This is one of the chiefest things that they labour most to beat into mens minds that their Souls die not but do after death pass from one to another and hereby they think men should be most stirred unto vertue when fear of death is nothing regarded Also they dispute many other things as of the stars of their movings of the bignesse of the world and the earth of the nature of things of the strength and power of the immortal Gods and do therein instruct their youth Thus we have heard what those Druids and their Followers were Now let us a little examine their cause by their own Writers and their own proceedings for to write at large of their most grosse and inhumane absurdities would require a Volume from me as the like had done of other Writers against such Pagan Gentils their superstitions whereas all Creatures cry out unto us especially the more noble as the Celestial bodies in searching whose natures and effects these men were most conversant that there is an eternal and omnipotent Maker and Causer which created all things who being without beginning or ending was made or caused by no other Coeli enarrant gloriam Dei opera manuum ejus anunciat firmamentum Mr. Br. f. 244. And divine worship is onely due unto him for his Almighty Excellency and the benefit which man a reasonable Creature received and further expecteth and needeth to receive from him which we commonly call Religion a Releiging Religation or dutiful binding of man informed with a reasonable intellectual and immortal Soul ordained as it were the Lieutenant and Viceroy of God to govern this inferior world and by his better eternal part assured that better and eternal things are ordained for him if he doth not deprive himself of them but find out and perform the Will and Commandment of so infinite good and bountiful a Creator Preserver and Maintainer of all things especially for the use and end of Man so dignified and exalted among his Creatures which these Druids and their Disciples were so far from effecting that they gave him no honour at all never remembring him among those that they worshipped but doing the greatest dishonour they could unto him in giving that glory and majesty which is only proper and due to him to his rebellious Creatures and professed Enemies damned and infernal souls hundreds of thousands before them and divers of these by probable Historical accounts of later Time and Creation then the Author of their own Sect Druius was And if we will follow Julius Cesar who of all writeth most of their pretended Religion living in the time of their chiefest Sway and best knew what they professed he writeth of the Germans that they differed much from the French and their Druids in their Religion having no sacrifices and only accounting for their gods whom they see and by whom they are manifestly helped as the Sun the Moon and such visible things and heard not of any God Germani multum à Gallorum consuetudine differunt Neque sacrificiis student deorum numero eos solos ducunt quos ceruunt quorum aperte opibus juvantur Solem Vulcanum Lunam yet the German Writers are so confident that the Druids ruled there in Religion that they shew unto this day in Germany as far as Bavaria two especiall places where they were wont to assemble under great Oaks to exercise their superstitions and in detestation thereof two Monasteries called Oberaltaich and Nederaltaich were founded to blot out their Memory Pont. de viris Illust Ger. part 1. p. 40 41. In Bavaria quoque inferiore sub quercu magna superiore inferiore suam superstitionem exercebant quae loca postea in Monasteria conversa etiamnum Oberaltaich Neberaltaich appellantur Therefore these could not be Professors and Teachers of the true God his Worship and Religion which for divers People and Countries and for themselves also had such variety and change of gods and Religion in divers times and places and yet all of them professing most grosse and stupid ignorance or woeful Idolatry the greatest irreligion that can be And as they thus proved themselves to be Atheists leaving no possible true God to be worshipped so by their error of transmigration of souls from one body to another they fell into one of these absurdities that one soul should in the end inform many even hundreds of bodies or else cease at the last to inform cease to be and made mortal And as Chimerical a fiction it was of them to say as Lucan expoundeth them that when a soul left a body in this world it went into another world and there informed another body Vobis Autoribus umbrae Non tacitas Erebi sedes Ditisque profundi Pallida Regna petunt Regit idem spiritus artus Orbe alio longe For so they must needs make more worlds where generation and corruption is besides this terrestrial and sublunary where we inhabit and therefore justly doth the same Author call their profession barbarous Rites a false manner of worship and singular against all the world besides Et vos barbaricos ritus moremque sinistrum Sacrorum Druidae positis repetistis ab armis Solis nosse Deos Coeli sydera vobis Aut solis nescire datum