Kirkby-Thore in the same County MS. This County as to Pedigrees and the Intermarriages of greater Families has been well consider'd and illustrated by Sir Daniel Fleming a great Encourager and Promoter of Aniquities MS. WILTSHIRE STone-henge restor'd written by Sir Inigo Jones and publish'd by Mr. Webb 1658. Answer to Sir Inigo Jones by Dr. Charleton Vindication of Sir Inigo Jones by his Son in Law Mr. Webb Architect to King Charles 1. Publish'd 1665. Sammes of Stonehenge a separate Discourse in his Britannia A short Treatise upon the same Subject was written by Mr. John Gibbons MS. Wilton-garden describ'd in 22 Copper Cutts in folio At that time it had the reputation of one of the finest gardens in Europe Mr. Tanner of Queen's College in Oxford has made large Collections in order to the Antiquities of this County See Wiltshire pag. 107. WORCESTERSHIRE WOrcester's Eulogie or a grateful acknowledgment of her Benefactors by J. T. Master of Arts a Poem 1638. A large description of Worcestershire MS. is now in the hands of Thomas Abingdon Esquire It was written by his Grandfather an able and industrious Antiquary YORKSHIRE AND RICHMONDSHIRE A Catalogue of all the Bailiffs Mayors and Sheriffs of the City of York from the time of Edw. 1. to the year 1664. by ..... Hillyard Recorder of the same City York 1665. Some Observations upon the Ruins of a Roman-Wall and multangular Tower in York with the draught by Martin Lister Esquire Phil. Transact Num. 145. Jul. 10. 1683. The Antiquities of the City of York by Sir Thomas Widdrington MS. The original Manuscript is now in the hands of Thomas Fairfax of Menston Esq See Yorkshire pag. 734. Dr. Jonston of Pontefract hath made large collections in order to the Antiquities of this whole County which he is now digesting and fitting for the Publick The English Spaw-Fountain in the Forest of Knaresburrow by Edw. Dean M. D. 1626. Another Book upon the same Subject by Mich. Stanhop 1632. A Yorkshire Dialogue in its pure natural Dialect 1683. WALES GIraldus Cambrensis's Itinerary of Wales A Manuscript of David Morganius mention'd by Vossius History of Penbrokeshire written by Geo. Owen Esq now in the hands of Howel Vaughan of Hengwrt Esquire TREATISES relating to SCOTLAND extracted out of Sir Robert Sibalds's Materials for the Scotch-Atlas THeatrum Scotiae by Robert Gordon in Latin Description of Edenburgh by his Son A description of Scotland and the Isles adjacent by Petruccius Ubaldinus in Italian King James 5th's Voyage round his Kingdom with the Hebrides and Orcades in French The Original Manners c. of the Scots by John Lesly Heroës Scoti by John Jonston A Catalogue of the Scotch Nobility in Scotch Andreae Melvini Gathelus Topographia Scotiae by the same hand An account of Rona and Hirta by Sir Geo. Makenzy Metals and Minerals in Scotland by D. Borthwick An account of Cathness by Mr. William Dundass An account of Sutherland by the same hand Observations upon Cathness by the same hand An account of Hadington deliver'd by the Magistrates of the place Description of part of the Praefecture of Aberdeen An account of a strange Tide in the river of Forth by the Reverend Mr. Wright Vindication of Buchanan against Camden per D. H.MS Collections relating to St. Andrews MS. The Antiquity of the Scotch Nation MS. Description of the High-lands of Scotland MS. Vindication of Scotland against Camden by W. Drummond of Hawthornden MS. An account of the metals found in Scotland by Mr. Atkinson MS. A description of Scotland and of the Northern and Western Isles MS. Scotia illustrata by Sir Rob. Sibalds Theatrum Scotiae or a description of the most considerable Cities and Gentlemen's Seats in the Kingdom of Scotland by J. Slezer Barclay's Treatise of Aberdeen-spaw Vid. Theatrum Scotiae pag. 30. IRELAND SIR James Ware hath given us an exact List of the Irish Authors in his Scriptores Hiberniae edit Dublin 1639. ISLANDS A Descripâ—ion of the Isle of Man in Dan. King's Antiquities of Cheshire An accurate Description of the same Island MS. out of which the Additional Account to the Isle of Man was extracted for me by Mr. Strahan of Baliol-College in Oxford A Description of Thule by Sir Robert Sibalds A Description of the Orcades by Mr. Wallace An Account of the Orcades by Matthew Mackaile A Discovery of the Tides in these Islands by the same Hand Description of Hethland and of the Fishery there by Jo. Smith A Table of Hethland with a description of it Observations upon the Aebudae An accurate Description of Jersey by Mr Fall 4o. ¶ Besides these there are great Numbers of Lieger-Books Charters Registers c. relating to the Religious Houses preserv'd in the Libraries of Sir Thomas Bodley Sir John Cotton c. and in the hands of several private Gentlemen a Catalogue whereof with the Proprietors is given by Mr. Tanner in his Notitia Monastica Antoninuss ITINERARY THROUGH BRITAIN As it is compar'd by Mr. BURTON with the several Editions Iter Britanniarum à Gessoriaco de Galliis Ritupis in Portu Britanniarum Stadia numero CCCCL ITER I. A Limite id est à Vallo Praetorium usque M. P. CLVI Editio Aldina Suritana Simleriana Ab Remaenio A Bremenio Corstopilum m. p. xx Bramenio Corstopitum  Vindomoram m. p. ix   Vinoviam m. p. xix Viconia  Cataractonem m. p. xxii   Isurium m. p. xxiv  Ebur 17. Eboracum Leg. vi Victrix m p. xvii Ebur 17.  Derventionem m. p. vii   Delgovitiam m. p. xiii   Praetorium m. p. xxv  ITER II. Editio Aldina Suritana Simleriana  Iter à Vallo ad   Portum Ritupas   M. P. CCCCLXXXI sic  Ablato Tâ—lg A Blato Bulgio Castra Exploratorum m. p. * xii Ablat  * 10 15. Lugu-vall Luguvallum m. p. xii Lugu-vall  Voredam m. p. xiiii   Brovonacim m. p. xiii   Verterim m. p. * xiii * al. 20.  Lavatrim m. p. xiiii  * 16. Cataractonem m. p. * xiii * 16. Isuriam Isurium m. p. xxiiii Isuriam Eburacum 18. Eboracum m. p. xvii Eburacum 18. Cacaria Calcariam m. p. ix  Cambodun Camulodunum m. p. xx Cambodun  Mamucium m. p. xviii Mammuc Manuc  Condate m. p. xviii  * Vici Devam Leg. xx * Victrix m. p. xx * Leg. xxiii ci  Bovium m. p. x.   Mediolanum m. p. xx   Rutunium m. p. xii  Urio Con. Viroconium m. p. xi Urio Con.  Uxaconam m. p. xi  Penno-Cruc Pennocrucium m. p. xii Penno-Cruc  Etocetum m. p. xii  Mandues-Sed * 16. Manduessedum m.p. * vi ††16 Mandues-Sed  Venonim m. p. xii  Bennavent 16. Bennavennam m. p. xvii Bennavent Ban.  Lactodorum m. p. xii Lactorod  Magiovintum m. p. * xvii Magint * 12.  Durocobrivim m. p. xii Duro-Cobr Vero-Lam Verolamium m. p. xii Vero-Lam
upon the disordered English kill'd great numbers of them whilst they stood doubtful whether they should run or fight But the greatest part posting themselves on the higher grounds got into a body encouraged one another and opposed the Enemy with great resolution as if they had made choice of that place for an honourable death At last Harold was shot through the head with an arrow and there with his two brothers Githus and Leofwine lost his life Upon this Edwin and Morcar with some few who had saved their lives made their escape by flight giving way to the hand of providence and the present necessity after they had fought without intermission from seven a clock in the morning to the dusk of the evening The Normans lost in this battle about 6000 men and the English a far greater number William overjoyed with his victory ordered a solemn thanksgiving to Almighty God and fixed his tent in the middle of the slain where he stayed that night Next day after he had buried his men and granted leave to the English to do the like he returned to Hastings to consider of proper methods how to prosecute his victory and to refresh his soldiers So soon as the news of this victory reached London and other cities of England the whole Nation was in a surprise and in a manner struck dead Githa the King's mother was so overcome with grief that no way could be found to comfort her She humbly desired of the Conqueror to grant her the bodies of her sons which she buried in Waltham-Abby Edwin sent away Queen Algitha his sister into the more remote parts of the Kingdom The Nobility desired the people not to despair and begun to consider of methods how to settle the Nation The Arch-bishop of York with the City of London and Sea-soldiers Bâ—â—â—â—les commonly called Botescarles were for making Eadgar King and renewing the war with William Edwin and Morcar were secretly contriving how to get the government into their their own hands But the Bishops Prelats and others upon whom the Pope's Anathema made a deeper impression thought it most advisable to surrender and not to incense the Conqueror with a second battel the issue whereof was but at best doubtful nor resist God who for the crying sins of the nation seemed to have delivered up England into the hands of the Normans William leaving 〈◊〉 strong garison in Hastings resolved to march in a hostile manner directly towards London but to diffuse a greater terror through the nation and to make all sure behind him he divided his forces and marched through part of Kent Suffex Surrey Hamshire and Berkshire Where he came he burnt villages and towns plundering them passed the Thames at Wallingford and filled all places with horror The Nobility all this while were at a stand what to do nor could they be persuaded to lay aside private animosities and consult the publick interest of the nation The Clergy to avoid the curses of the Church and censures of the Pope by which he did at that time sway both the minds of men and whole kingdoms and considering that the affairs of the nation were not only decay'd but quite ruin'd stood so firm to their resolution of surrendring that many so save themselves withdrew privately out of the City But Alfred Archbishop of York Wolstan Bishop of Worcester along with some other Bishops and Edgar Etheling Edwin and Morcar met the Norman Conqueror at Berkhamsted He made them most glorious promises upon which hostages were given and they submitted themselves to his protection Forthwith he went to London where he was received with great joy and acclamations and saluted under the title of King Next he prepares all necessaries for the inauguration which he had appointed to be on Christmas-day and in the mean time employed all his care and thoughts upon the settlement of the nation This was the period of the Saxon's government in Britain which lasted six hundred and seven years The revolution that hapned in the Kingdom some imputed to the avarice of Magistrates others to the superstitious laziness of the Clergy a third sort to the Comet which then appeared and the influence of the Stars a fourth attributed it to God who for hidden but always just reasons disposes of Kingdoms But others who looked nearer into the immediate causes threw it upon the imprudence of King Edward who under the specious colour of religious chastity neglected to secure a succession and so exposed the Kingdom as a prey to ambition WHat an insolent and bloody victory this was the Monks who writ about it do fully inform us Nor can we question but in this as in all others villany had the upper hand William as a token of his conquest laid aside the greatest part of the English laws brought in Norman customs and ordered that all causes should be pleaded in French The English were dispossessed of their hereditary estates and the lands and farms divided among his Soldiers but with this reserve that he should still remain the direct Proprietor and oblige them to do homage to him and his successors that is that they should hold them in see but the King alone be chief Lord and they â—uciaâ— â—eal â—illiâ—â—he â—ucâ— Feudatory Lords and in actual possession He made a Seal on the one side whereof was engraven Hoc Normannorum Gulielmum nosce patronum By this the Norman owns great William Duke On the other side Hoc Anglis signo Regem fatearis eundem By this too England owns the same their King Further as William of Malmsbury tells us in imitation of Caesar's policy who would not have those Germans that skulk'd in the forrest of Ardenna and by their frequent excursions very much disturb'd his army suppressed by the Romans but the Gauls that whilst foreigners destroyed one another himself might triumph without blood-shed William took the same methods with the English For there were some who after the first battle of that unfortunate Harold had fled over into Denmark and Ireland where they got together a strong body of men and returned three years after To oppose them he dispatched away an English army and General and let the Normans live at their ease For which side soever got the best he found his interest would go forward And so it proved for after the English hâ—d skirmâ—shed for some time one with another the victory was presented the King without any trouble And in another place After the power of the Laity was destroyed he made a positive declaration The English thrown out of their Honours that no Monk or Clergy-man of the English nation should pretend to any place of dignity wherein he quite receded from the easiness of King Canutus who maintained the conquered party in full possession of their honours By which means it was that after his death the natives found so little difficulty in driving out the foreigners and recovering their ancient freedom After he had setled those
by inheritance descended from them to the Powletts Not far from whence is Witham where K. Hen. 3. built a Nunnery 35 Which afterwards was the first house and as it were another to the Carthusians or Charter-house-Monks in England as Hinton not far off near Farley-castle was the second And now Frome encreas'd by some little rivers out of this wood joyns it self to the noble river Avon which with an oblique course presently runs to that ancient City â—e from the baths call'd by Ptolemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Hot waters and by Antoninus Waters of the Sun â—ae solis by the Britains Yr ennaint Twymin as also Caer Badon and by the Saxons Baþancester hat Baþan and for the concourse of sick people Å¿ The ancient Annals call it Ace-mannes-ceaster and Florence of Worcester Aâ—amanni civitas Ackmanchester as much as a City of Valetudinarians â—â—â—biâ— Stephanus calls it Badiza we at this day Bathe and in Latin Bathonia It lies low in a plain not very large and is as it were fortify'd on every side with hills of an equal height which send down many springs to the great advantage of the citizens 〈◊〉 baths In the city it self arise three t The heat of these is thought by some to be owing to the Sun which seems to be an unaccountable opinion as that of others referring it to the agitation of the wind The learned Selden in his notes upon Drayton affirms it to be owing to the passage through metallick bituminous and sulphureous veins or rather a real subterranean fire See pag. 52. hot springs of a blewish and sea-colour which exhale a thin sort of mist and something of â—aphitis an ill savour proceeding from corrupt water mix'd with earth and brimstone for the water it self has a sulphur and bituminous matter incorporated with it They are an effectual remedy to such bodies as by reason of ill humours are dull and heavy for by virtue of their heat they cause sweating and by that means the career of the humour is curb'd But it is not at all hours they are wholsom for from eight in the morning till three in the afternoon they are extream hot and boyl up violently by which they are mudded and throw up a filthy sort of stuff from the bottom so that at these times they are shut up nor does any one go into them till by their sluces they have eas'd themselves of that stuff and are purg'd n Of these three that which is call'd The Cross-bath because of a Cross formerly erected in the middle of it is very easie and moderately warm Upon the side of it are 12 stone-seats o and it is enclos'd with a wall The second scarce 200 foot distant is much hotter whereupon t is call'd Whotbath or Hot-bath Near these two is a Hospital built by Reginald Bishop of Bathe to relieve the necessities of sick people and in the midâ—le are two streets towards the west-west-part of the City The third which is largest is in the very heart of the City and is call'd the King 's or Royal bath it is near the Cathedral Church and enclos'd also with a wall It is accommodated with 32 seats arch'd over wherein the men and women sit apart and both of them when they go into the water put on linnen drawers 36 And have their guides Where now the Cathedral Church stands is formerly reported to have been a Temple dedicated to Minerva Temple of Minerva 'T is without all doubt that Solinus Polyhistor means these baths when he says In Britain there are hot springs richly accommodated with all conveniencies for the service of mankind their tutelar Deity is Minerva in whose Temple those perpetual fires never turn to embers but when they go out are converted into round pieces of hard stone Notwithstanding which Athenaeus affirms that all hot baths naturally springing out of the earth u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Diogeniano Cent. 5. are sacred to Hercules and indeed amongst other old monuments almost quite defac'd by age there is here upon the walls something of an ancient image of Hercules holding a Serpent in his hand But rather than any difference should arise upon this we are willing to grant that baths were dedicated both to Hercules and Minerva For the Greeks have told us that Minerva was the first who furnish'd Hercules with a bath after he had gone through his labours I am content if thus much may be allow'd me upon Solinus's authority that since Minerva was the tutelar Goddess of those springs this must be the same city which the Britains call'd Caer Palladdur Caer-Palladur that is in latin Urbs Palladiae aquae or the city of Pallas's water For the thing name and meaning do exactly agree The finding of these springs is by our own traditions referr'd to a British King call'd Bleyden w The word in British is doyth or doeth Cloyth i.e. Bleyden the southsayer with what show of truth I leave to others However Britains very skilful in Art-Magick Pliny assures us that this Art-Magick was in such wonderful esteem among the Britains that they seem even to have given it to the Persians but as to these baths I dare not attribute their original to that art Some of our own nation too supinely affirm that Julius Caesar was the inventor But I cannot but think that it was late before the Romans came to know them since Solinus is the first that makes any mention of them The Saxons indeed about the 44th year after their landing in Britain by a breach of Articles renewing the war laid siege to this city p but being surpriz'd by the warlike Arthur they betook themselves to Badon-hill Badon-hill where tho' in a desperate condition they fought it out and were slain in great numbers This seems to be the same hill with that we now call Bannesdown hanging over a little village near the city nam'd Bathstone and showing at this day it's bulwarks and a rampire I know there are some who seek for it in Yorkshire but let Gildas himself restore it to this place For in an old Manuscript-Copy of him in the Cambridge-Library where he treats of the victory of Aurelius Ambrosius he says To the year of Badon-hill siege which is not far from the mouth of Severn But if this will not convince them let them understand farther that the adjoyning vale lying along the river Avon for a great way together is call'd in British Nant-Badon i.e. the vale of Badon and where to seek Badon-hill but near Badon-valley I cannot tell For a long time after this the Saxons frighted from making any more attempts upon this City left it quiet to the Britains But in the year of Christ 577. after x His right name is Ceawlin and so our best Historians call him Cewalin King of the West-Saxons had defeated the Britains at Deorham 37 In Glocestershire
excellent Library which Alcuin tells us was founded by his Master Archbishop Egelred The Monastery did not lye long till it rose again but the Cathedral lay neglected till Edw. 1.'s time and then it was begun by John Roman Treasurer of this Church and brought to that stately pitch we now see it of by his son John William Melton and John Thoresby all Archbishops nn together with the contributions of the Gentry thereabouts especially of the Percies and the Vavasors as the Arms of those families in the Church and their portraictures in the gate do shew The Percies are cut out with a piece of timber and the Vavasors with a stone in their hands in memory of the one's having contributed stone and the other timber â—â—â—ent p. p. 〈◊〉 1. to this new fabrick The church as we are told by the Author of the Life of Aeneas Silvius or Pope Pius 2. as he had it from his own mouth is famous for its magnificence and workmanship all the world over and for a lightsome Chapel with shining walls and small thin-wasted pillars quite round This is the beautiful Chapter-house where the following verse is writ in golden Letters Ut Rosa flos florum sic est Domus ista Domorum The chief of Houses as the Rose of flowers About the same time the Citizens began to fortifie themselves with new walls adding many towers for a farther security and made excellent laws for their government King Rich. 2. made it a County incorporate and Rich. 3. began to raise a new Castle in it from the ground That nothing might be wanting in the last age K. Hen. 8. established a Council or Senate here not unlike the Parliaments in France The Council established in the North. who were to judge of all suits arising within these northern parts and to decide them by the rules of right and equity This Court consists of a President and what number of Counsellors the King pleases with a Secretary and under-Officers Our Mathematicians have defined the Longitude of York to be 22 deg and 25 scr the Latitude 54 degr and 10 scr Thus far we have been describing the west part of this County and the City of York which neither belongs to this nor any other part of the Shire but enjoys its own Liberties and a jurisdiction over the neighbourhood on the west-side called the liberty of Ansty Ansty which some derive from Ancienty to denote its antiquity others more plausibly from the German word Anstossen implying a bound or limit I will conclude what I have said of this City with these verses written by J. Jonston of Aberdeen not long since Praesidet extremis Artoae finibus orae Urbs vetus in veteri facta subinde nova Romanis Aquilis quondam Ducibusque superba Quam pòst barbaricae diripuere manus Pictus atrox Scotus Danus Normannus Anglus Fulmina in hanc Martis detonuere sui Post diras rerum clades totque aspera fata Blandius aspirans aura serena subit Londinum caput est regni urbs prima Britanni Eboracum à primâ jure secunda venit O'er the last borders of the Northern land York's ancient towers tho' oft made new command Of Rome's great Princes once the lofty seat Till barbarous foes o'erwhelm'd the sinking state The Picts the Scots Danes Normans Saxons here Discharg'd the loudest thunder of the War But this once ceas'd and every storm o'erblown A happier gale refresh'd the rising town Let London still the just precedence claim York ever shall be proud to be the next in fame The Ouse being past York begins to be disturb'd with eddies or that whirl of waters which we call Higra and so marches by Bishops-Thorp Bishops-Thorpe that is the Bishop's Village formerly called S. Andrew's Thorpe till Walter Grey Archbishop of York purchased it and to bilk the King's Officers who are always ready to seise the Temporalities of Bishops when a See is vacant gave it to the Dean and Chapter of York upon condition they should always yield it to his successors Of whom Richard le Scrope Arch-bishop of York a hot man and still hankering after novelty and change was in this very place condemned of high treason by King Henry the fourth for his seditious practices oo Upon the same river stands Cawood Cawood the castle of the Archbishops which King Athelstan gave to the Church as I have been told Over against it on the other side the river is seated Rical where Harold Haardread arrived with a numerous fleet of the Danes From hence the Ouse runs to Selby a pretty populous little town and remarkable for Henry the first 's being born in it Here William the first his father built a Church in memory of St. German who quash'd the Pelagian Heresie notwithstanding like a Hydra it had frequently revived and struggl'd for life here in Britain The Abbots of this and of St. Maries at York were the only Abbots of these northern parts that could sit in Parliament pp At last the Ouse runs directly to the Humber 14 Leaving first Escricke a seat of the Lascelles sometimes to be remember'd for that K. James advanced Sir Thomas Knivet the owner therâ—of Lord Knivet to the honour of Baron Knivet of Escricke in the year 1607. passing in it's way by Drax Dâ—ax a little village formerly famous for a Monastery 15 Founded there by Sir William Painell where Philip de Tollevilla William Newbrigensis is my Author had a castle strongly situated in the midst of rivers woods and marshes and defended it against K. Stephen relying on the courage of his men and the great store of arms and provisions in the place however it was soon reduced into the King's power qq ADDITIONS to the West-riding of YORKSHIRE YORKSHIRE without any angular advantages extends into a square of fourscore and ten miles * 〈…〉 p. â—74 adequate in all its dimensions to the Dukedom of Wâ—rtenberg in Germany a Following the river Don we first come to Wortley Wortlâ—y the Issue-male of the family of which name expir'd in Sir Francis Wortley †Sid. Reports 315. who devis'd the greatest part of his estate to Anne Newcomen supposed to be his natural daughter the present wife of the Honourable Sidney Wortley Esq ‖ Dugd. Bar. 2 Vol. p. 445 second son of Edward Mountague Earl of Sandwich slain in the Dutch wars 28 May 1672. who in right of his said wife is Lord of Wortley b Not far from hence is Wentworth Wâ—ntworth Of the family of that name and place was the Right Honourable Thomas Viscount Wentworth Lord Lieutenant of Ireland created Earl of Strafford 15 Car. 1. and Knight of the most noble order of the Garter who being beheaded on Tower-hill 12 May 1641. lyeth here interr'd and was succeeded in his Honours by his son William the present E. of Strafford and Knight of the said noble Order c The Don carries us next to
to the affairs of their neighbours than the Nations of Europe have since been to one another They would not be at the pains to view and they wanted Maps to let them see at a distance so every thing that inform'd was kindly receiv'd and a Work was lookt upon as a mighty project which at present would be but coldly entertain'd Now to take an estimate of matters barely by their names and to frame idea's of what 's past by the present condition of things is a very dangerous way of arguing Altogether as unreasonable as if upon hearing an Historian make a bustle about the Wars between the Romans and Sabines and very formally drawing up the Armies on both sides a man should presently conclude that each of them could not be less than a hundred thousand strong When all the while their set Battels would hardly amount to a sally or a skirmish at this day If men would carry this consideration along with them they might find that the change of things between the times of these two Authors had render'd a good part of the former's Itinerary altogether unuseful to the Britannia of the latter The contrivance of Maps had given them at once a view of the whole Kingdom and the correspondence occasion'd by the improvement of Trade and Commerce had inform'd every Mechanick in what before would have been a good discovery That he had seen the Itinerary of Leland he does not deny That he likewise made use of it is plain because he has told us so in several parts of his Book But do not they two very often jump without any mention of Leland's name It 's very true they do but suppose I say that Canterbury is a City that there is a stately Castle at Windsor that Oxford is an University am I therefore a Plagiary because Leland or any man else has said so before me Suppose also I observe that St. Austin repair'd an old Church at Canterbury that St. Cuthbert was the Saint of Durham can any man have so little sense as to fall upon me because I make use of Bede's authority rather than Leland's Can we think Mr. Camden travell'd England with his eyes shut Or if he carried them open that he could not distinguish a Wood from a Fenn or a Mountain from a Meadow as well as the rest of Mankind And why then all this pother about Plagiarism He set out with a prodigious stock of Learning almost in all kinds he survey'd the greatest part of England he had access to all Libraries and Records had the assistance of Learned men both at home and abroad and if any can believe that one of Mr. Camden's temper would make no use of these opportunities but rather spend thirty years in piecing up the remains of others let him enjoy his own opinion All I can say is that the publication of Leland's Itinerary would be the best defence of Mr. Camden In the year 1607. he put the last hand to his Britannia which gain'd him the titles of the Varro Strabo and Pausanias of Britain in the Writings and Letters of Learned men Nor did it ever after meet with any enemies that I know of only Letter to Bp. Usher Sir Simon D'Ewes encourag'd us to hope for Animadversions upon the Work after he had observ'd to a very great man that there was not a page in it without a fault But it was only threatning and neither the World was the better nor Mr. Camden's Reputation e're the worse for it One cannot well conceive how the compass of a man's Life should have brought a Work of this nature to greater perfection But alas it had but a small share in his hours Yet tho' his time was divided the whole was spent in the Service of the Publick He was always either exciting the present Age to Virtue and Honour by representing to them the Venerable Monuments of their Ancestors or laying a Foundation for the happiness of Posterity by forming Youth into Religion and Learning They are two Professions that seem to look quite different ways and yet he manag'd them to such advantage that if he had been continually abroad 't is hard to imagine how the Antiquary could have been better or if constantly in the School how the Master could have been more diligent He was not content to train up those who were under his immediate care unless like the good old Orator he put himself in a condition to be a Guide to them even after it should please Providence to remove him His Predecessor Dr. Edward Grant had compos'd a Greek Grammar for the use of his School This Mr. Camden by long experience had found to be in several things deficient and in the whole frame not so well suited to the design as one would desire So he contriv'd a Scheme of his own the effect of two and twenty years observation the method whereof upon the publication appear'd to be so clear easie and compendious that it has ever since been taught in most Schools throughout England as the best Introduction to that Language While he was consulting the interest of the Living he did not forget to pay a just Veneration to the Dead When the fatigue of the School oblig'd him to look out for a little recreation he refresht his Spirits by viewing the stately Monuments of Antiquity Those I mean which are erected to the memory of the Kings Queens and Nobility of England in the Cathedral Church of Westminster And that it might not be in the power of time or revolutions to deprive Posterity of the same pleasure he copy'd them all out and publisht them in the year 1600. with an Historical Account of the Foundation of that Church He had also took some pains in collecting the Monuments in the Churches and Chapels of the University of Oxford as appears from the Fragments of them still remaining But this was only the fruit of his spare hours and the business of a particular place The next publick Service was his Volume of English Historians publisht at Francfort in the year 1603. and dedicated to his Patron Sir Fulk Grevil as an acknowledgment for the good office he had done him when he was promoted to be King at Arms. This it was that freed him from the attendance of the School that put his time in his own disposal and like the Mantuan Poet he was not ungrateful to his Maecenas nor forgot to pay the first-fruits of his ease and quiet to this his Benefactor Part of them were never before publisht and such as had seen the light he sent abroad much more correct and accurate What great light they give into the affairs of the English Normans Irish and Britains is no news to those who think it worth their while to look into the Histories of their own Kingdom And if these few be of so much consequence what might be expected from the whole body of our English Historians If but a little taste be so delightful what
invention And a little after Besides in that book of his which he entitles The History of the Britains how sawcily and bare-facedly he forges every thing is obvious to any one who reads it not altogether a stranger to the antient histories For such men as have not informed themselves of the truth swallow all Fables that come to hand by the lump I say nothing of those great adventures of the Britains before Julius Caesar's landing and government which he either feigned himself or handed down the fabulous inventions of others as authentick Insomuch that Giraldus Cambrensis Dâ—script Cambr. c. 7. who lived and wrote in the same age made no scruple to call it The Fabulous History of Geoffry Others deride Geoffry's foolish Topography in this narration and his counterfeited testimony of Homer and would persuade us that the whole story is a thing patched up of meer incongruities and absurdities They remark farther that these his writings together with his Merlin stand condemned among other prohibited books by the Church of Rome Others observe that the greatest admirers of this our Brutus are themselves still wavering and unresolved in the point That Author say they who takes upon him the name and title of Gildas and briefly glosseth upon Ninius in the first place imagineth this our Brutus to have been a Roman Consul in the next to have been the son of one Silvius and then at last of one Hessicion I have heard also that there is a certain Count Palatine very earnest to have our Brutus called Brotus because his birth was fatal to his mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek signifying mortal In the judgment of others these men might have bestowed on the Britains a more probable and yet a more illustrious original if they had drawn their descent either from Brito the Centaure mentioned by Higinus or from that Bretanus upon whose daughter Celtice according to Parthenius Nicaeus a very antient author Hercules begat Celtus the father of the Celtae and from which Bretanus Hesychius deriveth the word Britain Bretanus Thus I have laid before you the observations and opinions of other men upon this subject If I have any ways impaired the credit of that history concerning Brutus no man can reasonably quarrel with me for I hope in matters of this nature every man may be allowed the liberty of his own thoughts and of publishing those of other men For my part it shall never trouble me if Brutus pass current for the father and founder of the British Nation Let the Britains descent stand good as they deduce it from the Trojans I shall never contradict it nay I shall shew you hereafter how with truth it may be maintained I am not ignorant that in old time Nations had recourse to Hercules Lâ—vy in later ages to the Trojans for their originals And let antiquity herein be pardoned if she sometimes disguise the truth with the mixture of a fable and bring in the Gods themselves to act a part when she design'd thereby to render the beginnings either of a city or of a nation more noble and majestical For Pliny well observes That even falsly to pretend to a descent from illustrious persons argues some respect for vertue And for my part I readily agree with Varro the most learned of the Romans That these originals fetched from the Gods though in themselves false yet are at least thus far useful that men presuming upon a divine extraction may thereby be excited to generous enterprises and pursue them with a more than ordinary eagerness which makes them seldom fail of extraordinary success Augustin at Civitat Dei li. 3. c. 4. From which words by the way St. Austin gathers that the most learned Varro was inclined to think that all such opinions were really grounldess though he did not openly and expresly own it Since therefore men are not yet agreed either concerning the notion of the name or concerning the first Inhabitants of Britain and whether as to these points the truth will ever hereafter be more clearly discovered now it hath lain so long and so deeply buried I must declare my self extreamly doubtful I hope the reader will be inclineable to excuse me too if I modestly interpose my own conjecture without any prejudice to or against any person not in a contentious humour but as becomes a man that pretends only to discover truth which I am now doing with such a dis-interested zeal that even the just apprehensions of censure could not persuade me to desist Now that I may with the more ease and success discover the reason of this name if possible I will in the first place endeavour to find out as well as I can who were the first Inhabitants of this Island Though indeed these first Planters lye so close in the most hidden retirements of Antiquity as in some thick grove that there is but very small or no hopes of ever retrieving by my diligence what hath for so many ages past lain buried in oblivion To run up our enquiries therefore as high as we can omitting Caesar Diodorus and other writers who will have the Britains to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Aborigines home-bred and never transported from any other place imagining that mankind at first sprung out of the earth like mushromes we are informed by Moses in the sacred History that after the Flood the three Sons of Noah Shem Ham and Japhet after their issue were multiplied to a great number left the mountains of Armenia where the Ark had rested separating themselves into the several quarters of the earth and that by them the whole world was peopled It may also farther be proved as well by reason as by the authority of Theophilus Antiochenus that when their families came to be dispersed abroad by little and little some of their posterity at last arrived in this our Island Whereas says he in old time there were but few men in Arabia and Chaldea after the division of tongues they more and more encreased Hereupon some took their way toward the East others to other parts of the great and wide Continent others traveling towards the North seeking a place where to settle still marched on taking possession of all that lay before them untill they came at last even to Britain seated in the northern climates Moses himself doth also expresly assert the same when he informs us that the Islands of the Gentiles were divided in their lands by the posterity of Japhet The Islands of the Genttiles Divines do interpret to be those which lay farthest off and Wolphgangus Musculus a Divine of considerable repute is of opinion that the nations and families which descended from Japhet were the first possessors of the European Islands such as are saith he England Sicily c. Now that Europe fell to the share of Japhet and his posterity besides Divines Josephus and other Authors have delivered as their opinion To which purpose Isidore cites
to proceed by conjecture than to offer at any positive determination Now this account of our descent from Gomer and Gaule seems much more substantial more antient and better grounded than that from Brutus and Troy Nay I do not despair to prove that our Britains are really the offspring of the Gauls by arguments taken from the name situation religion customs and language of both nations For in all these particulars the most antient Britains and the Gauls seem to have agreed as if they had been but one people That I may prove this assertion give me leave to make a small digression The name As touching the Name because I have spoken of it before thus much only shall be repeated That as the antient Gauls were called Gomeraei Gomeritae and by contraction Cimbri so likewise were our Britains called Cumeri and Kimbri Now that the Gauls were called Gomeri Josephus and Zonaras as I said before do both witness And that they were also called Cimbri may be gather'd out of Cicero and Appian Those Barbarians whom Marius defeated Cicero plainly terms Gauls De Proconsul Caius Marius saith he put a check upon the Gaulish forces who were pouring into Italy And all Historians agree that these were the Cimbri and the Coat-armour of Beleus their King digged up at Aix in Provence where Marius routed them does evince the same For these words Forcatulâ—s out of the French Annalâ— 1235. Beleos Cimbros were engraven upon it in a strange character Also writers do unanimously agree that those were Gauls who under the conduct of Brennus robb'd the Temple of Delphi in Greece and yet that the same were called Cimbri we learn plainly from Appian in his Illyricks The Celta or Gauls saith he who are called Cimbri And now I think it needless to have recourse to Lucan who calls that Ruffian hir'd to kill Marius a Cimbrian whereas Livy and others affirm him to have been a Gaule or to Plutarch by whom the Cimbri are called Galloscythians or to Reinerus Reineccius an excellent Historian who grounding upon Plutarch's words in his Sertorius is very positive that the Gauls and Cimbrians us'd the same language Nor will I insist upon that Cimbrian word which is the only one now extant by Pliny produced out of Philemon to wit Morimarusa Morimarusa i.e. the dead sea which is purely a British word For Mor in the British tongue signifieth Sea and Marw dead Seeing therefore The S tâ—â—tion that these Nations agree in their most antient name whence can we conceive that name should pass over into this Island but along with the first Planters that came hither out of Gaul a country separated from it but by a very narrow chanel For the world was not peopled all at the same time but it must be granted as a certain truth that those countries which lay nearest to the Mountains of Armenia where the ark rested after the flood and from whence mankind was propagated were first of all inhabited As for instance the Lesser Asia and Greece before Italy Italy before Gaule and Gaule before Britain Erasmus Michael â—f Navigation On this occasion we may with satisfaction consider how the great Creator when he fram'd the world contrived such a connexion between the parts of the main land and plac'd the Islands at such convenient distances that no one is so remote but that it is within a clear view of some other land To this end probably that when countries should come to be overburthen'd with people they might see where to discharge themselves till so to the glory of it's Creator the universe in all its parts should be replenish'd with people We may therefore reasonably imagine that the antient Gomeri were either pusht on by such as press'd forward for room or sent abroad to ease an over-peopled country or carry'd from home by the natural itch which mankind hath to see foreign countries Upon some one or other of these accounts those antient Gomeri might probably at first cross over the chanel into this our Island which lay so near them that they could easily discern it from the Continent Reason it self also tells us that every country must have received its first Inhabitants rather from neighbouring than from remote places Who would not judge that Cyprus had its first Inhabitants r This opinion of peopling Britain from Gaule is opposed by some who are inclin'd rather to think they came from Germany not only because Caesar telling us the Inland Britains were Aborigines seems to imply that he could not discover any thing of the Gaulish tongue among them but also Tacitus's inferring from the make of their limbs and other circumstances that the Germans planted the most northern parts of it from Asia next to it Crete and Sicily from their neighbour Greece Corsica from Italy and to come nearer home Zealand from Germany bordering upon it or Iseland from Norway rather than from the remote parts of Tartary or Mauritania In like manner why should we not think that our Britain was first of all peopled by the Gauls which were our next Neighbours rather than that the Trojans Italians Albans or Brutians who lye at such a vast distance from it were its first Inhabitants Nor indeed do writers fetch the first Inhabitants of Britain from any other place than from Gaul its next neighbour The innermost parts of Britain saith Caesar are inhabited by those who according to tradition are believed to be Aborigines the Sea-Coasts by such as came out of Belgium in Gaul on purpose to make new conquests and these people are generally called by the names of those cities from whence they came now they are settled in their new Plantations For there were in Britain as well as in Gaul people called Belgae Atrebatii Parisii Cenomanni c. Tacitus also saith If we consider all circumstances 't is probable that the Gauls first peopled Britain which lyes so near them Bede too among all our writers a most constant friend to truth gives this as his opinion At first saith he this Island was inhabited only by those Britains from whom also it took its name who from Armorica as 't is said crossed over into Britain and there planted themselves upon the Southern Coasts The Armorican Tract he calls the Sea-coasts of Gaul which lye directly opposite to our Island It makes also very much to our purpose that Caesar relates how in his time Divitiacus who govern'd a great part of Gaul had Britain also at the same time under his Dominion And what is of yet greater moment Britains in Gaul Some Copies of Pliny have Bâ—â—anni nâ—t Britanni Pliny reckons the Britanni or Britains among the maritim people of Gaul and places them right over against our Island of Britain near the County of Bullen as also Dionysius Afer a more antient writer hath done in these verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Juvenal Gallia causidicos docuit facunda Britannos Gaul's eloquence taught British Lawyers art did at last so reform and civilize them by these laws and the example of their other customs that for the modes of their dress and living they were not inferiour to those of any other Provinces â—he Rom. â—orks in â—ritain Their buildings and other works were so very stately that we cannot look upon the remains of them at this very day without great admiration and the common people will have these Roman fabricks to be the works of the Gyants whom in the North parts they call Ethnicus Eatons for Heathens if I mistake not They are without question very wonderful and stately particularly the Picts wall â—he Valâ—um or â—icts wall of which in its proper place and the High-ways throughout the whole country which lye sometimes through dreined fens sometimes through low valleys raised high for them â—he Roâ—an miliâ—ary ways and pav'd and withal are so broad that two carts may easily drive by one another without touching An account of them we have thus in Galen Galen l. 9. c. 8. methodi Trajan repair'd the ways paving such as were wet and miry or else raising them such as were rough â—â—d over-grown with thorns he clear'd and ridded and where rivers were not fordable he made bridges if a way lay too much about he made it more direct and short if it lay over a difficult or steep mountain he drew it through plâ—â—es more easie if a road was haunted by wild beasts or waâ— desolate he had it transferr'd through such parts of the câ—â—ntry as were better inhabited and if the way was ruggeâ— he took care to smooth and level it Yet these of ours are so pared in some places by the country people's digging sand out of them that they are hardly to be known though otherwise as they lye through by-grounds and pastures they plainly appear by their height These were call'd by the Romans Viae Consulares Regiae Praetoriae Militares Publicae Cursus publici and Actus as we find by Ulpian and Julius Frontinus Ammianus Marcellinus calls them Aggeres Itinerarii and publici Sidonius Apollinaris Aggeres and tellures inaggeratae Bede and modern Authors Stratae Our Historians who are without question in an error will have only four ways of this nature the first Watlingstreat so called from I know not what Vitellius to whose charge this way was committed and indeed the Britains call'd Vitellianus in their language Guetalin named also Warlaemstraet which lay by Verulam and in some places is also called High-dike High-ridge Forty-foot-way and Ridge-way by those that live thereabouts The second they commonly call Ikenild-streat which began in the country of the Iceni the third the Fosse because as some think it was ditch'd on both sides the fourth Erminstreat a German word deriv'd from Mercury as I am inform'd by the very learn'd J. Obsopaeus who was worship'd among our forefathers the Germans by the name of Irmunsul i.e. Mercury's Pillar And that Mercury presided over the high-ways the Greek word it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does sufficiently intimate and besides his square statues formerly called Hermae were every where erected in the high-ways Yet some imagine that these ways were made by one Mulmutius I know not who many ages before the birth of Christ but this is so far from finding credit with me that I positively affirm they were made from time to time by the Romans When Agricola was Lieutenant here Tacitus tells us that the people were commanded to carry their corn about and into the most distant countreys and not to the nearest Camps but to those that were far off and out of the way And the Britains as the same Author has it complain that the Romans put their hands and bodies to the drudgery of ridding out Woods and paving Fens with a great many stripes and indignities And we find in old Records that in the days of Honorius and Arcadius there were made in Britain certain High-ways from sea to sea That they were done by the Romans Bede himself tells us The Romans liv'd within that wall which as I have already took notice Severus drew cross the Island to the Southward as the Cities Temples Bridges and High-ways made there do now plainly shew us In laying such ways the Romans were wont to employ their Soldiers and the people that they might not grow factious by too much ease High-ways says Isodorus were made almost all the world over by the Romans for the convenience of travelling and to employ the common people And the condemnation of Criminals was many times to work at them as may be inferr'd from Suetonius in the life of Caius Cap. 27. And moreover we see the Via Salamantica or Silver-way in Spain and in France certain military ways made by the Romans not to mention the Via Appia Pompeia Valeria and others in Italy Along these High-ways Sueton. in Octavius Augustus at first had certain young men set at some small distance from one another but after that wagons instead of them that thus he might have quick and speedy intelligence from all parts of the Empire And near upon these roads were the cities built Mansions as also inns or mansions for the accommodation of travellers with all necessaries Mutaâ—ions or â—â—â—â—â—ing 〈◊〉 and mutations for so those places were then call'd where travellers could change their post-horses draught-beasts or wagons And therefore whosoever seeks for the places he finds mention'd in Antoninus's Itinerary any where but by these ways will certainly wander and run into mistakes And perhaps it may deserve our notice that at the end of every mile along these roads there were erected Pillars by the Emperors with figures cut in them to signifie the number of miles Hence Sidonius Apollinaris Antiquus tibi nec teratur agger Cujus per spatium satis vetustis Nomen Caesareum viret columnis Nor let the antient causey be defac't Where in old pillars Caesar 's name 's express't Varro lib. De lingua Lat. By the sides of them were also the graves and monuments of famous men to put the traveller in mind of his own mortality by that of theirs For the repairing of them there were standing laws as we may see in the Theodosian Code under the Title De Itinere muniendo to excite every one to further this business with the utmost zeal and readiness There were also Overseers appointed for them And in our ancient Laws Laws of S. Edward there is mention made De pace quatuor Cheminorum that is of the peace of the four principal roads Nerva During Nerva's time we have no account left us of this Island by Authors Under Trajan Trajan the Britains seem to have revolted and that they were subdued again Adrian Emp. J. Severus Propraetor appears by Spartian In Adrian's reign Julius Severus was Lieutenant here who
