Penbroke by vertue of King Edward the Third his Brieffe The Copie whereof I thinke good to set downe heere that wee may see what was the right by heires generall in these honorary Titles Rex omnibus ad quos c. salutem The King to all unto whom c. Greeting Know yee that the good presage of circumspection and vertue which wee have conceived by the towardly youth and happy beginnings of our most welbeloved cozin Laurence Hastings induce us worthily to countenance him with our especiall grace and favour in those things which concerne the due preservation and maintenance of his honour Whereas therefore the inheritance of Aimar of Valence sometime Earle of Penbroke as hee was stiled deceased long since without heire begotten of his body hath beene devolved unto his sisters proportionably to be divided among them and their heires because we know for certaine that the foresaid Laurence who succeedeth the said Aimar in part of the inheritance is descended from the elder sister of Aimar aforesaid and so by the avouching of the learned with whom wee consulted about this matter the prerogative both of name and honour is due unto him We deeme it just and due that the same Laurence claiming his Title from the elder sister assume and have the name of Earle of Penbroke which the said Aimar had whiles he lived Which verily we as much as lyeth in us confirme ratifie and also approve unto him willing and granting that the said Laurence have and hold the prerogative and honour of Earle Palatine in those lands which hee holdeth of the said Aimars inheritance so fully and after the same manner as the same Aimar had and held them at the time of his death In witnesse the King at Mont-Martin the thirteenth day of October and in the thirteenth of our Raigne After Laurence succeeded his sonne John who being taken prisoner by the Spaniards in a battaile at sea and in the end ransomed died in France in the yeere 1375. After him followed his sonne John who in a running at Tilt at Woodstocke was slaine by Sir Iohn Saint Iohn casually in the yeere 1391. And it was observed that for five generations together in this Family I know not by what destiny the father never saw his sonne Now for default of his issue there fell very many possessions and faire revenewes into the Kings hands as our Lawyers use to speake and the Castle of Penbroke was granted unto Francis At-Court a Courtier in especiall great favour who thereupon was commonly called Lord of Pembroke Not long after Humfrey sonne to King Henry the Fourth before he was Duke of Glocester received this title of his brother King Henry the Fifth and before his death King Henry the Sixth granted the same in reversion a thing not before heard of to William de la Pole Earle of Suffolke after whose downefall the said King when hee had enabled Edmund of Hadham and Iasper of Hatfield the sonnes of Queene Katharin his mother to bee his lawfull halfe brethren created Iasper Earle of Penbroke and Edmund Earle of Richmond with preheminence to take place above all Earles For Kings have absolute authority in dispensing honours But King Edward the Fourth depriving Iasper of all his honours by attaindour and forfeiture gave the Title of Pembroke to Sir William Herbert for his good service against Iasper in Wales but hee shortly after lost his life at the battaile of Banbury Then succeeded his sonne bearing the same name whom King Edward the Fourth when hee had recovered the Kingdome invested in the Earledome of Huntingdon and bestowed the Title of Penbroke being surrendred upon his eldest sonne and heire Edward Prince of Wales A long time after King Henry the Eighth invested Anne Bollen to whom he was affianced Marchionesse of Pembroke with a mantle and Coronet in regard both of her Nobility and also her vertues for so runne the words of the Patent At length king Edward the Sixth adorned Sir William Herbert Lord of Caerdiffe with the Title of Earle of Penbroke after whom succeeded his sonne Henry who was Lord President of Wales under Queene Elizabeth And now his sonne William richly accomplished with all laudable endowments of body and minde enjoyeth the same Title This Family of the Herberts in these parts of Wales is honourable and of great antiquity As lineally propagated from Henry Fitz Herbert Chamberlaine to king Henry the First who married the said kings Paramor the mother of Reginald Earle of Cornwall as I was first enformed by Robert Glover a man passing skilfull in the study of Genealogies by whose untimely death that knowledge hath sustained a great losse There are in this Shire Parishes 145. CARDIGAN-SHIRE FRom Saint Davids Promontory the shore being driven backe aslope Eastward letteth in the Sea within a vast and crooked Bay upon which lyeth the third Region of the Dimetae in English called CARDIGAN-SHIRE in British Sire Aber-Tivi by old Latine Writers Ceretica if any man thinke of King Caratacus this may seeme a conjecture proceeding out of his owne braine and not grounded upon any certaine authority and yet wee reade that the worthy Caratacus so worthily renowned was the Soveraigne Ruler in these parts A plaine and champion Country it is Westward where it lyeth to the Sea as also on the South side where the River Tivie separateth it from Caermarden-shire But in the East and North sides which bound upon Brechnock and Montgomery-shires there is a continued range or ridge of hils that shoot along yeelding goodly pasture ground under which there be spread sundry large Pooles That in ancient times this Shire as the rest also of Wales was not planted and garnished with Cities but with little cottages it may bee gathered by that speech of their Prince Caratacus who being taken Prisoner when he had throughly viewed the glorious magnificence of Rome What meane you saith he when yee have these and such like stately buildings of your owne to covet our small cottages Howbeit the places heere of most Antiquity let us breifly view over The River Tivie which Ptolomee calleth TUEROBIUS but corruptly in stead of Dwr-Tivius that is The River Tivie issueth out of the Poole Lin-Tivy beneath the hils whereof I spake before first cumbred as it were with stones in the way and rumbling with a great noise without any chanell and so passeth through a very stony tract neere unto which at Rosse the Mountainers keepe the greatest Faire for cattaile in all those parts untill it come to Strat-fleur a Monastery long since of the Cluniack Monkes compassed about with hilles From thence being received within a chanell it runneth downe by Tregaron and Lhan-Devi-brevi built and so named in memoriall of David Bishop of Menevia where he in a frequent Synode refuted the Pelagian Heresie springing up againe in Britaine both by the holy Scriptures and also by a miracle while the earth whereon he stood as he preached arose
or Band of the Exploratores with their Captaine kept their station heere under the dispose of the Generall of Britaine as appeareth for certaine out of the NOTICE of Provinces where it is named LAVATRES But whereas such Bathes as these were called also in Latine Lavacra some Criticke no doubt will pronounce that this place was named LAVATRAE in stead of LAVACRA yet would I rather have it take the name of a little river running neere by which as I heare say is called Laver. As for the later name Bowes considering the old Towne was heere burnt downe to the ground as the inhabitants with one voice doe report I would thinke it grew upon that occasion For that which is burnt with fire the Britans still at this day doe terme Boeth and by the same word the Suburbes of Chester beyond the River Dee which the Englishmen call Hanbridge the Britans or Welshmen name Treboeth that is The burnt Towne because in a tumult of the Welshmen it was consumed with fire Heere beginneth to rise that high hilly and solitary Country exposed to winde and raine which because it is stony is called in our native language Stane more All heere round about is nothing but a wilde Desert unlesse it bee an homely Hostelry or Inne in the very middest thereof called The Spitle on Stane more for to entertaine waifaring persons and neere to it is a fragment of a Crosse which wee call Rerecrosse the Scots Reicrosse as one would say The Kings Crosse. Which Crosse Hector Boetius the Scottish Writer recordeth to have beene erected as a meere stone confining England and Scotland what time as King William the Conquerour granted Cumberland unto the Scots on this condition that they should hold it of him as his Tenants and not attempt any thing prejudiciall or hurtfull to the Crowne of England And a little lower upon the Romanes high street there stood a little Fort of the Romans built foure square which at this day they call Maiden-Castle From whence as the borderers reported the said High way went with many windings in and out as farre as to Caer Vorran in Northumberland There have beene divers Earles of Richmond according as the Princes favour enclined and those out of divers families whom I will notwithstanding set downe as exactly and truely as I can in their right order The first Earles were out of the house of little Britaine in France whose descent is confusedly intricate amongst their owne Writers for that there were two principall Earles at once one of Haulte Britaine and another of Base Britaine for many yeeres and every one of their children had their part in Gavell kinde and were stiled Earles of Britaine without distinction But of these the first Earle of Richmond according to our Writers and Records was Alane sirnamed Feregaunt that is The Red sonne of Hoel Earle of Britaine descended from Hawise great Aunt to William Conquerour who gave this Country unto him by name of the lands of Earle Eadwin in Yorke-shire and withall bestowed his daughter upon him by whom he had no issue He built Richmond Castle as is before specified to defend himselfe from disinherited and outlawed Englishmen in those parts and dying left Britaine to his sonne Conan Le Grosse by a second wife But Alane the Blacke sonne of Eudo sonne of Geffrey Earle of Britaine and Hawise aforesaid succeeded in Richmond and he having no childe lest it to Stephen his brother This Stephen begat Alan sirnamed Le Savage his sonne and successour who assisted king Stephen against Maude the Empresse in the battaile at Lincolne and married Bertha one of the heires of Conan Le Grosse Earle of Hault Britaine by whom hee had Conan Le Petit Earle of both Britaine 's by hereditary right as well as of Richmond Hee by the assistance of King Henrie the Second of England dispossessed Endo Vicount of Porhoet his Father in Lawe who usurped the Title of Britaine in right of the said Bertha his Wife and ended his life leaving onely one daughter Constance by Margaret sister to Malcolne king of the Scots Geffrey third Sonne to King Henry the Second of England was advanced by his Father to the marriage of the said Constance whereby hee was Earle of Britaine and Richmond and begat of her Arthur who succeeded him and as the French write was made away by King Iohn his Unkle True it is indeed that for this cause the French called King Iohn into question as Duke of Normandy And notwithstanding he was absent and not heard once to plead neither confessing ought nor convicted yet by a definitive sentence they condemned him and awarded from him Normandy and his hereditary possessions in France Albeit himselfe had promised under safe conduct to appeare in personally at Paris there to make answere as touching the death of Arthur who as a Liege subject had bound himselfe by oath to bee true and loyall unto him and yet started backe from his allegeance raised a rebellion and was taken prisoner in battaile At which time this question was debated whether the Peeres of France might give judgement of a King annointed and therefore superiour considering that a greater dignity drowneth the lesser and now one and the same person was both King of England and Duke of Normandy But whither doe I digresse After Arthur these succeeded orderly in the Earldome of Richmond Guy Vicount of Thovars unto whom the foresaid Constance was secondly married Ranulph the third Earle of Chester the third husband of the said Constance Peter of Dreux descended from the bloud royall of France who wedded Alice the onely daughter of Constance by her husband abovenamed Guy Then upon dislike of the house of Britaine Peter of Savoy Unkle by the mothers side unto Eleonor the wife of king Henry the Third was made Earle of Richmond who for feare of the Nobles and Commons of England that murmured against strangers preferred to honours in England voluntarily surrendred up this Honour which was restored to Iohn Earle of Britaine sonne to Peter of Dreux After whom succeeded Iohn his sonne the first Duke of Britaine who wedded Beatrice daughter to Henry the Third King of England Whose sonne Arthur was Duke of Britaine and as some write Earle of Richmond Certes John of Britaine his younger brother immediately after the fathers death bare this honourable Title And he added unto the ancient Armes of Drewx with the Canton of Britaine the Lions of England in Bordeur Hee was Guardian of Scotland under King Edward the Second and there taken and detained prisoner for three yeeres space and dyed at length without issue in the Raigne of Edward the Third And John Duke of Britaine his nephew the sonne of Arthur succeeded in this Earledome After his decease without children when there was hote contention about the Dutchy of Britaine betweene John Earle of Montfort of the halfe bloud and Joane his brothers daughter and heire
was Robert Boide whose wife and Earldome together when Boide was banished the realme James L. Hamilton as I said erewhile obtained and his posteritie enjoyed the same Earldome saving that of late Sir James Steward appointed guardian to James Hamilton Earle of Arran when hee was so defective in understanding that he could not manage his estate tooke this title in the right of being guardian Neere unto this standeth Buthe so called of a little religious Cell which Brendanus founded for so is a little Cell tearmed in the Scottish tongue In this Iland is Rothsay Castle which giveth the title of Dukedome unto the King of Scots eldest sonne who is borne Prince of Scotland Duke of Rothsay and Seneschall of Scotland since time that King Robert the third invested Robert his eldest sonne Duke of Rothsay the first in Scotland that ever was created Duke With which title also Queene Marie honoured Henrie Lord Darly before she tooke him to be her husband Then shew themselves Hellan sometimes called Hellan Leneow that it as Iohn Fordon interpreteth it The Saints Ilands and Hellan Tinoc that is The Swines Iland with a great number of other Ilands of lesse note and reckoning in the same Forth DAMNII CLUYDSDALE c. BEyond the NOVANTES more inward by the river Glotta or Cluyd and farther still even to the verie East sea dwelt in times past the DAMNII in those countries if I have any judgement for in things so farre remote from our remembrance and in so thick a mist of obscuritie who can speake of certaintie which are now callled Cluydsdale the Baronie of Renfraw Lennox Strivelinshire Menteth and Fife Neere unto the head of Cluyd in Crawford Moore among the wilde wasts certaine husbandmen of the countrey after great store of violent raine happened to finde certaine small peeces like scrapings of gold which have this long time given great hope of much riches but most of all in our dayes since that Sir Beamis Bulmer undertooke with great endevour to finde out here a Mine of gold Certes there is Azur gotten forth everie day without any paines in manner at all Now the Castle of Crawford together with the title of the Earle of Crawford was by Robert the second King of Scots given unto Sir James Lindesey who by a single combate performed with Baron Welles an Englishman won high commendation for his valour These Lindeseyes have deserved passing well of their country and are of ancient nobilitie ever since that Sir William Lindesey married one of the heires of William of Lancaster Lord of Kandale in England whose neice in the third degree of lineall descent was married into the most honourable family of Coucy in France Cluyd after hee hath from his spring head with much struggling got out Northward by Baron Somervils house receiveth unto him from out of the West the river Duglasse or Douglasse so called of a blackish or greenish water that it hath which river communicateth his name both to have the vale through which hee runneth called Douglasdale and also to Douglasse castle therein which name that castle likewise hath imparted unto the family of the Douglasses Which I assure you is very ancient but most famous ever since that Sir James Douglasse stucke verie close at all times as a most fast friend unto King Robert Brus and was readie alwaies with singular courage resolution and wisdome to assist him claiming the kingdome in most troublesome and dangerous times and whom the said King Robert charged at his death to carrie his heart to Jerusalem that hee might bee discharged of his vow made to goe to the Holy-land In memoriall whereof the Douglasses have inserted in their Coat of Armes a mans heart From which time this family grew up to that power and greatnesse and namely after that King David the second had created William Earle of Douglasse that they after a sort awed the Kings themselves For at one time well neere there were sixe Earles of them namely of this Douglasse of Angus of Ormund of Wigton of Murray and of Morton among whom the Earle of Wigton through his martiall prowesse and desert obtained at the hands of Charles the seventh king of France the title of Duke of Tourain and left the same to two Earles of Douglasse his heires after him Above the confluence of Douglasse and Cluyd is Lanric the hereditarie Sheriffdom of the Hamiltons who for their name are beholden unto Hamilton castle which standeth somewhat higher upon Cluyds banke in a fruitfull and passing pleasant place but they referre their originall as they have a tradition to a certaine Englishman surnamed Hampton who having taken part with Robert Brus received from him faire lands in this tract Much increase of their wealth and estate came by the bounteous hand of King James the third who bestowed in marriage upon Sir James Hamilton his own eldest sister whom he had taken perforce from the Lord Boide her husband together with the Earledome of Arran but of honours and dignities by the States of the kingdome who after the death of King James the fifth ordained James Hamilton grandsonne to the former James Regent of Scotland whom Henrie also the second King of France advanced to be Duke of Chasteau Herald in Poictou as also by King James the sixth who honoured his son John with the title of Marquesse of Hamilton which honourable title was then first brought into Scotland The river Glotta or Cluyd runneth from Hamilton by Bothwell which glorieth in the Earles thereof namely John Ramsey whose greatnesse with King James the third was excessive but pernicious both to himselfe and the King and the Hepburns whom I have already spoken of so streight forward with a readie stream through Glascow in ancient times past a Bishops seat but discontinued a great while untill that King William restored it up againe but now it is an Archbishops See and an Universitie which Bishop Turnbull after hee had in a pious and religious intent built a colledge in the yeere 1554. first founded This Glascow is the most famous town of merchandise in this tract for pleasant site and apple trees and other like fruit trees much commended having also a verie faire bridge supported with eight arches Of which towne I. Ionstoun thus versified Non te Pontificum luxus non Insula tantùm Ornavit diri quae tibi caussa mali Glottiadae quantùm decorant te Glascua Musae Quae celsum attollunt clara sub astra caput GLOTTA decus rerum piscosis nobilis undis Finitimi recreat jugera laeta soli Ast Glottae decus vicinis gloria terris Glascua foe cundat flumine cuncta suo The sumptuous port of Bishops great hath not adorn'd thee so Nor mitre rich that hath beene cause of thine accursed woe As Cluyds Muses grace thee now O Glascow towne for why They make thee beare thy head aloft up to the starrie skie Cluyd the beautie of the
way to convey their small vessels over it by land Which I hope a man may sooner beleeve than that the Argonauts laid their great ship Argos upon their shoulders and so carried it along with them five hundred miles from Aemonia unto the shores of Thessalia LORN SOmewhat higher toward the North lyeth LORN bearing the best kinde of barley in great plentie and divided with Leaue a vast and huge lake by which standeth Berogomum a castle in which sometime was kept the Court of Justice or Session and not farre from it Dunstafag that is Stephens Mount the Kings house in times past above which Logh Aber a Lake insinuating it selfe from out of the Westerne sea windeth it selfe so farre within land that it had conflowed together with Nesse another Lake running into the East sea but that certaine mountaines betweene kept them with a verie little partition asunder The chiefest place of name in this tract is Tarbar in Logh Kinkeran where King James the fourth ordained a Justice and Sheriffe to administer justice unto the Inhabitants of the out Islands These countries and those beyond them in the yeere of our Lords Incarnation 655. the Picts held whom Bede calleth the Northern Picts where hee reporteth that in the said yeere Columbane a Priest and Abbat famous for his Monkish profession and life came out of Ireland into Britaine to instruct these in Christian religion that by meanes of the high rough ridges of the mountaines were sequestred from the Southerne countries of the Picts and that they in lieu of a reward allowed unto him the Iland Hii over against them now called I-Comb-Kill of which more in place convenient The Lords of Lorna in the age aforegoing were the Stewarts but now by reason of a female their heire the Earles of Argile who use this title in their honourable stile BRAID ALBIN or ALBANY MOre inwardly where the uninhabitable loftie and rugged ridges of the Mountaine Grampius begin a little to slope and settle downeward is seated BRAID-ALBIN that is The highest part of Scotland for they that are the true and right Scots indeed call Scotland in their mother tongue Albin like as that part where it mounteth up highest Drum Albin that is the Ridge of Scotland But in an old booke it is read Brun Albin where wee finde this written Fergus filius Eric c. that is Fergus the sonne of Eric was the first of the seed or line of Chonare that entred upon the Kingdome of Albanie from Brun-Albain unto the Irish sea and Inch-Gall And after him the Kings descended from the seed or race of Fergus reigned in Brun-Albain or Brunhere unto Alpin the sonne of Eochall But this Albanie is better knowne for the Dukes thereof than for any good gifts that the soile yeeldeth The first Duke of Albanie that I read of was Robert Earle of Fife whom his brother King Robert the third of that name advanced to that honour yet he ungratefull person that he was pricked on with the spirit of ambition famished to death his sonne David that was heire to the crown But the punishment due for this wicked fact which himselfe by the long-sufferance of God felt not his son Mordac the second Duke of Albanie suffered most grievously being condemned for treason and beheaded when hee had seene his two sonnes the day before executed in the same manner The third Duke of Albanie was Alexander second sonne to King James the second who being Regent of the Kingdome Earle of March Marr and Garioth Lord of Annandale and of Man was by his own brother King James the third outlawed and after hee had beene turmoiled with many troubles in the end as hee stood by to behold a Justs and Tourneament in Paris chanced to bee wounded with a peece of a shattered launce and so died His sonne John the fourth Duke of Albanie Regent likewise and made Tutour to King James the fifth taking contentment in the pleasant delights of the French Court after hee had wedded there the daughter and one of the heires of John Earle of Auverne and Lauragveze died there without issue Whom in a respective reverence to the bloud royall of the Scots Francis the first King of France gave thus much honour unto as that hee allowed him place betweene the Archbishop of Langres and the Duke of Alenson Peeres of France After his death there was no Duke of Albanie untill that Queene Marie in our memorie conferred this title upon Henrie Lord Darly whom within some few daies after shee made her husband like as King James the sixth granted the same unto his owne second sonne Charles being an Infant who is now Duke of Yorke There inhabite these regions a kinde of people rude warlike readie to fight querulous and mischievous they bee commonly tearmed High-landmen who being in deed the right progenie of the ancient Scots speak Irish call themselves Albinich their bodies be firmely made and well compact able withall and strong nimble of foot high minded inbread and nuzzeled in warlike exercises or robberies rather and upon a deadly feud and hatred most forward and desperate to take revenge They goe attired Irish-like in stript or streaked mantles of divers colours wearing thicke and long glibbes of haire living by hunting fishing fowling and stealing In the warre their armour is an head-peece or Morion of iron and an habergeon or coat of maile their weapons bee bowes barbed or hooked arrowes and broad backe-swords and being divided by certaine families or kinreds which they terme Clannes they commit such cruell outrages what with robbing spoiling and killing that their savage crueltie hath forced a law to bee enacted whereby it is lawfull That if any person out of any one Clanne or kinred of theirs hath trespassed ought and done harme whosoever of that Clanne or linage chance to bee taken he shall either make amends for the harmes or else suffer death for it when as the whole Clan commonly beareth feud for any hurt received by any one member thereof by execution of lawes order of justice or otherwise PERTHIA OR PERTH Sheriffdome OUt of the very bosome of Mountaines of Albany Tau the greatest river of all Scotland issueth and first runneth amaine through the fields untill that spreading broad into a lake full of Islands hee restraineth and keepeth in his course Then gathering himselfe narrow within his bankes into a channell and watering Perth a large plentifull and rich countrey he taketh in unto him Amund a small river comming out of Athol This Athol that I may digresse a little out of my way is infamous for witches and wicked women the countrey otherwise fertile enough hath vallies bespread with forrests namely where that WOOD CALEDONIA dreadfull to see to for the sundrie turnings and windings in and out therein for the hideous horrour of dark shades for the burrowes and dennes of wild bulls with thicke manes whereof I made mention heretofore
how hard it was for a new Prince and an usurper to maintaine his royall place and dignitie without an opinion of pietie and vertue for to blot out that his offence given and to establish his Scepter did all he possibly could for the promoting of religion and preferment of Churchmen and to beautifie and adorne Monasteries and religious houses Edgar Aetheling Earle of Oxford and all the nobles he entertained with all love and favour the people he eased of theire tributes he gave bountifully a great largesse of mony to poore people and in one word with faire speech and affable language with mild hearing of causes and equitie in deciding the same he wonn to himselfe singular love and no lesse authoritie and reputation So soone as William Duke of Normandie was truly advertised of these newes he seemed to take the death of King Edward very heavily whiles in the meane time he was vexed at the heart that England which hee had in conceit and hope already swallowed and devoured was thus caught away out of his very chawes Forthwith therefore by advice of his counsell and friends he dispatcheth Embassadors to Harold with instructions to put him in mind of the promises and stipulation past but withall in his name to make claime to the Crowne Harold after some pause and deliberation upon the point returneth this answer As touching the promises of King Edward William was to understand that the Realme of England could not be given by promise neither ought he to bee tied unto the said promise seeing the kingdome was fallen unto him by election and not by right of Inheritance And as for his owne stipulation extorted and wrung it was from him then a prisoner by force and by guile in feare of perpetuall imprisonment to the hinderance of the English common-wealth and prejudice of the State and therefore void which neither ought hee if he could nor might if he would make good since it was done without the Kings privitie and consent of the people And a very hard and unreasonable demand it was of his that hee should renounce and surrender unto a Norman Prince a meere stranger and of forrein linage that kingdome wherein hee was invested with so great assent of all sorts With this answere William was not well pleased and he thought that Harold thereby sought starting holes for to hide his perjurie Others therefore he sent out of hand in Embassage about the same matter who should admonish him how religiously hee had bound himselfe by oath and that forsworne persons should be sure of finall perdition at Gods hands and reproachfull shame among men But when as now the daughter of William affianced unto Harold in the covenant the very strength and knot of the foresaid stipulation was by Gods appoinment taken away by death the Embassadours were with lesse courtesie entertained and received none other answere than before So that now by this time there was nothing like to follow but open warre Harold riggeth and prepareth his navie mâ—sters and presseth souldiers and placeth strong garrisons along the sea coasts in convenient places and provideth all things in readinesse which were thought needefull and meet for to beat backe the Normans forces Howbeit the first tempest of warre beside the expectation of all men arose from Tosto the brother in whole bloud of Harold He being a man of a proud hautie and fell heart ruled in great authority a good while over Northumberland but growing outragious in cruelty to his inferiors in pride towards his Soveraigne and in hatred to his brethren was outlawed by Edward the Confessor and so withdrew himselfe into France and now by the advice of Baldwine Earle of Flanders and perswasion of William Duke of Normandie as it seemeth probable For Tosto and William married two daughters of Baldwine Earle of Flanders beginneth to trouble his brother with open warre whom a long time he deadly hated From Flanders hee tooke sea with a fleet of 60. rovers-ships wasteth the Isle of Wight and annoyeth the sea-coast of Kent but terrified at the comming of the Kings navie hee set up saile and directing his course toward the more remote parts of England landeth in Lincolneshire and there harrieth the Countrey where Edwin and Morcar give him battell but beeing discomfited and put to flight into Scotland hee goes from thence to renew his forces and so to warre afresh Now were all mens minds held in suspense with the expectation of a twofold warre of the one side out of Scotland of the other out of Normandie and so much the more because at the feast of Easter there was seene about a sevennight together a blazing starre of an hideous and fearefull forme which turned mens minds already troubled and perplexed as it falleth out in a turbulent time to the forefeeling of some unluckie events But Harold carried an heedfull eie to all parts of his kingdome and the south coast hee fortified with garrisons Lesse feare hee had from Scotland and Tosto because Malcolme King of the Scots was more disquieted with civill dissensions Meane while William much busted in his mind about England casting about what course to take ever and anon communicated with his Captaines about the point whom hee saw cheerefull and full of forward hopes But all the difficulty was how to make money for defraying the charges of so great a warre For when in a publike assembly of all the states of Normandie it was propounded as touching a subsidie answere was made That in the former warre against the French their wealth was so much empaired that if a new warre should come upon them they were hardly able to hold and defend their owne That they were to looke rather unto the defence of their proper possessions than to invade the territories of others and this warre intended just though it were yet seemed it not so necessary but exceeding dangerous beside the Normans were not by their allegeance bound to military service in forain parts Neither could they by any meanes be brought to grant a levie of money although William Fitzosbern a man in high favour with the Duke and as gracious among the people endeavoured what he could to effect it yea and to drawe others by his owne example promised to set out fortie tall ships of his owne proper charges towards this warre Duke William then seeing he could not bring this about in a publike meeting goeth another way to worke The wealthiest men that were he sendeth for severally one by one to repaire unto him he speaks them faire and requireth them to contribute somewhat toward this warre They then as if they had strived avie who should helpe their Prince most promise largely and when that which they promised was presently registred in a booke there was a huge masse of money quickly raised and more than men would ever have thought These matters thus dispatched he craveth aid and helpe of the Princes his neighbours to wit the
mother to Edward Courtney the last Earle of Devonshire of that house and on the other side of the quier Iohn de Beaufort Duke of Somerset with his wife Margaret daughter and heire to Sir Iohn Beauchamp of Bletneshoe whose daughter Margaret Countesse of Richmond and mother of King Henry the Seventh a most godly and vertuous Princesse erected a Schoole heere for the training up of youth But now will I turne my pen from the Church to the Towne when the Danes by their crafty devices went about to set the Englishmen together by the eares and would have broken that league and unitie which was betweene King Edward the Elder and his cosen Aethelwald Aethelwald then lusting after the Kingdome and wholly set against his liege Prince fortified this towne as strongly as possibly he could But so soone as Edward came towards him with his forces and pitched his tents at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now called Badbury he fled and conveied himselfe to his confederates the Danes This Badbury is a little hill upon a faire doune scarce two miles off environed about with a triple trench and rampier and had by report in times past a Castle which was the seate of the West-Saxon Kings But now if ever there were any such it lieth so buried in the owne ruines and rubbish that I could see not so much as one token thereof But hard by a sight I had of a village or mannour called Kingston Lacy because together with Winburne it appurtained to the Lacies Earles of Lincolne unto whom by covenant it came from the Earles of Leicester by the meanes of Quincie Earle of Winchester For King Henry the first had given it to Robert Earle of Mellent and of Leicester and at the last both places from the Lacies fell unto the house of Lancaster whose bountie and liberalitie Winburne had good triall of From this Winburne Stoure as it passeth admitteth Alen a little brook over which standeth S. Giles Winburne the habitation of the worshipfull and ancient house of Astleys Knights also Wickhampton the inheritance sometime of the Barons de Maltravers of whom the last in the raigne of Edward the Third left behind him two daughters onely the one wedded unto Iohn de Arundell grandfather to Iohn Earle of Arundell who left unto his posteritie the title of Barons de Maltravers the other wife of Robert Le-Rous and afterwards of Sir Iohn Keines Knight From hence the Stoure passeth on by Canford under which not long ago Iames Lord Montjoy studious in Minerall matters began to make Calcanthum or Vitriol we call it Coperas and to boile Alome And out of which in old time Iohn Earle of Warren to the great disteining of his owne good name and the damage of England tooke as it were by strong hand and carried away as it is to be seene in our Chronicles Dame Alice Lacey the wife of Thomas Earle of Lancaster And now by this time Stoure leaveth Dorsetshire behind him and after hee hath travelled through some part of Hantshire at length taketh up his lodging in the Ocean and yet not before hee hath entertained a pretty river that runneth to Cranburne a place well watered Where in the yeare of Salvation 930. Aelward a noble Gentleman surnamed for his whitenesse Meaw founded a little monasterie which Robert Fitz-Haimon a Norman unto whom fell the possessions of the said Aelward leaving heere one or two Monkes in a cell translated to Theoksbury From whom in order of succession by the Clares Earles of Glocester and Burghs Earles of Ulster it came to Lionell Duke of Clarence and by him to the Crowne But now Cranborne hath his Uicount now Earle of Salisburie whom King Iames for his approved wisedome and worth honored first with the title of Baron or Lord Cecil of Essendon and the next yeare after of Vicount Cranborne South from hence lieth Woodland emparked sometime the seat of the worshipfull family of Filioll the heires whereof were married to Edward Seimor after Duke of Somerset and Willoughby of Wallaton As touching the Earles and Marquesses of this shire King William the Conqueror having now by conquest attained to the Kingdome of England made Osmund that was Earle of Seez in Normandie both Bishop of Sarisbury and afterward also the first Earle of Dorset and his Chancellor highly admiring the godly wisedome of the man and his notable good parts Long after that King Richard the Second in the one and twentieth yeare of his raigne advanced Iohn de Beaufort Iohn of Gaunt his sonne and Earle of Sommerset to be Marquesse Dorset of which dignitie King Henry the Fourth in hatred of Richard the Second deprived him And when as in the high Court of Parliament the Commons of England there assembled who loved him very dearely made earnest intercession that the said dignitie of Marquesse might bee restored unto him hee himselfe distasting this new title and never heard of before those daies utterly refused it And then his younger brother named Thomas Beaufort was created Earle of Dorset who afterward for his warlike prowesse and valour was by King Henrie the Fifth adorned with the title of Duke of Excester and with the Earledome of Harcourt For he valiantly defended Harflew in Normandie against the Frenchmen and in a pitched field encountring the Earle of Armignac put him to flight After he was dead without issue King Henry the Sixth nominated out of the same house of Lancaster Edmund first Earle afterwards Marquesse Dorset and lastly Duke of Somerset whose sonnes being slaine in the civill wars Edward the Fourth when as now the family of Lancaster lay as it were over troden in the dust created Thomas Grey out of the house of Ruthin who was his sonne in law for the King had espoused the mother of the said Grey Marquesse Dorset when in right of his wife he had entred upon a great state and inheritance of the Bonvilles in this country and the territories adjoyning After him succeeded in the same honour Thomas his sonne and Henrie his nephew by the said Thomas who also was created by King Edward the Sixth Duke of Suffolk having wedded Lady Frances daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and Neece unto King Henry the Eighth by his sister This Duke in Queene Maries daies being put to death for high treason learned too late how dangerous a thing it is to marrie into the bloud royall and to feed ambitious hopes both in himselfe and in others From that time the title of Dorset was bestowed upon none untill King Iames at his first entrance into this Kingdome exalted Thomas Sackvill Baron of Buckhurst and Lord high Treasurer of England a man of rare wisedome and most carefull providence to the honour of Earle of Dorset who ended his life with suddaine death 1608. and left Robert his sonne his successor who deceasing within the yeare left the said honour againe to Richard his hopefull sonne whom he
Alice his onely daughter being wedded unto Richard Nevill augmented his honour with the title of Earle of Salisburie who siding with the house of Yorke was in the battell fought at Wakefield taken prisoner and beheaded leaving to succeede him Richard his sonne Earle of Warwicke and Salisburie who delighting in dangers and troubles enwrapped his native countrey within new broiles of Civill warre wherein himselfe also left his life The one of his daughters named Isabell was married unto George Duke of Clarence brother to King Edward the Fourth and shee bare him a sonne called Edward Earle of Warwicke who being a very child and innocent was by King Henrie the Seventh beheaded like as his sister Margaret suffered the same death under King Henrie the Eighth An usuall pollicie and practise among suspicious Princes For the securitie of their own persons and their posteritie by one occasion or other that evermore are soone offered and as quickly pickt to make away or keepe under the next of their bloud Anne the other daughter of Richard Nevill Earle of Warwick and Salisburie became wife to Richard Duke of Glocester brother to King Edward the Fourth and brought him a sonne whom his uncle King Edward in the 17. of his reigne created Earle of Salisburie and Richard his father usurping the kingdome made Prince of Wales But he departed this life in his tender yeares about that time that his mother also died not without suspition of poison King Henry the Eighth afterward about the fifth yeare of his raigne in a full Parliament restored and enabled in bloud Margaret daughter to George Duke of Clarence to the name stile title honour and dignitie of Countesse of Salisburie as sister and heire to Edward late Earle of Warwick and Salisburie And about the 31. yeare of the said King she was attainted in Parliament with divers others and beheaded when she was 70. yeares old Since which time that title of honour was discontinued untill in the yeare of our Lord 1605. our Soveraigne Lord King Iames honored therewith S. Robert Cecill second sonne of that Nestor of ours William Cecill upon whom for his singular wisedome great employments in the affaires of State to the good of Prince and Countrey he had bestowed the honorable titles of Baron Cecill of Essendon and Vicount Cranburn Thus much of the Earles of Salisburie Lower still and not far from this Citie is scituate upon Avon Dunctone or Donketon a burrough as they say of great antiquitie and well knowne by reason of the house therein of Beavois of Southampton whom the people have enrolled in the number of their brave worthies for his valour commended so much in rhyme to posteritie This Salisburie is environed round about with open fields and plaines unlesse it be Eastward where lieth hard unto it Clarindon a very large and goodly parke passing fit for the keeping and feeding of wild beasts and adorned in times past with an house of the Kings Of which parke and of the twentie groves inclosed therein Master Michael Maschert Doctor of the Civill lawes hath prettily versified in this wise Nobilis est lucus cervis clausura saronam Propter a claro vertice nomen habet Viginti hinc nemorum partito limite boscis Ambitus est passus mille cuique suus A famous Parke for Stag and Hind neere Salisbury doth lie The name it hath of one faire downe or hill that mounts on hie Within the same stand xx groves enclos'd with severall bound Of which in compasse every one a mile containes in ground Famous is this Clarindon for that heere in the yeare 1164. was made a certaine recognition and record of the customes and liberties of the Kings of England before the Prelates and Peeres of the Kingdome for the avoiding discentions betweene the Clergie Iudges and Barons of the Realme which were called The Constitutions of Clarnidon Of the which so many as the Pope approved have beene set downe in the Tomes of the Councels the rest omitted albeit Thomas Becket then Archbishop of Canterburie and the rest of the Bishops approved them all Heereby is Jvy Church sometime a small Priory where as tradition runneth in our grandfathers remembrance was found a grave and therein a corps of twelve foote and not farre of a stocke of wood hollowed and the concave lined with lead with a booke therein of very thicke parchment all written with Capitall Roman letters But it had lien so long that when the leaves were touched they fouldred to dust S. Thomas Eliot who saw it judged it to be an Historie No doubt hee that so carefully laied it up hoped it should be found and discover somethings memorable to posteritie Toward the North about sixe miles from Salisburie in these plaines before named is to bee seeene a huge and monstrous piece of worke such as Cicero termeth Insanam substructionem For within the circuit of a Ditch there are erected in manner of a Crowne in three rankes or courses one within another certaine mightie and unwrought stones whereof some are 28. foote high and seven foote broad upon the heads of which others like overthwart pieces doe beare and rest crosse-wise with a small tenents and mortescis so as 〈◊〉 le frame seemeth to hang whereof wee call it Stonehenge like as our old 〈◊〉 â—â—rmed it for the greatnesse Chorea Gigantum The Giants Daunce The 〈…〉 whereof such as it is because it could not be so fitly expressed in 〈…〉 caused by the gravers helpe to bee portraied heere underneath as it 〈…〉 weatherbeaten and decaied A. Stones called Corsestones Weighing 12. tunne carrying in height 24. foote in breadth 7. foote in compasse 16. B. Stones named Cronetts of 6. or 7. tunne weight C. A place where mens bones are digged up Our countrie-men reckon this for one of our wonders and miracles And much they marvaile from whence such huge stones were brought considering that in all those quarters bordering thereupon there is hardly to be found any common stone at all for building as also by what meanes they were set up For mine owne part about these points I am not curiously to argue and dispute but rather to lament with much griefe that the Authors of so notable a monument are thus buried in oblivion Yet some there are that thinke them to bee no naturall stones hewne out of the rocke but artificially made of pure sand and by some glewie and unctuous matter knit and incorporate together like as those ancient Trophies or monuments of victorie which I have seene in Yorkshire And what marvaile Read we nor I pray you in Plinie that the sand or dust of Puteoli being covered over with water becommeth forthwith a very stone that the cesternes in Rome of sand digged out of the ground and the strongest kind of lime wrought together grow so hard that they seeme stones indeed and that Statues and images of marble chippings and small grit grow together so compact and firme
give my voice and accord with Ninnius who writeth That it tooke the name from Glovus the great grandfathers father of King Vortigern but that long before it Antonine had named it Glevum which both the Distance from Corinium and the name also may prove But as the Saxon name Gleavecester came from Glevum so Glevum proportionably from the British Caer Glow which I suppose sprong from the word Glow that in the British tongue signifieth Faire and Goodly so that Caer Glow may bee as much as to say a faire Citie In which signification also the Greekes had their Callipolis Callidromos Callistratia the English men their Brightstow and Shirley and in this very Countie Faireford Faire-ley c. This Citie was built by the Romans and set as it were upon the necke of the Silures to yoake them And there also was a Colonie planted to people it which they called COLONIA GLEVVM For I have seene a fragment of antique stone in the walles of Bath neere unto the North-gate with this Inscription DEC COLONIAE GLEV VIXIT ANN. LXXXVI It lieth stretched out in length over Severne on that side where it is not watered with the river it hath in some places a very strong wall for defence A proper and fine Citie I assure you it is both for number of Churches and for the buildings On the South part there was a lofty Castle of square Ashler stone which now for the most part is nothing but a ruine It was built in King William the first his time and sixteene houses there about as wee read in the booke of Englands Survey were plucked downe for the rearing of this Castle About which Roger the sonne of Miles Constable of Glocester went to law with King Henry the second and his brother Walter lost all the right and interest hee had in this City and Castle as Robert de Mont hath written Ceaulin King of the West Saxons was the first that about the yeare of our redemption 570. by force and armes wrested Glocester out of the Britans hands After this the Mercians won it under whom it flourished in great honour and Osricke King of Northumberland by permission of Etheldred the Mercian founded there a very great and stately Monastery for Nunnes over whom Kineburg Eadburg and Eve Queenes of the Mercians were Prioresses successively one after another Edelfled also that most noble Ladie of the Mercians adorned this City with a Church wherein shee her selfe was buried and not long after when the Danes had spoyled and wasted the whole countrey those sacred Virgins were throwne out and The Danes as Aethelward that ancient authour writeth with many a stroake pitched poore cottages into the citie of Glenvcester At which time when those more ancient Churches were subverted Aldred Archbishop of Yorke and Bishop of Worcester erected another for Monkes which is now the chiefe Church in the Citie and hath a Deane and sixe Prebendaries But the same in these late precedent ages was newly beautified For Iohn Hanley and Thomas Farley two Abbats added unto it the Chappel of the blessed Virgin Mary N. Morwent raised from the very foundation the forefront which is an excellent piece of worke G. Horton an Abbat adjoyned to it the crosse North-part Abbat Trowcester a most daintie and fine Cloister and Abbat Sebrok an exceeding high faire steeple As for the South side it was also repaired with the peoples offerings at the Sepulcher of the unhappy King Edward the second who lieth heere enterred under a monument of Alabaster and not farre from him another Prince as unfortunate as hee Robert Curt-hose the eldest sonne of King William the Conquerour Duke of Normandy within a woodden painted tombe in the midest of the quire who was bereft of the Kingdome of England for that he was borne before his father was King deprived of his two sonnes the one by strange death in the New-forrest the other dispoiled of the Earledome of Flanders his inheritance and slaine he himselfe dispossessed of the Dukedome of Normandie by his brother King Henry the first his eies plucked out and kept close prisoner 26. yeares with all contumelious indignities untill through extreame anguish hee ended his life Above the quire in an arch of this church there is a wall built in forme of a semicircle full of corners with such an artificiall device that if a man speake with never so low a voice at the one part thereof and another lay his eare to the other being a good way distant he may most easily heare every sillable In the reigne of William the Conquerour and before it may seeme that the chiefest trade of the Citizens was to make Iron For as we find in the Survey booke of England the King demanded in manner no other tribute than certaine Icres of Iron and Iron barres for the use of the Kings Navy and some few quarts of hony After the comming in of the Normans it suffered divers calamities by the hands of Edward King Henry the third his sonne whiles England was all on a smoake and cumbustion by the Barons warre it was spoiled and afterward by casualty of fire almost wholy consumed to ashes but now cherished with continuance of long peace it flourisheth againe as fresh as ever it was and by laying unto it two Hundreds it is made a County and called the County of the Citie of Glocester Also within the memory of our fathers King Henry the Eighth augmented the state thereof with an Episcopall See with which dignitie in old time it had beene highly endowed as Geffery of Monmouth avoucheth and I will not derogate ought from the credit of his assertion considering that among the Prelates of Britaine the Bishop Cluviensis is reckoned which name derived from Clevum or Glow doth after a sort confirme and strengthen my coniecture that this is that Glevum whereof Antonine maketh mention Severne having now left Glocester behind it and gathered his waters unto one streame againe windeth it selfe by Elmore a Mansion house of the Gises ancient by their owne lineall descent being in elder times owners of Apsely-Gise neere Brickhill and from the Beauchamps of Holt who acknowledge Huber de Burgo Earle of Kent whom I lately mentioned beneficious to them and testifie the same by their Armories Lower upon the same side Stroud a pretty river slideth into Severne out of Coteswold by Stroud a Mercat towne sometimes better peopled with Clothiers and not farre from Minching-Hampton which anciently had a Nunnery or belonged to Nunnes whom our ancestors named Minchings Now Severn waxing broader and deeper by reason of the alternative flowing and ebbing of the sea riseth and swelleth in manner of a rough and troublous sea indeed and so with many windings and turnings in and out speedeth him unto the Ocean But nothing offereth it selfe unto his sight to count of as hee passeth along but Cam-bridge a little country towne where it receiveth Cam a small
Saint Peter and be yeelded up without delay for ever unto the Abbot and to the Monkes there serving God yet King William the Conquerour cancelled and made voide this Testament who reserving a great part of it to himselfe divided the rest betweene Countesse Iudith whose daughter was married to David King of Scots Robert Mallet Oger Gislebert of Gaunt Earle Hugh Aubrey the Clerk and others And unto Westminster first he left the Tithes afterwards the Church onely of Okeham and parcels thereunto appertaining This County hath not had many Earles The first Earle of Rutland was Edward the first begotten Sonne of Edmund of Langley Duke of Yorke created by King Richard the Second upon a singular favour that he cast unto him during his Fathers life and afterwards by the same King advanced to the honour of Duke of Aumarle This young man wickedly projected with others a practise to make away King Henry the Fourth and streight waies with like levity discovered the same But after his Fathers death being Duke of Yorke lost his life fighting couragiously amid the thickest troupes of his enemies in the battaile of Agincourt Long time after there succeeded in this Honour Edward the little young Sonne of Richard Duke of Yorke and he together with his Father during those deadly broiles of civill warre was slaine in the battaile fought at Wakefield Many yeeres after King Henry the Eighth raised up Sir Thomas Mannours to be Earle of Rutland who in right of his Grand-mother Aeleonor was possessed of a goodly and faire inheritance of the Barons Roos lying in the countries round about and elsewhere In his roome succeeded his Sonne Henry and after him likewise Edward his Sonne unto whom if I should say nothing else that commendation of the Poet was most aptly and truly appliable Nomen virtutibus aequat Nec sinit ingenium nobilitate premi His name so great with vertues good he matcheth equally Nor suffreth wit smuthring to lie under Nobility But he by over hasty and untimely death being received into Heaven left this dignity unto John his Brother who also departing this life within a while hath for his successor Roger his Sonne answerable in all points to his ancient and right noble parentage This small Shire hath Parish Churches 48. LINCOLNIAE Comitatus vbi olim insederunt CORITANI LINCOLNE-SHIRE VPon Rutland on the East side confineth the County of LINCOLNE called by the English-Saxons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Normans Nicol-shire after their comming into the Land with some transposition of letters but usually LINCOLNE-SHIRE A very large Country as reaching almost threescore miles in length and carrying in some places above thirty miles in bredth passing kinde for yeeld of Corne and feeding of Cattaile well furnished and set out with a great number of Townes and watered with many Rivers Upon the Eastside where it bendeth outward with a brow fetching a great compasse the German Ocean beateth on the shore Northward it recheth to Humber an arme of the sea on the West side it butteth upon Nottingham-shire and on the South it is severed from Northampton-shire by the River Welland This whole Shire is divided into three parts whereof one is called Holland a second Kesteven and the third Lindsey Holland which Ingulph termeth Holland lyeth to the sea and like unto that Holland in Germanie it is so throughly wet in most places with waters that a mans foote is ready to sinke into it and as one standeth upon it the ground will shake and quake under his feet and thence it may seeme to have taken the name unlesse a man would with Ingulph say that Holland is the right name and the same imposed upon it of Hay which our Progenitours broadly called Hoy. This part throughout beareth upon that ebbing and flowing arme of the Sea which Ptolomee calleth METARIS instead of Maltraith and wee at this day The Washes A very large arme this is and passing well knowne at every tide and high sea covered all over with water but when the sea ebbeth and the tide is past a man may passe over it as on dry land but yet not without danger Which King John learned with his losse For whilest he journied this way when he warred upon the rebellious Barons the waters suddenly brake in upon him so that at Fosse-dyke and Welstream he lost all his carriage and princely furniture as Matthew of Westminster writeth This Country which the Ocean hath laied to the land as the Inhabitants beleeve by sands heaped and cast together they it terme Silt is assailed on the one side with the said Ocean sea and in the other with a mighty confluence of waters from out of the higher countries in such sort that all the Winter quarter the people of the country are faine to keepe watch and ward continually and hardly with all the bankes and dammes that they make against the waters are able to defend themselves from the great violence and outrage thereof The ground bringeth forth but small store of corne but plenty of grasse and is replenished abundantly with fish and water-fowle The Soile throughout is so soft that they use their Horses unshod neither shall you meet so much as with a little stone there that hath not beene brought thither from other places neverthelesse there bee most beautifull Churches standing there built of foure square stone Certaine it is that the sea aforetime had entred farther up into the Country and that appeareth by those bankes formerly raised against the waterwaves then in-rushing which are now two miles off from the shore as also by the hils neere Sutterton which they call Salt-Hils But of fresh water there is exceeding great want in all places neither have they any at all but raine water and that in pits which if they be of any great depth presently become brackish if shallow they dry up as soone Neither are there Quicksands wanting which have a wonderfull force to draw to them and to hold fast as both Shepheards and their poore Sheepe also finde other whiles not without danger This Holland or Hoiland whether you will is divided into two parts The Lower and the Higher The Lower hath in it soule and slabby quavemires yea and most troublesome Fennes which the very Inhabitants themselves for all their stilts cannot stalke through And considering that it lieth very low and flat fenced it is of the one side against the Ocean on the other from those waters which overwhelme the upper part of the Isle of Ely with mighty piles and huge bankes opposed against the same Of which Southybanke is of greatest name which least it should have a breach made through it with that infinite masse of water that falleth from the South part when the Rivers swell and all is overflowne by inundation the people watch with great care and much feare as against a dangerous enemy And yet for the draining away of this water the neighbour Inhabitants at the common charges
in old time a very small village it is at this day containing in it scarce foureteene dwelling houses and those but little ones and hath no monument of antiquitie to shew beside an ancient mount which they call Old-burie For on the one side Atherstone a mercate towne of good resort where there stood a Church of Augustine Friers now turned into a Chappell which neverthelesse acknowledgeth Mancester Church for her mother and Nun-Eaton on the other side by their vicinity have left it bare and empty Close unto Atherstone standeth Mery-Vale where Robert Ferrars erected a Monastery to God and the blessed Virgin Mary wherein himselfe enwrapped in an Oxe-hide for a shrouding sheet was interred Beyond these Northeastward is Pollesworth where Modwena an Irish Virgin of whom there went so great a fame for her holy life built a religious house for Nuns which R. Marmion a Noble man repaired who had his Castle hard by at Stippershull Neere unto this place also there flourished in the Saxons daies a towne that now is almost quite gone called then SECANDUNUM and at this day Seckinton where Aethelbald King of the Mercians in civill warre about the yeere of our Lord 749. was stabbed to death by Beared and soone after Offa slew Beared so that as by bloudy meanes he invaded the Kingdome of Mercia he likewise lost the same suddainely It remaineth now that we reckon up the Earles of Warwick for to passe over Guare Morind Guy of Warwick of whose actes all England resoundeth and others of that stampe whom pregnant wits have at one birth bred and brought forth into the world Henry the sonne of Roger de Beau-mont and brother to Robert Earle of Mellent was the first Earle descended of Normans bloud who had married Margaret the daughter of Ernulph de Hesdin Earle of Perch a most mighty and puissant man Out of this Family there bare this Honourable title Roger the sonne of Henry William the sonne of Roger who died in the thirtieth yeere of King Henry the Second Walleran his brother Henry the sonne of Walleran Thomas his sonne who deceased without issue in the sixe and twentieth yeere of King Henry the Third leaving behinde him Margery his sister who being Countesse of Warwicke and barraine departed this life yet her two husbands first Iohn Mareschal then John de Plessetis or Plessey in their wives right and through their Princes favour mounted up to the Honourable dignitie of Earles of Warwicke Now when these were departed without any issue by that Margery Waller and Uncle unto the said Margery succeeded them After whom dying also childlesse his sister Alice enjoyed the inheritance Afterwards her sonne William called Malduit and Manduit of Hanslap who left this world and had no children Then Isabell the said William Malduits sister being bestowed in marriage upon William de Beauchamp Lord of Elmesly brought the Earledome of Warwicke into the Familie of the Beauchamps who if I deceive not my selfe for that they came of a daughter of Ursus de Abtot gave the Beare for their cognisance and left it to their posteritie Out of this house there flourished sixe Earles and one Duke William the sonne of Isabell John Guy Thomas Thomas the younger Richard and Henry unto whom King Henry the Sixth graunted this preheminence and prerogative without any precedent to be the first and chiefe Earle of England and to carry this stile Henricus Praecomes totius Anglia Comes Warwici that is Henry chiefe Earle of all England and Earle of Warwicke he nominated him also King of the Isle of Wight and afterwards created him Duke of Warwicke and by these expresse words of his Parent graunted That he should take his place in Parliaments and elsewhere next unto the Duke of Norfolke and before the Duke of Buckingham One onely daughter he had named Anne whom in the Inquisitions wee finde entituled Countesse of Warwicke and shee died a child After her succeeded Richard Nevill who had married Anne sister to the said Duke of Warwicke a man of an undaunted courage but wavering and untrustie the very tennisse-ball in some sort of fortune who although he were no King was above Kings as who deposed King Henry the Sixth a most bountifull Prince to him from his regall dignitie placed Edward the Fourth in the royall throne and afterwards put him downe too restored Henry the Sixth againe to the Kingdome enwrapped England within the most wofull and lamentable flames of civill warre which himselfe at the length hardly quenched with his owne bloud After his death Anne his Wife by Act of Parliament was excluded and debarred from all her lands for ever and his two daughters heires to him and heires apparant to their mother being married to George Duke of Clarence and Richard Duke of Glocester were enabled to enjoy all the said lands in such wise as if the said Anne their mother were naturally dead Whereupon the name stile and title of Earle of Warwicke and Sarisbury was graunted to George Duke of Clarence who soone after was unnaturally dispatched by a sweet death in a Butte of Malvesey by his suspicious brother King Edward the Fourth His young sonne Edward was stiled Earle of Warwicke and being but a very child was beheaded by King Henry the Seventh to secure himselfe and his posteritie The death of this Edward our Ancestors accounted to be the full period and finall end of the long lasting warre betweene the two royall houses of Lancaster and Yorke Wherein as they reckoned from the twenty eight yeere of Henry the Sixth unto this being the fifteenth of Henry the Seventh there were thirteene fields fought three Kings of England one Prince of Wales twelve Dukes one Marques eighteene Earles with one Vicont and twenty three Barons besides Knights and Gentlemen lost their lives From the death of this young Earle of Warwicke this title lay asleepe which King Henry the Eighth feared as a fire-brand of the State by reason of the combustion which that Richard Nevill that whip-king as some tearmed him had raised untill that King Edward the Sixth conferred it upon Iohn Dudley that derived his pedigree from the Beauchamps who like unto that Richard abovesaid going about in Queene Maries daies to turne and translate Scepters at his pleasure for his Traiterous deepe ambition lost his head But his sonnes first Iohn when his father was now Duke of Northumberland by a courteous custome usually received held this title for a while and afterwards Ambrose a most worthy personage both for warlike prowesse and sweetnesse of nature through the fauour of Queene Elizabeth received in our remembrance the Honour of Earle of Warwick to him and his heires males and for defect of them to Robert his brother and the heires males of his body lawfully begotten This Honour Ambrose bare with great commendation and died without children in the yeere one thousand five hundred eighty nine shortly after his brother Robert Earle of Leicester
