stowed a date on the first satisfactory page of its annals, two nations, or tribes, divided the soil of Warwickshire. These were the Cornavii, or Carnabii; and the Wigantes, or Wiccii. The Cornavii possessed all Staffordshire and Cheshire; those parts of Shropshire which lie to the north and east of the Severu; and small portions of Flintshire and Leicestershire.* Camden de clines to form a conjecture respecting the origin of the name by which they are distinguished; but Mr. Whitaker observes, "that these, and the Britons of Cornwall in the south-western regions of the island, and those of Caithness in the northeastern, are all equally called Carnabii by Richard. All of them were named, we may be sure, from some one striking circumstance of position or origin, which was common to them all. The Carnabii of Cornwall and Caithness inhabited a region exactly similar in this great particular, that, open upon one side, it narrowed gradually on the other, and shot out in a promontory into the sea. Such a projection the Britons called a Kerenab, or an horn of the sea. And from this, the common and significative characteristic of the two counties, the two tribes that possessed them would naturally be denominated. The Carnabii are expressly declared by Richard to have been originally situated in the neigbourhood of the Dee. And we have a region there similar to those of Cornwall and Caithness, open on one side, narrowing on the other, and shooting ont into the sea."t The dominions of the Carnabii, as is further observed by the same writer, appear to have reached across the whole extent of Warwickshire, as that people enjoyed Bennonæ, or Cleychester, on the skirts of the neighbouring county of Leicester. They had for their capital, at the time of the Roman invasion, Uriconium, or Wroxeter, in Shropshire. The Wigantes, or Wiccii, are the nation erroneously termed Jugantes by Tacitus. They were a warlike tribe, as is sufficiently shire. To which, in the opinion of Horsley, may be added part of Derby. + History of Manchester, p. 118. ently expressd by their name, which signifies a brave people. Besides their possessions in this county, their dominious extended over Worcestershire and the north of Gloucestershire. Branuogenium, or Worcester, is believed to have been their capital. Both these tribes maintained a strict friendship with their neighbours, the Iceni and Cor-Iceni, and were in some measure subjected to the Roman sway at the same period with those states by Ostorius Scapula, the second Roman governor of Britain. Of the subsequent history of these British nations, while connected with the Romans, but little can now be satisfactorily ascertained. The Cornavii are the more frequently mentioned; and it appears, by the breviary of the western empire, that some of this people served under the later emperors. The Wiccii were permitted to remain under the government of a chieftain of their own nation, Venusius, a Briton conspicuous for bravery, who had married Cartismandua, Queen of the Brigantes in her own right. During the administration of Aulus Didius, the successor of Ostorius, Venusius induced the Wiccii to accord with him in joining the Silures, in opposition to the Romans. This breach of friendship led to the total conquest of the Wiccii, under the ensuing administration of Suetonius Paulinus, by whom the tract denominated Arden, was completely rendered subject to the Roman influence. It was in the year 50 that Ostorius first visited the Arden of Warwickshire. He led his troops from the banks of the southern Ouse, taking in his northward progress the course of the Watling Street, and probably fixing his encampments on the sites of British stations. In order to increase his security, and to extend the line of military communication, he constructed forts and entrenched camps along the banks of the rivers Avon and Severn. Few circumstances have been stated with more diversity of opinion than the number and situation of the great military stations constructed by the Romans in this county. We forbear to follow the various writers through their labyrinths of conjec B2 ture ture, and rest contented with the few following remarks. As the woodland recesses of the district emphatically termed Arden now comprised the greater part of Warwickshire, and were chiefly inhabited by the Wiccian Ceangi, or herdsmen, Ostorius probably did not deem it expedient to fix any military station in the interior of the county on the north of the river Avon. His great Ardenian station was, assuredly, Tripontium (Lilborn, Northamptonshire, on the border of this county.) At High Cross was a second settlement, now included in the county of Leicester. Farther north, on the Watling Street, was Manduessedum, (Mancester.) The chain of camps on the Avon readily communicated with these places of military congregation; and at Warwick, nearly in the centre of the line, some writers have placed the Præsidium of the Romans: but this must still remain a subject of dispute among the ingenious. With greater security of foundation we may ascribe the honour of a Roman station to Alcester, on the Ickneild, or Ryknild, Street, in the south-west division