180 CRANIA BEITANNICA. [CHAP. VI.
The next invaders of the British Islands, whose first expeditions were chronologically quite
as early as any we have mentioned, came, like the Romans, from an extraneous shore. The
name Saxon, " that celebrated name in which we have a dear and domestic interest," is fii'st
mentioned by Ptolemy, in the early part of the second century, as that of a people dwelling at
the entrance of the Cimbric Chersonese, the present Holstein, and in the three Saxon islands at
the mouth of the Elbe, therefore, perhaps, in nearly the same district as the Cimbri. This name
has been derived from Seax, a dagger * ; and thus the Saxons are considered to have been at first
distinguished as dagger-bearers—an appellation, whatever the origin of their name, the "aspera
gens Saxo " weU deserved. The name itself appears to have had a generic or comprehensive
signification; and it seems likely that it succeeded that of Cimbri, in consequence of the growth
and predominance of another tribe. The earliest appearance of the Saxons was in the character
of sea-rovers and pii-ates, who infested the coasts of the German Ocean, the Atlantic, and even
the Mediterranean. In the thn-d century the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian found the
inroads of the Eranks and Saxons so formidable and frequent that they nominated an oflcer to
repress them, whose title became Count of the Saxon Erontier. His oflce appears to have been
mainly the defence of the northern coast of Gaul, the Belgic, and the Armorican regions, the
latter, fhepagiis Baiocassinus, afterwards embraced in Normandy. Whether by the middle of
the fifth century the invaders had formed regular settlements in this part of Gaid, and whether
the same restless entei-prise and the same indomitable perseverance were attended with like
results along the eastern and south-eastern shores of Britain, which were quite as accessible and
quite as inviting, seem to be very problematical. Hence the opinion that the Count of the
Saxon Erontier was at the same time, or iiltimately became, the guardian for the defence and
the regulation of these settlements is a matter of great question t. This we know, that in the
" Notitia Imperii" the troops are enumerated who were under the command of the " Comes
Limitis Saxonici per Britanniam," whose authority extended at least from the neighbom-hood of
Portsmouth to the Wash, and he had the command of about one-fourth of the Roman troops in
Britain.
Tacitus altogether omits the name of Saxones-, but, in his work on the Manners of the
Germans, he must be considered to have described congenerous peoples, and we shall be safe in
taldng his account upon the whole as strictly applicable to the former. Erom this we learn that
they manifested many essential differences from the tribes of Celtic blood, whether we take this
term in its restricted and legitimate or in a more comprehensive sense. They differed in their
institutions, both political, religious, and domestic; intheh'manners and characters; and, what
was and is still the foundation and index of aU these diversities, they differed in their physical
organization. These differences are about as distinct at the present day as ever they werei.
of Edward the son of Edmund Ironside, at whose suggestion
this council was assembled, spoke Saxon alone. The king,
Malcolm III., who understood the Enghsh language as well as
his own Gaelic, acted as interpreter between them—Chalmers,
" Caledonia," i. 440. It would require a much more critical
inquiry than is here proposed, to trace the full extent of early
Scotic or Irish inHuence on the eastern island and islets. In
matters of religion, this influence was extensive and considerable.
It was manifested from Cornwall to Shetland, as is testified
by the inscriptions in Irish Oghams.—B.Jones, "Vestiges
of Gael in Gwynedd," 1851.
* Bosworth's " Diet, of the Anglo-Saxon Language," 1838,
p. li. See Kemhle's estimate of this kind of etymology.
" Saxons in England," i. 41.
t Lappenherg and Kemble, the chief authority for such
duplex, if not contradictory, duty of this officer, are opposed by
Dr. Edwin Guest with learning andvigour.—Salisbury Volume
of Archasol. Inst. 1851, p. 33.
t Kemble, op. cit. i. 482. A Frisian of the 17th century,
Herman Conringins, who took his degrees of Doctor in Philosophy
and Medicine, and his bride on the same day, wrote a
curious and very learned book, "De Habitus Corporum Ger-
CHAP. VI.] ETHNOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OE SUCCESSIVE POPULATIONS. 181
The enduring nature and essential importance of ethnic diversities could have no clearer or. fuller
proof *. In the features which at once strike the eye, Tacitus describes the German tribes as
presenting a remarkable resemblance among such multitudes, which he attributes to the purity of
their breed +. He has no doubt of their indigenous origin. His words of brevity are " truces et
ccerulei oculi, rutilfe comas, magna corpora." Like most such concise descriptions, this must be
interpreted with some latitude J, and taken to mean an unusual proportion of tall, bulky people,
with light and often golden hair, and blue or grey eyes, probably stern and unpleasant to look
upon §. These features would at once impress the scrutinizing gaze of an Italian, to
whom they must have appeared very uncommon. There has never been any doubt as to the
correctness of tliis description of the ancient Germans by the great Roman historian; on the
contrary, in one particular or another, it is confirmed by CiEsar, Columella, Mela, Pliny who
visited the country, Josephus, Juvenal, Quintilian, and many others. It is one of the principal
landmarks of ethnology ||.
