tongue the Isle of Masses hereby may bee remembred when as it was a most famous Abbey of the order of Saint Augustin founded by the Earle of Strathern about the yeere 1200. When Ern hath joined his water with Tau in one streame so that Tau is now become more spatious hee looketh up to Aberneth seated upon his banke the royall seat in old time of the Picts and a well peopled Citie which as we read in an ancient fragment Nectane King of the Picts gave unto God and S. Brigide untill the day of Doom together with the bounds thereof which lye from a stone in Abertrent unto a stone nigh to Carfull that is Loghfoll and from thence as farre as to Ethan But long after it became the possession of the Douglasses Earles of Anguse who are called Lords of Aberneth and there some of them lye enterred The first Earle of Strathern that I read of was Malisse who in the time of King Henrie the third of England married one of the heires of Robert Muschamp a potent Baron of England Long afterward Robert Stewart in the yeere 1380. Then David a younger sonne of King Robert the second whose onely daughter given in marriage to Patricke Graham begat Mailise or Melisse Graham from whom King James the first tooke away the Earledome as escheated after that he understood out of the Records of the Kingdome that it was given unto his mothers grandfather and the heires males of his bodie This territorie as also that of Menteith adjoining the Barons Dromund governe hereditarily by Seneschals authority as their Stewarties Menteith hath the name of Teith a river which also they call Taich and thereof this little province they tearme in Latin Taichia upon the banke of which lieth the Bishopricke of Dunblan which King David the first of that name erected At Kirkbird that is Saint Brigids Church the Earles of Menteith have their principall house or Honour as also the Earles of Montrosse comming from the same stocke at Kin-Kardin not farre off This Menteith reacheth as I have heard unto the mountaines that enclose the East side of the Logh or Lake Lomund The ancient Earles of Menteith were of the family of Cumen which in times past being the most spred mightiest house of all Scotland was ruinated with the over-weight and sway thereof but the latter Earles were of the Grahams line ever since that Sir Mailise Graham attained to the honour of an Earle ARGATHELIA OR ARGILE BEyond the Lake Lomund and the West part of Lennox there spreadeth it selfe neere unto Dunbriton Forth the large countrey called Argathelia Argadia in Latin but commonly ARGILE more truely Argathel and Ar-Gwithil that is Neere unto the Irish or as old writings have it The edge or border of Ireland For it lyeth toward Ireland the inhabitants whereof the Britans tearme Gwithil and Gaothel The countrey runneth out in length and breadth all mangled with fishfull pooles and in some places with rising mountaines very commodious for feeding of cattell in which also there range up and downe wilde kine and red Deere but along the shore it is more unpleasant in sight what with rockes and what with blackish barraine mountaines In this part as Bede writeth Britain received after the Britans and Picts a third nation of Scots in that countrey where the Picts inhabited who comming out of Ireland under the leading of Reuda either through friendship or by dint of sword planted here their seat amongst them which they still hold Of which their leader they are to this very day called Dalreudini for in their language Dal signifieth a part And a little after Ireland saith hee is the proper Countrey of the Scots for being departed out of it they added unto the Britans and Picts a third nation in Britaine And there is a very great Bay or arme of the sea that in old time severed the nation of the Britans from the Picts which from the West breaketh a great way into the land where standeth the strongest Citie of all the Britans even to this day called Alchith In the North part of which Bay the Scots aforesaid when they came got themselves a place to inhabite Of that name Dalreudin no remaines at all to my knowledge are now extant neither finde wee any thing thereof in Writers unlesse it bee the same that Dalrieta For in an old Pamphlet touching the division of Albanie wee read of one Kinnadie who for certaine was a King of Scots and subdued the Picts these very words Kinnadie two yeeres before hee came into Pictavia for so it calleth the countrey of the Picts entred upon the Kingdome of Dalrieta Also in an historie of later time there is mention made of Dalrea in some place of this tract where King Robert Brus fought a field unfortunately That Justice should be ministred unto this Province by Justices Itinerant at Perth whensoever it pleased the King King James the fourth by authoritie of the States of the Kingdome enacted a law But the Earles themselves have in some cases their roialties as being men of very great command and authoritie followed with a mightie traine of retainers and dependants who derive their race from the ancient Princes and Potentates of Argile by an infinite descent of Ancestours and from their castle Cambell tooke their surname but the honour and title of Earle was given unto them by King James the second who as it is recorded invested Colin Lord Cambell Earle of Argile in regard of his owne vertue and the worth of his family Whose heires and successours standing in the gracious favour of the Kings have bin Lords of Lorn and a good while Generall Justices of the Kingdome of Scotland or as they use to speake Iustices ordained in Generall and Great Masters of the Kings royall household CANTIRE LOgh Fin a lake breeding such store of herrings at a certaine due season as it is wonderfull severeth Argile from a Promontorie which for thirtie miles together growing still toward a sharpe point thrusteth it selfe forth with so great a desire toward Ireland betwixt which and it there is a narrow sea scarce thirteene miles over as if it would conjoine it selfe Ptolomee termeth this the Promontorie EPIDIORUM betweene which name and the Islands EBUDAE lying over against it there is in my conceit some affinitie At this day it is called in the Irish tongue which they speake in all this tract CAN-TYRE that is The lands Head inhabited by the Mac-Conells a family that here swayeth much howbeit at the pleasure and dispose of the Earle of Argile yea and otherwhiles they make out their light pinnaces and gallies for Ireland to raise booties and pillage who also hold in possession those little provinces of Ireland which they call Glines and Rowts This Promontorie lyeth annexed to Knapdale by so thin a necke as being scarce a mile broad and the same all sandie that the mariners finde it the neerer
