The rural districts became the prey of the barbarians, it was there that they established themselves with their men; it was there that they were about to introduce by degrees totally new institutions, and a new organization, but till then the rural districts will occupy scarcely any place in society, they will be but the theatre of excursions, pillages, and misery. Even within the towns the ancient society was far from maintaining itself strong and entire. Amidst the movement of the invasions, the towns were regarded above all as fortresses; the population shut themselves therein to escape from the hordes which ravaged the country. When the barbarous immigration was somewhat diminished, when the new people had planted themselves upon the territory, the towns still remained fortresses: in place of having to defend themselves against the wandering hordes, they had to defend themselves against their neighbours, against the greedy and turbulent possessors of the surrounding country. There was therefore little security behind those weak ramparts. Towns are unquestionably centres of population and of labour, but under certain conditions; under the condition, on the one hand, that the country population cultivate for them; où the other, that an extended and active commerce consume the products of the citizen's labour. If agriculture and commerce decay, towns must decay; their prosperity and their power cannot be isolated. Now you have just seen into what a condition the rural districts of Gaul had fallen in the sixth century; the towns were able to escape for some time, but from day to day the evil threatened to conquer them. Finally, it did conquer them, and very soon this last wreck of the Empire seemed stricken with the same weakness, and a prey to the same dissolution. 13. THE HEPTARCHY. The following says The Penny Cyclopædia,' were the kingdoms founded by the several invading bands, the dates being those assigned in the valuable summaries of Anglo-Saxon history, given by Sir F. Palgrave, in his Appendix of Proofs and Illustrations to his Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, p. ccxxix-cccxl: 1. Kent, consisting of the present county of that name, founded by Hengist and Horsa, whose followers were Jutes, A.D. 457. From Esc or Eric, the son and successor of Hengist, the kings of Kent acquired the name of Escingas. Kent subsisted as an independent state till its conquest by Cenwulf, king of Mercia, in 796. In 823 it was finally annexed to Wessex by Egbert; but for at least a century after that date it is still mentioned as a separate though subordinate kingdom. 2. Sussex, consisting of the present county of that name, founded by Ella, whose followers were Saxons, A.D. 491. In A.D. 686 it was conquered by Ceadwalla, king of Wessex, and appears to have remained ever after in subjection either to that state or to Mercia. In 828 it finally submitted to 'Egbert;' and 'from this period,' says Sir F. Palgrave, 'Sussex and Surrey appear to have been considered as integral portions of the empire of Wessex, but as annexed to the kingdom of Kent and passing with it.' 3. Wessex, including (in its greatest extent) Surrey, Hants with the Isle of Wight, Berks, Wilts. Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and part of Cornwall, founded by Cerdic and his son Cynric, whose followers were Saxons, A.D. 519. The Jutes of the Isle of Wight were conquered by Cerdic and Cynric, A.D. 530; but in 661 the island was wrested from Wessex by Wulfere, king of Mercia; some time after which it appears to have asserted its independence, which it maintained under kings of its own till the beginning of the 10th century, when it submitted to Edward the Elder. In the reign of Egbert (A.D. 800-836) the kingdom of Wessex attained a supremacy over the other states, which it never lost afterwards. 4. Essex, including the present counties of Essex and Middlesex, and the southern part of Hertfordshire, supposed to have been founded by Escwin, or Ercenwine, whose followers were Saxons, A.D. 527. 'It is doubtful,' says Sir F Palgrave, whether this monarchy ever enjoyed independence.' It certainly besame subject to Mercia in the course of the seventh century, and in 823 it finally submitted to Egbert of Wessex. 