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BIOGRAPHICAL OUTLINES

BRITISH HISTORY.

London:

B. HARRIS & Co.,

JULIUS CAESAR.

B.C. 100-44.

THIS greatest of the Roman generals, and afterwards the first Roman emperor, having subdued the whole of Gaul, beyond and on this side the Alps , invaded Britain, and landing near Deal, defeated the Britons and obliged them to pay tribute, B.C. 55. The next year he led a second and larger army to Britain, and having conquered the British tribes in several battles, he took possession of the southern provinces, and paved the way for the total occupation of Britain by the Romans.

CARACTACUS.

Died A.D. 43.

A brave British general who resisted the Romans when, under the Emperor Claudius, they extended their conquests in Britain. Taken prisoner to Rome, and led in triumph, he expressed his surprise that a nation possessed of such magnificence could covet his humble cottage in Britain.

PAULINUS.

Died A.D. 59.

A Roman general sent to Britain under the Emperor Nero. He attacked and destroyed the Druids in the island of Anglesea, and so roused the Britains that, under their queen, Boadicea, they defeated the Romans with great slaughter, and burned London.

BOADICEA.

Died A.D. 61.

Queen of the Iceni, who occupied Norfolk and the valley of the great Ouse. She and her daughter being shamefully and cruelly treated by the Romans, under Paulinus, attacked and defeated them and burned London. She was, however, soon after defeated by them in Essex, and eighty thousand Britons were slain, when in despair she poisoned herself.

AGRICOLA.

Died A.D. 78.

A Roman general under the Emperor Vespasian, conquered most of Britain and part of Scotland . He taught the Britons Roman arts and customs, made roads, and built two walls to keep out the unsubdued tribes in the far north. His sailors sailed round Great Britain, and so discovered it to be an island.

SAINT ALBAN.

Died A.D. 303.

A British officer of the Roman army, who became the first Christian martyr in England at Verulam, now called St. Albans.

CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.

Born A.D. 309.--Died A.D. 337.

The first Christian Roman emperor. The son of the Emperor Constantius, who came over to Britain, had married a British princess, and died at York A.D. 309; where Constantine assumed the rank of emperor. He is said by some historians to have been born in England. He greatly promoted Christianity.

HENGIST AND HORSA.

A.D. 449.

Two Saxon chiefs, who came over at the invitation of the Britons, under their chief, Vortigern, to help them drive back the Picts and Scots, who, coming from the north, invaded the country when the Romans abandoned Britain.

KING ARTHUR.

Reigned 508-533.

When the Romans left Britain, A.D. 409, the country split up into principalities and petty kingdoms, under chiefs. Vortigern brought in the Saxons to help him reign, and they took possession of most of southern England. King Arthur is said to have stemmed the invasion and conquered them in twelve pitched battles, and to have formed a league of chiefs reaching from Somersetshire to the Frith of Forth. Beautiful legends have been written about this league and the chiefs who joined in it. Arthur's reign lasted twenty-five years.

GILDAS THE WISE.

A.D. 570.

The first British historian. A native of Wales, and a monk. He died A.D. 570.

SAINT AUGUSTINE.

Died A.D. 596.

A Benedictine monk, who was sent over from Rome by Pope Gregory the Great, at the invitation of the Saxon king Ethelbert, to preach the Gospel in Britain. Two of the kings were soon converted to Christianity, who pulled down the heathen temples and began to build churches.

VENERABLE BEDE.

Born 672.--Died 735.

A Benedictine monk of great learning, and an early author and historian; he translated the Scriptures into Anglo-Saxon. Died A.D. 735.

ALFRED THE GREAT.

Born 849.--Died 901.--Ethelwulf.--Ethelbald--Ethelbert.--Ethelred.--Alfred.

This extraordinary man, who has with justice been called the greatest of all the line of English kings, was the son of Ethelwulf and Osburga, and was born at Wantage in Berkshire. He learnt to read at six years old, and steadily set himself to gain and spread the love of learning, when he began his reign at seventeen. The Danes overran his kingdom, and he was forced to take refuge in the Isle of Athelney, between the rivers Parret and Tone; it was then that he was set to watch the cakes baking in the ashes, in a hut in which he had asked shelter. After he had subdued the Danes, Alfred enlarged his fleet, and sent envoys to other countries to obtain a knowledge of their state and productions. His name was well known at Rome, Constantinople, Bagdad, and even in India. Alfred first sketched out the English Constitution in his Code of Laws. He built and endowed schools, had books written and chained in the churches, and invented a wax-candle clock, which measured the time by burning an inch of wax in twenty minutes. After a reign of thirty-four years, spent in unceasing toil for the good of his people, Alfred died in 901.

ASSER.

Died 909.

A native of Wales, a learned monk, and Bishop of Sherbourne, who was tutor to King Alfred. He afterwards wrote his life. Died A.D. 909.

ST. DUNSTAN, ABBOT.

Born 945.--Died 978.

A Saxon nobleman, who became a Benedictine monk, Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, and Archbishop of Canterbury, was the most learned man of his time. He learnt every art then known, and first used stained glass and organs in England. He lived for some time in a cave, and is said to have had personal battles with Satan, who appeared under different shapes to tempt him.

CANUTE THE GREAT.

Reigned 1017-1035.

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