Kingdome was for a season diuided into twayne that is to say Deira and Bernicia but for as muche as neyther that diuision endured long nor the actes of their Kings were greatly famous I wyll not staye vpon them But to the end it may appeare by what lawes and customes these Kingdomes weare guided for of them also wee must make mention in this historie I will procéede to set foorth the rest of the vse of this chard of the English Heptarchie As eche Countrie therefore hath his propre lawes customes and manners of lyfe so no man ought to doubt but that these peoples being aggregated of so many sundrye Nations had their seuerall rules orders and institutes Howbeit amongst the rest those be moste famous whiche our auncient writers call the Dane law West-Saxon law and Merchen law The first of whiche was brought in by the Danes The second was vsed amongst the west Saxons and the last was exercised in the kingdome of Mercia and yet not so exercised amongst them selues alone but that they spred ouer some partes of the rest of the lande also being eyther embraced for their equitie aboue the rest or cōmaunded by suche the Kings as preuailed aboue others To the Westsaxons law therfore al suche were subiect as inhabited the Kingdomes of Kent Sussex or Westsex The Eastsaxons Estangles and they of the kingdome of Northūberland al whiche were muche mingled with the Danes lyued vnder the Danes lawe They of Mercia had their owne law but not throwout for after some mens opinions the East and Northeparts of it liued after the law of the Danes also Al these lawes King William the Conquerour collected togeather and after a discréet view had by aduice of his counsel allowed some altered others and quite abrogated a great many in place of whiche he established the lawes of Normandie his owne countrey ¶ The description and hystorie of the Shyre of Kent HAuing thus before hand exhibited in generalitie the names scituation and compasse of the Realme the number of the sondrye Nations inhabiting within the same the seuerall lawes languages rites and maners of the peoples the conuersion of the countrie to christianitie the diuisions and lymites of the Kingdomes the beginnings and alterations of Bishoprickes and such other things incident to the whole Order now requireth that I shew in perticular the boundes of eche Shyre and Countie the seuerall Regiments Bishops Sées Lasts Hundrethes Fraunchises Liberties Cities Markets Borroughs Castles Religious houses and Scooles The Portes Hauens Riuers Waters and Bridges And finally the Hilles and dales Parkes and forests whatsoeuer the singularities within euery of the same And bicause not only the Romanes and Saxons that weare conquerours of this Realme but also the Disciples of the Apostle Philip and the messengers of Pope Gregory that were conuerters of the people arriued firste in Kent and for that the same by commoditie of the Riuer of Thamise the chief key of this Iland first openeth it selfe and to the end also that such guests strangers as shal vouchesafe to visite this our Britaine may at their first entry fynde such courtesie and intertainment as frō hencefoorth they ceasse either with Horace to cal vs Hospitibus feros or with others Feroces in Aduenas I wyll be their Zenagogus or guide and first shew them our countrie of Kent the inhabitantes whereof Caesar himselfe in his Commentaries confesseth to be of al others the most full of humanitie and gentlenesse Kent therefore lying in the Southeast Region of this Realme hath on the North the Riuer of Thamise on the East the Sea on the South the Sea and Sussex and on the West Sussex and Survey It extendeth in length from VVicombe in the frontiers of Surrey to Dele at the Sea side fyfty miles And reacheth in bredth from Sandhirst neare Robertsbridge in the edge of Sussex to the Northeast pointe of the I le of Greane almost thirty miles so hath in circuit 150. miles or therabout It is called by Caesar and other auncient writers Cancium and Cancia in latine which name as I make coniecture was framed out of Cainc a woorde that in the language of the Britaines whom Caesar at his arriuall founde inhabiting there signifyeth bowghes or woods and was imposed by reason that this Countrie both at that time and also longe after was in manner wholy ouergrowne with woode as it shall hereafter in fyt place more plainly appeare The Aire in Kent by reason that the Countrye is on sundry partes bordered wyth water is somewhat thicke for which cause as also for that it is scituate nearest to the Sunne risinge and furthest from the Northe pole of any part of the realme it is temperate not so colde by a great deale as Northumberlande and yet in maner as warme as Cornwall The Soile is for the most parte bountifull consisting indifferently of arable pasture meadow and woodland howbeit of these wood occupieth the greatest portion euen till this day except it bee towardes the East which coast is more champaigne then the residue It hathe Corne and Graine common with other Shyres of the Realme as Wheat Rye Barly Oats in good plenty saue onely that in the Wealdish or woody places where of late daies they vsed muche Pomage or Cider for want of Barley now that lacke is more cōmōly supplyed with Oates Neither wanteth Kent such sorts of pulce as the rest of the Realme yeeldeth namely beanes peason tares whiche some reteining the sound of the latine woord Vicia call vetches and which Polydor supposed not to be founde in Ingland The pasture and meadowe is not onely sufficient in proportion to the quantitie of the country it selfe for bréeding but is comparable in fertilitie also to any other that is neare it in so muche that it gayneth by féeding In fertile and fruitfull woodes and trées this country is most floryshing also whether you respecte the maste of oke Béeche Chesten for cattail or the fruit of aples Peares Cherries Ploumes for men for besides great store of oke and béeche it hathe whole woodes that beare Chestnutt a mast if I may so call it and not rather a fruite whereof euen delicate persons disdaine not to féede not commonly séene in other countries But as for Ortchards of Aples and Gardeins of Cheries and those of the most delicious and exquisite kindes that can be no part of the Realme that I know hath them either in such quantitie and number or with such arte and industrie set and planted So that the Kentish man most truely of al other may say with him in Virgil Sunt nobis mitia poma Castaneae molles c. Touching domesticall cattel as horses mares oxen kine and shéepe Kent differeth not muche from others onely this it challengeth as singular that it bringeth forth the largest of stature in eche kinde of them The like wherof also Polydore in his historie
distrust the infallible Scriptures of God concerning the creation and propagation of mankynde and to trust the wretched vanitie of opinion that the Gentiles had and namely the Atheniens who the better to aduance their antiquitie were wont to vaunt That they only forsooth of al the Grecians were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Satiui indigenae terrae parentis The very natural seeds stocks ymps springing out of their good mother the same earth where they dwelt and not brought from elswhere We reade likewise in the same book of Moses that the Iles of the Gentiles were diuided into their Kingdoms and nations by suche as descended of the children of Iapheth wherevpon as the Italians in their histories deriue themselues from Gomer the first sonne of Iapheth the Spaniardes from Tubal his fifte Sonne and the Germanes from Thuysco whom as they say Moses calleth Ascenas the eldest sonne of Gomer Euen so the late learned and yet best trauayled in the histories of our countrey reiecting the fonde dreames of doting Monkes and fabling Frears do collect out of Herodotus Berosus and others the most graue and auncient authors that one Samothes the sixth sonne of Iapheth whome Caesar in his commentaries calleth Dis and Moses nameth Mesech did about 250. yeares after the generall inundation of the world take vpon him the first dominion of these countreis in Europe which are now known by the names of Fraunce and Britaine and the inhabitantes thereof of long time called Celtae or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for theyr speciall skill in ryding Of this mans name say they the first inhabiters of England weare called Samothaei by the space of 300. yeares or more About which time Albion Mareoticus the sonne of Neptune or rather Nepthuim as Moses writeth it and descended of the race of Cham inuaded the Ile conquered the inhabitantes mixed them with his owne people and called them all after his owne name Albionees and the countrey it selfe Albion Sixe hundreth and eight yeares or theraboutes after this also Brutus Iuhus as all our common historiens haue it entered this Iland with 324. ships laden with the remaines of Troye and he likewise both subdued all the former peoples that he found heere to his owne obedience and also altered their name after his owne calling So that from thenceforth they were named Britaines the termes of Samothees and Albionees being quite and cleane abolished Now out of these things thus alledged I might as mee thinketh draw probable coniecture that Kent which we haue in hand was the first inhabited part of all this our Iland For if it be true that maister Bale in his Centuries confesseth namely that Samothes began his dominion ouer this Realme almost 150. yeres after suche tyme as he first arriued in that part of Fraunce which is called Celtique and had planted his people there what can be more likely then that he came out of Fraunce first into Kent séeing that parte of all others was moste neare vnto him and only of all the Iland might be discerned out of the countrie where he was And the selfe same reason Caesar vseth to proue that the borderers on the South Sea side of this land were Aduenae and brought out of Fraunce although he was perswaded that the dwellers within the midle partes of the Countrie were Indigenae as we haue already touched But I will procéede in the hystorie Howsoeuer that bee therefore Caesar himselfe witnesseth that at the time of his arriuall in this Iland the people were by one common name called Britaines And that Kent was then diuided into foure petite Kingdomes which were gouerned by Carnillus Taximagul Cingetorix and Segonax who hauing seuerally subiect to their Dominions certain Cities with the territories adioyning vnto them after the manner of the Dukedomes or Estates of Italie at this day extended their boundes as it may be gathered ouer the whole countries of Kent Sussex and Surrey at the least This kind of Regalitie Kent retained not many yeares after bicause the Britain Kings succéeding Caesars conquest yéelding tribute to the Romanes reduced not only these partes but in manner the whole Realme also into one entier Monarchie .. So that in course of time and vnder the reigne of King Vortiger Kent was ruled by a Lieutenant or Viceroy called Guorongus as William of Malmesbury witnesseth But it was not long before these Britaines were so weakned partly by intestine dissentiō amongst themselues and partly by incursions of their neighbours the Scots Picts that the periode of this their estate also drawing on Vortiger their King was compelled to inuite for ayde the Saxons Iutes and Angles thrée sortes of the Germane nation who in steade of dooing that which they came for and of deliuering the Britaines from their former oppression ioyned with their enemies Thessala fide as the adage is brought vpon them a more gréeuous calamity and conquest subduing the people suppressing relligion and departing in manner the whole land amongest them selues So that now Kent recouered the title of a seueral Kingdome againe although not al one and the verie same in limittes with the former foure yet nothing inferiour in power estimation or compasse Of whiche this newly reuiued regiment Hengist the chief leader of the Germanes became the first author and patrone For he finding him selfe placed by King Vortiger for his owne habitation at Thanet in this Shire and séeing a great part of his power bestowed in Garrison against the Scottes vnder Ohtha his Brother and Ebusa his Sonne in the North Countrey and perceyuing moreouer that he was arryued out of a moste barren Countrie into this plentifull Iland with the commodities wherof he was inestimablie delighted he abandoned al care of returne to his natiue soyle and determined to make here a seate for him selfe and his posteritie For helpes wherunto although he had on th one side his owne prowesse the manhode of his warlike nation their nomber and necessitie and on the other side the effeminate cowardise and voluptuousnes of King Vortiger the weakenes of the Britains themselues and the aduauntage of the Scottes and Pictes their auncient enemies so that he might with plaine force haue brought his purpose to passe yet he chose rather to atchieue his desire by faire meanes and colour of amitie a way though not so hastie as the former yet more spéedie then that or any other Espying therfore that king Vortiger was muche delighted in womens companie and knowing wel that Sine Cerere Libero friget Venus he had him to a solemn Banket and after that he had according to the manner of Germanie yet continuing well plied him with pots he let slippe before him a faire gentlewoman his owne daughter called Roxena or Rowen which being instructed before handhow to behaue her self most amiablie presented him with a goblet of wine saying in her owne language
