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6000B0684W

BRITANNIA ANTIQUA.

BRITANNIA ANTIQUA.

(•R

ANCIENT BRITAIN

BnoniHT WITHIN TIIK

limits of ^utfimtic lUifitovi.

IJY

BEALE POSTE,

AKTTIOR OF THE * I'llITAKTIlC RCAKAIirnKs", ASI. OF Till: " HHK^ nf rVNOnKMSr

Awn or rnR ancijckt uniTos^.*"

LONDON:
JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 30, SOHO SQUARE

uncccLvii.

^^^

^ .

/

T. RICHARDS, 37, OURAT QUEEN SIREET.

TO

THE MOST XOBLE

THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND

(WITH rsRiiissioN)

THESE PAGES ARE VERY RESPECTFULLY

DEDICATED

BY

THE AUTHOR.

Dydkwh Plack,

XXAB MaIDITUMK,

Iftre Not., 1850.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAOK

Vindication of the Histories of Asscri Qildaa and Nennius, and
of the ancient British Poets: with observations on the
Historical Triads : and on ancient British Coins . 1-16

CHAPTER II.

Scrutiny and dissection of the work of Nennius, and remarks
on Qildas as an historian ; also observations on the epic
poem of the Cambreis, and on the other works of the
elder Oildas (QUdas 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, Mbcellancous particulars relating to him 116-132

Part 3. His expeditions to Qaul ; and the War of

Camlan ...... 133-152

Part 4. His kindred, friends, adherents, and con-
temporaries . . .152-163

Part 5. The discovery of his remains, etc. . . 163-190

VUl CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

PAGE

Strathclyde affairs in the sixth century, or the Battles of Arde-

rydd and Qododin ..... 190-244

r

CHAPTER V.

The ancient sea coast of Britain illustrated 244-291

CHAPTER VI.

Observations on the Qovemment 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 bom in Britain 303-307

CHAPTER IX.

The Bclgic Qauls 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

COKTBNTS. ix

CHAPTER XIII.

PAGE

The Attacotti of Britain ; the '' Bellicosa hominum natio'' of

Ammianus Marcellinus ..... 329-331

CHAPTER XIV.

Details from various aoarces relating to the career of Aurelios

Ambrosias ...... 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 earlj Teutonic Chronicle giving an unique

account of ancient Britain .... 348-356

CHAPTER XX.

Remarks on some ancient accounts of Britain 356-361

b

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXI.

PAGE

Miscellanea relating to ancient British history, geography, and
ethnology ; viz., Remarks on Julius Sextus Frontinus, the
classic author, proprietor 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 Constantine of Armorica to the church
of Llandaff. — Hengist. — ^The Demetse 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 £mmr}'s, and his history as
disguised by tradition. — Varjdng accounts of the parent-
age of Caractacus reconciled. — Cunedda. — Supposed proof
of the former existence of Druidical tree circles in Sussex.
— ^The Descriptio Utriusque Britanniee, 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 /ace page

(CHAPTER- I

ASSKR, KIT

< ■' '

To face Page 1.

Afh^ee # Dan^er^^U, Zt Bedford St. Covenl irardtnr

BRITANNIA ANTIQUA.

CHAPTER I.

THE AUTHENTICITY ASSERTED OF THE HISTORICAL WORKS
OP AS8ER, GILDAS 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 alhided 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

B

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
Literaria, 8vo., 1842, vol. i. pp. 405-41 3. We vrXL 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 Literaria^ 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^Svo.^ 1842, vol. i.
pp. 405-6).

I.] AUTHENTICATION 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 Life 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).

Obj\ 4. — ^That the Life is an unskilful compound of his-
tory and of legend (vol. i. p. 408).

Ohj, 5. — ^That the historical part of it, i.e. that from 851
to 887 is evidently a mere translation 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, tQl long after Alfred's
death (vol. i. p. 409).

Obj. 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. 7. — That he takes from a legendary Life of St. Neot
the account of Alfred's misfortunes at Athelney, which he
has added to what is said on the point in the Saxon Chro-
nicle (vol. i. p. 409).

Obj. 8. — That this Life of St. Neot^ from which Asser
copied, was not written till the year 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 maybe considered as not
without interest, as containing the strongest arguments
which can be brought against the genuineness of Asser\s
Ldfe 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 Sherbprne, or not. The ambiguous passages

4 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP.

#

in the preface to Alfred's Pastorale are usually accounted
for thus. Alfred, we elsewhere find, had given hira the
church of Exeter, with a certain district annexed to it,
which the king might have considered his bishopric, and
addressed him accordingly, as having given him a bishop's
jurisdiction within it. Thence he might have been styled
**Asser, my bishop", Wulfsige then being bishop of Sher-
borne; while on Wulfsige's death he might have been
made bishop of Sherborne itself. That he was bishop of
Sherborne is stated in various ancient documents, and
among them in the Latin copy of Alfred's will.

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 Cambrians, of whom it is recorded that he lived
about the year 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 Cambrian Biography^
12mo, 1803 ; and Richard's Eminent Welshmen^ 8vo, 1852).
Besides this testimony, it appears from the Chronicle of
Caradoc of Lancarvan, that there was an ecclesiastic named
Asser appointed archbishop of St. David's in 905 ; who
must have been the same as our Asser. The said 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 author of the time of George III might
have done from the London Gazettes of that reign ; and con-
sequently all difliculty on that head is thus at once removed.

The next principal objection is, that the Life of Alfred^
by Asser, purporting to be written in the year 987, has re-

I.] AUTHENTICATION OF GILDAS. 5

ference to the lAfe of St Neot^ which is believed not to have
appeared till the year 974. The answer to which is, that
the same may easily be credited to be nothing more than
marginal references, which have been gradually taken into
the text, from time to time, in copies made in monasteries
of Asser's Life of Alfred. This might have been by the
way of adding further details, and might have been more
readily done as the passages in question were taken from
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 modem times. We now turn
to vindicate another of our ancient historians against the
attacks of the same modem writer.

Objections against the authenticity and genuineness
of GildaSj by the author hefore cited.

These may be found in vol. xxxii. of the Archceohgia^
and in the Biographia Britannica Literaria ; as also scattered
about in various detached works and periodicals by the
same pen. We may now principally collect them from the
Biographia Literaria.

Ohj. 1. — That the accounts of Gildas are legendary, con-
fused, and contradictory. In particular, that the chrono-
logies given in the two Narratives of his life ; the one attri-
buted to Caradoc of Lancarvan, and the other to a monk
of the monastery of Rhuys, in Normandy, are totally in-
consistent (Biographia Britannica Literaria^ 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 (Ibid. p. 123).

Obj. 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. p. 335).

Our answer to these objections, as in the case of those
against Asser, will be brief ; because any lengthened reply
would be wholly unnecessary.

6 ANCIENT 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 nobleman becom-
ing an ecclesiastic, would be entitled to the appellation. Dr.
C. O'Conor, in his Rerum Hibemicarum Scriptores, part ii. p.
xxix., informs us, that he believes he could find a thousand
persons of the name of Gildas connected with Irish litera-
ture. We do not want so many for our argument ; but most
writers, as archbishop Usher, Mr. Stevenson, 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 chronology. In short, the dates which
respect the first Gildas, as traceable in various ancient works
(see the account of Gildas in the Britannic Jtesearches^ 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 [Ibid.).

In answer to Mr. Wright's second objection, it does not
at all apply : for not only ill-feeling existed between the
Latin communion and the British churches on account of
the Easter controversy, which began about the year 634,
and ended in the year 762, by the appointment of Elbodus,
archbishop of Gwynedd by the Pope ; but also it arose as
early as the middle of the fifth century, on account of the
Pelagian heresy, as is sufficiently notorious. 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 JSccksiastical
History^ i. 17, and Prosper's Chronicle,)

We will now notice the objections set forth against
Nennius, by the same author, in the two literary vehicles
before cited.

Objections against tlie genuineness of the British history of
Nennius^ from the Biographia Britannica Literaria and
the ArchcBologia.

Obj. 1. — That the work of Nennius is a forgery, as con-
taining allusions of a later date than the seventh (eighth)
century, which was the era of the ecclesiastic of that name,
the disciple of St. Elbodus, whom the fabricator intended
to personate [Biographia Literaria^ vol. i. pp. 137-140).

Obj. 2. — That the genealogies were introduced by the

I.] AUTHENTICATION OF NENNIUSL 7

forger with the intent of confirming the fictitious date he
assigned to the history; but that imperfectly understanding
chronology, he lias fully convicted himself, by introducing
anachronisms {Ibid. vol. i. p. 140).

Obj\ 3. — That the history of Nennius is an absolute for-
gery, fabricated just before the history of William of
Malmesbury was written, which appeared in the year
1135 [Archceologia^ vol. xxxii. p. 337); or otherwise it is
of an uncertain 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. Algernon Herbert, and the Rev.
Dr. Todd, is so much better understood. We now do not
suppose any edition of the seventh century ; and why not %
Because those two gentlemen, in their Dublin Edition^ 4to.
1847, very incontestably ascertained that the first manu-
script edition was in the year 822, by Marcus, a Briton,
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 reproduction, in
946, of the edition of Marcus, with additions from the
Nennian 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 Literaria^ 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.

8 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 begin-
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
unreservedly these ancient compositions. The controversy,
nevertheless, has not so entirely disappeared but that some
lurking scepticism may be occasionally traceable. One of
the works w hich most readily presents itself is a work by
the same author whose views we have lately had occasion
to scrutinize, — who, in the Wanderings of an Antiqimry^ as
published in the Gentleman 8 Magazine^ October, 1863, and
also separately, has consigned the bards, or rather their
productions, to a mere ideal existence, and supposes that
they have been personated by modem forgers, who have
taken advantage of popular prepossessions and prejudices,
and composed poems in their name. So thought Mr. Rit-
son half a century ago, and some others of that day, when
the Macpherson question was more particularly mooted ;
and this question of the Cambrian bards would appear to
be the sequel to that. We now propose a few remarks on
the genuineness of 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 the
sixth to the twelfth centuries, were forgeries, they must have
been fabricated much in the same way that Pere Hardouin
supposed that the ancient classics, with an exception of
Pliny's Natural History and a few other works, were pro-
duced ; 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 FOET8. 9

This monstrous supposition, we need scarcely 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 Sharon Turner, — who has
devoted a volume to the subject, entitled his Vindication of
the Ancient British Poets ^ 8vo, 1803, — it will suffice to off*er
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 difiiculty, 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 Black 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 countiy
just previous to its final fall ; and just before, too, the era
of Giraldns 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 vei7 frequent recurrence of ellipses

10 HISTORICAL MATERIALS. [cHAP.

in them, which is very highly significant. 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, that
writing their poems not without some view of vocal per-
formance, they omitted many connecting lines for the sake
of brevity ; and thus it happens that these productions
have only reached us in this form. Take Taliesin's poem,
the Battle of Argoed Llwyfain^ and it will clearly appear
that about as many lines necessary for connexion have been
left out as are inserted.

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 Poets, pp. 250-267, shows the employment
of it, by numerous instances, between the fourth and ninth
centuries ; and quotes a passage from St. Augustine, bishop
of Hippo in the fifth century, relative to its adoption, and
the reasons for it. The author of the Biographia Britannica
Literaria (vol. ii. Introduction, P* H) erroneously supposes
that rhyme was a new feature in poetry in the twelfth
century, and that it was first adopted by Hilarius, a poet
of that era.

Giraldus Cambrensis has no express treatise on the
Welsh bards ; but in his Liber Distinctionum, c. 9, he men-
tions their "Cantores historici", which implies that he knew
of the existence 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 of
Cambrian 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 Merddin
Wyllt, who both lived in the sixth century. — ^Einiawn
ap Gwgawn lived between 1200 and 1260, and mentions
Llowarch H^n, a Cambrian bard of the sixth century. —
Phylyp Brydydd lived between 1200 and 1260, and men-
tions Taliesin. — David Benvras, who lived between 1190

I.] THE TRIADS. 11

and 1240, notices Merddyn Wyllt, Llowarch Hen, and
Aneurin and his Gododin, and has an allusion to Taliesiu,
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
"Flamddwyn", or the Flame- bearer. — Gwilym Dhu, who
lived between 1280 and 1320, mentions Taliesin and his
" Flame-bearer", Llowarch 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 Biographia Britanniea Literaria 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 present
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 to 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 historical 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 IllSTOKlCAL 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 modem 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 Pope, is now given in a modernized form,
very different from that which they had at the time their
works apiM?ared; 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 imique 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 inclined 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 Moranad^ or monody
on the death of Urien Ilheged, and in his other poems ;

I.] THE TRIADS. 13

by Aneurin in his Gododin ; and by Taliesin in his Battle
ofMenao^ and in his Recompense of XIrien. 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 Plutai'ch 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
one 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, wliich are not in them ; and notices again,

14 HISTORICAL MATERIALS. [cHAP.

that where the same facts are related, which can be found
elsewhere, they have almost invariably a diflferent turn, he
will feel an entire conviction that none of those writers
have been consulted; nor, in fact, is there the slightest
trace 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 the
bards and the Latin Church there was ever a feeling near
akin to enmity. But the tone of the original was evidently
truly Cambrian. No wonder then, this circumstance con-
sidered, that there was a wish in the monastery to 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 rites 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
when this was done ; and the work having taken a more
popular shape, the alterations of the next hundred or hun-
dred and fifty years, to suit it to common reading, might
more naturally be expected.

The dates of the seventh century 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 paiticular, the assigning
the date of the tenth or eleventh century for the transmu-
tation, the same seems rather the most applicable, as at

I.] THE TRIADS. 15

that time the Druidic and bardic influence had been already
long in the wane, which the change of form of the work
would seem necessarily to imply. Besides, there is a men-
tion of the Normans in Triad 12, which may or may not
be indicative of date.

The Triads are first mentioned, as sources of historical
information, in a work entitled The Reformed History of
England^ as cited in Speed's History^ fol., 1614, p. 280 ; and
there referred to as the Book of the Triads.

Nevertheless, though they may have been thus cited,
they seem to have been scarcely known a hundred and fifty
years ago, when the celebrated Edward Lhuyd announced
that such documents were extant. They were printed in
Welsh in the Myvyrian Archceology^ in the beginning of the
present century ; and have appeared once or twice since,
in 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
hundred and twenty-six in number; and, in 1840, eleven
supplementary Triads were added, which are believed to
be of good authority. We may give the subjoined estimate
of the subjects of the whole hundred and thirty-seven,
whfch 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 documents ; 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 drawbacks
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 v^ue 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 Trinobantes 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 ] 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,
which has never yet been suflSciently 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
his 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
very 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
necessary, 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 afiairs ; while the last
edition, that of Dublin, by Dr. Todd, is scarcely procur-
able in this country. In reality, few know the contents of
Nennius ; and the same is undoubtedly the case with
regard to the kindred history of the old British author,
GUdas, a writer so connected with our present topic as to
require to be mentioned ; who has scarcely had a less share
of obloquy and disparagement, and equally undeservedly
so. This author will need, in the sequel, some separate

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 aflfbrd 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 difiers ; 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 pages. 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.

n.]

GILDAS AND NENNIUS.

1!)

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 compahison 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.

Nennius.
Various theories of the ori-
gin of the early inhabitants
of the island, c. ii. — x. and
xii. — xiii.

The invasion of JuliusCae-
sar, c. xiv. — xvi.
Ibid., c. xvii.

The persecution of Dio-
cletian in Britain, and the
martyrdoms of St. Albanus,

The conversion of the Bri-
tons by Lucius, in the reign
of Antoninus ; c. xviii.

20

ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS.

[chap.

Gild AS.
Aaron, and Julius, as also of
Amphibalus; c. x.

Dissensions caused by the
Arian heresy in Britain, c. xii.

The three rebellions a-
gainst the Romans in Bri-
tain (cc. vi. vii. xiii.),viz. : —

I. The rebellion of Carau-
sius, cc. vi. vii.

II. The rebellion of Maxi-
mus,c. xiii.,in connexion with
which is described the return
of the Roman legion to Bri-
tain; or, as it should properly
be expressed, two legions and
auxiliaries,afterthe rebellion
was put down ; c. xiv — xv.

Nennius.

Ibid., c. XX vii. and cc. xx.
xxii. XXV.

Ibid., c. XX.

Ibid., c. xxii.

Ibid., c. xxvii., and com-
pare c. xxiii.

Rebellion of Constantine
the Tyrant. Dubl. edit., c.
xxvii. in fine, p. 75. (" But
again, the Roman tribute,"
etc.) 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 Ibid., Dublin edition, c.
island by the Scots and Picts, xxvii., in fine p. 75, and c.

"•]

OILDA8 AND NENNIU8.

21

GiLDAS.

consequent on Constantine's
rebellion ; c xvi. (" Ilia le-
gione cum triumpho," etc.)

Ibid., c. xvii. (" At iUi —
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
(qu., of the walH) 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
Ficts 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.

GiLDAS.

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.

Vortigem, 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-
tigem's service, and receive
the Isle of Thanet ; c. xxix.

They are encamped there,
c. xxxvi.

Ibid., c. xxxvi.

Hengist obtains leave of
Vortigem to send for rein-
forcements. Inconsequence,
sixteen ships arrive; and
Hengist's daughter, coming

11.]

GILDAS AND NENNIU8.

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.

Vortigem's incest,c.xxxix.

Faustus, Vortigem'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-
tannia", f. e., in the western
part of Britain, in Gunnis
(varied to Guenet, etc., etc.)
or Gwent (?) t. 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 Der went, t. e. Da-
renth; c. xlvii.

Second battle, at Episford

24

ANCIENT BRITISH HIST0BIAN8.

[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 (coloniee),
f. 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 Matlhew of
Westminster)^ c. xlvii.

Third battle, also at Ayles-
ford, but at Saissenaig Hai-
bal, apparently a different
locality thereabouts, where
Horsa and Catigem are
slain ; c. xlvii.

Fourth battle, at Lapis
Tituli, on the sea shore ; c.
xlvii.

The Saxons are driven to
their ships, c. xlvii.

Vortimer, the leader of
the Britons, dies, and the
Saxons returfl ; c. xlvii.

About A.D. 469, Vortigem
cedes provinces in the west
of Britain to Aurelius Am-
brosius ; c. xlv.

The massacre, about a.d.
473, at Stonehenge ; c. xlviii.

.1.]

GILDA8 AND NENNIU8.

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 A ureliusAm-
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 Vortigem (about
A.D. 481), c. 1. His son. Pas-
cent, is allowed by Aurelius
Ambrosius to retain posses-
sion of the districts Built and
Guorthigimian, in Wales;
c. liii.

26

ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS.

[chap.

GiLDAS.

slaughter till then known of
the invaders ; in the 44th
year after their arrival, one
month of it being elapsed
(449+43), i.e. 492 ; c. xxvi.

Nennius.

Supposed allusion to Ar-
thur, in the Epistola of Gil-
das, 0. xxxii. (" Ut quid in
nequitiae," 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; the second, third,
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. 625-632. 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 Caer

II.] GILDAS AND NENNIU8. 27

GlLDAS. NeNNIUS.

Vyddaw, or Sil Chester, not
Mount Badon, or Bath, as
has been frequently supposed
(see Britannic Researches^ p.
63). The error has been
^ndely diffused : c. Ixiv.

Notwithstanding these suc-
cesses, the Saxons were re-
inforced more and more from
Supposed allusion to Ar- Germany,andinvitedprince8
thur, Epistola^ c. xxxiii. over thence to rule provinces
C'Nonne in primis adoles- in the island; and this pro-
centiae," 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 Bode, 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 Rome in the
time of Maximus and Constantine 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
independently 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 affairs, 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 Kome, 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 Constantine ; 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 Ecclesidstica^ 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 affairs of which
he treated, than a chronological transcript or abbreviation
of them. But Marcus was not like Gildas, writing as a

II.] THE GENEALOGIES OF NENNIU8. 29

controversialist, so he preserves somewhat more the thread
and consistency of the narrative ; and it was afterwards
transferred pretty nearly in the same form to the pages
of Nennius. We are thus able to have some correct
intimation of what 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-
prised the compass 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
Pausanta3y 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 off 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 Bemicia ; 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 455, 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 Bernicia ; 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 Bemicia, 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 Bemicia.

(About the year 565.) Hussa, son of Ida, is represented
as being at war with four British kings — Urbgen (Urien
Rheged), Riderch-hin, 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 only have been his general, and this
battle may be placed in consequence, as we have done in
the last year of Ida's life — that is, in the year 565. Urien,
according to his name Rhi-Ged, would have been king of
Gadeni, the neighbouring state 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 (j unxit) the two provinces of Deira and Bernicia ;
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 ; «.^.,
that of the Corpus Christi Library, Cambridge, of the
thirteenth century, which is the one marked B 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 Bernicia, being

II.] THE GENEALOGIES OF NENNIUS. 33

called a Guortli, that is, an " Honour", or " Barony", the
supremacy of the kingdom of Kent at that time may be
supposed to be alluded to. It may readily be believed to
have been subordinate to the kingdom of Kent ; the first
Saxon occupation of it having been by Ochta and Ebissa,
the 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
localities before mentioned, in immediate proximity to the
wall of Antoninus, about the year 570. The parties in
this conflict were the Strathclyde Britons (including, by
that denomination, several northern states) on the one side,
and the Saxons, Bemicians, 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,
and others, their chiefs, are mentioned in great profusion.
Singular to say, the poem records not the Saxon com-
manders ; and, though it names Bun, the Beamoch of the
genealogies, sister-in-law of Owen (see Triad 105), and
widow of Ida, who accompanied her people, the Bemicians,
into battle, and was still young and beautiful, and was
killed, it seems only done to stigmatize a traitress, who
was bom a Briton. In regard to the Picts, it is said that
Donald Brych led them, and was also killed. The result
given of the conflict, is, that the British army was routed
with immense slaughter. This battle, though it be not
recorded in Nennius, is nevertheless mentioned here to
preserve the connexion of events.

It should be noted likewise, in this place, that there
were several other battles, which occurred between the
northern Britons and the Saxons of the kingdoms of Dein^
and Beraicia, about these times. The precise period of
their occurrence, and their localities, are somewhat uncer-
tain. As to the first particular, they apparently were
fought between the years 560 and 585 : as to the latter, it
is pretty certain that they took place in the eastern por-
tion of the old Strathclyde, or in Northumberland. The
ultimate result of them to the northern Britons, was the
usual one to their countrymen, of losing their eastern terri-
tories, and retaining their western ones. The names of

F

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 Archceological 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, Kheged,
Argoed, and the southern Cumbria ; which passes, in the
Genealogies, under the name of Gwenedota, i, ^.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,
"Flemawr",that is, in one case, the Devastator^ in the other,
the Runagate^ alluding probably to his defeat at Bangor,
BO 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 first king of Deira, and contemporary
with Ethelfrith, that the powerful Northumbrian kingdom
wrested Elmet, the central province of Yorkshire, from the
Britons, 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
afforded 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. Bhun, the son of Urien, baptized them ; and,

II.] THE GENEALOGIES OF NENNIU8. 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 Rhun ap Urien, and Paulinus, who was bishop
of Rochester, may have been one and the same person.

(About A.D. 634.) Cathgwollan (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 Bemicia, 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. 656.) 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. The locality, by
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 by Bede^ iii. 24.

(About A.D. 664.) Catguallart, king of the Britons, dies
of a great pestilence, which occurs in the reign of Oswy,
king of Northumberland. According to the Annates Cam-
hricBy he died of a plague which occurred in the year 682.

(About A.D. 685.) Echgfrid, king of Bemicia, is totally
deieated 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 (Manys 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 NENN1U8. 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 ?
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 Cunobeline^ 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 archaeologist, 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 all 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. Wc may

38 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP.

observe that, as they, as far as they apply to Britain, begin
with the Saxon arrival, so they relate to this island for
about two hundred and twenty-five years. Now, imagine
the pedigrees and successions of the English sovereigns for
any two hundred and twenty-five years of our English
history, to be drawn up in one narrative, as a species of
school-boy's exercise; the said narrative to comprise all
their offspring, as well those that succeeded them, as those
who did not ; and, with this, some few of their acts to be
mentioned, and some especial battles of their times ; and
then, further, suppose the whole detail to be copied and
recopied a number of times, till errors have become ex-
ceedingly multiplied, — and a true idea may be formed of
the motley mass which these fragments supply to us. Yet,
in 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
him, as well as a history of the times, to account for the
confused way in which these genealogies and successions
of princes have come down to us ; and that, in his tran-
scriptions and abridgments of the two, he mixed some por-
tions of both together.

His historical authority seems to have been very parti-
cular and minute, as it gives the original division of the
province of the Brigantes into two portions, and their re-
junction ; notes when Mercia became independent ; ex-
plains matters frequently more in detail, and more clearly,
than in Bede, or other writers ; and frequently adds colla-
teral anecdotes omitted by others. It varies from Bede,
the authors of the Saxon Chronicle^ and other writers in the
Saxon interest, in bringing the British princes on the stage
of events.

Though, as has been observed, there are indications that
the original document used by Nennius was written by a
Briton, as is obvious from the British feeling visible in it,
yet he seems to have compiled it from Saxon memoranda,
or partially so, as appears from the numerous allusions to
Saxon affairs. However, though this may have been the
case, yet it is quite evident that there is not the slightest
trace of the original in any work which is now extant,
Saxon or British. It was not identical with Bede's History^
nor with the Saxon Chronicle^ nor with Ethelwerd, or Flo-

II.] THE TWO PROLOGUES OF NENMUS. 39

rence of Worcester, or with any of the narratives wliich
take the Saxon Chronicle for their basis. Nor does it in
the least agree with Tysilio's Histor;/^ or with the original
history, now lost, from which the Triads have been formed,
as will be seen by a comparison wuth 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 w^e 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 of 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 all
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 own 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 \he Irish Nennius^ Introduction^

\

40 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP.

p. 8, that Nennius does not mean to say that he was per-
sonally the disciple of St.Elbodus, but that he only adopted
his rule and doctrine, Elbodus having been known as being
mainly instrumental in bringing Cambria into the Latin
communion. He accepted, indeed, in the year 762, the
archbishopric of North Wales from the Pope, and contri-
buted greatly to the termination of the contest respecting
Easter, which continued altogether one hundred and twenty-
eight years ; the repugnance of the Cambrians, after his
time, 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
of his confederates in the same tenets. He goes on to say :

I have collected the materials of my history partly from the traditions
of our ancestors (majorum), partly from writings (scriptis), partly from
the documents (monumentis) of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly
from the annals of the Romans, and, besides, from the chronicles of the
holy fathers ; that is to say, Isidore, Jerome, Prosper, Eusebius.; as also
from the histories of the Scots and Saxons, though our enemies. My
task has been performed, not as I should have wished, but as I could ;
and 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
the handing down to posterity a short summary of deeds performed ;
collecting them like ears of com (spicas actuum), lest, being trampled
under foot, they should be entirely lost. A similar, but more ample
harvest has been aforetimes snatched away, on different occasions (spar-
sim), 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
now appears in his true character, as a monk and dili-
gent scribe of the monastery, who was employed to col-
lect materials for a species of history, or historical sketch,
of 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
all 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

II.] THE TWO PROLOGUES OF NENNIUS. -il

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 the Dublin edition, from Galic manu-
scripts, 4to., Dublin, 1847, Introdwtion, 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

O

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, than 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. 154.)
In one copy he is said to consult with the said Benlan as
to what he should insert in the text. (Ib^id. p. 186.) 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 :

Not 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, •* verriculo", t. 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 may be judged to have had a first publication, end-
ing with the death of Cadwalader, which appears to be
lost ; and the second edition, which we now have, only

II.] TU£ TWO PROLOGUES OF NENNIUS. 43

to have come down to us. This Ilistory of Tysilio is
indeed elegantly >vritten, but is not remarkable for truth.
Were there this first edition, it 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 shidl do the rest.

With regard to the chronology given in the last para-
graph : there were two Mervin s, 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, is 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 I could find, as well from the Annals of the Romans as
the Chronicles of the sacred fathers, that is, of Jerome, Euscbius, 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, lihrarit) 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

44 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP.

it understood, that I yield to him, whoever he may be, who possesses
more 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
of them 1 which we may answer at once in the negative.
We may see from 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
young. The same appears yet more strongly by a further
passage, c. 3, standing earlier in the History ^ in which he
describes himself (" ego) Samuel, infans magistri mei, id
est, Benlani presby teri". In English, " I, Samuel, the infant
of 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
verses, 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 ;
and 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,
about seventeen or eighteen years of age.

Having these data, we shall scarcely form any other
opinion, but that both the prologues were written for him
by some members of his monastic community, who were
desirous to show that they cooperated in the work. Here
we 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
produced first ; of which the longer one, though it be lively
and sentimental, is merely an amplification of it in a better
dress. It is, in fact, nothing else than a species oijeu d'esprit^
and, as such, the effusion of some more polished associate
in the convent. The two have nearly the same contents,
as has been said ; but the longer prologue speaks more
explicitly of the existence of documental and historical
evidences of ancient Britain ; which the shorter only im-
plies, or, according to some, omits. But this point will
require to be somewhat examined, whether it does so, or
not.

11.] THE TWO PROLOGUES OF NENNIU8. 45

The shorter prologue makes a specific complaint of the
dnlness 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
Britanum 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
LitercB CathoUccB BritannicB. (See Stevenson's A'biweW, 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 s^rae 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 Irish Nennius^
Introduction, I}. 18); and all the three copies used in form-
ing the Dublin edition, it seems, had been translated from
it. (Ibid. p. ix — xi.) But there is a fourth Irish copy,
which formerly belonged to Sir William Betham, and is

46 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP.

still not edited. (Ibid. p. x.) In short, the great success of
this work seems to have driven all preceding histories
then current out of use, so that they have become entirely
lost to us.

Why was this 1 Ostensibly because this work seems to
have had, first, the sanction of some considerable monas-
tery ; and, secondly, the whole patronage of the Latin
Church. Thus we can easily imagine that the others would
have gradually fallen into disfavour, and at length disap-
peared.

The inedited manuscript copy of Nennius, mentioned as
above, is a portion of the Book of Hy-many, a collection
of Irish histories ; and is at present in the possession of the
Earl of Ashbumham, 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
many of the manuscripts of our author have the name of
Gildas in their title or heading, and notify nothing con-
cerning Marcus or Nennius. This seems to afford a fair
basis for supposing that even Marcus was not the original
composer, but took his ethnological particulars, at least,
from the earlier writer Gildas ; and how much more we
know not. Hence, as the work of Gildas remained long
extant, he might have been believed to be the author of
this 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
authorship of the work than Marcus, as being the original
composer ; referring to the proofs adduced in the IntrodtAC^
tion to the Irish edition, and considering them sufficient
for all practical purposes.

We have the advantage of three editions of Nennius,
each essentially distinct: i., that of the Vatican manu-
script, which formed Mr. Gunn's text, at present a unique
copy ; n., the various manuscript editions of Nennius,
usually so called ; and iii., the Irish text from Galic manu-
scripts.

The most genuine original text is undoubtedly that of
the Vatican manuscript, which bears strong evidences of
being nearly in the state in which it was as at first written
by Marcus, the Irish bishop, though with the additions

II.] THE BISTORT 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. Suffice
it to say, that his name stands in the heading of the work,
and that Heric of Auxerre, in his Li/e of St. GermanuSy
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, " For miter 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 Koman histoiy ; 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
cqoaUy ancient as the other. They are both highly inter-
erting pieces of medieval literature.

The Ancient British History entitled " De Excidio

BRITANNIiB", 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 Bf*de 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, Oildas 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 examination of
em will afford some decisive conclusions. They are to
\ found at pp. 2, 4, 7, 10, 28 bis, 29, 31, 32, and 43, of
wel's edition, 12mo., 1582, of Ponticus Virunnius, and

II.] GILDAS ALBANIU8 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
Poem 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, wliich has been considered
of so much celebrity ; and that the name of it was tlie
Cambreis. 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 (" elcgiarum 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 EUgiarum, do
not necessarily imply separate and distinct poems, as some

H

60 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP.

may have been inclined to suppose, but are one and the
same literary production.

However, we must say a wcfrd 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' Tysilio^
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,
Regnabunt Britoncs Albanae gentis amici,

Cum Scotis Bri tones 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, in
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, sliall
not any more invade each other. Again, the same passage
will 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

II.] 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 whicli, 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 (Ibid.^ 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 Camhreis 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 w^orked 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 indifFcrcnt 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 CoBsar,
which Tysilio has, was not in the poem of Gildas. Geoffrey
of Monmouth tells us expressly, in his preface, 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 BRITISH 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
Geoflfrey 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^ king 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 ; 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 ^neid 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 -Slneas 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 j^neid^ 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 Muem 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.] 01LDA8 ALBANIU8. 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 tlie
Trojan myth, which is also found in the Chronicle of Geof-
frey of Monmouth. Brutus is supposed to speak —

DiTa potens nemonim terror silvestribus apris,

Cui licet anfractus ire per sethercos
Infemasque Domus, terrestria jura resolve,

Et die quas terras nos babitarc vclisy
Die certain sedem, qu& te venerabor in aevum,

QuSL tibi virgineis templa dicabo choris.

The answer :

Bmte, sub occasu solis trans Oallica 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.

Hie fiet natis altera Troja tuis,
Hie de prole tua regcs nascentur, et ipsis

Totius terrse subditus orbis erit.

The remark of Ponticus Virunnius is, " The verses are
of Gildas, a most distinguished British poet, wlio lived
€^ut the time of the Emperor Claudius Augustus," etc.,
«.^.,Ilomulus Augustulus (see Britannic Researches^ p. 167) ;
with whom indeed Gildas Albanius, or the elder Gildas, in
the earlier part of his life was contemporary {Ibid. 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 woods, tremendous in tbe chace
To mountain boars and all tbe savage race,
Wide o'er tb' 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 ehoirs of virgins eelebrate thy praise ?

Response in the same strain of the Pagan oracle :

Brutus, there lies beyond the Oallie bounds
An island which the western sea surrounds :

54 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [CHAP.

By giants once possessed ; 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 poetical 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 Geoffrey
of Monmouth : but he did not adopt this style, as the fol-
lowing specimen of his versification from his Vita Merltni^
verses 983-6, will show —

Crimen quod memini ci^m Constans proditus essct,
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.
Tysilio and Geoffrey of Monmouth also refer to the point
in question.

Page 7. Speaking of the prophecy (see above), he says
that Gildas heid 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

Eage. Geoffrey of Monmouth does not give the verses in
is nistary, assigning as a reason, according to some copies,
that he put no faith in the prophecy. (See Roberts'

II.] GILD AS ALBANIUS. THE CAMBREIS. 55

Tysilio^ 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 wliich Virunnius speaks of
the translator that it was.

Page 28, bis. 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 cccini tibi carmina Cambres.

The Cambres in this line probably should be Cambris, for

Page 29. 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 Liber Britannicus

56 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [ciIAP.

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 Canibreis; 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 TysUio's Chronicle^ which, if so,
must be an additional proof of the influence it once pos-
sessed. Henry of Huntingdon, Geoffi-ey 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 GeoiFrey 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 sub-
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 Canibreis 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,
iii,GeoiFery of Monmouth, speaking of this work in his pre-

n.] OILDA8 ALBANIUS. THE CAMBREIR. 57

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
Oildas, 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, GeoiFrey 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 cognomen 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 affilia-
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 shown that Gildas Albanius is to be regarded
the author of the Cambreis ^ which Ponticus Virunnius
pronounced to be the Liber Britannicus^ as it ranked, ac-

II.] OILDAS ALBANIL'S. 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 i>oint, 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 GildsB Sapientis quem composuit de primis habita-
toribus Britanniie"; 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 Britanniae." 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 German us
AND Lupus, by Gildas Albanius.

This work 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 wrought. 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 tcnent ciUm seinitempora 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

II.] OILDA8 ALBANIU8. VERSES ON SEXTUS. 61

certain territories from the said {lOwer, and their being
recovered.

We may consider the origin ot 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 affairs 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
Pseudaprophetce^ p. 365, and in Mr. Wright's Biographia
Britannica Literaria^ 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^ p. 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

Albanius.

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 bom a.d. 425,
in Strathclyde, which was frequently called Albania. His
father was Caw, or Gawolan, a prince in Strathclyde. He

^

62 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [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, aet. 37, with a very
great quantity of books (cum magna mole diversorum
YolMminnm^ 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 Britanniae, 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, aet. 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, aet. 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
Gildas refusing, continued his course to his insular retreat.
The Liber Landavensis, which gives the details, places the
occurrence in the episcopate of St. Oudoceus ; whereas,

II.] GILDAS BADONICUS. HIS LIFE. 63

according to the requirements of chronology, it must have
happened in the time of St. Dubricius.

A.D. 510, aet. 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,
aet. 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 his 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, omitting 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 Rhuys, 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 635, and S|>ent the rest of his life chiefly in
Arinorica. 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 Historica 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 minimse stragis, qui-
que quadragesimus quartus, ut novi, oritur, annus, mense
jam prime 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 BADONICUS. HIS LIFE. 65

tion. The reader must be reminded, Gildas says, " quiquc
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.

Regarding 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, which 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 Monumenfa Historica BH"
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, w^as
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, ajt. 2L 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 516, 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,
set. 53. At w^hat 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 aetatis 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

k

66 ANCIENT BRITISH HISTORIANS. [cHAP.

Rome, 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, aet.
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 Life of Gildas^ under the name of
Conomerus (i.^., Cuno-mawr, or great king), as the mur-
derer of several of his wives and as the oppressor of his
people. The saint is represented as bringing down judg-
ments on this reprobate, and as restoring his murdered
consort, Trifina, daughter of a potentate named Weroch,
to life, 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 ^ale
becomes pretty evident. Maelgwyn Gvvynedd 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 primae tamen propriae conjugis praesumptivae

nuptiae, 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 tantae
sunt peccatorum subitac moles, ut etiam publicae fallacis
parasitorum linguae tuorum conclamant summis tamen la-
biis, non ex intimo corde, legitimo, utpote viduatam, thoro,
ut nostras vero, sceleratissirao 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 still 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 Maclgwyn
Gwynedd seems to have taken special care to stand well
with the order of the Bards. He entertained Taliesin 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 tyronum
voce suaviter modulante, neque ecclesiasticae melodiae, sed
propriae quae nihili sunt, furciferorum referta? mendaciis,
simulque spumanti phlegmate proximos quosque focdaturo
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 w^hich 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 bard
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
\vith great virulence, which are certainly not much to the
honour of the illustrious writer, and may be considered as
a species of bardic imprecation. They are as follow :

Ny bo rhad na gwcdd ar Vaelgwn Gwynedd ;
Drwy na dialler ar Run y etyvedd,
Boed byr vo y vychedd boed diffaith vo y dircdd,
Boed hir diuroedd o Vaelgwn Gwynedd.
Taliessin 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 Cunobeline^ p. 200.) It also may be noted that the
form "tosh" 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 whom we
have now treated, are said to have been the sons of Caw,
otherwise Gawolan, or Caunos, or Can. The Monk of
Ilhuys has Caunos ; and Giraldus Cambrensis, Capgrave ;
John of Glastonbury, and the Life of St. Cadoc^ have Can.
(WnghVsBiographiaLiteraria^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 all 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 both
kings' sons, and then- 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 these 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 Hebcr's, has been
of late years acquired by the British Museum [Egerton
MSS,j 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 out 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 i)arts, 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 great facility of
investigating and ascertaining this, as the Life of Gildas^
attributed to Caradoc of Lancarvan, and that by the Monk
of Rhuys, 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 ofGildaa^
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 Rhuys.
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.

