both Naval and Land supplies to his Enemies and entertaining such as run from him took up a resolution to make the Puissance of Rome known to these Islanders which being discovered by Merchants some particular States sent Ambassadors to him promising to put in Pledges and yeild obedience to the Roman Empire Caesar commending their Prudence and exherting them to continue in the same mind sends them back with Comius in their company whom he had made King of Artois giving him instructions to work them to a suller submission and prepare them to give him a quiet admission with his forces into their Countrey Hereupon the British Princes joyn to oppose him of whom Geffrey nameth these Caswallan Androgeus and Tenerantius with Crederus King of Albania Guitellus of Venedotia and Britael of Demetia Lhud as he writes though falsely was dead some years before and therefore is not here mentioned and King Belinus as I said before is only brought in to be his Son's General Caesar having gained what knowledge he could of the British coast from C. Volusenus whom he had sent out to descry it embarques two Legions in eighty Ships of burthen and some Gallies and endeavours to land in Kent Here Dolobellus General to King Belinus as appears by Nennius who calls him his Proconful stood ready to receive him and performed his part so bravely that the noble Roman confessed the terror of such resolute opposition made his Veteran Soldiers forget their wonted valour But in the end they gained the Shore and put the Britans to flight with extraordinary slaughter In Caesar â—â— Caesar is brought in by Julian attributing to himself the honour if it be at all an honour to that person which he suâ—â—ained of being the first that left his Ship and 〈◊〉 Land but this were to make him not understand what became him and he acknowledges it was the Eagle-bearer of the tenth Legion Lib. 4. de bello Galliâ—â—o Caesar marching forwards encamps upon a great Plain supposed to be Barham-Down where he beheld the dispersion and loss of a considerable part of his Flect by the violence of an unexpected storm Comius found not such entertainment as he expected being imprisoned as a Spy by the Britans who were wise enough to perceive that the Romans aimed at more than they should be willing to grant yet finding by the late conflict that there was an apparent inequality in the match between the Roman and Britain Arms and discipline they judged it convenient to make their best termes and submit to which end they dispatcht Ambassadors to him and with them sent back Comius thinking by the one to moderate his anger and by the other in consequence to procure a peace which they obtained the â—aslier by reason of the late Wrack and the approach of Winter yet were enjoyned to deliver Hostages But understanding his want of Horsemen and the losses he had sustamed by the Tempest they took courage again and slew to Arms. About a thousand Horsemen were coming after him in eighteen Ships which being got within view of the Camp were driven by a sudden storm some back to the Gallick coast others upon the Western part of the Island from whence they had much adoe to recover the Continent again and those Ships that were with him fared as ill for the Gallies which were drawn up to the Shore were filled with the Tide and the Ships of burden that lay at Anchor were so shaken with the Tempest that they were almost rendred unserviceable The seventh Legion being sent out to fetch in Corn was set upon by the Britans and in danger of being cut off if Caesar had not seasonably come to the rescue who contenting himself with putting his Enemies to a stand considering it was not now a fit time to offer Battel while his men were scarce recovered of so late a fear only keeps his ground for a while and soon after returns to his Camp The Britans giving themselves out for Victors sent straight to all the neigbouring States for more forces and getting together a great multitude drew towards the Romans but Caesar encouraging his Soldiers received these Guests with a battel before his Camp put them to rout with slaughter and burnt and laid wast all round about Daunted with this ill success they again crave peace which he granted them but withal severely reproved them for their breach of faith and imposed a double number of Hostages to be sent after him into Gaul whither the season of the year required him to hasten so that all his Ships but twelve being by this time made able to abide the Sea by incessant labour of the Soldiers he hoisted sail about midnight and arrived safely with all but eleven Ships of burden upon the Continent these not keeping their course landed at a Port of the Morini who would have put them to the sword in hopes of prey if Caesar hearing of their peril had not sent his Horsemen to fetch them off The Senate advertised of these passages by his Letters decreed a solemn Procession and Supplication of twenty dayes and himself ordering Labienus to chastise the rebellious Morini went to Rome as he used to do every Winter to look after his concernments there About this time died King Belinus having reigned forty years yet did not his