Huntington agrees tho he places it a year sooner relating That then the Northumbers being weary of the Government of this Eric did as easily cast him off as they had before lightly received him and calling in Edred they again placed him on the Throne though this does not accord with William of Malmesbury his Account that King Edred expell'd Eric by force and wasted all that Kingdom with fire and sword After which the Northumbrians being wholly subdued were no more governed by Kings but Earls a Catalogue of which Roger Hoveden hath there given us as far as the Conquest King Edred having been as Malmesbury informs us long tormented with frequent Convulsions in several parts of his Body being admonished by Archbishop Dunstan of his approaching death did not only bear that affliction with Patience but spending his time in acts of Devotion made his Palace a School of all Vertues and being at length consumed by a tedious long sickness he according to the Annals departed this life at the Feast of St. Clement in the very flower of his Age to the great grief of all his Subjects after having Reigned Nine Years and an half But the Manuscript life of St. Dunstan already cited is much more particular as to the Disease he died of viz. that not being able to swallow his Meat he could only eat Broth so that being wasted away he died This Relation of King Edred's not being able to swallow his Meat gave occasion to John of Wallingford absurdly to tell us in his Chronicle not long since Printed that King Edred having his Teeth fallen out by reason of Old Age could not Chew his Meat and the Broths they made for him were not sufficient to keep him alive and so he died of Hunger But this is altogether as true as the story that follows not only in this Author but in most other Monkish Writers of the History of those times from the Relation of the above-cited Author of St. Dunstan's Life that St. Dunstan hearing how dangerously Ill the King was and making haste to Visit him before he died as he rode on the way thither there came a Voice from Heaven which cried aloud to him King Edred is now dead at which all present being astonished the poor Horse upon which St. Dunstan was then Mounted immediately fell down dead But William of Malmesbury though he mentions this story of the Voice yet is so wise as to pass by the death of the Horse being sensible it was a Pill too large to be easily swallowed As for the Character of this King the Monkish Writers of those times give him that of a most Vertuous and Pious Prince and as to his Valour William of Malmesbury saith he was not inferior in Magnanimity to either of his Brothers he was also the first King of England who as I can find stiled himself Rex Magnae Britanniae King of Great Britain in a Charter to the Abbey of Croyland recited by Ingulphus as also in another Charter to the Abbey of Reculver in Monast. Anglic. he stiles himself Totius Albionis Monarchus i. e. Monarch of all England In which Stile he was also followed by his Nephew King Edgar from whence we may observe That King James was not the first who took upon him the Title of King of Great Britain though as being also King of Scotland he did much better deserve it than the former But as for King Edred he could not fail of the good will of the Monks since the same Manuscript Author of St. Dunstan's Life relates That he put such great confidence in that Holy Abbot that he committed the chief Muniments and Treasures of his Kingdom to his Care to be kept at his Abby of Glastenbury and that as the King lay on his Death-bed St. Dunstan was then carrying them back to him to be disposed of as he should think fit but he just before received the News of his death as you have already heard Nor did this King die without Issue as many believe for Mr. Speed proves the contrary from certain ancient Charters Cited by him at the end of this King's Life wherein you will find that his Two Sons Elfrid and Bertfrid were Witnesses to them tho they did not Succeed their Father but Edwi Son to his Elder Brother Edmund King EDWI IMmediately after King Edmund's decease our Annals tell us Edwig Son to the late King Edmund and Elgiva began his Reign and he banisht St. Dunstan out of England This King as all our Historians agree was crowned at Kingston by Odo Archbishop of Canterbury but William of Malmesbury gives us the cause of this Disgrace of St. Dunstan to this effect That this King being a Youth of great Beauty and amorous above his years was mightily in love with a young Lady his near Kinswoman whom he fain would have married but the Bishops and Nobles of his Kingdom were utterly averse to it not only because of the nearness of their Relation but because she had none of the best Reputation as to her Chastity But though William of Malmesbury gives us all the rest of this Story yet I shall rather chuse to take it from the Manusâ—ript Life of St. Dunstan who lived about the same time and out of which that Author borrowed it and it is thus That on the very day that by the common Election of all the chief Men of England Edwig was anointed King after the Coronation-Dinner was over he and the chief Bishops and Nobility being retired into a private Room there treating of the Great Affairs of the Kingdom the King perhaps at that Critical Juncture being weary of their company stole into the Apartment of this Beautiful Lady to enjoy some pleasurable moments with her which the Nobility hearing of they highly resented it but none would adventure to bring him back only Abbot Dunstan and a Bishop whose Name was Cynesius the King's Cousin went boldly into the Chamber where they found him with his Crown off his head lying between the Mother of this Lady and her Daughter upon which they not only reproved him but putting on his Crown again and taking him by the hand they pulled him away from them and carried him back by force into the Room where his Nobles were but Athelgiva for it seems so was this Lady sometimes called being highly provoked at this Affront did not fail to exasperate the King against Dunstan so that in revenge he banished him the Kingdom who thereupon as R. Hoveden relates retired to a Monastery in Flanders Nor did the King's Resentments stop here but out of hatred to Dunstan he not only turned the Monks out of Glastenbury but out of divers of the greatest Monasteries in England where also as William of Malmesbury words it his own Abbey was turned into a Stable for Clerks that is Secular Chanons were put in their places not only there but in all other Abbeys where the Monks were expelled
Coleman that he was resolved to quit his Bishoprick and depart into Scotland to the Isle of Hye from whence he cam◠rather than to comply with it from whence he also departed into Ireland here called Scotland where he built a Monastery in that Country and lived all the rest of his days and in which only English Men were admitted at the time when Bede wrote his History But after the departure of Coleman one Tuda who had been ordained Bishop among the Southern Scots was made Bishop of Lindisfarne but he enjoyed that Bishoprick but a very little while But after the Death of Bishop Tuda according to the Life of Bishop Wilfrid King Oswi held a great Council with the Wise Men of his Nation whom they should chuse in the vacant See as most fit for that holy Function when they all with one Consent nominated and chose Abbot Wilfrid as the fittest and worthiest Person to succeed him but being to be Consecrated he refused it from any Bishop at home because he look'd upon them all as Uncanonical being all ordained by Scotish Bishops who differed from the Roman Church about this Point of keeping Easter so that he would needs go over into France for Ordination where staying too long the King put Ceadda who had lately come out of Ireland into his Place which Wilfred upon his return much resenting retired to his Monastery at Ripon and there resided as also sometimes with Wulfher King of Mercia or else with Ecghert King of Kent till he was restored to his See Bede tells us that the above-mentioned Eclipse was followed by a sudden Pestilence the same Year which first depopulating the Southern Parts of Britain then proceeded to the Northern wherein Bishop Tuda deceased it also invaded Ireland and there took off many Religious as well as Secular Persons The same Year also according to Florence Ercombert King of Kent dying left that Kingdom to Egbert his Son Also Ethelwald King of the East Angles dying this Year Aldulf succeeded him About this time according to Bede Siger and Sebba succeeding Swidhelm in the Kingdom of the East Saxons being unsteady in the Faith and supposing the late great Pestilence to have fell upon them for renouncing their old Superstition relapsed again to Idolatry and rebuilt the Idol-Temples hoping by that means to be defended from the present Mortality but as soon as Wulfher King of the Mercians to whom this Kingdom was then subject heard of it he sent Bishop Jaruman to them who together with their Fellow-Labourers by their sound Doctrine and gentle Dealing soon reclaimed them from their Apostacy This Mortality is also partly confirmed by Mat. Westminster who the next Year relates so great a Mortality to have raged in England that many Men going in Troops to the Sea-side cast themselves in headlong preferring a speedy Death before the Torments of a long and painful Sickness thô this seems to be no other than the great Pestilence which raged the Year before unless we suppose it to have lasted for 2 Years successively The same Year also according to the Account of an ancient British Chronicle lately in the Possession of Mr. Robert Vaughan Cadwallader last King of the Britains having been forced by a great Famine and Mortality to quit his Native Country and to sojourn with Alan King of Armorica finding no hopes of ever recovering his Kingdom from thence went to Rome where professing himself a Monk he died about 8 Years after Now thô the British History of Caradoc Translated by Humphrey Lloyd and Published by Dr. Powel places Cadwallader's going to Rome Anno 680 which Mr. Vaughan in the Manuscript I have by me and which is already cited in the former Book proves can neither agree with the Account of the said old Chronicle nor yet with the Time of the great Mortality above-mentioned for Caradoc and Geoffery of Monmouth do both place Cadwallader's going to Rome in the Year of the great Pestilence which as Bede and Mat. Westminster testifie fell out in the Year 664 or 665 and therefore that learned Antiquary very well observes That as for their Calculation who prolong Cadwallader's Life to the Year 688 or 689 and place his going to Rome in Pope Sergius's time he thinks they had no better Warrant for it than their mistaking Ceadwalla King of the West Saxons who then indeed went to Rome and there died for this Cadwallader who lived near 20 Years before whereby they have confounded this History and brought it into a great deal of uncertainty whereas that ancient Appendix annex'd to the Manuscript Nennius in the Cottonian Library whose Author lived above 300 Years before either Geoffery or Caradoc doth clearly shew that this Monastery above-mentioned and consequently Cadwallader's going to Rome happened in the Reign of Oswi King of Northumberland who according to the Saxon Annals began to Reign Anno 642 and died Anno 670 and therefore no other Mortality ought to be assigned for Cadwallader's going to Rome than this in King Oswi's Reign Anno 665 for the Words of the said old Author are these Oswi the Son of Ethelfred reigned 28 Years and 6 Months and whilst he reigned there happened a great Mortality of Men Catwalater so he spells it then reigning over the Britains after his Father and therein perished Now the Case is clear if these Words in the Latin Et in ea periit have relation to Cadwallader as most likely they have considering Oswi lived 5 Years after the Year 665 wherein this Mortality raged then Cadwallader never went to Rome at all but died of this Plague but of this I dare not positively determine since the greater part of the Welsh Chronicles are so positive in Cadwallader's dying at Rome But to return to our Annals This Year Oswi King of Northumberland and Ecgbrith King of Kent with the Consent of the whole English Church as Bede relates sent Wigheard the Presbyter to Rome to be there made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury but he died almost as soon as he arrived So that Theodorus being the next Year consecrated Arch-Bishop was sent into Britain Of which Transaction Bede gives us this particular Account About this time also as Bede relates Wina Bishop of Winchester being driven from his See by King Kenwalch went and bought the See of London of King Wulfher This is the first Example of Simony in the English Church The See of Canterbury had been now vacant for above 3 Years for the Pope was resolved himself to Ordain an Arch-Bishop and at last at the Recommendation of one Adrian a Greek Monk who might have been Arch-Bishop himself but refused it the Pope chose this Theodorus then a Monk and a Native of Tharsus in Cilicia who being an excellent Scholar brought the knowledge of the Greek Tongue as also Arithmetick Musick and Astronomy in use among the English Saxons This Arch-Bishop immediately upon his coming into England made a thorough Visitation of
but when they had both bloudily fought for a long time the Pagans being no longer able to withstand the Christians Arms a great part of their Troops was slain and the rest saved themselves by flight leaving behind them dead upon the place one of their Kings called Bachseg and several other great Men with many Thousands of common Souldiers needless here to be particularly mentioned but this King here called Bachseg the Danish History naâ—es Ivar the Son of Reynere so the rest of their Army fled that night to the Castle of Reading above-mentioned whither the Christians following killed them as long as day-light would permit But thô Asser the Writer of King Alfred's Life and Actions hath for his Honour attributed the whole Success of this Battle to that Prince yet it is more probable what the Manuscript called Scala Chronica cited by Mr. Speed relates That when Prince Aelfred's Men being now spent were ready to Retreat King Ethered came into the Battle from his Prayers and so well seconded his Brother with fresh Forces that renewing the Fight the Victory the greatest they had ever yet obtained was chiefly owing to their Valour But Fifteen Days after this King Aethered with his Brother Aelfred marched again towards Basing to fight the Enemy where another Battle happened and the Pagans making there an obstinate Resistance obtain'd the Victory and kept the Field after which Fight a fresh Army of Pagans coming from beyond Sea joyned themselves to the former But here the Saxon Annals further add That about two Months after this King Aethered and Aelfred his Brother fought again with the Pagans at Meretune now Merton in Surrey where the Army being divided into two Parts at first put the Enemy to the Rout and had the better for a great part of the day yet at last after a mighty slaughter the Danes kept the Field and there was slain Bishop Heamund with abundance of brave Men. After this Battle during the whole Summer following the Danes remained in quiet at Reading but the same Year King Aethered having now for five Years stoutly and nobly Govern'd his Kingdom thô with many Troubles deceased and was buried in the Monastery of Winburne in Dorsetshire But thô the Chronicle that goes under the Name of Abbot Bromton from I know not what Authority relates this King to have died of the Wounds which he had received in a Fight against one Somerled a Danish King who had newly destroyed the Town of Reading and the Inscription on this King's Tomb at Winborne cited by Mr. Camden in his Britannia relates him to be slain by the Danes yet since neither Asser Ingulph the Saxon Annals nor William of Malmesbury mention any such thing and that the Inscription it self is but Modern I rather suppose him to have died a natural Death of the Plague which then reigned This King is said by the Annals of Ireland to have had a Daughter named Thyra married to Gormun King of the Danes who on her begat Sweyn the Father of King Cnute This Ethered had also several Sons as Alfred supposed to be Grandfather to Ethelwerd called Quaestor the Historian as also Oswald who his Father mentions in his Charter to the Abbey of Abingdon King AELFRED otherwise called ALFRED Immediately after King Ethered's Death as Asser relates Prince Alfred who during the Lives of his three Brothers had been only their Deputy or Lieutenant now by the General Consent of the whole Kingdom took the Government upon him which he might have had if he pleased during their Life-time since he exceeded them all both in Wisdom and Courage so that indeed he Reigned almost whether he would or no. But before the first Month of his Reign was at an end he trusting on the Divine Assistance marched his Army thô but few in comparison of the Pagans to Wilton lying on the South side of the River Willie from which both the Town and Country take their Names where it was valiantly fought on both sides for great part of the day till the Pagans not being able any longer to endure the Force and Valour of the English began to turn their Backs but then finding the Number of the Pursuers to be small they rallied and obtaining the Victory kept the Field Nor let this seem strange to any that will but consider how small the Number of the Christians were in comparison of the Pagans for the English had in the space of one Year fought 8 or 9 Battles against them besides innumerable Skirmishes which King Alfred or his Commanders had with them wherein thô they lost one King and nine Earls or Principal Commanders yet receiving such frequent Recruits from beyond Sea whilst the Saxons every day grew weaker it is no Wonder if they prevailed yet notwithstanding Asser and the Saxon Annals tell us That this Year there was a Peace made with the Danes upon condition that they would depart the Kingdom which they for the present observed but to little purpose For the next Year as the same Author tells us the Danes having landed again marched from Reading to London and there took up their Winter-Quarters and the Mercians were forced to make Peace with them Also this Year according to the Chronicle of Mailross and Simeon of Durham the Northumbers expelled Egbert their King and Wulfher Arch-Bishop of York who both as Mat. Westminster relates flying to Bertulph King of the Mercians were by him honourably received About the same time according to Caradoc's Chronicle also died Gwgan King or Prince of Cardigan who as some British Chronicles relate was drowned by misfortune and at the same time the Danes destroyed the Town of Alcluid in Scotland This Year the Danish Army leaving the Countries about London marched into the Kingdom of the Northumbers and there Wintered in a place called Tursige now Torswick in Lindsey which was then part of the Northumbrian Kingdom so that the Neighbouring Nations were again forced to renew their League with them And now also according to Simeon of Durham Egbert King of Northumberland dying one Ricsige succeeded him and Arch-Bishop Wulfher was now restored to his Bishoprick The next Year the Pagan Army leaving Lindisse marched into Mercia and wintered in a place called Hreoptun now Repton in Derbyshire where they forced Burhred King of the Mercians to desert his Kingdom and pass the Seas to go to Rome where arriving he lived not long but there dying in the 22d Year of his Reign he was honourably buried at the English School or College in the Church of St. Mary thereunto belonging The Danes after his Expulsion brought the whole Kingdom of Mercia under their Dominion and then delivered it to one Ceolwulf an inconsiderable Fellow and Servant of the late King upon this miserable Condition That he should deliver it up to them again whensoever they required it and for this he gave Hostages swearing to obey them in all Things Now the Danish Army
year according to Florence King Athelstan founded the Abby of Middleton in Dorsetshire to expiate the Death of his Brother Prince Edwin whom through false suggestions he had destroy'd as you have already heard About this time also according to the Welsh Chronicle Howel Dha Prince of South-Wales and Powis after the death of Edwal Voel his Cousin Prince of North-Wales took upon him the Government of all Wales the Sons of Edwal being then in Minority This Howel made that Excellent Body of Laws that go under his Name and which you may find in Sir H. Spelman's first Volume of Councils This Prince for his Discreet and Just Government not only made himself highly beloved but also rendred his Memory very glorious to After-Ages But it seems King Athelstan did not long survive this Victory for as our Annals relate he deceased this year on the 6 th Kal. Novemb. just Forty years after the death of King Alfred his Grandfather having reigned Fourteen Years and Ten Months But there is certainly an Error in this Account for either this King must have reigned a year less or else the King his Father must have died a year sooner than our Annals allow him and perhaps with greater Certainty for Florence of Worcester places his Death in Anno Dom. 924. Nor can we before we finish this King's Life omit taking notice That Bromton's Chronicle and other Modern Writers do place the long Story of the Danes invading England in this King's Reign and that one Guy Earl of Warwick returning home by chance from the Holy Land in the Habit of a Pilgrim just when King Athelstan was in great distress for a Champion to fight with one Colebrand a monstrous Danish Gyant whom the King of the Danes had set up to fight with any Champion the English King should bring into the field that Earl Guy accepted this Challenge and without being known to any man but the King fought the Gyant near Winchester and killing him the Danes yielded the Victory whilst Earl Guy privately retired to a Hermitage near Warwick and there living a Hermit's life ended his days But though John Rouse in his Manuscript Treatise de Regibus Anglorum places this Action under Anno 926 as soon as ever King Athelstan came to the Crown and that Tho. Rudburne in his History of Winchester says That this Gyant 's Sword being kept in the Treasury of the Abby of Winchester was shewn in his time yet since neither the Saxon Annals nor any other Ancient Historian mention any Invasion of the Danes in this King's Reign nor any thing of such a Combat it ought to be looked upon as a Monkish Tale only fit for Ballads and Children But since the Monks are very profuse in the Praises of this Prince I will give you William of Malmesbury's Character of him That as for his Person he did not exceed the ordinary Stature being of a slender Body his Hair as he had seen by his Reliques was Yellow that as for his Natural Temper and Disposition he was always kind to God's Servants i. e. the Monks for there was scarce a Monastery in England but what had been adorned by him with Buildings Books or Reliques And though he was grave and serious amongst his Nobles yet was he affable to the Inferior sort often laying aside the Majesty of a King to converse the more freely with ordinary men This made him as much admired by his Subjects for his Humility as he was fear'd by his Enemies and Rebels for his Invincible Courage and Constancy An Eminent Instance of this was in that he compell'd the Kings of North-Wales for some time standing out to meet him at Hereford and submit themselves to him I wish our Author had told us the Year when it was done since our Annals have wholly omitted it for tho Ran. Higden in his Polychronicon has put it under Anno 937 and also relates from Alfred of Beverly that this King restored both Constantine King of Scots and Hoel King of the Britains to their Kingdoms saying It was more glorious to make a King than to be one yet I do not see any Authority for it But this is agreed upon by all That Athelstan did about that time enter Wales with a powerful Army and effected what no King had ever presumed to think of before for he imposed a Yearly Tribute upon those Kings of Twenty Pounds in Gold and Three hundred Pounds in Silver and Twenty five thousand Head of Cattel Yet the Laws of Howel Dha appointed the King of Aberfraw to pay yearly to the King of London no more than Sixty six Pounds for a Tribute besides Hawks and Hounds John of Wallingford makes this King the first who reduced all England into one Monarchy by his Conquest of Northumberland Cumberland and Wales yet that he was in his own nature a Lover of Peace and whatever he had heard from his Grandfather or observed in his Father he put in practice being Just in his Judgments and by a happy conjunction of many Virtues so beloved by all men that to this day Fame which is wont to be too severe to the Faults of Great Men can relate nothing to his prejudice William of Malmesbury also gives us a short Account of his Life and Actions from his very Childhood wherein he tells us That this Prince when he was but a Youth was highly beloved by his Grandfather King Alfred insomuch that he made him a Knight girding him with a Belt set with Precious Stones and whereat hung a Golden-hilted Sword in a Rich Scabbard after which he was sent to be bred under his Uncle Ethelred Earl of Mercia to learn all those Warlike Exercises that were befitting a Young Prince Nor does he only relate him to have been Valiant but also competently Learned as he had been informed from a certain old Author he had seen who compared him to Tully for Eloquence though as he rightly observes the Custom of that Age might very well dispense with that Talent and perhaps a too great Affection to King Athelstan then living might excuse this Author 's over-large Commendations But this must be acknowledged that all Europe then spoke highly in his Praise and extoll'd his Valour to the Skies Neighbouring Kings thinking themselves happy if they could purchase his Friendship either by his Alliance or their Presents Harold King of Norway sent him a Ship whose Stern was Gilded and its Sails Purple and the Ambassadors by whom he sent it being Royally received in the City of York were rewarded with Noble Presents Hugh King of the French sent Anwulf Son of Baldwin Earl of Flanders Grandson to King Edward by Aethelswine his Daughter as his Ambassador to demand his Sister in Marriage who when in a Great Assembly of the Nobility at Abingdon he had declared the Desires of this Royal Woer besides Noble Presents of Spices and Precious Stones especially Emeralds such as had never been seen in England before
Historian l. 3. p. 114. l. 4. p. 151. Lived and died a Monk in the Monastery of St. Paul at Girwy now Yarrow l. 4. p. 194. Where born and bred his course of Life and Writings which gave him the Title of Venerable Id. p. 222. Own'd himself beholding to Nothelm when a Presbyter of the Church of London for divers Ancient Monuments relating to the English Church Id. p. 223. Bedicanford now Bedford where Cuthwulf fought against the Britains and the Towns he took from them l. 3. p. 146. Surrendred to King Edward the Elder l. 5. p. 320. Belinus Son of Dunwallo said to make the four great Ways or Streets that run cross the Kingdom and not the Romans built the Gate called Belin's gate our now Billingsgate and said to be the first Founder of the Tower of London l. 1. p. 13. Bells The first Tuneable Ring of Bells in England was in Croyland-Monastery set up there by Abbot Turketule l. 6. p. 12. Benedict the Father of all the Monks in what year he died but long before his death he founded his Order in Italy l. 4. p. 167. Sirnam'd Biscop made Abbot of the Monastery of St. Peter in Canterbury Id. p. 194. His Death with some short account of his Life Id. p. 205. Consecrated Pope upon the death of Stephanus expell'd and who made Pope in his room l. 6. p. 88. Benedictines the Monks of that Order l. 4. p. 167 168. Placed in the Nunnery at Bathe by King Edgar Id. p. 196. Turn out the Sicular Chanons at Worcester Id. p. 200. The Abbey of Winchelcomb in Gloucestershire by whom founded for 300 of these Monks Id. p. 242. St. Dunstan made a Collection of Rules for this Order l. 6. p. 22. Vid. Monks and Chanons Secular St. Bennet's in Holme a Monastery founded by King Cnute in Norfolk for Benedictines l. 6. p. 54. Bennington now called Bensington l. 3. p. 145. A Battel fought there between Cynwulf and Offa and who got the better l. 4. p. 230. Beonna Abbot of Medeshamsted leases Lands to Cuthbright upon Condition Id. Ib. Beormond when consecrated Bishop of Rochester l. 5. p. 248. Beorne when he was King over the East-Angles l. 4. p. 228. Beorne the Ealdorman burnt in Seletune by the Governors of Northumberland l. 4. p. 231. Beorne King Edmund's Huntsman murthers Lothbroke one of the Danish Royal Family l. 5. p. 272 273. Beorne Earl Cousin to Earl Sweyn how made away by him on Shipboard and where buried l. 6. p. 75. Beornred when he usurped the Kingdom of the Mercians l. 4. p. 227. Burnt the fair City of Cataract in Yorkshire and he himself is burnt the same year Id. p. 229. Beornwulf or Bertwulf or Beorthwulf King of the Mercians and Archbishop Wilfrid held two Synods at Clovesho Fought with Egbert and was beaten and afterwards slain by the East-Angles l. 5. p. 253. Was routed with his whole Army by the Danes Id. p. 261. Held the Council of Kingsbury who were present at it and what done there Id. Ib. His Death and who succeded him Id. p. 262. Berferth Son of Bertwulf King of Mercia wickedly slays his Cousin Wulstan l. 5. p. 261. Berkshire anciently called Bearrockshire l. 5. p. 274. l. 6. p. 32. Bernicia and Deira two Kingdoms of Northumberland united into one l. 4. p. 178. All the Low-Lands of Scotland as far as the English-Saxon Tongue was spoken were anciently part of the Bernician Kingdom l. 5. p. 249. Bertha the King of the Franks's Daughter married to King Ethelbert l. 3. p. 145. Brought a Bishop over with her to assist and strengthen her in the Faith l. 4. p. 153. Bertulf King of the Mercians honourably receives Egbert King of the Northumbers and Wulfher Archbishop of York whom the Northumbers had expell'd l. 5. p. 277. Beverlie in Yorkshire anciently called Derawnde l. 4. p. 202. Beverstone in Gloucestershire anciently Byferstane l. 6. p. 77. Billingsgate the ancient Port of London and what Customs to be paid there upon unlading l. 6. p. 43. Vid. Belinus Birds A great Fight and Slaughter of Birds in the Air l. 4. p. 192. Birth Supposititious Vid. Harold the Son of Cnute Birthwald Archbishop of Canterbury who succeeded Theodore was buried in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul l. 4. p. 162. Formerly an Abbot of Raculf now Reculver in Kent near the Isle of Thanet but not consecrated Archbishop till nigh three years after his Election His Character Id. p. 205. He and King Alfred held a Synod about Bishop Wilfrid who was therein excommunicated Id. p. 206. Is reconciled to the Bishop tho King Alfred is not so Id. p. 207. His Death being worn out with Age and Infirmities Id. p. 220. Bishops how to be ordained in the English Church l. 4. p. 156. How to behave themselves towards one another and towards those that are not under their Authority Id. p. 157. Of London to be chosen by his own Synod but to receive the Pall from the Pope Id. p. 157 158. When the Primitive Christian Temper had not left the Bishops of the Roman Church Id. p. 159. Two Bishops in one Diocess viz. One had his See at Dunmoc now Dunwich in Suffolk and the other at Helmham in Norfolk l. 4. p. 193. By a Bishop's Son was meant his Spiritual not Conjugal Son for they were not married in the Saxon times Id. p. 209. Ordered in the Synod of Clovesho to visit their Diocesses once a year l. 4. p. 224. Five Bishops ordained in one day by Archbishop Plegmund and over what Sees but it was by the Authority of the King and his Council l. 5. p. 314. Blecca with all his Family converted to the Christian Faith builds a Stone-Church of curious Workmanship in Lincoln l. 4. p. 175. Blood When it rained Blood for three days together l. 1. p. 12. l. 4. p. 202. Milk and Butter turned into somewhat like Blood l. 4. p. 202. The Moon appeared as it were stained with Blood for a whole hour l. 4. p. 222. Boadicia the Wife of Prasutagus a British Lady of a Royal Race violated with Stripes and her Daughters ravished l. 2. p. 47. Being left a Widow she raised an Army and makes a gallant Speech to them l. 2. p. 49 50. But being overcome and her Army utterly routed she poisons her self Id. p. 50. Bocland King Alfred's Thirty seventh Law concerning it l. 5. p. 295 296. Edward the Elder 's second Law of any one's denying another man his Right therein l. 5. p. 325. That is Land conveyed to another by Deed to whom it was forfeitable l. 6. p. 58 60. Bodotria Vid. Glotta Boetius Hector his great Error concerning the last War between the Romans and the Britains l. 2. p. 101 102. Bolanus Vid. Vectius Bonagratia de Villa Dei his Epistle to the Black Monks of England Wherein is shewn the Antiquity of the University of Cambridge l. 5. p. 318. Bondland that is the Ground of Bondmen or Villains l. 4. p. 230.