"/ce 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 abcs 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 horn. 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. — Saint Gildase was bom in Britain, of a very noble
lineage, and was given over into the hands of St. Philibert
to be made a prier^t, 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 of 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 j)articular bias, but at once novel and striking, and
derived from a source now no longer extant. That source.

II.] OILDA8 BADONICUS. THE D£ 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 reproof.
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 Constantine 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

L

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

saepius hsec omnia in animo revolvere : Et spatio

bilustri temporis vel eo amplius pra^tereuntis imperitia, sicut
et nunc una cum carissimis mei amicis imperantibus ut
qualemcumque gentis Britannicee historiolam sive admo-
nitiunculam scriberem. In zelo igitur domus Domini,
sacrae legis cogitatuum rationibus, vel fratrum religiosis
precibus coactus, nunc persolvo debitum multo tempore
antea exactum," etc. In English : " I kept silence, I con-
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 Gildas^ c. 1 9, 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 of 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
reproved : nay, more, a collateral circumstance appears to
inform us that he was reprehended together with 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 DADONICUS. 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 alhusion was made
to the name Arthur, wliicli, being dissected, might be inter-
preted " Arth-erch", or fierce bear. However, at the ulti-
mate publication of the Epistola and Ilistoria^ 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 Illaudibilibus Camhrioi
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 Acts could not
have been written till the peace with the Saxons in 532 ;
and, according to the tenor of the accounts, Gildas 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 effected between them. See Caradoc of Lancarvan's
I^/e 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 Amhrosii^ 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 Ilabitatoribus Britannice^ 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 soui ce from
^ch the primeval history of the British Church was sup-
d. The one who makes the iicknowledgnieiit is Geof-

II.] GILDAS BAD0NICU8. — THE VICTORIA. 77

frey of Monmouth, who, in his HUtory^ iv., 20, expressly
informs us to this effect ; and his assertion being positive,
should be received. It may be said, that it is not quoted
by name by Bode : to which 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 '* lucid us
tractatus", or elegant treatise ; which we may have but
little difficulty in believing that it was, for it is not denied
that Geoflrey 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 ^vrote the Fm?-
toria Aurelii Ambrosii^ since GeoflFrey of Monmouth only
says it was Gildas I In answer to this we have chiefly the
testimony of Pouticus Virunnius, the author whom we
have before quoted. At the end of his fourth book of
Ilistoria Briloman^ speaking of the work, he says, " quem

(

78 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 of Gildas Badonicus, and to the Liber Bri-
tannicus^ or metrical British history, the Cambrcis, 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 Hxcidio 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 his 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 Oildse Cormac sic perlcge scriptam

Doctoris digitis sensu cultuque rcdactam.

HsDC 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.] G1LDA8 BAD0NICU8. THE CAMBRIDGE MS. 79

The first printed edition of the work was that of Poly-
dore Vergil in 1525, from two manuscripts not now known
to exist ; but as he altered his text, ad libituni^ 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 Vitellius, A. vi., afterwards burnt ; and the
Cambridge Manuscript, Dd. i., 17, which is the one marked
B in the Monumenta Ilisiorica Britannica,

Thirdly, we have Gale's, in 1691, from the Cambridge
Manuscript, Ff. i., 27, marked A in the Monumenta Ilisto^
rica Britannica^ and the above mentioned Cottonian Manu-
script, VitelliuSj 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 Ilistoria^ and has
no part of the Epiatola. 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, sufficient 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 mayest thou peruse the
History of Gildas Cormac, edited in a better form, and
more correct as to sense, according to the transcript 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.

nected 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 circular-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 in
the margin. " Fecit namque ipse Gildas librum magnum
de regibus Britonum et de proeliis eorum, sed quia vitu-
peravit eos multdm 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 tliis, 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. Tliis 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
compiised Cornwall and Devonshire, and part of Somer-
setshire : and it was separated eastward from another
ancient British state, called the Belgoe, 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 Coim of Cunoheline
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 Koman invasion, in the time of
Claudius, these people, together with the Belgaj, made
a prolonged resistance against the Romans during the
years 45 and 46. (See the Britannic Researches^ pp. 325-
333.) 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 Armorica, 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 Demetae ; 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 Amhrosius,
in the year 481. They retained it to the year 657, 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 somewhat 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 9J}2. (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 historj' 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. [cHAP. 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.
Clonstantine, a distinguished member of the Armorican
branch, was invited 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 Aurclius Ambrosias, 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 principal general,
filled his brother's place; and he conducted the affairs
of the Britons with very tolerable success from the year
604 to 617 ; 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 brother 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 IViads; and that instance relates to

PT. I.] ARTHUR MABUTER's BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. 86

some dealings of his with a conjuror, from whom he extorts
his secret.

We, perhaps, 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-
mouthshtre.) Her name is handed down as Eigyr, Igren or
Igema ; 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 earned 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 occun'ed 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. [cUAP. Ill,

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 ; 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 ilhis-
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*8 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 were
never without their chief-supreme or generalissimo in war.

As to the direct proofs of his existence, they are com-
prised mthin 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 Talicsin
and Merddin Wyllt, who were his contemporaries. His
existence is recorded in the Ilislories 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 infer that, on
the appearance of these last, about the beginning of the
tenth 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. Roberts, 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 HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

the author of the Chronicle^ under the name of Tysilio, —
believed to have been written about the year 1000, — nor
Giraldus Cambrensis, two 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 scill, in Geof-
frey of Monmouth's History. It could, then, no otherwise
be expected, but that the effect 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 Arthuria^ 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 (Frifuordia^
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 licland'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 Maiichester
in 1773; and in his 4to. edition examined rather 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

PT. I.] CREDIBILITY OF ARTIltJR 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 acuteness, 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 CENTUllY HISTORY. [cHAr. III.

nent scholars in medieval literature, of the class we have
just mentioned.

We have already hriefly 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 Chrisiianus of the Honourable
Algernon Herbert, 8vo., 1849, pp. 212-216,

Mr. Herbert's first, second, third, and fourth Ohjections
against the reality of the existence of Arthur, which,
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, whicli
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 Soman 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 market
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. — gwenuwyvae. 91

of this or that personage, were added to the general stock.
There was a plentiful accompaniment of genii and demons;
and no bizarre 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 Iloman, 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
" pra*-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 Asclcpiodotus, their ancestor, yet
were Celts by nation, habits, and associations. No ancient
autliority implies, that the father of the two brothers was
a Roman. Gildas merely says, that Ambrosius was of a
Roman family — " gentis Romanae," 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,
tliat the name was titular \ Gwenhwyvar, Weneveria, or
Gwenever, is varied, in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History^
IX., 9, in a way apparently 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 era mentioned by
name ; and thus, we are so far deprived of coiToboration.
However, this explanation removes tlie 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.

Objection 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 Mahinogion; as the conceal-
ment of Bran's head, the imprisonment of Elphin, etc., etc.
In reply, see the answer to the said first four objections.

Objection eighth is, that neither Gildas nor Bede men-
tion Arthur. In reply, Gildas neither mentions the Bri-
tish king Constantino, nor his son Constans, nor Uther
Pendragon. Indeed, his subject did not 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 affair 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, and 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 Gavv-

PT. I.] MR. 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,
but 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-
niit^s 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 Gilice^ 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.

Giraldus Cambreusis may be allowed to speak on this

91: SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

subject, who has a passage in point, in his De Illaudihilibus
Walltce, — that is, on the objectionable things of Wales, —
c. 27, which is only to be found in print in Wharton's
Anglia 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-
niee principem quem rex Arthurus occiderat oflFensus hoc
scripsit, undo et libros egrcgios quos de gestis Arthuri et
gcntis suae laudibus multis scripserat audita fratris sui
nece omnes ut asserunt in mare projecit; cujus rei causa
nihil de tanto principe in scriptis authenticis exprcssum
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 tlirew 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,
])rofessing 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 tliose potentates to
the flames, is, in all probability, entirely witliout 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 tlie 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, tlien, which actually went to the
point of being a memoir of Arthur and of his family, is

PT. I.] MR. Herbert's objections. — gildas. 95

perished. Arthur lost his biographer, the writer whom
Giraldus would have considered authentic ; the vigorous
and truthful touches of whose pen would have saved his
memory from the records of folly and bombast. But it
seems certain enough that Gildas has an allusion, though
merely an allusion, to Arthur in his subsequent work, De
Excidio Britannicc^ c. 32.

That passage is, indeed, one which is singularly enigma-
tical ; but is apparently of only one interpretation, which
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 order 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-
lescentisB annis Urse multorum sessor, Aurigaque currus
receptaculi Ursi, Dei contemtor sortisque ejus depressor,
Cuneglase ! Somana 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 Soman 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 sufficiently before how the name Arthur admits

96 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

of being interpreted Arth-erch, or "fierce bear": and
there is but little doubt that Gildas had represented liim,
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, by 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 tlic 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 hbtory, written in 1745, and printed in the Gentle-
man's Mofftmne 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 : 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 Arthur
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 tlie Saxons. As to the second 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

PT. I.] MR. Herbert's objections. 97

for a quarter of a century, supported, as they were, by the
whole of 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 mythological 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 be 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 («>., Yarddur) is only mentioned
by Lowarch-Hen, in his Moranad on Geraint map Erbyn^
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 ? 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, 5r requisite authentic memorials ; and

o

98 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAT. III.

that it is so, proves highly embarrassing to investigators of
later 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 inconsistent with chronology: Aurelius Ambrosius,
who commanded one of the divisions of the Britons at the
battle of Aylesford, in the year 455, as the Chronicle oUSi^XXXievf
of Westminster informs us, could never have survived to the
year 542, which was that of Arthur's death. In fact, two
kings reigned during the intervening period after him:
TJther 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 Asscrtio Arthuris^ was
printed in 12mo., 1525, and more recently in vol. v. of his
Collectanea^ published by Heame, 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
lAber Distifictionum, which he erroneously calls his Speculum
Ecclesioe; 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 in our
times, it may be considered more desirable to consult the
Liber Distinctionum itself, at the first hand, as also the
Imtitutio Principis of Giraldus, — which last work Leland

FT. !•] VINDICATORS. WHITAKEE. 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 Geoff'rey of Mon-
mouth is given. It is to be regretted that the work is
written somewhat in a scoffing style, which is reprehensible

100 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 con\'iction 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^ 4to., 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 Geoffrey of
Monmouth, in compiling his History^ originated in those
regions, there being no internal evidence to that effect in
the Chronicle itself. It is easy to see, that the effect of
this part of the theory of Mr. Sharon Turner has been
disparaging to the existing remains of ancient British
literature.

Besides this, Mr. Turner certainly knew but little of

PT. I.] VINDICATORS. — LINGARD AND LAPPENBERO. lOl

the international divisions of the ancient Britons. Also,
the two earlier 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 Lappenbcrg, 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 Rhiothimus 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 Histori/.

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 CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP. III.

some portion 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 in others. The author frequently forms his
conclusions in defiance of dates ; and, indeed, in defiance
of the results of his own researches. His 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 \vith 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 easily
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 1697, 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.] CHRONOLOGY OF ARTHUR MABDTER's REION. 103

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 narratives of Aurelius Ambrosius and Vortigem ; 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 popularly 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 the dates in Matthew of Westminster, which,
though we cannot receive them as evidence, not knowing
their origin, are, in all probability, altogether correct 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. [ciIAP. III.

able doubt but that he actually fought and conquered at
the places specified. Since the time of Whi taker, 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
617 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, ^.^., 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 Roman
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 Tysilio 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. I.] CHRONOLOGY OF ARTHUR MABUTER's REIQN. 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 w^ars 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
tliese 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 Tysilio'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
Reliqu£8 of Ancient English Poetry^ 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 Jbe
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 the chronicler, who made this the chief
point of his research : 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. III.

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, which is near Kirby
Stephens. These data may be sufficient to form grounds
for our surmises of the acquisitions which 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 England,
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 Arzur^ox "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 hegericn war 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 still 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. In foct, 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 militarv transactions occurred : after which this vie-
tory was described as gained at the passage of an estuary near
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
Cacr Vyddau, or Silchcster ; 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, Gildas appears to si)eak
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 tlie History of Gildas, and the date he gives, that
the battle of Mount Badon took place several years before
Artliur was born.

There is still further evidence in the verses of Taliesin
on the battle in question, which we may here give, and
they are as follow :

Gwac intwy yr invydion pan vy waith Vaddon
Arthur benn haelion y lafneu by gochion
Gwnaeth ar y alon gwailh gwyr gafynion
Gouynion gwacd darcdd mach dcyrn ygogledd,
Ucb drais hcb drossedd.

^

108 SIXTU CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

In English : " Alas ! hapless were they in the battle of
Vaddon, when blood tinged the sword of Arthur, head
supreme of the princes, when he revenged the blood whicli
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 chronicles. We may gather that the Saxons
were beleaguering this 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 unprepaied 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 tliem again terribly, when, having somewhat
rallied, they had gathered together on the adjoining higli
ground. This great victory, which 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. Rudbonie apparently tells
truth in regard to this pacification, and admits that the
British king ceded much to the Saxons. Indeed, tlie latter
had obtained a great victory at Cerdicsford in 527, and
conquered the Isle of Wiglit, with a great slaughter, in
630. Roberts, however, supposes, in his Chronicle of Tysilio,

PT. I.] CHRONOLOGY OF ARTHUR MABUTER's REIGN. 109

p. 181, that 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, Sussex, 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 hear of him no
more in the North. Indeed, the next 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 HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

and (3 and 4), the said military events which have been
just alluded to.

Regarding 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 mentioned as one of the twenty-eight cities of
Britain by Nennius.

However, a great difficulty 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 ; wliich,
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 obseiTcd furtlier,
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
teurt visited by Iltutus comes under the same category.

PT. 1.] CHRONOLOGY OF ARTHUR MABUTER's REIGN. • 111

But the 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 "• pinceraa", or butler, t. ^., the master of his
entertainments ; and Cai, his " treasurer", or indeed, lite-
rally, his " collector", as his name (Cais) imports. Allow-
ing for the early days in which our hero lived, this person
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.

I

112 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

In respect to his expedition to the North Seas, and con-
quering Denmark and Norway (i. e, parts of them), men-
tioned by Tysilio in his Chronicle^ it happens that we have
positive and very satisfactory collateral evidence that he
did interfere in the wars in those parts. The archbishop,
Johannes Magnus, historian of Sweden, who lived in the
beginning of the sixteenth century, and who was brother
and predecessor of Olaus Magnus, being both archbishops
of Upsal, gives us some information very relative to the
point. He acquaints us that Harold, a leader of the Danes
in those days, being overcome in battle by Tordo, king of
Sweden, fled to Britain to King Arthur. He further tells
us that Arthur, joining his forces w^ith the said Harold,
and fitting out a fleet from Britain, Gaul, and Holland,
subdued the Danes, then fighting for the Swedes, in a naval
battle in the Cattegat. Johannes Magnus appears to affirm
positively that Arthur conquered Denmark.

The testimony, we may observe, is all favourable as far
as it goes. The hiring of ships in Gaul and Holland, we
may admit, may have been necessary to transport a large
expedition from Britain to those northern quarters. The
victory in the Cattegat is no impossibility ; and the alleged
conquering of Denmark and Norway amounts to no more
than that the restored king, and his friend the British
chief, were received as conquerors wherever they landed
in his dominions.

There is so different an air given to the story as in
Johannes Magnus, that it seems pretty clear he did not
copy from the British Chronicles; and his account removes
much of the improbability which hangs over the narrative
as in these latter sources. We assign the expedition to the
year 636.

The departure from Britain on the Gaulish expedition
seems best placed, as we have before observed, in the year
537. He was there actively employed for some consider-
able time ; when, as Tysilio informs us, he returned again
to Britain, and, as we may judge, in the year 539. His
stay in Britain appears to have been brief; but it was
signalized, if the accounts may be believed, by scenes of
splendour of a very dazzling description.

They are related by Tysilio as taking place at Caerleon
upon Uske, 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 appeal's 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 consorts 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 oflftces 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 brave 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 641, 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 event which
has any connexion with this British chief, though many
have supposed so. We will, therefore, 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, according 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 Saxofi
Chronicle^ and there has the date, duly assigned, of 501.
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 circum-

FT. 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
Commentariolum^ 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 Llongborth mentioned by annalists, which
occurred in the year 50 1 , according to the 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 " Tor-
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 "Wihtgar" signifying defender
of that island. We may understand, therefore, that his
honorary distinction might have been somewhat of this
class: i.e., Port- tog, or "Port-chief"; or again. Port- sieger,
that is, " Port- conqueror," 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, and
support the truth, of his history. At the same time it will
be as well to say that the details, as coHected 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 HISTORY.

TEE LIFE AND TIMES OF ARTHUR MABUTER,

KING OF 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 archive* 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 Tinad 112, to
have been likewise himself at variance with Arthur. This
would have its effect in precluding him from being the

FT. II.] ARTHUR MADUTEU. — DEFICIENCY OF ACCOUNTS.. 117

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 being 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 Rheged, 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-
loffies of Nennius, which we have examined in our second

118 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

chapter, and which, it so hjippens, 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 Rheged 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 tlie 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 centuiy, 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, tlie 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.] ARTHUR MABUTER. — THE STRATHCLYDE LEAGUE. 119

western territories for several centuries. Now, when the
line of Asclepiodotus — that is, the British Constantine
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
their 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 politics of the
island of that period.

120 SIXTH CENTURY UISTORY. [CHAP. III.

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 Howel 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, that
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 James 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, wets 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 cliief — is extolled as
being very great in inducing the Britons to leave their
homes, and assemble round him for the war. 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 natural 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 full 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 CENTURY 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 Life of
Gildas, attributed to Caradoc of Lancarvan, calls him a
"' rex iniquus", or 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 SL 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 eflfectually 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
aB 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 all 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 KINO. 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, A\Tiat 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 oflSce and command, as is shown in the History
of Nennius, c. 66. At any rate, such is the theory of his
position, and such was originally the nature of his oflSce 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 X (See his
Chronicle^ pp. 63, 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, w*hcrein it is said, " a certain tyrant walked up
and down the^se 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 sucli
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
jsovereign, that, like Llowarch-IIen, the bard-prince of
Argoed, he possessed a taste for poetry. We 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
remaining 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 Archceohgy; one apparently more ancient
than the other. We give the more modern as most com-
jirehensible, which is found in that work, vol. ii., p. 62 ;
as also it forms part of Triad 29.

Sef ynt fy nhri 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 Caradog the Pillar 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 we
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
Round 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
was 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
numbers, 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. III.

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 Uthero 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. Constantine 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
Iloman 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 Catnbnan 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 vot^iy
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. IL] ARTHUR MABUTER. — ROMANCES, 127

of Druidism as given in Davies' Celtic Researches^ and the
Myiliohgy 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,
Geoffieyof Monmouth,and others; and 2. Various romances,
as those of Lancelot of the Lake^ the Sangreal^ and the Mori
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 t/ie British
Archaeological 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. III.

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 true 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 Deaths the second the Legend of King Arthur.
They are both preserved in Bishop Vercy' sBeliques ofAncietit
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
of 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 modern poet,
Mr. Tennyson, has entered the field in the same path.
His Morte d" Arthur, published in his Poems, \o\. 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.

FT. H.] 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
fancy 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
will 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

s

130 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

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 home. 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 apparently been introduced because
the Normans, in the Middle Ages, obtained dominions in
that quarter. Hence Richard Coeur-de-Lion is said to have
given Tancred, king of Sicily, his sword. (See John Bromp-
ton'sC%rom(?/^, 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-
stance, 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
Denktuale des Mittelaltcrs^ which was entitled " De Rebus
gestis Regis Arturi,Tristani, Lanceloti,Galbani, Palamedis,

PT. II.] ARTHUR MABUTER. LOCAL NAMES. 131

aliorumque Equitum Tabulae Rotundae." It is a fragment,
of three hundred and six lines, of a much more extensive
composition; and this heading eWdently 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 :

Ncot iraiZlfTKaLj <tvv avrol^ fi'qrepe^ evTeKPovccu,
Kal prjy€<; irrroKeifievoi fnjyl Tr;9 BpeTai/^9,
'EiCopoDv i/crrXrjTTOfievoi to 6dp<To<; tov irpeo'^vTov,
To /caWo9 S' iireOavfia^ov t^9 iireKJdoviT'q^ Koprj^;.

In English : " The youths, maidens, and matrons, and the
kings subject to the king of Britain, were struck with the
boldness of the old warrior, and surprised at the beauty of
the maid who had arrived."

Professor Hagen pronounces the versification to be the
same as was adopted by Michael Psellus in the eleventh
century, and by John Tzetze and Constantine Manasses in
the twelfth ; but the manuscript itself, in which the frag-
ment is contained, is of the thirteenth or fourteenth cen-
tury, it apparently being a transcription. It is in the
Vatican Library at Rome ; and Professor Hagen's work is
in the British Museum, reference-mark, 1300, f. 2102.

Among the names of places which have received their
appellation from this ancient British king, are, Arthur's
Chair, a mountain crag near Edinburgh ; Arthur's Chair
(Cadair Arthur), a mountain in Brecknockshire ; Arthur's
Oon, an ancient Roman circular building in Falkirkshire,
now removed, supposed to have been a temple ; Arthur's
Castle, which are certain foundations near Penrith ; and
Arthuret, a village in Cumberland ; Arthur's Hall, in Corn-
wall, etc., etc.

Speaking of the diffusion of his name, we may observe,
that vice have in this country one corroboration of his his-
tory from that source. We have the name given to a hill,
Arthur's Chair, at Edinburgh. That might be ; for in his
time Strathclyde extended from sea to sea, as we have
noted before, and he fought one of his battles at or near
Edinburgh. We have numerous places in the western
parts of Britain named from him ; all which, again, might

132 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

be because he was king of the Britons. But we have no
local names in Hampshire, Kent, or East Anglia, ^.^., Nor-
folk, Suffolk, and Essex, which refer to him ; which is still
more corroborative, as it is well kno^vn the Saxons had
then domination in those quarters. Thus we have here a
species of tacit proof, which should not be considered to
be without its weight.

CHAPTER III.

SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ARTHUR MABUTEIl,
KING OF THE BRITONS.

PART III.
THE EXPEDITIONS TO GAUL, AND THE WAR OF CAMLAN.

First, as to the acts of this leader in Gaul. All the
romance accounts of him are, of course, to be abandoned,
and we are only to retain the more moderate details con-
nected with him, in his position as king of the Britons, as
narrated by Tysilio, Nennius, and Rudborne, checked by
the bardic history of the Triads; and there are 31 of these
out of their whole number, 126, as has been noted, which
relate to him.

Dividing then the accounts of him into two classes, —
the marvellous and the unmarvellous, — it becomes at once
striking, that nearly all the former were connected with
his acts out of the kingdom ; we mean the highly extra-
vagant exploits, which seem to have been introduced as a
species of travellers' wonders, into the narrative ; such as
his battles with the Romans, and his conquests over them,
when the Western empire had been already broken up for
sixty years, or nearly so ; it having fallen under Romulus
Augustulus, in the year 476 or 479, and when the Exar-
chate of Ravenna was established in its stead ; whereas

FT. III.] EXPEDITIONS TO GAUL. 133

the expedition of Arthur to Gaul seems best assignable to
the year 537. There were, then, no such wars, — that is,
none with the Romans, — in the sense the chronicle accounts
would imply; though detached portions of the Roman
forces in Gaul might have continued a struggle for exist-
ence some considerable time after the fall of the Western
empire ; which indeed we know to have been the case, as
Clovis defeated Siagrius, the Roman general, at Soissons,
in the year 485.

However, his going to Gaul is not of itself to be con-
sidered a fiction, though the distorted account of his actions
there be not wholly true, in the precise words in which it
is related. He is represented, indeed, as going twice to
Gaul; and there is no objection as to the fact of his having
transported himself and his army of Britons thither. But
what shall we say did occur ? Why, the context plainly
implies that the British adventurer, together with the
Armoricans, took part with the Franks, in certain wars
which occurred between them and the Burgundians, in
which the former had the advantage. This seems clear,
from reading of the accounts : the mention of Paris, the
victory of Langres, etc. FroUo, who is described as en-
gaging in single combat with Arthur, may, without diffi-
culty, be supposed a Burgundian chief. Tysilio does not
say that he was a Roman ; and in one place actually
expresses himself that Arthur conquered the Burgundians.
(See his Chronicle^ p. 170.) We have also a further illus-
tration. It appears from history that these, his allies, did
in reality invade Italy, in the year 538 (see various Author-
ities) ; whence is explained the passage in the Chronicles^
that Arthur was preparing to cross the Alps, when he
received the intelligence which obliged him to return to
Britain.

We have thus views more within compass of his trans-
actions on the Continent ; views which now come within
the bounds of credibility. As for the rest, we can easily
see that his successes abroad, whether considerable or not,
might have become magnified at home into great con-
quests, and even been represented as the conquest of Gaul
itself; for being transacted at a distance, the reciters of
his deeds, in the recesses of Dumnonia or among the
mountains of Cambria, can hardly be supposed to have

134 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. IIT.

studied correctness. The Triads alone show a disposition
to keep within sober limits; for Triad 100 omits a great
part of the extravagances, and assures us that, in the latter
part of his transactions in Gaul, he sustained so great a
loss in contending with the Romans, or, as we may perhaps
better substitute, with the Burgundians, that Medrawd, to
whose proceedings we have already paid attention, was in-
duced thereby to usurp the sovereign power at home. The
general tenor of the Triads is, to omit the marvellous when
this sovereign is the topic ; where tliey do not, it is not
impossible that they may have been interpolated. The
most obvious extravagances of his home exploits are, the
numbers which are said to have fallen by his hands.

The warm friendship and alliance which subsisted be-
tween the Armoricans and Britons, and especially with
the Dumnonian Britons, is now not doubted, and forms
a striking feature in ancient Celtic history. There had
been before, in the time of Vortimer, about the year 467,
as nearly as we can ascertain the date, an expedition under
that king, from Britain, of 12,000 men, to assist the Ar-
moricans. This rests on incontrovertible authority, being
mentioned by Jomandes, Gregory of Tours, Sidonius
ApoUinaris, and the Chronicle of Mount St Michael, (See
an account of the expedition, in the Britannic Researches^
p. 56 ; but the date there given, 457, would seem better
altered to the one here adopted.)

The Armoricans, at that period, were in alliance with
the Romans, and at war with Euric, king of the Visigoths.
The Vortimer in that expedition, named in the accounts
" Rhiothimus," believed to be a corruption of Rix Guor-
timertcs, has been by some erroneously supposed to have
been Arthur. The assumption is, however, very satis-
factorily disproved, since the Visigoths were driven out of
Gaul entirely by the Franks, in the year 506, eleven years
before the commencement of Arthur's reign. Now, the
politics in Gaul, in Arthur's time, appear to have under-
gone this change : the remnant of the Romans in the
country still continued their alliance with the Burgund-
ians ; but now the Armoricans, who had transferred their
attachments in the interim, were arrayed against these
last, and had united their interests with the Franks.

The foregoing remarks will explain the state of affairs

FT. III.] EXPEDITIONS TO GAUL. 135

in those times, to a certain extent ; however, we may be
quite sure, that the idea is but natural to be entertained
by the majority of our readers, that ancient Gaul was
similar, in the unity of its government as a monarchy,
to modem France, considering, as many do, the one but
as it were the reflection of the other, though with so many
centuries between. This, we must observe, is a most erro-
neous conception of the real case ; and as our present
topic cannot be rightly comprehended otherwise, it will be
necessary briefly to set forth the various kingdoms esta-
blished in that country in the fifth and sixth centuries, and
to subjoin concisely some general chronological extracts,
which will illustrate sufficiently both the expedition of the
British Vortimer to Gaul, in the year 467, and that of the
British Arthur in 537, and the four following years.

Gothic Kingdoms formed in Gaul in the Fifth

AND Sixth Centuries.

I. Kingdom of the Vandals. They settle in Gaul in the
year 406 ; in Spain, 409 ; in Africa in 427 ; and capture
Home, under Genseric, in 455, by an expedition of great
magnitude they fitted out from Africa.

II. Kingdom of the AlanL They settle in Gaul in 407 ;
near the Rhine in 412; and the territory of Valence is
ceded to them by ^tius, Roman general, and commander-
in-chief for Valentinian in Gaul, in 440.

III. Kingdom of the Burgumlians. They enter Gaul in
407, and have part of Gallia Belgica ceded to them in 412,
by the emperor Honorius.

IV. Kingdom of the Franks. They enter Gaul in 407,
and Pharamond establishes them in that country in 416
and 417 ; and they still possess France.

V. Kingdom of the Visigoths. They become masters of
Italy in 410, under Alaric; march to Gaul in 412; occupy
a part of Spain in 455 ; leave Gaul in 506 ; and become
lords of Spain in 585.

It is easy to see what complications this struggling for
power must have occasioned in Gaul ; and it is easy to
see, likewise, why the Armoricans should have been anx-
ious to throw in their own weight, as they adopted this
or that interest : at one time summoning Vortimer, with

136 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP. III.

his 12,000 Britons, in the vain attempt to uphold the
falling power of Rome in those parts ; at another time,
sending for Arthur and his forces, to elevate still higher
the rising power of the Franks ; in which, indeed, they
fully succeeded.

Chronology of some Events in Gaul and Italy
IN THE Fifth and Sixth Centuries.

456. Meroveus, king of the Franks, dies, and is suc-
ceeded by Childeric I., his son, the same year.

466-474. Euric becomes king of the Visigoths ; and in
the course of the said interval, was at first defeated by the
Romans, but afterwards succeeds in surprising and entirely
overthrowing Vortimer and his Britons, who has difficulty
in escaping with part of his forces. Subsequently he takes
Massilia, and partially expels the Romans from Gaul.

466. Chilperic I. is king of the Burgundians. This was
apparently the person whom Vortimer went to assist.

467. Anthemius made Western emperor.

476 or 479. The Western empire is put an end to by
Odoacer: who establishes the kingdom of the Heruli-
Turingi in Italy instead.

481. Childeric I. dies, and is succeeded by Clovis, the
same year, as king of the Franks.

485. Clovis defeats Siagrius, the Roman general.

493. The Ostrogoths overturn the kingdom of the
Heruli-Turingi.

496. Clovis embraces Christianity.

510. Clovis makes Lutetiae (Paris) his capital.

511. Clovis dies, and Childebert I. succeeds, the same
year, as king of the Franks. One of the principal events
of his reign was his defeating, in conjunction with his
brothers, Clothaire and Clodomir, Sigismund, king of the
Burgundians. Another was, his making an expedition
against Spain, with his brother Clothaire, which was un-
successful.

638. The Franks invade Italy.

553. Justinian subverts the kingdom of the Ostrogoths.
558. Childebert I. dies.

As for the narrative of his foreign wars, impregnated as
his story is, in other places, with fiction, yet it seems, in

FT. III.] EXPEDITIONS TO GAUL. 137

this part, unfortunately dosed three or four times over
with romance ; nevertheless, in the midst of the mass of
absurdities collected together, somewhat more than a faint
reflection of the true story seems evidently discernible,
and of that we must avail ourselves.

The account, then, places his warlike proceedings in
Gaul under the head of two expeditions, each of which
appear to have lasted about a couple of years : and in
both, he appears to have been a partisan in the Franco-
Burgundian war, on the side, as we have said, of Childe-
bert the First. In the prior campaign, the Frankish cause
seems to have been somewhat at a discount, as Paris itself,
the Frankish capital, is represented in the hands of the
Burgundians; and a great battle was necessary to be
fought, in order to enable Childebert's party to make head
against their opponents. This campaign, however, evi-
dently made a change ; and Arthur now retires to Britain
for some months ; when, after the great festival, he returns
again to the scene of hostilities. We may conclude he
had augmented his army from his own country : but now,
from the altered complexion of affairs, a much severer
contest awaited him ; and, one fierce and long-contested
conflict taking place after another, liis forces rapidly dimi-
nish, and many of his experienced commanders and old
companions in war are cut off. Three battles are enu-
merated ; and the last, which takes place near Langres, in
which Bedwer and Cai fall, is represented as most san-
guinary, and as giving especial hopes to the discontented
in Britain that, from his sustaining such great losses, his
return thither might be successfully prevented. (See Triad
100.) The winter arrives after this — the winter of 540-41
— and he appears, according to the accounts, to have been
in cantonments, repairing his losses and preparing for the
next campaign ; indeed, almost about to move forward
with his allies, the Franks, on an expedition to Italy, when
messengers reached him from Britain, which altered the
whole complexion of affairs, and caused him to return to
that country with his forces with all possible despatch.

The last scenes of his career as a king and commander
had now commenced. There was a rebellion at home,
which we must proceed to touch upon, as far as materials
for our doing so are supplied.

T

138 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP. III.

He had left his cousin Medrawd, who, by his father's
side, was of Caledonian blood, his regent in Britain and
his representative in the pendragonship. He had left him
in charge of his queen, and as his viceroy in Dumnonia,
with a commander of the forces under him for that province.
(See Triads 20, 22.) In short, he had put everything in
his power : and Medrawd was the more dangerous enemy,
as he was an exceedingly skilful general, and a person, it
seems, who was very popular. {Triad 118.) He was the
son of one of the most powerful Strathclyde kings : and
Arthur, in the excess of his attachment in the days of
their mutual confidence, appears to have given him a
principality even in Dumnonia itself. {Triad 52.) So
dexterous was he, that he gained over the commander of
the forces Arthur had left in Dumnonia before he declared
himself.

It is remarkable that one of the old chronicles varies the
account otherwise come down to us, and informs us that this
person affected the crown of Dumnonia, alleging Arthur's
illegitimacy, whereas the usual sources of this class would
imply, that he competed for the crown or pendragonship
of Britain itself. There is great reason to suppose that
the varying statement alluded to is right ; for if the cir-
cumstance be reflected upon, it will soon be obvious that
there is no instance in ancient British history of a person
being pendragon, who was not also one of the kings of the
island ; and his own father was still alive, so that he could
not claim it, on the score of northern territories. This
view of the subject will certainly make his treason appear
more base ; namely, that he even sought to deprive his
benefactor of his paternal territories.

Medrawd's manners are described in Triad 118, which
we have before cited as mild, soft, and insinuating, not-
withstanding his martial prowess in the field was great :
and his success in gaining over the commander of the
forces in Dumnonia — called, in Triads 20, 22, Iddaug Com
Prydain, that is, Y Tagos Com Prydain, or the Tagos of
Cornwall or Dumnonia — warrants the supposition he was
successful in other instances ; and thus had, together with
Arthur's faithless Gwanhumara, or queen, some consider-
able party in Dumnonia itself.

Moreover, he had the advantage of being in the field

PT. III.] WAR OF CAMLAN. 139

first, and had a numerous array to oppose his former liege
lord when he should arrive. This, it seems from the narra-
tive, was not immediately ; for Arthur collected a large
army, in addition to his now reduced forces of veterans,
before he embarked from Armorica for Southampton, which
the accounts imply he did not do with less than fifty or
sixty thousand men, among whom Northmen are men-
tioned. Medrawd appears to have had about seventy or
eighty thousand. He had been particularly active in ob-
taining reinforcements from all quarters — Pic ts, Irish, Bri-
tons, Scots, and Saxons : and of these last, eight thousand
are said to have joined him from Germany, under their
leader, Cheldric, apparently the same person as his former
opponent.

Being arrived at Southampton with his armament, by
which apparently is meant Clausentum, or Bittern, our
leader's good fortune seems to have deserted him ; for he
had neglected, or was not able to secure a place where he
could land without molestation ; but, approaching the
shore, disembarked immediately part of his forces, who
moved somewhat forward to allow the requisite space for
the others to land, as we find by comparing accounts. On
this being done, they were attacked so furiously by Me-
drawd, who was ready at hand with his army, that the
great commander incurred the most imminent risk of
being defeated at the first outset ; which was only averted,
when the remainder of his army got on shore, by his sus-
taining a loss which evidently much crippled his after
proceedings. There was not only on this occasion a fright-
ful slaughter of his best troops, but two of his ablest gene-
rals fell — Gwalchmai (his nephew) and Araun, whose place
was supplied by Urien Rheged, so famed afterwards in
Strathclyde, then prince only. The victory, notwithstand-
ing, remained with Arthur ; and Medrawd retreated to
Winchester, where he drew up his forces ; but was engaged
again and routed, and retreated with precipitation to the
Dumnonian kingdom. Tysilio narrates these affairs appa-
rently in good faith ; and there is a somewhat broken ac-
count in the Triads^ which refers more especially to the
subsequent proceedings. A few other particulars also will
appear in our account of Medrawd at a subsequent page.
Suffice it, then, to say that the rival chiefs collected their

140 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP. III.

troops finally for a decisive battle on the river Camlan, in
Cornwall, where, accordingly, the conflict took place ; and
the event of it was, that the Saxons were routed, the in-
surgent chief killed, and Arthur was carried away mortally
wounded. This ended the contest for the time ; but the
duration of it is certainly very differently described, being,
according to Matthew of WesUnimter^ two years; while,
according to Tysilio and Geoffrey of Monmouth^ it does not
appear to have continued as many weeks ; and on this we
may offer a short remark.

As far as casual observation goes, it might be thought
that the campaign of Camlan, including the collecting the
forces in Armorica, occupied three-quarters of one year,
beginning in the spring and ending late in the winter.
We are apparently tied down to two dates — the year 538,
when the Franks were on their march to invade Italy,
when Arthur received the news of the revolt and returned
with his troops to Britain ; and 542, when he died : and it
is evident we must emancipate ourselves from one of them,
and so must either put the expedition of the Franks in
641, or the death of Arthur in 539. On the whole, as it
is possible that the former event may have been misdated,
we have not altered the year usually assigned to his death.

The account in the Triads to which we have alluded,
describes these events in a line of narrative of their own :
though, as we have intimated, with an absence of connect-
ing details, which we cannot supply from any other quar-
ter, except that we obtain some of the earlier transactions
of the campaign — the landing, etc., from Tysilio. We
will, however, endeavour to give the general tenor of their
account of the whole affair from the beginning, from
Triads 20, 21, 22, 45, 49, 50, 51, 52, 100, and 118, which
we must premise are not numbered according to the order
of events.

According to these various accounts, it would appear
that Arthur had left Medrawd as his viceroy in Britain
during his absence, to be his deputy as pendragon of the
Britons (Triad 21 et alibi)^ and to reside and take super-
intendence of his court at Galliwig, or Celliwig, as it is
otherwise called, which would appear to have been the
then metropolis of Dumnonia ; his " Gwanhumara", or
queen, being also committed to his care. We know this

PT. III.] WAR OF CAHLAN. 141

partially as well from other sources. From Triad 49, we
learn that the first cause of dissatisfaction arose from a
dispute and contest between Gwenhwyvach — whose name
is titular, implying, " high lady", i.e., the viceroy's wife —
and Gwenhwyvar (Gwanhumara), Arthur's consort, which
is confirmed in Triad 50, which speaks of the war as
having arisen from a ridiculous cause. Medrawd is de-
scribed in Triad 118 as the very pink of urbanity and
politeness : however, his conduct is represented in Triad
62 as coarse and brutal to his royal charge ; and after-
wards, he commits himself by his misdoings beyond the
hope of forgiveness from his master. Triads 20, 22, and
100, inform us how this feeling worked itself out: how
that Medrawd, hearing that Arthur had lost the flower of
his troops in Gaul, supposed that a favourable opportunity
had arisen to become independent, and gained over Ar-
thur's military commandant in Dumnonia, who is called
Iddaug Com Prydain : that is, as we have before ex-
plained, Y Tog Cernewac, or the Tagos, or commander in
Cornwall.

