cerned their parents in the Danes and Northmen; and an author, even of our own period, has thought the Vandals of Scandinavia to have juster claims to this honour than all the rest. But those antiquarians, whose narrow views looked only into Europe for the cradle of our ancestors, may be despised as indolent by the adventurous spirits who have made Asia and Africa the regions of their research. So indefatigable has been the activity of some, that the Pontic Chersonesus has been visited t, the classic Euxine navigated ", Armenia traversed ▾, and Mount Imaus approached." Whereever the chorographical polemic has turned his eye, this fairy people have appeared. Distance has been no difficulty; impossibility no impediment; but the bleak deserts of Scythia, and the sands of Africa, have alike been presented to us as the birthplace of that tribe, which in the days of Ptolemy just darkened the neck of the peninsula of Jutland, and three inconsiderable islands in its neighbourhood. A contemporary of our own, whose talents and industry deserve more applause than his judgment, has taken a flight on this subject which is peculiarly eccentric. His genius, disdaining the prudence which would dictate hesitation amid obscurity so impenetrable, has set both chronology and geography at defiance. He finds the Saxons in almost all parts of Europe, and in almost all ages; at one time marauding in Europe as Celto-Scythæ, intimidating the Romans as Ambrones from Liguria, afterwards peeping out to Lucan in the name of Axones, then settling in Gaul in the character of Suessiones, and at last haunting the natives of the British isles in the terrific shape of the Lochlynach; it was in vain that the Celtic Protei shifted their disguises; the historian of Manchester detected them in all.” An illustrious instance that imagination may be as active in the dullest and darkest as in its most bright and congenial themes. under the name of Eginhard. Until lately he has been confounded with the The chronicle of Conrad, which Melanchthon published with commendations, repeats the story. Abb. Usper. Chron. p. 145. • Macpherson's Introduction to the History of Great Britain, p. 291. 12o ed. The Danish origin had been started before by Wittichind. See this ancient author, p. 2. Leibnitz inclined to it. t M. Casaubon de Ling. Sax. 393. The modesty of Casaubon entitles him to respect: "In hac tanta et ipsarum rerum obscuritate et opinionum varietate, non meum neque fortasse cujusquam vel diligentissimi quicquam certe statuere." u Capnio and others supposed the Axones on the Euxine to have been the Saxons. Cisner's preface to Krantz Sax, and M. Casaub. 392. Capnio contends the Saxones of Ptolemy should be read Ažoves. ▾ The Chronicon Holsatiæ says, that Alexander found in Armenia a hardy race of men, who partook of all his expeditions, and whose name, from their valour, he changed into Saxones, from saxum, a rock. Leibnitz Access. Histor. 12. Beyond the Jaxartes, according to Strabo, and opposite to the Sogdiani, according to Eratosthenes, and half enclosed by the mountains of Ascatanea and Imaus, according to Ptolemy, were the Sacæ. It was the opinion formerly of almost all the learned, that from these the Saxons descended. Cisner Præf. Camden favours it. This position is that which we have before mentioned as the most probable seat of our ancestors in Asia, if they have really sprung from the Sacæ. I North of the Sacæ, and near the Syebian and Tapurian mountains, Ptolemy has placed another people, the Sasones. These have been selected as our ancestors. Krantz Saxonia, 2. This opinion has been united with the former. Sasones, Sacæsons, Sacsones, Saxones. Cisner Præf. y Verstegan quotes Occa Scarlensis for this derivation. Suffridus Petri has courageously undertaken the defence of Occa's veracity, Apol. pro Ant. Fris. Hist. p. 180. I wonder no one has thought of the Saxoi, near the Pontus, according to Stephanus, or the Saxinæ, who were some troglodytes in Ethiopia, according to Pliny. Ortelius Thesaur. Geograph. in voc. 2 Hist. Manch. i. p. 427. СНАР. I. BOOK II. Saxon islands. North Strandt. CHAP. II. Description of the Country inhabited by the SAXONS near the ness. THE infant state of the Saxon people, when the Romans first observed them, exhibited nothing from which human sagacity would have predicted greatA