|
POLITICAL HISTORY
The county of Kent, being the nearest part of Britain to the Continent
of Europe, has always been peculiarly exposed to invasion as well as to
the more peaceful influences of foreign civilization. Yet it ‘prides
itself to this day on its specially Teutonic character and on the
retention of various old Teutonic usages which have vanished elsewhere.’1
The ports of Kent have been the landing-place and its roads the constant
thoroughfare of visitors to England from the Continent, but these must
here pass without notice except in cases of real political importance.
Its castles, especially those of Dover, ‘the key of England,’ and
Rochester, which commands the passage of the London road over the
Medway, have been the object of a keen struggle for their possession in
almost every outbreak of civil war, and Rochester in particular has
often undergone siege.
Early in its history the ancient kingdom of Kent was
converted to Christianity by the mission of Augustine. Canterbury became
in later days the metropolitan city of the united kingdom of England,
and Kent has accordingly had an important place in ecclesiastical
history. This is fully treated in another section.
The territory comprised in the modern county was known from
the earliest times of which we have any record, by some form of the name
which it still bears. In early times, however, a considerable area in
the south-western part of the territory was occupied by the forest of
the Weald, which covered also the northern part of Sussex, and the
inhabited portion was much smaller than the modern county.2 In
the first century before Christ there was already a certain amount of
commercial intercourse between Britain and Gaul, and Caesar describes
the men of Kent as the most civilized in Britain, and not very different
in their customs from the Gauls, many of whom had gone over to plunder
and had remained as settlers.3 This description of the
men of Kent is repeated a thousand years later by William of Poitiers,
the historian of William the Conqueror, who says that Kent ‘is
situated nearer to France, wherefore it is inhabited by less ferocious
men’ than the rest of England.4 Caesar’s conquest
of Gaul brought him in sight of the mysterious island, and he resolved
to bring it under Roman sway. His first expedition (August, B.C. 55),
with two legions, was a failure,5 and he returned next
year (July, B.C. 54) with a force of five legions and 2,000 cavalry. His
most important operations against Cassivelaunnus took place across the
Thames, but during his absence a Kentish force under four ‘kings’
attacked his naval camp and was repulsed with considerable loss. This
induced Cassivelaunnus to treat for peace, and Caesar departed with
hostages and a promise of tribute.6 The serious
conquest of Britain began a century later, A.D. 43, when Aulus Plautius
was sent over by
1 Freeman, Norm. Conq. i,
23. 2 J. R. Green, Making
of England, 149.
3 De Bello Gallico, v, 12, 14.
4 Ed. Migne, Patrologia, cxlix, 1237.
5 De Bello Gallico, iv,
2.
6 De Belle Gallico, v, 22. |