Indeed, Arthur's conduct afibrded him a rather strong
case : and he, doubtless, represented him as having be-
come immindful of British interests, as lavish of the blood
of his countrymen, as being chiefly mindful of foreigners
and their affairs, and as establishing his most confidential
adherents — that is, Bedwer and Cai — in honours and es-
tates among them. All this he could have said with
truth, and probably much more ; as the dereliction of
Britain seems somewhat obvious. He might even have
justified an alliance with the Saxons, as peace had been
made with them, and they had been recognized, by treaty
in Britain, as subjects of Arthur. However, a meeting
was arranged, and took place at a spot called Nanhwynain,
in Dumnonia, where they each came, attended with their
men, and where they fully matured their designs. They
took into possession all Arthur's goods and effects in Bri-
tain, together with his queen and palace at Galliwig, or
Celliwig, and determined to keep him out of the kingdom
by force. This we find in the said three Triads which
treat specially on these points. They then pass on to the
final result — the disastrous battle of Camlan, which they
give without the intermediate events. (See Triads 60 and

142 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP. III.

61.) They supply a few incidental details to elucidate the
catastrophe, as some passing reference to the prodigious
slaughter which took place, and the noting Arthur's great
fault in allowing his men to become separated while en-
gaged in the battle, to which they attribute his being
killed. They also tell us of Alan Vorgan, or Morgan, a
British chief, and possibly, from his name, a Silurian, who,
having raised his tribe and coming to Arthur's assistance,
was deserted by them on his march, and fell with some
immediate adherents at Camlan. {Triad 81.) As the
Triads^ in their present broken and disconnected state,
give so much information, we may be justified in suppos-
ing that the account in the original history, from which
they are formed, must have been very complete.

We have seen before, the circumstances of Medrawd's
case ; that he was a person necessarily made desperate by
the position in which, through his crime, he had placed
himself. He was endeavouring to deprive Arthur Mabu-
ter, in addition to his other injuries, of his paternal king-
dom ; but in his conference with Iddaug Com Prydain,
he possibly might have kept this somewhat in the back-
ground, and have chiefly dwelt on his struggle, like that
of Howel being for the pendragonship. It must be re-
membered that Arthur, though a king, was only an elective
one ; and was viewed in that light by his countrymen.
In their eyes, he would merely be a species of representa-
tive of themselves, whom their wishes, as expressed by
their votes and suffrages, had chosen, and whom their
wishes might remove. The time had not then arrived
when the kingly power was necessarily either perpetual
or hereditary ; as is shown in the case of Vortigem, and
the instances of the offspring of Aurelius Ambrosius ( Gil-
das^ c. 25^, and Beli ap Hhun. Nennius in his history
describes Arthur as '' Dux Bellorum", or generalissimo in
the wars, and no more : while Alanus de Insulis (Alain de
risle), a medieval writer, who died in 1181, styles him
merely " Pendragon", conveying a collateral idea. Ala-
nus de Insulis wrote a Treatise on the Prophecies of Mer-
lin, which was printed at Frankfort, in 8vo., in 1608.

It is, perhaps, not very difficult to assign the exact
locality on the river Camlan where this battle was fought.
It evidently occurred somewhere near the sea ; and this

PT. 111.] WAR OF CAMLAN. 143

stream takes a course of about thirty miles before it falls
into the Bristol Channel. If it took place near Camelford,
the spot would have been about four miles from the sea
overland ; but if fought on the lower part of the river,
there would have been direct water communication ; and
in this quarter we are inclined to assign the contest. We
would preferably place it on the north bank of the Camlan
(Camel), about a mile and a half east of Ward Bridge,
where a small stream, coming from the north-east, makes
nearly a right angle with the Camlan ; and here, there is but
little doubt, the insurgent army was drawn up ; its right
resting on the Camlan, where is now the village of Eglos-
hayle, and its left, at the distance of another mile and a
half, placed in the ancient British camp, now called Kelly
Rounds; and the reserves in the valleys, or on the hills in the
rear. This would exactly agree with the Scotch accounts,
that Medrawd had part of his force covered by a marsh,
which the lesser stream seems to have formed before a
portion of his front ; whereas there are no traces of flats or
marshes in the uppermost parts of the river. One of the
names, near the principal passages of the little stream and
on the place of supposed conflict, seems significant enough,
the same being "Lamail", or, as we may translate it,
" Sword Farm". There would have been an object in this
position, in covering an important communication with
the sea.

We may now return to our narrative. The British
king, who had for so many years courted all dangers and
all risks, and had exposed others to them with so much
unconcern, now became himself a victim to the calamities
of war ; and, being most grievously wounded by a blow
with a sword, which, according to the traditions preserved
among the monks at Glastonbury, had fractured the left
side of the skull, nearly severed the ear, and had besides
inflicted a serious wound on the neck, he was borne off
from the field of battle. The place to which he was con-
veyed, doubtless by his own desire, was nearly eighty
miles off, in a straight line, and indeed very much further,
according to the circuitous route which was adopted. The
place was the Isle of Avallon, afterwards Glastonbury,
and the inducement is described to have been that there
was here, at that time, a charitable institution under the

144 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP. III.

superintendence of a lady of rank, named Morgen, or
Morgana, who was a near relation of the wounded king,
and had a great reputation for her skill in surgery. There
appears to be a very credible account of his removal there
in the Vita Merlini of Geoffrey of Monmouth, or the Life
of Merddyn Wyllt, the Caledonian. It is in the manu-
script Vespasian^ E. iv., 7, in the British Museum, and
also printed by the Roxburgh Club, under the title of
Merlinus, 4to., 1830, verses 909, 917-921, 929-940. It may
be viewed as an authority as far as regards this and
certain other transactions, following, apparently closely,
some prose account. The reader is not obliged to sup-
pose that the facts in all poems are necessanly fictions :
witness the Lu^iad of Camoens, which is a poetical nar-
rative of the voyage of Vasco di Gama. The lines are as
follows : —

Insula pomorum quae fortunata vocatiir.

lUic jura novem geniali lege sorores

Dant his qui veniunt nostris ex partibus ad se,
Quarumque prior est fit doctior arte medendi,
Exceditque suas formi prsestante sorores.

Morgen ei nomen

Illuc post bellum Camblani vulnere Isesum
Duximus Artburum nos conducente Barintho,
jSIquora cui fuerunt et coeli sidera nota.
Hoc rectore ratis cum principe venimus illuc,
£t nos quo decuit Morgen suscepit bonore,
Inque suis tbalamis posuit super aurea regem
Strata : manuque sibi detexit vulnus bonesta
Inspexitque diu : tandem redire salutem
Posse sibi dixit, si secum tempore longo
Essety et ipsius vellet medicamine fungi.
Gaudentes igitur regem commissimus illi,
£t dedimus ventis redeundo vela secundis.

We may a little explain these verses by referring to the
point we have before touched upon, that the battle-ground
of Camlan was but a few miles from the sea ; and that
when it was reached, there was a water communication
all the way along the north coasts of Cornwall, Devonshire,
and Somersetshire, and up the Brent to the Isle of Aval-
Ion. This place of refuge was therefore preferred, and
the following will be the translation and sense of the
same verses.

" At the Isle of Avallon, a favoured spot, nine sisters
side, of whom one of nobler form and skilled in the art

PT. III.] WAR OF CAMLAN. 145

of healing is the superior. Morgen is her name : and to
this place those from our parts are privileged to go.
Hither, under the guidance and direction of Barinthus,
we conveyed Arthur after the battle of Camlan, who had
been wounded in the fight. Our conductor was used to
the sea, and could steer by the stars. With him for the
captain of our vessel we arrived here with our prince,
and were received with due honour by Morgen, who laid
the king on an embroidered couch, and herself uncovered
his wound and examined it much ; and said he might be
healed, but must remain a long time under her treatment.
Hearing this, we gladly entrusted the king to her care,
and enjoyed a most favourable wind for our return."

Our readers will thank us for the extract from this ele-
gant poem of MerlinuSy containing information which does
not appear attainable elsewhere, and which composition it
is presumable was translated originally from an account
written by a Dumnonian ; for it is said, " Thither those
from our parts are privileged to go." The verses, it will
be observed, do not speak of the death of Arthur ; and
there is no mention of him in other parts of the poem.
We repeat that this narrative has every appearance of
being authentic, and its variation from all other accounts
is singular.

To continue with the narrative of the wounded king.
Arthur, thus removed to the hospital, or charitable insti-
tution, in the Isle of Avallon, it would appear, survived
for many weeks, if there be faith to be given to Matthew
of Westminster's chronology, which is correct in many
instances, who places the battle of Camlan in 541, and
his death in 542. John Rouse, who deserves the more
attention, as he was accustomed to make researches in
ancient Welsh manuscripts, assigns the precise day, namely
the twenty-first of May in that year. But we must endea-
vour to give the events somewhat in order.

The battle of Camlan, according to the relators of it, is
said to have had this peculiarity, that, after the death of
Medrawd and the partial defeat of his army, the remainder,
collecting together, drew up again in array, and were only
finally defeated after great further slaughter on both
sides. Medrawd, possibly from knowing Arthur's custom
of attacking in person towards the end of an engagement,

u

146 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

had kept back large reserves ; and it was in this latter
part of the affair that Arthur and some of his commanders
are described as falling ; the resistance made against them
even then being of the most formidable description.

As Constantino the Third, Arthur's successor, does not
appear to have accompanied him to the Isle of Avallon,
we may conclude he stayed behind on account of military
arrangements, and to complete the dispersion of the enemy.
After a time he rejoined Arthur at the Avallon retreat,
wheriB he found him not recovering under the hands of his
skilful doctress, but, on the contrary, gradually approxi-
mating to his end. Arthur wished to give up his crown,
and chief command in the war, to him ; which was the
more appropriate, as he was not only one of his nearest
relations, but his father, Cador, had also lost his life in his
service at the fatal field of Camlan. This done, he returned
to the army ; for Giraldus Cambrensis describes Arthur,
whose death occurs a short time afterwards, as buried, not
by this person, his successor, but by his late kind hostess
and attendant. Morgana.

The appointment of Constantino III to the pendragon-
ship, under these circumstances, seems to have been at
once acknowledged by the Britons. Arthur had abdicated,
and appeared no more on the scene ; and if he languished
for six months, as a comparison of Rouse's statement with
that of Matthew of Westminster would imply, he must, hav-
ing thus resigned the throne, have been partially forgotten
in those stirring times. Hence the reports as to the uncer-
tainty of his death, which formed a myth for so many cen-
turies afterwards, seem to have originated.

We have thus given the death of Arthur Mabuter, king
of the Britons, as according to the History of Matthew
of Westminster and the Bntish Chronicles^ and authenti-
cated, as to some particulars, by the Triads and the Liber
Distinctionum^ and the Institutio Principis of Giraldus Cam-
brensis. But there was a poetic handling of the subject
by the romance writers of the eleventh and twelfth cen-
turies, which gave to the event the shape and guise of the
most airy fiction. The romances of the class of the Mart
(T Arthur represent him as receiving his death wound, in
single combat, from Medrawd, whom he slays, and as
requesting one of his knights, as he lies wounded under a

PT. III.] ARTHUR MABUTER's DEATH, AS IN POETRY. 147

tree, and otherwise unattended, to throw his sword, " Ex-
calibar", into the stream of the Camlan, and to inform him
what he sees upon so doing. He returns twice without
executing his mission, being un^villing to throw away a
weapon whose hilt was so richly studded with jewels. The
third time, being urged by the king, he projects it aloft
with violence into the air, and to a great distance ; and as
the sword descends to the water, a hand and arm suddenly
issues forth, catches the sword by the hilt, flourishes it
round in a circle three times, and disappears beneath the
waters of the river. The knight sees this astonished ; but,
returning to his tree, is still more astonished to find his
master gone, whom, indeed, he never sees more. This fairy
myth is varied more or less with additional circumstances.
However, a few lines from the ancient ballad we have
before noticed, in Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry^ vol. iii.,
p. 33, will give the simple form of the legend :

Sir Mordred lifted up his sword,

And fierce to meet the king ran (rode) he ,

The king his spear he through him thrust
A fathom thorow his bodie.

When Mordred felt the stroke of death.

And found that he was wounded so,
He thrust himself upon the spear,

And struck the king a deadly blow.

Then grimly died Sir Mordered

Presently upon that tree ;
And bloody streams ran from the king

Ere to the duke returned he.

Sir Lukin then he thus bespake :

Sir knight, thou hast been faithful tried^

Now take my sword, Excalibar,
That hangs so freely by my side.

O ! take my sword, Excalibar,

And there into the river throw ;
For here henceforth, beneath this tree.

All use of weapons I forego.

The third time, after being reproached by the wounded
king, he does it, which is thus described :

The duke, all shent (shamed) at this rebuke,

No answer made unto the king.
But to the river took the sword.

And threw it far as ho could fling.

148 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

A hand and arm did meet the sword.

And flourished three times in the air,
Then sunk beneath the running stream,

And of the duke was seen no mair.

All sore astonished stood the duke,

He stood as still as still might be.
Then hastened back to tell the king.

But he was gone from b'neath the tree.

Unto what place he could not tell,

For never after he did him spy ;
But he saw a barge go from the land.

And he heard ladies (nymphs) howl and cry.

And whether the king were there or not.

He never knew, nor ever could.
For from that sad and direful day

He never more was seen on mould.

Arthur's death thus seems to have blended well with
poetic fiction. But besides this, his story extended itself
into numerous fairy tales, of which, as we have explained
before, Sicily was an especial focus and centre. The Nor-
mans introduced the story. Morgana, transformed to a
fairy, was said to reside there. The mirages and optical
delusions on the sea coast were called by her name, " Fata
Morgagna"; and she was said to preside in Arthur's phan-
tom palace, in the forests at the back of Mount Etna, where
he lived in happiness unbroken and unclouded ; not only
restored to life, but restored also to his kingly state.

We must now turn our attention to the consequences
of this war, which produced an entirely new state of affairs
in the kingdom of ancient Britain of that day. There had
been a general lull and quietude all over the island for
ten years before, by the peace so happily introduced ; but
now the two leading races, the Celtic and Teutonic, were
let loose against each other. The sound of renewed war
was heard ; and, by the time that another ten years had
elapsed, the Britons had lost the remnant of their Belgic,
i.e.y Britanno- Belgic provinces, comprising Hampshire,
Wiltshire, etc., their stronghold of Sarum, the cemetery
of their kings on Salisbury Plain, and lastly, their city of
London, — a place evidently of such note, even in that day,
as to give a prestige to whichever side possessed it.

We may remark further of the disastrous conflict of
Camlan, that it seems to have produced among the Britons
themselves a change in the line of their sovereigns.

PT. III.] WAR OF CAMLAN. ITS CONSEQUENCES. 149

Within three years of this period, that is, in 545, Mael-
gwyn Gwynsdd, or Maglocune, king of North Wales, be-
comes conjoint sovereign paramount of Britain, the dignity
being divided ; and thenceforth it continued in a new line
of princes ; and the change of dynasty, though two short
reigns of princes of Arthur's family intervened, seems in
reality to date from this civil war. It became, indeed, the
excuse — for so Maelgwyn Gwynedd, we have reason to be-
lieve, made it — to interfere hostilely as regards Arthur,
though it is not to be inferred that he appeared on the field
at Camlan, but only intended to overawe the Britons of the
South, to bring them over to his interest. The Vita Mer-
lini gives us a curious trait of the manners of the Britons
of those times ; for we gather from it that it was customary
for the candidates for the pendragonship to make a mili-
tary inroad, not altogether friendly, and yet not decidedly
hostile, into the territories of the neighbouring states, to
secure their votes and interest. Thus Vortigern is de-
scribed canvassing for this honour, vv. 987-9 :

Vortigernus enim Consul Gewissus in omnes
Agmina ducebat patrias, ut duceret illas.
Laedens innocuos miseranda clade colonos.

That is, in English : " Vortigern, the governor of the pro-
vince (afterwards that) of the West Saxons, marched his
forces into all the neighbouring states, that he might be
chosen their leader, ravaging, with a dreadful havoc, the
unoflfending inhabitants of the colonial towns." By com-
paring this passage with Gildas, c. 24, it will be seen that
the Roman-British towns were called, in common parlance,
"coloniae", and the inhabitants of them, "coloni". These
were, no doubt, adverse to Vortigern.

Maelgwyn appears to have acted according to this pat-
tern ; and we may conclude that it was in some transaction
growing out of this demonstration, that the three knights
or officers of Arthur were killed. We have to examine an
obscure passage in the History^ or rather Epistle^ of Gildas,
c. 33, to illustrate these matters : a passage in which it
must be allowed there are many inconsistencies, as it at
present stands, — and especially there is a corruption of the
text, which is required to be removed. This being done,
however, the true application appears to be sufficiently
obvious.

150 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

The passage reads, in the printed editions of Gildas,
'' Nonne in primis adolescentiae annis avunculum regem
cum fortissimis propemodum militibus quorum vultus non
catulorum leonis in acie magnopere dispares visebantur
acerrime ense, hasta, igni oppressisti ? parum cogitans pro-
pheticum dictum, Viri, inquiens sanguinura et doli non
dimidiabunt dies sues.'* That is, in English : " Didst thou
not, in the first years of thy youth, most sharply oppress
with sword, spear, and fire, the king thy uncle, and his
soldiers lion-countenanced in battle, who almost might be
pronounced the bravest of the brave ? Thou thoughtest
then but little of the saying of the prophet, that men of
blood and deceit shall not live out half their days." Here
it is very evident, admitting we have the correct words of
the author, that Gildas is speaking of something which
had occurred very long before the time in which he wrote,
545 ; for even then Maelgwyn had been twenty-eight
years on the throne of North Wales, whereas the death of
Arthur had only taken place comparatively very recently,
that is, within three years. At the same time the passage
is capable of referring to him, for the British prince was
the uncle of Maelgwyn, though much younger ; for which
point see Langhorne's Chronicon Regiwi Anglice^ from which
it appears that Maelgwyn's mother was daughter of Uther
Pendragon ; which relationship also is ascertained other-
wise.

Does then the passage apply to Arthur, or not ? Some
have suggested,we believe, that it might import that Mael-
gwyn Gwynedd, when he came to the throne of North
Wales, in 517, had dethroned Caswallon Law-hir, his pre-
decessor ; but the same was not the uncle, but the father
of Maelgwyn. We seem then necessitated to receive that
our Arthur was the subject of the remark, and therefore
venture to suggest that Gildas actually wrote, not " ado-
lescentiaj", but " insolentiaj", and that the former reading
has been surreptitiously introduced. The fact is, that the
author is speaking of certain acts of violence and flagitious-
ness by which he sought to obtain the pendragonship, for
so the chief sway was called. These occurred, not in the
first years of youth, which is usually not an ambitious sea-
son of life, but ostensibly a few years before the time in
which Gildas wrote, in the latter part of Arthur's domina-

PT. III.] WAR OF CAMLAN. ITS CONSEQUENCES. 151

tion, when Maelgwyn was pushing his designs forward,
and which, consequently, miglit appropriately have been
called the " period of his insolence", or ambitious preten-
sions ; and thus the text have been, as we have said, " pri*
mis insolentire annis". This is a mode of expression not
very foreign from the Latin idiom ; and yet, in the present
instance, it would appear to have been misconceived by
a scribe who copied the work, and was inattentive to
the meaning of his author. Nay, it is very possible he
might have been misled by some contraction used in an
ancient manuscript, or by an accidental illegibility. In
the same way we have "lanio fulve" in all the editions,
instead of '* leo fulve", in c. 32 of his Ilistory.

The Lives of the Saints present us with two allusions to
this war. The first is in the Life of St. Cadoc^ as in the
Cottonian Manuscript, Vespasian, A. xiv., where the sin-
gular expiation, or requirement of a fine of a hundred
cows, occurs mentioned, as we have noted in Part ii. of the
present chapter. The slaughterer of the three knights, there
styled Liges-Sauc, son of Eliman surnamed Lau-hir, or
Long-hand, of course could be no other than Maelgwyn
Gwynedd himself; and i\ie Legend describes the reconcili-
ation as only effected by the mediation of the Saint, after
Maelgwyn had been hunted about by Arthur in almost as
many places as the boar Truyth in the tale, and for. a
greater length of time.

The second allusion is in John of Tinmouth's Life of St.
Patemns^ in which it appears that the saint, in crossing
the island to Cambria from Gaul at this juncture, fell in
with the aimy of Maelgwyn Gwynedd going south, and
arrayed against his fellow countrymen in that quarter.

Mr. Ritson, in his Life of Arthur^ 12mo., 1825, pp. 80,
146, makes a decided objection to the use of the term
"knights", as applied to this period, — and, indeed, the
times of knight errantry had not yet begun ; but the Latin
word used on this and various other occasions connected
with Arthur's followers and companions, is " milites", im-
plying merely warriors ; and is thus used by Gildas in
his History^ c. 8. It was not till much later times that
the medieval sense of knight became associated with the
word. However, in regard to the objection itself, being
more specious than having any real basis, had it not been

152 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

made by a person having some rank as a critic and anti-
quary, it need not have been noticed.

These hostilities on the part of Maelgwyn Gwynedd, of
whatsoever nature they may have been, seem to have been
continued tOM^ards Arthur's successors, that is, against Con-
stantine the Third and Aurelius Conanus : at least, so we
may judge, as Taliesin, though belonging to his court, is
represented as reproaching him on that score, according
to Roberts in his Tysilio^ p. 121. His words arc: "Be
neither blessing nor success to Maelgwyn Gwynedd. May
vengeance overtake him for the wrongs, the treachery, and
cruelty, he has shown to the race of Arthur," etc.

CHAPTER III.

SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ARTHUR MABUTER,

KING OF THE BRITONS.

PART IV.

MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS RELATING TO THE KINDRED,
FRIENDS, AND ADHERENTS, OF THIS ANCIENT PRINCE.

We shall touch again on the literary evidences relating to
the history of Arthur, when we treat, at a subsequent page,
of the discovery of his remains. We have now pretty
well gone through the career of this monarch ; but before
we come to that part of our subject, or, indeed, proceed
further, it seems requisite to speak more particularly of
the consorts of his throne, and of his kindred and friends,
who form a somewhat numerous retinue. We have had
to mention several of these personages before, as they have
come into the course of our narrative ; but we may do so
now more connectedly, as a separate branch of our present
inquiries.

PT. IV.] ARTHUR MADUTER. HIS CONSORTS. 168

The accounts we have of this prince assign him three
wives, but leave many points quite unexplained respecting
them. We must now somewhat examine and see what
are the general bearings of the said accounts.

The wives of Arthur have all one name handed down to
us, Gwenhwyvar, which, as we have explained at a preced-
ing page, is titular, and always signifies queen. The first
then was Gwenhwyvar the daughter of Gwythyr of the
NoTi]i(Mf/vi/)'iafiArchaiohgf/, i. 173); the second, Gwenhwy-
var daughter of Gwaryd Ceint {Myvyrian Arch.^ ii. 12) ; and
the third, Gwenhwyvar daughter of Gogyrvan Gawr, whose
mother was a Roman {Myvyrian Arch.^ ii. 65, etc.), and who
had been educated by Arthur's cousin, Cador, earl of Corn-
wall, as he is called (Roberts' Tysilio^ p. 146). This was
the person left as regent with Medrawd ; for whom, how-
ever, she deserted her husband, which occasioned the civil
war. She afterwards, according to the Chronicle^ took refuge
in a nunnery at Carleon. Giraldus records the second as
buried with her husband at Glastonbury ; but, ethnologi-
cally, the yellow hair would denote a Caledonian race.
According to the accounts, it would be implied that all
three consorts were repudiated from one cause or the other.
So far we get a species of general account ; since, to know
the true history of his private life in detail would require
the labours of an Eginhart to clear away the mists of
romance, and to introduce sober narrative. Much has, no
doubt, been added to the previous stock of information by
ascertaining that the name Gwenhwyvar (Gwanhumara),
or queen, is wholly titular, and therefore might, of course,
have applied to different persons.

We can also show that there is no proof that he was a
polygamist, there appearing to have been reason to sup-
pose that there was a repudiation of his former consorts,
as before alluded to. This may lead us to some comment
on another topic connected with the ancient Britons, and
we trust the digression will be pardoned.

This is their alleged community of wives, which has not
been adverted to before, from a full belief of the futile and
slanderous nature of the charge. The custom has, how-
ever, sometimes been supposed to have existed by authors
of talent and credit. In particular, the Honble. Algernon
Herbert has conceived there was due foundation for the

164 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

opinion, and has supported it by the alleged instance of
Arthur's wives {Dublin Nennius^ 4to., 1847, p. lvi) ; but
the chief argument is from the Commentaries of Julius Caesar
{Gaulish Wars, v. 14), who imputes this custom to the early
inhabitants of this island ; otherwise, besides Caesar's tes-
timony, there is only a very indefinite reference to the
practice by St. Jerome and others.

In brief remark on the above. Julius Caesar does, in-
deed, make the assertion, but it is one of those passages
suspected to be interpolated, or possibly otherwise only
inserted by report. With regard to other writers, — So-
linus, St. Jerome, etc., — their statements are very indefi-
nite, always connected with some distant part more and
more remote, as Caledonia and the Orkneys, like Pope's
inquiry for the North. Considering, then, how vague
such assertions are, and the doubtful authenticity of the
passage in Caesar, we need have no further trouble on
the question: and there is not a line in Gildas, Nen-
nius, or the Chronicles, to substantiate the imputation,
but rather, indeed, much implied evidence to the con-
trary.

We scarcely need observe, that a plurality of wives, or
a promiscuous intercourse of the sexes in ancient British
times, is never supposed by those who read the accounts
come down to us of the said times. We mean that such is
not their association of ideas suggested by the tenor of
the accounts. Thus, when Constantine of Armorica is
described as marrying a Roman lady of rank, it is always
supposed a real marriage ; the same when Vortigern mar-
ries Rowena ; and also in other cases. Vortimer, Catigern,
and Pascent, are always supposed, in the reader's imagi-
nation, to be Vortigern's sons by his first repudiated wife.
Read, also, the reproof of Gildas to Maclgwyn Gwynedd
in his History, c. 35. Could any further evidence be re-
quired, we might allege the ancient genealogies, though
the same be not now extant, on which the earlier parts of
the British Chronicles, as we know from analogy of the
Irish Chronicles, must have been founded. Actual matri-
monial alliances, and not promiscuous concubinages, must
have been necessary for the duly preserving these lines of
descent^ ithout confusion, and we can cite Milton to this
eflfect :

PT. IV.] ARTHUR MABUTER. MEDRAWD. 155

Hail, wedded love ! by thee

Relations dear, and all the charities

Of father, son, and brother, first were known.

Paradise Lost, iv, 750.

It is true that the wife of Argentotoxus, a Caledonian
chief in the third century, is represented by Herodian as
proclaiming and glorying in the practice of concubinage.
The truth of this anecdote, however, as introduced by
this author, appears highly doubtful. He seems to make
a species of oratorical point against the morals of the
Romans of those days. In short, the report of this reputed
practice among the Britons and Caledonians, appears to
have been current as among the class of travellers'
wonders : somewhat of the same species as that in So-
linus, that among the ancient Hibernians the infant always
took his first food on the point of a sword.

Arthur's kindred are much mentioned in T^'ictd, Chronicle^
and Legend^ not to speak of romances ; and the account of
them is so consistent, as to add much to the general pro-
bability of his story. With a few exceptions, they are
represented as being from the North, where, indeed, his
chief interests lay, and where the alliances, so happily
made a century before, had both given permanency to the
Dumnonian family on the throne, and had stemmed the
tide of Saxon conquests. Arthur was quite half a Cale-
donian himself, and his cousin Medrawd, son of Lotho,
a king of Strathclyde, whom we have now to notice, was
even still more identified with that country. He was his
great friend and confidant in early life ; and him he trusted
with the care of his consort and his kingdom when he
went to Gaul ; but he proved the purloiner of both. When
he won his confidence, he seemed to have been endued
with the milder qualities: since he is mentioned in the
Triads^ which has been before observed, as one of the
knights at Arthur's court noted for urbanity. Except that
this trait is mentioned of him, his memory lives only other-
wise as that of a traitor, — first to his sovereign, in violating
his duties of allegiance ; and, secondly, to his countrymen,
in engaging in a league with the Saxons.

According to Scotch accounts, Arthur had altered the
succession to the pendragonship from Medrawd to Con-
stantine III (see Buchanan's His tort/, p. 160), notwith-

166 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 Dumnonia, 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 Richborough 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 territory 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 cliurch 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, wlio 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 [Tiiad b\). It is not easy to see at the
first glance what is meant : but by examining the context
in the accounts of the fight in Tysilio and Geoffrey 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-
silio, 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 off. He returned with
him to Britain, and supported him faithfully in the mur-
derous contest with the usurper, till lie fell himself at the
battle of Camlan. He is styled by Tysilio " 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 Constantine 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 Constantine.

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

PT. IV.] ARTHUR MABUTER. — GWALCHMAI. 159

afficted 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 SicQy, 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 Southampton. (See the Chronicle of Tysilio,
p. 170, and Geoffrey 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. Dugdale in his Monasticon^
vol. iii, p. 190, from the Register of Llandaff, mentions
Noah, the son of Arthur, as giving lands to the church of

160 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. Ill,

Llandaflf 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 sufficient proof, in the absence
of other evidence, that the two Arthurs were not the same
person. Triad 70 speaks 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 pretty clear that he w^as 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 " pincema" 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 Geoffrey
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 that 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 difier very much as to
the nature of their names : for while that of Cai may 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 may be seen at our previous page 1 24, 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 Archceohgy,
for Mael hir, or Mael the tall, has Mened, i.e. Menwaed,
and for Lljrr 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 CENTUEY HISTORY. [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' Monmoutlishire^vfhexe 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 Demetae, and Cuneglas, whose territories
lay between the Severn and the Wye : of the Caledonians,
Lotho and Urien llheged ; 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. Petroc ; St. Samson ; St. Bran-
dan ; St. Kentigem ; St. Kyned ; St. Iltutus, abbot, accord-
ing to Usher ; St. Columbanus ; the bishops Paulus and
Daniel ; and 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. lY.] 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 lives of the saints
may have, in casual mention, in some cases confused the
two. We find that Dr. Owen Pughe and some other
modems 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 fonns our present subject.

CHAPTER III.

SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ARTHUR MABUTER,

KINO 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 CENTURY 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 Vortigem, Vortimer,
Constantine of Armorica, Aurelius Ambrosius, Uther Pen-
dragon, Arthur, Constantine the Third, Aurelius Conanus,
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 DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS. 165

wounded, to Glastonbury Abbey ; and Matthew of West-
minster adds, in his History^ 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 Liber Dzsttnctionum^ 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 Avas 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 Priimpis^ — Cum Weneveria Uxore sua se-
cuNDA. But this clearly only originates in a mistake.

^.^M

166 SIXTH CENTURY 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 Idber Distinctionum^ and InsH"
tutio Principisy 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. 65.) 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 Itinera"
rium Curtosum, folio 1736, 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 ; w hich are unde-
scribed, indeed, in the Idber Distinclionum^ 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
"^eing placed besides the leg of a very tall man, and set on

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 PrincipiSy 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 Ecclmastical History^ i.
c. 14. 1180 is given by Ralph Higden and John Cai:
1189 by Leland in his Collectanea^ iii. p. 154: while again
1 1 92 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, afibrded, 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
1147, 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 faitli in the dis-

168 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [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
Inatitutio 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 many 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 Poeis^ 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 neax
Ballyshannon, from an interment indicated by an Irish
harper's song. Some illustrations of this circumstance may
be found in the Collectanea Antiqtia 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 Moiraborb, with their
translation, thus :

Air barra sleibe monard

Ann ata feart churaidh,

Sdha fhleasg oir fa chopp an laoch.

As fail ortha air a mheura.

In English —

PT. v.] THE DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS. 169

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 collusion between the king and
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 superstitions
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
hirion^ 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 may be seen at a former page, 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 rhyming epitaphs of the later Middle Ages
frequently display ; thus so far aflfording no grounds for
disbelief.

It may likewise be noticed that a wood-cut is given of
the cross in Camden's Britannia^ as also in Speed's History
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 Life of St, TeUo as king of Dumnonia, and,
under the name of Gerennius, as hospitably receiving and

FT. v.] THE DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS. 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 696. The
Gw and W in Celtic names being convertible, we need not
point out the identity of Gerennius and Wemeres. 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 M(»ia Antiqua^ p. 187, the Gerennius
or Geraint ap Erbyn, mentioned by Llowarch H6n in his
Elegy as killed at the battle of Llongborth.

The appellations, Gerennius, Wemerus, and Waimar, are
undei-stood 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 matvr^ and importing a man
high in station and rank. Now Usher, in his Primordial
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 Rhuys, where it is applied, as we may
understand, to Maelgwyn Gwynedd.) Constantine the
Third was also king of the Britons, therefore Waimar, who
was only king of l3umnonia, 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-
toniemes; and the short sentence alluded to in p. 170, giving
the name of the builder, is on the third side.

172 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP. III.

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. blister., in
which the traces of the original correct reading appear too
much obliterated for a restoration to be attempted.

The third side stood thus,WEMEREST bantomf finepegn,
of which we 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) fine regni.

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(civn)t 8(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 appear
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. 179, and Geoffrey of Monmouth^
xi, 13, was killed at the battle of Bangor, in the year 613.
Also Beorward (Beorwajd) 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 far 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 of

FT. v.] THE DISCOYEaY 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 (i.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 afiirms 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 properly abbey authorities, that is
to say, with those connected with it. There are the two
called the Magna Tabula Glastoniensts and the Partms Liber;
the latter of which is in the Bodleian, and appears to be
marked No. 2538 in Bernard's Catalogue of the Manuscripts
of England and Ireland^ fol. 1697, p. 133. According to
Usher, who mentions them both together in his Primordia^
p. 61, their contents as to this event are the same, namely^

174 SIXTH CEKTURY HISTOEY. [cHAP. III.

much agreeing with the account in the Liber Distinctionum
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 Antiquitates Glastonienses, the original
manuscript of which is 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.y Tibe-
rius, A. V. The work is printed by Gale in his Quindecim
Scrtptores, 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
says he verified by comparison of copies of that portion
still 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 Liber 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 all the first parts
are much damaged by fire. Its library mark is Tiberius^
B. XIII. Sir John Pryse, in his Historice Britannicce De-
fensio^ 4to., 1573, pp. 130-133, has printed the part relating
to our present subject ; as also tJsher, in his Primordia^
p. 64, has inserted a paragraph or two. This Liber Dis-

FT. v.] ^OIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS ON THE REMAINS. 175

iinciionum^ together with the Parvw Liher of the abhey,
according to the extracts given of it by Usher in his Pri*
mardiaj and the AntiqtjdtateB Glastonienses^ have been the
authorities chiefly followed in the foregoing pages.

2. The Institutio Principis^ or, as it is otherwise called,
the Instructio 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 Aniiqui'

176 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cpAP. III.

iate^ Glastanienses ; by which means we have an indepen-
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 seems only one manuscript of the InstituUo Prin^
cipis 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 testimonies,
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
Liber 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 the Institutio Principis was
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 account of the disinterment as in chapters 8, 9, and 10
of the Liber Distinclionum 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.] GIRALDUS CAMBEKNSIS ON THE REMAINS. 177

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 Pryse's Defensio Historioe Britannice^ 4to.,
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
Pr)se, have been supplied according to the sense of the
context, and are placed between brackets.

C. VIII. (Rubrical heading gone.) i?^^72ante nostris in
Aufflid diebu^ Henrico Secundo conti^t ut apud Glas^omVnse
Coenobium quondam nobile sepulchrum Arthuri regis Bri*
tannise, dicto rege monente et abbate ejusdem loci Henrico,
qui ad cathedram Wigorniae translatus postea fuit, procu*
rante diligenter quaesitum in coemeterio 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 redactura
ab imis ad auram et statum digniorem transferreretur.
Inventa fuit in eodem sepulchro trica muliebris, flava et
formosa, miroque artificio conserta et contiicata; uxoris
scilicet Arthuri \\io ibidem consepulta.

Vinum (verum) ut in ipsam inter astantes plurimos
(oculos affixit quidam monachus, cupidus, et ut insulsissime
simul) et inverecundissime tricam illam pree ceteris cunctis
arripere posset, in imam fosse (fossam) se praecipitem dedit :
(8)icut quod pra^notatus anteai (so) monachus baratri figu-
ram non saturandi non miniis 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 admixtiim, 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 discerni
nescias subito conversa disparuit et eventu mirabili ne
(sapientis dicta abuegentur)namque (omnia humana) figu-
ravit esse caduca : et mundariara pulchritudinem omnem
varios oculos ad intuendum sen perpetrandum illicita per-
stringendum esse momentaneum et vanitati obnoxium.
Quum ut ait Philosophus forniae nitor vapidus est et velox,
vemalium florum mutabilitate fugacior.

AA

J78 SIXTH CENTURY HISTOEY. [CHAP. III.

C. IX. {Rubrical heading gone.) De sepulchbo regis
Arthuri ossa ejus continente apud Glastoniam nos-

TRIS DIEBUS INVENTO, ET PLURIMIS CIRCITER H-ffiC NOTABI-

LiBus 0CCA8I0NALITER ADJUNCTis. Porr6 quoniam de rege
Arthuro et ejus exitio dubio multa referri solent, et fabulae
confingi a Britonum populis ipsura adhuc vivere fatue con-
tendentibus, ut fabulosis ex(s)ufflatis et veris et certis asse-
veratis, Veritas ipsa de caetero circa haec liquido pateat,
quaedam hie adjicere curavimus indubitata veritate com-
perta.

Post bellum de ILemelen apud Comubiam, interfecto ibidem
Modredo proditore nequissimo et regni Britannice custodice suce
deputati contra avunculum suum ^rthurum occupatore ipsoqne
Arthoiro ibi Icethaliter vulnerato corpus efmdem in insulam
AvaJloniam quae nunc G\a,stonia dicitur a nobili matrona
ejusdem cognata et Morgani vocata est delatum, quod pos-
tea defunctum in coemeterio sacrtfeadem procurante sepul-
tum fuit. Propter hoc enim fabulosi Britones et eorum
cantores fingere solebant qu6d dea quaedam fantastica sci-
licet Morganis dicta corpus Arthuri detulit in insulam
Avaloniam ad ejus vulnera sanandum, quae ciim sanata
fuerint redibit rex fortis et potens ad Britones regendum
ut ducunt sictit solet propter qu6d ipsum expectant adhilc
venturum sictit ludaei Messiam suum majori fatuitate et
infelicitate et infidelitate decepti.

