and erecting new ones in several Places in his Dominions He is said to have built Grantham in Lincolnshire and some say Cambridge antiently called Caer-Grant and Grant Chester He Reigned Ten Years and was succeeded by his Brother Archigallo the Second Son of Morindus he endeavoured to depress the Nobility by depriving them of all Power and Command and preferring Mean and unworthy Men and by taking away Men's Estates to enrich his own Treasure all which Oppressions the Nobility of the Kingdom not being any longer to bear they rose up in Arms and deposing him placed Elidure his Brother in the Throne he was called by his Subjects Elidure the Pious for as he went on Hunting one Day in the Wood Calater in the midst of the Forest he met with his Brother Archigallo and being struck with Pity of his Misfortunes he secretly conveyed him Home to his own House at the City of Alchluid where feigning himself sick he assembled all the Nobles of his Realm and there partly by Perswasions partly by Commands he engaged them again to receive his Brother Archigallo for their Sovereign and afterwards calling a general Assembly of his People at York he there publickly resigned his Crown and taking it off his own Head placed it on his Brother's after he had Reigned Three Years Archigallo being thus Restored by his wise and sober Deportment regained the Affections of his People for he discarded his former Favourites and adhered to the prudent Advice of his Nobility and Reigning to the general Liking of his Subjects for the space of Ten Years died and was buried at Caer-brank or York Elidure after the Death of his Brother became once more King of Britain and so with much Honour and Reputation received the second time the Crown but was soon deposed by the Ambition of his Brethren Vigenius and Peridurus after One Year's Government when being seized by them and his Person confined to the Tower of London they divided the Kingdom between them Peridurus took Albania and Vigenius all the Country on this side Humber for his share Vigenius dying after he had Reigned Seven Years the whole Kingdom devolved to Peridurus who managed it with great Moderation and Justice and having governed Nine Years died then Elidure again resumed the Crown being delivered out of Prison by his Subjects and after he had Reigned Four Years to the general Satisfaction of all Men then dying was succeeded by his Nephew or Grandson the Son of Gorbonian who is called Regin by Mat of Westminster though not named particularly by Geoffrey He was a worthy Prince and Reigned with the general Approbation of all his People to whom succeeded Morgan or Margan the Son of Arâ—igallo he Reigned Fourteen Years in Tranquillity After him Ennian or Emerian another Son of Archigallo's was advanced to the Throne who quite different from his Brother govern'd Tyrannically and was in the Sixth Year of his Reign Depos'd and then succeeded Ydwallo the Son of Vigenius who warned by the Misfortune of his Predecessor avoided Tyranny after whom Reigned Rinco the Son of Peridurus an heroic Prince and a great Warriour Then next follows in Geoffrey of Monmouth a long descent of Kings who either did nothing or had no Body to Record it these make up Seventeen Kings in all viz. Gerantius the Son of Elidurus to whom succeeded Catellus his Son then Coillus and after him Porrex the Second then Cherin or Cherim then succeeded Fulgentius the Eldest Son of Cherin next him Androgeus the Third Son of Cherim enjoyed the Crown then after him Urianus the Son of Androgeus began to Reign who giving himself up to all Riot and Intemperance soon died and to him succeeded Eliod then Elidavius then Cledanus or Cletanus called also by others Detonus but here arises so great a Difference amongst the Writers of this long Bed-Roll of British Kings that there is nothing of Certainty concerning their very Names much less of their Actions for their Names are variously recited by Geoffrey and those Authors that lived after him and pretend to correct or enlarge him but you must take them as we find them Then succeeded Gurgurntius then Merianus and after him Bledunus then Capenus next to him Sisilius the Third then Blegabred who is said to have been excellently well Skill'd in Vocal as well as Instrumental Musick he Reigned Ten Years After him succeeded Arthimallo his Brother and after him Eldâ—l Then follow Nine Kings more without any thing Recorded of them but their bare Names viz. Rodianus or Redian then Redarchius or Redargius then Samuil then Penisill then Carpoir or Corporius and after him Geiduâ—llus or Dinellus the Son of Carpoir a Prince Modest and Prudent in all his Actions who left his Son Heli his Successor who Reign'd Forty Years and was succeeded by Lud his Eldest Son who is reported to have been a Vertuous Princâ— making divers excellent Laws and Correcting many Abuses in the Government he Adorn'd the City of London with new Walls and Towers and therein built a Gate which is still called after his Name Lud-Gate and is said to have built himself a Palace not far from it And after he had Reigned Eleven Years died leaving behind him two Sons Anarogeus and Theomantius under the Tuition of his Brother Cassibelan whose Bounty and Worthy demeanour so wrought upon the People that he easily got the Kingdom transferr'd upon himself yet nevertheless shewing some Favour to his