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hundred miles long and two hundred broad, except where the headlands of sundry

promontories stretch farther into the sea. It is surrounded by the ocean, which forms
winding bays, and is strongly defended by this ample, and if I may say so call it,
impassable barrier, save on the south side, where the narrow sea affords a passage to
Belgic Gaul.”

That opening sentence is remarkable: “poised in the divine balance, as it is said,
which supports the whole world”. What can Gildas mean? Almost certainly, he’s
referring to the fact that Christianity had reached the offshore islands, during Roman

times. This, for Gildas, reinforces the theme introduced in the last session: that we
may be “on the edge” and remote, yet we’re not marginal; far from it. More of this
later.

Gildas then introduces many of the key themes of the historical geography of the
offshore islands. The sea figures large, acting as a defence, with the Narrow Channel
however acting as a highway to the continent. Gildas’ big theme, as his title suggests,

is how the invasions of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes are ruining the country; the sea,
it seems, is hardly “an impassable barrier”.

He continues: “It is enriched by the mouths of two noble rivers, the Thames and the
Severn, as it were two arms, by which foreign luxuries were of old imported, and by
other streams of less importance. It is famous for eighty and twenty cities, and is
embellished by certain castles, with walls, towers, well barred gates and houses with
threatening battlements built on high, and provided with all requisite instruments of

defence.”

This is a glimpse of post-Roman Britain, with cities and forts still standing; and river
trade at least as a memory. Gildas then turns to a theme common to all these early
geographical summaries:

“Its plains are spacious, its hills are pleasantly situated, adapted for superior tillage,
and its mountains are admirably calculated for the alternate pasturage of cattle,
where flowers of various colours, trodden by the feet of man, give it the appearance
of a lovely picture. It is decked, like a man’s chosen bride, with divers jewels, with
lucid fountains and abundant brooks wandering over the snow-white sands; with
transparent rivers, flowing in gentle murmurs; and offering a sweet pledge of slumber
to those who recline upon their banks, whilst it is irrigated by abundant lakes, which
pour forth cool torrents of refreshing water.”
In short, it is a promised land.