18 



SETTLEMENT OF BRITAIN BY NORTHMEN. 



to Britain is that during the Roman occupation of the island 

 the Saxons had settlements in the country ; but how they came 

 hither we are not told. 



In the Notitia Dignitatem utriusque imperil, a sort of cata- 

 logue or " Army List," compiled towards the latter end of the 

 fourth century, occurs the expression, " Comes litoris Saxonici 

 per Britanuias " Count of the Saxon Shore in Britain. Within 

 this litus Saxonicuni the following places are mentioned : 

 Othona, said to be " close by Hastings " ; Dubris, said to be 

 Dover ; Rutupiae, Richborough ; Branodimum, Brancaster ; 

 Regulbium, Reculvers ; Lemannis, West Hythe ; Garianno, 

 Yarmouth ; Anderida, Pevensey ; Portus Adurni, Shoreham or 

 Brighton. 



This shows that the so-called Saxons were settled in Britain 

 before the Notitia was drawn up, and at a date very much 

 earlier than has been assigned by some modern historians. 



The hypothesis that the expression " litus Saxonicum " is 

 derived from the enemy to whose ravages it was exposed 

 seems improbable. Is it not much more probable that the 

 " litus Saxonicum per Britannias " must mean the shore 

 of the country settled, not attacked, by Saxons? The mere 

 fact of their attacking the shore would not have given rise to 

 the name applied to it had they not settled there, for I 

 maintain that there is no instance in the whole of Roman 

 literature of a country being named after the people who 

 attacked it. If, on the other hand, the Saxons had landed and 

 formed settlements on the British coasts, the origin of the 

 name " Litus Saxonicum " is easiiv understood. 



d 



Some time after the Romans relinquished Britain we find 

 that part of the island becomes known as England ; and, to 

 make the subject still more confusing, the people composing 

 its chief population are called Saxons by the chroniclers and 

 later historians, the name given to them by the Romans. 



That the history of the people called Saxons was by no means 

 certain is seen in the fact that Witikiud, a monk of the tenth 

 century, gives the following account of what was then con- 

 sidered to be their origin * : 



1 " Nam super hac re varia opmio est, 

 aliis arbitrantibus <\e Danis Northman- 



nisque originem duxisse Saxones, aliis 

 autem aestimantibus, ut ipse adoles- 



