Chapter XXXIV: Section I

_Character of the Anglo-Saxons_, _with general observations on the invasion and conquest of this country by them_, _and their barbarous treatment of the inhabitants_.

The Saxons, who soon succeeded the Romans in the possession of this country, were never very remarkable for forming and encouraging projects of improvement, or for cultivating the arts of peace. They were, indeed a very different sort of people from the others, and possessed all their bad qualities without any of their good ones. They had long been distinguished as a fierce and lawless race, a nation of pirates, and freebooters, like the modern _Algierines_, whose chief delight consisted in predatory expeditions, and all manner of acts of violence and brutality, which passed with them for national virtue, patriotism, and military glory.

Long before they had effected any settlement in Britain, they used to make frequent descents upon the coast, particularly that of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. To guard against which, the Romans not only kept a fleet cruising in these seas, but also built a chain of forts in the most convenient places, which they had well garrisoned. These forts were nine in number, and extended from Brancaster to Yarmouth, and thence down a considerable way along the coast; and (as was before observed) the troops here stationed, a good part of which consisted of cavalry, were under the command of an officer called, _The Count of the Saxon shore_. This provision, or precaution, however, proved, too often, but a very imperfect security against the sudden inroads of those ancient and daring marauders. {229}

Of all the nations of the north, the Saxons appear to have been the most barbarous and most sanguinary. The _Francs_, who conquered Gaul, were a civilised people compared with them. Of the use of letters they were totally ignorant. All knowledge that had not some affinity with piracy, or tendency to improve their system of rapine and devastation, was by them held in the utmost contempt and abhorrence. _Gildas_, who was born but a few years after their arrival in this country, describes them as a most fierce and detestable people, “a nation odious both to God and man.” {231} They were invited here to assist the inhabitants in opposing the incursions of the _Picts_ and _Scots_; but they soon turned their arms against their infatuated employers, and converted the war into a system of extermination.

Their countrymen on the continent long retained the original character of their nation. During many ages they continued preeminent for their bloodthirsty disposition and savage manners. _Charlemagne_ subdued them, after a thirty years war, and forced them to become converts to _his_ Christianity, and submit to baptism; but their ferocity he did not subdue, nor had their conversion any effect towards humanizing them. They were, however, _called Christians_: which was like calling evil, good, or Satan, an angel of light. These Saxon Christians, in the twelfth century, quarrelled with the _Venedi_, a neighbouring nation, because they objected against embracing _their_ Christianity, and refused to renounce their own paganism, which they seemed to prefer, for its cheapness. The former they found to be an institution attended with an expence which they could but ill support. Bishoprics were to be erected, with large revenues, Monasteries to be endowed, and an annual tribute, under the name of tithes, to be paid by the whole country. Against this the Venedi remonstrated, to Bernard Duke of Saxony, the christian champion. They protested that they were very poor, and unable to bear any heavy burden, such as providing for the maintenance of priests, and especially for the dignity and parade of mitred prelates; that they were fully determined to suffer any extremity, even to abandon their country and state, rather than submit to so tyrannical an oppression. This firm opposition of theirs to the will of the christian potentate, or rather the Saxon tyrant, involved them in a long and bloody war, the final issue of which was, their utter extirpation, by Henry Duke of Saxony, surnamed the Lion, the great champion of the church on that occasion. The cruelty with which he disgraced his victory, was horrible. Few revolutions in history were attended with such circumstances of barbarity, or proved so destructive to the ancient inhabitants. {232} Even Charlemagne, after he had subdued the Saxons, by a long and bloody war, did not attempt to destroy their whole race, but only transplanted a part, and the remainder he endeavoured to reconcile to his empire by the establishment of his Christianity. But the Saxons, by far more cruel than the Francs, were of all conquerors the most destructive, extending the utmost rigour of the sword against those who dared to contend with them for liberty or empire.

“In the same ferocious manner, (says the historian) their ancestors
some centuries before had behaved in Britain, where they either
massacred or expelled the greatest part of the natives, who had
invited them over to their assistance. None of the other nations
that overran the Roman Empire behaved with such cruelty to the
conquered inhabitants, or were inflamed with such rancour and
animosity, as to attempt to convert those provinces into deserts.
The Goths, the Burgandians, the Lombards, instead of massacring the
Romans in cold blood, and endeavouring to extirpate their whole race,
enacted very just laws in favour of those people, in consequence of
which the Romans and those fierce barbarous, their conquerors, were
considered in the same light as fellow citizens. _Theodorick_ king
of Italy, a Gothic prince, upon sending an army into Gaul, makes use
of these words to his general, which deserve to be inscribed on
pillars of brass, “Let other kings delight in the plunder and
devastation of the towns they have subdued; we are desirous to
conquer in such a manner, that our new subjects shall lament their
having fallen too late under our government.” {233}

How much happier had it been for the Britons to have been invaded by Theodorick than by the Saxons!

From the above account of the character of the ancient Saxons, one may be enabled to form a pretty just, but shocking idea of the miseries in which they involved the wretched inhabitants of this country, and those of Lynn and its vicinity among the rest. The exterminating war which they here waged, and the horrid devastation which attended their successful progress, have been recorded by Gildas, who himself lived at that eventful period, and must have been an eye-witness to no small portion of the direful events which he describes. Nothing can exceed the tragical description he gives of the diabolical and destructive operations of those brutal invaders. He represents the whole country, and especially the western parts, near to which he chiefly resided, as entirely laid waste with fire and sword, and the inhabitants massacred wherever they could be found. Of the wretched remnant, some fled to foreign countries, others retired to the mountains, or hid themselves in deserts and fastnesses, where, however, they could not long remain:—drawn forth by the pressing calls of hunger and famine, multitudes were forced to surrender to the merciless foe, begging that their lives might be spared, on the abject and miserable condition of submitting to perpetual slavery. Even of these not a few appear to have been instantly consigned to destruction. {234a} Others, however, were spared; and from them, in all probability, sprung the _Servi_, or slaves, with which the country abounded for many ages after. {234b} Some of the wretched inhabitants were so fortunate as to make their escape to their countrymen, either in _Wales_, or in _Devon_ and _Cornwall_, or else in _Cumberland_ and the northern parts, where they made a noble stand, and long maintained their liberty and independence.