A MONTHLY TEACHING LETTER
Letter
#18
This is the eighteenth in a series of teaching letters.
With the last lesson, I concluded the study appertaining to Emperor Constantine
the Great. I have been dissecting, examining and analyzing his story since the
end of Watchman�s Teaching Letter
#15. My method of approaching a subject is to cut it up into many small pieces,
and examine it from every possible angle. Starting with lesson #13, April, 1999,
I began a continuing study on the history of the British Celtic church
inaugurated by Joseph of Arimathaea, being ordained by Philip the Apostle to do
so. All the seventeen lessons, so far, since lesson #1, have concerned
themselves with the topic of Judah in one way or another. Because the British
are of the Zerah branch of Judah, this lesson is a continuation of the same
subject matter. Emperor Constantine died in 337 A.D., and the next important
historical element which detrimentally affected the history of the British
Celtic church was the invasion of Britain by the various tribes of Saxons along
with the Jutes.
I would urge you to make copies of these lessons on the
British church and give them to your uninformed friends, especially of Irish or
Scottish descent. This is the history of their ancestors and their church! The
Irish and Scots are of the same stock except they arrived in Britain at
different times. The ancestors of the Irish arrived about 1600 B.C. and the
Scots arrived 501 A.D., via Scythia and Spain. The emblem for both is the Red
Hand. The only reason the Irish and Scots are mostly Roman Catholic today is
because King Henry II, sold them out to Pope Adrian at the Synod of Cashel. If
the Roman Catholic Irish and Scots (and Protestant, for that matter) ever learn
their true history, that the Celtic church of Britain was the first true church
outside of the one at Jerusalem (and never the Roman Catholic Church), hell
would seem like a mild place to be,
in comparison to their presence.
Now
Continuing The Topic:
JUST
WHO IS THIS PATRIARCH, JUDAH? (Part 18)
KING
HENRY II SELLS OUT THE CELTIC CHURCH TO ROME
To
start this lesson, I am going to quote from the book, The Story of the Irish Race, by Seumas MacManus (assisted by several
Irish scholars), pages 327-328:
Then
he (King Henry II) won Rome too. He had a synod of the Irish ecclesiastics �
all but the Primate Gelasius, and the other northerns � called at Cashel, where, following the example of their chiefs the
Bishops acknowledged Henry as lord supreme in Ireland. At this synod they passed
decrees for the bettering (?) of church discipline, which, being sent to Rome,
confirmed the fact that Henry was carrying out his undertaking, and reforming
morals (?) in the land, and evoked from Alexander the Third the letter
confirmatory of Adrian�s (an English Pope�s) Bull.
At
Easter Henry had to return in haste to England, carrying with him the undisputed
lordship of Leinster, Meath and the cities of Dublin, Wexford and Waterford.
Meath he gave in trust to De Lacey �
who had the governorship of Dublin also.
The city of Dublin was given to the occupation of the merchants and people of
Bristol. Strongbow was left in possession of Leinster.
The
strange mesmerism which the presence of Henry seemed to have wrought on the
Irish princes was dissipated on his going. They awoke to the rude reality that
they had welcomed an invader and meekly accepted him. From the various quarters
they began to rise up against the enemy, harass him, and endeavour to drive him
out. Now more familiar with, and therefore less daunted by, Norman discipline
and equipment, the Irish princes set strategy against skill, and discovered that
the Normans were not omnipotent. O�Brien of Thomond inflicted a big defeat
upon them at Thurles �
not the only big defeat that he was to give them. Strongbow the mighty was
beaten back in the south and bottled up in Waterford in imminent danger of
capture. And only [the fact] that the redoubtable le Gros hurried back from
Wales to release him [or] he would have been overthrown. Roderick O�Connor
with the help of O�Neill, O�Mellaghlin, O�Carroll, MacDunleavy of Uladh,
and an army of twenty thousand overran Meath, and set out for Dublin which he
might easily have captured but for his vacillation (indecision). He soon after
thought it to be to his advantage to make treaty with Henry. He sent to England
for that purpose Concord, Abbot of Clonfert, Catholicus, Archbishop of Tuam, and
Archbishop Lawrence O�Toole of Dublin. This treaty, known as the Treaty of
Windsor, acknowledged Henry�s right to the lordship of Leinster, Meath, and
the other few places and cities then occupied by him. He was also acknowledged
as the overlord to whom Roderick should pay formal tribute. On the other hand it
acknowledged Roderick�s right to the high-kingship of five-sixths of Ireland.
