title of Aber Gavenni upon which the majority of voices gave it the heir-male And when he had again proposed Whether the title of Baron Le Despenser Baroness le Despenser should be conferr'd on the female and her heirs they unanimously agreed to it to which his Majesty gave his Royal Assent And Edward Nevil was soon after summon'd to Parliament by the King 's Writ under the title of Baron of Aber-Gavenni And being according to the usual ceremony introduc'd in his Parliament-Robe between two Barons he was placed above the Baron de Audeley At the same time also the King's Patent was read before the Peers whereby his Majesty restored rais'd preferred c. Mary Fane to the state degree title stile name honour and dignity of Baroness le Despenser Baroness le Despenser and that her heirs successively should be Barens le Despenser c. But the question of precedency being proposed the Peers referr'd the decision thereof to the Commissioners for the office of Earl Marshal of England who signâ—d their Verdict for the Barony of le Despenser This was read before the Peers and by their order register'd in the Parliament Diary out of which I have taken this account in short What ought not to be omitted is that John Hastings held this Castle by homage ward and marriage 6 Edw. 2. When it happens as we read in the Inquisition and if there should chance any war between the King of England and Prince of Wales he ought to defend the Country of Over-went at his own charges to the utmost of his power for the good of himself the King and Kingdom The second town call'd by Antoninus Burrium Burrium who places it 12 miles from Gobannium is seated where the river Byrdhin falls into Usk. 'T is call'd now in British by a transposition of letters Brynbiga for Burenbegi and also Kaer-ŵysk by Giraldus Castrum Oskae and in English Usk. Usk. It shews now only the ruins of a large strong Castle pleasantly seated between the river Usk and Oilwy a small brook which takes its course from the east by Ragland a stately castle-like house of the Earl of Worcester's and passes under it The third City call'd by Antoninus Isca Isca and Legio secunda seated on the other side of the river Usk and distant as he observes exactly 12 Italian miles from Burrium is câ—ll'd by the Britains Kaer Lheion and Kaer Lheion ar ŵysk Kaer Lheion ar Wysk which signifies the City of the Legion on the river Usk from the Legio Secunda Augusta called also Britannica secunda This Legion instituted by Augustus and translated out of Germany into Britain by Claudius under the conduct of Vespasian to whom upon his aspiring to the Empire it prov'd serviceable and also secur'd him the British Legions was placed here at length by Julius Frontinus as seems probable in garrison against the Silures How great a City this Isca was at that time our Giraldus informs us in his Itinerary of Wales A very ancient city this was saith he and enjoy'd honourable privileges elegantly built by the Romans with * The câ—â—cuit â—f 〈◊〉 walls aâ—â— 3 miles Enderoy brick walls There are yet remaining many footsteps of its ancient splendour stately palaces which formerly with their gilded Tiles emulated the Roman grandeur for that it was at first built by the Roman nobility and adorn'd with sumptuous edifices an exceeding high tower remarkable hot †An. 16â—â— hot baâ—â—s were dâ—â—â—ver'd 〈◊〉 S. Julâ—aâ— the brâ—â—â— equilateâ—â—ly squâ—â—â— about 〈◊〉 inch tâ—â— like thâ—â— at S. Aâ—â—â—â— Mr. Aâ—â—â— baths ruins of ancient temples theatrical places encompass'd with stately walls which are partly yet standing Subterraneous edifices are frequently met with not only within the walls but also in the suburbs aqueducts vaults and which is well worth our observation Hypocausts or stoves contriv'd with admirable artifice conveying heat insensibly through some very narrow vents on the sides Two very eminent and next to St. Alban and Amphibalus the chief Protomartyrs of Britannia major lye entombed here where they were crown'd with martyrdom viz. Julius and Aaron who had also Churches dedicated to them in this City For in ancient times there were three noble Churches here One of Julius the Martyr grac'd with a Quire of Nuns devoted to God's service another dedicated to St. Aaron his companion ennobled with an excellent order of Canons and the third honour'd with the Metropolitan See of Wales Amphibalus also teacher of St. Alban who sincerely instructed him in the Faith was born here This City is excellently well seated on the navigable river Usk and beautified with meadows and woods Here the Roman Embassadors received their audience at the illustrious court of that great King Arthur And here also the Archbishop Dubricius resign'd that honour to David of Menevia by translating the Archiepiscopal See from this City thither Thus far Giraldus But in confirmation of the antiquity of this place I have taken care to add some ancient Inscriptions lately dug up there and communicated to me by the right reverend Father in God Francis Godwin Lord Bishop of Landaff a lover of venerable