Founded A.D. 519, by the Saxons under Cerdic. It included Hants, Berks, Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and part of Surrey.

Christianity was introduced into this state in the reign of Cynegils. Birinus, sent by Pope Honorius to assist in spreading the faith in England, landed in Essex, in the year 634. His efforts were aided by Oswald of Northumbria, who about the same time sought the hand of the daughter of the King of Wessex in marriage. Cynegils was induced to renounce paganism, and a residence was given to Birinus at Dorsic in Oxfordshire, where he settled his See, which was afterwards removed to Lincoln, (A.D. 1088).

The influence of Wessex was extended by Ina, who was equally famous as a warrior and as a legislator. The immediate successors of Ina were of a younger branch of the family of Cerdic. The line, however, of the elder branch was not extinct, and Egbert, who inherited its rights, was the true heir to the throne of Wessex. As the order of succession was not exact, it will be well to add the direct descent of this prince, the sole representative, at the time of his accession, of the early Saxon chieftains, and through whom our present Sovereign, Queen Victoria, traces her descent from the house of Cerdic.

EAST SAXONY, OR ESSEX.

Founded A.D. 527, by the Saxons under Ercenwin. It included Essex, Middlesex, and the southern part of Hertfordshire.

This was the last of the three states, Sussex, Wessex, and Essex, founded by the Saxons proper. Christianity was introduced into it by Mellitus, one of the companions of Augustine, by whose teaching Sebert, the nephew of Ethelbert of Kent, was led to embrace the Christian faith, A.D. 604. On a marshy spot north of the Thames, then known as Thorny Island, Sebert built a church on the site of an ancient Roman temple consecrated to Apollo. This church is now Westminster Abbey. The sons of Sebert, who were still pagan, succeeding him, the province again fell into idolatry until the year 653. In that year Sigebert its king, paying a visit to Oswy of Northumbria, was led to embrace Christianity, when he requested the aid of missionaries to spread the faith in Essex. Cedd, to whom the mission was entrusted, was, at a later period, appointed bishop of the East Saxons, and fixed his See near London.

EAST ANGLIA.

Founded by the Angles under Uffa, A.D. 571. It included Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge and part of Bedfordshire.

This state, as well as Bernicia, Deira, and Mercia, was founded by the Angles, whose name was gradually extended to the whole of the conquered country, and, slightly altered, has been preserved to the present day,-Angle-land-Engle-land-England.

We have every reason to believe that the whole tribe of the Angles left their ancient home and established themselves in Britain, as their original country remained long afterwards uninhabited. It was as pagans of the most barbarous class, that all the Saxon tribes left their continental home. It is to this circumstance, and to the complete removal of the native race, that we must attribute the disappearance of Christianity from a country in which it had been previously spread. The native Britons retired into the remoter districts of Wales, Cumberland, and Cornwall, and, even when invited by Augustine to aid him in the task, would take no part in instructing the invaders in the Christian faith. The old British and Roman names of towns and districts were replaced by names of Saxon origin. Wansborough, Wanstead, Wansdike are corrupted from Wodnesborough, Wodnestede, and Wodnesdike. Even the names given to the days of the week preserve to the present time the traces of the early Saxon belief in Woden, Thor, and Freia.

Eorpwald was the first prince of this state who embraced Christianity, but his death occurring soon afterwards, East Anglia remained pagan till the accession of the good king Sigebert, his half-brother, who had sought refuge in France, and had there received instruction in the Christian faith. Having used every effort to spread it among his subjects, he followed the example of many of his brother princes of the Octarchy, and resigned his crown to follow the religious practices more congenial to his feelings. More than twenty of the early Saxon princes and princesses retired into religious solitude.

Ethelbert, the last prince of this state, was murdered by Offa, (A.D. 792), when East Anglia became united with Mercia.

Uffa.

MERCIA.

Founded by the Angles under Cridda, A.D. 586. It included all the interior of the island, as far as the mountains of Wales. It derived its name from the word Märck or March, a Border, being originally a border territory.

This was the last of the states founded by the invaders. From the arrival of Hengist till the constitution of the eight independent kingdoms which formed the Octarchy, a period of nearly a century and a half had elapsed. By the conquest of Mercia, all England was re-plunged into the state of barbarism from which it had been emerging during the latter years of the Roman occupation. The old Roman cities were abandoned by the conquerors, who employed only trunks of trees, boards, and rafters in the construction of their dwellings, till their conversion to Christianity. The improvement in architecture, as in letters and the arts, was connected with its reception. The first buildings among them erected with stone hewn and cemented, and with glazed windows, were churches, which, though devoid of beauty, were sometimes of great size. At Medehampstead, (the Home in the Meadow), in the country of the "Girvii," or the "Fenmen," afterwards called Burg St. Peter, (now Peterborough), the foundation stones were so large that eight oxen could scarcely draw one of them.

