The Story of England E-Book

Samuel Harding

• Herausgeber: Perennial Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Seitenzahl: 397

Beschreibung

From the city of Calais, on the northern coast of France, one may look over the water on a clear day and see the white cliffs of Dover, in England. At this point the English Channel is only twenty-one miles wide. But this narrow water has dangerous currents, and often fierce winds sweep over it, so that small ships find it hard to cross. This rough Channel has more than once spoiled the plans of England's enemies, and the English people have many times thanked God for their protecting seas.

Leseprobe

THE STORY OF ENGLAND

Samuel Harding

PERENNIAL PRESS

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Copyright © 2016 by Samuel Harding

Published by Perennial Press

Interior design by Pronoun

Distribution by Pronoun

ISBN: 9781531265014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Britain and the Britons

The Romans in Britain

The Coming of the English

The English Accept Christianity

King Alfred and the Danes

The Normans Conquer England

The Rule of the Normans

Henry II. the First Plantagenet King

Richard the Lion-Hearted and the Crusades

King John and the Great Charter

The Barons’ Wars against Henry III

The First Two Edwards

The Rise of Parliament

Edward III. and the Hundred Years’ War

Richard II., The Last Plantagenet King

The Lancastrian Kings, and the Close of the Hundred Years’ War

The Wars of the Roses (1455-1485)

Henry VII., and the Beginning of Modern Times

Henry VIII. and the Separation from Rome

The Reformation Established

England Under Elizabeth

James I., The First Stuart King

Charles I. and Parliament

The Civil War between King and Parliament (1642-1649)

Commonwealth and Protectorate (1649-1660)

Charles II. and the Stuart Restoration (1660-1685)

James II. and the “Glorious Revolution” (1685-1689)

The Reign of William and Mary (1689-1702)

Queen Anne, the Last of the Stuarts (1702-1714)

The First Hanoverian Kings

Winning the British Empire

George III. and the American Revolution

Industrial and Social Changes

England and the French Revolution

A Period of Reform (1815-1837)

The Early Reign of Queen Victoria

Gladstone and Disraeli

England and Ireland

The British Empire Under Edward VII.

BRITAIN AND THE BRITONS

~

FROM THE CITY OF CALAIS, on the northern coast of France, one may look over the water on a clear day and see the white cliffs of Dover, in England. At this point the English Channel is only twenty-one miles wide. But this narrow water has dangerous currents, and often fierce winds sweep over it, so that small ships find it hard to cross. This rough Channel has more than once spoiled the plans of England’s enemies, and the English people have many times thanked God for their protecting seas.

Indeed, the British Isles belong more to the sea than to the land. They once formed a peninsula, jutting out from Europe, far into the Atlantic Ocean; and thus they remained for countless ages. But a long struggle for mastery went on between sea and land. It ended at last, ages before our story begins, by the sinking of the land between England and France, and between Scotland and Norway. The rolling, tireless sea poured over these low places, to form the North Sea and the English channel. The Irish Sea and St. George’s Channel were formed in the same manner. The result is that we now have the two islands of Great Britain and Ireland, with a number of smaller ones belonging to the same group, instead of that long-ago peninsula of the Continent of Europe.

The sea took the people of these islands for its own. It shut them off from their enemies in the early days of their weakness. It gave them plenty of warm rains, which makes grass and grain grow green and tall. It gave them abundance of fish for food; and when they became stronger as a people, it furnished them broad highways by which they might trade with other nations. So the people of Great Britain have put their trust in the sea, looking to it for their wealth and their strength. The great poet Shakespeare speaks of their land as—

“This fortress built by Nature for herself,

Against infection and the hand of war;

This happy breed of men, this little world,

This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall

Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happy lands.”

But Great Britain has many advantages besides the sea, else it would be no better off than many other islands.

First, its climate is excellent, neither very cold in winter nor very warm in summer. The British Isles are as far north as the bleak peninsula of Labrador in North America, yet the summers in England are about as warm as in Northern Minnesota, and their winters are only as cold as in Virginia. The reason is that along the western coasts of Ireland and Scotland runs the warm Gulf Stream.

There are many rivers, some of them broad and deep, up which ships may go for a considerable distance into the land. The chief of these are the Thames, the Severn, the Mersey, and the Clyde. Besides the river mouths, the country has an irregular coast on all sides, forming many sheltered harbors for ships.

Again, there is a goodly amount of very fertile soil, capable of raising nearly every crop that can be grown in any part of the temperate zone. Then, too, there is great wealth of minerals in the depths of the earth—tin in the southwest of England, and coal and iron in the north and west.

