Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

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death_n	henry_n	king_n	marry_v	5,109	5	9.3955	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56172	Historiarchos, or, The exact recorder being the most faithfull remembrancer of the most remarkable transactions of estate and of all the English lawes ... : as most elabourately they are collected ... out of the antiquities of the Saxon and Danish kings, unto the coronation of William the Conqueror, and continued unto the present government of Richard, now Lord Protector / by William Prynne, Esquire ...; Seasonable, legal, and historical vindication of the good old fundamental liberties, franchises, rights, properties, laws, government of all English freemen. Part 3	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.; Prynne, William, 1600-1669. Seasonable, legal, and historical vindication.	1659 (1659)	Wing P3974; ESTC R14832	281,609	400

his Predecessors and defrauded the Kingdom of them They adde hereunto that King Edrid had committed all his chief Houshold-stuff Plate Records and t●e Treasures of all the Realm with all the Magazines he had gotten to Dunstans custody and laid ●hem up in ●he Monastery at Glastonbury yea he committed his Kingdom body and Soul unto him So as all was wholly in Dunstans power who alone managed all the publick affairs of the Realm and exercised Regal Authority And when King Edred in his sicknesse demanded all his Housholdstuff Jewels Monies and Treasures from him Dunstan pretending to fetch them before he returned with them Dustan heard a voice as our Monkish Writers fable that Edred was dead in the Lord and thereupon detained them in his and his Monks custody being unwilling to part with them to young King Edwin his Successor whereupon he seised on them by force as of righ● belonging to him and expelled Dunstan with his Monks And so much the rather because Dunstan presumed most impudently and violently to rush into his Bed-chamber and pull him out forcibly thence on the very day of his Coronation contrary to all Christian and Princely ●odesty from the embraces of his beautifull and beloved Alfgina which some Monks and these Historians report to be his lawfull wife ●not his Concubine and not content therewith he excited Odo Archbishop of Canterbury publickly to divorce her from him some say for consanguinity only and others for other Reasons Whereupon the king betaking himself to his Concubines Odo suspended him from the Church excommunicated all his Concubines caused one of them whom the king best affected to be violently fetched out of the Court with armed Men branded her in the forehead with an hot Iron and then banished her into Ireland After which she returning into England Odo apprehended her the second time and cut off her Sinews at the Hock-bone All which intollerable Affronts so incensed Edwin that he banished and spoyled Dunstan with his Monks as aforesaid and threatned Odo with severe punishments none others in the Realm but these daring then to oppose him hereupon they formerly and then bearing the greatest sway by way of revenge and to preveut Edwins further fury against them stirred up the Mercians and Northumbrians to reject him and that in a tumultuous manner by force of Arme in which Uproar Edgar gained possession of half his Kingdom Matthew Parker and Sir Henry Spelman out of him subjoyns that by these civil dissentions raised between King Edwin and his Brother Edgar they much weakned the forces of the Realm in many set Battels fought between them till at last Edgar getting the better Convocato ad Branfordiam Regni concilio Fratris Edwini acta et decreta rescendit Assemblong a Council at Brandford he repealed all the Acts and Decrees of his Brother King Edwin restored to the Churches and Monasteries the Treasures he had taken from them recalled Dunstan from his former banishment and made him first Bishop of Worcester then of London and last of all of Canterbury Henry de Knyghton a Canon of the Abbey of Leicester relates out of the History of Leicester Abbey That Edwin being expulsed and shamefully thrust out of his kingdom for his evil life and exorbitant actions done against the Church the Monarchy of England continued void above a year Whereupon many murders and wickednesses were committed and infinite mischiefs happened amonst the people for want of Government until holy men both of the Clergy and People deeply affected therewith humbled themselves and uncessantly repented of their sins and prayed day and night to God that he would hear them and mercifully relieve them in so great necessity giving them such a King who might govern the Realm of England in such sort as might redound to the honour of God and profit of the Realm That God beholding their prayers from on high in the night silence this voice was heard from God That they should crown Edgar King though but then a youth who rejoyced with this Divine Oracle most likely by the Monks and Dunstans Legerdemain the Divine Oracle