whiche buylding be yet apparent to the eye There is extant also a faire paued cawsey some myles of length leading from Canterbury toward the same Porte and they of the Towne enioye the Priuileges of the Fiue Portes and doe reserue a brasen Horne and a Mace as ensignes of Castle Garde and administration of Iustice in olde time exercised there Finally they affirme that the water forsaking them by litle and litle decay and solitude came at the length vpon the place For whereas at the first ships were accustomed to discharge at Lymne the Sea afterwarde either hindered by the sandes or not helped by the fresh water shortned his fludde and caused the Merchaunts to vnlade at Westhithe Neither did it yet ascend so highe any long season but by continuall decreasings withdrew it self at the length compelled them to lay their wares on land at this Hithe whiche nowe standeth in déede but yet without any great benefit of the Sea for asmuche as at this day the water floweth not to the Towne by halfe a myle and more These coniectures reports be resonable but yet as I am sure that they be vtterly at variaunce with that opinion whiche Leland would plante of the present course of the Riuer of Rother as wee will shewe in Newendene when wee shall come to the place so am I in doubt also what meanes may be found to reconcile them with the relations of Asserus Meneuensis Henrie Huntingdon our olde Saxon Chronicles al which séeme to affirme that Apledore stoode vpon the water Lymen whiche if it be so then I sée not the places considered howe this Towne of Lymne could euer be situated vpō the same Riuer Their woordes in effect be these In the yeare after Christ 893. the great armie of the Danes lefte the East part of Fraunce and came to Boloigne from thence with 250. vessels sayled into the mouthe of the Riuer Lymen in Kent whiche floweth from the great woode that is called Andred Thence they towed vp their boates foure miles into that wood from the mouthe of the Riuer where they found a Castle halfe built and a fewe Countrie men in it all whiche together with the Village they destroyed and fortified at a place called Apultree By which it may in deed at the first face séeme that the Riuer Lymen led from Apledore to the Sea came not by Lymne but yet that I may say somewhat for Talbot these woordes do not necessarily enforce so muche for that they be not that they towed their ships vp to Apledore but foure miles to the woode and builded at Apledore whiche they might well doe although they had come in at Hithe To the whiche sense also the woordes of Asserus Meneuensis whiche liued in that verie time do giue somewhat the more place and libertie whē he saith They towed vp their ships foure miles into the wood where they threwe downe a certaine Castle halfe built in whiche a fewe Churles of the Countrie were placed the Towne also they raised an other stronger in a place called Apledore For these words an other in a place strōger called Apledore séem to importe that Apledore was not the Towne foure miles within the Riuers mouthe whiche they pulled downe but some other Whiche as for the distance it might happely be Lymne that we haue in hand so bicause there is no apparant memoriall of any suche course of the Riuer I will not affirme it to haue béene the same but referre the decision of the whole controuersie to the learned and inquisitiue reader that will bestowe his labour to trie and trace out the very trueth Courtopstrete commonly but truly Court at Strete THe enemie of mankinde and Prince of darkenesse Sathan the Deuill perceiuing that the glorious and bright shining beames of Gods holy truthe and gladsome Gospell had pearced the mistie thicke cloudes of ignorance shewed not onelie to the people of Germanie but to the inhatants of this Islande also the true way of their deliueraunce from damnable errour idolatrie and Popishe superstition And fearing that if he did not nowe bestir him busily he was in peril to lose infinite numbers of his subiects and consequently no small parte of that his spirituall kingdome practized most carefully in all places with Monkes Friars Priestes Nonnes and the whole rablement of his Religious armie for the holding of simple soules in wonted obedience and the vpholding of his vsurped Empire in the accustomed glory opinion and reuerence And for this purpose amongst sundry fleightes set to shewe in sundry places about the latter end and declination of that his reigne one was wrought by the Holy maide of Kent in a Chappel at this towne in deuise as malicious in déede as mischeuous and in discouerie as notorious as any other whatsoeuer But bycause the midst and end of this Pageant is yet fresh in the knowledge of many on liuing manifested to al men in bookes abroade And for that the beginning thereof is knowne to verie fewe and likely in time to be hid from all if it be not by some way or other continued in mynde I will laboure only to bewray the same and in suche sorte as the mainteiners thereof them selues haue committed it to writing For not long since it chaunced me to sée a litle Pamphlet conteining foure and twentie leaues penned I wote not by what doltishe dreamer printed by Robert Redman Intituled A marueilous woorke of late done at Court of Streete in Kent and published as it pretendeth to the deuout people of that time for their spirituall consolation in whiche I founde the very first beginning to haue beene as followeth About the time of Easter in the seuentéenthe yeare of the Reigne of King Henrie the eight it happened a certaine maiden named Elizabethe Barton then seruaunt to one Thomas Kob of the Parishe of Aldington twelue myles distant from Canterbury to be touched with a great infirmitie in her body whiche did ascend at diuers times vp into her throte and swelled greatly during the time whereof she séemed to be in grieuous paine in so muche as a man would haue thought that she had suffred the panges of deathe it selfe vntill the disease descended and fell downe into the bodie againe Thus she continued by fittes the space of seuen monethes and more and at the laste in the Moneth of Nouember at whiche time also a yong Childe of her Maisters lay desperatly sicke in a cradle by her she being vexed with the former disease asked with great pangs and groning whether the Childe were yet departed this life or noe And when the women that attended vpon them bothe in their sickenesse aunswered no she replied that it should anone whiche woord was no sooner vttered but the childe fetched a great sighe and withall the soule departed out of the body This her diuination and foretelling was the first matter that moued her hearers to admiration But after this in sundry
obserueth a thing touching Wreck or rather Varech as the custome of Normandie from whēce it came calleth it not vnworthy the recital that is that of auncient time if a ship were cast on shoare torne with tempest and were not repaired by suche as escaped on liue within a certaine time that then this was taken for Wreck and so vsed along the coast But Henrie the first sayth the booke disliking the iustice of that custome ordeyned that if from thēcefoorth any one thing being within the vessell arriued on liue then the ship and goods should not be seised for wrecke This decrée had force during all his reigne and ought of congruence to haue endured for euer Howbeit after his death the owners of lande on the Sea shoare shewing themselues more carefull of their owne gaine then pitifull of other mens calamities returned to the olde manner Which their vnmerciful couetise as I suppose prouoked king Edward the first by the statute that we call Westminster the first to make restitution of King Henries lawe whiche euen to this daye remayneth in force thoughe not altogether so heauie against poore men afflicted by misfortune of the Sea as that former vsage was yet in déede neyther so easie as Christian charitie would nor so indifferent as the lawes of other countries do afford And therfore I will leaue it as a thing worthy amongst other of reformation when God shall giue time There was at this place a College valued in the Recordes at ninetie thrée pounds of yearely reuenue In whiche king Edward the seconde after the buriall of his father and before his owne Coronation helde the solemnitie of a whole Christmas Motindene of Mod and dene ' that is the proude valley a name imposed as I thinke for the fertilitie I Haue not hitherto foūd any thing touching the house of Motindene in Hetcorne saue onely that the heade therof was called Minister and that the house it selfe was of the yearely value of sixtie poundes Neyther would I haue aforded it so much as paper or place here but only that you might vnderstande with what number of buildings varietie of sectes and plentie of possessions Poperie was in olde time prouided for and furnished No corner almoste without some religious house or other Their suites and orders were hardly to be numbred and as for their landes and reuenues it was a world to beholde them I finde that the yerely extent of the clere value of the Religious liuings within this Shyre amounted to fiue thousande poundes Bishoprickes Benefices Friaries Chaunteries and Sainctes offerings not accounted whiche thing also I doe the rather note to the ende that you may sée howe iuste cause is giuen vs bothe to wonder at the hoate zeale of our auncestours in their spirituall fornication and to lament the coldenesse of our owne charitie towardes the maintenaunce of the true spouse of Iesus Christ For if euer nowe moste truly is that verefied which the Poet long since sayde Probitas laudatur alget Canterbury is called in Saxon Cātparabyrig that is to say The citie or court of the men of Kent whiche also agreeth with the Brittishe worde Caer Kent signifying the Citie of Kent It is termed in Latine diuersly of some Doruernum and Daruernum of others Durouernum of some Dorobernia and of some Dorobrinia All whiche names Leland coniectureth to proceede eyther of the Riuer called Stowr as we haue shewed or else of the Brittishe worde Dour whiche signifieth water bycause the countrey thereaboutes is plentuously stored therwith One other late writer taketh it to be called Daruernum as if it were Dour ar guerne that is the water neare the Fenne or Marish TO the ende that confusion auoyded eche thing may appeare in his proper place it shal not be amisse to part the treatise of this Citie into twaine whereof the firste shall conteine the beginning increase and declination of the Citie it selfe The seconde shal set foorth the erection and ouerthrowe of the Religious houses and buildings within the same The authour of the Brittishe storie affirmeth that one Rudhurdibras or as some copies write it Lud Rudibras a King of the Britons almost nine hundreth yeares before the Incarnation of Christ builded a Citie whiche he called Carlem or as Henrie of Huntingdon in his recitall of the cient Brittishe Cities nameth it Caer Kent that is to say the Citie or rather the chiefe Citie of Kent For in the processe of the same Hystorie it appeareth in déed that at suche time as Vortiger King of the Brittons intertained the Saxon Captaines Hengist and Horsa he soiourned at Canterbury the heade Citie of all that countrie and that prerogatiue it reteined in the time of the Saxons them selues also For by the testimonie of Beda and Mathewe of Westminster it was when Augustine arriued in Kent Caput Imperij Regis Ethelberti the chiefe place in all the dominion of King Ethelbert To this Augustine the sade King gaue after a manner as I coniecture the Lordship or royaltie of the same citie For I reade as I haue before shewed that he gaue him his owne Palaice and builded another for him selfe at Reculuer and it is to be séene in the auncient Saxon lawes that of olde time the Archebishops had their Coynage within the Citie I finde also in the booke of Domesday that King Edwarde the Confessour had onely one and fiftie Burgesses whiche yealded him rent within this Citie and two hundreth and twelue other persons owing him suite and that the Castle of Canterbury and the residue of the inhabitauntes were subiecte to the Bishop and the Religious houses Howbeit the Bishops were neuer absolute owners hereof till the time of King William Rufus who as the Annales of Sainct Augustine say Dedit ciuitatem Cantuariae Anselmo ex solido quam Lanfrancus tenuerat ex beneficio This Citie since the vnion of the Kentishe kingdome to the West Saxon hath béene chiefly maynteined by two things Firste by the residence and hospitalitie of the Archebishop and Religious persons and then by the liberalitie and expence of such as either gadded to S. Thomas for helpe and deuotion or trauailed towardes the Sea side for their priuate affaires and businesse Amongst the Bishops Theodore a Grecian borne and the seuenth and last of those that came out of Italy Lanfranc the first Norman aduaunced by the Conquerour and Simon Sudburie that liued vnder King Edward the thirde haue béene the most beneficiall vnto it Of the whiche Theodore by licence of Vitelianus then Pope founded within the Citie a Schole or College wherein he placed Professours of all the liberall Sciences which also was the very paterne to the schole that Sigbert the King of Eastangle afterwarde builded but whether that were at Cambridge or at some other place besides within his kingdome I leaue to Doctour Caius of Cambridge and Maister Key of Oxforde to be disputed and to indifferent Readers to be adiudged The Reuerend father Mathew
of the number of 329 16 peucata Leucata 341 7 burgHEr burHEs 342 10 the word which the which worde 344 17 reiected eiected 358 27 caelcE aelcE 361 23 other uche other suche 362 15 Hi ƿHrto Hi þErto  18 ƿE Hit þE Hit 366 25 three estales three estates 370 1 vaginacae vagniacae  3 ƿyrHam ƿyrtHam 391 32 in feodo in feoda 392 10 in feodo in feoda 396  in the mar that call call that 399 11 shall entree shall enter  12 condtion condition  33 exemplfied exemplified 400 29 and in case not and not in case  30 is iustified is iustised 406 25 seiset seisei 407 24 may waine her may waiue her Saxones ANGLIAE HEPTARCHIA ¶ The exposition of this Map of the English Heptarchie or seauen Kingdomes TO the ende that it may be vnderstoode what is ment by the tearmes of Eastsaxons Westsaxons Mercia Northumberland and such other of which there is common mention in the Treatise folowing I haue thought good to prefixe a chard of the seauen sundry Kingdomes into the whiche this Realme was sometime diuided But yet for the better and more plaine explication of the matter it shall bee good first to know that all these Nations following haue had to doe within this our Countrie The Brittons the Romanes the Scottes and Pictes the Saxons the Danes and the Normanes The Bryttons after the Samothees and Albionees whiche be of no great fame in our history were the most auncient Inhabitantes of this land and possessed it in peace vntil Iulius Caesar the Romane Emperour inuaded them for so muche may a man gather of Horace his wordes where he sayeth Intactus aut Brytannus Sacra vt descenderet catenatus via c. These therefore weare by Iulius Caesar subdued to the Romane Empyre and their country made a tributarie Prouince in whiche case it continued many yeares togeather vntyll at the length they being greiuously vexed with the Pictes and Scottes their neighbours on the North and being vtterly voide of all hope of aide to bee had from the Romanes their patrons who also at the same time weare sore afflicted with the inuasion of the Hunnes and Vandales like barbarous nations they weare enforced to séeke for further helpe And therefore sent into Germanie from whence they receaued hyred Souldiours of the Nations called Saxons Iutes and Angles vnder the conduicte of Hengist and Horsa two naturall brethren and both verie valiant Captaines These Sctos as them selues do write weare a people of Scythia that came first into Spaine then into Ireland and from thence to the North part of Britaine our Iland where they yet inhabit They were called Scots or Scyttes of Scyttan which is to shoote The Pictes also came from the same place after them and occupied the parts where VVestmorland and Galoway now be And they were called Pictes either for that they vsed to paynte their bodies to the ende to séeme the more terrible or els of the word◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a Champion by reason of their great courage and hardinesse The Saxons Iutes Angles weare the Germains that came ouer as we haue saide in aide of the Britons of which the first sorte inhabited Saxonie the seconde were of Gotland and therfore called Gutes or Gottes The thirde weare of Angria or Anglia a country adioyning to Saxonie of which the Duke of Saxonie is Lorde till this day and beareth the name therof in his stile or title of honour