Bede, A History of the English Church and People

Chapters 14, 15, 16, 22, 23

Chapter 14: The Britons, made desperate by famine, drive the Barbarians out of their
land. There soon follows an abundance of corn, luxury, plague, and doom on the
nation

Meanwhile the famine which left a lasting memory of its horrors to posterity distressed
the Britons more and more. Many were compelled to surrender to the invaders; others,
trusting in God’s help where no human hand could save them, continued their
resistance. Making frequent sallies from the mountains, caves, and forests, they began
at length to inflict severe losses on the enemy who had plundered their country for so
many years. Thereupon the Irish pirates departed to their homes unabashed, intending
to return after a short interval, while the Picts remained inactive in the northern
parts of the island, save for occasional raids and forays to plunder the Britons.
When the depredations of its enemies had ceased, the land enjoyed an abundance of
corn without precedent in former years; but with plenty came an increase in luxury,
followed by every kind of crime, especially cruelty, hatred of truth, and love of
falsehood. If anyone happened to be more kindly or truthful than his neighbours, he
became a target for all weapons of malice as though he were an enemy of Britain. And
not only the laity were guilty of these things, but even the Lord’s flock and their
pastors. Giving themselves up to drunkenness, hatred, quarrels, and violence, they
threw off the easy yoke of Christ. Suddenly a terrible plague struck this corrupt people,
and in a short while destroyed so large a number that the living could not bury the
dead. But not even the death of their friends or the fear of their own death was
sufficient to recall the survivors from the spiritual death to which their crimes had
doomed them. So it was that, not long afterwards, an even more terrible retribution
overtook this wicked nation. For they consulted how they might obtain help to avoid or
repel the frequent fierce attacks of their northern neighbours, and all agreed with the
advice ot their king, Vortigern, to call on the assistance of the Saxon peoples across the
sea. This decision, as its results were to show, seems to have been ordained by God as a
punishment on their wickedness.

Chapter 15: The Angles are invited into Britain. At first they repel the enemy, but soon
come to terms with them, and turn their weapons against their own allies.

In the year of our Lord 449, Martian became Emperor with Valentinian, the forty-sixth in
succession from Augustus, ruling for seven years. In his time the Angles or Saxons came
to Britain at the invitation of King Vortigem in three longships, and were granted lands
in the eastern part of the island on condition that they protected the country:
nevertheless, their real intention was to subdue it. They engaged the enemy advancing
from the north, and having defeated them, sent hack news of their success to their
homeland, adding that the country was fertile and the Britons cowardly. Whereupon a
larger fleet quickly came over with a great body ol warriors, which, when joined to the
original forces, constituted an invincible army. These also received from the Britons
grants ot land where they could settle among them on condition that they maintained
the peace and security of the island against all enemies in return for regular pay.
These new-comers were from the three most formidable races ot Germany, the Saxons,
Angles, and Jutes. From the Jutes are descended the people of Kent and the Isle of
Wight and those in the province of the West Saxons opposite the Isle of Wight who are
called Jutes to this day. From the Saxons -that is, the country now known as the land of
the Old Saxons- came the East, South and West Saxons. And from the Angles -that is, the
country known as Angulus, which lies between the provinces of the Jutes and Saxons and
is said to remain unpopulated to this day- are descended the East and Middle Angles,
the Mercians, all the Northumbrian stock (that is, those peoples living north ot the river
Humber), and the other English peoples. Their first chieftains are said to have been the
brothers Hengist and Horsa. The latter was subsequently killed in battle against the
Britons, and was buried in east Kent, where a monument bearing his name still stands.
They were the sons of Wictgils, whose father was Witta, whose father was Wecta, son of
Woden, from whose stock sprang the royal house of many provinces.
It was not long before such hordes of these alien peoples vied together to crowd into
the island that the natives who had invited them began to live in terror. Then all of a
sudden the Angles made an alliance with the Picts, whom by this time they had driven
some distance away, and began to turn their arms against their allies. They began by
demanding a greater supply of provisions; then, seeking to provoke a quarrel,
threatened that unless larger supplies were forthcoming, they would terminate their
treaty and ravage the whole island. Nor were they slow to carry out their threats. In
short, the fires kindled by the pagans proved to be God’s just punishment on the sins of
the nation, just as the fires once kindled by the Chaldeans destroyed the walls and
buildings of Jerusalem. For, as the just Judge ordained, these heathen conquerors
devastated the surrounding cities and countryside, extended the conflagration from the
eastern to the western shores without opposition and established a stranglehold over
nearly all the doomed island. Public and private buildings were razed; priests were slain
at the altar; bishops and people alike, regardless of rank, were destroyed with fire and
sword, and none remained to bury those who had suffered a cruel death. A few
wretched survivors captured in the hills were butchered wholesale, and others,
desperate with hunger, came out and surrendered to the enemy for food, although they
were doomed to lifelong slavery even if they escaped instant massacre. Some fled
overseas in their misery; others, clinging to their homeland, eked out a wretched and
fearful existence among the mountains, forests, and crags, ever on the alert lot danger.

