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Article ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY ILLUSTRATED BY TOPOG... ← Page 3 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anglo-Saxon History Illustrated By Topog...
were pthera within the Roman bounds . As it was , the old Belgian population , the Iberian population of the west , and the Romanized or immigrant population , must in those times have become extinct . In the south-east , which was the longest settled , the Belgians formed the base of the population , and that was the district most exposed to all the unfavourable influences .
The British or Welsh population , which might have succumbed to Romanizing infiuence / to a greater extent , was preserved by its nationality , and maintained in its nationality during the wars with the Scots , with whom there was some affinity of language and manners . The brunt of the inroads would fall upon the Roman settlers of the north and west , and the Welsh were kept as a class apart by their
intercourse with the invaders . Wherever the Scots obtained a footing , they could keep up intercourse with the Welsh , but not with the Latin speaking population ; and year by year the influence of Latin instruction on the Welsh must have become less powerful . Thus we are prepared for the fact that in after centuries we find the English fighting solely with Celtic populations which had lost their Roman culture and lapsed to the customary state of barbarism .
The restoration of the Welsh element as a predominant one in the population must have been most unfavourable to the Roman citizens . Welsh would divide the allegiance with Latin in thinly peopled districts ; the Romans would have to hold intercourse in Welsh , and a great source of weakness would be found in the division of Welsh and Roman . The use of Latin by the Christian priesthood
would for a time operate to turn the balance against the Romans . The Romans , as a Latin speaking population , would obtain the highest honours of the hierarchy , and this would bring in numbers of votaries of celibacy from the Romans , who , being likewise of greater wealth , would be more especially exposed to the entreaties of the
cloistered men and women , bo long as the Welsh were in this respect the unlearned , poorer , and inferior race , they would contribute in a smaller degree to the ranks of the clergy . It was at a later period that the honours of the church came within the grasp of the Welsh , and then the active habits of warriors succiunbed to the degenerate occupations of the cloister .
As the population within the Belgian region diminished , so would the Welsh population extend , and the vigour and enterprise of a moving and apj ^ arently advancing population be communicated to * the Welsh as compared with the Romans . The numerous towns and settlements with which Roman Britain was covered might be the
nominal property of Roman citizens , but a period had come when Roman citizenship and Roman magistracy were of less weight than the chieftainship of a Welsh clan or faction , and slowly and steadily the colonies , municipalities , and cities of Britain , must have acquired not only Welsh populations but Welsh institutions . The learning , ( disci pline , organization , administration , political prestige , and clerical power of the Roman party , would , for a time ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anglo-Saxon History Illustrated By Topog...
were pthera within the Roman bounds . As it was , the old Belgian population , the Iberian population of the west , and the Romanized or immigrant population , must in those times have become extinct . In the south-east , which was the longest settled , the Belgians formed the base of the population , and that was the district most exposed to all the unfavourable influences .
The British or Welsh population , which might have succumbed to Romanizing infiuence / to a greater extent , was preserved by its nationality , and maintained in its nationality during the wars with the Scots , with whom there was some affinity of language and manners . The brunt of the inroads would fall upon the Roman settlers of the north and west , and the Welsh were kept as a class apart by their
intercourse with the invaders . Wherever the Scots obtained a footing , they could keep up intercourse with the Welsh , but not with the Latin speaking population ; and year by year the influence of Latin instruction on the Welsh must have become less powerful . Thus we are prepared for the fact that in after centuries we find the English fighting solely with Celtic populations which had lost their Roman culture and lapsed to the customary state of barbarism .
The restoration of the Welsh element as a predominant one in the population must have been most unfavourable to the Roman citizens . Welsh would divide the allegiance with Latin in thinly peopled districts ; the Romans would have to hold intercourse in Welsh , and a great source of weakness would be found in the division of Welsh and Roman . The use of Latin by the Christian priesthood
would for a time operate to turn the balance against the Romans . The Romans , as a Latin speaking population , would obtain the highest honours of the hierarchy , and this would bring in numbers of votaries of celibacy from the Romans , who , being likewise of greater wealth , would be more especially exposed to the entreaties of the
cloistered men and women , bo long as the Welsh were in this respect the unlearned , poorer , and inferior race , they would contribute in a smaller degree to the ranks of the clergy . It was at a later period that the honours of the church came within the grasp of the Welsh , and then the active habits of warriors succiunbed to the degenerate occupations of the cloister .
As the population within the Belgian region diminished , so would the Welsh population extend , and the vigour and enterprise of a moving and apj ^ arently advancing population be communicated to * the Welsh as compared with the Romans . The numerous towns and settlements with which Roman Britain was covered might be the
nominal property of Roman citizens , but a period had come when Roman citizenship and Roman magistracy were of less weight than the chieftainship of a Welsh clan or faction , and slowly and steadily the colonies , municipalities , and cities of Britain , must have acquired not only Welsh populations but Welsh institutions . The learning , ( disci pline , organization , administration , political prestige , and clerical power of the Roman party , would , for a time ,