St. Gildas tells us that the monstrous Idols in Brittain were not inferior in number to those of Egypt commonly esteemed the most idolatrous Nation of the world and some of them with deformed lineaments remained to be seen in his time and the people of Brittain gave divine honour even to Mountains Hills and Rivers And yet besides these had Errors and Idolatries common with other Nations Non omittentes priscos communesque cum omnibus gentibus errores quibus ante adventum Christi in carne omne genus humanum obligabatur obstrictum nec enumerans patria portenta ipsa Diabolica pene numero Egyptiaca vincentia Gildas li. de Exid. Britt quorum nonnulla lineamentis adhuc deformibus intra vel extra deserta maenia solito more rigantia torvis vultibus intuemur neque nominatim inclamitant montes ipsos aut colles aut fluvios olim exitiales nunc vero humanis usibus utiles quibus divinus honor à coeco tunc populo cumulabatur The same have other later Writers and the sacrifices which they offered to those abominable idols were the most detestable and for such not unworthily ranked by the Pagan and Christian Writers amongst the most cruel and barbarous savages of the world Pro victimis homines immolant administrisque ad ea sacrificia Druidibus utuntur Publicéque ejusdem generis habent instituta sacrificia They offer men for Sacrifices Caesar lib. 6. belli Gallic and the Druids be the Ministers of such sacrifices and such sacrifices be instituted by publick Authority among them thus hath Caesar and others Cicero speaking of these Druids saith His quicquam Sanctum ac Religiosum videri potest qui etiamsi quando
Sermone vis infinita est Brittanicarum aictionum atque vetus cultus Hibernorum ut ait Cornelius Tacitus non multum differt à Brittanico Denique à Scriptoribus antiquis omnibus Insula ea Brittanica nominatur praefertius cum Romani suum imperium undique propagassent multi proculdubio ex Hispanis Gallia Brittannia se receperunt in Hiberniam ne potentiae Romanae subjicerentur quae res fecit Julium Agricolam persuadere Romanis capere Hiberniam si Britannos in officio continere vellent Attamen Hibernia licet ipso situ fuerit Imperio Romano summè necessaria ejusque aditus Portus per commercia cognita Romanis Julius Agricola quendam Hibernum Regulum seditionis expulsum retinuerit ad occasionem capiendae Insulae nunquam tamen à Romanis in ditionem accepta fuit If it be true which the Irish Writers affirm their Island may justly be called Ogygia that is very ancient for they aver Cesara to have there inhabited before the Deluge and the History of Brittany avoucheth that Hiberus and Hermio two Spaniards many ages after by the appointment of Gurguint King of Great Brittaine inhabited it with their Colonies and Planters I will neither say it nor gain-say it quoth Cambden but certainly it is very probable that Ireland was very anciently Inhabited when mankind was dispersed and spread abroad over the face of the whole earth and manifest it is the first Inhabitants to have come thither out of Brittannia for in the Irish Speech there are a multitude of Brittish words and accents and as Cornelius Tacitus tells us the mode of the Irish differs not much from the Brittains And for a Conclusion of this Discourse by the most ancient Writers that Island is called Brittanica or Brittish and evident it is that when the Roman valour and glory had conquered and spread it self almost throughout the whole known world divers as well out of Spain as France and Britttain fled thither for shelter not willing to submit their necks and shoulders under the Roman yoke which was indeed the very cause that moved Julius Agicola to perswade the Romans to get Possession of Ireland if they ever meant to keep the Brittains in s bjection And although that Iland was of great consequence and necessary to the Romans neither were their Ports and Haven by reason of the constant and dayly Commerce and Trafick to them unknown And Julius Agricola having got a certain Irish petty King into his clutches driven by sedition from his native soyl intended to make him his decoy to seize and fasten upon the Irish jurisdictions yet for all these stratagems Ireland never came under the Roman slavery or obedience Gurguint being hitherto victorious and fortunate returns home having his head enriched with Laurels of choicest honour and renown being a Prince of singular prudence and justice and having laid the Sword aside he applies himself to build Cities and Towns for the great beauty of his Kingdome The first place which he erected was as saith Howes citing J. Rouse Caierwerith that is Lancaster of which place the Learned Cambden speaking Lancaster built by Gurguim hath these words ' Vbi sub Britanniarum duce ut est in Notitia Provinciarum numerus Longovicariorum qui è loco suum nomen sunt mutuati stationem habuit Whereas we find in the notice of Provinces a company of the Longovicarians under the Lieutenant General of Brittain lay which took their name from the place that is from the River Lon which gave name also to Loncaster and Longovicum this is onely a