4 V. 560. that they should again be led by their majestic CHAP. chief, and be again victorious. He boldly announced, that in this happy day should be restored to every one his own; that then the horns of gladness should proclaim the song of peace, the serene days of Cambrian happiness. The anticipation of this blissful æra gave rapture to the Cymry, even in their stony paradise of Wales. The proud invaders mocked the vaunting prophecy, and, to render it nugatory, unpeopled some of their native coasts on the Baltic", and filled Britain with an active and hardy race, whose augmenting population and persevering valour at length carried the hated Saxon sceptre even to the remotest corners of venerated Anglesey. But up to the reign of Alfred, and even afterwards, the Britons still maintained their own kingdoms in Cornwall and part of Devonshire, and in that portion of the north which Then the Britons will obtain And the strange people Will vanish away. He concludes with declaring that Michael had predicted the future happiness of Britain. Taliesin, p. 94. Gildas, p. 8., states, that the Saxons had a prophecy that they should ravage Britain 150 years, and enjoy it 150. The limitation has rather a Cambrian aspect. 4 Myrddin's Afallenau, p. 153. Golyddan, in his Arymes Prydein vawr, endeavours to inspire his countrymen by a similar prediction. The first part is a review of the transactions between Hengist and the Britons. It is in the Welsh Archaiology, vol. i. p. 156-159. 5 These epithets are Welsh. Stony Wales is a phrase of Taliesin, and Llywarch denominates Powis "the paradise of the Cymry,' p. 119. 6 Bede affirms the complete emigration of the Angles; he says, their country "ab eo tempore usque hodie manere desertus," lib. i. c. 15. To the like purpose Nennius, "ita ut insulas de quibus venerant absque habitatore relinquerunt," c. 37. BOOK composed the Stratclyde district. It was not till Athelstan's reign that they finally lost Exeter. III. 571. THE Britons long after Arthur's death maintained their patriotic struggle against the kingdom of Wessex. They fought, though unsuccessfully, at Bedford, against the brother of Ceawlin, as we have noticed before. The Anglo-Saxon, in marching back to Wessex, through the districts then still in the hands of the natives, took Lygeanburh, Aylesbury, Bensington, and Ensham. Six years afterwards, the Britons again resisted the progressive ambition of the Saxons. An important battle occurred between them at Derham, in Gloucestershire, in which some of the kings of Wales appear to have confederated against the invaders; for three British sovereigns, Conmail, Condidan, and Farinmail fell in the conflict: two of these seem to be the princes lamented by Llywarch Hen in one of his elegies": 9 His Marwnad Cynddylan, the son Cyndrwyn. It begins ener The venerable bard proceeds with his panegyrical apostrophes to his deceased friend, calling him the bright pillar of his country; the sagacious in thought; with the heart of a hawk, of a greyhound, of a wild boar; and daring as a wolf tracing the fallen carcase. See it translated by Dr. Owen Pugh, p. 71–105. The cap CHAP. V. the last was king of Monmouthshire. 10 11 SEVEN years afterwards, we read of Ceawlin pursuing hostilities against the Britons on the Severn. A bloody contest occurred at Frithern. The Britons fought with earnest resolution, and for some time with unusual success. The brother of the West Saxon king was slain, and his forces gave way. But Ceawlin rallied his countrymen, and, after great slaughter, obtained the victory. The issue was as decisive as it had been long doubtful; and many towns were added to Wessex, and a vast booty divided among the conquerors. The 12 He also commemorates Caranmael, apparently the Saxon Conmail. I heard from the meadow the clattering of shields. He also laments the fall of Freuer: Is it not the death of Freuer, It breaks my sleep. I weep at the dawn. W. A. p. 112. W. A. p. 110. 10 I do not know that the Freuer of Llywarch means the same person as Farinmail; but it is likely that this was the Fernvail who was then reigning in Gwent or Monmouthshire. See Regis. Landew, quoted by Langhorn in his useful Chronicle, p. 115. 