speak with him in private he then seemed more suspicious and having examin'd them by Torture forced them to confess the whole design and then having punished these Conspirators he immediately declared War against Severus and took upon him the Titles of Emperour and Augustus Which as soon as Severus heard he was extreamly incensed and thought it not fit any longer to conceal his Anger but having made a sharp Oration to his Army against Albinus and which was received with great Acclamations he presently began his Expedition against him who to defend himself with the flower of Britain entred Gaul and marching as far as Lyons he and Severus there met at the head of their Armies when the Battle being joyned Albinus had at first the better the British Souldiers not yielding to the Illyrians either in strength or courage so that part of the Army which Severus Commanded being routed he himself was knocked down from his Horse and casting away his Purple Robe was for some time supposed to be slain when Laetus Severus Lieutenant General supposing him to have been killed came in with fresh Forces with an intention to gain the Victory for himself for which treachery he was afterwards by Severus put to Death However at present by his assistance he won the Victory and put his Enemies to flight pursuing and killing them with great slaughter whereupon the City of Lyons being taken Albinus was forced to fly from thence but being pursu'd by Severus's Souldiers and driven into a House near the River Rhosne was there forced to run himself through with his own Sword or as others relate caused one of his Servants to do that office for him but however he was taken and brought to Severus before he was quite dead who quickly dispatched him and cutting of his head sent it to Rome to be set over the place of publick Execution but he let the Body lye before the Praetorium till it stunk and was devoured by Dogs A mean revenge for so great an Emperour to take upon so Valiant a Person But now Sevâ—rus having by this Victory obtained the whole Roman Empire and finding that Britain was a Province too great and powerful to be trusted in the hands of one Man he divided it into two Governments committing the North part thereof to Virius Lupus as Pâ—opraetor and Lieutenant whom Ulpian nameth President of Britain and to Heraclitus the Southern parts as Mr. Speed gathereth by a Coyne of Severus Minted in his Second Consul-ship which fell in the Year of our Lord 198 from whence it appears that after the Death of Albinus Britain was not reduced under the subjection of Severus until he had won it by the Sword the memory of which he left to posterity in this Medal wherein is the Goddess of Victory represented as sitting upon spoils with this Inscription Victoria Britanniae but this Victory must have been then won by his Lieutenant and not by himself But Virius Lupus who had the Government of the Northern parts was forced to buy Peace of the Meatae aâ— a great rate because the Caledonians who had promised to check the Incursions of the Meatae had not performed that Article of their Agreement This Author likewise tells us that the former of these Nations lived next the Wall that divided the South of the Island from the North so that Lupus finding himself unable alone to curb their Inroads after great losses suffered from them sent for Severus but he being at that time taken up with other Wars Lupus was forced to buy this Peace of the Meatae as we have said only some Roman Prisoners were then set free The Memory of this Virius Lupus is preserved in an Altar dug up dedicated to the Goddess Fortune upon the occasion of his repairing a Bath or Hot house at a Town called Levatriae now Bows upon Stanmoor in Richmond shire This was done for the sake of the Thracian Cohorts who lay there in Garison with the Romans But Lupus hearing that Severus had at last put an end to his other Wars he wrote him plainly the state of things here that the Britains of the North made War upon him broke into the Province and harrassed all the Countries nigh them that there needed suddenly either more aid or himself to come in person Severus was not much displeased at this news being in his own nature greedy of Glory and being also desirous after so many Victories in the East to raise also new trophies for the Britains and besides he thought at best to withdraw his Two Sons from the pleasures of Rome and inure the Young Men to hardship and Military Discipline So this Emperour though Old and much troubled with the Gout yet with as great Courage as any Young Man made this expedition into Britain and taking his Journey for the most part in a Litter staid long in no place so that having finished his Journey by Land and having crossed the Sea sooner than could be expected he entred Britain and having Muster'd his Soldiers and brought great Forces together he prepared for War But the Northern Britains daunted with the Report of so great Forces brought over with him and that more were preparing sent Ambassadours to treat of Peace and to excuse their former doings The Emperour now loath to return home without some memorable Action whereby he might assume to his other Titles the addition of Britannicus delay'd his Answer but quickens his preparations till in the end when all things were in a readiness to follow them they were dismissed without effect when he arrived his principal care was to have many Bridges and Causeways laid over Bogs and Moors that his Souldiers might fight on firm ground for many parts of Britain were at that time over run with Bogs and Marshes as Ireland was some Years ago now the Britains used to wade through these Marshes up to the middle not valuing it because they went naked But Severus prepared all things which might be of any use for the Souldiers or a damage to the Britains And when he found all were ready to his Mind having his Younger Son Geta to govern the more Southern part of the Island by the help of Papinian the great Lawyer taking his Eldest Son Bassianus along with himself he marched against the Britains and having passed the Wall that divided their Territories there only happen'd some tumultuary Skirmishes in which thô the Romans were still Conquerours yet the Britains found an easie retreat by hiding themselves in the Woods and Bogs which were well known to them which contributed very much to prolong the War Yet did not Severus desist till he had passed to the very farthest part of the Island and had compell'd the Enemies to make Peace upon this Condition That they should give up great part of their Territory although he lost in this Expedition by the sudden Assaults and Ambushes of the Britains as well as by Diseases near
as conjectured l. 1. p. 16. Cadwallo's being in a Brass Statue set over Ludgate false l. 4. p. 177. Ludican King of the Mercians and five of his Ealdormen slain by the East-Angles and upon what occasion l. 5. p. 253. Lugeanburh now Loughburrow in Leicestershire or Leighton in Bedfordshire l. 3. p. 145. Lupicinus sent into Britain by Julian to compose the Troubles there raised by the Scots and Picts l. 2. p. 90. Lupus Bishop of Troyes and Germanus Bishop of Auxerre sent to confirm Britain in the Catholick Faith l. 2. p. 107. Lupus Virius had the Government of the Northern parts of Britain but buys a Peace of the Meatae He gives an Account to Severus of the state of Affairs here l. 2. p. 74. Was left by the Antonini their Lieutenant in Britain Id. p. 79. M MAccuse King of Man and several other Islands l. 6. p. 9. Macrinus Opilius makes away Caracalla and is chosen Emperor by the Army l. 2. p. 79. Maelgwn Gwineth elected King of the Britains in Wales and the manner of it l. 3. p. 146 147. His Decease Id. p. 148. Vid. Malgo. Magnentius slays Constans and keeps the Western Empire from Constantius for three years and then not longer being able to contest it kills himself at Lyons l. 2. p. 89. Maildulf a Scotch Monk and Philosopher l. 4. p. 195. Maims and Wounds King Alfred's Law concerning them l. 5. p. 296. Malcolm King of Scots receives from King Edmund the whole Countrey of Cumberland upon condition to assist him both by Sea and Land l. 5. p. 344. And to attend him at several great Feasts in the year when he held his Common-Council and for that end divers Houses were assigned him to lye at by the way Id. p. 345. Receives Sweyn and gives him free Quarter for fourteen years l. 6. p. 26. Wastes the Province of the Northumbers and besieges Durham Id. p. 27. Another of the same Name becomes subject to King Cnute upon his going thither and three years after dies Id. p. 56. A Third of this Name enters Northumberland and depopulates the Earldom of Tostige formerly his sworn Brother Id. p. 89. Maldon in Essex anciently Maldune rebuilt and fortified by King Edward the Elder l. 5. p. 320. Malgo or Malgoclunus in Welsh Mailgwn Gwineth King of North-Wales or else of the Northern parts of Britain l. 3. p. 139. Called by Gildas the Island-Dragon accused of Sodomy and of murthering the King his Uncle Id. p. 140. Professes himself a Monk but afterwards breaks his Vow and reigns as Supreme or Sole King of the Britains Id. p. 142. The time he reigned afterwards and his Death Id. p. 144. Mallings in Sussex the Mannor given by Baldred King of Kent to Christ-Church in Canterbury but being afterwards taken away it was confirmed by the Common-Council of the Kingdom under King Egbert l. 5. p. 257. Malmesbury the Abbey begun to be built by one Adhelm l. 4. p. 195. Greatly endowed and by whom Id. p. 196. l. 5. p. 329 339. King Athelstan's great Liberality to this Abbey where he was buried Id. p. 339. A Nun is taken from hence by King Edgar and deflowred l. 6. p. 4. Anciently called in Saxon Mealdelnesbyrig Id. p. 40. Man the City taken by William Duke of Normandy l. 6. p. 89. Man the Isle whither Aedan fled from the Borders of Scotland after he was beaten l. 3. p. 147. Destroyed by Sweyn the Son of Harold the Dane l. 6. p. 25. Manchester in the Kingdom of Northumberland anciently called Manigeceaster is rebuilt and fortified with a Garison at the Command of King Edward the Elder l. 5. p. 324. Mancuses what Sum of Money now uncertain but by Ethelwulf's last Will he orders Three hundred to be sent every year to Rome for such and such Uses and One hundred of them for the Pope himself l. 5. p. 264 265. Mandubratius desires to be relieved from the Injuries of Cassibelan l. 2. p. 34. Who thereupon is forbid by Caesar further to molest him Id. p. 35. Is not restored to the Kingdom of the Trinobantes whereupon he attends Caesar to Rome and is there entertained as King of Britain and a Friend to the Roman Commonwealth Id. p. 36. Manslaughter Vid. Murther Marcellus Ulpius sent to stop the Rebellion of the Britains in Commodus his Reign a man not to be corrupted by Money but severe in his Conversation l. 2. p. 70. Marcus Aurelius Vid. Aurelius Marcus is Elected Emperor by the British Army but they soon took him off he not answering their expectations l. 2. p. 102. Margaret Daughter of Edward the Son of Edmund Ironside is married to Malcolm King of Scotland l. 6. p. 49. Mariage concerning the manner and Rights thereof with Covenants the Antiquity of them and of Bonds for Performance l. 5. p. 348. Widows not to marry within the Twelve-Months after their Husbands decease and what they forfeit if they do l. 6. p. 60. Marinus the worthy good Pope sends some Wood of the Holy Cross unto King Alfred l. 5. p. 286. His Decease and freeing the English School at Rome from all Tax and Tribute Id. p. 287. Marius called by our British Writers Meurig succeeds his Father Arviragus and slays Roderick King of the Picts who aided the Caledonians l. 2. p. 66. His Death about what year of our Lord leaving the Kingdom to his Son Coil Id. p. 67. St. Martin an old ruinous Church without the City of Canterbury now St. Pancrace l. 4. p. 163. Martinus a Prefect endeavours to stab Paulus but missing his Pass runs his Sword into his own Body His good Character l. 2. p. 89. Martinus the Pope sends some of the Wood of the Holy Cross to King Alfred and what reâ—urn he makes again l. 5. p. 286. Martyrdom that of St. Alban's a particular Account of it l. 2. p. 85. Of several other Christians at Litchfield and Winchester Id. p. 86. Maserfield now called Oswestre in Shropshire l. 4. p. 180. Maxentius The Tyrant overthrown near Rome by Constantine l. 2. p. 87. Maximinian said to Command the Roman Legion in Britain the Fabulous story of him l. 2. p. 101 102. Marcus Aurelius Maximinianus Associate in the Empire with Dioclesian adopted Constantius Chlorus Caesar constrains him to put away his Wife and to Marry his Daughter is forced to conclude a Peace with Carausius and to yield him up Britain l. 2. p. 83. Maximinus Julius succeeds Alexander Severus but being condemned by the Senate is slain by the Soldiers l. 2. p. 80. Maximus Pupienus Vid. Balbinus Maximus Trebellius hath the Province of Britain delivered to him l. 2. p. 51. Falls into the Hatred and Contempt of his Army for his sordid Covetousness and the Aversion heightned by Roscius Coelius Id. p. 53. Maximus General of the Roman Armies assumes the Imperial Purple drives back and subdues the Scots and Picts l. 2. p. 91. Makes Triers the seat of his Usurped Empire sends Andragathius as his General against
there l. 4. p. 162. Another of this name consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury at Rome is sent into Britain Id. p. 191. Makes a thorough Visitation of his Province Id. Ib. Calls a Synod of all the Bishops and Great Men at Hartford Id. p. 193. His Death and Burial Id. p. 205. Theodoric the Son of Ida reigns in Bernicia l. 3. p. 146. Theodosius sent as General by Valentinian to put a stop to the Incursions on the Britains made by several barbarous Nations l. 2. p. 92. Returns to London victorious having recovered the Plunder and Captives and establishes a firm Peace for a long time l. 2. p. 92 93. A Plot contrived against him by Valentinus of Pannonia but he and the Conspirators being seized are commanded to be put to death Id. p. 93. Is received by the Emperor with great Commendations on his being recalled to Rome after he had left Britain in Peace Id. p. 94. Theodosius the Son created by Gratian his Partner in the Empire Id. p. 95. Undertakes his Quarrel against Maximus the Tyrant who seizes him and orders him to be beheaded Id. p. 96. Restores Valentinian the second to the Empire of the West and overcomes Eugenius the Usurper who was deservedly put to death Id. p. 97. Takes the whole Empire to himself both of East and West His death Id. Ib. Theodwulf King of Bernicia for one year and then dies l. 3. p. 146. Theomantius or Tenantius succeeds Cassibelan by the general applause of the people l. 2. p. 36. In his Reign Octavius obtains the Empire of Rome Id. Ib. Tholouse taken by the Goths l. 2. p. 104. St. Thomas called an Indian Apostle because he there suffered Martyrdom l. 5. p. 286. Thunore a Thane cruelly murthers the two Sons of Ermenred l. 4. p. 180 185. Thurkyll appointed Earl over East-England by King Cnute l. 6. p. 50. Is banished by King Cnute but the Crime for which is uncertain though said for being a principal Promoter of Archbishop Aelfeage's Murther Id. p. 52. Thyra King Aethelred's Daughter married to Gormun King of the Danes whose Son by her was Sweyn the Father of King Cnute l. 5. p. 276. Tiberius succeeds Augustus in the Empire and is given up to Ease and Luxury which made him rather have thoughts of contracting than enlarging the Bounds thereof In his time the Britains paid their usual Customs and Tolls for those Commodities they transported to the Romans into Gaul and what they took in exchange from them l. 2. p. 37. Tilabury now called Tilbury near the River Thames l. 4. p. 184. Tinmouth anciently called Dunmouth where the Danes were vanquished l. 5. p. 256. Tiowulfingeeaster a City near the River Trent but where is not known l. 4. p. 175. Titulus or Titillus Son of Uffa King of the East-Angles l. 3. p. 145. Tobias the Bishop dies at Rochester a very Learned man in that Age l. 4. p. 219. Tocester in Northamptonshire anciently called Tofeceaster l. 5. p. 321 322. Torswick anciently Tursige in Lindsey part then of the Northumbrian Kingdom l. 5. p. 277. Tostige Son of Earl Godwin to whom Edward the Confessor gave the Earldom of Northumberland l. 6. p. 86. His Earldom depopulated by Malcolme King of Scots Id. p. 89. The Northumbers rise against him and set him aside and chuse Morchar for their Earl Id. p. 90. His Banishment and what the occasion of it Id. p. 91 92. His Invasion and endeavours to dethrone his Brother Harold with the Ravages he committed up and down the Sea-Coasts Id. p. 106. Joins the King of Norway's Fleet and lands in Yorkshire with them but they are both slain by Harold at Staenford-Bricge Id. p. 109. Tower of London said to be first founded by Belinus l. 1. p. 13. Tradition an uncertain Guide in Matters of Fact l. 3. p. 114. Traffick King Edward the Elder 's Law about it confirming the Fourth Article of the League made between his Father and Guthrun the Dane appointing Vouchers to make good the Sale of any thing l. 5. p. 284 325. Atheltan's Law forbidding any Commutati-of Goods unless in the presence of such as are thereby appointed Id. p. 340 341. Trajan the Emperor soon reduces the Britains that Revolted against him l. 2. p. 66. Paved the publick ways with Stone and raised Cause-ways c. Id. Ib. Transmarine-Nations are the Scots from the North-West and the Picts from the North and why this Name is given to them l. 2. p. 99. Transportation a Law for it as to such and such Criminals though the King should Pardon them as to Life and Member l. 6. p. 102. Traytor Elfgar was so to the King and the whole Nation l. 6. p. 86. Treasure-Trove all to be the King 's unless found in a Church and then too it was the King's if it were Gold but if Silver then he to have one half and the Church the other l. 6. p. 101. Trebellius Maximus Vid. Maximus Trekingham a place so called from Three Danish Kings being Buried there l. 5. p. 270. Triades an Antient Welsh Chronicle so called written near a Thousand Years ago l. 3. p. 146. Tribute Caesar appoints how much should be paid by the Britains to the People of Rome l. 2. p. 35. It ceases during the Residence of Kynobelin at Rome Id. p. 36. Is suspected to be paid in Kynobelin's time by a Coin of his Id. p. 37. A great one is imposed upon North-Wales annually by King Athelstan l. 5. p. 338. War is made upon North-Wales by King Edgar for non-payment of Tribute from the King of Aberfraw to the King of London l. 6. p. 3 4. Ten thousand pounds decreed to be paid to the Danes for the Terror they gave the Inhabitants of the Sea-Coasts but yet this did not long satisfy their Covetousness Id. p. 23. Sixteen thousand pounds Tribute given them beside their maintenance Id. p. 25. Another of Twenty four thousand pound paid them and provision likewise Id. p. 29. Another of Thirty thousand pounds paid them and to find them Provisions during their stay Id. p. 32. And another both of Provisions and Money to make Peace with them which they soon after broke Id. p. 35. Vid. Danegelt Triers The Seat of Maximus his Usurped Empire l. 2. p. 95. Trinobantes submit to Caesar sending him Forty Hostages and Corn for his Army l. 2. p. 34. Moved to Rebel by the Cruelty of the Romans Id. p. 47 48. Triumphal Honours and Ornaments bestowed on C. Sidius though he had never been Consul for Routing the Britains l. 2. p. 39. Given to Flavius Vespatian and two Sacerdotal Dignities with the Consulship and why Id. p. 41. Conferre'd on Agricola By Titus Vespatian for his great Atchievements Id. p. 57. Conferre'd on Agricola And by Domitian with the Honour of a Statue Id. p. 63. Troops or Companies by the Saxons called Hlothe by the Laws of King Ina the Number that constituted one was above thirty The Mulcts payable by those that killed in Troops
his Son-in-Law whom he denotes by this Title Ethelredo Principi meae Militiae THE other viz. the Great Civil Officer was that of Chancellour so called from the barbarous Latin word Cancellare from his cancelling or striking out what he pleased in Men's Grants and Petitions And as for his Power we find it thus expressed in Ingulf upon K. Edward the Elder 's having made his Cousin Turketule Chancellor Quaecúnque negotia temporalia vel spiritualia Regis Judicium expectabant illius consilio tam sanctae fidei tam profundi ingenii tenebatur omnia tractarentur tractata irrefragabilem sententiam sortirentur from whence we may observe that the King did not only in that Age determine Civil but Spiritual Causes too in his own Person and had his Chancellor for his Assistant in his Judgments which being so given irrefragabilem sententiam sortirentur i.e. they obtained an uncontroulable Sentence beyond which there then lay no Appeal and this I suppose was done in that great Court we now call the King's Bench for as for the Court of Chancery in Causes relating to Equity Sir Edward Coke tells us in his 4 th Institutes that there are no Precedents of it before the Reign of King Henry VI. BUT that it was the business of the Chancellor to draw up the King's Charters and also to sign them before the Conquest you will find at the end of the last Charter of King Edward the Confessor to the Abbey of Westminster in the first Volume of Sir H. Spelman's Councils where Aelfgeat a Notary signs it vice Reynbaldi Regis Edwardi Cancellarii THE next Degree was that of Ealdorman which was not only Titular as to the Person but an Office and signified as you will find all along in our Annals those great Magistrates under the King who being called in Latin Subreguli Principes Consules in some of our Antient Charters and sometimes in Saxon Cynings i.e. petty Kings had the subordinate Government of Cities Counties and often too of whole Provinces in all Affairs both Civil and Military and were of much greater Power before King Alfred's Reign than afterwards for whereas before his Time they had the chief Authority in all Places belonging to their Jurisdiction they seem after the word Eorle came in use with the Danes to have lost much of their Power tho they still retained the Title And it is observed by Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary that he who was called the Ealdorman of the County signified in the Laws of King Athelstane something between the Earl and the Sheriff and therefore seems to have been him who under the Earl governed the County or Province and was his Deputy or Judg in the County Court in his Absence For in those Laws the Value of an Arch-bishop and Earl's Head is set at fifteen thousand Thrimsaes whereas the Bishop's and Ealdorman's was but at eight thousand YET notwithstanding this Title did not cease to be esteemed very honourable many Years after that Time for we find in Camden's Britannia that the Tomb of Ailwin founder of the Abby of Ramsey was inscribed with the Title of Ealdorman of all England which as Mr. Selden says could only mean that he was somewhat like the Antient Chief Justiciary of England or Chief Director of the Affairs of the whole Kingdom or Viceroy Regiae dignitatis consors nominis or half Cyning as the Book of Ramsey has it NOT but that this word was also of a much more inferior Signification seeing we find frequent mention in the Laws of Edward the Confessor as well as in those Kings immediately after the Conquest of Aldermannus Hundredi seu Wapentachii as also of Aldermannus Civitatis vel Burgi whence the Title of our present Aldermen of Cities and great Towns are derived tho of a far different Signification as well as a much later Institution and this I suppose happened by reason of the Paucity of words in the Saxon Tongue which called Grave Men distinguished by any Office or Dignity by the Title of Ealdormen because they were at first bestowed on Men of elder Years tho afterwards as the Auctuary to King Edward's Laws informs us they were not so stiled propter senectutem cum quidam Adolescentes essent sed propter sapientiam Therefore I cannot forbear taking notice that whereas Bede speaking of K. Oswald's sending ad Majores natu Scotorum to the Elders of the Scots for Bishops King Alfred in his Translation of Bede calls them the Ealdormen of the Scots that is the Great or Chief Men of that Nation I must here beg the Reader 's Pardon for a Mistake I have committed in the rendring of that Passage into English in the ensuing History for not having the Saxon Version by me but only a Latin Copy when I wrote it nor having then consulted Mr. Selden to whom I confess my self much beholden for this Criticism I have there translated the words Majores Natu Scotish Bishops because I thought it most proper for them to be sent to about an Affair concerning Religion I have no more to say on this Head only that I have left this word Ealdorman so often used in our Annals untranslated for tho I grant he is frequently stiled Dux or Comes in Latin yet it would not bear being rendred Duke or Earl in English because that those Titles are not only very different but were unknown in our Saxon Tongue till many Years after that Government was setled in England I come now to the Title Earl or Eorle which being altogether Danish was not commonly used here till the Reign of King Cnute tho we now and then find it mentioned in our Annals before his Time but as for its Power and Authority it being much what the same with that of Ealdorman abovementioned I think I need say no more of it only that neither of them were then Hereditary nor descended to Sons or Brothers tho they often continued in the same Family when the King was pleased so to confer it And both the Title and the Office were liable to be forfeited upon any great Male-Administration as you will find in divers Instances in this Book THE next Title and Office I shall mention is that of Heretoch which was wholly Military and as Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary supposes was the same with that of the Holde or Commander in War mentioned in the Laws of King Athelstan because his Wiregild is made equal to that of a High-Gerife viz. four thousand Thrymsa's THIS Heretoch seems to have been somewhat like our Lord-Lieutenant of a County at this Day and was chosen for some extraordinary Occasion as upon a sudden Invasion or Expedition against the Scots or Welshmen Which being over their Commission also ceased but they themselves were still had in high Esteem and Honour if they had prudently and couragiously discharged that great Trust. And as the