and to whom l. 5. p. 293. Trumbrith or Trumbert when consecrated Bishop of Hagulstade l. 4. p. 201. Trumwin consecrated Bishop of the Picts this was the Bishoprick of Wyterne called in Latin Candida Casa l. 4. p. 201. Trutulensis a Port supposed by Mr. Somner to be Richborough near Sandwich l. 2. p. 63. Tryals the Antiquity of them by a Grand Inquest of more than Twelve men l. 6. p. 43. Tuda Bishop of Lindisfarne dies of the Plague and where buried l. 4. p. 189 190. Tudric King of Glamorgan said to have exchanged his Crown for a Hermitage but afterwards going out of it against the Saxons in the defence of his Son Mouric he received a mortal Wound l. 3. p. 148 149. Tudwall Gloff or the Lame why he was so called l. 5. p. 317. Turkytel a Danish Earl owns King Edward the Elder for his Lord l. 5. p. 319. Goes into France with King Edward's leave and Convoy with what Danes would follow him Id. p. 320. The Chancellor his great Valour and Slaughter of Constantine and Anlaff's Army and his narrow Escape from being killed by them Id. p. 335 336. Afterwards he was Abbot of the Abbey of Croyland Id. p. 336 349. Sent Ambassador by King Edred to the Northumbers to reduce them to their Duty Id. p. 349. Carries Archbishop Oskytel his Kinsman's Body to Bedford to be buried l. 6. p. 7. His Death Id. p. 12. Turne-Island formerly called the Isle of Medcant l. 3. p. 146. Turpilianus Petronius sent in Paulinus Suetonius his room as being more exorable to the Britains l. 2. p. 51. Twelfhind-man one that is worth Twelve hundred Shillings of Estate l. 5. p. 346. Twihind-man one worth Two hundred Shillings of Estate they both to join together to apprehend a Thief if known where he is Id. Ib. Tyrants said to be justly removed for being the Occasion of the Destruction of the Military Forces of their Kingdom l. 5. p. 253. Tythes to be paid according to the Scriptures The first Decree of any Council in England concerning the Payment of them and that declares them to be of Divine Right l. 4. p. 234. Aethelwulfe's famous and solemn Grant of them which was the first General Law that ever was made in a Mycel Synod of the whole Kingdom for their Payment Id. p. 263. Edgar's Law concerning them and First-Fruits l. 6. p. 13. Edward the Confessor's Laws concerning what things small Tythes shall be paid out of Id. p. 100. Tythings when Counties were first thus divided by King Alfred l. 5. p. 291. Every man of free Condition obliged to enter himself into some Tything l. 6. p. 58 104. V VAcancy of the Throne in Edwi's time for above a year and what Enormities were committed during that time l. 5. p. 354. Valentia who ordered the Northern Province of Britain to be for the future called Valentia and why l. 2. p. 93. In France defended by Constantine against Honorius Id. p. 102. Valentinian chosen Emperor by the Army at Nice in Bythinia and not long after declares Valens his Brother Partner in the Empire l. 2. p. 91. Is again restored to the Empire of the West by Theodosius but held it not long for he was strangled by Arbogastes at Vienne in Gallia Id. p. 97. Valentinus plotting with some Soldiers against Theodosius they were seized and delivered to Dulcitius to be put to death l. 2. p. 93. Valerianus Pub. Licinius Emperor is made the Footstool of the Tyrant Sapores King of Persia for seven years then flead alive and so died l. 2. p. 81. Valuation The Valuation of mens Heads fâ—om the King 's down to the Countreyman's l. 5. p. 341 342. Vectius Bolanus succeeds Trebellius Maximus in the Government of Britain l. 2. p. 53. Could not attempt any thing on the Britains because of the Factions of the Army Id. p. 54. Venedoti and Daemetae the Inhabitants of Wales l. 2. p. 85. l. 3. p. 139. Venutius a Prince of the Jugantes l. 2. p. 45. Is highly provoked by the Injuries of Queen Cartismandua his Wife he takes up Arms against the Romans she dâ—spises him and embraces an Adulterer Id. Ib. This War is supposed to have begun in Nero's time Id. p. 46. But is carried on against the Romans evâ—n till and in the time of tbe Emperor Vitellius Id. p. 54. Veranius wastes the Silures by many small Iâ—cursions a man of great Vanity and Ambition as appears by his Last Will l. 2. p. 46. Verulam that is St. Albans the Great Council which was held there l. 4. p. 239. Vespasian Flavius afterwards Emperor partly under Claudius partly under Plautius fights thirty Battels with the Britains l. 2. p. 39 41. Brings two powerful Nations and above twenty Towns with the Isle of Wight under his subjection Id. p. 41. Titus his Son serving under him as a Tribune is much renowned for his Valour Id. Ib. Succeeds Vitellius who was deposed about the Tenth Month of his Reign Id. p. 54. His Death when Id. p. 56. Vespatian Titus succeeds and rather exceeds than equals his Father in Valour and Worth l. 2. p. 56. For the great Atchievements of Agricola he was fifteen times saluted Imperator or General is stiled The Delight of Mankind but yet dies as suspected by Poyson Id. p. 57. A Cohort of his having slain a Centurion and other Soldiers deserted and went to Sea turning Pyrates where ever they landed but at last the Suevians and Frisians took and sold them as Pyrates Id. p. 59. Uffa the Eighth King from Woden and First of the East-Angles l. 3. p. 149. Gets himself made sole King and governs with that Glory that it is said the Kings descending from him were called Uffings How long he reigned uncertain Id. Ib. Vice-Domini that is the Governors of Provinces divided by King Alfred into two Offices viz. Judges and Sheriffs l. 5. p. 291. Victor elected Pope in the room of Leo that holy Bishop of Rome l. 6. p. 85. His Decease and who succeeded him Id. p. 87. Victorinus a Roman Governor in Britain l. 2. p. 104. Vienne a City in Dauphine where Constans was slain l. 2. p. 103. Villain if he wrought on Holidays he was to satisfy it with his skin that is by whipping or pay his Head-gild c. l. 5. p. 285. Villains great and prosperous ones often meet with the Punishment they deserveâ— as well the Actors as Contrivers l. 2. p. 96. Virgilius the Scoâ—ish Abbot his Decease l. 5. p. 312. Virgins Geoffrey of Monmouth's Story of Ursula's being sent over to Britain and Eleven thousand Noble Virgins to attend her besides sixty thousand of meaner condition she to be bestowed on Conan and the rest on the other Britains and their End l. 2. p. 96 97. Vitalian the Pope confirms by his Bull King Wulfher's Charter to the Abbey of Medeshamsted l. 4. p. 187. This Bull is confirmed by Pope Agatho Id. p. 200. Ulfkytel the Ealdorman his sharp Engagement with the Danes and the
Books into which I have divided this Volume I will now proceed to acquaint you with the rest of my Authors from whom I have collected it nor will I give you only their Names which has been done by so many already but a brief Censure of them and their Works and in what Time they wrote being such as lived either before or after the Conquest Of the former sort there are but few since from Bede to Asser. Menev. there flourish'd no general Historian for William of Malmsbury himself confesses that after Bede all liberal Studies more and more declining those that followed spent their Lives in Idleness or Silence yet during even that Period there were some Writers of this kind viz. certain Monks in the greater Monasteries whose business it was to set down in short by way of Annals the most remarkable Passages of their own Times in their own Language nay Learning was in that King's Reign fallen to so low an Ebb that even King Alfred tells us in his Preface to the Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral That in the beginning of his Reign there were few on this side Humber who could understand their own Prayers much less turn a piece of Latin into English and where then were our supposed flourishing Vniversities AND I shall here begin with Asserius Menevensis who was so called because he was a Monk of Menevia or St. Davids This was he who being sent for by King Alfred out of Wales assisted him in his Studies and besides taught his Children and others of the Nobility Latin after this King Alfred sent him with others to fetch Grimbald out of Flanders into England and after the Schools were opened at Oxford the latter there professed Divinity and the former Grammar and Rhetorick as you may find in the Annals of Hyde cited in the ensuing History THIS Monk being Learned above the Age in which he lived first wrote the Annals that go under his Name which having long continued in the Cottonian and other Libraries in Manuscript have been lately published by the Learned Dr. Gale in his last Volume of Historians printed at Oxon. After these Annals it is certain Asser also wrote the whole History of King Alfred's Life under the Title of de Gestis Regis Aelfredi which were first published by the Reverend Arch-bishop Parker in Saxon Characters according to the Copy now in the Cottonian Library and was also again put out by Mr. Camden in another Edition at Frankford But it must be confessed there is some difference between these two Copies concerning the Vniversity of Oxford which is taken notice of in this Work in its proper Place but that the Annals abovementioned were written before his History of King Alfred's Life is plain for he there refers you to those Annals which he has also inserted in the Life almost word for word But tho the former of these is continued to the Death of King Alfred and the latter as far as the 14th Year of the Reign of K. Edward the Elder yet it is evident that he himself wrote neither the one nor the other after the Year 893 being the 45th of King Alfred's Age and this appears from the Life it self in which the Author particularly mentions it nor could he extend the Annals any farther because they were written before he wrote the Life This I observe to let the Reader understand that whatever he finds farther in the Annals or Life the Substance of both which I have given him in this Volume were continued by some other Hand and as for the Annals they sufficiently declare it for towards the latter end under Anno Dom. 909. you may meet with this Passage hoc Anno Asserius Episcopus Scireburnensis obiit which was no other than our Author himself yet this must be farther observed of him that he was so extreamly negligent in his Account of Time that he begins the first Year of King Alfred's Reign sometimes at one Year of our Lord and sometimes at another so that no Man can tell by him when it commenced BVT why he left off Writing so many Years before King Alfred died and never finish'd his Life though he survived him nine Years I confess I know not unless being preferred about the Time when he had finish'd it to the Bishoprick of Shireburne he left the King's Service and going to reside at his own See had other Business on his Hands than Writing And that the same Asser who taught King Alfred was also by him made Bishop of Shireburne appears from this King's Preface to the Saxon Translation of St. Gregorie's Pastoral in which he tells you he was assisted by Plegmund his Archbishop and Asser his Bishop to whom the said King in his Will after the Archbishop and some other Bishops bequeathed a 100 Marks by the Title of Asser Bishop of Shireburne from whence it is manifest that the same Person who was King Alfred's Instructor was also Bishop of Shireburne which Bishoprick was certainly bestowed on him after he had done Writing since tho he mentions the Abbeys of Banwell Ambresbury and Exceter to have been bestowed upon him by the King yet he is utterly silent of his being made Bishop which he would not surely have omitted if he had been then so preferred but how long he held this Bishoprick we can say little positively because we do not find when it was first given him but as for the time of his Death not only the Annals that go under his Name but the Saxon Chronicle also places it under Anno 909. So that I think there can be no reasonable cause to doubt of that BVT what should lead such a careful Chronographer as Florence of Worcester into so great a Mistake as to place this Bishop's Death under Anno 883 I know not unless he had some other Copies of the Saxon Annals by him than are now extant but the Fasti of the Saxon Kings and Bishops publish'd by Sir H. Savil at the end of William of Malmesbury and other Writers are guilty of the like Mistake making this Asser to have succeeded Sighelm Bishop of Shireburn and to have died Anno 883 whereas it appears from our Annals that Sighelm whom William of Malmesbury makes to be the same Person with the Bishop abovementioned this very Year carried King Alfred's Alms to Rome and afterwards went himself as far as India however this Mistake of Florence as also the pretended Authority of our Welsh Chronicle hath as I suppose led divers other Learned Men and particularly Bishop Godwin and Arch-bishop Usher into a Belief of two Assers both Bishops the one of whom died Anno 883 and the other to have been Arch-bishop of St. Davids and to have succeeded Novis who according to the Chronicle of that Church publish'd in the 2d Volume of Anglia Sacra died Anno 872 and there immediately follows under Anno 909 Asserius Episcopus Britanniae fit which must certainly be an Errour in
his History of the Church of Durham who has interspersed many excellent Passages concerning the same Northern Story Here likewise we may add the Chronicle of the Abbey of Mailross which tho wrote by the Abbot of Dundraimon was certainly collected out of some much antienter Annals of that Monastery which was then destroyed and these together with the last mentioned Authors have helped us to make up the Succession of the Northumbrian Kings after Eardulf that was expelled his Kingdom Anno 806. from whom our common Writers suppose there was an Interregnum for the space of above sixty Years tho by those above-named it appears to have been otherwise as you may see in the Tables at the end of the last Book AFTER these flourished William of Malmesbury who finished his History in the Reign of King Stephen but certainly he began it long before viz. in the Reign of Henry the First To which Learned Monk being one of the best Writers both for Judgment and Stile of that Age I must own my self obliged for the best and choicest Passages in this Volume TO him succeeded Henry Arch-Deacon of Huntington who wrote a History of the Kings of England as well before as after the Conquest and retiring to Rome lived there for some time for that purpose He deduced his History almost to the end of K. Stephen and writing most commonly by way of Annals transcribed many things out of Florence of Worcester and was of that great Reputation that Geoffrey of Monmouth who was his Cotemporary recommends the English History to be written by his Pen as he does the British to be continued by Caradoc of Lancarvon who wrote a Welsh Chronicle as far as his own Time the Substance whereof I have here likewise given you as it was put out by Dr. Powell to which I have also added several remarkable Passages that were designed in a new Edition of the same Work to be published from the Manuscripts of the Learned Antiquary Mr. Robert Vaughan by Mr. Ellis late of Jesus College in Oxon but which were never finished And I have likewise inserted divers choice Notes that I gathered from another Manuscript of the same Author's relating to the Chronology and Actions of the British Princes which he wrote for the Satisfaction of the Lord Primate Usher and from him is now in my Possession And I suppose no Ingenious British Antiquary will think this Performance unnecessary since he will here find the Substance of all that is contained in Caradoc's Chronicle together with a great many considerable Additions from the Manuscripts abovementioned as also some others gathered from two MS. Copies of the Chronicles of Wales the one in the Cottonian Library the other in the Exchequer written at the end of one of the Volumes of Doomesday for the perusal of which I stand obliged to the Reverend Dr. Gale H. Huntingdon was followed by Rog. Hoveden a secular Priest of Oxford and was Domestick Clerk or Secretary to Henry the Second he seems to have chiefly transcribed from Simeon of Durham as to the Affairs before the Conquest as he does from William of Malmesbury and other Authors as well as his own Observations for those that occur'd afterwards to his own Time continuing his History to the beginning of King John's Reign THE next we come to are those Authors contained in that noble Volume called the Decem-Scriptores such as Ailred Abbot de Rievalle who wrote concerning the Kings of England so far as King Henry the 2d in whose Time he lived as also concerning the Life and Miracles of Edward the Confessor from whom I have taken divers memorable Passages relating to the Life of that King as well as to his Predecessors omitting his Fables and Legends in which he does too much abound AFTER him follows Radulphus de Diceto Dean of St. Pauls London who flourished in the Reign of King John about the Year 1210. he was esteemed a very accomplished Historian and an indefatigable Collector in his Time of things not only before but after the Conquest I have also taken some few Passages from William Thorn a Monk of Canterbury who wrote an entire History of the Affairs of his own Monastery of St. Augustin down to the beginning of King Richard the Second in whose Reign he lived AFTER whom we had for a long time no printed Historians of the Times before the Conquest till that in the Decem-Scriptores which goes under the Name of John Brompton Abbot of Jorvaulx in Richmondshire tho Mr. Selden has shewn us in his Preface to that Volume that he was rather the Purchaser than Author of this Chronicle which he left to his own Abbey he is supposed to have lived in the time of Edward the Third but the History concludes with the Death of Richard the First BVT the said Reverend Dr. Gale farther observes of him That he intended to continue Geoffrey of Monmouth as appears in the Preface and in Col. 1153. as also that he took much from Benedictus Abbas still in Manuscript in the Cottonian Library and not from Roger Hoveden for where a Fault or Omission is found in Benedictus the same is here found also but not so in Hoveden e. g. Benedictus wanted the Seal of the King of Sicily and so did Bromton till it was added from some other Copy and not out of Hoveden for the Seals differ and some Copies of Hoveden have it not at all And tho the Compiler of this History seems to have lived in the Time of Richard I. as himself seems to intimate yet Col. 967. it mentions Richard the Third which must have been added to continue down the Genealogy of our Kings as is often done in antient Chronicles by some later Hand But the Learned Doctor farther supposes this Chronicle to have been written by one John Brompton who as the Doctor found in an old Manuscript Year-Book or Collection of Reports of the Reign of King Edward the First was a Justice Itinerant about that Time which Conjecture is also confirmed by his careful inserting the Antient Saxon Laws into this Chronicle This as it was not done by any before him so neither does it savour of the Monk THIS is the more worthy taking notice of because Sir William Dugdale hath omitted this John Brompton in his Catalogue of Judges Itinerant at the end of his Origines Juridiciales TO this Historian succeeds Henry de Knyghton Canon of Leicester who wrote his History de Eventibus Angliae beginning with King Edgar and ending with the Reign of Richard the Second BVT the Reader may be pleased to take notice that in these two last Authors are found many Passages which are in none of the more Antient Writers and since most of them relate to Customs and Terms that had their Original after the coming in of the Normans therefore they may with good Reason be suspected to have been borrowed from some common Stories or Traditions that then passed up and down for current NOR can
Antient Historians only he cites a Scrap in the Margin as he thinks ouâ— of Brompton but it should be Simeon of Durhaâ— for no such thing is to be found in the former Author viz. That Harold quasi just us haeres coepit regnare nec tamen ità potentèr ut Canutus quia justior haeres expectabatur Hardicanutus i. e. as just Heir but yet not so absolutely as Cnute because the juster Heir Sâ—il Hâ—rdecanute was expected which he is pleased to call him because he falsly supposes that none could have a Right to the Crown but one of Queen Emma's Children But this Writer cunningly leaves out the preceding Words with a dash because they make against him which I shall here add 〈◊〉 consentientibus quamplurimis MAJORIBVS natu Aâ—glia quasi Justus haeres c. So that it seems his Right to reign proceeded from the Consent of the Estates of the Kingdom SO that granting as this Author supposes That Hardecnute had been left Heir by his Father King Cnute's Testament yet you see this could only give him a Precedency of being first Proposed and Elected HAROLD dying after a few Years Reign Hardecnute was sent for out of Elanders to succeed him yet this could not be as his Heir being but of the half Blood and his supposed Brother only by his Father's side and therefore Henry of Huntington says expresly that Post Mortem Harolds Hardecnute filius Regis Cnuti illicò susceptus est ELECTVS in Regeni ab Anglis DACIS i. e. After the Death of Harold Hardecnute the Son of King Cnute was presently received and Elected King by the English and Danes HARDECNVTE dying suddenly after about two Years Reign the abovecited Antient Chronicle in the Cottonian Library proceeds to tell us that Mortuo Hardecanuto Eadwardus Annitentibus maximè Comite Godwino Wigornensi Livingo levatar Londoniae in Regem i. e. that Hardecnute being dead Edward by the Assistance chiefly of Earl Godwin and Living Bishop of Worcester was advanced to the Throne at London WILLIAM of Malmesbury words it thus speaking of Earl Godwin Nec mora congregato concilio Londoniae rationibus suis explicitis Regem effecit From whence it appears that by Godwin's means he was made King at a Common-Council of the Kingdom BUT Ingulph is yet more express who says Post ejus Sâ—il Hardecanuti obitum Omnium Electione in Edwardum concordatur maximè cohortante Godwino Comite i. e. that after the Death of Hardecnute it was unanimously agreed upon to Elect Prince Edward Earl Godwin chiefly advising it AND Henry Huntington goes yet a step higher and writes thus Edwardus cum paucis venit in Angliam Electus est in Regem ab omni populo Prince Edward coming into England with but a few Men was Elected King by all the People which is also confirmed by an Antient Manuscript Chronicle of Thomas of Chesterton Canon of Litchfield in the Cottonian Library who under Anno 1042. says thus Edwardus filius Athelredi Regis ab omni Populo in Regem Electus Consecratus est BUT the Doctor very cunningly conceals all this concerning his Election and only gives us a shred out of Guilielmus Gemeticensis in these words Hardecanutus Edwardum totius Regni reliquit haeredem that is left Edward Heir of the whole Kingdom but so far indeed the Doctor is in the Right That he could be no other than a Testamentary Heir there being other Heirs of the Right Line both of Saxon and Danish Blood before him But it may well be doubted whether the Author last mentioned being a Foreigner may not be mistaken if he means the words haeredem reliquit for a Bequest by Will since no English Historian that I know of mentions any such thing and indeed it is highly improbable that this Prince made any Will at all since all Writers agree that he died suddenly at a Drunken Feast in the very Flower of his Age and as it is not likely he made any Will before so it was impossible he could do it at his Death BUT this Election of King Edward farther appears from the mean and abject Carriage which this Prince shewed as you will find William of Malmesbury towards Earl Godwin when he was so far from claiming the Crown that he only desired he would save his Life till the Earl encouraging him put him in hopes of obtaining the Kingdom upon Promise of marrying his Daughter which he would never have done had he had so â—air a Pretence as the last Will of his Brother Hardecnute to recommended him to the favour of the Estates of the Kingdom and if that alone would have done to what purpose should he need afterwards to be Elected THIS is in part acknowledged by the Doctor but to palliate it he will have Godwin a Council being immediately called by his Reason and Rhetorick to make him King it seems then he was to be made so but he dares not say one word of his Election for fear it would betray the Cause which he has so strenuously laboured to advance AND therefore he thinks he has now nothing more to do but to expose and ridicule the Legend of the Abbot of Rievalle in making Edwards the Confessor to be elected King in his Mother's Womb which tho I grant to be as absurd as to drink Prince of Wales his Health before he is born yet the Abbot had certainly no ground for this Story unless he had been sufficiently convinced that this was an Elective Kingdom in the Time of King Ethelred his Father BUT if the Reader desires further Satisfaction concerning the Circumstances of this King's Election I shall refer him to the Antient Annals of the Church of Winchester which I have faithfully transcribed out of the first Volume of Monasticon Anglicanum and inserted into this Volume under Anno 1041. where he will find the whole History of this Prince's Election and Coronation written by a Monk of that Church not long after the Conquest these Annals are also in Manuscript in the Cottonian Library to which I must likewise by the Favour of its honourable Possessor own my self highly obliged for several considerable Remarks in this History of the Succession of our Saxon Kings BUT to draw to a Conclusion upon this Subject King Edward as appears by our Annals in the Year 957 sent over for his Cousin Prince Edward sirnamed the Out-Law Son of King Edmund out of Hungary as Simeon of Durham relates Illum se Regni haeredem constituere that he might appoint him Heir of the Kingdom which had been a very idle Thing had the Kingdom been Hereditary and that it had been his undoubted Right by Proximity of Blood THIS Prince dying soon after his coming over we no where find that King Edward ever offered to do the like for his Cousin Edgar Atheling but on the contrary forgetting his own Family Ingulph tells us that the Year before his Death
