Ossian Collection > Thoughts on the origin and descent of the Gael

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The period of the Saxons having been invited
by the southern Britons to come over to Britain,
to aid them in their defence against the Scots
and Picts, is fixed at the year 450 of the Chris-
tian era. " As the Saxons were, by their piracies
" on the coasts of Gaul and Britain, better known
" at the time of their settHng in this island, the
" conquest of Britain is, by the ancient writers,
" ascribed to them, and not to the Angles or
" Jutes ; nay, Britain was for some time from
" them called Saxony^ but in the end the name
" of Anglia, from the Angles, prevailed."* That
England bore the name of Saxony for some time
after the prevalence of the power of the Saxons
in it, is confirmed by the fact, that the Gael
of Scotland and Ireland know England by no
other name than that of Sassonn, and Englishmen
they call Sassonnich; whereas they denominate
the kingdom of Scotland Albinn, and its inha-
bitants Alb'mnich.
The Britons struggled for independence against
the Saxons, who were aided by frequent migra-
tions of their countrymen, for nearly the space
of a century and a half from the landing of the
Saxons by the invitation of the southern Britons.
The establishment of the Saxon heptarchy is
computed to have taken place about the year of
Christ 585.
* Ant. Universal Hist. vol. xis. p. M5.