establish his Monarchy over England he endeavoured by all means to reconcile the English to him 1. By advancing some of the English Nobility to places of honour and trust 2. By granting to the English equall rights and priviledges with his Danes in consessu in consilio in praelio and advancing them both alike 3. By favouring and inriching the English Clergy and Church-men and manifesting extraordinary piety devotion bounty in repairing building endowing Monasteries and Churches throughout the Realm 4. By easing them of his Danish Forces 5. By ratifying all their former good old fundamentall Laws rights liberties priviledges which they used enjoyed under their Saxon Kings by enacting other good wholsome Laws repealing all unjust Laws and redressing all exactions and grievances A company of flatterers which extolled his greatness and power to be unmatchable he caused to place him in a chair where the Sea ebbs and flowes at South-hampton that by the disobedience of the Tide that would not stop at his command but presumed to dash his royall garments they might learn how low man is at the highest and not to applaud his fortune but fear his fall He acknowledged God alone to be King of this great Element because the Sea is his and he made it The flatterers of Alexander the great made him believe that he was the son of Iupiter but being one day sore hurt and seeing the blood gush out of his wounds What think you of this said he unto them Is not this blood of a lively red hew and meerly humane He was the greatest Prince of power that ever before him raigned over the English people England Denmarke Norway some adde also part of Sweden together with Scotland were wholly subject unto him Filiam suam Imperatori Romano cum ineffabilibus divitiis maritavit Hunting hist. l. 6. In a Parliament at Oxford he made good Laws whereof these were some that concern Religion First For the celebration of divine service it was ordained that all Ceremonies tending to the increase of reverence and devotion should be used as need required Secondly That upon the Sabbath day all publick Fairs Markets Synods Huntings and all secular actions should be forborn unless some urgent necessity should require it Thirdly That every Christian should thrice in the year receive the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper Fourthly That a married woman convict of adultery should have her nose and ears cut off Krantzius much extols him as the most famous of the Kings of Denmarke He was a just Prince in all saving his tyranny against the two young Princes the sons of Edmond The lustre of this new erected Monarchy had no sooner displayed its beams in Canutus but like an unthrifty Taper it began to glimmer in Harold and absolutely expired in Hard knute who dying issueless the current of royalty ran back again into the channell of the Saxon bloud which flowed in the veinsâ— of Edward sirnamed the Conâ—essor Philpot's Preface to his Villare Cantianum After he had in great glory reigned about nineteen years he deceased at Shafiesbury in the County of Dorset and was buried in the Church of the old Monastery at Winchester where Queen Emma made her abode ever after Harold The second Danish King raigning in England and the thirty fifth Monarch of the Land He was called Hare-foot by reason of his swiftness Canutus had him by a Concubine a Shoomakers daughter This base son of Cnute dispossessed his legitimate son Harde-Cnute of the Crown of England contrary to Cnutes will and contract banished and spoiled Queen Emma of her treasure and Jewels oppressed the people with taxes and was soon cut off by death without any issue He was an oppresser of his people and vitious He raigned four years and four moneths He was neither in Warres so hardy nor in Government so prosperous as his Father Canutus before him had been Harde-Canute The third Danish King that raigned in England and the thirty sixth Monarch of the English men For his noble courage he was called Harde-Canutus The first great Prince of the house of Burgundy was Philip sirnamed the Hardy His recalling his Mother Emma and half Brother Edward and entertaining them respectively deserves commendation His Epicurism left an ill custome to all posterity Four times a day his Table must be covered to invite men to intemperancy through which at a marriage he is thought to have choaked himself at Lambeth most rejoycing to be rid of him in memory whereof Hock-tide a Feast of scorning or triumphing was a long time continued after The English men learned of him their excessive gormandizing and unmeasurable filling of themselves with meates and drinkes At the death of this King died all rule of the Danes in this Land after they had miserably afflicted the Kingdome for the space of two hundred and forty yeares though in Regall government but only six and twenty under these three last Kings He raigned two yeares lacking ten dayes The Danes ruled in this Land almost thirty yeares and raged without all rule about three hundred and fifty Lamberts Perambulation of Kent CHAP. X. Edward the Confessor THe son of King Ethelred the thirty seventh Monarch of the English men He was born at Islip near unto Oxford and tenderly educated by Queen Emma his Mother and after his Fathers death for safety sent into France He was the last King of the Saxon race Such was the opinion conceived of his holiness of life as that shortly after his decease he was canonized amongst the Saints and named Edward the Confessour To gain the more love of his Subjects at his first entrance he remitted the taxe of forty thousand pounds yearly gathered by the name of Dane-gilt so grevous to the Commons Fertur Edwardus Confessor teste Ingulpho cùm se daemonem vidisse super dcervo Daingeldi exultantem protestatus esset aspectunique exhorruisset collecium illico restitui jussâ—sse retento ne iota uno feram exactionem perpetuum relaxasse Spelmanni Glossarium Danegaldi redditio propter pyratas primitus statuta est Hoved. dnnal pars posrerior p. 603. vide plura ibid. He collected the Laws of his predecessors into a body for the administration of justice which some say are the ground of our Common-Law though the pleading be altered since the Norman conquest He found the Realm governed by three different Laws the West-Saxon Law the Mereian Law and the Dane Law Out of these three Lawes partly moderated and partly supplied he composed one body of Law commonly called St Edwards Laws which were of so great equity that when they were abrogated by the Conquerour and the Crown fell into controversie between Maud the Empress and King Stephen the people alwayes inclined to favour that part who put them in fairest hope of restitution of those Laws And afterwards in many Civil dissensions the greatest demand of the people appeareth to have been the restitution of King
all the benefits he could yea and given his own sister iâ— marriage he raised a most dangerous War and spoiled shamefully a great part of England under pretence of restoring the Commonwealth and maintaining liberty neither left he any thing undone to bring the King under to change the State of a Mâ—â—â—rchy to bring in an Oligarchy But in the 〈◊〉 after that fortune had for a good while favourably smiled upon him he was slain at Eveshâ—m in Worcestershire with many other of the Barons his Complices by the prowess of Prince Edward 〈…〉 〈…〉 Although the Kingdome endured great Crosses in the affairs of State under this King yet some have thought that it found as great a blessing in matters of Religion which in those dayes took so deep root in this our Land by the preaching of Iohn Wickliffe that the branches thereof did spread themselves even over the Seas Speeds Chronicle He was the onely Son of that famous Cheiftain the black Prince of Wales a renowned son of a renowned father but as a plant transplanted into a savage soyl in degree and disposition wholly degenerate retained a tincture of the light inconstancy of his Mother and the luxuriousness of his great Grandfather Edward the second and running his course came to his end He had in his Court a thousand persons in ordinary allowance of diet three hundred servitors in his Kitchin above three hundred Ladies Chamberers and Landerers His Apparel was sumptuous and so was it generally in his time he had one Coat of gold and stone valued at thirty thousand Marks One interview with the French King at Ards when his Wife Isabel was delivered unto him cost three hundred thousand Markâ— Queen Anne his Wife Daughter to the Emperour Charles the fourth first taught English women the manner of sitting on horseback which now is used whereas before-time they rode very unseemly astride like as men do The Civil Wars in England had their beginning from his bad Government Henry the fourth did first commence them and Henry the fifth suspended them but they again brake forth under Henry the sixth Wat Tyler the Master of the Kentish Rebels was slain with a Dagger by William Walworth Mayor of London close by the Kings side in the Kings defence who was therefore Knighted and the City since giveth for Arms the Dagger He was first deposed then slain Men are easily emboldened saith Guicciardine c. 3. of his History of Italy against a Prince that is fallen into contempt The most current report at that time went that he was Princely served every day at the Table with abundance of costly meats according to the order prescribed by Parliament but was not suffered to taste or touch any one of them and so perished of famine Mr. Fox saith he was at Pamfret Castle famished to death Sir Pierce of Extone at last killed him though he with an Axe wrested out of one of their hands first killed four of those which came with him to murther him At the point of his death he groaned forth these words My great Grandfather King Edward the second was in this manner deposed imprisoned and murthered by which means my Grandfather King Edward the third obtained possession of the Crown and now is the punishment of that injury powred upon his next successor Well this is right for me to suffer but not for you to do your King for a time may joy at my death and enjoy his desire but let him qualifie his pleasures with the expectation of the like justice for God who measureth all our actions by the malice of our minds will not suffer this violence unrevenged He lived three and thirty years raigned two and twenty and three moneths Thus far the Plantagenets have continued in an unquestionable right line now follows the division of the houses of Lancaster York three of each succeeding in their order Of Lancaster Henry the fourth sirnamed Bulling brook Henry the fifth of Monmouth Henry the sixth of Windsor Of Yorke three others succeeded upon a better title 1. Edward the fourth 2. Edward the fifth 3. Richard the third HENRY the fourth He was son to Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster from the loynâ— of whom the greatest number of the Kings of England Spain Portugall since his time as also several other persons of eminent dignity are descended Mr. Dugdalâ—s History of St. Pauls Cathedrall He was annointed with an oyl which a certain religious man gave unto Henry the first Duke of Lancaster Grandfather to the King by the mothers side when he served in the Wars of King Edward the third beyond the seas together with this Prophesie that the Kings which should be annointed therewith should be the Champions of the Church There was a great contest then between the white and red Rose the houses of Yorke and Lancaster The red Rose prevailed now he being the first renowned King of the house of Lancaster He first studied a popular party as needing all to support his titles There was in his Raign a Parliament held at Coventry called Parliamentum indoctorum the lack-learning Parliament either for the unlearnedness of the persons or for their malice to learned men During the time of this Kings Raign execution by fire was first put in practice within this Realm for controversies in points of Religion He shed the bloud of Gods Saints and raigned neither long nor hâ—pâ—ily Mr. Foxâ—aith â—aith his time was full of trouble bloud and misery He was the first of the Kings of England saith he that put out his hand to the shedding of the bloud of the Saints since the conquest Humphrey his son was by his brother King Henry the fifth created Duke of Glocester he was Protector of the Kingdome of England for twenty five years in the time of King Henry the sixth He was a man who nobly deserved of the Commonwealth and of learning as being himself very learned and a magnificent Patron and benefactor of the University of Oxford where he had been educated and was generally called the good Duke Speed This Duke Humphrey purchased a wonderfull number of Books in all Sciences whereof he freely gave to a Library in Oxford a hundred and twenty nine fair Volumes Bales Conclusion to Leylands New years gift to King Henry the eight One saith all the Henries of the house of Lancaster even to Henry the seventh were most eminent for great vertues Henry the fourth for his behaviour and courtesie Henry the fifth for his valour and magnanimity Henry the sixth for his justice and piety The renowned Prince King Henry the fifth during the life of his father was noted to be fierce and of wanton courage One of his servants whom he favoured was for felony by him committed arraigned at the Kings Bench whereof the Prince being advertised and incensed by light persons about him in furious rage came hastily to the Barre
whole should have been of had their sounder raigned to have finished them himself At Towton about four miles from Yorke the Armies of Edward the fourth and King Henry the sixth met where was fought the greatest Battell our Stories mention in all these Civil Wars where both the Armies consisted of above a hundred thousand men and all of our own Nation One day when he was washing his hands at a great Feast and cast his eye upon his son Henry then a young youth he said This is the Lad that shall possess quietly that we now strive for This shewed a very propheticall spirit to have been in King Henry that could so long before foretell a thing so unlikely to happen For this was he that was afterward King Henry the seventh before whom at that time there were many lives in being of both the houses of Yorke and Lancaster so some but my Lord Howard in his Defensative against the poyson of supposed Prophesies c. 4. seems not wholly to ascribe it to that King Henry the seventh after laboured his Canonization with the Pope but that succeeded not for however the world was assured of his piety there was much question of his Government So Habington a Papist in his History of King Edward the fourth Polyd. Virg. Ang. hist. l. 24. p. 532. saith thus Sed morte post statim obita id officium praestare nequivit Cambden in his Britannia in Surrey saith it was Pope Iulius and that the reason why this took no effect was the Popes covetousness who demanded too great a summe of money for a Kings Canonization as they term it so that he might seem ready to grant those kind of honours not for the Princes holiness sake but for gold Sir Francis Bacon in his History of Henry the seventh relates it thus About this time the King became suitor to Pope Iulius the second to canonize King Henry the sixth for a Saint the rather in respect of that his famous prediction of the Kings own assumption to the Crown The Pope referred the matter as the manner is to certain Cardinals to take the verification of his holy acts and miracles but it died under the reference The generall opinion was that Pope Iulius was too dear and that the King would not come to his rates But it is more probable that the Pope who was extreamly jealous of the dignity of the See of Rome and of the Acts thereof knowing that King Henry the sixth was reputed in the world abroad but for a simple man was afraid it would but diminish the estimation of that kind of honour if there were not a distance kept between Innocents and Saints William Alnwicke Bishop of Lincoln was his Confessor Dr. Litchfield in his Raign preached 3083 Sermons Never any came to be King so soon after his birth nor left to be King so long before his death for he came to be King at eight moneths old and he left to be King twelve years before his death Holy King Henry as they call him was crowned in Paris yet he lost all on that side before he was a man as I remember or soon after and before his unhappy death he lost this land also which loss of both came by striving for both Richard Duke of Glocester killed him that thereby Edward the fourth his brother might be freed from all hostile fear So Polyd. Virg. and others He successively ruled this Land the space of thirty eight years six moneths and four dayes EDWARD the fourth He came unto the Kingdome not by power or justice but by the peoples inclination Biondi He raigned thirty eight yeares six moneths and odde dayes and after his redemption of the Crown six moneths He lived two and fifty years having by his wife one only soâ— called Edward Prince of Wales He was the goodliest Gentleman saith Commines l. 4. c. 10. that ever I set mine eye on and l. 3. c. 5. the beautifullest Prince that lived in his time but after he grew gross and corpulent giving himself wholly to pleasures He was a fortunate Prince in the field for he wan at least nine great Battels fighting himself on foot in every one of them Phil. de Com. in his Hist. Book l. 3. c. 4. and 6. p. 188. saith that King Edward himself told me that in all Battels that he wan so soon as he had obtained victory he used to mount on Horseback and cry to save the people and kill the Nobles for of them few or none escaped Id. l. 3. c. 5. In his fourth Book c. 10. he speaks of an interview between King Edward and Lewis the eleventh King of France the French King after some discourse said pleasantly That he should come to Paris to solace himself there with the Ladies and that he would give him the Cardinall of Bourbon for his Confessor who would easily assoil him of sin if any were committed The King of England took great pleasure in this talk and answered with a merry countenance for he knew the Cardinall to be a good fellow Never lived Prince whom adversity did more harden to action and prosperity more soften to voluptuousness So improvident was his memory that he forgat the greatest injuries and resumed the Archbishop of Yorke into favour not bearing so much as a watchfull eye over a reconciled enemy The so fatall division between the house of Yorke and Lancaster with him in a manner had both their birth and growth I sing the Civil Wars tumultuous broils And bloudy factions of a mighty Land Whose people haughty proud with forraign spoils Upon themselves turn back their conquering hand Whilest kin their kin brother the brother foils Like Ensigns all against like Ensigns band Bowes against Bowes the Crown against the Crown Whilest all pretending right all right 's thrown down Our English Luean Daniel of the Civil Wars The first fortnight of his Raign was died I will not say stained with the bloud of Walter Walker a Grocer who keeping Shop at the Sign of the Crown in Cheapside said He would make his son heir to the Crown a bold jest broke in an evil time yet do I not side with them who taxe the King of severity in this execution unless I could clear this man from being particularly factious for the house of Lancaster or know that those words were uttered in innocent mirth without any scorn to King Edwards title And however perhaps the extraordinary punishment of such saucy language was not then unnecessary to beget authority and make men cautious to dispute the descent of Princes when the question was so nice and arguments not improbable on either side Habingtons History of Edward the fourth Speed saith his words intended no treason the Grocer not once dreaming to touch King Edwards title yet the time being when the Crown lay at stake the Law made them his death He hearing of a certain prophesie that G.