But
such pacts had little effect either in securing peace or insuring the rights of
either party. Every Norman chief warred on his own account, for purpose of
extending his power and possessions. And of course every Irish chief and prince,
when opportunity offered, warred against the invader.
This
Synod of Cashel with King Henry II handing over the British Celtic church to
Pope Adrain happened in 1172 A.D., so we are getting ahead of our story. The
story that we want to bring forward in this lesson is the Saxon invasions of
Britain. By the year 411 A.D., the Roman Empire was in such a massive decline,
it was necessary for her to recall her troops from Britain. If you will
remember, in lesson #16, page 3, it was mentioned how Constantius Chlorus and
his son Constantine, who later became Constantine the Great, initially went to
Britain to fight the Picts. After the Romans withdrew their troops from Britain
in 411 A.D., the Britons were still having problems with the Picts. After 106
years the Picts were still giving the Britons headaches. The Britons then
invited a few Saxons in to help control the unruly Picts, whereupon the Saxons
kept coming in waves for the next two hundred years. This is where we will pick
up our story, and I will quote from The
Legacy of Arthur�s Chester, by Robert B. Stoker, starting with page 21:
BRITISH
INVITE THE SAXONS (JUTES) TO HELP FIGHT THE PICTS
Let
us now move to the invasion of the Saxons, and archbishop 10, Guitelin [one of
13 named Archbishops of Caerleon]. When the Saxon came in A.D. 449, they were
invited by Vortigern, King of the Britons, as mercenaries, and were given
the Isle of Thanet. After beating the Scots (who had penetrated a long way into
England) at Stamford, the Saxons were rewarded by Vortigern with the land in
Lincolnshire, and further Saxons landed. As the British were suspicious of Vortigern�s
friendship with the Saxons, Hengist,
who had only three �keels� of his troops, used this suspicion to persuade
the king to allow him to bring over more �trusty Saxons� for his protection.
Hengist
had a beautiful daughter called Rowena who, after dancing before Vortigern
(who had a grown-up son) and drinking his health, �Liever Kyning (Koenig) wass
Heal!� (Lord King your health!) so inflamed the king that not only did he
divorce his wife, but gave Hengist
Kent as a marriage gift, without consulting the nobles or people. (Geoffrey of
Monmouth.)
Hengist
persuaded Vortigern to allow him to bring more Saxons over to protect him
from his complaining subjects, who began to turn their eyes toward Ambrosius
(young son of the later Constantine �
that Constantine who was beheaded by the Emperor Honorius (Rapin)), who was
sheltering at the home of his kinsman, Aldroen of Brittany. Hengist
then started to ravage the country, especially the churches, which being of
wood, have disappeared without a trace.
This
is an excellent quote and should start to give you a good picture in your mind
as to the situation which was happening during this period of time in Britain.
On pages 23-24 of this same book we get the following:
These
Saxons attacked the Scots and established themselves in Northumbria under Octa
and Ebissa (or Ebusa), of whom we shall read later. Vortigern�s son then
surprised him, and taking over the kingdom, made war on the Saxons, but in A.D.
457 was badly defeated in Crayford, Kent, and sought refuge in London. This
would account for Guitelin, the Archbishop of London, becoming Archbishop of
Chester, and Chester being the capital of Ambrosius who had deposed Vortigern.
... When Hengist, by treachery, killed three hundred or more British
nobles at Stonehenge (A.D. 473) and took Vortigern
prisoner, he received Essex, Middlesex, London and Winchester (and some say York
and Lincoln as well) as ransom.
