from both sides then setting foote to foote as if they fought man to man they maintained fight a longer time But when the English men had most valiantly received their first violent on set the Norman horsmen with full cariere put forward and gave an hot charge But seeing they also could not breake the battaile they retired for the nonce and yet kept their rankes in good order The Englishmen supposing them to flie presently disranged themselves and in disray preassed hard upon the enemies but they all on a sudden bringing backe their companies charged them a fresh on every side with all their joynt forces thicke united together and so enclosing them round about drove them backe with great slaughter who not withstanding having gotten the higher ground withstood the Normans a long time untill Harold himselfe was shot through with an arrow and fell downe dead for then straightwaies they turned their backes and betooke themselves every man to flight The Duke lofty and haughty with this victory and yet not unmindfull of God the giver thereof errected in memoriall of this battaile an Abbey to the glory of God and S. Martin which he called de Bello or Battaile Abbey in that very place where Harold after many a wound and stab among the thickest of his enemies gave up the ghost that the same might bee as it were an everlasting monument of the Normans victorie and therein he offered his sword and royall robe which he ware the day of his Coronation These the Monkes kept untill their suppression as also a table of the Normans gentry which entred with the Conquerour but so corruptly in later times that they inserted therein the names of such as were their benefactours and whosoever the favour of fortune or vertue had advanced to any eminencie in the subsequent ages About this Abbey there grew afterwards a towne of the same name or that I may use the words of the private History of this Abbey As the Abbey encreased there were built about the compasse of the same one hundred and fifteene houses of which the towne of Battell was made Wherein there is a place called by a French word Sangue lac of the bloud there shed which by nature of the ground seemeth after raine to wax red Whence William Newborough wrote although untruely thus The place in which there was a very great slaughter of the English men fighting for their countrey if peradventure it be wet with any small showre sweateth forth very fresh bloud endeed as if the very evidence thereof did plainely declare that the voyce of so much Christian bloud there shed doth still cry from the earth to the Lord. But to the said Abbey King William the Conquerour granted many and great priviledges And among other to use the very words of the Charter If any thiefe murderer or felon for feare of death fly and come to this Church let him have no harme but be dismissed and sent away free from all punishment Be it lawfull also for the Abbat of the same Church to deliver from the gallowes any thiefe or robber wheresoever if he chance to come by where such execution is in hand Henrie the First likewise that I may rehearse the words of his Charter instituted a mercate to be there kept on the Lords day free from all toll and tallage But Sir Anthony Browne Lord Vicount Mount-acute who not long since in that place built a goodly house obtained of late by authoritie of Parliament that this mercate should bee held upon another day And as for the priviledges of Sanctuary in those more heinous and grievous crimes they are here and every way els by Parliamentary authoritie quite abolished For they perceived well that the feare of punishment being once removed stout boldnesse and a will to commit wickednesse grew still to greater head and that hope of impunity was the greatest motive of ill-doing Neither heere or in that quarter nere adjoyning saw I any thing worth relation but onely Ashburnham that gave the name to a family of as great antiquity as any one in all this tract Hastings which I spake of called in the English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is situate somewhat higher upon the same shore Some there bee that ridiculously derive this name from out of our tongue from haste or quicknesse forsooth because as Matthew Paris writeth William Conquerour at Hasting did set up hastily a fortresse of timber But it may seeme to have taken this new name of Hastings a Danish Pirate who wheresoever hee landed with intent to spoile and raise booties built oftentimes fortresses as we read in Asserius Menevensis of Boemflote castle built by him in Essex as also of others at Appledor and Middleton in Kent The tradition is that the old towne of Hastings is swallowed up of the sea That which standeth now as I observed is couched betweene a high cliffe sea-ward and as high an hill land-ward having two streetes extended in length from North to South and in each of them a parish Church The haven such as it is being fedde but with a poore small rill is at the South end of the Towne and hath had a great Castle upon