stranger chance Here haply may he thinke he hath a sight againe of France What drew this place from thence their wit and spirit hot trow yee Or rather had the same at first by native propertie Now where the shore turneth inward a front Northward hard by the salt water of Tau there flourished in old time two goodly Abbyes Balmerinoch built by Queene Ermengard wife to King William daughter of Vicount Beaumont in France But lately King James of great Britaine advanced Sir Iames Elphinston to the honour of Baron Balmerinoch and Lundoris founded among the woods by David Earle of Huntington and at this day the Baronie of Sir Patrick Lesley betweene which standeth Banbrich the habitation of the Earle of Rothes strongly built castle wise But as touching the townes of Fife planted along the sea side have here now if it please you these verses of Master Ionston Oppida sic toto sunt sparsa in littore ut unum Dixeris inque uno plurima juncta eadem Littore quot curvo Forthae volvuntur arenae Quotque undis refluo tunditur orasalo Penè tot hîc cernas instratum puppibus aequor Urbibus crebris penè tot ora hominum Cuncta operis intenta domus foeda otia nescit Sedula cura domi sedula curaforis Quae maria quas non terras animosa juventus Ah! fragili fidens audet adire trabe Auxit opes virtus virtuti dura pericla Iuncta etiam lucro damna fuere suo Quae fecêre viris animos cultumque dedêre Magnanimis prosunt damna pericla labor Who sees how thicke townes stand upon this coast will say anone They are but one and yet the same all joyned in that one How many sands on crooked shore of Forth are cast by tides Or billowes at the seas returne beat hard upon bankes sides So many ships well neere you may here see to saile or ride And in those townes so thicke almost as many folke abide In everie house they ply their worke no idle drones they are Busie at home with diligence busie abroad with care What seas or lands are there to which a voiage for to make In brittle barkes will not their youth courageous undertake By valour be they growne to wealth yet valour meet with paines And perils too some losses too have they had with their gaines These things have made them valiant civill withall and courteous Losse perill painfull toile availe all such as be magnanimous The Governour of this province like as of all the rest in this Kingdome was in times past a Thane that is in the old English tongue The Kings Minister as it is also at this day in the Danish language but Malcolm Canmore made Macduffe who before was Thane of Fife the first hereditarie Earle of Fife and in consideration of his good desert and singular service done unto him granted that his posteritie should have the honour to place the King when hee is to be crowned in his chaire to lead the Vant-guard in the Kings armie and if any of them should happen by casualty to kill either Gentleman or Commoner to buy it out with a peece of money And not farre from Lundoris there is to bee seene a Crosse of stone which standing for a limit betweene Fife and Strathern had an inscription of barbarous verses and a certain priviledge of Sanctuarie that any Man-slaier allied to Macduffe Earle of Fife within the ninth degree if he came unto this Crosse and gave nine kine with an heiâ—er should bee quit of manslaughter When his posteritie lost this title I could never yet find but it appeareth out of the Records of the kingdome that K. David the second gave unto William Ramsey this Earldome with all and everie the immunities and law which is called Clan-Mac-Duffe and received it is for certaine that the linage of the Wemesies and Douglasse yea and that great kinred Clan-Hatan the chiefe whereof is Mac-Intoskech descended from them And the most learned I. Skerne Clerke of the Kings Register of Scotland hath taught mee in his significations of words that Isabel daughter and heire to Duncane Earle of Fife granted upon certaine conditions unto Robert the third King of the Scots for the use and behoofe of Robert Stewart Earle of Menteith the Earldome of Fife who being afterwards Duke of Albanie and affecting the Kingdome with cruell ambition caused David the Kings eldest son to be most pitifully famished to death which is highest extremitie of all miserie But his son Murdac suffered due punishment for the wickednesse both of his father and his owne sonnes being put to death by King James the first for their violent oppressions and a decree passed that the Earldome of Fife should be united unto the Crown for ever But the authoritie of the Sheriffe of Fife belongeth in right of inheritance to the Earle of Rothes STRATHERN AS farre as to the river Tau which boundeth Fife on the North-side Iulius Agricola the best Propretour of Britaine under Domitian the worst Emperour marched with victorious armes in the third yeere of his warlike expeditions having wasted and spoiled the nations hitherto Neere the out-let of Tau the notable river Ern intermingleth his waters with Tau which river beginning out of a Lake or Loch of the same name bestoweth his owne name upon the countrey through which he runneth For it is called Straith Ern which in the ancient tongue of the Britans signifieth the Vale along Ern. The banke of this Ern is beautified with Drimein Castle belonging to the family of the Barons of Dromund advanced to highest honours ever since that King Robert Stewart the third took to him a wife out of that linage For the women of this race have for their singular beautie and well favoured sweet countenance won the prize from all others insomuch as they have beene the Kings most amiable paramours Upon the same banke Tulibardin Castle sheweth it selfe aloft but with greater jollitie since that by the propitious favour of King James the sixth Sir Iohn Murray Baron of Tulibardin was raised to the honour and estate of Earle of Tulibardin Upon the other bank more beneath Duplin Castle the habitation of the Barons Oliphant reporteth yet what an overthrow the like to which was never before the Englishmen that came to aide King Edward Balliol gave there unto the Scots insomuch as the English writers in that time doe write that they won this victorie not by mans hand but by the power of God and the Scottish writers relate how that out of the family of the Lindeseies there were slaine in the field fourescore persons and that the name of the Haies had bin quite extinguished but that the chiefe of that house left his wife behind him great with child Not farre from it standeth Innermeth well knowne by reason of the Lords thereof the Stewarts out of the family of Lorn Inch-Chafra that is in the old Scottish
Canutus are in the Normans tongue translated under the name of Baro and loe what the very words are Exercitualia verò c. That is Let the Heriots or Relevies be so moderate as that they may bee tolerable Of an Earle as decent it is eight horses foure with saddles and foure without saddles foure Helmets and foure shirts of male eight launces or speares and as many shields foure swords and withall 200. mauces of gold Of a Viron or Baron to the King who is next unto him foure horses two with saddles and two without saddles two swords foure speares and as many targets one helmet and one coate of mauile and with fifty mauces of gold Also in the first time of the Normans Valvasores and Thani were ranged in degree of honour next after Earles and Barons and the Valvasores of the better sort if wee may beleeve those that write de Feudis were the very same that now Barons are So that the name Baro may seeme to bee one of those which time by little and little hath mollified and made of better esteeme Neither was it as yet a terme of great honor For in those daies some Earles had their Barons under them and I remember that I read in the ancient Constitutions and ordinances of the Frenchmen how there were under an Earle twelve Barons and as many Capitaines under a Baron And certaine it is that there be ancient Charters extant in which Earles since the comming in of the Normans wrote thus To all my Barons as well French as English Greeting c. Yea even Citizens of better note were called Barons For the Citizens of Warwick in Doomesday book were named Barones likewise Citizens of London and the Inhabitants of the Cinque-ports enjoyed the same name But some few yeares after like as at Rome in times past they chose Senators for their worth in wealth so were they with us counted Barons who held lands of their own by a whole Baronie that is 13. Knights Fees and a third part of one Knights Fee reckoning every fee as an old book witnesseth at 20. li. which make in all 400. marks For that was the value of one entire Baronie and they that had lands and revenues to this worth were wont to be summoned unto the Parliament And it seemed to bee a dignitie with a jurisdiction which the Court Barons as they terme them in some sort doe prove yea and the very multitude that was of these Barons perswaded me to thinke them to be Lords of this nature as that they might in some sort minister and execute justice within their circuit and seigniorie such as the Germans call Free-heires and especially if they had Castles of their owne For then they Jumped Just with the definition of that most famous Civilian Baldus who defineth him to be a Baron whosoever had a meere and subordinate rule in some castle by the grant of the Prince And all they as some would have it that held Baronies seeme to have claimed unto themselves this honor so that as divers learned in our lawes are of opinion a Baron and a Baronie a Count or Earle and a Countie a Duke and a Dutchie were Conjugata that is termes as one would say yoked together Certes in those daies Henrie the Third reckoned in England 150. Baronies And hereupon it is that in all the Charters and Histories of that age all noble men in manner be called Barons and verily that title then was right honorable and under the terme of Baronage all the superiour states of the kingdome as Dukes Marquesses Earles and Barons in some sort were comprised But it attained to the highest pitch of honor ever since that King Henrie the Third out of so great a number which was seditious and turbulent called the very best by writ or summon unto the high Court of Parliament For he out of a writer I speake of good antiquity after many troubles and enormous vexations betweene the King himselfe Simon of Mont-fort with other Barons raised after appeased did decree and ordaine that all those Earles and Barons of the Realme of England unto whom the King himselfe vouchsafed to direct his writs of Summons should come unto his Parliament and none others But that which he began a little before his death Edward the First and his successour constantly observed and continued Hereupon they onely were accounted Barons of the kingdom whom the Kings had cited by vertue of such writs of Summons as they terme them unto the Parliament And it is noted that the said prudent King Edward the First summoned alwaies those of ancient families that were most wise to his Parliaments but omitted their sonnes after their death if they were not answerable to their parents in understanding Barons were not created by Patent untill such time as King Richard the Second created Iohn Beauchamp de Holt Baron of Kiderminster by his letters Patent bearing date the eighth day of October in the eleventh yeare of his raigne Since that time the Kings by their Patâ—ents and the putting on of the mantle or roabe of honour have given this honour And at this day this order of creating a Baron by letters Patent as also that other by writs of Summons are in use in which notwithstanding they are not stiled by the name of Baron but of Chevalier for the Common law doth not acknowledge Baron to be a name of dignity And they that be in this wise created are called Barons of the Parliament Barons of the Realme and Barons of honor for difference of them who yet according to that old forme of Barons be commonly called Barons as those of Burford of Walton and those who were Barons unto the Count-Palatines of Chester and Pembroch who were Barons in fee and by tenure These our Parliamentarie Barons carie not the bare name onely as those of France and Germanie but be all borne Peeres of the Realme of England Nobles Great States and Counsellors and called they are by the King in these words To treat of the high affaires of the kingdome and thereof to give their counsell They have also immunities and priviledges of their owne namely that in criminall causes they are not to have their triall but by a Iurie of their Peeres that they be not put to their oath but their protestation upon their Honor is sufficient that they be not empanelled upon a Iurie of twelve men for enquest de facto No supplicavit can be granted against them A Capias cannot be sued out against them Neither doth an Essoine lie against them with very many other which I leave unto Lawyers who are to handle these and such like Besides these the two Archbishops and all the Bishops of England be Barons also of the kingdome and Parliament even as in our Grandfathers daies these Abbats and Priors following The Abbat of Glastenburie The Abbat of S. Augustines in Canterbury The Abbat of S. Peter in
Chancellor of England is void by death the Kings three great Seales to wit one of gold and other two of silver which remained in the custodie of the Chancellor presently after his death are shut up in a wooden chest fast locked and signed with the Seales of the Lords then present and so conveied into the Treasurie From thence brought they are to the King who in the presence of many Noblemen delivereth them into the hands of him that shall be Chancellor and undertaketh the charge of executing the Office of Chancellorship taking before an oath of him well and truely to exercise the same first he delivereth the great Seale of silver then that of gold and so the other of silver who receiving the same bestoweth them againe in the chest and being signed with his owne Seale conveieth it home to his owne house and before certaine of the Nobilitie causeth the Kings Patents and writs to be Sealed When a Chancellor is discharged of his place he delivereth up into the Kings hands in the presence of the Lords and Nobles those three Seales first the Seale of gold then one broad Seale of silver and so another of a lesse forme Howbeit at this day one Seale and no more is delivered unto the Chanchellor neither is there mention any where made of these three Seales but in the raigne of Henry the Sixth To this Chancellors Office in processe of time much authoritie and dignitie hath been adjoyned by authoritie of Parliament especially ever since that Lawyers stood so precisely upon the strict points of Law and caught men with the traps and snares of their law termes that of necessitie there was a Court of equitie to be erected and the same committed to the Chancellor who might give judgement according to equitie and reason and moderate the extremitie of law which was wont to bee thought extreme wrong In this Court there sitteth as President the Lord Chancellor of England and as assessors or assistants to him twelve Masters of the Chancerie whereof the chiefe and principall is the Keeper of the Rolls belonging to the same Court and thereupon he is called Master of the Rolles There belong also to this Court very many Officers of whom some attend especially upon the Kings Seale namely The Clerke of the Crown The Clerke of the Hanaper The Sealer The Chauff-wax The Controller of the Hanaper Cursitours twenty foure A Clerke for the writs of Sub-poena Others are attendant upon Bils of complaint there exhibited to wit A Protonotarie sixe Clerkes or Atturnies of the Court and a Register There belong also thereto the Clekes of the Petty Bag The Clerke of Presentations The Clerke of Faculties The Clerke for examination of Letters Patents The Clerke for dimissions c. There is another Court also derived out of the Kings Privie Counsell called The Court of Requests which giveth hearing likewise as in the Chancerie to causes betweene private persons but such as before are presented unto the Prince or his Privie Counsell as also to others In this are employed certaine Masters of the Requests and a Clerke or Register with two Atturneys or three But as touching those Counsels held in the Marches of Wales and in the North parts wee will speake with the leave of God in their due place As for Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall Courts there be two principall to wit The Synode which is called The Convocation of the Clergie and is alwaies kept with the Parliament and the Provinciall Synods in both Provinces After these are reckoned the Archbishop of Canterburies Courts to wit The Court of the Arches wherein sitteth as Judge the Deane of the Arches He is called Deane for that he hath jurisdiction in xiij Parishes of London exempt from the Bishop of London which number maketh a Deanrie and Deane of the Arches because the principall of his Churches is S. Maries Church in London the tower steeple or lanterne whereof is beautifully built of arched worke He hath to doe with appeales of all men within the Province of Canterburie Advocates there bee in this Court xvj or more at the pleasure of the Archbishop all Doctors of the Law two Registers and ten Proctours The Court of Audience which entertaineth the complaints causes and appeales of them in that Province The Prerogative Court in which the Commissarie sitteth upon Inheritances fallen either by the Intestate or by will and testament The Court of Faculties wherein there is appointed a chiefe President who heareth and considereth of their grievances and requests that are petitioners for some moderation and easement of the Ecclesiasticall law sometimes over-strict and rigorous and a Register beside who recordeth the Dispensations granted The Court of Peculiars which dealeth in certaine Parishes exempt from the Bishops jurisdiction in some Diocesses and are peculiarly belonging to the Archbishop of Canterburie Other Courts of meaner account I willingly overpasse Neither doe I wisely I assure you thus to entermeddle heerein and yet Guicciardine in his Description of the Neatherlands hath given me a precedent hereof to follow Heere in this place my purpose was to have interserted somewhat so farre forth especially as concerned antiquitie as touching the chiefe Magistrates and highest Offices of England as namely The Lord Chancellor aforesaid The Lord Treasurer The President of the Counsell The Lord Keeper of the Privie Seale The Lord high Chamberlain The Lord high Constable The Mareschall and Seneschal or Steward of the Kings houshold c. But understanding that others were in hand with these matters so farre am I from preventing them that right willingly I shall impart even to them whatsoever in this behalfe I have observed Some man perhaps heere looketh that I should out of Astrologicall rules adde to to the rest under what Signe and Planet our Britaine is seated And verily I will say somewhat to satisfie the Curious for in those learned errors I have I may tell you in my youth taken some paines although the Conjecturers of Astrologers touching this point are so divers that the very diversitie may seeme to weaken the thing it selfe and leave no place for the truth M. Manilius an ancient Poet in this verse of his seemeth to intimate that Capricorne heere beareth rule in Britaine Tu Capricorne regis quicquid sub Sole cadente Expositum Thou Capricorne doest governe all That lies to Sun at his down-fall Ptolomee Albumazar and Cardane doe make Aries our Tutelar Signe Iohannes de Muris the Planet Saturne The Frier Perscrutator Esquidus and Henrie Silen the Moone for that as they say it is in the seventh Climate Roger of Hereford Thomas of Ravenna Philologus and Hispalensis are of opinion Pisces governe us and last of all Schonerus and Pitatus see how they all disagree have with no better reason than the rest subjected us unto Gemini Now will I by Gods assistance make my perambulation through the Provinces or Shires of Britaine wherein according to the Preface that they
by word of it Hengston downe well ywrought Is worth London deere ybought And it was an ordinarie place where every seven or eight yeere the Stannarie men of Cornwall and Denshire were wont in great frequencie to assemble together and to consult about their affaires At this hill in the yeere of savation DCCCXXXI the British Danmonij who calling the Danes to aid them of purpose to break into Devonshire that they might drive out the English from thence who alreadie possessed themselves of the countrey were pitiously defeated by King Egbert and slaine almost to the very last man Beneath it Tamar leaveth Halton the habitation of the Rouses anciently Lords of Little Modbery in Devonshire and running nigh unto Salt-Esse a prettie market Towne seated in the descent of an hill which hath a Major and certaine priviledges of their owne as I said erewhile it entertaineth the river Liver on which standeth that same Towne of Saint Germans whereof I spake before And now by this time spreading broader dischargeth it selfe into the Ocean making the haven which in the life of Saint Indractus is called Tamerworth after it hath severed Cornwall from Denshire For Athelstane the first English King that brought this countrey absolute under his dominion appointed this river to be the bound or limit between the Britans of Cornwal and his Englishmen after he had remooved the Britans out of Denshire as witnesseth William of Malmsburie who calleth it Tambra Whereupon Alexander Necham in his Praises of divine wisedome writeth thus Loegriae Tamaris divisor Cornubiaeque Indigenas ditat pinguibus Isiciis Tamar that Lhoegres doth divide from Cornwall in the west The neighbour-dwellers richly serves with Salmons of the best The place requireth here that I should say somewhat of the holy and devout virgin Ursula descended from hence as also of the eleven thousand British Virgins But such is the varietie of Writers whiles some report they suffered martyrdome under Gratian the Emperour about the yeare of our Lord CCCLXXXIII upon the coast of Germanie as they sailed to Armorica others by Attlia the Hun that scourge of God in the yeare CCCCL at Coline upon Rhene as they returned from Rome that with some it hath brought the truth of the History into suspition of a vaine fable And as touching that Constantine whom Gildas termeth a tyrannous whelpe of the uncleane Danmonian Lionesse as also of the Disforresting of all this country for before time it was reputed a Forrest let Historians speake for it is no part of my purpose As for the Earles none of British bloud are mentioned but onely Candorus called by others Cadocus who is accounted by late writers the last Earle of Cornwall of British race and as they which are skilfull in Heraldry have a tradition bare XV. Besaunts V. IIII. III. II. and I. in a shield Sable But of the Normans bloud the first Earle was Robert of Moriton halfe brother to William Conqueror by Herlotta their mother after whom succeeded William his sonne who when hee had sided with Robert of Normandie against Henry the First King of England being taken prisoner in battell lost both his libertie and his honours and at last turned Monke at Bermondsey Then Reginald a base sonne of Henrie the First by the daughter of Sir Robert Corber for that King plied getting children so lustfully as that hee was father of thirteene Bastards was placed in his roome This Reginald dying without issue male legitimate King Henry the Second having assigned unto his daughters certaine lands and Lordships reserved this Earledome to himselfe for the â—ehoore of his owne youngest sonne Iohn a child of nine yeares old upon whom his brother Richard the First conferred it afterwards with other Earledomes This Iohn afterward was crowned King of England and his second sonne Richard was by his brother King Henry the Third endowed with this honour and the Earledome of Poictou a Prince verily in those daies puissant in Gods service devout and religious in war right valiant for counsell sage and prudent who in Aquitaine fought battels with fortunate successe and shewed much valour and having made a voyage into the Holy Land enforced the Sarazens to make truce with him the Kingdome of Apulia offered unto him by the Pope he refused the troubles and tumults in England he often times composed and in the yeare of our Lord MCCLVIL by some of the Princes Electours of Germany was chosen King of the Romans and crowned at Aquisgrane whereupon as if he had made meanes thereto by money this verse was so riâ—e and currant every where Nummus ait pro me nubit Cornubia Romae For me my money saieth this Cornwall to Rome now wedded is For so well monied he was before that one who then lived hath put downe in writing that for ten yeares together hee might dispend one hundred markes a day But when as Germanie was all on a light fire with civil warres among competitors of the Empire he returned quickly into England where he departed this life and was interred in the famous Monastery of Hales which he had built a little after that his first begotten son Henry newly in his return from the Holy Land whiles he was at divine service devoutly occupied within a church at Viterbium in Italy was by Guy de Montfort son of Simon Montfort Earle of Leceister in revenge of his fathers death wickedly slaine Edmund therefore his second son succeeded in the Earledome of Cornwall who died without any lawfull issue and so his high and great estate of inheritance returned to King Edward the First as who was the next unto him in bloud and found as our Lawyers say his heire Whereas that Richard and Edmund his sonne Princes of the bloud Royall of England bare divers Armes from the Armes Royall of England to wit in a shield argent a Lyon rampant gules crowned or within a border sables Bezante I have with others oftentimes much marvelled at neither I assure you can I alleage any other reason but that they in this point imitated the house Royall of France for the manner of bearing Armes came from the French men unto us For the younger sonnes of the Kings of France even to the time wee now speake of bare other coats than the Kings themselves did as we may see in the family of Vermandois Dreux and Courtney and as Robert Duke of Burgundy brother to Henrie the First King of France tooke unto him the ancient shield of the Dukes of Burgundie so we may well thinke that this Richard having received the Earledome of Poictou from Henry the Third his brother assumed unto him that Lyon gules crowned which belonged to the Earles of Poictou before him as the French writers doe record and added thereto the border garnished with Besaunts out of the ancient coat of the Earles of Cornwall For so soone as the younger sonnes of the Kings of France began to beare the Armes of France with
left behind him two Sonnes Baldwin and Richard who in order successively were Earles of Denshire and died without issue The honour therefore reverted backe againe to their unkle by their fathers side named William surnamed de Vernon because he was there borne This William begat Baldwin who departed this life before his father yet before his death he had begotten of Margaret daughter to Gwarin Fitz-Gerold Baldwine the third of that name Earle of Denshire This Baldwin had two children to wit Baldwin the last Earle out of this family that died without issue 1261. who changed the Ghryphon clasping and crushing a little beast which mark his Ancestours used in their seale into a Scutcheon or with a Lyon rampant azur and Isabell who being espoused to William de Fortibus Earle of Albemarle bare to him a Sonne named Thomas who died soone after and Avellina a daughter maried to Edmund Earle of Lancaster whom she mightily enriched with the inheritance of her father and died issulesse After some time King Edward the Third by his letter missive onely without any other complement of ceremonies created Hugh Courtney Earle of Devonshire and linked as cousin and next heire to the said Isabel. For he commanded him by vertue of those missives to use that title and by a precept to the high Sheriffe of the Shire commanded he should be so acknowledged Reginald Courtney was the first of this family that came into England brought hither by King Henry the Second and by him advanced with the marriage of the heire of the Baronie of Okchampton for that he procured the marriage betweene the said King and Eleonor his heire of Poictu and Aquitaine But whether hee was branched from the house of Courtney before it was matched in the bloud royall of France or after which our Monks affirme but Du Tillet Keeper of the Records of France doubteth I may say somewhat in another place After the first Earle Hugh succeeded his sonne Hugh whom Edward his Grand-child by Edward his Sonne followed who died before him and when he died he left it to his sonne Hugh and hee likewise to Thomas his sonne who died in the thirtieth and sixth yeare of King Henry the sixth his raigne The said Thomas begat three sonnes namely Thomas Henrie and Iohn whose estate during the heate of those mortall dissensions betweene the houses of Lancaster and Yorke was much tossed and shaken whiles they stood resolutely and stiffely for the Lancastrians Thomas taken at Towton field was beheaded at Yorke Henry his brother and Successour seven yeares after dranke of the same cup at Salisburie And although King Edward the Fourth advanced Sir Humfrey Stafford of Suthwicke to the Earledome of Denshire who within three moneths revolting from King Edward his advancer most ingratefully was apprehended and without processe executed at Bridg water yet Iohn Courtney aforesaid the youngest brother would not leave this title but with his life which hee lost in the battell of Tewksbury For a long time after this family lay in some sort obscured yet under King Henrie the Seventh it reflourished for hee advanced againe Edward Courtney the next heire male unto the honors of his Progenitors He begat William Earle of Devonshire who matched in wedlocke with Katherine daughter to King Edward the Fourth of whom he begat Henry Earle of Devonshire and Marquesse withall of Excester who under King Henry the Eighth lost his head as we have now shewed whose Sonne Edward was restored againe by Queene Mary a most noble young Gentleman and of passing good hope but he died an untimely death at Padua in Italie for the best men as saith Quadrigarius are of least continuance In the fortieth and sixth yeare after his death King Iames gave the honorable title of Earle of Devonshire to Charles Blunt Lord Mountjoy and Lieutenant Generall of Ireland which title he affected as descended from a Cosin and heire of Humfrey Stafford Earle of Devonshire Hee was a worthy personage as well for martiall prowesse and ornaments of learning as for ancient nobilitie of birth for that he had recovered Ireland into the former good estate by driving out the Spaniards and by subduing or enforcing the Rebels to submission Him I say he created Earle of Devonshire him hee heaped with favours and according to the bountifull munificence of a King mightily enriched But within a small while death envied him the fruition both of honour and wealth which hee enjoyed as few yeares as his Predecessour Humfrey Stafford did moneths There be contained in this Countie Parish-Churches 394. DVROTRIGES NExt unto the Danmonians Eastward Ptolomy placeth in his Geographicall tables 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hee wrote in Greeke who in the Latine copies are written DVROTRIGES The same people were named by the Britaine 's about the yeare of Salvation 890. Dwr-Gwyr as saith mine Authour Asserius Menevensis who lived in that age and was himselfe a Britaine borne The English-Saxons called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like as we at this day call this County the County of Dorset and Dorset-shire That name DVROTRIGES being ancient and meere British may seeme by a very good and probable Etymologie to be derived of DOVR or Dwr which in the British tongue signifieth Water and of Trig that betokeneth an Inhabitant as if a man would say dwellers by the water or Sea-side Neither verily from any other fountaine than from water are we to fetch those names of places in old France or Gaule which used in times past the very same language that our ancient Britans did which either begin with Dur and Dour or doe end in the same As for example DVROCASES DVROCOTTORVM DVRANIVS DORDONIA DVROLORVM DOROMELLVM DIVODVRVM BREVIODVRVM BATAVODVRVM GANODVRVM OCTODVRVM and a number of that sort as well in Gaule as in Britaine As for that English-Saxon word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compounded of both tongues British and English it carryeth the same sence and signification that DVROTRIGES doth For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with our old Forefathers like as with the rest of the Germans soundeth as much as to inhabit or dwell upon And therefore they termed mountainers in their language Dun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Inhabitants of the Chiltern-hilles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dwellers by the river Arow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as the Germans called the Inhabitants of Woods and Forrests Holt-satten because they dwelt within or among the Woods Neither went our Britans from the reason and meaning of the old name when they termed these DVROTRIGES of whom we now treat Dwr-Gweir that is to say Men bordering on the Maritime or Sea-coast For their country lieth stretched out with a shore full of turnings or windings in and out for a long tract to wit by the space of fiftie miles or there about full upon the British sea from West to East DORSET-SHIRE THe Countie of Dorset as it is on the Northside bounded with
fuit Hinc abiens illinc meritorum fulget honore Hic quoque gestorum lande perennis erit Two mountaines high that reach the stars two tops of Sion Faire From Libanon two cedar trees their flouring heads doe beare Two royall gates of highest heaven two lights that men admire Paul thundreth with his voice aloft Peter he flasheth fire Of all the Apostles crowned crew whose raies right glittering bee Paul for deepe learning doth excell Peter for high degree The one doth open the hearts of men the other heaven doore For Peter lets those into heaven whom Paul had taught before As one by meanes of doctrine shewes the way how heaven to win By vertue so of th' others Keys men quickly enter in Paul is a plaine and ready way for men to heaven hie And Peter is as sure a gate for them to passe thereby This is a rocke remaining firme a Master builder hee Twixt these a Church and altar both to please God built we see Rejoice ô England willingly For Rome doth greet thee well The glorious Apostles light in Glaston now doe dwell Two bulwarks strong afront the Foe are rais'd These towres of faith In that this Citie holds the head even of the world it hath These monuments King Ina gave of perfect meere good will Vnto his subjects whose good deeds remaine and shall doe still He with his whole affection in godlinesse did live And holy Church to amplifie great riches also give Well might he our Melchisedech a Priest and King be thought For he the true religious worke to full perfection brought The lawes in common weale he kept and state in Court beside The onely Prince that prelats grac'd and them eke rectifide And now departed hence to heaven of right he there doth reigne Yet shall the praise of his good deeds with us for ay remaine In this first age of the primitive Church very holy men and the Irish especially applied the service of God in this place diligently who were maintained with allowances from Kings and instructed youth in religion and liberall sciences These men embraced a solitarie life that they might the more quietly studie the Scriptures and by an austere kind of life exercise themselves to the bearing of the crosse But at length Dunstane a man of a subtile wit and well experienced when he had once by an opinion of his singular holinesse and learning wound himselfe into the inward acquaintance of Princes in stead of these brought in Monks of a later order called Benedictines and himselfe first of all others became the Abbat or ruler heere of a great covent of them who had formerly and afterward gotten at the hands of good and godly Princes a royall revenue And having reigned as it were in all affluence 600. yeres for all their neighbours round about were at their beck they were by K. Henry the Eighth dispossessed thrust out of all this their Monastery which was growne now to be a prety Citie environed with a large wall a mile about replenished with stately buildings was razed and made even with the ground and now onely sheweth evidently by the ruines thereof how great and how magnificent a thing it was Now I might be thought one of those that in this age have vanities in admiration if I should tell you of a Walnut tree in the holy Churchyard heere that never did put forth leafe before S. Barnabees feast and upon that very day was rank and full of leaves but that is now gone and a young tree in the place as also of the Hawthorne in Wiral-park hard by which upon Christmasday sprouteth forth as well as in May. And yet there bee very many of good credit if we may beleeve men of their word who avouch these things to be most true But before I returne from hence I wil briefly set downe unto you that which Giraldus Cambrensis an eie-witnesse of the thing hath more at large related touching Arthurs Sepulchre in the Churchyard there When Henrie the Second King of England tooke knowledge out of the Songs of British Bards or Rhythmers how Arthur that most noble Worthy of the Britans who by his Martial prowesse had many a time daunted the fury of the English-Saxons lay buried heere betweene two Pyramides or sharpe-headed pillars hee caused the bodie to be searched for and scarcely had they digged seven foot deepe into the earth but they lighted upon a Tomb or Grave-stone on the upper face whereof was fastened a broad Crosse of lead grosly wrought which being taken forth shewed an inscription of letters and under the said stone almost nine foot deeper was found a Sepulchre of oake made hollow wherin the bones of that famous Arthur were bestowed which Inscription or Epitaph as it was sometime exemplified and drawn out of the first Copie in the Abbey of Glascon I thought good for the antiquitie of the characters here to put downe The letters being made after a barbarous maner resembling the Gothish Character bewray plainely the barbarisme of that age when ignorance as it were by fatall destinie bare such sway that there was none to be found by whose writings the renowne of Arthur might bee blazed and commended to posteritie A matter and argument doubtlesse meet to have beene handled by the skill and eloquence of some right learned man who in celebrating the praises of so great a prince might have wonne due commendation also for his owne wit For the most valiant Champian of the British Empire seemeth even in this behalfe onely most unfortunate that hee never met with such a trumpetter as might worthily have sounded out the praise of his valour But behold the said Crosse and Epitaph therein Neither will it be impertinent if I annex hereunto what our Countrey man Ioseph a Monke of Excester no vulgar and triviall Poet versified sometime of Arthur in his Poeme Antiocheis wherein he described the warres of the Christians for recoverie of the Holy Land and was there present with King Richard the First speaking of Britaine Hinc celebri fato foelici claruit ortu Flos Regum Arthurus cujus cúm facta stupori Non micuere minús totus quód in aure voluptas Et populo plaudente favus Quemcunque priorum Inspice Pelaeum commendat fama tyrannum Pagina Caesareos loquitur Romana triumphos Alcidem domitis attollit gloria monstris Sed nec pinetum coryli nec sydera solem Aequant Annales Latios Graiosque revolve Prisca parem nescit aequalem postera nullum Exhibitura dies Reges supereminet omnes Solus praeteritis melior majorque futuris For famous death and happie birth hence flourish'd next in place Arthur the flower of noble Kings whose acts with lovely grace Accepted and admired were in peoples mouth and eare No lesse than if sweet hony they or pleasant musicke were See former Princes and compare his worth even with them all That King in Pella borne whom we great Alexander call The trumpe
them have very goodly houses also adjoyning to the Church and all these buildings stand within the close wall severed from the Citie As the Bishop was busied about erecting of Gods house the Citizens likewise for their parts did their best to found the Citie they established their civill government derived rilles and servers of waters into every street and cast a deepe ditch all along that side on which it is not fenced with the running river having obtained licence of Simon the Bishop thus to strengthen and fortifie the same And in such sort grew up this new Salisburie by little an little out of the ruines of old Sorbiodunum that so soone as they by the Kings warrant had turned hither the high-way that leadeth into the West parts it became the second Citie in all this tract passing well inhabited and frequented plentifull of all things especially of fish adorned with a very stately market place wherein standeth their common Hall of timber worke a very beautifull edifice But nothing is there whereof it may so much boast as of Iohn Iowell not long since Bishop there a wonderfull great and deepe Divine a most stout and earnest maintainer of our reformed religion against the adversaries by his learned books Old Sorbiodunum from thence forward decaied more and more and in the raigne of King Henrie the Seventh became utterly desolate so as at this day there remaineth onely a towre or two of the Castle which notwithstanding a long time after the departure of the townesmen from thence was the dwelling house of the Earles of Salisburie and about which in King Edward the Thirds time there arose a memorable controversie and suite For Robert Bishop of Salisburie stirred Milliam Mont acute Earle of Salisburie by vertue of a processe which our Lawyers terme Breve de Recto that is A writ of right for this Castle and hee made answer that hee would defend his right by combat Whereupon at a day appointed the Bishop â—rought forth his champion to the railes or bars of the Lists clâ—d in a white garment reaching downe to his mid-leg upon which he had a mandilian or cassocke garnished with the Bishops Armes at whose heeles followed a Knight carrying a staffe and a page with a shield Immediately after the Earle brought in by the hand his owne champion also arraied in the like apparell accompanied with two Knights bearing white staves Now when these Champions were to enter the Lists commanded they were to withdraw themselves aside that their weapons of both parts might be viewed and they searched whether they had any Amulers or Enchantments about them But all on a suddaine unlooked for came the Kings precept to reprive and defer the matter to a further day that the King might loose thereby none of his right Meane while they grew to this composition That the Earle for the summe of 2500. markes paied and received should yield up all his title and interest in the Castle to the Bishop and his successors for ever This Salisburie had long agoe Earles of that name whose pedigree I will derive somewhat farther off and more truly out of the short reports of Lacock Historie William Conqueror of his bounty liberalitie assigned unto Gualter de Evereaux Earle of Rosmar in Normandie faire lands and large possessions in this shire which he left unto Edward named de Sarisburia a younger sonne borne in England like as to Walter his eldest sonne other lands in Normandie with the Title of Earle of Rosmar whose issue within a while after was extinct That Edward of Sarisburie aforesaid flourished in the twentieth yeere of the Conquerours reigne and is often times barely named in the Indiciarie booke of England without the title of Earle His sonne Walter built a a little monasterie at Bradenstocke and there in his old age tooke him to the habit of a Canon or Regular priest after he had first begotten his sonne Patricke the first Earle of Salisburie upon Sibil de Cadurcis This Patricke I say the first Earle in his returne from his pilgrimage at S. Iames of compostella in Spain in the yeere of our Lord 1169. being slaine by one Guy of Lusigniam left William his sonne to succeede who died in King Richard the first his time His onely daughter Ela through the favour of the said King Richard was married to William Long Espee surnamed so of a long sword that he did usually weare a base sonne of King Henrie the second and her marriage honoured him with the title of Earle and her owne coat of Armes be Azur adorned with sixe Lions Ceux This William had a sonne named likewise William Long-Espee against whom King Henrie the Third conceiving great displeasure for that without licence obtained he was gone to serve in the holy land taking the crosse as they termed it upon him took from him both the title of Earle and also the Castle of Salisburie But he holding still his purpose went into Egypt with S. Lewis King of France and neere unto Damiata which the Christians had wonne carrying a brave and valorous minde fighting manfully among the thickkest troops of his enemies died an honorable and glorious death a little before that holy King was unfortunately taken prisoner His sonne named likewise William lived without the title of Earle and begat one onely daughter Margaret who neverthelesse being reputed Countresse of Salisburie became the wife of Henry Lacy Earle of Lincoln unto whom she bare one only daughter Alice wedded to Thomas Earle of Lancaster Who being attainted King Edward the Second seized upon those possessions which she had granted and demised unto her husband out of which King Edward the Third gave way unto Willam Mont-acute Trowbridg Winterbourn Ambresburie and other Lordships in these words So fully and wholly as the Progenitours of Margaret Countesse of Salisbury at any time held the same And even then hee preferred the said William Mont-acute to be Earle of Salisburie and by the cincture of a sword invested him in the said Earledome This William became Lord of the Isle of Mann and begat two sonnes William who succeeded in his Fathers honour and died without issue having unhappily slaine his onely sonne while he trained him at Tilting and Iohn a Knight who died before his brother leaving behind him a sonne named Iohn Earle of Salisburie whom hee had by Margaret daughter and heire of Thomas de Mont-Hermer who being of an unconstant and changeable nature and plotting the destruction of King Henrie the Fourth was in the yeare of our Lord 1400. killed at Chichester and attainted afterwards of high treason Howbeit his sonne Thomas was fully restored a man worthy to be ranged with the bravest Captaines and Commanders whether you respect paines taking in his affaires industrie in action or expedition in dispatch who lying at the siege before Orleance in France was with a bullet levelled out of a great piece of Ordnance wounded in the yeare 1428. and thereof died
for all England right happy For it brought forth to us Queene Elizabeth a most gracious and excellent Prince worthy of superlative praise for her most wise and politique government of the Common-wealth and for her heroicke vertues farre above that sexe But when the said Thomas Bullen overcome with the griefe and sorrow that hee tooke for the infortunate fall and death of his children he ended his daies without issue this title lay still untill that King Edward the Sixth conferred it upon William Powlet Lord Saint Iohn whom soone after hee made Marquesse of Winchester and Lord Treasurer of England in whose family it remaineth at this day This Countie containeth in it Parishes 304. HANTSHIRE NExt to Wilshire is that Country which sometimes the Saxons called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is now commonly named Hantshire of which one part that beareth farther within the land belonged no doubt to the Belgae the other which lieth upon the sea appertained without question to the Regni an ancient people of Britaine On the West it hath Dorsetshire and Wilshire on the South the Ocean to bound it on the East it joyneth to Sussex and Surrie and on the North it bordereth upon Barkshire A small province it is fruitfull in corne furnished in some places with pleasant woods standing thicke and well growne rich in plenteous pasture and for all commodities of sea most wealthy and happie It is thought that it was with the first brought under subjection to the Romans For our Histories report that Vespasian subdued it and very probable reasons there are inducing us to beleeve the same For Dio witnesseth that Plautius and Vespasian when they were sent by the Emperour Claudius against the Britaines did give the attempt upon this Island with an armie divided into three parts least if they should have ventured to land in one place onely they might have beene driven backe from the shore Suetonius also writeth that in this expedition Vespasian fought thirtie battailes with the enemie and subdued the Isle of Wight which lieth against this country and two other right puissant nations with it For which his victories as also for passing over the Ocean so safely Valerius Flaccus speaketh unto Vespasian himselfe as one more fortunate than Iulius Caesar in this manner Tuque O Pelagi cui major aperti Fama Caledonius post quam tua Carbasa vexit Oceanus Fhrigios prius indignatus Iülos And thou for Seas discoverie whose fame did more appeare Since that thy ships with sailes full spred in Northren Ocean were Which skorn'd before of Phrygian line the Julii to beare And of the very same Vespasian Appolonius Collatius Novariensis the Poet versified thus Ille quidem nuper faelici Marte Britannos Fuderat He verily of late by happy flight Had won the field and Britains put to flight But how in this war Titus delivered Vespasian his father when he was very streightly besieged by the Britans and how at the same time likewise an adder grasped him about and yet never hurt him which he tooke as a lucky foretoken of his Empire you may learne out of Dio and Forcatulus I for my part to come to my purpose beginning at the West side of this province will make my perambulation along the sea-coast and the rivers that runne into the Ocean and after that survey the more in-land parts thereof HAMSHIRE OLIM PARS BELGARVM A long the East banke of this river in this Shire King William of Normandie pulled downe all the townes villages houses and Churches farre and neere cast out the poore Inhabitants and when he had so done brought all within thirty miles compasse or there about into a forrest and harbour for wild beasts which the Englishmen in those daies termed Ytene and we now call New forrest Of which Act of his Gwalter Maps who lived immediately after wrote thus The Conquerour tooke away land both from God and men to dedicate the same unto wild beasts and Dogs-game in which space he threw downe sixe and thirtie-Mother-Churches and drave all the people thereto belonging quite away And this did he either that the Normans might have safer and more secure arrivall in England for it lieth over against Normandie in case after that all his wars were thought ended any new dangerous tempest should arise in this Island against him or for the pleasure which he tooke in hunting or else to scrape and rape money to himselfe by what meanes soever he could For being better affected and more favourable to beasts than to men he imposed verie heavie fines and penalties yea and other more grievous punishments upon those that should meddle with his game But Gods just judgement not long after followed this so unreasonable and cruell act of the King For Richard his second sonne and William Rufus King of England another sonne of his perished both in this Forrest William by chance shot through with an arrow by Walter Tirell the other blasted with a pestilent aire Henrie likewise his Grand-child by Robert his eldest sonne whiles hee hotely pursued his game in this Chase was hanged amongst the boughes and so died that wee may learne thereby How even childrens children beare the punishment of their Fathers sonnes There goe commonly abroad certaine verses that Iohn White Bishop of Winchester made of this Forrest Which although they falsly make William Rufus to have ordained the same yet because they are well liked of many I am likewise well content heere to set them downe Templa adimit Divis fora civibus arva colonis Rufus instituit Beaulensi in rure forestam Rex cervum insequitur Regem vindicta Tirellus Non bene provisum transfixit acumine ferri From God and Saint King Rus did Churches take From Citizens town-court and mercate place From Farmer lands New forrest for to make In Beaulew tract where whiles the King in chase Pursues the Hart just vengeance comes apace And King pursues Tirrell him seeing not Unawares him slew with dint of arrow shot He calleth it Beauley tract for that King Iohn built hard by a pretty Monasterie for the pleasant scituation called Beaulieu which continued ever unto our Fathers memorie of great fame as being an unviolated sanctuarie and a safe refuge for all that fled to it in so much that in times past our people heere thought it unlawfull and an hainous offence by force to take from thence any persons whatsoever were they thought never so wicked murtherers or traitours so that our Ancestors when they erected such Sanctuaries or Temples as they terme them of Mercie every where throughout England seemed rather to have proposed unto themselves Romulus to imitate than Moses who commanded that wilfull murtherers should bee plucked from the Altar and put to death and for them onely appointed Sanctuarie who by meere chance had killed any man But least the sea coast for so long a tract as that forrest is heere should lie without defence all open
they call it a Fesse with a labell of seven as I have seene upon his seales After him succeeded Roger his sonne who bare Gules seven Mascles voided Or but with him that honour vanished and went away seeing he died without issue male For he married the eldest daughter and one of the coheires of Alan Lord of Galloway in Scotland by a former wife in right of whom he was Constable of Scotland He had by her three onely daughters the first married to William de Ferrariis Earle of Derbie the second to Alan de la Zouch the third to Comine Earle of Bucqhanan in Scotland A long time after Hugh le Dispencer having that title bestowed upon him for terme of his life by King Edward the second whose minion he was and only beloved felt together with his sonne what is the consequence of Princes extraordinary favours For both of them envied by most were by the furious rage of the people put cruelly to shamefull death And long it was after this that through the bounty of King Edward the Fourth Lewis of Bruges a Netherland Lord of Gruthuse Prince of Steinhuse c. Who had given him comfort and succour in the Netherlands when hee was fled his native countrey received this honour with Armes resembling those of Roger Quincy in these words Azur a dix Mascles D'or en orm d'un Canton de nostie propre Armes d' Engleterre cestsavour de Goul un Leopard passant d' or armeè d' azur All which after King Edwards death he yeilded up into the hands of Henrie the seventh But lately within our memorie King Edward the sixth honoured Sir William Pawlet Lord Treasurer of England Earle of Wilshire and Lord Saint Iohn of Basing with a new title of Marquesse of Winchester A man prudently pliable to times raised not sodainely but by degrees in Court excessive in vaste informous buildings temperate in all other things full of yeares for he lived nintie seven years and fruitfull in his generation for he saw one hundred and three issued from him by Elizabeth his wife daughter to Sir William Capell Knight And now his grand-child William enjoyeth the said honours For the Geographicall position of Winchester it hath beene observed by former ages to be in longitude two and twenty degrees and in latitude fiftie one From Winchester more Eastward the river Hamble at a great mouth emptieth it selfe into the Ocean Beda calleth it Homelea which as he writeth by the lands of the Intae entreth into Solente for so termeth he that frith our narrow sea that runneth betweene the Isle of Wight and the main land of Britain in which the tides at set houres rushing in with great violence out of the Ocean at both ends and so meeting one another in the midst seemed so strange a matter to our men in old time that they reckoned it among the wonders of Britaine Whereof read heere the very words of Beda The two tides of the Ocean which about Britaine breake out of the vast Northern Ocean daily encounter and fight one against another beyond the mouth of the river Homelea and when they have ended their conflict returne backe from whence they came and runne into the Ocean Into this Frith that little river also sheadeth it selfe which having his head neere Warnford passeth betweene the Forrests of Waltham where the Bishop of Winchester hath a goodly house and of Bere whereby is Wickham a mansion of that ancient family of Vuedal and then by Tichfield sometime a little monasterie founded by Petre de Rupibus Bishop of Winchester where the marriage was solemnized betweene King Henry the sixth and Margaret of Anjou and now the principall seate of the Lord Writheosleies Earles of South-hampton From thence forthwith the shore with curving crookes draweth it selfe in and the Island named Portesey maketh a great creeke within the more inward nooke or corner whereof sometimes flourished Port peris where by report Vespasian landed An haven towne which our Ancestours by a new name called Port-chester not of Porto the Saxon but of the port or haven For Ptolomee tearmeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is THE GREAT HAVEN for the widenesse of it like as that Portus Magnus also in Africk as Plinie witnesseth And verily there remaineth yet a great Castle which hath a faire and spacious prospect into the haven underneath But when as the Ocean by with-drawing it selfe tooke away by little and little the commoditie of the haven the Inhabitants flitted from thence into the Island Portsey adjoyning which taketh in circuit much about fourteene miles being at every full sea floated round about with salt-waters out of which they boile salt and by a bridge that hath a fortresse adjoyning unto it is united to the Continent This Island Athelflede King Eadgars wife had given to the New monasterie of Winchester And in it at the very gullet or mouth where the sea entreth in our fore-fathers built a towne and thereupon named it Portsmouth that is the mouth of the haven A place alwaies in time of warre well frequented otherwise little resort there is to it as beeing more favourable and better affected to Mars and Neptune than to Mercurie that is to warre rather than to traffique A Church it hath of the old building and an Hospitall Gods house they call it founded by Peter de Rupibus Bishop of Winchester Fortified it was with a wall made of timber and the same well covered over with thicke bankes of earth fenced with a platforme also or mount of earth in times past on the North-east nere to the gate and two block-houses at the entry of the haven made of new hewen stone Which being by King Edward the fourth begunne King Henrie the seventh as the Inhabitants report did finish and strengthned the towne with a garrison But in our remembrance Queene ELIZABETH at her great cost and charges so armed it as one would say with new fortifications as that now there is nothing wanting that a man would require in a most strong and fenced place And of the garrison-souldiers some keepe watch and ward both night and day at the gates others upon the towre of the Church who by the ringing or sound of a bell give warning how many horse or foote are comming and by putting forth a banner shew from what quarter they come From hence as the shore fetcheth a compasse and windeth from Portes-bridge wee had the sight of Havant a little mercate towne and hard by it of Wablington a goodly faire house belonging some-times to the Earles of Salisbury but now to the family of the Cottons Knights Before which there lie two Islands the one greater named Haling the other lesse called Thorney of thornes there growing and both of them have their severall parish Church In many places along this shore of the sea-waters flowing up thither is made salt of a palish or greene colour the which by a certaine artificious devise
answered for him at his Baptisme Then Ceadwalla King of the West-Saxons when the said Edelwalch was slaine and Aruandus the petty King of the Island made away annexed to it the Dominion and in a tragicall and lamentable massacre killed every mothers child almost of the inborne Inhabitants and the fourth part of the Isle to wit as much land as contained 300. Hides hee gave unto Bishop Wilfrid The first that instructed the Islanders in the knowledge of Christian religion But these matters Beda will informe you best writing as he doth in these words After then that Ceadwalla had obtained the kingdome of the Gevissi hee wonne also the Isle of Wight which unto that time had beene wholly given to Idolatrie and then endeavoured what he could to make a generall massacre and tragicall slaughter of all the native Inhabitants thereof and instead of them to plant there people of his owne province binding himselfe with a vow although he was not yet regenerate and become Christened and in case he wonne the Isle he would give unto God a fourth part both of it and also of the whole booty Which vow he so paied as that he offered this Isle unto Wilfrid the Bishop who being of his nation hapened then to come thither be present to the use and glory of God The measure of the same Island according to the English mens estimation is proportionable to one thousand and two hundred hides of land Whereupon the Bishop had possession given him of so much Land as rose to three hundred Hides But hee commended that portion which hee received unto one of his Clarkes named Bernwin and his sisters sonne he was giving unto him a priest named Hildila for to minister unto all that were desirous of salvation the word and laver of life Where I thinke it not good to passe over in silence how for the first fruits as one would say of those who of the same Isle were saved by their beleife two young children brethren of the Royall bloud to wit the sonnes of Arvandus King of the Isle were by the especiall favour of GOD crowned with martyrdome For when the enemies approached hard unto the Island these children slipt secretly out of the Isle and were remoâ—ved into the province next adjoyning where being brought to a place called Ad Lapidem when they had committed themselves upon trust to be hidden from the face of the King that was conquerour betraied they were and commanded to be killed Which when a certaine Abbat and Priest named Cynbreth heard who not farre from thence had his monasterie in a place named Reodford that is the Ford of reed hee came unto the King who then in those parts lay secretly at cure of those wounds which hee had received whiles hee fought in the Isle of Wight and requested of him that if there were no remedie but that the children must bee murthered they might yet bee first taught the Sacraments of Christian faith before their death The King granted his petition and hee then having catechised them in the word of truth and bathed them in the fount of salvation assured them of their entrance into the everlasting Kingdome of heaven And so within a while after when the executioner called instantly for them they joyfully suffered that temporall death of the body by which they made no doubt of their passe unto the eternall life of their soules In this order and manner therefore after all the Provinces of Britaine had embraced the faith of Christ the Isle of Wight also received the same in which notwithstanding for the calamitie and trouble of forraine subjection no man tooke the degree of Ministerie and See Episcopall before Daniell who at this day is the Bishop of the West Saxons and the Gevissj Thus much Beda From this time forward our writers for a great while have not one word of Wight unto the yeare of our Lord one thousand sixtie six in which Tostie Hing Haralds brother with certaine men of warre and Rovers ships out of Flanders in hatred of his brother invaded it and after he had compelled the Islanders to pay him tribute departed Some few yeares after as we read in the old booke of Cares broke Priorie which Master Robert Glover Somerset shewed me who carried as it were the Sunne light of ancient Genealogies and Pedigrees in his hand Like as saith this booke William the Bastard conquered England even so William Fitz Osbern his Mareschal and Earle of Hereford conquered the Isle of Wight and was the first Lord of Wight Long after this the Frenchmen in the yeare 1377. came suddenly at unawares under saile invaded and spoiled it and the same French in the yeare 1403. gave the like attempt but in vaine For valiantly they were drived from landing even as in our fathers daies when the French Gallies set one or two small cottages on fire and went their way As touching the Lords of this Isle after that William Fitz-Osbern was forth-with slaine in the warre of Flanders and his sonne Roger outlawed and driven unto exile it fell into the Kings hands and Henrie the First King of England gave it unto Richard Ridvers otherwise called Redvers and de Ripariis Earle of Denshire and withall the Fee or Inheritance of the Towne Christ-Church Where like as at Caresbroke that Richard built certaine Fortresses but Baldwin his sonne in the troublesome time of King Stephen when there were in England so many Tyrants as there were Lords of Forts and Castles who tooke upon them every one to stampe money and challenged other rights of Regall Majestie was by Stephen disseized and expelled from hence Howbeit his posteritie recovered their ancient right whose Genealogie wee have already put downe when wee treated of the Earles of Denshire But in the end Isabell widow to William de Fortibus Earle of Albemarle and Holdernesse sister and heire of Baldwin the last Earle of Devonshire of that house after much intreatie was overcome to make over by charter all her right and interest and to settle it upon King Edward the First with the Manours of Christ-Church and Fawkeshaul c. For foure thousand Markes Ever since which time the Kings of England held the Isle and Henry de Beauchamp Earle of Warwicke was by King Henrie the Sixth unto whom hee was most deere crowned King of Wight and afterwards nominated The first or principall Earle of all England But together with him this new and unusuall title died and vanished quite Afterwards Richard Widevile Earle Rivers was by King Edward the fourth stiled Lord of the Isle of Wight Sir Reginald Bray took it of King Henry the Seventh with whom he was most inward in Fee farme for a rent charg'd of three hundred markes yearely to be paid Also beside these Lords this Isle had a noble Familie named de Insula or Lisle out of which in the raigne of King Edward the Second one was summoned unto the Parliament by the