death hinder the Britans from celebrating a solemn Festival in Trinovant for joy of Caesar's departure But here fell out an unlucky accident which proved of very ill consequence As the Youth were exercising themselves at Martial sports it chanced that two young Noblemen fell out the one named Hireldas is by Geffrey of Monmouth said to be Nophew to Caswallan the other named Evelinus to Mandubratius Henry of Huntington saith they were their Sons In this quarrel Hireldas was slain by Evelinus whem Caswallan would therefore have had to be put to death but Mandubratius prevailed with his Father Immanuentius to protect him Caswallan thought it too difficult a matter to contest at that time with his Brother in his own Royal City he departs therefore but quickly returns with strong Forces which he had in readiness kills Immanuentius seizes the greatest part of his Kingdom and compells Mandubratius to flee for safety of his life into Gaul Nennius who adhered so saithfully to him in his war against the Romans may seem likely to have sided with him now there being a grudg between him and Immanuentius for going about to change the name of Trinovant to Caer Lud as the * Lib. 1. cap. 10. Monmouth Writer tells us These proceedings of Caswallan allarm'd the Neighbour-States who thereupon took up Arms against him And thus were the Britans embroiled in Civil wars not fearing belike Caesar's return whose hasty departure they looked upon as little better than flight and thought he was as desirous to leave them as they were to have him and therefore all the States but two neglected the sending of their Hostages after him Here now
Son to Olbius Namnes Son to Galates and Rhemus Son to Namnes During the Reigns of these Samothean Kings hapned nothing remarkable only that in the time of King Lucus Osiris the great King of Egypt was slain by his Brother Typhon with the help of Laestrigon Antaeus Gerion Albion and Bergion the Grandsons of the murdered Heroe by his Son Neptune after which Albion and Bergion with a multitude of Africans coming into Spain where Gerion reigned from thence invaded and conquered Britain and Ireland where they ruled for some years But in the time of Celtes Hereules pursuing the revenge of his Father's death kills Typhon and Antaeus settles his Brother Orus and his mother Isis in the Kingdom of Egypt destroyes Gerion in Spain and marches into Gaule with intention to pass into Italy Celtes joyfully entertains him in requital whereof he built the City of Alexia Albion and Bergion suspecting he would at length call them to an account resolved to be before hand with him and came against him with a puissant Army who having married Galatea and increased his Army with Gaulish Supplies encountred them in a place named The Stony Strond or Stony Field now called by the French Le Craux where after a long and terrible fight the two Brothers were deseated and slain From thence Hercules departed into Italy where he slew Laestrygon The Samotheans in Britain emboldned by the success of this Battel took up Arms against the residue of the Africans that were lest behind commencing a long war which continued till the coming of Brutus In this interval the fifty Daughters of Dioclesian King of Syria having all murdered their Husbands in one night were for their punishment embarqued in a Ship well victualled but without Pilot Mast or Sail and so committed to the mercy of the Seas At last they were cast upon the Western Coast of this Island then inhabited by the African Progeny to whom women were very welcome in regard the Samotheans disdained to give their Daughters to them The Eldest of these named Albina was married to the Prince of these Barbarians and renewed to this Isle the name of Albion which had been before imposed by Neptune's forementioned Son of that name but now was worn out This Fable I conceive to be founded upon the Grecian Story of Danaus his Daughters King Remus having no other children but one Daughter gave her in marriage to Franicus Francus or Francion Son to Hector King of the Germans whose Father Brennus was lineally descended from the ancient Tuisco He succeeded his Father and Father-in-Law and kept his residence in a City of Pannonia which himself had built and called Sicambria after the name of his Son Sicamber who reigned after him and married a Lady named Galatea having first slain his Rival Acis a Sicilian Prince The Greeks for his valour called him Polyphemus which signifies famous and the Poets fable him to be a Cyclopian Giant and Son of Neptune whom they generally make the Father of Gigantick Issues This Polyphemus Sicamder is by the Germans named Woltheim Sichinger At his death he divided his Kingdom between his three Sons to Celtes he left Germany who extended the name of Celts to all the people of that Land Gaule and so much of Britain as was held by the Samotheans fell to Galates and Pannonia to Illyrius who by Conquest added to it the Countrey which of him took the name of Illyris Francus had parcelled Gaule into twelve Provinces and appointed over each of them a Vice-roy with orders to be aiding to his Samothean Subjects as occasion should