Edward the Thirds sonne who after hee had married a wife out of that house was entituled by his father Duke of Clarence For he of this place with a fuller sound than that of Clare was stiled Duke of Clarence like as before him the sonnes of Earle Gislebert and their successors were hence surnamed De Clare and called Earles of Clare Who died at Languvill in Italy after he had by a second marriage matched with a Daughter of Galâ—acius Vicount of Millain and in the Collegiat Church here lieth interred as also Ioan Acres daughter to King Edward the first married to Gislebert de Clare Earle of Glocester Here peradventure the Readers may looke that I should set downe the Earles of Clare so denominated of this place and the Dukes of Clarence considering they have beene alwayes in this Realme of right honorable reputation and verily so will I doe in few words for their satisfaction in this behalfe Richard the sonne of Gislebert Earle of Augy in Normandy served in the warres under King William when hee entred England and by him was endowed with the Townes of Clare and Tunbridge This Gislebert begat foure sonnes namely Gislebert Roger Walter and Robert from whom the Fitz-walters are descended Gislebert by the daughter of the Earle of Cleremont had issue Richard who succeeded him Gislebert of whom came that Noble Richard Earle of Pembroch and Conquerour of Ireland and Walter Richard the first begotten sonne was slaine by the Welshmen and left behinde him two sonnes Gilbert and Roger. Gilbert in King Stephens dayes was Earle of Herford howbeit both he and his Successours are more often and commonly called Earles of Clare of this their principall seat and habitation yea and so many times they wrote themselves After him dying without issue succeeded his brother Roger whose sonne Richard tooke to wife Amice the daughter and one of the Heires to William Earle of Glocester in right of whom his posterity were Earles of Glocester And those you may see in their due place But when at length their issue male failed Leonel Third sonne of King Edward the Third who had married Elizabeth the Daughter and sole Heire of William de Burgh Earle of Vlster begotten of the Bodie of Elizabeth Clare was by his Father honoured with this new Title Duke of Clarence But when as hee had but one onely Daughter named Phillippa wife to Edmund Mortimer Earle of March King Henry the Fourth created Thomas his owne yonger sonne Duke of Clarence who being withall Earle of Albemarle High Steward of England and Governour of Normandy and having no lawfull issue was slaine in Anjou by the violent assault of Scots and French A long time after king Edward the Fourth bestowed this honour upon his owne brother George whom after grievous enmity and bitter hatred hee had received againe into favour and yet at the last made an end of him in prison causing him as the report currently goeth to be drowned in a Butte of Malmesey A thing naturally engraffed in men that whom they have feared and with whom they have contended in matter of life those they hate for ever though they be their naturall brethren From Clare by Long-Melford a very faire Almes-house lately built by that good man Sir William Cordal Knight and Maister of the Rolls Stour passeth on and commeth to Sudbury that is to say the South-Burgh and runneth in manner round about it which men suppose to have beene in old time the chiefe towne of this Shire and to have taken this name in regard of Norwich that is The Northren Towne Neither would it take it well at this day to be counted much inferiour to the Townes adjoyning for it is populous and wealthy by reason of Clothing there and hath for the chiefe Magistrate a Major who every yeare is chosen out of seaven Aldermen Not farre from hence distant is Edwardeston a Towne of no great name at this day but yet in times past it had Lords therein dwelling of passing great Honour of the surname of Mont-chensie out of which Family Sir Guarin Montchensie married the daughter and one of the heires of that mighty William Marescall Earle of Pembroch and of her begat a daughter named Ioan who unto the stile of her Husband William de Valentia of the family of Lusignie in France brought and adjoyned the title of Earle of Penbroch But the said Sir Guarin Mont-chensy as he was a right honourable person so he was a man exceeding wealthy in so much as in those dayes they accounted him the most potent Baron and the rich Crassus of England For his last will and testament amounted unto two hundred thousand Markes no small wealth as the standard was then From a younger brother or cadet of this house of Montchensie issued by an heire generall the Family of the Waldgraves who have long flourished in Knightly degree at Smalebridge neerer to Stoure as another Family of great account in elder ages at Buers which was thereof surnamed A few miles from hence Stour is enlarged with Breton a small Brooke at one of whose heads is seene Bretenham a very slender little towne where fcarce remaineth any shew at all of any great building and yet both the neere resemblance and the signification of the name partly induced me to thinke it to be that COMBRETONIUM whereof Antonine the Emperour made mention in this tract For like as Bretenham in English signifieth an Habitation or Mansion place by Breton so Combretonium in British or Welsh betokeneth a Valley or a place lying somewhat low by Breton But this in Peutegerius his Table is falsly named COMVETRONUM and ADCOVECIN Somewhat Eastward from hence is Nettlested seene of whence was Sir Thomas Wentworth whom King Henry the Eighth adorned with the title of Baron Wentworth and neere thereto is Offion that is to say The towne of Offa King of the Mercians where upon a clay Hill lie the ruines of an ancient Castle which they say Offa built after he had wickedly murdered Aethelbert King of the East-Angles and usurped his Kingdome But to returne to the River Breton Upon another brooke that joyneth therewith standeth Lancham a pretty Mercat and neere it the Manour of Burnt-Elleie whereunto King Henry the Third granted a Mercate at the request of Sir Henry Shelton Lord thereof whose posterity a long time heere flourished Hadley in the Saxons language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is watered with the same brooke a towne of good note in these dayes for making of Clothes and in old time much mentioned by our Historians because Guthrum or Gormo the Dane was heere buried For when Aelfred brought him to this passe that he became Christian and was baptized hee assigned unto him these countries of the East-Angles that he might to use the words of mine Author cherish them by right of inheritance under the Allegiance of a King