was built by the Danes but I should rather judge that something was here erected by the Romans and afterwards rased by Saxons and Danes what time as Sueno the Dane ranging and roving this way spoiled and harried the countrey That it was at length reedified under King William the first we know assuredly by Domesday book seeing that it yeeldeth record as even now I noted of eight Hages or Houses destroyed for the Castle Yet William Gemeticensis makes no mention of this Castle when he writeth that William of Normandie having defeited Harold led his armie forthwith to this citie so he termeth it and after he had passed over the Tamis at the ford pitched his tents heere before hee came to London At which time Wigod an Englishman was Lord of Wallengford who had one onely daughter given in marriage to Robert D'Oyley of whom he begat Mawd his sole heire first wedded to Miles Crispin and after his death through the goodnesse and favour of K. Henrie the first married unto Brient called Fitz Count Who being brought up in warlike feates and taking part with Mawde the Empresse most manfully defended this Castle against King Stephen who had raised a fort just over against it at Craumesh and he made it good untill that peace so much wished of all England was concluded in this place and that most grievous dissention about the Crowne betweene K. Stephen and Henrie the Second ended For then the love of God tooke such place in the hearts of the said Brient and his wife that they cast of this fraile and transitorie world and devoted themselves in religious life unto Christ so was this Honour of Wallengford escheated into the Kings hand Which appeareth out of an old Inquisition in the Exchequer by these words To his most beloved Lords the King our soveraigne Lord his Iustices and Barons of the Exchequer the Constable of Wallengford sendeth greeting Know ye that I have made diligent enquiry by the Knights of my Bayliwicke according to a commandement of my Lord the King directed unto me by the Sheriffe and of the Inquisition thus made this is the summe Wigod of Wallengford held the honour of Wallengford in King Harolds time and afterwards in the daies of King William the First He had by his wife a certaine daughter whom he gave in marriage to Robert D'Oyly This Robert begat of her a daughter named Mawd who was his heire Miles Crispin espoused her and had with her the honour aforesaid of Wallengford After the decease of Miles our soveraigne Lord King Henrie the first bestowed the aforesaid Mawd upon Brient Fitz Count who both tooke themselves to a religious life and King Henrie the Second seized the honour into his hand c. Yet afterwards in the time of King Henrie the Third it belonged to the Earles of Chester and then to Richard King of the Romans and Earle of Cornwall who repaired it and unto his sonne Edmond who within the inner Court founded a Collegiate Chappell who dying without issue it fell againe to the Crowne and was annexed to the Dukedome of Cornwall since which time it hath by little and little decaied And verily about the time when that most mortall Plague which followed the conjunction of Saturne and Mars in Capricorne reigned hotely throughout all Europe in the yeare of our Lord 1348. This towne was so dispeopled by reason of continuall mortalitie there that whereas before time it was passing well Inhabited and had twelve Churches in it it can shew now no more than one or two But the cause of this desolation the Inhabitants lay rather upon the bridges of Abbindon and Dorchester whereby London portway was turned from thence From hence Southward the Tamis passeth most mildly betweene very rich and fertile fields on both sides by Moules-ford which K. Henrie the first gave unto Girald Fitz-Walter from whence the Noble family of the Carewes is descended To this house much lands honour and reputation accrewed in Ireland by descent and in England by matching in marriage with right noble families of the Mohuns Dinhams and others Not farre from hence is Aldworth where be certaine tombes and portraictures bigger than the ordinary proportion of men which thereupon the unlearned multitude keepes a wondering at as if they had been Giants whereas indeed they were but of certaine Knights of the Family de la Beche which heere had a Castle and is thought in the raigne of King Edward the Third to have beene extinguished for default of issue male And now at length Tamis meeteth with Kenet which River as I said ere-while watering the South part of this shire at his first entry when he hath left Wiltshire behind him runneth under Hungerford named in old time Ingleford Charnam-street a very small towne and seated in a moist place howbeit it hath given name and title to the honorable family of the Barons of Hungerford which was first raised to greatnesse by Walter Hungerford who under King Henrie the Fifth being Seneschall or Steward of the Kings house was for his warlike prowesse liberally rewarded by the said king and infeoffed in the Castle and Barony of Homet in Normandie To have and to hold unto him and his heires males by homage and service to find the Kings and his heires at the Castle of Roan one Launce with a Fox taile hanging downe thereat which pleasant conceit I thought not a misse to insert here among serious matters The same Walter in the raigne of Henrie the Sixth being high Treasurer of England and created withall Baron Hungerford as well by his singular wisedome as his marriage mith Katherine Peverell descended from the Moels and Courtneys mightily augmented his state His sonne Robert who wedded the daughter and heire of the Lord Botereaux enriched the same house verie much Sir Robert likewise his sonne who matched with Eleanor the daughter and heire of William Molines whereupon he was summoned among the Barons of the Realme by the name of Lord Molines and during the civill warre betweene the two houses of Lancaster and Yorke was beheaded at Newcastle advanced the name not a little His sonne Thomas slaine at Salisbury while his father was living left his onely daughter named Marie whom Edward Lord Hastings tooke to wife with a great and rich Inheritance But Walter brother to the said Thomas begat Edward Hungerford father of that Walter whom King Henrie the Eighth created Baron Hungerford of Heitesbury and condemned him afterwards for a crime not to be spoken of howbeit Queene Marie restored his children unto all his estate save onely the name and title of Barons Not farre from hence Southward is Widehay the seat for a long time of the Baron Saint Amand whose inheritance Gerard Braybrooke entred upon in right of his wife whose eldest Niece by his sonne Gerard named Elizabeth by her marriage brought the same unto William de Beauchamp who being summoned to
puissance about the river Garumna and laying siege to Tolose with fortunate successe terrified not onely those of Province as farre as to Rhosne and the Alpes but also by raising fortresses subduing nations he made the princes of Spaine and France to quake for feare as if he had beene ever more at the point to set upon them all I will also if it please you adjoyne heereto a word or two concerning the same King out of Giraldus Combrensis From the Pyrenean mountaines saith hee unto the Westerne bounds and furthest limits of the North Ocean This our Alexander of the West hath stretched forth his arme As farre therefore as nature in these our parts hath enlarged the land so farre hath hee marched with Victories If the bounds of his expeditions were sought for sooner would the globe of earth faile than they end For where there is a valiant and courageous minde howsoever earth and land faile victories cannot faile well may there bee wanting matter of triumph but triumphs will never bee wanting How great an addition to his glorious titles and triumphs was Ireland with how great valour and praise-worthy prowesse pearced he through the very secrets and hidden places of the Ocean But lo heere an old verse of his death which briefely in one word containeth fully both all this and also the renowne of his sonne King Richard the first Mira cano Sol occubuit nox nulla sequuta est A wonder great the Sunne was set and night there followed none For so farre was King Richard his sonne from bringing darknesse with him that with the beames of his victories atchieved in Cypres and Syria he made our countrey of England most famous and renowned through the world But these are things without our Element Let us returne againe from persons to places This Monastery wherein that noble King Henrie the first was buried is now converted to bee the Kings house which hath adjoyning unto it a very goodly stable stored to the full with princelike and most generous steeds But as touching this place listen also to the Poet describing the Tamis as he passeth heereby Hinc videt exiguam Chawsey properatque videre Redingum nitidum texendis nobile pannis Hoc docet Aelfredi nostri victricia signa Begscegi caedem calcata cadavera Dani Vtque superfuso maduerunt sanguine campi Principis hîc Zephiro Cauroque parentibus ort Cornipides crebris implent binnitibus auras Et gyros ducunt gressus glomerantque superbos Dum cupiunt nostri Martis servire lupatis Haeccine sed pietas heu dira piacula primum Neustrius Henricus situs hîc inglorius urna Nunc jacet erectus tumulum novus advena quaerit Frustra nam regi tenues invidit arenas Auri sacra fames Regum metuenda sepulchris From hence he little Chawsey seeth and hastneth for to see Faire Reading towne a place of name where Cloth's ywoven be This shewes our Aelfrids victorie what time Begsceg was slaine With other Danes whose carcasses lay trampled on the plaine And how the fields ydrenched were with bloud upon them shed Where as the Prince in Stable now hath standing many a steed Of noblest kind that neigh and snort into the aire a lowd Tracing the ring and keeping pace that stately is and prowd Whiles they desire to learne with all in our warres for to serve But where alas is piety Such cursed deeds deserve Purged to be by sacrifice A King of Normans race Henry the first enterred heere now turn'd out of his place An out cast lies dishonoured Who seekes his tombe shall misse For Covetise envied that King the small mould which was his See see how Princes monuments it ransacks where it is Scarce halfe a mile from Reading betwixt most greene and flowring medowes the Kenet is coupled with the Tamis who now runneth with a broader streame by a small village called Sunning which a man would mervaile to have beene the See of eight Bishops who had this shire Wiltshire for their Diocesse yet our Histories report as much the same afterwards by Herman was translated to Shirburne and in the end to Salisburie unto which Bishopricke this place still belongeth Heereby falleth Ladden a small water into the Tamis and not farre off standeth Laurents Waltham where are to be seene the foote foundations of an old fort and divers Romane coines often times digged up and next to it Billingsbere the inhabitation of Sir Henry Nevill issued from the Lords Abergevenny From Sunning the Tamis passeth by Bistleham now called short Bisham at first a Lordship of the Knights Templars then of the Montacutes and amongst them William the first Earle of Salisburie of his familie founded a Priory wherein some say hee was buried Certes his wife the daughter of the Lord Grandison was buried there and in the Inscription of her tombe it was specified that her father was descended out of Burgundie cosin-german to the Emperour of Constantinople the King of Hungary and Duke of Baveire and brought into England by Edmund Earle of Lancaster Now is the possession of Sir Edward Hoby Knight of me especially to be observed whose singular kindnesse toward me the often consideration thereof shall keepe so fresh that it shall never vanish out of my remembrance Tamis having now left Bisham behind it fetcheth it selfe with a compasse about to a little towne named in the former ages Southe-alington afterward Maiden-hith and at this day Maindenhead of the superstitious worshipping of I wote not what British Maidens head one of those eleven thousand Virgins who as they returned from Rome into their country with Vrsula their leader suffered as Martyrs at Colein in Germanie under that scourge of God Attila Neither is this towne of any antiquity for no longer agoe then in our great Grandfathers daies there was a Ferry in a place somewhat higher at Babhams end But after they had built heere a bridge of timber piles it beganne to flourish with Innes and goe beyond her mother Bray hard by which notwithstanding is farre more ancient as having given name to the whole Hundred This parcell of the shire I have beene of opinion that the BIBROCI who yeelded themselves under Cesars protection inhabited in times past And why should I thinke otherwise The reliques of them remaine yet most evidently in the name For BIBRACTE in France is now also drawen shorter into Bray and not far from hence Caesar passed over the Tamis with his armie as I will shew in due place what time as the people of that small Canton put themselves to the devotion of Caesar. Certes If a man should hunt for these Bibroci elsewhere he should I beleeve hardly find them Within this Hundred of the Bibroci Windesore beareth a goodly shew in the Saxon tongue haply of the winding shore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so it is named downe in the Charter of King Edward the Confessour who in this
fought with good successe and slew all the valiantest men amongst them Yet did hee little or no good to his native country the Danes evermore renewing their forces still as they were overthrowne like unto that serpent Hydra A little from the fountaines where this river springeth standeth Gatton which now is scarce a small village though in times past it hath beene a famous towne To prove the antiquitie thereof it sheweth Roman coines digged forth of the ground and sendeth unto the Parliament two Burgesses Lower than it is seated Rhie-gat which if a man interpret according to our ancient language is as much as the Rivers course in a vale running out farre into the East called Holmesdale the Inhabitants whereof for that once or twice they vanquished the Danes as they wasted the country are wont in their owne praise to chaunt this Rythme The vale of Holmesdall Never wonne ne never shall This Rhie-gate carrying a greater shew for largenesse than faire buildings hath on the South-side a Parke thicke sette with faire groves wherein the right Noble Charles Earle of Nottingham Baron of Effingham and Lord Admirall of England hath a house where the Earles of Warren and Southrey had founded a prety Monasterie On the East side standeth a Castle mounted aloft now forlorne and for age ready to fall built by the same Earles and of the vale wherein it standeth commonly called Holmecastle under which I saw a wonderfull vault carried under the ground of arch-worke over head hollowed with great labour out of a soft gritte and crombling stone such as the whole hill standeth of These Earles of Warren as wee finde in the Offices or inquisitions held it in chiefe of the King in their Baronie from the conquest of England Hence runneth this river downe by Bechworth Castle for which Sir Thomas Browne obtained of King Henry the Sixth the libertie of holding a Faire For it is the habitation of the Brownes Knights out of which family since our grand-father can remember when Sir Anthony Browne had married Lady Lucie the fourth daughter of Iohn Nevil Marquesse Mont-a-cute Queene Mary honoured his sonnes sonne with the title of Vicount Mont-a-cute Some few miles from hence Westward Effingham sheweth it selfe the possession not long since of William Howard son to that Noble Thomas Duke of Norfolke that triumphed over the Scots who being created by Queene Mary Baron Howard of Effingham made Lord High-Admirall of England was first Lord Chamberlain unto Queene Elizabeth of most happy memorie and then Lord privie Seale whose sonne Charles now flourisheth Lord great Admirall of England whom in the yeare of our Lord 1597. the same Queene Elizabeth honoured also with the title of Earle of Nottingham of whom more in my Annales but now returne we to the river The Mole now being come as farre as Whitehill whereon the Box tree groweth in great plenty at the foote thereof hideth himselfe or rather is swallowed up and thereof the place is called the Swallow but after a mile or two neere unto Letherhed bridge boyling up and breaking forth taketh joy to spring out againe So that the Inhabitants of this tract may boast as well as the Spaniards that they have a bridge which feedeth many flockes of sheepe For this is a common by-word most rife in the Spaniards mouthes as touching the place where their river Anas now called Guadiana hideth himselfe for ten miles together Thus our Mole rising up a fresh hasteneth faire and softly by Stoke Dabernoun so named of the ancient possessors the Dabernouns gentlemen of great good note afterward by inheritance from them the possession of the Lord Bray and by Aesher sometimes a retyring place belonging to the Bishops of Winchester And then very neare Molesey whereunto it giveth name sheddeth himselfe into the Tamis After Tamis hath taken unto him the Mole hee carrieth his streame Northwardly and runneth fast by Kingstone called in times past Moreford as some will have it a very good mercate towne for the bignesse and well frequented well knowne also in old time by reason of a Castle there belonging to the Clares Earles of Glocester Which towne had beginning from a little towne more ancient then it of the same name standing upon a flat ground and subject to the inundation of Tamis In which when England was almost ruinated by the Danish warres Athelstan Edwin and Etheldred were crowned Kings upon an open stage in the Market place and of these Kings heere crowned it came to be named Kingstone as one would say The Kings Towne Tamis now turning his course directly Northward visiteth another place which the Kings chose for themselves sometimes to sojourne at which of the shining brightnesse they call Shene but now it is named Richmond wherein the most mighty Prince King Edward the Third when he had lived sufficiently both to glory and nature died with sorrow that hee conceived for the death of that most valiant and Martiall prince his sonne which sorrow pierced so deepe and stucke so neere him and all England beside that it farre exceeded all comfort And verily at this time if ever else England had a good cause to grieve For within one yeare after it lost the true praise of military prowesse and of accomplished vertue For both of them by bearing their victorious armes throughout all France struke so great a terrour wheresoever they came that as the father might most worthily with King Antiochus carrie the name of Thunder-bolt so his sonne with Pyrrhus deserved to bee named the Eagle Heere also departed Anne wife to King Richard the Second sister of the Emperour Wenzelaus and daughter to the Emperour Charles the fourth who first taught English women the manner of sitting on horsebacke which now is used whereas before time they rode very unseemely astride like as men doe Whose death also her passionate husband tooke so to the heart that he altogether neglected the said house and could not abide it Howbeit King Henry the Fifth readorned it with new buildings and in Shene a pretty village hard by he joyned thereto a little religious house of Carthusian Monks which he called The house of Iesu of Bethelem But in the raigne of Henry the seventh this Princely place was with a woefull sudden fire consumed almost to ashes Howbeit rising up againe forthwith farre more beautifull and glorious as it were a Phaenix out of her owne ashes by the meanes of the same King Henry it tooke this new name Richmond of the title hee bare being Earle of Richmond before he obtained the Crowne of England Scarce had that Noble King Henry the Seventh finished this new worke when in this place he yeilded unto nature and ended his life through whose care vigilancy policy and forecasting wisedome for time to come the State and common-weale of England hath to this day stood established and invincible From hence likewise his sonnes daughter Queene
Elizabeth a most gracious Ladie ninetie and foure yeares after having lived fully to the contentment of nature For 70. yeare old she was or much thereabout when it pleased God to call her out of this world was received into the sacred and coelestiall society A Prince above her â—ex of manly courage and high conceit who lively resembled as well the royall qualities of her Grandfather as she did his princely presence and countenance the Worlds love and joy of Britaine And so farre was she a woman though shee were from degenerating and growing unlike her noble Progenitors in that continued course of their vertues that if she surmounted them not surely she equalled them to the full Well posteritie may one day hereafter be so thankefull as to yield heereto a gracious credit neither doe I heere by way of flatterie set a false colour and glosse upon the truth that a Virgin for the space of fortie foure yeares so ruled the royall Scepter as that her subjects loved her enemies feared her and every one with admiration honored her a thing in all foregoing ages of rare example For whose death England throughout running all to teares amid mones and grones should have lien forlorne in most piteous case comfortlesse had not presently upon her departure out of this world the most mild and gracious King Iames on whom as the true and undoubted heire to her Crowne all mens minds were set and eies fixed with his sacred and bright beames shone unto us and thereby put us into most comfortable hope of endlesse joy Whom so long as we behold heere wee beleeve not that shee is deceased And why should we once say that she is deceased whose vertues live still immortall and the memoriall of whose name consecrated in mens hearts and in eternitie of times shall survive for ever Thus farre swelleth the Tamis with the accesse of the flowing tide of the sea about lx Italian miles by water from his mouth Neither to my knowledge is there any other river in all Europe that for so many miles within land feeleth the violence of the Ocean forcing and rushing in upon it and so driving backe and with-holding his waters to the exceeding great commodity of the inhabitants bordering thereupon Whither this commeth by reason that from hence he hath in manner no crooked turnings and winding reaches but with a more streight and direct channell carrieth his currant into the East as being for the most part restrained and kept in with higher bankes and dilating himselfe with a wider mouth than all other rivers lyeth more exposed and open to the Ocean which by that most swift whirling about of the coelestiall Spheres from East to West is forceably driven and carried that way as sometimes I have beene of opinion let Philosophers discusse unto whom I willingly leave these matters and such like to handle Yet some few verses as touching these places and this argument have heere out of the Marriage betweene Tame and Isis if haply they may content your taste A dextra nobis Richmondia Shena vetustis Celsa nitet sapiens namque hanc Richmondia dici Henricus voluit sibi quod retulisset honorem Et titulos Comitis Richmondia jure paterno Hectoris Edwardi sed deflet funera nostri Proh dolor hîc illi regimens libera cessit Corpore contempto sedes aditura supernas Quem si non subito rapuissent ferrea fata Aut te Valesiis rapuisset Gallia victor Aut tibi Valesios Then on the right hand Richmond stands a faire and stately thing So cal'd of us but Shene of old which name that prudent King Henry it gave because to him it brought in fathers right The Honor and the Stile whereby he Earle of Richmond hight But it of Edward King halas our Hector wailes the death Whose soule here freed from body which it scorn'd with vitall breath Departed hence right willingly in heaven to live for ay Whom had not cruell-sudden death untimely fetcht away He would by sword have thee bereft O France of Valois line Or them of thee And after a few verses set betweene Tamisis alternum sentit reditumque fugamque Huc reflui pelagi quoties vaga Cynthia pronos Octavâ librat coeli statione jugales Aut tenet oppositam varianti lumine plagam Plenior increscit celeremque recurrit in aestum Atque superbus ait concedant flumina nobis Nulla per Europae dotatas nomine terras Flumina tam longè sic certis legibus undas Alternas renovant nisi fratres Scaldis Albis Tamis heere by turnes alternative doth feele both ebbe and flow Of Sea by course of wandring Moone that rules tide heere below As oft as she with each eight point of heaven above doth meete Or holds the points full opposit as lights doe change and fleete He growes more full and sooner hath recourse to flowing tide And then in pride of heart he saith All rivers else beside Vaile unto me No streame so farre through Europe keepes againe His tide so just unlesse the Scheld and Elb my brethren twaine About foure miles from the Tamis within the Country Nonesuch a retiring place of the Princes putteth downe and surpasseth all other houses round about which the most magnificent Prince King Henry the Eighth in a very healthfull place called Cuddington before selected for his owne delight and ease and built with so great sumptuousnesse and rare workemanship that it aspireth to the very top of ostentation for shew so as a man may thinke that all the skill of Architecture is in this one piece of worke bestowed and heaped up together So many statues and lively images there are in every place so many wonders of absolute workemanship and workes seeming to contend with Romane antiquities that most worthily it may have and maintaine still this name that it hath of Nonesuch according as Leland hath written of it Hanc quia non habeant similem laudare Britanni Saepè solent Nullique parem cognomine dicunt The Britans oft are wont to praise this place For that through all The Realme they cannot shew the like and Nonesuch they it call As for the very house selfe so invironed it is about with Parkes full of Deere such daintie gardens and delicate orchards it hath such groves adorned with curious Arbors so pretty quarters beds and Alleys such walkes so shadowed with trees that Amenitie or Pleasantnesse it selfe may seeme to have chosen no other place but it where she might dwell together with healthfulnesse Yet Queene Mary made it over to Henry Fitz-Alan Earle of Arundell for other Lands and he when he had enlarged it with a Librarie passing well furnished and other new buildings passed over all his right when he died to the L. Lumley who for his part spared no cost that it might be truely answerable to the name and from him now is it returned againe by compositions and conveiances to the Crowne Neere hereunto
and worth the noting it is there is a vaine of potters earth highly commended and therefore the dearer sold for the making of those crucibles and small vessels which Gold-smiths use in melting their gold Nor farre from hence the cleare rivelet Wandle in Latin Vandalis so full of the best Trouts issueth forth from his head neare Cashalton and Wodcot where by a tuft of trees upon an hill-top there are to bee seene manifest signes of a pretty towne and diverse wels built of flint stones Concerning the populousnesse and wealth whereof the neighbour Inhabitants report very much This in my conceit was that Citie which Ptolomee called NOIOMAGVS and the Emperour Antonine NOVIOMAGVS Neither neede wee to seeke from else where proofe heereof but from the correspondencie of distance For as the old Itinerary noteth it is ten miles from London and twenty eight from Vagmiacj now Maidston Many a mile therefore went they out of the way that placed Noviomagus either at Buckingham or at Guildford This was a principall Citie of the REGNI not knowne to Marinus Tyrius a most ancient Geographer whom Ptolomee taking upon him to censure taxeth for that he had set NOVIOMAGVS of Britaine by Climate more North and by account of miles more South than London Wandle while it is yet small receiveth his first increase by a rill springing at Croidon in times past called Cradiden which standeth under the hils is very well known as well for the house of the Archbishops of Canterbury unto whom it hath belonged now this long time as for Char-coles which the townesmen make good chaffer of The inhabitants report that in old time there stood an house of the Kings in the West part of the towne neere unto Haling where the husbandmen dig up otherwhiles rubble stone which house the Archbishops having received it by gift from the King translated unto their owne neerer the river And neere unto this the right reverend father in God D. Iohn Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury of most praise worthy Memory in his pious affection founded and endowed with living a very faire Hospitall for the reliefe of poore people and a schoole for the furtherance of learning As for that sudden swelling water or Bourne which the common people report to breake forth heere out of the ground presaging I wote not how either dearth of corne or the pestilence may seeme not worthy once the naming and yet the events sometime ensuing hath procured it credit Neere unto this place stands Beddington wherein is to be seene a very faire house beautified with a delightfull shew of right pleasant gardens and orchards by Sir Francis Carew Knight For the ancient seat it is of the Carews who being descended from the Carews of Moulesford of whom also are come the Carews of Devonshire have for a long time flourished in this country but especially since Sir Iames Carew matched in marriage with the daughter and one of the coheires of the Baron Hoo and Hastings To digresse a little from the river Eastward from Croidon standeth Addington now the habitation of Sir Oliff Leigh wherby is to be seene the ruble of a Castle of Sir Robert Agvilon and from him of the Lords Bardolph who held certaine lands here in fee by Serianty to find in the Kings kitchin at the Coronation one to make a dainty dish which they called Mapigernoun and Dilgerunt What that was I leave to the skilfull in ancient Cookerie and returne to the river Wandle increased with Croidon water passing by Morden divideth it selfe to water Merton in the old English tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 situate in a most fruitfull soile A towne made famous in times past by the death of Kinulph King of the West Saxons who was by a Clito that is a Prince of the bloud slaine here in a small cottage of an harlot upon whom hee was enamoured and Clito himself by K. Kinulphs followers immediately stabbed suffered condigne punishment for his disloyall treachery Now it sheweth onely the ruines of a Monastery that K. Henry the First founded for blacke Chanons by the procurement of Gilbert High Sheriffe of Surry in the yeare 1127. which was famous for the Statute of Merton enacted here in the 21. of King Henrie the Third and also for Water de Merton founder of Merton Colledge in Oxford borne and bred heere Above Merton farther from the river is seated Wibandune now commonly Wimbledon where when over much prosperitie had hatched civill broiles among the English Saxons after the British warres were now ceased Ethelbert King of Kent struck up the first Alarme of civill warre against his owne country men but Ceaulin King of the West Saxons discomfited him in this place with a mightie great slaughter and losse of his men having slaine his principall leaders Oslan and Kneben of whom peradventure that entrenched rampier or fort which wee have heere seene of a round forme is called Bensbury for But now the greatest ornament of this place is that goodly house so beautifull for building and so delectable for faire prospect and right pleasant gardens which Sir Thomas Cecill Knight sonne to that most prudent Counsellour of State Lord Burleygh built in the yeare 1588. when the Spanish Armado made saile upon the coast of England Wandle now after a few miles entreth the Tamis when it hath given name to Wandlesworth betweene Putney the native soile of Thomas Cromwell one of the flowting-stocks of fortune and Batersey sometimes in the Saxon tongue called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in latine Patricii Insula that is Patrickes Isle and which now we seeke an house of the Kings termed Kennington whereunto the Kings of England in old time were wont to retire themselves but now finde wee neither the name nor the rammell thereof Then is there Lambith or Lomehith that is to say a Lomy or clayish rode or hith famous in former times for the death of Canutus the Hardie King of England who there amid his cups yielded up his vitall breath For hee beeing given wholly to banqueting and feasting caused royall dinners foure times every day as Henry of Huntingdon reporteth to be served up for all his court choosing rather to have his invited guests to send away whole dishes untouched than other commers unbidden to call for more viands to be upon his table But now this place is of the greater name and more frequented by reason of the Archbishop of Canterburie his palace For Baldwine Archbishop of Canterbury about the yeare of Christ 1183. having made an exchange with the Bishop of Rochester purchased a manour in this place wherein hee began to build a palace for himselfe and his successours which they by little and little encreased But when they went about to erect a collegiat Church heere also good GOD what posting was there to Rome with complaints and appeales from the Monkes of Canterburie how many fiery thunderbolts
said Richard and by impious cruell meanes usurped the kingdome that hee might by his benefits oblige unto him the house of the Howards created in one and the same day Iohn Lord Howard Duke of Norfolke as next cosin and heire to the Mowbraies and his sonne Thomas Earle of Surrie in whose of-spring this honour hath ever since beene resplendent and so continueth at this day This County hath in it Parish Churches 140. SVSSEX VNder Suth-rey toward the South lieth stretched out in a great length Suth-sex which also in times past the Regni inhabited in the Saxon tongue called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at this day Sussex which is as much to say as the Region of the South Saxons a word compounded of the site thereof Southward and of the Saxons who in their Heptarchie placed here the second kingdome It lieth upon the British Ocean all Southward with a streight shore as it were farre more in length than bredth Howbeit it hath few harbours by reason that the sea is dangerous for shelves and therefore rough and troublous the shore also it selfe full of rocks and the South-west wind doth tyrannize thereon casting up beach infinitely The sea coast of this countrie hath greene hils on it mounting to a greater height called the Downes which because they stand upon a fat chalke or kinde of marle yeeldeth corne aboundantly The middle tract garnished with medowes pastures corne-fields and groves maketh a very lovely shew The hithermore and Northern side thereof is shaded most pleasantly with woods like as in times past the whole country throughout which by reason of the woods was hardly passable For the wood Andradswald in the British language Coid Andred taking the name of Anderida the City next adjoyning tooke up in this quarter a hundred and twentie miles in length and thirtie in bredth memorable for the death of Sigebert King of West Saxons who being deposed from his royall throne was in this place stabbed by a Swineheard and so died Many pretty rivers it hath but such as springing out of the North-side of the shire forthwith take their course to the Ocean and therefore not able to beare any vessell of burden Full of iron mines it is in sundry places where for the making and fining whereof there bee furnaces on every side and a huge deale of wood is yearely spent to which purpose divers brookes in many places are brought to runne in one channell and sundry medowes turned into pooles and waters that they might bee of power sufficient to drive hammer milles which beating upon the iron resound all over the places adjoyning And yet the iron here wrought is not in every place of like goodnesse but generally more brittle than is the Spanish iron whether it be by the nature or tincture and temper thereof Howbeit commodious enough to the iron Maisters who cast much great ordnance thereof and other things to their no small gaine Now whether it bee as gainefull and profitable to the common-wealth may bee doubted but the age ensuing will bee better able to tell you Neither want here glasse-houses but the Glasse there made by reason of the matter or making I wot not whether is likewise nothing so pure and cleare and therefore used of the common sort onely SVSSEXIA Siue Southsex olim pars REGNORVM Selsey before said is somewhat lower in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say The Isle of Sea calves for these in our language wee call Scales which alwaies seeke to Islands and to the shore for to bring forth their young but now it is most famous for good cockles and full Lobsters A place as Beda saith compassed round about with the Sea but onely in the West side where it hath an entrie into it by land as broad as a slings cast It was reckoned by Survey taken to containe fourscore and seven Hides of Land when Edilwalch King of this Province gave it to Wilfride Bishop of Yorke whiles hee was in exile who first preached Christ unto this people and as he writeth not only by baptisme saved from thraldome under the divell two hundred and fiftie bond-men but also by giving freedome delivered them from the yoke of bondage under man Afterwards K. Cedwalla who vanquished Edilwalch founded here a Minster and beautified it with an Episcopall See which by Stigand the two and twentieth Bishop was translated to Chichester where it now flourisheth and doth acknowledge Cedwalla to bee the founder In this Isle remaineth onely the dead carkasse as it were of that ancient little citie wherein those Bishops sat and the same hidden quite with water at everie full sea but at a low water evident and plaine to be seene Then maketh the shore way for a river which out of Saint Leonards Forrest runneth downe first by Amberley where William Read Bishop of Chichester in the raigne of Edward the third built a castle for his successours and so from thence by Arundell seated on the hanging of an hill a place greater in name than deede and yet is not that name of great antiquitie for before Aelfreds dayes who bequeathed it by testament to Anthelme his brothers sonne I have not read it so much as once named Unlesse perhaps I should thinke that Portus Adurni is corruptly so called by transposition of letters for Portus Arundi The reason of this name is fetched neither from that fabulous horse of Sir Beavois of Southampton nor of Charudum a promontorie in Denmarke as Goropius Becanus hath dreamed but of the valley or dale which lieth upon the river Arun in case Arun bee the name of the river as some have delivered who thereupon named it in Latine Aruntina vallis that is Arundale But all the fame it hath is of the Castle that flourished under the Saxon Empire and which as we read presently upon the comming in of the Normans Roger Montgomerie repaired who thereupon was 〈◊〉 Earle of Arundell For a stately place it is both by naturall situation and also by mans hand verie strong But his sonne Robert de Belismo who succeeded his brother Hugh being by King Henrie the First proscribed lost that and all his other dignitie For when he had perfidiously raised warre against the King he chose this Castle for his surest hold whiles the warre lasted and fortified the place with many munitions but spedde no better than traitours use to doe For the Kings forces environing it everie way at the last wonne it Whenas Robert now had forfeited his estate and was banished the King gave this castle and all his Lands besides unto * Adeliza daughter to Godfrey Barbatus of Lovaine Duke of Loraine and Brabant for her Dowrie whom he tooke to be his second wife In whose commendation a certaine English man in that unlearned age wrote these not unlearned verses Anglorum Reginatuos Adeliza decores Ipsa referre parans Musa stupore riget Quid Diadema tibi
pulcherrima quid tibi gemma Pallet gemma tibi nec diadema nitet Deme tibi cultus cultum natura ministrat Non exornari forma beata potest Ornamenta cave nec quicquam luminis inde Accipis illa micant lumine clara tuo Non puduit modicas de magnis dicere laudes Nec pudeat Dominam te precor esse meam When Muses mine thy beauties rare faire Adeliza Queene Of England readie are to tell they starke astonied beene What booteth thee so beautifull gold-crowne or pretious stone Dimne is the Diademe to thee the gemne hath beautie none Away with trimme and gay attire nature attireth thee Thy lovely beautie naturall can never bett'red be All Ornaments beware from them no favour thou do'st take But they from thee their lustre have thou doest them lightsome make I shamed not on matters great to set small praises heere Bash not but deigne I pray to be my Soveraigne Ladie deere She after the Kings death matched in marriage with William de Albeney who taking part with Maud the Empresse against King Stephen and defending this Castle against him was in recompence of his good service by the saide Maude the Empresse and Ladie of Englishmen for this title she used created Earle of Arundell and her sonne King Henrie the Second gave the whole Rape of Arundell to that William To hold of him by the service of fourescore and foure Knights fees and one-halfe And to his sonne William King Richard the first granted in such words as these The Castle of Arundell with the whole Honor of Arundell and the Third penny of the Plees out of Sussex whereof he is Earle And when after the fifth Earle of this surname the issue male failed one of the sisters and heires of Hugh the fifth Earle was married to Sir Iohn Fitz-Alan Lord of Clun whose great grand sonne Richard For that he stood seised of the Castle Honour and Lordship of Arundell in his owne demesne as of Fee in regard of this his possession of the same Castle Honour and Seignorie without any other consideration or Creation to be an Earle was Earle of Arundell and the name state and honor of the Earle of Arundell c. Peaceably he enjoied as appeareth by a definitive judgement given in Parliament in the behalfe of Sir Iohn Fitz-Alan chalenging the Castle and tittle of Arundell by force of an entaile against Iohn Mowbray Duke of Norfolke the right Heire in the neerest degree Whereby it was gathered that the name state and dignitie of Earle was annexed to the Castle Honour and Seignorie of Arundell as it is to be seene in the Parliament Rolls of King Henry the Sixth out of which I have copied forth these notes word for word Of these Fitz-Alans Edmund second Earle sonne to Richard married the heire of the Earle of Surry and was beheaded through the malicious furie of Queene Isabell not lawfully convicted for that hee opposed himselfe in King Edward the Seconds behalfe against her wicked practises His sonne Richard petitioned in Parliament to be restored to bloud lands and goods for that his father was put to death not tried by his Peeres according to the law and great Charter of England neverthelesse whereas the attaindor of him was confirmed by Parliament hee was forced to amend his petition and upon the amendment thereof hee was restored by the Kings meere grace Richard his sonne as his grandfather died for his Soveraigne lost his life for banding against his Soveraigne King Richard the Second But Tho. his sonne more honourably ended his life serving King Henrie the Fifth valerously in France and leaving his sisters his heires generall Sir Iohn of Arundell Lord Maltravers his next cosin and heire male obtained of King Henrie the sixt the Earldome of Arundell as we even now declared and also was by the said King for his good service created Duke of Touraine Of the succeeding Earles I find nothing memorable Henrie Fitz Alan the eleventh and last Earle of that surname lived in our daies in great honor as you shall see After whom leaving no issue male Philip Howard his daughters sonne succeeded who not able to digest wrongs and hard measure offered unto him by the cunning sleights of some envious persons fell into the toile and net pitched for him and being brought into extreame perill of his life yeelded up his vitall breath in the Tower But his sonne Thomas a most honorable young man in whom a forward spirit and fervent love of vertue and glorie most beseeming his nobility and the same tempered with true courtesie shineth very apparently recovered his fathers dignities being restored by King Iames and Parliament authoritie Besides the Castle and the Earles Arundell hath nothing memorable For the Colledge built by the Earles which there flourished because the revenue or living is alienated and gone now falleth to decay Howbeit in the Church are some monuments of Earles there enterred but one above the rest right beautifull of Alabaster in which lieth in the mids of the Quire Earle Thomas and Beatrice his wife the daughter of Iohn King of Portugall Neither must I overpasse this Inscription so faire guilt set up heere in the Honor of Henrie Fitz-Alan the last Earle of this line because some there be whom liketh it well CONSECRATED TO VERTVE AND HONOVR THE MAGNANIMOVS AND VVORTHY KNIGHT VVHOSE PERSONAGE IS HERE SEENE AND VVHOSE BONES HERE VNDERNEATHLY ENTERRED VVAS BARLE OF THIS TERRITORIE ACCORDING TO HIS HOVSE AND LINAGE SVRNAMED FITZ ALAN LOKD MALTRAVERS CLVN AND OSVVALDESTRE PRINCIPAL HONOVRS STILED ALSO LORD AND BARON OF THAT MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER THE AVNCIENTEST COMPANION VVHILES HE LIVED OF WILLIAM EARLE OF ARVNDELL THE ONELY SONNE AND SVCCESSOR COMPARTNER ALSO OF ALL HIS VERTVES VVHO BEING OF THE PRIVY COVNSEL TO KING HENRIE THE EIGHT KING EDVVARD THE SIXT MARIE AND ELIZABETH KINGS AND QVEENES OF ENGLAND VVAS GOVERNOR ALSO OF THE TOVVNE OF CALES AND VVHAT TIME AS THE SAID KING HENRIE BESIEGED BVLLEN VVAS HIGH MARESCHAL OF HIS ARMY AND AFTER THAT LORD CHAMBERLAIN TO THE KING ALSO VVHEN EDVVARD HIS SONNE VVAS CROVVNED KING HE BARE THE OFFICE OF L. MARESCHAL OF THE KINGDOME AND VNTO HIM LIKE AS BEFORE VNTO HIS FATHER BECAME LORD CHAMBERLAINE MOREOVER IN THE REIGNE OF QVEENE MARIE DVRING THE TIME OF HER SOLEMNE CORONATION HE VVAS MADE LORD HIGH CONSTABLE AFTERVVARD STEVVARD OF HER ROIAL HOVSE AND PRESIDENT OF THE COVNCEL EVEN AS TO QVEENE ELIZABETH ALSO HE VVAS LIKEVVISE LORD HIGH STEVVARD OF HER HOVSHOLD THVS THIS MAN NOBLE BY HIS HIGH PARENTAGE MORE NOBLE FOR VVEL PERFORMING THE PVBLICKE OFFICES OF STATE â—OST NOBLE AND RENOVNED BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD FLOVRISHING STIL IN HONOVR BROKEN VVITH TRAVEL MVCH VVORNE VVITH YEERES AFTER HE VVAS COME TO THE LXVIII OF HIS AGE AT LONDON THE XXV DAY OF FEBRVARY IN THE YEERE OF OVâ— SALVATION BY CHRIST M. D. LXXIX GODLY AND SVVEETLY SLEPT IN THE LORD IOHN LVMLEY BARON OF LVMLEY HIS MOST
slaughter of them when at Lapis Tituli for so is that place named in Ninnius which we now call Stouar almost in the same sense and haven certainely it was hee put them to flight and forced them with all the speed they might to take their Pinnaces In which place also he gave commandement saith he that himselfe should bee buried to represse thereby as he thought the furious outrages of the English Saxons in like sort as Scipio Africanus did who commanded that his tombe should bee so set as that it might looke toward Africa supposing that his verie tombe would be a terror to the Carthaginians Here also at VVipped fleet so called of VVipped the Saxon there slaine Hengest discomfited the Britaines and put them to flight after hee had sore tired them with sundry conflicts S. Austine our Apostle as they call him many yeares after landed in this Isle unto whose blessing the credulous Clergie ascribed the plentifull fertility of the country and the Monke Gotceline cried out in this manner O the land of Tenet happy by reason of her fertilitie but most happy for receiving and entertaining so many Divine in-commers bringing God with them or rather so many heavenly citizens Egbert the third King of the Kentishmen to pacifie dame Domneva a devout Lady whom before time he had exceedingly much wronged granted here a faire piece of land wherein she errected a Monastery for 70. veiled virgins the prioresse whereof was Mildred for her holinesse canonized a Saint and the Kings of Kent bestowed many faire possessions upon it but Withred especially who that I may note the antiquitie and manner of livery of Seisin in that age out of the very forme of his owne Donation For the full complement of his confirmation thereof laied upon the holy altar a turfe of that ground which he gave at Humantun Heere afterward sundry times arrived the Danes who piteously empoverished this Island by robbings and pillages and also polluted this Monasterie of Domneva with all kind of cruelty that it flourished not againe before the Normans government Heere also landed Lewis of France who called in by the tumultuous Barons of England against King Iohn published by their instigation a pretended right to the Crowne of England For that whereas King Iohn for his notorious treason against King Richard his brother absent in the Holy-land was by his Peeres lawfully condemned and therefore after the death of King Richard the right of the Crowne was devolved to the Queene of Castile sister to the said King Richard and that shee and her heires had conveied over their right to the said Lewis and his wife her daughter Also that King Iohn had forfeited his Kingdome both by the murther of his Nephew Arthur whereof he was found guilty by his Peeres in France and also by subjecting his Kingdomes which were alwaies free to the Pope as much as in him lay contrary to his oath at his Coronation and that without the consent of the Peeres of the Realme c. Which I leave to Historians with the successe of his expedition least I might seeme to digresse extraordinarily Neither must I passe over heere in silence that which maketh for the singular praise of the inhabitants of Tenet those especially which dwell by the roads or harbours of Margate Ramsgate and Brodstear For they are passing industrious and as if they were Amphibii that is both land creatures and sea creatures get their living both by sea and land as one would say with both these elements they be Fisher-men and Plough-men as well Husband-men as Mariners and they that hold the plough-taile in earing the ground the same hold the helme in steering the ship According to the season of the yeare they knit nets they fish for Cods Herrings Mackarels c. they saile and carry forth Merchandise The same againe dung and mannure their grounds Plough Sow harrow reape their Corne and they inne it Men most ready and well appointed both for sea and land and thus goe they round and keepe a circle in these their labours Futhermore whereas that otherwhiles there happen shipwrackes heere for there lie full against the shore those dangerous flats shallowes shelves and sands so much feared of Sailers which they use to call The Goodwinsands The Brakes The four-foots The whitdick c. these men are wont to bestir themselves lustily in recovering both ships men and Merchandize endangered At the mouth of Wantsum Southward which men thinke hath changed his channell over against the Isle stood a City which Ptolomee calleth RHVTVPIAN Tacitus PORTVS TRVTVLENSIS for Rhutupensis if Beatus Renanus conjectureth truely Antonine RHITVPIS PORTVS Ammianus Marcellinus RHVTVPIAH STATIO that is the Road of Rhutupiae Orosius THE HAVEN and City of Rhutubus the old English-Saxons as Beda witnesseth Reptacesler others Ruptimuth Alfred of Beverly nameth it Richberge we at this day Richborow Thus hath time sported in varying of one and the same name Whence this name should arise it is not for certaine knowen But seeing the places neere unto it as Sandwich and Sandiby have their denomination of Sandi I considering also that Rhyd Tufith in the British-tongue betokeneth a sandy fourd I would willingly if I durst derive it from thence This City seemed to have beene seated on the descent of an hill the Castle there stood overlooking from an higher place the Ocean which is now so farre excluded by reason of sandy residence inbealched with the tides that it comes hardly within a mile of it Right famous and of great name was this City while the Romans ruled here From hence was the usual passing out of Britan to France and the Neatherlands at it the Roman fleets arrived here it was that Lupicinus sent by Constantius the Emperour into Britaine for to represse the rodes and invasions of Scots and Picts both landed the Heruli and Batavians and Maesian regiments Heere also Theodosius the father of Theodosius the Emperour to whom as Symmachus witnesseth the Senate decreed for pacifying Britan armed Statues on horse-backe arrived with his Herculij Iovij Victores Fidentes for these were names of Roman regiments Afterwards when the Saxon Pirates impeached entercourse of merchants and infested our coasts with continuall piracies the Second Legion Augusta which being remooved by the Emperour Claudius out of Germany had remained many yeares in Garrison at Isea Silurum in Wales was translattd hither and had a Provost of their owne heere under the great Lieutenant and Count of the Saxon shore Which Provostship happily that Clemens Maximus bare who being heere in Britan by the soldiers saluted Emperour slew Gratian the lawfull Emperour and was afterwards himselfe slaine by Theodosius at Aquileia For this Maximus it was whom Ausonius in the verses of Aquileia called the Rhutupine robber Maximus armigeri quondam sub nomine lixae Faelix quae tanti spectatrix laeta triumphi Fudisti Ausonio Rhutupinum Marte latronem
Sir Walter Clifford in this Castle when the house was all on a light fire hee was killed with a stone that from the top of an high Turret fell upon his head and brained him Neither have I any thing else to be recounted in this wood-countrey beside Newnham a pretty mercate and Westbury thereby a seate of the Bainhams of ancient descent But that Herbert who had wedded the sister of the said Mahel Earle of Hereford in her right was called Lord of Deane froÌ„ whom that Noble house of the Herberts fetcheth their pedigree out of which family came the Lords of Blanleveney and of late daies the Herberts Earles of Huntingdon and Pembroch with others From hence also if wee may believe David Powell in his historie of Wales was descended Antonie Fitz-Herbert whose great learning and industrie in the wisedome of our law both the judiciall Court of Flees wherein he sate Iustice a long time and also those exact bookes of our common law by him exquisitely penned and published doe sufficiently witnesse But other have drawne his descent and that more truly if I have insight therein from the race of the Fitz-Herberts Knights in Derby shire The river Severn called by the Britains HAFFREN after it hath run a long course with a channell somewhat narrow no sooner entereth into this shire but entertaineth the river Avon and another brooke comming from the East Betwixt which is seated Tewkesbury in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by others Theoci Curia taking the name from one Theocus who there did lead an Eremites life It is a great and faire towne having three bridges to passe over standing upon three rivers famous for making of Wollen cloath and the best mustard which for the quicke heate that it hath biteth most and pierceth deepest but most famous in times past by reason of an ancient Monastery which Dodo a man of great power in Mercia founded in the yeare 715 where before time he kept his royall court as is testified by this inscription which there remained long after HANC AVLAM REGIAM DODO DVX CONSECRARI FECIT IN ECCLESIAM THIS ROIAL PALACE DVKE DODO CAVSED TO BE CONSECRATED FOR A CHVRCH And Odo his brother endowed the same which being by continuance of time and the fury of enemies ruinated Robert FITZ-HAIMON the Norman Lord of Corboile and Thorigny in Normandie reedified translating monks from Cranborn in Dorsetshire hither upon a devout mind verily and a religious that he might make some amends to the Church for the losse that the Church of Baieux in Normandie had sustained which K. Henry the first for to free him from his enemies had set on fire and burned and afterwards repenting that which he had done built againe It cannot writeth William of Malmesbury be easily reported how highly Robert Fitz-hamon exalted this Monastery wherin the beauty of the buildings ravished the eies and the charity of the Monks allured the hearts of such folke as used to come thither Within this both himselfe and his successours Earles of Glocester were buried who had a Castle of their owne called Holmes hard by which now is almost vanished out of sight Neither is this towne lesse memorable for that battell whereby the house of Lancaster received a mortal wound as wherein very many of their side in the yeere 1471. were slaine more taken prisoners and divers beheaded their power so weakened and their hopes abated especially because young Prince Edward the only sonne of King Henry the sixt a very child was there put to death and in most shamefull and villanous manner his braines dashed out as that never after they came unto the field against King Edward the Fourth In which respect Iohn Leland wrote of this towne in this wise Ampla foro partis spoliis praeclara Theoci Curia sabrinae quà se committit Avona Fulget nobilium sacrÃsque recondit in antris Multorum cineres quondam inclyta corpora bello Where Av'n and Severn meete in one there stands a goodly towne For mercat great and pillage rich there wonne of much renowne Hight Tewkesburie where noble men entombed many are Now gone to mould who sometimes were redoubted Knights in warre From thence we come to Deorhirst which Bede speaketh of scituate somewhat low upon the banke of Severn wherby it hath great losses many times when he over-floweth his bounds It had in it sometimes a little Monasterie which being by the Danes overthrowne flourished againe at length under Edward the Confessor who as we read in his Testament assigned The religious place at Deorhirst and the government thereof to Saint Denis neere unto Paris Yet a little while after as William of Malmesbury saith It was but a vaine and void representation of antiquitie Over against it lieth a place halfe incompassed in with Severne called in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Alney now the Eight that is The Iland Famous by the reason of this occurrence that when both the Englishmen and the Danes were much weakened with continuall encounters to make a finall dispatch at once of all quarrels the Fortune and destinie of both nations was committed to Edmund King of the English and to Canutus King of the Danes who in this Iland by a single combate tried it out unto whether of them the right of this Realme should belong But after they had fought and given over on even hand a peace was concluded and the kingdome divided betweene them But when streight upon it Edmund was dispatched out of the way not without suspicion of poison Canutus seized into his owne hands all England From Deorhirst Severne runneth downe by Haesfield which King Henry the Third gave to Rich. Pauncefote whose successours built a faire house heere and whose predecessours were possessed of faire lands in this Countrey before and in the Conquerours time in Wiltshire making many reaches winding in and out and forthwith dividing himselfe to make a river Iland most rich and beautifull in greene meddowes he passeth along by the head Citie of this Shire which Antonine the Emperour called CLEVVM and GLEVVM the Britans terme Caer Gloviè the English Saxons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we Glocester the Vulgar sort of Latinists Glovernia others Claudiocestria of the Emperour Claudius as they imagine who forsooth should give it this name when hee had bestowed heere his daughter Genissa in marriage upon Arviragus the Britan. Touching whom Iuvenall writeth thus Regem aliquem capies vel de temone Britanno Excidet Arviragus Some King sure thou shalt prisoner take in chase or battaile heat Or else Arviragus shall loose his British royall seate As though hee had begat any other daughters of his three wives besides Claudia Antonia and Octavia or as if Arviragus had beene knowne in that age whose name was never heard of before Domitians time and scarce then But let them goe that seeke to build antiquitie upon a frame grounded on lies Rather yet would I
Surrey Iohn Holland Earle of Huntingdon late Duke of Excester Iohn Montacute Earle of Salisbury Thomas de Spenser Earle of Glocester and others who being by him dispoiled of their honors and maligning his usurpation conspired to take away his life and here by the townesmen intercepted were some of them slaine outright and others beheaded The river Churne when it hath left Circester behinde him six miles neere to Dounamveny an ancient seate of the Hungerfords joyneth with Isis. For ISIS commonly called Ouse that it might bee by originall of Glocester-shire hath his head there and with lively springs floweth out of the South border of this shire nere unto Torleton an upland Village not farre from that famous Port-way called the Fosse This is that Isis which afterwards entertaineth Tame and by a compound word is called Tamisis Soveraigne as it were of all the Britain Rivers in Britaine of which a man may well and truely say as ancient Writers did of Euphrates in the East part of the World that it doth both Sow and Water the best part of Britaine The poeticall description of whose Source or first head I have heere put downe out of a Poem entituled The Marriage of Tame and Isis which whether you admit or omit it skilleth but little Lanigeros quà lata greges Cotswaldia pascit Crescit in colles faciles visura Dobunos Haud procul à Fossa longo spelunca recessu Cernitur abrupti surgente crepidine clivi Cujus inauratis resplendent limina tophis Atria tegit ebur tectúmque Gagate Britanno Emicat alterno solidantur pumice postes Materiam sed vincit opus cedúntque labori Artifici tophus pumex ebur atque Gagates Pingitur hinc vitrei moder atrix Cynthia regni Passibus obliquis volventia sydera lustrans Oceano tellus conjuncta marita marito Illinc caelatur fraternáque flumina Ganges Nilus Amazonius tractúsque binominis Istri Vicini Rheni sed his intermicat auro Vellere Phrixaeâ— dives redimitáque spicis Clara triumphatis erecta BRITANNIA Gallis c. Vndoso hîc solio residet regnator aquarum ISIS fluminea qui majestate verendus Caeruleo gremio â—esupinat prodigus urnam Intonsos crines iâ—vis arundine cinctus Cornua cana liquâ—nt fluitantia lumina lymphis Dispergunt lucem propexa in pectore barba Tota madet toto distillant corpore guttae Et salientis aquae prorumpunt undique venae Pisciculi liquidis penetralibus undique ludunt Plurimus cygnus niveis argenteus alis Pervolitat circum c. Where Cotswald spred abroad doth lie and feed faire flocks of sheepe And Dobunes for to see in downes ariseth nothing steepe Within a nouke along not much the Fosse and it betweene Just at the rising of a banke upright a Cave is seene Whereof the entry glistereth with soft stones richly guilt The Haull is seel'd with Ivory the roufe aloft ybuilt Of Geat the best that Britaine yeelds The pillers very strong With Pumish laid each other course are raised all along The stuffe full faire yet Art doth it surpasse and to the feate Of Artisan give place the gold stones Yv'ry and Geat Heere painted is the Moone that rules the Sea like Chrystall Glasse As she through rolling Signes above with traverse course doth passe And there againe enchaced are both land and Ocean wide Conjoyn'd as man and wife in one with Rivers great beside Like brethren all as Ganges rich strange Nilus Tanais Yea and the course of Ister large which double named is Of Rhene also a neighbour streame And heere bedight in gold Among them glitt'reth Britanny with riches manifold Of golden fleece a Coronet of Wheat-eares she doth weare And for her triumph over France her head aloft doth reare c. In waving Throne heere sits the King of waters all and some ISIS who in that Majestie which Rivers doth become All rev'rend from his watchet lap powr's forth his streame amaine With weed and reed his haires tuckt up that grow both long and plaine His hoary hornes distilling runne with water stand his eyes And shoot from them a lustre farre his kembed beard likewise Downe to the brest wet-through doth reach his body drops againe All over and on every side breakes out some water veine In secret watrish room 's within the little fishes play And many a silver Swan besides his white wings doth display And flutter round about c. As touching the Earles of Glocester some there be who have thrust upon us one William Fitz-Eustace for the first Earle who this was I have not yet found and I verily beleeve hee is yet unborne But that which I have found I will not conceale from the Reader About the comming in of the Normans wee reade that one Bithricke an English Saxon was Lord of Glocester whom Maud wife to William Conquerour upon a secret rankor and hatred conceived against him for his contempt of her beauty for Bithrick had before time refused to marry her troubled and molested most maliciously And when shee had at length cast him in Prison Robert Fitz-Haimon Lord of Corboile in Normandy was by the King endowed with his possessions who in a battaile having received a wound with the push of a pike upon the temples of his head had his wits crackt therewith and survived a good while after as a man bestraught and madde His daughter Mabil whom others name Sibill Robert the base sonne of King Henry the First by the intercession of his father obtained for his wife but not before he had made him Earle of Glocester This is hee who is called commonly by Writers The Consull of Glocester A man of an haughty valorous minde and undaunted heart as any one in that age and who being never dejected with any adversity wanne great praise for his fidelity and worthy exploits in the behalfe of his sister Maude the Empresse against Stephen then usurping the Crowne of England This honourable Title left he unto his son William who dejected with comfortlesse griefe when death had deprived him of his onely son and heire assured his estate with his eldest daughter to Iohn son to King Henry the Second with certaine provisoes for his other daughters Yet his three daughters brought this Earldome into as many families For Iohn when he had obtained the Kingdome repudiated her upon pretenses as well that she was barren as that they were within prohibited degrees of consanguinity and reserving the Castle of Bristow to himselfe after some time passed over his repudiated wife with the Honor of Glocester to Geffrey Mandevil son of Geffrey Fitz Peter Earle of Essex for 20000. markes who thus over-marrying himselfe was greatly impoverished and wounded in Tournament died soone after issuelesse and she being remarried to Hubert of Burgh died immediately Then K. Iohn upon an exchange granted the Earldome of Glocester to Almary Earle of Eureux son to the eldest daughter of the foresaid E.