require but Ambition prompted them to other Designs whereunto they were animated by their Princes over-large Bounty who it seems had made their Prefectures Hereditary so that after the death of Galates whose Reign was spent in Wars abroad they assumed to themselves the Royal Title and Power In the Reign of Wolfheim Sichinger the famous City of Troy was taken by the Greeks whereupon Aeneas and Antenor were forced to seek new seats of whom the latter found means to settle himself about Padua the other in Latium whose Son and Successour Ascanius built Alba Longa. But far worse fortune had many of their Countreymen who with their Families were carried away Captive into Greece by Pyrrhus and by him kept in slavery From him descended one Pandrasus as Geffrey calls him though the Greeks had another name for him who shewed himself very cruel to the issue of these Trojans In his time a certain Nobleman dying left two Sons the one by a Greek wife the other named Assaracus by a Trojan who falling out about the sharing of their Father's Territory caused the King to interest himself in the quarrel who hating the Trojan Nation and consequently Assaracus for his relation to them took his Brothers part against him and would by force have disseised him of his Inheritance if he had not been opportunely succour'd by Brutus of whom we come now to speak Ascanius King of Alba dying there arose a controversie about the succession between his Son Julus and his Half-Brother Sylivins Posthumus the Son of Aeneas by Lavinia the first being favoured by the Trojans the other by the Latines who being more numerous advanced Posthumus to the Crown assigning the Pontificate to Julus who upon the reconciliation assumed his Uncles name for his Praenomen and was called Sylvius Julus It was made a piea against him that he was not of years sufficient to manage the weighty affairs of a Kingdom by which it appears that he married very young having had two Sons before his Fathers death from the Elder of whom the Julian Family descended The Younger named Brutus proved fatal to both his Parents for his Mother died in Child-bed and at fifteen years of age he by mischance killed his Father at a hunting for which he was banished by Posthumus and went into Greece where upon sundry occasions he gave such proofs of his valour as encouraged the poor oppressed Trojans to repair to him and request him to undertake the freeing of them from the Grecian Bondage Brutus becomes their Prince and entring league with Assaracus wins two victories of Pandrasus In the first Antigonus the King's Brother and his friend Anacletus were taken Prisoners in the other the King himself Hereupon by the means of a Trojan named Mempricius ensued a peace whereby Assaracus was secured in his Right and Brutus obtained in marriage the King 's eldest Daughter Innogen with a Fleet of three hundred twenty four Ships well provided with all necessaries to transport the Trojans and their Families to another Country The first place he arrived at was an Island where Diana had a Temple whose Oracle he with his Soothsayer Gerion consults about the success of his Voyage and receives a propitious Answer From hence departing he sailed along the coast of Africk conquering by the way the Pirates of those Seas and for a fresh supply of provision was forced to land in Mauritania
tenth day of May for his Martyrdome Thomas Dempster a Scotch Historian Hist Eccles Scot. lib. 2. num 159. saith that St. Barnabas came into the North part of Britain now called Scotland and there Baptized Beatus the Apostle of the Helvetians Aristobulus Brother to St. Barnabas mentioned by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans is by the same Dorothaeus recorded to have been Bishop of Britain which is confirmed by the Suffrage of the Greek Menologies who assign the fifteenth day of March for his Martyrdom which here he suffered in the second year of Nero according to the Fragment of Helecas Caesar Augustanus Venantius Fortunatus and Sophronius Patriarch of Jerusalem Comment de Petro Paulo ad diem Jun. 39. say that St Paul was in Britain and Simeon Metaphrastes affirms as much of St. Peter adding that he tarried here a long time and converted many Nations settled their Churches and ordained Bishops Priests and Deacons Isidore and Freeulphus say that St. Philip the Apostle came into Gaul and preached there from whence he sent over hither in the year Sixty three twelve Disciples of whom Joseph of Arimathea was of greatest note to whom Arviragus gave a certain place named Inis witrin called also Avalon and Glastonbury where they are said to have led an Eremitical life and to have built a Church in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary and to have had other Lands bestowed upon them by Marius and Coelus This is accounted the ancientest Church of Britain and was afterwards much reverenced and enriched by many Kings and Princes as appears by William of Malmesburie's History of the Antiquities of Glastonbury and by King Henry the Second's Charter granted to the new Church there in the year one Thousand one Hundred and eighty five which was termed Magnum