Little Arthur's history of England

Everything seemed to be going on well with the Britons and Romans, when a great misfortune happened, which I must tell you about.

Most of the great men in Rome had grown very idle and careless, because they had become so rich and strong that they could do what they pleased, and make everybody else obey them. And they let the soldiers in Rome be quite idle, instead of keeping them busy about useful things. So they forgot how to fight properly, and when a great many enemies came to fight against Rome, the soldiers there could not drive them away, and they sent, in a hurry, to Britain, for all the good Roman soldiers that were there, as well as the strongest and best Britons, to go and defend them; so Britain was left without enough men to take care of the towns, and the old men, and the women, and the children.

It happened that very soon after the best Britons had gone away to Rome, a number of people, called Angles and Saxons, came in ships to Britain, and landed. You will remember the Angles, because these were the people who changed the name of half of Britain into Englaland, which we now call England.

At first they took all the gold and silver and clothes and food they could find, and even some of the little children to make servants of, and carried them off in their ships to their own country.

Afterwards the Britons sent to ask their help against some fierce enemies, called the Picts and Scots, who had invaded South Britain from the northern part, which we now call Scotland. So two brothers came over first, who were called Hengist and Horsa; Horsa was slain in battle at Aylesford in Kent, but Hengist made himself king over a part of Britain.

And when the other Saxons and Angles saw what good and useful things were to be had in Britain, they determined to go there too. Some of them said they would only rob the Britons, and some said they would try to conquer the whole country, and take it for their own; and so, after a great deal of fighting, they did. But although a great many of the bravest Britons had been taken to Rome, some of the others joined together, to try and defend their country.

One of the first of them was King Arthur, who was one of the bravest men in the world, and he had some friends who were called his knights. They helped him to fight the Saxons, but the Saxons were too strong for them; so after fighting a long time, King Arthur was obliged to give up a good deal of his land to them. Yet he beat them at last in a great battle, and was able to keep the rest of his kingdom from them for many years. You will read many pretty stories about King Arthur and his knights, when you are older.

I have heard that they were all so good and so brave that nobody could tell who was the best, and the king himself did not know which to like best, so he had a large round table made, that they might all sit at it and be equal; because you know that at a round table the places are all alike, but at a long table one place may seem better than another. But I cannot tell you more about the knights now, for we must think about the Angles and Saxons.

By little and little, the Saxons and Angles drove the natives out of almost all Britain. The greatest number of those who remained went into that part called Wales, where there were high mountains and thick woods, where they could hide themselves. You will read in some books that some went with King Arthur to a part of France, which was called Brittany because Britons were living there already. But we cannot be sure of this.

Now the Angles and Saxons were fierce and cruel, for they had not yet learned anything about the true God; but instead of loving and serving Him, they made a great many figures of stone and wood, in the shape of men and women, and called them by different names, such as Woden, and Thor, and fancied they could help them and bless them, if they prayed to them; but you know this was both foolish and wicked. It was foolish, because stones and wood cannot hear or understand; and wicked, because we ought to pray to the true God only.

The Britons, who had all become Christians before the Angles and Saxons came to Britain, were very ill treated by their new masters, because they would not leave off loving and serving the true God. Their churches were pulled down, and the clergymen either killed or driven away. And the people of England (as Britain now began to be called) were almost in as bad a state as before the Romans came; for although the Angles and Saxons were glad enough to make them build houses, and plough the corn-fields, and take care of sheep for them, they would not let them read—they spoilt their schools, and burnt the books, besides pulling down the churches, as I told you before.

At length, however, these bad times ended, and the conquerors themselves left off being cruel, and did more good to the country than ever the Romans did, as I will tell you in another chapter.