the hill which over commanded it now there are onely ruines thereof and on the said hill Light houses to direct sailers in the night time Here in the reigne of King Althelstan was a mint-house Afterward it was accounted the first of the Cinque Ports which with the members belonging to it namely Seford Peuensey Hodeney Bulverhith Winchelsey Rhy c. was bound to finde one and twenty ships for warre at sea In what manner and forme if you desire to know both this Port and the rest also were bound to serve the King in his warres at sea for the immunities that they enjoy in most ample manner have heere in those very same words whereby this was in times past recorded in the Kings Exchequer Hastings with his members ought to find at the Kings summons one and twenty ships And in every shippe there must bee one and twenty tall and able men well armed and appointed for the Kings service Yet so as that summons bee made thereof on the Kings behalfe fortie daies before And when the foresaid ships and men therein are come to the place whereunto they were summoned they shall abide there in the Kings service for fifteene daies at their owne proper costs and charges And if the King shall have farther neede of their service after the fifteene daies above said or will have them to stay there any longer those ships with the men therein being whiles they remaine there shal be in the Kings service at the kings costs and charges so long as it shall please the king to wit The Master of every ship shall receive sixe pence by the day the Constable sixe pence a day and every one of the rest three pence by the day Thus Hastings flourished
Whereupon Witichindus the Monke writeth thus of them The Franks had these men in admiration for their excellencie as well in bodie as mind they wondred at them for their new and strange habite for their armour also and shoulders overspred with the haire of their head but above all for their constant resolution and valiant courage Clad they were in souldiers cassocks and weaponed with long speares they trusted upon their little bucklers and wore great knives or skeins at their backes Howbeit before time they used to shave their haire off hard by the head to the very skinne unlesse it were round about the crowne and to weare a plate about their head as Sidonius Apollinaris teacheth us in these verses Istic Saxona carulum videmus Adsuetum antè salo solum timere Cujus verticis extimas per oras Non contenta suos tenere morsus Altat lamina marginem comarum Et sic crinibus ad cutem recissis Decrescit caput additurque vultus The Saxons there in watcher clad we see On land a fraid who earst at sea were bold Whose bush of haires about the crowne that be Plates not content to keepe their wonted hold Raise up in tufts when all the rest is pold The Scalpe beneath thus shaven to the skin Their face seemes full their heads but small and thin As for their apparell you may understand what it was out of these words of Paulus Diaconus as touching the Longobards Their garments were large and loose and most of all linnen such as the English Saxons are wont to weare trimmed and set out with verie broad gards or welts purfled and embroydered with sundry colours Most skilfull sea men they were as who a long time lived as Pirats so that being accustomed to the sea they were afraid as he saith of the land and wrought so much mischiefe upon the sea-coasts of Britaine and France as farre as to Spaine that there were both Captaines and souldiers appointed all along the shores of both Countries to restraine their rovings and depredations who thereupon were called Counts or Earles of the Saxon shore along Britaine and France And heereto tend these verses of Sidonius Apollinaris Quîn Aremoricus piratam Saxona tractus Sperabat cui pelle salum sulcare Britannum Ludus assuto glaucum mare findere lembo The tract also that lies the Sea so neare Hight Armoricke did Saxon pirate feare Whose sport it is with leather-stitched boat Of British Sea to cut the waves afloat Yea and that which more is within Gaule neere unto Armorica they seazed into their hands and held a long time the Country about the Baiocasses as is to bee seene in Gregorius Turonensis who termed them Saxones Baiocassinos like as the common sort Sesnes Bessins But with how great cruelty they committed outraies along these shores heare if it please you Sidonius himselfe The Messenger saith he with whom we spent some time in talke whiles for your sake we held him with us constantly affirmed that you of late sounded alarum at Sea and performing the part in your owne person sometime of a souldier sometimes of a mariner bestirred your selfe up and downe the winding shores of the Ocean to affront the flat bottom barkes of the Saxons Of whom as many rowers as you see so many Archpirats you may thinke you beheld They all of them together so command obey teach and learne to rob and steale that even now also you have greatest cause to be warned and to be most heedfull and wary of them There is no enemie so cruell