Monastery and Diocess by the Expulsion of its Bishops as he had done the Archbishop Novis our Author's Kinsman for he also tells us that both at this time and long before all the Countries on the South part of Britain did then belong to King Aelfred's Dominions Hemeid with all the Inhabitants of South Wales and Rodri with his six Sons having subjected themselves to his Empire Howel also the Son of Rice King of Gleguising Brochmail and Fermail Kings of Guent being oppressed by the Tyranny of Eadred Earl of the Mercians desired of the King that he would please to take the Dominion over them and be their Protector against their Enemies Also Helised the Son of Teudyr King of Brechonoc being kept under by the power of the said Sons of Rodri sought the Protection of the King as did Anarawd the Son of Rodi together with his Brethren who all at last forsaking the friendship of the Northumbers by which they had received no advantage but rather damage came to the King desiring his favour and were honourably received by him Prince Anarawd being enriched with many great gifts submitted himself to the King's Dominion together with all his Subjects promising to be obedient in all things to his Royal Pleasure neither did they desire the King's Friendship in vain for those who loved to encrease their power obtained it those who desired Money had it those who only sought his Friendship enjoy'd it but all of them did partake of his kindness and protection as far as the King was able to defend them Then our Author further adds That after he had been with the King Eight Months he gave him a grant of Two Monasteries called Ambresbyri in Wiltshire and Banuwelle together with all that was there adding these words That he had not now given these small things but in order to bestow greater on him for some time after he gave him also Exancester now Exeter with all the Lands that belonged to it in West Saxony and Cornwal besides other daily presents too long here to recite which he says he does not relate out of vain Glory but to set forth this King's Liberality Note That by Excester he means only the Abbey Which also as well as his Piety was very great for the King had now order'd two Monasteries to be built the one at Aethelingey the place of his Retreat above-mentioned putting Monks therein of divers Nations because he could then find no Gentlemen nor Freemen of his own Country that would undertake a Monastic Life the other Monastery he built near the East-Gate of Shaftsbury for an Habitation for Nuns over which he made his own Daughter Aethelgova Abbess placing many Noble Virgins there to serve God with her in a Monastic Life All which being finished he then considered how he might further add to what he had already done and therefore being stirred up by the Divine Grace he Commanded his Officers to divide all his Yearly Revenues into two equal parts the first of which he allotted to secular Affairs distributing it to skillful Artificers and Architects who came to him from all parts far and near whom he discreetly rewarded giving every Man according to his Merit And the other half he dedicated to God which he Commanded his Officers to divide likewise into four parts so that one part should be discreetly bestowed upon poor Men of all Nations that came to him a second part was to be reserved for the two Monasteries which he had founded a third for that School which he had made up of many considerable persons of his own Nation as well as Foreigners And which is supposed to have been the University of Oxford And the fourth part was to be sent some Years to the Monasteries in West Saxony and Mercia and other Years to the Churches and Monks serving God in Britain France Cornwall and Northumberland nay as far as into Ireland to each of them by turns according to his present Abilities Nor did he only thus dedicate one half of his Revenues but also one half of the Labours of his Body and Mind to God's Service as hath been already declared Nor was he less exact in all things else he undertook for he was the Great Patron of the Oppressed whose Cause and Defence he almost alone supported having very little assistance from others since almost all the Powerful and Great Men of that Kingdom rather addicted themselves to Secular then Divine imployments and pursued every one his own private Interest without any consideration to the Common good but the King in his Judgments studied the advantage as well of the meaner sort as of the Noble or Great the latter of which did often times in the publick Assemblies of the Ealdormen and Sheriffs pertinaciously quarrel among themselves so that none of them would scarce allow any thing that was adjudged by the said Magistrates in their Courts to be Right and by reason of these obstinate dissentions divers of them were compell'd to appeal to the King which also both sides often desired to do for they found that he diligently enquired into all the Judiciary Sentences that were given throughout his Kingdom and if he found any injustice in them he forthwith