that uttered it speedily advanced Edgar to be King being but 16 years old and so he was elected and crowned King by a divine Oracle which never hapned to any King of England in former times Upon Edgars Coronation and Dunstans restitution An. 959. K. Edwin reigning in a decayed Estate living in little Esteem and wi●hout being desired for very grie● thereof as some write he died after he had for 4 years space Libidinosiè simul Tyrannicè lustfully and also Tyrannically depressed the Realm of England Others a●firm that he was deprived both of his Life and Kingdom by the Rebellion of his Subjects But his Monkish O●posi●es record that he was taken away by an untimely Death by Gods Iust Iudgement in the year of our Lord 959. Whereupon his Brother Edgar ab omni populo electus being elected king by all the people united the kingdom into one and obtained the intire Monarchy of the Realm the kings of Cumberland Scotland and Wales ● voluntarily submitting and doing homage to him without any effusion of blood or war King Edgar About the year of our Lord 963. contrived the death of Earl Ethelwald who as some Authors aver against his trust had cheated him of Elfrida only Daughter of Ordgarus Duke of Devonshire the Paragon of her Sex by disparaging her beauty to the king and marrying her to himself After which the king being extraordinarily ravished with the true reporr and sight of her transcendent beauty thereupon as Bromtons Chronicle relates statim post octo dies Rex Parliamentum suum apud Sarisberiam convocavit Ubi cunctis suis Proceribus congregatis de custodia terrae Northumbriae qualiter contra ingressum Danorum melius posset custodiri tractaverunt inter quos Ethelwolfus ad Custodiam Eboraci patriae adjacentis in illo erat Concilio deputatus A clear Evidence That Matters of defence against Common Enemies and Guardians of the Sea-coasts against the Danes Invasions were then debated and setled by the King and his Nobles in Parl. then usually summoned by our Kings for that end Hereupon Earl Ethelwolfe travelling through the Forrest of Werewell towards his new VVardship was there cruelly assaul●ed and murdered by some unknown armed per●ons there placed in ambuscado by the king as was commonly reported and as some relate by king Edgar himself who shot him through with an Arrow as they were there hunting together The slain Earls Bastard-Son being ●here present beholding his dead Corps the king demanded of him how such a hunting pleased him who answered very well my Lord and King for that which please●h you ought not to displease me which answer ●o pacified this kings swelling mind that he loved no person more entirely all his life than this Young man Tyrannici facti offensam in Patrem sedulitate Regiâ in filium allevans writes

Duke Leofsi was sent to the Danes ●ho coming to them importuned them that they would accept of a Stipend and Tribute They gladly embracing his Embassy condescended to his request and determined how much Tribute should be paid them for to keep the peace Whereupon ●oon after A Tribute of 24000 pounds was paid them pro bono Pacis for the good of Peace In this Assembly and Council as I conjecture King Ethelred informed his COUNSELLERS who instructed him both in divine and humane things with the sloathfulness negligence and vicious lives of the Secular Priests throughout England and by their advice thought meet to thrust them out and put Monks in their places to pour forth prayers and praises to God for him and his people in a due manner Whereupon he confirmed by his Charter the ejection of the Secular Priests out of Christs-Church in Canterbury and the introduction of Monks in their places and ratified all the lands and privileges formerly granted them exempting the Monastery and Lands thereof from all Secular services except Expeditione Pontium operatione et Arcium reparatione Beseeching and conjuring all his lawfull Successors Kings Bishops Earls and people that they should not be Ecclesiae Christi Praedones sed sitis Patrimonii Christi defensores seduli ut vita et gaudio aeternis cum omnibus Dei sanctis in aeternum fru●mini Which Charter was ratified by the Subscriptions of the King Archbishop Bishops Abbots and of several Aeldermen Nobles and Officers and the sign of the Cross. This year Duke Leofsi slaying Esric a Nobleman the Kings chief Provost was judicially banished the Realm by the King for this offence After this Peace made with the Danes Anno 1002. Emma ariving in England received both the Diadem and name of a Queen whereupon King Ethelred puffed up with pride seeing he could not drive out the Danes by force of arms contrived how to murder and destroy them all in one day by Treachery at unawares either by the sword or by fire because they endeavoured to deprive him and his Nobles both of their Lives and the Realm and to subject all England to their own Dominion The occasion time and manner of whose sudden universal Massacre is thus related by Mat. Westminster An. 1012. though acted An. 1002. as all accord and by Mr. Fox and others