Market town at this day the ancient Town stood where after was a Cloyster at the foot of the hill are fragments of old walls and oft-times Roman Coyns are found but above all there are the ruins of a very antique structure which is called Werywall Recentiori ut videtur hujus oppidi nomine Hoc enim oppidum saith Mr. Cambden ilii Caerwerid i. e. Vrbem viridem dixerunt à viridanti forsitan illo colle This Town the Brittains called Caerwerid that is to say the Green town perchance taking its Name from the Green hill which is there The first time this place became an Earldome was when K. Hen. 3. conferred that Title on his second Son Edm. and it was destinate to greatnesse in the first Foundation there being laid unto it at the very first besides this County the whole confiscated Estates of the Earls of Leicester and Derby and the Barony of Monmouth And into this by Marriages accrued in time the great Estates of William de Fortibus Earl of Aumerl and Lord of Holderness Beauford and other goodly Lands in France the Earldom of Lincoln and good part of that of Salisbury the Lordships of Ogncare and Kidwelly in Wales which were once the Chaworths John of Gaunt added thereunto the Castles and Honors of Hertford and Tickhill and his Son Bullingbroke a moiety of the Lands of Bohun being Earl of Hertford Essex and Northampton so that it was the greatest Patrimony as I verily think of any Subject Prince in Christendome Lancaster finally was made a County Palatine by King Ed. the 3. and hath been honoured with these Dukes and Earles of Lancaster Edmund Plantagenet 2. Son to K. Hen. 3. E. of Lan. Thomas Plantagenet Henry Plantagenet Henry Plantagenet first D. of Lan. John of Gaunt Son to K. Ed. 3. married the Lady Blanch Daughter of Henry D. of Lan. Henry of Bullinbroke Son of John of Gaunt after King of England by whom this County Palatine and all the Lands and Honors belonging and incorporate into the Dutchy of Lancaster were brought unto the Crown of England though governed as an Estate apart then by its proper Officers as it continued till the time of K. Ed. 4. who did appropriate it to the Crown and dissolved the former Government thereof to which it was restored again by K. Hen. 7. and so still remaineth under the guidance of Chancellor and other Officers of the same The next Town which Gurgunstus as Howes calls him built was Porchester in Hampshire of which place Cambden speaking of those parts saith In cujus interiori recessu olim floruit Port Peris ad quem Vespasianum appulisse nostri produnt Saxones novo Nomine Portchester dixerunt non à Porta Saxone sed à portu Ptolomaeo enim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. portus magnus vocatur castrumque sanc amplum superest quod in subjectum portum longe lateque prospectat where in times past Port Peris flourished where in succeeding Ages our Writers affirm Porchester built by Garguint Vespasian when he came into Brittain first landed the Saxons changed the Name into Portchester but not deriving it from Porta the Saxon Chieftain but from Port i. e. Haven or Harbour in which sense Ptolomy useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great Harbour or Port this by the ancient Brittains was called Caer Peris and was one of the eight and twenty Sees
aliquo metu adducti Deos placandos esse arbitrâ—â—tur humanis hostiis eorum aras ac Templa funestant ut ne Religionem quidem colere possint nisi eam ipsam scelere violarint Quis enim ignorat eos usq ad hunc diem retinere illam immanem barbaram consuetudinem hominum immolandorum Quamobrem quali fide Cicero in Orai pro Marc. Fonteio quali pietate existimatis eos esse qui etiam Deos immortales arbitrentur hominum scelere sanguine facilè posse placari Can any thing be accounted holy and religious with those men who when they are afraid of any thing and would have their Gods pacified do prophane their Altars and Temples with sacrificed men so that they cannot exercise their Religion except they first violate it with wickednesse For who is ignorant that even to this day they retain that savage and barbarous custome of sacrificing Men Therefore can you think those men to have any Religion or Piety who think the immortal Gods may be easily appeased with the wickedness and blood of Men The like hath Dio Cassius Amianus Marcellinus and others among the Gentils all crying out against those most barbarous proceedings and yet termed with them Religion and to fill up the measure of this their most inhumane irreligion as Julius Caesar with others testifieth These men had Idols of huge greatnesse whose members being made of wands they filled full of men alive and so setting them on fire burned them Immani magnitudine simulachra habent quorum contexta viminibus membra vivis hominibus complent quibus succensis circumventi flamma exanimantur homines And Pliny with others is witnesse that they were so far from doing any homage or duty unto God that they bestowed all such upon the Divels his enemies and were so far and so long time in his dayes practised in Magick and Invocation and worshipping Divels