William who enjoyed it a short time dying also without issue So by Amice the second daughter of the forenamed Earle William married to Richard de Clare Earle of Hertford this Earledome descended to Gilbert her sonne who was stiled Earle of Glocester and Hertford and mightily enriched his house by marrying one of the heires of William Marshall Earle of Pembroch His sonne and successour Richard in the beginning of the Barons warres against king Henry the Third ended his life leaving Gilbert his sonne to succeed him who powerfully and prudently swaied much in the said wars as he inclined to them or the king He obnoxious to King Edward the First surrendred his lands unto him and received them againe by marrying Joane the Kings Daughter sirnamed of Acres in the Holy-land because shee was there borne to his second Wife who bare unto him Gilbert Clare last Earle of Glocester of this sirname slaine in the flower of his youth in Scotland at the battaile of Sterling in the 6. yeare of K. Edward the second Howbeit while this Gilbert the third was in minority Sir Ralph de Mont-hermer who by a secret contract had espoused his mother the Kings daughter for which he incurred the kings high displeasure and a short imprisonment but after reconciled was summoned to Parliaments by the name of Earle of Glocester and Hertford But when Gilbert was out of his minority he was summoned amongst the Barons by the name of Sir Ralph de Mont-hermer as long as he lived which I note more willingly for the rarenesse of the example After the death of Gilbert the third without children Sir Hugh Le De-Spenser commonly named Spenser the younger was by writers called Earle of Glocester because he had married the eldest sister of the said Gilbert the third But after that he was by the Queene and Nobles of the Realme hanged for hatred they bare to K. Edward the 2. whose minion he was Sir Hugh Audley who had matched in marriage with the second sister through the favour of King Edward the Third received this honour After his death King Richard the Second erected this Earledome into a Dukedome and so it had three Dukes and one Earle betweene and unto them all it prooved Equus Sejanus that is Fatall to give them their fall Thomas of Woodstocke youngest sonne to King Edward the Third was the first Duke of Glocester advanced to that high honour by the said King Richard the Second and shortly after by him subverted For when he busily plotted great matters the King tooke order that he should be conveyed secretly in all haste to Calis where with a featherbed cast upon him he was smouthered having before under his owne band confessed as it stands upon Record in the Parliament Rols that he by vertue of a Patent which hee had wrested from the King tooke upon him the Kings regall authority that he came armed into the Kings presence reviled him consulted with learned about renouncing his allegiance and devised to depose the King for which being now dead he was by authority of Parliament attainted and condemned of high Treason When hee was thus dispatched the same King conferred the Title of Earle of Glocester upon Thomas Le De-Spenser in the right of his Great Grand-mother who within a while after sped no better than his great Grand-father Sir Hugh For by King Henry the fourth he was violently displaced shamefully degraded and at Briston by the peoples fury beheaded After some yeares King Henry the Fifth created his brother Humfrey the second Duke of Glocester who stiled himselfe the first yeare of King Henry the Sixth as I have seene in an Instrument of his Humfrey by the Grace of God sonne brother and Uncle to Kings Duke of Glocester Earle of Henault Holland Zeland and Penbroch Lord of Friesland Great Chamberlaine of the Kingdome of England Protector and Defender of the same Kingdome and Church of England A man that had right well deserved of the common wealth and of learning but through the fraudulent practise and malignant envie of the Queene brought to his end at Saint Edmunds Bury The third and last Duke was Richard brother to King Edward the Fourth who afterwards having most wickedly murdred his Nephewes usurped the Kingdome by the name of King Richard the third and after two yeares lost both it and his life in a pitched field finding by experience that power gotten by wicked meanes is never long lasting Concerning this last Duke of Glocester and his first entry to the Crowne give me leave for a while to play the part of an Historiographer which I will speedily give over againe as not well able to act it When this Richard Duke of Glocester being now proclaimed Protector of the Kingdome had under his command his tender two Nephewes Edward the Fifth King of England and Richard Duke of Yorke he retriving after the Kingdome for himselfe by profuse liberality and bounty to very many by passing great gravitie tempered with singular affabilitie by deepe wisdome by ministring justice indifferently and by close devises wonne wholly to him all mens hearts but the Lawyers especially to serve his turne So shortly he effected that in the name of all the States of the Realme there should be exhibited unto him a supplication wherein they most earnestly besought him for the publike Weale of the Kingdome to take upon him the Crowne to uphold his Countrey and the common-weale now shrinking and downe falling not to suffer it to runne headlong into utter desolation by reason that both lawes of nature and the authority of positive lawes and the laudable customes and liberties of England wherein every Englishman is an inheritor were subverted and trampled under foote through civill wars rapines murthers extortions oppressions and all sorts of misery But especially ever since that King Edward the fourth his brother bewitched by sorcerie and amorous potions fell in fancie with Dame Elizabeth Greie widdow whom he married without the assent of his Nobles without solemne publication of Banes secretly in a profane place and not in the face of the Church contrary to the law of Gods Church and commendable custome of the Church of England and which was worse having before time by a precontract espoused Dame Aeleanor Butler daughter to the old Earle of Shrewsburie whereby most sure and certaine it was that the foresaid matrimony was unlawfull and therewith the children of them begotten illegitimate and so unable to inherite or claime the Crowne Moreover considering that George Duke of Clarence the second brother of King Edward the Fourth was by authority of Parliament convicted and attainted of high treason thereupon his children disabled and debarred from all right succession evident it was to every man that Richard himselfe remained the sole and undoubted heire to the Crowne Of whom they assured themselves that being borne in England he would seriously provide for the good of England neither could they make any doubt of his
tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other lying under it North-ward is named the Vale. Chiltern got that name according to the very nature of the soile of Chalky marle which the ancient English men termed Cylt or Chilt For all of it mounteth aloft with whitish hills standing upon a mixt earth of Clay and Chalke clad with groves and woods wherein is much Beech and it was altogether unpassable in times past by reason of trees untill that Leofstane Abbot of Saint Albans did cut them downe because they yeelded a place of refuge for theeves In it where the Tamis glideth at the foote of those hills with a winding course standeth Marlow a prety towne of no meane credite taking name of the said Chalke commonly tearmed Marle which being spred upon Corne ground eaten out of heart with long tillage doth quicken the same againe so as that after one yeeres rest it never lieth fallow but yeeldeth againe unto the Husband-man his seed in plentifull measure Nere unto this a rill sheaddeth it selfe in the Tamis making way through low places and where it turneth hath a towne upon it called High Wickham or Wicombe rather which happily thereof tooke the name considering that the German Saxons terme any winding reach of river and sea a Wicke and Combe a low Valle. And very many places wee meet withall in England named in that respect This towne for largenesse and faire building is equall to the greatest townes in this shire and in that it hath a Major for the Head-Magistrate worthily to bee preferred before the rest About the time of the Normans comming in Wigod of Wallengford was Lord both of the Burgh of Wicomb and also of the Villa forinseca I speake according to the Record of the ancient Inquisition that is The out Hamlet or Bery After whose death King Henry the first laid it unto the Crowne But King John at the length divided the said Out Berry betweene Robert de Vi-paâ—â—t and Alane Basset North off Wicomb mounteth up aloft the highest place of this Region and thereof it retaineth still the British name Pen. For the head or eminent top of a thing is with them called Pen and hence it is that the Pennine Alpes the Apâ—â—nine and many Mountaines among us tooke their names Nere unto this Wickham or Wicomb is Bradenham seated in a very commodious and wholsome place which now is become the principall habitation of the Barons of Windesor concerning whom I have already spoken in Barke-shire ever since that in the memory of our fathers William Lord Windesor seated himselfe here whose father S. Andrew descended from the old stemme of ancient Barons King Henry the Eighth dignified with the honour of Baron Windesor Tamis having entertained the said Riâ—â— commeth downe with a rolling streame by Aelan famous for a Colledge the nourâ—e garden as it were or plant plot of good letters which that most vertuous and godly Prince K. Henry the Sixt as I have already said first founded And some few miles forward the river Cole entreth into Tamis which running here betweene Buckinghamshire and Middlesexe giveth name unto the towne Colbroke which was that PONTES whereof Antonine the Emperour maketh mention as the distance on both sides from Wallingford and London doth witnesse Neither is there any other place else in the way that leadeth from Wallingford to London to which the name of Pontes that is Bridges might be more fitly applied For this Cole is here parted into foure channels over which stand as many bridges for the commodity of passengers whereof that it tooke this name the very signification of the word doth plainly shew Like as Gephyrae a towne in Boâ—etia and another Pontes in France where the County of Ponthieu our Tunbridg and others are so called of Bridges This County of Ponthieu to note so much by the way descended to the Kings of England in the right of Aeleanor the wife of King Edward the First who by her mothers right was sole and entire Heire of the same Cole by these severall partitions of his streames compasseth in certaine pleasant Ilands into which the Danes fled in the yeere of our Lord 894. when Aelfred preassed hard upon them and there by the benefit of the place defended themselves untill the English for want of provisions were forced to breake up Siege and leave them At this divorce and division of the waters Eure or Ever a little Towne sheweth it selfe which when K. Richard the First had given unto Sir Robert Fitz-Roger Lord of Clavering his younger sonnes of this place assumed their surname to wit Hugh from whom the Barons of Eure and Robert from whom the Family of Eure in Axolme is sprung and spred Farther within Land are these places which I may not passe over Burnham better knowne by the Hodengs Lord Huntercombs and Scudamores who were Lords thereof and of Beacons-field successively by inheritance than by it selfe Stoke Pogeis so called of the Lords thereof in old time named de Pogeis and from them hereditarily devolved upon the Hastings of whose race Edward Baron Hastings of Loughborrow founded here an Hospitall for poore people making himselfe one of their society and his nephew by the brother Henry Earle of Huntingdon built a very faire house and Fernham the very same if I bee not deceived which was called Fernham Roiall and which in times past the Barons Furnivall held by service of finding their Soveraigne Lord the King upon the day of his Coronation a glove for his right hand and to support the Kings right arme the same day all the while hee holdeth the regaâ—â— Verge or Scepter in his hand From the Furnivalls it came by the daughter of Thomas Nevill unto the Talbots Earles of Shrewsbury who although by exchange they surrendred up this Manour unto King Henry the Eight yet they reserved this honourable Office still to them and their Heires for ever This Cole carrieth downe with him another riveret also which somewhat above from the West sheddeth it selfe into it upon it we saw first Missenden where stood a religious House that acknowledged the D'Ollies their founders and certaine Gentlemen surnamed De Missenden their especiall benefactours upon a vow for escaping a ship-wracke And then in the Vale Amersham in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which vaunted it selfe not for faire buildings nor multitude of inhabitants but for their late Lord Frâ—ncis Russeâ—â— Earle of Bedford who being the expresse paterne of true Piety and noblenesse lived most dearely beloved of all good men But the principall seate of the Earles of Bedford is called Cheineis standing more East-ward where both Iohn the first Earle out of this Family and that noble Francis his sonne lye entombed together Unto which adjoyneth on the one side Latimers so named of the Lords thereof I meane those more ancient Barons Latimer before time called Islehamsted where Sir Edwin Sands Knight who
yeare of our Lord 1086. when as before time it had beene consumed by a woefull accidentall fire whereof William of Malmesbury writeth thus The beauty thereof is so magnificent that it deserveth to bee numbered in the ranke of most excellent Edifices so large is that Arched Vault underneath and the Church above it of such capacity that it may seeme sufficient to receive any multitude of people whatsoever Because therefore Maurice carried a minde beyond all measure in this project he betooke the charge and cost of so laborious a peece of worke unto those that came after In the end when B. Richard his Successour had made over all the Revenewes belonging unto the Bishopricke to the building of this Cathedrall Church sustaining himselfe and his Family otherwise in the meane while hee seemed in a manner to have done just nothing so that hee spent his whole substance profusely heereabout and yet small effect came thereof The West Part as also the Crosse-yle are spacious high built and goodly to bee seene by reason of the huge Pillars and a right beautifull arched Roufe of stone Where these foure Parts crosse one another and meete in one there riseth uppe a mighty bigge and lofty Towre upon which stood a Spire Steeple covered with Leade mounting uppe to a wonderfull height for it was no lesse than five hundered and foure and thirty foote high from the Ground which in the yeare of our Lord 1087. was set on fire with Lightning and burnt with a great part of the City but beeing rebuilt was of late in mine owne remembrance when I was but a Childe fired againe with Lightning and is not as yet reedified The measure also and proportion of this so stately building I will heere put downe out of an old Writer which you may if it please you reade Saint Pauls Church containeth in length sixe hundered ninety foote the breadth thereof is one hundered and thirty foote the height of the West Arched Roufe from the Ground carrieth an hundered and two foote and the new Fabrique from the Ground is foure score and eight foote high The stoneworke of the Steeple from the plaine ground riseth in height two hundred and threescore foote and the timber frame upon the same is two hundred seaventy foure foote high c. That there stood of old time a Temple of Diana in this place some have conjectured and arguments there are to make this their conjecture good Certaine old houses adjoyning are in the ancient records of the Church called Dianaes Chamber and in the Church-yard while Edward the First reigned an incredible number of Ox-heads were digged up as wee finde in our Annals which the common sort at that time made a wondering at as the Sacrifices of Gentiles and the learned know that Taurapolia were celebrated in the honour of Diana I my selfe also when I was a boy have seene a stagges head sticking upon a speare-top a ceremony suting well with the sacrifices of Diana carried round about within the very Church in solemne pompe and procession and with a great noise of Horne-blowers And that Stagge or Hart which they of the house de Bawde in Essex did present for certaine lands that there held as I have heard say the Priests of this Church arrayed in their sacred vestiments and wearing Garlands of flowers upon their heads were wont to receive at the steps of the quire Now whether this were in use before those Bawds were bound to exhibite such a Stagge I wote not but surely this rite and ceremony may seeme to smell of Diana's worship and the Gentiles errours more than of Christian Religion And verily no man neede to doubt that from them certaine strange and foraine and heathenish rites crept into Christian religion Which Ceremonies the first Christians as mankinde is naturally a pliant Sectary to superstition either admitted or else at the first tolerated thereby to traine and allure the Heathen from Paganisme by little and little to the true Service and Worship of God But ever since this Church was built it hath beene the See of the Bishops of London and the first Bishop that it had under the English about fifty yeares after that Theoâ— of the British Nation was thrust out was Melitus a Roman consecrated by Austin Archbishop of Canturbury In honour of which Austin flat against the Decree of Pope Gregorie the Great the Ensignes of the Archbishopricke and the Metropolitane Sec were translated from London to Canturbury Within this Cathedrall Church to say nothing of Saint Erkenwald and the Bishops there lye buryed Sebba King of the East Saxons who gave over his kingdome for to serve Christ Etheldred or Egeldred who was an Oppressour rather than a Ruler of this Kingdome cruell in the beginning wretched in the middle and shamefull in the end so outragious hee was in his connivency to a Parricidie committed so infamous in his flight and effeminacy and so miserable in his death Henry Lacy Earle of Lincolne Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Sir Simon de Burlie a right noble Knight of the Garter executed by encroched Authority without the kings assent Sir Iohn de Beauchamp Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports Iohn Lord Latimer Sir Iohn Mason knight William Herbert Earle of Pembroch Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper of the Great Seale of England a man of a deepe reach and exquisite judgement Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Francis Walsingham two famous knights c. and Sir Christopher Hatton Lord Chancellour of England for whose perpetuall memory Sir William Hatton his Nephew by sister descended from the ancient Family of the Newports whom hee adopted into the name of Hatton dutifully erected a sumptuous monument well beseeming the greatnesse of his adoptive father Beside this Church there is not to my knowledge any other worke of the English Saxons extant in London to bee seene for why they continued not long in perfect peace considering that in short space the West-Saxons subdued the East-Saxons and London became subject to the Mercians Scarcely were these civill Warres husht when a new Tempest brake out of the North I meane the Danes who piteously tore in peeces all this Country and shooke this City sore For the Danes brought it under their Subjection but Aelfred recovered it out of their hands and after he had repaired it gave it unto Aetheldred Earle of the Mercians who had married his daughter Yet those wastefull depopulators did what they could afterwards many a time to winne it by Siege but Canut especially who by digging a new Chanell attempted to turne away the Tamis from it Howbeit evermore they lost their labour the Citizens did so manfully repulse the force of the enemy Yet were they not a little terrified still by them untill they lovingly received and saluted as their King William Duke of Normandy whom God destined to bee borne for the good of England against those Spoilers Presently then the windes were laid
he fetcheth almost a round compasse with a great winding reach taketh into him the River Lea at the east bound of this Countie when it hath collected his divided streame and cherished fruitfull Marish-medowes Upon which there standeth nothing in this side worth the speaking of For neither Aedelmton hath ought to shew but the name derived of Nobility nor Waltham unlesse it be the Crosse erected there for the funerall pompe of Queene Aeleonor Wife to King Edward the First whereof also it tooke name Onely Enfeld a house of the Kings is here to be seene built by Sir Thomas Lovel knight of the order of the Garter and one of King Henry the Seventh his Privy Counsell and Durance neighbour thereunto a house of the Wrothes of ancient name in this Countie To Enfeld-house Enfeld-chace is hard adjoyning a place much renowned for hunting the possession in times past of the Magnavils Earles of Essex afterwards of the Bohuns who succeeded them and now it belongeth to the Duchie of Lancaster since the time that Henry the Fourth King of England espoused one of the daughters and coheires of Humfrey Bohun Earle of Hereford and Essex of that surname And there are yet to be seene in the middest well nere of this Chase the rubbish and ruines of an old house which the vulgar sort saith was the dwelling place of the Magnavils Earles of Essex As for the title of Midlesex the Kings of England have vouchsafed it to none neither Duke Marquis Earle or Baron In this County without the City of London are reckoned Parishes much about 73. Within the City Liberties and Suburbes 121. ESSEXIA COMITATVS QVEM olim TRINOBANTES tenuerunt Continens in se opida marcatoria xx Pagos et Villas ccccxiiii vna Cunt singulis hundredis et flu minibus in â—odem ESSEX THE other part of the Trinobantes toward the East called in the English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Norman language Exssesa of the situation toward the East and the Saxons which inhabited it and commonly Essex is a Country large in compasse fruitfull full of Woods plentifull of Saffron and very wealthy encircled as it were on the one side with the maine Sea on the other with fishfull Rivers which also doe affoord their peculiar commodities in great abundance On the North side the River Stour divideth it from Suffolke on the East the Ocean windeth it selfe into it On the South part the Tamis being now growne great secludeth it from Kent like as in the West part the little River Ley from Midlesex and Stort or Stour the lesse which runneth into it from Hertfordshire In describing of this Country according to my methode begunne first I will speake of the memorable places by Ley and the Tamis afterwards of those that bee further within and upon the Sea-coast By Ley in the English Saxon Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there stretcheth out a great way in length and breadth a Forest serving for game stored very full with Deere that for their bignesse and fatnesse withall have the name above all other In times past called it was by way of excellency Foresta de Essex now Waltham Forest of the towne Waltham in the Saxons speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A wilde or wooddy habitation This standeth upon Ley where by dividing his Chanell hee maketh divers Eights or Islands and is not of any great Antiquity to make boast of For when the Kingdome of the Saxons beganne to decay one Tovie a man of great wealth and authority as wee reade in the private History of the place The Kings Staller that is Standerd bearer for the abundance of wilde beasts there first founded it and planted threescore and sixe indwellers therein After his death Athelstane his sonne quickly made a hand of all his goods and great estate and King Edward the Confessour gave this Towne to Harold Earle Goodwins sonne and streight wayes an Abbay was erected there the worke and Tombe both of the said Harold For he being crept up by the errour of men and his owne ambition to regall Dignity built this Abbay in honour of an Holy Crosse found farre Westward and brought hither as they write by miracle Heerein made he his prayers and vowes for victory when hee marched against Normans and being soone after slaine by them was by his mother who had with most suppliant suite craved and obtained at the Conquerours hands his Corps here entombed But now it hath a Baron namely Sir Edward Deny called lately unto that honour by King Iames his Writ Over this Towne upon the rising of an Hill standeth Copthall and yeeldeth a great way off a faire sight to seed mens eyes This was the habitation in times past of Fitz-Aucher and lately of Sir Thomas Heneage Knight who made it a very goodly and beautifull house Neere unto this River also was seated no doubt DUROLITUM a Towne of antique memory which the Emperour Antonine maketh mention of but in what place precisely I am not able to shew For the ancient places of this County I tell you once for all before hand lye hidden so enwrapped in obscurity that I who elsewhere could see somewhat heerein am heere more than dim-sighted But if I may give my guesse I would thinke that to have beene DUROLITUM which retaining still some marke of the old name is called at this day Leyton that is The Towne upon Ley like as Durolitum in the British Tongue signifieth The water Ley. A small Village it is in these daies inhabited in scattering wise five miles from London for which five through the carelesse negligence of transcribers is crept into Antonine xv That there was a common passage heere in times past over the River a place nigh unto it called Ouldfourd seemeth to proove in which when Queene Mawd wife to King Henry the First hardly escaped danger of drowning shee gave order that a little beneath at Stretford there should bee a Bridge made over the water There the River brancheth into three severall streames and most pleasantly watereth on every side the greene medowes wherein I saw the remaines of a little Monasterie which William Montfichet a Lord of great name of the Normans race built in the yeere of our Lord 1140. and forthwith Ley gathering it selfe againe into one chanell mildely dischargeth it selfe in the Tamis whereupon the place is called Leymouth The Tamis which is mightily by this time encreased doth violently carry away with him the streames of many waters hath a sight to speake onely of what is worth remembrance of Berking which Bede nameth Berecing a Nunnery founded by Erkenwald Bishop of London where Roding a little River entreth into the Tamis This running hard by many Villages imparteth his name unto them as Heigh Roding Eithorp Roding Leaden Roding c. of the which Leofwin a Nobleman gave one or two in times past to
Empresse gave it to Alberic Vere to assure him to her Party The infinite deale of ancient Coine daily gotten out of the ground there doth most plainly shew that this flourished in the Roman time in happy estate Yet have I light of no peeces more ancient than of Gallienus For the most were such as had upon them the Inscriptions of the Tetrici and the Victoriâ—i of Posthumus C. Carausius Constantine and the Emperours that followed him The Inhabitants affirme that Flavia Iulia Helena the mother of Constantine the Great was borne and bred there being the daughter of King Coel and in memory of the Crosse which shee found they give for their Armes a Crosse enragled betweene foure Crownes whence it is that our Necham as touching her and this place came out with these Verses although Apollo was not greatly his friend therein Effulsit sydus vitae Colcestria lumen Septem Climatibus lux radiosa dedit Sydus erat Constantinus decus imperiale Servijt huic flexo poplite Roma potens From out of thee O Cholchester there shone a Starre of life The raies whereof to Climats seven gave great and glorious light This Starre was Constantine the Great that noble Emperour Whom Rome in all obedience lay prostrate to adore Verily shee was a woman of life most holy and of invincible resolution and constancy in propagation of Christian Religion Whereupon in ancient Inscriptions she is every where named PIISSIMA and VENERABILIS AUGUSTA that is Most DEVOUT and VENERABLE EMPRESSE Beneath this where the River Coln runneth into the Sea standeth to be seene Saint Osithes a little Towne whose ancient name which was Chic is growne out of use by reason of Osith the Virgin of royall Parentage who being wholy devoted to the Service of God and stabbed there to death by the Danish Pirates was of our Ancestours honoured for a Saint and in her memoriall Richard Bishop of London about the yeare 1120. built a religious house of Regular Chanons But now it is the chiefe seate of the right honourable Lords Darcy called De Chich whom King Edward the Sixth advanced to the honour of Barons when hee created Sir Thomas Darcy his Counsellour Vice-chamberlaine and Captaine of the Guard Lord Darcy of Chich. From hence the Shore shooting out buncheth foorth as farre as to the Promontory Nesse which in the English-Saxon tongue is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What hath beene found in this place have heere out of the words and credit of Ralphe the Monke of Coggeshall who wrote 350. yeares agoe In King Richards time on the Sea-shore at a Village called Eadulphnesse were found two teeth of a certaine Giant of such a huge bignesse that two hundred such teeth as men have now a daies might bee cut out of them These saw I at Coggeshall quoth hee and not without wondering And such another Giantlike thing I wot not what as this was in the beginning of Queene Elizabeths Raigne digged up by R. Candish a Gentleman neere unto this place Neither doe I deny but there have beene men that for their huge bodies and firme strength were wonderous to behold whom God as S. Austin saith would have to live upon the earth thereby to teach us that neither beauty of body nor talnesse of stature are to bee counted simply good things seeing they bee common as well to Infidels as to the godly Yet may we very well thinke that which Suetonius hath written namely that the huge limmes of monstrous Sea-creatures else where and in this Kingdome also were commonly said and taken to have beene Giants bones From this Promontory the shore bendeth backe by little and little to the mouth of Stoure a place memorable for the battaile at Sea there fought betweene the English and Danes in the yeare 884. where now lyeth Harewich a most safe Road whence it hath the name For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the English-Saxon tongue betokeneth a Station or a creeke where an Army encamped The Towne is not great but well peopled fortified by Art and Nature and made more sensible by Queene Elizabeth The salt water so creeketh about it that it almost insulateth it but thereby maketh the Springs so brackish that there is a defect of fresh water which they fetch some good way off This is the Stoure that running betweene Essex and Suffolke serveth as a bound to them both and on this side watereth nothing else but rich and fruitfull fields But not farre from the head thereof standeth Bumstead which the Family of Helion held by Barony from whom the Wentworths of Gosfield are descended And what way this Country looketh toward Cambridge-shire Barklow sheweth it selfe well knowne now by reason of foure little hils or Burries cast up by mans hand such as in old time were wont to be raised so some would have it as Tombes for Soldiers slaine whose Reliques were not easie to be found But when a fifth and sixth of them were not long since digged downe three troughes of stone were found and in them broken bones of men as I was informed The country people say that they were reared after a field there fought against the Danes For Dane-wort which with bloud-red berries commeth up heere plenteously they still call by no other name than Danes-bloud of the number of Danes that were there slaine verily beleeving that it blometh from their bloud A little below standeth upon a hill Walden of Saffron called Saffron Walden among the fields looking merily with most lovely Saffron A very good Mercat towne incorporated by King Edward the Sixth with a Treasurer two Chamberlaines and the Commonalty Famous in times past it was for a Castle of the Magnavilles which now is almost vanished out of sight and an Abbay adjoyning founded in a place very commodious in the yeare 1136. wherein the Magnavilles founders thereof were buryed Geffrey de Magnavilla was the first that gave light and life as it were to this place For Mawde the Empresse in these words out of her very Patent I copy them gave unto him Newport a good bigge Towne this is hard by For so much as hee was wont to pay that day whereon as her words are my father King Henry was alive and dead and to remove the Mercat from Newport into his Castle of Walden with all the customes that before time in better manner appertained to that Mercat to wit in Toll passage and other customes and that the waies of Newport neere unto the water banke bee directed streight according to the old custome into Walden upon the ground forfeited unto me and that the Mercat of Walden be kept upon Sunday and Thursday and that a Faire bee holden at Walden to begin on Whitsunday even and to last all the Whitson weeke And from that time by occasion of this Mercat for a great while it was called Cheping Walden Also as it is in the Booke of Walden Abbay hee
number of pooles two or three miles over Which Fennes doe afford to a multitude of Monkes their wished private retyrings of a recluse and solitary life wherein as long as they are enclosed they need not the solitarinesse of any desert Wildernesse Thus farre Abbo SVFFOLâ—IAE Comitatus cuius Populi olim icâ—m Dicti Continens inse oppida mercatoria xxv Pagos et Villas CCCCLXIIII Vna cum singulis Hundredis et fluminibus in codeâ—e Auc Fore Christâ—phâ—râ— Saxton SOUTH-FOLKE or SUFFOLKE SUFFOLKE which wee must speake of first in the Saxon Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is South-folke or people in respect of Northfolke hath on the West side Cambridge-shire on the South the River Stoure which divideth it from Essex on the East side the German Sea and on the North two little Rivers Ouse the least and Waveney which flowing out as it were of the same Fountaine runne divers wayes and sever it apart from Norfolke A large country it is and full of havens of a fat and fertile Soile unlesse it be Eastward being compounded as it is of clay and marle by meanes whereof there are in every place most rich and goodly corne fields with pastures as battable for grazing and feeding of cattell And great store of cheeses are there made which to the great commodity of the Inhabitants are vented into all parts of England Nay into Germany France and Spaine also as Pantaleon the Physitian writeth who stucke not to compare these of ours for color and tast both with those of Placentia but he was no dainty toothed scholar out of Apicius schoole Neither bee there wanting woods heere which have beene more plentifull and parkes for many there are lying to Noble mens and Gentlemens houses replenished with game This County was divided politically into three parts whereof one is called the Geldable because out of it there is gathered a Tribute a second Saint Edmunds liberty for that it belonged to his Abbay the third Saint Audries liberty because it appertained to Ely Abbay unto which our Kings in times past granted certaine territories with Sach and Soch as saith Ely Booke without any exception either of Ecclesiasticall or secular jurisdiction But let us survey it Chorographically and beginning at the East side take a view of the better and more remarkeable places Where it lyeth West and toward Cambridgeshire in the very limite standeth Ixning more famous in times past than now For Audre the Virgin K. Annas daughter and canonized for a Saint was heere borne Ralph also Earle of this East England heere entred into conspiracy against William the Conquerour and Hervey the first Bishop of Ely made a causey or high way from hence to Ely But now for that Newmercate is so neer whither men resort with their wares and commodities more frequently it hath begunne to decay That this Newmercate is a Towne of late dayes built the very name it selfe doth import and it is situate in such sort that the South part therof belongeth to Cambridgeshire the North side to Suffolke and both of them have their severall small Churches whereof this acknowledgeth Ixning the former Ditton or Dichton for their mother Heereof I have found by reading nothing but that under King Henry the Third Sir Robert L' Isle gave one part of it in franke marriage with his daughter Cassandra unto Sir Richard de Argenton from whom the Alingtons are descended Heere lyeth out a great way round about a large Plaine named of this Towne Newmarket Heath consisting of a sandy and barren ground yet greene withall wherein is to bee seene that wonderfull Ditch which as if it had beene cast by the devill the common sort call Devils Dike whereas in very trueth most certainly it is knowne to be one of them wherewith the Inhabitants as Abbo writeth fenced themselves against the inrodes of their enemies as shall bee shewed more at large when we are come to Cambridgeshire Yet in the meane time I am heere to advertise the Reader that the least of all these ditches sheweth it selfe two miles from hence betweene Snaile-well and Moulton More within the Country is that renowned Towne of Saint Edmund which in the Saxons age men called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the time of the Britans as it should seeme was that VILLA FAUSTINI whereof Antonine maketh mention for of that opinion was Talbot a man right skilfull in antiquities and very much conversant in this part of England The distance also as well from the Iciani as from Colonia in Antonine agreeth well enough And as Villa in the Latine Tongue signifieth some Gentlemans house standing upon his land so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in old English betokened the same For that Abbo aforesaid interpreteth Bederics-gueord by these words Bederici Cortis that is Villa that is to say Bederics-Court Farme or Mansion house Besides that the Englishmen may seeme to have brought the significancy of that Latine word into their owne Language For as Faustinus in Latin implieth a certaine meaning of prosperity so doth Bederic in the German tongue as writeth that most learned Hadrianus Iunius where he interpreteth the name of Betorix who in Strabo was the sonne of Melo the Sicambrian Full of happinesse and favour But if these were divers persons I willingly confesse that I am ignorant who that Faustinus and who this Bedericus was Sure I am that it was not that VILLA FAUSTINI which Martiall in his Epigrammes depainteth and if I said it was the habitation of that Beric who being driven out of Britaine as Dio writeth persuaded the Emperour Claudius to warre upon the Britans I should not beleeve my selfe But whatsoever it was if it be not that Faustini Villa yet seemeth it to have beene of famous memory considering that when Christian Religion began to spring up in this Tract King Sigebert here founded a Church and Abbo called it Villam regiam that is A royall towne But after that the people had translated hither the body of Edmund that most Christian King whom the Danes with exquisite torments had put to death and built in honour of him a very great Church wrought with a wonderfull frame of timber it beganne to bee called Edmundi Burgus commonly Saint Edmundbury and more shortly Bury and flourished marveilous much But especially since that King Canutus for to expiate the sacrilegious impiety of his father Suenus against this Church being affrighted with a vision of Saint Edmunds built it againe of a new worke enriched it offered his owne Crowne unto the holy Martyr brought into it Monkes with their Abbot and gave unto it many faire and large Manours and among other things the Towne it selfe full and whole over which the Monkes themselves by their Seneschall had rule and jurisdiction Whereupon Ioscelin de Branklond a Monke of this house writeth thus The men as well without the Burgh as within are ours and all within Banna Leuca enjoy the same libertie
Afterwards Herveie the Abbot comming of the Norman bloud compassed it round about with a wall whereof there remaine still some few Reliques and Abbot Newport walled the Abbay The Bishop of Rome endowed it with very great immunities and among other things granted That the said place should bee subject to no Bishop in any matter and in matters lawfull depend upon the pleasure and direction of the Archbishop Which is yet observed at this day And now by this time the Monkes abounding in wealth erected a new Church of a sumptuous and stately building enlarging it every day more than other with new workes and whiles they laid the foundation of a new Chappell in the Reigne of Edward the First There were found as Eversden a Monke of this place writeth The walles of a certaine old Church built round so as that the Altar stood as it were in the mids and we verily thinke saith he it was that which was first built to Saint Edmunds service But what manner of Towne this was and how great the Abbay also was while it stood heare Leland speake who saw it standing The Sunne saith hee hath not seene either a City more finely seated so delicately standeth it upon the easie ascent or hanging of an hill and a little River runneth downe on the East side thereof or a goodlier Abbay whether a man indifferently consider either the endowment with Revenewes or the largenesse or the incomparable magnificence thereof A man that saw the Abbay would say verily it were a Citie so many Gates there are in it and some of brasse so many Towres and a most stately Church Upon which attend three others also standing gloriously in one and the same Churchyard all of passing fine and curious Workmanship If you demand how great the wealth of this Abbay was a man could hardly tell and namely how many gifts and oblations were hung upon the Tombe alone of Saint Edmund and besides there came in out of lands and Revenewes a thousand five hundered and three score pounds of old rent by the yeare If I should relate the broiles severally that from time to time arose betweene the Townesmen and the Monkes who by their Steward governed the Townesmen and with how great rage they fell together by the eares purposedly to kill one another my relation would seeme incredible But as great a peece of worke as this was so long in building and still encreasing and as much riches as they gathered together for so many yeares with S. Edmunds shrine and the monuments of Alan Rufus Earle of Britaine and Richmond Sir Thomas of Brotherton sonne to King Edward the first Earle of Norfolke and Marshall of England Thomas of Beaufor Duke of Excester W. Earle of Stafford Marie Queene Dowager of France Daughter to King Henry the Seaventh and many other worthie personages there Entombed were by King Henry the Eighth utterly overthrowne What time as at one clappe hee suppressed all Monasteries perswaded thereto by such as under a goodly pretense of reforming religion preferred their private respects and their owne enriching before the honour of Prince and Country yea and before the Glory of God himselfe And yet there remaineth still lying along the carcasse as one would say of that auncient monument altogether deformed but for ruines I assure you they make a faire and goodly shew which who soever beholdeth hee may both wonder thereat and withall take pity thereof England also that I may note this also by the way if ever else it had losse by the death of any Man sustained here one of the greatest For that father in deede of his Country Humfrey Duke of Glocester a due observer of Iustice and who had furnished his noble witte with the better and deeper kinde of studies after hee had under King Henry the Sixth governed the Kingdome five and twenty yeares with great commendation so that neither good men had cause to complaine of nor evill to finde fault with was here in Saint Saviours Hospitall brought to his end by the spightfull envy of Margaret of Lorain Who seeing her husband King Henry the Sixth to bee a man of a silly simple minde and faint hearted to the end shee might draw into her owne hands the managing of the State devised and plotted this wicked deed but to her owne losse and this Realme in the highest degree For Normandy and Aquitane were thereby shortly after lost and Warres more then civill enkindled in England Nere unto this Saint Edmunds Bury is Rushbroke to be seene the habitation of the worshipfull Family of the Iermins Knights and not farre from thence Ikesworth where there stood an auncient Priory founded by Gilbert Blund a man of great nobility and Lord of Ikesworth whose issue male by the right line ended in William that in King Henry the Third his dayes was slaine in the battell at Lewis and left two sisters his Heires Agnes wife to William de Creketot and Roise wedded to Robert de Valoniis Afterward both here at Haulsted neere by Rougham and else-where the Family of Drury which signifieth in old English A Pretious jewell hath beene of great respect and good note especially since they married with the heires of Fressil and Saxham More Northward is Saint Genovefs Fernham in this regard memorable for that Richard Lucy Lord chiefe Justice of England tooke Prisoner there in a pight fielde Robert Earle of Leicester making foule worke and havocke here and withall put to the sword above ten thousand Flemings whom hee had levied and sent forth to the depopulation of his Country Here hard by I had the sight of two very faire houses the one built by the Kitsons Knights at Hengrave the possession in times past of Edmund de Hengrave a most renowned Lawyer under King Edward the First the other at Culfurth erected by Sir Nicolas Bacon Knight sonne unto that Sir Nicolas Bacon Lord Keeper of the great Seale of England who for his singular wisedome and most sound judgement was right worthily esteemed one of the two Supporters of this Kingdome in his time And not farre off standeth Lidgate a small Village yet in this respect not to be passed over in silence because it brought into the World Iohn Lidgate the Monke whose witte may seeme to have beene framed and shapen by the very Muses themselves so brightly re-shine in his English verses all the pleasant graces and elegancies of speech according to that age Thus much for the more memorable places on the West side of Suffolke On the South side wee saw the river Stour which immediately from the very spring head spreadeth a great Mere called Stourmeer but soone after drawing it selfe within the bankes runneth first by Clare a noble Village which had a Castle but now decayed and gave name to the right noble Family of the Clares descended from Earle Gislebert the Norman and the title of Dukedome unto Leonel King
a great summe of money and pledges withall of his loyalty that it might not be overthrowne and rased Not farre thence from the banke you may see Mettingham where upon a plaine Sir Iohn sirnamed De Norwich Lord of the place built a foure square Castle and a Colledge within it whose daughter and in the end the Heire of the same Family Robert de Vfford aforesaid Earle of Suffolke tooke to Wife with a goodly Inheritance Now Waveney drawing neerer unto the Sea whiles hee striveth in vaine to make himselfe a twofold issue into the Ocean the one together with the River Yare and the other by the meere Luthing maketh a pretty big Demy Isle or Biland which some name Lovingland others more truely Luthingland of Luthing the lake spreading in length and bredth which beginning at the Ocean Shore is discharged into the River Yare At the entrance whereof standeth upon the Sea Lestoffe a narrow and little Towne and at the issue of it Gorlston where I saw the towre steeple of a small suppressed Friery which standeth the Sailers in good stead for a marke Within the land hard by Yare is situate Somerley towne the habitation in ancient time of Fitz Osbert from whom it is come lineally to the worshipfull ancient family of the Iernegans Knights of high esteeme in these parts farther up into the land where Yare and Waveney meet in one streame there flourished Cnobersburg that is as Bede interprereth it Cnobers City we call it at this day Burgh-Castle Which as Bede saith was a most pleasant Castle by reason of woods and Sea together wherein a Monastery was built by Fursaey a holy Scot by whose perswasion Sigebert King of the East-Angles became a Monke and resigned up his Kingdome who afterwards being drawne against his will out of this Monastery to encourage his people in battaile against the Mercians together with his company lost his life In that place now there are only ruinous wals in forme as it were foure square built of flint stone and British Bricke but all overgrown with briers and bushes among which otherwhiles are Romane peeces of coines gotten forth So that it may seeme to have been one of those fortifications that the Romans placed upon the River Y are to represse the piracies of the Saxons or rather that it was the ancient GARIANONUM it selfe where the Stablesian Horsemen had their Station and kepe Ward at the declination of the Romane Empire in Brittaine Suffolke hath had Earles and Dukes out of sundry families There bee of the later writers who report that the Glanvils in times past were honoured with this title But seeing they ground upon no certain authority whereas men may easily mistake and I have found nothing of them in the publike records of the Kingdome they must pardon me if I beleeve them not untill they produce more certainty Yet in the meane while I confesse that the family of the Glanvils in this tract was of right good note and high reputation Neither have I hitherto learned by witnesses of credite that any one was entituled Earle of this Province severally before the daies of King Edward the Third who created Sir Robert Vfford Earle of Suffolke a man much renowned both in peace and warre the sonne of Sir Robert Vfford Steward of the Kings house under King Edward the Second by Cecily de Valoniis Lady of Orford After him succeeded his sonne William who having foure sonnes that were taken away by untimely death during his life died himselfe suddenly in the Parliament house as he was about to report the minde of the Commonalty And then Sir Robert Willoughby Roger Lord Scales and Henrie Ferrars of Groby the next of his blood and his Heires divided the Inheritance betweene them Afterward King Richard the Second promoted Michael De-la-Pole to this Title and made him L. Chancellor of England Who as Thomas Walsingham writeth imployed himselfe more in trafficke and Merchandise as having beene a Merchant and a Merchants sonne than in martiall matters For he was the sonne of William De-la-pole that first Maior of Kyngston upon Hull and for his wealthy Estate adorned by King Edward the Third with the dignity of a Baneret But when as in the prosperous confluence of so many advancements the mans nature was not capable of so great fortunes he was enforced by his adversaries envy to depart out of his Country and so died a banished man His sonne Michael being restored died at the siege of Harflew and againe within one moneth his son Michael was slaine in the battell of Agincourt leaving daughters onely Then William his brother succeeded whom King Henry the sixt so favoured that hee made him also Earle of Penbroke and then Marquesse of Suffolke to him and the heires males of his body And that both hee and the heires of his body should carry the golden rod having a Dove in the top thereof on the Coronation day of the King of England and the like rod or verge Yuory at the Coronation of the Queenes of England And afterwards hee advanced the same William for his great service and deserts to the honour and title of Duke of Suffolke Certes hee was an excellent man in those dayes famous and of great worth For whereas his father and three brethren had in the French wars lost their lives for their Country he as we finde in the Parliament Rols of the 28. of King Henry the Sixth in the same war served full 34. yeeres For seventeene yeeres together he never returned home from warfare being once taken prisoner when he was as yet no better than a private Knight hee paid downe for his ransome twenty thousand pounds of our English mony hee was of the Kings privy Counsell 15. yeeres and a Knight of the Order of the Garter 30. Hereupon as he stood in especiall grace and favour with his Prince so he incurred therefore the greater envy of the common people and some emulatours being grievously charged with treason and misprisions And therefore called before the King and Lords of the Parliament after he had answered the Articles objected referred himselfe to the Kings order Whereupon the Chancellor by the Kings commandement pronounced that whereas the Duke did not put himselfe upon his Peeres the King touching the Articles of treason would be doubtfull and as for the Articles of misprision not as a Judge by advice of the Lords but as one to whose order the Duke had submitted himselfe did banish him the realme and all other his dominions for five yeeres But when he was embarked for France he was by his adversaries intercepted upon the sea and beheaded He left a son nam'd Iohn De-la-Pole who wedded K. Edward the fourth his sister and of her begate Iohn Earle of Lincolne by K. Richard the Third proclaimed heire apparant of the Crowne whose ambitious minde puffed up and giddy therewith could not containe it selfe but soone after brake out
Gront that rivers side Among the winding crankes of Lakes and Rivers far and wide Y' spred and neere unto the bankes of Easterne Sea doth stretch It selfe and so from Southerne side along North Eastward reach In muddy gulfe unwholsome fish it breeds as reeds doe shake There growing thicke of winds as words a whispering noise they make Joyne hereunto if you please thus much out of Henry of Huntingdon This Fenny country saith he is passing rich and plenteous yea and beautifull to behold watered with many Rivers running downe to it garnished with a number of Meres both great and small trimly adorned likewise with many Woods and Ilands And for a small conclusion of this matter take with you also these few words of William of Malmesbury speaking of his time So great store there is here of Fishes that strangers comming hither make a wonder at it and the Inhabitants laugh thereat to see them wonder Neither is Water-Foule lesse cheape so that for one halfe penny and under five men at the least may not onely eat to slake hunger and content nature but also feed their fill of Fish and Foule As touching the drying up of this Fenny country what discourse and arguing oftentimes there hath beene either by way of sound and wholsome counsell or of a goodly pretence and shew of a common good even in the High Court of Parliament I list not to relate But it is to be feared least that which often hath happened to the Pontine Marishes of Italy it would come againe to the former state So that many thinke it the wisest and best course according to the sage admonition in like case of Apollo his Oracle Not to intermeddle at all with that which God hath ordained Upon the naturall strength of this place and plenty of all things there seditious Rebels have often presumed and not onely the English when they banded themselves against William Conquerour but the Barons also whensoever they were Out-lawed from hence troubled and molested their Kings But evermore they had ill successe albeit otherwhiles they built fortresses both at Eryth and also at Athered at this day Audre where the easiest entrance is into this Isle And even yet neere unto Andre is to be seene a Military rampire of a meane height but of a very large compasse which they call Belsars-hils of one Belisar I wot not who Part of this Fenny country that lyeth more South and is the greatest by farre which also is counted of this shire was named in the English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now The Isle of Ely of the chiefe Iland which name Bede hath derived from Eâ—les and thereupon sometime tearmed it Insulam anguillariam that is The Isle of Eâ—les Polydore Virgil fetcheth the originall therof from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifieth Marish others from Helig a Brittish word betokening Willowes or Sallowes wherewith it doth most of all abound Part of this Region we read that one Tombert a Prince of the Southern Girvii gave as a dowry to his wife Audry who after she had left her second husband Egfrid King of the Nordan humberland being fully resolved to serve Christ built a Monastery for Nunnes Votaries in the principall Iland of these properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was then reckoned at 600 Hides or Families and of this Monastery she also her selfe the first Abbesse Yet was not this the first Church in the fenny country For the booke of Ely recordeth that S. Austen of Canterbury founded a Church at Cradiden which Penda the Mercian afterwards rased and William of Malmesbury reporteth that Foelix Bishop of the East English had his first See at Soham which yet is within the Diocesse of Norwich Soham saith he is a village situate neere unto a Fen which was in times past dangerous for those that would passe into Ely by water now by reason of a way or causey made through the Fenny ground overgrowne with Reeds men may goe over thither by land There be remaining still the tokens of a Church destroyed by the Danes which with the ruines thereof overwhelmed the inhabitants who were burnt together with it At which time also that Monastry of S. Audry was overthrowne by the furious Danes but Ethelwold Bishop of Winchester reedified it For he by a composition betweene the King and him bought the whole Iland a new and having cast out the Priests thence stored it with Monks unto whom King Edgar as we read in his letters patents granted within the Fens jurisdiction over the secular causes of two Hundreds and without the Fens of two Hundreds and an halfe in Wichlaw within the province of the East-Angles which are called at this day The liberties of S. Audry Afterwards Kings and great Noble men enriched it with large revenewes and Earle Brithnoth especially Being now ready to joyne battaile with the Danes in the yeare 999. gave unto the Church of Ely Somersham Spaldwic Trumpinton Ratindum Heisbury Fulburn Tinerston Triplestow and Impetum for that the Monkes had in magnificent manner entertained him in case he should loose his life in that battaile But his fortune was to die at Maldun after hee had fought with the Danes 14. dayes together And so rich was the Monastery that the Abbot thereof as witnesseth Malmsbury laid up every yeere in his owne purse a thousand and foure hundred pounds And Richard the last Abbot sonne to Earle Gislebert being over-tipled as it were with wealth disdaining to bee under the Bishop of Lincolne dealt with the King what by golden words as the Monkes write and what by great suite and politicke meanes that a Bishops See might be erected here which hee prevented by death obtained not Yet soone after King Henry the first having gotten allowance from the Pope made Herveie who had beene Bishop of Bangor and by the Welshmen cast out of his owne seat the first Bishop of Ely unto whom and to his successors he laied for his Diocesse Cambridge-shire which had belonged before unto the Bishop of Lincolne and confirmed certaine Royalties in these Ilands To the Bishops of Lincolne from whose jurisdiction he had taken away this Iland and Cambridge-shire he granted for to make amends The Manour of Spaldwic or as the booke of Ely hath The Manour of Spaldwic was given unto the Church of Lincolne for ever in exchange for the Bishops superintendency over the County of Cambridge Herveie being now made Bishop sought by all meanes possible to augment the dignity of his Church He obtained that it might bee every where Toll-free these are the very words of the booke of Ely He set it free from the yoke of service of watch and ward that it owed to the Castle of Norwich hee made a way from Exning to Ely through the Fennes sixe miles in length he beganne the faire Palace at Ely for his Successours and purchased to it faire Lands and not a few Lordships And
whose sake also when Iohn was revolted from him and tooke part with the French hee honoured with the same title William Marquesse of Iuliers the said Queene Philips sisters son After the death of these two Forainers King Edward the Third translated this dignity to his fifth sonne Edmund of Langley which after he had held foure yeeres my warrant I have out of an old manuscript being in the hands of that skilfull Antiquary Francis Thinn the Earle of Henault cosin to Queene Philip came into Parliament house put in a claime for his right and returned backe well contented The said Edmund of Langly afterwards Duke of Yorke had two sonnes Edward Duke of Yorke who for a certaine time held the Earldome of Cambridge and was slaine in the battell of Agin-court and Richard by the grace and favour of King Henry the Fifth and consent of his brother Edward was created Earle of Cambridge But when he ungratefull and ambitious man that hee was contrived the destruction of that good and noble Prince and so lost his head the title of Cambridge died the same day that he did or lurked at least wise among other titles of his sonne Richard who was afterwards Duke of Yorke and restored to his blood and estate as being cosin and heire to his Unkle Edward Duke of Yorke This Shire containeth Parishes 163. HVNTINGDON Comitatus qui pars fuir ICENORVM HUNTINGDON-SHIRE NExt unto Cambridge-shire lyeth HUNTINGDON-SHIRE in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so situate that Southward it confineth upon Bedford-shire Westward upon Northamptonshire like as Northwards where by the River Avon it is parted and Eastward upon Cambridge-shire a Country good for corne and tillage and toward the East where it is fenny very rich and plentifull for the feeding of Cattaile elsewhere right pleasant by reason of rising hils and shady groves For the Inhabitants report that in ancient times it was throughout beset with woods and certaine it is that it was a Forest untill that king Henry the Second in the beginning of his raign disforested it as we find in an old perambulation all save Waybridge Sapple and Herthei which were Woods of the Lords demaine and remaine still forests The South part thereof the River Ouse that I have so often spoken of runneth by and bedecketh with flowers On which River among other of lesse note there stand some Townes of good note First after it hath left Bedford-shire and is entred into this County it visiteth Saint Neots commonly called Saint Needs so named of one Neotus a man both learned and holy who travailed all his life time in propagating of Christian Religion whose body was translated from Neotstok in Cornwall hither and in honour of him Alfrick converted the Palace of Earle Elfride unto a Monastery The which Dame Roisia Wife to Richard Lord of Clare shortly after the comming in of the Normas enriched with many faire Possessions But before it was named Ainulphsbury of one Ainulph likewise an holy and devout man which name continueth still also in one part of it A little beneath this at Aileweston a very small Village there are two little Springs the one fresh the other somewhat brackish of which the neighbours give out that this is good against scabs and leprosie the other against the dimnesse of the eye-sight From thence not farre Ouse passeth to Bugden a proper faire house of the Bishops of Lincolne and so by Hinchingbrok a religious house sometimes of Nuns whom King William the Conquerour translated hither from Eltesley in Cambridge-shire and now the dwelling house of the Cromwels knights commeth to Huntingdon in the English-Saxon tongue as Marianus reporteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the publique seale Huntersdune that is the hill or downe of hunters as Henry Archdeacon of this place who flourished 400. yeares since interpreteth it whence it used in their seale an hunter and Leland our Countriman alluding thereunto hath coined a new Latine word for it namely Venantodunum This is the chiefe Towne of all this Shire to which it hath given also the name farre excelling all the Townes about it the same Archdeacon saith as well for lightsome and pleasant situation as for the beauty and faire shew that it hath it selfe as well also for the vicinity of the Fennes as for great store of Deere and Fish In King Edward the Confessors time that I may note so much out of Domesday booke There were in this Borrough foure Ferlings that is Quarters or Wards In two of them were 116. Burgesses paying custome and gelt and under them 100. Bordarij in the other two 111. Burgesses for all customes and the Kings gelt It is seated upon the North-banke of Ouse somewhat high stretching out in length Northward adorned with foure Churches and it had a little Abbay founded by Maude the Empresse and Eustace Lovetoft the ruines whereof Eastward I have seene hard under the Towne By the River neere unto the Bridge which is faire built of stone the Mount and Plot of a Castle is to bee seene which in the yeare of our Redemption 917. King Edward the Elder built anew and David the Scotishman unto whom as an ancient Historiographer writeth King Stephen had given the Burrough of Huntingdon for an augmentation of his estate enlarged with many new buildings and Bulwarkes but in the end King Henry the Second both because it was a place of refuge for seditious Rebels and for that the Scots and the Saint Lizes had oftentimes raised quarrels and contention about it to cut off all occasions of strife laid it even with the ground when as hee provoked with their unreasonable variance swore an oath that neither they of Saint Lizes nor the Scottishmen should quarrell any more for it From these Castle hils where there is a goodly prospect a great way off a man may behold below a medow which they call Portsholme environed round about with the River Ouse the same very exceeding large and of all others that the Sunne ever shone upon most fresh and beautifull whereof in the Spring time this may be truly said Ver pingit vario gemmantia prata colore The pleasant Spring faire flowers doe yeeld Of divers colours in this field With such a delectable variety of gaye colours it pleaseth and contenteth the eye On the hither banke over against Huntingdon standeth the mother as it were thereof from whence it had his Originall called in Domesday booke Godmundcester and at this day Good-man-chester for Gormonchester A very great country Towne and of as great name for tillage situate in an open ground of a light mould and bending to the Sun Neither is there a Towne againe in all England that hath more stout and lusty husbandmen or more ploughs agoing For they make their boast that they have in former time received the Kings of England as they passed in their progresse this way with nine score ploughs brought forth in a rusticall kind