Huna General of King Ethelreds Militia a valiant warlike man who had taken upon him the managing of the affairs of the Realm under the King observing the insolency of the Danes who now after the peace made with them did so proudly Lord it through all England that they presumed to ravish the wives and daughters of Noblemen and every where to expose them to scorn by strength caused the English husbandmen to soyl and sow their land and doe all vile labor belonging to the House whiles they would sit idely at home holding their wives daughters and servants at their pleasure and when the husbandmen came home they should scarcely have of their own as his servants had So that the Dane had all at his will and fill faring of the best when the owner scarcely had his fill of the worst Thus the common people being of them oppressed were in such fear and dread that not only they were constrained to suffer them in their Doings but also glad to please them and called every one of them in the House where they had rule LORD DANE c. Hereupon Huna goeth to the King much perplexed and makes a lamentable complaint to him concerning these things Upon which the King being not a little moved by the Counsel of the same Huna sent Letters or Commissions unto all the coasts of the Realm commanding all and every of the Nation that on one day after to wit on the Feast of St. Brice the Bishop all the Danes throughout England should be put to death by a secret Massacre that so the whole Nation of the English might all jointly and at one tim● be freed from the Danish Oppression And so the Danes who by a firm covenant sworn unto by both sides a little before ought to have dwelt peaceably with the English were too opprobriously slain and the women with their children being dashed against the posts of the houses miserably powred out their souls When ●herefore the sentence of this decree was executed at the City of London without mercy many of the Danes fled to a certain Church in the City where all of them were slain without pity standing by the very Altars themselves Moreover that which aggravated the rage of this persecution was the death of Guimild Sister of King Swain slain in this manner in England she was lawfully maried to Count Palingers a Noble man of great power who going into England with her husband they both there received the faith of Christ and Sacrament of baptism this most prudent Virago being the mediatrix of the peace between the English and Danes gave her self with her husband and only son as Hostages to King Ethelred for the security of the peace she being delivered by the King to that most wicked Duke Edric to keep that Traytor within few days after commanded her husband with her son to be slain before her face with four spears and last of all commanded her to be beheaded She underwent death with a magnanimous minde without fear or change of countenance but yet confidently pronounced as she was dying That the shedding of her bloud would bring great detriment to England Henry Huntindon thus relates the story of this Massacre In the year 1002. Emma the Jewel of the Normans came into England and received both the Diadem and name of a Queen with which match King Ethelred being puffed up with pride bringing forth perfidiousness caused all the Danes who were with peace in England to be slain by clandestine Treason on one and the same day to wit on the feast of St. Brice concerning which wickedness we have heard in our infancy some honest old men say that the said King sent secret Letters into every City according to which the English on the same day and hour destroye● all the Danes either cutting off their heads without giving them warning with swords or taking an● burning them suddenly ●ogether with fire Vbi fuit videre miseriam dum quisque charissimos hospites quos etiam arctissima necessitudo dulciores effecerat cogeretur prodere et amplexus gladio deturbare writes Malmsbury The News of this bloudy Massacre of the Danes being brought into Denmark to King Swain by some Youths of the Dan●sh Nation who e●caped and fle● out of England in a ship moved him to tears Uocatisque cunctis Regni Principibus W●o calling all the Princes of his Realm together and relating the whole series of what was acted to them he diligently enquired of them what they would advise him to do Who all crying out together as with one mouth DECREED That the