and of these last we all be called Angli English men These Germaines for a season serued against the Scots and Picts But afterwarde entised by the pleasure of this countrey and the fraude of the enemies they ioyned handes with them and all at once set vpon the Britons that brought them in and so driuing them into Fraunce Wales and Cornwall possessed their dwelling places and diuided the countrye amongst themselues Howbeit they also wāted not their plague For after that they had long warred one vpon another for the enlarging of their particular kingdomes and had at the last so beaten the one the other that the whole was by the Westsaxons reduced into one entier Monarchie sodainly the Danes a people of Norway Denmarke came vpon them and after much mischiefe done in the ende tooke the crowne quite and cleane from them But they were expulsed after thirtie yeares trouble and the Englishe and Saxon Nation restoared to the royall dignitie which yet they enioyed not many yeares after For straight vpon the death of Edward the Confessor William of Normandy whose people at the first came from Norway also and were therfore called Normans demaunded the Crowne and wan it of Harold in the Fielde whose posteritie holdeth it tyll this day Thus muche of the Nations that haue had interest in this Realme Now to our purpose that is to the diuision of the same into the sundrye kingdomes vnder the Saxons And although by reason of the continuall contention that was amongst them for enlarging their bounds there can no certaine limits of their kingdomes be appointed yet wee wil go as neare the trouth as wee can and folow the best approued authours that haue written thereof The first Kingdome therefore was called the Kingdome of the Westsaxons bicause it was in the West parte of the Realme and it comprehended the whole Shires of Southampton Berk Wilton Dorset and Somerset besides some partes of Surrey Gloucester and Deuonshyre As for the residue of Deuonshyre and whole Cornwall the Britons reteyned it whose language is not there as yet forgotten The seconde was the Southsaxon Kingdome so termed bicause it lay South and conteined whole Sussex and the remaine of Surrey The thirde was the Kentish Kingdome and had for the most part the same boundes that the Shyre of Kent yet hath although at some tyme and by the prowes of some King it was extended muche further The Kingdome of Estsex or of the Estsaxons was the fourth which was named of the situation also and included the whole Shires of Estsex and Midlesex with some portion of Hartfordshyre The fifte was of the East Angles or East Englishmen consisting of the I le of Elye and the Shyres of Norfolke Suffolke and Cambridge The Kingdome of Mercia or Mearclande had the sixt place which was so called of the Saxon woords Mearc signifiyng a bounde limit or marke as wee yet speake and that bicause it lay in the midst of this our Iland as vpon the whiche al the residue of the Kingdomes did bounde and weare bordered In this Kingdome weare wholy these Shyres Lincolne Northampton Rutlande Huntingdon Bedford Buckingham Oxford Chester Derby Notingham Stafforde And partly Hereford Hartford Warwick Shropshire and Gloucestershire Northumberlande so called because it laye North from the Riuer Humber was the seauenth Kingdome and it enuironned Yorkshire Durham Northumberlande Cumberlande and Westmerlande wholy and so muche of Lancashire besides as was not in Mercia This
confesseth of the Kentish poultrie Parkes of fallow Déere and games of gray Conyes it maynteyneth many the one for pleasure and the other for profit as it may wel appeare by this that within memorie almost the one halfe of the first sorte be disparked and the number of warreyns continueth if it do not increase dayly As for red Déere and blacke Conyes it nourisheth them not as hauing no great walkes of wast grounde for the one and not tarying the tyme to rayse the gaine by the other for blacke conyes are kept partly for their skins which haue their season in Winter and Kent by the nearnesse to London hath so quicke market of yong Rabbets that it killeth this game chiefly in Summer There is no Mineral or other profit digged out of the belly of the earth here saue only that in certeine places they haue Mynes of Iron quarreys of pauing stone and pits of fat Marle The Sea and fresh waters yéelde good and wholesome fishes competently but yet neyther so muche in quantitie nor suche in varietie as some other coastes of the Realme do afoorde And here let vs for a season leaue the Sea and the Soyle and cast our eyes vpon the men The people of this countrie consisteth chieflly as in other countries also of the Gentrie and the yeomanrie of which the first be for the most parte 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gouernours and the other altogether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gouerned whose possessions also were at the first distinguished by the names of knight fee and Gauelkinde that former being propre to the warriour and this latter to the husbandman But as nothing is more inconstant thē the estate that wee haue in lands and liuing if at the least I may call that an estate whiche neuer standeth Euen so long since these tenures haue ben so indifferētly mixed confounded in the hands of eche sorte that there is not now any note of differēce to be gathered by them The gentlemen be not héere throughout of so auncient stockes as else where especially in the partes nearer to London from whiche citie as it were from a certeine riche and wealthy séedplot Courtiers Lawyers Marchants be cōtinually translated do become new plants amongst them Yet be their reuenues greater then any where else whiche thing groweth not so muche by the quantitie of their possession or by the fertilitie of their soyle as by the benefit of the situation of the countrie it selfe whiche hath al that good neighbourhood that Marc. Cato and other olde authors in husbandrie require to a wel placed graunge that is to say the Sea the Riuer a populous citie and a well traded highway by the cōmodities wherof the superfluous fruites of the grounde be dearly sold and consequently the land may yéeld a greater rent These gentlemen be also for the most parte acquainted with good letters and especially trayned in the knowledge of the lawes They vse to manure some large portion of their owne territories as well for the maintenance of their families as also for their better increase in wealth So that they be well employed both in the publique seruice and in their own particular do vse hanking hunting and other disports rather for their recreation then for an occupation or pastime The yeomanrie or commmon people for so they be called of the Saxon word gemen which signifieth common is no where more free and ioily then in this shyre for besides that they them selues say in a clayme made by them in the time of King Edwarde the first that the cōmunaltie of Kent was neuer vanquished by the Conquerour but yéelded it selfe by composition And besides that Geruasius affirmeth that the forward in al battels belongeth to them by a certein préeminence in right of their manhood It is agréed by all men that there were neuer any bondmē or villaines as the law calleth thē in Kent Neither be they here so muche bounden to the gentrie by Copyhold or custumarie tenures as the inhabitantes of the westerne countries of the Realme be nor at all indaūgered by the féeble holde of tenant right which is but a discent of a tenancie at wil as the cōmon people in the Northren parts be for Copyhold tenure is rare in Kent and tenant right not heard of at al But in place of these the custome of Gauelkind preuayling euery where in manner euery man is a freeholder and hath some part of his own to liue vpon And in this their estate they please them selues and ioy excéedingly in so much as a man may find sundry yeomē although otherwise for wealth comparable with many of the gentle sort that will not yet for all that chaūge their condition nor desire to be apparayled with the titles of Gentrie Neither is this any cause of disdain or of alienation of the good myndes of the one sort from the other for no where else in al this realme is the commō people more willingly gouerned To be short they be most commonly ciuil iust bountiful so that the estate of the old franklyns yeomen of England eyther yet liueth in Kent or else it is quite dead departed out of the realme for altogether As touching the artificers of this shire they be either such as labour in the artes that be handmaidens to husbandry or els workers in stone Iron woodfuel or else makers of coloured woollē clothes in which last feat they excell as from whome is drawne both sufficient stoare to furnishe the weare of the best sort of our owne nation at home and great plentie also to be trāsported to other forreine countries abroad Thus muche I had summarily to say of the condition of the countrie and countrie men Nowe therfore God assisting myne enterprise I will goe in hande with the hystorie Wée read in the first booke of Moses that after suche time as the order of nature was destroyed by the generall floude and repaired again by the mercy of almighty God the whole earth was ouerspred in processe of time by the propagation of mankinde that came of the loines of Sem Cham and Iaphet By which authoritie we are throughly certified that all the nations of the worlde must of necessitie deriue their Pedegrées from the cuntrie of Chaldee or some place nighe vnto it where the Arke of Noah rested And therfore I will not here eyther doubt or debate to and fro as Caesar Cornel. tacit Polydore and others doe whether the first inhabitantes of this Ilande were Aliunde aduecti and aduenae that is translated and brought out of some other countrie to dwell here or no Or yet affirme as the same Caesar doth that some or as Diodor. Siculus writeth that all the Britanes weare indigenae the naturall borne people of that countrie and that ab origine euen from the first beginning for to take the one way of these or the other would but leade vs to
of Bec an olde booke intituled likewise De origine Regum Brytannorū the which beginning at the arriuall of Brute ended with the actes of Cadwalader and agréed thoroughout as by collatiō I collected with this our Bryttishe hystorie which I doubt whether Henrie of Huntington had euer séene Nowe therefore if this were an olde booke in his time it coulde not be newe in the dayes of Petite that succéeded him And if the argument were written before in the Bryttish tongue it is very probable that he was not the first author but only the translator thereof in Latine For further likelyhoode whereof I my selfe haue an auncient Bryttish or Welshe copy which I reserue for shew and doe reuerence for the antiquitie litle doubting but that it was written before the dayes of William Petite who as he was the first So vpon the matter recken I him the onely man that euer impugned the Bryttishe hystorie For as touching Polydore though he were a man singularly well learned yet since hee was of our owne time and no longer since his forces must of necessity be thought to bée bent rather against the veritie then against the antiquitie of that writing Wherein if he shall seeke to discredit the whole worke for that in some partes it conteineth matter not only vnlikely but incredible also then shall he bothe depriue this Nation of all manner of knowledge of their first beginning and open the way for vs also to cal into question the origine and antiquities of Spaine Fraunce Germanie yea and of Italie his owne countrie in which that whiche Liuie reporteth of Romulus and Remus Numa and Aegeria is as farre remoued from all suspicion of truthe as any thing whatsoeuer the Galfride writeth either of Brute Merlin or King Arthur himselfe Séeing therefore that euen as corne hath his chaffe and metall his drosse so can there harldly any wryter of the auncient hystorie of any nation be founde out that hath not his propre vanities mixed with sincere veritie the part of a wise Reader shal be not to reiect the one for doubt of the other but rather with the fire and fan of iudgement and discretion to trie and sift them a sunder And as my purpose is for mine owne parte to vse the commoditie thereof so oft as it shall like me so my counsell shal bee that other men will bothe in this and other obserue this one rule That they neither reiect without reason nor receiue without discretion and iudgement Thus muche in my way for assertion of the Bryttish hystorie I thought good to say once for all to the ende that from hencefoorthe whatsoeuer occasion of debate shal be offered concerning eyther the veritie or antiquitie of the same I neither trouble my selfe nor tarrie my Reader with any further defence or Apologie The Byshops See and Diocesse of Canterbury HE that shal aduisedly consider the plot of this Shyre may finde thrée diuerse and those not vnfit wayes to deuide it One by breaking the whole into the East and West Kent An other by parting it as Watling streate leadeth into North and Southe Kent And a third by seuering it into the two distinct Dioceses of Canterbury and Rochester Of these thrée I haue determined to chuse the last both bycause that kinde of diuision hath as certaine limits as any of the former for that it séemeth to me the moste conuenient seuerance being wrought both by bounde of place and of iurisdiction also And because the See of Canterbury is not onely the more worthy of the twaine but also the Metropolitane and chiefe of the whole realme I haue thought good in the first place to shewe the beginning and increase of that Bishopricke and afterward to prosecute the description and hystorie of the principal parts belonging to the same It is to be séene in the Brittishe hystorie and others that at suche time as King Lucius the first christened Prince of this land had renounced the damnable darknes of Paganisme and embrased the glorious light of the Gospel of God he chaunged the Archeflamines of London Yorke and Caerleon into so many Archebishops and the Flamines of other inferiour places into inferiour Bishops through out his whole realme Howbeit this matter is not so cleare but that it is encountered by William Petit whiche in the Proheme of his hystorie affirmeth boldly that the Britons whiche professed Christian religion within this Iland before the cōming of Augustine were contented with Bishops only that Augustine himselfe was the very first that euer had the Archbishops Palle amongst vs As touching Bishops it is euidēt by Beda him self that both before in Augustines time Wales alone had seuen at the lest but as for Archebishops although for my owne opinion I thinke with William the rather for that I suppose that the simplicity of the Britain clergie was not as thē enamoured with the vain titles of the Romane arrogancy yet to the end that the reader may be therby the more iustly occasioned to make inquisition of the trueth in that point it shall not be greatly out of his way to send him by Siluester Giraldus Canbrensis a man considering the age excellently wel learned which liued about the same time with Williā Petit or Williā of Newborow as some cal him This man in a book which he entituled Itinerariū Walliae setteth forth moste plainly the Archbishops that in olde time were at Caerleon their translation from thence to Saint Dauids their transmigration from Saint Dauids ouer the Sea into Normandie and the whole Catalogue of their succession in each of those places But here some man thinking me more mindful to direct others thē careful to kepe mine own wai wil happely aske me what pertineth it I pray you to Canterbury whether there haue ben Archbishops at London Yorke Carleon or no yes no doubt it maketh greatly to our treatise of Canterbury for not onely the forenamed Brittish historie Mathew of Westminster Williā of Malmesbury do shew manifestly that Augustine by great iniury spoiled Londō of this dignitie of the Archbishops chaire bestowing the same vpon Canterbury but the Epistle of Pope Gregorie himself also which is to be read in the Ecclesiasticall storie of Beda cōuinceth him of manifest presumption arrogācie in that he sticked not to prefer his own fantasie liking before the Pope his maisters institution cōmaūdement For Pope Gregory appointed two Archbishops the one at London the other at Yorke whereof either should haue vnder him 12. inferiour Bishops wherof neither should be subiect to other only for Augustines honour hee willed that they all should bée vnder him during his lyfe But Augustine not so contēted both remained resident during al his life at Canterbury and before he died consecrated Laurence Archebishop there least eyther by his owne death or want of another fit man to fill the place the chaire might happely be carried to London as