Privilegium and is to be seen among the Archiva in the Tower of London and by many other Writers Pudens and Claudia mentioned by St. Paul in the end of his second Epistle to Timothy are credibly thought to be the same with Aulus Pudens and Claudia Rufina whom the Poet Martial celebrates which Claudia was a British Lady and by some Writers thought to be King Caradock's Daughter mentioned by Tacitus and Linus the first Bishop of Rome mentioned also in the same Epistle is by Clemens in his seventh book of the Apostles Constitutions said to be their Son Chap. 47. and Petrus Equilinus gives them two other Sons Timotheus and Novatus and to Pudens by another wife named Sabinella he gives two Daughters Potentiana or Pudentiana and Praxedis This Timotheus converted Lucius a Brittish Prince and suffered Martyrdom when the first Antoninus was Emperour and Pius Bishop of Rome Lucius being Baptized by Timotheus about the end of Evaristus his Papacy leaving his Principality and taking with him his Sister Emerita preached to the Rhaetians and Bavarians became Bishop of Chur where he was Martyred under Aurelius Antoninus as his Sister was at a neighbouring place called Trimontium In Hartmannus Schedelius his Chronicle we find among those that flourished under Trajan Taurinus Episcopus Eboracensis and Eutropius Episcopus Cantu which some of the Hagiocleptae or Steal-Saints taking hold of have endeavoured to perswade the world that the one was Bishop of York and the other of Canterbury whereas it is evident from other Authors that Eboracensis is through mistake put for Ebroicensis and Cantu for Santu the one being Bishop of Eureux in Normandy the other of Sainctes in Xaintoigne But Britain was not so barren of Saints that it should need to steal any from other Countreys and it is justly famous for receiving and preserving the Christian Faith from the very times of the Apostles Eusebius Pamphilus in his third Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 affirms that some of the Apostles went beyond the Ocean to the Isles that are called British Theodoret likewise in his Ninth Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reckons the Britans expressâ—â— among those Nations to whom the Apostles themselves had preached Before these Tertullian tells us That those places among the Britans which yielded the Romans no access were now subdued unto Christ Lib. adversus Judaeos c. 7. And Origen in his Fourth Homily upon Ezekiel and in his Sixth Homily upon the first Chapter of St. Luke confirms the Antiquity of Christianity in Britain Gildas after reciting Boadicia's insurrection whom he calls the Deceitful Lioness and the quelling of it by the Romans informs us That between the latter end of the Reign of the Emperour Tiberius and the victory of Suetonius Paulinus which was obtained about the year of Christ Sixty one the Christian Religion began to take footing in Britain in the mean time saith he Christ the true Sun spreading forth not from the Temporal Firmament but from the Castle and Court of Heaven which exceedeth all Times throughout the whole world his most glorious Light in the latter end as we know of Tiberius Caesar's Reign whereas in regard that the Emperour against the will of the Senate threatned death to the Disturbers thereof Religion was largely propagated without any hinderance did first cast on this Island starving with frozen Cold and in a far remote Climate from the visible Sun his gladsome Beams to wit his most holy Laws which although they were received of the inhabitants but with Luke-warm minds remained notwithstanding fully and entirely in the minds of some and in others less untill the nine years Persecution of the Tyrant Dioclesian What he saith of Caesar's threatning death to the Disturbers or Accusers of the Christians we also find in the fifth Chapter of Tertullian's Apologeticus and in the Chronicle of Eusebius at the last year or last but one of the Reign of Tiberius Thus early did Christianity enter into this Land where it was never since totally extinct though sometimes shrewdly eclipsed Some stirs there were in Britain in Trajan's time who being engaged in war with the Dacians and other remote Nations the Northern people with the help of the Picts and their King Roderick hoped to recover their ancient Bounds and revenge the overthrows they had received from Agricola Hereupon they invade the Province but with ill success for the Caledonians are beaten by the Romans and driven to their old Shelters and the Picts are at Stanmore in Westmorland vanquished by Marius who was now leagued with the Romans and Roderick slain in memory of which victory the British King erected Rerecross as some conceive Berenchus is said to have succeeded Roderick who finding himself unable to cope with Marius retired into Cathnesse and there seated himself and his followers The Scottish Writers pretend that both their own Nation and the Picts were settled in Britain long before and that these people were Moravians of Germany but how falsely is known to any one that is never so little versed in History seeing those Moravians were never heard of before the dayes of the Emperour Lewis the Debonaire Neither did Moravia in
