CHAPTER VIII - THE CYMRY AND THE SAXONS, A.D. 566—634

Summary

Heaven's high will

Permits a second and a darker shade

Of Pagan night. Afflicted and dismayed

The relics of the sword flee to the mountains:

Oh wretched land, whose tears have flowed like fountains,

Whose arts and honours in the dust are laid.

Wordsworth: Ecclesiastical Sonnets, part. i. ix.

§ 1. It is observable that the Saxon chroniclers indicate the defeat of their compatriots only by omitting to state the result of a recorded battle; and also, that while they mention the leaders who made good their footing on the coasts in defiance of opposition, they say nothing of those who with their hosts and fleets approached the shores only to perish by the swords and torches of the Britons.

Inch by inch, the British kings and chieftains parted with the soil and left it reeking with their blood; while the peasants, who fondly clung to it, sank into its mere appendages, and became hereditary bondsmen. There were, however, many districts, where the native kings being slain, great numbers of chieftains with their people yielded obedience to the invaders, and retaining their own internal government, and preserving their holy faith, continued to constitute separate communities under the Teutonic kings.

Great numbers of warriors, bards, and ministers of religion fled from the conquered to the unconquered states, and many sought refuge from pursuing fire and sword in the Channel Islands, in Ireland, and in Armorica.