him that was so injured THE highest Offence against Man alone was Treason and the Punishment for this Offence I find set down in the 4 th Law of K. Alfred to this effect viz. That if any one by himself or any other Person should attempt against the King's Life he should lose his Life and Goods or in case he will purge himself he was to do it according to the Valuation of the King's Head But in this the King had no greater a Prerogative than divers other of his Subjects for the same Law doth inform us That it ordained in all Judgments concerning other Men whether Noble or Ignoble whosoever should Conspire against his Lord should lose both his Life and Estate or else pay the Valuation of his Lord's Head I come next to the Coining and Clipping of Money which was not originally such an Offence as was punish'd by Death for the first Law that made it so was that of Ethelred whereby it is left to the King's discretion either to fine or put to Death such Merchants as imported false Money and all Port-Reeves of Towns who should be Accessary to it were made liable to the same but for all this it was not even after the Conquest punishable by Death but amputation of the Right Hand and Privy-Members AS for Murder or killing a Man with Malice prepensed it was by the Preface to King Alfred's Laws punishable by Death And this and the former Law concerning Treason will help us to interpret in what Cases the Wiregilds or Mulcts that we find so frequently mentioned in the Saxon Laws were to be paid for the Life of a Man and particularly that Law of King Athelstan which sets the Rate of these Wiregilds according to the Quality of the Person slain from the King to the Peasant that is when the Party was Killed in some sudden Fray or Quarrel without any Malice forethought THIS I take notice of to obviate the Error of some who suppose that all Murder even of the King himself was redeemable by Money which was not allowed in any Cases but those we account Man-slaughter at this Day and shews the Antiquity of that distinction between Man-slaughter and Murder which is now almost peculiar to England and arose at first from the Proneness of our Nation to Fewds and sudden Quarrels tho the like Custom is also to be found in the Antient Frisian and German Laws if you will take the Pains to consult them But as for Bloodshed Striking Maiming Wounding Dismembring c. they were all of them punishable by Mulcts or Fines as you will see in the Laws of King Alfred and other Places in this Volume I proceed in the next Place to Robbery and Burglary which by the Laws of King Ina were punishable by Death only the Thief was admmitted sometimes to redeem it according to the Estimation of his Head and that I suppose was left to the discretion of the Judg either to deny or allow But for all other less Thefts they were redeemable by Fines And the Laws of Edward the Confessor limited that Punishment of Death to Thefts of twelve Pence in value or above AND Trespasses of a less Nature upon Lands and Goods were to be punished by the Criminal's making Satisfaction to the injured Party and his paying a certain Fine besides to the King which by King Alfred's Law was set at five Shillings and in his Time other Actions were likewise used such as we call Actions upon the Case and the Plaintiff not only recovered Damages for Trespasses done to Possessions and Goods but also Costs for Injuries in Point of Scandal and Defamation in case the Complainant specially declare that he was thereby disabled or injured in his Preferment and made Proof of the same much like to the Forms of our Pleadings now AS for Perjury which I have hitherto omitted tho in strict Method it should have been mentioned before as a Sin against both God and Man the Saxons were utterly Enemies to it and punished it with perpetual discredit of their Testimony and sometimes with Banishment or with grievous Fines to the King and Mulcts to the Judg. For that difference I find observed in those Days between Fines and Mulcts tho the more Antient Times used them for one and the same for I often find pars Muâ—ctae Regi In all these Matters where any Interest was vested in the Crown the King had the Prerogative of Pardon yet always a Recompence was saved to the injured Party besides the Security of the Good-behaviour for Time to come as the case required THESE Mulcts for all these Offences were set down in a Book which was the Rule and Standard of the Judge's Sentence And it is called in the Preface to the Laws of King Edward the Doom or Judgment-Book and Composition was to be made and Satisfaction given according to what was laid in this Judicial or Doom-Book THIS shews that Fines were then set out and appointed by Law and were proportioned not only according to Mens Offences but Abilities of what they were able to pay and were not in those Times left to the Arbitrary Wills and Humours of the Judg to ruin Mens Fortunes and Families and imprison their Persons during Life perhaps only for a small Offence in a rash Word or unmalicious Deed. I confess this Introduction is longer than I first intended it but herein I hope the Reader will excuse me since I have presented him with a true Scheme of the Antient English-Saxon Government and Laws as well Ecclesiastical as Civil relating to the just Prerogatives of the King as also to the true Rights and Liberties of the People and this I have done for two Ends first to inform those of our own Nation as well as Strangers that this Government before the pretended Conquest agreed in the most material parts of it with those of the same Gothick Model all over Europe and that if we do still labour to preserve our Antient Constitution when most of our Neighbours have either lost or given up theirs I think we do deserve Commendation more especially since both Prince and People may have found an equal Interest and Happiness in it AND secondly to shew that neither the Danish nor Norman Invasions called by some Conquests have at all altered it in any of the Substantial parts of our Government or Laws notwithstanding what some Men have so strenuously advanced to the contrary out of what designs they themselves best know AS for what I have here laid down if any thing appears either new or of suspicious Credit I desire to be no farther believed than the Reasons and Authorities I have here produced will justify me and therefore shall leave the Reader to make what Judgment he pleases of it which if it doth not suit with mine I shall not take it amiss since I am sufficiently sensible how much Mens Opinions depend on their present
they constrain'd to do his Duty Having thus escaped and none knowing what was become of them and having no Pilates they were carried at random as the Tides and Winds drove them to and fro Thus compassing the Island they practis'd Piracy where they landed and often fighting with the Britains who defended their Goods were sometimes Victors and sometimes worsted till at last they were driven to that great Extremity for want of Provision that first they devour'd the weakest of their own Men and then drew Lots who of them should be eaten afterwards Thus having floated round Britain and lost their Ships for want of Skill to steer them getting on Shore they were taken and sold as Pirates first by the Suevians and afterwards by the Frisians till at last they were sold into Britain where the strangeness of the Accident render'd this Discovery of the Island more famous But Agricola having in the beginning of this Summer lost a young Son made use of War as a Remedy to vent his Grief therefore he sent his Fleet before which by spoiling many Places on the Coast struck a greater Terror into the Enemy He himself with a flying Army consisting chiefly of Britains whose Courage and Faith he had long experienced following it marched as far as the Grampian Hills upon which the Enemy had Posted themselves for the Britains nothing daunted with the ill Success of the last Fight and expecting nothing but Revenge or Slavery from their new Leagues and Confederacies were got together Thirty Thousand strong more being daily expected nay the aged themselves would not be exempted from this Days Service but as they had been brave Men in their time so every one of them bore some Badge or Mark of his youthful Atchievements Among these was Galgacus chief in Authority and Birth who when the Army cry'd out for the Signal of Battel is brought in by Tacitus making a long yet noble Oration which thô it is likely he never spoke and that it is contrary to my Design to stuff these Annals with long Speeches yet since there is a great deal of good Sense and sharp Satyr expressed in it against his own Nation I shall contract some part of it and render the rest word for word In the first place having set forth the Occasion of making War upon the Romans from the Necessity of avoiding Slavery as being the last People of Britain that were yet unconquer'd and that beyond them there was no more Earth nor Liberty left That now the utmost Bounds of Britain were discovered and no other Nations but them left to employ the Roman Armies whose Pride they might seek to please in vain by Services and Submissions those Robbers of the World who having left no Land unplunder'd ransack even the Ocean it self If the Enemy be Rich they are greedy of his Wealth if Poor they covet Glory whom neither the East nor West could ever satisfie the only Men in the World who pursue both the Rich and the Needy with equal Appetite To Kill and Plunder they call Governing and when they have brought Desolation on a Country they term it Peace That Nature by nearest ties had link'd their Children and Relations to them yet even these were taken away and pressed into their Service That their Wives and Sisters if they escap'd their Violence yet could not avoid Dishonour since when they came as Guests into their Houses they were sure to Debauch them Their Goods and Fortunes they made their Tributes their Corn their Provisions to supply their Granâ—ries and wore out their Bodies in cutting down Woods and draining Fens and paving Marishes nay and all this amidst a Thousand Stripes and Indignities That Slaves who are born to Bondage were sold but once and afterwards kept at their Masters Charges but Britain daily bought its own Bondage and maintain'd it too He then proceeds to exhort them to be tenacious of their Liberty lest like the last Slave in a private Family who is the Sport and Scorn of his Fellows when conquer'd they should be flouted by those who had been used as Drudges long before advising them to take Courage and Example from the Brigantes who under the Conduct of a Woman had almost quite destroyed the Romans and might have driven them out of Britain had they not failed in the Attempt by their too great Security and Success Then magnifying the Valour and Strength of his own Nation and lessening that of the Romans as made up of divers Nations who unwillingly served them and as soon as they durst would turn against them he concluded with shewing what Advantages they had above the Romans to make them hope for Victory and the miserable Slavery they were like to undergo if they were vanquished and therefore going now to Battel advised them to remember the Freedom of their Ancestors as well as the Danger of Slavery to themselves and their Posterity The Britains received this Speech with great Testimonies of Joy such as Songs and confus'd Clamours after the Custom of their Country all which shew'd their Approbation and now their Arms began to glitter and every one to put himself in Array when Agricola scarce able to repress the Heat of his Soldiers yet thinking it convenient to say something to them made a Speech to this Effect for being somewhat long I shall make bold to Contract it First he told his Soldiers That this was the Eighth Year that their Valour protected by the Fortune of the Roman Empire had subdu'd the Britains in so many Battels and that as he had exceeded his Predecessors in Success so they had all former Armies That Britain was now no longer known only by Fame and Report and that as they have had the Honor to discover so likewise might they to subdue it That he had often heard them ask When they should meet the Enemy but now they had their Desires now was the time to shew their Valour and that as every thing would happen as they could wish if they Conquer'd so all things made against them if they were overcome That if it was Great and Noble to have Marched so much Ground to have past so many Woods and both the Friths yet if they fled the very same things would be their Hindrance and Destruction That as for his part he had been long since satisfied that to run away was neither safe for the Soldier nor General and that a Commendable Death was to be preferr'd before the Reproaches of an Ignominious Life that Safety and Honour were now inseparably conjoyned And let the worst happen yet how glorious would it be to die in the utmost Bounds of the World and Nature Then putting them in mind of their late Victories and representing these Britains they were now to fight with as the Meanest and most Rascally of all the Nations they had Conquer'd so he doubts not but they will afford them an occasion of a memorable Victory Then
whilst by others it was turned into a C which if added to the following Figures viz. XXXII make CXXXII but with an L. before them they make only LXXXII Miles as they are indeed no more But to conclude this Subject on which I doubt we have dwelt too long already if Buchanan had not desired to have been singular and to have differed not only from our English Authors but from his own Country-men John Fordun and Major who in their Histories of Scotland are both of our side he had never fallen into this Mistake Whilst this Peace with the Northern Britains lasted it may well be supposed that remarkable Meeting between the Empress Julia the Wife of Severus and the Wife of Argentocoxus a British King might have happened wherein the Empress upbraiding the British Ladies that they lay with so many Men promiscuously according to their Custom of one Woman's having several Husbands as hath been already related The British Lady made her this quick Return We British Women do much better satisfie the Desires of Nature than you Roman Ladies for we have to do only with the best Men and that openly whilst you commit Adulteries with every mean Fellow in a corner A sharp Reproof though no good Excuse for her Country-women But no sooner was Severus returned into the Roman Province but the Caledonians and Maeatae again took Arms which so incensed the old Emperor that calling his Soldiers together he commanded them repeating a Verse of Homer That they should enter the Country and kill all they met both Men Women and Children but being now worn out with Years and Infirmities he could not go himself but sent Bassianus his Son against them yet whether he did any thing considerable is uncertain since Severus died not long after Whose End whether it was hastened by his Son 's wicked Practices or whether he died of meet Age or Sickness is not truly known since Historians differ much about it but before he died he is said to have spoke thus to his two Sons Bassianus and Geta See that you agree between your selves and pay your Soldiers and then you need care for no body else A notable Maxim which hath been observed not only by them but by all who are or desire to be absolute Monarchs He is likewise said by Spartianus to have rejoyced before his Death that he left the Empire to his Sons according to the Example of Antoninus Pius who left the two Antonini his Sons by Adoption his Heirs whereas he had left two Sons gotten by himself Rulers of the Roman Commonwealth But he was deceived in his Expectation for the one by the Parricide of his Brother the other by his own evil Manners were soon destroyed and to expect otherwise shew'd him not to have been so Prudent in that as in his other Actions Upon which the Author last cited in his Life of this Prince makes this shrewd Observation That scarce any great Men had left behind them a Son good for any thing but either they have had no Children or else such that it had been better for Mankind if they had died without any at all This Author also makes him to have further spoke these as his last Words I received the Commonwealth every where disturbed but leave it even as far as Britain in Peace a firm and stable Empire to my Antonines if they prove Virtuous but if otherwise a weak one Dion tells us That his Corps being carried out in great Pomp and laid upon the Funeral Pile without the Walls of York at a place called to this day Sever's Hoe or Sever's Hill the Souldiers rid round it on Horse-back full speed whilst it was burning his own Sons having first kindled the Fire Herodian gives us a long Description of his Funeral Pile and of the manner of burning the Body of a Roman Emperour which being too tedious to be here recited those who are desirous of reading the Description of this Spectacle may find it at large in this Author His Bones being put in an Urn of Porphiry were carried by his Sons to Rome and placed in the Sepulchre of the Antonines It is also said by Dion That Severus a little before his Death commanded this Urn to be brought to him and holding it in his hand to have spoke thus Must thou hold him whom the whole World could not contain Severus is described by this Author to have been in his old age Corpulent but of a strong Constitution thô much afflicted with the Gout of a sharp and excellent Wit a Lover of good Letters in which thô he was a sufficient Master yet was more able to express it by Writing than Words grateful towards his Friends most cruel to his Enemies diligent in Affairs but careless of what Men said of him greedy of Money which he gathered by all means yet for that cause alone he never put any Man to Death He was magnificent in his publick Expences and built many new Edifices and repaired the old ones so that thô he spent vastly yet he left a great Treasure behind him But to add somewhat farther from others he was a great Enemy to Incontinence and Adultery and made strict Laws against it and had certainly as great a mixture of good and evil Qualities as ever were found in any one Man That he was both Perfidious and Cruel appears by his Dealing with Albinus as also with the Wife and Children of Niger whom thô innocent he caused to be put to Death whilst his own Son who had attempted upon his Life and Empire he easily Pardoned which whether he did out of Love to him or weariness of Life as sated with Honour and Power may be doubted and if he had been then a young Man perhaps he would have acted otherwise I have insisted the longer upon the Character of this Prince as being one of the greatest and most fortunate of all the Roman Emperours But having given you an account of the last Words and Actions of Severus in Britain I cannot but here take notice of a notorious Falshood in Geoffery of Monmouth in this part of his History and whereby you may judge of his Skill in the Roman History and I shall give it you in the Words of a Learned Bishop Geoffery having found that Severus the Emperour died in Britain thought it most for the Honour of our Country to kill him fairly in Battle and therefore by power of Fancy he creates one Fulgentius to be General against him who being overpowered here at home went and fetched in the Picts out of Scythia and with their Aid fought Severus and killed him and was killed together for Company All which was Geoffery's own proper Invention And then having found that Severus left a Son Bassianus that was his Successor in the Roman Empire he makes his Britains set up this Bassianus to be their King on his Mother's account who must be the Sister of Fulgenius
