brothers made their escape and got over to the next Province Jutarum See p. 192. where coming to a place that is call'd Ad Lapidem and thinking to secure themselves there from the fury of the conquering Prince they were betray'd and order'd to be put to death Which coming to the ears of a certain Abbot and Priest call'd Cynbreth that at a small distance from thence had a Monastery in a place call'd Reodford i.e. the ford of reeds he came to the King who was then privately in those parts for the cure of his wounds which he had receiv'd in the Isle of Wight and desir'd of him that if those young brothers must be kill'd he would please first to permit them to be baptiz'd This request the King granted upon which the Abbot having instructed them in the word of truth and washed them in the fountain of salvation made them certain of their entrance into the kingdom of heaven And immediately after the Executioner coming to them they joyfully submitted to a temporal death as a sure and certain passage to eternal life And in this order after all the provinces of Britain had receiv'd the Christian faith the Isle of Wight was also converted in which notwithstanding because of the miseries of a foreign yoke no one had the dignity of a Minister or Bishop before Daniel who is now Bishop of the West-Saxons and the Geuissi After this Authors say nothing of the Island till the year 1066. when Tostius brother to K. Harald with some Pirate-ships from Flanders out of ill will to his brother landed here Florence of Worcester and when he had compell'd the inhabitants to pay him a certain Tribute sail'd off A few years after as I find in an ancient book belonging to the Priory of Caeresbroke which was shewn me by Robert Glover Somerset-herald that great oracle in Genealogical Antiquities as William the Bastard conquer'd England so William Fitz-Osborne who was his Mareschal and Earl of Hereford conquer'd the Isle of Wight and was first Lord of it A long time after which the French in the year 1377. by surprize landed and plunder'd the Isle They made another unsuccessful attempt A. D. 1403. being bravely driven back as also within the memory of our fathers in the reign of Hen. 8. when the French Gallies set fire to one or two small Cottages As to the Lords of this Isle Lords of the Isle of Wight William Fitz-Osborn presently after being slain in the wars of Flanders and his son Roger attainted and banish'd it came into the King's hands and Henry 1. K. of England gave it to Richard de Ridvers otherwise call'd Redvers and de Ripariis Earl of Devonshire and with it the Fee of the village of Christ-Church Here this Richard built a Castle as likewise another at Cares-brooke but his son Baldwin in the troublesome reign of K. Stephen when there were as many petty Princes in England as Lords of Castles who all pretended to a right of coining money and other rights of sovereign power was turn'd out of this castle by K. Stephen Yet his posterity recover'd their ancient right whose pedigree I have already drawn down where I treated at large of the Earls of Devonshire At length Isabell widow to William de Fortibus Earl of Albemarle and Holderness sister and heiress of Baldwin the last Earl of Devonshire of this Family was not without difficulty constrain'd by Charter to surrender up her right herein to K. Edw. 1. Since that time the Kings of England have had the possession of this Isle and Henry de Beauchamp Earl of Warwick was by King Henry 6. in whom he had a great interest crown'd King of the Isle of Wight and afterwards entitl'd First Earl of all England But this new and extraordinary Title dy'd with him Afterwards Richard Widevile Earl of Rivers was made Lord of the Isle of Wight by Edward 4. and Reginald Bray receiv'd it ‖ In firmam to farm as the Lawyers call it for the yearly rent of 300 Marks from K. Henr. 7. who had a great affection for him Besides these it has had for it's Lords a noble Family call'd de Insula or Lisle one of whom in the reign of Edw. 2. was summon'd to Parliament under the name of John de Insula Vecta i.e. of the Isle of Wight ADDITIONS to HAMSHIRE Right name of the County a BY what Author this County is call'd Hanteschyr which Mr. Camden says is the Saxon name of it I know not Certain it is that this must have been given it after the coming in of the Normans who brought along with them the custom of placing h after c a manner of writing altogether unknown to the Saxons The ancient Annals call it expresly Hamtunscyre which is by later writers melted into Hamteschyre Hampteshire and Hamshire Florence of Worcester indeed calls it Hantunscyre but it must needs be a mistake of the Librarian for Hamtunscyre since the Saxon-Annals call it so and he transcrib'd from them Which is the more observable because our modern Hants and Hantshire generally us'd as the true names plainly proceed from this mistake in the writing Hantunscyre being naturally melted into Hantshire b After the name we come to the County it self a part whereof our Author observes was that Natanleod Natanleod mention'd by our Histories Tho' the story be very obscure yet one may venture to affirm even against the Annals that this King's name could not be Natanleod but rather Natan or Nata which by the addition of leod i.e. a countrey signifies the tract or country of Natan Besides one of the Copies calls it Natanleag that is the field of Natan which naturally suggests what Mr. Camden could not so well infer from the other viz. some remains of the old name as in Netley and Nutley in this County Ellingham c 'T is possible the Avon as our Author conjectures might be call'd Alaun but Allingham is no proof of it there being no such place near the river unless he means Ellingham the affinity whereof with Ellandune has caus'd an opinion that the battle between Egbert and Bernulf might be in this place and the rather because Higden tells us it was in Hamshire But as the engagement was really * See that County in Wiltshire so Higden's error seems to have been occasion'd by the Monk of Winchester's saying that it was at Elendune which was a mannour belonging to the Priory of Winchester New-forest d East of the river is New-Forest wherein are 9 Walks and to every one a Keeper It has two Raungers a Bow-bearer and a Lord-Warden which office as †Itinerar MS. Vol. 6. Leland says formerly belong'd by right of inheritance to the Earls of Arundel but it is at present in the hands of his Grace the Duke of Bolton Malwood-castle e In this forest is the Castle of Malwood ‖ Aubr MS. the area whereof contains a great many
think m This reading should make it seem to be the ancient Whitern or Candida Casa in Galloway in Scotland being possibly a corruption for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. White-houses Leucopibia Nennius Caer Lualid the ridiculous Welsh Prophecies The City of Duballus we Carlile and the Latins from the more modern name Carleolum For that Luguballia and Carlile are the same is universally agreed upon by our Historians n Caer in Welsh signifies a City and Caer-Luul Caer-Luel Caer-Lugubal as it was anciently writ are the very same with Caer-Leil or Caer-Luil the present appellation and import as much as the Town or City of Luul Luel or Lugubal But as to the Etymology good God! what pains has our Countryman Leland took about it and at last he 's driven upon this shift to fancy Ituna might be call'd Lugus and that Ballum came from Vallis a valley and so makes Lugu-vallum as much as a valley upon the Luge But give me leave also to produce my conjecture I dare affirm that the Vallum and Vallin were deriv'd from that famous military Vallum of the Romans which runs just by the City For Antoninus calls it Luguvallum ad vallum and the Picts-wall that was afterwards built upon the Wall of Severus is to be seen at Stanwicks a small village a little beyond the Eden over which there is a wooden bridge It pass'd the river over against the Castle where in the very chanel the remains of it namely great stones appear to this day Also Pomponius Mela has told us 〈◊〉 â—â—gus â—hat they â—â—gnify'd â—â—ong the â—â—cient Briâ—â—â—ns and â—â—als that Lugus or Lucus signify'd a Tower among the old Celtae who spoke the same Language with the Britains For what Antoninus calls Lugo Augusti is in him Turris Augusti so that Lugu-vallum both really is and signifies a tower or fort upon the wall or vallum Upon this bottom if the French had made their Lugdunum â—â—gduâ—â—m signifie as much as a tower upon a hill and their Lucotetia Lucotetia or Lutetia in France An old Itinerary lately publish'd says that Lugdunum signifies a desirable mountain so the Ancients nam'd what we call Lutetia as much as a beautiful tower for the words import so much in the British possibly they might have been more in the right than by deriving the latter from Lutum dirt and the former from one Lugdus a fabulous King That this City flourish'd in the times of the Romans does plainly enough appear both from the several evidences of Antiquity they now and then dig up and from the frequent mention made of it by Roman Authors And even after the ravages of the Picts and Scots it retain'd something of it's ancient beauty and was reckon'd a City For in the year of our Lord 619. Egfrid King of Northumberland o See the Donation at large in Sim. Dunelm l 2. p. 58. gave it to the famous S. Cuthbert in these words I have also bestow'd upon him the City call'd Luguballia with the lands fifteen miles round it At which time also it was wall'd round The Citizens says Bede carry'd Cuthbert to see the Walls of the City and a Well of admirable workmanship built in it by the Romans At which time Cuthbert as the durham-Durham-book has it founded a Religious-house for Nuns with an Abbess and Schools for the instruction of youth Afterwards being miserably destroy'd by the Danes it lay bury'd for about two hundred years in it's own ashes till it began to flourish again by the favour and assistance of William Rufus who built it a-new with a Castle and planted there a Colony first of the Flemings whom upon better consideration he quickly remov'd into oo North-Wales and the Isle of Anglesey Wales and then of English sent out of the south r Then as Malmesbury has it was to be seen a Roman Triclinium or dining-room of stone arch'd over which neither the violence of Weather nor Fire could destroy On the front of it was this Inscription Marii Victoriae Some will have this Marius to have been Arviragus the Britain others that Marius who was saluted Emperour in opposition to Gallienus and is said to have been so strong that Authors tell us he had nerves instead of veins in his fingers Yet I have heard that some Copies have it not Marii Victoriae but Marti Victori which latter may perhaps be favour'd by some and seem to come nearer the truth Luguballia now grown populous had as they write it's Earl or rather Lord Ralph Meschines or de Micenis from whom are descended the Earls of Chester and being about the same time honour'd with an Episcopal See by Hen. 1. had Athulph for it's first Bishop This the Monks of Durham look'd upon as an injury to their Church When Ralph say they Bishop of Durham was banish'd and the Church had none to protect it certain Bishops seis'd upon Carleil and Tividale and joyn'd them to their own Dioceses How the Scots in the reign of King Stephen took this City and Henry 2. recover'd it how Henry 3. Eversden committed the Castle of Carlile and the County to Robert de Veteri ponte or Vipont how in the year 1292. it was p The Chronicle of Lauercost is very particular in describing this lamentable Fire He that recorded the account was an eye-witness and says that the fire was so violent that it consum'd the villages two miles off as well as the Church Castle and the whole City and by his relation it should seem that the City was then much larger and more populous than at present it is burnt down along with the Cathedral and Suburbs how Robert Brus the Scot in the year 1315. besieg'd it without success c. are matters treated of at large in our Histories But it may be worth our while to add two Inscriptions I saw here one in the house of Thomas Aglionby near the Citadel * Deterioris seculi but not ancient DIIS MANIBV S MARCI TROIANI AVGVSTINANI * Tumulum TVM FA CIENDVM CVRAVIT AFEL AMMILLVSIMA CONIVX †Carissima KARISS To which is joyn'd the effigies of an armed Horseman with a Lance. The other is in the Garden of Thomas Middleton in a large and beautiful Character LEG VI VIC P. F. G. P. R. F. That is as I fancy Legio Sexta Victrix Pia Felix The interpretation of the rest I leave to others Andrew Harcla Earl of Carlisle Carlisle had only one Earl 15 Sir Andrew Andrew de Harcla whom Edward the second to speak from the Original Charter of Creation for his honourable and good services against Thomas Earl of Lancaster and his Adherents for subduing the King's Subjects who were in rebellion and delivering them prisoners to the King by the girding of a sword created Earl under the honour and title of Earl of Carleol But the same person afterwards prov'd ungrateful villanous and perfidious to
