Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/277

 SOMERSET 259 males and 248,527 females. The number of persons to an acre in 1881 was 0'45 and of acres to a person 2 "24. History. Somerset, the land of the Sumorsaetan, is one of the "West-Saxon shires which grew by gradual conquest from the Welsh, as opposed to the Mercian shires mapped out round a town and called by its name. The name may well enough be what it seems at first sight, as it is called in Welsh Wlad-yr-liaf, and in Latin some- times estiva regie. Anyhow the land bears the name of the folk. There has never been any central town or acknowledged capital, though Somerton bears a name cognate with the land. Assizes, elections, and the like have been held at different places at different times. There is no distinct name for the land earlier than the English conquest ; it does not preserve the name of any British tribe, like the neighbouring Damnonii and Durotriges. But there are abundance of remains both of prehistoric and of Roman times, beginning with the stones which have given their name to Stanton Drew and the great giant's chamber at Wellow. Many of the hills are crowned with camps, as Cadbury, seven acres in extent, the remains on Hampton Down, near Bath, the fortress of Maesbury Castle, remarkably well preserved, the camp on Worlebury Hill, containing a number of hut circles, Dolbury camp on the Mendips, of great extent and sur- rounded by a stone ditch and rampart, and Norton Fitzwarren, near Taunton. At Bath the Romans had an important city, Aquas Sulis, on the line of the " fosse " which crossed the centre of Somerset, skirting the eastern ridges of the Mendips by Shepton Mallet and Ilchester (Ichctlis) to the ancient Aforidunum. From Ilchester an- other Roman road passed to Durnovium (Dorchester). From Brean Down, where there was a Roman port, a road crossed south-east- wards by the Mendips and Shepton Mallet to Sorbiodumim (Salis- bury). The completeness of the Roman occupation is evidenced not only by the variety and importance of the relics which have been discovered, but by the wide area over which they are spread. That lead was wrought by the Romans in the Mendips is evidenced by famines found at various places bearing the imperial stamp ; from the remains of old pottery kilns that have been discovered it would appear that this industry then as now was of considerable importance ; the foundations of Roman villas are very common, and there are many remarkably fine specimens of Roman pavements. After the withdrawal of the Roman power, the district formed part of the British kingdom of Damnonia or West Wales, and it plays its part in the legends of Arthur, which seem to have grown out of the history of that kingdom. The religious history gathers round the Isle of Avalon and its monastery, known in Welsh as Ynysvitrin and in English as Glastonbury, names of somewhat uncertain origin and use, and which must not be pressed too strongly. Wild legends connect the place with Joseph of Arimathrea and a crowd of saints from Ireland and elsewhere. It is enough to say that it undoubtedly was a religious house, thovigh perhaps of no very great antiquity, before the English conquest reached so far, and that it was the one great church (as Exeter was the one great city) which lived on uninterruptedly through the English conquest. That conquest began in 577 with the campaign of Ceawlin, when, after the battle of Deorham, he took Gloucester, Cirencester, and Bath and advanced his frontier to the Axe. This was the last heathen conquest ; before the second advance under Cen wealh the West-Saxons had become Christians. His two victories in 652 and 658 carried the English frontier to the Parrct, and took in Glastonbury. The later stages are loss clear; Centwine in 672 " drove the Bretwealas to the sea," and Ine fought with the Welsh king Gerest in 710 and made Taunton a border fortress at some time before 722. By this time the conquest was complete. In the Danish wars Alfred in 878 found shelter at Athelney and then went forth to his victory at Ethandun (Edington in Wiltshire), after which peace was made with the Danes at Wedmore. We hear of several later Danish invasions, but the Danes never made any settlements. Under Edward the Confessor Somerset formed part of the earldom, first of Swegen and then of Harold. It prob- ably submitted to the Norman Conqueror after the taking of Exeter in 1068, and an English revolt in the next year was put down. In 1088 Ilchester stood a siege in the cause of William Rufus, and the county plays its part in the wars of Stephen. During the Middle Ages onward to the period of the civil war the historical events of Somerset with the exception of the episode of Perkin Warbeck, who seized and abandoned Taunton in 1497 are chiefly associated with BRISTOL (q.v.). The great mass of the people, especially those in the towns, took the Parliament side in the great conflict, but from 1643 to 1645 the shire was in the hands of the Royalists, with the exception of Taunton, which held out heroically under Blake till relieved by Fairfax on the llth May of the latter year, which was followed by other successes until the whole ^district was regained by the Cromwellian party. The continuance of a strong Puritan feeling in the district was evidenced forty years later by the support given