22. =The Kymry.=--It is probable that the cause of the slow advance of the northern Angles lay in the existence of a strong Celtic state in front. Welsh tradition speaks of a ruler named Cunedda, who after the departure of the Roman legions governed the territory from the Clyde to the south of Wales, which formed the greater part of what had once been known as Upper Britain. (See p. 25.) This territory was inhabited by a mixed population of Britons and Goidels, with an isolated body of Picts in Galloway. A common danger from the English fused them together, and as a sign of the wearing out of old distinctions, they took the name of Kymry, or Comrades, the name by which the Welsh are known amongst one another to this day, and which is also preserved in the name of Cumberland, though the Celtic language is no longer spoken there. 23. =Britain at the End of the Sixth Century.=--During the sixth century the Kymry ceased to be governed by one ruler, but the chieftains of the various territories all acknowledged the supremacy of a descendant of Cunedda. For purposes of war they combined together, and as the country which they occupied was hilly and easily defended, the northern English discovered that they too must unite amongst themselves if they were to overpower the united resistance of the Kymry. CHAPTER III. THE STRIFE OF THE ENGLISH KINGDOMS. LEADING DATES Augustine's mission 597 AEthelfrith's victory at Chester 613 Penda defeats Eadwine at Heathfield 633 Penda's defeat at Winwaed 655 Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury 668 Offa defeats the West Saxons at Bensington 779 Ecgberht returns to England 800 Death of Ecgberht 839