and Bell-house The Bell-house may denote the Hall which was the place of ordinary Diet and Entertainment in the Houses of Lords It may well so signify if the Saxons used the like Reason in imposing the Name on the Lord's Hall as some say the Italian Spanish and French have done in calling it Tinello Tinello and Tinel which in our Laws also is retained in Tinel le Roy for the King's Hall They would have it therefore so named because the Tin or tinkling of a Bell at the Times of Dinner and Supper were signified by it BUT Sundernota mentioned in the Latin Copy of this Law seems to denote the distinct Office which he was to hold in the King's Court to make him equal to a Thane And it is also observable that by the same Laws of King Athelstane abovementioned such a Ceorlsman so advanced and having five Hides of Land ad Vtwarum Regis that is as Mr. Selden in the same place interprets held by Knights Service Si occidatur reddentur 2 Millia Thrymsarum so that his Wiregyld shews him to have been every way equal to a Thane BUT the most considerable Observation that may be made from this Law is that V. Hides of Land were at that time reckoned a sufficient Estate to constitute a Thane But as to the Quantity of Land that then went to make a Hide it was sometimes more and sometimes less according to the Goodness or Quality of the Soil but was certainly no more than what one Plow could well manure together with Pasture Meadow and Wood competent for the Maintenance of that Plow and the Servants of the Family So that the Estate of such a Thane could not be much more than what an ordinary Gentleman has at this day NOR can I here pretermit what follows in the same Law above recited where after having shewn us by what means an Under Theyn might come to be a Chief Thane and from thence attain to the Dignity of an Earl it thus proceeds And if a Merchant so thrived that he had passed thrice over the wide or broad Sea by his own Cunning or Craft as it is in the Saxon he was thenceforth a Thane's Right-worthy i. e. was every way equal to him Where you may observe that Wealth and Industry conferred Nobility in the Saxon Times as well as at this Day I come now to the lowest Rank of Men viz. that of Slaves who were called in Latin Servi and in Saxon Freortorlings and there were two sorts of them viz. such as were Personal possessing no Estates but all that they earn'd was their Lords by whom therefore they were maintained The others were Praedial such as were of Servile Condition and Original but possessed their small Holdings and Goods at the Will of their Lord doing all those Servile Countrey Works that were set them and from thence in the more modern Norman Dialect were called Villains from those Villages where they lived and wrought But before as well as after the Conquest that the Latin word Villanus did not signify a Villain or Servant I could prove from many Instances both out of Records and Histories if I thought it would not be too tedious in this Place AS for the Original of these Slaves among the Saxons there is some doubt about them some supposing them to have been derived from the remainder of those meaner sort of Britains who were either taken Prisoners or else never forsook the Land and so their Lives being saved they were made servile by their Conquerors or else such as were descended from those who came over in the nature of Slaves to the English Saxons that first landed here but it is not much material how they began since they might proceed from both or either of these Originals nor had their Lords Power of Life or Death over them for if they killed any of them they were to pay the Value of their Heads to the King THESE Slaves if they were set free at any time by their Masters were what the Romans called Liberti and in Saxon Freolaetan but being then resolved into the Body of Ceorles or Countrey-men they did not as among the Romans constitute any new Order of Men. HAVING now gone through all the Sorts and Degrees of Men who either lived in or were maintained out of the Countrey I shall in the next Place say somewhat of another distinct Body of Men called in Saxon Burh-witan or Burh-wara that is Citizens or Townsmen who had Privileges peculiar to themselves and living in Cities or great Towns were governed by their own particular Magistrates called Ealdormen or Portgerefan i. e. Port-Reeves assisted by the Chief Men of the Place called in Saxon Yldist-Burh-wara who were much the same with what we now call Aldermen or Common-Council Men for as for the Title of Mayor it came not in use here till long after the Conquest BUT as for these Magistrates and Members of Cities and Towns I shall speak more by and by when I come to treat of the constituent Parts of the Great Council of the Kingdom FROM the different Orders of Men we shall now descend to speak of the different Courts where these Persons abovementioned all except the Villains were bound to appear and there either to do or receive Justice for which it will be necessary to look back to the Reign of King Alfred who after the first Invasion of the Danes when he began to resettle the Kingdom found his Subjects so far corrupted by a long and hazardous War that all Places being full of Robberies and Murders there was an absolute necessity for the making of more severe Laws to restrain them so that omitting the Division of Counties or Shires which I shall speak to hereafter he Canton'd his Kingdom 1 st into Trihings or Lathes as they are still called in Kent and other Places consisting of three or four Hundreds in which the Freeholders being Judges such Causes were brought as could not be determined in the Hundred Court concerning the Proceedings in which Court of the Trihing or Lathes you may see divers Precedents in Sir William Dugdale's Origines Juridiciales NEXT to which there was also the Hundred-Court in Saxon Hundred-Gemot and in Latin Centuriata Because it originally consisted of an hundred Hides of Land as an Hide usually of an hundred Acres or else because super decem Decanos centum Friburgos judicabat that is it had Jurisdiction over ten Decennaries or an hundred Friboroughs THIS Court before the Conquest was held twelve times a Year and afterwards was increased by Henry I. to once a Fortnight and then by Henry the Third reduced to once in three Weeks IN this Court antiently Vnus de melioribus qui vocatur Aldermannus one of the principal Inhabitants called the Alderman together with the Barons of the Hundred id est the Freeholders was Judg as may seem by the Register of Ely which saith that Aegelwynnuâ—
Nobility wherein Plegmund presided Here he thinks he hath a strong hold and therefore says That this Author tells us the meaning of the long Title of this Synod which just before he had mentioned viz. that the Bishops Abbots FIDELES Proceres POPVLVS were all NOBILES NOBLE-MEN that is the Ecclesiasticks and Laicks or the Bishops and Lay-Nobility and not the Vulgus Commons or ordinary sort of People SO then according to the Doctor 's Construction all the fore-going Relation of the Members of this Council was a jumbled heap of Tautologies of Noble Tenants in Capite Noble-men and Noble People BUT I must needs acknowledg that he is so far in the right that by these words Nobilium Anglorum are not meant the vulgar mean or ordinary sort of People or the Mob as they are now contemptuously term'd for certainly they had never any thing to do in those August Assemblies Nor does Mr. Petyt or my self maintain any such thing and yet for all this I think we may affirm that all the Members that appeared there were not Noble-men or Great Lords only in the sense they are now taken FOR to begin with the word Nobilis which the Doctor so much insists on it is his own too narrow Conception of that Title which has been I think one main Cause of the greatest part of the Quarrel between Mr. Petyt and him for in all the Counties of Europe except England it is very well known that the word Nobilis includes not only Noble-men of Title such as Dukes Marquesses c. but also all Gentlemen of Families who are well born and do not exercise Mechanick Trades Thus Nobilezza in Italian and Noblesse in French comprehends the less as well as the greater Nobility So likewise the word Aedelmen among the Germans comprehends all sorts of Noble-men as well those of Title as others which is owned by Sir H. Spelman in his Glossary in these words Anglorum Legibus Adelingos dici pro Nobilibus in genere qui omnes nobiles Aedelmen vocant à Saxonico Aedel nobilis And so it was here in England long after the Conquest as well as before when Knights and Gentlemen were reckoned inter Nobiles minores before the Title of Noble-men began to be appropriated to the higher Nobility or Peers only which is also owned by Dr. Brady in his Preface to his Compleat History where he tells us of Lands held by Knights Service as well in the Hands of the lower sort of Noblesse as of the greater Noble-men AND this being so I shall easily prove that all the rest of the words insisted upon by the Doctor do not signify only great Lords and Noblemen by Birth To go on therefore to the next word Proceres that neither this does signify only Men Noble by Birth Isidore an antient Spanish Author in his Origines says thus Proceres sunt Principes Civium that is the chiefest of Subjects or Citizens And the Learned Du-Fresne also tells us in his Glossary Proceres appellabantur qui in Civitatibus praecipuos Magistratus gerebant that those were called Proceres who were the chief Magistrates or Rulers in Cities and certainly these could scarce ever be Noble-men by Birth AND as for the word Primates it signifies no more than Principal or Chief Men however born and that it was understood no otherwise among our English-Saxons appears from Aelfric's Glossary above-mentioned at the end of Somner's Saxon Dictionary where he renders the words Primates vel Primores Civitatis seu Burgi by YLDEST BVRHWARA i. e. the Chief Magistrates in a City or Town who were then Persons of very considerable Note in the Nation as I shall prove further by and by I come now to the word Optimates which signifies no more than the better sort of Men and not always Noble-men and great Lords much less as confined to the King's Thanes or Tenants in Capite only since the same Du-Fresne in his Glossary defines Optimates to be Vassalli Barones qui ab ullo Domino ratione Hominii nudè pendent that is the Feudatory Barons that meerly depend on any Superiour Lord by reason of their Homage which tho spoken in relation to France five or six hundred Years ago yet was certainly used in the same sense and no otherwise in England as well before as after that time and did include all the Inferiour as well as Superiour Thanes such as were the only Freeholders in those Ages BUT for the word Principes he that understands any thing of the Latin Tongue knows that it doth not always signify Princes or Men Noble by Birth but any Chief or Principal Man remarkable by Place Office or Dignity and therefore we often read in Livy and other Latin Authors of Principes Civitatis and in the above-cited Laws out of Tacitus de moribus Germanorum it is plain that the word Princeps or Principes in the plural signified no more than chief or considerable Men among the Germans by reason of their Office or present Dignities without any respect to their Birth And in this sense I suppose every Member of Parliament may at this day be reckoned inter Principes among the most considerable or chief Men of the Kingdom BUT the Doctor lays a great stress upon a Passage out of two Manuscript Malmesburies one in the Bodleian Library cited by Sir William Dugdale and the other in the Treasury of the Records of the Church of Canterbury cited by Sir Henry Spelman who both report of this very Council that Edward the Elder Congregavit Synodum Senatorum Gentis Anglorum cui praesidebat Plegmundus c. i. e. convened a Synod of the Senators in Saxon the Aldermen of the English Nation that is such as were usually called to such Councils which were only the Nobiles and Great Men. IN Answer to this I must refer the Doctor again to good old Livy where he will find that the Roman Senators were not all Noble by Birth for they were tà m Patricii quà m Plebeii Ordinis BUT when Mr. Petyt cites William of Malmesbury for calling a Saxon Wittena Gemote Generalis Senatus Populi Conventus to distinguish the lesser Nobility from the greater the Doctor replies There is no heed to be taken how our old Monks and Historians stiled the Saxon Wittena Gemotes or their great and Common-Councils for the same Authors expressed them sometimes one way sometimes another nor were they ever exact and curious in observing and noting the Title or the Constituent Parts or Members of them FROM whence I cannot but observe the Doctor 's great Partiality for his own Opinion for whenever William of Malmesbury in the Manuscript above-cited mentions the word Senatores it must with him immediately signify nothing less than Great Noblemen or what we now call Peers but when the same Author mentions the lower degree of Men whom we now call Commons as a distinct Order from the
Judges or Magistrates Where tho he confounds the King's Judges and Counsellors whose Presence there was not absolutely necessary as not being any constituent Parts or Members thereof with the Bishops Aldermen and Thanes without whose Consent no Laws could be made yet he grants us enough in reckoning other Thanes and Magistrates to have had Places there besides the King 's and who I conceive had a Right to appear there without any particular Summons to each of them and sure all these were not Tenants in Capite NOW having laid down and I hope established a true Notion what sort of Men then constituted the greater part of the Wittena-Gemotes of those Times I come to the next Degree or Order of Men who then most properly represented the Commons of England viz. the Deputies of Cities and Great Towns and tho I confess these are not ordinarily mentioned in any of the Antient Saxon Laws or Charters yet that they were comprehended sometimes under the Title of Procuratores I am very well satisfied as appears from the Annals of Winchelcomb wherein there is a Charter of Kenwulf King of the Mercians bearing date Anno Dom. 811. where all the Orders of Men summoned to be present at that Assembly are thus particularly recited by that King viz. Merciorum Optimates Episcopos Principes Comites PROCVRATORES meósque propinquos nec non Cuthredum Regem Cantuariorum átque Suthredum Regem Oriental Saxon. cum omnibus qui Testes nostris Synodalubus conciliabulis aderant NOW I would be gladly informed by any Man well conversant in Antiquity what the word Procuratores could here signify after Comites unless it were the Deputies or Representatives of the Cities and Towns of Mercia THE like word is also found in a Charter of King Athelstan's dated Anno 931. of certain Lands granted to the Abbey of Abington which Charter is entred in the great Register that belonged to that Abbey and is now in the Cottonian Library and concludes thus Haec Charta in Villa Regali quae Aetwelope nuncupatur Episcopis Abbatibus Ducibus patriae Procuratoribus Regiâ dapsilitate ovantibus perscripta est BY which Patriae Procuratoribus abovementioned I know not what else can be understood but the Deputies or Representatives of the Cities and Chief Towns who then sent Members to those General Councils THO of what sort of Men these Procuratores or Deputies of Cities and Towns then consisted I confess it is hard at this distance of Time to determine when the Original Records of those Councils wherein they appeared are lost and that we have so obscure a mention made of them in the Saxon Laws and Charters But if I may take the Liberty to guess there were not so many Citizens chosen for each City as at this Day but only their Chief Magistrates Rulers or Aldermen which were single Persons and not many for there was then but one Alderman in a Town or else such as were called Port-Gerefas now Port-Reves in divers Places who might appear for them of Course or be constantly Chosen on purpose but if the Charter of King Athelstan abovecited be true as I see no reason to question its Authority it appears that the ordinary Boroughs were then represented by two Burgesses in Parliament as at this Day BUT that these as well as the Magistrates and most considerable Citizens might then all pass and be included under the General Name of Witan or Wites called in Latin Sapientes I have the Authority of the Learned Du Fresne who in his Glossary assures us that antiently among the Lombards Sapientes in Italia appellabantur Civitatum Primarii quorum consilio Respublicae gerebantur i. e. that among the Lombards in Italy the Chief Citizens were called Wise-Men by whose Counsel publick Affairs were transacted and for this he cites Hieron Rubeus who in his History of Ravenna under Anno 1297. hath this remarkable Passage concerning these Sapientes says he Sed longè anteà illud nomen obtinuit in aliis Longabardarum civitatibus ut colligere licet ex Ottone Acerbo Morena in Historia Rerum Lundevetium which Authority tho fetch'd as far as Italy is very pertinent to prove the same Title to have been in use among the English Saxons of the same Age with the Lombards since as Grotius hath learnedly proved in his Preface to his Gothic History the Lombards were but one Stirp or Tribe of those Antient Gothes from whom as I have already proved in the beginning of the third Book of this Volume the English Saxons were also derived BUT that these Citizens of Cities in those Times might deserve the Name of Wites or Sapientes as well for their Prudence as Riches appears from the Charter of K. Edward the Confessor in the great Chartulary of the Abby of Westminster now to be seen in the Cottonian Library which begins thus Edward Cing gret Willem and Leodtan Aelfy Porte-Reven and alle mine Burh-Thanes on LVNDEN Frindlic this tho Saxon yet being so near the English of our own Times I need not translate only I desire the Reader to take notice that the Citizens of London were then so considerable as in this Charter to have had the Title of Thanes as they were often called Barones de London in our Antient Historians after the Conquest AND as for the City of Canterbury in those Times it had not only a Chief Magistrate called in Latin Praepositus in Saxon Port-Gerefa as Mr. Somner in his Antiquities of Canterbury informs us but also in the same Place he has given us a Saxon Deed written some Years before the Conquest and containing an Exchange of certain Lands and Houses in that City made between the Family i. e. Monks of the Cathedral Church and the Crihtan of that City being Merchants or Chapmen and you have already seen that a Merchant having thrice passed the Seas was accounted equal to a Thane and can any one then reasonably doubt that Persons of that Wealth and Dignity were not capable of being chosen Representatives of their Cities in the Saxon Great Councils NOR can I forbear citing before I close up this Subject that remarkable Authority out of Sulcardus's Manuscript Chartulary of the Abby of Westminster where there is entred a Charter of King William the First bearing date An. Dom. 1071. And after the King had subscribed his own Name to it with the Sign of the Cross there are added many of the Bishops Abbots and Temporal Nobility and then instead of cum multis aliis this Clause is subjoined viz. Multis praetereà illustrissimìs Virorum personis Regni Principibus diversi Ordinis omissis qui huic Confirmationi piissimo affectu Testes Fautores fuerunt Hii autèm illo tempore à Regiâ potestate è deversis Provinciis Vrbibus ad Vniversalem Synodum pro causis cujuslibet Christianae Ecclesiae audiendis tractandis ad praescriptum Celeberrimum Coenobium quod Westmonasterium