which King Henry the First gave unto the Church of Lincolne for amends of a losse when hee erected the Bishopricke of Ely taken out of the Diocesse of Lincolne as I have before shewed But where the River Nen entreth into this Shire it runneth fast by Elton the seat of the ancient Family of the Sapcots where is a private Chappell of singular workemanship and most artificiall glasse windowes erected by Lady Elizabeth Dinham the widow of Baron Fitz-warin married into the said Family But a little higher there stood a little City more ancient than all these neere unto Walmsford which Henry of Huntingdon calleth Caer Dorm and Dormeceaster upon the River Nen and reporteth to have beene utterly rased before his time This was doubtlesse that DUROBRIVAE that is The River passage that Antonine the Emperour speaketh of and now in the very same sense is called Dornford neere unto Chesterton which beside peeces of ancient Coine daily found in it sheweth apparant tokens of a City overthrowne For to it there leadeth directly from Huntingdon a Roman Portway and a little above Stilton which in times past was called Stichilton it is seene with an high banke and in an ancient Saxon Charter termed Ermingstreat This Street now runneth here through the middest of a foure square Fort the North side whereof was fensed with Wals all the other sides with a Rampire of earth onely Neere unto which were digged up not long since Cofins or Sepulchres of stone in the ground of R. Bevill of an ancient house in this Shire Some verily thinke that this City tooke up both bankes of the River and there bee of opinion that the little Village Câ—ster standing upon the other banke was parcell thereof Surely to this opinion of theirs maketh much the testimony of an ancient story which sheweth that there was a place by Nen called Dormund-caster in which when Kinneburga had built a little Monastery it began to be called first Kinneburge-caster and afterwards short Caster This Kinneburga the most Christian daughter of the Pagan King Penda and wife to Alfred King of the Northumbrians changed her Princely State into the service of Christ if I may use the words of an ancient Writer and governed this Monastery of her owne as Prioresse or mother of the Nunnes there Which afterwards about the yeare of Salvation 1010. by the furious Danes was made levell with the ground But where this River is ready to leave this County it passeth hard by an ancient house called Bottle-bridge so is it now termed short for Botolph-bridge which the Draitons and Lovets brought from R. Gimels by hereditary succession into the Family of the Shirleies And to this house adjoyneth Overton now corruptly called Orton which being by felony forfait and confiscate Neele Lovetoft redeemed againe of King John and the said Noeles sister and coheire being wedded unto Hubert alià s Robert de Brounford brought him children who assumed unto them the sirname of Lovetoft This County of Huntingdon when the English-Saxons Empire began now to decline had Siward an Earle by Office and not inheritance For as yet there were no Earles in England by inheritance but the Rulers of Provinces after the custome of that age were termed Earles with addition of the Earledome of this or that Province whereof they had the rule for the time as this Siward whiles he governed this County was called Earle of Huntingdon whereas afterwards being Ruler of Northumberland they named him Earle of Northumberland He had a sonne named Waldeof who under the Title of Earle had likewise the government of this Province standing in favour as he did with William the Conquerour whose Niece Judith by his sister of the mothers side hee had married but by him beheaded for entring into a conspiracy against him The eldest daughter of this Waldeof as William Gemiticensis reporteth Simon de Senlys or S. Liz tooke to wife together with the Earldome of Huntingdon and of her begat a sonne named Simon But after that the said Simon was dead David brother to Maud the Holy Queene of England who afterwards became King of Scots married his wife by whom hee had a sonne named Henry But in processe of time as fortune and Princes favour varied one while the Scots another while the Sent Lizes enjoyed this dignity First Henry the sonne of David aforesaid then Simon S. Liz sonne of Simon the first after him Malcolm King of Scots sonne to Earle Henry and after his death Simon Sent Liz the third who dying without issue William King of Scots and brother to Malcolm succeeded for so wrote he that then lived Raphe de Diceto in the yeare 1185. When Simon saith hee the sonne of Earle Simon was departed without children the King restored the Earldome of Huntingdon with the Pertinences unto William King of the Scots Then his brother David and Davids sonne John sirnamed Scot Earle of Chester who dying without issue and Alexander the third that had married the daughter of our King Henry the Third having for a time borne this Title the Scots by occasion of incident warres lost that honour and with it a very faire inheritance in England A good while after King Edward the Third created Sir William Clinton Earle of Huntingdon who dyed issuelesse And in his roome there was placed by King Richard the Second Guiseard of Engolisme a Gascoine who was his Governour in his minority and after his death succeeded Iohn Holland Iohn his sonne who was stiled Duke of Excester Earle of Huntingdon and Ivory Lord of Sparre Admirall of England and Ireland Lieutenant of Aquitane and Constable of the Towre of London and his sonne likewise Henry successively who were Dukes also of Excester This is that very same Henry Duke of Excester whom Philip Comines as himselfe witnesseth saw begging bare foote in the Low Countries whiles he stood firme and fast unto the house of Lancaster albeit he had married King Edward the Fourth his owne sister Then Thomas Grey who became afterward Marquesse Dorset a little while enjoyed that honour Also it is evident out of the Records that William Herbert Earle of Pembroch brought in againe the Charter of creation whereby his father was made Earle of Pembroch into the Chancery for to be cancelled and that King Edward the Fourth in the seventeenth of his Raigne created him Earle of Huntingdon at such time as he granted the Title of Pembroch to the Prince his sonne Afterward King Henry the Eighth conferred that honour upon George Lord Hastings after whom succeeded his sonne Francis and after him likewise his sonne Henry a right honourable Personage commended both for true Nobility and Piety But whereas hee dyed without issue his brother Sir George Hastings succeeded and after him his Grandchilde Henry by his sonne who at this day enjoyeth the said honour In this little Shire are numbered Parishes 78. CORITANI NOw must wee passe on to
of the aforesaid came another Gilbert his sonne and heire who gave the Manour of Folkingham with the Appertenances to Edward the sonne of Henry King of England This Gilbert as wee finde in the Plees out of which this Pedegree is prooved claimed service against Wil. de Scremby And at length it came by gift of the Prince to Sir Henry Beaumont For most certaine it is that he held it in the Raigne of Edward the Second Neere unto this is Screkingham remarkable for the death of Alfrick the second Earle of Leicester whom Hubba a Dane slew Of which place it seemeth that Ingulph spake writing thus In Kesteven were slaine three great Lords or petty Kings of the Danes whom they buryed in a Village which was called before Laundon but now for the Sepulture of three Kings Tre-King-ham And more into the East is Hather in this regard onely to be mentioned that the Busseis or Busleis heere dwell who deduce their Race from Roger de Busly in the Conquerours time Then Sleford a Castle of the Bishops of Lincolne built by Alexander the Bishop where Sir John Hussy the first and last Baron of that name created by King Henry the Eighth built himselfe an house who having unwittingly and unadvisedly in the yeere 1537. engaged himselfe with the common people in a tumultuous commotion what time as the first dissention brake out in England about Religion lost his head Not many miles from hence standeth Kime which gave name to a noble family called De Kime but the possession of the place came at length to the Umfranvils of whom three were called to the Parliament by the name of the Earles of Anguse in Scotland But the first of them the learned in our common lawes would not acknowledge to be Earle for that Anguse was not within the limits of the Realme of England untill hee produced openly in Court the Kings Writ by vertue whereof he had been summoned by the King to the Parliament under the Title of Earle of Anguse From the Umfravils this came unto the family of Talbois of whom Gilbert was created by King Henry the Eighth Baron Talbois whose two sonnes dying without issue the inheritance was by the females transferred to the Dimocks Inglebeies and others More Westward wee saw Temple Bruer that is as I interprete it Temple in the Heath For it seemeth to have beene a Commaundery of the Templers considering that the decayed broken Walles of the Church there are seene in forme of the New Temple at London Hard to it lyeth Blankenay the Barony in times past of the D'incourts who flourished successively a long time one after another from the Normans comming in unto King Henry the Sixth his time For then their male line determined in one William who had two sisters for his heires the one married to Sir William Lovell the other to Sir Ralph Cromwell The more willingly have I made mention of this Family to give satisfaction in some measure unto the longing desire of Edmond Baron D'eincourt who long since being carefull and earnest about the preservation of the memory of his name as having no male Issue put up an humble Petition to King Edward the Second Whereas hee foresaw that his sirname and Armes after his death would bee quite forgotten and yet heartily desired that after his decease they might bee still remembred that hee might bee permitted to enfeoffe whomsoever it pleased him both in his Manours and Armes also Which request hee obtained and it was graunted under the Kings Letters Patents yet for all that is this sirname now quite gone to my knowledge and had it not beene continued by the light of learning might have beene cleane forgotten for ever In the West part of Kesteven and the very confines of this Shire and Leicestershire standeth Belvoir or Beauvoir Castle so called of the faire prospect what name soever it had in old time mounted upon the top of a good steepe hill built by Robert De Todeneie a Norman Nobleman who also beganne the little Monastery adjoyning from whom by the Albeneies out of little Britaine and the Barons Roos it came by inheritance to the Mannors Earles of Rutland of whom the first that is to say Thomas as I have beene enformed raised it up againe with newbuildings from the ground when as it had for many yeeres lien buryed as it were in his owne ruines For in despite of Thomas Lord Roos who tooke part with King Henry the Sixth it was much defaced by William Lord Hastings unto whom after that the said Baron Roos was attainted King Edward the Fourth had graunted it with very faire Lands But Edmond Baron Roos sonne of the said Thomas by the gracious favour of king Henry the seventh recovered this ancient Inheritance againe About this Castle are found the Stones called Astroites which resemble little Starres joyned one with another wherein are to bee seene at every corner five Beames or Rayes and in every Ray in the middest is small hollownesse This Stone among the Germanes got his name of Victorie for that as George Agricola writeth in his Sixth Booke of Mineralls they are of opinion that whosoever carryeth it about him shall winne his suite and get victory of his enemies But whether this Stone of ours as that in Germany being put in vineger will stirre out of his place and turne it selfe some-what round I could never yet make tryall Under this Castle lyeth a Vale and presenteth a most pleasant prospect thereunto whereupon it is commonly called the Vale of Belver which is very large and passing pleasantly beautified with Corne fields and no lesse rich in pastures lying stretched out in three Shires of Leicester Nottingham and Lincolne If not in this very place yet hard by it in all probability stood that MARGIDUNUM which Antonine the Emperour placeth next after VERNOMETUM as both the name and the distance also from VERNOMETUM and the Towne PONT or Paunton betweene which Antonine placeth it may most plainly shew It should seeme that ancient name Margidunum was borowed from Marga and the situation of it For Marga among the Britans is a kinde of earth named Marle wherewith they nourished and kept their grounds in heart and DUNUM which signifieth an Hill agreeth onely to places higher mounted than others And yet in this Etymology of the name I am in a doubt seeing that Marle in this place is very geason or skant happily because no man seeketh for it unlesse the Britans by the name of Marga tearmed Plaister-stone which is digged uppe hard by as I have learned the use whereof in white pargetting and in making of Images was of especiall request among the Romans as Plinie witnesseth in his Naturall History Witham a River plentifull in Pikes but carrying a small streame watereth this part of the Shire and on the North-side encloseth it It hath his beginning by a little towne
hidden within the net But these things I leave to their observation who either take pleasure earnestly to hunt after Natures workes or being borne to pamper the belly delight to send their estates downe the throat More Westward the River Trent also after he hath ended his long course is received into the Humber after it hath with his sandy banke bounded this shire from Fossedike hither having runne downe first not farre from Stow where Godive the wife of Earle Leofricke built a Monastery which for the low site that it hath under the hills Henry of Huntingdon saith to have beene founded Vnder the Promontory of Lincolne Then neere unto Knath now the habitation of Baron Willoughy of Parrham in times past of the family of the Barons Darcy who had very much encrease both in honor and also of possessions by the daughter and heire of the Meinills This Family of the Darcyes proceeded from another more ancient to wit from one whose name was Norman de Adrecy or Darcy de Nocton who flourished in high reputation under King Henry the Third and whose successours endowed with lands the little Nunnery at Alvingham in this County But this dignity is as it were extinct for that the last Norman in the right line which is more ancient left behinde him onely two sisters of which the one was married to Roger Pedwardine the other to Peter of Limbergh Then runneth the Trent downe to Gainesborrow a towne ennobled by reason of the Danes ships that lay there at rode and also for the death of Suene Tiugs-Kege a Danish Tyrant who after he had robbed and spoiled the country as Matthew of Westminster writeth being heere stabbed to death by an unknowne man suffered due punishment at length for his wickednesse and villany Many a yeere after this it became the possession of Sir William de Valence Earle of Pembroch who obtained for it of king Edward the First the liberty to keepe a Faire From which Earle by the Scottish Earles of Athol and the Piercies descended the Barons of Bourough who heere dwelt concerning whom I have written already in Surry In this part of the Shire stood long since the City Sidnacester which affoorded a See to the Bishops of this Tract who were called the Bishops of Lindifars But this City is now so farre out of all sight and knowledge that together with the name the very ruines also seeme to have perished for by all my curious enquiry I could learne nothing of it Neither must I overpasse that in this Quarter at Melwood there flourished the family of Saint Paul corruptly called Sampoll Knights which I alwaies thought to have beene of that ancient Castilion race of the Earles of Saint Paul in France But the Coat-Armour of Luxemburgh which they beare implieth that they are come out of France since that the said Castilion stocke of Saint Paul was by marriage implanted into that of Luxemburgh which happened two hundred yeeres since or thereabout Above this place the Rivers of Trent Idell and Dane doe so disport themselves with the division of their streames and Marishes caused by them and other Springs as they enclose within them the River-Island of Axelholme in the Saxon Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a parcell of Lincolne-shire It carryeth in length from South to North ten miles and in breadth not past halfe so much The flat and lower part of it toward the Rivers is marish ground and bringeth forth an odoriferous kinde of shrub which they tearme Gall. It yeeldeth also Pets in the Mores and dead rootes of fir-wood which in burning give a ranke sweet savour There also have beene found great and long firre-trees while they digged for Pet both within the Isle and also without at Laâ—ghton upon Trent banke the old habitation of the family of D'alanson now contractly called Dalison The middle parts of this Isle where it riseth gently with some ascent is fruitefull and fertile and yeeldeth flax in great aboundance also the Alabaster stone and yet the same being not very solide but brittle is more meet for pargetting and plaister-worke than for other uses The chiefe Towne called in old time Axel is now named Axey whence by putting to the Saxon word Holme which they used for a River-Island the name no doubt was compounded But scarce deserveth it to bee called a Towne it is so scatteringly inhabited and yet it is able to shew the plot of ground where a Castle stood that was rased in the Barons warre and which belonged to the Mowbraies who at that time possessed a great part of the Isle In the yeere 1173. as writeth an old Chronographer Roger de Mowbray forsaking his Allegeance to the Elder King repaired the Castle at Kinard Ferry in the Isle of Axholme which had beene of old time destroyed Against whom a number of Lincoln-shire men making head when they had passed over the water in barges laid siege to the Castle forced the Constable thereof and all the souldiers to yeeld and overthrew the said Castle Somewhat higher is Botterwic the Lord whereof Sir Edmund Sheffeld King Edward the Sixth created the first Baron Sheffeld of Botherwic who for his country spent his life against the Rebels in Norfolke having begotten of Anne Vere the Earle of Oxfords daughter a sonne named John the second Baron and father to Edmund now Lord Sheffeld a right honourable Knight of the Garter President of the Councell established in the North. But more into the North I saw Burton Stather standing upon the other side of Trent whereof I have hetherto read nothing memorable This Shire glorieth in the Earles which have borne Title thereof After Egga who flourished in the yeere 710. and Morcar both Saxons and who were Earles by office onely William de Romara a Norman was the first Earle after the Conquest in whose roome being dead for neither his sonne whereas he died before his father nor his grand-child enjoied this title King Stephen placed Gilbert de Gaunt After whose decease Simon de Saint Lyz the younger the sonne of Earle Simon you reade the very words of Robert Montensis who lived about that time Wanting lands by the gracious gift of King Henry the Second tooke his onely daughter to wife with her his honour also After this Lewis of France who was by the seditious Barons brought into England girt a second Gilbert out of the Family de Gaunt with the sword of the Earldome of Lincolne but when the said Lewis was soone after expelled the land no man acknowledged him for Earle and himselfe of his owne accord relinquished that title Then Raulph the sixth Earle of Chester obtained this honour of King Henry the Third who a little before his death gave unto Hawise or Avis his sister the wife of Robert De Quincy by Charter the Earledome of Lincolne so farre forth as appertained unto him that shee might bee Countesse
Romanists But this See few yeeres after was removed againe to Lichfield yet so as that one and the selfe same Bishop carried the name both of Lichfield and of Coventry The first Lord of this City so farre as I can learne was this Leofricke who being very much offended and angry with the Citizens oppressed them with most heavie tributes which he would remit upon no other condition at the earnest suite of his wife Godiva unlesse she would herselfe ride on horse-backe naked through the greatest and most inhabited street of the City which she did in deed and was so covered with her faire long haire that if we may beleeve the common sort shee was seene of no body and thus shee did set free her Citizens of Coventry from many payments for ever From Leofricke it came into the hands of the Earles of Chester by Lucie his sonne Algars daughter for shee had beene married to Ranulph the first of that name and the third Earle of Chester out of this line who granted unto Coventrey the same liberties that Lincolne had and gave a great part of the City unto the Monkes the rest and Chilmore which is the Lords Manour hard by the City hee reserved to himselfe and to his heires After whose death when for want of issue male the inheritance was divided betweene the sisters Coventry came at length mediately by the Earles of Arundell unto Roger Mont-hault whose grand sonne Robert passed over all his right for default of issue male of his body begotten unto Queene Isabel mother to King Edward the Third To have and to hold during the whole life of the Queene herselfe and after her decease to remaine unto Iohn of Eltham the said Kings brother and to the heires of his body begotten and for default the remainder to Edward King of England c. For thus is it to be seene in the Fine in the second yeere of King Edward the Third Now the said John of Eltham was afterwards created Earle of Cornwall and this place became annexed to the Earldome of Cornwall From which time it hath flourished in great state Kings have bestowed sundry immunities upon it and King Edward the Third especially who permitted them to chuse a Major and two Bailiffes and to build and embattle a Wall about it also king Henry the Sixth who laying unto it certaine small Townes adjoyning granted That it should bee an entire County corporate by it selfe the very words of the Charter runne in that sort in deed and name and distinct from the County of Warwicke At which time in lieu of Bailiffes he ordained two Sheriffes and the Citizens beganne to fortifie their City with a most strong Wall wherein are beautifull Gates and at one of them called Gosford Gate there hangeth to bee seene a mighty great Shield bone of a wilde Bore which any man would thinke that either Guy of Warwicke or else Diana of the Forest Arden slew in hunting when he had turned up with his snout that great pit or pond which at this day is called Swansewell but Swinsewell in times past as the authority of ancient Charters doe proove As touching the Longitude of this City it is 25. Degrees and 52. Scruples and for the Latitude it is 52. Degrees and 25. Scruples Thus much of Coventrey yet have you not all this of me but willingly to acknowledge by whom I have profited of Henry Ferrars of Baddesley a man both for parentage and for knowledge of antiquity very commendable and my especiall friend who both in this place and also elsewhere hath at all times courteously shewed me the right way when I was out and from his candle as it were hath lightned mine Neere unto Coventrey North-west ward are placed Ausley Castle the habitation in times past of the Hastings who were Lords of Abergavenney and Brand the dwelling place in old time of the Verdons Eastward standeth Caloughdon commonly Caledon the ancient seat of the Lords Segrave from whom it descended to the Barons of Berkley by one of the daughters of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke These Segraves since the time that Stephen was Lord chiefe Justice of England flourished in the honorable estate of Barons became possessed of the Chaucombes Inheritance whose Armes also they bare viz. A Lion rampant Argent crowned Or in a Shield Sable But John the last of them married Margaret Dutchesse of Northfolke Daughter of Thomas Brotherton and begat Elizabeth a daughter who brought into the Family of the Mowbraies the Dignity of Marshall of England and Title of Duke of Norfolke Brinklâ— also is not farre from hence where stood an ancient Castle of the Mowbraies to which many possessions and faire lands thereabout belonged But the very rubbish of this Castle time hath quite consumed as Combe Abbay is scant now apparent which the Camvills and Mowbraies endowed with possessions and out of the ruines and reliques whereof a faire house of the Lord Haringtons in this very place is now raised As you goe East-ward you meet anon with Cester-Over whereof I spake incidently before belonging to the Grevills neere unto which the High port-way Watling-street dividing this shire Northward from Leicester-shire runneth on forward by High-crosse whereof also I have already written neere unto Nun-Eaton which in ancient time was named Eaton But when Amice wife to Robert Bossu Earle of Leicester as Henry Knighton writeth had founded a Monastery of Nunnes wherein her selfe also became professed it began of those Nunnes to be called Nun-Eaton And famous it was in the former ages by reason of those religious Virgines holinesse who devoting themselves continually to prayers gave example of good life A little from this there flourished sometimes Astley-Castle the principall seate of the Familie of Astley out of which flourished Barons in the time of King Edward the First Second and Third the heire whereof in the end was the second wedded Wife of Reginald Lord Grey of Ruthin from whom came the Greies Marquesses of Dorset some of whom were enterred in a most fine and faire Collegiat Church which Thomas Lord Astley founded with a Deane and Secular Chanons Somewhat higher hard by Watling street for so with the common people wee call the High-way made by the Romanes where as the riuer Anker hath a stone bridge over it stood MANDVESSEDUM a very ancient towne mentioned by Antonine the Emperour which being not altogether deprived of that name is now called Mancester and in Ninnius his Catalogue Caer Mancegued Which name considering there is a stone-quarry hard by I may ghesse was imposed upon it of the stones digged forth and hewed out of it For out of the Glossaries of the British tongue we finde that Main in the British language signified a Stone and Fosswad in the Provinciall tongue to digge out which being joyned together may seeme very expressely to import that ancient name MANDVESSEDUM But what how great or how faire soever it hath been
single life For then Oswald Bishop of this City who promoted the Monasticall life as busily as any whosoever remooved the Priests and brought in Monkes Which King Eadgar testifieth in these words The Monasteries as well of Monkes as of Virgins have beene destroied and quite neglected throughout England which I have now determined to repaire to the glory of God for my soules health and so to multiply the number of Gods servants and hand-maides And now already I have set up seven and forty Monasteries with Monkes and Nunnes in them and if Christ spare me life so long I am determined in offering my devout munificence to God for to proceed to fifty even the just number of a Iubilee Whereupon at this present that Monastery which the reverend Bishop Oswald in the Episcopall See of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amply enlarged to the honour of Mary the holy Mother of God and by casting out those Clerkes c. hath with my assent and favour appointed there Monkes the religious servants of God I my selfe doe by my royall authority confirme and by the counsell and consent of my Peeres and Nobles corroborate and consigne to those religious men living a sole and single life c. Long time after when the state of the Church and Clergy here partly by the Danes incursion and in part by civill dissentions was so greatly weakened and brought upon the very knees that in lieu of that multitude of religious persons whom Oswald had heere placed scarce twelve remained Wolstan Bishop of this Church about the yeer of the worlds redemption 1090. put to his helping hand raised it up againe and brought them to the number of 50. yea and built a new Church for them Wolstan I say a man not so learned the times then were such but of that simple sincerity without all hypocrisie so severe also and austere of life that as he was terrible to the wicked so he was venerable to the good and after his death the Church registred him in the number of Saints But King Henry the Eighth suppressed and expelled the Monkes after they had in all plenty and fulnesse lived more than 500. yeeres and in their roomes he substituted a Deane and Prebendaries and withall erected a Grammar-schoole for the training up of youth Hard by this Church the bare name and plot of a Castle remaineth which as wee reade in William of Malmesburies booke of Bishops Ursus appointed Sheriffe of Worcestershire by William the Conquerour built under the very nose and in the mouth well neere of the Monkes in so much as he cut away from them a part of their Church-yard But this Castle through the iniquity of time and casuality of fire was consumed many yeeres ago The City it selfe also hath been burnt more than once as being set on fire in the yeere of Christ 1041. by Hardy-Cnute who exceedingly incensed against the Citizens because they had slaine his Huscarles for so they tearmed those domesticall Gatherers of the Danes tribute did not only set fire on the City but slew the Citizens every mothers sonne unlesse it were those that saved themselves in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Island compassed in with the River Howbeit as we finde written in King William the Conquerours booke in King Edward the Confessours time It had many Burgesses and for fifteene Hides discharged it selfe when the Mint went every Minter gave twenty shillings at London for to receive coyning stamps of money In the yeere 1113. a skarfire that came no man knew how burnt the Castle caught also with the flames to the roofes of the Church Likewise in the Raigne of Stephen in the time of Civill Warres it was twice on fire but most dangerously when King Stephen who had to his owne damage given this City unto Wallerand Earle of Mellent seized it into his owne hands howbeit he was not able at that time to winne the Castle Neverthelesse it raised it selfe up againe out of the ashes in a goodlier forme alwaies than it had before and flourished in a right good state of civill government governed by two Bailiffes chosen out of 24. Citizens two Aldermen and two Chamberlains with a Common Counsell consisting of 48. Citizens As touching the Geographicall position of this City it is distant in Longitude from the West Meridian 21. Degrees and 52. Minutes and the North Pole is elevated 52. Degrees and 12. Minutes From Worcester the River Severn running on still Southward passeth beside Powicke the seat in times past of Sir Iohn Beauchamp whom King Henry the Sixth raised up to the state of a Baron and within a small time the female heires brought the inheritance to the Willoughbeies of Broke the Reads and the Lygons then runneth it through most rich and redolent medowes by Hanley Castle belonging sometimes to the Earles of Glocester and by Upton a Mercate Towne of great name where peeces of Romane money are oftentimes found Not farre from hence upon the banke on the right hand the Severn beholdeth Malvern-Hills hills in deed or rather great and high mountaines which for the space of seven miles or thereabout doe as it were by degrees rise higher and higher dividing this Shire from the County of Hereford On the brow of which Hills Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester did cast a Ditch in times past to make a partition betweene his possessions and the lands of the Church of Worcester a peece of worke which is at this day seene not without wonder Over against those hils and in like distance almost from the other banke Bredon Hills being farre lesse yet in emulation as it were to match them mount aloft among which Elmsley Castle belonging sometimes to Ursus or Urso D' Abtot maketh a goodly shew by whose daughter and heire Emeline it came hereditarily to the Beauchamps At the foote of these hills lieth Bredon a Village concerning the Monastery whereof Offa King of the Mercians saith thus I Offa King of the Mercians will give land containing seven times five Acres of Tributaries unto the Monastery that is named Breodun in the Province of the Wiccij and to the Church of blessed Saint Peter Prince of the Apostles there and in that place standing which Church Eanwulph my grandfather erected to the praise and glory of the everliving God Under these Bredon hils Southward you see two villages named Washborne whence came the sirname to a very ancient and worshipfull Family in this Tract standing in a parcell of this Province dismembred as it were from the rest of the body of which kinde there be other parcels here and there scattering all about But what should be the cause I am not able to resolve unlesse haply those that in old time were governours adjoined to their government their owne lands that lay neere unto the Region which they then governed Now Avon from above runneth downe and speeds himselfe to Severn who in this shire
Vale underneath along Corve which commonly is called Corves-dale to Sir Foulque of Dinan Afterwards it belonged to the Lacies of Ireland and by a daughter fell to Sir Geffrey de Ienevile a Poictevin or as some will have it of the house of Lorain from whose heires it descended againe by a daughter to the Mortimers and from thence hereditarily to the Crowne Then the Inhabitants in processe of time built in the very bosome of the Towne and on the highest ground a very faire Church and the onely Church they have And so it beganne to be of great account and to excell other neighbour Townes adjoyning And although by King Stephen Simon Montfort and King Henry the Sixth it suffered much damage in the civill Warres yet it alwayes flourished againe and now especially ever since that King Henry the Eighth ordained the Councell of the Marches not unlike to those Parliaments in France the Lord President whereof doth for the most part keepe Courts and Terme here which a man could hardly have seene at any time without Suites whether it were for the great state and authority that it carryed or because the Welshmen are so forward and hote to goe to Law This Councell consisteth of the Lord President so many Counsellers as it shall please the Prince to appoint a Secretary an Attorney a Sollicitour and the foure Iustices of the Counties in Wales Somewhat lower upon the River Temd is seene Burford which from Theodoricke Saie and his Posterity came unto Robert Mortimer and from his posterity likewise unto Sir Geffrey Cornwaile who derived his Descent from Richard Earle of Cornwall and King of the Alemans and his Race even unto these daies hath flourished under the name of Barons of Burford but not in the dignity of Parliamentary Barons whereas it is holden as we reade in the Inquisition of the King for to finde five men for the Army of Wales and by service of a Baronie As for those that I may note thus much by the way who held an entire and whole Barony they were commonly in times past reputed Barons and as some learned in our common lawes are of opinion Baron and Barony like as Earle and Earledome Duke and Dukedome King and Kingdome were Conjugata that is Originally yoke-fellowes When Temd now is leaving Shropp-shire behinde it not farre from the bankes thereof there raise themselves up Northward certaine hils of easie ascent Cleehill they call them much commended for yeelding the best Barly in great plenty neither are they without iron mines at the descent whereof in a Village called Cleybury Hugh Mortimer built a Castle which King Henry the Second forthwith so rased because it was a noursery of sedition that scarce there remaine any tokens thereof at this day also hard by standeth Kinlet where the Blunts flourished Their name in this Tract is very great so sirnamed at first of their yellow haire the Family noble and ancient and the branches thereof farre spread Then saw we on the right hand banke of Severn Brug Morfe commonly but corruptly called Bridg-North so called of Burg or Burrbugh and Morfe a Forest adjoyning whereas before time it was named simply Burgh A Towne fortified with wals a ditch a stately Castle and the Severn which betweene the Rockes runneth downe with a great fall seated also upon a Rocke out of which the waies leading into the upper part of the Towne were wrought out Achelfleda Lady of the Mercians first built it and Robert de Belesme Earle of Shrewesbury walled it who trusting to the naturall strength of the place rebelled against King Henry the First like as afterward Roger Mortimer against King Henry the the Second but both of them with ill successe for they were both forced to yeeld and submit themselves absolutely to the Kings command At the Siege of this Castle as we reade in our Annales King Henry the Second being levelled at with an arrow had beene shot therewith quite through the body had not Sir Hubert Syncter a noble and trusty Servitour to the King interposed himselfe and to save the King received both the arrow and his deaths wound withall Before time also Sir Raulph de Pichford bare himselfe so valiantly heere that king Henry the First gave unto him the little Burgh hard by To hold by service for to finde dry wood for the great chamber of the Castle of Burgh against the comming of his Soveraigne Lord the King Willeley or Willey is not farre from hence the habitation in old time of Sir Warner De Willeley from whose Posterity by the Harleis and Peshall it came to the notable Family of Lacon advanced by marriage long since with the heire of Passelew and of late by the Possession of Sir I. Blunt of Kinlet There be in like manner other Townes and Castles heere and there in this Tract as Newcastle Hopton Castle Shipton and upon the River Corve Corvesham which Walter Clifford had by the gift of king Henry the Second also Brancroft and Holgot commonly Howgate which belonged sometime to the Manduits then to Robert Blunt Bishop of Bath and afterwards to the Lovells More higher are Wenlocke now knowne for the lime but in king Richard the Seconds time for a mine of Copper there But much more knowne in the Saxons dayes for a most ancient Nunnery where Milburga that most holy virgin lived in great devotion and was entombed the which Nunnery Earle Roger de Montgomerie repaired and replenished with Monkes In later times Sir Iohn Winell called also Wenlocke because he heere inhabited for his faithfull service to king Henry the Sixth was by him advanced to the state and honor of Baron Wenlocke and elected knight of the Garter in whose cause he manfully lost his life in the Battaile of Tewkesbury leaving no issue but from his cozin and heire generall the Lawleys of this County are lineally descended A little more West is Acton Burnell a Castle of the Burnels and after of the Lovels made famous by the Court of Parliament there held in the time of king Edward the First This Family of the Burnells was in old time of great name and antiquity very much enriched also by that Bishop aforenamed But it failed and had an end in the Raigne of Edward the Second when Mawde the heire was married unto John Lovell first and secondly to John Haudlow whose sonne Nicholas assumed to himselfe the name of Burnell from whom the Ratcliffes Earles of Sussex and others draw their pedegree Scarce a mile from hence standeth Langley seated very flat and low in a Parke full of Woods the dwelling place of the Leas which may well challenge to be ranged among the Families that are of the better worth and greater Antiquity in this Tract Next unto these is Condover a Manour sometimes of the Lovells but of late the possession of Thomas Owen
mediamnis in orbe Colle tumet modico duplici quoque ponte superbit Accipiens patriâ sibi linguâ nomen ab alnis The buildings high of Shrewsbury doe shine both farre and nere A Towne within a River set an Island as it were Mounted upon a prety hill and Bridges hath it twaine The name it tooke of Alder trees in British tongue they sayne Neither is it strengthned onely by nature but fortified also by art for Roger of Montgomery unto whom by the Conquerors gift it was allotted pulling downe 50. houses or thereabout built a strong stately Castle on the North side upon a rising rocke and Robert his son when hee revolted from King Henry the First walled it about on that side where it was not fensed with the River which notwithstanding never that I know of suffered assault or hostility but once in the Barons Warre against King John At the first entring of the Normans it was a City well inhabited and of good trade For as we reade in Domesday booke In King Edward the Confessors time it paid Gelt according to an hundred Hides In the Conquerours time it paid yeerely seven pounds and sixteene shillings de Gablo They were reckoned to bee two hundred and fifty two Citizens whereof twelve were bound to watch about the Kings of England when they lay at this City and as many to accompany them when they went forth on hunting Which I would verily thinke to have beene ordained because not many yeeres before Edricke Streona Duke of the Mercians a man notoriously disteined with wickednesse lay in wait heere for Prince Ashelm and slew him as he rode on hunting At which time as that Booke sheweth the custome was in this City That a woman taking howsoever it were a husband if she were a widdow gave unto the King twenty shillings if a maide tenne in what manner soever she tooke a man But to returne unto our matter the said Earle Roger not onely fortified it but also adorned it with other buildings both publique and private yea and founded a very goodly Abbay to the honour of Saint Peter and Saint Paul unto which he granted many Possessions and therewith Saint Gregories Church And namely in that tenour I exemplifie the words out of the private History of the said Abbay That when the Chanons who held Prebends therein should any of them die the said Prebends should come unto the Demaine and Possession of the Monkes Whereupon arose no small controversie For the sonnes of the said Chanons sued the Monkes at Law that they might succeed in their fathers Prebends For at that time the Chanons and Priests in England were married and it grew to be a custome that Ecclesiasticall livings should descend by inheritance to the next of the bloud But this controversie was decided under King Henry the First and concluded it was that the heire should not succeed in Ecclesiasticall Livings yea and about that time lawes were enacted touching the single life of Priests Soone after in processe of time other Churches also were heere erected For to say nothing of the houses or Frieries of Dominicans Franciscans and Augustine Friers which the Charletons Jenevils and Staffords founded there were two Collegiat Churches erected Saint Chadds with a Deane and ten Prebendaries and Saint Maries with a Deane likewise and nine Prebendaries And even at this day a faire and goodly City it is well frequented and traded full of good merchandise and by reason of the Citizens painfull diligence with cloth making and traffique with Welshmen rich and wealthy For hither almost all the commodities of Wales doe conflow as it were to a common Mart of both Nations Whereupon it is inhabited both with Welsh and English speaking both languages who among other things deserve especiall commendation for this in that they have set up a Schoole for the training up of children wherein were more Schollers in number when I first saw it than in any one Schoole throughout all England againe unto which Thomas Aston the first head Schoolmaster a right good man procured by his meanes a very honest Salarie and Stipend for the Teachers It shall not now I hope bee impertinent to note that when diverse of the Nobility conspired against King Henry the Fourth with a purpose to advance Edmund Mortimer Earle of March to the Crowne as the undoubtfull and right heire whose father King Richard the Second had also declared heire apparent and Sir Henry Percy called Hote-spurre then addressed himselfe to give the assault to Shrewsbury upon a suddaine all their designes were dashed as it were from above For the King with speedy marches was upon his backe before hee imagined To whom yet the young Hote-spurre with courageous resolution gave battaile and after a long and doubtfull fight wherein the Scotishmen which followed him shewed much manly valour when the Earle of Worcester his Unckle and the Earle of Dunbar were taken hee despairing of Victory ran undaunted upon his owne death amiddest the thickest of his enemies Of this battaile the place is called Battaile-field Where the King after Victory erected a Chappell and one or two Priests to pray for their soules who were there slaine As for the position of this Shrewsbury it is from the Islands Azores twenty Degrees and seven and thirty minutes distant in Longitude and from the Aequinoctiall Line two and fifty Degrees and three and fifty minutes in Latitude From out of this city I wot not whether it may be thought worth my labour or pertinent to my purpose to relate so much brake forth the last time namely in the yeere of our Salvation 1551. that dismall disease The English Sweat which presently dispersed over the whole Realme made great mortality of people especially those of middle age for as many as were taken suddenly with this Sweat within one foure and twenty houres either dyed or recovered But a present remedy was found namely that such as in the day time fell into it should presently in their clothes as they were goe to bed if by night and in bed should there rest lye still and not stirre from thence for foure and twenty houres provided alwayes that they should not sleepe the while but by all meanes bee kept waking Whereof this disease first arose the learned of Physicians know not for certaine Some strangers ascribe it to the ground in England standing so much upon plastre and yet it is but in few places of that nature In certaine moist Constitutions of weather say they it happeneth that vapours arise out of that kinde of Soile which although they bee most subtile yet they are corrupt which cause likewise a subtile contagion and the same is proportionate either unto the spirits or to the thinne froth that floateth upon the bloud But whatsoever the cause is no doubt there is an Analogie betweene it and the subtile parts of bloud by reason whereof within one day the Patient either mends
Shrop-shire adjoyning and held that I may note so much by the way the Hamelet of Lanton in chiefe as of the Honour of Montgomery by the service of giving to the King a barbdheaded Arrow whensoever he commeth into those parts to hunt in Cornedon Chace Lugg hasteneth now to Wy first by Hampton where that worthy Knight Sir Rouland Lenthal who being Maister of the Wardrobe unto King Henry the Fourth had married one of the heires of Thomas Earle of Arundell built a passing faire house which the Coningsberes men of good worship and great name in this tract have now a good long time inhabited then by Marden and Southton or Sutton of which twaine Sutton sheweth some small remaines of King Offaes Palace so infamous for the murdering of Ethelbert and Marden is counted famous for the Tombe of the said Ethelbert who had lien heere a long time without any glorious memoriall before that he was translated to Hereford Neere unto the place where Lugg and Wy meete together Eastward a hill which they call Marcley hill in the yeere of our redemption 1571. as though it had wakened upon the suddaine out of a deepe sleepe roused it selfe up and for the space of three daies together mooving and shewing it selfe as mighty and huge an heape as it was with roring noise in a fearefull sort and overturning all things that stood in the way advanced it selfe forward to the wonderous astonishment of the beholders by that kinde of Earthquake which as I deeme naturall Philosophers call Brasmatias And not farre from this hill toward the East also under Malvern hills which in this place bound the East part of this shire standeth Ledbury upon the River Ledden a Towne well knowne which Edwin the Saxon a man of great power gave unto the Church of Hereford being assuredly perswaded that by Saint Ethelberts intercession he was delivered from the Palsey Touching the Military fort on the next hill I need not to speake seeing that in this tract which was in the Marches and the ordinary fighting ground plot first betweene the Romanes and Britans afterwards betweene the Britains and the English such holds and entrenchments are to be seene in many places But Wy now carrying a full streame after it hath entertained Lugg runneth downe with more bendings and bowings first by Holm Lacy the feate of the ancient and noble Family of Scudamore unto which accrewed much more worship by marriage with an heire out of the race of Ewias in this shire and Huntercombe c. else where From hence passeth Wy downe betweene Rosse made a free Burrough by King Henry the Third now well knowne by reason of iron Smiths and Wilton over against it a most ancient Castle of the Greis whence so many worthy Barons of that name have drawne their originall This was built as men say by Hugh de Long-champ but upon publique and certaine credit of Records it appeareth that King John gave Wilton with the Castle to H. de Longchamp and that by marriage it fell to William Fitz-Hugh and likewise not long after to Reinold Grey in the daies of King Edward the first Now when Wy hath a little beneath saluted Goderick Castle which King John gave unto William Earle Mareschall and was afterward for a time the principall seate of the Talbots hee speedeth himselfe to Monmouth-shire and bids Hereford-shire farewell When the state of the English-Saxons was now more than declining to the downe-fall Ralph sonne to Walter Medantinus by Goda King Edward the Confessoursâ— sister governed this Countie as an Official Earle but the infamous for base cowardise was by William the Conquerour remooved and William Fitz-Osbern of Crepon a martiall Norman who had subdued the Isle of Wight and was neere allied to the Dukes of Normandy was substituted in his place When he was slaine in assistance of the Earle of Flanders his sonne Roger surnamed De Bretevill succeeded and soone after for conspiracie against the Conquerour was condemned to perpetuall prison and therein died leaving no lawfull issue Then King Stephen granted to Robert Le Bossu Earle of Leicester who had married Emme or Itta as some call her heire of Bretevill to use the words of the Graunt the Burrough of Hereford with the Castle and the whole County of Hereford but all in vaine For Maude the Empresse who contended with King Stephen for the Crowne advanced Miles the sonne of Walter Constable of Glocester unto this Honour and also graunted to him Constabulariam Curiae suae i. The Constableship of her Court whereupon his posteritie were Constables of England as the Marshalship was graunted at the first by the name of Magistratus Marescalsiae Curiaenostrae Howbeit Stephen afterwards stript him out of these Honours which he had received from her This Miles had five sonnes Roger Walter Henry William and Mahel men of especiall note who were cut off every one issuelesse by untimely death after they had all but William succeeded one another in their Fathers inheritance Unto Roger King Henry the Second among other things gave The Mote of Hereford with the whole Castle and the third peny issuing out of the revenewes of Plees of the whole County of Hereford whereof he made him Earle But after Roger was deceased the same King if wee may beleeve Robert Abbot De Monte kept the Earledome of Hereford to himselfe The eldest sister of these named Margaret was married to Humfrey Bohun the third of that name and his heires were high Constables of England namely Humfrey Bohun the Fourth Henry his sonne unto whom King Iohn graunted twenty pounds yeerely to be received out of the third penny of the County of Hereford whereof he made him Earle This Henry married the sister and heire of William Mandevill Earle of Essex and died in the fourth yeere of Henry the Third his reigne Humfrey the Fifth his sonne who was also Earle of Essex whose sonne Humfrey the Sixth of that forename died before his Father having first begotten Humfrey the Seventh by a daughter and one of the heires of William Breos Lord of Brecknock His sonne Humfrey the Eighth was slaine at Burrowbrig leaving by Elizabeth his wife daughter unto King Edward the First and the Earle of Hollands widow among other children namely Iohn Bohun Humfrey the Ninth both Earles of Hereford and Essex and dying without issue and William Earle of Northampton unto whom Elizabeth a daughter and one of the heires of Giles Lord Badlesmer bare Humfrey Bohun the Tenth and last of the Bohuns who was Earle of Hereford Essex and Northampton Constable besides of England who left two Daughters Aeleonor the Wife of Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Glocester and Mary wedded to Henry of Lancaster Earle of Darby who was created Duke of Hereford and afterwards Crowned King of England But after this Edward Stafford last Duke of Buckingham was stiled Earle of Hereford for that hee descended from Thomas
in old time called Guarthenion as Ninnius restifieth who wrote that the said wicked Vortigern when he was plainely and sharply reprooved by that godly Saint German did not onely not turne from his lewd and licentious life to the worship and service of God but also let flie slanderous speeches against that most holy man Wherefore Vortimer the sonne of Vortigern as Ninnius saith for the slander which his Father had raised of Saint German decreed that he should have the land as his owne for ever wherein he had suffered so reprochfull an abuse whereupon and to the ened that Saint German might be had in memory it was called Guarthenion which signifieth in English A slander justly retorted The Mortimers descended from the Niece of Gonora Wife of Richard the First Duke of Normandie were the first Normans that having discomfited the English Saxon Edricke Sylvaticus that is The wild wonne a great part of this little Country to themselves And after they had a long time been eminent above all others in these parts at length King Edward the Third about the yeere of Salvation 1328. Created Roger Mortimer Lord of Wigmore Earle of this Welsh limit or according to the common speech Earle of March who soone after was sentenced to death because he had insulted upon the Common-wealth favoured the Scots to the prejudice of England conversed over familiarly with the â—ings mother and contrived the destruction and death of King Edward the Second the Kings Father He by his Wife Joan Jenevell who brought him rich revenewes as well in Ireland as in England had Edmund his Sonne who felt the smart of his Fathers wickednesse and lost both patrimonie and title of Earle Howbeit his Sonne Roger was fully restored recovered the title of Earle of March and was chosen a fellow of the order of the Garter at the first institution thereof This Roger begat of Philip Montacute Edmund Earle of March and he tooke to Wife Philip the only daughter of Leonell Duke of Clarence the third sonne of King Edward the Third whereby came unto him the Earldome of Vlster in Ireland and the Lordship of Clare After he had ended his life in Ireland where he governed with great commendation his sonne Roger succeeded being both Earle of March and Vlster whom King Richard the Second declared heire apparent and his successour to the Crowne as being in right of his Mother the next and undoubted heire But he dying before king Richard left issue Edmund and Anne Edmund in regard of his Royall bloud and right to the Crowne stood greatly suspected to Henrie the Fourth who had usurped the kingdome and by him was first exposed unto dangers in so much as he was taken by Owen Glendour a Rebell and afterward whereas the Percies purposed to advance his right he was conveyed into Ireland kept almost twenty yeeres prisoner in the Castle of Trim suffering all miseries incident to Princes of the bloud while they lie open to every suspition and there through extreame griefe ended his daies leaving his sister Anne his heire She was married to Richard Earle of Cambridge in whose right his heires and posterity were Earles of March and made claime to the kingdome which in the end also they obtained as wee will shew in another place In which respect King Edward the Fourth created his eldest Sonne being Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall c. Earle of March also for a further augmentation of his Honour As for the title of Rad-nor no man ever bare it to my knowledge In this are Parishes 52. BRECKNOC Comitaus pars Osim SILVRVM BRECHNOCK-SHIRE BEneath Radnor-shire Southward lyeth BRECHNOCK-SHIRE in the British Brechineau so named as the Welshmen relate of a Prince named Brechanius whom they report to have had a great and an holy Offspring to wit twenty foure Daughters all Saints Farre greater this is than Radnor-shire but thicker set with high Hilles yet are the valleies fruitfull every where On the East side it is bounded with Hereford-shire On the South with Monmoâ—th and Glamorgan-shires ond on the West with Caermarden-shire But seeing there is nothing memorable or materiall to the description of this small Province which is not set downe by the curious diligence of Giraldus Cambrensis who was an Archdeacon heereof above foure hundred yeeres since I thinke I may doe well for my selfe to hold my peace a while and to admit him with his stile into the fellowship of this labour Brecknocke saith hee in his Booke called Itinerarium Cambriae is a Country having sufficient store of Corne and if there bee any defect thereof it is plentifully supplied out of the fruitefulnesse of England bordering so neere upon it a Country likewise well stored with pastures and Woods with wilde Déere and heards of Cattaile having abundance beside of fresh water fish wherewith Vske on the one side and Wy on the other serveth it For both these Rivers are full of Salmons and Trouts but Wy of the twaine is the better affording the best kinde of them which they call Vmbras Enclosed it is on every side with high hilles unlesse it be on the North part In the West it hath the mountaines of Canterbochan On the South-side likewise the Southern mountaines the chiefe whereof is called Cadier Arthur that is Arthurs chaire of the two toppes of the same for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is shaped with two capes resembling the forme of a Chaire And for that the Chaire standeth very high and upon a steepe downefall by a common tearme it was assigned to Arthur the greatest and mightiest King of the Britans In the very pitch and top of this hill there walmeth forth a spring of water And this fountaine in manner of a Well is deepe but foure square having no brooke or Riveret issuing from it yet are there Trouts found therein And therefore having these barres on the South side the aire is the colder defendeth the Country from the excessive heat of the Sunne and by a certaine naturall wholsomnesse of the aire maketh it most temperate But on the East side the mountaines of Talgar and Ewias doe as it were foresense it On the North side as he said it is more open and plaine namely where the River Wy severeth it from Radnor-shire by which stand two Townes well knowne for their antiquity Buelth and Hay Buelth is pleasantly situate with Woods about it fortified also with a Castle but of a later building by the Breoses and Mortimers when as Rhese ap Gruffin had rased the ancient Castle Now the Mercate much resorted unto maketh it more famous thereabout but in times past it seemeth to have beene for the owne worth of great name because Ptolomee observed the position therof according to the Longitude and Latitude who called it BULLEUM Silurum Of this towne the country lying round about it being rough and full of hils is named Buelth wherein when as the Saxons were
certaine dye after it CAERMARDIÌ„ Comitatus in quo DIMETAE Olim habitarunt Those latter words I reade thus Aeternali in domo that is In an eternall house For Sepulchres in that age were tearmed AETERNALES DOMUS that is Eternall habitations Moreover betweene Margan and Kingseage by the high way side there lyeth a stone foure foote long with this Inscription PUNP â—IUS CAR ANTOPIUS Which the Welsh Britans by adding and changing letters thus reade and make this interpretation as the right reverend Bishop of Landaff did write to mee who gave order that the draught of this Inscription should be taken likewise for my sake PIM BIS AN CAR ANTOPIUS that is The five fingers of freinds or neighbours killed us It is verily thought to bee the Sepulchre of Prince Morgan from whom the Country tooke name who was slaine as they would have it eight hundred yeeres before Christs Nativity But Antiquaries know full well that these Characters and formes of letters be of a farre later date After you are past Margan the shore shooteth forth into the North-East by Aber-Avon a small Mercate Towne upon the River Avons mouth whereof it tooke the name to the River Nid or Neath infamous for a quick-sand upon which stands an ancient Towne of the same name which Antonine the Emperour in his Itinerary called NIDUM Which when Fitz-Haimon made himselfe Lord of this Country fell in the partition to Richard Granvills share who having founded an Abbay under the very Townes side and consecrated his owne portion to God and to the Monkes returned againe to his owne ancient and faire inheritance which he had in England Beyond this River Neath whatsoever lieth betweene it and the River Loghor which boundeth this shire in the West wee call Gower the Britans and Ninnius Guhir wherein as he saith the sonnes of Keian the Scot planted themselves and tooke up a large roome untill that by Cuneda a British Lord they were driven out In the Raigne of Henry the First Henry Earle of Warwicke wonne it from the Welsh but by a conveyance and composition passed betweene William Earle of Warwicke and King Henry the Second it came to the Crowne Afterward King Iohn gave it unto William Breos who had taken Arthur Earle of Britaine prisoner to bee held by service of one Knight for all service and his heires successively held it not without troubles unto King Edward the Seconds daies for then William Breos when he had alienated and sold this inheritance to many and in the end by mocking and disappointing all others set Hugh Spenser in possession thereof to curry favour with the King And this was one cause among other things that the Nobles hated the Spensers so deadly and rashly shooke off their Allegeance to the King Howbeit this Gower came to the Mowbraies by an heire of Breos This is now divided into the East part and the West In the East part Swinesey is of great account a Towne so called by the Englishmen of Sea-Swine but the Britans Aber-Taw of the River Taw running by it which the foresaid Henry Earle of Warwicke fortified But there is a Towne farre more ancient than this by the River Loghor which Antonine the Emperour called LEUCARUM and wee by the whole name Loghor Where a little after the death of King Henry the First Howel Ap Meredic invading the Englishmen on a sudden with a power of the mountainers slew divers men of quality and good account Beneath this lyeth West-Gower and by reason of two armes of the Sea winding in on either side one it becommeth a Biland more memorable for the fruitfulnesse than the Townes in it and in times past of great name in regard of Kined canonized a Saint who lived heere a solitary life of whom if you desire to know more reade our Countryman Capgrave who hath set out his miracle with great commendation Since this Country was first conquered by the English The Lords thereof were those that lineally descended from Fitz-Haimon as Earle of Glocester Clares Spensers Beauchamps and one or two Nevils and by a daughter of Nevill who came likewise of the Spensers bloud Richard the Third King of England But when he was slaine king Henry the Seventh entred upon the inheritance of this Country and gave it to his unkle Iaspar Duke of Bedford and when hee dyed without issue the king resumed it unto his owne hands and left it to his sonne king Henry the Eighth whose sonne king Edward the Sixth sold the greatest part thereof to Sir William Herbert whom hee had created Earle of Pembrock and Baron of Cardiff But of the race of those twelve knights there remaine onely in this shire the Stradlings a notable house and of long continuance the Turbervills and some of the Flemings the greatest man of which house dwelleth at Flemingston now corruptly called Flemston as one would say Flemingstone which tooke the name of them And in England there are remaining yet the Lord Saint Iohn of Bletso the Granvills in Devonshire and the Siwards as I am enformed in Somerset-shire The issue male of all the rest is long since extinct and worne out and their lands by daughters passed over to divers houses with sundry alterations Parishes 118. DIMETAE PLinie was of opinion that the SILURES inhabited also the other part beside of this Country which bearing out farther Westward is called in English by some West-Wales and containeth Caermarden-shire Pembrock-shire and Cardigan-shire But Ptolomee who knew Britaine farre better placed heere another people whom he called DIMETAE and DEMETAE Gildas likewise and Ninnius both have used the name of DEMETIA for this Tract Whereupon the Britans that inhabite it changing M. into F. according to the propriety of their tongue commonly call it at this day Difed If it would not be thought strained curiosity I would derive this denomination of the Demetae from Deheu Meath that is A plaine champion toward the South like as the Britans themselves have named all this South-Wales Deheubarth that is The South part yea and those verily who inhabited another champion Country in Britaine were called in old time Meatae Neither I assure you is the site of this Region disagreeing from this signification For when you are come hither once by reason that the high hils gently settle downeward and grow still lower and lower it spreadeth by little and little into a plaine and even champion Country CAERMARDEN-SHIRE CAERMARDEN-SHIRE is plenteous enough in Corne stored abundantly with Cartaile and in some places yeeldeth pit cole for fewell On the East side it is limited with Glamorgan and Brechnock-shires on the West with Pembrock-shire on the North with Cardigan-shire severed from it by the River Tivie running betweene and on the South with the Ocean which with so great a Bay or Creeke getteth within the Land that this Countrey seemeth as it were for very feare to have shrunke backe and
