Part 3

Notwithstanding the misfortunes that befel Caractacus, the Britons were not subdued; and this island was regarded by the ambitious Romans as a field in which military honor might still be acquired. During the reign of Nero, Suetonius Paulinus was invested with the command, and prepared to signalise his name by victories over these barbarians. Finding that the island of Mona, (now Anglesey), was the chief seat of the Druids, he resolved to attack it, and to subject a place which was the centre of superstition, and which afforded protection to all their baffled forces. The Britons endeavoured to obstruct his landing on this sacred island, both by the force of arms and the terrors of their religion. The women and priests were intermingled with the soldiers upon the shore, and running about with flaming torches in their hands, and tossing their dishevelled hair; they struck greater terror into the astonished Romans by their howlings, cries, and execrations, than the real danger from the armed forces. But Suetonius exhorting his troops to contemn a superstition which they despised, impelled them to the attack, drove the Britons off the field, burned the Druids in the same fires which they had prepared for their captive enemies, destroyed all the consecrated groves and altars, and, having thus triumphed over the religion of the Britons, he thought his future progress would be easy in reducing the people to subjection.

The Britons, taking advantage of the absence of Suetonius, were shortly after in arms, headed by Boadicea, the Queen of the Iceni, who had been treated in the most ignominious manner by the Roman tribunes, and had already attacked with success several settlements of their insulting conquerors; the Romans, and all strangers, to the number of 70,000, resident in London, are said to have been massacred: thus determined were the British to cut off all hopes of peace or compromise with the enemy. But this cruelty was revenged by Suetonius, in a great and decisive battle, where 80,000 Britons perished, and Boadicea herself, rather than fall into the hands of the enraged victor, put an end to her own life by poison. But the dominion of the Romans was not finally established till A.D. 80, when the Roman legions were placed under the command of Julius Agricola. This celebrated commander formed a regular plan of subduing Britain, and rendering the acquisition useful to the conquerors. He carried his victorious arms northward, defeated the Britons in every encounter, pierced into the forests and mountains of Caledonia, reduced everything to subjection in the southern parts of the island and chased before him all the men of fiercer and more intractable spirits, who deemed war and death itself less tolerable than servitude under the victors. Agricola endeavoured to secure his conquest by erecting a chain of forts across the isthmus between the Frith of Forth and the Clyde, and in the year 84 he extended a chain of stations from Solway Frith to Tynemouth. He introduced laws and civilization among the Britons, taught them to desire and raise all the conveniences of life, reconciled them to the Roman language and manners, instructed them in letters and science, and employed every expedient to render those chains which he had forged both easy and agreeable to them. The inhabitants having experienced how unequal their own force was to resist that of the Romans, acquiesced in the dominion of their masters, and were gradually incorporated as a part of that mighty empire. The chain of stations erected by Agricola was afterwards connected by an earthen rampart, raised by the Emperor Adrian as an obstruction to the Caledonians, who frequently descended and committed the most dreadful ravages in the Roman territories.

The early commerce of the ancient Britons was carried on by barter, without the aid of money, but about the commencement of the Christian era a mint master was invited over to Britain from the continent. A mint was erected at Colchester, and money of gold, silver and copper was coined in that city; about forty different specimens have reached our times. Mines both of silver and gold were worked in the island during the reigns of Augustus and Trajan. The Romans drew their revenues from various sources; commerce, mines, legacies, houses, and lands all contributed to supply their exactions; and as they had suggested to the natives the mode of making money, they did not fail to supply the exhausted treasury of Rome from the industry of Britain. A succession of ages had almost identified the Britains with the Roman conquerors; and when the Emperors, pressed by difficulties at home, and weakened by their possessions abroad, began to withdraw their legions from this island, the inhabitants importuned them to remain, to protect them from the incursions of the Picts and Scots. The wall of Severus was no longer a barrier to these semi-barbarians. During the residence of the Romans in this island, comprehending a period of 400 years, many great public works were accomplished, and they left behind them numerous monuments of their skill and industry. The conquered country was divided into six provinces, each of them governed by a prætor and præstor, the former charged with the general administration of government, and the latter with the management of finances.

