riod of the Romans and the Christian historical period
initiated by the conversion of Kent. Of South-Eastern Britain under the
pagan Anglo-Saxons we know practically nothing, save by inference and
analogy, or by the scanty evidence of archaeology.

[1] For an account of these two main authorities see further
on, Baeda in chapter xi., and the "Chronicle" in chapter
xviii.

According to tradition the Jutes came first. In 449, says the Celtic
legend (the date is quite untrustworthy), they landed in Kent, where
they first settled in Ruim, which we English call Thanet--then really an
island, and gradually spread themselves over the mainland, capturing the
great Roman fortress of Rochester and coast land as far as London.
Though the details of this story are full of mythical absurdities, the
analogy of the later Danish colonies gives it an air of great
probability, as the Danes always settled first in islands or peninsulas,
and thence proceeded to overrun, and finally to annex, the adjacent
district. A second Jutish horde established itself in the Isle of Wight
and on the opposite shore of Hampshire. But the whole share borne by the
Jutes in the settlement of Britain seems to have been but small.

The Saxons came second in time, if we may believe the legends. In 477,
AElle, with his three sons, is said to have landed on the south coast,
where he founded the colony of the South Saxons, or Sussex. In 495,
Cerdic and Cynric led another kindred horde to the south-western shore,
and made the first settlement of the West Saxons, or Wessex. Of the
beginnings of the East Saxon community in Essex, and of the Middle
Saxons in Middlesex, we know little, even by tradition. The Saxons
undoubtedly came over in large numbers; but a considerable body of their
fellow-tribesmen still remained upon the Continent, where they were
still independent and unconverted up to the time of Karl the Great.

The English, on the other hand, apparently migrated in a body. There is
no trace of any Englishmen in Denmark or Germany after the exodus to
Britain. Their language, of which a dialect still survives in Friesland,
has utterly died out in Sleswick. The English took for their share of
Britain the nearest east coast. We have little record of their arrival,
even in the legendary story; we merely learn that in 547, Ida "succeeded
to the kingdom" of the Northumbrians, whence we may possibly conclude
that the colony was already established. The