of the castrum he feels satisfied "that Pevensey must be CHAP. VI. the site of the Roman Anderida, and that no other place can be rationally established in its stead." The last writer I have to deal with is Mr. Lewin, who, in his paper already alluded to, on the Castra of Littus Saxonicum, communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, and published in the year 1868, tells us that the general, if not the universal voice is now in favour of Pevensey; and as his etymology of Anderida differs from that of the earlier writers, I will give it. He says "The castrum of Anderida took its name from the Great Forest, which, p. 17., vol. 41. on the land side, pressed upon it on the north, east, and west. The Archæologia. etymology must be sought for in the Celtic language, in which Anderida signifies the Black Forest. Thus (to resolve the word into its elements) an is "the," deru "oak forest," and dy is "black," signifying "the Black Forest,' --an appropriate name for the vast forest, the counterpart in England of the Black Forest in Germany." But I must bring my notice of this long-pending controversy to a close by confessing, after weighing well what has been so ably written pro and con., that I arrive, though with some hesitation, at the same conclusion as the late Mr. Sandys, namely, that the Roman and the British Anderida were not one and the same city, but that the British city was at Newenden, and the Roman station at Pevensey. It should be kept in view that the total demolition of a rude British city was a very different affair from the destruction of a Roman station. Hence the difficulty of obtaining any further evidence at Newenden. It should also be remembered that Kent, Sussex, and Surrey abound in places possessing the same names. CHAP. VII. A. D. 488 to 586. CHAPTER VII. ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY CONTINUED-ÆSC TO ETHELBERT— K ENT was successively governed by Esc*, Octa, and Ermenric, all lineal descendants of Hengist. We find Ethelbert (the son of Ermenric) first sharing the kingdom with his father, and at last succeeding to the throne in 565. During this interval Ella founded the South Saxon kingdom (now Sussex); and Cerdic, with his son Cynric, (tempted by the successes which had attended the previous invasions of their countrymen) landed on the coast of Hampshire, where, after many desperate engagements, they established the kingdom of Wessex, or the West Saxons, being the third Saxon kingdom. Five other kingdoms (completing an Anglo-Saxon Octarchy) were formed at different intervals of time, including a period of about 140 years. Before I proceed further, I propose to direct the attention of the reader more particularly to the forest itself. Those who have not closely studied the subject will be astonished to learn how vast were the forests and woods of England at this period of our history, extending in some instances over nearly the whole of a county.t * All the authorities agree that Hengist died in 488. The Saxon Chronicle says his son Esc was 66 'King of the Kentish men twenty-four years," but Henry of Huntingdon says he reigned thirty-four years. The dates prior to the landing of St. Augustine should only be regarded as approximative. John of Tynemouth relates that in the early periods of Saxon dominion the whole country between Tyne and Tees was one vast forest, inhabited by wild beasts. I am indebted to Mr. Charles H. Pearson's valuable work, just published, "on the Historical Maps of England during the first thirteen centuries," for the following remarks: CHAP. VII. "A large part of England was undoubtedly covered in early times with P. 4. woods dense enough to make the passage of troops dangerous, and to serve as a natural boundary between different tribes. In the glades and coverts of these, but especially in the sunny denes of Kent, numerous herds found pasturage, or swine fattened on the mast of the oaks To men only just acquainted with the use of metals, wood was necessary in every way for timber, fuel, weapons, and tools; and the woods were thus a condition of subsistence, as well as of independence to every community. With the coming of the Romans, a new order was introduced. The conquerors carried their arms at first only over the open country; and the great military roads marked on the Itinerary of Antonine always, if possible, avoid traversing a forest. The road to Chichester went by Southampton, that it might avoid the Andreds-weald of Sussex.* But as Roman rule struck root in the island, the occupation told in several ways on the woods. Here and there it was unavoidable that military roads should be opened through them." 