thereof For in this tenour runne the very words of the Charter She likewise bestowed it upon John de Lacy Constable of Chester and the heires whom hee should beget of the body of Margaret her daughter This John had issue Edmund who dying before his mother left this honour for Henry his sonne to enjoy who was the last Earle of that line For when his sonnes were taken away by untimely death and he had but one little daughter onely remaining alive named Alice hee affianced her being but nine yeeres old to Thomas the sonne of Edmund Earle of Lancaster with this condition That if he should fortune to dye without heires of her body or if they happened to dye without heires of their bodies his Castles Lordships c. should in Remainder come to the heires of Edmund Earle of Lancaster for ever But the said Alice had no childe at all by her husband Thomas But when Thomas her husband was beheaded shee that by her light behaviour had not a little steined her good name tooke Sir Eubul le Strange with whom she had lived before time too familiarly for her husband without the assent and privity of her Soveraigne who being hereat highly offended seised her possessions into his owne hands Yet both Sir Eubul Strange and Sir Hugh Frene her third husband are in some Records named Earles of Lincolne After Alice now very aged was departed this life without issue Henry Earle of Lancaster Nephew to Edmund aforesaid by his second sonne entred upon her large and faire patrimony by vertue of that conveiance which I spake of before and from that time it accrued to the House of Lancaster Howbeit the Kings of England at their pleasure have bestowed the name and honour of Earles of Lincolne as King Edward the Fourth gave it to Sir John De la Pole and King Henry the Eighth to Henry Brandon both the Sonnes of the Dukes of Suffolke who both ended this life without Issue the first slaine in the battaile at Stoke and the other taken away by the sweating sicknesse Afterward Queene Elizabeth promoted Edward Baron Clinton Lord high Admirall of England to the said honour which his sonne Henry enjoyeth at this day There are in this Shire Parishes much about 630. NOTINGAMIAE Comitatus olim pars CORITANORVM NOTTINGHAM-SHIRE VPon the West side of Lincolne-shire confineth the County of NOTTINGHAM in the English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in English Nottingham-shire being farre lesse in quantity limited Northward with York-shire Westward with Darby-shire and in some parts with York-shire and on the South side with Leicester-shire The South and East part thereof are made more fruitfull by the noble and famous River Trent with other Riverets resorting unto it The West part is taken up with the Forest of Shirewood which stretcheth out a great way This part because it is sandy the Inhabitants tearme The Sand the other for that it is Clayish they call the Clay and so have divided their Country into these two parts The River Trent in the old English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some Antiquaries of small note and account have called Triginta in Latine for the affinity of the French word Trent that signifieth that number Triginta that is thirty having gone a long journey so soone as hee is entred into this Shire and hath recepto Souro flumine ex agro Leicestrensi taking in the River Soure from the field of Leicester runne by Steanford where I have learned there be many tokens remaining of old antiquity and peeces of Roman money oftentimes found and then by Clifton which hath given both habitation and sirname also to the ancient family of the Cliftons much enriched by one of the heires of Cressy taketh in from the West the little River Lin which rising neere unto Newsted that is New place where sometime King Henry the Second founded a small Abbay and which is now the dwelling house of the ancient Family of the Burons descended from Ralph de Buron who at the first comming in of the Normans flourished in great state both in this Countrey and also in Lancashire runneth hard by Wallaton rich in veines of cole where Sir Francis Willoughby a Knight nobly descended from the Greis Marquesse Dorset in our daies built out of the ground with great charges upon a vaine ostentation of his wealth a stately house with artificiall workemanship standing bleakely but offering a very goodly prospect to the beholders farre and neere Then runneth it by Linton or Lenton much frequented and famous in old time for the Abbay there of the Holy Trinity founded by William Peverell the base sonne of King William the Conquerour but now all the fame is onely for a Faire there kept Where on the other banke at the very meeting well neere of Lin and Trent the principall Towne that hath given name unto the Shire is seated upon the side of an hill now called Nottingham by softning the old name a little for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so the English Saxons named it of certaine caves and passages under the ground which in old time they hewed and wrought hollow under those huge and steepe cliffes which are on the South side hanging over the little River Lin for places of receit and refuge yea and for habitations And thereupon Asserius interpreteth this Saxon word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Speluncarum domum that is An house of Dennes or Caves and in the British Tui ogo bauc which signifieth the very selfe same The Towne for the naturall site thereof is right pleasant as where on the one hand lye faire and large Medowes by the Rivers side on the other rise hils with a gentle and easie ascent and is plentifully provided of all things beside necessary for mans life On the one side Shirewood yeeldeth store of wood to maintaine fire although many use for that purpose stinking pit cole digged forth of the ground on the other Trent serveth it aboundantly with fish And hence hath beene taken up this od barbarous Verse Limpida sylva focum Triginta dat mihi piscem Shire-wood yeelds me fuell for fire As Trent yeelds fish what I require At a word for largenesse for building for three faire Churches a passing spacious and beautifull Mercat place and a most strong Castle it maketh a goodly shew The said Castle is mounted upon an huge and steepe worke on the West side of the City in which place it is thought that Castle stood in times past upon whose strength the Danes presuming held out against the Siege of Aethered and Aelfrid so long untill they frustrate of their purpose brake up their Siege trussed up bagge and baggage and dislodged For when the Danes had taken this Castle Burthred King of the Mercians as mine Authour Asserius writeth and the Mercians addresse their messengers to Aethered King of the West Saxons and to