as this He setteth upon others at unwares himselfe slips away as warily He setteth at nought such as encounter him he bringeth to nought those that take no heed to him whom he courseth he surely overtaketh when he flieth he is sure to escape To this service shipwracks inure him they terrifie him not Not onely skilfull they are in the dangers of sea but also familiarly acquainted in some sort therewith Be there a tempest up the same of one side serveth to secure them were they in jeopardie to be taken on the other side if they be to assaile others it keepeth them from being descried and seene farre off In the mids of waves and craggy rocks they hazard their lives in hope of good successe Besides this before they take shipping into their owne Country and weigh their flowked anchors from the enemies shore upon the point of returne their manner is to kill every tenth captive with equall and dolorous torment a custome the more lamentable because it is superstitious and among the number of such as are gathered together to die for to disperse the equity of lot together with the iniquitie of death With such vowes they bind themselves with such sacrifices they pay their vowes and not so much purified by such sacrifices as polluted with sacrilegies the bloudie and abominable murderers thinke it a religious thing rather to torment a prisoner to death than to set him free for a ransome Hitherto also may be referred that which we collect of the fragment of an ancient Historie in Isodorus The Saxons trust to their fly-boats and not to their strength better appointed for flight than for fight As also this testimonie of Salvianus who then lived writing thus of Barbarous nations The Alani are a people vicious and uncleane but not so perfidious The Franks be given to lying howbeit full of hospitalitie and kind to strangers The Saxons in cruelty outragious yet for chastitie to be honoured But so firme and resolute they were if I may be allowed to give it so good a terme that they would chuse rather to kill themselves and cast away their lives wilfully than be mocked and laughed to skorne And hereupon it was that when Symmachus had provided a band of them against the publicke shewes which were to be exhibited the very day on which they should have beene brought forth into the Theatre for sword play to kill one another they by strangling themselves prevented all hope of shewing bloudy sport and pastime unto the people Of whom Symmachus himselfe writeth thus The band or company of Saxons is lessened by death For when as the private guard restrained not the liberty of the impious hands of those desperate people the first day of the sword fight-shew saw nine and twenty of their necks broken without any halter Moreover this nation of the Saxons was very much addicted to superstition for that cause when they were to consult of weighty and important matters beside Soothsaying by inspection of beasts entrails they observed especially the neighing of horses as presaging things to come And thence perhaps it is that the Dukes of Saxonie in ancient time gave the horse in their Armes But why our first Progenitours Hengistus and Horsa tooke their names of an horse for both their names in the Saxon tongue do signifie an horse surely I know not
Bishop of the heathen rites and ceremonies after he had once embraced Christian Religion First of all profaned this Temple the very habitation of impiety by launcing a speare against it yea he destroyed it and as Bede writeth Set it on fire with all the enclosures and Isles belonging unto it From hence something more Eastward the River Hull bendeth his course to Humber which River hath his spring head neere unto Driffeild a Village well knowne by reason of the Tombe of Alfred that most learned King of Northumberland and the mounts that be raised heere and there about it The said River hasteneth thitherward not farre from Leckenfielde an house of the Percies Earles of Northumberland neere unto which standeth the dwelling place of a very famous and ancient Progeny of the Hothams at Schorburg together with the rubbish of an old Castle of Peter Mauley at Garthum And now approcheth the River Hull neerer unto Beverley in the English Saxon tongue called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Bede seemeth to name the Monastery in Deirwand that is In the word of the Deiri a great Towne very populous and full of trade A man would guesse it by the name and situation to be PETUARIA PARISIORUM although it affordeth nothing of greater antiquity than that John sirnamed de Beverley Archbishop of Yorke a man as Bede witnesseth both godly and learned after he had given over his Bishopricke as weary of this world came hither and ended his life in contemplation about the yeere of our Redemption 721. The Kings held the memoriall of this John so sacred and reverend especially King Athelstan who honoured him as his tutelar Saint after he had put the Danes to flight that they endowed this place with many and those very great priviledges