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Cornell University LibraryDA 32.A76 1913

3 1924 027 971 716

Cornell UniversityLibrary

The original of this book is inthe Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions inthe United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924027971716

A LIST OF THE VARIOUS COUNTRIES, ISLANDS, TERRITORIES,AND POSSESSIONS WHICH MAKE UP THE " BRITISH EMPIRE,"AND IN WHICH THE "UNION JACK" FLIES:Thejigv/res given im, this list are those of the last available statistics.^

Europe.United Kingdom ... 46,035,570Gibraltar 18,416Maltese Islands 216,617

Asia.Cyprus

PPI^THECBOSS(IF"ST. OEORCE"

FOR ENCLANO.

THE CROSS OF "ST. ANDREW THE CROSS OF "ST. PATRICK"

FOR SOOTUHD. FOR IRELAND.

THE "UNION JACK."

The UNION JACK is made up of the three Grosses of ENGLAND,SCOTLAND, and IRELAND, and is thus truly the Flag of the UNION.In the early history of England the Red Cross of St. George by itselfwas the Flag of England. When the Crowns of England and Scotlandwere united at the accession of James the VI. of Scotland to thethrone of England, under the title of James the 1st, King of GreatBritain and Ireland, the White Cross (op Saltire) of St. Andrew wasadded to the Cross of St. George; but It was not until the Act ofUnion between England and Scotland in 1707 that the flag containingthe Crosses of England and Scotland became by law the NationalFlag. In 1801, after the Union with Ireland, the Red Cross of St.Patrick was added, and thus the UNION JACK was made up.

AHistory of EnglandFROM THE LANDING OF JULIUS CAESAR

TO THE PRESENT DAY

BY

The Right Hon. H. O. ARNOLD-FQRSTERAuthor of "The Citizen Reader," "The Laws of Every-day Life,"

"This World of Ours," "Things New and Old,""In a Conning Tower,|' etc.

WITH ABOUT 250 ILLUSTRATIONS

FORTY-SEVENTH THOUSAND

CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITEDLONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE

Fall bights reserved]

^^zz^^^

WILLIAM EDWARD ARNOLD-FORSTER,FOR WHOSE BENEFIT AND INSTRUCTION

IT WAS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED,

AND TO WHOSE FRIENDLY CRITICISM OF ITS PROOF-SHEETS

THE AUTHOR HAS FREQUENTLY BEEN INDEBTED,

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY HIS

AFFECTIONATE FATHER,

PREFACEThere is, and it may be hoped there will always be, a demandfor a history of England. It would be idle to pretend that the

supply is not large and in many respects adequate. At the

same time there are undoubtedly many thousands of personswho have neither the means to purchase, nor the leisure toperuse, the great standard works with which the genius and

industry of modern historians have happily endowed us, andwho yet wish to know something of their country's past, andto understand how, from very small beginnings, our nation

has achieved its present great position among the pieoples ofthe earth.

Those who are acquainted with the teaching of history inmany of our public and private schools must be aware that thesubject often fails to interest, and that some of the historicalsummaries now in use, though accurate and admirable in manyrespects, are read as a task and not as a pleasure. In manyhomes, also, there is undoubtedly a demand for a History ofEngland of manageable size at a reasonable cost, and written

in such a manner as to attract and pot to repel young readers.

And while it is believed that the present History may to someextent meet the requirements of schools and of young readers

at their homes, it is believed that it may also be found useful

to. a atill larger qircle of readers.

iv Preface

A small work, written in simple language, sufficiently full

to serve for reference, and at the same time sufficiently interest-

ing to be read as well as to be consulted, a work within the

reach of all in matter of price, and rendered attractive by good

illustrations copied from first-rate originals, is what very many

English men and women, both young and old, undoubtedly

require. To supply such a need has been the sole aim of the

author.

A few words may be permitted with regard to the character

of the work itself. In making yet another addition to the great

library of English historical literature, some explanation, or

perhaps indeed some apology, is due from the author. To

apply the term "A History of England " to a contribution pf

this size may seem preposterous. The record of our national

life is so full, so long, so crowded with incident, so elaborate,

that even great histories, written in many volumes by master

hands, can only illustrate and cannot exhaust the theme to

which they are devoted. The author of the present work isvery conscious of the fact, and yet is reluctant to bring it

forward with any such repellent title as "A Summary," or "AnOutline of .English History." Such titles seem on the face ofthem to imply that the element of interest and the romanceinseparable from the life and doings of individuals are excluded,and that an amplified chronological table has been made todo duty for a history. But to read English history and fail torealise that it is replete with interest, sparkling with episode,and full of dramatic incident, is to miss all the pleasure andmost of the instruction which its study, if properly pursued,can give.

An attempt has therefore been made in the present History

Preface v

to clothe the skeleton of chronological fact with the flesh andblood which are essential parts of the animated and living figure.In so small a work such an object can only be achieved bysacrificing very much that might well be included in a largerHistory. It has been necessary to select certain episodes andcertain periods for detailed description, while other episodes

and other periods receive but scant mention or are relegated tothe " Summaries " which will be found at the heads of chapters.But throughout, a consistent endeavour has been made to main-tain the thread of interest in the story, and the episodes selectedfor detailed description are, in the opinion of the author, those

which most fittingly express the cardinal fact or the dominatingidea of the time in which they occur. If an apparently undue

number of pages be devoted to the story of Henry II. andBecket, it is because the story itself is an illustration of the

great struggle between the royal and the ecclesiastical power

which marked the time. The story of Magna Charta occupiesmore space than the record of other periods crowded with

incident ; but the Charter, from the date of its being granted downto the present day, is a dominating fact in the whole history of

England. The Reformation and the great intellectual revival

by which it was preceded and accompanied are treated at some

length ; and in this and in other instances pains have been taken

to give life to the story and to make it interesting to the readeras well as serviceable to those whose studies are, unfortunately

for himself, undertaken only with the view of qualifying for an

examination.

Of the structure of the work and of its internal history, a

word remains to be said. The author has largely based it

upon a series of books by himself, which have already appeared

vi Preface

under the title of "Things New and Old." The earlier part

of that series has been almost entirely rewritten. The latter

part has been extended and modified in many importatit

particulars, so as to adapt it to general readers, and to make

it uniform in style and treatment with the remainder of this

"History of England."

The' series on which the present History is based has under-

gone the ordeal of public criticism, and the sale of over 100,000

copies has borne testimony to the fact that the work in its

earlier shape met the requirements of a considerable numberof readers. The author hopes that the present History will

reach even a wider circle, and may be the means of inducing

many English men and women to pursue the study of their

national historya study which will amply repay them, and in

which even the most diligent student will never exhaust the

available material.

H. O. A.-F.

PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITIONFifteen years have passed since this " History of England " waswritten by my husband. Since then some slight additions havebeen made to it at intervals in order to bring successive editionsup to date, but he always looked forward to a time when he should

be free and able to complete the book himself, and to carry on its

story into the early years of the new century. There were, however,

constant and pressing claims on the time and slender strength of

a man whose life was given almost entirely to the public service

;

and the chapters that he meant to rewrite and to complete were

left unwritten when he died in 1909.Because it was his wish, I have carried out, although very

imperfectly, the task that would have been done so much better

by him. The chapters dealing with the Victorian Age have been

re-arranged and extended, and others have been added bringing

the story down to our own times. My warmest thanks are duefor the help given to me by my friend, Miss Rotha Clay, to

whom, as well as myself, this work has been a labour of love.

MARY ARNOLD-FORSTER.Basset Down,

Wroughtoii,1913.

CONTENTSPART ONE

From the Roman to the Norman.55 B.C.A.D. 1066

CHAPTER PAGENote ..... ... ... I

1. The Romans in Britain.. 55 B.C.

a.d. 436 ..... 22. The Coming of the Saxons. 436

449 . . . . ... 24

3. The Saxon Conquest. 449597 ..... .30

4. How the Saxons became English and the English became Christians.597837 39

5 The Northmen. 837871 -526. The Reign of King Alfred. 871901 .... -577 The English Kings from Edward " the Elder " to Edward " the Martyr."

901979 65

5. The Danish Conquest. 9791016. ...... 789. The Danish Kings and Edward the Confessor. 10161066 . . 83

ro. The Norman Conquerors. 1066 ....... 9011. The Story of the English 9412. The Historians and Writers of England before the Norman Conquest loi

PART TWOFrom the Norman Conquest to the Accession

OF Edward. 10661272

Note

13. William 1.The Norman Conquest. 1066108714. Feudalism ......15. William II. " The Red King." 1087iioo16. Henry I. iioo1135 ....17. Stephen. 11351154 ....

.18. Henry II. 1154118919. Richard Coeur-de-Lion. 1189 119920. JohnThe History of the Charters. 1199 121621. What the Great Charter did for Englishmen22. Henry III.The ParUament of England. 12x61272

105106114117

123129131147153i6z176

Contents

part threeEngland under English Kings. 12721485

1307132713271377

CHAPTERXote

23. Edward I. and " The Breaking of Wales." 1272130724. Scotland ........25. Edward II."The Making of Scotland26. Edward III." The Ruin of France.'27. Richard II. 1377139928. Henry IV. 1399141329. Henry V. 1413142230. Henry VI." The Freeing oi France,3r. York and Lancaster. 1445145532. Edward IV. 1455148333. The Invention of Printing .34. Edward V. and Richard III. 14831485

14221445

PAGE18718S194201208218225231237245250254259

PART FOUR

The Tudors. 14851603

35363738394041

424344,

4546,

4748,

4950.

15091547Divorce .

15581603

Note ......

