214 MATTHEW OF WESTMIK8TEB. A.D. 447. But when the blessed Oermanus arrived at the martyr's tomb, having with him relics of all the apostles and of the different martyrs, having made a speech, he ordered the sepulchre to be opened, with the intention of placing his precious offerings in it, tMnking it suitable that the hospitable receptacle of the tomb of one saint, should contain the limbs of the saints collected from different countries, whom heaven had received as « equal in merit. And when they had been honourably deposited and regularly placed together, from the very place where the blood of the martyr had been shed, the priest took up a mass of dust to carry away, in which there was visible blood which had been preserved, and was red from the corpse of the martyr, while his persecutor was pale. But the priest, after he had consummated everything prosperously according to his wish, and having properly arranged everything, which was previously in confusion, returned with joy to his own land, being a grateful acceptor of the kindness of God, and of the blessed Alban, the proto-martyr of the English, to whom he ascribed the victory, and preaching tidings of great joy. And after these things had happened in this manner, an innumerable multitude of each sex was converted to. the Lord. A.D. 447. When the wickedness of king Vortigern, and the fickleness of his mind, had become known to all the nations round about, the Scots from the west and the Picts from the north rose in insurrection against him (for Vortigern had slain a hundred of their fellow-citizens). And they kept overrunning the kingdom of Britain with the most active, hostility and incessant diligence. For, destroying everything by fire and sword, with plunder and ravages, they wore out the offending nation, because the nature of the country favoured their disdain of them ; and in this way the wicked people as well as the king, was involved in one common vengeance. And those of the miserable people, who were not affected by their ruption of the enemy, were utterly destroyed by a terrible famine, so that they were ground down and crushed as it were between two millstones. While the pestilence was at its height, the sword also came upon them so fiercely, that the living were not sufficient even to bury the dead. Therefore the king, with a desolate people, exhausted by warlike attacks, not knowing what to do against the irruption of the enemy, began to despair. At length it was decided by all to invite the nation o f the