A.D. 447.] THE SAXONS INVITED INTO ENGLAND, PREFACE TO THE SECOND BOOK. TH E second book of this work, commencing with the time of grace, treats of the nativity of our Saviour, and of his works in the flesh, of the calling of the apostles, and of the saints of God now glorified in heaven, arranged according to the years of incarnation, without omitting one, down to our Jhn^-jQn^jyio^Q.lh^ in the course of which it treats of all the Eonmn pontlffs'and emperors. It treats, moreover, of archbishops, bishops, and other dignities of the church, of kings, and princes, and other great men, who in their times lived in different regions, and of their acts, wJjÊther_good or evil. ït treats, moreover, of the various chances that have befallen mankind, the prodigious and portentous manifestations of God's wrath, to the end that, [bemgadmojnshjsd^y^J^ tojnJinjliatipjjLjuidjï^ uonJÌOmjJiejj^ HERE ENDS THE SECOND PREFACE. ROGER OF WENDOVER'S FLOWERS OF HISTORY. The cause of inviting the Angles, I N the year of grace 447, when the nations around had become acquainted with the wickedness of king Vortigern and the levity of his mind, there rose up against him the Scots from the north-west, and the Picts from the north, because Vortigern had put to death a hundred of their countrymen ; and terribly did they infest and ravage the kingdom of Britain. For consuming every thing by fire and sword, and by spoil and rapine, they inflicted on the guilty nation the vengeance of Heaven for the sins of their king, in which they had participated ; and those of the wretched people that escaped the hostile invasion, fell the victims of a terrible famine, insomuch that the living were not sufficient for the burial of the dead. Whereupon the king and his people, desolated and worn out by the ravages of war, and not knowing what to do against the incursions of their enemies, at length came to the unanimous resolution of invit- B 2