Pope as well as the English did afterwards therefore it is most likely according to the Traditions given you in the Second Book that it was first preached and propagated here by some Apostle or Disciple of the Eastern or Asiatick Church And thô a late Romish Writer very much arraigns the Credit of this Manuscript as made since the Days of King Henry the Eighth and cavils at the Welsh thereof as Modern and full of false Spelling yet is not this any material Exception against it since the Welsh used in it is not so Modern as he would make it as I am credibly informed by those who are Criticks in that Language and as for the Spelling that may be the fault of the Transcribers And thô the Archiepiscopal See was then removed from Caer-Leon to St. David's yet it might still retain the former Title as of the first and most famous Place About which time Arch-Bishop Augustine is supposed by the best Chronologers to have departed this Life thô the certain Year of his Death is not to be found either in Bede or the Saxon Chronicle His Body was buried abroad near the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul till that could be finished and dedicated which as soon as that was done was decently buried in the Porch on the North-side of the Church in which were also buried all the succeeding Arch-Bishops except two viz. Theodore and Birthwald who were buried in the Church because the Porch would contain no more but his Epitaph thô it mentions his being sent by the Pope to convert the English Nation and his being the first Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and that he died in the 7th of the Kalends of June in the Reign of King Ethelbert yet omits the Year of that King's Reign as well as that of our Lord in which he died I suppose because the Year of Christ was not then commonly made use of either in the Ecclesiastical or Civil Accounts of that Time but of this we shall treat further hereafter Under this Year Bede also places the Death of Pope Gregory the Great of whose Life and Actions he gives us a long Account to which I refer you but the Saxon Chronicle puts off the Death of this Pope to the next Year but I rather follow Bede as the ancienter and more authentick Author The same Year is also very remarkable for Civil as well as Ecclesiastical Affairs in this Island for now King Ethelbert summoned a Mycel Synod or Great Council as well of the Clergy as Laity wherein by their common Consent and Approbation all the Grants and Charters of this King whereby he had settled great Endowments on Christ-Church and that of St. Pancrace in Canterbury were confirmed which had been before the old ruinous Church of St. Martin without the City already mentioned but the Charters now made and confirmed by King Ethelbert in this Council are almost word for word the same with those he had made by himself before with heavy Imprecations against any who should dare to infringe them as you may see in Sir H. Spelman's First-Volume of British Councils where this Learned Author in his Notes farther shews us that these Charters above-mentioned are very suspicious of being forged in many respects as First That this King there stiles himself King of the English in general whereas indeed he was no more than King of Kent Secondly Because the Year of our Lord is expressed at their Conclusion which was not in use till long after Besides an old Manuscript of the Church of Canterbury says expresly That the Monks of the Monastery had their Lands and Priviledges by a long and peaceable Possession according to Custom until King Wightred Anno Dom. 693 made them a confirmation of all their Priviledges by a Charter under his Soul There are also other Exceptions against the Bull that is there recited to be Arch-Bishop Augustine's which you may see at large in those Learned Notes above-mentioned In this great Council or Synod among many other Secular Laws and Decrees these deserve particularly to be taken notice of the first Law assigns the Penalty of Sacriledge appointing what Amends is to be made for Things taken from a Bishop by a Restitution of nine times the value from a Priest by a Ninth and from a Deacon by a Threefold Restitution The Second Law is That if the King summon'd his People and any Man should presume then to do them Injury he shall make double Amends to the Party and besides shall pay Fifty Shillings to the King The Third Law is That if the King shall drink in a Man's House and there be any Injury done in his Presence the Party so doing it shall make double Satisfaction the rest that follow since they belong only to the Correction of Manners are omitted To these Laws Bede relates when he says That King Ethelbert amongst other good Things which he conferr'd upon his Nation appointed certain Laws concerning Judgments by the Councel of his wise Men according to the Example of the Romans which being written in the English Tongue were yet kept and observed by them to this time and then mentions some of those Laws to the same effect as they are already expressed This Year was fulfilled Arch-Bishop Augustine's Prediction upon the Britains for as Bede and the Saxon Annals relate Ethelfrid King of Northumberland now led his Army to Leger-Ceaster and there killed a great multitude of Britains and so was fulfilled the Prophecy of Augustine above-mentioned and there were then killed 200 Priests or Monks who came thither to prey for the British Army but in Florence of Worcester's Copy it was 2200 but Brockmaile who was to be their Protector escaped with about 50 Men. H. Huntington gives a more particular account of this Action and says That King Ethelfrid having gathered together a powerful Army made a great Slaughter of the Britains near the City of Legions which is called by the English Lege Cestre but more rightly by the Britains Caerlegion so that it is evident it cannot be Leicester as our common Historians write but West-Chester which lay near the Borders of King Ethelfrid's Kingdom where this Battle was fought This Author further adds That when the King saw those Priests or Monks of the Abby of Bangor who came out to pray for the Army ranged by themselves in a place of Safety having one Brockmaile for their Defender and that the King knew for what end they came thither he presently said If these Men pray to their GOD against us though they do not make use of Arms yet do they as â—eally fight against us as if they did And so he commanded his Forces to be first turned upon them who being all cut off he presently defeated the rest of the Army without any great difficulty and he also agrees with Florence of Worcester's Relation of the number of the Monks there slain and accuses their Defender Brockmaile of Cowardice
all Ireland for so it was then commonly called for near Four Hundred Years after this and he therein complains of Draganus an Irish Bishop who coming over hither would not so much as Eat in the same House with him at which time also Laurentius wrote Letters not only to his fellow Bishops in Ireland but also to the British Clergy in Wales to the same purpose as the former but how well he succeeded therein the present time says Bede declares about which Year also Mellitus Bishop of London was sent to Rome to confer with Pope Boniface concerning the necessary Affairs of the English Church when the Pope held a Synod at Rome with the Bishops of Italy concerning the Life and Conversation of the Monks where he sate with them This Synod was held in the Eighth Year of Emperour Phocas and the Bishop at his return brought back the Decrees of that Council together with the Pope's Letters to Arch-Bishop Laurence and all the Clergy as also to King Ethelbert and the whole English Nation This Year also Sebert King of the East-Saxons Founded the Church and Abbey of Westminster and Mellitus the Bishop Dedicated it to St. Peter thô for what Order of Monks is uncertain since they were driven out after the Death of Sebert by his Successours who continued Pagans for many Years after This Year according to Florence Ceolwulf dying Cynegils began to Reign over the West Saxons for Thirty One Years being the Son of Ceolric who was the Son of Cutha who as we have heard was slain fighting against the Britains some Years before Cynegils and Cwichelme fought against the Britains at Beamdune now Bindon in Dorsetshire and there slew Two Thousand and Forty Six Men which Battel H. Huntington thus describes The Saxon and British Troops being drawn up in Battel Array the Fight immediately began when the Britains fearing the weight of the Saxon Battel Axes and long Launces turn'd their backs and fled so that the Saxons obtain'd the Victory without any great loss on their side and he also agrees pretty near in the number of the slain with our Saxon Annals This Cwichelme here mentioned is by Will of Malmesbury said to be Brother of Cynegils and to be by him taken as his Partner in the Royal Power But Florence of Worcester and Mat. Westminster do make Cwichelme to have been the Son of Cinegils thô the former Opinion be the more likely but let it be either of them it is certain that they were both of them Stout and good natured Persons who governed with that mutual Love and Concord as it was a wonder to the Age in which they liv'd so ought it to be an example to all future times Thô the Cathedral of Christ Church in Canterbury had been already built about Twenty Years yet it seems the Monastery adjoyning to it was not founded till this Year as appears not only from the Manuscript above mentioned once belonging to the Monastery of St. Augustine but also from Will of Malmesbury that in the time of Arch-Bishop Laurence and about this very Year that it was first replenished with Monks as appears by a Letter of Pope Boniface to King Ethelbert whereby he approves of and confirms the Foundation of the said Abby by the said Arch-Bishop which Letter though Will. of Malmesbury had promised to recite yet being by him forgot or else ommitted in our Printed Copies is to be found at large in the said Manuscript concerning which Monastery the afore-cited Author farther adds That though some had said that Arch-Bishop Aelfric had thrust out the Clerks i. e. secular Chanons out of that Church and had placed Monks in their rooms yet was it not at all probable since it appeared by the said Epistle of Pope Boniface that there had been Monks in the Church of St. Saviour from the first foundation of that Monastery in the time of Arch-Bishop Laurence who succeeded St. Augustine But it hath been denyed by Cardinal Baronius in his Annals as also by some later Antiquaries of what Order these Monks were whom Augustine and Laurentius placed in these two Monasteries above mention'd and that a late ingenious Authour in his Preface to a Treatise called Notitia Monastica hath questioned whether they were of the Benedictine Order since he rather supposes That the Benedictine Rule was scarce heard of in England till some Hundreds of Years after and never perfectly observed till after the Conquest but he should have done well to have told us what other Order they were of since the general Tradition in most of the Ancient English Monasteries of the Benedâ—ctine Order was That they had observed that Rule from their first foundation And the Saxon Annals under the Year 509 do expresly affirm That St. Benedict the Father of all the Monks dyed that Year And he had long before his Death founded his Order in Italy and of which Augustine himself is supposed to have been and though I also acknowledge that all the ancient Monasteries of England were not at first of that Order since those that were founded in the Kingdom of Northumberland by the Bishops Aidan and Coleman followed the same Rule with the Monks of Ireland and Scotland viz. That of St. Basil which all the Eastern Monks did then and do to this day observe yet even these did about an Hundred Years after quit that Rule and follow the more Modern one of St. Benedict and therefore Stephen Heddie in his Life of St. Wilfred Bishop of York lately published by the learned Dr. Gale hath expresly told us That the said Bishop returning home into his own Country i. e. the Kingdom of Northumberland and carrying along with him the Rule of St. Benedict very much improved the Constitutions of God's Churches by which he meant the Monasteries of those Parts And therefore the Chronology once belonging to the Abby of St. Augustine's in Canterbury printed in the Decem scriptores after Will. Thornes Chronicle under Anno 666 upon very good grounds thus observes That this Year Bishop Wilfred caused the Rule of St. Benedict to be observed in England That is in the North Parts into which he then went for if that Rule had not been observed in the Southern Parts before How could it be said that he carried it out from thence along with him but to conclude there having been a dispute among the Roman Catholicks beyond the Seas about Seventy Years ago concerning this matter some of them affirming that all the ancient English Monks before the Conquest were of the Order of St. Equitus or else of some other Order whereupon those of the Benedictine Order wrote over to our Antiquaries in England viz. Sir Robert Cotton Sir H. Spelman Mr. Camden and Mr. Selden appealing to their Judgment herein From whom they received a Letter under all their Hands wherein they expresly certified that there was never any such Order as that of St. Equitus and further
assistance to revenge their quarrel which happen'd the next Year as the same Authour relates For This Year not long before the Death of King Egfrid that Holy Man Cuthbert was by the same King ordered to be ordained Bishop of Lindisfarne thô he was at first chosen to be Bishop of Hagulstaed instead of Trumbert who had been before deposed from that Bishoprick yet because Cuthbert liked the Church of Lindisfarne better in which he had so long convers'd Eatta was made to return to the See of Hagulstad to which he was at first ordained whilest Cuthbert took the Bishoprick of Lindisfarne But I shall now give you from Bede a farther account of the Life of this good Bishop he had been first bred in the Monastery of Mailross and was afterwards made Abbot of the Monastery of Lindisfarne retiring from whence he had for a long time lived the Life of an Anchorite in the Isle of Farne not far distant but when there was a great Synod assembled King Egfrid being present at a place called Twiford near the River Alne where Arch-Bishop Theodore presiding Cuthbert was by the general consent of them all chosen Bishop who when he could not by any Messages or Letters be drawn from his Cell at length the King himself with Bishop Trumwin and other Noble and Religious Persons sailed thither where they at last after many intreaties prevailed upon him to go with them to the Synod and when he came there thô he very much opposed it yet he was forced to accept the Episcopal Charge and so was consecrated Bishop the Easter following and after his Consecration in imitation of the blessed Appostles he adorned his calling by his good Works for he constantly taught the People commited to his Charge and incited them to the love of Heaven by his constant Prayers and Exhoâ—tations and which is the chief part of a Teacher whatsoever he Taught he himself first practised so having lived in this manner about Two Years being then sensible that the time of his Death or rather of his future Life drew near he again retired to the same Island and Hermitage from whence he came The same Year also King Egfrid rashly lead out his Army to destroy the Province of the Picts thô his Friends and principally Bishop Cuthbert did all they could to hinder it and having now entred the Country he was brought before he was aware by the feigned flight of his Enemies between the streights of certain inaccessible Mountains where he with the greatest part of his Forces he had brought with him were all cut off in the Fortieth Year of his Age and the Fifteenth of his Reign And as the Year aforegoing he refused to hear Bishop Cuthbert who diswaded him from invading Ireland which did him no harm so Bede observes it was a just Judgment upon him for that Sin that he would not hear those who would then have prevented his Ruine From this time the Grandeur and Valour of this Kingdom of the Northumbers began to decline for the Picts now recovered their Country which the English had taken away and the Scots that were in Britain with some part of the Britains themselves regain'd their Liberty which they did enjoy for the space of Forty Six Years after when Bede wrote his History But Alfred Brother to this King succeeding him quickly recovered his Kingdom thô reduced into narrower bounds He was also a Prince very well read in the Holy Scriptures The same Year as the Saxon Annals relate Kentwin King of the West-Saxons dying Ceadwalla began to Reign over that Kingdom whose Pedegree is there inserted which I shall refer to another place and the same Year also died Lothair King of Kent as Bede relates of the Wounds he had received in a Fight against the South Saxons in which Edric his Brother Egbert's Son Commanded against him and reigned in his stead This Year also according to the Annals John was consecrated Bishop of Hugulstad and remained so till Bishop Wilfrith's return but afterwards Bishop Bosâ— dying John became Bishop of York but from thence many Years after retired to his Monastry in Derawnde now called Beverlie in York-shire This Year it rained Blood in Britain and also Milk and Butter were now turned into somewhat like Blood You are here to take notice that this Bishop John above mentioned is the famous St. John of Beverlie of whom Bede in the next Book tells so many Miracles But our Annals do here require some farther Illustration for this Ceadwalla here mentioned was the Grandson of Ceawlin by his Brother Cutha who being a Youth of great hopes was driven into Banishment by his Predecessour and as Stephen Heddi in Bishop Wilfrid's Life relates lay concealed among the Woods and Desarts of Chyltern and Ondred and there remained for a long time till raising an Army thô Bede does not say from whence he slew Aldelwald King of the South-Saxons and seized upon his Province but was soon driven out by two of that King's Captains viz. Bertune and Autune who for some time kept that Kingdom to themselves the former of whom was afterwards slain by the same Ceadwalla when he became King of the West-Saxons but the other who reigned after him again set it free from that servitude for many Years from whence it happen'd that all that time they had no Bishop of their own for when Wilfrid return'd home they became subject to the Bishop of the West-Saxons that is of Dorchester which return as the Author of Wilfrid's Life relates happen'd this Year being the Second of King Alfred's Reign who then invited him home and restored him to his Bishoprick as also to his Monastery at Rypun together with all his other Revenues according to the Decree of Pope Agatho and the Council at Rome above mentioned all which he enjoyed till his second Expulsion as you will hear in due time After Ceadwalla had obtain'd the Kingdom he subdued the Isle of Wight which was as yet infected with Idolatry and therefore this King resolved to destroy all the Inhabitants and to Plant the Island with his own Subjects obliging himself by a Vow althô he himself as it is reported was not yet baptized that he would give the Fourth part of his Conquests to God which he made good by offering it to Bishop Wilfrid who was then come thither by chance out of his own Country The Island consisted of about Two Thousand Families and the King bestowed upon this Bishop as much Land there as then maintained Three Hundred Families the Care of all which the Bishop committed to one of his Clerks named Bernwin his Sisters Son who was to Baptize all those that would be saved Bede also adds That amongst the first Fruits of Believers in that Island there were two Royal Youths Brothers who were the Sons of Arwald late King thereof who having hid themselves for fear of King Ceadwalla were at last discovered and by
relates Swebriht King of the East-Saxons died this Year Eadbriht or Egbert the Son of Eatta who was the Son of Leodwald began to Reign in the Kingdom of the Northumbers and held it One and Twenty Years Egbert Arch-Bishop of York was his Brother who were both buried in the City of York in the same Church-Porch But it there is an over-sight in these Annals for this Eadbriht above mentioned must be the same with Eadbriht under the former Year This Year also according to Simeon of Durham Swebright King of the East-Saxons died Ceolwulf late King of Northumberland died this Year according to Mat. Westminster in the Monastery of Lindisfarne Also as Simeon of Durham relates Nothelm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury deceased but the Saxon Annals defer his Death two Years longer This Year Acca Bishop of Hagulstad deceased who as the same Author relates was had in great Reverence not only during his Life but also after his Decease for his great Sanctity and supposed Miracles King Ethelred deceased and Cuthred his Cousin succeeded in the Kingdom of the West Saxons and held it 16 Years This King made sharp War against Ethelbald King of the Mercians and that with various Success as H. Huntington tells us sometimes making Peace and then again renewing the War This Year also Nothelm the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury deceased and Cuthbriht was Consecrated in his stead as was also Dun Bishop of Rochester after the Death of Eadulph ' This Year also the City of York was burnt together with the Monastery as Simeon has it Now was held the great Synod at Cloveshoe where were present Ethelbald King of the Mercians and Cuthbert the Arch-Bishop with many other wise Men. Where this Cloveshoe was is now very uncertain since the Name is wholly lost some suppose it to have been Cliffe in Kent near Gravesend but it is not likely that Ethelbald being now the chief King of England would permit this Council to have been held out of his own Dominions so that others suppose it to have been Abingdon in Berkshire which was anciently called Secvesham where as the old Book of that Abbey tells us was anciently a Royal Seat of the Kings and where there used to be great Assemblies of the People concerning the arduous Affairs of the Mercian Kingdom But thô we are more certain of the Decrees of this Council than of the Place where it was held yet since it was a meer Ecclesiastical Synod and no great Council of that Kingdom and that its Decrees were chiefly made in Confirmation of the Charter of King Withred concerning free Elections to Monasteries in Kent according to the Directions of the Archbishop of Canterbury I shall refer you to the Canons themselves as they are to be found in the Decem Scriptores and Sir H. Spelman's British Councils and shall only take notice of this one that now Bishops were first ordered to visit their Diocesses once a Year This Year Ethelbald King of the Mercians and Cuthred King of the West Saxons fought against the Britains H. Huntington tell us That these two Kings now joyning their Forces brought two great Armies into the Field against the Welsh-men who not being able to defend themselves were forced to flie leaving great Spoils behind them so both the Kings returned home Victorious According to Florence of Worcester Wilfred the second Bishop of York of that Name died after he had fate 30 Years Also this Year according to the Annals Daniel resigned the Bishoprick of Winchester being worn out by Age and Hunferth succeeded him and they say the Stars seemed to fall from Heaven But Simeon of Durham calls them with more probability such Lightnings as those of that Age had never before seen About this time also according to Simeon there happened a great Fight between the Picts and the Britains I suppose he means those of Camberland for no other Britains lay near the Picts This year Bishop Daniel above-mentioned deceased after he had been 43 years Bishop ' This year Selred King of the East-Saxons was slain But by whom or which way is not here said This Selred was Sirnamed The Good and reigned 38 years Switheard King of the East-Angles dying Elfwold succeeded him as the Chronicle of Mailros relates This Year also was held the second Council at Cloveshoe under Cuthbert Arch-Bishop of Canterbury there being present beside the Bishops Abbots and many Ecclesiasticks Ethelbald King of the Mercians with his chief Men and Ealdermen In which besides many Decrees concerning the Unity of the Church and for promoting Peace which you may see at large in Sir H. Spelman's First Volume of Councils and after the reading of Pope Zachary's Letters to the People of England to live more continently These among other Decrees were likewise passed viz. 1. That the Reading of the Holy Scriptures be more constantly used in Monasteries 2. That Priests receive no Reward for baptizing Children or for other Sacraments 3. That they learn the Creed and the Lord's Prayer in English and are likewise to understand and interpret into their own Tongue the Words of Consecration in the Celebration of Mass and also of Baptism c. This year Cynric Aetheling that is Prince of the Blood-Royal of the West Saxons was slain and Eadbriht King of Kent died after six Years Reign and Ethelbryht the Son of King Withred succeeded him This Cynric was he whom H. Huntington relates to be Son of Cuthred King of the West Saxons who thô young in Years was a great Warriour for his time yet perished in a sudden Sedition of his own Souldiers but where he does not say Simeon affirms That Elfwald King of the East Angles now dying Hunbeanna and Albert divided that Kingdom between them but what relation they had to the late King he does not tell us This year Cuthred King of the West Saxons in the 12th Year of his Reign fought against Ethelune that couragious Ealderman H. Huntington calls him a bold Earl who moved Sedition against his Lord and thô he were inferiour in the number of his Souldiers yet maintained the Fight a great while by his sole Courage and Conduct but while he was ready to get the Victory a Wound he then unfortunately received so disabled him and disheartened his Men that the King's being the stronger as well as the juster Side did thereby prevail Also the same Year according to Simeon of Durham and the Chronicle of Mailros Eadbert King of Northumberland led Kynwulf Bishop of Lindisfarne Prisoner to the City of Beban who it seems had some ways rebelled against him for he then also caused the Cathedral Church of Lindisfarne to be besieged The same Year as Bede's Continuator relates Eadbert King of Northumberland made War upon the Picts and subdued all the Country of Kyle with other Territories joyning them to his own Dominions This Year according to the Saxon Annals King