Henry VII. 14851509Henry VIII. and England at War.The Great Cardinal and the King'sThe Protestant ReformationHenry as Hea4 of the ChurchEdward VI. 15471553What the Reformation MeantMary. 15531558ElizabethThe Protestant Queen,The Sorrowful History of Mary, Queen of ScotsProtestants and Roman Catholics Abroad and at HomeThe Story of the Great Armada ....The Last Years of the Great Queen ...A New World and a New Age ....Literature and Art in the Tudor PeriodParliamentDressDwellings^SchoolsThe Calendar

267268288299309315326333336356369377382394398407419

part fiveThe Stuarts. 16031714

Nolc ............51. James Stuart, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 1603 162552. Charles I.How the King angered the Parliament. 1625163053. The King defies Parliament. 16301642 .....

429430453468

Contents

54. How Parliament punished the King. 16421649 .55. The Commonwealth of England. 1649166056. Charles II. 16601685 . . ...57. James II. and the End of Absolute Monarchy in England, 1685168858. William III. and MaryThe Revolution and Limited Monarchy,

16891703 . . . . ...59. AnneThe Last of the Stuarts. 1702171460. Constitutional History of the Stuart Period .61. Literature in the Stuart Period .....62. Writers of the Later Stuart Period63. Science, Art, and Daily Life under the Stuarts

480494516530

541557573578589594

PART SIX

The House of Hanover. 17141912Note

64. George I. 17141727 . . . .65. George II. 17271760 ....66. Clive, Wolfe, and Washington67. George HI. 1760182068. The Act of Union with Ireland69. The French Revolution ....70. The Great War with France. Part I. .71. The Great War with France. Part 11.72. George IV. and William IV.The Great Peace,73. Writers and Artists from George I. to Victoria74. Early Days of Queen Victoria, 18371861 .75. The British Empire ......76. Steps on the Path of Freedom77. Later Years of Queen Victoria, i8611901 .78. Writers and Artists in the Reign of Queen Victoria7g. The Reign of Edward VII. and the Conquests of Peace80. Death of Edward VII. and Accession of George V.

Index ........

1820- 1837

. 601601

. 621

. 642

. 657

. 672

. 678

. 684

. 701 719 727. 745 7?2 783. 807. 814. 819. 828. 837

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSPAGE

The " Union Jack" Frontispiece

Julius Caesar ........Dover Cliffs : " The White Walls of England " .A Penny .....,.Roman Soldiers (from Trajan's Column) .--,..Britons and their Boats ....Stonehenge as it is . . .Stonehenge as it was . .

. .

The Mistletoe Bough .... .... 12" Caractacus was sent to Rome, and there brought before the Emperor Claudius "15The Roman Gateway at Lincoln ...... igA Roman Pavement .......... igThe Shortest Distance between two Points is a Straight Line

. 20The Roman Wall, looking East from near Housesteads. . 21Rochester Castle and the Medway ..... 29" Gregory the Great"...

.

- 41Holy Island. ....

.47The Interior of Durham Cathedral, showing the Norman Pillars

. 48A " Northman",........

-SiThe " Keels " of the Northmen

. 54A Harp of the Ninth Century . . 58The " White Horse " near Uffington .

. 61An Anglo-Saxon Ship ......... 63Romsey Abbey ..... . 73One of our English Wild Beasts^The Badger . . . 74St. Dunstan's Church, Fleet Street, London . . .75One of our English Wild BeastsThe Weasel .

. 76The Murder of King Edward .... . .77The Death of Alphege . . .81" Rose " Window in Westminster Abbey . . 88Westminster Abbey .... .... 89Harold taken Prisoner on the Norman Coast . . 91Norman and Saxon Arms ... . 108Norman Soldiers...... . . noA Vassal doing Homage to his Lord .... . 113Stone marking the Spot where William Rufus was Killed . . 119Ancient Buttresses of Westminster Hall, now covered up 120Westminster Hall. . . ....... 121Planta Genista, a Sprig of " Broom " ... iz8Harlech Castle 130Canterbury Cathedral ......... 133The Cathedral of Sens . . . . . . . .134

I40144151i6o167173

xiv LrsT OF IllustrationsPAGfi

Bishop and Barons in the Time of the Normans . . , 136A Bishop's Court in Norman Times ...-King Henry before the Tomb of Thomas A'Becket at Canterbury .King Richard setting out on the Crusade . . .Runnymede .... The Judges entering an Assize Town .Bailiffs breaking " Magna Charta "

Queen Elizabeth in her "Ruff" . . I75The Barons asking Henry HI. to keep his Promises . . I79Carnarvon Castle . ...... I95

The Coronation Chair and "The Stone of Destiny" . rggStirling Castle at the Present Day .... . 205Bannockbum : Bruce reviewing his Troops before the Battle 207English Archer armed with the " Long Bow " 212Cannon of the Fifteenth Century .Gunpowder puts the Weak and the Strong on Equal TermsRichard II. (from the Portrait in Westminster Abbey) .Henry IV. . . . . Joan of Arc (from the Statue in Paris)The Trial of Joan of Arc ...A Rose from the Decorations of the Houses of ParliamentThe Quarrel in the Temple GardensCaxton presenting his Book to Edward IV. (from the MS. in the Library of

Lambeth Palace) . . . . 255Lines from a Book printed by Caxton ." Lower Case," or Small Letters" Upper Case," or CapitalsThe Crown in the Hawthorn Bush : a Tudor Emblem .Richard HI. at the Battle of Bosworth . . . .A York and Lancaster Rose, Red and White on the same StalkHenry VII....The Tower of London . . ...Sword presented by Henry VII. to the Loyal City of ExeterHenry's Departure from the Earl of Oxford's Castle at HedinghamA " Rose Noble " of Henry VII. . . ....A Yeoman of the Guard . . . .Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster Abbey ...Henry VIII. (from the Portrait by Holbein, in the Possession of the Earl of

Warwick) . . ....Catharine of Aragon ......Twisel Bridge ..........Cardinal Wolsey (from the Portrait by Holbein) ....The Quadrangle of Christ Church (College), OxfordClement VII. (from the Portrait by Titian)History on a Penny .....Thomas Cromwell (from the Portrait by Holbein) .Martin Luther (from the Portrait by L. Cranach) .The Tune of " Luther's Hymn " .Sir Thomas More (from the Portrait by Holbein) .Amie of Cleves (from the Portrait by Holbein) ....

214215218227240241248249

256257262263264269273276278280282287

2912942963003013043063073103"314321

List OF Illustrations xv

Sea Fight between Lord Howard and Sir Andrew BartonEdward VI. (from the Portrait by Holbein)The Block, the Headsman's Axe and Mask .....Lady Jane Grey (from the Portrait at the Bodleian Library, Oxford)Lady Jane Grey on her Way to the Scaffold ....Queen Mary (from the Portrait by Lucas D'Heere, in the Possession of the

Society of Antiquaries) ....A Shilling of Philip and Mary . ...Philip II

. .

The Martyrs' Memorial, Oxford .....Archbishop Cranmer (from a Picture at Lambeth Palace)The Market Place, Calais ......Queen Elizabeth's SignatureLord BurleighQueen Elizabeth (from the Portrait by Zucchero, tu Possession of Marquis

of Salisbury).........Mary Stuart, Queen of ScotsJohn Knox.....Edinburgh : A View from the Castle .....Henry IV. of France and Navarre (from the Portrait by Rubens) .Queen Elizabeth at Tilbury . . . .On the Watch : Lighting the Beacon .

,

The Armada coming up the Channel (from the Painting in the House ofLords) .......

" On the Rocks of Galway " .....The Known World before the Tudor Period .The Known World at the Close of the Tudor Period .Statue of Drake on Plymouth HoeSome " Things New and Old " . ...Some Famous Books of Tudor Timer ....Anne Hathaway's Cottage ....Portrait of Raphael, by Himself .....Portion of the Tomb of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, by Michel Angelo, in the

Medicis Chapel, Florence . . ...A "'Pointed" Window. . . . .A " Perpendicular " WindowKing's College, Cambridge . . . .James I. (from the Mezzotint by J. Smith, after Van Dyck)Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury (from the Portrait by Zucchero)The Arrest of Guy Fawkes . .Francis Baron, Lord Verulam (from the Portrait by Van Somer) .Sir Walter Raleigh (from the portrait by Zucchero)Arms of the University of Oxford . . Henrietta Maria ........Charles I. (from the Mezzotint by J. Smith, after Van Dyck)George Villiers, Duke of Buckmgham (from the Portrait by Gerard Honthorst)Archbishop LaudThe " Speaker " held down in the ChairPuritans and Cavaliers

PAGH

328330338341

343345346349352355360362

367370371373378385388

389393397399403405408411417

418423423425434437443445447450455456459463467469

XVI List op JLLUSTRATidifS

Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford (from the Portrait by Van Dyck)King Charles and Speaker Lenthall .... . Prince Rupert (from the Portrait by Van Dyck)Cavalier Soldiers . ....John Hampden ... ...Statue of -Falkland in the Houses of Parliament .Roundhead Soldiers .......Siege-piece (value los.) issued during the Siege of Colchester.Siege-piece issued during the Siege of Newark .....The Banqueting Hall, now the Royal United Service Institution, White-

hall .

Great Seal of the Commonwealth of England (Obverse)Great Seal of the Commonwealth of England (Reverse)General Monk . . . ..." General-at-Sea " Blake (from the Portrait in Greenwich Hospital)Naval Flag of the .Commonwealth (photographed from the Original at

Chatham Dockyard) . .....Oliver Cromwell . . ...General Monk entering London . . .....Charles II. (from the Mezzotint by G. R. Williams, after Sir Godfrey Kneller)The Landing of Charles II. at Dover (Portion of a Picture by Benjamin West,

P.R.A.) .... . . .Ships of the Time of Charles II. .

