at the Kings handes The King hearing the complaint ment to make correction of the fault but the Townesmen also had complained themselues to Godwine who determining vnaduisedly to defend his clients and seruauntes opposed himselfe violently against the King his Leige Lord and Maister To bee short the matter waxed within a while so hote betwéene them that either side for maintenance of their cause arraied and conducted a great armie into the field Godwine demaunded of the King that Eustace might be deliuered vnto him the King cōmaunded Godwine that armes laide aside hee would answere his disobedience by order of the Lawe and in the ende Godwine was banished the Realme by the sentence of the King and Nobilitie wherevpon hee and his Sonnes fled ouer the Sea and neuer ceassed to vnquiet the King and spoyle his subiects til they were reconciled to his fauour and restored to their auncient estate and dignitie This towne was so sore wasted with fire soone after the comming in of King William the Conquerour that it was wholly saue onely nine and twentie dwelling houses consumed and brought to ashes And in the time of King Edward the first also whiles two of the Popes Cardinales were here in the treatie of an attonement to be made betwéene England and Fraunce the Frenchemen landed at Douer in a right and burned a great part of the towne and some of the religious buildings So that in those times it was muche empayred by those misfortunes But nowe in our memorie what by decay of the hauen whiche King Henrie the eight to his great charge but that all in vayne sought to restore and what by the ouerthrowe of the religious houses and losse of Calaice it is brought in maner to miserable nakednesse and decaye whiche thing were the lesse to be pitied if it were not accompanyed with the ruine of the Castell it selfe the decay whereof is so much the more grieuous as the fame therof is with our ancient stories aboue al other most blasing glorious The Castell of Douer sayth Lidgate and Rosse was firste builded by Iulius Caesar the Romane Emperour in memorie of whome they of the Castell kept till this day certeine vessels of olde wine and salte whiche they affirme to be the remayne of suche prouision as he brought into it As touching the whiche if they be natural and not sophisticate I suppose them more likely to haue béene of that store whiche Hubert de Burghe layde in there of whome I shall haue cause to say more hereafter But as concerning the building bycause I finde not in Caesar his owne Commentaries mention of any fortification that he made within the Realme I thinke that the more credible reporte whiche ascribeth the foundation to Aruiragus a King of the Britons of whome Iuuenal the Poet hath mention saying to the Emperour Nero in this wise Regem aliquem capies aut de temone Britanno Excidet Aruiragus c. Some King thou shalt a captaine take or els from Bryttishe wayne Shall Aruiragus tumble downe And of whome others write that he founde suche fauour in the eye of Claudius the Emperour that he obtained his daughter to wife But whosoeuer were the authour of this Castell Mathewe Parise writeth that it was accounted in his time which was vnder the reigne of King Henry the third Clauis Repagulum totius Regni the very locke and key of the whole Realme of England And truly it séemeth to me by that which I haue read of King William the Conquerour that he also thought no lesse of it For at suche time as Harold being in Normandie with him whether of purpose or against his will I leaue as I finde it at large made a corporall othe to put him in possession of the Crowne after the death of King Edwarde It was one parcell of his othe that he should deliuer vnto him this castell and the Well within it The same King had no soner ouerthrowne Harolde in the fielde and reduced the Londoners to obedience but foorthwith he marched with his armie towarde Douer as to a place of greatest importaunce and spéede in that iourney as is already declared Not long after whiche time also when he had in his owne opinion peaceably established the gouernment of this Realme and was departed ouer into Normandie of purpose to commit the order of that countrie to Robert his sonne diuers of the shyre of Kent knowing right well howe muche it might annoy him to lose Douer conspired with Eustace the Earle of Boloine for the recouerie and surprise of the same And for the better atchieuing of their desire it was agréed that the Earle should crosse the seas in a night by them appointed at whiche time they woulde not faile with all their force to méete him and so ioyning handes soudainly assayle and enter it They met accordingly and marched by darke night toward the Castell well furnished with scaling ladders but by reason that the watch had discried them they not only fayled of that whiche they intended but also fell into that whiche they neuer feared for the Souldiours within the Castell to whome Odo the Bishop of Borieux and Hughe Mountfort which then were with the King in Normandie had committed the charge thereof kept them selues close and suffered the assaylants to approche the wall and then whiles they disorderly attempted to scale it they set wide open their gates and made a soudaine salie out of the péece and set vpon them with suche furie that they compelled Eustace with a fewe others to returne to his Shippe the reste of his companie béeing eyther slayne by the sworde destroyed by fall from the Clyffe or deuoured by the Sea. The same King also béeing worthely offended with the disobedience auarice and ambition of Odo his bastarde brother whome he had promoted to the Bishopricke of Borieux and to the Earldome of Kent for that he had not onely by rauine and extortion raked together greate masses of Golde and treasure whiche he caused to be grounde into fine pouder and filling therewith dyuers pottes and crockes had sounk them in the bottomes of Riuers intending therwithall to haue purchased the Papacie of Rome But also bycause he refused to render vnto him the Countie of Kent and was suspected for aspiring to the Crowne of this Realme consulted with Lanfranc the Archebishop of Canterburye and a professed enemie to Odo howe hée might safely and without offence to the Ecclesiasticall estate for that hée was a Bishoppe bothe conteyne that treasure within the Realme and also deteyne hys person from going into Italie whether warde he bothe addressed him selfe with all speede and gathered for his trayne great troupes of valiaunt and seruiceable men out of euerie quarter Lanfranc counseled the King to commit him to safe custodie and for his defence armed him with this pretie shift If it be layde to your charge quoth he that you haue layde violent handes vpon a sacred Bishop Say that you
speake of the fall you shall heare out of William Thorne one that made an appendix to the hystorie of Thomas Spot both Monkes of Saint Augustines the occasion of the first fabulous beginning of this Abbay Certain seruaunts or officers saith he of Egbright the third King of Kent after Ethelbert had done great iniurie to a noble woman called Domneua the mother of Saint Mildred in recompence of whiche wrongs the King made an Herodian othe and promised vpon his honour to giue her whatsoeuer she would aske him The woman instructed belike by some Menkishe counselour begged of him so muche ground to build an Abbay vpon as a tame déere that she nourished would runne ouer at a breathe Hereto the King had consented forthwith sauing that one Tymor a counseler of his standing by blamed him of great inconsideration for that he woulde vpon the vncertaine course of a Deare departe to his certaine losse with any part of so good a soyle but the earth sayth William Thorne immediatly opened and swalowed him aliue in memorie whereof the place till his time was called Tymor sleape Well the King and this Gentlewoman procéeded in their bargaine the Hynde was put foorth and it ranne the quantitie of fourtie and eight ploughlands before it returned And thus Domneua by the help of the King builded at Mynster within that precinct a Monasterie of Nonnes vpon suche like discretion you may be sure as Ramsey Abbay was pitched euen where a Bull by chaunce scraped with his foote and as Rome it selfe for whose fauour these follies be deuised was edified where the she Woulfe gaue Romulus and Remus sucke Ouer this Abbay Mildred of whome we spake the daughter of Meruaile that was sonne to Penda King of midle England became the Lady and Abbasse who bicause she was of noble linage and had gotten together seuentie women all whiche Theodorus the seuenth Bishop veiled for Nonnes she easily obteyned to be registred in our Englishe Kalender to be worshipped for a Saint both at Tanet while her body lay there and at S. Augustines after that it was translated And no maruell at all for if you will beléeue the authour of the worke called Noua Legenda Angliae your self wil easily vouchsafe her the honour This woman sayth he was so mightily defended with diuine power that lying in a hote ouē thrée houres together she suffered not of the flame She was also endued with suche godlyke vertue that comming out of Fraunce the very stone whereon she first stepped at Ippedsflete in this Isle receiued the impression of her foote and reteined it for euer hauing besides this propertie that whether so euer you remoued the same it woulde within short time and without helpe of mans hande returne to the former place againe And finally she was so diligently garded with Gods Angel attending vpon her that when the diuell finding her at prayers had put out the candel that was before her the Angel forthwith lighted it for her againe And this no doubte was the cause that the Religious persons of S. Augustines and of S. Gregories at Cāterbury fell at great dissention for her eche affirming that after the spoyle of Tanet her bones were remoued to their Monasterie the one clayming by King Canutus as we sayd before and the other deriuing from Archebishop Lanfranc who as they affirmed at the dotation of their house bestowed vpon it amongest other things of great price the translated reliques of Mildred and Edburgaes bodyes Howsoeuer that were they bothe made marchandize of her myracles and the Monkes of S Augustines perceiuing that by the dissolution of the Monasterie and the absence of the Saintes their towne of Minster in Tanet was falne to decay of verie conscience and for pities sake by the meane of Hughe their Abbat procured at the handes of King Henrie the first the graunt of a Market to be holden there whiche I wote not whether it inioyeth to this day or no. Thus much of the Isle and Mynster Abbay Now a worde or two touching Ippedsflete wherof I spake before and of Stonor another place within the Isle and then I will leaue Tanet and procéede in my iourney This Ippedsflete is the place wher Hengist and Hors◠the Saxon captaines came first on lande and it is of diuers Chronicles diuersly termed some calling it Ippinesflete others Heoppinesflete and others Wippedsflete These of the last sorte write that it tooke the name of one Wipped a noble man amongest the Saxons who onely was slaine on that parte when Aurel. Ambrose the leader of the Britons lost twelue of his principall chiefteins in one conflict In déede the name soundeth the place where Wipped or Ipped swymmed whiche I coulde haue agréed to be the same that is at this day called Wapflete in Essex the rather for that Ralph Higdē writeth that the Britons neuer inuaded Kent after the battayle at Craforde whiche was before this ouerthrowe that I last spake of Howbeit since the writer of our holy Legend layeth it in Tanet I am contented to subscribe In this Isle lyeth Stonor sometime a hauen towne also for in the reigne of William Rufus there arose a suite in lawe betwéene the Londoners and the Abbat of S Augustines then owner of the place as touching the right of the hauen of Stonor wherein by the fauourable aide of the Prince the Monkes as Thomas Spot their own Chronicler reporteth preuayled and the Citizens had the ouerthrowe Not long after whiche time they obteined of King Henrie the first a fayre to be holden yerely at this towne fiue dayes together before and after the feast of the translation of S. Augustine Nowe woulde I foorthwith leade you from the Isle of Tanet to the ruines of Richeborow sauing that the Goodwine is before myne eye whereof I pray you first hearken what I haue to say The Goodwine or Goodvvine Sandes THere liued in the time of King Edwarde commonly called the Confessour a noble mā named Godwine whose daughter Edgithe the same King by great instance of his nobilitie being otherwise of him selfe disposed to haue liued sole tooke vnto his wife By reason whereof not onely this Godwine him selfe being at the first but a Cowheards sonne and afterward aduaunced to honour by King Canutus whose sister by fraude he obteined to wife became of great power and authoritie within this Realme but his sonnes also being fiue in nomber were by the kings gyfte aduaunced to large liuelyhoodes and honourable possessions For Goodwine was Earle of Kent Sussex Hamshire Dorsetshire Deuonshire and Cornwal His eldest sonne Swane had Oxfordshire Barkeshire Gloucestershire Herefordshire and Somerset Harold helde Essex Norfolk Suffolke Cambridgeshire Huntingdonshire Tosti had Northumberland And Gurte Leoswine possessed other places c. But as it is hard in great prosperitie to kéepe due temperance for Superbia est vitium rebus solenne secundis So this man and his sonnes being puffed vp with the pryde of
dayes together And thus it stoode with the Portes for their generall charge in the sixte yeare of his reigne for then was this Chartre sealed But as touching the particular burthen of eche one I haue séene two diuers testimonies of whiche the first is a note in Frenche bearing the countenance of a Record and is intituled to haue bene renued in the two and twentie yeare of the Reigne of the same King by Stephan Penchester then Constable of Douer Castle in whiche the particular charge is set downe in this manner The Port of Hastings ought to finde thrée ships The lowie of Peuensey one Buluerhithe and Petit Iahn one Bekisborne in Kent seuen Grenche in Kent two men and armour with the ships of Hastings The towne of Rye fiue To it was Tenterdene annexed in the tyme of King Henrie the sixt The towne of Winchelsey ten The Port of Rumney foure Lydde seuen The Porte of Hythe fiue The Port of Douer ninetéene The towne of Folkstone seuen The towne of Feuersham seuen The Port of Sandwiche with Stonor Fordwich Dale c. fiue These Ships they ought to finde vpon fourtie dayes summons armed and arrayed at their owne charge and in eche of them twentie men besides the Maister of of the Mariners all whiche they shall likewyse maynteine fiue dayes together at their owne costes giuing to the Maister sixe pence by the day to the Constable vj. pence and to eache other Mariner iij. d. And after those fiue dayes ended the King shall defray the wages The other is a Latine Custumall of the towne of Hyde the whiche although it pretend not so great antiquitie as the first yet séemeth it to me to importe as muche or more likelyhode and credit It standeth thus These be the Fiue Portes of our soueraigne Lord the King hauing liberties which other Portes haue not Hasting Romenal Hethe Douer Sandwiche the chiefe Townes The seruices due by the same Hasting shal finde .21 ships in euery ship .21 men and a Garcion or Boye whiche is called a Gromet To it perteine as the members of one towne the Seashore in Seford Peuenshey Hodeney Winchelsey Rye Ihame Bekesbourne Grenge Northie Bulwerhethe Romenal 5. ships In euery ship .21 men and a Garcion To it perteine as members thereof Promhell Lede Eastwestone Dengemareys olde Rumney Hethe .5 ships as Romenal before To it perteineth the Westhethe Douer .21 ships as Hasting before To it perteine Folkstane Feuersham and Sainct Margerets not concerning the land but for the goods and cattailes Sandwich .5 ships as Romenal and Hethe before To it perteine Fordwiche Reculuer Serre and Dele not for the soyle but for the goods Summe of the Ships 57. Summe of the men 1187. and 57. Garcions This seruice the Barons of the Fiue Portes do acknowledge to owe to the King vpon summons yearely if it happen by the space of .15 dayes together at their owne costes and charges accounting that for the first day of the .15 in whiche they shall spread their sayles to goe towards those partes that the King intendeth and to serue so long after .15 dayes as the King will at his owne pay and wages Thus muche out of these auncient notes whereby your self may easely discerne the difference but whether the one or the other or by reason of some latter despēsation neither of these haue place at this day I must referre to them that be priuie of counsell with the Ports and so leauing this also vndecided holde on the waye wherein I am entred This dutie of attendance therfore being deuised for the honourable transportation and salfe conduct of the Kings owne person ouer the narrow Seas the Portes haue not onely most diligently euer since that time performed but furthermore also valiantly behaued them selues against the enemie from time to time in sundry exploits by water as occasion hath ben proffered or the necessitie of the Realme required And amongest other feates not vnworthy perpetuall remembrance after such time as Lewes the French Dolphen had entered the Realme to ayde Stephan Langton the Archebishop and the Nobilitie in the life of King Iohn and had sent into Fraunce for newe supply of souldiers after his death Hubert of Borough then Captaine of Douer following the opinion of Themistocles in the exposition of the Oracle of the wooden walles by the aide of the Port townes armed fourtie tall ships and méeting with eightie saile of Frenchmen vpon the high Seas gaue them a most courageous encounter in whiche he tooke some sounke others and discomfited the rest King Henrie the thirde also after that he came to riper age had great benefite by the seruice of the Cinque Portes And King Edward the first in his Chartre maketh their continuall faythfull seruice and especially their good endeuour then lately shewed againste the Welshmen the principall cause and motiue of that his liberall graunt Furthermore about the midst of the reigne of the same King a hundreth sayle of the Nauie of the Ports fought at the Sea with a fleete of .200 Frenchmen all whiche notwithstanding the great ods of the number they tooke and slewe and sounke so many of the Maryners that Fraunce was thereby for a long season after in manner destitute both of Seamen and shipping Finally and to conclude this part in the dayes of King Henrie the fourth the Nauie of the Fiue Portes vnder the conducte of one Henrie Paye surprysed one hundreth and twentie Frenche Ships all laden with Salte Iron Oyle and no worse Merchandize The priuiledges of these Portes being first graunted by Edward the Confessour and William the Conquerour and then confirmed and increased by Williā Rufus Henrie the second Richard the first Henry the third king Edward the first be very great considering either the honour and ease or the freedome and exemption that the inhabitaunts haue by reason of the same For they sende Burgesses to the Parleament whiche by an honourable name be called Barons They beare the foure staues of the Canapie ouer the Kings head at the time of his coronation and they dyne at the vppermost table in the great hall on his right hand They themselues be exempted from all payments of subsidie And theyr Heires fréed from wardship of body notwithstanding any tenure They bée empleadable in their owne Townes also and not elsewhere They haue amongst themselues in eache Porte their particular place of iustice and at Shipwey the general courte of their assemblie where the Lord Warden taketh his othe at his first entrie into the office where they ought of right to holde all their generall Plées also although they sit now for the moste part at Douer They haue power if iustice be not done them to take the inhabitaunts of other Townes and Cities in Withernam to gouerne Yarmouth by their Baylife for one season of the yeare to doe iustice vpon criminall offendours To holde Plée in Actions reall and personall to take Conusance by fine to
