A.C. SEVENTH CENTURY, FROM 600 To 700. About this period was established the Saxon heptarchy in 600 England. The emperor Mauritius delegated his brother Phocas to 602 carry on the war in Pannonia, and ordered him to winter his troops on the other side of the Danube. The soldiers, in consequence, mutinied, and proclaimed Phocas, a centurion, emperor, who repaired to Constantinople, and caused himself to be recognised. He then ordered Mauritius to be put to death, with his children, and that unfortunate monarch was sacrificed, after ruling the empire for 20 years. Phocas, emperor of the East, acknowledged the supremacy of the pope. Saint Austin endeavoured to persuade the British bishops to submit to his rule in observing the festival of Easter, and to receive him as their archbishop, which they, however, at first refused. The following year, Cosrhoes, to avenge the murder of Mauritius, declared war against Phocas, which lasted for 18 years. Sabinianus was nominated pope. Saint Paul's cathedral in London was founded by Ethelbert, and London constituted a bishop's see; at the same period, Rochester was equally named an episcopal town. Saint Austin or Augustin died at Canterbury. 604 605 The power of the popes began to be more firmly estab- 606 lished, in consequence of the concessions of Phocas. Boniface the Third mounted the papal chair. The pantheon at Rome was dedicated to God, the Virgin, and all the saints. 607 608 Boniface the Fourth was invested with the papal dignity. After experiencing numerous defeats, Phocas caused a fresh 609 army to march against the Persians, which was also overthrown, when the conqueror advanced into Chalcedonia. In this extremity, Photius, whose wife Phocas had dishonoured, wrote to Heraclius, prefect of Africa, inviting him to march to the assistance of Constantinople, and receive the crown. The Jews of Antioch massacred all the Christians. The ensuing year, Heraclius caused a fleet to be fitted out, the command of which he intrusted to his son. It soon arrived in the Bosphorus of Thrace, and Constantinople A.C. 611 €12 was reduced to a state of famine. Photius then succeeded in forcing the port, owing to a correspondence he kept up in the city; by which means he seized on the person of the usurper, whom he caused to be led to Heraclius, who was immediately hailed emperor. Phocas, having imprudently insulted Heraclius, was put to death by the people, after being stripped of the imperial vestments, and suffered the amputation of his hands and feet. Heraclius was then crowned emperor by the patriarch Sergius. Cinigesil and Quincelm, two brothers, succeeded their nephew Ceolwolf, in Wessex, and jointly assumed the sovereignty of that kingdom. They defeated the Britons in 614, when Quincelm, bearing impatiently the superiority which Edwin, king of Northumberland, had assumed over the other Saxon princes, sent him, under the title of an ambassador, a man who had undertaken to murder him with a poisoned dagger. The assassin having, however, missed his aim, Edwin, justly incensed at the base attempt, marched his forces into Wessex, and took a severe revenge. Cinigesil, having lost his brother Quincelm, soon after died, in the 32d year of his reign. Saint Peter's church and the abbey of Westminster were founded by Sebert, king of the East Saxons. Clotaire the Second, king of France, having fomented a division between Thierry, king of Burgundy, and Theodebert, king of Austrasia, both sons of Childebert, war broke out between them, when Theodebert was vanquished and put to death. The Huns, under their monarch Cacanus, broke into the dukedom of Friuli, when the capital was betrayed to him by Romilda, widow of the late duke; whom Cacanus, instead of espousing, according to his promise, caused to be put to a shameful death. He then returned with his troops to Pannonia, laden with riches and an immense number of captives, but the four sons of the deceased duke found means to escape. The following year war again broke out, in consequence of the death of Thierry, king of Austrasia and Burgundy. Clotaire attacked Sigebert, who was the rightful successor of his father Thierry, and pursued him to the Saone, cut his army in pieces, made him prisoner, condemned him to death, and then seized on the person of queen Brunechilda, who was then 80 years of age. This rival of Fredegond, after appearing before a tribunal over which her nephew Clotaire presided in person, was, by the unanimous voice of the assembly, condemned to death; she was, in consequence, sub jected during three days to experience the insults of the A.C. army, and then dragged round the camp over the stones and brambles, tied to the tail of a fiery charger. It was in this horrid manner, and amidst excruciating torments, that Brunechilda expiated the deaths of ten kings or sons of monarchs, whose assassinations had been compassed through her means as well by the dagger as poison. During the same year, Perses ravaged Palestine, and took Jerusalem, where he slaughtered 90,000 souls, and bore away the cross of our Saviour. The Persians possessed themselves of the city of Damas- 614 cus, when Heraclius despatched ambassadors to their king Cosrhoes, to solicit peace, to which he received no answer. The Persians continued to ravage the provinces of the empire, penetrating into Egypt, when they became masters of Alexandria, and advanced to the farthermost Lybia, and then laid siege to Carthage. Agiluf, king of the Lombards, died, in the 25th year of 615 his reign, and was succeeded by his son Adalwald, under the tuition of his mother Theudelinda. The emperor Heraclius espoused Martina, his brother's 616 daughter, when she was crowned with the usual solemnity by Sergius, patriarch of Constantinople. Eadbald succeeded his father Ethelbert, in Kent, but did not inherit his abilities. Under that monarch and his successors great part of the kingdom of Kent was invaded by the