicate inter duas pyramides altas, et literatas in Arthuri memoriam, olim erectas multis laboribus effo- deretur ; et corpus ejusdem in pulverem et ossa redactuni ab imis ad auram et statura digniorem transferreretur. Inventa fuit in eodem sepulchro trica muliebris, flava et formosa, miroque artificio conserta et contricata ; uxoris scilicet Arthuri viro ibidem consepulta. , Vinum (verum) ut in ipsam inter astantes plurimoS (oculos affixit quidam monachus, cupidus, et ut insulsissime simul) et inverecundissime tricam illam prse ceteris cunctis arripere posset, in imam fosse (fossam) se prsecipitem dedit : (s)icut quod prsenotatus an teai (so) monachus baratri figu^ ram non saturandi non minus impudens quam imprudens protervusque spectator et profundus intravit. At licet capilli imputribiles esse dicantur quia nichil in (se) corpu- lentum, nichil humidum habe(a)nt admixtum, tamen simul ut erectam et diligenter inspectam manu tenuit multis in- tuentibus et obstupentibus in pulverem illico decidet minu- tissimum, et tanquam in athomos sicut dividi sic et discern! nescias subito conversa disparuit et eventu mirabili ne (sapientis dicta abnegentur) namque (omnia humana) iigu- ravit esse caduca : et mundariara pulchritudinem omnem varios oculos ad intuendum sen perpetrandura illicita per- stringendum esse momentaneum et vanitati obnoxiumi Quiim ut ait Philosophus formse nitor vapidus est et velox, ■ Yernalium florum mutabilitate fugacior. AA 178 SIXTH CENTURT HISTORY. [cHAP. III. C. IX, {Rubrical heading gone.) De sepulchro regis Arthuri ossa ejus continente apud Glastoniam nos- TRIS DIEBUS INVENTO, ET PLURIMIS CIRCITER HiEC NOTABI- LiBus occasionaliter adjunctis. Porro quoniam de rege Arthuro et ejus exitio dubio multa referri solent, et fabulse confingi a Britonum populis ipsum adhuc vivere fatue con- tendentibus, ut fabulosis ex(s)ufflatis et veris et certis asse-' veratis, Veritas, ipsa de csetero circa haec liquido pateat, qusedam hie adjicere curavimus indubitata veritate com- perta. ■ Post bellum de Ke»^e?ew apud Cornubiam, interfecix) ibidem Modredo proditore nequissimo et regni Britannioe ctistodice suce deputati contra avunculum suum J.rthurum occupatore ipsoqae Arthuro ibi Icethaliter vulnerato corpus ejusdem in insulam Avalloniam quae nunc Glastonia dicituv a nobUi matrona ejusdem cognata et Morgani vocata est delatum, quod posr tea defunctum in ccemeterio sacro eadem procurante sepul- tum fuit. Propter hoc enim fabulosi Britones et eorum cantores fingere solebant quod dea qusedam fantastica sci- licet Morganis dicta corpus Arthuri detulit in insulam Avaloniam ad ejus vulnera sanandum, quae cum sanata fuerint redibit rex fortis et potens ad Britones regendum ut ducunt siclit solet propter quod ipsum expectant adhiic venturum siciit ludsei Messiam suum majori fatuitate et infelicitate et infidelitate decepti. Notandum Mc autem quod Glasconia dicta est insula quo- niam marisco profundo undique est clausa, quce mediamnis pro^ prie diceretur quasi mediis scilicet «mnibus sita, sicut me&os insulsB dicuntur quae in salo, hoc est in mari sitae noscuntur. Avalonia vero dicta est ab aval Britannico verbo quod pomum sonat, quia solet locus pomis et pomeriis abundare : vel ab Avallone territorii illius quondam dominatore. Item solet antiquitus locus ille Britannice dici Ynys Gutrin, hoc est insula vitrea propter amnem scilicet quasi vitrei coloris in marisco circumfluentem : et ob hoc dicta est postmodiim a Saxonibus terram occupantibus in lingua eorum Glastonia. Glas autem Anglice vel Saxonice vitrum sonat. Patet ex hiis (so) igitur quare insula, et quare Avallonia et quare Glastonia dicta : patet ex hoc quoque quo pacto dea fantastica Morganis a fabulatoribus nuncu- pata. Notandum hie etiam quod licet abbas praenominatus PT. v.] GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS ON THE REMAINS. 179 aliquam habuerit ad corpus Arthuri qucerendum ex scripUs anti- quis et chronicis notitiam,nonnullam quoque ex Uteris pyrami- dum inscriptis quamquam antiquitatis et fere omnino vetus- tate deletis, maximam (tamen) habuit per dictum regem Henricum ad hsec evidentiam. Dixerat enim ei pluries sicut ex gestis Britonum et eorum cantoribus historicis rex audierat quod inter pyramides quse postmodum erectse fuerant in sacro ccemeterio sepultus fuit rex Arthurus valde profunda propter metum Saxonum quos ipse ssepe expug- naverat et ab insula Britannica prorsus ejecerat, et quos Modredus nepos ejus pessimus contra ipsum post revoca-r verat, ne in mortuum etiam vindicis animi vitio dessevirent, qui totam jam insulam post mortem ipsius iterum occu- pare contenderant. Propter eundem etiam metum in lapi* dem quodam lato tanquam ad sepulchrum a fodientibus invento quasi pedibus septem sub terra, quum tamen sepuU chrum Arthuri novem pedibus inferius inventum fuerit reperta fuerit crux plumbea non superion sed potius inferiori parte lapidis inserta literas has inscriptas habens. HiC JACET SEPULTUS INCLITUS REX ArTHURUS IN INSULA AVUALLONIA CUM WeNNEUEREIA UXORE SUA SECUNDA. Crucem autem banc extractam a lapide dicto abbate Henrico ostendente perspeximus et literas has perlegimus. Sicut autem crux inferius lapidi inserta fecit sic et crucis ejusdem pars literata ut occultior esset versus lapidem versa fuit: mira quidem industria et hominum tempestatis illius exquisita prudentia qui corpus viri tanti dominique sui perpetuique loci illius patroni ratione turbationis instantis totis viribus tunc occultare volebant, et turn ut aliquo in posterum tempore tribulationis cessante per literarum saltem cruci insertarum et quandoque repertarun indicia propalari possit procurarunt. C. X. (Rubrical heading.) Quod rex Arthurus pr^- cipuus Glastoni Sicut dictus itaque rex totum abbati prcedixerat sic Art^wn corpus inventum fuit; non in sepulchro marmoreo ut regem decebat exixninm, non in saxeo aut Pariis lapidibus exsecto, sed potius in ligneo ex quercu ad hoc cavato et sexdecim pedibus aut pluribus in terra profundo propter festinam potius quam festivam tanti principis humationem, tempore nimirum turbationis ur- gentis id exigente. Dictus autem Abbas corpore reperto monitisque regis 180 SIXTH CENTTJKT HISTORY. [cHAP. lit. Henrici marmoreum sepulchrum fieri fecit ei egregium tanquam patrono illius loci prsecipuo qui scilicet ecclesiam illam prse cseteris regni cunctis plus dilexerat terrisque largis at amplis locupletaverat. Ideoque non immerito sed justo quoque Dei judicio cui bona procul dubio cuncta non solum in coelis verumetiam in terris sive in vita seu post mortem plerumque remunerat, in coenohiali demiva eccle^ sid antiqud prte costeris regni totius et authentica corpus •Arthuri egregie sepuUum fuit et glorifice sicut dehuit et tantum virum deeuit collocatum. The translation will be as follows. C. Till. (Heading gone.) It happened a long time ago, though within the limits of our own times, whilst Henry the Second was on the throne, that the notable tomb of Arthur, king of Britain, was dug up in the hallowed cemetery of St. Dunstan's, belonging to Glastonbuiy abbey. It was searched for diligently at that spot, by Henry the abbot, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, at the suggestion of the king, and was found between two high obelisks, on which were inscriptions, and which had been originally erected to the memory of Arthur. His body, when discovered, was dissolved into dust and bones, and was removed into the upper air, and into a more honour- able state. Some woman's hair was found in the same sepulchre, of a yellow colour, and beautifully plaited and woven. It was the hair, in fact, of the wife of Arthur, who had been buried in the same place with her husband. There was a certain monk who stood among the crowd ■which was gathered round, who, having fixed his eyes on the said tresses, and not being contented with satisfying his curiosity as a spectator, rushed down to the bottom of the excavation to secure them. He was, in fact, like a glutton, greedy to seize his morsel. But though hair may be considered an imperishable substance, as contain-^ ing nothing within itself humid or corporeal, yet, as he raised the tresses up in his hand, and began diligently to examine them, they, in the sight of all present, fell to pieces into the minutest dust, and disappeared. Thus the wise man's saying was fulfilled, that all human things are perishable, and that all worldly beauty, however it may delight the eye, and even excite to evil, is transitory, and nothing but vanity. " How," as says the wise man. PT. v.] GIRALDUS CAMBKENSIS TRANSLATED. 181 ^ beauty of form is like a vapour ! and iiits away more rapidly than the bloom of vernal flowers !" C. IX. Concerning the Sepulchre of King Arthur, CONTAINING HIS BONES, FOUND AT GlASTONBURY IN OUR times; and SOME INCIDENTAL PARTICULARS CONNECTED THEREWITH. Moreover, as many doubtful things are accustomed to be said concerning King Arthur, and fables to be feigned by the Britons that he still lives, which are affirmed as realities ; so to show the truth of the matter, we will insert here a few details which are indubitable. . After the battle of Kemelen, in Cornwall, where Modred was killed, that most wicked traitor and usurper, who had seized the kingdom of Britain, entrusted to his charge by his own uncle, Arthur himself, being mortally wounded, was conveyed by Morgagnis, a noble matron, his relation, to the island of Avallonia, now called Glastonbury; and, after his death, was buried by her in the hallowed ceme- tery at the same place. On account of this, the untruthful Britons and their bards were accustomed to feign that a certain fantastic divinity, called Morganis,,had taken away the body of Arthur into the isle of Avalonia, to heal his wounds, and that the brave and potent king will return, after they shall have been healed, to govern the Britons again : for so they think. Thus they expect him yet to come, as the Jews, with a still greater fatuity, unhappiness and infidelity, do the Messiah. ■ Here it may be noted, that the island is called " Glas- tonia " because it is surrounded and shut in on every side by a deep marsh, so that it might properly be called a mid-stream island, as are many of the islets of the (estu- aries of the) sea. It is called " Avalonia" from the word Aval, — in the British language an apple, — because it abounds with apples and apple orchards ; or, perhaps, from some person called Avallon, a former lord of the soil. The place used likewise to be called in the British Ian* guage " Ynys Gutrin," that is. Glassy Island, from the «tream flowing round it in the marsh being of a glassy colour ; and so the Saxons, when they came, called it, in their language, " Glastonia :" Glas in English or Saxon means glass. Thus you have it why the island is called Avallonia, and why it is called Glastonia ; and you know 182 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORT. [cHAP. III. now why Morgariis is called a fairy (dea fantastica) by writers of romances. It is also to be observed, that though the aforesaid abbot had some knowledge where the body of Arthur could be found, from chronicles and ancient writings, and some indication from the letters on the pyramids, though almost entirely obliterated, owing to their great antiquity, yet he had stilj stronger evidence to this effect from King Henry, mentioned before. For he had said to him many times, as he had been informed from the histories (gestis) of the Britons, and had heard from their historical bards,^ that king Arthur was buried in the hallowed cemetery, between the two obelisks, which had been afterwards erected ; but that his body lay there, very deeply depo- sited, from fear of the Saxons, whom he had frequently routed in his life time, and indeed driven entirely out of Britain (qu?), but whom Modred, the worst of villains, had recalled, to assist him in his contest with his uncle. He had thus been buried deep, that in their struggle to repossess the island, they might not vent their rage against him when dead. With the same idea, a broad slab, as if intended for a sepulchre, was placed seven feet under ground, and was found at that depth by the diggers, while the sarcophagus of Arthur was found nine feet lower down. There was a leaden cross discovered, attached to the slab — not to the uppermost side, but to that under- neath ; and on it was this inscription : HiC JACET SEPULTUS INCLITUS REX ArTHURIUS IN INSULA AVUALLONIA CUM WeNNEUEREIA UXORE SUA SECUNDA. Now we saw ourselves this cross, which had been fixed to the slab, and read the incription, the said abbot Henry showing it to us. Here it must likewise be noted, that like as the cross had been let in to the lower side of the slab, so the inscription was inserted on it, the lettered side towards the slab, and not outwards, in order that it might be the more concealed. Thus might be seen the exquisite forethought and contrivance of the men of those times, who, seeing that he was so great a man, and regarding him as their lord, and the perpetual patron of fhe placej wished to conceal his remains, on account of the troubles which then prevailed, and yet so provided, that at some future time, when tranquillity should be restored, his place FT. Y.] , GIKALDUS CAMBfiENSIS TRANSLATED. 183 of sepulture should become known by the inscription on the cross. C. X. How King Arthur was a geeat (benefactor) TO Glastonbury (Monastery) and • Thus then, as the king had told the abbot beforehand, was the body of Arthur discovered ; not in a marble sepulchre, as became so famous a king ; not in a stone sepulchre, or in one of Parian marble ; but rather in a wooden one, hol- lowed out for the purpose, from the trunk of an oak tree,: Buried he was sixteen feet deep, or more, not out of cere- mony, but rather out of haste, to conceal his remains more effectually in those unquiet times. When the body had been recovered, the said abbot, at the suggestion of the king, caused a splendid marble tomb to be constructed, regarding him as the chief patron of the place, who had attended to that church more than to any other of his realm, and had enriched it much with lands and possessions. Thus, by the just dispensation of God, who usually repays good by good in this life or the next, the body of Arthur found its rest in a conventual church, one of the most ancient and celebrated in the kingdom; and his remains were magnificently buried, in a manner which became so great a man, and in a manner to which he was fairly entitled. Other Sepulchral Monuments of the Kings of dumnonia. Though this family may have wanted historians to record their acts more in detail than they have come down to us, yet it seems their sepulchral memorials have been better preserved than those of the other ancient British kings. That described by Giraldus of Arthur is- an instance ; and in regard to Constantino the Third, the son of Cador, his relation and successor, called also Cuno- morus, the sepulchral cross of his son still remains, near Fowey, inscribed sirvsivs h(i)c iacet i cvnowor filivs, and is engraved in vol. ii. of the Archceological Journal for 1846, p. 388. The tumulus of Gerennius, another son of Constantino the Third, likewise remains, who has been mentioned in our pages, 170-172 ; and the following news- paper paragraph records the opening of it. . 184 SIXTH CENTUEY HISTORY, [cHAP. III. " Interesting Discoveries. — During^ the past week excavations have been made in the gigantic tumulus at Veryan Beacon, in Cornwall. Great expectations were entertained by the people in the neighbourhood that ' the golden boat and silver oars' which tradition relates to have been buried there with King Gerennius would have been discovered. Although not successful in this respect^ the explorers, found, under the central cavity of stones, a ' Kist vaen,' or chest of unhewn rocks, about four feet six inches in length, two feet in breadth, and two feet six inches in depth, which, no doubt, contained the ashes of the ancient Cornish king. Other discoveries of interest were also made. Had a sepulchral urn been found, it was intended to inter the ashes in Gerrans church, near which "King Gerrans" is said to have lived and died ; but, as the ashes were mixed with charcoal, earth, and stones, and what appeared to be the dust of rotten wood, it was determined to leave the grave in the same state as it was found, and it will now be restored to its original height and appearance." — Evening Mail, 23rd November, 1855, LINEAGE OF HENEY OF BLOIS^ ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY. William the Conqueror Stephen, Earl of Blois, = Adela Henry of Blois, Abbot of Glaston- bury, Bishop of "Winchester, 1129; ob. 1171.— The excavator. Henry I ■ I I I Robert, Richard, William. King Stephen. Theobald, Earl of Blois. Geoffrey = Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou, 2nd husband. Matilda, mar-' tied to Henry IV, Emperor of Germany, 1st husband*? Henry II, King of England, bo. 1133: ob. 1189. N.B. The abbey of Glastonbury was burnt in the year 1184 ; subse- quent to which time Henry de Sully became Abbot of Glastonbury, and Bishop of Worcester, 1193 ; and died, 1195. He is mentioned by Giral- dus Cambrensis. et. v.] eecapitdlation of the akgument. 18o Conclusion. "We have thus gone through the most tangible points of our subject ; and we may appeal to the result, which is, that though we may have lost direct histories and biogra- phies relating to Arthur, yet, collaterally, we have a great deal of evidence, as well direct, as by way of induction, of the reality both of his existence, and of a great portion of the history, as usually given, of his life and actions. There is but little doubt that, from this prince having adopted the Christian cause, and so losing the commemo- ration of the bards, his great deeds became the less cele- brated ; but we may therefore, with the greater good will, endeavour to supply the deficiency. We do not take the merit of saying that the actuality of his existence is now for the first time shown, since the preponderancy of the opinions of historical writers was before in his favour. Witness Sharon Turner, Lingard, and others. Indeed, but few historical writers will now be bold enough to say that there was no such person. Scepticism, in our days, with regard to this ancient British king, exists not so much in literature as in common parlance, arising apparently from his name being frequently introduced in ballads and in works of imagination. The writers professing to maintain his nonentity, with the exception of Mr. Herbert, and perhaps some others, are those that are led away by the common error, and do not examine evidences on the point ; and Mr. Herbert himself was biassed by the misunder- standing of certain passages in Welsh poetry. The sub- ject has been taken up anew in these pages ; and, from an increased knowledge of ancient British history, what was not so evident before, is become more evident, and all former proofs are become more established. If the history of this prince be probable in its main features, it ought not to be discarded ; if it be true, it ought to be unreser- vedly received, and all unfounded prejudices should be dismissed. We should, perhaps, recapitulate here a few of the his- torical evidences of his existence, and of his acts, which we may accordingly briefly enumerate : 1. He is mentioned in Nennius as the generalissimo of the Britons, and his twelve battles are specified-; and his 186 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP. III. being the son of Uther Pendragon is recorded in one copy. 2. His existence is also implied in two passages of the History of Gildas, c. 32 and c. 33, and a sufficient reason is given why that writer was disinclined to make much men- tion of him. 3. The Saxon Chronicle records no battles with the Britons during the time (about nine years) in which, according to Tysilio, peace had been concluded with them, and dijring which they are said to have acknow- ledged him as Pendragon, and consented to hold under him in homage. 4. Many of his commanders and chiefs mentioned, as Caradoc Vreichvfas, and others, are known to have been real, existing personages of the time in which the British sovereign is said to have flourished. 5. The limits of the Saxon territorial acquirements and conquests, at the time of his ultimate peace with them, are well known : as, for instance, Kent, Sussex, Surrey, East Anglia, Northumberland and- Durham, etc. ; and when his great festival, on his return from Gaul, is described in Tysilio, no guests are represented as arriving from any parts or places which are known then to have been possessed by the Saxons. 6. Johannes Magnus, a Swedish historian of credit, of the sixteenth century, speaks positively of an expedition of this king to the North Seas, and narrates the circumstances which led to it. Tysilio also relates an expedition of Arthur to the North Seas, though vary- ing the details of it so much as to show he had never seen the account of it by Johannes Magnus. 7. The British king, again, is described in Tysilio's Chronicle as going over to Armorica and Gaul, to take a part in the wars there ; and it is known with certainty, from the his- tory of that country, and otherwise, that there were wars going on between the Franks and Burgundiahs at that period, being the early days of the Merovingian dynasty. 8v Arthur's opponents in Gaul are called, in Tysilio, p. 170, Burgundians, which shows that he espoused the cause of the Franks, who were the ultimate conquerors in those wars. 9. Triad 21 says that Medrawd revolted against Arthur as he was marching on an expedition against Home ; and it is a well established and authenticated fact, in history, that the Franks, with whom he was associated, did invade Italy in the year 538. 10. It is not at all to be believed that Britain was without a Pendragon from VT. v.] RECAPITULATION OF THE ARGUMENT. 187 the year 517 to 542 ; about fifteen years of which time would appear to have been passed in active hostility. 11. There is no other person asserted to have been in that office, except Arthur, during that period. And 12. The existence of our insular monarch is mentioned collaterally in the Life ofGildas by Caradoc of Lancarvan, in the Poems of Taliesin, and those of Merddin Wyllt, and in the Lives and Legends of various saints, as recorded in the ancient manuscript marked Vespasian, A. xiv., in the Cottonian Library in the British Museum ; as also in the Armorican Chronicle of Mont St. Michel, and in the Caledonian Chro- We have been duly sensible, while discussing the subject of this ancient Celtic king, that there is frequently obloquy incurred in asserting truths of a certain class, and that there is often difficulty in finding favour for particular topics. But whether favoured or disfavoured, or whether obloquy be incurred or not, the only object in the fore- going remarks has been the endeavour to ascertain what is the truth, and, when ascertained, to support it. Bale Arzur, or Arthur's March. We may add the following lines, in the Armorican dia- lect, with their translation, connected as they are, accord- ing to their title, with the ancient British king of whom we have treated in the foregoing pages. They are a war song, and come to us with no other introduction than that they exist among the compositions of the ballad class in Britany. As we here give them, the five first lines are omitted, comprising merely the repetition of the word " deorap", come, fourteen times, and a summons to fathers, sons, and relations, and all men of courage, to the war : Mab ar c'hadour a lavare Lavare d'he dad : eur beure, Marc hegerien war lein ar bre ! Marc hegerien o vont e-biou Mirc'bed adan-he glaz bo liou Och Mnteal gand ar riou ! Stank-ar-stank chouec'h-hachouec'h, e ri ; Skank-ha-stank e ri tri-ha-tri Mil goaf oc'h ann heol 6 lintri. 188 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III. Stank ha stank e A daou a daou O vont da heul ar banielaou Hag a vransell glan ann Ankaou. Nao ban rong ann daou benn anhe ; Eagad Arzur e goarann e ; Arzur a-rok lein ar mene — Mar ma Arzur ann hini eo Prim d'hor gwarek ha d'hor gwall veo ! H«,-rok d'he heul ha slinmi ra freo ! O ked he c'her losket a-grenn Pa drouzkrosas ar iouc' hadenn Had ar meneziou penn-d'ar-benn Kalon am lagad ! Penn am brec'h ! Ha laz am blons ha traon ha krec'h ! Ha tad am map ha mamm am merc'h ! Meirch am kazek, ha mul am as ! Penn-lu am mael, ha den am goas ! Goad am daerou ha tan am grouaz ! Ha tri am unan, evit mad ! Traon ha krec'h noz-de, mar gell pad, Ken a redo enn traoniou goad ! Er stourmat treuzet mar kouezomp Gand hor goad en em badesfomp Ha laouen galon a varfomp. Mar marvomp evel ma elleet D'ar Gristenien d'ar Vretoned, Morse na varvimp re abred. According to the Count de la Villeraarque, from whose Bursas Breis, or Bards of Britany (vol. i. p. 84), we have taken the extract, the above war song has been in use, as such, within the memory of man, in that part of France ; and he acquaints us that, when sung in modem times, the two last stanzas are sung twice ; the three preceding ones, beginning " Kalon am lagad" (an heart for an eye, etc.), being but little comprehended. However, he must in reality rather mean that they do not sympathize in the sentiments expressed therein ; because the meaning is so clear that it does not readily admit of doubt. The Count de la Villemarque believes the lines were taken from an original in the ancient British language ; the words "bre", hill; "kad", battle; "ri", number; "glan", wind, soul, or breath ; " as", ass ; " mael", soldier, or servant ; " penn- lu", military commander; "fraoi" (freo), to be agitated; FT. v.] THE BALE ARZUR. 189 » adan", below ; " rong", betweRa ; and " am", for,— being not to be found in any Armorican dictionaries, either old or new. We may now give the English : The warrior's son said to his father one morning : " There are horsemen coming over the hills. Horsemen coming along, mounted on grey steeds sniffling up the cold air. In close ranks, six deep ; in close ranks, three deep : a thousand lances glitter in the sun. In close ranks, two deep, following the standards streaming in the breeze of death. Nine slings cast (i.e. nine furlongs) it is from their front to their rear. It is the army of Arthur. I know it. Arthur rides at their head, on the top of the hill." (Answer.) " If it be Arthur, quick to our bows and to our arrows ; and on forward to follow him, and brandish your javelins." He had scarcely ceased speaking when the war-cry was heard on the hills, from one end to the other of them. " An heart for an eye ! A head for an arm ! Death for a wound ! In the valley, and on the hill ! And a father for a mother, and a mother for a daughter ! , A horse for a mare, and a mule for an ass ! A chieftain for a soldier, and a man for an infant ! Blood for tears, and flames for heat ! And three for one ! This is what shall be done. Like in the valley, so on the hill, day and night, if we can, till the valleys flow with waves of blood. If we fall transfixed in the combat, we shall be baptized with our own blood, and shall die with a joyous heart. If we die as Christian Britons ought to do, we cannot die too soon." We may observe of the above war- song, that it is infe- rior to most modern compositions of the kind, in which the writers usually introduce far nobler feelings, and more patriotism ; more self-devotion in fact, from higher mo- tives ; whereas the spirit of this savours of partizanship, and is highly selfish and sanguinary. The same are points, however, which are in some degree evidences of its antiquity ; for it hardly could have been written in Tiiodern times, but must have been indited when clanship and minor subdivisions of kingdoms existed. Like many of our ancient ballads, it seems gradually to have lost its ancient phrase, and to have become modernized in its lan- guage, as it has been from time to time copied and re- 190 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY, [cHAP. copied. We have inserted it here, not only, as has been said, as having reference to Arthur, but also partly histo- rically, as throwing a species of light, though a mournful one, on the extremely ferocious spirit in warfare which prevailed in the earlier part of the Middle Ages. CHAPTER IV. STRATHCLYDB AFFAIRS IN THE SIXTH CENTURY; OR THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS OP THE WARS OP ARDERYDD AND GODODIN. THE BATTLE OF ARDERYDD. We may place the two above unfortunate contests together, as the one proved the sure, and, indeed, infallible intro- duction to the other. The Saxons having been kept in check up to the death of Arthur, in 542, and the Strath- clyde Britons preserving their territories entire from sea to sea up to that period, some dissensions took place, par- tially with the other Britons, and partially among them- selves ; and a species of levy en masse was made, a combat ensued, known as the battle of Arderydd, attended with a frightful and prodigious slaughter, in which, according to the Celtic manner, they settled their differences. The northern Britons could but Ul bear the loss ; and it proved act the j&rst of the tragedy of the fall of their nation, the battle of Gododin being act the second. With this pre- lude, we may proceed briefly to treat of these events. There is but little doubt that the dissensions to which we have alluded were occasioned by contests for the pendragonship of Caledonia. This, it appears, during Arthur's life, had been held by that eminent commander, though certainly he was somewhat disturbed in the exer- cise of it, as the insurrection of Howel clearly shows. For IV.] BATTLE OF ARDERYDD. 191 nearly the first fifteen years after the death of Arthur, we do not know who possessed it ; when all at once, in or about the year 555, Maelgwyn Gwynedd, who was already generalissimo of the Britons in the South, appears in the field in Caledonia to contest it in the North ; and his claims to the distinction appear to have been these : First, he was alreadyPendragon of the Southern Britons ; and consequently was in the position of Arthur Mabuter, the late holder of the dignity ; and secondly, he was holder of the southern Cumbria (Cumberland, Lancashire, etc.), which was one in the circle of the Strathclyde kingdoms, and so far gave him a stronger claim than his great pre • decessor, whom we have mentioned. Besides all this, it appears indubitable that Maelgwyn was a great commander, and accustomed to lead his troops to victory. It is not possible to give minute particulars of the events which occurred ; for there are but a few, brief, cursory mentions of them, or allusions, which have come down to us. In fact, we have no reason to suppose otherwise than that, on Maelgwyn Gwynedd's arrival in Caledonia with an armed force, partially as an enemy, partially as a friend, there was a sudden — nay, almost momentaneous levy and a great battle immediately occurring: when, after a few weeks, all was quiet again, after a most frightful slaughter of the Britons in those parts. There are various references to these transactions in the Avellenuu of Merddyn Caledo- nius, in Cynddelw, and elsewhere, mostly very desultory and indefinite ; and there is a sketch of them in the Vita Merlini of Geofirey of Monmouth. This poem is historical, but mixed with much romance. Still we appear to have the names of the principal combatants given pretty clearly : namely, on one side, the said Maelgwyn, described by the poetic name of Peredur, king of the Venedoti ; and with him, Rodarchus, that is Rhydderch, a Strathclyde kino', described as » Rex Cumbrorum", Cumbria and Strathclyde being the same ; and he appears to be the person who was patron of St. Kentigern, and who is mentioned by Nennius, in his c. lxv, in connexion with events occurring a few years afterwards, under the appellation of Rhydderch-Hen. And on the other side was ranged Gwennolaus (Gwendo- lan ap Ceidiaw), the king who already exercised the func- tions of Pendragon of Caledonia, 192 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY, [cHAP. ' In the result, Maelgwyn Gwynedd prevailed, but only survived about five years ; and notwithstanding the prodi- gious slaughter with which the honour had been acquired, and notwithstanding the popularity of his son and succes- sor, B.hun ap Maelgwyn, it appears clear enough from the poems of Aneurin and Taliesin, that it did not descend to him, but went into other hands. As for the slaughter on this occasion, we take Triad 50 in good faith, which informs us that it was, on both sides, as we may understand, eighty thousand ; and considering the martial spirit of the inhabitants of these quarters, and the nature of a Celtic levy en masse, this does not appear at all surprising ; though, as we have said, the loss could be but ill spared by the Britons in those times. The locality of this battle is not known ; but, guided by the etymology of the name, Ard~y-rydd, or " high moun- tain pass", we gather that it took place in a mountainous district ; and hence appears to be the explanation of the species of joke which is made in the said Triad 50, that it was fought for a " bird's nest", — that is, as seems to be meant, for an eagle's nest, in allusion to the lofty range of hills on which it took place. And now, as we have refer- red to the Vita Merlini, it will be but right to mention the connexion which the Caledonian Merlin, otherwise Merd- dyn Wyllt, is related to have had with these transactions. Merddyn Wyllt, or MerddynCaledonius, sometimes called Merlin, was the son of MadogMorvryn apMorydd,ap Ceneu, ap Coel Goedhebaug, He was a poet, and, besides, pos- sessed decided Druidical tenets, and was brother-in-law to the said Gwendolan we have mentioned, who had married his sister Ganieda or Gwenddyd, and was an opponent to the cause of Maelgwyn Gwynedd ; and hence it was very natural that he should be so too. Therefore, with his three brothers, he joins the battle array at Arderydd, wearing the golden torque, as he informs us in his poem of the Avellenau; which was an ornament in use among the an- cient Britons who had pretensions to rank or eminence, fie loses his three brothers in the battle ; and, according to some accounts, kills his own nephew. His intellects are consequently deranged for some years, during which time he partially lives in the forests, and partially in the society of men, and practises a number of extraordinary freaks JY.] BATTLE OF AKDERYDD. 193 and oddities. During some part of the period, in his calmer moments, he lives at the house of his sister, who endeavours to soothe him under the attacks of his disorder, consults his comfort in every way, and even builds him a house in the forest, where his chief haunts were, for his better abode in the winter, which at times he occupies. His wife, Gwendolena, finding his sylvan habits irreclaim- able, wishes to dissolve their union, and to form another match : to which he freely consents, and promises a mar- riage portion. Accordingly, on the day appointed for the wedding, he collects together a great herd of stags, fallow deer, and goats, and himself comes riding on one of the first mentioned animals to the ceremony. The new hus- band, when he sees him, cannot forbear bursting out into a violent fit of laughter ; incensed at which, he is said to have torn off" one of the horns of the stag, and to have thrown it at him and killed him on the spot. Perhaps we should rather understand that he had one of the instru- ments called a celt (the species of " missilis securis", or projectile hatchet, mentioned by ApoUinaris Sidonius, as used in those times), concealed among the antlers of the animal, with which he gave the fatal wound by throwing it at him. However, he galloped off" on his steed towards his accustomed retreats in the forest, hotly pursued by all the company who had been assembled for the wedding. Unluckily for him, there was a deep river close at hand, which he was obliged to pass ; and his poor stag not being able to acquit itself in such a case as well as a horse would have done, he was immersed in the stream and captured. -Being brought back, he appears to have been treated kindly, in consideration of his lunatic condition. And this, we find, was nearly his last prank ; for becoming now some- what better, after the interval of some time Taliesin was sent for, by an arrangement between him and his sister, to be a companion to him; and, when arrived, they join in scientific conversation on natural history, astronomy, and" other matters, according to the scope afforded to them by the times. And with these colloquies the poem, which comprises between thirteen and fourteen hundred lines comes to a conclusion, Merddyn Wyllt, as an author, has left behind him seve- ral poems, of which the principal is the one entitled the cc 194 STRATHClvYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP. Avellenau, or "Apple Orchard". His poetical compositions are remarkable for their strong Druidical and mystical turn. Some attributed to him are of a prophetical nature. We may understand that he died as a poet, for it does not appear that he ever again took a part in war or politics. It should be added, that, in the course of the poem of the Vita Merlini, some events of British history are given, as also varicyis extraneous details. The attentions of his sister, Ganieda, when they were possible to be bestowed, appear in a very amiable light throughout the poem. The versification of this poetical piece is, in places, light and elegant, in other places somewhat clumsy and prosaic. We have remarked before of its having every appearance of being a translation of a prose narrative, though Geoffrey of Monmouth has given Maelgwyn Gwynedd a poetical designation, and slightly altered some of the other names. We may repeat, that the battle of Arderydd appears to have had no results which continued beyond Maelgwyn Gwynedd's death in 560, for the Southern Cumbria (Gwen- edota) sometimes joined the Strathclyde cause, and some- times did not. It was, perhaps, rather from a want of political union than from any other reason, that Catgaibal, king of Gwenedota, quitted their army with his men before the battle of Abret luden (Carlisle), in the next century (see p. 35 ante), by which he obtained the name of Catgai- bal Catguommed, or Catgaibal, the " Battle-avoider", Communications, however, continued between Strathclyde and North Wales to the ninth century, and perhaps longer. The Battle of Gododin. . Critical research, so useful in many cases, has not been without its results in gradually illustrating the ancient poem written by Aneurin on this subject, and bearing this title. Many errors have been entertained respecting it, which are now pretty well dispelled. It is asserted in the Gorchan Cynvelyn, or " Incantation of Cynvelyn", or Cuno- beline, a composition inserted in vol. i. of the Myvyrian - Archaiology, that there originally were, or should have been, three hundred and sixty-three stanzas in this poem of Aneurin,— one to the eulogy of each chief engaged in the battle of Gododin, However, it would appear that the IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 195 medieval author of that poem wrote without being much acquainted with Aneurin's epic, or, at any rate, without having recently referred to it ; for, had he examined it, he would have found that some of the stanzas are solely nar- rative, while of the rest there are instances of several applying to one and the same individual : as six to Owen, three to Tudvulch-hir, three to Cynddilig of Aeron, two to Cynan, two to Caradoc Vreichvras, besides other examples. No more is therefore required to be said on this head. In regard to other errors which have been entertained : Edward Davies, the eminent Celtic scholar, doubted much of the nature of this poem forty years ago, and was in- clined to think it had a covert and indirect meaning, and referred t(T no historical event in the North; while much more recently, the Honble. Algernon Herbert, a very learned and acute writer, unhesitatingly maintained the same opinion in his Oy clops Christianus (published in 1849), and pronounced it to relate, under the veil of mysticism, to Vortigern and Hengist, and to the wars of the Saxons in the South of Britain, which ensued consequent upon their first invasion. It must be owned that a great part of these misconceptions arose from the extreme difiiculty of ascertaining the meaning of various parts of it. Just at this period, however, some very unexpected light broke in upon the subject. The Count de la Villemarque, who is the author of an Armorican dictionary of reputation, and is, not to say merely an eminent, but yet more, a pro- found Celtic scholar, took it in hand in the ensuing year, 1850. This distinguished literary character had passed many years of his life in translating and publishing such remnants of Armorican literature as could be met with in France: some, indeed, of which were of considerable length. He thus became acquainted with the Celtic idiom more than any one else had previously been; and his suc- cess has been, indeed, splendid, in his version of the Godo- din. The seemingly crabbed phrases and idioms of the ancient Caledonian bard have been melted down, not only to good and sound sense, but also to well expressed poeti- cal ideas ; and frequently the verses, which seemed to have no meaning at all, have been found to be replete with the most striking imagery. Perhaps the reader may say, as has been said, " This might be the translator's own inven- 196 STEATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY, [cHAP. tion". Not sd, exactly ; but his success is owing, as before has been suggested, to his rightly apprehending the idiom, to his catching the sense the dialect of the day conveyed, and seizing the idea that flitted through the poet's mind. The Celtic dialect of that era, on examination, appears to have had very little inflexion ; and the w^ords, as used in poetry, stood pretty much in an isolated form, as it seemed to moderns, at least; and they have generally translated them in an isolated form, and so lost the sense. The words, however, though in the guise of being isolated, had in reality a conventional meaning, and a combination, to express very vividly the ideas of the poet ; so that the apparent rudeness of diction of the bard was not actually so, according to the time in which he wrote. This, it may be safely affirmed, is the true state of the case with regard to this very admirable performance of Count de la Ville- marque. There is no need for assertion, however ; let a literal translation of the first twelve lines show it, which we will proceed to give, adding also sufficient means of comparison by subjoining a translation considered of much repute some years since : Gredyf gwr oed gwas nature a man he was a youth Gwrhyt am dias manly in battle (or revenge, or war-cry) March mwth myng vras a horse swift mane thick Adan morddwyd megyr gwas under the thigh fair youth Ysgwyt ysgafn Uydan a shield light hroad Ar bedrein mein buhan upon the croup slender, swift (i.e. horse) Cledyvawr glas glan sword great blue handsome Ethy aur a tan spurs gilt with fire (i.e. to glitter) Ny bi ef a mi Nol shall be it with me Cas erof a thi anger (or envy) /ur the sake of me with thee Gwell gwneif (gwnaf) a thi better I will do with thee Ar mol (mawl) dy moli upon praise thine to eulogise. Any one who reads the above words of the first twelve IV,] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. IQl lines of the Gododin, will, at the first view, almost think them words placed at hap-hazard ; but the seeond impres- sion will be, that it is possible that, conventionally, or per idiom, various of them might have been combined in phrases; which were familiar enough at a former period, and might have had both meaning and force. Most of these idioms have, however, died away, and become un- known to modern times ; and not only that, but many of the words themselves have become out of use, so that their meanings are ascertained with some little difficulty ; and, indeed, the precise meaning of various words in the poem can only be conjectured by moderns. Sharon Turner translated this very part about fifty years ago, under the supervision, he tells us in his Vindication of the Ancient British Poets (p. 247) of the eminent authority in Celtic literature, Dr. W.Owen Pughe, who was the com- piler of a most comprehensive Welsh dictionary, and from his attainments was peculiarly suited to the task. We will then see how far the learning of that day would go in rendering the verses intelligible, the following being the version produced; Sharon Turner's, or Owen Pughe's Translation. Gredyv was a youth Vigorous in the tumult. A swift, thick-maned steed Was under the thighs of the fair youth ; A shield light and broad Hung on the slender, swift courser ; His sword was blue and shining ; Golden spurs and ermine adorned him. It is not for me To envy thee. I will do nobler to thee : In poetry I will praise thee". Here observe an imaginary person, Gredyv, is intro- duced ; for the whole passage in reality applies to Owen . ap Urien. The faulty reading, « aphan", ermine, is intro- duced, mcongruous to war; and the point of the four last hues IS entirely lost. In the following translation, by Count ViUemarque, which we here give faithfully in English it will be seen how happily he has been able, -from his Armorican studies, to become aware of the idiom of the author : 198 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP, Translation hy Count Villemarque. Though young he possessed the qualities of a man. (He was) valiant in hattle. A spirited courser with a long mane Curvetted underneath his thigh. Quite young he was, and yet already famous. A shield light and broad Covered the croup of his swift (charger). His sword was large, blue, and sparkling ; His spiffs (were) of glittering gold. (O chief) it is not I that will give thee (Cause for) dissatisfaction. I will do My best for thee, for thee, And to celebrate thy praises. Count de la Villemarqu6 is not the only critic who has translated and illustrated the Gododin. A very learned and useful translation was published in 1852 by the Eev, John Williams ap Ithel. His version is occasionally even closer to the original than that of Villemarqu6 ; and his notes, as well as learned, are frequently extremely satis- factory. It would be invidious to make a comparison between two works which are formed on so entirely a dif- ferent basis, and which indeed properly belong to- different stages of the inquiry ; but it is certainly to be regretted that the two authors, who published so near together, had not communicated with each other. At present, neither work is complete singly ; and the reader who is charmed by the elegant dress in which the diction of the Caledonian bard is made to appear by Villemarque, would wish also that the combined Celtic erudition of the two critics should bear on the subject. Having given this specimen, there will be less hesitation in admitting that it is a regular, though somewhat rude, epic poem of a certain campaign, or war, which took place between the Britons and Saxons, in which the former lost an important northern province, and some of their most popular commanders. It is chiefly a narrative of one great battle which took place, the battle of Gododin; and the whereabouts, date, and events of that battle wUl form our present subject. As to the date of this event, it seems best to coincide with Mr. Williams, as well as the generality of other writers who have touched upon the subject, that it was about the year 570. IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 199 It would be wrong not to acknowledge the great aid derived from the labours of G. V. Irving, Esq., in discuss- ing, in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, the subject, not only of the locality of the battle itself, but also of the geography of the whole northern parts of Britain. At the same time we have ventured to entertain different opinions on various points. Nor could it, indeed, be scarcely expected that a subject so obscure, and so mis- understood before, could at once be cleared from every difficulty. There are seventy or eighty, or even ninety stanzas or more to this poem ; for some copies make more, and some less, and the stanzas are variously divided in different copies : and for the right understanding of this interesting though certainly somewhat obscure composition, we pro- pose — (1), to give the general argument of the whole sub- ject, assigning the locality of the battle ; (2), to give some- what an analysis of each stanza ; (3), to show some proofs of the correct locality ; and (4), to afford elucidation to any particular topic connected with this subject which may seem required. In the first place, then, as to the general subject. The date of this battle being considered, as we have said, to have been 570, there had already elapsed a peace of some years since the war in which the battles of Gwen- Ystrad, Menao, and Argoed-Llwyfain, all celebrated by the ancient British bards, had taken place, and both sides appear to have been contemplating a renewal of hostilities, and each side to have entertained the idea of surprising the opposite party. It seems it was customary for the Northern Britons to hold an annual festival, in the early part of May, at the easternmost station of the Wall of Antoninus, where this military work is terminated by the ocean, or rather by the waters of the estuary of the Forth. In this part there appear to have been games and other festivities going on upon the shore, in the front of the last Eoman castellum or fortress, as it was left dry by each retiring tide ; while within the fortress itself tables were spread, the provision stores were opened, and mead, ale, and wine, were circulated without stint, and nothing but revelry and regaling was going on. This festival had, of course, some religious purpose in Eoman times, though we 200 STKATHCXYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP; tre not prepared to say that it had any such in British times. However, we will leave all discussions on that point, and only advert to the fact, that such a custom existed, and to the name of the festival, which is called the " Koelcerth", and is well enough known in Britany. The narrative implies that the Northern British tribes had been accustomed to meet in great military strength, for the two or three previous years, at the festival of the Koelcerth ; which naturally enough had excited the jea- lousy of the Saxons, as they could thereby make a sudden inroad, come upon them with numerous and well-appointed forces, and take them wholly unprepared. The narrative again implies that, on their doing so again, the Saxons were determined to attack them, and to make war in ear- nest ; which, it appears, had become known to the Britons. It is possible that the suspicions of the Saxons were well founded, and that the Britons would have entered upon some enterprise on this last occasion had their intentions not been anticipated. We may understand then, that, in the year 570 (the third or fourth year of the peace), the Saxons having learnt that there was to be the usual muster, accordingly com- municated with their friends, the Picts, in the North, and instructed them to bring down their forces towards the eastern extremity of the Wall, while they themselves took the field with their whole army, moving in the same direc- tion. AU this seems to have been done in due form and order: Domnal Brec, the king, coming down with his Picts from the North, and they moving up from the South. In addition, they sent forth strong divisions of their forces to cut off separate parties of the Britons as they were advancing from Guenedota, or Gwynedd, or other places, to the festival ; which, from the relative position of the kingdoms of Deira and Bemicia, they had singular advan- tage in doing. In fact, the war began with this ; for first, with a strong body of their troops, they intercepted a divi- sion of three hundred of the Britons coming from the South, with all gaiety, to the festival, and cut them off; and soon afterwards they even intercepted another division of fourteen hundred of Mynyddaug's army, who were advancing with equal gaiety, and either cut them off, or occasioned them a great loss, — for the passage, as it at pre- IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 201 sent stands, is not definitely expressed. These must have come from a more northerly direction. However, these were only incidental circumstances ; and the whole assem- blage of the Britons arrived, at the day appointed, at their place of destination in two armies : the one under Mynyd- daug, with Cynan second in command, from Strathclyde Proper and the neighbouring states ; the other under Tud- viilch-hir, from Eiddin and its adjoining localities. About the same time with them arrived the Saxons on the South side, and the Picts on the North ; and the first day of the feast was the first day of the battle. The Britons, however, determined to have their feast out ; and having possession of a strong fortress, and, as it seems, of another intreuch- ment near, they carried on regaling and fighting at the same time : part of their troops carousing within the walls, and part being, under arms and fighting without. This scene goes on the whole of. the week, for the festi- val lasted that time ; and the Britons, each time the tide went down, for some days occupied the strand, or a part of it, where the sports were accustomed to be held ; which, it would appear, they still aifected to carry on dur- ing their occasional possession of the spot, — at least as far as regaling went (see stanzas 16 and 19), notwith- standing the warlike proceedings which were transacting. Severe contests accordingly took place on this water- washed arena; and, together with endeavouring to prevent the Britons from issuing out upon this strand, the Saxons and Picts were also making strenuous efforts to demolish the earthen rampart on the north and south sides of the cas- tellura ; which, indeed, it would rather appear that, in the first instance, the Britons had themselves obliterated in places, for the readier exit of their horse and foot in the sallies which they made, while, in the beginning, they were fighting on somewhat even terms with the Picts and Saxons. And this may possibly be the allusion intended in an obscure passage of a poem printed by Davies in his Mythology of the Druids, page 574, where the two chiefs, Tudvulch and Cyvulch, are mentioned in connexion with Mynyddaug, and are said to have made breaches in for- tresses. However this may be, the Britons had some con- siderable success on the third day, although they then lost Caradoc Vreichvras, a Cambrian chief of note. DD 202 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [CHAP. But if we see reason to suppose that there was an attempt to carry on the regaling on the strand outside the fortress, much more was revelry prevailing within, without control; and the most distinguished of the British chiefs were in a state of intoxication in the great hall of the for- tress, or in the mead or meat stores. Some of these, the poet relates, even the most noted, issued on their horses intoxicated to combat the enemy; and in consequence were killed, being only able to make the most feeble resist^ ance. There was a remonstrance against this r.evelHng, both in the third and sixth days of the feast. The first of these was that of Gwlighed, the Otodinian, mentioned in sta,nza 28, who, happening to be at Kaltraeth at the time, and seeing not only the public feast going on, but the chieftains making entertainments for each other, denounced vehemently and unreservedly these unseasonable rejoic- ings. For doing so he is said to have acquired an honour- able mention in this war, though it seems he fell towards the conclusion of it, since stanza 60 is a species of monody on his death, as well as recording the deaths of some others. We shall note the second remonstrance, to the same effect, presently. It is no wonder that, among such scenes of disorder, the efforts of the enemy at last prevailed. The Saxons and Picts, however, suffered most severely. Donald, or Domnal Brec, the king of the Picts, was killed in an attack made on the north side, headed by Owen, on the third day, though the stanzas describing it do not now remain in the poem ; and Bun, or Bearnoch, the widow of Ida, who, though of the feminine sex, had too martial a mind to remain at home at her palace of Bebbasburgh, or Bam- burgh, but accompanied the expedition as a species of amateur, to encourage her subjects, the Bemicians, in the confusion of one of the attacks on the south side, it appears, was killed. The Saxons and Picts, how- ever, gradually hemmed in the Britons closer and closer within their ramparts ; and, after the third day, they do not appear to have been able to draw up any longer on the strand. On that day, or on the morning of the fourth, offers to treat were made with them, through an herald from the enemy, but were at once rejected. After this, the position of the Britons was gradually becoming worse, lY.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 203 notwithstanding their rejection of the terms ; and for the next two days their chief care seems to have been to main- tain their ramparts, breaches, and palisade ; which last, according to Roman custom, was probably set on the tops of the ramparts. Nevertheless they made some sallies. On the sixth day they made a general attack on the Picts, but without success ; and on the same day three hundred men, issuing from the fortress on a separate attack, were cut off, and only one man of them returns to it. Th6 seventh and last day, Owen, one of the most emi- nent of the British chiefs, and the hero of the poem, de- scended down the breach, in the battle which began in the first of the morning, at the ramparts, to combat with the enemy. He was accompanied by some of his troops, and by some other chiefs ; but, becoming separated from his supports, was killed.. Eidol, renewing the attack on the Saxons, endeavoured to retrieve this disaster, but in vain : whilst Mynyddaug, having posted himself with a strong force of Britons to defend the sea gate, was killed at that point ; as also Tudvulch was, who was stationed at another part (see stanza 13). The Saxons, by their continued efforts, effect an entrance through the gate, breaches, and other places, and the combat continued hand -to hand within the ramparts. Cynddilig of Aeron, who appears to be called Mab Ceidiaw, for the same reason that Owen, in stanza 1, is called Mab Meirchion, — that is, as belonging to the tribe, — ^had, a short time before, overturned the wine- glasses in the great hall of the fortress, at the point of the lance, and stopped the drinking : but now that and some other buildings were on fire, notwithstanding which despe- rate fighting was maintained there, and several British leaders were killed in it. A general massacre ensued, and it is easy to understand that, hemmed in as the Britons were, it was difficult for any of them to escape. Three did, however : Cynan, the second in command of the forces of Mynyddaug, and two other chiefs, Cadreith, and Cadleu of Cadnant. How many others of the Britons fought their way out with their chiefs, we are not informed, nor under what circumstances they were able to withdraw. The poet's life, we should add, as herald, was spared. While these things were transacting, another strong division of the Britons held the fort of Adoen, at about a 204 STRATHCLTDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [CHAP. mile distance. The Saxons, we are informed in one of the supernumerary stanzas of the Gododin, had made a breach in the ramparts of this ; but we are not told the fate of the fort. However^ it is presumable that the vigor- ous resistance of Kaltraeth enabled the garrison here to escape, or to capitulate ; and hither, probably, Cynan and his men were able to xetire. Such was thg battle of Oododin, by which the Northern Britons lost their eastern provinces, and which circum- scribed their power within a small compass. This was the immediate result, though we find, from stanzas added, that Geraint, or Gerennius, son of Constantine the Third, and king of Dumnonia, arriving with some ships and troops in the Clyde, renewed the war against the Picts in that quarter, which appears to have revived the drooping spirits of the Britons. There is scarcely a doubt that he was the succour by sea, the promise of which was held out to the Britons ailmost in their last struggles (see stanza 62), and that it was originally arranged that he should arrive at an earlier period. The leader of the Picts in the above transactions, is called, in some copies, Domnal Brec ; in others, Domnal Vrych. The two appendages to the name imply *'pictus", or " varius", that is, painted or spotted, and import the same as the more usual historical term, "Pict". The name itself, Donald, is also frequently varied to Domnal, etc., etc. Possibly, in its simplest form, it was originally Dun- mael, or Duvn-mael. Owen is also varied in ancient manu- scripts, in which the name is mentioned, to Hoian and Hoianu. Some speculations might be entered into on the locality of the battle of Gododin, from the mention, in various ancient sources, of the death of Domnal Brec] but we consider them utterly valueless, having such decided inter- nal evidence to the point in the poem, to which we shall presently attend. We shall now give the contents of the stanzas, and the personal and local names, to illustrate this ancient Celtic poem, which, in conjunction with our previous remarks, will bring more fully to our notice the position of the Britons, and the very striking circumstances of their case. They had to check a most powerful enemy ; and their ly.