Sovereigns of England since the Conquest The principal European Sovereigns from the period of the Conquest Descendants of Edward I. and his brother Edmund Crouchback 759 G. The House of Lancaster. Descendants of John of Gaunt. Also the H. The House of York. Descendants of Lionel of Antwerp and Edmund Langley 761 I. The kings of France, from Philip III. to Charles VII. (In illustration of the Also (in the body of the work)- The descendants of Philip III. of Spain. (To illustrate the question of the 8. A Chart of the World, showing the British Possessions § 1. Earliest notices of Britain. § 2. The earliest inhabitants of Britain were Celts of the Cymric stock. § 3. Religion of the Britons. § 4. Knights and bards. § 5. Manners and customs of the Britons. § 6. British tribes. § 7. Cæsar's two invasions of Britain. § 8. History till the invasion of Claudius. § 9. Caractacus. § 10. Conquest of Mona; Boadicea. § 11. Agricola. § 12. The Roman walls between the Solway and the Tyne, and between the Clyde and the Forth. § 13. Saxon pirates; Carausius. § 14. Picts and Scots. Departure of the Romans. § 15. Appear to Aëtius. Groans of the Britons. The Saxons cailed in. § 16. Condition of Britain under the Romans. § 17. Christianity in § 1. THE South-western coasts of Britain were probably known to the Phoenician merchants several centuries before the Christian era. The Phoenician colonists of Tartessus and Gades in Spain, and especially of Carthage, were attracted to the shores of Britain by its abundant supply of tin, a metal of great importance in antiquity from the extensive use of bronze for the manufacture of weapons of war and implements of peace. It would seem that this metal was originally obtained from India, since the Grecian name for tin is of Indian origin, and must have been brought into Greece, together with the article itself. Accordingly, when the voyagers obtained tin in Cornwall and Devon, whose high and indented shores might easily be mistaken for islands, these parts were called the Cassiterides or the Tin-islands, a name by which they were known to Herodotus † in the fifth century before the Christian era. writers mention the Britannic Islands as Albion and Iernet including in the former England and Scotland, in the latter Ireland. The origin of the word Britain is disputed,§ but that of Albion is perhaps derived from a Celtic word signifying "white," a name probably given to the island by the Gauls, who could not fail to be struck with the chalky cliffs of the opposite coast. Later In addition to the Phoenician merchants, the Greek colonists of Massalia (Marseilles) and Narbo (Narbonne) carried on a trade at a very early period with the southern parts of Britain, by making overland journeys to the northern coast of Gaul. The principal British exports seem to have been tin, lead, skins, slaves, and hunting-dogs employed by the Celts in war. When the Britons became more civilized, corn and cattle, gold, silver, and iron, and an inferior kind of pearl, were added to the list. An interesting account of the British tin-trade is given by Diodorus Siculus, a contemporary of Julius Cæsar. Diodorus relates that the inhabitants near the promontory of Belerium (Land's End), after the tin was formed into cubical blocks, conveyed it in waggons to an island named Ictis (supposed to be St. Michael's Mount), since at low tides the space between that island and Britain became dry. At Ictis the tin was purchased by the merchants and carried over to Gaul. § 2. The fabulous tale of the colonization of the island by Brut the Trojan, the great grandson of Æneas, deserves no other attention beyond the influence it has exercised on English literature. *The Greek name for tin is kassiteros (Kaoσiτepos), which evidently comes from the Sanscrit kastîra. iii. 115. The native name of Ireland seems to have been Eri, or Erin, as to this day. It It is also called Iris, Ivernia, and Hibernia. It is probably from a Celtic word, brith or brit, "painted," because the inhabitants stained their bodies with a blue colour extracted from woad. v. 22. has no claim to be admitted even as a traditional element in the history of Britain. There can be no doubt that the inhabitants of Britain, when it was first known, were Celts, who peopled the island from the neighbouring continent. The Celts were divided into two great branches, the Gael and the Cymry, the former of whom now inhabit Ireland and the highlands of Scotland, and the latter the principality of Wales. It has been thought by some that traces of an earlier Gaelic population might be found in parts of England, Wales, and the Scottish lowlands; but the more cautious of modern enquirers are inclined to believe that the great mass of the Britons, like the Gauls of the continent, were Cymry,* and that the Welsh are descended from the ancient inhabitants. In proof of this it may be sufficient to mention that most of the Celtic words which still exist in the