12.  Influence of the Island Form on the Saxon Invasion.

In like manner, when the northern tribes of Europe overran the Roman Empire, they found themselves, in some measure, shut out from Britain by its wall of sea.  The Jutes, Saxons, and Angles could not enter it in countless hordes, but only in small numbers and by occasional attacks.  Because of this, the invaders could only drive back the Britons by slow degrees, and they never entirely crushed them.

Again, the conquerers could not build up a strong, united kinigdom, but they had to content themselves with establishing a number of petty kingdoms which were constantly at war with each other.  Later, the whole of England became subject to a sing sovereign.  But the chief men of the separate kingdoms, which had now become simply shires or counties, retained a certain degree of control over the government.  This prevented the royal power from becoming the unchecked will of an arbitrary ruler.  Finally, it may be said that the isolation of England had much to do with the development of the strong individual character of its people.

13.  Influence of the Island Form on the Danes and Normans.

In the course of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries the Danes invaded England, but the sea prevented their coming all at once and with overwhelming force.  They got possession of the throne (S63) and permanently established themselves in the northern half of the country.  The English, however, held their own so well that the Danes were eventually compelled to unite with them.  Even when the Normans invaded England and conquered it (SS74, 107), they felt obliged to make many concessions to both the English and the Danes.  The result was that every invasion of the island ended in a compromise, so that no one race ever got complete predominance.  In time all the elements mingled and became one people.

14.  Influence of the Channel in Later History.

Furthermore, the immense protective value of the Channel to England may be traced down to our own day.  In the great crisis when Simon de Montfort was fighting (1264) to secure parliamentary representation for the people (S213), King Henry III sought help from France.  The French monarcy got a fleet ready to send to England, but bad weather held it back, and Henry was obliged to concede De Montfort’s demands for reform.[1]

[1] W. Stubb’s “Select Charters,” p. 401

Again, when the Spanish Armada swooped down upn England (1588) a terrible tempest dispersed a part of the enemy’s fleet.  Many of the vessels were wrecked (S399) and only a few were left to creep back, crippled and disheartened, to the ports of Spain.  When Queen Elizabeth publicly thanked the leaders of her valiant navy for what they had done to repel the Spanish forces, she also acknowledged how much England owed to the protective power of wind and wave.

The same elements taught Napoleon a lesson which he never forgot.  He had carefully planned an expedition against England (S557), but violent and long-continued storms compelled him to abandon the hazardous undertaking (1804).  The great French commander felt himself invincible on land, but he was obliged to confess that “a few leagues of salt water” had completely out-generaled him.