The destruction of the Roman Bayeux is commonly ascribed, like that of the Roman Lisieux, to the Saxon invasion. No traces of the Viducassian capital are to be found in history, subsequently to the reign of Constantine; no medals, no inscriptions of a later period, have been dug up within its precincts. During the earliest incursions of the Saxons in Gaul, they seem to have made this immediate neighborhood the seat of a permanent settlement. The Abbé Le Beuf places the district, known by the name of the _Otlingua Saxonia_, between Bayeux and Isigny; and Gregory of Tours, in his relation of the events that occurred towards the close of the sixth century, makes repeated mention of the _Saxones Bajocassini_, whom the early Norman historians style _Saisnes de Bayeux_. Under the reign of Charlemagne, a fresh establishment of Saxons took place here. That emperor, after the bloody defeat of this valiant people, about the year 804, caused ten thousand men, with their wives and children, to be delivered up to him as prisoners, and dispersed them in different parts of France. Some of the captives were colonized in Neustria; and, among the rest, Witikind, son of the brave chief of the same name, who had fought so nobly in defence of the liberty of his country, had lands assigned to him in the Bessin. Hence, names of Saxon origin commonly occur throughout the diocese of Bayeux; sometimes alone and undisguised, but more frequently in composition. Thus, in _Estelan_, you will have little difficulty in recognizing _East-land: Cape la Hogue_ will readily suggest the idea of a lofty promontory; its appellation being derived from the German adjective, _hoch_, still written _hoog_, in Flemish: the Saxon word for the Almighty enters into the family names of _Argot_, _Turgot_, _Bagot_, _Bigot_, &c.; and, not to multiply examples, the quaking sands upon the sea-shore are to the present hour called _bougues_, an evident corruption of our own word _bogs_.