William Becley in the reigne of King Henrie the sixt But nowe lately to repaire the losse of that dissolution Maister Roger Manwoode a man borne in the Towne and aduaunced by vertue and good learning to the degrée of a Serieant at the Lawe hathe for the increase of Godlinesse and good letters erected and endowed a faire Free Schoole there from whence there is hope that the common wealth shall reape more profite after a fewe yeares then it receaued commoditie by the Carmelites since the time of their first foundation This only is that whiche I had to say either of the present or passed estate of this place whiche done I will procéede to the narration of suche other thinges as long since happened thereaboutes partly for the illustration of the antiquitie of the towne partly for the setting forth of the cōmoditie of the hauen but chiefly for the obseruation of the order whiche I haue beegonne whiche is to pretermitte nothing woorthie note that I finde in stoarie concerning the place that I take in hand But bycause that whiche I haue to say dependeth altogether or for the greater parte vpon the Hystorie of the Danes whiche many yeares together disquieted this land it shal bée fitte aswell for the better explication of the thinges presently in hand as also for the more easie vnderstanding of other matters that must hereafter followe to disclose so compendiously as I may the first beginning procéeding and ending of the Danishe affaires warres and troubles within this Realme Aboute the yeare after Christe seuen hundreth foure score and seuen thrée vessels of the Northe East Countrie men whose ancestors had before within the compasse of one hundrethe and fourtie yeares sacked Rome in Italie foure seuerall times and whose ofspring afterward wonne Normandie from the Frenche King shewed them selues vpon the westerne shoare of England being sent before hand as it is supposed to espie the cōmoditie of the hauens the aduauntage of arriual the wealthe and force of the inhabitants to the end to prepare the way for greater powers then were appoin to followe These had no sooner set some of their men on lande but the Reeue or officer or Beorhtricke or Brictricke then King of the West Saxons had knowledge therof who came vnto them and demaunding the cause of their arriual would haue carried them to the Kings presence but they in their resistance slewe him wherevpon the people of the Countrie adioyning addressed themselues to reuenge and assembling in great numbers beate them backe to their ships not without the losse of some of their company And this was the first attempt that euer the Danes for so our hystories cal by one general name the Danes Norwais Gottes Vandals others of that part made vpon England after whiche tyme what horrible inuasions miseries calamities and oppressions followed shall appeare anone Not long after this enterprise a fewe ships of them made the lyke assay in Scotland and within short space after that also some other of them entred Tynemouth Hauen in the North parte of England and taking some small booties retourned to their vessels Now by this experiment they had gained sufficient knowledge of that for whiche they first came therefore thinking it fit tyme to assay further they rigged vp a greater numbre of ships armed more store of chosen souldiers entred the Riuer of Thamise with fiue and thirtie sayle landed in despight of the people fired spoyled herried and preuailed so farre that Egbert who then had the Monarchie ouer all England was faine to come with all his power to the reliefe and rescue But suche was the will of God for the punishement of Idolatrie and superstition which then ouerwhelmed this Realme that the Danes in stead of being discomfited by the Kings repaire were merueilously encouraged by his misfortune For after that they had once gotten the better in the field against him they were so embouldened therby that notwithstanding he afterward and some other valiant Princes following by great prowesse abated their furie in parte yet adioyning themselues to the Britons that then were in great emnitie with the Saxons and swarming hither out of their owne Countrie in such flightes that the number of the slaine was continually supplied with greate aduauntage they neuer ceassed to infeste the Realme by the space of thrée hundreth yeares and more during the reignes of fiftéene seuerall Kings till at the last they had made Etheldred flye ouer into Normandie leaue them his Kingdome During all whiche time howe mightely their forces increased vnder Hinguar Hubba Halfden Guthrum Aulaf and Hasten their Nauie being rysen from thrée ships to thrée hundrethe and fiftie at the least howe pitiously the East West Southe and Northe parts of the Realme were wasted the townes Cities religious houses and Monasteries of eache quarter being consumed with flames howe miserably the common people were afflictted men women and children on all sides going to wracke by their tempestuous furie howe marueilously the Kings were amased the arriualles of these their enemies being no lesse sudaine then violent howe barbarously the monuments of good learning were defaced the same suffering more by the immanitie of this one brutishe Nation then by all the warres and conquestes of the Pictes Scots Romanes and Saxons and finally how furiously fire and swoord famine and pestilence raged in euery place God and men Heauen and the elements conspiring as it were the fatall destruction of the Realme I may not here stand to prosecute particularly but leauing eache thing to fitte place I will procéede with King Etheldred and so to my purpose This man aboue all other was so distressed by their continual inuasions that since he wanted force to make his longer defence he thought it best to giue money for their continuall peace And therefore charging his people with importable tributes he first gaue them at fiue seuerall payes 113000. l. afterward promised thē 48000. yearely hoping that for asmuch as they seemed by the manner of their warre rather to séeke his coyne then his kingdome to rob then to rule at the least this way to haue satisfied their hunger but like as the stone called Syphinus the more it is moisted the harder it waxeth so no giftes could quenche the golden thirste of these gréedie raueners but the more was brought to appease them the more stonie and inexorable they shewed thēselues neuer ceassing euen against promises othes hostages to execute their accustomed crueltie Herevpon King Etheldred hauing nowe exhausted the whole treasure of his Realme and therefore more vnable then euer he was either by power or praier to help himself or to relieue his subiectes determined by a fine policie as he thought to deliuer bothe the one and the other For whiche purpose by the aduise of one Huna the generall of his armie he wrote letters to eache part of the Realme commaunding that vpon S. Brices day which is the morowe after Sainct
Martins night the Englishe men should all at once set vpon the Danes before they had disgested the surfaite of that drunken solemnitie and so vtterly kyll and destroy them This his commaundement was receaued with suche liking entertained with such secreacie and executed with such spéede and celeritie that the Danes were sodainly in a manner wholly bothe men women and children like the Sonnes in Lawe of Danaus oppressed at once in a night only a fewe escaped by Sea into Denmarke and there made complaint of King Etheldreds boucherie For reuenge whereof Sweyn their King bothe armed his owne people waged forreigne aide and so preparing a houge armie tooke shipping and arriued first here at Sandwiche and after in the Northe Countrie the terrour of whose comming was suche that it caused the Countrie people on all sides to submitte them selues vnto him in so muche that King Etheldred séeing the cause desperate and him selfe destitute fled ouer into Normandie with his wife and children friendes familie After whiche his departure although both he him selfe returned and put Canutus the next King of the Danes to flight and Edmund his Sonne also fought sundrie great battailes with him yet the Danes preuailed so mightely vpon them that thrée of them in succession that is to say Canutus Haroldus and Hardicanutus reigned Kings here in England almoste by the space of thirtie yeares together so muche to the infamous oppression slauery and thraldome of the English Nation that euery Dane was for feare called Lord Dane and had at his commaundement wheresoeuer he became bothe man and wyfe and whatsoeuer else he found in the house At the lengthe God taking pitie vpon the people tooke sodainly away King Hardicanute after whose death the Nobilitie CoÌ„mons of the Realme ioyned so firmely and faithfully both hartes and hands with their naturall and Liege Lord King Edward that the Danes were once againe and for euer expulsed this Countrie in so much that soone after the name Lord Dane being before tyme a woord of great awe and honour grewe to a terme and bywoord of foule despight and reproche being tourned as it yet continueth to Lourdaine besides that euer after the common people in ioye of that deliuerance haue celebrated the annuall day of Hardicanutus deathe with open pastime in the streates calling it euen till this oure time Hoctuesday in steade as I thinke of Hucxtuesdaeg that is to say the skorning or mocking Tuesday And nowe thus muche summarily being saide as concerning the trueth of the Danes being here who ruled in this land almoste thirtie yeares and raged without all rule aboue three hundreth and fiftie I will returne to Sandwiche disclosing therein suche occurrents of the Danishe doings as perteine to my purpose In the yeare eight hundreth fiftie and one after Christ Athelstane the Sonne of Ethelwulfe King of Kent whome Mathewe of Westminster taketh or rather mistaketh for a Bishop fought at the Sea before Sandwiche against a great Nauie of the Danes of whiche he tooke nine vessels discomfited the residue Against another Fléete of the Danes whiche landed at Sandwiche in the yeare one thousand and sixe King Etheldred made this prouision that euerie thrée hundreth and ten Hydes of Land whiche Henrie Huntingdon Mathewe Parise and others expound to be so many plowlands should be charged with the furniture of one ship and euery eight Hydes should finde one iacke and sallet for the defence of the Realme By whiche meane he made redy a mighty nauie to the Sea But what through the iniurie of sudaine tempest and what by the defection of some of his Nobilitie he profited nothing King Canutus also after that he had receaued the the woorse in a fight in Lincolneshyre whiche drewe to his ships that laye in the hauen at Sandwiche there moste barbarously behaued himselfe cutting of the handes and féete of suche as he had taken for hostage and so departed al wrothe and melancholike into Denmarke to repaire his armie The same man at his returne hither tooke land with his power at this towne and so did Hardicanutus his sonne after him Furthermore in the dayes of King Edward the confessour two Princes or rather principall Pirates of the Danes called Lochen and Irlinge landed at Sandwiche and laded their ships with riche spoyle wherewith they crossed ouer the seas to Flaunders and there made money of it At this place landed Lewes the FreÌ„ch Dolphine that ayded the Englishe Nobilitie against King Iohn as we shall hereafter haue cause to shewe more at large Finally in the reigne of King Richard the seconde certeine Frenche ships were taken at the Sea whereof some were fraught with the frame of a timber Castle suche another I suppose as WilliaÌ„ the Conquerour erected at Hastings so soone as he was arriued whiche they also ment to haue planted in some place of this Realme for our anoyaunce but they failed of their purpose for the Engyne being taken from them it was set vp at this Towne vsed to our great safetie and their repulse Eastrye HAuing somewhat to say of Eastrye I trust it shal be no great offence to turne oure eye a little from the shoare and talke of it in our way to Deale It is the name of a Towne and Hundreth within the Last of Sainct Augustines and hath the addition of East for difference sake from Westrye coÌ„monly called Rye nere to Winchelsey in Sussex Mathewe of Westminster maketh report of a murther done at it which because it tendeth much to the declaration of the auncieÌ„t estate of the town I will not sticke to rehearse so shortly as I can After the deathe of Ercombert the seuenth King of Kent Egbert his Sonne succéeded in the kingdome who caused to be vertuously brought vp in his Palaice which was then at this Towne two young Noble men of his own kinred as some say or rather his owne Brethren as William of Malmesbury writethe the one being called Ethelbert and the other Etheldred these Gentlemen so prospered in good learning courtlike manners feates of actiuitie méete for men of their yeares and parentage that on the one side they gaue to all wel disposed persons and louers of vertue great expectation that they would become at the length men worthie of muche estimation and honour and on the other side they drewe vpon them the feare mislyking and vtter hatred of the naughtie wicked and malicious sort Of the whiche nuÌ„ber there was one of the Kings owne houshold called Thunner who as vertue neuer wanteth her enuiers of a certaine diuelishe malice repyning at their laudable increase neuer ceassed to â—lowe into the Kings eare moste vntrue accâ—sations against them And to the end that he might the rather prouoke the King to displeasure he persuaded him of great daunger toward his estate and person by them and for as muche as the common people who more commonly worship the Sunne rising then going downe
Norton Wilmus de Sutton For such as we call nowe Iohn Norton and William Sutton and amongst the Gentlemen of Chesshyre euen to this day one is called after their maner Thomas a Bruerton another Iohn a Holcrost and suche like for Thomas Bruerton Iohn Holcrost c. as we here vse it Thus muche shortly of mine owne fantasie I thought not vnmeete to impart by occasion of the name of Norwood and now forward to my purpose againe Leedes in Latine of some Lodanum of others Ledanum Castrum RObert Creuequer was one of the eight that Iohn Fynes elected for his assistance in the defence of Douer Castle as we haue already shewed who taking for that cause the Manor of Leedes and vndertaking to finde fiue Warders therefore builded this Castle or at the least an other that stoode in the place For I haue read that Edward thē Prince of Wales and afterward the first King of that name being Wardein of the Fiue Portes and Constable of Douer in the life of Henrie the third his Father caused Henrie Cobham whose ministerie he vsed as substitute in bothe those offices to race the Castle that Robert Creuequer had erected bicause Creuequer that was then owner of it Heire to Robert was of the number of the Nobles that moued and mainteined warre against him Whiche whether it be true or no I will not affirme but yet I thinke it very likely bothe bicause Badlesmere a man of another name became Lord of Leedes shortly after as you shall anone sée and also for that the present woorke at Leedes pretendeth not the antiquitie of so many yeares as are passed since the age of the conquest But let vs leaue the building and goe in hand with the storie King Henrie the first hauing none other issue of his bodie then Maude first married to Henrie the Emperour whereof she was called the Empresse and after coupled to Geffray Plantaginet the Earle of Angeow fearing as it happened in déed that after his death trouble might arise in the Realme about the inheritance of the Crowne bycause she was by habitation a straunger and farre of so that she might want bothe force and friends to atchieue her right And for that also Stephan the Earle of Boloine his sisters sonne was then of greate estimation amongst the noble men and abiding within the Realme so that with great aduauntage he might offer her wrong he procured in full Parleament the assent of his Lordes and Commons that Maude and her heires shoulde succéede in the kingdome after him And to the ende that this limitation of his might be the more surely established he tooke the fidelitie and promise by othe bothe of his Clergie and Laytie and of the Earle of Boloine him selfe Howbeit immediatly after his decease Stephan being of the opinion that Si ius violandum est certe regnandi causa violandum est If breache of lawes a man shall vndertake He must them boldly break for kingdomes sake Inuaded the Crowne and by the aduice of William the Archebishop of Canterbury who had first of al giuen his fayth to Maude by the fauour of the common people whiche adheared vnto him and by the consent of the holy father of Rome whose will neuer wanteth to the furtheraunce of mischiefe he obtained it whiche neuerthelesse as William of Newborowe well noteth being gotten by patterne he held not past two yeres in peace but spent the residue of his whole reigne in dissention warre and bloudshed to the great offence of God the manifest iniurie of his owne cousine and the grieuous vexation of this countrie and people For soone after the beginning of his reigne sundry of the Noble men partely vpon remorse of their former promise made and partly for displeasure conceiued bycause he kepte not the othe taken at his Coronation made defection to Maude so soone as euer she made her challenge to the Crowne So that in the end after many calamities what by her owne power and their assistaunce she compelled him to fall to composition with her as in the storie at large it may be séene Nowe during those his troubles amongst other things that muche annoyed him and furthered the part of Maude his aduersarie it was vpon a time sounded by his euil willers in the eares of the cōmon sort that he was dead And therewithall soudenly diuers great men of her deuotion betooke them to their strong holdes and some others seised some of the Kings owne Castles to the behalfe of the Empresse Of whiche number was Robert the Earle of Gloucester and bastarde brother to Maude who entred this Castle of Leedes mynding to haue kept it But King Stephan vsed against him suche force and celeritie that he soone wrested it out of his fingers King Edwarde the seconde that for the loue of the two Spensers incurred the hatred of his wife and Nobilitie gaue this Castle in exchaunge for other landes to Bartilmew Badelesmere then Lorde Stewarde of his housholde and to his heires for euer who shortly after entering into that troublesome action in whiche Thomas the Duke of Lancaster with his complices maugre the King exiled the Spensers bothe loste the Kings fauour this Castle and his life also For whilste he was abroade in ayde of the Barons and had committed the custodie thereof to Thomas Colpeper and left not onely his chiefe treasure in money but also his wife and children within it for their securitie It chaunced that Isabell the Kings wife mynding a Pilgrimage towards Cāterbury and being ouertakē with might sent her Marshal to prepare for her lodging ther. But her officer was proudly denyed by the Captaine who sticked not to tell him that neyther the Quéene ne any other shoulde be lodged there without the commandement of his Lord the owner The Queene not thus aunswered came to the gate in person and required to be let in But the Captain most malepertly repulsed her also in so much that shee complained greauously to the king of the misdemenour and he forthwith leuied a power and personally sumoned and besieged the peice so straightly that in the end through want of rescue and victuall it was deliuered him Then tooke he Capitaine Colpeper and houng him vp The wife and children of the Lord Badelesmere he sent to the Towre of London The treasure and munition he seised to his owne vse and the Castle he committed to such as liked him But as the last acte of a Tragedie is alwayes more heauie sorowful thē the rest so calamitie woe increasing vpō him Badelesmere him self was the yere folowing in the company of the Duke of Lancaster and others discomfited at Borowbrig by the Kings armie and shortly after sent to Canterbury and beheaded I might here iustly take occasion to rip vp the causes of those great and tragicall troubles that grewe betwene this King his Nobilitie for Peter Gaueston these two Spensers the rather for that the common sort of
