THE SAXON PERIOD. A.D. 449 TO 1066.

449. HENGIST AND HORSA, TWO JUTISH LEADERS, LANDED IN BRITAIN, at the request of Vortigern, a British chief, and drove back the Picts and Scots.

467. Hengist founded the Kingdom of Kent.

490. Ella founded Sussex (Sussex and a part of Surrey).

519. Cerdic founded Wessex (Western counties south of the Thames and Severn).

520. Battle of Mount Badon, in which Arthur defeated the Saxons.

527. Erkenwin founded Essex (Essex, Middlesex, part of Herts).

542. Arthur, the most heroic of the opponents of the Saxons, murdered by his nephew.

547. Ida founded Bernicia (Eastern side of Britain, from the Forth to the Tyne).

560. Ella founded Deira (Eastern side of Britain, from the Humber to the Tees).

571. Uffa founded East Anglia (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge).

586. Crida founded Mercia (Central England).

597. Augustine, who was sent to Britain by Pope Gregory to spread Christianity among the Saxons, arrived in Kent.

600. About this time Ethelbert, king of Kent, published the earliest code of Saxon laws extant.

617. Bernicia and Deira formed into one kingdom under Edwin, and called Northumbria.

627. Edwin of Northumbria adopted the Christian faith.

633. Battle of Heathfield, between Edwin and Penda, king of Mercia: Edwin defeated and slain.

655. Battle of Winwidfield, between Oswy, king of Northumbria, and Penda: Penda defeated and slain.

709. About this time Ina, king of Wessex, promulgated an important code of laws.

787. THE DANES, OR NORTHMEN, BEGAN THEIR RAVAGES IN ENGLAND.

800. Egbert became king of Wessex.

823. Battle of Wilton: Kent and Essex annexed to Wessex.

827. Egbert conquered Mercia. Supremacy of Wessex established.

Some writers incorrectly state that Egbert was the first king of England.

835. Egbert defeated the Cornish Britons and Danes at Hengston Hill.

836. Death of Egbert. Accession of his son Ethelwulf.

851. Ethelwulf defeated the Danes at Ockley, in Surrey.

856. Death of Ethelwulf. Accession of his son Ethelbald.

860. Death of Ethelbald. Accession of his brother Ethelbert.

866. Death of Ethelbert. Accession of his brother Ethelred.

870. Edmund, king of East Anglia, put to death by the Danes, for refusing to renounce Christianity.

871. Battles fought with the Danes at Reading, Ashdown, Basing, and Merton; death of Ethelred.

ACCESSION OF HIS BROTHER ALFRED. The Danes defeated Alfred at Wilton.

875. Alfred equipped a small fleet: First English navy.

878. The Danes took Chippenham. Alfred, unable to cope with the enemy, retired to the Isle of Athelney, in Somersetshire. He suddenly re-appeared, and defeated them at Ethandune. Treaty of Wedmore, between Alfred and Gothrun, the Danish leader.

Alfred ceded to him East Anglia and portions of Essex and Mercia.

893. Hastings, a Danish leader, invaded England.

894. Alfred defeated the Danes at Farnham, in Surrey.

897. Hastings, unable to establish himself in England, retired to France.

901. Death of Alfred. Accession of his son Edward the Elder.

920. Death of Edward’s sister, Ethelfleda, who for several years had governed Mercia.

924. Death of Edward. Accession of his son Athelstan.

926. Athelstan annexed Northumbria, on the death of Sihtric, who, the year before, had married his sister.

937. Anlaf, son of Sihtric, and Constantine, king of the Scots, invaded England. They were defeated, with immense loss, by Athelstan, at Brunanburh.

“To Athelstan belongs the glory of having established what has ever since been called the kingdom of England.”

941. Death of Athelstan. Accession of his brother Edmund. The Northumbrians chose Anlaf as their king.

944. Anlaf died, and Northumbria was re-annexed.

946. Death of Edmund. Accession of his brother Edred.

948. The Northumbrians chose Eric, a Dane, for their king.

954. The Northumbrians submitted to Edred; and their territory became an earldom.

955. Death of Edred. Accession of his nephew Edwin, son of Edmund.

956. Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury, banished.

959. Death of Edwin. Accession of his brother Edgar.

960. Dunstan became archbishop of Canterbury: he exercised great influence in Church and State.

973. Edgar crowned at Bath. Eight kings did homage to him at Chester, and rowed him down the Dee.

975. Death of Edgar. Accession of his son Edward II.

978. Edward slain at Corfe Castle by order of his stepmother. Accession of his brother Ethelred II.

991. Ravages of the Danes. £10,000 paid in order to buy off their hostility.

1002. All the Danes, who were in that part of England under Ethelred’s authority, put to death by his order. One of the victims was Gunhilda, sister of Sweyn, king of Denmark.

1008. An assessment, said to be the origin of ship-money, levied for the equipment of a large fleet.

1012. The English paid the Danes £48,000 as tribute.

1013. Sweyn, of Denmark, conquered the country. King Ethelred fled to Normandy.

1014. Death of Sweyn. His son, Canute, chosen by the Danes. Ethelred returned, and the Saxons promised to obey him, if he would govern them better than before.

1016. Death of Ethelred. Accession of his son Edmund Ironside. After several battles between the Saxons and Danes, it was agreed that the country should be divided. Canute had Northumbria and Mercia; Edmund the rest of England. Death of Edmund. Canute became king of the whole country.

1017. Canute married Emma, the widow of Ethelred.

1028. Canute conquered Norway.

1031. Canute invaded Scotland, and compelled Malcolm II. to do homage.

1035. Death of Canute. Accession of his son Harold.

1040. Death of Harold. Accession of his brother Hardicanute.

1041. Hardicanute caused all Worcestershire to be ravaged, because two of his officers, employed in collecting the Danegelt, were killed at Worcester.

1042. Death of Hardicanute. Accession of Edward the Confessor, son of Ethelred.

1044. Edward married Editha, daughter of Godwin, earl of Kent, the most powerful nobleman in the country.

1051. Eustace, count of Boulogne, the king’s brother-in-law, had a conflict with the people of Dover. Godwin refused to punish them, and was soon after banished. William, duke of Normandy, visited England.

1052. Godwin returned, and recovered his power.

1053. Death of Godwin. His son Harold succeeded to his possessions and authority.

1054. Siward, earl of Northumbria, invaded Scotland in behalf of his nephew Malcolm, and defeated the usurper Macbeth.

1066. Death of Edward the Confessor. Harold mounted the throne. His brother Tostig, who had shortly before been expelled from his earldom of Northumbria (granted to him on the death of Siward), allied himself with Harold Hardrada, king of Norway; and the allies invaded England. They were defeated at Stamford Bridge, near York (Sept. 25). William, Duke of Normandy, claimed the crown, on the pretext that Edward had bequeathed it to him, and landed with an army at Pevensey to assert his claim.

HAROLD DEFEATED AND SLAIN AT HASTINGS (Oct. 14).

The battle of Hastings was one of the “few battles of which a contrary event would have essentially varied the drama of the world in all its subsequent scenes.”