Where there are mines there are usually mountains. So it is in Great Britain. Along the western side of the island the country is mountainous, especially in the extreme west, which is called Wales. The loftiest mountain here is Mount Snowdon, which is about 3500 feet high. In the northern part is Scotland, where the mountains are quite rugged. Wales and northern Scotland are the wilder parts of the island, and were the parts which the English were longest in getting into their possession.

Great Britain is a goodly country—good for man, and beast. It was good for savage men; it was good for men who were beginning to advance beyond savages; and it is good now for a great and powerful nation.

The earliest people of Great Britain, like those of other parts of the world, were savages, who lived in caves or flimsy huts, and had only the rudest weapons. They are called “stone men,” because they clipped stones into shape so as to make rough axes and knives. The later stone men made smooth and polished weapons, similar to the Indian knives and axes which you may see in museums. They had tamed the dog to serve them, and also had oxen, pigs, sheep, and goats.

But, after all, we know very little of these stone men. They disappeared long before civilized men visited these islands, and their place was taken by a people who used “bronze” weapons, made from a mixture of tin and copper.

These men of the “bronze age” were the Britons, and from them the island is still called Britain. Like most Europeans, the Britons were men of “Aryan” speech. The European languages have so many likenesses to one another that scholars think they must all have come from some one original tongue. It is supposed that this language was spoken—long before men began to make records of their deeds—by some one original nation, living somewhere in western Asia or Eastern Europe; and from it the present European nations are all descended. This supposed original people is called Aryan, and those peoples who speak any language descended from theirs are said to be peoples of Aryan speech. The Celts—that is, the Irish, Welsh, Scots, and ancient Gauls—are one branch of the Aryan peoples. Other branches are: the ancient Greeks and Romans; the Teutons (including the Germans and the Dutch); and the Slavs (Russians, Poles, and Servians). In Asia, the Persians and the ancient Hindus also spoke Aryan tongues.

Moving forward, step by step, the Celts settled in western Europe, at some time before history began. The Gauls remained in the country we call France. Others of the Celts, chief among whom were the Britons, moved across the Channel and gave their name to the British Isles.

The Britons were tall and slender, with light complexions and blue eyes. Many of them had red hair. When they went to war they stained their faces and bodies with a bluish dye taken from one of their native herbs. They fought mostly on foot, using swords and spears. They were fierce and bold and ready to resist any invader; but they were not systematic in their fighting, and when steadily attacked would give way. Their bronze weapons and tools were harder and sharper than the stone implements of the earlier peoples. They made small round boats, of basket-work covered with skins. They plowed the land and raised wheat. They could spin and weave; they knew something of mining and metal-working; they could quarry great stones from the hills; and they exchanged their tin for the goods of Gaul and other countries.

Yet the Britons had no cities or towns, but lived in rude villages. Their huts were round, somewhat like Indian wigwams; they were built of sticks and reeds, though sometimes they had stone foundations.

The Britons believed in many gods. These included one who was supreme over all, besides a sun god, a god of thunder, and others. The worship of the Britons included bloody sacrifices of both animals and men. The human sacrifices were usually of criminals, or of captives taken in war; but sometimes innocent persons were sacrificed to their gods. The priests were called Druids, and they were the most learned men among the Britons. They were respected almost as much as the chiefs and kings, and were consulted on all questions of law and religion.

At several places in England there are still standing some peculiar stone structures, erected in these early days. The most famous of these is Stonehenge, near Salisbury. It is a circle of huge stones set on end, with great stones laid crosswise upon them. Smaller circles and ovals are arranged within the great circle. One of the stones at Stonehenge weighs nearly seventy tons. The whole circle stands in the midst of burial places, and it probably had something to do with the worship of these early peoples.

No one knows how long the Britons were the ruling race in these islands. But whether it was many centuries, or only a few, they did not learn to unite under a single government. They had many chiefs, but none who was recognized throughout the country as supreme.

So, when the Romans made an invasion into their land, no united resistance was possible. The stricter discipline and firmer organization of the Romans won the victory, and Britain was added to the great Empire of Rome.

THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN

~

WHEN CHRIST WAS BORN, ABOUT nineteen hundred years ago, the Roman Empire was the greatest government in the world.