meis omnibus ut in proprio meo lucrentur et inde mihi serviant Et nemo cogatur ad firmae adjutorium aliquid dare nisi sponte sua velit Et si quis aliquem inde gravabit Werae suae reus sit orga Regem Lex 97. Si quis ex hac vita decedat sine distributione rerum suarum vel per incustodiam● vel per mortem improvisam non usurpet dominus ejus de pecunia nisi quantum ad justam Relevationem pertinet quae Anglicè vocatur Hereget sed sit secundnm dictionem ejus ipsa pecunia recte divisa uxori pueris et propinquis unicuique secundum modum qui ad eum pertinet Et sint Relevationes ità minutae sicut modus est Comitis sicut ad eum per●inet hoc est octo equi quatuor sellati quatuor insellati et galeae quatuor et loricae quatuor cum octo lanceis et totidem scutis et gladii quatuor● et CC. marcae auri Postea Thayni regis qui ei proximus sit quatuor equi duo sellati et duo insellati et duo gladii et quatuor la●ceae et totidem scuta et galea cum lorica sua et 50. marcae auri Et mediocris Thayni equus cum apparatu suo et arma sua vel suum Halsfang in Westsaxia in Mircenis ij l. in Estanglia ij l. Et si notus sit Regi equi duo unus cum sella et alius sine sella et unus gladius et duae lanceae et totidem scuta et 50 marcae auri Et qui minus potest det duas libras Lex 104. Et qui fugiat à Domino vel socio suo pro timiditate in Exped●tione navali vel terrestri per dat omne quod suum est et suam ●psius vitam et manus mittat Dominus ad terram quam ei antea dederat Et si terram haereditariam habeat ipsa in manum regis transeat Lex 105. Et qui in bello a●te Dominum suum ceciderit s●t hoc in terra sit alibi sint relevatitones condonatae et ha● be●nt haeredes ejus terram sicut et pecuniam suam et rectè dividant inter se. Lex 107. Et volo ut omnis homo pacem habeat eundo ad Gemo●um v●l rediens de Gemoto id est placito nisi sit fur probatus Lex 110. Qui leges istas apostabit quas Rex modo nobis omnibus indulsit sit Dacus sit Anglus Werae suae reus sit erga reg●m Et si secundo faciat reddat bis Weram suam Si quis addat tertio r●us sit omnium quae habebit In the rest of his Lawes all corporal and pecuniary penalties and fines for all sorts of Offences and Crimes are reduced to a certainty and none left arbitrary and by Lex 104 105. it is evident that the Military Laws as wel as the Civil Ecclesiastical were made in and by advice and direction of the Great Councils The Chronicle of Bromton informs us that King Cnute per Chartam suam à se et haeredibus suis dedit quàm cito post in Parliamento suo apud Wintoniam when and where ●hose Laws were made coram omnibus Regni sui Magnatibus confirmavit gave and confirmed the Manors of Hornyng Ludham and Netershede to the Monastery of Cowholm in Northfolke And that one Maynard riding towards this Parliamentary Council brake his neck who had so incensed the King against Wulfri● and the Monks of this Monastery that he threatned to put ●hem to death What lands and privileges he gave by his Charters to St. Cuthberts Church in Durham Christs-Church in Canterbury and other Monasteries the Marginal Authors will inform us About the year 1034. King Cnute having obtained the Soveraign Dominion of England Scotland Norwey a great part of Sweden and of all Denmarke principally by the Sword through the flattery of his followers who stiled him a King of all Kings most mighty Soveraign and the like who had under his subjection Dominion not only the People and Land but the Sea likewise also by reason of his Great Dominions was so much elevated with pride of heart that he once commanded the royal Throne of his Empire to be placed on the Sea shore near the water as the Sea was flowing in upon it and then stepping up into his Throne sitting in it he spake thus to the Sea in an imperious manner as if he were absolute Sovereign of it Tu meae ditionis es c. Thou art under my Dominion and part of my Empire and the land on which I sit is mine neither is there any one in it who dares resist my command without punishment Therefore I now command thee that thou ascend and come not up upon my land nor yet presume to wet my royal robes nor the feet or Members of thy Soveraign But the Sea notwithstanding this Inhibition ascending after its accustomed manner and nature and no wayes obeying his commands wet both his feet legs and royal Robes without any revernce Whereupon the King leaping hastily out of his Throne almost over-late and retiring from the waves used these words L●t all the Inhabitants of the world know that the power of Kings is but vain and frivolous and that no man is worthy the name of a King but he alone to whose beck both Heaven Earth and the Sea obey by everlasting Laws Henry de Knyghton superaddes thereto as part of his Speech which most others omit I am a Wretch and a Captive able to do nothing possessing nothing wi●hout his gift I commend I recommend my self to him and let him be the Gardian of debili●y Amen After which King Cnute never wore his Crown upon his head but put it upon the head of the Crucifix at Winchester as most accord to the praise of the great King thereby giving a great example of humility to Kings and Conquerors who in the height of all their power can not command the Sea or least wave not to flow or wash them Henry de Knyghton conceives this to be before his pilgrimage to Rome others expresly record it was after his return from thence whose computation I here follow and therefore place it in this year In the year of our Lord 1035. King Cnute a little before his death made this partition of his kingdoms amongst his Sons Swane his son by Q. Algiva or as some affirm of a Priests wife suborned by Algiva as her own he made King of Norwey his Son Harde-Cnute by Queen Emma he caused to be crowned King of Denmark as Wigorniensis Hoveden and others write yet some gainsay it that he made his Son Harold King of England and soon after died at Shaftesbury November 12. 1035. and was buried at Winchester Immediatly after his decease the Nobles met at Oxford about the election of a new King● which our Historians thus