antiquity and all other good literature In the year 1602. some labourers digging in a meadow adjoyning found on a checquer'd pavement a statue of a person in a short-truss'd habit with a Quiver and Arrows the head hands and feet broken off and also the fragment of an Altar with this Inscription of fair large characters about three inches long erected by Haterianus Lieutenant-General of Augustus and Propraetor of the Province of Cilicia 〈…〉 HATERIANVS LEG AVG PR PR PROVINC CILIC The next year was discover'd also this Inscription which shews the Statue before mention'd to have been of the Goddess Diana and that Titus Flavius Posthumius Varus perhaps of the fifth Cohort of the second Legion had repair'd her Temple a Id est Titus Flavius Postumius Varus quintae Cohortis Legionis Secundae Augustae Templum Dianae restituit T. FL. POSTVMIVS VARVS V. C. LEG TEMPL DIANAE RESTITVIT Also this votive Altar out of which the name of the Emperour * Geta seems to have been rased when he was deposed by his brother Antoninus Bassianus â—â—e Phil. â—â—ns 〈◊〉 1â—5 and declared an enemy yet so as there are some shadows of the Letters still remaining b Id est Pro salute Augustorum nostrorum Severi Antonini Getae Caesarum Publius Saltienus Publii filius Maecia Thalamus ex hac gente aut tribu nempe Publ. Saltienus ortus est Praefectus Legionis secundae Augustae C. Vampeiano Luciliano Consulibus PRO SALVTE In printed Copies Claudius Pompeianus and Lollianus Avitus Coss An. Chr. 210. AVGG N. N. SEVERI ET ANTONINI ET GETAE CAES. P. SALTIENVS P. F. MAECIA THALAMVS HADRI PRAEF LEG II. AVG. C. VAMPEIANO ET LVCILIAN And this fragment of a very fair Altar the Inscription whereof might perhaps be thus supplied
to defend the Inhabitants against all Invasions This is the reason that in all Carausius's silver Coins we find two Emperors shaking hands with this Inscription round it CONCORDIA â—ugustoâ—m AUGG. Maximian now march'd with his army against the Franks who then inhabited Batavia and had assisted Carausius but were unexpectedly so surpriz'd by him that they forthwith submitted themselves In the mean time Carausius govern'd Britain with great authority and in perfect peace he repair'd the wall between the mouth of the Clud and Carun to keep out the Barbarians as Ninnius Eluodugus's Scholar tells us and fortified the same with seven castles and moreover built a round house of hewen stone upon the bank of the river Carun so called from him with a triumphal Arch in memory of his Victory However Buchanan thinks it to have been Terminus's Temple as we shall observe in Scotland When Dioclesian and Maximian had made Constantius Chlorus and Maximianus Galerius fellow partners of the Empire with them to the end they might better keep what they had got and recover what they had lost Constantius having raised an Army marches towards Bononia in Gaul otherwise called Gessoriacum which Carausius had strongly garison'd and invested the place sooner than was imagined blocking up the haven with huge timber beams struck down in it and by heaps of great stones which notwithstanding the shock and violence of the sea continued firm for many days together But as soon as the Town was surrender'd it was so shaken by the first tide that the whole work was disjointed and fell to pieces Eumenius the Panegyrist And while his Fleet was getting ready for his British expedition he cleared Batavia of the Franks who were then possessed of it and transplanted many of them to cultivate some barren places of the Empire C. Alectus Emp. In this juncture of affairs Carausius was treacherously slain by Allectus his bosom friend and prime Minister who thereupon usurp'd the Government to himself Upon this news Constantius mann'd out several distinct Fleets so that Alectus knowing neither what course to take nor where to expect him grew sensible the Ocean was not so much his fence and refuge as his Prison The Fleet setting out in bad weather and when the sea ran high had the fortune by reason of a mist to escape the British Navy which lay out by the Isle of Wight to observe and attend them and therefore as soon as he had arrived and put his army ashore he set fire to his whole fleet that there might be no hopes of refuge but in victory Allectus as soon as he saw Constantius's fleet upon the coast left the shore where he had posted himself and in his flight was accidentally met and encountred by Asclepiodotus Captain of the Life-guard but his confusion was such that as if he had been under an alienation of mind at that time he run on desperately to his own ruine for he neither drew up his army nor put his cavalry in any order but with his barbarous mercenaries after he had put off his Robes that they might not discover him rush'd upon the enemy and so in a tumultuary skirmish was kill'd without any note of distinction about him For which reason they had much ado to find him among the dead bodies which lay in heaps about the field and on the hills The Franks and other surviving Barbarians upon this determined to plunder London and escape by sea