conquest of Kent and Sussex, and the mournful dirges of the Welsh monks
or bards.

It seems improbable, however, that the north-eastern coast of Britain,
naturally exposed above every other part to the ravages of northern
pirates, and in later days the head-quarters of the Danish intruders in
our island, should so long have remained free from English incursions.
If the Teutonic settlers really first established themselves here a
century later than their conquest of Kent, we can only account for it by
the supposition that York and the Brigantes, the old metropolis of the
provinces, held out far more stubbornly and successfully than Rochester
and Anderida, with their very servile Romanised population. But even the
words of the Chronicle do not necessarily imply that Ida was the first
king of the Northumbrians, or that the settlement of the country took
place in his days.[2] And if they did, we need not feel bound to accept
their testimony, considering that the earliest date we can assign for
the composition of the chronicle is the reign of Ælfred: while Bæda, the
earlier native Northumbrian historian, throws no light at all upon the
question. Hence it seems probable that Nennius preserves a truthful
tradition, and that the English settled in the region between the Forth
and the Tyne, at least as early as the Jutes settled in Kent or the
Saxons along the South Coast, from Pevensey Bay to Southampton Water.

[2] A remarkable passage in the Third Continuator of
Florence mentions Hyring as the first king of Bernicia,
followed by Woden and five other mythical personages, before
Ida. Clearly, this is mere unhistorical guesswork on the
part of the monk of Bury; but it may enclose a genuine
tradition so far as Hyring is concerned.