Now
that we have laid an understandable foundation for this interesting, intriguing
story of the invasions of Britain by the Saxons, which included the Angles and
Jutes, we can single out pieces of the story from various sources to make it
even more crystal-clear. The next authoritative source I would like to quote,
which presents a comprehensive portrayal of this period, is from The
Origin and Early History of Christianity In Britain, by Andrew Gray, D.D.,
pages 55-60:
The
Saxon Invasion. No
longer protected by the powerful countenance of the Roman Emperors, she was now
grievously oppressed by the frequent incursions of those predatory tribes who
occupied the Northern frontier of Britain � the Picts (as
the Caledonians were then called), and the Scots
(a tribe who had migrated from Ireland [via Scythia and Spain]). In their
distress, the people of South Britain sent an appeal to Rome for help,
inscribed, �The Groans of the Britons.� But there were Northern barbarians at the time threatening
Rome itself. The great fabric of the Empire was tottering to its foundation; and
Rome, feeling obliged to concentrate around the capital, the scattered forces of
the Empire, had withdrawn her legions from Britain in A.D. 410. Attila, surnamed
�The Scourge of God�, with his conquering hordes had crossed the Alps and
was advancing on Rome ... so the petition from Britain was unheeded.
In
this extremity of desertion [of the Romans] on one hand and suffering on the
other [from the Picts], the Britons persuaded Vortigern,
Prince of Damnonium, to send deputies to the Saxons requesting their assistance.
This was an evil hour for the Britons, for
of all the German tribes the Saxons were the most warlike and savage. Gildas
speaks of �the stupidity and infatuation under which the Britons acted, in
calling to their help a nation whom they dreaded more than death.� The Saxons
readily responded to the request, and under Hengist
and Horsa,
their leaders, they landed in Britain (A.D. 449), and made short work with the
Picts and Scots. This first success speedily brought over more of their
adventurous countrymen, who became so charmed with the fertility of the soil,
and the mildness of the climate, that they soon assumed the attitude of
conquerors; and joining the Picts and Scots against the Britons, by force
of arms, they maintained their possession of the country. For a time Britain,
unaided and alone, successfully withstood them. Indeed, under Ambrosius
Aurelianus, A.D. 489, they seem to have won an important battle at Bannesdown.
Ambrosius is said to have employed the respite (temporary delay) thus afforded
in rebuilding some of the churches which had been destroyed in the war, and in
providing for the better settlement of religious affairs. ...
But
eventually victory crowned the efforts of the enemy (Saxons, Angles and Jutes);
and never was a victory more complete, or more cruelly misused. Probably of all
the hordes that dismembered the Roman Empire, the Saxons were the most
barbarous. ... The greatest virtue with them was courage, and the greatest vice
was cowardice. And so Britain, from the east to west, became involved in rapine
and slaughter. Her cruel masters turned their ruthless hands against every thing
and person that had a religious character, destroyed every church they could
reach, and slew the Christians at the very altars. The Bishops and clergy were
hunted down like wild beasts, and they either miserably perished, or else sought
refuge in expatriation (exile). And, as if this condition of things was not
already bad enough for the despised and down-trodden Faith, Vortigern,
the prince [king?] already referred to, married the daughter of Hengist,
thus forming a royal alliance with [Saxon] paganism. ...
The
Jutes and the Angles rushed to the quarry, and with murderous rapidity carried
fire and sword to every part of Britain proper. The Britons long maintained the
unequal combat, but after a struggle of 150 years, were compelled to receive the
yoke of their heartless pagan conquerors ... the German conquest of Britain was
a complete dispossession or slaughter of the conquered people. Wherever the
conqueror went, the vengeance he took on the Britons was terrible. Whole
villages and towns were consigned to the flames, and a promiscuous slaughter of
the inhabitants ensued. Everything Celtic was as effectively wiped out of the
land as everything Roman was wiped out of Africa by the Saracen conquerors of
Carthage. Britain ceased to be Britain, and became England. The religion, the
laws, the language were all changed... . Bede says that all public and private
buildings were destroyed; the blood of the priest was poured out on the altars;
the prelates and people were destroyed together by fire and sword, and no man
dared to give them burial.
This
should give you some idea what brother will do against brother, and kinsman
against kinsman in the name of religion. By this time in history, evidently, all
knowledge of kinsman-ship had been lost. Writers on this subject debate the
extent of the paganism of the Saxons, but it is evident that if the Saxon and
British beliefs were somewhat similar, all these wars could have been avoided.