. .

Half-crown of Charles II. . . . .The Duke of Monmouth ......James II. (after the Painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller) .Monmouth before King James ......The Seven Bishops entering the TowerWilliam III. (from the Portrait by Jan Wyck)Chapel Royal, The Castle, Dublin. .....The English Ships breaking the Boom at Derry .John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dimdee (from the Portrait by Sir

Peter Lely) ........Queen Mary (from the portrait by William Wissing)Queen Anne (from the Mezzotint by J. Smith, after Sir Godfrey Kneller)John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough (from the Mezzotint by J. Smith, after

Sir Godfrey Kneller) . ....Charge of Marlborough's Horse at the Battle of BlenheimThe Rock of Gibraltar from Algeciras

.

Great Seal of Queen Anne (Obverse) ....Great Seal of Queen Anne (Reverse) ....John Milton (from the Miniature by Samuel Cooper)John Bunyan (from the Portrait by Thomas Sadler)A Page from an Early NewspaperSir Isaac Newton ...

..

St. Paul's Cathedral, designed by Sir Christopher WrenGeorge I. . ...Louis XIV. of France .

. ...

James Edward Stuart, " The Old Pretender '

PAGE

475479481482485486488490490

495496497502504

505507515518

519521522528531535539543547549

551555559

561563564569571579583593595597605607609

List of Illustrations xvii.

'AGEBuying and Selling South Sea Shares (from the Painting by E. M. Ward, R.A.,

in the National Gallery of British Art) gigGeorge II. (from the Portrait by ]. Shackleton) 623Sir Robert Walpole 624The House of Commons in 1742 . . . . .

. . .627Charles Edward Stuart, "The Young Pretender" (from the Portrait by

Nicolas Largilliere) ......... 632Prince Charlie's Vanguard at Manchester 636Robert, Lord Clive (from the Portrait by Gainsborough)

.. 646

Major Washington planting the English Flag on Fort Duquesne . 651Major-General Wolfe (from a Painting by F. Turin) . .

. 653William Pitt, Lord Chatham (from the Portrait by R. Brompton)

. . 655George III. (from the Portrait by Allan Ramsay)...

. 660Quebec, from the St. Lawrence .....

. . 663Edmund Burke (from the Portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds)

. . 664Throwing the Tea overboard in Boston Harbour ..... 665Lord North (from the Portrait by N. Dance) . ... 666WiUiam Pitt (from the Portrait by Hoppner) . 674Henry Grattan (from the Portrait by F. Wheatley)

.. 676

The Bastille, Paris .......... 679Louis XVI. (after the Portrait by Boze, 1785) ..... 681Napoleon Buonaparte, First Consul (from a Drawing by L. David) . 685Mutineers threatening their Officers ... ... 689Three-deckers going into Action . . . ... 691Admiral Lord Nelson ..... . 692Nelson coming on Deck before the Battle of Trafalgar . . 695The Death of Nelson (from the Engraving published by the Art Union of

London, after the painting by Daniel Maclise, R.A.) . . . 697Charles James Fox (after the Portrait by Sir Joshua Resmolds) 699The Treaty of Tilsit -703Cape Town . 705Sir John Moore ... 707The Retreat from Moscow (from the Picture by Adoiphe Yvon) . 713Monument at Oxford to Commemorate the Peace of 1814 . . . 714The Duke of Wellington (from the Portrait ,by Sir William Beechey, R.A.) 715Field-Marshal Blucher (from the Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence) . 716George IV. (from the Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence) . . 722William IV .724Lord Palmerston (from the Portrait by T. Cruikshank) . 725Dr. Samuel Johnsotf (from the Portrait by Opie) 728William Hogarth (from the Print by himself) 730The Hay Wain (from the Painting by John Constable, R.A.) . . 731Calais Pier (from the Painting by J. M. W. Turner, R.A.) . . 733Statue of Burke 734Statue of Goldsmith . . 735Lord Byron, 1814 (from the Portrait by T. Phillips, R.A.) . . .738Robert Bums (from the Portrait by Alexander Nasmyth in the National

Gallery, Edinburgh) , . 74Sir Walter Scott (after the Portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A.). , 742

XVlll List of IllustrationsPAGE

Queen Victoria (from the Portrait by W. C. Ross, A.R.A.) . . . 75oAlbert, Prince Consort (from the Portrait by W. C. Ross, A.R.A.) . 751Sir Robert Peel (from the Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.) . 753The Wellington Memorial in St. Paul's Cathedral..... 757Florence Nightingale nursing the vwDunded soldiers in the Crimean War. 759The Meeting of Sir Colin Campbell and Sir Henry Havelock at Lucknow

(from the Picture by Thomas J. Barker) ..... 765Some of the first Volunteers in i860 ... ... 766Captain Cook (from the original Portrait in the Gallery of Greenwich

Hospital) 77JOpening of the First Commonwealth Parliament by the Duke of York

(now George V.) ........ . 775Government House and Table Mountain, Cape Town .... 777Slave Ship Chased by British Man-of-War .... 788Lord Shaftesbury .......... 791Statue of William Edward Forster on the Thames Embankment . . 797The " Comet " . . 799George Stephenson . . ... 800The " Rocket"... ..... 801An Express Engine of To-day . ...... 802The New General Post Office Building, London, opened in 1910 . . 803Sections of Atlantic Cables . . ...... 805General Gordon (Statue by Hamo Thorn3'croft, R.A., in Trafalgar Square) 809Lord Kitchener of Khartum ....... 811Lord Roberts of Kandahar ... ..... 8riQueen Victoria in her Eightieth Year . . ... 813Charles Dickens . . ...... ^ 815W. M. Thackeray .... .... 815Thomas Carlyle (from the Portrait by G. F. Watts, O.M., R.A.) . . 8t5Lord Macaulay (from the Portrait by Sir Francis Grant, P.R.A.) . . 815Lord Tennyson .... ...... 816Robert Browning. ..... .... 8r7King Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra ..... 82rA Voisin Biplane. ... . ... 825The Coronation of George V., June 22, 191

1

827The King and Queen in India, 1911 ....... 829The Investiture of the Prince of Wales at Carnarvon Castle, July 13, 1911 831

Maps :

The -Empire pf the Romans.........Map of England showing the Division between the Saxons and the BritonsThe English Kingdoms .-.....The Principal Provinces of France ... ...Map showing the British Districts in England .....The English Dominions in France in the Time of Henry V. .Map showing Brittany and the Northern and Western Coasts of FranceIreland, showing the Province of Ulster ......

3

3337

127192234285452

List of Illustrations

Map of Central Europe at the Close of the Seven Years' War . C39India

. . . 645Map of Eastern Canada and the Gulf of St. Lawrence

. .. 652

The United States in 1783 .... . .. 668

North America. . .....

. 669The British Empire in 190 1 . . . . . . . 779

Genealogical Tables ;

From William I. to Henry VII. . . .... 266Family of Henry VII. . . ...

. . 331Descent of the Crown from Henry VII. to James I. . . 432Descent of the Crown from James I. to King George V. . 449Descent of the Crown from Henry VII. to King George V. {continueil fvom

p. 266) . . . . 834

Scroll, divided into Centuries, showing Leading Events in each HundredYears from 55 B.C. to a.d. 1901 . . . Facing f-. 104

List of the Sovereigns of England :

The Cliief Kings of the Heptarchy ; and tlie Sovereigns from Egbert toKing George V 835

HISTORY OF ENGLANDPART ONE.

FROM THE ROMAN TO THE NORMAN.55 B.C.-A.D. 1066.

NOTE.The first part of this book co?itains a short account of the

early history of our country. As will be seen from thedates given above, it covers a great period of timeinore than eleven centuries. It is very important to bearthis fact in mind. In this book, and indeed in everyHistory of England great or small, the space which isgiven tcp to describing the events which took placebetween the landing of the Normans in 1066 and ourown time is much larger than that which is given upto a description of the eleven centuries which went before.It is natural that this should be so, because the later wecome down in history the more numerous are the recordsfrom which we learn what took place. We have muchgreater knowledge of what occurred in the reign ofQueen Elizabeth than we have of what took place in thetime of Egbert or Alfred. But it must not be supposedthat because we have comparatively little knowledge ofwhat took place in England a thousand or fifteen hun-dred years ago, the events of those days are withoutimportance, or fail to have their effect in forming thecharacter of the English people as they now are. If welook at the chart which appears at page 104. we shall seeat a glance what is the true proportion in the two periods

of English history of which we have been speaking, andwe shall lear^i to remember that eleven centuries passedbetween the day when Julius Coesar landed at Deal, and

2 History of England.

that on which William the Cpnqiierorlanded at Hastings;while, from the time of the Norman landing to our owndays is less than nine centuries.

The great points on which we should fix our attention inreading the history of this period may be shortly putthus :

The Roman Conquest, which throws the first light uponour island, and which gives us some kjiowledge of theBritons who then inhabited it.

The Great Anglo-Saxon, or English Invasion,which laid the foundation of our people and of ourlanguage.

The Conversion to Christianity.The Struggle with the Danes, which. helped to unite

the English people under one head.The Norman Conquest, which gave the nation disciplitie,

strength, and law.

chapter I.THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN;

55 B.C.-A.D. 436.

FAMOUS PERSONS WHO LIVED DURING THE TIME OF THEROMAN OCCUPATION OF BRITAIN.