that he supposeth the Persians so far distant and given over then to that most horrible dishonouring of God had learned it and received it from hence where the chief Masters and Practisers thereof remained These Druids permitted many wives to one man for Caesar saith Caesar bell Gall. li. 6. Vxores habent deni duodeni inter se communes maxime fratres cum fratribus parentes cum liberis the like hath Zonoras and in this Country the people went naked nudi degunt mulieribus promiscuè utuntur and this was accounted a vertue and an honour amongst them as Queen Bunduice did publickty professe in her prayer to her Goddesse Audraste or Audaste qui cum caeter ae omnia tum liberes uxores communes inter se putant they think wives and children and all things Common Thus much of the Druids their Antiquity and Institution with their abominable sacrifices and superstitions of whom as occasion shall serve we shall speak more hereafter Grantham built by Gorbomannus Gorbomanuus is reported to have Founded Grantham in Lincolnshire of which place Mr. Cambden maketh onely this mention post Paunton visitur Grantham oppidum non infrequens Schola à Richardo Foxo Wintoniensi Episcopo Templo specioso exornatum cujus sacrae Pyramis admirandam in altitudinem surgit fabulis est famigerata Grantham a Town well peopled and adorned with a free School built by Bishop Fox and a very fair Church whose Broach or Steeple is of such height that it is spoken of far and near The same Gorbomannus builded as the English Chronicle seems to affirm Cambridge anciently called Granta Cambridge supposed by some to have been built by Gorbomannus Caer Grant and Grantchester yet Mr. Broughton out of other Authors saith that Cambridge was Founded by Cantaber a Spaniard many hundred years before Christ and walled about by Grantinus Sintque Doctores Scholares illius celeberrimae matris Philosophiae civitatis Cantabrigiae â Cantabro aedificatae nec non à Grantino Comite honorabiliter muratae ab omni calumnia inquietatione scandalo liberi Let the Masters and Scholars of that famous Mother of Philosophy the City of Cambridge built by Cantaber and walled about by Count Grantinus be free from all Calumny molestation and disturbance whatsoever which divers Oxford Men and Antiquaries though no Friends to the glory of Cambridge yield unto But of this place more hereafter in the Lives of Lucius Morpen-dragon Arthur and Cadwalader ARCHIGALLO ARCHIGALLO the Son of Morindus after his Brother had Reigned by consent of most Writers the space of eleven years ascended the Throne of Brittain in the year of the worlds Creation four thousand nine hundred and ten This Prince in the English Chronicle is called Artogail who utterly forsaking the model of exact Government which his Brother had left behind him for him to follow he lent too facile an ear to flatterers and sycophants and where no just cause could be found faults were contrived and invented whereby to entrap the Nobles and new Plots discovered which never were thought upon but by the Contrivers whose Machiavillian brains hatch'd them for the destruction of the valiant and wealthy were they never so innocent a point of policy so palpably manifest in these latter dayes that the weakest judgement may see it but the greatest dare not gain-say it These state tricks pleased Archigallo the ancient Nobility are thrust out of all command and power in the Commonwealth Delinquency laid to their charge or at least a disaffection to the present Government and upon these pretences many are secured and more utterly ruined either being put to such an intolerable Composition for their Estates that they never after recâ—er the losse or else are utterly thrust out of them and new Upstarts put in whose Predecessor never knew how to write himself Gentleman nor ever bore Coat unlesse a thred-bare one in which peradventure he held an other mans Plough or used some poor and sordid mechanick Trade but by these sinister means Archigallo cram'd his Coffers and raised to dignities such as best suted with his disposition so that Beggars ride on horse back and Nobles go on foot And set a Beggar on horse-back and ride to the divel but too much of one thing is good for nothing and the poorest Worm trod upon will turn again The Nobles and Commons begin to grow sensible of their just sad Condition and heavy Taxes and Impositions after which followeth a general grudging and murmuring when presently dispair sends fury amongst them and furor arma ministrat the intolerable yoak will be no longer endured all joyn in an association to take revenge upon the common Enemy Archigallo whom they suddenly set upon and before he could provide means to defend himself he is unking'd and quite difrobed of all princely Command after he had worn the purple by consent of most Writers five years It concerns Princes and great Commanders to make choice of Counsellors who not only have the reputation of vertue and Religion but also that