Romanists But this See few yeeres after was removed againe to Lichfield yet so as that one and the selfe same Bishop carried the name both of Lichfield and of Coventry The first Lord of this City so farre as I can learne was this Leofricke who being very much offended and angry with the Citizens oppressed them with most heavie tributes which he would remit upon no other condition at the earnest suite of his wife Godiva unlesse she would herselfe ride on horse-backe naked through the greatest and most inhabited street of the City which she did in deed and was so covered with her faire long haire that if we may beleeve the common sort shee was seene of no body and thus shee did set free her Citizens of Coventry from many payments for ever From Leofricke it came into the hands of the Earles of Chester by Lucie his sonne Algars daughter for shee had beene married to Ranulph the first of that name and the third Earle of Chester out of this line who granted unto Coventrey the same liberties that Lincolne had and gave a great part of the City unto the Monkes the rest and Chilmore which is the Lords Manour hard by the City hee reserved to himselfe and to his heires After whose death when for want of issue male the inheritance was divided betweene the sisters Coventry came at length mediately by the Earles of Arundell unto Roger Mont-hault whose grand sonne Robert passed over all his right for default of issue male of his body begotten unto Queene Isabel mother to King Edward the Third To have and to hold during the whole life of the Queene herselfe and after her decease to remaine unto Iohn of Eltham the said Kings brother and to the heires of his body begotten and for default the remainder to Edward King of England c. For thus is it to be seene in the Fine in the second yeere of King Edward the Third Now the said John of Eltham was afterwards created Earle of Cornwall and this place became annexed to the Earldome of Cornwall From which time it hath flourished in great state Kings have bestowed sundry immunities upon it and King Edward the Third especially who permitted them to chuse a Major and two Bailiffes and to build and embattle a Wall about it also king Henry the Sixth who laying unto it certaine small Townes adjoyning granted That it should bee an entire County corporate by it selfe the very words of the Charter runne in that sort in deed and name and distinct from the County of Warwicke At which time in lieu of Bailiffes he ordained two Sheriffes and the Citizens beganne to fortifie their City with a most strong Wall wherein are beautifull Gates and at one of them called Gosford Gate there hangeth to bee seene a mighty great Shield bone of a wilde Bore which any man would thinke that either Guy of Warwicke or else Diana of the Forest Arden slew in hunting when he had turned up with his snout that great pit or pond which at this day is called Swansewell but Swinsewell in times past as the authority of ancient Charters doe proove As touching the Longitude of this City it is 25. Degrees and 52. Scruples and for the Latitude it is 52. Degrees and 25. Scruples Thus much of Coventrey yet have you not all this of me but willingly to acknowledge by whom I have profited of Henry Ferrars of Baddesley a man both for parentage and for knowledge of antiquity very commendable and my especiall friend who both in this place and also elsewhere hath at all times courteously shewed me the right way when I was out and from his candle as it were hath lightned mine Neere unto Coventrey North-west ward are placed Ausley Castle the habitation in times past of the Hastings who were Lords of Abergavenney and Brand the dwelling place in old time of the Verdons Eastward standeth Caloughdon commonly Caledon the ancient seat of the Lords Segrave from whom it descended to the Barons of Berkley by one of the daughters of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke These Segraves since the time that Stephen was Lord chiefe Justice of England flourished in the honorable estate of Barons became possessed of the Chaucombes Inheritance whose Armes also they bare viz. A Lion rampant Argent crowned Or in a Shield Sable But John the last of them married Margaret Dutchesse of Northfolke Daughter of Thomas Brotherton and begat Elizabeth a daughter who brought into the Family of the Mowbraies the Dignity of Marshall of England and Title of Duke of Norfolke Brinklâ— also is not farre from hence where stood an ancient Castle of the Mowbraies to which many possessions and faire lands thereabout belonged But the very rubbish of this Castle time hath quite consumed as Combe Abbay is scant now apparent which the Camvills and Mowbraies endowed with possessions and out of the ruines and reliques whereof a faire house of the Lord Haringtons in this very place is now raised As you goe East-ward you meet anon with Cester-Over whereof I spake incidently before belonging to the Grevills neere unto which the High port-way Watling-street dividing this shire Northward from Leicester-shire runneth on forward by High-crosse whereof also I have already written neere unto Nun-Eaton which in ancient time was named Eaton But when Amice wife to Robert Bossu Earle of Leicester as Henry Knighton writeth had founded a Monastery of Nunnes wherein her selfe also became professed it began of those Nunnes to be called Nun-Eaton And famous it was in the former ages by reason of those religious Virgines holinesse who devoting themselves continually to prayers gave example of good life A little from this there flourished sometimes Astley-Castle the principall seate of the Familie of Astley out of which flourished Barons in the time of King Edward the First Second and Third the heire whereof in the end was the second wedded Wife of Reginald Lord Grey of Ruthin from whom came the Greies Marquesses of Dorset some of whom were enterred in a most fine and faire Collegiat Church which Thomas Lord Astley founded with a Deane and Secular Chanons Somewhat higher hard by Watling street for so with the common people wee call the High-way made by the Romanes where as the riuer Anker hath a stone bridge over it stood MANDVESSEDUM a very ancient towne mentioned by Antonine the Emperour which being not altogether deprived of that name is now called Mancester and in Ninnius his Catalogue Caer Mancegued Which name considering there is a stone-quarry hard by I may ghesse was imposed upon it of the stones digged forth and hewed out of it For out of the Glossaries of the British tongue we finde that Main in the British language signified a Stone and Fosswad in the Provinciall tongue to digge out which being joyned together may seeme very expressely to import that ancient name MANDVESSEDUM But what how great or how faire soever it hath been
