Beacon Lights of History, Volume 08 | Page 4

years to win Kent
alone, and sixty to complete the conquest of south Britain, and nearly
two hundred to subdue the whole island." But when the conquest was
made it was complete, and England was Saxon, in language, in
institutions, and in manners; while France retained much of the
language, habits, and institutions of the Romans, and even of the old
Gaulish elements of society. England became a German nation on the
complete wreck of everything Roman, whose peculiar characteristic
was the freedom of those who tilled the land or gathered around the
military standard of their chieftains. It was the gradual transfer of a
whole German nation from the Elbe and Rhine to the Thames and the
Humber, with their original village institutions, under the rule of their
eorls, with the simple addition of kings,--unknown in their original
settlements, but brought about by the necessities which military life and
conquest produced.
After the conquest we find seven petty kings, who ruled in different
parts of the island. Jealousies, wars, and marriages soon reduced their
number to three, ruling over Wessex, Mercia, and Northumbria. All the
people of these kingdoms were Pagan, the chief deity of whom was
Woden. It was not till the middle of the seventh century that
Christianity was introduced into Wessex, although Kent and
Northumbria received Christian missionaries half-a-century earlier. The
beautiful though well-known tradition of the incidents which led to the
introduction of the Christian religion deserves a passing mention.
About the middle of the sixth century some Saxons taken in war, in one
of the quarrels of rival kings, and hence made slaves, were exposed for
sale in Rome. Gregory the Great, then simply deacon, passing by the
market-place, observed their fair faces, white bodies, blue eyes, and
golden hair, and inquired of the slave-dealer who they were. "They are
English, or Angles." "No, not Angles," said the pious and poetic deacon;
"they are angels, with faces so angelic. From what country did they

come?" "From Deira." "_De Ira!_ ay, plucked from God's wrath. What
is the name of their king?" "Ella." "Ay, let alleluia be sung in their
land." It need scarcely be added that when this pious and witty deacon
became pope he remembered these Saxon slaves, and sent Augustin (or
Austin,--not to be confounded with Augustine of Hippo, who lived
nearly two centuries earlier), with forty monks as missionaries to
convert the pagan Saxons. They established themselves in Kent A.D.
597, which became the seat of the first English bishopric, through the
favor of the king, Aethelbert, whose wife Clotilda, a French princess,
had been previously converted. Soon after, Essex followed the example
of Kent; and then Northumbria. Wessex was the last of the Saxon
kingdoms to be converted, their inhabitants being especially fierce and
warlike.
It is singular that no traces of Christianity seem to have been left in
Britain on the completion of the Saxon conquest, although it had been
planted there as early as the time of Constantine. Helena was a
Christian, and Pelagius and Celestine were British monks. But the
Saxon conquest eradicated all that was left of Roman influence and
institutions.
When Christianity had once acquired a foothold among the Saxons its
progress was rapid. In no country were monastic institutions more
firmly planted. Monasteries and churches were erected in the principal
settlements and liberally endowed by the Saxon kings. In Kent were the
great sees of Canterbury and Rochester; in Essex was London; in East
Anglia was Norwich; in Wessex was Winchester; in Mercia were
Lichfield, Leicester, Worcester, and Hereford; in Northumbria were
York, Durham, and Ripon. Each cathedral had its schools and convents.
Christianity became the law of the land, and entered largely into all the
Saxon codes. There was a constant immigration of missionaries into
Britain, and the great sees were filled with distinguished ecclesiastics,
frequently from the continent, since a strong union was cemented
between Rome and the English churches. Prince and prelate made
frequent pilgrimages to the old capital of the world, and were received
with distinguished honors. The monasteries were filled with princes
and nobles and ladies of rank. As early as the eighth century

monasteries were enormously multiplied and enriched, for the piety of
the Saxons assumed a monastic type. What civilization existed can be
traced chiefly to the Church.
We read of only three great names among the Saxons who impressed
their genius on the nation, until the various Saxon kingdoms were
united under the sovereignty of Ecgberht, or Egbert, king of Wessex,
about the middle of the ninth century. These were Theodore, Caedmon,
and Baeda. The first was a monk from Tarsus, whom the Pope
dispatched in the year 668 to Britain as Archbishop of Canterbury. To
him the work of church organization was intrusted. He enlarged the
number