Royal Prophet Thou lovest Righteousness and hatest wickedness Ps 45.7 therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows And again according to the same Royal Prophet Ps 72.1 Give the King thy Judgments O God c. for he said not the Judgments nor the Righteousness of Caesar For the King's Sons are the Christian Nations and people of the Realm who live and abide in the Kingdom under your Protection and Peace according to the Gospel Mat. 23.37 even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings The Nations and people of Britain are your people whom however divided you ought to gather into one to reclaim to Concord and Peace and the Faith and Law of Christ and to the Holy Church to cherish maintain or to lead by hand protect govern and always defend them from injurious and malitious Folks and from their Enemies Eccl. 10.16 Wo to the Kingdom whose King is a Child and whose Princes eat in the morning I do not term a King a Child for Infant-age but for Folly Iniquity and Madness according to the Royal Prophet Ps 55.23 Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their dayes By Eating we understand Gluttony by Gluttony Luxury by Luxury all filthy perverse and wicked things according to King Solomon Into a malicious Soul Wisdom shall not enter nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin Rex dicitur à Regendo non à Regno A King hath his name from his Ruling not from his Kingdom As long as you govern well you shall be a King which if you do not the Name of King will not be evidenced in you and you will lose that Name which God forbid Almighty God grant you so to govern the Kingdom of Britain that you may reign for ever with him whose Vicegerent you are in the said Realm This Letter was written in the year one Hundred seventy nine when the Emperour Commodus was Consul with Vespronius and is to be seen in Lambard's Archaeonomia Printed at London in the years 1560 and 1644 among Edward the Confessor's Laws and in a Copy of our old Laws written in Edward the fourths time now kept in Sr. John Cotton's famous Library and likewise in an Ancient Manuscript Chronicle called Brutus and Breton William Harrison hath inserted it into his description of Britain Lib. 1. c. 9. having translated it into English out of sundry ancient Copies Theon Bishop of London is said to have built St. Peter's Church in Cornhil London with the help of Ciranus the King 's Cup-bearer which Lucius liberally endowed and made it to be the Episcopal Sea for the Diocess of London But Fagan and Dwywan not confining their endeavours only to Lucius his Kingdom converted the greatest part of Britain with the assistance of Elvan and Medwin of whom the former had been made a Bishop at Rome the other a Doctor as Johannes Tinmuthensis and Capgrave in the life of Dubricius and an old Tract concerning the first state of the Church of Landaffe assirm meaning Presbyter or Priest as I suppose by Doctor for the title of Doctor doth not appear to have been so ancient in the Church in the sence wherein it hath been since used Divers other Bishopricks are reported to have been erected about this time as York Carleon upon Vske Winchester Gloucester Congresbury Landaffe and other places Philippus Berterius and Archbishop Vsher of Armagh take York to have been the Metropolis of Britain at that time as being a Roman Colony and honoured with the Emperour's Palace and the Praetorium of Britain in regard whereof Spartianus terms it by way of Excellency In vita Severi The City And in the Council of Arles Eborius of York subscribed before Restitutus of London He that in the year one Thousand four hundred and sixty wrote the History of the Archbishops of York makes Fagan the first Archbishop of that Sea but Harrison in his description of Britain saith Lib. 1. cap. 7. that one Theodosius was Bishop there in the time of Lucius who might be so indeed in the latter end of Lucius his Reign after Fagan's death The Church of Winchester being finished in the fifth year of Lucius his Conversion viz. in the year one Hundred and eighty was then Dedicated by Fagan and Dwywan at which time also one Devotus was made Abbot of the Monastery which the King had founded for certain Monks professing the Egyptian Rule of St. Mark And about the same time was also founded the renowned Abbey of Bangor And now the Northern men are up in arms again and passing Lollius his Fence were come as far as Adrian's Wall which they broke down putting most of the Soldiers that defended it with their commander to the sword and entring the Province wasted and spoiled it at their pleasure against whom Vlpius Marcelius was sent who valiantly beat them back to their own homes and governed the country with such same and reputation that the Emperour Commodus whose Vices were as notorious as his Lieutenant's Virtues fearing the growth of his Credit with the Romans in an envious mood sent him Letters of Discharge After his departure the Army which he had kept in excellent Discipline fell to mutinying and civil Dissensions the Officers abusing and defrauding the common Soldiers