182 CRANIA BEITANNICA. [CHAP. VI.
dence for such a conclusion. The antiquities discovered in the cemeteries of the Saxon period in
Kent and the Isle of Wight are somewhat different from those of other districts of England, but
it is remarkable that they both closely agree in their peculiarities ; both of which facts are evidences
for one and the same special tribe having conquered and settled these parts *. "In
Kent, one of the most conspicuous features in the Saxon sepulchral remains is the richly ornamented
ch-cular fibula;. These are sparingly found beyond the district occupied by the oarhest
Saxon settlers. When they do occm-, here and there, they are exceptions; but throughout the
county of Kent, it would be a rare occurrence to discover a Saxon funereal deposit without an
example of this elegant and peouUar ornament" t . " In the urns," which are not numerous,
" and earthen vessels which usually accompany Saxon interments, we shall find a still more
decided Hne of demarcatisn between the Kentish graves and those in other countiesj." These
antiquities discovered in the districts attributed to the Jutes, are decidedly not Danish; they do,
however, resemble those which are dug up in Jutland, and which belong to a period before the
Danish §. The Jutes were not so numerous as those belonging to other tribes, and were so
commingled with the Angles and Saxons as to be mainly lost in these more endurmg names.
Whether or not there be any reason to think that other less conspicuous colonies preceded
them along the eastern shores of Britain, which is very doubtful, these Jutish rovers, from the
Frisic coast ||, are the earliest mentioned in history who formed a permanent settlement,
and this was in Kent, A.D. 428, just about the period at which the Romans took their final
departure. It is very likely that another settlement, under Octa and Ebissa, Jutish leaders,
was soon afterwards founded near to the Wall, on the coast of the present Lothian, as
briefly related by Nenniusi". These were followed, in less than thirty years, by Saxons who
settled in Sussex, the kingdom of the South Saxons. It was not till the commencement of
the sixth century that another colony proceeded more to the west, and founded Wessex, the
kingdom of the West Saxons. To this colony we must, in accordance with the tradition of Beda,
ascribe a further detachment of Jutes, for the occupation of the Isle of Wight**. The present
Somersetshire, Devonshire, and CornwaU, too, were long after this time free from the encroaehments
of the Saxons, and in the hands of the aboriginal Britons, called Bret-walas, or Wealas,
under the title of the kingdom of Domnania. Essex and Middlesex were invaded and settled by
other Saxons ascending the Thames, who were afterwards distmguished by the names of East and
Middle Saxons. Of the founding and of the connexion of these smaller states there is not so
distinct an account; and it is probable that they may have been composed of a mixture of several
tribes, if they did not embrace earlier settlements on the Essex coasttt- There are stronger
grounds for supposmg that this was the case with the Angles, even aUowing that they had not
precedent smaU settlements on the shores of Suffolk, Norfolk, and other parts of the eastern
* Journ. Brit. Archsenl. Assoc. 1860, p. 260.
t Koach Smith, " Inventorium Sepulchrale," 1856, p. xiii.
76. p. xiv.
§ Kemble, loc. cit. pp. 315, 322.
11 " The west const of Jutland, where there is not a good
harbour to he found."—Worsaae, " The Danes and Norwegians,"
1852, p. xvii.
^ Cap. sxxviii. Nennius confounds the harrier of Antonine
with the wall of Hadrian in another place ; cap. xis. " There
is no reason to doubt the fact of a very early Saxon settlement
in this district. No part of the coast held out greater temptations.
• The shortness of the voyage, the fertility of the land.
the utter want of all means of defence, in a district which had
already been drained of its population during the Pictish inroads,
were recommendations wliich were not likely to be
neglected; and the fact of a settlement having been effected in
this quarter is indirectly confirmed, though not directly stated,
by Beda."—J. H. Hinde, Trans. Hist. Soc. Lane, and Ches.,
1856, vol. viii.
* * The progress of the Saxon arms against the Britons in the
south of the island, has been followed out in a very interesting
manner by Dr. Guest: Salisbury Volume of Archueol. Institute.