Through seven centuries of struggle the Romans had slowly increased their strength. In the early days, when Rome stood alone as a small city on the seven hills by the river Tiber, it had more than once been in danger of destruction, from civil war within or from enemies without. But gradually it extended in power, until all Italy was under Rome’s rule. Then Sicily was gained; then Spain, Macedonia, Greece, and many other countries—until Roman governors and Roman armies were found in all the lands bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, and Rome was mistress of the civilized world.

Wherever the Roman power went, peace and good order went also, and for many years the Roman Empire remained a blessing to the world. But Rome was not able to stop her conquests. The barbarians of the north—the Germans and the Gauls—threatened her borders, and she defended herself by sending armies into their countries also.

The commander of one of these armies was Julius Caesar—the greatest of Roman generals and also a great statesman. He was in charge of the war against the Gauls. In three years he conquered their whole country, from the Pyrenees Mountains to the English Channel. In the next seven years he succeeded in bringing Gaul so thoroughly under Roman control, and making the Gallic people so well satisfied with their condition, that his province became in later days one of the most civilized and peaceful parts of the Empire.

During his work in Gaul, Caesar twice led an army into Britain. His object was to show to the Britons the Roman power, and to warn them not to help their kinsmen across the Channel.

Caesar’s first visit was in the year 55 before Christ. On this occasion the Britons met the Romans at the shore, and tried to prevent their landing. Here a Roman soldier showed the value of Roman training. While the Romans were hesitating to leap into the sea, a standard bearer, who carried the brazen eagle, cried out:

“Follow me, fellow soldiers, unless you will betray the Roman eagle into the hands of the enemy. For my part, I am resolved to do my duty to Caesar and to the commonwealth.”

He then leaped from the ship, and the other soldiers followed. The Britons were driven back, after a fierce conflict.

That year Caesar remained only a short time in Britain. Next summer he came again, remained a little longer, and made the Britons promise to pay tribute. He did not conquer any part of Britain, and the tribute was never paid. But he showed the Britons the power of Rome, and they did not afterward interfere with his work in Gaul. When Caesar wrote a history of his wars, a few years later, he gave the Romans their first real knowledge of Britain. From that time on, they looked upon it as a land worth having.

About a hundred years afterward, the Romans began their first conquest of the island. Large armies were sent over, and the conquest was made, little by little, from the south toward the north and west. In about forty years, all that we now know as England was conquered.

At one time Boadicea, the queen of a tribe in eastern Britain, led the people in a great revolt against the unjust and cruel acts of a Roman governor. For a time the British swept victoriously over the country. They captured and burned the Roman settlement where London now is and killed thousands of the Romans. But the Romans were better organized, and in the end they defeated the queen’s army. Boadicea then took poison, and the revolt was over.

Some years later, the Roman governor Agricola came to Britain to finish the conquest. He was a man of energy and courage, and he extended the Roman power from the Humber river northward to the river Clyde. He built a line of forts across the country, to hold back the wild tribes of Picts, in the north. He was a just governor, and his fair treatment caused many of the Britons to like the Roman rule.

Later, the Emperor Hadrian came in person to Britain. While there, he ordered that a continuous earthen wall and ditch should built about eighty miles south of Agricola’s forts. These defenses extended right across the island, over hills and valleys, from the river Tyne on the east to the Solway Firth on the west. At the same time, or later, a stone wall was added, which was seventeen feet high, and from six to eight feet thick. A well-paved road ran along the south side, from sea to sea, a distance of seventy-three miles. Seventeen stone forts guarded the wall, with a watch tower every mile. Some parts of the wall and of these forts still remain. For many years, this wall was the northern boundary of the Roman province, and it proved a strong barrier against the warlike Picts.

South of the wall the Romans proceeded, as was their custom, to civilize the country. They gave the Britons peace, but the Roman peace was oppressive. Taxes were very heavy. Roman officers were often greedy and cruel. The common people were reduced almost to slavery. The Britons lost their skill in the use of weapons. What was worse, they lost their spirit of independence.

In Britain, as in other provinces of the Roman Empire, the Romans built well-paved roads, in order that they might march their troops rapidly from place to place. There were four principal roads, reaching out from London to all parts of the country. The one best known is called Watling Street, and ran from Dover to London, and then northwest to Chester. These roads were built on a foundation of broken stone, a foot or more deep, with a pavement of hard blocks of stone, fitted together. Some portions of these roads remained in use for more than a thousand years.

The Romans also introduced better methods of agriculture. They brought in new kinds of trees, such as the chestnut, the walnut, and the elm. They introduced new vegetables, such as the radish and the pea, and new animals, among them the rabbit. All of these are now familiar in English country life.