Julius Csesax, b. loo b.c, assassinated 44 B c.Pompey the Great, b. 106 b.c, d. 48 b.c.Mark Antony, b. 83 b.c, d. 30 b.c,Augustus Csesax, first Roman Emperor,

b. 63 b c, a. A.D. 14.JESUS CHEIST.Tiberius Csesar, Emperor, b. 42 b.c, d.

A.D. 37.Titus, Emperor, b. A.D. 40, d. 81.Hadrian, Emperor, b. A.D. 76, d. 138.SeverUS, Emperor, b. 146, d. an.

Constantiae tlie Great, b. 274, d. 337.Cassivelaunus.Caxactacus taken prisoner, 51.Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, d. 62.Suetonius, a Roman general.Virgil, the great Roman poet, b. 70 B.C.,

d. ig B.C.Caius Cornelius Tacitus, the Roman

writer, b. 55, d. about 130.St. Alban, Martyr, d. 304.AlariC, King of the Goths.

PRINCIPAL events DURING THE ROMAN OCCUPATION OFBRITAIN.

55 B.C. Invasion of Britain by Julius Csesar.54 B.C. Second Invasion of Britain by

CaiSar.I ANNUS DOMINI. The Birth of Christ.A.D. 43 Claudius sands an army to Britain.47 Vespasian conquers Britain.51 Caractacus taken prisoner,6s Death of Boadicea.

70 Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.121 Hadrian's wall built,211 Wall of Severus built. 304 Death of St. Alban,316 Constantine, first Christian Emperor.402 10 436 Withdrawal of the Romans from

Britain.410 Alaric besieges and takes the City of

Rome.

HrsTORV OF England.

" Britannia."

"BRITAIN, the best of islands, is situated in the Western Ocean, betweenFrance and Ireland . . . it produces everything that is useful to man.with a plenty that never fails."Geoffrey of Monmouth's Chronicle (1140).

Fifty-five years before the birth of Christ, Julius Csesar, at the headof a Roman army, landed on the shores of England. It is on that day

that the historyof England be-gins.

Long beforethe coming ofCaesar, men andwomen hadlived and died,and worked andfought, in theland which wenow call Eng-land. But oftheir sayingsand doings wehave no record;no historianhas told us oftheir fortunes,

and for all thatwe know ofthem, theymight neverhave existed.

Suddenly a great ray of light was thrown upon what before wasdarkness. Not only did Julius Csesar land upon the shores of ourcountry, but he wrote down in words which may be read at this daythe story of the strange new people he had found, and a description ofthe far-off country in which they lived. And thus it is true to say thatthe History of England begins with the landing of Julius Caesar, fifty-five years before the birth of Christ.

JULIUS CESAR.

"Britannia.'' 5

It is now many hundreds of yean since the landing took place.At that time there was but one great Empire in the world, and onegreat people who ruled half Europe and vast possessions in Africa.This was the great Roman people, whose chief city was Rome, inItaly, and whose language was the Latin tongue in which JuliusCsesar wrote.

News had already come to the Romans that there existed, far awayin the Northern seas, an island, or a number of islands, which hadnever been conquered by the Roman arms. Traders from theMediterranean sailing up the coast of Spain, and of that countrywhich we now know as France, but which was then called Grallia, orGaul, had found land far out in the Atlantic, and landing, had dis-covered rich deposits of tin which they had worked and brought backto Italy. But the stories of adventurous sailors and merchants weresoon to be replaced by a much closer acquaintance. Towards themiddle of the last century before Christ, a great man, the greatestof all the Romans, had been appointed to the command of thearmies in the Roman province of Gaul.^

This great man was Julius Caesar. Not content with defending theRoman provinces, he carried war into the whole country of the Gauls.Step by step he came nearer to the northern coast, until at length theRoman camps looked down upon the narrow waters which divideFrance from' England. It is only twenty-two miles from Calais toDover, and from the coast the Roman soldiers must have seen asclearly as we can at the present day the great white cliffs of an" unvisited land," standing high out of the water to the north.

Already they had given a name to this country, and they knew it tobe an island. A great Roman writer who lived in Cassar's day, speaksof Eritaiu separated by almost the entire world.^ And the name.whichthe Romans gave to our land we know and are proud to own at thepresent day. "Britannia rules the waves." Our King is King otGreat Britain, and Ireland, and the coins with which we do thebusiness of our daily lives still bear upon them the Latin inscriptionand the name by which Caesar called our country.^

1 Gallia, or Gaul, was divided into two parts : Gallia Cis-Alpina, or " Gaul this side of theAlps," and which included that part of North Italy which is now known as Piedmont ; and GalliaTran--Alpina, or "Gaul beyond the Alps," which is now the French district of Provence.

* ^^ Penitus loto divisos orbe Britannos" ("The Britams almost all the world away ").Virgil.s The words " Briti : Rex" on the penny {.see p. 7) are short for " Britanularum EeX,"

or, King of Britain. The words written round the penny in the picture stand for "Georgius V.Dei gratia Britanniarum Omnium Rex Fidei Defensor Indiarum Imperator." The meaning ofwhich is " George V., by the grace of God, King of all the Britains, Defender of the Faith,Emperor of India."

History of England.

The Landing- of the Romans.

' But Rome I 'Tis thine alone with awful swayTo rule mankind, and make the world obey.Disposing peace and war thy own majestic way ;To tame the proud, the fettered slave to free:

These are imperial arts, and worthy thee.

"

From Virgil's JEneid, Book VI., translated by Dryden.

Caesar was not the man to leave this new country unexplored andunconquered. In the year 55 b.c. he collected eighty ships and 12,000

DOVER cliffs: "the white walls of ENGLAND.'{From a photograph by the Pictorial Agency'^

men upon the other side of the Channel, close to the place where thetown of Calais now stands.

I

A few hours' sailing and rowing brought the fleet to the foot of the"White Cliffs," but-on the shore were to be seen a large number of

the Britons who had come down to oppose the landing. The Romanswere disappointed, for they hoped they would have taken the Britons

by surprise. They feared to land,and they took their ships fartheralong the coast, until they came tothe place where the town of Deal nowstands.

There they made up their mindsthat they would land ; but they foundthat the water was not deep enough toallow their ships to get to the shoreHere, too, were largenumbers of Britons,who were ready tofight them as soonas they got to land.At first it seemedas if they would

have to sail away once more, but at thismoment a brave Roman soldier cameforward. This soldier was the standard-bearer of the Romans. Each regimentin our own army has a flag, which iscarried with the regiment, and of whichall the soldiers are proud. The Romanregiments were called legions, and eachlegion, instead of a flag had a standard,on the top of which was the figure ofan eagle, made in gold or brass.

The standard-bearer, when he sawthat the soldiers who , were with himin the ship were afraid to land, seizedthe " eagle " of the legion in his hand,and jumped into the water. "Followme, my comrades," cried he, " if youwould not see your eagle taken by theenemy. If I die, J shall have done myduty to Rome and to my General." Whenthe Roman soldiers saw this braveact, they, too, threw themselves intothe water, and though it was deep they waded to the land. TheBritons fought courageously against the newcomers, but the discipline

ROMAN SOLDIERS.[From Trajan's coluinn.)

8 History of England.

and military training of tlie Roman soldiers prevailed, and theRoman troops disembarked with safety.

In less than three weeks, however, they were compelled to returnto Gaul, and it was not till the summer of the next year (54 b.c.) thatCassar returned with a large army to complete his conquest. Thistime the resistance he met with was serious. The Britons had had timeto collect a large army, and under a chief of the name of CassivelaAinuawere able for some time to hold the Romans at bay. The Britonsfought in a way to which the Romans were not accustomed. Theywent into battle driving at full speed in chariots. To the woodenwheels of the chariots, scythe? or sharp blades were fastened ; and aslong as the chariot was moving fast the sharp blades on the wheels cutdown those who came near it.

But though- the Britons had their chariots, the Roman soldiersproved too strong for them, and at length Csesar forced his way as farnorth as the river Thames, near Wallingford, and the Britons, defeatedfor a time, consented to make peace, to give hostages, and to promise,if not to pay, a yearly tribute. Having thus added another victory tohis long list of triumphs, Ca;sar returned to Gaul, and thence to Rome,where ten years later (44 B.C.) he met with his death, stabbed bythe traitor Brutus and other political enemies in the midst of theRoman senate.

Britain and the Britons.

" IV/io oan see the green earth any moreAs she was by the sources of Time ?Who imagines her fields as they layIn the sunshine, unworn by the plough ?Who thinlis as they thought,The tribes who once roam'd on her breast,Her vigorous, primitive sons ? "

Matlhew Arnold : " The Future."

So far we have looked at Britain from a Roman point of view ; it isiime to inquire what sort of people lived in our island when theRoman in 'asion first threw the light of history upon it.

Of the early Britons, their life and their habits, we know littlebut what has been told us by the Roman writers. It is fortunate forus that the age of Julius Caesar was one in which some of the greatRoman authors lived, and two of these authors have left us interestingaccounts of the Britons. The first account is that given by Csesar

Britain and the Britons. 9

himself, who not only was a great general and a great statesman, butone of the clearest and best writers of any age.

A second account we get from the pen of one who, as a writer, waseven more famous than Csesar. In a book called the " Agricola"Cornelius Tacitus has written an account of the Britons as they were ahundred years after the date of Caesar's landing.

Agricola, the father-in-law of Tacitus, was at that time governor ofBritain, and it is the account which he gave to his son-in-law which iscontained in the "Agricola,"

BRITONS AND THEIR BOATS,

From what Cassar and Tacitus tell us we can form some idea otwhat the Britons were like. By the Romans they were regarded assavages, but it is easy to see, by what the Romans themselves tell usabout them, that the Britons were not really savages at all. Englishpeople in our own time sometimes make the same mistake which theRomans made, and treat the people of other countries as savages andfar below them, just because their habits are strange and their ways ofthought are not like our own.