Later, the Saxons, Angles and Jutes would be converted in one way or another
back to belief in our Redeemer. This is another very involved story in itself,
and must be dealt with in its proper place and order. To further document this
story of the invasions of the Saxons, I will quote from, Celt, Druid and Culdee, by Isabel Hill Elder, Pages 118-120:
CELTS
PUSHED WESTWARD
The
Anglo-Saxon invasion, which resulted in the most important and complete of all
the tribal settlements in Britain, took place between A.D. 446 and 501. In these
incursions the Jutes and Angles were the first to arrive, and the Angles, being
numerically the strongest constituent, gave their name in this country to the
entire group, which on the Continent were known as Saxons. ...
The
Anglo-Saxon invasion had the effect of gradually pushing the Celts to the west
of England and south-west Scotland. When this occurred and the Archbishops of
Caerleon-on-Usk, London and York, saw all the churches in their jurisdiction
lying level with the ground, they fled with all the clergy that remained
after so great a destruction, to the coverts of the woods in Wales, and to
Cornwall. From this fact it is easily discernible how it came to pass that
the Culdee British Church has been associated to so great an extent with Wales
and Southern Scotland. ...
As
the British were being driven farther and farther to the west, naturally they
moved their ministries along with them. It was similar in manner to the early
Christians moving their worship services into the catacombs and the Waldenses
moving their place of worship into mountain caves and secluded forested areas. I
found the following information in a very unusual place, the book The
Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan, by Ellen G. White (she did not
know of, nor teach Israel Identity), pages 70-71. She had the following to say
about Britain:
THE
CELTIC CHURCH GOES UNDERGROUND
In
Great Britain, primitive Christianity had very early taken root. The gospel
received by the Britons in the first centuries, was then uncorrupted by Roman
apostasy. Persecution from pagan emperors, which extended even to these
far-off shores, was the only gift that the first churches of Britain received
from Rome. Many of the Christians fleeing from persecution in [Saxon]
England, found refuge in Scotland; thence the truth was carried to Ireland, and
in all these countries it was received with gladness.
When
the Saxons invaded Britain, heathenism gained control. The conquerors disdained
to be instructed by their slaves, and the Christians were forced to retreat to
the mountains and the wild moors. Yet the light, hidden for a time, continued to
burn. In Scotland, a century later, it shown out with a brightness that extended
to far-distant lands. From Ireland came the pious Columba and his co-laborers,
who, gathering about them the scattered believers on the lonely island of Iona,
made this the center of their missionary labors. Among these evangelists was an
observer of the Bible Sabbath, and thus this truth was introduced among
the people. A school was established at Iona, from which missionaries went out,
not only to Scotland and England, but to Germany, Switzerland, and even Italy.
To
understand where the Angles, Saxons and Jutes were pushing the Britons, I will
quote again from The Origin and Early
History of Christianity In Britain, by Andrew Gray, D.D., pages 60-62:
THE
BRITISH CELTIC CHURCH ALMOST FADES FROM VIEW
But
the whole of the western part of the country remained un conquered. Strathclyde, including the
country from the Clyde to the Dee, the Kingdom of Cumbria; North Wales,
or Cambria; South Wales, and Devon and
Cornwall, with part of Somerset and the sacred Av�lon,
remained purely British. This land the English called Welsh-land, or the �Land
of the Foreigner�, Welsh being the name which the Germans applied to all
nations speaking languages of Latin descent ... and they found that all was
lost, then, in A.D. 587, they were forced by persecution to fly and join their
brethren in Wales.
To those parts we must now look for the Primitive Church of
Britain.
It was shut off from, and perhaps to a considerable extent forgotten by, the
larger portion of Christendom; but it now formed a closer alliance with the
sister Churches of Ireland and Scotland. It was conscious of no submission to
any foreign Church, but gazed fondly back to Jerusalem and the Holy Land
rather than to Rome. It had its own Liturgy, its own customs, its own
peculiar (although erroneous) cycle of computing Easter. (Note: If they were keeping Passover at the time of the
full moon regardless of the day of the week, as in the East, it was not
erroneous.) It was orthodox in faith. It
had, as we learn from Gildas, a regularly ordained Episcopate. It believed
its Bishops to be the successors of the Apostles, and its priests claimed
the power to bind and loose. ...
