Part I
EARLY HISTORY
ALTHOUGH the recorded history of Hastings commences at a comparatively late date, perhaps something may be gleaned inferentially from examination of the history of the neighbouring settlements. As will be afterwards mentioned, there is reason for supposing that Hastings and its immediate district formed a settlement distinct from that of Jutish Kent on the one hand, and from the land of the South Saxons on the other. We find that the coast round Hastings in the early part of the fourth century must have formed portion of the shore which was under the jurisdiction of that Roman official whose duty it was to repel the frequent piratical and predatory attacks of the bold sea-rovers, known to the Celts by the name of Saxons. This official was called "the Count of the Saxon Shore." As the Roman power in Britain began to wane, the incursions of these marauders waxed ever bolder, until at last it would seem that the whole of Britain might have become subject to them, if it had not been for the severe check which they sustained at the hand of the Roman Governor Theodosius, in the year 367. It was upon the fall of Rome, in the year 410, that the grandson of this Theodosius was compelled to recall the Roman legions from Britain. Thirty-nine years later it is said that the Britons invited the Jutes to assist them in fighting against their northern enemies, with the result that the Jutes eventually secured to themselves a settlement in Kent, the first of the Teutonic colonies in Britain. It was not until this settlement had been firmly established, that in the year 477 the Saxon Ǽlla and his three sons began those operations which led to the founding of the kingdom of the South Saxons. Their landing and first settlement was effected in the western part of Sussex, at a place which they named Cymenes Ora (perhaps Shoreham). There they slew many Britons who opposed them, and drove the rest in flight to the wood called " Andreds-leah."[1] The Saxons having thus secured their first lodgment in Britain, for the nine following years conquered inch by inch the surrounding land. Each lofty hill-top that rises between Cissan Ceaster and Andredes Ceaster yet tells its tale of stubborn resistance. Every Roman villa now unearthed along the sunny shores is eloquent of the waste and woe, the red ruin wrought by the Saxon conquerors. In the year 485 we read of something like an organized and determined attempt on the part of the Britons to check the Saxon advance. The Saxon accounts said that " British kings and chieftains had come together by the bank of the Mercredesburn, and -
- ↑ "To a place named Aldredes-leage" (? Aldrington, Chron. Fabius Ethelwerd.
