Highways and Byways in Lincolnshire

by W. F. Rawnsley

Matris non Dominae ritu, civesque vocavit

Quos domuit, nexuque pio longinqua revinxit.”

Alone her captives to her heart she pressed,

Gave to the human race one common name,

And—mother more than sovereign—fondly called

Each son though far away her citizen.

W. F. R.

THE SAXONS

The whole country soon became a prey to the freebooters who crossed the North Sea in search of plunder. Of these, the Saxons under Cedric besieged Lincoln about 497 and, the Angles from the Elbe joining with them, made a strong settlement there which became the capital of Mercia and received a Saxon king. To these invaders, who came as plunderers but remained as colonists, we also owe much. In east Lincolnshire they certainly fostered agriculture, and like the Romans made salt-pans for getting the salt from sea water by evaporation.