to the Monmouth rebellion, the latest historical event of special importance con- nected with the county. The history of the county and its existing remains of antiquity have been largely affected by its ecclesiastical history. First part of the single bishopric of Wessex at Winchester, then of that of Sherborne, the land of Sumorssetan became a distinct diocese in 909 with its bishopstool at Wells. The seat and style of the bishop have changed several times, but the boundaries of the diocese have changed remarkably little. Nowhere except in Sussex have the shire and the diocese been so nearly the same thing at all times. The great possessions of the bishopric and of the abbey of Glastonbury led to a remarkable lack of castles in the mid part of the county, and also tended to overshadow all other ecclesiastical foundations. Even in the other parts of the county castles are not a prominent feature, and no monastic church remains perfect except those of Bath and its cell Dunster. To Bath the bishopstool was removed in 1088, and after some shiftings, including a transfer to Glaston- bury, the double style of Bath and Wells was established, the monks of Bath and the canons of Wells forming two separate chapters for the bishop. At the dissolution of monasteries Bath was suppressed, Wells became the sole I chapter, but the name of Bath was still kept in the bishop's style. The monastery of Glaston- bury was destroyed, as were most of the smaller monasteries also. Of those which have left any remains, Woodspring, Montacute (Cluniac), Cleeve (Cistercian), and Michelney are the most remark- able. Athelney, founded by JElfred on the spot where he found shelter, has utterly perished. Montacute and Dunster fill a place in both ecclesiastical and military history. The castle of Robert of Mortain, the Conqueror's brother, was built on the peaked hill (mons acutus) of Leodgaresburh, where the holy cross of Walthem was found. The priory arose at the foot. Dunster, one of the few inhabited castles in England, stands on a hill crowned by an English mound. Besides these there are also remains at Nunney and Castle Carey ; but castles are not a strong point in Somerset antiquities. In ecclesiastical architecture the two great churches of Wells and Glastonbury supply a great study of the development of the earlier Pointed style out of Romanesque. But the architectural strength of the county lies in its great parish churches, chiefly in the Perpendicular style, of which they present a characteristic variety. In the same style among greater' churches are Bath abbey, Sherborne minster in Dorset, and Saint Mary Redcliff at Bristol (locally in Somerset and till lately in the diocese), a parish church on the type of a minster. Of earlier work there is little Norman, and hardly any Primitive Romanesque, but there is a characteristic local style in some of the smaller buildings of the 14th century. The earlier churches were often cruciform, and sometimes with side towers. In domestic remains no district is richer ; Somerset stands alongside of Northamptonshire owing to the abundance of good stone in both. Clevedon Court is a very fine inhabited manor-house of the 14th century, and the houses, great and small, of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries are endless. Indeed, the style has never quite gone out, as the gable and the mullioned window have lingered on to this day. Barriugton Court in the 16th century and Montacute House in the 17th are specially fine examples. There are also some very fine barns, as at Glaston- bury, Wells, and Pilton. Among the more illustrious natives of Somersetshire are Dnnstan, Roger Bacon, John Locke, Admiral Blake, Pym, Bishop Ken, Fielding, Cudworth, and the poet Daniel. See Collinson, History of Somersetshire, 3 vols., 1791 ; Phelps, Modern Somerset- shire, 1839 ; Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archxological and Natural History Society ; Eyton, Somerset Surrey, 2 vols., 1880 ; Hunt, Diocesan History of Bath and Wells, "1885 ; Freeman, English Towns and Districts, pp. 103 sq. SOMERSET, EDWARD SEYMOUR, DUKE OF (c. 1500- 1552), eldest brother of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII. 's third wife, was created earl of Hertford in 1537, on the birth of his nephew, afterwards Edward VI. In 151 he commanded in the war with Scotland, and sacked Edinburgh. Next year he again commanded against the Scots ; and he was employed by Henry in many important negotiations throughout the latter part of his reign. On the accession of Edward VI. he was made protector by the council, and was soon afterwards created duke of Somerset. He at once made use of his power to encour- age the extreme Reformers, and a general destruction of ecclesiastical works of art was the result. In September 1547, finding the Scots unwilling to listen to his pr<?- posals for a marriage between Edward and Mary Stuart, he marched an army into Scotland and won the battle of Pinkie Cleugh, a worthless victory, which only threw Scotland into the arms of France. War with that country followed, and the result was the loss of Boulogne. Equally disastrous was the protector's domestic policy. He was animated by a dislike of arbitrary government, and by a desire to improve the condition of the ppor, but was at the same time a slave to his own ambition. He