reigne of King Henrie the first the King him self and a great many of the Nobilitie and Bishops being there present and assembled for the consecration as they call it of the great Churche of Sainct Andrewes the whiche was euen then newly finished And it was againe in manner wholy consumed with flame about the latter ende of the reigne of King Henrie the seconde at whiche time that newely builded Churche was sore blasted also But after all these calamities this Citie was well repaired ditched about in the reigne of King Henrie the third As touchinge the castle at Rochester although I finde not in wryting any other foundation therof then that which I alledged before recon to be mere fabulous yet dare I affirme that ther was an old Castle aboue eight hundreth yeres agoe in so much as I read that Ecgbert a king of Kent gaue certeine landes within the walles of Rochester castle to Eardulfe then Bishop of that See And I coniecture that Odo the bastard brother to king William the Conqueror whiche was at the first Bishop of Borieux in Normandie and then afterwarde aduaunced to the office of the chiefe Iustice of Englande and to the honour of the Earledome of Kent was eyther the first authour or the best benefactour to that which now standeth in sight and herevnto I am drawne somewhat by the consideration of the time it selfe in whiche many Castles were raysed to kéepe the people in awe and somewhat by the regarde of his authoritie whiche had the charge of this whole Shyre but most of all for that I reade that about the time of the Conquest the Bishop of Rochester receiued lande at Ailesford in exchaunge for grounde to builde a Castle at Rochester vpon Not long after whiche time when as William Rufus our Englishe Pyrrhus or Readhead had stepped betwéene his elder brother Robert and the crowne of this realme and had giuen experiment of a fierce and vnbridled gouernment the Nobilitie desirous to make a chaunge arose in armes againste him and stirred his brother to make inuasion And to the ende that the King shoulde haue at once many yrons as the saying is in the fire to attende vpon some moued warre in one corner of the Realme and some in another But amongst the reste this Odo betooke him to his castle of Rochester accompanied with the best both of the English and the Norman nobilitie This whē the king vnderstood he sollicited his subiects specially the inhabitants of this country by al faire meanes and promises to assist him so gathering a great armie besieged the Castle and strengthened the Bishop and his complices the defendants in suche wise that in the ende he and his company were contented to abiure the Realme and to leade the rest of their life in Normandie And thus Odo that many yeres before had béene as it were a Viceroy and second person within this realme was now depriued of al his dignitie driuē to kéepe residence vpon his benefice till suche time as Earle Robert for whose cause he had incurred this daūger pitying the cause appointed him gouernour of Normandie his owne countrie After this the Castle was much amended by Gundulphus the Bishop who in consideration of a Manor giuen to his Sée by King Williā Rufus bestowed thrée score poundes in building that great Towre whiche yet standeth And from that time this Castle continued as I iudge in the possession of the Prince vntill King Henrie the first by the aduice of his Barons graunted to William the Archebishop of Canterburie and his successours the custodie and office of Constable ouer the same with frée libertie to builde a Towre for him selfe in any part therof at his pleasure By meanes of which cost done vpon it at that time the Castle at Rochester was muche in the eye of suche as were the authors of troubles folowing within the realme so that from time to time it had a parte almost in euery Tragedie For what time King Iohn had warre with his Barons they gotte the possession of this Castle and cōmitted the defence therof to a noble man called William Dalbinet whome the king immediatly besieged through the cowardise of Robert Fitz Walter that was sent to rescue it after thrée monethes labour compelled him to render the péece The next yere after Lewes the Frenche Dolphine by the ayde of the Englishe Nobilitie entered the same Castle and tooke it by force And lastly in the reigne of King Henrie the thirde Simon Mountford not long before the battaile at Lewes in Sussex girded the citie of Rochester about with a mightie siege and setting on fire the wooden bridge a Towre of timber that stoode thereon wanne the firste gate or warde of the Castle by assaulte and spoyled the Churche and Abbay But being manfully resisted seuen dayes together by the Earle Warren that was within and hearing soudainly of the Kings comming thitherwarde he prepared to méete him in person and lefte others to continue the siege all whiche were soone after put to flight by the kings armie This warre as I haue partly shewed before was specially moued against strangers whiche during that kings reigne bare suche a sway as some write that they not onely disdayned the naturall borne Nobilitie of the Realme But did also what in them lay to abolishe the auncient lawes and customes of the same In déede the fire of that displeasure was long in kindeling therfore so much the more furious when it brast foorth into flame But amongst other things that ministred nourishment therto this was not the least that vpon a time it chaunced a Torneament to be at Rochester in which the English men of a set purpose as it should séeme sorted them selues against the strangers and so ouermatched them that following the victory they made them with great shame to fly into the Towne for couert But I dwel to long I feare in these two parts I will therefore nowe visite the Religious building and so passe ouer the bridge to some other place The foundation of the Churche of S. Andrewes in Rochester was first layd by King Ethelbert as we haue touched before at suche time as he planted the Bishops chaire in the Citie and it was occupyed by Chanons till the dayes of Gundulphus the Bishop who bycause he was a Monke and had hearde that it was sometimes stored with Monkes made meanes to Lanfranc the Archebishop and by his ayde and authoritie both builded the Churche and Pryorie of newe threwe out the Chanons and once more brought Monkes into their place following therein the example that many other Cathedrall Churches of that time had shewed before And this is the very cause that William of Malmesburie ascribeth to Lanfranc the whole thanke of all that matter for in déede bothe he and Anselme his successour were wonderfully busied in placing Monks and in diuorcing Chanons and Secular Priests from their wiues the whiche in contempte
Gregorie the Pope had appointed Mathew of Westminster saith that Merlin had prophecied Dignitas Londoniae adornabit Dorobriniam William Malmesbury writeth that he did it Sedulitate Regis hospitis meaning King Ethelbert châ—ritate ciuium captus But I thinke verely that he ment thereby to leaue a glorious monument of his swelling pride vanitie wherevnto I am the rather led by the obseruation of his stately behauiour vsed towards the Bryttish Bishops and some other of his acts that sauour greatly of vaineglory ambition and insolence Whatsoeuer the cause were that moued him thus to apparell Canterbury with the Archebishop of Londons Palle at Canterbury hath it continued euer sithence sauing that at one time Offa the King of Mercia or midle England partly of a disposition to honour his owne countrie and partly of a iuste displeasure conceaued againste Lambright or Ianbright as some copies haue it the thirtéenth Archebishop for matter of treason translated the honour of the See eyther wholly or partly to Lichefield But there it remained not long for after the death of King Offa Kenulsus his successour restored Ethelard to his place at Canterbury againe The whole Prouince of this Bishopricke of Canterbury was at the firste diuided by Theodorus the seuenthe Bishop into fiue Diocesse only howbeit in processe of tyme it grewe to twentie and one besides it selfe leauing to Yorke which by the first institution should haue had as many as it but Durham Carleil and Chester only And whereas by the same ordinance of Gregorie neither of these Archebishoppes ought to be inferiour to other saue only in respect of the prioritie of their consecration Lanfranc thinking it good reason that he should make a conquest of the Englishe Clergie since his maister King William had vanquished the whole nation conteÌ„ded at Windsore with Thomas Norman Archebishoppe of Yorke for the primacie and there by iudgement before Hugo the Popes Legate recouered it from him so that euer since the one is called Totius Angliae primas and the other Angliae primas without any further addition Of which iudgement one forsooth hathe yeelded this great reason that euen as the Kentish people by an auncient prerogatiue of manhoode doe chalenge the first fronte in eache battaile from the inhabitants of other countries So the Archbishop of their shyre ought by good congruence to be preferred before the rest of the Byshops of the whole Realme Moreouer whereas before time the place of this Archebishop in the generall Counsell was to sit next to the Bishop of sainct Ruffines Anselmus the Successour of this Lanfranc for recompence of the good seruice that hee had done in ruffling againste Priestes wyues and resisting the King for the inuestiture of clerkes was by Pope Vrbane endowed with this accession of honour that hee and his successours should froÌ„ thencefoorth haue place in all generall counsels at the Popes right foote who then said withall Includamus hunc in orbe nostro tanquam alterius orbis Papam And thus the Archebishops of Canterbury by the fraude of Augustine by the power of Lanfranc and by the industrie of Anselme were muche exalted but how much that was to the greeuous displeasure and pining enuie of the Archbyshops of Yorke you shall perceiue by that whiche followeth King Henry the firste kept vpon a time a stately Christmas at Windsore where the maner of our kings then being at certeine solemne times to weare their crownes Thurstine of Yorke hauing his crosse borne vp before him offered to set the crowne vpon the kings head But William of Canterbury withstoode it stoutly and so preuayled by the fauoure of the king and the helpe of the standers by that Thurstine was not onely disappointed of his purpose but he and his crosse also thrust cleane out of the doores William of Yorke the next in succession after Thurstine both in the Sée and Quarell perceiuing that the force of his predecessor preuayled nothing attempted by his own humble meanes first made to the king and after to the Pope to winne the coronation of king Henry the seconde from Theobald the nexte Archbyshop of Canterbury But when he had receiued repulse in that sort of suite also and found no way left to make auengement vpon his enemie he returned home al wrothe and mixing poyson in the chalice at his Masse wreaked the anger vpon himselfe After this another hurley burley happened in a Synode assembled at Westminster in the time of king Henry the second before Cardinal Hugo Pope Alexanders Legate betwéen Richard and Roger then Archbishops of these two Sées vpon occasion that Roger of York comming of purpose as it should séeme first to the assembly had taken vp the place on the right hande of the Cardinall which when Richard of Canterbury had espyed he refused to sit downe in the second roome complayning greatly of this preiudice done to his Sée whervpon after sundry replies of speache the weaker in disputation after the maner of shrewd schole boyes in LoÌ„don streats descended froÌ„ hote words to hastie blowes in which encounter the Archbyshop of Canterburie through the multitude of his meiney obteined the better So that he not onely plucked the other out of his place and trampling vpon his body with his his féete al to rent and tare his Casule Chimer and Rochet but also disturbed the holy Synode therwithal in suche wise that the Cardinall for feare betooke him to his féete the company departed their businesse vndone and the Byshops themselues moued suite at Rome for the finishing of their controuersie By these such other successes on the one side the Byshops of Canterburie following tooke suche courage that from thencefoorth they woulde not permit the Byshops of Yorke to beare vp the crosse either in their presence or prouince And on the other side the Byshops of Yorke conceiued suche griefe of heart disdaine and offence that from time to time they spared no occasion to attempt both the one the other Wherevpon in the time of a Parleament holden at LondoÌ„ in the reigne of King Henrie the third Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury interdicted the Londoners bycause they had suffered the Byshop of Yorke to beare vp his crosse whiles he was in the citie And much to doe there was within a few yeeres after betwéene Robert Kylwarby of Canterburie and Walter Giffard of Yorke bycause he of Yorke aduaunced his crosse as he passed through Kent towardes the generall Counsell The like happened also at two other seuerall times betwéene Friar Peckam Archebyshop of Canterburie and William Winkewane and Iohn de Roma Archbyshops of Yorke in the dayes of King Edwarde the firste At the length the matter being yet once more set on foote betwéene Simon Islepe the Archebishop of this countrie and his aduersarie the incumbent of Yorke for that time King Edward the third in whose reigne that variance was reuined resumed the matter into his owne hande and made a finall
composition betwéene them the which he published vnder his broade seale to this effect first that eache of them should fréely and without empeachement of the other beare vp his crosse in the others Prouince but yet so that he of Yorke and his successours for euer in signe of subiection should within two monethes after their inthronization either bring or sende to Canterbury the Image of an Archebishop bearing a crosse or some other Iewell wrought in fine golde to the value of fourtie poundes and offer it openly there vpon Sainct Thomas Beckets shryne then that in all Synodes of the clergie and assemblies where the King should happen to be present he of Canterbury should haue the right hand and the other the lefte finally that in broade streetes and highe wayes their crossebearers should go togeather but that in narrowe lanes and in the entries of doores and gates the crossier of Canterbury should go before and the other followe and come behinde So that as you sée the Bishoppes of Canterbury euermore preuayling by fauour and obstinacie they of Yorke were driuen in the end to giue ouer in the plain field for very dispaire wanhope and weerinesse But heare by the way I woulde faine for my learning knowe of these godly Fathers or rather since themselues can not now make answer of some of their vngodly fauourers whether this their Helena this crosse for the bearing whereof they contended so long and so bitterly that a man might doubt with the Poet Peceat vter Cruce dignius whether I say it were exalted as the signe of that Crosse whereon Christ triumphed ouer the Diuel or els but for a flagge and antsigne of their owne pride whereby they sought to triumphe and insult the one ouer the other And againe if it were Christes crosse then why they did forbid it to bee aduaunced at any time by any person or in any place Or if it were but their owne then why they did and yet doe commaund vs simple soules not only with greate humilitie but with diuine honour also to prostrate our selues and to adore it I am sure they may be ashamed to affirme it to bee the one I thinke they wil be ashamed to confesse it to be the other I wil ceasse therfore to vrge it any further wil prosecute the Catalogue of the Archebishoppes of this See since the arriual of Augustine In the which the first seuen be of that number which Pope Gregorie sent hither out of Italie The next twentie thrée and Stigande were Saxons all the residue Normanes Englishmen And bycause there is some variance as touching the times of their continuance and sitting I purpose to shew vnder one view the opinion of two sundrie authours so farre foorth as they haue spoken therof that is to say William of Malmesbury and an auncient Chronicler of Couentrie whose name I haue not hytherto learned and in the residue to follow our owne late and receaued writers The beginnings of their gouernements after the Annales of Canterbury The yeres of their Continuance in gouernment after the opinion of An. Do.  Wil. Malm. Chro. Couen 599. Augustine whome our Louanistes call the Englishe Apostle 16. 16. 612. Laurence 5. 5. 617. Mellite 5. 5. 624. Iustus 3. 9. 626. Honorius 26. 20. 653. Deusdedit or Deodat the first Saxon. 10. 9.  Wighard whiche dyed at Rome before his consecration   668. Theodore a Graecian borne and the last of those that came out of Italie 22. 22. 691. Brightwald 37. 38. 731. Tatwine 3. 4. 737. Nothelinus or Iocelin 5. 7. 741. Cuthbert the first that was buryed in Christeschurche and that obteined churchyards for England 17. 17. 759. Bregwine 3. 3. 774. Lanbright or Ianbright in his time the See was translated to Lichefield 17. 17. 790. Aethelwardus he recouered the See to Canterbury againe  23.  Wulfredus or Wifred 28. 28. 830. Fegeldus or Swithredus thrée monethes 831. Celnothus or Eilnothus 41. 41. 890. Etheredus or Etheldredus 18. 18.  Pleimundus one of the learned men that instructed king Alfred 34. 34. 925. Athelmus 12. 13. 947. Wulfhenius or Wulfhelmus 13. 14. 956. Odo or Odosegodus 5. 20. 958. Elfsius or Elfsinus or Elsinus whiche dyed before his consecration in his iourney towardes Rome in reuenge as they say bicause he came in by Simonie and sporned at the Tumbe of his predecessor    Brithelmus was elected but king Edgar reiected him   970. Dunstanus the famous Iuggler  26. 989. Ethelgarus 1. 1. 991. Siricius by his aduice King Etheldred gaue to the Danes a great summe of money 5. 5. 996. Alfricus   1004. Aelfegus hee was slaine by the Danes 6. 6. 1012. Liuingus or Ethelstanus 7. 7.  Eilwardus   1020. Egelnothus 18. 18. 1038. Eadsius or Edsinus who for siknes cōmitted the charge to Siwardus the Abbat of Abingdon after Bishoppe of Rochester whiche neuerthelesse vouchesafed not to finde him necessaries 11. 11. 1050. Robertus Gemeticensis the first Norman aduaunced by King Edward the confessor 12. 12. 1053. Stigandus deposed by the conquerour 17. 17. 1072. Lanfrancus in his time the Bishoppes Sees were first remoued from villages to Cities 19. 19 1093. Anselmus in his time lawe was first made to diuorce Priestes from their wiues 16. 16. 1114. Radulphus Roffensis surnamed Nugax  9. 1122. Willimus de Corueil he crowned Stephan against his fayth giuē to Maude the Empresse  15. 1138. Theobaldus he was endowed firste with the title of Legatus Natus by Pope Innocent the second  23. 1162. Thomas Becket the first Englisheman after the Conquest  8. Robertus the Abbat of Bec was elected but he refused it   1173. Richardus the Pryor of Douer  9. 1183. Baldwinus the bishop of Worcester he dyed in the expedition that king Richard the first made into Syria was before at great contention with the Monkes  7. Reginaldus he dyed before consecration   1193. Hubertus  13. 1205. Stephanus de Langton the cause of the trouble of king Iohn  21. 1228. Gualterus de Euesham elected but refused bothe by the King and Pope for the insufficiencie of learning   1229. Richardus Magnus  8. 1233. Iohannes the Sub-prior of Christs churche was elected after the Pope had refused one Ralph Neuel but this Iohn resigned in whose place Iohn Blund was chosen but that election also was repealed   1234. Edmundus de Abingdon the one twentie Bishop of Cant. that the Popes had canonized He departed the realme died for anger of a repulse  7. 1244. Bonifacius vncle to Elenor the wife of Henrie the thirde  16. 1270. Willelmus de Chillenden elected but he resigned to the Pope who chose Kilwardby   1272. Robertus Kilwardby Friar preacher  6. 1278. Iohannes Burnel Bishop of Bathe elected but the Pope refused him and appoynted Friar Peckam   1279. Iohannes de Peckam a friar Minor born in Sussex  13. 1292.