territory, on the neck of the Cimbric Chersonesus, and three small islands, contained those whose descendants occupy the circle of Westphalia, the electorate of Saxony, the British islands, the United States of North America, and the British colonies in the two Indies. Such is the course of Providence, that empires the most extended, and the most formidable, are found to vanish as the morning mist; while tribes scarce visible, or contemptuously overlooked, like the springs of a mighty river, often glide on gradually to greatness and veneration. The three islands which the Saxons in the days of Ptolemy inhabited, were those which we now denominate North Strandt, Busen, and Heiligland.1 North Strandt, formerly torn from South Jutland by the violence of the waves, is situated opposite to Hesum, and above Eiderstede, from both which it is separated by intervals of sea. The Hever, a bay which flows below it, and washes the northern shore of the Eiderstede, is favourable to commercial navigations. This island was formerly about twenty miles long, and in most parts seven miles broad. It 1 Cluver. Ant. Ger. iii. p. 97. Pontanus Chorog. 737. Du Bos Histoire Critique, i. p. 148. The Geographer of Ravenna places Eustrachia among the Saxon isles, lib. v. c. 30. This may mean the neighbouring peninsula, Eyderstadt, which was almost an island. II. once contained twenty-two parishes, and was noted CHAP. for its agricultural produce, as well as its fish.2 The raging of the sea has materially damaged it since the time of the Saxons. Four calamitous inundations are recorded to have happened, in 1300, 1483, 1532, and 1615; but a more destructive one than all began in the night of the 11th October, 1634; the island was entirely overflowed; 6408 persons, 1332 houses, and 50,000 head of cattle were washed away into the sea.3 Such devastations have almost annihilated the place. There is now remaining of Nord-strand only the small parish of Pelworm, which derives its safety from the height of its situation. Busen lies north of the mouth of the Elbe, to the Busen. westward of Ditmarsia, and looks towards Meldorp; in breadth it is above two miles, in length near three. It is situated close upon the main land, of which it is suspected to have once formed a part. Being one even plain, the stormy ocean around makes the island a perilous habitation; it has therefore been surrounded by a strong dyke. It contains three or four parishes, with about as many villages; and though boasting no pre-eminence of soil, it commonly yields its produce with moderate fertility.1 But the most celebrated and the most frequented Heiligisof the Saxon islands was HEILIGISLAND. The words literally mean the sacred island.5 In the eighth century, and in the eleventh, it had two other names; 2 Chrytæns, p. 65. Pontanus, p. 741. Ubbo Emmius, p. 30. 158. The destruction extended to other parts of Jutland. In the Eyderstede, 664 houses, 2107 persons, and 12,000 cattle and sheep were swept off. Busching's Geography. Ubbo Emmius, Rer. Fris. p. 31. Pontanus, Chorog. 737, 738. and 741. He derives its name from Buysen, or Busch, a wood. His vernacular names of the fishes, with their Latin names of that day, are in p. 741. Some derive the name from Hilgo, a bishop of the place; others, and in the opinion of Pontanus, veriùs, from some holy virgins who inhabited it. Their sacred steps the respectful grass never covered, as all the credulous natives will attest and show!! Pontanus, Chorog. 739. But as an idol much revered, called Foseti, was in it, the epithet perhaps arose from the Pagan superstition. land. BOOK Fossetis-land", and Farria, which have been written with various orthography. This ancient seat of our forefathers has now become united to the British dominions. As it was the principal station of their naval excursions, it is peculiarly interesting to us, and an important object of our national history. But its condition has greatly varied: we will therefore subjoin its earliest, as well as its subsequent and latest descriptions, to give the reader the fullest information of its successive states that can now be obtained. In the eighth century it is noticed by a writer as the place where the idol Fosete was adored. In the eleventh century, it is thus described by Adam of Bremen, under the name of Farria. "It lies in a long recess at the mouth of the Elbe. It is the first island that occurs in the ocean. It has a monastery and is inhabited. It is very fruitful: rich in corn, and a nurse of cattle and birds. It has one hill and no trees it is surrounded with the steepest rocks, with only a single entrance, where there is fresh water. It is a place venerated by all sailors, and especially by pirates. Hence it is called Heiligeland." 