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 205 military forces were all raised on the principle of volun- tary and unpaid service, by summons from their chiefs : as they had, properly speaking, no standing army, no con- scription, no recruiting sergeant, nothing of the kind. The diflB.culty of raisin:g an army in this way, with an obsti- nate contest in anticipation, and with but a trifling pro- spect of booty, or any other advantage, was of course great ; and the festival system, a very bad one, appears pretty evidently to have been the expedient adopted at this period. The poem, as we judge, details the singular effects consequent on campaigning on this basis ; and we believe it is in vain that we may search for a similar instance in the history of any other nation, or, indeed, of Britain itself, in any other era. Before, however, detailing the stanzas separately^ it will be right to state the parties engaged in the war on either side. Britons. Commamders. Mynyddaug, genl.-in-chief. Cynan, second in command. Tudvulch-hir. Owen. Cynddilig of Aeron (1) Cenau Peil (1) States. Strathclyde, or Archluyd Eiddin . E-heged Novantes Selgovse Argoed The leader of the Otodini, and those of Lekleiku and Lenn, minor states, are not known. The Saxons. States. Commanders. Bernicians, Deirians, and Loegrians, i.e. the Saxons as settled there, and the British Not mentioned, population of those parts, as under their control. The Picts . . . Domnal Brec. The Saxon commanders, though their names be not known, were probably sons of the Saxon kings of Deira and Bernicia ; and it is clear enough that there was no fresh Saxon immigration for this war ; but that it was the settlers in Bernicia and Deira of that nation, who had now held territories there for more than a century, who were the prime movers in the hostilities against the Britons. 206 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [chap. 1. Eulogy. 2. Eulogy. 3. Eulogy. 4. Eulogy. 5. Eulogy. The Poem of Aneurin, Contents. THE PROEMIDM. An equestrian portrait is supplied of Owen Mab-Urien, the hero of the epic. He is represented with all the freshness and comeliness of youth, and as mounted on his high-mettled, slender, and thick- maned steed, and armed with his shield and claymore (cledyvaur). Further, his animation in war is described, and lamen- tations are poured out for his loss. Eulogy continued on Owen, and de- scription of his deeds in battle. Eulogy continued on Owen, and his martial qualities. Eulogy continued on the same, and de- scription of his bandeau, as king, orna- mented with amber. Continued eulogy for the same chief, and allusion to his former conquests over the Deirians and Bernicians. MARCH OF THE FORCES TO THE SCENE OF ACTION. 6. Narrative. 7. Narrative. 8. Narrative. 9. Eulogy. 10. Narrative. The departure of the warriors for Kal- traeth. One of them, Mab Bodgad, laments the shortness of the peace. A column of Britons (this is the first use of this military term), on march for Kaltraeth, are attacked by the enemy. The column, comprising 300 men, is cut off: or, otherwise, 300 men of the co- lumn are cut off. Eulogy on Mab Cian Gwyngwyn (see Nennius, c. 66), apparently the commander on the above occasion, killed by the enemy, — that is, by the Bernicians. Another division, of 1,400 strong, form- ing part of the army of Mynyddaug, are also attacked en route, and are either cut off, or sustain much loss. lY.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. DESCRIBING THE EtENTS. Personal names. Local names, etc. 2or Owen (mab Urien). Meirchion (tribe). Madog. (Owen understood.) Gododin (the poem). (Owen understood.) Mab Eskeran. (Owen un- derstood.) (Owen understood.) Gwynedd-a-gogles (Gwene- dota). The army of Gododin. Deirians and Bernicians. Mab-Bodgad. Gododin. Gododin. Kaltraeth. Mab Cian Gwyngwyn. Mynyddaug. The Rock of Gwyngwyn. Kaltraeth. Brenneich(Ber- nicia). Kaltraeth., 208 STRATHCI,YDE IN THE SFXTH CENTURY. [CHAP. 11. Reflections. 12. Eult^y. 13. Eulogy. 14. Narrative. 15. Narrative. 16. Eulogy. 17. Narrative. 18. Narrative. 19. Narrative. Contents. Eeflections on the above combat. Reflections continued, and eulogy on the above combatants. THE FIRST DAY OF THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. TUESDAY. Eulogy on Tudvulch-hir mab Kylid, a chief of Eiddin, and second in command of the army, who resisted the Saxons the various days of the battle, and was killed the seventh, in defending his station at the palisade of the fortress. Tudvulch-hir and Cyvulch-hir leave Eiddin, and, arriving with their men, draw up on the strand before the fortress, and engage with the enemy, and only retire within the ramparts as the tide rose. Tudvulch-hir and Cyvulch-hir at night drink their mead by torchlight. Eulogy on Tudvidch-hir, whose conduct had been prompt throughout, in the war. THE SECOND DAY. WEDNESDAY. Tudvulch-hir issues from the fortress of (Cor) Eiddin, or Kaltraeth, and draws up his men in the trench, with one wing thrown out wide. Three columns, under Cynrig, Cynan and Cynren, enumerated as five batta- lions and 1,400 men, issue out to his aid. An engagement ensues. Mab Syvno, the son of an astrologer, who would take no money for his incantations, performs great exploits. The Britons contimie mas- ters of the strand, but retire again on the rising of the tide. The poet, who ap- pears to have belonged to the army of Mynyddaug, and had probably arrived the preceding day, informs us that he took this opportunity of viewing the exterior of the ramparts. ly.] BATTLE OF GODODIN. 209 Personal names. Mynyddaug. Zoccd names, etc. Kaltraeth. Kaltraeth. The army of Go- dodin. Tudvulch mab Kilid. Kaltraeth. Eiddin (Edin- burgh). Saesson (the Sax- ons). Kaltraeth. Treiaour, the tide. Mordei, or Mordae, the strand. Tudvulch-hir. Cyvulch-hir. Kaltraeth. Goedhebaug. (Tudvulch understood.) Kaer, the fortress. Brydein ( Britain). Eiddin, i.e. Coreddin, or Kaltraeth. (Tudvulch understood). Eidin (Edinburgh). Vry- Cynrig. Cynan. Cynren of thon (the Britons). Aeron. Aeron. Mab^Syvno. Mordei, the strand. Gwyn- edd. EE 210 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP. Stanzas and aiibjects. 20. ViUemar- que ; and 20, 21, "Williams. Eulogy. 21. V. 22. W. Narrative, 22. V. 23, 24. W. to 1.9. Impreca- tion,or in- cantation, and nar- rative. 23. V.24,fr.l. 10 and 25, W. Eu- logy. 24. V.26&2T, W. Myth- ological description, 25. V. 28-9. W. Eulo- gy. 26. V. 30. W. Eulogy. 27. V.31. W. Eulogy. Contents. 28. Eulogy on the three chiefs who escaped from the battle of Kaltraeth : the two Dogs of war of Aeron, and Cynan. All this while the poet's friend, Owen, had not quitted the porticos of the fortress, where libations of mead were circulating. V.32. W. Narrative partly. THE THIRD DAY. THURSDAY. Imprecation, or incantation, against the Loegrians, who had joined the Saxons, and against Domnal Brec, king of the Picts, whose death is alluded to. He was kiUed in a combat this day by Owen or his troops; though the part describing the event is omitted in all the present copies of the poem. The death of Budvan mab-Bleidvan alluded to, and eulogy on his deeds. It is to be presumed that he had been likewise killed on this or the preceding day. Eu- logy also on Gwenaboui mab-G wenn. Description of the mythological beings, Marchlieu and Lemenik, who are feigned to have animated the combatants. Eulogy on Caredig, bard and warrior, who, being stationed in the trench, de- fended his position there till he was killed. Eulogy on Caradoc Vreichvras, killed at the breach of the rampart. Eulogy on eleven chiefs of the army of Mynyddaug, who had made large pota- tions of mead ; to which cause their deaths are attributed in the poem. Lamentation of the drinking excesses which occasioned the disasters of the battle of Gododin. Gwlighed (an Otodinian IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 211 Personal names. Local names, etc. Cynan, and the Dogs of war Kaltraeth. Aeron. of Aeron. The White Dragon, or the Saxons. Gododin (the poem.) MabHoegwi(Domnal Brec.) Loegrians. Budvan mab-Bleidvan. Gwenaboui mab-Gwenn. Prydein (Britain). Kaltra- eth. Marchlieu, a mythological Issak (Ypsacum). personage; andLemenik, the same. Mab-Gwydd- new. Caredig. Caradoc ( Vreichvras). Owen mab-Eulad. Gwrien. Gw- riad and Gwenn. Mynyddaug. Caradoc. Ma- doc. Peii. lewan. Gwgan. Gwion. Gwenn. Cynvan. Peredur. Gwaourdur, and Aedan. Mynyddaug. Gwlighed. Kaltraeth. rampart. Breach of the Gododin. Kaltraeth. 212 STEATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY, [cHAP. Stanzat aiidiubjects. 29. V.33. W. Eulogy. « 30. V.34. W. Eulogy and nar- rative. 31. V.35. W. Eulogy and nar- rative. 32. V.36. W. Eulogy and nar- rative. 33. V. 37-39. W. Eu- logy and narrative. Contenta. prince X) remonstrates publicly and vehe- mently against the unseasonableness of these festivities given by Mynyddaug ; and he is recorded as deserving an honour- able mention in the war for doing so. Eulogy on Rhuvon-hir, who had given gold to the altar, and also who had been liberal to the bards. He is described as coming to Kaltraeth, with his followers, well armed and appointed ; and at their head he attacked five battalions of the enemy, and broke their line. Description of the " red brick" Basilica, or Praetorium, the banqueting hall of the fortress, styled the "Newadd" by the poet. Mention of Morien and of Cynan, who did not retire from the fight (on the Mordae) till the tide had covered those who had been slain. Mention again of the Basilica, or Prae- torium; and eulogy on Morien, a chief from Powis, and serving in the army of Mynyddaug, who rallied the Britons when , they had given way. Mention again of the Basilica, or Prae- torium. Cynan, having his throne or seat of honour there (among the chiefs), leaves it, and sallies from the fortress (on the north side), and makes a slaughter of the enemy on the outside border of the Green Trench. The conduct of Cynan in this battle described again, though he is represented as disordered by the potations of the feast. He is extolled as if obtaining a success which had been procured by magical en- chantment; and is called, in respect to his firmness, an " embattled wall"; at ano- ther time, in respect to his irresistible ad- vance, an " eithin", or heath on fire. At this juncture a herald from the enemy, IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 213 Personal names. Local names, etc. Rhuvon-hir. Kaltraeth. Morien. Cynan. than. Mab-Pei- The Prsetorium, or Basilica (Newadd). Morien. Caradoc. Mab-Pe- droc (Bedwer). Mynyd- daug. The Prsetorium, Basilica, or Banqueting hall (New- add). The Otodini. Cynan. The Prsetorium (Newadd). The " green" Trench of the fortress, 8.e. the outside trench, or the Ghrimes Dyke. Elphin(UrienE.heged's son). The Boar, figuratively the Saxon herald. Archluyd, or Strathclyde. The rampart. 214 STRATHGLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP. Stanzas andsubjects. 34. V.40. W. Incanta- tion. ' 35. V. 41-2, to 1. 4. W. Narrative. 36. V.42,from 1.5,43,44. W. Eu- logy and narrative. 37. V.45. W. Narrative. 38. 39. V.46. W. Narrative. V. 47-8, to 1.10. W. Narrative. Contents. mounted on his steed, presents himself with propositions for a treaty, which are rejected by the Britons by acclamation ; and the poet details the war-cries of the Britons on this occasion. Incantation for the success of Morien and the Britons ; and imprecations against Bun, or Bearnoch, queen of Bernicia, called a traitress, because she was a Briton by birth. THE FOURTH DAY. FRIDAY. The fighting continues. The Loegrians storm some of the outer trenches (on the south side). A Loegrian chief is killed on the occasion, who had, on a standard, the fore-quarters of a wolf without a head. Bun, or Bearnoch, the queen, is killed. Eulogy on Cenau mab-Llowarch-hen, king of the Selgovee. The poet, who calls himself the bard of the Clyde, alludes to his being taken prisoner and thrown into a dungeon, in the course of this war, and ransomed by Cenau. The poet describes his state of impri- sonment in a dungeon in the enemies' quarters (near Kaltraeth), and refers to his friendship with Taliesin. He appa- rently, as herald of the Britons, had been detained by the enemy, in the way of re- prisal for some irregularity of his country- men during the truce. The poet is delivered out of his subter- raneous dungeon by Cenau. The Senyllt, or Butler, the purveyor of the viands, and of the beverages, having been taunted by the regalers, and being unable to bear their sarcasms, beats to arms in the hall, by striking with (the flat of) his sword (on the table). The blows resound through the whole place ; and he IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 215 Personal names. Local names, etc. Morien. Bradwen, i.e. Bun The Rampart of turf, or Bearnoch. Gwenaboui mab-Gwenn. Bradwen, i.e. Bun. Loegrians. Lenn, i.e. Len- nox. Archluyd. Walls of the fortress (Mur Caer). Sellovir-reen, «.(?. Sel(go)vir- The gulf where the rivers reen, king of the Selgovae flow, i.e. the Clyde, (titular), i.e. Cenau. Aneurin. Taliesin. Kaltraeth. Gododin (the poem). Cenau. Lowarch-Hen. The North. Senyllt (titular), supposed to The Prsetorium (Newadd). mean the chief, Eidol. The Bernicians. The men of Lekleiku. The men of Gododin. The fortress. 216 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [chap. Stamag and subjects. 40. V.48,from 1. 11, and 49. W. Narrative. 41. V. 50, 51. W. Nar- rative. 42. V. 52. W. Lamenta- tion. Contents: issues forth with those who were there, men of Lekleiku, and other combatants of Gododin. They attack the Bernicians on the south side of Kaltraeth, in support of their countrymen, who were at that time engaged with them. They had rushed in a throng from the fortress, and, having fought some time with the enemy, and having been disarmed and armed, — that is, having expended their javelins, and been resupplied, — they returned again in a throng to the fortress, as they had left it. THE FIFTH DAY. SATURDAY. Two chiefs, Cynan and Rhys, break through the enemies' line of attack. Allu- sion to the death of Domnal Brec, killed before (see stanza 22). Rhys is described as having, at some previous time, ravaged the country of the Picts. In the meanwhile, Morien, who had been active on former occasions, (see stan- zas 31, 34), had taken no part in this suc- cess, but had conveyed himself away to the wine-store (yn y gell), where he was regaling on a shoulder of venison. He is represented as apostrophized by the poet, or by his own companions, and exhorted to issue forth to resist the invasion which had been brought about by Bun the trai- tress. Lamentation for the Otodini, and for the evils which arose from the mead po- tations of the warriors at Kaltraeth. THE SIXTH DAY. SUNDAY. 43. V. 56. W. A general attack is made by Mynyd- Narra:tive daug and the confederate chiefs (on the and eulo- Picts to the north of the^ fortress), but gy. without results. Morial and Huvelin are eulogised. IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 217 Personal names. Local names, etc. Ehys, Domnal Brec. Cy- nan (understood). Morien (understood). Brad- Y Saesson (the Saxons), wen, i.e. Bun. Doueoue. Aneurin. Gododin (the Otodini). Domnal Brec. Morial. Hu- Kaltraeth. Loegrians. Go- velin. dodin (Kaltraeth). The porticos. FF ^18 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP, Stanzas and gubjeeta. 44. V. 57. W. Eulogy. 45. V. 68. W. Eulogy. 46. V.59. W. Narrative. 47. V. 61-1. W. La- mentation 48. V.62. W. Eulogy. 49. V.63. W. Reflec- tions. 50. V.64. W. Eulogy. 51. Y.&6. W. Eulogy. 52. V.66. W. Lamenta- tion. 53. V. 67-8. W. Eulo- gy and narrative. Contents. The Praetorium, or Basilica of Kaltra- eth, is spoken of vpith commendation ; as also the fortress itself is eulogised for its spaciousness, and for its large (decuman) gate, as also for the quantity of spoil within the place. Cynan mab-Clydno is likewise highly eulogised. Eulogy on the mother of Eidol, and on Eidol. Three hundred of the tribe of Mynyd- daug attack the enemy, but are cut oflF, and only one man returns to the fortress. Lamentation on the foregoing cata- strophe. Eulogy on Merin mab-Madien, who is compared to a second Nedic Nar, a mytho- logical dwarf, who was accounted of a furious disposition. Reflections on the slaughter of Kaltra- eth, and on the tribute to which the Bri- tons became subject in consequence of their defeat. Eulogy on Gwadnerth mab-Leowri. Eulogy on Cynan mab-Clydno, men- tioned before, and commendations on him as a commander in the army of Mynyd- daug. Continued lamentation on the slaughter. Lamentation on those warriors who par- took of the banquet of Cynddilig of Aeron (king of the Novantes 1) at Kaltraeth, of whom only one returned home. Eulogy on the tribe of Mynyddaug, de- scendants of Eudaf-hir, being the tribe of St. Helena, with a sketch of their deeds each day of the conflict of Kaltraeth, as follows : Tuesday they armed ; Wednes- day they polished up their enameled cui- rasses; Thursday, their destruction became IT.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 219 Personal names. Cynan mab-Clydno. Local names, etc. The Basilica, or Prsetorium (newadd). The fortress (dinas). The great outer gate (dor angor). Eidol. Mynyddaug. Kaltraeth. Mynyddaug. Mab-Peil. Kaltraeth. Gododin. Owen (understood). Merin raab-Madien. Nedic Nar. Chief of Gwened. Kaltraeth. Gwened (Gwen- edota). Gwadnerth mab-Leowri. Cynan mab-Clydno. Myn- Kaltraeth. Gododin. yddaug. Eidol. Cynddilig of Aeron. Aeron. Mynyddaug. Eudaf-hir. The ramparts. Gododin (the Madoc. poem). 220 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [CHAP. Contents. certain; Friday they brought off their dead ; Saturday the works of the fortress were ruined ; Sunday they again engaged and killed many of the enemy ; Monday they were fighting up to their knees in blood : and only one warrior in an hundred returned to his home. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. V. 69-71. Narrative. V. 72-74, to 1.6, nar- rative. V.74,fr.I. 7, 75. W. Eulogy." V.76-7.W. Narrative. V. 78-9. W. Nar- rative. 59. V. 80-2, and 92. W. Re- flections. THE SEVENTH DAY. MONDAY. The battle becomes general early in the morning. Owen enters the strife, and, after fighting some time with the enemy, descends suddenly and rapidly the slope of the breach, and becoming thus sepa- rated from his companions, is killed. Eidol, full of consternation at this event, attacks the enemy to avenge his death, and a great slaughter of them ensues ; but his companions are appalled by a sense of their desperate condition. The enemy, having now penetrated into the interior, set on fire the Prsetorium or hall, and the building in which was the wine cellar. The flames illumine the fortress and the surrounding entrenchments. Eulogy on Eidol. Rallying cries of the Britons in their last efforts. Exertions of Mynyddaug in guarding the principal entrance from the sea, to re- trieve the Ul success of the war. He is kUled : and the fortress, it thus appears, was stormed from the side next the sea. Retrospect of various transactions: as the descending of large bodies of the war- riors from the (neighbouring) promon- tory (fort, see Nennius, c. ii) of Adoen (in some copies of the poem, Odren) to the festival of Koelcerth. Doings of the men IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. Personal names. Local names, etc. 221 Owen. The breach. The ramparts. The trench. Owen's tu- mulus. Eidol. Bun. The Loegrians. Mynyddaug. The rocks of Gwened (Gwe- nedota). The frontiers of Gododin. Kaltraeth. Gododin (the fortress). The shore of the fortress (tra- eth). Domnal Brec. Nouethon. Cynddilig of Aeron mab- Ceidiaw, i.e. of the tribe. Adoen (in some copies, Od- ren). Koelcerth. Kaltra- eth. Aeron. 222 STRATHCLTDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURT. [cHAP, 60. 61. V.83. W. Eulogy. V. 84-5, to 1.10. W. Narrative. 62. V.85,fr.l. 11-86.W. Lamenta- tion. 63. V. 86, fr. V. 11-87, 88. W. Narrative. Contents. of Nouethon. The warriors drawn up at the early dawn. The death of Donald Brec. The array of the invaders with their blue banners. The breach in the rampart of the fort of Adoen (stanza 92, see Williams' edition, p. 199), and the re- sistance of the Britons at Kaltraeth against 100,000 men. Apostrophe of the poet to Cynddilig of Aeron, mab-Ceidiaw, or of the tribe of Ceidiaw. Eulogy on Gwgan, Gwron and Gwli- ghed. Eulogy on Cynddilig of Aeron, of the tribe of Ceidiaw (being mab-Cnudd, or Nudd, mab-CeidiawJ, who acted nobly both towards friends and foes,— towards friends, in overturnii^ the mead glasses of the chiefs, and the drinking tables of the soldiers, at the point of the lance ; and towards foes, in manfully opposing them at the final assault. The Britons continue to resist, inspiriting one another with fur- ther rallying cries ; but their endeavours are ineffectual : and the work of their in- discriminate slaughter commences. Lamentations for the result, written on the anniversary of the battle. The Epilogue. Eulogy on Geraint, or Gerennius (son of Constantine the Third), king of Dum- nonia, who, entering the Clyde with a squadron of ships and troops f and anchor- ing) near the exit of the White Lake (Loch Lomond), led the Britons against the white, figured skins, i.e. the Picts; and, moreover, gave a mead fe9.st without intoxication : thus affording a happy con- trast to the former proceedings. lY.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 223 Personal names. Local names, etc. Ruvon-hir. Gwgan. Gwion, and Gwlighed. Cynddilig of Aeron mab- Ceidiaw, i.e. of the family or tribe of Ceidiaw. Argoed. The rampart, i.e. the Wall of Antoninus, or Ghrimes Dyke. Geraint, king of Dumnonia, The embouchure of the called otherwise Geren- White Lake, nius or Waimar. 224: strathclyde in the sixth century. [chap. Subjects of the Stanzas. Eulogy 24 Eulogy and narrative .... 7 Narrative . . . . . .22 Miscellaneous 10 Total —63 ■ The Seven Days of the Contest. First da/, Tuesday . .• . Stanza 13-16 Second day, Wednesday Third day, Thursday Fourth day, Friday . Fifth day, Saturday . Sixth day, Sunday . Seventh day, Monday ditto 17-21 ditto 22-34 ditto 35-39 ditto 40-42 ditto 43-53 ditto 54-63. We have not given, in the ahove analysis, all the drink- ing details of the original ; and the unblushing way in which they are spoken of by the poet, is certainly some- what surprising. It may be said that there is a moral derivable from the whole, as they shortened their own lives, gave the victory to their most dreaded enemy, and ruined the cause of their country by their drunkenness ; but it is not customary for morality to be inculcated in a style so bacchanalian in its cast, and with so much semi- approbation of the thing condemned. We have before alluded to the case of our Celts ; and the only way of accounting for the extraordinary phenomenon of the dis- orders which took place, is the supposing that, having been promised a festival on their leaving their homes for the campaign, it was not thought prudent to deny them, though, as we find, the festival was changed into a scene of active warfare by the unexpected advance of the enemy. We will now endeavour to point out the locality of the battle of Gododin : a guestion which we consider to have been impossible to be answered before the Count De la Villemarque so happily unlocked some of the leading diffi- culties of idiom of the ancient Celtic poet, having been accustomed, as he was, to make numerous translations from the kindred Armorican dialect ; and besides adding, as he did, some important illustrations to the subject of the poem. It must now necessarily be considered to have been either at one end or the other of the Wall of Antoninus ; IV.] THE BATTLE OP GODODIN. 225 for Kaltraeth is Gwal-traeth, i.e. the " Wall strand", or the. " Strand", or " Shore at the end of the wall"; which, the concurrent circumstances of the epic being considered, no ' sophistry can deny with any show of plausibility. It must necessarily be either the eastern or western end of the wall ; and we know it cannot be the western extremity, because the Strathclyde and Brigantine kingdoms were conquered in detail, in the fifth and sixth centuries, from the east to the west. It was therefore necessarily at the eastern extremity ; and it is only requisite to add two or three illustrations to this point, making also, at the same time, a remark or two on the subject of the Wall of Anto- ninus. This ancient boundary, ditch and rampart, which ex- tended about thirty-six miles, and somewhat more, includ- ing deviations, began at the western extremity, near the hamlet of Dunotter; and ended at the eastern extre- mity, at a place known as Coreddin, and anciently Hidyn, as appears by stanzas 17 and 18 of the poem. This place, we may conclude, being now called Coreddin, was named very similarly in early times, Coreddin, or Coreiddin, to distinguish it from the othpr, Eiddin, or Eidin (Edinburgh,) only about fifteen miles distant : and here, there is no doubt, was the Kaltraeth of the poem, where the battle of Gododin was fought. To continue, however, on the sub- ject of the Wall. The Wall of Antoninus, we should not omit to say, had a number of fortresses placed at intervals along the line of its course : in fact, it had about seventeen or eighteen, of which ten are still pretty well preserved. We must a little describe these. They are some square, some of an oblong shape ; some are singly entrenched, some are doubly so, and comprise a clear area, within the works, of from two to three and a half acres. A couple are somewhat larger, " and, one is, as it were, a double fort, having two somewhat similar works joined together. Both the forts at the extre- mities have been removed: Dunotter on the west, and that we have just mentioned, Coreddin, the ancient Eidyn, on the east ; but judging of the area which the last seems to have occupied, they may have been of about the size of the two largest forts still remaining, Duntocher and Kirk- patrick, the last of which contained a clear area of three GG 226 8TRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP acres, three roods, and thirty-one perches, besides the space in the double trenches. The Wall had this peculiarity. A Roman mile at each end from the termination, it made a sudden deflexion, though at a very obtuse angle, to the south: the effect of which would be, that the two end stations would be placed so as to face the sea, with only a little variation in their position as to the Wall. The annual,festival of the Koelcerth, held on the shore, would exactly correspond with the situation here. There is such a shore at the place, which we may conclude was the one meant: and the prefix, "cor", of the Coreddin, is also much in point. There was such a prefix to the name of Stonehenge, where a similar annual festival was held,- it being called " Cor Emrys". It is true it occurs by its name Eidin only, in stanzas 17 and 18 of the Gododin; which, however, seems not material. But we have the three names, Coreddin, Kaltraeth, and Gododin, and, we may also add, the Mordae, connected with this battle, which we may briefly specify thus. Cor- eddin signified the Eiddin, Eidin, or Edin, where the fes- tival was held, in contradistinction to the other Eidin or Eiddin (that is Edinburgh): Kaltraeth signified the " Fortress of the Wall near the sea strand"; whilst the word Gododin merely signified the Otodini, and is fre- quently applied to Kaltraeth, as being the place where the battle was fought, which so nearly concerned the Otodini: likewise at times it is applied as the name of the poem itself, describing the battle. The Mordae was the said strand, on which the Britons fought for the three first days, till they were driven into the fortress. Though this assignment may seem obvious enough, yet, strange as it may appear, it has never been suggested before ; and the reason is, that the context of the various relative passages has never been before — ^that is, before ViUemarque's time — duly apprehended. Thus the word trdawr, implying tide, or equivalent expressions, occurs in stanzas 14, 16, 19, 30 ; but previous translators had under- stood, not the tide of the sea, but a stream, or concourse of men, or a measure of time of so many hours. Again, mordae, or the strand of the sea, occurs in stanzas 14, 16^ 19, and traeth, the shore, in stanza 30: and yet the mean- ing of those words appears to have been interpreted IV.} THE. BATTLE OF qODODIN. 227 differently by critical inquirers, who thus have considered themselves at liberty to assign the situation of the battle of the Gododin very frequently to places where there is no tide and no sea shore. They, perhaps, may allege that Villemarque himself translates " aber ", in stanzas 54 and 69, literally a conflux of waters, as a concourse of people ; and speaks of the tide in a metaphorical sense (stanza 24), and uses the expression of a "great sea of warriors". This is all granted : but the context sufficiently shows that, in a variety of cases, we are to take the literal meaning. Besides Kaltraeth another place seems mentioned, which was near adjoining, being called Adoen: and, as this name in four copies stands as Odren, it is presumable it is a word of the same import as the Odina, Odnea, or Turris Ordnans, which was the designation of Caligula's Pharos at Boulogne, and we may conclude that there was a lighthouse here also, and that it occupied the high ground near the Grange, about three-quarters of a mile from Coreddin. It is mentioned as a place of rendezvous of the Britons : " I saw large bodies of warriors descend from the promontory of Odren to the festival of Koel- certh" (stanza 59); and we may be allowed to suppose — indeed it is necessary to suppose — that a large proportion of the Britons were intrenched there. The reason is this. The Wall- Fortress of Kaltraeth or Coreddin, the size of which we have given before, we are quite sure from rules of Koman castrametation, was originally constructed for a garrison of two cohorts or 1200 men, but on an emergency it of course could contain a far greater number. Still there must neces- sarily have been a limit to the numbers it could accommo- date ; and with an interior area equal to the size we have specified of four acres, and including the space of a double intrenchment on three sides, and a single one on the fourth, for so the wall forts were formed, the limit of the troops which could here find shelter in the fort and in its trenches would be about 11,000, leaving us to understand that about as many had intrenched themselves for the occasion on the other hill. The poem, it is scarcely ne- cessary to say, confines itself to what occurred at Kaltraeth : as this Adoen, or Odren, is only thrice mentioned or alluded to, i.e. in stanzas 57, 59, and 92, Williams' edition. 228 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH jCfiNTURY. [cHAP. However, it is, perhaps, necessary to observe, that though we have supposed the forts of the wall of Anto- ninus neaiiy of even size, yet it is possible, that, for some purpose, the two end ones might have been constructed larger ; and it must be conceded, that in stanza 44, where the poet mentions the fortress,' certain terms are used, which might imply that it had a superiority in point of size. If so, its dimensions and capacity might have pos- sibly been on a somewhat greater scale than what we have as above presumed. The works of these wall forts, we should not omit to add, were not strong. There was the usual twenty-four foot wide ditch and twelve deep, and the rampart with its banquette five feet high on the inside, with a palisade oh the top. But little now would be thought of such defences. The places mentioned in the interior of the fortress of Kaltraeth exactly correspond to those in a Roman fortress^ - — as, first, the porticos. In regard to which it appears by- numerous delineations in Boecking's Notitia Imperii, that when the gateway was passed and the fortress entered, there was a species of square place or court, around which porticos or colonnades went on two sides. Secondly, the basilica or prsetorium. It is needless to point out that there was such a place in a castellum of the kind we allude to. Thirdly, the great gate, the " dor angor" (dor ang-or, i.e. the great gate of the Outside) of stanza 44, is equally well known in these constructions. It was usually called the Decuman gate. Besides these particulars, there is very frequent mention of the trenches of the fort ijj various stanzas of the Gododin ; and altogether the con- formity is striking : but we will again revert to this topic. We know from the poem itself, that at some interval after the capture of Kaltraeth peace was made and a tribute was imposed, notwithstanding Geraint or Geren- nius, king of Dumnonia, of whom we have had to record several particulars in the preceding chapter, and whose tumulus has only been very recently opened, arrived with his fleet and made a descent. He, indeed, is only men- tioned as having marched against the "white, figured skins", — that is the Picts. It appears also that the Saxons not only razed the fortress of Kaltraeth on this occasion, but also destroyed and obliterated three or four of the IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 229 easternmost forts as far as Castle Rough, that is for aljout ten or eh^ven miles. There are none now remaining for the said whole extent. In regard to the state of the text, we may at once pro- nounce that there is no appearance that we have this poem as it came from the hands of the author : on the contrary, we not only find the text rendered imperfect by numerous chasms, but also what remains is remarkable throughout by a continued series of verbal variations, evidently introduced ad libitum by copyists, in the same way as is so noticeable in the works of Gildas or Nennius. But as we do not wish the reader to take mere assertions for granted, we will make this all plain enough by referring to special circumstances in the present text. One instance in point is the very extraordinary omis- sion of the sortie of Owen and his troops from the fortress on the third day, when Domnal Brec was killed. It is one of the best authenticated facts of these times, being mentioned in two chronicles at least, that the said Domnal Brec was killed in a fight with Owen : and his death is alluded to in the poem several times as a circumstance of importance, and the narrative and description of it should have followed stanza 22, but is entirely absent : and the omission is the more surprising, as two intimations, one in stanza 21 another in stanza 22, appear to be given that it would be introduced. The circumstance can only be ac- counted for by admitting that all the present copies are derived from one and the same manuscript in the early Middle Ages, and that the account of this event having, from some unknown cause, been removed from the then said sole remaining copy, it has of course been wanting in all succeeding ones. Having, thus, possession of this important fact, for so we must regard it, we are supplied with some material information as to the original state of the poem. All our present copies, then, are derived from a truncated — that is a mutilated — original: and if such important stanzas relating to the hero of the poem are deficient, there is but little doubt that several which formed the introduction are gone, and that we have only the concluding ones of the proemium remaining, which at present is somewhat abrupt. We likewise may suspect that there were in the 230 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP; original, stanzas describing the fortress ; stanzas describing the poet's captivity and liberation ; stanzas describing the Saxon forces and leaders ; stanzas describing the ultimate capture of the place more particularly, and that of the neighbouring fort of Adoen, and the escape of the three chiefs, Cynan and Kadreith and Kadleu of Cadnant, ^nd that of the poet. himself, besides numerous other connect-: ing links in the narrative. We may scarcely call the above by the name of conjectures, but rather we may denominate them points of certainty. The neglect of so fine a poem, such a chef d'oeuvre of Celtic genius, though it may be wondered at, is rendered less improbable, it being considered how turbulent and warlike the next century and a half was which succeeded the era of the poet, and the continual dangers with which all the hearths and homes of Cambria were threatened. At last the mutilated copy attracting attention, — mutilated though unique, — and interest becoming suddenly attached to it, perhaps in the flourishing times of Roderic the Great or Howel Dhu, its transcribers could only copy what they found ; so that, in fact, our present manuscripts merely represent a defective original ; and all the present varia- tions of existing copies are obviously nothing more than those deviations which, from one cause or other, tran- scribers have chosen to introduce. But we go further, and submit that from the irregular arrangement of the present poem, from several transposi- tions, and the very apparent omissions of lines and parts-' of stanzas here and there, that the first copy in the early Middle Ages we have alluded to was very capriciously made ; and either the then copyist, or some of the suc- ceeding ones, having omitted some of the stanzas in their proper places, — not very important ones, it must be con- fessed,-7-afterwards inserted them erroneously, some at the end and others elsewhere, so that it is not practicable now entirely to restore them to their correct places in thft poem. We then need not be surprised if many of the stanzas in almost all parts of this epic have the appearance of being; placed very unconnectedly, and that we cannot now always understand the references of numerous striking passages which are relative to parts now gone. It can only be; IV.} THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 231 said of the poem in its present state, that we have the proemium and the seven days of the transactions, as also the conclusion in a tolerably satisfactory sequence. At least so we "venture to form an opinion; for there is not even an entire certainty in this. The Count de la Villemarque's arrangement on the whole seems best to adopt, who comprises the work in sixty-three stanzas, and, as far as may be judged, in a very appropriate order. He omits the various additional stanzas which appear in some copies at the end; indeed, they may be omitted without much loss. One, however, 92 of Williams' edition, supplies information of interest, of which we have availed ourselves. The numerous eulo- gies the poem contains on persons connected with Welsh families, have no doubt been the means of handing it down to us. A few words on the style ; which seems distinguished by a rapid succession of thought, and appears the more remarkable for that particular from the brief and com- pressed form of phrase common to the Celtic idiom which was used by the poet. He works upon the Celtic cus- tomary mode of repetition, or quasi-repetition, or other- wise chromatic embellishment to which we have alluded at our previous pages 13 and 14, and brings it in occa- sionally with great effect. Another striking feature in his management of his subject is his happy vein of eulogy, and the skill and pathos he frequently displays in con- trasting the misfortunes and slaughter of his heroes with scenes of quite a different description. He thus adds much to the effect produced in expressing his regrets for their loss. The tone and style of the poem are, indeed, generally speaking, very different from any other that we can com- pare it with, either written by Celtic or Greek or Roman authors. Taliesin, though a noble poet, displays a species of half-concealed rancour, of which, notwithstanding his country's wrongs, there is no trace in Aneurin. Lowarch- hen writes with a certain ferocity of manner very notice- able, which certainly has no place in the Gododin ; while the polished Grecian and Roman poets are more artificial, and usually less redundant. However, we can find one' ancient to whom our author much approximates in the 333 STEATHCLTDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP. manner of introducing his thoughts, and indeed somewhat in the tone and style of them, and this is Pindar, though we will not exactly place him on a par with the great Greek bard in his own peculiar style, to whom, in lofti- ness of thought and sublimity, it is difficult to find a parallel. He has several measures or metres : the longest being of ten syllable|, another of eight, another of six, and another of four. He uses these indiscriminately, and seems to have adopted them merely for variety: except that he expresses in this last a species of recitative, and when he does so his ideas appear to flow without restraint, and with an uninterrupted rapidity. This last measure is like the short anapests in Seneca and other ancients ; and this species of recitative in very short verses is not un- known to moderns, but it is believed is scarcely used except in the lighter class of songs. It may be necessary to make the remark, that possibly Aneurin Jntended many more local allusions than are now obvious in the poem. The uncertainty is of this kind : that it may be suspected that the ancient copyists of our poem, who undoubtedly have taken many liberties with the text, adopted sometimes verbal variations, to make it i appear that certain localities were referred to by the poet. At other times, and in a greater number of instances, it may be judged that they have done exactly the contrary : and, not recognizing the places named, have altered the wording of passages to show ostensibly that something of a different nature was expressed. This of course must occasion more uncertainty still to modern readers of the poem, who have not the text in an original state. Instances of the second class must be of course difiicult for moderns to pronounce upon, but we appear to have several of the first kind. The Count de la Ville- marque supposes in his note on stanza 9, that the warrior Mab-Cian, killed as the forces were on their march to Gododin, is described as " of Manchester" (Maen gwenn koun, for Mancunium) : but Nennius, who in his c. lxvi has a mention of Cian the father, establishes Jthe read- ing not of Mab-Cian of Manchester, but of Mab-Cian "Gwyngwyn", whatever that may mean. Villemarqu6 supposes likewise Noc and Esgic in stanza 30 to be local IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 233 names, but the opinion does not seem to be entertained by other critics, and some perversion of the text by copyists in this place is very possible. With regard to personal names, somewhat of an oppo- site 'rule must be followed. There are certainly fewer per- sonal names than has been supposed to be the case by some translators. For not to mention that many may have been misled by the Gorchan Oynvelin that there was originally one in each stanza, it is further obvious that words diffi- cult to ascertain as to their meaning, have been supposed personal names both by ancient copyists and modern translators. It is very striking, that when Villemarque, whose especial talent is being skilful in the Celtic idiom beyond any who have preceded him or that probably will follow him, took Aneurin's work in hand, a great part of these presumed names vanished like mists, and were found to be only a part of the poet's descriptive diction or otherwise. As we have again mentioned Villemarque as a Celtic scholar and translator, we should, perhaps, also note that an anonymous writer in the Quarterly Review for Sept. 1852, who is evidently himself a learned and accoinplished scholar in Celtic literature, supposes, in p. 278 of that publication, that he is somewhat inclined to introduce what he styles " French prettinesses", instead of attending to strijct accuracy. We have not been exactly able to discover any appreciable foundation for this ourselves, and as the writer himself acquits him in the instances he had himself examined, it may be considered, perhaps, suffi- ciently conclusive on the matter to observe, that there is naturally and inherently in the Celtic language much of the French style and tournure ; and the genius and struc- ture of the two languages being so similar, is no doubt one element of Villemarque's great success ; so that we need not necessarily suppose that he has introduced ex- traneous ornament. Whilst mentioning the above, it would be wrong to let it be imagined that the anonymous Quarterly reviewer disparages our learned French trans- lator and critic ; on the contrary, he much eulogizes and commends hini; indeed, the writer of the said very elaborate article to which we have alluded, and of one, we believe, equally gifted on the Cyclops Christianus of H H 2S4 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTUKY. [CHAF. Mr. Herbert in the Gentleman's Magazine for Nov. 1849, could hardly be insensible to the great light thrown on a department of literature in which he himself is evidently so successful an investigator. In regard to the military tactics, of which there are indications in the poem, there are certainly less of this kind than might be expected, considering that the subject is the seven dajis' siege of a Iloman fortress, or what had been a Roman fortress, defended by the northern Britons against ihe Saxons. We find by the History of Gildas, c. 24, that the Saxons had plenty of battering rams, in the use of which, according to him, they were very liberal (see our previous pages 24-5). However, in this siege there is no mention of battering rams, which agrees ex- tremely well with the locality to which we have assigned it, that is, a fortress with earthern ramparts at the eastern extremity of the Wall of Antoninus. In this case, the use of the said formidable engine would have been out of the question. The allusion, as we have said, to military tac- tics is but limited in the poem, and appears to be com- prised in these few particulars. (1) The Britons, it is plain, when they made sallies, issued out in column, and deployed into line. (2) It is equally clear that when the Saxons returned these attacks, their attacking force was accompanied by a party with spades and other implements, who endeavoured to level down the ramparts. (3) The sally of Tudvulch-hir, in stanza 14, the first that was made, seems to have been arranged on the principle of taking advantage of the tide leaving the Mordae, or strand, free to the garrison before it did so to the enemy. Tudvulch-hir and Cyvulch-hir, therefore, draw up their men there in good order and await the enemy, whose move- ments would again appear to have been disconcerted by the deeper water in their direction, and consequently briefer interval allowed by the tide. (4) In the second sally made by Tudvulch, which was to the north, or north- east of the fortress, and directed against the Picts, and which is described in stanza 17, he issues from the fortress, and draws up his men in the trench, where they were pro- tected by their countrymen on the ramparts. He is said to have thrown out one wing wide, which ostensibly means that the Britons, having another intrenchment at Adoen, IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 235 or Odren, about a mile distance, joining to the wall, he extended the line of his men in the trench of the Ghrimes dyke (another name for the Wall of Antoninus and its fosse) till it reached that place, and was supported by his countrymen there. This is all we are told, or rather infer, in respect to the manoeuvres of the Britons. The other attacks mentioned on other occasions on the nearest posi- tions and defences of the besiegers are not at all circum- stantially described, and, if we may judge, were usually not very successful, nor persisted in long. The Britons seem very much over-matched from the first. We have shown that there could not have been osten- sibly more than 11,000 in Kaltraeth, i.e., Coreddin, and possibly not many more in Adoen, for we find it was closely beset and breached (stanza 92 Williams), whilst the Saxons and Picts are once or twice said in the poem to comprise 100,000 men in all their forces. Adoen, we should add, seems only to have been a casual intrenchment, made for the occasion, as the mile castles were not on this Wall, but on the Wall of Sever us. The Castella on the present one were about two and a half miles apart. We have considered the north in our detail of the trans- actions at Gododin, otherwise Kaltraeth, or Coreddin, as in the poem, to have been that side on which the con- tests with the Picts occurred, and the south that on which the Loegrians, Deirians, and Bernicians attacked ; but, strictly speaking, the fortress is believed to have laid nearly north-east and south-west. We know scarcely anything of Aneurin but what he tells us of himself. We judge he belonged to the kingdom of Strathclyde Proper, for he calls himself the " Bard of the Clyde", and he appears to have accompanied the British army as herald; and whilst acting in that capacity he was taken prisoner, as we have before conjec- tured, from the Britons breaking the truce. He has not given us the particulars of his ultimate escape ; but it may be concluded that when the place was taken, he surren- dered again, and was allowed to depart. We should, perhaps, notice the improbable conjecture of the late Mr. Edward Williams, commonly called lolo Morganwg, that Aneurin was the same person as Gildas. It may be suiRcient to say, that there is no reasonable 236 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP. basis for such a supposition. There were two persons, as ' is well known, of the name of Gildas. , The eldest of them, Gildas Albanius, died in 512, fifty-eight years before the conflict of Kaltraeth; the younger Gildas, surnamed Badonicus, it so happened, died in Ireland the same year, aged seventy-eight, after having been a resident and actively engaged as a missionary there for four years. Had, then,IoloJSIorganwg considered points of chronology, he would have found his idea sufficiently dispelled. Aneurin, it seems, was respected by his countrymen, who called him, as we find in Triad 48, " Aneurin of the flowing muse." It is related of him that after the war of Gododin he quitted Caledonia and came to reside in Cambria, at the College of St. Cattwg, with which, there is no doubt, from his eminent station in literature, he was officially connected. It is likewise related that he was ultimately killed by a blow with an axe, by a person named Einigan, which is spoken of with great indignation in the said Triad which we have referred to. There is good reason, however, to suppose that he was well advanced in life, as in his poem of Gododin he calls Owen a youth, who was a person of about twenty-six years of age, which would imply that he was very much his senior at the time. We have noticed, at a previous page, that some dififer- ence of opinion has existed among the literati as to the nature of the subject treated of in the Gododin ; and when so eminent a man as Edward Davies pronounced it altogether a mystical poem, and to have solely a covert reference to the massacre at Stonehenge ; and when ano- ther so eminent a writer as the late Honourable Algernon Herbert supported the views of Davies to their fullest ex- tent, it was, of course, sufficient to excite the doubts of many. But the opinions of these two Celtic scholars and critics were somewhat far-fetched, and principally, indeed, founded on the circumstance that a person of the same name, Eidol, was one of the actors on both occasions, that is, at Stonehenge and Kaltraeth, which is, after all, only to be regarded as a specimen of coincidences which some- times will occur. Collaterally, likewise, their faith in the battle of Kaltraeth being a real event, is shaken by its neither being mentioned by the British or Saxon Chronicles, IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 237 Mr. Herbert would likewise introduce an objection from the death of Domng,! Brec described in the poem. This" Pictish king, Mr. Herbert says (Ct/dops Christianus, p. 168), according to the Annals of Tigernach, was killed in 1642 ; while, according to the Annals of Ulster, the event occurred in 685 ; and as the dafe in the Gododin, which would be about 570, would be suitable neither to the one nor the other, he thought this a sufficient proof that the work was not intended to be a narration of real events. However, we may remark, that if the two authorities, do not agree with each other, a fortiori, it cannot be any disparagement to the Gododin that it does not agree with either. We are speaking of what are now somewhat passed opinions ; for since the publication of Mr. Williams' trans- lation, with notes, and that of the Count De la Ville- marque, there is left no reasonable doubt on the subject, and it is believed no supporter remains of the former opinions. It was a real battle, and a battle of magnitude ; and the omissions by the British Chronicle, and that of the Saxons, are only omissions of the same kind as they have made of other great military events. The why, and the wherefore of which seems to be, that neither of those col- lections of annals made the Strathclyde wars any subject of theirs. Bede did so still less, who was writing an ecclesiastical history, and troubled himself but little about these regions and their politics. It is quite certain that the idea of the Gododin being more or less a mystical poem, whether it did or did not relate to Stonehenge, has much influenced the translations which have been made of it. Many supposing it a com- position of that nature appear to have thought that it was necessarily shrouded with the obscurity which is so often connected with matters relating to the Druids ; and, con- sequently, have considered that the translation ought to be somewhat mystical to be correct ; and that should it be too plain, it would be a fault. We are not obliged to the Count De la Villemarque for anything in a higher degree than for his having entirely dispelled this idea, and for his showing us that it is not a mystical but an historical com- position ; and that it ought to be translated on the usual principle of making the ideas the most natural and the most clear possible. 