therof namely that One brother had wel helped another is woorde for woord stollen from thence for William whiche liued before Ealred reporteth that king Ethelstane by persuasion of one that was his cupbearer had banished Eadwine his owne brother for suspicion of treason and had committed him to the Seas and windes in an olde shaken and fraile vessel without saile oare or companion saue one Esquier only in whiche exile he perished and that afterward the King vnderstanding his brothers innocencie and sorowing his owne rashnesse tooke occasion by sight of his cupbearers foote slipping to be auenged of the false accusation euen as it is here tolde of King Edward But Ealred forsoothe was so fully disposed to magnifie King Edward bycause he so muche magnified the Monkishe and single life that he sticked not at greater matters then this affirming boldely that the same King while he hearde Masse at Westminster sawe betwéene the Priestes handes Christe blessing him with his fingers That at another Masse he sawe the seuen sleapers at Ephesus turne them selues on the one side after they had sleapt seuentie yeares together on the other which séeing it was within fiue yeares of so many as Epimenides sleapt Ealred in my phansie is worthy to haue the seconde game at the whetstone Furthermore that S. Iohn Baptist sent to King Edward a King of Golde from Ierusalem whiche he him selfe had sometime before giuen to a poore man that asked almes of him in the name of S. Iohn And suche other matters of like credite whiche bothe for the vanitie of the things them selues being méete to haue place in Philopseudes of Lucian and for the desire that I haue to kéepe order I will pretermit and returne to my purpose Richeborowe in Latine Vrbs Rutupina in Saxon ReptacHester the name being forged as I coniecture either of the Bryttishe woord Rwyd whiche signifieth a net in token that it stoode by fishing or of Rwydd whiche signifieth speede bycause from thence as some thinke is the moste shorte and speedy cutte ouer the Seas MAthew the Monke of Westminster Authour of the woorke called Flores Hystoriarum taketh the place whiche Beda Ptolome and others call Rutupi to be Sandwiche and therefore he applieth to the one whatsoeuer he findeth of the other but bicause Iohn Leland a man generally acquainted with the antiquities of the Realme affirmeth in his worke whiche hee intituled Syllabus in Genethliacon Eaduerdi Rutupi to haue been where Richeborowe now is to whiche opinion I rather incline I thinke good to giue them seuerall titles and to speake of Richeborowe by it selfe leauing to fit place for Sandwiche also suche matter as of right belongeth therevnto The whole shoare of Kent therefore that lyeth ouer against Dunkircke Calaice and Boloigne is of Caesar Iuuenal Lucan Ptolome Antoninus and others called Rutupiae or Rutupinum littus and that place of England whiche Beda taketh to be nearest to the Morines a people of Gallia Belgica whiche at this day comprehendeth Picardie Boloigne Artoys and some parte of the lowe countries is of Iohn Leland interpreted to be Richeborowe not paste halfe a myle distant from Sandwiche toward the East The same man also persuaded partly by the viewe of the place it selfe and partly by the authoritie of one Gotcelinus supposeth that Richeborow was of auncient time a Citie of some price and that it had within it a Palaice where King Ethelbert receiued Augustine As for the title of a Citie I doubt not but that if the ruines of the auncient walles yet extant or the remenants of the Romane coyne often found there did not at all inforce the likelyhoode yet the authoritie of Beda alone which calleth it plainly a citie would suffice But whether it were the Palaice of King Ethelbert when he entertained Augustine he that shall aduisedly read the first Chapter of Beda his first boke of the Ecclesiastical storie shall haue iust cause to doubt for asmuch as he sheweth manifestly that the King came from his Palaice in the Continent out of Thanet to Augustine Leland himselfe confesseth that Richeborow was then within Thanet although that since that time the water hath chaunged his course and shut it cleane out of the Island Now where some men as I said haue taken it to bée Sandwiche I take them to bee greatly deceaued For Richeborowe being corruptly so sounded for Reptsborowe hathe remayning in it the very rootes as I may speake it of Reptachester And Reptachester saith Beda and Rutupi Portus are all one So then Chester being tourned to Borow whiche be in deede two wordes but yet in manner of one signification and effect Rept and Riche haue ome affinitie the one with the other but neyther Riche Repta nor Rutupi can haue with Sandwiche any manner of similitude Thus muche of the name and antiquitie of this poore Towne whiche was in tyme of the olde Brytons of great price and the common Port or place of arriuall out of Fraunce whereof we finde no other note in latter hystorie either bicause the same was long since before the comming of the Saxons neglected when as the Romanes had lost their interest within this Realme Or else for that soone after their arriuall it decayed by reason that the water chaunged his course and lefte it dry So that nowe most aptly that may be sayde of this towne neare to the Isle Thanet whiche Virgil some time wrate of Tened it selfe Diues opum Priami dum regna manebant Nunc tantum sinus statio malè fida carinis A wealthy land while Priams state and kingdome vpright stoade But nowe a bay and harbour bad for ships to lye at roade But nowe I will make towarde Sandwiche the first of the Portes as my iourney lyeth and by the way speake somewhat of the Fiue Portes in generall The Cinque Portes I Finde in the booke of the general suruey of the realme whiche William the Conquerour caused to be made in the fourth yere of his reigne to be called Domesday bycause as Mathew Parise saieth it spared no man but iudged all men indifferently as the Lord in that great day wil doe that Douer Sandwiche and Rumney were in the time of King Edward the confessour discharged almoste of all maner of impositions and burdens whiche other towns dyd beare in consideration of suche seruice to bee done by them vpon the Sea as in their speciall titles shall hereafter appeare wherevpon although I might groūd by reasonable coniecture that the immunity of the hauē Townes which we nowe cal by a certaine number the Cinque Portes might take their beginning from the same Edward yet for as muche as I read in the Chartre of King Edward the first after the conquest whiche is reported in our booke of Entries A recitall of the grauntes of sundrie Kinges to the Fiue Portes the same reaching no higher then to William the Conquerour I will leaue my coniecture and leane to his
Chartre contenting my selfe to yéelde to the conquerour the thankes of other mens benefites séeing those whiche were benefited were wisely contented as the case then stoode to like better of his confirmation or second gift then of King Edwardes first graunt and endowment And to the end that I may proceede in some manner of array I will first shew which Townes were at the beginning taken for the Fiue Portes what others be now reputed in the same number secondly what seruice they ought did in times passed lastly what priuiledges they haue therefore by what persons they haue been gouerned If I should iudge by the commune and rude verse Douer Sandwicus Ry Rum Frigmare ventus I might say that Douer Sandwiche Rie Rumney and Winchelsey for that is Frigmare ventus be the Fiue Portes Againe if I should bee ruled by the Rolle whiche reciteth the Ports that send Barons to the Parleament I muste then adde to these Hastings Hyde for they also haue their Barons as wel as the other and so should I not onely not shewe whiche were the first Fiue but also by addition of two others increase bothe the number and doubtfulnes Leauing the verse therefore for ignorance of the authour and suspition of his authoritie and forsaking the Rolle as not assured of the antiquitie I will flye to Henrie Bracton a man bothe auncient learned and credible which liued vnder King Henrie the third and wrote aboue thrée hundreth yeares since learnedly of the lawes of this Realme He I say in the third booke of his worke and treatise of the Crowne taking in hand to shewe the articles inquirable before the Iustices in Eire or Itinerant as wee called them bycause they vsed to ride from place to place throughout the Realme for administration of iustice setteth foorth a speciall fourme of writtes to bee directed seuerally to the Baylifes of Hastings Hithe Rumney Douer and Sandwiche commaunding them that they should cause twentie and foure of their Barons for so their Burgesses or Townesmen and the Ciâ—â—â—â—ns of London likewise were wont to be termed to appeare before the Kings Iustices at Shipwey in Kent as they accustomed to doe there to enquire of suche pointes as should bee giuen them in charge Whiche done he addeth moreouer that for so muche as there was oftentimes contention betwéene them of the Fiue Portes and the inhabitants of Yarmouth in Norfolke and Donwiche in Suffolke there should be seuerall writtes directed to them also retournable before the same Iustices at the same day and place reciting that where the King had by his former writtes sommoned the Plées of the Fiue Ports to be holden at Shipwey if any of the same townes had cause to complaine of any beeing within the liberties of the saide Portes he should be at Shipwey to propounde against him and there to receaue according to lawe and iustice Thus muche I recite out of Bracton partly to shew that Shipwey was before King Edward the firsts time the place of assembly for the Plees of the Fiue Portes partly to notifie the difference and controuersie that long since was betweene these Portes and those other townes But purposely and chiefely to proue that Hastings and Hithe Douer Rumney and Sandwiche were in Bractons time accompted the Fiue principall hauens or Portes whiche were endowed with priuiledge Neither yet will I deny but that soone after Winchelsey and Rye might be added to the number For I finde in an olde recorde that King Henrie the third tooke into his owne handes for the better defence of the Realme the townes of Winchelsey and Rye whiche belonged before to the Monasterie of Fescampe in Normandie gaue therfore in exchaunge the Manor of Chiltham in Gloucester shyre diuers other landes in Lincolne shyre This he did partly to conceale from the Priors Aliens the intelligence of the secrete affairs of his Realme partly bycause of a great disobedience and excesse that was committed by the inhabitants of Winchelsey against Prince Edward his eldest Sonne And therefore although I can easely be led to thinke that he submitted them for their correction to the order and gouernance of the Fiue Portes yet I stand doubtfull whether he made them partners of their priuiledges or no for that had been a preferment and no punishment but I suspect rather that his Sonne King Edward the first by whose encouragement and aide olde Winchelsey was afterward abandoned and the now Towne buidled was the first that appareiled them wyth that preeminence By this therefore let it appeare that Hastings Douer Hithe Rumney Sandwiche were the first Ports of priuiledge which bycause they were Fiue in numbre bothe at the first gaue and yet continue to all the residue the name of Cinque Portes although not onely Winchelsey and Rye be since that time incorporated with them as principals but diuers other places also for the ease of their charge be crept in as partes lims and members of the same Now therefore somewhat shal be saide as touching the seruices that these Portes of duetie owe and in déed haue done to the Princes wherof the one I meane with what numbre of vessels in what manner of furniture and for howe long season they ought to waite on the King at the Sea vpon theyr owne charges shall partly appeare by that whiche wée shall presently say and partly by that whiche shall follow in Sandwiche and Rumney The other shal be made manifest by examples drawn out of good hystories and bothe shal be testified by the woordes of King Edward the first in his owne Chartre The booke of Domesday before remembred chargeth Douer wyth 20. vessels at the Sea whereof eache to be furnished with one and twentie men for fiftéene dayes together and sayth further that Rumney and Sandwiche aunswered the like seruice But nowe whether this like ought to be vnderstoode of the like altogether bothe in respect of the number and seruice or of the like in respect of seruice according to the proportion of their abilitie onely I may not hereby take vpon me to determine For on the one side if Rumney Sandwiche and the residue should likewise find twentie vessels a péece then as you shall anone sée the fiue Portes were subiect to a greater charge at that time then King Edward the first layd vpon them And on the other side if they were only chargeable after their proportion then know I not howe far to burthen them séeing the Record of Domesday it selfe bindeth them to no certeintie And therfore leauing this as I finde it I must elsewhere make inquisition for more lightsome proofe And firste I will haue recourse to King Edwarde the firste his Chartre in which I read that At ech time that the King passeth ouer the sea the Portes ought to rigge vp fiftie and seuen ships whereof euery one to haue twentie armed souldiers and to mainteine them at their own costes by the space of fifteene
of this gallant brought to shame and confusion his Pecockes feathers pulled his black féete bewraied his fraude vnfoulded his might abated and him selfe in the ende suffered to sayle ouer with sorowe and ignominie Besides this Pryorie of S. Martines which was valued at a hundreth fourscore and eight poundes by yeare there was lately in Douer also an Hospitall rated at fiftie nyne poundes An other house of the same sorte called Domus Dei or Maison Dieu reputed worth one hundreth and twentie pounds And long since a house of Templers as they call it the which together with al other of the same kind throughout the Realme was suppressed in the reigne of King Edwarde the seconde The foundation of any of these I haue not hitherto founde out and therefore can not deliuer therof any certaintie at all Onely as touching this Temple I dare affirme that it was erected after the time of Conquest for as muche as I am sure that the order it selfe was inuented after that Godfrey of Bolein had wonne Ierusalem whiche was after the cōming in of the Conquerour To these also may be added for neighbourhoode sake if you will the Monasterie of S. Radegundes on the hyll two myles off valued at fourescore and eightéene pounds by yeare And here hauing perused the Towne Castle and religious buildings I woulde make an ende of Douer saue that Mathewe Parise putteth me in mynde of one thing not vnworthy rehearsall that was done in this Temple I meane the sealing of that submission whiche King Iohn made to Pandulphe the Popes Legate wherin he yealded his Realme tributarie and him selfe an obedienciarie and vassall to the Bishop of Rome And bycause this was almost the last acte of the whole Tragedie and can not well be vnderstoode without some recourse to the former parts and beginning and for that some men of late time haue taken great holde of this matter to aduaunce the Popes authoritie withall I will shortly after my manner recount the thing as it was done and leaue the iudgement to the indifferent Reader After the death of Hubert the Archebishop of Canterbury the Monkes of Christes Church agréed among them selues to chose for their Bishop Reginald the Subpryor of their house King Iohn hauing no notice of this election wherein no doubt he receiued greate wrong since they ought to haue of him their Conge deslier recommended vnto them Iohn Graye the Bishop of Norwiche a man that for his wisedome and learning he fauoured muche Some part of the Monkes taking soudaine offence at Reginalde for that he had disclosed a secrete out of their house and being glad to satisfie the Kings desire elected this Graye for their Bishop also Hereof grewe a great suite at Rome betwéen the more part of the Monkes on the one side and the Suffraganes of Canterbury and the lesse number of the Monkes on the other side The Pope vpon the hearing of the cause at the first ratifieth the election of Iohn Graye Howbeit afterwarde he refuseth bothe the electes and preferreth Stephan Langton whom the Monkes bycause the matter was not before litigious enough elected also Nowe King Iohn hearing that not only the election of Graye contrarie to the Popes owne former determination was made frustrate but that there was also thruste into his place a man familiarly entertained by the Frenche King his great enemie disliked much of the choice forbad Stephan the elect to enter the Realme The Pope againe who as Mathewe Parise writeth sought chiefly in this his choice Virum strenuum a stoute man that is in plaine speache a man that could exact of the Clergie kéep in awe the Laitie and encounter the King and Nobilitie séeing his champion thus reiected beginneth to startle for anger first therefore he moueth the King by minacing letters to admitte Stephan not so preuailing he enterditeth him his whole Realme And finally bothe prouoketh al Potentates to make open warre vpon him and also promiseth to the King of Fraunce full and frée remission of all his sinnes and the kingdome of England it self to inuade him this done he solliciteth to rebellion the Bishops nobilitie and cōmōs of the Realme loosing thē by the plenitude of his Apos to like power from al duetie of allegiaunce toward their Prince By this meanes diuine seruice ceassed the King of Fraunce armed the Bishops conspired the nobilitie made defection and the common people wauered vncertaine to what part to incline To be short King Iohn was so pressed with suspition feare of domesticall forreigne enemies on al sides that notwithstāding he was of great and noble courage and séemed to haue forces sufficient for resistance also if he might haue trusted his souldiers yet he was in the end compelled to set his seale to a Chartre of submissiō wherby he acknowleged himselfe to holde the Crowne of England of the Popes Mitre promised to pay yerely for the same and for Ireland 1000. Markes to the holy father his successours for euer this Chartre because it was afterward with great insultation and triumph closed in Golde was then commonly called Aurea Bulla the Bull of Golde Thus omitting the residue of this storie no lesse tragical and troublesome then that which I haue alreadie recited I report me to all indifferent men what cause Paulus Iouius or any other popishe parasite hathe by colour of this Bull to claime for the Pope superioritie Dominion ouer the King of this Realme since Iohn without the assent of the estates I meane his nobilitie and commons could not in such a gifte either binde his successours or charge the kingdome And for plaine declaration that his submission proceaded not with their consent I read in a treatise of one Simon de Boraston a Frier Preacher in the time of King Edward the third the which he wrote concerning the Kings right to the Crowne of Ireland that in the reigne of Henrie the third whiche next of all succeaded King Iohn there were sent from the King the nobilitie and the commons of England these Noble men Hughe Bigod Iohn Fitz Geffray William Cantlowe Phillip Basset and a Lawier named William Powicke to the generall Counsel then assembled at Lions in Fraunce of purpose and with commission to require that the saide Bull sealed by King Iohn might be cancelled for as muche as it passed not by the assent of the Counsel of the Realme and the same Authour writeth that the Pope for that tyme did put them of by colour of more waightie affaires whiche the Counsel had then in hand I know that it may wel be thought néedlesse to labour further in confuting a litle so weightles for it is true that Aristotle saith Stultum est absurdas opiniones accuratius refellere It is but a follie to labour ouer curiously in refelling of absurdities And therefore I will here conclude the treatise of Douer and procéede particularly to the rest of the places that lye on
