The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-27
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| natVes oil the coast OF Germany and Juuand.
| Who were these invading peoples about which
such vague and misleading notions used to be
| current in the school histories? The Picts in
habited that part of Scotland which lay north Of
the wall connecting the Forth and tho Clyde
| They were the same people that had been called
Caledonians In the time OF Agricoa, that is to
say, in the latter half OF the first century OF our
era Why they had ceased to be called Caledonians
| Is unknown. Tho ordinary derivation of their
names from the Latin pictus an adjective said to
| have been applied TO them because they painted
their bodies, is inaccurate The opinions Of ethno-
ogists differ as 10 whether they were Godels with
strong lbcran strain, or Iberians with Goideiic
| admxturc Mr. Gardiner is one Of those who arc
| inclined to consider them Ibcrians; at all events
the Ilcts were more savage than the Britons had
been before they were influenced by Roman ciyili-
| zaion The Scots, who afterwards settled in
| what Is now known az Scotland, dwelt In Ireland
at the time Of the departure of the legions from
Britain Whilst the Picts, therefore, assaulted the
Roman province by land, and strove to break
through the walls which defended its northern
frontier the Scots crossed the Irish Sea in light
boats to plumber and slay. The Saxons, who
had been no less deadly enemies Of the Roman
government, were fierce and restless as the
Picts and Scots, and were better equipped and
armed. At first they were only known TO the
inhabitants OF Britain as mcrciless pirates In
their long natbottomed vessels, they swooped
down on some undcfcnded part Of the coast and
carried of not only the property of rich
Romans. but even men and women to be sold in
the slave market The Saxons were men of Teu-
tonic race speaking one of the languages after
wards known as Low German which were once
smoker in the whpIp nj
called Saxon pirates were probably drawn from
the whole OF the seacoast stretching from the tip
Of the Peninsula Of Jutland 10 the mouth of the
Ems; II so, there were amongst them Jutes, whose
homes were In Jutland itself Angles who in
habited Schlcswig and Holsten and Saxons
properly so termed, who dwet about the mouth of
the Elbe and further to the west All these poo
pie afterwards took part in the conquest of
southern Britain and it is not unlikely that they
oil shared in the original piratical attacks
Whether this was the not tho pirates
came from creeks and inlets outside the Roman
Empire whose boundary the Rhine and they
could only be successfully repressed by a power
possessed OF good feet, able to seek out the az,
Eressors in their own homes, and to stop the mes
chief at its source The Romans, however had
always been weak at sea- and they were weaker
in the fourth century OF our than they had
been in earlier days They WERE therefore,
DDllBcu W COHtcit themselves Win standing
the defensive In the fourth century that divi-
sion of the island which the Romans called Lower
Britain, apparently the southeastern part was
especially exposed to the attacks OF the Saxon
pirates. FortrcsSes were erected bowecn the
Wash and Bcachy Head at every point where
an inlet OF the afforded an opening To an in
vadcr The whole of this part Of tho coast of
Britain became known as the Saxon Shore
because ii was subjected to attacks from the Sax
ons and a special officer. known as the Count Of
the Saxon Shore, was appointed to take charge
of it
1t is well-known that the three Continental
peoples who In time effected the conquest of
Britain south of the Firth OF Forth and east
of line rough ly corresponding with the
present eastern boundary Of Wales, were
ultimately designated amongst themselves
by the common name OF English, q name
which was originally equvalcn to Anglo On the
other hand. amongst the whole OF the surviving
Celtic population, the newcomers only known
as Saxons The mode in which the English
treated the Brtons was very different from
that practised by the Romano, who were
a civilized people and aimed at governing
a conquered The invaders from the
other side of tn" North Sea drove out tho Britons
in order 70 find homes for themselves and they pre-
ferred TO settle in the country rather than in the
towns No EnGlishman had ever lived in a town |
IN nus German home, or was able to appreciate the
advantages OF the commerce and manufactures by |
which towns, arc supported Neither were they |
inclined to allow the inhabitants OF the Roman |
towns to remain unmolested in the midst OF them.
When the great fortified town OF Anderda on the |
Saxon shore was captured not Brton escaped |
alive and there is good reason to believe that many
of the other towns Jared no better especially the
remains Of some Of them still show marks Of the |
fire by which they were consumed. What took |
place in the open country cannot certainly be |
known. Many Of the British were unquestona- |
bly, killed. Many took refuge in fens or woods or |
fed to those portions OF the island in which their |
countrymen were still independent Mr.. Gardiner |
is one OF those who find II dicut to decide 10 what
extent the men who remained behnd were spared, |
but he deems it impossible to doubt that a consider
able number OF women were spared from slaughter.
The conquerors, at their landing must have been |
for the most part young men, and when they /,
wanted wives II would DO far easier for them TO |
seize thcdaughters OF slain Britons than TO fetch
women from the bank Of the E1be Whether tho |
bondmen OF whom we hear not long after the con- |
quest were EnElishmen BrtonA IL still disputed |
The evidence bearing on the subject is exceedingly
seanty. II Is at lonAt certain, however. that tho |
further the conquesa progressed westward. the |
greater Wao the number Of Brtons preserved alive
On tho eastern and southern coasts the bulk OF tho
population was undoubtedly English There |
English institutions and the English language |
took firm root The conquerors looked on the |
Dhtous with the utmost contempt, naming them |
Welsh, nhno which no BrtOn thought OF giving |
to himself but which the Germans had been In the |
habit Of applying somewhat dsdainfuIly TO the |
Celts on the continent So Tar as British words |
have entered into tho English language al al