In the year 450, two years after the last Roman legion had quitted England, Hengist and Horsa, two brothers, reputed descendants in the fourth generation from Wodin, one of the principal gods of the Saxons, embarked their army, to the number of 1,600, on board three vessels, and landing in the Isle of Thanet, immediately marched to the defence of the Britons, who had invited them over to protect them against their northern invaders. Having expelled the enemy, the fertility and richness of the country presented a temptation too strong to be resisted by the ambition of these newly acquired friends, who soon began to aspire to the possession of the island. The Saxons of Germany soon after reinforced Hengist and Horsa with 5,000 men, who came over in seventeen vessels. Roused by this display of treachery, the native inhabitants flew to arms, and fought many battles under Vortimer with their enemies; the victories, however, in these actions are disputed by the British and Saxon annalist, but the progress made by the Saxons proves that the advantage was commonly on their side. It was about the year 455 the Hengists aiming at an independent sovereignty in Britain, began the conquest of the territory, and a series of battles ensued between Hengist and Horsa on the one side, and Vortimer and Catigern, two sons of Vortigern, on the other. The battle of Aylesford is memorable for the death of Horsa on the side of the Saxons, and of Catigern on that of the Britons. But Hengist, continually reinforced by fresh numbers from Germany, carried devastation into the most remote corners of Britain; and being chiefly anxious to spread the terrors of his arms, he spared neither age, sex, nor condition, wherever he marched with his victorious forces. The private and public edifices of the Britons were reduced to ashes, the priests were slaughtered on the altars; others deserted their native country and took shelter in Armorica, where, being charitably received by a people of the same language and manners, they settled in great numbers, and gave the country the name of Brittany.

King Arthur, in the year 518, almost expelled the Saxons from the island; but after the death of this monarch, the Saxons again prevailed under various leaders, and the island was divided into seven kingdoms. Thus was established the Heptarchy, Shropshire being included in the kingdom of Mercia, which reached from London to the Mersey. In the kingdoms of the Heptarchy, an exact rule of succession was either unknown or not strictly observed, and thence the reigning prince was continually agitated with jealousy against all the princes of the blood, whom he still considered as rivals, and whose death alone could give him entire security in his possession of the throne. From this fatal cause, together with the admiration of the monastic life, and the opinion of merit attending the preservation of chastity, even in a married state, the royal families had been entirely extinguished in all the kingdoms except that of Wessex; and Egbert was the sole descendant of those first conquerors who subdued Britain, and who enhanced their authority by claiming a pedigree from Woden, the supreme divinity of their ancestors. The Mercians, before the accession of Egbert, had very nearly attained the absolute sovereignty over the Heptarchy. He had reduced the East Angles under subjection, and established tributary princes in the kingdoms of Kent and Essex. Northumberland was involved in anarchy, and no state of any consequence remained but that of Wessex, which, being much inferior in extent to Mercia, was supported by the great qualities alone of its sovereign. Egbert led his army against the invaders, obtained a complete victory, and, by the slaughter executed on them in their flight, gave a mortal blow to the power of the Mercians. Egbert, however, allowed Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumberland the power of electing a King, who paid him tribute, and was dependent on him. Thus were united all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy, in the year 823, in one great state, near 400 years after the first arrival of the Saxons in Britain. The fortunate arms and prudent policy of Egbert at last effected what had been so often attempted in vain, by other princes. Union in the government gave the people hopes of settled tranquillity, but these fair expectations were speedily blasted by the re-appearance of the Danes, who for some ages had kept the Anglo-Saxons in a state of perpetual alarm. For upwards of forty years, and through five successive reigns, the Danes continued the struggle, and, at the death of Etheldred, his brother Alfred, the successor to the throne, was obliged to abandon the field, and seek an asylum as a swine-herd. Emerging afterwards from his retreat, he expelled the invaders, and contributed essentially to lay the foundations of those institutions on which the glorious superstructure of English liberty, was finally erected. Alfred soon perceived that an army without a maritime force, must ever be at the mercy of every piratical plunderer, determined to store his ports with shipping; and vessels larger than those in use in the surrounding nations were built, many of which carried sixty oars. The unremitting attention of this illustrious prince to the navy, contributed to increase the blessings of his reign, and has obtained for him the title of “Father of the British Navy.”

