File:The counties of England, their story and antiquities (1912) (14578252089).jpg

Identifier: countiesofenglan01ditc (find matches)
Title: The counties of England, their story and antiquities
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson), 1854-1930
Subjects: Great Britain -- History England -- Antiquities
Publisher: London : G. Allen
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
or over twenty years thewarfare between the dying Mercia and the rising Wessexcontinued. A great battle was fought between the rivalkingdoms at Wroughton, near Swindon, where Egberttriumphed, and Mercia, with Gloucestershire, became partof Wessex. But the English had other enemies to encounter whenthe dread Vikings came with their ships and sailed upthe estuary of the Severn, plundering and ravaging,destroying the harvest and killing the people. Their firstappearance was in 877, when King Alfred fought againstthem, exacted terms of treaty from them at Exeter, whichwere immediately broken by the marauders. Theybesieged Gloucester and conquered the city, penetratinginland across the Cotswolds to suffer defeat at the handsof Alfred at Edington. Again they came in 879, andsettled in Cirencester, and again in 894, when at Butting-ton they were besieged and suffered great slaughter.But they left their mark on the shire. Bristol spranginto being as a port owing to the settlement of the Danes
Text Appearing After Image:
Gloucestershire 335 in Ireland, which first caused commercial intetcoursebetween the two islands, cargoes of slaves being theiniquitous merchandise. Against this traffic BishopWulfstan of Worcester waged unceasing protest. TheDanish suffix thorfe can be seen attached to several place-names in Gloucestershire, signifying Viking settlements,such as Brookthorpe, Colthrop, Woolstrop, and the Dane-way marks the footsteps of the marauders. It may benoted that Alfreds heroic daughter, Ethelfleda, whomarried Ethelred, and bravely contended with the Danes,lies buried at Gloucester. The tenth century marked the partition of the Merciankingdom, which took place about the year 910. It wasdivided into several shires, which took their names fromthe chief towns in the various districts. Thus we haveWorcester-shire, Warwick-shire, Oxford-shire, and severalothers, including the shire of Gloucester, which duringthe Saxon period regained the importance it enjoyedin Roman times. It was destined to become

Note About Images