n
more especially mentioned as the chief, if not the exclusive, sources of
the present English population of Great Britain. These are the _Jutes_, the
_Saxons_, and the _Angles_.

s. 7. Now, it is by no means certain that this was the case. On the
contrary, good reasons can be given for believing that the Angles and
Saxons were the same people, and that no such nation as the _Jutes_ ever
left Germany to settle in Great Britain.

s. 8. The chief authority for the division of the German invaders into the
three nations just mentioned is Beda; and the chief text is the following
extract from his "Ecclesiastical History." It requires particular
attention, and will form the basis of much criticism, and frequently be
referred to.

"Advenerunt autem de tribus Germaniae populis fortioribus, id est
Saxonibus, Anglis, Jutis. De Jutarum origine sunt Cantuarii, et Victuarii,
hoc est ea gens quae Vectam tenet insulam et ea quae usque hodie in
provincia Occidentalium Saxonum Jutarum natio nominatur, posita contra
ipsam insulam Vectam. De Saxonibus, id est, ea regione quae nunc Antiquorum
Saxonum cognominatur, venere Orientales Saxones, Meridiani Saxones, Occidui
Saxones. Porro de Anglis hoc est de illa patria quae Angulus dicitur, et ab
illo tempore usque hodie manere desertus inter provincias Jutarum et
Saxonum perhibetur, Orientales Angli, Mediterranei Angli, Merci, tota
Northanhymbrorum progenies, id est illarum gentium quae ad Boream Humbri
fluminis inhabitant, caeterique Anglorum populi sunt orti"--"Historia
Ecclesiastica," i. 15.

s. 9. This was written about A.D. 731, 131 years after the introduction of
Christianity, and nearly 300 after the supposed landing of Hengist and
Horsa in A.D. 449.

It is the first passage which contains the names of either the _Angles_ or
the _Jutes_. Gildas, who wrote more than 150 years earlier, mentions only
the _Saxons_--"ferocissimi illi nefandi nominis _Saxones_."

It is, also, the passage which all subsequent writers have either
translated or adopted. Thus it re-appears in Alfred, and again in the Saxon
Chronicle.[10]

"Of Jotum comon Cantware and Wihtware, thaet is seo maeiadh the n['u]
eardath on Wiht, and thaet cynn on West-Sexum dhe man gyt haet
I['u]tnacyun. Of Eald-Seaxum comon E['a]st-Seaxan, and Sudh-Seaxan and
West-Seaxan. Of Angle comon (se ['a] sidhdhan st['o]d westig betwix
I['u]tum and Seaxum) E['a]st-Engle, Middel-Angle, Mearce, and ealle
Nordhymb