Cuthred fought against the Britains But of this the Welsh Chronicles are silent as well as other Authors The same Year also being the 12th Year of his Reign King Cuthred fought against Aethelbald King of the Mercians at Beorgford now Burford in Oxfordshire and there put him to flight But H. Huntington gives us this Battle more at large That King Cuthred being not any longer able to bear the Insolencies and Impositions of that proud King Ethelbald took Arms and met him with an Army in the Field preferring his Liberty before his Life being encouraged by Earl Ethelune above-mentioned who it seems was now cured and reconciled to the King relying upon whose Courage and Council he resolved to undertake this War but Ethelbald as a King of Kings had brought along with him besides his own Mercians the Kentish Men with the East Angles and Saxons which made all together a very great Army and being both drawn up on the Spot they approached each other whilst Earl Athelune marching before the West Saxons carried the Royal Standard being a Golden Dragon and in the beginning of the Battle challenging him to a single Combat there slew the Standard-bearer of the Enemy upon which a great Shout being given Cuthred's Souldiers were very much encouraged then both Armies engaging there followed a great and bloody Fight of which our Author gives us a long and pompous Relation Pride and Ambition says he inciting the Mercians and fear of Servitude provoking the West Saxons to fight it to the last but wherever Earl Ethelune charged the Enemies he with the force of his invincible Battle-Axe destroyed all before him but at last K. Ethelbald and the Earl meeting they fought together with great Obstinacy and Resolution till GOD who resisteth the Proud so discouraged this King that he turned his Back and fled whilst his Men still fought on yet at last they were all routed nor from that time to the day of his Death did GOD give him any more Success Cuthred King of the West Saxons departed this Life and according to Simeon Sigebert his Cousin succeeded him Also Cyneheard succeeded in the Bishoprick of Winchester after Hunferth and the same year the City of Canterbury was burnt This Year was very remarkable for now as our Annals inform us Cynwulf with the Wife and Noble Men of the West Saxons deprived King Sigebert of the whole Kingdom for his Cruelty and Injustice except Hampshire which he kept for some time until he slew one Cumbran an Ealderman who had continued longest with him so that at last Sigebert was driven into Andred's Wood where he remained till such time as a certain Hogheard ran him through with a Lance at Pruutes-Flood and thereby revenged the Death of Cumbran the Ealderman This King Cynwulf often overcame the Britains in Fight but after he had governed the Kingdom about 30 Years he was slain by Cyneheard Aetheling brother to Sigebert as shall be shewn hereafter H. Huntington is very particular in the Reasons and manner of King Sigebert's Deposition and tells us That being puff'd up with the good Succâ—ss of his Predecessours he grew intollerable to his Subjects for he had oppressed them by all manner of ways and wrested the Laws for his own Advantage insomuch that this Cumbran one of his noblest Earls at the Desire of the People represented their Grievances to this cruel King who because he perswaded him that he should govern them more gently and thereby become more beloved both by God and Man he presently commanded him to be slain and so daily increased in his Tyranny till in the beginning of his Second Year the Great Men and People of the whole Kingdom being gathered together by the Provident Deliberation and Unanimous Consent of them All he was expell'd the Kingdom and Cinewulf a notable young Man of the Blood Royal was Elected King in his room This is the first Example we have in our English History of the Solemn Deposition of a King by the Authority of the Great Council of the Kingdom concerning whom our Author bids us remark the manifold Justice and Providence of God how sometimes it doth not only recompence Kings according to their Merits in the World to come but also in this for oftentimes setting up Wicked Kings for the Deserved Punishment of their Subjects he lets some of them Tyrannize a great while that so a wicked People might be punished and the King becoming more wicked may be tormented for ever as may be seen in Aethelbald King of Mercia above-mentioned whilst God cuts others short by a speedy Destruction lest his People being oppress'd by too great Tyranny should not be able to subsist under it so that the immoderate Wickedness of a Prince does often accelerate his Punishment The same Year according to Caradoc's Chronicle published by Dr. Powel Conan Tindaethwy Son of Rodri Molwynoc began his Reign over the Britains in Wales This Year also according to the Saxon Annals Aethelbald King of the Mercians was slain at Seccandune now Secington in Warwickshire after he had reigned 41 Years and then Beornred usurped the Kingdom and held it but a little while and that with great Trouble for the same year King Offa expelled Beornred and taking Possession of the Throne held it 39 Years but his Son Egberth no more than 140 Days This Offa was the Son of Thincerth and he the Son of Eanwulf The rest of his Pedigree as far as Woden I omit Abbot Bromton's Chronicle farther adds concerning the Death of King Ethelbald That he was slain in a Fight at the Place above-mention'd yet was it not by the Enemy but by the Treachery of this Beornred Ingulph in his History of Croyland tells us That King Ethelbald having founded the Abby of Ripendune now Repton in Derbyshire being the most famous of that Age was there buried and also of this Beornred whom he calls a Tyrant that he did not long enjoy his Usurpation for it seems he was not of the Blood Royal of the Mercian Kings but when he was Expelled Offa succeeded him by the General Consent of the Nobles of Mercia but Mat. Westminster who puts the Succession of King Offa two Years later is more particular in this Transaction and relates That this Beornred governing very Tyrannically the whole Nation of the Mercians rose up against him so that both the Nobility and Commons joyning together under the Conduct of Offa a valiant young Man Nephew to the late King Aethelbald they expelled Beornred the Kingdom and then Offa by the General Consent of the Clergy and Laity of that Kingdom was crowned King This was that King Offa who afterwards became a Terrour to all the Kings of England Eadbert King of Northumberland and Unust King of the Picts brought an Army against the City Alkuith which the Britains delivered upon Conditions This is from the Authority of Simeon of Durham and lets us see that this City now in Scotland was then in the Hands
Also this Year the Body of St. Wihtburh was found at Durham entire and uncorrupt after she had been dead 55 Years And the same Year according to Roger Hoveden Osâ—ald who had been before King of Northumberland died an Abbot and was buried in York Minster and Alred the Ealderman who slew King Aethelred was also killed by one Thormond in Revenge of the Death of his Lord. Also the Moon was Eclipsed in the second Hour of the Night 17 o Kal. Feb. Also this Year Beorthric or Brihtrick King of the West Saxons deceased As also Worre an Ealderman Then also Ecgbriht began to Reign over the West Saxons and the same Day or Year as Florence of Worcester hath it Aethelmond Ealderman of Wiccon that is Worcestershire pass'd the River Severne at Cynesmeresford suppose to be Kemsford in Glocestershire and there met him Weoxton the Ealdormen with the Wiltshire Men who gained the Victory I cannot find in any Author the occasion of this Quarrel only that it was fought between these Earls one of the West Saxons and the other of the Mercians but such Bickerings we often meet with in these Writers and so related are of no more use to Human Life than to Chronicle the Skirmishes of Crows or Jack daws flocking together and Fighting in Air. The same Year is very remarkable because as our Annals relate Charles the Great was first made Emperour and saluted Augustus by the Romans he then condemned those to Death who had before outraged Pope Leo but by the Pope's Intercession they were pardoned as to Life and only banished but Pope Leo himself anointed him Emperour Also this Year according to the Welsh Chronicles Publisht by Arthen ap Sitsilt King of Cardigan and Run King of Divet and Cadel King of Powâ—s all three died Now also according to Florence and Simeon Alchmaid Son to Ethelred late King of Northumberland being taken by the Guards of K. Eardulf was by his Command slain but without telling us any Reason why Also about this time according to Sir H. Spelman's First Volume of Councils was held the Third Council of Cloveshoe under Kenwulf King of the Mercians and Athelherd or Ethelhard Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with all the Bishops Ealderman Abbots and other Dignified Persons of that Province in which few Things were transacted concerning the Faith only the Lands of a certain Monastery called Cotham which had been given by Ethelbald King of the Mercians to the Monastery of St. Saviours's in Canterbury and had been upon the Embezeling the Deeds unjustly taken away by King Kenwulph but he now repenting of it desired they should be restored whereupon Cynedrith his Daughter then Abbess of that Monastery gave the said Arch-Bishop other Lands in Kent there mentioned in exchange for the same But since I am come to the Conclusion of this Period I cannot omit giving you a fuller Account of the Character and Death of Brithric King of the West Saxons and of the Succession of Egbert who afterwards became the Chief or Supreme King of this Kingdom and to whom all those Kings that remained were forced to become Tributary As for King Britric he is noted by Will of Malmesbury to have been more desirous of Peace than War and to that end courted the Friendship of Foreign Princes to have been easie to his Subjects in such Things as did not weaken his Government yet being jealous of Prince Egbert who afterwards succeeded him he forced him to flee to King Offa for Refuge but upon the coming of certain Ambassadours to Treat of a Marriage between King Brithric and the Daughter of King Offa he retired into France till that King was made away by the means of his Wife Aeadburga the Daughter of King Offa who having prepared a Cup of poisoned Wine for one of his Favourites whom she hated the King coming in by chance tasted of it and so pined away After whose Death Asser in his Annals relates That when this Queen could live no longer among the English being so hated by them for her violent and wicked Actions she went into France where she was kindly Entertained by Charles the Great and there making that Emperour many great Presents for which he bidding her chuse whom she would have for a Husband himself or his Son she foolishly chose his Son whereupon the Emperour laughing said If thou hadst chosen me thou shouldest have had my Son but now thou shalt have neither A just Return for her desiring to marry one so much younger than her self So the Emperour put her into a Monastery where she lived for some Years as an Abbess but being Expelled thence for her Incontinency she wandred about with only one Servant and begged her Bread in Pavia in Italy till she died But as for Egbert above mentioned when he had been for about three Years banished into France where as William of Malmesbury tells us he polished the Roughness of his own Country Manners the French Nation being at that time the most Civilized of any of those Gothic and German Nations who had some Ages before as hath been already related settled themselves in this side of Europe But upon the Death of King Brihtric without any Issue as the same Author relates he was recalled by the Nobility of the West Saxon Kingdom and being there ordained King reigned with great Glory and Honour exceeding all the English Saxon Kings that went before him as shall be declared in the ensuing Book But before I conclude this I cannot forbear mentioning a Learned English-man who flourished about this time called Alcuinus or Albinus who going into France was in great Favour with Charles the Great whom he taught the Liberal Arts and by his means erected the University of Paris where he read Logic Rhetoric and Astronomy being the most Learned Man of all the English-men if not of all others in his Time He died Abbot of St. Martins at Tours which that King bestowed upon him He wrote elegantly in Verse as well as Prose considering the Age he lived in as appears by his Poem De Pontificibus Sanctis Ecclesiae Eboracencis lately Published by the Reverend and Learned Dr. Gale in his last Volume of English Historians So having arrived to the end of this Period I shall in the next Book shew how King Egbert obtained not only the Crown of the West Saxon Kingdom but also the Supreme Dominion of the English Nation The End of the Fourth Book A Continuation of the Succession of the English-Saxon Kings contaiâ—ed in the former Book from the Saxon Annals Florence of 〈◊〉 and Simeon of Durham Note That the last King of each Column in the former Table is again repeated in this that the 〈◊〉 the better see how the Series is continued This Account differs sometimes from the Annals some few Years wherein they are certainly mistakâ—n The Chronology of the Kings of Wales is according to the Account of Mr Robert Vaughan and 〈◊〉 Maâ—uscript Welsh Châ—onicle
and the Charter of that King to the Abby of Croyland is confirmed under the Rule of St. Benedict and is supposed by Sir H. Spelman in his Councils to be a great Council of that Kingdom because it bears date in the Week of Easter when they were Assembled about the publick Affairs of the Kingdom at which time as also at Whitsontide and Christmass the great Men of the Kingdom were wont of course to attend at the King's Court to consult and ordain what should be necessary for the common Good when also the King used to appear in State with his Crown upon his head which custom of holding great Councils was also continued after the Norman Conquest to the middle of the Reign of Henry the Second as Sir H. Spelman learnedly observes in his Notes at the end of this Council This Year according to the Peterburgh Copy of the Saxon Annals Ceolred Abbot of Medeshamstead and his Monks leased out to one Wulfred the Land of Sempigaham perhaps Sempingham in Lincoln-shire on Condition That after his Death it should again revert to the Monastery he paying in the mean time a Yearly Rent of so many Loads of Wood Coals and Turf and so many Barrels of Beer and Ale and other Provisions with Thirty Shillings in Money as is there specified at which Agreement Burherd King of the Mercians who had now succeeded Beorthwulf was present together with Ceolred the Arch-Bishop with divers other Bishops Abbots and Ealdormen I have inserted this to let you see the form of Leasing out the Abbey Lands in those Days and which it seems required the Solemnity of the Common Council of that Kingdom to confirm it The same Year also according to Florence Berthulph King of the Mercians deceased and Burhed succeeded him Who this next Year together with his Wites that is the Wise Men of his Great Council desired King Aethelwulf that he would assist them to subdue the Northern Welshmen which he performed and marching with his Army through Mercia made the Men of North-Wales Subject to King Burhed but of this the Welsh Chronicles are silent This Year also King Aethelwulf sent his Son Aelfred to Pope Leo to Rome who there anointed him King and adopted him for his Episcopal Son It is much disputed among some of our Modern Historians of what the Pope anointed Alfred King whether of any present or else future Dominions But since an ancient Manuscript in the Cottonian Library containing an History of the Kings of England says expresly That he was anointed In Successorem Paterni Regni and that we do not read of any Territories King Alfred enjoyed till after the Death of his Brethren it is most reasonable to understand it in the plain Literal Sense as it is here set down not only in these Annals but in Asser's Account of this King's Life and Actions that the Pope anointed him King as a Prophetical Presage of his future Royal Dignity And the same Year Ealcher with the Kentish-men and Huda with the Surrey-men fought with the Danish Army in the Isle of Thanet and at first had the better of them but there were many killed and drowned on both sides and both the Ealdormen or Chief Commanders perished Also Burhed King of the Mercians now married the Daughter of King Ethelwulf Asser relates the Marriage to have been kept with great Solemnity at a Town of the King 's called Cippenham now Chipnam in Wiltshire This Year the Danes winter'd in Scepige or Sheppie and the same year King Aethelwulf discharged the Tenth part of his Land throughout his whole Kingdom of all Tribute or Taxes for the Honour of God and his own Salvation This being the famous and solemn Grant of King Aethelwulf concerning Tythes requires a more particular Relation and therefore I shall here give you the Words of the said Grant at large I Aethelwulf King of the West Saxons with the Councel or Consent of my Bishops and Chief Men c. have consented That a certain Hereditary Part of the Lands heretofore possess'd by all Orders and Degrees of Persons whether Men or Women Servants of GOD i. e. Monks or Nuns or meer Laicks shall give their Tenth Mansion and where it is least the Tenth Part of all their Goods free and discharged of all Secular Servitude and particularly of all Royal Tributes or Taxations as well the greater as the less which they call Wittereden which signifies a certain Fine or Forfeiture and that they be free from all other Things as Expedition building of a Bridge or fortifying of a Castle c. And that they may the more diligently pour out their Prayers to GOD for us without ceasing we do in some part discharge their other Service These Things were done in Winchester in the Church of St. Peter in the Year of our LORD's Incarnation 855 the Third Indiction on the Nones of November before the great Altar in Honour of the Glorious Virgin Mary the Mother of GOD St. Michael the Arch-Angel and St. Peter Prince of the Apostles as also of our blessed Father Pope Gregory all the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of England being present and subscribing to it as also Beorhed King of Mercia together with the Abbots Abbesses Earls and other chief Men of the whole Kingdom with an infinite multitude of other Believers who all of them have witnessed and consented to the Royal Grant but the Dignitaries have thereunto subscribed their Names But as Ingulph relates King Aethelwulf for the greater firmness thereof offered this Charter at the Altar of St. Peter at Rome but that the Bishops received it in the Faith of God and transmitted it to be published throughout all the Churches in their several Diocesses Thô this Grant of Tithes is mentioned by the Annals as to be made before the King 's going to Rome yet it appears by the Date as also from Asser and Ingulph not to have been done till after his Return from thence which makes Sir H. Spelman conjecture and not without good Grounds that this Grant was twice made once before his going to Rome it being there confirmed by the Pope and was also regranted by a Great Council of the Kingdom after his Return as appears by the Charter here recited I have been the more exact in reciting this Law concerning Tythes both because it gives us the form of passing an Act in the great Council of the Kingdom at that time and who were the Parties to it as also because this was the first general Law that was ever made in a Mycel Synod of the whole Kingdom for the payment of Tythes thô I do not deny but there had been before some particular Laws of King Ina and King Offa to the same effect yet those could only oblige the West Saxon and Mercian Kingdoms The next Year also according to Florence and Asser's Chronicle K. Aethelwulf went to Rome carrying Aelfred his youngest and best beloved Son along with him but
commanded them to be observed by all Englishmen under which name the Saxon and Jutes were then included The first of his Laws requires as most necessary to all his Subjects that each Man keep his Oath or Pledge i. e. his promise to observe the Laws and keep the Peace and if any should be compelled to Swear or deposite a pledge whereby he may be bound to betray his Lord or unjustly to assist any Person he ought to break his promise rather than perform it But in case he hath engaged to perform any thing which might justly be done and doth it not his Arms and all his personal Estate shall be put into the hands of his Friends and he himself kept in the King's Prison for Forty Days till he undergo that Pennance which the Bishop shall enjoin him and also his Friends i. e. Relations require of him but if he have not wherewith to sustain himself in the mean while if his Kindred are not able to provide him Victuals the King's Officer shall do it but if he resist and be taken by force he shall forfeit both his Arms and his personal Estate and if he be killed nothing shall be paid as the Value of his Head and in case he escape before his time viz. of Forty Days be out and be retaken he shall be returned back again to Prison for other Forty Days If he escape he shall have no benefit of the Laws but be Excommunicated from all Christs Churches and if any Man have been security in his behalf he shall make satisfaction for it according to Right and do Pennance till he make such satisfaction as his Priest shall appoint The Second bears the Title of the Immunity of the Church and we shall speak of it among the Ecclesiastical Constitutions The Third is concerning the breach of the King's Surety-ship by the payment of a Mulct of Five Pounds of Mercian i.e. larger Money but the Violation of Surety-ship or the Peace made to an Arch-Bishop by a fine of Three Pounds and if any one break or forfeit the King's Pledge or Recognizance he shall make amends according to Right and the breach of the Surety-ship to a Bishop or Ealdorman by two Pounds The Fourth Law is concerning the Death of the King or any other Lord If any one that either by himself alone or by any other person shall attempt against the King's Life he shall lose his Life and Goods but if he will purge himself let him do it according to the valuation of the King's Head the same is also ordained in all Judgments concerning other Men whether Noble or Ignoble whosoever Conspires against his Lord shall lose both his Life and Estate or else pay the Valuation of his Lord's Head From which Laws we may observe That according to the custom of those Times there was a Rate set upon every Man's Life even upon the King's himself if he were killed The Seventh Law is against Fighters in the King's Palace If any Man shall Fight or shall draw a Weapon in his House his Life shall lye at the King's Mercy whether he will Pardon him or not but if the offender flee and be taken he shall redeem his Life with the price of his head or be fined according to his Offence Whereby it appears that the Offender might have redeemed this crime with Money at the first or else the last Clause had been vain The Ninth Law ordains What mulct a Man shall pay that Kills a Woman with Child which was to be according to the Value of her head and he was also to pay for the Child in her Womb half as much as for a living one according to the quality of its Father The Tenth ordains What fines or amends every Man shall pay to a Husband for committing Adultery with his Wife which was to be encreased according to the Estate or Quality of him against whom the Offence was committed The rest of the Law being about the quantity of the mulcts appointed for several Thefts I omit The Eleventh appoints What mulct a Man shall pay that wantonly handles the Breasts of a Country Man's Wife or offers her any Violence as by flinging her down c. though he does not lye with her This shews how careful the ancient English Saxons were of the Persons and Chastity even of the meanest Subjects I shall skip over a great many of the other Laws they only ordaining penalties for several petty trespasses and small Offences and shall pass To the Twenty Sixth Law Which appoints what mulcts shall be paid by those who shall Kill in Troops or Companies and also to whom these Mulcts were to be paid If the Slain and Innocent Party were an Ordinary Person that is one whose head was valued but at Two Hundred Shillings he that slew him must pay the value of his head and a Fine besides to his Kindred Also every one that was in the Company must pay Thirty Shillings which Penalty was still to be encreased according to the Value of the Estate of the Party Slain so that as the Penalty for the Death of a Man valued at Twelve Hundred Shillings every one that was present shall pay 120 Shillings and the Man slayer himself the price of his Head and a Fine besidâ—s But in case the whole Company shall deny that he gave the Mortal Wound all of them are to be impeached together and to pay both the Value and the Fine besides Now concerning this Troop or Company which our Saxon Ancestors called Hlothe how many Men made up one of them the Reader may please to take notice that by the Laws of King Ina they were to be above Thirty The Twenty Seventh appoints What share of the Mulct or satisfaction a Man's Kindred by the Mothers side shall receive in case he have no kindred on his Father's side and what share those of his Guild or Fraternity shall pay in case he have committed Man-Slaughter in a quarrel viz. The former shall pay a Third part and the latter one half of the price of the head of the party slain But whether by those here mentioned of the same Guild are meant such as were fellow Contributors to the same Parish Feasts in honour of the Saints as was the Custom of those Times or else which is more likely such as were bound together in the same Decenary or Tything it being very obscure I shall not take upon me to determine The Twenty Eighth Laws was made against publick defamers or spreaders of false news whereby is meant spreaders of false news against the Government and Commands that such a one being Convicted shou'd suffer no less punishment than the cuting out of his Tongue except he redeem it by payment of the value of his Head and even then he was afterwards to be esteemed of no Credit The Thirtieth Ordains That Merchants when they Land shall bring such as come on Shore with them before the King's Officers in Folcmote and