Notandum hie autem quod Glasconia dicta est insula quo-
nidm marisco pro/undo undique est clausa^ quoe mediamnis pro^
prie diceretur quasi mediis scilicet omnibus sita, sicut melius
insulae dicuntur quae in salo, hoc est in man 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
«olet antiquitiis locus ille Britannice dici Ynys Qutrin,
hoc est insula vitrea propter amnem scilicet quasi vitrei
coloris in marisco circumfluentem : et ob hoc dicta est
postmodum a Saxonibus terram occupantibus in lingu&
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.] GIBALDUS CAMBREN8IS ON THE REMAINS. 179

aliquam hdbuerit ad corpus Arthuri qucerendum ex scriptis anti"
quis et chronicis notitiam, nannuttam quoque ex Uteris pyramU
dum inscriptis quamquam antiquitatis et fere omnino vetus*
tate deletis, maximam (tamen) habuit per dictum regem
Henricum ad haec evidentiam. Dixerat enim ei pluries
siciit ex gestis Britonum et eorum cantoribus historicis rex
audierat quod iuter pyramides quae postmodum erect©
fuerant in sacro coemeterio sepultus fuit rex Arthurus valde
profunde propter metum Saxonum quos ipse saepe expugr
naverat et ab insula Britannica prorsus ejecerat, et quos
Modredus nepos ejus pessimus contra ipsum post revoca-
verat, ne in mortuum etiam vindicis animi vitio desaevirent,
qui totam jam insulam post mortem ipsius iterum occu*
pare contenderant. Propter eundejn etiam metum in lapi-
dem quodam lato tanquam ad sepulchrum a fodientibus
invento quasi pedibus septem svh terra, quum tamen sepul^
chrum Arthuri novem pecnous inferius inventum fuerit reperta
fuerit crux plumbea non superior* sed potins inferior! 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 inferiis lapidi inserta fecit sic et crucis
ejusdem pars literata ut occultior esset versus lapidem versa
fuit : mira quidem industria et hominum tempestatis illius
exquisita prudentid qui corpus viri tanti dominique sui
perpetuique loci illius patroni ratione turbationis instantis
totis viribus tunc occultare volebant, et tum 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 prjs-

cipuus Glastoni Sicut dictus itaque rex totum

abbati prcedixevdA sic Arthuri corpus inventum fuit; non in
sepulchro manwor^o ut regem decebat mmium, non in saxeo
aut Pariis lapidibus exsecto, sed potius in Hgneo 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 CENTURY HISTORY. [CHAP. III.

Henrici marmoreum sepulchrum fieri fecit ei egregium
tanquam patrono illius loci pra^cipuo qui scilicet ecclesiam
illam prsB caeteris regni cunctis plus dilexerat terrisque
largis et amplis locupletaverat. Ideoque non immerito
Bed justo quoque Dei judicio cui bona procul dubio cuncta
non solum in coelis verumetiam in terris sive in vita seu
post mortem plerumque remunerate in coonohiali demum eccU^
sid antiqud prce ca?teris regni totius et authentica corpus
Arthuri egregie sepuUum fait et glorifit?e sicnt dehuit et
tantura virum decuit coUocatum. The translation wUl be
as follows.

C. VIII. (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
Artlmr, king of Britain, was dug up in the hallowed
cemetery of St. Dunstan's, belonging to Glastonbury
abbey. It was searched for difigently 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.

FT. V;] GIRALPUS CAMBRENSI8 TRANSLATED. 181

" beauty of form is like a vapour ! and flits 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 lan-
guage "Ynys Gutrin," that is, Glassy Island^ from the
stream 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 HISTORY. [CHAP. III.

now why Morganis 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 still 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 the place,
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

PT. v.] GIRALDUS CAMBREN8IS TRANSLATED. 183

of sepulture should become known by the inscription on
the cross.

C. X. How King Arthur was a great (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 eflFectually 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 op the Kings op

Ddmnonia.

Though this family may have wanted historians to
record fiieir 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 Archceohgical 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 CENTURY 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 th6 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 Maily 23rd November, 1855.

LINEAGE OF HENRY OF BLOIS,

ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY.

William the Conqueror

Stephen, Earl of Blois, =

1 1
= Adela Henry I =

1 1 1
Robert,

Richard,

William.

Henry of Blois,
Abbot of Glaston-
bury, Bishop of
Winchester, 11 29;
ob. 1171.— The
excavator.

Ki
Step

1
hen.

Theobald, Geoffrey =
Earl of riantagenet,
Blois. Earl of
Anjou, 2nd
husband.

Henry II, Kinj
bo. 1133;

= Matilda, mar-
ried to
Henry IV,
Emperor of
Germany,
Ist husband.

g of England,
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.

pt. v.] recapitulation of the argument. 185

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

BB

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 Tt/silio, peace had been concluded with
them, and during 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 Vreichvras, 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 Burgundians at that
period, being the early days of the Merovingian dynasty.
8. 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
Rome ; 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

rx. 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 pei-son 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 of Gildas by Caradoc of Lancarvan, in the Poems
of Taliesin, and those of Merddin Wyllt, and in the Lives
and Legeiuh 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 Caledanian Chro^
nicies.

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
" deomp", come, fourteen times, and a summons to fathers,
sons, and relations, and all men of courage, to the war :

Mab ar c'badour a lavare
Lavare d'he dad : cur beure,
Marc hegerien war lein ar bre !

Marc hegerien o vont e-biou
Mirc'bed adan-he glaz ho liou
Och hinteal gand ar riou !

Stank-ar-stank chouec'h-hachouec'h, e ri ;
Skank-ha-8tank e ri tri-ha-tri
Mil goaf oc'h ann hcol o lintrL

188 SIXTH CENTURY HISTORY. [cHAP. III.

Stank ba stank e ri daou a daou
O vont da heul ar banielaou
Hag a vransell glan ann Ankaou.

Nao ban rong aun daou benn anbe ;
Bagad Arzur e goarann e ;
Arzur a-rok lein ar mene

— Mar ma Arzur ann bini eo

Prim d*bor gwarek ba d'bor gwall veo !

Ha-rok d'be beul ba slimm ra freo !

O ked be c'ber losket a-grenn
Pa drouzkrosas ar iouc' badenn
Hed ar mencziou penn-d*ar-bcnn

Kalon am lagad ! Pcnn am brec'b !
Ha laz am blons ba traon ba krcc'b !
Ha tad am map ba raamm am mcrc'b !

Mcircb am kazck, ba mul am as !
Pcnn-lu am mael, ba den am goas !
Goad am daerou ba tan am grouaz !

Ha tri am unan, evit mad !

Traon ba krec*b noz-de, mar gell pad,

Ken a redo cnn traoniou goad !

Er stourmat trcuzet mar kouezomp
Gand bor goad en em badcsfomp
Ha laouen galon a varfoinp.

Mar marvomp evel ma elleet
D'ar Gristenien d*ar Vretoned,
Morse na varvimp re abred.

According to the Count de la Villemarqu6, from whose
Bursas Breiz^ or Bards of Britany (vol. i. p. 84), we have
taken the extract, the above war song has been in use, as
sucli, within the memory of man, in that part of France ;
and he acquaints us that, when sung in modern 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;

PT. v.] THE BALE ARZDR. 189

'* adan", below ; " rong", between ; 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
▼aodem 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.

STRATIICLYDE AFFAIRS IN THE SIXTH CENTURY; OR THE
PRINCIPAL EVENTS OP THE WARS OF 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 ill bear the loss ; and it proved
act the first 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 655, 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 already Pendragon 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 Avellenau 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 Geoffrey 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 king,
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, Rhun 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 w^e 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.

Mcrddyn 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.
He 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

IV.] BATTLE OF ARDERYDD. 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 Apollinaris 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

CO

194 8TRATHCLYDE 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 various 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 perliaps 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
Gorcimn 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 pppm forty years ago, and was in-
clined to think it had a covert and indirect meaning, and
referred to 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 Cyclops Christiantis (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 difficulty
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 Villemarqu6, 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 fife 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 8TRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP.

tion". Not 80, 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 words, as used in
poetry, stood pretty much in an isolated form, as it seemed
to modems 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 tccts a youth

Qwrhyt am dias

manly in battle (or revenge, or war-cry)

March mwth myng vras

a horse ewift mane thick

Adan morddwyd megyr gwas

under the thigh fair youth

Ysgwyt ysgafn llydan

a shield light broad

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

Not shall be it with me

Cas erof a thi

anger (or envy) for 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. 197

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 modem 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 modems.

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, incongruous to war ; and the point of the four last
lines is entirely lost. In the following translation, by Count
Villemarque, 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 VillemarquL

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 hroad

Covered the croup of his swift (charger).

His sword was large, blue, and sparkling ;

His spurs (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 Rev.
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 Villemarqu6, 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 will 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 Archceological 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 — (I), 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 vears 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
Roman 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 Boman times, though we

200 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY, [cHAP.

are 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. All 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-
vulch-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 intrench-
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 affected 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-
tellum ; 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 Cy vulch, 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 revelling,
both in the third and sixth days of the feast. The first of
these was that of Gwlighed, the Otodinian, mentioned in
stanza 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 efiect, 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 Beamoch, 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,

IV.] 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 Eoman 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.

The 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 difi&cult 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 8TRATHCLYDB 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 KaJtraeth enabled the garrison here to
escape, or to capitulate ; and hither, probably, Cynan and
his men were able to retire.

Such was the battle of Gododin, 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 almost 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
Vrycb. 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 locsd 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

IV.]

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 difficulty of raising 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 (?)

Cenau

Peil (?)

States.

Strathclyde, or Archluyd
Eiddin .

llheged
Novantes
Selgova)
Argoed

Cominanders,

Not mentioned.

The leader of the Otodini, and those of Lekleiku and
Lenn, minor states, are not known.

The Saxons.

States,

Bernicians, Deirians, and
Loegrians, i.e. the Saxons as
settled there, and the British
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 ; ahd 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

8TRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP.

Stanzas and subjects.

1. Eulogy.

2. Eulogy.

3. Eulogy.

4. Eulogy.

6. Eulogy.

The Poem of Aneurin,

Contents,
THE PROEMIUM.

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 (sec
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, arc
also attacked en route^ and are eitlier cut
off, or sustain much loss.

IV.]

THE BATTLE OF GODODIN,

207

DESCRIBING THE EvENTS.
Personal names. Local names, etc.

Owen (mab Urien).

Meirchioii (tribe).

Madog. (Owen understood.) Gododin (the poem).

(Owen understood.)

Mab Eskeran. (Owen un-
derstood.)

(Owen understood.)

Gwynedd-a-gogles (Gwene-
dota).The array of Gododin.

Deirians and Beniicians.

Mab-Bodgad.

Gododin.

Gododin.

Kaltraeth.

Mab Cian Gwyngwyn.

Mynyddaug.

The Rock of Gwyngwyn.
Kaltraeth. Brenneich(Ber-
nicia).

Kaltraeth.

208

8TRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [CHAP.

Stanzas and subjecU.

11. Reflections.

12. Eulogy.

13. Eulogy.

14. Narrative.

15. Narrative.

16. Eulogy.

17. Narrative.

18. Narrative.

19. Narrative.

CorUenU,

Reflections 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, aniving 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 continue 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.

IV.]

BATTLE OF OODODIN.

209

Personal namet.

Mynyddaug.

Local 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»tf.
Coreddin, or Kaltraeth.

(Tudvulch understood). Eidin ^Edinburgh). Vry-

Cynrig. Cynan. Cynren of thon (the Britons). Aeron.
Aeron.

Mab-Syvno. Mordei, the strand. Gwyn-

edd.

££

210

8TRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP.

Stanzas and subjects,

20. Villemar-
qu6 ; 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&27,

W. Myth-
ological
description.

25. V. 28-9.
W. Eulo-

gy-

26. V. 30. W.

Eulogy.

27. V.31, W.
Eulogy.

28. V.32. W.

Narrative
partly.

Contents,

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.

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
killed 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-Gwenn.

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 Otodiniau

IV.]

THE BATTLE OF GODODIN.

211

Persoiutl blames.

Local names, etc.

Cyuan, and the Dogs of war Kaltraeth. Aeron.
of Aeron.

The White Dragon, or the
Saxons. Gododin (the
poem.)

Mab Hoegwi ( Domnal Brec. ) Loegrians.

Budvan mab-Bleidvan. Prydein (Britain). Kaltra-

Gwenaboui mab-Gwenn. eth.

Marchlieu, a mythological
personage ; and Lemenik,
the same. Mab-Gwydd-
new.

Caredig.

Issak (Ypsacum).

Caradoc ( Vreichvras). Owen
mab-Eulad. Gwrien. Gw-
riad and Gwenn.

Mynyddaug. Caradoc. Ma-
doc. Peil. lewan. Gwgan.
Gwion. Gwenn. Cynvan.
Peredur. Gwaourdur, and
Aedan.

Mynyddaug. Gwlighed.

Kaltraeth. Breach of the
rampart.

Gododin. Kaltraeth.

212

8TRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY.

[chap.

Stanzas and mbjeeU.

29. V.33. W.
Eulogy.

80. V.34. W.
Eulogy
and nar-
rative.

31. V.36. W.
. Eulogy

and nar-
rative.

32. V.36. W.
Eulogy
and nar-
rative.

33. V. 37-39.
W. Eu-
logy and
narrative.

Contents,

prince 1) 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 PrsBtorium, 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 Praj-
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 Prse-
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 CODODIN.

213

Personal names.

Local names, etc.

Rhuvon-hir.

Kaltraeth.

Morien. Cynan. Mab-Pei- The Prsetorium, or Basilica
than. (Newadd).

Morien. Caradoc, Mab-Pe-
droc (Bedwer). Mynyd-
daug.

The PrfiBtorium, Basilica, or
Banqueting hall (New-
add). The Otodini.^

Cynan.

The Prsetorium (Newadd).
The "green" Trench of
the fortress, t.6. the outside
trench, or the Ghrimes
Dyke.

Elphin(UrienRheged'sson). Archluyd, or Strathclyde.
The Boar, figuratively the The rampart.
Saxon herald.

214 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP.

Staiuas and subjects.

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-
Jogy and
narrative.

37. V.45. W.

Nan-ative.

38. V.4G. W.
Narrative.

39. V. 47-8, to
1.10. W.
Narrative.

Conte7Us.

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 Selgovae. 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

,v.]

THE BATTLE OF GODODm.

215

Personal names.

Local names, etc.

Morien, Bradwen, i.e. Bun The Rampart of turf,
or Beamoch. Gwenaboui
mab-Gwenn.

Bradwen, i.e. Bun.

Loegrians. Lenn, i.e. Len-
nox. Archluyd. Walls of
the fortress (Mur Caer).

Sellovir-reen, i.e. Sel(go)vir-
reen, king of the Selgovae
(titular), i.e. Cenau.

The gulf where the rivers
flow, i.e. the Clyde.

Aneurin. Taliesin.

Kaltraeth. Oododin (the
poem).

Cenau. Lowarch-Hen.

Senyllt (titular), supposed to
mean the chief, Eidol.

The North.

The Prsetorium (Newadd).
The Bemicians. The men
of Lekleiku. The men of
Gododin. The fortress.

216

8TRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP.

Stanzas and $utjecU,

40. V-48,from
1. 11, and
49. W.
Narrative.

41. V. 60, 61.
W. Nar-
rative.

42. V. 62. W.

Lamenta-
tion.

ContenU.

issues forth with those who were there,
men of Lekleiku, and other combatants
of Gododin, They attack the Bemicians
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.

43. V. 66. W.

Narrative
and eulo-
gy-

THE SIXTH DAY. SUNDAY.

A general attack is made by Mynyd-
daug and the confederate chiefs (on the
Picts to the north of the fortress), but
without results. Morial and Huvelin are
eulogised.

IV.] THE BATTLE OF GODODIN. 217

Personal natnes. Local fiames, etc.

Rhys. Domnal Brec. Cy-
nan (understood).

Moricn (understood). Brad- Y Saesson (the Saxons),
wen, i.e. Bun.

Doueoue. Ancurin. Gododin (the Otodini).

Domnal Brec. Morial. Hu- Kaltraeth. Loegrians. Go-
vclin. dodin (Kaltraeth). The

porticos.

FF

218

8TRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY, [cHAP.

Stanzas and subjects,

44. V. 67. W.

Eulogy.

45. V. 68. W.
Eulogy.

46. V.69. W.

Narrative.

47. V. 61-1.
W. La-
mentation

48. V.62. W.

Eulogy.

49. V.63. W.
Reflec-
tions.

60. V.64. W.
Eulogy.

61. V.65. W.
Eulogy.

62. V.66. W.

liamenta-
tion.

63. V. 67-8.
W. Eulo-
gy and
narrative.

Contents,

The Prsetorium, or Basilica of Kaltra-
eth, is spoken of with 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. Cyuan 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 V) 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

IV.]

THE BATTLE OF GODODIN.

219

Personal names.

Cynan mab-Clydno.

Local nameSj 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 mab-Madien. Nedic
Nar.

C'hief of Gwencd.

Kaltraeth. Gweued (Gwen-
edota).

Gwadnerth mab-Leowri.

Cynan mab-Clydno. Myn- Kaltraeth. Gododin.
yddaug.

Eidol. Cynddilig of Aeron. Aeron.

Mynyddaug.
Madoc.

Eudaf-hir. The ramparts. Gododin (the

poem).

220

8TRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [CHAP.

Stanzas and subjects.

CorUerUs,

certain; Friday they brought oflF 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.

64. V. 69-71.
Narrative.

65. V. 72-74,
to 1.6,nar-
rative.

66. V.74,fr.l.

7, 76. W.

Eulogy.
67.V.76.7.W.

Narrative.
68. V. 78-9.

W. Nar.

rative.

69. 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 ill success of the war. He is
killed : 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, Odreu) to the
festival of Koelcerth. Doings of the men

IT.]

THE BATTLE OF GODODIM.

221

Perional names.

Local names, etc.

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

8TRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP.

Stanzas and ntbfeeU,

60. V.83. W,

Eulogy.

61. V.84.5,to
1.10. W.

NaiTative.

62. V.85,fr.l.
11-86.W.
Lamenta-
tion.

63. V. 86, fr.
V. 11-87,
88. W.
Narrative.

ConifJtts.

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-Ceidiaw), who acted nobly
both towards friends and foes, — towards
friends, in overturning 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 inefPectual : 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 feast without
intoxication : thus affording a happy con-
trast to the former proceedings.

IV.]

THE BATTLE OF GODODIN.

228

Personal nanies.

Local nameSf etc.

Ruvon-hir. Gwgan. Gwioii,
and Gwliglied.

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 8trathclyde in the sixth century. [chap.

Subjects of the Stanzas.

Eulogy

Eulogy and narrative

Narrative

Miscellaneous .

. 24

7

. 22

. 10

Total —63

ditto 17-21

ditto 22-34

ditto 35-39

ditto 40-42

ditto 43-53

ditto 54-63.

The Seven Days of the Contest.

First day, Tuesday . . Stanza 13-16

Second day, Wednesday

Third day, Thursday

Fourth day, Friday .

Fifth day, Saturday .

Sixth day, Sunday .

Seventh day, Monday

We have not given, in the above analysis, all the drink-
ing details of the original ; and the unblushing way in
wWch 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 K)r 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 question which we consider to have
been impossible to be answered before the Count De la
Villeraarqu6 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 OF 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 Eidyn,
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 other, 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

G a

226 STRATHCLYDE 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
Oododin, 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
Villemarqu6's time — duly apprehended. Thus the word
treiawr^ 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
men, or a measure of time of so many hours. Again,
, or the strand of the sea, occurs in stanzas 14, 16,
d traeth, the shore, in stanza 30 : and yet the mean-
those words appears to have been interpreted

IV.] THK BATTLE OF GODODIN. 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
Villemarqu6 himself translates " aber ", in stanzas 54 and
59, literaUy 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 mUe
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 Roman 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 SIXXp CENTURY. [cHAP.

However, it is, perhaps, necessary to observe, that
though we have supposed the forts of the wall of Anto-
ninus nearly 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 on
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 praetorium. 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 in
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 about
ten or eleven 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

280 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, and
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'ceuvre 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, — 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 the
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 Villemarqu6'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-
h6n 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

232 8TRATHCLYDE 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 syllables, 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 intended 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 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 modem
readers of the poem, who have not the text in an original
state. Instances of the second class must be of course
difficult for modems to pronounce upon, but we appear
to have several of the first kind. The Count de la Ville-
marqu6 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 the 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 Cynvelin 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 modem
translators. It is very striking, that when Villemarqu6,
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 Villemarqu6 as a Celtic
scholar and trani^ator, we should, perhaps, also note that
an anonymous writer in the Quarterly Review for Sept.
1852, who is evidently himself a learned and accomplished
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 strict 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 Villemarqu6'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 him; indeed, the writer of the said very
elaborate article to which we have alluded, and of one,
we believe, equally gifted on the Cyclops Christiantis of

H H

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 612, fifty-eight years before the
conflict of Kaltraeth; the younger GUdas, 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,Iolo Morgan wg 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 TiHad 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, wliich 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 differ-
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 Domnal Brec described in the poem. This
Pictish king, Mr. Herbert says {Cyclops Christianus^ p. 168),
according to the Annals of Tigemach, was killed in 1642 ;
while, according to the Annals of Ulster, the event occurred
in 685 ; and as the date 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 Villemarqu6 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 CENTURY. [CHAP.

A few passing remarks appear to present themselves. One
is, that from the incomplete form in which the poem has
come down to us, 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 the 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 Rhun ap Maelgwyn from Gwynedd,
the account is evidently deficient, though much expectation
is raised by the poet. The Newadd, or banqueting hall,
basilica, or prsetorium, 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 been 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 thq 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 was
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 Roman 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
drawings 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, mvariably 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 mixed 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 Antigua, vol. iv, p. 1 1 ; 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 Rutchester 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 prajtorium 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 buildings 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 STRATHCLYDE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. [cHAP.

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. Bruce'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 Be"
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.

8ta7iza \0 et alibi. Mynyddaug (explanation), Mynegai
tagos, or directing chief (literally, telling or informing, %,e.
giving orders). Stanza 18. Cynrig, — Cyn, head or chief,
adjectively, put interchangeably for pen, 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 legion-
ary soldiers. -4^ro«, of which presently. Stanza 21. leuvan;
possibly ludcu-an, ix. 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 Por 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. Cynddilig, 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 but 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 tlie 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 be 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.

Erratuniy p. 230. — For Ilowel 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
Britisli kingdoms in the island, and of Roman provinces,
the situation of British and Roman 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 sliort, 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 a long 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 liand'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. Ail 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 Rothcr. 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 afford
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 effect
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 w ant of water at the Cape
de Verde islands is attributed, the trees there having for-
oneiiy 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 eflect, 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
Selbome^ 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 aflbrded 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 effects 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 without
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 Retraites
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
180U, 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 prevent 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 greata' 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 the 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 by 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 floor
of Westminster Hall, the upper line of the starlings of old London bridge,
the gate of Lambeth Palace, the York Water Gate, Adclphi, 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 difference of the rise of the highest tide before the Parliament houses
were burnt down, 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- tlie-H ill, Adelphi,
the people there being up at the late hours both these tides occurred at :

v.] BEDS OF RIVERS. 251

the difference 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 Angiext 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 Dagenham
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 overflowed, 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 Transaction8)^vf\i\c\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 Eomans left, in the Saxon Chronicle and Ethel-
ward's Chronicle^ 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 still 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 modem 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 in
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 Rehm
Albionicisj 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 Monastican^
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. JEstuarium^ 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 not 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 tructida might have been
applied to salmon as well as trout. (See his AnUquitates
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;
Romney, 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 Mill 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 Creek 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

v.] THE YANTLET STRAIT. 255

lands concerned, and there was in consequence a law-suit
between the parties (Bex 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-
dem 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 modem
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 Upchurch, near Sitting-
bourne, with their supposed Koman 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 modem
times, in a species of contrast to what has occurred in the
Upchurch district. In this quarter, the estuary of Stan-

256 ANCIENT COAST OF 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 flirough 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 goveniment
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 Archceohgia^ 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 Strood ; 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

v.] 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.

Up 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^y o\.y^\}. 128.)

Another illustration of the ancient state of the Medway
at Maidstone was afforded 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 t/ie 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

LL

258 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. LcHAP.

the Great Buckland meadows were bored for 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 spreading
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 effect 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 teajr
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
Medway 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 Bavens-
boume rivulet, appears to have been much the smallest.
For the embankment of the Plumstead Marshes in the
thirteenth century, see Lambard's History of Keni^ 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 Shome,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 Eoman
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 flotUlas, 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 d^ree.

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 ?

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 Komans 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
B;Oman 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 land walls 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 Homan 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
ArchcDologia^ 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

-:j.--

-.?•■

^ .. «' • '■ •— ^. -• -* "K~ ^ *CT^t^ WT_^ r *T7f\

r*:.^- n*:.- "-LtH. ir^r l.i--i^ "lefi: ::r 5«."c:r distance

: -t: -n* :c nf rr; Lziirr.: rr.i^i «:i:c'?. ie Canrii and

j--:j-: • ?^7:«:s:-i n J.:r-iz. rzi^s zz LiTe divertai its

: .'U-j^ :: n- fi?-':. iz: "-?'^"':* ::? -sriT imier :he ran^e of
* -^ :: li'f i:"="ei :i: i.: L^zizr. 0::r evidences for

11-? rf<c :z. -ir.; 15 :»:_ii§ -i::i- :i ie whole, will leave
I'l: lri:f i:i:: :i iit fi':"e::. Tif £rs: irj:::znent occurs
ir>ii ±f .'-;. '•^:^/ :: Ai trims. w-ier»r, in hi? Iter ii, the
Frrrii LcHlus -s^iili lefif ^J7^^ -•-• >^ -^^ port of the
r.^fr IcCiiJii :r L*rziii:?. "»i;:i lis: ari^^IIarion we have
:':-r iin; z,ini :: :ir :: ±r nvfrs in Britain in Eavennas.
Xrc Tfry Lfirezz zt:zi tli* we tini the name Portus
T -^- --r-^ — Z:ifl'»"fri 5 ri-^.^^.'-V. iv. 3. in his annals of
tic Tf .IT SrJ. w2l::1 seens to inrlv. the '• Port of the river
LciLii:5 . Ti.-iri tif siiif river a: the period Ethelwerd
r::in:i5^ i: I:i^rr i:wcU out at Lvmne. but had obtained
.11 i.\:t at rl.:iiiry. ii:<: mediate with its present one ;
uhih 11 hirer tinc-s has l-e^i transferrevi srill further west.
A\ ::h r^^:xvt to the Xew Romnev outlet, the one in-
:^'r..ii\; >v F:h; Iwerd. Sonintr :n iiis Ryrnrui Ports and ForfSn
I.V.:o., Ir:--.*- p. 44, h:is arorded cood evidence that it ex-
:.>:a; as c*;irly .is l)au:sh times, bur perhaps not necessarily

V :hc 5\\w-i::>:o:i of the e;irlier outlet at Lymne, which
^?;i:>: hsO.' still vv::ti:::u\: at that era. Since it first began

V -iv^H o;:: ;-t Ni'w Kouiney its course has varied at dif-
t(\*vf:. ;::':\Ni^ s*.*r.u':::::c>? :\i*sinir the isle of Oxncy on one
jjXnV ^y^Mttcc::::.^ o:i :he o:her. At the period spoken
i^^^^^^lf U cunu* v:o^% i\ by the north side of the island,
^^ II feui::u\'{ vmIIcvI Itcadiuir Street, and a few

v.] THE BOTHER. 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 Ronmey.

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 Rother, now no river at all, as still
in existence in the year 820 at the village of Warehome, 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 sufficient 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 modem condition of
Romney Marsh, and are introductory to inquiries relating
to the original fonnation of this very extensive level, which,
indeed, with the exception of a few small islands or sand-
banks, seems at some former age ta 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 Arclibisliops of Canterbury and the Church at
that place were the principal proprietors of the soil in
Romney 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 this
new feature of embankment. Not, however, that those
laborious works of the archbishops and 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 Porta and Forts, p. 60). Let the
reader consult a map of Kent, and it will 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 part of the
Middle Ages. It was on the strength of this, probably,
that Twine in his De Rebus Albionicis, P- 31, grounded his
observation that Romney Marsh was once "Altum pe-

v.] ROMNEY 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 tJie 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 a 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 only 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 outskirts 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 w^ere 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 Rother in its ancient eastern course to
Lymne, running under the hills along the shore from
Appledore in direction of Kennardington, Bennington,
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 Romney 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 effect 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
memoiy 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 Romney 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 BRITAIN. LcHAP.

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 of 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 nice, 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 Archceologia^ 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.
Rice's ; and two in the Gentleman's Maga^ine^ 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.J ANCIENT VESSEL. 271

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 Road,
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 stemed, 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, 'f here 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 OF 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 vessel 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,
^vith 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 ta
have been bound together with iron, and used as a
hearth ; besides these there were also some bricks, 6^
inches by SJj; 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 oak^n board, with twenty-eight holes in it,
which had a very short shank or handle. Conjqptures 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 animsd 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 seem% 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 possibly 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. As 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 with 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 not, 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 pure 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 different 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 stem, 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, ue. 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 doubt ; 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 cUnker built. 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
inkhom 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 in
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 tlie subject became
no of disgust, and the whole aft'air was very absurdly

v.] THE SWALE. 277

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 Rother ; 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 diflFerent 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 eflFects 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 oflF 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-
ujiry 1st, 1779, there were discovered on the beach along

\

278 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [cHAP.

the shore at Cadham'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 lies 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
efforts 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 ;
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.] sHEPrEY. 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 Rock, 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 Archceologia^ 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.

8AT0RNINI.

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 CoU
lectanea Antigua of Mr. C. Roach Smith, pp. 148-166.

In describing Roman antiquities, their different vessels

v.] DEAL. 281

of earthenware Jire often mentioned ; their names in this
place may therefore be enumerated. Uma, urn ; amphora^
jar ; olla^ a jar of large size ; patera^ which, perhaps, may
be 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 roXk 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 Laeti quam
omnes habemus in manibus quam sirapuvia 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
wc 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 Ctesar landed at this place, suppose that

oo

282 ANCIENT COAST OF BRITAIN. [CHAP.

m

the sea has washed away 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 tlic first volume of the
Archceohgia^ supposes Batteley to have greatly erred in
placing the mouth of Richborough harbour at Pepperness,
now C£dled 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 Walmer 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.J DEAL BEACH. 283

We have spoken before of the tendency of the beach to
move in 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 ofier.

In Martin's Index to the Exchequer Records^ 8vo., 1819,
pages 64 and 184, are references to b. 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 Cro>vn, 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 or 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 with advantage. Beds of shingle, he
informs us, begin 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 there-
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 shallo^vness
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 on the supposed fact, that in gales
of wind, with the wmd 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 wind 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 ?

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
cnirly 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 w^as
composed of two portions, the upper and the lower towns :
the former standing above the cliflF, having in the centre
of it a fort or blockhouse ; the latter built below the clifi^,
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 j)laces, were swept
away by the waves of the sea; and in the subsequent
vears 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 cliflf, 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 the edge of the cliflf. 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 cliflfs 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 there.

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 Reculver, 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 eflfects 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 some 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 specific^d
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 eflfects 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 fail: 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 bodily 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 of 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 Commetitanes^ 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 light 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 eflfected ; 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 Bother, 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 ocean,
and the addition of other most extensive ones from various

VI.] THE MONUMENTA HISTORICA BRITANNICA. 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 aflforded, 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, office, 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, was 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 l3omesday and Rymer's Foedera, which were put
forth from the press with 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 VIIT, 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 MONUMENTA 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 already 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 inrolled 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 eflfect. It was to com-

294 HISTORICAL MATERIALS. LcHAP.

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 expense, 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 HI8T0RICA 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,
geogiaphical, 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 eflfect 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 skill ; the best text seems
selected ; and the notes, though few, are very eflScient.

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
Caesarum", 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 AUectus.

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 MONUMENTA HISTOllICA BRITANNICA. 297

seven Anglo-Saxon, and three in Latin. Next is inserted
a map of Britain as in Roman times, compiled by Mr. Wil-
liam Hughes, Fellow of the Geographical Society.

Though Bichard 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, the 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-4^nt?oto,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. j^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. Petiie 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 Monumenta 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 Chronicle, Asser s
Life of Alfred, Ethelwerd, Florence of Worcester, Simeon
of Durham, Henry of Huntingdon, Gaimar, Annales Cam-
briee. Brut y Twysogion, and the De Bello Hastingnense
Carmen. These occupy from p. 83 to the end (p. 872), and
the whole concludes with an " Index Rcruni" 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 Com-
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 extenso^
and for a species of introduction to our subject, to reprint
liere a paragraph from the Britannic Researches^ p. 418,
which will accordingly follow thus :

" Respecting emblems and memorials of the early Chris-

VII.] 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 Collectama 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 Ly sons'
Reliquice 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 Archceological
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, xPii*.

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 ArchceologicaUournal^ vol. vi. p. 81.

In addition to the foregoing, there appear to be traces
of the palm branch on a monumental inscription found at
Caerleoii, 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 Caeiieon 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, (ii/rf., 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 at 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-
loffuCy 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. AVe 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 differently 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 JuHa^i, Svo., 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 symbol, 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 modem 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
Sueicu 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 propriety, that the basis or
support of this cross appears to differ from the most cus-
tomary forms. We will 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 Constantino,
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. Constantino 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 became 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, aa 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 pin, 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 :

Yl

II.] CONSTANTINE BORN IN BRITAIN. 303

1. Thean or Theonus ; 2. EI van us; 3. Cadoc or Ca-
docus ; 4. Obuinus or Ovinus ; 5. Conanus ; 6. Palludius
or Palladius ; 7. Stephanas ; 8. Iltutus ; 9. Dedwiii or
Theodwinus ; 10. Thedred or Theodredus ; 11. Hillarius ;
12. Guideliuus ; 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 Constantino Csesar !" 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-

301 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 Constantino 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 bom in Britain,
he quotes the Anglo-Saxon lAfe of St. Helena^ written
about the year 940 ; William of Malmesbury's HiBtory ;
the Chronicles of Dexter, and of Martin Polonius ; Henry of
Huntingdon's History ; and John of Salisbury's Poly-
eration ; 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
Patemna 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 connection
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

Vlll.] C0N8TANTINE BORN IN BRITAIN. 305

these the last, Treves, is only hased 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 Severus informs us (lib. ii), at her dis-
posal for sacred uses. The fourth, Persia, where he was said
to be bom, when his father, Constantius, was sent by the
emperor to collect tribute. This is averred by Gothefrid
in his Chronicle^ and by Nicephorus Callistus {Primordial p.
97). It is true that Constantius was in Persia ; but were
Constantine 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 By thinia, recorded as a report by Procopius Caesariensis,
the sole apparent basis is, that Constantine 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,
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the Byzantine Emperor who
reigned between the years 911 and 957, excludes all places
in Asia ; for he expressly says in his work^De Administrando
Imperio^ c. 14, that Constantine 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 Constantine 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 efiect : " Firmicus is a good testimony,
but the question is, 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. lie, in fact, only speaks of Constantius the
son of Constantino 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
80 bom is stated as Constantinus (i. ^., Constantius) the
Great, son of Constantino, a prince oi 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 Drcpanum 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 his
Primo7'dia^ 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 jM)inion 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-esar 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 [Ihid. 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 diflFerent dialect. It
seems that there was a portion of the Celtic nation wha
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-

308 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP.

ing at their localities in Gaul. From Gaul they made
three invasions into Britain, as is well known, and pos-
sessed themselves of the greater part of the island ; indeed
pretty much of all south of the Humber. (See the Coim
of Cunobeline, p. 287.) On the other hand, the Caledonian
Britons occupied a great part of the north of Britain (see
AVarrington's History of Wales, and other authorities) : and
we find from Bede's History, iii, c. 4, that the Southern
Picts were intermingled with these on the south of Cale-
donia, as undoubtedly various states of the Northern Picts
adjoined them in an opposite direction. The Picts, we
need scarcely say, Southern and Northern, are believed to
have had their origin from Ireland, as it is usually con-
sidered the late Mr. Herbert has proved in his Cyclops Chris-
tianm, as also in his notes to the Dublin edition of Nennius.
We have specified three Gallo-Belgic invasions of Bri-
tain ; however, we should add, that there is no trace that
the country of the Brigantes was overrun on any of these
occasions ; or the country of the Dumnonii either, till a
very late period. Indeed we cannot find that the succes-
sors of Aedd-Mawr, the leader of the Belgic Gauls in the
first invasion, ever possessed the country of the Brigantes.
Triads 7 and 15, which mention the Coranians who formed
the second invasion, acquaint us only that they were
settled about the Humber ; however, as there is considered
no manner of doubt that the Coranians were the Iceni
Coritani, it is well known they did not pass that river.
In regard to the third invasion, that under Divitiacus,
mentioned by Csesar in his Commentaries, it is a clear case
that it only extended to the south of Britain.

The above data have been collected to show that
uniform results are not to be expected in craniological
explorations of the inhabitants of this island, even in the
British period, there being then a mixture of various races.
There is every reason to believe that there was not in
those ages one form of skull among them ; and that no
more can be presumed than that though the retreating
form of the forehead might have been predominant, yet that
there was a mixture also of other forms. We see among
the modern Welsh other forms prevail as well as the re-
treating ones. We have a recent instance where tumuli
in Derbyshire, extremely ancient, opened by Mr. Bateman,

IX.J THE BELGIC GAULS IN BRITAIN. 309

a gentleman skilled in these researches, which, from his
description, must have been Celtic, though he did not
appear to be aware of that point, presented skulls high
and perpendicular, and boat-shaped (see the Journal of the
British ArchcBological Association for 1851, p. 211), On
the other hand, a Celtic interment at Allington, near
Maidstone, described by the author in the same publica-
tion for 1848, p. 65, contained a skull of a retreating form,
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 modem 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 chkracteriltic 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," t.^., "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

310 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAF.

in the year a.d. 44, these observations of his might at first
be thought to refer more particularly to the then recent
war of the sons of Cunobeline with the confederacy of the
Belgs, under Vericus their king: but, apparently, the
context shows that he alluded to various wars in preced-
ing times, notorious enough in those days, in the course of
which the dominions of Cunobeline, those of the Iceni, and
of the Brigantes were consolidated to their full extent.

CHAPTER X.

ROMAN STRATEGICAL WORKS IN CENTRAL BRITAIN ! OR THE
CHAIN OF INTRENCHED CAMPS FORMED AGAINST THE
ICENI BETWEEN THE YEARS 50 AND 62.

No one seems at present to have satisfactorily pointed out
the forts and camps formed by the Romans at the end of
the year 49 and beginning of the year 50, in their war
under Ostorius with the Silures, which camps are de-
scribed by Tacitus, in his Annals, xii, 31, as in circling the
Severn, and Wan>\'ickshire Avon. These camps it was,
which, being extended towards the north, into the coun-
tries of the Comavii or Cangi, that is, into the southern
parts of those states, Shropshire and Staffordshire, proved
the cause of the first Icenian war. The said camps, there
is no doubt, even at the present day, can be found and
identified, but they have not been so yet ; and our present
subject will be a second set of camps, a Ltnea castrorumy
which, though unmentioned by history, we judge and con-
clude that there is good reason to suppose that the Romans
formed against the Iceni, to keep them in check after the
war ; because the line of camps still remains as presump-
tive evidence of the fact.

first war of the Romans with the Iceni, brought

we have seen, by tho demonstration against the

a very short one, and as it was evidently

tive evidence
^..-'"''^Wfirst

JT^ ^1 we

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

312 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP.

being conversant with church architecture, at the same
time is very pre-eminently acquainted with the earth-
works, beacons, stations, and itinerary communications of
ancient Britain : in all which subjects his correct know-
ledge is highly efS.cient in illustrating objects of research.

CHAPTER XI.

THE ROMAN WALLED TOWNS IN BRITAIN.

This topic, in whatever point we view it, is one of unques-
tionable interest ; for it cannot be disputed that the walled
cities and towns in this island were those places to which
the conquerors of the world the more especially directed
their attention ; beginning with their capital, Eburaeura,
first in order, and descending to the simple walled station
occupied by a single cohort. There might certainly have
been towns of consequence in Britain unwalled ; and un-
doubtedly there were such in cases in which, either there
was a walled town of importance near, or when such towns
were in the territories of native princes, and not permitted
to be walled ; as might be various towns of the Dumnonii,
Belgee, Brigantes, and Dobuni, which, of course, would
form some species of exception. These considerations may
be useful in treating of the subject viewed as a whole,
there being scarcely an instance of a walled town in a
powerful subordinate British state, unless it were a Roman
garrison.