备 # Of these numerous forests, the Andred was reputed to be the largest. From vegetative agencies perpetually going on, the forest must have been always extending itself; and, Nature triumphing in all her unmolested but dreary and barbarous majesty, it would continue to do so, until checked by human enterprise. From this circumstance its exact extent and precise boundary could never have been ascertained and clearly defined. It shall be my endeavour to throw some light on the subject as far at least as the Kentish portion is concerned; and also to explain the tenure under which it was originally held, and the changes which subsequently took place. We know that it was a forest, and an immense one; but the first question which arises is, was it a Forest in the legal acceptation of the term? To endeavour to ascertain this, we may recur to one of our old Kentish worthies, Sir Roger Manwood, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in the time of Queen Elizabeth; * When I wrote my third chapter I had not seen Mr. Pearson's work; it is therefore a matter of satisfaction to be able to refer to so learned an authority in support of what I ventured to advance at the concluding portion of that chapter. CHAP. VII. Manwood on p. 139. P. 151. Ports & Forts, and who in his learned treatise on the Forest Laws says: "A Forest is a certain territory of woody grounds and fruitful pastures, privileged for wild beasts and fowls of forest, chase, and warren, to rest and abide there, in the safe protection of the King, for his delight and pleasure; which territory of ground so privileged is meered and bounded with unremovable marks, meers, and boundaries, either known by matter of record or by prescription; and also replenished with wild beasts of venery or chase, and with great coverts of vert, for the succour of the said beasts there to abide." Now, I think it has never been contended that the forest of Andred came within this definition. The Weald, apparently, never had "unremoveable marks, meers, and boundaries," for Lambarde, who was a contemporary of Manwood, tells us that in his day "a man may more reasonably maintain that there is no weald at all, than certainly pronounce where it beginneth or maketh an end." Manwood, however, subsequently observes:- "Before this nation was replenished with inhabitants, there were many great woods full of all sorts of wild beasts then known in England; and after the same came to be inhabited, the woods were, by degrees, destroyed, especially near the houses; and as the land increased in people, so the woods and coverts were daily destroyed, and, by that means, the wild beasts retired to those woods which were left standing, and which were remote from their habitations. "But there were still, and even in the Saxons' time, many great woods which were not destroyed, and those were called walds, that is, forests or woods where wolves and foxes did harbour." * * * "Though the word sylva is often taken and translated for a forest, and so is the word saltus, yet neither of them are proper words for a forest, but for a wood. "Tis true they are taken for a forest, because 'tis a place full of woods; and therefore a good forester is called a good woodward, and was antiently called saltuarius, which shews from whence his name is derived, though now he is called forestarius. "But it doth not follow from thence that every wood is a forest, though there are deer and other wild beasts there, unless the place is privileged by the king for the quiet and protection of the wild beasts there." Now here I think we have found a good starting point, for among the several names given to the Weald and handed down to us by Somner, are, Saltus Andred, Sylva Andred, and Saltus Communis. And I should have been content with this definition of "The Weald," had I not found in CHAP. VII. "The Saxons in England," a very interesting chapter Vol. I., p. 481. entitled The Mark," which has an evident bearing on my subject. Indeed, from Appendix A to his first volume I am induced to think that Mr. Kemble, the author, classed the forty-four Dens forming a portion of this our "Saltus Communis" as one of the ancient "marks," and which he calls "The Court of Dens." I will therefore briefly furnish the reader with his theory; first observing that the word mark, Anglo-Saxon "mearc," is but little known to us in Kent as connected with the boundary of land. It is, however, common in almost all the languages of Teutonic origin. Hence the term "The Marches," or the country lying about the marks which indicated the limits of two kingdoms, dukedoms, or other extensive jurisdiction; and the noblemen who lived in them were for centuries petty sovereigns. The Germans found one of their titles of honour on this word, the Mark graf (Markgrave), or Lord of the Marches; and our own Marquis is of the same origin. When speaking of the Marches in England, we are supposed to refer to those parts of the island which are near the borders of Wales and Scotland. Mr. Kemble tells us that the Mark was a system which the German conquerors introduced into every state which they founded upon the ruins of the Roman power, and he adds: "It is a word less frequent in the Anglo-Saxon than the German muniments, only because the system founded upon what it represents yielded in England earlier than in Germany to extraneous influences. ** "Let us take into consideration the mark in its restricted and proper sense of a boundary. Its most general characteristic is, that it should not be distributed in arable, but remain in heath, forest, fen, and pasture. In it the markmen had commonable rights; but there could be no private estate in it. Even if under peculiar circumstances any It is greatly to be regretted that many of our most gifted authors are so indifferent about indexes to their publications. This work of Mr. Kemble is deprived of much of its value from the fact that it does not contain any index. |