this shoare Folkstone in Saxon folcestane Id est Populi Lapis or else flostane whiche signifieth a rocke or a flawe of stone AMongest the places lying on this shoare worthy of note nexte after Douer followeth Folkstone where Eanfled or rather Eanswide the daughter of Eadbalde the sonne of Ethelbert and in order of succession the sixte King of Kent long since erected a religious Pryorie of women not in the place where S. Peters Churche at Folkstone nowe standeth but Southe from thence where the Sea many yeares agoe hath swalowed and eaten it And yet least you shoulde thinke S. Peters Parishe churche to be voyde of reuerence I must let you knowe of Noua Legenda Angliae that before the Sea had deuoured all S. Eanswides reliques were translated thither The author of that worke reporteth many wonders of this woman as that she lengthened a beame of that building thrée foote when the Carpenters missing in their measure had made it so muche too shorte That she haled and drew water ouer the hilles against nature That she forbad certain rauenous birdes the countrey which before did muche harme there abouts That she restored the blynde caste out the Diuel and healed innumerable folkes of their infirmities And therefore after her deathe she was by the policie of the Popishe priestes and follie of the common people honoured for a Sainct And no maruail at all for it was vsuall in Papistrie not onely to magnifie their Benefactours of all sortes but to edifie also so many of them at the leaste as were of noble Parentage knowing that thereby triple commoditie ensued the first for as muche as by that meane they assured many great personages vnto them secondly they drewe by the awe of their example infinite numbers of the common people after them And lastly they aduentured the more bouldly vnder those honourable and glorious names and titles to publishe their pouishe and pelting miracles And this surely was the cause that Sexburge in Shepie Mildred in Tanet Etheldred at Elye Edith at Wilton and sundrie other simple women of Royall blood in eache quarter were canonized Saincts for generally the Religious of those tymes were as thankfull to their Benefactors as euer were the heathen nations to their first Kings and founders The one sort Sanctifying suche as did either builde them houses or deuise them orders And the other Deifying suche as had made them Cities or prescribed them Lawes and gouernement This was it that made Saturne Hercules Romulus and others moe to haue place in common opinion with the Gods aboue the starres and this caused Dunstane Edgar Ethel would and others first to be shryued here in earth and then to sit amongest the Saincts in Heauen But let me now leaue their policie and returne to the Hystorie The Towne of Folkestone was sore spoyled by Earle Godwine and his Sonnes what time they harried that whole coast of Kent for reuenge of their banishment as we haue often before remembred The Hundred of Folkstone conteined in the time of King Edward the Confessour a hundrethe and twentie ploughe landes it had in it fiue Parishe Churches it was valued at a hundrethe and ten poundes belonged to the Earle Godwine before named The Manor was giuen to William Albranc of whome I made mention in Douer with condition to finde one and twentie warders toward the defence of that Castle and it grewe in time to be the head of an honour or Baronie as in the Records of the Exchequer remaineth as yet to bée séene Saltwood THat Saltwood was long sithence an Honor also it may appeare by an auÌ„cient writ directed by King Henrie the second from beyond the Seas to King Henrie his Sonne for the restitution of Thomas Becket the Archebishop to all suche goodes landes and fées as were taken from him during the displeasure betwéene them whiche writ bothe for shewe of the auncient forme and bycause it conteineth the matter of hystorie I wil not stick to exemplifie word for woord as Mathewe Parise hathe recorded it Sciatis quod Thomas Cant. Episcopus paceÌ„ mecum fecit ad voluntatem meam ideo praecipio tibi vt ipse omnes sui pacem habeant faciatis ei habere suis omnes res suas bene in pace honorifice sicut habuerunt tribus meÌ„sibus antequaÌ„ exirent Angliae faciatisque venire coraÌ„ vobis de melioribus antiquioribus militibus de honore de Saltwood eoruÌ„ iurameÌ„to faciatis inquiri quid ibi habetur de feodo Archiepiscopatê° Cant. quod recognituÌ„ fuerit esse de feodo ipsius ipsi faciatis habere valete But if this Recorde of the Kings suffise not to proue the honour of this place then here I pray you a woorde of the honourable or rather the Pontificall dealing of William Courtney the Archbishop who taking offence that certaine poore men his Tenants of the Manor of Wingham had brought him rent hay and littar to Canterbury not openly in cartes for his glorie as they were accustomed but closely in sackes vpon their horses as their abilitie would suffer cited them to this his castle of Saltwood and there after that he had shewed himself Adria iracundiorem as hote as a toste with the matter he first bound them by othe to obey his owne ordinauÌ„ce then inioyned them for penance that they should each one marche leisurely after the procession bareheaded barefooted with a sacke of hey or strawe on his shoulder open at the mouthe so as the stuffe might appeare hanging out of the bag to all the beholders Nowe I beséeche you what was it els for this proude Prelate thus to insult ouer simple men for so small a fault or rather for no fault at all but Laureolam in Mustaceis querere and no better Thus muche at this present of the Place for as touching the first matter concerning Thomas that shall appeare at large in Canterbury following And therefore leauing on our right hand the stately partes of Syr Edward Poynings vnperfect buylding at Ostenhangar let vs sée what is to be said of Hyde Hyde is written in Saxon Hyþe that is the Hauen and called of Leland in Latine Portus Hithinus in some Recordes Hethe THe name of this place importing as it should séeme by the generalitie therof some note of worthinesse and the long continued priuileges therevnto belonging it self being long since one of the fiue principal Portes at the first led me and happely may hereafter moue others also to thinke that it had béene of more estimation in tyme past then by any other thing nowe apparant may well be coniectured Howbeit after that I had somewhat diligently searched the Saxon antiquities from whence if from any at all the beginning of the same is to be deriued had perused the booke of Domesday wherein almoste nothing especially that might bée profitable was pretermitted and yet found litle or in manner nothing concerning
this Towne committed to memorie I became of this minde that either the place was at the first of litle price and for the increase thereof indowed with Priuileges or if it had beene at any time estimable that it continued not long in the plight And truly whosoeuer shall consider eyther the Vniuersall vicissitude of the Sea in all places or the particular alteration and chaunge that in tymes passed and now presently it worketh on the coasts of this Realme he will easely assent that Townes bordering vpon the Sea and vpholded by the commoditie thereof may in short time decline to great decay and become in manner worthe nothing at all For as the water either floweth or forsaketh thē so must they of necessitie either flourish or fall flowing as it were ebbing with the Sea it selfe The necessitie of whiche thing is euery where so ineuitable that all the Popish ceremonies of espousing the Sea whiche the Venetians yearely vse on Saint Markes day by casting a Golden ring into the water cannot let but that the Sea continually by litle and litle withdraweth it selfe from their Citie and threatneth in time vtterly to forsake them Nowe therefore as I cannot fully shew what Hide hath béene in times passed must referre to each mans owne eye to beholde what it presently is So yet will I not pretermitte to declare out of other men such notes as I finde concerning the same From this Towne saith Henrie Huntingdon Earle Godwine and his Sonnes in the time of their exile fetched away diuers vessels lying at roade euen as they had at Rumney also whereof we shall haue place to speake more hereafter Before this Towne in the reigne of King Edward the first a great fléete of French men shewed themselues vpon the Sea of whiche one being furnished with two hundrethe Souldiours set her men on land in the Hauen where they had no sooner pitched their foote but the Townesmen came vpon thē to the last man wherewith the residue were so afraide that foorthwith they hoysed vp saile and made no further attempt This Towne also was grieuously afflicted in the beginning of the Reigne of King Henrie the fourth in so muche as besides the furie of the pestilence whiche raged all ouer there were in one day two hundreth of the houses consumed by flame fiue of their ships with one hundreth men drowned at the Sea By whiche hurte the inhabitaunts were so wounded that they began to deuise howe they might abandone the place and builde them a Towne else where Wherevpon they had resolued also had not the King by his liberal Chartre which I haue séene vnder his scale released vnto them for fiue turnes next following onlesse the greater necessitie should in the meane time compell him to require it their seruice of fiue ships of one hundreth men and of v. garsons whiche they ought of duetie and at their owne charge without the helpe of any other member to finde him by the space of fiftéene dayes together Finally from this Towne to Boloigne which is taken to be the same that Caesar calleth Gessoriacum is the shortest cutte ouer the Sea betwéene England and Fraunce as some holde opinion Others thinke that to be the shortest passage which is from Douer to Calaice But if there be any man that preferreth not hast before his good spéede let him by mine aduise proue a third way I meane from Douer to Withsand for if Edmund Badhenham the penner of the Chronicles of Rochester lye not shamefully whiche thing you knowe how farre it is from a Monke then at suche time as King Henrie the second and Lewes the French King were after long warre reconciled to amitie Lewes came ouer to visite King Henrie and in his return homeward saluted saint Thomas of Canterbury made a princely offer at his tumbe and bicause he was very fearefull of the water asked of saint Thomas and obteined that neither he in that passage nor any other from thenceforth that crossed the Seas betwéen Douer and Withsand should suffer any manner of losse or shipwracke But of this Saint sauing your reuerence we shall haue fitte place to speake more largely hereafter and therefore let vs nowe leaue the Sea and looke toward Shipwey Shipwey or Shipweyham in the Recordes commonly Shipwey Crosse BEtwéene Hyde and Westhanger lieth Shipwey the place that was of auncient time honested with the Plées and assemblies of the Fiue Ports although at this day neither by good building extant it be much glorious nor by any common méeting greatly frequented I remember that I haue read in a book of Priuileges of the Fiue Portes that certeine principall pointes concerning the Port townes be determinable at Shipwey only And likely it is that the withdrawing of the triall of causes from thence to Douer Castle hathe brought decay and obscuritie vpon the place Of this place the whole Last of Shipwey conteining twelue Hundrethes at the first tooke and yet continueth the name At this place Prince Edward the Sonne to King Henrie the third exacted of the Barons of the v. Portes their othe of fidelitie to his Father against the mainteiners of the Barons warre And at this place only our Limenarcha or Lord Wardein of the Ports receaueth his oathe at his first entrie into the office Whether this were at any time a Harborow for ships as the Etymologie of the name giueth likelihoode of coniecture or no I dare neither affirme nor denie hauing neither read nor séen that may lead me to the one or the other only I remember that Robert Talbot a man of our time and which made a Commentarie vpon the Itinerarie of Antoninus Augustus is of the opinion that is was called Shipwey because it lay in the way to the Hauen where the ships were wont to ride And that hauen taketh he to be the same whiche of Ptolome is caled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nouus Portus of Antoninus Limanis of our Chroniclers Limene Mouthe and interpreted by Leland to betoken the mouthe of the riuer of Rother whiche nowe in our time openeth into the Sea at Rye but before at Winchelsey His coniecture is grounded partly as you sée vpon the Etymologie of the name partly vpon the consideration of some antiquities that be neare to the place and partly also vpon the report of the countrie people who holde fast the same opinion which they haue by tradition receaued from their Elders In déede the name bothe in Greeke and olde Englishe whiche followethe the Gréeke that is to say Limen and Limene Mouthe doth signifie a Hauen wherof the Town of Lymne adioyning and the whole Deanrie or limit of the Ecclesiastical iurisdiction in whiche it standeth for that also is called Lymne by likelyhoode tooke the name This Hauen saithe he stoode at the firste vnder a highe Rocke in the Parishe of Lymne vnder the whiche there was situate a strong Castle for the defence of the Porte the ruines of
petition exhibited by Richarde then Earle of Arundale and Surrey in whiche the same Earle claimed the office of chiefe Butler and recognised him self ready to perfourme the same Wherevpon foorthwith one Edmund Staplegate exhibited another petition and likewise made his claime to this effect That whereas he the sayde Edmund helde of the King in chiefe the Manor of Bylsington in Kent by the seruice to be his Butler at the Coronation as plainely appeared in the booke of Fées and Sericancies in the Exchequer And whereas also by reason of that tenure the late King Edwarde the thirde had both seised the landes of that petitioner for so much as he was in his minoritie at the time of the death of Edmund Staplegate his father and had also committed the custodie of his body to one Iefferay Chawsier to whō he payde 104. l. for the same he nowe proffered to doe that seruice and praied to be admitted to the office therof with alowance of the fées that belonged therevnto These claimes and the replies also bothe of the Earle and of Staplegate being hearde and considered It was then order partly for the shortnesse of the time whiche would not permit a full examination of the matter and partly bycause that on the Earles side it was proued that his auncestors had béene in possession of that office after the alienation of the Manor of Bylsington whereas on the other part it appeared not that the auncestors of Staplegate had euer executed the same that for the present Coronation the Earle shoulde be receiued and the right of Staplegate and all others shoulde be neuerthelesse to them saued Thus muche of the Manor of Bylsington whiche lyeth here on the right hande I thought méete to impart with you to occupy vs withall in our way to Rumney for as touching the Pryorie that there was althoughe I suppose it to haue begon by the liberalitie of some of the Earles of Arundale yet can I assure you of nothing touching it saue onely of the yearely value whiche you shall finde in the Particular of this shyre amongst the rest of the suppressed houses Rumney called in Saxon Rumen ea that is to say The large watrie place or Marishe It is written in the Records corruptly Rumenal and Romual THE participation of like Priuilege might wel haue moued me to haue placed the Portes together but the purpose of myne order already taken calleth me another way and byndeth me to prosecute them as they lye in order of my iourney There be in Kent therfore two townes of this name the Olde and the New Rumney as touching the latter whereof I minde not to speake hauing not hitherto founde eyther in Recorde or Hystorie any thing pertaining therevnto but that little whiche I haue to say must be of olde Rumney whiche was long since a principal Port and giueth cause of name to the new towne as it selfe first tooke it of the large leuell and territorie of Marishe grounde that is adioyning This Towne sayth the Recorde of Domesday was of the possession of one Robert Rumney and holden of Odo then Bishop of Borieux Earle of Kent and brother to King William the Conquerour in the which the same Robert had thirteene Burgesses who for their seruice at the Sea were acquitted of all exactions and custome◠of charge excepte fellonie breache of the peace and forstalling It was sometyme a good sure and commodious Hauen where many vessels vsed to lye at Roade For Henrie the Archedeacon of Huntingdon maketh report that at suche time as Godwine Earle of Kent and his Sonnes were exiled the Realme vpon suche cause of displeasure as hathe alreadie appeared in Douer they armed vessels to the Sea and sought by disturbing the quiet of the people to compell the King to their reuocation And therfore among sundry other harmes that they did on the Coast of this Shyre they entred the hauen at Rumney and lead away all suche shippes as they found in the Harborow Thomas Becket the Archebishop hauing by froward disobedience and stuborne pertinacitie prouoked King Henrie the second to indignation against him and fearing to abide the triall of ordinarie Iustice at home determined to appeale to the Popes fauour at Rome for whiche purpose he secretly tooke boate at Rumney minding to haue escaped ouer but he was driuen backe by a contrary wynde and so compelled to land againste his will. The vnderstanding of whiche matter so exasperated the King against him that foorthwith he seased his goods and gaue commaundement by his writte to the Sheriffes of all coastes to make arrest of al such as for any cause prouoked to the Pope He caused also his subiectes from twentie yeares of age vpward through out the whole Realme to renounce by othe all wonted obedience to the Sée of Rome and sollicited earnestly the Emperour Frederic and Lewes the Frenche King to haue ioyned with him in deposing Pope Alexander for that he so commonly receaued runnegates and suche as rebelled against their lawfull Princes But suche was eyther the enimitie of Lewes the Frenche King againste King Henrie the second or his dull sight in discerning the profit of the whole Christian common weale that he refused to assist the other twain by meanes whereof both Frederic the Emperour was afterward compelled to yéelde him to the Pope King Henrie the second glad withall submission to reconcile himselfe to the Archebishops fauour Rumney Marshe is famous throughout the Realme as wel for the fertilitie quantitie of the soile leuell as also for the auncient and holesome ordinances there vsed for the preseruation and maintenance of the bankes and walles against the rage of the Sea. It conteineth as by due computation it may appeare 24000. Acres For the taxation of Rumney Marshe onely not accompting Walland Marshe Guilford Marshe c. amounteth to 50. pounds after the rate of one halfe peny the Acre and it is at this day gouerned by certaine lawes made by one Henrie Bathe a Iustice and Commissioner for that purpose in the time of King Henrie the third Of whiche his statutes experience in time hath begotten suche allowance and liking that it was afterward not onely ordered that all the lowe groundes betwéene Tanet in Kent and Pemsey in Sussex should be guided by the same But they are also nowe become a paterne and exemplar to all the like places of the whole Realme to be gouerned by The place is not muche inhabited bycause it is Hyeme malus Aestate molestus Nunquam bonus Euil in Winter grieuous in Sommer and neuer good As Hesiodus the olde Poet somtime saied of the Countrie where his Father dwelt And therefore very reasonable is their conceite whiche doe imagine that Kent hathe thrée steps or degrées of whiche the first say they offereth Wealth without healthe the second giueth bothe Wealth and healthe and the third afoordeth healthe onely and no Wealthe For if a man minding to passe through