whereupon fifteen Hundred of them went to Rome and complained against the Emperour's grand Favourite Perennis as the cause of those and many other distempers in the State for which he was put to death Yet did not this compliance so appease the British Army but that they would have set up another Emperour and Helvins Pertinax who here succeeded in the Lieutenancy endeavouring to suppress their insolency by severe means provoked them to an Insurrection in which divers were slain and himself left for dead whereupon he was glad for his own safety to get himself revoked In his place came Clodius Albinus who so worthily demeaned himself that Commodus either for fear or favour honoured him with the Title of Caesar which yet he accepted not but upon a false report of the Emperour's death having in a set speech discovered himself to be better affected to the old Government of the Senate and Consuls than to Monarchical Empire he was commanded to resign to Junius Severus But Pertinax suceeding Commodus was not long after murdered by the Praetorian Guards who sold the Empire to Didius Julianus who enjoyed his Purchase but a very little time being soon after slain by Septimius Severus This Emperour to keep Albinus who during the late Broils had made bold to keep his place from attempting any thing against him during his Wars with Pescennius Niger created him his Caesar which he now accepted as having a greater esteem for him than for Commodus But Niger being defeated and slain Severus falls to practising the death of his new Caesar and therein failing proclaims him Traitour and publick Enemy and comes in person
War in which part of the Picts with their King sided with Maximus and part of them under the conduct of one Melga aided Conan and the Scots But Maximus being for his former victory proclaimed Emperour by his Army in the year three hundred eighty two gave his Enemies the same year a notable Overthrow upon which Conan and his Britans submitted Tiro Prosper in his Chronicle makes mention of this last victory briesly thus Maximus in Britanniâ à militibus Imperator emstitutus incursantes Picios Scotos strenuè superavit Maximus being made Emperour in Britain by the Soldiers valiantly overcame the invading Picts and Scots And in respect of his former Battel Gregorius Turenensis saith of him Lib. 1. cap. 38. al. 43. Câ—â—m per Tyrannidem oppressis Britannis sumpsisset victoriam à militibus Imperatorem creatum fuisse When having oppressed the Britans by Tyranny had gotten the victory he was made Emperour by the Soldiers In the year three hundred eighty three he crossed the Sea taking with him the flower of the British Youth to increase his Army and entred the mouth of the River Rhine and conquered Brittia a Batavian Island where he placed a Colony from Britain over whom he appointed Conan Meriadoc to rule as Prince Gratian had some years before set forth a Law That every one should be permitted freely to follow what Religion he pleased and all Sects indisserently to assemble in Churches except Manchces Photinians and Eunomians which made way for the Arian Heresie into Britain And as hereby he gave distast to the Orthodox Christians so by his extraordinary favour to the Alans and other Barbarous Mercenaries he incurred the hatred of the Roman Soldiery who deserting him betook themselves to the Service of Maximus Gratian at first contemned this Adversary but finding his Error too late after some unsuccesful skirmishes sled to Lions whither Maximus follows and by the Stratagem of his General Andragathius circumvented and slew him Hereupon he creates his Son Victor Caesar puts to death Ballio and Merobaudes two great Commanders under the late Emperour settles his Imperial Seat at Triers sends an Army into Spain which soon brought that Countrey under his obedience and makes a feigned Peace with Theodosius and the younger Valentinian of whom the former acknowledging him for his Associate in the Empire ordered Cynegius Prefect of the Praetorium then going into Egypt to exhibit his Image publickly to the Alexandrians the other to remove all cause of suspicions and jealousies dismissed the Hunns and Alans whom he had hired to his Assistance In the mean time Conan concluded a Marriage with Vrsula Daughter to Deonotus Prince of Cornwall who had there succeeded his Brother Caradoc but this unfortunate Lady with many others who were sent over to be matched with Conan's Britans being driven up the Rhine by Tempest were seized and inhumanely slaughtered by the Soldiers of Gramus the Scot and Melga the Pict and the Hunnes whom Valentinian dismissed but were buried at Celein and in tract of time came to be reputed Martyrs and Saints Their deaths are supposed to have happened about the year three hundred eighty three I know Trithemius and Geoffrey of Monmouth say that Maximus presently after his landing settled Conan in Armorica but considering that the German Shore had been strangely out of Vrsula's way from Cornwall if her Voyage had been designed for that Countrey It seems to me more probable that Conan governed first in Brittia Bataviâ—a especially seeing all Writers affirm that Maximus