Realm against Law and right by his power and often attempted to incline the Kings minde to his Injustice At last his subtilty proceeded so farr that by fraud deceit and circumvention he banished out of the land almost all the Kings kinred and friends whom he had either brought with him or called out of Normandy as well Bishops as Clerks and Laymen of other dignities believing that all things would succeed according to his desires if the King deprived of all his friends should make use only of his Counsels But Edward dissembling all things in regard of time place and out of religion addicted himself wholly to divine duties sometimes predicting That divine Iustice would at some time or other revenge so great malice of the Earl and telling Godwin himself so much Whereupon on a certain day when the King was celebrating the Feast of Easter at Winchester as most or at Windsor as some or Hodiam as others relate which feast was famous among the people the King sitting at his royal Table at dinner the Kings Cup-bearer Harold Godwins own Son as some record bringing the Kings cup filled with Wine towards the Table striking one of his feet very hard against a stumbling block on the pavement fell almost to the ground but his other foot going straight on recovered him again and set him upright so that he had no harm nor shed any of the wine Upon which many discoursing touching this event and rejoycing that one foot helped the other Earl Godwin who customarily sate next to the King at Table being his Father-in-law laughing thereat said by way of merriment Here a brother helped a brother as some or So is a Brother helping to a Brother and one assisting another in necessity as others report his words To whom the King upon this occasion ironically answering said Thus my Brother Alfred might have assisted me had it not been for Godwins Treachery who would not permit him Which Speech of the Kings Godwin taking over-grievously was sore afraid and with a very pale and sad countenance replied I know O King I know it hath been often reported to thee that I have sought to betray thee and that thou O King dost as yet accuse and suspect me concerning the death of thy Brother Alfred neither yet doest thou think that those are to be discredited who call me either his or thy Traytor or betrayer But let thy God who is true and just and knoweth all secrets judge between us and let him never suffer this piece of bread I now hold in my hand to pass down my throat without choaking me if I be guilty of any Treason at all against thee or had ever so much as a thought to betray thee Or if I be guilty of thy Brothers death or if ever thy brother by me or my counsel was nearer to death or remoter from life And so may I safely swallow down this morsel of bread in my hand as I am guiltlesse of these facts When he had thus spoken the King blessed the piece of bread whereupon Godwin putting it into his mouth swallowed it down to the midst of his throat where it stuck so fast that he could neither get it down nor cast it up by any means till through the cooperation of divine vengeance he was so choaked with it that his breath was quite stopped his eyes turned upside down his arms grew stiff being conscious to himself of what he thus abjured and so he fell down dead under the Table Deus autem justus et verax audivit v●cem Proditoris et mox eodem pane strangulatus mortem praegustavit aeternam writes Radulphus de Diceto The King seeing him pale and dead and that divine judgement and vengeance had thus passed upon him said to those who stood by Dragg out of this dog this Traytor and bury him in the high way for he is unworthy of Christian burial Whereupon his Sonnes there present beholding this Spectacle drew him from under the Table into a Bedchamber ubi debitum proditoris sortitus est finem and immediately after they buried him privily in the old Monastery at Winchester without honour or solemnity Abbot Ingulphus thus briefly relates the story of this his death Anno Domini 1053. cum Godwinus Comes in mensa Regis de n●ce sui fratris impeteretur ille post multa Sacramenta tandem per buccellam d●glutiendam abjuravit buccella gustata continuo suffocatus interiit As this judgement of God upon Earl Godwin for murdering Prince Alfred right heir to the Crown and the Normans who accompanied him 17 years after the fact was most exemplary so Gods justice upon his posterity is remarkable which to omit their forementioned exiles troubles are thus epitomized by Will. Malm●b Godwin in his younger years had the Sister of Cnute for his wife● on whom he begat a Son who having passed the first years of his childhood whiles he was riding on a horse given to him by his Grandfather