JO History of England.

We' do not know a very great deal about what the Britons werereally like, but we do know some things about them. The men weretall and handsome, and fought bravely in battle ; but it seems as if

they were rather too fond of fighting, for not only did they fight against

the Romans and other enemies who came from abroad, but they oftenquarrelled and fought amongst themselves. They lived in villagesmade up of a number of small houses or huts surrounded by a highwall. They lived chiefly by hunting and fishing, and there were alwaysplenty of wild animals to kill and fish to catch, for we must not forget

that at the time we are speaking of, England was very different from

what it is now ; the country was covered with thick forests, and the

STONEHENGE AS IT IS.{From a photograph by J. Valentine &^ Sons^ Dundee.')

rivers, instead of being shut in between close banks, often spread overthe land and made great swamps and marshes. In the forests therewere wolves, wild boars, and many other animals which are quiteunknown in England in our own day. It was of the skins of theseanimals that the Britons made their clothes.

The Britons did not drink wine, but they made a strong drink of ^honey. This drink is sometimes made now ; it is called mead. TheBritons were heathens and believed that there were many gods. Theirpriests were called Druids. These Druids were very strange people;they used to pretend that they had great and terrible secrets whichwere known to them and to nobody else. They said that their godslived in the very thickest and darkest parts of the woods, and they

Britain and the Britons. ti

used to go to pray to their gods under the great oaks in the forests

;

they wore long white robes, and the people held them in great awe.The Druids have been dead hundreds of years, and their religion

has long been forgotten ; but there are still some things in England inour own time to remind us of the white-robed Druids and their strangereligion.

If we take the train to Salisbury, and then take a carriage and driverather more than ten miles over Salisbury Plain, we shall suddenly come

STONEHKNGE AS IT WAS.

to a very strange sight. In the middle of the plain we shall see anurnber of gre^t stones

some of them lying on their sides on the grass,others standing straight up, and some of them resting upon other greatetones in the way shown in the picture. The stones are of enormoussize and very heavymany of them are from twenty-three to twenty-eight feet high.

It seems a wonder how such heavy stones ever got to be set up inthis way ; but we shall find a still more wonderful thing about some ofthe stones when we come to look more closely at them. We shall findthat they are not of the same kind as the stones which are found uponSalisbury Plain, but that they are of a kind which must have comefrom a long way off.

12 History op England.

The place in which these strange stones have been set up is Stone-henge, in the middle of Salisbury Plain, and the stones were set up

there before the time of Julius Cffisar by the Druids whom we havebeen reading about. Stonehenge was one of the places where the

Druids used to worship their gods ; and though no one quite knows

why they set up the stones, it is certain that they were looked upon bythe Britons as being very sacred.

Once there were a great many more stones standing up than can

be seen now. If the stones which have fallen down were still in theirplaces, we should see that the Druids had made two great circles, oneinside the other ; the outside one of big stones, and the inside one of

THE MISTLETOE BOUGH.

smaller ones. On page ii there is a picture of what Stonehenge musthave looked like before any of the stones fell down. There are otherrings of stones in England, but the one at Stonehenge is the largestand most interesting. All these stones were put up by the Druids ; andthey can be seen to this day by Englishmen, and will help to remindthem of the Britons who lived in our land two thousand years ago.

There is another thing besides the great stone circle which ought toremind us of the Druids. Most of us, whether we live in town orcountry, have seen the sprigs of green leaves with white berries whichare put up among the holly and the laurel leaves at Christmas. Theyare the Mistletoe leaves and berries which are gathered from plantswhich grow on the stems of the trees in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire,and in many other parts of England.

It is not easy at first to guess why it is that Hlstletoe is hung up in

In the Year of Our Lord. 13

so many houses at Christmas time. To find out the answer to thequestion we must go back a very long way in history, until we come tothe time of the Druids. It was the Druids who first used the mistletoe.They thought that its berries were sacred or holy, and they often putthem up in the places where they prayed to their gods.We have long forgotten all about the gods to whom the Druids

prayed, but we have not forgotten about the mistletoe they were sofond of. The Romans came over and conquered the Britons, the greatstones at Stonehenge tumbled down, and many changes, good and bad,took place in England, but the use of the mistletoe bough was neverquite forgotten ; and when the people of England learned to pray toanother God, and found that the gods of the Druids were false gods,they still went on using the sacred mistletoe. And thus it happensthat when, in our own time, we come to Christmas Day, the day onwhich we commemorate the birth of Christ, we still put up in ourhouses the mistletoe berries, which the old Druids first prized in thetime of the Britons.

In the Year of Our Lord."

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, whichis Christ the Lord."Luke ii. 11.

It was not till nearly a hundred years after Julius Csesar had goneaway that the Romans came a second time into Britain. Julius Caesarwas dead, and the Roman Emperor was Claudius. Claudius deter-mined that he would follow the example of Julius Csesar, but thatthis time the Britons should be really beaten, and that their countryshould belong to Rome.

But, before we follow the fortunes of the army which Claudius sentto Britain, there is one thing which we must notice. If we wish towrite down the year in which Julius Csesar came to Britain, we write itin this way" 55 B.C." ; but if we want to write the year in whichClaudius sent an army, we put" A,D. 43."

What do "B.C." and "A.D." mean? The letters " b.c." mean" before Christ," and, therefore, " 55 b.c." means fifty-five years beforeChrist was born. The letters " a.d." stand for two Latin words

Anno Dominiwhich mean " in the year of our Lord." " a.d. 43 "

means forty-three years after the year in which Christ was born.

14 History of England,

People now sometimes write the year in whicli we live in tliis way^they say " A.D. 1913," or " A.D. 1914," meaning that the year in whichwe live is the one thousand nine hundred and thirteenth, or the onethousand nine hundred and fourteenth, year after the year in whichChrist was born. Now we can easily understand that, between theyear 55 b.c. and the year a.d. 43, a great thing must have happened.

It was in the years between the coming of Julius Carear and thecoming of the Romans in the time of Claudius that the great eventwhich divides the history of the old world from that of the new hadtaken place, and that Christ was born in Bethlehem. While the memoryof the Roman general who had defeated their armies was still fresh inthe minds of the people of Britain, and while they were anxiouslyloolcing out for the return of the Roman galleys, a Roman Emperorhad issued a Decree " that all the world should be taxed," and aRoman officer commanding in the Province of Judasa had carried outthe Imperial order. A Roman magistrate, sitting in the JudgmentHall at Jerusalem, had allowed sentence of death to be passed uponthe Prisoner whom the Jews had brought before him. Jesus had beencrucified, and His death had been the birth of a new hope, of a new life,and of a new faith which was to spread throughout the world. Thebirthday of England as we know it is almost the same as the birthdayof Christianity, and the twentieth century of the Christian Era is thetwentieth century in the history of our country.

And thus we see that if we want to know when the history of ourcountry, so far as we know anything about it, begins, we have only toremember that it began just before the birth of Christ, and that, if weknow the year in which we live, we shall know the number of yearswhich have passed since the Romans first came to Britain.

Caractaeus and Boadicea.

" When the British warrior Queen,Bleeding from the Roman rods,

Sought, with an indignant mien,Counsels of her country's gods. "Cowper.

When the Romans came with Julius Csesar, they only stopped inBritain for two years, but when they came a second time underClaudius they, and their descendants after them, remained for over threehundred and sixty years. At first they brought nothing but war andmisery with them. The Britons fought fiercely. This time they were

aa

a.

ou.

a

S

16

History of England.

led by a chief called Caraotaoua, who for a long time was able to keepup a successful resistance to the Roman armies. But at last he wasbeaten in a great battle, and was takefl prisoner. He was sent toRome, and there brought before the Emperor Claudius (a.d. 51).

,When Caractacus was brought before Claudius, he spoke to him

boldly and told him that he was riot ashamed of what he had done, but'

proud of itthat he had only fought for his country. " / am in yourpower,'' said he to the Emperor, " and you can do what you phase withme; but I am only here because I was true to my country , and because I wouldnot promise to obey your laws and to be your servant. You can put me todeath, but you will gain more honour ifyou spare my life." When Claudiusand the Roman officers who stood with him heard these brave words,they could not help admiring the proud Briton. Claudius com.manded that the prisoner's life should be spared and that he should bewell treated.

But the war between the Romans and the Britons did not end whenCaractacus was taken prisoner. There arose among the Britons a freshleader, whose name has become famous in our history. This leaderwas Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, the widow of one of the British Chiefs.

Boadicea hated the Romans, and she had good reason to do so ; fornot only had they been very unjust to her husband when he was alive,but when she went to complain to the Roman Governor, instead ofdoing justice, he ordered her to be seized and to be beaten with rods.Boadicea therefore hated the Romans, both because they were enemiesof her country and because they had been cruel to her. She calledupon her countrymen to join her in resisting the enemy, and many ofthem gathered round her, prepared to follow wherever she led them.

It is said that Boadicea was tall and beautiful, with long flowinghair, and that she appeared before her people clad in a long robe andwith a gold chain about her waist. Her beauty and her courage madeher loved by the Britons, and the Romans soon learnt to fear her. Inmore than one battle the Britons, under Boadicea, defeated the Romansoldiers, and for a time it seemed as if the brave queen would succeedin driving her hated enemies out of the land.