It is of the greatest importance that we should gather all
the information possible concerning the Church in Wales, and get as definite an
idea of it as we can. There are, unfortunately, those who erroneously suppose
that the link between the early British Church and the Church of England of the
present day, was broken by the Saxon invasion; and that the present Church of
England arose in the time of Augustine, deriving its origin from Rome through
him, and not, as we are bound to maintain, from the Apostles and Jerusalem in
unbroken, continuous decent, through the British or Celtic Church. ... The Saxon
invasion had destroyed civilization and Christianity in the larger part of
England proper, but a remnant was driven westward, and found its home in Wales.
...
I
have now shown you several of the pro-Identity sources for this information
concerning the Saxon invasions of Britain which many will ridicule. Many
historians and older encyclopedias relegate this time period to Romance and the
mythical, as though it were never historical fact; especially my 1894 edition of
the Encyclop�dia Britannica is guilty of this. Usually the older the book,
generally the better its content, but not in this case. I am finding, in my
research on these things, different writers, citing archaeologists, finding from
time to time proof of the facts written by these old antiquarians. Evidently,
enough evidence has been brought forward so that more modern reviewers are a
little hesitant to consign this very important history (as they put it) to
�Romance�. For instance, when one considers the personage of Vortigern,
he is getting very close in time and place to the so-called legendary personage
of King Arthur. If you want to research this subject of the Saxon invasions from
some of your own encyclopedias and history books use these key words in the
indexes: Vortigern; Saxon; Anglo-Saxons.
I will now quote from some of my encyclopedias and history books, and as I do,
compare some of the facts as I have quoted above from pro-Identity sources.
First, I will quote from, The World Book
Encyclopedia, volume 1, under �Anglo-Saxon�, page 441:
ANGLO-SAXON,
(ang gloh SAX s�n), is the name
given to the nation created by the union of the Germanic tribes that settled in
England in the A.D. 400�s and 500�s. These tribes were the Angles, Saxons,
and Jutes. In about 449, a British king named Vortigern
invited the Germanic tribes to come to England to help him drive back the
invading Picts and Scots. But the allies quarreled, and soon these tribes
began to drive out the Britons. By the end of the 500�s, the Angles, Saxons
and Jutes occupied nearly all of England to the borders of Wales and Scotland.
The word England was taken from the
Old English words Engla
and land,
which mean land
of the Angles.
There
were seven major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms �
Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex, Kent, and Wessex. These were
known as the Heptarchy.
...
The Anglo-Saxons left their mark
on the English language in its grammar and in thousands of words, including
perhaps half the words we usually use today. These words may be traced to the
dialect that was developed in northern England. The southern dialect became the
literary language of Anglo-Saxon England and was used chiefly in writing verse.
Again, from,
The World Book Encyclopedia, volume
17, under �Saxon�, page 142 we read this:
SAXON
was a member of a
Germanic tribe that invaded the island of Britain about 1,500 years ago. The
Angles, another Germanic tribe invaded Britain about the same time. The two
tribal groups mixed and established the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which lasted until
the Norman Conquest of 1066.
The
ancient geographer Ptolemy first mentioned the Saxons in a book he wrote during
the A.D. 100�s. According to Ptolemy, the Saxons lived in an area in southern
Denmark called Saxony
(now Schleswig, in Germany). They were a warlike people who invaded Roman
territory in the late 300�s, during the reigns of the emperors Julian and
Valentinian. By the 500�s, the Saxons had settled along the coast of Gaul (now
France), between the Elbe and Loire rivers. The Saxons invaded Britain in the
mid-400�s, conquered the Celts who lived there, and settled in the southern and western parts of the island. ...
You
will notice the facts presented in these articles by The World Book Encyclopedia, supports, assists, upholds and
strengthens the information and actuality of these other writers quoted before
above. For further confirmation from a history book (actually a volume or a set
of several books), I will quote from The
Story Of Civilization: Part IV, �The Age Of Faith�, by Will Durant,
pages 80-81:
But
in the fourth and fifth centuries security was threatened on every front: on the
north by the Picts of Caledonia; on the east and south by Norse and Saxon
raiders; on the west by the unsubdued Celts of Wales and the adventurous Gaels
and �Scots� of Ireland. In 364-367 �Scot� and Saxon coastal raids
increased alarmingly; British and Gallic troops repelled them, but Stilicho had
to repeat the process a generation later. In 381 Maximus, in 407 the usurper
Constantine (a later Constantine), took from Britain, for their personal
purposes, legions for home defense (Roman). and few of these men returned.