matters his principal care was to avoid the storm of the Danish war which he saw hanging over him and even to purchase a Peace On this occasion he made Adalbert Archbishop of Hamburg his instrument For Adam Bremensis says There was a perpetual quarrel between Sueno and the Bastard but our Arch-bishop being brib'd to it by William made it his business to strike up a peace between the two Kings And indeed 't is very probable there was one concluded for from that time England was never apprehensive of the Danes William however made it his whole business to maintain the dignity of his government and to settle the Kingdom by wholsome laws For Gervasius Tilburiensis tells us That after the famous Conqueror of England King William had subdued the furthest parts of the Island and brought down the Rebels hearts by dreadful examples lest they might be in a condition of making outrages for the future he resolved to bring his Subjects under the obedience of written laws Whereupon laying before him the Laws of England according to their threefold division that is Merchanlage Denelage and West-Sexenlage some of them he laid aside but approved others and added to them such of the foreign Norman Laws as he found most conducive to the peace of the Kingdom Next as we are assured by Ingulphus who lived at that time he made all the inhabitants of England do him homage and swear fealty to him against all â—â—hers He took a survey of the whole nation so that there was not a single Hide of land through all England but he knew both the value of it and its owner Not a lake or any other place whatsoever but it was registred in the King's Rolls with its revenue rent tenure and owner according to the relation of certain taxers who were picked out of each County to describe the places belonging to it This Roll was called the Roll of Winchester and by the English Domesday domesday-Domesday-book called by Gervasius Tilburiensis Laher Judiciarius as being an universal and exact account of every tenement in the whole nation I the rather make mention of this Book because I shall have occasion to quote it hereafter under the name of William's Tax-book The Notice of England the Cessing-book of England The publick Acts and The Survey of England But as to Polydore Virgil's assertion that William the Conqueror first brought in the Jury of Twelve Jury of 12. there is nothing can be more false For 't is plain from Ethelred's Laws that it was used many years before that Nor can I see any reason why he should call it a terrible Jury Twelve men Twelve men who are Freeholders and qualified according to Law are picked out of the Neighbourhood these are bound by oath to give in their real opinion as to matter of fact they hear the Council on both sides plead at the Bar and the evidence produced then they take along with them the depositions of both parties are close confined deny'd meat drink and fire till they can agree upon their verdict unless want of these may endanger some of their lives As soon as they have delivered it in he gives sentence according to law And this method was looked upon by our wise Forefathers to be the best for discovering truth hindering bribes and cutting off all partiality How great the Norman courage was I refer you to other writers I shall only observe The Warlike courage of the Normans that being seated in the midst of warlike Nations they never made submission their refuge but always arms By force of these they possessed themselves of the noble Kingdoms of England and Sicilie For Tancred * Nepeâ— Nephew to Richard the Second Duke of Normandy and his Successors did many glorious exploits in Italy drove out the Saracens and set up there a Kingdom of their own So that a Sicilian Historian ingenuously confesses that the Sicilians enjoying their native Soil Th. Fazâ—llus lib. 6. Decadis Posterioris their Freedom and Christianity is entirely owing to the Normans Their behaviour also in the wars of the Holy land got them great honour Which gave Roger Hoveden occasion to say That bold France after she had experienced the Norman valour drew back fierce England submitted rich Apulia was restored to her flourishing condition famous Jerusalem and renowned Antioch were both subdued Since that time England has been equal for warlike exploits and genteel Education to the most flourishing nations of the Christian world The English Guards to the Emperors of Constantinople So that the English have been peculiarly made choice of for the Emperor of Constantinople's guards For as our country man Malmsbury has told us he very much admired their fidelity and recommended them to his son as men deserving of respect and they were formerly for many years together the Emperor's guards Nicetas Choniata calls them Inglini Bipenniferi and Curopalata Barangi Barangi These attended the Emperor where-ever he went with halberts upon their shoulders as often as he stir'd abroad out of his closet and pray'd for his long life clashing their halberts one against another to make a noise As to the blot which Chalcondilas Chaâ—condilas has cast upon our nation of having wives in common truth it self wipes it off and confronts the extravagant vanity of the Grecian For as my most learned and excellent Friend Ortelius has observed upon this very subject Things related by any persons concerning others are not always true These are the People which have inhabited Britain whereof there remain unto this day the Britains the Saxons or Angles with a mixture of Normans and towards the North the Scots Whereupon the two Kingdoms of this Island England and Scotland which were long divided are now in the most potent Prince King JAMES happily united under one Imperial Diadem It is not material here to take notice of the Flemings who about four hundred years ago came over hither In the County 〈◊〉 Pembâ—â—â—â— and got leave of the King to settle in Wales since we shall mention them in another place Let us then conclude this part with that of Seneca From hence it is manifest De Conâ—latioâ—â— Albiâ—â— that nothing has continued in its primitive state There 's a continual floating in the affairs of mankind In this vast orb there are daily revolutions new foundations of cities laid new names given to nations either by the utter ruine of the former or by its change into that of a more powerful party And considering that all these nations which invaded Britain were Northern as were also others who about that time overran Europe and after it Asia Nicephorus's Nicephorus observation founded upon the authority of Scripture is very true As God very often sends terrors upon men from heaven such are thunder fire and storms and from earth as opening of the ground and earthquakes as also out of the air such as whirlwinds and immoderate
In Burgundy the use of this name is very antient for we find in Gregory of Tours Abou◠〈◊〉 year 5â— The Barons of Burgundy as well Bishops as those of the Laity The first mention of a Baron with us that I have met withal is in a Fragment of the Laws of Canutus King of England and Denmark and even in that according to different copies it is read Vironis Baronis and Thani But that the Barons are there meant is plain from the Laws of William the Conqueror amongst which are inserted those of Canutus translated into Norman where it is writ Baron Take the whole passage But let the * Hâ—â—iâ—â— or Reâ—â— Exercituals be so moderated as to be tolerable An Earl shall provide those â—hings that are fitting eight horses four saddled and four unsaddled four steel caps and four coats of mail eight javelins and as many shields four swords and two hundred maucae of gold But a King 's Viron or Baron who is next to him shall have four horses two saddled and two unsaddled two swords four javelins and as many shields one steel cap and fifty †Possiâ—â— for â—â—â—usae iâ— 30 pâ—â—â— Many Thâ—â—â—â— Englâ—â— in the Câ—queroâ— time maucae of gold In the beginning also of the Norman times the Valvasors and Thanes were reckoned in dignity next the Earls and Barons and the Greater Valvasors if we may believe those who have writ concerning Feudal-tenures were the same as Barons are now So that Baro may seem to come from that name which time has by little and little made better and smoother But even then it was not so very honourable for in those times there were some Earls who had their Barons under them and I remember I have read in the antient Constitutions of France that there were ten Barons under one Earl and as many * Câ—â—inâ—â— Chieftans under a Baron 'T is likewise certain that there are extant some Charters since the Norman Conquest wherein the Earls write thus To all my Barons as well French as English greeting c. Nay even citizens of the better rank were called Barons so in domesday-Domesday-book the citizens of Warwick are stiled Barons and the citizens of London with the Inhabitants of the Cinque Ports enjoyed the same title But a few years after as Senators of Rome were chosen by their estates so those were accounted Barons with us who held their lands by an entire Barony or 13 Knights fees and one third of a Knight's fee every fee as we have it in an antient Book being computed at twenty pounds which in all make 400 Mark For that was the value of one entire Barony and they that had lands and revenues to this value were wont to be summoned to Parliaments It seems to have been a dignity with a jurisdiction which the Court-Barons Court â—â—rons as they call them do in some measure show And the great number of Barons too would persuade us that they were Lords who could give judgment within their own jurisdiction such as those are whom the Germans call Free-heirs especially if they had their castles for then they answered to the definition of Baldus that famous Lawyer who calls him a Baron that had a †Morâ— mixtuâ—â— impeâ—â—â— mere and mixt government in some one Castle by the grant of the Prince And all they as some would have it who held Baronies seem to have claimed that honour so that some of our Lawyers think that Baron and Barony Earl and Earldom Duke and Dukedom King and Kingdom Matth. Parts pag. 1262. were as it were Conjugates 'T is certain in that age K. Henry 3d reckoned 150 Baronies in England Upon which it comes to pass that in the Charters and Histories of that age almost all Noblemen are stil'd Barons a term in those times exceeding honourable â—aâ—onage 〈◊〉 Engâ—and the Baronage of England including in a manner all the prime Orders of the Kingdom Dukes Marquisses Earls and Barons But that name has come to the greatest honour since King Henry 3d out of such a multitude of them which was seditious and turbulent summoned to Parliament by his Writs some of the best only For he the words are taken out of an Author of considerable Antiquity after those great disturbances and enormous vexations between the King himself Simon de Montefort and other Barons were laid appointed and ordained that all such Earls and Barons of the Kingdom of England to whom the King should vouchsafe to direct his Writs of summons should come to his Parliament and no others unless their Lord the King please to direct other Writs to them also But what he begun only a little before his death was strictly observed by Edward the First and his successors From that time those were only looked upon as Barons of the Kingdom â—ummons 〈◊〉 Parliaâ—ent whom the King by such Writs of summons as they term them should call to Parliament 5 And it is noted that the said prudent King Edward I. summoned always those of antient families that were most wise to his Parliaments but omitted their sons after their death If they were not answerable to their Parents in understanding Hol. until Richard the 2d the 10th of October in the eleventh year of his reign created John de Beauchamp of Holt Baron of Kederminster by the delivery of a Diploma From which time the Kings have often conferred that honour by a Diploma or rather honorary Letters and the putting on of a long robe And at this day this way of creating Barons by a Diploma and that other of Writs of summons are in use though they are greeted not under the name of Baron but of Chevalier 6 For the Common Law doth not acknowlege Baron to be a name of dignity Hol. Those that are thus created are call'd Barons of Parliament Barons of the Kingdom and Barons honorary to distinguish them from those which are commonly call'd Barons according to the ancient constitution as those of Burford and Walton and such as were Barons to the Count Palatines of Chester and of Penbroch who were feudal and Barons by tenure Those Parliamentary Barons are not like those of France and Germany call'd barely by that name but are by birth Peers Noblemen Great States and Counsellors of the Kingdom and are summon'd by the King in this form to treat of the weighty affairs of the nation and to deliver their judgment upon them They have their peculiar immunities and privileges as in criminal causes to be judged by their Peers only not to have an oath demanded of them but in such case 't is sufficient if they deliver any thing upon honour not to be called among the Jury of twelve to enquire into matters of fact not to be liable to the Writs Supplicavit Capias Essoins and a great many other privileges which I leave to the Lawyers whose proper business it is to treat of these and things of the like nature Besides
Marshall were complained of it was ordained in these words Marescallus de quolibet Comite Barone integram Baroniam tenente de uno palfrido sit contentus vel de pretio quale antiquitus percipere consuevit ita quod si ad homagium quod fecit palfridum vel pretium in formâ praedictâ ceperit ad militiam suam nihil capiat Et si fortè ad homagium nihil ceperit ad militiam suam capiat De Abbatibus Prioribus integram baroniam tenentibus cum homagium aut fidelitatem pro Baroniis suis fecerunt capiat palfridum vel pretium ut praedictium est Hoc idem de Archiepiscopis Episcopis observandum est De his autem qui partem Baroniae tenent sive sint Religiosi sive Seculares capiat secundum portionem partis Baroniae quam tenent De Religiosis tenentibus in liberam elymosynam non per Baroniam vel partem nihil de caetero exigat Marescallus And about that time were set down all the Droites belonging to the Earl Marshall in a Roll which was laid up in the Wardrobe but that vanished shortly after For as it appeareth by Record in the 18th of Edward the third the Kind directed a brief to the Barons of the Exchequer of the fees and all things else belonging to the office of Earl Marshal and they returned in their certificate annexed to the Brief nothing but certain petty allowances of money wine candles for the Marshal and Magister Marescallus and for the four Marshals for every day qua faciant herbergeriam And out of the red book of the Exchequer they certifie in these words De officio Marescalciae survivit Gilbertus Mareschal Comes de Strigal cujus est officium tumultus sedare in domo Regis liberationes hospitiorum facere ostia aulae Regis custodire Accipit autem de quolibet Barone facto Milite à Rege quolibet Comite eâ die palfredum cum sella And by an inquisition taken about the 11th of Henry the fifth it appeareth that there belongeth to the Earls Marshals disposing the office of the Marshal in the King's-Bench the Marshal of the Exchequer with the office of the Cryer before the Marshal and the Marshal of the Hall of the King's House and some other such places But the greatest encrease of the authority of this Office hath been since there were no Constables for the Kings since that time have referred many matters to them which in former times were proper to the Constable Neither had the Marshal any precedency in respect of his place until King Henry the eighth in the 31st year of his reign by Parliament assigned him place next to the Lord Constable and before the Lord Admiral William Camden The Original and Dignity of the Earl Marshal of England By the same Hand SOme learned men which have discoursed of offices and magistracies in respect of some conveniencies in military matters have thought the office of Marshal in our age to be answerable to that of the Tribuni militum in the ancient Roman Estate and of the Protostrator in the late state of the Greek or Eastern Empire But this name of Marshall now in use which in process of time hath ascended unto so high a dignity began at such time as the Goths Vandals Franks and other Northern people overflowed Europe who setling themselves in the provinces of the Romans liking well their policy and government began not only to imitate the same but also to translate their titles of civil and military dignities into their own tongues so they translated retaining the signification Limitanei Duces into Marche-graffes Scutati into Shield-Knights