From what has preceded it will be inferred that I look upon the genuine details of the German conquests in England as irrevocably lost to us. So extraordinary a success as the conquest of this island by bands of bold adventurers from the continent, whose cognate tribes had already come into fatal collision with not only the Gallic provincials, but even the levies of the city itself[41], could hardly have passed unnoticed by the historians of the empire: we have seen however that only Prosper Tyro and Procopius notice this great event, and that too in terms which by no means necessarily imply a state of things consistent with the received accounts. The former only says indefinitely, that _about_ 441, Britain was finally reduced under the Saxon power; while Procopius clearly shows how very imperfect, indeed fabulous, an account he had received[42]. Could we trust the accuracy and critical spirit of this writer, whom no less a man than Gibbon has condescended to call the gravest historian of his time, we might indeed imagine that we had recovered one fact of our earliest history, which brought with it all the attractions of romance. An Angle princess had been betrothed to Radigér, prince of the Varni, a Teutonic tribe whose seats are subsequently described to have been about the shores of the Northern Ocean and upon the Rhine, by which alone they were separated from the Franks[43]. Tempted however partly by motives of policy, partly perhaps by maxims of heathendom, he deserted his promised bride and offered his hand to Theodechild, the widow of his father, and sister of the Austrasian Theodberht[44]. Like the epic heroine Brynhildr, the deserted lady was not disposed to pass over the affront thus offered to her charms. With an immense armament she sailed for the mouth of the Rhine. A victory placed the faithless bridegroom a prisoner in her power. But desire of revenge gave place to softer emotions, and the triumphant princess was content to dismiss her rival and compel her repentant suitor to perform his engagement. Footnote 41: I borrow from Hermann Müller’s instructive work, Der Lex Salica und der Lex Angliorum et Werinorum Alter und Heimat, p. 269, the following chronological notices of the Franks in their relations to the Roman empire:— A.D. 250. Franks, the inhabitants of marshes, become known by their predatory excursions.