There is an inquiiy sufficiently obvious in our present
research, which, before proceeding further, we shall do
well to attend to, as it will contribute to illustrate our
knowledge of ancient British affairs, namely, the motives
for which these mural defences in the various instances
were made ; and these can usually be pretty clearly set
forth, and we may classify them as under.

I. To give this additional defence to the capital cities of
the island, the chief seats of the Roman power.

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 Roman cities, towns, and stations
of this island ; and first those of Britain generally, after-
wards those along the line of the Roman Wall.

Portus Adurni, Bramber ; Anderida, Pevemea ; Arico-
nium, Bury Hill, near Ross ; Banovallum, Homcastle ;
Branodunum, Brancaster ; Bremenium, High Rutche^ter ;
Caractonium, CattericJc ; Camulodunum, Cokheater ; Clau-
sentum, Bittern^ where, however, only foundation walls
remain ; Corinium, Cirencester ; Derventio, Little Chesters^
near Derby ; Deva, Cheater ; Dubris, Dover ; Durnovaria,
Dorchester ; Durovemum, Canterbury ; Eboracum, York;
Garionnonum, Burgh Castle ; Isca Dumnoniorum, Exeter ;
Isca Silurum, Caerleon ; Iscalis, Ilchester ; Isurium, Aid-
borough ; Portus Lemanis, Lymne ; Lindum, Lincoln ;
Londinium, London; Magnae, Kenchester; Name unknown,
Chesterford ; Name unknown, Circumvallation at Farley
Heath; Name unknown^ Felixs tow; Name unknown, Ir-
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 Naze ; Portus Magnus, Portchester ;
Ratse, Leicester ; Regulbium, Reculver; Rutupium, Rich-
borough ; Segontium, near Caimarvon. This is mentioned
in Bingley's Excursions in South Wales, 8vo., 1839. He
describes that the form of the Roman 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

ss

314 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP.

eleven feet high, and six in thickness ; and there was for-
merly a tower at each comer. 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 others of a similar kind. Portus Segantiorum,
Jiibchester ; 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, Sikliester ; Vinovium, Binchester ; Urioco-
nium, Wroxeter.

Various of the above walled towns and stations are
mentioned by Nennius, as under.

Portus AdumL

Ariconium. Caer Gwortigern.

Anderida. Caer Pensa.

Banovallum.

Branodunum.

Bremenium.

Camulodunum. Caer Colun.

Caractonium.

Clausen tum.

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

RatsB. Caer Leirion.

Regnum.

Regulbium.

llutupium.

Segontium. Caer Custcint.

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 Luillid.

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 stutions and towns along the Roman Wall^ in order^
from west to east. — Tunnocellum, Boulness; Gabrosentium,
Drumhargh; Axelodunum, Brough on the Sands ; Lugu-
ballium, Carlisle; Congavata, Stanwix; Aballava, Watch
Cross ^ or Scalesby Castle; Petriana, Camheck Fort; Ambo-
glanna, Burdoswald; Magna, Caer Voran; ^sica. Great
Chester s; Vindolana, Little Chester s; Borcovicus, House'
steads; Procolitia, Carranhurgh; Cilurnum, Walwich Ches-
ters; Hunnura, Halton Chesters; Vindobala, Rutchester;
Condercum, Benwell Hill; Pons -^lii, Newcastle; Segedu-
num, WalVs 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-
nuni, Glcvum, Dcva, Iscalis, Corinium, Aquse Solis or

316 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP.

Solidunum, Verulamium, Lindum, Uriconium, Dumovaria,
Venta Belgarum, Venta Icenorum, Regnum, Durovemum,
Chesterford, Venta Silurum, Ratse, and Isca Silurum.

Minor cities and towns. — Dubris, Iscalis, Isurium, Magnae,
Irchester,Rutupiuni, Segontiuin, Aricotiium, Portus Segan-
tiorum, Sorbiodunum, Portus Magnus, Anderida, Derven-
tio, Caractonium, Clausentura, and Vinoviura.

Roman Stations merely. — Portus Adumi, Banovallum,
Branodunum, Garionnonum, Portus Lemanis, Othona, Ee-
gulbium, and one or two others with their names unknown,
as that at Feiixstow, 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
Adumi, 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 those 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, Rutupium, 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 small 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
Irchestcr. 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 NotiUa Impe-
rii^ or Roman Office Book ; and the model of one has been
found at Pompeii. A square solid foundation, however,

318 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHIP.

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.

On the why and wherefore of the S axons so pee-
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 {crehri 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 eflfectual in destroying them down to
the present day. No Pindar's house was spared, as was
done by Alexander the Great at Thebes ; no favour or
affection was shown ; but they all went to the ground, —
' ouses, 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 bum,
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 1 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. (See 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. Koman 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
Romano-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 Eistoria 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. fcHAP.

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 Saxon Chronicle for the year 893 speaks of a mud fort
or two at the mouths of estuaries, which appeal* 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.

Begarding 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
narchy. This is pretty evident, as w^e find that when,
what later in their history, the Danes assailed them,
were in an unprepared state ; and, indeed, themselves
a species of repetition, from those invaders, of the

XII.] CAREER OF CARAUSIU8. 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 detaUs 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 Roman 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 are informed he commanded on

tt

322 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAP.

shore, in Gaul, against certain insurgents called the Ba-
gauda), 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 ; w ho, after him, held
the sway in Britain for three years, till he was killed in a
battle with the Roman 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 fii-st
to take the subject numismatically in hand ; whicli he
did, though he was supplied w^ith 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 tlie
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. Stukeley on the first part of his
Medallic History of Carausius^ 4to., pp. 9, no date. Some
years later, another dissertation appeared, attributed to
Dr. Pegge. This was entitled A History of Caramius^ in
reference to what ha^ 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
tlirow 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 Koman
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-
])ius, 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.

Aurolius 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 Life 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 liis
hand. They state that he went to Rome, and offered his
services to the Emperor Carus, 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
llioy might be expected to be accurate in respect to him.

XII.] CAREER OF CARAUSIUS. 325

Weie lie 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 Eu tropins 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 Hidtoria^
Paris, fol. 1575, p. 91, etc.)

Not to omit what they say respecting his end. They
describe AUectus as sent from Rome to oppose him, who,
after a time, affects 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
llomans 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
llomana", which most obviously means," the Boman 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
lie 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, w liich 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 vicar ius) 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 virtus augusti, providentia augusti, prospe-
RiTAs augusti, salus AUGUSTI, 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 veni, comes

AUG, VICTORIA GERMANICA, CARAV8IVS ET FRATRES SVI,

i.e.^ Diocletian and Maximian, princeps ivventvtis, 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 wliich have the three g's as being struck by
Carausius himself. The strange legend on a coin of

XII.J CAREER OF CARAUSIU8. 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-
tap;e for those of Carausius, and we may escape censure,
peril aps, in endeavouring to give a general view of the
nature and scope of his coinage.

Ilis coinagp^ then, suggests the following ideas to us,
namely, that having obtained Britain, he endeavoured to
retain the possession of it by a body of lloman 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, e.e., " Milites
Legionarii Undevicessimani."

The numbers of various legions are on his coins : as the

following, LEG . II . PARTHICA. LEG . II . AVG . LEO . Ill . 8IPC .
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, /.^., " 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 . 8, 1.^., " Assensu senatus". Sometimes in the
exergue, r . s . r, 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". Likewise he has but little refer-
ence to his senate, having only, in a somewhat rare instance,
8 . p . c, misread, probably, for s . p . q, or *' Senatus, popu-
lusque."

The nationality of native Britain, we need not say, is
nowhere distinctly asserted 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 fonner
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.

Xlir.] THE ATTACOTTI OF BRITAIN. 329

CHAPTER XIII.

THE ATTACOTTI OF BRITAIN, THE " BELLIC08A HOMINUM
NATIO" OF AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS.

An Italian author named Blondus, who lived in the fif-
teenth century, and wrote a work entitled Roma Illustrata^
wlio also is believed to have had authorities not now
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 the
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 Rhine, and
passed into Britain. (See Boeching's Notitia Imperii^ 8vo.,
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, lie 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
tliey 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, liow are his
assertions to be explained, since we cannot doubt his vera-
city, and it seems too improbable that they can be true 1

In the first place, then, we find no confirmation of his
words in any 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 Jereniiah; 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 liuman 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 real eclaircissement 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 AMBR08IU8. 331

i.e. a warlike nation of men ; and that they harassed Bri-
tain *' a^rumnis 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 Notilia 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, Richard
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 604. 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
Vor tiger n took place, as near as can be ascertained, in the
year 4(59. See the Britannic Researches^ p. 57, after which
he was on tlie 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 Avas 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 Nenniiis^ 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-
ijg, p. 240.) Baronius, in his Annals^ at the year 477, pro-
s this person to have been the British Ambrosius ;
8 that there are many reasons for thinking so.

XIV.] , CAREER OF AURELIUS AMBR0SIU8. 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 different light from
what Gildas, Tysilio, or any other author has described
him before. The lines are thus :

Aurelius primogenitus regnique monarchus
Sic pads sancita facit, sic prospicit actus

Ut reparet patriae gaudia lata quies.
Confovet optima, diasipat horrida, regia norma,
ProDlia deprimit, abdita rejicit, apta reformat.

Rex erat, imo pater, gesta patema patent.
Attamen admiss^ patris fcritate patrizat,
Nam prius inflixa renovat tormenta remissa,

£t tenet erroris dogmata plena dolis.
-iEmulus ipse Dei populi fit tutor Hebraei ;
Atria (qu. Arria ?) scripta vehit sectamque fovet Manichsei ;

Catholicique rei prorsus habentur ei.
Post annos paucos, post multa pericula rerum
Suscipit Aurelius fatum, finemque dierum

Justus apud proceres, sed reus ante Deum.

In English this will be : " Aurelius, the eldest bom, 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 (/.^., 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 Manichseans ; 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 commuuion, should
applaud this very man, celebrate him in his Victoria Aurt-
Ui Anihrosii 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
ill 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 Ariaiis as they imbibed
Christianity. Constantine, and Aurelius his sou, 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 Gamelon, 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

XIV.J CAREER OF 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 Manichaeans would
be explained by the great Mythraic population, which,
from their caves and temples discovered, there appears to
have been in the neighbourhood of the Roman Wall. (See
the Monumenta Historica 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 conversi6n 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 exannncd the subject of titular names at pp.
198-202, 219-225, and 269-270, in the Coins ofCunobelinc;
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 tliose 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, llhain ; and 8, Emyr.

Class ii. Tliose in composition or separate. 9, Rex, rix,
or vruig; 10, Tascio; 11, Commios ; 12, Tigerne ; 13,
Gwayr.

C!lass III. Those which are separate only, that is, not in
composition. 14, Pendragon; 15, Vercobretus ; 16, Gil-
das; 17, Coil (Cocs-illil).

Class iv. Female titular names. 18, Gwenhwyvar, or
Guenhumara ; 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
Rouge 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 modem German acht, a charge or care, i.e.^ of a pro-
^ipince. 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 Dyfhwal Moelmyd,
t.^., Moelmodur.

6. lUil, 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 C3man, Cynren, and the like,
which will be found explained in our previous chapter, iv,
and which have no reference to the title Cuno.

7. Rhon, 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 ELUCIDATIONS. ["cHAP

pointed this out sufficiently in chapter ir. The modem
name of an illustrious family seems to have had this ancient
source, as Cochrane, i.e.. '• Red spear".

8. Erayr, a Celtic form of the Latin word imperator, was
much in use in the fifth century, especially in Armoiica.
We have it in the name Guortemir. It was apparently
a substitute for the equivalent Celtic title, Tascio.

9. Rex, Rix, 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. AVc 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 Caesar 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 3Iiscellanea 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 Cumbeline 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 arc connected with the due
interpretation of this word. It implies a nation, state, or
comuiunity, as also the ruler of such a state or comma-

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 Csesar'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.

16. 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 (Coes-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 Geoffrey of Monmouth's History, Gwen-
dolena for Gwendoleu.

19. Gwenhwyvach, which Medrawd's wife is called in

3-tO HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. fcHAF.

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, whose 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, t.^.,
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 Guortigem and Guortemir, etc. etc. ;
and in the name of Guurth Bemeich, or Bemicia, t.^., the
kingdom of Northumberland, which appears to have been
originally given to Ochta and Ebissa by Hengist (see
Nennius and TfjsiUo\ and is mentioned in the Saxon
Genealogies in Nainius.

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.

Tliere is no doubt that tardy justice will, sooner or later,
be done to the correctness of the views which have been
offi?red on tliis 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.

XVI.J THE CELTIC NAME VITALIS. 341

CHAPTER XVI.

ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE NAME VITALIS 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 Britarmica^
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 Archoeological Association^ vol. ii, for
1847, p. 248; Vitalis, ArcJiceologia Camhrensis^ vol. iv, for
1849, p. 81 ; Vitalis, Philosophical Transactions^ xlvii, p.
200 ; and Valerius Vitalis centurio, Archceoloffia, iii, 236.

342 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [CHAF.

Independently of the above, we have the occurrence of the
name above sixty times in Gruter's Corpus Ihscriptionum;
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, wc have the following recorded in Mr. C. Roach
Smith's Collectanea^ vol. i, p. 156 : — 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 Tveyes (Collectanea^ p. 166) ; likewise Vitalis
on pottery at Colchester (ibid.^ vol. ii, p. 40).

The Roman Map'tffrology contains the name of St. ViTi-
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
i 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.

(

I
♦

I'

CHAPTER XVII.

ACCOUNT OF VARIOUS MANUSCRIPTS STILL EXTANT, OB
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 JStstortale^ and contains four books, and
begins: "Post primum Insulae Britannise regem ;" and
part 2, containing one book, is a continuation of the
former four, and begins: "Prudentia veterum mos ino-

XVII.] BICHABD OF CIBENCESTEE. 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 Richard 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 Matthaeus 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, t.^.,M — R —
Cictre, is in a much more modern hand " Matthaeus 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 Cata-
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 GeoiFrey 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 vohime 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.

BritanniWy 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 classicsd models.

The following are two specimens: the first from the
beginning of the work, the second from a subsequent part

" Ego Matthcrus Kicardus Cictre beati Petri Westmin-
ster propc London monachus quamvis indignus, ad utiK-
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
Richard, 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 ha)c (tempera) alii dictorum Anglorum regum
fortunatissime et industria habenas regni moderantes
gloria floruerunt militari, finesque regni sui contra cete-
rorum irruptiones fortiter tuentes vicinaque regna sue
obdentes imperio, ac triumphalibus adomati victoriis,
audacia) admonstrantcsque (orig. amonstransque) exem-
plum suis populis reliquerunt. Ceteriim vero inter primos
Anglorum reges quidem fuerunt de quibus etiam praesens
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 Christian
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."

XVU.J RICHARD OF CIRENCESTER. 345

The reader will thus see by these specimens, that the
Latin style has not the usual fluency of medieval writings,
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 Kicardi Cicestrii monachi Westmo-
nast(eriensis) ; vel Anglo-Sazonum Chronicon. This is in
Benet College Library, see Nasmith's Catalogtie^ 4to., 1777,
427. 3. It begins in 449 and goes down to 1265, is called
in Bernard's Catalogue^ Epitome Chrontconum, and marked
there 1343. 66. 2. Dr. Stanley, in his Catalogue^ calls it
by the same title as the former work. Speculum Historiale.
— 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. 585, p. 59, where it is described, Excerpta ex
Speculo 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 Majore
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-
county 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

YT

346 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHiP.

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 Britannije, if genuine, may be re-
garded as the last of his works: 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 Kichard of Cirencester are known ;
namely, of his Historia ab Hengisto^ his Abbreviation and the
Work in the Library of the Royal Society, which is appa-
rently merely a copy of one of the two foregoing.

CHAPTER XVIII.

PONTICUS VIRUNN1U8, THE WRITER OF THE ERA OF LUDO*
VICUS SFORTIA, DUKE OF MILAN, AND POLTDORE 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

XVlll.] POSTICUS VIRUNNIUS. 347

of him ; that he was a native of Treviso, and lived in the
time of Ludovicus Sfortia, who usui-ped the dukedom of
Milan in the year 1476, was deposed in 1499, and died ten
years afterwards. (See Robertson's History of Charles Fi
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, aV.,
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 cujus-
dam Gaufredi breviarum composuerat, illudque Gilda)
Sajnentis 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
Geoffrey 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 Towel, in
1585, or in that of Commeline in 1587 ; nor could it apply
to the first printed edition, that of Augsburg, in 1534,
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 fiur fame of
Fonticus Virunnius, the elegant commentator on the clas-
sics, is detrimented by the disparaging remarks of Poly-
dore T By no 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 really
susi>ected 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 Annalcs Silesice^ p. 2, and afterwards was
bishop of Viterbo, a city forty miles north-west of Rome.
He is to be distinguished from Annius of Viterbo, who
has a bad reputation for literary forgeries. His chronicle,
like various others wliich were written in the Middle Ao-es,
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 5801; the part relating to
this country being at pp. 606-617.

De Anglis (Bhitannis) et Saxonibus.

CAPUT I.

DE N0NNULLI8 ECCLESI^ PERSECUT0RIBU8.

Chronica quae perhibent regnasse Diocletianum,
Ciini rcgnasset, sibi refenint turn Maximianum,
Climata Britanniac qucm tcuuUse canuiit.

350 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP.

Fecerat hunc apud has regiones Roma patronam.
Quern perhibent sat pacifice tenuisse colonum ;

Hunc patriae dominum semper habere volunt.
Attamcn in sanctos exarserat ille furore.
Undique Christicolas deleverat a regione

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 haye
noted here some chronological dates, part of which will
illustrate also subsequent portions of the chronicle.

282-304... reign of Diocletian (Jovius).

286-310 M. Aur. Val. Maximian (Her-

culius).

305.311 Galerius Val. Maximian.

306-337 Constantino the Great.

340-350 Constans or Constantius the

Great (see p. 306), his son.

383-388 Clemens Magnus Maximus.

403-411 Constantino the Tyrant.

408-4 1 1 Constans his son, his Caesar.

435-448 — Constantino of Armorica.

448 Constans his son.

448-54 & 468-81 Vortigern.

454-468 Vortimer his son.

456-487 Hengist.

481-504 ■ Aurelius Arabrosius.
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
Constantino, instead of Constantino of Armorica. That
Tyrant was confused with Maximus by the chronicler, 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.] TEUTONIC CHRONICLE OF BRITAIN. . 851

Diocletian's successor. But there is another circumstance
which may have proved deceptive. The usurper Maximus
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
Nennius (compare cc. xxii-xxiii), and Constantino of Armo-
rica for Constantino the Tyrant (see his c. xxv). Nennius,
however, is not without some show of corroboration in
connecting the name with Britain ; for Maximian THercu-
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 " patriee" for tribes or insular
states, here, as also in verse 983 of the Vita Merlini of
Geoffrey of Monmouth. In the next chapter, Constans,
the son of Constantino of Armorica, so noted in Vorti-
gem's history, is made the brother of the said Maximian.

CAPUT II.

D£ MA.XIMIANI PROLE.

Maximianus obit scelerum scelerosus amator,
Deserit et geminos proprii de conjuge natos,

Uther et Aurelius nomen habere datos.
Mater habens pueros procul a regione recedit,
Pars ubi Britannise 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 pemiciosa locis,
Defunct! regis fratrem facit insula regem
Nomine Constantem monachum qui canone degens

Tempore post modico Britona regna regit.

{Translation.) Maximian dies, the lover of wickedness,

362 HISTOSICAL ELCCIDATIOSrS. [cHAP.

who deserted his two twin sons, bom of his own wife, whose
names were Uther and Anrelios. The mother, with the
boys, left the coontnr, and went to where a part of Britain
vieldfti her tacitlv obedience, conscioos that when all their
enemies were removed ther would repossess the land. The
Ixivs live secure, far removed thence. Bot a new ieatnre
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 ni.

DE T0LTIOEB50 A^TGLOBUX ^BRlTAy^fOUrM^ DFCE.

Volti^omus Dux Anglorum summiis habetur.
Caru«< apud proceres tota regione tenet ur,

Cujiis ob auxiliam regna tenet monachus.
I lie cificct quod multa Tocet rex anna Tirorum,
Ut valeat punire malos quoscunque suonun,

£t sibi subjiciens stringat ubique solum.
Carta vocat quos merce locat per regna quirites.
Utque solet commota moTet 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 monctur
Cujus et innumcre populorum turba movctur.

Arma per Oceanum railitiamque ferunt,
Miratur jam rex cur copia tanta yenirct
Saxo rcfert : quia tota domi requiret,

Terra forct modica milite plena loca,
Plena viris terra jam pane carcbat et hcrb2i.
lIoDC tua nos terra cum sit ditissima servct ;

Tu tibi belligeros nos retineto viros.
Turba sumus quam pcUit terra sortita parentum
Sorto pari remanere lari vult turba potentum.

Nos quoque sera 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
(Cons tans) 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 com 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 off. 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.

8AX0NES A YOLTIOEBNO DUCE HUMANITEB BEGEFTI.

(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 0R80NE ET ENGI8T0.

(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.

SAXONITM coMMENDATio (».«., By VoUigern),

(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.

BE ANOBIA (sAXONIGA) BEG IN A, ET BEQIONB, ET GJBTEBIS ACTIS.

(Voltigern endeavours to make peace between the Britons
and the Saxons, when, at a conference for that purpose, a

zz

354 HISTOE^CAL ELUCIDATI0K8. [cHAF^

sudden affray occurs, and the Saxons getting the better,
the British nobility are slain. Yolgimer flees, betaking-
himself to a wood, and is said to have died soon after-
wards of poison. These matters are described thus :

Saxonicae gentis rex Voltigemus amator
Pacis utrinque dator cupit esse reconciliator,

Et petit ALLOQUio fella silere dato.
Bella silent, ciim pacta vidcnt, vexilla quiescimt,
Colloquiis hie inde datis fera corda tepescunt.

Rex parat iratis fccdera striata satis.
Pacis ab hac hora, dum rex dare pacta laborat
llixa scelus rcnovat, rixantur in ultcriora.

Miles ad arma volat, pax perit absque mora.
Saxonici populi valido slant cuspide fulti,
Unde suis cultris hostes perimuntur inulti.

Omne decus patriae Saxonis ense jacet.
Viribus Anglorum vires superantur eorum,
Ense Macedo bonum superat perimitquc colonum.

Saxo tulit patriam diripuitque solum.
Volgimer elatxis hostiliter, inde fugatus,
Wsk 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 modo Saxonibus plena trophsea feris.

(Translation.) '* Voltigem 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
tjikes place, which they carry to extremities. Each soldier
flies to arms, and peace vanishes at once. The Saxons
stand confidently, relying on their stout 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.j 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 OF 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 *'.AngriteiTa'*, 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*
suited magicians', who pronounce that a human sacrifice
must be offered ; and a boy be found for that purpose who
was bom 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 follow, translated in the previous
chapter xiv.

356 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP.

Aurelius primogcnitus regnique monarchus,
Sic pacis sancita facit, sic prospicit actus,

Ut reparet patrieo gaudia lata quies.
Confovet optima, dissipat horrida, regia norma :
Prcolia deprimit, abdita rejicit, apta reformat.

Rex erat, imo pater, gcsta patema patent
Attamen admiss^ patris feritate patrizat :
Nam prius inflixa renovat tormenta remissa ;

£t tenet erroris dogmata plena dolis.
JEmulus ipse Dei populi fit tutor Hebrsi;
Atria (qu. Arria ?) scripta vehit aectamque fovet M anichsei ;

Catholicique rei prorsus habentur ei.
Post annos paucos, post multa pericula rerum,
Suscipit Aurelius fatum, finemque dierum ;

Justus apud proceres, sed reus ante Deura.

The ensuing chapters and the remainder of the poem go
into myth, and are taken up with the legend of Uther
Pendragon, Merlin, and Igema, 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 Chronicle, the 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
Boman models, and by no means legendary in their general
characters, though doubtlessly exhibiting a strong national
bias favourable to Britain. Any one 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 OF BRITAIN. 357

partially adopted by Nennius, and now goes by his naipe,
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
aheady 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 stining 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' Original^ 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 Book of
Washinghorough^ which Gaimar in his Estorie des Engles
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. 163,
because it is described by Gaimar as not only recording

358 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. [cHAP.

the Roman emperors who had sway in Britain, but the
(native) kings who held under them —

" Des reis ki d'ela ourent tcnu"—

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 transfemng 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 the 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 diflSculty. There might have been
other works similar to the original of Marcus, to the ori-
ginal of the jTmcfe, 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 alibis 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 Deseriptio Utriv^que 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 OF BRITAIN. d59

its contents, it was recorded that the first inhabitants of
Nantes 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 modem 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 Descriptio Utriusque Britannice^ which
there is good evidence, as we have observed, to attribute
to John de Salisbury, though aU his other toorks^ 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
J)e Situ 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, Cam-

360 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIOH8L [CHAP.

bridge. It is so little known, indeed, that it is rerj
seldom that we find it mentioned in connezioo mth him.
In short, it has nearly undergone the fate of the Oe9criptio
Utrituque Briianniie 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 two to become lost to literatfkre. Mere
history, devoid of romance, and mere works of research,
like the Descriptio Utriusque Britawme and the Zh Situ
BritannicB 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
before, and to which we must always recur in guarding
this subject from error, namely, that some may say, per-
haps, that Gildas asserts in his De Hxcidio^ 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
affairs 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 FEONTINUS. 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

362 HISTORICAL elucidations. [chip.

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.

Forts 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 walled castra in
Kent, but in fact applying to some defensible works much
more to the north. 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 innnediately to the south of the w^all 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 all
that is mc*ant. 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, IJranodunum, Regulbium, Rutupium, Lemanis,
and Anderida.

The alleged Colony and settlement of the ancient
Britons in Armorica in the fourth centurt. 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 NigcUus, Dc 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 amnem." 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 Constantine
the king his father-in-law, on the other side of the river
Guy." (See Lems' Hktory 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 Constantine
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 Proetorio", they are to be considered as
altogether Romanized 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. [cUAP.

Gildas and the Chronicles, was a warm friend of the
church, and could have no affection for the appellation of
the deadliest enemv to it that ever existed ; and so, as we
conchide. adopted instead, as a " nomen familice", that of
Aurelius or Aurelianus.

These are our speculations on this point. As to the
name Maxiinian from Maximus, we have noted in our
above cited cliapter xix, that his appellation occurs both
as Maximus and Maximianus on coins: and not only that,
but we may understand that the adjective form " Masd-
niiana'' would be the due and proper one to designate the
family of a person who should be named Maximus. It
now tlien remains for us to consider what have been the
obvious results from this error, as far as our ancient
British accounts are concerned.

AVe judge them to have been two principal ones, the
prior of which has been already alluded to. (1) That the
early Chronicles ovCilooked the chronological discrepancy
of 170 veurs, and made Constantine of Armorica of the
fifth century the same person as Maximian the Eoman
emperor, tlie bloody persecutor of the church of the third.
(2) That some otliers more cautious of the medieval writers,
as Marcus, Xennius 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 sli^lit way : supposing apparently that there was some
incompreliensible error in the case: and thus the reign of
tliis 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 Koman emperor, is mentioned in all the
C()i)ies of Xennius, as having nsited Britain. The said
einpcror, as has been before remarked, might have done so,
as he is known to have been in Gaul after his re-accession
to the tlirone. Tliis point, then, is not necessarily connected
with tlie mistake the early chroniclers have otherwise
xiVinU) about Constantine of Armorica and Maximian.

Jlr.NGIST, THK LEADKR OF THE FIUST SUCCESSFUL SaXON

EXPEDITION TO BiuTAiN. Lappeubcrg, in his History of

XXI.] HENGIST. — THE DEMET-E. EBORACUM. 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^^. 192; Conybeare's Illustrations^ j). 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, Leeu warden, 1597, has mention of
the Saxon leader, and that he had served under Valen-
tinian 111, p. 79.

The Demet^. These were an ancient British state of
the AVest 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 Silurcs 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 Maietse
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.

Eboracum or York. This is usually, and, indeed, in-
variably called a Colony, in Inscriptions. See Wellbe-
loved's Ehuracum 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 municipium. He mentions it thus : " Municipio
cui Eboraci nomen ;" that is, the municipium called Ebo-
racum. 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.

Deva, 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

?/jG x-::%T:a::Ai liucidatioxs. [chap.

ll-r-T'Ce^^frT. or th-:- Garrlion ; and this was a station, as

Till: ^irmwi. We have the following mention of these
jifroxf'j: in lj':df\ ^^hom we judge, from the etymology of
their name / Girvii. from the ancient British gwr, i.e.,
horx.ii.es : in the lJonie>=Jay sense of dei>endents), to have
formed a Briti-h subdivision of the kingdom.

^\'e will lirs: cite a pas.s:u:e from his Ecclesiastical His-
torij, iv, G, apjiljin:? to the year 674: "Sexwulfus ordi-
natus episcopus qui erat constructor et abbas monasterii
quod dicitur Mede>hamstede in regione Gyr\iorum." In
Knglish : " Sexwulf (in the year 674), being ordained
bi-sliop, wlio was the constructor and abbot of the monas-
tery of Mede>hani (Peterborough), in the district of the
Girvii/' Asrain, Hb. iv, 19 (a.d. 660): " Accepit autem
rex P>gfrid conjugcm nomine Aedilthryldam filiam Annae
regis Orientalium Anghjrum. etc., quam et alter ante ilium
vir habuerat uxorem. jjrinceps videlicet Australium G\t-
viorum vocabulo Tondherst." In English: '' The king, in
the year 660, took Kdilthryd to wife, daughter of Anna,
king of the East Anj^li, etc., who before had been the
consort of Tondherst, king of the Southern Girvii." Lib.
iii, 20. " Thomas diaconus ejus (a.d. 653) de pro>*incia
Girviorum." In English : " Thomas, his deacon (in the
year 603), of the province of the Girvii." We have also
the mention of the Girvii in Florence of Worcester, who,
in the Annah of the year 675, speaks of the Monastery of
IJurli (Peterborough), in the country of the Girvii.

The Pkopiiecies 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 tliat 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 '' ])urc race ;'' but according to the best readings in
stanza ix of tlie Gododin^ it appears to be rather Gwyn-
gwn. TIk; Count de la Villemarque informs us, that his
works W(jro lost during the French Revolution of 1789
and following years. A fragment, however, of them re-
mains, somewhat modernized, which Villemarque gives in
his Pocmc% Bretom^ 12mo., Paris, 1846, vol. i, pp. 30-34.

XXI.] PROPHECIES 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 Prop/iecies
of 3[ei*lin^ 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 Bemicians 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 pai^aphrase 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 F.LUCIDATIOXS. [cHAF.

formation, in making Bassianus and Geta not the sons of
the same mother, an error which is, nevertheless, adopted
by Spartian. The Clironicles 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 Soman.
Thfir great discord, indeed, between themselves favoured
the idea that tliey were not the sons of the same mother ;
yet it is most certain tliat tliey were : being both the
offspring of Julia IJomna, the empress of Severus, accord-
ing to the verses of Oppian, in his Cynegetica, who dedi-
cated that work to C aracalla.

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 Tysilio'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 lie 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 EMMRT8. 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
Paemes 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.

Mabzin Divinoue.

{St, Cadoc.) Marzin, Marzin, pelec'h it-hu

Ken beure-zc, 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 aim 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.
(JSt, Cadoc.) Marzin ! Marzin ! distroet endro

Losket ar var gand ann dero

Hag ar beler, gand ar flouren

Kerkouls hag ann aour-ieoten

BB B

370 HISTORICAL ELUCIDATIONS. fcHAP.

Kerkouls hagui ann acr-vorek
Etouez ann eon touU ar garrek.
Marzin ! Marzin ! distroet endrou
Ne deuz divinour nemed Dou.

Translation — " Merlin the Diviner. (St. Cadoo)
Merlin ! Merlin ! whither goest thou so early in the morn-
ing with thy black dog ? (Merlin)

lou-iou-ou ! iou-iou-ou ! iou-ou !
Iou-(ioa)-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 to
seai'ch 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 : L«eave
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 Druidical
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 him among the sons of
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 Cunobeline^ 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 sou." It may be asked why this
disguise ? and why do we not have a more explicit account 1
We shall see.

Caractacus was probably so styled in the Triads, because
the name of his father Cunobeline, Le. " Apollo the king,"
(see Britannic ResearcJies^ 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 natuml process, *' Caradog,
the son of Bran," or of the king, for his appellation by the
Britons of the eleventh ctmtury.

CuNEDDA. This prince is said to have reigned at
Carlisle. See Mr. Williams' Gododin^ p. 2, note from lolo
Manuscripts.

EeMARKS 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 ;

V-0

z:5T:x:-:ii TLZdDATio^^ [chip.

• -

^ - -

z-i ii-'ry 'r.r :":_t: r.H.-^lrr ictroTm: from ^Ir. Tapper's
/"-'- II' '^W Li. :. 1 •* :• . T - "^ >*- wheTtr he iclbmis ns. tbat
•■ '.:. M :::»v 1» -t_*. :l > rivT. ^re two distiDct concentric
: -. ^L-::-' It ^r-^? i :':,:-:i^rd Teai^ oldL with rem-
-: 1- .:.:■•- T'-.s^iblv DniicicaL" We maT sab-
^ :.::.v -urj.'.rr c-r ih^osand must of coarse be
r:.-.:. 'Jil^Vrl. Ii- c-e rtrfrec: we can confirm Mr. Tapper,
:':.i: M-.rr^e L-? -iVvrr i::c«earasce of being of British
Ov::"* it: :r-. i.? . M'iWT rl .-i. or the •• great wheel," alluding
to ::.<: :i^^ w:.;rL :i.e T-:-:rlon of the trees was likely to

Jhl Dls.e:?t:o UTSiusiUE Be:tanm-e. The French
K/.C'vri C'>:r.ir.:s-ion maie a n:o<: strenuous attempt in the
yoar lS-'i4 to recover this, as also the PropfufU^ of Quinclan
h:A the 0-:nca>y7UJr or' rh^: kin»]4 *-'f Duimumia. bv setting on
i*M,l UJ: nciO*: perseverins inquiries in England and on the
ro:-tii;Mit It appeared by these researches, that the
iM'^jrrijA'iO Utnwiqu^- Bri^'innia: had not been seen by any
Oh'.' for one hundred and twentv-seven vears from that
time, lior was there any record of its having been met
uilh in Kiiirland at all ; notwithstanding a foreign \\Titer,
M. Moreati de Martour. though undoubtedly bv mistake,
asserted tliat an edition of it had been printed in London.

In the Bulletin du Bibliophile for June 1^46, pp. 801-
808, are some memoranda of the researches of the French
Record Commission in the business. An extract or two
are ^iven from the work; as some particulars about
Morlaix (Morlieumj and the first preaching of Christianity
there ; also particulars relating to the city of Xantes
(Xannetis oppidum), and a list of the principal authors
wlio have referred to the work.

M. Francisque Michel it seems, on arriving in England
on behalf of the French Record Commission, made re-
Kearehes at Cambridge, Oxford, Salisbury, Durham, and
Jiondou, and also made inquiries of Douce and Dibdin,
and otlicMs learned in the same way, but without any re-
sults; and came to the conclusion that the work was not
to l)e found in tliis country. (See pp. 368-370 ante.)

'Ywvs Fourteenth Roman Legion. A sepulchral in-
Kcrijition connected with this legion was discovered at
\Vroxet(jr, tlu; ancient Uriconium, in the year 1752, and is
htill prcKcrved there. It is engraved in the Proceedings of

XXI.] TERRITORIES OF THE NORTHERN BRITONS. 373

the British Archwologial Congress at Gloucester in 1846, p. 7,
and reads thus : m . petronids .l .f. men .vie ann xxxviii

MIL LEG Xllll GEMINA . MILITAVIT . ANN . XVIII . SIGN . FQIT .

H . s . E. That is, " Marcus Pctronius, 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 Pollia (see the same volume oi 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
JEiddin^ 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 Novantea
occupied the district comprising the Mull of Galloway,
etc., etc., which is now known as the county of Wigtown.
Guenedofa 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

ST4 E:«Toa:c.iL ELUCiDATioys. [chap.

Kirkc": rirjTL:: h^rir^ Srrathclvde and the Selgovap to
t':.-^ r. r:.-.^-:- izi :h.e yovar.:e5 to the south-^rest. The
3'-* . Ti /' "J c::n.T r.^:i rill the rest of the ancient Cale-
c::/.i :.o : -v r.:r.'.. :: StriT'iiivde and Eiddin.

T:.-r i\:' V -rr-n:? thr e\:r-r.: of what can be at present
£scer..i:r.-:ii of :Le :err:::nal p«?<it:on of the states of the
Nortr.-rr* BrlT-r."?. Itiir.^ compiled from Ptolemy and the
f/O'jcis of Taliv-ir.. Ix«warch-Hirn.aiid Aneurin. Mr. George
Vf.Tf: Irrinjr h'« made some valuable investigations on the
subj^rc: ; b':: o':r :r.forT::a::ou is so limited that it is not
prac-.i-'.uole to carr^' out these statistical details so far as to
rf.Ti.ove aii iriCor^i-tencie-?. real or apparent. For instance,
the Xovante*. d^ tached in their situation in Wigtown and
Gcilioway, had probably some territorial communications
with the other Britons which we are not able to show.
A^ain, 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 Witheme, which a^ain is not found in any extant
account. The situation of the Novantes, as deduced from
Ptolemy, is indisputable.

T/te Oto(Iim\ a powerful race, from whom the poem of
the Gododin takes its name, there is reason to suppose had
always been subdinded, like the Belgae of the South of
Britain, into various states ; which states we appear to be
able to specify were those of Eiddin, Rhcged, 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 Bemicia, and had
become altogether merged in it. The Otodini thus stand
somewhat distinguished from the Selgova?, the Novantes,
and tlie 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 liavc been partly mountainous and partly other-
wiH(», while Eiddin, Rheged, and Argoed, were chiefly of
a lowland doscri])tion. The district of the Sclgovjc and
Novantes was mountainous, as also was the tract of land
tlie 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 Archceologia^ about
twenty years since, afibrded 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. Roach 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, Brayley, 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 will 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 Tudvuleh, 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 Gwion. 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 indentical, p. 345, 1. 6, read identical

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lianuns) bj an OctOKeiiar>- pen, a heart fas Un. Leo letters themielvea it is not easy to cfaaraeteriae; wr

■ajs) twenty-six years old. and as 11. LP. feels it to shall we venture tu decide whether they more bcf^-ak

be. all your mcnr— Letter V, M Feb. 1830. the driTelling of dotage, or the foUv of lore ; m f.: is

" Tills is one of the most extraordinary collectiotta ease they present hnmau nature to ns umirr * m«

of luve cpi»tlcs we have e\-er chanct-d to meet with, aspect, and furnish one of thoae riddles viuch 3>

and the well known hterary reputation of the lady— thing yet dreamt of in our philoocmhj can aaaufi*

the Hit. Tlirale, of Dr. Johrnoo and MiM Bnxney tohly aolve.**— i^teeimc lUruw.

COMPENDIOUS ANGLO-SAXON AND ENGLISH DIG-
TIONABY. By theBer. Jobbph Boswobth, D.D., F.B.S., &c Svo, doeel^pnaUd
•a treble Columnt. 12t.
Labqb Papeb. Boyal 8?o. (to maUA the next article)^ eloih, £L

"This is not a mere abridcrment of the Lurve Die- mice, all that is aiost practical and valnahle ia th.
tionary, but almost an entirely new work. In this foniier expcnsiTeediti(»i.withaji:reataecttsi.«tifnrv
eompendious one will be found, at a very moderate words ana matter.** — Auikor^s rr^act.

r)N THE ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH, Germanic, and Scandinanan
^^ Languageo and I^ations, witli Chronological Speconena of their Language*. ])y
J. BoswOBTH, D.D. Boyal 8to, hdt. £1.