make demaunde of his right to the Crowne of Fraunce first quieted Scotland by force then entered amitie with his neighbours of Holland Seland and Brabant and lastly fortifying at this place for defence of the Thamise made expedition by Sea and lande againste the Frenche King and moued warre that had long continuaunce wherin neuerthelesse after sundry discomfitures giuen before Sluse Cressey Calaice and Poitiers he was in the ende right honourably satisfied During this building William of Wickam surnamed Perot a man not so plentifully endowed with good learning as aboundantly stored with Ecclesiasticall liuing for he had nine hundreth poundes of yearely reuenue fourtéene yeares together and was afterwarde by degrées aduaunced to the kéeping firste of the priuie and then of the broade Seale was Surueyour of the kings workes whiche is the very cause as I coniecture that some haue ascribed to him the thanke of the building it selfe This platforme was repayred by King Henrie the eight at suche time as he raised Blockhouses along the Sea coastes for the causes already rehearsed in Dele Of Quinborowe Leland sayth thus Castrum Regius editum recipit Burgus fulmina dira insulanos Tutos seruat ab impetu vel omni A Castle highe and thundring shot At Quinbrought is nowe plaste Whiche keepeth safe the Ilanders From euery spoyle and waste The name is fallen as you sée by deprauation of speache from Kingesborowe to Quinborowe howbeit the Etymologie is yet conserued both in our ancient hystories in the style of the Court or Lawday there I may adde that in memorie of the first name the Ferrie or passage from the I le to the maine lande is yet called The Kings ferrie also Feuersham in Saxon fafresHam AS it is very likely that the Towne of Feuersham receiued the chiefe nourishment of her increase from the Religious house So there is no doubt but that the place was somewhat of price long time before the building of that Abbay there For it is to be séene that King Ethelstane helde a Parleament and enacted certeine lawes at Feuersham about sixe hundreth and fortie yeares agoe at which time I thinke it was some Manor house belonging to the Prince the rather for that afterwarde King William the Conquerour to whose handes at length it came amongst other thinges gaue the aduowson of the Church to the Abbay of S. Augustines and the Manor it self to a Normane in recompence of seruice But what time king Stephan had in purpose to build the Abbay he recouered the Manor againe by exchaunge made with one William de Ipre the founder of Boxley for Lillychurch and raysing there a stately Monasterie the temporalties whereof did amount to a hundred fiftie fiue poundes he stored it with Cluniake Monkes This house was firste honoured with the buriall of Adelicia the Quéene his wife Then with the Sepulture of Eustachius his only sonne and shortly after him selfe also was there interred by them I reade none other thing worthy remembraunce touching this place Saue that in the reigne of King Iohn there brake out a great controuersie betwéene him and the Monkes of S. Augustines touching the right of the Patronage of the Churche of Feuersham For notwithstanding that King William the Conquerour had giuen it to the Abbay as appeareth before yet there wanted not some of whiche number Hubert the Archebishop was one that whispered King Iohn in the eare that the right of the Aduouson was deuoluted vnto him which thing he beléeuing presented a Clarke to the Churche and besides commaunded by his writ that his presentée should be admitted The Abbat on the other side withstoode him for the more sure enioying of his possession not onely eiected the Kings Clarke but also sent thither diuers of his Monkers to kéepe the Church by strong hand When the King vnderstoode of that he commaunded the Sheriffe of the Shyre to leuie the power of his countie and to restore his presentée Which commaundement the officer endeuoured to put in execution accordingly But suche was the courage of these holy hoorsons that before the Shefiffe coulde bring it to passe he was driuen to winne the Churche by assault in the which he hurt and wounded diuers of them and drewe and haled the reste out of the doores by the haire and héeles Nowe it chaunced that at the same time Iohn the Cardinall of Sainct Stephans the Popes Legate into Scotland passed through this Realme to whome as he soiourned at Canterbury the Monks made their mone and he againe both incouraged them to sende their Pryor to Rome for remedie furnished them with his own Letters in commendation of their cause In whiche amongst other things he tolde the holy father Innocentius plainly that if he would suffer Monkes to be thus intreated the Apostolique authoritie wold soone after be set at nought not only in England but in al other countries also Here vpon the Pope sent out his commission for the vnderstanding of the matter but the Monks being now better aduised tooke a shorter way and sending to the King two hundreth marks in a purse and a faire Palfrey for his owne sadle they bothe obteyned at his handes resâ—itution of their right also wan him to become from thencefoorth their good Lord and Patrone But here I praye you consider with me whether these men be more likely to haue béen brought vp in the Schole of Christe and Paule his Apostle who teach Ne resistatis malo vincatis bono malum Or rather to haue drawne their diuinitie out of Terence Comedie where the counsell is Malumus nos prospicere quam hunc vlcisci accepta iniuria yea and out of the worste point of all Tullies Philosophie where he permitteth Lacessitis iniuria inferre vim iniuriam seing they be so ready not of euen ground onely but before hande not to aunswere but to offer force and violence euen to Kings and Princes themselues I wis they might haue taken a better lesson out of Terence him selfe who aduiseth wise men Consilio omnia prius experiri quam armis and therefore I pitie their beating so muche the lesse But by this and suche other Monkishe partes of theirs you may sée Quid otium cibus faciat alienus Genlade and Gladmouthe BEda hathe mention of a water in Kent running by Reculuers whiche he calleth Genlade This name was afterward sounded Yenlade by the same misrule that geard is nowe Yard geoc Yoke gyld Yeeld gemen Yeomen and suche other Henrie of Huntingdon also reporteth that King Edward the Sonne of Alfred builded at Gladmouth This place I coniecture to haue stoode at the mouthe of that Riuer and thereof to haue béene called first Genlademouthe and afâ—erward by contraction and corruption of speach Glademouthe For to compound the name of a Towne out of the mouthe of a Riuer adioining was most familiar with our auncestours as the name Exmouthe was framed out of the Riuer Ex Dartmouthe of the water
was busily tossed betwéene the King the Pope the Clergie in the mean while looking vpon but nothing laughing at the game Amongst other things done for the manifestatiō of the Popes rauine the same King at one time cōmaunded a generall suruiew to be made of the Popes yerely reuenue within this realme foūd it to surmoūt the yearely receipt of his owne Eschequer in very rent besides innumerable secret gifts and rewardes wherof no account could be made Herevpon the Prince by aduise of his Realme sent special messingers to the generall counsell that was then holden at Lions in Fraunce with commission to sue for redresse The like complaint also was at the same time and for the same cause exhibited by the King of Fraunce Neither was the state of the Empire frée from the heauy yoke of that Popish oppressiō for M. Parise reporteth that euen thē the Emperour him self wrote an earnest letter to the King Nobility of this realme solliciting thē to ioyne with him in withstanding the tyranie of the Romish Sée Howbeit all this could not help but that the Popes labouring daily more more with this incurable disease of Philargyrie cōtinually pilled the English Clergie and so encountred King Henrie that in the end he was driuen to vse the meane of the Popes authoritie whensoeuer he néeded aide of his owne spiritualtie After Henrie folowed his Sonne Edward the first who being more occupied in Martiall affaires then his Father was And thereby more often inforced to vse the helpe of his subiectes for the raising of some necessary Masses of money nowe and then borowed of his Clergie till at the length Pope Boniface the eight treading the path of his predecessours pride toke vpon him to make a constitution That if any Clerke gaue to a lay man or if any lay person should take of a Clerke any spirituall goods he should forthwith stand excommunicate By colour of whiche decrée the Clergie of England at suche time as the King next desired their cūtribution towards his warres made answere with one assent That they would gladly but they might not safely without the Popes licence agre to his desire Hereat the King waxed wrothe and calling a Parleament of his Nobilitie and Commons from which he excluded the Bishops and Clergie enacted that their persons should be out of his protection and their goods subiect to confiscation vnlesse they would by submitting themselues redéeme his fauour It was then a world to sée howe the welthie Bishops fatte Abbats and riche Pryors in eache quarter be stirred them each man contending with liberall offer to make his raunsome in so much as the house of Saint Augustines in Canterbury as the Annales of their own Abbay report gaue to the King two hundrethe and fiftie poundes in money for their peace hauing lost before notwithstanding al their haste two hundreth and fiftie quarters of their wheat whiche the Kings Officers had seised to his vse shipped to be sent into Gascoin for the victualing of his men of warre Onely Robert of Winchelsey then Archebishop of Canterbury refused to aide the King or to reconcile himselfe in so muche as of very stomacke he discharged his familie and abandoned the Citie and withdrewe himselfe to this Towne from whence as mine Author saith he roade each Sonday and Holyday to the Churche adioyning and preached the woord of GOD. Polidore in his own opinion giueth him an apt Theme writing that he preached vpon this text Melius est obedire Deo quam hominibus It is better to obey God then men whiche if he will haue to serue the turne he must construe it thus It is better to obey the Pope then the King and so make the Pope a God and the King no more then a common man But Peter the Apostle of God from whome the Pope would séeme to deriue and Polidore the Apostle of the Pope for he first sent him hither to gather his Peter pence were not of one minde n this point For he inioyneth vs plainly Subditi estote omni humanae ordinationi propter Dominum siue Regi tanquam praecellenti c. Be ye subiect to all humane ordinance for the Lordes sake whether it be to the King as to the moste excellent c. making the King the moste excellent vnder God who no doubt if he commaund not against God it is to be obeyed before the Pope concerning whome we haue no commaundement at all in Gods Scripture Howbeit since Polydore and the Bishop serued one common Maister namely the man of Rome it is the lesse meruaile if he commend his endeuour in this part and that is of the lesse credit also which he writeth of him in an other place where he bestoweth this honourable Elogium vpon him Quantum in eo fuit de Religione iuxta atque de Repub. promereri studuit a qua nunquam discessit nunquam oculos deiecit ita officio suo atque omnium commodis sibi seruiendum censuit As much as in him was he studied to deserue well bothe of religion and of the common wealth from the whiche he neuer departed ne turned away his eyes so thought he it meete to serue his owne duetie and the profit of all men As concerning his desert in religion I will say nothing bycause it may be thought the fault of that age not of the person only but as touching his behauiour toward his Prince and Countrie wherein also consisteth no small part of religion and feare of God since our lawe alloweth of the trial De vicineto I will bring you one of his next neighbours to depose for him a man that liued in the same time with him I meane the writer of the Annales of Saint Augustines who vpon the yeare 1305. hathe this note following Eodē an 7. Kal. Maij cū saepe dictus Archiepiscopus Robertus super multis Articulis enormibus praecipue super proditione quam cū quibusdam comitibus proceribus multis pactus erat in dolo vt Regem a Regni solio deijcerent silium eius Eduardum ipsius in trono subrogarent patrem perpetuo carceri manciparent a Rege calumniaretur inficiari non posset obiecta vltra quam credi potest timore percussus ad Regis pedes pronus cadens in terrā vt eius mereretur assequi clementiā sese per singula flens eiulans Regis subdidit voluntati Sic igitur humiliatus est ille Deo odibilis superbus qui per totum Anglorū orbem oris sui flatu more meretricio Sacerdotium deturpauit Clerum in populo tyrannidē exer cuit inauditam Et qui Regem Dominum suum literatorie ei scribens nominare renuit superbiendo nunc humiliatus Regem Dominum suum facit nominat obediens factus sedinuitus ei deuotius seruiendo The same yeare the 25. of April when as the often named Robert the Archebishop was chalenged by the
which was wont to be commonly said Vnicum Arbustum non alit duos Erythacos For in déede one whole Citie nay rather one whole Shyre and Countrie could hardly suffice the pride and ambitious auarice of such two Religious Synagogues The which as in all places they agréeed to enrich them selues by the spoyle of the Laitie So in no place they agréed one with another But eche séeking euerie where and by all wayes to aduaunce them selues they moued continuall and that moste fierâ— and deadly warre for landes priuileges reliques and suche like vaine worldly préeminences In so muche as he that will obserue it shall finde that vniuersally the Chronicles of their owne houses conteine for the moste parte nothing else but suing for exemptions procuring of reliques strugling for offices wrangling for consecrations pleading for landes and possessions For proofe wherof I might iustly alledge inumerable brawles stirred betwéen the Religious houses of this Citie wrastling sometime with the Kings sometime with the Archbishops oftentimes the one with the other â—l which be at large set forth by Thomas Spot the Chroniâ—ler of S. Augustins But for asmuch as I my self delighâ— litle in that kind of rehersal do think that other men for the more part of the wiser sort be sufficiently persuaded of these their follies I wil lightly passe theÌ„ ouer labor more â—argely in some other thing And bycause that the Monasâ—erie or Priorie of Christes Churche was of the more fame I will first begin with it After that Augustine the Monke whiche was sent from Rome had found suche fauour in the sight of King Ethelbert that he might fréely Preache the Gospell in his Countrie he chose for assembly and prayer an olde Churche in the East part of this Citie whiche was long time before builded by the Romanes and he made therof by licence of the King a Churche for himselfe and his successours dedicating the same to the name of our Sauiour Christ whereof it was called afterward Christes Churche After his death Laurence his successor brought Monkes into the house the head whereof was called a Pryor whiche woord howsoeuer it soundethe was in déede but the name of a second officer bicause the Bishop himselfe was accompted the very Abbat For in olde time the Bishops were for the moste part chosen out of suche Monasteries and therefore moste commonly had their Palaces adioyning and gouerned as Abbats there by meanes whereof it came to passe that suche Abbies were not only muche amplified in wealth and possessions but also by fauour of the Bishoppes their good Abbates ouerloked all their neere neighbours as hereafter in further course shall better appeare I finde not that any great coste was done vpâ—n this Churche till Lanfrancs dayes who not only buided it almoste wholy of newe and placed Benedictâ— Monkes therein the number of whiche hee aduaunced from thirtie to one hundreth and fourtie but also erected certaine Hospitals whiche hee endowed with one hundreth and fourtie poundes by yere and repaired