with this Greeke Inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is THE EMPEROUR CAESAR LUCIUS SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS PERTINAX And in the Reverse an Horseman with a Trophaee erected before him but the letters not legible save under him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Of the Elaians which kinde of great peeces the Italians call Medaglionj and were extraordinary coines not for common use but coined by the Emperours either to bee distributed by the way of Largesse in triumphes or to bee sent for tokens to men well deserving or else by free Cities to the glory and memory of good Princes What name this place anciently had is hard to be found but it seemeth to have beene the Port and landing place for Venta Silurum when as it is but two miles from it Then Throgoy a little River neere unto Caldecot entereth into the Severn Sea where we saw the wall of a Castle that belonged to the High Constables of England and was holden by the service of Constableship of England Hard by are seene Wondy and Penbow the seates in times past of the noble Family of Saint Maur now corruptly named Seimor For G. Mareshall Earle of Pembrock about the yeere of our Lord 1240. was bound for the winning of Wondy out of the Welsh mens hands to aide William Seimor From him descended Roger de Saint Maur Knight who married one of the heires of I. Beauchamp of Hach a very noble Baron who derived his Pedegree from Sibyl Heire unto William Mareshall that most puissant Earle of Pembrock from William Ferrars Earle of Darby from Hugh de Vivon and William Mallet men in times past most highly renowned The Nobility of all these and of others besides as may be evidently shewed hath met together in that right honourable personage Edward Saint Maur or Seimor now Earle of Hartford a singular favourer of vertue and good learning worthy in that behalfe to be honoured and commended to posterity Beneath this lyeth spred for many miles together a Mersh they call it the Moore which when I lately revised this worke suffered a lamentable losse For when the Severn Sea at a spring Tide in the change of the Moone what being driven backe for three dayes together with a South-West Winde and what with a very strong pirry from the sea troubling it swelled and raged so high that with surging billowes it came rolling and in-rushing amaine upon this Tract lying so low as also upon the like flats in Somerset-shire over against it that it overflowed all subverted houses and drowned a number of beasts and some people withall Where this Mersh Coast bearing out by little and little runneth forth into the sea in the very point thereof standeth Goldclyffe aloft that is as Giralaus saith A Golden Cliffe so called because the stones there of a golden colour by reverberation of the Sunne shining full upon them glitter with a wonderfull brightnesse neither can I bee easily perswaded saith hee that Nature hath given this brightnesse in vaine unto the stones and that there should bee a flower heere without fruite were there any man that would search into the Veines there and using the direction of Art enter in the inmost and secretest bowels of the Earth Neere to this place there remaine the Reliques of a Priory that acknowledge those of Chandos for their founders and Patron Passing thence by the Merish Country we came to the mouth of the River Isca which the Britans name Usk and Wijsk and some Writers terme it Osca This River as it runneth through the middest as I said before of this County floweth hard by three Townes of especiall antiquity The first in the limite of the Shire North-West Antonine the Emperour calleth GOBANIUM at the very meeting of Uske and Geveny whereof it had the name and even at this day keeping the ancient name as it were safe and sound is tearmed Aber-Gevenny and short Aber-genny which signifieth the confluents of Gevenny or Gobanny Fortified it is with Wals and a Castle which as saith Giraldus of all the Castles in Wales hath beene most defamed and stained with the foule note of treason First by William Earle Miles his sonne afterwards by William Breos for both of them after they had trained thither under a pretense of friendship certain of the Nobles and chiefe Gentlemen of Wales with promise of safe conduct villanously slew them But they escaped not the just judgement and vengeance of God For William Breos after he had beene stripped of all his goods and lost his wife and some of his children who were famished to death died in banishment the other William being brained with a stone whiles Breulais Castle was on fire suffered in the end due punishment for his wicked deserts The first Lord to my knowledge of Aber Gevenny was one Sir Hameline Balun who made Brien of Wallingford or Brient de L'isle called also the Fitz-Count his heire He having built heere a Lazarhouse for his two sonnes that were Lepres ordained Walter the sonne of Miles Earle of Hereford heire of the greatest part of his inheritance After him succeeded his brother Henry slaine by the Welshmen who seized upon his lands which the Kings Lieutenants and Captaines could not defend without great perill and danger By a sister of this Henry it descended to the Breoses and from them in right of marriage by the Cantelowes to the Hastings which Hastings being Earles of Pembrock enjoyed it for divers descents and John Hastings having then no childe borne devised both it and the Earledome of Pembrock as much as in him lay to his cosin Sir William Beauchamp conditionally that he should beare his Armes And when the last Hastings ended his life issuelesse Reginald Lord Grey of Ruthin being found his Heire passed over the Barony of Aber-gevenny to the said William Beauchamp who was summoned afterward to Parliament by the name of W. Beauchamp de Abergevenny Hee entailed the said Barony reserving an estate to himselfe and his wife and to the lawfull issue male of their bodies and for default of such issue to his brother Thomas Beauchamp Earle of Warwick and his heires males This William Beauchamp Lord of Abergevenny had a sonne named Richard who for his martiall valour was created Earle of Worcester and slaine in the French warres leaving one onely daughter whom Sir Edward Nevill tooke to wife Since which time the Nevils have enjoyed the honorable title of the Barons of Abergevenny howbeit the Castle was by vertue of the entaile aforesaid detained from them a long time The fourth Baron of this house dying in our remembrance left one onely daughter Mary married to Sir Thomas Fane Knight betwixt whom being the heire generall and Edward Nevill the next heire male unto whom by a will and the same ratified by authority of the Parliament the Castle of Abergevenny and the greatest part