and instead thereof engaged the Prince of Wales to send him a Yearly Tribute of so many Wolves Heads in lieu of that Tribute which the said Prince performed till within some Years there being no more Wolves to be found either in England or Wales that Tribute ceased But to proceed with our Annals This Year deceased Aelfgar Cousin to the King and Earl also of Devonshire whose Body lies buried at Wilton Sigeferth likewise here called a King though he was indeed no more than Vice-King or Earl of some Province now made himself away and was buried at Winborne The same Year was a great Mortality of Men and a very Malignant Feaver raged at London Also the Church of St. Pauls at London was this Year burnt and soon after rebuilt and Athelmod the Priest went to Rome and there died I have nothing else to add that is remarkable under this Year but the Foundation of the Abby of Tavistock by Ordgar Earl of Devonshire afterwards Father-in-law to King Edgar though it was within less than fifty years after its foundation burnt down by the Danes in the Reign of King Ethelred but was afterwards rebuilt more stately than before This Year Wolfstan the Deacon deceased and afterwards Gyric the Priest These I suppose were some men of remarkable Sanctity in that Monastery to which this Copy of these Annals did once belong The same Year also Abbot Athelwald received the Bishoprick of Winchester and was consecrated on a Sunday being the Vigil of St. Andrew The second year after his Consecration he repaired divers Monasteries and drove the Clerks i. e. Canons from that Bishoprick because they would observe no Rule and placed Monks in their stead He also founded two Abbies the one of Monks and the other of Nuns and afterwards going to King Edgar he desired him to bestow upon him all the Monasteries the Danes had before destroyed because he intended to rebuild them which the King willingly granted Then the Bishop went to Elig where St. Etheldrith lieth buried and caused that Monastery to be rebuilt and then gave it to the care of one of his Monks named Brightnoth and afterwards made him Abbot of the Monks of that Monastery where there had been Nuns before Then Bishop Athelwald went to the Monastery which is called Medeshamstead which had also been destroyed by the Danes where he found nothing but old Walls with Trees and Bushes growing among them but at last he spied hidden in one of these Walls that Charter which Abbot Headda had formerly wrote in which it appeared that King Wulfher and Ethelred his Brother had founded this Monastery and that the King with the Bishop had freed it from all secular servitude and Pope Agatho had confirmed it by his Bull as also the Archbishop Deus Dedit Which Charter I suppose is that the Substance of which is already recited in the Fourth book Anno 656. and which I have there proved to be forged for the Monks had then a very fair opportunity to forge that Charter and afterwards to pretend they found it in an old Wall But letting that pass thus much is certain from the Peterburgh Copy of these Annals That the said Bishop then caused this Monastery to be rebuilt placing a new Set of Monks therein over whom he appointed an Abbot called Aldulf Then went the Bishop to the King and shewed him the Charter he had lately found whereby he not only obtained a new Charter of Confirmation of all the Lands and Privileges formerly granted by the Mercian Kings but also many other Townships and Lands there recited as particularly Vndale with the Hundred adjoining in Northamptonshire which had formerly been a Monastery of it self as may be observed in the account we have already given of the Life of the Archbishop Wilfrid The King likewise granted That the Lands belonging to that Monastery should be a distinct Shire having Sac and Soc Tol and Team and Infangentheof which terms I shall explain in another place the King there also grants them a Market with the Toll thereof and that there should be no other Market between Stamford and Huntington and to the former of these the King also granted the Abbot a Mint But as for the Names of the Lands given together with the Limits and the Tolls of the Market there mentioned I refer the Reader to the Charter it self Then follows the Subscription of the King with the Sign of the Cross and next the Confirmation of the Archbishop of Canterbury with a dreadful Curse on those that should violate it as also the Confirmation of Oswald Archbishop of York Athelwald Bishop of Winchester with several other Bishops Abbots Ealdormen and Wisemen who all confirmed it and signed it with the Cross This was done Anno Dom. 972. of our Lord's Nativity and in the sixteenth year of the King's Reign which shews this Coppy of the Annals to be written divers years after these things were done as does also more particularly that short History concerning the Affairs of this Abby and the Succession of its Abbots for many years after this time As how Abbot Adulf bought many more Lands wherewith he highly enriched that Monastery where he continued Abbot till Oswald Archbishop of York deceased and he succeeded him in the Archbishoprick and then there was another chosen Abbot of the said Monastery named Kenulph who was afterwards Bishop of Winchester he first built a Wall round the Monastery and gave it the name of Burgh which was before called Medeshamested but he being sometime after made Bishop of Winchester another Abbot was chosen from the same Abby called Aelfi who continued Abbot fifty years He removed the Bodies of St. Kyneburge and St. Cynesuith which lay buried at Castra and St. Tibba which lay entomb'd at Rehala i. e. Ryal in Rutlandshire and brought them to Burgh and dedicated them to St. Peter keeping them there as long as he continued Abbot I have been the more particular in the Account of this so Ancient and Famous Monastery as having been the Episcopal See of the Bishops of Peterburgh almost ever since the Dissolution of that Abby in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth This Year also according to Simeon of Durham King Edgar married Ethelfreda the Daughter of Ordgar Earl of Devonshire after the Death of her Husband Ethelwald Earl of the East-Angles Of her he begot two Sons Edwald and Ethelred the former of whom died in his Infancy but the latter lived to be King of England But before he married this Lady it is certain he had an Elder Son by Elfleda sirnamed The Fair Daughter of Earl Eodmar of whom he begot King Edward called the Martyr But whether King Edgar was ever lawfully married to her may also be doubted since Osbern in his Life of St. Dunstan says That this Saint baptized the Child begotten on Ethelfleda the King's Concubine with whom also agrees Nicholas Trevet in his Chronicle though I confess the Major
if they cannot get them then they should take him alive or dead and seize on all his Estate whereof the Complaining Party having received such a share as should satisfy him the one half of the remainder shall go to the Lord of the Soil and the other half to the Hundred And if any of that Court being either akin to the Party or a stranger to his Blood refuse to go to put this in execution he should forfeit 120 shillings to the King And farther That such as are taken in the very act of stealing or betraying their Masters should not be pardoned during life The Eighth and last ordains That one and the same Money should be current throughout the King's Dominions which no man must refuse and that the measure of Winchester should be the Standard and that a Weigh of Wool should be fold for half a Pound of Money and no more The former of those is the first Law whereby the Private Mints to the Archbishops and several Abbots being forbid the King's Coin was only to pass But to return to our Annals Ten days before the Death of King Edgar Bishop Cyneward departed this life King EDWARD sirnamed the Martyr KING Edgar being dead as you have now heard Prince Edward succeeded his Father though not without some difficulty for as William of Malmesbury and R. Hoveden relate the Great Men of the Kingdom were then divided Archbishop Dunstan and all the rest of the Bishops being for Prince Edward the Eldest Son of King Edgar whilst Queen Aelfreda Widow to the King and many of her Faction were for setting up her Son Ethelred being then about Seven Years of Age that so she might govern under his Name But besides the pretence was which how well they made out I know not That King Edgar had never been lawfully married to Prince Edward's Mother Whereupon the Archbishops Dunstan and Oswald with the Bishops Abbots and many of the Ealdormen of the Kingdom met together in a Great Council and chose Prince Edward King as his Father before his Death had ordained and being thus Elected they presently Anointed him being then but a Youth of about Fifteen Years of Age. But it seems not long after the Death of King Edgar though before the Coronation of King Edward Roger Hoveden and Simeon of Durham tell us that Elfer Earl of the Mercians being lustily bribed by large Presents drove the Abbots and Monks out of the Monasteries in which they had been settled by King Edgar and in their places brought in the Clerks i.e. Secular Chanons with their Wives but Ethelwin Ealdorman of the East-Angles and his Brother Elfwold and Earl Brythnoth opposed it and being in the Common Council or Synod plainly said They would never endure that the Monks should be cast out of the Kingdom who contributed so much to the Maintenance of Religion and so raising an Army they bravely defended the Monasteries of the East-Angles so it seems that during this Interregnum arose this Civil War about the Monks and the above-mentioned Dissention amongst the Nobility concerning the Election of a new King But this serves to explain that Passage in our Annals which would have been otherwise very obscure viz. That then there was viz. upon the Death of King Edgar great Grief and Trouble in Mercia among those that loved God because many of his Servants that is the Monks were turned out till God being slighted shewed Miracles on their behalf and that then also Duke Oslack was unjustly banished beyond the Seas a Nobleman who for his Long Head of Hair but more for his Wisdom was very remarkable And that then also strange Prodigies were seen in the Heavens such as Astrologers call Comets and as a Punishment from God upon this Nation there followed a great Famine Which shews this Copy of the Annals was written about this very time And then the Author concludes with Aelfer the Ealdorman's commanding many Monasteries to be spoiled which King Edgar had commanded Bishop Athelwold to repair All which being in the Cottonian Copy serves to explain what has been already related But the next year ' Was the great Famine in England as just now mentioned About the same time according to Caradoc's Chronicle Aeneon the Son of Owen Prince of South-Wales destroyed the Land of Gwyr the second time This year after Easter was that great Synod at Kirtlingtun which Florence of Worcester and R. Hoveden call Kyrleing but where that place was is very uncertain Florence places it in East-England but Sir H. Spelman acknowledges that he does not know any place in those parts that ever bore that name but supposes it to have been the same with Cartlage now the Seat of the Lord North But had not Florence placed it in East-England that Town whose name comes nearest to it is Kyrtlington in Oxfordshire which is also the more confirmed by that which follows in these Annals viz. That Sydeman the Bishop of Devonshire i. e. of Wells died here suddenly who desired his Body might be buried at Krydeanton his Episcopal See but King Edward and Archbishop Dunstan order'd it to be carried to St. Maâ—ies in Abingdon were he was honourably Interr'd in the North Isle of St. Paul's Church Therefore it is highly probable that the place where this Bishop died was not far from Abingdon where he was buried as Kirtlington indeed is But what was done in this Council can we no where find only it is to be supposed that it was concerning this great Difference between the Monks and the Secular Chanons as the former Council was The same year also were great Commotions in Wales for Howel ap Jevaf Prince of North-Wales with a great Army both of Welsh and Englishmen made War upon all who defended or succoured his Uncle Jago and spoiled the Countries of Lhyn Kelynnoc Vawr so that Jago was shortly after taken Prisoner by Prince Howel's men who after that enjoyed his part of the Countrey in peace Nor can I here omit what some of our Monkish Writers and particularly John Pike in his compendious Supplement of the Kings of England now in Manuscript in the Cottonian Library relates That there being this year a Great Council held at Winchester again to debate this great Affair concerning the turning out of the Monks and restoring the Secular Chanons and it being like to be carried in their favour a Crucifix which then stood in the room spoke thus God forbid it should be so This amazing them they resolved to leave the Monks in the condition they then were But whether these words were ever spoke at all or if they were whether it might not be by some person that stood unseen behind the Crucifix I shall leave to the Reader to determine as he pleases Next year all the Grave and Wise Men of the English Nation being met about the same Affair at Calne in Wiltshire fell down together from a certain Upper Room where they were assembled
and Decisive Battel which yet is very imperfect since no Historians that I know of either English or Normans have given us the Number of the Armies on both sides or how many were slain perhaps because both had a mind to conceal what they thought did not make for their Credit Only it is acknowledged on all hands that they were so many on the Normans side as well as the English that nothing but the over-ruling Providence of God by the Death of their King could have given it away from them to their Enemies In this Battel King Harold and his two Brothers Gyrth and Leofwin with most of the English Nobility were slain and an Ancient Manuscript in the Cottonian Library farther relates That the King's Body was hard to be certainly known by reason of its being so much disfigured by Wounds yet was at last discovered by one who had been formerly his Mistress and that by the means of certain private Marks known only to her self and being taken up and wash'd by two of the Chanons of Waltham which Monastery he had founded was ordered by Duke William to be delivered to his Mother and that without any Ransom though she would have given a considerable Sum for it but it was not long after buried in the Abby-Church of Waltham Yet notwithstanding Henry de Knyghton from Giraldus Cambrensis gives a quite different account what became of this Prince for he says that he was not slain in this Battel but retiring privately out of it lived and died an Anchoret in a Cell near St. John's Church in Chester as was owned by himself at his last Confession when he lay a dying and farther that in memory thereof they shewed his Tomb when that Author wrote But the concurrent Testimony of so many English Writers concerning his being slain and buried at Waltham is certainly to be preferred before one single Evidence not but that it might be true that somebody might thus personate Harold and have his Tomb afterwards shewn as his But where or however he died he was certainly a Prince of a Noble Presence and of as Great a Mind and had he not by a preposterous Ambition of gaining a Kingdom to which he had no Right as well as by a Notorious Violation of his Solemn Oath given Duke William a just Occasion of making War upon him wherein he not only lost his own Life but also was the occasion of the Ruin of so many of his Countreymen he might have had as great a Character in History as any Prince of his time He had two Wives the first he buried long before he was King but none of our Writers mention her Name His second was Algithe Widow of Griffyth ap Lhewelyn King of North-Wales Sister of Edwi and Morchar Earls of Yorkshire and Chester By the former it is recorded that he had Children then of such an Age that they waged War against K. William in the second year of his Reign The first was Godwin who with his Brother Edmund after his Father's Death and Overthrow fled into Ireland but returning again into Somersetshire slew Ednoth one of his Father's Ealdormen who encounter'd him and then making great spoil in Devonshire and Cornwal departed The next year fighting with Beorne an Ealdorman of Cornwal he afterwards returned into Ireland and from thence went to Denmark to King Sweyn where he continued the Residue of his Life The second was Edmund who engaged with him in all his abovesaid Brother's Invasions and Wars depending absolutely upon him whilst he lived and died as he did in Denmark Magnus his third Son went with his two Brothers into Ireland and came back with them the first time into England but we find nothing of him after this unless he was that Magnus who afterwards became an Anchoret Wolfe his fourth Son seems to be born of Queen Algithe and probably at King William's Entrance here he was but an Infant yet after his Death he is named among his Prisoners but by William Rufus was released and by him honoured with the Order of Knighthood Gunhilde a Daughter of Harold's is mentioned by John Capgrave in the Life of Wolstan Bishop of Worcester and that she was a Nun but where is not mentioned and being in most mens opinion's wholly blind this Wolstan if you will believe it from Capgrave by a Miracle restor'd her absolutely to her Eyesight Another Daughter of Harold's is mentioned by Saxo Grammaticus in his Danish History to have been well received by her Kinsman King Sweyn the younger and afterwards married to Waldemar King of the Russians and to have had a Daughter by him who was the Mother of Waldemar the first King of Denmark of that Name from whom all the Danish Kings for many Ages after succeeded This Account I have borrowed from Mr. Speed who is very exact in the Pedigrees of our English-Saxon Kings We find no Laws made in this King's time only this mentioned by Ingulph viz. That King Harold made a Law that whatever Welshman were found without leave on this side Offa's Ditch he should have his Right-hand cut off by the King's Officers Which Law I suppose was made to restrain the pilfering Incursions of the Welsh who were wont to come in small Companies into the English Borders to rob and carry away Cattel But as for the Earls Syward of Mercia and Morchar of Northumberland Brothers it is said they withdrew themselves out of the Battel with their Followers almost as soon as it began either because they liked not the streightness of the Place where they were drawn up or else were discontented with the King's Conduct so marching immediately up to London they there met with Aldred Archbishop of York and Edgar Atheling with divers other Noblemen and Bishops and consulted whom they should make King divers of them were for Edgar Atheling as the only remaining Branch of the Saxon Blood-Royal under whom they resolved to renew the War but he being young and unexperienced and the Major Part of the Bishops being against it nothing was done William of Malmesbury relates That the two Earls above-mentioned solicited the Londoners to make one of them King which when they found they could not prevail upon them so to do taking their Sister the Widow of King Harold along with them and leaving her for security at Chester they retired into Northumberland supposing that Duke William would never march so far that Winter But how much they were mistaken and how they were forced to submit themselves to him when the City of London and all the rest of the Kingdom had acknowledg'd him must be reserved for the next Volume In the mean time the Nobility and Clergy being thus divided in their sentiments all their designs came to nothing Thus as the same Author well observes that as the English if they had been all of one mind might have prevented the Ruin of their Countrey so since they could not agree to have one of
