Page:Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (tr. Jane).djvu/405

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Notes to 'Ecclesiastical History'


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1. Ceowulph. King of Northumbria (729-737)

2. Pope Gregory. Gregory II. (715-731). 2. Daniel. He was bishop of VVinchester. 4. Bede's account of Britain was taken from earlier authors ; and his

history of the Roman period from such writers as Orosius, who wrote in the fifth century, Eutropius, &c. 4. Reptacestir is now Richborough. Gessoriacum is Boulogne ; it was the chief town of the Morini, who inhabited the later Artois.

4. St. Basil. That is, St. Basil the Great, who was bishop of Caesarea in

Cappadocia, and died in 379.

5. Scythia. In Bede, Scythia means Scandinavia, not Russia.

5. Armorica. A confusion caused probably by the fact that in Bede's

time, Armorica was largely peopled by refugees from Britain. Armorica is the modern Brittany.

6. "A very large gulf." That is, the Firth of Clyde. Ahluith is the

present Dumbarton.

7. " The sixtieth year.'^ The date should be B.C. 55. Coesar's second

invasion was in B.C. 54.

7. Cassihellaun : or Casivellaunus. He was king of the Cassii, and ruled

what is now Middlesex and the surrounding land. Trinovatum = (perhaps) London.

8. " Cassihellaun' s town," Possibly on the site of St. Albans.

8. ^* Wars and tumults . . . on every side." The rebellion of Ambiorix.

8. Orcades. The Orkney and Shetland Islands. They were never really

conquered by the Romans, though Julius Agricola ordered the circumnavigation of Britain.

9. " T-iVo most noble towns" i.e. Camulodunum (Colchester) and London.

They fell in the rising of Boadicea (a.d. 61), repressed by Suetonius Paulinus. 9. Marcus Antoninus. As it stands, there is much confusion in this chapter. Marcus Antoninus = Marcus Aurelius, who reigned from 161 to 180. Eleutherius was Pope from 177 to 193. The colleague of Marcus was first his adopted brother Verus, who died in 169. In 176 Marcus gave his son, Commodus, the title of Augustus. The error in the text may have arisen from the double association. 9. •* Civil wars." Against Niger in the East, and Albinius in the West. The latter had been governor of Britain, and this partly led to the visit of Severus. Severus succeeded in 193.

10. ^' A great ditch and strong rampart." The Roman walls were four in number : (l) Julius Agricola built a wall from the Clyde to the Forth. (2) Hadrian built a second from the Solway Firth to the Tyne. (3) Severus repaired the wall of Hadrian. (4) Theodosius restored the line of Agricola's wall.

10. Bassianus. The emperor usually known as Caracalla.

367