9 Its state about 1630, we take from Pontanus. "It had formerly seven parishes, and from its inhabitants and incidents, we learn that it was once much larger than it is at present. For in our times the sea receding, the soil has been worn down and carried off on all sides by the violence of the waves. It is eight German miles from Eyderstadt, and about nine from the Elbe. On the west, opposite England, it is 46 6 Altf. vita St. Lieudg. ap. Bouquet, t. V. p. 449. This ancient name of the island and its Idol seems to connect them with the Fosi of Tacitus. On the 26th August, 1814, the King of Denmark signed an official act, announcing his cession of this island to the crown of Great Britain. It had been annexed to Denmark in 1714. It was formerly possessed by the dukes of Holstein. Gottorf. Busching. 8 See note 6. Ad. Brem. Hist. c. 210. p. 64. ed. Linden. ells high, and towards the Elbe 30. They who have examined its shores, report that solid bodies formed of stone, and that shells, oysters, and human hands, have been found there, and even books and candles. Its banner is a ship in full sail." 10 He adds another description from its governor, which is translated in the note.11 The occupations of its inhabitants have generally been those of the fisherman and the pilot. Perpetually at sea, like their Saxon ancestors, they disregard the terrors of the ocean. Their food consists of their oats, and the produce of their nets. But though sacred in human estimation, the elements have not respected this island. In the year 800, a furious tempest from the north-west occasioned the greater portion to be swallowed up by the waves. In 1300 and 1500 it suffered materially from the same cause; but the inundation of 1649 was so destructive, that but a small part of the island survived 10 Pontan. Chorog. "The island consists of two rocks, one red, the other white. The first, containing the fortress and garrison of the place, can be ascended by only one path. Like a red mulberry it emerges straight up from the sea like Segeburg in Holsatia, 406 ells high, with a rich and fertile soil upon it, from two ells and a half to one ell deep. It bears pease, beans, and English barley, of such peculiar goodness, that two bushels of it excel three of Eyderstadt. It has lettuces, radishes, and spinage, and is free from serpents, toads, and every venomous animal. It has fine cattle and horses, but their motions must be restricted or they fall into the sea. The air is pure and salubrious. It has a church, 50 families, and about 300 inhabitants, an industrious and healthy race, skilled in navigation, and rich, and advancing themselves in other regions to wealth and dignities. The rock abounds with birds, of whom incredible numbers fly hither in crowds every autumn, especially cranes, swans, geese, ducks, thrushes, larks, and others, which supply the inhabitants with many banquets. They detain and use rainwater. It has a safe and capacious port, very deep and open to the south. This sometimes holds above 100 ships of burthen, and defends them from the north and west winds. Larger ships may find a shelter in it. The other white rock is sandy, and has springs of fresh water. It has rabbits: it affords no pasture, but it grows hemp. It has towards the north and east a metal like gold, which they call mummergoldt, from which gold may be extracted, and sulphur enough to pay the expense of the smelting. Petrified almonds and wax-candles are found in its veins in abundance, and snails and shells converted into the metallic gold. There are small metallic branches, as of trees, so fine that no artificer could make such of gold. The island was formerly famous for the capture of herrings, and now abounds with fish, especially oysters." Pont. Chorog. p. 739, 740. As gold is seldom found united with sulphur, auriferous pyrites are very rare, though some have been found in Peru, Siberia, Sweden, and Hungary. |