and Athelstane granted them liberties in these generall words All 's free make I thee as heart may thinke or eye may see Yea and there was granted unto it the priviledges of a Sanctuary so that bankrupts and men suspected of any capitall crime worthy of death might bee free and safe there from danger of the Law In which there was erected a Chaire of stone with this Inscription HAEC SEDES LAPIDEA Freedstoll DICITUR .i. PACIS CATHEDRA AD QUAM REUS FUGIENDO PERVENIENS OMNIMODAM HABET SECURITATEM That is This seat of Stone is called Freedstooll that is The chaire of Peace unto which what Offender soever flieth and commeth hath all manner of security Heereby the Towne grew great and daily there flocked hither a number to dwell as inmates and the Townesmen for conveyance of commodities by sea made a chanell for a water course out of the River Hull sufficient to carry boats and barges For the chiefe Magistracy there it had twelve Wardens afterwards Governours and Wardens And now by the gracious grant of Queene Elizabeth a Major and Governours More Eastward there flourished Meaux Abbay so called of one Gamell borne at Meaux in France who obtained it at William the Conquerours hands for a place to dwell in and heere was founded an Abbay for the Monkes of the Cluniacke order by William Le Grosse Earle of Aulbemarle to bee released of his vow that hee had made to visite Jerusalem A little lower runneth out in a great length Cottingham a country Towne of husbandry where by licence granted from King John Robert Estotevill the Lord thereof built a Castle now utterly fallen to ruine Which Robert was descended from Robert Grondebeofe or Grandebeofe a Baron of Normandy and a man of great name and reputation whose inheritance fell by marriage to the Lord de Wake and by a daughter of John de Wake it came to Edmund Earle of Kent who had a daughter named Joane wife unto that most warlique Knight Edward Prince of Wales who so often victoriously vanquished the French in divers places The River Hull aforesaid after it hath passed sixe miles from hence sheddeth himselfe into Humber and neere unto his mouth hath a Towne of his owne name called Kingston upon Hull but commonly Hull This Towne fetcheth the beginning from no great antiquity For King Edward the First who in regard of his Princely vertues deserveth to bee ranged among the principall and best Kings that ever were having well viewed and considered the opportunity of the place which before time was called Wike had it by right of exchange from the Abbat of Meaux and in lieu of the Beasts stals and sheepe pastures as I conceive it which there he found built a Towne that he named Kingston as one would say The Kings Towne and there as wee reade in the Records of the Kingdome hee made an haven and free Burgh the Inhabitants thereof also free Burgesses and he granted divers liberties unto them And by little and little it rose to that dignity that for stately and sumptuous buildings for strong block-houses for well furnished ships for store of Merchants and abundance of all things it is become now the most famous towne of merchandise in these parts All which the inhabitants ascribe partly to Michael de la-Pole who obtained their priviledges for them after that King Richard the Second had promoted him to the honour of Earle of Suffolke and partly their gainfull trade by Island fish dried and hardened which they tearme Stockfish whereby they gathered a maine masse of riches Hence it came to passe that within a little while they fensed their City with a bricke wall strengthened it with many Towres and Bulwarkes where it is not defended with the river and brought such a deale of coblestones for ballais to their ships that therewith they have paved all the quarters and streets of the towne most beautifully For the chiefe Magistrate it had as I have beene enformed first a Warden or Custos then Bailives afterward a Major and Bailives and in the end they obtained of K. Henry the Sixth that they might have a Major and a Sheriffe and that the very towne should be a County as our lawyers use to say incorporate by it selfe Neither will I thinke it much to note although in Barbarous tearmes out of the booke of Meaux Abbay as touching the Major of this City William De la Pole knight was beforetime a merchant at Ravens-rod skilfull in merchandise and inferiour to no English merchant whatsoever He making his aboade afterwards at Kingston upon Hull was the first Major that ever the said towne had he began also and founded the monastery of Saint Michael hard by the said King-ston which now is an house of the Carthusian or Charter-house monkes And he had for his eldest sonne Sir Michael De la Pole Earle of Suffolke who caused the said Monasterie to bee inhabited by Carthusian Monkes And verily William De la Pole aforesaid lent many thousand pounds of gold unto King Edward whiles hee made his aboade at Antwerp in Brabant wherefore the King in recompence of the said