Praefectus Palatii into Seneschalk Comes Stabuli into Mar-staller Minister Dei into Gods-schalke Praefectus Equitum into Mar-schalk For all they who have lately traced out Etymologies do consent that as Mar and Mark signifie a horse so Schalk signifieth a ruler an officer or Provost But the French mollified this harsh concurrence of consonants and have made of Seneschalk Marschalk c. Senschal and Marshall This name albeit happily the office might be was not in use in this realm in the Saxon government only they had their Staller which by signification and authority of Historians doth seem to be all one with the Constable But as this name came out of Germany with the Franks into France so out of France first arrived here with the Normans and Roger de Montgomery which was Marshall of the Norman army at the Conquest is accounted the first Marshal of England For some years after there is in Histories no mention of this office until in the confusion under King Stephen when as Maud Fitz-Empress for strengthening of her part made Milo Earl of Hereford and Constable of England so he for assuring his faction made Gilbert Clare Earl of Pembroke and Marshal of England with the state of inheritance who in respect of his usual habitation at Stryghall was commonly called Earl of Stryghall in which office his son Richard sirnamed Strongbow succeeded who first opened the way to the English for the conquest of Ireland by whose only daughter and heir it descended to William Marshall who had by her five sons which died all without issue and five daughters the eldest of them named Maud to whom in the partition was assigned the office of Marshal of England with the Mannor of Hempsted Marshal which as it is in old records the Marshals held in Marescaugiâ per virgam Mareschalliae This Maud was married to Hugh Bigot Earl of Norfolk whose son Roger in right of his mother was Marshal of England and after him Roger Bigot his nephew by the brother who incurring the displeasure of King Edward the first by denying to serve him in Guienne practising to hinder the King's expedition into Flanders and dissuading the Commons to pay subsidies imposed by Parliament in that respect for recovery of the King's favour surrendred up to the King for ever both his Earldom of Norfolk and office of Marshal of England which King Edward the second granted to his brother Thomas of Brotherton from whom it came inheritably to Thomas Mowbray Earl of Nottingham whom King Richard the second created Earl Marshal of England whereas in former time they were stiled only Marshals of England and so from the Mowbrayes to Howards late Dukes of Norfolk yet this office hath not so descended without interruption in the aforesaid families but that upon disfavours and attainders it hath been oftentimes conferred upon others as appeareth by this Catalogue of them wherein they are set down successively The Marshals of England Roger de Montgomery Earl of Shrewsbury Walter Giffard Earl of Buckingham Robert Fitz-Ede base son of King Henry the first Gilbert de Clare Earl of Pembroke Richard his son Earl of Pembroke William Marshall the elder Earl of Pembroke William his son Earl of Pembroke Richard his brother Earl of Pembroke Gilbert his brother Earl of Pembroke
write that his Ancestors were â—purâ 〈◊〉 Emperors and slain here and if so why may not I positively affirm that he was descended from that Constantine who in the fourth Consulship of Theodosius the younger out of hopes that good fortune would attend that name was chosen Emperor in Britain and afterward murder'd at Arles 25 I have heard that in the time of K. Hen. 8. there was found near this place a table of metal as it had been tinn and lead commix'd inscrib'd with many Letters but in so strange a Character that neither Sir Th. Eliot nor Mr. Lily Schoolmaster of Paul's could read it and therefore neglected it Had it been preserved somewhat happily might have been discovered as concerning Stonehenge which now lieth obscured About four miles from Ambresbury on this side of the Avon â—arren is a warren commonly called Everly Warren where is a great breed of hares which afford the recreation of Hunting to the neighbouring Gentry But the number is not so great as that the adjacent inhabitants are forc'd to demand a guard of soldiers against them as Pliny reports that the inhabitants of the Baleares did altho' they are alike mischievous to their corn ff Not far from hence is Lutgershall heretofore the Castle of Geffrey Fitz-Peters the rich Earl of Essex and Lord Chief Justice of England Not much higher is Wolfhall â—haâ—l the seat of the noble family of the Seimours or de Sancto Mauro who were Lords of great possessions in this County by marriage with an heiress of the Esturmies â—y or â—y who bore Argent three Demi-Lions Gul. and had been ever since the time of Henry 2. hereditary Bailiffs and Keepers of the neighbouring Forest of Savernac which is famous for plenty of game â—acâ— and for a sort of sweet-smelling Fern In memory whereof the great Hunting-horn tip'd with silver is yet preserved by the Seimours A little more eastward the river Cunetio by the Saxons called Cynetan but vulgarly Kennet m It rises west of Wolfhall ariseth near a village of the same name which some would have to be the Cunetio mention'd by Antoninus but the distance on both sides contradicts this assertion Here Selbury a round hill riseth to a considerable height and seemeth by the fashion of it and by the sliding down of the earth about it to be cast up by mens hands Of this sort are many to be seen in this County round and copped which are call'd Burrows or Barrows Burrows and Barrows perhaps raised in memory of the Soldiers there slain For bones are found in them and I have read that it was a custom among the Northern People that every soldier escaping alive out of Battel was to bring his Helmet full of Earth toward the raising of Monuments for their slain Fellows Tho' I rather think this Selbury-hill to be placed instead of a Boundary if not by the Romans yet by the Saxons as well as the ditch call'd Wodensdike seeing there were frequent battels in this country between the Mercians and West-Saxons about their limits and Boetius In his Geometry and the Writers that treat about Surveying tell us that such heaps were often raised for Landmarks gg 26 Within one mile of Selbury is Albury an uplandish Village built in an old Camp as it seemeth but of no large compass for it is environed with a fair trench and hath four gaps or gates in two of which stand huge stones as jambs but so rude that they seem rather natural than artificial of which sort there are some other in the said village At the first this River runs 27 Eastward thro' the fields in which stones like Rocks every where appear from whence there is a village call'd Rockley Rockley between which there now and then breaks out water upon a sudden in manner of a * Torrentis Land-flood which the Country-people call Hungerborn Hungerborn i.e. a rivulet of Hunger because it is commonly the prognostick of great scarcity From thence the Kennet runneth to a town of it's own name which was called Cunetio Cunetio by Antoninus and placed 20 miles from Verlucio At which distance that old town called by the new name of Marleborow heretofore Marleberge Marlborow is seated all along the side of a hill from east to west upon the banks of the river Cunetio I shall not be very forward to affirm that this new name came from Marga which in our language we call Marle and use it to improve our Lands This is certain that it lies at the foot of a hill of white stone which our Forefathers called Marle before they had borrowed the word Chalk from the Latin Calx The derivation of this place from Merlin's Tomb is to be ridicul'd which Alexander Necham in his book of Divine Wisdom hammer'd out in this Distich Merlini tumulus tibi Merlebrigia nomen Fecit testis erit Anglica lingua mihi Great Merlin 's grave The name to Marlborough in Saxon gave The History of the fortune as well as the name of this Cunetio from the entrance of the Saxons till the Norman times is wholly buried in oblivion for in that interval not so much as it's name occurs in our Annals hh In the next Age we read that John sirnamed Sine terra or Lack-land who was afterwards King of England had a Castle here which in his rebellion against his brother K. Richard I. was surrendred to Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury That which it was afterwards most famous for was the great Parliament here n 52 Henry 3. assembled which by an unanimous consent made a Law for the suppressing of Riots which is yet called Statutum de Marleborow This Castle is now by the injuries of time nothing but ruines there are indeed some few remains of the wall of the Keep and near it is an Ale-house which hath a Castle for the sign But the inhabitants brag of nothing more than of the Font probably of * Lapis obsidianus Touch-stone in the neighbouring Church of Preshut in which as the tradition goes several Princes were heretofore baptised And I cannot omit what I have read o They only now pay something in money in lieu of it but the Arms of the Town plainly points to this Custom being thus blazon'd Party per Saltier Gules and Azure on the firct quarter gules a bull Arg. on the second Azure a Cock or Capon Arg. the third as the second and on the base Gules are three Greyhounds currant Arg. between two roses Gules namely that every Free-man by an old custom gives to the Mayor at his admission a couple of Beagles two white Capons and a white Bull. On the same side of this river lies Ramesbury Ramesbury a small village now only famous for it's pleasant meadows tho' it was once honoured with the See of a Bishop who was Diocesan of this County but this See being joyn'd to
Dikes so that probably the Saxons might draw them to divide the great Lordships or for some such purpose c Upon what ground Mr. Camden places Wodensburge Wodâ—â—burgâ— upon this Dike does not appear There are no remains of such a name in any village near it except it be Woodborow three miles south of it but then there is not the least sign or tradition of a battle fought there One would rather guess that Wanborow on the borders of Wiltshire and Barkshire is the town mention'd by our Historians For as Wodensdic pass'd into Wansdick so might Wodensburgh by the same reason be chang'd into Wanburh or Wanborow And without doubt this has been formerly a town of great note as appears by the quantities of Roman Coins that have been frequently found at it and the neighbourhood of a Saxon Camp on Badbury-hill plainly shews that the battle must have been fought hereabouts d Now to begin with North-Wiltshire the Thames before it comes to Creeklade receives from the north a little river call'd Churn not far from which is Pulton â—on a town within the bounds of Glocestershire yet belongs to and is reckon'd a part of Wiltshire where was a Priory of the Order of S. Gilbert founded in the time of Edw. 1. After this brook has enter'd the Thames they go to Cricklade â—klade call'd Creckanford Cricgelada c. and by the Saxon-Annals Creccagelade and Craeccilade where if the Monkish Writers could always be rely'd upon we might safely settle a Greek school which they in a manner unanimously affirm to have been founded or rather restored by that learned Archbishop of Canterbury Theodorus But those over-credulous Authors seem to have no other grounds besides the bare affinity of names and to make that a good argument â—ecem â—ptores â—4 l. 59. are willing to have it call'd Greklade which makes their opinion so much the more plausible How true the matter of fact may be I shall not undertake to determine since â—a Reâ— Alfredi that point has been already pretty warmly manag'd on both sides It is certain however that Cricklade has formerly been a town of great reputation for it appears by the Red Book in the Exchequer that there once belong'd to it 1300 Hidelands and it gave name to the Hundred of Cricklade which is now united to that of High-worth But if it's Greek-school have nothing to support it besides the similitude of names I fancy it may with more reason be deriv'd either from the British Cerigwlâd i.e. a stony country to which the nature of the soil does very well agree or from the Saxon craecca a brook and ladian to empty for here the Churn and Rey empty themselves into the Thames It has now a Free-school founded by Robert Jenner Esq and endow'd by him with 40 l. per Annum e The river Avon is our next guide call'd for distinction's sake Lower-Avon probably the Antona of Tacitus and the Bladon of William of Malmesbury which at it's first entry into Wiltshire crosses the Foss-way â—way still very plain in this part of the country From Cirencester it comes into this County near Kemble â—well and so runs west of Crudwell which gave the title of Baroness to Lady Mary Lucas of Crudwell whose Father John Lord Lucas â—r MS. built here a Free-school and endow'd it with 20 l. per An. by Ashley to Long Newnton Then west of Brokenbridge to Easton-Grey â—on and so not far from Sherston which appears to have been a Roman station as well by it's situation near this Consular Way as by the Roman Coins frequently found at it Some of the silver ones viz. of Antoninus Faustina Gordianus and Fl. Julianus are given to Ashmole's Musaeum in Oxford by Mr. John Aubrey What it 's name was in the Roman times we have no light in History but this in all probability was the place of battle between King Edmund and the Danes A. D. 1016. call'd by the Saxon Chronicle Sceorstan For as the agreement of the names justifie the conjecture so do the particular circumstances both of the place and action The several barrows hereabouts put it beyond all dispute that there has been a battle and the Inhabitants have to this day a tradition that it was against the Danes Now this of K. Edmund's lays best claim to it both because Sherston is nearer to Pen where the last battle before this was fought than any town yet assign'd to be the place and also because the account that Florence of Worcester has left us of that matter agrees very well to it He expresly says his Sceorstan was in Wiccia within the borders whereof this Sherston is For there is no doubt but Wiccia extended on both sides the Severn as far as the Kingdom of Mercia did now Camden has observ'd out of Ethelwerd that the Avon was the limit between Mercia and the Kingdom of the West-Saxons and the learned â—cil â—1 p. Sir Henry Spelman tells us that Aldhelm Abbot of Malmsbury was present at a Mercian Synod so that without doubt this part of Wiltshire belong'd to Mercia and consequently this Sherston might be in Wiccia And this is confirm'd by that passage in Brompton where he says that the cities of Cirencester and Chippenham were in the south part of the Country of the Wiccians From Sherston the Fosse passes by Alderton and Littleton-Drew and so east of West-Kington W Kington †Aubr MS in which parish on a Down call'd Ebdown is a single-ditch'd Camp suppos'd to be Roman Hence it goes to Castle-comb and so west of Slaughtenford Slaughtenford the very name of which denotes what the constant tradition of the Inhabitants has handed down concerning a great slaughter of the Danes in this place Their Camp might probably be * Ibid. that double Entrenchment in Bury-wood between Colern and North-Wraxall not far from which the Fosse enters Somersetshire at the Shire-stones f The Avon having cross'd the Foss-way runs directly to Malmsbury Malmsbury call'd by the Saxon Annals Mealdelmesbyrig which Geoffrey of Monmouth without any warrant from authentick History affirms to have been a town in the Roman times and built some hundreds of years before their coming into this Island However 't is certain that early in the Saxon times it was a Castle belonging to the Bishops of the West-Saxons and in all probability this is the place from whence the Charters from Eleutherius to Aldhelm are thus dated Actum publicè juxta flumen Badon As for the Altar-monument in the Church said to be King Aethelstan's it is so far from having been erected immediately after his death that it seems to have been put up long since the Conquest and possibly since the Reformation For William of Malmsbury tells us that this King was interr'd under the High-Altar whereas the monument is in the Nave of the Church and grass grows where the Choir was A. D. 956. after the Monks had