The Romans had built a town upon the banks of a river whichwe now call the Thames. The name of the town was Londiniiim, aname which we now know much better as Loudon. Already Lon-dinium had become a large place, and besides the Romans wholived there, there were many Britons who had taken the side of theRomans. It was to Londinium that Boadicea now led her army.As she came near the town, the Roman soldiers sav/ that there werenot enough of them to resist the great army of the Britons, and they

Roman Camps and Roman Roads. 17

marched away, leaving behind them all their friends who had trustedthem. Soon Boadicea came to the gates, and, once inside the town,the fierce Britons showed no mercy. Thousands of the people ofLondinium were killed, and the town was all but destroyed.

But the British Queen had won her last victory. The Romangeneral, whose name was Suetonius, collected his scattered troops, andmarched against the Queen. Boadicea, on her side, was ready for thebattle. She called upon the Britons to fight like men, to rid theircountry of its enemies, and to avenge the cruelty which had been doneto herself. She stood in the midst of the army, and declared that shewould rather kill herself than allow herself to be taken prisoner by theRomans. The battle began. The army of the Britons was far largerthan that of the Romans, but the Roman soldiers had long been taughthow to fight together, and to obey the orders that were given them.It was not long before the battle was over. The Britons were quiteunable to resist the Romans. No less than eighty thousand of themwere killed. Boadicea herself was true to her promise. Rather thanbe taken prisoner by the Romans, she took poison, and thus ended herown life (a.d. 62). With her death ended the hopes of the Britons, andfrom that time the Romans were masters of the whole country.

Roman Camps and Roman Roads.

" Thine, Roman, is the pilum : '

Roman, the sword is thine.The even trench, the bristling mound.

The legion's ordered line.

"

Macaulay : " Prophecy of Capys.'

After the death of Boadicea, the Romans soon became masters ofnearly all that part of Britain which we now call England. At first they

had to fight many battles, but after a time the Britons submitted tothe Romans and agreed to obey their laws. For nearly four hundredyears the Romans stopped in this country, and in our own day we can

still find many marks of the things they did while they were here.It would indeed be strange if, after they had been so long in Britain,

the Romans had, not left something by which we might rememberthem. They were a very wonderful people, and have set an example

1 Pilum, a short, broad-headed heavy spear borne by the Roman soldiers.

18

History of England.

in many things to all the nations who have come after them. TheRoman soldiers were the wonder of the world. During time of peacethey were always practising what they would have to do in time of war.They could fight well, and they could march well. Nor was this all

;

they knew how to protect themselves against an enemy as well as theyknew how to attack an enemy when they wished.

Whenever the Roman soldiers came to the end of a day's march,in whatever part of the world they were, they did the same thing.

THE ROMAN GATEWAY AT LINCOLN.

They built a wall of earth, and made a ditch round their camp, and, asall the soldiers knew how to work, and all worked together, the ditchwas dug, and the wall was built, before the soldiers lay down to sleep.Sometimes they built much larger camps than those which were wantedfor one night only. These camps had deep ditches and high walls, andthey were usually placed on the top of a hill. In many parts of Englandthese Roman camps may still be seen ; and not only are the campsthemselves still to be found in England, but the very names by whichthe Romans called them are used by Englishmen every day. TheLatin word for camp is "castra"; and though we have not got exactlythe word " eastra " in English, we have something like it. We have

Roman Camps and Roman Roads. 19all heard of Chester, the capital of Cheshire, which stands on theriver Dee. The word " Chester " is really the same as " castra;- andChester got its name because in the time of the Romans there was acamp or strong place full of soldiers there.

A ROMAN PAVEMENT.

But Chester is not the only place where we find a Roman name.We have CW-chester, i?o-cheBter, Ma!-chester, and many others; andwe have also the word castra written caster, in such places as Lan-caster, Don-ca.ater, Tarf-caster. The names of all these places tell usquite plainly that the Kortiai) soldiers once ugon a time built their Wall

20 History of England.

and dug their ditch there in the days that came after the landing ofJulius Csesar.

The Romans, too, were great builders ; they knew how to erectlarge buildings of stone and specially of brick. Most of the buildingswhich they built in Britain have fallen into ruin, but parts of themhave been found in many places ; and enough is left to show howbeautiful the buildings must have been when they were new. The

floors of the houses were pavedwith tiles in artistic patterns;there were carved pillars insideand outside the houses. Therewere baths supplied with hotwater, and there were manycomforts which we sometimesthink were not known beforeour own time. In some placesbeautiful statues have been dugup, and many thousands of goldand silver and copper coins havebeen found which have stampedon them the heads of the RomanEmperors, and Latin words whichtell us something about the coins.

But though the Romans werefamous as builders of houses, theywere still more famous as makersof roads. The Romans were thefirst people to make great roadsfrom one end of England to theother. The roads were pavedwith stone, and they ran in a

straight line up hill and down dale from one town to another. Nowa-days it would not be considered wise to take the roads straight upthe hills ; it is more usual to go round, a hill rather than to go upit. But the Romans were quite right to do as they did in their time.If we want to go from one place to another, the shortest distancebetween the two places is always a straight line. In the picture onthis page are two points, a and b, and there is a straight line joiningthem. We may try as long as we Uke, but we cannot find a shorterway from a to b than the straight line.

The reason why we do not make our roads go in a straight linenow is th^t we use a great many carriages and carts, and it is very

THE SHORTEST DISTANXE BETWEEN TWOPOINTS IS A STRAIGHT LINE.

a fe)

J ^

2 2 History of England,

hard for a horse to pull a carriage or a cart up-hill. But when theRomans were in Britain carriages and carts were scarcely used at all,and those who went on long journeys travelled either on foot or onhorseback ; their luggage was taken from place to place on the backsof horses or mules. The hills, therefore, did not matter very much,and a straight road enabled the Roman soldiers to get from placeto place very quickly. There are many places in England where theroads still follow exactly the same line as the old Roman roads.

Sometimes we come to a stretch of road which goes on quitestraight for several miles ; we may generally be sure that we are onthe line of a road which has never changed for eighteen hundred years,and which was first planned by one of the Roman officers under thecommand of Vespasism or Severus, or Titus, or some other Romangeneral. The best known Roman roads in England are called "TheWatling Street," which goes from London to Chester ; " The Fosse Way,"which goes from Bath to Lincoln; "The Ermine Street," which goesfrom London to Lincoln and on to York; and "The Seaside Eoad,"'which runs all along the sea-coast of Wales down into Pembrokeshire.

Besides their buildings and their roads, the Romans have also left usa very wonderful mark of their work on the border between England andScotland. After the Romans had made peace in that part of Britainwhich is now called England, and had begun to rule quietly there, theyfound that they were often troubled by enemies who came down fromthe country which we now call Scotland ; these enemies were knownas the "Picts."

The Romans fought and beat the Picts many times, but they foundthem so troublesome that at last they built a great wall right across thecountry to keep them out. The Roman Emperor Hadrian ordered thewall to be built (a.d. 121), and after Hadrian's death another RomanEmperor, named Severus, built a second wall. This wall is called " TheWall of Severus," and many parts of both are still to be seen in our ownday. So that there are many things still left in our country to remindus that the Romans once ruled over it.

^ Via Maritima.

23

Roman ChristianityDeparture of the Romans.

"And departing leaue behind usFootprints on tfie sands of time."

Longfellow :' Psaim oj Life."

There is one other thing which the Romans gave to this country,and which would have been the most important of all their gifts hadit lasted. This great gift was Christianity, which was first introducedinto England during the time of the Roman occupation. After manystruggles and much suffering the Christians had obtained permissionto carry on their worship at Rome. Gradually their teaching spreaduntil, in the year 312, Constantine the Great, the first ChristianEmperor, ascended the throne.

In the year 306 Christianity had been already introduced intoEngland under the rule of Constantine, whose British mother, Helena ofYork, became known in after years by the name of St. Helena. Butthough Constantine was a Christian, he was unable to protect those ofhis own religion from the fierce persecution of the Emperor Diocletian.Many of the British Christians, it is said, were put to death for refusingto give up their religion, and the'name of Alban has been handed down

. to us as that of the first martyr in the British Church. His name isstill preserved by the famous Cathedral of St. Albans, in Hertfordshire.The persecution, however, did not prevent the' spread of Christianity.Bishops were created, and churches were built. Of these churchestraces have been found in our own day, but for the most part theywere destroyed in the terrible years that followed the departure ofthe Romans from Britain. Roman Christianity was indeed sweptaway, and Britain once more became a pagan land.

The Romans stopped in Britain for nearly four hundred years, andduring the greater part of that time there was peace and quiet in thecountry. So long as the Roman soldiers were here, there was littlefear of any fresh enemy coming and taking the country. But at lengththere came news from Rome that a formidable enemy was marchingagainst Italy, and that the Emperor was afraid that Rome itself wouldbe taken. At such a time every Roman soldier was needed to defendItaly and Rome ; and orders were therefore sent that the armieswhich were in Britain should return to Italy.

This was sad news for the Britons, for by this time they had cometo look upon the Romans more as friends than as foes, and they fearedto lose the Roman soldiers who had so long protected them from every

24 History of England.

enemy. Besides, the Romans had built towns in Britain ; many ofthem were married to British wives, and' they had begun to teach theBritons the arts which they had brought with them from Italy.

For all these reasons, the Britons were naturally grieved when theorder came for the Roman legions to sail across the Straits of Doverand to leave the white cliffs of Britain behind them. But a soldiermust do what he is ordered, and the Romans were too good soldiessto disobey the orders which they received from Rome. The legionsmarched down to the sea-coast, got into their ships, and sailed awayacross the sea on their road home to Italy.

