Vestiges of the supremacy of Mercia in the South of England, during the eighth century / by Thomas Kerslake.

  • Kerslake, T. (Thomas), 1812-1891.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vestiges of the supremacy of Mercia in the South of England, during the eighth century / by Thomas Kerslake. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    if we could bring into view its original natural aspect; London, with its marshes would be as incredible as the place here con- cerned. Its present greatness is the outgrowth of the later supremacy of Wessex • and London was as much an outpost of Saxony into Mercia, as the Hoo had been of Anglia into Centland. Those who expect a confirmation of this regal occupation of the Hoo, from substantial remains there, may remember that a thousand years of desertion have passed over it. As Fuller said} when writing of this controversy about Cloveshoe, already warm in his day d “Nor doth the modern Meanness of the Place make any- thing against it; it might be a Gallant in that Age, which is a Beggar now-a-dayes.” Geographical and natural conditions have much to do with the choice and permanence of the seats of govern- ments ; but political needs and fortunes often over-rule or reverse them. The rise of Wessex turned the preference to other centres ; and the exposure of this peninsula to the ravages of the Danes, just then becoming active, is sufficient to have brought desolation upon it. The site of New York seems very much like this ; but its growth was not prevented by such a constant peril as this last in its front, nor by the ascendancy of a rival power in its rear. It is political causes that have surrounded the circular mound at Windsor with the regal associations, which have forsaken that of Tamworth ; and the same political causes have covered with houses and palaces, not only the elevated spot upon which London was first planted, but the many miles of swamp that encompassed it. When cities, or settlements upon elevations, take to growing great, they no longer despise the alluvial levels which skirt them ; but cover even these with buildings. This is the case with London itself, where even the supreme Aula Regia of the Saxon empire, that has inherited the “ England ” of Hlthelbald and Offix ; stands upon a similar alluvial appendage of the higher ground of the original settlement; to that which, projecting from the chalky heights of the Hoo, has been declared to be inconsistent with its history. Again, are there preserved, anywhere at all, any fragments whatever, of masonry of the time of FEthelbald and Offa, even i Ch. H., 1655, II., vin., 21.