Scandinavian settlements may have taken place as early as the earliest notices of the Picts.
In this case the lines would be—Norway, North Scotland, the Hebrides, Ireland and Galloway.
XII.
Germanic elements existed in Britain in the reign of Diocletian.
The notices of the Franks in Kent and Middlesex suggest this. (See p. [96].)
XIII.
The Littus Saxonicum must have been ravaged by Germans as early as the reign of Honorius.
This must be admitted even if we construe Saxonicum as ravaged by Saxons, rather than occupied by Saxons—a construction which is so little natural, that I doubt whether it would ever have been resorted to if the language of Gildas had not been supposed to preclude the notion of any Saxon invasion anterior to A.D. 449. We have seen, however, how little that writer was in[231] the position to make a negative statement, i.e., to state, not only that Hengist and Horsa came over in a given year, but that none of their countrymen ever did so in a previous one.
XIV.
No distinction need be drawn between the Angles and the Saxons of Great Britain on the strength of the difference of name.