What happened to the legions when they got to Rome, and howthe great city of Rome, which had conquered so many countries, wasat last itself conquered, can be read in the history of Rome. But weare reading the history of England, and we must now bid farewell tothe Roman soldiers as we lose sight of the sails of their ships crossingthe Channel between England and France.

CHAPTER II.THE COMING OF THE SAXONS.

436449.

FAMOUS PERSONS WHO LIVED DURING THE PERIODDESCRIBED IN THIS CHAPTER.

Attila, King of the Huns, b. 406, d. 453. | Hengist, Chief of the Saxon.', A. 488.

PRINCIPAL EVENT DURING THE PERIOD DESCRIBED IN THISCHAPTER.

449. Invasion of Britain by Hengist and Horsa.

The Gathering- of the Storm.

'Dark and many-folded clouds foretellThe coming on of storm." Longfellow.

Now that we have seen the last of the Roman soldiers sailing backto their own country, we must return once more to the story of

The Gathering of the Storm. 25

Britain and of the Britons now left behind without the protection ofthe Roman sword. P'or nearly four hundred years the Britons hadbeen ruled over by a people stronger than themselves, and, thoughthey had doubtless gained much from their masters, the very factthat they had not had to depend upon their own valour for theirown safety had made them less fit to resist an enemy than on the daywhen they stood on the shore at Deal, ready to face the legions ofJulius Csesar.

A people which has ceased to rely upon itself for its own defencemust alway^ be in danger. The Britons had learnt to rely upon theRomans to fight their battles for them, but now they would haveto fight their own battles themselves. It was not long before theirstrength was put to the test by an enemy more terrible than any theyhad yet had to encounter.

It sometimes happens that before the beginning of a great storm',when the sky has already become overclouded and the air has becomestill and hushed, a few big drops of rain come splashing down by them-selves, and seem to tell us of the downpour which will so soon drenchthe earth. Something lil

26 History of England.

The Sea Rovers.

' Thirty men they each commanded,Iron-ainewed, horny-handed,Shoulders broad, and chest expanded-

Tugging at the oar.These, and many more lifie these.With King Olaf sailed the seas,

Till the waters uastFilled them with a vague devotion.With the freedom and the motion.With the roll and roar of ocean,

And the sounding blast."Longfellow : " TJte Saga of King Olaf."

And now it is time to ask who these new-comers were, and fromwhat land they had sailed in their ships.

The country from which these people came is now a portion of whatwe call Germany It touches the shores of the Baltic Sea, and of theGerman Ocean, and it comes down close to that part which we nowcall Holland. The people who came from these countries belongedto three tribes or nations. These tribes or nations were called theSaxons, the Angles, and the Jutes.We cannot tell exactly what it was that made the Saxons, the

Angles, and the Jutes leave their own country and sail across the seato Britain. Perhaps it was that they thought their own country wasa poor one, and they wished to iind some more fertile land in whichto live. It is very likely that they had such a thought, for even nowthe north of Germany and the south of Denmark, which are thecountries in which the Jutes and the Angles lived, are barren andsandy, covered in many places with forests of fir-trees, and unfit togrow wheat upon.

There were other reasons, too, which made the Jutes, the Angles,and the Saxons wish to cross the sea. There were other nations behindthem who kept attacking them and driving them forward down to thesea ; and when they got there, they were glad to seek for a newcountry in which no one would disturb them.

And, last of all, there was, no doubt, another reason which made theJutes, the Angles, and the Saxons leave their homes. They had just

The Ford of the Medji^ay. 27

the same love of adventure which many English people have nowadays.They loved to travel, and to find new lands ; and if, when they came toa new land, they had to fight for it, they did not object. Indeed, theyliked fighting quite as well as being at pea.ce

perhaps better ; and inthis matter, too, they were not unlilce some Englishmen in our ownday, who like adventures all the better if there be danger in them.

No sooner had the last of the Roman soldiers left the shores ofBritain, and the strong power of the Romans been taken away, thanthe storm which had been so long hanging over England began tobreak. The Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes came over the sea intheir ships, not as before, a few at a time, but in great numbers. Theydid not, as before, land to plunder and sail away again, but theylanded upon our shores and stopped there, with no thought of goingback to their own country. All along the south coast of England theirships were to be seen. Everywhere the Britons resisted, but everywhere,in the long run, the result was the same. The new-comers werevictorious, and step by step they pushed the Britons further back fromthe coast.

The Ford of the River Medway.

"History repeats itself."

Among the earliest of the invaders were two great Saxon chiefsnamed Hengist and Horsa, who are said to have landed at Ebbsfleet, inKent, in the year 449. For a time they settled in the Isle of Thanet,but picking a quarrel with the Britons, they marched with their armiesupon London. The story runs that a great battle took place upon theRiyer Medway, in the year 453, at n place called Aylesford, and that inthis battle Horsa was killed. It is not certain whether the story of thedeath of Horsa be more than a legend, but it seems clear that at orabout the time named a great battle did take^lace between the Saxonsand the Britons, in which the Britons tried to prevent the Saxonscrossing the Medway and getting to London, and that in this battle theBritons were defeated.

It is interesting to remember that, over and over again, battles havebeen fought upon the River Medway for just the same reason as thisbattle between the Saxons and the Britons. If we look at themap, we shall see that the part of England which is closest to the

28 History of England.

continent of Europe is the county of Kent, and that anyone who landsin the county of Kent, and wants to get to, London, will have to crossthe River Medway. He will not try to cross where it is very broad,but he will be forced to go up as far as Chatham, where the stream isnarrow, and where there is now a bridge over it. The easiest and theshortest way from the coast of Kent to London, is across the Medwayat Chatham ; and it is for this reason that, all through Englishhistory, those who wanted to defend London against an enemy, liavemade a great fortress at Chatham.

If we go to Chatham now, we can still see what is left of the fortresseswhich our forefathers built at different times. The Romans, who werevery great soldiers, always knew which was the best place for a fortress,and they were the first to make a great " camp " close to Chatham.The towns of Rochester and Chatham touch each other. Now " Chester,"as we have already learnt, is really the Latin word for a " camp," andwe know, therefore, from the name that there was a Roman camp atRochester.

After the Remans had gone, the Britons in their turn made a strongfortress at Chatham, and when the Saxons came this fortress preventedthem crossing the river at this place. They were forced to come up thebank of the river till they reached Aylesford. Then the Saxons built astrong fortress at Chatham, and after them the Normans, of whom weshall read later on, built a great stone castle, of which there is a pictureon the next page, and which, though it is in ruins, can be seen at thepresent day. After gunpowder was invented, the Norman castle wasnot strong enough to defend the crossing of the Medway, and anotherfortress, built of earth and brick, was made in its place. The greaterpart of these earth and brick walls still remain, and we can see themany day if we go to Chatham. And now, quite lately, a new fortresshas been built all round Chatham, to prevent an enemy crossingthe Medway, and to protect the ships of war which lie at Chatham.

And so we see that though times have changed, and though manyyearc have gone by, the reason which made the Britons defend theMedway in the time of Hengist and Horsa, more than fourteen hundredyears ago, is the reason which makes us defend it with a great fortressin the days in which we live.

30 History of England,

CHAPTER III.

THE SAXON CONQUEST.449-597.

FAMOUS PERSONS WHO LIVED DURING THE PERIODDESCRIBED IN THIS CHAPTER.

Attila, King of the Huns, d. 453.ClOViB, King of the Franks, b. 465, d. 511.Hengist, Chief of the Saxons, d. 488.HorSAf the companion of HengisC, killed at

Aylesford, 449.Justinian, the great Roman law-maker, b.

483. d. 565-iEthelbert, King of Kent, b. 552.Bertha, daughter of Charibert, King of

Paris, wife of iEthelbert.Ida., King of Bernicia, 547.

St. Patrick, d, 491.Columha, the great Irish preacher, b. 521,

d. 597-ColumbaZlt the great Irish Missionary, b.

about 543.Gregory I., called " The Great," Pope.

ThefoUciving are supposed to have lived,in the sixth century :

King Arthur.Gildas, British historian.

PRINCIPAL EVENTS WHICH TOOK PLACE DURING THEPERIOD DESCRIBED IN THIS CHAPTER.

449'452.457-477-486.

495-

Hengist and Horsa land in Kent.Attila invades Italy.The Kingdom of Kent founded.Landing of the South Saxons.Clovls, King of the Franks, defeats theRomans at the battle of Soissons,

Landing of the West Saxons,

520. Victory of the Britons at Badon Hill.547. Ida founds the Kingdom of Bernicia.561. ^thelbert becomes King of Kent.565. St. Columba commences his mission in

Scotland, '

595. St. Columban starts upon a mission toFrance,

The Breaking" of the Storm ; or, Britons and Saxons.

"Cold is Cadwallo's tongue,That hush'd the stormy main

:

Braue Urien sleeps upon his craggy bed:Mountains, ye mourn in vainModred, whose magic song

Made huge Plinlimmon bow his cloud-topt head."Gray : " The Bard."

From the time of the landing of Hengist and Horsa the history ofEngland ceases to be an account of either the Britons or the Romans,and is occupied with the spread and final settlement of the great floodof German invaders which now began to pour into the country. Fortwo hundred years the invasion continued, one wave following another.At the end of that time we find the various tribes of invaders firmlyestablished in England; we find them divided into many separate

The Breaking of the Storm. 31

kingdoms under various leaders. Tlie Britons have been driven outand are no longer to be feared, and the new-comers have begun toquarrel fiercely among themselves.