his power But he was soon after recalled and succeeded by Jovinus who sent back †Possibly a place corrupted Theodosius Proventusides with all speed to intimate the necessity there was of greater supplies and how much the present state of affairs required it At last upon the great distress that Island was reported to be in Theodosius was dispatch'd hither eminent for his exploits and good fortune He having selected a strong body of men out of the Legions and Cohorts began this expedition with great hopes The Picts Picts were at that time divided into two nations the Dicalidonae and Tecturiones and likewise the Attacotti a warlike people and the Scots Attacots Scots were ranging up and down the country for spoil and booty As for Gaul the Franks and Saxons who border upon it were always making inroads both by land and sea and what by the spoil they took the towns they burnt and the men they kill'd were very troublesome there If fortune would have favoured this brave Captain now bound for the remotest part of the world was resolved to have curbed them When he came to the Coast of Bologn which is severed from the opposite Country by a narrow sea apt to run high at some times and again to fall into a plain and level surface like a champaign country at which time 't is navigable without danger he set sail and arrived at Rhutupiae a safe harbour over against it When the Batavians Herulians the Jovii and Victores brave bold men who followed him were landed likewise he set forward for London an ancient town London called Augusta called in after ages Augusta Having divided his army into several bodies he fell upon the enemy dispersed up and down the country and laden with spoil and booty They were soon routed and forced to leave their prey which was nothing but cattle and prisoners they had took from this miserable Country After he had made restitution of the booty to the respective owners saving only some small part to refresh his army he entered the City in great state which though in the utmost affliction and misery at that time soon revived upon it in hopes of recovery and protection for the future This success soon put him upon greater designs yet to proceed warily he considered upon the intelligence he had got from fugitives and captives that so great a multitude as the enemy composed of several nations and those of a fierce heady temper were not to be routed but by stratagem and surprise Having published his declaration and a pardon therein to such as would lay down their arms he order'd all deserters and others dispers'd up and down the country for forage and provision to repair to him This brought in many upon which reinforcement he thought to take the field but deferred it upon other considerations till he could have Civilis Civilis sent to be his Deputy a man somewhat passionate but very just and upright and also Dulcitius Dulcitâ—s a gallant Captain and experienced in the arts of war Afterwards taking heart he went from Augusta formerly called Londinum with a good army which with much ado he had raised and thereby proved a great support to the sinking state of the poor Britains He took in all such places as might favour him in cutting off the enemy by ambuscade and imposed nothing upon the common souldiers but what he would do himself Thus he discharged the office of an active and hardy souldier as well as of a brave General and by that means defeated several nations who had the insolence to invade the Roman Empire laid the foundation of a lasting peace and restored both Cities and Castles that were reduced to great streights to their former happiness In this juncture there happened an ill accident which might have been of dangerous consequence if it had not been timely prevented One Valentinus Valentine raises a disturbance in Britain of Valeria Pannonia a proud man and brother-in-law to Maximinus that intolerable Deputy afterwards Lieutenant was banished for an heinous crime into this Island where like some savage of a restless temper he put all things in disorder by plots and insurrections against Theodosius and that purely out of pride and envy he being the only man that could cope with him However that he might proceed with conduct and security in these ambitious pursuits he endeavoured to draw in all exiles and deserters to him with the encouragement and prospect of much booty But these designs taking air and coming to the General 's ear before they were full ripe for execution he took care like a wise Captain to be before hand with him both to prevent and punish the conspirators Valentinus himself with some of the chief of his cabal he committed to Dulcitius to see executed but upon laying things together for he was the wisest and most experienced souldier of his time he would suffer no farther enquiry after the other Conspirators lest the general terror which it would strike might again imbroil the Province which was now in peace and quietness From this he turned his thoughts upon the reformation of some things which now grew intolerable being freed from all dangers that might divert him and sensible that fortune was ever favourable to his designs and so he applied himself to the repairing of Cities and garison-towns as we have already said and the strengthening the Frontiers and Castles with watches and intrenchments Having thus recovered the Province which was possessed by the enemy he restored it so compleatly to its former state that upon his motion it had a * Rector Legitimus Valentia lawful Governor set over it and was afterwards by the Prince's order called Valentia The Areans a sort of men instituted by the ancients were displaced by him as corrupt and treacherous being plainly convict of giving intelligence of our affairs to the Barbarians for rewards and bribery For their business was to run to and fro with news from the neighbouring Countreys to our Captains After these regulations and some others made by him with great applause he was sent for to Court leaving the Provinces in such a calm and happy condition that he was no less honoured for his success and victories than Furius Camillus or Cursor Papirius And so being attended with the acclamations of all as far as the sea he sailed over with a gentle gale and arrived at the Prince's camp where he was received with great joy and commendation For these famous exploits here a statue on horseback was erected in honour of him as Symmachus to his son Theodosius the Emperor informs us The founder of your stock and family was one that was General both in Africa and Britain honoured by the Senate with his Statues on horse-back among the ancient Heroes Thus Claudian likewise in his Commendation Ille Caledoniis posuit qui castra pruinis Qui medio Libyae sub casside pertulit aestus Terribilis Mauro
different quality of the tribute Though some learned men do not close with Baronius in this point Additions to Mr. Camden Concerning British COINS By Mr. Walker TAB I. THese eighteen first described are in Mr. Camden those which follow are partly out of Speed's History partly from other friends Before we come to the particulars I desire to premise in general I. That we find very little mention of the Britains or their affairs till Julius Caesar who left a brief but material description of the country and people their manners and customs particularly concerning their traffick and the great instrument of it money which he saith was not Coin but rings and pieces of brass and iron delivered out by weight as it was also in the beginning at Rome So that they had no mark upon their metals of exchange which seems somewhat odd seeing that the invention is so easie ready and useful for human conversation But especially since in Abraham's time coined or stamped money was current amongst merchants and called by a particular name shekel taken it may be from the weight of it And Jacob is said to have given or paid to Hâ—mor father of Sichem for a part of a field centum agnos which is interpreted Act. 7.16 not lambs but pretio argenti commonly explained centum probatos nummos This ignorance I say is strange except we affirm the transmigration of the Predecessors of the Britains to have been before Abraham's time from the Northern parts of Asia not so well civilized as the Eastern where Coin seems to have been antiently even before Abraham the current instrument of traffick Long before Caesar's time Polybius tells us that these Islands were frequented both by Greeks and Phaenicians trading for tinn and other commodities But it seems those crafty people were careful to conceal from these generally accounted heavie Northern nations the value and usefulness of money II. The Coins I have seen of the Britains for the most part are neither gold nor good silver but of mixed metals and those compositions very different and not as yet by any that I know endeavoured to be discover'd perhaps since the quantities of them are so small and their value taken from the fairness of their impression Nor can we give any certain account of their weight because we have very few of one stamp or perfect and some of them also may be probably thought counterfeited III. The Coins of the Britains are not unlike those of the antient Gauls as those of our Saxons to those of the first race of the Kings of the Franks who settled in France near the time that the Saxons invaded Britain concerning which a farther account shall be given by and by But in this we find the Saxons as the English after them to differ both from the Gauls and Franks that they did not so often change the weight or value of their Coins much less raised and decryed the same piece according to the pleasure or necessities of the Prince An action lawful indeed but without very great caution detrimental and prejudicial to the Subject But in this themselves confess the English to understand their interest better than the French IV. I can hardly satisfie my self why we have so many Coins of Cunobeline and so few of other Princes more famous at least in Roman story for of British Historians we have none certainly antienter than Gildas and he only speaks of those near or of his own time But we have nothing of Caratacus Arviragus c. but conjectural Some of those of Cunobeline I know are modern perhaps also Cuno signifying as Camden observes a Prince may be applied especially since many Coins have no more than Cuno to divers Princes and is added to the end of the names of several mentioned in Gildas perhaps also he reigned a long time But the best reason seems to be either because he lived some while at Rome or that London was then a famous city for trade and therefore had both more money and better preserved Remarks upon Mr. Camden's Conjectures I am not satisfied in the first of Mr. Camden If it be a Janus I had rather apply it to the shutting of Janus's Temple by Augustus in whose time Cunobeline lived at Rome and both himself and the Britains were benefited by that general peace But I fear that is not the head of Janus for the faces upon his Temple and Coins were divers one old the other young but this seems made for two young women's faces whether Cunobeline's wives sisters or children I know not To the third I conceive the horse was so frequently stamped upon their Coins because of their extraordinary goodness in this country The like is upon divers Cities and Provinces in Gallia Or to shew that they were in their own opinion excellent horsemen The Boar also and Bull were Emblems of strength courage and fierceness and I find that antiently the Romans used for their Ensigns horses wolves boars c. till Caius Marius's third Consulship who then first ordained the Eagle only to be the standing Ensign of the Legions as Trajan after the Dacian War set up Dragons for Ensigns of the Cohorts In the sixth the horse seems fasten'd by one fore and the opposite hinder-foot to some weight as if it signified the invention of one of their Princes to teach them some pace or motion The wheel under him amongst the Romans intimated the making of an Highway for Carts So many of which being in the Romans time made in this country well deserved such a memorial The seventh Novane seems to be the same with the two and twentieth wherein is Tasci Novanit some unknown city in the Dominion of Cunobeline Reverse a hog and wolf concorporated The ninth Speed thinks probably to be Caractacus the valiant and renowned King of the Silures The Britains called him Caradaue and gave him the Epithets Uric fras forti brachia But others read it Epatica which may keep its native signification since we find Parsly the Palm Vine Myrtle Cynoglossum Laserpitium and other plants sometimes figured sometimes only named upon Coins as you may find in Spanhemius Com. in the tenth I cannot conceive to have been Comius made by Caesar King of the Atrebates Arras because he seems not to have had any power in Britain where the greatest part of his stay was in prison and at his return into his own country he headed a rebellion against the Romans Besides in other Coins it is Comm. which either signifies some City or other Community to have coined it or to have been stamped in the time of Commodus the Emperor For I cannot think it signified Commorus by Greg. Turon or Venant Fortunatus named Duke of Britannia Armorica A. C. 550. The thirteenth an Octogone seems to have been of a Christian Prince for by it the Christians anciently figured the Font for baptism In Gruter's Inscriptions p. 1166. are verses of St. Ambrose upon the Font of St. Tecla
Octogonus fons est munere dignus eo Hoc numero decuit sacri baptismatis aulam Surgere quo populo vera salus rediit i.e. The font is an Octogon a figure or number worthy of that function It behoved the place or court of holy Baptism to be raised in this number by which true salvation is restored to the people And it is a common observation that as six was the number of Antichrist so eight of true Christianity The fourteenth seems to be a wolf and boar 2 fierce beasts joyned together and the head of a town or city Vano Civit. Mr. Speed applies it to Venutius a valiant King of the Brigantes married to Cartismandua who betrayed the noble and gallant Caractacus In the fifteenth one letter seems to be misplaced Durnacum was the city Tournay and the head is as they usually decipher cities The sixteenth with a woman's head Orceti if truly spelt is the name also of some city unknown to us Conjectures upon the Coins added The nineteenth is in Mr. Speed but the letters ill wrought and placed he reads it Casibelan the first General of the Britains against the Romans His country seems to have been North of the Thames and to have comprehended part of Hartford and Buckingham shires Yet he conquer'd the chief City of Imanuentius whom he slew and whose son Mandubratius fled to Caesar in France and brought him hither See more of him in Tab. 11 Co. 4. The twentieth is of Cunobeline son of Theomantius nephew to Casibelan by the British writers called Kymboline The head seems to be of a woman On the Reverse a Sphinx a figure so acceptable to Augustus that he engraved it upon his seal Wherefore it may be it was placed upon this Coin to please the Emperor a more than ordinary friend to Cunobeline who was declared a friend to the Romans and is said to have lived many years in Rome In the twenty third seems to be the head of a city inscription Vanit seems to be the same with Vanoc Co. 8. The twenty fourth seems not the head of a person but of a place probably Camalodunum when Christian The twenty fifth Arivogius is both by Speed and Archbishop Usher thought to be Arviragus of whom more Co. 27. Ononus I understand not The twenty sixth is probably of Cartismandua Q. of the Brigantes whereof Caledonia was one part A woman infamous for betraying the warlike Caractacus into the hands of the Romans and for abusing her valiant husband Venutius The twenty seventh a crowned head with many strings of pearls about it is thought to be Arviragus I wish there were more than bare conjectures for it For I do not find that Arviragus was a Christian as this Coin declares there being a cross and a string of pearles about it an ordinary ornament of the cross in the first peaceable times of the Church Harding I think is the only Author who affirms him a Christian but 't is generally said erga Religionem Christianam bene affectus Vit. Basing and that he gave to the first preachers of Glastenbury so many hides of land as helped much to maintain them And Gildas saith that it was well known that the Christian Religion was brought into Britain in the latter end of Tiberius's time He lived in great reputation in Domitian's time whose flatterers upon some prodigies appearing foretold him of some great good fortune to him as that Arviragus should be thrown down from his chariot The twenty ninth Dr. Plot who hath published these three thinks to be Prasutagus and Boadicia but I see no resemblance of one or more faces I rather imagine it to be some fortification The one and thirtieth was put into my hands as belonging to York in Antoninus and antient Authors written Eburacum But I take it to be a Gallick Coin and to signifie either the Eburovices or rather Eburones which were inhabitants of the country of Liege The head seems to be of a City rather than as Bouteroue thinks of Ambiorix Cotivulcus or some other of their Princes The three and thirtieth is also to design some city or country it may be of the Auscii now Ausch in Gascoine or some other unknown It is to be noted that after the example of the Romans who stamped the armed head of a young woman probably Rome a notable Virago who gave name to the city with the word Roma on one side of their Coin other cities and countries placed also the head yet not always helmeted but commonly in the dress of the place where coined British Coins TAB II. That the first was of some British Prince in esteem for an holy man I collect from the pearls about his head set in the ancient form of a glory as also by the hand under the horse for the reverse Many of these British coins are adorned with pearls I conceive the reason to be the plenty of them in this country so great that Julius Caesar is said to have undertaken his expedition for obtaining them and that at his return he dedicated a shield covered with British Pearl in the Temple of Venus In some coins of Constantine the great of Arcadius Eudoxia and others in Gretzer l. 1. c. 15 16 is an hand signifying some favourable action of Providence towards them as reaching to take Constantine into heaven crowning Arcadius c. In this it may intimate the sustaining of his Cavalry This is only conjecture since we know not the person The second and third by their rugged and unhandsom looks seem to have been some of the ancient British Princes but the letters being worn out forbid us to guess who they were The fourth is Cassivelaunus others name him Cassibelinus or Velanus as if he were a Prince of the Cassii a people not far from the Trinobantes part of the dominion of his brother Immanuentius whom he slew and deposed his son Mandubratius who thereupon fled to Caesar and was restored by him to his just dominion But this action caused Mandubratius to be looked upon as an enemy and traitor to his country and so hated that he accompanied Caesar in all his wars and left the Kingdom to his son or nephew Cunobeline His son lived in Rome with the favour of Augustus and the Senate who declared him a friend of the Romans as is plainly intimated in that Speech of the generous Prince Caractacus From these transactions we may observe 1. That the Romans by this submission and request of Manubratius had a just cause of War against Cassibelinus and consequently against all the Britains who chused him their General 2. That this conquest was exceedingly beneficial to the nation and countrey which by the Romans acquired civility if not humanity also and prudent government good husbandry too and improvement of wealth and trade both by sea and land and thereby prepared them for receiving the Gospel 3. That the Britains quickly apprehended these benefits and advantages and therefore more readily embraced and
concerning his resigning the kingdom and going to preach the Gospel in Bavaria and being martyr'd near Coire in the Grisons Country then called Rhaetia The thirty second also is out of Monsieur Bouteroue who rationally thinks it to be the head of Boadicia wife to Prasutagus king of Norfolk and Suffolk c. a woman of prodigious wit and courage Gildas calls her Leaenam dolosam the crafty or deceitful Lionness She slew 80000 of the Romans destroy'd their chief City and Colony Cumalodunum Verulamium also and some say London She slew the ninth Legion but being overcome by Paulinus she either died for grief as some say or by poison as others The thirty third is easily intelligible The reverse of the thirty fifth seems to be a Tabernacle or some such holy vessel standing upon a foot and having a Cross upon the top I understand it not nor any of the rest being all ancient Runic characters nor doth it appear whether they belong to this Country or to Spain The Runic Characters anciently were the writing of the Visi or Western Goths who lived in Denmark Norway Jutland c. For the Ostro or Eastern Goths of Sweden and those Countries swarmed and conquered Eastward in and towards Asia who though they seem to have had the same language with the Visigoths yet had a different character framed as it seems from the Greek some say by Ulphilas their Bishop near or upon the Black-Sea and it is still preserved in the copy of the Gospels translated into that language by him and is for the most part still extant in that they call the Codex Argenteus being wholly written in silver letters reserv'd with great and deserved veneration in Sweden but transcribed and printed by the very worthy and learned person Mr. Franc. Junius the younger But the Visigoths seem to be those who came Westward who conquer'd part of Italy and of France all Spain and part of Africk where they reigned in great splendor many years till the invasion of the Moors They also acquired the Northern Parts of Britain keeping as it seemeth their ancient Runic Characters And though most of the ancient Runic Coins I have seen either in Ant. Augustinus Paruta or Lastannoza's book de las monedas desconocidas yet I have only set down those which are new to me and which being sent by that very courteous intelligent and diligent Antiquary Mr. Ralph Thoresby of Leeds in Yorkshire I conceive rather belong to those of Northumberland Cumberland c. Tab. III. Nummi Romani Page XCVIII Tabula IV. Nummi Romani Page XCVIII Ne vel tantillum paginae vacaret Visum est addere fere ex Eruditissimo Bouterovio Alphabetum enummis Antiquis desumplum Notes upon the Roman Coins THE first of the Romans after Julius Caesar that resolv'd to subdue Britain in earnest was Claudius who shipping over his army reduced the south part into the form of a Province And about that time this first piece of money with an abbreviated Inscription seems to have been coin'd TI. CLAVD CAES. AVG. P. M. TR. P. VIIII IMP. XVI i.e. Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Pontifex Maximus Tribunitia potestate 9. Imperator 16. To explain these titles once for all After Julius Caesar who laid the foundation of the Roman Monarchy all his successors in honour of him assumed the titles of Caesar or Augustus as if they were above the pitch of humane nature for things that are sacred we call August that also of Pontifices Maximi or High-Priests because they were consecrated in all the kinds of Priesthood and had the Oversight of all Religious Ceremonies they usurped likewise the Tribunitian power but would not by any means be call'd Tribunes that they might be inviolable For by virtue of this authority if any one gave them ill language or offer'd them any violence he was to be put to death without a hearing as a sacrilegious person They renewed this Tribunitian power every year and by it computed the years of their reign At last they were call'd Emperors because their Empire was most large and Ample and under that natâ—â— was coucht both the power of Kings and Dictapoâ—â— And they were stil'd Emperors as often as they did any thing very honourable either in person or by their Generals But since in the reverse of this coin there is a triumphal arch with a man on horseback between two trophies and the title DE BRITAN I should imagine that in the 9th year of Claudius for so I reckon from the Tribunitian power there were two Victories over the Britains In the second Coin which is also one of Claudius Augustus by this Inscription TI. CLAVD CAES. AVG. GER TR. P. XII IMP. XIIX we learn that in the twelfth year of his reign after he had been successful in Britain he was saluted Emperor the eighteenth time and the Ploughman with a Cow and a Bull inform us that at the same time a Colony was placed in Camalodunum The Romans says Servius clad after the Gabine fashion i.e. with part of their gown covering their head and the other part tuckt up when they had a design to build a city yok'd on the right hand a Bull with a Cow on the inner side and in that habit held the crooked plough-tail so as to make all the earth fall inwards By thus drawing a furrow they markt out the track of the walls lifting up the plough where the place of the gates was to be The son of Claudius whose the 3d Coin is with Greek characters was by a Decree of the Senate honour'd with the sirname of BRITANNICVS to use as peculiar to himself upon the account of his Fathers success He it was for whom Seneca pray'd That he might quiet Germany †aperiat make an inroad into Britain and †ducat maintain his fathers triumphs with new ones of his own But what then must be the meaning of that half ship with an Inscription to this sensâ— The Metropolis of King Etiminius Well truly who this Etiminius should be does not appear to me unless one should imagine him to be that Adiminius Cunobelin's son who as Suetonius says took protection under C. Caligula The fourth Coin which is Hadrian's with this Inscription HADRIANVS AVG. CONSVL III. PATER PATRIAE and on the reverse EXERCITVS BRITANNICVS or the British army represented by three souldiers I should imagine to point out the three legions that serv'd in Britain in the year of Christ 120 for then he was third Consul namely the Secunda Augusta the Sexta Victrix and the Vicesima Victrix The fifth and sixth both of Antoninus Pius with this Inscription ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS P. P. TR. P. COS. III. and on the reverse of the one Britain sitting on the rocks with a military ensign a spear and a shield but on that of the other the same Britain sitting upon a globe These seem to have been stamp'd by the British Province in honour of Antoninus Pius at his
Yet others remained in their native country though with great fear trusting their lives to vast mountains dreadful precipices intrenched places to woody forrests and rocks in the sea Some of those who passed beyond sea were they without question who to secure themselves went in great numbers to Armorica in France where they were received very kindly by the Armoricans Which a See the Additions to Cornwall as also Isacius Pontanus in his Letter to Mr. Camden published among his Epistles p. 90. not to mention a community of language that of Armorica being almost the same with our British or Welch nor other Authors who agree in this point is proved by an Author in the next age to it and born in Armorica who has writ the life of S. Wingualof the Confessor A race of Britains says he imbarked in little vessels were transported over the British sea to this land a barbarous nation of the Saxons terrible and warlike and all of like manners having possessed themselves of their native Country Then that dear race shut themselves within this corner where being wore out with fatigue they are setled in a quiet country Yet our Historians tell us that the Britains were long before this seated on that coast Malmesbury says That Constantine the Great was saluted Emperor by his army and order'd an expedition for the Superioâ—s terras higher parts brought away with him many British Souldiers by whose means having obtained the Empire with successful victories he planted such of them as had run through the full course of Souldiery in a certain part of Gaul towards the west upon the shore where to this day their posterity are prodigiously increased and somewhat altered in modes and language from our Britains This was certainly an order of Constantine the Emperor Let the old souldiers enter upon the vacant lands and hold them freely for ever â—od Theod. â—ib 7. Tit. â—0 Likewise Ninius Maximus the Emperor who slew Gratian would not send home the souldiers that had followed him out of Britain but gave them many countreys from the Poole above Mons Jovis to the city called Cantguic and to the western heap or Cruc-occhidient He that writes notes upon Ninnius adds falsly That the Armorican Bishops beyond sea went from hence in an expedition with Maximus the Tyrant and when they could not return lay the western parts of France level with the ground and taking their wives and daughters to marriage cut out all their tongues lest the children should speak their language And upon this account we call them in our language Lhet Vydion i.e. half silent because they speak confusedly I cannot gainsay the authority of these men but yet am of opinion that the children of these veterans willingly receiv'd the Britains that fled out of their own Country However the name of Britains does not appear by the Writers of that age to have been in these parts before the Saxons came into Britain unless those be they whom Pliny seems to place in Picardy and who are called Brinani in some Copies For whoever imagines with Volaterranus from the fourth book of Strabo that Britannia was a city of France let him but look upon the Greek Text and he may easily learn that Strabo speaks there of the Island Britain and not of a City As for that verse of Dionysius Afer which I have already cited some are inclined rather to understand it as Stephanus does of our Britains then as Eustathius does of them in Armorica especially seeing Festus Avienus an ancient Writer has thus rendered it Cauris nimiùm vicina * Britannia Britannis Flavaque caesariem Germania porrigit ora Cold Britain plac'd too near the Northern winds And yellow hair'd Germany her coast extends Nor let any man think that the Britanniciani Britanniciani mentioned in the Notitia came originally from hence who were really those troops of Souldiers that were raised in our Britain Before the arrival of our Britains this Country was called Armorica Armonica i.e. situated by the sea side after that to the same sense in our British tongue Llydaw Lexovit perhaps in Pliny that is upon the shore and by our Latin writers of the middle age Letavia Zonaras And therefore I suppose them to be the Laeti which Zosimus talks of in Gaul when he takes notice that Magnentius the Tyrant was born among the Laeti there and that his father was a Britain These * Called by Proâ—opius Arborici and by another the Country it self Cornu Galliae the horn of France Armorici during the reign of Constantine who was chosen for the sake of his name and the time the Barbarians quite over-ran France turned out the Roman Garisons made themselves a distinct Commonwealth But Valentinian the Younger by the assistance of Aetius and the mediation of St. German reduced them At that time Exuperantius seems to have reigned over them Of whom Claudius Rutilius thus Cujus Aremoricas pater Exuperantius oras Nunc post liminium pacis amore docet Leges restituit libertatemque reducit Et servos famulis non sinit esse suis Where great Exuperantius gently sways And makes the Natives love return in peace Restores their laws and grateful freedom gives Nor basely lets them be his servant's slaves From these verses I cannot tell but Aegidius Maserius might conclude that the Britains were servants to the Armorici and â—egained their freedom in spight of them The first mention of the Britains in b S illingfl Orig. Britan. p. 187. Armorica that I know of was in the year 461 about thirty years after the Saxons were call'd into Britain for then Mansuetus a British Bishop among others of that dignity in France and Armorica first subscribed in the Council of Tours In the ninth year after these new Inhabitants of France seeing the Visigoths possess themselves of the fertile countreys of Anjou and Poictou set upon them and were the only men that stopped them from seising all France into their own hands For they sided with Anthemius the Roman Emperor against the Goths so that Arvandus was condemned of high treason Sid. Apollinar for writing letters to the King of the Goths advising him to conquer the Britains who lived upon the Loire and to divide France between the Goths and Burgundians These Britains were a cunning sort of people An. 470. warlike seditious and stubborn upon the account of their valour numbers and allies says Sidonius Appollinaris in his complaint of them to his friend Riothimus as he himself calls him but Jornandes stiles him King of the Britains who being afterwards sent for by Anthemius went with a supply of 12000 men to the Romans but before he could joyn them was defeated in a fair engagement by the Goths and so fled to the Burgundians who were then Confederates with the Romans From that time the Armorici being subdued by little and little the name of Britains grew so great in
apprehensive of danger from the Picts and Scots c This must be meant of the Roman party left in the Island who might be suppos'd to have a greater respect for Ambrâ—sius For the Northern nations breaking in upon Rome at that time did so effectually divert that nation that no harm câ—uld be fear'd from those parts from the Râ—man power and from Aurelius Ambrosius The Saxons immediately under the command of Hengist and Horsa d See Bish p Usher's Antiquitat Britann p. 207 c. arriv'd in Britain with their Ciules e I rather think it was a general name for their ships For William of Malmesbury describing their coming says they brought 3 Ciules which the Saxon Annals express by Scipas And 't is a word oo very commonly maâ—e use of in the names of men which generally consisted of something sublime and never of diminutives Unless these Ciules wâ—re their piratiâ—g vessels then we need not woâ—der that they got into their names since piracies were tâ—e peculiar talent and glory of that nation for so they call'd their flat-bottom'd boats or pinnaces and by their success against the Scots and Picts in two several engagements rais'd their reputation considerably And because the Britains did absolutely depend upon their conduct they sent for fresh supplies out of Germany partly to man the frontier garisons f This conduct of Vortigern's in trusting the Saxons with the frontier garisons is by some very much approv'd and by others as much condemn'd Mr. Sommer in his Gavelkind p. 40. calls it the most prudent course he could have took for the benâ—fit and security of his subjects But Bishop Stillingfleet Orig. Britan. p. 319. proves it to be the very worst method he could have fixt upon and partly to divert the enemy upon the sea-coast Guortigern says Ninnius at the instance of Hengist sent for Octha and Ebissa to come and aid him and they with forty of their Ciules sailing round the Picts coasts wasted the Orcades and possess'd themselves of a great many Islands and countries * Trans mare Fresicum beyond the Frith even as far as the borders of the Picts At length being mightily satisfied with the lands customs and plenty of Britain and building upon the cowardize of the natives under the pretence of ill pay and short diet they enter into a league with the Picts raise a most bloody war against their Entertainers the Britains in all parts put the poor frighted Inhabitants to the sword wast their lands raze their cities and after many turns and changes in their several battles with Aurelius Ambrosius who had took upon him the government Aurelius Ambrosius by Gildas Ambrosius Aurelianus g Probably murder'd by their own subjects according to Gildas's character of their behaviour at that time in the administration whereof his parents had lost their lives and the h How far the British History of Arthur may be admitted See Stillingflâ—et's Orig. Britan. p. 335. Usher Primord p. 61 c. warlike Arthur at length dispossess the Britains of the best part of the Island and their hereditary estates At which time in a word the miserable natives suffer'd whatever a Conqueror may be imagin'd to inflict or the conquer'd fear For auxiliary troops stocking daily out of Germany still engag'd a fresh the harrass'd Britains such were the Saxons the Jutes for that is their right name not Vites and the Angles They were indeed distinguish'd by these names but promiscuously call'd Angles and Saxons But of each of them let us treat severally and briefly that so far as is possible we may discover the originals of our own nation Only I must beg leave first to insert what Witichindus a Saxon born and an ancient writer has left us concerning the coming over of the Saxons Britain being by Vespasian the Emperor reduc'd into the form of a province and flourishing a long time under the protection of the Romans was at last invaded by the neighbouring nations as seeming to be abandoned by the Roman aids For the Romans after that * In the texâ— Martialis buâ— in the margin Possibly Martianus Martian the Emperor was murder'd by his own soldiers were heavily annoy'd with foreign wars and so were not able to furnish their allies with aids as they had formerly done However before they quitted this nation they built a large wall for it's defence going along the borders from sea to sea where they imagin'd the enemy would make the most vigorous assaults But after a soft and lazie people were left to encounter a resolute and well-disciplin'd enemy it was found no hard matter to demolish that work In the mean time i The former experience Britain had had of the Saxon courage was sufficient to point out that nation before any other For even in the times of the Romans they were not afraid to prey upon our coasts aâ—d to that degree as to oblige'em to guard the coasts with the Officer called Comes Littoris Saxonici the Saxons grew famous for their success in arms and to them they dispatch a humble embassy to desire their assistance The Embassadors being admitted to audience made their addresses as follows Most noble Saxons The miserable * Bretti for Britanni Britains shatter'd and quite worn out by the frequent incursions of their enemies upon the news of your many signal victories have sent us to you humbly requesting that you would assist them at this juncture k Witichindus seems to make 'em too lavish in their promises For it they had given up their lands and liberty in such express terms what occasion had the Saxons to have recourse to the pretences of ill pay and short diet after they had took up the resolution of making themselves Masters by force of arms A land large and spacious abounding with all manner of necessaries they give up entirely to your disposal Hitherto we have liv'd happily under the government and protection of the Romans next to the Romans we know none of greater valour than your selves and therefore in your courage do now seek refuge Let but that courage and those arms make us conquerors and we refuse no service you shall please to impose The Saxon Nobles return'd them this short answer Assure your selves the Saxons will be true friends to the Britains and as such shall be always ready both to relieve their necessities and to advance their interest The Embassadors pleas'd with the answer return home and comfort their countrymen with the welcome news Accordingly the succours they had promis'd being dispatch'd for Britain are receiv'd gratefully by their allies and in a very little time clear the kingdom of invaders and restore the country to the Inhabitants And indeed there was no great difficulty in doing that since the fame of the Saxon courage had so far terrify'd them that their very presence was enough to drive them back The people who infested the Britains were the
as were design'd for a march and imagining that this had won the favour of the Gods they immediately set to sea and fell to their oars There was another way the Danes had of appealing their Gods or rather of running into most detestable superstition which Ditmarus a Bishop and an author of somewhat greater antiquity than Dudo thus describes Lib. 1. But because I have heard strange things of the ancient sacrifices of the * North-mannâ— Normans and Danes I would not willingly pass them over There is a place in those parts the capital city of that Kingdom call'd Lederun in the province of Selon There they meet once every nine years in January a little after our Twelfth-day and offer to their Gods 99 men and as many horses with dogs and cocks for hawks being fully perswaded as I observ'd before that these things were most acceptable to them About the time of King Egbert The Danish pâ—â—â—ders in the 800 year of Christ they first disturb'd our coasts afterwards making havock of every thing and plundering over all England they destroy'd Cities burnt Churches wasted the lands and with a most barbarous cruelty drove all before them ransacking and over-turning every thing They murder'd the Kings of the Mercians and East-Angels and then took possession of their kingdoms with a great part of that of Northumberland To put a stop to these outrages a heavy tax was impos'd upon the miserable Inhabitants called b i.e. a certain sum paid to the Danes from the Saxon Gyldan to pay and thence our Yield Dangelt Dangelt the nature whereof this passage taken out of our old Laws does fully discover The Pirates gave first occasion to the paying Danigeld For they made such havock of this nation that they seem'd to aim at nothing but its utter ruine And to suppress their insolence it was enacted that Danigeld should yearly be paid which was twelve pence for every hide of land in the whole nation to maintain so many forces as might withstand the Incursions of the Pirates All Churches were exempt from this Danigeld nor did any land in the immediate possession of the Church contribute any thing because they put more confidence in the prayers of the Church than the defence of arms But when they came to dispute the cause with Alfred King of the West-Saxons he what by retreats and what by attacks did not only by force of arms drive them out of his own territories but likewise slew the Deputy-Governor of the Mercians and in a manner clear'd all Mercia of them And his son Edward the Elder prosecuting his Father's conquests recover'd the Country of the East-Angles from the Danes as Athelstan his spurious son to crown their victories after a great slaughter of them subdu'd the Kingdom of Northumberland and by his vigorous pursuit put the Danes into such a fright that part of them quitted the kingdom and the rest surrendred themselves By the courage of those Princes was England deliver'd out of that gulph of miseries and had a respite of 50 years from that bloody war But after Aethelred a man of a cowardly spirit came to the Crown the Danes raising fresh hopes out of his dullness renew'd the war and made havock of the nation till the English were forc'd to purchase a Peace with annual contributions And so insolently did they behave themselves that the English form'd a Plot and in one night slew all the Danes through the whole nation to a man imagining that so much blood would quench the flaming fury of that people and yet as it happen'd it did but add more fuel to it For Sueno King of the Danes incens'd by that general massacre invaded England with a powerful army and push'd forwards by an enraged spirit put Ethelred to flight conquer'd the whole nation and left it to his son * Cnut in the Coins Canutus He after a long war with Ethelred who was then return'd and his son Edmond sirnam'd Ironside but without any decisive battle The Danes infested England 200 years reign'd about 20. was succeeded by his two sons Harald his spurious one and Canutus the Bold After the death of these the Danish yoke was shaken off and the government return'd to the English For Edward whose sanctity gain'd him the name of Confessor Edward the Confessor the son of Ethelred by a second wife recover'd the Regal Dignity England now began to revive but presently as the Poet says Mores rebus cessêre secundis The loads of Fortune sunk them into vice The Clergy were idle drousie and ignorant the Laity gave themselves over to luxury and a loose way of living all discipline was laid aside the State like a distemper'd body was consum'd with all sorts of vice but Pride that forerunner of destruction had of all others made the greatest progress And as Gervasius Dorobernensis observes of those times They ran so headlong upon wickedness that 't was look'd upon as a crime to be ignorant of crimes All these things plainly tended to ruine The English at that time says William of Malmesbury us'd cloaths that did not reach beyond the middle of the knee their heads were shorn their beards shaven only the upper lip was always let grow to its full length Their arms were even loaded with golden bracelets and their skin all set with painted marks The Clergy were content with a superficial sort of learning and had much ado to hammer cut the words of the Sacraments The NORMANS AS in former ages the Franks first and afterwards the Saxons coming out of that East-Coast of Germany as it lies from us I mean the more Northerly parts of it plagu'd France and Britain with their Piracies and at last became masters the Franks of France and the Saxons of Britain so in succeeding times the Danes first and then the Normans follow'd the same method came from the same Coast and had the same success As if providence had so order'd it that those parts should constantly produce and send out a set of men to make havock of France and Britain and establish new kingdoms in them They had their name from the Northern parts from whence they came â—d â—nt for Nordmanni signifies no more than Northern men in which sense they are likewise term'd c From the Saxon Leod a people or nation Nordleudi â—dâ—â—i â—molâ— i.e. Northern people as being the flower of the Norwegians Suedes and Danes In the time of Charles the Great they carry'd on their trade of Piracies in such a barbarous manner both in Friseland England Holland Ireland and France that that Prince when he saw their vessels in the Mediterranean cry'd out with a deep sigh and tears in his eyes How am I troubl'd that they should venture upon this coast â—r Sanâ— de Geâ— Caroâ—â—agni even while I am living I plainly foresee what a plague they are like to prove to my successors And in the publick Prayers and
matters his principal care was to avoid the storm of the Danish war which he saw hanging over him and even to purchase a Peace On this occasion he made Adalbert Archbishop of Hamburg his instrument For Adam Bremensis says There was a perpetual quarrel between Sueno and the Bastard but our Arch-bishop being brib'd to it by William made it his business to strike up a peace between the two Kings And indeed 't is very probable there was one concluded for from that time England was never apprehensive of the Danes William however made it his whole business to maintain the dignity of his government and to settle the Kingdom by wholsome laws For Gervasius Tilburiensis tells us That after the famous Conqueror of England King William had subdued the furthest parts of the Island and brought down the Rebels hearts by dreadful examples lest they might be in a condition of making outrages for the future he resolved to bring his Subjects under the obedience of written laws Whereupon laying before him the Laws of England according to their threefold division that is Merchanlage Denelage and West-Sexenlage some of them he laid aside but approved others and added to them such of the foreign Norman Laws as he found most conducive to the peace of the Kingdom Next as we are assured by Ingulphus who lived at that time he made all the inhabitants of England do him homage and swear fealty to him against all â—â—hers He took a survey of the whole nation so that there was not a single Hide of land through all England but he knew both the value of it and its owner Not a lake or any other place whatsoever but it was registred in the King's Rolls with its revenue rent tenure and owner according to the relation of certain taxers who were picked out of each County to describe the places belonging to it This Roll was called the Roll of Winchester and by the English Domesday Domesday-book called by Gervasius Tilburiensis Laher Judiciarius as being an universal and exact account of every tenement in the whole nation I the rather make mention of this Book because I shall have occasion to quote it hereafter under the name of William's Tax-book The Notice of England the Cessing-book of England The publick Acts and The Survey of England But as to Polydore Virgil's assertion that William the Conqueror first brought in the Jury of Twelve Jury of 12. there is nothing can be more false For 't is plain from Ethelred's Laws that it was used many years before that Nor can I see any reason why he should call it a terrible Jury Twelve men Twelve men who are Freeholders and qualified according to Law are picked out of the Neighbourhood these are bound by oath to give in their real opinion as to matter of fact they hear the Council on both sides plead at the Bar and the evidence produced then they take along with them the depositions of both parties are close confined deny'd meat drink and fire till they can agree upon their verdict unless want of these may endanger some of their lives As soon as they have delivered it in he gives sentence according to law And this method was looked upon by our wise Forefathers to be the best for discovering truth hindering bribes and cutting off all partiality How great the Norman courage was I refer you to other writers I shall only observe The Warlike courage of the Normans that being seated in the midst of warlike Nations they never made submission their refuge but always arms By force of these they possessed themselves of the noble Kingdoms of England and Sicilie For Tancred * Nepeâ— Nephew to Richard the Second Duke of Normandy and his Successors did many glorious exploits in Italy drove out the Saracens and set up there a Kingdom of their own So that a Sicilian Historian ingenuously confesses that the Sicilians enjoying their native Soil Th. Fazâ—llus lib. 6. Decadis Posterioris their Freedom and Christianity is entirely owing to the Normans Their behaviour also in the wars of the Holy land got them great honour Which gave Roger Hoveden occasion to say That bold France after she had experienced the Norman valour drew back fierce England submitted rich Apulia was restored to her flourishing condition famous Jerusalem and renowned Antioch were both subdued Since that time England has been equal for warlike exploits and genteel Education to the most flourishing nations of the Christian world The English Guards to the Emperors of Constantinople So that the English have been peculiarly made choice of for the Emperor of Constantinople's guards For as our country man Malmsbury has told us he very much admired their fidelity and recommended them to his son as men deserving of respect and they were formerly for many years together the Emperor's guards Nicetas Choniata calls them Inglini Bipenniferi and Curopalata Barangi Barangi These attended the Emperor where-ever he went with halberts upon their shoulders as often as he stir'd abroad out of his closet and pray'd for his long life clashing their halberts one against another to make a noise As to the blot which Chalcondilas Chaâ—condilas has cast upon our nation of having wives in common truth it self wipes it off and confronts the extravagant vanity of the Grecian For as my most learned and excellent Friend Ortelius has observed upon this very subject Things related by any persons concerning others are not always true These are the People which have inhabited Britain whereof there remain unto this day the Britains the Saxons or Angles with a mixture of Normans and towards the North the Scots Whereupon the two Kingdoms of this Island England and Scotland which were long divided are now in the most potent Prince King JAMES happily united under one Imperial Diadem It is not material here to take notice of the Flemings who about four hundred years ago came over hither In the County 〈◊〉 Pembâ—â—â—â— and got leave of the King to settle in Wales since we shall mention them in another place Let us then conclude this part with that of Seneca From hence it is manifest De Conâ—latioâ—â— Albiâ—â— that nothing has continued in its primitive state There 's a continual floating in the affairs of mankind In this vast orb there are daily revolutions new foundations of cities laid new names given to nations either by the utter ruine of the former or by its change into that of a more powerful party And considering that all these nations which invaded Britain were Northern as were also others who about that time overran Europe and after it Asia Nicephorus's Nicephorus observation founded upon the authority of Scripture is very true As God very often sends terrors upon men from heaven such are thunder fire and storms and from earth as opening of the ground and earthquakes as also out of the air such as whirlwinds and immoderate
a horn Corn and horns in the plural number Kern tho' others will have the name Cornwall deriv'd from I know not what Corineus a Companion of Brute's and have it call'd Corinia according to that of the fabulous Poet Pars Corinea datur Corinaeo de duce nomen Patria déque viro gens Corinensis habet Cornwall by grant to Corinaeus came The Country from the Prince receiv'd its name But if you look diligently into Antiquities 't is no new thing for places to borrow their names from such a situation In Crete and the * Precopensian Chersonese promontories are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ram's horns because like Ram's horns they shoot forth into the sea So Cyprus was formerly call'd by the Greeks Cerastis because it hangs into the sea with large promontories representing Horns a so that 't is no wonder that this tract should be call'd Kernaw and Corn since it is like a horn crooked and if I may so say horn'd with promontories Upon which in the times of the Saxon wars when a great many of the Britains retreated into this country sheltering themselves in the nature of the place for as for the land-roads they knew they were by reason of mountains and the breaches made by Aestuaries in a manner unpassable and those by sea were extreme dangerous to persons altogether ignorant of them then the Saxon conquerour who call'd foreigners and every thing that was strange a WealH Cornpealas and West-pealas are the true Readings as being the Saxon Termination in the Plural Number and so the Saxon Annals call them WealsH nam'd the inhabitants of this part Corn-peales and West-peales b From hence arose the name Cornwallia and in later writers Cornubia as also that of some writers Occidua Wallia i.e. West-Wales So far is Cornwall from borrowing it's name from the conquering Gauls as is urg'd by some out of a complement to that Nation But if they were as knowing at home as they are medling abroad Cornovaille in Armorican Bretagne they would quickly apprehend that their Bretagne upon the sea-coast 1 Opposite to this Country is so call'd from ours and that a little Tract therein call'd Cornovaille where the Cornish language is spoken was so term'd from those of our nation transplanted thither For as those Western Britains of ours were assisting to the Armoricans in France in their wars against Caesar which was indeed his pretence for the invasion of Britain and afterwards marching over thither and changing the name call'd it Bretagne so in former Ages they sent aids to their country-men the Britains against the Franks and in those cruel Danish wars many of them went over thither where they left that more modern name of Cornovaille This County as if nature had design'd to arm it against the incursions of the sea is for the most part mountainous in the bottoms 't is of it self pretty fruitful but they make it incredibly rich with a sort of sea-weed called Orewood Orewood and a fat kind of sea-sand The sea-coast is beautify'd with very many Towns which are able to man out a considerable fleet The inner parts abound with rich mines For tinn Tinn to the vast advantage of the inhabitants is digg'd up in great plenty of which household vessels are made not inferior to silver in brightness and are carry'd for table-use to all parts of Europe 2 The inhabitants do discover these mines by certain tinn-stones lying on the face of the ground which they call Shoad being somewhat smooth and round They make their tinn of little black stones which they either dig or gather off the sands cast up Now there are two sorts of these Stannaries or Metal-works The Stannaries one they call Lode-works the other Stream-works The latter is in the lower places when they trace the veins of tinn by ditches by which they carry off the water that would break in upon them the former is in places that are higher when they sink the holes called Shafts to a vast depth in the mountains and work by undermining In both kinds they shew a wonderful art and ingenuity as well in draining the waters and reducing them to one chanel as in supporting and propping up their pits not to mention their arts of breaking 3 Stamping drying washing melting and refining their metals than which nothing can be more ingenious 4 There are also two sorts of Tinn Black-tinn which is tinne-ore broken and washed but not yet founded into metal and White-tinn that is molten into metal and that is either soft tinn which is best merchantable or hard tinn less merchantable That the ancient Britains wrought those tinn-mines is plain from Diodorus Siculus who liv'd under Augustus to omit Timaeus the Historian in Pliny Lib. 6. cap. 8. 9. who tells us that the Britains fetch'd tinn out of the Isle b This hint seems to favour a conjecture that Bolen Caesar's Iccius Portus might take its name from this Island Icta For Stephen's Edition of the Commentaries reads it Ictius and the Greek Version calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in another place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And why might not that haven be as well call'd Ictus from the place with which it had the most considerable trade as Britannicus from its being the chief Port to and from Britain Icta in their little wicker-boats cover'd with leather For Diodorus affirms that the Britains who liv'd in those parts digging tinn out of a rocky sort of ground carry'd it in carts at low-tide to some of the neighbouring Islands that thence the merchants transported it into Gaule and then on horse back in thirty days to the springs of Eridanus or the city Narbona as to a common Mart. Aethicus too whoever he was that unworthily goes under the name of being translated by St. Jerom 5 Out of the Sclavonian Tongue intimates the same thing and adds that he gave directions to those workmen The Saxons seem not to have medled with them or at most to have only employ'd the Saracens for the inhabitants to this day call a mine that is given over Attal-Sarisin that is the leavings of the Saracens 6 If they did mean by that name the ancient Panims After the coming in of the Normans the Earls of Cornwall had vast revenues from those mines especially Richard brother to Henry 3. c That tinn which is brought from the East-Indies was but lately found out And no wonder when Europe was not supplied with tinn from any other place For as for those mines in Spain the incursions of the Moores had shut them up and the veins in Germany which too are only in Misnia and Bohemia were not then discover'd nor open'd before the year of Christ 1240. At which time as a writer of that age has it the mettal called tinn was found in Germany by a certain Cornish man banish'd his country to the great damage of