the publike records of the Kingdome were buried a daughter of King Iohn a sonne of the King of the Danes the bodies also of the Lord Clifford and of other Lords Knights and Squires who in the time of the noble and renowned Kings of England were slaine in the Warres against the Welsh The next Towne in name to Beau-Marish is Newburg called in British Rossur standing ten miles off Westward which having been a long time greatly annoyed with heaps of sand driven in by the Sea complaineth that it hath lost much of the former state that it had Aber-fraw is not farre from hence which is now but an obscure and meane Towne yet in times past it excelled all the rest farre in worth and dignity as having been the Royall seat of the Kings of Guineth or North-Wales And in the utmost Promontorie Westward which wee call Holy-head there standeth a little poore Towne in British Caer-Guby so named of Kibie a right holy man and a disciple of Saint Hilarie of Poitiers who therein devoted himselfe to the service of God and from whence there is an usuall passage over into Ireland All the rest of this Island is well bespred with Villages which because they have in them nothing materially memorable I will crosse over into the Continent and view Denbigh-shire In this County there are reckoned Parishes 74. DENBIGH Comitatus pars Olim ORDOVICVM DENBIGH-SHIRE ON this side of the River Conwey DENBIGH-SHIRE in Welsh Sire Denbigh retyreth more within the Country from the Sea and shooteth Eastward in one place as farre as to the River Dee On the North North-West first the Sea for a small space and then Flint-shire on the West Merionith and Montgomery-shires on the East Cheshire and Shropp-shire encompasse it The West part is barraine the middle where it lyeth flat in a Valley most fruitfull The East side when it is once past the Valley hath not Nature so favourable unto it but next unto Dee it findeth her farre more kinde The West part but that it is somewhat more plentifull and pleasant toward the sea side is but heere and there inhabited and mounteth up more with bare and hungry hils but yet the painfull diligence and witty industry of the husbandmen hath begunne a good while since to overcome this leannesse of the soile where the hilles settle any thing flattish as in other parts of Wales likewise For after they have with a broad kinde of spade pared away the upper coat as it were or sord of the earth into certaine turfes they pile them up artificially on heapes put fire to them and burne them to ashes which being throwne upon the ground so pared and flayed causeth the hungry barrainnesse thereof so to fructifie that the fields bring forth a kinde of Rhie or Amel corne in such abundance as it is incredible Neither is this a new devise thus to burne the ground but very ancient as we may see in Virgil and Horace Among these Hilles there is a place commonly called Cerigy Drudion that is The stones of the Druidae and certaine little columnes or pillars are seene at Yvoellas with inscriptions in them of strange Characters which some imagine to have beene erected by the Druides and not farre from Clocainog this inscription is read in a stone AMILLIN TOVISATOC By the Vale side where these mountaines beginne now to wax thinner upon the hanging of a rocke standeth Denbigh called of our Britans by a more ancient name Cled Fryn-yn Ross that is A rough hill in Ross for so they call that part of the Shire which King Edward the First gave with other faire lands and possessions to David the brother of Lhewellin But when he soone after being found guilty of high treason was beheaded Henry Lacy Earle of Lincolne obtained it by the grant of the said King Edward and he fortified it with a wall about not large in circuit but strong and on the South side with a proper Castle strengthned with high Towres In the well whereof after that his onely sonne fortuned to be drowned the most sorrowfull father conceived such griefe that he gave over the worke and left it unfinished And after his death the Towne with the rest of the possessions descended unto the house of Lancaster by his daughter Alice who survived From whom notwithstanding it came first through the liberality of King Edward the Second when the said house was dejected unto Hugh Spenser Earle of Winchester then to Roger Mortimer by covenant and composition with King Edward the Third and the said Mortimers Armes are to be seene upon the chiefe gate But after that he was executed it with the Cantreds of Ross and Riewinoc c. were granted to William Montacute after Earle of Salisbury for supprising of Mortimer and shortly after it was restored unto the Mortimers and by them at length descended to the Family of Yorke At which time they of the House of Lancaster for the malice they bare unto Edward the Fourth who was of the family of Yorke did much hurt unto it And then either because the inhabitants like not the steepe situation thereof for the carriage up and downe was very incommodious or by reason that it wanted water they remooved downe from thence by little and little so as that this ancient Towne hath now few or none dwelling in it But a new one farre bigger than it sprung up at the very foote of the hill which is so well peopled and inhabited that by reason that the Church is not able to receive the multitude they beganne to build a new one in the place where the old Towne stood partly at the charges of their Lord Robert Earle of Leicester and partly with the money which they have gathered of many well disposed throughout England For the said Robert in the yeere 1564. was created by Queene Elizabeth Baron of Deubigh to him and the heires of his body lawfully begotten Neither is there any one Barony in all England that hath more Gentlemen holding thereof in fee and by service Now are we come into the very heart of the shire where Nature having removed the hils out of the way on both sides to shew what she could doe in a rough country hath spred beneath them a most beautifull pleasant vale reaching 17. miles in length from South to North and five miles or thereabout in bredth which lyeth open only toward the sea and the cleering North winde otherwise environed it is on every side with high hilles and those from the East side as it were embatled For such is the wonderfull workmanship of nature that the tops of these mountaines resemble in fashion the battlement of walles Among which the highest is Moilenlly on the top whereof I saw a warlike fense with trench and rampire also a little fountaine of cleere water This vale for wholsomenesse fruitfulnesse and pleasantnesse excelleth The colour and complexion of the Inhabitants is healthy their
last Baron of this race made it over as I have said already to Isabell Queene of England wife to King Edward the Second Howbeit the possession of the Castle was transferred afterward to the Stanleys now Earles of Darby Through the South part of this Shire lying beneath these places above named wandereth Aleâ— a little River neere unto which in an hill hard by Kilken a small village there is a Well The water whereof at certaine set times riseth and falleth after the manner of the Sea-tides Upon this Alen standeth Hope Castle in Welsh Caer-Gurle in which King Edward the First retired himselfe when the Welshmen had upon the sudden set upon his souldiers being out of array and where good milstones are wrought out of the rocke also Mold in Welsh Guid Cruc a Castle belonging in ancient time to the Barons of Monthault both which places shew many tokens of Antiquity Neere unto Hope a certaine Gardiner when I was first writing this worke digging somewhat deepe into the ground happened upon a very ancient peece of worke concerning which there grew many divers opinions of sundry men But hee that will with any diligence reade M. Vitruvius Pollio shall very well perceive it was nothing else but a Stouph or hote house begunne by the Romanes who as their riotous excesse grew together with their wealth used Bathes exceeding much In length it was five elns in breadth foure and about halfe an eln deepe enclosed with Walles of hard stone the paving layed with bricke pargetted with lime morter the arched roofe over it supported with small pillars made of bricke which roofe was of tiles pargetted over likewise very smoothe having holes heere and there through it wherein were placed certaine earthen pipes of Potters worke by which the heate was conveyed and so as hee saith Volvebant hypocausta vaporem that is the Stuples did send away a waulming hote vapour And who would not thinke this was one of these kindes of worke which Giraldus wondered at especially in Isca writing thus as he did of the Romanes workes That saith hee which a man would judge among other things notable there may you see on every side Stouphs made with marveilous great skill breathing out heate closely at certaine holes in the sides and narrow tunnels Whose worke this was the tiles there did declare being imprinted with these words LEGIO XX. that is The twentieth Legion which as I have shewed already before abode at Chester scarce sixe miles a side from hence Neere unto this River Alen in a certaine streight set about with woods standeth Coles-hull Giraldus tearmeth it Carbonarium collem that is Coles Hill where when King Henry the Second had made preparation with as great care as ever any did to give Battaile unto the Welsh the English by reason of their disordered multitude drawing out their Battalions in their rankes and not ranged close in good array lost the Field and were defeited yea and the very Kings standerd was forsaken by Henry of Essex who in right of inheritance was Standerd-bearer to the Kings of England For which cause he being afterwards charged with treason and by his challenger overcome in combate had his goods confiscate and seized into the Kings hands and he displeased with himselfe for his cowardise put on a coule and became a Monke Another little parcell there is of this Shire on this side the River Dee dismembred as it were from this which the English call English Mailor Of this I treated in the County of Chester whiles I spake of Bangor and there is no reason to iterate the same heere which hath beene already spoken of before Neither doth it afford any thing in it worth the reporting unlesse it be Han-meere by ae Meres side whereof a right ancient and worshipfull Family there dwelling tooke their sirname The Earles of Chester as they skirmished by occasions and advantage of opportunity with the Welsh were the first Normans that brought this Country under their subjection whereupon wee reade in ancient Records The County of Flint appertaineth to the Dignity of the sword of Chester and the eldest sonnes of the K.K. of England were in old time stiled by the Title of Earles of Chester and of Flint But notwithstanding King Edward the First supposing it would bee very commodious both for the maintenance of his owne power and also to keepe under the Welsh held in his owne hands both this and all the sea Coast of Wales As for the in-land Countries he gave them to his Nobles as he thought good following herein the policie of the Emperour Augustus who undertooke himselfe to governe the Provinces that were strongest and lay outmost but permitted Proconsuls by lot to rule the rest Which he did in shew to defend the Empire but in very deed to have all the armes and martiall men under his owne command In this County of Flint there be Parishes in all 28. PRINCES OF WALES AS concerning the Princes of Wales of British bloud in ancient times you may reade in the Historie of Wales published in print For my part I thinke it requisite and pertinent to my intended purpose to set downe summarily those of latter daies descended from the Roiall line of England King Edward the First unto whom his Father King Henry the Third had graunted the Principalitie of Wales when hee had obtained the Crowne and Lhewellin Ap. Gryffith the last Prince of the British race was slaine and thereby the sinnewes as it were of the Principalitie were cut in the twelfth yeere of his Reigne united the same unto the Kingdome of England And the whole Province sware fealty and allegeance unto Edward of Caernarvon his Sonne whom he made Prince of Wales But King Edward the Second conferred not upon his Sonne Edward the title of Prince of Wales but onely the name of Earle of Chester and of Flint so farre as I ever could learne out of the Records and by that title summoned him to Parliament being then nine yeeres old King Edward the Third first Created his eldest Sonne Edward surnamed the Blacke Prince the Mirour of Chivalry being then Duke of Cornwall and Earle of Chester Prince of Wales by solemne investure with a cap of estate and Coronet set on his head a gold ring put upon his finger and a silver vierge delivered into his hand with the assent of the Parliament who in the very floure of his martiall glory was taken away by untimely death too too soone to the universall griefe of all England Afterwards King Edward the Third invested with the said honour Richard of Burdeaux the said Princes Sonne as heire apparent to the Crowne who was deposed from his Kingdome by King Henry the Fourth and having no issue was cruelly dispatched by violent death The said King Henry the Fourth at the formall request of the Lords and Commons bestowed this Principalitie with the title of Chester and Flint with
solemne investure and a kisse in full Parliament upon his eldest Sonne who gloriously bare the name of King Henry the Fifth His Sonne King Henry the Sixth who at his Fathers death was an Infant in the cradle conferred likewise this honour which he never had himselfe upon his young Sonne Edward whose unhappie fortune it was to have his braines dashed out cruelly by the faction of Yorke being taken prisoner at Tewkesbury field Not long after King Edward the Fourth having obtained the Crowne created Edward his young Sonne Prince of Wales who was afterwards in the lineall succession of Kings Edward the Fifth of that name And within a while after his Unkle King Richard the Third who made him away ordained in his roome Edward his owne Sonne whom King Edward the Fourth had before made Earle of Salisburie but he died quickly after Then King Henrie the Seventh created his eldest sonne Arthur Prince of Wales and when he was dead Henrie his other Sonne well knowne in the world by the name of King Henrie the Eighth Every one of these had the Principality of Wales given unto them by the foresaid solemne investure and delivery of a Patent To hold to themselves and their Heires Kings of England For Kings would not bereave themselves of so excellent an occasion to doe well by their Eldest Sonnes but thought it very good policie by so great a benefit to oblige them when they pleased Queene Mary Queene Elizabeth and King Edward the Children of King Henrie the Eighth although they never had investure nor Patent yet were commonly named in their order Princes of Wales For at that time Wales was by authoritie of Parliament so annexed and united to the Kingdome of England that both of them were governed vnder the same Law or that you may reade it abridged out of the Act of Parliament The Kings Country or dominion of Wales shall stand and continue for ever incorporated united and annexed to and with the Realme of England and all and singular person and persons borne and to be borne in the said Principalitie Country or Dominion of Wales shall have enioy and inherit all and singular freedomes liberties rights priviledges and Lawes within this Realme and other the Kings Dominions as other the Kings Subiects naturally borne within the same have enioy and inherit and the Lawes Ordinances and Statutes of the Realme of England for ever and none other shall he had used practised and executed in the said Country or Dominion of Wales and every part thereof in like manner forme and order as they be and shall be in this Realme and in such like manner and forme as heereafter shall be further established and ordained This Act and the calme command of King Henrie the Seventh preparing way for it effected that in a short time which the violent power of other Kings armes and especially of Henrie the Fourth with extreame rigour also of Lawes could not draw on in many yeeres For ever sithence the British Nation hath continued as faithfully and dutifully in their Loyall Allegiance to the Crowne of England as any other part of the Realme whatsoever Now am I to returne out of Wales into England and must goe unto the Brigantes BRIGANTES BRITAINE which hitherto hath as it were launched out with huge Promontories looking on the one side toward Germanie on the other side toward Ireland now as if it were afraid of the Sea violently inrushing upon it withdraweth it selfe farther in and by making larger separations of lands retireth backe gathered into a farre narrower breadth For it is not past one hundred miles broad from coast to coast which on both sides passe on in a maner with straight and direct shores Northward as farre as to Scotland All this part well neere of the Island while the Romane Empire stood upright and flourished in Britaine was inhabited by the BRIGANTES For Plinie writeth that they dwelt from the East Sea to the West A nation this was right valiant populous withall and of especiall note among ancient Authors who all doe name them BRIGANTES unlesse it be Stephanus onely in his booke Of Cities who called them BRIGAE in which place that which he wrote of them is defective at this day in the bookes by reason that the sentence is imperfect If I should thinke that these were called Brigantes of Briga which in the ancient Spanish tongue signified A Citie I should not satisfie my selfe seeing it appeareth for certaine out of Strabo that it is a meere Spanish word If I were of opinion with Goropius that out of the Low Dutch tongue they were termed Brigantes as one would say Free-hands should I not obtrude upon you his dreames for dainties Howsoever the case standeth our Britanes or Welsh-men if they see any of a bad disposition and audaciously playing lawlesse and lewde parts use to say of them by way of a common merry quippe Wharret Brigans that is They play the Brigants And the French-men at this day alluding as it seemeth to the ancient language of the Gaules usually terme such lewde fellowes Brigans like as Pirats Ships Brigantins But whether the force of the word was such in old time in the Gaules or Britanes language or whether our Brigantes were such like men I dare not determine Yet if my memory faile me not Strabo calleth the Brigantes a people about Alpes Grassatores that is Robbers and Iulius a Belgian a young man of desperate boldnesse who counted power authority honestie and vertue to be nothing but naked names is in Tacitus surnamed Briganticus With which kinde of vice our old Brigantes may seeme to have been tainted when they so robbed and spoiled the neighbour inhabitants that the Emperour Antoninus Pius for this cause tooke away a great part of their Country from them as Pausanias witnesseth who writeth thus of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Antoninus Pius cut the Brigantes in Britaine short of a great part of their Country because they began to take armes and in hostile maner to invade Genunia a Region subject to the Romanes Neither will any I hope take this as a reproach Surely I should seeme farre unlike my selfe if I fell now to taxe ignominiously any private person much lesse a Nation Neither was this counted a reproachfull imputation in that warlike age when all Nations reckoned that their right which they could winne or hold by might and dint of sword Roberies saith Caesar among the Germans are not noted with infamie such I meane as are committed without the borders of every State and they allow the practise thereof to exercise their youth withall and to keepe them from idlenesse And for a reason not unlike the Paeones among the Greekes are so called quia Percussores that is because they were cutters The Quadi among the Germans and the Chaldaei likewise are reported to have gotten those names because they used to robbe and kill Now in that Florianus Del-Campe a Spaniard hath
the West twenty degrees and forty eight minutes in Longitude Whiles I looked round about from the top of the said castle hill to see the mouth of Lone that issueth it selfe into the sea a little lower Fornesse the other part of this shire appeared in sight which the sea hath after a sort violently rent apart from the rest For when as the shore did from hence shoote out a maine way into the West the Ocean as it were much displeased and angry hereat obstinately ceased not to flash and mangle it nay which is more hath with his fell flowing at boisterous tides devoured the shore and thereby maketh three wide creâ—kes or bayes namely Kent-sand at which the river Ken powreth it selfe forth Leven-sand and Dudden-sand betweene which two the land beareth out so much that thereupon it tooke the name For with us in our language For-nesse Foreland is all one with the Latine Promontorium anterius that is a Fore-promontory All this part unlesse it be hard by the sea side mounteth up aloft with high topped hils and huge fels standing thicke together which they tearme Forness-fells Among which the Britans lived safe a great while trusting upon these strong naturall fenses although the victorious English Saxons made way through all in the end For in the yeere 228. after there comming in I gather that the Britans had their abode here because Egfride King of Northumberland gave unto Holy Saint Cuthbert the land called Carthmell and all the Britans in it thus we finde written in his life and it is very well knowne that Carthmell is a part of this shire by Kentsand and a little towne in it retaineth yet the same name Wherein William Mareschall the elder Earle of Pembroch built a Priory and endowed it with living If you read in Ptolomee SETANTIORUM 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The Setantians Mere as some Copies have and not Setantiorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The Setantians Haven I durst boldly avouch that these Britans here were called SETANTII For among these mountaines the greatest standing water in all England now called Winander-mere in the English Saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haply of his winding and turning in and out lieth stretched out for the space of ten miles or thereabout with crooked bankes and is all paved as it were with stone in the bottome in some places of wonderfull depth and breeding a peculiar kinde of fish found no where else which the inhabitants there by call A Chare And a little village standing hard by carrieth the name thereof In which Eathred King of Northumberland in the yeer of Christ 792. when he had by force fetched King Elfwolds sonnes out of Yorke flue them that by his owne wickednesse and their blood hee might secure the Kingdome to himselfe and his Betwixt this Mere and the river Dudden the promontory runneth out which wee commonly call Fornesse and hath the Iland Walney as a fore-fence or countremure lying along by it with a small arme of the sea betweene The gullet or entry into which is defended with a fort called the Pile of Fouldrey standing in the midst of the waves upon a rocke erected there by the Abbot of Fornesse in the first yeere of King Edward the third As for the Promontory it selfe there is nothing worth the sight in it unlesse it be the ruines of a monastery of Cistertian Monkes called Fornesse Abbey which Stephen Earle of Bullen afterwards King of England in the yeere of our redemption 1127. built in a place called sometimes Bekensgill or translated rather from Tulket in Andernesse Out of the Monkes whereof and from no place else as they themselves have reported the Bishops of the Isle of Man that lieth just over against were by an ancient custome wont to bee elected as having beene the mother as it were of many Monasteries in the said Man and in Ireland More Eastward standeth Aldingham an ancient hereditament belonging to the family of the Haveringtons or Harringtons unto whom it came from the Flemmings by the Cancefelds and whose inheritance descended by a daughter unto William Bonvill of Somersetshire and at last by him unto the Greies Marquesses of Dorset And somwhat higher is Ulverston in this regard not to bee passed over in silence for that King Edward the third gave a moity thereof unto Sir John Coupland a most brave warriour whom also he advanced to the dignity of a Banaret because in the battaile at Durham he took David the second King of the Scots prisoner But after his decease the same King granted it with other faire lands in this tract and the title also of Earle of Bedford unto Ingelram Lord Coucy of France as who had married his daughter Isabel and whose ancestours in right of Christiana Lindsey had great revenewes in England Touching the noble men which have borne the title of Lancaster there were in the first infancy of the Norman Empire three stiled Lords of the Honour of Lancaster namely Roger of Poictou the sonne of Roger Mont-gomery who was surnamed Pictavensis as William of Malmesbury writeth because hee had married a wife from out of Poictou in France But when he had by his perfidious disloyalty lost this honour William the sonne of King Stephen and Earle of Moriton and Warren had the same given unto him by his Father After whose death King Richard the first bestowed it upon his brother John who was afterward King of England For thus we read in an old History King Richard declared his singular love to his brother Iohn For beside Ireland and the Earledome of Moriton in Normandy he heaped upon him so many dignities in England that he was in maner a Tetrarch there Finally he conferred upon him Cornwall Lancaster Notingham Derby with the country adjoining and many more beside A good while after King Henry the third the sonne of John first advanced Edmund his second sonne called by some Crouth-backe to the title of Earle of Lancaster unto whom hee conveyed and made over the inheritances and honours of Simon Montfort Earle of Leicester Robert Ferrars Earle of Derby and John of Monmouth because they had risen and rebelliously born armes against him and he gave this Honor of Lancaster unto him in these words The Honour County Castle and Town of Lancaster with the Cow-pastures forrests of Wiresdale Lownsdale New castle under Lime the manour forrest and Castle of Pickering the manor of Scaleby the towne of Gomicester and the rents of the towne of Huntendon c. After hee the said Edmund had missed the kingdome of Sicily in which the Pope had invested him in vaine by a ring and not without ridiculous disgrace to the English nation caused in honour of him certaine peeces of gold to bee stamped with this title AIMUNDUS REX SICILIAE having first cunningly suckt a great masse of money from the credulous King in this regard This Edmund
the country lyeth the Barony of Gillesland a little region so encombred by reason of sudden rising brookes which they call Gilles that I would have deemed it tooke the name of them had I not read in a booke belonging to the Abbey of Lanercost that one Gill Fitz-Bueth who is called also Gilbert in a Charter of King Henry the second held it as Lord in old time of whom it is probable this name was rather given to it Through this Gillesland the wall of Severus that most famous monument of all Britaine runneth streight as it were by a line from Carlile Eastward by Stanwicks a little village by Scalby castle belonging in times past to the Tilliols sometimes a name in this tract of good worship and reputation from whom it came to the Pickerings then Cambec a small brooke runneth under the wall Neere unto which the Barons of Dacre built Askerton castle a little pile where the Governour of Gillesland whom they call Land-Sergeant had a ward Beneath the wall it conjoyneth it selfe with the river Irthing where standeth Irthington a chiefe Manour as they tearme it of this Barony of Gillesland And great ruins are here to be seen at Castle-steed Neere unto it is Brampton a little mercate towne which we suppose to bee BREMETURACUM at the very line and range of the wall for it is scarce a mile from the said wall where in times past lay the first Band of the Tungri out of Germanie in the declining state of the Romane Empire and a company of Armaturae under the generall of Britaine These were horsemen armed at all peeces But whether these Armatures were Duplar or Simplar it is doubtfull Duplar or Duple Armaturae they were called in those daies who had double allowances of corne Simplar that had but single Neither verily must I overpasse in silence that hard by Brampton there mounteth up an high hill fortified in the verie top with a trench they call it the Mote from which there is a faire prospect every way into the country Beneath this and by Castle-steeds like as at Trederman joining unto it were found these inscriptions exemplified for me by the hand of the right honourable Lord William Howard of Naworth third sonne unto Thomas late Duke of Norfolke a singular lover of venerable antiquitie and learned withall who in these parts in right of his wife a sister and one of the heires of the last Lord Dacre enjoieth faire possessions This stone also was found there in an old Hot-house wherein by ill fortune the name of the Emperours Lievtenant and Propretour of Britaine is worne out Neere to Brampton Gelt a riveret runneth downe by the banke whereof in a crag called Helbecke are read these antiquities wherein the words hang not well together erected as it seemeth by a Lievtenant of the second Legion Augusta under Agricola the Propraetour and others beside which the injurie of time hath envied us In the same rocke these words also are read written in a more moderne and newer letter OFFICIUM ROMANORUM This Gelt emptieth himselfe into the river Irthing which with a swift and angry streame holdeth his course by Naworth Castle belonging unto the Lord William Howard aforesaid who now repaireth it but lately to the Barons of Dacre of whom when the last died in his tender yeeres Leonard Dacre his Unkle who chose rather to try the title of inheritance with his Prince by force of armes than with his Nieces by wager of law seized into his hands this Castle and levied a band of rebels against his Prince whom the Lord of Hunsdon with the garrison souldiers of Berwick soone discomfited and put to flight in which conflict many were slaine but more ranne away amongst whom Leonard himselfe escaped But of him more in my Annales Neerer unto the wall beyond the river Irthing was lately found this faire votive altar erected to the Goddesse Nymphe of the Brigantes for the health of the Empresse Plautilla wife to M. Aurelius Antoninus Severus and the whole Imperiall family by M. Cocceius Nigrinus a Treasurer to the Emperour when Laetus was second time Consull with intricate connexion of letters which I read thus DEAE NYMPHAE BRIGantum QUOD VOVERAT PRO SALUTE PLAUTILIAE COnjugis INVICTAE DO Mini NOSTRI INVICTI IMP. M. AURE Lii SEVERI ANTONINI PII. FE Licis C AE Saris AU Gusti TOTIUSQUEDO MUS DIVINAE EJUS M. COCCEIUS NIGRINUS Questor AU Gusti Numini DEVOTUS LIBENS SUSCEPTUM Solvit LAETO II. Here by was the Priory of Lanercost founded by R. de Vaulx Lord of Gillesland and hard by the wall Burd Oswald Beneath which where that Picts wall passed over the river Irthing by an arched bridge was the station of the first band Aelia Dacica or of the Dacians the place is now named Willoford which the booke of Notice of Provinces and many altars bearing inscriptions to Iupiter Optimus Maximus reared by that Cohort here doe plentifully prove Of which I thought good to adde these unto the rest although time hath almost worne them out I. O. M. OH I. AEL DA C. C. A. GETA IRELSAVRNES I. O. M. CoH. I. AEL DAC C. P. STATU LoN GINUS TRIB PRO SALUTE D. N MAXjMIANO FOR CAE VA OAED LEG VI VIC P.F F. I. O. M. COHIAEL DAC TETRICIANORO C. P. LUTIC V S. DESIG NATUS TRIB I.O.M. COH I. AEL DAC GORD ANA. C. P EST I. O. M. H. I. AEL DAC C. PRAEE SI FLIUS FA S TRIB PETUO COS. The first Lord of Gillesland that hitherto I have read of was William Meschines the brother of Ralph Lord of Cumberland I meane not that William brother to Ranulph Earle of Chester from whom came Ranulph de Ruelent but the brother of Ralph yet could hee never wrest it wholly out of the Scots hands for Gill the sonne of Bueth held the greatest part of it by force and armes After his death King Henry the second gave it to Hubert de Vaulx or de Vallibus whose shield of Armes was Chequy Or Gueles His sonne Robert founded and endowed the Priory of Lanercost But the inheritance after a few yeeres was by marriage translated to the Moltons and from them by a daughter to Ranulph Lord Dacre whose line hath flourished unto our daies in very great honour Having now in some sort surveied the maritime coasts and more inward parts of Cumberland the side that lieth more Easterly being leane hungry and a wast remaineth to bee viewed and yet it sheweth nothing but the spring-head of South-Tine in a moorish place and an ancient Romane high-way eight ells broad paved with great stone commonly called Mayden Way which leadeth out of Westmorland and where the riveret Alon and the aforesaid South Tine meet together in one channell by the side of an hill of gentle descent there remaine yet the footings of a very great and ancient towne which was toward the North enclosed within a fourefold rampier
to the Barons Dacre of Gillesland Nothing I have of any antiquity to say of this towne but that in the yeere of Christ 1215. it was set on fire by the inhabitants themselves in spitefull malice to King John From hence the river Wents-beck passeth by Bothall Castle and the Barony somtimes of Richard Berthram from whose posterity it was devolved unto the Barons of Ogle Upon the bank whereof I have thought this great while whether truly or upon a bare supposall I know not that in old time GLANOVENTA stood which was fortified by the Romans with a garrison of the first Cohort of the Morini for defence of the marches Which the very situation doth as it were perswade and the rivers name together with the signification of the same induceth me to thinke For it is seated within the raunge of the rampire or wall even where the booke of Notices placeth it the rivers name is Wants-beck and GLANOVENTA in the British tongue signifieth the shore or bank of Venta Whence also Glanon a city in France upon the sea-shore wherof Pomponius Mela hath made mention may seeme to have drawn that appellation Not farre hence to let passe little piles and towres of lesse account is to be seene neere unto the shore Withrington or Woderington in the English Saxon tongue of old time called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ancient Castle which gave the name unto the Withringtons Gentlemen of good birth and Knights whose valour in the warre hath beene from time to time remarkable Then the river Coquet falleth into the sea which springing among the rough and stony mountaines of Cheviot not farre from his head hath Billesdun upon it from whence sprang the ancient family of the Selbies and somewhat lower Southward Harbottle in the English Saxons tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The station of the Army whence the family of the Harbottles descended that in the ages aforegoing flourished A Castle it had in times past but in the yeere of our salvation 1314. the Scots razed it Close unto this standeth Halyston as one would say Holy stone where the report goeth that Paulinus in the primitive Church of the English nation baptized many thousands And at the verie mouth of Coquet Warkworth a proper faire Castle of the Percies standeth and defendeth the shore where there is a chappell wonderfully built out of a rocke hewen hollow and wrought without beames rafters or anie peeces of timber This Castle King Edward the third gave unto Henrie Percie together with the Mannour of Rochburie Afore time it had beene the Baronie of Roger Fitz-Richard by the gift of Henrie the second King of England who gave also unto his sonne Clavering in Essex whereof at the commandement of King Edward the first they assumed unto them the surname of Clavering leaving the ancient maner of taking their names from the forename or Christian name of the father for before that time they were surnamed according to the forename of the father as Robert Fitz Roger Roger Fitz Iohn c. Part of this inheritance the Nevils entred upon by Fine and Covenant who afterward were Earles of Westmorland and part of it a daughter named Eve inherited who was wedded to Sir Th. Ufford from whose posteritie it came hereditarily unto the Fienes Barons of Dacres But from the younger sonnes branched the Barons of Evers the Evers of Axholme and the Claverings of Kalaly in this Countie and others Hard unto this also lieth Morwick which may likewise boast of the Lords it had whose issue male had an end about the yeere of our Lord 1258. and so the inheritance passed over by the daughters unto the Lumleies Seimors Bulmers and Roscells The shore after this openeth it selfe to give passage unto the river ALAUNUS which being not yet bereft of that name whereby it was knowne unto Ptolomee is called short Alne Upon the bank whereof besides Twifford that is A double fourd where was holden a solemne Synod under King Egfrid and Eslington the habitation of the Collingwoods men renowned for their warlike exploits there sheweth also it selfe Alan-wic in the English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now commonly called Anwick a towne ennobled by the victorie of Englishmen wherein our ancestors shewed such valour and prowesse that they tooke William King of Scots and presented him prisoner unto King Henrie the second and fortified besides with a goodly castle which when Malcome the third King of the Scots had by long siege enforced to such extremitie that it was at the point now to bee yeelded up hee was slaine by a souldier that making semblance to deliver unto him the keyes of the Castle hanging at the head of a speare ranne him into the bodie with it And withall his sonne Edward whiles to revenge his fathers death he charged unadvisedly upon the enemie was so wounded that hee died thereof shortly after This was a Baronie sometimes belonging to the Vescies For King Henrie the second gave it unto Eustach Fitz-Iohn father to William Vesci to be held by the service of twelve knights Sir John Vescy of this race returning out of the sacred warre in the Holy-land was the first that brought with him into England the Friers Carmelites and built for them a Covent here in Holme a desart place not unlike to Mount Carmel in Syria William the last of the Vescies made Antonine Bec Bishop of Durham his feofie upon trust that he should deliver this Castle with all the lands lying thereto unto his base sonne the onely childe that he left behind him but the Bishop falsly conveied away from him the inheritance and for readie money sold it unto William Lord Percie since which time it hath evermore belonged to the Percies From hence the shore making divers angles and points passeth by Dunstaburge a Castle belonging to the Duchie of Lancaster which some have untruely supposed to be Bebhan for Bebhane standeth higher and in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is now called Bamborrow Our Bede where hee reports that this Castle was besieged and burnt by Penda King of the Mercians writeth that Queene Bebba gave it this name but the Floure-gatherer recordeth that Ida the first King of Northumberland built it which hee sensed first with great stakes or piles of timber and afterward with a wall But take here with you the description thereof out of Roger Hoveden Bebba saith hee is a most strong Citie not verie great but containing the space of two or three fields having into it one hollow entrance and the same raised on high with staires after a wonderfull manner and on the pitch of an hill a very faire Church and Westward on the top thereof there is a well set out with marvailous workmanship sweet to drink of and most pure to see to But in our age it is counted a castle rather than a city yet so
matters In criminall causes the Kings chiefe Justice holdeth his Court for the most part at Edenburgh which office the Earles of Argile have executed now for some yeeres And he doth depute two or three Lawyers who have the hearing and deciding of capitall actions concerning life and death or of such as inferre losse of limbs or of all goods In this Court the Defendant is permitted yea in case of high treason to entertaine a Counsellor or Advocate to pleade his cause Moreover in criminall matters there are sometimes by vertue of the Kings commission and authoritie Justices appointed for the deciding of this or that particular cause Also the Sheriffes in their territories and Magistrates in some Burghs may sit in judgement of man-slaughter in case the man-slayer be taken within 24. houres after the deed committed and being found guiltie by a Jurie put him to death But if that time be once overpast the cause is referred and put over to the Kings Iustice or his Deputies The same priviledge also some of the Nobilitie and Gentrie enjoy against theeves taken within their owne jurisdictions There bee likewise that have such Roialties as that in criminall causes they may exercise a jurisdiction within their owne limits and in some cases recall those that dwell within their owne limits and liberties from the Kings Justice howbeit with a caution and proviso interposed That they judge according to Law Thus much briefly have I put downe as one that hath but sleightly looked into these matters yet by the information of the judicious Knight Sir Alexander Hay his Majesties Secretarie for that kingdome who hath therein given me good light But as touching SCOTLAND what a noble countrey it is and what men it breedeth as sometimes the Geographer wrote of Britaine there will within a while more certaine and more evident matter be delivered since that most high and mightie Prince hath set it open now for us which had so long time beene shut from us Meane while I will come unto the description of places the project that I entended especially GADENI or LADENI UPon the Ottadini or Northumberland bordered as next neighbours the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is GADENI who also by the inversion or turning of one letter upside downe are called in some Copies of Ptolomee LADENI seated in that countrey which lieth betweene the mouth of the river Twede and Edenburgh Forth and is at this day divided into many petty Countries the chiefe whereof are Teifidale Twedale Merch and Lothien in Latine Lodeneium under which one generall name alone the Writers of the middle time comprised all the rest TEIFIDALE TEifidale that is to say the Vale by the river Teifie or Teviat lying next unto England among the edges of high craggie hills is inhabited by a warlike nation which by reason of so many encounters in foregoing ages betweene Scottish and English are alwaies most readie for service and sudden invasions The first place among these that wee meet with is Iedburgh a Burrough well inhabited and frequented standing neere unto the confluence of Teifie and Ied whereof it took the name also Mailros a very ancient Monastery wherein at the beginning of our Church were cloistered Monkes of that ancient order and institution that gave themselves to prayer and with their hand-labour earned their living which holy King David restored and replenished with Cistertian Monkes And more Eastward where Twede and Teifie joine in one streame Rosburg sheweth it selfe called also Roxburg and in old time MARCHIDUN because it was a towne in the Marches where stands a Castle that for naturall situation and towred fortifications was in times past exceeding strong Which being surprised and held by the English whiles James the second King of Scots encircled it with a siege hee was by a peece of a great Ordnance that brake slaine untimely in the very floure of his youth a Prince much missed and lamented of his Subjects As for the castle it was yeelded and being then for the most part of it layed even with the ground is now in a manner quite vanished and not to bee seene The territory adjoyning called of it the Sherifdome of Roxburg hath one hereditary Sheriffe out of the family of the Douglasses who is usually called the Sheriffe of Teviot Dale And now hath Roxburg also a Baron Robert Kerr through the favour of King James the sixth out of the family of the Kerrs a famous house and spred into a number of branches as any one in that tract out of which the Fernhersts and others inured in martiall feats have been of great name Twede aforesaid runneth through the middest of a Dale taking name of it replenished with sheepe that beare wooll of great request A very goodly river this is which springing more inwardly Eastward after it hath passed as it were in a streight channell by Drimlar Castle by Peblis a mercate towne which hath for the Sheriff thereof Baron Zeister like as Selkirk hard by hath another out of the family of Murray of Fallohill entertaineth Lauder a riveret at which appeareth Lauder together with Thirlestan where stands a very faire house of Sir John Mettellan late Chancellor of Scotland whom for his singular wisdome King James the sixth created Baron of Thirlestan Then Twede beneath Roxburg augmented with the river of Teviot resorting unto him watereth the Sherifdome of Berwick throughout a great part whereof is possessed by the Humes wherein the chiefe man of that family exerciseth now the jurisdiction of a Sheriffe and so passeth under Berwick the strongest towne of Britain whereof I have spoken already where hee is exceeding full of Salmons and so falleth into the sea MERCHIA MERCH or MERS MERCH which is next and so named because it is a march country lyeth wholly upon the German sea In this first Hume Castle sheweth it selfe the ancient possession of the Lords of Home or Hume who being descended from the family of the Earles of Merch are growne to be a noble and faire spred family out of which Alexander Hume who before was the first Baron of Scotland and Sheriff of Berwick was of late advanced by James King of great Britaine to the title of Earle Hume Neere unto which lieth Kelso famous sometime for the monastery which with thirteen others King David the first of that name built out of the ground for the propagation of Gods glory but to the great empairing of the Crowne land Then is to be seene Coldingham which Bede calleth the City Coldana and the City of Coludum haply COLANIA mentioned by Ptolomee a place consecrated many ages since unto professed Virgins or Nunnes whose chastity is recorded in ancient bookes For that they together with Ebba their Prioresse cut off their owne noses and lips choosing rather to preserve their virginity from the Danes than their beauty and favour and yet for all that the Danes burnt their monasterie and them withall Hard by is Fast-castle a castle of
the Lords Humes so called for their firmnesse and strength thereof at the Promontory of the said Saint Ebbe who being the daughter of Edilfria King of Northumberland when her Father was taken prisoner got hold of a boat in Humber and passing along the raging Ocean landed here in safety became renowned for her sanctimony and left her name unto the place But this Merch is mentioned in the Historiographers a great deale more for the Earles thereof than for any places therein who for martiall prowesse were highly renowned and descended from Gospatricke Earle of Northumberland whom after he was fled from William Conqueror of England Malcom Canmor that is With the great head King of Scotland entertained enriched him with the castle of Dunbar and honoured with the Earldome of Merch. Whose posterity besides other goodly and faire lands in Scotland held as appeareth plainly in an old Inquisition the Barony of Bengeley in Northumberland that they should be Inborow and Utborow betweene England and Scotland What the meaning should be of these tearmes let others ghesse what my conjecture is I have said already In the reigne of King James the first George de Dunbar Earle of Merch by authority of Parliament for his Fathers rebellion lost the Propriety and possession of the Earledome of Merch and the Seignorie of Dunbar And when as hee proved by good evidences and writings brought forth that his father had beene pardoned for that fault by the Regents of the Kingdome he was answered againe that it was not in the Regents power to pardon an offence against the State and that it was expressely provided by the Lawes that children should undergoe punishment for their fathers transgressions to the end that being thus heires to their fathers rashnesse as they are to their goods and lands they should not at any time in the haughty pride of their owne power plot any treason against Prince or country This title of Earle of March among other honourable titles was given afterward to Alexander Duke of Albany and by him forfaited And in our remembrance this title of honour was revived againe in Robert the third brother of Mathew Earle of Lennox who being of a Bishop of Cathanes made Earle of Lennox resigned up that title soone after unto his nephew then created Duke of Lennox and he himselfe in lieu thereof received of the King the name and stile of the Earle of Merch. LAUDEN or LOTHIEN LOTHIEN which is also called Lauden named in times past of the Picts Pictland shooteth out along from Merch unto the Scottish sea or the Forth having many hils in it and little wood but for fruitfull corn-fields for courtesie also and civility of manners commended above all other countries of Scotland About the yeere of our salvation 873. Eadgar King of England betweene whom and Keneth the third King of Scots there was a great knot of alliance against the Danes common enemies to them both resigned up his right unto him in this Lothien as Matthew the Flour-gatherer witnesseth and to winne his heart the more unto him He gave unto him many mansions in the way wherein both he and his successours in their comming unto the Kings of England and in returne homeward might be lodged which unto the time of K. Henry the second continued in the hands of the Kings of Scotland In this Lothien the first place that offereth it selfe unto our sight upon the sea side is Dunbar a passing strong castle in old time and the seat of the Earles of Merch aforesaid who thereupon on were called Earles of Dunbar A Peece many a time wonne by English and as often recovered by the Scottish But in the yeere 1567. by authority of the States in Parliament it was demolished because it should not be an hold and place of refuge for rebels But James King of great Britain conferred the title and honour of Earle of Dunbar upon Sir George Hume for his approved fidelity whom he had created before Baron Hume of Barwick to him his heires and assignes Hard by Tine a little river after it hath runne a short course falleth into the sea neere unto the spring-head whereof standeth Zeister which hath his Baron out of the family of the Haies Earles of Aroll who also is by inheritance Sheriffe of the little territory of Twedall or Peblis By the same riveret some few miles higher is seated Hadington or Hadina in a wide and broad plaine which towne the English fortified with a deepe and large ditch with a mure or rampire also without foure square and with foure bulwarkes at the corners and with as many other at the inner wall and Sir Iames Wilford an Englishman valiantly defended it against Dessie the Frenchman who with ten thousand French and Dutch together fiercely assaulted it untill that by reason of the plague which grew hot among the garrison souldiers Henry Earle of Rutland comming with a royall army raised the siege removed the French and having laid the munitions levell conducted the English home And now of late King James the sixth hath ranged Sir Iohn Ramsey among the Nobles of Scotland with title and honour of Vicount Hadington for his faithfull valour as whose RIGHT HAND was the DEFENDER OF PRINCE AND COUNTREY in that most wicked conspiracy of the Gowries against the Kings person Touching this Hadington thus hath Master I. Ionston versified Planities praetensa jacet prope flumina Tinae Fluminiâ— arguti clauditur ista sinu Vulcani Martis quae passa incendia fati Ingemit alterno vulnere fracta vices Nunc tandem sapit icta Dei praecepta secuta Praesidio gaudet jam potiore Poli. Before it lies a spacious plaine the Tine his streame hard by In bosome of that river shrill this towne enclos'd doth lie Which having suffered grievous smart of fire and sword by turnes Grones under these misfortunes much and for her losses mournes But now at length selfe-harmes have made it wise and by Gods lore Directed helpe it hath from heaven which steedeth it much more Within a little of Hadington standeth Athelstanford so called of Athelstane a chiefe leader of the English slaine there with his men about the yeere 815. But that he should be that warlike Athelstane which was King of the West-Saxons both the account of the times and his owne death doe manifestly controlle it Above the mouth of this Tine in the very bending of the shore standeth Tantallon Castle from whence Archibald Douglas Earle of Angus wrought James the fifth King of Scots much teene and trouble Here by retiring backe of the shores on both sides is roome made for a most noble arme of the sea and the same well furnished with Ilands which by reason of many rivers encountring it by the way and the tides of the surging sea together spreadeth exceeding broad Ptolomee calleth it BODERIA Tacitus BODOTRIA of the depth as I guesse the Scots The Forth and Frith we Edenburgh Frith others
extended it selfe in old time farre and wide everie way in these parts As for the places herein they are of no great account but the Earles thereof are very memorable Thomas a younger sonne of Rolland of Galloway was in his wives right Earle of Athol whose sonne Patricke was by the Bissets his concurrents murdered in feud at Hadington in his bed-chamber and forthwith the whole house wherein hee lodged burnt that it might be supposed he perished by casualtie of fire In the Earldome there succeeded David Hastings who had married the aunt by the mothers side of Patricke whose sonne that David surnamed of Strathbogie may seeme to be who a little after in the reigne of Henrie the third King of England being Earle of Athol married one of the daughters and heires of Richard base sonne to John King of England and had with her a verie goodly inheritance in England She bare unto him two sonnes John Earle of Athol who being of a variable disposition and untrustie was hanged up aloft on a gallowes fiftie foot high and David Earle of Athol unto whom by marriage with one of the daughters and heires of John Comin of Badzenoth by one of the heires of Aumar de Valence Earle of Penbroch there fell great lands and possessions His sonne David who under King Edward the second was otherwhiles amongst English Earles summoned to the Parliaments in England and under King Edward Balliol made Lord Lievtenant Generall of Scotland was vanquished by the valerous prowesse of Andrew de Murray and slaine in battaile within the Forrest of Kelblen in the yeere of our Lord 1335. And his sonne David left two young daughters only Elizabeth wedded unto Sir Thomas Percie from whom the Barons of Burrough are descended and Philip married to Sir Thomas Halsham an English Knight Then fell the title of Athol unto that Walter Stewart sonne to King Robert the second who cruelly murdered James the first King of Scotland and for this execrable crueltie suffered most condigne punishment accordingly in so much as Aeneas Sylvius Embassadour at that time in Scotland from Pope Eugenius the fourth gave out this speech That hee could not tell whether hee should give them greater commendations that revenged the Kings death or brand them with sharper censure of condemnation that distained themselves with so hainous a parricide After some few yeeres passed betweene this honour was granted unto John Stewart of the family of Lorne the sonne of James surnamed The Black Knight by Joan the widow of King James the first daughter to John Earle of Somerset and Niece to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster whose posteritie at this day enjoy the same Tau bearing now a bigger streame by receiving Almund unto him holdeth on his course to Dunkelden adorned by King David with an Episcopall See Most writers grounding upon the signification of that word suppose it to be a towne of the Caledonians and interpret it The Mount or hill of Hazeles as who would have that name given unto it of the Hazel trees in the wood Caledonia From hence the Tau goeth forward by the carkasse of Berth a little desolate Citie remembring well enough what a great losse and calamitie hee brought upon it in times past when with an extraordinarie swelling flood hee surrounded all the fields layed the goodly standing corne along on the ground and carried headlong away with him this poore Citie with the Kings childe and infant in his cradle and the inhabitants therein In steed whereof in a more commodious place King William builded Perth which straightwaies became so wealthy that Necham who lived in that age versified of it in this manner Transis ample Tai per rura per oppida per Perth Regnum sustentant istius urbis opes By villages by townes by Perth thou runn'st great Tay amaine The riches of this Citie Perth doth all the realme sustaine But the posteritie ensuing called it of a Church founded in honour of Saint John Saint Iohns towne and the English whiles the warres were hot betweene the Bruses and the Balliols fortified it with great bulwarks which the Scots afterwards for the most part overthrew and dismantled it themselves Howbeit it is a proper pretie Citie pleasantly seated betweene two Greenes and for all that some of the Churches be destroyed yet a goodly shew it maketh ranged and set out in such an uniforme maner that in everie severall street almost there dwell severall artificers by themselves and the river Tau bringeth up with the tide sea commodities by lighters whereupon J. Jonston so often now by me cited writeth thus PERTHUM Propter aquas Tai liquidas amoena vineta Obtinet in medio regna superba solo Nobilium quondam regum clarissima sedes Pulchra situ pinguis germine dives agri Finitimis dat jura locis moremque modumque Huic dare laus illis haec meruisse dari Sola inter patrias incincta est moenibus urbes Hostibus assiduis ne vaga praeda foret Quanta virûm virtus dextrae quae praemia nôrunt Cimber Saxo ferox genus Hectoridum Felix laude novâ felix quoque laude vetustâ Perge recens priscum perpetuare decus PERTH Neere to the waters cleere of Tay and pleasant plaines all greene In middle ground betweene them stands Perth proudly like a Queene Of noble Kings the stately seat and palace once it was Faire for the site and rich with all for spring of corne and grasse To neighbour places all it doth lawes customes fashions give Her praise to give theirs to deserve the same for to receive Of all the Cities in these parts walled alone is she Lest she to foes continuall a scambling prey might be What Knights she bred and what rewards they won to knighthood due Danes Saxons fierce bold Britans eke the Trojans off-spring knew Happie for praises old happie for praises new of late New as thou art thine honour old strive to perpetuate And now of late King James the sixth hath erected it to the title of an Earldome having created James Baron Dromund Earle of Perth Unto Perth these places are neere neighbours Methven which Margaret an English Ladie widow unto King James the fourth purchased with readie money for her third husband Henrie Steward descended of the royall blood and for his heires and withall obtained of her sonne King James the fifth for him the dignitie of a Baron More beneath is Rethuen a castle of the Rethuens whose name is of damned memorie considering that the three states of the kingdome hath ordained that whosoever were of that name should forgoe the same and take unto them a new after that the Rethuens brethren in a most cursed and horrible conspiracie had complotted to murder their soveraigne King James the sixth who had created William their father Earle of Gourie and afterward beheaded him being lawfully convicted when he would insolently prescribe lawes to his soveraigne But of men
of youth and is called New Aberdon The other beyond it named Old Aberdon is most famous for the taking of Salmons But J. Ionston a native hereof in these his verses depainteth Aberdon thus ABERDONIA Ad Boream porrecta jugis obsessa superbis Inter connatas eminet una Deas Mitior algentes Phoebus sic temperat auras Non aestum ut rabidum frigora nec metuas Faecundo ditat Neptunus gurgite amnes Piscosi gemmis alter adauget opes Candida mens frons laeta hilaris gratissima tellus Hospitibus morum cultus ubique decens Nobilitas antiqua opibus subnixa vetustis Martiaque invicto pectore corda gerens Iustitiae domus studiorum mater honoris Ingenio ars certant artibus ingenia Omnia ei cedunt meritos genetricis honores Pingere non ulla Ars ingeniumvè valet Beset with loftie tops of hills and Northward lying spread Among her sister-townes alone she beareth up her head The warme sun-beames such temper give to sharpnesse of the aire That neither scorching heat you need nor pinching cold to feare The sea the fishfull rivers eke with plenteous gulfes and streames Make this place rich and one of them enriches it with gemmes Plain-hearted men of lightsome lookes and cheerfull passing kind To strangers decent everie thing and neat you shall there finde Their noble gentrie ancient their livings ancient were And their demesnes undaunted hearts and martiall mindes they beare The Justice Hall as mother kinde she honours due doth daigne Professions all art strives with wit and wit with arts againe All short of her But praises all of this my genitresse That she deserves no wit nor art is able to expresse It is almost incredible what abundance of Salmons as well these rivers as others also in Scotland on both sides of the realme doe breed This fish was altogether unknowne unto Plinie unlesse it were that Esox of the Rhene but in this North part of Europe passing well known shining and glittering as he saith with his red bowels In Autumne they engender within little rivers and in shallow places for the most part what time they cast their spawne and cover it over with sand and then are they so poore and leane that they seeme to have nothing else in a manner but their small bones Of that spawn in the spring next following there comes a frie of render little fishes which making toward the sea in a small time grow to their full bignesse and in returning backe againe to seeke for the rivers wherein they were bred they strive and struggle against the streame and looke whatsoever lyeth in their way to hinder their passage with a jerke of their taile and a certaine leape whence haply they had their name Salmons to the wonder of the beholders they nimbly whip over and keepe themselves within these rivers of theirs untill they breed During which time it is enacted by law they should not bee caught namely from the feast of the Assumption of our Ladie to the feast of Saint Andrew in winter And it should seeme they were reputed among the greatest commodities of Scotland when likewise it was ordained that they should not be sold unto Englishmen but for English gold and no other contentation But these matters I leave for others To come now unto the Earles of Marre In the reigne of Alexander the third William Earle of Marre is named among those that were sore offended and displeased with the King Whiles David Brus reigned Donald Earle of Marre Protector of the Kingdome was before the battaile at Dyplin murdered in his bed by Edward Balliol and the Englishmen that came to aide him whose daughter Isabel King Robert Brus tooke to be his former wife on whom he begat Marjorie mother to Robert Stewart King of Scots Under the same David there is mention also made of Thomas Earle of Marre who was banished in the yeere 1361. Likewise in the reign of Robert the third Alexander Stewart is named Earle of Marre who in the battell at Harley against the Ilanders lost his life in the yeer 1411. In the daies of King James the first we read in Scoto-Chronicon thus Alexander Earle of Marre died in the yeere 1435. the base son of Alexander Stewart Earle of Bucquan sonne to Robert the second King of Scots after whom as being a bastard the King succeeded in the inheritance John the second sonne of King James the second afterwards bare this title who being convict for attempting by art magicke to take away the King his brothers life was let blood to death And after him Robert Cockeran was promoted from a Mason to this dignitie by King James the third and soon after hanged by the Nobilitie Since which time this honourable title was discontinued untill that Queen Marie adorned therewith James her bastard brother and not long after when it was found that by ancient right the title of Earle of Marre appertained to John Lord Ereskin in lieu of Marre she conferred upon him the honour of Earle Murray and created Iohn Ereskin a man of ancient and noble birth Earle of Marre whose sonne bearing the same Christian name now enjoieth also the same dignity and is in both realmes one of the Kings Privie Councell BUCHANIA OR BUQUHAN THe TAIZALI mentioned by Ptolomee in ancient times inhabited where now Buquhan in Latin Boghania and Buchania above the river Done beareth forth toward the German sea Some derive this latter name a Bobus that is From Oxen and Kine whereas notwithstanding the ground serveth better to feed sheepe whose woole is highly commended Albeit the rivers in this coast everie where breed great store of Salmons yet doe they never enter into the river Ratra as Buchanan hath recorded Neither let it be offensive if I cite his testimonie although his bookes by authoritie of Parliament in the yeere 1584. were forbidden because many things in them contained are to be dashed out Who also hath written That on the banke of Ratra there is a cave neere unto Stangs Castle the nature whereof seemeth not to be passed over The water distilling by drops out of a naturall vault presently turneth into Pyramidall stones and were not the said cave or hole otherwhiles rid and cleansed by mans labour the whole space as far as up to the vault would in short time be filled therewith Now the stone thus engendred is of a middle nature betweene yee and hard stone for it is brittle and easie to crumble neither groweth it ever to the soliditie and hardnesse of marble Concerning those Claik-geese which some with much admiration have beleeved to grow out of trees both upon this shore elsewhere and when they be ripe to fall downe into the sea it is scarce worth the labour to mention them That there be little birds engendred of old and rotten keeles of ships they can beare witnesse who saw that ship wherein Francis Drake sailed about the world