those places which we now call Academies and Universities were in former ages fitly call'd Studies Universiâ—â— call'd Studies as St. Hierom speaks of the flourishing Studies of France Epist ad Râ—stâ—â—â— Monaâ—hâ— For the name of University for publick Schools of Learning obtain'd first about the reign of King Henry 3. and if I am not mistaken this word did not at first so much signifie the place of study as the Society of Students But perhaps this may seem out of my road Now the worthy Patrons and Favourers of Learning began to furnish the City and Suburbs with stately Colleges Colâ—eges Halls and Schools and to endow them with ample Revenues for before this time the greatest part of the University stood without North-gate Then in the reign of King Henry 3. John Baliol of Bernard-castle who died in the year 1269. Father of John Baliol King of Scots Book of Mailros founded Baliol-College s And soon after Walter Merton Bishop of Rochester transferr'd the College which he had built in Surrey to Oxford in the year 1274. endow'd it and call'd it Merton-College t 9 And these two were the first endow'd Colleges for Students in Christâ—ndâ—m Then William Archdeacon of Durham repair'd and restor'd the Foundation of King Alfred which we now call University-College u About which time the Scholars having been somewhat rude to Otto the Pope's Legate or rather his Horse-leach sent hither to suck the blood of the poor people they were excommunicated and treated with great severity At which time as Richard of Armagh tells us there were reckon'd in this University no less than thirty thousand Students Under King Edward the second Walter Stapledon Bishop of Exeter built Exeter-College and Hart-Hall w and the King after his example a Royal College commonly call'd Orial x and St. Mary-Hall About which time the Hebrew tongue began to be read by a Jewish Convert Regist Mon. Hâ—â— for whose stipend every Clerk in Oxford contributed one penny for every mark of his Ecclesiastical revenue After this Queen Philippa wife of King Edward 3. built Queens-College y and Simon Islip Arch-bishop of Canterbury Canterbury-College The Scholars now abounding in peace and plenty grew insolent upon their good fortune and divided into the factions of the Northern and Southern men carrying on the quarrel with open arms and all manner of hostility upon which the Northern-men retir'd to Stanford and there set up publick Schools But after a few years when the storm was blown over and the feuds forgot they all return'd hither again 10 Recall'd by Proclamation directed to the High-Sheriff of Lincolnshire upon penalty to forfeit their Books and the King's displeasure and Statutes were enacted to prohibit all persons from professing at Stanford to the prejudice of Oxford About that time William Wickam Bishop of Winchester built a magnificent Structure call'd New College z into which the ripest Lads are every year transplanted from his other College at Winchester 11 And he about the same by the tract of the City wall built a fair high wall embattled and turretted Then Richard Angervil Bishop of Durham calld Philobiblos or The Lover of Books y At his death An. 1345. he left his voluminous Library to Durham-College with liberty of access upon certain conditions to all Scholars At the dissolution of which house in the reign of Henry 8. some of the Books of this admirable collection were remov'd to the Publick Library some to Baliol College and some came into the hands of Dr. George Owen a Physician of Godstow who bought the said College of Edward 6. began a publick Library And his Successor Thomas de Hatfield z This College is much rather to be ascrib'd to Richard de Bury for when the Monks of Durham had begun their buildings for a Seminary to their own Convent it was furnisht and endo'wd by this great and generous Prelate built Durham-College for the benefit of the Monks of Durham and Richard Fleming Bishop of Lincoln founded Lincoln-College About the same time the Benedictine Monks 12 By a Chapter held among them laid their monies together and encreased Glocester-Hall built before by John Lord Giffard of Brimsfield for Monks of Glocester built Glocester-College at their own proper cost and charges bb where were constantly maintain'd two or three Monks of every House of that Order who afterwards should profess good Letters in their respective Convents 13 Nicholas Wadham of Merefield in the County of Somerset hath assign'd a fair portion of lands and money for the propagation of religion and learning which I note incidently by way of congratulation to our age that there are yet some who graciously respect the advancement of good learning To speak nothing of the Canons of St. Frideswide there were erected no less than four beautiful Cells of Friers in the Suburbs where there often flourisht men of considerable parts and learning In the next age during the reign of King Henry 5. Henry Chichely Arch-bishop of Canterbury founded two eminent Colleges one of which he dedicated to the memory of All-Souls cc and the other to St. Bernard Not long after William Wainster Bishop of Winchester built Magdalen-College remarkable for building fine situation and pleasure of adjoyning groves and walks dd At the same time the a The ground was purchast by the University An. 1427. and upon several contributions the Structure was soon after begun but was intermitted till by the piety and bounty of Humfrey Duke of Glocester it was farther carried on but not compleated till the year 1480. Divinity School Dâ—â—inity School was erected a work of such admirable texture and beauty that the saying of Xeuxis may justly be inscrib'd upon it It is more easie to envy than to imitate this work Publick L brary And above this School was a Library furnisht with one hundred twenty nine choice Volumes procur'd from Italy at the great expence of Humphrey the Good Duke of Glocester a chief Patron and admirer of Learning But most of these Books are long since embezell'd and converted to private uses 14 In the giddy time of King Edward the sixth But now may all happiness attend the generous design the worthy Sir Thomas Bodley Thâ—mas Bâ—dâ—ey Kt. formerly a Member of this University with extraordinary charge and indefatigable pains is furnishing a new Library in the same place with the best Books procur'd from all parts of the world that the University may enjoy a publick Arsenal of Wisdom and he himself an everlasting honour ee And since it was a good custom of the Ancients in all their Libraries to erect Statues of Gold Pâ—al 35. c. 2 Silver or Brass both to those who had instituted them and those who had adorn'd them with excellent Writings that time and Age might not triumph over Benefactors and that the curiosity of Mankind might be satisfied while they enquired after men of worth and
ridge to the north and separate this County of Oxon from that of Bucks at the foot whereof are seated many little towns of which the most remarkable are Watlington a small Market-town belonging formerly to Robert D'oily tt Shirburne Shirburne where was heretofore a small Castle of the Quatremans now a seat of the Chamberlains descended from the Earls of Tankervil who bearing the office of Chamberlain to the Dukes of Normandy their posterity laying aside the old name of Tankervil call'd themselves Chamberlains from the said office which their Ancestors enjoy'd 24 To omit Edgar Algar and other English-Saxons Official Earls of Oxford The title of Earl of Oxford Earls of Oxford has long flourisht in the family of Vere who derive their pedigree from the Earls of Guisnes and their name from the town of Vere in Zealand They owe the beginning of their greatness in England to K. Henry the first who advanced Alberic de Vere for his great prudence and integrity to several places of honour and profit as to be Chamberlain of England and Portreve of the City of London and to his son Henry Duke of Normandy son of the daughter of King Henry and right heir to England and Normandy this was the title he used before his establishment in this kingdom to divert him from King Stephen who had usurpt the Crown and to oblige him to his own party he granted and restor'd the office of Chamberlain which he had lost in those civil wars and offer'd him the choice of these four Earldoms Dorset Wilts Berks and Oxon. And after this Maud the Empress and her son Henry then in possession of the Throne by their several Charters created him Earl of Oxford Of his posterity not to mention every particular person the most eminent were these that follow Robert de Vere who being highly in favour with King Richard the second was by him advanct to the new and unheard of honours of Marquess of Dublin and Duke of Ireland of which he left as one well observes nothing but some gaudy titles to be inscribed upon his tomb and matter of discourse and censure to the world For soon after through the envy of the other Courtiers he was degraded and miserably ended his life in banishment 25 John the first of that name so trusty and true to the House of Lancaster that both he and his son and heir Aubrey lost their heads therefore together in the first year of King Edward 4. John de Vere a man of great ability and experience in the arts of war and as eminent for his constant fidelity to the Lancastrian party fought often in the field against K. Edward the fourth for some time defended St. Michael's mount and was the chief assistant to King Henry the seventh in obtaining the Crown Another John in the reign of Henry the eighth in all parts of his life so temperate devout and honest that he was distinguisht by the name of John the Good He was great Grandfather to the present Earl Henry the eighteenth Earl of this family and Grandfather to the two noble Brothers Francis and Horatio Vere who by their admirable courage and military conduct and their many brave and fortunate exploits in the Low-Countries have added no small lustre to their ancient and honourable family This County contains 280 Parish Churches ADDITIONS to OXFORDSHIRE a THE County of Oxford call'd by the more early Saxons Oxna-ford-scyre and afterwards Oxen-ford-scyre does by its situation particularly the north-east parts of it Otmore and the adjacent places exactly answer the original of * See Camd. at the beginning Glocestershire Dobuni as lying low and level Though most parts of it bear corn very well yet its greatest glory is the abundance of meadows and pastures to which the rivers add both pleasure and convenience For beside the five more considerable ones the Thames Isis Cherwell Evenlode and Windrush †Plot. p. 18. it has at least threescore and ten of an inferiour rank without including the smaller brooks What our Author says of the hills being clad with woods is so much alter'd by the late Civil wars that few places except the Chiltern-country can answer that character at present for fuel is in those parts so scarce that 't is commonly sold by weight not only at Oxford but other towns in the northern parts of the shire b To follow our Author Burford Buâ—ford in Saxon Beorgford not Beorford as it is famous for the battel mention'd by our Author fought probably on the plaâ—e call'd Battle-edge west of the town so also for a Council conven'd there by the Kings Etheldred and Berthwald An. 685. at which among many others Aldhelm Abbot of Malmsbury afterwards Bishop of Shirburne being present was commanded by the Synod to write a Book against the error of the Brittish Churches in the observation of Easter Which I the rather take notice of here because Sir Henry Spelman calls it only Synodus Merciana An. 705. without fixing any certain place or the exact time whereas both are evident from ‖ De Pontif. lib. 5. Malmsbury and the leiger-Leiger-book of that Abby There has been a Custom in the town * Plot. p. 349. of making a Dragon yearly and carrying it up and down the streets in a great jollity on Midsummer-eve which is the more remarkable because it seems to bear some relation to what our Author says of Cuthred's taking from the enemy a banner wherein was painted a golden Dragon only to the Towns-men's Dragon there is a Giant added for what reason not known c Next is Ensham Ensham in Saxon Egonesham the eminence whereof in those times is confirm'd by the early mention of it and by Aethelred's Charter mention'd by our Author which terms it Locus celebris Here it was that in the year 1009. the same King Aethelred by the advice of Alphege Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Wulstan Arch-bishop of York held a General Council wherein many Decrees were establisht relating to the government of Church and State it is call'd by †Concil â— â— p. 510. Sir Henry Spelman Aenham c Our next guide is the river Evenlode not far from which near Chastleton is a Fortification which the learned Dr. Plot imagines might be cast up about the year 1016. when Edmund Ironside met Canute the Dane Châ—stâ—eton but if that conjecture be built purely upon its being near the Four-shire-stone which generally goes for the old dceorstan where the battle was fought the place of the battle being ‖ See Aâ—â—â— to Wâ—tshire undeâ— Shâ—râ—â—â— as it probably ought remov'd from this place that opinion is destroy'd d More to the North is the Monument of Roll-rich R ll-rich-stones * Plot. p. â—â— a single Circle of stones without Epistyles or Architraves and of no very regular figure †〈◊〉 Except one or two the rest of them are not above four foot and a half high What the