Nearly four centuries pass, during which first one Saxon kingdom,and then another, becomes the most powerful, and defeats its rivals.At last, in the year 827, Egbert, King of the West Saxons, becomesthe first king of all England. The chief work of the king of theunited country is to defend it against the attack of fresh invaders

the fierce Danes, who for a time seem likely to treat the Saxons as theSaxons treated the Britons; And lastly, Saxons and Danes togetherare forced to give battle to 3'et another invader, and are defeated bythe Normans at the battle of Hastings in the year io56.

The story of the events which have just been referred to must betold at greater length ; but it is well to look forward a little at thispoint in our history, in order that we may understand how great aperiod of time elapsed, before the first landing of the Jutes in 449, andthe conquest of England by the Normans in 1066.

In this book, as in every other history of England, great or small,far more space is given up to the events which took place after theyear 1066, than to those which took place before that date ; and yet, ifwe look at the scroll which is unfolded at page 104, we shall see thatthe portion of our history which is so fully described occupied far lesstime than that of which so .scanty an account is given. From thelanding of Julius Caesar to the time of the Norman Conquest is littlemore than eleven hundred years ; while the period which elapsed betweenthe landing of Hengist and Horsa and the coming of the Normans inio56, which is described in a few short chapters in this book, was noless than six centuries.

It is easy to understand why our history should contain muchshorter descriptions of early times than of late times. The historiancan only write of things which he has learnt through books and records.In our own day everything which takes place is written down, and thegreat difficulty of the historian is to know what things are importantenough to be told by him ; but in the early Saxon days there was littlewriting,- and in those times of fierce wars even the few written docu-ments which did exist had little chance of escaping destruction.

It is important to remember these things, because we are sometimesliable to forget that the life of a people goes on just the same in daysof which history gives us little or no account, as in days when everyevent is written down and recorded. Although we know less about thesix hundred years which passed between the landing of Hengist andHorsa and the landing of the Normans, than we do of the eight

32 History op England.

hundred years which followed the last-named event, we must notsuppose that they were, on that account, less important, or had leeseffect in making our country and our people what they are, than thelast eight centuries of which history tells us so much.

The two hundred years of our history which follow the landing ofHengist are occupied with the invasion of our islands by the Angles,the Saxons, and the Jutes. Not in one year, nor, indeed, in many years,was the invasion accomplished. Fierce battles were fought, in someof which, if the old British legends sung by the Bards can bebelieved, the Britons won the victory. Of one great battle, of whichthe name has come down to us, the battle of Badon Hill,' the legendseems undoubtedly true.

But though victory sometimes cheered the Britons, the end wasalways the same. Checked for a moment, the new-comers waiteduntil fresh ships could come over the sea bringing more of theirfriends to help them.

The fight between the Saxons and the Britons was very differentfrom that which had taken place five hundred years before betweenthe Briton and the Romans. The Roman armies had beaten thepeople of Britain and made them obey the laws of Rome. But theBritons, who remained in their land, had learnt to live peaceably andquietly under the Romans. Many of the Romans married Britishwives, and the Romans taught the Britons many arts and accomplish-ments which the Britons were quite ready to learn. But it was quitedifferent when the Saxons came. They did not spare their enemies

;

they drove all before them, and those who did not fly they put todeath. They took the lands of the Britons for themselves, and drovefrom them all those who had formerly lived on them. And so ithappened that, at the end of the long fight between the Saxons andthe Britons, nearly the whole of England was inhabited only by theAngles, the Jutes, and the Saxons ; and the Britons who had been leftalive were shut up in a small part of this island.

If we look at the map on the opposite page, we shall see a broadline which runs down one side. This line runs from Carlisle to Chester,from Chester to Cardiff, and from Cardiff to Plymouth. On the lefthandthat is to say, on the West side of this linewe shall see markedCornwall, Wales, and Stratholyde. We know Cornwall and Wales nowa-days, but we no longer know anything about Strathdyds. Stratholydeis really that part of England and Scotland in which the counties oiCumberland, Westmorland, Renfrew, Lanark, Ayr, Dumfries, Kirkcud-bright, and Wigtown now are. It was into these three parts of our

^ Fought probably in the neighbourhood of Bath, or some think at Badbury, in Dorsetshire.

The Breaking of the Storm. 33island that the unfortunate Britons were pushed by the Saxons, and itis easy to see how this came about.

The Saxons, the Jutes, and the Angles came over from the North ofEurope, and landed on the East side of England. As they pushed theBritons before them, it was only natural that they should at last push

MAP OF ENGLAND SHOWING THE UIVISION BETWEEN THE SAXONSAND THE BRITONS.

them up against the farthest edge of the island ; and thus it was thatthe Britons came to be found in Wales, Cornwall, and Strathclyde only.Many of those who live now in these parts of the kingdom are de-scended from the ancient Britons ; and the beautiful and interestinglanguage of Wales is really that of our British forefathers. In Cornwallthis language is no longer spoken ; but if we go across the Channelto France, we shall find that in the province of Brittany, the province

c

34 History of England.

whose very name reminds us of Britain, a language is still spokenwhich is almost the same as that which is spol

I^AMES New and Old. 3s

Names New and 01d

" The waters murmur of their name;The woods are peopled with their fame;The silent pillar, lone and gray.

*

Their memory sparliles o'er the fountain ;The meanest rill, the mightiest riuer,Rolls mingling with their fame for ever."Byron.

And now we must return to the history of the invaders who hadsucceeded in winning for themselves the possession of our country.We know that, for the most part, they were made up of three greattribes or nationsthe Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. Let us seewhether we know anything about them nowadays. We certainly donot know the name Jutes in England ; but we have only to cross theNorth Sea to Denmark, the land from which the Jutes came, and weshall find there the province of Jutland, or the land of the Jutes ; so thename of the Jutes is not yet forgotten. Do we know the name of theSaxons in England ? We do not, but of the Saxons who live in thekingdom of Saxony, in the German Empire, we all know something

;

yet the name of Saxon is not altogether unfamiliar to us in Englanditself. The Highland Scots still call the English-speaking Lowlanders" Sassenach," or Saxon, and there are few who have not heard theEnghsh people themselves called " Anglo-Saxons." The term describesthe people descended from the Angles and the Saxons together ; andthus, though we have no Saxons, so called, in England, we havemilhons of people who are often described as Anglo-Saxons.

And now we come to the last of the great invading peoples, theAngles. Do we know anything of the Angles in England at the presentday ? We have seen that there is Jutland, the land of the Jutes ; thatthere is Saxony, the land of the Saxonsis there also an Angleland, theland of the Angles ? Undoubtedly there is. It is true that we do not callthat land " Angleland," but we call it by a namfe so similar that there isno difficulty in guessing in a moment what that country is. If, instead ofAngleland, we say England, we shall see that the Angleland to which theAngles came is our own England in which we live and whose name is

36 History of England.

so famous throughout the world. It is to the Angles that we owe

the name of our country and the great English language which we

speak.The Saxons who drove out and defeated the Britons were heathens

and worshipped idols. Their gods were called Thor and Woden, Freia.

and Tu, or Tuesco ; these were their chief gods, and there were others

besides. It is many hundred years ago since anybody living inEngland worshipped Thor, Woden, Freia, or Tuesco. We shallread further on how the Saxons became Christians, and how they gaveup their belief in their old gods. But though we who live in Englandno longer worship the gods of the Saxons, it would not be true to saythat we have forgotten all about them; on the contrary, not a daypasses on which we do not mention the name of one or other ofthem. This seems strange at first, but it is quite true. When wesay that we will do a thing on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday orFriday, we are really giving the names of four of the old gods of

the Saxons. This is clear when we come to think over the namesof the days of the week.

What does Tuesday mean ? It means Tuesco's Day, which we havecut short and made into Tuesday. It is not hard to guess thatWednesday is the same thing as Woden's Day; Thor'a Day only needsto be altered by one letter to become TIiursdsLy; while Frida.y, as wecan guess in a moment, is the day of the goddess Freia.^

And so we see that, when we speak of the days of the week, we arereally going back into the history of England, and are using wordsand names which were first brought into England by the Saxonswho landed on our shores with Hengist and Horsa. History becomesmore real when we find out things like this. They show us thatwe have really and truly come down from the Saxons who landedin England fourteen hundred years ago; and the words whichHengist and Horsa and their followers used then, we use in ourdaily speech.

For a long time the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes keptseparate from one another. There was not one great Saxon peoplein England, but a number of small tribes, each tribe under its ownking or chief. If we want to know the names of some of these nations,or tribes, we have only got to look at the map. But, it will be said,how can we find these names on the map ? There were no atlasesin the time of the Saxons; and all these nations and tribes have

' Sundny is, of course, the day of the SUB ; Monday, the day of the moOn ; while Saiur(\siy,er " Saeterday," means SatUm'S day*

THE ENGLISH KINGDOMS.

jS History of England.

come to an end long ago, and their names will not be marked inany map of England which we have now.

Let us see. If we go back to the old Saxon histories, we shallfind that some of the Angles landed on our shores near where thetown of Yarmouth now stands. They divided into two tribes; someof them went porth, and some of them stayed where they were, orwent south. Those who went north were called the "North Folk";those who stayed in the south were called the " South Folk."

Then we find that the Saxons, like the Angles, divided themselvesup into several tribes ; some went south, some west, some east, anda fourth tribe was to be found in the middle of the other three ; andsoon people began to talk of the country of the South Saxons, theWest Saxons, the East Saxons, and the Middle Saxons. Then, too,we read of a tribe which was called the " Dorsaetas," and of anotherwhich was known as the " Wiltsaetas,'' and there were many othertribes whose names might be given.

Now it will be said that, however long we look upon the map ofEngland, we shall never find marked upon it the country of the"North Folk" and the "South Folk,'' of the "Wes