Note 159 — Chapter III · BRITAIN AFTER THE ROMANS.

Bede, Hist. Ec. B. i. c. xv. In his Chronicon, written apparently two years earlier than his History, Bede narrates the incursions of the Picts and Scots and the final departure of the Romans under the year 429, and the landing of the Angles or Saxons in 459. The true date of the accession of Martian to the Empire in conjunction with Valentinian is 450. Lappenberg, in his History of England, has clearly demonstrated the legendary character of this narrative; and Kemble, in his Saxons in England, takes the same view. Nevertheless, Mr. Freeman, in his Old English History, appears to accept both dates and narratives as history; and Mr. Green, in his History of the English People, describes the landing of the Saxons under Hengist and Horsa in 449 in the island of Thanet as if he had himself witnessed the event.