Nephews he conferred freely upon Androgeus London with Kent and upon Theomantius Cornwall reserving to himself a Superiority over them both till the Romans for a while eclipsed his Power I shall not here trouble my self to set down much less to confute the Errors that may be found in the Chronology of these Kings Reigns since Geoffrey of Monmouth from whom they are taken hath bin so cautious as not to give us any account in what Year of the World they Reign'd sometimes telling us tho' with no certainty at all the Names of the Judges and Kings of Israel whom he makes Contemporary with them But as for his last Nine and Twenty Kings from Elidure to Lud he has given us nothing but their bare Names without so much as setting down how many Years they reign'd as if he himself or those Authors he had Translated had bin ashamed or weary of their own tedious Stories and so would make it as short as they could But as for Mat. of Westminster Ponticus Virunnius Polydore Virgil and one Richard White who calls himself Basinstoke I do not think it worth while to put down their pretended Corrections Emendations and Additions of Geoffrey's History since if he had no Authority to invent I am sure they can less pretend to Correct his Inventions or alter his Course of Succession of the British Kings as Polydore has done under pretence of making them more suitable to his own Accounts of time But White has exceeded all others in this making bold with Geoffrey not onâ—y altering the
him in the Kingdom of Mercia and held it Forty One Years Of this King Osred above mentioned Will. of Malmesbury gives a very bad Character that he stained his Reign by Debauching the Chastity of the Profess'd Nuns and that he was at last Slain by the Treachery of his Relations who also brought the same fate upon themselves But this King Ethelbald above mentioned was the Son of Alwer and he of Eoppa whose pedegree is already set down Also this Year Egbert that venerable person converted the Monks of Hii to the right Faith so that they afterwards observed Easter Orthodoxly as also the Ecclesiastical Tonsure the relation of which Bede hath given us at large being in short that Egbert the Priest above mentioned coming out of Ireland on purpose to convert those Monks they were so moved by his Pious Exhortations that leaving the Traditions of their Fore-fathers they afterwards observed the Catholic i. e. Roman Rites Egbert after he had lived with these Monks in this Island for Thirteen Years dyed there This Year Ingild the Brother of King Ina deceased whose Sisters were Werburgh and Cuthburgh the latter of whom Built the Monastery of Winburne She was once Married to Eadbert King of Northumberland but whil'st he lived they were made to renounce each other 's Bed In this Year also as Ingulphus in his History of the Monastery of Croyland relates that Abby was founded by Ethelbald King of the Mercians in honour of St. Guthlac the Anchorite then lately deceased it was for Benedictines You may see this King's Charter in the aforesaid Authour whereby he granted to this Monastery the whole Isle of Croyland then containing Four Leagues in length and Three in breadth with all the Marshes adjoyning there particularly mentioned About this time according to the Welsh Chronicle Roderic or Rodri the Son of Edwal Ywrich began to Reign over the Britains in Wales This Year Daniel Bishop of Winchester went to Rome and the same Year Ina slew Cinewoulf Athcling that is Prince of the Blood Royal and the same Year St. John Bishop of Hagulstad deceased who was Bishop Thirty Three Years and Eight Months whose Body was buried at Beverlie This was he who being first Bishop of Hagulstad and then of York was after his Death Canonised by the Name of St. John of Beverlie to whose shrine many Pilgrimages were made and of whom the Monkish Legends relate many incredible Miracles nor is Bede himself wanting in his Stories of this Bishop which notwithstanding I think are better omitted But Bede under this Year gives us this account of him that when he was not able by reason of his Age to perform his Episcopal Functions having ordained Wilfred his Presbyter Bishop of York in his room he retired to his Monastery in the Forrest of Deira where he finished his Life in a Heavenly Conversation This Year Queen Ethelburg destroyed the Castle of Taunton now Taunton-Dean in Somersetshire which Ina had before built and Eadbert was forced to flye into Surry to the South-Saxons where Ina also fought with them H. Huntington tells us That the reason why Queen Ethelburgh destroyed this Castle was because Eadbert a Rebellious Prince of the Blood Royal had taken it and made it the seat of this Rebellious War It being now according to Bede the Seventh Year of the Reign of Osric King of Northumberland King Wythred dyed who was Son of Egbert King of Kent after having reigned Thirty Four Years and an half He left Three Sons Ethelbert Eadbert and Aldric his Heirs Will. Malmesbury gives him this Character that he was gentle at home invincible in War and who strictly observed the Christian Religion but according to our Annals Eadbert his Son succeeded alone to him in the Kingdom This Year also according to our Annals Ina fought again with the South-Saxons and there slew Eadbert Aetheling whom he had before banished H. Huntington farther informs us That King Ina pursued