Of the Saxon system of government it may be observed, that it had in it the germ of freedom, if it did not always exhibit the fruit. In religion they were idolators, and their idols, altars, and temples, soon overspread the country. They had a god for every day of the week. _Thor_, the God of thunder, represented Thursday; _Woden_, the God of battle, represented Wednesday; _Friga_, the God of love, presided over Friday; _Seater_, the God of Saturday, had influence over the fruits of the earth; _Tuyse_, the God of the Dutch, conferred his name on Tuesday; they also worshipped the sun and the moon, each conferring a name on one of the days of the week; _Sunnan_, on Sunday; and _Monan_, on Monday. The merit of eradicating this baneful superstition, by the introduction of Christianity, was reserved for a Roman Pontiff. Gregory, surnamed the Great, who, in the year 597, sent Augustine, a monk, into the south, and Paulinus into the north of England, by whose preaching the Christian religion made such rapid progress, that it soon became the prevailing faith, and Augustine was elevated to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, and Paulinus was made Archbishop of York. He was the first to preach Christianity in Mercia, where he followed the victorious arms of Edwin, King of Northumbria.

The greater part of this country was inhabited by the Cornavii and Ordovices, the first of which occupied the eastern side of the Severn, whose capital was Uriconium, now Wroxeter, and the latter were confined to the western side of the Severn. Though the troops of the Cornavii were registered in the declension of the empire, it is supposed that they submitted to the Roman yoke upon easier terms than their neighbours, who held out some time ere their liberty was wrested from them. The Romans allotted one side of the Severn, eastward, to Britannia Prima, and the western side to Britannia Secunda. The Saxons made Watling street, that runs through the middle of the county, the boundary between them and the Danes, but when the compact with the Danes was broken, it returned to the former division of England and Wales. After the Romans had abandoned the Island, part of Shropshire was included in the kingdom of Powis, which comprised portions of the counties of Chester, Flint, Denbigh, Radnor, and Brecon, and the whole of Montgomeryshire, of which Pengwern (Shrewsbury) was the capital. For near two centuries this section of Powisland was the theatre of frequent and sanguinary contests between the Britons and the Saxons; it was finally subdued and incorporated with Mercia, the most powerful of the seven kingdoms forming the Saxon Heptarchy. When the Danes invaded this island, and, by their formidable incursions, seemed to threaten its total subjection, this part of the kingdom of Mercia, though it suffered less than others, came in for a share of the general calamity, and its chief city, Uriconium, was destroyed. About the year 777, the seat of the Prince of Powis was removed from Pengwern to Mantraval, in Montgomeryshire. The Britons, who had made incursions into Mercia, were forced not only to abandon all their conquests there, but also that part of their country which lay between the Severn and OFFA’S DYKE, which that King threw up as a new boundary between them and Mercia, instead of Severn, their former boundary. The Britons had made their incursions into Offa’s territories, while he was employed in subduing the Saxon kings, and having no opposition, they were very successful, till at length Offa, being obliged to conclude a peace with the English, that he might dispossess them of their new acquisitions, in which he proved so successful as to force their retreat, and to prevent their ever returning, threw up the before-mentioned ditch. This ditch extended from the river Wye along the counties of Hereford and Radnor, to Montgomeryshire, and thence near the road between Bishop’s Castle and Newtown. It then passed by Mellington Hall, where there is an encampment, and on to Leighton Hall, not far from which it is lost for upwards of five miles, the channel of the Severn probably serving for that space, as a continuation of the boundary. It is again seen at Llandysilio and Llanymynech, from whence it runs to Tref-y-clawdd, and below the race course, at Oswestry. It then passes above Selattyn, whence it descends to the Ceriog, and goes by Chirk Castle, and crosses the Dee and Rhuabon road, near Plas Madoc, and being continued through Flintshire, ends a little below Holywell. Offa, after having carried his arms over most parts of Flintshire, and vainly imagined that his labours would restrain the Cambrian inroads, and prevent incursions beyond the limits which he had decreed to be the boundaries of his conquests. It is observable, says Pennant, that in all parts the ditch is on the Welsh side, and that there are numbers of small artificial mounds, the sites of small forts along its course. These were garrisoned, and seem intended for the same purpose as the towers in the famous Chinese wall, to watch the motions of their neighbours, and to repel hostile incursions. The folly of this great work appeared on the death of Offa, for the Welsh, with irresistible fury, carried their ravages far and wide in the English marshes. Harold made an ordinance that all Welshmen found beyond Offa’s Dyke, within the English pale, with a weapon about him, was to have his right hand cut off by the King’s officers.