Penbroke by vertue of King Edward the Third his Brieffe The Copie whereof I thinke good to set downe heere that wee may see what was the right by heires generall in these honorary Titles Rex omnibus ad quos c. salutem The King to all unto whom c. Greeting Know yee that the good presage of circumspection and vertue which wee have conceived by the towardly youth and happy beginnings of our most welbeloved cozin Laurence Hastings induce us worthily to countenance him with our especiall grace and favour in those things which concerne the due preservation and maintenance of his honour Whereas therefore the inheritance of Aimar of Valence sometime Earle of Penbroke as hee was stiled deceased long since without heire begotten of his body hath beene devolved unto his sisters proportionably to be divided among them and their heires because we know for certaine that the foresaid Laurence who succeedeth the said Aimar in part of the inheritance is descended from the elder sister of Aimar aforesaid and so by the avouching of the learned with whom wee consulted about this matter the prerogative both of name and honour is due unto him We deeme it just and due that the same Laurence claiming his Title from the elder sister assume and have the name of Earle of Penbroke which the said Aimar had whiles he lived Which verily we as much as lyeth in us confirme ratifie and also approve unto him willing and granting that the said Laurence have and hold the prerogative and honour of Earle Palatine in those lands which hee holdeth of the said Aimars inheritance so fully and after the same manner as the same Aimar had and held them at the time of his death In witnesse the King at Mont-Martin the thirteenth day of October and in the thirteenth of our Raigne After Laurence succeeded his sonne John who being taken prisoner by the Spaniards in a battaile at sea and in the end ransomed died in France in the yeere 1375. After him followed his sonne John who in a running at Tilt at Woodstocke was slaine by Sir Iohn Saint Iohn casually in the yeere 1391. And it was observed that for five generations together in this Family I know not by what destiny the father never saw his sonne Now for default of his issue there fell very many possessions and faire revenewes into the Kings hands as our Lawyers use to speake and the Castle of Penbroke was granted unto Francis At-Court a Courtier in especiall great favour who thereupon was commonly called Lord of Pembroke Not long after Humfrey sonne to King Henry the Fourth before he was Duke of Glocester received this title of his brother King Henry the Fifth and before his death King Henry the Sixth granted the same in reversion a thing not before heard of to William de la Pole Earle of Suffolke after whose downefall the said King when hee had enabled Edmund of Hadham and Iasper of Hatfield the sonnes of Queene Katharin his mother to bee his lawfull halfe brethren created Iasper Earle of Penbroke and Edmund Earle of Richmond with preheminence to take place above all Earles For Kings have absolute authority in dispensing honours But King Edward the Fourth depriving Iasper of all his honours by attaindour and forfeiture gave the Title of Pembroke to Sir William Herbert for his good service against Iasper in Wales but hee shortly after lost his life at the battaile of Banbury Then succeeded his sonne bearing the same name whom King Edward the Fourth when hee had recovered the Kingdome invested in the Earledome of Huntingdon and bestowed the Title of Penbroke being surrendred upon his eldest sonne and heire Edward Prince of Wales A long time after King Henry the Eighth invested Anne Bollen to whom he was affianced Marchionesse of Pembroke with a mantle and Coronet in regard both of her Nobility and also her vertues for so runne the words of the Patent At length king Edward the Sixth adorned Sir William Herbert Lord of Caerdiffe with the Title of Earle of Penbroke after whom succeeded his sonne Henry who was Lord President of Wales under Queene Elizabeth And now his sonne William richly accomplished with all laudable endowments of body and minde enjoyeth the same Title This Family of the Herberts in these parts of Wales is honourable and of great antiquity As lineally propagated from Henry Fitz Herbert Chamberlaine to king Henry the First who married the said kings Paramor the mother of Reginald Earle of Cornwall as I was first enformed by Robert Glover a man passing skilfull in the study of Genealogies by whose untimely death that knowledge hath sustained a great losse There are in this Shire Parishes 145. CARDIGAN-SHIRE FRom Saint Davids Promontory the shore being driven backe aslope Eastward letteth in the Sea within a vast and crooked Bay upon which lyeth the third Region of the Dimetae in English called CARDIGAN-SHIRE in British Sire Aber-Tivi by old Latine Writers Ceretica if any man thinke of King Caratacus this may seeme a conjecture proceeding out of his owne braine and not grounded upon any certaine authority and yet wee reade that the worthy Caratacus so worthily renowned was the Soveraigne Ruler in these parts A plaine and champion Country it is Westward where it lyeth to the Sea as also on the South side where the River Tivie separateth it from Caermarden-shire But in the East and North sides which bound upon Brechnock and Montgomery-shires there is a continued range or ridge of hils that shoot along yeelding goodly pasture ground under which there be spread sundry large Pooles That in ancient times this Shire as the rest also of Wales was not planted and garnished with Cities but with little cottages it may bee gathered by that speech of their Prince Caratacus who being taken Prisoner when he had throughly viewed the glorious magnificence of Rome What meane you saith he when yee have these and such like stately buildings of your owne to covet our small cottages Howbeit the places heere of most Antiquity let us breifly view over The River Tivie which Ptolomee calleth TUEROBIUS but corruptly in stead of Dwr-Tivius that is The River Tivie issueth out of the Poole Lin-Tivy beneath the hils whereof I spake before first cumbred as it were with stones in the way and rumbling with a great noise without any chanell and so passeth through a very stony tract neere unto which at Rosse the Mountainers keepe the greatest Faire for cattaile in all those parts untill it come to Strat-fleur a Monastery long since of the Cluniack Monkes compassed about with hilles From thence being received within a chanell it runneth downe by Tregaron and Lhan-Devi-brevi built and so named in memoriall of David Bishop of Menevia where he in a frequent Synode refuted the Pelagian Heresie springing up againe in Britaine both by the holy Scriptures and also by a miracle while the earth whereon he stood as he preached arose