arrived at the mouth of the Rhine and that Procopius speaks of a Kingdom of Britans in that Island 〈…〉 I shall here set down his own words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Isle of Brittia lyeth in this Ocean not above two hundred Stadia from the Shore over agunst the Mouths of the Rhine and in the midst between Britain and Thule For Britain lyeth to the West over against the furthest part of Spain distant from the Continent no less than four thousand Stadia but Brittia lyeth behind those Coasts of Gaul which are upon the Ocean North from Spain and Britain And Thule as far forth as is yet known is situate in the remote parts of the Ocean Northwards But I have already spoken of Britain and Thule before This Island Brittia three most populous Nations de inhabit which have every one their several King to rule them and these Nations be called Angili Frisones and after the name of the very Island Brittones Note they seem to be so vast a multitude of people that every year a great number of them with their wives and children flit from thence to the Franks and they give them entertainment and plant them in that part of their Countrey which seemeth most desert above the rest And hereupon men say they challenge to themselves the very Island And truly not long since when the King of the Franks sent certain of his people in Embassage to Constantinople to the Emperour Justinian he sent withall some of the Angili pretending ambitiously that this Island was under his Dominion Had Mr. Camden seen this passage of Procopius entire Camd. in Anglo-Sax he had not then mistaken this Brittia for our Britain but he had only the latter part of it transmitted to him by Franciseus Pithaeus and was likewise in all probability misled by John Tzetzes and his Brother Isaac of whom the former in his Notes upon Hesiod the other in his upon Lycophron calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Britain for Brittia and both of them relate Poetical Fictions of dead mens Souls carried thither This Island lay near Caligula's Watch-Tower called Brittenburg and Huis de Britten but hath been long ago with many others thereabouts swallowed up by the Sea unless we should rather think it to be Valachria which Levinus Lemnius conjectureth to have taken its name from our Welchmen About this time Priscillian a Spaniard of Noble Birth revived the Heresie of the Gnosticks wherein he was countenanced by some Bishops especially by Instantius and Salvianus who laboured to make himself Bishop of Abila upon which a Council was assembled at Burdeaux from which the Heresiarch appealed to Maximus by whom he was put to death being also convicted of Sorcery and Obscenity though Martin Bishop of Tours had interceded for the sparing of his life desiring that he might be left to the Desinitive Sentence of the Bishops it being an unexampled hainous Encroachment for a Secular Judge to determine Causes of the Church Divers others suffered with him and Instantius whom the Council had declared unworthy of his Bishoprick was banished with Tiberianus to the Isle of Silly In the year three hundred eighty seven Maximus quarrels with Valentinian for molesting the Orthodox Bishops and committing Gaul to the care of his Son Flavius Victor whom he had lately declared Augustus enters Italy with such terror that the young Emperour and his Mother Justina were constrained to flee to Theodosius for
against him with the strength of the Empire Albinus hereupon bestirs himself and encreasing his Army with the Flower of the British Youth crosses over into Gaul where near Lyons a Battel was fought between them in which at first Albinus had the better but was at last overthrown and killed his Head being sent to Rome by the Conquerour as a token of the Victory After which Severus divided the Roman Province here into two Prefectures of which the Southern part was termed the Higher and the Northern was termed the Lower About the beginning of Albinus his Government here Fagan and Dwywan went to Glastonbury where they found nothing but ruine and desolation for the Hermits who took care of the Church were all dead long ago This Church they repaired and placed there twelve of their Associates procuring King Lucius to confirm to them and their Successors by Charter the Donation of such Lands as had been given by his three Predecessors to Joseph and his Companions Nine years they are said to have spent in this place and then having visited their Converts and confirmed them in the Faith to have deceased in Britain where divers Churches were afterwards erected and consecrated to their memory After Theon's death Elvan was Bishop of London and is said to have built a Library adjoyning to his Cathedral and to have converted many of the Druids to Christianity King Lucius having built St. Peter's Church at Westminster St. Maries at Dover and a Church at Canterbury which was afterwards called St. Martins dyed and was buried in the Cathedral of Gloucester as Geffrey saith in the year two Hundred and eight as Hollinshed out of ancient Writers tells us having reigned three and forty years according to the Author of the Genealogicon