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William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the kings of England (1904)
William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the kings of England - 1904 Author:William Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE HISTORY OF Till KINGS OF ENGLAND. BOOK I. CHAPTER I. Of the arrival of the Anglet, and of the Kings of Kent. [a.d. 449.] In the year of the i... more »ncarnation of our Lord 449, Angles and Saxons first came into Britain ; and although the cause 01 their arrival is universally known, it may not be improper here to subjoin it : and, that the design of my work may be the more manifest, to begin even from an earlier period. That Britain, compelled by Julius Coesar to submit to the Roman power, was held in high estimation by that people, may be collected from their history, and be seen also in the ruins of their ancient buildings. Even their emperors, sovereigns of almost all the world, eagerly embraced opportunities of sailing hither, and of spending their days here. Finally, Severus and Constantius, two of their greatest princes, died upon the island, and were there interred with the utmost pomp. The former, to defend this province from the incursions of the barbarians, built his celebrated and well-known wall from sea to sea. The latter, a man, as they report, of courteous manners, left Constantine, his son by Helena, a tender of cattle, a youth of great promise, lag Helena's origin has been much contested : Gibbon decide! thai the iras daughter of an innkeeper. The word " Stabularia,'' literally impliei an ostler-wench ; and it has been conjectured that it was applied to hrr, hjr the Jews and Gentiles, on Recount of her building u church on the ftpot where stood the stable in which our Lord was bora. heir. Constantine, greeted emperor by the army, led away, in an expedition destined to the continent, a numerous force of British soldiers; by whose exertions, the war succeeding to his wishes, he gained in a short time the summit of power. For these veterans, when th...« less