Their depredations began to attract
notice early in the seventh century, but did not become formidable
before the ninth: when they obtained possession of that part of France
now called Normandy. In the two following centuries they wrested
England from the Saxons, and established kingdoms in Sicily and
southern Italy.
THE BULGARIANS.
21. The Bulgarians were of Scythian or Tartar origin, and became
formidable to the Eastern empire in the latter part of the seventh
century. In the beginning of the ninth, Cruni'nus, their king,
advanced to the gates of Constantinople; but the city proving too
strong, he seized Adrianople, and returned home loaded with booty. The
successors of Cruni'nus did not inherit his abilities, and the
Bulgarians soon sunk into comparative insignificance.
THE SARACENS MOORS AND TURKS.
22. In concluding this chapter, it may be proper to give some account
of the subverters of the Eastern empire, and of their irruption into
Europe. The Arabs, called in the middle ages Saracens, are supposed to
be descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar.
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