with the booty but a party of ours that were separated from the army in foggy weather coming luckily to London at the same time fell upon them and pursu'd them up and down the streets with a great slaughter not only to the rescue and safety of the Citizens but also to their great pleasure in being eye-witnesses of the rout By this victory the Province was recovered after it had been seven years or thereabouts governed by Carausius and three more by Allectus Upon this account Eumenius writes thus to Constantius O important victory worthy of many triumphs by this Britain is restored by this the Franks are defeated and other nations in that confederacy reduc'd to their due obedience To conclude the sea it self is scour'd to compleat our quiet You great Caesar as for your part may with justice glory in this discovery of another world and by repairing the Roman Navy of adding a greater Element to the Roman Empire A little lower also Britain is so perfectly reduced that all the nations of that Island are under an absolute subjection Persecuâ—ion in Britain Towards the end of Dioclesian's and Maximian's reign when the long and bloody persecution in the Eastern Church broke out in the Western Church also with great violence many Christians suffered martydrom in it The chief among them was Albanus Verolamiensis St. Alban Julius and Aaron a citizen of Exeter of which in their places For the Church surviv'd them with great triumph and happiness being not even by a continued persecution for ten years together stifled or destroyed Constantius Chloâ—us Emp. Dioclesian and Maximian having abdicated the Empire Constantius Chlorus who till that time governed the Commonwealth under the title of Caesar was made Emperor To his share fell Italy Africa Spain Gaul and Britain Italy and Africa he surrender'd to Galerius and contented himself with the rest Being a Soldier in Britain under Aurelian he marry'd Helena the daughter of Coelus or Caelius a petty Prince here and by her had that Constantine the Great in Britain For in this all writers do agree with the great Baronius Baronius Hist Eces a See the learned Lipsius's opinion of this matter in hâ—s Letter to Mr. Camden publisht among his Epistles pag. 64. See also Usher's Antiquitates Britannicarum Ecclesiarum pag. 93. fol. cap. 8. except one or two modern Greeks who are but inconsiderable and vary from one another and a certain eminent person who grounds upon a faulty passage of J. Firmicus Chlorus was compell'd by Maximian to divorce this wife and marry his daughter Theodora This Helena Helena is the same who in old Inscriptions is call'd Venerabilis Piissima Augusta both for her Christian piety her suppressing of Idols at Jerusalem erecting a Church in the spot where Christ suffered and for the good invention of the Cross so mightily celebrated by Ecclesiastical writers Yet the Jews and Gentiles call her in reproach Stabularia because the Manger where Christ was laid was sought out by this pious Princess and a Church built by her in the place where the stable stood Of the â—â—th of Theodosiuâ— Hence St. Ambrose They tell us that this Lady was first an Inn-keeper c. This good Inn-keeper Helena went to Jerusalem and there found out the place of our Lord's passion and the manger where her Lord lay This good Inn-keeper was not ignorant of him who cur'd the traveller that the robbers had wounded This good Inn-keeper did not care how
IMP. M AURELIO ANTONINO AVC SEVER LVCII FILIO LEC. IIV VG P sic Together with these two fragments Centurio c This was lately in the School-wall at Kaêr Lheion but is now rased out †7. VECILIANA d This is in the Garden-wall at Moin's Court but the first line VIII and this character 7. are not visible See Reines Syntag. Inscr pag. 977. VIII 7. VALER MAXSIMI f Here also about the time of the Saxon Conquest was an Academy of 200 Philosophers who being skill'd in Astronomy and other Sciences observ'd accurately the courses of the Stars as we are informed by Alexander Elsebiensis a very scarce Author out of whom much has been transcrib'd for my use by the learned Thomas James Tho. James of Oxford who may deservedly be stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one that is wholly intent upon Books and Learning and is at present God prosper his endeavours out of a desire of promoting the publick good busily employ'd in searching the Libraries of England on a design that is like to be of singular use to the Commonwealth of Learning In the time of K. Henry 2. when Giraldus writ this City seems to have been a place of considerable strength For we find that Yrwith of Kaer Lheion a courageous Britain defended it a long time against the English forces till at last being over-power'd by the King he was dispossest of it But now a fair instance that Cities as well as Men have their vicissitude and fortune that is become an inconsiderable small town which once was of so great extent on each side the river that they affirm St. Gilian's the house of the honourable Sir William Herbert a person no less eminent for wit and