Invaders began to pour over the frontiers; Britain appealed to Stilicho for help
(400 A.D.), but he was fully occupied in driving Goths and Huns from Italy and
Gaul. When a further appeal was made to the Emperor Honorius he answered that
the British must help themselves as best they could. �In the year 409�, says
Bede, �the Romans ceased to rule in Britain.�
Faced with a large-scale invasion of Picts, the British
leader Vortigern invited
some North German tribes to come to his help. Saxons came from the region of
the Elbe, Angles from Schleswig, Jutes from Jutland. Tradition � perhaps legend � reports
that the Jutes arrived in 449 under the command of two brothers suspiciously
named Hengist and Horsa
� i.e., stallion and mare. (Note: I don�t see where these names are
any more suspicious than Sitting Bull or Crazy Horse, as the Israelite tribes
loved and even decorated their horses like they custom detail paint their autos
today!) The various Germans drove back the
Picts and �Scots�, received tracts of land as reward, noted the military
weakness of Britain, and sent the joyful word to their fellows at home.
Uninvited German hordes landed on Britain�s shores; they were resisted with
more courage than skill; they alternately advanced and retired through a century
of guerrilla war; finally the Teutons defeated the British at Deorham (577), and
made themselves masters of what would later be called Angle-land � England.
Most Britons thereafter accepted the conquest, and mingled their blood with that
of the conquerors [which were actually of the same stock]; a hardy minority
retreated into the mountains of Wales and fought on; some others crossed the
Channel and gave their name to Brittany. The cities of Britain were ruined by
the long contest; transport was disrupted, industry decayed; law and order
languished, art hibernated, and the incipient Christianity of the island was
overwhelmed by the pagan gods and customs of Germany, Britain and its
language became Teutonic; Roman law and institutions disappeared. Roman
municipal organization was replaced by village communities. A Celtic element
remained in English blood, physiognomy, character, literature, and art, but
remarkably little in English speech, which is now a cross between German and
French.
I
know I am repeating and going over this story again and again, but with each new
quotation, more intriguing details come to light so we can understand all the
circumstances surrounding this story. We have to know all of this because very
important church history surrounds all of these interesting movements and
counter-movements. It may not appear like it, but Yahweh was moving everything
according to His Plan for His people and His anointed Celtic Culdee British
evangelistic gospel message to all of His Israel nations. Once you comprehend
all of these historical movements, His plan becomes evident. Never once did His
plan get delayed nor ever was it premature. Now we will read this story as
presented by, CYCLOP�DIA of
Universal history, by John Clark Ridpath, LL. D., volume 2. pages 81-86:
To
people of the English speaking race, the story of the Anglo-Saxons can never
fail to interest. The hardy and adventurous stock transplanted from the stormy
shores of the Baltic to the foggy island of Britain had grown into imperishable
renown, and the rough accent of the old pirates of Jutland is heard in all the
harbors of the world.
The
native seat of the Anglo-Saxons has been already defined. From the river Scheldt
to the islands of the Jutes, and extending far inland, lies a low and marshy
country, through which the rivers for want of fall can scarcely make their way
to the sea. The soil is a sediment; the sky, a bed of dun mist and heavy clouds,
pouring out their perpetual rains. Ever and anon (after a while) the storms roll
in from the North Sea, and the black waves plunge and roar and bellow along the
coast. From the first human life in this low and doleful region has been an
everlasting broil with the ocean.