sent for the Judges before whom such false Judgments were given and either by himself or else by some trusty Commissioners had those Judges examin'd to know the reason wherefore they had given such unjust Sentences and then enquired whether they had done this through Ignorance or else for Love Hatred or Fear or else for lucres sake but if the Judges protested and it was also found upon Examination that they had passed such Sentence because they were able to judge no better in the Cause then would the King with great moderation reprove their Ignorance and Unskilfulness telling them He wondred much at their presumption in taking upon them the Office of a Judge without having first duly studied the Laws and therefore enjoyned them either to lay down their Imployments or else mmediately to apply themselves to study them with more care Which when they had heard they took this reproof for sufficient punishment and betook themselves to study with all their might so that most of all the Ealdormen who were illiterate from their Youth rather desired to learn the Laws thô with labour then lay down their Imployments but if any one through Age or great incapacity could not profit in those studies he made either his Son or some near Kinsman read to him English Saxon Books when ever he had time repenting that he had not employed his Youth in those Studies and esteeming those Young Men Fortunate who could now be more happily instructed n all Liberal Arts. So far Asser hath given us a particular Account of this King's Life and Conversation both in publick and private But if Andrew Horne in his Book call'd The Mirrour of Justices a great part of which is supposed to be collected from divers ancient Saxon
That the Temple dedicated to Claudius was look'd upon as a Badge of their Eternal Slavery and the Priests ordain'd for it under a Shew of Religion seiz'd upon divers Men's Estates Nor did it seem difficult to destroy a Colony defended by no Fortifications which was but little fore-seen by the Roman Commanders who rather had studied their Pleasure than Safety To all which Provocations Dion also adds That Catus Decianus the Procurator endeavour'd to bring all Men's Goods under the Compass of a new Confiscation by disavowing the Remission of Claudius himself Lastly Seneca only in his Books a Philosopher having drawn in the Britains to borrow of him vast Sums upon fair Promises of an easie Loan and for Re-payment to take their own Time all on a sudden compell'd them to pay both Principal and Interest at once with great Extortion Which you will find in Tacitus expressed at large in a long Speech by the injur'd Britains Thus provok'd by the heaviest Sufferings and invited by Opportunity in the Absence of Paulinus the Icenians and by their Example the Trinobantes and as many more as hated Servitude rose up in Arms but of these ensuing Troubles many foregoing Signs appear'd among which the Image of Victory at Camalodunum fell down of it self with the Face backward as if she had turn'd to the Enemy And certain Women in a kind of Ecstasie foretold great Calamities to come In the Council-House by Night strange Noises were heard and in the Theatre hideous Howlings but in the River Thames horrid Appearances were seen as of a Colony destroy'd but what these were Dion tells us more plainly viz. That in that River there were discover'd the Ruins of Houses under Water Besides the Ocean seem'd of a bloody hue whilst at the Ebb appear'd the Shapes of human Bodies left upon the Sands All which as it rais'd in the Britains new Courage so in the Romans it caused unwonted Fears Therefore since Suetonius was now far off they desired from Catus Decianus some Assistance but he sent them scarce above Two Hundred Men and those ill Arm'd There was within the Town a moderate Garrison of Soldiers who trusted in the Strength of the Temple but some who were conscious of the intended Rebellion had perplex'd their Councils and hindred them from drawing any Line about the Place nor were the Old Women and Children turn'd out and the Fighting Men as they ought to have done only left behind Thus the Romans being secure as in the midst of Peace were circumvented by a Multitude of Barbarians so that all Places were quickly Spoil'd and Burnt at the very first Assault the Temple in which the Soldiers had gotten together held out Two Days but was at last taken The Britains being thus Victors marched out to meet Petillius Cerialis Lieutenant of the Ninth Legion then coming to their Succour they routed his Legion and killed all the Foot but Cerialis with the Horse escaped into the Camp which was defended by the Trenches Catus Decianus the Procurator whose Covetousness and the hatred of the Province that ensued upon it had been the Cause of this War fled like a Coward into Gaul But Suetonius not dismay'd with this sad News marched through his Enemy's Country to London which thô not honoured with the Title of a Colony yet was then famous for the great Concourse of Merchants and plenty of all Provisions where