the walles of the Citie it selfe And here by the way it is to be noted out of Mathewe Westminster that there were Monkes in this house euer since the time of Laurence the second Archebishop although some reporte that Elfricus was the first that expulsed the Seculer Priestes and brought the Monkes in place Not long after Lanfrancs time succéeded William Corboile during whose gouernment this lately aduaunced building was blasted with flame but he soone after reedified it of his owne purse and dedicated it with great pompe and solemnitie in the presence of the King and his Nobles After him followed Theobaldus whome Pope Innocent the second honoured with the title of Legatus natus and then commeth Thomas Becket the fift in order after Lanfranc by whose life death and burial the estimation of this Church was aduaunced beyond all reason measure and wonder For not withstanding that it had beene before that time honoured with the arme of S. Bartholmew a Relique that King Canutus gaue with the preseÌ„ce of Augustine that brought in Religion with the buriall of eight Kentishe Kings that succéeded Wightred and of a great number of Archebishops after the time of Cuthbert Likewise afterward with the famous asseÌ„bly at the homage done by the Scottishe King William to King Henrie the second and at the Coronation of King Iohn with the seueral Mariages also of King Henrie the third and King Edward the first and finally with the interrements of that Noble Edward called commonly the Blacke Prince of King Henrie the fourth yet the death of this one man not martyred as they feigne for the cause only and not the death maketh a Martyr but murdered in his Churche brought therevnto more accesse of estimation and reuerence then all that euer was done before or since For after his death by reason that the Pope had canonized his soule in Heauen and that Stephan Langton had made a Golden shrine for his body on earth and commaunded the Annuall day of his departure to bee kept solemne not only the Lay Common sort of people but Bishops Noble men and Princes as well of this Realme as of forreigne partes resorted on Pilgrimage to his tumbe flocked to his Iubile for remission In so muche that euery man offering according to his abilitie and thronging to see handle and kisse euen the vilest partes of his Reliques the Churche became so riche in Iewels and ornaments that it might compare with Midas or Craesus and so famous and renowmed euery piller resounding Saint Thomas his miracles praiers and pardons that now the name of Christ was cleane forgotten and the place was commonly called Saint Thomas Churche of Canterbury I passe ouer the stately buildings and monuments I meane Churches Chapels and Oratories raised to his name the lewde bookes of his lyfe and iestes written by foure sundrie persons to his praise The blasphemous Hymnes and collectes deuised by churchemen for his seruice and sundrie suche other thinges whiche as they were at the first inuenâ—â— to strike into the heades of all hearers and beholders more then wonderfull opinion of deuotion and holynes So now the trueth being tried out and the matter well and indifferently weighed they ought to worke with all men an vtter detestation both of his and all their hypocrisie and wickednesse For as touching himself to omitte that which truely might be spoken in dispraise of the former part of his lyfe and to beginne with the very matter it selfe whervpon his death ensued it is euident bothe by the testimonie of Mathewe Paris a very good Chronicler that liued vnder King Henrie the third and by the foure Pseudo Euangelistes themselues that wrote his Iestes that the chiâ—fe cause of the Kings displeasure towardes him grew vpon occasion that he opposed himself against his Prince Gods lawfull and Supreame minister on earth in maintenance of a moste vile and wicked murther The matter stoode thus Within a fewe of
our English storiers do lay the whole burthen of that fault vpon the King and those fewe persons But bycause the matter is not so plaine as they make it withal requireth more wordes for the manifestation therof then I may now afoorde for that also there is hope that a special hystorie of the reigne penned by S. Thomas Delamore which liued in the very time it self may be hereafter imprinted made coÌ„mon I will onely exhort the Reader for his owne information in the trueth and for some excuse of such as be ouercharged to peruse that worke wherein I assure him he shall finde matter bothe very rare and credible As touching the Pryorie at Leedes whiche was a house of Regular Chanons and valued in the Recordes of the late suppression at thrée hundreth thrée score and two poundes of yearely reuenue I finde that one Robert Creuequer the author of the Castle peraduenture for this was done in the reigne of Henrie sonne to the Conquerour and Adam his sonne and heire firste founded it Whiche thing might probably haue béene coniectured althoughe it had neuer béene committed to Hystorie For in auncient time euen the greatest personages helde Monkes Friars and Nonnes in suche veneration and liking that they thought no citie in case to flourish no house likely to haue long continuaunce no Castle sufficiently defended where was not an Abbay Pryorie or Nonnerie eyther placed within the walles or situate at hande and neare adioyning And surely omitting the residue of the Realme hereof only it came to passe that Douer had S. Martines Canterbury Christes Churche Rochester S. Andrewes Tunbridge the Friars Maydstone the Chanons Grenewiche the obseruants and this our Leedes her Pryorie of Chanons at hande Howbeit I finde in a Heralds note who belike made his coniecture by some coate of Armes lately apparant that one Leybourne an Earle of Salisburie was the founder of it In deede it is to be séene in the Annales of S. Augustines of Canterbury that a noble man called Roger Leybourne was sometime of great authoritie within this Shyre notwithstanding that in his time he had tasted of bothe fortunes for in the dayes of King Henrie the thirde he was firste one of that coniuration which was called the Barons warre from whiche faction Edwarde the Kings sonne wonne him by faire means to his part and made him the bearer of his priuie purse Afterwarde they agréed not vpon the reckoning so that the Prince charging him with great arrearage of account seised his liuing for satisfaction of the debt by whiche occasion Roger once more became of the Barons deuotions But after the pacification made at Kenelworth he was eftsones receiued to fauour and was made Wardein of the Fiue Portes and Lieuetenant of this whole Shyre Nowe thoughe it can not be true that this man was the builder of this Pryorie for the same Annales say that it was erected long before yet if he did but marrie the heyre he might truely be termed the Patrone or founder thereof for by that name not only the builders themselues but their posteritie also to whom the glory of their déedes did descend were wont to be called as well as they The description and hystorie of the See and Diocesse of Rochester THE learned in Astronomie be of the opinion that if Iupiter Mercurie or any other Planet approche within certain degrées of the Sunne and be burned as they terme it vnder his beames That then it hath in maner no influence at all But yealdeth wholy to the Sunne that ouershineth it And some men beholding the nearenesse of these two Bishoprickes CaÌ„terbury and Rochester and comparing the bright glory pompe and primacie of the one with the contrarie altogether in the other haue fansied Rochester so ouershadowed and obscured that they recken it no Sée or Bishoprick of it self But only a place of a méere Suffragan and Chaplain to Canterbury But he that shall either aduisedly weigh the firste institution of them bothe or â—ut indifferently consider the estate of eyther shall easiâ—â— finde that Rochester hath not only a lawfull and caâ—onicall Cathedrall Sée of it selfe But the same also â—ore honestly won and obteined then euer Canterbury â—d For as touching Rochester Augustine whome â—e Monkes may not deny to be the English Apostle orâ—ined Iustus Bishop there Ethelbert the lawfull king â—f Kent both assenting thereto by his presence and confirming it by his liberall beneficence But howe Canterbury came to haue an Archebishops Chayre if you thinke that it hath not in that title already so sufficiently appeared as that it therfore néedeth not now eftsones to be rehearsed then reade I pray you Garuas Tilberiens and he in his booke De otijs Imperialibus wil tel you in Sanguine sanctorum Dorobernensis ecclesia primatiam obtinuit The Church of Canterbury obteined the Primacie by the sheading of the bloud of Saints Rochester moreouer hath had also a continuall succession of Bishops euen from the beginning whiche haue gouerned in a distinct Diocesse containing foure Deanries and therefore wanteth nothing that I knowe to make it a compleat and absolute Bishopricke In déede the yerely value is but small the slendernesse whereof ioyned with some ceremoniall duties to the Archebishop happely haue béene the cause of abasing the estimation of it But for all that let vs not sticke with auncient Beda and others to saye that the Bishops Sée at Rochester was at the first instituted by Augustine That a Cathedrall Churche was builded there by King Ethelbert to the name of S. Andrewe and that he endowed it with certaine lande for liuelyhood which he called Priestfield in token as I thinke that Priestes should be susteined therewithall This Bishopricke may be sayd to be seuered from Canterbury Diocesse for the most parte by the water of Medway and it consisteth as I sayde of foure distincte Deanries namely Rochester Malling Dartford and Shorham Howbeit with this latter the Bishop medleth not the same being a peculiar as they terme it to the Archebishop of Canterbury who holdeth his prerogatiue wheresoeuer his lands do lye as in this Deanrie he hath not only had of olde time certain mansion houses with Parkes and Demeanes but diuers other large territories rentes and reuenues also In it therefore are these Churches following Shorham with the Chapell of Otford Eynesford with the Vicarage there Dernth and the Vicarage there Fermingham and the Vicarage Bexley and the Vicarage Eareth alias Eard Northfleete and the Vicarage Mepham and the Vicarage Clyue Grean with the Vicarage Farleigh with the Vicarage Huntington alias Hunton Peckam with the Vicarage Wrotham with the Chapell and Vicarage Eightam Seuenocke with the Vicarage Penshurst Chydingstone Heuer Gillingham with the Vicarage Brasted Sundriche Cheuening Orpington with the Chapell and Vicarage Hese Kestan Halstede Woodland Eastmalling with the Vicarage Ifeild As touching the Bishops of this Sée Iustus one of the same that Pope Gregorie sent hither from Rome
fathers seate So that he woulde agrée to come accompanied with a smal number of strangers The which condition was deuised bothe for their owne excuse and for the yong Princes safetie For before this time after the deth of king Canutus they had likewise sent for the same Edwarde Alfred his elder brother that then was on liue putting them in like hope of restitution to which request the duke their grandfather assēted and for the more honourable furniture of their iourney gaue them to company diuers yong Gentlemen of his own Country whom he ment to make from thenceforth parteners of theyr prosperitye as they had before tyme béen companions of their misfortune But when they were come into the realme the Earle Godwine who sought more the aduauncement of his own house to honour then the restitution of the Englishe bloude to the crowne perceiuing that by no meanes he could make a marriage betwéene Alfrede the elder of the two and Edgith his daughter and yet hauing hope that Edward the younger woulde accept the offer if he might bring to passe to set the garlande vpon his heade he quarelled at the company which came ouer with them insinuating to the péeres of the Realme that Alfrede ment so soone as he should obtaine the crowne to place in all roomes of honour his Normane Nobilitie and to displace the Englishe his owne countrey men Whiche suspicion he bet so déepely into the heades of many of the Noble men and especially of his nearest friends and allies that foorthwith vpon his persuasion they fell vpon the straungers at Gillingham and firste killed nyne throughout the whole number of the company reseruing on liue eche tenth mā only And afterward thinking the remainer to great tythed the number also sleaing in the whole about sixe hundred persons As for Alfred the elder of the yong Princes they apprehended and conueyed him to the Isle of Ely where first they put out his eyes and afterwarde moste cruelly did him to death But this Edwarde fearing their furie escaped their handes and fled into Normandie Howbeit being nowe eftsoones as I sayde earnestly sollicited by Godwine and more faythfully assured by the Noble men he once againe aduentured to enter the Realme and taking Godwines daughter to wife obtained the Crowne and enioyed it all his life long I am not ignoraunt that Simeon of Durham and diuers other good wryters affirme this slaughter to haue béene committed at Guylford in Surrey and some other of late tyme and of lesse note at Guild downe a place neare Lamberhirst in the edge of this Shyre but bycause I finde it expressely reported by Thomas Rudborne and also the authour of the Chronicle of Couentrie to haue béen done at Gillingham Iuxta Thamesim I sticke not being nowe come to that place to exemplifie it giuing neuerthelesse frée libertie to euery man to lay it at the one or the other at his owne frée will and pleasure Onely my desire is to haue obserued that in this one Storie there doe lye folded vp bothe the meanes of the deliuerie of this realme of England from the thraldome of the Danes and the causes also of the oppression and conquest of the same by the Normanes For as touching the first it pleased the Almightie nowe at length by this manner of King Hardicanutus death whiche I haue shewed to breake in sunder the Danish whip wherwith he had many yeares together scourged the English nation and by the meane of drinke the Danishe delight to worke the deliuery of the one people and the exterminion of the other euen in the midst of all their securitie and pleasaunce In which behalfe I can not but note the iust iudgemēt of God extended against those déepe drinkers and in their example to admonishe all such as doe in like sort most beastly abuse Gods good creatures to his great offence the hurte of their owne soules and bodies and to the euill example of other men For whereas before the arriuall of these Danes the Englishe men or Saxons vsed some temperaunce in drinking not taking thereof largely but only at certain great feasts and chearings and that in one only wassailing cup or boule which walked round about the boorde at the midst of the meale much after that manner of intertainment whiche Dido sometime gaue to Aeneas and is expressed by Virgil in these verses Hic Regina grauem auro gemmisque poposcit Impleuitque mero pateram quam Belus omnes A Belo soliti Tum facta silentia tectis Iupiter hospitibus nam te dare iura loquuntur Et vos O caetum Tirij celebrate fauentes Dixit Et in mensam laticum libauit honorem Primaque libato summo tenus attigit ore c. The Queene commaunds a mightie Bolle Of golde and precious stone To fill with wine whom Belus King And all King Belus line Was wont to holde than through them all Was silence made by signe O Ioue quoth she for thou of hostes And gestes both great and small Men say the lawes haste put giue grace I pray and let vs all O you my Moores nowe do our best These Troians for to chere Thus sayd she and when grace was done The Bolle in hand she clipt And in the liquor sweete of wine her lips she scantly dipt But now after the comming in of the Danes and after such time as King Edgar had permitted them to inhabite here and to haue conuersation with his own people Quassing and carowsing so increased that Didoes sipping was cleane forsaken and Bitias bowsing came in place of whome the same Poet writeth Ille impiger hausit Spumantem pateram pleno se proluit auro And he anon The fomie bolle of gold vpturnd And drewe till all was gon So that King Edgar him self seing in his own reigne the great outrage wherevnto it was growne was compelled to make lawe therefore and to ordaine drinking measures by publique Proclamation driuing certaine nayles into the sides of their cups as limits and bounds which no man vpon great payne should be so hardie as to transgresse But this vice in that short time had takē such fast roote as neyther the restraint of law nor the expulsiō of the first bringers in therof could supplant yet For William of Malmesburie comparing the manners of the Englishe men and Normanes together complayned that in his time the Englishe fashion was to sit bibbing hole houres after dinner as the Normane guise was to walke and iet vp and downe the streates with great traines of idle Seruing men folowing them And I woulde to God that in our time also we had not iust cause to complaine of this vicious plant of vnmeasurable Boalling which whether it be sprong vp out of the olde roote or be newely transported by some Danish enemie to all godly temperaunce and sobrietie let them consider that with pleasure vse it and learne in time by the death of Hardicanute and the expulsiō of his
