AN ENGLISH SHIRE. 201 



insular termination (found in all isles round the British 

 coast, as in Sheppey, Walney, Bardsea, Anglesea, Fursey, 

 Wallasey, and so forth,) that the marshland was still 

 wholly undrained, and that, a few islands alone stood 

 here and there as masses of dry land out of their desolate 

 and watery expanse. The Hastings district, too, fell 

 more naturally to Sussex than to Kent, because the 

 marshes dividing it from the former were far less for- 

 midable than those which severed it from the latter. 

 Most probably the South Saxons intentionally aided 

 nature in cutting off their territory from all other parts 

 of Britain ; for every English kingdom loved to surround 

 itself with a distinct mark or border of waste, as a 

 defence against invasion from outside. The Romans had 

 brought Sussex within the great network of their road 

 system ; but the South Saxons no doubt took special 

 pains to cut off those parts of the roads which led across 

 their own frontier. At any rate, it is quite clear that 

 Sussex did not largely participate in the general life of 

 the new England, and that intercourse with the rest of 

 the world was extremely limited. 



The South Saxon kings probably lived for the most 

 part at Chichester, though no doubt they had hams, after 

 the royal Teutonic fashion generally, in many other parts 

 of their territory ; and they moved about from one to the 

 other, with their suite of thegns, eating up in each what 

 food was provided by their serfs for their use, and then 

 moving on to the next. The isolation of Sussex is 

 strikingly shown by its long adherence to the primitive 

 paganism. Missionaries from Eome, under the guidance 

 of Augustine, converted Kent as early as 597. For Kent 