that gave Oracles whereupon Brutus consulting with his Diviner and Twelve other of the Ancients was advised to invoke the Goddess to tell him in what Land or Region he should find a place to settle in and accordingly as we find it in Geoffrey of Monmouth he is said to Adress her thus Diva potens Nemorum terror Sylvestribus apris Cui licet anfractus ire per aethereos Infernasque domos Terrestria Jura resolve Et dic quas terras nos habitare velis Dic certam sedem quâ te veneremur in aevum Quâ tibi Virgineis Templa dicabo Choris Thus excellently well translated by the Learned Mr. Milton Goddess of Shades and Huntress who at will Walk'st on the rouling Sphere and through the deep On thy third Reign the Earth look now and tell What Land what Seat of rest thou bidst me seek What certain Seat where I may worship thee For ay with Temples vow'd and Virgin Quires Whereupon the Goddess returned this following Answer Brute sub Occasum solis trans Gallica regna Insula in Oecano est undique cincta Mari. Insula in Oceano est habitata Gigantibus olim Nunc deserta quidem Gentibus apta tuis Hanc pete namque tibi sedes erit illa perennis Haec fiet natis altera Troja tuis Hic de prole tua Reges nascentur illis Totius Terrae subditus Orbis erit Rendred thus Brutus far to the West in th' Ocean wide Beyond the Realm of Gaul a Land there lies Sea-Girt it lies where Giants dwelt of old Now void it fits thy People thither bend Thy Course there shalt thou find a lasting Seat There to thy Sons another Troy shall rise And Kings be born of thee whose dreaded Might Shall awe the World and Conquer Nations bold But these Verses being in Latin when there was no such Language spâ—ke in the World sufficiently betray the moderness of the invention So that were it no more to please then instruct I should not have inserted them here And now Brute being guided as he thought by a Divine Conduct Sails again towards the West and Landing in Italy meets with some other Trojans who had come thither with Antenor many of whom he takes along with him together with one Corinaeus their Chief With this recruit Bruâ—â— puts again to Sea and passing the Pillars of Hercules at the mouth of Ligeris in Aquitania casts Anchor where they were set upon by one Goffarius a Pictish King of that Country now called Poictou with whom having several Battles Brute at last Conquered and Expellâ—d him his Kingdom but he solliciting the other Kings of Gaul to his assistance Brute thereupon finding himself too weak for so great a force called a Council where 't was resolved that since this was not the Land promised them by the Oracle they should again put to Sea So embarking all their Forces after a few days Sail they arrived at Albion and Landed at a Haven now called Totuesse in Devonshire The time of which enterprize is supposed to be about 1200 Years after the Flood and about 66. Years after the Destruction of Troy if any certain time can be assigned for so uncertain a relation But Bruâ—e having at length through many dangers and difficulties attained this long wish'd for Island Lands his Trojans and marches up into the Country to take possession of it which he found in great part desart or Inhabited only by some Gyants these he quickly destroys and to his People divides the Land which in allusion to his own Name he called Britain On Corinaeus Cornwall as we now call it was bestowed But here I omit as a Fable only fit to be told Children how this Hero though no Gyant himself yet took up the mighty Gyant Gogmagog in his Arms and flung him off from a Cliff into the Sea from whence the place hath been ever since called Langoemagog that is to say the Gyant 's Leap After Brute had thus conquer'd the Island he chose a fit place to build a City which he called Troja Nova for it seems he spoke Latin though it were not then used in Italy which Cities Name was changed in time to Trinobantum or Troynovant after to London This he made the Seat of his Kingdom Eli being then High Priest in Judea where he enacted several Laws and having reign'd here Fifteen Years he divided his Kingdom among his Three Sons Locrinus the Eldest had that part called Loegria now England Camber the second possessed Cambria now Wales And Albanactus Albania now Scotland but he some time after being invaded by one Humber King of the Huns was slain in Fight and his People driven back into Loegria whereupon King Locrinus and his Brother Camber march'd against this Humber who fighting with them and being overcome and drown'd in a River left his Name to it I designedly omit the long story of the Lady Estrildis whom Locrinus then taking Prisoner he fell in Love with and privately enjoy'd and would have Married had it not been for fear of Corinaeus whose Daughter Gwendolin he had already betroathed but no sooner was Corinaeus dead but he owned Estrildis for his Queen which so incensed Gwendolin that although Locrinus was strengthened by the addition of Cambria upon the Death of his Broâ—her yet she goes into Cornwall and by powerful sollicitations in the behalf of her self and her young Son Madan the Cornish are brought to assist her With these Forces she marched against Locrinus and in a pitch'd Battle nigh the River Stour he was overcome and Slain in the 20th Year of his Reign upon this just as she would have it the Kingdom fell to her Son Madan the Son of Locrinus by Gwendolin although a Child yet succeeded his Father but under the Regency of the Queen his Mother who out of Revenge drown'd Estrildis and her Daughter Sabra in a River which from her was called Sabrina in English Severne Gwendolin her Son coming to full Age resigned her Power and retired into Cornwall after she had Govern'd Fifteen Years But Madan having had the fame of Ruling well for the space of Forty Years in all left behind him two Sons Mempritius and Manlius Mempritius the Eldest Son of Madan is supposed to have ruled over the whole Island but Manlius his Younger Brother rebelling against him he desired a treaty with him who giving his Brother a meeting he treacherously murdered him and now having put an end to that trouble giving himself up to Luxury and Cruelty and at last to unnatural Lust hunting in a Forrest was devoured by Wolves to whom succeeded Ebrank his Son who was a Man of mighty Strength and Stature hâ— first after Brutus wasted Gâ—ul and returning rich and prosperous built Caerbranc now York and in Albania the Town of Mount Agned now Edinburgh He is said to have had Twenty Wives and by them Twenty Sons and Thirty Daughters which as our Author relates were sent under the Conduct of their Brother to Sylvius
Alba then King of Italy to be provided with Husbands because he had heard that the Sabines would not give their Daughters in Marriage to the Latins which is so very ridiculous that it needs no Confutation This Prince dying after he had reign'd about Forty Years left the Kingdom to Brute Sir-named Greenshield from the colour of his Target he revenged those Indignities which had been put upon his Father by Brunchild Prince of Hannonia or Hainault Conquering him near the banks of the Scaldis i. e. the Scheld but the modern names of Hainault and Brunchild sufficiently betray the Novelty of this Fable He hath the Character of an Excellent Prince Just Merciful and a most exact observer of his Word and reigned Twelve Years to whom succeeded Leil his Son who built the City of Carlisle in the Days of Solomon after called by the Romans Lugubalia and did also repair Caerleon now called Chester he was a good Prince till the latter end of his days when falling into several Vices he occasioned great dissentions in the Kingdom which did not end with his life but after he had reigned Twenty five Years left the Kingdom to Rudhudibras or Hudibras who compos'd the disturbances begun in his Fathers days and studying nothing more than to strengthen and adorn his Kingdom built several Cities as Caerkin now Canterbury likewise Caer Guent now Winchester as also Mount Paladur after Septonia or Shaftsbury and having reigned Twenty nine Years was succeeded by Bladud his Son who is said to have been skill'd in Magick and thereby to have found out those Medicinal Waters now called the Bath where he also built a City called Caer Baden he is said to be a Man of a good Invention and having made himself Wings to flye fell down from the Temple of Apollo in Trinovant and broke his Neck having governed Britain Twenty Years To him succeeded Leir his Son who built Caer Leir now called Leicester He had only Three Daughters Gonnilla Râ—gana and Cordiella his darling but in his old Age being jealous of their Affections he called them before him and demanded that they would give him some assurance of their Love the two Eldest called Heaven and Earth to witness that they loved him Ten thousand times dearer than their own Souls and that they were not able to Express their infinite kindness for him and at last concluded their flatteries with horrid Oaths and asseverations of their Sincerity but Cordiella the Youngest though having before her Eyes the present reward of an easie flattery yet could not be moved from giving him this downright honest Answer Father saith she my Love toward you is as my Duty bids What should a Father seek What can a Child promise more They who pretend beyond this flatter This short Answer not at all satisfied the old suspicious King for he shewed his resentments by his neglect of her and the suddain advancement of her Sisters Marrying Regana to the Duke of Cornwall and Gonarilla to the Duke of Albania reserving no portion at all for Cordiella but it so happen'd that Aganippus a Prince of Gaul however he came by this Greek Name hearing of her Vertue and Beauty desired her in Marriage to whom she was welcome without any other Dower but her own Vertues King Leir having thus disposed of his two Eldest Daughters and dividing half his Kingdom between them they within some time by their subtile practices work him out of all so that he was forced to sojourn with his Daughters by turns who being set on by their Husbands put so many affronts and Indignities upon him needless here to be recited that in the end he was constrained to leave the Realm and take refuge with Cordiella This rejected Daughter received him with all the Duty and Affection imaginable and then appeared the difference between the down-right Love of some Children to their Parents and the over talkative obsequiousness of others while the hopes of a large Inheritance obliges their Tongues to Express more Duty than ever they mean to perform but what was more significant than Words she assisted her Father with powerful aids and in Person went to revenge his wrongs So that bringing a great Army into Britain she destroyed his Enemies and restored him to his Crown which he held but for the space of Two Years whose Reign in all is computed to be about Forty Years and then dying left the Throne to Cordilla who Governed the Kingdom for Five Years but in the mean time her Husband Aganippus dying Morgan and Cunedage her Nephews by her Sisters Gonorilla and Regana disdaining to be under the Government of a Woman rebelled against her and so prevailed that they took her Prisoner but she being a Woman of a high Spirit slew her self rather than to live under their Tyranny Whereupon Cunedage and Morgan possessing the whole Government divided the Island between them to Morgan fell Albania to Cunedage all the Land on this side Humber Morgan not being content with his Portion Invaded his Brother but being driven by him into Wales and there Slain gave the Name of Glan-Morgan to that Country Cunedage now Ruling alone built many Temples to his Gods and dying was buried at Trinovant after he had Ruled Thirty three Years to whom succeeded Rivallo the Son of Cunedage in his time it rain'd Blood for Three Days together from whose Putrefaction Noisom and Venemous Flies were bred which in Swarms infested the whole Land and brought great Contagion both upon Men and Beasts He after he had Ruled Forty six Years was succeeded by Gurgust his Son of whom nothing is recorded worth mentioning he is said to have Reign'd Thirty seven Years Nor is there more left of Jago his Nephew Nor yet of Sillius or Sicillius thô how related to the former is not said But to him after Forty nine Years Reign succeeded Kâ—nemare said to be Brother of Jago of whom there is nothing Recorded but that he was Buried at York To whom succeeded Gorâ—odug the Son of Kinemare he is noted for Tyranny But dying he left behind him two Sons Ferrex and Porrex who Reigning joyntly at first did within a few Years begin to contend who should have the whole Kingdom in which Contention after a great Battle Fought between them Ferrex was Slain whose Death affected his Mother with so great a Grief that transported by Revenge she by the help of her Maidens Slew her other Son Porrex whilst he was a Sleep an unheard of Example and too strange to be true After his Death the Blood Royal of Brute being extinguished by his Death there happned cruel Wars so that the Kingdom was rent into five parts one Pinnor made himself King of Loegria or England Stator seized Albania Rudock Cambria and Cloten Cornwall But as to the fifth division the Story is silent this Pentarchie is supposed to have lasted above Fifty Years the Kingdom in the mean time being miserably harrassed by Civil Wars until Dunwallo Molmutius Son
and erecting new ones in several Places in his Dominions He is said to have built Grantham in Lincolnshire and some say Cambridge antiently called Caer-Grant and Grant Chester He Reigned Ten Years and was succeeded by his Brother Archigallo the Second Son of Morindus he endeavoured to depress the Nobility by depriving them of all Power and Command and preferring Mean and unworthy Men and by taking away Men's Estates to enrich his own Treasure all which Oppressions the Nobility of the Kingdom not being any longer to bear they rose up in Arms and deposing him placed Elidure his Brother in the Throne he was called by his Subjects Elidure the Pious for as he went on Hunting one Day in the Wood Calater in the midst of the Forest he met with his Brother Archigallo and being struck with Pity of his Misfortunes he secretly conveyed him Home to his own House at the City of Alchluid where feigning himself sick he assembled all the Nobles of his Realm and there partly by Perswasions partly by Commands he engaged them again to receive his Brother Archigallo for their Sovereign and afterwards calling a general Assembly of his People at York he there publickly resigned his Crown and taking it off his own Head placed it on his Brother's after he had Reigned Three Years Archigallo being thus Restored by his wise and sober Deportment regained the Affections of his People for he discarded his former Favourites and adhered to the prudent Advice of his Nobility and Reigning to the general Liking of his Subjects for the space of Ten Years died and was buried at Caer-brank or York Elidure after the Death of his Brother became once more King of Britain and so with much Honour and Reputation received the second time the Crown but was soon deposed by the Ambition of his Brethren Vigenius and Peridurus after One Year's Government when being seized by them and his Person confined to the Tower of London they divided the Kingdom between them Peridurus took Albania and Vigenius all the Country on this side Humber for his share Vigenius dying after he had Reigned Seven Years the whole Kingdom devolved to Peridurus who managed it with great Moderation and Justice and having governed Nine Years died then Elidure again resumed the Crown being delivered out of Prison by his Subjects and after he had Reigned Four Years to the general Satisfaction of all Men then dying was succeeded by his Nephew or Grandson the Son of Gorbonian who is called Regin by Mat of Westminster though not named particularly by Geoffrey He was a worthy Prince and Reigned with the general Approbation of all his People to whom succeeded Morgan or Margan the Son of Arâ—igallo he Reigned Fourteen Years in Tranquillity After him Ennian or Emerian another Son of Archigallo's was advanced to the Throne who quite different from his Brother govern'd Tyrannically and was in the Sixth Year of his Reign Depos'd and then succeeded Ydwallo the Son of Vigenius who warned by the Misfortune of his Predecessor avoided Tyranny after whom Reigned Rinco the Son of Peridurus an heroic Prince and a great Warriour Then next follows in Geoffrey of Monmouth a long descent of Kings who either did nothing or had no Body to Record it these make up Seventeen Kings in all viz. Gerantius the Son of Elidurus to whom succeeded Catellus his Son then Coillus and after him Porrex the Second then Cherin or Cherim then succeeded Fulgentius the Eldest Son of Cherin next him Androgeus the Third Son of Cherim enjoyed the Crown then after him Urianus the Son of Androgeus began to Reign who giving himself up to all Riot and Intemperance soon died and to him succeeded Eliod then Elidavius then Cledanus or Cletanus called also by others Detonus but here arises so great a Difference amongst the Writers of this long Bed-Roll of British Kings that there is nothing of Certainty concerning their very Names much less of their Actions for their Names are variously recited by Geoffrey and those Authors that lived after him and pretend to correct or enlarge him but you must take them as we find them Then succeeded Gurgurntius then Merianus and after him Bledunus then Capenus next to him Sisilius the Third then Blegabred who is said to have been excellently well Skill'd in Vocal as well as Instrumental Musick he Reigned Ten Years After him succeeded Arthimallo his Brother and after him Eldâ—l Then follow Nine Kings more without any thing Recorded of them but their bare Names viz. Rodianus or Redian then Redarchius or Redargius then Samuil then Penisill then Carpoir or Corporius and after him Geiduâ—llus or Dinellus the Son of Carpoir a Prince Modest and Prudent in all his Actions who left his Son Heli his Successor who Reign'd Forty Years and was succeeded by Lud his Eldest Son who is reported to have been a Vertuous Princâ— making divers excellent Laws and Correcting many Abuses in the Government he Adorn'd the City of London with new Walls and Towers and therein built a Gate which is still called after his Name Lud-Gate and is said to have built himself a Palace not far from it And after he had Reigned Eleven Years died leaving behind him two Sons Anarogeus and Theomantius under the Tuition of his Brother Cassibelan whose Bounty and Worthy demeanour so wrought upon the People that he easily got the Kingdom transferr'd upon himself yet nevertheless shewing some Favour to his Nephews he conferred freely upon Androgeus London with Kent and upon Theomantius Cornwall reserving to himself a Superiority over them both till the Romans for a while eclipsed his Power I shall not here trouble my self to set down much less to confute the Errors that may be found in the Chronology of these Kings Reigns since Geoffrey of Monmouth from whom they are taken hath bin so cautious as not to give us any account in what Year of the World they Reign'd sometimes telling us tho' with no certainty at all the Names of the Judges and Kings of Israel whom he makes Contemporary with them But as for his last Nine and Twenty Kings from Elidure to Lud he has given us nothing but their bare Names without so much as setting down how many Years they reign'd as if he himself or those Authors he had Translated had bin ashamed or weary of their own tedious Stories and so would make it as short as they could But as for Mat. of Westminster Ponticus Virunnius Polydore Virgil and one Richard White who calls himself Basinstoke I do not think it worth while to put down their pretended Corrections Emendations and Additions of Geoffrey's History since if he had no Authority to invent I am sure they can less pretend to Correct his Inventions or alter his Course of Succession of the British Kings as Polydore has done under pretence of making them more suitable to his own Accounts of time But White has exceeded all others in this making bold with Geoffrey not onâ—y altering the
this Province was totally recovered to the Roman Empire as Eumenius witnesses in his Panegyrick above-mentioned after it had been 10 Years in Rebellion But before I dismiss this part of our History I cannot omit what Geoffery of Monmouth also adds thô with no shew of probability to this History of Carausius and Allectus his Successor in this Usurpation viz. That Allectus going about to punish those Romans and Britains who had adhered to the Party of Carausius and been partakers in his Robberies who resenting this Severity chose one Asclepiodotus a Britain to revenge it exhorting him to set upon Allectus then in London whilst he was celebrating a Feast to his Gods at whose arrival Allectus forsaking his Sacrifice and marching out with the choicest of his Souldiers joyned Battel with him but being slain Gallus a Captain of Allectus still held London to the reducing whereof Asclepiodotus now made King summoned the Daemetae and Venedoti i. e. the Inhabitants of that part of the Island now called Wales to his Assistance with these Forces he beleaguer'd the City and with warlike Engines battered down great part of the Wall Gallus perceiving himself not able to hold out any longer came to a Parly and surrendered the Town upon condition to march out Armed which being agreed to Asclepiodotus enters Walbrook whence it had its Name but the Venedoti contrary to the Articles fell upon Gallus and slew him at a Brook's side within the City now called from his Name Galbrook or Walbrook But it is certain there was never any King of Britain called Asclepiodotus who was indeed no more than the Praefect to Constantius nor had he any such Captain as this Gallus as we can any where find except in this Author But Eumenius who then lived and was of Constantius his Household and who upon this Victory made the Panegyrick but now mentioned in Praise of Maximian and Constantius then Emperours relates this to have been done in the course of one continued Action So also Sigonius a Judicious Historian thô others allow 3 Years to the Tyranny of Allectus In those Times there was such great store of good Workmen and excellent Builders in Britain that during these great Disturbances here the Aeduans in Burgundy entertained them to build their Temples and publick Edifices Dioclesian having hitherto successfully shewed his Valour against the Enemies of the Roman Empire now exerted his Rage in a bloody Persecution against his obedient and harmless Christian Subjects from the feeling whereof this Island though the most remote was not it seems yet far enough off from having some share of his Rage for our Historians Gildas and Bede relate That in this Persecution Albanus a Citizen of Verulam suffered as also Arron and Julius Citizens of the City of Legions now Caerleon upon Uske and many others of both Sexes in divers places who were put to Death by various Torments Of the Martyrdom of St Alban Bede gives us this particular Account viz. That he being as yet a Pagan when the Edict of those Heathen Emperours raged against the Christians received into his House a certain Priest who had then fled from his Persecutors whom whilst he beheld imploy'd Night and Day in Watchings and Prayers upon a sudden being touched by the Divine Grace he began to emulate his Faith and Piety and being by degrees instructed by his saving Precepts at last leaving his Idolatry he became a Christian. Now when this Priest had lived with him some time it came to the Ears of the Roman Governour That this Confessor who was not yet to be Martyr'd lay hid in the House of Alban The Governour presently sent Souldiers to find him out who when they came thither Alban offered himself to them in stead of his Guest in that very Habit he used to wear and being immediately brought before the Judge who at that very time was standing at the Altar sacrificing to his Idols when he saw Alban he was highly incensed because he had voluntarily delivered himself up instead of his guest so commanding him to be drag'd before the Images of those false Gods he was then worshiping said thus For that thou hast rather chosen to conceal a Rebellious Sacrilegious Fellow than to deliver him up to my Guards that as a contemner of the Gods he might suffer the punishment due to his Blasphemy whatsoever torments therefore were due to him thou thy self shalt endure if thou persistest in this new Superstition But Alban who had of his own accord owned himself to be a Christian did not at all fear the threats of the President but plainly told him that he would not obey his commands the rest of their Dialogue being somewhat tedious I omit but the Judge being thereupon more provoked told him again that if he intended to live he must imediately offer Sacrifice to their Gods which he again not only refused but also reproved others for so doing and thereupon was condemned to most cruel Torments all which he manfully overcame and although they did all they could to invent new Tortures for him yet he endured them all with exquisite patience till their weariness not pity made them desist And here we must bewail our want of a true Story of this good Man's Martyrdom which the Monks have mixed with so many improbable Circumstances that it is even nauseous either to read or hear them But I shall proceed to relate what I find in Bede without passing my word for the truth of the following Miracles Alban being sentenced to be beheaded much People flock'd to the place of his Execution which was on a Hill afterward called in English Holm hurst to which they were to pass over a River where a narrow passage admitted of very few a-breast Alban being to follow after all the company and perceiving it would be very late before he could attain his desired End obtained by his Prayers that the River parting assunder afforded a free passage for a great many together this Miracle so wrote upon him who was appointed to be his Executioner that he utterly refused the Imployment desiring rather to suffer himself for him than to offer him any violence But another soon took his place Alban being come to the top of the Hill where he was to suffer found himself very dry when presently by his Prayer as Spring brake forth at his Feet to the amasement of all that saw it except the Executioner who notwhithstanding the Miracle struck off his Head when instantly his own Eyes fell out of his Head upon the ground as a just punishment for his infidelity and presently after suffer'd also the Convert Executioner above mentioned The body of St. Alban was privately buried That Age not knowing the Vertue of keeping Saints Relicks but many Years after Offa King of the Mercians is said to have discovered his Bones and to have removed them into a stately Shrine where he built a noble Church and Monastery as shall