the Irish. Item the Lord William Burgh Earle of Ulster led forth an army out of Ulster into Mounster against Briene O-Brene Also the Lady Joan Countesse of Kildare was at Maynoth delivered of William her first sonne that the Lord John Darcy had by her whiles the Lord John abode in England Item Reymund Lawles is slaine treacherously at Wickelow More a Parliament was holden at Kilkenny by Frier Roger Utlaw the Prior of Kylmainon then Lievtenant under the Lord Justice at which were present Alexander Archbishop of Dublin the Lord William Earle of Ulster the Lord James Earle of Ormond the Lord William Bermingham and Walter Burk of Conaght and every of them with a great power set forward to expell Brien O-Brene out of Urkiff neere Cashill Also Walter Burk with his army of Connaght harried the lands of the Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas bringing back with him the booty to Urkiff Item the Lord Earle of Ulster and the Earle of Desmund namely the Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas for this is the first time that I call him Earle are appointed to the safe keeping of the Marshall at Lymeric by Frier Roger Utlaw Justice of Ireland But the Earle of Desmond by a wile escaped out of the custody of the said Marshall and went his way MCCCXXXI The Lord Hugh Lacy with the Kings pardon and peace entred Ireland Also the Earle of Ulster entred England Also there was given an overthrow to the Irish in Okenseley by the English the one and twenty day of April Item the same day on the Vigill of Saint Marke the Evangelist the O-Tothely came to Tanelagh and robbed Alexander Archbishop of Dublin tooke away three hundred sheepe and slew Richard White and other honest men of his company Then ran rumours to Dublin of that depredation and slaughter and Sir Philip Bryt knight and Frier Moris Fitz-Gerald Knight of the order of Knights Hospitalers Hamnud Archdekyn Iohn Chamberlane Robert Tyrell and the two sons of Reginald Bernewall and many others but especially of the retinew of the Lord Archbishop of Dublin were by a traine or ambush slaine by David O-Tothill in Culiagh Also the Lord William Bermingham led forth a great army against the foresaid Irish and did much harme unto them but more would have done had he not beene empeached by the false promises of the Irish. Item those of the English pale at Thurles gave a great overthrow unto Briene O-Brene and slew many of the Irish in the moneth of May. Item at Finnagh in Meth the English of the said pale defeated the Irish upon the eleventh day of June Also when famine encreased much in Ireland the mercy of God so disposed that upon the seven and twenty day of June there came to land a mighty multitude of great sea fishes to wit Thurlhedis such as in many ages past had never beene seene which by the estimation of many men amounted to the number of five hundred and this hapned neere unto Connyng and the water called Dodyz in the haven of Dublin about evening and Anthony Lord Lucy then Justice of Ireland with his owne people and certain citizens of Dublin amongst whom was Philip Cradock killed of the foresaid fishes above 200. and no man was forbidden to carry away the same Justice giving order therefore Item Antony Lord Lucy Justice of Ireland ordained a common Parliament at Dublin in the Utas of Saint Iohn Baptist unto which certaine of the Ancients of the land came not Then the said Justice removed to Kilkenny proroging the said Parliament from the foresaid Octaves unto the feast of Saint Peter ad Vincula Unto which place there repaired the Lord Thomas Fitz-Thomas and many other Nobles of the land who came not in before submitting themselves to the Kings grace and mercy And the King for his part as much as concerned himselfe under a certaine forme of pardon gratiously forgave all the mischiefes committed by the foresaid persons in the land Also the castle of Fernis is taken by the Irish perfidiously and burned in the month of August Item the said Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas of Desmund is taken by order from the counsell at Lymerick by the said Lord Justice the morrow after the assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary and with the Justice brought to the castle of Dublin the seventh day of October Item Henry Mandevile is apprehended in the month of September and led to the castle of Dublin by vertue of a warrant from Simon Fitz-Richard Justice in the Kings Bench. Item Walter Burck who with his two brethren of whole blood are taken in Connaght by the Earle of Ulster in November and conveied by the same Earle unto the castle of North-burg in the month of Februarie Also the Lord William Bermingham with his son Walter Bermingham are attached at Clomell by the said Justice in the moneth of February notwithstanding the Kings charter or pardon given unto them before by the Justice above named and are brought unto the Castle of Dublin the nineteenth day of Aprill Item the Irish of Leinster made spoile of the English and burnt Churches and in the Church of Freineston they burnt about fourescore men