and are known as Ambersbury Banks. In the battle that ensued, the Britons, though far more numerous than the Romans, were overthrown with great slaughter, and from that time until they withdrew from Britain, the conquerors ruled without opposition.

History has recorded no events of importance between the death of Boadicea and the withdrawal of the Romans from the island. The Colchester Chronicle, written in the Oath Book of that town, and dating, it is supposed, from the fourteenth century, records that the Emperor Constantine was born at Colchester in 265, and was the illegitimate son of the Roman general, Constantius, and Helena, the daughter of Coel, the Governor of Essex, who, according to the same authority, had revolted against the Roman rule a few years previously. But this is not the generally accepted account of Constantine's origin, and the appearance of the cross in the arms of Colchester may be due to other reasons than the alleged discovery by Helena of the cross on which the Saviour suffered. There is no doubt that Christianity was introduced into the county at an early date, and, in 314, we find Adolphus, Bishop of Colan (Colchester), attend

ing an ecclesiastical council at Arles. Whatever influence the new religion may have exercised seems, however, to have disappeared before the devastating flood of the Saxon invasion, in which, also, the refinements of Roman civilisation were swept away.

Until this time, the history of Colchester is, in a great measure, that of the county, but with the establishment of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy a change came about in the relation of that town to the county. The kingdom of East Saxony, or Essex, included portions of Middlesex and Herts, and, London being selected for the capital, Colchester lost the importance which, for nearly five centuries, it had possessed. Of the Kings of Essex, little is known but their names, but during the period between the formation of the Heptarchy and the union of the seven kingdoms under Egbert, Christianity was re-established, the ruined churches were rebuilt, and villages grew up in the clearings of the forests. Towards the middle of the ninth century, however, new hordes of rovers from the lands beyond the North Sea began to harass and devastate the country. In 830, a swarm of Danes, coming on a plundering incursion into Suffolk, made their way into

Essex, and pillaged Colchester.

Forty years

later, a body of these marauders seized and fortified South Bemfleet, on the shore of Hadleigh Bay, and about four miles above the present fishing town of Leigh. Year after year, other bands ascended the Crouch and the Blackwater, and took possession of the most fertile portions of the hundreds of Rochford and Dengie. Occasionally they sallied out from their strongholds at South Bemfleet and Danbury, and plundered their neighbours, whom they often carried off and held for ransom. So powerful did the Danes become in this part of the country that Alfred agreed to recognise Godrun as King of East Anglia, only stipulating that he should embrace Christianity, and that his people should settle down quietly in the districts in their possession.

In 894, however, a fresh horde of invaders, having ravaged Kent, and being attacked by Alfred, crossed the Thames, on the Essex shore of which they had moored their ships, and sailed for the Colne, where they entrenched themselves on Mersea Island. The English attacked the fort at South Bemfleet, and captured and destroyed it, the defenders retiring to South

Shoebury, where they built a fort.

From that

point they made marauding excursions in all directions, but, being repulsed on most of these occasions, they withdrew from the place, and Mersea Island was abandoned soon afterwards. On Godrun's death, the Danes settled in Essex made their submission to Alfred, and, until the death of that able ruler, the county enjoyed peace. When that occurred, however, a body of Danes landed on the coast, but were defeated by Edward, who then built a fort at Witham, and rebuilt the defences of Maldon. Colchester was at this time a thoroughly Danish town, but in 914, the garrison of Maldon, reinforced by volunteers from the neighbourhood, marched against it, captured it, and killed or drove out all the inhabitants. In revenge, a body of Danes from Suffolk and Norfolk entered Essex, and besieged Maldon, but, on the approach of a relieving force, fled northward. They were overtaken, however, and defeated with heavy loss.

For seventy years, Essex enjoyed peace. Then fresh hordes of Danes invaded the county, and besieged Maldon, which fell into their hands, after an army marching to its relief had been

defeated with great slaughter.

the country.

Peace was bought by the evil expedient of paying the marauders a sum of money, and this led to fresh exactions. In 1009, a Danish fleet wintered in the Thames, and their crews burned the neighbouring towns and villages, and ravaged These troubles culminated in a great battle at Ashingdon, in which the English were defeated, and their overthrow resulted in placing a Danish king on the throne. The Danes then settled down, and soon became amalgamated with the Saxon population. The burnt towns and villages were rebuilt, and the arts of peace again cultivated. Under the three Danish kings who successively reigned in England, the restored supremacy of the Saxons, the Norman dynasty, and the early Plantagenets, the history of the county furnished no events calling for narration in this sketch, beyond the residence of Edward the Confessor at Haveringat-Bower, the burial of Harold at Waltham Abbey, and the court held by William I. at Barking.

The lives of the people of Essex passed peacefully, so far as exemption from foreign raids and civil broils was concerned, until 1215, when the