It was about the year 577 that the Britons and Saxons had a bloody engagement at Derham in Gloucestershire. Three British princes, or reguli, fell in that battle; and their names, according to Henry of Huntingdon, were Conmail, Condidan, and Farinmail. The last was probably no other than Fernvail, a king of Gwent; the other two were Caranmael, mentioned by Llowarch in the elegy on the death of Cynddylan, prince of Powys, who himself was the same with Condidan: for this suggestion we are indebted to Mr. Turner.*

Seven years after this action, in consequence of which the Britons lost the cities of Bath, Gloucester, and Cirencester, Cealwin, king of the West Saxons, warred with them; and a bloody contest ensued, at Frithern upon the Severn. Cuthwine, the son of Cealwin, was overpowered by the obstinate valour of the Britons, and fell in the conflict, and the Saxons were defeated; but Cealwin, receiving a reinforcement, again attacked the Britons, whom he routed with great slaughter, took from them great spoil, and enlarged his territories. The Britons now seem to have lost all on the Gloucestershire side of the Severn.

Cealwin, while he was thus proceeding from conquering to conquer, met with an enemy in his own nephew Ceolric, who, in alliance with the Cymry, and the Hibernian Scots, fought against him in a battle in which he was defeated and fell: that action was fought at Wodnesbury in Wilts. The predominance which Cealwin had attained among the Saxon kings soon devolved on Ethelbert, the king of the East Angles, who became the head of the Heptarchy. Cealwin appears to have been the last of the Anglo-Saxons that had any powerful struggle with the Britons in the south of England, who retained

* Ussher, c. 14. p. 295, ed. edition. Turner, Vol. I. p. 183.

some independent territories in the interior, until obliged to submit to his arms. He subdued them in Bedfordshire; and took from them Leighton, Ailesbury, Benington, and Ensham.

The battle of Chester was fought between Ethelfrith, after his conquest of Northumberland, and Brochmail, the prince of Powys, in which the latter was overpowered, about A. D. 607, or from that to 612.

Notwithstanding the Saxons were in possession of the central parts, as well as all the eastern coasts of Britain, they aimed at extending their conquests over the Cornish and the Cambrian Britons. The latter, when their borders were attacked, defended themselves with considerable bravery, and triumphed frequently over their potent enemies. Ceolwulph, king of Wessex, advanced upon the Cymry as far as into the Silurian territory. The inhabitants, not able to withstand his force, and yet unwilling to yield up their country, hastened to Tewdric, their aged monarch, who had resigned his government into the hands of his son Meirick, and was retired to lead a solitary life among the rocks and woodlands of Tintern. They solicited him to resume the weapons of war in defence of his country. The royal hermit was roused to renew the feats of his youth, in order to rescue a Christian land from the assault of a heathen ravager. He put on his armour, and headed his troops; who, animated by the example of their aged chief, fought with valour, and succeeded in driving back the invader over the Severn. But the venerable Tewdric received a wound in the moment of victory, which proved to be mortal. Being carried from the scene of battle, the dying chieftain requested that a church might be built upon the spot where he should expire. It was within five miles of the field of battle that he departed

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from the world, and there he was interred; and, agreeably to his desire, was built the church of Merthyr Tewdric, or, as it is generally called, Mathern. This brave warrior was honoured with the name of martyr, because his death being occasioned by his engaging the Saxons, who were heathens, he is regarded as having died in defence of Christianity.

In the church of Mathern there is a monument erected (probably by Bishop Goodwin) to the honour of this royal martyr, whose grave is said to have been opened by that prelate, and his bones discovered. At this place is the only mansion now remaining that pertains to the bishops of Landaff; but it has not been occupied for a century past. Mathern, or rather Mertheyrn, implies as much as The Royal Martyr, being one of the several places in Wales called Merthyr, where churches have been erected in honour of some holy person, said to have died in defence of religion. The son of Tewdric, Prince Meiric, or Mouric, gave the lands and territory adjacent to Mathern, for the use and benefit of the church. The same prince also gave Mochros upon the banks of the Wye, Porthcasseg, and the church of Guruyd, and afterwards other lands, to make expiation for certain offences. Among these lands, Treleck, near Monmouth, was given. Most of these being in subsequent ages lost to the church, were by Bigod, earl of Norfolk, settled upon Tintern Abbey: at the dissolution, in the reign of Henry VIII, they came to the family of the Somersets, earls of Worcester, and dukes of Beaufort. By the conclusion of the sixth century, South Britain, in consequence of the predominance of the Anglo-Saxons, had relapsed into a state of Pagan idolatry; with the exception of those places over which the native Britons still retained possession and authority,

viz. Wales, Cornwall, and Cumberland; or where a few of them were intermingled with their conquerors in various parts of England.

The old Britons did not want for the forms of Christianity; for they had regular diocesan bishops, besides the various orders of inferior clergy, sent out in general from the religious houses, with which Wales and Cornwall abounded. The bishoprics of Landaff, Margam, Lanbadarn, St. David's, St. Asaph, and Bangor, with that of St. Cebius, in Anglesea, were now established and endowed. Columba, Kentigern, and Ninian, had evangelized the Northern Britons.

From the account that Gildas gives of all classes, clergy as well as laity, the corruption of manners appears to have become general; and religion seems to have had a very faint influence on the community, as a practical principle, teaching them the great lessons of justice, mercy, and truth. But the British Christians were not yet embued with all the superstitions which, by this time, had found their way into the churches on the continent.

We have now to turn our attention to the important subject of the evangelization of the English nation; and the instruments by whom it was effected. To this we shall devote the next chapter.

CHAPTER XI.

The mission of Augustine and his associates. Their reception in Kent from King Ethelbert. The interview between Augustine and the Cambro-British bishops. Slaughter of the monks of Bangor. Death of Augustine and of Ethelbert.

WHEN the dreadful calamities, caused by the wars between the native Britons and the Saxons, began to abate, it might be expected that the national antipathy of the former would have been so far diminished, as to induce them to pity the heathen state of the latter. Some of the clergy, at least, ought to have been possessed of anxious desires for the conversion of their Pagan neighbours. But their contracted views and deep-rooted prejudices could not be removed by the mere forms of Christianity; nor were their minds capable of entertaining sentiments so noble, as to attempt to impart the gospel to a race of aliens, who had violently intruded themselves into their country. We have noticed the description of the British clergy, as drawn by the pen of Gildas. What kind of missionaries could be found among men of so degraded a character, who were loaded with every vice, indolent and sensual, and making a mere trade of the sacred office? Their heathen enemies, now become their countrymen and neighbours, might, for them, perish in their benighted condition.

On the other hand we must admit, if there were a few men of God among the British Christians, who longed