should dispossess his children of the Crown was consenting to his death interpreting G. to be George Duke of Clarence which fell out to be Glocester to whose tyranny he left them by this ungodly means He vanquished in nine Battels himself being present The Scene of his fortune had more changes then any King of England yet except his Competitor Lust was reputed his bosome-sin God severely punisht him in his sons who were both dispossest of their Kingdome and their lives by their unnaturall Uncle there being so much appearance of right by their fathers incontinency that even an Act of Parliament was made to bastardize them He was the first of our Kings since the Conquest that married his Subject His usuall Oath was By Gods blessed Lady He sate on the Kings Bench in open Court three dayes together in Michaelmas Term anno 〈◊〉 of his Raign to understand how his Laws were executed Have we not seen the late King of England Edward the fourth of that name heir of the house of Yorke utterly destroy the house of Lancaster under the which both his father and he had lived many yeares Farther the said King Edward having done homage to King Henry the sixth being of the house of Lancaster did he not afterward hold him prisoner many years in the Tower of London the chief City of the Realm where in the end he was put to death Phil. de Commines hist. l. 5. c. 18. He saith that their King Lewis the eleventh of France in wisdome and sense far surmounted King Edward Lib. 6. c. 2. and l. 5. c. 13. he saith of Lewis undoubtedly he was one of the wisest and subtilest Princes that lived in his time That very day wherein an honourable peace was concluded between Edward the fourth and King Lewis the eleventh upon subscribed Articles it chanced a white Dove as Commines writes to repose her self upon King Edwards pavilion whereupon though many gathered an argument yet since she sate not equally between both the Kings I like much better of a Gascoines observation who having been present at the sight reported unto Philipde Commines as himself records that the Dove repaired to King Edwards Tent only to this intent to refresh and prune her self after a great rain because the Sun was warmest there Howards Defensative c. 24. Richard Nevill Earl of Warwicke was a man of an undaunted courage but wavering and untrusty the very Tennice-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 Price to him from his royall dignity placed Edward the fourth in the royall Throne and afterwards put him down too restored Henry the sixth again to the Kingdome enwrapped England within the most wofull and lamentable flames of Civill War which himself at the length hardly quenched with his own bloud In his spirit birth marriage and revenue he was mighty which raised his thoughts above proportion The greatest and busiest Subject our later age hath brought forth That make-King Warwick having the English Crown Pinn'd on his sleeve to place where he thought best Who set up Princes and did pull them down How did he toyl the Land with his unrest How did his Sword rip up his mothers brests Whose greatness and his popularity Wrought both his own and others tragedy Sir Francis Huberts History of Edward the second Cecil Dutchess of Yorke his mother lived in Henry the sevenths Raign and died at her Castle of Barkhamsted being of extream years who had lived to see three Princes of her body crowned and four murthered He being near his death told his friends that if he could as well have foreseen things as now to his pain he proved them he would never have worn the courtesie of mens knees with the loss of so many heads He raigned two and twenty yeares one moneth and five dayes EDWARD the fifth He was scarce eleven years old when his father died and succeeded him in the Kingdome but not in the Crown for he was proclaimed King but never crowned and indeed it may not so properly be called the Raign of Edward the fifth as the tyranny of Richard the third He hearing that his Uncle had left the name of Protector and taken upon him the title of King and was with full consenting of the Lords to be crowned within a few dayes following with the same Crown and in the like Estate as had been provided for his solemnity the dejected Innocent sighed and said Alass I would my Vncle would let me enjoy my life yet though I lose both my Kingdome and Crown He and his brother Richard were murthered in the Tower Tâ—win brethren in their deaths what had they done O Richard sees a fault that they were in It is not actuall but a mortall one They Princes were 't was their original sin Why should so sweet a pair of Princes lack Their Innocents-day in th' English Almanack Aleyns History of Henry the seventh RICHARD the third He was king in fact only but Tyrant both in title and regiment He was ill featured of limmes crook-backed hard favoured of visage malicious wrathfull envious It is for truth reported that the Dutchess his mother had so much ado in her travail that she could not be delivered of him uncut and that he came into the world with the feet forward and as the same runneth also not untoothed whether men of hatred report above the truth or else that nature changed her course in his beginning which in the course of his life committed many things unnaturally Buck that writes his Raign writes favourably of him but the Chroniclers generally condemn him He was brother to King Edward the fourth and having most wickedly murthered his Nephews usurped the Kingdome by the name of King Richard the third and after two years lost both it and his life in a pitched field He slew with his own hands King Henry the sixth being prisoner in the Tower as men constantly said and that without commandement or knowledge of King Edward the fourth who undoubtedly if he had intended his death would have appointed that Butcherly office to some other then his own brother He slew also that Kings son in the presence of Edward the fourth Was the contriver of the death of the Duke of Clarence his brother He bare a white Bore for his Cognisance The Lord Lovell Sir Richard Ratcliffe and Sir William Catesby were chief rulers under him of the which persons was made a seditious Rime and fastened upon the Cross in Cheapside and other places of the City It was this The Cat the Rat and Lovell the Dog Rule all England under a Hog For which one Colingborne was executed A Prince who deserved to be ranked among the worst men and the best Kings Yet Sir Francis Bacon in his History of Henry the seventh saith that his good Laws were but the brocage of an usurper
pay yearly upon Lammas day one peny to the Pope which at first was contributed under the name of the Kings alms but afterwards was paid by the name of Peter-pence The Pope of Rome had out of every Chimney of England Ireland and Scotland Wales and Cornwall a penny a year for five hundred years together Omnis qui habet triginta denariatas vivae pecuniae in domo sua de proprio suo Anglorum lege dabit denarium sancti Petri. Hoved. Annal pars posterior p. 603. King Henry first forbad this to be paid to the Pope There preached one before him whose Sermon the King liked not as there was reason the King willed Sir Thomas More then being Lord Chancellor to give the Preacher thanks worthy such a Sermon He being a man of a pleasant wit spake aloud to the Preacher that the King might hear and said The Kings Majesty thanketh you for your notable Sermon which when the King heard he called Sir Thomas to him and said What mean you my Lord to give such thanks in our name If it like you quoth he there be some things notable evil It is a note worthy to be remembred that Thursday hath been a fatall day to King Henry the eight and all his posterity for himself died on Thursday the twenty eighth of Ianuary King Edward on Thursday the sixth of Iuly Queen Mary on Thursday the seventeenth of November and Queen Elizabeth on Thursday the twenty fourth of March. After Dr. Collets Sermon preached to him and long communication with him by occasion thereof he dismissed him with these words Lot every one have his Doctor as he liketh this shall be my Doctor Being necessitous he was offered by the House of Commons in a Parliament toward his latter end all the lands and houses of the two famous Universities to be confiscated to his Exchequer by a most mechanick prostitution of the learning the honour and the piety of the Nation but he told them not without a just scorn that he had too much of a Scholar in him to destroy two such Universities as the world had not the like His purpose was if he had lived to have made a perfect Reformation of Religion saith Mr. Fox in his second Volume of his Acts and Monuments oâ— the Church p. 647. and he gives there two reasons of his opinion But the secret working saith he of Gods holy providence which disposeth all things after his own wisdome and purpose thought it good rather by taking the King away to reserve the accomplishment of this Reformation of his Church to the peaceable time of his son Edward and Elizabeth his daughter whose hands were yet undefiled with any bloud and life unspotted with any violence or cruelty Cardinal Woolsey and after him Archbishop Cranmer were in great favour with him Sir Thomas Moor and the Lord Cromwell were also highly esteemed by him Francis King of France after the death of King Henry the eight was much disposed to melancholy whether for that he being some years the younger was by his death admonished of the like approaching fate They were also of so conspiring a similitude of disposition and nature that you shall hardly find the like between any two Princes of whatever different times He celebrated the Funerals of King Henry in the Cathedrall at Paris though excommunicated by the Pope Many learned men lived in his dayes Iohn Collet Dean of Pauls and founder of the School there William Lilly the first Schoolmaster of Pauls School after it was erected Thomas Linacer or rather Linaker a learned Physician and well seen in the tongues Richard Pace a good Linguist Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochester Sir Thomas More an excellent Scholar Iohn Frith and William Tindall Robert Barnes Martyrs Robert Wakefield a good Linguist Sir Thomas Eliot Edward Lee Archbishop of Yorke Iohn Leland a great Antiquary William Grocin very expert in Greek and Latine Hugh Latimer Bishop and Martyr who hath put out an elegant Oration in Latine thus entituled Hugonis Latimeri Anglicani pontificis Oratio apud totum Ecclesiasticum Conventum antequam consultatio publica iniretur de Regni statu per Evangelium reformando Regni invictissimi Regis Henrici 8â— 6â— anno vigessimo octavo habita where he speaks of many things fit then to be reformed and well concludes Si nihil est emendandum in communi saltem emendemus nos ipsos singuli He raigned thirty seven years and nine moneths and died in the six and fiftieth year of his life leaving behind him three children Edward Mary and Elizabeth all which also raigned after him EDWARD the sixth Next after the death of King Henry succeeded King Edward his son being of the age of nine years A Prince although but tender in years yet for his sage and mature ripeness in wit and all Princely ornaments as I see but few to whom he may not be equall so again I see not many to whom he may not justly be preferred Fox his Acts Monuments of the Church vol. 2. p. 65 2. He fitly compares him there to good Iosias Favour and love saith he of Religion was in him from his childhood such an Organ given of God to the Church of England he was as England had never better Id. ib. All King Henries issue for themselves in their severall kinds were Princes of eminent vertue As Henry the eighth with Solomon was blame-worthy for women so he left but one son and two daughters Solomon had Rehoboam a fool and unfortunate his daughters but obscure and both of them Subjects But Henry was more happy in Edward his son another Iosiah and his sisters both Soveraignes of an Imperiall Crown Speed Lever compares him to Iosiah in severall respects He was born at Hampton-Court on the twelfth day of October anno 1537 being the only surviving son of King Henry the eight by Iane his third wife daughter to Sir Iohn Seymer Knight It hath been commonly reported and no less generally believed that Prince Edward being come unto the birth and there wanting naturall strength to be delivered his mothers body was ripped open to give him a passage into the world and that she died of the Incision in a short time after Whence this Epitaph was made upon her Phoenix Jana jacet nato Phoenice dolendum Saecula Phaenices nulla tulisse duos Alluding to the Crest of her father a Phenix in flames within a Crown Yet Dr. Heylin in his Ecclesia restaurata saith there are many reasons to evince the contrary that he was not so born The other was not more poetically then truely written he being considering his years an admirable President for all ages of piety learning clemency magnanimity wisdome and care in governing his people As Iulius Caesar in the midst of his greatest actions wrote an exact and curious Commentary of his notable enterprises by Arms so King Edward during all the time of his Raign but most especially towards the