England of the Kings Majesties Privie Counsell whom King James the sixth created Baron Brus of Kinlosse Thus much for the shore More inward where now standeth Bean Castle thought to bee BANATIA that Ptolomee mentioneth there was found in the yeere 1460. a vessell of marble artificially engraven and full of Roman coine Hard by is Nardin or Narne an hereditable Sherifdome of the Cambels of Lorne where there stood within a Biland a fortresse of a mightie heighth built with wonderfull bulwarks and in times past defended by the Danish forces against the Scottish A little off is Logh-Nesse a very great Lake as reaching out 23. miles in length the Water whereof is so warme that even in this cold and frozen climate it never freezeth from which by a verie small Isthim or partition of hils the Logh Lutea or Louthea which by Aber letteth it selfe forth into the West sea is divided Neere unto these Loghs there stood in old time two notable fortifications the one named Innernesse the other Innerlothea according to the names of the said Loghs Innernes hath for Sheriffe thereof by right of inheritance the Marquesse Huntly who is of great command hereabout But have here what M. Jonston hath written jointly of these two INNERNESSUS INNERLOTHEA Imperii veteris duo propugnacula quondam Primâ—que regali moenia structa manu Turribus oppositis adverso in limine spectat Haec Zephyrum Solis illa orientis equos Amnibus hinc atque hinc cincta utraque piscibus amnes Faecundi haec portu perpete tuta patet Haec fuit at jacet heu jam nunc sine nomine tellus Hospita quae Regum est hospita facta feris Altera spirat adhuc tenuis sufflamina vitae Quae dabit fati turbine victa manus Dic ubi nunc Carthago potens ubi Martia Roma Trojáque immensae ditis opes Asiae Quid mireris enim mortalia cedere fatis Corpora cùm videas oppida posse mori INNERNESSE AND INNERLOTHEA Two mightie forts and holds these were in ancient kingdomes daies The first wall'd fences as they say that hand of Kings did raise Affront with towres oppos'd they stand for one of them regards The Westerne winde but th' other looks the Sun-rising towards On both sides they their rivers have and rivers full of fish One hath an haven frequented aye and safe as heart can wish Such was it once but now alas to wast and desart fields Is turn'd and that which lodged Kings to wild beasts harbour yeelds The other yet draw's breath though deepe and shewes that it doth live But over match'd to destinie at length doth bucklers give What 's now become of Carthage great where is that martiall Rome Where Troy of wealthie Asia the riches all and some No marvaile now that mortall wights to death be subject why Because you plainly see that Townes and Cities great may dye Under the reigne of Robert Brus Thomas Randolph his sisters sonne who in his Countries behalfe undertooke exceeding great paines and most grievous quarrels was highly renowned by the title of Earle of Murray Under King Robert the Second John of Dunbarre tooke to wife the Kings daughter to make amends for her devirgination received this Earldome of Murray with her in marriage Under King James the second William Creichton Chancelour of the Realme and Archebald Douglas grew to great variance and eagre contention about this Earledome when as against the lawes and ancient customes Douglas who had married the younger daughter of James of Dunbar Earle of Murray was preferred to the Earldom before Creighton who had wedded the elder and that through the powerfull authoritie that William Earle Douglasse had with the King which was so great that he advanced not onely him to the Earldom of Murray but also another brother to the Earldome of Ormund and made two cousins of his Earles the one of Angus and the other of Morton But this greatnesse of his not to be trusted upon because it was excessive turned soone after to his owne confusion Under King James the fifth his own brother whom he appointed his Vicegerent in the government of the Kingdome enjoied this honour and within our remembrance James the base sonne of King James the fifth received this honour of Queene Mary his sister but he requited her basely when conspiring with some few of the Nobilitie he deposed her from her Royall estate and kingdome a foule president and prejudiciall to all Kings and Princes Which notwithstanding was revenged for shortly after hee was shot through with a bullet His onely daughter brought this title unto her husband Sir James Stewart of Downe who was also of the blood royall from the Dukes of Albany who being slain by his concurrents left his sonne James to succeed him in this honour LOQHUABRE WHatsoever beyond the Nesse bendeth to the West coast and adjoineth to the Lake Aber is thereupon called Loghuabre that is in the ancient tongue of the Britans The mouth of the Lakes as what lieth toward the North is commonly called Rosse Loqhuabre is full of fresh pastures and woods neither is without yron mines but not so free in yeeld of corne but for most fishfull pooles and rivers scarce inferiour to any country thereabout At Logh-Lothey Innerlothey fensed with a fort and well frequented with Merchants was of great name and importance in times past but being razed by the piracies and warres of Danes and Norwegians it hath lien for these many ages so forlet that there remaineth scarce any shew of it which those verses that I alledged even now doe imply Loqhuabre hath had so farre as I have read no Earles but about the yeere of our salvation 1050. there was a Thane over it of great fame and much spoken of named Banqhuo whom Macbeth the bastard when with murder bloodshed he had usurped the crowne being fearfull and suspicious caused to bee made away for that he had learned by a Prophesie of certaine wise women that his posteritie when the line of Macbeth was expired and extinct should one day obtaine the Kingdome and by a long successive descent reigne in Scotland Which verily hath fallen out accordingly For Fleanch the sonne of Banqhuo who unknowne in the darke escaped the traines laid for him â—led into Wales where for a time hee kept himselfe close and having taken to wife Nesta the daughter of Griffith ap Lewellin Prince of North-wales begat Walter who returning into Scotland with so great fame of his fortitude repressed the rebellion of the Ilanders and with as great wisdome managed the Kings revenewes in this tract that the King made him Seneschall whom they commonly call Stewart of the whole Kingdome of Scotland Whereupon this name of Office imposed the surname Stewart unto his posteritie who spreading throughout all parts of Scotland into a number of noble branches after many honours heaped upon them have flourished a long
his Kingdome divers authors affirme to have granted by his Charter or Patent Ireland and England both unto the Church of Rome to be held of it ever after in fee and to have received it againe from the Church as a Feudatarie also to have bound his successours to pay three hundred Markes unto the Bishop of Rome But that most worthie and famous Sir Thomas Moore who tooke the Popes part even unto death affirmeth this to be false For hee writeth that the Romanists can shew no such grant that they never demanded the foresaid money and that the Kings of England never acknowledged it But by his leave as great a man as hee was the case stood otherwise as evidently appeareth by the Parliament Records the credit whereof cannot bee impugned For in an assembly of all the States of the Realme in the reigne of Edward the third the Lord Chancellour of England proposed and related that the Pope would judicially sue the King of England as well for the Homage as the tribute which was to be yeelded for England and Ireland to the performance whereof King Iohn in times past had obliged himselfe and his successours and of this point which hee put to question required their opinion The Bishops desired to have a day by them selves for to consult about this matter the Nobles likewise and the people or Communaltie The day after they all met and with one generall accord ordained and enacted That for asmuch as neither King Iohn nor any other King whatsoever could impose such servitude upon the Kingdome but with the common consent and assent of a Parliament which was not done and whatsoever he had passed was against his oath at his coronation by him in expresse words religiously taken before God Therefore in case the Pope should urge this matter they were most readie to the uttermost of their power to resist him resolutely with their bodies and goods They also who are skilfull in scanning and sifting everie pricke and tittle of the lawes cry out with one voice That the said Grant or Charter of King Iohn was voide in Law by that clause and reservation in the end thereof Saving unto us and our heires all our Rights Liberties and Regalities But this may seeme beside my text Ever since King Johns time the Kings of England were stiled Lords of Ireland untill that King Henrie the eighth in the memorie of our fathers was in a Parliament of Ireland by the States thereof declared King of Ireland because the name of Lord seemed in the judgement of certaine seditious persons nothing so sacred and full of majestie as the name of King This name and title of the Kingdome of Ireland were by the Popes authoritie what time as Queene Marie in the yeere 1555. had by her Embassadours in the name of the Kingdom of England tendred obedience unto the Pope Paul the fourth confirmed in these words To the laud and glorie of almightie God and his most glorious mother the Virgin Mary to the honour also of the whole Court of heaven and the exaltation of the Catholike faith as the humble request and suite made unto us by King Philip and Queen Marie about this matter wee with the advice of our brethren and of plenarie power Apostolicall by our Apostolicall authoritie erect for ever Ireland to bee a Kingdome and endow dignifie and exalt with the title dignitie honour faculties rights ensignes prerogatives preferments preeminencies royall and such as other Realmes of Christians have use and enjoy and may have use and enjoy for the times to come And seeing that I have hapned upon those Noblemens names who first of all English gave the attempt upon Ireland and most valiantly subdued it under the imperiall crowne of England lest I might seeme upon envie to deprive both them and their posteritie of this due and deserved glorie I will set them downe here out of the Chancerie of Ireland according as the title doth purport The names of them that came with Dermot Mac Morrog into Ireland Richard Strongbow Earle of Pembroch who by Eve the daughter of Morrog the Irish pettie King aforesaid had one only daughter and she brought unto William Mareschall the title of the Earldome of Pembroch with faire lands in Ireland and a goodly issue five sonnes who succeeded one another in a row all childlesse and as many daughters which enriched their husbands Hugh Bigod Earle of Norfolke Guarin Montchensey Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester William Ferrars Earle of Derby and William Breose with children honours and possessions Robert Fitz-Stephen Harvey de Mont-Marish Maurice Prendergest Robert Barr. Meiler Meilerine Maurice Fitz-Girald Redmund nephew of Fitz-Stephen William Ferrand Miles de Cogan Richard de Cogan Gualter de Ridensford Gualter and sonnes of Maurice Fitz-Girald Alexander sonnes of Maurice Fitz-Girald William Notte Robert Fitz-Bernard Hugh Lacie William Fitz-Aldelm William Maccarell Humfrey Bohun Hugh de Gundevill Philip de Hasting Hugh Tirell David Walsh Robert Poer Osbert de Herloter William de Bendenges Adam de Gernez Philip de Breos Griffin nephew of Fitz-Stephen Raulfe Fitz-Stephen Walter de Barry Philip Walsh Adam de Hereford To whom may be added out of Giraldus Cambrensis Iohn Curcy Hugh Contilon Redmund Cantimore Redmund Fitz-Hugh Miles of S. Davids and others The Government of the Kingdome of Ireland EVer since that Ireland became subject unto England the Kings of England have sent over thither to manage the state of the Realme their Regents or Vice-gerents whom they tearmed in those writings or letters Patents of theirs whereby authoritie and jurisdiction is committed unto them first Keepers of Ireland then afterwards according as it pleased them Iustices of Ireland Lievtenants and Deputies Which authoritie and jurisdiction of theirs is very large ample and royall whereby they have power to make warre to conclude peace to bestow all Magistracies and Offices except a very few to pardon all crimes unlesse they be some of high treason to dub Knights c. These letters Patents when any one entreth upon this honourable place of government are publikely read and after a solemne oath taken in a set forme of words before the Chancellour the sword is delivered into his hands which is to be borne before him he is placed in a chaire of estate having standing by him the Chancellour of the Realme those of the Privie Councell the Peeres and Nobles of the kingdome with a King of Armes a Serjeant of Armes and other Officers of State And verily there is not looke throughout all Christendome againe any other Vice-Roy that commeth neerer unto the majestie of a King whether you respect his jurisdiction and authoritie or his traine furniture and provision There bee assistant unto him in counsell the Lord Chancellour of the Realm the Treasurer of the Kingdome and others of the Earles Bishops Barons and Judges which are of the Privie Councell For Ireland hath the very same degrees of States that England hath namely Earles Barons Knights
albeit it is the Archiepiscopall See and Metropolitane of the whole Iland The Irish talke much that it was so called of Queen Armacha but in mine opinion it is the very same that Bede nameth Dearmach and out of the Scottish or Irish language interpreteth it The field of Okes. But it was named Drumsailich before that Saint Patricke had built there a proper faire City for site forme quantity and compasse modelled out as hee saith by the appointment and direction of Angels That Patricke I say who being a Britan borne and Saint Martins sisters sonne named at his Baptisme Sucat was sold into Ireland where he became Heardman to King Miluc afterwards was named by Saint German whose disciple hee was Magonius as a Nurse-Father out of a British word and by Pope Caelestine Patricius as a Father of the Citizens and by him sent over to catechize Ireland in the Christian faith which notwithstanding some had received there before as wee may gather out of an old Synodall wherein is urged the testimony of Patricke himselfe against that tonsure or shaving of Priests which had beene used before his time in Ireland whereby they were shaven onely on the fore part of the head and not on the Crowne Which manner of shaving he seemeth by way of contempt to father upon a certaine Swineherd of King Lagerius the sonne of Nell and the writers of that age cried out that it was Simon Magus his shaving and not S. Peters In this place about the yeere of our salvation 610. Columbane built a most famous Monastery out of which very many Monasteries afterwards were propagated by his disciples both in Britain and in Ireland Of this Armach S. Bernard thus writeth In honour of S. Patrick the Apostle of Ireland who here by his life time ruled and after death rested it is the Archiepiscopall seat and Metropolitan City of all Ireland and of so venerable estimation in old time that not only Bishops and Priests but Kings also and Princes in generall were subject to the Metropolitane thereof in all obedience and he alone governed them all But through the divellish ambition of some mighty Potentates there was taken up a very bad custome that this holy See should be obtained and held in hereditary succession neither suffered they any to be Bishops but such as were of their owne Clan Tribe and Family Neither prevailed this execrable succession a little but continued this wicked manner for the space well neere of fifteen generations When in processe of time the Ecclesiasticall discipline in this Iland was growne loose so as in townes and cities there were translations and plurality of Bishops according to the will and pleasure of the Metropolitane for reformation of this abuse Iohn Papyrio a Cardinall was sent hither from Pope Eugenius the fourth as a namelesse writer then living wrote in these words In the yeere of our Lord 1142. Iohn Papyrio a Cardinall sent from Eugenius the fourth Bishop of Rome together with Christian Bishop of Lismore Legate of all Ireland came into Ireland The same Christian held a solemne Counsell in Mell at which were present all the Bishops Abbats Kings Dukes and Elders of Ireland By whose consent there were established foure Archbishopricks namely of Armach of Dublin of Cassile and Toam Wherein sate and ruled at the same time Gelasius Gregorius Donatus and Edanus and so the Cardinall bestowing his blessing upon the Clergie returned to Rome For before that time the Bishops of Ireland were wont to be consecrated by the Archbishops of Canterbury in regard of the Primacy which they had in Ireland This did the Citizens of Dublin acknowledge when they sent Gregory elect Bishop of Dublin unto Ralph Archbishop of Canterbury for to be consecrated by these words Antecessorum vestrorum Magisterio c. that is Unto the Magistracy of your Predecessors we willingly submitted our Prelats from which we remember that our Prelats have received their dignity Ecclesiasticall c. which appeareth for certain out of letters also bearing date of greater antiquity namely of Murchertach King of Ireland written unto Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury for the ordaining and enstalling of the Bishops of Dublin and of Waterford likewise of King Gothrich unto Lanfrank his predecessor in the behalfe of one Patrick a Bishop of Lanfrank also unto Therdeluac a King of Ireland unto whom he complaineth That the Irishmen forsake and leave at their pleasure their wedded wives without any canonicall cause and match with any others even such as be neere of kinne either to themselves or the said forsaken wives and if another man with like wickednesse hath cast off any wife her also rashly and hand over head they joine with by law of marriage or fornication rather an abuse worthy to be punished With which vices if this nation had not bin corrupted even unto these daies of ours both the right of lineall succession among them had been more certain and as well the gentry as the communalty had not embrued themselves so wickedly with the effusion of so much blood of their owne kinred about their inheritances and legitimation neither had they become so infamous in these respects among forraine nations But these matters are exorbitant of themselves and from my purpose Long had not that Archiepiscopall dignity and Primacy beene established when Vivian the Popes Legate confirmed the same againe so that their opinion may seeme to be worthy of discredit and refutation who affirme that the Archbishop of Armach had in regard of antiquity the priority and superiour place of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Generall or Oecumenicall Councells whereas by the first institution hee is by many ages the latter Neither according to the antiquitie of places are the seats in Councels appointed But all Prelates of what degree soever they be sit among their Colleagues according to their owne ordination enstalling and promotion What time as that Vivian was Legate in Ireland Sir Iohn Curcy subdued Armach and made it subject to the English and yet did he no harme then but is reported to have beene very good and bountifull unto the Churchmen that served God there and he re-edified their Church which in our memory was fired and foulely defaced by the rebell Shan O Neale and the city withall so that they lost all the ancient beauty and glory and nothing remaineth at this day but very few small watled cottages with the ruinous walls of the Monastery Priory and Primates palace Among the Archbishops of this place there goes the greatest fame and name of S. Malachy the first that prohibited Priests marriage in Ireland a man in his time learned and devout and who tooke no lesse of the native barbarousnesse of that country than sea fishes saltnesse of the seas as saith S. Bernard who wrote his life at large also Richard Fitz-Ralfe commonly called Armachanus is of famous memory who turned the edge of his stile about the yeere 1355. against
Lismore sometime Legate of Ireland an earnest follower of the vertues which he had seen and heard of his devout father Saint Bernard and Pope Eugenius a venerable man with whom hee was in the Probatorie at Clarevall who also ordained him to be the Legate in Ireland after his obedience performed within the monasterie of Kyrieleyson happily departed to Christ. Jerusalem was taken with the Lords Crosse by the Soldan and the Saracens after many Christians slaine MCLXXXVII Upon the Calends or first day of July was the Abbey of Ynes in Ulster founded MCLXXXIX Henry Fitz-Empresse departed this life after whom succeeded his sonne Richard and is buried in Font-Ebrard In the same yeere was founded the Abbey de Colle victoriae that is of Cnokmoy MCXC. King Richard and King Philip make a voiage into the holy land MCXCI. In the Monasterie of Clarevall the translation of Malachie Bishop of Armagh was honourably celebrated MCXCII The Citie of Dublin was burnt MCXCIII Richard King of England in his return from the holy land was taken prisoner by the Duke of Austrich and he made an end by composition with the Emperour to pay for his ransome one hundred thousand markes and with the Empresse to pay thirtie thousand also with the foresaid Duke 20. thousand markes in regard of an obligation which he had made unto them for Henrie Duke of Saxonie Now hee remained in the Emperours prison a yeere sixe moneths and three daies For whose ransome all the Chalices in manner throughout England were sold. In the same yeere was founded the Abbey de Iugo Dei that is of Gods yoke MCXCIIII The reliques of S. Malachie Bishop of Clareval were brought into Ireland and with all honour that might be received in the Monasterie of Mellifont and the rest of the Monasteries of the Cistertian order MCXCV. Matthew Archbishop of Cassile Legate of Ireland John Archbishop of Dublin carried away the corps of Hugh Lacie the conquerour of Meth from the Irish and solemnely enterred it in the Monasterie of Blessednesse that is Becty But the head of the said Hugh was bestowed in the Monastery of Saint Thomas in Dublin MCXCVIII The order of Friers Preachers began in the parts about Tolouse by Dominicke the second MCXCIX Richard King of England died after whom succeeded John his brother who was Lord of Ireland and Earle of Mortaigne which John slew Arthur the lawfull heire sonne of Geffrey his whole brother And in this manner died Richard When K. Kichard besieged the Castle of Chaluz in little Britaine wounded he was to death with an arrow by one of those in the said Castle named Bertram Gurdon And when he dispaired of his life hee demised the Kingdome of England and all his other lands unto his brother to keep All his Jewels and one fourth part of his Treasure he gave unto his Nephew Otho and another fourth part of his Treasure he gave and commanded to be dealt among his servants and the poore Now when the said Bertram was apprehended and brought before the King the K. demanded of him in these termes what harme have I done thee that thou hast slaine me Unto whom without any manner of feare he answered thus Thou killedst my father and two of my brethren with thine owne hand and me also thou wouldest now have killed Take therefore what revenge so ever thou wilt of me for I passe not so thou maist be slaine that hast wrought so many mischiefes to the world Then the King forgave him his death and commanded that hee should be let goe at libertie and to give him besides one hundred shillings sterling But after the King was dead some of the Kings ministers slayed the said Beâ—â—â—am and hung him up And this King yeelded up his vitall breath the eighth day before the Ides of April which fell out to be the fourth day of the weeke before Palme-Sunday and the eleventh day after he was wounded and buried hee was at Foâ—â— Eâ—â—ard at the feet of his father Touching whose death a certaine versifier saith thus Istiâ— in morte perimit formica leonem Proh dolor in tanto funere mundus obit In this mans death as is well seene the Ant a Lion slaies And in so great a death alas the world doth end her daies The Corps of which King Richard is divided into three parts Whence was this verse made Viscera Carceolum Corpus Fons servat Ebrardi Et Cor Rhothomagum magne Richarde tuum Thy bowels onely Carceol keeps thy Corps Font-Everard And Roan hath keeping of thy heart O puissant Richard When King Richard was departed this life his brother John was girt with the sword of the Duchy of Normandie by the Archbishop of Rhoan the seventh day before the Calends of May next ensuing after the death of the aforesaid King which Archbishop did set upon the head of the said Duke a Circle flower with golden roses in the top round about Also upon the sixth day before the Calends of June hee was anointed and crowned King of England all the Lords and Nobles of England being present within the Church of Saint Peter in Westminster upon the day of the Lords Ascension and afterwards was John King of England called to a Parliament in France by the King of France to answer as touching the death of his Nephew Arthur and because he came not he deprived him of Normandy The same yeere was the Abbey of Commerer founded MCC Cathol Cronerg King of Conaght founder of the Monastery de Colle Victoriae that is of the Hill of Victorie is expelled out of Conaght The same yeere was founded the Monasterie de Voto that is Tynterne by William Marshall Earle Marshall and of Pembroch who was Lord of Leinster to wit of Weisford Ossory Caterlagh and Kildare in regard and right of his wife who espoused the daughter of Richard Earle of Stroghul and of Eve the daughter of Dermot-Mac-Murogh But because the foresaid William Earle Marshall was in exceeding great jeopardie both day and night in the sea he vowed a vow unto our Lord Jesus Christ that if he might be delivered from the tempest and come to land hee would make a Monasterie unto Christ and Marie his mother and so it came to passe when hee was come safe to Weisford he made I say the Monasterie of Tyntern according to his vow and called it the Monasterie De voto that is Of the vow In the same yeere was founded the Monasterie de Flumine Dei that is Of Gods river MCCII. Gathol Cronerg or Crorobdyr King of Conaght was set againe in his kingdome The same yeere is founded the house of Canons or Regular Priests of St. Marie by Sir Meiler Fitz-Henrie MCCIII The Abbey of S. Saviour that is Dowiâ—ky being founded was in this yeere and the next following built MCCIV. There was a field fought betweene John Curcie Earle of Ulster and Hugh Lacie at Doune in which battell many on both sides lost their lives But John Curcie had the upper
bee made from without the towne of Batiboght unto the Causey of the Mil-poole of Clontarf whereas before time the passengers that way were much endangered But after he had defraied great charges thereabout by reason of a mightie inundation and floud the bridge with the arches fell downe Also Master John Leeks Achbishop of Dublin in the feast of St. Laurence ended this mortall life Then in a schisme and division of sides were elected for to bee Archbishop of Dublin Master Walter Thornbury the Kings Chancellor in Ireland and Master Alexander Bicknore Treasurer of Ireland but Walter Thornbury was drowned and many others to wit about one hundred fiftie and sixe took the sea and the night following were all drowned At the time of the foresaid Walters death Alexander Bicknore expected at home the Popes favour The same Alexander was made Archbishop of Dublin Item the Lord Miles Verdon espoused the daughter of the Lord Richard Excester Item the same yeere the Lord Robert Brus overthrew the Castle of Man and vanquished the Lord Donegan O-Dowill on S. Barnabes day And the Lord John Burck heire unto Richard Earle of Ulster died at Galwey on the feast of St. Marcellus and Marcellianus Also the Lord Edmund Botiller dubbed thirtie Knights in Dublin Castle on Sunday and St. Michaels day MCCCXIV The Knights Hospitallers had the lands given unto them of the Templars in Ireland Item Sir John Parice is slaine at Pount Also Lord Theobald Verdon came Lord Justice of Ireland on Saint Sylvesters day Item Sir Gefferey Genevile a Frier died the twelfth day before the Calends of November and was buried in his owne order of the Friers Preachers of Trym who was Lord also of the libertie of Meth. More in the same yeere and upon S. Matthew the Apostles day Loghseudy was burnt and on the friday following the Lord Edmund Botiller received his Commission to be Lord Justice of Ireland MCCCXV On St. John Baptists day the Earle of Glocester had his deaths wound given him and died when many others as it were without number were slaine in Scotland and more taken prisoners by the Scots For which cause the Scots became bold and carried their heads aloft and gat good land and tributes out of Northumberland Item shortly after this came the Scots and besieged the towne of Carlile where James Douglas was squized to death by misfortune of a certaine wall falling upon him The same yeere the Scots not contented with their owne land arrived in the North part of Ireland at Clondonne with sixe thousand fighting men and expert warriours to wit Edward Brus whole brother to Robert King of Scots and with him the Earl of Morreff John Meneteth John Steward the Lord John Cambel Thomas Randolfe Fergus Andressan John Bosco and John Bisset who seized Ulster into their hands and drave the Lord Thomas Mandevile and other liege men out of their owne possessions The Scots entred Ireland first on St. Augustines day that was the Englishmens Apostle in the moneth of May neere unto Crag-fergus in Ulster betweene whom and the English the first conflict was neere unto Banne in which the Earle of Ulster was put to flight there were taken prisoners William Burk John Stanton and many others and the Scots having slaine a number of the English prevailed and had the day The second conflict was at Kintys in Meth wherein Roger Mortimer with his followers was put to flight The third conflict was at Sketheris hard by Arstoll the morrow after the conversion of S. Paul wherein the Englishmen were chaced and the Scots had the better hand And the foresaid Edward Brus soone after the feast of Philip and Jacob caused himselfe to be crowned King of Ireland and they tooke Greene Castle and left their men there whom the Dublinians quickly after expelled and recovered the said Castle to the Kings behoof and finding Sir Robert Coulragh the Keeper of the Castle there brought him with them to Dublin who being imprisoned and put to short diet ended his dayes Item upon Peter and Paul the Apostles day came the Scots before Dundalk and won the towne spoiled and burnt it killing as many as made resistance and a great part of Urgale was burnt by the Scots The Church of the blessed Virgin Mary in Atterith being full of men women and little children was burnt by the Scots and Irish. In the same yeere the Lord Edmund Botiller Justice of Ireland about the feast of S. Mary Maudlen assembled together a mightie power out of Mounster Leinster and other parts and the Earle of Ulster on the contrarie side as it were comming from the parts of Connaght with an infinite army met all together about Dundalk and consulted among themselves to kill the Scots but how it is not knowne the Scots fled otherwise as hope was they had been taken prisoners Which done the Earle of Ulster with the foresaid Justice and other great Lords tooke in hand after they had slaine the Scots to bring the Lord Edward le Brus quicke or dead to Dublin which Earle followed them in chase as far as to the water of Branne and afterwards the said Earle retired backe toward Coyners which the said Brus perceiving warily passed over the said water and followed him whom with some other of the Earles side hee put to flight having wounded George Roch and slaine others namely Sir John Stanton and Roger de sancto Bosco that is Holy-wood likewise on the part of Brus many were slaine and the Lord Wiliam Burk was taken prisoner the tenth day of the moneth of September and the Earle was defeated neere unto Coyners and then the Irish of Connaght and Meth rose up in armes against the King and against the Earle of Ulster and burnt the Castle of Atholon and of Raudon and many other Castles in the said war of Coyners The Baron of Donell bare himselfe there right valiantly but he lost much goods there and the said Scots manfully chased them as far as to Cragfergus and there on the Earls side they fled and some entred the Castle and valiantly kept it and afterwards came mariners from the havens and Port townes of England and on a night surprised the Scots and slew fortie of them and had away their tents and many things else And the morrow after the exaltation of the holy Crosse the Earle of Morreff passed the seas into Scotland and took the Lord William Brus with him seeking for more warlike and armed men with foure Pirats ships full of the goods of Ireland whereof one was sunke all which time the said Brus laid siege to the Castle of Cragfergus At the same time Cathill Roge razed three Castles of the Earles of Ulster in Connaught and many townes in the same Connaught he burnt and sacked And at the same time the said mariners went to the said Castle and the Lords there skirmished and in the meane time slew many Scots at which time Richard Lan de O-ferivill was by a certaine Irishman
were slaine about foure hundred whose heads were sent to Dublin and wonders were afterwards seene there The dead as it were arose and fought one with another and cried out Fennokabo which was their signal And afterward about the feast of the translation of S. Thomas there were rigged and made ready eight ships and set out from Tredagh to Crag-fergus with victuals Which were by the Earle of Ulster much troubled for the delivery of William Burk who had been taken with the Scots and the Saturday following there were made friends and united at Dublin the Earle of Ulster and the Lord John Fitz-Thomas and many of the Nobles sworne and confederate to live and die for the maintenance of the peace of Ireland The same yeere newes came out of Connaght that O-Conghir slew many of the English to wit Lord Stephen of Excester Miles Cogan and many of the Barries and of the Lawlies about fourescore Item the weeke after Saint Laurence feast there arose in Connaght foure Irish Princes to make warre against the English against whom came the Lord William Burk the Lord Richard Bermingham the Lord of Anry with his retinue of the country and of the same Irish about eleven thousand fell upon the edge of the sword neere unto Anry which town was walled afterwards with the mony raised of armor and spoile gotten from the Irish because every one of the English that had double armours of the Irish gave the one halfe deale toward the walls of the towne Anry Slaine were there Fidelmic O-Conghir a petty King or Prince of Connaght O-Kelley and many other Princes or Potentates John Husee a butcher of Anry fought there who the same night at the request of his Lord of Anry stood among the dead to seek out and discover O-Kelley which O-Kelley with his Costrell or esquire rose out of their lurking holes and cried unto the foresaid man to wit Husee come with mee and I will make thee a great Lord in my countrey And Husee answered I will not goe with thee but thou shalt goe to my Lord Richard Bermingham Then said O-Kelley Thou hast but one servant with thee and I have a doughtie esquire therefore come with mee that thou maist bee safe unto whom his owne man also said Agree and goe away with O-Kelley that wee may be saved and inriched because they are stronger than we But the said John Husee first killed his owne servant and O-Kelley and his Esquire and cut off all their three heads and carried them to his Lord Richard Bermingham and that Bermingham gave unto the said John Hussee faire lands and dubbed him Knight as he well deserved The same yeere about the feast of S. Laurence came O-Hanlan to Dundalk for to destreine and the Dundalkers with their men killed a number Item on Monday next before the feast of the nativitie of Saint Mary came David O-Tothill with foure more and hid himselfe secretly all night long in Coleyn wood which the Dublinians and Sir William Comyn perceiving went forth and manfully pursued them for sixe leagues and slew of them about seventeen and wounded many to death Also there ran rumors to Dublin that the Lord Robert Brus King of Scotland entred Ireland to aid Edward Brus his brother and the Castle of Crag-fergus in Ulster was besieged by the foresaid Scots The Monasteries of St. Patrick of Dune and of Seball and many other houses as well of Monkes as of regular preaching Friers and Minors were spoiled in Ulster by the Scots Item the Lord William Burk leaving his son for an hostage in Scotland is set free The Church of Brught in Ulster being in manner full of folke of both sexes is burnt by the Scots and Irish of Ulster At the same time newes came from Crag-fergus that those which kept the Castle for default of victuals did eat hides and leather yea and eight Scots who before were taken prisoners great pity and griefe that no man relieved such And the Friday following newes were brought that Thomas the sonne of the Earle of Ulster was dead Also the Sunday following the feast of the nativitie of the blessed Virgin died Lord Iohn Fitz-Thomas at Laraghbrine neere unto Mayneth and he was buried at Kildare among the Friers Minors Of which Lord John Fitz-Thomas it is said that a little before his death he was created Earle of Kildare after whom succeeded his sonne and heire the Lord Thomas Fitz-Iohn a prudent and wise personage And afterwards newes came that the Castle of Crag-fergus was rendred to the Scots and granted there was to the keepers of it life and limbe Also upon the day of the exaltation of the holy Crosse Conghar and Mac-keley were slaine with five hundred of the Irish by the Lord William Burke and Richard Bermingham in Connaght Item on Munday before Holloughmas happened a great slaughter of the Scots in Ulster by John Loggan and Hugh Bisset to wit one hundred with double armour and two hundred with single armour The number of those men of armes that were slaine in all was three hundred beside footmen And afterward in the Vigill of Saint Edmund King there fell a great tempest of winde and raine which overthrew many houses and the Steeple of Saint Trinitie Church in Dublin and did much harme on land and sea Also in the Vigill of S. Nicholas Sir Alan Stewart taken prisoner in Ulster by John Loggan and Sir John Sandale was brought unto the Castle of Dublin In the same yeere newes arrived out of England that the Lord King of England and the Earle of Lancaster were at variance and that they were desirous one to surprize the other for which cause the whole land was in great trouble Item in the same yeere about the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle sent there were to the Court of Rome the Lord Hugh Despencer the Lord Bartholmew Baldesmere the Bishop of Worcester and the Bishop of Ely about important affaires of the Lord King of England for Scotland who returned into England about the feast of the purification of the blessed Virgin Mary Also after the said feast the Lacies came to Dublin and procured an inquisition to prove that the Scots by their meanes came not into Ireland which inquisition acquitted them Whereupon they had a charter of the Lord the King of peace and upon the Sacrament given unto them they tooke an oath to keepe the peace of the Lord King of England and to their power to destroy the Scots And afterwards even in the same yeere after the feast of Shrovetide the Scots came secretly as farre as to Slane with twenty thousand armed men and the armie of Ulster joyned with them who spoiled the whole countrey before them And after this on munday next before the feast of S. Matthias the Apostle the Earle of Ulster was taken in the Abbey of St. Mary by the Maior of the Citie of Dublin to wit Robert Notingham and brought to the castle of Dublin where
brought letters to the Lord Roger Mortimer that he should addresse himselfe to repaire unto the King who did so and substituted the Lord William Archbishop of Cashil Custos of Ireland who at one and the same time was Lord Justice of Ireland Lord Chancellour and Archbishop And afterward at the three weekes end after Easter there came newes to Dublin that the Lord Richard Clare was slaine and with him foure Knights namely Sir Henry Capell Sir Thomas Naas Sir James Cannon and Sir John Caunton also Adam Apilgard with 80. other men by O-Brene and Mac-Carthy on the feast of Saint Gordian and Epimachus And it was reported that the said Lord Richard his body was in despightfull malice cut into small pieces but his reliques were enterred in Limerick among the Friers Minors Item on sunday in Mense Paschae that is a moneth after Easter Iohn Lacy was led forth of the castle of Dublin and brought to Trim for to be arraigned and to heare and receive his judgment there who was adjudged to be strait dieted and so he died in prison Item the sunday before the Lords Ascension Lord Roger Mortimer sailed over into England but paied nothing for his victuals that he had taken up in Dublin and elsewhere which amounted to the value of one thousand pounds Also the same yeere about the feast of S. Iohn Baptist the great grace and mercy of God was shewed in that wheat which before was sold for 15. shillings was now not worth above seven shillings and oates were bought for five shillings great plentie there was of wine salt and fish and that in such sort that about St. Iames day there was new bread to be had of new corne a thing that never or seldome had been seen afore in Ireland and this was a signe of Gods tender mercy and all through the praier of the poore and other faithfull folke Item the Sunday after the feast of Saint Michael newes came to Dublin that Lord Alexander Bykenore then the Kings Justice in Ireland and Archbishop of Dublin was arrived at Yoghall On S. Denis day he came to Dublin and with great procession and honourable pompe of the religious persons and of others as well of the Clergy as the Laity he was received Item on Saturday falling out to be the feast of Pope Calixtus a field was fought betweene the Scots and English of Ireland two leagues from the towne of Dundalk to which battell came of the Scots part the Lord Edward Brus who named himselfe King of Ireland the Lord Philip Mowbray the Lord Walter Soules the Lord Alan Stewart with his three brethren also Sir Walter Lacy Sir Robert and Sir Aumar Lacy John Kermerdyne and Walter White and about 3000. others Against whom came into the field of the English side the Lord John Bermingham Sir Richard Tuit Sir Miles Verdon Sir Hugh Tripton Sir Herbert Sutton Sir Iohn Cusack Sir Edward and Sir William Bermingham and the Primate of Armagh who assoiled them all Sir Walter Larpulk and certain came from Tredagh to the number of twenty well appointed and choice souldiers whom John Maupas accompanied and so they joined the said battell The English were the first that entred with great vigour upon the front and vaward where the said John Maupas manfully and with much honour in this conflict slew the Lord Edward Brus which John also was found slaine upon the body of the said Edward and all the Scots in manner were killed up even to the number of two thousand or thereabout whereby few of the Scots escaped beside the Lord Philip Mowbray who also was wounded to death and Sir Hugh Lacy Sir Walter Lacy with some few others that were with them made shift hardly to save themselves This fortuned between Dundalk and Faghird Now the head of the foresaid Edward the said Lord John Bermingham brought unto the said Lord King of England upon whom the King bestowed at the same time the Earledome of Louth to him and to his heires males and the Barony of Aterith And one quarter with the hands and heart of the foresaid Edward were carried to Dublin and the other quarters divided and sent to other places MCCCXIX The Lord Roger Mortimer returned out of England and is eftsoones made Lord Justice of Ireland The same yeere at the feast of All-Saints came a Bull from the Pope to excommunicate Robert Brus King of Scotland at every Masse Also the towne of Athisell and a great part of the country was burnt by the Lord John Fitz-Thomas whole brother of the Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas In this yeere the foresaid Iohn Bermingham was created Earle of Louth Also the Stone bridge of Kil-Coleyn was built by Master Moris Iacke Canon of the Cathedrall Church of Kildare MCCCXX In the time of Pope John the 22. and of the Lord Edward sonne to King Edward which Edward after the comming of Saint Austin into England was the 25. King also under Alexander Bicknore then Archbishop of Dublin beganne the Universitie of the said Citie of Dublin The first that proceeded Master in the same Universitie was Frier William Hardite of the order of preaching Friers which William under the said Archbishop solemnly commenced Doctor in Divinity The second Master that proceeded in the same faculty was Frier Henry Cogry of the order of the Friers Minors the third Master that went forth was William Rodyard Dean of the Cathedrall Church of Saint Patricke in Dublin who solemnly commenced Doctor in the Canon law And this William was made the first Chancellour of the said University The fourth Master in sacred Theologie or Divinity that went out was Frier Edmund Kermerdin Item Roger Mortimer Lord Justice of Ireland returned into England leaving in his place the Lord Thomas Fitz-John then Earle of Kildare Item the Lord Edmund Botiller entred into England and so came to Saint James Also the bridge of the towne of Leghelyn was built by Master Moris Iack Canon of the Cathedrall Church of Kildare MCCCXXI A very great overthrow with much slaughter of the O-Conghors was given at Balibogan the ninth day of May by the men of Leinster and of Meth. Item the Lord Edmund Botiller died in London and lieth buried at Balygaveran in Ireland Also Iohn Bermingham Earle of Louth is made Lord Justice in Ireland Likewise Iohn Wogan departed this life MCCCXXII Andrew Bermingham and Nicolas de La-Lond Knight and many others are slaine by O-Nalan on St. Michaels day MCCCXXIII A truce is taken betweene the King of England and Robert Brus King of Scotland for 14. yeeres Also Iohn Darcie came chiefe Justice of Ireland Item John the first begotten sonne of the Lord Thomas Fitz-Iohn Earle of Kildare in the ninth yeere of his age ended this life MCCCXXIV Nicolas Genevile sonne and heire to the Lord Simon Genevile departed out of this world and was buried in the Church of the Friers Preachers of Trym Item there hapned a great wind on twelfe day at night Item a generall murrain
death of the said Justice of Ireland the Lord Roger Darcy with the assent of the Kings Ministers and others of the same land is placed in the office of Justice for the time Also the castles of Ley and Kylmehede are taken by the Irish and burnt in the moneth of April Item Lord Iohn Moris commeth chiefe Justice of Ireland the fifteenth day of May. Also the Irish of Ulster gave a great overthrow unto the English of Urgale wherin were slaine three hundred at the least in the moneth of June Also the said Lord Iohn Moris Justice of Ireland is discharged by the King of England from that office of Justiceship and the Lord Walter Bermingham set in the same office by the foresaid King and a little after the foresaid slaughter committed entreth with Commission into Ireland in the month of June Item unto the Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas Earle of Desmond the maintenance of peace for a certain time is granted by the King of England Which being granted upon the Vigill of the exaltation of the holy Crosse hee together with his wife and two sonnes take sea at the haven of Yoghal and crosseth over into England where he followeth the law hard and requireth instantly to have justice for the wrongs done unto him by Raulph Ufford late Lord Justice of Ireland above named Item unto the said Earle by commandement and order from the Lord King of England there are granted from his entrance into England twenty shillings a day and so day by day still is allowed for his expences Also the Lord Walter Bermingham Justice of Ireland and the Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas Earle of Kildare rose up in armes against O-Merda and his complices who burnt the Castle of Ley and Kilmehed and they with their forces valiantly set upon and invade him and his complices spoiling killing and burning in so much as the said O-Morda and his complices although at the first they had manfully and resolutely made resistance there with many thousands of the Irish after many wounds and a great slaughter committed were constrained in the end to yeeld and so they submitted to the Kings grace and mercy and betake themselves full and whole unto the said Earles devotion MCCCXLVII The Earle of Kildare with his Barons and Knights goeth unto the King of England in the moneth of May to aide him lying then at the siege of Caleys Also the towne of Caleys was by the inhabitants upon the fourth day of June rendred up into the King of Englands hands Item Walter Bonevile William Calfe William Welesley and many other noble Gentlemen and valiant Knights as well of England as of Ireland died of the sicknesse in Caleys Also Mac-Murgh to wit Donald Mac-Murgh the sonne of Donald Art Mac-Murgh King of Leinster upon the fifth day of June is treacherously slain by his own people More Moris Fitz-Thomas Earle of Kildare is by the King of England made Knight Also the towne called Monaghan with all the territorie adjoining is by the Irish burnt on the feast day of S. Stephen Martyr Item Dame Joane Fitz-Leoues sometime wife to the Lord Simon Genevile departed this life and is buried in the Covent Church of the Friers Preachers of Trim the second day of Aprill MCCCXLVIII And in the 22. yeere of King Edward the third reigned the first pestilence and most of all in Ireland which had begunne afore in other Countries Item in this yeere Walter Lord Bermingham Lord Justice of Ireland came into England and left Iohn Archer Prior of Kylmainon his Lievtenant in his roome And he returneth againe in the same yeere Justice as before and the King conferred upon the same Walter the Barony of Kenlys which is in Osserie because he led a great army against the Earle of Desmond with Raulfe Ufford as before is said which Barony belonged in times past unto the Lord Eustace Pover who was attainted and hanged at the castle of the Isle MCCCXLIX Lord Walter Bermingham the best Justice of Ireland that ever was gave up his office of Justiceship after whom succeeded the Lord Carew Knight and Baron both MCCCL. And in the 25. yeere of the foresaid King Edward Sir Thomas Rokesby Knight was made Lord Justice of Ireland Item Sir Walter Bermingham Knight Lord Bermingham that right good Justice sometime of Ireland died in the Even of S. Margaret Virgin in England MCCCLI Kenwrick Sherman sometime Maior of the Citie of Dublin died and was buried under the Belfray of the preaching Friers of the same City which Belfray and Steeple himselfe erected and glazed a window at the head of the Quire and caused the roofe of the Church to be made with many more good deeds In the same Covent he departed I say the sixth day of March and at his end he made his Will or Testament amounting to the value of three thousand Marks and bequeathed many good Legacies unto the Priests of the Church both religious and secular that were within twenty miles about the City MCCCLII Sir Robert Savage Knight began in Ulster to build new castles in divers places and upon his owne Manours who while he was a building said unto his sonne and heire Sir Henry Savage let us make strong walls about us lest happily the Irish come and take away our place destroy our kinred and people and so we shall be reproached of all Nations Then answered his sonne where ever there shall be valiant men there is a Castle and Fortresse too according to that saying The sonnes encamped that is to say valiant men are ordained for warre and therefore will I be among such hardy men and so shall I be in a castle and therewith said in his vulgar speech A castle of Bones is better than a castle of Stones Then his father in a fume and chafe gave over his worke and swore an oath that he would never build with stone and morter but keepe a good house and a very great family and retinew of servants about him but he prophesied withall that hereafter his sonnes and posterity should grieve and waile for it which indeed came to passe for the Irish destroyed all that country for default of castles MCCCLV And in the thirty yeere of the same King Sir Thomas Rokesby Knight went out of his office of Justice the sixe and twenty day of July after whom succeeded Moris Fitz-Thomas Earle of Desmund and continued in the office untill his death Item on the day of Saint Pauls conversion the same Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas died Justice of Ireland in the castle of Dublin not without great sorrow of his friends and kinsfolke and no lesse feare and trembling of all other Irish that loved peace First he was buried in the quire of the preaching Friers of Dublin and at last enterred in the Covent Church of the Friers Preachers of Traly This man was a righteous Justicer in that hee stucke not to hang up those of his owne blood for theft and rapine and misdemeanours even as soone as strangers
Bartholomew Verdon James White Stephen Gernon and their complices slew John Dowdal Sheriffe of Louth MCCCCIII In the fourth yeere of King Henry the fourth and in the moneth of May was killed Sir Walter Beterley a valiant Knight then Sheriffe there and with him thirty men In the same yeere about the feast of S. Martin there passed over into England Thomas the Kings sonne leaving Stephen Scroop his Deputy who also himself upon the first day of Lent returned into England and then the Lords of the land chose the Earle of Ormond Lord Justice of Ireland MCCCCIV In the fifth yeere of King Henry died Iohn Cowlton Archbishop of Armagh the fifth of May whom Nicholas Fleming succeeded The same yeere on S. Vitalis day began a Parliament at Dublin before the Earle of Ormond then Lord Justice of Ireland wherein where confirmed the Statutes of Kilkenny and of Dublin also the charter of Ireland In the same yeere Patrick Savage in Ulster was treacherously slaine by Mac-Kilmori and Richard his brother given for an hostage who likewise was murdred in prison after he had payed two hundred Marks MCCCCV In the sixth yeere of King Henry and in the month of May were taken three Scottish Galions or Barkes two at Green-castle and one at Dalkey with the captaine Thomas Mac-Golagh The same yeere the merchants of Tredaght entred Scotland tooke pledges and preies The same yeere Stephen Scroope crossed the seas into England leaving the Earle of Ormond Lord Justice of Ireland And the same yeere in the month of June the Dublinians entred Scotland at Saint Ninians and there behaved themselves manfully then landed they in Wales and did much hurt to the Welshmen there yea and carried away the Shrine of S. Cubie unto the Church of the holy Trinitie in Dublin Also the same yeere on the Vigill of the blessed Virgin died James Botiller Earle of Ormond whiles he was Lord Justice to the griefe of many at Baligauran unto whom there succeeded in the office of Lord Justice Gerald Earle of Kildare MCCCCVI And in the seventh yeere of King Henry on Corpus Christi day the Dublinians with the people of the Countrey about them manfully overcame the Irish and killed some of them they tooke three ensignes and carried away divers of their heads to Dublin The same yeere the Prior of Conall fought valiantly in the plaine of Kildare and vanquished two hundred Irish well armed killing some and putting others to flight there were in the Priors company not above twenty English and thus God regardeth those that repose trust in him In the same yeere after the feast of S. Michael Sir Stephen Scroop Deputy Justice under the Lord Thomas the Kings sonne Lievtenant of Ireland entred into Ireland The same yeere died Pope Innocentius the seventh after whom succeeded Pope Gregory The same yeere beganne a Parliament at Dublin on Saint Hilaries day which ended at Trym in Lent and Meiler Bermingham slew Cathol O-Conghir in the end of February and Sir Gefferey Vaulx a noble Knight in the countie of Carlagh died MCCCCVII A certaine Irishman a most false villaine named Mac-Adam Mac-Gilmori who caused fortie Churches to be destroied one that was never christened and therefore termed Corbi tooke Patricke Savage prisoner and received of him for his ransome two thousand Marks and yet killed him afterwards with his brother Richard The same yeere in the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Crosse Stephen Scroop Deputy under Thomas the Kings sonne Lievtenant of Ireland accompanied with the Earles of Ormond and Desmond and the Prior of Kylmaynon with many out of Meth set forth from Dublin and in hostile manner invaded the land of Mac-Murgh where the Irish had the better of the field in the forepart of the day but afterwards they were manfully by the said Captaines repulsed where O-Nolam with his sonne and others were taken prisoners But hearing then and there that the Burkeins and O-Keroll in the countie of Kilkenny had for two daies together done much mischiefe sodainly the said Captaines rode in all haste with bridle on horse necke unto the towne of Callan and there meeting with the said enemies manfully put them to flight O-Keroll and to the number of eight hundred they killed in the place The same yeere Stephen Scroop sailed over into England and Iames Butler Earle of Ormond was by the country chosen Lord Justice of Ireland MCCCCVIII The said L. Justice held a Parliament at Dublin in which Parliament were confirmed the Statutes of Kilkenny and of Dublin and a Charter granted under the great seale of England against Purveyouris The same yeere the morrow after S. Peters day ad Vincula the Lord Thomas of Lancaster the Kings sonne arrived as Lievtenant of Ireland at Cartingford and in the weeke following came to Dublin and arrested the Earle of Kildare as he came unto him with three of his house and all his goods he lost by the servants of the said Lievtenant and in the castle of Dublin he imprisoned him untill he made paiment of 300. Marks for a fine The same yeere on Saint Marcellus day died the Lord Stephen Scroop at Tristel-Dermot The same yeere the said Thomas of Lancaster was wounded at Kylmainon and hardly escaped death and afterwards caused Proclamation to be made that whosoever by his tenures owed service to the King should appeare at Rosse And after Saint Hilaries feast he held a Parliament at Kilkenny for to have a tallage granted And afterwards upon the third day before the Ides of March he passed over into England leaving the Prior of Kylmainon his Deputy in Ireland In this yeere Hugh Mac-Gilmory was slaine at Cragfergus within the Oratory or Church of the Friers Minors which Church he before had destroyed and broken the glasse windowes thereof for to have the iron barres therein at which his enemies to wit the Savages entred MCCCCIX In the tenth yeere of King Henry and in the month of June Ianico of Artoys with the English slew fourescore of the Irish in Ulster MCCCCX On the thirteenth day of June began a Parliament at Dublin and continued three weeks the Prior of Kylmainon sitting as Lord Justice The same yeere on the tenth day of July the same Justice beganne the castle of Mibracly in O-Feroll and built De la Mare and a great dearth there was of corne In the same yeere the Justice entred the land of O-brin with a thousand and five hundred kernes of whom eight hundred departed unto the Irish and had not the Dublinians beene there there would have beene wailing and many a woe and yet Iohn Derpatrick lost his life there MCCCCXII About the feast of Tiburce and Valerian O-Conghir did much harm to the Irish in Meth and tooke prisoner 160. men The same yeere O-Doles a knight and Thomas Fitz-Moris Sheriffe of Limerik killed one another In the same yeere the ninth of June died Robert Monteyn Bishop of Meth after whom succeeded Edward Dandisey sometime Archdeacon of
by all But when the Nations from the North like violent tempests overflowed these South parts it became subject to the Scots For under the Emperours Honorius and Arcadius as wee read in Orosius it was inhabited as well as Ireland by the Scottish Nations and Ninnius hath written that one Biule a Scot was Lord of it But as the same writer recordeth the Scots were driven out of all the British countries and Ilands by Cuneda Grandfather of Maglocunus whom Gildas for the foule work that he made in these Ilands tearmed the Dragon of the Iles. After this Edwin King of Northumberland brought this Iland like as the foresaid Anglesey under the subjection of the English if we understand them both by the name of Menaviae as writers perswade us at which time it was reckoned an Iland of the Britans But when the North had sent abroad his brood the second time I meane the Normans Danes and Norwegians these Norwegians who with their manifold robberies and roveries did most hurt from the Northren sea tooke up their haunt into this Iland and the Hebrides and therein erected Lords and Petty Kings whose briefe history I will here put downe word for word out of an old Manuscript lest it should be utterly lost which is intituled The Chronicle of Man seeming to have been written by the Monks of the Abbey of Russin which was the principall place of religion in this Isle A CHRONICLE OF THE KINGS OF MAN ANno Domini MLXV Edward of blessed memory King of England departed this life after whom succeeded in the kingdome Harald the son of Godwin against whom Harald Harfager King of Norway came into the field and fought a battell at Stainford-bridge and the English obtaining the victory put them all to flight out of which chace Godred surnamed Crovan the son of Harald the black of Iseland came unto Godred the sonne of Syrric who then reigned in Man and by him was honourably received The same yeere William the BASTARD conquered England and Godred the sonne of Syrric died after whom succeeded his sonne Fingal MLXVI Godred Crovan assembled a great fleet and came to Man fought with the people of the land but was overcome and put to rout A second time hee rallied his forces and his fleet sailed into Man joined battell with the Manksmen was vanquished and driven out of the field A third time he gathered a great multitude together and by night arrived in the haven called Ramsa and hid three hundred men within a wood which stood upon the hanging hollow brow of an hill called Scacafel Now when the sunne was risen the Manksmen put their people in order of battell and with a violent charge encountred with Godred And when the fight was hot those three hundred men starting out of the ambush behind their backes began to foile the Manksmen and put them to the worst yea and forced them to flye Now when they saw themselves discomfited and no place for them of refuge to escape for the sea water comming in with the tide had filled the channell of Ramsa river and the enemies on the other side followed the chace hard they that then remained alive tooke up a pitifull cry and besought Godred to save their lives And he moved with compassion pittying their wofull calamity as who for a certain time had beene nursed and brought up among them sounded the retrait and forbad his hoast to pursue them any longer Goared the morrow after proposed this choice unto his owne army whether they would rather divide Man among themselves and therein dwell or only take the substance and pillage of the countrey and so returne unto their owne homes But they chose rather to wast and spoile the whole Iland and with the goods thereof to enrich themselves and so returne home But Godred himselfe with those few Ilanders that remained with him inhabited the South part of the Iland and granted to the remaines of the Manksmen the North part with this covenant and condition That none of them should at any time venture and presume to challenge any part of the land by right of inheritance Whereby it came to passe that even unto this day the whole Isle is the Kings domain alone and all the revenues thereof belonging unto the crown Godred then reduced Dublin and a great part of Leymistir under his subjection As for the Western Scottish he so over-awed them as that no man who built ship or cog-boat durst drive into it above three nailes Now he reigned 16. yeeres and died in the Iland that is called Yle He left behind him verily three sons Lagman Harald and Olave Lagman the eldest taking upon him the kingdome reigned seven yeeres And Harald his brother a great while rebelled against him but at length being taken prisoner by Lagman he had his members of generation cut off and his eyes plucked out of his head After this Lagman repenting himselfe that he had pulled out his brothers eyes gave over the kingdome of his owne accord and wearing the badge of the Lords Crosse took a journey to Jerusalem in which he died MLXXV. All the Nobles and Lords of the Islands hearing of the death of Lagman dispatched their Embassadors to Murecard O-Brien King of Ireland requesting that hee would send some industrious and worthy man of the blood royall to be their King untill Olave Godreds sonne came to full age The King very willingly yeelded to their requests and sent unto them one Dopnald the sonne of Tade warning and charging him to govern the kingdome which by right belonged unto another with all gentlenesse and modesty But he after he was come to the Crowne not weighing of the charge that his Lord and M. gave him abused his place and lorded with great tyranny and so committing many outrages and villanies reigned cruelly three yeers Then all the Princes of the Ilands agreed together in one conspiracy rose up against him and expelled him out of their coasts Who fled into Ireland and never looked them in the face after MLXXVII One Ingemund was sent from the King of Norway to take upon him the dominion of the Ilands and when he was come to the Isle Leodus he sent messengers to all the Nobles of the Ilands with a commandement that they should meet together and ordain him their King Mean while himselfe with his companions did nothing else but rob spoile make good cheere and banquet dishonour and abuse married wives defloure young maidens yea and give himselfe over to filthy pleasures and fleshly lusts But when tidings hereof came to the Nobles of the Ilands now assembled to make him King they were set on fire with furious wrath and sped themselves in all hast toward him and surprising him in the night burnt the house wherein hee was and with fire and sword made a quick dispatch of him and his company MXCVIII The Abbey of S. Mary at Cistertium or Cisteaux was founded Antioch was won by the Christians and a