238 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURT. [CHAP, A few passing remarks appear to present themselves. One is, that from the incomplete form in which the poem has come down tous,it happens that almost every subject treated of in it partakes of the same incompleteness. The account of Owen, the hero of the poem which we have alluded to, is one : whose principal exploit, as we have noticed, over- throwing Domnal Brec, is entirely left out. Again, Tud- vulch-hir, the king of Eiddin, or Edin, is left out of the latter part of ftie poem, though he was a species of hero subordinate to Owen, and forms the topic, in the way of eulogy and narrative, of four or five stanzas in the be- ginning of the poem, in one of which it is intimated that his doings were greater still on the seventh day of the fight, and that he was killed on that day ; and that there was something remarkable in his death : yet, when the narrative of the poem comes to that part, there is no mention of him whatever. Further, as to a chief from Powis, called Morien, mentioned also in Triad 44, appa- rently originally from Armorica, and who, possibly, had been sent with troops by Ehun ap Maelgwyn from Gwynedd, the account is evidently deficient, though much expectation is raised by the poet. The Newadd, or banqueting hall, basilica, or praetorium, is often mentioned, that is to say, it occurs in stanzas 30, 31, 32, 39, and 44; and in such a way as would seem to imply there had been a fuller description of it in some other place in the poem. The part of this poetic composition we have now left is thus no more than a somewhat long, and historically, a valuable fragment. Villemarque has made a notification of no less than seventy-five chasms in different parts of the poem. Some of these may have been no chasms at all, but only instances of Celtic abruptness — at the same time there may have been other passages omitted which he has not detected : taking then his number seventy-five for an average, it may be estimated that there are above a thousand lines deficient, so that we may judge the original comprised at least two thousand verses ; and, indeed, it might have been much longer. Again, regard being had to the skill and talent the poet displays, there is every reason to suppose that it was, originally, worked up into the full framework of an epic poem, which, indeed, must have embodied much poetic excellence along, no doubt, with many defects, some IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 239 of which we have pointed out. But taste has heen want- ing among those who should have preserved it entire, and so we have a fragment only. We should not omit to say, that Mr. Williams, in his translation of the Gododin, gives us some elucidation as to the word neuadd, and says, pp. 132 and 148, that it does not necessarily signify a hall at all as in the poem, because he can produce some instances by which it seems that it had also the sense of "camp," or "fortress," anciently: indeed, he alleges, that in one stanza horses are said to be in the hall ; which, however, might possibly have been in sheds or appendages connected with the building, which might have been included by the name "hall;" and we may the more readily accept some such explanation, as we find Mr. Williams himself, notwithstanding he notices the point, receives it in the sense of hall. Indeed, it is a very strong corroboration, for being described in stanza 30, as of the " colour of carnage," it is evidently meant to be implied that it was built of brick ; whereas the forts on the Ghrimes dyke, or barrier of Antoninus, had merely earthen ramparts, and the said barrier or wall itself Avas also a rampart of the same description. The mention of the fortress, which is styled "Caer" and "Dinas" in the Gododin, is, as we have before observed at a previous page, another instance of incomplete description ; though it must be allowed there is some considerable in- cidental reference to it. The names of both "Dinas" and "Caer" are, as has been noticed, connected with it; and there is some doubt, at first sight, whether the latter ex- pression might not imply that there was a citadel, signified by the name " Caer," which was situated within the Dinas or fortress itself, especially as the expression " mur caer," or wall of the caer, is used ; whereas we know that the fortresses on the Wall of Antoninus, as we have just specified, had only earthen ramparts. However, as citadels are extremely rare in Roman fortresses or castella, it may be judged that the words "caer," and "mur caer," are only used with a kind of latitude of which many examples might be produced in other instances, and that nothing- more than one of the usual castella of the Wall of Anto- ninus was intended. But little attention, it is believed, has hitherto been 240 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY, [cHAP. paid to excavate the interior of Eoman fortresses, whether coming under the designation of castella, or itinerary stations, to ascertain the original arrangement of the buildings. We are inclined to think that the delineations of Roman castella, in Boecking's Notitia Imperii, 8vo, 1839- 1853, to which we have before referred, give a faithful general idea of them. It is true they are only ornamental embellishments to the said Roman Office Book of Dignities and Commands, but they come to us as copies of copies of draAvings made by the Romans themselves in the fifth cen- tury ; and there is no reason why there should not have been a general correctness in the original designs. These, as we have before observed, invariably represent a continu- ous arcade round two sides of a large plot of ground or esplanade, which is immediately to the right of the prin- cipal entrance or praetorian gate. Behind this appear to be what we may suppose were intended to be represented as the principal buildings of the fortress, and with these are inixed in much confusion other buildings, including, occasionally, as in the one relating to Britain, another colonnade or two among the various edifices; and in- cluded with them, as a feature in Roman architecture, ap- pear many slender towers, somewhat like the minaret of Cinq-Mars, near Tours, in France, delineated in Mr. C. Roach Smith's Collectanea Antiqua, vol. iv, p. 11 ; and we should add, that in some of the representations of fortresses, a double colonnade or arcade is seen ; and opposite to the square space, which, as we have said, is on the right hand of the gate, there is a semicircular inclosure on the other side, in shape like to the half part of an oval amphi- theatre divided into two longitudinally. The elaborate work of Mr. C. Roach Smith, the Collec- tanea Antigua, which is now become indispensable for every one to consult who would affect any claim to be ac- quainted with antiquarian subjects, contains much inform- ation on the point. The third volume, published in 1854, has, in fact, two plans of Roman castella, the one in France, the other in Britain. The first, p. 112, Jublains, is irrelative, because, though undoubtedly Roman, it is not similar in arrangement to any known in this country, as it comprises an exterior and interior fortress. The second, at p. 74, seems as near to the point as could be IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 241 expected, and is the result of excavations which have been commenced at the fortress of High Eutchester or Bre- menium, extracted from Dr. Bruce's Appendix to the second edition of his account of the Roman Wall. The fortress of Bremenium comprises within its wall about four acres, which is, as nearly as may be, the size of that of Coreddin or Kaltraeth. On entering the praetorian gate, there is, to the right, just such a space as would seem re- quired for the square plot of ground, with its two colon- nades or ranges of porticos ; by the scale, seventy yards by fifty ; but of course there are no remnants of arcades there now, which we may judge were built somewhat slight and unsubstantial ; but what is very material to the purpose, there are no foundations of buildings upon it. On the left hand side of the praetorian entrance there is likewise a space vacant of foundations, where apparently was situ- ated the semilunar inclosure, which is frequently observed to be delineated, as before remarked, in the representations in Boecking's Notitia at that place. A large building is in the centre, or rather the foundations of one, measuring, for its outside dimensions, about eighty feet by seventy-five, which we may easily conclude to have been the hall, that is, the prsetorium or basilica. There are the foundations of a wall running longitudinally down the centre, which, however, was probably only connected with the subdivisions of the basement, for an ancient basilica had a central nave, like our churches, and two side aisles ; and there are some indications that such divisions existed in this case. There is an hypocaust under part of the space, and what appear to have been a large tank or two for the supply of water. Some other buildings were placed on either side of the praetorium, but not touching it, 80 feet long and about 26 wide. They formed double ranges, and there appear to have been more not yet excavated ; so that the whole would have formed, as the term is, a block of buUdings right across the centre of the castellum, and parallel to its sides. We may conclude that the troops were usually exercised on the square space, surrounded by the porticos or colon- nade, which we have mentioned, under which they could retire in bad weather, as we see is done in our barrack yards. The troops also could draw up in this square before issuing from the praetorian gate. 1 1 242 STRATHCLTDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [CHAPi It will be then seen that we have a parallel to the descriptions in the Gododin in the ancient delineations of Roman fortresses handed down to us in Boecking's Notitia Imperii ; and a parallel to both in Dr. Brace's late ex- plorations at High Rutchester, the ancient Bremenium, in Mr. C. Roach Smith's work. As we have the fortress, the hall, and the porticos, we need not doubt that all the other adjuncts also fully corresponded. We must not neglect, in our subject of the Gododin, to notice the occurrence of numerous titular and official names, which fully vindicate the genuineness of the poem. It would not be right to omit alluding to these titular names, for, like chemical tests for the discovery of various substances, they have been found an important means of ascertaining truth and fact in ancient British affairs, for which we may refer to the Coins of Cunoheline, and the Britannic Re- searches. We will give the names of this class, which form an important part of our present subject, in one view toge- ther ; arranging them according to their places in the poem. Stanza 10 e# alibi. Mynyddaug (explanation), Mynegai tagos, or directing chief (literally, telling or informing, i.e. giving orders). Stanza 18. Cynrig. — Cyn, head or chief, adjectively, put interchangeably for fen, and rig or rix, a ruler, meaning a head or chief king. Cynan. — Cyn, as before, and an, a district ; the same word being also used indifferently to express the ruler of a district. Cynren, i.e. Cyn-rhain, chief spear, signifying chief or commander. The Romans had a similar expression, " primipilaris", im- plying certain who were distinguished among the legioil- ary soldiers. J.ero?2, of which presently. Stanza 21. leuvan; possibly ludeu-an, i.e. chief of a district where Jews were located. See the History of Nennius, c. lxvi ; the History of Bede, i. 12; and our previous page, 35. Guaourdur: apparently Guayar dwr for Gwanar dwr, i.e. the water chief. Peredur, the same as For y dwr, i.e. the sea or naval king. Stanza 38. Cenau, the cub, i.e. the prince. Lowarch, i.e. Llewarch, the lion chief. Stanza 39. Senyllt, i.e. the steward. Stanza 50. Lleowri, i.e. lion king. Stanza 52. Cynddil^, which will be considered in connexion with the word Aeron. Stanza 63. Geraint, i.e. Gwr-an, or man in office, or official, being a title used among the Dumno*. nians for their king. IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 243 Regarding the term " Aeron", which occurs several times in the Gododin, and the consideration of which we have deferred to this place, there is hut little doubt it has an official signification. It means, in fact, no more or less, according to the literal interpretation of the two words of which it is composed, than " War-department" (aer-an) ; and we may understand that our northern Britons, profit- ing by the example of the Romans, which they had before them for so many years, had seen the necessity of establish- ing in their confederacy a war-office or ministry, and that the same was called, in their tongue, " Aeran" or " Aeron", the literal meaning of which is the " war jurisdiction". Certain persons are represented as belonging to this in the Gododin, as Cynddilig and Cynren, and two persons called the " two dogs of war of Aeron" (deu gatki Aeron) in stanza 20 ; which two, in the Gorchan Cynvelyn, are again described as Kadreith and Kadleu of Cadnant, which may induce the opinion and supposition, that the depot of the Aeron, or War Establishment, was at a place of the above appellation. They would also appear to have had some small permanent force, called the Legion, if we rightly apprehend Cynddilig's appellation, which may be judged to be " Cyn-y-Lig, i.e. head or commander of the legion. This, perhaps, might have been used as a species of nucleus or training establishment for organising their army when preparing for the field. We should, likewise, add that Aeron is not a local name ; for there is no place so named in any part of Britain, though there is the river Aeron in Cardiganshire, which is unlikely to be meant. The reader will find some further explanations in a subsequent chapter, connected with the word Cynan, and some others. The tribes mentioned in this poem as that of Meirchion, Ceidiaw and others, are a great illustration of ancient British history, and appear to have been the same as the " gentes", or head families among the Romans. We may now take our leave of the Gododin., and observe that much remains to ba explained in it yet. The idiom of various passages may still have been not apprehended ; and it is certain that various allusions, historical and local, in the poem are not understood. This ancient composition not being in a perfect state, no doubt contributes to veil 244 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. some parts of it in obscurity; but now that a greater degree of attention is directed to it, we may conclude that further elucidation will be obtained in process of time. Erratum, p. 330. — For Howel Dhu, read Howel Dha. CHAPTER V. THE ANCIENT SEA COAST OF BRITAIN ILLUSTRATED BY THAT OF KENT. The true history of a country at any particular period should not only be based upon the most authentic accounts which can be obtained, but also upon a true geography of it, without which all other explorations will not be suffi- cient. We rest on this point as giving value to the dis- cussions here entered upon, and as connecting them with our researches after historical truth. We may say, then, that our present inquiries will be of a nature important in tracing the boundaries of ancient British kingdoms in the island, and of Eoman provinces, the situation of British and B,oman towns, and ascertaining the direction of Roman roads, and the position of their itinerary stations. It would be desirable, if researches of the nature of our present one, could be carried on through the whole of Great Britain ; but it can be only done so by piecemeal, as correct local knowledge of nearly innu- merable details is indispensable for each individual county; and thus, in every instance, a separate investigation will be required. In this way only a species of instalment can be obtained from time to time, as casual explorers come forward to supply the results, each of their own observa- tions, and furnish the detail of the materials' they have collected. Kent being the native county of the writer, has given him many advantages in collecting together the following v.] CHANGES OF THE SEA MARGINS. 245 observations ; and Kent is undoubtedly one of the most interesting localities where such inquiries could be made. But Kent by no means monopolises all the interest, as it is obvious that results equally important are obtainable elsewhere. The value of like investigations in Essex, Nor- folk, and Yorkshire, would be considerable ; but still more would they be in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Hunting- donshire, and Northamptonshire, now most of them inland counties, since here there was formerly a wide expanse of waters, which separated the Icenian kingdom from that of Cunobeline, and gave a distinctive name to a portion of the former people, of Iceni-Coritani. More to the north, the estuaries of the Ouse to the east, and those of the Deva westwardly, divided even more completely the Iceni from the Brigantes. The above natural divisions, we need not say, are now much effaced, and hardly suggest the idea of national boundaries. It is, however, necessary to remark that, as well as re- ceding, the sea also in places advances, so that, in the lapse of time, there is a double operation going on : in- crease in some places, and diminution in others. The wear- ing away of the coast by the waves is frequently the most difficult of the two to account for, since it has sometimes taken place where the sea has afterwards retired for many miles. Thus the causes of it are of course special and peculiar. We shall treat of the two contrasting orders of things in the ensuing pages : both the accession of allu- vial lands by the sea's retrogression, and the opposite effect, the wearing away the coast by its advance, beginning with the former phenomenon. One of the' most remarkable features then in Kent, is the retirement of the sea since the time of the Romans, by which apparently scarcely less than a fifteenth part of the whole county has been added to it, and a tenth as regards fertility and value ; such tracts generally being of the richest and finest quality. These surprising changes have chiefly taken place in the isles of Thanet and Oxney, Romney Marsh, and the estuaries of the principal rivers : in short, in those quarters in which the operative cause has been most in activity. They will be so treated of here as to illustrate, as far as possible, historical events con- nected with the former state of this part of the island, 246 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [CHAP. including Caesar's expeditions : also they will be made available for explaining parts of the Itinerary of Antoni- nus. And that these changes of the water-margin have taken place since the time of the Romans, there is histo- rical or other evidence to shew. First, and principally, the agent in effecting these won- ders has been the sediment of the rivers constantly depo- sited through aylong course of ages, assisted by the perpe- tual drift of shingle and other material of the sea from the westward, to which this part of the island is subject, influenced by the prevailing south-west winds. This mov- ing mass is, in fact, a very powerful agent, as we shall soon have further occasion to mention. Agriculture, which in every country advances along with other arts of civilization, has also contributed, ploughed lands increas- ing the silt and suUage of streams ; and again, improved drainage in upland districts, and new water-courses formed, give a much freer vent for their contents to be carried down to the flats and shallows at the mouths of rivers, where the motion of the waters becoming languid, deposits ensue. Heavy storms suddenly throwing up bars, and raising many thousand loads of the shingle, to which we have alluded, or ooze of the sea, often impede the exit of such rivers as have not a large volume of water, or a strong current, or a direct course, and cause them to flow by a devious and obstructed channel to the ocean; enter- ing it, perhaps, through some opening of the coast which was remote from its original place of junction. The shingle is composed chiefly of flint stones washed out of chalk. Its original source has been considered very doubtful, some placing it beyond the Land's End : how- ever, as there is a large detached tract of chalk at and about Bolt Head, between Plymouth and Dartmouth, there seems no occasion for such a supposition. The first great collection of it is at Chesil Bank, near Portland, where it forms a large mound. There is not only a current up the Channel from the westward, but this narrow sea is in the shape of a tunnel, with the large end in a direction favour- able to receive the swell occasioned by the south-westerly gales, and thus to cause it to come in with greater violence. In regard to the current spoken of, it is not intended to assign it as being of itself a moving force of shingle, yet it v.] CHANGES OF THE SEA MARGINS. 247 must contribute a forcible impression to the more imme- diate agents, as will be further noticed at a subsequent page. While thus the new outlet forms for a time a free exit for the waters, the sea is apt to leave the former bay or inlet into which the river disembogued in its original course ; which now, in due time, tends to become dry land, passing through the preparatory state of the morass. The hand of man comes in to hasten the process by embanking portions of the marshy flats left in this condition, and thus diminishing the action of the waters of the ocean, and causing further obstructions. All these effects are, of course, more obvious where rivers flow into narrow straits, or have confined outlets, as was the case with the two Kentish rivers, the StOur and Eother. Hence, in the result, tracts of great magnitude have been formed ; and hence the wide expanse, which was anciently sea, has become, to the extent of some hundred thousands of acres, farms and corn fields. But agriculture is so powerful an agent in producing the foregoing results, that we must still further amplify upon it. In the case of a region entirely covered with wood: in its original, natural state of forest, the rivers will not only flow with clear and limpid streams, — for experience will show that waters which issue from woods, bogs, or mosses, are not turbid, — but will flow with a more constant volume of water, not so exhausted in sum-^ mer, or swollen in winter. This follows because woods are better recipients for rains than other lands, and from the circumstance that evaporation does not take place so rapidly from them. Naturalists have shown that bogs and peat-mosses result necessarily from wood lands, and afi'ord a copious and permanent supply of water to the springs originating from them. When the woods are removed, the doing so is attended with the usual train of results. There is no longer the same condensation of the atmosphere going on ; the efi^ect of the high hills and mountains in producing moisture is partially lost ; and the winds exercise more completely their evaporating power. Thus the soil is desiccated to a certain degree, and becomes incapable of originating the slender thread of water, the first germ of the rivulet as 248 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. the rivulets united are of the river, when it is first called a river, in the upper part of its course. Numerous cases in point might be brought forward. To this cause the present great want of water at the Cape de Verde islands is attributed, the trees there having for- merly been destroyed for fire-wood. In America, in the state of Kentucky, many brooks are now dry in summer which formerly^used to have an abundant supply at that season; and in New Jersey many streams have disap- peared, as it is said : which, in both cases, is attributed to removing the woods, as we may find noticed in BuUar's Azores (8vo., 1841, vol. ii. p. 11). A similar eff'ect, in that quarter of the world, had been before recorded, many years ago, in Kalm's Travels. Trees act as condensers of fogs and dews, especially evergreens. White, in his History of Selborne, pp. 228, 30, calls them perfect alembics, i.e. dis- tilling vessels, and adduces several instances of the copious supply of water they produce. Say that, in their original state, the rivers of the county discharged a far greater volume of water than in modern times, and in a more equable stream, and not loaded with their present customary mass of sediment, and we have at once a reason afibrded us why the outlets were deep, and clear of obstructions, and supplied convenient harbours for ships. This they did ; and in places where now the very mention that such was the case occasions surprise, and almost incredulity. Had the country remained one entire forest, it is presumable that these havens would have continued commodious for navigation to the present day. The agriculture of the ancient Britons, imperfect as it was, commenced the transformation ; but in the time of the Saxons, who brought a great breadth into cultivation under the plough, the causes in action must have pro- ceeded at an accelerated pace, and, being continued down to our times, have produced the efiects of which we are now speaking. The reader must be reminded of the usual turbid nature of the drainage from arable lands; nor should the great amount of soil frequently washed away en masse from such parts of them as are overflowed by winter's floods pass unnoticed, or the occasional incident of portions of rivers' banks falling in. Earth in solution, as mixed with the waters of streams, though it may not v.] BEDS OF RIVERS. 249 reach the exterior outlet in one flood, yet, if deposited as sediment at the bottom of the river or rivulet, is liable to be moved forward by subsequent ones, and ultimately car- ried to its destination. We are accustomed to consider the receding of the sea as comparatively a gradual operation ; and so it is vpithout doubt during most part of its progress : but, when reach- ing a certain point, circumstances may occasion it to leave large tracts very suddenly. The following extract from one of our public journals illustrates the case in point. It is thus : " The Phare de Rochelle states that the sea is receding so rapidly from the Bay of Bourg Neuf, that the remains of an English ship of war, mounting sixty-four guns, which was lost on an oyster bank called Les Hetraites des (Euvres, whilst in the pursuit of a French ship in 1752 (1762), is now to be found in the midst of a cultivated plain. In calculating the depth of water where this vessel struck, with the present level, it will be found that the depth of the sea has diminished at least fifteen feet." {Stan- dard newspaper, February 18th, 1841.) It has been suggested that the beds of all rivers have been raised to a higher level since times of antiquity. This can scarcely be controverted ; for it is not to be sup- posed but that more detritus of stone and of other solid materials must be deposited from time to time at the bot- tom of streams, than their currents can carry away ; and hence a tendency to their being raised. Together with their bottoms, the whole level of their waters is of course also raised. From this cause many of the streets in our towns and cities appear now to have been originally built in situations so low, comparatively, to adjoining rivers as to excite surprise ; and noble buildings like Westminster Hall have been constructed where, in modern times, com- mon floods could enter them. As late as about the year 1800, the floor of this great national edifice was raised about twelve feet. Before that period the waters entered it in high floods, and persons rowed about it in boats. It may corroborate the above observation relative to the for- mer level of bottoms of rivers, to note that the bed of the Medway, near Maidstone, is ascertained to consist of layers of rolled materials to the thickness of sixteen or seventeen feet, or more, before the Weald clay, the original bottom, KK 250 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. . [cHAP. is reached. The cause of this important structure being thus circumstanced, — and there are numerous other nearly- similar cases of ancient buildings near streams, — must be referred to the waters of the rivers being at a higher level at the present time than when they were built. This rais- ing of the beds of rivers, and consequently of the level of their waters, it is plain from the results, has not been sufficient to present the accession of the vast tracts by the sides of their streams, formerly overflowed, of which we are now particularly treating ; which again can be satis- factorily accounted for. The levels of the former sub- merged lands have been gradually raised, in the lapse of years, in a still greater ratio ; but in cities and towns, where the counterbalancing deposits are not made, the sites of ancient buildings by the sides of rivers become low by comparison : and this solves the question. Some time had elapsed after the foregoing observations on the progressive rise of the beds of rivers were penned, when the following remarks, written, as it should seem, by a practical man, appeared in an ably conducted weekly periodical, the Builder, to whose pages science and research are often indebted for much valuable information ; and the said remarks so completely bear out the foregoing prin- ciples that they are here inserted. Rise of xhe Thames. I have noticed, for nearly half a century, the gradual and regular rise of the waters of the river Thames. My attention was first drawn to it hy finding that extreme high tides were not pre- ceded, nor succeeded, by similar tides. These were recorded by the watermen of the Westminster Horseferry, by notches cut by them on a post there, ere the post was removed when the street was raised. I now observe that professional men, in reporting on some localities, such as Westminster, say that the sewers there were originally too low. But it appears that the said sewers were high enough when they were first made, but are not so now, owing to the rise of the river. It appears that I am the first person who has noticed a circumstance so universally, con- tinuously evident. The architects of modern as well as ancient buildings • were not aware of it, as will be too plainly seen by referring to the fioor of Westminster Hall, the upper line of the starlings of old London bridge, the gate of Lambeth Palace, the York Water Gate, Adelphi, the level of the wharfs there, etc. The ground line, or plinth, of the palatial houses of Parliament is already below the level of extreme high tides. The difierence of the rise of the highest tide before the Parliament houses were burnt dowh, to the last highest tide, viz. in December 1845, is but ten inches. The preceding highest tide was in October 1841. These two tides were very carefully noticed at the Fox-under-the-Hill, Adelphi, the people there being up at the late hours both these tides occurred at : ; v.] BEDS OF KIVERS. 251 the diiference was exactly one inch. The lines of elevation are painted in the tap-room there. — Correspondent of the Builder, January 1847. We may subjoin another paragraph, from the same periodical, to the former one, the subject of which is the banks of the Thames. We should, perhaps, premise that ■we do not concur in its views as to the antiquity of the present banks of the Thames, judging them to have been formed, not in the earlier part of the Middle Ages, but when that period was pretty well advanced. The Ancient Embankment of the Thames. The embankment of the river, a most gigantic work, was, although we have no particular account, executed, or at least directed, by the Romans. Few of the thousands who enter the Thames think that the great stream on which vessels of the largest size are afloat, is, in fact, an artificial canal,- raised in many places considerably above the level of the surrounding country. It is a wonderful work ; and it is singular that we should have no record of its first execution. The artificial bank of the river extends, either on one side of the river or the other, almost from the Nore to Richmond in Surrey ; and some judgment may be formed of its magnitude by the diffi- culty of repairing a breach made by a high and violent tide at Dagenhara in Essex. On this occasion (1707), a breach was made in this bank of the river, of one hundred yards wide, and nearly twenty feet deep, by which alarming accident one thousand acres of rich land in Dagenham Level were overfiowed, and nearly one hundred and twenty acres of land washed into the Thames, forming a sandbank nearly a mile in length, that extended over one half of the channel. After several unsuccessful attempts, Captain Perry, who had been employed in similar works by the Czar Peter, in Russia, at an enormous expense, and with much difficulty, completed a wall. — Builder, Aug. 1855. Modern geologists entertain the opinion of the surfaces of large tracts of land in various countries being raised from having been acted upon by forces underneath ; of which they bring proofs and instances. No such agency seems required to account for the receding of the sea from those parts from which it has retired in Kent, ordinary causes appearing sufficient, especially as the gained land has a flat, alluvial appearance, and shows no convexity of surface. Dr. Wallis, in the early times of the Royal Society, pub- lished some observations applying to the changes which have taken place on the south-eastern coast (Nos. 272, 275, and 276, of the Philosophical Transactions),'whic]i are drawn up according to the imperfect knowledge of geology of that period, and consequently are of the less utility. An extensive scene of the alterations of the coast is in 252 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. the ancient channel of the sea, between the Isle of Thanet and the other parts of the county. Here was formerly a perfectly navigable strait, and which remained so, there is little doubt, in the time of the Romans ; and in short it is, in some respects, proved that it did, as the port of Ebbs- fleet, on the north shore of the strait, is mentioned soon after the Romans left, in the Saxon Chronicle and Ethel- ward's Chronicl^ by its name, Wippeds-fleot, and stated to be the place where Hengist landed ; while the port of Richborough and the fortress of Reculver show its extent on the south shore. According to the authority of Bede, who died in the year 735, it had decreased, in his time, to the width of three furlongs ; but continued stUl navigable to the Norman conquest, as we find it recorded in history that Earl Godwin about that time sailed through it with a fleet. It began, soon after this period, to be called " The Wantsume", an appellation derived, as many suppose, from the deficiency of the water, wansian, in Anglo-Saxon, im- plying to diminish, and wanung a diminution : hence wan- sum, in the same language, might have been diminishing, adjectively ; and if this, the common etymology, be sub- stantiated, it follows, of course, that ea or eye, the Anglo- Saxon for water, was added, and afterwards dropped. We may advert for a moment to the derivation of the word, which is doubtless one of some difficulty. Wande sumpfs, in modern German would be " Marsh walls", the pronunciation of which, with no great variation, would much approximate to the name Wantsume. This, as we have no trace of the word ea or eye remaining, may excite a suspicion that the terms were similar in the Anglo- Saxon, and that this sea-channel was so named when ia its diminished state two lines of embankments were formed on either side, and thus supplied the new feature which became the origin of its name afterwards. But were this so, confirmation cannot be found in our present Anglo-Saxon lexicons, which give neither of the two words, perhaps from being imperfect. However, to con- tinue. This ancient thoroughfare of the sea, whatever may be the meaning of its appellation, was now reduced to its narrowest limits as a channel ; but, according to accounts, boats and small vessels continued to pass through it till V.j FORDWICH. 253 about the reign of Edward IV (see Twine, De Rehus Albionicis, 12mo., 1590, p. 25). Concurrent with this, the passage across the water at Sarre from the mainland to Thanet was accustomed to be used as a ford. See the ancient Map formerly belonging to the abbey of St. Augustine, Canterbury, engraved in Dugdale's Monastieon, vol. i, p. 84, edit. 1655, in which a monk is represented as carried across on the shoulders of a countryman, whilst a ferry-boat near transports another passenger. Subse- quent to this the sea has been entirely shut out, and the whole has become a fine level of meadows, intersected only by marsh ditches. The Stour, the principal river of East Kent, was a large estuary in the time of the Romans ; hence it is affirmed that the name " Stour", i.e. j^stuarium, was de- rived, which seems a very probable supposition. Ford- wich on this river is now situated upon it in the part where the stream is very shallow, and in the middle of extensive flats and meadows. In short, it wears no ap- pearance of having been a seaport, and a commodious haven as it once was. We know this sufficiently, as this particular town was in the confederacy or corporation of the Cinque-ports : not, indeed, as among the number of the five principal ones, but as a member of Sandwich, and as such enjoyed all the privileges and immunities which were hence derivable. Some think it was the Portus Trutulensis to which Agricola's ships returned after cir- cumnavigating the island (Tacitus, Agricola, c. 38), under the idea that the name had allusion to the species of fish, the trout, for which the place is now so noted (see Fisher's Kentish Traveller's Companion, 12mo., 1794, p. 246). This derivation is, however, attended with the objection, that it is evident that fresh-water fish could hot have existed in the waters here at the time the estuary of the sea flowed up to this place. Dr. Batteley again thought that the Portus Trutulensis was the outlet of the river at Richborough, in fact the eastern part of the Wantsume Strait: and cites an authority which gives some colour for supposing that the name tructula might have been applied to salmon as well as trout. (See his Antiquitates Rutupince, 4to., 1745, p. 30). To continue with our sub- ject : Domesday Book shows that this said town of Ford- 254 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. wich was next to Rochester in importance at the time of that survey : for enumerating the burgesses or mariners of the cities and towns of Kent, it gives the following scale: Canterbury, 531 burgesses; Dover, 420 burgesses or mariners ; Sandwich, 415 mariners; Hythe, 231 ditto; Eomney, 156 ditto; Rochester, 114 ditto; Forewic, 90 ditto ; Seasalter, 45 ditto. We may now add that, though it has still a corporation, it is reduced with the decay of the port to a mere village. Canterbury may be considered to have been a seaport in Roman times, though history be silent on that subject. The foundations of the present city are thirteen or fourteen feet below the original ground. There is, therefore, a great accumulation of soil in the town, and not less exists in the surrounding levels, once, like those of Fordwich, occupied by water. There is about this city ample space and dimensions where a harbour might have been, and in- deed we may say with some confidence, where a harbour was in ancient times. In proof of this, to say nothing of the said port of Fordwich, only two miles below on the river, we may allege the instance of the anchor of a ship found at Broomsdowne, two miles above. (See Harris' History of Kent.) This last place seems to have been near the small village of Thanington, opposite Tunford and Bigberry, and the estuary itself may be considered to have extended as high as French's MUl in Chilham, near the present railway station. But the Stour had a branch, now a mere rivulet. This was called the Lesser Stour, and joined the larger river of the same name at Stourmouth, a place so called. Now, to show the very great alterations which have taken place, we may note that according to Philipot, in his Villare Cantianum, or History of Kent, as we may otherwise call it, this was also navigable in the reign of Edward III as high as Bekesbourne, which is near Barham, and was a member of the port of Hastings, and was bound to furnish shipping. As regards the Medway, there was a navigable commu- nication with the Thames through Yantlet i[]!reek for boats and other small vessels much within a century since. In 1824, the city of London tried again to open the navigation, which was resisted by the proprietors of Y.] THE YANTLET STRAIT. 255 lands concerned, and there was in consequence a law-suit between the parties {Rex v. Montague, etc.), in which it appears it was navigable till 1760, and even ten years later. These legal discussions thus afford some record of the gradual loss of this strait or branch of the two estuaries of the Thames and Medway, which, though not of the same notoriety as the extinction of the former maritime thoroughfare of the Wantsume, must have re- sulted from the same obvious causes of which we now treat. The reasons for resisting the opening this communica- tion between the Thames and Medway, it may be inferred were the expenses that were anticipated of maintaining a bridge, and increased outlay on embankments. Two editions of the trial were printed ; and the city of Lon- don as plaintiffs, being nonsuited, .and a new trial refused, the question is not likely to be raised again in the same form. As to certain portions of the marshes of the lower parts of the Medway, they seem to have existed in the shape of levels and marshes even in Roman times. Our arguments do not suppose that the marshes of estuaries are all mo- dern accretions : on the contrary, we suppose some were ancient ; and we must here note a position in our present inquiries, which affects the question as relates to these ancient levels and low lands by the sides of estuaries not receiving, from some cause, alluvial additions in modern times. They, it is evident, must comparatively become lower still ; for as the beds of all rivers tend to rise, as we have shown at a shortly preceding page, it will follow that such lands will become, relatively to those rivers, in a more submerged position than they were at first. Under this head we place the marshes at IJpchurch, near Sitting- bourne, with their supposed Roman pottery district, the contents of which have been described in the Journal of the British Archceological Association, vol. iv, pp. 379-381. Again, bearing the foregoing distinction in mind, the reader will not be surprised to hear that, in other places of this lower part of the right bank of the Medway, accu- mulation has progressed to a considerable extent, in modern times, in a species of contrast to what has occurred in the Upchurch district. In this quarter, the estuary of Stan- 256 ANCIENT COAST OP BRITAIN. [cHAP. gate Creek, an inlet of the Medway, formerly came up to the Nunnery at Newington, according to the tradition of the inhabitants, though it does not now reach within two miles of the place. This is but a few miles from the pot- tery district before mentioned ; and in this case sediment appears to have been brought down from the uplands. An able communication in the Athenceum for August 23rd, 1851, pp^905-6, may be consulted for various points of information connected with the present state of the lower part of the Medway. According to the writer of the article, the Upnor Reach of this river is filling up with silt and ooze very fast, there appearing a tendency in the river to form its main channel through St. Mary's Creek, an adjoining minor branch. Numerous other details are given, which the limits of the present observations do not admit us to notice : indeed, they are more particularly connected with the navigation of the river. A government report of the state of the Medway, it may be added, was published about the year 1822. Higher up the Medway, at Strood, nearly the whole of the present town is built upon ground gained from the estuary, though now much raised. At this place, the road leading from Temple Farm to Frinsbury, the length of a mile or more, seems once to have skirted along not far remote from the strand of the river, though the same is now retired to some considerable distance. On this road the church stands, which accordingly must one time have been near the water's side ; and the river having once spread to such an extent in this direction, gives somewhat more than half a mile for its former width, that is, three times its present width. This state of things we must refer to the time of the Romans, the coins of that people having been found plentifully near the said road, in the field towards the Temple Farm, as learnedly described in vol. xxix. of the Archceologia, p. 217, by the able antiquary^ Mr. C. Roach Smith. Besides the coins, some other objects of antiquity came to light, which, with the coins, are partly in possession of H. Wickham, Esq., and S. Steele, Esq., of Strpod ; the former, in particular, having an ele- gant Medusa's head in jet found there. While this is the case with this spot near the Temple Farm, at the same time there is no evidence of Roman relics being found in T.] MAIDSTONE. 257 the town of Strood itself. On making the Strood and Maidstone line of railway, in the present year, 1856, the greatest difficulty was experienced in the Fair Meadow, at the former place, from the spongy nature of the subsoil, which proved more swampy than was expected. tip the river, from Strood and its environs, the estuary extended anciently as high as Maidstone : indeed, the tide- way penetrated some miles higher, between the narrow banks. Beyond this, both at Tunbridge and Yalding, there appear to have been several fresh- water lakes, on the sides of which those two places were built. Nature, in subsequent times, has formed this chain of lakes into a series of levels and meadows, the intermediate state having been that of morass. The name of the place, Yalding, denotes that, at the time the place was built, or the appel- lation given, the transmutation was then in progress ; and the name implies that at that time it stood on the " Old Ing", or meadow; the environs, as we may understand, being marsh or water. But we have a rather particular illustration of this part of the river, in the finding of several canoes of the aborigines in the year 1720. These were dug up in some of the low grounds on the line of the Medway, above Maidstone. They were in the primitive form of those used by savage nations, being each formed out of the trunk of a single tree hollowed by fire ; and one of them was so well pre- served as to be used for a boat for some time afterwards. (See a work entitled The Description of England,\o\. v, p. 1 28.) Another illustration of the ancient state of the Medway at Maidstone was afibrded by the examination of a Roman villa discovered at the north end of the town, on the banks of the river, in the spring of the year 1844. (See vol. ii. of the Journal of the British Arch. Assoc, for 1847, p. 88.) The plaster of this was found to be mixed with chopped reed instead of straw. The lowlands, therefore, in the neigh- bourhood of Maidstone were marshes in the times of the Romans, instead of meadows, and produced their growths of reeds. There are no reed-beds at present within four or five miles of the place : those highest up the river, now met with, being at Snodland. Recent explorations have fully confirmed the views here laid down respecting the Medway alluvial flats. When L L 258 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [CHAF. the Great Buckland meadows were bored fot the purposes of the atmospheric railway, about the year 1848, the bed of the formerly wider dilated waters was struck upon, in .various places, at the depth of eight or nine feet, which proved that those now pasturage levels had been once nothing else than what might be termed water-flankings, or side lakes of the ancient river. Another instance was like- wise presented, when a deep cutting for laying piping for water was made through the Maidstone Fair Meadow, in the year 1852, when the bed of a similar ancient sprea^ng of the water became visible, though at a less depth. It may be mentioned here, as applicable to rivers, that the alluvial flats at their sides become much higher than the usual level of the rivers themselves. This may pos- sibly appear somewhat of a paradox, but it is caused from their receiving the sediment of the highest floods. When a shallow lake or estuary is filled up, the first eiFect of the deposit is to confine the current to a narrow channel. The accumulation of sediment can only then proceed on each side as floods occur ; but in proportion as by length of time the flats are thus heightened, the floods again tear out at places a wider channel. It is in reference to this that the people of Lincolnshire complain that their fens were drained many centuries too soon. By confining their rivers between high and steep banks the spreading of the waters, and consequently this operation of nature in heightening the flats has been pre- vented, and they remain at a lower level than they would otherwise have done. The nature of the sediment of rivers must differ in the analysis of its component parts accord- ing to the strata through which they flow. That of the Med way forms a yellow loam. In the Thames, the increase of the levels and secession of the river must, from the wide expanse it formerly covered, have been considerable, as the cliffs at the place called Cliffe, now two or three miles from the water's edge, plainly show. At Crayford was an estuary divided into two branches. At Southfleet another, up which Swein's flotilla sailed in the Danish wars ; and another at Deptford. These were probably commodious havens for the ships of those days, but are now all become firm land, except that they admit their respective streams to pass. v.] THE CRAY AND DARENTH. 259 The estuaries of the Cray and Darenth each extended respectively about two miles above Crayford and Dartford, varying in breadth from half to a quarter of a mile ; and it is observable that, in the entry of Dartford in Domesday Book, it is said to have " two hythes" or ports. The capa- city of the estuary at Southfleet is testified from the cir- cumstance of its receiving Swein's fleet in the eleventh century ; while that of Deptford, the outlet of the Ravens- bourne rivulet, appears to have been much the smallest. For the embankment of the Plumstead Marshes in the thirteenth century, see Lambard's History of Kent, 8vo., 1826, p. 396. However, but a small part of the alterations of that river belong to our present purpose. Of that portion of which we do treat, we are not without .some illustration. The poor-rate books of the parish of Shorne, on the Thames, a village near Gravesend, it appears, are still extant, and comprise the early period between the years 1593 and 1616. These mention eighty acres of salt marsh in the parish, whilst now there are only eight, the rest being trans- formed to meadow or arable land, — a proof of the con- tinued progress of these changes up to our times. The minor estuaries above mentioned as forming conve- nient inlets or harbours for shipping, had probably all of them towns built upon them in the later part of the Koman times, though possibly not on a large scale. One is said to have been at Southfleet. Considerable extent of foun- dations have been noticed at Crayford ; and there is a town still where was the ancient estuary of Deptford. These, it may be reputed, were all sacked and destroyed by the piratical Saxon or Danish flotillas, and the inhabit- ants driven off to other parts, or else put to the sword : one or the other of those calamities being no unusual result, in those times, when towns were taken. We may here continue our notice of the Thames, by way of digression, because, though it may not be strictly the subject intended for discussion, yet illustration will be supplied in some small degree. For this purpose we may cite the work of Mr. Wren, the son of the celebrated Sir Christopher, who communi- cates in his Parentalia, p. 285, some curious particulars, founded on examinations of the soil during the building 260 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. of St. Paul's cathedral by his father. He gives it as the opinion of his father's surveyor that the whole space from Camberwell hill to the hills of Essex had been one con- tinued frith or estuary. He, however, appears to be in error in supposing the hill on which St. Paul's cathedral stands to have been of comparatively recent origin, since, being composed of sand, topped with a thin stratum of clay, it would rather appear to be of tertiary formation, to say nothing of^ other reasons there may be against his position. Besides, instead of supposing the formation of hills in his estuary during the alluvial period, why does he not admit the previous existence of islands 1 His idea, however, of the great extent of ancient estuary about London, now filled up, we may receive, and may fully admit that the Thames has been no exception to that vast amount of alluvial transformation which we have described as taking place in other rivers. Our view of the former state of the Thames is this : that we presume Mr. Wren's ideas in the main correct, but that the existence of the estuary he supposes must have gone back far beyond the time of the sway of the Romans in the island, and been very remote indeed. We must consider the river in the neighbourhood of London to have been already skirted by low lands during the time of their occupation, formed by accretion from the sediment of the water. Marshes and low grounds, and, indeed, places somewhat desolate, seemed peculiarly to have been chosen by the Romans as the sites of their burying-grounds ; hence these ancient marsh or low land borders of the river may be considered as having been occupied by numerous cemete- ries of ancient London; and the more so, as we find but few places of their sepulture recorded, in localities which would have been within the suburbs of the ancient city. The bed of the Thames it is well known is replete with Roman coins and other specimens of the antiquities of that people ; as rings, seals, and the like. We find that it has exercised the speculations of some of our most eminent antiquaries to account for their existence in that situa- tion ; nor has any one professed to point out a satisfactory reason. In our present inquiry we may possibly be able to assign one, which is comprised in the suggestion that the water margins of which we speak, replete with inter- v.] THE THAMES AT LONDON. 261 ments and abounding consequently with the various objects of funereal deposits, were from time to time washed away into the river, and that their contents became transferred to its bed. This implies, of course, erosion at various periods of the banks by the stream, which we may have but little diffi- culty in believing to have taken place, and on which we may offer a brief remark. An increased velocity of the waters in their course would be partially an agent to effect this, which might take place from inland lakes and shallows filling up by alluvial deposit in the higher parts of the river. Conjoined with this would be alterations in the direction of its current, occasioned by dams made for fishing-wears in parts of the river just above ; or possibly by landwalls or embankments, made to reclaim land for agriculture or pasture in the earlier part of the Middle Ages, as attention to cultivation became extended. Under these circumstances, deposits being formed in some places in the immediate contiguity of the great city of the silt or alluvium of the river, and new turns being given to the current of the stream, as has just been alluded to, the old alluvial flats containing the Roman and Roman-British sepulchral in- terments might be expected to be strongly acted upon. These causes being continued for ages, we may look to the winter floods as having been the actual moving force which has been the means of carrying the former alluvial edgings of the river away, or some of them, and deposit- ing their varied contents, as rings, seals, statuettes, etc., where they are now found, to the wonderment of the present generation, in the bed of the Thames. The eminent antiquary Mr. C. Roach Smith, whom we had before occasion to mention, noticed this circumstance of the deposit of Roman coins in the Thames in his papers on London Antiquities, printed some years since in the Archceologia, and was evidently at a loss for their occur- rence there in so large quantities; the cause as above assigned will probably be deemed sufficient by most in- quirers, coins being frequent accompaniments of sepulchral deposits. As to other objects : many emblems connected with paganism were no doubt, as usually supposed, com- mitted to the river when the Roman Britons renounced 262 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. that creed. The Thames is besides of course the receptacle ' of numerous things which have been anciently lost in it. It may be suflB.cient to have noticed these features con- nected with the Thames : and we now shift the scene of our inquiries to quite a different quarter, transporting ourselves to the southern confines of Kent and Sussex, and taking for our subject the Kother, one of the principal watercourses of those parts, which appears to have had two names among the Eomans, the Rovia in the upper part, and the Lemanisin the lower ; and the transforma- tions of the coast connected with this stream wiU form an interesting part of our research. This river, then, after having been, for some distance the boundary of the two counties above mentioned, and formerly of the two ancient British states, the Cantii and Regni, is supposed in Roman times to have diverted its course to the east, and taking its way under the range of hills, to have fl.owed out. at Lymne. Our evidences for this rest on various points which, on the whole, will leave but little doubt on the subject. The first argument occurs from the Itinerary of Antoninus, where, in his Iter ii, the Portus Lemanis would needs appear to be the port of the river Lemana or Lemanis, which last appellation we have for the name of one of the rivers in Britain in Ravennas. Not very different from this we find the name Portus limneus in Ethelwerd's Chronicle, iv, 3, in his annals of the year 893, which seems to imply, the " Port of the river Lemanis","though the same river at the period Ethelwerd mentions, no longer flowed out at Lymne, but had obtained an exit at Romney, intermediate with its present one; which in later times has been transferred still further west. With respect to the New Romney outlet, the one in- tended by Ethelwerd, Somner in his Roman Ports and Forts, 12mo., 1693, p. 44, has afforded good evidence that it ex- isted as early as Danish times, but perhaps not necessarily to the exclusion of the earlier outlet at Lymne, which might have stiU continued at that era. Since it first began to flow out at New Romney its course has varied at dif- ferent times, sometimes passing the isle of Oxney on one side of it, sometimes on the other. At the period spoken of by Somner it came down by the north side of the island, passing by an hamlet called Reading Street, and a few v.] THE ROTHER. 263 miles further on, made a turn to the east at Appledore, which was direct in its course for Lymne and at right angles to the other channel to New Romney. It is to Somner that we are indebted for the informa- tion, which is of some moment in our present inquiries, that mention is to be found in ancient records of the Lymne branch of the Eother, now no river at all, as still in existence in the year 820 at the village of Warehorne, at about the distance of three miles from the bend or turning of our river towards Lymne, as may be seen on any map of Kent {Roman Forts and Ports, p. 42). Besides this, we have also a mention of the river twenty-nine years before, further on at Ruckinge, which is five miles from the Appledore turning, in the grant of king Cuthred (See Hasted's History of Kent). Further than this we cannot trace the course of the ancient stream to its former exit at Lymne, but this appears fully sufiicient to corroborate the usually received opinion, which we may regard as having been first sug- gested to antiquaries by the mention of the Portus Le- manis in the Itinerary of Antoninus, as well as being somewhat obvious from the situation of the place. These details, however, respecting the Rother, and others regarding its former course, have necessarily a connexion with the subject of the ancient and modern condition of Romney Marsh, and are introductory to inquiries relating to the original formation of this very extensive level, which, indeed, with the exception of a few small islands or sand- banks, seems at some former age to have been entirely gained from the sea. Our remarks, then, will partially bear on both topics, namely, the river and its delta, till we direct them more exclusively to the latter. This seems the most natural mode of procedure, the Romney level having manifestly in the first instance originated from the alluvial deposits of the Rother. Our proofs on this subject can, of course, be principally nothing more than such desultory notices of these opera- tions of nature as may be found casually recorded in legal instruments, or monastic writers, to which Hasted and others have given reference. To these sources we have other additions certainly, and without further preface we may now continue, with such materials as appear most relative. 