Mercian princes, and became tributary to the monarchs of Mercia and Wessex, in the year 685, or thereabouts, as those of Essex, Sussex, and East Anglia, had done in 676. Prince Edwin, assisted by the king of the East Angles, 617 having obtained a complete victory over Ethelfrid, king of Northumberland, who was slain in that conflict, left the victor in peaceable possession of the whole kingdom of Northumberland. In 633, the territory was invaded by Penda, king of Mercia, and after a furious battle Edwin was killed, upon which the territory was divided between a cousin of Edwin and the eldest son of Ethelfrid; next year, however, the two princes were slain by Cadwallon, prince of Wales, who usurped the whole kingdom. Deodatus was elevated to the papacy. Eleutherius, the exarch, revolted against the emperor He- 619 raclius, and proceeded towards Rome, for the purpose of being crowned; however, in the course of his voyage, he was put to death by his soldiers, when he was re-instated in the exarchy by Isaaccius. Y A.C. The Persians ravaged Asia Minor, and advanced to Calcedonia, of which they made themselves masters. 622 623 624 The following year, the emperor made peace with the Avart, who carried on their ravaging system to the very environs of Constantinople. He borrowed from churches and monasteries the sums requisite for the maintenance of his forces, and then proceeded against Cosrhoes, augmenting his army during the inarch by numerous hordes of Huns, when he arrived on the frontiers of Armenia, and obtained a victory over a corps of Persian cavalry, after which he entered their territories and pursued Cosrhoes as far as Media. Sues, the Persian general, invited Heraclius to an interview, who sent 70 persons of distinction to stipulate concerning peace; but the treacherous Persian, instead of treating, sent the embassy in chains to his master, who used the ambassadors in the most cruel manner, and subsequently caused Saes to be flayed alive, because he had not also forwarded the emperor to him. Mahomet, son of Abdallah, born in 571, had, in 597, married Cadiga, the widow of a rich Arabian merchant, whom he had served. This woman, already aged, and mother of several children, on ascertaining that he was subject to epileptic fits, reproached him with having deceived her; when Mahomet, in order to excuse himself, asserted that those convulsions were the consequence of revelations that were made to him by the angel Gabriel. He at length succeeded in persuading her, when Cadiga made public her husband's pretended revelations, according to which, "God had sent Mahomet to re-establish the religion of Abraham and Ishmael; that the former was neither Jew nor Christian, but a true believer, and not of the number of those who associated the real divinity with the worship of false gods; that there is no god but God; and that Mahomet is his prophet." During this year (623), the magistrates of Mecca, where Mahomet disseminated his doctrines with too much vehemence, conceived that he ought to be punished with death, as a disturber of the public tranquillity. Mahomet, however, evaded the fate that was awarded him, by escaping to Medina, which he effected on the 16th of July; from which period the Arabians date their Hegira, a word signifying per- . secution or flight. Boniface the Fifth ascended the papal chair. Adalwald, king of the Lombards, and his mother, Theudelinda, were deposed through the treachery of Eusebius, whom Heraclius had sent as ambassador, when Ariovald was chosen king in his place. Cosrhoes, enraged at the success of Heraclius, raised a sanguinary persecution against the Christians, sparing only the Nestorians. A.C. Cosrhoes, king of Persia, solicited the Arabians and the 625 Sclavonians to penetrate into Thrace, and make themselves masters of Constantinople. Heraclius then divided his forces into three bodies: one for the protection of the city; a second, of which he confided the command to his brother Theodorus, for the defence of Thrace; while, with the third, he continued to pursue the Persians. Honorius the First mounted the papal chair. The ensuing year, Heraclius encamped under the walls of Ninevah, on the 1st of December; twelve days after he gave the Persians battle, put them to flight, and took the palace and treasures of Cosrhoes. The Northumbrians, with Edwin, their king, were con verted to the Christian faith. Samabazas, the Persian general, having been repulsed in his attack upon Calcedon, Cosrhoes ordered him to be put to death; of which, however, the former acquiring timely notice, went over to the Romans with his whole army. Penda, the grandson and successor of Crida, in Mercia, was one of the most sanguinary tyrants that disgraced Britain. He slew in battle three kings of the East Angles, and after combatting against the king of Wessex without any decided success, allied himself with Cadwallon, prince of Wales, and with him invaded Northumberland, at the head of a powerful army, on the 12th of October, 633, when he defeated and killed Edwin. A few years after, Penda declared war against Oswald, the successor of Edwin, and on the 5th of August, 642, a decisive battle was fought between them, in which Oswald was overthrown and slain. Three years after, Penda invaded Wessex, and defeated the king in several encounters, compelling him to abandon his country. In 654, he invaded Essex, and killed king Amias, whose army he cut in pieces. During the following year, he entered Northumberland, at the head of a powerful army, but the Northumbrians, commanded by their monarch Oswi, obtained a complete victory, and killed Penda; Oswi then obtained possession of the whole kingdom of Mercia, and voluntarily bestowed the southern part of it upon Peada, the eldest son of Penda, and his own son-in-law. The young prince, however, being shortly after treacherously slain, Oswi governed the kingdom of Mercia, during three years by |