Comet or blazing star appeared The same yeere there was a field fought between those of the Isle of Man at Sâ—antwas and the Northren men got the victorie In which battell were slaine Earle Oiher and Mac-Moras Generals of both the sides In the same yeere Magnus King of Norway the son of Olave son of Harald Harfager desirous to try whether the corps of S. Olave King and Martyr remained uncorrupt commanded that his tombe should be opened and notwithstanding the Bishop and Clergy withstood it the King himselfe came boldly thither and by force that he brought with him caused the coffin to be opened Now when he had both seene and handled the body uncorrupt and nothing perished sodainly there was a great feare fell upon him and in all haste he departed thence The next night following Olave King and Martyr appeared unto him in a dreame saying thus Chuse thou one of these two things either to lose thy life and kingdome both within thirty daies or to depart from Norway and never see it againe When the King awakened he called unto him his Princes and Elders and declared unto them his dreame and vision and they being sore affraid gave him this counsell to depart with all speed out of Norway He without delay caused a fleet to be rigged and put in readinesse of an hundred and threescore saile and cutteth over to the Isles of Orkney which he forthwith subdued making way by dint of sword thorowout all the Iles and bringing them to his subjection went forward still as far as to Man and when he was arrived and landed he came unto St. Patrickes Isle to see the place wherein the field had beene fought a little before betweene the Manksmen because as yet many of their bodies that were slaine lay there unburied Now when he saw this most goodly and beautifull Iland it pleased his eye and he chose it to seat himselfe therein built fortresses in it which unto this day carry his name And those of Galway he held in so great awe that he compelled them to cut downe wood for timber and to bring it unto the shore that therewith he might build his Forts and Bulwarkes To Anglesey then called Mona an Iland in Wales hee sailed and found in it two Earles by the name of Hughes the one he slew the other he put to flight and subdued the Iland But the Welshmen presented him with many gifts and so he bad them farwell and returned unto Man Unto Murcard King of Ireland he sent his shooes and commanded him to carry them on his shoulders through the middest of his house on Christmas day that he might thereby understand he was subject unto King Magnus Which the Irishmen as soone as they heard of it took grievously and disdained exceeding much But the King following a wiser course I had rather saith he not onely carry his shooes but also eat them than King Magnus should destroy one Province in Ireland Hee fulfilled therefore his commandement and honourably entreated his messengers Many presents also hee sent over by them unto King Magnus and entred into league with him These messengers being returned unto their Lord related unto him many things touching the situation of Ireland the pleasantnesse thereof the abundance of corne and wholsomnesse of aire When Magnus heard this straightwaies he thought of nothing else but to conquer Ireland and bring it wholly under his dominion He commanded therefore his men to prepare a navie and himselfe in person setting forward with sixteene ships desirous to take a view of the countrey as he unwarily departed aside from his shipping was suddenly compassed about by the Irish and so lost his life together with all those in manner that were with him And he was buried hard by S. Patricks Church in Doun Hee reigned sixe yeeres after whose death the Princes of the Ilands sent for Olave the son of Godred surnamed Crovan who lived in the Court of Henry King of England son of King William MCII. Olave the sonne of Godred Crovan aforesaid beganne his reigne and reigned forty yeeres a peaceable Prince having all the Kings of Ireland and Scotland to be his confederates Hee tooke to wife Affrica the daughter of Ferguse of Gallway of whom he begat Gadred By his concubines he had Regnald Lagman and Harald beside many daughters whereof one was wedded to Summerled Prince of Herergaidel who was the cause of the ruine of the whole Kings of the Ilands On her he begat foure sonnes Dulgall Raignald Engus and Olave MCXXXIII There hapned so great an Eclipse of the Sun upon the fourth Nones of August that the day was turned into night MCXXXIV Olave gave unto Yuo Abbat of Furnes a plot of his land in Man to build an Abbay in a place called Russin and both enriched with revenues and endowed with priviledges the estate of the Church in the Ilands MCXLII Godred Olaves son saileth over sea to the King of Norway whose name was Hinge and did his homage unto him and staied there being honourably entertained of him The same yeere three sonnes of Harald Olaves brother who had been brought up in Dublin raising a great number of men together and all those who were fled from the King came to Man demanding of the same King to have the one moity of the whole kingdome of the Ilands to bee given unto them But the King when he had heard their demand being willing to pacifie them answered That hee would take counsell of the matter Now when they had appointed the time and place where the counsell should bee held in the meane while those most leud and wicked villaines complotted among themselves the Kings death At the day appointed both parts met at the haven which is called Ramsa and sat in order by rowes the King with his counsell on the one side and they together with their company on the other and Reginald who was to dispatch him was in the midst between and stood talking apart with one of the Peeres of the land But when the King had called him and he was come unto him he turned toward the King as though hee would salute him and therewith lifting up a glittering axe a great height at one blow cut off the Kings head And forthwith as soone as they had committed such a bloody murder they divided the land among themselves and after some few daies having gathered a navie together failed over to Galway desirous to bring it also under their subjection But those of Galway sticking close and round together gave a faire onset and joined battell with them They by and by turning their backes fled in great disorder to Man And as for all the Galwaymen that dwelt therein some of them they slew others they expelled MCXLIII Godred Olaves son returning out of Norway was created King of Man and to avenge his fathers death he caused two of Haralds sons to have their eies pulled out and slew the third MCXLIV Godred begun his reigne
of these Isles of Orkney which till that time were unknowne and subdued them if we may beleeve Tacitus but questionlesse they were knowne in the time of Claudius the Emperour for Pomponius Mela who then lived mentioneth them Yet doubtlesse Orosius is untrue in that he writeth that Claudius conquered them and so farre is it off that Claudius should conquer them which is avouched in S. Hieroms Chronicles that Iuvenal in Hadrians time not long after Agricola wrote thus of them Arma quid ultra Littora Iuvernae promovimus modò captas Orcades minima contentos nocte Britannos Why warred we past Irish coasts and Orkneys lately won Beyond the Britans where there is least night and longest Sun Afterward when the Romans Empire in Britaine was utterly decaied now the Saxons as it seemeth were seated in them for Claudian the Poet plaied upon them in these termes Maduerunt Saxone fuso Orcades With Saxons blood that there were slaine The Orkneys was imbrued againe Ninnius also writeth that Octha and Ehissus Saxons who served for pay under the Britans sailed round about the Picts with 40. Ciules that is Flyboats or Roving Pinnaces and wasted the Iles of Orkney After this they came into the hands of the Norwegians whence it is that the inhabitants speake the Gothes language by the grant of Donald Ban who after the death of his brother Malcom Can-Mor King of Scots by excluding his nephewes had usurped the kingdome that by their helpe he might be assisted in that intended ambition and the Norwegians held the possession of them unto the yeere of salvation 1266. For then Magnus the fourth of that name King of Norway being by the Scots that warred upon him brought to distresse surrendred them up againe unto Alexander the third King of the Scots by covenant and composition which Haquin King of the Norwegians confirmed unto King Robert Brus in the yeere 1312. And at length in the yeere 1498. Christian the first King of Norway and of Denmark renounced all his right for himselfe and his successours when he affianced his daughter unto James the third King of Scots and made over all his interest to his said sonne in law and his successours and for the stronger assurance thereof the Popes confirmation was procured to ratifie the same To say nothing of the Earles of Orkney that were of more ancient times who also in right of inheritance obtained the Earldomes of Cathnesse and of Strathern at the last the title of Orkney came by an heire female unto Sir William Sent-cler and William the fourth of this line called The Prodigall Earl for wasting his patrimony was the last Earle of this race Howbeit his posterity enjoyed the honour to be Baron Sent-cler unto these daies And the title of Cathnes remaineth still in the posterity of his brother But within our remembrance this honourable title of the Earle of Orkney and Lord of Shetland was conferred upon Robert a base sonne of King James the fifth and Patrick Steward his sonne enjoyeth the same at this present Beyond the Iles of Orkney and above Britaine the author of that ancient Commentary upon Horace placeth the Fortunate Ilands wherein as they write none dwell but devout and just men and the Grecians in their verses celebrate the pleasantnesse and fertility of the place calling them the Elysian fields But as touching these Fortunate Isles take with you if you please another relation of that old fabulous Grecian Isacius Tzetzes out of his notes upon Lycophron In the Ocean saith he there is a British Iland between West Britain and Thule that looke toward the East Thither men say the soules of the dead are translated over for on the shore of that sea wherein the Iland of Britaine lieth there dwelt fisher-men subject unto the French but paying them no tribute because as they say they ferry over the soules and folk departed When these fishermen returne home in the evening within a while after they heare some knocking at the door and heare a voice calling them unto their work Then rise they and to the shore they goe not knowing what causeth them for to goe where they see boats prepared but none of their owne and no men in them which when they be entred into they fall to their oares and feele the weight of the said boats as if they were laden with men but see no body After that with one push they come to a British Iland in a trice whereas otherwise in ships of their own they could hardly get thither with a day and nights sailing Now when they are come to the Iland then again they see no creature but heare a voice of those that receive them that are a shipboard and count them by the kinred of father and mother yea and call them one by one according to their dignity art and name But they after that the ship is discharged of her load return home againe with one yerke of their oares Hence it is that many men thinke these be the Ilands of blessed ghosts Of the same stampe also may that Poeticall Geographer seeme to be of whom Muretus maketh mention in his variety of readings who hath written that C. Iulius Caesar went thither once in a great galley with an hundred men aboard and when he was willing to have seated himselfe there as being wondrously delighted with the incredible pleasantnesse of the place he was full against his will and struggling what he could to the contrary throwne out by those invisible inhabitants Five daies and nights sailing from the Isles of Orkney Solinus placeth THULE An Iland if any other often celebrated by the Poets whensoever they would signifie any thing very remote and farre off as if it were the furthest part of the whole world Hereupon saith Virgil Tibi serviat ultima Thule that is Let Thule most remote thee serve Seneca Terrarum ultima Thule that is Thule the farthest land that is Juvenal De conducendo loquitur jam Rhetore Thule that is Now Thule speakes how Oratours to hire Claudian Thulen procul axe remotam that is Thule far remote under the Pole and in another place Ratibusque impervia Thule And Thule where no ships can passe Statius Ignotam vincere Thulen that is To conquer Thule all unknowne And Ammianus Marcellinus by way of an Adage or Proverbiall speech useth it in these words Etiamsi apud Thulen moraretur that is Although he made his abode even in Thule To passe over other testimonies give me leave yet to note thus much moreover that the said Statius used Thule for Britaine in these his verses Caerulus haud alitèr cùm dimicat incola Thules Agmina falcifero circumvenit acta covino Even so the blew inhabitants of Thule when they fight Environ battels marching on with sithed chariots might As also in this place of his Poem entituled Sylvae as it seemeth restuo circumsona gurgite Thule Thule that doth resound amaine With sea that ebbes
a forest in Warwickeshire 565 c Arderns a family 604 b Argentons 406 d. 489 e Arians condemned 77 Arianisme in Britaine 78 Ariconium 618 d Aristobulus mentioned by Saint Paul in Britaine 68 Arlech castle 665 e Armanthwaite 777 f Armaturae what they were 783 Armes of Ailsburies 395 d Armes of Will de Albeny 320 e Armes of the Alfretons Barons 555 e. of the Bainards 271. d of the Argentons 406 d. of the Bardolps 481 e. of the Blewets 271 d. of the Bowes 737 b. of the Bohuns 311 f. of Brabant 820 e. of Charleton Lord of Powis 663 c. of Colchester 451 a. of Cusanz 271 d. of Ela Countesse of Salisbury 249 d. of the Ferrars 526 a. of Sir Hen. Guildford 352 b. of Harold 617 d. of Hollands Knights 749 d. of Th. Howard Duke of Norfolk 483 c. Of the first Kings of England of Norman blood 724. of the Lucies 768 f. of Lumlies 742 b. of the Mauleis 719. of Montfichets 453 of the Monthaults 690 e. of the Mortimers de Attilborough 473 b. of the Musards 555 f. of the Muschamps 815 c. of Saier Quincy and Roger his sonne 267 Armes of the Percies 768. of the Percies and Lucies ibid. of Redvers Earles of Denshire 207 e. of the Scales 405 e. of the Segraves 568 f. of the Sturmies 254 f. of the Lord Stourton 245 b. of Vaulx 786 e. of Vermandors 304 b. of Vescy 723 a. 722 f. of Viponts 763. of Warren Earle 304 b Armie of God and Holy Church 509 d Armorica what it signifieth 111 Armorica 19.12 Armorican Britons whence they came 5 Arnulph of Montgomery conquerour of Penbrochsh 655 a Arrow a river 565 d Arrow a towne 566 a Arthur a British Prince 128 Arthurs place of Nativitie and death 194 Ap. Arthur a writer 632 f Arthurs battell against Mordred 194 Arthurs sepulchre 227 f Arthurs Epitaph 230 a b Arthurs table 776 d King Arthurs Palace 221 b Artisans or Craftsmen 177 Arvandus his children killed 262 d. 276 a Arveragus 62 Arundell Earles 309.310 Th. Arundel Baron of Wardour 246 a. Count of the Empire ib. Arundale 308 d Arundels Knights 193 Arwerton 463 e S. Asaph a Bishops See 679 d S. Asaph a goodly and upright man ibid. e Ascohes Knights 543 a Ascot 396 a Ashbie Mares 507 b Ashbie de la Zouch 519 a Ashburnham 317 e Ashburne in the Peake 553 d Ashle manour 481 f Ashdown 442 f Ashridge 395 a Ashford 335 d Ashwell 406 a Ashwell Thorp 472 d Askerton castle 782 f Askes a family 729 f Asserius a learned Monk 378 c Assises what they are 445 â— Astbury 608 f Astley castle 569 b Astleies Barons ibid. b Astleies a noble family 581 d Astleis Knights 217 a Astons a family 584 e Th. Aston the first head-schoolemaster of Shrewsbury 596 b Astroites a stone 536 c Astwell 505 e Athelney 224 b Athelwold murdered by Edgar 262 b Athyrston 569 d Attrebatii 278 Attacotti 79.127 Attal-Sarisin 185 Attilbridge 473 d Attilburgh ibid. b Attila the scourge of God 197 a Atton a place and family 722 b Avallon an Iland â—25 e Aubrey a family 628 e Audience court 181 Audre causey 459 d Audre 492 e S. Audre or Etheldreda ibid. f S. Audries Liberties 493 c Aventon 258 d Aven a river in Hantshire 258 e Avens a family 485 d Averham or Aram a place 549 Aufon river See Nen. Augusta See London Augusta what they be 424 d Augustus Caesar intended a voyage into Britaine 39. he neglecteth Britaine ibid. Augustine Apostle of the English nation 336 d. 136. where enterred 337 f. S. Augustines crosse 342 a. Augustines oke 578 d. e Aulus Atticus slaine 61 Aulus Plautius sent into Britaine 40. his exploits there 41 Mercate Aultun 269 a Awdleys or Aldeleghs Barons 583 â— Henry Awdley 583 f. 584 a Iames Lords Awdley 584 a Awdley end 452 a Baron Awdley of Walden 452 d Awkenbury 501 c Awkland 738 d Aulaf the Dane adopted 261 f Aulbemarle Earles 715 b Auldby 709 e Aulcestâ—r 566 b Aulton castle 587 c Avon a river in Somersetshire 236 c Avon what it signifieth 358 a Avon a river in Wiltshire 242 a Avon river the lesse 515 b. 517 Avon a river in Wales 665 e Avon-well 515 b Aure a yellow or golden colour 26 Aurelius Conanus a tyrant 113 Aurelius Ambrose 259 a Aurenches or de Abrincis 349 b Ausley castle 588 e Aust-clive 363 d S. Astins Church in Canterburie 337 e Ax a river 206 f Axan minster ibid. f Axelholme an Isle 544 b B BAblac 373 c Babthorp name of a place and family 710 Babthorps father and sonne ib. b Bacons a family 463 e Sir Nicholas Bacon L. Keeper 461 f Iohn Baconthorpe the resolute Doctor 479 b Bad 21 Badbury hill 216 e Baddeley 607 e Bartholmew Lord Badilsmeere 331 d Badesley 566 d Baggington 562 e Bagots 586 e Bagmere Poole 609 b Baines or Bathes much used 732 Bainards castle in London 424 b Bainards 243 f Bailliol colledge in Oxford 381 c Baine a river 727 f Bainhams 359 a Baintbrig ibid. Baskewell a river 557 b Bala a towne 666 c Baldach 473 f Baldock 406 c Baldwine a Iustice 395 e Baldwine le Pettour 464 b Balshall a Commander of the Templars 566 d Bamborow 813 e Bampfeilds a family 203 e Bampton 207 b Ban a river in Lincolnshire 541 Banbury 376 a Banchor or Bangor Monasterie 603 a Bannavenna that is Wedon 508 Bannes Downe 234 b Bandogs or Mastives 434 e Banerets what title of Gentrie 171 a Baram Down 345 a Barangi 154 Barbacan in London 433 d Bard 4.14.15 Bard 19 Bardolphs Lords their tenures of certaine Lands 302 d Bardus 19 Bardney Abbey 540 f Bardolphs Barons 481 e. 548 f Bariden a river 473 d Barkley Barons 239 a William Vicount Barkley Earle of Notingham 551 c Barklow 452 a Bark-shire 129 Barkway 405 f Barnard castle 736 e Saint Barnard Colledge in Oxford founded 382 b. re-edified 383 b Barley a towne and famly 405 f Barley the best 485 b Barnwel Abbey 487 f. Castle 510 c Barnet 425 e Barnet field 415 d Barry an Island 643 a Barries Vicounts in Ireland 643 Baringtons a family 453 d Barington Hall ibid. Baro what it signifieth 168 Barons what degree of honor ib. Baronies many in Northumberland 799 c Barons to the Count Palatine of Chester 612 a. their office ib. Barow 521 b Barows or Burrows 255 b Barton upon Humber 542 f Baruch an holy man 643 a Bascaads or Baskets 491 e Basilicae 743 f Basile 473 f Basing 269 b. the honour of the Barons S. Iohn Poinings and Powlets Basing Stoke 269 b Basing Werk 680 b Baskervils worthy knights 620 c Bassets a notable familie 581 f Bassets of Welledon 514 d Bassets of Brailesford 553 d Baston 21 Batable ground 782 a Bateau 21 Batersey 303 a Batherton 607 e Bath gate 557 Bath Earles 235 a Bath Knights 172. their dubbing ibid. Bath Citie 233 b. the hot Waters thereof ibid. Battell
is ibid. Hertlebury castle 574 b Hertford shire 405 Hertford towne 407 a Hertford Earles 415 e called Earles of Clare ibid. Herty point 207 b Doctor Hervey his Causey 489 c Hervey first Bishop of Ely 493 d Herward a valiant Englishman 533 a Heston 420 a Hesus 17 Hesselwood 696 c Hous 17 Heveningham a towne and family 467. c Hexhamshire 799. d Hextold a river 807. d Hextoldesham ibid. Heyford Warin 377. a Heyford Purcell 377. a Hides a family 281. a Hide what it is 158 339. e Highgate Castle 778. c High Crosse 518. a High Dike a streete-way 534. a 64 High ridge ibid. Highham a towne and family 463. c Highham Ferrars 510. b High-land men 119.126 Higra 707. c. What it is 357. e Saint Hilda a shee Saint and her miracles 718. e Hills erected for what purpose 406. e Hildersham 489. e Hildeards ancient Knights 713. f Hilton a Castle and familie 742. e Himilco never in Britaine 33. Hinchingbrooke 497. d Hindersket or Hunderdskell a Castle 723. e Hinkley a Baronie 518. c Hith or Hide a towne 349. b Hith what it signifieth ibid. Hitching 406. c Ho 329. c Baron Ho 318 319. Hoes a family 542. c Hobarts Knights and Atturneys Generall to Kings 476 Sir Edward Hoby Knight 286. b 334. a Hobelars 272.275 b Hocke and Hocks old English for mire and dirt 402. a Hoch Norton 375. a Hockley in the hole 402. c Hodde hils 215. c Hodesdon 408. d Hodingdon 578. c Hodlestons an ancient familie 699. e. 765. d Hodengs a family 394. c Hodnet a towne and family 594. b Hodney a river 628. a Hoel the good Prince of Wales 650. c Holburne or Oldburn 432. f Holcrofts an ancient family 608. d Holcroft a place and family 747. d Holdernesse a promontorie 713. c Holdenby house 508. e Holdernesse a promontory 713. c Holdernesse honour 715. b Holes within the Ground 440. d Holland a part of Lincoln-shire 529. why so called ibid. Hollands a great family 519. b and most noble 749 Iohn Holland of Denshire 205. a his coate of armes ibid. d Iohn Holland Duke of Exceter and Earle of Huntingdon 205. d Henrie Holland Duke of Excester ibid. his miserable case ibid. f Iohn Holland halfe brother to King Richard the second beheaded at Plaisi 445. b Hollands Knights 353. b Hollands Earles of Kent ibid. Iohn Holland the younger his stile 502. f Henrie Holland Duke of Excester his fall 502. f Thomas Holland Earle of Kent and Duke of Surrey 304. â— beheaded 304. c Holme Cultraine Abbey 773. a Holmesdale 294. b Holme Pier Pount 548. f Holme castle 296. f Holmes Chappell a towne 609. a Holme Lacy 621. a Holt in Denbigh shire 677. b Holt castle 594. b Holly head 673. a Holy Island 814. e Hooten 606. e Hope castle 681. a Horne church 441. f Horne castle 541. c Hornby castle 753. f Honorius Emperor 83. succoureth the distressed Britains against invasion of Barbarians 86 Honoriaci what Souldiours 118 Honoriani 127 Horse running 723. d Horse the badge or cognisance of the old Dukes of Saxonie 135 Horse heath 489. e Horton 691. f Hote-Spur 596. c Hothams a family 711. d. 721 Howards a Noble Family 472. c Henrie Lord Howard Earle of Northampton 516. e Henry Baron Howard of Marnhil 215. c Charles Lord Howard Earle of Nottingham 551. d Tho. Vicount Howard of Bindon 213. a Howards Earles of Surrey 304. e Thomas Lord Howard of Walden 452 e. 470. d. Earle of Suffolke ibid. William Lord Howard of Naworth 783. b Iohn Lord Howard duke of Norfolk the first of that house 483 slaine ibid. Thomas Howard his sonne vanquished the Scots 483. c Henrie Howard Earle of Surry a learned Nobleman ibid. Tho. Howard last duke of Norfolke ibid. Houden and Houden-shire 710. c Houghton 480. a Howgill castle 762. c Howley 693. e Howty a brooke 608. e Hubert de Burge Earle of Kent 352 Hubba the Dane 208. f Hubbestow ibid. Huckstow forest 592. c Huddleston 696. c Huesi 23 Hugh the Norman 212. d. a traitour 205. a Hugolin or Hugh Spenser 642 b Hugh Earle of Shrewsbury slain 672. d Hull the river 711. c Hull the towne 712. d Humfrey Duke of Glocester and his stile 369. c. The good duke and a favorer of learning 382 his death 561. c Humber an arme of the Sea 689 542. e Humel or Hymell castle 514. b Hundreds or Centuries appointed 158. d Hungerbourne 255. c Hungerfords 195 Hungerford towne 282. e Hungerford Barons 245. d. 282 Hunibald a bald writer 6 Hunshâ—l â— forâ— 509. d Hunstanston 418. b Hansdon a Barons seate 408 c Hunt Cliffe 720. e Huntercombs a family 394 c 815 d Huntingdon castle in Hereford shire 620. c Huntingdon shire 497. e Huntingdon towne 497. d Huntingdon Earles 502. c Huntingfeld towne and Baron 467. c Huntly Nab 720 f Hurling 186 Hurlers 193 Hurst castle 260. d Huscarles what they be 576. e Hussy the first and last Baron of that name 535. d Hyeritha a Shee-Saint 208. b I. JAmes the sixth of Scotland stiled King of great Britaine 141. a mild and gracious Prince 298. b Iames the fourth King of Scotland slaine 483. c Tho. Iames of Oxford a stâ—dious Antiquarian 639. â— Ianus with two foreheads 97 Iaphets progenie how it was propagated 10 Iarrow 743 d Iberi whence they tooke name 20 Iccius portus in France a port townelet 3â— Iceni 456 Ichnild-street 456. d Iceniiâ— Britaine discomfited 43 Idle a river 550. d Iermins Knights 461. d Iermegans Knights 468. e Ierby a towne 769. c Iervis or Iorvalle Abbey 729. c Ierusalem in hand to be re-edified 79. Iestine a rebell against Prince Rhese 641. e Iesu of Bethlems house 297. e 410. f Iesus Colledge in Oxford 383. b Iohn Iewell Bishop of Salisbury 208. e. a profound Clerke 248. e S. Iies 193 Ikborowgh 482. b Ikeâ—ild street 64 Ikening street 402. d Ikesworth 461. d Ilands of what use 478. d An Iland floating 478. d Isle of Ely 485. c. why so called 492. f Il-bre an Isle 607. a Ilcester or Ivelcester 221. e Ilfarcomb 207. a Ilkley 697. c Il-street 603. e K. Ina 226. c Innes of Court and Chancery in London 427. c Inborow what it is 815. b Incubi 17 Infants of Spaine 164 Inglebeys a family 535. f. 699. f Ingleborne 242. c Ingleborrow Hill 749. e Inglefields an ancient family 284. c Inglini bipenniferi 154 Inis wen 24 Insula Caeruli ibid. Inundations in Monmouth shire and Somerset shire 634. d Ioan the faire maide of Kent 353. b Ioan de Acres 369. b Iohannes de Sacro bosco 692. c Iohn of Weathamsted 7 Iohn Earle of Athol cruelly executed 336. a Iohn of Gaunt his stile 757. b King Iohn his sword at Lin. 480. f King Iohn called judicially into question in France and endited for murdering his Nephew Arthur 733. d Saint Iohns Knights of Ierusalem 428. a. 433. a Ioseph of Arimathea 68 Ioseph Iscanus a Poet 204. d Ioseph Scaliger 10 Ipres
513 b Mary Lady Fane 330 d Mary Hall in Oxford 381 d Mary Magdalen Colledge in Oxford 382 b S. Maries of Radcliff 237 â— Marius a mighty strong man 779 d Markham an uncorrupt judge Markham a village and name of family 550 e Markham lord chiefe Iustice of England 550 e Marle 20.393 c Marleborough 255 d Marleborough statute 256 a Marlow 393 Marmions a family 729 e Marmions the kings Champions 582 c Marney Baron 213 a Marnhill 215 c Marquesites found 720 f Marquesse what degree of honour 165 Marquesse how created ibid. Marchland 690 e Martin Bishop of Tours against putting heretikes to death 82 Martin Vicegerent in Britaine stabbeth himselfe 78 Martins lords of Keimes Martins a family 654 d Martyrs in Britaine 73 Masons first brought into England 743 a Massagetes Scythians 121 Massham 729 c Matrafall 662 d Mawde the Empresse Lady of the English 453 e. King Henry the First his wife 284 d Mawde of Saint Valeri a stout Dame 623 c Saint Maudit Castle 189 Maugre Lhewellin a Castle 623 c Mauleies Barons 709 c Peter Mauley 719 c Mault of Abbington 280 a Mault how made 485 b Maundbury 212 c Maunsels 641 e Maxey castle 515 a Maximus usurpeth the Empire 82. his vertues ib. stiled Trevericus Emperour ibid. Maximus the usurper vanquished and put to death by Theodosius 83 Maxstock castle 567 c Meales what they be 479 e East-Mean Hundred 268 f West-Mean Hundred ibid. Meansborow Hundred ibid. Meanuari ibid. Meaux Abbey 712 e Walter Medantinus an Official Earle 621 Medaghom 634 b Medcalfes a numerous family 729 a Medeshandsted alias Medeswelhamsted ibid. Medeswel a gulfe 512 b Medley 693 f Medvan 67 Medway river 329 d Meermarkes in old time 515 c Melborn castle 554 a Melcomb Regis 211 c Melfield 815 d Long Melford an hospitall 462 Melienith 624 a Melin what colour 26 Melitus a Roman Bishop of London 426 c Melkin a great professor of learning 378 f Melton Mowbray 522 e Menai 668 c Mendip hill 230 d Mendlesham 465 b Meneg 189 Menevia 653 d Menils Barons 721 b Merbury a place and familie 609 f Mercians of the North 559 b Merchenlage 153 Merworth 330 d Mercury had the charge of waies 64 Mergate 413 Merioneth shire 667 Merivale 569 d Merkin 188 Merlin the Britans Tages where borne 649 f Mersey a river 745 â— Mesey mouth 610 b Mershland 481 a Merton a poole 749 d Merton 302 d Merton Colledge 302 Statute of Merton 302 e Merton brooke a riveret 554 d Metham a place and familie 710 Metaris or Maltraith 529 c Mettingham 468 c Merlin Sylvester the British Apollo 640 a Michael de la Pole Earle of Suffolke 7â— e Saint Michaels mount 188 Michelham 315 d Michael Scotus a great Mathematician 773 b Middlesex 419 Middleton Abbey built by King Athelstane 213 Middletons a family 698 d Middlewich 607 f Mikel barr 701 f Milburga a devout virgin 591 e Sir Walter Mildmay a worthy knight 514 c Mildred a Saint 340 b Milstons 681 a. 556 f Milford haven 651 d Millum castle 765 d Mimmes 415 d Mineran what towne 407 f Minchins that is Nuns 362 b Minerall stones 720 f Minshul a place and family 608 Minster 334 a Minster what it signifieth 245 c Minster Lovell 373 f Misselto of the Oke 14 Missenden a towne 394 c. de Missenden Gentlemen 394 e Mitford 812 b Mitton 731 b Mittons a family 665 d Mixon 274 e Modwena or Mowen a religious Virgin 569 e. 586 b. her Epitaph 586 c Moeles 196 a. 221 c Mogontus 691 d Mohuns 190 f Mohuns or Moions 220 d Moignes or Monkes of Essex a family 245 b Moilenly 676 c Moinglath ibid. Mole a river why so called 297 Mold 681 a Molineaux a family 748 Mona Taciti an Isle 671 Mona subdued by Iulius Agricola ibid. Monastical life or Monkery when first professed 603 a Monasteries what they were 603 c Monasteries suppressed 163 Monkchester 810 b Monkton See Exceter Monkes Laymen 603 c Monkes a family 208 a Monkes regular or of the Clergie ibid. Monkes Weremouth 742 f Monmouthshire 631 Monmouth towne 632 b. the natall place of King Henry the Fifth 632 e Monmouth an Academy 633 e Monow a river 617.631 c Montacute a place why so called 222 b Montacutes Knights 510 a Montacutes a family 222 c Earles of Salisbury ibid. 249 Th. Montacute Earle of Salisbury slaine before Orleance 250 Mont Aegle Barons 753 f Montchensyes Barons 329 a Guarin Montchensy another rich Crassus 463 b Montferrant Castle 709 b Montfichets Barons 453 c Montfichet Baron 440 a. 809 e Montforts 566 a Simon de Montfort Earle of Leicester 523 e Simon de Montford the younger disloyall to his Prince 523 e Simon Montfort another Catiline 577 f. slaine 578 a Montgomeryshire 661 Montgomery towne and Castle 661 f Montgomerie Earle 663 b Montgomerie made a shire 677 Mont Turold a fort 513 a Montjoy 555 Monthault Barons 680 e Monuments or Tombs in Pauls Church in London 426 d. c. The Moore in Monmouthshire 694 d Moores what they be 759 b Mordants Barons 399 b Moresby a place and name of gentlemen 766 c f Mooreland 586 e Mor 21 Morinwyr ibid. Morimarusa 11 Morleys Barons 315 c. 453 d Morisons Sir Richard and Charles 415 a Moregate in London 423 d Mordant 510 c Morton Cardinall and Archbish. of Canterbury 212 b Morpeth 812 c Morton Corbet 594 e Morvils a family 775 f Hugh Morvil that slew Thomas Becket 777 f Mortimers Earles of March 619 Mortimers of Attilborough 473 b Morwic 813 b Mortimers hole 548 e Roger Mortimer the elder sentenced to death 624 e Roger Mortimer the last declared heire apparent to the Crowne 625 a The Mosses 745 d. whence they come 747 b The Moto 783 b Mont Sorel or Mount Soar Hill 521 a Mowbray 304 f Mowbraies a family the originall of their race 723 c Mowbray much affected the Templars 566 d Mowbraies whence descended 481 c Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke 482 e. banished ibid. Mowbray 221 f Moult-Grave Castle 719 c Mountsbay 188.189 Moushole 188 Mouthwy a Commot in Wales 665 d Moyen 213 b Moyly Gaer 679 c Muchelney 222 a The Mues 432 c Munden Furnivall 408 b. 703 a Municipia what they were 409 Murdacks a family 565 a. 409 Musards Barons of Staveley 555 f Muschamps Barons 815 c Musgraves villages and a family 760 d Musgrave Baron ibid. d Mustard the best 359 b Mynyd Margan 644 e N NAdder a river 245 d Naitanus a King of the Picts 118 Names of families altered 583 e Names of families taken from places 748 a Names taken from the fathers forename 813 b Nannius 82 Nant Pencarn a river 639 f Nant-wich 607 f Natan Leod or Nazaleod 258 f Nations the same have sundry names 23 Nations at first had names of their owne 25 Navy Royall of England 333 e Naworth Castle 784 f Neath or Nid a river 645 f Neath a towne 643 d Neath land 649 d Nectan a Saint
20 Ratcliffs Earles of Sussex 321 a Ravenglasse 765 Ravensburne river 326 Ravenswath castle 730 b Reads a family 577 b Reading 284 Readsquire a mountaine 802 a Reafan the Danes Baner 195 Reche a towne 490 c Recall a river 722 d Rech dike ib. Reculver 335 b Redcastle or Castle Rous 594 d Redin 20 Redhorse vale 561 c Red colour giveth name to many places 525 d Redbourne 413 d Redbridge 262 d Red rose and white for Lancaster and Yorke 725 e Redshankes 126 Redvers or Rivers Earles of Denshire 207 d Redverses or de Ripariis 201 c Redwald King of the East Saxons 465 c Reforming errours a Court 180 Reginald Pole his commendation 216 b Religious houses dissolved 163 Remney ariver 631 b. 642 a Remni what it signifieth 642 a Remigius Bishop of Dorchester 539 c Rendlesham 465 c Renimed 419 e Reptacester or Richborow 341 a Repton 553 f Requests Court 181 Rerecrosse 732 f Reuda 126 Rheda 18 Rheder ibid. Rhedec ibid. Rhedecfa ibid. Rhead a river 802 a Rheadsdale ibid. c Rhediad 18 Rhegium why so called 347 d Rhese ap Gruffin 623 a Rhese ap Thomas a valiant knight 650 e Rhie a river 722 d Rhidale ibid. Rhia Baron 472 Rhre whereof so called 319 d Rhodanus 21 Rutupina littora what they bee 342 Ribel a river 749 d Ribelchester 750 b Ribald L'isle 485 f Ricall 707 d Richard the Second renounceth the crowne 680 d Richard Duke of Yorke claimeth the crowne 725 b Richard a renowned Earle of Cornwal 197 d. his death and sepulchre his sonne Henry murdred 197 f Richard Coeur de Lion 380 a Richard the Third a bad man and a good Prince 212 a Richard Duke of Glocester an usurper 369 f. his practises to win the crowne 370 Richard the First his praises 285 Richard the Second his Reliques translated to Westminster 414 f Richard King of Romans c. 414 Richborow 341 a Richborow decayed ibid f Riches Barons 441 d Richard Lord Chancellour of England 445 Richards Castle 619 e Richmond shire 727 Richmond towne 729 f Richmond Earles 733 Richmond the Kings house 297 Richmonds a family 778 a Rickmansworth 415 c Rising Castle 481 c Risingham 803 d Rith what it signifieth 486 a Rivers had Divine honours 602 heaped upon them 698 a Robert bridge 320 c Robert Earle of Leicester 466 c Robert Crouchbacke Earle of Leicester 519 f Robert Consul or Earle of Glocester 368 d Robert Fitz Haimon 359 d Robin Hood 693 a Robin Hoods bay 718 c Roch a river 745 f Roch Dale a towne ibid. Rochester a castle 802 c Rochester city 332 c Rochester or Roffes a family 405 d Rochford towne and Hundred Rochford Barons ibid. Rochford Vicount ibid. Rockingham Castle and Forest 513 Rock-Savage 610 a Roden a river 594 c Roding a river 440 b Roger the magnificent Bishop of Salisbury 243 a Rogerses Knight 215. ibid. Roise a Lady 405 b Roiston ibid. Roises Crosse ibid. Rolrich stones 374 c Rollo the Norman 144 his dream and conversion 144 The Roll of Winchester 153 Rome called Constantina 85 Romania 24 Romeswork 343 f Romans foiled and massacred in Britaine 51 Roman Empire in Britaine at an end 87 Romans in Britaine 34 Romescot 411 a Romara a Norman Earle of Lincoln 544 e Roos Barons 532 f Rosamund Clifford King Henry the Second his paramor 375 Rosamunds bones translated and afterwards reduced againe 376 c Rose red and white for Lancaster and York 725 e Rosse 190.714 a Rosseland 190 Rosse in Penbrochshire 652 d Rosse in Cardiganshire 657 c Rosse Barons 714 a Rosebery Topping 721 d Rose Castle 778 c Rota temporum that is The wheele of Times an History 790 b Rother a river 320 a Rotherfield ibid. Rotherham 689 e Rotherham Archbishop of Canterbury 689 e Rowcliff Castle 781 c Rouchester 809 e Round table 265 b Rowles in London 428 c Rousses a family 467 c Routon Castle 592 e. 662 Rugby 562 Rudheath Sanctuary 609 a Ruffes fishes 476 c Rugemond or Richmont Greies in Bedfordshire 734 d Rugemont 204 c Rumalds shrine 396 d Rumford 441 f Rumon 199 e Rumney Marsh 350 b Rumney towne ibid. Runkhorne 510 d Rushbrooke 461 d Rushton 509 f Russel Lord Russel of Thornaugh 514 c Russels Knights 578 e Russels Earles of Bedford 394 e 403 Ruthin 676. Ruthlan 679 f Rutlandshire 525. why so called 525 b c d Rutland Earles 426 f Rutters what they were 812 b S SAbridgeworth 408 c Sacae 129. Sacasones ibid. Sadlier 408 a Sacvil Earle of Dorset and Chancellour of Oxford 382 Saer de Quincy Earle of Winchester 521 a Salisbury Church 248 a b Saffron 453 a Salisbury Earles 249 c Salarin a custome or Impost for salt 608 a Salisbury for Sarisbury 246 f Salisbury Hall 750 c Salkelds townes 777 e. and a family 778 a Salmons the best called Umbrae 627 Salmon leape in Penbrochshire 6â—4 e Salndie or Sandie 401 b Salston 48 e Salt made 268 b e Salt Esse 196 Salt hilles 529 e Salt artificially made 753 b Salt stones 739 d Saltpits 573 b c Saltry Abbey 500 b Salt pits in Cheshire 608 a b Salustius Lucullus in Britaine 62 Saltwood Castle 349 c Salwarp a river 574 d Salmonds or S. Amands 283 c Samonds or S. Amands Barons 244 a. 366 e Samothea 24 Sampier growing aboundantly 434 a Sandal Castle 693 d The Sand part of Notinghamshire 550 a Sandalum 19 Sandgate Castle 349 e Sandiacre or S. Diacre 555 d Sands Barons 269 b e Sandon 343 a Sandy See Saludica Sanctuaries 260 Sandwich 342 Sanguelac 317 e Sapcots a family 501 e Sarasins-heads 695 a Sarmatians are Scythians 121 Sarn Helen a Portway in Wales 666 a Sasson 23 Saxon language maintained by Lectures 200 a English-Saxons called into Britain 100.127 Saxons 119. their valour and cruelty 134 Saturn well affected to Britaine 556 e Savages a great family 610 a Saulden 396 c Scarborough Castle 717 Scardale 556 a Schilpor See Esquires 176 Scaeva his valour and advancement 37 Scalbie Castle 782 e Scilicester in the wall 806 b Scipio Africanus where buried 340 a Sclate-stones digged 514 d Scorby or Scurvie-grasse 328 b Scordium an herbe growing plenteously 491 f Scoteney a Barony 542 c Scottishmen of East-Scotland right English-Saxons 129 their fashions 133 Scots wild or Highlandmens habit sort well with the Gothes 123 Scots whence they tooke name 119 Scots of West Scotland are Highland men ibid. Scots came first out of Ireland 120 Scots when they came to be of name 125 Scot what it signifieth 124 Scots a family 349 Scotus aliâs Duns 814 b his pitifull death ibid. Scovies 20 Screking ham 535 c Screven a place and family 700 Scroby 551 b Scropes Barons 729 b Scruffel hill 767 e Scudamores a family 621 a Sculton 473 a Scutary 176 Scythica vallis 120 Scythians in Spaine 121 Scythicum a promentory in Spain 121 Seaton 206 e Sea Holly See Eryngium Sea heard to grone 720 c Sea sand good for ground 199 c
and exposed to the enemie King Henrie the Eighth began to strengthen it with forts for in that foreland or promontorie shooting farre into the sea From whence we have the shortest cut into the Isle of Wight hee built Hurst Castle which commandeth sea ward every way And more toward the East hee set up also another fortresse or blockhouse they name it Calshot Castle for Caldshore to defend the entrie of Southhampton Haven as more inwardly on the other are the two Castles of S. Andrew and Netly For heere the shores retiring as it were themselves a great way backe into the land and the Isle of Wight also butting full upon it doe make a very good harbour which Ptolomee calleth The mouth of the river Trisanton as I take it for Traith Anton that is Anton Bay For Ninnius an old writer giveth it almost the same name when he termeth it Trahannon mouth As for the river running into it at this day is called Test it was in the foregoing age as wee reade in the Saints lives named Terstan and in old time Ant or Anton as the townes standing upon it namely Ant port Andover and Hanton in some sort doe testifie So farre am I of pardon me from thinking that it tooke the name of one Hamon a Roman a name not used among Romans who should be there slaine And yet Geffrey of Monmouth telleth such a tale and a Poet likewise his follower who pretily maketh these verses of Hamon Ruit huc illucque ruentem Occupat Arviragus ejusque in margine ripae Amputat ense caput nomen tenet inde perempti Hammonis Portus longumque tenebit in aevum Whiles Hamon rusheth here and there within the thickest ranke Arviragus encountreth him and on the rivers banke With sword in hand strikes of his head the place of him thus slaine Thence forth is named Hamons-Haven and long shall so remaine But upon this Haven standeth South-hanpton a little Citie neeere unto which on the North-east there flourished in old time another of that name which may seeme to be Antonine his CLAVSENTVM by the distance of it as well on the one side from Ringwood as from Venta on the other And as Trisanton in the British language signifieth the Bay of Anton so Glausentum in the same tongue is as much as the Haven of Entum For I have heard that Claudh among the Britans is that which the Graecians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a forced Haven made by digging and casting up the earth Now that this place was called Hanton and Henton no man needs to doubt seeing in that booke wherein King William the first made a survey of all England this whole shire is expressely named Hanscyre and in some places Hentscyre and the very towne it selfe for the South scituation of it Southâ—hanton What manner of towne that Clausentum was it is hard to say but seated it was in that place where the field is which now they call S. Maries and reached even to the Haven and may seeme also to have taken up the other banke or strand of the river For a little above at Bittern over against it Francis Mills a right honest gentleman there dwelling shewed unto me the rubbish old broken walls and trenches of an ancient castle which carrieth halfe a mile in compasse and at every tide is compassed for three parts of it with water a great breadth The Romane Emperors ancient coines now and then there digged up doe so evidently prove the antiquity thereof that if it were not the Castle of old Clausentum you would judge it to be one of those forts or fences which the Romans planted upon the South coast of the Ocean to represse as Gildas writeth the piracies and depredations of the Saxons When all became wasted by the Danish warres old Hanton also was left as a prey in the yeere of our Lord 980. to be sacked and rifled by them and King William the Conqueror in his time had in it but fourescore men and no more in his demaine But above 200. yeeres since when Edward the Third King of England and Philip Valois bustled for the very Kingdome of France it was fired by the French and burnt to the gound Out of the ashes whereof presently sprung the towne which now is to be seene but situate in a more commodious place betweene two rivers for number of houses and those faire built much renowned for rich Inhabitants concourse of merchants wealthy fenced round about with a double ditch strong wals and turrets standing thicke betweene and for defence of the Haven a right strong Castle it hath of square stone upon a Mount cast up to a great height built by King Richard the Second And afterward King Henrie the Sixt granted to the Major Balives and Burgesses that it should be a Countie by it selfe with other liberties Memorable is that of the most puissant Canutus King of England and of Denmarke by which he in this place repressed a flatterer who bare the King in hand that all things in the Realme were at his will and command He commanded saith Henrie of Huntingdon that his chaire should be set on the shore when the sea began to flow And then in the presence of many said he to the sea as it flowed Thou art part of my Dominion and the ground on which I sit is mine neither was there ever any that durst disobey my commandement and went away free and unpunished Wherefore I charge thee that thou come not upon my land neither that thou wet the clothes or body of thy Lord. But the sea according to his usuall course flowing still without any reverence of his person wet his feet Then he retiring backe said Let all the Inhabitants of the world know that vaine and frivolous is the power of Kings and that none is worthy the name of King but hee to whose command the heaven earth and sea by bond of an evelasting law are subject and obedient and never after that time set hee the crowne upon his head c. Of those two rivers betweene which this South anton standeth that in the West now called Test and in times past Anton as I suppose springing out of the forrest of Chate goeth first to Andover which in the Saxon language is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The passage or Ferry over And where in the yeare of our salvation 893. Aetheldred King of England when the Danes harried and spoiled his Kingdome on every side to the end that hee might at length refresh and cherish his weakened and wearied countries with sure and quiet peace inserted into his owne familie by way of adoption Aulaf the Dane which not withstanding soone after tooke small or none effect For this great honour done to the barbabrous Dane could not reclaime and stay his minde from rapine and spoyling still From thence it runneth downe and receiveth from the East a brooke passing by Bullingdon in whose parish is a
in the yeere 1588. leaving the fame onely of his greatnesse behinde him Within this Shire are 200. Parish Churches RVTLANDIAE Omnium in Anglia Comitatu um minimus Pars olim CORITANORVM RUTLAND-SHIRE RUTLAND in the old English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is environed within Leicester-shire unlesse it be on the South-side where it lieth upon the river Welland and on the East-side where it butteth upon Lincoln-shire A Country nothing inferiour to Leicester-shire either in fruitfull qualitie of soile or pleasantnesse but in quantitie onely as being the least County of all England For lying in forme almost round like a circle it is in compasse so farre about as a light horseman will ride in one day Whence it is that the Inhabitants tell a tale of I wote not what king who should give to one Rut so much land as he could ride about in one day and that he forsooth rode about this shire within the time appointed and so had it given him and named it by his owne name Rutland But let such fables bee packing I would not have the trueth prejudiced with an extravagant tale And where as the earth in this shire is every where red and so red that even the sheepes fleeces are thereby coloured red whereas also the English-Saxons called Red in their tongue Roet and Rud may we not suppose that this Countrey was named Rutland as one would say a Redland For as saith the Poet. Conveniunt rebus nomina saepè suis. The names as often times we see With things themselves full well agree Now that places in all Nations have had their names of rednesse Rutlan Castle in Wales built on a shore of red earth Redbay Redhill Redland The Red Promontory The Red-Sea also betwixt Aegypt and Arabia Erytheia in Ionia and a number besides may proove most evidently So that there is no cause why we should give credit to fables in this behalfe As for this little County it may seeme to have beene ordained a Shire or County but of late daies For in King Edward the Confessors time it was counted a part of Northampton-shire and our Historiographers who wrote three hundred yeeres agoe and upward reckoned it not in the number of Shires Wash or Guash a little river which runneth from the West Eastward through the middle of it divideth it in twaine In the hithermore or South part riseth Uppingham upon an high ascent whence that name was imposed not memorable for any thing else but because it is counted a well frequented Mercat towne and hath for to shew a proper Schoole which together with another at Okeham R. Ihonson a Minister of Gods word in a good and laudable intent for the training up of children in good literature lately erected with the money he had gotten together by way of collection Under this standeth Drystoke which in no wise is to be passed over with silence considering it hath been the habitation from old time of a right ancient race of the Digbyes which I grieve to utter it but all men know it hath now caught a deepe steine by Sir Everard Digby drawne into that cursed crew who most horribly complotted with one divelish flash of hellish Gun-pouder to blow up both Prince and Country More Eastward upon the river Welland I saw nothing remarkeable unlesse it be Berohdon now Barodon which Thomas Beauchamp Earle of Warwicke held with South Leffingham now South Luffenham and other Hamelets by service to be the Kings Chamberlaine in the Exchequer On the further part beyond the river among the hils there spreadeth below a very pleasant and fruitfull vale named at this day The vale of Catmose happily of Coet maes which signifieth in the Brittish tongue a field full of woods In the middest whereof Okeham sheweth it selfe which by the like reason may seeme to have taken the name from Okes where hard by the Church which is large and faire remaine the crackt and decaying walls of an old Castle which Walkelin de Ferrariâ—s built in the first times of the Norman Kings And that it hath been the dwelling place of the Ferrars besides the credit of writers and generall report the great horse shoes which in times past that family gave in their armes fastned upon the gate and in the hall may sufficiently proove Afterwards it belonged to the Lords of Tatteshall But when King Richard the second had promoted Edward the Duke of Yorkes sonne to the Earledome of Rutland he gave unto him this Castle also But within our Fathers remembrance it befell unto Thomas Cromwel and was reputed the seat of his Baronie whom King Henry the Eighth advanced to the highest pitch of dignity and streightwaies when by his plotting and attempting of many matters he had cast himselfe into the tempestuous stormes of envy and displeasure bereft him on a sudden both of life and dignity Over against it Eastward there standeth Burley most daintily seated and overlooking the vale A stately and sumptuous house now of the Haringtons who by marrying the daughter and heire of Colepeper became Lords of so faire an inheritance that ever since they have flourished in these parts like as before time the Colepepers had done unto whom by N. Green the wealthy and goodly Livelod of the Bruses in part had descended As for those Bruses being men of the chiefe Nobility in England they were engraffed into the Roiall stocke and family of Scotland out of whom by Robert the eldest brother the race Roiall of Scotland are sprung-like as by Bernard the younger brother the Cottons of Connington in Huntingdon-shire of whom I have written already and these Haringtons In which regard and gracious respect King James advanced Sir Iohn Harington branched from that stem that the ancient Lords Harington to the title of Baron Harington of Exton a towne adjacent where he hath also an other faire house Moreover on the East side by the river Guash stands Brigcasterton whereof I will say more afterward and Rihall where when superstition had so bewitched our ancestours that the multitude of their pety Saints had well neere taken quite away the true God one Tibba a pety Saint or Goddesse reputed to bee the tutelar patronesse of Hauking was of Foulers and Faulkoners worshipped as a second Diana Essendon also is neere adjoyning the Lord whereof Sir Robert Cecil a good sonne of a right good father the strength and stay of our Common-wealth in his time was by King James created Baron Cecil of Essendon in the first yeere of his reigne This little County King Edward the Confessor by his last Will and Testament bequeathed unto his wife Eadith yet with this condition that after her death it should come to S. Peter of Westminster For these be the very words of the said Testament I will that after the death of Queene Eadith my wife ROTELAND with all the appertenances thereto be given to my Monastery of the most blessed
was fiercely set upon by Mac-Carton the which Mac-Carton verily having encountred with the said Justice spoiled him of his clothes mony utensils silver plate and horses yea and slew some of his men But in the end the foresaid Justice with the helpe of the men of Ergale got the victory and entred into the parts of Ulster MCCCXLV The seventh of Iune a common Parliament was holden at Dublin unto which the Lord Moris Fitz Thomas came not Item the Lord Ralph Ufford Justice of Ireland after the feast of S. John Baptist with the Kings standard raised yet without the assent of the Elders of the land against the Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas Earle of Desmond marcheth forthwith into Mounster and there seized into the Kings hands the Earles lands and these lands so seized letteth out to farme unto others for a certain yeerly rent to be carried unto the King Item the said Justice being in the parts of Mounster delivered unto Sir William Burton Knight two writs the one whereof the said William should deliver unto the Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas Earle of Kildare the contents of which was this That upon paine of forfeiting all his lands he should with all speed repaire unto him to aid the King and him with a strong power Now in the other writ contained it was that the said Sir William should apprehend the said Earle of Kildare and so apprehended commit him to prison But Sir William seeing that this could not possibly be brought about and effected accordingly by himselfe with colourable words framed for the nonce perswaded the said Earle whiles he was preparing himselfe with his army and levying a power unto the foresaid Justice that before his departure out of the countrey hee should repaire unto the Kings Counsell at Dublin and that by the unanimity and joint counsell of the same so deale as to provide for the safe keeping of his owne lands in his absence and if after that any hurt should befall unto his lands whiles he was absent it should be imputed unto the Kings counsell and not to him The Earle therefore giving credit unto the Knights words and thinking of no treacherous practice in this behalfe disposed and addressed himself to come unto Dublin When he was come altogether ignorant of any treachery toward whiles himselfe sat in consultation with others of the King Councell in the Exchequer-court sodainly he was by the said Sir William betraied attached or arrested and apprehended and brought to the castle of the said city and there clapt up in prison Item the said Justice entred with his army the parts of O. Comill in Mounster and by a treacherous device taketh two castles of the Earle of Desmonds to wit the castle of Yniskisty and the castle of the Iland in which castle of the Iland thus taken the Knights being within the said castle namely Sir Eustacele Bâ—re Sir William Graunt and Sir Iohn Cotterell were first drawne and afterward in October openly hanged untill they were dead Also the said Earle of Desmond with some other of his Knights were by the said Justice banished The foresaid Justice having attchieved these exploits in Mounster returned in the moneth of November with his company unto his wife then great with child remaining at Kilmaynon which is neere to Dublin over and beside those things which had beene done against the Laity by inditing and emprisoning some of them and turning them out of their goods he also caused the Ecclesiasticall persons as well Priests as Clerkes to be endited and standing endited attached and imprisoned them and fetched no small summes of money out of their purses Item as touching the grants and demises of their lands to wit whom before hee had deprived of their lands he bestowed the same upon divers tenants as hath beene said as also the very writings concerning those grants so sealed as they were by him and with the Kings seale he revoked tooke the same from them cancelled defaced and wholly annulled them Item all the mainpernours of the said Earle of Desmond in number twenty sixe as well Earles as Barons Knights and others of the countrey whose names be these to wit Lord William Burke Earle of Ulster Lord Iames Botiller Earle of Ormond Sir Richard Tuit Knight Sir Eustace Le Poer Knight Sir Gerald De Rochfort Knight Sir Iohn Fitz-Robert Poer Knight Sir Robert Barry Knight Sir Moris Fitz-Gerald Knight Sir Iohn Wellesley Knight Sir Walter Lenfaunt Knight Sir Roger de la Rokell Knight Sir Henry Traharn Knight Sir Roger Pover Knight Sir Iohn Lenfaunt Knight Sir Roger Pover Knight Sir Matthew Fitz-Henry Knight Sir Richard Wallis Knight Sir Edward Burk Knight the sonne of the Earle of Ulster David Barry William Fitz-Gerald Fulke Ash Robert Fitz-Moris Henry Barkley Iohn Fitz-George Roch and Thomas de Lees de Burgh their own travels and proper expences which some of them with the said Justice in his warre had beene at and in pursuing the said Earle of Desmond notwithstanding he by definitive sentence deprived of their lands and dis-inherited and awarded their bodies to the Kings pleasure excepting foure persons only of all the foresaid sureties whose names be these William Burk Earle of Ulster Iames Botiller Earle of Ormond c. MCCCXLVI Upon Palme-Sunday which fell out to be the ninth day of Aprill the above named Lord Ralph Ufford Justice of Ireland went the way of all flesh for whose death his owne dependants together with his wife sorrowed not a little for whose death also the loiall subjects of Ireland rejoice no lesse The Clergy and people both of the land for joy of his departure out of this life with merry hearts doe leap and celebrate a solemn feast of Easter At whose death the floods ceased and the distemperature of the aire had an end and in one word the common sort truely and heartily praise the onely Son of God Well when this Justice now dead was once fast folded within a sheet and a coffin of lead the foresaid Countesse with his treasure not worthy to be bestowed among such holy reliques in horrible griefe of heart conveied his bowels over into England there to be enterred And againe in the month of May and on the second day of the same month behold a prodigious wonder sent no doubt miraculously from God above For lo she that before at her comming entred the city of Dublin so gloriously with the Kings armes and ensignes attended upon with a number of souldiers in her guard and traine along the streets of the said city and so from that time forward a small while though it were living royally with her friends about her like a Queen in the Iland of Ireland now at her going forth of the same city privily by a posternegate of the castle to avoid the clamour of the common people calling upon her for debts in her retire homeward to her owne countrey departed in disgrace sad and mournfull with the dolefull badges of death sorrow and heavinesse Item after the
and reigned thirty yeeres In the third yeere of his reigne the people of Dublin sent for him and created him King of Dublin against whom Mure-card King of Ireland raised war and encamping himselfe before the Citie which is called Coridelis sent his halfe brother by the mothers side Osibeley with three thousand men of armes to Dublin who was by Godred and the Dublinians slaine and all the rest put to flight These exploits atchieved Godred returned to Man began to use tyranny and turned Noblemen out of their inheritances whereof one called Thorsin Oters Son mightier than the rest came to Sumerled and made Dubgall Sumerleds son King of the Ilands subduing unto him many Ilands When Godred had intelligence of these things by one Paul he prepared a navie and setteth forward to meet with Sumerled who was comming with a fleet of 80. saile And in the yeere 1156. there was a battell fought at sea on Twelfe day at night and after many a man slaine on both sides the next day after they grew to a pacification and divided among themselves the kingdome of the Ilands and so it became two severall kingdomes from that very day unto this present time And this was the cause of the overthrow of the kingdome of the Isles since time that Sumerleds son seized upon it MCLVIII Sumerled came to Man with a fleet of 53. saile put Godred to flight wasted the Iland Godred then crossed over to Norway to seek for aid against Sumerled MCLXIV Sumerled gathered together a fleet of 1060. ships and arrived at Rhinfrin coveting to subdue all Scotland But by the just judgement of God hee was vanquished by a few together with his sonne and an infinite number of people there slain The same yeere there was a field fought at Ramsae betweene Reginald brother of Godred and them of Man and by the deceitfull practice of a certaine Earle those of Man were put to flight Then Reginald began to reigne and on the fourth day after came Godred upon him out of Norway with a great multitude of armed men and tooke his brother Reginald whom he bereft both of his eyes and of his genitall members The same yeere died Malcolm King of Scotland and his brother William succeeded him in the kingdome MCLXVI Two Comets or blazing stars appeared before Sun-rising in the Moneth of August the one in the South the other in the North. MCLXXI Richard Earle of Penbrock sailed over into Ireland and subdued Develin with a great part of Ireland MCLXXVI John Curey conquered Ulster and Vivian Legate of the Apostolicke Sea came into Man and caused King Godred to bee lawfully espoused unto his wife Phingola daughter of Mac-Lotlen son to Murkartac King of Ireland to wit the mother of Olave then three yeers old Sylvan the Abbat married them unto whom the very same day Godred gave a piece of land at Miriscoge where he built a Monastery but at length the ground was together with the Monkes granted to the Abbey of Russin Reginald sonne to Eac-Marcat one of the royall blood comming into Man with a great band of men in the Kings absence at the first conflict put to flight certain warders that kept the shore and killed about 30. men Afterwards the Manksmen gathering their forces together the same day slew him and almost all his company MCLXXXIII O-Fogolt was Sheriffe of Man MCLXXXV There fell out to be an Eclipse of the Sun on Saint Philip and Jacobs day MCLXXXVII On the fourth Ides of November died Godred King of the Ilands and the next Summer was his body translated to the Isle of Hy. He left behind him three sonnes Reginald Olave and Tvar In his life he ordained his sonne Olave to be his heire because hee onely was borne in lawfull wedlock But the people of Man seeing that Olave was now scarce ten yeeres old sent for Reginald out of the Iles and set him up for their King MCLXXXVIII Reginald Godreds son began to raigne over the Ilands and Murchard a man of great power throughout all the kingdome of the Iles was slaine MCXCII A battell was fought betweene Reginald and Engus the sonnes of Sumerled but Engus won the victory The same yeere was the Abbey of Russin translated to Dufglas but after foure yeeres the Monks returned to Russin MCCIII Michael Bishop of the Isles died at Fontans after whom succeeded Nicolas MCCIV. Hugh Lacy came with an army into Ulster and gave John Curcy battell tooke him prisoner and conquered Ulster Afterward hee set John at liberty who came to King Reginald and he honourably entertained him because he was his brother in law for John Curcy had taken to wife Affrica Godreds daughter who founded the Abbey of S. Mary de Iugo Domini and was there buried MCCV. John Curcy and Reginald King of the Iles having entred into Ulster with one hundred ships in the haven which is called Stranford slackly besieged the fortresse of Rath but Walter Lacy comming upon them with an army put them to flight after this Curcy never recovered his land MCCX Engus Sumerleds son was with three of his sonnes slaine John King of England at the same time brought a navie of 500. saile to Ireland subdued it who sending a certaine Earle named Fulk unto Man in one fortnight and a day wholly in a manner wasted it and taking hostages returned thence into their country King Reginald and his Nobles were not in Man MCCXVII Nicolas Bishop of the Ilands departed this life and was buried in Ulster within the house of Benchor after whom succeeded Reginald Here I thinke good to write somewhat againe of Olave and Reginald Brethren REginald gave unto his brother Olave the I le called Lodhus which is said to be larger than the rest of the Ilands but slenderly inhabited because it stands much upon mountaines is stony besides and almost all unfit for tillage The inhabitants thereof live for the most part by hunting and fishing Olave therfore went to possesse himselfe of this Iland and dwelt in it leading a poore life And when he saw it would not suffice to maintaine himselfe and his army he came boldly unto his brother Reginald who then made his abode in the Ilands and spake unto him in this maner Brother saith hee my Soveraigne Lord the King thou knowest that the kingdome of the Ilands belonged unto me by inheritance but since the Lord hath elected thee to sway the Scepter thereof I envie thee not nor take it grievously that thou art exalted to that royall dignity Now thus much I heartily beseech thee that thou wouldest provide me some portion of land in the Iles wherein I may live honestly according to mine estate for the Iland Lodhus which thou gavest unto me is not sufficient to sustaine me Reginald his brother after he had given him the hearing said he would take counsell upon the point and the morrow after when Olave was sent for and came in place to parley of the matter Reginald commandeth