therof namely that One brother had wel helped another is woorde for woord stollen from thence for William whiche liued before Ealred reporteth that king Ethelstane by persuasion of one that was his cupbearer had banished Eadwine his owne brother for suspicion of treason and had committed him to the Seas and windes in an olde shaken and fraile vessel without saile oare or companion saue one Esquier only in whiche exile he perished and that afterward the King vnderstanding his brothers innocencie and sorowing his owne rashnesse tooke occasion by sight of his cupbearers foote slipping to be auenged of the false accusation euen as it is here tolde of King Edward But Ealred forsoothe was so fully disposed to magnifie King Edward bycause he so muche magnified the Monkishe and single life that he sticked not at greater matters then this affirming boldely that the same King while he hearde Masse at Westminster sawe betwéene the Priestes handes Christe blessing him with his fingers That at another Masse he sawe the seuen sleapers at Ephesus turne them selues on the one side after they had sleapt seuentie yeares together on the other which séeing it was within fiue yeares of so many as Epimenides sleapt Ealred in my phansie is worthy to haue the seconde game at the whetstone Furthermore that S. Iohn Baptist sent to King Edward a King of Golde from Ierusalem whiche he him selfe had sometime before giuen to a poore man that asked almes of him in the name of S. Iohn And suche other matters of like credite whiche bothe for the vanitie of the things them selues being méete to haue place in Philopseudes of Lucian and for the desire that I haue to kéepe order I will pretermit and returne to my purpose Richeborowe in Latine Vrbs Rutupina in Saxon ReptacHester the name being forged as I coniecture either of the Bryttishe woord Rwyd whiche signifieth a net in token that it stoode by fishing or of Rwydd whiche signifieth speede bycause from thence as some thinke is the moste shorte and speedy cutte ouer the Seas MAthew the Monke of Westminster Authour of the woorke called Flores Hystoriarum taketh the place whiche Beda Ptolome and others call Rutupi to be Sandwiche and therefore he applieth to the one whatsoeuer he findeth of the other but bicause Iohn Leland a man generally acquainted with the antiquities of the Realme affirmeth in his worke whiche hee intituled Syllabus in Genethliacon Eaduerdi Rutupi to haue been where Richeborowe now is to whiche opinion I rather incline I thinke good to giue them seuerall titles and to speake of Richeborowe by it selfe leauing to fit place for Sandwiche also suche matter as of right belongeth therevnto The whole shoare of Kent therefore that lyeth ouer against Dunkircke Calaice and Boloigne is of Caesar Iuuenal Lucan Ptolome Antoninus and others called Rutupiae or Rutupinum littus and that place of England whiche Beda taketh to be nearest to the Morines a people of Gallia Belgica whiche at this day comprehendeth Picardie Boloigne Artoys and some parte of the lowe countries is of Iohn Leland interpreted to be Richeborowe not paste halfe a myle distant from Sandwiche toward the East The same man also persuaded partly by the viewe of the place it selfe and partly by the authoritie of one Gotcelinus supposeth that Richeborow was of auncient time a Citie of some price and that it had within it a Palaice where King Ethelbert receiued Augustine As for the title of a Citie I doubt not but that if the ruines of the auncient walles yet extant or the remenants of the Romane coyne often found there did not at all inforce the likelyhoode yet the authoritie of Beda alone which calleth it plainly a citie would suffice But whether it were the Palaice of King Ethelbert when he entertained Augustine he that shall aduisedly read the first Chapter of Beda his first boke of the Ecclesiastical storie shall haue iust cause to doubt for asmuch as he sheweth manifestly that the King came from his Palaice in the Continent out of Thanet to Augustine Leland himselfe confesseth that Richeborow was then within Thanet although that since that time the water hath chaunged his course and shut it cleane out of the Island Now where some men as I said haue taken it to bée Sandwiche I take them to bee greatly deceaued For Richeborowe being corruptly so sounded for Reptsborowe hathe remayning in it the very rootes as I may speake it of Reptachester And Reptachester saith Beda and Rutupi Portus are all one So then Chester being tourned to Borow whiche be in deede two wordes but yet in manner of one signification and effect Rept and Riche haue ome affinitie the one with the other but neyther Riche Repta nor Rutupi can haue with Sandwiche any manner of similitude Thus muche of the name and antiquitie of this poore Towne whiche was in tyme of the olde Brytons of great price and the common Port or place of arriuall out of Fraunce whereof we finde no other note in latter hystorie either bicause the same was long since before the comming of the Saxons neglected when as the Romanes had lost their interest within this Realme Or else for that soone after their arriuall it decayed by reason that the water chaunged his course and lefte it dry So that nowe most aptly that may be sayde of this towne neare to the Isle Thanet whiche Virgil some time wrate of Tened it selfe Diues opum Priami dum regna manebant Nunc tantum sinus statio malè fida carinis A wealthy land while Priams state and kingdome vpright stoade But nowe a bay and harbour bad for ships to lye at roade But nowe I will make towarde Sandwiche the first of the Portes as my iourney lyeth and by the way speake somewhat of the Fiue Portes in generall The Cinque Portes I Finde in the booke of the general suruey of the realme whiche William the Conquerour caused to be made in the fourth yere of his reigne to be called Domesday bycause as Mathew Parise saieth it spared no man but iudged all men indifferently as the Lord in that great day wil doe that Douer Sandwiche and Rumney were in the time of King Edward the confessour discharged almoste of all maner of impositions and burdens whiche other towns dyd beare in consideration of suche seruice to bee done by them vpon the Sea as in their speciall titles shall hereafter appeare wherevpon although I might groūd by reasonable coniecture that the immunity of the hauē Townes which we nowe cal by a certaine number the Cinque Portes might take their beginning from the same Edward yet for as muche as I read in the Chartre of King Edward the first after the conquest whiche is reported in our booke of Entries A recitall of the grauntes of sundrie Kinges to the Fiue Portes the same reaching no higher then to William the Conquerour I will leaue my coniecture and leane to his
can they not their sinnes nor so rowes all poore soules of shake Nor all contagious fleshly from them voides but must of neede Muche things congendred long by won derous meanes at last out spread Therefore they plagued beene and for their former faultes and sinnes Their sundrie paines they bide some highe in aire doe hang on pinnes Some fleeting bene in floodes and deepe in gulfes themselues they tyer Till sinnes away be washt or clen sed cleane with purging syer Eche one of vs our paenance here abide that sent we bee To Paradise at last wee fewe these fieldes of ioye do see Till compasse long of time by per fect course hathe purged quite Our former cloddred spots and pure hathe left our Ghostly Sprite And senses pure of soule and sim ple sparkes of heauenly light Nowe therefore if this Bishops Poetrie may be allowed for diuinitie me thinketh that with great reason I may intreate that not onely this woorke of Virgils Aeneides But Homers Iliades Ouides Fastes Lucians Dialogues also may be made Canonicall for these al excell in suche kinde of fiction Tong Castle or rather Thong Castle in Saxon þƿangceastse in Brittish Caerkerry of Thwang and Karry both whiche woords signifie a Thong of leather THe Brittish Chronicle discoursing the inuitation arriuall interteinment of Hengist and Horsa the Saxon captaines mentioneth that among other deuises practised for their owne establishmēt and securitie they begged of King Vortiger so muche land to fortifie vpon as the hyde of a beast cut into thonges might incompasse and that thereof the place should bee called Thongraster or Thwangraster after suche a like manner as Dido long since beguiling Hiarbas the King of Lybia builded the Castle Byrsa conteining twentie and two furlonges in circuit of whiche Virgil spake saying Mercatique solum facti de nomine Byrsam Taurino possint quantum circundare tergo c. They bought the soile Byrsa it cald when first they did beginne As muche as with a Bul hide cut they could inclose within But Saxo Grammaticus applieth this Act to the time of the Danes affirming that one Iuarus a Dane obteined by this kinde of policie at the handes of Etheldred the Brother of Alfred to build a fort And as these men agrée not vpon the builder so is there variance betwéen writtē storie cōmon spéeche touching the true place of the building for it should seem by Galfrid Hector Boctius Ric Cirencester the it was at Doncaster in the North Countrie bicause they lay it in Lindsey whiche now is extended no further thē to the North part of Lincolne shyre But common opinion conceaued vpon report receaued of the elders by tradition chalengeth it to Tong Castle in this Shyre Wherevnto if a man do adde that both the first planting and the chief abiding of Hengist and Horsa was in Kent and adioyne thereto the authoritie of Mathewe of Westminster which writeth plainly that Aurelius Ambrose the captaine of the Britons prouoked Hengist to battaile at Tong in Kent he shall haue cause neither to falsifie the one opinion lightly nor to faithe the other vnaduisedly And as for mine owne opinion of Doncaster which is taken to be the same that Ptolome calleth Camulodunum I thinke verely that it was named of the water Done whereon it standethe and not of Thong as some faine it Whiche deriuation whether it be not lesse violent and yet no lesse reasonable then the other I dare refer to any resonable and indifferent Reader To this place therefore of right belongeth the storie of King Vortigers Wassailing whiche I haue already exemplified in the generall discourse of the auncient estate of this Countrie and for that cause do thinke it more méete to referre you thither then here to repeate it Tenham in Saxon TynHam that is to say a Towne or Hamlet often houses as Eightam had the name of EaHtHam a Hamlet or Towne of eight dwellings AT Tenham was long since a mansion house pertaining to the Sée of Canterbury where in the time of King Iohn Hubert the Archebishop departed this life as Mathewe Parise reporteth who addeth also that when the King had intelligence of his death he brast foorth into great ioy and sayde that he was neuer a King in deede before that houre It séemeth that he thought him selfe deliuered of a shrewe but litle forsawe he that a shrewder shoulde succéede in the roome for if he had he woulde rather haue prayed for the continuaunce of his life then ioyed in the vnderstanding of his deathe For after this Hubert followed Stephan Langton who brought vpon King Iohn suche a tempestious Sea of sorowfull trouble that it caused him to make shipwracke bothe of his honour crowne and life also The storie hath appeared at large in Douer before and therfore needeth not nowe eftsoones to be repeated Shepey in Latine Insula ouium Oninia in Saxon Sceapige the I le of Sheepe SExburga the wife of Ercombert a King of Kent folowing the ensample of Eanswide the daughter of King Ethelbald erected a Monastery of women in the I le of Shepey called Minster whiche in the late Iust and generall suppression was founde to be of the yerely value of an hundreth and twentie pounds This house and the whole Ile was scourged by the Danes whome I may well call as Attila the leader of the like people called him self Flagellum Dei the whip or flaile of God thrée times within the space of twentie yeares and a litle more Firste by thirtie and fiue sayle of them that arriued there and spoyled it Secondly and thirdly by the armies of them that wintered their ships within it Besides all whiche harmes the followers of the Earle Godwine and his sonnes in the time of their proscription landed at Shepey and harried it It shoulde séeme by the dedication of the name that this Ilande was long since greatly estéemed eyther for the number of the Shéepe or for the finenesse of the fléese although auncient foreigne writers ascribe not muche to any parte of all Englande and muche lesse to this place eyther for the one respect or for the other But whether the Shéepe of this Realme were in price before the comming of the Saxons or no they be nowe God be thanked therefore worthy of great estimation bothe for the excéeding finenesse of the fléese whiche passeth all other in Europe at this daye and is to be cōpared with the auncient delicate wooll of Tarentum or the Golden Fleese of Colchos it selfe and for the aboundant store of flockes so incresing euery where that not only this litle Isle whiche we haue nowe in hande but the whole realme also might rightly be called Shepey Quinborowe called in Latine Regius Burgus in Saxon CyningburH That is to say The Kings Castle AT the West ende of Shepey lyeth Quinborowe Castle the occasion of the first building whereof was this King Edward the third determining aboute the thirtéenth yeare of his reigne to
