Note 153 — Chapter III · BRITAIN AFTER THE ROMANS.

A tempore quo primo Saxones venerunt in Bryttanniam usque ad annum quartum Mermeni regis computantur anni ccccxxix. This account is in the Vatican MS. only, and has obviously been added in an edition compiled in 821. It corresponds with an old Welsh chronicle in the Red Book of Hergest, which commences thus:—‘From the age of Guorthegirn Guorthenau to the battle of Badwn are 128 years.’—Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 161. The date of the battle is 516, and deducting 128 years gives us 388 as the beginning of Guorthegirn’s reign, and the fourth year when the Saxons came 392.