Morden CORITANI WE are now to visit the Coritani a People living inward from the Iceni and taking up a very large Tract of Ground in the Mediterranean parts of this Isle as far as the German Ocean viz. the Counties now commonly call'd Northamptonshire Leicestershire Rutlandshire Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire I shall forbear medling with the Etymology of their name for fear I should pretend to know what 's a downright mystery For notwithstanding they are a People scattered far and wide which the Britains express by Gur-tani yet should I assert that these Coritani took their name from thence would you not think this mere trifling Let those who are better skill'd in that sort of Learning more safely give their conjectures whilst I according to my design survey each of the Counties I now mentioned in their respective order NORTHAMPTONSHIRE THE County of Northampton in Saxon Norþ-afendon-scyre and a See the Additions to Hamshire under the title Southampton Northantonshire commonly Northamptonshire is situate in the very middle and heart as it were of England and from the South-west-side where it is broadest contracting it self by degrees runs out in length to the North-east On the East lye the Counties of Bedford and Huntingdon on the South those of Buckingham and Oxford Westward Warwick and Northward those of Leicester Rutland and Lincoln separated by the rivers Avon the less and the Welland Watling-street one of the Roman high-ways runs along the East-side from the Ouse to Dowbridge the Nen call'd also by Historians Aufona gently cuts through the middle and east parts It is a Champain Country very populous and every where adorn'd with Noblemen and Gentlemen's houses very full of Towns and Churches insomuch that in some places there are 20 in others 30 Spires or Steeples more or less in view at a time It s soil both for tillage and pasturage exceeding fertile but not well stock'd with wood unless at the hither and further end But every where as in other Provinces of England full and as it were over-run with sheep Shâ—ep which as that Hythodaeus said us'd to be so gentle â—iâ— Tâ—â— M. â—s Uâ—â—â—â— and fed with so little but now as 't is reported begin to be so ravenous and wild that they devour men waste and depopulate fields houses and towns a On the South border where the river Ouse so often mention'd has its spring on a gently rising ground full of bubbling fountains stands Brackley â—â—â—â—klâ—y that is a place full of brake or fern anciently a famous staple for Wooll but which now only boasts how great and wealthy it once was by its ruins and by a Mayor it retains for its chief Magistrate The Zouches Lords of the place founded a College there from them it came successively by right of marriage to the Hollands and the Lovels But upon the attainder of Lovel in King Henry the seventh's time the Stanleys by the King's grant became Lords of it But the College ruinous now belongs to Magdalen College in Oxford who keep it for a retiring place Nor was this town a little famous in former ages for the memory of Rumbald a young infant who as we read in his life was a King's son and as soon as he was born after he had spoken I know not what holy words had profess'd himself a Christian and had been immediately baptiz'd expir'd 1 And being canoniz'd by the people amongst the Saints had his commemoration kept both here and at Buckingham From hence northward after I had gone six miles through woods and groves first I saw Astwell where T. Billing formerly Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench dwelt in great repute from whom it descended hereditarily to the ancient family of the Lovels Then Wedon and Wapiham which the family of the Pinkneys held by Barony The Barony 〈◊〉 â—he Pinkâ—â—ys till such time as H. de Pinkney made King Edward the first his heir Who being an excellent Prince many ill men made him their heirs whereas according to Tacitus a good father makes no Prince but a bad one his heir From hence I presently came to Tripontium Tripontium which Antonine takes notice of but not in its right place For I am of opinion this was that very place we now call Torcester nor are there good Arguments wanting to prove this If Trimontium in Thrace had that name of three Hills Triturrita in Tuscany of three Towers and Tripolis of three Cities there is no room to doubt but that this Tripontium of ours was so nam'd of three Bridges And here at this Torcester the Roman Praetorian or Military-way which very plainly appears in several places between this and Stony-Stratford is cut in two by three principal chanels that the little river divides it self into which as well anciently as now must have had of necessity three several Bridges over them Now if you ask a Britain how he calls Three Bridges in British he will presently answer you Tair ponte and certain persons of good credit from whom I receiv'd some Roman coins here positively affirm that Torcester is its true name Some will have the River's name Toue that runs by it and think it was so call'd of Towers Nevertheless Marianus calls it Touecester if the Book be not faulty in whom we read that this town was so fortified in the year of our Lord 917. that the Danes were by no means able to take it and that King Edward the Elder afterwards encompass'd it with a Stone-wall yet with all my search I could find no signs of any such Wall Only there is a Mount still remaining cast up in ancient times they call it Berihill now taken up in private Gardens and planted on every side with Cherry Trees And time it self has so ruin'd the town that it is beholden to the situation the name and the ancient Coins ever now and then found here for its reputation of antiquity For it has nothing worth taking notice of but one only Church large and fair in which D. Sponte formerly Rector thereof by report a good Benefactor both to Church and Town lies enterr'd in a Tomb of excellent workmanship But at Elton hard by you have a prospect of a fine house belonging to the family of the Farmers Knights The river that waters Torcester in its course from hence towards the Ouse runs by Grafton Grafton now an Honour of the King 's but formerly a seat of the family of Widdevil Widdevil or Wodâ—il out of which came Richard a person much renowned for his virtue and valour who was fined 1000 l. of our money by King Henry the sixth for marrying Jaquet Dowager of John Duke of Bedford and daughter of Peter of Luxenburgh Earl of St. Paul without leave of the King Yet afterwards he advanced the same person to the Honour of Baron Widdevil of Rivers Parl. 27 H. 6. With Elizabeth this Lord's daughter King Edward the fourth privately
the People Tacitus Tacitus imagines them to have come first from Iberia upon account of their * Colorati vultus ruddy complexion their curl'd hair and their situation over against Spain But Florianus del Campo a Spaniard is very positive in that matter and takes a great deal of pains to find the Silures in Spain and to obtrude upon us I know not what stories about Soloria and Siloria among the old Astures However this Country was very large for it seems probable from Pliny and Tacitus that they were possess'd of all South-Wales and the Inhabitants were hardy stout warlike averse to servitude of great boldness and resolution term'd by the Romans †Pervicacia obstinacy and stubbornness not to be wrought upon either by threats or kindness and their posterity have not degenerated in any of these particulars When the Romans out of an itching desire of enlarging their Empire made attempts upon them See pag. xlvii they partly reposing a confidence in the courage and conduct of King Caratacus and partly incens'd by a saying of Claudius the Emperour That they were to be as entirely routed as the Sugambri had been engag'd the Romans in a very troublesome and difficult war For having intercepted the Auxiliary Troops cut off the Legion under Marius Valens and wasted the territories of their Allies P. Ostorius Propraetor in Britain was quite wore out with all these crosses and dy'd of grief Veranius too who govern'd Britain under Nero was baffled in this enterprize against them For where Tacitus says Tacit. Annal L. XIV Illum modicis excursibus Sylvas populatum esse that he destroy'd and wasted the woods with slight excursions instead of Sylvas with the Learned Lipsius only read Siluras and all 's right Nor could an end be made of this war before Vespasian's reign For then Julius Frontinus subdu'd them and kept them quiet by garisons of the Legions A certain Countryman of ours has wrested that verse of Juvenal upon Crispinus to these Silures magnâ qui voce solebat Vendere municipes fractâ de merce Siluros Who with hideous cry Bawl'd out his broken Sturgeon in the streets As if some of our Silures had been taken prisoners and expos'd to sale at Rome But take it upon my word he has mistook the genuine sense of the Poet. For any one that reads that passage with attention will quickly perceive that by Siluros he designs to express a sort of Fish and not a People HEREFORDSHIRE HErefordshire call'd by the Britains Ereinuc is in a manner of a circular form bounded on the East with the Counties of Worcester and Glocester on the South with Monmouth on the West with Radnor and Breknock and on the North with Shropshire A Country besides its pleasantness both for feeding of Cattel and produce of Corn every where of an excellent soil and admirably well provided with all necessaries for life Insomuch that it may scorn to come behind any County in England for fruitfulness of soil 1 And therefore says that for three W. W. W. Wheat Wooll and Water it yieldeth to no Shire of England To which excellencies are to be added its fine rivers the Wye the Lug and the Munow which after they have water'd the verdant flow'ry meadows and rich and fruitful corn-fields at last have their conflux and in one chanel pass to the Severn-Sea a 〈◊〉 River 〈◊〉 The Munow has its rise in Hatterell-hills which shooting up aloft look as it were like a Chair and are a sort of wall to this Shire on the South-west-side Hence the river descending first struggles Southward along the foot of these hills 〈◊〉 to Blestium a town so plac'd by Antoninus that both for situation and distance it can be no other than that which standing upon this river 〈◊〉 Town is by the Britains call'd Castle Hean that is the Old Castle by us The old Town An inconsiderable village but nevertheless this new name makes much for its antiquity for in both tongues it sounds an Old Castle or Town Next to this lyes Alterynnis surrounded with water Alterynnis the Seat of the Cecils as it were an Island in a river the seat in former ages of the ancient and knightly family of the Sitsilters or Cecils whence my right honourable Patron highly accomplisht with all the Ornaments of Virtue Wisdom and Nobility Sir William Cecil Baron of Burghley and Lord High Treasurer of England is descended From hence the Munow turning Eastward for a good way parts this Province from Monmouthshire and is augmented by the river Dore at Map-Harald or Harald Ewias Harald-Ewias a Castle This Ewias-Castle to give you the words of King William the first 's Book was repair'd by Alured of Marleberg The Family of Ewias Afterwards it belonged to one Harald a Nobleman who Their Arms. in a Shield Argent bore a Fess Gules between three Estoiles Sable from whom it first took the name of Harold Ewias but Sibyll his Great-grand-daughter and one of the heirs transferr'd it by marriage to the Lords Tregoz Tregoz and Grandison from whom it came at length to the Lords of Grandison originally of Burgundy of whom elsewhere Now the Dore above-mentioned falling down from the North by Snotthill a castle Gidden Vale. and sometimes the Barony of Robert Chandois where there is a Quarry of excellent Marble cuts through the middle of the valley which the Britains from the river call Diffrin Dore but the English that they might seem to express the force of that word have term'd it The Golden Vale. Which name it may well be thought to deserve for its golden rich and pleasant fertility For the hills that encompass it on both sides are clothed with woods under the woods lye corn-fields on each hand and under those fields lovely and gallant meadows In the middle between them glides a clear and crystal river on which Robert Earl of Ewias erected a fine Monastery wherein most of the Nobility and Gentry of these parts were buried Part of this County which bends towards the East now call'd Irchenfeld Irchenfeld in Domesday Archenfeld was as Historians write laid waste with fire and sword by the Danes in the year 715 Camalac a British Bishop being then carried away captive Herein once stood Kilpec a noted castle the seat of the noble family of the Kilpec's Kilpec who as some report were Champions to the Kings of England in the beginning of the Normans which I am very willing to believe In the reign of Edward the first Robert Wallerond liv'd here whose ‖ Nepos nephew Alane Plugenet was honourd with the title of a Baron In this Archenfeld likewise as we read in Domesday-book certain Revenues by an old custom were assigned to one or two Priests on this condition that they should go in Embassies for the Kings of England into Wales and to use the words of the said Book The men