people to forsake it which if they will not God in time either graunt vs the lawe of the Heluetians whiche prouided that no man shoulde prouoke other in drinking or else if that may for courtesie be permitted bycause as the prouerbe is Sacra haec non aliter constant yet God I say styrre vp some Edgar to strike nayles in our cuppes or else giue vs the Gréekishe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Potandi arbitros Cup Censors as I may call them that at the leaste we maye be dryuen to drinke in some manner of measure For it is not sufferable in a Christian Countrie that men shoulde thus labour with great contention and striue for the maistrie as it were to offende God in so wilfull waste of his gratious benefits In this Hystorie is couched also as I haue already tolde you the firste cause of the displeasure receyued by the Normanes against this Realme and consequently the cause of their inuasion succéeding the same For whereas after this crueltie executed by the instigation of Godwine it happened Harolde his sonne to arryue at Pountion against his will by occasion of a soudaine perry or contrarie winde that arose while he was on seaboorde whether for his owne disporte onely as some write or for the execution of the Kings message as others say or of purpose to visite Wilnote and Hacun his brother and kinseman as a thirde sorte affirme or for what so euer other cause I will not dispute But vpon his arriuall taken he was by Guy the Earle of Pountion and sente to William the Duke of Normandie where being charged with his fathers faulte and fearing that the whole reuenge shoulde haue lighted vpon his owne heade he was dryuen to deuise a shifte for his deliueraunce He put the Duke in remembraunce therefore of his neare kinred with Edwarde the King of Englande And fed him with greate hope and expectation that Edwarde shoulde dye without issue of his body by reason that he had no conuersation with his wife So that if the matter were well and in season séene vnto there was no doubte as he persuaded but that the Duke through his owne power and the ayde of some of the Englishe Nobilitie might easily after the Kings deathe obtaine the Crowne For the atchieuing wherof he both vowed the vttermost of his owne help and vndertooke that his brethren his friends and allies also should do the best of their indeuour The wise Duke knowing wel Quam malus sit custos diuturnitatis metus How euil a keper of cōtinuance feare is And therfore reposing much more suretie in a frendly knot of alliance thē in a fearful offer procéeding but onely of a countenaunce accepted Haroldes othe for some assuraunce of his promise but yet withall for more safetie affied him to his daughter to be taken in marriage And so after many princely gifts and much honorable enterteinement bestowed vpon him he gaue him licence to depart But Harolde being nowe returned into England forgetteth cleane that euer he was in Normandie and therefore so soone as King Edward was deade he violating both the one promise and the other reiecteth Duke Williams daughter and setteth the Crowne vpon his owne heade Hereof followed the battaile at Battel in Sussex and consequently the Conquest of this whole Realme and Countrie In contemplation whereof we haue likewise to accuse the olde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inueterate fiercenesse and cancred crueltie of this our English nation against foreignes and straungers which ioyning in this butcherly sacrifice with bloudie Busyris deserued worthely the reuenging club of heauenly Hercules whiche fearing without cause great harme that these fewe might bring vnto them did by their barbarous immanitie giue iust cause to a great armie to ouerrunne them And whiche dreading that by the arriuall of this small troupe of Norman Nobilitie some of them might lose their honorable roomes and offices prouoked the wrath of God to sende in amongst them the whole rable of the Norman slauerie to possesse their goods inheritances It were worthy the consideration to call to memorie what great Tragedies haue béene stirred in this Realme by this our naturall inhospitalitie and disdaine of straungers both in the time of King Iohn Henrie his sonne King Edward the seconde Henrie the sixte and in the dayes of later memorie But since that matter is parergon and therefore the discourse woulde proue tedious and wearisome and I also haue beene too long already at Gillingham I will rather abruptly end it onely wishing that whatsoeuer note of infamie wee haue heretofore contracted amongst Forreigne wryters by this our ferocitie against Aliens that now at the least hauing the Light of Gods Gospell before our eyes and the persecuted partes of his afflicted Church as Guestes and Straungers in our Countrie wée so behaue our selues towards them as we may both vtterly rubbe out the olde blemishe and from hencefoorth staye the heauie hand of the iuste Iupiter Hospitalis whiche otherwise must néedes light vpon such stubburne and vncharitable churlishnesse Chetham ALthoughe I haue not hytherto at any time read any memorable thing recorded in hystorie touching Chetham it self yet for so muche as I haue often heard and that constātly reported a Popish illusion done at the place for that also it is as profitable to the keping vnder of fained superstitious religiō to renew to minde the Priestly practises of olde time which are declining to obliuiō as it is pleasāt to reteine in memorie the Monuments antiquities of whatsoeuer other kinde I thinke it not amisse to commit faithfully to writing what I haue receiued credibly by hearing concerning the Idols sometime knowen by the names of our Lady and the Roode of Chetham and Gillingham It happened say they that the dead Corps of a man lost through shipwracke belike was cast on land in the Parishe of Chetham and being there taken vp was by some charitable persons committed to honest burial within their Churchyard which thing was no sooner done but our Lady of Chetham finding her selfe offended therewith arose by night and went in person to the house of the Parishe Clearke whiche then was in the Stréete a good distance from the Churche and making a noyse at his window awaked him This man at the first as commonly it fareth with men disturbed in their rest demaunded somewhat roughly who was there But when he vnderstoode by her owne aunswere that it was the Lady of Chetham he chaunged his note and moste mildely asked the cause of her comming She tolde him that there was lately buryed neere to the place where she was honoured a sinfull person whiche so offended her eye with his gastly grinning that vnles he were remoued she could not but to the great griefe of good people withdrawe her selfe from that place and ceasse her wonted miraculous working amongst them And therefore she willed him to go with her to the
end that by his helpe she might take him vp and cast him againe into the Riuer The Clerke obeyed arose and waited on her toward the Churche but the good Ladie not wonted to walk waxed wearie of the labour and therfore was inforced for very want of breath to sit downe in a bushe by the way and there to rest her And this place forsooth as also the whole track of their iourney remaining euer after a gréene pathe the Towne dwellers were went to shew Now after a while they go forward againe and comming to the Churchyard digged vp the body and conueyed it to the water side where it was first found This done our Ladye shrancke againe into her shryne and the Clerke peaked home to patche vp his broken sléepe but the corps now eftsoones floted vp and downe the Riuer as it did before Whiche thing being at length espyed by them of Gillingham it was once more taken vp and buried in their Churcheyard But sée what followed vpon it not onely the Roode of Gillingham say they that a whyle before was busie in bestowing Myracles was nowe depriued of all that his former vertue but also the very earth place wher this carckase was laide did continually for euer after setle and sinke downeward This tale receaued by tradition from the Elders was long ones both commonly reported faithfully credited of the vulgar sort which although happely you shal not at this day learne at euery mans mouth the Image being now many yeres sithēce defaced yet many of the aged number remember it well and in the time of darkenesse Haec erat in toto notissima fabula mundo But here if I might be so boulde as to adde to this Fable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fabula significat I would tell you that I thought the Morall and minde of the tale to be none other but that this Clerkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Talewriter I say and Fableforger being eyther the Fermer or Owner of the offrings giuen to our Lady of Chetham and enuying the common haunte and Pilgrimage to the Roode of Gillingham lately erected Ad nocumentum of his gayne deuised this apparition for the aduauncement of the one and the defacing of the other For no doubte if that age had ben as prudent in examining spirits as it was prone to beleue illusions it should haue found that our Ladies pathe was some such gréene trace of grasse as we daily behold in the fields procéeding in déed of a naturall cause thoughe by olde wiues and superstitious people reckoned to be the daūcing places of night Spirites whiche they call Fayries And that this sinking graue was nothing els but a false filled pitte of Maister Clearks owne digging The man was to blame thus to make debate betwéene our Lady and her Sonne but since the whole Religion of Papistrie it selfe is Theomachia and nothing els let him be forgiuen and I will go forward Alfred of Beuerley and Richard of Ciceter haue mention of a place in East Kent where Horsa the Brother of Hengist was buried and which euen till their dayes did continue the memorie of his name Wée haue in this Shyre a Towne called Hor smundene whiche name resolued into Saxon Orthographie is Horsgemyndene and soundeth as muche as the Valley of the monument or memoriall of Horsa But for as muche as that lyeth in the Southe part of this Countrie toward Sussex and for that I read that Horsa was slaine at Ailesford as you shall sée anone in an encounter wherein he ioyned with his Brother Hengist again the Britons which at that time inhabited Kent it is the moste reasonable to affirme that he was buried at Horsted a place lying in this Parish toward Ailesford and nowe yet knowen by the same name whiche signifieth the place or stéede of Horse This Horsa and his Brother Hengist both whose names be Synonuma and signifie a Horse were the Capitaines and chiefe leaders of the first Saxons that came in aide of King Vortiger as we haue before shewed And after the death of Horsa his Brother Hengist neuer ceassed to warre vppon the Brittons till he had driuen them out of Kent and made himselfe King as hereafter in fitte place we will further declare Frendsbury in some Saxon copies freondesbyrig that is the Friendes Court in others frinondesbyrig It befell in the reigne of King Edward the first by occasion of a great long drought of the aire that the Monkes of Rochester were agréed amongst themselues to make a solemne procession from their owne house thorowe the citie and so to Frendsbury on the other side of the water of a speciall intent and purpose to pray to God for raine And bycause the day of this their appointed iourney happened to be vehemētly boisterous with the winde the which would not onely haue blowne out their lightes and tossed their bāners but also haue stopped the mouthes of their Synging men and haue toiled themselues in that their heauie and masking attire they desired lycence of the Maister of Stroud Hospital to passe through the Orchyard of his house whereby they might bothe ease theyr company and saue the glorie of their shewe whiche otherwise through the iniurie of the weather must néeds haue béene greatly blemished The Maister assented easily to their desire and taking it to be a matter of no great consequence neuer made his brethrē of the house priuie therevnto But they so soone as they vnderstoode of this determination called to minde that their Hospitall was of the foundation of Gilbert Glanuille somtime a Bishope of Rochester betwéene whom and the predecessours of these Monkes ther had béen great heates for the erection of the same and therfore fearing that the Monkes pretending a procession intended to attempt somewhat against their priuileges as in déede all orders in Papistrie were excéeding ielous of their prerogatiues they resolued with all their might to resist them And for that purpose they bothe furnished themselues and procured certaine companions also whom the Hystorie calleth Ribaldes with clubbes battes to assist them and so making their ambushe in the Orchyard they awaited the Monkes comming It was not long but the Monkes hauing made all things redy approched in their battell array and with banner displayed and so minding no harme at al entred boldely into the house and through the house passed into the Orchard merely chaunting their latine Letaine But when the Brethren and their Ribaldes had espied them within their daunger they ranne vpon them and made it raine suche a shoure of clubbes and coulestaues vpon the Monks Copes cowles Crownes that for a while the miserable men knew not what way to turne them After a time the Monkes called their wittes and spirites together and then making vertue of the necessitie they made eache man the best shift for himselfe that they could some trauersing their ground declined many of the blowes and yet now then bare off with