with his Countrymen by working their subversion to his own dishonour and advantage of a Forraign enemy His Father Imanentius having been sometime chief Ruler of the City of Trinobantes and well esteemed among them was slain by Cassibelin the present Governour against whom the Citizens desired Caesar to protect Mandubratius and to commit unto him the Government of that City which Caesar granted upon delivery of a certain number of Pledges and a sufficient proportion of Victuals for provision of his Army Hereupon divers petty states thereabout sent Embassadors and yielded themselves to Caesar who understood by them that Cassibelina his Town being well stored with Men and Cattle was not far from thence this Town was only a circuit of ground inclosed with wood and marshes or else entrenched with a Ranger of Earth about it Caesar coming with his Legion to this place which he found very strong as being fortifyed Naturally and also by the industry of man began to assail it on both sides The Brittains having expected a while the event of the enterprise and perceiving themselves unable to withstand the assault issued out at a back way where many of them being slain and some taken as they fled the Town it self and all the provisions within it were left as a spoil to the Romans while these things were doing among the Trinobants Cassabelin dispatched messengers into Kent or Cantium that lyes upon the Sea The Inhabitants of these parts were better furnished to make War then any other of the Isle the Country at that time was Governed by four Kings as Caesar himself calleth them either for that they had among them a kind of absolute Government in several or else for that being the Register of his own Acts he supposed it would be more for his glory to be reputed a Conqueror of Kings their names were Cingetorix Carvilius Taximugulus and Segonax whom Cassibelin then required to raise all the power they could make and on the sudden to assail the Roman Forces that Guarded their ships at the Sea side This was attempted accordingly but with ill successe for that the Romans having timely advertisement of their purpose prevented the execution thereof by setting upon them as they drew near the Roman Army and so after a great slaughter made of the Brittains Cingetorix a Noble Captain and one of the Princes being taking prisoner the Romans returned safe to their Camp Cassibelin hearing of the unhappy issue of his enterprize after so many losses sustained on his part his Country being wasted with War and himself in a manner forsaken by the revolt of the Cities round about which most of all discâ—uraged him sent Embassadors to Caesar by Comius of Arras offering to submit himself upon reasonable conditions Caesar determining to winter in Gallia the state of his affairs there requiring it and the summer being almost spent commanded that he should deliver certain pledges for assurance of his obedience and that he should offer no wrong nor give cause of offence to Mandubratius or the Troynobants whom he had taken into special protection and then having imposed a Tribute to be paid yearly by the Brittains to the people of Rome he marched towards the sea side where he embarked his Forces and arrived with them safely in the Continent Thus Caesar having rather shewed some part of Brittain to the Romans then made a Conquest of the whole supposed he had done sufficiently for his own glory in undertaking a matter so rare and difficult in those Times At his coming to Rome he presented there certain Captives which he had taken in the Brittish Wars whose strangenesse of shape and behaviour filled the peoples eyes both with wonder and delight He offered also in the Temple of Venus Genetrix a Surcote embroidered with Brittish Pearl as a Trophy and spoil of the Ocean leaving to posterity a perpetual remembrance of his Enterprize in this Iland to the honour both of his own Name and of the Roman Nation After the death of Julius Caesar by reason of the civil Wars among the Romans the Isle of Brittain was for a time neglected and Augustus Caesar being setled in the Empire which was then grown to such greatness as it seemed even cumbred therewith accounted it good policy to contain the same within it known bounds Besides the attempt was like to prove dangerous and a matter of very great expence to send an Army so far off to make War with the Brittish Nation for desire of glory only no special cause besides moving thereto Howbeit as some Writers Report above Twenty years after Julius Caesar's first Entrance Augustus intended a Voyage hither in person alledging for pretence of the War the wrong offered to the Roman State by such Princes of the Isle as had for certaine years witheld the Tribute which Caesar his Praedecessor had imposed upon them intelligence whereof being got the Brittains sent over Embassadours who meeting the Emperour in a The Countrey between the Rivers Garony and Seinin France Gallia Celtica declared their submission and desired pardon And the better to win favour they had carried over certain gifts of good value to be presented as offerings in the Roman Capitol having already learned the Art to flatter for Advantage and to