not so as hath been already shewn and shall be made clearer by and by For Bede is more exact and takes notice of some of those Princes that Reigned in Britain from the Death of Maximus to the coming in of the Saxons which Gildas and Nennius had omitted But thus much is agreed on by Gildas Nennius and Bede that Britain owed its first Ruine to Maximus his carrying over so great a number of Britains and Romans into Gaul from which time Britain being bereft of all its Military Forces and choicest Youth who followed that Tyrant and never returned again being either slain or else planting themselves in Armorica so that as Gildas saith the Island was thenceforth left to such cruel Rulers as stayed behind who being unexperienced in Warlike Affairs were still tormented by two transmarine Nations the Scots from the Northwest and the Picts from the North. But Bede expresly tells us that he calls those Transmarine Nations not because they then dwelt out of Britain but because they were divided from its Southern Parts by two Streights or Bays of the Sea whereof one from the West and the other from the East doth separate the Regions of Britain so that they do not joyn to each other these are the two Streights which were then called Glotta and Bodotria now the Friths of Edinburgh and Dunbritton from which Passage of Bede it is evident that he supposed the Scots to beat this time setled in this Island Whereupon the British Nation being unable any longer to bear the continual Incursions of the Scots and Picts sent Ambassadors to Rome with lamentable Letters desiring some Military Forces to be again sent to defend them which if it were performed and the Enemy once repulsed they vowed perpetual Subjection to the Roman Empire whereupon Stilico being at that time Tutor to the Emperour Honorius immediately dispatched to their Assistance a Legion sufficiently furnished with Arms and all Things necessary which arriving in this Island and fighting with its Enemies killed a great many of them and drove the rest out of the British Borders and so delivered the Inhabitants both from Spoil and inevitable Captivity This Action thô confounded by Gildas with the second Succours that were sent in the time of the Emperour Honorius seems most likely to be sent by Stilico in his first Consulship as hath been already said The Britains being thus relieved the Roman General whose Name is not told us thô Camden supposes him to be called Victorinus commanded them to build a Wall cross the Island between the two Seas which might be a Terrour to the Enemies and a Defence to the Natives but the Britains not building it with Stones but Turfs as not having Artificers sufficient for so great a Work it served to no purpose thô they drew it between the two Streights or Bays already mentioned for many thousand Paces and where the Defence of Water was wanting there they defended their Borders from the Irruption of the Enemy with a Trench of which Work Bede relates there remained most evident Tokens in his time For says he it begins near the space of two Miles from the Monastery of Abercorne towards the East in a place which is called in the Picts Tongue Penvahel in the English Penvellum and which running towards the West ends near the City of Aldcluith So far Bede This I have set down to shew that as yet the old Bounds were continued between the Picts and the Britains But this Legion returning home with great Joy and Triumph the same Enemies as soon as they saw the Roman Souldiers departed passing over in their small Vessels or Curroughs entering the Borders destroyed all before them How long they continued so to do is hard to determine but this is certain that fresh Ambassadours were thereupon again dispatched to Rome imploring new Aids and that they would not suffer this miserable Country to be destroyed nor a Roman Province which had been long so famous to be over-run by barbarous and foreign Nations whereupon another Legion was again sent over which coming unlook'd-for in the time of Autumn made great slaughter of the Enemies and drove out all those who escaped beyond the Friths above-mentioned over which they were wont to carry their Prey without any resistance But the Romans being now resolved to return home plainly told the Britains That they would not be any more wearied out in such laborious Expeditions for their Defence admonishing them to take Arms and to undergo themselves the Toil of encountering their Enemies nor should the Roman Ensigns march so far by Sea and Land to curb a few unwarlike wandering Robbers but that for the future they should defend themselves by fighting manfully for their Country in defending their Wives and Children and which is more their own Lives and Liberties and that they might do what good they could to these Confederates whom they were now forced to desert they made them build a Wall of Stone from Sea to Sea with Towers near the Shore to hinder the landing of the Enemy and having exercised them in Arms then took their Leave of them telling them They must expect their return no mote This is the substance of Gildas his Relation with whom Bede also agrees yet adds that the Romans at their departure did not only give this sluggish People fresh Encouragements by Words but also left them Patterns of the Arms and Weapons they would have them make and then gives a more particular description of this last Wall and saith That it was 8 Foot in breadth and 12 in height and that it stood where the Wall of Severus was before being made all of Stone and not of Turf as that unserviceable Wall was which the Britains had before without any Skill built by themselves betwixt the two Friths Glotta and Bodotria But before I quit this Subject I cannot but take notice of the great mistake of the Scotish Historian Buchanan who persisting in his former Errour will needs have this last Wall to be built in Scotland in the same place where he thô falsly supposes Severus's Wall to have been and where Bede makes the Turf Wall already mentioned to have been built But Arch-Bishop Usher plainly proves in his above-cited Work from the Authority of ancient Authors that Severus's Wall was built in the same place where Adrian's was before viz. between the Rivers Tine and Esk So that if â—as Bede saith this last Wall was built in the same place where the Wall of Severus stood it must also have been between those two last mention'd Rivers and not between the two Friths as Buchanan would have it who if he had but carefully perused Bede would have found that he sufficiently distinguishes between the place where this last Wall was seated and that of the former which he supposes to have begun near Abercorne and reached to Alclâ—id now called Dunbritton for in several other
Lindisfarn where he was with his Clergy and there he was Abbot with his Monks who all belong to the Care of the Bishop where he was also succeeded by divers other Bishops till that Church being destroyed by the Danes the Bishop's See was removed to Durham I need say no more upon this Subject but shall refer the Reader to the said Learned Bishop's Dissertation to prove that no other Church-Government but Episcopal was ever setled amongst the Scots Picts or Saxons upon their Conversion to Christianity But that we may return again to our Saxon Annals Adda King of Bernicia dying this Year as Florence of Worcester and Mâ—tthew of Westminster relate one Glappa reigned in his stead two Years but who he was or how descended these Authors do not tell us The same Year died Maelgwn Guineth King of the Britains after five Years Reign over all that part of Britain that was left them This is according to the account of that Learned Antiquary Mr. Robert Vaughan thô Mat. of Westminster Dr. Powell and Sir John Price make him to have began his Reign long after viz. the former of these in 581 and the latter in 590 both which Opinions the said Mr. Vaughan Learnedly confutes in a Manuscript I have now in my possession but who succeeded Maelgwn Guineth as King of all the Britains since the Welsh Annals are silent I shall be so too for as to those Successors which Geoffery hath given him I have already said sufficient to destroy his Credit in this matter and Will of Newberie's Censure of him is not less sharp than true That concerning the Successors of Arthur he does not lie with less Impudence when he gives them the Monarchy of all Britain even to the 7th Generation The next year Ceawlin and Cutha his Brother beginning a Civil War fought with King Ethelbert and drove him back into Kent and killed two of his Commanders Oslac and Cnebba at Wibbendon now Wimbledon in Surrey This King Ethelbert as Will. of Malmesbury observes was in the beginning of his Reign a Scorn to the Neighbouring Princes for being beaten in one or two Battels he could scarce defend his own Territories But when in his riper Years he learned more Experience in War in a short time he brought under his Subjection all the Nations of the English-Saxons except the Northumbrians and that he might also gain the Friendship of Foreigners he became allied to the King of the Franks by the Marriage of Bertha his Daughter But of this King we hear no more for many years till his Conversion to the Christian Faith Glappa King of Bernicia dying Theodwulf succeeded him for one year But then he also deceasing Frâ—othwulf reigned after him for seven or eight years more We are beholding for the Succession of these two Kings to Florence of Worcester and Rog. Hoveden being omitted by all other Authors they are also more exact in distinguishing this Kingdom from that of Deira most of the rest confounding them together Cuthwulf the Brother of Ceawlin as it is in H. Huntington fought against the Britains at Bedicanford now Bedford and took four Towns viz. Lugeanburh now Loughborough in Leicestershire or else Leighton in Bedfordshire and Eglesburh now Ailesbury in Bucks with Bennington and Egonesham now called Bensington and Enisham in Oxfordshire About this time as is supposed for the Year is not set down in the Saxon Annals nor any other Historian began the Kingdom of the East-Angles under Vffa the Eighth from Woden tho it seems there were before him divers other petty Saxon Princes who had invaded and fixed themselves in the Countries we now call Norfolk and Suffolk for in one Copy of Matth. of Westminster which Mr. Twine had seen tho it be not found in our printed ones he saith That Anno 527. the Pagans came out of Germany and took possession of the Countrey of the East-Angles and tormented the Christians with all sorts of Cruelty but it seems this Vffa in Strength and Policy overpowering the rest of those Petty Princes got himself made sole King and governed with that Glory that H. Huntingdon tells us the Kings descended from him were called Vffings though how long he reigned is uncertain only that dying he left the Crown to Titul or Titillus his Son of whom likewise nothing is recorded and therefore Will. of Malmesbury takes no notice of these two Princes The first he speaks of is Redwald the Tenth from Woden whom he calls the greatest King of the East-Angles but since his Reign began after this Period I shall reserve the speaking further of him to the next Book To return to the Saxon Annals This year Ceawlin and Cuthwin his Son fought with and slew three British Kings viz. Commail Candidan and Farinmaile at a place which is called Deorham now Durham in Gloucestershire and then took three Cities Glewancester now Glocester Cirencester and Bathoncester now Bathe Who these three Kings were is very doubtful some suppose the first and second of them to be Cuniglasus and Aurelius Conan both mentioned by Gildas but for the third I cannot tell what to make of him there being no such King mentioned in any of the old British Chronicles so all that we can guess is that he was some Petty Prince whose Name is wholly omitted in the Welsh Annals or else mistaken in ours From the time of this Battel the Britains or Welshmen as the English call them being driven into that rough and mountainous Countrey we now call Wales lying beyond the Rivers of Dee and Severn made fewer Invasions into what we call England This year as the Welsh Chronicle called Triades relates being an Ancient Manuscript written near 1000 years ago the Battel of Arderydd was fought on the Borders of Scotland between Aeddan Vradog i. e. the Treacherous and Guendelew Son of Keidiaw British Princes of the North Parts of Britain on the one side and Reiderch-hoel i. e. the Liberal a British King of Cumberland on the other side and that upon a very slight occasion a Lark's-Nest and two Dogs In which Battel Guendelew was slain though his men fought and skirmish'd with the other Britains for Six Weeks to revenge his Death After which Fight Aedan being there overcome fled into the Isle of Man The like Story is related by Hector Boethius concerning the Battel between Aedan King of the Scots and the Picts upon the like occasion so that either the Scots borrowed it from the British History or else this had it from them though the former be the most likely But how this can agree with our Saxon Annals who make Adda King of Bernicia to have died Ten Years before I know not one of them must certainly be mistaken since there was but one King of Northumberland who was called Adda This year or the next King Freothwulf dying Theodoric the Son of Ida according to Florence of Worcester and Matth. Westminster
for they soon sent him Aidan a Man of great Meekness Piety and Moderation only Bede finds â—ault with him That he had Zeal but not according to Knowledge in that he observed Easter day according to the custom of his own Nation and that of the Picts of which I have sufficiently spoken already But so soon as this Bishop came to him he gave him a place for his Episcopal See in the Isle of Lindisfarn where he himself desired it which place is Pena-Insula except when the Sea quite overflows that neck of Land which joyns it to England But this King took care by hearkening to the Instructions of this good Bishop to propagate Christ's Church in his Kingdom which during his Reign extended over both Deira and Bernicia being then both united into one and it was often observed as an unusual spectacle that whil'st the Bishop Preacht who being a Scot did not speak English so as to be well understood the King being present and with his Courtiers and Officers having learn't the Scotish Tongue during the time of his banishment would himself interpret the Bishops Sermon to them and many Scotish Priests coming into those Provinces of Britain where King Oswald Reigned began to Preach and Baptize those that believed so that now Churches were built in divers places to which the People assembling rejoyced to hear the Word of God there were also given by the King several Lands and Possessions to build Monasteries for they were chiefly Monks who now came hither to Preach for Bishop Aidan was himself a Monk sent from the Monastery of the Isle of Hye of which we have said enough in the last Book But of the Humility and Piety of this Bishop Aidan Bede gives us a very large account in several instances of it for he seems to have been an excellent pattern for succeeding Bishops and Clergy Men to follow For he tells us That all who travelled with him I suppose in his Visitation or Conversions were they professed Monks or only Lay Bretheren were obliged to bestow their time either in reading the Scriptures or else in learning the Psalms by heart but to let you see how much more Humility and Condescention are able to prevail than Pride and Austerity Bede tells us That the King of the Scots first sent another Bishop to King Oswald who being of a very rough Austere Temper could therefore do but little good among the English so that being forced to return home again he laid the fault upon their Rude Irreclameable Dispositions whereupon the Scotch Clergy being grieved at hiâ— return called a Synod to consider what was best to be done in this case when Aidan who was then present told this Bishop That he thought he had been too harsh and severe to his Ignorant Auditors and had not according to the Apostle's Rule first given them the Milk of milder Doctrine till by degrees they should be able to receive and digest the more perfect and harder precepts of God's Word which as soon as they heard they all turn'd their Eyes upon him and resolved he should be sent to Convert the Ignorant unbelieving English because he was endued with Prudence the Mother of all other Vertues thô he was not wanting in those also The same Authour also gives us as high a Character with many Examples of the great Humility Affability and Charity of King Oswald as that being once at Dinner it was told him There were a great multitude of Poor People at his Gate desiring Alms whereupon he immediately sent them a large Silver Dish full of Meat from his own Table and order'ed the Dish afterwards to be broken into small pieces and distributed among them upon this Bishop Aidan taking him by the Right Hand said thus Let this Hand never corrupt which saying gave occasion to the Miracle whether false or real I shall not now dispute concerning the incorruptibility of King Oswald's Right Arm which Bede hath given us so many strange Relations of and that it was preserved uncorrupt in the Church of Peterburgh in his time Of this King he also tells us That by his Industry the Provinces of Deira and Bernicia which had been almost in perpetual Discord were now as I may say united into one People so that he received all the Nations and Kingdoms of Britain under his Protection He was Nephew to King Edwin by his Sister Acca and it was fit that so great a Predecessour should have one of his own Blood to succeed him But we shall proceed now to the Conversion of the West-Saxons which the same Author thus relates At this time the Nation of the West-Saxons which were anciently called Gewisses received the Christian Faith in the Reign of Cynegils by the preaching of Byrinus an Italian who being ordained Bishop by Asterius Bishop of Genoua by the Order of Pope Honorius came into Britain and thô he had promised the Pope to preach the Gospel in the most inland parts of the Island where it never had been heard of before yet landing in the Country of the West-Saxons and finding them to be altogether Heathens he thought it better to preach the Gospel there than to seek further which when he had done for some time and that the King being sufficiently instructed was to be Baptized with his People it happened that Oswald the Victorious King of the Northumbers was there present and received him coming out of the Font as his Godfather intending also to make him his Son-in-Law and then both Kings joyned in conferring on the said Bishop a City which was called in Latin Dorinea now Dorchester in Oxfordshire there to fix his Episcopal See but divers Years after when many Churches had been built and much People converted to Christ by his means he at last deceased and was buried in that City for so Bede stiles it thô it be now but a poor Country Town Will. of Malmesbury adds to this Relation of Bede That King Cynegils was quickly perswaded to submit to the preaching of the Bishop but that Cwichelme his Brother and Partner in the Kingdom did for some time refuse it till being admonished by Sickness that he should not neglect the Salvation of his Soul he was at last baptized and the same Year died which is confirmed by the Saxon Chronicle under the Year following thô omitting the Baptism of Cynegils it only mentions that of Cwichâ—lme adding That the same Year he departed this Life and that Bishop Felix preached the Faith of Christ to the East-Angles This Felix was a Burgundian the first Bishop in Dunwich in Suffolk where he founded his Episcopal See His Conversion was thus Sigebert having succeeded his Brother Eorpwald in the Kingdom of the East-Angles and having whilst he was banished into France by his Brother's Jealousie there received Baptism did now by the Assistance of Bishop Felix erect a School like those he had seen in France where Youths might be taught Letters having
Plunder and Spoil But of this we shall speak more in due time and shall now proceed in our History where we left off in our last Book Egbert the only surviving Prince of the Blood-Royal of the West Saxon Kings as great Nephew to Ina by his Brother Inegilds being arrived in England was now ordained King as Ethelwerd expressly terms his Election But since Asser in his Annals places this King 's coming to the Crown under Anno 802. as does Simeon of Durham and also Roger Howden from an Ancient piece of Saxon Chronologie inserted at the beginning of the first Book of his first part and this account being also proved by that great Master in Chronology the now Lord Bishop of Litchfield to be truer then that of the Saxon Annals or Ethelwerd by divers Proofs too long to be here Inserted I have made bold to put this King 's coming to the Crown two Years backwarder then it is in the last Book thô I confess the former Account in the Saxon Annals would have made a more exact Epocha Also about this time as appears from the ancient Register of St. Leonard's Abbey in York cited in Monast. Anglican viz. ' That Anno Dom. 800 Egbert King of all Britain in a Parliament at Winchester by the consent of his People changed the Name of this Kingdom and commanded it to be called England Now thô by the word Parliament here used it is certain that this Register was writ long after the Conquest yet it might be transcribed from some more ancient Monument since Will. of Malmesbury tells us of this King tho' without setting down the time that by the greatness of his Mind he reduced all the Varieties of the English Saxon Kingdoms to one uniform Empire or Dominion which he called England though others perhaps more truly refer it towards the latter end of his Reign as you will find when we come to it This Year Eardulf King of the Northumbers led his Army against Kenwulf King of Mercia for harbouring his Enemies who also gathering together a great Army they approached to each other when by the Advice of the Bishops and Noblemen of England as also by the Intercession of the chief King of the English by whom is meant King Egbert who then passed under that Title They agreed upon a lasting Peace which was also confirmed by Oath on both sides This we find in Simeon of Durham's History of that Church and in no other Authour About this time also St. Alburhe Sister to King Egbert founded a Benedictine Nunnery at Wilton which was long after rebuilt by King Alfred and augmented by King Edgar for Twenty Six Nuns and an Abbess The same Year the Moon was Eclipsed on the 13 Kal. Jan. and ' Beormod was Consecrated Bishop of Rochester About this time in Obedience to a Letter from Pope Leo III. who at the desire of Kenwulf King of the Mercians had Two Years since restored the See of Canterbury to its ancient Primacy was held the Third Synod at Cloveshoe by â—rch bishop Ethelward and 12 Bishops of his Province whereby the See of Canterbury was not only restored to all its ancient Rights and Priviledges but it was also forbid for all times to come upon Pain of Damnation if not repented of for any Man to violate the Rights of that ancient See and thereby to destroy the Unity of Christ's Holy Church then follow the Subscriptions of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and of 12 other Bishops of his Province together with those of many Abbots and Presbyters who never Subscribed before but without the Subcriptions of the King or any of the Lay Nobility Which plainly shews it to have been a meer Ecclesiastical Synod and no great Council of the Kingdom as you may see at large in Sir H. Spelman's 1 Vol of Councils the Decree of which Synod also shews that the Church of England did not then conceive the Authority of the People alone sufficient to disanul what had been solemnly Decreed in a great Council of the Kingdom as was the Removal of the Primacy from Canterbury to Litchfield The next Year According to our Annals Ethelheard Arch-bishop of Canterbury deceased and Wulfred was consecrated Arch-bishop in his stead and Forther the Abbot dyed The same Year also Deceased Higbald Bishop of Lindisfarne 8 o Kal Julii and Eegbert was Consecrated to that See 3 o Ides Junii ' This Year Wulfred the Arch bishop received his Pall. Cuthred King of Kent deceased as did also Ceolburh the Abbess and Heabyrnt the Ealdorman This Cuthred here mentioned was as Will. of Malmesbury informs us he whom Kenulph King of the Mercians hath made King of Kent instead of Ethelbert called Pren. This Year the Moon was Eclipsed on the Kal. of September and Eardwulf King of the Northumbers was driven from his Kingdom and Eanbryth Bishop of Hagulstad Deceased Also this Year 2 o Non Junii the sign of the Cross was seen in the Moon upon Wednesday in the Morning and the same Year on the Third Kal. Septemb. a wonderful Circle was seen round the Sun This Eardwulf above-mentioned is related by Simeon of Durham to have been the Son of Eardulf the first of that Name King of Northumberland and after Ten Years Reign to have been driven out by one Aelfwold who Reigned Two Years in his stead During these Confusions in the Northumbrian Kingdom Arch-Bishop Usher with great probability supposes in his Antiquitat Britan. Eccles. that the Picts and Scots Conquered the Countries of Galloway and Lothian as also those Countries called the Lowlands of Scotland as far as the Friths of Dunbritain and Edenburgh And that this City was also in the possession of the English Saxons about an Hundred Years after this I shall shew in due order of time and that our Kings did long after maintain their claim to Lothian shall be further shewn when I come to it But that all the Lowlands of Scotland as far as the English Saxon Tongue was spoken were anciently part of the Bernician Kingdom the English Language as well as the Names of places which are all English Saxon and neither Scotish nor Pictish do sufficiently make out The Sun was Eclipsed on the 7th Kal. of August about the Fifth Hour of the Day This Year as Sigebert in his Chronicle relates King Eardulph above-mentioned being expelled his Kingdom and coming for Refuge to the Emperour Charles the Great was by his Assistance restored thereunto but since neither the Saxon Annals nor Florence nor yet any of our English Historians do mention it I much doubt the Truth of this Relation thô it must be also acknowledged that it is inserted in the ancient French Annals of that time and recited that this King's Restitution was procured by the Intercession of the Pope's and Emperour's Legates who were sent into England for that purpose This Year according to Mat. Westminster Egbert King of the West