setled constant Preacher at the Temple Father Lever for so by my Father and others I alwayes heard him stiled Mr Gatakers Discourse Apologeticall against Lilie I have two Sermons of his Preached in the same year at Pauls 1550 one in Pauls Church the other at the Cross St Thomas Chaloner was ordinary Embassadour from Queen Elizabeth into Spain almost four years Ubi saith Camden de Republica Angâ—icana instauranda terso erudito Carmine quinque libros composuit dum ut ille dixit hieme in furno aestate in horreo degeret which is thus Englished by one Darcie who first after a fashion Translated Camden into English though it be better rendred since St Tho. Chaloner wrote a Book whilst he was in Spain which he Entitled Hieme in furno aestate in horreo not so jolly an Inscription as that Libell Intituled The Arraignment of Persecution c. Printed for Bartholmew Bang-Priest and are to be sold at his Shop in Tolleration-street at the Sign of the Subjects Liberty right opposite to Persecution Court 1645. I remember I have heard a story of a valiant man that thus answered one inquiring after his name and lodging My name is Dangerfiel'd I lye at the Sign of the Sword and Buckler over against the Bleeding-Heart in Gunpowder Allie But too much of this I hope this Book with the other already out will give some light to the knowledge both of the Kings and Kingdome of England in confidence whereof I rest Thy hearty well-wisher Edward Leigh Choice Observations OF ALL THE KINGS of ENGLAND FROM THE SAXONS To the Death of King CHARLES I. CHAP. I. ENgland was five times plagued by other Nations First By the Romans Then by the Scots and Picts Thirdly By the Saxons Fourthly By the Danes Fifthly By the Normans The Nation of the Saxons was generally most warlike and martiall They gave unto those Saxons their first original who now inhabite the Dukedome of Saxony They left very few Cities Towns Villages Rivers Woods Fields Hils or Dales in Brittain which they gave not new names unto As the name of Oxford or Oxenford on the River of Thames after the Town of like name in Germany situated on the River of Oder Our Hereford near unto Wales after Herâ—ord in Westphalia And so in like manner may be said of Stafford Swinford Bradford Norden Newarke Bentham Oxenbridge Buchurst Sconethorp Holt Mansfield Swinefield Hamsteed Radcliffe Rosendale and many more After that these Nations had now gotten sure sooting in the possession of Brittain they divided it into seven Kingdoms and established an Heptarchy in which notwithstanding the Prince which had the greatest power was called King of the English Nation So that in this very Heptarchy there was alwayes Monarchy The Saxon Government is usually divided into the Heptarchy Monarchy In the Heptarchy are these seven petty Kingdomes 1. Kent 2. Sussex 3. East Sax. 4. East Angles 5. Mercia 6. Northumberland 7. West Sax. In Kent with Hengist the first Invader seventeen or eighteen are said to raign South Sax from Ello to Adhamus had about ten Kings of which Adlewolf was first Christened East Sax from Erâ—hwin to Swithred had thirteen Kings whereof Sigby the third was first baptized The East Angles had fourteen Kings Mercia twenty Kings Christianity was first received by Penda that founded Peterborough as Ethebald did the Monastery of Crowland and Ossa of St. Albans Northumberland about twenty foure Kings West Saxon nineteen Kings CHAP. II. Hengist VVHen he first arrived in England he was a goodly young Gentleman under the age of thirty yeares and of an excellent wit He was brought up in the service of the Emperour Valentinian the third and last of that name Verstegan He deserveth to be reputed the first Monarch of the English Nation Non minus acer ingenio quam alacer in praelio Malmesburiensis de Gestis Regum Anglorum He sailed out of Holland into Brittain he built the Castle of Leiden in Holland The Saxons had only the Isle of Thanet first given them where they first landed Hengist after obtained of King Vortiger the property of so much ground as he could enclose with a Buls Hide which cutting into thongs he there built the Castle called Thong-Castle by Sittingbourine in Kent Why our first Progenitors Hengist and Horsa took their names of an Horse for both their names in the Saxon tongue do signifie an Horse surely I know not unless it were for a fore-token of their warlick prowess according to that Verse of Virgil. Bello armantur equi bella haec armenta minantur l. 3. Aineid Hengist and Horsus Brittains harmes Their Ensâ—gnes signing both their names The Saxon Horse their Armes Brave Warriours hither came Slatyers Palae-Albion Ode 7. p. 157. Krantzius in hist. Saxon. l. 2. telleth us that the Saxon-Princes in Germany before they became Christians gave a black Horse for their Escutcheon but being baptized a white Horse with reference haply to Rev. 6. 2. The Saxons to the number of nine thousand came in certain long Vessels they called Keeles with their leaders two Brothers Hengist and Horsa nobly descended whose Ensign as it was an usuall and honourable device of antiquity alluding to their names their Banner being a white or silver Horse in a Field Gules Arms which the noblest Families of Saxons and others thence descended have born They were not all one people but consisted of three severall Nations viz. the Angles the Iutes and the Saxons but they were all the inhabitants of some part or other of Denmarke Aysâ—u He raigned thirty four yeares CHAP. III. ELLA THe first King of the South-Saxons and second Monarch of the English men He raigned six yeares Cherdik The first King of the West-Saxons and third Monarch of the English men He raigned twenty one yeares Kenrik The second King of the West-Saxons and fourth of the English men He raigned twenty six yeares Cheuline The third King of the West-Saxons and fifth Monarch of the English men He raigned thirty one yeares Ethelbert The fifth and first Christian King of Kent and the sixth Monarch of the English men He was eminent for first receiving the Christian faith brought from Rome by Austin and for converting â—ebert King of the East-Angles to Christianity and assisting him in building St. Pauls in London and St. Peters in Westminster That the Christian Religion was here in Brittain before the coming of Austin the Monk may be proved out of Beda who maketh mention of Brittish Bishops but nameth none of them Hist. Ang. l. 2. c. 2 Eusibius in vità Constantini l. 3. c. 18. saith that this Country was Christian three hundred yeares before Mr Saller in his Rights of the Kingdome saith The first times of Christian Religion here were much higher then Austin the Father who might have been great Grandfather to Austin the Monk He brought the Lawes of his Country into their own mother-tongue and
report of the death of Britic he with great speed returned out of France where during the time of his abode he had served with good commendation in the Warres under Charles the Great by meanes whereof his reputation encreasing among his own Country-men he was thought worthy of the Government before he obtained it He first gave this Kingdom the name of England He ordained by publick Edict that the Heptarchy possessed by the Saxons should be called thence forward the Land of the English whence the Latines took also their name Anglia and the French that d' Angleterre There were three hundred years from King Egbert unto William the Conquerour He raigned over the West-Saxons thirty six years and seven moneths and Monarch of the whole Island seventeen Ethelwulfe The nineteenth King of the West-Saxons and the twentieth Monarch of the English men He being once himself nuzled in that order was alwayes good and devout to religious orders He was so well learned and so devout that the Clerks of the Church of Winchester did choose him in his youth to be their Bishop which function he took upon him and was Bishop of Winchester for seven years before he was King The History of Cambria by Lhoyd augmented by Doctor Powell p. 32. A Monk a Deacon and a Bishop yet elected King because they could not finde a fitter person for the Crown Necessitate cogente factus est Rex Roger Hoveden He ordained that Tythes and Church-Lands should be free from all taxes and Regall services Ethelwolphus Rex omnium historicorum consensu fide praestantissimus nec pietatis magis quà m rerumoptimé gestarum laude celebriâ— illustris Anti Sanderus Dialogo secundo Polyd. Virgil in the fifth Book of his English History saith of King Alfred Atqui Neotum inprimis monasâ—icae professionis virum sanctissimum ob eximiam eruditionem miro amore complexus est quo hortante Oxonij gymnasium instituit proposita mercede omnibus His second son by his Queen Iudith daughter of Charles the bald Emperour King of France Neote was much addicted to learning and was one of the first Divinity readers in the University of Oxford He was interred in the County of Huntington at a place then called Arnulphsbury and afterwards in regard of his interment St. Neots and now St. Needes This King was famous for having four sons who all of them were Kings of this Land successively He raigned twenty years one moneth and nine dayes Ethelbald The twentieth King of the West-Saxons and the twenty first Monarch of the English men He took Iudith his stepmother to be his wife this prodigious incest was soone punished by his untimely death He raigned five years Ethelbert The one and twentieth King of the West-Saxons and the two and twentieth Monarch of the English men The first Christned Prince of all the Saxon Nation Omnium Anglo-Saxonum regum Christi nominis primus hospes Twini Comment de rebus Brittanicis His name signifieth nobly-conceited or advised or of noble conceit or advisement Verstegan He raigned over the Kentish-South and East-Saxons ten years and was Monarch of the whole only five Ethelred The two and twentieth King of the West-Saxons and the twenty third Monarch of the English men Great was the valour of this King for in his short time of Raign as Malmesbury and other Writers record he fought no less than nine set Battels against the Danes in one year in most of them victorious At Wintburne in Darset-shire there is this Epitaph written on his Tomb. In hoc loro quiescit corpus S. Ethelredi Regis West-Saxonum Martyris qui anno Domini DCCCLXXII XXIII Aprilis per manus Danorum Pagâ—norum occuâ—â—uit He raigned in great trouble five years saith Malmesbury CHAP. V. Alfred Aelfred or Alvred THe twenty third King of the West-Saxons and twenty fourth Monarch of the English men He was the first annointed King of England as glorious for his most excellent Laws transcendent Justice and Civil Government as for his martiall exploits victories and for his incomparable piety and extraordinary bounty to the Clergy and learned men Of his great memory when he was young vide Asserium de Aelfredi rebus gestis He was accounted a good Grammarian Rhetorician Philosopher Musician and Poet. His Raign began with troubles and Warres in defence of the Land which the Pagan Danes intended to destroy and though his powers were small yet was he forced into the field within one moneth after his Coronation He fought no less than forty six bloudy Battels saith Spelman with the Danes by Land and Sea for his Countries liberties Vir in bellâ— per omnia strenuissimus Asserius He was once brought to that extremity that he was forced to leave his Companies and lurk in Somerset-shire Marshes The solitary place of his most residency was an Island inclosed with two Rivers Thane and Parret at their meetings in the County of Somerset commonly called Edeling seâ— where he in very poor attire disguised was entertained into a Cow-heards service where on a time as he sate by the fire in trimming of his Bow and shaâ—ts a Cake of dough baking on the hearth before him chanced to burn the Cowheardess coming in and seeing him minde his Bow more than his bread in a great â—ury cast away both his Bow and arrowes and checking him said Thou fellow dost thou see the bread burn before thy face and wilt not turn it and yet art thou glad to eat it before it be half baked Of the naturall dayes twenty four hours eight he allotted for devotion and contemplation eight for refection and recreation and the eight remaining for matters of the Commonwealth Iulius Caesar having spent the whole day in the field about his military affairs divided the night also for three severall uses one part for his sleep a second for the Commonwealth and publike business the third for his studies Peacham He translated Gregories Pastorals Bâ—les History and Boethius de Consolatione Philosophiae into the Saxon tongue and began to do the like with Davids Psalmes In divinis libris sacra lectione tam assiduus erat quod Davidicum Psalterium vel aliquem alium librum aedisicâ—â—torium in sinu suo semper ferret viros literatissimâ—s de terris exteris ad se accersens aliquandiu in Palatio suo secum pro sacris literis addiscendis retentos demum diversis praelatiis dignitatibus premoveret Ingulphi Historia p. 870. vide plura ibid. p. 871. He restored the decayed University of Oxford by fixing therein a Colledge now bearing the name of Vniversity-Colledge and annexed ample maintenance unto it He divided his Kingdome into Shires Hundreds and Tithings for the better ordering and administring of justice and for the abandoning of theeves which had formerly encreased by the meanes of long Warres whereby notwithstanding the multitude of Souldiers continually imployed
