Great Britain -- History -- Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066; Middle Ages -- Sources
For a hundred and fifty years he
shall continue in trouble and subjection, but shall bear sway three
hundred. Then shall the north wind rise against him, and shall snatch
away the flowers which the west wind produced. There shall be gilding in
the temples, nor shall the edge of the sword cease. The German dragon
shall hardly get to his holes, because the revenge of his treason shall
overtake him. At last he shall flourish for a little time, but the
decimation of Neustria shall hurt him. For a people in wood and in iron
coats shall come, and revenge upon him his wickedness. They shall
restore the ancient inhabitants to their dwellings, and there shall be
an open destruction of foreigners. The seed of the white dragon shall be
swept out of our gardens, and the remainder of his generation shall be
decimated. They shall bear the yoke of slavery, and wound their mother
with spades and ploughs. After this shall succeed two dragons, whereof
one shall be killed with the sting of envy, but the other shall return
under the shadow of a name. Then shall succeed a lion of justice, at
whose roar the Gallican towers and the island dragons shall tremble. In
those days gold shall be squeezed from the lily and the nettle, and
silver shall flow from the hoofs of bellowing cattle. The frizzled shall
put on various fleeces, and the outward habit denote the inward parts.
The feet of barkers shall be cut off; wild beasts shall enjoy peace;
mankind shall be grieved at their punishment; the form of commerce shall
be divided; the half shall be round. The ravenousness of kites shall be
destroyed, and the teeth of wolves blunted. The lion's whelps shall be
transformed into sea-fishes; and an eagle shall build her nest upon
Mount Aravius. Venedotia shall grow red with the blood of mothers, and
the house of Corineus kill six brethren. The island shall be wet with
night tears; so that all shall be provoked to all things. Woe to thee,
Neustria, because the lion's brain shall be poured upon thee: and he
shall be banished with shattered limbs from his native soil. Posterity
shall endeavour to fly above the highest places; but the favour of new
comers shall be exalted. Piety shall hurt the possessor of things got by
impiety, till he shall have put on his Father: therefore, being armed
with the teeth of a boar, he shall ascend above the tops of mountains,
and the shadow of him that wears a helmet. Albania shall be enraged,
and, assembling her neighbours, shall be employed in shedding blood.
There shall be put into her jaws a bridle that shall be made on the
coast of Armorica. The eagle of the broken covenant shall gild it over,
and rejoice in her third nest. The roaring whelps shall watch, and,
leaving the woods, shall hunt within the walls of cities. They shall
make no small slaughter of those that oppose them, and shall cut off the
tongues of bulls. They shall load the necks of roaring lions with
chains, and restore the times of their ancestors. Then from the first to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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