Some towns sprang up in Britain, during the three and a half centuries that Rome ruled the land; and remains are found of handsome country residences called “villas.” In the towns and villas, Latin was the recognized language. But in the country districts, away from the roads, the Britons retained their own language and their own customs.

One thing which the Romans brought to the Britons was the Christian religion. In some unknown way, but probably through the influence of humble soldiers, the Christian religion was introduced into Britain. From there it was carried into the still free and barbarous island of Ireland.

The man who carried Christianity to Ireland was Saint Patrick. While still a young man, in Britain, he was taken captive by a roving band and carried into Ireland. There he was kept, for a number of years, as a slave. He was encouraged to escape to Gaul by a dream, in which a voice said: “Thy ship is ready.” Later he returned to Ireland, and preached the Gospel there. For more than thirty years he traveled up and down the island, baptizing converts, and establishing churches and monasteries. The Christian church has continued in Ireland without interruption ever since. Once every year, on Saint Patrick’s day, even we Americans are reminded of the unselfish life of Ireland’s most famous saint.

Britain remained a part of the Roman Empire until about the year 410 after Christ. In the latter part of this time, the power of Rome was steadily growing weaker. Great pestilences came. The population of Italy increased. The armies were composed of barbarians from outside the Empire. Farmers became “serfs,” who were obliged to give part of their produce to some one above them. A few great men were rich, but all the rest were poor. Civil war arose, and the Empire was ready to go to pieces.

Then the German barbarians crossed the Danube and the Rhine rivers, which formed the frontiers of the Empire, and began to roam about at pleasure. They came with their families and their goods, and province after province was overrun by them. Even Italy was not free from attack. Twice during the fifth century Rome itself was captured and given up to fire and pillage.

Britain, meanwhile, passed out of Roman hands. About the time that the first attack was made on Italy (410 A.D.) the Roman troops were withdrawn from Britain for use elsewhere, and the inhabitants were notified that they must protect themselves.

The Britons were in despair. They had almost forgotten how to fight, and they were unwilling to unite under one leader. Their old enemies, the Picts and Scots (wild tribes from Scotland and Ireland), began to attack them. The Britons resisted, but at first with little spirit. A last despairing letter, called “The Groans of the Britons,” was sent to the chief general of Rome, in which they said:

“The barbarians drive us to the sea; the sea throws us back on the barbarians. Thus two modes of death await us: we are either slain or drowned.”

Britain lay as a rich prize, ready to be taken by the strongest. And soon there came, from over the eastern sea, conquering bands of wandering Germans who settled in Britain and made it their own.

THE COMING OF THE ENGLISH

~

THE GERMAN TRIBES THAT INVADED Britain were the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. They were the ancestors of the English people of today.

For many generations these tribes had dwelt in northern Germany, by the shores of the North Sea and the Baltic. Their ways of living were like those of the other Germans of that time. They cleared little tracts of land in the gloomy forests, on which they raised a few bushels of grain and pastured their scrubby cattle. The men left most of the work to the women, while they engaged in hunting or went to war. These tribes had never been governed by the Romans, so they knew nothing of Roman civilization or the Christian religion. More than any other Germans, perhaps, they loved the sea, a liking which their situation made it easy for them to gratify. They delighted to swoop down on unsuspecting coasts, gather what booty they could, and then take to their ships again before resistance could be formed. A Roman poet sings of the Old English in these words:

“Foes are they, fierce beyond other foes, and cunning as they are fierce. The sea is their school of war, and the storm is their friend. They are sea-wolves that prey on the pillage of the world!”

So long as the Romans ruled Britain, the English made only pirate raids on that land. But when the Roman troops were withdrawn, an opportunity soon came for them to settle there, and to begin the conquest of the island.

This opportunity arose out of the weakness of the Britons, and the attacks which the barbarous Picts and Scots were making upon them from the north and west. A ruler of the Britons named Vortigern, about the year 449, invited a band of the Old English sea-rovers to assist the Britons against the Picts and Scots. He promised to supply them with provisions during the war, and to give them for their own an island near the mouth of the Thames river.

The bargain was agreed to, and the English came, under the lead, it is said, of two brothers, named Hengist and Horsa—names which mean “the horse” and “the mare.” They soon defeated the Picts, and freed the Britons from that danger. Then they quarreled with their employers, on the ground that the provisions furnished them were not sufficient.

“Unless more plentiful supplies are brought us,” they said, “we will break our agreement with you, and ravage the whole country.”