Edmund But it seems R. Hoveden and Mat. Westminster make this latter Anlaf a quite different person from the former who is supposed to have reigned in Ireland whereas this was the Son of Sihtric late King of Northumberland and whom we shall meet with again more than once in the following History But John of Walingford's Chronicle makes this King whom he calls Olaf a Norwegian whom the Northumbers had called in and bestowed upon him the Title of King and under him rebelled against K. Edmund As for this Reginald her mentioned in our Annals I suppose he is the same whom H. Huntington calls King of York because he had conquered the Countrey But tho the History of these Transactions are very short and obscure yet that which has been already related from these Authors will serve to explain what would have been otherwise in the dark viz. how the Cities and Towns above-mentioned now came to be recovered from the Danes as having been taken by their King Anlaf aforesaid This year Queen Aelgiva was brought to Bed of Prince Edgar afterwards King as Florence relates Yet she lived not long after but died the year following according to Ethelward's Chronicle King Edmund reduced all the Countrey of Northumberland under his own Dominion expelling thence the two Kings Anlaf the Son of Sihtric and Reginald the Son of Guthferth But Ethelwerd relates this action to have been done by this King's Lieutenants viz. Bishop Wulstan and the Ealdorman of Mercia whose Name he does not give us only that these two expelled certain Deserters viz. Reginald and Anlaf out of the City of York and reduced it wholly under this King's Power John of Wallingford also makes this Anlaf to be the King's Nephew and different from Anlaf the Norwegian King Eadmund subdued the whole Countrey of Cumberland and gave it to Malcolme King of Scots upon condition that he should assist him in his Wars both by Sea and Land For the Reader is to observe that hitherto the Britains though much disturbed by their Neighbours the Picts Scots and English had ever since the coming in of the Saxons still there continued a distinct Principality and after several of them had been wearied out they retired into North Wales and there erected the Colony of Straetcluyd as we formerly said though the History and Succession of these Kings are wholly lost unless it be such scattered Remains as we have given you in the former Book But Mat. Westminster though under the next year adds that which is very unlikely to be true that King Edmund conquered this Countrey by the Assistance of Lewellyn Prince of Wales and put out the Eyes of the two Sons of Dunmaile King of that Province though what he adds further appears somewhat more probable That he granted it to the King of Scots upon this condition viz. To defend the North-parts of England from the Invasion of Enemies both by Sea and Land To which Bromton's Chronicle adds likewise That he was also to attend the King of England at several Great Feasts in the year when he held his Common Council and that the King of Scots had for that end several Houses assigned him to lye at by the way Also this year Mat. Westminster relates that King Edmund gave one of his Royal Towns then called Beadricesworth with divers other Lands to build a Church and Monastery in Memory of St. Edmund the Martyr whose Body was there enshrin'd This year likewise as Florence relates King Edmund sent Ambassadors to Prince Hugh of France for the Restitution of King Lewis whereupon the said Prince held a Solemn Council with all the Chief Men of the Kingdom concerning it But not long after King Edmund deceased at the Feast of St. Augustin having held the Kingdom Six Years and an half But the Laudean or Peterburgh Copy of these Annals as also Ethelwerd's Chronicle place the Death of this King Anno Dom. 948 which without doubt is the truest Account So that he died in the very Flower of his Age being not yet Five and twenty years old But we shall give you the manner of his Death from William of Malmesbury as well as from other Authors since he met with such an End the like to which I have not read of any other Prince taking all the Circumstances together And thus we find it He having made a Great Entertainment at a place called Pucklekirk upon the Holiday of St. Augustin Archbishop of Canterbury for all his Nobility and Chief Men and there spying towards the end of Dinner a certain Notorious Thief called Leof sitting at the Table whom he had before banished commanded Leon his Sewer to lay hold on him But the Thief not only resisted him but was also like to have killed the Sewer Whereupon the King leaping from the Table and going to rescue him out of the Villain 's hands and having now laid hold on him and thrown him on the ground he twisted his hands in his hair upon which the Thief pulling out a Dagger stabbed the King who lay upon him into the Breast so that he immediately expired but the King's Servants presently coming in soon cut the Villain to pieces though some of them were first wounded by him The King's Body was thereupon carried to Glastenbury and there buried and the Town wherein he was killed was bestowed on the same Monastery to sing Masses for his Soul To this Place the Prince as well as his Brother was a great Benefactor as appears by his recited Charter in William of Malmesbury whereby he confers divers large Privileges upon that Abby of which St. Dunstan was then the Abbot And it is also to be observed that He there stiles himself in the beginning of his Charter Edmund King of the English and Governor and Ruler of the other Nations round about and says That with the Advice and by the Consent of his Chief Men and for the Remission of his Sins He made that Grant to the Church of St. Mary at Glastenbury This Charter bore date Anno 944. in Letters of Gold and was written at the end of a Book of Gospels which he had given to the same Church most curiously bound So that it is no wonder if he had the good words of the Monks though he might also very well deserve them yet this last Action speaks him to have been extremely transported with Passion thus to debase the Majesty of a King in going about to seize a common Malefactor with his own hands and indeed he paid too dear for thus acting below his Character This King made divers good Laws which since the Title does not recite in what year they were made I have referred to this place some of which I shall here give you translated from the Latin Copies in Abbot Bromton's Chronicle as well as from Mr. Lambard's Collection In the Preface of which we are told That at the solemn Feast of Easter the King had held a Great
City from whence was first brought to us the joyful Tidings of the Gospel But they detain'd the Archbishop Prisoner near Seven Months till such time as they martyr'd him Osbern in his Life of St. Elfeage relates That this Archbishop sent to the Danes when they came before the Town desiring them to spare so many innocent Christians lives but they despising his request fell to battering the Walls and so throwing Firebrands into the City set it on fire so that whilst the Citizens ran to save their Houses Aelmeric the Archdeacon let the Danes into the City Florence here adds That the Monks and Laity were decimated after a strange manner so that out of every Ten Persons only the Tenth was to be kept alive and that only Four Monks and about Eight hundred Laymen remain'd after this Decimation And that not long after above Two thousand Danes perished by divers inward Torments and the rest were admonish'd to make satisfaction to the Bishop but yet they obstinately refused it Florence of Worcester and R. Hoveden also relate That the Danes destroyed many of the Prisoners they had taken with cruel Torments and various Deaths This year Eadric the Ealdorman sirnamed Streon and all the Wise and Chief Men both Clerks and Laicks of the English Nation came to London before Easter which fell out then the day before the Ides of April and there stayed until such time as the above-mentioned Tribute could be paid which was not done till after Easter and was then Eight thousand Pounds In the mean time being about Six Months after upon a Saturday the Danish Army being highly incensed against Archbishop Aelfeage because he would neither promise them Money himself nor yet would suffer any body else to give them any thing for his Ransom for which as Osbern in his Life relates they demanded no less than Three thousand Pounds in Silver a vast Sum in those days which being denied them and many of them being got drunk they laid hold on the Archbishop and led him to their Council on the Saturday after Easter and there knocked him on the head as the Annals relate with Stones and Cows Horns till at last one of them striking him with an Axe on the Head he fell down dead with the Blow Florence says that this was done by one Thrum a Dane whom he had the day before confirmed being thereunto moved by an Impious Piety But John of Tinmouth in his Manuscript History of Saints called Historia Aurea now in the Library at Lambeth relates that when Archbishop Elfeage was thus killed the Danes threw his Body into the River which was soon taken out again by those whom he had converted But our Annals here farther That the Bishops Eadnoth and Aelfhune the former of Lincoln and the latter of London took away his sacred Body early the next morning and buried it in St. Paul's Minster where God now shews the power of this Holy Martyr But as soon as the Tribute was paid and the Peace confirmed by Oath the Danish Army was loosely dispersed abroad being before closely compacted together then Five and forty of their Ships submitted to the King and promised him to defend the Kingdom provided he would allow them Victuals and Apparel The year after Archbishop Aelfeage was thus martyr'd the King made one Lifing Archbishop of Canterbury Also the same year before the Month of August King Sweyn came with his Fleet to Sandwich and soon after sailing about East-England arrived in the Mouth of Humber and from thence up the River Trent till they came to Gegnesburgh now Gainsborough in Lincolnshire Which mischief according to William of Malmesbury proceeded from Turkil a Dane who was the great Inciter of the Death of the Archbishop and who had then the East-English subjected to his will This man sent Messengers into his own Countrey to King Sweyn letting him know that he should come again into England for the King was given so much to Wine and Women that he minded nothing else wherefore he was hated by his Subjects and contemned by Strangers that his Commanders were Cowards the Natives weak and who would run away at the first sound of his Trumpets Though this seems not very probable for Earl Turkil was then of King Ethelred's side as you will see by and by King Sweyn being prone enough to slaughter needed no great Intreaties to bring him over he had been here eight years before and why he stayed away so long I wish our Authors would have told us But William of Malmesbury further adds That one chief end of his coming over was to revenge the death of his Sister Gunhildis who being a Beautiful Young Lady had come over into England with Palling her Husband a powerful Danish Earl and receiving the Christian Religion became her self a Hostage of the Peace that had been formerly concluded But tho the unhappy Fury of Edric had commanded her to be beheaded together with some other of her Countreymen yet she bore her Death with an undaunted Spirit having seen her Husband and a Son a Youth of great and promising hopes slain before her face But to come again to our Annals So soon as King Sweyn arrived in the North Earl Vhtred and all the Countrey of the Northumbers with all the people in Lindesige and the people of the five Burghs or Towns but what these were we now know not lying on the other side Waetlingastreet submitted themselves to him There were also Hostages given him out of every Shire but when he found that all the people were now become subject to him he commanded them to provide his Forces both with Horses and Provisions whilst he in the mean time marched toward the South with great expedition committing the Ships and Hostages to Knute his Son And after he had passed Waetlingastreet they did as much mischief as any Army could do Then they turn'd to Oxnaford whose Citizens presently submitted themselves to him from thence he went to Wincester where the Inhabitants did the same and from thence they marched Eastward towards London near which many of his men were drown'd in the Thames because they would not stay to find a Bridge but when they came thither the Citizens would not submit but sallying out had a sharp Engagement with them because King Ethelred was there and Earl Turkil with him Wherefore King Sweyn departed thence to Wealingaford and then over Thames Westward to Bathe and there sate down with his whole Army whither came to him Aethelmar the Ealdorman of Devonshire with all the Western Thanes who all submitted themselves to him and gave him Hostages When he had subdued all these places he marched Northwards to his Ships and then almost the whole Nation received and acknowledged him for their real King And after this the Citizens of London became subject to him and gave him Hostages because otherwise they fear'd they should be utterly destroy'd for Sweyn demanded that they should give full
Midsummer being joyfully received both by the Danes and English and as H. Huntington relates was by both of them elected King though afterwards the Great Men that did it paid dearly for it for not long after it was decreed That a Tax of Eight Marks should be again paid to the Rowers in Sixty two Sail of Ships The same year also a Sâ—ster i. e. a Horse-load of Wheat was sold for Fifty five Pence and more This year Eadsige the Archbishop went to Rome and also another Military Tax was paid of Twenty nine thousand twenty nine pounds And after this was paid Eleven thousand forty eight pounds for two and thirty Sail of Ships But whether these Taxes were raised by Authority of the Great Council of the Kingdom our Authors do not mention but I believe not for this Danegelt was now by constant usage become a Prerogative The same year came Eadward the Son of King Aethelred into this Kingdom from Wealand by which our Annals mean Normandy After which time Prince Edward returned no more thither but staid in England till his Brother died But the same year not long after his Coronation he sent Alfric Archbishop of York and Earl Godwin and divers Great Men of his Court to London attended by the Hangman and out of Hatred to his Brother Harold and Revenge of the Injuries done to his Mother as he pretended commanded his Body to be dug up and the Head to be cut off and flung into the Thames but some Fishermen afterwards pulling it up with their Nets buried it again in St. Clement's Church-yard being then the Burying-place of the Danes The same year also according to Bromton's Chronicle King Hardecnute sent over his Sister Gunhilda to the Emperor Henry to whom she had been in her Father's life-time betroth'd But before she went the King kept the Nuptial Feast with that Magnificence in Cloaths Equipage and Feasting that as Mat. Westminster relates it was remembred in his time and sung by Musicians at all great Entertainments But this Lady was received and treated by the Emperor her Husband with great kindness for some time till being accused of Adultery she could find it seems no beter a Champion to vindicate her Honour than a certain little Page she had brought out of England with her who undertaking her defence fought in a single Combat against a man of a vast Stature named Rodingar and by cutting his Hamstrings with his Sword and falling down he obtained the Victory and so cleared his Lady's Honour of which she yet received so little satisfaction that she forsook her Husband and retired into a Monastery where she ended her days About this time also as Simeon of Durham Bromton's Chronicle and other Authors inform us King Hardecnute was highly incensed against Living Bishop of Worcester and Earl Godwin for the death of his Half Brother Alfred Son to King Ethelred Alfric Archbishop of York accusing them both of having persuaded King Harold to use him so cruelly as you have already heard The Bishop and Earl being thus accused before King Hardecnute the former was deprived of his Bishoprick and the latter was also in very great danger But not long after the King being appeased with Money the Bishop was again restored and as for Earl Godwin he had also incurred some heavy Punishment had he not been so cunning as to buy his peace as these Authors relate by presenting the King with a Galley most magnificently equipp'd having a gilded Stern and furnished with all Conveniences both for War and Pleasure and mann'd with Eighty choice Soldiers every one of whom had upon each Arm a Golden Bracelet weighing sixteen Ounces with Helmet and Corslet all gilt as were also the Hilts of their Swords having a Danish Battel-Axe adorned with Silver and Gold hung on his Left Shoulder whilst in his Left Hand he held a Shield the Boss and Nails of which were also gilded and in his Right a Launce in the English-Saxon Tongue called a Tegar But all this would not serve his turn without an Oath That Prince Alfred had not his eyes put out by his Advice but he therein merely obeyed Harold's Commands being at that time his King and Master This year according to Simeon of Durham King Hardecnute sent his Huisceorles i. e. his Domestick Servants or Guards to exact the Tax which he had lately imposed But the Citizens of Worcester and the Worcestershire men rising slew two of them called Feadar and Turstan having fled into a Tower belonging to a Monastery of that City Thereupon Hardecnute being exceedingly provoked to hear of their deaths sent to revenge it Leofric Ealdorman of the Mercians Godwin of the West-Saxons Siward of the Northumbrians and others with great Forces and orders to kill all the men plunder and burn the City and waste the Countrey round about On the evening preceding the thirteenth of November they began to put his Commands in execution and continued both wasting and spoiling the City and Countrey for four days together but few of the Inhabitants themselves could be laid hold of the Countrey-men shifting for themselves every man as well as they could and the Citizens betaking themselves to a little Island in the Severne called Beverege which they fortified and vigorously stood upon their Defence till their Opposers being tired out and spent were forced to make Peace with them and so suffered them to return quietly home This was not done till the fifth day when the City being burnt the Army retreated loaded with the Plunder they had got Simeon next after this cruel Expedition places the coming over of Prince Edward but our Annals with greater probability put his Return under the year before This year also King Hardecnute deceased at Lambeth 6. Id. Junii He was King of England two years wanting seven days and was buried in the New Monastery of Winchester his Mother giving the Head of St. Valentine to pray for his Soul But since our Annals are very short in the Relation of his Death we must take it from other Authors who all agree That the King being invited to a Wedding at the place above-mentioned which with great Pomp and Luxury was solemnized betwixt Tovy sirnamed Prudan a Danish Nobleman and Githa the Daughter of Osgod Clappa a great Lord also of that Nation as he was very jolly and merry carousing it with the Bridegroom and some of the Company he fell down speechless and died in the Flower of his Age. He is to be commended for his Piety and Good Nature to his Mother and Brother Prince Edward But the great Faults laid to this Prince's charge are Cruelty Gluttony and Drunkenness For the first of these you have had a late Example and for the latter take what H. Huntington relates That Four Meals a day he allowed his Court and it must be then supposed he loved eating well himself though this Author attributes it to his Bounty and how he rather desired that