aloft that it seems I shall not say to threaten the sky but even to thrust its head into it And yet it harbours snow continually being throughout the year cover'd with it or rather with a harden'd crust †Nivium senio of snow of many years continuance And hence the British name of Kreigieu Eryreu and that of Snowdon Snowdon Hills in English both which signifie Snowy mountains so Niphates in Armenia and Imaus in Scythia as Pliny informs us were denominated from Snow Nevertheless these mountains are so fertile in grass that it 's a common saying among the Welsh That the mountains of Eryreu would in a case of necessity afford pasture enough for all the cattel in Wales I shall say nothing of the two lakes on the tops of these mountains in one of which there floats a wandring island and the other affords plenty of fish each whereof has but one eye lest I might seem to countenance fables tho' some relying on Giraldus's authority have believ'd both However that there are lakes and standing waters on the tops of these mountains is certain whence Gervase of Tilbury in his book entitl'd Otia Imperialia writes thus In the land of Wales within the bounds of Great Britain are high mountains which have laid their foundations on exceeding hard rocks on the tops whereof the ground is so boggy that where you do but just place your foot you 'll perceive it to move for a stones cast Wherefore upon a surprisal of the enemy the Welsh by their agility skipping over that boggy ground do either escape their assaults or resolutely expect them while they advance forward to their own ruin Joannes Sarisburiensis in his Polycraticon calls the inhabitants of these mountains by a new-coin'd word Nivi collinos of whom he wrote thus in the time of Henry 2. Nivicollini Britones irruunt c. The Snowdon-Britains make inroads and being now come out of their caverns and woods they seize the plains of our Nobles and before their faces assault and overthrow them or retain what they have got because our youth who delight in the house and shade as if they were born only to consume the fruit of the land sleep commonly till broad day c. a But let us now descend from the mountains to the plains which seeing we find only by the sea it may suffice if we coast along the shore That promontory we have observ'd already to be extended to the south-west is call'd in the several copies of Ptolemy Canganum Cangaâ—â—â— Janganum and Langanum Which is truest I know not but it may seem to be Langanum seeing the inhabitants at this day call it LhÅ·n Lhyn It runs in with a narrow Peninsula having larger plains than the rest of this County which yield plenty of Barley It affords but two small towns worth our notice the innermost at the bay of Pwlh heli Pwlh 〈◊〉 which name signifies the Salt Pool and the other by the Irish sea which washes one part of this Peninsula call'd Nevin Nevin where in the year 1284 the English Nobility as Florilegus writes triumphing over the Welsh celebrated the memory of Arthur the Great with Tournaments and festival pomp If any more towns flourish'd here they were then destroyed Vita Gâ—fydâ—â—naâ—â— when Hugh Earl of Chester Robert of Rutland and Guarin of Salop the first Normans that advanc'd thus far so wasted this promontory that for seven years it lay desolate From Nevin the shore indented with two or three promontories is continued northwards and then turning to the north-east passes by a narrow frith or chanel call'd Meneu â—neu or â—nat See â—irebeâ— which separates the Isle of Anglesey from the firm land Upon this Fretum stood the city Segontium â—â—goâ—tium mention'd by Antoninus of the walls whereof I have seen some ruins near a small Church built in honour of St. Publicius 〈…〉 It took its name from a river that runs by it call'd to this day Seiont which issues out of the lake LhÅ·n Peris wherein they take a peculiar fish not seen elsewhere call'd by the inhabitants from its red belly Torgoch â—â—â—goch Now seeing an ancient copy of Ptolemy places the haven of the Setantii â—ntii in this coast which other copies remov'd much farther off if I should read it Segontiorum Portum and should say it was at the mouth of this river perhaps I should come near the truth at least a candid reader would pardon my conjecture Ninnius calls this city Kaer Kystenydh and the author of the life of Grufydh ap Kynan tells us that Hugh Earl of Chester built a castle at Hén Gaer Kystenin which the Latin Interpreter renders The ancient city of the Emperour Constantine Moreover Matthew of Westminster hath recorded but herein I 'll not avouch for him that the body of Constantius the father of Constantine the Great was found here in the year 1283. and honourably interr'd in the Church of the new town by command of King Edward 1. who at that time built the town of Kaer'n Arvon out of the ruins of this city â—narâ— a little higher by the mouth of the river in such a situation that the sea washes it on the west and north This as it took its name from its situation opposite to the island Mona so did it communicate that name to the whole County for thence the English call it Caernarvonshire This town is encompass'd with a firm wall tho' of a small circumference almost of a circular form and shews a beautiful castle which takes up all the west-side of it The private buildings for the manner of the Country are neat and the civility of the inhabitants much commended They esteem it a great honour that King Edward 1. was their founder and that his son Edward 2. the first Prince of Wales of English extraction was born there who was therefore stiled Edward of Caernarvon Moreover the Princes of Wales had here their Chancery their Exchequer and their Justiciary for North Wales In a bottom seven miles hence on the same Fretum lies Bangor â—gor or Banchor enclosed on the south-side with a very steep mountain and a hill on the north so call'd à choro pulchro or as others suppose quasi locus chori â—ee ◠〈◊〉 â—sh D. 〈◊〉 in word 〈◊〉 â—eâ— â—â—i Penâ—â— or 〈◊〉 Ceâ— which is a Bishop's See and contains in it's Diocese 96 Parishes The Cathedral is consecrated to Daniel once Bishop thereof it 's no very fair building having been burnt by that most profligate Rebel Owen Glyn Dowrdwy who design'd no less than the destruction of all the Cities of Wales 'T was afterwards restored in the time of Henry 7. by the Bishop thereof Henry Deny but hath not yet recover'd it's ancient splendour 'T is now only a small town but was heretofore so considerable â—a Gâ—â—f that for it 's large extent it was call'd Bangor-vawr and
to supply all Wales It is also at this time very rich in cattel 1 And findeth out great multitudes and affords milstones in some places also a kind of Alum-earth e Of the Alumen plumosum or Amianthus found at a plaee call'd Kâ—ie Lhywarck in the Parish of Lhan-Vair yng Hornwy See Phil Trans n. 166. of which they lately began to make Alum and Coperas but the project not succeeding they have now desisted 〈◊〉 This is that celebrated Island Mona anciently the seat of the Druids attempted first by Paulinus Suetonius and reduced under the Roman yoke by Julius Agricola In the reign of Nero this Paulinus Suetonius as we read in Tacitus prepared for an attempt on the Island Mona a very populous country and a receptacle of deserters and to that end built flat-bottom'd vessels because the shores were but shallow and hazardous thus the foot passed over and the horse follow'd either at a ford or else in deeper waters as occasion required swam their horses On the opposite shore stood the Enemies army well provided of arms and men besides women running about with dishevel'd hair like furies in a mournful habit bearing torches in their hands About the army stood the Druids who with hands lifted up to heaven pouring forth dreadful Imprecations so terrified the soldiers with the novelty of the sight that as if their limbs had been benumm'd they exposed their bodies like so many stocks to the strokes of the enemy But at last partly by exhortation of the General and partly by encouraging each others not to stand amazed at the sight of distracted women and ‖ Fanaticum agmen a company of frantick people they advance their ensigns and trample down their enemies thrusting them into their own fires They being thus conquer'd a garrison was planted there and their groves cut down which were consecrated to their cruel superstitions For they held it lawful to sacrifice with the blood of Captives and by inspection into humane Entrails to consult their Gods But while these things were in agitation a sudden revolt of the whole Province recall'd him from this enterprise Afterwards as the same Author writes Julius Agricola resolves to reduce the Island Mona from the Conquest whereof Paulinus was recall'd as we have already observ'd by a general rebellion in Britain but being unprovided of transport Vessels as it commonly happens in doubtful resolutions the policy and courage of the General found new means of conveying over his army For having first laid down their baggage â—he commanded the choicest of the Auxiliaries to whom the fords were well known and whose custom it was in their country so to swim as to be able to guide themselves and their arms and horses to pass over the chanel Which was done in such a surprising manner that the enemies who expected a Navy and watch'd the sea stood so much amazed that supposing nothing difficult or invincible to men of such resolution they immediately supplicated for peace and surrender'd the Island So Agricola became famous and great a Many ages after when it was conquer'd by the English it took up their name being call'd formerly by the Saxons Engles-ea and now Anglesey which signifies the English Island But seeing Humfrey Lhwyd in his learned Epistle to that accomplish'd Scholar Ortelius has restor'd the Island to its ancient name and dignity it is not necessary we should dwell long upon this County However we may add that about the decline of the Roman Government in Britain some of the Irish Nation crept into this Island For besides certain intrench'd Banks which they call Irish Cottages there is another place well known by the name of Yn hericy Gwidil from some Irish who under the conduct of one Sirigi overcame the Britains there as we read in the Book of Triades b Nor was it afterwards harass'd by the English only Marianus but also by the Norwegians and in the year 1000 a Navy of King Aethelred sailing round the Island wasted and consum'd it in a hostile manner c Afterwards two Normans of the name of Hugh the one Earl of Chester and the other of Salop oppress'd it and to restrain the Inhabitants built the Castle of Aber Lhienawg But Magnus the Norwegian coming thither at the same time 2 Shot the said Hugh Earl of Shrewsbury c. shot Hugh Earl of Chester through the body with an arrow and pillaging the Island departed The English having afterwards often attempted it at last brought it under their subjection in the time of Edward the first It contain'd formerly 363 Villages and is a very populous Country at this time The chief Town is Beaumaris Beaumaris built in the East part of it in a moorish place by King Edward the first and call'd by the name of Beau marish from its situation whereas the place before was call'd a This wherever our Author found it seems to be no British name Bonover He also fortified it with a Castle which yet seems not to have been ever finish'd the present Governour whereof is the right worshipful Sir Richard Bulkley Knight whose civility towards me when I survey'd these Counties I must always gratefully acknowledge Not far from hence lyes Lhan Vâes Lhan Vâes a famous Cloister heretofore of the Friers minors to which the Kings of England have been bountiful Patrons as well on account of the devoutness and exemplary lives of the Friers who dwelt there as that I may speak out of the Book of Records because there were buried at that place a daughter of King John 2 Paâ—lâ—t Ann. 2 li â—â— a son of the King of Denmark the bodies of the Lord Clifford and of other Lords Knights and Esquires who were slain in the wars of Wales in the times of the illustrious Kings of England The Town of Newburgh Newbâ—rgâ— in British Rhosîr d is esteem'd next best to Beaumarish distant from it about twelve miles westward which having strugl'd along time with the heaps of Sand cast against it by the Sea has now lost much of its former splendour Abèr-Fraw Abèr-Fraâ— not far from thence tho' at present but a mean place waâ— yet heretofore of much greater repute than any of the rest as being the Royal Seat of the Kings of Gwynedh or North-Wales who were thence also styl'd Kings of Abèr-Fraw Near the western Cape of this Island which we call Holy-head Holy heâ—d there 's a small Village call'd in Welsh Kaer Gybi which receiv'd its name from Kybi a devout man and Disciple of St. Hilary of Poictiers who led here a religious life from whence there is a common passage into Ireland e Of the Islâ—nds adjoyniâ—g 〈◊〉 Aâ—gleâ—â—â— see an◠〈◊〉 the Bâ—â—â— Isles The other places of this Island are well planted with Villages which seeing they afford little worth our notice I shall now pass over into the Continent and take a view of Denbighshire There are in this Island
and Aldermen having sometimes been deceiv'd in their choice admit none into their Alms-houses but such as will give Bond to leave their effects to the poor when they dye a good example to other places The principal trade of the town is making Malt Oat-meal and Tann'd-leather but the poor people mostly support themselves by working of Bone-lace which of late has met with particular encouragement the children being maintain'd at school to learn to read and to work this sort of lace The Cloath-trade was formerly follow'd in this town but †â—in MS Leland tells us that even in his time it was very much decay'd They have several Fairs but one more especially remarkable beginning about nine days before Ascension-day and kept in a street leading to the Minster-garth call'd Londoner-street For then the Londoners bring down their Wares and furnish the Country-Tradesmen by whole-sale About a mile from Beverley to the east in a pasture belonging to the town is a kind of Spaw tho' they say it cannot be judg'd by the taste whether or no it comes from any Mineral Yet taken inwardly it is a great dryer and wash d in dries scoâ—butick scurf and all sorts of scabs and also very much helps the King 's Evil. h At the mouth of the river Hull is Kingston Kingâ—â—â— upon Hâ—â—â— call'd in all writings of Concernment Kingston super Hull The walls and town-ditch were made by leave from King Edward 2. but Richard 2. gave them the present haven which now it 's fear'd will shortly be warp'd up at the mouth if speedy care be not taken about it 'T is a town very considerable for merchandise being the scale of trade to York Leeds Nottingham Gainsborough and several other places as also for importing goods from beyond sea And for the better convenience of managing their trade they have an Exchange for Merchants built in 1621. and much beautify'd in 1673. Above that is the Custom-house and near these the Wool-house made use of formerly without all doubt for the selling and weighing of wool as well as lead but now only for the latter when 't is to be sold or ship'd here On the east-side of the river is built a strong Citadel begun in the year 1681. and including the Castle and south-blockhouse It hath convenient apartments for lodging a good many souldiers with distinct houses for the Officers has also an engine for making salt-water fresh and is well-furnish'd with Ordnance But yet the strength of the town does not consist so much in it's walls or fortifications as it 's situation for all the Country being a perfect level by cutting the sea-banks they can let in the â—â—ood and lay it for five miles round under water Which the Governour of the place at the late Revolution had designed to do if the then Prince of Orange had landed there as was once thought For he had caus'd several Flood-gates to be made and pitch'd upon certain places about the town and on the bank of Humber for cutting The town hath two Churches one call'd the High-Church a very spacious and beautiful building on the south-side of the Quire whereof is a place now alter'd into a neat Library consisting mostly of modern books The other is the Low-Church the steeple whereof Henry 8. is said to have order'd to be pull'd down to the ground because it spoil'd the prospect of his house over against it wherein he had his residence for some months An. 1538. Near