it is reported that a Virgin * might travell alone in his dayes through all his Dominions without any violence offered and that Bracelets of gold were hanged in the high wayes and no man so hardy as to take them away William the first so well provided for execution of Justice upon offenders that a young maiden well charged with gold might travell in any part of the Realm without any offer of injury unto her Hayw. He permitted none in office in Court or elsewhere unless he were learned which incited his Nobles to the earnest pursuit of learned Arts and to train up their children in good letters He caused all former Lawes to be surveyed and made choice of the best which he translated into the English tongue He begins his Lawes with a religious Majesty Loquutus est Dominus ad Mosem hos sermones c. and cites all the Decalogue Abbot Ethelred gives this encomium of his Lawes Leges Christianissimas scripsit promulgavit in quibus fides ejus devotio in Deum sollicitudo in subditos misericordia in pauperes justitia circa omnes cunctis legentiâ—us patet He had so great a love to learning that he made a Law that all Freemen of the Kingdome possessing two Hides of Land should bring up their sons in learning till they were fifteen years of age at least that so they might be trained to know God to be men of understanding and to live happily He bestowed the sixth part of his riches and Rents upon the poor strangers of the Countrey and sent every year little less to forraign Churches without the Realm Dalechamps Christian hospitality c. 3. He was very learned a quality rare in his time and as Solomon Alexander the Great Iulius Caesar Augustus and our Charlemagne saith Andre Du Chesne he joyned learning and valour and was clement liberall pious and devout and adorned with all royall vertues and endowments I may in some respects compare him with Almansor the learned and victorious King that conquered Spain He was at fifteen years so skilfull in the seven liberall Sciences that they who were the most learned in them spake of them in his presence with much fear and bashfulness for at every other word he corrected the imperfections which proceeded out of their ignorance At the five and twentieth year of his age he spake eleven languages reading and writing them as perfectly as the very Naturals themselves He divided the dayes of the week after this manner The Friday for matters of his Religion in which he was very devout The Saturday for matters of Justice The Sunday for matters of Warre The Munday for the government of his Kingdomes The Tuesday and Wednesday for his recreations and private affairs And the Thursday for matters of learning He chastised theeves so severely that none durst take any thing from other neither in City nor in Countrey as well in deserts as in peopled placeâ— And in so great awe they were of him that if any one had lost ought in the street or Market-place none durst meddle therewith otherwise than to leave it at the next Shop and cause it to be cryed till the owner were found to whom it was to be restored None ever â—ought for alms or succour at his hands whether he were Moor Christian or Jew that went away unrelieved He was worthily called the Conquerour being never overcome He won eighty six Battels by Sea and by Land and took five Kings subdued three parts of the world Asia Africke and Europe His life and death by Ashley Alfred's Arms are to be seen in the publike Hall of University-Colledge in Oxford The Archdeacon of Huntington speaking of the continuall travail he had during his Raign relates these Verses of him Nobilitas innata tibi probitatis honorem Armipotens Aelfrede dedit probitasque laborem Perpetuumque labor nomen cui mixta dolori Gaudia semper erant spes semper mixta timori Si modo victor eras ad crastina bella pavebas Si modo victus eras ad crastinâ— bella parabas Cui veâ—tes sudore jugi cui â—â—eca cruore Tincla jugi quâ—â—ntum sâ—t onus regnare probarunt Non fuit immensi quisquam per climata mundi Cui tot in adversis vel respirare liceret Nec tamen aut ferro contritus poncre ferrum Aut gladio potuit vitae finisse labores Iam post transactos vitae regnique dolores Christus ei sit vera quies sceptrumque perenne He raigned twenty seven years say some twenty eight saith Powell the writer of his life Ingulphus saith he died in the twenty ninth year of his Raign CHAP. VI. EDWARD the elder THe twenty fourth King of the West-Saxons and twenty fifth Monarch of the English men Fuit Edwardus forma eximia ac per omnes aetatis gradus decentissima Polyd. Virg. Ang. hist. l. 6. Before the conquest of the Normans there were in England three Edwards 1. This Edward the elder 2. Edward the Martyr 3. Edward the Confessor We have had more Kings of England of this name than of any other nine in all three before the conquest and six after it Verstegans Etymology of our Saxon proper names Henry the name of seven Emperours of Germany eight Kings of England four Kings of France four Kings of Castile Phillips his new world of English words He was heir apparent to his Father Alfreds valour and vertues as well as to his Crown Some say he was the great Iustinian of our Nation Our Laws being suppressed by the Danish Kings were revived and reinforced in the time of Edward the Confessor whence they had the name of Edward the Confessors Laws He raigned in great Warres and honour the space of twenty four years So Henricus Huntingdoniensis saith Paternum regnum tenuit 24. annis Ethelstan or Adelstan The twenty fifth King of the West Saxons and the twenty sixth Monarch of the English men He was crowned at that Kingly Town Kingston In Regia villa in Regem levatur Rog. de Hoveden He began his Kingdome with War and ended in peace and tranquillity He was the worthiest Prince saith Lhoyd of Saxon bloud that ever raigned Being seduced by the bad Counsell and false suggestions of one of his favourites he banished his Brother Edwin unjustly commanding him to be sent to Sea with only one servant and in a Boat without Oar or Sail wherein he perished His Cup-bearer after in his service upon festivall stumbled with the one foot and recovering himself with the other pleasantly said You see how one Brother helpeth another upon which speech the King with grief and touch of heart called to mind the death of his innocent Brother occasioned by his wicked Counsell and forthwith commanded execution to be done on him the procurer and himself was ever after more tender and carefull toward his other Brethren Leyland in his new years gift to King Henry
the eighth reckons him amongst other learned men of the Kings Progenitors The chiefest of his works for the service of God and good of his Subjects was the translation of the Bible into the Saxon tongue which was then the mother-tongue of the Land out of the Hebrew Of this work Leyland also speaks in the work before-mentioned His Laws are mentioned by Lambard in his Saxon Laws He raigned in great honour the space of fifteen years and odd moneths Edmund The twenty sixth King of the West Saxons and twenty seventh Monarch of the English men The good Laws he made are extant in Saxon and Latine by the industry of Mr William Lambard He had by his Queen Elgina two sons Edwin and Edgarus sirnamed Pacificus which both raigned after him By him were expelled the Danes Scots Normans and all forraign enemies out of the Land He raigned six years and a half At his Mannor of Puclekerkes in the County of Glocester whilest he interposed himself between his Sewer and one Leof to part a fray he was with a thrust through the body wounded to death when he had prosperously raigned the space of five years and seven moneths Rogerus de Hoveden annal part 1. Malmesbury l. 2. c. 7. and others say this Leof was a thief which the King espying at a festivall he pulled him by the hair and cast him to the ground but he drawing out his weapon stabbed the King Vide Polyd. Virg. Ang. hist. l. 6. Edred The twenty seventh King of the West Saxons and twenty eighth Monarch of the English men He suffered his body to be chastised at the will and direction of Dunstan Abbot of Glassenbury unto whose custody he also committed the greatest part of his treasure and richest Jewels to be lockt in his chests and under the keys of this Monastery where it remained till the King fell sick of his last sickness at which time it was demanded but never restored for Dunstan being on his journey with the same to the King a voice from heaven spake unto him and said Behold King Edred is now departed in peace at the hearing of which words his horse immediately fell down and died Whereupon he returned again to his Monastery and though he lost his horse yet was he recompenced thereby with the gain of the Kings treasure and Jewels He raigned in great honour nine years and odd moneths Edwin or Edwy The twenty eighth King of the West Saxons and twenty ninth Monarch of the English men He was but thirteen years old when he began to raign He was Nephew to Edred He favoured not the Monkes which made them write so scandalously of him He thrust them out of Malmesbury and Glassenbury placing married Priests in their room and banished Dunstan their great Champion into Flanders The true causes of his banishing him ejecting the Monkes and seizing their lands and treasures was that Dunstan had so bewitched Edmund Edward Aethelstan and Aedred his predecessours with the love of Monkery as they not only took violently from married Priests their livings to erect Monasteries but also lavishly wasted much of their own royall treasures lands and revenues upon them which they should rather have imployed in resisting the common enemies of God and their Countrey the Danes Ioscelin the Author of Antiq. Brit. Bishop Godwin Speed and others conceive that the true cause why the Mercians and Northumbrians and those only not the rest of his Subjects and Kingdome rejected him and set up his Brother Edgar whose vices were more exorbitant in some degrees than Edwins was the malice of Dunstan and Odo the pillars and Oracles of the Monkish Clergy who stirred up the Mercians and seditious rebellious Northumbrians against him to set up Edgar in his stead who was totally devoted to them and Dunstan by whose counsels he was afterwards wholly guided and built no less than forty seven new Monasteries for the Monks besides all those he repaired intending to build three more had he lived to make them fifty compleat He raigned but four years CHAP. VII EDGAR THe thirtieth Monarch of the English men The Raign of this King is said to have been altogether in a calm tranquillity and therefore he was sirnamed Pacificus the Peaceable His vertues were many and vices not a few the one gloriously augmented and the other fairly excused by those Monkish writers unto whose professions he was most favourable Tunc ordo Monasticus jamjudum lapsus pâ—acipuè caput erexit Malmesb. l. 2. c. 8. He unravelling the web his Brother had weaved recalled Dunstan out of banishment and made him Archbishop of Canterbury His Summer progresses and yearly chief pastimes were the sayling round abouâ— this whole Isle of Albion guarded with his grand Navy of four thousand sail at the least parted into four equall parts of petty Navies each being of a thousand Ships Dee's Brittish Monarchy p. 56 57. he calls him there that Saxonicall Alexander See more there and p. 55 58 59 60. He appointed the Prince of North Wales to bring him yearly three hundred skins of Wolves for a tribute which continued for three years space but in the fourth was not a Wolf to be found and so the tribute ceased Upon the River Dee he had seven petty Kings to row his Barge to shew his greatness He was very lascivious Leges apprimè utiles tulit quas vetustas in oblivionem fermè adduxit Of his Laws vide Lambardum de prisâ—is Anglorum legibus It is sure enough there have not been more famous men than some of no great stature as the instance of King Pipin in the French History and this King in our own will make manifest In the time that the Saxons had this Realm in subjection he had subdued all the other Kings Saxons and made them his Tributaries On a time he had tâ—all all with him at dinner and after it was shewed him that Rynaud King of Scots had said that he wondered how it should happen that he and other Kings that were tall and great personages would suffer themselves to be subdued by so little a body as Edgar was Edgar dissembled and answered nothing but faining to go on hunting took with him the Scottish King in his company and purposely withdrew him from them that were with him causing by a secret servant two swords to be conveyed into a place in the forrest by him appointed As soon as he came thither he took the one sword and delivered the other to Rynaud bidding him to prove his strength and to essay whether his deeds would ratifie his words Turpe est enim Regi in convivio esse dicaculum nec esse in praelio promptulum Whereat the Scottish King being abashed beholding the noble conrage of Edgâ—r with an horrible fear confessed his errour desiring pardon which he with most humble submission at the last obtained For his excellent vertues and prosperouâ— Raign he was called
Honor deliciae Anglorum Malmesbury Or as Ingulphus ter meth him Honor Rosa Regum In his time all Ecclesiasticall Orders flourished learned and vertuous men were highly esteemed all Civil and forrign Warres ceased and he was called the King of Albion being no less powerfull by Sea than by Land Mexia's Treasury of time vol. 2. l. 7. c. 1. He was Angliciorbis flos decus nâ—â—n minus memâ—rabilis â—â—nglis quam Cyrus Persis Romulus Romanis Alexander Macedonibus Arsaces Parthis Carolus Magnus Francis as Malmesbury Abbot Ethelred Florentius Wigorniensis Simeon Dunelmensis Henry Huntingdon Matthew Westminster Râ—ger de Hoveden and others record of him Immediately after his death Res spes Anglorum retro sublapsae sunt totius Regni status est perâ—urbatus post tempus laetitiae quod illius tempore vigebat pacified caepit tribulatio undique advenire as Malmesbury Wigorniensis Hoveden Simeon Dunelmensis and Bromton observe Such an incomparable loss was the death of so just pious and prudent a King to the whole Nation Qui 〈◊〉 vitiâ— posâ—e◠〈◊〉 virtutibus deleviâ— when most others do quite contrary He raigned sixteen yeares and two moneths in great tranquillity and honour and died in the 37th year of his age After Edgar's death the Danes so plagued this Realm that there was nothing setled in it either in Church or State till finally they obtained the Kingdome The Danes raigned in England 25. years But Speed saith they molested England for two hundred eighteen years See Ayscu his Declaration of the first Inhabitants of this Island The Danes by strength caused Husbandmen to ear and sow the land and to do all other vile labour that belonged unto Husbandry and the Dane held his wise at pleasure with daughter and servant When the Husbandman came home he should scantly have of his own as his servants had so that the Dane had all at his commandement and did eat and drink his fill of the best when the owner had scant his fill of the worst Besides this the common people were so oppressed by them that for fear and dread they called them in every such house as they had rule of Lâ—rd Dane But in process of time after the Danes were voided the Land this word Lord Dane was in derision and despight of the Danes turned by English men into a name of reproach called Lurdane which yet is not forgotten for if one English man will rebuke another he will say Thou art but a Lurdane Grafton Edward sirnamed the Martyr The thirty first Monarch of the English men He began his Raign at twelve years of age Adolescens summae sanctitatis frugi ea modestia regnare caepit ut omnibus charissimus esseâ— quippe qui paternas virtutes gnaviter imitabatur Polyd. Virg. Ang. hist. l. 6. The end of this young King was lamentable being stabbed by his Stepmothers