Chapter 16: Under the leadership of Ambrosious, a Roman, the Britons win their first
victory against the Angles [c. AD 493]

When the victorious invaders had scattered and destroyed the native peoples and
returned to their own dwellings, the Britons slowly began to take heart and recover
their strength, emerging from the dens where they had hidden themselves, and joining
in prayer that God might help them to avoid complete extermination. Their leader at
this time was Ambrosius Aurelianus, a man of good character and the sole survivor of
Roman race from the catastrophe. Among the slain had been his own parents, who were
of royal birth and title. Under his leadership the Britons took up arms, challenged their
conquerors to battle, and with God’s help inflicted a defeat on them. Thenceforward
victory swung first to one side and then to the other, until the battle of Badon Hill,
when the Britons made a considerable slaughter of the invaders. This took place about
forty-four years after their arrival in Britain: but I shall deal with this later.

Chapter 22: The Britons enjoy a respite from foreign invasions, but exhaust themselves
in civil wars and plunge into worse crimes

Meanwhile Britain enjoyed a rest from foreign, though not from civil, wars. Amid the
wreckage of deserted cities destroyed by the enemy, the citizens who had survived the
enemy now attacked each other. So long as the memory of past disaster remained fresh,
kings and priests, commoners and nobles kept their proper rank. But when those who
remembered died, there grew up a generation that knew nothing of these things and
had experienced only the present peaceful order. Then were all restraints of truth and
justice so utterly abandoned that no trace of them remained, and very few of the
people even recalled their existence. Among other unspeakable crimes, recorded with
sorrow by their own historian Gildas, they added this -that they never preached the
Faith to the Saxons or Angles who dwelt with them in Britain. But God in his goodness
did not utterly abandon the people whom he had chosen; for he remembered them, and
sent this nation more worthy preachers of truth to bring them to the Faith.

Chapter 23: The holy Pope Gregory sends Augustine and other monks to preach to the
English nation, and encourages them in a letter to persevere in their mission [AD 596]

In the year of our Lord 582, Maurice, fifty-fourth in succession from Augustus, became
Emperor, and ruled for twenty-one years. In the tenth year of his reign, Gregory, an
eminent scholar and administrator, was elected Pontiff of the apostolic Roman see, and
ruled it for thirteen years, six months, and ten days. In the fourteenth year of this
Emperor, and about the one hundred and fiftieth year after the coming of the English to
Britain, Gregory was inspired by God to send his servant Augustine with several other
God-fearing monks to preach the word of God to the English nation. Having undertaken
this task in obedience to the Pope’s command and progressed a short distance on their
journey, they became afraid, and began to consider returning home. For they were
appalled at the idea of going to a barbarous, fierce, and pagan nation, of whose very
language they were ignorant. They unanimously agreed that this was the safest course,
and sent back Augustine -who was to be consecrated bishop in the event of their being
received by the English- so that he might humbly request the holy Gregory to recall
them from so dangerous, arduous, and uncertain a journey. In reply, the Pope wrote
them a letter of encouragement, urging them to proceed on their mission to preach
God’s word, and to trust themselves to his aid. This letter ran as follows:
‘Gregory, Servant of the servants of God, to the servants of our Lord. My very dear sons,
it is better never to undertake any high enterprise than to abandon it when once begun.
So with the help of God you must carry out this holy task which you have begun. Do not
be deterred by the troubles of the journey or by what men say. Be constant and zealous
in carrying out this enterprise which, under God’s guidance, you have undertaken: and
be assured that the greater the labour, the greater will be the glory of your eternal
reward. When Augustine your leader returns, whom We have appointed your abbot,
obey him humbly in all things, remembering that whatever he directs you to do will
always be to the good of your souls. May Almighty God protect you with His grace, and
grant me to see the result of your labours in our heavenly home. And although my office
prevents me from working at your side, yet because I long to do so, I hope to share in
your joyful reward. God keep you safe, my dearest sons.
’Dated the twenty-third of July, in the fourteenth year of the reign of the most pious
Emperor Maurice Tiberius Augustus, and the thirteenth year after his Consulship: the
fourteenth indiction.’