202 AN ENGLISH SHIRE. 



was the nearest kingdom to the continent ; it contained 

 the chief port of entry for continental travellers, Eich- 

 borough the Dover of those days and its king, 

 accustomed to continental connections, had married a 

 Christian Frankish princess from Paris. Hence Kent 

 was naturally the first Teutonic principality to receive 

 the faith. Next came Northumbria, Lindsey, East 

 Anglia, Wessex, and even inland Mercia. But Sussex 

 still held out for Thor and Woden as late as 679, three- 

 quarters of a century after the conversion of Kent, and 

 twenty years after Mercia itself had given way to the new 

 faith. Even when Sussex was finally converted, the 

 manner in which the change took place was characteristic. 

 It was not by missionaries from beyond the Weald in 

 Kent or Surrey, nor from beyond the marsh in Wessex. 

 An Irish monk, Baeda tells us, coming ashore on the open 

 coast near Chichester, established a small monastery at 

 Bosham even then, no doubt, a royal ham, as we know 

 it was under Harold ' a place,' says the old historian 

 significantly, 'girt round by sea and forest.' (It lies 

 just on the mark between Wessex and the South Saxons.) 

 ^Ethelwealh, the king a curious name, for it means 

 ' noble Welshman ' (perhaps he w^as of mixed blood) had 

 already been baptized in Mercia, and his wife was the 

 daughter of a Christian ealdoruaan of the Worcester-men ; 

 but the rest of the principality was heathen. The Irish 

 monk effected nothing ; but shortly after Wilfrith, the 

 fiery Bishop of York, on one of his usual flying visits to 

 Eome, got shipwrecked off Selsea. With his accustomed 

 vigour, he went ashore, and began a crusade in the 

 heathen land. He was able at once to baptize the 