in a proud childish bravado giving him the spurr and ●ains the horse carried him into the swift stream of the River of Thames where he was drowned His Mother also was slain with the stroke of a thunderbolt receiving the punishment of her cruelty who was reported to buy whole droves of slaves especially beautifull maides in England and to send them into Denmark that she might heap up riches by their deformed sale After her death he maried another wife on whom he begot Harold Swane Wulnoth Tosti Girth and Leofwin Harold after Edward was King for some Moneths and being conquered by William at Hastings lost both his life and kingdom with his two younger Brothers there slain in battel Wulnoth sent into Normandy by King Edward because his father had given him for an hostage was there detained a Prisoner without any release during all King Edwards life and being sent back into England in Williams reign continued in bonds at Sarisbury till his old age Swane of a perverse wit treacherous against his King revolted oftentimes both from his Father and his Brother Harold and becomming a Pyrate polluted the vertues of his ancestors with his maritime Robberies and murder At last going barefoot to Ierusalem in pilgrimage out of conscience to expiate the wilfull murder of his Cosen Breuno and as some say his Brother in his return thence he was circumvented and slain by the Saracens Tosti being advanced by King Edward to the Earldom of Northumberland after the death of Earl Syward ruled the County near two years which being expired he stirred up the Northumbrians to a Rebellion with the asperity of his manners for finding him solitary they chased him out of the Country not thinking ●it to slay him by reason of his Dukedom but they beheaded all his men both English and Danes and spoiled him of all his horses arms and houshold-stuff whereupon being deprived of his Earldom he went with his wife and children into Flanders and at

quia ita se mansuete ageret ut nec viles homunculos verbo laedere noscet Nam dum qu●dam vice venatum isset et agrestis quidem stabulata illa quibus in casses cervi urgentur confudisset ille sua nobili percitus ira per Deum inquit et Matrem ejus tantundem tibi nocebo si potero Egregius animus quise regem in talibus non meminisset nec abjectae conditionis homini se posse nocere putaret Erat interea ejus apud domesticos reverentia vehemens apud exteros metus ingens fovebat profecto ejus simplicitatem Deus ut posset timeri qui nesciret irasci No wonder then if his death were much lamented by all his Subjects cum omnes et in Rege cernerent unde gauderent et in se sentirent und● dolerent The English Nobility were much troubled and divided in their minds and affections which were wavering touching the election of a ●it person to succeed him Fluctuabant Proceres Regni quem sibi Regem praeficerent et Rectorem Many of them favoured William Duke of Normandy as specially designed by King Edward to succeed him others of them inclined to Prince Edgar Atheling as the next and right heir to the Crown Cui de Iure debebatur Others of them favored Harold Earl Godwins son as being a person then of greatest Power and Valour in the Realm Anglia dubio fav●re nutabat cui se R●ctori committeret incerta an Haraldo an Willielmo an Edgaro Nam illum pro genere proximum regno Proceribus Rex commendaverat Harold being a crafty subtil man knowing that delayes were hurtfull to those who were prepared on the very day of Epiphany whereon King Edward was buried having the command of all the Militia and forces of the Realm as General and Vice-roy to the deceased Kiug by the strength of himself and his kinred and friends invaded and seized upon the royal Crown and then presently set it upon his own head crowning himself King without any Title Right or due Election by the Nobles or Coronation by the Bishops whereby he incurred the hatred both of the English Prelates and Pope and then extorted alleg●ance from the Nobles as William of Malmsbury Matthew Paris Ingulphus Henry Huntindon Matthew Westminster the Chronicle of Bromton Knyghton Caxton Mr. Fox Speed and some others attest But Marianus Scotus Florent Wigorniensis Roger de Hoveden Sim. Dunelm Radulfus de Diceto Eadmerus Hygden Fabian Grafton with others write in favour of Harold that King Edward before his death made him not only his General but Vice-roy and ordained that he should be King after him Whereupon A totius Angliae Primatibus ad regale culmen electus he was elected to be King by all the Nobles of England● and solemnly consecrated and crowned King by Aldred Archbishop of Yorke And so Iuxta quod ante mortem Edwardus statuerat in Regnum ei successit Haroldus writes Eadmerus That King Edward designed him for his Successor in the Crown seems very improbable because Harold himself never alleged nor pretended it in any of his Answers to Duke Williams Embassadors to him who claimed the Crown by his speciall bequest and designation in his life-time and because King Edwards hatred to Godwin and his Posterity seems