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Home The Early Kingdoms: Kent, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex The Early Kingdoms; Part 4 |
The Early Kingdoms; Part 4The story of the rise and fall, first of Northumbria and then of Mercia, is apt to seem tiresome. After battles and conquests there is nothing permanent to show for it all. One fabric, laboriously raised, tumbles to the ground, and nothing is left but confused ruins. Then another is begun only to collapse like its predecessor. We shall now have to follow the building up of a third power, that of Wessex. This time, however, it is more interesting because it proved permanent.We have seen from time to time a little of the early history of Wessex. The West Saxons were certainly the most powerful kingdom in the south. Twice they had seemed to be on the verge of great things, first when Ceawlin won the victory of Deorham, and again when Ini conquered Somerset, Sussex, and Kent, thus becoming master of all England south of the Thames. But Ceawlin was checked by quarrels at home, and the West Saxon power had been overshadowed by the growth of Northumbria, while Ini was compelled to yield to Ethelbald of Mercia. Offa's death, however, gave a fresh opportunity; and with the hour came the man. Egbert had already made one attempt on the West Saxon throne, but the influence of Offa had been too strong for him. He had taken refuge with Charlemagne, and had no doubt learnt at that monarch's splendid court the value of a united realm, and something of the art of ruling one. In 802 the West Saxons offered him the crown. The growth of his power was rapid. He subdued the Welsh of Cornwall, defeated the Mercians at Ellandun in 825, tore from them the kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, and Essex, which they had held subject, and two years later, invading Mercia itself, made the Mercians accept him as overlord. His name was now so great that Northumbria submitted to a mere threat. Thus before his death in 839, although he did not actually displace the Kings of Mercia, Northumbria, and East Anglia, he was ruler of the whole country (The spread of Christianity over Saxon England and the changes of the overlordship follow nearly the same course. If on a map of England a "horse-shoe" line be drawn, starting in Kent and travelling through Essex, East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, back to Sussex, this traces the course of Christianity, save that Wessex was converted before Mercia; omitting the kingdoms in italics it also traces the "overlordship"). So far there is nothing to suggest to us that the overlordship of Wessex will differ from those of Mercia or Northumbria. We may expect to see it fall, as they fell. Indeed on Egbert's death we may fancy that we see the fall beginning: Wessex goes to one son, Ethelwulf; Kent, Essex, and Sussex are given to another son, Athelstan. Disunion appears close at hand. Yet there was a new factor in English politics. Efforts at union had hitherto failed, because so soon as one kingdom became great, it was the interest of the rest to pull it down. Such union as there was must be union of force, not of hearts. Ever since the Welsh had been tamed, England had lacked the strongest motive towards union, namely, the presence of a powerful foreign foe. In Egbert's reign this foreign foe was already thundering at the gates. England had to face the invasions of the Danes. |
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