A new and enlarged edition of what was formerly the Preface to the Hrst Edition of the Asglo-SaaoD Die>
tionary. and now published separately.

ANGLO-SAXON DELECTUS ; eernng as a flrst dasa-Book to the Lan-
guage. By the Ber. W. Babnes, B.D., of St. John's ColL Gamb. 12uio, eUiA,
2«.6<f.

*'To those who wish to possess a critical knnwled^ stated, and flhistnted by re f ere n ces to Greek, the Ls^'a.

of Iheir own Illative £ntflisb. sttme acquaintance with trench, and other lanfrnages. A philoaophiral siunt

Anglu-Sn\on is indiii>cii»al)le ; >:nd we have nertr pen tides every part. The Delectus consists of iu««t

seen an introduction better oilculated than the pre- pitK^es on various subiects, with extracts from An{:l>

sent to supply the wants of a bcKinui? in a short Bi>are Saxon History and the Saxon Chronicle. There i« a

•f time. Hie declensions and coiiju|;ations are well good Glossary at the end."— .rf/A4>w<w, Oct ^, li»l9.

GUIDE TO THE ANGLO-SAXON 1X)NGUE : on the Baab of Ro-
fesflor Rask's Ghwiimar ; to which are added, Reading Lessons in Verse and Pra^
with Notes for the use of Learners. By £. J. Ybbxon, B. A., Oxon. ISmo^ efoiil, 6«. 6(2.

*' The author of this Guide seems to have made one care and akiD ; and the latter half of the volume cm-

step in the n|;lit direction, by conipilinfr what may be sists of a well-chosen selectiuiof cxtrarts from Anf;V>-

jtfoiiouiiccd the best work on the subject hitlusrto Saxon writers, in prose and Terse, for the pi«ctin: <rf

published in Enxland."— ^<A«»«hm. the student, who will find great as8istani>e m readuf

" Mr. Vcrnnii has, we think, acted wisely in taking them from the grammatical notes with which thev are

Bask for bin Model ; but let no one suppose fhim Uie accompanisd,and trom the glossary which follDwi^ i\en.

title that the book is merely a oomnilaUon from the Thiavolnme, well studied, wUl enable any one to md

work of that phiblopst The acciaence is abridged with ease the generalit;^ of Anglo-Saxon writers ; and

from llaak, with constant rerisioQ, correction, and its cheapness places it within the reach of erery

modifuation; but the syntax, a most Important por^
Hob cf *Va book, is eiiguial, aaA is eoapilad witk piat

elaas. U has oar hearty

John BuueU Smith, 86^ 8oho Bquare, London.

ANALECTA ANGLO-SAXONICA.--Sdeotioiis, in P^m ud Vcwe^ fiom
Anglo-Saxon Literature, with an Introdactory Ethnological Bna^, tod Notoi^
Critical and Explanatory. By Lotns F. EuFsniv, of the UniTersity of GieMen. 2 thick
▼ols, post 8to, cloth. 12t. (original price 18i.)

haT« a thoroDgfa knoirledge of UsonmmoUMr-tongiiat
while the lansuage itieU; to lay nothing of the many

dated, and which contains fifteen^twentiethi'of what Tahiable and mtereftinK works nmerred in it, may.

we daily think, and apcnk, and write. No Englishman, in c(q[iioiiinesi of woroi, ttrength of expreasion, and

therefore, altogether ignorant of Angk><^axon, can grammatical predaion. Tie with the modern Qamaa.

TNTRODUCTION TO ANGLO-SAXON READING; oompriafa^g

-^ ^Ifric's Homily on the Birthday of St. Gr^ory, with a oopiouB OlosMiyi doo. Bj
Jj. LuroLBY, F.L.S. 12mo, elotk^ 2i. 6d,

iElfiric's Homily is remarkable Cor beanty of oompoaitlaai, and intereating aa lattiBg iksth AngnatinBli bMob
to the ** Land of the Angles."

ANGLO-SAXON VERSION OF THE LIFE OF ST. GUTHLAC,
Hermit of Groyland. Printed, for the first time, from a IfS. in the Oottoniaa
Library, with a Tranalation and Notea. By Chablss Wtoupii Qooswiv, M.A.t Eellow
of Catharine Hall, Cambridge. 12mo, elothf 6«.

ANGLO-SAXON LEGENDS OF ST. ANDREW AND ST.

-^ VERONICA, now first printed, with Sngliah translations on theoppotite page. Bj
0. W. QooDWiK, M.A. 8to, tewed, 29, 6d,

ANGLO-SAXON VERSION OF THE HEXAMERON OF ST.
BASIL, and the Anglo-Saxon Bemaina of St. Basil's Admonitio ad Filinm
Spiritnalem ; now firstprintcSl from MSS. in the Bodleian Library, with a Translatiop and
Notes. By the Ber. H. W. Nobmav. 8to, Ssoovd EDinoir, enlarged, eewed, 4t.

ANGLO-SAXON VERSION OF THE HOLY GOSPELS.

-^ Edited from the original MSS. By BnrJAiOV TsOBra, FJ3 JL Peat Bvo^ efeO.
St* (original price 12t.)

A NGLO-SAXON VERSION OF THE STORY OF APOLLO-

-^ NIUS OF TYKE ;— u^n which is founded the Play of Peridea, attribated to
Shakespeare ; — from a MS., with a Translation and Glossary. By Bxvjaxxv Thobpi.
12mo, cloth, 4f. 6d, (original price 6t.)

A NALECTA ANGLO-SAXONICA.— A Selection in Prose and Terse, from
-^ Anglo-Saxon Authors of Tarious ages, with a Gloesarr. By Bsnjaiqv Thobpb,
F.S.A. A newediOon, with corredioM and improvemenli. Post 8to^ doth, St. (origmal
price 12t,)

POPULAR TREATISES ON SCIENCE, written dming the Middle Agei^
-■- in Anglr-Sazon, Anglo-Norman, and English. Edited by Tsoe. Wuesx, TdJL
Sro, clothf 8f.

OmtenU .'—An Angio-Sftzon Treatise on Aitronomy mtAning, tmJ txpUmeton tf ttt the ifwioBiwf tlgna

of the Tenth CKifTVET. now fntpuHuhtd from a ht tmrlp teulptuft amd paimtSig) ; the Bestiary of nil-

MS. in the BritUh Sfuseum, witk « tYatuUHM; Uwn Uppe at Thaan« witk a trtauUtUm; Fragments on Yth

des Creatures, by Fhillippe de Thaon, now first prmi44 paht Science from Uie l^ly £nglish Hethcal Ltres

witk « tnnslatum, (txtrenuljf 9mlm4tbU to Fkilologitti, ti the Saints. {tMs mHiiti pitct ^ ike kmd te ike

u$ being tht torUesi tp M m oi u ^ Anglo-Nermwrn rs- B^tttk Lngiagt.)

T^RAGMENT OF CLERIC'S ANGLO-SAXON GRAMMAR^

-^ .SUfrio's Glossajy, and a Poem on the Soul and Bochr of the Xllth Obntoiy, dia-
oorered among the An^iyes of Worcester OathedxaL By Sir XaoiUS PHOUPfl^ Baiii
FoL, FBiYATSLT PSOf TSD, ecwed. \m, 6(2.

CKELTON'S (John, Pos^ Xonreo^ to ITMfy F2Z7) Poetical Worb : theBowgeof
^ Court, GohnCbut^ Why come ye not to Court? ^ celebrated Satire on Wolsey),
Pliillip Sparrow, Elinour Bumming, Ac. ; with Notea and IMo* By the Be?. A. Dycx.
2 vols, 8¥0, doih, 14f. (original price £1. 12f.)

"Thepoirer.thestrangeness.therolnbilitTofhislan- giett a scholar ts em lired (EvssmiiS), 'the UgM

gnage, the audacity of his satire, and the perfect oriffia- and ornament of Britain.* He indnlgea veiT freely

alitor ot his manner, made Skelton one of the most extra- in his writings in censiu e s on monks and Dommid^;

ordlnarr writers of any age or country.'*— 5(7u/iUy. and, moreorer, had the hardihood to leflectk in no v«nr

** Skelton is a curious, able, and remarkable writer, mild terms, on the manners and life of Cud^au

with strong sense, a vein of hnmonr. and some ima- Wolsqr- We cannot help eonsideriBg »k fK wi ts aa

ginatioa; he had a wonderf^ mmmandof the BMhsh ornament of his own tioiSk aad a hSBflftclor to "

language, and oae who was al^M^ia his tan, hyss who sons sftur hja.**

Valuable and Interesting Books, Puilisked or Sold bg

SEMI-SAXON.-II10 DeptftiDg SooTs Aadmi to Um Bod^, « Wtw^amk d%
Semi-SaxoD Poem, dkco i wd amomif the Aidutw of Worawtar Oill»dn^bf Sr
Thoxab PHiLLiFn, Bwt^ with aa Engliih Twiwhtinn bj S. W. ScrexB. 8fis m^t

100 PEITATELT F&niTED. 2f.

DICTIONARY OF ABCHAIC AND PROVINCIAIi WOKDS,
Obsolete Phrato, Prorerbi, and Ancient Cnelane, from tiiB Bcipi of XdmriL
Bt Jaxzs Orchard HALUwnx, F.R.S., F.SJL, Ac. S Tole» Svo^ *^n«*mw.w.g iqivadi
of 1000 pagea, cloul^ pruUed im duttlU eolwmut, ctoO, • am —I riewfiwr eJiWba, £l.U

It oonUirj *he,»e y> f CO wwdi 'emhodrai* all tlu mcboI tobefcndmovdlaMy

kaovn Kattcred poMu-.ei of the Es jluh Uapufc), of icfuuMA. Mort of the pmieiml ArAaiiai at 3>

fbrm.nic % eomb^tie k«^T for tLt nV.rr of our u J Pocto, loitzttad bj cxianleB selected Jkvm cuK iMiMi

Dnnaus;i. Tho^lofuu. ud o;Ler aaiLon. wii.-iM MSS. aad me booki,aDd by Hr tke po&r fani

aboaad wiiL aaudoaa, of which czptaaauona wul be CooDd to be original eat'

ESSAYS ON THE LITERATURE, POPULAB SUPERSTI-
TIONS, and Hifltorjr of England in the Middle Agp§. B7 TuamAM WbUXX; ILL,
W.tLS. 2 Tols. post 8vo, eUgaiUljf printed, doth, 16r.

Cbalrato.— Emot I Avlo-Saxia Poetrr II AiLi]o- Rnih, aad tke YnXkmmtt Etna. XL Oa Dd1d|^
Fonnaa Poetnr. III. Chazuoaa d" Gvtte.or lijUiriral Hialory of FictioB. XIL On the HialoCT aai noa*
Booaacea of tne MmIOic Aip*. iV. On Pniti tIm aad minioa of Pbpular Sunira. XUI. Od the Poetrr «f

MmIOic kff: iV. On Pniv. rlM aad minioa of Pbpular Sunira. XUI. Od the Poetry «f

rmga. V. ()D ihc Auirio-Latia Poeta of Hiatnrj. Xl\. AdTratorco of Hereward the £«i«.

CcBtury. VI. Abc.'arU and the SeholaiUe XV. The Stonr of Emtiice the Monk. XVI The Ha>

Philoo'iphr VII (taDr.GnmiT.'iGermaaMvtbolofrT. tofr of Fvlic Fi&nrariae. XML On thcPtopiUarCyck

YIU. Ou the >'ati(.nal Fairr MvtholoCT of 1Cn;laLd. of Bobin-Uood Ballada. XVIIL On the C^aoi d

IX. Ob the Pupuiai &nprriiJt.'jiit of Hodern Grrece, Ireland b; the Anrlo-NonQaiiB. XIX. Oa OMEn^
and their Cc«n«iiMi vith the English. X. Oa Friar Political Soaga. U. Oa theSoottiah Ptel, Daatar.

EARLY HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND.
lUustrated bj an English Poem of the XITth Centurj, with Notes. Bj J. 0.
Halliwxll, Post 8to, Second Editiok, wUk a faenmiU <^ ika onffimal M& m Ut
BrUUh Jfajeam, cloth, 2*. 6<i.

" The iatereat which the eurioaa poeai, of which which ia not coBunon with meli pnblicaiioBa. Vr.

' naa c '" " ' " *

lliia pnljhr^ition ia ch;r:flv compoacd, haa ezdted, ia Halliwell baa eaxefeUy reriaed the nu- .,. ,

woved by the fact of ita Lann^ been tranalated into increaaed ita utility by the adititioa of a t**!*!*** aad
GcfBian, aad of ita baring readied a aecuad edition, Ct«rect gkaaaiy."— Xi/crary Gmt€tU.

rrORRENT OF PORTUGAL ; an English Metrical Bomanoe, now iivt pob-

-*■ lished, from an unique MS. of the XVth Contiuy, praserved in the Ghetha^ Libnij

at Manchester. Edited l^ J. O. Halliwell^ Ac, Post 8to, eloth^ nmiformwSi Sitstm,

Weber, amd ElU^t pubUcatUmt, 6e,

"This ia a valnable and interesting addition to oar bbag to a modem reader, yet the class to whidi it
list of early English metrical romuncea, and an in- rightly belongs will valne it acoordmgly ; bothbecanse

dispensable eompanion to the collectiona of Bitaoa, it ia curioua in its detaila, and pnaw-aaca phikloginl
Weber, and EUii.*^— lircronr Gaxtttt. importance. To the general reader it piroeato oaa

Der, ana £.ui«. '— Lircronr uautu. imponance. 10 ine general reader it prraeats oaa

A hterary curioaity, and one both welcome and feature, m., the reference to Wayhuid &iiith, wboai

■errioeabletothekirerctf black-lettered lore. Though Sir W. Scott haa imreate' ~'"*^

the obooletcnesa of the style may occaaioii sad stum- MUrtfoUUm M^igenme.

XT ARROWING OF HELL; a Mirade Play, written in the Beign of Edwaid

-*--^ II, now first pnblislied from the Original in the British Mufieom, with a Modon

Beading, Introduction, and Notes. By James Obciiasd Haluwxxx^ Esq., FJEU9., F3.A.,

fto. Sto, eewed, 2f .

lUs carious pieee is supposed to be th« earUest ^ab Poetry; Shanm Turaer^ EaglsBd; OoiKsr's

*"' '" " " '■" ' History of English Dramatic Poetry. VoL n. bl 311

JUiU$tmritmrrftrtotMeMemm»aipi. '^

I^UGiE POETICA ; Select Pieoes of Old English Popular Poetry, illuatrating the
^^ Mannon and Arts of the XVth Century. Edited by J. O. Bjjjjwell, Poet 8to^
0«^ 100 copies printed, cloth. St.

G0N/M<« .- — Colyn Blowbol's Testament: the De- Lobe, Henry Vlllth's Fool-^ Bomaaee of Bobcrt of
bate of the Carpenter's Tools; the Merchant and Sidlr; tmd jh$ other cuneiu fkeet 1^ tht jaas
his Son I the Maid aad the Magpie ; Elegy on iia/

A NECDOTA LITERARIA : a Colleotion of Short Poems in English, Latin,
-^^ and French, illustratire of the Literature and History of England in the Xlllth
Century ; and more especially of the Condition and Manners of the different Classes of
Society. By T. WaiauT, M.A., F.S.A., &c 8to, cloV^ only 250 printed. 7*, 6d.

pOPULAR ERRORS IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR, parHculariy in

"^ Pronunciation, familiarly pointed out. By Gsobob Jacksoit. 12moL Thduo
BDiTioir, wUh a coloured fironUepieoe of the " Sedee BMtbeitma.** 6d.

John BuiseU Smith, 36, 8oho Square, London.

EARLY MYSTERIES^ and other Latin Poemi of theXIIth and Xmth oentnriei.
Edited, from original MSS. in the British Muaeom, and the Librariea of Oxford,
Oambridge, Paris, and Vienna^ bj Thos. Wbioht, MJl.»,F.S.A. 8to, bds. 4f . 6d.

"Betidet tbe earious •pedmens of the dramBtie onthe people of Norfolk, writteii by a Monk of Peter-
style of Middle-Ace Latinity, Mr. Wright bu given borongb, and anawered in the aame atyle hj John of
two compoaitions in the NarratiTe £legiac Terae (a St. Omer ; and, laatly, loine sprightly and oftengraM-
fitvoorite measore at that period), in the ComoBdia ftil longs from a MS. in the Amndel Collection, which
Babiooit and the Qeta of TiUIia Bleaenaia, which form aiford a rery fkTOoiable idea of the lyric poetry of
• link of connection between the Ciaaaical and Middle- cw dflriial fioefatheri.**— Om<Im4m'« IC^^mmc.
age literatnre; lome remarkable Satyxieal Bhymes

RARA MATHEMATICA; or a CbUeetkm of Treatises on the Mathematioa and
Subjects connected with them« from andent inedited MSS. Bj J. O. HaiuwxIiL.
870, Sscoio) BDinoir, eloih, St.

GmtmU* .— Johannia de Saero-Boaeo TraetKOi de Duration of Moonlight, from a MS. of the Thirteenth

Arte Nnmerandi; Method naed in England in the Century; on the Mensuration <rf Heights and Dia-

FLfteenthCentarr for taking the Altitude of aSteeple; tances; Alexandride Yilln Dei Carmen oeAlaorismo;

Treatise on the Numeration of Akorism; Treatise on Preface toa Calendar or Almanack for 1430) Johannis

Glasses for Optical Purposes, by W. Bourne ; Johannia Norfolk in Axtem progreasionis summula; Notes on

Bobyns de Cometis Commentann; Two Tablea lowing Early Aiin«ii*#.v« yfj the Editor, 8cc Sec
the time of High Water at London Bridge, and the

pHILOLOOICAL PROOFS of the Original Unity and Beoent Origin of the
-^ Human Baoe, deriyed from a Comparison of the Languages of Burone, Asia, Afrioai
and America. By A. J. Johkis. Sto, doih. 6r. {original priee 12f. 6a.)

Printed at the snggestioii of Dr. Piichard, to whose woika it will be found a useM iupplement

A MERICANISMS.— A Dictionary of Amerimnisms. A Glossary of Words and
•^ Fhrasescolloq[uiaUyusedintheTJmtedStates.ByJ.B.BABTLBTT.Thick8TO,c2oe^l2t.

PHILOLOGICAL GRAMMAR, founded upon Bnglish, and framed from a
-L comparison of more than Sixty Languages, heing an Litroduction to the Science of
Grammar, and a help to Grammars of aUI^mffaas^ especially English, Latin, and Ghceek.
B^ the Ber. W. Babvsb, B.D., author o?^e "Anglo-Saxon Pelootus,'* *< Dorset
Dialect," &C. Post 8To,Mi^|ir0f».

"DIBLIOGRAFHICAL LIST of all the Works which haye been published
-^ towards illustrating the Prorincial Dialects of Bngland. By JoHV BusaxLL Sioth.
Post Sto. Is.

** Very senriceable to such as vroaeeute the study of our prorindal diakcti» or are colluding wocfca on thai
corioua sul^ect We very oocdiaUy recommend it to notioe.*'--lf«/ro!fMft<M.

HALLIWELI/S HISTORICAL SKETCH OP THE PRO-
YINOLiL DIALECTS OF ENGLAND. Illustrated by numerous Examples,
ifotraeUdfrim t&eLdrodueiion to tkeDietionar^ ofArduUo andProtfineial Wordi.) 8to. 2f.

GLOSSARY OP PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL WORDS USED
IN ENGLANDi by F. Gbosb, F.S^ ; with which is now incorporated the Suv
FLDCiKT, by Sakuxl Pbogi, F.S^ Post Sto, ehik. 4f . 6d,

ThentilityofaPromcialGloesaiytoallperBonsd»> would be entirely a work of sopererontion. Grose
sirous of understanding our ancient poeta, ia ao uni- and P^ge are eonatantly refened to inTodd'a ** Joha-
veraally acknowledged, that to enter mto a proof of it son'a lActianary."

OOBNWALL.— Specimens of Condsh Prorincial Dialect, coDeoted and arranged hj XSvoim
Jajs Tbxshoqdlb, with some Introductonr Bemarks and a Glossary by an Antiquarian
Friend, also a Selection of Songs and other Pieces connected with ComwaU. Post
8to. WUh omrioui poHraU qf DoU^ PnUroaO. CMk. 4r.

CHESHIBE.— Attempt at a Glossary of some words used in Cheshire. By Boon
WlLBRAHAM, F^S., Ac. 12mo, Mff. 2i,ed, (original price 1^.)

DEyONSHIBB.~A Deronshire Dialogue in Four Parts, (6y Mrs. Palmib, iittar to

Jotkna Sevnoldtf) with Glossary by the Ber. J. Phillippb, of Membury, Deroo.

12mo, elod, 2i. 6d,
DOBSET. — ^Poems of Bural life, in the Do9jiet Dialect, with a Dissertation and Glossary.

By the Ber. William Babvsb, B J). Sioon> Editioit, enlarged and corrected^

royal ISmo, c£o/l^ lOt.
▲ flne poetic feeling isdiiplayed through the yaiioos Buns ; the ** Goitleinan'a Magarins** for Deeember,

pieces in this Tohime) according to aome critics no- 18H g^^e a review of the Rist KdiMoa sons pagas
Ibing has appeared efoal ton ainoe the time of in length.

VaJuable and Interesting Books, Published or Sold Ini

DUBHAM.— A OloiMry of Words uted in Xeeidale^ in tha Cbunfy of BiuiMin. Foil
9V0, with a Map <{f ike DiiUiei, clotJL Si.

"Contains aboat two thoniand words ... It is be- Kusge ud Utentun . . . the aatbor ^m endatir
licred the first and only ooUection of words and brought to bear an esteuuTe pi i anaal acqnaiai-

nhrases peculiar to this district, and we hail it there- ance with tha *«*—■ »«*w Inagiaage." — ir—«a|lw
nre as a valuable oontribntion to the history of Ian- TEaMv.

ESSEX. — John Noakes and Maiy Styles : a Poem ; exhibiting sonid of the mort wtnkxD§
lingual localisms peculiar to Essex ; with a Glossary. By Chamlmb Clamk^ Esq., of
Great Totham Hall, Essex. Post Svo, chth, 2«.

The poem possesses oonsiderable hnmow^— 2U/'« ** Exhibits the dialect of Eases pvftc^yj

III*. Bevuw.

▲ Tcry pleasant trifle **—lAt9rarw OaMttU. ** Foil of qoaint wit and hnmoar.** — • OtmL'm Jfo

" A very clerer production."— &«cr IM. JmrmO. M^, 18il. ^^

** Full of rich humour."--JEM«jr Mtratn, 'VA, Terr clerer and **""rnr piece «f !«»**» i

- Yery iiolL**'-MtropoliUm. \km.*'—JrcMML)ptt. ^^

KENT. — Dick and Sal, or Jack and Joan*t Eair : a Doggxel Poem, in the TT^mia^ii Dialaot
Third Edition. 12mo. 6d,

LANCASHIEE.—Dialect of South Lancashire^ or Tim Bobbin's Tnmmiia smd Mmit;
revised and corrected, with his Byrnes, and ah xvlaboed Glossabt of Words and
Phrases, chiefly used by the rural population of the manufiM^uring Districts of South
Lancashire. By Samitbl Baxpobd. 12mo, eloth, 3#. 6d,

LEICESTEBSHIBE Words, Phrases, and ProTerbs. By A. B. Etavb^ DJ) Mtai
Master of Market- Botworth Oraminar SehooL 12mo, eloth, te, **

VOBTHAMPrONSHIBE.—The Dialect andFolk-Lore of Northamptonshire :» GlosniT
of Northamptonshire Provincialisms, Collection of Fairy Legends, PopalAr Super-
stitions, Ancient Customs, P^verbs, &o. By Thoxab STXBVBSBa ^^Zi
elath. St. ^^

SUSSEX. — A Glossary of the Provincialisms of the County of Sussex. By W. DvBXAjrr
CooFSB, F.S.A. Post Svo, Sxcomo Eoinoir, BirLAsexD^ doth. 6s.

SUSSEX.— Jan dadpole's Trip to *Merricur in Search for Dollar Trees, and hov he got
rich enough to beg his way home 1 Written in Sussex DoggereL 12mo. 6dL

WESTMORELAND AND CUMBEBLAND.— Dialogues, Poems, Songs, and Ballads,
by various Writers, in the Westmorehmd and Ciunberland Dialects, now first col-
lected ; to which is added, a copious Glossary of Words peouhar to those Counties.
Post 8vo, pp. 408, cloth. 9f.

This ooUectian comprises, in the WiutmonUmd DU' the Combiiaa Bard 0ndtiAmgt(mttto»ihti mruUei) •

Uei, Mrs. Ann Wheeler's Four Familiar Bialoguea, VIL Sonn by Miss Blamiie and Miaa "Gilpm- vni'

with Poems, he.; and in the CumberUmd DimUet, L Sonss by John Bairson; IX. An£xtenaireQla«ary of

Poems and Pastorals by the Ber. Josiah Balph; IL Wenmciireland ana Cnmberlaad Wocds.
Pastorals, he, by £wan Clark; IIL Letters from

Dublin, bj a young Borrowdale Shepherd, by Isaac AQ the poeoeal quotations in " Mr. and Mrs. Sand.

Bitaon; IV. Poems by John Stan; T. Poems by MariE boy's Visit to the 6reat JBzhibitioii.*' an to ba fand

Lonsdale; YLBaUadi and Songs by BobertAndoaon, in this volume. •» ii« hmh

WILTSHIRE.— A Glossary of Prorindal Words and Phrases in use in Wiltshire, ahovring
their Deriyation in numerous instances trom the Language of the Anglo-Saxons. By
John Tonob Akbbmav, Esq., F.SJL 12mo, eloih. 3#.

YOBESHIBE.— The Yorkshire Dialect, exempUfled in yarious Dialogoea, Tklea, and
Songs, applicable to the County ; vrith a Glossuy. Post Sro. Is.

"A shilling book worth its money; most of the feelings of the mstie mind; and the MI ujsbli to

fieces of composition are not onhr harmless, but good Biches and Poverty have much of the freedom uul

and pretty. The eclogue on the death of 'Awd Daisy.' spirit of BvnM.*^ — Gemiltmam'i finetnut Mtm

in outworn horse, is an outpouring of some of the best IMI. * ^ ^

1C0BKSHIIlE.~The Hallamshire {dukia ^f Sheffield) Glossaij. By the Bey. Joem
Htjvtbb, author of the Histoi7 of ** Hallamshire," "South Yorkshin^*' fto. PkMt
Svo, doth. 4r. (pfigimal price Sir.)

YOSESHIBE.— Baimsla Foak's Annual, on onny body els as beside fort '▼ years 1848
and 184i3, be Tom Tbiddibhotlb ; to which is added the Bamsley and ViUace
Beoord, or the Book of Facts and Fancies, by NiD Nut. 12mo, pp. 100. It. ^^

YOEKSHIEB.— Sum Thowts abaght Ben Bunt's Weddin ;— Tom Treddlohoyle's Thovrti
abaght Nan Bunt's Chresmas Tea Party, &o. Two PieoeS| (Bametey Dialect.)
12mo. 6d, *'

John Russell Smith, 86^ Soho Square, London.

iAMB

A BCHiBOLOGIC AL INDEX to Bamaini of Antiquity of the Oeltio, Bommo-
-^ Britiih, and Anglo-Saxon Periods, by Johv Yokob AxEBMAX^FeUow and Seertimry
qf ike Soeieijf ofAMUqwrnes, Sro, UuutraUd wUk mtmanmt engramngM^ eomf»r%tm§
upwardt qfjhe hmndrea obfeeitf doih, Ifit.

^niii work, thoaffh intended m ui introdaetioii and rowi~Urnt-^wiordt--8pcari— Kn i re i U mboaet ti
a guide to the itiunr of oui early antiquitiei, will, it ia Shields — Buckles — nhnlse— Bulla — Hair Pins —

lu^Md, also prove m service as a book of reference to Beads, Sec. 8bc. he. 8bc.

the practised Archnologist The contents are as fol- The Itiituaiit of Antohinus (as far as rdateste

kms: Britain). Hie Geomphical Tables of Ptolzict, the

Pakt L Cbltio Pbmiod. —Tnmnii, or Barrows Nonni., and the Itinkkakt of Bichakd of Ciuir-
and Caims--Cromelechs— Sepnlchral Cave*— Booking cestxb. together with a claaiifled Index of the eon-
Stones— Stone Cizdes, fcc. Sec.— Objects discovered in tents of the AxcHJBOLoaiA (Vols, i to zzxi) are givet
Celtic Sepulchres — Um»— Beads— Weapons— Imple- in an Appendix.
ments,Sbc.

Past n. Bokaito-Bmtish Pixiod.— TamnU of "One of the first wants of an incipient Antiquary,

the Bonuno^British Period:— Burial places of the Ro> is the facilitv of comparison, and here it is fnrnishea

mans — Pavements — Camps — ViUas — Sepulchral him at one glance. The plates, indeed, form the most

Monuments— Sepulchral Inscriptions— Dedicatory In- valuable put of the book, both by their number and

scriptions- Commemontive Inscriptions — Altars— the judiaous selection of types and examples which

Urns— Glass Vessels — Fibul«—Armi]lB— Coins— they contain. It is a book which we can, on this a*-

Coin-moolds, ke. Sec. count, safely and warmly recommend to all who are

Past ni. An olo-Saxoh Pkitod.- Tumnh —Be- interested in the antiquitiea of their native httd."—

tailed list of Olijects discovered in Anglo-Saxon Bar- LiUttuj Qauttt.

■pEMAINS OF PAGAN SAXONDOM, principaUy fiom TumuU in En-
•"* gland, drawn from the originals. DeBcribed and Dlustratod by J. Y. AFiBMATf,
F.S.A. 4to, FuBLiSHiNa in Fabts at 2i, 6d, each.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF ENGLISH
ANTIQUITIES, especially those of the Three First Periods $ or Hints £or the Inp
experienoed. By J. Y. Akebman.

A smaU tract for distribution, at one shilling per dozen, uaeM to give tP excavators, ploughmen. Sec., who an
wpt to destroy articles they And if not of precious metaL

A RCH^OLOGICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL. 8vo,toU. 8,8,4^

•^^ 6,6. £1. Is. et^h; andTo\.7 jutiotmtpletedtWith anexira quanHtjfo/leUer-prtm
and plate*. £1. lit. 6d.

J. R. Smith having been appointed Publisher to the Archseological Association, their PubUcationi taxj \m
had of him in future.

"DRITISH ARCH^OLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.— A Beport of th.

•^^ Proceedings of the British Archseological Association, at the Worcester Session.
Augost, 1848. By A. J. Dunkin. Thick 8vo, with engravingt^ cloth, £1. 1#.

"ITERB ATIM REPORT of the Proceedings at a Special General Meeting of tl«
^ British Archieologioal Association, held at the Theatre of the Western Literarj
Institution, 5th March, 1846, T. J. Pettigrew, Esq., in the Chair. With an Introdootion
by Thomas Wright. 8yo, »ev>ed. It. 6d,

A snednct history of the division between the Ardueological Association and Institute.

A NTIQUARIAN ETCHING CLUB.— 'Rie Publicationa of the Anti-
^^^ qoarian Etching Club, for the year 1849, contittinff of 54 plaUi qf Chwrchet, Ibnit,
CatfOett and other Antiquarian obfeett. 4to, boardt, St.

for the year 1850, eontaimnff 66 plates. 4to, hdt. lOt.
for the year 1851, amtaining 70 plater. 4h>, hdt. lOt.

YESTIGES OP THE ANTIQUITIES OF DERBYSHIRE,

^ and the Sepulchral Usages of its Inhabitants, from the most Bemote Ages to tha
Beformation. By Thoxab Batbmak, Esq., of Yolgravc, Derbyshire. In one handtome
WfL Byo, toith numerout woodcntt qf Tumuli and their eontentt, Crottet, Thmbt, iv^
eloih. 15f. 184t

AN ESSAY ON THE ROMAN VILLAS of the Augustan Age, their
Architectural Disposition and Enrichments, and on the remains of Boman DoumT
tic Edifices discovered m Qr^eX Britain. By Thoxab Ifouia. 8to, 2 platet, cMh,
At. 6d. {original price St.)

Valuable and Interesting Books, Published or Sold by

PELIQULffi ANTIQULE EBORACENSIS, or BaKc of Antiquity, iriit
^ ing to the County of York. B j W. BowMiir, of Leed^ ascUted bj WTend cmineBl
Antiquaries, 4to, wth enffraoingSj pubUMhing is Q^utrUrUf PaHa. 2*. M. eadL

THE ROMAN WALL : an Historical, TopogrH)hicd, and Doaeriptm Aceoant
of the Barrier of the Lower lathmut, extending from the Xjne to tho Solwsf,
deduced from numerous personal surreys. By the Ber. Johh Ck)XiJvewooi> Bbitos^ FjSJL,
Thick 8to, Second ASiD Knlabgsd Editiov, wUk 40plaim amd 20O woodcMtw^ a ktmi
some volume^ half morocco, £1. Is.— A Um Capm on fiABes Papsb, 4to, £2. ^

*'FoUoving the impolu of a firesh interest in remsint or the voiks of Ardneok^te npca our Bonan it

of the Roman aze. recently excited amonnt EoKliah maiai, etpedaOy those wluch relate to hie ^— -**■*■

ArchKoIogtttf,Slr. Bruce has now supplieda deaidcra- aulueet"— i^te/or.

tun ui Antiquarian literature, hy producing a Treatise^ "In taking leave of Mr. Braced work.** may ezproi

in which he naa happily eonuiined much of the in- a hope that our brief notice of ioom of its atiraeuM

formation gathered by preriooi writers, with a mass nay promote iti circulation. Tlie aathor's stjle itn-

of original and personal obserratums."— y^anMi <f ders it higblr readable, the Cuts he baa eolicctcd wiD

tk* jirekmolofficM JtutUtUttYoi viii. p. 105. make it uaenil for reference^ and ita portalktiuy and

- The Roman Wall is a very elaborate and psins* the clear arrangement of the subiect-BBatter, dawdd

takingworkfOn one of the most interesting of Britiah introduce it as a companion to all wlio may dens ts

antiquities. Mr. Bruce is a man of learning, whether study fuQy one of the noblcat w»^^«THiTnta of «v

as regards Roman hiitary, in connection with Britain, eonUry .**— <2M/ff auu'« Mtm§mtim€.

RELIQUL^ ISUBIANJB : the Bemains of the Boman laurium, now Aid-
borough, near Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, illustrated and described. Bw Hivbx
BOBo ji> Smith. Boyal 4to, with 87 platca, cloth. iSL U,

■ The Same, with teb mosaio patxmibts coloubed, cJoOL £2. 2a.

The most hi^ily iUsstrsted work ever published on a Roman Ststioa in gn ^ i^- ,^

DESCRIPTION OP A ROMAN BUILDING, and other EeinMns,dis.
oorered at Casblbov, in Ifomnouthshiie. By J. B. Jos, Imperial Stow with 20
islterutiiig JEUhing$ hy the Author^ tewed. 6i.

"MOTITIA BRITANNIiE, or an Inquiiy ooncenung the LocaKtie»,Hahitf, Gon-
*^ dition, and Progressive Civilixation of the Aborigines of Britain ; to which is
Mpended a brief Betrospect of the Besults of their Intercourse with the k/w«i^»i« Bw
W. D. Sauix, F.S A., F.a.S., &c. Sto, esj^root j^t. 3$,ed. ' ^

A RCHiEOLOGIST AND JOURNAL OP ANTIQUARIAN

•"■ SCIENCE. Edited by J. O. Halliwbll. 8to, Nos. I to X, complbtb; with
Index, pp. 420, wUk 19 engravings, cloth^ reduced from lOt. 6d,to69.6d,

Containing original articles on Architecture, His- varioos Antiquarian Societies. Betra«i*«>K«. n..
tSTlliaa^ 2-. ««! Bs^icws Of reoeS'AntSSS^^^^

TNTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OP ANCIENT AND

J. MODEBN COINS. By J. Y. Abibmait, Secretary of the Society t^ AMHqnariea
7oolscap 8to, wiXk nnmeroue Wood JEngravings from the original cotns, (am ajscdUti
miroductory book,) doth, 6f . 6d.

Conmni 8«ot. l.^-Origin of GoinsM.— Greek Scotch Coinage. IL Coinags of Ireland. Ifi A>i»i»

Bega Corns. 8. Greek Citic Coins. sTCreek Im- GaUic CoinsT 18. Continental Mon^in tteltdS

nenal Coins. 4. Ongm of Roman Couiage-Consulsr Ages. 14u Various represenUtivea of Coiua«?lt

Cams. 6. Roman Imperial Corns. 6. Roman Britiah Forgeries in Ancient and Modem limeaTlULTkhi*

Coins. 7. Ancient British Coinage. 8. Anglo-Saxon of RioesofBngiishCoinsisslisedatPahlieadM

Coinage. 9. English Coinage from the Conquest 10. — «*ow».

rPRADESMEN'S TOKENS struck in London and its Vicinity, from 1648 to

•^ 1671, described from the originals in the British Museum, &c. By J. Y. Akbbmak

P.S. A 8to, with 8 platee qf numerout exampUe, cloth, 16«.^Labgb Papbb. in W

ehih, £1. If. —,«*»»,

This work comprises a list of neulT three thoussad streets, old tarnn and coffee-houss dns. kc. fc^.
*^i?^ , ""^^ eonUins occssipoal iUustrative topo- with an introductory account of the cauaea wSdi IM
graphical and antiqnaiian notes on penons^ pUms, to the adoption of auch a currency ^^

A NCIENT COINS OP CITIES AND PRINCES, OeogmphioanT

*^ Arranged and Described, Hzsfabu, Gallu, BBiXAinru. By J. Y. AvaauS
VMJL ^fo^wiaengraw^eqf many hundred coins from actual examplef^oMh^ ISi. *

John Russell Smith, S6, 8oho Square, London.

fjOINS OP THE ROMANS RELATING TO BRITAIN,

^^ Described and niostrsted. By J. Y. AxcB]Uir» F J3^ SioOSB BoiTxov, greitlj
enlarged, 8ro, wUh plaUi amd woodemtt, lOt. 6<2.

The "Prix de Nttmifmatique" was awarded bjfhe Uthedatarerjiaoderatetiriee; {tthooldbeeonraltad,

French Institute to the author for this work. not merely for these pazticiilar eoins, but alw for fiuta

" Mr. Akerman*! volume contains a notice of every most raluable to all who are intereated in the \

known rariety, with copious illustrationa, and is pub- British Hiitocy.''— .^dUolfiftesI /flwrwaf.

MUMISMATIC ILLUSTRATIONS of thaKtmtiTe

-L^ TESTAMENT. By J. Y. Axbbvav. 8?o, mmtnm loood
efMU M variow pmblie and private eoUedunUf dotk. 6«.