now the Isc is grown bigger but dividing into many streams very convenient for mills it flows to the City Isca to which it leaves it's name Hence n He was once Prior of S. Nicholas in this City Alexander Necham Exoniae fama celeberrimus Iscia nomen Praebuit To Exeter the famous Ex gives name This city is call'd Isca by Ptolemy by Antoninus Isca Dunmoniorum for Danmoniorum Isca Danmoniorum Excester by others falsly Augusta as if the second Legion Augusta had quarter'd there whereas that was garrison'd in the Isca Silurum as shall be said hereafter It was nam'd by the Saxons o And Eaxan-ceaster Exan-ceaster and Monketon from the monks now at this day it is called Excester by the Latins Exonia by the Welsh Caer-isk Caer-uth and Pen-caer that is a chief city Caer what it signifies For Caer that I may once for all note it signifies a City in British hence they call Jerusalem Caer Salem Paris Caer Paris Rome Caer Ruffayne So Carthage in the Punick tongue as Solinus testifies was call'd Cartheia that is to say a new City Among the Syrians likewise I have heard that Caer signify'd a city and seeing it is took for granted that the whole world has been peopl'd by them it may seem very probable that they also left their tongue to posterity as the mother of future languages This city as Malmesbury says tho' the ground about it be wet and filthy and will scarce bear a crop of bad oats and often yielding empty ears without grain in them yet by reason of it's stateliness the richness of the citizens and resort of Strangers all kind of merchandise is so plentiful in it that one need lack nothing there that is necessary It stands on the east side of the Isc upon a hill of easie and gentle rise to the eastward and falling again to the west encompass'd with a ditch and very strong walls having many towers between them The town is a mile and half in circuit with suburbs shooting out here and there for a long way It contains p Thirteen of these Churches were in Oliver's time expos'd to publick sale by the Common-cryer 15 Parish-Churches and in the highest part near the East-gate has a castle call'd Rugemount formerly the seat of the West-Saxon Kings afterward of the Earls of Cornwall which now has nothing to recommend it but its antiquity and situation q It is suppos'd to have been the work of the Romans and as a place of great moment it has been committed from time to time to persons of the best rank For it commands the city underneath it and the country on all sides and has a very pleasant prospect to the sea In the east part of the city stands the Cathedral in the midst of fine houses quite round built by King Athelstan as the private history of this place witnesses in honour to S. Peter and fill'd with Monks at last the Monks being remov'd to Westminster Edward 3. grac'd it with the dignity of being an Episcopal See having transferr'd the Bishopricks of Cornwall and Kirton hither and made Leofric the Britain first Bishop of it whose successors have improv'd the Church both by buildings and revenues n And William Bruier the ninth Bishop after him in lieu of the displac'd Monks brought in a Dean and twenty four Prebendaries Josephus Iscanus In that age flourish'd Josephus Iscanus who owes his birth and name to this place a Poet of very lively wit whose pieces were so highly approv'd of that they met with as much applause even as the ancients For his poem of the Trojan war haâ— been twice publish'd in Germany under the title of Cornelius Nepos Cornelius Nepos When Isca first fell under the Roman Jurisdiction does not plainly appear I am so far from thinking it conquer'd by Vespasian as Geoffery of Monmouth asserts when under Claudius the Emperour Suetonius tells us he was first shown to the world that I should think it was hardly then built Yet in the time of the Antonines it was probably very famous for Antoninus continues his Itinerary in these parts to this City and no farther It fell not absolutely under the dominion of the Saxons before the year after their coming into Britain 465. Will. Malm. For then Athelstan forc'd the Britains who before that liv'd in the city in equal power with the Saxons out of it drove them beyond Tamar and encompass'd the city with a ditch a wall of square stone and bulwarks since that time our Kings have granted it many privileges and among the rest as we read it in the Book of William the Conqueror This city did not geld but when London York and Winchester did that was half a mark of silver for a Knight's fee. And in case of an expedition by land or sea it serv'd after the rate of five hides It hath also from time to time undergone much misery once spoil'd by an out-rage of the Danes in the year of our redemption 875 but most dismally by Sueno the Dane in the year 1003 being betray'd by one Hugh a Norman the governour of the city when it was laid level from the east to the west-gate and had scarce begun to recruit till William the Conqueror laid close siege to it at which time the Citizens not only shut up their gates against him but gall'd him with many bitter reflections however a part of their wall happening to fall down which the Historians of that age attribute to the hands of Providence a surrender soon follow'd at this time as it is in the said Survey-book the King had in this city 300 houses it paid 15 pounds a year Eight and forty houses were destroy'd after the King came into England After this it was press'd by three sieges yet easily escap'd them all First by Hugh Courtney Earl of Devonshire in the civil war between the houses of York and Lancaster again by r After Warbeck was vanquish'd the King gave great commendations to the citizens and bestow'd upon them the sword he then wore to be born before the Mayor and also a cap of maintenance Perkin Warbeck a sham and counterfeit prince who being a young man and of mean descent by pretending to be Richard Duke of York the second son of K. Edward 4. rais'd a very dangerous war 5 Against Henry the Seventh thirdly by the seditious Cornish in the year 1549. when the citizens tho' under a most sad want of all sorts of provisions continu'd loyal till John Baron Russel rais'd the siege Å¿ For this deliverance the 6th of August was appointed to be and is still annually observ'd as a day of thanksgiving and commonly call'd Jesus-day K. Edw. 6. as a reward of their loyalty gave them the rich mannour of Ex-Island But Exeter has not suffer'd so much by these enemies as by certain heaps Wears as they call them t His name was Hugh Courtney and the true
Dikes so that probably the Saxons might draw them to divide the great Lordships or for some such purpose c Upon what ground Mr. Camden places Wodensburge Wodâ—â—burgâ— upon this Dike does not appear There are no remains of such a name in any village near it except it be Woodborow three miles south of it but then there is not the least sign or tradition of a battle fought there One would rather guess that Wanborow on the borders of Wiltshire and Barkshire is the town mention'd by our Historians For as Wodensdic pass'd into Wansdick so might Wodensburgh by the same reason be chang'd into Wanburh or Wanborow And without doubt this has been formerly a town of great note as appears by the quantities of Roman Coins that have been frequently found at it and the neighbourhood of a Saxon Camp on Badbury-hill plainly shews that the battle must have been fought hereabouts d Now to begin with North-Wiltshire the Thames before it comes to Creeklade receives from the north a little river call'd Churn not far from which is Pulton â—on a town within the bounds of Glocestershire yet belongs to and is reckon'd a part of Wiltshire where was a Priory of the Order of S. Gilbert founded in the time of Edw. 1. After this brook has enter'd the Thames they go to Cricklade â—klade call'd Creckanford Cricgelada c. and by the Saxon-Annals Creccagelade and Craeccilade where if the Monkish Writers could always be rely'd upon we might safely settle a Greek school which they in a manner unanimously affirm to have been founded or rather restored by that learned Archbishop of Canterbury Theodorus But those over-credulous Authors seem to have no other grounds besides the bare affinity of names and to make that a good argument â—ecem â—ptores â—4 l. 59. are willing to have it call'd Greklade which makes their opinion so much the more plausible How true the matter of fact may be I shall not undertake to determine since â—a Reâ— Alfredi that point has been already pretty warmly manag'd on both sides It is certain however that Cricklade has formerly been a town of great reputation for it appears by the Red Book in the Exchequer that there once belong'd to it 1300 Hidelands and it gave name to the Hundred of Cricklade which is now united to that of High-worth But if it's Greek-school have nothing to support it besides the similitude of names I fancy it may with more reason be deriv'd either from the British Cerigwlâd i.e. a stony country to which the nature of the soil does very well agree or from the Saxon craecca a brook and ladian to empty for here the Churn and Rey empty themselves into the Thames It has now a Free-school founded by Robert Jenner Esq and endow'd by him with 40 l. per Annum e The river Avon is our next guide call'd for distinction's sake Lower-Avon probably the Antona of Tacitus and the Bladon of William of Malmesbury which at it's first entry into Wiltshire crosses the Foss-way â—way still very plain in this part of the country From Cirencester it comes into this County near Kemble â—well and so runs west of Crudwell which gave the title of Baroness to Lady Mary Lucas of Crudwell whose Father John Lord Lucas â—r MS. built here a Free-school and endow'd it with 20 l. per An. by Ashley to Long Newnton Then west of Brokenbridge to Easton-Grey â—on and so not far from Sherston which appears to have been a Roman station as well by it's situation near this Consular Way as by the Roman Coins frequently found at it Some of the silver ones viz. of Antoninus Faustina Gordianus and Fl. Julianus are given to Ashmole's Musaeum in Oxford by Mr. John Aubrey What it 's name was in the Roman times we have no light in History but this in all probability was the place of battle between King Edmund and the Danes A. D. 1016. call'd by the Saxon Chronicle Sceorstan For as the agreement of the names justifie the conjecture so do the particular circumstances both of the place and action The several barrows hereabouts put it beyond all dispute that there has been a battle and the Inhabitants have to this day a tradition that it was against the Danes Now this of K. Edmund's lays best claim to it both because Sherston is nearer to Pen where the last battle before this was fought than any town yet assign'd to be the place and also because the account that Florence of Worcester has left us of that matter agrees very well to it He expresly says his Sceorstan was in Wiccia within the borders whereof this Sherston is For there is no doubt but Wiccia extended on both sides the Severn as far as the Kingdom of Mercia did now Camden has observ'd out of Ethelwerd that the Avon was the limit between Mercia and the Kingdom of the West-Saxons and the learned â—cil â—1 p. Sir Henry Spelman tells us that Aldhelm Abbot of Malmsbury was present at a Mercian Synod so that without doubt this part of Wiltshire belong'd to Mercia and consequently this Sherston might be in Wiccia And this is confirm'd by that passage in Brompton where he says that the cities of Cirencester and Chippenham were in the south part of the Country of the Wiccians From Sherston the Fosse passes by Alderton and Littleton-Drew and so east of West-Kington W Kington †Aubr MS in which parish on a Down call'd Ebdown is a single-ditch'd Camp suppos'd to be Roman Hence it goes to Castle-comb and so west of Slaughtenford Slaughtenford the very name of which denotes what the constant tradition of the Inhabitants has handed down concerning a great slaughter of the Danes in this place Their Camp might probably be * Ibid. that double Entrenchment in Bury-wood between Colern and North-Wraxall not far from which the Fosse enters Somersetshire at the Shire-stones f The Avon having cross'd the Foss-way runs directly to Malmsbury Malmsbury call'd by the Saxon Annals Mealdelmesbyrig which Geoffrey of Monmouth without any warrant from authentick History affirms to have been a town in the Roman times and built some hundreds of years before their coming into this Island However 't is certain that early in the Saxon times it was a Castle belonging to the Bishops of the West-Saxons and in all probability this is the place from whence the Charters from Eleutherius to Aldhelm are thus dated Actum publicè juxta flumen Badon As for the Altar-monument in the Church said to be King Aethelstan's it is so far from having been erected immediately after his death that it seems to have been put up long since the Conquest and possibly since the Reformation For William of Malmsbury tells us that this King was interr'd under the High-Altar whereas the monument is in the Nave of the Church and grass grows where the Choir was A. D. 956. after the Monks had
Ambri famous for the Monastery of 300 Monks founded here by Ambrosius on purpose that they should pray for the souls of those that were slain by the treachery of Hengist as also for being the burial-place of Quinever wife to the victorious King Arthur whose tomb was found here within this last Century and this Inscription on the wall in massy-gold letters R. G. A. C. 600. the antiquity of which is very suspicious not only because by this computation she must have liv'd almost 50 years after K. Arthur but also because several Historians of good credit affirm that she was bury'd at Glassenbury Here was a Synod held in King Edgar's reign and A. D. 995. Elfrick was elected Archbishop of Canterbury at this place It enjoy'd great Privileges at the time of the Conquest for in Domesday-book we find Amblesbury nunquam geldavit nec hidata fuit In the year 1177. the Abbess and 30 Nuns were for their incontinence and loose lives expell'd and dispers'd into other Religious Houses to be kept under stricter discipline whereupon King Henry gave this Monastery to the Abbey of Fontevralt and so a Convent of those Nuns were sent over the same year and admitted into full possession of this Abbey After it came to be in great repute and not only Q. Eleanor was Nun here but also Mary daughter of K. Edw. 1. and 13 Noblemen's daughters were veil'd here on Assumption-day A. D. 1285. ff Next is Everley Everley or Eburlegh the country-seat of King Ina above which in the way to Lurgeshall on the highest hill in Wiltshire call'd Suthbury-hill is a vast fortification encompass'd with two deep ditches and of an oval figure All along the declivity of the hill there runs a deep trench ditch'd on both sides made probably to secure their communication with some watering place in the neighbouring Bourn It certainly appears to have been a Danish Camp whereby they seem to have commanded all this part of the Country and 6 or 7 barrows in the plain beneath may be thought to preserve the memory of a battle here Near this place is Escourt Escourt where not far from a great Causey suppos'd to be a Roman Vicinal way there was dug up last summer a large earthen vessel with two lesser pots in it one of which was full of ashes or bones The largest of these might probably be an * Rigaltii observat in Auctores Agrarios Obruendarium of the Romans wherein they inclos'd their Vascula Cineraria c. About four miles north of this place is Great-Bedwyn which in the Saxon times †Monast Angl. T. 1. p. 97. Hist Abend was a Metropolis of the bounds of Cissa a Viceroy of Wiltshire and Berkshire under the King of the West-Saxons This Cissa built a Castle in the south part of that city and call'd it Cisse the ditches of which are yet to be seen Here it was that Wulfere and Escwin fought a bloody battle An. 675. and the place has been lately honour'd by giving to the world the most famous Physician of his time Dr. Thomas Willis Not far from hence eastward is Tokenham Tokenham the best seat of his Grace the Duke of Somerset Being now return'd to the banks of the Avon we meet with Uphaven Uphaven for which Peter de Manly procur'd a weekly market of Henry 3. by presenting to him a Palfrey About a mile to the west is a large irregular Camp call'd Casterley Casterley it has but a single trench and the name seems to point out to us something of Roman About 2 miles north-west is Merdon Meâ—don which might probably enough be the Meretune or Meredune of the Saxon Annals famous for the battle between King Etheldred and the Danes For here remain to this day the marks of entrenchments and the largest barrow in these parts except Silbury together with a tradition of a sight and of some great man's being bury'd under the barrow gg But Silbury Silbury is the largest and most uniform barrow in this County and perhaps in all England Upon what account it was rais'd we have no light from antiquity the tradition is that King Sill or King Silber was here bury'd which if compar'd with History comes nearest to Ceol King of the West-Saxons who might possibly be slain hereabouts as his Uncle and Predecessor Ceaulin was slain at Wodensdike unless one should say that it comes from sel great and beorg a hill or barrow And since our Author from this hint makes a digression about Barrows Several sorts of Barrows we may also take notice that there are several sorts of them upon these Downs 1. Small circular trenches with very little elevation in the middle 2. Ordinary barrows 3. Barrows with ditches round them 4. Large oblong barrows some with trenches round them others without 5. Oblong barrows with stones set up all round them There are grounds to believe that few or none of these are land-marks as Mr. Camden would have them About half a mile from Silbury is Aubury Aubury * Aubr Monument Britan. MS. a monument more considerable in it self than known to the world For a village of the same name being built within the circumference of it and by the by out of it's stones too what by gardens orchards inclosures and such like the prospect is so interrupted that 't is very hard to discover the form of it It is environ'd with an extraordinary Vallum or Rampart as great and as high as that at Winchester and within it is a graff of a depth and breadth proportionable from which Mr. Aubrey inferrs that it could not be design'd for a fortification because then the Graff would have been on the outside From the north to the south port are 60 paces and as many from the west port to the east The breadth of the Rampart is 4 perches and that of the graff the same The graff has been surrounded all along the edge of it with large stones pitch'd on end most of which are now taken away but some marks remaining give one the liberty to guess they stood quite round From this place to West-Kennet †Aubr ibid. West-Kennet is a walk that has been enclos'd on each side with large stones only one side at present wants a great many but the other is almost if not quite entire above which place on the brow of the hill is another Monument encompass'd with a circular trench and a double circle of stones four or five foot high tho' most of them are now fallen down the diameter of the outer circle 40 yards and of the inner 15. Between West-Kennet and this place is a walk much like that from Aubury thither at least a quarter of a mile in length About 80 yards from this monument in an exact plain round it there were some years ago great quantities of humane bones and skeletons dug up which probably were the bones of the Saxons and Danes slain at
honour of the deceased party When the Roman Empire began to decline and barbarous nations made frequent incursions into their provinces then the British armies fearing they might be involv'd in the calamity of their Neighbours chose themselves Emperors first Marcus then Gratian both of whom they presently murder'd and lastly â—tura â—runt â—tantine 〈◊〉 chose â—â—eror â—he sake 〈…〉 in the year 107. they * chose one Constantine purely for the sake of his name and against his own will in this city Caer Segont as Ninnius and Gervasius Dorobernensis tell us He setting sail from Britaine arrived at Bologne in France and got all the Roman forces as far as the Alps to joyn him defended Valence a city of Gaule with great resolution against the forces of Honorius the Emperor and set a garrison upon the †Rhine â—henum that was before defenseless He built several fortresses in the passages of the Alpes In Spain by the assistance of Constans his son whom from a Monk he had rais'd to the title of Augustus he was very successful and then sending letters to Honorius to beg pardon for his crime in suffering the soldiers to force upon him the Purple received back an Imperial Robe from that Emperour Buoy'd up with this he pass'd the Alpes with a design to march to Rome but hearing of the death of Alaric the Goth who had been a friend to his cause he retreated to Arles where he fixed the Imperial seat commanded the city to be call'd †after his own name â—tantiâ—â—â— and summon'd thither a solemn meeting of seven Provinces In the mean time Gerontius rais'd a faction against his Master and after he had traiterously slain Constans his son at Vienne in Gaule closely besieged Constantine the Father in Arles but while one Constantius sent by the Emperour Honorius was marching against him with an army Gerontius laid violent hands upon himself In the mean time Constantine being reduc'd to great necessity by the closeness of this siege and by some unhappy sallies of the garrison brought to despair he quitted his honour and that load of fortune and entring into the Church took upon him the Order of a * Priest â—â—y upon which the city was presently surrendred and he led prisoner into Italy where he was beheaded with Julian his son whom he entitled the Noble 〈◊〉 entiâ—â—e 〈◊〉 and Sebastian his brother The History of these affairs which is before deliver'd more at large I have here abridged from Zosimus Zosomen Nicephorus Orosius and Olympiodorus that truth may triumph over the vanity of those who by the help of their own invention have adulterated this story with their ridiculous and simple forgeries Our Historians report that in this city was the inauguration of our martial King Arthur and soon after the place was demolish'd either in the Saxon Wars or when Athelwolf in rebellion against King Edward his brother assisted by that crew of Danish Robbers destroy'd all this country as far as Basing-stoke Nothing now remains but the walls which though they have lost their coping and battlements seem to have been of a great height For by the rubbish and ruins the earth is grown so high that I could scarce thrust my self through a †passage which they call Onion's hole â—â—gipâ—râ— tho' I stoop'd very low The walls however remain in a great measure entire only some few gaps there are in those places where the gates have been and out of these very walls there grow Oaks of such a vast bigness incorporated as it were with the stones and their roots and boughs spreading so far round that they even raise an admiration in all that behold them In compass the walls contain about two Italian miles so that perhaps from the largeness of the place the Saxons call'd it Selcester that is a great city Sel what For Sel seems in their language to have signified great since Asserius Menevensis interprets the Saxon word Selwood by Sylva magna i.e. a great wood On the west-side of the walls where 't is a level there runs a long ridge cast up for defence of the place It includes about 80 acres of land a good and fat soil now divided into separate fields with a little grove towards the west and eastward near the gate a farm-house with a small Church of modern building in which while I search'd for ancient Inscriptions I found nothing but some Coats of Arms in the windows viz. in a field sable seven Fusils argent Bendwise as also in a field sable a Fesse between two cheverns Or and in a shield Or an eagle display'd with two heads gules Arms of the Blewets Bainards and Cusanz I find these last to be the Arms of the Blewets to whom this estate came after the time of William the Conquerour the second are the Arms of the noble family of Bainard of Leckham and the first is the Coat of the family of the Cusanz by whom this estate pass'd hereditarily from the Blewets to the Bainards But in the reign of William the Conquerour this was in the possession of William de Ow the Norman who being accus'd of treason appeal'd to a tryal of his innocence by Duel but being conquered he was by command of King William Rufus punish'd with the loss of his eyes and testicles The inhabitants of this place told me it had been a constant observation of theirs that tho' the soil here be fat and fertile yet in a sort of baulks that cross one another the corn never grows so thick as in the other parts of the field and along these they imagine the streets of the old city to have run Here are commonly dug up British tiles and great plenty of Roman Coins which they call Onion-pennies from one Onion whom they foolishly fancy to have been a Giant and an inhabitant of this city There are often found too some inscriptions which the ignorance of the Country-people has robb'd the world of There is only one brought up to London and placed in the garden of the honourable William Cecil Baron of Burghley and Lord High Treasurer of England which is this MEMORIAE FL. VICTORI NAE T. TAM VICTOR CONIUX POSVIT I shall not be positive as some others are that this was a monument in memory of Victorina who was called Mater Castrorum i.e. Mother of the Camp and who rais'd the Victorini son and grandson Posthumus Lollianus Marius and Tetricus Caesars in Gaule and Britain against Gallienus the Emperor But I have somewhere read that there were two Victors in Britaine and that both flourished at the same time one son of Maximus the Emperor the other * Praetorio Praefectus Praefect of the Guards to the same Emperor and mention'd by St. Ambrose in his Epistles But I dare affirm that neither of these was he who set up this monument in memory of his wife As there is one Roman military way that leads from hence directly southward
Moels and the Courteneys much augmented his estate His son Robert who marry'd the daughter and heir of the Lord Botereaux enrich'd the family more and then Robert his son who had to Wife Eleanor the daughter and heir of William Molines upon which account he was honour'd among the Barons of the Kingdom by the name of Lord Molines and during the Civil Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster was beheaded at New-castle made great additions to it Thomas his son slain at Salisbury in his father's life-time left Mary an only daughter married to Edward Lord Hastings with whom he had a great estate But Walter brother to the said Thomas begat Edward Hungerford father of that Walter whom Henry 8. created Baron Hungerford of Heytesbury and condemned afterwards for a very heinous crime nevertheless Queen Mary restor'd his children to every thing but the dignity of Barons h Not far from hence towards the South lies Widehay â—idehay long the seat of the Barons of St. Amand â—â—ons of Amand. whose estate by marriage came to Gerard Braybrok and Elizabeth his eldest grand-daughter by his son Gerard transferr'd the estate by marriage to William Beauchamp who being summon'd to Parliament by the name of William Beauchamp of St. Amand â—â—uchamp 〈◊〉 Amand was a Baron as his son Richard also was who had no legitimate issue From thence the river Kenet taking it's course between Hemsted Marshall anciently held * Per virgam Marescalliae by the Rod of the Marshalsea and belonging to the Marshals of England where †Sir Thomas Thomas Parry Treasurer of the Houshold to Queen Elizabeth built a very fine seat and Benham Valence so call'd from it's belonging to William Valence Earl of Pembroke 7 But Queen Elizabeth gave it to John Baptista Castilion a Piemontes of her Privy Chamber for faithful service in her dangers comes to Spinae Spinae the old town mention'd by Antoninus which retaining still it's name is call'd Spene but instead of a town is now a poor little village scarce a mile from Newbury a noted town that had it's rise out of the ruines of it For Newbury Newbury with us is as much as the New Borough that is in regard to Spinae the more ancient place which is quite decay'd but hath left the name in part of Newbury it self still call'd Spinhamlands And if nothing else yet this certainly might prove that Newbury fetcht it's original from Spinae for that the inhabitants of Newbury owns the little village Spene for their mother tho' Newbury compar'd with Spene is for it's buildings and neatness a very considerable town and much enrich'd by cloathing well seated upon a plain and has the river Kenet running through it In the Norman Conquest this town fell to Ernulph de Hesdin Earl of Perch Lib. Inquisitionum whose great grandson Thomas Earl of Perch being slain at the siege of Lincoln the Bishop of Chalons his heir sold it to William Marshall Earl of Pembroke who likewise held the mannour of Hempsted hard by spoken of before as did his successors Marshals of England till Roger Bigod for his obstinacy lost his honour of Earl Marshal and possessions too which notwithstanding by much †precariò intercession he obtain'd again for life i The Kenet continues on his course from hence and receives by the way the little river Lamborn Lamborn which at it's rise imparts the name to a small market-town that in ancient times belong'd to Alfrith K. Alfred's Cousin having been left him by the said King in his Will and afterwards was the Fitzwarin's who obtain'd the privilege of a market of Henry 3. But now it belongs to the Knightly family of Essex which derives it's pedigree from William de Essex Under-Treasurer of England in Edw. 4.'s time and from those of the same sirname in Essex that liv'd in great repute and honour there From thence this little river runs beneath g In the late Civil Wars it was a garrison for the King Dennington Dunnington-castle call'd also Dunnington a little but very neat castle seated on the brow of a woody hill having a fine prospect and windows on all sides very lightsome They say it was built by Sir Richard de Abberbury Knight founder also of God's House beneath it for the relief of the poor Afterwards it was the residence of h It was the house of Jeoffery Chaucer and there under an Oak commonly call'd Chaucer's Oak he is said to have penn'd many of his famous Poems The Oak till within these few years was standing Chaucer then of the De la Poles and within the memory of our fathers of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk And now the Kenet having run a long way passes at last by Aldermaston Aldermaston which Henry 1. gave to Robert Achard from whose posterity by the De la Mares it came at length by right of marriage to the Fosters a Knightly family At last it runs into the Thames having first with it's windings encompass'd a great part of Reading This little city or town of Reading Reading call'd in Saxon * Per virgam Marescalliae Rheadyge of Rhea that is the River or of the British word Redin signifying Fern which grew in great plenty hereabouts for the neatness of it's streets the fineness of it's buildings for it's riches and the reputation it hath gotten for making of cloath goes beyond all the other towns of this county tho' it hath lost it's greatest ornaments the beautiful Church and very ancient Castle k For this as Asserius tells us the Danes kept possession of when they drew a ditch between the Kenet and the Thames and hither they retreated after King Ethelwolph had routed them at Inglefield Inglefield a little village in the neighbourhood which gives name to a noble and ancient family But it was so demolish'd by K. Henry 2. because it was a place of refuge for King Stephen's party that nothing now remains of it but the bare name in the next street Near to this K. Hen. 1. having pull'd down a little Nunnery founded in former times by Queen Alfritha to expiate for some crimes built a most magnificent Abbey for Monks and enrich'd it with great Revenues Which Prince to use the very words of his Charter of Foundation Because three Abbeys in the kingdom of England were formerly for their sins destroy'd that is Reading Chelsea and Leonminstre which were long in Lay-mens hands by the advice of the Bishops founded a new Monastery at Reading and endow'd it with Reading Chelsea and Leonminstre In this Abbey was interr'd the Founder himself King Henry 7 With his wife both veil'd and crown'd for that she had been a Queen and professed Nun. Maud the Empress together with his daughter Maud as appears by the private history of the place tho' some report that she was bury'd at Becc in Normandy Who as well
nation took the Veil while it seeketh the sea seeth Elham a market town of which I have read nothing but that the manour was the inheritance of Julian Leibourn a Lady of great honour in her time who was mother of Laurence Hastings first Earl of Pembroke of that sirname Inq. 2. E. 3. and after wife to William Clinton Earl of Huntington Then it holdeth his course by divers Villages which thereof receive the addition of Bourn as Bishops-bourn Hawles-bourn Patricks-bourn and Beakes-bourn This Bourn is that river Stoure as Caesar calleth it as I have observ'd travelling lately in these parts which Caesar came unto when he had marched by night almost 12 Italian miles from the sea-coast and where he had the first encounter in his second expedition into Britain with the Britains whom he drave into the woods where they had a place fortified both by nature and men's labour with a number of trees hewen down and plashed to foreclose the entries But yet the Romans forc'd an entry drave them out and thereabout encamped The place of Camp as I hear is near Hardes a place of ancient Gentlemen of that sirname descended from Estengrave Herengod and the Fitz-Bernards where it divides it's waters into two chanels and leaving that name is call'd Wantsume and makes the Isle of Thanet I le 〈◊〉 Tâ—â—net on the west and south sides which on other parts is wash'd by the sea Solinus nam'd this Athanaton and in other Copies Thanaton the Britains Inis Ruhin as Asser witnesses possibly for Rhutupin from the City Rhutupium hard by the Saxons Tanet and Tanetland and we Tenet Teneâ— The soil is all a white chalk very fruitful in corn and grass 't is in length 8 miles and 4 in breadth and was look'd upon formerly to have some six hundred ‖ Whâ—â—â— in 〈◊〉 call'd Hâ—â—â—â—â—â— câ—â—â—â—â— â—s 〈◊〉 thâ—â—gâ—◠〈◊〉 10◠〈◊〉 was in Lâ—tin tâ—â—â—ly Fâ—â—â—â— M◠〈◊〉 Maâ—â— families in it upon which account there is corruptly read in Bede milliarium sexcentorum i.e. 600 miles instead of familiarum sexcentarum 600 families As to what Solinus observes that there are no snakes in this Island and that earth carry'd from hence kills them experience has discover'd it to be an error So that that Etymology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the death of serpents falls to the ground Here was the first landing of the Saxons here they first settl'd by the permission of Vortigern here was their place of refuge and here it was that Guortimer the Britain gave them that bloody defeat when at the Lapis Tituli Laâ—â—is â—â—tuâ—â— for so Ninnius calls it as we almost in the same sense Stonar and p That it was a haven is plainly prov'd by Mr. Somner from old Records wherein it is written Estanore which ore implies a landing-place in the same sense that it does in Cerdicesore Cymenesore c. But then that destroys the analogy in sense between Lapis tituli and Stonar upon which our Author grounds his conjecture it appears to have been a haven he oblig'd them to make a hasty and disorderly retreat to their Pinnaces or little boats In which place as the same Author tells us he commanded them to bury him because he thought that might curb the insolence of the Saxons like Scipio Africanus who order'd his Tomb to be so contriv'd as to look towards Africa thinking even the sight of it would cast a damp upon the Carthaginians It was also in this Island at Wippedfleete so call'd from Wipped a Saxon slain there that Hengist routed the Britains after they were almost worn out with so many engagements z Many years after Austin landed in this Island to whose blessing the credulous Priests ascrib'd the fruitfulness of it and Gotcelin a Monk gives us this rant Tanet a land happy in it's fruitfulness but most of all happy for it's affording reception to so many guests who brought God along with them or rather to so many citizens of heaven Egbert third King of Kent to appease the Lady Domneua whom he had formerly very much injur'd granted her a fair estate here 596. â—â—ter upon which she built a Nunnery for 70 Virgins Mildred was Prioress there who for her sanctity was kalender'd among the Saints The Kings of Kent were very liberal to it especially Withred who to make a judgment of the custom of that age from his Donation to complete his confirmation laid a turf of the ground he gave upon the holy Altar Afterwards this Island was so pester'd with the plundering Danes who by all kinds of cruelty polluted this Monastery of Domneua's that it did not recover it self before the settlement of the Norman Government 70 Here also landed Lewis of France who called in by the tumultuous Barons of England against King John published by their instigation a pretended right to the Crown of England For that whereas King John for his notorious treason against King Richard his brother absent in the Holy Land was by his Peers lawfully condemned and therefore after the death of King Richard the right oâ— the Crown was devolved to the Q. of Castile sister to the said K. Richard and that she and her heirs had convey'd over their right to the said Lewis and his wife her daughter Also that King John had forfeited his kingdom both by the murder of his Nephew Arthur whereof he was â—ound guilty by his Peers in France and also by subjecting his Kingdoms which were always free to the Pope as much as in him lay contrary to his oath at his Coronation and that without the consent oâ— the Peers of the Realm c. Which I leave to Historians with the success of his Expedition lest I might seem to digress extraordinarily â—e â—eat 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 parts Nor must I here omit the mention of a thing very much to the honour of the inhabitants those especially who live by the roads or harbours of Margat Ramsgate and Brodstear For they are exceeding industrious are as it were Amphibious creatures and get their living both by sea and land they deal in both elements are both fishers and ploughmen both husbandmen and mariners and the self same hand that holds the plough steers the ship likewise According to the several seasons they make nets fish for 〈…〉 Cod Herring and Mackarel go to sea and export their commodities And those very men too dung their ground plough sow harrow reap inne being quick at both employments and thus the course of their Labours runs round And when there happen any shipwracks as there do here now and then for those shallows and â—â—â—ini shelves so much dreaded by sea-men lye full over against it the Godwin of which in its proper place among the Islands the Brakes the Four-foot the Whitdick c. they are very industrious in their endeavours to save the Lading On the south-side of the mouth of Wantsum which they imagine has chang'd it's
another small river that runs into it from the East â—â—â—kesbuâ—â—â— between which is seated Tewkesbury in the Saxon tongue Theocsbury by others nam'd Theoci Curia so call'd from Theocus that there led the life of an hermit a large and fair town having 3 bridges over 3 rivers leading to it famous for the making of woollen cloth â—â—â—tâ—rd and smart biting Mustard but formerly most noted for an ancient Monastery g founded by Odo and Dodo two brothers in the year of our Lord 715 where their palace formerly stood as they shew us by the following inscription HANC AULAM REGIA DODO DUX CONSECRARI FECIT IN ECCLESIAM Which being almost ruin'd by age and the fury of Wars was repair'd by Robert Fitz-hamon Fitz-hamon a Norman 4 Lord of Corboile and Thorigny in Normandy translating Monks from Cranborn in Dorsetshire hither piously designing to make what satisfaction he was able for the loss the Church of Bajeux in Normandy sustain'd which Henry 1. consumed with fire to free him from prison but afterwards repenting of the fact rebuilt it It cannot saith William of Malmesbury be easily conceiv'd how much Robert Fitz-hamon adorned and beautified this Monastery where the stateliness of the buildings ravish'd the eyes and the pious charity of the Monks the affections of all persons that came thither In this Monastery he and his successors Earls of Glocester were interr'd who had a castle hard by call'd Holmes that is now ruin'd Neither was it less famous for the bloody overthrow that the Lancastrians received in this place in the year 1471 in which battel many of them were slain more taken and beheaded their power so weaken'd and their hopes so defeated by the death of Edward the only son of K. Hen. 6. and he very young whose brains were barbarously beaten out here that they were never afterwards able to make any head against King Edw. 4. Whence J. Leland writes thus of this town Ampla foro partis spoliis praeclara Theoci Curia Sabrinae qua se committit Avona Fulget nobilium sacrisque recondit in antris Multorum cineres quondam inclyta corpora bello Where Avon's friendly streams with Severn joyn Great Tewkesbury's walls renown'd for trophies shine And keep the sad remains with pious care Of noble souls the honour of the war From hence we go down the stream to Deorhirst Deorhirst which is mentioned by Bede it lyeth very low upon the Severn whereby it sustaineth great damages when the river overfloweth It had formerly a small Monastery which was ruined by the Danes but reflourished under Edward the Confessor who as we read in his Will assigned it with the government thereof to the Monastery of St. Denis near Paris But a little after as Malmesbury saith it was only an empty monument of antiquity h Over-against this in the middle of the river lies a place call'd Oleneag and Alney by the Saxons now the Eight i.e. an Island Famous upon this account that when the English and Danes had much weaken'd themselves by frequent encounters to shorten the War it was agreed that the fate of both nations should be determin'd by the valour of Edmund King of the English and Canutus King of the Danes in a single combat who after a long doubtful fight agreed upon a peace and the Kingdom was divided between them but Edmund being quickly taken out of the world not without suspicion of poyson the Dane seised upon the whole i From Deorhirst the river Severn 5 Runneth down by Haesfield which K. Hen. 3. gave to Richard Pauncefote whose successors built a fair house here and whose predecessors were possessed of fair lands in this country before and in the Conqueror's time in Wiltshire after various windings and turnings parts it self to make the Isle of Alney rich and beautiful in fruitful green meadows and then hastens to the chief city of the county which Antoninus calls Clevum or Glevum the Britains Caer Gloui the Saxons Gleaucester we Glocester Glocester the vulgar Latins Glovernia others Claudiocestria from the Emperour Claudius who as is reported gave it that name when he here married his daughter Genissa to Arviragus the British King whom Juvenal mentions Regem aliquem capies vel de temone Britanno Excidet Arviragus Some captive King thee his new Lord shall own Or from his British chariot headlong thrown The proud Arviragus comes tumbling down as if Claudius his three wives brought him any daughters besides Claudia Antonia and Octavia or as if Arviragus was known in that age when his name was scarce heard of in Domitian's reign But leaving those that make their own conjectures pass for the records of venerable antiquity I should rather adhere to Ninnius his opinion who derives this name from Glouus the great grand-father of King Vortigern only I find Glevum mention'd long before by Antoninus which the distance from Corinium with its name confirm to be the same But as the Saxon name Gleauecester came from Glevum so Glevum by analogy came from the British name Caer Glowi and that I believe from the British word Glow which in their language signifies fair and splendid so that Caer Glow is the same as a fair City Upon the same account among the Greeks arose the names of Callipolis Callidromos and Callistratia and amongst the English Brightstow †And Shirley and in this County Fair-ford 6 Fairley c. This City was built by the Romans on purpose to be a curb to the Silures and a Colony placed there call'd Colonia Glevum for a The Inscription is still to be read at Bath I have seen the remains of an ancient stone in the walls of Bath near the North-gate with the following Inscription * decurio DEC COLONIAE GLEV VIXIT ANN. LXXXVI This City lyes extended upon Severne and on that side where it is not wash'd with the river is secured in some places with a strong wall being beautify'd with many fair Churches and handsome well-built Streets On the south part was once a Castle built of square stone but now almost quite ruin'd it was first raised in the time of William the Conqueror and 16 houses were demolished in that place as Doomsday book mentions it to make room for this edifice About which as Roger de Monte writes Roger the son of Myles Constable of Glocester commenced his action at Law against King Henry 2. and also Walter his brother lost the right he had both to the City and Castle Ceaulin King of the West-Saxons first took this City by force of arms from the Britains in the year 570. then it came under the Jurisdiction of the Mercians under whom it long flourished in great repute here Osrick King of the Northumbrians by the permission of Ethelred King of the Mercians founded a great and stately Monastery for Nuns over which Kineburga Eadburga and Eva all Mercian Queens successively presided Edelfieda likewise that famous Lady
call'd the Vineyard Vineyards and another on a rising hill by Oversbridge near Glocester where was a large house moted round belonging to the Bishop of Glocester built about the year 1351. by the Abbot of Glocester but 't was totally ruin'd in the late Civil Wars b The Custom of having forfeited Estates return'd them is now lost by desuetude for upon the strictest enquiries among understanding men it does not appear that 't is us'd oâ— claim'd in any part of this County c The present Forest of Dean â—ean forest contains about 30000 Acres the soil a deep clay fit for the growth of Oak The hills are full of Iron-ore which colour the several Springs that have their passage through them Here are several Fornaces for the making of Iron which by the violence of the fire becomes fluid and being brought to their forges are beat out into Barrs of various shapes The workmen are very industrious in seeking out the Beds of old Cinders which not being fully exhausted are burnt again in the furnaces and make the best Iron The Oak of the forest was so very considerable that 't is said to have been part of the Instructions of the Spanish Armada to destroy the timber of this place But what a foreign power could not effect our own Civil dissentions did for it went miserably to wrack in the Civil wars d The Aventon â—venton mention'd by our Author is at present call'd Alvington being a Chapel of Ease to Wollaston the estate of Henry Duke of Beaufort St. Brevial's-Castle is now ruin'd and serves as a prison for offenders in the Forest It has been always esteem'd a place of trust and honour and several of the Nobility have been Governours of it His Grace the Duke of Beaufort is Constable of the place Here it is that the Mine-Court Swain-Mote and Speech-Court are kept wherein are several old Customs of Pleading e By the river Wye lyeth Newland â—wland a large Parish standing in a pleasant plain where are vast Mine-pits of 60 or 70 foot deep and as large as a considerable Church Mr. Jones a Hamborow-Merchant erected here an Alms house for 16 poor men and women and gave a very good house and stipend to a Lecturer the Company of Haberdashers in London being Trustees North-west from hence is Westbury â—estbury a very large Parish reputed about twenty miles in compass f Our next guide is the Severn â—ern which runs in this County above 40 miles by land 't is in some places 2 or 3 miles over and yet the tyde floweth the whole length of the current as high as Tewkesbury It is remarkable that the tydes one year are largest at full Moon the next at the change and and that one year the night-tydes are largest the other the day-tydes g This river first goes to Tewkesbury â—wkesâ—y where but little of the Abbey remains saving only the Church which is now Parochial and had once a fair Spire upon it Mr. Fuller in his Church-History makes it a controverted point whether the Abbot of Tewkesbury had a voice in Parliament but by Bishop Godwin's Annals it appears he had one 1539. So that this County had four mitred Abbies Glocester Cirencester Tewkesbury and Winchcomhe The Corporation was dissolv'd by the Proclamation of King James 2. 1688. h At a little distance from hence is Deorhirst â—rhirst where Mr. Powell in the year 1675. dug up in his Orchard an old stone with this Inscription Odda Dux jussit hanc Regiam Aulam construi atque dedicari in honorem S. Trinitatis pro animâ germani sui Elfrici quae de hoc loco assumpta Ealdredus vero Episcopus qui eandem dedicavit 2 Idibus April 14. autem anno S. Regni Eadwardi Regis Anglorum i.e. Duke Odda commanded this Royal Palace to be built and to be dedicated to the Holy Trinity for the soul of his Cousin Elfrick which was parted from his body in this place But Ealdred was the Bishop who consecrated it on the second of the Ides of April and the 14th year of the reign of the Holy King Edward i Next is what our Author calls Oleaneag Olaniage in Saxon instead of Olanige for so our ancient Annals read it and makes it famous for the battle between Edmund and Canutus But general tradition will not allow this to be the place neither is it justify'd by any analogy between the old and new names Near Glocester betwixt Oversbridge and Maysemore there is an Island call'd to this day the Isle of Alney which one need not scruple to say was the very place of that action k From hence the Severn runs to Glocester Glocester in Saxon GleaÆ¿anceaster where the Castle mention'd by Mr. Camden is now the common Goal for Debtors and Felons The Monastery built there by Osrick being ruin'd and decay'd was repair'd by Beornulph King of the Mercians in the year 821. who chang'd the former institution into Seculars and they continued till Wulstan Bishop of Worcester plac'd Regulars there of the Order of St. Benedict in the year 1022. A learned Member of this Church has discover'd by some ancient Records that Ralph Willington and not the two mention'd by our Author built our Lady's Chapel and gave Lands to find two Priests for ever there The Offerings at King Edward's Tomb were very large for presently after his death so great a respect was paid to the memory of their injur'd Prince that the Town was scarce able to receive the Votaries that flock'd thither And the Register of the Abbey affirms that if all the Oblations had been expended upon the Church they might have built an entire new one from the very foundation The Tower is so neat and curious that several Travellers have affirm'd it to be one of the best pieces of Architecture in England Abbot Seabroke the first designer of it dying left it to the care of Robert Tully a Monk of this place which is intimated in thole two verses written in black Letters under the arch of the Tower in the Quire Hoc quod digestum specularis opusque politum Tullii haec ex onere Seabroke Abbate jubente The Whispering-place seems to be purely accidental for if one survey the out-side of the Church he will see that two parts of it were tackt on only as passages into a Chapel erected there l As for the City King John made it a Burrough to be govern'd by two Bailiffs and King Henry 3. who was crown'd here made it a Corporation On the south-side of the Abbey King Edward 1. erected a noble Free-stone-gate which is still call'd Edward's Gate it was repair'd by the last Abbot but almost demolisht in the late Civil wars K. Richard the third gave it his Sword and Cap of Maintenance and added the two Hundreds but after the Restoration of King Charles 2. they were taken away by Act of Parliament and the walls pull'd down because they had