inconsistent with it● William of Malmsbury an impartial disingaged Author living in or near that time gives us this determination of these diffrent relations Recenti adhuc regalis funeris luctu Haroldus ipso Theophaniae die extorta a Principibus fide arripuit Diadema quamvis Angli dicant a Rege concessum quod tamen magis benevolentia quam judicio allegari existimo ut illi haeredit●tem tran●funderet suam cujus semper suspectam habuerat potentiam Quamvis ut non celetur veritas pro persona quam gerebat regnum prudentiae fortitudine gubernaret si legitime suscepiscet Abbot Ingulphus living at that time thus relates his intrusion into the Throne against his Oath In crastino Regii funeris Comes Haroldus con●ra suum statum jusjurandum cont●mpler praesti●ae ●idei ac nequiter oblitus sui Sacramen●i Throno R●gio se intrusit yet adds per Archiepiscopum Eboracae Aldredum solenniter coronatus Henry Huntindon thus records it Quidem Anglorum Edgar Adeling promovere volebant in Regem Haroldus vero viribus et genere fretus Regni Diadema invasit The Chronicle of Bromton and Knyghton thus give us the story of it Sancto Edwardo rege et Confessore m●rtuo quidam Anglorum Magnates Edgarum Adelynge ●ilium Edwardi filii Regis Edmondi Ironside in Regem promovere moliebantur sed quia puer erat et tanto oneri minus idoneu● et in bursa minus refertus Haroldus Comes viribus et genere fretus Cui erat Mens astutior crumena f●c●ndior et miles copiosior et pompis gloriosior sinistro omine Regnum occupavit et contra Sacramentum quod Willielmo Duci Normanniae praesti●erat Regni Diadema sinistro omine illico invasit et sic perjurus sancto Edwardo successi● juxta quod idem Edwardus ut quidam aiunt ante mortem suam statuerat promissione quam idem Rex dum juvenis in Normannia extitit dicto Willielmo de succedendo post ●um in regnum fecerat sibi super hoc postea secundum quosdam solemnes nuncios ut praemittitur destinaverat non obstante Abbot Ailred thus registers Harolds usurpation and the sad events thereof Int●rea Haroldus Godwini filius Regnum Angliae quod secundum fidem Sacramenti debuerat servasse Willielmo Regis Edmundi consobrino sibi nec Iure debitum nec Natura irreverenter usurpans malum quod Angliae secundum Sancti Regis oraculum Dominus praeparaverat transgressione pacti et fidei acceleravit laesione Ut autem attenuati viribus facilius ab hiis quos injustè provocaverat hostibus vinceretur suscitavit ei a parte aquilonis inimicos Haroldum cognomento Harfar Norwagenorum regem et Tostium fratrem s●um quem de Anglia ipse exp●lerat c. Tho. Walsingham thus stories it Cujus regnum Haroldus continuo invasit ex fidelitate pejura●us quam Duci juraverat Ad quem Legatos direxit protinus hortans ut ab hac vesania resipisceret et fidem quam juramento spospondera● cum digna subjectione servaret Sed ille hoc non solum audire contempsit verum omnem ab illo Anglorum gentem infideliter avertit Hygden in his Polychronicon l. 6. c. 28. Mr Iohn Fox Acts and Monuments Vol. 1. p. 214. Mr. Cambden in his B●itannia p. 145 146. Holinshed Sir Iohn Hayward Sir Richard Baker affirm the like and incline to this opinion That Harold by his might power craft policy usurped and invaded the Crown without any right against his Oath I shall summ up all their Opinions in the words of Iohn Speed After King Edwards death the Statesmen perplexed for choice of

them on Guild-down and there seised upon Prince Alfred and retained him in close Prison when he was hastning towards London to conferr with King Harold as he had commanded And apprehending all his followers he ransacked some of them others of them he put in chains and afterwards put out their eyes some of them he tormented and punished by pulling off the skin from their heads and cutting off their hands and feet many of them he likewise commanded to be sold and slew 600 men of them at Gildeford with various and cruel deaths whose Souls are believed now to rejoyce with the Saints in Paradice seeing ●heir bodies were so cruelly slain in the fields without any fault which Queen Emma hearing of sent back her son Edward who remained with her with greatest haste into Normandy After which by the command of Earl Godwin and some others Prince Alfred being bound most straitly in chains was carried Prisoner to the Isle of Ely by ship where he no sooner arived but his eyes were most cruelly pulled out and so being led to the Monastery was delivered to the Monks to be kept where he soon after died and was there interred Some add that after Alfreds eyes were put out his belly was opened and one end of his bowels drawn out and fastened to a stake and his body pricked with sharp needles or poyneyards forced about till all his intrails were extracted in which most savage torture he ended his innocent life Ranulphus Cistrensis in his Polychronicon l. 6. c. 21. relates that Godwin used this strange cruelty towards those Normans that came over with Alfred whom he twice decimate● at Gildeford that he ●ipped up their bellies and fastned the ends of their guts to stakes that were reared