5. Northumbria, consisting of the sometimes separate but commonly united states of Bernicia and Deira; the former (from the native name Bryneich) including the county of Northumberland, and the south-eastern counties of Scotland as far as the Forth, founded by Ida, whose followers were Angles, A.D. 547; the latter (from the native name Deifyr) including the counties of Cumberland, Durham, Westmoreland, York, and Lancaster, founded by Ella, whose followers were also Angles, A.d. 560. These two states appear to have coalesced before the beginning of the seventh century; and after the year 655 they were never separated, so long as they retained their independence. The limits of the kingdom of Northumbria to the north varied greatly from time to time according to the fortunes of the almost constant warfare which it carried on with the Scots, the Picts, and the kingdom of Strathclyde. From the middle of the eighth century the history of Northumbria consists of little else than a detail of civil dissensions, confusion, and bloodshed, arising from the claims of rival competitors for the throne. The Northumbrians made a formal submission to Egbert of Wessex in 829. In 867 the country was conquered by the Danes; and from this time it may be considered to have remained independent under princes of Danish race till 924, when both the Danes and the English inhabitants acknowledged the supremacy of Edward the Elder. Northumbria, however, continued to be governed by princes of its own, who, although nominally subject to the English monarch, took the title of kings, till 952. After this its rulers were only designated earls; the district forming sometimes one earldom, sometimes two, under the names of Bernicia and Deira, or Northumbria and York. It was not till some time after the Norman conquest that the territories which had formed this Saxon state came to be considered as strictly included within the realm of England. 6. East Anglia, including Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and part of Bedfordshire, founded by Uffa, whose followers were Angles, and from whom the kings of this state took the name of Uffingas, A.D. 571. The East Angles placed themselves under the sovereignty of Egbert of Wessex about the year 823, but they continued for some time after this under the immediate government of their own kings. The country was conquered by the Danes in 883; and it was not completely brought back under the subjection to the English crown till after the accession of Athelstane in 925. From this time it appears to have been governed by ealdermen or dukes. 7. Mercia, including the counties of Chester, Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, Shropshire, Stafford, Leicester, Rutland, Northampton, Huntingdon, Hereford, Worcester, Warwick, Gloucester, Oxford, Buckingham, and parts of Hertford and Bedford, said to have been founded by Crida, whose followers were Angles, A.D. 585. The name Mercia has been derived, by Camden and others, from the word mearc, a limit; 'for the other kingdoms,' it is said, 'bordered upon it.' Lingard thinks that the people were called Mercians, perhaps from the marshy district in which they first settled." The most probable explanation, however, appears to be that given by Macpherson, in his 'Annals of Commerce,' who observes that the Saxon name Myrcnaric properly signifies the woodland kingdom, 'which,' he adds, E agrees very closely with Coitani, the Latinized name of the old British inhabitants, signifying woodland-men, or foresters.' About the middle of the seventh century Mercia was conquered by Oswio, king of Northumbria; but after a few years it recovered its independence; and before the end of the next century it had reduced to subjection both the neighbouring states of East Anglia and Kent. It was eventually subjugated however about the year 825, by Egbert of Wessex, and although for some time considered as a separate kingdom, it continued ever after dependent upon that state, with the exception of a short period in the latter part of that century, during which it was overrun and taken possesion of by the Danes. This assemblage of states has been commonly called the Heptarchy, for which Mr. Turner has proposed to substitute the Octarchy, on the ground that Deira and Bernicia ought to be considered as two distinct kingdoms. But in truth it may be doubted if there ever was a time when so many as seven of the states co-existed separately and independently. Various small districts also appear to have for longer or shorter periods preserved an all but nominal independence in the midst of the larger states, to some one or other of which they were severally considered as annexed. Such were the Isle of Wight; the Suthrige, or Southern Kingdom, now Surrey; the district of Hwiccas, or Magesettam, which was conterminous with the antient bishopric of Worcester; and others, of which the annals have been for the first time collected by Sir Francis Palgrave. But above all it would be difficult to show that either term is perfectly admissible, if it be intended to imply (as in strict propriety both heptarchy and octarchy would seem to do) that the several tates were all connected together into any sort of union or confederacy; that they formed, in fact, any political system entitled to be designated by one word at all. We know that they were constantly at war with one