The English were strengthened by the arrival of many shiploads from their home lands, and war with the Britons followed. It lasted for nearly two centuries, and ended in the conquest by the newcomers of all that part of the island ("England,” or “Angle-land") which we still call by their name.

We know very little of the details of this struggle. It was a long and bitter conquest, with much fierce and cruel fighting. Little by little, the Britons were driven back towards the west and north. When captured, they were either killed or enslaved. The Roman cities were either destroyed by fire, or were left unoccupied, and fell into ruins. Fresh bands of the English kept coming in, bringing their families, their cattle, and their goods. The Christian religion disappeared from all the eastern and southern parts of the island.

“The priests were everywhere slain before the altars,” says Bede, the oldest English historian. “The people were destroyed with fire and sword. Some of the miserable remainder, being taken in the mountains, were butchered in heaps. Some fled beyond the seas. Others led a miserable life among the woods, rocks, and mountains, with scarcely enough food to support life, and expecting every moment to be their last.”

After one hundred and fifty years of fighting, the invaders did not hold quite all that the Romans had held. The western coast, from Cornwall in the south to the river Clyde in the north, was still British. All the north was still in the hands of the wild Celtic tribes. But from the Firth of Forth southward, all the eastern, central, and southeastern parts of the island passed from the old owners to the new. The Britons had been replaced by the English. The Jutes settled in the southeastern district, which formed the Kingdom of Kent.

The southern coast was occupied by the Saxons. Those nearest the Jutes formed the kingdom of the South Saxons or “Sussex.” Farther west were the West Saxons, with their kingdom of “Wessex.” Just north of the Jutes were the East Saxons, in what is called “Essex.”

The greater part of the eastern coast, as well as the interior of the country, was in the hands of the Angles, who formed the kingdoms of “East Anglia,” “Mercia,” and “Northumberland” (the land north of the Humber river).

These seven kingdoms are sometimes spoken of as the “Heptarchy,” which means “seven governments.”

We may be very sure that the Britons resisted bravely, otherwise the conquest would not have taken so long. In later days, their descendants loved to tell stories of a great King, called Arthur, who led his people to many victories against the English.

As the stories have it, King Arthur was pure in thought and deed, and was without fear. It was said that he was mysteriously cast up by the sea, a new-born babe, to be heir to the kingdom. When he became King he gathered warriors like himself in council, about the famous Round Table, and led them to war. He bore an enchanted sword of victory, which had come to him in a wonderful way. The poet Tennyson makes Arthur say:

“Thou rememberest how

In those old days, one summer noon, an arm

Rose up from out the bosom of the lake,

Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,

Holding the sword—and how I rowed across

And took it, and have worn it, like a King.”

The stories say that King Arthur protected his people from their enemies for many years, and at last was miraculously carried away to the happy island, there to live until he should come again, and again rule Britain. A great number of stories have gathered about the name of Arthur, until the tales of the “Knights of the Round Table” have become as numerous and as famous as the thousand and one tales of the “Arabian Nights.”

But in spite of King Arthur—if there really was such a person—the Britons were pushed back into the mountains of the West. There, under the name of the “Welsh” (which was a German word for “strangers"), they maintain themselves to this day. The two races settled down, each in its own region. Sometimes there was war between them, sometimes peace. The English could no longer turn their whole strength against the Welsh, because there was much fighting among the different English kingdoms.

The life of the English, in their new home, was much like what it had been in Germany. They lived in small villages of rude and comfortless huts. About each village lay the land belonging to it, divided into woodland, pasture, and tillable ground. The woodland and pasture were used by all the people in common. The tillable ground was divided into three fields. One-third was used for winter grain, one-third grew spring grain, and the remainder lay fallow—that is, was allowed to rest. Every year a change was made, so that each field lay fallow one year out of every three. The fields were divided into long, narrow strips, and each man held a number of these strips, scattered over the field. No man had all his land in one piece. This system of landholding continued among the English for a thousand years—long after their other customs had seen great changes.

The village and its lands usually formed a single “township.” The townships, in turn, were grouped into districts called “hundreds.” Each hundred had its own public meeting, called the “moot,” which decided the affairs of the hundred. The warriors from all the hundreds of each kingdom met in a “folk-moot,” or meeting of the people. When the small kingdoms were combined, in later days, into larger kingdoms, these folk-moots became “shire-moots,” or county courts, and the original kingdoms became “shires,” or counties of the larger kingdom. For the whole kingdom there was a meeting of the wise men called the “Witan,” or the “Witenagemot.”