afterwards the penitent King cleans'd the Sanctuary rebuilt the Monastery restor'd the old endowment and added new possessions and at last Roger Bishop of Salisbury gave the place to m One Wimund who instituted Canons Regular and became the first Prior of them a very learned Canon Regular who there setled a perpetual society of such Regular Canons for the service of God But leaving these matters let us return to the University The Danish storms being pretty well blown over the pious Prince K. Aelfred restor'd the Muses who had suffer'd a long exile to their former habitation and built three Colleges one for Grammarians another for Philosophers and a third for Divinity q But you have a larger account of this in the old Annals of the Monastery of Winchester In the year of our Lord's incarnation 1306 in the second year of St. Grimbald's coming over into England the University of Oxford was founded the first Regents there and Readers in Divinity were St. Neot an Abbot and eminent Professor of Theology and S. Grimbald an eloquent and most excellent Interpreter of the holy Scriptures Grammar and Rhetorick were taught by Asserius a Monk a man of extraordinary learning Logick Musick and Arithmetick were read by John Monk of St. Davids Geometry and Astronomy were profess'd by John a Monk and Collegue of S. Grimbald one of a sharp wit and immense knowledge These Lectures were often honour'd with the presence of the most illustrious and invincible Monarch K. Aelfred whose memory to every judicious taste shall be always sweeter than honey Soon after this as we read in a very fair MS. copy of that Asserius who was himself at the same time a Professor in this place there arose a sharp and grievous dissention between Grymbold and those learned men whom he brought hither with him and the old scholars whom he found here at his coming for these absolutely refus'd to comply with the Statutes Institutions and Forms of reading prescrib'd by Grimbold The difference proceeded to no great height for the space of three years yet there was always a private grudge and enmity between them which soon after broke out with the utmost violence imaginable To appease these tumults the most invincible K. Aelfred being inform'd of the faction by a message and complaint from Grymbold came to Oxford with design to accommodate the matter and submitted to a great deal of pains and patience to hear the cause and complaint of both parties The controversie depended upon this the old Scholars maintain'd that before the coming of Grymbold to Oxford learning did here flourish tho' the Students were then less in number than they had formerly been by reason that very many of them had been expell'd by the cruel tyranny of Pagans They farther declar'd and prov'd and that by the undoubted testimony of their ancient Annals that good orders and constitutions for the government of that place had been already made by men of great piety and learning such as Gildas Melkin Ninnius Kentigern and others who had there prosecuted their studies to a good old age all things being then manag'd in happy peace and quiet and that St. German coming to Oxford and residing there half a year what time he went thro' all England to preach down the Pelagian Heresie did well approve of their rules and orders The King with incredible humility and great attention heard out both parties exhorting them with pious and importunate entreaties to preserve love and amity with one another Upon this he left them in hopes that both parties would follow his advice and obey his instructions But Grymbold resenting these proceedings retir'd immediately to the Monastery at Winchester which K. Aelfred had lately founded and soon after he got his tomb to be remov'd thither to him in which he had design'd his bones should be put after his decease and laid in a vault under the chancel of the church of St. Peters in Oxford which church the said Grymbold had raised from the ground of stones hewn and carv'd with great art and beauty This happy restauration of Learning receiv'd two or three interruptions in few years For in the reign of K. Etheldred n Probably out of revenge for the injuries they had done 'em An. 1002. when upon the King's Commission to kill all the Danes in England the execution at Oxon. was more particularly severe the Danes sack'd and burn'd the city And soon after Harold sirnam'd * Levipes Haretoot was so incens'd against the place for the death of some of his friends in a tumult and prosecuted his revenge in so barbarous a manner that the scholars were miserably banish'd from their studies and the University a sad spectacle lay as it were expiring till the time of the Conquerour when too as some say he besieg'd and took this city o Notwithstanding all the Copies of Matthew Paris and Roger Wendover call it Oxonia which is confirm'd as well by other Authorities as an old Tradition that while the Conquerour was in his march to the north for the quiet of these parts he came to Oxford which refusing to yield to him and a soldier from the wall highly affronting him he storm'd it on the north-side and getting possession gave the greatest part of the city to Robert de Oily who in the Survey had within the walls and without 42 houses inhabited and 8 lying waste but those who write so have been impos'd upon by reading in faulty copies Oxonia instead of Exonia Yet that it was even then a place of study we may learn from the express words of Ingulph who flourish'd in that age p The Editors of Ingulph 684. found this passage in all the Copies which confutes those who would make us believe it is not genuine I Ingulph being first placed at Westminster was afterward remov'd to the Study of Oxford where in the learning of Aristotle I improv'd beyond most of those who were of equal years with me c. For what we now call Universities they call'd Studies as I shall by and by observe However about this time the city was so impoverish'd that whereas according to the general survey there were reckon'd within and without the walls 750 houses besides 24 mansions upon the walls 500 of 'em were not able to pay the geld or tax When to speak from the authority of Domesday-book this city paid for toll and gable and other customs yearly to the King twenty pounds and six sextaries of honey and to Earl Algar ten pounds Soon after Robert de Oili a noble Norman before-mention'd when for the reward of his services he had received from the Conquerour a large portion of lands in this county he q An. 1071. by order of the King who was jealous of the fidelity of those parts built a castle on the west-side of the City fortified with large trenches and rampires and in it r It was not built for a Parish-Church for the Oseney-Register
springeth out of a pond vulgarly call'd Brown's-well for Brent-well that is in old English Frog-well passeth down between Hendon which Archbishop Dunstan born for the advancement of Monks purchased for some few gold Bizantines which were imperial pieces of gold coined at Byzantium or Constantinople and gave to the Monks of St. Peter of Westminster And Hampsted-hill from whence you have a most pleasant prospect to the most beautiful City of London and the lovely Country about it Over which the ancient Roman military way led to Verulam or St. Albans by Edgworth and not by High-gate as now which new way was opened by the Bishops of London about some 300 years since But to return Brent into whom all the small rivers of these parts resort runneth on by Brent-street an Hamlet to which it imparted its name watreth Hangerwood Hanwell Oiâ—terley-Park where Sir Thomas Gresham built a fair large house and so near her fall into the Thames giveth name to Brentford a fair thorough-fare and frequent Market Hard by is Brentford Brentford which receiv'd that name from the little river Brent where Edmund Ironside after he had oblig'd the Danes to draw off from the siege of London did so attack them as to force 'em to a disorderly flight wherein he kill'd great numbers of them From Stanes thus far all between the high-road along Hounslow and the Thames was call'd the Forrest or Warren of Stanes till Henry 3. as we read in his Charter deforrested and dewarren'd it Then 8 To the Thames side I saw Fulham Fulham in Saxon Fullonham i.e. a house of fowle which receives its greatest honour from the Bishop of London's Country-house 9 Standing there conveniently not far from the City albeit not so healthfully f And Chelsey Chelsey as if one should say Shelfsey so call'd from a bed of Sands in the river Thames 10 As some suppose but in Records 't is nam'd Chelche-hith adorn'd with stately buildings by Henry 8. William Powlett Marquess of Winchester and others g But amongst these London which is as it were the Epitome of all Britain the Seat of the British Empire and the †Camera Residence of the Kings of England is to use the Poet's comparison as much above the rest as the Cypress is above the little sprig Tacitus Ptolemy and Antoninus call it Londinium and Longidinium Ammianus Lundinum and Augusta Stephanus in his book of Cities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our British Lundayn the old Saxons Londen-ceaster Londen-byrig Londen-pyc foreigners Londra and Londres our own nation London London the fabulous Writers Troja Nova Dinas Belin i.e. the city of Belin and Caer Lud from one King Luddus whom they affirm to have given it both being and name But as for those new-broach'd names and originals as also Erasmus's conjecture that it came from Lindum a city of Rhodes I leave 'em to those that are inclin'd to admire them For my own part since Caesar and Strabo have told me British Towns that the ancient Britains call'd such woods or groves as they fenc'd with trees they had cut down Cities or Towns and since I have been inform'd that in British they call such places Llhwn I am almost of this opinion that London is by way of eminence simply call'd a City or a City in a wood But if that do not hit give me leave without the charge of inconstancy 11 While I disport in conjecture to guess once more that it might have it's name from the same original that it had it's growth and glory I mean Ships call'd by the British Lhong so that London is as much as a Harbour or City of Ships For the Britains term a City Dinas Dinas which the Latins turn'd into Dinum Upon which account it is call'd in one place Longidinium and in a * Naenia Song of an ancient British Bard Lhongporth i.e. a port or harbour for Ships And by the same word Bologne in France in Ptolemy Gessoriacum Navale is turn'd by the British Glossary Bolung Long. For several cities have had their names from shipping as Naupactus Naustathmos Nauplia Navalia Augusti c. None of which can lay better claim to the name of an harbour than our London For 't is admirably accommodated with both Elements standing in a fruitful soil abounding with every thing seated upon a gentle ascent and upon the river Thames which without trouble or difficulty brings it in the riches of the world For by the convenience of the tide coming in at set hours with the safety and depth of the river which brings up the largest vessels it daily heaps in so much wealth both from East and West that it may at this day dispute the preheminence with all the Mart-towns in Christendom Moreover it is such a sure and complete station for ships that one may term it a grov'd wood so shaded is it with masts and sails h Antiquity has told us nothing of the first Founder as indeed Cities growing up by little and little but seldom know their original Notwithstanding this among others has fabulously deriv'd it self from the Trojans and is persuaded that Brute ‖ Abnepos second Nephew to the famous Aeneas was it's Founder But whoever built it the growth of it may convince 't was begun with a †Vitali genio lucky omen 12 Marked for life and long continuance and Ammianus Marcellinus has taught us to pay it a veneration upon account of it's Antiquity when even in his time which is twelve hundred years ago he calls it an ancient town And agreeably Cornelius Tacitus who flourish'd under Nero 13 1540. years since has told us that then 't was a place exceeding famous for the number of merchants and it's trade Even then nothing was wanting to complete it's glory but that it was not either a ‖ Municipium Free-borough or a Colony Nor indeed would it have been the interest of the Romans that a City of such vast trade should enjoy the privileges of a Colony or Free-borough for which reason I fancy they made it a Praefecture Praefecturae for so they call'd the towns wherein there were * Nundinae Fairs and Courts kept Not that they had Magistrates of their own but had Praefects sent them yearly to do justice who were to act in all publick affairs such as taxes tributes imposts †Militiae the business of the army c. according to the Instructions of the Roman Senate Upon which account it is that London is only term'd Opidum a town by Tacitus by the Panegyrist and by Marcellinus But altho' it had not a more honourable title yet it has been as powerful wealthy and prosperous as any and that almost without interruption under the Roman Saxon and Norman Governments scarce ever falling under any great calamity i In Nero's reign when the Britains under the conduct of Boadicia had unanimously resolv'd
to recover their old liberty the Londoners could not prevail upon Suetonius Paulinus either by cries or tears but that after he had got together assistance he would march and leave the city defenceless to the mercy of the enemy and they immediately dispatch'd those few that either by reason of their sex their old age or a natural inclination to the place had stay'd behind Nor had it suffer'd a less dismal massacre from the Franks had not the Divine Providence unexpectedly interpos'd For when C. Alectus had treacherously cut off C. Carausius C. Caraâ—sius a citizen of Menapia who depending upon the boisterousness of our sea A Panegyrick spoken to Constantius Caesar and falsly entitl'd to Maximiaâ— the difficulties of the war wherein Dioclesian was engag'd in the East and the Franks with that bold crew of sea-allies had kept back the revenues of Britain and Batavia and enjoy'd the title of Emperour as we learn from several of his Coins that are dug up for six years together when also M. Aurelius Asclepiodatus had cut off and defeated Alectus in a set battel who for three years together had usurp'd the government of Britain The Franks slain then the Franks that escap'd alive out of the engagement posted to London and were just ready to plunder the City when the Thames that always stood the Londoners a true friend luckily brought up some Roman soldiers that had been parted from the main fleet by a fog These fell upon the Barbarians in all parts of the City by which means the citizens were not only secure themselves but had the satisfaction of seeing their enemies destroy'd Then it is our Annals tell us that L. Gallus was slain near a little river which run almost thro' the midst of the City and was call'd from him Nantgall in British and in English Walbroke A name that remains in a street there under which I have heard there goes a ditch or sink to carry off the filth of the town It is not far from that great stone call'd London-stone London-Stone this I take to have been a Mile-stone such a one as they had in the Forum at Rome from which all the Journeys were begun since it stood in the middle of the City as it run out in length And hitherto I do not think London was walled round But our Historians tell us that a little after Constantine the Great Coins of Helena often found under the walls at the request of Helena his mother first wall'd it about with hew'n stone and British bricks containing within the compass of it about 3 miles whereby the City was made a square but not equilateral being longer from west to east and from south to north narrower That part of these walls which run along by the Thames The Walls by the continual beating of the river is quite wash'd away tho' Fitz-Stephens who liv'd at that time tells us there were some pieces of it to be seen in Henry 2.'s time The rest remains to this day and that part toward the north very firm for having not many years since been repair'd by one Jotcelin that was Mayor it put on as it were a new face and freshness But that toward the east and west tho' the Barons repair'd it in their Wars out of the demolish'd houses of the Jews is yet ruinous and going all to decay For the Londoners like the Lacedaemonians of old slight fenced Cities as fit for nothing but women to live in and look upon their own to be safe not by the assistance of stones but the courage of it's inhabitants These walls have 7 Gates in them The Gates for those lesser I industriously omit which as they have been repair'd have taken new names To the west there are two Ludgate so call'd either from King Luddus or as Leland thinks from Fludgate with reference to the small river below it as there was the Porta Fluentana at Rome this was lately built from the very foundation and Newgate the most beautiful of them all so nam'd from the newness of it for before they call'd it Chamberlangate and is the publick Gaol On the north-side there are four Aldersgate either from it's antiquity or as others would have it from Aldrick the Saxon Cripplegate from the adjoyning Hospital for lame people Moregate from a neighbouring bog or fen now turn'd into a field and a pleasant Walk which was first built by one 14 Francerius Falconer Lord Mayor A. D. 1414. Francerius who was Mayor in the year 1414. Bishopsgate from the Bishop this as I have been told the German Merchants of the Society of the Hanse-towns Easterlings were bound by Article both to keep in repair and in case of a siege to defend it To the east there is but one Aldgate from it's oldness or as others will have it call'd Elbegate 15 Which at this present is by the cities charge re-edify'd The common opinion is that there were two more towards the Thames besides that at the bridge Belings-gate now a * Cothon Wharf to receive ships and Dourgate i.e. the water-gate call'd commonly Dow-gate At each end of the wall that runs along by the river there were strong Forts the one towards the east remains to this day call'd commonly the Tower The Tower of London and in British from it's whiteness Bringwin and Tour-gwin Which is indeed a stately Tower surrounded with strong walls mounting up with turrets guarded with a rampire and broad ditches together with the accommodation of a noble Armory and other houses so that it self looks like a town and a conjecture that the two Castles which Fitz-Stephens has told us were at the west-end of the city may have been turn'd into this one would be plausible enough At the west-end of the city there was another Fort where the little river Fleet from whence our Fleetstreet now of little value but formerly as I have read in the Parliament-Records navigable empties it self into the Thames Fitz-Stephens call'd this the Palatine-Tower and tradition affirms it to have been burnt down in William the Conquerour's time Out of the ruins whereof was built a great part of Paul's Church as also a Monastery for Dominican Friers from whom we call the place Black-Friers founded in the very area or plot of it by Robert Kilwarby Archbishop of Canterbury from whence you may easily take an estimate of it's largeness And yet in Henry 2.'s time there were in the same place as Gervasius Tilburiensis in his Otia Imperialia affirms two Pergama or Castles with walls and rampires one whereof belong'd hereditarily to Bainard the other to the Barons of Montfitchett But there 's nothing now to be seen of them tho' some are inclin'd to think that Penbroch-house was a part of them which we call Bainard's-castle from a Nobleman one William Bainard Lord of Dunmow that was formerly owner of it whose successors the Fitz-Walters were hereditary ‖
260 foot the height of the wooden part belonging to the same Belfrey 274 foot c. k Diana's Temple Some have fancy'd that a Temple of Diana formerly stood here and there are circumstances that back their conjecture as the old adjacent buildings being call'd in their Records Dianae Camera i.e. the Chamber of Diana the digging up in the Church-yard in Edward the first 's reign as we find by our Annals a great number of Ox-heads which the common people at that time not without great admiration lookt upon to be Gentile-sacrifices and the Learned know that the Tauropolia were celebrated in honour of Diana And when I was a boy I have seen a stagg's-head fixt upon a spear agreeable enough to the Sacrifices of Diana and carry'd about within the very Church with great solemnity and sounding of Horns And I have heard that the Stagg which the family of Baud in Essex were bound to pay for certain lands us'd to be receiv'd at the steps of the Quire by the Priests of this Church in their Sacerdotal robes and with garlands of flowers about their heads Whether this was a custom before those Bauds were bound to the payment of that Stagg I know not but certain it is this ceremony savours more of the worship of Diana and the Gentile-errours than of the Christian Religion And 't is beyond all doubt that some of these strange Rites crept into the Christian Religion which the primitive Christians either clos'd with out of that natural inclination mankind has to Superstition or bore with them a little in the beginning with a design to draw over the Gentiles by little and little to the true worship of God l However ever since this Church was built it has been the See of the Bishops of London and under the Saxons fifty years after the expulsion of Theonus the first Bishop it had was Melitus a Roman consecrated by Augustine Archbishop of Canterbury It was in honour to this Augustine that the Archiepiscopal * Insignia Dignity and the Metropolitical See were translated from London to Canterbury against the express order of Pope Gregory There are bury'd in this Church to say nothing of S. Erkenwald Persons buried in Paul's and the Bishops Sebba King of the East-Saxons who quitted his Crown for the sake of Christ and Religion Ethelred or Egelred who was rather an oppressor than governour of this kingdom the beginning of his reign barbarous the middle miserable and the end shameful he made himself inhuman by conniving at Parricide infamous by his cowardize and effeminacy and by his death miserable Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Simon de Burley a famous Knight 17 A right noble Knight of the Garter executed by encroached authority without the King's consent J. de 18 Sir John de Bellocampo or Beauchamp Beauchamp Warden of the Cinque-Ports J. Lord Latimer Sir John Mason William Herbert Earl of Pembroke Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper a person of great conduct and profound judgment Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Francis Walsingham most famous Knights c. and 19 Sir Christopher Hatton Christopher Hatton Lord High Chancellour of England to whose sacred and lasting memory his †Nepos nephew 20 Sir William Hatton William Hatton of the ancient family of the Newports but by him adopted into the name and family of the Hattons dutifully erected a magnificent monument becoming the dignity and high character of so great a Man m Besides this there is nothing of the Saxon work that I know of remains in London for 't was not long they had enjoy'd a settl'd peace when the West-Saxons subdu'd the East-Saxons and London fell into the hands of the Mercians And these civil wars were scarcely ended but presently a new northern storm breaks out namely that Danish one which miserably harrass these parts and gave a great blow to this city For the Danes got possession of it but Aelfred retook it and after he had repair'd it committed it to the government of his son-in-Law Aethelred Earl of the Mercians Notwithstanding after this those Plunderers did often besiege it especially Canutus who dugg a new chanel with a design to divert the Thames but they always lost their labour the citizens stoutly defending it against the assaults of the enemy But for all this they were under continual apprehensions till they joyfully receiv'd William the Norman and saluted him King whom Providence had design'd 21 The good of England against those spoilers for the Crown of England From that time the winds ceas'd the clouds scatter'd and the true golden age shone forth Since then it has not endur'd any signal calamity but by the bounty of our Princes obtain'd several immunities began to be call'd the ‖ Camerâ— Chamber of the Kings and has grown so in Trade ever since that William of Malmsbury who liv'd near that time calls it a City noble wealthy in every part adorn'd by the riches of the citizens and frequented by merchants from all parts of the world And Fitz-Stephens who liv'd in that age has told us that then London had 122 Parish-Churches and 13 belonging to * Conventuales Convents and that upon a muster made of all that were able to bear Arms it sent into the field forty thousand foot and twenty thousand horse Then it began to encrease on every side with new buildings and the suburbs round to stretch it self a long way from the city-gates n especially to the west where it is most populous Nurseries for Common Law or Inns of Court and has 12 Inns of Court for the study of our Common-Law Four of them very large and splendid belong †Ad â—â—â—ns sive â—â—am to the Judicial-Courts the rest to Chancery 22 Bâ—sides two Inns moreover for the Serjeants at Law In these there are such numbers of young Gentlemen attend the study of the Law that in this point they are no way inferiour to Angiers Caen or Orleans as 23 Sir John Fortescue J. Fortescue in his little Treatise of the Laws of England has told us Those four principal ones I mention'd Formerly call'd The New-Temple The Old-Temple where now Southamton house is in Holborn-Templâ—rs are the Inner-Temple the Middle-Temple Grays-Inn and Lincolns-Inn The two first are in the place where formerly in the reign of Henry 2. Heraclius Patriarch of Jerusalem consecrated a Church for the Knights Templars which was built after the model of the Temple near our Saviour's Sepulchre at Jerusalem For 24 At their first institution about A. D. 1113. there they liv'd in that part of the Temple next the Sepulchre and from it had their name being under a vow to protect the Christian Religion 25 The Holy Land and such as came in pilgrimage to the Sepulchre of our Lord against the Mahometans 26 Professing to live in Chastity and Obedience By which
means they gain'd great esteem and respect from all hands by the bounty of Princes 27 Devout people had large possessions and much wealth and flourisht in great reputation for their piety 28 Yea and in the opinion both of the holiness of the men and of the place King Henry 3. c. Upon one of those Monuments the characters whereof are obscure I read Comes Pembrochiae and on the side Mâ— eram â—â—â—tis Mâ— multoâ— vâ—cerat armâ—s The Statute concerning the Templars lands 17 Edw. 2. Many Noble-men were bury'd among them whose Images are to be seen in this Temple with their leggs across for so all those in that age were bury'd who had devoted themselves to the service of the Holy War or as those times worded it had taken up the Cross Among the rest were William 29 Marshal the elder a most powerful man in his time the father William and Gilbert the sons all Marshals of England and Earls of Pembroke 30 Upon William the elder his Tomb I some years since read in the upper part Comes Pembrochiae and upon the side this Verse Miles eram Martis Mars multos vicerat armis But 31 But in process of time when with insatiable greediness they had hoarded great wealth by withdrawing Tithes from Churches appropriating spiritual livings to themselves and other hard means their riches turned to their ruin For thereby their former piety was after a manner stiflâ—d they fell at jarr with other Religious Orders their professed Obedience to the Patriarch of Jerusalem was rejected envy among the common sort was prâ—cured which hope of gain among the better sort so enkindled that in the year of our Lord 1312. this Order was condemn'd for Impiety and by authority of the Pope utterly abolisht However their revenues by Act of Parliament went to the Knights-Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem lest what was given upon a Religious design contrary to the Will of the Doners should be turn'd to other uses Notwithstanding it appears plainly by ancient Records that after the Templars were driven out this place was the seat of Thomas Earl of Lancaster and of that 32 Sir Hugh Spencer Spenser who was a great favourite of King Edward the second as afterwards of 33 Sir Aimer de Valentia or Valence Audomar de Valentia Earl of Pembroke and at last it was turn'd into two †Collegia Inns for Lawyers Concerning the other two I have met with nothing upon record only there is a Tradition that one of them was the habitation of the Lords Grey 34 Of Wilton the other of the Earls of Lincoln Near these between the New and Old Temple King Henry the third built a House of Converts for the maintenance of those who turn'd from Judaism to Christianity which afterwards King Edward 3. made a place for the Rolls and Records upon which account it is at this day call'd the Rowles The Rowles o These Suburbs run along in a continu'd set of buildings and the stately houses of some of the Nobility upon the Thames as far as Westminster The most considerable of them are ‖ â—ride-well St. Bridgid's-Well where King Henry 8. built a Palace for the reception of the Emperour Charles the fifth but now it is a house of Correction Buckhurst-house 35 Or Salisbury Court belonging sometimes to the Bishops of Salisbury 36 The White Friers or c. the house of the Carmelites the Temples before-mention'd 37 Then without the Barrs Essex-house built by the Lord Paget Arundel-house 38 Before call'd Hampton-Place Somerset-house built by Seimor Duke of Somerset Next to pass by the rest the Savoy so call'd from Peter Earl of Savoy who liv'd in it which Eleanor wife of Henry 3. bought of the Fraternity of * Montis Joâ—â—s Montjoy and gave to her son Edmund Earl of Lancaster whose posterity had it for a seat a good while till Henry the seventh made it a †Pauperibâ—â— sacraâ— Hospital for the Poor 39 Worcester-house late Bedford-house Salisbury-house Durham-house built by Anthony Bec Bishop of Durham and Patriarch of Jerusalem 40 And thereby the only ornament of this part the Britain Burse built by the Earl of Salisbury and so nam'd of King James 1. York-house for so it has been call'd of late formerly 41 And Northampton-house now begun by Henry Earl of Northampton Bath house But what do I giving particular names to these †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which do not belong to any one but as Fortune disposes of them Westminster Wâ—â—tminâ—â—er formerly above a mile distant is now by these Suburbs joyn'd so close to London that it seems to be part of it notwithstanding 't is a distinct City of it self and enjoys its own Magistrates and Privileges Once it was call'd Thorney from the thorns now Westminster from its westerly situation and the minster For 't is particularly eminent for that Church for its Hall of Justice and the King's Palace The Church's greatest honour is deriv'd from the inauguration and burial of our Kings in it Sulcardus affirms that there once stood in that place a Temple of Apollo and that it was thrown down by an Earth-quake in the time of Antoninus Pius Out of the ruins whereof Sebert King of the East-Saxons built another to St. Peter which being destroy'd by the Danes was re-edify'd and granted to a few Monks by Bishop Dunstan But afterwards King Edward sirnam'd the Confessor built it anew out of the tenth peny of all his revenues for a burying place to himself and a Monastery to the Benedictine Monks endowing it with lands dispers'd here and there through all England But hear a cotemporary Historian The devout and pious King has dedicated that place to God both for its nearness to the famous and wealthy city for its pleasant situation among fruitful grounds and green fields and for the nearness of that principal river which from all parts of the world conveys whatever is necessary to the adjoyning City But above all for the love he bore to the Prince of the Apostles whom he always reverenc'd with a singular zeal and veneration he made choice of that for the place of his sepulchre Then he order'd a noble structure to be begun and built out of the tenths of his whole revenue such a one as might become the Prince of the Apostles that after the transitory course of this life he might find a propitious God both upon account of his piety and his free offering of those lands and ornaments with which he designs to enrich it Whereupon the work thus nobly begun is successfully carry'd on without sparing for either present or future charges so it may be made worthy of and acceptable to God and the Blessed Apostle Peter Please also to take the form of this ancient building out of an old Manuscript The * Principaâ— area body of
much of Westminster which tho' as I observ'd is a City of it self and of a distinct Jurisdiction I have taken in along with London because it is so joyn'd to it by continu'd buildings that it seems to be but one and the same City Hoâ—burn On the west-side of the City the Suburbs runs out with another row of beautiful buildings namely Holborn or rather Oldburn 58 Wherein stood anciently the first House of Templers only in the place now called Southampton House wherein are some Inns for the study of the Common Law and a house of the Bishops of Ely becoming the State of a Bishop which they owe to John Hotham Bishop of that See under Edward 3. The Suburbs grew likewise on the north-side where Jordan Brisset a pious and wealthy man built an House for the Knights Hospitalers of S. John Hoâ—pitalers of S. John of Jerusalem that was afterwards improv'd into the stateliness of a Palace and had a very beautiful Church with a high tower so neatly carry'd up that while it stood 't was a singular ornament to the City At their first Institution 59 About the year 1124. and long after they were so humble while but poor that their †Governour was call'd Servant to the poor Servants of the Hospital at Jerusalem as that of the Templers Templâ—â—s who arose a little afteâ— The humble Minister of the poor Knights of the Temple 60 This religious Order was instituted shortly after Geoffry of Bollen had recover'd Jerusalem The Brethren whereof wore a white Cross upon their upper black garment and by solemn profession were bound to serve Pilgrims and poor people in the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem and to secure the passages thither they charitably buried the dead they were continual in prayer mortified themselves with watchings and fastings they were courteous and kind to the poor whom they called their Masters and fed with white bread while themselves liv'd with brown and carried themselves with great austerity Whereby they purchased to themselves the love and liâ—ing of all sorts But what for their piety and bravery in war their condition came to be so much alter'd from this mean state by the bounty of good Princes and private persons that they even abounded in every thing For about the year 1240. they had nineteen thousand Lordships or Manours within Christendom as the Templers had nine thousand whose revenues here in England fell also afterwards to the Hospitalers Mâ—tth Par. And this vast increase of revenues made them so effectual a passage to great honours that their Prior was reckon'd the first Baron of England and liv'd in great state and plenty till King Henry 8. by the instigation of bad Counsellors seis'd upon all their lands as he did also upon those belonging to the Monasteries which out of a pious design were dedicated to God's glory and by the Canons of the Church were to be expended upon the maintenance of Priests relief of the poor redemption of Captives and the repair of Churches Near this place where there is now a stately circuit of houses was formerly a rich House of the Carthusians Câ—â—ter-hâ—â—se built by 61 Sir Walter Many Walter Many of Hainault who got great honour by his service in the French War under Edward 3. And before that there was a very famous Church-yard which in that plague of London in the year 1349. had above fifty thousand men bury'd in it as appear'd by an Inscription in brass whereby it was convey'd to posterity t The Suburbs also which runs out on the north-west side of London is large and had formerly a watch-tower or military ‖ Praetentura fence from whence it came to be call'd by an Arabick name Barbacan Barbacan By the gift of Edw. 3. it became a seat of the Uffords Gâ—leottus Martius from whom by the Willoughbies it descended to 62 Sir Peregrine Berty Peregrine Bertie Lord Willoughby of Eresby a person every way of a generous temper and a true martial courage Nor are the Suburbs that shoot forth towards the north-east and east less considerable in the fields whereof whilst I am upon this work there are digg'd up many sepulchral Vessels Seals and Urns with Coins in them of Claudius Nero Vespasian c. Glass Vials also with small earthen vessels wherein was a sort of liquid Substance which I should imagine to be either an oblation of wine and milk us'd by the Romans at the burning of their dead or those odoriferous Liquors mention'd by Statius Phariique liquores Arsuram lavêre comam And precious odours sprinkled on his hair Prepar'd it for the flames This was a place set apart by the Romans for burning and burying their dead being oblig'd by the Twelve Tables to carry them without the Cities and to bury them by the military high-ways 63 To put passengers in mind that thâ—y are as those were subject to mortality And thus much of the land-side of the City u But upon the river-side and the south part of it Borough of Southwark See Surrey p. 160. that large Borough of Southwark before-mention'd is joyn'd to the city with a bridge first built on wooden piles where formerly instead of a bridge they pass'd the water in a ferry Afterwards The Bridge in the reign of K. John they built a new one of free-stone and admirable workmanship with 19 Arches beside that which makes the * Versatilis Draw-bridge and so continu'd it all along like a street with most handsome buildings that it may claim a preheminence over all the bridges in Europe whether you look upon the largeness or beauty In this Borough of Southwark the things that have been remarkable are a noble Abbey for Monks of the Benedictine Order call'd Bermondsey erected formerly to our Saviour by Aldwin Child S. Saviour Citizen of London and a stately house built by Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk Suffolk-house which was pull'd down again after it had been for a little time the delight of its Master There still remains the Hospital of S. Thomas St. Thomas Hospital repair'd or rather founded by the City of London for the lame and infirm and the Church of the Priory of St. Mary which because it is seated over the Thames is with respect to the City of London call'd a The learned Dr. Hicks in his Saxon Grammar has observ'd that the Church's name is not taken from it's being over the river but from standing upon the banks of it ofre in Saxon signifying a bank S. Mary Over-Rhe founded for 64 Black Canons Canons by William Ponte del Arche a Norman as also the house of the Bishops of Winchester built by William Gifford Bishop about the year 1107. for the use of his successors From this along the Thames-side there runs westward a continu'd line of houses in which compass within the memory of our fathers there
were Publick Stews call'd by the Latins Lupanaria wherein Whores prostituted and set to sale their modesty because they like rapacious She-wolves hale miserable silly people into their dens But these were prohibited by King Hen. 8. at a time when England was at the height of Lust and Luxury tho' in foreign nations they are still continu'd for gain under the specious pretence of making allowance to humane infirmity But I do not believe that they call'd this place in our language The Stews Stewes from these Bawdy houses but from the fish-ponds here for the fatting of ‖ Lucios Pikes and Tench and scowring off their muddy fennish taste Here I have seen the bellies of Pikes open'd with a knife to shew their fatness and the gaping wounds presently clos'd by the touch of Tenches and by their glutinous slime perfectly heal'd up Among these buildings there is a place for Bull-bating and Bear-bating with certain several Kennels of Band-dogs Canes cathenai which are so strong and bite so close that three of them are able to manage a Bear and four a Lion So that what the Poet said formerly of our Dogs That they could break the necks of Bulls is very true as is also what another observ'd That they are more fierce and eager than the Arcadian ones suppos'd to be engender'd of Lions w At what time this Borough was joyn'd to London by a bridge the City was not only enlarg'd but also modell'd into an excellent form of Government the Citizens being distributed into * Corpora sive Collegia Bodies or Colleges The City it self was divided into 26 Wards Wards and the management of all publick concerns put in the hands of as many ancient Men Tribus call'd in our language from their age Aldermen in Latin Senatores each of whom had the government of one Ward And whereas formerly they had for their chief Magistrate a Port-reve i.e. a †Praefectus Governour of the City King Richard ordain'd two Bailiffs instead of which King John granted them the privilege of choosing a Mayor Mayor yearly out of their twelve principal Companies and of nominating two Vice-Comites or Sheriffs the one call'd the King's and the other the City-Sheriff After this new Government was establisht 't is incredible how it grew in publick and private Buildings and is still growing the rest of the Cities in England rather decaying For to pass by the Senate-house call'd Guild-hall built with great beauty by 65 Sir Thomas Knowles Tho. Knowles Mayor and Leaden hall a large and curious piece of work built by Simon Eire for a common Garner to beat down the price of Corn in times of dearth That circuit of Pillars also or the middle Janus Bursa which the Common-people call the Burse but Queen Elizabeth nam'd the Royal Exchange 1567. Royal Exchange built by Sir Thomas Gresham Knight for the use of Merchants and the ornament of the City A magnificent thing it is whether you consider the Structure it self the resort of Merchants from all Nations or the variety of Commodities The same person being a great admirer of Learning consecrated a spacious house that he had in the City to the improvement of good Letters Gresham-College and settled gentele Salaries upon six Professors of Divinity Law Physick Astronomy Geometry and Musick that London might not only be as it were a shop of all kind of wares but a treasury also of Arts and Sciences To pass by also the house of the Hanse-Company 66 Commonly call'd the Stil-yard as the Easterlings-yard the conveyance of water into all parts of the City by pipes under ground and neat Castles for the reception of it together with the new Aquiduct lately contriv'd by Peter Maurice a German of great ingenuity and industry and by the help of a wheel with little pipes plac'd at a certain level brings water out of the Thames to a great part of the City Besides these I say it is in all parts so beautified with Churches and Religious houses that one would think Religion and Piety had made choice of it for their residence For it has in it 121 Churches more than Rome 67 As great and holy as it is her self can show besides †Nosocomia Xenodochia Hospitals and particularly in that Nursery of young boys call'd Christ-Church it maintains about 600 Orphans x and 1240 poor people that live upon Alms c. It would be too tedious to insist particularly upon the excellency of its Laws and Constitutions the dignity of its Governours loyalty and obedience to their Prince the courteousness of the Citizens the splendour of its buildings the many choice and excellent Wits it produces the pleasure of it's gardens in the Suburbs admirably stockt with foreign Herbs its numerous and well appointed fleet that incredible treasure of all sorts of Commodities particularly it furnishes Antwerp yearly with two hundred thousand †Pannorum Lancorum woollen Cloaths besides what it sends to other places and the great plenty of whatever either the necessity or convenience of humane life requires 68 About four hundred years since So what H. Junius says in his Philippeis is very true Tectis opibúsque refertum Lodinum si fas numeroso cive superbum Larga ubi foecundo rerum undat copia cornu London where circling riches still return Where num'rous tribes the stately piles adorn And willing plenty shakes her fruitful horn And J. Scaliger in his Book of Cities Urbs animis numeróque potens robore gentis For number strength and courage of her men Great London's fam'd Another also hammer'd out these verses concerning London if you vouchsafe to read them Wedding of Tame and 〈◊〉 Londinum gemino procurrit littore longè Aemula maternae tollens sua lumina Troiae Clementer surgente jugo dum tendit in ortum Urbs peramaena situ coelóque solóque beata Urbs pietate potens numeroso cive superba Urbsque Britannorum quae digna Britannia dici Haec nova doctrinis Lutetia mercibus Ormus Altera Roma viris Crysaea secunda metallis Stretch'd on a rising hill betwixt the strands London her mother Troy 's great rival stands Where heaven and earth their choicest gifts bestow And tides of men the spatious streets o'reflow London the mighty image of our Isle That we Great Britain of it self may stile Where Chryse Paris Rome and Ormus yield In metals learning people wealth excell'd Henry of Huntingdon also in the time of King Stephen 69 writes thus in commendation of London Ibis in nostros dives Londonia versus Quae nos immemores non sinis esse tui Quando tuas arces tua moenia mente retracto Quae vidi videor cuncta videre mihi Fama loquax nata loqui moritura silendo Laudibus erubuit fingere falsa tuis And thou rich London shalt my verse adorn Thou in my joyful mind art
build an Hospital in the place of it for the maintenance of wounded and superannuated Soldiers which being begun by him was carried on by his Successor King James the second and is finisht and furnisht with all sorts of Necessaries and Conveniencies by their present Majesties 'T is indeed a Structure well suiting the munificence of its Royal Founders being more nobly accommodated with all sorts of Offices and adorned with more spatious walks and gardens perhaps than any Nobleman's house or College in the Kingdom h Hence our Author brings us to London London the capital city of England where he first give us an account of it's various names and etymologies of them to which I shall only add * Chron. Sax. that it was also call'd by the Saxons Lundone Lundune and Lundenburh and has another etymology given us of it's Latin name by the judicious Mr. Somner †Glossar ad X. Script who derives it from the British Llawn plenus frequens and dyn homo or din the same with dinas urbs civitas either of which joyned wit Llawn will signifie a populous place as London has always been i As to the original of the City tho' we have no certain account City buiâ—â— it not being clear that there was any such place in Caesar's time and yet a great town of trade in Nero's as Tacitus witnesses doubtless it must be founded within that little compass of time between those Emperours and in all probability as the learned ‖ Orig. Bâ—â—t p. 43. Bishop of Worcester thinks about the time of Claudius and inhabited by the Romans and Britains together being a trading tho' not a military Colony as Camulodunum was from the very beginning But it flourish'd not long for in the very next reign of the Emperour Nero upon that grand revolt of the Iceni and Trinobantes under Boodicia his Lieutenant Suetonius Paulinus judging it not tenible and taking away from it to his aid the choicest of the Citizens it was quickly sack'd by the Britains and the remaining inhabitants barbarously massacred without any regard to sex or age So that I cannot so fully agree with our Author when he asserts that this has been a City vix unquam magnis calamitatibus conflictata Suffer'd several Calamities that scarce ever engag'd any great calamity For not only in it's infancy but when grown to a greater bulk in the year 839. in the reign of King Ethelwolf it was surprized by the Danes and the Citizens inhumanly butcher'd Quickly after in the year 851. it was again sack'd by the Danes the army of Beorhtwulf King of Mercia who came to it's defence being totally routed Again in the year 872. in the days of King Ethelred the Danes took it and winter'd in it And so again An. 1013. after a great fight with Swane King of Denmark who besieg'd it the Citizens were at last forc'd to admit him and his army to winter in it and to pay him such tribute as he demanded Lastly in the year 1016. it was twice besieg'd and so much streighten'd by Canutus that they were necessitated in fine to receive him into the city give him winter quarters and to buy their peace with a sum of money * Châ—â—â— Sax. 〈…〉 Anâ—â— Not to mention the grievous insults that were made upon it of later years by Wat Tyler and Jack Straw temp Rich. 2. An. 1381. of Jack Cade otherwise call'd by his followers John Mend-all An. 1450. temp Hen. 6. and the bastard Falconbridge temp Edw. 4. An. 1481. Nor has it suffer'd only by the sword it being much wasted by fire as ‖ Polyâ— Lib. â— Ranulph Higden tells us An. 983. And in the year 1077 in the days of William the Conquerour it was also consumed by so great a fire as had not happen'd to it as the Saxon Chronicle expresses it since it's foundation †Châ—â—â— Sax p â— Quickly after again in the same King's reign An. 1086. the Church of S. Paul was quite burnt down with the greatest and most splendid part of the City ‖ Stow's Survey p. 2â—â— Again in the year 1135. the first of King Stephen by a fire which began in Cannon-street near London-stone the City was consumed from thence to the Eastward as far as Aldgate to S. Paul's Church Westward and to the South as far as Southwark the bridge then of timber being quite burnt down It was afterwards rebuilt of stone and houses set upon it but within four years after it was finish'd An. 1212. upon occasion of a fire in Southwark whilst a multitude of people were passing the bridge either to extinguish or to gaze at it on a sudden the houses on the North end of the bridge by a strong South wind were set on fire So that the people thronging betwixt two fires could now expect no help but from the vessels in the river which came in great numbers to their assistance but the multitude so unadvisedly rush'd into them that they were quickly overset and the people drown'd and betwixt fire and water there perish'd above 3000 persons †G alt 〈…〉 Lâ— Dâ—n◠〈…〉 S. Also Feb. 13. An. 1033. a third part at least of the same bridge was again burnt down Sâ—â—w's 〈◊〉 p. ◠〈◊〉 of Lâ—â—don But the most dreadful fire that ever befell this great City was that which happen'd within our own memory viz. on Sunday Sept. 2. An. 1666. which beginning in Pudding-lane in three days time being driven by a fresh easterly wind consumed no less than 89 Churches the Guild-hall Hospitals Schools and Libraries 15 entire Wards of the 26 leaving 8 of the rest half burnt and miserably shatter'd In this compass were 400 streets and in them 13200 houses which cover'd no less than 436 acres of ground It destroying all on the Thames-side from that of Allhallows Barkin to the Temple Church and all along from the North-east walls of the City to Holburn-bridge and when all artificial helps fail'd it languish'd and went out of it self tho' amongst as combustible buildings as any it had burnt before In memory whereof near the place where the fire began is erected a magnificent Pillar somewhat resembling except the Imagery those of Trajan and Antonine at Rome of 202 foot high which equals exactly the distance of the Pillar from the place where the fire first began k In which Conflagration the magnificent Church of St. Pauls S Paâ—l's did not escape the foundation whereof was laid so very large that as our Author notes tho' the whole revenues of the Bishoprick for 20 years together were given toward it by Richard Beaumes successor to Mauricius the first founder yet they seemed so little to advance the work that his successors and all others despaired of its ever being finish'd at least by private hands Wherefore they were forced to apply themselves to the bounty of all good people throughout the Realms both of England and Ireland as appears by