The early history of this state is stained with the crimes of Penda, (A.D. 626). It was during the reign of this prince that his son, Peada, paid a visit to Northumbria as a suitor for the hand of Alchflede, the daughter of Oswy, where he became a convert to Christianity. On his return, he was accompanied by Cedd and other missionaries, who settled at Repton, in Derbyshire, and made it the seat of the first Mercian bishopric.

At a later period the power of Mercia was greatly extended by Offa, the able but ambitious ally of Charlemagne. He subdued Kent, East Anglia, and Essex, and, to extend his influence over Wessex, gave his daughter Eadburg in marriage to Brithric, the prince of that state. It is supposed that remorse for the murder of Ethelbert of East Anglia, who was treacherously seized during a visit at his court, led Offa to resign his crown.

Accession A.D. 571

KINGS OF EAST ANGLIA. Ethelhere Ethelwald.

Principal Events.

BEGINNING to reign in Wessex in the year 800, he subdued Kent in 823, Mercia in 825, and brought the rest of the Octarchy under his authority in 827,-thus becoming the first Bretwalda, or Monarch of England, who transmits his power to his successor.

In the latter year, he is crowned at Winchester, then regarded as the capital of England.

832. The Danes land, for the first time during this reign, in the Isle of Sheppy.

833. A second descent upon the west of England is made by the Danes, who are unsuccessfully attacked by Egbert at Charmouth, in Dorsetshire.

835. Egbert defeats the Danes at Hengstone Hill, in Cornwall.

836. After a prosperous reign, Egbert leaves the kingdom to his son Ethelwolf, who had already received the sovereignty of Kent.

ACCESSION A.D. 827. DEATH

Observations.

BEFORE the accession of Egbert, Mercia was the most powerful state of the Octarchy. Beornwolf, who in 819 usurped the crown of this state, had been, shortly afterwards, defeated by Egbert.

The death of Brithric, which led to the rise of Egbert, the true heir, to the throne of Wessex, was caused by his accidentally drinking a poisoned cup prepared by his queen, Eadburg, for one of his courtiers. Egbert had, in his youth, been driven into exile by the intrigues of Eadburg, and had been kindly received by Charlemagne. The knowledge gained by him during his residence for fourteen years at the court of that able monarch aided him, doubtless, in his subsequent efforts to extend his power in England.

It is important to remember that Egbert was not the first who bore the title of Bretwalda, or Sovereign of England. The seven predecessors of Egbert in this office had not, however, sufficiently established their power to transmit it to their successors. It must be added, that, in some of the states which had formed the Octarchy, especially in Mercia and East Anglia, the succession of vassal or dependent kings continued until, at least, the close of the ninth century. The successors of Egbert, even to the time of Alfred, were contented to style themselves "Kings of the West Saxons."

No idea of territorial possessions seems, at first, to have been connected with the title of king. Hence we read of the kings of the Mercians or of the East Anglians, rather than of the kings of Mercia or of East Anglia.

The Britons in Wales and Cumberland still maintained their independence. The former received from the Saxons the name of Welsh, (or Wälisch,) a term signifying foreigners, and the country that of Welshland.

Before the accession of Egbert, we read of only three descents upon the English coasts, of those Scandinavian adventurers, or Vikings, (Seakings,) as they called themselves, who are commonly spoken of in history as Danes, although, coming from the North generally, they were more properly named by the Franks, Northmen or Nor-men. Their first landing in England occurred in the year 787. They were originally of the same race as the English themselves: but while the latter had become Christian, the former still remained pagan.

Contemporary Events.

KING OF FRANCE.

Louis I. (le Debonnaire), the son and successor of Charlemagne, who also succeeded his father in the title of Emperor of the West, restored in the person of that monarch, (A.D. 800).

Conquest of Sicily by the Saracens, who retain possession of it for 200 years, (A.D. 827).

Tuscany is erected into a Marquisate, which is conferred on Boniface, (A.D. 828).

Christianity is introduced into Sweden by Ansgar, a monk of Corvey, (A.D. 830).

Successes of Alphonso II. of Leon over the Saracens, who, by the defeat of Roderick at the battle of Xeres, (A.D. 711), had become masters of the greater part of Spain.