and women and a certain Chaplain of the said Church arraied in his sacred vestiments and with the body of our Lord they repelled backe with their javelins when he would have gone forth and burnt him with the rest in the Church These newes came unto the eares of the Lord Pope who sent his Bull or briefe unto the Archbishop of Dublin commanding him to excommunicate the said Irish and all their adherents together with their retinue and followers and to interdict their lands Now the Archbishop fulfilled the commandement of the Lord Pope but the said Irish contemning the said Bull excommunication interdiction and chastisement of the Church and continuing still in their wickednesse drew themselves againe together and invaded all the county of Weis ford as farre as to Carcarne and spoiled the whole country Whom the English made head against to wit Richard White and Richard Fitz Henry with the Burgesses of Weisford and other English slew of the Irish about 400. and many others of them as they fled were drowned in the river which is called Slane MCCCXXXII William Bermingham is put to death and hanged at Dublin by the said Lord Justice the eleventh day of July and Walter his sonne is set free The foresaid Sir William was a noble Knight and among many thousand knights most renowned and excellent for feats of armes Alas the day great pity it was of him for who relating his death can forbeare teares But at length enterred hee was in Dublin among the preaching Friers Also the castle of Bonraty was forced and rased to the very ground by the Irish of Totomon in July Also the castle of Arclo by the said Justice with the citizens of Dublin and the help of the English within the pale was won from the Irish and in the Kings hand on the eighth day of August
that hee should be apprehended and brought unto William King of Scotland that with him he might be kept in prison And Olave lay prisoner in irons and chaines almost seven yeeres In the seventh yeere died William King of Scotland after whom succeeded his sonne Alexander Now before his death he gave commandement that all prisoners should be set free Olave therefore being enlarged and at liberty came to Man and soone after accompanied with no small traine of Noblemen he went to S. James and after he was thus returned Reginald his brother caused him to marry a Noble mans daughter of Kentyre even his owne wives whole sister named Lavon and gave him Lodhus in possession to enjoy Some few daies after Reginald Bishop of the Ilands having called a Synod canonically divorced Olave the sonne of Godred and Lavon his wife as being the cousin german of his former wife After this Olave wedded Scristine daughter of Ferkar Earle of Rosse For this cause Reginalds wife Queene of the Ilands was wroth and directed her letters in the name of Reginald the King into the I le Sky unto Godred her sonne that he should kill Olave As Godred was devising meanes to worke this feat and now entring into Lodhus Olave fled in a little cog-boat unto his father in law the Earle of Rosse aforesaid Then Godred wasteth and spoileth Lodhus At the same time Pol the son of Boke Sheriffe of Sky a man of great authority in all the Ilands because he would not give his consent unto Godred fled and together with Olave lived in the Earle of Rosses house and entring into a league with Olave they came both in one ship to Sky At length having sent forth their spies and discoverers they learned that Godred lay in a certain Iland called St. Columbs Ile having very few men with him misdoubting nothing Gathering therefore about them all their friends and acquaintance with such voluntaries as were ready to joine with them at midnight with five shippes which they drew from the next sea-shore distant from the Island aforesaid some two furlongs they beset the Isle round about Godred then and they that were with him rising by the dawning of the day and seeing themselves environed on every side with enemies were astonied but putting themselves in warlike armes assaied right manfully to make resistance but all in vaine For about nine a clocke of the day Olave and Pol the foresaid Sheriffe set foot in the Iland with their whole army having slain all those whom they found without the enclosure of the Church they tooke Godred put out his eyes and gelded him Howbeit to this deed Olave did not yeeld his consent neither could he withstand it for Bokes sonne the Sheriffe aforesaid For this was done in the yeere 1223. The Summer next following Olave after he had taken hostages of all the Lords and potentates of the Isles came with a fleet of 32. saile toward Man and arrived at Rognolfwaht At this very time Reginald and Olave divided the kingdome of the Ilands between themselves and Man was given to Reginald over and beside his owne portion together with the title of King Olave the second time having furnished himselfe with victuals from the people of Man returned with his company to his portion of the Iland The yeere following Reginald taking with him Alane Lord of Galway