those days for making of brick and divers other Romans coins and vessels were found as Mr. Stow tells us belonging to their Sacrifices and Burials beside what he mentions Such as the Coins of Trajan and Antoninus Pius Lamps Lachrymatories Patinae and vessels of white earth with long necks and handles which I suppose must be the Gutti used in their Sacrifices †Survey p. 177. There were many Roman Coins also discover'd in the foundations of Aldgate when it was rebuilt in the year 1607. which were formerly kept in the Guild-hall ‖ Ibid. p. 121 But many more of all kinds since the late fire in the foundations of St. Paul's Church now rebuilding and in the making of Fleet-ditch which were carefully collected by Mr. John Coniers Citizen and Apothecary of London and are now many of them in the possession of the ingenious Mr. Woodward the present Professor of Physick in Gresham-College London Many Urns and Coins have been also met with in digging the foundations of the new buildings in Goodmans-fields as there daily are in many other places upon the like occasions especially in the Suburbs of the City w Southwark was 't is true Apr. 23. 1549. 4 Edw. 6. purchased of the King by the Lord Mayor Commonalty and Citizens of London for the sum of Six hundred forty seven pounds two shillings and a penny and annext to their City and erected immediately into a new Ward call'd the Bridg-ward without and was thenceforth to be esteemed within the government and correction of the Lord Mayors and other Officers of London and their Deputies The inhabitants were licensed to enjoy and use all such Laws and Privileges whatsoever within their Borough and Precincts as the Citizens of London did within their City * Stow's Survey p 442 443. Which possibly might move our Author to place its history here But it was not thereby remov'd out of Surrey as appears by the provisions of the King's Grant whereby care is taken that the Lord Mayor should do and execute all such things within the Borough as other Justices might within the County of Surrey and that he as Escheator within the Borough and Precincts should have power to direct Precepts to the Sheriff of Surrey for the time being †See more of this in Surrey x The Hospital of Christ-Church founded Anno 1552. by King Edward the sixth as it stood in our Author's time maintain'd but 600 Orphans whereof part Boys and part Girls and both the children of Freemen of this City Since the Fund being uncertain depending as well upon the casual charity both of living and dying persons as upon its real Estate the number has been augmented and diminisht in proportion to the increase and decrease of that sort of Charity However it seldom now maintains less than 1000 annually nor is there reason to fear they will ever have fewer Here having run through the several Schools at 15 years they are put forth to a seven years Apprenticeship except some Boys of the best parts who are sent to the Universities and there also maintain'd for seven years which is the present state of King Edward's foundation Mathematical School To this there has been added another of late years stiled the New Royal Foundation of King Charles the second consisting of 40 Boys all wearing Badges appropriate to their Institution to be fill'd up successively out of such of the above-mention'd Children as have attain'd to a competency in fair writing and Latin learning Thence-forward they are instructed in the Mathematicks and Art of Navigation till they are 16 years of age at which time they are disposed of in a seven years Apprenticeship to the practice of Navigation Which Institution most highly charitable in it self and tending to the honour and safety of the Kingdom as well as the security and advancement of our Trade was founded the 19th of August Anno 25 Car. 2. Earls of MIDDLESEX Sir Lionel Cranfield Kt. Merchant of London having for his great abilities been first made Master of the Requests then of the great Wardrobe and after of the Wards and at last privy Counsellor upon the 19. of July 19 Jac. 1. was advanced to the degree of a Baron of this Realm by the title of Lord Cranfield of Cranfield in Bedfordshire and to the office and dignity of Lord high Treasure of England and by Letters Patents bearing date Sept. 2. 1622. 20 Jac. 1. to the Earldom of Middlesex Who by his second wife Anne daughter to James Bret of Howbey in the County of Leicester Esquire had issue four sons James Edward Lionel and William whereof James and Lionel succeeded him in the Honour but both dying without issue this Title descended to his eldest daughter Frances married to Richard Earl of Dorset and her issue and is accordingly now enjoyed by the Right Honourable Charles Earl of Dorset and Middlesex Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold and Knight of the Garter More rare Plants growing wild in Middlesex communicated by Mr. James Petiver Filicula saxatilis ramosa maritima nostras Raii Synops Hist Plant. Small-branch'd Stone-fern On many old walls in and about London as the Savoy Westminster Royal Garden c. Fungus spongiosus niger reticulatus doliolis vinosis adnascens Raii synops Mr. Doody's spung-like Mushrome In most vaults sticking to the wine casks Eruca sylvestris Ger. sylv vulgatior Park major lutea caule aspero C. B. tenuifolia perennis fl luteo J. B. Wild Rocket On old walls about this City frequently as on London-wall between Cripplegate and Bishopsgate the Charter-house c. plentifully Viscum Ger. vulgare Park baccis albis C. B. Quercus aliarum arborum J. B. Misseltoe On some trees at Clarendon house St. James's Nasturtium aquaticum amarum Park majus amarum C. B. Nasturtium aq fl majore elatius Raii syn Bitter Cresses On the Thames-bank between Peterborough-house and Chelsey Conserva reticulata Raii Hist Plant. append 1852. synops 15. Mr. Doody's netted Crow-silk In some ditches about Westminster and Hounslow-heath Bardana major Rosea Park 1222. lappa Rosea C. B. prodr 102. Rose Burdock This variety which Caspar Bauhine averrs to be found frequently about Leipsick I have observed near the Thames between Westminster and Chelsey Juncus caule triangulari Merr. Pin. 67. The three-corner'd Bulrush In the Thames between Peterborough-house and the Horse-ferry Westminster Cyperus rotundus litoreus inodorus J. B. rotundus inodorus Anglicus C. B. rotundus litoâ—eos Ger. rotundus litoreus inodorus Anglicus Park Round-rooted Bastard Cyperus Sagitta aquatica omnium minima Raii synops append 242. The least Arrow-head Observed by that most curious Botanist Dr. Plukenet to grow with the two last Salix minima fragilis foliis longissimis untrinqueviridibus non serratis Raii synops append 238. Dr. Sherard's Green Osier Amongst the Willows on the Thames side between Westminster and Chelsey Salix folio Amygdalino utrinque aurito corticem abjiciens Raii synops 216. Almond-leav'd
name to this Hundred now the Estate of the Lords Rich. It was formerly possess'd by a very ancient family of the same name whose estate fell at last to Butler Earl of Ormond and Wiltshire and from him to 4 Sir Thomas Thomas Bollen created by Hen. 8. first Visc Rochford and afterwards E. of Wiltshire from whom the excellent Q Elizabeth and the Barons Hunsdon are descended 5 Here I have heard much speech of a Lawless-Court as they called it holden in a strange manner about Michaelmas in the first peep of the day upon the first cock-crowing in a silent sort yet with shrew'd sines eftsoons redoubled if not answered which servile attendance they say was imposed upon certain Tenants thereabout for conspiring there at such unseasonable time to raise a commotion But I leave this knowing neither the original nor the certain form thereof Only I heard certain obscure barbarous Rhimes of it Curia de Domino Rege tenetur sine Lege Ante ortum solis luceat nisi polus c. not worth remembring On the Thames-side toward the East at farther distance from the shore the places best worth our notice are those that follow in their order And first Havering Havering an ancient retiring place of the Kings called so from a ring given there by a stranger to Edward the Confessor as a present from St. John Horn-Church called formerly Horn-Monastery a pair of huge leaden horns are now fasten'd to the east-side of the Church Rumford Rumford famous for the Hog market and a building adjoyning called Giddy-Hall which belong'd to 6 Sir Thomas Thomas Coke sometime Lord Mayor of London See the Annals 1467. whose great riches expos'd him to extraordinary dangers For being in the worst of times tho' innocent accus'd of High treason altho' thro' the integrity of Judge Markham he was acquitted yet had he a severe fine imposed on him to the value of very near his whole estate Brentwood 7 Called by thâ— Normans Bois arse in the same sense and by that name King Stephen granted a Market and a Fair there to the Abbot of St. Osith and many â—â—ars after Isabel Countess of Bedford Daughter to King Edward 3. built a Chapel to the memory of S. Thomas of Canterbury for the ease of the inhabitants Brentwood and Engerston formerly Engheaston noted only for their Inns and Markets Here I am at a stand and in doubt whether I had best take this opportunity to ease my self of a conjecture which I have sometime since conceiv'd Since the City Caesaromagus was certainly seated in these parts and that no doubt Caesaromagus call'd in the Itinerary-table Barâ—magus a place of eminent note in the time of the Romans as the very name imports signifying as much as the City of Caesar in the same manner as Drusomagus the city of Drusus Which too seems probably to have been built in honour of Augustâ—us For Suetonius informs us that all the Princes who were the friends and allies of that Emperour built cities in his honour in the names of which the word Caesar compos'd a part What then if I should fix Caesaromagus near this Brentwood Could the reader forbear to smile at my fancy Indeed my opinion can receive very little strength from the distances in the Itinerary since the numbers are there so strangely corrupted Yet those from Colonia and Canonium agree very well to this place Nor can I draw an argument from the situation of it on a Roman way since we can find no footsteps of any such in this County Nor do we meet with the least shadow of the word Caesaromagus unless a very small affinity in the name of the Hundred formerly called Ceasford now Cheafford Hundred And indeed as the names of some ancient places are very little alter'd others quite changed there are others so mangled that only one syllable or two of the former denomination remains Thus Caesar-augusta in Spain is now corrupted into Sarogosa Caesaromagus in Gaul hath entirely lost it's old name and assum'd that of Beauvois and Caesarea in Normandy hath scarce one entire syllable left it in the present name Cherburg But why do I insist on these trifles If Caesaromagus be not in this neighbourhood let others seek for it elsewhere For my part the discovery is far beyond my reach tho' I have used all the assistance that my eyes and ears could afford me d Hard by I saw South-Okindon South Okindon heretofore the seat of the Bruins Bruin a family of very great repute in these parts From which by two co-heiresses that were several times married Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk the Tirels Berniers Harlestons Heveninghams and others are descended The male issue of this family are still remaining in Hamshire And Thorndon Thorndon where Sir John Petre Kt. 8 Created by our Sovereign King James c. now Baron Petre Baron Petre. of Writtle hath built a fair seat It was formerly the habitation of the noble family of the Fitz-Lewis's the last of which if we believe common report upon the casual burning of the house at the solemnity of his wedding was miserably consum'd in the flames Then Burghsted by contraction Bursted i.e. the place of a Burgh a denomination given to many places by our ancestors Here I once thought was the Caesaromagus But whatever it were formerly at present 't is only a small village inhabited by husband-men near Billiricay a pretty large market-town Hard by is Ashdown Ashdown formerly Assandun i.e. as Marian interprets it The Mount of Asses famous for a desperate battel in which Edmund Ironside at first put the Danes to the rout but afterwards thro' treachery lost the day together with a great number of his Nobility In memory of which we read that Canutus the Dane built here a Church when repenting of all the blood he had occasion'd to be spilt he erected some kind of religious structure wherever he had engaged in fight Not far from hence lies Raleigh a pretty little town 't is call'd in Domesday-book Raganeia which makes mention of a Castle built here by one Sweno Where too we read Arpennâ—s Wine There is one park six Arpennies of vineyards which if it takes well yields twenty Modii of wine which I here take notice of both for the French word Arpennis and for the wine made in this Island Ralph de Diceto This Sweno was a very eminent man for name and honour the son of Robert Fitz-Wimaerc Family of Essex and father of Robert de Essex to whom was born 9 Sir Robert de Essex Henry de Essex b See in Flintshire under the title Coleshul Standard-bearer to the King by right of inheritance who in a battel against the Welsh threw away his courage and standard together and being accus'd of High treason c By Robert de Montfort overcome in single combat and thrown into prison
an honourable series of Earls and Lords are descended From hence passing through Earls-Coln so call'd by reason of its being the burying place of the Earls of Oxford where Aubry de Vere 24 In the time of King Henry 1. founded a small Convent and took himself a religious habit it goes on to Colonia which Antoninus mentions and makes a different place from Colonia Camaloduni Whether this Colonia Colonia be deriv'd from the same word signifying a Colony or from the river Coln let Apollo determine k For my part I am more inclin'd to the latter opinion since I have seen several little towns that adding the name of Coln to that of their respective Lords are call'd Earls-Coln Wakes-Coln Coln-Engain Whites-Coln This city the Britains call'd Caer Colin the Saxons Coleceaster and we Colchester Colchester 'T is a beautiful populous and pleasant place extended on the brow of an hill from West to East surrounded with walls and adorn'd with 15 Parish-Churches besides that large Church which Eudo Sewer to Henry 1. built in honour of St. John This is now turn'd into a private house In the middle of the city stands a castle ready to fall with age Historians report it to have been built by Edward son to Aelfred when he repair'd Colchester which had suffer'd very much in the wars 25 And long after Maud the Empress gave it to Alberic Vere to assure him to her party But that this city flourish'd even more than ever in the time of the Romans abundance of their coins found every day fully evince l Though I have met with none ancienter than Gallienus the greatest part of them being those of the Tetrici Victorini Posthumus C. Carausius Helena mother to Constantine the Great Constantine and the succeeding Emperours The inhabitants glory that Fl. Julia Helena mother to Constantine the Great was born in this city daughter to King Coelus And in memory of the Cross which she found they bear for their arms a Cross enragled between four Crowns Of her and of this city thus sings Alexander Necham though with no very lucky vein Effulsit sydus vitae Colcestria lumen Septem Climatibus lux radiosa dedit Sydus erat Constantinus decus imperiale Serviit huic flexo poplite Roma potens A star of life in Colchester appear'd Whose glorious beams of light seven climats shar'd Illustrious Constantine the world's great Lord Whom prostrate Rome with awful fear ador'd The truth is she was a woman of a most holy life and of an unweary'd constancy in propagating the Christian Faith whence in old inscriptions she is often stiled PIISSIMA and VENERA-BILIS AUGUSTA Between this city where the Coln emptieth it self into the sea lyes the the little town of St. Osith the old name was * Cice by the Saxon Annals Chic Chic the present it receiv'd from the holy Virgin St. Osith S. Osithe who devoting her self entirely to God's service and being stabbed here by the Danish pyrates was by our ancestors esteem'd a Saint In memory of her Richard Bishop of London about the year 1120. built a Religious house and fill'd it with Canons Regular This is now the chief seat of the right honourable the Lords Darcy Barons Darcy of Chich. stiled Lords of Chich who were advanc'd to the dignity of Barons by Edward the sixth 26 When he created Sir Thomas Darcy his Councellor Vice-Chamberlain and Captain of the Guard Lord Darcy of Chich. m From hence is stretch'd out a vast shore as far as Nesse-point Nesse in Saxon Eadulphesness What was once found hereabouts let Ralph de Coggeshal tell you who wrote about 350 years ago In the time of King Richard on the sea-shore in a village call'd Edulfinesse were found two teeth of a Giant Giants of such a prodigious bigness that two hundred of such teeth as men ordinarily have now might be cut out of one of them These I saw at Cogshal and handled with great admiration Another I know not what Gigantick relique was found near this place in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth by the noble R. Candish I can't deny but there have been men of such extraordinary bulk and strength as to be accounted prodigies whom God as St. Austin tells us therefore produc'd in the world to show that comeliness of body and greatness of stature were therefore not to be esteem'd among the good things because they were common to the impious with the virtuous and religious Yet we may justly suspect what Suetonius hath observ'd that the vast joints and members of great beasts dugg up in other countries and in this kingdom too have been commonly term'd and reputed the bones of Giants Bones of Giants n From this point the shore runs back a little to the Stour's mouth famous for a sea-fight between the Saxons and Danes in the year 884. Here is now seated Harewich Harewiâ—â— a very safe harbour as the name imports for the Saxon Hare-Æ¿ic signifies as much as an haven or bay where an army may lye 27 The town is not great but well peopled fortified by art and nature and made more fencible by Queen Elizabeth The salt-water so creeketh about it that it almost insulateth it but thereby maketh the springs so brackish that there is a defect of fresh water whcih they fetch-some good way off o This is that Stour which parteth Essex and Suffolk and on this side runs by no memorable place only some fat pastures But not far from the spring of this river stands Bumsted which the family of the Helions held by Barony 28 From whom the Wentworths of Gosfield are descended And in those parts of this county which are opposite to Cambridgeshire lyes Barklow Barkl w. Old Baâ—rows famous for four great Barrows such as our ancestors us'd to raise to the memory of those Soldiers that were kill'd in battel and their bodies lost But when two others in the same place were dugg up and search'd we are told that they found three stone Coffins and abundance of pieces of bones in them The Country-people have a tradition that they were rais'd after a battel with the Danes And the †Wall-wort or Dwarf-elder that grows hereabouts in great plenty and bears red berries they call by no other name but Dane's-blood Danes-blood denoting the multitude of Danes that were there slain Lower among the fields that look pleasantly with Saffron is seated g Call'd formerly Walden-burg and afterwards Cheping-Walden Walden Waldâ—â— a market-town call'd thence Saffron-Walden 29 Incorporated by King Edward 6. with a Treasurer two Chamberlains and the Commonalty It was famous formerly for the castle of the Magnavils which now scarce appears at all and for an adjacent little Monastery 30 Founded in a place very commodious in the year 1136. Commonly call'd Maâ—dâ—villeâ— in which the Magnavils founders of it lye interr'd Jeffrey de Magnaville was
and Thet are not very unlike 'T is now but thin peopled tho' pretty large and formerly a populous and famous place Besides other marks of it's Antiquity it shews a huge mote thrown up to a great height fortify'd with a double rampire and formerly too as they say with walls Some will have it to have been a work of the Romans but others are rather inclin'd to think it done by the Saxon Kings under whom it was in a flourishing condition for a long while But by the cruelty of Sueno the Dane who set it on fire in the year 1003. and that of the Danes who spoil'd it 6 years after it lost all it's dignity and grandeur To restore which Arfastus the Bishop remov'd his Episcopal See from Elmham to this place and his successor William spar'd neither cost nor pains for it's ornament so that under Edward the Confessor there were reckon'd in it 947 Burgesses And in the time of William the Conquerour it had 720 mansions whereof 224 stood empty and their chief Magistrate was stil'd Consul 1 Which name may intimate that it was a Roman town But when Herbert sirnam'd b Leasung in Saxon signifies a Lye or trick Losenga as being almost made up of lying and flattery the third Bishop that rais'd himself to this honour by ill arts and bribery had translated this See to Norwich it relaps'd as if come to it 's last period Nor did the Monastery of Cluniacks built there by his means make amends for the removal of the Bishop The house was built by Hugh Bigod as appears from what he says in his original Foundation-Charter I Hugh Bigod Steward to King Henry by his consent and the advice of Herbert Bishop of Norwich plac'd Cluniac-Monks in the Church of St. Mary lately the Episcopal See of Thetford which I gave them and afterwards founded them another more convenient without the village Then the greatest part of the City which had stood in the hither bank fell to decay by little and little but in the other part tho' that too fail'd very much about two ages since there were seven Churches besides three small Monasteries one whereof they say was built in memory of the English and Danes slain here For our Historians tell us that the most holy King Edmund a little before his death engag'd the Danes hard by for seven hours together not without vast loss on both sides and that at last they parted with equal success such effect had those frequent turns of fortune on both sides that it had made them altogether senseless NORFOLK By Robt. Morden The Yare has not run much towards the east till a little river Wentsum by others call'd Wentfar empties it self into it from the south Upon this near it's rise is a square entrenchment at Taiesborrough containing 24 Acres It seems to be an Encampment of the Romans possibly that which by the Chorographical Table publish'd by Mark Velser is call'd Ad Taum Higher up upon the same river formerly stood Venta Icenorum 〈◊〉 Iceâ—â—m the most flourishing City of this People but now it has lost the ancient name and is call'd Caster â—â—â—â—â—r Nor need we wonder that of the three Ventae in Britain this alone should have lost it's name when it has lost it's very being For now setting aside the broken walls which in a square contain about 30 acres the marks where the buildings have stood and some Roman Coins which they now and then dig up there is nothing left h But in after-ages Norwich at three miles distance had it's rise out of this standing near the confluence of Yare and another anonymous river call'd by some Bariden which in a long course 11 By Fakenham which K. Hen. 1. gave to Hugh Capel and K. John afterward to the Earl of Arundel with it's dinted and winding banks comes this way by Attilbridge leaving Horsford â—â—â—sfâ—â—d to the north where the Castle of William de Casinet or Cheney who in the reign of Hen. 2. was a chief man among the Nobility lies overgrown with bushes and brambles The Norwich â—â—â—wich above-mention'd is a famous City call'd in Saxon Norðƿic i.e. the northern bay or bosom if Æ¿ic in Saxon signifies a bay or winding 〈◊〉 what â—â—gnâ—fâ—es â—â—â—g the 〈◊〉 as Rhenanus has told us for here the river runs along with crooked windings or the northern Station if Æ¿ic as Hadrianus Junius will have it signifie a secure Station where the houses are built close one to another or else the northern castle if Æ¿ic as 12 Archbishop Alfrick the Saxon has affirm'd denote a Castle i But if I should imagine with some that Norwich were the same with Venta what were it but a downright renouncing Truth For it has no better title to the name of Venta than either Basil has to that of Augusta â—â—â—usta or Baldach to Babilonia â—â—â—coâ—â— Namely as this latter rose upon the fall of Babilonia and the former upon that of Augusta just so our Norwich grew up long after the decay of the ancient Venta Which appears from it's British name in Authors Caer Guntum wherein as in the river Wentsum or Wentfar we find the plain remains of the name Venta For the name of Norwich does not appear in any Writer before the time of the Danish wars So far is it from having been built either by Caesar or Guiteline the Britain as some fabulous Authors tell you who swallow every thing that comes without either consideration or judgment However at present upon account of it's wealth populousness neatness of buildings beautiful Churches with the number of them for it has a matter of 30 Parishes as also the industry of it's Citizens Loyalty to their Prince and Civility to Foreigners it is to be reckon'd among the most considerable Cities in Britain It 's Latitude is 52 degrees 40 minutes the Longitude 24 degrees 55 minutes 'T is pleasantly seated long-ways on the side of an hill reaching from south to north a mile and a half the breadth of it is hardly half so much and towards the south it draws it self in as it were by little and little like a Cone It is fortify'd with walls that have a great many turrets and eleven gates on all sides except the east which the river defends with a deep chanel and steep banks after it has with it's winding reach wash'd the northern part where 't is made passable by four bridges In the infancy as it were of this City and the reign of King Etheldred a Prince of no manner of policy or conduct Sweno the Dane who invaded England with a great army first spoil'd and then burnt it Notwithstanding which it recover'd it self and as appears by the Conquerour's Survey-book in the reign of Edward the Confessor reckon'd 1320 Burgesses At which time to use the expression of that Book it paid 20 pound to the King and 10 to the Earl and beside that 20
shillings 4 Prebendaries 6 Sextaries of honey and ‖ Ursum sex canes ad ursum a bear with 6 dogs to bait him Now it pays 70 pound by weight to the King a hundred shillings * De Gersuma as a fine to the Queen with an ambling Palfrey 20 pound †Blancas blank also to the Earl and 20 shillings fine by tale In the reign of William 1. this was the seat of a Civil war which Ralph Earl of the East-Angles rais'd against that King For after he had escap'd by flight his wife along with the Armorican Britains endur'd a close siege till for want of provisions she was forc'd to get off and quit her Country And at that time the City was so impair'd that as appears by the same Domesday there were scarce 560 Burgesses left in it Lanfrank Archbishop of Canterbury mentions this surrender in a Letter to King William in these words Your kingdom is purg'd from the infection of the Britains or Armoricans the Castle of Norwich is surrender'd and the Britains that were in it and had lands here in England upon granting them life and limb have took an oath to depart your Dominions within forty days and never to return more without your special licence From that time forward it began by little and little to recover it self out of this deluge of miseries and Bishop Herbert whose reputation had suffer'd much by Simoniacal practices translated the Episcopal See from Thetford hither He built a very beautiful Cathedral on the east and lower part of the City in a place till then call'd Cow-holme near the Castle the first stone whereof in the reign of William Rufus and year of our Lord 1096. he himself laid with this Inscription DOMINUS HERBERTUS POSUIT PRIMUM LAPIDEM IN NOMINE PATRIS FILII ET SPIRITUS SANCTI AMEN That is Lord Bishop Herbert laid the first stone in the name of the Father the Son and Holy Ghost Amen Afterwards he procur'd a Licence from Pope Paschal to confirm and establish it the mother-Church of Norfolk and Suffolk and endow'd it liberally with lands sufficient for the maintenance of 60 Monks who had their neat and curious Cloysters But these were remov'd and a Dean six Prebendaries with others put in their places After the Church thus built and an Episcopal See plac'd here it became a Town as Malmsbury has it famous for Merchandise and number of Inhabitants And in the 17th of King Stephen as we read in some ancient Records Norwich was built anew was a populous town and made a Corporation That King Stephen also granted it to his Son William for an Appennage as they call it or inheritance is very evident from the publick Records But Henry the second took it from him and held it himself notwithstanding Henry his Son the Junior-King as they call'd him when he endeavour'd after the Crown had promis'd it in large terms to Hugh Bigod Earl of Norfolk whom he had drawn over to his party Bigod however adhering to the young King who could not over-rule his eager hopes of the Crown with Justice and Equity miserably harrass'd this City and is thought to have rebuilt that Castle on the high hill near the Cathedral within the City encompast with a trench of such vast depth that in those times it was lookt upon as impregnable But Lewis of France under whom the rebellious Barons had joyn'd against King John easily took it by siege The reason why I fancy Bigod repair'd the Castle is because I observ'd Lions saliant cut in a stone in the same manner as the Bigods formerly us'd them in their seals of whom tho' there was one that made use of a Cross And this was the condition of Norwich in its infancy But in the next age it increas'd mightily and abounded with wealthy Citizens who by a humble petition in Parliament desir'd liberty of Edward the first to wall their City round and afterwards accordingly did it to the great strength and ornament of it †They obtain'd of King Richard the second that the Worsted made there might be transported In the year 1403. they obtain'd leave of Henry the fourth instead of Bailiffs which they had before to elect a Mayor yearly and in the very heart of the City near the market-place built a most beautiful Town-house which on the set days are furnisht with all manner of provisions 'T is partly indebted to the Netherlands who after they could no longer endure the tyranny of the Duke of ‖ Albani Alva nor the bloody Inquisition setting up flockt hither in great numbers and first brought in the manufacture of * Of Saies Baies and other Stuffs now much in use light worsted stuffs ‖ Levidenâ—ium quorundam pannorum But why am I so long upon these matters when they are all with the History of the Bishops the succession of their Magistrates and the fury of that villanous rebel Kett against this City very elegantly describ'd by Alexander Nevil a person eminent both for birth and learning I will only add that in the year 1583. the Citizens by the help of * Instrumento Hydragogico an artificial Instrument convey'd water through pipes into the highest part of the City And here I could summon both Polydore Virgil the Italian and Angelus Capellus the Frenchman to answer before the Tribunal of venerable Antiquity how they come to affirm that our old Ordovices who liv'd almost under another Hemisphere inhabited this Norwich I could bring the same Action against our Country-man Caius but that I am satisfy'd 't was nothing but a natural love of his native Country that blinded the learned old man And I have nothing more to add about Norwich unless you have a mind to run over these verses made upon it by John Johnston a Scotchman Urbs speciosa situ nitidis pulcherrima tectis Grata peregrinis delitiosa suis Bellorum sedes trepido turbante tumultu Tristia Neustriaco sub duce damna tulit Victis dissidiis postquam caput ardua coelo Extulit immensis crevit opima opibus Cultus vincit opes cultum gratia rerum Quam benè si luxus non comitetur opes Omnia sic adeò sola haec sibi sufficit ut si Fo rs regno desit haec caput esse queat A town whose stately piles and happy seat Her Citizens and Strangers both delight Whose tedious siege and plunder made her bear In Norman troubles an unhappy share And feel the sad effects of dreadful war These storms o'reblown now blest with constant peace She saw her riches and her trade increase State here by wealth by beauty wealth 's out-done How blest if vain excess be yet unknown So fully is she from her self supply'd That England while she stands can never want an head From Norwich the river Yare with the increase of other waters that take the same name rowls on in a winding chanel and abounds with the fish call'd a
said village to Richard de Huméz or Humetz who was Constable to our Lord the King to hold of him by homage and other service And afterwards the same was held by William Earl of Warren by the favour of King John f University of Stanford In Edw. 3.'s reign an University for liberal Arts and Sciences was begun here which the inhabitants look upon as their greatest glory for when the hot contests at Oxford broke out between the Students of the north and south a great number of them withdrew and settled here However a little after they return'd to Oxford 3 Upon the King's Proclamation and thus soon put an end to this new University they had so lately began and from thence forward it was provided by an oath that no Oxford-man should profess at Stanford g Notwithstanding trade it self supported the town till in the heat of the Civil war betwixt the houses of Lancaster and York it was took by the Northern Soldiers who utterly destroy'd it with fire and sword Since that it could never perfectly recover and come up to its former glory tho' 't is pretty well at this time It is govern'd by an Alderman and 24 Burgesses h contains about 7 Parish-Churches and a very fair old Hospital founded by William Brown a citizen besides a new one on this side the bridge lately built by that Nestor of Britain 4 Sir William William Cecil Baron of Burghley after he had finish'd that stately house at Burghley of which I have already spoke in Northamptonshire He lyes buried here in a splendid tomb in St. George's Parish-Church i a man to say no more of him that lived long enough to nature and long enough to glory but not long enough to his country k Tho' there are in this place some remains of antiquity and the Roman Highway out of this town into the north clearly shews that there was formerly a Ferry here yet they do not prove that this was that Gausennae which Antoninus places at some small distance from hence High 〈◊〉 Gaâ—â—â—â— But since the little village Brigcasterton Bâ—â—dgcasteâ—â—â— which by its very name appears to be ancient is situated but a mile off where the river Gwash or Wash crosses the highway the nearness of the name Gwash to Gausennae and the distance being not inconsistent makes me apt to believe till time shall bring the truth to light that Gausennae is at present call'd Brigcasterton If I should think Stanford sprang from the ruins of this town and that this part of the County is call'd Kesteven from Gausennae as the other part is nam'd Lindsey from the city Lindum I would have the reader take it as a bare opinion and pass what judgment he thinks fit 'T is the current belief that this Gausennae was demolish'd as Henry Archdeacon of Huntingdon relates when the Picts and Scots ravag'd this whole County as far as Stanford where our Hengist and his Saxons with great pains and gallantry stopt their progress and forc'd them to fly in gâ—eat disorder leaving many dead and far more prisoners behind them l But to proceed In the east part of Kesteven which lies towards Hoiland as we travel northwards Depâ—â—g there succeeds in order first Deping that is as Ingulphus says a deep meadow Depâ—â—g fens where Richard de Rulos Chamberlain to William the Conquerour by throwing up of a great bank excluded the river Wailand which us'd often to overflow built on the said bank many houses which in all made a large village This Deping or deep meadow is indeed very properly so call'd for the plain which lies beneath it of many miles in compass is the deepest in all this marshy Country and the rendezvous of many waters and what is very strange the chanel of the river Glen which is pent in by its banks and runs from the west lyes much higher than this plain m Next Burn Burn. remarkable for the Inauguration of King Edmund and a castle of the Wakes who got a grant of King Edw. 1. for this to be a market town n More to the east stands Irnham heretofore the Barony of 5 Sir Andrew Andrew Lutterell And then Sempringham Lutterel now famous for a very fine house built by Edward Baron Clinton afterwards Earl of Lincoln Sempâ—â—ham but heretofore for the holy order of the Gilbertines instituted by one Gilbert Lord of the place For he Fryers â—bertines as they write being a man very much admired and of singular reputation for educating women by the authority of Eugenius the 3d. Pope of Rome in the year of our Lord 1148 altho' contrary to the constitutions of Justinian who forbad all double Monasteries that is of men and women promiscuously introduced an order of men and women which encreased to that degree that he himself founded 13 Convents out of it and liv'd to see in them 700 Gilbertine Fryers and 1100 Sisters but their modesty was not to be bragg'd of if we may believe Nigellus a Satyrist of that age who thus upbraids them Harum sunt quaedam steriles quaedam parientes Virgineoque tamen nomine cuncta tegunt Quae pastoralis baculi dotatur honore Illa quidem meliùs fertiliusque parit Vix etiam quaevis sterilis reperitur in illis Donec eis aetas talia posse neget Some are good breeders here and others fail But all is hid beneath the sacred veil She that with pastoral staff commands the rest As with more zeal so with more fruit is blest Nor any one the courtesie denies Till age steals on and robs them of their joys Next is Folkingham a Barony likewise of the Clintons Lords oâ— Fâ—â—kingham but once of the Gaunts descended from Gilbert de Gandavo or Gaunt ‖ Nâ—pâ—â—â— grandson to Baldwin Earl of Flanders on whom William the Conquerour very liberally bestow'd great possessions for thus an old Manuscript has it Memorandum That there came in with William the Conquerour one Gilbert de Gaunt to whom the said William having dispossest a woman nam'd Dunmock granted the Manour of Folkingham with the appurtenances thereto belonging and the honour annex'd to it The said Gilbert had Walter de Gaunt his son and heir who had Gilbert de Gaunt his son and heir and Robert de Gaunt his younger son and the said Gilbert the son and heir had Alice his daughter and heiress who was married to Earl Simon and gave many tenements to Religious men but dyed without issue by her The Inheritance then descended to the aforesaid Robert de Gaunt her uncle who had Gilbert his son and heir who had another Gilbert his son and heir who had also another Gilbert his son and heir by whom the Manour of Folkingham with its appurtenances was given to Edward the son of Henry King of England This Gilbert â— H. 3. 〈…〉 as it is in the Plea-rolls out of which this Genealogy is prov'd su'd for service against William
William de Fortibus Earl of Albemarle Mat. Par. like a rebel fortify'd it and plunder'd the whole neighbourhood laid almost level with the ground Afterwards this became the seat and as it were the head of the Barony of the Colvills Colvill who lived for a long time in very great honour but failed in Ed. 3.'s time so that the Gernons and those Bassets of Sapcot had this inheritance in right of their wives A little way from the head of the river Witham stands Paunton Paunton that boasteth very much of its antiquity chequer'd pavements of the Romans are very often dug up in it and there was here formerly a bridge over the river For both the name Paunton and its distance not only from Margidunum but also from Croco-calana Pontes do evince that this is that Ad pontem which Antoninus places 7 miles from Margidunum For Antoninus calls that town Croco-calana which we name Ancaster being at this time only one direct street along the military way one part of which not long since belong'd to the Vescies the other to the Cromwells In the entrance on the South I saw a trench and 't is very evident 't was a castle formerly as also on the other side towards the West are to be seen certain summer camps of the Romans It seems to have had that British name from its situation for it lies under a hill and we read in Giraldus Cambrensis and in Ninnius that among the Britains Cruc maur signify'd a great hill and Cruc-occhidient a mount in the west but I leave others to find out the meaning of the word Colana The antiquity of this town appears by Roman coins by the Vaults that are often discover'd by its situation on the high-way and by the fourteen miles distance between this and Lincoln the road lying through a green plain call'd Ancaster-heath for just so many Antoninus makes it to be between Croco-calana and Lindum But let us follow the river p Next to Paunton q is to be seen Grantham Grantham a town of no small resort adorn'd with a School built by Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester and with a fair Church having a very high spire steeple remarkable for the many stories that are told of it Beneath this town near the little village Herlaxton in the last age was a brazen vessel plow'd up in which they found an old fashion'd gold helmet A golden Hâ—lmâ—t studded with jewels which was presented to Katharine of Spain Queen Dowager to Henry the eighth From hence Witham after a long course northwards runs near Somerton-castle Somâ—rton Lib. Dunelmensis built by Anthony Bec Bp. of Durham by whom 't was given to Edward the first but a little after to 10 Sir William William de Bellomont Lords of Bâ—llomont who about that time came into England of him is descended the family of the Viscounts de Bellomonte which in the last age was almost extinct the sister and heiress of the last Viscount being married to John Lord Lovel de Tichmersh but we have spoken already of this family in Leicestershire From hence the river winds towards the South east through a fenny country and discharges it self into the German-sea a little below Boston after it has bounded Kesteven on the North. Altho' this river falls from a steep descent and large chanel into the sea yet by the great floods in the winter it overflows the fenns on each side with no small loss to the Country however these waters are drain'd in the spring by the sluces call'd by them Gotes On the other side of Witham lyes the third part of this County call'd Lindsey Lindsey by Bede Lindissi from the chief city of this shire 't is bigger than Hoiland or Kesleven jetting out into the ocean with a large front which has the sea continually plying upon its East and North shores on the West lyes the river Trent on the South 't is parted from Kesteven by the Witham and the Foss-dike Foss-dike seven miles in length cut by Henry the first between the Witham and the Trent Hoveden for the conveniency of carriage from Lincoln At the entrance of this Dike into the Trent stands Torksey Torkesey in Saxon Turcesig now a little mean town but heretofore very noted for there were in it before the Norman times as 't is in Domesday-book Domesday-book two hundred Burgesses who enjoy'd many privileges on condition that they should carry the King's Ambassadors as often as they came that way down the river Trent in their own barges and conduct them as far as York r At the joyning of this Dike to Witham s stands the Metropolis of this County call'd by Ptolemy and Antoninus Lindum Lindum by the Britains Lindcoit from the woods instead whereof 't is in some places falsly written Luitcoit Lincoln Bede calls it Lindecollinum and the city Lindecollina but whether it be from its situation on a hill or because 't was formerly a Colony I will not undertake to determine the Saxons call it Lindo-collyne Lind-cyllanceaster the Normans Nichol we Lincoln the Latins Lincolnia From whence Alexander Necham in his Treatise de Divina Sapientia Lindisiae columen Lincolnia sive columna Munifica foelix gente repleta bonis Her pillar thee great Lincoln Lindsey owns Fam'd for thy store of goods and bounteous sons Others believe it had its name from the river Witham which say they was formerly call'd Lindis but they have no authority so this is a bare conjecture For my part I cannot agree with them for Necham himself who wrote four hundred years ago contradicts them and calls this river Witham in these verses Trenta tibi pisces mittit Lincolnia sâ—d te Nec dedigneris Withama parvus adit Trent Lincoln sends the fish that load thy halls And little Witham creeps along thy walls And waits on thee himself ah be not proud Nor scorn the visit of the humble flood I should rather derive it from the British word Lhin which with them signifies a Lake for I have been inform'd by the citizens that Witham was wider formerly at Swanpole below the city altho' 't is at this day very broad I need take no notice of Lindaw in Germany standing by the Lake Acronius to confirm it nor of Linternum in Italy situated upon a Lake since Tall-hin Glan-lhin Linlithquo are towns in our Country of Britain standing upon Lakes The city it self is very large and much resorted to being built on the side of a noted hill where the Witham winds about towards the East and being divided into three chanels watereth the lower part of it That the ancient Lindum of the Britains stood on the very top of the hill of a very difficult ascent and lay much farther extended in length Northward than the gate Newport is evident by the plain signs of a rampire and deep ditches still visible Vortimer that warlike Britain who had very often routed
the Saxons died in this City and was here interr'd altho' he left commands to the contrary for he as 't is related by Ninnius Eluodugus's disciple hop'd and was fully perswaded that his Ghost would defend Britain from the Saxons if he should be buried on the Sea-shore But yet the Saxons after they had demolish'd this old Lindum first inhabited the South-side of the hill 11 At the foot whereof they built as it seemeth the gate yet standing compiled of vast stones and fortified it with the ruins of the former town afterwards they went down near the river built in a place call'd Wickanforde and wall'd it on that side where it was not guarded by the water At which time Paulinus as Bede Bede affirms preach'd the word of God in the Province of Lindesey and first of all converted the Governour of the city Lindcolnia whose name was Blecca with his whole family He built in this city a curious Church of stone the roof whereof is either fall'n down for want of repairing or beat down by force of some enemy for the walls are yet to be seen standing Afterwards the Danes won it twice by assault first when those pillaging troops took it from whom Edmund Ironside wrested it by force secondly when Canutus took it from whom 't was retaken by Aetheldred who on his return out of Normandy valiantly drove Canutus out of this town and beyond all expectation recover'd England which was very nigh lost In Edward the Confessor's reign there was in it as 't is set down in Domesday-book one thousand and seventy Inns for entertainment and twelve Lagemen having their Sac and Soc. 'T was indeed in the Norman times as Malmsbury relates one of the most populous cities of England and a mart for all goods coming by land and water for at that time there were taxed in it as 't is in the said Domesday-book Nine hundred Burgesses and many dwelling houses to the number of one hundred sixty and six were destroy'd for the castle with 74 more without the limits of the castle not by the oppression of the Sheriff and his Ministers but by misfortune poverty and fire William the first to strengthen it and to keep the Citizens in awe built a very large and strong castle on the ridge of the hill and about the same time Remigius Bishop of Dorchester to grace it transferr'd hither from Dorchester a little town in the farthest part of his Diocese his Bishop's See And when the Church erected by Paulinus was utterly decay'd The aforesaid Râ—migius bought in the very highest part of the city several houses with the ground thereto belonging near the castle that overtops all as Henry of Huntingdon notes with its mighty towers and built in a strong place a strong and fine Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and endow'd it with 44 Prebends at which the Arch-bishop of York was very angry for he claim'd for himself the property of the ground This Church being disfigur'd by fire was afterwards repair'd as the said Henry mentions with very great art by Alexander that bountiful Bishop of Lincoln of whom the aforesaid William of Malmsbury speaks thus Seeing he was lookt upon as a prodigy by reason of his small body his mind strove to excel and be the more famous in the world and among other things a Poet of that age wrote thus Qui dare festinans gratis ne danda rogentur Quod nondum dederat nondum se credit habere Still with frank gifts preventing each request What is not yet bestow'd he thinks not yet possest And not only these two but Robert Bloet who was predecessor to Alexander and R. de Beaumeis Hugo Burgundus and their successors contributed to advance this work which was too much for one Bishop to its present state and grandeur The whole pile is not only very costly but indeed very beautiful and excellent for its workmanship especially that porch on the West-side which attracts and delights every beholders eye Altho' there be many tombs of Bishops and others in this Church yet the only ones worth our notice are that of brass in which the entrails of the most excellent Queen Eleanor wife to Edward the first 12 Who dy'd at Hardby in this Shire are interr'd and that of 13 Sir Nicholas Nicholas de Cantelupo with one or two belonging to the family of Burghersh also that of Katharine Swinford third wife to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and mother of the Somerset-family with whom lyes buried her daughter Joan second wife to Ralph Nevill the first Earl of Westmorland who had many children by her The Diocese of the Bishops of Lincoln being of a far greater extent than that of the Bishops of Sidnacester who in the primitive Saxon Church presided in this County contain'd under it so many Counties that its greatness was a burden to it and altho' Henry the second took out of it the Diocese of Ely and Henry the eighth those of Peterborough and Oxford yet 't is still counted the largest Bishoprick in England both for jurisdiction and number of shires and contains no less than 1247 Parish-Churches Many excellent Bishops have govern'd this See since Remigius but to be particular in reckoning them is beyond my design And therefore make no mention of Robert Bloet on whom King William Rufus set an amercement of 50000 pounds alledging that the Bishop's title to the city of Lincoln was defective â—â—eden nor of that bountiful Alexander who was ever extravagantly fond of prodigious buildings nor yet of Hugo Burgundus who being canoniz'd had his corps carry'd to the grave as my Author says on the shoulders of King John and his Nobles out of respect and duty to God and the sainted Prelate I must not however omit mentioning two persons 〈◊〉 diâ—d â— â—233 the one Robert Grostest a better Scholar and Linguist than could be expected from the age he liv'd in â—atth Paris â—d an â—nymous â—tâ—rian an awe to the Pope a Monitor to the King a Lover of Truth a Corrector of Prelates a Director of Priests an Instructor of the Clergy a Maintainer of Scholars a Preacher to the People and a diligent Searcher of Scripture a Mallet to the Romanists c. The other is the most reverend Father Thomas Cooper very deserving both from the Common-wealth of Learning and from the Church whom I am bound always to honour for that he was the Master in whose School I must graetfully own I had my education The city it self also flourish'd for a long time being made by Edward the third a Staple â—he Staple as they call it that is a Mart for Wooll Leather Lead c. Tho' it cannot have reason to complain of great misfortunes yet it has been once burnt once besieged and that in vain by King Stephen who was there overthrown and taken prisoner and once taken by Henry the third defended then against him by his rebellious Barons who
17 More inward are Driby and Ormesby neighbour towns which gave sirnames to two great families in their times From the Dribyes descended the elder Lords Cromwell now determined and from Oâ—â—â—esbies the house of Skipwiâ—h still continuing Then Louth a little market-town of good resort taking its name from Lud a little river that runs by Cockerington heretofore the head of the Barony de Scoteney And lastly Grimsby Grimsby which our Sabines Eulogium lovers of their own conceits will have so call'd from one Grime a Merchant who brought up a little child of the Danish blood-royal nam'd Havelock that was exposed for which he is much talk'd of as is also that Haveloc his Pupil who was first a Scullion in the King's kitchen but afterwards for his eminent valour had the honour to marry the King's daughter He perform'd I know not what great exploits which for certain are fitter for tattling gossips in a winter night than a grave Historian bb 18 But the honour and ornament of this place was the right reverend Doctor Whitgift late Archbishop of Canterbuâ—y a peerless Prelate for piety and learning in our days Scarce six miles from hence farther in the Country is to be seen the ancient castle call'd at this time Castor Castor in Saxon Duang-caster and Thong-caster in British Caer-Egarry Thong-castle but in both languages it takes the name from the thing viz. from a hide cut in pieces as Byrsa Byrsa the most noted Carthaginian castle did For 't is affirm'd in our annals that Hengist the Saxon having conquer'd the Picts and Scots and got very large possessions in other places begged also of Vortigern as much ground in this place as he could encompass with an Ox's hide cut out in very small Thongs where he built this castle whence one who has writ a Breviary of the British history in verse transpos'd Virgil's verses in this manner Accepitque solum facti de nomine Thongum Taurino quantum poterat circundare tergo Took and call'd Thong in memory of the deed The ground he compass'd with an Ox's hide From Grimesby the shore gives back with great winding and admits the aestuary Abus or Humber by Thornton heretofore a College for divine worship founded by William Crassus Earl of Albemarle and by Barton where we pass into the County of York Thâ—â—â—â— Câ—llâ—g by a very noted Ferry Next this lies Ankam a little muddy river and for that reason full of Eels Bâ—â—◠〈…〉 â—ber which at last runs into the Humber near the spring-head of it stands Market-Rasin so call'd from a pretty throng market there A little higher stands Angotby now corruptly call'd Osgodby belonging heretofore to the family 19 Of Semarc of S. Medardo from whom the Airmoines had it by inheritance Oâ—gâ—â—â— and Kelsay which was sometime the estate of the Hansards very eminent in this Shire Kâ—â—â— from whom it came to the Ashcoughs Knights by marriage cc Afterwards the Ankam is joyn'd with a bridge to Glanford a little market town call'd by the common people Brigg from the bridge the true name being almost quite forgotten Near this town within a park is to be seen Kettleby the seat of the famous family of the Tirwhitts Knights 20 Descended from Grovil Oxenbridge and Echingham but formerly the dwelling-place of one Ketellus Kâ—ttâ—â—â— as the name it self intimates Tirwâ—â—â— which was very common among the Danes and Saxons For in Saxon Bye signifies an habitation and Byan to inhabit which is the reason why so many places all over England but especially in this County end in By. Bye This County is at certain seasons so stock'd with fowl to say nothing of fish that one may very justly admire the numbers and variety of them Birds and those not common ones and such as are of great value in other Countries namely Teal Quails Woodcocks Pheasants Partridge c. but such as we have no Latin words for and that are so delicate and agreeable that the nicest palates always covet them viz. Puittes Godwitts Knotts that is as I take it Canutus's birds for they are believ'd to fly hither out of Denmark Dotterells Knots so call'd from their dotish silliness for the mimick birds are caught at candle-light by the fowler's gestures Dottâ—â—â—s if he stretch out his arm they imitate him with their wing if he holds out his leg they likewise will do the same with theirs to be short whatsoever the fowler does they do after him till at last they let the net be drawn over them But I leave these to be observed either by such as delight curiously to dive into the secrets of nature or that squander away their estates in luxury and epicurism More westward the river Trent after a long course within its sandy banks which are the bounds to this Shire falls from the Fossedike into the Humber having first of all ran pretty near Stow Stow. where Godiva Earl Leofrick's wife built a Monastery which by reason of its low situation under the hills is said by Henry of Huntingdon to lye under the Promontory of Lincoln dd Then by Knath now the seat of the Lord Willoughby of Parham formerly of the family of the Barons of Darcy Knath who had great honours and possessions by the daughter and heir of Meinill This family of the Darcies came from one more ancient to wit from one Norman de Adrecy or Darcy of Nocton who was in high esteem under Henry 3. His posterity endow'd the little Monastery at Alvingham in this County Dâ—rcy de Nocâ—â—â— Knath But this honour was in a manner extinct when Norman the last of the right and more ancient line left only two sisters the one married to Roger Penwardin the other to Peter de Limbergh Fiâ—es 29 Eâ— â— Afterwards the Trent runs down to Gainsborow a little town famous for being the harbour of the Danish ships and for the death of Sueno Tiugskege Gaâ—â—â—â—â—row a Danish Tyrant who when he had pillaged the Country as Matthew of Westminster writes was here stabb'd by an unknown person and so at last suffer'd the punishment due to his wickedness Some ages after this it was the possession of 21 Sir William William de Valentia Earl of Pembroke who obtain'd of Edw. 1. the privilege of a Fair for it The Barons of Borrough who dwell here of whom we have spoken before in Surrey are descended from this Earl by the Scotch Earls of Athol â—â—â—s of â—â—ough and the Percies ee In this part of the County stood formerly the city Sidnacester once the seat of the Bishops of this County who were call'd Bishops of Lindiffar â—â—acester but this town is now so sadly decay'd that neither the ruins nor name of it are in being ff I must not omit that here at Mellwood there flourishes the honourable family of St. Paul Knights corruptly call'd Sampoll which
