Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anglo-Saxon History Illustrated By Topog...
became scarcer , and even the arniourer was less in request , because the arms x > f the larger population su ^ pKed the diminishm numbers of warriors , till the period arrived when the traditions of legionary organization were weaker , a ^ such rude weapons as they could construct . In the monasteries alone ,
many arts would be retained for the service of the church , manuscripts would be illuminated , and choral singing taught but the building of new churches would be a work of supererogatior ^ superstitious , with a populate Within the walls fire , raised in internal dissensions or during the raid of an enemy , would destroy building after buil ^
would be constructed of inatenals either less s ^ than bnck and stone m the hto remain the last , ^ and be kept up till the time came when the scanty garrison could no longer man the walls , or could not resist the assault . There
things in other countries , that the once populous and industrious cities of Londinium , Ywulamiuni and Gam the EhgHsh invasioiij have had fields ^ oxen and sheep , no longer safe to be fblded without , -filled the places
once covered with bouses . Where the Welsh were in greater numbers , huts would stajid in the place of the noble mansions of the decurions and local notabilities , Thus the cities were ready to Ml a prey to the first body of adventurers strong enough to invest a place , or hold enough to assault it
The decaying oligarchy was deprived of the accustomed resource of slave labour . The Saxons and English were ready to sell slaves , but the wealth of the Romans was not applicable for this purpose , as it was drained for the expenses of the expeditions to Gaul , or the ransoms of their cities . The Saxons could not sell these Welsh
captives , because the Romans could not hold them by legal title ; neither could they well hold Gaulish Christians as slaves ; and any Germans or Scots who might have been sold to Romans could not have been made available as praedial or household slaves , and would have escaped on the first opportunity .
Trade was at end . To the west were the Scots , who had nothing to sell , and whose only pursuit was plunder ; in the east sea , and in the channel were the Saxons , so that the mouths of the Thames , Medway and Colne , were closed to merchantmen , as were all the ports of those coasts and of the coast of Gaul ; and the only intercourse that took place was that carried on by such bishops and monks as braved the hazards of the sea and the chance of a ransom
to attend a synod , or to make a pilgrimage to Rome . With the diminution of internal transport , and deprived of maritime trade , no local famine could be relieved , and pestilence ever followed in the train of the periodical famines . In the mountains of Wales and of mid England alone , was subsistence to be gained by the chase , and from the flocks and herds pasturing in the woods *
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anglo-Saxon History Illustrated By Topog...
became scarcer , and even the arniourer was less in request , because the arms x > f the larger population su ^ pKed the diminishm numbers of warriors , till the period arrived when the traditions of legionary organization were weaker , a ^ such rude weapons as they could construct . In the monasteries alone ,
many arts would be retained for the service of the church , manuscripts would be illuminated , and choral singing taught but the building of new churches would be a work of supererogatior ^ superstitious , with a populate Within the walls fire , raised in internal dissensions or during the raid of an enemy , would destroy building after buil ^
would be constructed of inatenals either less s ^ than bnck and stone m the hto remain the last , ^ and be kept up till the time came when the scanty garrison could no longer man the walls , or could not resist the assault . There
things in other countries , that the once populous and industrious cities of Londinium , Ywulamiuni and Gam the EhgHsh invasioiij have had fields ^ oxen and sheep , no longer safe to be fblded without , -filled the places
once covered with bouses . Where the Welsh were in greater numbers , huts would stajid in the place of the noble mansions of the decurions and local notabilities , Thus the cities were ready to Ml a prey to the first body of adventurers strong enough to invest a place , or hold enough to assault it
The decaying oligarchy was deprived of the accustomed resource of slave labour . The Saxons and English were ready to sell slaves , but the wealth of the Romans was not applicable for this purpose , as it was drained for the expenses of the expeditions to Gaul , or the ransoms of their cities . The Saxons could not sell these Welsh
captives , because the Romans could not hold them by legal title ; neither could they well hold Gaulish Christians as slaves ; and any Germans or Scots who might have been sold to Romans could not have been made available as praedial or household slaves , and would have escaped on the first opportunity .
Trade was at end . To the west were the Scots , who had nothing to sell , and whose only pursuit was plunder ; in the east sea , and in the channel were the Saxons , so that the mouths of the Thames , Medway and Colne , were closed to merchantmen , as were all the ports of those coasts and of the coast of Gaul ; and the only intercourse that took place was that carried on by such bishops and monks as braved the hazards of the sea and the chance of a ransom
to attend a synod , or to make a pilgrimage to Rome . With the diminution of internal transport , and deprived of maritime trade , no local famine could be relieved , and pestilence ever followed in the train of the periodical famines . In the mountains of Wales and of mid England alone , was subsistence to be gained by the chase , and from the flocks and herds pasturing in the woods *