264 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. As the Archbishops of Canterbury and the Church at that place were the principal proprietors, of the soil in Komney marsh, so the portions of it which they from time to time wrested from the waters shew the increase of firm land from mere marsh, and thus make a good comment on its supposed origin. These progressive additions are tech- nically called " Innings", and under this head we may refer to the recorded^Innings of Becket, primate from the year 1162 to 1180; Baldwyn, from 1184 to 1190; Boniface, from 1243 to 1270; and Peckham, from 1279 to 1292. We say nothing of the Innings of private persons, as of Elderton and Scadway and others, because we cannot assign their dates. Those of the archbishops, however, which were in various parts of the marsh, shew the gradual shutting out of the sea which went on from age to age. Were we to say no more, it would seem naturally to follow that when the whole process of the inclosure of this district was completed, the Rother, whose course under the hills was somewhat devious, might become impeded under thijs new feature of embankment. Not, however, that those laborious works of the archbishops arid others were the first undertakings of the kind, for prior ones are presum- able, and even so early as the time of the Romans. All preceding ones must have been very partial it is clear, but these we may understand comprehended nearly all the unbanked space that was left. In relation to this point, it seems somewhat surprising how little of the actual breadth of Romney Marsh was embanked even so late as the middle of the eighth cen- tury. In a Charter of Offa king of Mercia, granting, in the year 774, to Janibert archbishop of Canterbury, what appears to be the northern part of the present parish of Lydd, it is described as having the sea to the north-east and west of it (see Roman Ports and Forts, p. 50). Let the reader consult a map of Kent, and it wUl be seen that there was then a breadth of water to the westward, some miles wide, between Lydd and the main land. This is the most striking documentary evidence we can procure of the trans- ition state of Romney Marsh in the early p^rt of the Middle Ages. It was on the strength of this, probably, that Twine in his De Rehm Albionicis, p. 31, grounded his observation that Romney Marsh was once " Altum pe- v.] EOMNEY MARSH. 265 lagus et mare velivolum." That is, a deep and navigable sea. Offa's grant will also cause us fully to understand the Saxon name of this district, " Rumenea", i. e., broad water, implying the wide expanse of that element collected here, which afterwards became land (see Ports and Forts, p. 63, and Dr. Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary). This is the correct derivation, which has nothing to do with the Ro- mans, as some have supposed. We now have to touch on what appears to be the great problem of our inquiries, the formation of a tract of allu- vial land jutting out into the sea and lying at a level so extremely low. It is at present, indeed, embanked ; but before it was embanked it must almost have laid at the mercy of the waves, which at times must have covered it entirely. This is striking to beholders : and we need only cite Marshall's Agriculture of the South of England on this point. He tells us (vol. i, p. 358) that such is the fact ; that the elevation of this inclosed space is much below the level of the spring tides ; and that he saw himself a tide that rose several feet higher than the surface of the land. We can only attempt to solve this question as follows. It being conceded that the ocean in this quarter was originally shallow, and that a long line of shoals from the first extended along the side of the Marsh which faces France, it may easily be conceived that, in primeval times, some part of the enormous mass of shingle which comes up the British Channel from the westward may have lodged against the southernmost of these shoals and formed there a barrier against the waves. This being done, the pro- gress of the beach having received a check at this point, where prodigious quantities of it are still to be seen accu- mulated, it would follow, as a matter of course, that the beach would force itself forward in the direction in which it would find least resistance. Arrested, in fact, at this point (Dungeness) it would divide into two drifts of this stony material, whereof one would skirt along the line of shoals we have mentioned till it joined the opposite Kentish coast at Hythe : the other, driven on by the violence of the waves, would have gone in nearly a right angle towards Rye, where it would likewise effect a junction or a close proximity with the coast. There would have been thus a M M 266 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [CHAP. species of large triangular lagoon inclosed from the sea, the two sides being severally about fourteen and ten miles long. Shingle, we know, cast up by the sea forms U high bank, and the natural barriers we have spoken of would have kept out the exterior waves, the interior basin consequently would have been but little agitated; a state of things known to be favourable to accumulation and deposit. There was oniy wanting a large river to disembogue in this bay for the purposes of depositing alluvium and to form a delta. Such a river there was in the Rother, which had to find a passage to the sea through it, and we now see the effect of the agency of this river in forming so large a tract of land. We are aware that a species of objection may be urged that portions of Romney Marsh are not alluvial but are patches of a sandy nature : but, in answer, these, which are towards the outsTsirts and bor- dering to the sea, are to be considered as part of the original "sandbanks we have supposed, which, with vast ranges of shingle added, have formed the ocean boundary of this tract. The above appear to be the most probable causes. Romney Marsh was never left by the sea ; as were the banks away, the sea would not leave it now, but go over the greatest part of it. Neither would it seem to have been originally a tract of marshes projecting out towards the open sea, which might be thought contrary to usual experience. The accumulation of beach which constituted the outward barrier of Romney Marsh, and which has formed a deposit several miles broad at Dungeness, still continues. At the point at Dungeness a light-house was built in 1792, one hundred yards from the sea at low water, as specified on a tablet in the building. The Com- missioners for reporting on harbours of refuge have re- corded in their report, that in the year 1844 they found that the distance had increased to a hundred and ninety yards. The existence of the tablet in the light-house im- plies the increase had before been progressive, or suspected of being; so ; or else why was it placed there ? and if, then, the producing cause be in activity now, there is no reason why it may not have been so for thousands of years past, and have originated the effects which we have just been endeavouring to explain. v.] ROMNEY MARSH. 267 This may suffice : and we have, as far as regards this once submerged tract, only to give a few further facts and particulars to make the reader better acquainted with such features of the locality as illustrate the points which have been brought to notice. We may first notice a circumstance which alone furnishes a considerable illustration of the formation of Romney Marsh, namely, the visible remains of the former water channel of the E.other in its ancient eastern course to Lymne, running under the hills along the shore from Appledore in direction of Kennardington, Bonnington, etc. The water, indeed, is gone, but the hollow it once occupied still exists. We may add to this the common remark, that the whole inner border of the marsh, that is, the line of the Military Canal and of the said ancient channel of the river is obviously lower, as is plain to the most casual observer, than the parts which are more towards the sea. Along this lower part it is that trees are frequently found in a high state of preservation, so much so, that they can be cut up and used for fencing. The finding these trees would seem to be connected with the ancient channel, for they may be judged to have been floated down from the higher parts of the Rother in ages long since past, in the time of the Estuary. Otherwise, which may be perhaps equally probable, they may have grown on the sides of the river Lemanis, when its alluvial banks were first formed, and afterwards have been uprooted and overturned by storms on the rich loose soil on which they grew, and so gradually become submerged beneath the mud and waters of the stream. We must again revert to other circumstances respecting the Rother. We have noticed at a preceding page, that having originally flowed out at Lymne, it seems more par- ticularly to have had its exit at New Romney in the Middle Ages. The former embankments on each side of the river in this quarter are still remaining, and are called " the Rhie Walls". Here we may also add that Old Romney, the original harbour, seems to have begun to decay very early, as Somner in his Roman Ports and Forts, p. 38, informs us that the name New Romney occurs about the year 1150. Neither of them are now seaports. That the Rother was also called the Limeney in the Middle 268 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. Ages we find mentioned in Somner's Ports and Forts, p. 40. When the sea was originally shut out of Rotnney Marsh, the level of its surface seems to have been nearly that of common high water : but the inner border, or the parts adjacent to the Military Canal, having a less elevation, as before observed, engineering authorities tell us that, were the obstruction of the embankments removed, there would still be a considerable depth of water before Lymne Castle, and particularly at high tides: much greater in- deed than would be produced on such occasions noticed by Mr. Marshall, in his Agriculture of the South of England (see p. 265 ante), in other parts of. the Marsh. We are not informed what circumstance occasioned the loss of the ancient port of Lymne as a harbour : we have a pretty strong presumption, however, that it was shoals and shallows forming in its own river, and nothing else. It was not obstructions at the mouth of the outlet by shingle, as the haven and ship-station originally connected with the place were first removed to West Hythe, and after- wards to Hythe itself, which last continued a haven till about two hundred years ago, since which time it has been completely choked up with shingle. The sea is now at a distance of a mile or two, and a great part of the shingle so intervening has been converted into land. The remarkable landslips at Lymne and the neighbour- hood which have taken place in times past, though they have acted much on the remaining walls and towers, yet have neither been instrumental in blocking up the ancient harbour lying before the fortress, or in altering the line of the coast. The effiect of the landslips, which are of an extraordinary character, is mostly within the boundary of the shore ; and they have not taken place in the memory of man, nor, one instance excepted, to any con- siderable extent, it is believed, for many centuries. The writer of these pages communicated their former existence to Mr. C. Roach Smith, in a manuscript he lent him, who has made much use of the fact in his Account of Lymne, as also from him has Mr. Wright in several of his publications. Near the town of Hythe, persons have occasionally covered portions of the flat beach lying inside the Martello towers with earth, conveyed thither from the nearest places v.] NEW ROMNEY. 269 where it could be obtained in order to make the space so gained cultivable land. An immense quantity of earth being required to make the layer of sufficient thickness, it has been found on repeated trials that this formation of new ground cannot be effected at a less charge than £200 per acre, and then the land is not of the first quality. As there is a vent for the beach for the repair of roads by the Military canal, the same carts which convey it can be employed to transport back the earth. Mr. Shipdem of Hythe continues this process to a certain extent. The destruction of New Eomney was not like that of Hythe, gradual, but ensued by a sudden catastrophe. We find it recorded in various chronicles that a most violent storm occurred in the year 1248, in the reign of Edward the First, the action of which was very great on the mouth of the Rother, at New Romney, so much so, that it stopped it up. The agency of nature has never reopened the ancient channel, and since that time it has flowed at Rye, outside of Romney Marsh altogether. This last place, indeed, has become a harbour of importance and taken the place of New Romney. We might here quit the subject of this alluvial level of Romney Marsh ; there are places, however, in the neigh- bourhood in which the accretion has been remarkable. Going higher up the Rother : Oxney, at first an island, afterwards became a peninsula, being joined to the main land by an isthmus at its north-west end, as it is described in maps before the year 1640 (see Dr. Wallis' Paper in the Philosophical Transactions). After which the main channel for the Rother was formed on the west side of it, where it now continues. Appledore, on its north-east side, we know was frequented by the Danes as a harbour. Further up is placed Reading Street, thought by Philipot to have been the ancient Anderida, but where, at present, there are no remains of a fortress : however, Reading Street certainly once stood on the shores of an estuary. Even higher than this. Small Hythe in Tenterden, styled in old writings a town, was a sea-port ; and there may be reason to suppose that there were some features of a maritime complexion connected with the place even as late as the year 1509 ; as in that year there was a faculty issued to bury persons who had been shipwrecked in the chapel yard. 270 ANCIENT COAST OF BKITAIN. [cHAP. In comment on this, even higher still, a mile to the west of Oxney, near a place called Knell's Dam, a sub- merged vessel was actually found in the year 1823: and some few details of this will be necessary, as it so strik- ingly illustrates the primeval state of the coast. It had lain buried in a deserted branch of the Rother, between Knell's Dam and Potman's Bridge, about a mile east-south-east ^f an ancient fort in Newenden, called Castle Hill, by some erroneously supposed the citadel of the city of Anderida, which made so obstinate resistance to the Saxons. The locality of the discovery was either on, or adjoined lands now of Virgil Pomfret, Esq. of Ten- terden. It excited much interest when found, and great numbers went to see this great curiosity. But the dis- cussions respecting it may be said to have been chiefly confined to conversations among the beholders, or to the newspapers ; antiquaries having neglected a sufficient re- cord : and but for a fortunate circumstance, we should in the end have been left in great doubt as to the actual antiquity of the vessel. Having for a time created a very great sensation, a reaction took place, and a disposition prevailed to consider that the public had been imposed upon. It now became reported that it was merely an old barge dug out, which had been sunk to stop the channel ; and the workmen were alleged to confess that they had procured the skulls found with it from a neighbouring churchyard. Had not the lords of the Admiralty taken an interest and sent down a gentleman, Mr. W. Macpher- son Rice, minutely to examine it and to make his report, this apparently mere invention would now have become difficult to refute ; but his account being printed in the twentieth volume of the ArchoBologia, and his drawings deposited among those of the Society of Antiquaries, there can no longer be any doubt. It was not, however, Danish, as at first thought, but rather appeared to be of the date of Edward III, or Henry V. Four Accounts were published of it. One of sixteen pages, with a plate, in 1823 ; Mr. Eice's ; and two in the Gentleman's Magazine, in the year 1824. The last, however, hardly profess to be Accounts. Many of the following details are from a gentleman who lived near the spot, and who saw it very shortly after it was found. v.] ANCIENT VESSEL. Stl The usual particulars recorded respecting it are very commonly known, namely, that it was found at a place called Maytham Level in the parish of Rolvenden ; that it was dug up and floated, conveyed to London, brought on shore, exhibited in a yard adjoining Waterloo Bridge Eoad, and that having ceased to become an object of interest, it was finally broken up about March 1824. As to its form and dimensions : it was round sterned, and flat bottomed ; had a short half-deck or cabin astern, and a forecastle for- wards. In regard to the immediate space : two-thirds of it from the after cabin had a covering, somewhat between a deck and a roof, the same having apparently been in the form of a slight curve, and composed of boards merely. The part immediately next the cabin was a caboose, or cooking-place ; the light tilt or covering of this, or the framework of it, fell as they cleared this part of the vessel. The part next the forecastle, some fourteen or fifteen feet in length, seems to have been entirely open. The stem and stern posts were nearly upright. A bulwark, with wash-boards, ran round the deck of the vessel, through- out every part, fourteen inches high. The entire length of the vessel was sixty-three feet eight inches, the breadth fifteen feet. The entire height, from the bottom to the gunwale, nine feet ; the depth in the hold averaged four feet six inches : the actual burden was consequently about seventy-five tons, though according to the rules for mea- suring vessels it would have been somewhat less. The socket for a mast was plainly discernible about one-third of the length from the stem, whence, from its forward position, it was conjectured that it had a second mast. It was steered by a rudder (rudders are said to have been introduced in the reign of Edward the Third), and to the head of the rudder was fitted a planshier, that is, a flat board, by which the vessel was steered by small ropes attached to it. These came in through circular perfora- tions in the bends of the quarters, and had a bearing on dumb, or fixed rollers, to ease their friction. These ends were either spliced into one rope and so held in the steers- man's hands, or possibly might have been connected by a wheel. There had been a boltsprit, as appeared by a cavity which had been made in one of the beams to receive the heel of it : and a ring, or the place of one, was observed 272 ANCIENT COAST OP BRITAIN. [CHAP. on the lower part of the cutwater, to which the bobstay or brace of the boltsprit was fixed. There were large rings fitted in the interior of the vessel to the sides, supposed used in passing a rope along by which horses were secured. It is stated to have been a prevailing opinion among the beholders from this circumstance, that it had been a troop ship employed for the transport of cavalry. If so, it was probably a vessoi belonging to the Cinque Ports, which had been in Edward the Third's, or Henry the Fifth's ex- pedition against France, and was returning to Newenden, or some inland place, to be laid up. In regard to the articles found in it : there was some pottery, the character of which was decidedly medieval, as appears from the drawings which have been preserved. The objects of this class comprised a, dark earthen jar or vase unglazed, with three feet, triangularly disposed ; two other jars, also, with three feet and a pair of handles each: these were glazed inside, and had been used on the fire as cooking utensils ; with these was an earthen jug of about a pint measure, similar to those used in Flemish public- houses, as delineated in the pictures of Teniers. Of glass there appears to have been only one specimen^a small glass bottle, with a swelling and somewhat globular lower part, a rather long neck, and a very wide rim round the orifice for the stopper : having been, as may be surmised, a medicine bottle, or cruet. This was found in the caboose. On it was delineated a ship in full sail: ex- ecuted, as is said, in a very common and coarse manner, with colours very tawdry, which soon peeled oflF. Singu- larly enough, there were many encaustic square tiles on board, which from the drawings seem to have been similar to those used in the fourteenth century : they appear to have been bound together with iron, and used as a hearth ; besides these there were also some bricks, 6^ inches by 3j and 1^ thick, several of them grooved near the edges : these were not in the caboose, but in another part of the vessel. Among the other articles found in the caboose, was the curious oaken board, with twenty-eight hcdes in it, which had a very short shank or handle. Conjectures as to its use were various. Some reputed it was used to keep a reckoning, others in playing a game, while again v.] ANCIENT VESSEL. 273 there were those who thought that it was for culinary purposes. It was, however, too large to enter any of the cooking vessels. Many articles of metal were found : a steel for striking light : several hooks : parts of two locks : a hilt of a sword : a sounding lead, which was a short octangular bar of that metal, and not cylindrical as now is the case. There were also some other objects under this head. Of the bones found aboard, were noticed portions of the skull of an ox, the skull of a sheep, and part of that of a boar : the bones of some large animal, the breastbone of a large bird, and other animal bones : relics, undoubt- edly, for the most part, of provisions. The skull of a greyhound was likewise found : that of a man and other human bones in the cabin : and of a boy a-midships. His legs were aloft towards the side of the vessel, whilst his head and shoulders had found some temporary support, till the silt entered and consolidated around ; as a very complete impression remained of them in the above sub- stance with which the ship was filled. Another human skull was dug out about twenty feet from the vessel on the outside. It is not certain whether this skull of a boy a-midships may not have been the same as Mr. Rice describes as that of a child in the cabin. As to the impression in the silt : at Herculaneum was found the same kind of plastic moulding of the head and breast of a woman in the tufa, which seems a parallel case. As to the supposed manner of its loss, as far as could be collected from the state in which it was found. A hole was discovered staved-in in the bottom, forward, from which it is to be reputed she had struck on an anchor or some hard substance in a gale, and so gone down ; but this may posgibly be required to be reconciled to the alleged circumstance, that the exact impression of the mainsail was found in the silt or mud at the side. In stating the circumstance of the impression of the sail, we must observe that it is not notified in any of the accounts ; but our informant, an eye-witness, was positive on the point ; however, as appearances might have been deceptive, the fact must be considered very apocryphal. Had the vessel stove her bottom in, the loss would have N N 274 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP, ' been in .one way ; had it been overset, the loss would have been in another. In the latter contingency, at any rate, she ultimately righted when she went down, having been found upright. . As to the number of the crew : there might have been only three hands on board, which would been sufficient to navigate her : though the bodies of others might have floated away.^ Circumstances had prevented the crew from using their boat, which was found a short distance astern, sixteen feet, within the space excavated. It was fifteen feet long by five broad ; was clinker built, and in a much greater state of decay than the ship. It was ob- served to be caulked with hair ; a method which continued in use so lately as one hundred and seventy years since, and perhaps much later. Some may express surprise, that a vessel should be wrecked in such an apparently secure inland situation; but it must be remembered that the inlet here was formerly of a considerable breadth ; the storm may have unexpectedly increased, and this vessel, having before received much injury, as shown by the state of the bottom, and become nearly water- logged, may have sunk sud- denly while under sail. That the catastrophe was of this nature, the particulars above collected seem to indicate. The boat not used ; the sail not lowered ; and the cap- tain — if the skeleton found there be his — in the cabin. It is only so lately as the year 1842, that a loss in a somewhat similar situation was nearly occurring in the Medway. A barge in that year, not greatly less in tonnage, it is mentioned, was obliged by a storm precipitately to quit its moorings at Whorne's Place, Cuxton, and to retire below Rochester Bridge for shelter, to avoid the fate of foundering, which it is supposed would have awaited it had it remained. A^ to the mast with its sail being car- ried away, the same might have been effected by the united force of the winds and waves after it had sunk. From the vessel w,ith its contents, as well as the sail, becoming so quickly imbedded, some shifting of the silt or ooze at the time of its loss may be suspected. When found, the gunwale of it was ten feet below the bank of the stream, and two feet three inches below the bottom of the stream itself. The bottom of the vessel of course v.] ANCIENT VESSEL. 275 rested nine feet lower than this, which makes the bank to have been raised nineteen feet since the loss : and the bed of this branch of the Rother rather more than eleven feet. From this fact, the depth of water at the time of the catastrophe may be nearly arrived at. The level of the meadows at this spot we may judge to be about two feet above the former high-water mark: as they must have received considerable deposits from the land floods. Again, it is evident there must have been such a depth of water over the wreck as made it inconvenient to remove the materials. There could riot, therefore, have been less than twelve or thirteen feet at low water; and this may be assumed as nearly correct, as it would leave four or five feet for the rise of the tide, which may be regarded sufficient in this inland situation. The fore-part of the vessel, it should not be omitted to observe, laid one foot nine inches lower than the after part: so here the ground was raised twenty feet nine inches. The plate in the printed account of the exhibitor of the vessel, represents the first three feet mud, the rest sea sand. Presumably by sea sand is meant a gritty silt or ooze merely, not piire sand. It is to be regretted that we have not a geological description of the strata of this cutting or excavation. Dr. Harris, in his History of Kent, p. 213, considers that the present surface of the ground of this former inlet near Reading Street is about fourteen feet above the ancient bed of its waters, as was shown by some casual explorations. This, therefore, does not give results materially diff'erent from those which have been ascertained from the discovery of this old ship. Some other desultory particulars may be added. On the end or remnant of a plank found in the vessel, which, however, was several feet long, were some marks scored : the first group undoubtedly a merchant's, or in this case a timber-merchant's, mark ; the second the number 19 — xviiii — or 18, should the last stroke, which sweeps round, not be a numeral. On the opposite sides of the vessel, on the outside, towards the stern, were two circular plates of lead, rather bigger than five-shilling pieces ; on one of these the impression was obliterated ; on the other, which, however, was early purloined, and therefore not so perfectly examined as could have been wished, are said 276 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. to have been the black-letter characters pi, which has not been explained, though the best suggestion seems to be that they were wrongly read for the numerals iii, i.e. the draught of water. It should be added to the above, that the transome or deck beams of the vessel were of un- common thickness and strength, being twelve or fourteen inches wide ; and that it was a sea-going vessel there could not be any doijbt ; indeed, it was well adapted for such a purpose. Yet, further, some few other particulars may be noted. This ancient relic was constructed throughout of oak, and caulked with moss : and though of such large size, yet, like its boat, it was clinker bmlt. The planks, which were one and three-quarter inch thick, were noted for their extraordinary breadth, averaging about two feet. There was no anchor or cable found with it ; but the grooves over the bows, where the cable used to be run out, were visible. They were not much worn. Rings, or places for rings, were observable just abaft the mast, on each side, to which the dead-eyes of the shrouds had been hooked. There was a curious windlass on the deck aft ; another had been fixed forward. Several shoes or sandals were found in and about the vessel. A curious leathern inkhorn was among the relics collected on board ; and a decayed coil of inch cordage was in the cabin, with which were some hooks. In the fire-place the brands bore the appearance of having been extinguished suddenly. The vessel lay across the present channel of the branch of the Rother, were it was found. The stern was well under and imbedded in the bank on the Kentish side. The removal of this ancient vessel to London for exhibi- tion proved very unfortunate as a commercial speculation. Much spirit and enterprise were no doubt displayed ia conveying it to the metropolis ; but proper means do not appear to have been taken to set forth the due interest of the exhibition and to make it popular. The attraction it possessed, somewhat languid at first, soon began to diminish, to which sinister suspicions ensued, no doubt mostly unfounded, but at any rate they were not suffi- ciently removed. All hope of the success of the project now vanished, and with some, even the subject became one of disgust, and the whole afi"air was very absurdly v.] THE SWALE. 211. declaimed against as an imposition. This ancient vessel may thus be said to have twice suffered shipwreck : once, five hundred years ago, at the mouth of the Eother ; and again, more recently, in public favour in London : but its adventures were now closed, for with this came the actual finish of it, in its being broken up, as before noted, for firewood. There was yet another ill consequence attendant. A much better preserved, thoUgh much smaller, ancient vessel which, by a strange coincidence, came to light a year or two afterwards became lost to the public. It was discovered deeply imbedded at Ford, near Folkestone, just above where the viaduct now is, where the bay formerly came up. The interest connected with this relic of anti- quity was very highly spoken of in the small circle of those who had the opportunity of seeing it, and the feasi- bility of exhibiting it in the metropolis was in agitation ; but the proprietor alarmed at the ill success which had been incurred on the former occasion, relinquished all idea of doing so, and had it broken up on the spot where it was found ; and no account in print exists of it as far as can be ascertained. To revert to our more general subject: we are now arriving at a different branch of it and have an opposite agency to deal with, the erosion or washing away the land by the waves of the sea ; and the effects of this are cer- tainly very striking in some instances. We shall treat of it here as exhibited in the Swale and at Reculver, and in the Isle of Sheppey and elsewhere. It is no contradiction to say that deposit and erosion should take place in the same part of the kingdom and at places not greatly distant from one another. It has before been intimated that where supply is cut off accumulation ceases; we may also add, where tracts of land are acted upon by currents of water, the trituration and diminution of those lands in some cases may be rapid. Our first instances will be Seasalter and Boughton Blean on the Swale. At the former of these places the parish church has been destroyed by the waves, which catastrophe has been thus evidenced. On the occasion of a great storm, Jan- uary 1st, 1779, there were discovered on the beach along 278 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [CHAP. the shore at Cadhatn's Corner, about a mile west of the present church, the stone foundations, as supposed, of the ancient one : being the inferior portions of the walls of a large long building lying due east and west. With these many human bones became visible, which were collected together and buried in the usual cemetery of the parish. In respect to Boughton Blean. In the lower part of the parish, which Jies somewhat to the south-west, there has been a considerable erosion by the watery element. Here, in the part called Cleve Marsh, was formerly a Salt Pan, valued in Domesday Book at xvi pence, being a part of the possessions of the Archbishop of Canterbury in this quarter, and chargeable with tithe to the vicar. These salt works have been carried away by the sea beyond the memory of man ; though some indications are still pre- served of the spot they occupied. In turning to Reculver, it may be observed, that a long detail might be entered into, respecting the inroads of the sea there. They have formed a leading subject of interest from the time of Leland — perhaps long before — down to the present day. The invasion of the boisterous element progressed from year to year, and from age to age, till at length it became a problem how many miles of land it had devoured. Whilst merely acre after acre went, and field after field, little was done to repress the waters : but when, towards the end of the last century, the church itself began to be threatened, the parishioners made some strenuous efibrts by forming groyns and other defences to avert the overthrow: but just at this period the work of destruc- tion seemed to advance with such rapid strides, that they promised to be of little use. They were quickly washed away ; but unexpectedly such large quantities of beach were thrown up as to save the sacred edifice, whose entire demolition seemed otherwise close at hand. This, how- ever, was but for an interval, as in 1808, a copious fall of cliff, occasioned by a violent storm and unusual high tide, appeared to leave no further hope. The parishioners now began to dismantle the church and prepared to abandon it r when at this juncture the Corporation of the Trinity House came forward and purchased it for a sea mark : it being very useful for that purpose to avoid the Horse, and other dangerous shoals in the neighbourhood. The Corporation, v.] SHEPPEY. 279 by well formed groyns in many subdivisions, checked the advance of the sea, which had advanced to within a few feet of the northern tower: and no imminent danger is now apprehended. It being uncertain how much land has been washed away, it is not known whether the present church be the original one, or whether, as the inhabitants give out, it stood on the Black Eock, about a mile from the land, where are the foundations of a large building, usually covered with water, but visible at some rare in- tervals ; as at the extraordinary low tide recorded in the beginning of the year 1784. The present church stands within the Roman fortress, and might have always been for the use of the garrison, Reculver being of the later time of the Romans. The Roman town, we have no occa- sion to doubt, stood between Reculver Castle and the sea, and has been long since washed away. Respecting the isle of Sheppey, it is perhaps a moderate computation to suppose that no more than one- third of its original size has been washed away: there seems, how- ever, a want of obvious historical evidence to investigate the subject. But by far the most singular mutation on this coast, caused by the washing away of the land, as supposed, is the Pudding-pan Rock, which lies at sea among the flats contiguous to Heme Bay, Reculver, and Whitstable. This has been honoured with four Dissertations in the fifth and sixth volumes of the ArchcBologia, by Governor Pownall, and Messrs. Jacob and Keate. Governor Pownall, who first brought it into notice, confuses its situation with that of another spot very similar in name, the Pan Sand in the Queen's channel, in the Thames, a shoal well known to navigators. It is, however, quite distinct from this, lying three miles west-south-west from the buoy marking the extremity of this said sand, as Mr. Jacob properly corrects him. The real position is six miles north by west of Reculver, three and, a half miles north-west by north of Heme Bay pier-head, and four and a half north-north-east from "Whitstable beacon. A rock, called Hickmays, lies at a small distance from it : and it is about a mile and a half south-east of the Black or Eastern buoy of the Spaniard. These directions may not be too minute, as it is omitted in the usual charts. 280 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. This rock, or shoal, is remarkable for the great quan- tities of Roman pottery raised up from it by the fishermen in their nets ; whence the opinion is frequently enter- tained of a vessel from Italy, laden with pottery for the use of the Romans in Britain, having been wrecked upon it. The earthenware found is of two descriptions. Paterae and capedines of the red species, usually called Samian : and simpula, simpuvia and catini, of the dusky black, or Tuscan class. Many of these last are found whole, and are stated to be used in the fishermen's families for do- mestic purposes. The rock, or shoal, is described half a mile long, thirty paces broad, and as having six feet water upon it at low tides. According to Mr. Keate, it is at one particular part that the pottery is found ; and that after it has been agitated by storms. Governor Pownall further ascertained the existence of Roman masonry here : fishing up a large piece of brick-work, and the usual tiles. This gives a new feature to the locality, and re- moves the idea of a vessel wrecked here, before most commonly entertained as the readiest solution for the pot- tery discovered. Pownall therefore concluded there had formerly been a pottery manufacture which existed on an island at this place, which had been washed away, like the neighbouring shores of Reculver ; though no history records it. From Ptolemy's maps, he was at one time inclined to think this island was that he styles Counos, but afterwards abandoned that supposition. Indeed, Ptolemy's maps appear to be erroneous in this part ; and even were it otherwise, a small island might easily have been omitted. The pottery found here seems rich in the variety of potters' names. The following are stated to occur : — ATILIANI. CADANUS. DECMI. NAMILIAN. ATILIANI. M. CARATIN. MARN. C. PATT. O, ALBUCINI. CARETI. MATERNNIM. SEVERIANI. ATRUCINI. CINTUS. MATERNI. SATURNINI, A very complete and useful list of potters' marks on Samian ware, mortaria and amphorae, illustrated by two plates and several woodcuts, is given in vol. i of the Col- lectanea Antiqua of Mr. C. Roach Smith, pp. 148-166. In describing Roman antiquities, their different vessels v.] DEAL. " 281 of earthenware are often mentioned ; their names in this place may therefore he enumerated. Urna, urn ; amphora, jar ; olla, a jar of large size ; patera, which, perhaps, may he best designated by. the same name in English, Other- wise call it a saucer, circular pan, or bowl; cantharus, pitcher ; simpulum, ladle ; simpuvium, perhaps the same ; catinum, dish ; capedo, cup ; cyathus, wine ladle ; phiala^ according to some the same as patera, but apparently rather an urn-shaped bowl ; urceus, a pitcher, which last Horace, in his De Arte Poeticd, contrasts with amphora. Amphora coepit Institui ; currente rota cur urceus exit? In English : " A jar began to be formed : but why as the wheel went round was a pitcher produced \ " The Samian ware, so frequently mentioned, was formerly sometimes styled Ionian. Mr. Brian Faussett, the learned antiquary of East Kent, termed it coralline. It is very much in its colour like red sealing-wax. It is of two species, plain and embossed ; the former is frequently found whole. Pitiscus says it was made " ex luto Samio in rubrum colorem vertentem"; in English, " from the clay of Samos, which turns red when burnt." Plautus men- tions it thus: "Ad rem divinam quibus opus est Samiis vasis utitur". That is, " Samian ware is used in sacrificing." Cicero's notice of it implies the same thing, who has this passage in his De Republicd : " Oratio extat Lseti quam omnes habemus in manibus quam simpuvia pontificum Diis immortalibus grata sint Samiseque ut hie scribit cape- dines." The translation is, " There is an oration of Lsetus still extant, which is in the hands of us all, reminding us how pleasing to the immortal gods are the sacrificial ladles of the priests, and cups formed of Samian ware, as he writes." The Tuscan sort, on the contrary, was for infe- rior uses, and is mentioned as being so. Thus in Juvenal we have Aut quis Simpuvium ridere Numse, nigrumque catinum Ausus erat? That is, " Who would have derided the rude ladle of Numa Pompilius, or his black dish "? " Regarding the former state of the coast at Deal : those who think that Csesar landed at this place, suppose that o o 282 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. the sea has washed awaiy his naval camp (see Additions to Kent in Gough's Camden) ; but about the former state of the coast in this vicinity there is some difference of opinion. Mr. Lewis," in a paper read before the Antiquarian Society in the year 1744, and printed in the first volume of the Archceologia, supposes Batteley to have greatly erred in placing the mouth of Richborough harbour at Pepperness, now called Shellness, affirming the estuary formerly ex- tended to Walmer. He owned, however, that Pepperness had bounded the ancient port of Sandwich, This is car- rying the addition to the coast further than Batteley, and shews that some grounds of controversy exist as to whether this shore has increased or diminished here; and if in- creased, to what extent. Actual observation on the spot convinces the observer that the sea must undoubtedly have come behind Deal at some former period. Even now it is so flat between that place and Sandwich, that there are persons who remembered skating between the two places on frozen plashes of water or ditches. From Upper Deal a higher level or peninsula seems to project itself towards the town, which, whether it ever left any passage since the bank of beach on which the town stands existed,' is doubtful. From this projec- tion, in either case, the low hollow west of Walmer Castle must have been a mere nook or inlet, as its dimensions could have been but trifling. But that the beach existed in the time of Caesar, there is every reason to suppose ; since numerous Roman coins are found at neap tides at low water on the chalk at the edge of the beach, which are supposed to have been in the beach itself, and in the course of shifting of portions of it by gales of wind, to have fallen through, and to have been left in the places where they were found. It is true that the most ancient of which we can speak is one of Vespasian, but this still may show early date of the beach. It here may be added, that in driving the piles into it for the Deal pier formed in 1842, it was found in a highly concrete state, almost like rock, denoting great antiquity. It follows from the above, that we may repute that AValmer bay could not be entered in Caesar's time any more than now ; nor the inlet behind Deal be approached by vessels otherwise than by Richborough. v.] DEAL BEACH. 283 We have spoken before of the tendency of the beach to move m a direction from the south-west tothenorth-east,but arrived at this point (Deal) it at once becomes arrested and unable, from no well-explained, certainly from no striking cause, to pass its boundaries. That this has been the case from the highest antiquity there is every reason to sup- pose. The meaning of the name Deal in Anglo-Saxon, as applied to this place, is " division", because the beach and the sand divide here : in the like manner the name Sandown marks the precise spot where the sand begins. Leland, indeed, has the name Dola instead of Dela : but if this be not an error, the o for the e, in the old manuscripts in which he found it, it may be recollected that in local English dialects, in terms derived from the same Anglo- Saxon word, the like change of letter takes place. Sources may possibly exist to show the division of beach and sand at this spot from very ancient times. One of one hundred and fifty years date we have here to offer. In Martin's Index to the Exchequer Records, 8vo., 1819, pages 64 and 184, are references to a Record, Hilary term, 6. William III, fol. 249, Book of Decrees, thus described : " Award established and injunction to quiet defendants in possession of the Sea Valley, or Sea Beach, against the claim of the Crown, as being derelict lands : viz., between Deal Castle and Sandown Castle." This Record relates to the ground on which part of Deal next the sea stands. In what way the claim was attempted to be substantiated the Record might perhaps show, which, however, has not been consulted. Thus the beach, so moveable in other places, appears to have had a permanent station here in the sixth year of William the Third, that is, in the year 1694, and has so now. The motion and shifting of such enormous quantities of shingle taking place elsewhere to the westward of this locality on the shores of Kent, is a circumstance which should not be left unattended to by those who would be acquainted with either the ancient qr modern state of the Kentish coast and British Channel. That the shingle, in the aggregate, is an increasing quantity is scarcely doubtful, as continual accessions must both arrive from the westward along the coast, and be formed by the attrition of the cliffs; but as enormous collections are 284 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. •lodged, and occupy areas of many square miles, it may be reputed that only about the same quantity is moveable by the commotions of the sea as of old. A paper on the motion of shingle beaches in our Channel, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1834, part ii, page 84, by H. R. Palmer, Esq., civil engineer, may be, perhaps, consulted v?ith advantage. Beds of shingle, he informs us, bqgin to be broken up, and withdrawn further to sea, when the waves succeed each other at ten in a minute or quicker, for they then break over one another, and their force is in reality exerted downwards, and thiere- fore towards the sea. At eight waves to a minute accu- mulation begins. Currents, he observes, do not occasion the drift or progressive motion of beach along the coast : which, indeed, could scarcely have been supposed, but strong winds prevailing in a lateral direction. Finally, he agrees in the fact of the beach being stationary near Sandown, of which a striking illustration has just been given. This he imputes to the comparative shallowness and the very gradual inclination of the shore in that place near the land. A more recent theory, discussed at the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, March 2, 1847, requires to be also noticed. This is based oh the supposed fact, that in gales of wind, with the wind on the shore, the beach is removed from the land; and that in gales of wind, with the, wind off the shore, it is thrown up, and accumulates ; and to account for this apparent paradox seems to involve the following particulars of explanation. 1. The depth; of water at which the beach is affected by the movements of the waves, is assumed to be not exceeding nine feet, sup- posed to be supported by experience. 2. For the purpose of this theory, the sea at that depth is considered to be divided into two layers : the upper one as acted upon in either direction of the wind, the lower one as solely pro- ducing an effect by its retractile gravity, as each wave subsides. Of these two layers the depth of the upper is to be taken at three feet, — of the lower at six feet. 3. On hydrostatic principles, a power or force applied^ will raise, propel, or cause to be moved, a larger body in water than it would were the same not immersed. 4. The wave pro- pelled against the shore, supports, for a time, the beach V.J SANDOWN CASTLE. 285 till its secession. 5. In a gale of wind upon the shore, the wind continues to propel forward the upper layer of the water, and detains it upon the land some considerable interval after the lower layer, not acted upon by the wind, has begun to retire. 6. The re-draught of the lower layer under these circumstances may be thought to have a great effect- in carrying, away the beach from the shore: the sphere of its action, according to No. 3, being increased. 7. When there is a gale of wiiid off the shore, the opera- tion of these causes is inverse. 8. The above action is considered to apply to the depth of about nine feet : yet the rise of the tides being taken at twenty or twenty-one feet, it practically extends to twenty-nine or thirty feet from high-water mark. We do not pretend to pronounce whether this last theory be well founded or not. If it be so it would follow, that where beach accumulates there are more gales of wind off the shore than on. On one point, as to its general increase on our south-eastern coast, there is no doubt. The above theory, it will be observed, is silent as to any lateral movement of the beach, which it must have, or else how came a great portion of it where it is 1 The beach being supposed to accumulate, it must once have had a commencement. Hence we may assume the possibility of the sand-hills between Deal and Sandwich being more ancient than the beach ; in anywise they are of very great antiquity, as there is evidence to show. In one of them, half a mile beyond Sandown Castle, about the year 1839, so many Roman coins were found by a labourer, who was digging sand for a farmer, as nearly to make them unsaleable. They were of Victorinus, Probus, Tetricus, and others of the lower empire. Near the same place, either under the sand or under the beach, for as to which was meant the author's memorandum is in this respect defective, inclosed spaces were found, formed of dry stone walls, of rude construction, twelve or fourteen feet square, where were pavements laid and drains to convey away the water. The whole was supposed to refer to times of considerable antiquity, and to imply that persons having suffered shipwreck had temporarily hutted themselves and dwelt here. This was seashore, then, in early times as now. 286 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. We should note that there was one obvious use to which the sand-hills were applied, — that of their being frequently made the burial-places for shipwrecked ma- riners, of which there is no doubt. A few years since the skeletons of fourteen men were found in one of them, very perfect, the date of the interment not known. The bones were broken up, and sold by the bushel for manure. We may make a short digression to consider some changes similar to the Kentish ones, from this cause of erosion by the sea, which have taken place in the adjoin- ing coast of Sussex. These have chiefly been the engulfing the ancient town of Winchelsea, and part of the coast near, where, as before noted, the Rother forced a fresh outlet in the reign of Edward I ; the loss of the harbours of Hastings and Pevensea, which last was frequented by ships in the reign of Henry III ; and, lastly, the loss of a considerable part of the coast at Brighton. We may briefly allude to some details connected with this last place ; particularly as the inroads of the boisterous element have been so effectually checked in late times. According, then, to accounts published of this town, these abrasions of the shore are first mentioned in the year 1665 ; and to understand the accounts, we must just note the features of the ancient Brighton, — that it was composed of two portions, the upper and the lower towns : the former standing above the cliff, having in the centre of it a fort or blocldiouse ; the latter built below the cliff, as it should seem, on the beach, or derelict of the sea. The fishermen, it would appear, here formed their abodes, and found convenient places for drying their nets, and fixing capstans for hauling up their boats. In the year before-mentioned, twenty-two of their tenements, among which were several shops and capstan places, were swept away by the waves of the sea; and in the subsequent years 1703 and 1705, one hundred and thirteen other tene- ments followed, of a similar mixed description. In short, every dwelling was swept away below the cliff, and, if the accounts be rightly understood, a great deal above it : for the blockhouse, which had once been in the centre of the town, now became the last building at its southern extre- mity, and stood at ^he edge of the cliff. Much more of v.] SUSSEX SEA MARGINS. — BRIGHTON. 287 the site of the present town would probably been washed away, as the sea by moving the beach from the foot of the cliffs caused them to fall down : but after this last date the process of groyning was adopted, which has remedied the evil. The expedient of the groyns is simple : for whereas the drift of the beach or shingle from the westward, not being always replaced after storms, laid bare the foot of the cliff, which thus became washed by the waves, the groyns remedied this, and kept the shingle in its place. These groyns in their construction were frameworks of timber, thirteen or fourteen feet high, where they joined the cliffs, and reduced to a level with the sands at low- water mark at the other extremity towards the sea. These barriers of timber being boarded, detain the shingle drifting from the westward, which, being deposited to their very tops, forms an effectual barrier to the coast, where these protections are placed sufficiently close to- gether. It may be mentioned here, in connexion with the coast at Brighton, that at the village of Rottingdean, four miles to the east, the cliff forty yards inland has been carried away by the sea within thirty-five years, at the place where formerly was the Green. Groyns have doubtless not been sufficiently employed thei'e. This form of groyns, we may add, seems particularly adapted to protect all shores from the action of the sea, even where there is no movement of shingle : possibly by arresting the lateral motion of the waves. Witness the Trinity House barricade at Eeculver, which we have before alluded to, and which is nothing more than groyns of small height, set pretty close together, with boarded slopes between them. There are not wanting some who, considering the sur- prising changes which have taken place on the Kentish coast, and connecting them with the inundations in Flanders, the submersion of Winchelsea in Sussex, etc., are inclined to overlook the more immediate causes, and to attribute these effects to an earthquake. Earthquakes, however, very rarely occur in geological formations similar to those of these parts ; and the silence of history, and the permanency of many ancient buildings, older than the middle of the thirteenth century, gives no evidence of 288 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP. them. All the effects seem to be fully accounted for from other causes. Indeed, for instance, it is very possible,- that a place situated extremely low like the old Win- chelsea, and projecting, too, on a tongue of land into the sea, might have been so injured by high tides and storms, as to be abandoned by its inhabitants. As to the inunda- tions in Flanders, there is no reason to suppose them more than sonae such catastrophes as before described. Embankments, we know, were carried on to an excess in that quarter : hence, from the waters being kept back from such large tracts, inundations would follow ; which may be considered as a kind of reaction on the part of the sea ; ' and so sensible were the Flemings of this, that Guiccardini informs us, that when land was bought it was specified that if it should be inundated within ten years, the sale should be void. Indeed, it cannot be supposed but that the enormous embankments carried on in England and Flanders, whereby the sea was shut out from so many hundreds of square miles, must, in the end, have produced some considerable effects on the sea itself. It must have been pent up to a higher level, like water confined in other circumstances : and till they proportionably strength- ened and heightened their banks, disastrous effects must have been occasionally produced by its overflow. To say aught further on this subject, which is, in fact, so little disputable, and which there is no reason to suppose is in general incorrectly understood, may not appear necessary. On the other hand, it might seem a deficiency were there not made some allusion to it. In regard to the Goodwin Sands, which lie off the easternmost coast of Kent, a tradition exists that they were once firm land, part of the estate of Earl Godwin, and inundated by the sea in the year 1098, in the reign of William Rufus. In endeavouring to trace this tradition, all corroboration seems to faU: whence Hasted, the historian of Kent, declined to dilate upon it, or to occupy his readers with it. Indeed, at the time mentioned, Earl Godwin had been dead above forty years, and there was no other of the name, Godwin ; the son of Harold, having retired to Ireland ; besides, Domesday Book, completed ten years before, shows that no extensive tract of land had been submerged by the sea in this direc- v.] USES OF THE INQUIRY. 289 tion and become lost. Under these circumstances, we may be, perhaps, excused in taking a geological view of the question, and in presuming that the existence of these sands naturally results, from their situation. They are, in- deed, at a point of conflux. In their vicinity the tide from the north sea meets that coming up the British Channel. They adjoin the mouth of the Thames, and lie opposite that of the Stour, which was formerly a much more im- portant river than at present ; and last, not least, both the south-westerly winds, and south-westerly currents must much tend to bring accumulations to this point. That such was their origin there seems strong reason to sup- pose. In particular, their formation seems still to extend itself, as Kingsdown Mark, a pile of stone-work, built in the reign of Elizabeth to show the South Sand head, is at the present day of no use, the sand having now extended itself a mile further to the southward. In the Report of the Commission of the Harbours of Refuge for 1845, appeared the rather startling assertion, that the Brake Sand, a branch of the Goodwin Sands, in the Small Downs, had moved lodily inwards towards the shore seven hundred yards within the last fifty years. Were this exactly so, wonders, indeed, might be looked for on this coast. Admitting it, however, to be actually a fact, that the sand bank lies nearer the shore than here- tofore, it can only be that a deposit has taken place on the inward side of the sand, which is immediately opposite the mouth of the Stour, while the outward side of the same has been eroded by the winds and tides. This mode of stating the case takes away much of the marvellous from it. The species of information we obtain by our inquiries as matter of fact is of itself valuable ; and our application of the above changes of the coast, and of those of the shores of rivers and estuaries to historical and archaeolo- gical research, need not be but extremely brief ; we may, however, note cursorily one or two particular topics to which they may have a reference. Among these we may especially specify Caesar's two Expeditions, which we have before said are connected with our subject ; as also is the Itinerary o{ Antoninus. Having now proved the existence of the ancient estuary of the p p 290 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [CHAP. Rother at Lymne, it will at once appear to be feasible, on the supposition that sailing from Gessoriacum or Bou- logne he reached the British coast at Folkstone, that he could, on weighing anchor with a rising tide and a south- west wind, have proceeded, with both in his favour, ac- cording to the words of his Commentaries, in one direction or the other : in fact, either proceeded to Deal or to Lymne. In giving a freer scope to examine the subject, it gives us actually a greater acquaintance with it. It is much the same with the Itinerary of Antoninus. Our re- search tends to illustrate the positions of the ports of Lymne and Richborough ; and occasionally the direction of various roads, under circumstances in which it was necessary to make detours to avoid formerly existing estuaries or morasses, or to seek some ferry or ford then, perhaps, the only one attainable. Further, our present research will frequently throw much Hght on the buried villa or monu- ment when discovered ; and even point out to the antiquary in what spots to direct his explorations to meet with others. All this is effected ; and from its being shown that the very surprising changes of the earth's surface, of which we have treated, are only the ordinary operations of nature, it will obviate the necessity of constantly intro- ducing, as some have done, the agency of earthquakes; imagining one such commotion of the earth for altering the course of the Rother, another for the Stour. In short, overlooking proximate causes for others, — unreal historically, and remote. Our research will of course facilitate much, all explora- tions in the way of topography and local description. It' will elucidate the why and the wherefore of such facts, as the discovery of the remains of the vessel found wrecked amidst extensive levels now many miles from the sea; or of ships' anchors in places where now even the grapnel of a boat might not have been expected. We thus may solve some phenomena of the earth's surface, which we cannot do without reflecting light on various topics of historical and archaeological interest. Lastly, a good moral lesson is derivable from our pre- sent inquiries. The vicissitudes we have described, the sweeping away of various tracts and districts by the ocefCn, and the addition of other most extensive ones from various VI.] THE MONUMENTA HISTOEICA BEITANNICA. 