Canutus founded for Nuns who being expell'd within a little time in the year 1040. Leofrick Earl of Mercia enlarg'd it and in a manner built it a-new with so great a show of gold and silver to use Malmesbury's words that the walls of the Church seem'd too strait to contain the treasures of it It was very prodigious to behold for from one beam were scrap'd w Five hundred marks Malmesb. See Dugdale's Warwickshire 50 marks of silver And he endow'd it with so great revenues that Robert de Limsey Bishop of Lichfield and Chester remov'd his See hither as to the golden sands of Lydia that as the same Malmesbury hath it he might steal from the treasures of the Church wherewithall to fill the King's Coffers to cheat the Pope of his provisions and gratifie the Roman avarice However this See after a few years return'd back to Lichfield but upon these terms that one and the same Bishop should be stil'd Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield The first Lord of this City that I know of 〈◊〉 of â—â—â—try was Leofrick who being incens'd against the Citizens laid upon them very heavy taxes these he would by no means remit notwithstanding the great intercession of his Lady Godiva unless she would consent to â—ide naked thro' the most frequented parts of the city â—â—50 which if credit may be given to tradition she perform'd â—egus having cover'd her body with her long dangling hair without being seen by any one and so freed her Citizens from many heavy impositions From Leofrick this City by Lucia his son Algar's daughter came into the possession of the Earls of Chester for she had marry'd Ranulph the first Earl of that name and the third of the family who granted the same Liberties to Coventry that Lincoln enjoy'd and gave a great part of the City to the Monks the residue of it and Chilmore their manour-house near the City he reserv'd to him and his heirs who dying and the inheritance for want of issue-male coming to be divided amongst the sisters Coventry by the death of the Earls of Arundel fell to Roger de Monte alto De monte Alto. or Monthault whose grandson Robert granted all his right for want of issue-male to Queen Isabel Mother of King Edw. 3. to hold during her life after her decease the remainder to John de Eltham brother of the King and to the heirs of his body begotten In default of such the remainder to Edward King of England and his heirs for ever For so you have it in a Fine the second year of Edward 3. But John of Eltham was afterwards created Earl of Cornwall and this place became annex'd to the Earldom of Cornwall from which time it hath flourish'd very much Several Kings gave it divers immunities and privileges especially Edward 3. who granted them the electing of a Mayor and two Bayliffs 11 And to build and embattle a wall about it and Henry 6. who having laid to it some of the neighbouring villages granted by his Charter For so are the very words of it That it should be an entire County incorporate by it self in deed and name distinct from the County of Warwick At which time in lieu of two Bayliffs he constituted two Sheriffs and the Citizens began to enclose it with very strong walls In these are very noble and beautiful gates at that which goes by the name of Gofford is to be seen a vast shield-bone of a Boar which you may believe that Guy of Warwick or Diana of the Groves which you please kill'd in hunting after he had with his shout turn'd up the pit or pond that is now called Swansewell-pool but in ancient Charters Swineswell As to the Longitude of this City it lies in 25 degrees and 52 scruples the Latitude in 52 degrees and 25 scruples Thus much of Coventry which yet that I may ingenuously acknowledge the person who furnish'd me with it you must know you have not from me but from Henry Ferrars of Badsley a person to be respected as for his birth so for his great knowledge in Antiquity and my very good friend who in this and other places courteously directed me and as it were gave me leave to light my candle at his s Near Coventry to the North are situated Ausley Ausley a castle heretofore of the Hastings Lords of Abergavenny and ww Brandon Brand Brand. of old a seat of the Verdons To the East is placed Caloughdon vulgarly call'd Caledon Caledon an ancient seat of the Barons Segrave Barons Segrave from whom it descended to the Barons de Berkley by one of the daughters of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk These Segraves from the time that Stephen de Segrave was Lord Chief Justice of England were Barons of this Realm and enjoy'd the inheritance of the Chaucumbs whose Arms from that time they assumed viz. Arms of the Segraves A Lion rampant Argent crowned Or in a shield Sable John the last of this family marry'd Margaret Dutchess of Norfolk daughter of Thomas de Brotherton and had issue Elizabeth who carry'd the honour of Marshal of England and title of Duke of Norfolk into the family of the Mowbrays Not far from hence is Brinkle Brinkle-castle where was an ancient castle of the Mowbrays to which belong'd many fair possessions lying round it but time hath swept away the very ruins of it t as also of the Monastery of Combe Combe-Abbey which the Camvils and the Mowbrays endow'd Out of whose ashes the fair structure of the Harringtons arose in this place As you go Eastward x Anciently writ Thester Over as being seated castward of Monks-kirby and call'd but lately Cester-over by the inhabitants Dugd. Warwicksh p. 60. Cester-over presents it self the possession of the Grevils of whom I have before made mention Near which Watling street a Military way of the Romans dividing this County to the North from Leicestershire passes by High-cross of which we have already spoken near Nonn-eaton which of old was call'd Eaton but Amicia the wise of Robert Bossu Earl of Leicester as Henry Knighton writes having founded a Monastery of Nuns here in which she her self was profess'd of that number from those Nuns it got the name of Non-Eaton And formerly it was of great fame for the piety of its holy virgins who being constant in their devotions gave a good example of holy living to all about them Near this stood heretofore Asteley-castle Asteley the chief seat of the family of the Asteleys 12 Out of which flourish'd Barons in the time of King Edward the first second and third Baron Asteâ—ey the heiress of which was the second wife of Reginald Grey Lord of Ruthin From him sprang the Greys Marquisses of Dorset some of whom lye interr'd 13 In a most fine and fair Collegiate Church which Thomas Lord Astley founded with a Dean and Secular Canons in the neat
naufraga Petri Ductorem in mediis expectat cymba procellis Now thy vast honours with thy virtues grow Now a third mitre waits thy sacred brow Deserted Wigorn mourns that thou art gone And Kent's glad sons thy happy conduct own Now Rome desires thee Peter wants thy hand To guide his leaky vessel safe to land This city was in all probability built by the Romans when to curb the Britains who dwelt beyond Severn they planted cities at convenient distances all along upon its east-bank just as they did in Germany on the south-side of the Rhine It is seated upon an easie ascent from the river over which lieth a bridge with a tower upon it It was anciently fenced with lofty Roman walls as an old parchment-roll informs us and hath to this day a good firm wall But its glory consists in its inhabitants who are numerous courteous and wealthy by means of the Cloathing trade in the neatness of its buildings the number of Churches and most of all in the Episcopal See which Sexuulfus Bishop of the Mercians placed here A. D. 680. building a Cathedral Church in the south part of the city which hath often been repair'd and by the Bishops and Monks hath been lengthened westward a little at a time almost to Severn side It is really a fair and magnificent Structure ennobled with the monuments of King John Arthur Prince of Wales and some of the Beauchamps A College also of learned men called Prebendaries no less famous than were formerly the Priory of Monks or College of Secular Priests here For in this Church presently upon its first foundation as in the other Abbies of England were placed married Presbyters Married Priests who govern'd those Churches a long time with great reputation for sanctity till Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury in a Synod decreed Register of the Church of Worcester A. D. 964. That for the future all Religious men in England should lead a single life For then Oswald Bishop of this See who was a most zealous promoter of Monkery remov'd the Priests and plac'd Monks in their room which King Edgar attests in these words l The Convents both of Monks and Virgins were destroy'd and neglected all England over which I have determined to repair to the praise of God for the benefit of my own soul and to increase the number of the Servants of God of both sexes and accordingly I have already settled Monks and Nuns in seven and forty houses and resolve if Christ spare me life to do it that I will go on in the oblation of my devout munificence to God till I have made them up fifty the number of the years of Remission Wherefore at present that Monastery in the Episcopal See of Worcester which the reverend Bishop Oswald hath to the honour of Mary the holy mother of God enlarged and having expelled the Secular Clerks c. by my assent and favour bestowed on the religious servants of God the Monks I do by my royal Authority confirm to the said religious persons leading a Monastick life and with the advice and consent of my Princes and Nobles do corroborate and consign c. After some considerable time when through the incursions of the Danes and civil broils the state of this Church was so decay'd that in the place of that numerous company of Monks which Oswald founded here scarce 12 were left Wulfstan S. Wulstan who sate Bp. of this See about A. D. 1090. restor'd it and augmented the number of Monks to 50. and also built a new Church He was a mean scholar even in the account of that age but a person of such simplicity and unfeigned integrity and of a conversation so severe and strict that he was a terrour to ill men and beloved by all that were good insomuch that after his death the Church gave him a place in the Kalendar among the Saints Now after they had flourished in great wealth and power above 500 years King Hen. 8. expell'd these Monks and in their room placed a Dean and Prebendaries and founded a Grammar-school for the instruction of youth Close by this Church remain the bare name and ground-plot of the Castle Which as we read in William of Malmesbury's history of Bishops Ursus made Sheriff of Worcester by William 1. built in the very teeth of the Monks so that the grass took away part of their cemetery But this Castle through the injury of time and casualty of fire hath many years since been ruined The City also hath been more than once burnt down A. D. 1041. it was set on fire by Hardy-Canute who being enraged at the Citizens for killing his Huscarles so they call'd his Officers who collected the Danegelt did not only fire the City Marianus but also massacre all the inhabitants except such as escaped into Bevercy a small island in the river Nevertheless we find in the survey of William 1. that in the days of Edward the Confessor it had a great many Burgesses and was rated at xv hide-land and when the Mint went every Minter gave xx shillings at London for stamps to coin withall In the year 1113. a casual fire which consumed the Castle burnt the roof of the Church also During the Civil wars in K. Stephen's reign it was fired once and again but suffered most when that King took the City Anno 15 Steph. Reâ—â—â— which he had unadvisedly put into the hands of Walleran Earl of Mellent but at that time he could not carry the Castle m However it still rose out of the ashes with greater beauty and hath flourished under an excellent Government managed by two Bailiffs chosen out of 24 Citizens two Aldermen and two Chamberlains with a Common Council consisting of 48 Citizens more n As to the Geographical account of it it 's Longitude from the west Meridian is 21 degrees 52 minutes and hath the north pole elevated 52 degrees and 12 minutes o From Worcester taking its course westward the river passeth by Powick Barons of Powick anciently the seat of John Beauchamp whom K. Hen. 6. raised to the dignity of a Baron whose estate soon after heirs female carried to the Willoughbies of Broke the Reads and Ligons p Hence through rich and fragrant meadows it runs by Hanley Hanley formerly a Castle belonging to the Earls of Glocester and Upton Upton a noted market town where Roman Coins are frequently dug up Not far off on the right-hand Severn hath the prospect of Malvern Malvern hills hills hills indeed or rather great and lofty mountains for about seven miles together rising like stairs one higher than the other and dividing this County from that of Hereford On the top Gilbert de Clare Earl of Glocester did anciently cast up a ditch all along to part his lands from those of the Church of Worcester which ditch is still to be seen and is very much admired pp On the other side Severn and near the same distance
indebted for the description of it It lay with the Inscription downward upon a stone two foot square which is suppos'd to have been the Pedestal of it the foundation lay deep and broad consisting of many large stones The earth about it was solid but of several colours and some ashes were mixt in it About the foundation were found signs of a Sacrifice the bones horns and heads of several creatures as the Ox Roe-buck c. with these two coyns I. Brass On the first side Imp. Caes. Vespasian Aug. Cos. 111. and the face of the Emperour On the reverse Victoria Augusti S. C. and a winged Victory standing II. Copper On the first side Fl. Val. Constantius Nob. C. and the face of Constantius On the reverse Genio populi Romani A Genius standing holding a bowl us'd in sacrifices in the right hand and a Cornucopia in the left Our Antiquary tells us that presently after the Norman-Conquest the Episcopal See was translated hither from Lichfield and this is the reason why the Bishops of Lichfield are sometimes call'd by our Historians Bishops of Chester and Peter who translated it is by our Saxon Annals call'd Episcopus Licifeldensis sive Cestrensis Bishop of Lichfield or Chester d Leaving this ancient city the next thing that offers it self is Wirall Wirall call'd by the Saxon Annals Wirheale and by Matthew Westminster more corruptly Wirhale * Burton Itinerar p. 129. which the same Mattthew confounds with Chester making them one place This error proceeded from the misunderstanding of that passage in the Saxon Chronicle hie gedydon on anre pestre ceastre on Wirhealum sio is Legaceastre gehaten i.e. They abode in a certain Western city in Wirheale which is call'd Legaceaster The latter part of the sentence he imagin'd had referr'd to Wirheale whereas it is plainly a farther explication of the western-Western-city e From the Western parts of this County let us pass to the Eastern where upon the river Dane is Congleton the ancient Condatum of Antoninus according to our Author Mr. Burton Mr. Talbot and others Wherever it was it seems probable enough as Mr. †Comment upon the Iâ—inerar p. 124. Burton has hinted that it came from Condate in Gaul famous for the death of S. Martin For ‖ Dâ— Bell. Gâ—ll. l. 5. Caesar expresly tells us that even in his time they translated themselves out of that part of Gaul into Britain and that after they were settl'd they call'd their respective cities after the name of those wherein they had been born and bred Whether any remains of Roman Antiquities that have been discover'd at Congleton induc'd our Antiquaries to fix it there is uncertain since they are silent in the matter but if the bare affinity of names be their only ground supposing the distances would but answer there might be some reason to remove it into the Bishoprick of Durham wherein at Consby near Percebridge was dug up a Roman Altar very much favouring this conjecture The draught and inscription of it with the remarks upon them shall be inserted in their proper place More towards the North lies Maclesfield where in a Chapel or Oratory on the South-side of the Parochial Chapel and belonging to Peter Leigh of Lyme Esq as it anciently belong'd to his Ancestors in a brass Plate are the verses and following account of two worthy persons of this family Here lyeth the body of Perkin A Legh That for King Richard the death did dye Betrayed for righteousness And the bones of Sir Peers his sonne That with King Henry the fifth did wonne In Paris This Perkin served King Edward the third and the Black Prince his son in all their wars in France and was at the Battel of Cressie and had Lyme given him for that service And after their deaths served King Richard the second and left him not in his troubles but was taken with him and beheaded at Chester by King Henry the fourth And the said Sir Peers his sonne served King Henry the fifth and was slain at the battel of Agen-court In their memory Sir Peter Legh of Lyme Knight descended from them finding the said old verses written upon a stone in this Chapel did reedifie this place An. Dom. 1626. On the other side of the same Parochial Chapel in an Oratory belonging to the right honourable Thomas Earl Rivers is this Copy of a Pardon grav'd in a brass Plate The pardon for saying of v pater nosters and v aves and a ...... is xxvi thousand yeres and xxvi dayes of pardon Another brass Plate in the same Chapel has this ancient Inscription Orato pro animabus Rogeri Legh Elizabeth uxoris suae qui quidem Rogerus obiit iiii die Novembris Anno Domini M. v. c. vi Elizabeth verò obiit v o die Octobris An. Domini Mcccclxxxix quorum animabus propitietur Deus This town of Macclesfield hath given the title of Earl to the Gerrards the first whereof invested with that Honour was Charles created Earl of this place 31 Car. 2. who being lately dead is now succeeded by his son and heir The more rare Plant yet observ'd to grow in Cheshire is Cerasus avium fructu minimo cordiformi Phyt. Brit. The least wild Heart Cherry-tree or Merry-tree Near Stock-port and in other places Mr. Lawson could observe no other difference between this and the common Cherry-tree but only in the figure and smallness of the fruit HEREFORD-SHIRE By Robt. Morden SILURES IT seems most adviseable before we go to the other parts of England to take a round into Cambria or Wales still possest by the posterity of the old Britains Tho' I cannot look upon this as a digression but a pursuing of the natural course of things For this tract is spread out along by the sides of the Cornavii and seems to have a right to be consider'd here as in its proper place Especially seeing the British or Welsh the Inhabitants of these parts enjoy the same laws and privileges with us and have been this long time as it were engrafted into our Government Wales Wales therefore which formerly comprehended all that lies beyond the Severn but has now narrower bounds was formerly inhabited by three People the Silures Silures the Dimetae Dimetae and the Ordovices Ordovices To these did not only belong the twelve Counties of Wales but also the two others lying beyond the Severn Herefordshire and Monmouthshire now reckon'd among the Counties of England To take them then as they lye the Silures as we gather from Ptolemy's description of them inhabited those Countries which the Welsh call by one general name Deheubarth i.e. the Southern part at this day brancht into the new names of Herefordshire Radnorshire Brecknockshire Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire within which compass there are still some remains of the name Silures As to the derivation of the word I can think of none that will answer the nature of the Country but as to the original of
died an Exile in France but his wife being taken suffer'd the worst of miseries for she was starv'd in prison and thus did severe penance for her scurrilous language His son Giles Bishop of Hereford having without regard to his nephew who was the true heir recover'd his father's estate by permission of King John left it to his brother Reginald whose son William was hang'd by Lhewelin Prince of Wales who had caught him in adultery with his wife But by the daughters of that William the Mortimers Cantelows and Bohuns Earls of Hereford enjoy'd plentiful fortunes This country of Brecknock fell to the Bohuns and at length from them to the Staffords and upon the attainder of Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham considerable revenues were forfeited to the crown in this County This County has 61 Parishes ADDITIONS to BRECKNOCKSHIRE a UPon the river Wye is Bualht whereof in the year 1690. a considerable part being that side of the street next the river Wye was by a casual fire totally consumed b Whether this town of Bualht be the ancient Bullaeum or whether that city or fort allowing it to have been in this County was not at a place call'd Kaereu Kaereu some miles distant from it may be question'd At leastwise 't is evident there hath been a Roman fort at Kaereu for besides that the name implies as much signifying strictly the Walls or Rampire and was prefix'd by the Britains to the names of almost all Roman towns and castles they frequently dig up bricks there and find other manifest signs of a Roman work 'T is now only the name of a Gentleman's house and not far from it there is also another house call'd Castelhan If it be urg'd in favour of Buelht that it seems still to retain its ancient name which Ptolemy might render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may be answer'd that Buelht Buelht what it signifies which I interpret Colles boum Ox-Cliff or Oxen-Holt was the name of a small Country here from whence in all likelihood the ancient Bullaeum if it stood in this tract was denominated but that being totally destroy'd and this town becoming afterwards the most noted place of the Country it might also receive its name from it as the former had done But that I may dissemble nothing since the congruity of the names was the main argument that induc'd our learned Author to assign this situation to the ancient Bullaeum Silurum we shall have occasion of hesitating if hereafter we find the ruins of a Roman fort or city in a neighbouring Country of the Silures the name whereof may agree with Bullaeum no less than Buelht c Of the famous Owen Glyn-dwr Owen G yndwr or Glyn-Dowrdwy I find the following account in some notes of the learned and judicious Antiquary Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt Esq Sir Davidh Gam was wholly devoted to the interest of the Duke of Lancaster upon which account it was that Owen ap Gruffydh Vychan commonly call'd Owen Glyn-Dŵr was his mortal enemy This Owen had his education at one of the Inns of Court and was preferr'd to the service of King Richard 2. whose Scutifer as Walsingham saith he was Owen being assured that his King and Master Richard was deposed and murder'd and withall provoked by several affronts and wrongs done him by the Lord Grey of Ruthin his neighbour whom King Henry very much countenanced against him took arms and looking upon Henry as an Usurper caus'd himself to be proclaim'd Prince of Wales And though himself were descended paternally but from a younger brother of the house of Powis yet as ambition is ingenious he finds out a way to lay claim to the Principality as descended by a daughter fâ—om Lhewelyn ap Gruffydh the last Prince of the British race He invaded the lands burnt and destroy'd the houses and estates of all those that favour'd and adher'd to King Henry He call'd a Parliament to meet at Machynlheth in Montgomeryshire whither the Nobility and Gentry of Wales came in obedience to his summons and among them the said David Gam but with an intention to murder Owen The plot being discover'd and he taken before he could put it in execution he was like to have suffer'd as a Traitor but intercession was made for him by Owen's best friends and the greatest upholders of his cause whom he could not either honourably or safely deny Yet notwithstanding this pardon as soon as he return'd to his own Country where he was a man of considerable interest he exceedingly annoy'd Owen's friends Not long after Owen enter'd the Marches of Wales destroying all with fire and sword and having then burnt the house of Sir David Gam 't is reported he spake thus to one of his tenants O gweli di wr côch cam Yn ymofyn y Gyrnigwen Dywed y bôd hi tan y lan A nôd y glo ar ei phen The British name of this river is Wysk Usk. whencâ— nomâ—nâ— which word seems a derivative from Gwy or Wy whereof the Reader may see some account in Radnorshire At present it is not significative in the British but is still preserv'd in the Irish tongue and is their common word for water There were formerly in Britain many Rivers of this name which may be now distinguish'd in England by these shadows of it Ex Ox Ux Ouse Esk c. But because such as are unacquainted with Etymological Observations may take this for a groundless conjecture that it is not such will appear because in Antonine's Itinerary we find Exeter call'd Isca Danmoniorum from its situation on the river Ex and also a city upon this river Usk for the same reason call'd Isca Leg. II. The County of MONMOUTH By Rob t Morden e Bernard Newmarch having discomfited and slain in the field Bledhyn ap Maenyrch â—â—edhyn â—p Meinâ—â—â—ch seised on the Lordship of Brecon and forced his son and heir Gwgan to be content with that share of it he was pleas'd by way of composition to appoint him He gave him the Lordship and Manours of Lhan Vihangel Tal y Lhyn part of Lhan Lhyeni and Kantrev Seliv with lodgings in the castle of Brecknock where in regard he was the rightful Lord of the Country there was such a strict eye kept over him that he was not permitted at any time to go abroad without two or more Norman Knights in his company R. Vaug. ¶ At a place call'd y Gaer near Brecknock there stands a remarkable monument in the highway commonly call'd Maen y Morynnion â—aen y â—orynnion or the Maiden stone It is a rude pillar erected in the midst of the road about six foot high two in breadth and six inches thick On the one side where it inclines a little it shews the portraictures of a man and woman in some ancient habit It seems to have been carv'd with no small labour though with little art for the Figures are considerably rais'd above the superficies of the stone and
IMP. M AURELIO ANTONINO AVC SEVER LVCII FILIO LEC. IIV VG P sic Together with these two fragments Centurio c This was lately in the School-wall at Kaêr Lheion but is now rased out †7. VECILIANA d This is in the Garden-wall at Moin's Court but the first line VIII and this character 7. are not visible See Reines Syntag. Inscr pag. 977. VIII 7. VALER MAXSIMI f Here also about the time of the Saxon Conquest was an Academy of 200 Philosophers who being skill'd in Astronomy and other Sciences observ'd accurately the courses of the Stars as we are informed by Alexander Elsebiensis a very scarce Author out of whom much has been transcrib'd for my use by the learned Thomas James Tho. James of Oxford who may deservedly be stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one that is wholly intent upon Books and Learning and is at present God prosper his endeavours out of a desire of promoting the publick good busily employ'd in searching the Libraries of England on a design that is like to be of singular use to the Commonwealth of Learning In the time of K. Henry 2. when Giraldus writ this City seems to have been a place of considerable strength For we find that Yrwith of Kaer Lheion a courageous Britain defended it a long time against the English forces till at last being over-power'd by the King he was dispossest of it But now a fair instance that Cities as well as Men have their vicissitude and fortune that is become an inconsiderable small town which once was of so great extent on each side the river that they affirm St. Gilian's the house of the honourable Sir William Herbert a person no less eminent for wit and judgment than noble extraction to have been in the city and in that place the Church of Julius the Martyr is said to have stood which is now about a mile out of the town From the ruins also of this City Newport Newport had its beginning seated a little lower at the fall of the river Usk. By Giraldus 't is call'd Novus Burgus It is a town of later foundation and of considerable note for a Castle and a convenient harbour where there was formerly some Military-way mention'd by Necham in these verses Intrat auget aquas Sabrini fluminis Osca Praeceps testis erit Julia Strata mihi Increas'd with Usk does Severn rise As Julia Strata testifies That this Julia Strata was a way we have no reason to question and if we may be free to conjecture it seems not absurd to suppose it took its name from Julius Frontinus who conquer'd the Silures Not far from this Newburgh saith Giraldus there glides a small stream call'd Nant Pènkarn passable but at some certain fords not so much for the depth of its water as the hollowness of the chanel and deepness of the mud It had formerly a ford call'd Rhŷd Penkarn now of a long time discontinued Henry 2. King of England having by chance pass'd this ford the Welsh who rely too much upon old prophecies were presently discouraged because their Oracle Merlinus Sylvester had foretold that whenever a strong Prince with a freckled face such as King Henry was should pass that Ford the British Forces should be vanquish'd During the Saxon Heptarchy this County was subject to the Mountain-Welsh call'd by them Dun-settan Dun set who were yet under the government of the West-Saxons as appears by the ancient Laws At the first coming in of the Normans the Lords Marchers grievously plagued and annoy'd them especially the above-mention'd Hamelin Balun Hugh Lacy Walter and Gilbert de Clare 1 Miles of Glocester Robert Chandos Pain Fitz-John Richard Fitz-Punt and c. and Brien of Wallingford To whom the Kings having granted all they could acquire in these parts some of them reduced by degrees the upper part of this County which they call'd Over-Went and others the low lands call'd Nether-Went Parishes in this County 127. ADDITIONS to MONMOVTHSHIRE a MYnydh Kader mention'd by our Author is the name of many Mountains in Wales thus denominated as Kader Arthur Kader Verwin Kader Idris Kader Dhinmael Kader yr Ychen c. which the learned Dr. Davies supposes to have been so call'd not from their resemblance to a Kà dair or Chair but because they have been either fortified places or were look'd upon as naturally impregnable by such as first impos'd those names on them For the British Kader as well as the Irish word Kathair signifying anciently a Fort or Bulwark whence probably the modern word Kaer of the same signification might be corrupted b Lhan Lhan properly signifies a Yard or some small Inclosure as may be observ'd in compound words For we find a Vineyard call'd Gwin-lhan an Orchard Per-lhan a Hay-yard Yd-lhan a Church-yard Korph-lhan a Sheep-fold Kor-lhan c. However as Giraldus observes it denotes separately a Church or Chapel and is of common use in that sense throughout all Wales probably because such Yards or Inclosures might be places of Worship in the time of Heathenism or upon the first planting of Christianity when Churches were scarce c That this Jeffrey of Monmouth as well as most other Writers of the Monkish times abounds with Fables is not deny'd by such as contend for some authority to that History but that those Fables were of his own Invention seems too severe a censure of our Author's and scarce a just accusation since we find most or all of them in that British History he translated whereof an ancient copy may be seen in the Library of Jesus-College at Oxford which concludes to this effect Walter Arch-Deacon of Oxford composed this Book in Latin out of British Records which he afterwards thus render'd into modern British We find also many of the same Fables in Ninnius who writ his Eulogium Britanniae about three hundred years before this Galfridus Arturius compos'd the British History As to the regard due to that History in general the judicious Reader may consult Dr. Powel's Epistle De Britannica Historia rectè intelligenda and Dr. Davies's Preface to his British Lexicon and ballance them with the arguments and authority of those that wholly reject them Near Monmouth stands a noble House built by his Grace Henry Duke of Beaufort call'd Troy the residence of his eldest son Charles Marquiss of Worcester who is owner of it and of the Castle and Manour of Monmouth settled upon him with other large possessions in this County by the Duke his father e The English names of Went-set Wentse◠c. and Wents land have their origin from the British word Gwent whereby almost all this Country and part of Glocestershire and Herefordshire were call'd till Wales was divided into Counties But it seems questionable whether that name Gwent be owing to the City Venta or whether the Romans might not call this City Venta Silurum as well as that of the Iceni and that other of the Belgae
from the more ancient British names of part of their Countries Had the Country been denominated since the Roman Conquest from the chief City it had been more properly call'd Gwlâd Gaer-Lheion than Gwlâd Gwent But of this enough if not too much f In the year 1654. some workmen discover'd at St. Julian's near Kaer-Lheion a Roman Altar the Inscription whereof was soon after copy'd by the learned and ingenious John Aubrey Esq a true lover and promoter of real knowledge and a person of equal industry and curiosity The Altar he says was of Free-stone four foot in length and three in breadth the Inscription he is pleas'd to communicace out of his excellent Collection of British Monuments to be publish'd on this occasion IOVIOM DOLICHVI 〈◊〉 AEMILIANVS CALPVRNIVS RVFILIANVS 〈◊〉 AVGVSTORVM MONITV It seems worth the enquiry of the curious upon what occasion Jupiter is here stiled Dolichenus for that I take to be the meaning of this word Dolichv To me it seems somewhat probable that this Altar was erected to implore his Tuition of some Iron Mines either in the Forest of Dean or some other place of this Country The grounds of which conjecture I take from this Inscription in Reinesius â—â—n Sâ—nâ—â—â— lâ—â— m â— Xv. Jovi optimo maximo Dolycheno ubi ferrum nascitur C Sempronius Rectus cent Frumentarius D.D. For unlesâ— Câ—aius Sempronius who dedicates this Altar Jovi Dolicheno makes his request to Jupiter that he would either direct them to find out Iron Mines or be propitious to some they had already discover'd I cannot conjecture why he should add the words ubi Ferrum nascitur which were not only superfluous buâ— absurd if they imply'd no more than barely that Iron-ore was found at Doliche a Town of Macedonia whence Jupiter was call'd Dolichenus Augustorum monitu is a Phrase we find parallel instances of in Reinesius p. 42. where he tells us Ex monitu Dei Imperio Deorum Dearúmque ex jussu numinis quicquid facerent facere videri volebant Pagani At Tre-Dynoq-Church Inscription at Tredonok about three miles distant from Kaer-leion is preserv'd this fair and entire Monument of a Roman Souldier of the Second Legion The Stone is a kind of blue slate the four oblique lines are so many Grooves or Canaliculi and the small squares without the lines are holes bor'd through the stone whereby it was fasten'd with Iron pins to the Ground-wall of the Church on the outside and discover'd by the Sexton about twenty years since at the digging of a Grave Considering that this was the Monument of a Heathen and must be about fourteen or fifteen hundred years standing it seems strange it should be reposited in this place and thus fasten'd to the Foundation of the Church unless we suppose it laid there by some pious Christian in â—fter ages or rather that the Chuâ—ch was built on some old Roman burial-place But however that happen'd that it was there found is most certain and testified by a worthy Gentleman of the neighbourhood yet living who was present at the discovery of it and took care to preserve it DM IVL IVLIANVS MIL LEG II AVG STIP XVIII ANNOR XL HIC SITVS EST CVRâ—AGENTE AMANDA CONIVGE At Kaer Leion they frequently dig up Roman Bricks with this Inscription LEG II. AVG. The Letters on these Bricks are not inscrib'd as on stone but stamp'd with some instrument there being a square cavity or impression in the midst of the Brick at the bottom whereof the Letters are rais'd and not insculp'd One of these Bricks may be seen together with Mr. Camden's Inscriptions in the Garden-wall at Moinscourt the seat of the worshipful Thomas Lyster Esq and some others at Kaer Leion In the year 1692. a chequer'd pavement was discover'd in the grounds of the honoured Henry Tomkins of Kaer Leion Esq the present High Sheriff of this County 'T was found by workmen a plowing in a field close adjoyning to his house And here we may observe that these ancient pavements are not buried so deep in this County as that in the Church-yard at Woodchester in Glocestershire For whereas that lies at about 3 foot depth this at Kaer Leion as also some others formerly discover'd lay no deeper than the plow-share and that abovementioned at Kaer-went not much lower Mr. Tomkins has taken all possible care to preserve what the servants had not spoil'd of this valuable antiquity by removing a considerable part of the floor in the same order it was found into his garden and was pleas'd to communicate a draught of the whole to be * See at the end of Wales publish'd upon this occasion The diameter of it is about 14 foot All the arches and that part of the border they touch were composed of white red and blue stones varyed alternately The bills eyes and feet of the birds were red and they had also a red ring about the neck and in their wings one or two of the longest feathers red and another blue The inside of the cups were also red and elsewhere whatever we have not excepted of this whole area is variegated of umber or dark colour'd stones and white About forty years since some Labourers digging in a Quarry betwixt Kaer Leion Bridge and Christ-church near a place call'd Porth Sini Krân discover'd a large coffin of free-stone which being open'd they found therein a leaden sheet wrap'd about an iron frame curiously wrought and in that frame a skeleton Near the coffin they found also a gilded Alabaster statue of a person in a coat of mail holding in the right-hand a short sword and in the left a pair of scales In the right scale appear'd a young maiden's head and breasts and in the left which was out-weigh'd by the former a globe This account of the coffin and statue I receiv'd from the worshipful Captain Matthias Bird who saw both himself and for the farther satisfaction of the curious was pleas'd lately to present the statue to the Ashmolean Repository at Oxford The feet and right-arm have been broken some years since as also the scales but in all other respects it 's tolerably well preserv'd and some of the gilding still remains in the interstices of the armour We have given a figure of it amongst some other curiosities relating to Antiquity at the end of these Counties of Wales but must leave the explication to some more experienc'd and judicious Antiquary for though at first view it might seem to be the Goddess Astraea yet I cannot satisfie my self as to the device of the Globe and Woman in the scales and am unwilling to trouble the Reader with too many conjectures Amongst other Roman Antiquities frequently dug up here we may take notice of some curious earthen Vessels whereof some are plain and the same with those red Patellae or earthen Plates often discover'd in several parts of England but others adorn'd with elegant figures which were they preserv'd might be made use of for the
Meirionydh Shire This County though it be mountainous is yet in general a fertile Country having fruitful Vales as well for pasture as arable land and was formerly a breeder of excellent horses which as Giraldus informs us were much esteem'd as well for their shape and stateliness †Membroâ—â— suà maâ—â—state as incomparable swiftness At the utmost limit of this County westward where it ends in a Cone or sharp point lies Machynlheth â—achynâ—â—eth the Maglona â—aglona perhaps of the Romans where 1 In the time of the Emperour Theodosius the younger in the time of Honorius the Emperour the Praefect of the Solensians lay in garrison under the Dux Britanniae in order to keep in subjection the inhabitants of that mountainous tract And at 2 miles distance near Penalht Id est â—orsum â—rbis we find a place call'd Kevn-Kaer ‖ where they sometimes dig up Roman Coyns and where are seen the footsteps of a round wall of considerable extent a Vâ—lgò â—lyâ—hymâ—â—â— an reâ—â—â— Pen â—â—â—man 〈◊〉 c. Jugum â—â—xillare The founâ—â—in-head â—f Severn Five miles hence that mountain of †Plinlimon I mention'd rises to a great height and on that side where it limits this County sends out the river Sabrina call'd by the Britains Havren and in English Seavern which next to Thames is the most noted river of Britain Whence it acquired that name I could never learn for that a Virgin call'd Sabrina was drown'd therein seems only a Fable of Jeffrey's invention on whose authority also a late Poet built these verses in flumen praecipitatur Abren Nomen Abren fluvio de virgine nomen eidem Nomine corrupto deinde Sabrina datur Headlong was Abren thrown into the stream And hence the river took the Virgin 's name Corrupted thence at last Sabrina came This river has so many windings near its Fountain-head that it seems often to return but proceeds nevertheless or rather wanders slowly through this County Shropshire Worcestershire and lastly Glocestershire and having throughout it's whole course enrich'd the soil is at last discharged into the Severn-sea In this County being shaded with woods it takes it's course northward by Lhan Idlos Lhan Idlos Tre ' newydh or New town New-town and Kaer Sŵs Kaer Sws which is reported to be both ancient and to enjoy ancient privileges and not far from it's bank on the east-side leaves Montgomery Montgomery the chief town of this County seated on a rising rock having a pleasant plain under it 'T was built by Baldwin Lieutenant of the Marshes of Wales in the reign of K. Will. 1. whence the Britains call it Tre ' Valdwin Tre ' Valdwyn i.e. Baldwin's Town but the English Montgomery from Roger de Mont Gomery E. of Shrewsbury 2 Who winning much land here from the Welsh as we find in Domesday c. whose inheritance it was and who built the Castle as we read in Domesday-book though Florilegus fabulously tells us 't was call'd Mons Gomericus from it's situation by King Henry 3. after he had rebuilt it for the Welsh had overthrown it putting the garrison to the sword in the year 1095. after which it lay a long time neglected However certain it is that King Henry 3. granted Anno 11. That the Burrough of Montgomery should be a free Burrough with other Liberties 3 Now the Herberts are here seated branched out from a brother of Sir William Herbert the first Earl of Penbroke of that name Near this town Corndon-hill Corndon-hill rises to a considerable height on the top whereof are placed certain * Commonly call'd Magifold stones in form of a crown whence the name in memory perhaps of some victory c A little lower the river Severn glides by Tralhwn i.e. the town by the Lake whence the English call it Welsh Pool Welsh Pool d Near unto which on the South-side is a Castle Red Castle call'd from the reddish stones whereof 't is built Kastelh Kôch where within the same walls are two Castles one belonging to the Lord of Powys the other to Baron Dudley Kadŵgan ap Bledhyn that renowned Britain mention'd in the last County whilst he was intent on the building of this Castle was slain by his nephew Madok as we find in the Abridgment of K'radok of Lhan Garvan Opposite to this on the other side the river lyes Buttington a place noted for the Danes wintering there whence Marianus tells us they were driven out by Adheredus Duke of Mercia in the year 894. The river Severn having left these places winds it self by degrees towards the East that it may the sooner receive a small river call'd Tanat * L. Myrnwy wherewith being united it enters Shropshire I am fully perswaded because it seems a certain truth that the Mediolanum Mediolanum of the Ordovices celebrated by Antoninus and Ptolemy stood in this Country the footsteps whereof I have diligently endeavour'd to trace out tho' with no great success so far doth age consume even the very skeletons and ruins of Cities However if we may conjecture from its situation seeing those Towns which Antoninus places on each side are well known viz. on one side Bonium call'd now Bangor by the river Dee and on the other Rutunium now Rowton Castle for he places it twelve Italian miles from this and from the other twenty the lines of Position if we may so term them or rather of Distance cross each other betwixt Mathraval and Lhan Vylhin which are scarce three miles asunder and in a manner demonstrate to us the situation of our Mediolanum For this method of finding out a third from two known places cannot deceive us when there are neither Mountains interpos'd nor the turnings of Roads discontinued This Mathraval Mathraval lyes five miles to the west of Severn and which in some degree asserts the Antiquity of it tho' it be now but a bare name 't was once the Royal Seat of the Princes of Powys and is also noted in Authors who tell us that after the Princes left it * De veteri ponte Robert Vipont an English-man built a Castle therein But Lhan Vylhin Lhan Vylhin i.e. the Church of Mylhin a small market-town tho' in respect of distance it be farther off is yet as to affinity of name much nearer Mediolanum For the word Vylhin is by a propriety of the British only a variation of Mylhin as Kaer-Vyrdhin from Kaer and Myrdhin and Ar-von from Ar-môn Nor is this name of Mylhin or Myllin more remote from Mediolanum than either Millano in Italy Le Million in Xantoigne or Methlen in the Low-Countries all which as is generally allowed were formerly known by the name of Mediolanum Now whether of these conjectures comes nearer the truth let the Reader determine for my own part I only deliver my opinion If I should affirm that this our Mediolanum and those other Cities of the same name in
years On the West it descends to the Maritim part of the Vale of Cluid and takes up the upper end of that Vale. In the Confines of this County and Denbighshire where the Mountains with a gentle declivity seem to retire and afford an easier pass into the Vale the Romans built at the very entrance a small City call'd Varis Varis a which Antoninus places 19 miles from Conovium This without the least diminution of its name is call'd at this day Bod Vari * Vulgo Bod Farri which signifies the Mansion of Varus and shews the ruins of a City on a small hill adjoyning call'd Moel y Gaer i.e. the City-hill What the name signifies is not evident I have formerly suppos'd that Varia in the old British signified a Pass and accordingly have interpreted Durnovaria and Isannaevaria The Passage of the water and of Isanna Nor does the situation of this Town contradict my conjecture it being seated at the only convenient Pass through these Mountains Not three miles hence lyes Kaer-wysk Caer-wisk which name tho' it savour much of Antiquity yet I observ'd nothing there either ancient or worth notice Below this Varis the river Cluid runs through the Vale and is immediately joyn'd by Elwy at the confluence whereof there 's a Bishop's See call'd in British from the name of the river Lhan Elwy in English from the Patron St. Asaph S. Asaph and in Historians Episcopatus Asaphensis Neither the Town is memorable for its neatness nor the Church for its structure or elegancy yet in regard of its antiquity it is requisite we should mention it For about the year 560. Capgrave Kentigern Bishop of Glascow fleeing from Scotland instituted here an Episcopal Seat and a Monastery placing therein six hundred and sixty three Monks whereof three hundred being illiterate were appointed for tilling the Land the same number for other employments within the Monastery and the rest for Divine Service and all these he so distributed into Convents that some of them attended at prayers continually Upon his return afterwards into Scotland he appointed Asaph a most upright and devout man Governour of this Monastery from whom it receiv'd its present name The Bishop of this Diocese has under his jurisdiction about 128 Parishes the Ecclesiastical Benefices whereof in case of vacancy in the See until the time of Henry the 8. were in the disposal of the Arch-bishop by the Archiepiscopal right which is now a Prerogative of the Crown For so we find it recorded in the History of Canterbury Higher up Rhudhlan Rhuâ—hlan so call'd from the reddish bank of the river Cluid where 't is seated shews a very fair Castle but almost decay'd with age 'T was built by Lhewelyn ap Sitsilht Prince of Wales and first wrested out of the Welshmens hands by Robert de Ruthlan Nepos ‖ nephew of Hugh E. of Chester and fortified with new works by the said Hugh's Lieutenant Afterwards as the Abbot de Monte informs us King Henry the second having repair'd this Castle gave it to Hugh Beauchamp b Below this Castle the river Cluid is discharged into the Sea and tho' the Valley at the mouth of this river does seem lower than the Sea yet it is never overflown but by a natural tho' invisible impediment the water stands on the very brink of the shore to our just admiration of Divine Providence The shore descending gradually Eastward from this place passes first by Disart castle so call d from its steep situation or as others will have it quasi Desert and thence by Basingwerk Basingâ—â—rk which also Henry the second granted to Hugh Beauchamp Under this place I view'd Holy-well Holy-wel a small Town where there 's a Well much celebrated for the memory of Winfrid S. Winfâ—â—d a Christian Virgin ravish'd here and beheaded by a Tyrant as also for the moss it yields of a very sweet scent Out of this Well a small Brook flows or rather breaks forth through the stones on which are seen I know not what kind of blood red spots and runs with such a violent course that immediately it 's able to turn a mill Upon this very Fountain there 's a Chapel which with neat workmanship was hewn out of the live-Rock and a small Church adjoyning thereunto in a window whereof is painted the History and Execution of St. Winifrid 1 How her head was cut off and set on again by S. Benno Giraldus 2 Who yet knew not this well writes that in his time there was not far from hence a rich vein of silver where says he in search of that metal Itum est in viscera terrae c That part of this Country because it affords the most pleasant prospect and was long since reduced by the English was call'd by the Britains Têg-Eingl which signifies Fair England But whereas a certain Author has call'd it Tegenia and supposes the Igeni dwelt there let the reader be cautious how he assents to it For that worthy Author was deceiv'd by a corrupt name of the Iceni From the shore at this place we see Flint-castle Flint which gave name to this County begun by King Henry 2. and finish'd by Edward 1. 3 Where King Richard 2. circumvented by them who should have been most trusty was cunningly induced to renounce the crown as unable for certain defects to rule and was delivered into the hands of Henry of Lancaster Duke of Hereford who soon after claimed the Kingdom and Crown being then void by his cession as his inheritance descended from King Henry 3. and to this his devised claim the Parliament assented and he was established in the Kingdom Beyond that on the eastern limit of the County next Cheshire lies Hawarden-castle near the shore call'd commonly Harden Hardeâ— * Bâ—iâ— Peâ—nardhalawg Vaughâ—â— out of which when Davidh brother of Prince Lhewelyn had led captive Roger Clifford Justiciary of Wales he brought a most dismal war on himself and his countrymen whereby their Dominion in Wales was wholly overthrown This castle which was held by Senescalship of the Earls of Chester was the seat of the Barons of Mount-hault Barons of Monthauâ—â— who became a very illustrious family and bore azure a Lion rampant argent and also encreas'd their honour by marriage with Cecilia one of the daughters of Hugh D'Albany Earl of Arundel But the issue-male being at last extinct Robert the last Baron of this family as we have mention'd already made it over to Queen Isabella wife of King Edw. 2. but the possession of the castle was afterwards transferr'd to the Stanleys who are now Earls of Derby Below these places the south part of this Country is water'd by the little river Alen near which on a mountain at a village call'd Kilken there 's a spring which like the sea ebbs and flows at set times d On this river Alen lies Hope castle Hope-castâ—â— call'd in