went with his souldiers of Man to the Iland parts that hee might disseize his brother Olave of that portion of land which hee had given unto him and bring it under his owne dominion But because the Manksmen were not willing to fight against Olave and the Ilanders for the love they had to them Reginald and Alan Lord of Galway returned home without atchieving their purpose After a little while Reginald under pretence of going to the Court of his Soveraigne the Lord King of England tooke up of the people of Man an hundred Markes but went in very deed to the Court of Alan Lord of Galway At the same time he affianced his daughter unto the son of Alan in marriage Which the Manksmen hearing tooke such snuffe and indignation thereat that they sent for Olave and made him their King MCCXXVI Olave recovered his inheritance to wit the kingdome of Man and of the Ilands which his brother Reginald had governed 38. yeeres and reigned quietly two yeeres MCCXXVIII Olave accompanied with all the Nobles of Man and a band of the strongest men of the country sailed over into the Ilands A little after Alan Lord of Galway and Thomas Earle of Athol and King Reginald came unto Man with a puissant army all the South part of Man they wasted spoiled the Churches and slew all the men they could lay hold of so that the South part of Man was laid in manner all desolate After this returned Alan with his army into his owne country and left his bailiffes in Man to gather up for him the tributes of the country But King Olave came upon them at unwares put them to flight and recovered his owne kingdome Then the people of Man which before time had been dispersed every way began to gather themselves together and to dwell with confidence and security In the same yeere came King Reginald out of Galway unlooked for at the dead time of night in winter with five ships and burnt all the shipping of his brother Olave and of the Lords of Man at Saint Patrickes Iland and suing to his brother for peace stayed forty daies at the haven of Ragnoll-wath Meane while he won and drew unto him all the Ilanders in the South part of Man who sware they would venture their lives in his quarrell untill hee were invested in the one halfe of the kingdome On the contrarie part Olave had the Northren men of the Isle to side with him and upon the 14. day of February at a place called Tingualla there was a battell strucke betweene the two brethren wherein Olave had the victorie and King Reginald was by some killed there without his brothers knowledge And certaine rovers comming to the South part of Man wasted and harried it The Monks of Russin translated the body of King Reginald unto the Abbey of S. Mary de Fournes and there enterred it was in a place which himselfe had chosen for that purpose After this went Olave to the King of Norway but before that hee was come thither Haco King of Norway ordained a certaine Noble man named Huâ—bac the sonne of Owmund for to bee King of the Sodorian Ilands and called his name Haco Now the same Haco together with Olave and Godred Don Reginalds son and many Norwegians came unto the Ilands and at the winning of a fort in the Iland Both Haco chanced to be smit with a stone whereof he died and lieth buried in Iona. MCCXXX Olave came with Godred Don and the Norwegians to Man and they divided the kingdome among themselves Olave held Man and Godred being gone unto the Ilands was slaine in the
Isle Lodhus So obtained Olave the kindgome of the Isles MCCXXXVII On the twelfth Calends of June died Olave the sonne of Godred King of Man in S. Patricks Iland and was buried in the Abbey of Russin He reigned eleven yeeres two by his brothers life and nine after his death Harold his sonne succeeded him being 14. yeeres of age and reigned 12. yeeres In the first yeere of his reigne he made a journey to the Ilands and appointed Loglen his cousin Custos of Man In the Autumne following Harald sent three sonnes of Nell namely Dufgald Thorquill Mormore and his friend Ioseph to Man for to consult about affaires On the 25. day therefore they meet at Tingull and by occasion of a certaine envious quarrell that arose between the sonnes of Nell and Loglen there was a sore fight on both sides wherein were slaine Dufgald Mormore and the foresaid Joseph In the spring ensuing King Harald came to the Isle of Man and Loglen as he fled toward Wales perished by Shipwracke with Godred Olaves sonne his foster child and pupill with 40. others MCCXXXVIII Gospatricke and Gillescrist the sonne of Mac-Kerthac came from the King of Norway into Man who by force kept Harald out of Man and tooke tributes to the Kings behoofe of Norway because he refused to come unto the King of Norwaies Court. MCCXL Gospatric died and is buried in the Abbey of Russin MCCXXXIX Harald went unto the King of Norway who after two yeeres confirmed unto him his heires and successours under his seale all the Ilands which his predecessours had possessed MCCXLII Harald returned out of Norway to Man and being by the inhabitants honourably