But as he was getting ready to march once more
into the Roman provinces a revolt broke out in one of the cities
of his own kingdom; and while on his way to suppress it the great
caliph died of an illness which had long given him trouble.
Egbert
King from 802-837 A.D.
I
Egbert the Saxon lived at the same time as did Harun-al-Rashid and
Charlemagne. He was the first king who ruled all England as one
kingdom. Long before his birth the people who are known to us as
Britons lived there, and they gave to the island the name Britain.
But Britain was invaded by the Romans under Julius Cesar and his
successors, and all that part of it which we now call England was
added to the Empire of Rome. The Britons were driven into Wales
and Cornwall, the western sections of the island.
The Romans kept possession of the island for nearly four hundred
years. They did not leave it until 410, the year that Alaric sacked
the city of Rome. At this time the Roman legions were withdrawn
from Britain.
Some years before this the Saxons, Angles and Jutes, German tribes,
had settled near the shores of the North Sea.
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