they called Focalia no bettter then White kerchiefes or kitchenstuffe although bothe the law of God maketh the accōplement honorable amongst al mē the law of this countrie had without any checke allowed it in priests til their own time For Henrie of Huntingdon writeth plainely that Anselme in a Synode at London Prohibuit sacerdotibus vxores ante non prohibitas Forbad Priestes their wiues whiche were not forbidden before And William of Malmesburie affirmeth that he there decréed Ne inposterum filij presbyterorum sint haeredes ecclesiarum patrum suorum That from thencefoorth Priestes sonnes shoulde not be heires to their fathers benefices Whiche I note shortly to the end that men should not thinke it so straunge a matter in this Realme for Priestes to haue wiues as some peuishe Papistes goe about to persuade But to return to Gundulphus from whom I am by occasion digressed he as I said réedified the great Church at Rochester erected the Pryorie and where as he found but halfe a dozein secular Priestes in the Churche at his comming he neuer ceased till he had brought together at the leaste thrée score Monkes into the place Then remoued he the dead bodies of his predecessours and with great solemnitie translated them into this new worke and there also Lanfranc was present with his purse and of his owne charge incoffened the body of Paulinus the thirde Bishop of Rochester who had left there the Palle of the Archebishopricke of Yorke that was not recouered long after in curious worke of cleane siluer to the whiche shryne there was afterwarde according to the superstitious manner of those times muche concourse of people and many oblations Besides this they bothe ioyned in suite to the King and not onely obtained restitution of sundry the possessions withholden from the Churche but also procured by his liberalitie and example newe donations of many other landes priuileges besides To be short Gundulphus ouerliuing Lanfranc neuer rested building beging tricking garnishing till he had aduaūced this his creature to the iust wealth beautie and estimation of a right Popish Pryorie But God who moderating all things by his diuine prouidence shewed him selfe alwayes a seuere visitour of these irreligious Synagogues God I say set fire on this building twise with in the compasse of one hundreth yeares after the erection of the same and furthermore suffered suche discorde to arise betwéene Gilbert Glanuille the Bishop of Rochester and the Monks of this house that he for displeasure bereaued them not onely of all their goods ornaments and writings but also of a great part of their landes possessions and priuileges and they bothe turmoyled themselues in suite to Rome for remedie and were driuen for maintenance of their expences to coine the siluer of Paulinus his Shryne into ready money which thing tourned bothe to the great empouerishing of their house and to the vtter abasing of the estimation and reuerence of their Churche for that as in déede it commonly falleth out amongst the simple people that are muche led by the sense the honour and offring to this their Saint ended and dyed together with the gay Glorie and state of his Tumbs By this meanes therefore Gilbert became so hated of the Monkes that when he died they committed him obscurely to the ground without ringing of Bell Celebration of seruice or dooing of any other funerall Obsequies But to these their calamities was also added one other great losse susteined by the warres of King Iohn who in his siege against the Castle of Rochester so spoiled this Church and Pryorie that as their owne Chronicles reporte he left them not so muche as one poore Pixe to stand on their Altar It was nowe highe time therefore to deuise some way whereby the Pryorie and Churche of Rochester might be if not altogether restored to the auncient wealth and estimation yet at the least somewhat relieued from this penurie nakednes and abiection And therefore Laurence of Saint Martines the Bishop of Rochester perceauing the common people to be somewhat drawne by the fraude of the Monks to thinke reuerētly of one William that lay buried in the Church and knowing well that there was no one way so compēdious to gain as the aduauncement of a Pilgrimage procured at the Popes Court the canonization of that man with indulgence to all suche as would offer at his Tumbe vnderpropping by meane of this newe Saint some manner of reuerent opinion of the Church which before through defacing the olde Bishops shryne was declined to naught But to the ende that it may appeare to what hard shift of Saints these good Fathers were then driuen and how easily the people were then deluded you shal heare out of Noua Legenda it self what great man this Saint William of Rochester was He was by birth a Scot of Perthe nowe commonly called Saint Iohns Towne by trade of life a Baker of bread and therby got his liuing in charitie so aboundant that he gaue to the poore the tenthe loafe of his workemanship in zeale so feruent that in vowe he promised in déede attempted to visite the holy land as they called it the places where Christ was conuersant on earth in whiche iourney as he passed through Kent he made Rochester his way where after that he had rested two or thrée dayes he departed toward Canterbury But ere he had gone farre from the Citie his seruant that waited on him led him of purpose out of the high way and spoiled him both of his money and life This done the seruaunt escaped and the Maister bicause he died in so holy a purpose of minde was by the Monkes conueyed to Saint Andrewes laid in the quyre and promoted by the Pope as you heard from a poore Baker to a blessed Martyr Here as they say shewed he miracles plentifully but certein it is that madde folkes offered vnto him liberally euen vntill these latter tymes in whiche the beames of Gods trueth shining in the heartes of men did quite chase away and put to flight this and suche other grosse cloudes of will worship superstition idolatrie Besides this Pryorie which was valued by the Commissioners of the late suppression at .486 pounds by yeare there was none other religious building in Rochester onely I read that Gundulphus the Bishop before remembred builded there an Hospitall without the East gate whiche he called Saint Bartilmewes Now therfore am I come to the Bridge ouer Medway not that alone which we presētly beholde but an other also muche more auncient in time though lesse beautifull in woorke whiche neither stoode in the selfe place where this is neither yet verie farre off for that crossed the water ouer against Stroud Hospitall and this latter is pitched some distance from thence toward the South and somewhat nearer to the Citie walle as to a place more fitte bothe for the fastnes of the soile and for the breaking of the swiftnes of the streame to
of ouerthrowne Houses and Mynsters were called Knolles Miters he returned into England and meaning some way to make himselfe as well beloued of his Countrie men at home as he had béen euery way dread and feared of Straungers abroade by great policie maistred the Riuer of Medwey and of his owne charge made ouer it the goodly work that now stādeth with a chappel Chauntrie at the end died ful of yeares in the midst of the Reigne of King Henrie the fourth Stroude aunciently called Strodes of the Saxon worde Strogd which signifieth Scattered bicause it was a Hamlet of a few houses that lay scattered from the Citie ABout the beginning of the Reigne of King Henrie the third Gilbert Glāuille the Bishop of Rochester of whom you haue already heard foūded an Hospitall at Stroude whiche he dedicated to the name of the blessed Virgin and endowed with liuelyhode to the value of fiftie and two pounds by yeare A name or familie of men sometime inhabiting Stroude saith Polydore had tailes clapped to their breeches by Thomas Becket for reuenge and punishment of a dispite done to him in cutting of the taile of his horse The Author of the new Legend saith that after Saint Thomas had excomunicated two Brothers called Brockes for the same cause that the Dogges vnder the table would not once take Bread at their handes Suche belike was the vertue of his curse that it gaue to brute beastes a discretion and knowledge of the persons that were in daunger of it Boetius the Scotishe Chronicler writeth that the lyke plague lighted vpon the men of Midleton in Dorsetshyre Who bicause they threwe Fishe tailes in great contempt at Saint Augustine were bothe themselues and their posteritie stricken with tailes to their perpetuall infamie and punishment All whiche their Reportes no doubt be as true as Ouides Hystorie of Diana that in great angre bestowed on Acteon a Deares head with mightie browe anthlers Muche are the Westerne men bound as you sée to Polydore who taking the miracle from Augustine applieth it to S. Thomas and remouing the infamous reuenge frō Dorsetshyre laieth it vpō our men of Kent But litle is Kent or the whole English Nation beholdding either to him or his fellowes who amongst them haue brought vpon vs this ignominie note with other Nations abrode that many of them beleue as verely that we haue long tailes be monsters by nature as other men haue their due partes and mēbers in vsual nūber Polydore the wisest of the company fearing that issue might be taken vpon the matter ascribeth it to one speciall stocke and familie whiche he nameth not and yet to leaue it the more vncertain he saith that that family also is worne out long since and sheweth not when And thus affirming he cannot tel of whome nor when he goeth about in great earnest as in sundrie other things to make the world beléeue he cannot tell what he had forgotten the Lawe wherevnto an Hystorian is bound Ne quid falsi audeat ne quid veri non audeat That he should be bolde to tell the trueth and yet not so bolde as to tell a lye Howbeit his Hystorie without all doubte in places not blemished with suche folies is a worthie work but since he inserteth them many times without all discretion hee must of the wiser sorte be read ouer with great suspicion wearines For as he was by office Collector of the Peter pence to the Popes gaine and lucre so sheweth he himselfe throughout by profession a couetous gatherer of lying Fables fained to aduaunce the Popish Religion Kingdome and Myter ¶ Halling in Saxon Haling that is to say the holsome lowe place or Meadowe I Haue séene in an auncient booke conteining the donations to the See of Rochester collected by Ernulphus the Bishop there intituled Textus de Ecclesia Roffensi a Chartre of Ecgbert the fourthe christened King of Kent by the which he gaue to Dioram the Bishop of Rochester ten ploughlandes in Halling together with certeine Denes in the Weald or common wood To the which Chartre ther is amongst others the subscription of Ieanbert the Archbishop and of one Heahbert a King of Kent also as is in that booke tearmed Which thing I note for two speciall causes the one to shewe that aboute that age there were at one time in Kent moe Kinges then one The other to manifest and set fourth the manner of that time in signing subscribing of Déedes and Charters a fashion much differēt from the insealing that is vsed in these our dayes and as touching the firste I my selfe woulde haue thought that the name King had in that place béen but onely the title of a second Magistrate as Prorex or viceroy substituted vnder the very King of the countrie for administratiō of iustice in his aide or absence sauing that I read plainly in an other Chartre of another donation of Eslingham made by Offa the king of Mercia to Eardulfe the Bishop of the same See that he proceeded in that his gift by the consent of the same Heahbert the king of Kent and that on Sigaered also by the name of Rex dimidiae partis prouinciae Cantuariorum both confirmed it by writing and gaue possession by the deliuery of a clod of earth after the maner of seison that we yet vse Neither was this true in Heahbert onely for it is euident by sundrie Chartres extant in the same Booke that Ealbert the King of Kent had Ethelbert another Kinge his fellowe and partener who also in his time was ioyned in reigne with one Eardulfe that is called Rex Cantuariorum as well as hée So that for this season it should séeme that eyther the kingdome was diuided by discent or els that the title was litigious and in controuersie though our hystories so farre as I haue séene haue mencion of neyther This old manner of signing and subscribing is in my fantasie also not vnworthy the obseruation wherein we differ from our auncestors the Saxons in this that they subscribed their names commonly adding the signe of the crosse togeather with a great number of witnesses And we for more suertie both subscribe our names put our seales and vse the help of testimonie besides That former fashion continued throughout vntill the time of the conquest by the Normans whose manner by litle and litle at the length preuailed amongst vs For the first sealed Chartre in England that euer I read of is that of King Edward the confessours to the Abbey of Westminster who being brought vp in Normandie brought into this Realme that and some other of their guises with him And after the comming of William the Conquerour the Normans liking their owne countrie custome as naturally all nations doe reiected the maner that they found héere and reteyned their owne as Ingulphus the Abbat of Croyland which came in with the conquest witnesseth saying Normanni cheirographorū confectionē cum crucib
aureis alijs signaculis sacris in Anglia firmari solitam in cerae impressionem mutant modumque scribendi anglicum reijciunt The Normans doe chaunge the making of writinges which were woont to be firmed in Englande with Crosses of golde and other holie signes into the printing with wax and they reiect also the manner of the English writing Howbeit this was not done all at once but it incresed came forward by certen steps degrées so the first and for a season the King onely or a few other of the Nobilitie besides him vsed to seale Then the Noble men for the most parte and noâ—e other whiche thinge a man may sée in the Hystorie of Battell Abbie where Richard Lucy chiefe Iustice of Englande in the time of King Henrie the second is reported to haue blamed a meane subiect for that he vsed a priuate seale when as that perteined as he saide to the King and Nobilitie onely At which time also as Iohn Rosse noteth it they vsed to ingraue in their seales their owne pictures and counterfeits couered with a longe coate ouer their armours But after this the Gentlemen of the better sort tooke vp the fashion and because they were not all warriours they made seales of their seueral cotes or shéelds of armes for difference sake as the same author reporteth At the length about the time of King Edwarde the third Seales became very common so that not onely suche as bare armes vsed to seale but other men also fashioned to them selues signetes of their owne deuise some taking the letres of their owne names some flowers some knots flowrishes some birds or beastes and some other things as we now yet dailye beholde in vse I am not ignoraunt that some other manner of sealings besides these hath béene hearde of amongst vs as namely that of King Edward the third by which he gaue To Norman the Hunter the hop and the hop towne withe all the boundes vp side downe And in wittnes that yt was soothe He bi tt the wax withe his fong toothe And that of Alberie de veer also conteining the donation of Hatfield to the which he affixed a short black hafted knife like vnto an olde halpeny whitle in stead of a seale and such others of which happely I haue séene some heard of moe But all that notwithstanding if any man shall thinke that these were receiued in common vse and custome and that they were not rather the deuises and pleasures of a few singular persons he is no lesse deceaued then such as déeme euery Chartre and writing that hath no seale annexed to be as ancient as the Conquest wheras indeede sealing was not commonly vsed tyl the time of King Edward the third as I haue alreadie tolde you Thus farre by occasion of this olde Chartre I am straied from the hystorie of Halling of which I fynde none other report in wryting saue that in the reigne of king Henrie the second Richard the Archbishop of Canterburie and imediat successour to Thomas the Archtraytour of this Realme ended his lyfe in the mansion house there which then was and yet continueth parcell of the possessions of the See of Rochester The circumstaunce and cause of which his death and departure I wyll reserue tyll I come to Wrotham where I shall haue iust occasion to discouer it ¶ Ailesforde or Eilesforde called in some Saxon copies Egelesford that is the Foorde of passage ouer the Riuer Egle or Eyle In others Angelesford which is the passage of the Angles or Englishe men It is falsly tearmed of some Alencester Allepord