In Germany, few of the tribes had kings. But when the English entered Britain the constant fighting obliged them to choose permanent leaders. It was easy for a successful military leader to increase his power. So, by the time the conquest of the Britons ended, each of the English tribes had its King.

Below the king, there were two classes of freemen—the old nobles who claimed descent from the gods, and the common people. But a new class of nobles was arising, composed of those warriors who followed the King most closely, and lived in his house. These were the King’s “thegns,” and they were destined to become more powerful than the old nobles.

Below the freemen were the “slaves,” who could be bought and sold like cattle, and had no rights at all. Then there was a class of “unfree” people, who could not be bought and sold, yet in some ways had not the rights of freemen, and could not go and come as they pleased.

The life of these Old English was very rude and simple. They had no great cities; they made no roads or bridges; they had no statues, no paintings, no books. Where they found these things in the land, they destroyed them or neglected them. When they drove out the Britons, they drove out with them all that made life easier and more refined. The Roman culture was all gone. The Britons long refused to send Christian missionaries among these English; so they continued their pagan worship in their new home. Heathen altars were set up, and sacrifices were offered to the German gods.

But the time was close at hand when the English, too, should be won to the faith of Christ.

THE ENGLISH ACCEPT CHRISTIANITY

~

AT ROME, ONE DAY, A monk named Gregory saw some white boys offered for sale as slaves. Their bodies were fair, their faces beautiful, and their hair soft and fine. Gregory asked whence they came.

“From Britain,” was the answer. “There the people are all fair, like these boys.”

Then he asked whether they were Christians, and was told that they were still pagans.

“Alas,” said he, “what a pity that lads of such fair faces should lack inward grace.” He wished next to know the name of their nation.

“They are called Angles,” was the reply.

“They should be called angels, not Angles,” said Gregory; “for they have angelic faces. What is the name of their king?”

“Ælla,” was the answer.

“Alleluia,” said Gregory, making another pun, “the praise of God the Creator must be sung in those parts.”

Gregory was so deeply impressed by the sight of these boys that he wished to go as a missionary to the English. But he had no opportunity then to do so. A few years later he became Pope, that is, head of the Church. He was very learned and pious, and did so much to benefit the church that he is called Gregory the Great. He still remembered the English, and soon sent Augustine, a pious monk of Rome, to preach the Gospel to that people.

Augustine, with forty companions, landed in the English kingdom of Kent in the year 597. The King of Kent had married a Christian princess from Gaul, and was disposed to deal kindly with Augustine. But he received him in the open air, for fear some magic might be used if the meeting were held under a roof. The monks came up in procession, singing, and carrying a silver cross and a picture of Christ.

After listening to the preaching of Augustine, the King said:

“Your words and promises are fair, but they are new to us. I cannot approve of them so far as to forsake the religion which I have so long followed, with the whole English nation. But we will give you favorable entertainment, and we do not forbid you to preach and to gain as many as you can to your religion.”

The King gave Augustine and his companions a house to live in, in his capital, Canterbury. He also permitted them to repair an old Christian church there, and to build a monastery. Soon the earnest preaching and holy living of the monks impressed the King and his people, and they became Christians. Thus Canterbury became the oldest of the English churches. When the church was organized a little later for all England, the Archbishop of Canterbury became its head, under the Pope.

Other monks worked as missionaries in different parts of England, but it was nearly a hundred years before all England accepted Christianity. Sometimes, when a kingdom seemed completely converted, a new King would come to the throne who would drive out the Christian priests, destroy the churches, and restore the heathen worship. But the missionaries persevered, and in the end the Christian faith conquered.

At one time the King of Northumberland called his leading men together to discuss the question of accepting Christianity. One of the thegns gave his opinion in these words:

“The life of a man in this world, O King, may be likened to what happens when you are sitting at supper with your thegns, in winter time. A fire is blazing on the hearth, and the hall is warm; but outside the rain and the snow are falling, and the wind is howling. A sparrow comes, and flies through the hall; it enters by one door, and goes out by another. While it is within the hall, it feels not the howling blast; but when the short space of rest is over, it flies out into the storm again, and passes away from our sight. Even so it is with the brief life of man. It appears for a little while; but what precedes it, or what comes after it, we know not at all. Wherefore, if this new teaching can tell us anything of this, let us harken and follow it.”

Then the missionary who had come to them, one of Augustine’s followers, was allowed to speak. When he was through, the high priest of the pagan religion led the way in destroying the old temples and idols, saying:

“The more diligently I sought after after truth in that worship, the less I found it.”