of ouerthrowne Houses and Mynsters were called Knolles Miters he returned into England and meaning some way to make himselfe as well beloued of his Countrie men at home as he had béen euery way dread and feared of Straungers abroade by great policie maistred the Riuer of Medwey and of his owne charge made ouer it the goodly work that now stādeth with a chappel Chauntrie at the end died ful of yeares in the midst of the Reigne of King Henrie the fourth Stroude aunciently called Strodes of the Saxon worde Strogd which signifieth Scattered bicause it was a Hamlet of a few houses that lay scattered from the Citie ABout the beginning of the Reigne of King Henrie the third Gilbert Glāuille the Bishop of Rochester of whom you haue already heard foūded an Hospitall at Stroude whiche he dedicated to the name of the blessed Virgin and endowed with liuelyhode to the value of fiftie and two pounds by yeare A name or familie of men sometime inhabiting Stroude saith Polydore had tailes clapped to their breeches by Thomas Becket for reuenge and punishment of a dispite done to him in cutting of the taile of his horse The Author of the new Legend saith that after Saint Thomas had excomunicated two Brothers called Brockes for the same cause that the Dogges vnder the table would not once take Bread at their handes Suche belike was the vertue of his curse that it gaue to brute beastes a discretion and knowledge of the persons that were in daunger of it Boetius the Scotishe Chronicler writeth that the lyke plague lighted vpon the men of Midleton in Dorsetshyre Who bicause they threwe Fishe tailes in great contempt at Saint Augustine were bothe themselues and their posteritie stricken with tailes to their perpetuall infamie and punishment All whiche their Reportes no doubt be as true as Ouides Hystorie of Diana that in great angre bestowed on Acteon a Deares head with mightie browe anthlers Muche are the Westerne men bound as you sée to Polydore who taking the miracle from Augustine applieth it to S. Thomas and remouing the infamous reuenge frō Dorsetshyre laieth it vpō our men of Kent But litle is Kent or the whole English Nation beholdding either to him or his fellowes who amongst them haue brought vpon vs this ignominie note with other Nations abrode that many of them beleue as verely that we haue long tailes be monsters by nature as other men haue their due partes and mēbers in vsual nūber Polydore the wisest of the company fearing that issue might be taken vpon the matter ascribeth it to one speciall stocke and familie whiche he nameth not and yet to leaue it the more vncertain he saith that that family also is worne out long since and sheweth not when And thus affirming he cannot tel of whome nor when he goeth about in great earnest as in sundrie other things to make the world beléeue he cannot tell what he had forgotten the Lawe wherevnto an Hystorian is bound Ne quid falsi audeat ne quid veri non audeat That he should be bolde to tell the trueth and yet not so bolde as to tell a lye Howbeit his Hystorie without all doubte in places not blemished with suche folies is a worthie work but since he inserteth them many times without all discretion hee must of the wiser sorte be read ouer with great suspicion wearines For as he was by office Collector of the Peter pence to the Popes gaine and lucre so sheweth he himselfe throughout by profession a couetous gatherer of lying Fables fained to aduaunce the Popish Religion Kingdome and Myter ¶ Halling in Saxon Haling that is to say the holsome lowe place or Meadowe I Haue séene in an auncient booke conteining the donations to the See of Rochester collected by Ernulphus the Bishop there intituled Textus de Ecclesia Roffensi a Chartre of Ecgbert the fourthe christened King of Kent by the which he gaue to Dioram the Bishop of Rochester ten ploughlandes in Halling together with certeine Denes in the Weald or common wood To the which Chartre ther is amongst others the subscription of Ieanbert the Archbishop and of one Heahbert a King of Kent also as is in that booke tearmed Which thing I note for two speciall causes the one to shewe that aboute that age there were at one time in Kent moe Kinges then one The other to manifest and set fourth the manner of that time in signing subscribing of Déedes and Charters a fashion much differēt from the insealing that is vsed in these our dayes and as touching the firste I my selfe woulde haue thought that the name King had in that place béen but onely the title of a second Magistrate as Prorex or viceroy substituted vnder the very King of the countrie for administratiō of iustice in his aide or absence sauing that I read plainly in an other Chartre of another donation of Eslingham made by Offa the king of Mercia to Eardulfe the Bishop of the same See that he proceeded in that his gift by the consent of the same Heahbert the king of Kent and that on Sigaered also by the name of Rex dimidiae partis prouinciae Cantuariorum both confirmed it by writing and gaue possession by the deliuery of a clod of earth after the maner of seison that we yet vse Neither was this true in Heahbert onely for it is euident by sundrie Chartres extant in the same Booke that Ealbert the King of Kent had Ethelbert another Kinge his fellowe and partener who also in his time was ioyned in reigne with one Eardulfe that is called Rex Cantuariorum as well as hée So that for this season it should séeme that eyther the kingdome was diuided by discent or els that the title was litigious and in controuersie though our hystories so farre as I haue séene haue mencion of neyther This old manner of signing and subscribing is in my fantasie also not vnworthy the obseruation wherein we differ from our auncestors the Saxons in this that they subscribed their names commonly adding the signe of the crosse togeather with a great number of witnesses And we for more suertie both subscribe our names put our seales and vse the help of testimonie besides That former fashion continued throughout vntill the time of the conquest by the Normans whose manner by litle and litle at the length preuailed amongst vs For the first sealed Chartre in England that euer I read of is that of King Edward the confessours to the Abbey of Westminster who being brought vp in Normandie brought into this Realme that and some other of their guises with him And after the comming of William the Conquerour the Normans liking their owne countrie custome as naturally all nations doe reiected the maner that they found héere and reteyned their owne as Ingulphus the Abbat of Croyland which came in with the conquest witnesseth saying Normanni cheirographorū confectionē cum crucib
at the Sea. The College The value of the Religious houses in this Shyre The Citie when it began The olde Schole at Canterbury The decay of Canterbury and other places Continuall contention betweene the two great houses in Canterbury Christes-Churche in Canterbury Thomas Becket the Archbishop his hystorie Saint Augustines The deade in old time were buried out of the Cities Popishe braules S. Maries in Canterbury The Saints and Reliques at CaÌ„terbury S. August Thomas Becket had two heads S. Gregories in Canterbury S. Laurenceâ— Hospitall S Iames Hospitall S. Sepulchers White friars S. Mildredâ— The Bishops Palaice S. Martines was a Bishops See. S. Sepulchres by CaÌ„terbury The Monkes coÌ„tend with the Archbishop and do preuaile The vanitie of Man and the subtilty of the Deuill be the cause of Idolatrie Saint Thomas Beckets Relique The olde manner of nameing men Maude the Empresse true Heire to the Crowne Bartholmew Badelesmere Thomas Colpeper The Pryory at Leeds By what meanes the Archebishops chair came to 〈…〉 The Deanrie of shorâ—ham A Popishe myracle Monkes contend for the electioÌ„ of the Bishop SaÌ„int Cuthbertes feast why holdeÌ„ double Bishops Sees are translated from Villages to Cities The Catalogue of Rochester Bishops The Harborowe of the Nauie Royall The benefites that God hathe giuen this Realme in the Reigne oâ— Queene Elizabeth A barbarous crueltie executed vpon Straungers Excessiue drinking and how it came into England Great troupes of seruing men came in with the Normanes The cause of the Conquest of Enlande Harold the King. The vncurtesie of the English natioÌ„ toward straungers Busyris was a tirant that sacrificed straungers and was therefore slaine by Hercules Our Lady the Rode of ChethaÌ„ Gillingham Horsted borne in Ailesford Hengist Horsa two famous Capitaines A religious Skirmish betwene the Monkes of Rochester and the Brethren of Stroude Friendsbury clubbes Eslingham Appropriations of benefices The Citie The Castle S. Andrews Church in Rochester Priests had wiues in England of olde time Saint William of Rochester Saint Bartholmewes Hospitall Rochester Bridge both the olde the newe Syr Robert Knolles a valiant Capitaine The Hospitall The beginning of this scoffing by word Kentishe tailes Angle Queene Many kinges at once in Kent The olde manner of Signing Sealing of deedes Fernham The Danes compelled to take the Thamise The Danes are chased from Otforde Earle Edrie an infamus traytour A noble example of Kinge Edmunde Ironside The names of Townes ending in ing The Abbay The Solaces of Solâ— life The Castle The Cleargie was law lesse The Pryorie at Tun-Bridge The Low the of Tunbridge 42. H. 3. The Archebishop hath an Earle to his Butler The Rooâ—â— of Asherst was a growing Idole The masters of the nauie Royal. Alphey the Archbishop was cruelly slaine A popish minde 32. Shyres in England Great suÌ„mâ— of money paied to the Danes The Priorie of Shene The frierie The Palaice The rebellion of Iack Straw The rebellion of Iack Cade The rebellion of the black smith Lord Richard Lucy The ancient manner of the triall of right to Landes Wager of Lawe Hengist Horsa The beginning of the Kentishe Kingdome Orpenton the course of Cray water Mesopotamia signifieth a couÌ„try encompassed with riuers Rochester castle beseiged Princes may wooe by picture and marye by proctor The Abbay The old maner of Tourneament The occasion of Iacke Strawes his rebellion The courâ—â— of the riuer of Derent The name of Portreue whereof it commeth The name of Sherife London had a Portreue The office of a Reue. A learned age in which priestes had more latine theÌ„ english and yet almost no latine at all The order of this description The Manour The church of S. Hildeferthe The auncient forme of a Testament The auncient estate of a Gentleman and by what meanes gentle was obteyned in the olde time The degres of Freemen Earl Thein and Churle Alderman ShiremaÌ„ c were names of offices Wisdom is more profitable when it is ioyned with riches Merchandize and Husbandrie 1. The worship of many Gods. Saint Edith and her offering The olde newe Romanes agre in many points of religion S. Thomas Beckets spiteful miracles S. Bartilmew of Otford and his offering The Palaice at Otford Cardinall Morton Erasmus doth misreporte the cause of the contention between the King and Thomas Becket The Manor of WinghaÌ„ Reigate Castle in Surrey The Schole and Almes house The Town The name Gauelkind wherof it arose To shift laÌ„d is an olde terme The antiquitie of Gauelkind custome The diuisioÌ„ of this discourse What lands be of Gauel kind nature Some Knight fee is Gauelkinde Auncient Knight fee is not of the nature of Gauelkynd The change of Gauelkind tenure is no chaÌ„ge of the nature of Gauelkind A contrarie vsage changeth not the nature of Gauelkinde HeaHbeorg in Saxon is a high defence and the customs of NormaÌ„die that cal fieâ—e or fee de Haubert whiche oweth to defend the laÌ„d by full armes that is by horse haubert target sword or helme and it consisteth of 300. acres of land which is the same as I suppose that we called a whole Knights fee * The custome of Gauelkind is vniuersall in Kent The reason of Gauelkinde Custome What thinges shal ensue the nature of the land Rent Remainder Voucher Condition Attaint and Error No battail nor graund Assise in gauelkinde Forfaiture in Felonie Cessauit in Gauelkind Tenant by the Courtesie Tenant in Dâ—wer The difference betweene coÌ„mon Lawe and Custome therin Dower of chattels Partition of chattels Partition of chattels London Partition of Gauelkinde lands Astrâ— what it meaneth Gardein after the cusâ—ome Sale is at 15. yearâ—â— Sale good at 15. yeares No villains in Kent Apparance Câ—men Chase and driue out Attaint Chaunging of wayes Goppies These wordes betweene the starres were taken out of an other olde copie Free men Esechator Giue and sell landes without licence Plede by writte or pleinte Appeare by Borsholder No eschete for felonie but of goods only Dower of the one half Flying for felony causeth forfeiture Partition amoÌ„gst the heirs males The Astre Curt in other copies One suite for all the parceners Partition of goods Custodie of the heire in Gauelkind Sale at xv yeres of age Dower of the one half Forfaiture of Dower Tenant by the courtesie of the one halfe The discent of Gauelkind changed Forfaiture by Ceslauit or Gâ—uelate No oathe but for fealtie Essoignes No battail nor graunâ— assise in Guelkinde landes A Table conteining the principall places and matters handeled in this Booke A Angles or Englishmen Page 2 Archebishopricke of Canterbury Page 62 Archebishops contend for the primacie Page 65 Archebishops all named Page 70 Armour Page 112. 211. Apledore Page 146. 162 Aile or Eile a Riuer Page 177. Correction of adulterie Page 180. Appropriations Page 292 Ailesforde Page 321. Asheherst Page 333. Adington Page 258. Aldington Page 149. B Brytones or Welshmen Page 1. 12. Borsholder what he is Page 22 Bridges of stone Page
enfranchise villaines sondrie other things whiche bycause they be to long to be rehearsed at large and lye not fitly in the way of my purpose I will omit and descend to the Wardeins of the Portes reciting in a short Catalogue the names of so many of them as I haue found to gouern sithence the arriuall of King William the Conquerour And although it be no doubt but that the Portes were vnder the gouernement of some before the tyme of the conquest also yet bycause King William was the first so farre as I haue read that made the office perpetuall and gaue it the title whiche it now beareth the name Wardein I meane whiche came from Normandie and was not at all knowen to the Saxons I thinke best to begin at his time Againe for asmuche as the Constableship of the Castle of Douer and this office haue ben alwayes inseperably matched together and for that I shal haue fitte place to speake of that hereafter when I shall come to Douer I will respit the rehersall of bothe their originalles til then and here in the meane season set down the race of the Wardeins by name only Iohn Fynes created by William the Conquerour Wardein of the Portes and Constable of Douer by gifte of inheritance Iames Fines his Sonne whiche dyed ot Folkston Iohn Fynes his Sonne Walkelm who deliuered it to King Stephan and immediatly after his death abandoned the charge and fled into Normandie Allen Fynes restored by King Henrie the second Iames Fynes his Eldest Sonne Mathew Clere as it should séeme by Mat. Par. Williā Petite who imprisoned Godfrey the Archbyshop of Yorke in Douer castle as vnder that title shal appeare William of Wrotham Hubert of Burgh the Earle of Kent who being deposed Bartram of Cryol succéeded Richard Gray appointed by the Barons that warred against King Henrie the third who was depriued of his office by Hugh Bigot bicause he let in the Popes legate by the Kings licence and against the minde of the Nobles Henrie Braybrooke Edward the first in the lyfe of his father who made Henrie Cobham his deputie whose Sonne Heire called Iohn founded Cobham College Roger Leyborne in the tyme of King Edward the first Stephan Penchester in the tyme of Edward the first Syr Robert Asheton Hugh Spenser the younger in the tyme of Edward the second Edmund of Woodstock the Earle of Kent Reginald Cobham in the time of Edward the third Bartholmew Burwhasse or Burgehersh one of the first companions of the ordre of the Garter Iohn Beauchampe the Earle of Warwike Syr Robert Herle in the latter ende of King Edward the third Edmund the Earle of Cambridge Syr Simon Barley whome Thomas of Woodstocke beheaded Lord Henrie Cobham the Sonne of Reginald Cobhā Syr Iohn Enros Syr Thomas Beaumont Edward the Duke of Aumarle and Yorke whom King Henrie the fourth remoued and substituted in place Syr Thomas Erpingham for a season but afterward he gaue the office to Prince Edward his Sonne who when he was King in possession bestowed it vpon Humfrey the Duke of Gloucester Iames Fines Lord Saye whom Iacke Cade beheaded Edmond the Duke of Somerset Humfrey the Duke of Buckingham Simon Mountford vnder King Henrie the sixt Richard Neuel the Earle of Warwike William the Earle of Arundel Richard the Duke of Gloucester called afterward King Richard the third Sir William Scotte Henrie the Duke of Yorke Iames Fines the Lord Saye Henrie in his Fathers lyfe afterward the eight King of that name Arthur Plantagenet Vicount Lisle Bastard Sonne to King Edward the fourth Sir Edward Poynings Henrie the younge Earle of Richemond Sir Edward Guldeford George Boleyn Vicount Rocheford Sir Thomas Cheynie Treasurour of the houshold Sir Wiliam Cobham Lord Cobham Thus much of the v. Portes in general Now of Sandwiche the first of them in the order of my iourney and then orderly of so many of the residue as lye within the Shyre that I haue presently in hand Sandwiche is called in Latine Sabulouicum or Portus Rutupinus in Saxon Sondƿic that is to say the Sandie Towne because the coast therabout aboundeth withe Sande THis Towne as it appeareth by the report of Leland and as it may séeme also by the name it selfe being méere Saxon began by the Saxons after the fall of poore Richeborowe which was in price while the honour of the Britons stood vpright and was eyther abated dy the furie of the Saxons when they wonne that coast from them or els came to ruine by the alteration and vicissitude of the Sea whiche peraduenture choked the hauen thereof with light sande as it hathe since that time done this at Sandwiche also King Canutus gaue as some write to Christes church in Canterbury Sainct Bartholmews arme if happely it were not a chaungeling for Kings great men were oftentymes after that sort deluded though they in the meane time bought such reliques dearely and thought that kinde of gifte moste princely he gaue also a riche Pall a Crowne of Golde and this hauen of Sandwiche together with the royaltie of the water on eache side so farre as a shippe being on flote at the full Sea a man might caste a shorte hatchet out of the vessell vnto the Banke The place it selfe grewe in tyme to be wel peopled and of worthynesse to be one of those Portes that foūd fauour of priuilege in consideration of their seruice at the Sea for it appeareth by the booke of Domesday that this was the estate of Sandwiche It laye in a hundreth belonginge to it selfe it did to the King suche like seruice by tenure as Douer did It was of the possessiōs of Christes Churche as I haue shewed and was appointed for the apparell of the Monkes of that house to the whiche it yealded fourtie thousand herrings besides certaine money and had in it thrée hundreth and seuen houses inhabited And I finde not but that the Towne continued in the like plight long after the Conquest being somewhat amended also by the Staple whiche King Edward the first for a season remoued thither euen vntil the time of King Henrie the sixt in whose dayes Peter Brice the Steward of Normandie landed at Sandwiche and with fire and sworde wasted the Towne in manner to ashes and slewe the inhabitants almoste to the last man Since whiche time partly by the smarte of that wounde but chiefly by the aboundaunce of the light Sande wherewith the Sea hath glutted the hauen it is declined to great decay and were like to fall to extreme ruine were it not that nowe presently it is somewhat relieued by the repaire of suche as haue abandoned their Countrie for the fréedome of their consciences whose aboade howe long it will bée the Lorde onely knoweth for whose cause they suffer banishment There was in this Towne before the generall suppression a house of Carmelites whereof I read none other good thing saue that it brought foorthe one learned man called