treachery when he was drinking a cup of wine on Horseback when he in kindness came to visit her through which wound fainting and falling from his Horse he was dragged to death by his foot intangled in the stirrop He raigned three years and six some say eight moneths CHAP. VIII ETHELRED FOx calls him Egelred or Elred The two and thirtieth Monarch of the English men He was a man neither for ward in action nor fortunate in proceedings and therefore commonly called the unready He defiled the Font at his Baptism with his ordure whereupon Dunstan being troubled in his mind by the Lord said he and his blessed mother this childe shall prove a sloathfull person He was half Brother to King Edward who was treacherously murdered and so much lamented his Brothers murder saith Malmesbury l. 2. c. 10. being then but a childe of ten years old and so detested it that his Mother Elfrida falling therewith in a rage took wax Candles having nothing else at hand wherewith she scourged him so sore well near till he swouned that after the same he could never abide any wax Candles to butâ— befor him Of his Laws vide Lambardum de priscis Anglorum legibus The Danes grew upon him so fiercely that he was forced to purchase his peace from them with great summes of money to the undoing of his poor Kingdome To put a period to this insufferable vassâ—lage a bloudy massacre was executed upon them by the Kings secret Commission on St Brices day but such bruitish courses never find a wished close He most unfortunately raigned thirty seven years and nine dayes Edmund sirnamed Ironside The thirty third Monarch of the English men and the third son to Ethelred He was of personage tall for courage hardy strong of limmes and well could endure the travels of Warre whence some conceive that sirname was given him not for that he used to go alwayes in armour as some would have it He fought with Cnute a royall single duâ—ll first on horseback then on â—oot in the Isle of Olerenge or Olney near Glocester in the midst of Severn in the view of both their Armies with extraordinary courage and equall success till they were both quite tired but neither of them vanquished At last upon Cnuâ—es motion they began to parly in a friendly manner and divided the Realm between them Edmund enjoying that part which lay coasted upon France and Canutus entred upon the rest But Ironside enjoyed not long his part for Duke Edrick a very compound of treasons contrived the end of renowned Edmund who being retired to a place for natures necessity he thrust from under the draught a sharp spear into his body and having thus murthered him he cut off his head presenting it to Canutus with this â—awning salutation All hail thou now sole Monarch of England for herâ— behold the head of thy Co-partner which for thy sake I have adventured to cut off Canutus though ambitious enough of Soveraignty yet abhorring in his heart so detestable a murther and knowing that he who was faithless to his naturall Soveraign would never be faithfull to him a stranger commanded his head to be divided from his shoulders and placed upon the highest gate in London Mors hujus Principis sanè miserabilis fuit tum quod florem ejus aetatis rapuerit tum quod totum regnum in praeceps dederit His Raign continued only seven moneths in which time he fought seven or eight Battels in defence of his Countrey People and their Liberties By his untimely death the Saxonâ—Monarchy â—Monarchy was devolved to the Danes CHAP. IX The Danes Monarchs CANUTUS THe first Danish King raigning in England and the thirty fourth Monarch of the English men He is more truly called Cnute Cui ex magnitudine rerum gestarum magni nomen accessit Krantzii hist. Daniae l. 4. A valiant and prudent Prince This Invader of Ironside's Kingdome the better to secure his Empire against Prince Alfred and Edward Edmunds Brothers married Emma his Queen After this marriage to
and of all other Civill States at this day exclude Bastards without a subsequent legitimation from inheritance yet by the Laws of Norway a Princes Son gotten on a Concubine bond or free was equally inheritable as any other born in wedlock which was I believe no small reason why he stood at first so much for the Laws of Norway to have been generally received in this Kingdome And some stories also say that Arlet or Arlee as she is sometimes written was to him a good while vice uxor is If she were so his Concubine between whom and a wife the old Imperialists make no other difference but honour and dignity and by them also some kind of inheritance is allowed to such Bastards as are naturales liberi that is gotten on Concubines it was much more reasonable that her son should be reputed as legitimate than that the son of every single woman bond or free whether Concubine or no should be so as those of Norway allow Mr. Seldens review of his History of Tythes First landing at Pemsâ—y in Sussex he fell down stumbling as he came out of his Ship O Dux Angliam tenes said one of his Knights Rex futurus so Matthew Paris and espying that he had brought up sand and earth in his hand added Yea and you have taken Livery and Seisin of the Conutrey Seldens Titles of honour in 4. to p. 34. When he had landed his Forces he fortified a piece of ground with strong trenches and caused all his Ships to be set on fire leaving to his Souldiers no hope to save themselves but only by victory After this he published the causes of his coming in Arms to challenge the Kingdome of England given to him by his Cousin King Edward the last lawfull possessor at that time thereof And to revenge the death of his Cousin Alfred Brother to the same King Edward cruelly and deceitfully slain by Earl Goodwin and his adherents In the Battell between King Harold and him at the last Hareld was struck with an arrow through the left eye into his brains of which wound he presently died He was buried by his Mother at Walsham Cross within the Monastery which he had founded Ibi Gulielmus perblandé ac perbenigné locutus simulque magnifica pollicitus ab omnibus quanquam non pari alacritate diem festum celebrantibus rex declaratur Polyd. Virg. Ang. hist. l. 9. Where this Battell was fought the Conquerour after founded Battail-Abbey He was crowned at Westminster by Aldred Archbishop of Yorke anno Dom. 1066. His strength was such that few men could draw his Bow and being about fifty of his age when he subdued this Kingdome it seems by his continuall actions he felt not the weight of years upon him till his last year He enclosed new-Forrest in Hamshire for which he dispeopled Villages and Towns about the space of thirty miles to make a desert for Beasts of chase in which place afterward two of his sons Richard and William ended their lives Richard by a fall from his Horse and William by the stroke of an arrow The Kings great delight in hunting was made the pretence of this Forrest but the true end was rather to make a free place of footing for his Normans and other friends out of France in case any great revolt should be made One Herlowin a Nobleman in Normandy married his Mother Arlotte and had by her a son named Hugh Lupus to whom he gave the Earldome of Chester to hold of him as freely by his sword as himself held England by his Crown by vertue of which Cranâ— the said Hugh ordained under him four Barons such an honour as no Subject before or since ever enjoyed the like Because conspiracies are commonly contrived in the night he commanded that in all Towns and Villages a Bell should be rung in the evening at eight of the Clock called Curfu-Bell and that in every house they should then put forth their fire and lights and go to bed which custome of ringing a Bell at that hour in many places is still observed William the first whom pride craft profit swayd Did England but his conscience first invade Dr. Holiday his Survey of the world Book 9. By the counsell of Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury and of Eglesme Abbot of St. Augustines who at that time were chief governers of Kent as the King was riding towards Dover at Swanescombe two miles from Graveseud the Kentish men came towards him armed and bearing boughs in ther hands as if it had been a moving wood they enclosed him upon the sudden and with a firm countenance but words well tempered with modesty and resâ—ect they demanded of him the use of their ancient Liberties and Laws that in other matters they would yeeld obedience to him that without this they desired not to live The King yeelded to them for the present knowing right well that the generall Customes and Laws of the residue of the Realm would in short time overflow these particular places So pledges being given on both sides they conducted him to Rochester and yeelded the County of Kent and the Castle of Dover into his power He took the review and account of all the Towns and land in England This Book was called the Roll of Winton because it was kept in the City of Winchester By the English it was called Doomes-day Book either by reason of the generality thereof or else corruptly instead of Domus Dei Book because it was layed in the Church of Winchester in a place called Domus Dei According to this Roll taxations were imposed sometimes two shillings and sometimes six shillings upon every Hide of land a Hide containing twenty Acres besides ordinary provision for his house Vide Seldeni Analecta Anglobrit l. 2. c. 4. Spelmanni Glossarium p. 352. He was too covetous Sola est do qua merito culpetur pecuniae cupiditas quam undecunque captatis occasionibus nihil unquam pensi habuit quin corroderet faceret diceret nonnulla pene omnia tanta majestate indigniora ubi spes nummi effulsisset Malmesb. de Wilielmo primo l. 3. He would often swear by Gods resurrection and his brightness Talia per resurrectionem splendorâ—â— Dei pronuncians quod solereâ— ex industria talia sacramenta facere quae ipso habitu oris terrificum quiddam auditorum memibus insonarent Malmesb. de Wilielmo primo He bare such reverence to Lanfrancke Archbishop of Canterbury that he seemed to stand at his directions Malmesbury l. 4. de Wilielmo secundo saith Diu dubitavit mundus quo tandem vergeret quo se inclinaret indoles ejus Inter initia vivente Lanfranco Archiepiscopo ab omni crimine abhorrebat ut unicum fore Regum speculum speraretur Quo defuncto aliquandiu varium se praestitit aequali lance vitiorum atque virtutum He respected Aldred Archbishop of York by whom he had been crowned King of England as
as he was hunting within the New-Forrest before he had made experiment of his worth He was buried at Winchester with this inscription Hic jacet Richardus filius Wilielmi senioris Berniae Dux To Henry the King gave at the time of his death five thousand pounds out of his treasure but gave him neither dignity nor Lands foretelling that he should enjoy the honour of both his Brothers in time and far excell them both in dominion and power He succeeded his Brother William in the Kingdome of England and wrested Normandy out of the possession of Robert When William the first drew near his end he commended the Kingdome of England to his second son William with many blessings admonitions and prayers for his prosperous success He dispatched him unto England with Letters under his own Seal to Lanâ—rancke then Archbishop of Canterbury whose authority was great with the Clergy and people of the Realm It was conjectured by some that the King was guided in this choice no less by his judgment then by his affection because he esteemed the fierce disposition of his son William more fit to govern a people not well setled in subjection then the flexible and mild nature of his eldest son Robert Cambden saith he was berest of the Kingdome of England because he was born before his Father was King Milles gives two reasons why the Conquerour preferred his younger son unto the Kingdome before his eldest Partly for his disloyalty and disobedience and partly doubting lest through the facility of his nature he should give occasion unto the English men to take heart unto them and to rebell against him whereas William his younger Brother was a man of more rough and harsh nature and therefore fitter as his Father thought to bear rule and command over a warlike and new conquered people Sir Iohn Hayward in the life of William the second discusseth that controversie whether Kings may prefer younger sons and quite disinherit elder sons of the Kingdome and resolves it negatively The Glossographer upon the Decrees noteth that the son of a King may be called King during the life of his Father as wanting nothing but administration A little before his Fathers death William journeyed toward England and quickly arrived at the Port called Whitesand where he received the first report of his Fathers death Hereupon with all speed he posted to Lanfrancke delivered his Fathers Letters and forthwith was declared King and not long after was crowned at Westminster His hair was deeply yellow by reason whereof he was called Rufus say Polyd. Virgil and others He doubted of some points of Religion then professed namely of praying to Saints worshipping of reliques and such like He endeavoured to abate the tumorous greatness of the Clergy at that time and attributed not so much to the See of Rome as divers Kings before him had done He restrained his Subjects from going to Rome and withheld the annuall payment of Peter-pence and was often heard to say that they follow not the trace of St. Peter they greedily gape after gifts and rewards they retain not his power whose piety they do not imitate Albeit he promised to the English whilest his first fears and jealousies continued that they should enjoy free liberty of hunting yet did he afterwards so severely restrain it that the penalty for killing a Deer was death During Lanfranckes life he so lived that he might have been a mirrour of Princes though afterwards he gave himself to sensuall lust and covetousness Matthew Paris condemns him much It is reported that when his Chamberlain upon a certain morning brought him a new pair of Hose the King demanded what they cost and the Chamberlain answered three shillings hereat the King grew impatient and said What heavy beast dost thou take these