appease Princes by rewards Hereupon a conditional peace was granted them and the Emperour having pacifyed some troubles in Gallia returned to Rome then began the Ilanders to pay Tribute and Custome of all kind of Wares which they exchanged with the Gaules as namely Ivory boxes Iron chaines and other trinkets of Amber and Glasse which were Transported Too and Fro both out of Gallia and Brittain The year following the Brittains having failed in performance of Conditions he prepared for another expedition but being set forward on his Voyage the revolt of the b The Biscayans Cantabrians and c The Inhabitants between Gallicia and Portugal Assyrians stayed him from proceeding any further therein after which time the Brittains were left to themselves to enjoy their Liberty and use their own Laws without molestation of forraign Invaders for that the Romans having found the sweetnesse of peace after long civil Wars sought rather to keep in obedience such Provinces as had been before time brought under subjection then by attempting new Conquests to hazard the losse of that they had already gotten In those dayes the Countrey of the Troynobants in Brittain was Governed by Conobelin who kept his residence at a Malden in Essex Camalodunum he began first to reclaim the Brittains from their ill customes and to make his state more respected he afterwards caused his own Image to be stamped on his Coyne after the manner of the Romans a custome never used by the Brittains before his dayes and but then newly received by the Romans themselves for before that time the Brittains used Rings of Iron and little plates of Brasse of a certaine weight instead of Coyne During the time of his Government
Brute entered Brittain eleven hundred and thirty six After Alexander the Great near upon a eleven hundred and twenty five After the building of Rome seven hundred and twenty nine GVIDERIVS GVIDERIVS the first Son of Kimbeline was advanced to the Legal command of the Brittains who were under his Fathers subjection he was invested in the year of the world 5216. Anno Dom. 170. This King was potent and abounded in Treasure which indeed are the sinews of War and was alwaies a Prince of Haughty courage and where wealth and courage meet almost miracles may be wrought if the cause be good and guided by a celestial providence but self-Love Pride and Arrogancy often bringeth confusion Guiderius bolstered up with these supporters denies the covenanted Tribute to the Romans which if thus confirmed by Authors Expletis diebus vitae suae cessit gubernaculum Regni Guiderio Mr. Bro. fol. 23. 8. cum ergo Tributum quod appetebant Romani ipsis denegaret supervenit Claudius qui in Imperium subrogatus fuerat When Kimbeline was dead Guiderius succeeeded in the Kingdome therefore when he denied the Tribute the Roman Claudius came hither being then Emperor Mr. Br. 335. And I have read in a very good Author That in Claudius the Roman Emperors time he with his Romans brought the Orchades and after them Anglesey under the Roman subjection though this Act be commonly ascribed to Julius Agricola Fabian confirms my Authors Assertion saying Wherefore Claudius who was Uncle to Caius Caligula the Fourth Emperor of Rome arrived in Brittain with a great Army and not only as writeth Polychronican constrained the Inhabitants to pay the Tribute but also subjected to the Roman yoke the Iles of Orchades or Orkeys which are scituate beyond Scotland and at the end of six Months returned to his Imperial City In this Army as tells us the English Chronicle and Gaufride was a Captain called Hame or Hamo who to compasse his purpose against the Ilanders changed his Armour and Shield arming himself like a Brittain and in this Disguise did extreme Damage unto his Enemies and still pressing forward at length came to the very place where King Guiderius was fighting and by this unexpected Stratagem and Policy slew him which his Brother Arviragus perceiving used the like policy immediately investing himself in Princely Array that the Fall of the King was not perceived and thus personating a Soveraign in his Regal Ensignes he encouraged the Brittains and by his own Example Courage and Valour so animated them that they did Feats beyond belief insomuch that they put the Romans to flight Thus was Guiderius by the opinion of several Authors slain by Hamo after he had reigned the space of twenty eight years leaving his Brother Arviragus by reason that he had no Issue of his own to succeed him ARVIRAGVS ARviragus the youngest Son of Kimbeline and brothor to Guiderius was Crowned King of Great Brittain in the year of Christs Incarnation forty and four The English Chronicle calls him Armiger he was a Prince of a high Spirit and skilful in warlike Affairs maintaining with great resolution and prosperous successe his Wars against the invading Romans neither suffered he the death of his Brother to passe unrevenged For with his own hands he slew Hamo the Murderer of Guiderius near a Port or Haven which by reason of that Fact was called Hamons Haven and now with some alteration