291 causes which had no existence before, should remind us of the great changes to which all earthly things are liable, and teach us to fix our thoughts above, where there is no mutability. CHAPTER VI. OBSERVATIONS ON THE GOVERNMENT WORK OF THE " MONUMENTA HISTORICA BRITANNICA." Perhaps never so great an alteration took place in the literature of this country from the days of Camden down- wards, as that which was occasioned by the establishment of the Record Commission. We do not mean of course in the lighter species of literature, or in works of poetry and imagination, but in those of an historical description. Correct sources of information began now to lie within every one's reach, and the former political state and posi- tion of the country became far better known to every cursory inquirer from the publication of its Records, and the insight thereby afforded, than it could have been be- fore, even by the most laborious researches. This country is peculiarly rich in records : but it was • not till about the beginning of the present century, that the expediency of making them popularly known came to be acknowledged, which occasioned what we may term the great honour to the nation — the Record Commission to be established, the business, ofiice, and province of which was to effect this object; to make them familiar, accessible, and useful ; to make them the ready tools and instruments of the historical inquirer ; and, further, to acquaint him fully with the extent and amount of in- formation which could thus be afforded him. The members of the Record Commission were fully aware of the objects it was intended to accomplish, and proceeded to carry them into execution with, on the 292 HISTORICAL MATERIALS, [cHAP. whole, a judicious general view of the subject, and cer- tainly with great talent in those who were to carry out the details of it. The late Mr. Caley, of the Augmenta- tion Office, a person nearly unrivalled in this species of learning, vi^as undoubtedly the great stay and support of the Commission in its earlier period, and is said to have assisted the minister Mr. Pitt in forming the plan of it, and also himself edited some important parts of the ar- chives and records which were now submitted to the public. The Commission commenced their publications with very enlarged and improved editions of the great national works of Doflpiesday and R ymer's^ Fcedera, which were put forth frtJm the press wit"h great care and accuracy. Having got over this part of their task, their other labours were more miscellaneous, and they took the following course. The Valor Ecclesiasticus of Henry VIII, or the Surveys of ecclesiastical property of that date, was printed entire, and this had the advantage of Mr. Caley's own supervision. The Taxation of Pope Nicholas in the thirteenth century followed, and one or two other things of the kind ; whilst in regard to Knights' Fees, the cele- brated Record, or quasi-Record, of Testa de Nevill was published. These were of the nature of ancient compila- tions, summaries made in former times: and were now perpetuated through the press. We do not mean to say that the above works appeared in the precise order we have here noted, as we are speaking of the general views of the Commissioners and publishing arrangements merely. However to continue. The printing of public Records in a series and in detail being of course not practicable to any considerable extent, the arranging and printing of Indexes and Catalogues of Records became the next branch of their undertaking: and these were edited in far too great a number to be here enumerated : viz.. Calendars, as they are called, of the Charter, and Patent Rolls, of the Originalia of the Exche- quer, of the Placita de quo Warranto, of the Inquisitiones ad quod Damnum, of the Inquisitiones post Mortem, of the Proceedings in Chancery, etc., etc., etc. The editorial and supervising part of all these publications it may safely be said was executed with great talent, and almost un- VI.] THE MONUMENTi. HISTORICA BRITANNICA. 293 exampled accuracy, patience, and perseverance. There was one serious drawback, however, that, whether from the extent of the undertaking, or from using imperfect indexes ah-eady made, and thus avoiding the task of in- dexing again most voluminous masses of documents, in many cases these Calendars are only selections of par- ticular names, those thought most connected with great families, or otherwise most noted ; whilst an infinity of others are omitted. Considering the great expense at which these numerous Calendars have been published, it is extraordinary that this practice should have been allowed. However, many a research has been thus foiled by this unbusiness-like practice being introduced, and some of these Calendars rendered nearly nugatory. In- deed, from this cause the contents of many records have remained, and will remain, nearly as inaccessible as before, notwithstanding the large sums of money spent in printing an ostensible index. Another great disadvantage has been joined to this: the Calendars first issued of the patent rolls and other higher species of records, have not been followed up with those of records more intimately connected with the great masses of the nation. That is to say, the Calendars of the Charter Rolls have not appeared except of those that are very early : and no Calendars have been printed at all of indentures inroUed between subjects of the realm. Thus, and we here speak of an inconvenience which touches those who have to refer to the Records for legal or other purposes, a further break is made in researches, which it is frequently very difficult to obviate, and perhaps altogether so except at much expense, which, as the Records are public property, and for the benefit of the country, is of course a public evil. The above we may incidentally remark : the Record publications, how- ever, form a body of documentary literature highly credit- able to the country. The publication which more particularly forms our pre- sent topic was not suggested, it is believed, till several years after the forming of the commission, and the idea was apparently taken from the French, who have a very complete work of the kind relating to ancient Gaul. Two words will describe what it was to effect. It was to com- 294 HISTORICAL MATERIALS, [CHAP. prise all that had been published in primeval times in classic literature, and in Saxon times in Anglo-Saxon literature, relating to Britain : to be contained in one work, where the student might find what he wanted, without being obliged, as before, to search through a whole library. The work would be one which would na- turally swell out to great extent, and be of considerable labour and ex;^ense, and, we need not hesitate to say, that it has been done in a manner worthy of a great nation ; notwithstanding that many defects may be noticeable in it. We will describe a little the contents of the work, which will enable us better to see its defects and excellences. First, we will observe, that when it was determined to publish a work of this nature, an editor had to be made for the purpose, there being then no person in the kingdom who had ever gone over the ground ; no historical writer or critic who was exactly versed in the arcana required. This being the case, it is certain that a better selection could not have been made than to entrust the carrying out of the design to a gentleman of high reputation in one of the first Record departments in the kingdom ; and con- sequently accustomed to accuracy, and a good judge of literary and documentary evidences ; and such a person eminently was the late Mr, Petrie, who has earned for himself thereby, not only an historical, but a national reputation. On his decease, his position has been well sustained by his successor, Mr. Thomas DuflFus Hardy; like Mr. Petrie, the Keeper of the Records of the Tower. Besides, however, the general superintendence and editorship indispensable to bring the work into existence, of which we have spoken, there was also much minor, or, or as it may be called, sub-editorial arrangement necessary for the conveniently consulting of this truly voluminous mass. Here, from some not very obvious cause, from altering the first arrangements of the materials, or from extending them further than at first thought, or from various portions of the work having been executed at dif- ferent times, and under two editors, some very considerable defects exist. We mean in pagination, references, and in the proper order and sequence of various parts of the work. The whole of the contents are not easy of refer- ence ; and a greater simplicity in the general arrangement VI.] THE MONUMENTA HISTORICA BRITANNICA. 295 might seem desirable. It is needless to point out instances of this, as they must be so obvious to every reader. It is now time to speak of the contents seriatim of this valuable national publication. The volume commences with a general Introduction, Preface, Appendix to the Preface, Remarks on the Chro- nological computations of medieval histories, and a general Chronology of events from the year before Christ 59 to the year after the Christian era 498. The whole comprises 146 closely printed folio pages, and, except in the instance of one of the articles, is drawn up with the greatest ability and learning well applied. To say otherwise, would be to withhold well merited commendation, and to do an injus- tice, to which we should not be inclined. The article we have considered defective is the Chrono- logical Abstract, containing eighteen of the above pages, which, generally speaking, is extensively erroneous, theo- rising, and unfaithful. The usual data relating to the first arrival of the Saxons are much misrepresented, an obvious error in some of the accounts of the mission of St. Germanus not corrected, and needless chronological confusion introduced. The extracts from the Greek and Latin classics are placed next to the Introduction and Preface and their concomitants. The Greek extracts are translated into English ; but the reader must be cautioned that the trans- lations cannot always be depended upon as giving the true sense ; a defect to which, as we may remind historical students, all translations from the Greek, or indeed from any language, are peculiarly liable, in cases where the facts treated of are not intimately known, or the allu- sions of the author fully understood. There are omissions here and there of various passages of classic authors, which one way or the other have escaped the compiler. The extracts are divided into a triple series, historical, geographical, and miscellaneous ; which is an arrangement avoided by Dr. Giles, with great judgment, in a very ana- logous work, his Documents relating to Ancient Britain, 8vo., 1847. We are made fully sensible, in the present instance, of the bad effect of this threefold division, in increasing confusion in a work necessarily of a somewhat complicated nature, and making reference less easy. Extracts, pro- 296 HISTORICAL MATERIALS. [CHAP, perly speaking, should have been given from ancient Oriental writers relating to Britain, but are not ; and the same may be remarked of the Irish and Cambrian bards. On the other hand, the editorial part of these extracts seems executed with great skiU; the best text seems selected ; and the notes, though few, are very eflB.cient. There is a good " Index Rerum", or general index to the Extracts ; and an " Index Geographicus", or geogra- phical index * but no " Index Nominum", or index of names of persons, which is a considerable defect. The Inscriptions follow the classical extracts. As they are brought down as far as known in 1847, many have been of course added since Mr. Petrie's death, antiquarian assistance having been obtained from the British Museum. They have notes and references at the bottom of the page, and an " Index Nominum et Rerum" is added to this part, as also an " Index Geographicus", and likewise an " Index CsBsarum", or of Roman Emperors mentioned. Seventeen plates of coins follow, with descriptive letter- press, which have the following appropriation : — Plate i, British coins ; plates ii-iv, Roman British ; plates v-xiv, coins of Carausius ; plates xv-xvii, coins of Allectus. The British coins are preceded by a page or two in the way of a short treatise upon them. But British coins, now well understood, were just at that time (1847) extremely difficult to be explained. Ruding's classification had been overturned ; and still more so the ideas of all who pre- ceded Ruding. British coins were, of course, peculiarly out of the province of the editor; and notwithstanding his judgment and caution, he sufiered some imaginary explanations of these ancient monies to be inserted, but luckily escaped the more numerous ones which might have been suggested to him by those who were eagerly pursuing the delusive theories of the day. The British coins themselves in Plate i are well selected, and form a most interesting series. Mr. Evans has ob- jected, in the Numismatic Chronicle, to fig. 50 in the plate, as being spurious, and from some incongruities it presents, it certainly is extremely suspicious. The other sixteen plates, as well as the first, are very highly illustrative of their subjects. After this follow ten plates of fac-similes of manuscripts; VI.] THE MONUMESTA HISTORICA BRITANNICA. 297 seven Anglo-Saxon, and three in Latin. Next is inserted a map of Britain as in Eoman times, compiled by Mr. "Wil- liam Hughes, Fellow of the Geographical Society. Though Eichard of Cirencester is professed to be ab- jured in the Monumenta Historica Britannica, p. 33, and very properly so, yet some data seem derived from him in this map, perhaps unconsciously : as the road from Lon- dinium to Anderida, which is nowhere else to be found. Caledonia likewise, as in the map, seems, in several re- spects, to follow the apocryphal work we have just alluded to. For instance, there is no other authority for placing the Attacotti, th'fe fierce race described as cannibals by St. Jerome in his Treatise against Jovian, c. ii., in the West, or the Horesti of Tacitus, mentioned in his^<7n'coZa,c.xxxviii., in the East. Camden was unacquainted with the position of the first, and was inclined to locate the last named race otherwise. (See his Britannia, edition 1607, pp. 91 and 691.) The Attacotti, we may suggest, were most probably Northern Picts. Many readers perhaps recollect Gibbon's remark relative to this people having been anciently inha- bitants of the neighbourhood of Glasgow. His authority for the alleged fact was derived from Richard of Ciren- cester, whose works alone contain an assertion of the kind. The position assigned to the Horesti rests on the same dubious basis. Besides these uncertainties, which have been admitted, there are some other matters which come more decidedly under the head of errors. Thus the Cor- ~ navii, an ancient British state, are made to occupy part of the country of the Dobuni, another ancient state of the island ; and the Segontiaci and Cangi are entirely left out. We now come to a species of second division of this truly national publication : the editions of the early medi- eval historians who mention British affairs. We shall just enumerate them in their due order, making some few remarks on the first two. We begin with GiLDAS. The introductory matter relating to this an- cient historian is found in the Preface, pp. 59-62 ; a Chro- nology, at pp. 106-107 ; and the work itself is edited, pp. 1-46. The remarks are very illustrative in their way, though, strictly speaking, but little is explained in this obscure author. It has one favourable point, that it is edited entirely free from prejudice. QQ 298 HISTORICAL MATERIALS. [cHAP. Nennius. The introductory matter to this author is at Preface, pp. 62-69; a Chronology, at pp. 107-114; and the work itself is edited, pp. 47-82. Mr. Petrie collated numerous manuscripts : indeed, even more than Mr. Ste- venson, who, however, has two which he did not use. In the result we are supplied, in the Mbnumenta Historica Britannica, by the very great labour of the editor, with a text collated from about twenty-seven manuscripts. All pains were certainly taken to make the edition as com- plete as possible ; and it would have been most especially so had it not been published before the appearance of the Dublin copy, which gave entirely new' features to this ancient work, and alone has made a great part of it intel- ligible. The others are, Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chrianicle, Asser's Life of Alfred, Ethelwerd, Florence of Worcester, Simeon of Durham, Henry of Huntingdon, Gaimar, Annales Cam- brise. Brut y Twysogion, and the De Bello Hastingnense Carmen. These occupy from p. 83 to the end (p. 872), dnd the whole concludes with an " Index Rerum" and " Index Geographicus", and an " Index Nominum", to this portion of the work, which, like the other indexes, are very elabo- rate. We have thus gone hastily through this remarkable volume, which has done great credit to the Record Cora- mission, and, indeed, to the reign in which it was pub- lished. CHAPTER VII. EMBLEMS AND MEMORIALS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN BRITAIN. It has been judged best, in order to give a view in extemo, and for a species of introduction to our subject, to reprint here a paragraph from the Britannic Researches, p. 418, which will accordingly follow thus : " Respecting emblems and memorials of the early Chris- ,V1I.] CHRISTIAN EMBLEMS IN BRITAIN. 299 tians in Britain. Some of the rude stone sepulchral obe- lisks of Wales, Cornwall, and Devonshire, of the fourth and fifth centuries, are so assigned ; and the remains of a Roman-British sarcophagus, supposed Christian, were dis- covered at Barming, in Kent, some years since. (See Mr. C. Roach Smith's Collectanea Antiqua, vol. i. p. 184.) On a pavement at Frampton, in Dorsetshire, the Greek mono- gram of our Saviour, the x blended with the p, implying, in our letters, chr., for Christos, was found. (See Lysons' Reliquiae Britannico- Romance.) Likewise a cross appears in the Roman pavement at Harpole, in Northamptonshire, found a few years since, and described in Mr. Pretty's communication to the Journal of the British Archaeological Association for 1850, p. 126." The Greek monogram before mentioned, the ^ , seems to have had some considerable currency in the West, as we have an instance in Mr. Kemble's Codex Diplomaticus, where it forms a heading to the charters of the Saxon king Edgar, in 972, and ^delred in 993, occurring in this form, aJPb. In regard, likewise, to the Greek cross in its more cus- tomary form, besides the instance on the Harpole pave- ment, it occurs on a piece of Samian ware found at Cat- terick, the ancient Cataractonium, near the Roman Wall, now in Sir William Lawson's museum, and engraved in the Archaeological Journal, vol. vi. p. 81. In addition to the foregoing, there appear to be traces of the palm branch on a monumental inscription found at Caerleon, inserted after the first letter, the imperfect frag- ment reading, in its present state, d . . . semp . . . The form, D.M., was occasionally retained for several centuries, according to examples in the Catacombs in Rome, without reference to its original meaning. [Archceologia Cambrensis, vol. iv. p. 81, and plate of Caerleon antiquities, vii. fig. 3.) It should likewise not be omitted to notice that some in- scriptions in Wales, obviously of early though uncertain date, in the Ogham character, are marked with crosses. Very early Christian monuments are likewise at Merthr- mawr, in Wales. [Ibid., pp. 314-318.) For an instance of a cross on an obelisk of the sixth century, see our pre- vious page, 183. Further on this topic, a remarkable bronze hair-pin, in 300 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP, Mr, C. Roach Smith's museum of London antiquities (now- secured for the public, and in the British Museum), should not be passed by without mention. It was found in the metropolis, and has at the top of it, for an ornament, a medallion of the size of a second brass Roman coin. There is a Christian representation on it, the subject being Con- stantine contemplating the cross. The cross has a trian- gular support ,a,t the foot ; and immediately underneath is another cross, of four equal arms. This bronze hair-pin is well engraved in Mr. C. Roach Smith's Museum Cata- logue, 8vo. 1854, p. 63 ; but there the cross is represented as issuing out of a circle of six dots, and one in the centre ; which said circle is of the same character as the circles, believed to be Druidical, represented on ancient British and Gaulish coins. We do not think that this was in- tended by the ancient artist, whose date must have been about the year 450. On the contrary, the six dots and the one in the middle, so closely resembling a circle and its centre, are found, on close examination of the medal- lion itself, to be diiferently combined. The three upper- most ones form the bottom and supports of the cross, which is so conspicuous an object in the delineation ; while the other four give a representation of a smaller cross, in the Greek form, at the foot of the first. Thus we understand the emblems as given on this portion of this curious and valuable medallion. The figure whose eyes are seen intently gazing on the cross, whom we identify as Constantine, appears to be clad in a species of military surtout, and has on his breast another representation of the cross, of a very sin- gular kind, which seems to show the high antiquity of this ornament. It is a cross as inserted in the ground, with two supports at the foot, and with the tablet for the inscription at the summit. The artist, perhaps, intended to convey the idea of the cross being impressed on his habiliments at the time the Roman emperor was favoured with the vision which formed so remarkable an event in his reign. (See Warburton's Julian, 8vo., 1750, pp. 125, 157.) Particular attention seems also to have been paid to preserve, under whatever circumstances, the form of the Greek cross: Thus in the cross on which the eyes of the VII.J CHRISTIAN EMBLEMS IN BRITAIN. 301 figure repose with so much earnestness, the termination, according to the Greek form of the symhol, is marked at the proper place. The same with the cross on the breast. The Greek form of the cross as a symbol, seems to have become a national point with this people, from its being supposed the cross was seen in this configuration by Con- stantine when on his journey, and that it was inscribed in a circle. The modern Greeks in pictorial subjects represent the cross according to the Latin form, and it is even so accommodated in the present instance: though the due proportions of the Greek symbol, as above stated, are marked. It is far from frequently that we find other examples of the sacred emblem of which we now treat similar to it in conformation ; but we may note that three crosses of a very cognate description may be seen in Brenner's Nummi Sueici. This primitive form, therefore, is one of those which travelled north. They may be seen delineated in Mr. Wise's plate in his Further Observations on the Berk- shire White Horse, 4to., 1742, p. 36. We may, perhaps, add with propViety, that the basis or support of this cross appears to differ from the most cus- tomary forms. We Avill therefore endeavour to obtain some little illustration on the point. The goddess of victory of the Romans was most com- monly represented with wings : and the pagan Roman emperors, according to delineations on coins, often hold out such an image, standing on a globe, in one of their hands. The statue of winged victory was also set up in many parts of Rome, standing on a cylindrical altar; and this divinity, considered as a source of Roman power, was of course peculiarly venerated. But when Constantine, after his success against Maxentius, ascribed it to the cross of Christ, the credit of the pagan goddess of victory began to decline, and at last ceased to exist. The cross super- seded it. Constantine the Great, indeed, according to his coins, retained it, together with the labarum, or standard inscribed with the monogram of Christ ; and there was some struggle for about forty years connected with this mixture of the emblems of paganism and Christianity. For Constans, his son, having removed the altar of victory, succeeding emperors several times both restored and re- 302 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAP, moved it. (See St. Ambrose's Works, fol., Paris, 1690, ii, pp. 828-29.) At last the cross entirely superseded the image of pagan victory, both on the globe and on the altar. Hence we have the Cross-orb, which first appears on the coins of Theodosius the Great, afterwards so common ; while on a reverse of one of the medals of Justinian we have the Cross and altar delineated, which likewise becarjie in after times very frequent. These altars were usually represented in form of steps, in a somewhat pyramidical shape : and in this style, and with its accompaniment crosses on altars or steps, have got into modern heraldry, and are occasionally found in armo- rial emblazonments. It will be observed, that in the ancient representation of the symbol, as on our medallion, and on some of those engraved by Mr. Wise, instead of the appendages above alluded to, we have the two sup- ports at the bottom. These our remarks on the cross and orb, and on the Cross and altar, may not be without their use, as showing that the representation in the present instance, as on the bronze hair piii, is neither of them ; but, on the contrary, ' an ancient delineation, combining the Greek cross with the supposed actual basis of the real cross. There is still one remark to be made on this very pecu- liar ornament. Whether it were manufactured in Britain or not we do not pretend to say. It might have been fabricated in Gaul, in Italy, or in Greece: but it was used in the ancient Londinium as a personal ornament. This enables us to class it among the early emblems of Christianity in Britain. Lastly, we should not omit to add to our testimonies bearing on the ancient British church, the curious list of the earlier British bishops given by Johannes Phurnius, in his Catalogue of persons of the episcopal order from the first times of Christianity. Johannes Phurnius was a By- zantine writer of the beginning of the eleventh century ; and thus was about contemporary with Canute the Great. But what adds the greater weight is, that he was an oppo- nent to the Latin church ; and consequently cannot be accused of being under its influence and adopting its legends. His list of the London bishops, beginning from the conversion of Lucius, is as follows : "VIII.] CONSTANTINE BORN IN BRITAIN. 303 1. Thean or Theonus ; 2. Elvanus; 3. Cadoc or Ca- docus ; 4. Obuinus or Ovinus ; 5. Conanus ; 6. Palludius or Palladius ; 7. Stephanus; 8. Iltutus ; .9. Dedwin or Theodwinus ; 10. Thedred or Theodredus ; 1 1. Hillarius ; 12. Guidelinus ; 13. Vodinus, put to death by the Saxons ; and 14. Theanus or Theonus. The twelfth and fourteenth of these names are mentioned in Tysilio's Chronicle, and the thirteenth in the History of Hector Boethius, which both receive most powerful confirmation from the cir- cumstance. One of the names, Theodred, is Saxonized, which ap- pears to imply that these names came to Phurnius through Saxon literature. It is also observable, that between Nos. 13 and 14, that is between Vodinus and the last Theon, two or three names or more are omitted, as the space is somewhat considerable. CHAPTER VIII. CONSTANTINE THE GREAT SHOWN TO HAVE BEEN BORN IN BRITAIN. We have brought forward various details and particulars connected with this topic in the Britannic Researches, pp. 159-164, but it will be right to consider various addi- tional facts, which will be found noted in Archbishop Usher's Primordia, pp. 93-103, which will tend to make our views on the subject clearer than they would other- wise be. Also we will add some further remarks of our own. On the passage in Eumenius the orator, " O fortunate et nunc omnibus beatior terris Britannia quae Constan- tinum Csesarem prima vidisti !" that is, " O fortunate Britannia, and now happy before all lands, who first sawest Constantine Caesar !" he observes that this cannot apply to his first receiving this dignity in Britain, as he became so in the first instance in Gaul. The point, how- 304 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. ever, is not so much the fact itself, as what the orator supposed the fact. It would seem to us somewhat unac- countable, that when Constantine was already of high rank, as heir-presumptive to the empire, so much stress should be laid in this and other passages, as to his first receiving this preliminary imperial honour in Britain^ even if that were the case, or supposed to be the case ; but, after all, it may be said, that the orators used their judgments as to the topics they should best apply in the way of panegyric, and there is accordingly no arguing on the point. In favour of Constantine having been born in Britain, he quotes the Anglo-Saxon Life of St. Helena, written about the year 940 ; William of Malmesbury's History ; the Chronicles of Dexter, and of Martin Polonius ; Henry of Huntingdon's History ; and John of Salisbury's Poly- cration ; the Poems of Josephus Iscanus (Joseph of ' Exeter), and those of John Garland ; as also the History of Polydore Vergil, Further, he observes that the English deputies in the councils of Castile and Basil, in asserting precedence, affirmed the same thing : the latter in particular naming^ Paternna in York, the present Bederne; a division of the city in which the imperial palace was situated. He calls attention to the circumstance, that Henry of Huntingdon, Simeon of Durham, and Fitzstephens, affirm that St. Helena built the walls of London. That Coel Goedhebaug, i.e. " Coel the hawk faced", had any connection with Colchester is only an idle tale, and has hurt the cause of research on the parentage of Constantine much : though the tradition has found its way on the arms of the town, which are a cross knotted between four crowns, alluding to the alleged discovery of the cross by St. Helena, The reader, perhaps, may be usefully reminded that the name Coel has no connectioii with Colchester (Colonise castrum) : it is formed from two British words Coes and illil, i.e. the "priest king": and the import is, that Coel, a British prince or regulus, exer- cised some sacred function. There are five places commonly assigned for the birth places of Constantine : (1) Britain ; (2) Nyssa in Moesia; (3) Drepanum in Bythinia ; (4) Persia ; (5), Treves. Of Till.] CONSTANTINE BOKN IN BRITAIN. 305 these the last, Treves, is only based on the slightest pos- sible grounds, namely, the undoubted numerous endow- ments which the empress made there, which munificence may be the less thought of as rendered to an important frontier town, and the august lady having funds from the treasury, as Sulpitius Sever us informs us (lib. ii), at her dis- posal for sacred uses. The fourth, Persia, where he was said to be born, when his father, Constantius, was sent by the emperor to collect tribute. This is averred by Gothefrid in his Chronicle, and by Nicephorus Callistus [Primordia, p» 97). It is true that Constantius was in Persia ; but were Constantino born when he was there, it would make him only twenty-two years old at his accession to the emperor- ship, whereas Eusebius expressly affirms that his age was thirty-two, all but a few months. Of the third, Drepanum in Bythinia, recorded as a report by Procopius Caesariensis, the sole apparent basis is, that Constantino decorated and enlarged the city and called it Helenopolis ; but he beau- tified and enlarged other cities elsewhere, and gave the name to one and the other of Helenopolis, so that no cer- tain proof can be collected from this. Generally speaking, Constantino Porphyrogenitus, the Byzantine Emperor who reigned between the years 911 and 957, excludes all places in Asia ; for he expressly says in his work, DeAdminisirando Imperio, c. 14, that Constantino had decreed that no Roman emperor should marry any but those that were of the Roman nation, except among the Franks, meaning Euro- peans, as then the term was in the East as now; and Constantinus Porphyrogenitus said that Constantino the Great enacted this because he had his origin from those parts himself. For the second place in our list, Nyssa in Moesia, we must turn to a correspondence which took place between Camden and the celebrated Lipsius, in the year 1604. Camden had written to the great German scholar of the day to know his opinion on the point, alleging various arguments in favour of the British birthplace ; to which Lipsius replied, expressing his dissent, and somewhat briefly, as he pleaded ill health. The Nyssa birthplace was one of the theories to which Camden alluded ; and of this he says to this efi^ect : " Firmicus is a good testimony, but the question iSj what he says. Were he to hear what RR 306 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. ■ [CHAP. is attributed to him in the usual interpolated printed edi- tions, he certainly would not know or acknowledge his own words. He, in fact, only speaks of Constantius the son of Constantine having been born at Nyssa, as may be seen by consulting the manuscript of his work in Lincoln College, Oxford, and another belonging to a Mr. Thomas Allan at the same place. In those manuscripts, the person so born is staged as Constantinus (i. e., Constantius) the Great, son of Constantino, a prince of august and venerated memory, who freed the world from tyranny and composed the domestic feuds in his family, etc., etc. This leaves the fact under no manner of doubt, as Julius Firmicus lived in the days of Constantius the son ; who, as well as his father, had the title of Great beyond dispute ; as it occurs in the legends of his moneys yet extant." It is easy to see the origin of the mistake thus ably pointed out by "Camden. Constantine was more known to posterity as the Great than his son, the name was there- fore altered in the printed editions to suit the preconceived though erroneous idea. Nyssa, then, being removed, Treves being only based on the most slender grounds, and Drepanum in Bythinia, and Persia being not possible, on the testimony of the Byzantine emperor whom we have quoted, we have only to revert to Britain, which remains the best supported. Lipsius objected to Camden, that Bede, in his Ecclesias- tical History, does not name Britain ; but Bede, who was an Anglo-Saxon, and jealous naturally of the Britons, might not think himself obliged to mention the circum- stance. There is every reason to think, when Britain became unpopular on* the Continent among those of the Latin communion, from a reputed leaning to Pelagianism and the opposition of the Cambrian Church, that then the fact was attempted to be suppressed that he derived his origin from this country. We must not omit another very strong and almost decisive proof. From a very lengthened series of German and Belgic Chronicles, which Usher enumerates in hie Primordia, p. 103, most of which are actually as unknown in this country as if they had been written in Japan, it is evident that the tradition and opinion of the birth and IX.] THE BELGIC GAULS. 307 parentage of Constantine from Britain, was at that time the ancient and prevailing impression on the Continent, even in a stronger form than it existed in this country. CHAPTER IX. THE BELGIC GAULS, AND REMARKS ON THE CRANIOLOGY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. Julius C^sar in his Commentaries, Gaulish Wars, ii, 4, tells US that the Germans passed the Rhine in primeval times in great force, and took possession of, and retained, the parts called Gallia Belgica, so that the territories of these new comers formed one third part of Gaul [Gaulish Wars, i, 1, and ii, 1). He says, besides, that they spoke a dif- ferent language from that of the other Gauls [lUd. i, 1 ), which, indeed, might have been readily supposed, were they actually Germans who crossed the Rhine. We, how- ever, well know otherwise, from fragments of their lan- guage still remaining, that he is not to be understood literally ; and that they only spoke a different dialect. It seems that there was a portion of the Celtic nation who lived across the Rhine, and, indeed, far to the north, as the Cimbri of Holstein (see Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Bio- graphy, Mythology, and Geography, 8vo., 1850) ; and there were also Celts, the Estii, who inhabited the modern Esthonia (Tacitus, Germania, xlv) : and we may confidently say that the Germans who crossed the Rhine and invaded Gallia Belgica, as described by Caesar, were not pure Ger- mans, but were Celto-Germani, or Celtic-Germans, or Celts who had lived on the further side of the great river before mentioned, and so far had become Germanized. Had they been pure Germans, the Teutonic language would have been that spoken in Gallia Belgica : whereas it was a dialect, as we have observed, of the usual Celtic spoken in Gaul. Caesar, then, has thus described the Belgic Gauls arriv- 38 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. ig at their localities in Gaul. From Gaul they made iree invasions into Britain, as is well known, and pos- ;ssed themselves of the greater part of the island ; indeed retty much of all south of the Humber. (See the Coins ^ Cunobeline, p. 287.) On the other hand, the Caledonian iritons occupied a great part of the north of Britain (see Varrington's History of Wales, and other authorities) : and ^e find from Bede's History, iii, c. 4, that the Southern 'icts were intermingled with these on the south of Cale* onia, as undoubtedly various states of the Northern Picts djoined them in an opposite direction. The Picts, we eed scarcely say, Southern and Northern, are believed to ave had their origin from Ireland, as it is usually con- idered the late Mr. Herbert has proved in his Cyclops Chris- lanus, as also in his notes to the Dublin edition of Nennius. We have specified three Gallo-Belgic invasions of Bri- ain ; however, we should add, that there is no trace that he country of the Brigantes was overrun on any of these ccasions ; or the country of the Dumnonii either, till a ery late period. Indeed we cannot find that the succes- ors of Aedd-Mawr, the leader of the Belgic Gauls in the irst invasion, ever possessed the country of the Brigantes. triads T and 15, which mention the Coranians who formed he second invasion, acquaint us only that they were ettled about the Humber ; however, as there is considered manner of doubt that the Coranians were the Iceni /oritani, it is well known they did not pass that river, n regard to the third invasion, that under Divitiacus, aentioned by Caesar in his Commentaries, it is a clear case hat it only extended to the south of Britain. The above data have been collected to show that miform results are not to be expected in craniological xplorations of the inhabitants of this island, even in the kitish period, there being then a mixture of various races. ?here is every reason to believe that there was not in - hose ages one form of skull among them ; and that no aore can be presumed than that though the retreating orm of the forehead might have been predominant, yet thaii here was a mixture also of other forms. We see among he modern Welsh other forms prevail as well as the re- reating ones. We have a recent instance where tumuli 1 Derbyshire, extremely ancient, opened by Mr. Bateman, IX. J THE BELGIC GAULS IN BRITAIN. S09 a gentleman skilled in these researches, which, from his description, must have been Celtic, though he did not appear to he aware of that point, presented skulls high and perpendicular, and boat-shaped (see the Journal of the British Arehceological Association for 1851, p. 211). On the other hand, a Celtic interment at AUington, near Maidstone, described by the author in the same publica- tion for 1848, p. 65, contained a skull of a retreating fornij which is now in the Museum at Dover. These are con- tradictory results. In short, we may form a safe conclu- sion, that as Teutonic words are numerous in the modern Welsh language, as noticed by Adelung, the German scholar, and by Price, the editor of Wharton's History of Poetry, and. as skulls of very opposite forms prevail among the modern Welsh population, these mixed results as to the craniological characteristics of the ancient British inhabi- tants will be found to prevail, as indeed they have hitherto done. It will be thus seen that the subject of the craniology of primeval Britain must needs be an arduous one. Those who undertake it should study attentively the ethnology of the various British tribes ; as also ascertain with great precision the due classification of the tumuli examined, whether Celtic or Anglo-Saxon. It is only by cautiously proceeding that valuable results can be obtained. We may here take occasion to congratulate those who take an interest in ancient Britain, that a work from Dr. Thurnam on the subject, a gentleman eminent for scientific know- ledge, is now announced as about to issue from the press. Whatever craniological investigations are or may be undertaken relating to the ancient islanders, the organ of pugnacity will no doubt be a prominent characteristic if they be faithfully made ; wars appearing to have been frequent among them. There is a passage in the work of Pomponius Mela, De Situ Orbis, book iv, relating to this topic, which we may give : " Causas tamen bellorum et bella contrahunt, ac se frequenter invicem infestant, maxime imperitandi cupi- dine, studioque ea prolatandi quae possident," i.e., "they excite wars and the causes of wars, and attack one ano- ther, chiefly from the desire of sway and extending the bounds of their territories." As Pomponius Mela wrote 10 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS, [cHAP. I the year a.d, 44, these observations of his might at first e thought to refer more particularly to the then recent ar of the sons of Cunobeline with the confederacy of the lelgae, under Vericus their king: but, apparently, the sntext shows that he alluded to various wars in preced- ig times, notorious enough in those days, in the course of 'hich the dominions of Cunobeline, those of the Iceni, and f the Brigantes were consolidated to their full extent. CHAPTER X. OMAN STRATEGICAL WORKS IN CENTRAL BRITAIN : OR THE CHAIN OF INTRENCHED CAMPS FORMED AGAINST THE ICENI BETWEEN THE YEARS 50 AND 62. [o one seems at present to have satisfactorily pointed out le forts and camps formed by the Romans at the end of le year 49 and beginning of the year 50, in their war nder Ostorius with the Silures, which camps are de- 3ribed by Tacitus, in his Annals, xii, 31, as incircling the evern, and Warwickshire Avon. These camps it was, 'hich, being extended towards the north, into the coun- fies of the Cornavii or Cangi, that is, into the southern arts of those states, Shropshire and Staffordshire, proved le cause of the first Icenian war. The said camps, there i no doubt, even at the present day, can be found and ientified, but they have not been so yet ; and our present iibject will be a second set of camps, a lAnea castrorum, '^hich, though unmentioned by history, we judge and con- lude that there is good reason to suppose that the Romans )rmed against the Iceni, to keep them in check after the '^ar ; because the line of camps still remains as presump- ve evidence pf the fact. The first war of the Romans with the Iceni, brought bout, as we have seen, by the demonstration against the ilures, was a very short one, and as it was evidently X.] EARTHWORKS AGAINST THE ICENI. 311 hastily entered into, so, after one defeat, a temporising policy induced Prasutagus — admitting he were on the Icenian throne at the time— to submit. The line of the camps shows that the Romans did not trust the Iceni, and that they formed this species of substantial guarantee to insure the continuance of their submission. It so happens that neither Camden, Gibson, Roy, King, Hoare, or Rey- nolds, have noticed this range of works : nor has any other topographer or antiquary, and it has remained overlooked till quite recently. It was in the year 1818 that Mr. Thomas John Lloyd Baker, F.S.A., then engaged in exploring some antiquities in Gloucestershire, observed a line of fortified camps and works extending across that county to the eastward. He examined those camps, and the fruits of his researches appear in vol. xix of the Archcelogia, pp. 161-175. He likewise noticed the line of camps extending further to the east ; but made no further explorations himself, nor sus- pected the real strategical object of those he discovered. A few years later, Mr. Pretty, of Northampton, continued the researches, examining those of Northamptonshire and others more to the westward of that county ; but his map on the subject was not published till the year 1854, when it appeared in vol. xxxv of the Archceologia, and the use and intention of the works at length became evident. We are now able to see the method of proceeding of the Romans. If the enemy, that is, the neighbouring power against whom they wished to make a line of defence, was very formidable, they had a regular ditch and rampart, fortified at intervals with towers or castles, drawn across the country, as at the Roman Wall ; if the adjoining power was not so formidable, they had merely a line of camps, forts, and speculatory tumuli, otherwise called beacons, as in the present instance. We have mentioned Mr. Pretty's map, which is a useful document for the illustration of the Midland counties ; and it is but fair to say that, as well as being the only record of the eastern portion of the camps of which we have treated, as Mr. Baker's is of the western, it contains a vast mass of information as to the stations, Roman roads and beacons, which are abundant in that tract. Mr. Pretty, though, perhaps, he may be best known for his 13 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS- [cHAP; Bing conversant with church architecture, at the same* me is very pre-eminently acquainted with the earth- orks, beacons, stations, and itinerary communications of icient Britain : in all which subjects his correct know- idge is highly efficient in illustrating objects of research. CHAPTER XI. THE ROMAN WALLED TOWNS IN BRITAIN. 'his topic, in whatever point we view it, is one of unques- onable interest ; for it cannot Ije disputed that the walled ities and towns in this island were those places to which le conquerors of the world the more especially directed leir attention ; beginning with their capital, Eburaciim,, rst in order, and descending to the simple walled station 3cupied by a single cohort. There might certainly have sen towns of consequence in Britain unwalled ; and un- aubtedly there were such in cases in which, either there as a walled town of importance near, or when such towns ere in the territories of native princes, and not permitted • be walled ; as might be various towns of the Dumnonii, elgse, Brigantes, and Dobuni, which, of course, would irm some species of exception. These considerations may 3 useful in treating of the subject viewed as a whole, lere being scarcely an instance of a walled town in a jwerful subordinate British state, unless it were a Roman arrison. There is an inquiry sufficiently obvious in our present !search, which, before proceeding further, we shall do ell to attend to, as it will contribute to illustrate our nowledge of ancient British affairs, namely, the motives r which these mural defences in the various instances ere made ; and these can usually be pretty clearly set rth, and we may classify them as under, I. To give this additional defence to the capital cities of le island, the chief seats of the Roman powei*. XI.] ROMAN WALLED TOWNS. 313 II. To form permanent places of defence against the descents of the Saxons, or other rovers of the sea. III. Ditto, against the Scots and Picts ; and to consti- tute a continued line of fortifications across the island, from Solway Firth to the Tyne. IV. For garrisons in the states of native princes. These may be regarded their principal objects ; nor are we to suppose that there are many exceptions to these views. However, we will first give an enumeration of the places which we believe to come under our present category, and afterwards we may make some further arrangement of them. Here then will follow the detail of the majority of walled Eoman cities, towns, and stations of this island ; and first those of Britain generally, after- wards those along the line of the Eoman Wall. Portus Adurni, Bramber ; Anderida, Pevensea ; Arico- nium, Bury Hill, near Boss ; Banovallum, Uorticastle ; 'BxsxiodiXxnxxm, Brancaster ; Bremenium, High Rutchester ; Caractonium, Catterick ; Camulodunum, Colchester ; Clau- sentum, Bittern, where, however, only foundation walls remain ; Corinium, Cirencester ; Derventio, Little Chesters, near Derby ; Deva^ Chester ; Dubris, Dover ; Durnovaria, Dorchester ; Durovernum, Canterhury ; Eboracum, Yo7-k ; Garionnonum, ^Mr^A Castle; Isca Dnmnoniomm, JEzeter ; Isca Silurum, Caerleon ; Iscalis, Ilchester ; Isurium, Ald- lorough ; Portus Lemanis, Lymne ; Lindum, Lincoln ; Londinium, London; Magnse, Kenchester; Name unknown, Chesterford ; Name unknown, Circumvallation at Farley Heath; Name unknown, Felixstow; Name unknown, Lr- chester, in Northamptonshire. At this place there was a square walled station, the area comprising sixteen acres, and the walls, now removed, were eight feet thick ; Othona, Walton on the Nase ; Portus Magnus, Portchester ; Eatse, Leicester ; Begulbium, Reculver; Butupium, Rich- horough ; Segontium, near Carnarvon. This is mentioned in Bingley's Excursions in South Wales, 8vo., 1839. He describes that the form of the Boman town at this place was oblong, occupying about six acres of land ; and notes that the modern road from Beddgelert to Carnarvon divides it into two parts. The fort connected with the place, he informs us, stood near. This also was of an oblong figure, comprising one acre. The walls of it are at present about s s 314 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. eleven feet high, and six in thickness ; and there was for- merly a tower at each corner. A curious appearance is exhibited of perforations through these walls, the uses of which are unknown. They are thus described by Mr. Bingley. " Along these walls there are three parallel rows of circular holes, each nearly three inches in diame- ter, which pass through the entire thickness, and at the ends are othe^ of a similar kind. Portus Segantiorum, Ribchester ; Solidunum, or Aquae Solis, Bath ; Sorbiodu- num, Old Sarum ; Venta Belgarum, Winchester ; Venta Icenorum, Castor, near Norwich, for a good account of which see Britton and Bayley's Beauties of England and Wales ; Venta Silurum, Caerwent ; Verulamium, Verulam ; Vindomum, Silehester ; Vinovium, Binchester ; Urioco- nium, Wroxeter. Various of the above walled towns and stations are mentioned by Nennius, as under. Portus Adurni. Ariconium, Caer Gwortigern. Anderida. Caer Pensa. Banovallum. Branodunum. Bremenium. Camulodunum, Caer Colun. Caractonium, Clausentum. * Corinium. Caer Ceri. Derventio. Deva. Caer Ligion. Dubris. Durnovaria. Durovernum. Caer Ceint. Eboracum. Caer Ebrauc. Garionnonum . Glevum. Caer Glovi. Isca Dumnoniorum Isca Silurum. Caer Lion. \ Portus Lemanis. \ Lindum, Caer Luitcoit, Londinium. Caer Londein. Othona. Portus Magnus. Caer Peris. XI;] ROMAN WALLED TOWNS. 315 E,at8e. Caer Leirion. Eegnum. Regulbium. Rutupium. Segontium. Caer Custeint. Portus Segantiorum. Solidunum. Sorbiodunum. Caer Caratauc. Venta Belgarum. Caer Guint. Venta Icenorum. Caer Guintwic. Verulamium. Caer Mencipit. Vindomum. Caer Segeint. Vinovium. Uriconium. Caer Urnach. Along the Wall. Luguballium. Caer LuOlid. The cities mentioned by Nennius, not in the above list, are Caer Gwrcoc, Caer Guorangon, Caer Guin Truis, Caer Merdin, Caer Grant, Caer Britoc, Caer Maniguid, Caer Gurcon, Caer Draithou (Dindraithon, in Cornwall, Arthur's capital. See Vespasian, a, xiv), Caer Teim, and Caer Cele- mion. Walled stations and towns along the Roman Wall, in order, from west to east. — Tunnocellum, Boulness ; Gabrosentium, Drumbargh; Axelodunum, jBroM^A on the Sands; Lugu- ballium, Carlisle; Congavata, Btanwix; Aballava, Watch Cross, or Bcalesby Castle; Petriana, Cambeck Fort; Ambo- glanna, Burdoswald; Magna, Caer Voran; JEsica, Great Chester s; Vindolana, Little Chester s; Borcovicus, Home- steads; Procolitia, Carranhurgh ; Cilurnum, Walwich Ches- ter s; Hunnum, Halton Chester s; Vindobala, Rutchester; Condercum, Benwell Hill; Pons ^lii, Newcastle; Segedu- num, Wall's End. We may further, in the way of classification, arrange these walled places in various divisions. Cities which have at various epochs been considered as metropolitan. — Londinium ; Eburacum, from about the be- ginning of the third century ; and Vindomum or Silchester, shortly after the Romans left. Cities next in magnitude and importance, some of them capitals of Roman Provinces or British States. — Camulodu- nura, Glevum, Deva, Iscalis, Corinium, Aquae Solis or 316 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. Solidunum, Verulamium, Lindum, Uriconium, Durnovaria, Venta Belgarum, Venta Icenorum, Regnum, Durovemum, Chesterford, Venta Silurum, Eatae, and Isca Silurum. Minor cities and towns. — Dubris, Iscalis, Isurium, Magnse, Irchester,R.utapium, Segontium, Ariconium, Portus Segan- tiorum, Sorbiodunum, Portus Magnus, Anderida, Derven- tio, Caractonium, Clausentum, and Vinovium. Roman StaUons merely. — Pdrtus Adurni, Banovallum, Branodunum, Garionnonum, Portus Lemanis, Othona, Re- gulbium, and one or two others with their names unknown, as that at Felixstow, and the Roman Station at Farley Heath. Fortified places along the Roman Wall. — These, as men- tioned before, were all walled stations merely, except one town, Luguballium. General results. — According to the above enumera- tion we have just sixty-six walled Roman towns and stations in Britain, of which nineteen are along the line of the Roman "Wall, or not far in the rear of it. Of the whole number, thirty-three are of the nature of military stations or forts, viz., nineteen along the Wall, as above noted, and fourteen in other parts of Britain, viz., Portus Adurni, Anderida, Branodunum, Bremenium, Clausentum, Deva, Gariannonum, Portus Lemanis, Othona, Regulbium, Rutupium, Venta Belgarum, Venta Icenorum, and Venta Silurum. The other thirty-three are cities and towns, of which twenty-one are mentioned by Nennius, and twelve unmentioned. In respect to the question of the respective magnitude of these cities, it possibly may not be wide of the truth to assign about eighty acres for the original size of the largest of them, for the area comprised within the walls. For instance, such would have been about the size of Londinium, Vindomum, Camulodunum, Venta Belgarum, etc. From this magnitude there was a variety of grada- tions, down to an area of about fourteen or fifteen acres, which appears to have been the size assigned to the Roman towns and cities in this country of the smallest class, such as might be Anderida, and various others. This refers, of course, to the degree of importance attached to the town or city at the time of forming the walls ; since many of their towns grew out afterwards to be places of much XI.] ROMAN WALLED TOWNS. 317 more consideration than they seem at first to have antici- pated : for instance, Eburacum, the ultimate capital of the island. This they intended merely for a small place at first, as its area only comprised about fifteen acres, and they never subsequently enlarged the walls ; hence it is clear, that at the time of circumvallating, they were not aware how severe the pressure from the Caledonians would become in this part of the island ; necessitating them to keep a legion here and to make this city their head quar- ters, and their place of arms and rallying point for their northern army ; indeed, causing them to have here their imperial palace. See Wellbeloved's Eburacum, 8vo., 1842, pp. 62, 63. The walled sites of less than the above sizes, it may be surmised, were originally only intended for cohort stations; such as Lemanis, Regulbium, Eutupium, and Banovallum, each respectively about ten, eight, six, and five acres, and constructed apparently for one or two cohorts. There is one, it seems, near Carnarvon, comprising no more than one acre ; and smaU camps with earthen ramparts, of about the same dimensions and apparently Roman, may be found here and there about the country. Though, indeed, otherwise, the intrenched earthworks, the " castra estiva", so often met with, very frequently much exceed the dimensions of the walled towns and stations ; there being some which comprise within their area one hundred and twenty acres or more. In respect to the thickness of their walls : it appears to have been usually about eleven feet, intended, possibly, for twelve Roman ones ; but it was sometimes no more than six or eight, as in the case of the nameless town near Irchester. Of their height we are not able so well to judge, they being now usually so much reduced in this respect. The ancient walls of Anderida, or Pevensea, are, however, still from twenty-five to thirty feet high ; to which the battlements, when perfect, must of course have made some addition. Of detached towers of undoubted Roman construction, scarcely a specimen remains in this country, though deli- neations of them are frequent in the ancient Notitia Impe- rii, or Roman Ofiace Book ; and the model of one has been found at Pompeii. A square solid foundation, however. 