to be convenient Hose for a King Away beggar and bring me other of a better price Then the Chamberlain departed and brought a far worse pair of Hose for a better could not at that time be found and told the King that they cost a mark The King not only allowed them for fine enough but commended them also as exceeding fit He walled the City of London and built the great Hall at Westminster which is two hundred seventy foot in length and seventy four foot in breadth He set forth a Proclamation that none should go out of the Realm without his license by which he drew much money from many From thence the custome or Law of Ne exeas Regno seems to have taken its beginning His usuall Oath was by St. Lukes face Malmesb. Coming to imbarque at Dartmouth the Mariners told him the weather was rough and there was no passing without imminent danger Tush said he set forward I never yet heard of King that was drowned Answerable to that of Iulius Caesar which enforced a poor Pilot in the like case to launch forth and in the rage of the storm comforted him with saying Caesarem Caesaris fortunam veâ—is Charles the fifth in the Battell of Tunis when he was advised by the Marquess of Guasto to retire his person when the great Ordnance began to play said Marquess thou never heardst that an Emperour was slain with a great shot Sir Walter Tyrell aiming at the Deer where the King was hunting within the New-Forrest with an Arrow and looseing his Bow either too carelesly at the Deer or too steadily at the king saith Polydore Virgil struck him therewith full upon the brest The King having so received the wound gave forth a heavy groan and presently fell down dead So much of the Arrow as was without his body was found broken whether with his hand or by his fall it is not certainly known He raigned in great variety of opinion with his Subjects some applauding his vertues others aggravating his vices twelve yeares eleven moneths wanting eight dayes and was at his death forty and three years old Sir Iohn Hayward in his life p. 219. CHAP. XIII King Henry the first sirnamed Beauclerke HE apprehending the opportunity of Duke Roberts absence did forthwith seize upon the treasure of the King and thereby also upon his State and so was crowned at Westminster by Maurice Bishop of London because Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury was then in exile For his learning he was called Beauclerke fair Clerk or fine Scholar brought up in the study of the liberall Arts at Cambridge He was sirnamed Leo justitiae in all Stories one of the most noble Princes that ever raigned in this Realm Sir Thomas Eliots Governour Cambden urgeth this against him as if his justice was by the common people deemed cruelty Cambd. Rem He was excellent in wit eloquent in speech and fortunate in Battell and for these three he had three notable vices covetousness cruelty and lechery Stowes Chron. By his example the young Nobility of the Realm began to affect a praise for learning insomuch as
at a certain interview between the King and Pope Innocent the second the sons of Robert Earl of Mellent maintained open disputations against divers Cardinals and Chaplains of the Pope Sir Iohn Hayward To purchase the favour of the Clergy he called Anselme out of exile and restored him both to the dignity and revenues of the See of Canterbury He committed Radulph alias Ranulph Bishop of Durham to prison who had been both author and agent to King William in most of his distrustfull actions against the Clergy To make the Clergy the more assured the King renounced the right which his Ancestours used in giving Investitures and acknowledged the same to appertain to the Pope The Clergy did much favour him by reason of his liberall leave either to erect or to enlarge or else to enrich religious buildings For to these works the King was so ready to give not only way but encouragement and help that in no Princes time they did more within this Realm either flourish or encrease Sir Iohn Hayward numbers twenty five religious buildings either done or helped forward or permitted and allowed by the King This King being born in England and the Queen of English bloud-royall raised the depressed English Nation again unto honour and credit He restored them to the use of fire and candle after eight of the Clock at night which his Father had most straitly forbidden He being a wise Prince and well knowing that an Empire gotten by force could no longer remain then that force continued sent into Scotland and took to Wife Maud the daughter of Queen Margaret sister to Edgar Etheling who was now dead and left no issue whereby this Maud was the heir of the Saxon line and in her brought back again to us the ancient English blood-royall before it had descended beyond one generation from the Conquerour in whose line it continueth unto this day She was adorned with all royall vertues principally with piety and humility These Verses were made in her commendation Prospera non laetam fecere nec aspera tristem Aspera risus ei prospera terror erant Non decor effecit fragilem non sceptra superbam Sola potens humilis sola pudica decens She being married against her will seeing she must violate the vow of her virginity she cursed her of-spring if any came of her which was not altogether vain saith Polyd. Virgil in regard they were all afterward drowned He reduced Normandy to England He built therein many Castles and planted Garrisons and with no less wisdome assured that State then with valour he had won it He brought with him his Brother Robert into England and committed him to safe custody in the Castle of Cardiffe He striving to escape was taken again committed to close prison his eyes put out and a sure guard set upon him Thus he remained in desolate darkness neither reverenced by any for his former greatness nor pitied for his present distress Thus he continued about twenty seven years in a life far more grievous then death even untill the year before the death of King Henry So long was he a suitor in wooing of death So long did the one Brother overlive his good fortune the other his good nature and disposition esteeming it a fair favour that the uttermost extremity was not inflicted He gave his daughter Maud the Empress in second marriage to the Earl of Anjou and his Sister Elix as some Chronicles call her to Steven Earl of Bloys Thence sprang the loss of this Kingdome to Maud during her life by being so far out of the land in another Countrey when she should have accepted it here Therof sprang the perjuries of Steven King of England enticed to a Kingdome through the commodity of his near place And thence came the Civill miseries to the people who through the incertainty of a Governour were in field and Arms one against another His daughter Maud as well as that Lacedemonian Lady Lampedo whom Pliny maketh mention of was a Kings daughter a Kings wife and a Kings mother Daughter of this Henry the first King of England wife of Henry the fourth Emperour of Germany and mother to Henry the second King of England Concerning which matter there is this Distick engraven on her Tomb. Magna ortu majórque viro sed maxima partu Hîc jacet Henrici filia sponsa parens The daughter wife the mother eke of Henry lieth here Much blest by birth by marriage more but most by issue dear He was a great administrer of justice and the first that ordained that theeves should be hanged He ordained that counterfeiters of money should lose both their eyes and be deprived of their privy parts He took away the deceit which had been occasioned by variety of measures and made measure by the length of his own arm which hath been commonly used ever since by the name of a yard He is yet alive in his Laws See his Laws in Lambard de priscis Anglorum legibus His expences were chiefly in his Warres and his many and great fortifications in Normandy His buildings were the Abbey of Reading the Castle of Warwicke of Bristoll the Mannour of Woodstocke and the great inclosure of that Park with a stone Wall seven miles about There was a singular and most remarkable example of Gods justice upon his children For when the King both by force crast and cruelty had dispossest over-reacht and lastly made blind and destroyed his elder Brother Duke of Normandy to make his own sons Lords of his Land God cast them all male and female Nephews and Neeces Maud excepted into the bottome of the Sea with above a hundred and fifty others that attended them whereof a great many were noble and of the King dearly beloved Evasit unus ille agrestis qui tota nocte malo supernatans mane totius tragediae actum expressit Malmesb. de Henrico primo l. 5. Vide Polyd. Virg. Ang. hist. l. 11. p. 191. Nulla unquam navis fuit Anglâ—ae tantae miseriae nulla toto orbi tam patulae famae His usuall Oath was By our Lords death and so was Queen Elizabeths He first instituted the form of the High-Court of Parliament as now it is in use The first Parliament was held at Salisbury upon the nineteenth day of April in the sixteenth year of his Raign See Lamberts Archeion p. 240 241 242 243. When Matilde his daughter was given in marriage to Henry the fifth Emperour he took three shillings of every Hide of land throughout the Realm which being followed by succeeding Kings did grow to a custome of receiving aid whensoever they gave their daughters in marriage About this time the marriage of Priests was forbidden in England but the King for money permitted them to retain their wives and in the end set an imposition in that respect upon every Church throughout the Realm It availed not any man
where he sate which being stayed miraculously so long as he was sitting as soon as he was up immediately fell upon the place where he sate able to have crushed him in pieces Fox Martyrolog Having prepared a great Fleet of Ships for a journey into Flanders and being at Winchelsey where the Ships were to meet it happened that riding about the Harbour his Horse frighted with the noise of a Wind-mill which the wind drove violently about scrambled up and leapt over the mud-wall of the Town so as neither the King nor Horse was to be seen but every one judged the King could not choose but be thrown and killed yet such was the divine providence over him that the Horse lighted upon his feet and the King keeping the Saddle returned safe He was crowned at Westminster together with his wife Queen Elenor by Robert Kilwarthy Archbishop of Canterbury He ingeniously surprized the Welch into subjection proffering them such a Prince as should be 1. The son of a King 2. Born in their own Countrey 3. Whom none could taxe for any fault The Welch accepted the conditions and the King tendered them his son Edward an Infant newly born in the Castle of Carnarvaâ— Wales was united to the Crown of England in the eleventh year of his Raign who thereupon established the Government thereof according to the Lawes of England A wise a just and fortunate Prince who in regard of his Princely vertues deserveth to be ranged among the principall and best Kings that ever were A right noble and worthy Prince to whom God proportioned a most princely presence and personage a right worthy seat to entertain so heroicall a mind For he not only in regard of fortitude and wisdome but also for a beautifull and personall presence was in all points answerable to the height of royall Majesty whom fortune also in the very prime and flower of his age inured to many a Warre and exercised in most dangerous troubles of the State whilest she framed and fitted him for the Empire of Brittain which he being once crowned King managed and governed in such wise that having subdued the Welch and vanquished the Scots he may justly be counted the second ornament of Great Brittain No Realm but did resound first Edwards praise No praise was ever won with more deserts And no deserts though great could counterpoise Much less out-balance his heroick parts Mars taught him Arms the Muses taught him Arts Whereby so great he grew that might there be A love on earth that earthly love was he Sir Francis Huberts History of Edward the second In the long Warres he had with Robert King of Scotland having by triall found how greatly his presence advantaged the success of his affairs and how he was ever victorious in any enterprise he undertook in his own person when he died he bound his son by solemn oath that being dead he should cause his body to be boiled untill the flesh fell from the bones which he should cause to be interred and carefully keeping the bones ever carry them about him whensoever he should happen to have Warres with the Scots as if destiny had fatally annexed the victory unto his limmes Mountaigne his Essayes l. 1. c. 3. Baliol King of Scotland came to Newcastle upon Tine where King Edward then lay and there with many of his Nobles swears fealty and doth homage to him as his Soveraign Lord. Afterward there grew a great dissention between him and the King and the two Nations which consumed much Christian bloud and continued almost three hundred years King Edward entered Scotland with a great Army King Baliol was taken prisoner The marble Chair in which the Kings of Scotland used to be crowned was also brought thence to Westminster and placed there amongst the Monuments where it still continues Ni fallat fatum Scoti quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem Except old sawes do fain And Wizards wits be blind The Scots in place shall raign Where they this stone shall find Of his Warres with the Scotch and his victories over them see Ayscâ— his History of the Warres Treaties Marriages and other occurrents between England and Scotland from King William the Conquerour untill the union of them both in King Iames. In his twelfth year the Justices Itinerants began In his time Iohn Baliol King of Scots builded Baliol-Colledge in Oxford Walter Merton Lord Chancellour of England and after Bishop of Rochester founded Merton-Colledge in Oxford One made this Epitaph of him Dum viguit Rex valuit tua magna potestas Frauâ— latuit pax magna fuit regnavit honestas He raigned thirty four yeares seven moneths one and twenty dayes and lived sixty eight years and twenty dayes EDWARD the second He degenerated wholly from his fathers vertues and esteemed not the good advertisements and precepts which he gave him before his death He granted the Charter to London to elect yearly one of the City at their own pleasure to be their Maior He was the first of the King of Englands children which bore the title and quality of the Prince of Wales Since whose time the eldest sons of the Kings of England were called Princes of Wales as the eldest sons of the Kings of Franâ—e are called Dolphins and of Spain Infants He was called Edward of Carnarvan for the Welch men after Leolines death were earnest with the King for a Prince of their own Countrymen the King told them they should have a Prince there born that could speak no English which they being contented with he named his Infant son who was born there the Queen being brought to Carnarvan He divided Wales incorporated into England into Shires and Hundreds His great affection to Pierce Gaveston and Spenser his Favourites was a means of stirring up the Barons against him It is thy sad disaster which I sing Carnarvan Edward second of that name Thy Minions pride thy States ill managing Thy Peers revolt the sequell of the same Thy life thy death I sing thy sin thy shame And how thou wert deprived of thy Crown In highest fortunes cast by fortune down Sir Francis Huberts History of Edward the second Nine Kings had raigned since the conquest here Whom I succeeded in a rightfull line My father all domestick tumults clear Did warre and win in fruitfull Palestine This Northern Sun even to the East did shine The French were fearfull hearing but his name French Scots and Turks aeternized his fame He married Isabel daughter to King Philip sirnamed le Bean the fair and heir to France all her brothers being dead without issue Gourney most barbarously caused the miserable King to sit on a Mole-hill whilest the Barber shaved him and to take cold water out of a ditch to wash him withall which the patient King seeing told them That in despight of them he would have warm water at his Barbing and there withall shed abundance of tears Being deposed from his Kingdome