South-Hampton a Town populous rich and beautiful from which the whole Shire deriveth her Name most strongly walled with square stone containing in Circuit one thousand and two hundred Paces having seven Gates for entrance and twenty nine Towers for Defence two very stately Keyes for Ships arrivage and five fair Churches for God's divine Service besides an Hospital called God's House wherein the unfortunate Richard Earl of Cambridge beheaded for Treason lyeth inter'd On the West of this Town is mounted a beautiful Castle in form Circular and wall within wall the Foundation upon a hill so topped that it cannot be ascended but by stairs carrying a goodly prospect both by Land and Sea and in the East without the Walls a goodly Church sometimes stood called St Maries which was pulled down for that it gave the French direction of Course who with fire had greatly endangered the Town instead thereof is newly Erected a small and unfinisht Chappel In this place saith Learned Cambden stood the ancient Clausentium a Fort of the Romans whose Circuit on that side extended it self to the Sea this suffered many depredations by the Saxon Pirates and in Anno 980. was by the Danes almost quite overthrown In K. Ed. 3. time it was fired by the French under the conduct of the King of Sicills Son whom a Countryman encountred and struck down with his Club he crying Rancon that is Ransome but he neither understanding his Language nor the Law that arms doth allow laid on more soundly I know thee a Francon and therefore thou shalt die And in Richard the Seconds time it was somewhat removed and built in the place where now it is In this Clausentium Canute to evict his Flatterers made tryal of his Deity commanding the Seas to keep back from his Feet but being not obeyed acknowledged God to be the only supreme Governour and in a religious Devotion gave up his Crown to the rood at Winchester Earls of this Southampton have been 1067. 1 Bevis of Hampton that famous Souldier so much talked of Azure 3 Lyons passant gardant Or. 2 William Fitz-Williams Losenge arg and Gules 3 Thomas Wricthesley L. Ch. created E. by Ed. 6. and King at Arms. 4 Henry Wricthesley 5 Henry Wricthesley 6 Thomas Wricthesley 1641. Azure a Cross Or 4 fulcons closed argent Policr l. 4. c. 8. cited by Fabian fol. 41. After divers changes and alterations in War and Peace an Agreement was concluded between Claudius the Roman Emperor and Arviragus insomuch that the Emperor sent to Rome for his Daughter Genniss or Gennissa and espoused her to the Brittish King who had by her his Son and Heir Marius his Successor in the Kingdome This King Reigned in Brittain when St. Joseph came hither Mr. Bro. f. 22. who gave to him and his Followers a place of Residence in lateribus suae Regionis in the outside of K. Arviragus his Countrey in Regionis suae finibus saith the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury in the very end of his Dominion Math. Parker A late Writer speaking of King Arviragus saith Quidam Historici testantur ipse omnium Regum Brittannorum primus Joes Pitseus Rel. Hist in Arvirago Fidem Christi cum Sacramentis Christianis Christianus factus suscepit Some Historians witness that of all Brittish Kings he was the first that being made a Christian received the Faith of Christ with the Christian Sacraments Another thus plainly writeth of St. Joseph He converted to the Christian Faith Marius and Coillus Son and Nephew to Arviragus and John Harding is
words either of Marianus or any Learned Antiquaty such as he was confessing S. Helen to have been at this time in Brittain as he doth for neither at this time nor divers of hundreds of years after St. Helen her death there is mention in Histories of any Jewes at all to have been in this Kingdome then much more it must needs be Historically a thing impossible and altogether untrue that there should be one hundred forty and one of the most Learned of the Jewes here and St. Helen should bring them with her to Rome from hence as seemeth by some to be set down in the Relation of the Dispute between St. Sylvester and the Jewes before Constantine and St. Helen But quite otherwise it is proved that St. Helen was wholly Christian when she was in this Nation before her going to Rome and at the time of her writing to her Son Constantine there after his baptism when in the other sence that St. Helen wrote to her Son to Congratulate his Baptism encouraged him constantly and religiously to profess Christian Religion to be a Friend to the Servants and Friends of Christ and a Suppressor of Jewes and whosoever their Enemies we have her own Religious Education and all the Christian Clergy and Nobility of Btitrain a Christian Kingdom and her native Countrey so calling upon her and neither Jew nor Pagan of note learning or power for any thing we read continuing here either to hinder her in this or advise her to the contrary to the favour either of Jews or Gentiles in their proceedings The like I may answer to then which although they with the truth acknowledge S. Helen to have been the Daughter of King Coel of