the High Church is the Free-school first founded by John Aâ—â—â—ck Bishop of Worcester and then of Ely and in the year 1583. built by Mr. William Gee with the Merchants Hall over it North-west of the said Church is the Trinity-house begun at first by a joint contribution of well-disposed persons for the relief of distressed Sea-men and their wives But afterward they got a Patent from the Crown with several privileges by the advantage of which they maintain mâ—ny distressed Sea-men with their widows both aâ— Hull and other places members of the Port of Hull The Government is by twelve elder brethren with six Assistants out of the twelve by the major vote of them and of the 6 Assistants and the younger brethren are annually chose two Wardens and two Stewards out of the younger brethren These Governours have a power to determine matters in sea-affairs not contrary to Law chiefly between Masters and Sea-men and also in Tryals at law in sea-affairs their judgments are much regarded But here take the accurate description of this place as I had it from the curious and ingenious Mr. Ray who actually view'd it The Trinity-house belongs to a Society of Merchants and is endow'd with good revenues There are maintained 30 poor Women called Sisters each of whom hath a little chamber or cell to live in The building consists of a chapel two rows of chambers beneath stairs for the sisters and two rooms above stairs one in which the brethren of the Society have their meetings and another large one wherein they make sails with which the town drives a good trade In the midst of this room hangs the effigies of a native of Groenland with a loose skin-coat upon him sitting in a small boat or Canoe cover'd with skins and having his lower part under deck For the boat is deck'd or cover'd above with the same whereof it is made having only a round hole fitted to his body through which he puts down his legs and lower parts into the boat He had in his right-hand as I then thought a pair of wooden oars whereby he rowed and managed his boat and in his left a dart with which he strikes fishes But it appearing by the Supplement to the North-East Voyages lately publish'd that they have but one oar about six foot long with a paddle six inches broad at either end I am inclin'd to think that the boat hanging so high I might be mistaken The same book has given us an account of their make to which I refer you This on his forehead had a bonnet like a trencher to fence his eyes from sun or water Behind him lay a bladder or bag of skins in which I supposed he bestowed the fish he caught Some told us it was a bladder full of oyl wherewith he allured the fish to him This is the same individual Canoe that was taken in the year 1613. by Andrew Barkar with all its furniture and boat man The Groenlander that was taken refused to eat and died within three days after I have since seen several of these boats in publick Town-houses and Cabinets of the Virtuosi Here I cannot but reflect upon and admire the hardiness and audaciousness of these petty water-men who dare venture out to sea single in such pitiful vessels as are not sufficient to support much more than the weight of one man in the water and which if they happen to be over-turned the rower must needs be lost And a wonder it is to me that
which they still keep of which leader they are to this day called Dalreudini Dalreudini for in their language Dal Dal. signifies a part And a little after Ireland says he is the proper Country of the Scots for being departed out of it they added unto the Britons and Picts a 3d Nation in Britain And there is a very good Arm of the sea or a bay that antiently divided the Nation of the Britons from the Picts which from the West breaketh a great way into the Land and there to this day standeth the strongest City of the Britons call'd Alcluith In the Northern part of which bay the Scots whom I now mentioned when they came got themselves room to settle in Of that name Dalreudin there are now extant no remains that I know of nor any mention of it in Writers unless it be the same with Dalrieta Dalrieâ—â— For in an old little book of the Division of Albany we read of one Kinnadius who 't is certain was a King of Scotland and subdu'd the Picts in these very words Kinnadius two years before he came into Pictavia so it calls the country of the Picts enter'd upon the government of Dalrieta Also there is mention made in a more modern History of Dalrea Dalrea hereabouts where King Robert Brus fought a battle with ill success K. James the 4. with consent of the States of the Kingdom enacted that Justice should be administred to this province by the Justices Itinerant at Perth whensoever the King should think convenient But the Earls themselves have in some cases their Jura Regalia who are persons of very great authority and of a mighty interest deriving their pedigree from the antient petty Kings of Argile through an infinite series of Ancestors and taking their sirname from their Castle Cambel But they are oblig'd to King James the 2. for the honour and title of Earl who as it is recorded created Colin Lord Cambel Earl of Argile Earls oâ— Argile in regard to his own virtue and the dignity of his Family Whose Posterity by the favour of their Kings have been a good while General Justices of the Kingdom of Scotland or according to their way of expressing it Justices generally constitute and Great Masters of the King's Houshold e CANTIRE LOgh-Finn Logh-Finn a Lake that in the season produces incredible sholes of herrings divides Argile from a Promontory which for about 30 miles together growing by little and little into a sharp point thrusts it self with such a seeming earnestness towards Ireland separated from it by a narrow streight of scarce 13 miles as if it would call it over to it Ptolemy names this the Promontory of the Epidii Epidium between which name and the Islands Ebudae opposite to it methinks there is some affinity It is now called in Irish which language they use in all this Tract Can-tyre that is the Land's head 'T is inhabited by the family of Mac-Conell very powerful here but yet at the command of the Earl of Argile they sometimes in their Vessels make excursions for booty into Ireland and have possessed themselves of those little Provinces they call Glines and Rowte This Promontory lieth close to Knapdale by so small a neck of land being scarce a mile over and sandy too that the Sea-men by a short cut as it were transport their vessels over land from the Ocean to Logh-Finn Which a man would sooner beelieve than that the Argonautes laid their Argos upon their shoulders and carried it along with them 500 miles 10 From Aemonia to the shores of Thessalia f LORN SOmewhat higher lies Lorn towards the North a Country producing the best Barley divided by Logh-Leave a vast Lake upon which stands Berogomum Beâ—ogoâ—um a Castle wherein the Courts of Justice were antiently kept and not far from it Dunstafag that is Stephen's Mount antiently a seat of the Kings above which is Logh-Aber â—â—gh-â—â—â—r a Lake insinuating it self so far into the land out of the Western sea that it would meet the Lake of Ness which empties it self into the Eastern Ocean did not the hills which lie between separate them by a very narrow neck The chiefest place in this tract is Tarbar in Logh-Kinkeran where K. James 4. by authority of Parliament constituted a Justice and Sheriff to administer justice to the inhabitants of the Southern Isles These Countrys and these beyond them were in the year of Our Lord 605. held by those Picts which Bede calls the Northern Picts where he tells us that in the said Year Columbanus a Priest and Abbot Lib. 3. ca. 4. famous for the profession of Monkery came out of Ireland into Britain to instruct those in the Christian Religion that by the high and fearful ridges of mountains were sequester'd from the Southern Countrys of the Picts and that they in requital granted him m It does not appear that the Western-Isles belong'd to the Picts at that time so that they could not dispose of any part of them 'T is more probable that it was Hoia one of the Orkney-Isles the Island Hii lying over against them now call'd I-comb-kill of which in its proper place Its Stewards in the last Age were the Lords of Lorn but now by a female heir it is come to the Earls of Argile who always use this among their other titles of honour BRAID ALBIN MORE inwardly amongst the high and craggy ridges of the mountain Grampius where they begin a little to slope and settle downwards lies Braid-Albin n Now an Earldom in the family of the Campbels that is the highest part of Scotland For they that are the true and genuine Scots call Scotland in their Mother-Tongue Albin as that part where it rises up highest Drum-Albin that is the Ridge of Scotland But in a certain old Book it is read Brun-Albin where we find it thus written Fergus the son of Eric was the first of the seed of Chonare that enter'd upon the Kingdom of Albany from Brun-Albain to the Irish-sea and Inch-Gall And after him the Kings of the race of Fergus reigned in Brun-Albain or Brunhere unto Alpinus the son of Eochal But this Albany is better known for its Dukes than the fruits of its ground The first Duke of Albany that I read of 〈◊〉 of â—â—â—â—ny was Robert Earl of Fife advanced to that honour by his Brother K. Robert the 3. of that name yet he spurr'd on by ambition most ungratefully starved to death David this very brother's son and next heir to the Crown But the punishment due to this wicked fact which himself by the forbearance of God felt not came heavy upon his son Mordac or Murdo second Duke of Albany who was condemned for treason and beheaded after he had seen his two sons executed in like manner the day before The third Duke of Albany was Alexander 2. son of King James 2. who being Regent of the Kingdom Earl of
are not mentioned by old writers and therefore may be reasonably omitted here After these upon the same coast appears an Island which Antoninus calls Liga Liga a name which it still retains in that it has at this day being call'd Ligon Next to them lie seven Islands which Antoninus terms Siadae from the number for Saith in British signifies seven the French at this day Le set Isles These I take to be corruptly called Hiadatae by Strabo for he tells us it is not a days sail from these to Britain Seven furlongs from these Siadae lies BarsaÌ„ BursaÌ„ mentioned by Antoninus the French call it the Isle de Bas the English Basepole A view of the Ocean for bas in British signifies shallow and so the mariners find the sea here when they sound it Where the B itish sea is deepest For 't is hardly above seven or eight fathom deep here whereas in other parts of the coast they find 12 18 or 20 fathom water as we may see by their Hydrographical charts Between these Islands and Foy in Cornwall mariners find the sea to be very deep no less than 58 fathom or thereabouts in the Chanel From hence I will set sail for our own coast of Britain As we steer along by the shore after we have pass'd Ideston Mousehole and Long ships which are rather infamous rocks than Islands we come within sight of Antoninus's Lisia Lisia at the very utmost point of Cornwall called by the people thereabouts Lethowsow by others the Gulfe which is only visible at low water The Gulf Lisia by transposâ—â— makes Silia This I take to be that which the Antients called Lisia for Lis as I have heard among our Britains signifies the same So Liso implies a great sound and roaring like that which is made in whirlpools and from this place the tide presses both northward and eastward with great noise and violence being pent in and streightned between Cornwal and the Islands which Antoninus calls Sigdeles Sulpitius Sillinae Solinus Silures the English Silly the Dutch Seamen Sorlings and the ancient Greeks Hesperides and Cassiterides For thus Dionysius Alexandrinus names them from their western situation in those verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which Priscian translates thus Sed * Sacrum promentonum summam contra Sacram cognomine dicunt Quam caput Europe sunt stanni pondere plenae Hesperides populus tenuit quas fortis Iberi Against the sacred cape great Europe 's head Th' Hesperides along the Ocean spread With mines of tin and wealthy hills abound And stout Iberians till the fertile ground Festus Avienus calls them the Ostrymnides in his Poem De oris Maritimis wherein he has these verses according to the Paris edition and the notes upon it In quo insulae sese exerunt Oestrymides Laxè jacentes metallo divites Stanni atque plumbi multa vis hic gentis est Superbus animus efficax solertia Negotiandi cura juris omnibus * Non usqâ—â— novibus we read in the notes of Parâ— Nolusque cumbis turbidum latè fretum Et belluosi gurgitem Oceani secant Non hi carinas quippe pinu texere Facere morem non abiete ut usus est Curvant phasello sed rei ad miraculum Navigia junctis semper aptant pellibus Corioque vastum saepe percurrunt salem Where the wide Isles Oestrymnides are seen Enrich'd with deepest veins of lead and tin Stout are the natives and untam'd in war Gain is their study trade their only care Yet not in ships they try the watry road And rouze the shapeless monsters of the flood For neither Gallies of the lofty pine They know to frame nor weaker maple join In shallow barks but skins to skins they few Secure in these to farthest parts they go And pathless seas with keels of leather plow Such also were us'd upon this coast in the year 914. For we read of certain pious men transferr'd from Ireland into Cornwal in a Carab or Caroch which was made of two hides and a half Thus also the same Avienus tells of these Islands in another place afterwards Tartesisque in terminos Oestrymnidum Negotiandi mos erat Carthaginis Etiam colonis Oft the Tartessians thro' the well known seas Would sail for traffick to th' Oestrymnides And Carthaginians too Other Greek writers called these the Cassiterides from the Tinne as Strabo calls a certain place among the Drangi in Asia Cassiteron for the same reason and Stephanus in his book de Urbibus observes from Dionysius that a certain Island in the Indian sea was called Cassitera from Tinne As for Mictis which Pliny upon the authority of Timaeus says is six days sail inward from Britain and produces white lead I dare hardly affirm it was one of these Yet I am not ignorant that the learned Hermolaus Barbarus found some MSS. that have it Mitteris for Mictis and thereupon would read Cartiteris However I may warrant these both from the authority of the Ancients from the situation and from the veins of Tinn in them to be the very Cassiterides so much sought for Over against the Artabri on the north says Strabo which are opposite to the west parts of Britain lie those Islands which they call Cassiterides situate as it were in the same Climate with Britain Thus also in another place The Sea is much wider between Spain and the Cassiterides than between the Cassiterides and Britain The Cassiterides look towards the coast of Celtiberia saith Solinus Diodorus Siculus In those Islands next the Iberian Sea call'd from the Tinn Cassiterides Eustathius the Cassiterides are ten Islands lying close by one another northward Now considering that these Isles of Silly are opposite to the Artibri i.e. Gallilia in Spain that they bend directly to the north from them that they lie in the same clime with Britain that they look towards the coast of Celtiberia that the sea is much broader between them and Spain than between them and Britain that they lie just upon the Iberian Sea and close to one another northward that there are only ten of them of any note viz. Saint Maries Aniuth Agnes Sumpson Silly Brefer Rusco or Trescaw Saint Helens Saint Martins and Arthur again considering this which is more material that they have veins of Tinn as no other Isle besides has in this tract and lastly that two of the lesser sort Minan-Witham and Minuisisand seem to derive their names from mines I should from all this rather take these for the Cassiterides than either the Azores which lie too far westward or Cisarga as Olivarius does which in a manner joyns to Spain or even Britain it self as Ortelius does since there were many of the Cassiterides and Dionysius Alexandrinus after he has treated of the Cassiterides gives a separate account of Britain If any deny these to be the