Edwards Laws These Laws are partly Ecclesiasticall partly Civill Lambard de priseis Anglorum legibus mentions Leges boni Regis Edwardi quas Gulielmus Bastardus postea confirmavit In these Laws it is observable 1. That all capitall corporall pecuniaty punishments fines for criminall offence◠〈◊〉 all reliefs services and duties to the King are reduced to a certainty not leâ—t arbitrary to the King his Justices or other Officers for the Subjects greater liberty ease and security 2. That they protect preserve the possessions priviledges persons of the Church and Clergy from all invasion injury violence and disturbance The Raign of this King was very peaceable He first used the broad Seal His Wife was named Editha the vertuous Daughter of an infamous Father Earl Godwin Sicut spina Rosam genuit Godwinus Editham His unnaturall dealing with his good Mother Emma and vertuous Wife Editha in whose breast there was a School of all liberall Sciences saith William Malmesbury cannot be excused For upon a poor surmise of Incontinency with Alwin Bishop of Winchester his Mother in his presence was put to the Ordalium to pass blindfolded between nine glowing Coulters which she did without hurt His refusing carnall copulation with his Queen either out of a vowed virginity as most Historians conclude or out of a detestation of Earl Godwins trayterous race quod Rex religiosus de genere proditoris haeredes qui sibi succederent corrupto semine regio noluerit pâ—â—râ—ari as Ingulphus Matthew Westminster and others record whereby he exposed the Kingdome for a prey to the ambitious pretenders aspiring after it The King after this craved mercy and pardon from his Mother for the infamy and injury done unto her for which he was disciplined and whipped by his Mother and all the Bishops there present The first curing the Kings Evil is referred to him and thence to have continued to his successors Solebat Rex Edwardus divinitus solo tactu sanare strumosos hoc est strumam patientes Est enim srruma morbus quem Itali scrophulaâ— vulgo vocant à scrophis quae ea mala scabie afflictantur Polyd. Virg. Ang. hist. l. 8. Struma gutturis vitium quod nonnulli scrophulam dicunt solo tactu in quam plurimis sanasse dicitur Lil. Ang. Reg. Chronicon He raigned twenty three years and six moneths and died in the Painted Chamber at Westminster He built St Peters Church in Westminster and was there buried In hoc Rege linea Regum Angliae defecit quae à Cerdicio primo Westsaxonum Rege ex Anglis quingentis septuaginta uno annis non legitur interrupta praeter paucos Danos qui peccatis exigentibus gentis Anglorum aliquandiu regnaverunt Harold The second of that name the thirty eighth Monarch of the English men Son of Earl Goodwin a man of excellent parts and approved valour He driven by tempest into Normandy was affianced to Adelizi the Dukes fifth Daughter He covenanted with the Duke to make him successor to Edward in the Kingdome of England Mr. Fox's Acts and Monuments vol. 1. Mr. Cambden in his Brittannia Holinshed Sir Iohn Hayward Sir Richard Baker incline to this opinion that Harold by his might power craft policy usurped and invaded the Crown without any right against his Oath After Edwards death the Duke sent to him to put him in mind of his Covenant and Oath but Harold replied that this Oath being constrained did no way binde The Duke William landing in Sussex to cut off all occasion of return he fired his own Fleet and upon the shore erected a fortress to be if need were a retiring place for his Souldiers Harold and he fighting seven miles from Hastings in Sussex Harold was slain and his Army vanquished His overthrow was a just punishment of God upon him for his perjury He raigned but nine moneths and nine dayes In him was compleated the period of the Saxons Empire in Brittain after they had continued from their first erected Kingdome by Hengisâ— in Kent the space of six hundred and ten years without any interruption saving the small inter-Raigns of three Danish Kings The Normans were a miâ—â— people of Norvegians Suevians and Danes That Province in France was then called Neustria and now Normandy of the name Norman given unto them because they came out of the North parts The Normans laboured by all means to supplant the English and to plant their own language amongst us and for that purpose they both gave us the Lawes and all manner of pastimes in the French tongue as he that will peruse the Laws of the Conquerour and consider the terms of Hawking Hunting Tenice Dice-play and other disports shall easily perceive Lamb's Perambulation of Kent CHAP. XI WILLIAM the first sirnamed the Conqueror RObert Duke of Normandy the sixth in descent from Rollo riding through Falais a Town in Normandy espied certain young persons dancing near the way And as he stayed to view a while the manner of their disport he fixed his eye especially upon a certain Damsell named Arlotte of mean birth a Skinners Daughter who there danced among the rest The frame and comely carriage of her body the naturall beauty and graces of her countenance the simplicity of her rurall both behaviour and attire pleased him so well that the same night he procured her to be brought to his lodging where he begat of her a Son who afterward was named William The English afterwards adding an aspiration to her name according to the naturall manner of their pronouncing termed every unchast Woman Harlot He seized the Crown of England not as conquered but by pretence of gift or adoption aided and confirmed by nearness of bloud and so the Saxon Laws formerly in force could not but continue and such of them as are now abrogated were not at all abrogated by his conquest but either by the Parliaments or Ordinances of his time and of his successours or else by non-usage or contrary custome Mr. Seldens review of his History of Tythes c. 8. see more there He never made the least pretence claim or title to the Crown and Realm of England only as an absolute Conquerour of the Nation but meerly by title as their true and lawfull King by designation adoption and cognation seconded with the Nobles Prelates Clergy and peoples unanimous election And although it be true that this Duke ejected Harold and got actuall possession of the Throne and Kingdome from him by the sword as did Auâ—elius Ambrosius and others before and King Henry the fourth Edward the fourth and Henry the seventh yet that neither did nor could make him a King by conquest only no more than these other Princes seeing the end of this Warre was not against the whole English Nation the greatest part whereof abetted his interest but only against the unjust usurper and intruder King Harold and his adherents Although the Laws of this Kingdome
go saith the King for he hath slain mine enemy Seeing one cut up a very fat Stag in his presence said he How easily and happily hath this creature lived yet he never heard Mass. Mr. Fox seems to approve of this speech as deriding the Mass though others say it was an Atheisticall speech In his Raign the Citizens of London first obtained of the King to choose yearly a Maior In whose time also the Bridge of London was first builded of stone which before was of wood Most Writers testifie that he was poysoned by a Monk of Swinsted-Abbey in Lincolnshire who to poyson him wittingly and willingly poysoned himself He died in the year of his age fifty and one and after he had raigned seventeen years six moneths and twenty seven dayes He lieth buried at Worcester-Colledge in the Quire there King HENRY the third He was happy in his Uncle the Earl of Pembroke the guide of his infancy and no less for thirty years whilest De Burgo the last servant of his Fathers against the French both in Normandy and England with Bigot Earl of Norfolke and others of like gravity and experience did manage the affairs The Author of the troublesome life and Raign of King Henry the third He was of a middle stature Robustus viribus sed praeceps in factis Matthew Paris He was crowned at Glocester by Peter Bishop of Winchester and Iosceline Bishop of Bath in the presence of Walo the Popes Legate Octob. 28. 1216. And after peace concluded with the Barons by Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster on Whitsunday an 1219. In his Raign the Popes authority in England was at the highest He heard three Masses a day In a solemn conference between him and St. Lewis King of France the only devout Kings of that age when the French King said he had rather hear Sermons then Masses our King replied that he had rather see his loving friend meaning Christs reall presence in the Sacraments then to hear never so much good of him by others in Sermons He had a son by Elenor his wife whom he named Edward for the memory of Edward the Confessor who raigned a little before that the Normans vanquished England At whose birth appeared a Star of great magnitude for some dayes before the Sun rising which moved swiftly one while making a shew of fire another while leaving smoak behind it by which prodigy saith Polydore Virgil the future amplitude of Edward the father and the smalness and vanity of his son which he begat afterwards was declared as it were by an Oracle He had another son Edmund Crouchbacke so called not because he was crooked or deformed but because he wore the Cross upon his back or on his Buckler which he wore constantly at his back to shew that he had vowed to go to Ierusalem to recover the holy Sepulchre In the year 41 of his Raign the King held a Parliament at Oxford which was called Insanum Parliamentum that is to say the mad Parliament For in this Parliament were made many Acts against the Kings prerogative and pleasure for the reformation of the state of the Land which after turned to the confusion and hurt of the Land and the death and destruction of many noble men so that by occasion thereof began that hatefull strife called at this day the Barons War whereof ensued much trouble and mischief He was pressed by his Nobles Bishops and others to pass the great Charter in the ninth year of his Raign His son Edward the first in the twenty fifth of his Raign confirmed the great Charter The great Charter of England passed from this King for which the English men had no less striven than the Trojans for their Helena Lambard saith he may call that great Charter of the Liberties of England the first Letters of manumission of the people of this Realm out of the Norman servitude Matthew Paris the learned Monk of Saint Albans lived in his time and was highly esteemed by him Et cum esset cum ipso continue in mensa in palatio in thalamo qui haec scripsit direxit scribentis calamum satis diligenter amicahiliter In another place he speaks of his bold reproving the King Verstegan sayes the Sidneys are of a French extraction that they came over into England in Henry the thirds dayes Arms as honourary dignities and generous distinctions between family and family and person and person have been undoubtedly born from his time since which there is sufficient proof of them and though long before that many Families might be rich potent and noble yet some of them either had no Arms as many yet in Ireland have not or else kept no constant Coat but gave sometimes their paternall otherwhiles their maternall or aadopted Coats Mr. Waterhouse his discourse of Arms and Armory He raigned fifty six yeares and twenty dayes the longest number of years that ever any King of England raigned CHAP. XVII King EDWARD the first HE was absent in the holy Land when his father died At his first coming to the holy Land he rescued the great City of Acon from being surrendred to the Sultan after which out of envy to his valour one Anzazim a desperate Saracen who had often been employed to him from their Generall being one time upon pretence of some secret message admitted alone into his chamber with a poysoned knife gave him three wounds in the body two in the arm and one in the armpit which had been mortall if out of unspeakable love the Lady Elenor his wife had not suckt out the poison of his wounds with her mouth and licked them with her tongue and thereby effected a cure which otherwise had been incurable So soveraign a medicine saith Speed is a womans tongue annointed with the vertue of loving affection Leaving Garrisons in fit places for defence of the Countrey he with his wife Elenor takes his journey homewards and first passing by Sicilie was there most kindly received by Charles King of that Island where he first heard of his fathers death which he took more heavily far then he had taken the death of his young son Henry whereof he had heard a little before at which when King Charles marvelled he answered that other sons might be had but another father could never be had He was protected by the divine hand from his Childhood being young and playing one time at Chess with a friend in the midst of his game without any apparent occasion he removed himself from the place where he sate when suddenly there fell from the roof of the house a great stone which if he had stayed in the place but never so little had beaten out his brains The like is recorded of Luther that as he was sitting in a certain place upon his stool a great stone there was in the Vault over his head