Brittain and born in this Nation yet they say she went hence with Constantine towards Rome at what time he went against Maxentius the Tyrant and with the Children of Constantine travelled to Byzantium and dwelling there was perverted by the Jewes and so leaving off the Baptism of Constantine in that City of Bithynia did write to him from thence commending him for renouncing Idolatry but reproving him for reproving the Jewish Religion and being a Christian but this is evidently confuted before when by so worthy Authorities and many Arguments it was proved that St. Helen was in Brittain Mr. Brought fol. 481. so far distant from Bizantium at this time Math. West an 321. Baro. Spon Annal. an 314 Severin Binnius Annot. in Conc. Arlesat Tom. 1. Com. Epist Const ad Chrest supr Conc. Roman Can. 1. Hist Tripart l. 3. c. 2. l. 2. c. 3. Mr. Br. f. 855. And what man of judgement can think this Empress having been so fully instructed in the Mysteries of Christian Faith to have fallen into Judaism nothing but envy it self could invent such a Fiction In the time of this our great Constantine was held the first great Councel of Arles in France consisting of as Nicephorus Ado and others say 600 Bishops as Baronius Spondanus and others from Antiquity do gather in the year of Christ 314 and the 9. of this Emperor Constantine in this Councel was present and subscribed Restitutus Arch-Bishop of London and in probable judgement divers others of this our Brittain and in this time of the meeting of the Bishops at the two Councels of Arles especial care being taken by our renowned Emperor that they should at his charge and cost be safely conveyed with their due attendance to that place where these Councels were to be assembled and there also to be provided for during the time of the Councels at his cost Nor did this Heroick Emperor confine his love and favours towards Christian Religion unto the Christians of his own the West Empire but unto all as God by an holy Angel before revealed both ancient and modern Authors so acknowledging the Christians in the whole world should be at peace and Idolatry was to be generally overthrown by this noble Emperor Bap. Mont. l 2. de vita S. Blasii Joan. Bel. l. 2. de actis Pont. Roman in Sylvest 1. Nunc bonus expulsis Romana in Regna Tyrannis Adveniet Princeps sub quo placabitur Orbis Et finem accipiet veterum cultura Deorum A Prince shall rule whose power shall quite expell Those Tyrants who against Rome did rebell The World by him shall quiet peace enjoy And he the Pagan gods shall all destroy As concerning Christian Churches they which were large enough and had been ruinated in the time of persecution were repaired others were builded higher and with honour made greater where there were none before new were erected even from the Foundation and the Emperor out of his Treasury afforded money thereto and wrote both to the Bishops and Presidents of every Province to the Bishops that whatsoever they would they should command and to the Presidents that they should diligently do what they commanded And so with the prosperous estate of his Empire Religion greatly encreased Out of the Lands of his own Tribute in every City he took a certain pension that was accustomed to be paid into the Treasurie and distributed it to the Churches and Clergy and by Law decreed that his Gift to be perpetual He caused the sign of the Cross to be made upon the Armour of his Soldiers to accustom them thereby to serve God He builded a Church in his Palace Mr. Br. f. 488 and used to have carried with him when he went to war a Pavilion after the manner of a Church that both he and his Army being in the field might have a Church wherein to pray unto God and receive the sacred mysteries Priests and Deacons which according to the Institution of the Church should execute those Duties continually followed that Tent. He took away by Law the old Punishment of the Crosse used by the Romans he caused that sign to be made on his own Image whether impressed on money or painted on a Table The Brittish History saith that Constantine residing at York Brittish Hist fol. 138. although he seemed at first unwilling to accept the Imperial Title and protested openly against it yet when the Senate had confirmed the Election he took upon him the Government of those Provinces which his Father had held in the West parts and with an Army of Brittains and other Nations he first setled France and Germany being then in Arms against him and afterwards subdued Maxentius Maximianus Son that usurped the Empire in Italy Then with like success he made war upon Licinius his Associate who persecuted the Professors of Christianity in the East parts of the World by which means Constantine alone enjoyed the Empire and for his many and glorious Conquests was worthily surnamed The Great In this time the form of the Government in Brittain both for Civil and Martial Causes was altered and new Lawes established The Civil Government of the Province he committed to Pacatianus who ordered the same as Deputy to the Praefectus Praetorio of Gallia