The history of England, from the earliest times to the Norman ConquestHodgkin, Thomas
History
The history of England, from the earliest times to the Norman Conquest
Hodgkin, Thomas
Great Britain -- History -- To 1066
restoration of sight to a little girl of ten years old, the daughter
of “a certain man of tribunician rank”. After visiting the tomb of the
martyred Saint Alban and exchanging relics with the keepers of the
shrine, they resumed their journey, but, unfortunately, Germanus was
for several days confined by a sprained ankle to a humble cottage in
the country. The cottage itself and all the little hovels round it were
thatched with reeds from the marsh, and fire having broken out in the
little settlement, the saint’s life seemed to be in jeopardy, but he
refused to stir, and his cottage alone remained unconsumed.
Then followed the celebrated incident of the Hallelujah battle which
is the chief reason for referring to the mission. The scene of the
encounter is not made known to us, but it evidently took place in a
mountainous country, possibly in Wales.[27] The first sentence of
the biographer, describing the campaign, is so important that it
must be translated literally: “In the meanwhile the Saxons and the
Picts, driven into one camp by the same necessity, with conjoined
force undertook war against the Britons, and, when the latter deemed
their strength unequal to the contest, they sought the aid of the
holy bishops, who, hastening their arrival, brought with them such
an accession of confidence as was equivalent to a mighty host”. The
biographer then describes the baptism of the larger part of the
army on Easter day; their eagerness for battle while they were still
moist with the baptismal water; the choice of the battle-field by the
veteran officer Germanus; that battle-field a valley surrounded by
mountains; the placing of an ambuscade whose duty it was to signal to
him the approach of the foe. At the signal given the bishops gave the
word “Hallelujah,” which was repeated in a tremendous shout by the
multitudes carefully posted out of sight, and was repeated from peak
to peak of the surrounding mountains. Hereat the terror-stricken foes
imagined not only rocks hurled down upon them, but the very artillery
of heaven let loose for their destruction. Casting away their arms they
fled in all directions, and the larger number of them were swallowed up
in the river which they had just crossed; the Hallelujah victory was
complete, a victory like that of Gideon over the Midianites, won by
moral means alone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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