318 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAP. three-quarters of a mile south of Word or Worth, near Sandwich, on the coast, mentioned in Boys' History of that place, is supposed to indicate the site of such a tower. But this must be somewhat uncertain ; and it is difficult to pronounce what further instances may exist in other parts of the island, real or reputed, of this kind. Gn the why and wherefore of the Saxons so per- severingly destroying the roman british walled Towns, as also their country Villas, on their OBTAINING Territories in Britain. 1. The Saxons, it is evident from the Saxon Chronicle (years 473 and 552 et alihi), most usually were masters in the field, and became possessed of the open country. 2. The walled towns were severally so many fortresses held against them, and by which also the Britons retained their hold of various parts of the country. To counteract these obstacles they arranged to take the towns, and then to dismantle all their defences. Their chief means to do this were the constructing and collecting what we may call a large park of battering- rams {crebri arietes, i.e., very numerous battering-rams, Gildas, c. 24). They approached the walls, without doubt, in the same way as Aurelius Ambrosius is described in Hector Boethius, as attacking Vortigern in his fortress, that is, by filling up the ditch at the places intended to be attacked, with earth, faggots, etc. Having obtained an entrance into the place by breaching with their park of battering-rams, or by firing the gates, or by both processes, they immediately began the work of slaughter on the defenders and wretched inhabitants found in the town, and set the whole place on fire (Gildas, ibid.); which we know from evidence of the sites of former Roman British towns showing still their foundations, and marks of their modes of destruction by fire, which has been effectual in destroying them down to the present day. No Pindar's house was spated, as was done by Alexander the Great at Thebes ; no favour or affection was shown ; but they all went to the ground,-^ houses, lofty buildings, and towers, and the temples and XI.J ROMAN WALLED TOWNS. 319 basilicas also, which had then become Christian churches. (Gildas, ibid.) But as the solid town or city walls would not burn, before they left they disembattled all these defences, throw- ing down all the merlons and top defences, and obliter- ating the embrasures. They also made extensive breaches, at various places, of the walls with the powerful means of demolition at their disposal, of which we have before spoken. It almost grieves us to record such desolation ; however, historical truth, which we have undertaken to tell, obliges. But it may be asked. Why did they destroy the country villas ■? The reason is, that they were not suitable habita- tions in localities in which a continual war was carried on. The Saxon wars lasted, at one stretch, one hundred and thirty-two years, with two brief intervals of two and ten years respectively, {^ee Britannic Researches, p. 412.) The villas would have required, in times of peace and tran- quillity, a large establishment of slaves used to civilized life, to be inhabited comfortably. Roman British villas were adapted to persons of somewhat refined habits ; but the Saxons were to a man warriors, and uncertain when they might be called to take the field, or in what direction they might march. Add to this, it plainly appears the dwellings they had been accustomed to were formed quite on a different principle. Their abodes were apartments with the hearth in the centre, and with an opening in the roof for escape of the smoke. The larger specimens of these were dilated, in after times, to the Anglo-Saxon hall, while the smaller ones were the cabins of the poor. The Eomano-British villas were therefore useless to the Anglo- Saxons ; and they at once burnt them when they obtained possession of them. Mutual resentments, we must remem- ber, ran high ; and there is even reason to suppose, that, like the Picts (See Buchanan's Historia Schoticorum, 8vo., 1643, p. 137), they burnt all the agricultural carriages, ploughs, implements, and tools, they met with. So we account for the entire destruction of the Romano- British walled towns and the Romano-British villas. As to the first, there is not a single specimen of a Roman embattled town wall left in all England, though we have walls of theirs twenty-five or thirty feet high, as at Peven- 320 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAF. sea, still remaining, which must have reached up nearly to the battlements. Nor did the Saxons make many military works of their own, as they were accustomed to stand well up in fight against their enemies ; so there is scarce a trace of them left behind. There are a few pos- sibly attributable to them, as Chesmunds, near Minster, in the Isle of Thanet, in which quarter they first landed ; and the 8axon Chronicle for the year 893 speaks of a mud fort or two at the mouths of estuaries, which appear to have been defended by the rustics of the neighbourhood. They did not even make their moated mansions till some cen- turies later, when the fear of the Danes in a manner con- strained them. When these last people (the Danes) succeeded in gaining a footing in the country, they rather more resorted to earthworks, which are often found on promontories and- elsewhere. ' Regarding the humble nature of the dwellings of the Anglo-Saxons : delineations in ancient manuscripts seem to bear out our ideas most fully. A collection of the unpretending edifices of the thane and his dependants, in an enclosure surrounded by a slight ditch and embank- ment, with palisade, formed the Saxon town ; and in respect to the domestic architecture of the island in the middle ages, there does not appear to have been large and com- modious dwellings formed from the time the Romans left, in 423, to about the year of the Christian era, 1200 : even then it was rare for houses to be constructed of aught else than timber. Mr. Hodgson tells us, in his History of Northumberland, that stone buildings were not allowed, as being capable of being converted into fortifications. This, of course, obstructed domestic architecture, as we may naturally suppose but few could obtain the license to embattle, — the licentiam krenellare, — and therefore were prevented from forming the more substantial class of edi- fices. To return to the Saxons. Their pugnacious qualities seem to have been much relinquished after the British wars had ceased, and they had subsided into one sole monarchy. This is pretty evident, as we find that when, somewhat later in their history, the Danes assailed them, they were in an unprepared state ; and, indeed, themselves suffered a species of repetition, from those invaders, of the XII.] CAREER OF CARAUSIUS. 321 same evils they had inflicted on the Britons two or three centuries before. From being devastators, they had become great cultivators of the soil. There is a very ready proof of this in the circumstance, that where ancient names of farms and estates can be traced, they are usually found to be of Saxon derivation. Numerous ancient terms con- nected with land are derived from them ; soccage tenures and many ancient payments and customs ; making good our above assertion of their becoming great agriculturists ; though we may not adopt the idea of Aubrey in his Mis- cellanies (8vo., 1723, p. 27), that their very kings were no more than a species of farmers. CHAPTER XII. NOTES ON THE CAREER OF CARAUSIUS ; AND SOME OBSERVATIONS ON HIS COINS. It .can be easily imagined that the life of this adventurer, who raised himself from a naval commander to be an asso- ciate in the Roman empire with Diocletian and Maximian, and obtained entire possession of Britain, and retained it for seven years, must have been full of incident ; but, nevertheless, the strictly authentic details of it are come down to us extremely meagre. They tell us that he was a citizen of Menapia, which, however, is a place of unde- fined situation, it being not known whether the same were Menavia in Wales, or a town in Ireland or Belgium. After all, this information does not acquaint us with the place of his birth, as citizenship is a thing that may be acquired by purchase or grant, as well as being obtained by birth. In the sequel they inform us that he was appointed Eoman admiral against the pirates, — Saxons, we may understand, — and cleared the seas with success ; but, in the end, was accused of encouraging piracy to share the booty. Besides, we a,re informed he commanded on T T 322 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. shore, in Gaul, against certain insurgents called the Ba- gaudse, who are otherwise nearly unknown in history. The station of his fleet, latterly, appears to have been Gessoria- cum, or Boulogne, which place he occupied as a garrison. Maximian determined to capture him, and put him to death ; and he being besieged in Gessoriacum, and appre- hensive that the port would be closed by the channel from the sea being filled up with stones, left the town with his fleet for Britain. Being arrived there, he gained over, or subdued, the troops, and held possession of the island for seven years, till he was assassinated by his asso- ciate, viceroy, or lieutenant, AUectus ; who, after him, held the sway in Britain for three years, till he was killed in a battle with the Eoman army on their landing ; when the country reverted again to the domination of the Romans. Such are the principal facts relating to Carausius ; and as his usurpation took place in the height of the Roman coining era, he has left a most profuse coinage; as has also, indeed, AUectus, his successor. Various literati have thought that the history of Carau- sius was one which admitted of much illustration. There are some small additaments, even in Tysilio's History; but the Scotch Chronicles are the most prominent in hav- ing materials, though doubtfully added to the story. It was reserved for Genebrier, a Frenchman, to be the first to take the subject numismatically in hand ; which he did, though he was supplied with but few specimens, in a quarto volume published in Paris in 1740. Stukeley also touched on the subject in some of his publications, which occasioned a controversial tract to appear from the pen of Mr. North, and two from Dr. Kennedy, a numismatic col- lector. The two last were in quarto, printed in 1751 and 1756. Stukeley published his two quartos in 1757 and 1759, in which he engraved a multitude of coins, and gave loose, somewhat extravagantly, to his fancy. Dr. Stukeley gave an unwarrantable latitude, indeed, to the numis- matic science, supposing that every coin which had on its reverse a heathen deity was struck on the day of the festi- val of that deity, and commemorated some event which the representation of that deity would symbolize. Thus we have dates in abundance, ostentatiously given, and yet, in fact, without the least authority. At the same time, the XII.] CAREER OF CARAUSIUS. 323 work contains some valuable information. Dr. Kennedy, again, attacked his numismatic positions in a dissertation entitled a Letter to Dr. Btukeley on the first part of his MedalUc History of Carausius, ito., pp. 9, no date. Some years later, another dissertation appeared, attributed to Dr. Pegge. This was entitled A History of Carausius, in reference to what has been advanced on the Subject by Genebrier and Stukeley, pp. 62, 4to., 1762. Dr. Kennedy, a practical numismatist, appealed to the evidences of the coins them- selves, and had some of the best specimens engraved which could be procured ; and plainly showed, as far as he went, many errors of Dr. Stukeley ; and the author of the His- tory did the same. It^ may be easy enough to fall into Stukeley's errors, or similar ones, on the one hand ; and, on the other hand, not to advance the subject one whit. Thus placed between two dangers, placed between Scylla and Charybdis, we will only venture a few notes. In the first instance, we should say that there are no other sources or means of information which appear to throw so much light on the obscurer parts of the history of Carausius, as the Scotch Chronicles. These may be despised and spoken against ; but with their comment and explanation everything respecting this commander becomes far better illustrated and understood. In two points there is a special obscurity about the history of this man, which are,.his first rise to power, and his gaining over the Roman army when he landed as a species of fugitive in the island. The Chronicles we have spoken of, the Chronicles of Scotland, in reference to this, give accounts of the origin and rise of this person very different from those in Eutro- pius, Aurelius Victor, and the sources usually quoted. It may be asserted with much confidence, that where classic authors give narratives of events, and the Chronicles in giving their accounts forbear to quote them at all, it is a proof that they have their own sources of information ; so in this case. Hector Boethius, John de Fordun, and, after them, Buchanan, though they might have quoted Aurelius Victor and Eutropius, yet give a very varying statement of the origin of Carausius from what is found in those authors. 324 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAP. Aurelius Victor says that Carausius was a Menapian, by which seems very commonly understood a Belgian, and Eutropius adds, of very mean birth. Orosius follows Eutro- pius ; but the lAfe of St. Geryon by Helinandus, an author of the twelfth century, as quoted by Dr. Kennedy in his First Dissertation, p. 6, says to the contrary. To this last testimony the Chronicles of Scotland agree, which make him of consanguinity with the king of the Scots in Cale- donia, and driven away to wander on the seas, from a feud and bloodshed which had there occurred in the court of the king, in which the king's brother had fallen by his hand. They state that he went to Rome, and offered his services to the Emperor Cams, and so obtained his first promotion. They pretty much fall in with the usual account in his subsequent history, except as we may spe- cify presently. With regard to his name, they give it uni- formly " Carantius", and in so doing there is an agreement with them and the British Chronicles, which have Caron, which apparently implied Guorong, or commander, — a term which, it seems, at some period after the Saxon inva- sion, became obsolete. As to the name Carausius. When this person began to mint money, he might then, or might not, have adopted it in that form ; as the Roman emperors seem then to have fixed some particular style for their medallic issue. Thus Caracalla neither minted under that name, nor Bassianus, his other appellation, but under the name of Antoninus. (See Mr. Akerman's Coins of the Romans relating to Britain, 8vo., 1844, pp. 50, 61.) Hadrian also somewhat altered his name when he struck money. The name Carausius has the appearance of being formed from that of the Emperor Carus, who, Boethius informs us, much patronized Carausius when he served under him — In this way we may speculate on this point. The Chronicles of Scotland thus, as we may again remark, disagree in toto with classic authors as to the origin of Carausius. The subject of this navigator seems to have been one that was despised by the classic authors who have mentioned him ; for they speak of him as a pirate. They might, therefore, have the less accurately investi- gated his origin ; while with the Chronicles of Scotland it evidently appears to have been a cherished subject, and they might be expected to be accurate in respect to him. XII.] CAREER OF CARAUSIUS. 325 Were he of royal consanguinity, it certainly would better explain his rapid advancement, and the trust reposed in him, than if he were " vilissime natus", i.e. most humbly born, as Eutropius says of him. The Chronicles of Scotland likewise give a detailed and consistent account of his coming over from Boulogne to Britain. They say he fetched a compass round the south of the kingdom, sailed up the Irish Channel, and landed in Valentia, i.e. the country of the Brigantes ; where, after a time, he was able to open a communication with the Scots, and having done so, he gradually obtained posses- sion of Britain, They give some few further details, for which the Chronicles themselves must be referred to, the account being long, occupying the greater part of thirteen closely printed folio pages. (See Boethii Scotorum Historia, Paris, fol. 1575, p. 91, etc.) Not to omit what they say respecting his end. They describe AUectus as sent from Eome to oppose him, who, after a time, aifects to join him ; when at length, treach- erously seizing an opportunity, he assassinates and beheads him, and assumes himself the chief power. The least said is of the transactions of Carausius in Gaul, which, in the usual accounts, are the more fully treated of. The state- ment as to AUectus, it will be observed, somewhat recon- ciles the account as in the classics with that in the British Chronicles relating to that person ; of whom we have cer- tainly but a very dubious account. We will only observe of him, that the name AUectus appears to be titular, im- plying the same, indeed, as Eutropius calls him, that is, " Associate". AUectus was a common term among the Romans for any one elected or chosen to any office. Eumenius, a panegyrical writer, in describing the suc- cess of Carausius, has the expression, " occupata legione Romana", which most obviously means," the Rbman legion being gained over, or got under his control"; but it may also mean, " being on service". The Scotch Chronicles favour the latter sense, or rather both senses, as the legion, according to them, was actually in the field against the Scots and Picts, who had made an inroad beyond the Wall ; and Carausius, they add, being apprized of it when he quitted Boulogne with his fleet and forces, instead of going straight across to Britain, to the nearest seaports. 326 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP, navigated round Cornwall and Wales, and landed, as we have said before, in the country of the Brigantes ; that is, in Westmoreland or Lancashire, whence he marched for- ward till he joined the legion, which he persuaded to make common cause with him. The fate of another usurper in Britain, who preceded Carausius but a very few years, is thus narrated by Zona- ras, c. 29, the date assignable appearing to be the year 276 : — " A certain other person stirred up a revolt in Britain, whom Probus had placed over the government (i.e. appointed vicarius) at the request of Victorinus Mau- rusius, who was his friend. Probus hearing of the insur- rection, accused Victorinus of being the cause of it (as having recommended the rebel for the government). On this Maurusius begged to be sent to him, and, pretending to be a fugitive from the emperor, was cordially received by the usurper ; and, in the result, having contrived to despatch him, he returned to Probus." The coins, both of Carausius and Allectus, are exceed- ingly numerous ; but want of space compels one to do no more than barely notice their existence. But very few seem to have been struck to commemorate particular events, and where the inscriptions are only of a general nature, as yibttts augtjsti, proyidentia augdsti, prospe- RiTAS AUGUSTi, SALUs AUGOSTi, Or the like, no historical point is gained. His coin inscribed on the reverse vitavi is possibly a forgery, or a misread piece of one of the types of the succeeding emperor Victorinus (see Mr. Akerman's Coins of the Romans relating to Britain, 8vo., 1844, p. 114), whilst some other types inscribed expectate teni, comes AUG, TICTOBIA GERMANICA, CARATSIVS ET FRATRES SVI, i.e., Diocletian and Maximian, princeps ivventytis, and romano(rum) renov(atio), there is every reason to sup- pose are genuine. Several of his types have the contrac- tion AUG, with three g's, which, when it is used, the three emperors then on the Roman imperial throne are to be understood as meant, i.e., Diocletian, Maximian, and Carausius. Mr. C. Roach Smith, Mr. Akerman, and other good authorities, seem to consider it doubtful if Diocletian ever returned the compliment ; viewing those coins of Diocletian which have the three g's as being struck by Carausius himself. The strange legend on a coin of XII.J CAREER OF OARAUSIUS. 327 Carausius, i. o. x., interpreted " lo Imperator x," Dr. Kennedy says should read, pax. The valuable work of Mr. Akerman, on the Coins of the Romans relating to Britain, may be consulted with advan- tage for those of Carausius, and we may escape censure, perhaps, in endeavouring to give a general view of the nature and scope of his coinage. His coinage, then, suggests the following ideas to us, namely, that having obtained Britain, he endeavoured to retain the possession of it by a body of Roman or Roman- British inhabitants, whom he called his senate, and by his legions and other troops. His coins entirely follow the Roman imperial custom of not being inscribed with the names of towns ; but if we judge right, they are plentifully enough inscribed with the names of the soldiery and of the senate. We must bring forward a few instances to make good this point. We would, in all cases, interpret the m.l. on the exergue of various coins of Carausius as " Milites legionarii ;" strengthened as we are in that reading by a number fre- quently following those letters, as m . l . xxi, i.e., " Milites Legionarii Undevicessimani." The numbers of various legions are on his coins : as the following, LEG . II . PARTHICA. LEG . II . AVG . LEG . Ill . SIPC . LEG . IV . FLAVIA. LEG . V . AVG . LEG . VII . CLAVD . LEG . VIII . INVICTA . LEG . X . LEG . XX . LEG . XXI . VLPIA . LEG . XXII . PRiMiG. Here are the names of eleven legions ; two of them, the fifth and eighth, uncertain, as being given only by Stukeley ; and as some of the other numbers may have been misread, we can only say with safety that he appears nominally to have kept up a force of from six to eight legions, which he named according as he happened to have with him parties of soldiers belonging to various of them. He also had his body-guards, as the words cohr . PRAET., or " Cohortes Prsetoriani", appear on some of his coins. He called all these forces by the old accustomed name of " Britannicus Exercitus" (see Tacitus, Histories, i, 9), as the letters b . e appear on some of his coins. Also the letters ro.mi appear on various of his types, implying " Romani milites"; and on others we have m . s . p, or " Milites, senatus, populusque." Thus much of his army. In regard to his political 328 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. government, s . p, e.g.," Senatus, populusque", often occu- pies the place in the field of the before accustomed s . c, or " Senatus consultu". Sometimes we have in the same place, A . s, i.e., " Assensu senatus". Sometimes in the exergue, r . s . k, letters of doubtful explication, applying to the senate : possibly " Romani senatus rogatu". c. also appears alone sometimes on the exergue, and is unex- plained. According,*then, to his coins, Carausius governed Britain by his senate and by his army. He appears to have given his orders to his mint master to introduce them both by turns on his moneys. AUectus, in contrast to his predecessor, has but little reference to his army on his coins, having only rarely m.l, i.e. " Milites legionarii". Likevdse he has but little refer- ence to his senate, having only, in a somewhat rare instance, s . p . c, misread, probably, for s . p . q, or " Senatus, popu- lusque." The nationality of native Britain, we need not say, is nowhere distinctlyasserted on these numerous coins. The Roman senate, or rather Romano-British, the Roman legions, and Roman forms, seem all supposed : the island, in fact, still to continue Roman — not under the former emperors, but under its own emperor, who professed him- self perfectly identified, in the various circumstances of his situation, with his imperial brethren in other parts of the empire. It only remains to add, we have not referred to specific coins in the usual way, stating the collection, etc., etc. ; because, since the publication of Mr. Akerman's Coins of the Romans relating to Britain, and also of the Monumenta Historica Britannica, such reference is not now so neces- sary as it would have been formerly ; or, indeed, as it is at the present time in regard to other numismatic topics. XIII.] THE ATTACOTTI OF BRITAIN. CHAPTER XIII. 329 THE ATTACOTTI OF BRITAIN, THE " BELLICOSA HOMINUM NATIO" OF AMMIANUS MAECELLINOS. An Italian author named Blondus, who lived in the fif- teenth century, and wrote a work entitled Roma Illustrata, who also is believed to have had authorities not noAv extant, positively asserts that Honorius had a body of Picts in his pay, incorporated into his army, called the " Attacotti Honoriani". (See Pinkerton's Inquiry into tlie History of Scotland, 8vo., 1789, i, p. 216.) This is appa- rently only a conjecture of Blondus, from the Notitia Imperii, in which we find introduced, the "Attacotti Hono- riani", the "Attacotti Honoriani Seniores", and the "Atta- cotti Honoriani Juniores." Among the variety of ideas entertained concerning the origin of this people, MeuUer, a German writer, supposes that they were the Atuatuci, or Aduatuci, of Gallia Bel- gica, or part of them, who may have left the B,hine, and passed into Britain. (See Boeching's Notitia Imperii, Svo., 1839, p. 227.) Pancirolus had said, in support of their being of German origin, that they derived their appella- tion from a city in that country ; from what precise one, however, he does not inform us. There is none nearer in name than Atuatuca, in the country of the Tungri. Whether the Romans may have regarded the Attacotti as the " Britanni feroces" of our island, in the same vein as they styled certain of the inhabitants of Africa enrolled among their troops, the " Mauri feroces" (see the Notitia Imperii Occidentis, c. vi), we cannot say: possibly they might. But the Attacotti are somewhat unfortunate in having a charge of cannibalism launched forth against them by no less a person than St. Jerome, the father of the church. That writer gives some rather revolting details on the subject in his Treatise against Jovinian, and distinctly says that, in his youth, in Gaul (Gallia Belgica), he himself saw some of the Attacotti, a nation of Britain, u u 330 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAP. eating human flesh ; and describes how he understood they would mangle living human bodies in pursuit of their horrid propensity. This last practice he does not say he had seen himself ; and the question is, how are his assertions to be explained, since we cannot doubt his vera- city, and it seems too improbable that they can be true ? In the first place, then, we find no confirmation of his words in auy other ancient author. It is true several charges of cannibalism are made in the Triads (Nos. 45 and 46) ; but they are quite of a different nature, relate only to individuals, do not refer to the Attacotti, and might possibly have originated from national hostile feel- ings. But here is a charge deliberately made by a father of the Church, whose sentiments should have only been those of Christian charity. It is true that there was at that time a great animosity on the Continent against Britain, on account of the Pelagian heresy ; and St. Jerome denounced the abettors of Pelagius in his Prologue to his First Book on Jeremiah; and Pelagius himself in his Pro- logue to his Third Book. This animosity continued much beyond St. Jerome's time ; so that it might have been pleasing to many to bring an aggravated charge against Britain ; to say that in the native country of Pelagius the heretic, they ate human flesh. But the paragraph, from peculiarity of style, bears not the slightest trace of having been interpolated by a copyist. We may therefore come to what is, in all probability, the veal eelaircissement of the matter, namely, that St. Jerome, a youth in Gaul, was imposed upon in regard to this asserted fact, and that there was no cannibalism at all: but that it was some jocular transaction on the part of those who deceived him ; and that the really savage soldiers of the Attacottian race whom he met with in Gaul might have been practising some bravado to make themselves appear more fierce and formidable. It appears to be allowed very generally that all research has failed to connect, by demonstrative proof, the Atta- cotti with any particular state of ancient Britain ; and the information or conjecture of Blondus, that they were the Picts, a race comprising several states, appears most likely to be correct. Thereto agrees the description of them in Ammianus, that they were " Bellicosa hominum natio", XIV.] CAREER OF AURELIUS AMBROSIUS. 331 i.e. a warlike nation of men ; and that they harassed Bri- tain " aerumnis continuis", that is, with continual annoy- ances, in the fourth century. This is all suitable to the Picts. Besides Ammianus and St. Jerome, there is men- tion of them in the Notitia Imperii, according to which they appear to have furnished various cohorts to both the Eastern and Western empires. Gibbon, in his History of England,c. xxv, deceived by the apocryphal writer, Eichard of Cirencester, was led to place them as a tribe near Glasgow. CHAPTER XIV. DETAILS, FROM VARIOUS SOURCES, RELATING TO THE CAREER OF AURELIUS AMBROSIUS. As this British chief was the subject of the historical piece of Gildas, entitled Victoria Aurelii Ambrosii, so there are still certain particulars extant respecting him which have evidently been derived from that source. It is true the work is now lost ; but it was extant in the twelfth cen- tury ; and Geoffrey of Monmouth, as he tells us, had a copy of it, so had the author of Tysilio's Chronicle ; so had ap- parently Hector Boethius, and many other chronicle writers. We may, therefore, note the following additions to the usual accounts respecting this ancient British king ; first, those which are to be met with in various chronicles which have ostensibly the Victoria for their immediate or remote source, and, secondly, those from other quarters. For the first of these, Sigebert, in his Chronicle, as quoted by Usher in his Primordia, p. 239, says that he reigned forty-five years from the coming of the Saxons, which, allowing for a ten years absence, would bring the close of his reign to the period which seems best assigned, namely, to the year 504. Hector Boethius, in his History of Scotland, describes his restoration of religion in the land; his breaking the statues of the heathen gods, and 332 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. ordering a general supplication at London. This does not stand precisely so in Tysilio's Chronicle, and is appa- rently there taken from a different source. Polydore Vergil, and a German chronicler, Huldrich Mutius, in their narratives record that he perished at Salisbury plain, as does Paulus Diaconus, according to Speed's History of England, p. 315; but in what edition of his works this is recorded does not appear. The following are from other sources. His truce with Vortigern took place, as near as can be ascertained, in the year 469. See the Britannic Researches, p. 57, after which he was on the Continent for a succession of years, for he only lands finally in Britain in the year 481. During his absence, the Chronicles inform us, he acquired great expe- rience in the art of war ; and, like Vortimer before him, and Arthur after him, he engaged in the quarrels which took place between the Celts and their neighbours in Gaul. In some of these frays, it seems, he Was taken prisoner by no less a person than Odoacer, the chief of the Heruli, and the terminator of the Roman empire in the year 476 or 479. Thus it is described in the life of St. Severinus, by Eugypius, who was a missionary in Belgium, in those times : " Odobogar rex sancto Severino familiares literas dirigens si qua speranda duceret dabat suppliciter optionem : memor illius presagii quo eum expresserat quon- dam regnaturum. Tantis itaque sanctus alloquiis invitatus Ambrosium quendam exulantem rogat absolvi, cujus Odo- bogar gratulabundus paruit imperatis." Now a Saint Ser- vinus had been in Britain (see Nennius, c. Ivii), and was probably this identical person. He might therefore have taken an interest in interceding for a British prince, and obtaining his liberation. In English the passage is thus : " Odoacer, the king, wrote by letter to Saint Severinus, that, if he entertained any hopes (of effecting conver- sion), he might use his endeavours ; for he recollected a prediction of his, of former times, that he should come to the throne. The saint therefore, encouraged by this, solicited the liberty of a certain exile named Ambrosius, which request was readily granted." (See Usher's Primor- dia, p. 240.) Baronius, in his Annals, at the year 477, pro- nounces this person to have been the British Ambrosius ; and says that there are many reasons for thinking so. XIV.] CAREER OF AURELIUS AMBROSIUS. 333 We now come to a passage in the Metrical Chronicle of Gottefrid of Viterbo, in which our Ambrosius is men- tioned, which represents him in a very diflferent light from what Gildas, Tysilio, or any other author has described him before. The lines are thus : Aurelius primogenitus regnique monarchus Sic pacis sancita facit, sic prospicit actus Ut reparet patriae gaudia lata quies. Confovet optima, dissipat horrida, regia norma, Prcelia deprimit, abdita rejicit, apta reformat. Rex erat, imo pater, gesta paterna patent. Attamen admissi patris feritate patrizat, Nam prius inflixa renovat tormenta remissa, Et tenet erroris dogmata plena dolis. ^mulus ipse Dei populi fit tutor Hebrsei ; Atria (qu. Arria ?) scripta vebit sectamque fovet Manichaei ; Catholicique rei prorsus habentur ei. Post annos paucos, post multa pericula rerum Suscipit Aurelius fatum, flnemque dierum Justus apud proceres, sed reus ante Deum. In English this will be : " Aurelius, the eldest born, and the monarch of the kingdom, so reestablishes peace, and acts with so much forethought, that, tranquillity far and wide restores the happiness of the country. His principle of government was to cherish what was most estimable ; to dispel barbarisms {i.e., to promote civilization); to dis- countenance battles {i.e., civil wars among the islanders) ; . to do away with chicanery ; and to make all due and suit- able reformations. He was a king, — nay more, a father, as his fatherly acts towards his country testify. Neverthe- less he inherited much of his father's ferocity ; for he, in a manner, renews the former persecutions, and held doctrines full of deceit. An opposer of God, he becomes protector of the Hebrew people ; he carries about with him Arian manuals of devotion (Aria scripta), and encou- rages the sect of the Manicheeans ; and he only views the orthodox party of the Latin Church as delinquents. A few years after (this), and after many perilous emergencies, Aurelius meets his fate and the end of his days, — ^just in the eyes of the British chieftains, but guilty before God." Such is this extraordinary passage, which Gottefrid has evidently taken from some early medieval source, either not now extant, or not easily accessible. -The writer was warmly in the interest of the Latin communion of that 334 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAP. day, as is evident ; and the wonder is, that Gildas, who seems also to have been as warm, — as warm as possibly could be, in the cause of the same communion, should applaud this very man, celebrate him in his Victoria Aure- liiAmbrosii as the restorer of churches and reestablisher of Christianity ; which strain is again taken up by Tysilio in his Chronicle, who was evidently an advocate of a very similar description. It appears by other parts of Gottefrid's Chronicle, that he represents the father of Ambrosius, not as Constantine of Armorica, Constantine the Blessed, as he is frequently styled, but as Maximian himself, the bloody persecutor of the church (see the reason explained in c. xix) ; which may "account for the allusion made to his parentage. The censure is, without doubt, overcharged, and Gildas may have had chiefly regard to the great good Aurelius did in putting down paganism and reestablishing the Christian Church ; whilst he might think it right to over- look various errors, though he did not approve them. It can only have been thus ; and we know nothing more on the subject, or rather can surmise nothing more. It hap- pens, however, rather singularly, that, obscure as the his- tory of those times undoubtedly is, there are some collateral data which bear on the points which are alleged in the above verses against Aurelius. It is intimated that he was an Arian, and that his father had been so before him : so there was probably some strong focus of Arianism at that time in Gaul, particularly in the eastern parts of it, as we find recorded in history that all the Gothic tribes conquering and occupying pro- vinces in Gaul invariably became Arians as they imbibed Christianity. Constantine, and Aurelius his son, were both much connected with Gaul. The first was born there ; whilst Aurelius spent many years of his life there. However, for another point. Aurelius, in opposition to the divine will, as the writer supposes, protects the Jews. Now the Jews appear to have been settled, in those days, on the northern borders of the Otodini, where Bede, in his History, i, 12, speaks of a town named Guidi ; which many suppose to be Camelon, though there may be some doubt as to the actual locality. The same place seems to be called by Nennius, in his Saxon Genealogies, ludeu and XIY.J CAREER OP AURELIUS AMBROSIUS. 335 Atbret ludeu ; which last term is unmistakable ; implying the town of the Redemption of the Jews. We, then, can only suppose that, as the British sovereigns of this date took much interest in the Strathclyde kingdom, that Am- brosius had here patronized these scions of the JewisH stock, so far removed in their wanderings from their own country. In the like manner, the favouring the Manichseans would be explained by the great Mythraic population, whicl^, from their caves and temples discovered, there appears to have been in the neighbourhood of the Roman Wall. (See the Monumenta Eistorica Britannica, p. cix, and the works of Hodgson, Bruce, Wellbeloved, and others.) There were also worshippers of the Egyptian Apis in this quarter. (See Wellbeloved's Eburacum, and other works.) Accord- ing to the tenor of history, Mythraic worshippers may be believed to be inclined to adopt the tenets of Manichse- anism on conversion to Christianity. This is obvious. The same may have been the case with the worshippers of Apis: the seat of Manichseanism having been chiefly in the East ; as Persia, Egypt, etc. It follows that some favour or privilege granted to these persons may have occasioned the attack on Ambrosius. One thing must not be overlooked in these verses : they clearly inform us of the violent end which Ambrosius met with, — his " fatum", or fate, as it is called. The Fates, particularly among northern nations, were supposed to preside over battles ; and it would be rare, perhaps impos- sible, to find an instance in an ancient author of a person poisoned being said to meet his fate. The verses then concur in the idea that he fell in an engagement on Salis- bury Plain, and that he was not the victim of an enve- nomed dose, as asserted in the Chronicle of Tysilio. 336 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. CHAPTER XV. REMARKS TO ILLUSTRATE THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF CELTIC TITULAR NAMES. We have examined the subject of titular names at pp. 198-202, 219-225, and 269-270, in the Coins ofCunobelihe; and at pp. 294-302 of the Britannic Researches; and at pp. 21-24, and 41-48, of the Miscellanea Britannica. "We will now make some few observations on the following series of them, a part of which have been before men- tioned, and a part not ; it being intended to give a brief summary of those which are most obviously known at one view, and which may not have been so particularly noticed before. They will be thus : Class i. Those in composition only. 1. An, aun, aint, or on ; 2, Ac, ax, or ach ; 3, Por ; 4, Modur ; 5, Illil ; 6, Cuno ; 7, Rhain ; and 8, Emyr. Class ii. Those in composition or separate. 9, Eex, rix, or vraig; 10, Tascio; 11, Commios ; 12, Tigerne; 13, Gwayr. Class hi. Those which are separate only, that is, not in composition. 14, Pendragon ; 15, Vercobretus ; 16, Gil- das; 17, Coil (Coes-iUil). Class iv. Female titular names. 18, Gwenhwyvar, or Guenhumaraj 19, Gwenhwyvach ; 20, Aregwedd. Class v. Name of territory only. 21, Guurth. We may commence our observations by remarking of the above official and titular distinctions, that many of them are not strictly Celtic, but appear to have been intro- duced by the Belgic Gauls, and are of Teutonic origin. We will consider them all one by one. 1. An, aun, aint, or on, is Teutonic, and the same as the modern German amt, an office or duty. It is found combined with very numerous Celtic titular names, Meiri- aun, Cynan, Geraint, Tasciovan, Farin (Vawr-an), Caredi- gion, etc., etc., and implies indifferently the office or govern- ment itself, or the person holding it; as if we should XV.] CELTIC TITULAR NAMES. 337 express governor and government by the same word. It is observable that, in the College of Arms, some few of the officers are known by the names of their titles, as Kouge Croix, etc. Shakespeare gives us two instances : one in his Romeo and Juliet, act iii, sc. 8, where he says the « County Paris", for Count Paris ; and the other in his Anthony and Cleopatra, act iii, sc. 7. In this last case, Cleopatra is represented as addressed by the name of the country she governed : " Egypt ! thou knowest too well," etc., etc., instead of — O Queen of Egypt. 2. Ac, ax, or ach, is again Teutonic, and is the same as the modern German acht, a charge or care, i.e., of a pro- vince. It occurs in the name Segonax, mentioned in Caesar's Commentaries, and in various other cases. It is apparently the same as the og in Brycheiniog, and as the wg in Morganwg. 3. Por is apparently also Teutonic, and the same as the modern German furst, a prince. It occurs in the line of kings in Tysilio, in the name Por-rex, in the name Vorti- pore, etc. In medieval Welsh it seems to have been in the form of vor, fawr, and vyr : for instance, in the words Dinefawr and Gwrthevyr for Vortipore. The Persians also borrowed this word from the Teutones, in the form pherz, a prince. 4. Modur, is apparently of Celtic origin, and a very ancient appellation, implying ruler, as Dyfnwal Moelmyd, i.e., Moelmodur. 5. mil, is Celtic in origin, and synonymous with rex or rix in various instances : as in Eppillus, Ambilil for Am- biorix, and Indutillil for Indutiomar. 6. Cuno. Teutonic in origin, and the same as the modern German konig, implies king. It occurs in the name Cunobeline, and in other instances. We must here caution the reader that cyn, in the sense of pen, head, or chief, must be distinguished from cuno in composition. Thus we have Cynan, Cynren, and the like, which will be found explained in our previous chapter, iv, and which have no reference to the title Cuno. 7. Khon, rhain, and ren, all which words are variations of the first, and signify spear, were used in composition with cyn, chief, etc., as titles of distinction, in the same way as " Primapilaris" among the Romans. We have XX 338 HISTORICAL ELUCIBATIONS. [cHAP pointed this out sufficiently in chapter iv. The modern name of an illustrious family seems to have had this ancient source, as Cochrane, i.e., " Red spear". 8. Emyr,"a Celtic form of the Latin word imperator, was much in use in the fifth century, especially in Armorica. We have it in the name Guortemir. It was apparently a substitute for the equivalent Celtic title, Tascio. 9. Eex, ;g,ix, Reics, or Vraigh, a king. Originally Teu- tonic, but lost in that language as a personality, is only extant in the sense of kingdom in it ; as reich, which has that meaning. We have instances of it in Cingetorix and various other names. 10. Tascio. A Celtic word, implying military com- mander, and answering to the Latin imperator in that limited sense, but not in the scope of the latter as signify- ing either the Roman emperor, or any other emperor. We have it as a title of Cunobeline on coins ; also in the name Taximagulus, mentioned by Csesar in his Commentaries, and in various other instances. For further information see the Coins of Cunobeline and of the Ancient Britons, pp. 198-202, and other places, as also the Britannic Researches, passim : and the Miscellanea Britannica, pp. 21-4 and 41-8. It should here be stated, in correction of some former remarks on the subject, that the medieval Welsh word Tywysog, which has the signification of prince, or leader, is not to be considered as identical with this title in ques- tion, Tascio, though assimilating somewhat in pronuncia- tion. Tywysog was introduced into the Celtic language from the Latin, being derived from the words so much in use among the Romans duco and dux. It appears to have superseded the more ancient title Tascio about the begin- ning of the seventh century. The Celts were ever inclined from time to time to change their titular nomenclature. 11. Tigerne. Celtic in origin, and implying king. It occurs in the name Guortigern, i.e., king or ruler of the Guurth, or principality, and in other instances. 12. Commios. See the Coins of Cunoleline and of the Ancient Britons, in various places, and also the Britannic Researches, in both of which it will appear that some results important to British history are connected with the due interpretation of this word. It implies a nation, state, or community, as also the ruler of such a state or commu- XV.] CELTIC TITULAR NAMES. 339 nity : in fact, the governor or the governed, similar to various Celtic official titles and distinctions. 13. Gwayr. The same as guanar or gwayar, a lord ; as Carvilius in Caesar's Commentaries, i.e., Gwayar-illil, the title implying the lord and prince. 14. Pendragon, a title of late introduction, given to those who were elected by public voice the kings of the Britons ; as Uther Pendragon and others. 15. Vercobretus, a Celtic term, implying law-giver; in much use among the ^dui in Gaul, according to Caesar's Commentaries, but its occurrence in Britain not ascertained. 16. Gildas, a Celtic term, which etymologically consi- dered and dissected, separates itself into gillian-tascio, literally, " princeps minister", and implies the prince the ecclesiastic. The titular distinction, "Tascio", seems at this period to have somewhat varied from its strict accep- tation of military commander, and to have been given to the sons of reigning princes. We have had two cele- brated persons of the name in England, Gildas Albanius and Gildas Badonicus, and we are informed by Dr. Charles O'Conor, that the designation occurred frequently indeed in Ireland in early medieval times. 17. Coil (Goes-illil) or the priest king. The name of the father of Lucius, the first Christian king in Britain, according to Tysilio. He was a king who took upon him- self the functions of a priest, as we find by the name. 18. Gwenhwyvar, or Gwenhumara, according to Mat- thew of Westminster. The prefix gwen, given in an- cient British chronicles, seems more properly a portion of the word guanar, a noble, according to early ortho- graphy, the a expressed by the e, than to mean gwen, white. We have thus in Tysilio the name Gwendolen, which we judge should be so interpreted, and that con- formably to this Gwenhwyvar or Gwenhumara is to be understood as implying " high or noble lady:" and, as such, a designation of the consorts of those who were elected kings of the Britons. The termination of the word Gwen- humara, seems to express a species of irregular feminine gender ; the feminine form of a name, in fact, the same as we have in Geofirey of Monmouth's History, Gwen- dolena for Gwendolen. 1 9. Gwenhwyvach, which Medrawd's wife is called in 340 HISTOEICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. Triad 49. As the termination expresses a diminutive, it may be regarded as the title of ladies of distinction among the Britons, wives of chieftans and others, vphose husbands had not obtained the eminent rankof which we have just spoken. 20. Aregwedd, the name appears to express royalty, and is applied to Cartismandua, who is called " Aregwedd Voeddig." Admitting it to be a royal title, and not solely as belonging to one individual, it may account for some uncertainty who Aregwedd Voeddig was, who is some- times considered to be Cartismandua, queen of the Brigan- tes, and supposed the daughter of Cunobeline, and some- times thought to be Boadicea, wife of the Prasutagus of Tacitus, and queen of the Iceni. 21. Guurth. Celtic in origin, implying a reward, i.e., a military reward or principality given to a general of eminence. A large tract in Herefordshire, immediately north of the Wye, and of the ancient Erging and Ewas, is called the Hundred of Worth; apparently formerly Guurth. We have instances of the occurrence of this word in the names Guortigern and Guortemir, etc. etc. ; and in the name of Guurth Berneich, or Bemicia, i.e., the kingdom of Northumberland, which appears to have been originally given to Ochta and Ebissa by Hengist (see Nennius and Tysilio), and is mentioned in the Saxon Genealogies in Nennius. We have thus added the foregoing remarks on Celtic titular names ; having recurred to the subject so often in the publications before referred to, and again in these pages, from considering them most important in illustrat- ing the ancient matters of which we treat. We, in fact, affirm without hesitation, that neither Celtic history, Celtic coins, or Celtic customs, can be understood without knowing the import and signification of these appella- tions, whether they belong to the military, official, or honorary class, and their conventional meanings. There is no doubt that tardy justice will, sooner or later, be done to the correctness of the views which have been offered on this department of Celtic research, which we may almost venture to pronounce self-evident; though they certainly have not been hitherto received in some quarters, owing to a perverse spirit of partizanship ; nor, perhaps, welcomed so cordially in other quarters as might have been expected. XYI.J THE CELTIC NAME YITALIS, 5341 CHAPTEE XVI. ON THE OCCURRENCE OP THE NAME TITALIS ON VARIOUS ROMAN-BRITISH INSCRIPTIONS. The very extensive diffusion of the name Vitalis is some- what striking. It is apparently a name of Latin construc- tion, yet is never found in classic authors, nor does it ever appear to have been borne by any Roman whose Latin descent can be shown, but to be rather the designation of persons of the Celtic race. Though of Latin formation, it is, in fact, a Celtic name Latinized ; and there is but little doubt that it represents the personal Celtic appella- tion, Guethelin or Guitolin. There is some considerable approximation in the two names ; but, in fact, all hesita- tion on this score is precluded, as there is no other name universal enough among the Celts to have been the proto- type of the so ubiquitous appellation, Vitalis, as this of Guethelin or Guitolin. The name "Vitalis comes first into notice in the begin- ning of the second century, in an inscription at Malpas of the reign of Trajan (see Monumenta Historica Britannica, p. cvi), but occurs very numerously in the third century in lapidary memorials ; and we find the mention of it as late as the eleventh century in the appellation of Ordericus Vitalis, the chronicler ; after whom it seems subsequently to disappear in the later parts of the Middle Ages. Having mentioned the topic, we may cite some instances in point; and the following are presented to us by in- scriptions. Vitalis, in the Malpas inscription before referred to ; Julius Vitalis centurio, Horsley, xxxviii ; Julius Vita- lis fabriciensis, Horsley, i; Simatius Vitalis Ordovix, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, vol. ii, for 1847, p. 248 ; Vitalis, ArchoBologia Camlrensis, vol. iv, for 1849, p. 81 ; Vitalis, Philosophical Transactions, xlvii, p. 200 ; and Valerius Vitalis centurio, Archwologia, iii, 236. 342 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. Independently of the above, we have the occurrence of the name above sixty times in Gruter's Corpus Inseriptionum; and the usual absence of it from Latin classic authors being borne in mind, the persons there mentioned may be considered to have been chiefly of Celtic extraction. Among potters' names on Samian ware found in Lon- don, we have the following recorded in Mr, C. Roach Smith's Collectanea, yo\. i, p, 155 : — Vita ; Of, Vita ; Vi- TALis FE ; Vitalis, M.S,F, ; Vitalis M,S, fecit ; Vitalis, P.P. Also the name Vitalis is marked on Roman pot- tery found at Treves ( Collectanea, p, 156) ; likewise Vitalis on pottery at Colchester {ibid., vol, ii, p, 40). The Roman Martyrohgy contains the name of St, Vita- lis, of whom there is a life in the Bodleian Library. The Biography also of Gildas, by the Monk of Rhuys (c. 45), mentions an abbot Vitalis in Armorica. There also lived in Armorica, in the Middle Ages, the two writers, Vitalis Nemausensis and Vitalis Blesensis : after whom we may place Ordericus Vitalis, the historian before mentioned. From the name having been formerly so frequent, and afterwards ceasing, it would seem that some modification of it, or variation, ensued in course of time, so that it has become not very recognizable at later periods. CHAPTER XVII. ACCOUNT OP VARIOUS MANUSCRIPTS STILL EXTANT, OR LATELY EXTANT, IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES, PROFESSING TO BE WORKS OF RICHARD OF CIRENCESTER, The following is a list of works attributed to this writer, as far as can be obtained, I, HisTORiA AB Hengisto, in five books, whereof part 1 is called Speculum Historiale, and contains four books, and begins : " Post primum Insulse Britannise regem ;" and part 2, containing one book, is a continuation of the former four, and begins : " Prudentia veterum mos ino- XVII.] RICHARD OF CIRENCESTER. 343 levit." The whole of the preceding work is in the Cam- bridge Library, marked Ff. i. 28, and extends from the year 449 to 1348. . This work, it is believed, is the one usually attributed to Kichard of Cirencester by Bostonus Buriensis, Pitseus, and Bishop Nicholson ; but on examination of the manu- script itself, it is found not to give his name in the form which might be expected ; but, on the contrary, there is some considerable variation, since he describes himself, " Ego Mattheeus Ricardus Cictre, beati Petri Westminster prope London monachus," etc. Here the writer, whoever he were, would seem to style himself more obviously, Matthew Richard, of Chichester, than of Cirencester ; and somewhat to increase the uncertainty, on the other side of the leaf, instead of the heading as above, i.e.,M — E — Cictre, is in a much more modern hand " Matthseus Can- tuarensis." It is hardly safe to deduce any inference from this, but the circumstance is required to be stated. Now it is to be noted. First, that it is believed there is no such writer known in the Middle Ages as Matthew of Canterbury ; and again, that the name of the town, Cirencester, according to the pronunciation of the present day is Cissester, and so the word may have been pro- nounced in the Middle Ages : more rarely is it pronounced in modern use, Churnchester. Accordingly the Cictre of the manuscript is not to be understood to mean Chi- chester in Sussex, but to be an adaptation of the usual colloquial form, Cirencester. Thus it seems to have been universally read in former times by those who have con- sulted the manuscript, except that Bernard, in his Oafa- logue of Manuscripts, No. 2428. 248, inserts it as Chichester. Here, likewise, observe that Stukeley, in his Account, mistakes the reference to the Speculum Historiale in Ber- nard which is as above, and not 2304. 124 as he has it, which is a copy of Geoffrey of Monmouth's History, with the often cited veto in the concluding paragraph to Henry of Huntingdon and William of Malmesbury, not to write the history of the British kings, because they were not possessed of the volume which Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, had brought over from Britany. The style of this work, we may add, is extremely bar- barous indeed, and if written by the author of the De Situ 344 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAP. Bntannice, a work possessing some good points of com- position, must have been written at an earlier period of life, before he formed his style by studying classical models. The following are two specimens: the first from the beginning of the work, the second from a subsequent part. " Ego Matthseus Ricardus Cictre beati Petri "VVestmin- ster prope London monachus quamvis indignus, ad utili- tatem legentium et formam complacentem prsesens opus compilavi, ea quae in Cronicis multiplicium studio rela- torum exarata perpendere valui veracibusque descrip- tionibus vidi, digesta in codicem." That is, " I, Matthew Eichard, of Cirencester, monk of St. Peter's at Westmin- ster, near London, unworthy as I am, have compiled the present work for the use of readers in a form which may be agreeable to them. It is digested into one volume from the narratives of numerous relators, and from their truth- ful descriptions, which I have examined." The second extract is : — " Ad hsec (tempera) alii dictorum Anglorum regum fortunatissime et industria habenas regni moderantes gloria floruerunt militari, finesque regiji sui contra cete- rorum irruptiones fortiter tuentes vicinaque regna suo obdentes imperio, ac triumphalibus adornati victoriis, audaciae admonstrantesque (orig. amonstransque) exem- plum suis populis reliquerunt. Ceterum vero inter primes Anglorum reges quidem fuerunt de quibus etiam prsesens historicus tacere non debet : qui religionem Christianam prorsiis ignorantes vanis gentilium requiebant erroribus, autem in re militari et bellicis congressionibus tam famosi extiterunt." In English : " In these times others of the said Anglo-Saxon kings flourished in military glory, holding the reins of government with assiduous care and with much good fortune. They defended with bravery the confines of their own kingdoms against the inroads of others ; and added neighbouring states to their sway, and, crowned with victories, left an example of boldness to their people. But I, the writer of this history, ought not to omit to mention, that among the earlier Anglo-Saxon kings there were some altogether ignorant of the Christiai religion, who continued to acquiesce in the vain errors of the gentiles. These, however, were not behind hand in their knowledge of war, or in their military achievements." XVII.J RICHARD OF CIRENCESTER. 345 The reader will thus see by these specimens, that the Latin style has not the usual fluency of medieval writmgs, but seems the composition of a person somewhat imper- fectly acquainted with Latin endeavouring to express himself in that language. The work that follows appears to be either indentical with the foregoing as far as it extends, or an abbreviation of it. II. Abbreviatio Ricardi Cicestrii monachi Westmo- nast(eriensis) ; vel Anglo-Saxonum Chronicon. This is in Benet College Library, see Nasmith's Catalogue, 4to., 1777, 427. 3. It begins in 449 and goes down to 1265, is called m Bernard's Catalogue, Epitome Chroniconum, and marked there 1343. 66. 