of the county. Various minor works, connected with the military operations of this people, claim notice in an ensuing section; but we must not now dismiss the subject without observing that the second journey of Antoninus, from beyond the wall of Severus to Richborough in Kent, passes through this part of England, from north to south; but as he adhered strictly to the track of the great street, when on the confines of Warwickshire, he only gives in his Itinerary the name of one stationManduessedum. Cogidunus, who had been originally king of the Dobuni, was not only permitted by the Romans to retain nominal authority, or, in other words, to become an imperial legate, but bad various extents of country added to his dominions. Among these was a part of Warwickshire; and he retained his titular supremacy to the days of Trajan. When Severus, in the beginning of the third century, divided the Roman territories in Britain into two provinces, the greater part of this county was. comprehended in Britannia Secunda. 9 During During the period between the sccession of the Romans and the conquest of the midland district of England by the Saxons, the silence of historians respecting this tract induces us to suppose that the inhabitants wisely avoided civil contention. Credda was the first Saxou cominauder who obtruded on this peaceful disposition of the natives. On the formation of the heptarchy Warwickshire was constituted a part of the powerful kingdom of Mercia; and with this new political arrangement recommence those military details which form the gauds of ordinary history. The kings of Mercia often maintained the rude pomp of their court in this county. Tamworth was a favorite seat with several sovereigns, until that town was destroyed by the Danes. A charter of Burthwulf, king of Mercia, in the Textus Roffensis, is dated from Villa Regalis Werburgewic (Warwick.) Kingsbury was also a regal abode.*-Among the numerous conflicts produced by the ambition of those fresh invaders to which the country was now subject, the battle at Seckington is especially memorable. Here Ethelbald, the tenth king of Mercia, fought Cuthred, king of the West-Saxons, and was slain by Burgred, his own officer. The Danes committed great ravages in Warwickshire; and, in the course of their several irruptions, burned and destroyed the principal towns. The war of the Roses forms the next great historical era. During this calamitous period the county, in common with most districts, was much divided in sentiment, and lost some of its best blood in the field, though it was fortunately not the immediate scene of any important action. As the chief members of the house of Nevill, of which the Earl of Warwick was a distinguished branch, supported the pretensions of the Duke of York, it will readily be supposed that the York faction was strong in the county. But in those infuriate days, when even families were divided in motive, no citizen could depend on the coincidence of a B 3 neigh • According to tradition there was, likewise, a royal Saxon palace at Offchurch. equally strong reasons for Henry and Margaret had neighbouring sword. The town of Warwick was swayed by its Earl; but the city of Coventry had attachment to the house of Lancaster. won the esteem of the inhabitants by frequent visits, and had conferred on them a particular favour, in constituting their city and some neighbouring parishes, a separate county. The citi zens were firm in affection and gratitude. In 1460, when a strong power, under the Earl of Warwick and the Earl of Marche, (afterwards Edward IV) proceeded from London in search of the royal forces, the Lancastrians were quartered in Coventry. They shortly, however, quitted that city, and the battle of Northampton ensued, where, among the slain on the side of Henry we find Sir William Lucie, a person of note in Warwickshire. In 1470, the Earl of Warwick, then a partisan of the Lancastrians, possessed himself of Coventry; and the citizens refused admission to Edward IV. That king, however, met with a friendly reception in the town of Warwick. When Richard III. took arms to oppose the pretensions of the Earl of Richmond, the sheriff of this county levied men for his use. But it is probable that they were not engaged in the decisive action, as it appears, from au inquisition then taken, that the sheriff (Richard Boughton,) was slain two days before the battle of Bosworth; and it is supposed that he was encountered, and overpowered, by some of the Earl of Richmond's troops while marching to the aid of the king. In the seventeenth century, when a deluded court and a fanatical parliament plunged the nation again into the miseries of civil contest, the inhabitants of Warwickshire evinced a greater unanimity of sentiment. Some cavaliers were found ready to adventure life and fortune in support of their king; but these were truly few in number. The influence of Lord Brooke, one of the earliest and most strenuous advocates of the popular faction, did much in kindling the zeal of the natives; and his local resources were of distinguished service to his party. The castle of Warwick, situated near the centre of the kingdom, and strong by |