Ailesbury in Buckinghamshire anciently called Eglesbyrig l. 5. p. 321. Ailmer Earl of Cornwal Founder of the Abbey of Cerne in Dorsetshirâ— l. 6. p. 22. Ailnoth Vid. Ethelnoth Ailwin the Ealdorman Founder of the Abbey of Ramsey l. 6. p. 6 7. Akmanceaster an Ancient City called Bathan by the Inhabitants l. 6. p. 7. Alan King of Armorica receives Cadwallader l. 4. p. 190. Alan Earl of Britain so great an Assistant to William Duke of Normandy that after his Conquest he made him Earl of Richmond and had great part of the Countrey thereabouts given him l. 6. p. 109. Alaric King of the Goths takes Rome l. 2 p. 104. St. Alban an Account of his Martyrdom l. 2. p. 85 86. The Miracles thereat Ibid. p. 107 108. Is privately buried that Age being ignorant of the virtue of keeping Saints Relicks Id. p. 86. Offa is warned by an Angel to remove his Relicks to a more Noble Shrine He builds a new Church and Monastery in honour of him who was after canonized l. 4. p. 237. As he was the first Martyr of England so the Abbot thereof ought to be the first in Dignity of all the Abbots in England Ib. p. 238. Pope Honorius ratified the Privileges formerly granted and gave to this Abbot and his Successors Episcopal Rights together with the Habit c. Jd. Ib. St. Albans anciently called Verulam where a Great Council was held by King Offa Id. p. 239. Albania now Scotland Northwest of the Mountains of Braid-Albain and its extent l. 2. p. 83 98. Albert ordained Archbishop of York l. 4. p. 229. Receives his Pall for the Archbishoprick from Pope Adrian Id. p. 230. Albinus Chlodius made Lieutenant of Britain by Commodus the Emperor who would have created him Caesar and permitted him in his presence to wear the Purple Robe but he refused them then yet afterwards assumed the Titles and Honour and died in asserting his Right to the Imperial Purple l. 2. p. 71 73. Is dismissed from the Government of Britain but retained it under both Pertinax and Didius Julianus Takes upon him the Title of Caesar under Severus had Statues erected and Money coin'd with his Image Forced the Messengers sent by the Emperor to dispatch him by Torture to confess the Design Id. p. 72. But is obliged at last to run himself through with his own Sword Id. p. 73. Alburge Sister to King Egbert Foundress of a Benedictine Nunnery at Wilton l. 5. p. 248. Alcluid now called Dunbritton in Scotland l. 2. p. 101. Is destroyed by the Danes l. 5. p. 277. Alchmuid Son to Ethelred King of Northumberland being taken by the Guards of King Eardulf is slain by his Command l. 4. p. 243. Alchmund Bishop of Hagulstade his Decease l. 4. p. 232. Alcuin or Albinus writes an Epistle wherein he proves Image-Worship utterly unlawful l. 4. p. 237. At his Intercession the Northumbrian Kingdom is spared from Ruin Id. p. 240. Goes into France and is much in favour with Charles the Great whom he taught the Liberal Arts and by his means the University of Paris is erected His Death and Character Id. p. 244. Aldhelm made Bishop of Shireburn and by whom l. 4. p. 213. A Catalogue of his Works given us by Bede Id. p. 213 214. His Death and Character Id. p. 214. Aldred Bishop of Worcester by his Intercession makes Sweyn's Peace with Edward the Confessor and goes with Bishop Hereman to the great Synod assembled at Rome l. 6. p. 75. Is sent Ambassador to the Emperor with Noble Presents to prevail with him to send Ambassadors into Hungary to bring back Prince Edward the King's Cousin Son of King Edmund Ironside into England Id. p. 86. His rebuilding the Church of St. Peter in Gloucester and going on Pilgrimage through Hungary to Jerusalem Id. p. 88. Is made Archbishop of York and goes with Earl Tostige to Rome where he receives his Pall Ibid. Crowns Harold King of England Id. p. 105. Aldune Bishop of Lindisfarne removes the Body of St. Cuthbert from Chester after a hundred years lying there to Durham and there builds a small Church dedicating it to him l. 6. p. 26. Alehouses how anciently these have been here with the Consequences thereof viz. quarrelling and breaking of the Peace l. 6. p. 43. Alemond Father to Edmund the King and Martyr whom he had by his Wife Cywara in old Saxony l. 5. p. 265. Alfleda Daughter to Ceolwulf King of the Mercians is married to Wimond Son of Withlaff an Ealdorman there who is afterwards made King by the Consent of the People l. 5. p. 253. Alfred King of Northumberland would not alter the Judgment against Bishop Wilfrid for any Letter from the Pope l. 4. p. 207. Deceases at Driffield and on his Death-bed repents of what he had done towards the Bishop Id. p. 212 213. Alfred King of the West-Saxons was the fifth Son of King Aethelwulf Id. p. 258. When born of Osberge his Mother at Wantige in Berkshire l. 5. p. 261. Is anointed King by the Pope as a Prophetical Presage of his future Royal Dignity Id. p. 262 265. Married to Alswitha the Daughter of Aethelred the Ealdorman of the Gaini l. 5. p. 269. He with his Brother Ethelred made a great slaughter of the Danes Id. p. 275. By the general Consent of the whole Kingdom is advanced to the Throne Id. p. 276. Fights with the Danes and the various success of his Fortune Ibid. Fights at Sea against seven of their Ships and takes one the rest escaping Id. p. 277. Is forced to make Peace with them and what Hostages they give him to depart the Kingdom but upon breach of Oath he puts them all to death The Danes make another Peace with him but did not long observed it Id. p. 278. Leads an uneasy Life upon their account beiâ—g forced to hide and lurk among the Woody parts of Somersetshire Id. p. 280. His excessive Charity to a poor man in the midst of his own Extremity Id. p. 280 281. Goes into the Danish Army in the habit of a Countrey Fidler discovers their weakness and by that means obtain a signal Victory over them Id. p. 282. Delivers the Kingdom of the East-Angles up to Guthrune and the League made between them setting out the Extent of each other's Territories Id. p. 283 284. The Subjection or Dependance the Danes shew'd to this King by their consenting to the Laws made in a Common-Council of the Kingdom Id. p. 285. Fights against four Danish Pyrate-ships takes two the other two surrender Id. p. 285 286. Pope Martinus sends some of the Wood of our Lord's Cross to him and in return he sends to Rome the Alms he had vowed Id. p. 286. Setting upon the Danish Pyrates with his Fleet takes them all with great Spoils and kills most of their men but returning home and meeting with another Fleet of them they prove too hard for him Id. p. 286 287. Takes the City of London from the Danes who had kept it
Ethelbert sirnamed Praen begins to reign in Kent l. 4. p. 240. Hath his Eyes put out and his Hands cut off by the order of Cenwulf King of Mercia whither he is carried Prisoner Id. p. 241. Is set free before the High Altar being then a Prisoner of War upon the Dedication of the Abbey of Winchelcomb Id. p. 242. Eadbriht King of Kent his Death after he had reigned Six Years l. 4. p. 225. Eadburga Daughter to King Offa Marries Brithtrick King of the West-Saxons l. 4. p. 235. Makes away her Husband by Poison designed indeed for one of his Favourites whom she could not endure Id. p. 243. Retires into France is put there into a Nunnery and why and being expelled thence for her Incontinency she begg'd her bread in Italy till she died l. 4. p. 243. A Law made upon her account That the King's Consort for the future should not be called Queen l. 5. p. 264. Eadesbyrig supposed by Mr. Cambden to be Edesbury in Cheshire where Aethelfleda Lady of the Mercians built a Castle l. 5. p. 316. Eadfrid a Son of King Edwin by his Wife Quenburga who was Daughter of Ceorle King of Mercia l. 4. p. 174. Surrenders up himself to Penda King of the Mercians Id. p. 176. Eadhed is Ordained Bishop in the Province of Lindisse and afterwards Governed the Church of Rippon l. 4. p. 196. Eadmund Etheling Son to King Edgar his Death and Burial at Rumsey in Hampshire l. 6. p. 7. Eadred or Ethelred King of the Mercians Marries Ethelfleda King Alfred's Eldest Daughter l. 5. p. 311. Vid. Ethelred Duke of Mercia Eadsige vid. Aeadsige Eadulf vid. Adulf Eadwig Etheling called Ceorle's Cyng that is King of the Clowns Brother to King Edward is Banished the whole story of him he is made Two Persons by the Annals l. 6. p. 50 51. Eadwin vid. Edwin Eagle the Roman Ensigns were in Caesar's time all Eagles l. 2. p. 26. Ealcher and his Kentish-men with Huda and his Surry-men fight with the Danish Army in the Isle of Thanet and the Success thereof l. 5. p. 261 262. Ealchstan Bishop of Scireborne and Prince Aethelbald join in a most wicked Conspiracy to remove Aethelwulf out of his Kingdom l. 5. p. 263. Ealerd a Daughter of King Edwin's by Queen Aethelburga l. 4. p. 176. Ealfert or Alfred King of the Northumbers his Decease l. 4. p. 213. Ealfric an Ealdorman and one of King Ethelred's Admirals who was to have encompass'd the Danish Fleet by surpise but underhand he betrays the design sending them notice to take care of themselves and the night before the intended Engagement goes over to them himself l. 6. p. 23 24. Several other Treacheries he plays as leaving the Army whereof he was General c. Id. p. 30. Ealswithe The Daughter of Aethelred Ealdorman of the Gaini is Married to King Alfred l. 5. p. 269 313. Her Children by him and her Decease Id. p. 310 311 313. Eanbald Consecrated Archbishop to the See of York on the Death of Ethelheard The Pall demanded for him of the Pope by Alwold King of the Northumbers l. 4. p. 232. Departs from the Northumbers and afterwards Consecrates and places on the Throne Eardwulf who had begun his Reign over Northumberland about a Month before Id. p. 240. His Death and Burial at York the Year after Id. p. 241. Another of the same Name upon his Decease was Consecrated Archbishop of York and the Year following he received the Pall Ibid. This Eanbald held the Second Council at Pinchinhale and what was done therein Id. p. 242. Eanbryht Bishop of Hagulstad his Decease l. 5. p. 248. Eanfrid or Earlfrid the Son of Ethelfrid the last King before Edwin Ruled the Kingdom of Bernicia and Abjured the Christian Religion which before he had Professed l. 4. p. 176. Is basely put to Death by Cadwallo when he imprudently came to him with only Twelve Select Knights in his Company to Treat of Peace Id. p. 177. Earcombert the First English King viz. of Kent who Commanded Idols to be destroyed and ordered Lent to be observed l. 4. p. 180. His Death and who succeeded him Id. p. 185 190. His Character Id. p. 189. Earcongath or Earcongata Daughter to Earcombert a Virgin of great Piety constantly serving God in a Monastery of the Kingdom of the Franks in the Town of Bruges in Flanders l. 4. p. 180. Eardulf succeeds Alfred or Ealfert in the Kingdom of the Northumbers but is expelled from it within Two Months by a Plot laid against him l. 4. p. 213. Eardwulf an Earl commanded to be put to death is found afterwards alive and after that made King of Northumberland Id. p. 236. When he began to Reign there and whom he succeeded Id. p. 240. Returns home Victorious by destroying the Rebels that rose up against him Id. p. 241. Leads an Army against Kenwulf King of Mercia for Harbouring his Enemies but by the Intercession of King Egbert a Peace is agreed on and confirmed by Oath l. 5. p. 248. About Three years after he is driven out of his Kingdom and by whom Ibid. p. 249. The Son of Eardulf the first King of that Name there restored to his Kingdom by the Assistance of the Emperor Charles the Great l. 5. p. 249. Earnred succeeds Aelfwold King of Northumberland l. 5. p. 249. Holds his Kingdom as Tributary to Egbert Chief King of the English who had grievously wasted it with his Arms Id. p. 248 255. His Death his Son succeeding him Id. p. 260. Earnwulf Charles the Gross King of the Franks his Brother's Son expels his Uncle his Kingdom dividing it into Five parts and each of the Kings to Govern under him l. 5.290 East-Angles the Countries we now call Norfolk and Suffolk the Kingdom of it supposed to begin about Anno 575. under Uffa the Eighth King from Woden l. 3. p. 145. The Gospel is preached to them by Furseus which Converted many of them l. 4. p. 180. The Kingdom thereof divided between Hunbeanna and Albert Id. p. 225. They slay Beornwulf King of the Mercians for Challenging this Kingdom as his own l. 5. p. 253. Edmund their King fighting with the Danes they obtain the Victory kill him and wholly Conquer that Kingdom Id. p. 269 272 273 274. Their Subjection and Freedom from the Danish Yoke Id. p. 322 Easter it 's Observation according to the manner prescribed in the Council of Nice l. 2. p. 88. l. 4. p. 166. The Difference about the Rule of keeping it in Augustin's time l. 4. p. 160 161. How it was observed by Bishop Aidan Id. p. 177. Is Commanded to be kept according to the Order of the Church of Rome Id. p. 189. Appointed by the Synod at Hartford in Anno 673. to be kept on the First Lord's Day after the Fourteenth Moon of the First Month that is January this was a General Council of the whole Kingdom Id. p. 193. Aldhelm Abbot of Malmesbury wrote an excellent Book about the Keeping of Easter
their former Privileges to endure for ever by a perpetual Right Id. p. 317 318. Builds Two Forts on both sides the River Ouse in Buckinghamshire to oppose the Danes who at last almost all submit to him Id. p. 319 320. Has the Town of Bedford surrendred to him where he built a Castle Rebuilds and Fortifies the Town of Maldon and makes the whole Nation of the Mercians submit to him Id. p. 320. Overcomes Leofred the Dane and Griffyth ap Madac Brother-in-Law to the Prince of West-Wales Id. p. 321. The several Towns he ordered to be rebuilt l. 5. p. 321 322 323 324. Is accepted for Lord and Protector by several Countries under the Danish Dominions and adds the Kingdom of the East-Angles to his own Id. p. 322 323. Several other Kings make their Submission to him Id. p. 324. His Decease at Fearndune in the Province of the Mercians Id. p. 324. Aelfleda the Daughter of the Earl Aethelem was his Queen and Wife Id. p. 327. The Laws both Civil and Ecclesiastical made in his Reign Id. p. 325 326. His Children how bred up and bestowed in Marriage c. Id. p. 327. His Character of being Mild and Humble as well as Couragious Id. p. 328. No Martyr as Buchanan in his History fancies him and why Id. p. 332. Edward Aetheling Son of King Edmund sirnamed Ironside Marries Agatha the Queen of Hungary's Sister his Issue by her l. 6. p. 49. Is sought by Ambassy to return into England which he did about Three years after together with his Children and soon after Dies his Body being Buried in St. Paul's Church Id. p. 86 87. Edward Sirnamed the Martyr is Elected in a great Council and presently Anointed King according to his Father Edgar's Appointment l. 6. p. 15. Not present at the Council of Calne in Wiltshire upon the persuasion of Archbishop Dunstan as supposed Id. p. 16 17. Is Killed by whom and by what at Corfesgeate now Corfe-Castle in the Isle of Purbeck and buried at Werham without any Royal Pomp having Reigned Three years and a half Id. p. 17 18. His Character Ibid. His Body taken up and carried and Buried at Shaftsbury with great Solemnity Id. p. 20. Edward the Confessor Son of King Ethelred comes into England from Normandy and returns no more back but tarried till his Brother Hardecnute died l. 6. p. 66 67. His Advancement to the Crown by Election in the Great Council and how it is effected Id. p. 69 70. His undutifulness to his Mother by taking from her all the Gold and Silver she had with other things because of her severity to him formerly shews him not to be altogether so great a Saint as the Monks represent him Id. p. 71 97. Marries Edgitha or Editha the Daughter of Earl Godwin who was not only Beautiful and Pious but Learned above the Women of her Age but he never carnally knew her l. 6. p. 72 73 97. Sends Bishops to the Great Council at St. Remy to know what was there decreed concerning the Christian Faith Id. p. 74. The Difference between the King and Earl Godwin and his Sons and what the ground of it Id. p. 75 77 78 81. Sends away his Wife who had been Crowned Queen committing her to the Custody of his Sister at the Nunnery of Werwel and takes away almost all she had Id. p. 78. Begs his Mother's Pardon for having suffered her to undergo the Ordeal and upon what Account Id. p. 79. Hearing Earl Godwin was come with his Ships for England he orders his Fleet to pursue him whereupon he returns to Bruges but soon after comes again and commits many Insults upon the Sea-coasts Id. p. 80 81. Restores to the Queen his Wife upon his Peace with Earl Godwin whatsoever she had been before possessed of Id. p. 81. In a great Council is Reconciled to Earl Godwin whom he restores to his former Honours and Estate Id. p. 82 83. Commands Rees the Brother of Griffyn King of South-Wales his Head to be cut off and sent him to Gloucester for his Insolencies against the English Id. p. 85. His Forces under Siward the Valiant Earl of Northumberland are said to Conquer Scotland Id. p. 86. Aelfgar's Rebellion against him twice and yet he was forced to Pardon him Ibid. p. 87.88 Confirms by his Charter the Foundation of the Abbey of the Holy-Cross at Waltham in Essex Id. p. 89. Wales Subdued and becomes subject to him the Inhabitants giving Hostages Ibid. After which he makes Two Brothers Joint-Princes of North-Wales l. 6. p. 90. Confirms and renews the Laws of King Cnute at the Request of the Northumbers Ibid. Builds Westminster Church and Abbey its Consecration Calls his Curia or Great Council to confirm his Charter of Endowment of this Monastery His Sickness and Speech to those about him concerning the Vision he had seen of Two Holy Monks that told him of the Misery which would befall this Nation after his Death Id. p. 93 94 95. The Application of it with what befell the Kingdom in succeeding Reigns Id. p. 96. Recommends upon his Death-bed the Queen to her Brother c. and highly extols her Chastity and Obedience Id. p. 96. His last Words Death and Burial in St. Peter's Church at Westminster Ibid. p. 97. The various reports of his Bequeathing the Crown to his Cousin William Duke of Normandy Id. p. 96 97. His Character and the story of the Boy that Robbed his Chest he being then in the Room Id. p. 97 98 104. His Miracles of Curing the Blind and those Sores we now call the King 's Evil and of his being Elected King by his Father's Command in a Great Council whilst he was in his Mother's Belly Id. p. 98. His Laws or those which bear his Name because he renewed the Observance of them shew what Liberty English Subjects enjoyed before the Conquest Id. p. 99 100 101 102 103 104. By the Laws of St. Edward are meant the English-Saxon Laws Id. p. 104. Edwi When he Began his Reign and where and by whom Crowned he turns the Monks out of Glastenbury and out of the greatest Monasteries in England placing Secular Channons therein l. 3. p. 353. The Mercians and Northumbrians Deposing him Elect Edgar his Brother for their King which is confirmed by the Common Council of the Kingdom Edwi having no more left him than that of the West-Saxons for his share Id. p. 354. His Death and Character and Burial at Winchester Id. p. 355. Edwin of the Blood-Royal of Northumberland being the Son of Aella is forced to fly from Ethelfrid as a Banished Man with the cause of his future Conversion l. 4. p. 169. The wonderful Vision he had and the Success of it He succeds Ethelfrid and Banishes his Sons Id. p. 170. Being Converted to the Christian Faith he receives Baptism with all his Noblemen and a great many of the common people Id. p. 171 172 173 174. At last is killed by the Pagans and his whole Army routed Id.
p. 174 176. Had after Redwald's death the Kingdom of the East-Angles delivered up to him by the People Id. p. 175. Causes Brass-Pots to be set upon Posts at Fountains near the High-ways for Travellers to drink in and had a Banner carried before him as he went through the streets Ibid. Chief King over all the English-Saxons overcomes Cadwallo King of the Britains and conquers almost all his Countrey Id. p. 176. His Head brought to York and deposited in St. Peter's Church there which he had begun to build Ibid. He was the fifth King that ruled over all Britain l. 5. p. 254. Edwin and Ethelwin Sons of Prince Ethelwerd are slain in a fight against Anlaff King of the Danes and buried in the Church of the Abbey of Malmesbury l. 5. p. 311. Edwin Aetheling drowned with an Account how the greatest Blot in King Athelstan's Reign l. 5. p. 331 337. Edwin the Brother of Leofric Earl of Mercia is overcome by Griffyth ap Lewellin ap Sitsylt and slain at Pencadair l. 6. p. 64 65. Edwold Brother to St. Edmund the Martyr lived and died a Hermit in the Abbey of Cerne in Dorsetshire l. 6. p. 22. Egbert succeeds his Father Ercenbryht in the Kingdom of Kent l. 4. p. 189. Gives Reculf to Basse the Priest and at his Death bestows part of the Isle of Thanet to build a Monastery for expiating the Murther of his Cousins whom he had caused to be slain His decease Id. p. 192 193. Egbert the Priest a Venerable Person coming out of Ireland converts the Monks of Hij to the right Faith so that they afterwards observed the Catholick Rites and when he had lived with them here thirteen years dies l. 4. p. 217 220. Egbert made Bishop of York and the next year after receives a Pall from the Pope whereby he became an Archbishop and so Metropolitan of all the Northumbrian Provinces and had supreme Jurisdiction over all the Bishops in Deira and Bernicia l. 4. p. 222 223. His Death and Burial He was base Brother to the King of the same Name who regained the Pall to that See Built a Noble Library in York accounted then one of the best in Europe Id. p. 223 229. Egbert the Son of Aealmond was the Father of Athulf or Athelwulf l. 4. p. 233. Egbert or Egferth the Son of Offa King of the Mercians is anointed King with him l. 4. p. 233 235. When he began his Reign but within a few Months after dies Id. p. 240. Egbert or Ecgbryht King of the West-Saxons when he began to reign l. 4. p. 242. His Succession to Brihtric and afterwards Chief or Supreme King of this Kingdom Id. p. 243. l. 5. p. 254. Through Brihtric's jealousy he is forced to fly to King Offa for Refuge from him he retires into France where he tarries three years and so polishes the roughness of his own Countrey Manners Id. p. 243. But is upon Brihtric's Death without Issue recalled by the West-Saxon Nobility and ordained King and reigned with great Glory and Honour Id. p. 244. He unites all the Heptarchy into one Kingdom to the lasting Peace of the English Nation l. 5. p. 245. Leaves the Mercians Northumbrians and East-Angles to be held by their respective Princes as Tributaries to his Crown Id. p. 2 46 253 254 255. Is ordained King which Ethelwerd expresly terms his Election as being the only surviving Prince of the Blood-Royal of the West-Saxon Kings as great Nephew so Ina by his Brother Inegilds Id. p. 247 255. And in a Parliament at Winchester by the Consent of his People he changes the name of this Kingdom into that of England Id. Ibid. Makes up a Peace between Eardulf and Kenwulf and hath it confirmed by Oath l. 5. p. 248. Absolutely subdues Cornwall and adds it to his own Kingdom Id. p. 249. Subdues the Northern Welsh-men making them Tributary to him and enters again their Borders upon a fresh Rebellion and lays them wast from North to South with Fire and Sword Id. p. 250 251 254 255. Obtains a great Victory over Beornwulf King of the Mercians the Kentish and Surrey men the South and East-Saxons all submit to him Id. p. 253 254 255. Subdues the Kingdom of Mercia and all the South of Humber He was the Eighth King that ruled over all Britain the Seven before him are there enumerated Id. p. 254. Is offered Peace and due Subjection by the Northumbers having led an Army against them as far as Dore a place supposed to be beyond Humber He was the greatest King that till then had ever reigned in England He expels Withlaff King of Mercia and adds it to his own Kingdom Id. Ibid. Vanquishes Switherd King of the East-Saxons and drives him out of the Kingdom which ever after that Expulsion the West-Saxon Kings possessed He wastes Northumberland and makes Eanred the King thereof his Tributary Is crowned King of Britain by the Consent of the Clerus and Populus in a Great Council which he summoned to meet at Winchester Ibid. Encounters Thirty Ships of Danish Pyrates at Carrum in Gloucestershire but after a great slaughter the latter kept the field being the only time that Fortune ceased to favour his Undertakings Id. p. 256. Fights the Danes and Cornish-men at Hengston in Cornwall and beats them His Death having reigned thirty seven years and seven months and Character For nine years reigned Supreme King over all Britain Id. p. 257. His Burial at Winchester Id. p. 258. Egbert King of the Northumbers is by them expelled His Death and who succeeded to him l. 5. p. 277. Egelfleda sirnamed the Fair the Daughter of Earl Ordmar whether King Edgar's Wife or Concubine uncertain l. 6. p. 12. Egelnoth Vid. Ethelnoth Egfrid or Ecverth succeeds Oswi in the Kingdom of Northumberland l. 4. p. 192. Wages War with Wulfher and wins from him all the Countrey of Lindsey Id. p. 193 196. Gives Abbot Benedict as much Land as served Seventy Families lying near the Mouth of the River Wir in the Bishoprick of Durham Id. p. 194. Had a great Contention with Bishop Wilfrid who was expelled his Bishoprick Id. p. 196 197. Fights with Ethelfred near Trent Id. p. 198. Sends a great Army to Ireland which miserably wastes that Nation Id. p. 201. He and his Army through rashness are all cut off by the Picts Id. p. 202 211. Eglesburh now called Alesbury in Buckinghamshire l. 3. p. 145. Egonesham now Enisham in Oxfordshire Id. Ib. Egric upon King Sigebert's Resignation and turning Monk becomes King of the East-Angles l. 4. p. 179. His Death Id. p. 181. Egwin Bishop of Worcester founds the Abbey of Evesham and upon what occasion râ—ported l. 4. p. 216 217. Egwinna a Lady the Daughter of a Noblâ—man whose Name is not certainly known Her strange Dream and how she came afterwards to yield to the Importunities of Prince Edward the Elder on whom he begot Athelstan that is The most Noble that succeeded him in the Kingdom l.