being arriv'd he was doubtful whether or no he should make it the Seat of War but having considered the small number of his Soldiers and taking warning from Cerialis he resolved to preserve the whole by the loss of this one City So that he was not moved by the Crys and Tears of those who implored his Protection from giving his Men the Signal of Departure only taking those into his Army who would or could march along with him they who through weakness of Sex or Age or love of the Place stay'd behind were destroy'd by the Enemy as was also Verulam a Roman Municipium or Free City For the Barbarians omitting Forts and Castles pillag'd the richest Places first and then went easily forward to others more eminent for Strength So that as it afterwards appear'd about Seventy Thousand Citizens with their Confederates in the Places above-mentioned lost their Lives None might be spared none ransom'd but they endeavour'd by Gibbets Fire Crosses and all other ways of Slaughter to return those Punishments they had suffered and prevent any Revenge that was to be taken upon them Dion here also adds That the Roman Wives and Virgins being hung up naked had their Breasts cut off and sow'd to their Mouths that even dead they might be seen to eat their own Flesh whilst the Britains Feasted in the Temple of Andate their Goddess of Victory Suctonius having then with him the Fourteenth Legion with the Standard Bearers of the Twentieth which together with the Auxiliaries made in all about Ten Thousand Men resolving to lay aside all Delays prepar'd to joyn Battel having chosen a Place accessable only by a narrow Lane and defended behind by a Wood knowing well enough that the Enemies could do nothing but upon his Front and that the open Plain was without danger of an Ambuscade he drew up the Legionary Soldiers in close Order and being defended on each side with the light Arm'd Men and the Horse that made both the Wings But the British Forces being drawn up here and there in smaller Companies and Squadrons appear'd a great Multitude being so fierce and confident of Victory that they carried their Wives along with them in Wagons to behold it which were placed in the outward Borders of the Field Let us here also add what Dion says of Boadicia the Widow of Prasutagus who chiefly stired up and perswaded the Britains to make this War upon the Romans Boadicia says he was a British Lady of a Royal Race who did not only Govern with great Authority in Peace but also order'd the whole War Her Disposition was more Masculine than became a Woman being of a tall Statute and a severe Countenance having a harsh Voice and yellow Hair which being let loose hung dishevel'd below her Wast wearing a great Gold Chain about her Neck and having on a loose Coat wrought with divers Colours and a thick Mantle button'd over it holding a Spear in her Hand Having now gotten together an Army of an Hundred Thousand Men which were drawn up ready to fight the Queen getting up on a high heap of Earth made a Speech to her Soldiers which since it is tedious and most likely to be made only to set out the Eloquence and Invention of the Author I shall pass over and shall rather give you what she is suppos'd to have said out of Tacitus as being shorter and more to the Purpose who relates it thus Boadicia carried her Daughters with her in a Chariot in which being driven about to every Nation that compos'd her
assistance to revenge their quarrel which happen'd the next Year as the same Authour relates For This Year not long before the Death of King Egfrid that Holy Man Cuthbert was by the same King ordered to be ordained Bishop of Lindisfarne thô he was at first chosen to be Bishop of Hagulstaed instead of Trumbert who had been before deposed from that Bishoprick yet because Cuthbert liked the Church of Lindisfarne better in which he had so long convers'd Eatta was made to return to the See of Hagulstad to which he was at first ordained whilest Cuthbert took the Bishoprick of Lindisfarne But I shall now give you from Bede a farther account of the Life of this good Bishop he had been first bred in the Monastery of Mailross and was afterwards made Abbot of the Monastery of Lindisfarne retiring from whence he had for a long time lived the Life of an Anchorite in the Isle of Farne not far distant but when there was a great Synod assembled King Egfrid being present at a place called Twiford near the River Alne where Arch-Bishop Theodore presiding Cuthbert was by the general consent of them all chosen Bishop who when he could not by any Messages or Letters be drawn from his Cell at length the King himself with Bishop Trumwin and other Noble and Religious Persons sailed thither where they at last after many intreaties prevailed upon him to go with them to the Synod and when he came there thô he very much opposed it yet he was forced to accept the Episcopal Charge and so was consecrated Bishop the Easter following and after his Consecration in imitation of the blessed Appostles he adorned his calling by his good Works for he constantly