Eccl. Hist l. 4. c 23. where the Latin Copies generally call this venerable Matron Heru and the Saxon Paraphrase Hegu and the same woman in the conclusion of that Chapter is more rightly nam'd Begu or as one Saxon Copy reads it Bega This is the same Bega that as Leleâ—d l. 1. p. 395. Monast Angl. witnesses was born in Irelanâ— and built her first Monastery at S. Bâ—ge's in Cumberland her second at Heruty or Hartlepool and her third at this Calcaceaster are not natural but artificially compounded of Sand Lime and Vitriol for of this they fancy it has some grains as also of an oily unctuous matter Much like those cisterns at Rome which Pliny tells us were made of Sand and a hot Lime so very compact and firm that one would have took them for real stone ii Somewhat Eastward from the bridge before mention'd 〈◊〉 stands Isurium Brigantum an ancient city which took its name from the Ure that wash'd it but has been demolisht many ages since Still there is a village upon the same spot which carries antiquity in its name being call'd Ealdburg and Aldborrow â—â—â—borrow that is to say an old Burrough There is now little or no signs remaining of a City the plot thereof being converted into arable and pasture grounds So that the evidence of History it self would be suspected in testifying this to be the old Isurium if the name of the river Ure the Roman coins continually digg'd up here and the distance between it and York according to Antoninus were not convincing and undeniable kk For by that time the Ure which from hence-forward the Saxons call'd Ouse because the Ouseburne a little brook falls into it here has run 16 Italian miles fâ—rther it arrives at the City Eboracum or Eburacum â—â—â—â—umâ— which Ptolemy in Lib. 2. Magnae Constructionis calls oo Tacitus in Vit. Agricolae calls it Civitas Brigantum And for the same reason it was sometimes by the Saxons nam'd simply Ceastre as well as Eoforwick-ceastre See Chron. Sax. ad Ann. 685. 763. 780. Brigantium if the Book be not faulty and that mistake have not risen from it's being the Metropolis of the Brigantes Ninius calls it Caer-Ebrauc the Britains Caer-Effroc the Saxons Euor Æ¿ic and Eofor-Æ¿ic and we at this day York The British History derives its name from the first founder King Ebraucus But with submission to other mens judgments my opinion is that the word Eburacum comes from the river Ure implying its situation to be upon that river Thus the Eburovices in France were seated by the river Ure near Eureux in Normandy the Eburones in the Netherlands near the river Ourt in the Diocese of Liege and Eb-lana in Ireland by the river Lefny York is the second city in England the finest in this County and the great fence and ornament to those Northern parts 'T is both pleasant large and strong adorn'd with fine buildings both publick and private populous rich and an Arch-bishop's See The river Ure which now takes the name Ouse runs gently as I said from North to South quite through this City and so divides it into two parts joyn'd by a Stone-bridge which has one of the largest Arches that ever I saw The West part of the City is less populous and lies in a square form enclosed partly with stately walls and partly by the river and has but one way to it namely by Mikell-barr which signifies a great Gate from whence a broad fair built street on both sides leads to the very bridge with fine Gardens behind them and the fields for exercise extended to the very walls In the South part of the fields where the river forms an angle I saw a mount which has probably been cast up for some Castle to be built there now call'd the old Bale which William Melton the Arch-bishop as we find it in the lives of the Arch-bishops fortified first with thick planks eighteen foot long and afterwards with a stone wall whereof there remains nothing now visible The East part of the City where the buildings are thick and the streets but narrow is shap'd like a lentil and strongly wall'd On the South-east 't is defended by a Foss or Ditch 〈◊〉 river very deep and muddy which runs by obsâ—ure ways into the very heart of the City and has a bridge over it so throng'd with buildings on both sides that a stranger would mistake it for a street after which it falls into the Ouse At the confluence over against the Mount before mention'd William the Conquerour built a prodigious strong Castle to keep the Citizens in awe But this without any care has been left to the mercy of time ever since fortified places have grown in disrepute among us as only fit for those who want courage to face an enemy in the open field ll Towards the North-east on this side also stands the Cathedral dedicated to St. Peter a magnificent and curious fabrick near which without the walls was a p At the Dissolution valu'd at 2085 l. 1 s. 5 d. ob q. noble Monastery surrounded with the river and its own walls nam'd St. Maries It was founded by Alan the third Earl of Bretaign in Armorica and of Richmond here in England and plentifully endow'd But now 't is converted into a Royal Palace and is commonly call'd the Manour The Manour As for the original of York I cannot tell whence to derive it but from the Romans seeing the British towns before the coming in of the Romans were only woods fortified with a ditch and rampire as Caesar and Strabo who are evidence beyond exception assure us Without insisting upon the story of King Ebraucus a word formed from the name Eboracum who is grosly feigned to be the founder of it this is certain that the sixth Legion call'd Victrix was sent out of Germany into Britain by Hadrian and garison'd here and that this was a Roman Colony we are assur'd both by Antoninus and Ptolemy and an old Inscription which I my self have seen in the house of a certain Alderman of this City M. VEREC DIOGENES I1111I VIR COL EBOR. IDEMQ MORT CIVES BITVRIX HAEC SIBI VIVVS FECIT And also from Severus the Emperour's Coins which have this Inscription on the reverse of them COL EBORACVM LEG VI. VICTRIX But upon what grounds Victor The same Victor lately publisht by Andr. Schottus in his History of the Caesars calls York a Municipium when it was a Colony I cannot readily tell unless the Inhabitants might desire as the Praenestines did to be chang'd from a Colony to a Municipium Municipium Colonia For Colonies were more obnoxious and servile being not left to their own humour as Agellius tells us but govern'd by the Roman Laws and Customs Whereas the Municipia were allow'd the free use of their own Constitutions and enjoyed those honourable offices which the Citizens of Rome did without being tied to any other
The Church of York was by the Princes of that time endow'd with many large possessions especially by Ulphus the son â—f Toraldus which I the rather note from an old bâ—ok that a strange way of endowing heretofore may be took notice of This Ulphus govern'd in the west parts of Deira and by reason of a difference like to happen between his eldest son and his youngest about the Lordships after his death he presently took this course to make them equal Without delay he went to York and taking the horn wherein he was wont to drink with him he fill'd it with wine and kneeling upon his knees before the Altar bestow'd upon God and the blessed S. Peter Prince of the Apostles all his Lands and Tenements This horn was kept there to the last age as I have been informed It would seem to reflect upon the Clergy if I should relate the emulations and scuffles which ambition has raised between the two Sees of York and Canterbury whilst with great expence of money but more of reputation they warmly contended for pre-eminence T. 〈◊〉 r This Controversie was determin'd in Arch-bishop Thoresby's time A. D. 1353. at the special solicitation of King Edward â— qui corpoâ—um animarum pericula considerans ac pacem quietem populi sui affectans dictos Archiepiscopos ad pacis concordiam invitavit Yet so as that the Arch-bishops of York might legally write themselves Primate of England Anglia Sacra par 1. p. 74. For as one relates it the See of York was equal in dignity tho' it was the younger and the poorer sister and this being raised to the same power that the See of Canterbury was and endowed with the same Apostolical privileges took it very heinously to be made subject by the decree of P. Alexander declaring that the Arch-bishoprick of York ought to yield to that of Canterbury and pay an obedience to her as Primate of all Britain in all her Constitutions relating to the Christian Religion It falls not within the compass of my design to treat of the Arch-bishops of this See many of whom have been men of great virtue and holiness 'T is enough for me to observe that from the year 625. when Paulinus the first Arch-bishop was consecrated there have succeeded in it threescore and five Arch-bishops The 〈◊〉 sixth Aâ—â—bishâ—p to the year 1606. in which D. Tobias Matthews Venerable for his virtue and piety for his learned eloquence and for his indefatigable industry in teaching was translated hither from the Bishoprick of Durham mm This City very much flourish'd for some time under the Saxon Government till the Danish storms from the North began to rush on and spoil'd its beauty again by great ruins and dismal slaughter Which Alcuin in his Epistle to Egelred King of the Northumbrians seems to have foretold For he says What can be the meaning of that shower of blood which in Lent we saw at York the Metropolis of the Kingdom near St. Peter's Church descending with great horrour from the roof of the North part of the House in a clear day May not one imagine that this forebodes destruction and blood among us from that quarter For in the following age when the Danes laid every thing they came at waste and desolate this City was destroy'd with continual sufferings In the year 867. the walls of it were so shaken by the many assaults made upon them that Osbright and Ella Kings of Northumberland as they pursued the Danes in these parts easily broke into the City and after a bloody conflict in the midst of it were both slain leaving the victory to the Danes who had retired hither Hence that of William of Malmesbury York ever most obnoxious to the fury of the northern nations hath sustained the barbarous assaults of the Danes and groaned under the miseries it hath suffered But as the same author informs us King Athelstan took it from the Danes and demolish'd that castle wherewith they had fortified it Nor in after-ages was it quite rid of those wars in that especially which was so fatal for the subversion of Cities But the Normans as they put an end to these miseries so they almost brought destruction to York For when the sons of Sueno the Dane arrived here with a fleet of two hundred and forty sail Aâ—fâ—â—◠〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 Burleâ—â— Treasâ—â— of Eâ—gâ— and landed hard by the Normans who kept garrison in two castles in the city fearing lest the houses in the suburbs might be serviceable to the enemy in filling up the trenches set them on fire which was so encreased and dispersed by the wind that it presently spread about the whole city and set it all on fire In this disorder and hurry the Danes took the town putting the Townsmen and the Normans to the sword with great slaughter yet sparing William Mallet and Gilbert Gant the principal men among them for a Decimation Deciâ—â—â—â—on among the soldiers afterwards For every tenth prisoner of the Normans on whom the lot fell was executed Which so exasperated William the Conquerour that as if the citizeâ—s had sided with the Danes he cut them all off and set the City again on fire and as Malmesbury says so spoiled all the adjacent territory that a fruitful Province was quite disabled and useless that the country for sixty miles together lay so much neglected that a stranger would have lamented at the sight of it considering that formerly here had been fine cities high towers and rich pastures and that no former inhabitant would so much as know it The ancient greatness of the place may appear from Domesday In the time of Edward the Confessor the City of York contained six Shires or Divisions besides the Shire of the Archbishop One was wasted for the castles in the five remaining Shires there were 1428 houses inhabited and in the Shire of the Archbishop two hundred houses inhabited After all these overthrows Necham sings thus of it Visito quam foelix Ebraucus condidit urbem Petro se debet Pontificalis apex Civibus haec toties viduata novisque repleta Diruta prospexit moenia saepe sua Quid manus hostilis queat est experta frequenter Sed quid nunc pacis otia longa fovent There happy Ebrauk's lofty towers appear Which owe their mitre to St. Peter's care How oft in dust the hapless town hath lain How oft it's walls hath chang'd how oft it's men How oft the rage of sword and flames hath mourn'd But now long peace and lasting joy 's return'd For in his days these troublesome times being followed with a long and happy peace this city began to revive and continued flourishing notwithstanding it was often marked out for destruction by our own Rebels and the Scotch Yet in King Stephen's time it was most sadly ruined again by a casual fire which burnt down the Cathedral St. Mary's Monastery and other Religious houses and also as 't is supposed that
increase is owing partly to Michael de la Pole who upon his advancement to the Earldom of Suffolk by King Richard the second procur'd them their privileges and partly to their trade of Iseland-fish dâ—y'd and harden'd term'd by them Stock-fish Stockfish which turns to great gain and has strangely enrich'd the Town Immediately upon this rise they fortify'd the place with a brick wall and many towers on that side where they are not defended by the river and brought in such a quantity of stones for ballast Coblestones as was sufficient to pave all parts of the Town As I have been inform'd by the Citizens they were first govern'd by a Warden then by Bailiffs after that by a Mayor and Bailiffs and at last they obtain'd from Henry the sixth that they should be govern'd by a Mayor and Sheriff and that the City should be a County incorporate of it self as the Lawyers term it Concerning the first Mayor of this City it may not be tedious to relate this passage from the Register of the Abbey de Melsa or de Meaux tho' the stile be barbarous William de la Pole De la Pole Kt. was first a Merchant at Ravens-rod skilful in the arts of trade and inferiour to no English Merchant whatsoever He afterwards living at Kingston upon Hull was the first Mayor of that Town and founded the Monastery of St. Michael which now belongs to the Carthusian Monks near the said Kingston His eldest son 4 Sir Michael Michael de la Pole Earl of Suffolk caused the said Monastery to be inhabited by that Order William de la Pole aforesaid lent King Edward many thousand pounds of gold during his abode at Antwerp in Brabant For this reason the King made him chief Baron of his Exchequer gave him by Deed the Seigniory of Holderness with many other Lands then belonging to the Crown and made him a Baneret If any one questions the truth of this C 5 E R 3. m 28. the Records of the Tower will I hope fully satisfie him there it is expresly William de la Pole dilectus valectus mercator noster Now Valectus Valectus or Valettus J. Tilius that I may observe it once for all was then an honourable title both in France and England but afterwards coming to be meanly apply'd to servants so that the Nobility disliked it the title was changed and he was call d Gentleman of the Bed chamber h From Hull a large promontory shoots out into the Sea call'd by Ptolemy Ocellum Ocellum by us at this day Holderness Holderness A certain Monk has call'd it Cava Deira that is to say the hollow Country of the Deiri in the same sence that Coelosyria is so call'd signifying hollow Syria i The first place a man comes at on this winding shore is Headon Headon which formerly if we 'll believe Fame that always magnifies Truth was a very considerable place by reason of merchants and shipping k For my part I have faith enough to believe it notwithstanding 't is now so diminish'd partly by reason of its being too near Hull and partly because the Haven is block'd up and useless that it has not the least shew of that grandeur it pretends to have had Which may teach us that the condition of Towns and Cities is every jot as unstable as the state and happiness of men King John granted to Baldwin Earl of Albemarle and Holderness and to his wife Hawis free Burgage here so that the Burgesses might hold in free burgage by the same customs with York and * Nâ—â—â— Lincoln Nichol. At present the Town begins to flourish again and has some hopes of attaining to its former greatness Somewhat farther in the same Promontory there stands an ancient Town call'd Praetorium Praeâ—â—â—â—â— by Antoninus but we now name it Patrington Patâ—â—â—gâ— as the Italians do Petrovina from the Town Praetorium That I am not mistaken here the distance from Delgovitia and the name still remaining do both shew which also does in some sort imply that this is the Petuaria which goes corruptly in Copies of Ptolemy for Praetorium But whether it took the name from the Praetorium which was their Court of Justice or from some large and stately edifice for such also the Romans call'd Praetoria does not appear l The Inhabitants do still boast of their antiquity and the former excellence of their Haven nor do they less glory in the pleasantness of the place having a very fine prospect on this side as it looks toward the Ocean and on that as it surveys the Humber and the shores about it together with the green skirts of Lincolnshire The Roman way from the Picts wall which Antoninus the Emperour first trac'd out ends here So Ulpian tells us that High-ways of that nature end at the Sea at a River or at a City Somewhat lower stands Winsted Wâ—nâ—â—d the Seat of the Hildeards Knights and a little higher Rosse is seated which gives name as it did heretofore a seat to that famous race of Barons de Rosse Baron 〈◊〉 Rosse and upon the sea Grimston-garth where the Grimstons long flourish'd From hence at no great distance stands Rise formerly the House of those Noblemen call'd de Faulconberge In the very tongue of this Promontory where it draws most towards a point and takes the name of Spurnhead Ratâ—â—â— and Râ—â—burg stands the little village Kellnsey which shews plainly that this is the Ocellum in Ptolemy for as Kellnsey Keâ—â—â—ey comes from Ocellum so without doubt this Ocellum is deriv'd from Y-kill which signifies in British a Promontory or a narrow slip of ground as I have already said m From Ocellum the shore gradually withdraws and with a small bending runs northward by Overthorne and Witherensey little Churches call'd from the sisters that built them Sisters-kirks Sisters-kirks and not much wide of Constable-Burton Conâ—â—â—â— so nam'd from the Lords of it who by marriages are ally'd to very honourable families and flourish in great splendour at this day Robert of this House as we find it in Meaux-Abbey-book was one of the Knights of the Earl of Albemarle who being old and full of days took upon him the Cross and went with King Richard to the Holy Land Then by Skipsey which Drugo the first Lord of Holderness fortify'd with a Castle Here the shore begins to shoot again into the Sea and makes that Bay call'd in Ptolemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gabrantovicorum which some Latin Translators render Portuosus sinus others Salutaris Sinus Sâ—â—taris Neither of them express the sence of the Greek word better than that little town in the turn of it call'd Suerby Sueâ—â—y For that which is safe and free from danger is by the Britains and Gauls call'd Seur as we also do in English who probably derive it from the Britains There 's no reason therefore why we should
but I should rather take it to be the Petrianae For that the Ala Petriana Petriana was quarter'd here is plain from the fragment of an old Inscription which one Vlpius Trajanus ‖ Emeritus a pensionary of the same Ala Petriana set up But take this and some others which I copy'd out here GADVNO VLP TRAI EM AL. PET MARTIVS * Hâ—ply Faciendum procuraviâ— F P. C. ' D M. AICETVOS MATER VIXIT * Annot. A XXXXV ET LATTIO FIL-VIX A XII LIMISIVS CONIV ET FILIAE PIENTISSIMIS POSVIT D M FL MARTIO SEN IN * Possibly in Cohorte C CARVETIOR QVESTORIO VIXIT AN XXXXV MARTIOLA FILIA ET HERES PONEN * Duâ— CVRAVIT DM CROTILO GERMANVS VIX ANIS XXVI GRECA VIX ANIS IIII VINDICIANVS * Fratri filiae Titulum posuit FRA. ET FIL. TIT. PO. After Eden has receiv'd the Eimot n it hastens to the north along by little inconsiderable villages and Forts to the two Salkelds At Little Salkeld there is a circle of stones 77. in number each ten foot high and before these at the entrance is a single one by it self fifteen foot high This the common people call Long-Megg and the rest her daughters and within the circle are hh The heaps of stones in the middle of this monument are no part of it but have been gather'd off the plough'd-lands adjoyning and as in many other parts of the County have been thrown up here together in a waste corner of the field Both this and Rolrich-stones in Oxfordshire may seem to be monuments erected at the solemn Investiture of some Danish Kings and of the same kind as the Kongstolen in Denmark and Moresteen in Sweeden Whereof the Reader may see Discourses at large in Wormius's Mon. Dan. lib. 1. cap. 12. S. J. Steph. Not. ad Sax. Gram. p. 29. Messen Paraph. Theat Nobil Suec p. 108. and our Countryman Dr. Plot 's History of Oxfordshire p. 336 337 c. two heaps of stones under which they say there are dead bodies bury'd And indeed 't is probable enough that this has been a monument erected in memory of some victory From thence the Eden passes by Kirk-Oswald Kirk-Oswald dedicated to S. Oswald formerly the possession of that 11 Sir Hugh Hugh Morvil who with his Accomplices kill'd Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury in memory of which fact the sword he then us'd was preserv'd here for a long time then by Armanthwayte Armanthwayte the Castle of the Skeltons and Corby Câ—rby-Castle a Castle of the noble and ancient family of the Salkelds which was much enrich'd by marriage with the heir of Rosgil then by Wetherall Wetheraâ—â— formerly a little monastery belonging to the Abbey of S. Mary in York where one sees i These Caves are in a rock of difficult access two Rooms one within the other of about five or six yards square each They seem to have been cut out for some Hermits to lodge in being near the Abbey a sort of houses dug out of rock that seem to have been design'd * In pâ— gii 〈◊〉 Viroâ—iâ—â— for an absconding place 12 In this dangerous Country next by Warwic which I take to be the old Virosidum where the sixth Cohort of the Nervii formerly kept garison along the Wall against the Picts and Scots In the last age there was built here a very strong stone-bridge at the expence of the Salkelds and Richmonds And so by Linstoc Linstoc a castle of the Bishops of Carlisle within the Barony of Crosby Crosby which Waldeve son of Earl Gospatrick and Lord of Allerdale gave to the Church of Carlisle The present name I fancy is contracted from Olenacum For that Olenacum Olenacâ—â— where the Ala prima Herculea lay in garison against the Barbarians seems to have been along the Wall And now Eden ready to fall into the Aestuary receives two little rivers almost at the same place Peterill and Caude which from the south keep all along at an equall distance Upon the Peterill beside the Perrianae already spoken of is Greystock â—â—eystock the Castle of a family which has been long famous deriving its original from one Ralph Fitz-Wolter Of whose posterity William de Greystock marry'd Mary daughter and coheir of Roger de Merley Lord of Morpath He had a son John who having no issue got leave of King Edward 1. to make over his estate to his 〈…〉 Cousin Ralph de Granthorpe son of William whose posterity for a long time flourish'd here in great honour 13 With the title of Lord Greystock But about the reign of Henry 7. that family ended and the estate came by marriage to the Barons of Dacre the heirs general of the last of whom were marry'd to 14 Philip Earl of Arundel and Lord William Howard two sons of Thomas Howard late Duke of Norfolk o Near the Caude besides the Copper-mines â—â—pper-â—â—nes at Caudebeck is Highyate a Castle of the Richmonds p and a beautiful Castle of the Bishops of Carlisle call'd The Rose-Castle this seems to have been the old Congavata â—â—ngavata where the second Cohoâ—t of the Lergi were quarter'd for Congavata signifies in British a vale upon the Gavata now contracted into Cauda But I have not yet been able to mark out the express place where it was seated q Between the confluence of those rivers 〈◊〉 the ancient City Carlile has a delicate pleasant situation bounded on the north with Eden â—â—en on the east with Peterill and on the west with Caude Also besides these natural fences it is arm'd with a strong stone wall a castle and a citadel 'T is of an oblong form from west to east upon the west is a pretty large castle which by the Arms appears to have been k It might be repair'd by Rich. 3. tho' 't is very improbable considering the affairs of his Reign but 't is certain it was built by Will 2. some hundred years before built by Rich. 3. Almost in the middle of the city stands the Cathedral Church the upper part whereof being newer is a curious piece of Workmanship l The Lower W. part is the Parochial-Church and as old as S. Cuthbert or Walter who came in with the Conquerour was a Commander in his Army rebuilt the City founded a Priory and turning Religious became himself the first Prior of it The Chancel was built by Contribution A. D. 1350 1 2 3 c. The Belfrey was rais'd and the Bells plac'd in it at the charge of William de Strickland Bishop A. D. 1401. but the lower is much more ancient On the east it is defended with a Citadel very strong and fortify'd with â—â—griis â—â—agnaâ—â—â— several Orillons or Roundels built by K. Hen. 8. The Romans and Britains call'd this City Lugu-ballum â—â—gu-â—â—â—lum and Lugu-vallium or Lugu balia the Saxons as Bede witnesses Luel Ptolemy as some
and Burrows wherein all our Troops were garison'd it was not possible for the Barbarians to make inroads the Enemy being planted in all parts for their reception But Constantine quitting that custom of Forts and Garisons remov'd the better half of the Souldiers from the Frontiers into Towns that had no occasion for them and so both expos'd the Marches to the fury of the Barbarians and pester'd the Cities that had liv'd quietly and undisturb'd with quartering of Souldiers The dâ—â— of the Râ—man Eâ—pire by which means several of them were left desolate without Inhabitants The Souldiers themselves he effeminated with shows and pleasures and in a word laid the first foundation of that gradual decay and ruin which is at this day so visible in the Empire The Country between the two Frontier-fences was so entirely recover'd by Theodosius Marceâ—â— l 38. About â—â— year â—â— father of Theodosius the Emperour that he built Cities in it fortify'd it with Castles Garisons and Barriers and having thus recover'd it so compleatly reduc'd it to the former condition as to set over it a * Reâ—â—â—â— legrimâ—â— Vaâ—â—â— Câ—dâ—â— Theâ—â—â— lawful Governour and have it call'd Valentia in honour of Valentinian Theodosius also his son when his signal courage had promoted him to the Empire took particular care of the Frontiers and commanded that the Magister Officiorum or Scout-Master-General should every year signifie to the Emperour how the Souldiery stood and what care was taken of the Castles and Fences But when the affairs of the Empire begun visibly to run to ruin and the Picts and Scots breaking through the Turf-wall at Bodotria made havock of all these parts Bâ—â—dus the Roman Legion under Gallio of Ravennas was sent to their assistance and repuls'd the Barbarians The fifth â—ratentura But being recall'd for the defence of Gaul they advis'd the Britains take it in the very words of Gildas and Bede to build a Wall cross the Island between the two Seas which might secure them against the Incursions of the Enemy and so return'd home in great triumph But the Islanders building this Wall Non tam â—â—pâ—dious â—um cespiâ—ous not of stone but of turf as wanting skilful hands to carry on such a great work it signified nothing So Gildas tells us that being built up of turf not of stone and that by an unskilful rabble without any Director it stood them in no stead Concerning the place where this Wall was built Bede goes on thus Now they made it between the two arms or bosoms of the sea for a great many miles together that where the Waters did not defend them the Wall might be a security against the Incursions of the Enemy Such a Wall as this but of a vast length defended Assyria against foreign Invasions as Marcellinus has told us And the Seres Chinese at this day as we read in Osorius fence their Valleys and Plains with Walls to assist them in keeping out the Scythians â—he Wall â—â—tween â—â—iâ—â—er-â—ugh-Frith â—nd Doâ—â—â—â—onâ—th Of which work i.e. of a very broad and high Wall the express footsteps are visible at this day It begins at almost two miles distance from the Monastery Abercuruinig on the East in a place call'd in the language of the Picts Penuahel but in the English Penueltun and so running Westward ends hard by the City Alcluith But their old Enemies assoon as they understood the Roman Legion was gone presently set sail throw down the bounds put all to the sword and as it were mow them like ripe Corn trample under foot and over-run all in their way Upon this they send Ambassadours to Rome once more who in a most melancholy address desire assistance that their miserable Country may not be quite ruin'd and the name of a Roman Province which had so long flourisht among them be thrown out and brought under contempt by the insolence of foreign Nations A Legion is again sent over which surprising them in Autumn when they did not so much as dream of them slew great numbers of the Enemy and drove back such as could make their escape over the arm of the Sea whereas before that they us'd to keep their set times for invasions and plunders every year without any manner of disturbance â—ouâ— the â—r of our â—d â—20 â—â—tus 〈◊〉 it Theoâ—â—'s â—reâ—ry â—â— â—diers â—â—â—n'd â—â—g the â—â—l â—â—â—merus â—â—meus And now the Romans retir'd to Severus's wall and along the Linea Valli as the Notitia which was writ about the latter end of Theodosius the younger has it i.e. all-along the wall on both sides there lay in garison five ‖ wings of Horse with their Praefects fifteen Cohorts of Foot with their Tribunes one * band and one †squadron But these we have spoke of in their proper places and shall have occasion to mention them hereafter Concerning what follow'd Bede goes on thus Then the Romans told the Britains once for all that they could not endure such toilsome expeditions for their defence but advis'd them by all means to betake themselves to their Arms and to dispute the cause with the enemy suggesting that they wanted nothing to be too hard for them but only to quit that lazy way of living The Romans also hoping that might be of consequence to their Allies â—â—â—l of â—t the 〈◊〉 Praeâ—â—ra whom they were now forc'd to leave built a strong wall of stone from sea to sea directly along by those cities which had been settl'd there for fear of the enemy where also Severus had formerly made his wall I will also set down here Gildas's words from whom Bede had this The Romans at the publick and private expence joyning to themselves the assistance of the miserable inhabitants rais'd a wall not like that other from sea to sea according to their usual manner of building along by the cities that had been contriv'd here and there for fear of the enemy But to return to Bede Which wall so much talk'd of and visible at this day built at the publick and private expence by the joynt labour of the Romans and Britains was eight foot broad and twelve high running in a direct line from east to west as is plain at this day to any that shall trace it From which words of Bede 't is plain that a certain learned man instead of hitting the mark put out his own Eyes when he affirm'd with so much zeal and eagerness against Boëtius and the other Scotch writers that Severus's wall was in Scotland Does not Bede after he has done with that Vallum at Abercuruing in Scotland expresly tell us of a wall of stone built in the place of Severus's turf wall and where pray should this stone-wall be but between Tinmouth and Solway frith and was not Severus's Vallum there too The remains of a wall are all along so very visible that one may follow the track and in the ‖ In Vastis Wastes I my self have seen
already mention'd Besides the Notitia Provinciarum places Gabrosentum Gabrâ—â—â—â—tum and in it the second Cohort of the Thracians ad lineam Valli within the very range of the Wall And 't is most certain that the Rampier and afterwards the Wall pass'd through this Town and at Pandon-gate there still remains as 't is thought one of the little Turrets of that very Wall 'T is indeed different from the rest both in fashion and masonry and seems to carry a very great age The name of Monk-chester is also an argument of its being a garrison'd Fort for so from the Monks it was call'd about the time of the Conquest Soon after it got the modern name of New-castle from that new castle which was here built by Robert son of William the Conquerour and within a while was mightily enlarg'd by a good trade on the coasts of Germany and by the sale of its sea-coal whereof this Country has great plenty into other parts of England In the reign of Edward the first a very rich Burger being carry'd off a prisoner by the Scots out of the middle of the town first paid a round ransom for himself and afterwards began the first fortifications of the place The rest of the townsmen mov'd by his example finish'd the work and wholly encompass'd themselves with good stout walls since which time this place has so securely manag'd her trade in spight of all the attempts of her enemies and the many neighbouring thieves that she is now in a most flourishing state of wealth and commerce s upon which account s King Richard the second granted that a sword should be carry'd before the Mayor and King Henry the sixth c. Henry the sixth made it a County incorporate of it self It lies in 21 degrees and 30 minutes longitude and in 54 and 57 of northern latitude We have already treated of the suburbs of Gateshead which is joyn'd to Newcastle by the bridge and belongs to the Bishop of Durham This town for its situation and plenty of sea-coal t so useful in it self and to which so great a part of England and the Low-Countries are indebted for their good fires is thus commended by Jonston in his Poems on the Cities of Britain NOVUM CASTRUM Rupe sedens celâ—â— rerum aut miracula spectat Naturae aut solerâ— distrahil illa â—liis Sedibus Aethereis quid frustra quaeritis ignem Hunc alit hunc terra suscitat ista sinu Non illum torvo terras qui turbine terret Sed qui animam Terris detque animos animis Eliquat hic ferrum aes hic aurum ductile fundit Quos non auri illex conciet umbra animos Quin aiunt auro permutat bruta metalla Alchimus hunc igitur praedicat esse Deum Si deus est ceu tu dictas divine magister Haec quot alit Quot alit Scotia nostra Deos NEW-CASTLE From her high rock great nature's works surveys And kindly spreads her goods through lands and seas Why seek you fire in some exalted sphere Earth's fruitful bosom will supply you here Not such whose horrid flashes scare the plain But gives enliv'ning warmth to earth and man It'n brass and gold its melting force obey Ah! whos e'er free from gold's almighty sway Nay into gold 't will change a baser ore Hence the vain Chymist deifies its power If 't be a god as is believ'd by you This place and Scotland more than Heaven can shew Scarce three miles hence for I take no notice of Gosseford which was the Barony of Richard Sur-Teis or Upon the Tees â—â—â—ons Sur 〈◊〉 a person of great repute under Henry the fiâ—sty stands a little village call'd Walls-end â—â—lls-end The very signification of the word proves this to have been the station of the q Read the First Cohort of the Frixagi for so says the Liber Notitiarum The second Cohort of the Thracians was just now rightly placed by our Author at Gabrosentum By the way there is an ill-contriv'd and incoherent Interpolation in Bede's Eccles Hist lib. 1. cap. 12. wherewith Buchanan and some other Scottish Writers seem to be mightily taken which if it proves any thing at all shews that Vindobala was by the Britains call'd Penvahel second Cohort of the Thracians which in the Liber Notitiarum is call'd Vindobalâ— â—â—â—dobala and by Antoninus Vindomora â—â—â—domora for the latter seems in the provincial language of the Britains to have signified the Walls-end and the former the Rampiers-end since they anciently nam'd a Wall Mur and a Ditch or Rampier Gual 6 Bal Val and Gual Nor is it likely that either the Ditch or the Wall went any further since they are not to be traced beyond this place and Tine being now near the sea carries so deep a chanel as may serve instead of the strongest Fort. Yet some will needs maintain that the Ditch tho' not the Wall reach'd as far as Tinmouth â—â—â—mouth which they assert was call'd Pen ball-crag that is the Head of the Rampier in the Rock This opinion I shall not gainsay however I dare confidently affirm that this place was in the time of the Romans call'd Tunnocellum â—â—â—nocelâ—â—â— which signifies as much as the Promontory of Tunna or Tina where the first Cohort Aelia Classica first rais'd as the name probably imports by Aelius Hadrianus was in pay for Sea-service for the Romans had their Naves Lusoriae â—â—ves Luâ—â—â—â—â—e or light Frigats in their border-rivers both for the suppressing of the excursions of the neighbouring enemy and the making incursions upon him as may be seen in the Codex Theodosii under the title De Lusoriis Danubii Under the Saxon Heptarchy it was called Tunnacester not as Bede affirms from r 'T is a pity the story of Tunna and his giving his name to Tunnacestir or Tunnanceastre should be discountenanc'd His praying of his quick brother out of true bonds instead of relieving his departed soul in Purgatory is one of the prettiest and most comical Miracles in Bede's whole-pack and what I cannot but recommend to the Reader for very good diversion Eccl. Hist lib. 4. cap. 22. Abbot Tunna but from the river Here was also a Å¿ After the Câ—nquest it became a Cell of St. Alban's The ruins of this Monastery are still to be seen within the Castle Here was formerly the Parish-Church but that being gone much to decay and the Parishioners in the late civil wars being often debarr'd the liberty of a free resort to it another was begun to be built in the year 1659. which was afterwards finish'd and consecrated by Bishop Cosins in the year 1668. little Monastery which was frequently plunder'd by the Danes 't is now nam'd Tinmouth-castle and glories in a stately and strong Castle which says an ancient Author is inaccessibly seated on a very high rock towards the Ocean on the east and north and elsewhere so well mounted that a slender garison makes
great men than any conduct or bravery of the Enemies The most considerable Houses Houses are Brocksmouth the chief residence of the Earl of Roxburgh Tiningham the residence of the Earl of Hadington near which there is a quarry of Marble Seaton and Winton the houses of the Earl of Winton The Templars and after them the Knights of Rhodes and Malta had a residence in this Shire at St. Germains It has at present two Presbyteries of Hadington and Dunbar e The Sheriffdom of Edenburgh commonly called Mid-Lothian Mid-Lothian is the principal Shire of the Kingdom and is in length 20 or 21 miles the breadth of it is different according to the several parts in some 16 or 17 miles in others not above 5 or 6. On the south it is bounded with the Sheriffdom of Hadington for 13 miles together on the east with the Baillery of Lauderdale for about four on the south with the Sheriffdom of Twedale for 13 miles on the south-west with the Sheriffdom of Lanerick for 6 or 7 miles and on the west for two miles by the said Sheriffdom on the north-west with the Sheriffdom of Linlithgow for 14 miles and on the north with the Firth or Forth for the space of 8 miles This tract is abundantly furnished with all necessaries producing a great deal of corn of all sorts and affording good pasture for cattle It has very much coal and lime-stone as also a sort of soft black marble and some few miles from Edenburgh near the water of Leith they have a Copper-mine Edenburgh * Theatrum Scotiae p. 7. is not only the most considerable place in those parts but the chief City of the Kingdom of Scotland The Romans could not well have made choice of a better place for a Fortification for the rock on which the present Castle is situated is inaccessible on all sides except the East The first building of a Fort here seems to have given Rise to the town and to have encouraged the neighbours to fix under the protection of it So that the houses and inhabitants by little and little increasing have brought it down to the very foot of the ascent toward the east and made it an entire Scotch mile in length and half a mile in breadth The ascent upon which the City stands has on the north-side a pool call'd the North-Loch and was formerly guarded by another on the south call'd the South-Loch as appears from the leases of some houses of S. Ninian's Row that are let with the privilege of a boat annext But this is drain'd many years ago and upon the banks of it are built two several tracts of houses The City has six Gates the principal whereof to the East was magnificently rebuilt in the year 1616 and adorned with Towers on both sides Two streets run along the whole length of the town The High-street from the Castle to the Abby said to be the broadest in Europe is of late built of hewen stone since by an Act of the Town-Council they have been prohibited to build any more of Timber either in the City or Suburbs upon account of the many Fires which have happened And as the private Buildings Publick Buildings so also the publick do very much exceed those in other parts of that Kingdom In the middle of the City is St. Giles's Church Churches a Cathedral built of hewn stone and adorned with stone pillars and vaultings 'T is so large as to be divided into 3 Churches each whereof has its Parish Besides this Grey-friers they have the South-Church in the Church-yard whereof amongst many other monuments is that of Sir George Mackenzy The Trone-Church built in 1641. The Collegiate Church of the Sacred Trinity built by Mary of Gueldres King James the Second's Queen The Lady Yester's Church built and endowed by one of the Lady Yesters and another very beautiful one built within these 5 years To these we must add two Chapels St. Magdalens and St. Mary's with another at the foot of the Canon-gate Next to these are their Hospitals Hospitals St. Thomas's and Heriot's Hospital In the first the poorer sort of Inhabitants are maintained very handsomly and have their own proper Chaplain The second so called from the founder George Heriot Jeweller to James 6. is a stately Fabrick like a Palace In the inner Frontispiece is the Statue of the Founder erected and round about the houses are pleasant gardens adorned with large Walks and Greens 'T is a Nursery for boys wherein the children of the poorer Citizens have their education till they be fit for the publick Schools and Colleges Other Buildings Near the Cathedral-Chuch is the Parliament-house standing in a great Court which on one side is enclosed with the upper and lower Exchange and with a tract of very stately buildings Here is one of the highest houses perhaps in the world mounting seven stories above the Parliament-Court and being built upon the descent of a hill the back-part is as far below it so that from the bottom to the top one stair-case ascends 14 stories high In the middle of the Court is the Statue of King Charles II. in brass erected upon a stately Pedestal at the charge of the City On the South-side is the College of King James the sixth founded in the year 1580 and endowed with all the Privileges of an University The precincts are very large and the whole is divided into 3 Courts adorned on all sides with excellent buildings two lower and one higher which is as large as both the other They have their publick Schools and a Common-hall wherein Divinity Hebrew and Mathematicks are taught Their Library is well stor'd with printed books and and has some Manuscripts under that is the King's Printing-house The Students have very good accommodation and the Professors neat and handsom Lodgings with very good Gardens for their recreation The Royal-Palace Palace whereof his Grace the Duke of Hamilton is hereditary Keeper hath four Courts The Outer-Court which is as big as all the rest has four principal Entries 'T is on all hands bounded with lovely Gardens on the south lies the King's Park which hath great variety of medicinal plants The Entry of the Palace is adorned with great pillars of hewn stone and a Cùpilo in fashion of a Crown above it The forepart is terminated by four high towers two towards the north erected by King James V. and the rest by King Charles II. The Inner-Court has Piazza's round it all of hewn stone But above all the Long-Gallery is most remarkable being adorned with the pictures of all the Kings of Scotland from Fergus I. About 20 years ago Water the Magistrates were at great expence to bring one of the best Springs of Scotland into the City which they did by leaden Pipes from a Hill at above 3 miles distance And to make it more convenient they have erected several stately Fountains in the middle of the
Trepidus rapid but most famous for as glorious a victory as ever the Scots obtained when Edward 2. King of England was put to flight and forc'd to save himself in a Boat and for the routing of as fine an Army as ever England sent out before that by the valiant conduct of King Robert Brus. Insomuch that for a year or two the English did not in the least disturb the Scots Ptolemy seems somewhere about Sterling to place his Alauna Alauna which was either upon Alon a little River that hath its influx here into the Forth or at Alway a seat of the Ereskins hereditary Sheriffs of all the County without the Borough f 'T is now an Earldom in the Family of the Alexanders But I have not yet read of any one honoured with the title of Earl of Sterling d Additions to the DAMNII a CLYDSDALE Cydsdale called also the Sheriffdom of Lanrick from the town of Lanrick where the Sheriff keeps his courts is bounded on the South-East with the Stewartry of Annandale on the South with the Sheriffdom of Dumfrise on the South-west with that of Aire on the North-west with that of Ranfrew on the North with that of Dumbarton on the North-east with that of Sterling on the East with that of Linlithgow a little to the South-east with that of Mid-Lothian 'T is in length about 40 miles in breadth where broadest some 24. and where narrowest 16 miles The countrey abounds with Coal Peets and Lime-stone but what turns to the greatest account are the Lead-mines belonging to Hopton not far from which after rains the country people find pieces of gold some of which are of a considerable bigness I suppose 't is the same place our Author has mentioned upon this account It is divided into two Wards the Overward and Netherward this hilly and full of heaths and fit for pasturage the other plain and proper for grain It is watered with the pleasant River of Clide which gives name to the shire it rises at Errick-hill and running through the whole County glideth by many pleasant seats of the nobility and gentry and several considerable towns till it fall into its own Firth at Dumbarton The great ornament of these parts is the Palace of Hamilton Hamilton the residence of the Dutchess of Hamilton * Theatrum Scotiae the Court whereof is on all sides adorned with very noble buildings It has a magnificent Avenue and a Frontispiece towards the East of excellent workmanship On one hand of the Avenue is a hedge on the other fair large gardens well furnished with fruit-trees and flowers The Park famous for its tall oaks is six or seven miles round and has the Brook Aven running through it Near the Palace is the Church the Vault whereof is the buryal-place of the Dukes of Hamilton Upon the East bank of Clyde stands Glasgow Glasgow †Ibid. in respect of largeness buildings trade and wealth the chief City in the Kingdom next Edinburgh The river carries vessels of small burthen up to the very tower but New-Glasgow which stands on the mouth of Clyde is a haven for vessels of the largest size Most part of the City stands on a plain and is almost four-square In the very middle of it where is the Tolbooth a very stately building of hewn-stone four principal streets crossing each other divide the city as it were into four equal parts In the higher part of it stands the Cathedral Church commonly called St. Mungo's consisting indeed of two Churches one whereof is over the other The Architecture of the pillars and towers is said to be very exact and curious Near the Church is the Archbishop's Castle fenc'd with a wall of hewn stone but it s greatest ornament is the College separated from the rest of the town by an exceeding high wall the precincts whereof are enlarged with some Acres of ground lately purchased and the buildings repaired and adorned by the care and prudent administration of the Principal the Learned Doctor Fall Roman-Highway Nor does this tract want some remains of Roman Antiquity For from Errickstone in the one end to Mauls Mire in the other where it borders upon Reinfraw there are evident footsteps of a Roman Causey or military way called to this day the Watlin-street This in some parts is visible for whole miles together and the people have a tradition that another Roman Street went from Lanrick to the Roman Camp near Falkirk At Lismehago a town in this shire was a Priory and Convent of the Monks of the order Vallis Caulium a sort of Cistercians founded by Fergus Lord of Galloway a Cell of Kelso b RANFREW Ranfâ—ew or Reinfraw is the next branch of the Damnii and is separated from the shire of Dumbarton on the West by the River Clyde which carries up ships of great burden for 10 miles On the East 't is joyned to the shire of Lanrick and on the West and South to the Sheriffdom of Aire It is in length twenty miles and in breadth eight but where broadest thirteen That part which lyeth near Clyde is pleasant and fertil without mountains only has some small risings but that to the South South-west and West is more barren hilly and moorish Our Author has observ'd this tract to be full of Nobility and Gentry who almost keep up a constant relation by marriage one with another The convenience of the Frith of Clyde the Coast whereof is all along very safe to ride in has caused good improvements in these parts At the West end of a fair Bay stand Gumrock Gumrock town and castle where there is a good road and a harbour lately contrived and a village is now in building More inward stands Greenock Greenock a good road and well built town of best account on all this Coast 'T is the chief seat of the herring-fishing and the Royal Company of Fishers have built a house at it for the convenience of trade Near this is Crawfird-Dyke Crawfird-Dyke where good houses are in building and a little more to the South New-work New-work where the town of Glasgow hath built a new port and called it Port-Glasgow with a large publick house Here is the Custom-house for all this Coast and the town of Glasgow hath obliged the Merchants to load and unload here But Pasly Pasly for antient Grandeur is the most considerable The Abbey and Church with fair gardens and orchards and a little Park for Fallow-deer are all enclosed with a stone-wall about a mile in circuit The Monastery here was of the Order of the Cluniacenses founded by Walter the second great Steward of King Malcolm the fourth The Chancel of the Church standeth yet where lye buried Robert 2. and his mother At this town there is a large Roman Camp the Praetorium is at the West end on a rising ground upon the descent whereof the town of Pasly stands This Praetorium
bounded with the sea to the south with the water of North-Esk to the west with the Gransbain-hills and to the north with the River of Dee In length it is about twenty six miles or as some say twenty eight miles in breadth about twenty Upon the sea-coasts they have several convenient Crecks and some good harbours whereof Stone-hive is one of the best and for its greater safety the Earl Marshal who has a Salmon-fishing upon the north side of the harbour is now raising a Peer of stone Where the water of Cowy falls into the sea stands Cowy 〈◊〉 a free burgh Beneath the town are to be seen the ruines of a Castle built as 't is reported by Malcolm Kenmore who made the town a free Burgh On the Lands of Arduthie and Redcloak are some trenches to be seen cast up by the Danes at one of their Invasions made upon those parts and round the hill of Urie there is a deep ditch where the Scots encamped â—â—tyr Dunnotyr-Castle stands upon a rock washed by the sea on three sides and joyned to the Land only by a narrow neck Towards the entrance of the Gate is a huge rock near forty ells high which one would think were always just ready to fall The Court is a large plot of green ground and the old buildings seven story high have exceeding thick walls It had once a Church which was demolished in the late Civil wars In the new buildings there are some rooms very stately and a Closet wherein is the Library of the family Within the Close there is a large Cistern about thirty cubits about Not far from this place is a dropping Cave where the water petrifies St. Padie's Church here is famous for being the burial place of St. Palladius â—â—deen-â— k ABERDEEN-SHIRE so called from the chief burgh in it contains the Countries or Marre Fourmanteen Garioch Strathbogie and that part of Buchan which lyeth south to the water of Ugie To the South it is bounded with the River Dee and the Gransbain mountains to the north-west and west it hath Bamf-shire and the river of Doverne to the east the Ocean and to the north part of Murray-Firth In length it 's about forty six miles and in breadth twenty eight The Inhabitants are generally very civil and polite They find here a spotted sort of Marble and much Slate and in the waters abundance of Pearls some of them very big and of a fine colour They have Deer in great abundance And the Eagles have their Nests upon the Craigs of Pennan Old Aberdeen 〈◊〉 Aberâ—â—â—â—â—â—eatr â—a â— 28. is the Bishop's Seat and hath a Cathedral Church commonly call'd St. Machars large and stately built by several Bishops of this See In this Church was formerly a Library but about the year 1560 it was almost wholly destroyed so that now only the ruines remain The King's College so called from King James the fourth who assumed the Patronage of it is seated upon the south side of the town and for neatness and stateliness much exceeds the rest of the houses One side is covered with Slate the rest with Lead The windows of the Church wherein is a fine monument of Bishop Elphingston the Founder were formerly very remarkable for their painted glass and something of their ancient splendor still remains The Steeple besides others hath two bells of a very extraordinary bigness the top is vaulted with a double cross Arch above which is a King's crown having eight corners upheld by as many pillars of stone a round globe of stone with two gilded crosses closing the crown Hard by the Church there is a Library well stock'd with Books enlarged lately by those which Doctor Henry Scougal Professor of Divinity there and his Father Bishop of Aberdeen gave to it The College has a Primate or Principal a Professor of Divinity a Professor of the Civil Law a Professor of Physick a Sub-Principal who is also Professor of Philosophy three other Philosophy Professors and a Professor of the Languages New Aberdeen New Aberdeen * Theatrum Scotiae p. 29. about a mile from the Old as it is the Capital of the Sheriffdom of Aberdeen and the Seat of the Sheriff for tryal of causes so does it much exceed the rest of the Cities in the north of Scotland in bigness trade and beauty The air is wholsome and the Inhabitants well bred The Streets are paved with flint or a very hard sort of stone like it and the houses are very beautiful generally four Stories high or more which having for the most part Gardens and Orchards behind them make the whole City at a distance look like a Wood. In the High street there is a Church of Franciscans of free-stone begun by Bishop Elphingston and finished by Gavin Dumbar Bishop of the place The same Gavin built also a bridge of seven Arches over the river Dee about a mile from the City But the greatest ornament of this City is its College called the Mareshallian Academy as being founded by George Keith Earl Marshal in the year 1693 which the City of Aberdeen hath very much adorned with several additional buildings Besides a Primary-Professor who is called Principal it has four Professors of Philosophy one of Divinity and one of Mathematicks There is also a famous Library founded by the City supplied with Books by the benefactions of several learned men and well furnished with mathematical Instruments This College with that in the New Town make up one University called the University of King Charles Add to these the School-house founded by Dr. Dune which has one head Master and three Ushers and the Musick-School St. Nicholas's Church the Cathedral is built of Free-stone and covered with lead Formerly it was divided into three Churches the biggest was called the Old Church another the New Church and a third the Arch'd-Church They have also an Alms-house for the maintenance of such Inhabitants as are old and poor with three Hospitals founded by several Persons The City is built upon three hills but the greatest part upon the highest and the outer parts are spread out upon the plain from whence there is an easie access by an ascent every way It had formerly a Mint as appears by silver Coins stamped there with this Inscription Urbs Aberdeae which are still preserved in the Closets of the curious At the West end of the City is a little round hill at the foot whereof there breaks out a fountain of clear water And in the middle another spring bubbles out called the Aberdonian-Spaw coming near the Spaw-water in the Bishoprick of Liege both in taste and quality Besides Aberdeen Kintor is a Burgh-Royal upon the Don and giveth title to the Earl of Kintor Kintor And Inerurie Inerurie erected into a Burgh-Royal by King Robert Bruce upon account of his having gain'd a signal victory at it Upon the South side of the water of Ugie stands Peterhead which has a Road