p. 38 39. But he was not very long mindful of his Promise to his Subjects Id. p. 40. Through his Cowardice or Ill Fortune he was constantly attended with ill success Id. p. 41. He is called THE UNREADY and justly by our English Historians His Decease and Burial at St. Paul's Church in London Id. p. 42. His Character and excellent Laws Id. p. 19 42 43. The Issue he had by his Queen Id. p. 38 42. Ethelwald succeeds his Brother Etheler in the Kingdom of the East-Angles l. 4. p. 186. His Death and who succeeds him Id. p. 190. Ethelwald Earl of the East-Angles by what Trick he got Ethelfreda for his Wife from King Edgar but which cost him his Life l. 6. p. 9 10. Ethelward the Third Synod at Cloveshoe was held undâ—r him and twelve Bishops of his Province and what was therein transacted The next year he dies l. 5. p. 248. Ethelwerd King Alfred's Youngest Child bred up at Oxford his Death and Issue l. 5. p. 311. Was learned above that Age. He was buried at Winchester Id. p. 324. Ethelwin Vid. Edwin and Ethelwin Ethelwold Bishop by King Edgar's Command turns out the Chanons at Winchester and places Benedictines in their rooms l. 4. p. 181. His Decease when Id. p. 223. Ethelwold sirnamed Moll when he began to reign over the Northumbers Slays Duke Oswin in a Fight at Edwinscliffe l. 4. p. 228. Is murthered by the Treachery of Alhred who succeded him Id. p. 229. Ethelwulf the Son succeeds Egbert in the Kingdom of the West-Saxons who gave him good Advice how he might be happy in his Kingdom l. 5. p. 257 258. Comes to the Crown by virtue of his Father's Testament His Education and Tutors during his Elder Brother's life His Character and what Kingdoms he made over to Athelstan his Son Id. p. 258. Fights against Five and thirty Danish Ships at Charmouth Id. p. 251. A Son called Aelfred is born to him by Osberge his Wife Id. p. 261. He and Ethelbald his Son with the Forces of the West-Saxons fight with the Pagan Danes and make a greater slaughter of them than ever before Ibid. Assisting Burhred makes the men of North-Wales subject to him Id. p. 262. His Famous and Solemn Grant of Tythes throughout his Kingdom Id. p. 262 263. Goes to Rome carrying Aelfred his Son along with him Id. p. 263. In his return marries Leotheta the Daughter of Charles the Bald King of the Franks Ibid. A most infamous Conspiracy is formed in the West of England against him on the account of his new Wife Id. p. 263 264. Divides the Kingdom which was before united with the Consent of all his Nobility between him and his Son Ethelbald And to prevent Quarrels between his Sons he orders by his Will how his Kingdom should be enjoyed amongst them l. 5. p. 264. By his Last Will grants Corrodies for the Maintenance of Poor People a Yearly Allowance of Three hundred Mancuses to Rome and one hundred of them to the Pope His Death and Burial at Winchester after he had reigned Twenty Years Id. p. 264 265. St. Swithune Bishop of Winchester and Alstan Bishop of Shireborne were this King 's two Principal Counsellors in all Affairs Id. p. 267. Evesham-Abbey concerning the Forging of the Charters about it l. 4. p. 216 217. Is repaired by Leofric with the Consent of his Lady Godiva l. 6. p. 72. Eugenius set up against Valentinian the second by Arbogastes the former's General but he was soon after put to death by Theodosius l. 2. p. 97. Eugenius Prince of Cumberland assists Anlaff against King Athelstan l. 5. p. 334 335. The Scotch call him King of Deira and own he died in this Battel Id. p. 336. Evil Councils bring all the Miserie 's imaginable on a Nation l. 6. p. 23 27 32 35. Europe first peopled by the Posterity of Japhet either from one Alanus supposed to have been his Grandson or from Gomer his Son l. 1. p. 4. Eustatius Earl of Boloigne Edward the Confessor's Brother-in-Law with his Retinue entring Dover and resolving to quarter where they pleased was resisted by the Townsmen upon which ensued a great deal of Bloodshed on both sides l. 6. p. 76. Eutherius Archbishop of Arles Augustine and the Monks recommended to his Care and Protection l. 4. p. 153. Ordains Augustine Archbishop of the English Nation Id. p. 154. Excommunication had in King Withred's time no other Temporal punishment than a pecuniary Mulct l. 4. p. 211. Exeter anciently Exancester Besieged and where King Alfred pursued the Danes l. 5. p. 300 306. The removal of the See from Crediton to this City l. 5. p. 333. Is made a Bishops See instead of Credington in Cornwal at the request of Pope Leo l. 6. p. 78. Exmouth anciently called Exanmuthan l. 6. p. 28. F FAith the first People that were ever Executed by any Christian Prince for meer matters of Faith l. 2. p. 96. False News the spreaders of it against the Government to be punished with loss of Tongue or to Redeem themselves by the value of their Head and to be of no credit afterwards l. 5. p. 294. Famine a dreadful one about the Year CCCCXLVI in Britain l. 3. p. 115. Another among the South-Saxons wherein multitudes of the poorer People perished daily it being said not to have rained in that Countrey for Three years before l. 4 p. 198. A cruel one followed strange Prodigies in the Countrey of Northumberland Id. p. 238. A little after the Death of King Edgar a very great Famine happened l. 6. p. 15 16. In Ethelred the Unready's time so great a Famine raged as England never underwent a worse Id. p. 31. And in the Reign of Edward the Confessor there was another so great here that a Sester of Wheat was sold for Sixty Pence and more Id. p. 72. Farrington in Berkshire anciently called Fearndune where King Edward the Elder died l. 5. p. 324. Fealty or Fidelity the Oath required by Law to be taken by all Persons to King Edmund l. 5. p. 346. King of the Scots Swears Fidelity to King Edmund and all the Northumbrian Lords do the same Id. p. 349. Two joint Princes of North-Wales upon his Grant of it to them Swear Fealty to Edward the Confessor and likewise to Earl Harold l. 6. p. 90. Fee or Feuds the first footsteps of Military Feuds afterwards so much in use amongst the Goths Normans and other Nations l. 2. p. 80. Fee-tayl-Estate much more Ancient than the Thirteenth of Edward the First appears by the Thirty seventh Law of King Alfred concerning Bockland l. 5. p. 295 296. Feologild the Abbot his being said to be chosen Archbishop of Canterbury but certainly a mistake His Death l. 5. p. 255. Fergus the Son of Erk bringing great Supplies of the Scots from Ireland and Norway they came to recover their Countrey With a Relation of Fergus his Action l. 2. p 98. King of the Scots is slain in Battel and by whom
plunders all that comes in his way but is in a Great Council restored to his former Honour and Estate Id. p. 80 81 82. Is Founder of the Abbey of the Holy Cross at Waltham in Essex goes with Earl Tostige his Brother with a great Army both by Land and Sea into Wales and subdues that Countrey Id. p. 89. Seems to be the Adopted and Declared Heir of the Crown Id. p. 90. Endeavours to appease the Northumbers about his Brother Tostige but in vain his Character of being a Valiant and Worthy Prince Id. p. 90 91. His going over into Normandy and the occasion of it His promises to Duke William there That when King Edward died he would deliver up Dover-Castle to him and procure him the Succession but yet he succeeded the Confessor who declared him his Successor in the Kingdom Id. p. 92. The various Reports how he was advanced to it whether by Election or otherwise Id. p. 105. The wise course he takes to preserve himself in that Dignity he had got Id. p. 106. The several Invasions designed and preparing against him and his great Care and Industry in opposing them both by Sea and Land Id. p. 106 108 109. An Ambassador sent to him from Duke William to put him in mind of the Breach of his Word and threatning to force him to perform it with Harold's Answer l. 6. p. 107. His Victory over the King of Norway and his Brother Tostige Id. p. 109. His going against Duke William who landed at Hastings with but part of his Forces with a Resolution to fight him and his preparations for it Id. p. 110 111. The precipitate Answer he gave to the Monk whom Duke William sent to him with Proposals telling him He would leave it to God to determine between them Id. p. 111. The manner how he drew up his Army in order to a Battel Id. p. 111 112. His Foot breaking in pursuit of the Enemy who they thought were flying lost him the Victory his Crown and Life for he was slain by an Arrow shot through his Brains his Standard taken and sent to the Pope Id. p. 112 113. How his Body came to be known amidst the Crowd of the slain and not long after buried in the Abbey-Church of Waltham His Character His Wives and Children and the Law he made Id. p. 114 115. Harwood-Forest anciently called Warewell where Athelwold was slain with a Dart by whom and upon what account l. 6. p. 10. Hastings or Haestein the Dane his arrival in Kent and the Ravages he makes there but is at last forced to surrender to King Alfred with his Wife and two Sons and to become a Christian and accept of Conditions which he soon after broke l. 5. p. 299 300. His Ships broke to Pieces the best of them being saved and carried into Port Id. p. 300. Hatred too many men's natures to hate those that have too much obliged them l. 2. p. 64 65. Heacca Bishop of the South-Saxons that is of Chichester his Decease l. 6. p. 88. Headda Abbot of Medeshamsted the Charter said to be wrote by him l. 6. p. 4 5. Heads Oswald's Head and Arms cut off by Penda's Order and set on a Pole for a Trophy of his Victory l. 4. p. 181. Scotch slain in War set upon high Poles round about the Walls of Durham l. 6. p. 27. Healfange that is what is paid in Commutation for the Punishment of hanging by the Neck to the King or Lord l. 5. p. 347. Vid. l. 6. p. 59. Healfden a Danish King is slain in Battel with several Earls and many Thousand Soldiers by King Edward the Elder 's Army l. 5. p. 315. Heathens and Pagans by these names are meant the Danes and Norwegians together with the Goths Swedes and Vandals which for so long together wasted England l. 5. p. 255 256. Heavens a Red-Cross appeared in the Heavens after Sun-set l. 4. p. 230. Hedda when he sate as first Bishop of Winchester Id. p. 181. Took the Bishoprick of the East-Saxons Id. p. 196. His Death and Excellent Character Id. p. 212 213. Heddi consecrated Bishop of Winchester that is of the West-Saxons by Archbishop Theodore when l. 4. p. 193. Heddi Stephen the Author of the Life of St. Wilfrid his Account of the Quarrel between Egfrid King of Northumberland and that Bishop l. 4. p. 197. Heliogabolus Anton. succeeds Opilius Macrinus in the Empire but after three years Reign is killed by the Praetorian Band l. 2. p. 80. Helmestan Bishop of Winchester and the Dean of that Church had the Education of Prince Ethelwulf during the Life of his Elder Brother l. 5. p. 257. Helmham in Norfolk a Bishop's See taken out of the Bishoprick of Dunmoc l. 4. p. 193. Is continued to be the sole Bishop's See for the Kingdom of the East-Angles till long after that it was removed to Norwich l. 5. p. 274. Hemeida a Welsh King expelled the Bishops of St. Davids and Archbishop Novis but at last he and all the Inhabitants of South-Wales and Rodri with his Six Sons submit to Alfred l. 5. p. 306. Hengest and Horsa their first coming over to Britain l. 3. p. 118. They were originally Saxons by Descent Ib. p. 120. Those that came over with them were rather Frisians Id. p. 120. Were the Sons of Witgilfus who was the Son of Witta and he the Son of Vecta and he the Son of Woden Id. p. 121. Hengest demands of King Vortigern the Countrey of Kent for his Daughter and has it Id. p. 126. Sends over for Octa and Ebusa his Son and Nephew Ibid. p. 142. Is chosen King by the Saxons and made to retire into the Isle of Thanet Id. p. 128. When he and his Son Aesk fought against the Britains and obtained a great Victory l. 3. p. 129. When he and his Brother fought again with them and took much spoil Id. p. 131. His Death Id. p. 132. With Alrick King of Kent ended the Race of Hengest l. 4. p. 238. His Brother Horsa slain at Engleford in Kent l. 3. p. 128. Hengestdune now Hengston in Cornwal where King Egbert beats the Danes and Western Welsh l. 5. p. 257. Henwald two Priests of this name barbarously murthered by the Old Saxons and their Bodies flung into the Rhine but their Murther was notoriously revenged l. 4. p. 212. Heofenfield or Heaven-field lying near to what we call the Picts-Wall l. 4. p. 177. Heraclitus made by Severus Lieutenant of the Southern Parts of Britain l. 2. p. 74. Herefrith Bishop of Winchester his Decease l. 5. p. 257. Hereman King Edward the Confessor's Chaplain succeeds Brightwulf in the Bishoprick of Shireburne l. 6. p. 73. Is sent with Bishop Aldred to the great Synod held at Rome and for what Id. p. 75. Heresy Arrian when it first began to infect Britain l. 2. p. 106. Pelagian when it was broached here by a British Monk for absolute Freewill without the Assisting Grace of God l. 2. p. 107. Of
Horse Id. p. 55. Their whole Nation very near cut off by Agricola Ibid. Orgiva Vid. Edgitha Orkeney the Isles when first discovered by the Romans l. 2. p. 63. Orotius Paulus took what he wrote from an History of Suetonius which is now lost l. 2. p. 35. Osbald a Nobleman is made King of Northumberland but held it not long being forced to fly and going to the King of the Picts dies there an Abbot l. 4. p. 239 240. According to Simeon of Durham he was buried in York Minster Id. p. 242. Osberge the Daughter of Aslat or Oslac chief Butler to King Aethelwulf to whom she was married and became the Mother of Alfred who was afterwards King l. 5. p. 261. Her Character Ibid. Osbert or Osbryght succeeds Ethelred in the Kingdom of Northumberland and afterwards is killed by the Danes l. 5. p. 260. Their lawful King is expelled by the Northumbers who set up an Usurper not descended from the Royal Line Id p. 267. Lies with the Wife of one of his Noblemen who complaining of the Affront to the King of Denmark causes a great Army to come over to revenge that Injury Id. p. 268 269. Osfrid a Son of King Edwin by Quenburga the Daughter of Ceorle King of Mercia l. 4. p. 174. Is slain with his Father in the Battel of Hethfield Id. p. 176. Oskytel first consecrated Bishop of Dorchester then made Archbishop of York his Death and Burial l. 6. p. 7. Osmund when he began to reign over the South-Saxons l. 4. p. 228. Osred succeeds his Father Alfred in the Kingdom of the Northumbers l. 4. p. 213. Is reconciled to Wilfrid with his Great Men and Bishops Ibid. Becomes Bishop Wilfrid's adopted Son Id. p. 214. Is killed in a Fight near the Sea on the Southern Borders His Character Id. p. 217. Osred the Son of Alchred Nephew of King Alfwold reigned after him and is betrayed and driven out of his Kingdom and who succeeded l. 4. p. 236. Is put to death by King Ethelred's Command and where buried Id. p. 237. Osric the Son of Elfric obtains the Kingdom of Deira abjures the Christian Religion and is cut off by Cadwallo with all his Army l. 4. p. 176. Osric builds a Nunnery at Bath l. 4. p. 196. And the Nunnery of St. Peter in Gloucester which afterwards was destroyed by the Danes and then rebuilt and after was King of the Northumbers Id. p. 201. Osric King of Northumberland slain and who succeeded him Id. p. 220. Ostorius Scapula succeeds Plautius in the quality of Propraetor and reduces the most Southerly parts of Britain to the form of a Province l. 2. p. 41. Overcomes the Iceni engages with the Silures and Caractacus and his Success over them Id. p. 42 43. Is decreed by the Senate all the Ensigns of a Triumph and being worn out with cares and troubles dies Id. p. 44 45. Oswald and Oswie with Eanfrid their Elder Brother all Sons of King Ethelfrid are banished by Edwin l. 4. p. 170 171. Oswald Edwin's Successor in the Kingdom of Northumberland finishes St. Peter's Church in York Id. p. 174 176 l. 5. p. 254. Routs Cadwallo with all his Forces His Speech to his Army l. 4. p. 177. His Kingdom extended over both Deira and Bernicia He would interpret Bishop Aidan's Sermons to his Subjects that heard but did not understand them In his Reign Churches were built in divers places of his Kingdom His Great Character Id. p. 178. His Charity He was Edwin's Nephew by his Sister Acca Ibid. p. 179. Fights a great Battel with Penda â—und was therein slain Id. p. 180. The many Miracles supposed that he wrought after his death Ibid. He was the sixth King that ruled over all Britain l. 5. p. 254. His Body under the Title of Saint long after translated from Bardeney in Lincolnshire into Mercia l. 5. p. 315. Oswald Aetheling fighting with Ethelhard is worsted and the next year dies l. 4. p. 220. Oswald Son to King Ethelred is mentioned by his Father in his Charter to the Abbey of Abingdon l. 5. p. 276. Oswald Archbishop of York his Decease l. 6. p. 5. Oswald Bishop of Worcester succeeds his Kinsman Oskytell in the Archbishoprick of York l. 6. p. 7. His Death and Burial in the Church of St. Mary in Worcester Id. p. 23. Oswestre in Shropshire anciently called Maserfield where was fought the great Battel between Oswald the most Christian King of Northumberland and Penda the Pagan King of the Mercians l. 4. p. 180. Oswin the Brother of King Oswald is made King of Deira l. 4. p. 181. His Death at Ingerlingum Id. p. 182. His Character Id. p. 183. The Seventh King that Ruled over all Britain l. 5. p. 254. Oswulf his Son succeeds Eadbert in the Kingdom of Northumberland but is slain within a Year after by the Treachery of his own Servants l. 4. p. 228. Oswy the Son of Usric King of Bernicia l. 4. p. 182. Treacherously procures Oswin to be slain but afterwards builds a Monastery where the Murther was committed to expiate the Crime Id. p. 183. Overcomes Penda who in the Battel is slain Id. p. 185. The Ealdormen of Mercia Rebel against him Id. p. 188. His Death and Burial at Streanshale-Monastery Id. p. 192. Otford in Kent anciently called Ottanford where the Mercians and Kentishmen had a Battel l. 4. p. 230. Outlawry Ethelward the Ealdorman is Outlaw'd in a Great Council of the Kingdom l. 6. p. 51. Earl Sweyn Son of Godwin is declared Outlaw'd in a Great Council at London Id. p. 77. The Common Law of all Outlaws they are said to have Wulfes hefod i. e. a Wolf's head or as we say in Latin gerere Caput Lupinum Id. p. 99 100. Usurer 's Convicted to be look'd on as Outlaw'd Persons Id. p. 102. Earl Elfgar is Outlaw'd in the Witena-Gemot and for what l. 6. p. 86. Vid. Pledge Oxford the University when Founded and who the first Regents and Professors there The Quarrel that arose betwixt Grimbald and the Old Scholars of Oxford This passage of the Quarrel c. objected against by Sir Henry Spelman and answered l. 5. p. 288 289 290. The flourishing state of Learning here related by Asser very much questioned Id. p. 304. King Alfred assisted by Grimbald and John Scotus in Founding this University Id. p. 306. Is taken and Burnt by the Danes l. 6. p. 34 35. All Studies cease there for a long time after till about the Year Eleven hundred thirty three from which time the Scholars have continued there Id. p. 35. P PAenius Posthumus runs himself through with his own Sword and why l. 2. p. 50. Pagan-Rites the Forbidding of them to be observed by the Decree of Calcuith l. 4. p. 234. Pagans Vid. Heathens Palace-Royal the Punishment on any that fight within it l. 4. p. 208. Palladius the Bishop sent by Pope Caelestine to the Scots to confirm their Faith l. 2. p. 109 110. St. Pancrace Church the first Built
Châ—rlâ—s King of the Franks l. 4. p. 231. Sardica the Council there when called the Bishops of Britain assisted aâ— it l. 2. p. 89. Sarum Old called in the British times Searebyrig l. 3. p. 142. Or Syrbyrig is burnt by King Sweyn l. 6. p. 30. Saturninus Seius in Antoninus Pius his time had the Charge of the Roman Navy on the British shore l. 2. p. 68. Saxon Annals first collected and writâ—en in divers Monasteries of England l. 4. p. 151. Saxons English at first so very illiterate that it is much doubted whether they had the use of Letters and Writing among them or not l. 3. p. 113. Were sent for to repel the Scots and Picts Id. p. 117. Had the Isle of Thanet given them for their Habitation Id. p. 118. Came from three valiant Nations of Germany Id. p. 118 119 120 121. What Countrey Old Saxony was Id. p. 118 119. Great Disputes about the Name of Saxons Id. p. 121 123 124. Their Religion and Victory over the Picts Id. p. 124 125. Break League with the Britains their Confederates and over-run almost the whole Island Id. p. 126. By Vortimer are forced to return into Germany and never durst return hither till after his death Id. p. 128. Obtain a great Victory over Nazaleod who was slain in the Battel and they remained undisturbed a long time after l. 3. p. 134. Are beaten by the Britains at Wodensburg in Wiltshire Id. p. 148. Were strict Observers of the Lord's-Day l. 4. p. 209. A great Battel between them and the Britains where the King of North-Wales was slain Id. p. 241. The English-Saxons suffer'd no Nation to out-go them in Deceit and all manner of Wickedness and therefore they at last met with the Judgments of God in the Wrath of men l. 5. p. 247. Commanded to be called English-men by a Law of King Egbert Id. p. 255. A great Sea-fight among the Ancient Saxons of Germany supposed with the Danes the former getting the Victory twice Id. p. 287. Are driven out of Wales by the Northern Britains into Mercia Id. p. 317. Utterly rout and put to flight the Scots Irish and Danes Id. p. 334. Saxony Old called Northalbingia its Extent and Bounds l. 3. p. 118. Saxulph or Sexwulf a Monk to his care is committed the finishing of the Abbey of Medeshamsted though Peadda and Oswy had laid the Foundation and gone a good way through it l. 4. p. 186 187. Is ordained by Archbishop Theodore Bishop of the Mercians in the room of Winfrid who was deposed Id. p. 194. Parted with the Church of Hereford to Putta Bishop of Rochester who is said to be expelled from thence Id. p. 196. Scapula Vid. Ostorius Sceapige now the Isle of Sheppy in Kent wasted by the Heathens or Pagans l. 5. p. 255. The Danes take up their Winter-quarters there Id. p. 262. Sceorstan perhaps Shire-stone for the place is supposed to be a Stone that parts now the Four Counties of Oxfordshire Gloucestershire Worcestershire and Warwickshire l. 6. p. 45. Sceva a Roman Soldier his incredible Valour l. 2. p. 29. School erected for the Instruction of Youth by King Sigebert l. 4. p. 179. Supposed to give Being to the University of Cambridge but without ground Id. Ib. Or Colledge of the English Nation at Rome burnt l. 5. p. 251. Whom it were that Alfred obliged to keep their Sons at School until fifteen years of Age Id. p. 297. Scotch Historians extend the Limits of King Kened's conquering the Picts too far l. 5. p. 259. Scotland anciently called Albania North-West to the Mountains of Braid-Albain and its Extent l. 2. p. 83 98. Said to be conquered by the Forces of King Edward the Confessor l. 6. p. 86. The Low-lands long in the possession of the Kings of England l. 5. p. 260. Scots came into this Nation out of Ireland l. 1. p. 4 5. Came into Ireland in the Fourth Age of the World Id. p. 7. Scoti sometimes called Hiberni because they first came out of Ireland l. 2. p. 84. They with the Picts make cruel Incursions and lay waste all places near the Borders of Britain Id. p. 90. The first Roman Author that mentions them is said to be Ammianus Marcellinus but St. Jerome has given a much more Ancient Passage of them which he translated out of Porphyry the Greek Philosopher who wrote an Age before Id. p. 91. Are owned by some Antiquaries to be planted in Ireland in the time of Claudian Id. p. 94 95. And Picts continually wasted the Roman Territories Id. p. 95. Their Incursions in the beginning of Honorius his Reign Id. p. 97 98. They miserably harass'd the Britains till speedy Supplies were sent them by the Romans Id. p. 106. The Scots Conversion to Christianity Id. p. 109 110. Were sometimes used for Irish-men sometimes for Native Scots Id. p. 110. And Picts landing in Britain in shoals on the Romans deserting it l. 3. p. 114. Ever acknowledged Bishops necessary for ordaining others in the Ministry l. 3. p. 144. Per Universam Scotiam that is throughout all Ireland l. 4. p. 166 189. The Scots in Britain regain their Liberty and enjoy it for Six and forty years after Id. p. 202. Who Inhabited Britain practised no Treachery against the English Nation when Bede finished his History Id. p. 221. Three Scots come from Ireland to King Alfred resolving to lead the Life of Pilgrims l. 5. p. 298. The first time any of their King 's made Submission to the English was in King Edward the Elder 's Reign l. 5. p. 323 324. Are miserably routed with their King Constantine by Athelstan and his Army Id. p. 334 335 336. Submit themselves to King Edred and their King Swears Fidelity to him Id. p. 349. Are overcome by Uthred the Valiant Son of Waltheof Earl of the Northumbers and the Reward he received of King Ethelred for his Bravery l. 6. p. 27. Scriptures the Reading of them Decreed in the Second Council at Cloveshoe to be more constantly used in Monasteries and the Creed and Lord's Prayer to be learn'd in English l. 4. p. 225. Sea Those that have the Command there may force a King of England to what terms they please l. 6. p. 81. Seals Edward the Confessor was the first English King we meet with that affixed any to his Charters l. 6. p. 98. The Island of Seals Vid. Seolefeu Sebba Vid. Siger Sebbi King of the East-Saxons becomes a Monk and soon after dies l. 4. p. 210. Sebert the Son of Richala King of the East-Saxons receives Baptism and causes St. Paul's to be Built at London l. 4. p. 159. Founds the Church and Abbey of Westminster Id. p. 166. His Death Id. p. 168. A most Learned and Christian Prince Id. p. 175. Secington anciently Seccandune in Warwickshire l. 4. p. 227. Security to be given by all Servants for their good Abearing and all others of ill Fame to have it given for them l. 5. p. 346. Every one of Twelve Years