2. Dr. Stanley, in his Catalogue, calls it by the same title as the former work. Speculum Eistoriale. — An alleged work of Richard of Cirencester in Lambeth Library seems only a short extract from this ; comprising, indeed, only part of one page, though, from the mention of it in Stukeley's Account, p. 10, it might be thought of more considerable import. A reference to it may be found in Maitland's Catalogue of Lambeth Manuscripts, fol. 1812, p. 82, No. 685, p. 59, where it is described, Excerpfa ex Specula Historiali Ricardi de Cirencestria. The volume at Lambeth in which it is contained seems, in a great mea- sure, to be composed of extracts from manuscripts , in Benet College Library. III. Britonum Anglorum et Saxonum Historia, which is among the Arundel Manuscripts of the Library of the Royal Society. See Stukeley's Account, p. 10. It is con- tinued down to the reign of Henry III. IV. A work bought by Dr. Richard Rawlinson at Sir Joseph Jekyl's sale, and taken to Oxford. Stukeley's Account, p. 10. V. A theological treatise, entitled De Symbolo Majors et Minore, mentioned in a manuscript note to St. Jerome's Epistle to Eugenius, in Benet College Library, but of which the place of preservation is not known. Stukeley's Ac- count, p. 10. VI. Another theological treatise, intitled De Officiis EccLESiASTicis, in seven books, is or was in the Library of Peterborough Cathedral, and was there marked T. iv. It begins, " Officium ut," as mentioned by William Y Y 346 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP, Wydeford and Richard Wyche. See Stukeley's Account, p. 11. In respect to this alleged work : on inquiry being made at Peterborough, December 8th, 1854, neither the chap- ter clerk, Mr. Gates, nor the librarian, Mr. Cattel, had any knowledge of the manuscript. The cathedral library at present only contains printed books, and no manuscripts are said to remain in the chapter-house, except an ancient register of Swaffham. The two writers, William Wyde- ford and Richard Wyche, cited by Stukeley, were appa- rently much anterior to him; so that it possibly might not have been in the library even in his time. Bernard, in his Catalogue of Manuscripts, mentions no collection of manuscripts at Peterborough cathedral. vii. His De Situ Britannia, if genuine, may be re- garded as the last of his worlds: however, very much suspicion hangs over it ; and for an examination of the question of its authenticity or non-authenticity, the Bri- tannic Researches, pp. 114-141, may be consulted. To recapitulate. Only the places of preservation of three works written by Richard of Cirencester are known ; namely, of his Historia db Hengisto, his Abbreviatio, and the WorJc in the Library of the Royal Society, which is appa- rently merely a copy of one of the two foregoing. CHAPTER XVIII. PONTICUS yiRUNNIUS, THE WRITER OF THE ERA OF LUDO- VICUS SFORTIA, DUKE OF MILAN, AND POLYDORE VERGIL. This person, to whom some considerable reference will be found in our previous chapter ii, was sometimes called, as it seems, Virumnius. In the preface to Commeline's Rerum Britannicarum Scriptores, there is given this account XVIII.] PONTICUS VIRUNNIUS. 347 of him ; that he was a native df Treviso, and lived in the time of Ludovicus Sfortia, who usurped the dukedom of Milan in the year 1476, was deposed in 1499, and died ten years afterwards. (See Robertson's History of Charles V, 8vo., 1772, vol. i, pp. 170, 171, and other authorities.) As to his literary works, he wrote Commentaries on Virgil, on the Metamorphoses of Ovid, the Achilleiad of Statins, and on Claudian, etc. He abbreviated (subjoining at the same time many additions) the twelve books of Geoffrey of Monmouth for the family of Badaer, who were of distinc- tion among the Veneti (Venetians), and had originally come from Britain: in which abbreviation he left out some of the most marvellous parts of the author he repro- duced. He died in the year 1490. His first edition, it seems, was printed in the year 1534, in 8vo., at Augusta Vindelicorum, or Augsburg. Polydore Vergil, in his pre- face to the De Excidio Britannice, unceremoniously accuses him of forging the name of Gildas to his abbreviation, i.e., taxes him with representing it as if it were the lost history of Gildas. His words are: "Vel ea de causa ut fraus diluceret nebulonis pessimi, qui paucis ante annis ex cnjus- dam Gaufredi breviarum composuerat, illudque Gildas Sapientis falso compendium scripserat." That is in Eng- lish : "And to make evident the fraud of a most vile knave, who, a few years since, drew up a short summary from Geofi"rey of Monmouth, and called it ' The Compendium of Gildas the Wise.'" (See Monumenta Historica Britannica, p. 1.) Nothing of this kind, however, appears in the edi- tion of the Historia of Ponticus Virunnius by Powel, in 1585, or in that of Commeline in 1587 ; nor could it apply to the first printed edition, that of Augsburg, in 1634, which was nine years subsequent to Polydore Vergil's edition of the De Excidio, in 1525, in the preface of which the said remark is made. A very ready answer is supplied to the apparent calumny of Polydore Vergil, — a man noted for partizanship, and therefore to be distrusted. The calumnious remark could only have originated from some observation made by Pon- ticus Virunnius relating to his Abridgment of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and relating to the History of Gildas Albanius, now lost, with which it would appear that Virunnius was well acquainted; and which observation, whatever it were 348 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS, [cHAP. for we have no faith in the version Polydore gives about " The Compendium of Gildas the Wise" — ^not being under- stood by Polydore Vergil, who wrote thirty-five years after his death — we judge must have occasioned the attack in question. Shall we say then that the reputation and fair fame of Ponticus Virunnius, the elegant commentator on the clas- sics, is detrimented by the disparaging remarks of Poly- dore 1 By fio means. The case is about the same as if a person at the present time should assign some preposterous opinion or assertion, whether supposed to be written or oral, to Sir Walter Scott, William Hayley, Peter Roberts, or to any other writer who has been dead about thirty-five years, no trace of which appears in their printed works ; and, on the strength of the same, bestow the epithet of " most vile knave" and other recriminations. Haste and want of due discretion would, in this case, be more readily suspected rather than the imputation would be credited ; nor is the charge, as regards Virunnius, not appearing to be very probable, in reality worthy of notice. CHAPTER XIX. EXTRACTS FROM AN EARLY TEUTONIC CHRONICLE GIVING AN UNIQUE ACCOUNT OF ANCIENT BRITAIN. This chronicle is the metrical chronicle of Gottofrid of Viterbo, who, by birth, was a native of Silesia, as he in- forms us in his Annales Silesice, p, 2, and afterwards was bishop of Viterbo, a city forty miles north-west of Eome, He is to be distinguished from Annius of Viterbo, who has a bad reputation for literary forgeries. His chronicle, like various others which were written in the Middle Ages, comprehended many nations of the world ; and he tells us XIX.] TEUTONIC CHRONICLE OF BRITAIN. 349 in his proemium to his work (p. 2), that he versified much of his chronicles of different countries to meet the taste of those who might like best to read a narrative in that form. He appears not to have been sparing of space and length ; and usually gives, first, his annals and recitals in prose, and then adds the repetition of the same in Latin metre. Sometimes he gives Latin prose only ; and, in the case of Britain, unluckily, versifications only. We say unluckily, for on occurrence of ambiguity we might look for the one to explain the other. In the present instance, the original of these his metrical annals, seems to have been, for the prior part of them, some ancient German chronicle not now extant ; or rather, not now discoverable out of Ger- many : but in his latter part he has evidently borrowed a good deal from Geoffrey of Monmouth. It is very singu- lar that some strange mistakes in our island's primeval history, for which commentators are at a loss to account in Nennius, will be here found repeated ; and as these annals are by no means taken from Nennius, they must have existed in some common and very ancient source. To the above introductory remarks, we may add that this chronicle is contained in about three hundred and four- teen Latin verses : every two of them being hexameters, and. the third a pentameter. It is divided into chapters, each of which has a heading. The history of the island is very much confused in the two first chapters, and its chro- nology violated. We now proceed with our extracts from the work, giving the whole of the four first chapters, after- wards giving the arguments chiefly of the chapters up to the eighth ; after which the historical interest much ceases, and the whole narrative goes into an obscure myth, as we shall note at the proper place. There is a copy of the Chronica Mundi of Gottofrid of Viterbo (fol., Basil., 1559), in the British Museum, marked 580j; the part relating to this country being at pp. 606-617. D_E Anglis (Bbitannis) et Saxonibus. CAPUT I. DE NONNUILIS ECCEESI^ PEESECTJTOKIBtrS. Chronica quse perhibent regnasse Diocletianum, Cum regnasset, sibi referunt turn Maxiraianum, Climala Britannise quern tenuisse canunt. 350 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAP. Fecerat hunc apu'd has regiones Roiha patronum, Quern perhibent sat pacifice tenuisse colonum ; Hunc patriae dominum semper Iiabere volunt. Attamen in sanctos exarserat ille furore. Undique Christicolas deleverat a regions Omnia Catholica scripta cremare volens. Translation : " The chronicles which speak of the reign of Diocletian say that Maximian reigned after him, and held Britain. Rome had appointed him governor in these parts, and he ruled pacifically enough the nations, who would have liked indeed very well to have had such a ruler always ; but he raged against the saints with fury, and cut off the worshippers of Christ from the land, and endeavoured to burn all the books of the true faith." To make the errors in these verses apparent, we have noted here some chronological dates, part of which will illustrate also subsequent portions of the chronicle. 28 2- 304... reign of Diocletian (Jovius). 286-310 M. Aur. Val. Maximian (Her- culius). 305-311 ■ • Galerius Val. Maximian. 306-337 Constantine the Great. 340-350 Constans or Constantius the Great (see p. 306), his son. 383-388 Clem.ens Magnus Maximus. 403-411 Constantine the Tyrant. _ 408-411 Constans his son, his Caesar. 435-448 Constantine of Armorica. 448 Constans his son. 448-54 & 468-81 Vortigem. 454-468 Vortimer his son. 456-487 Hengist. 481-504 Aurelius Ambrosius. 504-517 Uther Pendragon, The foregoing table shows us more clearly the mistakes made, than how they were made. The case might be this. Uther and Ambrosius were supposed the sons of the Tyrant Constantine, instead of Constantine of Armorica. That Tyrant was confused with Maximus by the chrQnicler, who apparently did not know that there had been two usurpers under circumstances so extremely similar. Again, the same Maximus was confused with Galerius Maximian, XIX.] TECTONIC CHRONICLE OF BRITAIN. 351 Diocletian's successor. But there is another circumstance which may have proved deceptive. The usurper Maxiraus was of the Armorican family (see Britannic Researches, p. 245), 'and from him the name may have been retained as an agnomen afterwards. Our Constantino and all his family may have had the appellation of Maximus, or Maxi- / mianus ; and we are of opinion that they had. However this may- be, the chronicler, in the result, is thrown out about a hundred and seventy years in matter of chronology. In the same way Maximian is mistaken for Maximus in Nenniiis (compare cc, xxii-xxiii), and Constantine of Armo- rica for Constantine the Tyrant (see his c. xxv\. Nennius, however, is not without some show of corroljoration in connecting the name with Britain ; for Maximian (Hercu- lius) is known to have been in Gaul in the years 307 and 308, after his reaccession to the throne ; and during that period might possibly have passed over to this island. Mr. Gunn, in his edition of Nennius, p. 143, — who, how- ever, mistakes him for Galerius, — refers to an inscription relative to that point. Gunn likewise quotes Laurentius {Numismata, i, p. 81) for the usurper being called both Maximus and Maximianus. We have only to notice further in this chapter the unu- sual occurrence of the word " patriae" for tribes or insular states, here, as also in verse 983 of the Vita Merlini of GeoiFrey of Monmouth. In the next chapter, Constans, the son of Constantine of Armorica, so noted in Vorti- gern's history, is made the brother of the said Maximian. CAPUT II. DE MAXIMIANI PROLE. Maximianus obit-scelerum scelerosus amator, Deserit et geminos propria de conjuge natos, Uther et Aurelius nomen habere datos. Mater habens pueros procul a regione recedit, Pars ubi Britanniae sibi clam reverenter obedit, Conscia quod pueris terra patema redit. Hostibus amotis tali moderamine totis, Securi rivunt pueri procul inde remoti. Sed nova sors oritur perniciosa locis, Defuncti regis fratrem facit insula regem , Nomine Constantem monachum qui canone degens / Tempore post modico Britona regna regit. {Translation.) Maximian dies, the lover of wickedness, 352 Historical elucidations. [cHAr. who deserted his two twin sons, born of his own wife, whose names were Uther and Aurelius. The mother, with the boys, left the country, and went to where a part of Britain yielded her tacitly obedience, conscious that when ali their enemies were remoyed they would repossess the land. The boys live secure, far removed thence. But a new feature soon arises in those parts. The island makes the brother of the deceased monarch king, who was a monk named Constans, living in canonical rule ; and he soon afterwards takes possession of the kingdom of Britain. CAPUT III. DE TOLTIGEBNO ANGLOEUM (bKITANNOKTJm) DTTCE. Voltigernus Dux Anglorum summus habetur. Carus apud proceres tota regione tenetur, Cujiis ob auxiliura regna tenet monachus. lUe docet quod multa vocet rex arma virorum, Ut valeat punire malos quoscunque suorum, Et sibi subjiciens stringat ubique solum. Carta vocat quos merce locat per regna quirites. Utque solet commota movet Britannia lites Bella movent gentes in regione sitas. [Translation.) Voltigern was the chief British general, and in favour with the whole kingdom : by whose assist- ance the monk retains his sway. He instructs the young king that multitudes should be brought together in arms, that he may be better able to punish evil doers, and confirm his own rule. The order is issued ; citizens are hired as soldiers through the realm ; all Britain is in com- motion ; and the islanders in the (remoter) regions {i.e. Picts and Scots) take up arms. CAPUT IV. Saxo vocatus ad haec ad regia bella monetur. Cujus et innumere populorum turba movetur. Arma per Oceaniim militiamque ferunt, Miratur jam rex cur copia tanta veniret Saxo refert : quia tota domi requiret. Terra foret modica milite plena loca, Plena viris terra jam pane carebat et herbS.. Haec tua nos terra cum sit ditissima servet ; Tu tibi belligeros nos retineto viros. Turba sumus quam pellit terra sortita parentum Sorte pari remanere lari vult turba potentum. Nos quoque sors misit regna tenere tibi. XIX.] TEUTONIC CHRONICLE OF BRITAIN. 353 {Translation.) " The Saxons are summoned to the king's wars, and vast multitudes of them begin to move. They transport their soldiery across the ocean ; and the king (Constans) is surprised that such a number came. The Saxon replies, that he would require the whole of them ; and besides, that their land was small, and filled through- out with soldiers : in fact, so replete with population that they were short of both corn and pasture. " This, your plenteous land," they say, " will sustain us ; and suffer us to be warriors in your service. We are the supernume- raries whom our paternal land, already fully portioned out, throws ofi^. Our nobles wish to remain with their posses- sions undiminished, and will not give us room ; and thus fortune sends us to enable you to retain your dominions." CAPUT V. SAXONES A TOITIGEKNO DTTCE HTTMANITER RECEPTI. (Contains the advice of Voltigern to Constans to receive the Saxons, which is accordingly done- and they are allowed to make fortified camps. The death of Constans is narrated ; and the dissatisfaction of Volgimer the son of Voltigern, the head of the anti-Saxon party.) CAPUT VI. DE OKSONE EH ENGlSTO. (Contains the war between Volgimer and the Saxons under Hengist and Horsa. Voltigern addresses Volgimer to make peace with the Saxons, as in the next chapter.) CAPUT VII. SAxoNUM coMMENDATio {i.e., hy Voltigem). (Voltigern enlarges on the benefits of the Saxon alliance, and alleges that by it he retained the crown, and should be able, on his death, to transmit it to him (Volgimer). Battles ensue between the brothers Horsa and Hengist, and Vol- gimer. The two former reseek their homes ; and after- wards return to Britain with their sister.) CAPUT VIII. DE ANGBIA (sAXONICA) KEGINA, ET KEGIONE, ET C^TEEIS ACTIS. (Voltigern endeavours to make peacebetween the Britons and the Saxons, when, at a conference for that purpose, a zz §54 HISTORICAL ELtrCIDATIONS. [cHAP, sudden affray occurs, and the Saxons getting the better, the British nobility are slain, Volgimer flees, betaking himself to a wood, and is said to have died soon after- wards of poison. These matters are described thus : Saxonicse gentis rex Voltigemus amator Pacis utrinque dator cupit esse reeonciliator, Et petit AtLOQTJio fella silere dato. Bella silent, ciim pacta vident, vexilla quiescunt, CoUoqiiiis hie inde datis fera corda tepescunt. Rex parat iratis foedera striata satis. Pacis ab hac hork, dum rex dare pacta laborat Rixa scelus renovat, rixantur in ulteriora. Miles ad arma volat, pax perit absque mora. Saxonici populi valido stant cuspide fulti, Unde suis cultris hostes perimuntur inulti. Omne decus patriae Saxonis ense jacet. Viribus Anglorum vires superantur eorum, Ense Macedo bonum superat perimitque colonura. Saxo tulit patriam diripuitque solum. Volgimer elatus hostiliter, inde fugatus, Vis&. morte patrum timet hie incurrere fatum ; Per medium nemoris, labitur atque fugit. Tempore post modico fertur periisse veneno, Undique per patriam Saxo urget ordine pleno, A modp Saxpnibus plena trophaea feris. (Translation.) " Voltigern the king, who was fond of the Saxon race, wishes to make peace, and to accommodate matters on both sides. He seeks, in a parley, to allay animosity. The sound of war is hushed, and the banners are no longer unfurled, because they expect peace. Both sides mingling here and there in discourse, dulcify their fierce breasts ; whilst the king prepares a treaty, strict enough for both parties. But at this moment, while the king is labouring to complete the compact, an affray takes place, which they carry to extremities. Each soldier flies to arms, and peace vanishes at once. The Saxons stand confidently, relying on their stoilt blades (concealed underneath their feet) ; and thus multitudes of the enemy perish by their knives. In sooth, the flower of the British nobility falls beneath their blades. The might of the Britons yields to the might of the Saxons ; and the Mace^ donian (i.e., the Saxon) overcomes, and cuts off with his weapon the honest native. The Saxon takes the country, and wrests away with violence the soil from its possessors. As for Volgimer, at first excited, and in arms, afterwards taking flight when he saw the death of the nobles, and XIX.] TEUTONIC CHRONICLE OP BRITAIN. 355 had become aware of his own imminent danger, he glides through a wood, and so escapes. He is said to have died shortly afterwards, by poison ; and the Saxon marches in every direction, in full array, through the country ; and innumerable are the trophies to the fierce race." Then follow the interview and treaty of marriage by Voltigern with the Saxon princess. They are married ; and the Saxon dominion is strengthened. The whole king" dom is called" Angriterra", or Angria, for ever : except that afterwards the narrative relates that Pope Gregory changed the R into an l, as if he regarded the people angelical. Afterwards the king of the Angri {i.e. Voltigern) wished to build a castle on the top of a high mountain consecrated to the gods, and began to build. But what was built each day was removed the ensuing night. He therefore con- sulted magicians, who pronounce that a human sacrifice must be offered ; and a boy be found for that purpose who was born without a father. Merlin, begotten by a phantasm, is found ; and prepa- rations are made to offer him in sacrifice. But he con- fronts the magicians, and defies them to say what was underneath the ground, to make the walls fall down. They are unable to declare the cause ; and he proclaims it to be a stream flowing beneath the surface. The earth is opened, and the same is found to be the case. The magicians are committed to prison, and Merlin becomes famous as a great prophet. Two dragons issue out of the stream, and take refuge in Cornwall. Uther combats and kills one of them, and is called Uther Pendragon. Voltigern, at the solicitation of his queen, again consults Merlin. He declares the two dragons to be Uther and Aurelius, and that they will pos- sess the land. Aurelius obtains sovereign power, and Voltigern loses his kingdom and his head. His queen, nevertheless, continues the war, aided by Hengist and Horsa. Much slaughter ensues, and many buildings are burnt ; but Uther and Aurelius recover their dominions. Peace is made ; and the Saxon queen, submitting to the two kings, returns to her own country, where she could retain her own fortresses (castra) in peace. Some verses on Aurelius Ambrosius foUow, translated in the previous chapter xiv. 356 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAP. Aurelius primogenitus regnique moparchus, Sic pacis sancita facit, sic prospicit actus, Ut reparet patriae gaudia lata quies. Confovet optima, dissipat horrida, regia norma ; Proelia deprimit, abdita rejicit, apta reformat. Rex erat, imo pater, gesta paterna patent. Attamen admiss^ patris feritate patrizat : Nam prius inflixa renovat tormenta remissa ; Et tenet erroris dogmata plena dolis. ^mulus ipse Dei populi fit tutor Hebrsei ; Atria (qu. Arria ?) scripta veMt sectamque fovet Manichsei ; Catholicique rei prorsus habentur ei. Post annos paucos, post multa pericula rerum, Suscipit Aurelius fatura, finemque dierum ; Justus apud proceres, sed reus ante Deum. The ensuing chapters and the remainder of the poem go into myth, and are taken up with the legend of Uther Pendragon, Merlin, and Tgerna, at great length, and of but little interest, and end abruptly with the birth of Arthur. It should, perhaps, be noted, that Angria on the Conti- nent, whence, according to the ChronicIe7the Saxons are said to come, is neither Jutland nor Holstein, but a district between the rivers Ems and Weser, forming part of the present Westphalia. CHAPTER XX. REMARKS ON SOME ANCIENT ACCOUNTS OF BRITAIN. There is sufficient reason to believe that several ancient histories of Britain were extant as late as the ninth cen- tury, — for with this date we will first begin, — written on Eoman models, and by no means legendary in their general characters, though doubtlessly exhibiting a strong national bias favourable to Britain. Any t)ne who examines the Irish Nennius may be fully convinced on this head. It is evident that Marcus the bishop, who, in the year 822, drew up a history of the Britons, which has since been XX.] ANCIENT ACCOUNTS OP BRITAIN. 35T partially adopted by Nennius, and now goes by his name, had an historical narrative before him, which was written in good style, and was not wanting in details. Internal evidence may be appealed to to show this. Marcus, in fact, acted like the clergy of the present day ; who, if from any cause they compile in an historical form, for the use of their flocks, never do so from the rough, unhewn mate- rials, but base their compositions on some history of repute already written. Marcus was certainly no exception : how- ever, writing for the Irish, it clearly appears he left out very numerous particulars which applied only to the larger island, as names of persons and places, and other circumstances not likely to be understood or valued in Ireland. Again. Nennius the Briton, when he came to transfer back the account, now sanctioned by a high epis- copal name, for the use of his countrymen, had to take the narrative as it was, devoid materially, as it would seem to a Briton, of personal and local names, which would have conveyed associations stirring to his national senti- ments, and which he, Nennius, had not the means of sup- plying. It is not necessary that we should have the actual British History of Marcus himself to verify these particulars ; which, indeed, it is believed, is lost. We have enough of the History of Marcus preserved in Gunn's Nennius for our purpose ; and portions also of it in the Galic text of the same author, published by the Irish Archaeological Society, at Dublin, in 1847. We have fully explained, in an earlier part of this work, that the British Historical Triads show evident marks of having been taken from an ancient history now lost, which was broken up to form them ; and we have pointed out sufficiently of what nature and description that history was. The two instances cited as above, Marcus' . Onyma^, and that of the Triads, are intended to show that the Britons possessed at that era, or might have possessed, histories properly so called. What shall we say to the Boole of Washingborough, which Gaimar in his Estorie des Bugles makes so prominent, and which he tells us was one of the sources whence he composed his work. This could not have been the Hormesta or History of Orosius, as Mr. Wright supposes, Biographia Literaria, vol. ii, p. 153, because it is described by Gaimar as not only recording 358 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAP. the Eoman emperors who had sway in Britain, but the (native) kings who held under them — " Des reis ki d'els ourent tenu" — whilst Orosius has no details of the kind. Therefore it must have been an history of Roman Britain which is not now extant ; unless a fragment or two be in Gaimar, which is not certain ; for an author may use the authority of a work without tfansferring a single passage. However as to another relative point. Gaimar, writing in the middle of the twelfth century, appears to quote this book as an authority of antiquity: it therefore might easily have been as old as the ninth century, and perhaps much older. This is the inference, though thp point can- not be wholly ascertained : in any case the materials from which it was compiled must be considered of early an- tiquity. We have thus some vestiges of three historical works supposed to have been in existence in the early Middle Ages : but if these three existed, many more might have done so, the traces of which are now lost, or are only dis- coverable with great difficulty. There might have been other works similar to the original of Marcus, to the ori- ginal of the Triads, and to that other ancient composition preserved in bygone times at the Manor of Washing- borough in Lincolnshire. Those who are inclined to inquire further into this matter may see the former exist- ence of similar historical compositions pointed out in the Britannic Researches, pp. 289-293 et alibi, and supposed extracts from some in ancient authors, referred to. It cannot but be observed by readers of the chronicles and medieval writers, that they have frequently informa- tion of which we can by no means trace the source ; and thus the Descriptio XJirimque Britannice, which there are good grounds for attributing to John de Salisbury, so cele- brated in the reign of Henry II (see the Gentleman's Maga- zine for April 1847, p. 381) was compiled from sources unknown to us at present. This was written on occasion of an English princess, Constance, daughter of Henry II, being married to one of the Dukes of Britany," and pro- fessed to give an account of Britain and Armorica. It is quoted by early French writers ; and they note that among XX.] ANCIENT ACCOUNTS OP BKITAIN. 359 its contents, it was recorded that the first inhabitants of iNantes were worshippers of the heathen divinity Voli- anus, concerning whom various conjectures have been raised ; but who probably was worshipped as a local deity, and very possibly as the river god of the Loire or Liger, on which the town is situated. Singularly enough an inscription came to light in the sixteenth century, in the year 1530, taken out of the sea, inscribed with the name of this god " Volianus," showing sufficiently that this ancient account was based on classical or other early authorities. It may not be necessary to say more to show that numerous historical documents relating to Britain may have formerly existed, now lost ; but we may still add a few words in reference to the causes of these losses. The taste for legend prevailed all through the Middle Ages ; and after the ninth century the passion for romance surpassed all due bounds. Next to legend and romance, theological works were in repute, and next to these books of casuistry, astrology, alchemy, medicine, and what was called school learning, or metaphysical studies. There was no taste whatever for the great part of what is now the range of modern literature, that is, for authentic history, voyages, travels, and archaeology. There was scarce a reader for these subjects, and they found no favour from the great patrons of literature, the members of the conventual establishments. The consequences are obvious of this state of things. Works which did not chime in with the taste of the times became rapidly lost. Indeed, if their contents were not prized, the parchment on which they were written was so, to be used over again for other manuscripts. In this way they disappeared, and thus we have lost the Deseriptio JJtriusque Britannioe, which there is good evidence, as we have observed, to attribute to John de Salisbury, though all his other works, and some of them prolix and tedious enough, have been preserved. There is a case very much in point, which we may recite, in regard to Bede. This author, among his nu- merous works, wrote one of a topographical nature, his De jSitu Britannice. It will show how such productions were received, when we say that this is the least known of all he wrote; only one copy, in manuscript it is be- lieved, being in existence in Benet College Library, Cain- 360 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP-. bridge. It is so little known, indeed, that it is very seldom that we find it mentioned in connexion with him. In short, it has nearly undergone the fate of the Descriptio TJtriusque Britannics of John de Salisbury. Be it remembered, that before the invention of print- ing, perhaps no more than one or two copies of a work were made ; and if no more were produced, how easy for those one or t^o to become lost to literature. Mere history, devoid of romance, and mere works of research, like the Descriptio TJtriusque Britannice and the De Situ Britannice of our ancient church historian, would be ex- actly literary productions of the class likely to disappear in the Middle Ages. But when we treat of the ancient literature relating to the island, there is one topic which has been noticed beforCj and to which we must always recur in guarding this subject from error, namely, that some may say, per- haps, that GUdas asserts in his De Excidio, c. 4, that he could find no ancient British accounts. We have before shown, in our chapter ii, the proper explanation of this ; that Gildas does not mean to say that he could find no accounts at all, but only that he could not find such accounts as he wanted, namely, such as were in the inter- est of the Latin church, giving a version of Roman British afiairs with a certain bias. In the end he obtains his account from the continent. We have also, in a former part of the present work, fully accounted for the reason why Bede introduced no details of ancient British affairs before the arrival of the Romans in his Ecclesiastical History. In fact, he kept his Ecclesiastical History as a separate subject, and began it with the Romans. We may only add here to what has been said before, that in a voluminous work like Bede's, the saving of space which would have been occupied in details of these ancient matters before the arrival of the Romans, had he gone into them, would have been an object. It is easy to imagine his monastic readers would have been dissatisfied if, when wanting to read the annals of their church, they had to wade through an account prefixed, of the pagan races and their doings, odious to them, who had before, occupied the island, and who all were of a different origin from the then Saxon possessors. XXI.] JULIUS FRONTINUS. 361 They would have been dissatisfied also to have this extra- neous part to copy in their transcripts. We ought, then, to entertain no surprise. We know sufficiently what Gildas and Bede wanted. They needed not ancient Bri- tish histories, for each had his own particular purpose in view with which the said histories were not com- bined. To conclude these few observations. Ancient British histories, as we may judge, disappeared from the ninth and tenth to the fifteenth centuries, from their not being sufficiently according to the taste of the times. Their fate has been that, when they disappeared, many have been disinclined to admit that they ever existed. CHAPTER XXI. MISCELLANEA. Julius Frontinus. This person, in some measure, forms a parallel with Julius Caesar, being, like him, a military commander of eminence and an author. He was pro- praetor, that is, commander-in-chief, in Britain from the year 75 to 78, during which time he is believed to have taken his station principally in Wales : the Romans at that time being more particularly engaged in forming that part of the island into a new province, which they called Britannia Secunda. The first forming the fortified station of Isca Silurum, the capital of Cambria in Roman times, is attributed to him, and also of the Via Julia, extending from St. David's to Caerwent. This is mentioned by name by Alexander Necham in the twelfth century ; and mile- stones are still remaining upon it. During his stay in Britain he obtained some considerable successes over the Ordovices, and was succeeded by the noted Agricola. His literary works are : 1. A treatise on military stratagems ; 2. Ditto, on aqueducts; and 3. One on land-measuring, usually ascribed to him. An anonymous writer has drawn AAA 363 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP, up a long memoir of him in the Gentleman's Magazine for July 1832, pp. 21-28 ; and for the Via Julia, see the same work for November 1853, pp. 499 and 508. FoBTs TO THE SouTH OF THE RoMAN Wall. A remark or two will illustrate a passage in Gildas, c. 14, very com- monly supposed to relate to the Roman waUed castra in Kent, but in fact applying to some defensible works much more to the r^prth. The writer in the place in question, after speaking of the Roman wall, says that the Romans also constructed for them, that is, for the Britons, " towers on the coast on the south shore where their (that is, the Saxon) ships came, and their attacks were feared." It is obvious that the flotillas of their enemies might come to land immediately to the south of the wall both on the east and west coasts of Britain ; and towers built along the coast in that direction to the south of the wall seem aU that is meant. This appears more correct than to suppose the writer made any allusion to the walled sea fortresses of the eastern and south-eastern coasts of the island, as Othona, Branodunum, Regulbium, Rutupium, Lemanis, and Anderida. The alleged Colony and settlement of the ancient Britons in Armorica in the fourth century. This is a fact often asserted and as often denied, though believed to be a reality on the whole. For information on this topic, see Usher's Primordia, 225-227 ; Dom Bouquet's Gaulish Historians, vol. v, p. 149 ; vol. vi, p. — ; vol. vii, p. 298 ; and Eginhart's Annals, at the year 756 ; also Ermoldus Nigellus, De Rebus Ludovici, iii, lib. 3. The Merovingian kings affected to call the Armorican sovereigns, counts. Their sway was, however, not less real within the precincts of their dominion, nor their power less regal; though they, of course, as time progressed, became more and more under the influence and ascend- ancy of their more powerful neighbours, the kings of the Franks. Remarks on a supposed mention of Constantine of Armorica in an ancient grant of Lands to the Church of Llandaff. We must notice this alleged evidence of the existence of this king ; and observe that though we admit that fact, yet it is necessary to say that the correct reading of the grant in question has not been preserved, XXI.] CONSTANTINE OF ARMORICA. 363 which prevents its being of use. This said donation, then, of lands is purported to be from Pepian ap Erb, king of Gwent and Urchenfield, to St. Dubricius, son of his daughter Erdyl, describing the lands as being called " Ma(e)smawr garth penni, usque ad paludem nigram inter sylvam et campum et aquam et jactum Constantini regis soceri sui, trans Gui aranem." That is in English " The said lands as far as the Black Marsh between the wood and the plain and the water, and the 'jactum', possibly tractum, i. e., the tract of land belonging to Constantino the king his father-in-law, on the other side of the river Guy." (See Lewis' History of Britain, fol., 1729, p. 158.) Now the date of Pepian is so far known that his father Brychan is believed to have died in the year 450 ; and most accounts make Dubricius the son of the said Brychan, and consequently brother of Pepian, but this grant asserts Dubricius to have been the grandson of Pepian. Further the grant speaks of the whole four generations as being at the same time alive, which considering the age which Dubricius must have attained, who is in the last genera- tion, makes the whole nearly impossible. Having mentioned this ancient monarch, we may take the opportunity to recur to a point we have touched upon before (see chap. xix). Maximian, or its equivalent Maximus, must have been the family name of the royal race of Dumnonia and Armorica, of which our Constantino was an offshoot, having been adopted from Clemens Mag- nus Maximus of the same line, the distinguished and par- tially successful, but on the whole unfortunate competitor for the Roman empire. They rejoiced in this name we judge for many generations, being known as the " Familia Maximiana" : for as one of this lineage had the high rank of " Prsefectus Prsetorio", they are to be considered as altogether B,omanized in their ways. Our evidence is, that it is quite clear that Gottefrid of Viterbo found in the earlier compilation he used the name written as Maxi- mian. It is quite clear, because he falls into a most ridi- culous mistake from that reason, which he otherwise would have avoided. Believing, then, that this was the case that they had this name, the motive would be some- what obvious why it should be at length changed: for when Ambrosius came to the throne, he, according to 364 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. Gildas and the Chronicles, was a warm friend of the church, and could have no affection for the appellation of the deadliest enemy to it that ever existed ; and so, as we conclude, adopted instead, as a " nomen familise", that of Aurelius or Aurelianus. These are our speculations on this point. As to the name Maximian from Maximus, we have noted in our above cited chj^pter xix, that his appellation occurs both as Maximus and Maximianus on coins: and not only that, but we may understand that the adjective form " Maxi- miana" would be the due and proper one to designate the family of a person who should be named Maximus. It now then remains for us to consider what have been the obvious results from this error, as far as our ancient British accounts are concerned. We judge them to have been two principal ones, the prior of which has been already alluded to. (1) That the early Chronicles overlooked the chronological discrepancy of 170 years, and made Constantine of Armorica of the fifth century the same person as Maximian the Roman emperor, the bloody persecutor of the church of the third. (2) That some others more cautious of the medieval writers, as Marcus, Nennius and the ancient translators of the Galic text of Nennius, or their copyists, not being able to unravel the matter, have omitted the mention of Con- stantine of Armorica, or only alluded to him in a some- what slight way : supposing apparently that there was some incomprehensible error in the case : and thus the reign of this monarch, which was an important one, and must have been full of incident, has been very imperfectly treated of. Another circumstance likewise tended much to confuse them, that there was a prior Constantine in Britain, Con- stantine the Tyrant, only about twenty-five years before. Maximian, a Roman emperor, is mentioned in all the copies of Nennius, as having visited Britain. The said emperor, as has been before remarked, might have done so, as he is known to have been in Gaul after his re-accession to the throne. This point, then, is not necessarily connected with the mistake the early chroniclers have otherwise made about Constantine of Armorica and Maximian. Hengist, the leader of the first successful Saxon EXPEDITION TO Britain. Lappcuberg, in his History of XXI.] HENGIST. — THE DEMET^. EBORACDM. 365 the Anglo-Saxons, p. 75, raises an" argument that Hengist and Horsa had no real existence, but that their story is but a myth. Hengist, however, is mentioned in the Battle of Finnesham, a fragment printed in Hickes' The- saurus, p. 192 ; Conybeare's Illustrations, p. 173 ; and in Beowulf, of which the best translation is by Kemble, where his name occurs, p. 77. Occa's Chronicle, Vlytarp's and Cornelius's edition, Leeuwarden, 1597, has mention of the Saxon leader, and that he had served under Valen- tinian III, p. 79. The Demet^. These were an ancient British state of the West of England. We may observe here a discre- pancy between Ptolemy and Solinus, in regard to them. The first writer places the Demetse the westernmost, and the Silures next to them on the east ; whereas Solinus says that it was twenty miles from the country of the Silures to Hibernia, across the Irish Channel. The De- metae do not seem to have been the original inhabitants. Their name exhibits some affinity with that of the Maietee in Scotland, and it is far from impossible that a colony from these last might have arrived in South Wales at some early period, similar to that of Cunedda in the fourth century. Ebobacum or York. This is usually, and, indeed, in- variably called a Colony, in Inscriptions. See Wellbe- loved's Eburacum and other sources : there is, however, one single authority, in the ancient Roman historian Aurelius Victor, in his History, iii, 20, for its being termed a muuicipium. He mentions it thus : " Municipio cui Eboraci nomen ;" that is, the municipium called Ebo- racura. There were certainly on the whole, comparatively to the number of towns, few municipalities and colonies in Britain, but after the general enfranchisement of Cara- calla the distinction became of little value. Ueva, or Chester. This has usually the name of Chester without any adjunct. More rarely it used, in past times, to have one connected with it ; for we are told that in Northamptonshire they were accustomed formerly to specify three places as having this name, and to distin- guish them thus, viz., Deva, our Chester, as above, or West Chester ; Magiovinium, Great Chester ; and Irchester, Water Chester. The etymology of this last appears to be 366 HISTOKICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAP. Heer-ceaster, or the Garrison ; and this was a station, as we have elsewhere shown. The Girvii. We have the following mention of these people in Bede, whom we judge, from the etymology of their name (Girvii, from the ancient British gwr, i.e., homines : in the Domesday sense of dependents), to have formed a British subdivision of the kingdom. We will fir^ cite a passage from his Ecclesiastical His- tory, iv, 6, applying to the year 674 : " Sexwulfus ordi- natus episcopus qui erat constructor et abbas monasterii quod dicitur Medeshamstede in regione Gyrviorum." In English : " Sexwulf (in the year 674), being ordained bishop, who was the constructor and abbot of the monas- tery of Medesham (Peterborough), in the district of the Girvii." Again, lib. iv, 19 (a.d. 660) : " Accepit autem rex Ecgfrid conjugem nomine Aedilthryldam filiam Annse regis Orientalium Anglorum, etc., quam et alter ante ilium vir habuerat uxorem, princeps videlicet Australium Gyr- viorum vocabulo Tondherst." In English : " The king, in the year 660, took Edilthryd to wife, daughter of Anna, king of the East Angli, etc., who before had been the consort of Tondherst, king of the Southern Girvii." Lib. iii, 20. " Thomas diaconus ejus (a.d. 653) de provincia Girviorum." In English : " Thomas, his deacon (in the year 653), of the province of the Girvii." We have also the mention of the Girvii in Florence of Worcester, who, in the Annals of the year 675, speaks of the Monastery of Burh (Peterborough), in the country of the Girvii. The Prophecies of Gwinclan. The date of the birth of this person is not certain. He appears to have been a contemporary with Taliesin, to whom he was personally known ; and that he was a Druid and a Pagan, and had a great hostility to Christianity, is sufficiently understood. It is further stated that his name was Cian, and that his surname or sobriquet, according to some, was Gwinclan, or " pure race ;" but according to the best readings in stanza ix of the Gododin, it appears to be rather Gwyn- gwn. The Count de la Villemarque informs us, that his works were lost during the French Revolution of 1789 and following years. A fragment, however, of them re- mains, somewhat modernized, which Villemarque gives in his Poemes Bretons, 12mo., Paris, 1846, vol. i, pp. 30-34. XXI.] PKOPHECIES OF GWINCLAN. — THE CHRONICLES. 367 It is valuable as showing the nature of his other prophe- cies which are lost, and puts it out of doubt that his pre- dictions were the origin of those of Merlin ; as though not having the same imagery, the fragment takes up a some- what corresponding line of prediction with the Prophecies of Merlin, as in the History of Geoffrey of Monmouth. The fragment breathes a spirit of great animosity against the Christian religion and against the Saxons. The style, which has some points of resemblance with that of Lo- warch-Hen, is coarse, though vigorous, and the feelings of the writer are displayed with unmitigated rancour. According to the epic poem of the Gododin {loco citato), stanza ix, his son, described as Mab Cian Gwyngwn, was cut off by an ambuscade of the Bernicians whilst conduct- ing a body of troops from Cambria or some part in the South to the campaign of Kaltraeth ; which field of battle, it would thus appear, he never reached. The proceeding by which this catastrophe had been sustained, might have been thought hardly fair by the Britons of those times, under the circumstances in which the war of Gododin is supposed to have commenced: and as the royal family of Bernicia had been the arrangers of the plan of the cam- paign, Aneurin, in his Gododin {loco citato), indignantly says, that, did it rest with him, he would adjudge the whole of them, the whole house of Bernicia, to death for such an outrage, by which he lost a friend whose breast was inac- cessible to fear, and who fell in resisting a formidable oppressor. We but slightly paraphrase his remarks. The tenor of the accounts which have come down to us appear to imply that this Cian Gwinclan, or Gwyn- gwn, whose original home was Cambria, ultimately re- moved to Armorica, where he wrote his poem, and where he ended his days. This poet, it remains to add, is men- tioned by Nennius, c. 66 ; also by Taliesin, in his Angar Cyvyndawd, as his son is likewise in the Gorchan Maelderw. Historical Sources of the British Chronicles. The Chronicle writers evince some proficiency in ancient history in informing us that Bassianus (Caracalla) was the name of the son of Severus ; a circumstance which, on the whole, seems not so generally known, because we are only informed of it by one author, Julius Capitolinus. In another respect they are certainly deficient in correct in- 368 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. formation, in making Bassianus and Geta not the sons of the same mother, an error which is, nevertheless, adopted by Spartian, The Chronicles make the mother of Bas- sianus of British origin, and Spartian gives her name as Marcia, but the mother of Geta, they say, was a Roman. Their great discord, indeed, between themselv.es favoured the idea that they were not the sons of the same mother ; yet it is most, certain that they were : being both the offspring of Julia Domna, the empress of Severus, accord- ing to the verses of Oppian, in his Cynegetica, who dedi- cated that work to Caracalla. Kvaoviov Zrjvos r^Xvxepov OaXos 'AuTivvTve Tov /JLe'^aK'q fier^akw (finvawro Adfiva 'Sie^rjpw. In English : " Antoninus, the beloved offspring of the Italian Jove, whom the highly exalted Domna bare to the highly exalted Severus." Sharon Turner, in his History of the Anglo-Saxons, appeared to entertain the idea, that the Chronicle of Geoffrey of Monmouth was compiled originally from tra- ditions in Britany, and supposes it to have had no origin whatever in this island. Had he written at a later date, he certainly would have been of a different opinion. But compiling, as he did, before the printing of the Myvyrian Archaiology in 1807, or Roberts' publication of TysUio's Chronicle in 1811, it was a very pardonable error in that acute and intelligent historical writer. Besides, Sharon Turner appears to have been apprehensive of shocking the prejudices of his age, and wanted firmness to emanci- pate himself from received opinions, though, perhaps, he strongly suspected them to be ill founded. Inquirers of our day may now possess a much clearer view of the subject. Merlin, the Wizard. The existence of this person is without question a reality : that is to say, the existence of Merlin Emmrys, the counsellor of Aurelius Ambrosius, and the skilful architect, admitting that he were the con- structor of Stonehenge ; but whether there be any real ground for his being called a wizard seems even now uncertain, and it is not true that he was the author of certain prophecies which pass under his name. All we can say is, that if he were a man of talent and an archi- tect, common fame in that early age may have easily pro- XXI.] MERLIN EMMRYS. 369 nounced him a sorcerer. As to the said prophecies cur- rent under his name, they have clearly been imitated from those of Gwinclan, who is believed to have retired from Britain and to have passed the latter part of his life in Armorica. But Gwinclan lived about half a century later than this Merlin Emmrys; and as it may be pro- nounced with confidence that the prophecies in question were not written in the fifth century, when the said Merlin lived, but in the eleventh, the manufacturing of the prophecies must have been accordingly of a much later age. Indeed, they give a sketch of some Norman and Anglo-Norman transactions in Britain and on the continent. But principally, as we should say from his name being forged, and thus surreptitiously connected^ with these prophecies, legend has invested Merlin Emmrys with the character of a magician, and will have it so. On this basis an early medieval Armorican poem has been constructed, in which Merlin is represented to act as an enchanter; and while exercising his calling is accosted by a saint. Saint Cadoc we may presume by the date, and the supposed dialogue is preserved by M. Villemarque in his Poemes Bretons, 12mo, 1846, vol. i, p. 100. We may transcribe it from his pages as a specimen of Armorican legends, adding, also, the translation to it, taken from that of the learned Frenchman. "We should not omit to add to the above, that M. De Villemarque gives the musical notation of the chant, as it is still sung in Britany ; osten- sibly the same as the original air. Makzin Divinottk. {St. Cadoc.) Marzin, Marzin, pelec'h it-hu Ken beuie-ze, gant, ho ki du ? {Merlin.') lou-iou-ou ! iou-iou-ou ! iou-ou ! Iou-(iou)-ou ! iou-iou-ou ! iou-ou ! Bet onn bet kas kaout ann tu, Da gaout dreman ann ui ru. Ann ui ru euz ann aer-vorek War lez ann od, touU ar garrek Mont a rann da glask d'ar flouren Ar beler glaz ha'-nn aour-ieoten, Kouls hag huel-var ann derven Ekreis ar c'hoad'lez ar feunten. {St. Cadoc.) Marzin ! Marzin ! distroet endro Losket ar var gand ann dero Hag ar beler, gand ar flouren Kerkouls hag ann aour-ieoten B BB 370 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAF Kerkouls hagui ann aer-vorek Etouez ann eon touU ar garrek. Marzin ! Marzin ! distroet endrou Ne deuz divinour nemed Dou. Translation — "Merlin the Diviner. (St. Cadoc^ Merlin ! Merlin ! whither goest thou so early in the morn- ing with thy black dog 'i (Merlin) lou-iou-ou ! iou-iou-ou ! iou-ou ! *Iou-(iou)-ou ! iou-iou-ou ! iou-ou ! I have just been seeking the red egg, the red egg of the sea snake on the shore in the hollow of the rock. I go tc search for the green cresses in the meadow, and the golden plant, and the misletoe on the oak at the border of the fountain, (St. Cadoc) Merlin ! Merlin ! go back : Leave the misletoe on the oak, and the cresses in the meadow, as also the golden plant : likewise the egg of the sea snake in the foam in the hollow of the rock. Merlin ! Merlin ! re-measure thy steps. There is no diviner but God ! " It may be observed that we are without any trace of the legend on which this piece of poetry must have been founded. It was apparently written about the eleventh century, and with a perfect knowledge of the Druidica] craft. It is also the more curious as showing the Christian Church of the day in contest with paganism, Caradog the son of Bran. One of the most direct obstacles to advance in ancient British history is the con- tradiction found to exist in the Triads and British Chronicles to the accounts in classic sources of the parentage of the eminent British chief Caradog, or otherwise Caractacus. Dion Cassius represents him as the offspring of Cunobeline; while the Chronicles do not place Mm among the sons oi that monarch, whom they enumerate, or indeed name him at all ; and the Triads style him the son of Bran. We have shown by a detailed comparison of the data furnished by the Chronicles and Triads themselves, that the inter- pretation put on them by modern writers is wholly un- warranted (see the Britannic Researches, p. 238, and the Coins of Cunoheline, p. 239), we will now then merely show the motives of the medieval writers for the ambiguity which they have thrown round the origin of Caractacus. Bran implies king in the ancient British language ; and Caradog, or Caractacus, the son of Bran, is no other than XXI.] TREE CIRCLES. 371 " Caractacus, the king's son." It may be asked why this disguise 1 and why do we not have a more explicit account ? We shall see. Caractacus was probably so styled in the Triads, because the name of his father Cunobeline, i.e. " Apollo the king," (see Britannic Researches, p. 300), might seem unmeaning to the ecclesiastics of the tenth century, who are believed to have broken up the original standard history of their time into the form of Triads ; and who might have been little acquainted with the former associations connected with ancient British names. Besides, were they ecclesiastics from foreign countries they may have been still more in- clined to treat the subject in a summary manner, and altogether to remove this relic of paganism. We can prove the fact that Caractacus is the person styled the son of Bran in the Triads ; but the above may be suggested as an explanation of the indirect way in which he is mentioned in these historical fragments, and it is more likely to be the real interpretation, as it is the only one that can be assigned. To avoid then a name of pagan import, they may have called Cunobeline merely Bran, or the king, and hence we should have, by a natural process, " Caradog, the son of Bran," or of the king, for his appellation by the Britons of the eleventh century. CuNEDDA. This prince is said to have reigned at Carlisle. See Mr. Williams' Gododin, p. 2, note from lolo Manuscripts. Remarks on some supposed memorials of Ancient Pagan Britain in Surrey. It may be asserted, with some degree of confidence, that Druidical circles, and indeed cromlechs, and all objects of that class which were in com- bination with avenues and megalithic arrangements to any extent, were formerly embosomed in groves, woods, or forests ; which has evidently been the idea entertained by Rowland and Stukeley. These sylvan additaments have certainly now nearly entirely disappeared, though here and there an ancient forest may have rocking stones or some kindred monument within its limits. From this cause modern ideas are rather against the supposition than otherwise, nor is it easy to decide the question. We may, however, mention here what may not impossibly have been a Druidical object of its class, though not megalithic ; 372 HISTOEICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP. and may cite the following account from Mr. Tupper's Farley Heath, 12mo, 1850, p. 69, where he informs us, that " on Merroe Downs, in Surrey, are two distinct concentric groves of venerable yews a thousand years old, with rem- nants of like avenues, possibly Druidical." We may sub- join, that if so, the number one thousand must of course be much dilated. In one respect we can confirm Mr. Tupper, that Merroe has every appearance of being of British derivation, i.