3 
548 n - E N G I 
regarded; while, at the fame time, family pretenfions 
were not laid afide. Every perfon of the collateral line 
had an equal claim to alfert his right as thofe who claimed 
by direfl defcejit ; fo that the reigning monarch was un¬ 
der continual apprehenfions from the princes of the blood, 
whom he was taught to confider as rivals, and whofe 
death alone could qnfure him tranquillity. From this 
caufe, together with the monkilh fancy princes then had 
of retiring to monafteries, and the liigh opinion of merit 
attending the prefervation of chaftity, even in A married 
date ; from thefe concurrent ca tiles the royal families had 
been nearly extinguilhed in all the kingdoms, except that 
of Weffex. Thus Egbert was the only furviving^ defeend- 
ant of thofe conquerors who boaltcd their defcent from 
Woden ; find confcquently, befidehis perfqnal merit, he 
had hereditary pretenfions to the throne of the united 
kingdoms. It is indeed probable that lie had already 
planned the union of the heptarchy; but, in order to 
avert the fufpicions of the neighbouring dates, he at¬ 
tacked the unconquered Britons in Cornwall, and conti¬ 
nued to adt as mediator among the Saxon princes, whole- 
differences wete become almoft irreconcileable. His mo¬ 
deration in thefe good offices, the prudence he jnanifeded 
in his own government, and his known capacity in the 
affairs of war and peace, procured him fuch a degree of 
reputation, that he was foon confidered as the-chief of 
the Saxon heptarchy. 
But his ambition was not to be fatisfied with a mere 
nominal fuperiority ; he dill aimed at breaking down all 
didinctions, and uniting thefe petty dates; into one great 
and fiourifhing kingdom. The king of Mercia was the 
fird who furnidred him with a pretext for recovering the 
part of his dominions which had formerly been difmem- 
bered by that date. Beornulf, the monarch of that coun¬ 
try, who had long aimed at the fovereignty over the hep¬ 
tarchy, taking advantage of Egbert’s abfence, invaded 
his dominions with a numerous army, compofed of the 
flower of his country. Egbert was not remifs in march¬ 
ing to oppofe hint, with a body of troops lefs numerous 
than thofe of Beornulf, but more brave and relolute. 
Both armies met at Wilton, and a battle enfuing, the 
Mercians were defeated with terrible -daughter. 
In the mean time, the victorious Egbert purfued his 
conqued into tlie enemies’country ; and he difpatched 
his elded fon, Ethelwolf, with an army, into the kingdom 
of Kent, who foon made himfelf rnader of that nation, 
and expelled Baldred, their monarch, to whom his fub- 
jects had paid a very unwilling obedience. The Ead 
Saxons alio, qnd part of Surry, diffatisfied with their fub- 
jedtion to the IVlercians, readily fubmitted to Egbert; nor 
were the Ead Angles backward in fending ambaffadors 
to crave his protection and afliltance, againd that nation 
jivhofe yoke they had for fome time endured, and were 
refolved no longer to bear. The Mercian king, attempt¬ 
ing to reprefs their defection, was defeated and (lain ; 
and two years after, Ludecan, his fucceffor, experienced 
the fame fate: Withalf, one of their eoldermen, foon 
after put himfelf at their head, but being driven from 
province to province by the invincible Egbert, he was, 
at l id, obliged to- take (helter in the abbey of Croyland, 
while Egbert made himfelf mailer of the whole kingdom 
of Mercia. However, in order to (educe that people to 
his dominion, he permitted Withalf to govern the king¬ 
dom as a yaffil, tributary under him ; thus, at once fatis- 
fying his ambition, and flattering the people with an ap¬ 
pearance of their former government. 
