Practically this old British "Dyvnaint"
represented the ancient Roman province of Damnonia, shrinking as it
was under successive advances of the Saxons from the boundary which
it once had along the Mendips and Selwood Forest. Ina's victory
over Gerent set the Dyvnaint frontier yet westward, to the line of
the present county of Somerset, which represents the limit of his
conquest, the new addition to the territory of the clan of the
Sumorsaetas long being named as "Devon in Wessex" by the
chroniclers rather than as Somerset.
The terms "Devon" or "Dyvnaint," as they are respectively used by
Saxon or Briton in the course of the story, will therefore be
understood to imply the ancient territory before its limitation by
the boundaries of the modern counties, which practically took their
rise from the wars of Ina.
With regard to names, I have not thought it worth while to use the
archaic, if more correct, forms for those of well-known places. It
seems unnecessary to write, for instance, "Glaestingabyrig" for
Glastonbury, or "Penbroch" for Pembroke. I have treated proper
names in the same way, keeping, for example, the more familiar
latinised "Ina" rather than the Saxon "Ine," as being more nearly
the correct pronunciation than might otherwise be used without the
hint given by a footnote.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25