PortionfofthBHBW

** ArcbKoIogy is under a peculiar oblitatioii to
Mr. Akerman. To him more tnaa to any otner 1i?ing
nan. is due the praise of having ooorerted multttudea
to the lore of antiquarian research. To him we all owe
the pleasant debt of an instmctiTe aoquaintance, not
only with the beautiM raoner of Ancient Greece and
Bome. but with the once bafbArous, thoneh not leaa
interesting, coins of our earliest history. And to him
BOW especially, the cause of religion can bring its tri-

bole of comaendation fbr ti(dit ttrown 19^ Ho|y
Writ, throng the medium of ^ the unrighteona Mam*
BOB.** The New Testament has, it appears, in th«
eompaas of the Goapela and Actk no imb than St
allusions to the coinage of Greece, Bome, and Judnat
and these beautifully engrared. and learnedly de*
•eribed, five Mr. Akerman an opportunity of senring
the goM cause of truth in the way of nia peeoliar
aTOcatioB.**— CAiavA (fEngUmi JemnaL

NUMISMATIC CHRONICLE AND JOURNAL OP THE
NUMISMATIC SOCIETY. Edited by J. Y. AxBBMAir. PuUiahed Qoarterly
at 8f . 6^. per Number.

This is the only rcprrtonr of KmiriiHMrtic tBteDl> and eoaatriei, br the flnt yaitriimatliti of Iha dqTf
gence erer pubUshed in En^fand. both English ana Foreign.

IX contains jfKQKn on coins and medals, of aD agea Odd parte to complete sets.

LIST OP TOKENS ISSUED BY WILTSHIRE TRADESMEN,
in the Seventeenth Century* By J. Y. AXBBHAK. %vo^ platee^ eewed. 1»,U,

LECTURES ON THE COINAGE OP THE GREEKS AND
ROMANS, Delivered in the Uniyerrity of Oiford. By Edwabd Cabdwsll^ P.D.,
Principal of St. Alban'a Hall, and Profipiaor of Ancient History. Sro^ e2ott» 4f>
(original price St. 6d.)

A very interesting historical foioiBai and written in a pleasisg and popnlir naaBar.

A N OLLA FODRIDA^ or Scmpa Numismatic, Antiquarian, and Llteraiy. By
-^ BiCHABD Sainthill, Esq., of Cork. Bojal Sto, many plaUt and partraiii, a
handsome volume, pbivatslt pbintxd, cloth, £1. lis. ^

Containing Letters on the coinage of 1816 ; If emofr Ireland ; Coina of the Mint of Exeter \ Coins of Heary

ofl'honias>^Trm. jnn.; on the Coronation and Guild* III; Saxon and Anglo-Norman Corns ; attempt to

hall Medals; KuMiau Mtdals: Co:Tt« fonnd at Bea* locate Coina unappropriated hy Buding; and other

worth ; Short and Long-Cru5s rrnn.cs of Henry VII; paofrt on Coina and Topographical and Genealogical

Dnhlin Groata; Three Crowns, the andeat Arms of snqjecta.

OBSERVATIONS ON A UNIQUE CUPIC GOLD COIN of th*
Fatimite Dynasty. By L. Loxwx. 8vo, engraiving^ sewed. 1a

nAND-BOOK OF ENGLISH COINS, from th* Conqimt to Tuteia,
By L. JxwiiT. 12mo, 11 plates, elM. It.

HISTORY OP THE COINS OP CUNOBELINEandof tbe AKdENT
BRITONS. By tbe Ber. Bbali Poitl. 8to^ wUh mmenmsplaies aad woodouis.
elath. In the Press.

TOURNEY TO BERESFORD HALL, IN DERBYSHIRE,

^ the Sent of Chasles Cottok, Esq., the celebrated Author and Angler. By
W. Axr.XAKDEB, F.S.A., F.L.S., late Keeper of tbe Printa in the British Mnaeam.
Crown 4 to, printed on tinted paper ^ with a spirited frontispiece^ representing Walton ami
his adopted Son Cotton in the Fishing-house, and vignette Utlepage^ cloth, hs.

Dedicated to the Angleis of Great Biitain and the Tarioni Walton and Cotton Qaha} onty 100 ptiatai.

GRAPHIC AND HISTORICAL SKETCH of the Antiquitiee of iMsm^
Deron. By W. Cozxov, F.S.A. Small 4to, /«• iMod0ii<f, oioO. ^{prigmai
fries 10#. 6(f .)

II

ValuaMe and Interesting Books, Publishtd or SuU 'a

pELIQUI^ ANTIQULfi EBOKAC£NSIS,«B

XV uigiotliB Count; of York. B.v W.BcnniA^r, of Leed*. uti

vBdiaofi]!:-::
— -- , --, », Mii*t«d hj tttcrJ

Aiili'^'Mni'S, ito, vi'dk ntjr^ciagi, /lallijiiiig la Quarte-r!^ Pjrti. ii. ii. a. '..

'■pllE ROMAX WALL: «nniitorical,Topognipliic«l,iciDacri!CiH
i of Hk- Birrkr of ths Lower Iithmui, ezIoDdios fioia tlie Jrx.!, I? I«
dMuwdrronn.uiiicToiupwioiiilinrTrj*. B7 the Hey. John Coiiis&w.^nBEK
T:ii k 9vt>, Scc-itD ASii K:iliBntt> Euinoji, vi/A 40 ptatn and SOO nuf'i:''
«aua rufim, hal/moratrtt. £1. U.— A bw Copie* on Labqi pAf sg. Ho, ILi. '.
■•ri*«'uitil«™p^«i''«''"*l»to«ML»iti»ilBi or Ue work* el Anbtii'iiTSii upnc
■I lb' K-NiMU i.jr.>.">i:ir"'>t"l"ii-uiiplKMnli n^m. e«tKi.iJ]T i^iw nlwa teL-.:a-i
At.-)w»L<>im.Vc llnirr liHBMHinkaIadaiii.:n- ■alum "_.<>m.'..--.i-
luiii.» tul^-iii^jiRbiiralBrr.bTpTKlvutiTruUM^ "la tiik.h^ lr:..< ui Mr itrs.t'ii-lcc

•( d: ^.wfaBJ pm-nil (iUtnaUou"-ViH>r«t < doi il hiicliit i?<t£n):e %• t i\ai t,t ki c

(t, ix VhI.yi.'4rj-.if.(.ft.VuI iiii.plM. (Bkkcit iLkAiI (cr Kit.-.trt. u^i .'* K.

"luUuBiBWaU ui nfjtLiWntB ud puu- ihE clear ^iuj<Lii.a: li I'ji ti^ ic'jt

T>ELIQUL'E ISURIAN,E: the B«n«ii. of the Eomm I*[mu3^
■*■*' boroupb, near Boroughbrid^p, Torkihire, illustrated and deiaUiii. S
XCBOIU tilllTU. BajtiUo,witka7plaUt,c[BlJL £1. St.
— . The Sune, WITH TU» HDS^C VATUturrs colovsxb, rfo*i. £1 I
The BHt lii»Wjr lUiatiited «rt n« vn'ili'hed oa ■ Boicu Sluiob a Eot^ftt

DESCRIPTION OP A EOMAN BUILDING, «,d other ita
coTtrcd Bt CuBLSoy, in Uonmoulhiihin. By J. £. Xjxx Impeiul 9t
Menfling JClckinfft ijr Of Ailior, tattd. &f. *^

■MOTITIA BRITANNLE, or an Inquiiy ooncemmB Ui« toalifiw Hi
*" dilion, and Pruiircstivo CiTiluation of the Aborigiue* 0/ Britain -lo
■ppeuiied a briof BelRupcct of Ihc Bcaulli of their IntercouraB iriili th. h^^
>frru.S*iu,FJ.A.,F.Q.B.,iw. 8fo,«,j™r.-si. 3,. g^"™ '"'^ «" B°«

ARCII.EOLOGIST AND JOUHNAIi OF AVTIOI'
SCIEXCfi. Eilitwi by J. 0. IUlliwsli. 810. No*. I to'x. cJI,,.,'
Index, pp. 4:10, with 19 ri^ranvi, clolk, ndtetdfrom lOr. ad. to 6*. 6J.

Cmlanius otigual BHfcki db Arehileclure, Jlit- Tihaai Intiqiuiun Sorl,'!... b..™
iMicil ljKMtuK.K..UBJTu.tti of iHlud, Fliilo- ntwt, Md aStiemT oriS^ 7" ."-"^
ku, Biblutn^, lopetnflij, FiwcBdiap sT (ba kc. ™ lemit &iuj|iu

^timiemattcs.

TNTBODUCTION TO THE STUDY OP ANCIENT

■■■ MODBBN C0IK3. Bj J. Y. Aubkih, Semlary «J Uw SocitfM of At
Joolfcap 810, wi'fA NKHcraw ff'ooi SagriaiiiBt froat Vu oriainal oni«. /-
i»<ro.i«rti)ry ieot.) c/o(A. 6/. 6* ' ""

CoNiEHn^ Eact. 1.— Origia of Coiiiin.-tintk
Kcifil Cdjii. I. Otc4^li Ciiir Culm. 3 Gmli Im-
BRi^d Cwui. 4 Uiiiiin or RDasu Cuuitce—Coiiiultf
GiHUI. i KlHIian lupmul Coiiu. S. ItamuiKnUili
Gnid. 7- Aiiornt Unlidi Cmuttc. 8. Anelo-Suoa
Cgipija. >, £B|[Jiili C<iuii|B [niii iht Coniiueit. 10.

TRADESMEN'S TOKENS itmck in London and ita Vicinity fron
1C71 j_....i),<v) A-nn, ti.. ™;™;„ni. i,, the Britiib Huaeum, 4c, — - '-

Srolch Cointte. 11, Couufa -r t—i..j
GJJic Coiat' IS. CooHSJX M^^

Bf lUn at SB^i^Onani^iJf^

^ 1671,dmfribod from the orisinn

P.a.A. 8vo, ici'tA 8 plalet nf luimeroti etumjiln, elolX. l^.—ItAMax P^sj

Thl»ifOrl!(Oinpri«i»lirtBfB™lTlhi« thomiBj tfrccti, old teTon ud TOffce-hnoMB til
inpliinJ ul uuiuatun aMct on pcnoai, pluM, to tlw uleptiDB ul audi ■ rur^eg^" '-''"^

ANCIENT COINS OP CITIES AND PRINCES, a«,_

*■■ Ammgfd and Described, Hibianu, Qallu, Bbitabhia. By J. Y Ai
VAA. 8ro, ■** mgranngi of many hxndnd voiiufrom attml tiampler^ daOi

John Russell Smith, 96, 8oho Square, Ltmdom.
S OF THE ROMANS BELATmO TO BRITAIN,

cribed and lUtistrated. B j J. Y. AxSBMAir, "FJRJl StOOtfD EDXnov, gtrntij
Sro, wUh plates and woodcmU, lOt. 6d.

: de NQmismatioae" wa« awarded byths Uthed at arery moderate inriee; itihoaldbeeontiilted,

ttttte to the author for this work. not merely for theae particular coina, Irat alio for fMts

rman's Tolume containa a notice of every moat ralnable to all who are mtereetcd in tba Rnintir-

ty, with copioua illuatratioiia, and ia pub- Britiali Hiatoty.**— ufrcAnaltftcMil JmrnmA,

ISM ATIC ILLUSTRATIONS of tba KamiiTe Poriuaii of tba 9BW

STAMENT. B J J. Y. Akbbxav. 8to, mMMrofif woodeuiiflrom <l# oryMol

arious puhUe and private eoUecHam, eloih, 6#.

logy ia under a pecnliar oblindoii to bote of eoBmendation for lUhi ttuown 190B Holy

n. lb him more tban to any otBer Uting Writ, throng the roedinm of ^ the nnri^teoaa Maai-

kbe praiae of haTing conrerted mnHitodei Bum.** The New Testament haa, it appear8.iii tlM

faati(i«arian research. Tohimweallowa eompasa of the Goapela and Aetk no Maa than St

I debt of an instrnctire aeqnatntance, not aUnsions to the ooinage of Oreeee, Bome^ and JndMn;

le beantifU moner of Ancient Greece and and theae beautifully engraved, and learnedly de-

vith the once barbAroua, though not leaa acribed, give Mr. Akerman an opportnniW of aerving

ooina of our earliest history. And to him the good cause of truth in the way of nia peculiar

Dy, Uie cause of religion can bring ita tri- avocatioB.''--ClKreA y BagUmd JatmmL

ISMATIC CHRONICLE AND JOURNAL OP THE

FBaSMATIC SOCIETY. Edited bj J. Y. Axbbmav. Pnbliahad Qoirterlj
per Number.

lie only repe rtorr of Nmirinnattc tutdllr and eountriea, b^ the tint ymrfamatiili of th0 day,
mbUshed in Enjtfand. both Engliah ana Foreign,

a pikers on coins and medala, of all agea Odd parta to complete acta.

OP TOKENS ISSUED BY WILTSHIRE TRADESMEN,

he Seventeenth Centurj. Bj J. Y. AXBBiCAir. Sro, platee, sewed, 1». 6d.

URES ON THE COINAGE OP THE GREEKS AND

ICANS, Selirered in the UniTerntj of Oxford. By Eswabd Cabdwxll^ D.D.9
of St. Alban't Hall, and ProflMsor of Ancient Hiatory. Sro, dotJk 4t»

price Ss. 6d,)

A very interesting historical folnme, and written in a pleating and popular manner.

)LLA PODRIDA^ or Scraps X^mnismatic, Antiquarian, and Literary. Bj
fEABD Saikthill, Esq., of Cork. Bojal 8vo, many plates amd portraits, a
volmme, pbiyatelt psuttsd, cloth, £1. lit. 6d.

^ Letters on the coinage of 1816 ; Memoir Ireland ; Coina of the Mint of Exeter : Coina of Heary

rymi.jnn.; on the Coronation and Guild- III; Saxon and Anglo*Nomian Corns; attempt to

; Russian Mrdals; Coins found at Bea* locate Coins nnapprooriated bjr Buding; and other

t and Long-CroM Pennies of Henry Vll ; papnrs on Coina wad Topographical and ueneaiogieal

ita; Three Crowna, the aneient Arma of auojecta.

EVATIONS ON A UNIQUE CUHC GOLD COIN of th*

imite Dynasty. By L. Lobwb. 8to, engraving^ sewed, Ia

D-BOOK OF ENGLISH COINS, from the Conqneet to Yictotim
L. JxwiiT. 12mo, 11 plates^ cloth, 1#.

ORY OF THE COINS OF CUNOBELINEaadof the ancient

tITONS. BytbeBer. BbaliPosxb. Bfo^wUhmmmtmsplaies and woodcuts.
a ihs Frsss,

NET TO BERESFORD HALL, IN DERBYSHIRE,

Seat of Chables Cotton, Esq., the celebrated Author and Angler. By
ANDEB, F.S.A., F.L.S., late Keeper of the Frinta in the British Mnaeom,
>, printed on tinted paper^ with a spirited frontispiece^ representing Walton and
d Son Cotton in the Fishing-house, and vignette title page^ cloth, 6ff.

I to the Angleia of Great Biitain and the Tarions Walton and Cotton Glnba{ only 100 printad.

'HIC AND HISTORICAL SKETCH of the Antiquitiea of TotDfli^
on. By W. Coxzov, F.6jL BmaXL 4Ao, Jlno woodeMts, ekih Oa. (oryJiMl

ww»r

I

I r

Valuable and hUeresiing Books, Published or Sb/tf bff

N"

CAMBBIDOE.— Bktorift OoUflgu Jeia OKoMntpmas k J. BBMaMAMMO^ olim
pne0. cgoadem GolkgiL Bdita J. O. HAUlwlUk ^fO^tML %s.

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES of the Ctoun^ of Hmfiitd. 3j thi
Ber. Jobs Duvoitmb. 2 rob, ito, porttmU tmi flmU$^ Mi. iBl. 4m. (flri§md
fHe0£6.U)

HELPS TO HEREFORD HISTORY, OM and Legandvy, m n .AnetaH

Aoooont of the Andent-Oordwamen^ OompanT of fhe (Sly, tho Hbrdited Bs^oa^

■ad other SabjecU, By J. D. DiYLnr. I&iuh elod (a drMNw «oImm). 8«i edL

•* Aieriei of rtrj clever pq>ert."--^c<Wor.

*■ A liitl* work fall of Antiqiunan infonnation, pmented in a plsMing •nApopMkrfonB."— iVbMMf^ftraUL

HISTORY OP PORTSMOUTH, PORTSEA, LANDPOBT,

^^ SOUTHSBA, and GOSPOBT. By HnBZ SuaHX^ Baq. 8fo^ Hnxd XditioB^

OTES ON THE CHURCHES in the Chmntifla of EBHT, 8U8SBX, nd

SUBBB Y, mentioned in Domeeday Book, and thoie of more reoent dato^ irHh nma
Aoooimt of the Sepulchral Memorials and other Antiqiutiea. By the Ber. Abzhub
HusasY. Thick 8?o, rorx PLATBS, ctofA. 18«.

KENTISH CUSTOMS. — Conauetodinea Eand^. A ffistoiy of GATXIxn])^
and other Bemarkable Cuftoma, in the County of Eevt. By Ohaklbs SAHimi
Baq., F.S.A. (CatUiamu). lUmttrated wUkfaekmliM, a veiy handiome volmmt^ eioik, 15a.

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP RICHBOROUGH,

BBCULVEB, AND LYMNB, in Kent. By 0. B. Boaoh Smith, Bsq^ PJSLA.,

Small 4to, wUh mamf engravings on ¥>ood and copper^ by F. W. Faisholt, elofk. £1. Im,

"No tntiqiiaiteii ▼olnme coold display a trio of here repretented— Boach Smith. the ardent explorers
naaei more seakmt, ■occeeafol, and mtellisent on Fairholt, the excellent illiiatrator : and Boi&tha
the aubjeet of Romano-British remains, Uian the three indefintigable cdlleetor.''^Iil«rar]r OmtUt,

UISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP DARTPORD, in Kant

with inddantal Notioea of Plaoea in ita Neighbourhood. By J. DnvKnr, Anthor
el KhA ^ Hist<»y of the Hundreda of Bnllington and Ploughley, in Ozfordahire ;" ** Hiatoty
of Bioeater s" **Hi0toiy of Bromley," Ac. 8vo, 17 fUxtes, oMk CHUf 160 prudsL
21#.

HISTORY OP THE TOWN OP UltAVESEND,inKent,aiidoftha

Port of London. By B. P. OBUDBif , late Kavor of GraTeaend. Boyal 8vo^ Sfl
fine plates and woodcuts^ a very hamdtome vohme^ eloik, lOt. {origmal price £1. St.)

ACCOUNT OP THE ROMAN AND OTHER ANTIQUinES
discoTered at Springhead, near Grayeaend, Kent. By A. J. Dvnxv. Svoi sUaa.
{only 100 pri$Ued,) eloih. 6f . 6rf. "^-r— ^

U ISTORY OP ROMNEY MARSH, in Kent, from the time of the Bomaiia

to 1833, with a Biseertation on the original Site of the Ancient A™^*-<d > x By W.

HouLOWAT, Esq., author of the " History of Bye.*' 8?o, wUk Maps and plates^ dotkf I2i,

CRITICAL DISSERTATION on Professor WiUia'a « Arohiftectuna ffiatoiy
of Canterbury CathedraL" By 0. Sahstb, of Canterbury. 8?a 2f. 6ci.

** Written in no qnarrelsome or captious spirit ; the serioos errors throoghont It may he coniidcTCd as
highest compliment ii paid to Frofesaor Wilus. where an indispensahle companion to his volvme, containint
it u due. But the author has made out a clear case. a areat deal of extra ™ft"H»i>»<«» <tf • mrv i«B«innI

the author has made out a clear case, a great deal of extra iniwaiatMHk of a rtn '•" nr n
in some very important instances, of inaocnrades that Una."— ^MTuMift.
have led the learned Professor into the constmction of

POLKESTONE FIERY SERPENT, together with the Hmnom of the

-** DoYOB Matob } being an Ancient Ballad, full of Mysteiy and pleaaaat Oonoeit^
now first collected and printed from the yaiious MS. oopiea in poaaoaiion of the in*
habitants of the South-east coast of Kent ; witii Notea. IBmo. U.

[]AND-BOOK OP LEICESTER. By Jakes XHOKPaoir. Itoo, aestmi

Edition, woodcuts, bds. 2s.

H ISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP THE ISLE OP AXHOLME,

in Lincohishire. By the Venerable AbohobaOOIT Stovbsousb. Thick 4lo^ mn
nATBS IBs. {original price £3, Ss.)

John RuBseU Smith, 86, Soha Square, London,

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP GAINSBOROUGH, in
oohiBhire. By Adam Stabx. Thick 8to, Sxoond Bditiok, gbiatlt bvlabgsd,
cloth. 9f. {origiiMl jprioe £1. 1#.) — ^Labgi Fapxb, royal 8to, eloih, 14t.

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP THE TOWN OP LAN-
CASTBR. Compiled from Authentic Souroee. By the Bey. Bobsbt Sucpsov.
870, eloih. Si.

MEMORIALS OP THE VICARAGE HOUSE AND GARDEN
OF ALL SAINTS, King's-Lynn ; with a List of the Views, and a quantity of
other useful information. By J. N. Ohadwios. Syo, /our ongraoingMf wwed. Zt, 6d,

DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OP THE RUINS OP LIVEDBN,
near Oundle, Northamptonshire ; with Historical Notices of the Family of Tresham,
and its connection with the Qunpowder Plot By Thoxab Bbll. Four plat— omd
Treshenn Pediffree. 4to. 6«.

REPRINTS OP RARE TRACTS, and Imprints of Ancient Manuscripts, fto.
chiefly illustratire of the History and Biography of the Northern Counties. BsAU-
TITUIXY PBINTBD OH thick pofer^ wUh facsimile Htlee, imtial letters in colours^ ^c,
voRMnra 7 vols., post 8to, complstb, wth general titles amd oontewls, hds. £6. 6#.
(original price £7. 7#.)

This CollectioD comprises no Imi than 83 Tracts of the moat mtereating kind, edited by If. A. SiduDdaoo,

isisted by several antiqiu:

are all sold by the printer.

assisted by several anUqiurica ia the northern ooontiea. Only 100 copies U the CoUection were printed, which

RIVER TYNE.— Plea and Defence of the Mayor and Burgesses of Newoastia
against the Malerolent accusations of Gardiner, (author of " England's Ghrierance
on the Coal Trade,*') 1668 ; with Appendix of Unpuhlished Documents respecting ihid
Biyer Tyne. By M. A. Biohabdson. 8to, {onlg 150 printed.) 2s.

'TOPOGRAPHICAL MEMORANDUMS for the County of Oifixrd. By
-L Sir GBxaoBT Pagb TxTBirxB, Bart. Bvo^bds, 2§.

NOTICES OP THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP
ISLIP, Oxon. By J. O. HakliwblIi. Sjo^ (onl^ 60 printed;) sewed. Is.

HISTORY OP BANBURY, in Oxfordshire; including Copious Historical and
Antiquarian Notices of the Neighbourhood. By ATiTetit) Bbsslbt. Thick 8ra
684 closelg pruUed pages^ toUh 60 woodcuts, engraved im thejirst si^le of art, hg O. Jewe^
qf Oxford. 14». (original price £1. 6s.)

"The ndghbourhood of Banbury is eonally rirh in author has collected a great body of local infonnation

British, Roman, Saxon, Norman, and Jbnghsh Anti- of the mott iaterestin/ldnd. By no means the least

Quities, of all which Mr. Beealev has given regularly yaluable part of Mr. Beealey^s work, is his account

deared accounts. Banbury holds an important place of the numerous interesting early ehurdies, which

in the history of the Fariiamentary War of the SeTcn- charaoterae the Banbury oistrici.''— 2^ Jrckm(h>

teenth Century, and was the scene of the great Battle fayut

of Edgehill. and of the important fight w CtooTtdj Odd Pants to complete oopies, U. 64. instead of

Bridge. Relating to the events of that period, the it.U.

HISTORY OF WITNEY, with Notices of the Neighhonring Parishea and
Hamlets in Oxfordshire. By the Ber. Dr. Qileb, formerly Fellow of 0. C, Oxford*
670, plates, cloth, (ohfy 160 printed.) 6f.

HISTORY OP THE PARISH AND TOWN OP BAMPTON,
in Oxfordshire, with the District and Hamlets belonging to it. By the Ber.
Dr. GiLBS. Syo, plates, SicoNP Bditiov, doth. 7s.' 6d.

PAUCONBERGE MEMORIAL.--AnAcooimt of Henry Ftoconberge,LL.D.»

-"- of Becdes, in Suffolk, and of the endowment proyided by his will to encourage

Leaminff and the Instruction of Youth ; with Notes and Incidental Biographical SketchM.

By S. W. Bnc. Pot 4to, verg mcelg got up, with 80 engravings qf Old Souses, Seals,

Autographs, Arms, ^v., hds. 5«.— Labgb Papeb, 7#. Od. (tbbt fbw oopiss pbuttbd.)

(kmteiU*.-' Fauconbersea of Olden 'Kme. II. Fan- Memoir of Robert SMnrow, Eio. Memoir of Dr. Joeepk
conberge of Becdea. IIL Fanoonberge Endowment. Arnold (by Dawaon Turner, of Yarmouth), FartioEilacs
IV. Fanoonbo^ and Leman. Y. Appendix, Pedigrees, of the Faueonberge Trust Eatate, fee. fee.

QUSSEX ABCHiBGLOGICAL COLLECTIONS, iUastnting the

^ tory and Antiquities of the County, published by the Sussex Archeological Sodety.
870, plates and woodcuts, doth. YoL I, lOf.; Vol. ll, I6s.i YoL IIL lOt.; YoL lY, 14i.|
YoL Y, 149.

Valuable and Interesting Books, Published or Sold by

Q USSEX GARLAND ; a Collection of Balkds, SonneCi, Tbin, Ekgiea. Scmga,
^ Epitaplis, &c., illiMtratiTo of the Countj '4 Sussex, with Kotioes, Historical,
Biographical and Descriptiye. By Jakes TatloIi Poet Sro, Enffraoim^M^ elaih, 12*.

Q USSEX MARTYRS : their Examinations and Cruel Buraings in the time of
^ Queen Mary ; comprising the interesting Personal Narratire of Richard Woodman,
extracted from *'Foxe's Monuments;" with Notes. By M. A. Lower, M.A, 12ino^
wetted, 1«.

pHURCHES OF SUSSEX, drawn by B. H. NiBB^ with Bewriptuma.
^ 84 platesy 4to, a handeome volume^ eloih, £2. 2s,

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANCIENT PORT
AND TOWN OF BYE, in Sussex, compiled from Original l>ocummit8. By
William Hollowat, Esq. Thick Sro, (only 200 pbivtid,) eloih, £1. 1#.

HISTORY OF WINCHELSEA, in Sussex. By W.DuBaAHTCooFSB,FAA.
8to. fine plates and woodcuts, 7s. 6d,

CHRONICLE OF BATTEL ABBEY, in Sussex; originally compiled in
Latin by a Monk of the Establishment, and now first translated, with Notes, and on
Abstract of the subsequent History of the Abbey. By Mask Aittoitt Lowxb, ALA.
8fo, with iUustraiions, cloth, 9s,

"ItwiU be foaiid to oonUdn a red and liring pic-
tore of the mannen and customs, the modes of thooKht
and speech preralent in the times ot which it is Am
reeord. Mr. Lower has well discharged his offlee of
translator and editor."— ^Mrtfum.

"In no respect leas interesting than Jocelin de
Bnkelond's famoos Chronicle of Bary St Edmund's
Abbey."— £i/. Gat.

DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF THE ORIGINAL CHAR-
TEKS, GBANTS, DONATIONS, &c^ constituting the Muniments of Battel
Abbey, also the Papen of tlie Montagus, Sidneys, and Websten, embodying many higlily
interesting and raluable Kecords of Lands in Sussex, Kent, and Essex, with Preliminary
Memoranda of the Abbey of Battel, and Historical Particulars of the Abbots. 8to^
284 PAGES, cloth, OKLT 1#. 6d,

XT AND-BOOK TO LEWES, in Sussex, Historical and DescriptiTe ; with
-■"■• Notices of the Recent Discoreries at the Prioiy. By Mabk Aittont Lowsb.
12mo, many engravings^ cloth, \s, 6d,

CHRONICLES OF PEVENSEY, in Sonex. By M. A. Lowxb, i2mo,
woodcuts. Is.

" Mr. Lower has added to the completmns of x\fi
book by a summary sketch of the Histoiy of the
Abbey, and ita sxiccession of Abbots from the time
when the Chronicle terminates to the period of the
dissolution. Varions inteilij^mt notes, as well as the

Srneral style of the translation, are highly cre-
table to his care and akill as editar."-~ftf f/ww V
Mmgatimt,

TJURSTMONCEUX CASTLE AND ITS LORDS. By the Ber. E.

■■"■■ Venables. (Reprinted (bom VoL IV of the Sussex Archsolc^gical Collections.)
8to, many engravings, sewed, 8t. ; cloth 4r.

T^OTES ON THE ANTIQUITIES OF TREVES, MAYENCE

J-^ WEISBADEN, NEIDERBIEBEB, BONN, and COLOGNE. By Chablm
BoAcn Smith, F.S.A. (Reprintedfrom VoL II of the "Collectanea Antiqua.") 8to with
fMmg engrarings, 7s. Gd. ^ ^ »

A NNALS AND LEGENDS OF CALAIS; with Sketches of Emigre

''■^ NoUbilitics, and Memoir of Lady Hamilton. By Rodert Bell Calton, author
of " Rambles in Sweden and Gk)ttland," &c Sao, Post 8to, wia Ji-ontispiece and viguefte,
eloih, &s.

Prinrinat ron/^w//:— IIiRtory of the Siege by Ed-
wd III. in l;>4<}-7. Willi a Roll of the Commanders
and their Fnllowen present, from a contemporonr MS.
in the British Musenm ; Tlie Allotment of liandis and
Houses to Edward's Darons; Cuius as an Enfflish
Boroujcli; List of the Streets and Householders of the
same; Henry Vlllth's Court there; Cardinal i^olsey
and his Expenses; tlie Endish Pale, with the Karnes
of Roads, i-amisteads, and Villages in the English Era:
the Siege of Thcruucnne and Toumai; the Pier of
Oalais; Pros and Cons of the Place: the H6tel
MasiA; Sterne's Chamber; Churches of liotre Dune
and St. Nicholas; the nAtc) de Ville; Ancient SUple
Balli The ChAtean and Murder of the Duke of Glou-

cetter; the Courgnin; the Field of the Goth of Gold;
Notice of the Town nod Castle of Guisnrs, and its sur*
prise by Jolin dc linnraster : the town and Seigneurie
of Ardres; the Sands and DurM<ng; Villnin's and
Chftteau of Sangatte, Conlnnee, M:u-k, »(h:ill<Mi and
Uamraes; Review of the English Orrupation of Calais;
ita Rc-capture by the Duke de GuihC; the lower Town
and its Lace Trade; our Commerrial Relations with
France} Emicrd Notabilities; Charles and Harry
Tnfton, Capt. Dormer and Edith Jocquemoat, Beaa
finimmell. Jemmy Urquhart and hia fhend Fann-
tleroy. "Mimrod.'^ Berkeley Cnven. Mytton, Duchess
of KmgstODi * Bcv Memoir of Lady H«»*»itffii^ %k

John Rtissell Smith, 86^ Soho Square, London.

Iti'ONT SAINT-MICHEL.— Histoire et Beeoription do Mont St Michel en
^^ Normandie, texte, par Hericher, desBUis par Bouet public par Bourdon. Folio,
150 pp., and 13 beautiful pUUes, executed in tinted lUhogra^hy^ leather back, uncut £2. 2e,

A handsome volame, interesting to tlie Architect and Ardueologist.

GENOA; with Bemarka on the Climate, and ita Tnflwenoe upon InTalida. B/
Hs5BT JoNSB BinrNBTT, M.D. 12mo, cloth, 4r.

CURIOSITIES OP HERALDRY, with muBtrationa from Old English
Writers. By Mask Antony Lowsb, M.A., Author of ''Essays on English Sur-
names;" with illuminated TOU-foge, and nmmeroue engravings from d^ignt by the Author,
6vo, cloth. 149.

"The present volume is trvlj a worthy sequel (to than an ample exposition of an extraordinary and nnl-

the 'SuKNAMZS*) in the same carious and antiquarian versal custom, which produced the most miportant

hne, blending with remarkable facts and intelligence. effect upon the minds and habits of mankind."—

audi a fund of amusing anecdote and illustration, that Uteraty Oazettt.

the reader is almost surprised to find that he has " Mr. Lower's work is both curious and instructiveu

leuned so much, whilst he appeared to be pursuing while the nuioner of its treatment is so inviting and

mere entertainment The text is so pleasing that we popular, that the subject to which it refers, which

scarcely dream of ita sterling ralue ; and it seems as if, many have hitherto had too good reason to consider

in unison with the woodcuts, which so cleverly explain meagre and unprofitable, assumes, under the hands of

its points and adorn its various topics, the whole d^ the writer, the novelty of fiction with the importanoe

sign were intended for a relaxation nom study, rather of hiatoridd truth."— ^f^iUiMvw.

PEDIGREES OP THE NOBILITY AND GENTRY OP HERT-
FOBDSHIBE. By William Bbbbt, late, and for fifteen years, Begistering Clerk
in the College of Anna, author of the "EnoyclopiBdiA Heraldica^*' &o. &o. Folio, (only
125 printed.) £1. S#. (original price £8. lOf.)

GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC HISTORY OP THE
EXTINCT AND DOBMANT BABONETCIES of England, Ireland, and Scot-
land. By J. Busks, Esq. Medium Syo, Sscond Edition, 688 clotelg printed pages, in
double columns, with about 1000 arms engraved on wood, fine portrait of Jamss I, and
illuminated title^age, cloth. 10«. (original price £1. 8«.)
This work engaged the attention of the author for ative or representatives stOl eKistin& with elaborate

several vears, comprises nearly a thousand families, and minute details of the alliances, adiievements, and
many of them amonnt the most ancient and eminent fortunes} generation
in the kingdom, eacn carried down to its represent- to the latest p^iod.

"PNGLISH SURNAMES. An Essay on Family Nomenclature, Historioi],
•Lj Etymological, and Humorous ; with several illustratire Appendices. By Mass
Antony Lowxs, M.A. 2 yols., poet 8to, Thisd Edition, snlasgbd, woodcuts, elotk
Us.

This new and much improved Edition, besides a and in his chapters on the different ways in whkk

great enlargement of the Chapters, contained in tht particular classes of names have originated froai

previous editions, comprises several that are entirelr names of places, occupations, dignities, offlCM, persooal

new, together with ^otes on Scottish, Irish, ana and menul qualities, lie."— J^telor.

Norman Surnames. The "Additional Prolusioiis,'* „«., ».«— . v.. -».. «a.»*v i. «v.**.« _.j jt i ,

besides the articles on Rebuses. Allusive Arms, and J"- r*^ **• 8<»« ? ^<** ™ "»• ™ •'T**

SSb^ of Battel Abbey. coSSi dissert ati^ fil SSSSS^^khTS ^l^^ i£5S2i ifiSt
signs, and Remarks on ChrUtian Names; with a «nicti»« «»* he has produced. ^BnghUm UtrmU.

copious iMDixof many thousand Namea. These fea* "A curious work, and got up, moreover, with that

tures render " English Surnames " rather a new work eommendable attention to paper and typography whidi

than a new edition. is certain to make a book 'tak the eye.'

"Acurious.ingcnious.andamusingbook. Mr. Lower Mr. Lower has been ' at a great feast of languages^

brings considerable knowledge to Dear, both in his and has stolen more than the ' scraps.' He lx>th in*

genoal history of the use of Surnames in Enghmd, atructs and entertains."— /oAa BM,

TNDEX TO THE PEDIGREES AND ARMS oontamed in the Heralds'
■■- Visitations and other Genealogical Manuscripts in the British Museum. By
B. Sdcs, of the Manuscript Department. 8vo, doselg printed in double columns, cloth. 15#.

An indispensable work to those ennged in Gene*. study, amusement, or profeasionally : those who have

logical and Topographical pursuits, affordinir a ready experienced the toilsomt labour of searching, with

clue to the Fedi^ees and Arms of nearly 40,000 of the the help only of the existing very imperfect CatiUoguea,

Gentry of England, their Residences, 8cc. (distinguish- can i^preciate the perseverance and accurate exa-

tog the different families ot the same name in any minaUon necessary to produce such an Index as that

cuuniv). as recorded by the Heralds in their Yisita- Just published by Mr. Sims; it will be an indispen-

XiutM between the years 1528 to 1686. sable companion to the Library table of all students

..., .«^^ te Kenealoncal pursuits, and those engaged in the

'*Thia work will be very acceptable to all who have History of Landed Property." — /mtimI ef AtthmO"

oecasioB to exsmlns ths MSS. alluded to^ whethsrfor keiceiliutUuts for Stplsmktr, }^i9.

Valuable and Interesting Books, Published or Sold by

ROLL OP ARMS 01? THE KEIGN OP KINO EDWARD IL
Edited by Sir Habbis NiooiJLi J to whkdi M added, an « Oidinwy^ of t^
mentioned by Joe. Owilt, Eaq. 8to, etott. 4f. 6d. {ori^mai priet lOt. 6A) On Labu
PAPn, 4to, elM, lOt. (ofVtiaZ prif» 21#.)

pALENDAR OF KNIGHTS; oontabiingLi«UofKnl^t»Baohrfori,Brittli
^ Enighte of the Gburter, Thietle, Bath, St. Fatridc, the Onelphic and loniaa Orden^
from 1760 to 1828. By F. TowHSiirD, Wmdsor Mtrald. Post 8to^ elafk, St. (pngimal

A. wry vmAiI vdhune for GoiMlogieil tad BiofnpUod pnpoiM.

THE SLOGANS OR WAR-CRIES OP THE NORTH OP
ENGLAND, by M. Aislabis Dkkhax ; with an Introduction on tlieir Srappoeed
Origin, by John Fkkwice; and Obeerrations on Martial MoUoea, by W. fiTLTur
LoKOBTAFFB. Post 8to, elegantly printed^ wUk OoaU qf Arm, StaU, ^ mwstL 6v. 6^

GENEALOGISTS' MANUAL; or Guide to the Tarioua PuUio Booorda,
B^stors, Wills, Printed Books, and othor Doomnente Beceeaarr to be ooneolted in
tracing a Pedigree. With particulars of the days and hours each Office or Begistir is
aiTsilablc^ the chMrgos made, the objects and dates of their Booords, Ac ibo, ; the whole
oarefuUy compiled nrom Betnms made expressly for this work ; together with other Tahke
and Calendars useful to the Antimiary, Topographeri and OonTeyancer. By Mattbmw
OoOKB. Thick 12mo» oloih. 6«. (nearly ready,)

PLATING CARDS.— Facts and Speculations on the History of Playing Gbrds fn
Europe. Bv W. A. Chatto, author of the "History of Wood Engravinc," with
Hlastrations by J. Jacxbov. 8to, prqfueely iUmrirated wUh engravingt, hath plaim and
coltmred^ cloth, £1. 1#.

"The inmiii^ into the orirm and rigniilcstton of the it is exoeedinciT unnsing; and the most critical

salts and their mariu, and the heralilie, theologinl, der cannot nil to be entertained by the variety of

and political emblenu pictured from time to time, in curioui outlying learning Mr. Chatto haa som^iov

their changei, opcna a new field of antiquarian intereat ; contrived to draw into i£t inveatigationa.'*— ^/lu.
and the perseverance with which Mr. Chatto haa ex- *' Indeed the entire orodnctioii dMerves our wannest

Blared it leavea little to be sleaned by hie aucceaaora. ajmrobation." — lAt. Gm*.

The pUtes with which the vmume ia enriched add con- '* A perfect fund of antiquarian reaetrch, and most

siderably to ita value in this point of view. It is not inteieating even to persona who never play at cards.**

to be denied that, take it altogether, it contains more — TaifiMag.