The British Bishops seem no less to have despised riches for they had no subsistence of their own Thus as we find in Sulpitius Severus The British Bishops The Bishops of Britain in the Council holden at Rhimini were maintained by the publick having nothing of their own to live upon The Saxons in that age flock'd hither as to the great mart for learning and this is the reason why we find this so often in our Writers Such a one was sent over into Ireland to be educated o Vide Bed lib. 3. c. 7 27. and this passage in the life of Sulgenus who flourish'd 600 years ago Exemplo patrum commotus amore legendi Jvit ad Hibernos Sophia mirabile claros With love of learning and examples fir'd To Ireland fam'd for wisdom he repair'd The Sâ—tâ—ns â—â—em to the borrowed â—â—eir letâ—â—â—s from 〈◊〉 Iâ—â—sh And perhaps our fore-fathers the Saxons took the draught and form of their letters from them their character being the same with that at this day used in Ireland Nor is there any reason to admire that Ireland which for the most part is now rude and barbarous and without the glory of polite literature Religion and learning flourish sometimes in one Country and sometimes in another was so full of pious and great Wits in that age wherein learning was little heeded throughout Christendom when the wisdom of Providence has so ordered it that Religion and Learning shall grow and flourish sometimes in one Nation and sometimes in another to the end that by every transplantation a new growth may shoot up and flourish to his glory and the good of mankind However the outrage of wars by little and little soon put a stop to the pursuits and study of Religion and Learning in this Kingdom For in the year 644 EgfrÃd King of Northumberland with fire and sword spoil'd Ireland which was then a very kind allie to England and for this reason he is most sadly complain'd of by Bede After the Norwegians under the conduct of Turgesius Ireland wast d by the Norwegi wasted this Country in a most dismal manner for the space of 30 years together but he being cut off by an ambush laid for him the inhabitants fell upon the Norwegians and made such an entire defeat of them that hardly so much as one escaped Now these Norwegians were without doubt those Normans who as Rheginus tells us in Charles the Great 's time invaded Ireland an Island of the Scots and were put to flight by them Afterwards Oustmanni those perhaps whom Tac. calls Aestiâ—n s Eginâ—rdâ—s Aitisti the Oustmanni i.e. the East-men came from the sea coasts of Germany into Ireland where under the colour of trade and merchandise being admitted into some cities in a short time they began a very dangerous war Much about this time Edgar the most potent King of the English conquered a great part of Ireland For thus we find it in a certain Charter of his Unto whom God has graciously granted together with the Empire of England the dominion over all the Kingdoms of the Islands with their fierce Kings as far as Norway and the conquest of the greatest part of Ireland with her most noble city Dublin These tempests from foreign parts were soon succeeded by a worse storm of dissention at home which made way for the English Conquest of that Country Henry the second King of England seeing the differences and emulations among the petty Princes of Ireland took this opportunity and in the year 1155 moved the Conquest of Ireland to his Barons for the use of his brother William of Anjou However by advice of his mother Maud Robert de Moâ—te ad annum 1185. De mic the son of Murchard 1167. the Empress this design was deferred and put off to another time Not many years after Dermicius the son of Murchard Dermic Mac Morrog as they call him who governed the east part of Ireland in Latin Lagenia commonly Leinster for his tyranny and extravagant lusts for he had ravished p The wife of O. Rorke daughter of a petty King of Mâ—ath the wise of O. Rorkes petty King of Meath was driven from his Country and obtained aid and forces of King Henry the second to restore him He made this contract also with Richard Earl of Pembroke sirnamed Strongbow Richard Strongbow of the family of Clare that if he would assist him he would ensure the succession of his Kingdom to the Earl and give him his daughter Eva to wife Upon this the Earl forthwith raised a good Army consisting of Welsh and English induced the Fitz-Geralds Fitz-Stephens and other of the English Nobility to assist him and by these powers not only restored Dermicius his Father-in-law but in a few years made such progress in the conquest of Ireland that the King of England began to grow jealous and suspect his power so that he put forth his Proclamation requiring the said Earl and his adherents upon grievous penalties to return out of Ireland declaring that if they did not forthwith obey they should be banished and their goods confiscated Hereupon the Earl by deed and covenant made over to the King all that he had in Ireland either in right of his wife or of his sword and so had the Earldoms of Weisford Ossory Carterlogh and Kildare with some castles bestowed upon him by the King to hold of him After this King Henry the second raised an army sailed over into Ireland in the year 1172 Henr. 2. enters Ireland and obtained the soveraignty of that Island q Câ—â—â—cerning the Coâ—onies sent from England and Wales into Ireland in the time of King Henr. 2. and the Lands granted therein see Ware 's Antiquitat Hâ—bâ—rn p. 232. For the States of Ireland conferred upon him their whole power and authority Girald Cambrens MS. In the hands of Baron Howth namely Rotheric O Conor Dun that is to say the brown King of Ireland Dermot Mac Carty King of Cork Donald O Bren King of Limerick O Carel King of Uriel Mac Shaglin King of Ophaly r O Rorke was not King of Meath O Rorke King of Meath O Neale King of Ulster with all the rest of the Nobility and people by Charters signed delivered and sent to Rome from whence it was confirmed by a Diploma of Pope Hadrian's Synod 1. 2. at Cassil Armagh and by a ring sent him as a token of his Investiture it was also ratified by the authority of certain Provincial Synods Afterwards King Henry the second bestowed the Soveraignty of Ireland upon his son John which was confirmed by a Bull from Pope Urban who to confirm him in it sent him a Crown of Peacocks Feathers embroidered with Gold Authors affirm that when this Prince came to the Crown he granted by his Charter that both Ireland and England should be held of the Church of Rome Hovedun and that he received it
confiscated by Act of Parliament The head city of this county is Limerick encompass'd by the Shanon a famous river which divides its stream and embraces it The Irish call it Å¿ Louminagh is the name Loumeagh Limeâ—ick L umeagh the English Limerick It is a Bishop's See and the great mart of this Province of Munster first taken by Reimund le Gross an Englishman the son of William Girald afterwards it was burnt by Duvenald a petty King of Thuetmond At last it was given in fee to Philip Breos an Englishman and King John fortified it with a castle At present t is reputed two towns the upper for so they call it where stands the cathedral and the castle has two gates which give entrance to it and each of them a fair stone bridge leading to them strengthen'd with bulwarks and little draw-bridges one of which leads Westward the other East The lower town which is joyned to this is fortified with a wall and castle and a fore-gate at the entrance More to the East stands Clan-William Clan-William so called from a family of that name descended from the House de Burgo which the Irish call Bourk who inhabit it Of this family was that William who slew James Fitz-Moris the plague and firebrand of this country upon whom Queen Elizabeth conferr'd the title and honour of Baron of Castle-Conel where Richard Rufus Earl of Ulster Baron â—f Castâ—e-Coneâ— had fortified the Castle together with a yearly pension in recompense for his bravery and the loss of his sons slain in that conflict In the South part of this county stands t Killmalock Kil-mallo next in dignity to Limerick both in respect of plenty and populousness and walled round Likewise Adare a little town fortified heretofore situate upon the same river which straightways from thence runs into the Shanon near which stands u This is now in the County of Cork Clan Gibbon Clâ—n Gibbâ—n the Lord whereof John Fitz-Girald called John Oge Fitz-John Fitz-Gibbon and from the grey hair of his head the white Knight was banished by Act of Parliament But by the clemency of Queen Elizabeth his son was restored to the whole estate The most noted and eminent in this tract besides these Bourks and Fitz-Giralds are the Lacies the Browns the Hurleys the Chacys the Sapells the Pourcells all of English extraction the Mac-Shees and the Mac-brien O Brians c. of Irish extraction The County of TIPPERARY THE County of Tipperary is bounded on the west with that of Limerick and the river Shanon on the east with the County of Kilkenny on the south with the Counties of Cork and Waterford and on the north with the territory of the O Carolls The south part is very fruitful produces much corn and is well built The west part of it is water'd by the long course of the river Glason Emely not far from the bank whereof stands Emely or Awn a Bishop's See and by report a very populous and well frequented city heretofore The Sewer or Swire a noble river which rises at Badin-hill runs through the middle of it and so through the lower Ossery Lower-Ossâ—ry which by the bounty of King Henry the 8th gave the title of Earl to the Butlers and then through Thurles which gave them the title of Viscounts from whence it passes by Holy-Cross a famous Abby heretofore which makes the Country about it to be commonly called the County of the Holy Cross of Tipperary The County of the holy Cross of Tipperary The wood of the Cross This Abby enjoys certain privileges granted in honour of a piece of Christ's Cross preserv'd there The whole world says St. Cyrill is fill'd with pieces of this Cross and yet as Paulinus says by a constant miracle it hath never been diminished This was the belief and opinion of Christians in ancient times And it is incredible what a concourse of people do still out of devotion throng hither as to a holy place For this nation does yet firmly persevere in the religion of their fore-fathers which is now grown in more reputation than ever by the neglect and ignorance of their Bishops for there is none here to instruct them otherwise Cassil From hence the Swire passes by Cassil adorn'd with an Archbishop's See by Eugenius the third Bishop of Rome with many suffragan Bishops under it and so forward making many Islands as it runs along till it encompasses Cahir-Castle which has its Baron one of the family of the Butlers raised to that honour by Queen Elizabeth But his son proving disloyal was thereupon attainted the castle being taken by the Earl of Essex in the year 1599 and he himself committed From whence it runs by Clomell Clomell a market town of good resort and well fortified and also by Carick Mac-Griffin situated upon a rock from which it takes its name the habitation of the Earls of Ormond which with the honour of Earl of Carrick was granted by King Edward the 2d to Edmund Boteler or Butler Here it leaves Tipperary Earl of Caâ—rick Annâ— 9. Edw. 2. and becomes a boundary to the Counties of Waterford and Kilkenny Thus much concerning the south part of this County That northward is but barren and mountaneous twelve of the hills here are huddled together and over-top the rest these they call Phelem-ge-Modona This north part is call'd in Latin Ormondia Ormondia Butlers Earls of Oâ—mandâ—â— in Irish Orwowon that is The front of Mounster in English Ormond and by many very corruptly Wormewood It s glory is from its Earls who have been many since James Butler a The heir of this noble family is now Duke of Ormond both in England and Ireland to whom and his heirs King Edw. the third gave this title for term of life Anno 2. Ed. 3. together with the royalties and other liberties as also the Knights-fees in the County of Tipperary which by the favour of the Kings of England his posterity still enjoy Earl f Tipperary Hence this County is reputed Palatine and he has been call'd by some the Earl of Tipperary The ancestors of this James were heretofore Butlers of Ireland an honourable office from which they derive the name of Le Boteler or Butler Those of this family were nearly related to Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury being descended from his sister After his murder they were translated into Ireland by King Hen. the 2d who hoped to redeem his credit in the world by preferring his relations to wealth and honours The first Earl of Ormond in this family was James son of Edmund Earl of Carrick who married the daughter of Humphry Bohun Earl of Hereford by a daughter of King Edw. the first and this was their first step towards honour Hereupon his son James was commonly called by the people the noble Earl The fifth Earl of this family not to be particular in the account of them had the
into the Neor upon which stands the third Burrough-town of this County that takes the name Kallan from it and also Inis-Teag Inis-Teag a fourth The family of the Butlers spreads its branches almost all over this Country and has flourish'd in great honour being for their eminent virtues dignified with the title of Earls of Ormond Wiltshire in England and as it is already said of Ossery Besides the Earl of Ormond Viscount Thurles and Knight of the Garter there are of this family the Viscount Mont-Garret the Viscount Tullo the Barons de Dunboyn and Cahyr with many other noble branches The rest that are eminent in these parts are also of English original the Graces the Walshes Levels Foresters Shortels Blanch-felds or Blanchevelstons Drilands Comerfords c. The County of CATERLOGH THE County of Caterlogh by contraction Carlogh bounds upon Kilkenny on the east lying wholly in a manner between these two rivers the Barrow and the Slane The soil is fruitful and well shaded with woods It contains two towns considerable more eminent than the rest both situate upon the west of the Barrow the one Caterlogh about which Leonel Duke of Clarence begun to build a wall and Bellingham that famous and excellent Lord Deputy of Ireland built a strong Castle for the defence of it The other is Leighton in Latin Lechlinia where was formerly a Bishop's See now annex'd to the Bishoprick of Farnes These towns have both of them their Wards and Constables to govern them The greatest part of this County belonged by inheritance to the Howards The Stat. of Absenties Dukes of Norfolk descended by the Earls of Warren from the eldest daughter of William Marshall Earl of Pembroke but King Henry the eight by Act of Parliament had all the lands and possessions granted him either belonging to him and the other Gentry or to the Monasteries here in England b See the County of Waterford the last paragraph because that by their absence and neglect of private affairs there they had endangered the publick interest From hence the Barrow runs through the Barony of Ydron Baron Ydron which belonged to the Carews of Devonshire 13 For Sir John Carew an English Knight died sâ—isâ—d thereof in the time of King Edward 3. ever since Sir N. Carew an English Knight married the daughter of Digo an Irish Baron which has since our memory been recovered after a long usurpation by Peter Carew Upon the river Slane stands Tullo memorable for Theobald Butler brother's son to the Earl of Ormond who was lately honoured with the title of Viscount Tullo by King James The Cavanaughs Cavanaghs are very numerous in these parts descended from Duvenald a younger son or Bastard as some say of Dermot the last King of Leinster warlike men and famous for their good horsemanship and though very poor at this day yet of as much honour and generosity as their forefathers Upon the account of some slaughters which many years ago they committed upon one another they live in a state of war at this day Some of these being trusted by the English to manage their possessions in these parts about King Edward the second 's time usurp'd all to themselves assuming the name of O-More O-Moâ— From 〈◊〉 book oâ— Patricâ— Fingâ—â— and taking the Toles and Brens into their confederacy by which means they dispossess'd the English of all that territory between the Caterlogh and the Irish-Sea Among these the river Neor joins the Barrow and after they have travell'd some miles together in one stream they quit their names and present that with their waters to their eldest sister the Swire which empties it self soon after from a rocky mouth into the sea where on the left there is a little narrow-neck'd promontory upon which stands a high tower built by the merchants of Rosse while they flourished to direct their vessels into the river-mouth Hooktowâ—â— QVEENS-COVNTY TOwards the north-west above Caterlogh lies a woody boggy tract call'd in Irish the Lease Lease in English the Queens-County which Queen Mary by her Minister Thomas Ratcliff Earl of Sussex and Lord Deputy at that time first reduced into a County Hence the chief town is call'd Mary-Burgh Mary-Burgh defended by a garison under the command of a Seneschal who with much ado keeps off the O-mores pretending to be Lords of it as also the Mac-Gilpatricks the O-Dempsies and others a mischievous and unquiet sort of people who are daily conspiring against the English and endeavouring to free themselves from their laws At the first coming of the English into these parts Meilere was sent hither to subdue this wild and hostile part of the country Hugh Lacy Lord Deputy built a castle at Tahmelio for him as also another at Obowy a third upon the river Barrow and a fourth at Norrach Among others also he fortified Donemaws Donemawâ— an ancient castle situate in the most fruitful part of this territory which fell to the Breoses Lords of Brecknock by Eva the youngest daughter of William Mareshall Earl of Pembrook Where also the Barrow rising out of Slew-Blomey-hills westward after a solitary course through the woods sees the old city Rheba Rhebâ— a name it stiâ—l preserves entire in its present one Rheban though instead of a city 't is now only the reliques of one consisting of some few cottages and a fort However it gives the title of Baronet to that noble Gentleman N. of S. Michael commonly called the Baronet of Rheban Baroâ— Rhebâ—â— The KING's-COVNTY AS the Queen's County aforesaid was so named from Queen Mary so the adjacent little County on the north divided by the river Barrow and called heretofore Offalie was term'd in honour of Philip King of Spain her husband the King's County as likewise the head-town in it Philips-town Philips-town where there is a garison a Seneschal and several noble families of the English the Warrens Herberts Colbies Mores and the Leicesters of the Irish the family of O-conor to whom a great part of it formerly belong'd as also of Mac Coghlam and O maily Fox and others who stoutly defend this and the other possessions left them here by their ancestors while the natives complain that the estates of their families are took from them and no other possessions in lieu assigned them to live upon For this reason they break out into rebellion upon every occasion and annoy the English with great outrage and cruelty The County of KILDAR THE County of Kildar lies along like a foreland to the King and Queen's Counties on the east very rich and fruitful Giraldus Cambrensis applies those verses of Virgil to the pastures of it Et quantum longis carpunt armenta diebus Exiguâ tantum gelidus ros nocte reponit What in long days the browzing cattle crop In the short nights the fertil dew makes up The a The Shire-town at this day is Nans near which at Sigginstowne Thomas
of S. Patrick l. 2. rerum Anglicarum cap 26. and well supplied with fish from the river as it runs into the sea here famous for trade and for those sweet plains oaky woods and fine parks so entertaining about it Thus also William of Newborow Divelin a maritime City is the metropolis of Ireland it enjoys the benefit of a famous harbor and for trade and concourse of merchants rivals London It s situation is particularly pleasant and wholsome having hills on the south plains on the west and sea just the by it on the east and and the river Liffy on the north where ships ride safely Upon the river there are Kaies as we call them or certain works made to break the violence of the water For Caiare among the ancients signified to restrain Ad Auson lib. â— c. 22. check or hinder as the most learned Scaliger has observed Here the City wall well built of free stone begins fortified on the south with rampiers it has six gates which open into large suburbs on all sides The access on the south is by Dammes-gate near which stands the King's castle upon a rising well fortified with ditches and towers and provided with a good Arsenal built by Henry Loundres the Archbishop about the year 1220. In that suburb on the east side near St. Andrew's Church Henry the second King of England as Hoveden says caused a royal palace 22 Or rather banqueting-house to be built of smooth wattles very curious after the manner of this Country and here with the Kings and Princes of Ireland he kept a Chrstmas-day in great solemnity Over against it stands a fine College on the same spot where Alhallows Allhallows Monastery heretofore stood dedicated to the Indivisible and Holy Trinity endow'd with the privileges of an University by Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory Univâ—rsity b gun and foundâ—d in 1591 May 13. S ud n s â—dmiâ—ted in the year 1593. for the education of youth and lately furnished with a good Library which gives no small hopes that Religion and Learning will after a long exile return to Ireland formerly the seat of the Muses to which foreigners resorted as to the great Mart of liberal arts and sciences 1320. L. MS. of Baron Houth In the reign of Edward the second Alexander Bicknor Archbishop of Dublin having obtained from the Pope the privileges of an University for this place and instituted publick Lectures first began to recall them but this laudable design was broken by the turbulent times that followed The north gate opens towards the bridge which is arched and built of * F. vivo Saxo. free stone by King John who joyned Oustman-town to the City For here the Oustmanni which Giraldus says came from Norway and those Northern Islands setled according to our Histories about the year 1050. In this suburbs stood formerly the famous Church of S. Mary de Oustmanby for so 't is call'd in King John's Charter and also a House of Black Friers whither the King's Courts of Judicature were lately transferr'd On the west part of Dublin there are two gates Ormonds-gate and Newgate which is the common Gaol both leading to the longest suburb of this City named St. Thomas where stands also a noble Abbey of the same name called Thomas Court Thomas Court founded and endowed with large revenues by King Henry the second to expiate for the death of Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury On the south we enter by S. Paul's gate and that call'd S. Nicholas opening into S. Patrick's suburb where stands the Palace of the Archbishop known by the name of S. Sepulcher with a stately Church dedicated to S. Patrick very fine within for its stone pavements and arch'd roof and without for its high steeple 'T is uncertain when this Church was first built but that Gregory King of Scots about the year 890 came in pilgrimage to it is plain from the Scotch history Afterwards it was much enlarged by King John and made a Church of Prebends by John Comy Archbishop of Dublin which was confirmed by Coelestine the third Bishop of Rome in the year 1191. After that again Henry Loundres his successor in this See of Dublin augmented the dignities of the Parsonages Pâ—rsonatuum as the words of the founder are and made it conformable to the immunities orders and customs of the Church of Salisbury At present it consists of a Dean a Chanter a Chancellor a Treasurer two Archdeacons and twenty two Prebendaries Stat. Parl. 18 Hen. 8. c. 15. the only light and lamp not to conceal a very noble Character which a Parliament of this Kingdom gave it of all pious and Ecclesiastical discipline and order in Ireland Here is also another Cathedral Church in the very heart of the City dedicated to the Holy Trinity but commonly call'd Christ's Temple Concerning it's foundation we have this passage in the Archives of that Church Sitric King of Dublin son of Ableb Count of Dublin gave a piece of ground to the Holy Trinity and to Donatus the first Bishop of Dublin to build a Church on in honour of the Holy Trinity and not only that but gold and silver also sufficient for that design and to finish the whole * Curâ—â— Church-yard This was done about the year 1012 at which time Lancarvanensis affirms that Sitric son of Abloie so he calls him flourished The work was begun by Donatus but carry'd on and finish'd by Laurence Archbishop of Dublin Richard Strongbow Earl of Pembroke commonly call'd Comes Striguliae whose tomb repair'd by 23 Sir Henry Henry Sidney Lord Deputy is to be seen here Robert Fitz-Stephens and Reimond Fitz-Girald On the south side of the Church stands the Town-hall built of square stone and call'd Tolestale Tolâ—stalâ— where Causes are try'd before the Mayor and where sessions and publick meeting of the Citizens are often held The City enjoys many privileges Formerly it was govern'd in chief by a Provost but in the year 1409 King Henry the fourth gave them the privilege of choosing every year a Mayor with two Bailiffs and of carrying a guilt sword before him Afterward King Edward the sixth changed these Bailiffs into Sheriffs There is nothing wanting to the grandeur and happiness of this City but the removal of those heaps of sand that by the flux and reflux of the sea are wash'd up into the mouth of the river Liffy and hinder great ships from coming up but at high water Thus much for Dublin the account whereof I confess to be mostly owing to the diligence and knowledge of James Usher Chancellor of S. Patricks whose variety of Learning and soundness of Judgment are infinitely beyond his years As for Robert Vere earl of Oxford whom Richard the second who was profuse in bestowing titles of honour made Marquiss of Dublin Maâ—qâ—â—â—â— of Dubâ—â—â— and afterwards Duke of Ireland I have took notice of him before and need not report it here
castle given to him and to the heirs male of his body to hold of the Kings of England upon this condition that neither he his men nor posterity shall take up arms in behalf of any foreign Prince without licence that they should restrain their followers from depredations find 12 horsemen and 40 footmen at their own charges for 40 days together in time of war and pay every year a certain number of oxen and hawks to the Kings of England The County of COLRAN BEyond the Glinnes westward lies Krine now call'd a 'T is now the County of London-derry from the city of London-derry which was built and planted by the Londoners the County of Colran from the chief town in it bounded by the river Bann 〈◊〉 Bâ—nn on one side and the Lough-Foile on the other and the County of Tir-Oen on the south This Bann is a very beautiful river as Giraldus says which indeed its very name intimates It rises out of the Mourne-hills in the County of Downe and emptying it self into the large lough of Eaugh or Sidney where it loses both it's self and name after thirty miles for so long this Lough is counted it receives it again by Tome castle From whence crown'd with wood on both sides it proudly runs by Glancolkein â—â—â—olâ—â— which by reason of thick woods and unpassable bogs is a safe refuge for the Scotch Islanders and rebels as the English are sensible by their pursuit of Surley-boy who absconded here and so into the sea being the best stock'd with Salmon of any river in Europe by reason as some imagine of its clearness above all other rivers Salmons a quality with which that kind of fish are particularly delighted The Cahans are of greatest authority in these parts the chief of which family is O-Cahan O-Cahan who was reputed one of the greatest of those Potentates or Uraights Uraights as they term them that held of O-Neal tyrant of Ulster as being the person who in the barbarous election of O-Neal The election of O-Neal performed with barbarous ceremony upon a high hill in the open air has the honourable office of throwing a shoe over the head of the O Neal then chosen Yet his power is not so great as to restrain the Island-Scots The Island Scots who to save their own at home in the summer-time leave those barren and fruitless Islands where there 's nothing but want and beggery and come hither for provisions where they take all opportunities to raise or nourish rebellion so that it has been declared high-treason either to call them into Ireland or receive them in it 53 But this County without confining is escheated to the King who graciously purposing a civil plantation of those unreformed and waste parts is pleased to distribute the said lands to his civil subjects and the City of London hath undertaken to plant Colonies there The County of TIR-OEN UNder Calaran southward lies the County of Tir-Oen that is the land of Eugenius 54 Which name the Irish have contracted into Eogain and Oen. This is a midland County divided from Tir-Conell on the west by the river Liffer from the County of Antrim on the east by the Lough-Eaugh and from the County of Armagh on the south by Blackwater in Irish More which signifies the same thing Though it is somewhat rough and unpleasant yet is it fruitful and very large being sixty miles in length and thirty in breadth divided into the Upper Tir-Oen on the north Upper Tir-Oen and the Nether Tir-Oen on the south by the mountains of Slew-Gallen In this lies Cloghar Bishoprick of Cloghar Dunganon Barons of Dunganon a poor Bishoprick Dunganon the chief seat of the Earls which by the favour of Henry the eight gave the title of Baron to Matthew son to the first Earl of Tir-Oen The house is neater than is generally to be met with in this County but often burnt by the the Lord of it to save the enemy that trouble Next Ublogabell where O-Neal who with great pride and haughtiness king'd it in Ulster was wont to be crown'd after the barbarous custom of that Country Then the Fort at Blackwater Fort of Blackwater or the river More which hath sustained all the changes and chances that are in war being the only passage into this country the harbor of rebels But it has been neglected ever since the discovery of the other ford below which is defended by a fort on both sides built by Charles Montjoy Lord Deputy as he pursued the rebels in these parts At the same time he also made another Fort called from him Montjoy situated upon the Lough Eaugh Lough Sidney or Sidney as the souldiers in honour of Henry Sidney at this day call it which encloses the west-side of this shire and is either made or much enlarged by the river Bann as I have observed This Lough is very clear full of fish and very big being of thirty miles extent or thereabouts as the Poet says Dulci mentitur Nerea fluctu With his sweet water counterfeits the sea And considering the variety of appearances upon the banks the shady groves green meadows and rich corn fields when they meet with good husbandry as also the copling hills and pleasant brooks all contrived so agreeable and fine by nature they seem to upbraid the natives for letting things run thus wild and barbarous for want of industry In the Upper Tir-Oen Tir-Oen the upper stands Straban a noted castle inhabited since our times by Turlogh Leinigh of the family of the O-Neals who after the death of Shan O-Neal as I shall shew by and by was elected by the people and raised to the dignity of O-Neal The Castles of Ireland and some other castles of less note which like those in other parts of the Island are no more than towers with narrow * Foraminibus loop-holes rather than windows to which adjoins a hall made of turf and roofed over-head with thatch and a large yard fenced quite round with a ditch and hedge to defend their cattle from thieves But if this County is famous or eminent for any thing 't is for its Lords who have ruled as Kings or rather Tyrants over it of whom two have been Earls of Tir-Oen namely Conus O-Neale and Hugh his Grandchild by his son But when I treat of the Earls and Lords of Ulster I will speak more at large of these The County of DONEGALL or TIR-CONEL ALl that remains now in Ulster towards the north and south was inhabited by the Robogdii and Vennicnii At present this tract is called the County of Donegall or Tir-Conell that is as some interpret it the land of Cornelius and as others the land of Conall and accordingly Matianus calls it Conallea The County is in a manner all champagne and full of havens being bounded both on the north and west side by the sea on the east by the
defeated This occasion'd a general Insurrection in Scotland of both Earls and Barons against the King of England There was also at this time a Quarrel between the King of England and Roger Bigod Earl Marshal but this was soon made up S. Lewis a Frier minor Son of the King of Sicily and Archbishop of Cologn died this year This year also the son and heir of the King of Maliager i.e. of the Islands of Majorac instituted the Order of the Friers-minors at the direction of S. Lewis who bid him go and do it Item Leghlin in Ireland with other Towns were burnt by the Irish of Slemergi Item Calwagh O Hanlen and Yneg Mac-Mahon were slain in Urgale MCCXCVIII Pope Boniface IV. on the morrow of the Feast of S. Peter â—â—d S. Paul all things being then quiet made Peace between England â—â—d France upon certain Terms Item Edward King of England â—â—d an Army again into Scotland to conquer it There were slain 〈◊〉 this Expedition about the Feast of S. Mary Magdalen many â—â—ousands of the Scots at Fawkirk The Sun appear'd that day 〈◊〉 red as Blood in Ireland while the Battel at Fawkirk continu'd â—â—em about the same time the Lord King of England gave his Knights the Earldoms and Baronies of those Scots that were slain â—n Ireland Peace was concluded between the Earl of Ulster and the Lord John Fitz-Thomas about the Feast of Simon and Jude Also â—â—e morrow after the Feast of the seven Sleepers the Sun-beams â—ere chang'd into a bloodish colour all the morning to the great â—dmiration of every one Item This year died Thomas Fitz-â—aurice Knight and Sir Robert Bigod sometime Justiciary in the â—ench Item In the City Artha as also Reath in Italy during â—â—e stay of Pope Boniface there happen'd so great an Earthquake â—â—at Towers and Palaces fell down and the Pope and his Cardiâ—als fled out of the City with great consternation Item on the Feast of Epiphany there was an Earthquake in Engâ—â—nd from Canterbury to Hampton but not so violent MCCXCIX Theobald Lord Botilter the younger died in the Mannor of Turby on the second day before the Ides of May His Corps were convey'd towards Weydeney i. e Weney in the County of Limerick on the 6th day before the Calends of June Item Edward King of England married the Lady Margaret Sister to the noble King of France in Trinity-church at Canterâ—ury about the Feast of the Holy Trinity Item the Sultan of Baâ—ylon with a great Army was defeated by Cassan King of Tarâ—â—ry MCCXCIX On the day after the Purification there was an inâ—â—â—ite number of Saracen-horse slain besides as many Foot Item There was this same year a Fight of Dogs at Genelon-castle in â—urgundy the number of the Dogs were 3000 and all kill'd but â—â—e Item This year many Irish came to the Castle of Roch â—efore the Annunciation to give some disturbance to the Lord Theâ—bald de Verdon MCCC The * Numisma Pollardorum Pollard-mony was prohibited in England and Ireland Item King Edward enter'd Scotland with an Army in Autumn but was stay'd by an order from Pope Boniface and to excuse himself sent certain Envoys to the Court of Rome Item Thomas son â—o the King of England was born at Brotherton by Margaret the King of France's Sister on the last day of May. Item Edward Earl of Cornwall dy'd this year without issue and was buried in â—he Abby of Hailes MCCCI. Edward King of England enter'd Scotland with an Army Sir John Wogan Justiciary of Ireland and Sir John Fitz-Thomas Peter Bermingham and many others set sail from Ireâ—and to assist him Item A great part of the City of Dublin was â—urnt down together with the Church of S. Warbutga on S. Caâ—â—mb's day at night Item Sir Jeffrey Genevil married the daughâ—er of Sir John Montefort and Sir John Mortimer married the daughter and heir of Sir Peter Genevil and the Lord Theobald Verdon married the daughter of the Lord Roger Mortimer The People of Leinster took up Arms in the Winter and burnt the Towns of Wyklo and Rathdon c. but they suffer'd for 't for the greater â—art of their Provisions at home was burnt up and their Cattel â—ole so that they had certainly famish'd if a sedition had not hapned among the English at that juncture Item A small company of the Brenies were defeated this year by the Tolans and 300 of those Robbers were cut off Item A great part of Mounster was wasted by Walter Power and many Farm-houses burnt MCCCII This year died the Lady Margaret Wife to Sir John Wogan Justiciary of Ireland on the 3d day before the Ides of April And in the week following Maud Lacy the Wife of Sir Geffery Genevil died also Item Edmund Botiller recoverd the Mannour de S. Bosco Holywood forte with the Appurtenances thereunto belonging from Sir Richard Feringes Archbishop of Dublin by a Fine in the King's bench after the feast of S. Hilary Item the Flemings defeated the French in Flanders at Courtenay the Wednesday after the feast of S. Thomas In this Engagement were slain the Earl of Artois the Earl of Albemarle the Earl of Hue Ralph de Neel Constable of France Guy de Nevil Marshal of France the Earl of Hennaund's son Godfrey de Brabant and his son William de Fenles and his son James de S. Paul lost his hand and fourty Baronets were kill'd that day with Knights Squires c. without number The Tenths of all Ecclesiastical Benefices in England and Ireland were exacted by Pope Boniface for three years as a Subsidy for the Church of Rome against the King of Arragon Item upon the day of the Circumcision Sir Hugh Lacy made an inroad upon Sir Hugh Vernail and drove off his Beasts This year Robert Brus Earl of Carrick married Elizabeth the daughter of Sir Richard Bourk Earl of Ulster Item Edward Botiller married the daughter of Sir John Fitz-Thomas The City of Bourdeaux with others thereabouts which Edward King of England had formerly lost by a sedition of the French were now restor'd upon S. Andrew's-eve by the means of the Lord John Hastings MCCCIII Richard Bourk Earl of Ulster and Sir Eustace Power invaded Scotland with a strong Army But after that the Earl himself had made 33 Knights in the Castle of Dublin he passed over into Scotland to assist the King of England Item Gerald the son and heir of Sir John Fitz-Thomas departed this life This year the King and Queen of France were excommunicated with all their Children by Pope Boniface who also confirm'd the privileges of the University of Paris Soon after the Pope was taken Prisoner and kept as it were in Prison three whole days Soon after the Pope dy'd The Countess of Ulster died likewise about this time Item Walran Wellesly and Sir Robert Percivall were slain this year on the 11th day before the Kalends of November MCCCIV A great part of Dublin was burnt down viz. the Bridge-street a good part of
And on Sunday following being the next after the Nativity oâ— the blessed Virgin the Lord John Fitz-Thomas died at Laraghbrinâ— near Maynoth and was buried among the Friers-minors at Kildarâ— He is said to have been made Earl of Kildare a little befoâ—â— his death His son and heir Thomas Fitz-John a very prudeâ—â— Man succeeded him After this we had News that the Castle of Cragfergus was surrender'd to the Scots upon condition the lives of the Garrison-Soldiers should be saved On the day of the exaltation of the holy Cross Conghor was stain together with Mac-keley and fifty Irish by William Lord Burk and Richard Bermingham in Conaught Item On the Monday before All-Souls-day many of the Scots were slain in Ulster by John Loggan Hugh Lord Bisset namely about 100 with double Arms and 200 with single Arms. The slain in all amounted to 300 besides the foot Afterward on the Eve of the Royal S. Edmund there hapned such a Storm of Wind and Rain as threw down many Houses beat down the Bell of Trinity-church in Dublin and did much mischief both by Sea and Land Item On the Eve of S. Nicholas the Lord Alan Stewart who was taken Prisoner in Ulster by John Loggan and the Lord John Sandale was carried to Dublin-castle This same year there came News from England of a dissention between the King and the Earl of Lancaster That they were for taking one another Prisoners and that the whole Kingdom was embroil'd about it This year also about the feast of Andrew the Apostle the Lord Hugh le Despencer and the Lord Bartholomew de Baldesmere Wigorniensis the Bishop of Worcester and the Bishop of Ely were sent to Rome to negotiate some important Business of the King 's for Scotland who return'd again into England about the feast of the purification of the blessed Mary Item The Lacies came to Dublin after the same feast and shew'd by an Inquisition that the Scots were not brought into Ireland by their means whereupon they were acquitted and had the King's Charter for protection and safety upon taking their Oaths to keep â—he Peace and do their utmost to destroy the Scots Item This year after the feast of Carnis privium the Scots â—arch'd privately as far as Slain with 20000 arm'd Men and raâ—ag'd the Country though the Army of Ulster lay just before â—â—em Afterwards on the Monday before the feast of S. Matthias the â—postle the Earl of Ulster was apprehended in S. Marie's Abby â—y the Mayor of Dublin viz. Robert Notyngham and carried to â—ublin-castle where he was long imprison'd and the Chamber whereâ—â— he was kept burnt and seven of the Earl's Attendants â—ain The same week in the Vigil of S. Matthias Brus took his â—arch towards Dublin at the head of his Army and hearing of the â—arl's Imprisonment turn'd off towards Cnok-castle which he enâ—â—r'd and therein took the Lord Hugh Tirell with his Wife who â—as Baron of it and they were afterwards ransom'd That Night it was agreed by common consent among the Citiâ—ens of Dublin That S. Thomas's-street should be burnt down for â—ear of the Scots the flames whereof got hold of S. John's-church â—nd burnt it down likewise with Magdalen-chappel all the Suâ—urbs of the City and S. Mary's-monastery The Church of S. Paâ—rick was spoil'd by the said Villans Item Our Saviour's Church which belongs to the Friers-preâ—icants was destroy'd by the Mayor and his Citizens and the â—â—ones were converted to the building of a City wall which was â—ade of greater compass in the north part of the City above the â—ey for formerly the Walls ran just by the Church of S. Owen â—here we see a Tower beyond the Gate also another Gate in that â—treet where the Taverns are however the Mayor and Citizens â—ere afterwards commanded by the King of England to make anoâ—her Convent as formerly After the feast of S. Matthias Le Brus â—â—derstanding that the City was fortified to receive him he march'd â—â—wards Salmons-leap where Robert le Brus King of Scotland â—ith Edward le Brus the Earl of Morrey John Meneteth the â—ord John Stewart the Lord Philip Mountbray encamp'd themâ—elves and continued for four days during which they burnt part â—f the Village broke open the Church and rifled it and then â—arch'd towards Le Naas The Lacies notwithstanding their Oaths advis'd and conducted them and Hugh Lord Canon made â—adin White his Wife's Brother guide them through the Country â—o they came to Le Naas plunder'd the Village broke the Churches â—â—d open'd the Graves in the Church-yard for hidden Treasure â—â—d did many other Mischiefs during the two days they stay'd â—â—ere After this they took their march towards Tristildermote â—â—e second week in Lent and destroy'd the Friers-minors takâ—â—g away their Books Vestments and other Ornaments from â—ence they return'd to Baligaveran and so to Callan about the â—east of Pope Gregory without regarding the Village of Kilâ—enny At the same time Letters were brought by the Lord Edmund â—otiller Chief Justice of Ireland at that time and by the Lord Thomas Fitz-John Earl of Kildare the Lord Richard Clare the Lord Arnold le Pover and the Lord Maurice Fitz-Thomas to â—â—ffer the Earl of Ulster to be mainpriz'd and set at liberty by the King 's writ but nothing was done at present in this Business The People of Ulster came afterwards in a great Body amountâ—ng to 800 and desir'd assistance from the King against the Scots Upon which the King's Banner was deliver'd to them But as soon as they got it they did more mischief than the Scots themselves they eat Flesh all the Lent and almost wasted the whole Country for which they were accurs'd both by God and Man Edmund * Pincerna Butler gave the Irish a great defeat near Trestildermot Item The same Edmund being now Chief Justice of Ireland defeated O Morghe at Balilethan The Scots under le Brus were now got as far as Limerick But the English in Ireland being drawn together in great Bodies to receive them at Ledyn they retreated privately in the night from Conninger Castle About Palm-sunday News came to Dublin That the Scots were at Kenlys in Ossory and that the Irish Nobility were at Kilkenny and had drawn a great Army together there to engage Le Brus. On the Monday following the King sent an Order to the People of Ulster to advance against the Scots under the command and conduct of Thomas Fitz-John Earl of Kildare whereupon they march'd forward Le Brus being then at Cashell from whence he mov'd to Nanath where he stay'd some time and burnt and wasted all the Possessions of the Lord Pincern MCCCXVII On Maundy Thursday the Lord Edmund Botiller Justiciary of Ireland the Lord Thomas Fitz-John Earl of Kildare for the King had conferr'd the jurisdiction and privileges of the Earldom of Kildare upon him Richard Clare with the Ulster-Army Arnold Pover Baron of Donnoyll Maurice Rochfort Thomas Fitz-Maurice and the Cauntons and their
vincula there was bread made of new wheat and wheat was sold in Dublin for 6 pence a peck Item D. Reimund Archedekin Kt. with many others of his family were kill'd in Leinster MCCCXXXVII On the eve of S. Kalixtus the Pope seven partridges leaving the fields God knows why came directly to Dublin where flying very swiftly over the Market-Place they settled on the â—op of a brew-house which belonged to the Canons of S. Trinity in Dublin Some of the Citizens came running to this sight wondring very much at so strange a thing the Town-boyes caught two of them alive a third they kill'd at which the rest being frightned-mounted in the air by a swift flight and escap'd into the opposite Fields Now what this should portend a thing unheard of before I shall leave to the judgment of the more skilful Item Sir John Charleton Knight and Baron came with his wife children and family Lord Chief Justice of Ireland at the feast of S. Kalixtus the Pope and some of his sons and family died Item The same day came into Dublin haven D. Thomas Charleton Bishop of Hereford Justice of Ireland with the Chief Justice his Brother Chancellor of Ireland and with them M. John Rees Treasurer of Ireland Mr. in the Decretals besides 200 Welshmen Item Whilst D. John Charleton was Lord Chief Justice and held a Parliament at Dublin Mr. David O Hirraghcy Archbishop of Armagh being called to the Parliament laid in his provisions in the Monastry of S. Mary near Dublin but the Archbishop and his Clerks would not let him keep house there because he would have had his Crosier carried before him Item The same year died David Archbishop of Armagh to whom succeeded an ingenious man M. Richard Fitz-Ralph Dean of Litchfield who was born in Dundalk Item James Botiller the first Earl of Ormond died the 6th of January and was buried at Balygaveran MCCCXXXVIII The Lord John Charleton at the instigation of his Brother the Bishop of Hereford was by the King turn'd out of his place upon which he came back with his whole family into England and the Bishop of Hereford was made Lord Keeper and Chief Justice of Ireland Item Sir Eustace Pover and Sir John Pover his Uncle were by the Justice's order brought up from Munster to Dublin where the third of February they were imprison'd in the Castle Item In some parts of Ireland they had so great a frost that the river Aven-liffie on which the City of Dublin stands was frozen hard enough for them to dance run or play at foot-ball upon and they made wood and turfe fires upon it to broil Herrings The Ice lasted a great while I shall say nothing of the great snow which fell during this frost since the greatness of the depth has made it so remarkable This Frost continued from the second of December till the 10th of February such a season as was never known in Ireland MCCCXXXIX All Ireland was up in Arms. The Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas Earl of Desmond with the Geraldines who live about Kernige made a great slaughter of the Irish besides 1200 of them who were drown'd in the retreat Item The Lord Moris Fitz-Nicholas Lord of Kernige was by the Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas Earl of Desmond apprehended and put in prison where he died for want of meat and drink for his allowance was but very little because he had rebell'd with the Irish against the King and the Earl Item A great number of the O Dympcies and other Irish were by the English and the vigorous pursuit of the Earl of Kildare kill'd and drowned in the Barrow Item the latter end of February Thomas Bishop of Hereford and Chief Justice of Ireland with the help of the English of that Country took from the Irish about Odrone such a great booty of all sorts of cattle as has not been seen in Leinster MCCCXL The Bishop of Hereford Justice of Ireland being commanded home by his Majesty return'd into England the 10th of April leaving Frier Roger Outlaw Prior of Kilmainan in his place who died the 13th of February Item The King of England made John Darcy Lord Chief Justice of Ireland for life MCCCXLI In May Sir John Moris came Lord Chief Justice of Ireland as Deputy to John Darcy Item In the County of Leinster there happen'd such a strange prodigy as has not been heard of A person travelling along the road found a pair of gloves fit for his hands as he thought but when he put them on he he lost his speech immediately and could do nothing but bark like a dog nay from that moment the men and women throughout the whole County fell into the same condition and the children waughed up and down like whelps This plague continued with some 18 days with others a month and with some for two years and like a contagious distemper at last infected the neighbouring Counties and set them a barking too Item The King of England revok'd all those grants that either he or his Ancestors had made to any in Ireland whether of liberties lands or goods which occasion a general murmur and discontent insomuch that the whole Kingdom grew inclin'd to a revolt Item A Parliament was called by the King's Council to sit in October Fitz-Thomas Earl of Desmond absented Before this there never was seen so much rancor and division between the English of both Kingdoms at last without asking Counsel of the Lord Chief Justice or any other of the King's Ministers the Mayors of the King's Cities together with the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom resolv d among other things to hold another Parliament at Kilkenny in November in order to treat of such matters as concern'd the King and Kingdom Neither the Lord Chief Justice nor any other of the King's Ministers durst repair thither It was concluded in this Parliament by the Nobility and the Mayors aforesaid to dispatch away an ambassadour to the King of England to intercede for Relief and represent the unjust administration of the great Officers in Ireland and declare they could no longer endure their oppression They were particularly instructed in their complaints of the said Ministers to ask How a Land so full of wars and trouble could be govern'd by a Person that was wholly a Stranger to warlike Affairs Secondly How a Minister of the Kings could be imagin'd to grow so rich in a short time And thirdly What was the reason that the King of England was never the richer for Ireland MCCCXLII On the 11th of October and the 11th of the Moon two several Moons were seen by many about Dublin in the morning before day Theone was bright and according to its natural course in the West the other of the bigness of a round loaf stood in the East but not so bright as the former MCCCXLIII S. Thomas's-street in Dublin was accidentally burnt on S. Valentine the Martyr's-day Item The 13th of July D. Ralph Ufford with his Wife the Countess of