and pyght in the ground and laid the bodies about the stakes till the last end of the guts came out The Author of the Book called Encomium Emmae and Speed out of him writes That Harold was no sooner established King but that he sought meanes how to rid Queen Emma secretly out of the way and maliciously purposing took counsel how he might train into his Hay the sons of Queen Emma that so all occasions of danger against him might at once for all be cut off Many projects propounded this lastly took effect that a Letter should be counterfeited in Queen Emma's name unto her sons Edward and Alfred ●o instigate them to attempt the Crown usurped by Harold against their right The Tenor of which Letter you may read in Speed This Letter being cunningly carried digested by Alfred as savo●ing of no falshood he returned answer he would come shortly over to attend his Mothers designs which Harold being informed of forelayes the coasts to apprehand him Upon his comming on shore in England Earl Godwin met him and binding his assurance with his corporal Oath became his Leige-man and guide to Queen Emma but being wrought firm for Harold treacherously led these Strangers a contrary way and lodging them at Guildford in several Companies there tithed and murthered them as aforesaid Henry Huntindon the Chro●icle of Bromton William Caxton in his Chronicle and another Historian mentioned by Mr. Fox record that this murther was after the death of King Harde-Cnute When the Earls and Barons of England by common assent and counsel sent into Normandy for these two Brethren Alfred and Edward intending to crown Alfred the elder Brother and to make him King of England and to this the Earls and Barons made their Oath But Earl Godwin of West-Sax sought to slay these two brethren so soon as they came into England to the intent he might make Harold his own son by Cnutes daughter or sister maried to him King as some of these affirm Others of them relate that he intended only to destroy Alfred being an Englishman by the Father but a Norman by the Mother whom he foresaw to be a person of such honour and courage that he would disdain to mary his daughter or to be swayed by him and then to mary his daughter Godith to Edward the younger Brother and to make him King as being of a more milde and simple disposition apt to be ruled by him Hereupon Godwin went to Southampton to meet with the two Brothers at their landing It fell out that the Messengers sent into Normandy found only Alfred there Edward being then gone into Hungarie to speak with his Cosen Edward the Outlaw Ironsides son When Alfred heard these Messengers tydings he thanked God and in all hast sped him to England ariving at Southampton with some of his Mothers kinred and many of his fellow-Souldiers of like age who were Normans Whereupon Godwin intimated to the Nobles of England That Alfred had brought over too great a company of Normans with him and had likewise promised the lands of the Englishmen to them and therefore it would not be safe to instirpate such a valiant and crafty Nation amongst them That these ought to undergoe exemplary punishment lest others by reason of their alliance to the King should presume to intrude themselves amongst the English And then posting to Southampton welcomed and received Alfred with much joy pretending to conduct him ●afe to London where the Barons waited for to make him King and expected his comming and so they passed forth together towards London But when they came to Guild-down Godwin said to Alfred● Lock round about thee on thy right hand and left and behold what a kingdom shall be subjugated to thy Dominion Upon which Alfred giving thanks to God presently promi●ed that if i● happened he should be crowned King He would constitute such Laws as should be pleasing and acceptable both to God and Man Which words were no sooner uttered but the Traytor Godwin commanded all his men to apprehend Alfred and to slay all the Normans that came with him in his company and after that to carry Alfred into the Isle of Ely and there to put out both his eys and to pull out his bowels which they accordingly executed as aforesaid And so died this innocent Alf●ed right heir to the Crown through the Treason of wicked Godwin When the Lords of England heard thereof and how Alfred that should have been their King● was put to death● through the false Treason of Godwin against their wills 〈◊〉 were ●onder●ull sorrow●ull and wr●th and swore before God and Man that he should die a worser Death than did Edric which destroyed his Lord Edmond Ironside and would immediately have put him to death but that the Traytor fled and escaped into Denmark and there continued 4. yeares and more and lost all his Lands Rents Goods and Chattels in England confiscated in the mean time for this his Treason These Historians though they somewhat vary in the time and occasion of Prince Alfreds death yet they all agree in the substance of his and of his Norman Souldiers and Campanions treacherous barbarous murders by the joynt or separate