Most of the missionary work in the north of England was done by monks of the old Celtic Christian church, which had existed in Britain before the English came, and which still flourished in Ireland. The Celtic missionaries in England came chiefly from the little island of Iona, off the western coast of Scotland, where there was a famous monastery.

But these Celtic Christians had been so long shut off from the rest of Europe that their church was different from the Roman Church in some of its customs. They did not recognize the Pope’s authority; they kept Easter at a different time; and their priests shaved their heads in a different fashion.

So disputes arose between the Roman missionaries and the Celtic missionaries; and to settle the question of which were right, the King of Northumberland called a meeting at Whitby. The Roman missionaries showed that their time of keeping Easter was that used by all the world, except the Irish and the Britons; and that it was approved by the Pope, who was the successor of St. Peter, the chief of the apostles. Then the King asked the Celtic missionaries:

“Is it true that the keys of heaven were given to Peter by our Lord?”

And when they admitted this, the King said:

“If Peter is the doorkeeper, I will never contradict him, but will obey his decrees in all things, lest when I come to the gates of heaven they should not open for me.”

From this time forward the English church followed the Roman customs, and after a time the Celtic churches began to do likewise. Thus the Church in the British Isles became united, and was brought into closer connection with the rest of the world.

Soon the need was seen of a better organization of the Church in England. The whole land was divided into two “provinces,” over each of which was placed an archbishop, one with his cathedral church at Canterbury, the other at York. Under each archbishop were a number of bishops, each with his cathedral church, and each in charge of a certain district called a “diocese.” Each diocese was divided into “parishes,” and for each parish there was provided a parish priest, who conducted the services of the parish church and looked after the welfare of its people.

Within a century and a half after the coming of Augustine, the English church was one of the best organized and most noted in Christendom. Learning flourished, and missionaries went to the continent to aid in spreading Christianity among the Germans of the old country, who were still heathen.

The most famous of these English missionaries was St. Boniface. He twice made the long journey to Rome; and with the support of the Pope, and of the King of the Franks, who now ruled Gaul, he restored the Gallic church, and organized that of Germany. Everywhere he brought the Church into close dependence upon the Pope. In 755, he went to Frisia, on the borders of the North Sea, and was there slain by the heathen Frisians. Thus he found the crown of martyrdom, which he eagerly sought.

Most of these early missionaries were monks. They lived according to a set of rules drawn up by St. Benedict, a famous Italian monk of the sixth century; and everywhere that they went, they established monasteries.

On joining a monastery, a man took three vows—that he would obey his superiors, that he would never own any property, and that he would never marry. These were called the vows of “poverty,” “chastity,” and “obedience.” Each monastery was defended by a wall, within which were the “cloister,” the kitchen, the church, and other buildings. The “cloister” was the covered passageway which inclosed the inner court; about it were the monks’ “dormitory” where they slept, and the “refectory” where they ate their meals.

The monks were required to attend religious services at midnight, and seven times during the day, beginning at daybreak. Certain hours of the day were set aside for work with the hands, and others for reading and meditation. The monks dressed in coarse woolen gowns, generally black; and they slept on hard beds, and ate the plainest food. About the monasteries were lands which the monks cultivated. They drained marshes, cleared forests, and improved poor lands, so that the monasteries became models of agriculture for all the country. Besides this, they gave alms to the poor, and sheltered travelers.

The rule of St. Benedict required each monk to give part of his time to study, and so the monks gathered libraries and taught schools. There were no printed books, and some of the monks spent their days in copying “manuscript” books by hand. Whoever wished to become a scholar was obliged to become a monk, or at least to attend a monastery school. Some of the greatest scholars in Europe were found in the English monasteries, and when the emperor Charlemagne wished to establish schools in his kingdom, he called to his court one of these English monks.

The most famous of these monks in England was Bede, to whom we owe much of our knowledge of these times. He entered the monastery of Jarrow, at the mouth of the river Tyne, when he was only nine years old; and he lived there the rest of his life—for over fifty years. He learned all that any schools of that day could teach him. He did his share of the labor of the monastery, but found time also to teach in the school, and to write many books in Latin, which was then the language of educated men. Most of his books were explanations of the Scriptures, and have been lost; but he wrote an Ecclesiastical History of England which has been carefully preserved, and which is now almost the only record we have of the earliest days of English rule.

One of Bede’s pupils tells us of the last days of his master’s life, when he knew that death must come within a few days. In spite of pain, Bede was cheerful, and continued his literary work. On the last day the boy, who was writing what Bede dictated to him said:

“Most dear master, there is still one chapter wanting. Do you think it troublesome to be asked any more questions?”