received had peace with the Kings of England and of Scotland Harald like as his father before him was by the King of England dubbed Knight and after he had been rewarded with many gifts returned home The same yeere he was sent for by the King of Norway and married his daughter And in the yeere 1249. as he returned homeward with his wife and Laurence King elect of Man and many other Nobles and Gentlemen he was drowned in a tempest neere unto the coasts of Radland MCCXLIX Reginald the sonne of Olave and brother to Harald began his reigne the day before the Nones of May and on the thirtieth day thereof was slaine by one Yvar a Knight and his company in a medow neere unto the Holy Trinity Church on the South side and lieth buried in the Church of Saint Mary of Russin At that time Alexander King of Scots rigged and brought together many ships meaning to subdue the Iland and in the I le Kerwaray he died of an ague Harald the sonne of Godred Don usurped the name of King in the Ilands all the Nobles of Harald King Olaves sonne hee banished and placed in their stead all the Princes and Peeres that were fled from the said Harald MCCL. Harald the sonne of Godred Don being by missives sent for went unto the King of Norway who kept him in prison because he had unjustly intruded himselfe into the kingdome The same yeere there arrived at Roghalwaght Magnus the son of Olave and John the sonne of Dugald who named himselfe King but the people of Man taking it to the heart that Magnus was not nominated would not suffer them to land there many of them therefore were cast away and perished by shipwracke MCCLII Magnus the sonne of Olave came to Man and was made King The next yeere he went to the King of Norway and stayed there a yeere MCCLIV Haco King of Norway ordained Magnus Olaves sonne King of the Isles and confirmed the same unto him and his heires and by name unto his brother Harald MCCLVI. Magnus King of Man went into England and was knighted by the King of England MCCLVII The church of S. Maries of Russin was dedicated by Richard of Sodore MCCLX Haco King of Norway came unto the parts of Scotland and without any exploit done turned to the Orkneys where at Kirwas he ended his daies and lyeth enterred at Bergh MCCLXV Magnus Olaves sonne King of Man and of the Ilands departed this life at the Castle of Russin and was buried in the Church of S. Mary de Russin MCCLXVI The kingdome of the Ilands was translated by reason of Alexander King of Scots That which followeth was written in another hand and of a later character MCCLXX The seventh day of October a navy set out by Alexander King of Scots arrived at Roghalwath and the next morrow before sun rising a battaile was fought between the people of Man and the Scots in which were slain of the Manksmen 537. whereupon a certaine versifier played thus upon the number L. decies X. ter penta duo cecidere Mannica gens de te damna futura cave L. Ten times told X. thrice with five beside and twaine Ware future harmes I reed of thy folke Man were slaine MCCCXIII Robert King of Scots besieged the Castle of Russin which Dingawy Dowyll held against him but in the end the King won the castle MCCCXVI On the Ascension day Richard le Mandevile and his brethren with other Potentates of Ireland arrived at Ramaldwath requesting to be furnished with victuals and silver for that they had been robbed by the enemies warring upon them continually Now when the commonality of the country had made answer that they would not give them any they advanced forward against those of Man with two troops or squadrons untill they were come as far as to the side of Warthfell hill in a field wherein John Mandevile remained and there in a fought battell the Irish vanquished the Manksmen spoiled the Iland and rifled the Abbey of Russin and after they had continued in the Iland one whole moneth they returned home with their ships fraught with pillage Thus endeth the Chronicle of the K.K. of Man The Processe or course of the Historie following I will now continue summarily out of other Writers WHen Alexander the third King of Scots had gotten into his hands the Westerne Ilands partly by way of conquest and in part for ready money paid unto the King of Norway hee attempted the I le of Man also as one of that number and through the valiant prowesse of Alexander Stewart brought it under his dominion yea and placed there a petty King or Prince with this condition that hee should be ready alwaies at his command to serve with ten ships in his warres at sea Howbeit Mary the daughter of Reginald King of Man who was become the Liege-man of John King of England entred her suit for the Iland before the King of England but answer was made unto her that shee should demand it of the King of Scots for that he then held it in possession And yet her grand-child John Waldebeof for the said Mary married into the house of Waldebeofe sued for his ancient right in Parliament holden in the 33. yeere of King Edward the first before the K. of England as the superiour