end kept a most judicious Journall of all the most principall passages of the affairs of his estate Inclytus Edvardus formatus ab ubere matris Confestim doctis à praeceptoribus artes Ingenuas omnes didicit qui Graeca Latinis Adjungens studio paucis profecerat annis Ut foret inferior nulli quem terra Britanna Protulerat claro magnorum ex stemmate Regum Nullus adaequari posset si flexilis â—tas In puero egresso nondum tria lustra duosque Annos ingenii aut praecox spectetur acumen Quantum ad doctrinas virtutesque attinet almas Ille erat Europae Phoenix quem funere acerbo Ut flos vere novo viridanti carpitur horto Sustulit ante diem mors immatura Britannis Invidet haec terris pietatem jura colentes Oclandi Anglorum praelia In his childhood being about to take down something which seemed to be above his reach one of his fellowes offered him a bossed plated Bible to stand upon and heighten him for taking that which he desired But he perceiving it to be a Bible with holy indignation resused it and sharply reproved him that made the offer A strong assurance of that dear esteem and veneration in which he held that sacred Book in his riper years Dr. Heylins History of Edward the sixth He hath this observation in his Diary the originall of which is in the hands of Sir Thomas Cotton At the sixth year of my age I was brought up in learning by Dr. Coxe who was after my Almner and John Cheek Master of Arts two well learned men who sought to bring me up in learning of tongues of the Scripture of Philosophy and all liberall Sciences Also John Belmain French man did teach me the French tongue He was annointed King at Westminster by Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury being of the age of nine years A Prince of great devotion constancy of mind love of the truth and incredibly studious Godwins Annals of England He knew all the principall Ports in England Scotland Ireland France and other Countries not far distant how they lay when the tide served what vessels of burden they could receive and what winds served for entrance He reformed Religion He caused Images and all monuments of Idolatry to be destroyed and a great Bible in English to be set up in every Church He was in body beautifull of a sweet aspect and specially in his eyes which seemed to have a starry liveliness and lustre in them He would answer Embassadors sometime upon the suddain either in French or Latin He could call all Gentlemen of account through his Kingdome by their names When Ioan Butcher a blasphemous Heretick was to be burned all the Counsell could not procure him to set his hand to the Warrant Wherefore they employed Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury to deal privily with him for his subscription But the King remained firm both in reason and resolution affirming that he would not drive her headlong to the Devil but because Hereticks for the most part have a strain of madness he thought it best to apply her with some corporall chastisements which with respite of time might happily reduce her to good order The Archbishop was violent both by perswasions and entreaties and when with meer importunity he had prevailed the King in subscribing his name said that he would lay all the charge thereof upon the Archbishop before God Not many years passed but this Archbishop also felt the smart of the fire and it may be that by his importunity for bloud he did offend for a good thing is not good if it be immoderately desired A Miller who had been busie in rebellion against the King knowing the danger willed his man to take the name of the master if any enquired after him Sir Anthony Kingston Provost Martiall came to the Mill and calling for the master the man in his name presented himself who strait commanded him to the Gallows the servant then seeing the danger of death confessed he was not the master but the man Well said the Knight thou canst never do thy master better service then to hang for him and thereupon trusted him up in the next tree The Lord Protector in his dayes marcht with a powerfull Army into Scotland to demand their Queen Mary in marriage to our King according their promises The Scots refusing to do it were beaten by the English in Musleborough fight One demanding of a Scotch Lord taken prisoner Now Sir how do you like our Kings marriage with your Queen I alwayes quoth he did like the marriage but I do not like the wooing that you should fetch a Bride with fire and sword The Kings Uncles Edward-Duke of Somerset Protector of his person Realms and Dominions and Thomas Lord Seymour Baron of â—udley the younger high Admirall of England were both beheaded Strife between their wives about place and precedency caused the death of their husbands and the death of the young King followed speedily after Sir Thomas Seymour Admirall and the younger brother married the Queen Dowager whose hap it was of all the rest to survive her husband She contested with her sister in law for priority of place both were privately encouraged neither would give way to the other The one claimed it as she had been once Queen the other challenged it as she was the present wife of the Protector The wives set their husbands at oddes and their enemies took hold of this advantage The Admirall was shortly questioned for treason by consent of his brother condemned in Parliament and lost his head In the same moneth was the Protector committed to the Tower by the Lords of the Counsell and after beheaded In this Kings dayes when Bonner was kept in prison reverend Ridley having his Bishoprick of London would â—ever go to dinner at Fulham without the company of Bonners mother and sister the former alwayes sitting in a Chair at the upper end of the Table These guests were as constant as Bread and Salt to the Board no meal could be made without them He died in the seventh year of his Princely Government in the sixth of Iuly anno 1553. Some write that he was poysoned The death of this Prince was lamented of all the godly within Europe for the graces given unto him of God as well of nature as of erudition and godliness passed the measure that accustomably is used to be given to other Princes in their greatest perfection and yet exceeded he not sixteen years of age Knoxe his Ecclesiasticall Hist. of Scotland l. 1. p. 97. I wonder that Doctor Heylin in his Epistle before his Ecclesia Restaurata should say therefore Whose death I cannot reckon for an infelicity to the Church of England Cardan made this Epitaph of him Flete nefas magnum sed toto flebitis orbe Mortales vester corruit omnis honos Nam Regum decus juvenum flos spesque bonorum Deliciae saecli
educatus egregie qui solus omnium filiorum Wilielmi natus esset regiâ— â—i regnum videretur competere Itaque tyrocinium rudimentorum in scholis egiâ— liberalibus literarum mella adeo avidus medullis indidit ut nihil postea bellorum tumultus nulli curarum motâ—s eas excutere illustri animo possent Malmesb de Henrico primo l. 5. Nocturnas faces quas primus Gulielmus vetuerat restituit quippe cui jam firmato regno minus formidaâ—das Seldeni Ianus Anglorum l 2. None of our Kings married with Scotland but he Flemings Stemma sacrum Habitus est crudelis praesâ—râ—im propter Robeâ—tum germanum fratrem quem in carcero sinem vitae facere coegit Polyd. Virg. Ang. hist. l. 11. Stubbâ— his discovery of a gaping gulf whereinto England is like to be swallowed by another French marriage He shews there also in Henry the second Richard the first King Iohn Henry the third Edward the second Richard the second the inconveniences to this Nation by their marriages with the French Hinc cognoscere licet priâ—s Aethiopem posse mutare pellem uti dicitur quà m qui terram incolunt Galliam valde multum diligere Anglos Polyd. Virg. Ang hist. l. 23. p. 483. It was said of Charles Earl of Valois that he was the son of a King brother to a King uncle to a King father to a King and yet no King * Cambdens Brittannia in Barkshire Miâ—ses Henrico adscribunt nonnulli legem quam curtoise d' Angleterre dicunt I. C. ti Hac vir suscepta prole coâ—jugis demortuae baeredâ—s sruitur in humanis dum â—gâ—rit Seldeni Ianus Anglorum l. 2. Hayward The antiquity of a yard â—anicls Histâ—ry and Hayward Sir Walter Rawleigh his Preface to his History of the world See Sir Iohn Hayward in the life of King Henry the first p. 267 2â—8 269 270. Prudentum congressus in Anglia vocatur magna comitia Mutuato denium à Gallis Parliamentorum nomine quae ante Henricum perraro scribit Polydorus l. 11. habita Seldeni Ianus Anglorum l. 2. A Hide of land contains 20. Acres saith Hayward in the life of William the first p. 99. A 100. Acres saith Lambert Daniels History The famous Family of Plantagenets which stored the Crown of England well nigh the space of four hundred years from whence have issued one Emperour fifteen Kings and ten Queens twelve Princes twenty four Dukes and sixty Earls took its name of a â—lant Fern. Glor. Generos Galfredus Plantaginettâ— cujus absque dubio à Plantagine herba quemadmodum elim apâ—d Romanos multarum nobilssimorum 〈◊〉 ab herbis frugibus deductum â—omen est Matildam Henrici primi Anglorum regis filiam viduam duxit in uxorem Henricus secundus in regiam familiam nobilissimum illud Plantaginettarum cognomen insinuavit Hoc mirum in modum postea prolis numerositate incrcvit a leo ut exea gente quatuordecim reges quanquam desultoria quadam successionis lege aliquando conâ—inuata tamen seric regnum administrarunt T wini Comment de rebus Britanuicis Prince douè de plusicurs vertus vrayement digne d' un Royâ—mais aussi suict à quelques vices encores plus indignes d' un Princeâ— hrestein Histoire d' Angleterre par Andre Du Chesne l. 12. Fox p 228. Col. 2. Hollinsh in K. Stephen Cambd. Britannia in Northumberland At pater Henricus haec audiens ingenti affectus dolore antistiti submissa voce ait Paenitets inquam paenitet extulisse hominem Polyd. Virg. Montaigne in his second Book of Essayes c 8. commends the Emperour Charles the fifth for resigning his means his greatness and Kingdome to his son at what time he found his former undaunted resolution to decay and force to conduct his affairs to droop in himself together with the glory he had thereby acquired Robert son to Hugh Capet was crowned King in his fathers life time of whom it is sajd He was a son without frowardness a companion without jealousie a King without ambition Du Serres History of France Verstegans Etymology of our Saxon proper names Poysoned her as was thought Verstegan ubisupra Gualterus Mappaeus de nugis Curialium Polyd. Virg. Ang hist. Hollinsh Polyd. Virg. Dan hist. Statura corporis fuit justa lata bonesta facie in qua multum gratiae gravitatuque incrat sed quò pulchrior corpore hoc animi altitudine praestantior undo non immeritò cognomen invenit qui cor Leonis vocatus est Polyd. Virg. Ang hist l. 14. Illud innuere videtur Richardum inter Angliae Reges primum usum fuisse Leonino gestamine quod ei prae caeteris cognomen inderetur Cor Leonis à picturaâ— clypei ni vana conjectura derivatum Nam é clypeis armaturis nomina saepe acceperunt tum antiqui tum recentiores Spelmanâ—i Aspilogia p 46 47. Weevers ancient Funerall-Monuments Cambdens Brittannia in Oxfordshire Id. ib. in Barkshire Histoire d' Angleterre Par Andre Du Chesne l. 1â— Theater of honour Book 5. c. 1â— Sheriffs and Maiors of London first ordained Alluding to that Gen. 37. 33. Hollinsh and Speeds Chron. Speed Câ—ttoni Posthuma Powell on Lhoyds History of Wales p. 261. out of Matthew Paris Hist. d'Angleterre Par Andre Du Chesne l. 12. * Acts and Mo. vol. 1. Fox Foxes Acts and Mon vol. 1. There are various reports of his death See Hollinsh Chron. * Eighteen years five moneths and four dayes saith Matthew Paris One writes that he was poysoned at Swinsted with a dish of Pears Others there in a cup of Wine Some that he died at Newarke of the Flux A fourth by the distemperature of Peaches eaten in his fit of an Ague Browns Britannias Pastorals Contigit aliquando S. Ludovicum Francorum Regem cum eo super hoc conferentem dicere quod non semper missis sed frequentius sermonibus audiendis esse vacandum Cui faceta urbanitate respondens ait se malle amicum suum saepius videre quam deâ—â— oquentem licet bona dicentem audâ—re Matth. Paris Walsingh Gration Hollinsh Magna Charta Lambards Archeion Id. ib. Matth. Paris hist. Ang. Hen. 3. p. 945. p. 783. There will be little reason to be over-confident in matters of Pedigree and Arms much beyond 400 years â—d ibid. Matth. Paris Cooke 2d part of Instit. c. 11. The names of the first Richard the first Edward were as terrible to Infidels as William to the Saxons and as much renowned among all Christian Princes Sir Francis Wâ—rtly his Characters Rodericus Toletanus l. 1. breaks forth into this exclamation Quid igitur hujus mulieris fide rarius audiri quid mirabilius esse potest ut uxoris lingua fide dilectione maritali peruncta vencua à dilecto marito expulerit quae electo medico trahi non valuerunt quod plurima exquistiáque non effecerunt medicamenta una uxoris pietas explevit Iactura filiorum facilis est cùm