c. Geoffry of Monmouth[6] relates also, how "Hengist obtained from the Britons as much land as could be enclosed by an ox-hide; then, cutting the hide into thongs, enclosed a much larger space than the granters intended, on which he erected Thong Castle--a tale too familiar to need illustration, and which runs throughout the mythus of many nations. Among the Old Saxons, the tradition is in reality the same, though recorded with a slight variety of detail. In their story, a lapfull of earth is purchased at a dear rate from a Thuringian; the companions of the Saxon jeer him for his imprudent bargain; but he sows the purchased earth upon a large space of ground, which he claims, and, by the aid of his comrades, ultimately wrests it from the Thuringians."--Kemble, "Saxons in England." 3. _There is direct evidence in favour of their having been German tribes in England anterior to_ A.D. 447.--a. At the close of the Marcomannic war,[7] Marcus Antoninus transplanted a number of Germans into Britain. b. Alemannic auxiliaries served along with Roman legions under Valentinian.[8] c. _The Notitia utriusque Imperii_,[9] of which the latest date is half a century earlier than the epoch of Hengist, mentions, as an officer of state, the _Comes littoris Saxonici per Britannias_; his government extending along the coast from Portsmouth to the Wash. § 5. _Inference._--As it is nearly certain, that 449 A.D. is _not_ the date of the first introduction of German tribes into Britain, we must consider that the displacement of the original British began at an _earlier_ period than the one usually admitted, and, consequently, that it was more _gradual_ than is usually supposed. Perhaps, if we substitute the middle of the _fourth_, instead of the middle of the _fifth_ century, as the epoch of the Germanic immigrations into Britain, we shall not be far from the truth. * * * * * CHAPTER II. GERMANIC ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.--THE GERMANIC AREA OF THE PARTICULAR GERMANS WHO INTRODUCED IT.--EXTRACT FROM BEDA. § 6. Out of the numerous tribes and nations of Germany, _three_ have been more especially mentioned as the chief, if not the exclusive, sources of the present English population of Great Britain. These are the _Jutes_, the _Saxons_, and the _Angles_. § 7. Now, it is by no means certain that this was the case. On the contrary, good reasons can be given for believing that the Angles and Saxons were the same people, and that no such nation as the _Jutes_ ever left Germany to settle in Great Britain. § 8. The chief authority for the division of the German invaders into the three nations just mentioned is Beda; and the chief text is the following extract from his "Ecclesiastical History." It requires particular attention, and will form the basis of much criticism, and frequently be referred to.