Bede answered: “It is no trouble. Take your pen, and write fast.”

They worked all morning and half the afternoon. Then Bede stopped to divide among his fellow monks such little things as he possessed. Then he talked with them a while, and bade them farewell. At last the boy said:

“Dear master, there is yet one sentence not written.”

He answered: “Write quickly.”

Soon the boy said: “The sentence is now written.”

Bede replied: “It is well, you have said the truth. It is ended.”

“And thus, sitting on the pavement of his little cell, singing, ‘Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,’ when he had named the Holy Ghost he breathed his last, and so departed to the heavenly kingdom.”

KING ALFRED AND THE DANES

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THE UNION OF THE CHURCH in England helped bring about a union of all the English kingdoms under a single head. When men had formed the habit of acting together in church matters, they found it easier to act together in matters of government.

Of the seven kingdoms which made up the “Heptarchy,” three were larger and stronger than the others. These were Northumberland, Mercia, and Wessex. Each of these tried in turn to secure control over the rest. During the seventh century, the King of Northumberland was recognized as leader. During the eighth century, the King of Mercia held that position. Then, early in the ninth century, the leadership passed to the King of Wessex.

The first of the Wessex kings to hold this overlordship was Egbert, who ruled from 802 to 839. In his early days he was obliged to flee from England to the court of the great Frankish Emperor, Charlemagne. When his fortunes changed, and he returned to his kingdom, he secured more power than any English king before him. The other kingdoms lasted for a time, and had their own kings, but all submitted to Egbert and paid tribute to him. From the reign of King Egbert, then, we may date the union of the English kingdoms.

Perhaps this union would not have continued if it had not been that all parts of England were soon after exposed to a great and lasting danger, through the invasions of the Danes.

The Danes were inhabitants of the northern lands, which now form the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. They were “Low-Germans,” like the English; and like the ancestors of the English they were great pirates and sea-rovers. In the eighth and ninth centuries they began to swarm forth from their northern homes and overrun all western Europe. They were called “Northmen” in France, and “Danes” in England. They called themselves “Vikings,” or men of the “wicks” (or inlets) of their home country, from which their swift ships came forth. They plundered the coasts of Germany, France, England, Ireland, and even Italy. They discovered and settled Iceland about the year 875, and Greenland a century later. Soon after, they visited “Vinland,” to the west, which we believe was the then unknown continent of America.

In France, after repeated attacks through all the ninth century, the Northmen at last settled down in a large district about the mouth of the river Seine, which was given them by the French King. There they became known as the “Normans,” and the name Normandy is still given to that district.

In England, the first attacks of the Danes were made in the year 787, and were mere pirate raids for plunder. Later they came in great armies, and began to make conquests and settle down, as they had done in France. The Danes were still heathen, as the English had been when they first came; so they destroyed and plundered the monasteries and churches, where the most precious things were to be found, and slew or drove out the priests and monks.

Little by little, the Danes overran one English kingdom after another, until all had been taken except Wessex itself.

Here they were met by the young King, Alfred—"the wisest, best, and greatest King that ever reigned in England,"—and their advance was checked and their conquests stopped. When he was very young, Alfred accompanied his father, the West-Saxon King, to Rome. He spent a year or two there, and became a favorite of the Pope. At home, his mother trained her children carefully, and encouraged them to study. One day she said to them:

“Do you see this little book, with its clear black writing, and the beautiful letter at the beginning, printed in red, blue and gold? It shall belong to the one who first learns its songs.”

“Mother,” said Alfred, “will you really give that beautiful book to me if I learn it first?”

“Yes,” was her reply, “I really will.”

Alfred then took the book to his teacher, and soon learned to repeat the verses. Thus he not only earned the coveted prize, but also showed the quickness of mind and interest in learning which made him noted in after years.

As Alfred grew older he continued his studies, and took part also in hunting and in outdoor sports. When he grew to manhood, he found sterner work to do, for the Danes were now advancing into Wessex.

Alfred’s older brother, Ethelred, was King of Wessex, and Alfred worked loyally to help him. Of the year 871, a historian of that time writes:

“Nine general battles were fought this year south of the Thames, besides which Alfred, the King’s brother, and single rulers of shires and king’s thegns, oftentimes made attacks on the Danes which are not counted.”

In one of these battles, King Ethelred was wounded so badly that he died, and Alfred became king in his place. Alfred ruled for thirty years, from 871 to 901.