The king of Northumberland was the lad that fubmit- 
ted to his authority. This date hall been long harnffed 
by civil wars and ulurparioris; all order had been de-. 
flroyed among the people, and the kingdom was weak¬ 
ened to” fuch a degree, that it was in no condition to 
wiihfiand Co formidable an invader as Egbert. The inha¬ 
bitants, therefore, unable to refid his power, and delirous 
of polIeHing fome edabliihed form of government, cheer¬ 
fully lent deputies, who fubmitted to his authority, and 
AND. 
expreffed their allegiance to him as their fovereign. By 
this fubmifiion, all the kingdoms of'the heptarchy were 
united under his command ; bur, to gjve Iplendour tp-his 
authority, a general council of the clergy and laity’was 
fummoned at Wincheder, where he was folentnly crowned 
king of England, by which name the united nations 
have been from thenceforth called. 
Thus, about four hundred years from the fird arrival 
of the Saxons in Britain, A.D.827, the prudence and 
policy of Egbert united all the kingdoms of the heptarchy 
into one great and formidable date; but fo introduce 
knowledge and arts amonglf the inhabitants was a much 
more arduous talk. Chridianity had-not hitherto banilhed 
their ignorance, or foftened the ferocity of their manners ; 
credulity and fuperltition had accompanied the doblrines 
of Rome ; and the reverer.ee towards faints and relics 
feems almod to have fupplanted the adoration even of 
the Supreme Being. Monadic obfervances were edeemed 
more meritorious than the adtive virtues ; and bounty to 
the church atoned for every violence againd fociety. The 
facerdotal habit was the only objedt of refpedt; hence the 
nobility preferred the fecurity and doth of the cloider to 
the tumult and glory of war; and the kings, impove- 
rilhed by the continual benefactions to the church, were 
neither able to reward valour, nor retained influence to 
fupport their government. Another inconvenience at¬ 
tended this corrupt date of Chridianity : the Saxons were 
taught by the-monks a profound veneration for the holy 
fee ; and the blindnefs and fubmiflive difpodtion of the 
people encouraged the fucceffors of St. Peter to advance 
every day in their encroachments on the independence of 
the Englilh church. In the eighth century, Wilfrid, 
hilhop of Lindisferne, the foie prelate of the Northum¬ 
brian kingdom, appealed to Rome againd the decifions of 
an Englilh fynod, and thus laid the foundation of the 
papal pretenfions, which were afterwards carried to the 
mod difaraceful heights, and fubmitted to with the mod 
abjeCh venality. 
From EGBERT, the FIRST KING of ENGLAND, 
to the NORMAN CONQUEST. 
Scarcely had Egbert feated himfelf on the united throne 
of the feven kingdoms of England, than the illand found 
itfelf expofed to frelh invafions. In the year 819, a 
mighty fwarnt of thofe nations bordering on the Baltic, 
began, under the denomination of Danes and Normans, 
to infed the wellern coads of Europe, and to fill all 
places, wherever they came, with daughfer and devalta- 
tion. Thefe were, in faCt, no other than the ancedors 
of the very people whom they came to defpoil,. and might 
be confidered as the original dock from whence the rude 
colonies that infeded Britain had migrated fome centuries 
before. The Normans fell upon the northern coads of 
France; the Danes chiefly levelled their fury againd 
England, their fird appearance having been when Brithric 
was king of Weffex. It was then that a fmall body of 
them landed on the coads of that kingdom, with a view 
of fpying out the date of the country ; and having com¬ 
mitted fome fmall depredations, they fled to their fltips 
for fafety. About leven years after this fird attempt, 
they made a defcent upon the coad of Northumberland, 
where they pillaged a monadery ; but their fleet being 
(battered by a dorm, they were defeated by the inhabi¬ 
tants, and put to the fword. It was not till about five 
years after the acceffion of Egbert, that their invafions 
became formidable. From that time they continued then- 
attacks with uncealing ferocity, until the whole kingdom 
was reduced to a date of the mod didrefsful bondage. 
No fooner had the Saxons began to negleCt their naval 
edablidiment, than the Danes, who lucceeded them in 
the empire of the fea, found no difficulty in landing upon 
the ilie of Sheppey, in Kent, which they ravaged, and 
returned to their diips loaden with the fpoil. TheiGnext 
attempt, the year enfuing, was at the mouth of the Tyne, 
where they landed fifteen thoufand men, and fnade.good 
their 
