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start of The Wall |
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Page 212:-
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MURUS
amp; VALLUM.
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turf wall
ditch
stone wall
The Wall, length
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"completed by Severus." The very learned Hieronymus Surita
of Spain also writes that [q] "Hadrian's fortification was
continued further by Severus with vast works by the name of
Vallum." Guido Pancirollus is of the same opinion,
though he says that Severus only repaired Hadrian's wall,
which was ruined. This prince, says Spartian [r], which is
the greatest glory of his reign, foritfied Britain with a
"wall run across the island, and terminating both ways at
the sea, whence also he had the name of BRITANNICUS. He
fortified with a wall, says Aurelius Victor [s], as much of
Britain as was necessary, after having repulsed the
barbarians, &c. " to the same effect as Spartianus.
Eutropius [t] says "for the more perfect security of the
provinces which he had recovered, he drew a wall 35 miles"
(read 80 miles) "from sea to sea." Orosius [u] writes "he
thought proper to distinguish that part of the island which
he had recovered from the other unconquered nations by a
wall. Accordingly he dug a great ditch and raised a very
strong wall fortified with a great number of towers for 122
miles from sea to sea." With him agrees Bede, who is very
unwilling to own that Severus built the wall, because he
will have it that Wall implies stone work, and
Vallum a fortification of stakes called Valli
and sods; whereas Wall and Vallum are used indistinctly.
Spartianus, however, calls it a wall, and insinuates in the
following passage that Severus built both a wall and
rampart: Post murum apud Vallum in Britannia missum
[x]. After the Wall the Vallum in Britain was finished. We
learn, however, from Bede, that this Vallum was nothing more
than a wall of sods, and nobody can, properly speaking, say
that Severus's wall was of stone. But, take Bede's own
words. "Severus' having got the better of civil commotions,
which had been very considerable, was called into Britain by
an almost general revolt of his allies. After many great and
severe battles, having recovered part of the island, he
thought proper to separate it from the rest of the nations
that remained unsubdued, not by a wall, as some think, but
by a rampart [y]. For a wall is built of stone; but a
rampart, such as camps are fortified with against an enemy,
is formed of sods cut out of the ground, and raised like a
high wall upon the level of the ground, the ditch from
whence the sods were taken remaining in front, above which
are driven stakes of the strongest wood. Severus, therefore,
drew a great ditch and stout rampart fotified with a great
number of towers erected on it from sea to sea [z]." Nor has
it any other name than Vallum in Antoninus and the
Notitia, and it is called in British Guall Sever. In
confirmation of this let us hear Ethelwerd [a] the oldest
writer after Bede, speaking of Severus. "He drew a ditch in
the island aforementioned crossways from sea to sea, and
built within it a wall with towers and battlements." He
afterwards [b] calls it Fossa Severia, Severus'
ditch, as do the antient Saxon Annals [c], [Severus
Brytenland mid dic forgyrd fram sea oth sea], q.d. Severus
inclosed Britain with a dike from sea to sea; and others of
later date, [Severus on Brytene gethorht theal of turfum
fram sea to sea.] Severus in Britain made a wall of turf
from sea to sea. Malmesbury [d] also calls it "the famous
and well-known ditch." In which place, near 200 years after,
was built a wall of stone, of which hereafter.
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Lands, why granted to the
commanders along the borders.
Original of feudal tenures.
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land tenure
feudal tenure
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When Eutropius makes the length of this wall 35 miles,
Victor 32, and other writers 132 [e], I suspect some error
has crept into the numbers. For the island is not so broad
hereabouts, even allowing all the winding ascents and
descents of the wall. But if we reduce these to Italian
miles, we shall find them a little more than 80, as rightly
given by Spartianus. This fortification seems in a few years
to have been neglected. But when the emperor Alexander
Severus, as we read in Lampridius [f], "divided among the
officers and soldiers on the borders only, the lands taken
from the enemy to be theirs in perpetuity provided their
heirs continued in the service, and never to become the
property of private persons, supposing they would be more
attentive to their duty if the lands they defended were
their own:" this passage [g] deserves observation, as from
hence we may derive the feudal tenure or a species of fiefs:
the Romans then advancing beyond the wall, and erecting and
fortifying stations in the enemy's country, carried the
bounds of the empire again to Bodotria, till driven
back presently after to Severus's wall by the barbarians,
who were continually raising one disturbance after another.
Dioclesian took particular care to maintain these bourns,
and when under him the command in Britain ws granted to
Carausius, as a fitter person to act against the warlike
nations, he repaired the Praetentura between Glota
and Bodotria, as will be mentioned in its place.
Constantine the Great is charged with having first neglected
this frontier. For thus Zosimus [h]: "The Roman empire being
by the care of Dioclesian well fortified in all its
frontiers with cities, castles, and towns, and all the
forces quartered in them, it was impossible for the
barbarians to pass them, soldiers being ready to oppose them
everywhere. These garrisons Constantine suppressed, and
placed the greatest part of the troops which he removed from
the frontier in towns that wanted no garrisons; leaving the
frontiers to be harrassed by the barbarians without defence,
burdening with the plague of soldiers towns that were quiet
and orderly, by which many are depopulated, and the soldiery
themselves enervated by theatrical amusements and pleasure.
In short, to say the whole in one word, he laid the
foundation and seeds of the present decline of the state
[i]."
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About A.D. 367.
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Theodosius
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This tract between the Clusurae or Praetenturae Theodosius,
father of the emperor Theodosius, so entirely recovered,
that he rebuilt the cities, garrisoned the castle, secured
the frontier with troops and lines, and restored it so much
to its original state,
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[q]
Not. in Ant. Itin. p.621.
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[r]
V. Sev. c.18. p.354.
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[s]
P. c.21.
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[t]
VIII. c.19. 32 Horsl. 61, 62. owing to its being written
LXXXII or V. and the L. omitted, or a C. added. Ib.
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[u]
VII. 17.
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[x]
c.22. p.263. Salmasius copies it Post murum aut
vallum, but Horsley, p.62. prefers the original
reading, implying that the stone wall was built near
the turf one, but not on the same foundation. Gale
reads murum apud Walton. MS. n.
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[y]
He separated and secured it [mid dice & mid eofth
thealle], with a ditch and an earth wall, says Alfred. So
also, c.12.
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[z]
H.E. I. 5.
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[a]
I. p.474. Ed. Franc.
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[b]
Ubi sup.
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[c]
A.D.189. So Wheeloc's copy, but the Cambrdge MS. and
Gibson's edition, p.7. from the Cotton. [Severus gethorhte
theall of turfum & breden theal than on ufon fram sae to
sae.]]
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[d]
De gestis reg. I. c.1.
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[e]
See before.
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[f]
v. Alex. Sev. c.58. nec unquam ad privatos
pertinerent.
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[g]
See Casaubon's note on the passage.
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[h]
B. 2.
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[i]
Ammina. Marcellin. xxxviii.
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that
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gazetteer links
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-- "Wall, The" -- Hadrian's Wall
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