what they knew would please their Masters would have passed him over without this Story and have given him a fairer Character His first Wife was the Sister of King Cnute by whom he had a Son but in his Infancy happening to mount an unruly Horse that was presented him by his Grandfather he was run away with into the Thames and there drowned His Mother was kill'd by Thunder which as then was believed fell upon her as a Judgment on the account of her great Cruelty for she made a Trade of selling handsome English Boys and Girls into Denmark After her Death Earl Godwin married another Wife and by her had Six Sons viz. Harold Sweyn Wined Tosti Gyrth and Leofwin His Earldom of West-Seaâ— was given to his Son Harold and the Earldom that Harold had before viz. Essex was conferred on Alfgar the Son of Leofric Earl of Mercia which is also confirmed by our Annals And the same year according to Simeon of Durham Rees the Brother of Griffyn King of South-Wales being taken Prisoner for the many Insolences he had committed against the English was by the Command of King Edward put to death at a place called Bulendun and his Head sent to the King then lying at Gloucester on the Vigil of Epiphany But this is omitted in the Welsh Chronicles as commonly every thing is that makes to the disadvantage of their own Nation This year Leo that Holy Pope of Rome deceased and Victor was elected in his stead And there was also so great a Murrain of all sorts of Cattel in England that none could ever remember the like And now according to the Welsh Chronicles Griffyth the Son of Ratherch ap Justin raised a great Army both of Strangers and others against Griffyth Prince of North Wales who delaying no time but getting all the Forces of that Countrey together and meeting the other Griffyth fought with him and slew him on the place though none of these Chronicles have told us where that was This was the last Rebellion or Welsh Civil War that happened in this Prince's Reign The same year according to Simeon of Durham and Roger Hoveden Siward that Valiant Earl of Northumberland at the Command of King Edward being attended with a powerful Army and a strong Fleet marched into Scotland to restore Malcolm the Right Heir to the Crown of that Kingdom where joining Battel with Macbeth the then Usurping King of Scots many both of that Nation and of the Normans who took their part were slain and the Earl put the Usurper to flight But in this Battel the Earl's Son and several of the English and Danes were slain H. Huntington further adds That when the News was brought to the Earl of the Death of his Son he presently asked Whether he had received the Wound behind or before And being told it was before he only replied I am glad to hear that for so it became my Son to dye He says also That this Son of his whom he does not name had been sent into Scotland before his Father and was there killed and that Earl Siward did not subdue Macbeth till the second Expedition in which he differs from all the rest of the English and Scotish Historians Buchanan indeed acknowledges that this Prince Malcolm having taken Refuge in the Court of England obtain'd of King Edward the Assistance of Ten thousand men under the Conduct of Earl Siward and that the rest were raised for him by Macduf and others of his Party that took Arms on his behalf But John Fordun in his History writes much more improbably and though he allows that King Edward offered Malcolm an Army sufficient to place him on the Throne yet that he refused it with Thanks and only took Earl Siward of all the English Lords along with him as if this Earl's single Might though he was a Man of great Strength and Stature signified any thing against the Forces of Macbeth unless he had also brought a powerful Army along with him Mat. Westminster also adds That Scotland being thus conquered by the Forces of King Edward he bestowed it upon King Malcolm to be held of himself But since this is not found in any of our Ancient Historians and this Author does not acquaint us from whence he had it I do not look upon it as worthy of any great Credit About this time according to Simeon Aldred Bishop of Worcester was sent Ambassador to the Emperor with Noble Presents and being received with great Honour by him as likewise by Herman Archbishop of Cologne he staid in Germany a whole year to prevail with the Emperor on the King's behalf to send Ambassadors into Hungary to bring back Prince Edward the King's Cousin Son of King Edmund Ironside into England The same year also according to the Latin Copy of the Annals ' Was a Battel at Mortimer in Normandy But though they do not tell us by whom it was fought yet from others we learn it was between William Duke of Normandy and the King of France where the former obtain'd a most signal Victory This year Siward Earl of Northumberland deceased and the King gave that Earldom to Tostig Son of Earl Godwin Of this Siward's death our Historians give us divers remarkable Circumstances That being near his End by a Bloody-Flux he said He was asham'd to dye thus like a Beast so causing himself to be compleatly Armed and taking his Sword in his hand as if he would have fought even Death it self he in this Posture expired as he supposed like a Man of Honour King Edward not long after this summoned a Witena Gemot or Great Council seven days before Midlent wherein Earl Aelfgar was outlaw'd upon a Charge of being a Traytor to the King and the whole Nation and of this he was convicted before all there assembled Then Earl Aelfgar went to the Castle of Prince Griffyn in North-Wales and the same year they both together burnt the City of Hereford with the Monastery of St. Aethelbert once King of the East-Angles whose Bones were here enshrin'd This Earl had the greater reason to do what he did having been unjustly banish'd as most of our Historians write Simeon of Durham is somewhat larger in his account of this Affair and says That this Earl Aelfgar first went to Ireland and there procuring Eighteen Pyrate-Ships sail'd with them into Wales to assist Prince Griffyn against King Edward where joining with the Welshmen they laid waste the Countrey about Hereford with Fire and Sword against whom was sent that Cowardly Earl Rodolph King Edward's Sister's Son who gathering an Army and meeting with the Welshmen about two miles from that City he commanded the Englishmen contrary to their custom to fight on Horseback but so soon as they were ready to join Battel Rodulph with all his Frenchmen ran away which the English seeing quickly followed By which you may see that it is no new thing for a Cowardly General to make Cowardly Soldiers The
the Benedictine Order Id. p. 167. Augustine's Ake scituate on the Confines of the Wectii l. 4. p. 160. Augustus Caesar his coming as far as Gallia twice to reduce Britain under his Obedience l. 2. p. 36. Vid. Caesar. Avon the River anciently called Antona l. 2. p. 41. Aurelian L. Domitius the Emperor killed by Mnestheus his Secretary The Ninth Persecution under him l. a. p. 82. Aurelius Ambrosius his Success against the Saxons when l. 3. p. 127. Elected General of the Britains Vortigern being as then King though only in name so Id. p. 129 130. His mighty victory over the Saxons and his ordering the Churches to be repaired which the Saxons had destroyed p. 130. Marches up to London and going about to repair that He is crowned at Stonehenge and not long after buried there At a solemn Council he appoints two Metropolitans for the Vacant Sees viz. York and Caer-Leon Id. p. 131. A Rebellion raised against him in the North among the Britains who were put to flight Ibid. Chosen King of the Britains and reigned 19 years Id. p. 132. Died being poysoned by procurement of Pascentius Son to Vortigern who before had rebelled against him Id. p. 131 133. Aurelius Atticus Commander in Chief of a Roman Cohort slain by the Britains in the Battel between Agricola and Galgacus l. 2. p. 62. Aurelius Conan King of Powis-Land or else some other Southern Province l. 3. p. 139 146. Aurelius Marcus succeeds Antoninus Pius in the Empire the Britains raise new Commotion against him but they lasted not long after Calphurnius Agricola's Arrival l. 2. p. 68. Aust where is a Ferry to pass out of Somersetshire into Wales anciently called Austelin l. 5. p. 328. Axanminster now Axminster in Devonshire l. 4. p. 233. B BAchfeg a Danish King whom their History calls Ivor the Son of Reynere is slain by King Aethelred and Aelfred his Brother in Battel near Reading where most of his Troops being cut off the rest were forced to fly l. 5. p. 275. Badon-hill supposed to be the same with Banesdown near Bathe where the great Battel was fought by Prince Arthur against the Saxons l. 3. p. 136. Bakewell in Derbyshire anciently called Bedecanwell l. 5. p. 324. Balbinus Clodius with Pupienus Maximus elected Emperors by the Senate but were soon after slain by the Praetorian Bands l. 2. p. 81. Baldred King of Kent forced to fly from King Egbert's Army over the Thames into the Northern parts l. 5. p. 253. Bestows the Manner of Mallings in Sussex on Christ's Church at Canterbury which being afterwards taken away for some reasons was confirmed to it by the Common-Council of the whole Kingdom under King Egbert Id. p. 257. Baldwin Earl of Flanders assigns Aelgiva whom Harold had banished England Bruges for her Retirement and both protected and provided for her as long as she staid there l. 6. p. 64. Bamborough Castle in Northumberland anciently called Bebbanburgh when built and by whom l. 3. p. 142 143. l. 4. p. 230. Assaulted and set on fire by King Penda's Orders l. 4. p. 185. The Town destroyed by the Danes and the great Booty they got there l. 6. p. 24. Banbury anciently called Berinbyrig where Cynric and Ceawlin his Son fought with the Britains and routed them l. 3. p. 143. Bangor built by Malgoclunus near the River Menai Id. Ib. One Dynoth the Abbot there pretended he was instructed and by whom how to know whether Augustine's Preaching was from God or not l. 4. p. 161 162. Is not far from the River Dee in Flintshire Id. p. 164. The Massacre of the Monks there Ib. p. 165. Lands and Possesions given to this Church by Prince Anarawd l. 5. p. 317. Banner the famous one called Reafan that is The Raven which was so enchanted by Magick Art that it would clap its Wings upon the prospect of good Success or let them fall at that of bad as if it were alive l. 5. p. 281 282. Banuwelle Monastery to whom granted by King Alfred l. 5. p. 307. Baptism Priests obliged to explain this and the Mass l. 4. p. 225. To be performed at the times appointed by the former Canons of the Church Id. p. 233. Bardeney in Lincolnshire anciently called Bardenigge l. 5. p. 315. Bardsey-Island where Archbishop Dubritius became an Anchoret l. 3. p. 149. Barnwood Forest near Bury-hill in Bucks where the Danes went out to plunder l. 5. p. 321. Barons by this word Thanes are to be understood l. 6. p. 83. Edward the Confessor's Law about Tythes made à Rege Baronibus Populo Id. p. 100. The Law concerning those Barons who have Courts and Customs of their own Id. p. 102. St. Bartholomew called an Indian Apostle because of his Martyrdom there l. 5. p. 286. St. Basile the Monks of that Order were the same with the Monks of Ireland and those Monasteries founded in the Kingdom of Northumberland followed this Rule l. 4. p. 167. Basse the Priest builds the Monastery of Reculver in Kent l. 4. p. 192. Bassianus Eldest Son of Severus the Emperor by his wicked Carriage gave him perpetual trouble for as soon as he had Power he aimed to kill both his Brother and Father l. 2. p. 77. Was not long after his Father's Death destroyed Id. Ib. Cruelly murthered his Brother Geta in his Mother's Arms and would have had Papinian the great Civil Lawyer to have wrote a Defence of it Id. p. 79. Bassus a valiant Captain of King Edwin's conducted Aethelburga c. into Kent from Cadwalla's Rage and Cruelty l. 4. p. 176. Bastardy the first Decree found in this kind That Bastards and those begotten of Nuns should not inherit l. 4. p. 234. Bathan so called by the Inhabitants the ancient City of Akmancester where King Edgar was crowned l. 6. p. 7. Bathe called Caer-Baden built by Bladud who is said by his skill in Magick to have found out there those Medicinal Waters l. 1. p. 10. Called likewise Bathoncester l. 3. p. 146. A Nunnery built here by Osric and afterwards it was turned to a House of Secular Chanons l. 4. p. 196. Beadricesworth i. e. St. Edmundsbury where King Cnute built a Noble Monastery l. 5. p. 323. King Edmund gave this Royal Town and divers other Lands to build a Church and Monastery in memory of St. Edmund the Martyr l. 5. p. 345. Beamdune now Bindon in Dorsetshire where a great Battel was fought between the West-Saxons and the Britains and the latter were overcome l. 4. p. 166. Beamfleet Castle or Fort built by Hastings the Danish Pyrate l. 5. p. 299. Demolished and his Army routed by King Alfred's Forces Id. p. 300. Becancelde perhaps Beckenham near Surrey but not certain l. 4. p. 209. The great Council held here under Withred King of Kent Id. p. 209 210. Another held here under Kenwult King of the Mercians Id. p. 241. Bedanhealfde supposed by some to be Bedwyn in Wiltshire near Berkshire l. 4. p. 195. Bede the ancientest English-Saxon
of the Lands and Privileges of Croyland Monastery in a Great Council Id. p. 254. Of King Berthwulf to the Abbey of Croyland confirmed under the Rule of St. Benedict in a Great Council of the Kingdom at Kingsbury Id. p. 261. Of King Edgar about his subduing the greatest part of Ireland with the City of Dublin and to be Lord of all the Isles as far as Norway doubtless fictitious l. 6. p. 12. By an Extract from King Cnute's Charter preserved in the Evidences of that Church the Port of Sandwich is given to Christ-Church in Canterbury with all the Issues c. Id. p. 54. Of King Cnute's to the Monastery of St. Edmundsbury grants and confirms all its Lands and Privileges The Beginning of it somewhat remarkable Ibid. Of the Foundation of the Monastery of Coventry ratified by the Charter of King Edward and a Bull of Pope Alexander Id. p. 72. Of Edward the Confessor to confirm the Foundation of Waltham-Abbey Id. p. 89. The Curia or Great Council of the Kingdom confirm his Charter of Endowment of the Monastery of Westminster part of which is there set down Id. p. 94. Charters and other Writings when they began to be made after the French way Id. p. 98. Chastity Queen Etheldrith though twice married yet would not suffer either of her Husbands to know her l. 4. p. 198 199. An Heroick Example of it in the Abbess of Coldingham Nunnery in Yorkshire l. 5. p. 269. King Edgar perhaps loved it in others though he did not mucâ— practise it himself l. 6. p. 11. Edward the Confessor highly extols his Wife for her Chastity Id. p. 96. Cherbury in Shropshire anciently called Cyricbyrig l. 5. p. 316. Chertsey in Surrey anciently called Ceortesige l. 6. p. 6. Chester anciently called Legions l. 4. p. 164. Legacester l. 5. p. 301. l. 6. p. 8. Concacestre l. 5. p. 286. Called also Caerlegion l. 5. p. 315. And Cunaeceaster l. 6. p. 26. The Place where the Danes took up their Quarters against King Alfred's Forces which made them suffer great extremities l. 5. p. 301. Repaired by the Command of Earl Ethelred and his Wife Ethelfleda Id. p. 315. The Heads of Leofred a Dane and Gryffyth ap Madoc set up on the top of the Tower there Id. p. 321. The Province much spoiled and ruined by the Norwegian Pyrates l. 6. p. 20. Chichester the Bishop's See was formerly at Selsey l. 4. p. 198. Anciently Cisseancester in Sussex where the Danes carried their Prey from Alfred l. 5. p. 300. The Bishoprick was called that of the South-Saxons l. 6. p. 88. Chiltern the Woody Countrey of Bucks and Oxfordshire anciently called Clytern l. 6. p. 34. Chipnam Vid. Cippenham Choisy anciently Cazii signifies a Royal Village it is in France l. 5. p. 290. Christianity first preached in this Island when and by whom l. 2. p. 51 52. When and by whom first preach'd in Germany l. 4. p. 211. Christ-Church in Canterbury had the Port in Sandwich given to it by King Cnute with all the Issues and Profits c. l. 6. p. 54. Chrysanthius the Son of Marcian a Novatian Bishop supposed to be sent into Britain by Theodosius as his Lieutenant l. 2. p. 97. Church Pope Gregory's Determination concerning the Customs of the Church l. 4. p. 156. When their Dues ought to be brought in and the Punishment for Non-Payment of them A Sanctuary to those that fly to it who are guilty of a Capital Crime The Punishment those are to undergo that fight in a Church Id. p. 208. Withred's great care of the Churches in Kent Id. p. 210 211. Are freed from all Publick Payments and Tributes whatsoever Id. p. 212. With how bright a Lustre Religion shined in the Primitive Church l. 5. p. 24â— Alfred's Law entituled The Immunity of the Church Id. p. 292 296 297. The Forfeiture for stealing any thing from thence Id. p. 297. How necessary it was in ancient times for Princes themselves to be blindly obedient to the Discipline of it l. 6. p. 3. Edgar's Law concerning the Immunities of the Church l. 6. p. 13. When Churches in Wales began to acknowledge the Superiority of the Archbishops of Canterbury Id. p. 21. The Original of Coat-Armour its being hung up in Churches from whence supposed Id. p. 57. In all Courts of Civil Pleas Causes concerning Holy Church were to be first determined Id. p. 99. Those that hold of the Church not to be compelled to plead out of the Ecclesiastical Courts unless Justice be wanting there Ibid. The Law concerning those who violate the Peace of it Ibid. When the Church was not excused from paying of Danegelt Id. p. 100. In what cases the Church was to have one Moiety of Treasure-trove Id. p. 101. Cimbric Chersonese now called Jutland l. 3. p. 121. Cimerii and Cimbri derived from Gomer by whom the Ancient Gallia waâ— first inhabited l. 1. p. 4. Cippenham now Chipnam in Wiltshire l. 5. p. 262 283. Cirencester the City besieged taken and burnt and by whom l. 3. p. 148. Civilis sent for by Theodosius to govern Britain as Vice-Praefect l. 2. p. 93. Civil War between Cartismandua and Venutius l. 2. p. 45 46. Between Otho and Vitellius Id. p. 53. Claudia Rufina Wife of Pudens a Senator of Rome l. 2. p. 66. Vid. Rufina Claudian his Verses in De Bello Getico supposed to be designed for the second Departure of the Roman Legions l. 2. p. 101. Claudius the Emperor as he was coming to invade the Britains had twice like to have been cast away by Foul Weather but at last obtains a Victory over them and at his Return to Rome the Senate decree him a Triumph and Annual Games with two Triumphal Arches l. 2. p. 39 40. Lived about three years after his sending Aulus Didius into Britain His Death supposed of Poyson given him by his Wife Agrippina Id. p. 45. A Temple dedicated to him looked on as a Badge of their Eternal Slavery Id. p. 47. Claudius Marc. Aurel. Flav. elected Emperor Gallienus being slain performed several great Actions and dies suddenly l. 2. p. 82. Clergy the British Gildas his Character and Reproof of them l. 3. p. 140. May marry if out of Holy Orders and that they cannot otherwise contain Great care was to be had of their Stipends to make them more diligent in Service And of their Hospitality l. 4. p. 155. To receive no Reward for baptizing or for the other Sacraments Id. p. 225. Several Constitutions made against their committing Offences l. 5. p. 284 285. Their Goods and Possessions established to them by Edward the Confessor's Laws l. 6. p. 99. Chlodius Balbinus Vid. Balbinus Chlorus Constantius adopted Caesar by Maximinian is sent by him against Carausius l. 2. p. 83. Fires his own Ships that so his Soldiers might have no hopes left them of Safety but in Victory Id. p. 84. Chuses the Empire of the Western Provinces whereof Britain was one and puts a stop to the Persecution here raised
Devotion l. 4. p. 198. Didius Aulus a Roman Praetor sent Lieutenant into Britain in the room of Ostorius his Engagements and Success there l. 2. p. 45. Difilina Vid. Dublin Dinoth Abbot of Bangor instructed how to know whether Augustine's Preaching were of God by a Holy man that led the life of an Anchoret l. 4. p. 161 162. Diocesses five made out of two at a Great Council held by Edward the Elder l. 5. p. 313. Dioclesian chose Emperor by the Eastern Army makes Marc. Aurel. Maximinianus his Associate in the Empire nominates Galerius Caesar constrains them to divorce their Wives and to marry their Daughters l. 2. p. 83. His Persecution of his obedient and harmless Christian Subjects Id. p. 85. Dionotus Duke of Cornwall Geoffrey of Monmouth's story of him l. 2. p. 96. v. 102. Domitian succeeds Titus Vespasian his Brother l. 2. p. 57. Secretly designs the Ruin of Agricola through jealousy that the Glory of a private man should eclipse that of his Prince Id. p. 63. Causes it to be reported That the Province of Syria should be bestowed on Agricola Ibid. p. 64. Dorinea since Dorchester in Oxfordshire a City anciently though now but a poor Countrey Town l. 4. p. 179. Dover the Sedition there of the Townsmen against Eustatius Earl of Boloigne how it arose and how it ended l. 6. p. 76 77. Dower Where a Widow marries before her Twelve-month is expired she loses it and who is to have it and all that her Husband left her l. 6. p. 60. Draganus an Irish Bishop refuses to eat upon his coming over hither with Laurentius Archbishop of Canterbury and why l. 4. p. 166. Drinking Bonosus a Hard Drinker having hang'd himself for being vanquished by the Emperor Probus occasioned that sharp Saying Here hangs a Tankard l. 2. p. 82. Brass Pots set upon Posts at Fountains near the Highways for the use of Travellers to drink out of l. 4. p. 175. Edgar's Law to restrain excessive drinking of great Draughts Vid. Addenda p. 136. Druids their great Authority Doctrine and Gods l. 2. p. 23 24. Dublin in Ireland anciently called Difiline l. 5. p. 334. Dubritius Archbishop of Caer-Leon upon Usk in South-Wales Founder of the College of Philosophers there l. 3. p. 149. Resigned his Bishoprick and became an Anchoret in the Isle of Bardsey Ibid. Duduc Bishop of Somersetshire that is Wells his Decease and who is his Successor l. 6. p. 88. Dulcitius a famous Commander with Civilis sent for to Britain by Theodosius and an Account of their Expedition l. 2. p. 93. Dun consecrated Bishop of Rochester after the Death of Eardulph l. 4. p. 224. Dunbritton in Scotland anciently called Alcluid l. 2. p. 101. When it was destroyed by the Danes l. 5. p. 277. Dunmoc a Town in the Kingdom of the East-Angles but destroyed by the Danes l. 5 p. 274. Vid. Dunwich St. Dunstan an Account of his Birth l. 5. p. 329. Then Abbot of Glastenbury when King Edmund conferr'd divers large Privileges upon that Monastery Id. p. 345. King Edred commits the chief Treasures of his Kingdom to his care to be kept at his Abbey Id. p. 351. Is banished out of England by King Edwi and the occasion of it with his Retirement thereupon to a Monastery in Flanders Id. p. 353. Is chosen Bishop of Worcester by the General Consent of a Great Council and afterwards made Archbishop of Canterbury l. 6. p. 2. The Miracles that the Monks relate were done by him as his Harp hanging against the Wall and a whole Psalm being audibly plaid upon it without any hand touching it c. but above all his taking the Devil by the Nose with a Pair of Red Hot Tongs till he made him to roar again Id. p. 3. A great Propagator of Monkery many Monasteries either new built or new founded in his time Exercised Ecclesiastical Discipline without respect of persons witness the Penance he made King Edgar submit to Ibid. As soon as made Archbishop he went to Rome and there obtained his Pall Id. p. 6. Could never endure Ethelfreda Edgar's Queen and the reason why Id. p. 10. Narrowly escapes being killed when the Floor fell down at the Council at Calne in Wiltshire Id. p. 17. He and Oswald c. crown Ethelred the Brother of Edward the Martyr St. Dunstan's Prediction of this King Ethelred Id. p. 19. His Decease He restores the Monkish Discipline in England and makes a Collection of Ordinances for the Benedictine Order l. 6. p. 22. A Relation of his having erected in his life-time a small Monastery at Westminster for Twelve Monks which was vastly augmented by Edward the Confessor Id. p. 93. Dunwallo Molmutius reduces this Island from a Pentarchy in which it was before into a Monarchy l. 1. p. 12. Dunwich in Suffolk Foelix founded his Episcopal See here l. 4. p. 179. Anciently called Dunmoc l. 4. p. 193. And Domue Id. p. 242. Durham the City about what time built and a Church there dedicated to St. Cuthbert by whom erected l. 6. p. 26. Is besieged by Malcolme King of the Scots with a very great Army Id. p. 27. Durstus King of the Picts is slain in Battel and the particular Account of it l. 2. p. 102. Duty to Parents a pretty remarkable Instance of it in one of King Leir's Daughters named Cordiella if it were true l. 1. p. 11. E EAdbald Ethelbert's Son who succeeded him in the Kingdom of Kent His wicked Reign l. 4. p. 168. His Incestuous Marriage upon what account he renounced Id. p. 169. Gives Ethelburga his Niece in Marriage to King Edwin upon condition that she should enjoy the Christian Religion Id. p. 171. He and Archbishop Honorius receive her with great Honour Id. p. 176. Dies after he had reigned Five and twenty years leaving two Sons Id. p. 180. Eadbald the Bishop departs from the Northumbers l. 4. p. 240. Eadbert or Egbryht King of Northumberland marries Cuthburge Sister to King Ina but they are both made to leave each other's Bed l. 4. p. 218. He is forced to fly into Surrey to the South-Saxons and upon what occasion Ibid. Ceolwulf surrenders his Kingdom again to him and he reigned One and twenty years Id. p. 223. Leads Kynwulf Bishop of Lindisfarne Prisoner to the City of Beban who it seems had some way rebelled against him Id. p. 225. His War against the Picts subduing all the Countrey of Kyle c. and joining them to his own Dominions Ibid. And Unust King of the Picts bring an Army against the City Alkuith which was delivered by the Britains upon Conditions Id. p. 227. Is shorn a Monk and Oswulf or Usulf his Son succeeds him after he had reigned One and twenty Years with great Wisdom and Courage insomuch that Pepin King of France not only made a League with him but sent him great Presents Id. p. 228. Dies Ten Years after his taking the Monastical Habit and is buried at York Id. p. 229. Eadbert or