de Gestis Anglorum I know there is great difference in Writers about the time of his Reign and Conversion which I conceive was partly occasioned through the variety of Computations of the years both of Christ's Nativity and Passion As for his Reign some allot him but twelve years as Caxton Bale Grafton Stow and Basing stochius too short a space by far for the many memorable works done in his time others allow him seventy seven years as Matthew Westminster the Chronicle of Salisbury and the Pensile-Table of St. Peter's Church in London but these then take from the years of his Predecessors and make his Great Grandfather Arviragus and his Grandfather Marius to be dead before Domitian's time They generally give him the Character of a Religious and Munificent Prince and say that he did very liberally give Possessions and Territories to Churches and Church-men which he confirmed to them by Charters and that he priviledged Churches and Churchyards to be Sanctuaries and places of Refuge for such Offenders as fled to them He was the first Europaean King that we read of who received the Christian Faith and Britain the first Land in which it was by Publick Authority professed A high and singular Honour for our Country and which next to Divine Providence is in a great measure to be ascribed to the clemency of the Emperour Aurelius to the Christians upon his miraculous victory over the Germans Some with a manifest Antichronisme confound this King with Lucius the Apostle of the Rhetians and Bavarians but Achilles Cassarus in his description of Augspurg as we have him in Munster's Cosmography and Archbishop Vsher of Armagh Cap. 6. in his Treatise De Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Primordiis do judiciously distinguish the one from the other Again others in opposition to a whole cloud of Eminent Witnesses make him a meer Larva denying that ever there was any such King because Britain was then subject to the Romans But these do not consider that it was customary with the Romans to permit Kings to reign in several Countreys which they had subdued as in Judaea Herod in Cilicia Tarcondemus in Cappadocia Archelaus in Pontus Polemon in Mauritania Juba and here in Britain Cogidunus and that even at this time the Emperour Lucius Verus having finished the Parthian War did as Julius Capitolinus saith distribute Kingdoms to Kings and Provincial Governments to his Counts I do not fondly suppose that he was King of all Britain as Geffrey would perswade us nor yet of the greater part of it but I rather think that after Arviragus was driven out of Siluria by Frontinus and out of Ordovicia by Agricola the Province of the Belgae with part of the Province of the Dobuni might upon his submission be granted to him as places not so difficult to be reconquered if he or his Successors should revolt being an open Champaine Countrey of easie access and surrounded in a manner with Roman Garrisons That Arviragus Marius Coelus and Lucius bore some sway in this part of the Island I am the rather inclined to believe because I read of their Sepulture at Gloucester and their Bounty to Glastonbury besides the last King's Liberality to Winchester and Congresbury all which places stand within this Territory Neither did Lucius restrain his Beneficence within the limits of his own Kingdom but piously extended it to several other parts of Britain where Christianity had taken any footing This we find written of him by Bale Lucium pium Coeli filium unicum Romanorum fautorem Caesaris Marci Antonini Veri tum benevolentiâ tum autoritate Britannis post patrem imperâsse That Lucius the Godly the onely Son of Coelus a friend to the Romans by the favour and authority of the Emperour Marcus Antoninus Verus reigned over the Britains And Archbishop Vsher in his Primordia saith Cap. 3. that there were found here in England two ancient pieces of Coin one of Silver which was in the keeping of M. Josephus Hollandus the other of Gold which himself saw among the Cimelia in Sr. Robert Cotton's Library stamped with the effigies of a Christian King as appeared by the Cross upon which these three Letters LVC were inscribed In the mean time Virius Lupus was so overmatched by the Maeatae and Caledonians that he was constrained to buy his Peace and the liberty of some Prisoners with great Sums of Money but understanding that Severus had now ended his other Wars he sends him an account of the British Affairs who thereupon taking with him his two Sons Bassianus and Geta sets forward with a mighty Army to revenge his Lieutenant's disgrace he arrives in Britain in the same year that Lucius dyed and finding divers Competitors striving to succeed him puts an end to the Conquest by laying the Kingdom to the Higher Province The Northern people terrified with his coming crave peace but in vain whereupon the Prince of the Caledonians whom Fordon Boetius and Lesley call Fulgentius though Geffrey names him Fulgenius and saith that he was Brother to Martia the first wife of Severus sails over to Scandia to procure a fresh Supply of Picts with which and his own Subjects and Confederates by the advantage of Loughs Bogs Mears