taught the People commited to his Charge and incited them to the love of Heaven by his constant Prayers and Exhoâ—tations and which is the chief part of a Teacher whatsoever he Taught he himself first practised so having lived in this manner about Two Years being then sensible that the time of his Death or rather of his future Life drew near he again retired to the same Island and Hermitage from whence he came The same Year also King Egfrid rashly lead out his Army to destroy the Province of the Picts thô his Friends and principally Bishop Cuthbert did all they could to hinder it and having now entred the Country he was brought before he was aware by the feigned flight of his Enemies between the streights of certain inaccessible Mountains where he with the greatest part of his Forces he had brought with him were all cut off in the Fortieth Year of his Age and the Fifteenth of his Reign And as the Year aforegoing he refused to hear Bishop Cuthbert who diswaded him from invading Ireland which did him no harm so Bede observes it was a just Judgment upon him for that Sin that he would not hear those who would then have prevented his Ruine From this time the Grandeur and Valour of this Kingdom of the Northumbers began to decline for the Picts now recovered their Country which the English had taken away and the Scots that were in Britain with some part of the Britains themselves regain'd their Liberty which they did enjoy for the space of Forty Six Years after when Bede wrote his History But Alfred Brother to this King succeeding him quickly recovered his Kingdom thô reduced into narrower bounds He was also a Prince very well read in the Holy Scriptures The same Year as the Saxon Annals relate Kentwin King of the West-Saxons dying Ceadwalla began to Reign over that Kingdom whose Pedegree is there inserted which I shall refer to another place and the same Year also died Lothair King of Kent as Bede relates of the Wounds he had received in a Fight against the South Saxons in which Edric his Brother Egbert's Son Commanded against him and reigned in his stead This Year also according to the Annals John was consecrated Bishop of Hugulstad and remained so till Bishop Wilfrith's return but afterwards Bishop Bosâ— dying John became Bishop of York but from thence many Years after retired to his Monastry in Derawnde now called Beverlie in York-shire This Year it rained Blood in Britain and also Milk and Butter were now turned into somewhat like Blood You are here to take notice that this Bishop John above mentioned is the famous St. John of Beverlie of whom Bede in the next Book tells so many Miracles But our Annals do here require some farther Illustration for this Ceadwalla here mentioned was the Grandson of Ceawlin by his Brother Cutha who being a Youth of great hopes was driven into Banishment by his Predecessour and as Stephen Heddi in Bishop Wilfrid's Life relates lay concealed among the Woods and Desarts of Chyltern and Ondred and there remained for a long time till raising an Army thô Bede does not say from whence he slew Aldelwald King of the South-Saxons and seized upon his Province but was soon driven out by two of that King's Captains viz. Bertune and Autune who for some time kept that Kingdom to themselves the former of whom was afterwards slain by the same Ceadwalla when he became King of the West-Saxons but the other who reigned after him again set it free from that servitude for many Years from whence it happen'd that all that time they had no Bishop of their own for when Wilfrid return'd home they became subject to the Bishop of the West-Saxons that is of Dorchester which return as the Author of Wilfrid's Life relates happen'd this Year being the Second of King Alfred's Reign who then invited him home and restored him to his Bishoprick as also to his Monastery at Rypun together with all his other Revenues according to the Decree of Pope Agatho and the Council at Rome above mentioned all which he enjoyed till his second Expulsion as you will hear in due time After Ceadwalla had obtain'd the Kingdom he subdued the Isle of Wight which was as yet infected with Idolatry and therefore this King resolved to destroy all the Inhabitants and to Plant the Island with his own Subjects obliging himself by a Vow althô he himself as it is reported was not yet baptized that he would give the Fourth part of his Conquests to God which he made good by offering it to Bishop Wilfrid who was then come thither by chance out of his own Country The Island consisted of about Two Thousand Families and the King bestowed upon this Bishop as much Land there as then maintained Three Hundred Families the Care of all which the Bishop committed to one of his Clerks named Bernwin his Sisters Son who was to Baptize all those that would be saved Bede also adds That amongst the first Fruits of Believers in that Island there were two Royal Youths Brothers who were the Sons of Arwald late King thereof who having hid themselves for fear of King Ceadwalla were at last discovered and by