judgment than noble extraction to have been in the city and in that place the Church of Julius the Martyr is said to have stood which is now about a mile out of the town From the ruins also of this City Newport Newport had its beginning seated a little lower at the fall of the river Usk. By Giraldus 't is call'd Novus Burgus It is a town of later foundation and of considerable note for a Castle and a convenient harbour where there was formerly some Military-way mention'd by Necham in these verses Intrat auget aquas Sabrini fluminis Osca Praeceps testis erit Julia Strata mihi Increas'd with Usk does Severn rise As Julia Strata testifies That this Julia Strata was a way we have no reason to question and if we may be free to conjecture it seems not absurd to suppose it took its name from Julius Frontinus who conquer'd the Silures Not far from this Newburgh saith Giraldus there glides a small stream call'd Nant Pènkarn passable but at some certain fords not so much for the depth of its water as the hollowness of the chanel and deepness of the mud It had formerly a ford call'd Rhŷd Penkarn now of a long time discontinued Henry 2. King of England having by chance pass'd this ford the Welsh who rely too much upon old prophecies were presently discouraged because their Oracle Merlinus Sylvester had foretold that whenever a strong Prince with a freckled face such as King Henry was should pass that Ford the British Forces should be vanquish'd During the Saxon Heptarchy this County was subject to the Mountain-Welsh call'd by them Dun-settan Dun set who were yet under the government of the West-Saxons as appears by the ancient Laws At the first coming in of the Normans the Lords Marchers grievously plagued and annoy'd them especially the above-mention'd Hamelin Balun Hugh Lacy Walter and Gilbert de Clare 1 Miles of Glocester Robert Chandos Pain Fitz-John Richard Fitz-Punt and c. and Brien of Wallingford To whom the Kings having granted all they could acquire in these parts some of them reduced by degrees the upper part of this County which they call'd Over-Went and others the low lands call'd Nether-Went Parishes in this County 127. ADDITIONS to MONMOVTHSHIRE a MYnydh Kader mention'd by our Author is the name of many Mountains in Wales thus denominated as Kader Arthur Kader Verwin Kader Idris Kader Dhinmael Kader yr Ychen c. which the learned Dr. Davies supposes to have been so call'd not from their resemblance to a Kà dair or Chair but because they have been either fortified places or were look'd upon as naturally impregnable by such as first impos'd those names on them For the British Kader as well as the Irish word Kathair signifying anciently a Fort or Bulwark whence probably the modern word Kaer of the same signification might be corrupted b Lhan Lhan properly signifies a Yard or some small Inclosure as may be observ'd in compound words For we find a Vineyard call'd Gwin-lhan an Orchard Per-lhan a Hay-yard Yd-lhan a Church-yard Korph-lhan a Sheep-fold Kor-lhan c. However as Giraldus observes it denotes separately a Church or Chapel and is of common use in that sense throughout all Wales probably because such Yards or Inclosures might be places of Worship in the time of Heathenism or upon the first planting of Christianity when Churches were scarce c That this Jeffrey of Monmouth as well as most other Writers of the Monkish times abounds with Fables is not deny'd by such as contend for some authority to that History but that those Fables were of his own Invention seems too severe a censure of our Author's and scarce a just accusation since we find most or all of them in that British History he translated whereof an ancient copy may be seen in the Library of Jesus-College at Oxford which concludes to this effect Walter Arch-Deacon of Oxford composed this Book in Latin out of British Records which he afterwards thus render'd into modern British We find also many of the same Fables in Ninnius who writ his Eulogium Britanniae about three hundred years before this Galfridus Arturius compos'd the British History As to the regard due to that History in general the judicious Reader may consult Dr. Powel's Epistle De Britannica Historia rectè intelligenda and Dr. Davies's Preface to his British Lexicon and ballance them with the arguments and authority of those that wholly reject them Near Monmouth stands a noble House built by his Grace Henry Duke of Beaufort call'd Troy the residence of his eldest son Charles Marquiss of Worcester who is owner of it and of the Castle and Manour of Monmouth settled upon him with other large possessions in this County by the Duke his father e The English names of Went-set Wentse◠c. and Wents land have their origin from the British word Gwent whereby almost all this Country and part of Glocestershire and Herefordshire were call'd till Wales was divided into Counties But it seems questionable whether that name Gwent be owing to the City Venta or whether the Romans might not call this City Venta Silurum as well as that of the Iceni and that other of the Belgae