. f t Lappenberg, vol. i. p. 112.
CHAP. VI . ] ETHNOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OP SUCCESSIVE POPULATIONS. 183
coast proceeding northwards. The exact period of their more important colonizations cannot be
determined, but, most likely, it was about the middle of the sixth century. Those of the East
Angles were distinguished by the names of the North-folk and the South-folk. Those of the
Middle Angles were also divided into a northern and southern portion, by the Trent*. These
districts of country constituted mediterranean Anglia, or Mercia, which extended to the marches
of Wales. Those of Northumbria had the Humber for their southern limit, and the Erith of
Eorth for their northern, and comprehended the district of the two British kingdoms of Dej/fyr,
or Deira, and Bryneioli, or Bernicia t-
In this way we find that a preponderance of the German invaders of the southern portions
of the island belonged to the Saxon tribes, or then- allies; and thus the British people seem to
have received their first and lasting impressions as to the name and country of their conquerors,
from these tribes. The Welsh, the Highlanders, the Irish, and the Bretons aU agree in using the
term Saxon to designate their descendants. On the other hand, the midland and aU the northern
parts of the island derived their immigrants from the Angle tribes, or from those who were confounded
with them. They were far more numerous and important than the former, and occupied
a much greater extent of country; hence, when a general name was required for the kingdom,
under Egbert, A.D. 800, that of England was conferred upon it by the Witena-gemot held at
Winchester. The term Anglo-Saxon occurs, both directly and inversely, in a writer of a period
a little earlier; but its use is to be attributed to the convenience of times after this, as it never
was employed as a name by the people themselves J.
It is no part of our design to follow the fortunes of these transmigratory streams from Old
Saxonia; but it thus appears that the whole of the southern portion of the island, to the Wall of
Antoninus on its eastern side, was more or less appropriated by Saxon invaders of one tribe or
another before the close of the sixth centm-y. The states then founded had many struggles with
the Romano-British people at their rise, and amongst each other before they were consolidated
into the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Octarchy.
We have related almost as much as is known concerning the tribal distinctions of the Anglo-
Saxons who settled in the island. Attempts have been made to recognize and determine other
distinctions, some of which are more of a family nature. The inhabitants of certain districts had
common names. The Gewissas was another name for the powerful West Saxons §. The Hwiccas
{loio, a creek, from the windings of the Severn) had their metropolis at Worcester ||, and occupied
Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and part of Warwickshire. Dornssetas, or Thornsajtas, the
people of Dorsetshii-e; Defnssetas, those of Devonshire; WUssetas, of WiLtshu-e; Sumersa3tas, of
Somersetshire, and Peacsastas, of the Peak-lond in Derbyshire, are aU names of this kind, formed
by the addition of the Anglo-Saxon scetas, inhabitants, to a prefix which is mostly British.
Mr. Kemble has given a table of many patronymical names, derived from his " Codex Diplomaticus
" and other ancient authorities, which he considers to designate the Marks, or settled lands,
occupied by these families in different counties. To this he has added a second, stiU longer table.
* In alluding to another point, Mr. Kemble has said, " It is
probable that the prevailing mode of emigration was to take
advantage of a N.E. wind to secure a landing m the "Wash,
and thence coast southward and westward as far as circumstances
required."—Saxons, vol. i. p. 479.
t The first syllable, with the addition of the Anglo-Saxon
wic, a dwelling-place, becomes Berwick.
Lappenberg, vol. ii. p. 2. Halhertsma in Bosworth's
Diet, of Anglo-Saxon, 1838, pp. 1 and li. The name English
is said by Dr. Guest to have been used by the AVest Saxons,
to contradistinguish themselves from the Welsh, long before
Egbert's time.
§ According to Florence, this name was imposed upon them,
by the Britons, on account of the descent of Cerdic from
Gewis, his great grandfather.
11 Wic-wara (inhabitants) -ceaster.
2 B 2