Great Britain -- History -- Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066; Middle Ages -- Sources
English to this day. In these, among other things, of which St. Gildas
wrote a long time after, he enacted, that the temples of the gods, as
also cities, should have the privilege of giving sanctuary and
protection to any fugitive or criminal, that should flee to them from
his enemy. He likewise enacted, that the ways leading to those temples
and cities, as also husbandman's ploughs, should be allowed the same
privilege. So that in his day, the murders and cruelties committed by
robbers were prevented, and every body passed safe without any violence
offered him. At last, after a reign of forty years spent in these and
other acts of government, he died, and was buried in the city of
Trinovantum, near the temple of Concord, which he himself built, when he
first established his laws.
BOOK III.
CHAP. I.--_Brennius quarrels with Belinus his brother, and in order to
make war against him, marries the daughter of the king of the
Norwegians._
After this a violent quarrel happened between his two sons Belinus and
Brennius, who were both ambitious of succeeding to the kingdom. The
dispute was, which of them should have the honour of wearing the crown.
After a great many sharp conflicts that passed between them, the friends
of both interposed, and brought them to agree on the division of the
kingdom on these terms: that Belinus should enjoy the crown of the
island, with the dominions of Loegria, Kambria, and Cornwall, because,
according to the Trojan constitution, the right of inheritance would
come to him as the elder: and Brennius, as being the younger, should be
subject to his brother, and have for his share Northumberland, which
extended from the river Humber to Caithness. The covenant therefore
being confirmed upon these conditions, they ruled the country for five
years in peace and justice. But such a state of prosperity could not
long stand against the endeavours of faction. For some lying
incendiaries gained access to Brennius and addressed him in this
manner:--
"What sluggish spirit has possessed you, that you can bear subjection to
Belinus, to whom by parentage and blood you are equal; besides your
experience in military affairs, which you have gained in several
engagements, when you so often repulsed Cheulphus, general of the
Morini, in his invasions of our country, and drove him out of your
kingdom? Be no longer bound by a treaty which is a reproach to you, but
marry the daughter of Elsingius, king of the Norwegians, that with his
assistance you may recover your lost dignity." The young man, inflamed
with these and the like specious suggestions, hearkened to them, and
went to Norway, where he married the king's daughter, as his flatterers
had advised him.
CHAP. II.--_Brennius's sea-fight with Guichthlac, king of the Dacians.
Guichthlac and Brennius's wife are driven ashore and taken by Belinus._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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