to Henrie Earle of Lancaster who being descended of ancient bloud and renowned for his martiall prowesse was rewarded also by King Edward the third with faire possessions in Scotland created Earle of North-humberland by King Richard the second on the day of his Coronation and much enriched by his second wife Dame Maud Lucie although by her hee had no issue upon a fine levied unto her that hee should beare quarterly the Armes of the Lucies with his owne and lived in great honour confidence and favour with King Richard the second Yet full badly hee requited him againe for all his singular good demerits For in his adversitie hee forsooke him and made way for Henrie the fourth to the kingdome who made him Constable of England and bestowed upon him the Isle of Man against whom within a while hee feeling the corrosive and secret pricke of conscience for that King Richard by his meanes was unjustly deposed and besides taking at the heart indignantly that Edmund Mortimer Earle of March the true and undoubted heire of the Kingdome and his neere ally was neglected in prison hee conceived inward enmity grievously complaining and charging him with perjury that whereas hee had solemnly sworne to him and others that hee would not challenge the Crowne but onely his owne inheritance and that King Richard should be governed during his life by the good advice of the Peeres of the realme he to the contrary had by imprisonment and terror of death enforced him to resigne his Crown and usurped the same by the concurrence of his faction horribly murthering the said K. and defrauding Edmund Mortimer Earle of March of his lawfull right to the Crown whom he had suffered to languish long in prison under Owen Glendour reputing those traitours who with their owne money had procured his enlargement After the publication of these complaints he confident in the promises of his confederates who yet failed him sent his brother Thomas Earle of Worcester and his courageous sonne Henry surnamed Hot-Spurre with a power of men against the King who both lost their lives at the battaile of Shrewesbury Whereupon he was proclaimed traitour and attainted but shortly after by a kind of connivency received againe into the Kings favour unto whom he was a terrour yea and restored to all his lands and goods save onely the Isle of Man which the King resumed into his owne hands Howbeit within a while after being now become popular and over forward to entertaine new designes and having procured the Scots to bandy and joyne with him in armes himselfe in person entred with banner displayed into the field against the King as an Usurper and on a sudden at Barrhammore in a tumultuary skirmish in the yeere 1408. was discomfited and slaine by Thomas Rokesby the high Sheriffe of Yorke-shire Eleven yeeres after Henry this mans nephew by his sonne Henry Hot-Spur whose mother was Elizabeth daughter to Edmund Mortimer the elder Earle of March by Philippa the daughter of Leonel Duke of Clarence was restored in bloud and inheritance by authority of Parliament in the time of King Henry the fifth which Henry Percie whiles he stoutly maintained King Henry the sixth his part against the house of Yorke was slaine at the battell of Saint Albans like as his sonne Henry the third Earle of Northumberland who married Aelenor the daughter of Richard Lord Poinings Brian and Fitz-Pain in the same quarrell lost his life in the battaile at Towton in the yeere 1461. The house of Lancaster being now kept under and downe the wind and the Percies with it troden under foot King Edward the fourth made Iohn Nevill Lord Montacute Earle of Northumberland but he after a while surrendred this title into the Kings hands and was created by him Marquesse Montacute After this Henry Percy the sonne of Henry Percy aforesaid recovering the favour of King Edward the fourth obtained restitution in bloud and hereditaments who in the reigne of Henry the seventh was slaine by the countrey people that about a certaine levie of money exacted by an Act of Parliament rose up against the Collectours and Assessours thereof After him succeeded Henry Percy the fifth Earle whose sonne Henry by a daughter and Coheire of Sir Robert Spenser and Eleanor the daughter likewise and Coheire of Edmund Beaufort Duke of Somerset was the sixth Earle who having no children and his brother Thomas being executed for taking armes against King Henry the eighth in the first difference about Religion as if now that family had beene at a finall end for ever prodigally gave away a great part of that most goodly inheritance unto the King and others Some few yeeres after Sir Iohn Dudley Earle of Warwick got to himselfe the title of Duke of Northumberland by the name of Iohn Earl of Warwick Marshal of England Vicount Lisle Baron Somery Basset and Ties Lord of Dudley Great Master and Steward of the Kings house when as in the tender age of King Edward the sixth the Chieftaines and leaders of the factions shared titles of honour among themselves their fautors and followers This was that Duke of Northumberland who for the time like unto a tempestuous whirlewind began to shake and teare the publicke peace of the state whiles he with vast ambition plotted and practised to exclude Mary and Elizabeth the daughters of King Henry the eighth from their lawfull right of succession and to set the Emperiall Crowne upon Lady Jane Grey his daughter in law being seconded therein by the great Lawyers who are alwaies forward enough to humour and sooth up those that bee in highest place For which being attainted of high treason he lost his head and at his execution embraced and publikely professed Popery which long before either seriously or colorably for his own advantage he had renounced When he was gone Queene Mary restored Thomas Percy nephew unto Henry the sixth Earle by his brother Thomas unto his bloud and by a new Patent created him first Baron Percy and anon Earle of Northumberland to himselfe and the heires males of his body and for default thereof to his brother Henry and his heires males But this Thomas the seventh Earle for his treason to Prince and country under maske of restoring the Romish religion againe lost both life and dignity in the yeere 1572. Yet through the singular favour and bounty of Queen Elizabeth according to that Patent of Queene Mary his brother Henry succeeded after him as the eighth Earle who in the yeere 1585. ended his dayes in prison and had for his successor Henry his sonne by Katherin the eldest daughter and one of the heires of John Nevill Lord Latimer the ninth Earle of Northumberland of this family Parishes in Northumberland about 46. SCOTLAND SCOTIA Regnum SCOTLAND NOw am I come to SCOTLAND and willingly I assure you will I enter into it but withall lightly passe over it For I remember well that said saw In places not well knowne lesse while wee must stay