Aelstrea by deprauation of the writers of the sundrie copies as I suspect and not otherwise WIthin a few yeares after the arriuall of the Saxons the Britons perceiuing that Vortiger their Kinge was withdrawne by his wyfe from them and drawne to the parte of their enemies made election of Vortimer his sonne for their Lorde and leader by whose manhood and prowesse they in short time so preuailed against the Saxons that sleying Horsa one of the Chieftaines in an encounter geuen at this place discomfiting the residue they firste chased them from hence as farre as Tanet in memorie of whiche flight happely this place was called Anglesford that is the passagâ— of the Angles or Saxons and after that compelled them to forsake the land to take shipping toward their countrie and to seeke a new supplie And truly had not the vntimely death of Kinge Voâ—timer immediately succéeded it was to be hoped that they should neuer haue returned But the want of that one man both quayled the courage of the Britons gaue new matter of stomack to the Saxons to repaire their forces and brought vpon this Realme an alteration of the whole Estate and Gouernment There landed within the Realme in the time of Alfred two great swarmes of Danish Pyrates wherof the one arriued neare Winchelsey with two hundreth and fiftie sayle of Shippes and passing along that Riuer fortified at Apledore as we haue shewed before The other entred the Thamise in a fléete of eighty saile wherof parte encamped themselues at Midleton on the other syde of Kent and part in Essex ouer against them These latter King Alfred pursued and pressed them so hardly that they gaue him both othes hostages to depart the Realme and neuer after to vnquiet it That done he marched with his army against those other also And because hee vnderstoode that they had diuided themselues and spoyled the Countrie in sundrie partes at once he lykewise diuided his army intending the rather by that meane to méete with them in some one place or other which when they harde of and perceiued that they were vnméete to incounter him in the face they determined to passe ouer the Thamise and to ioyne with their countremen in Essex of whose discomfiture they had as yet receiued no tideings But when they came at a place in this parish called both now and aunciently Fernham that is the ferny Towne or dwelling one part of the Kings power couragiously charged them and finding them geuen to flight folowed the chase vppon them so fercely that they were compelled to take the Thamise without Boat or Bridge in which passage there were a great number of theÌ„ drowned the residue hauing inough to doe to saue their owne liues and to conuey ouer their Capitaine that had receiued a deadlye wounde No lesse notable was that other chase wherein many yeares after Edmond Ironside most fiercely pursued the Danes from Otforde to this towne in whiche also as some write he had geuen them an irreparable ouerthrow had he not by fraudulent and trayterous persuasion of one Edric then Duke of Mercia or midle England and in the Saxon speach surnamed for his couetousnesse Streona that is to say the Getter or gatherer withdrawne his foote spared to follow them No doubte but that it is many times a part of good wisdome and warlyke policie
waxe grow as well in the bush of haire that it had on the head as also in the length and stature of the members and bodie it selfe By meanes whereof it came to passe that whereas the fruites of the Benefice weare hardly able to susteine the Incumbent nowe by the benefite of this inuention which was in papistrie Nouum genus aucupij the Parson there was not onely furnished by the offering to liue plentifully but also well ayded towarde the makinge of a Hoorde or increase of Wealthe and Riches But as Ephialtes and Octus the Sonnes of Neptune who as the Poets feigne waxed nine inches euerie moneth being heaued vp with opinion and conceits ceipt of their owne length and hantines assaulted heauen intending to haue pulled the Gods out of their places and were therefore shot through slayne with the arrowes of the Gods Euen so when Popish Idolatrie was growne to the full height and measure so that it spared not to rob God of his due honour and most violently to pull him as it were out of his seate then this growing Idole and all his fellowes were so deadly wounded with the heauenly arrowes of the woorde of God Qui non dabit gloriam suam sculptilibus that soone after they gaue vp the ghost and least vs. Betwéene this Towne and Depeforde which is the whole bredthe of the Shyre on the west ende I finde nothing committed to hystorie and therefore let vs hast and take our next way thither ¶ Depeforde in Latine Vadum profundum and in auncient Euidences West Greenewiche THis towne being a frontier betwene Kent and Surrey was of none estimation at all vntil that King Henrie the eight aduised for the better preseruation of the Royall Fléete to erect a Storehouse and to create certaine officers there these he incorporated by the name of the Maister and Wardeines of the Holie Trinitie for the building kéeping and conducting of the Nauie Royall There was lately reedefied a fayre Bridge also ouer the Brooke called Rauensbourne whiche ryseth not farre of in the Heath aboue Bromley ¶ Greenewiche in Latine Viridis finus in Saxon grenapic that is to say the Greene Towne In auncient euidences Eastgreenewiche for difference sake from Depforde which in olde Instruments is called westgreenewiche IN the time of the turmoyled Kinge Ethelred the whole fléete of the Danish army lay at roade two or thrée yeares together before Greenewich And the Souldiours for the moste parte were incamped vpon the hill aboue the towne now called Black-health Duringe this time they pearced this whole Countrie sacked and spoyled the Citie of Canterburie and brought frō thence to their ships Aelphey the Archbishop And here a Dane called Thrum whom the Archebishop had confirmed in Christianitie the daie before strake him on the head behinde and slewe him because he woulde not condiscend to redéeme his lyfe with thrée thousande poundes which the people of the Citie Diocesse were contented to haue geuen for his raunsome Neither would the rest of the Souldiours suffer his bodie to be committed to the earth after the maner of Christian decencie till such time saieth William of Malmsb as they perceiued that a dead stick being annointed with his bloud waxed gréene againe and began the next day to blossom But referring the credite of that and suche other vnfruitfull miracles wherwith our auncient monkish stoaries doe swarme to the iudgement of the godly and discréete Readers most assured it is that aboute the same time such was the storme and furie of the Danish insatiable rauine waste spoyle and oppression with in this Realme besides that of two and thirtie Shyres into which number the whole was then diuided they herried and ransacked sixtéene so that the people being miserably vexed the Kinge himselfe to auoyde the rage first sent ouer the Seas his wyfe and children afterward compounded and gaue them a yerely tribute and lastly for verie feare forsooke the Realme and fled into Normandie himselfe also They receiued besides daylie victuall fourtie eight thousande poundes in ready coyne of the subiectes of this Realme whilest their King Swein lyued twentie one thousand after his death vnder his sonne Canutus vpon the payment whereof they made a corporall oth to serue the King as his feodaries against al strangers and to liue as fréendes and allies without endamaging his subiectes But how litle they perfourmed promise the harms that daily folowed in sundry parts and the exalting of Canutus their owne countrieman to the honour of the Crowne were sufficient witnesses In memorie of this Campe certeine places within this parishe are at this day called Combes namely Estcombe Westcombe and Midlecombe almoste forgotten For Comb and Compe in Saxon being somewhat declined from Campus in Latine signifieth a field or Campe for an Armie to soiourne in And in memorie of this Archebishop Aelpheg the parish Church at Greenewiche being at the first dedicated to his honour remaineth knowne by his name euen till this present day Thus much of the antiquitie of the place concerning the latter hystorie I reade that it was soone after the conquest parcel of the possessions of the Bishop of Lysieux in Fraunce and that it bare seruice to Odo then Bishop of Baieux and Earle of Kent After that the Manor belonged to the Abbat of Gaunt in Flaunders till such time as Kinge Henrie the fift seising into his handes by occasion of warre the landes of the Priors Aliens bestowed it togeather with the manor of Lewsham and many other lands also vpon the Priorie of the Chartrehouse Monks of Shene whiche he had then newly erected to this it remayned vntill the time of the reigne of Kinge Henrie the eight who annexed it to the Crowne whervnto it now presently belongeth The Obseruant Friers that sometime lyued at Greenewiche as Iohn Rosse writeth came thither about the latter end of the reign of king Edward the fourth at whose handes they obteined a Chauntrie with a litle Chapel of the holy crosse a place yet extant in the towne And as Lilley saith Kinge Henrie the seuenth buylded for them that house adioyning to the Palaice which is there yet to be séene But now least I may séeme to haue saide much of small matters and to haue forgotten the principall ornament of the towne I must before I end with Greenewiche say somewhat of the Princes Palaice there Humfrey therefore the Duke of Gloucester Protectour of the Realme a man no lesse renowmed for approued vertue and wisdome then honoured for his high estate and parentage was the first that layde the foundations of the faire building in the towne and towre in the Parke and called it his Manor of pleasance After him Kinge Edward the fourthe bestowed some cost to enlarge the woorke Henrie the seuenthe folowed and beautified the house with the addition of the brick front toward the water side but King Henrie the eight as he excéeded all his progenitours
in setting vp of sumptuous housinge so he spared no coste in garnishing Greenewiche til he had made it a pleasant perfect and Princely Palaice Marie his eldest daughter and after Quéene of the realme was borne in this house Queene Elizabeth his other daughter our most gratious gladsom Gouernour was likewise borne in this house And his deare sonne King Edward a myracle of Princely towardnesse ended his lyfe in the same house One accident more touching this house and then an ende It hapened in the reigne of Queene Marie that the Master of a Ship passing by whilest the court lay there and meaning as the manner aad dutie is with saile and shot to honour the Princes presence vnaduisedly gaue fyre to a peice charged with a pellet in sted of a tampion the which lighting on the Palaice wallranne through one of the priuie lodginges and did no further harme ¶ Blackheathe ADioyninge to Greenewiche lyethe the plaine called of the colour of the soyle Blackheathe the which besides the burthen of the Danishe Camps whereof we spake euen now hath borne thrée seueral rebellious assemblies One in the time of Kinge Richard the second moued as it shal appeare anon in Dartford by Iack Straw whom William Walworth then Mayor of London slowe with his Dagger in Smithfielde in memorie whereof the Citie had geuen them for increase of honour a Dagger to be borne in their shield of armes Iack Cade that counterfeit Mortimer and his fellowes were leaders of the second who passing from hence to London did to death the Lord Say and others in the time of King Henrie the Sixt. These two besides other harmes that vsually accompanie the mutinic and vprore of the common and rascal sort defaced fouly the Records and monuments both of the law and Armourie The parts of Rolles remayning yet halfe brent doo witnesse the one And the Heraldes vnskill comming through the want of their olde Bookes is sufficient testimonie of the other The third insurrection was assembled by Michael Ioseph the black Smith and the Lorde Audley vnder the reigne of Kinge Henrie the Seuenth at whiche time they and their complices receaued their iust deserte the common number of them being slaine and discomfited and the leaders themselues taken drawne and hanged Of this last there remaineth yet to be séene vpon the Heathe the places of the Smithes Tente called commonly his forge And of all thrée the graue hilles of suche as were buried after the ouerthrowe These hillockes in the West Countrie where is no smal store of the like are called Barowes of the olde Englishe word BurgHer whiche signifieth Sepulchres or places of burying which word being a spring of that olde stocke we doe yet reteine aliue The first and last of these commotions were stirred of a griefe that the common people conceaued for the demaund of two subsidies of whiche the one was vnreasonable bycause it was taxed vpon the Polls and exempted none were he neuer so poore The other was vnseasonable for that it was exacted when the heades of the common people were full of Parkin Warber The third and midlemoste grewe vpon a grudge that the people tooke for yeelding vp the Duchie of Angâ—ow and Maynie to the King of Sicil The comming in of whose daughter after that the King would néedes haue her to wife notwithstanding his precontract made with the Earle of Armenac was not so ioyfully embraced by the Citizens of London vpon Blackheathe wearing their red Hoodes Badges and blewe gownes as in sequele the Marriage and whole gouernment it self was knowne to be detested of the countrie Commons by bearing in the same place Harnesse Bowes Billes and other Weapon But bicause I cannot without paine and pitie enter into the consideration of these times and matters I will discourse no farther thereof but crosse ouer the next way to Lesnes and prosequute the rest of the bounds of this Bishopricke Lesnes mistaken as I thinke for LesÆ¿es Leswes whiche signifiethe Pastures I Could easily haue beléeued that the name Lesnes had béen deriued out of the Frenche and that it had béen first imposed at the foundation of the Abbay saying that I finde the place registred in the Booke of Domesday by the very same and none other calling And therfore I am the rather led to thinke that the name is Saxon and there miswritten as many other be by reason that the Normans were the penners of that booke Lesnes for Leswes the word whiche in the Saxon tongue signifieth Pastures and is not as yet vtterly forgotten forasmuche as till this day Pastures be called Lesewes in many places This is my fantasie touching the name wherein if I fayle it forceth not greatly since the matter is no more weightie Concerning the Hystorie of the place only I finde that Richard Lucy a priuie Counselour of the State and chiefe Iustice of the Realme in the time of King Henrie the second founded an Abbay there the temporalties wherof amounted as I finde to seuen poundes sixe Shillings and eight pence But as for the extent of the whole yearely value I haue not learned it Earethe in some olde euidences Eard deriued as I gesse of Aerre Hyðe that is the olde Hauen FOr plaine example that oure Elders before the conquest had their trialles for title of land and other controuersies in each shire before a Iudge then called Alderman or Shyreman of whom there is very frequent mention in the Lawes of our auncestours the Saxons the whiche some yeares since were collected and published in one volume and for assured proofe also that in those dayes they vsed to procéede in suche causes by the oathes of many persons testifying their opinion of his credit that was the first swearer or partie after the manner of our daily experience as in the oath yet in vre and called commonly Wager of Lawe is to be séene I haue made choice of one Hystorie conteining briefly the narration of a thing done at this place by Dunstanc the Archbishop of Canterbury almost a hundreth yeares before the comming of King William the Conquerour A rich man saith the text of Rochester being owner of Cray Earithe Ainesford and Woldham and hauing none issue of his body deuised the same lands by his last wil made in the presence of Dunstane and others to a kinswoman of his owne for life the Remainder of the one halfe thereof after her death to Christes Church at Canterbury and of the other halfe to Saint Androwes of Rochester for euer he died and his wife toke one Leofsun to husband who ouerliuing her reteined the Land as his owne notwithstanding that by the fourme of the deuise his interest was determined by the deathe of his wife Herevpon complaint came to one Wulsie for that time the Scyreman or Iudge of the Countie as the same booke interpreteth it before whome bothe Dunstane the Archebishop the parties them selues sundrie other Bishops and a great multitude of the Lay people