The tribes which were united under the name of Saxons, included, besides the Saxones of
Ptolemy, most likely the Erisii, the Angli, and the Jutes. The Erisii^f occupied a part of the
country, on the coast, between the Rhine and the Ems; the Angli were seated in the regions
about the mouth of the Elbe. The Jutas, which has been considered to be a form of the endlessly
transmuted designation Tetitones, are thought to have imparted their name to the Cimbric
Peninsula—Jutland **. Beda afiirms, after the Anglo-Saxon conquest, that the people of Kent,
and also of the Isle of Wight and of the part of Hampshire opposite that island, were derived from
the Jutes, a German nation t t , a statement which is repeated in. the Anglo-Saxon Chroniclei J.
There are no grounds for regarding these Jutes as Danes, but almost an entire absence of evimanicorum
antiqui ac novi Causis," 1652. In this remarkable
volume the author dwells at considerable length on the ample
testimony given by ancient writers to the uniform characters
of great stature, fair complexion, blue eyes, and blond hair
among the old Germans ; then inquisitively endeavours to penetrate
into the causes of these pecuharities ; following up his
search by asking, why these quahties have been dimiuished in
the modern Germans. His queries embrace the modus operandi
of the more frequent use of beer, wine and spirits ; of the abuse
of tea, coffee, and chocolate ; and also of the Suctio Fumi Ta~
bacini as nocent influences on the stature of the Germans of
his day. By a too rigid interpretation of Greek and Roman
writers, Conrmgius, like those who have followed in his steps,
imagined a disagreement which has no true foundation.
* Lappenberg's "England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings,"
by Thorpe, vol. i. p. 99.
t Jntea, p. 25. "The Germans of the Lower Rhine, and
WestphaUa, the Frisians, and Cheruscans, were the sections of
the population which Tacitus has described most in detail."
—Latham's "Germania of Tacitus," p. 32.
I Roach Smith, " luventorium Sepulchrale," 1856, pp. xii
and xiii.
§ Latham's " Germania of Tacitus," p. 109. In this note
Dr. Latham contends for the likelihood of alkaUne washes
having been used to heighten the colour of the naturally yellow
or flaxen hair of the Germans, and even to change this into
red.
II Dr. Prichard, betrayed by his favourite hypothesis,
avouched a change of features in the modern Germans : Phys.
Res. vol. iii. pp. 192, 393. The memoir of Dr. Beddoe already
quoted, founded on extensive personal observation, quite in
conformity with what we see of Germans iu this country, wholly
discountenances any such change.
^ Of the languages of Saxonia, that making the nearest approach
to Anglo-Saxon is Frisic.—Halbertsma in Bosworth,
Ixi. Latham, Ethnol. of Brit. Isl. p. 174, &c. Latham, Germania,
p. 116.
* * Zeuss, Die Deutschen, u.s.w. 1837, pp. 146, 499.
t t Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. 15.
i t A. 449. Lappenherg, vol. i. p. 96. Halbertsma iu Bosworth's
Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, p. 1. By philological and
other criticism. Dr. Latham is led to entertain serious doubts
of these Jutes being Germans. He is inclined to regard them,
at least partly, as Britons: Ethnol. Brit. Isls. 1852, p. 232.
But, if the view of Zeuss be admitted, that they were the same
as the Teutones, a portion of the foundation for these doubts
is removed, as the Teutones are not supposed to have been
Danes, although they might give a name to Danish Jutland.
Mr. Kemble regarded Beda's division of the Germanic occupiers
of Britain as merely traditional and of but httle value, yet adds,
" I am content to beUeve that a considerable troop, principally
perhaps of Jutes or Frisians, did then, about the middle of the
fifth century, land in Kent, probably also in the Isle of Wight,
and subsequently thence iu the present hundreds of East and
"West Mene, iu Hampshire."—Burial and Cremation. Archceological
Journal, vol. xii. p. 319.
2 B