%. Mawr rhod, or the " great wheel," alluding to the idea which the position of the trees was likely to suggest. The Descriptio Utkidsque Britannije. The French Record Commission made a most strenuous attempt in the year 1834 to recover this, as also the Prophecies of Quinchn and the Genealogies of the kings of Dumnonia, by setting on foot the most persevering inquiries in England and on the continent. It appeared by these researches, that the Descriptio Utriusque BritannioB had not been seen by any one for one hundred and twenty-seven years from that time, nor was there any record of its having been met with in England at all ; notwithstanding a foreign writer, M. Moreau de Martour, though undoubtedly by mistake, asserted that an edition of it had been printed in London. In the Bulletin du Bibliophile for June 1846, pp. 801- 808, are some memoranda of the researches of the French Record Commission in the business. An extract or two are given from the work; as some particulars about Morlaix (Morlseum) and the first preaching of Christianity there; also particulars relating to the city of Nantes (Nannetis oppidum), and a list of the principal authors who have referred to the work. M. Francisque Michel it seems, on arriving in England on behalf of the French Record Commission, made re- searches at Cambridge, Oxford, Salisbury, Durham, and London, and also made inquiries of Douce and Dibdin, and others learned in the same way, but without any re- sults ; and came to the conclusion that the work was not to be found in this country. (See pp. 368-370 ante.) The Fourteenth Roman Legion. A sepulchral in- scription connected with this legion was discovered, at Wroxeter, the ancient Uriconium, in the year 1752, and is still preserved there. It is engraved in the Proceedings of XXI.] TERRITOKIES OF THE NORTHERN BRITONS, 373 the British Archceohgial Congress at Gloucester in 1846, p. 7, and reads thus: m.petronius .l.f. men .vie ann xxxviii MIL LEG Xllll GEMINA . MILITAVIT . ANN . XVIII . SIGN . FQIT . H . s . E. That is, " Marcus Petronius, son of Lucius of the tribe Menenia, who lived thirty- eight years, was a soldier of the Fourteenth Legion, Gemina, and was in military service eighteen years. He was a standard-bearer, and lies buried here." The fourteenth legion having left this country as early as the reign of Nero, which was sixty years prior to the usually considered era of Roman inscriptions in this country, the finding one bearing its name may certainly be considered a great rarity. At Wroxeter, however, is also a sepulchral monument of Caius Mannius Secundus Pol- lentinus, a soldier of the twentieth legion, of the tribe called PoUia (see the same volume of Proceedings, p. 71) ; and it may be conjectured that the two inscriptions may not be of very dissimilar dates. The legion may, there- fore, have returned for a short interval, and been stationed here temporarily, in the reign of Hadrian, Antoninus, or Severus, to take a part in some of the wars. Territories of the Northern Britons in the Sixth Century. A short summary of these may not be without utility ; and it must be understood that we offer these data, not in the light of being, in every instance, minutely cor- rect, but as the nearest attainable approximation. Strathclyde Proper comprised within its limits, as far as can be ascertained, the present counties of Dunbarton, Renfrew, and Lanark, and the northern half of Ayrshire : and, as we conclude, the shire also of Peebles. Edin, or Eiddin, contained the counties of Linlithgow, Edinburgh, and Haddington. Rheged comprised the present county of Berwick. Argoed appears to have been identical with the shires of Selkirk and Roxburgh of modern days. The Selgovce occupied the present Dumfriesshire. The Novantes occupied the district comprising the Mull of Galloway, etc., etc., which is now known as the county of Wigtown. Guenedota appears to have been Cumberland, Westmore- land, and Lancashire, or a great part of those counties. (See the map, p. 1.) The Southern Picts are considered to have been located in the southern part of Ayrshire, and in the county of 374 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS, [cHAP, Kirkcudbright: having Strathclyde and the SelgoviaB to the north-east, and the Novantes to the south-west. The Northern Picts comprised all the rest of the ancient Cale- donia to the north of Strathclyde and Eiddin. The above seems the extent of what can be at present ascertained of the territorial position of the states of the Northern Britons, being compiled from Ptolemy and the poems of Taliesin, Lowarch-Hen, and Aneurin. Mr. George Vere Irving h^s made some valuable investigations on the subject ; but our information is so limited that it is not practicable to carry out these statistical details so far as to remove all inconsistencies, real or apparent. For instance, the Novantes, detached in their situation in Wigtown and Galloway, had probably some territorial communications with the other Britons which we are not able to show. Again, from the words of Bede's history (lib. iii, c. iv), it would appear that the Southern Picts, located in their quarter, had wrested from them some part of their sea coast, where St. Ninian afterwards founded the bishopric of Witherne, which again is not found in any extant account. The situation of the Novantes, as deduced from Ptolemy, is indisputable. The Otodini, a powerful race, from whom the poem of the Gododin takes its name, there is reason to suppose had always been subdivided, like the Belgae of the South of Britain, into various states ; which states we appear to be able to specify were those of Eiddin, E,heged, and Argoed, of which we have before spoken; besides, that the southern- most part of the territory of the Otodini, which lay beyond the Wall of Severus, had been. long incorporated into the Saxon kingdom of Northumberland, or Bernicia, and had become altogether merged in it. The Otodini thus stand somewhat distinguished from the Selgovae, the Novantes, and the state of Strathclyde, of which we do not find any trace that they were ever subdivided. As to the character of the country occupied by these states, in reference to the nature of its surface, Strathclyde seems to have been partly mountainous and partly other- wise, while Eiddin, Rheged, and Argoed, were chiefly of a lowland description. The district of the Selgovse and Novantes was mountainous, as also was the tract of land the Southern Picts had acquired between those two states. XXI.] ANCIENT LONDON OSTORIUS. 375 Guenedota, comprising Cumberland, Westmorland, etc., was partially mountainous, as there is scarcely need to specify. Ancient London. We will briefly notice how this subject has been brought forward of late years. Allen's London, published in 1829, and Brayley's Londiniana, which appeared about the same time, were chiefly useful in drawing attention to the topic, as we may rather say, from the great uncertainty of some of their data ; when Mr. C. Roach Smith's papers in the ArcJiceologia, about twenty years since, afi'orded new and unexpected light and illustration. Two most interesting as well as learned dis- sertations followed in 1848, by Mr. Arthur Taylor, on the original site of this ancient city in the first and second centuries; as also Mr. Tite's paper, in the present year 1856, in the same publication, distinguished by much acumen and research, Mr. C. Eoach Smith now proposes an extended work in the field of his early inquiries, which cannot fail to be highly useful, not only in collecting new and inedited materials, but also in showing us how much of the older accounts, as those of Allen, Bray ley, etc., etc., we are to receive. Death of Ostorius. Traditions may be of two kinds ; genuine, or invented ; and we cannot say to which class that to which we now refer belongs. The Roman com- mander, Ostorius, died propraetor in Britain in the year 51 ; and those who visit Leicestershire vrill find a Roman camp at Guilsborough ; and the common fame of the country is, that Ostorius died at another adjoining one called Osten Hills, as he was forming this camp. There are four or five other instances, in the Midland Counties, of places called Oyster Hills, and one in particular, near Verulam : all which are in some way or other connected by tradition with this ancient Roman chief. finis. Erbata. For Tudviileh, p. 33, 1. 17, read Tudvulch. For him, p. 60, 1. 40, read them. For Jaciunt, p. 172, 1. 15, read jacent. For Gwron, p. 222, 1. 12, read Gwiou. For 1642, p. 237, 1. 4, read 642. For Jovian, p. 297, 1. 13, read Jovinian. For Silures, p. 310, 1. 16, read Silures and Ordovices. For Boeching, p. 329, 1. 19, read Boecking. For iudentical, p. 345, 1. 6, read identical. KICHAHDS, 37, GREAT QUEEN STREET. iPaWicattons ftg tfjc same ^utfjor. BRITANNIC EESEARCHES, OR NEW FACTS AND RECTIFICATIONS OF ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORY. 8vo, pp. 445, with Engramrigs, Cloth, \5s. The above is intended to establish the early history of this island in a correct formy* and on an extended basis, and to remove mach of the uncertainty which has hitherto hung over its first period. THE COINS OF CUNOBELINE AND OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. 8vo, pp. 334, very copiously lUwstrated with Six Plates and SmerUy-semen Vignettes of Coins, etc., the whole of which, except three, were engraved under the direction of P. W. Faieholt, Esq., P.S.A., Cloth, £1 : 8. This is the first and only work which gives an account of the Moneys of the ancient Britons in their several varieties. 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The Wood Engravings are delineations of antiquities, etc. The above Works are Published or Sold by KUSSELL SMITH, S&, SOHO SQUARE, PUBLISEEB OB SOLD BY JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. literary History, Biography, and Criticism . . 1 Fbilolology and Early English Literature . 4 FioTinci^ Dialects of England .... 7 Aichseology 9 Komiamatics 10 'topography 11 Heraldry, Genealogy and Surnames . . . 16 Fine Arts 16 Popidar Poetry, Stories, and Superstitions • 17 Bibliography — Miscellanies . , . ,18 BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA LITERARIA, or Biography of Literary Characters of Great Britain and Ireland, anqlo-saxon peeiod. By Thomas Weioht, M.A., F.S.A., &o., Membre de I'lnstitute de Prance. Thick 8to, cloth. 6s. (original price 12s.) THE ANaLO-NOEMAJ)f PEBIOD. Thick Svo, cloth. 6s. (prisinal price 12s.) Published under the superintendence of the Council of the Boyal Society of Literature. There is no work in the English Language which gives the reader such a comprehensive and connected History of the Literature of these periods. LITERATURE OF THE TROUBADOURS. HistoiredelaPoesiePro- ven(;ale, par M. Faueiei,, public par J. Mohi, Membre de I'lustitut de France. 3 Tols, 8to, new, sewed. 14s. (original price £1. 4s.) A valuahle work, and forms a fit companion to the Literary Histories of Hallam, Ticknor, and Gingnene. J. R. S. is the only agent in London for the sale of it, at the above moderate price. TUNIUS. The Authorship of the letters of Junius elucidated, including a Biogra- " phical Memoir of Lieut.-Col. Barre, M.P. By John Beitton, P.S.A., &o. Eoyal 8to, with portraits of Lord Shelhume, John Dimming, and JBwrre, from Sir Joshua Seynolds's picture, cloth. 6s Laeqe papee, in 4to, cloth. 9s. An eicceedingly interesting book, giving many particulars of the American War, and the state of parties during that period. 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Contents; — An Angio-Saxon Treatise on Astronomy maining, and expUnatory of all the symbolical signs of the Tenth Centuky, wow firstjiuUisked from a in early scti^twe and famtmg) ; the Bestiary of Pnil- MS. in the British Museum, with a Translation; Livie iippe de Thaun, with a translation; Fragments on Po- des Creatures, by PhiUippe de Thaun, now ^st printed pular Science from the Early Enghsh Metrical Lives Kith a translation, {extremely valuable to Philologists, of the Saints, {the earliest ^iece qf the kind in tht as being tlte earliest specimens o/ Anglo-Norman rff- English Language,) FRAGMENT OF CLERIC'S ANGLO-SAXON GRAMMAR, -*- iElfric's Glossary, and a Poem on the Soul and Body of the Xllth Century, dis- covered among the Archives of Worcester Cathedral. By Sir Thomas Phiihes, Bart, FoL, PEITATEIY PEINIED, sewed. Is. 6d. OKELTON'S (John, Poet Laureat to Semy VUI) Poetical Works : theBowgeol ^ Court, Colin Clout, Why come ye not to Court ? (his celebrated Satire on Wolaey), PliilUp Sparrow, EHnour Kumming, &c. ; with Notes and Life. By the Rev. A. DxCB. 2 vols, 8vo, cloth, 14s. (original price £1. 12s.) " The power.the strangeness, tUevoiuhilityof Ms Ian- great a scholar as ever lived (Erasmns), 'the light guage, the audacity of his satire, and the perfect origin- and ornament of Britain.* He indulged very freely ality ofhis manner, made Skelton one of the most extra- in his writings in censures on monks and Dominicans; ordinary writers of any age or country." — Southcy. and, moreover, had the haj-dihood to reHect, in no very " Skelton is a curious, able, and remarkable writer, mild terms, on the manners 'and life of Cardinal with strong sense, a vein of humour, and some ima- Wolsey. We cannot help considering Skelton as an gination ; he had a wonderitil command of the English ornament of his own time, and a benefactor to those uuiguage, and one who was Htyled, in his turn, by as who come after him," Valuable and Interesting Books, Published or Sold by ^EMI-SAXON.— The Departdng Soul's Address to the Body, a BVagment of a ^ Semi-Saion Poem, diaooTered amoung the Archives of Worcester Cathedral, by Sir Thomab Philiippb, Bart., -with an Sngluh Translation by S. W. Singeb. 8vo, only 100 PBrVATELY PEDTTBD. 2s, "niCTIONARY OF ARCHAIC AND PROVINCIAL WORDS, -*^ Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the Reign of Edward I. By James Oeohabd B^liwelt, F.R.S., F.S.A., &c. 2 vols, 8vo, containing upwards of 1000 pages, closehf printed m double cobwmm^ cloth, a new mid cheaper e^tion. £1, 1*. It contains above 50,000 words (embodying all the are not to be found in ordinary Dictionaries and books known scattered glossaries of the English language), of reference. Most of the principal Archaisms are il- forming a complete key for the reader of our old Poets, lustrated by examples selected from early inedited Dramatists, Theologians, and other authors, whose MSS. and rare books, and by faj the greater portion workB abound wi^ aUuslon?^ of whic^ explanations will be found to be original authoritira. ESSAYS ON ,THE LITERATURE, POPULAR SUPERSTI- TIONS, and History of England in the Middle Ages. By Thomas Wbi&hi, M.A., F.B.9. 2 \ois. post 8to, elegamth/ 'printed, cloth. 16». Con^^i^/^EsBay I. Anglo-Saxon Poetry. n.Aiig;lo- Ensli, and the FrolicBome Elves. XL GnDunlop's Norman Poetry. III. Chansons de Geste, or Historical flistcny of Fiction, xil On the History and trans- Bomances of the Middle Ages. IV. On Proverbs and mission of Popnlar Stories. XIII. On the Poetry of Popular Sayings, V. On the Anglo-Latin Poets of Histray. XIV. Adventures of Herewaid the Saxon, the Twelfth Century. VI. Ahelard and the Scholastic XV. lie Story of Eustace theMonk. XVI. The His- Philosophy. VII. (hi Dr. Grimm's German Mythology. fnryof FuIkePitzwarine. XVl i. On the Popular Cyde Vni. On the National Fairy Mythology of England. of Rohin-Hood Ballads. XVIII. On the Conquest of IX. On the Popular Superstitions of Modem Greece; 1P& their Connexion wiui the Enghsh. X On Friai Ireland by the Ando-Normans. XIX. On Old English Political Songs. XX. On the Scottish Poet, Dunbar. "pARLY HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND. •" Illustrated by an English Poem of the XlVth Centniy, with Notes. By J. O. Halliwell, Post Syo, Secoitd Edition, with a faesimile cf the original MS. m the SriMah Mmemn, cloth. 2a. 6d. "The interest which the curious poem, of which which is not common with such publications. Mr. this pubUcation is chiefly composed, nas excited, is Halhwell has carefully revised the new edition, and proved by the fact of its having been translated into increased its utihty by the addition of a complete and German, and of its having reached a second edition, correct glossary." — jAierary Gazette. 'TORRENT OP PORTUGAL; an English Metrical Eomance' now first pub- ■*- lished, from an unique MS. of the 3CVth Century, preserved in the Chetham Library at Manchester. Edited by J. O. HATiT.rvrEU., &c. Post Svo, cloth, vmform with Sitson, Weher, and mii^s publications. Be, "This is a valuable and interesting addition to our bling to a modem reader^ yet the class to which it list of early English metrical romances, and an in- rightly belongs will value it accordingly j both because dispensable companion to the collections of Eitson, it is curious in its details, and possesses philological Weber, and Ellis." — Literarv Gazette. importance. To the general reader it presents one "A literary curiosity, and one both welcome and feature, viz., the reference to Way land Smith, whom serviceable to the lover of black-lettered lore. Though Sir W. Scott has invested with so much interest."— the obsoleteness of the style may occasion sad atun> Metropolitan Magimne. TJ ARROWING OF HELL; a Miracle Play, written in the Beign of Edward -'--*- II, now first published from the Original in the British Museum, with a Modem Beading, Introduction, and Notes. By James Oboeabd HaUiIWekl, Esq., F.B.S., E.S.A., &c. 8yo, sewed. 2s. This curious piece is supposed to be the earliest dish Poetry; Sharon Tnmer'B England; Co/lier'i specimen of dramatic composition in the Enghsh Ian- History of Enghsh Dramatic Poetry, VoL Xi, p. 213. guage ; vide HaUam's Literature of Europe, Vol. I ; AU thete loriters refer to the Maniueri^t. Strutt's Manners and Customs, Vol. 11 ; Warton's Eu- 'W'UG.^ POETICA; Select Pieces of Old English Popular Poetry, illustrating the -*■ ' Manners and Arts of the XVth Century. Edited by J..O. Halmwell. Post 8to, only 100 copies printed, cloth. 5s. Contents : — Colyn Blowhol's Testament; the De- Lobe, Hennr vuith'a Fool; Bomance of B«bert of bate of the Carpenter's Tools ; the Merchant and Sicily ; an£ five other curioue pieces of the aamx his Son; the Maid and the Magpie ; Elegy on InnA. A NECDOTA LITERARIA : a Collection of Short Poems in English, latin, -^*- and Erenoh, illustrative of the literature and History of England in the Xlllth Century ; and more especially of the Condition and Manners of the different dasses of Society. By T. Weight, M.A., P.S.A., &o. %yo, cloth, only 2^ prviOed. 7s. Gd. pOPULAR ERRORS IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR, particularly in Pronunciation, familiarly pointed out. By &EOEGE Jaokson. 12mo, Teibd Edition, with a coloured frontismeee of the " Sedes Busbeiana." 6d. John Russell Smithy 86, Soko Square^ London, "P ARLY MYSTERIES, and other Latin Poems of theXIIth and Xlllth centuries. ■" Edited, from original MSS. in the British Museumj and the Libraries of Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, and Viennaj by Thos. Weight, M.A., F.S.A. 8vo, hds. 4*. Qd. " Besides the curious specimens of the dramatic on the people of Norfolk, written hy a Monk of Peter- Btyle of Middle-Age Latimty, Mr. Wright has given borough, and answered in the same style by John of two compositions in the Narrative Elegiac Verse (a St. Omer ; and, lastly, some sprightly and often grace- favourite measure at that period), in the Comoedia fill songs from a MS. in the Arundel Collection, which. Babionis and the Geta of Vitalis Blesensis, which form ^ord a very favourable idea of the lyric poetry of a link of connection between the Classical and Middle- our clerical forefathers."— ff««/ie»wn'* Magagme. age Literature: some remarkable Satyrical Khymea ■p ARA MATHEMATICA ; or a CoUection of Treatises on the Mathematics and -^*' Subjects connected with them, from ancient inedited MSS. By J. O. HALLiWEiii. 8vo, Secoitd Edition, cloth. 3j. Contents .-— Johannis de Sacro-Bosco Tractatusi de Duration of Moonlight, from a MS. of the Thirteenth Arte Numerandi ; Method used in England in the Century ; on the Mensuration of Heights and Dis- Fifteenth Century for taking the Altitude of a Steeple; tances ; Alexandri de Villa Dei Carmen de Algorismo j Treatise on the Numeration of Algorism ; Treatise on Preface to a Calendar or Almanack for 1450 j Johannia Glasses for Optical Purposes, by W. Bourne ; Johannis Norfolk in Artem progressionia summulai Notes on Kobyns de Cometis Commentaria; Two Tables showing Early Almanacks, by the Editor, Sec. &c. the time of High Water at London Bridge, and the PHILOLOGICAL PROOFS of the Origmal Unity and Eeeeut Origin of the -■- Human Bace, derived firom a Comparison of the Languages of Europe, Asia^ AMca, and America. By A. J. Johnes. 8vo, cloth. 6s, (origmal price 12s. 6d.) Printed at the suggestion of Dr. Frichard, to whose works it will be found a useful supplement. AMERICANISMS.— A Dictionary of Americanisms. A Glossary of Words and Phrases colloquiallyuBed in the XJnitedStates. ByJ.B.BABTi.ETT. Thick 8vo,ctott. 12*. PHILOLOGICAL GRAMMAR, founded upon English, and framed from a •*- comparison of more than Sixty Languages, being an Litroduction to the Science of Orammar, and a help to Gframmars of all Languages, especially English, Latin, and Crreek. By the Eev. W. Babnes, B. D., author of the "Anglo-Saxon Delectus," "Dorset Dialect," &c. Post 8to, m the press. ^rDbittctal Btalects of Citslanti* "DIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST of all the Works which have been published -L* towards illustrating the Provincial Dialects of England. By John EussEiii Smith. Post 8vo. Is. " Very serviceable to such as prosecute the study of our provincial dialects, or are collecting works on that curious subject. We very cordially recommeud it to notice." — Metropolitan. HALLIWELL^S HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PRO- VINCIAL DIALECTS OF ENGLAND. Illustrated by numerous Examples, (fidractedfrom thelntroduction to thelUctionary of Archaic and Provincial Words.) 8vo. 2s. GLOSSARY OF PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL WORDS USED IN ENGLAND ; by P. Geose, P.S.A. ; with which is now incorporated the Sup- TLEUBST, by Samttel Peooe, E.S.A. Post Svo, cloth. 4ss. 6d. The utility of a Provincial Glossary to all persons de- would be entirely a work of sopererogation. Grose sirous of understanding our ancient poets, is so uni- and Pegge are constantly referred to in Todd's " Joha- versally acknowledged, that to enter into a proof of it son's Dictionary." COENWALL.— Specimens of Cornish Provincial Dialect, collected and arranged by XTncee Jan Tbeenoodle, with some Introductory Remarks and a Glossary by an Antiquarian Friend, also a Selection of Songs and other Pieces connected with Cornwall. Post Svo. With cumms portrait of Dolly Fentreath. Cloth. 4*. CHESHIE.B. — Attempt at a Glossary of some words used in Cheshire. By EoGEB WiLBBAHAM, E.A.S., &0. 12mo, hds. 2s. 6d. (original price 5s.) DEVONSHIEB.— A Devonshire Dialogue in Pour Parts, (bg Mrs. Paimeb, sister to Ssr Joshua Bet/nolds,) with Glossary by the B«v. J. PntLUPPS, of Membury, Devon. 12mo, chth. 2s. 6d. DOESET. Poems of Eural Life, in the Dorset Dialect, with a Dissertation and Glossary. By the Eev. WniiAM BaeneB, B.D. ' Second Edition, enlarged and corrected, royal 12mo, cloth. 10s. A file poetic feehngisdispIayedthroughthevariouB Bums; the " Gentleman's Magazine" for December, pieces in this volume; accSrding to some critica no- 1844, gave a review of the First Edition some pages flbing has appeared equal to it since the time of in length. Vahmhle and Interestmg Books, Published or Sold by DTJEHAM. — A GHossary of Worde used in Teesdale, in the County of Durham. Post 8yo, with a Mafp of the District, cloth, 6a. "Contains about two thouaand words ... It is be- gnage and liteiatme ... the author has evidently lieved the iirst and only collection of words and brought to bear an extensive personal acquaint- nhrases peculiar to this district, and we hail it there- ance with the common language." — Darlington fore as a v^uable contribution to the history of Ian- Titms. ESSEX.— John Noakes and Mary Styles : a Poem j exhibiting some of the most striking lingual localisms peculiar to Essex ; with a Glossary. By Chasms Claek, Esq., of Great Totham Hall, Essex. Post 8to, cloth. 2s. "The poem possesses conaideiable humonp.— M*** " Exhibits the dialect of Essex perfectly."— .Briecto Hagazine Jtcview. " A very pleasant trifle "—Literary Gaieftt. " Full of quaint wit and humoni." — Gent.'t Mag., " A very clever production." — Essex Lit. Journai, Jfay, 1841. " Pull of rich laxmow:."— Essex Mercury. " A very clever and amusing piece of local descrip- " Very ibo\L"— Metropolitan. Utai."—Archxologist. KENT. — Dick and SaT, or Jack and Joan's Eair : a Doggrel Poem, in the Kentish Dialect. Third Edition. 12mo. 6d. I/ANCASHIKB. — Dialect of South Lancashire, or Tim Bobbin's Tummus and Meary ; revised and corrected, Tipith his Bhymes, and AH eitlae&ed Giossaey of Words and Phrases, chiefly used by the rural population of the manufacturing Districts of South Lancashire. By Samuel Bameo£s. 12mo, cloth. Sa. 6d. LEICESTEESHIEE Words, Phrases, and Proverbs. By A. B. Etaws, D.D., Mead Master of Ma/rket-Bosworth Grammwr School. 12mo, eloih, 5». NOBTHAMPTONSHIEE.— The Dialect andPolk-lore of Northamptonshire : a Glossary of Northamptonshire Provincialisms, Collection of Parry Legends, Popular Super- stitions, Ancient Customs, Proverbs, &o. By Thomas SiBEirBEBa. 12mo, cloth, is. SUSSEX. — A Glossary of the Provincialisms of the County of Sussex, By W. Dtjebamt Coofeb, E.S.A. Post 8vo, Secoitd Edition, snxABaED, cloth. 6». SUSSEX. — Jan Cladpole's Trip to 'Merricttr in Search for Dollar Trees, and how he got rich enough to beg his way home ! Written in Sussex Doggerel. 12mo. 6af. WESTMOEELAND and CUMBEELAND.— Dialogues, Poems, Songs, and Ballads, by various Writers, in the Westmoreland and Cumberland Dialects, now first col- lected ; to which is added, a copious Glossary of Words peculiar to those Counties. Post 8vo, pp. 408, cloth. 9s. This collection comprises, in the Westmoreland XAa. the Cambrian Bard (.inchidtng some now jvrst printed ; Uct, Mrs. Ann Wheeler's Four ranuliar" Dialogues, VII. Songs by Miss Blamire and Miss GUpm ; VXIL withFoems, &c.; and in the Cumherland Dialect, 1. Songs by John Sayson; IX. AnExtensive Glossary of Poems and Pastorals by the Kev. Josiah Balph; XL Westmoreland and Cumberland Words. Pastorals, &c., by Ewan Clark j III. Letters from Dublin, by a young Borrowdale Shepherd, by Isaac AH the poetical quotations in "Mr. and Mrs. Sand- Bitson ; IV. Poems by John Stag" ; V. Poems by Mark boy's Visit to the Great Exhibition," are to be found Lonsd^e; VI. BaUads and Songs by Bobert Anderson, in this volume. WILTSHIEB. — A Glossary of Provincial Words and Phrases in use in Wiltshire, showing their Derivation in numerous instances from the Language of the Anglo-Saxons. By John YonSe Aeebman', Esq., E.S.A. 12mo, cloth. Ss, TOEKSHIEE. — ^The Yorkshire Dialect, exemplified in various Dialogues, Tales, and Songs, applicable to the County ; vrith a Glossary. Post 8vo. 1«. "A shiULng book worth its money; most of the feelings of the rustic mind; and the addresses to pieces of composition are not only harmless, but good Biches and Poverty have much of the freedom and and pretty. 'The eclogue on the death of *Awd Daisy,* spirit of Bums." — Gentleman's Magamne, Mtqt an outworn horse, is an outpouring of some of the best 1841. VOEKSHIEE.— The Hallamshire (distriof of SheffieW) Glossary. By the Eev. Joseph HxjHTEE, author of the History of "Hallamshire," " South Yorkshire," &c Post Svo, cloth, is. (original price 8s.) rOEKSHIEB. — ^Baimsla Eoak's Annual, on onny body els as beside fort 'y years 18^ and 1843, be Tom Teeddiehotle j to which is added the Bamsley and Village Eecord, or the Book of Eaets and Fancies, by Ned Nut. 12mo, pp. 100. 1*. YOEKSHIEE.— Sum Thowts abaght Ben Bunt's Weddin j— Tom Treddlehoyle's Thowts abaght Nan Bunt's Chresmaa Tea Party, &c. Two Pieces, (Bamslev Dialect.) 12mo. 6d. > \ n I John Russell Smith, 36, Soho Square, London. A RCH-^OLOGICAL INDEX to Remains of Antiquity of the Celtic, Bomano- ;^^ BritiBh, and Anglo-Saxon Periods, by JoHNToNGtE Asmrman^ Fellow a/nd Secretary qf the Societtf of AnUqucmes. 8vo, illustrated with mtmerous engravinffs, cotavprismg tepwa/rds of fioe Imnd/red ohjectSf cloth. 15*. This work, though intended as an introduction and rows— Urns — Swords— Spears — Knives — Umhones trf a guide to the study of our early antiquities, will, it is Shields — Buckles — Fibulae — BuUse — Hair Pins — hoped, also prove of service as a book of reference to Beads, &c. 8w;. &c. &c. the pxactiaed Archaologist. T^e contents are as fol- The Itineeaey of Antoninus (as far as relates to lows: Britain). The Geog:rapliical Tables of Ptolemy, the Pab-t I. Celtic Peeiod. — Tumuli, or Barrows Notitia, and the Itinekaey of Richaud of Ciken- and Cairns — Cromelechs — Sepulchral Caves — Rocking cestee, together with a classified Index of the con- Stones — Stone Circles, 8tc. &c.— Objects discovered in tents of the Aech^ologia (Vols, i to xxxi) are given Cdtic Sepulchres — Urns — Beads — ^Weapons — Imple- in an Appendix, ments, &^. Part II. Roman o-Beitish Period. — Tumuli of "One of the first wants of an incipient Antiquai7, the Romano-British Period — ^Burial places of tlie Ro- is the facihty of comparison, and here it is furnished mans — Pavements — Camps — Villas — Sepulchral him at one gknce. The plates, indeed, form the most Monuments — Sepulchral Inscriptions — Dedicatory In- valuable part of the book, botli by their number and Bcriptiona — Commemorative Inscriptions — Altars — the judicious selection of types and examples which Urns — Glass Vessels — Fibulse — Armillse — Coins — they contain. It is a book wliich we can, on this ac- CoiBi-moulds, Stc. &c. count, safely and warmly recommend to all who are Paet III. Anglo-Saxon Peeiod. — Tumuli — ^De- interested in the antiquities of their native land." — tailed list of Objects discovered in Anglo-Saxon Bar- Literary Gazette. TJEMAINS OF PAGAN SAXONDOM, prinoipaJly from TumuU in En- -*-*' glajid, drawn from the originals. Described and lilustrated by J. T. Akbeman, E.S.A. 4to, Publishing- in Paets at 2is. Gd. each. DIRECTIONS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF ENGLISH AHTIQTJITIES, espeeiaHy those of the Three First Periods ; or Hmts for the In- experienced. By J. Y. Akeeman. A small tract for distribution, at one shilling per dozen^ useful to give to excavators, ploughmen, 8cc., who are apt to destroy articles they ilud if not of precious metaL ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL. 8yo, toIs. a, 3, 4, ■^^ 5, 6. £1. Iff. each ; and vol. ^ jvst completed^ with 'j Abbey."— £i«. Gaz. Magazine. DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF THE ORIGINAL CHAR- TEES, GEANTS, DONATIONS, &o., constituting the Muniments of Battel Abbey, also the Papers of the Montagus, Sidneys, and Websters, embodying many highly interesting and valuable Eecords of Lands in Sussex, Kent, and Essex, with Preliminary Memoranda of the Abbey of Battel, and Historical Particulars of the Abbots. 8vo, 234 PAG-ES, cloth. ONLY U. 6d. HAND-BOOK TO LEWES, in Sussex, Historical and Descriptive; with Notices of the Eecent Discoveries at the Priory. By Maek Antony Lowee. 12mo, mam/ engravings, cloth. Is. 6d. CHRONICLES OF PEVENSEY, in Sussex. By M. A. Lowee, 12mo, woodcuts. Is. HURSTMONCEUX CASTLE AND ITS LORDS. BytheEev.E VENA3LES. (Eeprinted foom Vol. IV of the Sussex Archseological Collections.) 8to, many engravings, sewed, 3s. ; eloth 4s. NOTES ON THE ANTIQUITIES OF TREVES, MAYENCE, WEISBADEN, NEIDEEBIEBEE, BONN, and COLOGNE. By Chaeles EoACH Smith, F.S.A. (Eeprinted from VoL II of the " Collectanea Antiqua.") 8vo, with mam/ engravings. 7s. 6d. ANNALS AND LEGENDS OP CALAIS; with Sketches of Emigre -^*- Wotabihties, and Memoir of Lady Hamilton. By Kobeet Bell Caxton, author of " Rambles in Sweden and Grottlfliid," &c. &c. Post 8to, with frontispiece cmd vignette^ eiotJi. hs. Princwal Qontents : — History of the Siege by Ei- cester; the Conrgain; the Field of the Cloth of Gold; warfl III. in ^1346-7, with a lloU of the Cominanders Notice of the Tow-n and Castle of Guisnes, and its snr- and their Followers present, from a contemporary MS. prise by John de Lancaster; the town and Seigneurie in the British Museum ; Tlie Allotment of LanM and of Axares; the Sands and Duelling; Villap;es and Houses to Edward's Barons; Calais as an EngUsh Chateau of Sangatte, Coulonge, Mark, Eachalles and Borougli ; 1,1*1; of the Streets and Householders of the Hammes; Eeview of the EngliBh Ocaipation of Calais; same; Henry Vlllth's Court there; Cardinal "Wolsey its Re-capture by the Duke de Guisc; thelowerXown and his Expf nses ; the Enghsh Pale, with the Names and its Lace Trade; our Commercial Relations with crt"Road9,I^-msteads,and villages inthe EnghshEra; France; Emigrfi NotabiMties; Cliarles and Harry the Siege of Therouenne and Toumai; the Pier of Tufton, Capt. Dormer and Edith Jacquemont, Bean Calais; Pros and Cons of the Place; the H6tel Brummell, Jemmy Urquhart and his friend Faun- Dessin; Stej-ne's Chamber; Cliurches of Notre Dame tleroy, "Nimrod," Berkeley Craven, Mytton, Duchess and St. Nicholas; the Hfttel de Ville; Ancient Staple of Kingston; a new Memoir of Lady Hamilton. Stc, Hall; The ^hftteau and Murder of the Duke of Glou- be John Russell Smith, 36, Soho Square, London, TI/rONT SAINT-MICHEL.— HiBtoire et Description de Mont St. Michel en ■»■'-*■ Normandie, texte, par Hericher, dessina par Bouet publics par Bourdon. Folio, 150 pp.] and 13 beautiful plates, executed in tinted lithography, leather back, uncut. £2. 2s, A handBome volume, interesting to the Architect and Archteologiat. GENOA; with Kemarks on the Climate, and its Influence upon Invalids. By Henet Jones Btjkneit, M.D. 12mo, cloth. 4ss. IHeraltirp, (ientalosp, anti Surnames. pUKIOSITIES OP HERALDRY, with lUustrationB from Old English ^ Writers. By Maee Antony Loweb, M.A., Author of "Essays on English Sm- namesj" vdth illmnmated Vitle-page, and mimerous engramngs from desigm hy the Author. 8vo, cloth. 14ff. than an ample exposition of an extraordinary and uni- versal custom, which produced the most important "The present volume is trulj; a worthy sequel (to the '9uKNAMES*)inthe samecurious and antiquarian _ , ^. ^ line, hlending with remarkable facts and intelligence, effect upon the minds and habits of mankind. Buch a fund of amusiog anecdote and illustration, that Literary Gazette, the reader is almost surprised to find that he haa "Mr. Lower's work is both curioi^ and instructive, learned so much, whilst he appeai-ed to be pursuing while the mardinar7^Ihx!7 aie indeed most tmlhlul.'' anise perfection.— £im;2i»<, Bitia imr la Dmcei ia —Athenmm. Mortt, 1862, pATALOGUE OF THE PRINTS which have been Engraved after '-^ Martin Heemskerck, By T. Keebioh, Librarimi to the TJmkersity of Cambridge. 8yo, portrait, bds. 3s. 6d. CATALOGUE OF PICTURES, composed chiefly by the most admired '-^ Masters of the Koman, Florentine, Fsrman, Bologneee, Venetian, Flfimiah, and SVench Schools ; with Descriptions and Critical Bemarks, By Bobebt Foxois, 3 vols, 12mo, cloth. 5s. MEMOIRS OF PAINTING, with a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England since the French Berolution. By W. BuOHANAif. 2 vols. 8to, bds., 7». 6d. (original price £1. 6s.) HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND ESTABLISHMENT OP GOTHIC AKCHITE CTUBE, and an Inquiry into the mode of Painting upon and Staining Glass, as practised in the Ecclesiastical Structures of the Middle Ages, Sy J. S, HA\nuirs, F,S. A. Eoyal 8to, 11 plates, bds. 4». (original price ia».) John Russell Smith, 86, Soho Square, London. Popular ^oetr^, %^t%, anU ^i^ersttttons. TiHE NURSERY RHYMES OF ENGLAND, coUected chiefly from -*• Oral Tradition. Edited by J. O. HaxiiweiIi. The romtTH Edition, enlarged, with 38 Designs, by W. B. Scott, Director of the School of Design^ Newcastle-on-Tyne. 12mo, ilhtminaied cloth, gilt leaves. 4s. Qd. '^Ulustrations ! and here they are ; clever pictures, hood a sprinkling of ancient nursery lore ia worth which the , three-year olds understand before their whole cartloads ofthe wise saws and modem instances A, B, C, and which the fiftjr-three-year olds like almost which are now as duly and carefully concocted by ex- as weU as the tlirees." — Literary Gazette. perienced littiratettrs, into instructive tales for the *'We are pursuaded that the very rudest of these spelling pubUc, as are works of entertainmment for the jingles, tales, and rhymes, possess a strong imagination reading pubhc. The work is worthy of the attention noiurishing power ; and that in infancy and early child- of the popular antiquary." — Tail's Mag. POPULAR RHYMES AND NURSERY TALES, with Historical Elucidations. By J. O. Hailiwell. 12nio, cloth. As. Qd, This very interesting volume on the Traditional Proverb Ehymes, Places, and Families, Superstition Literature of England, is divided into Nursery Anti- Rhymes, Custom Rhymes and Nursery Songs ; a large quitieB, Fireside Nm-seiy Stories, Game Rhymes, numherare here printed for the first time. It maybe Alphabet Rhymes, Riddle Rhymes, Nature Songs, considered a sequel to the preceding article. OLD SONGS AND BALLADS— A Little Boot of Songs and Balladg, gathered from Ancient Music Books, MS. and Printed, by E. E. Eimbault, 1/L.D., F-S-A., &c., elegantly j^rinted in post 8vo, pp. 240, half morocco. 6«. "Dr. Rimtault has been at some jtains to collect the words of the Songs wliich used to delight the Rustics of former times." — Atlas. ROBIN HOOD.— The Eobia Hood Garlands and BaUads, with the Tale of "The Little G«ste," a Collection of all the Poems, Songs, and Ballads relating to this celebrated Yeoman j to ■which is prefixed his History, from Documents hitherto unrevised. By J. M. GrtriOH, F.S.A. 2 vols. 8vo, with immerous pae woodcuts, ^c, hy FairhoU, eitra cloth. £1. Is. {original price £1. 10s.) Two very handsome volumes, fit for the drawing-room tahle. "DALLAD ROMANCES. ByE. H. Hoenb, Esq., Author of "Orion," &e. J-' 12mo, pp. 248, cloth. Ss. {original •price 6s. 6d.) Containing the Noble Heart, a Bohemian Legend; description. Mr Home should write us more Fairy the Monk of Swineshead Abbey, a ballad Chronicle Tales ; we Imow none to equal him since the days of of the death of Eng John i the three Knights of Drayton and 'Eanck."— Examiner. Camelott, aJau-yTalei The Balladof Delora, or the „t., • -.,.■,■ ^ PassionofAndreaComo:BeddGelert,aWelshLegend; . ^S "Pemif P"™ m this volume is afme one it Ben Capstan, a Ballad of the Night Vateh ; the EltJ if ?'?''""'' S'= ?°^}^ ^-ff' ™^ ""' °?^ ™ "'? of the Woodlands a Child's Story '"'' '" treatment well imitates the style of Beaumont "Pure fancy of 'the most abundaiit and picturesque ™'' I'lctcher."-4tf««. jQIR HUGH OP LINCOLN: or an Examination of a curious Tradition ^ respecting the JEWS, with a Notice of the Popular Poetry connected with it. By the Eev. A. Hume, LL.D. 8vo. 2«. T?SSAY ON THE ARCH.ffiOLOGY OP OUR POPULAR ■*-' PHEASES AND NUESEEY EHYMES. By J. B. Keb. 2 vols. 12mo, new cloth. 4s. {original price 12s.) A work which has met with much abuse among the gossiping matter. The author's attempt is to explain renewers, but those who are fond of philological pur- every thmg from the Dutch, wliich he believefl was the smta will read it now it is to be had at so very mo- same language as the Anglo-Saxon, aerate a price, and it really contains a good deal of ]y/[ERRY TALES OP THE WISE MEN OP GOTHAM. ■'■ -•- Edited by Jambs Obchaed Haxliwell, Esq, E.S.A. Post 8vo. Is. Jfi^se tales are supposed to have been composed in "In the time of Henry the Eighth, and after," says me early part of the sixteenth century, by Dr. Andrew Ant-k-Wood, " it was accounted a book full of wit and Borde, the well-known progenitor of Merry Andrews. mirth by scholai's and gentlemen." jQAINT PATRICK'S PURGATORY; an Essay on the Legends of Hell. ^ Purgatory, and Paradise, current during the Middle Ages. By Thomas WElCfHT M.A., E.S.A., &c. Post 8vo, cloth. 6s. ' "It must be observed that this is not a mere ac- the best introduction to Dante that has yet been nub- count of St. Patrick's Purgatory, but a complete lished."— Ziferaf-y Gazette. history of the legends and superstitions relating to the " This appears to be a curious and even amusiuK subject, from the eai'hest tunes, rescued from old MSS. book on the singular subject of Puro-atory in which as well as from old prmted books. Moreover, it em- the idle and fearful di-eams of superstition are shown oraces a smgular chapter of hterary history \utted to be first narrated as talei and then appUed as means oj Warton and all former writers with whom we are of deducing the moral chaiacter of the age in which acnuamtedj and we think we may add, that it forms they pievaUed."— ,^ec(ator. valuable and, Interesting Books, Published or Sold by NOBLE AND RENOWNED HISTORY OF GUY, EARL OJ WARWICK, oontainiag a Full and True Account of his many Famous and Valiant Actions. Iloyal ISmo, moodoids, cloth. 4«. 6d, PHILOSOPHY OF WmCUCnAYI!, (CMefly tdth respect to Caseam Soot- •*- Icmd). By J. MiTCHEi,!,, and J. Dickie. 12mo, cloth. Ss. (original pries 6i.) A curious Tolume, and a fit companion to Sii W. Scott's "Demonology and Witchcraft." ACCOUNT OF THE TRIAL, CONFESSION, AND CON. ■'^ DEMNATION of Six Witches at Maidstone, 1652 j also the Trial and Execution of three others at FaTersham, 1645. 8to. la. These Transactions are unnoticed by all Kentish historians. WONDERFUL DISCOVERY OF THE WITCHCRAFTS OP '^» MAKaARET and PHILIP FLOWER, Daughters of Joan Fbwer, nearBerer (Belyoir), executed at Lincoln, for confessing themselves Actors in the Destruction of LordEosse, Son of the Earl of Rutland, 1618. 8vo. 1». One of the most extraordinary cases of Witchcraft on record* 3Stljliosrap!)^» "DIBLIOTHECA MADRIGALIANA.— A BibKographical Account of the -*-' Musical and Poetical Works published in England during the Sixteenth and Seren- teerith Centuries, under the Titles of Madrigals, Ballets, Ayres, Canzonets, &c., &o. By Edwasd F. EiMBATTi/r, LL.D., F.S.A. 8to, cloth. 5». It records aclass of bookslefkundescribed by Ames, Catalogue of Lyrical Poetry of the age to nrlich Herbert, and fiibdin, and famishes a most valuable it refers. THE MANUSCRIPT RARITIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OP CAMBEIDG-E. By J. O. Halhweli, F.E.S. 8to, bds. 3s {original price 10*. Gd.) A. companion to Hartshome's "Book Earities" of the same Umversity. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE POPULAR TRACTS, formerly in the Library of Captain Cox, of Coventry, a.d, 1575. By J, O. Haluwzll. 8vo, onlg So printed, sevoed. Xs. CATALOGUE OF THE CONTENTS OF THE CODEX HOL- BROOKIANtrS. (A Scientific MS.) By Dr. John Holbrook, Master of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, 1418-1431). By J. O. HaMIWEH. 8vo. 1». ACCOUNT OF THE VERNON MANUSCRIPT, A Volume of Early English Poetry, preserved in the Bodleian Library. By J. O, HAlLiWEit 8yo, only iO printed. l». BIBLIOTHECA CANTIANA. A BaUographical Account of what has been published on the History, Topograplg-, Antiquities, Customs, and Family Genealogy of the County of Kbni, with Biographical Ifotes. By Joror Eussbli Smith, in a handsome 8vo volume, pp. ZlQ,with two plates offaosimiles ofjMtographs of Si emiaent Kentish Writers, 5is. {original price 14is.) — Laege Paper 10». 65. JHtscellanws* NEW FACTS AND VERIFICATIONS OF ANCIENT BEI- TISH HISTORY. By the Rev. Bbale Poste. 8vo,mthengramtgs, cloth, THOMAS SPROTT'S (a monk of Camterlmy, circa 1280) Chronicle of Profene and Sacred History. Translated from the original MS., on 12 parchment skins, in the possession of Joseph Mayer, Esq., of LiverpooL By Dr. W. Beli,. 4to, half bound in morocco, accompanied with an exact Facsimile of the entire Codex, 37 feet long i/it t rotmd morocco case, PEiTATELr eeinted, very ctiriotis, £2. 2s. 'T'ONSTALL (Cuthbert, Sishop of Durham), Sermon preached on Pahn Sunday, -*- 1539, before Henry VHI, reprinted veebatim from the rare edition ba Berikelet t» 1539. 12mo, Is. 6d. ^ An exceedingly interesting Sermon, at the commencement of the Keformation, Strjpe in Ms Memoiiali haf made large extracts from it. ' '"' ««. ■ii,u«.»«— John Russell Smith, 36, Soho Square, London. TAPPENBERG'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, under the ^gb-Saion -" Kings. Translated by Ben J. Thoepb, mfh Additions and Correotiona, hy the Author and, Translator. 2 vols. 8to, cZoiJ. 12«. (prigvaal price &\. \s^ " Of modem works I am most indeUed to the History the hest and surest ^de in penetrating the labyrintTi of England by Lappeuberg, the use of which, more of early English History."— "iSraj Aelfred mi seine particularly in conjunction with the translation given SMle m ier GeschicUc Englanda, vm Dr. ReinoU by Thorpe, and enriched by both those scholars, affords TaulV*— Berlin, 1851. T ETTERS OF THE KINGS OP 'E^GcLKN-Q, mm first collected bom -^ the originals in Eoyal Archives, and &om other authentic sources, private as vreU as public. Edited with Historical Introduction and Notes, by J. O. Hailiwell. Two HANDSOME VOLUMES, post 8vo, with portraits of Semy VJII ami Charles I cloth. 8s. '— ■-■ — ' price £lls.) These volumes form a good companion to Ellis's his letters to the Duke of Buckingham are of the most Original Letters. _ singular nature ; only imagine a letter from a so The collection comprises for the first time the love vereign to his prime minister commencing thus ■ "'MS letters of Henry the VUI. toAune Boleyn in a com- own sweet and dear child, blessing blessing blessine plete form, which may be regarded perhaps as the on thy heart-roots and all thine." Prince CS'arles and most singular documents of the kind that have de- the Duke of Buckingham's Journey into Spain ha» scended to our times j the series of letters of Ed- never been before so fnlly illustrated as it is by th ward TE will be found very interesting specimens of documents given in this work, which also includes th' composition; some of the letters of James I, hitherto very curious letters from the Duke and Duchess d* unpubhshed, throw light on the murder of Overbury, Buckingham to James 1. Pormini/ an essential coin and prove beyond a doubt the King was implicated panion to every History of England. in it m some extraordinary and unpleasant way : but "WHALES. — ^ROTAI Visits and Peog-sesses to Wates, and the Border Counties '^ ' of Cheshiee, Salop, Heebioed, and Monmoitth, from Julius Cffisar, to Queen Victoria, including a succinct History of the Country and People, particularly of the lead- ing Fanulies who Fought during the CivU Wars of Charles I., the latter from MSS. never before published. By Edwaed Paeet. A handsome 4to volume, with ma/rm wood engravings, and fine portrait of the Queen, cloth. £1. Is. HUNTER'S (Rev. Joseph) HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL TEACTS. Post 8vo. 2s. 6d. each. I. Aginconrtj a contribution, towards an authentic m. Milton; a sheaf of Gleanings after his Bio- l/istof the Commanders of the English Host in King graphers and Annotators. Henry the Fifth's Expedition. IV. The Ballad Hero, "Robin Hood," his period n. Collections concerning the Pounders of New real character, &c., investigated, and perhaps aacer- Plymouth, the first Colonists of New England. tained. ' A RCHERY. — ^The Science of Archery, shewing its affinity to Heraldry, and capa- ■'^ bililies of Attainment. By A. P. Haeeison. 8vo, semed. Is. ILLUSTRATIONS OF EATING, displaying the Omnivorous Character of •*- Man, and ejdiibiting the Natives of various Countries at feeding-time. By a Bbef- Eateb. Ecap. Svo, with woodcuts. 2s. ■ELEMENTS OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE; being a Translation of -*-^ the Third Part of Clairbois's " Traits Elementaire de la Construction des Vaisseaui." By J. N. SlEAN&E, Commander, B.IS". Svo, with five large folding plates, cloth 5s TECTURES ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE; being the Substan,^ of -■-' those delivered at the TTnited Service Institution. ByB. Q-aedihee FiSHBOtrsNE Comiaander, B.N. Svo, plates, cloth. 5s. 6d. ' Both these works axe published in illustration of the "Wave System." MEW YORK IN THE YEAR 1695, with Plans of the city and Ports as ■*•' they then existed. By the Eev. John Millee. Now first printed. Svo bds. 2s. 6d. (original price 4s. 6d.) ' rpHOUGHTS IN VERSE FOR THE AFFLICTED. ByaCoraiEr -^ CuBATB. Square 12mo, sewed. Is. pOEMS, partly of Eural Life, in National English. By the Eev. William Baenes author of " Poems in the Dorset Dialect." I2mo, cloth. 5s. WAIFS AND STRAYS. A Collection of Poetry. 12mo, only 250 printed, ' ^ ehiefijyfor presents, sewed. Is. 6(?. MIRROUR OF JUSTICES, written originally in the old French, long before ■*• the Conquest, and many things added by Andeew Hoenb. Translated bv W HTOHES, of Gray's Inn. 12mo, cloth. 2s. ' ' A curious, interesting, and authentic treatise on ancient English law. yalmible and Interesting Books, Published or Sold by CONTRIBUTIONS TO LITERATURE HISTORICAL, AN- ^^ TIQUARIAN, and METRICAL. By Mabe Aktoitt Lowbe, M.A., P.S.A., Author of " Essays on English Surnames," " Curiosities of Heraldry," &c. Post 8to, woodcuts, cloth. 7a 6d CONTBlfTS. 1 On Local Nomenclature. 2 On the Battle of Hastings, an Historical Essay; 3 The Lord Dacre, his mournfid end ; a Ballad. 4 Historical and Archffiological Memoir on the Iron Worls of the South of England, with numerous illustrations. 5 Winchelsea's Deliverance, or the Stout Abbot of Battayle ; in Three Fyttec. 6 The South Downs, a Sketch ; Historical, Anecdotical, and Descriptive^ 7 On Yew Trees in Church-yards. 8 A Lytteir Gi«ste of a Gbeate Eele ; a pleasaunt Ballade. 9 A Discourse of Genealogy. 10 An Antiquarian Pilgrimage in Normandy, with woodcuts, 11 Miscellanea, &c. &c. &c. There is a good deal of quaint and pleasing the Snasex Arclueological Society. Ther are ml reading in this volume, Mr. Lower's jokes are worthy of being printed in a collected form, Thi of the oldest — as heiits the pleasantries of an an- account of the Battle of Hastings and the memoii tiquary, — but, on the whole, we seldom meet with on the Southern Iron Works contain matter of hia more readable antiquarian essays than these. Most torlcal value, in addition to their local interest ii of them have been printed elsewhere. One, on the oonnexion with the topography and archeology oi South Downs, contains the best of the new matter, Sussex. Among the papers now printed for the first The author is at home on the wide expanse of these time that on the Souni Downs is the most important chalk ranges. He speaks with knowledge of the and will be read with much interest, both for th( picturesque villages enclosed in their secluded information it contains and the pleasing style ii nooks, — of the folk-lore and legends of old days which it is written. There are some charming de which still abound amongst the se(}uestered Inhahi- scriptions of scenery, and acceptable notices of thi tants,andof tbehistoricat asBociatlonswhichrender history, traditions, and customs of the district celebrated many spots otherwise of little interest. — Among the mmor contributions in the volume, thi Athentmm. paper on Local Nomenclature is full of valuabl Most of the papers in this volume have already suggestions. Altogether it is a volume of ver appeared in periodicals, and in the Collections of agreeable and instructive reading.— Xi^ Gax. TTANDBOOK to tte LIBRARY of the BRITISH MUSEUM ■*■ *• containing a brief History of its Formation, and of the various Collections o which it is composed ; Descriptions of the Catalogues in present use ; Classed Lists o the Manuscripts, &o. ; and a variety of Information indispeilsable for the " Readers' at that Institution ; with some Account of the principal Public Libraries in London By RiCHAED Sims, of the Department of Manuscripts, Compiler of the " Index ti the Heralds' Visitations." Small 8vo, pp. 438, with map and pltm, cloth, hs It will be found a very uaefol work to every Library of the British Museum is a veir compn literary person or pubhc mstitution in all parts of hensive and instructivevolume. Ihavethesixtiet the world. editiim of " Synopsis of the Contents of the Briiis Museum" before me — I cannot expect to see a su What Mr. Antonio Fanizzi, the keeper of the tietheditionof the jffaretJ-ftoo*, but it deserves to b department of printed books, says might he done. placed by the side of the Synopsis, and! venture t Mr, Richard Sims, of the department of the manu- predict for it a wide circulation.— Jfr, JBolto saij^tB, says shall be done. His Hand-book to the ConttyJnNotetand (^uerietjiio.ilS. A GRAMMAR of BRITISH HERALDRY, consisting of "Blazon and " Marshalling," with an Introduction on the Rise and Progress of Symbol and Ensigns. By the Rev. W. SwAHB Etams, B.A. 8vo, with 26 jalafes, com^risiii, upwards of 4100 figures, cloth. Ss. One of the best introductions ever published. A PLEA FOR THE ANTIQUITY OF HERALDRY, with a •^ *- Attempt to Expound its Theory and Elucidate its History. By W. SMITH Blil Esq., of the Middle Temple. 8vo, sewed. Is 6d A FEW NOTES ON SHAKESPEARE, with Occaaional Remarks o the Emendations of the Manuscript-Corrector in Mr. Collier's copy of thefoli) 1632. By the Rev. Alexandeb Dycb. 8vo, eloth. 6s Mr D vce'B Notes are peeuliarly delightful, from has enabled him to enrich them. AU ftat he h the stores of illustration with which hS extensive recorded is valuable. We read his little yolra with pleasure end close it mtb iegret/—£tKn> reading not only among our writers, butamongthose of other coantries, especially of the Italian poets, eatttle. John Russell Smith, 36^ Soho Square, London. A FEW WORDS IN REPLY TO MR. DYCE'S " FEW NOTES ON SHAEESPEARE." By the Hot. Joseph H^ibe. Bvo.sewed. U T^^ ^™^LDI SHAKESPEARB.-NotesandEmendationsonthe Ji-lays of Shakespeare from a recently-discovered annotated copy by the late JOSBPH Geimaidi, Esq., Comedian. 8vo, cuts. Is A humourous Squib on the late Shakespeare Emeudationa. CHAKESPEARE'S VERSIFICATION a^d its apparent Irregularities •^ explained by Examples from early and late EngUsh "Writers. By the late WlMlAM SiDNET Waikbb, formerly Eellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; edited by W. N AHSON Lbttsom, Esq. Ecp. 8to, cloth. Gs. A PHILOLOGICAL GRAMMAR, grounded upon EngUsh, and formed ■^*- from a comparison of more than Sixty Languages. Being an Introduction to the Science of Grammars of all Languages, especially English, Latin, and Greek. By the Eev. W. Babhes, B.D., of St. John's College, Cambridge. Author of " Poems in the Dorset Dialect," "Anglo Saxon Delectus," &c. 8vo, pp. 322, cloth. 9» npiM BOBBIN'S LANCASHIRE DIALECT, Tvith his Ehymes and -*• an enlarged G-lossary of Words and Phrases, used by the Kural Population of South Lancaehire. By Samuel Bamfoed. 12mo, the second edition, cloth^ Ss- Gd TJHITANNIC EESEARCHES : or, New Facts and Eectifications of -*-* Ancient British History. By the Kev. BeaIiE Poste, M.A. 8to, (pp. 448) mth engramngs, cloth, 1 hs The author of this volume may justly claim tient study. The objects which will occupy the credit for considerable learning, great industry, attentionof the reader are— 1. The political positioa aud, above ^ strong faith in the interest and im- of the principal British powers before the Koman, portance of his subject On various conquest— under the Koman dominion, and strug- pointshe has given ub additional information aud gling unsucceasfully against the Anglo-Saxon race; afforded us new views, for which we are bound to I. Tnie geography of Ancient Britain ; 3. An inves- thank him. The body of the book is followed by a tigaticn of the Ancient British Historians, Gildaa very complete index, so as to render reference to and Nennius, and the more obscure British chroui- any part of it easy : this was the more necessary on clers; 4. The ancient atone monuments of the Celtic account of the multifariousness of tlie topics period ; and, lastly, some curious and interesting treated, the variety of persons mentioned, and the notices of the early British churcli. Mr. Poste has many works quoted. — AthetKSum, Oct. 8, 1853. not touched on subjects which have received much TJie Eev. Beale Poste has lono; been known to attention from others, save in cases where he had. antiquaries as one of the best read of all those who somethiag new to offer, and the volume must be have elucidated the earliest annals of tliis country. regarded, therefore, as an entirely new collection of He is a practical man, has investigated for himself discovei-ies and deductions tending to throw light monuments and manuscripts, and we have in the on the dai'kest as well as the earliest portion of our above-named volume the fruits of many years' pa- national Mstory. — Atlas. pOINS OF CUNOBELINE and of the ANCIENT BRITONS. ^ By the Eev. I 4Dpriuted). £1. 8» By the Eev. Beale Poste, B.C.L. 8vo, plates, and many woodcuts, cloth (paly TJ ARONIA ANGLIA CONCENTRATA ; or a Concentration of all •*-^ the Baronies called Baronies in Eee, deriving their Origin from Writ of Sum- mons, and not from any specific Limited Creation, showing the Descent and line of Heirship, as well as those Families mentioned by Sir WiUiam Dudgale, as of those whom that celebrated author has omitted to notice; JBterspersed with Interesting Notices and Explanatory Bemarks. Whereto is added the Proofs of Parhamentary Sitting from the Eeign of Edward I to Queen Anne; also a Glossary of Dormant English, Scotch, and Irish Peerage Titles, with references to presumed existing Seirs. By Sir T. C. Baues. 2 vols. 4to, cloth. £3. 3* sow oBrsEED roB 15« Abook of great research by the well-kDowu au- to his former works. Vol.ii, pp, 210-300, containa tboiofthe " Domiajit and Extinct Peerage," and an Historical Account of the first settlement of other heraldic and historical works. Those fond of Kova Scotia, and the foundation of the Order of gical pursuits ought to secure a copy while Nova Scotia Baronets, distinguishing those who It is so cheap. It may be considered a Supplement had seifiin of lands there. Valuable and Interesting Books, Published or Sold by -RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW (New Series) ; condsting of Criticism. -'-*' npon, Analysis of, aa^ Extracts from cviriouB, usrfa], valuable, and scarce Old Books. Vol. X, 8to, pp. 436, cloth. 10* 6d \* Published QimH^eily at it. id. each Number.— No. VH is poblislied this day. COSTENIS OJ ITo. V. 1 Sir William Savenant, Foet Jjaureate and Dramatist, 1673. 2 Cooie's "Poop Man's Case," 1648. 3 Old English Letter-writing ; Angel Day's English Secretary, 1592 ; W. Eulwood's Enemy of Idlenesse. 4 The Old Practice of Qardening ; Thos. HyU's Briefe and Pleasaunt Treatise, 1563. 6 EngUsh Political Songs and Satires, from King Jolm to Ci«orge I. 6 Medieval 'Travellers in the HoIylJand. 1 The Athenian Letters, by Lord Hardwioke and others. 8 The Writings of Wace ttie Trouv&re. Anbcdota Liisbasu. — Pep/s Directions for the Disposition of his Libraiy; A legendary Poem of the 15th Centm^, the Story laid at Fiumouth, in Cornwall : both now first printed. CoKorariB OP No. TX 1 Drayton's Polyolbion. 2 Penn's No Cross No Crown. 3 Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent. 4 Philosophy of the Table in the Time of Charles 1. 5 Biussia under Peter the Great. 6 Life and Works of Leland, the Antiquary. 1 The Decay of G-ood Manners. 8 Stephen's Essayes and Characters, 1615. AiTECSOTA LiTEBABiA. — The Child of Bristow, a Metrical Legend. Now first printed. Thetitleof this Beview explains its objects. It tointere8taiodenireaders;wesballlaybeforetbem is intended to Bupplya place nnMed in our peiiodi- from time to time, essays on Tarions branc}iesof cal hteratnre, and this first number is very satis- the literature of former days, English or foreign; factory. The papers are variedand interesting, not we shall giro accounts of rare ana curions books ; overlaid by the display of too much learning Mr the point out and bring forwardbeauties from forgotten general reader, but showing sufficient research and authors ; and tell the knowledge and opinions of industry on the part of the writers to distinguish other days." The design is well carried out in this the articles from mere ephemeral reviews of passing nnmber, and will, no doubt, befnrther developed as publications. In the prospectus the editor says the work advances. It is to be published quarterly, "It is our design to select,&omthe vast field of the at averymoderateprice,andwi]I,wefaaTenodoubt. literature of the past, sabjectswhlch are most likely prove a snccessM underteking. — Jilat, KEMAINS OF PAGAN SAXONDOM, principally from Tumuli in England. Brawn from the Originals. Described and Blnstrated by JoHir YoN&E AkEBii£A2T, Fellow and Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. 4to, pwrt» 1 to 9. 2« 6rf each {Ft. 10 m the press). The plates are admiiably executed b; Ur. Basire, and colonred under the directum Ot the Author. It IB a work well worthy the notice of the Azdueologist. WILTSHIB/E TALES^ illnatrative of the Manners, Customs, and Dialect of that and Adjoining Counties. By JoKN* YoiraE Aeebman. 12mo, cloth. 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