the one happened amongst the Saxons them selues contending for glory and supreame souereigntie The other betwéen the Danes Saxons striuing for lands liues and libertie In the first Offa the King of Mercia hauing already ioyned to his dominion the moste part of Westsex and Northumberland and séeking to haue added Kent also preuailed againste the inhabitants of this countrey not without great slaughter of his owne subiects and after the victorie he transferred as it were in triumphe the Archebishops Chaire into his owne kingdome as you heard in the beginning In the other fight King Edmund surnamed for his great strength Ironside obtained against King Canutus the Dane a most honourable victorie and pursue â–ª him flying toward Shepey vntil he came to Ailesford committing vpon the Danes suche slaughter and bloudie hauocke that if Edric the traytour had not by fraâ—dulent counsel withholden him as we haue before declared he had that day made an ende of their whole armie These be the written antiquities that I finde of Otford whiche happely some men will estéeme lesse then the vnwritten vanities of Thomas Becket sometime owner of the place And therfore least any should complaine of wrong you shall heare what they be also It was long since fancied and is yet of two many beléeued that while Thomas Becket lay at the olde house at Otford whiche of long time belonged to the Archebishops and whereof the hall and chapell onely do now remaine and sawe that it wanted a fit spring to water it that he strake his staffe into the drye grounde in a place thereof nowe called Sainct Thomas Well and that immediately water appeared the whiche running plentifully serueth the offices of the newe house till this present day They say also that as he walked on a time in the olde Parke busie at his prayers That he was muche hindered in deuotion by the sweete note and melodie of a Nightingale that sang in a bushe besides him and that therefore in the might of his holynesse he inioyned that from thencefoorth no byrde of that kynde shoulde be so bolde as to sing there aboutes Some men report likewise that for as muche as a Smithe then dwelling in the towne had cloyed his horse He enacted by like authoritie that after that time no Smithe shoulde thriue within the Parishe Inumerable suche toyes false Priestes haue deuised and fonde people alas haue beléeued of this iolly Martyr and Pope holy man which for the vnworthynesse of the things them selues and for want of time wherewith I am streightned I neyther will nor can nowe presently recount but muste pursue the residue that pertayneth to this place For besides this Thomas there was holden in great veneration at Otford another Saint called Bartilmew the Apostle as I trowe for his feast daye was kept solemne bothe with a fayre good fare there This man serued the person as Purueyour of his poultrie was frequented by the parishioners neighbors about for a most rare singular propertie that he professed For the maner was that if any woman coÌ„ceiued with child desired to 〈…〉 foorthe a male she should offer to Saint Bartholmewe a Cocke chicken and if her wishe were to be deliuered of a female she should then present him with a Hen. This Saint was as good as Manci pera whereof the common Adage grewe and he differed not muche from the Priestes of olde Rome called Luperci For a litle of the water of the one and the dooing of a certaine Ceremonie by the other was at pleasure as able as Saint Bartholmew to make barreine women become fruitefull Assuredly through the fraude of this foxe the Countrie people as wise as capons were many yeares together robbed of their Hennes and Cockes til at the length it chaunced King HeÌ„rie the eight after exchange made with the Archebishop for this Manor of Otford to haue conferrence with some of the Towne about the enlarging of his Parke there Amongst the whiche one called Maister Robert Multon a man whome for the honest memorie of his godly zeale and vertuous life I sticke not to name detesting the abuse and espying the Prince inclined to heare vnfolded vnto him the whole packe of the idolatrie and preuailed so farre in fauour that shortly after the King commaunded Saint Bartholmewe to be taken downe and deliuered him Thus haue you heard the contention of the Saxons the ouerthrowe of the Danes the fraude of Popishe Priestes the follie of simple folkes and the fal of deceitfull idolatrie Now a fewe woordes for example of the prodigalitie of a proud Prelate and then to the residue William Warham the Archebishop minding to leaue to posteritie som glorious monumeÌ„t of his worldly wealthe and mis begotten treasure determined to haue raised a gorgious Palaice for himselfe and his successours in the Citie of Canterbury but vpon occasion of a difference that arose betwene him and the citizens for the limits of his soyle there he chaunged his former purpose and in displeasure towards them bestowed at Otford thirtie three thousand pounds vpon the house that is now to be séene notwithstanding that him self and Cardinall Morton his immediate predecessour had not long before liberally builded at Knolle a house litle more than two myles from it For that house also so called of the situation whiche is vpon the knap or Knoll of a hill had Cardinall Morton in his time purchased of the Lorde Saye and appropriated to the Sée of the Archebishopricke But nowe before I can depart from Otford I am to begge licence for a word or two more as well for the satisfaction of myne owne promise heretofore made as also for the direction of my Reader which otherwise by the countenaunce of a certeine famous and learned writer might be quight and cleane carried from me Des Erasmus taking occasion in the Preface to Frauncis the Frenche King prefixed before his Paraphrase vpon S. Markes Gospell to discourse vpoÌ„ the great troubles warres that were in his time betwene the Princes of Christendome declareth that it were a laudable labour for some maÌ„ of the Clergie eueÌ„ with the hazard of his life to become the instrument of their reconciliation And amongst other examples of times passed he bringeth in Thomas Becket who as he speaketh spared not to exercise the Euangelicall libertie meaning excommunication belike vpon the King him selfe and that for a very small matter wherein although he profited litle in his life saith he yet by his death he purchased both gaine and glorie to him self and the whole Clergie Which sayd he addeth in effect as followeth They contended saith he not for reconciling Princes one to another but the controuersie was only for a certaine withdrawing house called Otforde a place more méete for a religious mans meditation then for a Princes pleasure with the whiche sayth Erasmus I my selfe coulde not haue bene greatly in loue till such time as Willam Warham the Archbishop bestowed so
toward Sennocke Holmes Dale that is to say the Dale betweene the wooddie hilles THere are as yet to be séene at Reigate in Surrey the ruines of an auncient Castle somtime belonging to the Earles of Surrey whiche Alfrede of Beuerley calleth Holme and whiche the Countrie people do yet terme the Castle of Holmesdale This tooke the name of the Dale wherin it standeth whiche is large in quantitie extending it selfe a great length into Surrey and Kent also and was as I coniecture at the first called Holmesdale by reason that it is for the moste part Conuallis a plaine valley running betwéene two hilles that be replenished with stoare of woode for so muche the very woord Holmesdale it selfe importeth In this Dale a part of whiche we nowe crosse in our way to Sennocke the people of Kent being encouraged by the prosperous successe of Edward their King the Sonne of Alfrede and commonly surnamed Edward the Elder assembled thēselues and gaue to the Danes that had many yeares before afflicted them a moste sharpe and fierce encountre in the which after long fight they preuailed and the Danes were ouerthrowne and vanquished This victorie the like euent in an other battaile giuen to the Danes at Oxford which stādeth in this same valley also begate as I gesse the cōmon by word vsed amongst the inhabitants of this vale euen till this present day in whiche they vaunt after this manner The vale of Holmesdale Neuer wonne nor neuer shal Sennocke or as some call it Seauen oke of a number of trees as it is coniectured ABoute the latter end of the reigne of King Edward the third there was foūd lying in the stréetes at Sennocke poore childe whose Parents were vnknowne and he for the same cause named after the place where he was taken vp William Sennocke This Orphan was by the helpe of some charitable persons brought vp and nourtured in such wise that being made an Apprentice to a Grocer in London he arose by degrées in course of time to be Maior and chiefe Magistrate of that Citie At whiche time calling to his minde the goodnes of Almightie God and the fauour of the Townesmen extended towardes him he determined to make an euerlasting monument of his thankfull minde for the same And therefore of his owne charge builded bothe an Hospitall for reliefe of the poore and a Frée Schoole for the education of youthe within this Towne endowing the one and the other with competent yearely liuing as the dayes then suffered towards their sustentation maintenance But since his time the Schoole was much amended by the liberalitie of one Iohn Potkyn whiche liued vnder the reigne of King Henrie the eight now lately also in the reigne of our souereigne Ladie through the honest trauaile of diuers the inhabitants there not only the yearely stipend is much increased and the former litigious possessions quietly established but the corporation also chaunged into the name of two Wardeins and foure assistants of the frée Schoole of Quéene Elizabeth in Sennocke The present estate of the Towne it selfe is good and it séemeth to haue béene for these many yeares together in no worse plight And yet finde I not in all hystorie any memorable thing concerning it saue onely that in the time of King Henrie the sixt Iack Cade and his mischeuous meiny discomfited there Syr Humfrey Stafford and his Brother two Noble Gentlemen whome the King had sent to encounter them Eltham ANthonie Becke that Bishop of Durham whiche in the reignes of King Henrie the third of King Edward his Sonne builded Aucland Castle in the Bishopricke of Durham Somerton Castle in Lincolneshyre and Durham place at London was by the report of Iohn Leland either the very Author or the first beautifier of this the Princes house here at Eltham also It is noted of that man that he was in all his life and Port so gay glorious that the Nobility of the Realme disdained him greatly therefore But they did not consider belike that he was in possession Bishop of Durham which had Iura Regalia the Prerogatiues of a petie Kingdome and that he was by election Patriarche of Ierusalem whiche is néere Cousin to a Popedome in whiche respectes he might well inoughe be allowed to haue Domus splendidas luxu Regali his houses not only as gay as the Noble mens but also as gorgeous as the Kinges To say the trueth this was not to builde vp the spirituall house with liuely stones resting on the chiefe corner to Heauen and to Godward but with Mammon and Material stuffe to erect warrelyke Castles for the nourishment of contention and stately Palaces for the maintenaunce of worldly pride and pleasure towardes Hell and the Deuill Howbeit this was the whole studie of Bishops in the Popishe Kingdome and therefore letting that passe let vs sée what became of this piece of his building King Henrie the third saith Mat. Parise toward the latter end of his reigne kept a Royall Christmas as the manner then was at Eltham being accompanied with his Quéene and Nobilitie and this belike was the first warming of the house as I may call it after that the Bishop had finished his worke For I doe not hereby gather that hitherto the King had any property in it forasmuch as the Princes in those days vsed commonly both to soiourne for their pleasures and to passe their set solemnities also in Abbaies and Bishops houses But yet I beléeue verely that soone after the deathe of that Bishop the house came to the possession of the Crowne for proofe wherof I pray you heare and marke what followeth The wyfe of King Edward the second bare vnto him a Sonne at this house who was therof surnamed Iohn of Eltham What time King Iohn of Fraunce whiche had béen prisoner in England came ouer to visite King Edward the third who had moste honourably intreated him the King and his Quéene lay at Eltham to entertaine him King Henrie the fourth also kept his last Christmas at Eltham And King Henrie his Sonne and successour lay there at a Christmas likewise when he was faine to depart soudainly for feare of some that had conspired to murder him Furthermore Iohn Rosse writeth plainely that King Edward the fourthe to his greate cost repaired his house at Eltham at whiche time also as I suppose he inclosed Horne parke one of the thrée that be here and enlarged the other twaine And it is not yet fully out of memorie that king Henrie the seauenth set vp the faire front ouer the mote there since whose reigne this house by reason of the néerenesse to Greenewiche whiche also was muche amended by him and is through the benefite of the Riuer a seate of more commoditie hath not béen so greatly estéemed the rather also for that the pleasures of the emparked grounds here may be in manner as well enioyed the Courte lying at Greenewiche as if it were at this house it selfe These be