It
was from these dreary regions that the storm-beaten, war-hardened fathers of the
English race came forth in the middle of the fifth century to plant themselves
in Britain. Nor was the natural scenery of the new habitat, shrouded in fogs and
drenched with rain, girdled with stormy oceans and clad in sunless forest,
better calculated than their original seats to develop in our forefathers the
sentiments of tenderness and refinement. By the banks of the muddy British
rivers, and on the margin of the somber oak woods, the mixed tribes of Angles,
Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians established themselves and began to work out the
severe but grand problems of English civilization. Of the personal
characteristics and intellectual features of the race much has been written, but
nothing better in the way of description and analysis than the essay of the
eloquent Taine. Of the Anglo-Saxons he says:
�Huge
white bodies, cool-blooded, with fierce blue eyes, reddish flaxen hair; ravenous
stomachs, filled with meat and cheese, heated by strong drinks; of a cold
temperament, slow to love, home-stayers, prone to brutal drunkenness: these are
to this day the features which descent and climate preserve in the race, and
these are what the Roman historians discovered in their former country. ...�
�Behold
them now in England more settled and wealthier. Do you look to find them much
changed? Changed it may be, but for the worse, like the Franks, like all
barbarians who pass from action to enjoyment. They are more gluttonous,
carving their hogs, filling themselves with flesh, swallowing down deep
draughts of mead (alcoholic beverage brewed from honey), ale, spiced wines, all
the strong coarse, drinks which they can procure; and so they are cheered and
stimulated. Add to this the pleasure of the fight. Not easily with such
instincts can they attain to culture; to find a natural and ready culture we
must look among the sober and sprightly populations of the south.�
Such
is a picture of the character and life of the Anglo-Saxons when they began to
possess themselves of England. It was in the middle decade of the fifth century
of our era that the half-civilized Celtic people of South Britain, left naked by
the withdrawal of the Roman legions, and hard pressed on the north by the Picts
and the Scots, adopted the fatal expedient of inviting to their aid the
barbarians of the Baltic. The tribes thus solicited were the Jutes, the Angles,
the Saxons, and the Frisians. The first mentioned dwelt in the Cimbric
Chersonesus, now Jutland, or Denmark. Parts of Schleswig and Holstein were also
included in their territories. In the latter country the district known as
Angeln was the native seat of the Angles. To the south of these two regions,
spreading from the Weser to the delta of the Rhine, lay the country of the
Saxons, embracing the states afterwards known as Westphalia, Friesland, Holland,
and part of Belgium. A glance at the map will show that these tribes occupied a
position of easy approach by sea to the British Isles. ...
Albeit,
in matters of war the British Celts were no match for the rude barbarians of the
North, who now descended in countless swarms upon the coast of the island. It is
believed that Hengist
and Horsa, the leaders of the
barbarian�s host which accepted the call of the Celts, as well as a majority
of their followers in the first expedition, were Jutes. With them, however, a
large body of Angles from Holstein, and Saxons from Friesland. were joined in
the invasion. So came a mixed host into England. At this time the king of the
British Celts was Vortigern.
Him the Jute chieftains aided in driving back the Picts and Scots. When the
island was thus freed from its peril the Celtic king was entertained at a feast
given by Hengist. Beautiful was
Rowena, the daughter of the warlike host. By her was the heart of Vortigern
fatally ensnared. Humbly he sought and gladly received her hand, and in proof of
gratitude he gave to the Jutes the isle of Thanet. Here the invaders found a
permanent footing and would not be dismissed. Fresh bands were invited from the
Baltic.
The
fertility of exposed Britain and the wealth of the Celtic towns excited the
insatiable cupidity of the barbarians. First quarrels and then hostilities broke
out between them and the Celts. The sword was drawn. Vortigern was deposed and
his son Vortimer elected in his stead. A hollow and deceptive truce was
concluded, and the chief personages on both sides came together in a feast. When
the drinking was at its height, Hengist
called out to the Saxons. �Nimed eure seaxas�
(Take your swords); whereupon each warrior drew forth his blade and cut down all
who were present except Vortigern.
The result of the first contest in the island was that all of Kent, the ancient
Cantium, was seized by the invaders and ruled by Eric, the son and successor of Hengist. Thus was
established the first Saxon kingdom in England. ...
...The
western coast of England, from the Frith to Clyde to the Land�s End in
Cornwall and the southern coast from Cornwall to the borders of Hampshire
remained in possession of the Celts. ... A large proportion of the original
Celts remained in their homes, and were blended with the conquering people. The
Mercian Angles are said to have contributed more than any other of the northern
tribes to the general subjugation of Britain.