■latter than has ever before been collected in one "A curious, entertaining and reaDy leaned book."

view 190a the same tnl^ect. In spite of its Csults, -'EamhUr.

XTOLBEIN'S DANCE OP DEATH, with an Hiitorical and liteiaiy

-"-*- Introduction, by an Antiquary. Square post 8to, foUh &8 Engraicinge^ bbiko thi

ICOtT ACCURATE COPIES XTBB BXECUTID ov THE8B GxiCB 07 Abt, and afhmHtpieeeof a»

emeieni bedstead at Aix-la'Chapells, loith a Dance qf Death carved <m U, engrmed by

FairhoU, cloth, 9s,

"The designs are executed with a spirit and fidelity *'Ces 68 Planchss de Sdilotthsner soat d*aae cx>

quite extraorainary.^They are indeed moat trothfUL'* quiae perfection —LtmgMit E$m mr l§$ Daacw in
"' Mortis \9k%.

rjATALOGUE OP THE PRINTS which haTe been Engrayed after
^ Martin Heemskerck. By T. Kibbich, Ubrariam to the Umvereity of Cambridae>
Bfo, portrait, bde, Ss, 6d,

pATALOGUE OP PICTURES, composed chiefly by the most admiied
^ Masters of the Eoman, Florentine, Parman, Bologneee, Venetian, Flemish, and
B^rench Schools ; with Descriptions and Critical Bemarks. By Bobbbt Fomun. 8 toIs.
12mo, oloih. 6«.

TtfEMOIRS OP PAINTING, with a Ohronologioal History of the Importation
^'*' of Pictures by the Gh«at Masters into England since the French Berolution. By
W. BnCEAVAK. 2 vols. 8to, bdi,t 7'- ^< (oriyinal price £l, 6f .)

HISTORY OP THE ORIGIN AND ESTABLISHMENT OF
QOTHIO ABCHITEOTUBE, and an Inauiiy into the mode of Paintineupon and
Maining Glass, as practised in the EccIesiasticsJ Structures of the Middle Agea. By
4, 8. HAlfXXiri, F.S.A. Boyal 8to, 11 platet, bde, 4f . (original price 12t.)

John RutseU BmUh, 86, 8oho Square, London.

J^opular J^oetrp, CaU«, anH &uptr«tttuin«.

THE NURSERY RHYMES OF ENGLAND, ooUected chiefly from
Oral T»dition. Edited by J. O. Haluwbll. The Foubth Editiow, enlarged,
wiOi 88 Deeigns, by W. B. Scott, Director qf the School of Detiffn, NctoautU-onrTyne.
12mo, iUuminaied cloth, gilt leaves, 4a. M.

"Qliutntioiis ! and here they are j dever pictnref, hood a iprinUing of ancient nnnery lore it worth
which the three-year olds understand before their whole cartloads ofthe wise saws and modem instances
A. B,C, and which the fifty-three-year olds like ahnost which are now as daly.and««fuUTConoo<rted by «-
m wdi as the threes."— li/wwy 6azett«. penenccd litUrateurt, into instructiTe tales for the

"We are pnrsuaded that the rery rudest of these tpeUing pubhc, as are works of cntertaimnmcnt for the
llngles. talesTand rhymes, possess astrong imannation reading public. The work is worthy of the attention
noorishing power ; and that in infancy and early child- of the popular antiquary."— 2Vit^# Mag.

POPULAR RHYMES AND NURSERY TALES, with Historiotl
Elucidationfl. By J. O. Halliwbll, 12ino, cto<*. 4f.6<i.
This rerr InterestinK Tolume on the Traditional Proverb Rhymes, Places, and Families, Snperstitiaa
Liteniture of England, is divided into Nurswy Anti- Ehymcs, Custom Wiymes and Nursery Songs ; a laroa

Suitics, Fireside Nursery Stories, Game Rhymes, in«m*«rar« kert prxnUdfor tkt first txvu. It, nxj^
Jphabet Rhymes, Riddle Rhymes. Nature Songs, considered a sequel to the preceding article.

LD SONGS AND BALLADS— A LitUe Book of Songs and Ballads,
gathered from Ancient Music Books, MS. and Printed, by E. F. Bimbault,
LL.D., F.S.A., Ac., elegantly printed in post 8vo, pp. 240, half morocco, e».

••Dr. Rimbault has been at some pains to collect the words of the Songs which used to delight the
Rustics of former times."— -i<ifl#.

ROBIN HOOD.— -The Eobin Hood Ghurlands and Ballads, with the Tale of "The
Little Geste," a Collection of all the Poems, Songs, and Ballads relating to thia
celebrated Yeoman j to which is prefixed his History, fit)m Documents hitherto unrevised.
By J. M. GUTCH, P.S.A. 2 vols. 8vo, wUh mmeroue fine woodcuts, ^v., bg FairhoU^
Mkxt cloth. £1, Is, (original price £1. 10*.)

Two very handsome volumes, fit for the drawing-room table.

BALLAD ROMANCES. By R. H. Hoehb, Esq., Author of "Orion," te
12mo, pp. 248, cloth, 9s, (original price 6f . Gd.)

Containing the Noble Heart, a Bohemian Legend; description. Mr. Home shonld write ns more Fiiry

the Monk of Swineshead Abbey, a ballad Chronicle Tales ; we know none to equal him since the days off

of the death of King John ; the three Kuights of Drayton and Herrick."— .ScaauMr.

Camelott, a Fairy Tate; The Ballad of Dclora, or the wn,- ^y^»^i„„ n/^m in *iti« vninma {• • «>i* ««>• i«

01 tne Wooalanos, a Cnud s Story. __, j t?i«**i,-» ** //i.u-tf

« ?ure fancy of the most abun^t and picturesqne ^^ f letcner. -^ACMnauwi,

QIR HUGH OF LINCOLN : or an Examination of a canons Tradition
^ respecting the JEWS, with a Notice of the Popular Poetry connected with it. Bj
the Ber. A. Humb, IiL.D. Sto. 2s,

ESSAY ON THE ARCHAEOLOGY OP OUR POPULAR
PHBASES AND NUBSEBY BHYME9. By J. B. Kbb. 2 yoU. 12mo, new
cloth, 4s, (original price 12s,)

A work which has met with much abuse among the gossiping matter. The anther's attempt is to ezphin

reriewers, but those who are fond of philological pur- every thmg from the Dutch, which he believes was the

suits will read it now it is to be had at so rery mo- same language as the Anglo-Saxon.
derate a price, and it really contains a good deal of

TL/TERRY TALES OP THE WISE MEN OP GOTHAM.

^-^ Edited by Jahxs Obchabd Halliwbll, Esq, F.S.A. Post 8vo. 1#.

These tales are supposed to have been composed in ** In the time of Henry the Eirhth, and after," sayi
the early part of the sixteenth century, by Dr. Andrew Ant.-i-Wood, " it was accounted a book full of wit and
Borde, the well-known progenitor of Merry Andrews. mirth by scholars and gentlemen."

OAINT PATRICK'S PURGATORY; an Essay on the Legends of Hell,
^ Pumtoiy, and Paradise, current during the Middle Ages. By TnoHAS Wbi&ht.
M.A., F.8.A., &c. Po8t8yo,cto^ 69.

"It must be observed that this is not a mere ac- the best introduction to Dante that has yet been pob-
count of St. Patrick's Purgatory, but a complete ]iahed"—liierary Gautte.

history of the legends and superstitions relatins to the "This appears to be a curious and even amusinc

subject, from the earliest times, rescued frY)m old MSS. book on the singular subject of Purgatory, in whi^
as well as from old printed books. Moreover, it em- the idle and fearful dreams of superstition are i^owa
braces a singular chapter of literary history nitted to be first narrated as tales, and tnen ^plied as meant
by Warton and all farmer writers with whom we are of deducmg the moral character of the age in which
•cqaaintedi tad we think we nay add, that it tonn they prevafled."— <^te^.

Valuable and Interesting Booh, Published or Sold by

•MOBLE AND BENOWNED HISTORY OP GUY, SAfiL OP

^ WABWICIC, oontaining a Full and Troe AeeoQnt of hit aomy S^BWOi nd
Valiant Actions. Royal 12mo, woodcuU^ dotk. 4f. 6d»

PHILOSOPHY OP WITCHCRAPT, (CW^ wUk retpeei to Omwi* Sad-
^ land). By J. Mitchell, and J. Dicxni. ISmo, ehU. Si, (oHffimal price 69.)

A corioni Tolome, and a fit companion to Sir W. Seott^ "Demonologj aid Wltchcnft.*

ACCOUNT OP THE TRIAL, CONPESSION, AND CON-
DEMNATION of Six Witches at Maidstone^ 1652; also the Trial and ft^^^mttiim
of three others at FaTersham, 1645. 8to. 1#.

These Transactioni are unnoticed by all Kentiih historians.

TITONDERPUL DISCOVERY OP THE WITCHCRAFTS OP

^^ MARaAEBT and PHILIP FLOWER, Danghtera of Joan Flower, xmbt Betw
(Belyoir), executed at Lincoln, for confessing thwmseiTea Aoton in tho I>ertniotioii if
Ix>rd Rosse, Son of the Earl of Rutland, 1618. Sro. U.

0ns of the most extraordinary caies cf Witchcraft on neoA

BIBLIOTHECA MADRIGALIANA.— A BMographioal Aooount off the
Musical and Poetical Works puhlished in England during the Sixteenth and Seren-
teenth Centuries, under the Titles of Madrigals, Ballets, Ayres, Oanaoneta^ fto^ Sux, Bj
Edward F. Rimbaitlt, LL.D., F.S.A. Svo, cloth, 5«.

ItrecordsarlassofbookileftnndescnbedbyAmes, Catalogoe of Lyxical Poetiy of the age to which
Herbert, and Ihbdtn, and fomialies a moat valuable it refers.

THE MANUSCRIPT RARITIES OP THE UNIVERSITY OP
CAMBRIDaE. By J. O. Halltwell, F.R.S. 8to, btU. 8t (origimal priet
lOf. 6d.) A companion to Hartahome's "Book Rarities" of the aame Unirersity.

SOME ACCOUNT OP THE POPULAR TRACTS, fomierly in the
Lihrary of Captain Cox, of Cormtiy, AJ). 1575. By J. O. Halliwzll. 8vo^ m^
1^ pritUed, sewed. !§•

pATALOGUE OP THE CONTENTS OP THE CODEX HOL-

^ BROOKI ANUS. (A Scientific MS.) By Dr. John Holhrook, Maater of St Peter^s
College, Cambridge, U18-1431). By J. O. Halliwsll. 8to. U.

ACCOUNT OP THE VERNON MANUSCRIPT. A Vohnne of
Early Enghsh Poetry, preserved in the Bodleian Library, By J. O. Ualuweu^
8fo, only 50 printed. It.

BIBLIOTHECA CANTIANA. ABibUographicalAocountofwhatlmabeeB
published on the History, Topography, Antiquities, Customs, and IVunily Geoealoer
of the County of Kent, with Biographical Notes. By John Russbll SitrmTma
handsome Svo volume, pp. 870, with two pUUee offaerimilee of Autographe qfdS miiijiflif
KenHth Writere, 60. {original price 14t.)— iLlbgb Papsb lOt. 6d,

NEW PACTS AND VERIPICATIONS OP ANCIENT BRX-
TISH HISTORY. By the Rev. Biale Pobtb. 8vo^ with enffrani^e, dotk.

'PHOM AS SPROTT'S (a numk of Canterhmy, circa 1280) Chronicle of FhifioM
J- and Sacred History. Translated from the original MS., on 12 parchment skins, in
Ihe possession of Joseph Mayer, Esq., of LiverpooL By Dr. W. Bell. 4ito, halfb^md
u^morocco, accompanied with an exact Faceimile of the entire Oodetp, 87 feet long «• a
nomnd morocco caee^ pbivatslt pbiktkd, very enrione, £2. 2f. ^^'

^ONSTALL (Cuthbcrt, JBiehop of Durham), Sermon preached on Pidm Sunday,

-^ 1589, before Henry Vul, reprinted vxBBATix>hMi ihe rare edition 5v Bertheletin
1589. 12mo, 1«. 6d, ^

Square,

T APPENBEEG'S HISTORY OP ENGLAND, undar the Ang^o-Sawn

•^ Kings. TnxaLBAiddhyBvsJ.Tnovs9twUhAddiHan9and(^^
and TranOahr. 2 yoIb. Syo, c^<A. 12*. (crigiMai price £L U.)

LETTERS OF THE KINGS OP ENGLAND, •o«yirrfooa«?ftKi from
the originals in Boral Archires, and from other authentic sources, private as well as
public. Edited with mstorical Introduction and Not es, b y J. O. Halliwux. Two
HAKDSOXB YOLrms, post 8yo, wUk poriraUt o/Memy VHI and CharU$ IfelM, 8#.

{origindl price £1 1#.)

These vofnmes fonn a good compaidoii to SUis's his letters to the Dnkeof BQckiugfaamareof themosi

Onnnal Letters. iiiiglilar natnre ; only imagine a letter from a so

llie collection comprises fisr theflrst time thetofe vereignto his prime minister commencing thns; **ys

letters of Henir the Yin. to Anne Bolern in a com* own swaet and dear chfld, blessing, blesung, blessing

plete form, which may be regarded pern^s as the on thvheart-roots and all thine." Prince Charles anS

most singular documents of the kind that hare da- the Duke of Buckingham's Jonmey into Spain ha»

acended to our times; the series of letters of Ed- never been before so fully ilhutrated as it is by th

ward VI will be found very interesting specimens of documents given in this work, which also includes thr

composition; some of the letters of James L hitherto very curious letters from the Duke and Duchesa d*

unpublished, throw light on the murder of Overbuiy, Buckingham to James L Formnn am eutntml com

ana prove beyond a doubt the King was implicated fonum to onry HUiory ^ BngloMuL
in it m some extraordinary and nnpleasant way : but

WALES. — ^BoYAL Visits Ain> FBoaBBSSis to Walks, and the Border Oountiea
of Ghxshibb, Salop, Hsbepobd, and MoirMouxn, from Julius OsBsar, to Queen
Victoria, including a succinct History of the Country and People, particularly of the lead-
ing Families who Fought during the CiYil Wan of Charles I., theiatter from MSS. ncYer
before published. By Edwabd Fabbt. A handsome 4to volume, wiih mamy wood
engramngt^ and floe poriraU of the Qneen, cloth, £1. 1#.

HUNTER'S (Rev. Joseph) HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL
TBACTS. Post 8yo. 2$. 6d, each,

I. Aginconrt; a oontribntion, towards an anthentie IIL Hilton; a sheaf of Gleanings after his Bio-

Ustof the Commanders of the English Host in King gruhers and Annotators.

Henry the Fifth's Expedition. IV. The BaDad Hero, '*BobiB Hood," his perkXL

IL Collections concerning the Fbnnders of New real character, kc., investigated, and, perhane, aaoer-

Plymoath, the first Colomsts of Mew England. tained. *"'

A RCHERY. — ^The Sdenoe of Archery, shewing its affinity to Heraldry, and oi^mi-

■^^ bilities of Attainment. By A. F. Habsison. 8yo, sewed. 1m,

ILLUSTRATIONS OP EATING, displaying the OmniYorons Chancter of
-'- Man, and exhibiting the NatiYes of Yarious Countries at fiseding-time. By a Bbev-
Eateb. Fcap. 8yo, w& woodcuts, 2s,

ELEMENTS OP NAVAL ARCHITECTURE; being a Translation of
the Third Fart of Clairbois's " Traits El^mentaire de la Construction dee Yaisseauz."
By J. N. Stbaitob, Commander, &.N. 8yo, with five large folding plates, doth, 5#.

T ECTURES ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE; being the 8ubst«ice of

-"-^ those deliYered at the United SerYice Institution. By £. OABDnrsB Fibhboubnk
Commander, B.N. 8yo, flatesy cloth, ^, 6d,

Both Uiese works are published in ilhistration of the ** Ware System."

"MEW YORK IN THE YEAR 1695, with Flans of the City and Forts as
-^^ they then existed. By the Bcy. Johk MnjJB. Now first printed, 8yo, hds,
2s, Bd, (original price 4r. 6d!)

THOUGHTS IN VERSE POR THE APPLICTED. ByaObuHTBY
CuBATB. Square 12mo, sewed. It.

"pOEMS, partly of Bural life, in National English. By the Rcy. William Bamsib,
-*- author of " Foems in the Dorset Dialect" 12mo, cloth, S#.

WAIPS AND STRAYS. A Collection of Foetry. 12mo, oii^ 250 printed,
chiefly for presents^ sewed. Is, 6d,

lU'IRROUR OP JUSTICES^ written originally in the old French, long before
•*•'•*■ the Conquest, and many things added by AirsBBW HoBint. Translated bj W,
HuOBBB^ofOraY'sInn. 12mo, e2o^ 2s,

L cnrioasiiateretting, snd authentic treatiM on sndeat English Law.

Valuable and Interesting Boohs, Published or Sold by
pONTRIBUTIONS TO LITERATUEE HISTORICAIi, AN-

^^ TIQUARIAN, and METRICAL. By Mabx Ahtoitt Lowib, M.A^ FJ9JL,
Author of " EssajB on English Surnames,*' " Ouriontiflt of KenHdrj" Ac P6it 8fO^
woodcuis, cloth, 7« 6(2

COKTKirTB.

1 On Local Nomenclature.

2 On the Battle of Hastings, an Historical Essay;

3 The Lord Dacre, his moumfid end ; a Ballad.

4 Historical and Archaeological Memoir on the Iron Works of tha Sooth

of England, wUh numeromi illuHrationi,
6 Winchelsea's Deliyerance, or the Stout Ahhot of Battayle ; in Three Fyttafc

6 The South Downs, a Sketch ; Historical, Anecdotical, and Deaoriptm.

7 On Yew Trees in Church-yards.

8 A Lyttel G^te of a Gh«ate Eele ; a pleasaont Ballade.

9 A Discourse of Genealogy.

10 An Antiquarian Pilgrimage in Kormandy, wUk woodeutt,

11 Miscellanea, Ac. &o. &c.

There ii a good deal of qaaiut and pleating
rcAding in this volanie. Mr. Lower's jokei are
of the oldest— as befits the pleasantries of an an-
tiquary, — but, on the whole, we seldom meet with
more fendable antiquarian essays than tliese. Most
of them have been printed elsewhere. One. on the
South Downs, contains the best of the new matter.
The author is at home on the wide expanse of these
chalk ranges. He speaks with knowledge of the
picturesque Tillaces enclosed in their secluded
nooks, — of the folk-lore and l^ends of old dayv
which still abound amonnt the se((uestered inhabit
tants, and of the historicu associations which render
celebrated many spots otherwise of little intereat.—

Most of the p«pers in this volnme have already
appeared ia periodicali, and in the GoUectioni m

XTANDBOOK to the LIBRARY of the BRITISH MUSEUM,

-*- ^ containing a brief History of its Formation, and of the yarious Collections of
which it is composed ; Descriptions of the Catalogues in present use ; Classed Lists of
the Manuscripts, &c. ; and a Tariety of Information indispensable for the ^ Readers**
at that Lnstitution ; with some Account of the principal Public Libraries in London.
By BiOHABD Sims, of the Department of Manuscripts, Compiler of the *' Index to
the Heralds' Visitations.*' SmaJl 8to, pp. 438, vnth map and plan^ cloth, &«

the Sussex Archieological Sodetr. They

worthy of being printed in a collected fbim. Tlis
accoiint of the Battle of Hastings and the menoir
on the Southern Iron Works contain matter of hk-
torical Talue, in addition to their local intereit in
connexion with the topography and ardueologj of
Sussex. Among the paners now printed for the nm
time that on the South I)owns is the most important^
and will be read with much interest, both for tha
information it contains and the pleasing style in
which it is written. There are some charmihe do-
Bcriptions of scenery, and acceptable notices of the
history, traditions, and customs oi the dis^ct.
Among the minor contributions in the Tolmne, the
paper on Local Nomenclature is fall c€ Taloable
suggestions. Altogether it is a volume of vcrj
agreeable and instructive reading.~Lit Gts.

It will be found a my nseftd work to every
literary person or public institution in all parts <n
the world.

What Mr. Antonio Panizzi, the keeper of the
department of printed books, says mgkt h§ done,
Mr. Richard Sims, of the department of the manu-
scripts, says skaU U doM. His Hand-book to the

library of the British Museum is a very compro-
hensive and instructive volume. I have the sixtieth
edition of ** Svnopsis of the Contents of the British
Museum" before me— I cannot ex{>cct to see a six-
tieth edition of the Hand-itok, but it deserves to bo
pbced by the side of the Synopsis, and I voitore to
predict for it a wide circulation.— Jfr. BoUam
Conuy, in Notts md Qumet, No. SIS.

A GRAMMAR of BRITISH HERALDRY, consisting of "Blaaon-

-^^ and " Marshalling," with an Introduction on the Eise and Progress of Symbols
and Ensigns. By the Bey. W. Sloaitb Etaks, B.A. 8to, with 26 platss^ compruimjf
mpwardt qf 4JQ0Jt£iwes, cloth. 69.

One of the best introdoetions ever published.

A PLEA FOR THE ANTIQUITY OP HERALDRY, with

•^^ Attempt to Expound ito Theory and Elucidate its History. By W. Quxm Sllis
Esq., of the Middle Temple. 8?o, tewed, 1# 6d

A FEW NOTES ON SHAKESPEARE, with Occasional Bemarks on
the Emendations of the Manuscript-Corrector in Mr. CoUier^s copy of the folio^
16S2. By the Bev. Alexandeb Dyce. Syo, cloth. 6#

Mr. D yce's Notes an peculiarly delightful, from has enabled him to enrich them. AH that he has

the stores of Ulustration with which hu extensive recorded is valuable, we read his httte voluio

reading not only among our writers, but among those with pleaiure sad dose It with ttgnL-^UUmy

of oihor ooontariesb espedally of the Italian poets, Get^tte,

John BuB$ett Smith, 86, Soho Square, London,

A FEW WORDS IN KEPLT TO MB. DYCE'S " FEW NOTES

-^*- ON SHAZESPEAKB." By the Bey. Job»h Huhtib. Bfo,»motd. U

rrUE ORIMALDI SHAKESPEARE.— Notes tndEmendationB on tha
'*• PIajb of Shakespeare from a reoently-dlBoovered annotated copy by the late
JoeiPH GsDCAiJ)!, Esq., Comedian. 8to, ettU, It

A hmnoonrafl Squib on the lita ShalMpeara 'Bmiiii^«ny f

CHAEESPEARE'S VERSIFICATION and its apparait InegQlaritiea
^ explained by Examples from eariy and late English Writers. By the late
William Sidvxt Walkxs, formerly Fellow of IMnity College, Csmbridiges edited
by W. Navsov Lbttbom, Esq. Fop. 8yo, eloik. fit.

A PHILOLOGICAL GRAMMAR, grounded upon English, and formed

^-^ from a oomparison of more than Sixty Languages, ^eine an Introduction
to the Sdenoe of Qrammars of all Languages, espeoally English, Latin, and Ghreek«
By the Ber. W. Babvbs, B J)., of St. John^s College, Cambridge. Author of ** Poems
in the Dorset Dialect," *' Anglo Saxon Delectus," &o. 8to, pp. 822, eloth, 9«

»TIM BOBBIN'S LANCASHIRE DIALECT, with his Bhymes and

-'- an enlarged Glossary of Words and Phrases, used by the Rural Population of
South Lancashire. By Samuxl Baktobd. 12mo, ti^ second edition, cloth^ 8t 6d

TJRITANNIC RESEARCHES : or. New Facts and Eectifications of
•*^ Ancient British History. By the Eer. Bbali Postb, M.A. 8to, (pp. 448)
engravingtf cloHL 15f

tient rtndy. The objects which will occupy the
attention of the reader are^l. The political podtkni
of the principal British powers h<^ore the Boman
conquest — under the Boman dominion, and simg-

fline unsuccessfully against the Anglo>SaxoB race;
. The geography of Ancient Britain; S. An inves-
tigation of the Ancient British Historians, Gildas
and Nennius, and the more ohscnie British chroni-
ders; 4. Hie ancient stone monuments of the Celtie
period ; and, lastly, some curious and interestiBg
notices of the early British church. Mr. Poste has
not touched on suDJects which have recetred much
attention from others, save in cases where he had
something new to offer, and the volume must be
regarded, therefore, as an entirely new collection of
discoveries and deductions tencung to throw light
on the darkest as well as the earUest portion of oar
national history. — Atlas.

The author of this vcdume may Justly dahn
credit for considerable learning, great industry,
and, above all, strong faith in the interest and im-
portance of his sulyect On various

points he has given us additional information and
afforded us new views, for which we are bound to
thank him. The body of the book is followed by a
very complete index, so as to render reference to
any part of it easy : this was the more necessary on
account of the multifariousness of the topics
treated, the variety of persons mentioned, and the
aaany works wuAjfA.—Atkenmum, Oct. 8, 1853.

The Bev. Beale Poste has lone been known to
SAtiqnaries as one of the best read of all those who
have elucidated the earliest annals of this country.
He is a practical man, has inveslinAed for himself
monuments and manuscripts, and we have in the
above-named vdnme the fruits of many years' pa-

pOINS OF CUNOBELINE and of the^ ANCIENT BRITONS.

^ By the Kev. Bealb Posts, B.C.L. 8vo, plates^ and many woodouis, eloik (only
40 printed). £1.8t

"D ARONIA ANGLIA CONCENTRATA ; or a Concentration of all
•*-' the Baronies called Baronies in Fee, 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 meutioned by Sir WiUiam Dudgale, as of those
whom that celebrated author has omitted to notice ; interspersed with Interesting Kotioea
and Explanatory Remarks. Whereto is added the Proofs of Parliamentary Sitting
from the Reign of Edward I to Queen Anne; also a Ohitary of Dormant Engluh^
Scotch, and Irish Fetrage Titles^ toiih references to presumed existing Seirt. By Sir
T. C. Baizes. 2 toIs. 4to, cloth, £3. ds kow otfebep fob 15«

A book of great research by the well-known au-
thor ot the '^ Dormant and lixtinct Peersye," and
ether heraldic and historical works. Those fond of
snealoffical pursuits ought to secure a copy while
is so tteap. It nay be considered a Sopplemsut

to his farmer works. Vol. ii. pp, 210-800, eontaias
an Historical Account of the first settlement of
^'o%a Scotia, and the foundation of the Order of
Nora Scotia Barunets, diatingoiahing thoss who
had seisin of laads thcis.

Valuable and Interesting Books, Published or Sold by

•DETROSPECTIVE REVIEW (New Series) ; conHsting of Critidnn.
-'-^ upon, AnoljsiB <^ and Extracts from curious, useful, raluable, and icaroe Old
Books. Vol 1, 8to, pp. 486, cloth, lOg Gd

V Published Qoarterljr at 3». 8i. each Number.— No. YII ii pobliihed this day.

Cqxteitts ot Ko. v.

1 Sir William Darenant, Poet Laureate and Dramatist, 1673.

2 Cooke's "Poor Man's Case," 1648.

8 Old English Letter- writing ; Angel Day's English Secretary, 1592 1
W. Fulwood*B Enemy m Idlenesse.

4 The Old Practice of Gardening; Thoa. Hyll's Brie& and Pleaaaunft

Treatise, 1563.

5 English Political Songs and Satires, from King John to Gborge L

6 Mc&eral Trayellers in the Holy Land.

7 The Athenian Letters, hy Lord Hardwicke and others.

8 The Writings of Waoe the Trouvire.

Ajbtbcdota Litbeabia. — Pepy's Directions for the Disposition oi
his Lihrary ; A Legendary Poem of the 15th Century, the Stoiy
laid at Falmouth, in Cornwall : hoth now first printed.

OovixvTB aw No. TL

1 Drayton's Polyolbion.

2 Penn*s Ko Cross Ko Crown.

8 Lamharde*s Perambulation of Kent.

4 Philosophy of the Table in the Time of Charles L

5 Bussia under Peter the Qreat.

6 Life and Works of Leland, the Antiquary.

7 The Decay of Qood Manners.

8 Stephen's Essayes and Characters, 1615.

Akbgdota LirxBAJUA.— The Child of Bristow, a Metrical Legend*
Kow first printed.

The title of this Benew explsfais its objjects. It
u intended to inpply & place anflHed in oar periodi-
cal literatnre, and this tint nomber la very latis-
futorr. The papera are varied and intereatiiw, not
overlkid by the diiplay of too much learning for the

Kineral reader, bat showing sufficient research and
dostry on the part of the writers to distinguish
the articles from mere ephemeral reviews of passing
pablications. In the prospectus the editor says
'^ It is our design to selMt, from the vast field of tno
literature of the past, saljects which are most likely

to interest modem readers ; we shall lay before them
f^om time to time, essays on various branches of
the literature of former days, Ei^Ushor forei^;
we shall give accounts of rare and curious books ;
point out and bring forwardbeautiea from fcwvoUen
authors ; and tell the knowledge and opinions of
other days.** The design is well canned out in this
number, and will, no doubt, be ftu-ther developed as
the work advances. It is to be nublished quarterly,
at a very moderate price, and wiU, we have no douMt
prove a successful undertaking.— ^<fa#.

•pEMAINS OF PAGAN SAXONDOM, principally from Tumuli in
'"' England. Drawn from the Originals. Described ana lUustrated bj Jomr
ToNGB Akbbman, Fdlow and Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. 4to, part»
1 to 9. 2s 6d each {Fi, 10 i» the press).

The plates are admirably executed ^ Mr. Basize, and ooUmred under the direction cf the Author.
It is a work well worthy the notice of the AzchsMlogist

T\/^ILTSHIRE TALES, illustratiTe of the Manners, Customs, and Dialect
* * of that and Adjoining Counties. By John Yonob Akebmak. 12mo,c^M. 2s 6d

We will conclude with a simple, but hearty ro-
eommendution of a little book wnieh is as humour-
ous, for the drolleries of the stories, as it is in-
teresting as a picture of rustic manners.— 2Vi{/w'«
WteUy Paper.

Mr Akerman's VfjL-nmtM, Talis embody
most of the provindalisnu peculiar to this ooun^
and the districts of other counties Iving on its
northern borders, and possess the additional recom-

mendation of preserving the old songs (and the airs
to which they are sung), which are still to be heard
at most harvest homes and other merry makings,—
the well-known " Here's a health to our meester,*
and a " A pie upon the pear tree top** among the
test Both to the |Mok)gist, therefore, and to the
eeneral reader, the book is sn intmsting ooe.—
SaUihujsHd Winckester Journal

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP THE TOWN OP
MABLBOBOUGH, and more generally of the entire Hundred of Sdklej in
Wiltshire. By Jamss Watiek, Esq. Thick 8to, wodaUs, eloih, 14t

This TQlume describes a portiMi of Wilts not occupied by Sir IL CHoare and other topognykeii.

John Russell Smith, S6, Soho Square, London.

SIGILLA ECCLESLfi HIBERNICB ILLUSTRATA. TbB
EpiBoopal and Oapitolar Seab of the Irish Cathedral Churches fllnstrated. By
BiOHABD Cauluxld, A.B. 8?o. Part I— Cabhsl and Emlt, with 12 eft^atinfft^
iewed, l»6d

TTLSTEE JOURNAL OP ARCHAEOLOGY: oondnotod under the

^ Buperintendenoe of a Committee of ArchsBologifts at fid&st. Handsomely
printed m 4to, wUh engraningM. Published quarUng, Aimual Subscription, 12«.
{Nat sold i» single Nos,) Nos, 1 to 6 are readjf,

DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OP THE COLLECTION OP
ANTIQUITIES, and other Objects HlostratiTe of Irish History, exhibited in
the Bel^Mt Museam, at the Meeting of the Brifciah Association, Sep. 1862, with
Antiquarian Notes. 8yo, sewed. Is Gd

A NTIQUITIES OF SHROPSHIRE. By the ReF. R W. Eytof.

-^^ Bector of Byton. Boyal 8to, with plates. Farts I to IIL ts eaeh, Fub-
Ushed Quarterlg,

The Work will extend at least to fire Tolvmes or witbdmr bit name after the pubHeatloa cf any
twenty parte. Any aabicriber will be at liberty to fimrtbpart or completed Tofaune.

ANTIQUITIES OP THE BOROUGH OF LEEDS, described

-^ and illustrated. By James Wabdbll^ Esq. 8to, 16 plates^ mostlg eoUmred.
7s6dr—liABQE Pafxb. 12s

mSTORICAL ACCOUNT OP THE CISTERCIAN ABBEY

"^^ of SALLEY, in GraTen, Yorkshire, its Foundation and Bene&ctors, Abbots,
Possessions, Compotns, and Dissolution, and its existing Kemsins. Edited by
J. Hablavd. Boyal 8vo, 12 plates, doth. 4s 6d

A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF LIVERPOOL, as it was during

-^^ the last Quarter of the Eighteenth Century, 1775 — 1800. By Biohabd
Bbooex, Esq., F.S.A. A handsome toL Boyal 8to, with UlnstraHons^ doth, £1. 6#

In addition to informatian relatire to the Pablie liihed, respeetinc the Pannita. Hahita, and Anras*-

Bnildingt, Statistiea, and Commerce of the Town, ments of ttie Innabitantt of Liverpool daring that

the Work coutaina aome cnriona and intereating period, with Views ol ita Pi^ilie iV^«<<iM t
particnlara, which have never heen previooaly pub-

A GUIDE TO LYNTON AND PLACES ADJACENT, IN
NOBTH DEVON, including Bfraoombe. By T. H. Ck)OPXB. 12mo, 6 plates
and Map <if Nora Devon, doth. SsSd *

mSTOEY OP GREAT YARMOUTH, contaming the Origin, Foun-
'^^ dation, and History of that Ancient Borough ; and an Account of its €k>Tem-
ment, Incorporation, Liberties, and Franchises ; with a Description of the Public
Buildings, Ohurohes, Convents, and other Beligious Houses of the Middle Ages, &o.
Compiled by Hxnbt Mavship, Town Clerk temp. Queen Elisabeth. Edited by
Oraxles Johv Falmbb, F.S.A. Thick toL, post 4to, pp. 456, with 11 iUustrations.
haff bound. £1. U

ARCHiEOLOGICAL MINE, a Magazine in which will be o<^prised
the History of Kent, founded on the basis of Hasted. By A. J. Dmruv. 8to,
Farts 1 to 12. Published Monthly. Sdeaoh.

T)UNCUMB'S (Rev. John) HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES

''^ of the County of Hereford. 2 yols. 4to, portraits and plates, new, in boards.
£1. 4f Hertford, 1804-12

This if the only Hittorrof the GafDntypabliehed. Yohime^ which sis waating hi sU the Sabecribcn*
This copy contains five aaditional iheett (the Hun- oo|^ies.
dnd or Gieftcee) tad ths ladex to the Second

John Russell Smith, S6, Soho Square, London.

mSTOBY OP OREGON AND CALIFORNIA and the otto

Territories on the North West Coast of America^ accompanied bv a Geogn-
phical View and Map and a number of Proofs and Illustrations of the Histoiy. By
BoBBBT Grbbnhow, Librarian of the Departmeni qf Staie ^f Oe United StoUt.
Thick 8to, labgb map, cloth. 6s (pub. at 16f)

]CTISTORY OP ANGLING LITERATURE, and on Matters oon-

nected with Fish and Fishers from the earliest period, to which ia added a
General Bibliography of Books on Angling. Bj an As&lsil Fop. 8to, elotk. fit
(nearly ready).

pHRISTMASTIDE, its Histoiy, Festiyities, and Carols. By Williaic
^-^ Sandys, Esq., F.S.Ai, in one handsome toL 8vo, illubtbatxd with 20
airoBAyiKGB avtbb thb dbsiqvb 07 J. Qtefrasotw, cloth. 14t

Its title Touches that Ckrittmaitid* is gemume to Provenssl, are selected from aumerons sources, and
the time. Mr. Sandys has brought tomther. in an comprise many of the less known, and more vorth
octavo of some 800 pages, a great deal of often knowing. His matenals are presented with cood

intereatiiiK information, beyond the stale gossip feeling and mastery ot his theme, and for exceHeot

about "Christmas in the olden time,** and toe taste and approprii^f

threadbare make-believes of Jollity and geniality treme costlmess, the

which furnish forth most books on the snl^ect. Ills whole, the volume desc

earols too^ which include some in old Trench and a welcome.— ^;p«cte/or.

JUST IMPORTED.

I

giSTOIRE DE L'ARCHITECTURE SACREE du quatri^me an

"^"^ dixi^me si^cle dans les andens Heches de Gbksyb, Lausannb et Sioir. Par
J. D. Blayigitac, Architeote. One toL 8to, pp. 450, and 37 plates, and a 4to Atlas
of 82 plates of ArchiteetwrSy Sculpture^ DresooeSy SeUquaries, Sfc. ^'c. £2. \0s

A YEBT BBICABKABUB BOOK, AlVD WOBTH IHB HOTICE OH THJ ASCHITSCT,

THx Abohjeologibt, avd thb Artist.

fJOPENHAGEN— THE TRAVELLER'S HANDBOOK TO

^^ COPENHAGEN and its Enyirons. By AireuCANXis. \2mOy v/ith large Map
of Sealand, Flan of Copenhagen^ and Views, 12mo, cloih. 8«

ANTIGUEDADES PERUANAS, por Mabiaho Eduabdo bb Bit«o^
JHrector del Mnseo Naeional de Lima, y Dr. Juan Dieoo db Tschud£
I (amihor of Travels in Feru), 4tO| pp. 842, mth woodcnts^ and folio volume of

I OOLOUBBD PLATES, hds, £5. 5t

A description of remains discorered In the sites tMqne fonn and characteristic idob in tern cotto and

of ancient cities and temples in Peru, those <^ect* the precious metaU, textUe fabrics, weapons of a

which arrested the attention and ezdted the won- very remote neriod, and view of temples and bmld-

der of the philosophic Humboldt, when inresti- ings. which, for symmetry and beauty, may tie with

gating the physical features of that remarkable those of Greece and Asia Mmor m the dawn of

country. The illustrative jplates, executed at civilisation, all executed with a spirit and trothfol-

Tienna, from the drawinn of toe Artist, are among ness unsurpassed by any work of the kind that hu

the marvels of lithography. They comprise repre- come under our notice.— X*/«rtfjf OmuUc, Jan. 8^

•entations of mummined bodies, prepared in the 185S.
manner peculiar to the Peruvians, vases of gro-

ESSAI HISTORIQUE PHILOSOPHIQUE et Pittor«Mitie mr
lee Danses des Morts. Par E. H. Laitgloib ; suiri d'une Lettre do Leber, et
nne note de Depping sur le m6me siyet, public par Pottier et Baudiy, 2 toIs, royal 8ro,
with h^ plates of Death's Danes of various ages, alsomang vignettes, sewed, £1. Is

LA ROMAINE, ou HISTOIRE, LANGUE, LITTERATURE,
OBOGBAPHIE, statistique dee Pennies de la Langue d*Or, Adrialiens, Val*
laques, et Moldaves, resusi^ sous le nom de Romans. Par J. A. YahJiANT, 8 Tolsy 8to
eewed, 18f .

VOYAGES, Kelations, et Memoires originaux pour servir a THistoiie da
la Decouverte de TAinerique, public pour la premiere fois en Francis. Par
■ H. TBBHAUX-OoMPAirB. 20 vols. 8vo, both Series, and complete. Sewed, £3. lOf

A valuable colleetion of early voyages and relations on South America j also translatioDS of anpaUiahed
Svaniah MS8^ phncipaUy rcIaUng ts Old and Mew SCtiioo. ^

1 1

' I

BOUND BY

IN E A SON

1