Battel by the Kentish men l. 5. p. 313. After his Death the Danes there yielded themselves up to Edward the Elder l. 5. p. 322 323. The Ecclesiastical Laws made between this Eoric who succeeded Gutherne in the Government of East-England and King Edward Id. p. 326. Eorpenwald King of the East-Angles Son to Redwald when he began his Reign l. 4. p. 157. Is succeeded by his Brother Sigebert whom formerly he had Banished Id. p. 179. Eorpwald or Eorpald King of the East-Saxons Baptized but not long after is slain by one Richbert a Heathen l. 4. p. 175. Eowils slain in battel with many thousands of his Danes at a place called Wodnesfield by King Edward the Elder 's Army l. 5. p. 315. Ercenbright or Ercombert Vid. Earcombert Eric the Son of Harold whom the Northumbers set up for their King and about a year or two after drove him out again l. 5. p. 350. Erkenwald Younger Son to Anna King of the East-Angles is Consecrated Bishop of London by Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury He founded Two Monasteries before he came to be Bishop and for whom l. 4. p. 196. Continued Bishop thereof till after the Reign of King Ina Id. p. 201. Ermenred The Eldest Son of Eadbald craftily supplanted by his Younger Brother Earcombert who got the Kingdom from him He had Two Sons who were cruelly Murthered by Thunore one of the King's Thanes whom he employed in that Execucution l. 4. p. 180 185. Esylht Daughter to Conan King or Prince of North-Wales Marries Merwyn Urych a Nobleman the Son of Gwyriad who afterwards was King in her Right l. 5. p. 251. Ethelard Ordained Archbishop of York l. 4. p. 238. Ethelbald succeeds Ceolred in the Kingdom of Mercia and holds it One and Forty years l. 4. p. 217. Ethelbald after his Father's Death succeeds him in West-Saxony l. 5. p. 265. Marries his Father's Widow but afterwards Repenting of the Incest puts her away from him His Character Reign Death and Burial Id. p. 266. Vid Aethelbald Ethelbert King of Kent in his time Pope Gregory made the English-Saxons Christians l. 3. p. 143 153. Beaten by Ceawlin and Cutha his Brother his double Character and Alliance l. 3. p. 145. The most powerful Prince that had Reigned in Kent having extended the bounds of his Dominions as far as Humber he Marries Bertha a Christian Lady the King of France his Sister and upon what Conditions l. 4. p. 153. By Augustin's persuasion builds the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Canterbury Id. p. 157. Is Baptized in St. Pancrace Church there which before had been a Heathen Temple Ibid. Had many noble Presents sent him by Pope Gregory with a Letter full of Sanatory Advice Id. p. 158 159. Builds the Church of St. Andrew at Rochester and endows it Id. p. 160. Confirms in a Great Council both of Clergy and Laity all the Grants and Charters whereby he had settled great Endowments on both Christ-Church and that of St. Pancrace Ibid. But his Charters are very suspitious of being Forged in many respects Id. p. 163. The Secular Laws that were Enacted in the Great Council in his time Id. Ibid. His Death and Burial in St. Martin's Porch in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul He was the First English King that ever received Baptism and lived above Twenty years after his Conversion Id. p. 168. He was the Third King that Ruled over all Britain l. 5. p. 254. Ethelbert is Consecrated Bishop of Witerne called in Latin Candida Casa at York l. 4. p. 231. One of his Name Bishop of Hagulstad Deceases l. 4. p. 241. Ethelbert the Son of Ethelred King of the East-Angles is slain in the Court of King Offa and by whose Instigations l. 4. p. 237. Ethelbert or Aethelbryht after his Brother Ethelbald's Decease takes the Kingdom and holds it in great Peace and Quiet from Domestick Commotions l. 5. p. 266. His Death lamented after having Governed Five years to general satisfaction buried at Shireburne and is supposed to have a Son called Ethelwald Id. p. 267. Ethelbryht the Son of King Withred succeeds Eadbryht King of Kent l. 4. p. 225. Nothing remarkable but that the City of Canterbury was Burnt in his Reign Id. p. 228. His Death Ibid. Ethelburgh Vid. Aethelburga Etheldrethe twice married but would let neither of her Husbands enjoy her which was accounted in those days a great piece of Sanctity l. 4. p. 193 198. Is Foundress of the Monastery of Ely in which she her self became the First Abbess Id. p. 193. Daughter to Anna King of the East-Saxons her Death and after Sixteen Years Burial her Body being taken up as whole as at first she was Canonized and called St. Audrey of Ely Id. p. 198 199. Etheldrith Daughter to King Offa and once the Spouse of Ethelbert King of the East-Angles a holy Virgin that lived in a Cell wherein Withlaff King of the Mercians found a safe Retreat from the high Displeasure of Egbert for Four Months till he was reconciled to him l. 5. p. 254. Etheler King of the East-Angles taking part with Penda against Oswy is slain l. 4. p. 185. Ethelfleda the Lady of Mercia builds many Castles to secure the Mercian Frontiers against the Danes and Welsh l. 5. p. 316. Sends an Army against the Welsh which took Brecenanmere supposed to be Brecknock Castle and the King's Wife and about Four and thirty Prisoners Id. p. 319. Takes the Town of Derby and the City of Canterbury Reduces Leicester under her Dominion and the Danes become subject to her Dies at Tamworth in the Eighth Year of her Government and lies buried at Gloucester in the East-Isle of St. Peter's Church Her Character Id. p. 320. Vid. Ethelred Duke of Mercia her Husband Ethelfred the Son of Ethelric the Son of Ida reigns over both the Northumbrian Kingdoms l. 3. p. 148. l. 4. p. 159. A Warlike Prince that wasted the Britains more than any other Saxon Kings l. 4. p. 159. Leads his Army to Leger-Ceaster and theâ—e slays a great multitude of Britains Id. p. 164. His Pursuit of Edwin after his Banishment though he was of the Blood-Royal Id. p. 169. Is slain by Redwald King of the East-Angles and his Sons banished by Edwin Id. p. 170. Ethelfreda or Elfreda Daughter to Earl Ordgar and Widow of Ethelwald Earl of the East-Angles married to King Edgar and her Children by him l. 6. p. 5 6. The Trick her first Husband plaid to obtain her and the return she made him for it Id. p. 9 10. Builds a Nunnery in the place where her first Husband was slain Id. p. 10 20. She is crowned Queen to the great displeasure of Archbishop Dunstan Id. p. 10. Contrives the Death of Edward the Martyr and how but being convinced of her wickedness for it she betook her self to very severe Penalties Id. p. 17 18. Her violent Passion to her Son Ethelred a Youth in beating him unmercifully with a Wax-Taper and why Id. p. 19. Takes
Crucifix in a Great Council at Winchester Id. p. 16. Edward the Confessor's Curing the Blind and what we call now the King 's Evil and his being Elected King by his Father's Command in a Great Council whilst he was in his Mother's Womb Id. p. 98. Modwina an Irish Abbess who first bred up Edgithe King Egbert's Daughter l. 5. p. 257. Mollo Brother to Ceadwalla is Burnt in Kent and Twelve others with him but his Body not being reduced to Ashes Buried in the Church of the Abbey of St. Augustine Cant. l. 4. p. 204. Mona is now known by the Name of Anglesey l. 2. p. 46. Upon Agricola's coming to subdue it desires Peace and delivers up the Island Id. p. 55. Monarch this Title the Saxon Kings never took upon them though our Historians have unjustly given it them for it could not properly belong to those who had divers others under them with like Jurisdiction within their own Territories l. 5. p. 254. Monasteries the only Universities wherein the Liberal Arts and Sciences were Taught l. 4. p. 151. That of Christ-Church in Canterbury when Founded Id. p. 167. One in a Town called Cnobsbury enriched afterwards with Noble Buildings and Revenues Id. p. 180. Of Brige Cale and Andelegium in the Kingdom of the Franks where many of the Britains used to send their Children to be taught and professed there being then but very few here Id. Ib. Of Reculf l. 4. p. 182. now Reculver in Kent Id. p. 205. Of Ingerlingum and upon what account it was built l. 4. p. 183. Of Streanshale by whom founded and where it was Id. p. 188 189. It was burnt and destroyed by the Danish cruel Tyrants l. â— p. 269. Of St. Peter in the Bishoprick of Durham by King Egfrid's Consent and License freed from all Secular Servitude l. 4. p. 194. Of St. Paul at Girwy now Yarrow near Tyne Id. p. 194 205. Of Abington founded by one Hean Id. p. 196. Of Berking and Chertsey by Erkenwald Id. p. 196. Of Ely built by Queen Etheldrethe Id. p. 198. Burnt and all killed in it c. l. 5. p. 272. And is rebuilt l. 6. p. 4. Of Coludesburgh for Monks and Nuns but afterwards was called Coldingham in the Marches of Scotland l. 4. p. 198 199. Of Medeshamsted l. 4. p. 187 200. The Charter of it justly suspected of Forgery Id. p. 200 201. l. 5. p. 271. Of Lindisfarne l. 4. p. 201. Destroyed l. 5. p. 269. Of Derawnde now Beverley l. 4. p. 202. Of Glastingabyrig now Glastenbury Id. p. 204 218 219. Of Wiremouth and Girwy built by Abbot Benedict l. 4. p. 205. And is destroyed l. 5. p. 269. Bardeney Abbey l. 4. p. 212. Destroyed l. 5. p. 270. Of Selsey where Ceadbert the Abbot of that place was consecrated the first Bishop of the Province of the South-Saxons l. 4. p. 214. Of Evesham founded by Egwin Bishop of Worcester and on what occassion Id. p. 216 217. Of Theoewkesbury in Gloucester founded for Benedictine Monks Id. p. 217. Of Winburne built by Cuthburgh Sister to King Ina Id. p. 218. Of Berodune in the Kingdom of the Mercians Id. p. 221. Of Vocingas freed from all Duties besides St. Peter and the Abbot Id. p. 230 231. Of Chester where Werburh Wife of King Ceolred was Abbess Id. p. 232. Of Winchelcomb in Gloucestershire for Three hundred Benedictine Monks founded by Kenwulf King of the Mercians and its Consecration Id. p. 242. l. 5. p. 251. Of Cotham and St. Saviour's in Canterbury l. 4. p. 243. At Wilton founded by Alburge Sister to King Egbert for Benedictine Nuns l. 5. p. 248. Some Disputes determined in a Synodal Council at Cloveshoe concerning this of Westburgh l. 5. p. 253. Of Croyland Egbert's Confirmation of the Lands and Priviledges belonging to it in the Great Council of the whole Kingdom Id. p. 254. Of Polesworth whereof Edgithe King Egbert's Daughter was Abbess Id. p. 257 330. Of Rependun now Repton in Derbyshire Id. p. 261. Of Coldingham Nunnery the Chastity of the Abbess Id. p. 269. Of Tinmouth destroyed by the Danes Id. Ib. Of Athelney in Somersetshire built by King Alfred for men Id. p. 298 307. Of Shaftsbury for Nuns built by the same King Ibid. Of Ambresbyri in Wiltshire and Banuwelle to whom granted by Alfred Id. p. 307. Of Exeter anciently called Exancester l. 5. p. 307. Of Winchester its Consecration when Id. p. 312. Abbey of Hyde near Winchester Id. p. 318. Of Rochester Id. p. 320. Of Badricesworth now St. Edmundsbury Id. p. 323. l. 6. p. 52. Of Middletune in Dorsetshire founded by King Athelstan l. 5. p. 337. l. 6. p. 6. Of Tavistock by whom founded and how soon after burnt l. 6. p. 4. Of Undale in Northamptonshire Id. p. 5. Of Winchester both old and new Id. p. 6. Of Chertsey in Surrey Id. p. 6. Of Rumsey in Hampshire founded by King Edward Id. p. 6. Of Ramsey founded by Aylwin the Ealdorman Id. p. 6 7. Of St. John Baptist Id. p. 8. Of Cerne in Dorsetshire founded by whom l. 6. p. 22. Of Burton in Staffordshire built by one of King Ethelbert's Courtiers during the cruel Wars in the Eastern and Southern parts of England who endowed it with his Paternal Inheritance and purchased the King's Confirmation of what he had done Id. p. 31. Of St. Bennet's in Holme founded by King Cnute for Benedictines Id. p. 54. Of Coventry founded by Leofric Earl of the Mercians and the Lady Godiva l. 6. p. 71. Of Leon or Lemster near Hereford Repaired by the said Earl and Lady Id. p. 72. Of Wenlock Repaired by the said Earl and Lady Id. p. 72. Of St. Wereburga in Chester Repaired by the said Earl and Lady Id. p. 72. Of St. John in Worcester Repaired by the said Earl and Lady Id. p. 72. Of Evesham Repaired by the said Earl and Lady Id. p. 72. Of Burgh richly endowed by Abbot Leofric and called the Golden Burgh Id. p. 84. Of St. Aethelbert in Hereford City burnt and by whom Id. p. 86 87. Of the Holy Cross at Waltham in Essex founded by Earl Harold who was afterwards King of England Id. p. 89. Of Westminster by whom founded and when consecrated Id. p. 93. Money King Athelstan's Law That through all his Dominions one and the same Money be current l. 5. p. 314. The same enacted by the last Law of King Edgar l. 6. p. 14. The same Punishment for wittingly receiving as for making Bad Money and for Merchants that import any Counterfeit Money Id. p 44. No more Money ought to be raised by any unjust Exactions Id. p. 55. One and the same to be current and none to refuse it Embasing the Coin punishable by cutting off the guilty person's Hands without Redemption Cnute's Law Id. p. 58. How Money brought to a Town and said to be found shall be disposed of Id. p. 103. Monks formerly almost the only Historians as well as Divines and from them we are to have our Accounts both of
bloody slaughter on both sides l. 6. p. 31. University of Paris by whose means erected Alcuinus an Englishman reading there Logick Rhetorick and Astronomy l. 4. p. 244. Of Oxford and Cambridge Vid. their particular Heads Unust King of the Picts Vid. Eadbert King of Northumberland Vortigern is chosen King by the Britains l. 3. p. 116. By the Advice of his Council he sent for the Heathen Saxons to repel the Scots and Picts Id. p. 117. Falls passionately in Love with Rowena Hengest's daughter Id. p. 125. Marries her and is divorced from his former Wife Id. p. 126. The story of his taking his own Daughter to Wife and having a Son by her is all unlikely Id. p. 127 128. Is deposed and Vortimer his Son is chosen King by the British Nobles Id. p. 128. Is restored wages War with the Saxons but by the Treachery of Hengest is taken Prisoner and for his Ransom gives up East-Sex Middlesex and Sussex Id. p. 129. Uncertain what at last became of him but was again deposed and thought to be burnt in his Castle by his Successor Aurelius Ambrosius Id. p. 131. Vortimer obtainâ— a great Victory over the Saxons l. 3. p. 128. Drives them into Germany for all his lifâ—time Id. Ib. Dies supposed by Poyson of his Mother-in-Law Rowena's Procurement Id. p. 129. Vortipore King of that part of South-Wales called Demetia l. 3. p. 139. Urbgen or Urien King of Cumberland and his Sons fight with Theodoric and his Sons and where l. 3. p. 146. Urbicus Lollius drives back the Brigantes draws another Wall beyond that of Hadrian and keeps out the Incursions of the Northern Britains l. 2. p. 68. Urgeney Bishop of St. David's is slain by the Danes l. 6. p. 27. Urych Merwin King of the Britains slain at the Battel of Ketell l. 5. p. 260. Uscfrea a Son of King Edwin's l. 4. p. 176. Usurers not to continue in the Kingdom but if any were convicted to forfeit their Goods and be look'd on as outlaw'd l. 6. p. 102. Uther Pendragon look'd on by the British Antiquaries as a mere imaginary King l. 3. p. 133. Uthred his Bravery against the Scots and the Reward he met with for it from King Ethelred casts off his Wife but gives her back her Fortune and marries another one Sigâ— l. 6. p. 27. Submits with all his Northumbrian Kingdom to King Sweyn the Dane and the mischiefs he his Son and their Army did both there and where ever they went Id. p. 37 38. He with Edmund Etheling plunders all places where ever they come Id. p. 41. But at last submits to Cnute and though he gave Hostages was soon after slain and some say by Cnute's Orders Id. Ib. Utrecht in the Gallick Tongue Trajectum in the old Language Wiltaburg l. 4. p. 212. Vulgar or Common People the Care the English-Saxons had of the Persons and Chastity of their meanest Subjects l. 5. p. 293 294. W WAda a Rebel in chief in Northumberland that leads out the Conspirators to Battel against King Eardwulf at Billingahoth near Whalie in Lancashire l. 4. p. 241. Wakes or Parish Feasts their Antiquity in several parts of England l. 6. p. 99. Wales anciently called Cambria by some supposed to come from the King Ina's marrying Gualla the Daughter of Cadwallader King of the Britains but it is certainly a notorious Falshood l. 4. p. 220. Their Chief Lords of any Countrey there called Kings Id. p. 241. Kings of Cardigan Divet and Powis died in one year Id. p. 243. The several Princes of Wales were perpetually weakning each other with Civil Wars which the English observing at last reduced them all under their Dominion l. 5. p. 279 280. Great Commotions there between Jevaf and Jago and their Children after them sevâ—ral Countries being thereby spoiled l. 6. p. 16 20 21 22. Laws concerning the Inabitants of the Mountains of this Countrey Id. p. 44. A great Revolution happen'd there from the fickleness of the Nation Id. p. 64. The last Civil War or Rebellion there that happen'd in Edward the Confessor's Reign Id. p. 85. Is called Brytland and subdued by E. Harold and E. Tostige Id. p. 89. Wall That which Severus built from Sea to Sea 132 miles in length which procured him the stile of Britannicus l. 2. p. 76. Is repaired and fortified with Castles c. by Carausius Id. p. 84. Built cross the Island between the two Seas or Streights called then Glotta and Bodotria now the Friths of Edinburgh and Dunbritton with Turf instead of Stone Id. p. 99 100. A Description of the other Wall of Stone Id. p. 100. Wall-brook whence it had its name l. 2. p. 85. Waltham-Abbey the Foundation of it and the story of the Crucifix brought thither and the Miracles said to be effected by it l. 6. p. 89. King Harold is buried in the Abbey-Church there Id. p. 144. Wall-Town near the Picts-Wall anciently called Admurum l. 4. p. 184. Wanating now Wantige in Berkshire l. 5. p. 261. l. 6. p. 43. Warewell now Harwood Forest l. 6. p. 10. Warham in Dorfetshire formerly Werham a strong Castle of the West-Saxons is taken and destroyed by the Danes together with the Nunnery there l. 5. p. 278. Warwick anciently called Caer-Gaurvie supposed to be built by Gurgwint l. 1. p. 13. And Weringwic l. 5. p. 316. l. 6. p. 41. Watchet in Somersetshire anciently called Weced l. 5. p. 319. And Weedport destroyed by the Danes l. 6. p. 22 26. Wax-Tapers hated by King Ethelred because of his Mother 's unmercifully beating him with one and for what reason l. 6. p. 19. Wectij or Wiccij now Worcester l. 4. p. 160 197.230 The same Shire also anciently called Wiccon l. 4. p. 242. l. 5. p. 247. Vid. the City and County of Worcester Wedesbury in Staffordshire anciently supposed to be called Wearbyrig l. 5. p. 316. Weland River in Northamptonshire on the side of Rutland anciently called Weolade l. 5. p. 322. Welsh the Chronicle called Triades l. 3. p. 140. Manuscript of Britain the Credit of it arraign'd by a late Romish Writer l. 4. p. 162. Are forced to quit all the plain Countrey bâ—tween Severne and Wye and to retire to the Mountains l. 4. p. 231. Western-Welsh that is Cornish-men where a great Fleet of Danes landed l. 5. p. 257. The Welsh beaten by Igmond the Dane Id. p. 303. Are forbid to come into England or the English to enter Wales l. 6. p. 44. Raise some Insurrections in Harold's time and upon what account Id. p. 65. A Law that no Welshman should pass over Offa's Ditch on pain of death Id. Ib. And on the Penalty of losing his Right Hand Id. p. 115. Vid. Britains Build a Castle in Herefordshire upon the Lands of Earl Sweyn and what ensued thereupon Id. p. 77. Wenbury in Devonshire by the Saxons called Wicganbeorch a place where Earl Ceorle with his Forces fights the Pagan Danes and gets the Victory l. 5. p. 261. Werfriht Bishop of Worcester one