Such
was the Saxon conquest of England, and such is the story of the establishment of
the seven petty kingdoms known by the name of the Heptarchy. The movement of the German tribes from the
north occupied a period of nearly two hundred years. More
than half of that time (so stubborn was the resistance of the Britons)
was occupied with fierce wars between the invaders and the invaded.
THE
BRITISH CELTIC CHURCH REBOUNDS TO LIFE AGAIN
The
Celtic church was finally driven to the extreme west of the island because of
the two hundred years of Saxon invasions. The Saxons were, by this time, in
possession of over 75% of the land. It appeared, again, that the light might
flicker and finally go out on the church which was started by Joseph of
Arimathaea, but suddenly the light recovered to shine even brighter. For this
part of the story, I will quote from a secular source of history, The
Story Of Civilization, Part IV, �The Age Of Faith�, by Will Durant, page
532:
As
Germanic invasions of Gaul and Britain had driven scholars from those lands to
Ireland, so now the wave returned, the debt was paid; Irish missionaries flung
themselves upon the victorious pagan Angles, Saxons, Norwegians, and Danes in
England, and upon the illiterate and half-barbarous Christians of Gaul and
Germany. with the Bible in one hand and classic manuscripts in the other;
and for a time it seemed that the Celts would win back through Christianity the
lands they had lost to force. It was in the Dark Ages that the Irish spirit
shone with its strongest light.
The
greatest of these missionaries was St. Columba. We know him well through the
biography written (c. 679) by Adamnan, one of his successors at Iona. Columba
was born at Donegal in 521, of royal stock; ... he was a saint who could have
been a king. At school in Moville he showed such devotion that his schoolmaster
named him Columbkille �
Column of the Church. From the age of twenty-five he founded a number of
churches and monasteries, of which the most famous were at Derry, Durrow, and
Kells. But he was a fighter as well as a saint, �a man of powerful frame and
mighty voice�; his hot temper drew him into many quarrels, at last into war
with King Diarmuid a battle was fought in which, we are told, 5000 men were
killed; Columba, though victorious, fled from Ireland (563), resolved to convert
as many souls as had fallen in that engagement at Cooldrevna. He now founded on
the island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland, one of the most illustrious
of medieval monasteries. Thence he and his disciples brought the Gospel to the
Hebrides, Scotland, and northern England. And there, after converting thousands
of pagans and illuminating 300 �noble books�, he died, in prayer at the
alter, in his seventy-eighth year.
The Horizon History
of Christianity, by
Roland H. Bainton, (a secular source) has this to say on page 142:
In
563 Saint Columba, a Celtic abbot, had gone from Ireland to Scotland, where he
established a monastery on the island of Iona. After converting the king, the
saint and his disciples won the inhabitants of Scotland, then called the Picts.
The Celtic Irish were ready to convert the Picts, but there was at first no
disposition on the part of the Celtic Britons to convert the Anglo-Saxons.
Unlike the barbarians who invaded other parts of Europe, these barbarians were
brutal in their conquest of Britain; consequently those native Britons that
survived the invasion were driven west into Wales and Cornwall. It was left to
the Irish monks settled in Scotland to begin the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons
of northern England, just shortly after Augustine (a Roman Catholic priest who
had no connection with the Celtic church whatever) undertook the conversion of
[Saxons] of the south.
Isabel
Hill Elder, in her book, Celt, Druid and
Culdee, has this to say about Saint Columba and Iona, page 113:
The
great St. Columba, fourth in descent from Niall of the Nine Hostages, born A.D.
522, about fifty years after the death of St. Patrick, was associated with the
Culdee Church of Iona for thirty-two years, where he arrived from Ireland with
his twelve disciples on Pentecost Eve in the year 565. We are here given another
instance of the faithfulness of the Culdees to first foundations in the
formation of a new settlement.
�Many of the
Continental monasteries owed their foundations to Irish scholars. When St.
Columba turned his back on Derry with the lament that is one of the loveliest
ancient Irish poems, and founded the monastery at Iona, it was but the beginning
of a movement which brought so many scholars to the Irish schools. But the claim
of the Irish schools is not so much in the intricate treasure of their
manuscripts, as in the other pattern which they wove into the history of Europe.
...�
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