English language are clearly to be referred to the Cymric and not to the Gaelic dialect. The Gallic origin of the ancient Britons is expressly affirmed by Cæsar, who says† that the maritime parts of the island were inhabited by Belgic Gauls, who had crossed over from the mainland for the sake of plunder. The language, the manners, the government, the religion of both were the same; and many tribes in Britain and Belgic Gaul had similar names. But the inhabitants of the interior, he adds, were indigenous, according to tradition; from which we can only infer that the earlier immigrations of the Celts took place long before the memory of man; and that the less civilized tribes had been driven inland before the Belgic invaders. Tacitus, who derived his information from his father-in-law Agricola, supposed ‡ that the red hair and large limbs of the Caledonians indicated a Germanic origin; and that the dark complexion of the Silures, their curly hair, and their position opposite to Spain, furnished grounds for believing that they were descended from Iberian settlers from that country. But these are evidently mere conjectures, to which Tacitus himself seems to have attached little importance, for he adds that upon a careful estimate of probabilities we must believe that it was the Gauls who took possession of the neighbouring coast.§ § 3. The connection of the Britons with the Celts of Gaul is further shown by their common religion. Cæsar, indeed, was of opinion that Druidism had its origin in Britain, and was transplanted thence into Gaul; and it is certain that in his time Britain was the chief * This is the plural of the Welsh Cymro; and the country of Wales is called Cymrû federation), Latinized into Cambria. Bell. Gall. v. 12. Belgic Gaul was the region between the Rhine, the Seine, and the Marne. Its people, the Belga, were a superior race to the Galli between the Seine, the Marne, and the Loire. Agricol. c. 11. The question of an Iberian, or Basque, settlement in the south-west is still open to discussion. seat of the religion and the principal school where it was taught. But this circumstance only shows that the common faith of the Celt had been preserved in its greatest purity by the remotest and most ancient tribes, who had been driven by the tide of emigration into this island. The religion of the Britons was a most important part of their government, and the Druids, who were their priests, possessed great authority among them. Besides ministering at the altar and directing all religious duties, they presided over the education of the youth; they enjoyed immunity from war and taxes; they possessed both civil and criminal jurisdiction; they decided all controversies between states as well as among private persons, and whoever refused to submit to their decrees was subjected to the severest penalties. The sentence of excommunication was pronounced against the offender; he was forbidden access to the sacrifices or public worship; he was debarred all intercourse with his fellow-citizens; he was refused the protection of the law; and death itself became an acceptable relief from the misery and infamy to which he was exposed. Thus the bonds of government, which were naturally loose among so rude and turbulent a people, were strengthened by the terrors of religion. No species of superstition was ever more terrible than that of the Druids. Besides the severe penalties which it was in the power of the priests to inflict in this world, they are said to have inculcated the eternal transmigration of souls. They practised their rites in dark groves or other secret recesses. To throw a greater mystery over their religion, they communicated their doctrines to the initiated only, and strictly forbade them to be committed to writing. In the ordinary concerns of life, however, when writing was necessary, they employed Greek characters or a sort of hieroglyphics formed from the figures of plants. Of the nature of their rites, except their veneration for the oak and the mistletoe, little is known. When a mistletoe was discovered growing upon an oak, a priest severed it with a golden knife; on which occasion a festival was held under the tree, and two milk-white bulls were offered in sacrifice. The Druids worshipped a plurality of gods, to whom Cæsar, after the Roman fashion, applies the names of the deities of his own country. The attributes of the god chiefly worshipped among them appear to have resembled those of Mercury.* *The stupendous ruins of Stonehenge, situated in Salisbury Plain, and of Avebury, in Wiltshire, were formerly supposed to be the remains of Druidical temples, but they are not mentioned by any ancient writer. It is quite uncertain to what age we should refer these and other rude stone monuments of the pre-historic Britons, such as the cromlechs, which were once called Druidical altars, but are now proved to have been tombs. In the compound word Stone-henge, the latter |