and Westward with one and an halfe the name of the place is now Whiteley Castle and for to testifie the antiquity thereof there remaineth this imperfect inscription with letters inserted one in another after a short and compendious manner of writing whereby wee learne that the third Cohort of the Nervians erected there a Temple unto the Emperour Antonine sonne of Severus IMP. CAES. Lucii Septimi Severi AraBICI ADIABENICI PARTHICI MAX. FIL. DIVI ANTONINI Pii Germanici SARMA NEP. DIVIANTONINI PII PRON. DIVI HADRIANI ABN DIVI TRAIANI PARTH ET DIVI NERVAE ADNEPOTI M. AURELIO ANTONINO PIO FEL AUG GERMANICO PONT MAX. TR. POT X IMP. COS. IIII. P. p. PRO PIETATE AEDE VOTO COMMUNI CURANTE LEGATO AUG PR COH III. NERVIO RVM G. R.POS Whereas therefore the third Cohort of the Nervii served in this place which Cohort the booke of Notices in a latter time placeth at ALIONE or as Antonine nameth it ALONE and the little river running underneath is named Alne if I should thinke this were ALONE it might seeme rather probable than true considering the injury of devouring time and the fury of enemies have long agoe outworne these matters out of all remembrance Albeit when the State of the Romane Empire decaied most in Britain this country had been most grievously harried and spoiled by the Scots and Picts yet it preserved and kept long the ancient and naturall inhabitants the Britans and late it was ere it became subject to the English Saxons But when againe the English Saxons state sore shaken by Danish warres ran to ruine it had peculiar Governors called Kings of Cumberland unto the yeere of our Lord 946. at what time as the Floure-gatherer of Westminster saith King Edmund by the helpe of Leoline Prince of South-wales wasted and spoiled all Cumberland and having put out the eyes of both the sonnes of Dunmail King of the same Province hee granted that kingdome unto Malcolme King of Scots to be holden of him that he might defend the North parts of England by land and sea from the inrodes and invasions of the common enemies Whereupon the eldest sons of the Kings of Scotland were for a while under the English Saxons and Danes both called the Prefects or Deputy Rulers of Cumberland But when England had yeelded it selfe into the hands of the Normans this part also became subject unto them and fell unto the lot of Ralph de Meschines whose eldest sonne Ranulph was Lord of Cumberland and partly in his mothers right and partly by his Princes favour together Earle also of Chester But King Stephen to purchase favour with the Scots restored it unto them againe that they should hold it of him and the Kings of England Howbeit K. Henry the second who succeeded after him perceiving that this over great liberality of Stephen was prejudiciall both to himself and his realme demanded againe of the Scot Northumberland Cumberland and Westmorland And the K. of Scots as Newbrigensis writeth wisely considering that the King of England had in those parts both the better right and also greater power although he might have pretended the oath which he was said to have made unto his grandfather David what time hee was knighted by him yet restored he the foresaid marches according to his demand fully and wholly and received of him againe the Earledome of Huntingdon which by ancient right appertained to him As for Earles of Cumberland there were none before the time of King Henry the eighth who created Henry Lord Clifford who derived his pedigree from the Lords Vipont the first Earle of Cumberland who of Margaret the daughter of Henry Percy Earle of Northumberland begat Henry the second Earle hee by his first wife daughter to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk had issue Margaret Countesse of Derby and by a second wife the daughter of Lord Dacre of Gillesland two sonnes George and Francis George the third Earle renowned for sea-service armed with an able body to endure travaile and a valorous minde to undertake dangers died in the yeere 1605. leaving one onely daughter the Lady Anne now Countesse of Dorset But his brother Sir Francis Clifford succeeded in the Earledome a man whose ardent and honorable affection to vertue is answerable in all points to his honourable parentage As for the Wardens of the West-marches against Scotland in this County which were Noblemen of especiall trust I need to say nothing when as by the union of both kingdomes under one head that office is now determined This shire reckoneth beside chappels 58. Parish Churches VALLUM SIVE MURUS PICTICUS That is THE PICTS VVALL THrough the high part of Cumberland shooteth that most famous Wall in no case to be passed over in silence the limit of the Roman Province the Barbarian Rampier the Forefence and Enclosure for so the ancient writers termed it being called in Dion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a crosse Wall in Herodian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Trench or Fosse cast up by Antonine Cassiodore and others VALLUM that is the Rampier by Bede MURUS that is the Wall by the Britans Gual-Sever Gal-Sever Bal Val and Mur-Sever by the Scottish Scottishwaith by the English and those that dwell thereabout the Picts Wall or the Pehits Wall the Keepe Wall and simply by way of excellencie The Wall When the ambitious and valiant Romans finding by the guidance of God and assistance of vertue their successe in all their affaires above their wishes had enlarged their Empire every way so as that the very unwealdinesse thereof began now to be of it selfe fearefully suspected their Emperours thought it their best and safest policie to limit and containe the same within certaine bounds for in wisedome they saw That in all greatnesse there ought to be a meane like as the heaven in selfe reacheth not beyond the limited compasse and the seas are tossed to and fro within their owne precincts Now those limits or bounds according to the natures of the places were either naturall as the sea greater rivers mountaines wasts and desart grounds or artificiall as frontier-fenses namely trenches or dikes castles keeps or fortresses wards mounds and baricadoes by trees cut downe and plashed bankes rampiers and walls along which were planted garrisons of souldiers against the barbarous nations confining Whence it is that we read thus in the Novellae of Theodosius the Emperour Whatsoever lieth included within the power and regiment of the Romans is by the appointment and dispose of our Ancestors defended from the incursions of Barbarians with the rampier of a Limit Along these limits or borders souldiers lay garrisoned in time of peace within frontier-castles and cities but when there was any feare of waste and spoile from bordering nations some of them had their field-stations within the Barbarian ground for defence of the lands others made out-rodes into the enemies marches to discover how the enemies stirred yea and