another, and of the existence of any general controlling authority, except such as one king was occasionally enabled to maintain over the rest by his sword, their history affords no trace. certain of the kings however by whom this temporary supremacy appears to have been asserted in the most marked manner, Bede, and after him, the Saxon Chronicle, have attributed the title of Bretwalda, that is, as it has been interpreted, Wielder or Emperor of Britain; and it is probable that a species of superior honour and dignity, such as this title would imply, may have been claimed by the princes in question, and accorded to them by those of their neighbours whom they had brought under subjection, or who, although unsubdued, preferred not to provoke their enmity. To 14. THE WARS OF MERCIA. JOANNA BAILLIE. SCENE I. A small cavern, in which is discovered a Wizard, sitting by a fire of embers, baking his scanty meal of parched corn, and counting out some money from a bag; a book and other things belonging to his art are strewed near him on the ground. Wiz. (alone.) Thanks to the restless soul of Mollo's son! Well thrives my trade. Here, the last hoarded coin Of the spare widow, trembling for the fate Of her remaining son, and the gay jewel Of fearful maid, who steals by fall of eve, With muffled face, to learn her warrior's doom, Lie in strange fellowship; so doth misfortune Enter a Scout. Brother, thou com'st in haste; what news, I pray? Scout. Put up thy book, and bag, and wizard's wand, Thy cave, I trow, will soon be fill'd with those, Who are by present ills too roughly shent To look thro' vision'd spells on those to come. Wiz. What thou woud'st tell me, tell me in plain words. To the first onset of his arms would yield Their ill defended towers, has found them strengthen'd With aid from Wessex, and unwillingly Led back with cautious skill the Mercian troops To follow him into our open plains, Where they must needs with least advantage fight. Scarcely three miles off, Scout. Mine eyes have seen them. A crowd of helpless women, from their homes Bearing some helpless babe or valued piece Of household goods, snatch'd up in haste. I hear Their crowding steps e'en now within your cave: (Enter a crowd of women, young and old; some leading children and carrying infants on their backs or in their arms, others carrying bundles and pieces of household stuff.) Wiz. Who are ye, wretched women, Who, all so pale and haggard, bear along Those helpless infants, and those seeming wrecks, From desolation saved? What do you want? First Wom. Nought but the friendly shelter of your cave, For now or house, or home, or blazing hearth, Good Wizard, we have none. Wiz. And are the armies there so near your dwellings? First Wom. Ay, round them, in them the loud battle clangs. Within our very walls fierce spearmen push, And weapon'd warriors cross their clashing blades. Second Wom. Ay, woe is me! our warm and cheerful hearths Are now the bloody lair of dying men. Old Wom. Ah woe is me! those yellow thatched roofs, Which I have seen these sixty years and ten, Smoking so sweetly 'midst our tufted thorns, And the turf'd graves wherein our fathers sleep! Young Wom. Ah woe is me! my little helpless babes! Now must some mossy rock or shading tree Be your cold home, and the wild haws your food. No cheerful blazing fire and seething pot Third Wom. Alack, alack! of all my goodly stuff I thought to have them to my dying day! Young Wom. (Enter a Young Man leading in an Idiot.) Ah, my dear Swithick! art thou safe indeed? Young Man. To save our idiot brother, see'st thou here? Young Wom. Well hast thou done! poor helpless Balderkin! So shalt thou still, albeit thou know'st it not. (Enter Man carrying an Old Man on his back.) Young Man. And see here, too, our neighbour Edwin comes, Bearing his bed-rid father on his back. Come in, good man. How dost thou, aged neighbour? Cheer up again! thou shalt be shelter'd still; The Wizard has receiv'd us. Wiz. True, good folks; I wish my means were better for your sakes. But we are crowded here; that winding passage. Where we may take our room and freely breatne; [Exeunt, all following the Wizard into the inner cave. A field of battle strewed with slain, and some people seen upon the background searching amongst the dead bodies. Enter Hereulf and Ethelbert. Her. (stopping short and holding up his hands.) Will be a slight step of but small advantage. Eth. (not attending to him, and after gazing for some time on the field.) So thus ye lie, who, with the morning sun, Rose cheerily, and girt your armour on With all the vigour, and capacity, And comeliness of strong and youthful men. Ye also, taken in your manhood's wane, With grizzled pates, from mates, whose wither'd hands For some good thirty years had smooth'd your couch : Did give you the similitude of men |