Page:Elizabeth Elstob - An English-Saxon homily on the birth-day of St. Gregory.djvu/93

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Birth-Day of S. Gregory.

13


Angle gehatene. for ðan þe hi Engla wlihte hab- bað & swilcum gedafe- nað þæt hi on heofonum Engla gefenon beon჻ Gyt þa Gregorius be- fran hu þære scyre na- ma wære þe þa cnapan of alædde wæron. him man sæde ^[1] ꝥ þe scir- men wæron ^[2] Deiri geha- tene჻ Gregorius and-	called Angle, because they have the Beauty of Angels, and therefore it is very fit that they should be the Companions of Angels in Heaven. Yet still Gregory enquired what the Shire was nam'd from which the Young Men were brought, It was told him that the Men of that Shire were call'd ^[3] Deiri. Gregory an-

↑ þæt þa. C. H.
↑ Dere. C. H.
↑ Dere, Deiri, & Diera. That this was part of the Kingdom of the Northumbrians, is attested by the generality of our Historians, who agree with Bede, Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. iii. in the Division of it into the two several Kingdoms of Deiri and Bernicii: Dera rice and Beornica rice, or as the Saxon Chron. has it, Dearne rice, p. 29.23 & 32.7. And Bærnice, p. 30.2. and Beornice, 44.26. But they are not so well agreed, as to the Limits of the two lesser Kingdoms. Richard Prior of Hexham (Vid. X. Script p. 285) fixes the Limits of Deira between the Rivers Humber and Tees; bur those of Bernicia between the Tees and Twede. He affirms, That some of the Northumbrian Kings reign'd only over the Deiri, as Elle; others over the Bernicii only, as Adda, the Son of Ella: Some over both the Deiri and Bernicii, as Edwine Son of the same Ella, and St. Oswald and Oswius, from whose Times the Kingdom remained entirely under one. And this Division Mr. Somner seems to approve of, in his Gloss. voce Deora mægþe in complaisance to Mr. Camden, in Ottadinis. But the Learned Antiquary (which may well be excused in so large and laborious a Work) seems to have overlooked what he had before deliver'd in Brigant. where he assigns to Deira all that lies between Tine and Humber, and to Bernicia all from Tine to the Frith of Edenburgh. To this Division I am rather inclined to agree, in reference to the Etymology of the word, which our Antiquaries will have derived from deor, signifying wild Beasts, and that this Division of the Kingdom

[1] þæt þa. C. H.

[2] Dere. C. H.

[p13-3] Dere, Deiri, & Diera. That this was part of the Kingdom of the Northumbrians, is attested by the generality of our Historians, who agree with Bede, Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. iii. in the Division of it into the two several Kingdoms of Deiri and Bernicii: Dera rice and Beornica rice, or as the Saxon Chron. has it, Dearne rice, p. 29.23 & 32.7. And Bærnice, p. 30.2. and Beornice, 44.26. But they are not so well agreed, as to the Limits of the two lesser Kingdoms. Richard Prior of Hexham (Vid. X. Script p. 285) fixes the Limits of Deira between the Rivers Humber and Tees; bur those of Bernicia between the Tees and Twede. He affirms, That some of the Northumbrian Kings reign'd only over the Deiri, as Elle; others over the Bernicii only, as Adda, the Son of Ella: Some over both the Deiri and Bernicii, as Edwine Son of the same Ella, and St. Oswald and Oswius, from whose Times the Kingdom remained entirely under one. And this Division Mr. Somner seems to approve of, in his Gloss. voce Deora mægþe in complaisance to Mr. Camden, in Ottadinis. But the Learned Antiquary (which may well be excused in so large and laborious a Work) seems to have overlooked what he had before deliver'd in Brigant. where he assigns to Deira all that lies between Tine and Humber, and to Bernicia all from Tine to the Frith of Edenburgh. To this Division I am rather inclined to agree, in reference to the Etymology of the word, which our Antiquaries will have derived from deor, signifying wild Beasts, and that this Division of the Kingdom

[1]

[2]

[3]