In the year 1013, Seneyn, King of Denmark, landed with an army in this country to revenge a cruel massacre of the Danes, which had taken place a short time before; having brought his fleet up the Trent to Gainsborough, and landed his forces, it created such a terror that the whole kingdom was soon brought under his yoke; he, however, did not long enjoy his success, for he died the following year, and was succeeded by his son Canute, between whom and Edmund, the Saxon, several sanguinary engagements took place, and the kingdom was for a short time divided. In 1041, Edward the Confessor was by the unanimous voice of the people raised to the throne; having reigned twenty-five years he died, and with him ended both the Saxon and Danish rule in this kingdom. Harold, the son of Godwin, was the next to take possession of the throne, but he was opposed by his brother Tosti, who formed a confederacy with Harfrager, King of Norway; he entered the Humber with a considerable force, and landed his troops in Yorkshire, where, in a deadly conflict, they were completely overthrown by Harold, who left his brother and Harfrager among the slain. Harold having retired to York to rejoice over his victory, received information that William Duke of Normandy had landed with a numerous and warlike army at Ravensey, in Sussex, to meet this unexpected foe. Harold immediately marched his forces to Hastings, where in an unsuccessful battle he lost his life. William the Conqueror had no sooner taken possession of the throne, than he set up various claims to his new possessions, but his principal right was that of conquest, and if his sword had not been stronger than his titles, so many English estates would not have been placed at his disposal. William brought in his train a large body of Norman adventurers, and the roll of Battle Abbey, given by Ralph Holinshead, contains the names of 629 Normans, who all became claimants upon the fair territory of Britain, and the Saxon lords were forced to resign their possessions. The landed property in this county was chiefly given to Roger de Montgomery, his kinsman, whom he created Earl of Shrewsbury, and of him, it was mostly held by knights’ service; to William Pantulf he granted 29 lordships, of which Wem was the principal, and he therefore made it the head of his barony. Ralph de Mortimer had fifty manors, of which nineteen were held under Roger de Montgomery; Roger Lacy had 23 manors: Roger Fitz Corbet 24 manors; Osborne Fitz Richard nine; and Guarine de Meez one manor.

After so great an agitation as that produced by the conquest, some years were necessary to restore a calm. A violent struggle was made to expel the Normans, and York was the rallying point of the patriot army. To suppress this formidable insurrection, William the Conqueror repaired in person into the north at the head of a powerful army, swearing by the “splendour of God,” his usual oath, that not a soul of his enemies should be left alive. According to William of Malmesbury, confirmed by others, the whole of the country was laid waste from the Humber to the Tees, and for nine years neither spade nor plough was put in the ground, which was the reason why _vasta_ so often occurs in Doomsday book. Knowing the detestation in which he was held, the Norman Bastard, as historians designate him, entertained a constant jealousy of the English, and he obliged them every night at eight o’clock to extinguish their fires and candles at the toll of a bell which obtained the name of “Curfew.” Having by these sanguinary atrocities reduced the country to repose, the Conqueror, in 1080, caused a survey to be taken of all the lands in the kingdom, on the model of the book at Winchester, compiled by order of Alfred the Great. This survey was registered in the national record called the _Doomsday Book_, in which is the extent of the land in each district, the state it was in, whether meadow, pasture, wood, or arable, the name of the proprietor, the tenure by which it was held, and the value at which it was estimated, were all duly entered. In order to make this document complete, and its authority perpetual, commissioners were appointed to superintend the survey, and the returns were made under the sanction of juries of all orders of freemen in each district. After a labour of six years the business was accomplished, and this important document, the best memorial of the Conqueror, written in Roman, with a mixture of Saxon, is still preserved in the Chapter House, Westminster. For many years Doomsday Book remained unprinted, but in the 40th of the reign of George III. his Majesty, by the recommendation of Parliament, and with a proper regard to public interest, directed that it should be printed for the use of the Members of Parliament, and also be deposited in all the public libraries in the kingdom. The counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham, are not described in Doomsday Book, probably owing to the desolation in which they were at that time involved. Through all ages this “book of judicial verdict” will be held in estimation, not only for its antiquity, but also for its intrinsic value. At the time it was completed, it afforded the king an exact knowledge of his own land and revenue; while the rights of his subjects in all disputed cases were settled by it; and to the present day, it serves to show what manor is, and what is not ancient demesne.