declares himself not well satisfied whether the ancient Britains had any records or writings at all wherein they had transmitted their history and original to posterity And therefore he plainly confesses That he took all out of foreign writers and not out of any writings or records lâ—ft by his own country-men For if there ever had been any such they were in his time quite lost having either been burnt by the enemy at home or carried away by the exiles into foreign parts Ninius also disciple of Eluodugus in the preface to his Chronicle written 800 years since complains That the greatest Scholars among the Britains had but little learning and that they had left no memorials And confesseth that whatsoever he had written was collected out of the Annals and Chronicles of the Holy Fathers They also argue That Bede William of Malmsbury and all the rest who wrote before the year 1160 seem not to have ever heard so much as the name of our Brutus there is as to this particular in all their writings such an universal silence They observe farther that the very name of this Brutus was a stranger to the world untill a most barbarous and ignorant age gave an opportunity to one Hunnibald a trifling writer to obtrude his Francio a Trojan Son to King Priam as the Founder of the French name and nation Hence they conclude that when our country-men had once heard that their neighbours the French derived their pedigree from the Trojans they thought it below them to to come behind a people in descent whom they equaled in valour And hereupon 400 years ago our Geoffry ap Arthur of Monmouth first of all gratify'd the Britains with this Brutus as Founder of the British Nation and feigned him not only of a Trojan but also of a divine extraction Before which time they urge that there never was any the the least mention made of such a man as Brutus They add moreover that much about the same time Scotch writers set up their fictitious k The Irish and Scotch in the business of Pharaoh's daughter should not be made two different nations See Ogyg p. 69. 344. c. 12. pag. 463. Usher Primord Cap. 16. Scota Daughter of Pharaoh King of Egypt as the Foundress of their Nation That thereabouts too some persons abusing their parts and mis-spending their time without any ground of truth forged for the Irish their Hiberus for the Danes their Danus for the Brabanders their Brabo for the Goths their Gothus for the Saxons their Saxo as the Founders of their several nations But now this our more knowing age hath discovered all these Impostures and since the French have rejected their Francio as a meer counterfeit The French saith the most learned Turnebus when they lay claim to a Trojan original do it purely in emulation of the Romans For when they saw this people so much build upon that as the most noble pedigree they thought it convenient to invest themselves in the same honour Since also the most sober and thinking part of the Scots have cast off their Scota and the force of Truth it self hath at last entirely prevailed against that Hiberus Danus Brabo and all the rest of these mock-princes they much wonder why the Britains should so fondly adhere to their Brutus as the original of their Island 's name and to their Trojan extraction as if there had been no Britains here before the destruction of Troy which happen'd about 1000 years after the deluge or as if there had not lived many valiant men in the world before Agamemnon Farther yet they tell us that the greatest part of learned Authors as Boccatius Vives Hadrianus Junius Polydore Buehanan Vignier Genebrardus Molinaeus Bodinus and other persons of great judgment do unanimously affirm that there never was such a man as this Brutus Nay more that very many of our Country-men persons eminent for their learning reject him as a meer Impostor Among whom in the first place they produce John of Wheathamsted He lived about the year 1440. Abbot of St. Albans a man of excellent judgment who wrote long ago concerning this matter in his Granarium According to other historâ—s which in the judgment of some men deserve much more credit the whâ—le relation concerning Brutus is rather poetical than historical and upon several accounts rather fanciful than real As first we find no where in the Roman Histories the least mention either of the killing of the father or of the begetting or banishment of the son Secondly Ascanius according to several authors had no son whose proper name was Silvius For they give us an account but of one that he ever had to wit Julius from whom afterward the Julian family had its original c. And thirdly Silvius Posthumus whom possibly Geoffry may mean was the Son of Aeneas by his wife Lavinia and he having had a son named Aeneas in the 38th year of his Reign ended his life not by any mischance but by a natural death By all which circumstances it is apparent that that Kingdom which is now called England was not heretofore named Britain from Brutus the son of Silvius as many will have it But others look upon the whole as no other than a ridiculous piece of foppery and vanity to lay claim to this nobility of descent when we cannot ground our pretence upon any probable foundation 'T is virtue alone that gives nobility to any nation and it is a greatness of mind with exactness of reason that makes the true Gentleman Suitable hereunto Seneca in his Epistles tells us out of Plato That there is no King Epist 44. who was not extracted from slaves nor any slave that descended not from Kings Let this therefore be allowed the British nation as a sufficient evidence of their honourable original that they are couragious and resolute in war that they have been superior to all their enemies round and that they have a natural aversion to servitude In the second place they produce William of Newbourgh a much more ancient writer who in this rough language fixed the charge of forgery upon Geoffrey the compiler of the British history as soon as ever he had published it A certain writer started up in our days hath devised strange and ridiculous tales concerning the Britains and with a sort of impudent vanity hath extolled them far above the gallantry of the Macedonians or Romans His name is Geoffrey but he hath the additional one of Arthur too because he sent abroad under the honourable title of an history the Fables of King Arthur taken out of the old fictions of the Britains with some additions of his own which he hath coloured over with a little Latine The same man with yet greater boldness hath published as authentick prophesies and pretends to ground them upon certain truth the fallacious predictions of one Merlin unto which also in translating them into Latin he hath added a good deal of his own
invention And a little after Besides in that book of his which he entitles The History of the Britains how sawcily and bare-facedly he forges every thing is obvious to any one who reads it not altogether a stranger to the antient histories For such men as have not informed themselves of the truth swallow all Fables that come to hand by the lump I say nothing of those great adventures of the Britains before Julius Caesar's landing and government which he either feigned himself or handed down the fabulous inventions of others as authentick Insomuch that Giraldus Cambrensis Dâ—script Cambr. c. 7. who lived and wrote in the same age made no scruple to call it The Fabulous History of Geoffry Others deride Geoffry's foolish Topography in this narration and his counterfeited testimony of Homer and would persuade us that the whole story is a thing patched up of meer incongruities and absurdities They remark farther that these his writings together with his Merlin stand condemned among other prohibited books by the Church of Rome Others observe that the greatest admirers of this our Brutus are themselves still wavering and unresolved in the point That Author say they who takes upon him the name and title of Gildas and briefly glosseth upon Ninius in the first place imagineth this our Brutus to have been a Roman Consul in the next to have been the son of one Silvius and then at last of one Hessicion I have heard also that there is a certain Count Palatine very earnest to have our Brutus called Brotus because his birth was fatal to his mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek signifying mortal In the judgment of others these men might have bestowed on the Britains a more probable and yet a more illustrious original if they had drawn their descent either from Brito the Centaure mentioned by Higinus or from that Bretanus upon whose daughter Celtice according to Parthenius Nicaeus a very antient author Hercules begat Celtus the father of the Celtae and from which Bretanus Hesychius deriveth the word Britain Bretanus Thus I have laid before you the observations and opinions of other men upon this subject If I have any ways impaired the credit of that history concerning Brutus no man can reasonably quarrel with me for I hope in matters of this nature every man may be allowed the liberty of his own thoughts and of publishing those of other men For my part it shall never trouble me if Brutus pass current for the father and founder of the British Nation Let the Britains descent stand good as they deduce it from the Trojans I shall never contradict it nay I shall shew you hereafter how with truth it may be maintained I am not ignorant that in old time Nations had recourse to Hercules Lâ—vy in later ages to the Trojans for their originals And let antiquity herein be pardoned if she sometimes disguise the truth with the mixture of a fable and bring in the Gods themselves to act a part when she design'd thereby to render the beginnings either of a city or of a nation more noble and majestical For Pliny well observes That even falsly to pretend to a descent from illustrious persons argues some respect for vertue And for my part I readily agree with Varro the most learned of the Romans That these originals fetched from the Gods though in themselves false yet are at least thus far useful that men presuming upon a divine extraction may thereby be excited to generous enterprises and pursue them with a more than ordinary eagerness which makes them seldom fail of extraordinary success Augustin at Civitat Dei li. 3. c. 4. From which words by the way St. Austin gathers that the most learned Varro was inclined to think that all such opinions were really grounldess though he did not openly and expresly own it Since therefore men are not yet agreed either concerning the notion of the name or concerning the first Inhabitants of Britain and whether as to these points the truth will ever hereafter be more clearly discovered now it hath lain so long and so deeply buried I must declare my self extreamly doubtful I hope the reader will be inclineable to excuse me too if I modestly interpose my own conjecture without any prejudice to or against any person not in a contentious humour but as becomes a man that pretends only to discover truth which I am now doing with such a dis-interested zeal that even the just apprehensions of censure could not persuade me to desist Now that I may with the more ease and success discover the reason of this name if possible I will in the first place endeavour to find out as well as I can who were the first Inhabitants of this Island Though indeed these first Planters lye so close in the most hidden retirements of Antiquity as in some thick grove that there is but very small or no hopes of ever retrieving by my diligence what hath for so many ages past lain buried in oblivion To run up our enquiries therefore as high as we can omitting Caesar Diodorus and other writers who will have the Britains to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Aborigines home-bred and never transported from any other place imagining that mankind at first sprung out of the earth like mushromes we are informed by Moses in the sacred History that after the Flood the three Sons of Noah Shem Ham and Japhet after their issue were multiplied to a great number left the mountains of Armenia where the Ark had rested separating themselves into the several quarters of the earth and that by them the whole world was peopled It may also farther be proved as well by reason as by the authority of Theophilus Antiochenus that when their families came to be dispersed abroad by little and little some of their posterity at last arrived in this our Island Whereas says he in old time there were but few men in Arabia and Chaldea after the division of tongues they more and more encreased Hereupon some took their way toward the East others to other parts of the great and wide Continent others traveling towards the North seeking a place where to settle still marched on taking possession of all that lay before them untill they came at last even to Britain seated in the northern climates Moses himself doth also expresly assert the same when he informs us that the Islands of the Gentiles were divided in their lands by the posterity of Japhet The Islands of the Genttiles Divines do interpret to be those which lay farthest off and Wolphgangus Musculus a Divine of considerable repute is of opinion that the nations and families which descended from Japhet were the first possessors of the European Islands such as are saith he England Sicily c. Now that Europe fell to the share of Japhet and his posterity besides Divines Josephus and other Authors have delivered as their opinion To which purpose Isidore cites