Identifier: historyofmediv00davi (find matches)
Title: A history of mediæval and modern Europe for secondary schools
Year: 1920 (1920s)
Authors: Davis, William Stearns, 1877-1930 McKendrick, Norman Shaw, 1876-
Subjects:
Publisher: Boston, New York (etc.) Houghton Mifflin company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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s were far from having founded a united nation.At least seven warring kingdoms possessed the land, and bloodyand tedious is the tale of their colhsions.^ In the institutions 1 As a matter of fact, the invaders were of different tribes, but all of the samegeneral type and race: — thus we find the Anglo-Saxons and the Jutes all at-tacking Britain almost simultaneously, and seizing portions of the soil. 2 Possibly it was at this time that King Arthur ruled among the native Celtsand gave a temporary check to the invaders, but the facts of his career are hope-lessly shrouded in legend: indeed, it is somewhat hard to prove that he is anhistorical character. It is generally held that the extermination or expulsion of the romanizedCelts was so complete that the later England owes very little of its law and civili-zation to them. * These kingdoms were Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, Northumbria, EastAnglia, and Mercia; and this period is often called the time of the Heptarchy( Seven Kingdoms ).
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West 2 fn.in Greenwich 0 Lutifitiide KasI ENGLAND TO 1300 THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION m and laws of these Anglo-Saxons (Angles plus Saxons) can befound the germs of very many of the institutions of Englandand America to-day, but the process of tracing them is oftenobscure and difficult. Slowly the seven kingdoms were fusedinto a single monarchy, but considerably before this processwas completed the Anglo-Saxons had renounced paganism,even as had their Germanic brethren on the continent. The great Pope Gregory I sent Augustine and other Romanmissionaries to England, and in 597, they converted Ethelbert,King of Kent. The old heathen worship died hard: there werereactions to paganism, and new Christian martyrs. But theAnglo-Saxons evidently were already finding their crudenature-worship unable to explain the great problems of lifeand eternity. Thus spoke one of the kings chief men while Edwin of Northumbria deliberated on accepting Chris-tianity: O King, this present life of man se

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