11 See before, p. 275. Ethelwerd calls these cities, urbes eorum clariores, p. 835. Huntingdon's epithet is excellentissimas, p. 315. 12 Flor. 224. Hunt. 315. M. Westm. omits the ultimate success of Ceawlin, and states it as a British victory, p. 198. Soon after this contest, Langhorn quotes Io. Salisb. Poylc. v. c. 17., to say, that paulo post Anglorum introitum impositum fuisse Angliæ nomen." Langhorn has here departed from his usual accuracy. The passage of our elegant monk is lib. v. c. 17. p. 197., and merely mentions 571. III. 560. 13 BOOK Britons, with undismayed perseverance, fought again seven years afterwards, at Wanborough, and appear to have obtained a complete victory. 13 There were probably many efforts of minor importance made by the Britons which the Saxon chroniclers have not noticed. 14 The AngloSaxons war with each other. 568. Ethelbert invades Ceawlin. BUT as soon as the Anglo-Saxon kings had so far subdued the Britons, as to be in no general danger from their hostility, and began to feel their own strength in the growing population of their provinces, and in the habitual submission of the natives, their propensity to war, and their avarice of power, excited them to turn their arms upon each other. It was the impatience of a young mind to distinguish itself, which thus began a new series of wars that lasted till Egbert. The attacks and successes of the West Saxons and the South Saxons had turned off from Kent the direction of British hostility. Left at leisure for the indulgence of youthful turbulence, Ethelbert, the fourth successor of Hengist, at the age of sixteen, presumed to invade Ceawlin, the king of Wessex. This ac that "ab inventu Saxonum in insulam appellatur Anglia." These words determine no chronology like paulo post. They express only one of the consequences of the Saxon invasion, without marking the precise time of the change of name. 13 The brief intimation of the Saxon Chronicle, p. 22., is more fully expressed in Hunt. 315.; and Ethelwerd ascribes to this battle the expulsion of Ceawlin from his throne, p. 835. 14 Thus Meigant, the British bard of the seventh century, mentions an expedition of the British chief Morial : — Pacing to combat, a great booty Before Caer Lwydgoed, has not Morial taken 1 W. Ar. p. 160. tion seems to have been intemperate. Ceawlin had displayed both talent and resources for war, and Kent never attained the territorial extent or power of Wessex. But it is probable that the Anglo-Saxons know nothing as yet of the geography or comparative strength of their respective kingdoms. The issue of this contest taught Kent to understand better its true position in the political scale of the octarchy. Ceawlin collected his troops, defeated Ethelbert at Wimbledon, and threatened the Kentish Jutes with the subjection which they had armed to impose. This is remarked to have been the first battle that occurred between the Anglo-Saxon sovereigns. 16 15 CEAWLIN SOON imitated, but with more success from his superior means, the ambition of Ethelbert. On the death of its sovereign, Cissa, he obtained the kingdom of Sussex. By annexing it to West Saxony, he changed the Saxon octarchy into a temporary heptarchy. CHAP. V. 568. 584. death. DREADED for his power and ambition, Ceawlin Ceawlin's now preponderated over the other Saxon monarchs"; but his prosperity changed before his 15 Sax. Chron. p. 21. Flor. Wigorn. 222. Malmsbury attributes the aggression to Ethelbert's desire of engrossing præ antiquitate familiæ primas partes sibi, p. 12. 16 Hunt. 315. About this time, in 573, the Saxons obtained a settlement in France. They were placed in the Armorican region after their irruption, in finibus Bajocassium et Namnetensium. Bouquet's Recueil des Historiens des Gaules, vol. ii. p. 250.-Hence Gregory of Tours calls them Saxones Bajocassos, lib. v. c. 10. It is curious that they were sent against the British Settlers in Gaul, who defeated them. Gregory, lib. v. c. 27. Their district, Charles the Bald, in his Laws apud Silvacum, calls Linguam Saxonicam. Bouquet, p. 250. 17 Bede, lib. ii. c. 5. He was the second Saxon prince so distinguished. Matt. West. says generally, "magnificatum est nomen |