being suspected as a Man of a haughty Spirit that if he should know these things ruling then in Britain he might hinder Julians proceedings and therefore a notary was sent to Boloign on purpose to watch that no body should pass over into Britain So that all Intelligence being stop'd between this Island and the Continent Lupicinus returning back before he knew any thing of these matters could give him no disturbance here But Julian having now taken the Title of Emperour and Augustus marched against Constantius who coming out of the East to meet him as far as Mopsvestia on the borders of Cilicia there died of a Feaver Whereupon Julian his Cousin was quietly received as Emperour even by those who had been of Constantius's side who from his renouncing the Christian Religion was commonly called the Apostate of whom I shall say no more since his short Reign affords nothing relating to Britain than that he was kill'd by an Arrow in a Battle against the Persians but whether it were Shot by an Enemy or by one of his own Christian Souldiers who hated him is uncertain Whereupon Jovianus then an Officer of good note was chosen Emperour by the Army but he refusing to Command Heathens the Souldiers cried out with one accord that they were all Christians upon which he accepted of the Empire from whence it plainly appears that his Army was outwardly Heathens before having complied for fear of the Emperour's displeasure But Jovian Reigning but Seven Months it is not to be expected that any thing considerable could happen in Britain in so short a Reign and therefore all I shall say further of him is That in his Journey to Constantinople at a place called Dadustana on the Borders of Galatia he died a very unusual Death being killed by the damp of a new-plaistered Chamber in which he lay some Charcoals having been kindled in it when he went to bed Whereupon not long after Valentinian was at Nice in Bythinia declared Emperour by the Army being the Son of Gratian Sirnamed Funarius above-mentioned but Valentinian not long after he arrived at Constantinople declared Valens his Brother to be his Partner in the Empire in the beginning of whose Reign the Almans wasted Gaul and Rhaetia the Sarmatians and Quadi Pannonia the Picts Saxons Scots and Attacotti also vexed the Britains with their continual Incursions Not to mention the Irruptions of the barbarous Nations into other parts of the Empire particularized by Ammianus Marcellinus who is the first Roman Author by whom we find the Scots to have been mentioned thô St. Hierome in his Epistle against Ctesiphon the Pelagian has given us a much more ancient Passage which he translated out of Porphyrie the Greek Philosopher who writ an Age before Ammianus which is to this effect That neither Britain a Province fertile of Tyrants nor the Scotish Nations nor all the barbarous Nations round about to the very Ocean did ever acknowledge Moses and the Prophets For thô Scaliger in his Notes upon Propertius and afterwards in his Animadversions on Eusebius takes upon him to correct the common Editions of Seneca's Satyrical Comedy upon Claudius by reading in stead of the words Scuta Brigantes Scoto Brigantes thô it be ingenious and would make better sense in that place yet it is not to be relied upon since no ancient Manuscript Copies are found to countenance that Correction nor do we any where read that Claudius made War against the Scots or ever passed further than the Southern Parts of Britain nor can we find in Ptolomy or other ancient Authors any mention of the Brigantes much less of Scoto Brigantes beyond the River of Tweed But as for Dempster's reading of Scoticas Pruinas in stead of Scythicas in the Poet Florus's Verses to the Emperour Adrian since it is back'd by no ancient Manuscript that any body ever saw but himself it is not to be charged upon his bare word as the learned Arch-Bishop Usher in his 16th Chapter of his Ant. Eccles. Britan. very well observes But who these Attacotti were who are joyned in Ammianus with the Scoti very much perplexes our modern Criticks there being so many various readings of this Word in divers Copies of this Author in some of whom it is written Attacitti and in others Attiscotti and are supposed by Mr. Camden in his Britannia to be the same Nation mentioned by St. Hierome by the Name of Scots some of whom this Father tells us he saw eat Man's Flesh when he was in Gaul But in the ancient Notitia Imperii they are called Attecotti juniores and Attecotti seniores thô in one Edition of the said Notitia they are written Attacotti as Monsieur Labbé well observes whence the Learned Dr. Gale conjectures them to have been a barbarous sort of Britains living in the North of Scotland about Attarith but of this since we have no certainty I leave every Man to take which of these Readings he thinks most probable But how the poor Britains were relieved out of these Difficulties this Author says nothing till four Years after when he relates That the Emperour Valentinian in his Journey from the Ambians in Gaul to the Treviri in Germany received the unwelcome News that Britain was reduced to the last Extremity by the joynt Invasion of the barbarous Nations and that Nectaridius Count of the Sea Coast was slain and Tullafaudes another of his Commanders being circumvented by the Enemies Ambuscades there perished which when he had heard with a great deal of concern he immediately dispatch'd away Severus then Comes Domesticorum i. e. Lord Steward of his Houshold to correct these Disorders who being a little after recalled without doing any thing Jovinus was sent into Britain the Emperour having dispatched before with all speed all such Provisions as were necessary for a powerful Army and which the pressing Necessities then required But at last upon the News of such sad and fearful Calamities which then befel Britain Theodosius was chosen for this Province who resolved to hasten thither with all speed who being a Man of great Reputation for Martial Actions and having raised a sufficient number of fresh youthful Legions and Cohorts he set forward with much Resolution At this time the Picts were divided into two Nations the Decalidoniae or rather as Mr. Camden supposes Deucaledonii and Vecturiones with whom came also the Attacotti already mentioned together with the Scots who roving up and down through divers places did a great deal of mischief whilst at the same time the neighbouring Coasts of Gaul were grievously infested by the Francks and Saxons each of them striving as it were who should exceed the other in Rapines Burnings killing and taking Prisoners Theodosius being sent hither to put a stop to those Incursions taking Sea at Bononia or Bulloign landed at Rulpiae whence after the arrival of his Forces called by divers Names according to their several Nations and Legions as the
Batavi Herculi Jovii and Victores he marched toward London that ancient City which was afterwards called Augusta and dividing his Forces into several Parties fell upon these Rovers whilst they marched scattered up and down laden with Booty so that easily routing them the Plunder and Captives he quickly recovered and having restored all to their respective owners except some small Portion bestowed on the weary Soldiers he returned to the said City in a triumphant manner and thô before it laboured under many Difficulties he hereby restored it to its former Splendour being emboldened with this Success to undertake greater Matters entring into a ferious consideration what was further to be done he found by what he got out of the Prisoners and Fugitives that the Enemy consisting of divers Nations was too fierce and numerous to be mastered by downright Force but rather by Stratagems and sudden Attacks He first therefore by Promises of Pardon brought most of his own Deserters and Stragglers to return to their Colours but being himself taken up with divers Cares he sent for Civilis to govern Britain as Vice-Praefect a Man of a sharp Wit and a strict observer of Justice with Dulcitius a Commander very famous for his Military Skill Of which Expedition the same Author gives us this short general Account in another place That Theodosius having by his Industry got together an Army of well-disciplined Souldiers marching from London he extreamly relieved the Calamities of the Britains seizing upon all Places from which he might infest the Enemy and commanding his common Souldiers nothing which he did not first undertake himself by which means he performed both the Duties of a valiant Souldier and a famous Commander divers Nations being put to flight who had before been encouraged by Impunity to assault the Roman Territories and repaired the Cities and Castles which had before suffered very much so that a firm Peace was hereby established for a long time But the Year following whil'st Theodosius was thus employ'd there happen'd a horrid Conspiracy which had like to have proved of dangerous Consequence had it not been stifled in its very Birth For one Valentinus of Pannonia a Man of an insolent and unquiet Spirit being for some great Crime banish'd into Britain this wretch impatient of rest contrived a Plot against Theodosius who was the only Obstacle to his wicked designs so that considering by what means he might bring them to pass his Ambitious desires still encreasing he excited some Souldiers and Outlaw'd persons by promising them both Pardon and Preferment And now the time drawing near for effecting his Treason the General being informed thereof and being now become more bold to take Revenge on the Conspirators seized them and delivered them all to Dulcius the Prefect to be put to Death but judging of things future by that long Military Experience in which he excelled all others of his time he forbid any further enquiry into the rest of the Plotters lest many being thereby made afraid those troubles which had been already compos'd should be again revived Then falling to the reforming more necessary things now the danger was over and that it was evident good fortune attended all his undertakings he restored the Cities and Garisons as we have already said fortifying the Borders with constant Watches and Guards which though now recovered had been formerly given up to the Enemy so that the Northern Province being restored to its former condition appointing a new Governour over it he order'd that it should for the future be called Valentia in Honour of Valentinian the Emperour He also removed the Areans from their Stations a sort of Men Instituted in former times to good purpose thô who these Men were we know not but there seems here to be somewhat wanting in the Copy but our Author tells us That he had said somewhat more of them in the Acts of Constans which Book is lost but these sort of Men now fallen into Vices were openly convicted that being allur'd by Promises and Rewards they were often wont to betray to the Barbarians whatsoever was done among the Romans though it ought to have been their business by running to and fro to give notice to the Roman Generals of the Motions of the neighbouring Nations So that all these actions being so well executed when Theodosius was recalled he left this Province in Peace and being attended with the general applause of all Men to the Sea-side he passed over to wait upon the Emperour who received him with great commendations Nor can I here omit inserting that noble Eulogy which Claudian the Poet hath given this renowned General Theodosius in his Panegyrick to his Grandson Honorius in these Verses Facta tui numerabit Avi quem littus adusti Horrescit Lybiae ratibusque impervia Thule Ille leves Mauros nec falso nomine Pictos Edomuit Scotumque vago mucrone secutus Fregit Hyperboreas remis audacibus undas He shall relate thy Gransier's Acts whose name Burnt Libya dreads and Thule known by Fame Who the light Moores and Painted Picts did tame And with his Sword the roving Scots pursued Whil'st with bold Oars He Northern Seas subdued By which last Verses he seems to intimate that as he tamed the Picts by Land so he pursued the Scots by Sea but what are meant by those Hyperborianae Waters whether the Irish Ocean or the Friths of Dunbritton called in the Old Scotish Laws Mare Scoticum I shall not take upon me to determine But those Antiquaries who would have the Scots to be planted in Ireland in the time of Claudian do urge these Verses of the same Poâ—t in the next Panegyrick to that Emperour when speaking in praise also of his said Grandfather he thus proceeds maduerunt Saxone fuso Orcades in caluit Pictorum Sanguine Thule Scotorum tumulos flevit glacialis Ierne The Orcades were moistened with a Flood Of Saxon Gore and Thule by the Blood Of Picts was warmed nor did Ierne fail Whole heaps of Scots then slaughter'd to bewail And about these times the Picts and Scots raising fresh disturbances the Emp. Valentinian sent Framarius King of the Almans whose Country had been totally destroyed by a late incursion into Britain though with no higher a command than that of a Tribune over a Regiment of his own Country Men then highly in request for their Valour and Fidelity but what he did here Ammianus ceases to tell us So that being for the future bereft of the help of good Historians we must be forced to take up with such scraps as we can pick up here and there out of Zosimus Orosius and with other Epitomators of better Authors now lost The Emperour now Valentinian dying his Sons Flavius Gratianus and Fl. Valentinianus succeeded him in the Western Empire in the Fifth Year of whose Reign the Emperour Gratian created Theodosius Son to the former his Partner in the Empire assigning him the East for his
supposed by our British Historians to have died Geoffery makes him to have been poisoned by the Procurement of his Mother-in-Law Rowena and Nennius adds That Vortimer lying upon his Death-bed desired his Servants to bury him near the place where the Saxons used to land saying If that were done thô they might take some other Haven in Britain yet they should never have that but notwithstanding he is said contrary to his own will to have been buried at Lincoln After whose Decease Nennius and Geoffery make Vortigern to have been again restored to the Throne It is much more certain which the Saxon Annals relate that Hengist and his Son Aesk this Year fought against the Britains in a place which is called Creecanford and there killed four principal Men but in Florence of Worcester's Copy of these Annals which seems to have been truest it was 4000 Men and the Britains then left Kent and fled in great fear to London From which Victory Ran. Higden in his Polychronicon dates the beginning of the Kingdom of Kent under Hengist who Reigned Twenty four Years For Hengist being now returned out of Germany as it is related by Nennius King Vortigern still maintained the War against the Saxons who thereupon took Councel how they might intrap Vortigern and his Army wherefore they sent Ambassadours to him offering Peace and that the former Friendship might be renewed between them whereupon Vortigern taking Advice with his wise Men they all agreed to make Peace So it was consented to on both sides That the Britains and Saxons meeting together without any Arms a firm League should be made between them But the treacherous Hengist commanded all his Followers to take their Daggers or Seaxes along with them under their Coats and that when he gave the Word and cried out in his own Tongue Nimed yeur Saexes that is Pull out your Daggers that they should then fall upon the Britains and kill them but spare their King and for his Wife's sake only take him Prisoner because it would be more for their advantage so to do that he might be Ransomed And thus being met according to Agreement at a Feast or Drinking-bout they talked at first very Friendly together being placed every Saxon by a Britain but Hengist giving the Word they rose up on a sudden and dispatched 300 Geoffery says 470 of the British Nobles Vortigern alone being then taken alive and put in Fetters was forced for his Ransom to surrender to the Saxons all those Countries that were afterwards called Eastsex Middlesex and Sussex which is also recited by William of Malmesbury who adds That at this Entertainment the Company growing in drink Hengist on purpose pick'd a Quarrel and some hard Words passing they fell to blows where the Britains were slain But here being a considerable Interval in the Saxon Chronicle we may very well fill it up with British Affairs for it is about this time that the Welsh Chronicles suppose that Aurelius was elected General of the Britains Vortigern being as yet King thô but in Name having retired as Nennius relates to a Castle built by him in South-Wales And to this time we may refer that Passage in Gildas That when those cruel Robbers the Saxons were gone home the Remainders of the Britains being strengthened by GOD came together from divers Places and praying to him with all their Hearts that he would not totally destroy them chose Ambrosius Aurelian a modest Man for their General and who alone was found stout and faithful as being of Roman Race who in so great a confusion remained alive his Parents who had enjoyed the Crown having been killed but whether by the Scots and Picts or else which is most likely were murdered by their Subjects he leaves it uncertain But Nennius saith little more than that Vortigern was afraid of him and then immediately he confounds himself with Merlin who being a Boy tells Vortigern after the Story of his being born without a Father That he had concealed his Father's Name out of fear but that he was one of the Roman Consuls whereupon Vortigern gave him a Castle together with all the Western Parts of Britain which is as true as being born without a Father But if Geoffery were to be believed he tells us very plainly That he was one of the Sons of Constantine King of Britain who was forced to fly from Vortigern after the murder of their Brother Constans by his contrivance but we know that Constantine and his Sons Constans and Julian were killed abroad many Years before and it is not probable the Romans would have permitted any one of his Sons to have remained here or if they did this Ambrosius must have been by this time near 60 Years of Age supposing him to have been but One Year old when his Father died And besides it is certain that Constantine was slain in the Reigns of Honorius and Theodosius the Second An. Dom. 411 and Aurelius is not supposed to be chosen General or King of the Britains till the Year 465. But immediately after Aurelius was thus made General of the Britains it is certain that he obtained a great Victory over the Saxons thô the place where be not named by Gildas But afterwards he says sometimes his Country-men and sometimes their Enemies prevailed and that thus it continued till the Year of the Siege of Mount Badon where was the latest and not the least slaughter made of the Pagan Saxons but that the Saxons about this time received a great defeat their own Annals intimate though they are ashamed to confess it in express words being thus related under this very Year Hengist and Aesc fought with the Britains near Wippedes Fleat and there slew Twelve British Commanders but lost one Man of note on the Saxons side whose Name was Wypped who it seems left his name to that place H. Huntington adds that this Victory was very fatal even to the Saxons themselves both parties being thereby so weakned that neither the Saxons durst enter the British borders for a long time nor yet the Britains presume to Invade Kent however the Britains thô Foreign Wars were now for a time intermitted did not cease to raise Civil ones among themselves But this much appears even from the silence of Saxon Annals that for Twelve Years following there was no considerable action passed on either side or else that the Britains had the better of it under the conduct of Aurelius Ambrosius which is most agreeable to Gildas's Relation It is also very probable which Geoffery of Monmouth now relates and which is followed by many of our English Historians that Aurelius Ambrosius after his first Victory over the Saxons called the Princes and Great Men together at York and gave Order for the repairing the Churches which the Saxons had destroyed and that after due care taken in other places he marched to London which had suffered as well as other
Cities and having called the dispersed Citizens together went about the repairing of it all his design being the restoring the Church and Kingdom from thence he went to Winchester and to Salisbury doing there as he had done at other places But in the passage thither Geoffrey launches out to purpose in his History of Stonehenge translated says he by Merlin out of Ireland to make a Monument for the British Nobles slain there by Hengists Treachery Which is such an Extravagancy that it is to be wondered any should follow him in it and yet Mat. Westminster transcribes the main of it and Walter of Coventry sets it down for Authentick History but he adds two Circumstances which make it seem probable that Stonehenge had some relation to Ambrosius viz. that here Ambrosius was Crowned and was not long after buried Polydore Virgil makes it the Monument of Ambrosius and John of Tinmouth in the Life of Dubricius calls it Mons Ambrosii and the name of Ambresburg a Town near it doth much confirm the probability of its being founded by Ambrosius rather than either by the Romans or Danes as some of our late Antiquaries and Architects have supposed But I shall not insist any longer on this Subject Geoffery adds yet further concerning Ecclesiastical Matters in his time that at a solemn Council he appointed two Metropolitans for the two Sees at that time vacant viz. Samptson one of Eminent Piety for York and Dubricius for Caer-leon but Mathew Westminster saith that Samptson was afterward driven into Armorica and there was made Arch-bishop of Dole among the Britains which is very likely to be true being confirmed by Sigebert in his Chronicle Anno Dom. 566. It is observed by H. of Huntington that after the Britains had a little respite from their Enemies they fell into Civil dissentions among themselves which is very agreeable to what Gildas hath said of this Geoffrey gives us no improbable account when he relates that one of Vortigerns Sons called Pascentius raised a Rebellion in the North against Ambrosius among the Britains who were overcome by him and put to flight what became of Vortigern is uncertain nor can the British Writers themselves agree â—ither about the time or the manner of his Death Nennius hath two several stories about it the one certainly false and the other very improbable The first is that St. German followed him into a Country in South Wales which was called by his own Name Guorthigernian where he lay hid with his Women in a Castle which he had built called Din Guortigern near the River Thebi to which Castle when St. German came he prayed and fasted there with his Clergy three whole Days and Nights it seems without any intermission when the Castle about Midnight was set on Fire from Heaven and Vortigern with his Wives and Family were all burnt and this Nennius says he found in the Book or Legend of St. German yet he declares That others relate how that Vortigern becoming hateful to all sorts and degrees of Men none would keep him company from the greatest to the least till at last as he wandred from place to place his Heart was broken I suppose for grief but Geoffery of Monmouth with more probability relates that Vortigern being again deposed was besieged and burnt in this Castle by his Successour Aurelius Ambrosius who set it on Fire But now it is time to return to our Saxon Chronicle where after Eight Years interval without any action mentioned We now find Hengist and Aesc joyned Battel with the Britains and took many Spoils and the Welshmen vanish'd before the English like Stubble before the Fire as the Saxon Chronicle words it After this there is no more said of any Victories gained by Hengist but now after Four Years interval began the Kingdom of the South Saxons for Aella with his Three Sons Cymen Wlencing or Pleting as Huntington calls him and Cissa landing in Britain at a place called Cymens ora which signifies in the Saxon Tongue Cymens Shore or Coast there they slew a great many Britains and made the rest fly into the Wood or Forrest called Andredes Leage supposed to be part of the wild of Kent and the Woody parts of Sussex where now are or were lately Aishdowne and Arundel Forrests with several others now disforrested Henry Huntington giveth a large account of this Action and tells us that upon the Saxons first landing a great many Britains immediately drew together at the Alarm and streight ways a great Fight was begun but the Saxons being taller and stronger Men received them couragiously and the Britains coming on very rashly in small stragling Parties were killed by the Saxons who were drawn up in close Order and so the Britains were routed upon the first encounter whereupon these Saxons possessed themselves of all the Sea Coast of Sussex enlarging their Territories more and more until the Eighth Year after their coming when Aella fought against the Britains near Mearcredes Burnamstede or Mecredesburne but where it lies is uncertain now it seems as H. Huntington relates all the Kings and Princes of the Britains were got together and fought with Aella and his Sons where the Victory remained doubtful for both Armies returned home very much weakned whereupon Aella sent unto his own Country for fresh supplies The same Year also Aurelius Ambrosius is supposed by the Welsh Chronicles to be chosen King having been before only General of the Britains and to have Reigned Nineteen Years Nennius tells us That he being King of all Britain bestowed Buelt and another Country in South Wales upon Pascent Son to Vortigern About Three Years after this Hengist King of Kent dyed For this Year as the Saxon Annals relate Aesc who is also called Oisc and by our Historians called Osric his Son began his Reign which continued Twenty Four Years but of Hengist his Father Will. of Malmesbury very well observes that he obtained a Crown by Craft as much as Valour but Aesc his Son who succeeded him maintained his Kingdom by the Valour of his Father rather than his own Merit and did not much encrease his Dominions This happened in the Time of Zeno the Emperour Nor can I here omit what Geoffery of Monmouth and from him Matheâ— of Westminster falsly relate concerning the Death of Hengist That fighting against Aurelius Ambrosius he was taken Prisoner near Coninsburgh in Yorkshire and not long afterwards beheaded by Eldol a feigned Duke of Gloucester which since it is not found in the Saxon Chronicle nor in any other Authentick Historian deserves little credit Aella and Cissa having now received fresh recruits out of Germany wherein they much confided did this Year besiege Andredesceaster supposed to be that we now call Newenden in Kent and took it by Force putting all the Britains to the Sword but H Huntington is very particular in the manner of this Siege and tells us that the Britains raised a great