Eadbert into Southsex and a nameless Authour adds That he then slew Aldwin King of the South-Saxons who took his part and Conquered that Countrey Also the same Year King Ina new built the Ancient Monastery of Glastenbury endowing it with divers Lands and also granted it an Exemption from all Episcopal Jurisdiction with divers other priviledges as you may find in his Charter confirmed by a great Council of the whole West-Saxon Kingdom the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Baldred King of Kent with divers other Bishops and Great Men being present and subscribing to it in the presence of all the Lay-people This Charter is in the Manuscript in the Library of Trinity Coll. in Cambridge and is also Printed by Sir H. Spelman in his First Volume of British Councils It was also sent to Rome and there confirmed by the Pope as the Book of Glastenbury relates About this time as Ranulph of Chichester in Polychronichon relates that Ina King of the West-Saxons first confered upon St. Peter that is the Bishop of Rome a Penny from every House in his Kingdom which was called by the English-Saxons-Romescot and in Latin Donarius Sancti Petri i. e. Peterpence which is also allowed by Polydore Virgil in his History who was once the Pope's Collector of this Tax in England but since I do not find this confirmed by any Ancient Authour or Council I suspend â—y my belief of it since I do not look upon the bare Testimony of the Collector of Polychronicon as of sufficient Authority for a mâ—tter of this Moment but if it were ever granted by this King it is likewise as certain that it could not be done without the consent of the Mycel-Synod or great Council of the Kingdom though that be not now to be found This Year according to Bede and the Saxon Annals deceased Tobias Bishop of Rochester a most learned Man for he was bred under the discipline of Arch-Bishop Theodorus and Abbot Adrian and was so well skill'd in the Greek and Latin that they were as perfect and familiar to him as his Mother Tongue he was buried at Rochester in St. Paul's Porch adjoining to the Church of St. Andrew after whom Aldwulf was made Bishop of that See Arch-Bishop Bertwald consecrating him King Ina went to Rome and there dyed and Ethelheard his Kinsman succeeded him in the Kingdom of the West-Saxons and held it Fourteen Years William of Malmesbury and H. Huntington do both give King Ina great Commendations proposing him as an Example not only of Magnanimity and Justice by the good Laws he made but also of Piety and Devotion in that he was perswaded to quit all Worldly Vanities for a Monastick Life and that by the frequent Exhortations of the Queen his Wife who when she saw nothing would prevail upon him took this course which thô none of the cleanliest I will here give you Once when the King had made a great Entertainment at one of his Country-houses as soon as the Company was gone the
King of the Mercians fought against Kenwulf King of the West-Saxons at the Siege of Bensington Castle But Kenwulf being worsted was forced to flee and so Offa took the Castle Now Janbryht the Archbishop deceased and Ethelheard the Abbot was elected Archbishop Also Osred King of the Northumbers was betray'd and driven out of his Kingdom and Ethelred the Son of Ethelwald Sirnamed Mull reigned after him or rather was again restored to the Kingdom having reigned there before as hath been already shewn But Simeon of Durham adds farther that this Osred the late King of this Kingdom having been also shaven a Monk against his Will escaped again out of the Monastery into the Isle of Man But the next Year As Simeon relates Oelf and Oelfwin Sons of Alfwold formerly King of Northumberland were drawn by fair Promises from the Principal Church of York and afterwards at the Command of King Ethelred cruelly put to Death at Wonwalderemâ—re a Village by the great Pool in Lancashire now called Winanderemere Also about this time according to the same Author one Eardulf an Earl being taken and brought to Ripun was there Sentenced by the said King to be put to Death without the Gate of the Monastery whose Body when the Monks had carried to the Church with solemn Dirges and placed under a Pavilion was about Midnight found alive But this Relation is very imperfect for it neither tells us how he escaped Death nor how he was conveyed away though we find him five Years after this made King of Northumberland This Year as Simeon of Durham and Mat. Westminster relate Charles King of France sent certain Synodal Decrees into England in which alas for with great Grief our Author speaks it were found many inconvenient things and altogether contrary to the true Faith For it had been decreed in a Council at Constantinople by more than Three Hundred Bishops that Images ought to be adored which the Church of God does say they wholly abominate Then Albinus that is our Alcuin wrote an Epistle wherein he proved it by the Authority of the Holy Scriptures to be utterly Unlawful and this he offered together with the Book it self to the King of France on the behalf of all our Bishops and Great Men and this Letter of Alcuinus is thought to have wrought such an effect on the Synod of Francfort assembled about two Years after that the Worship of Images was therein solemnly condemned From which it is evident that Image-Worship as now practised in the Greek and Roman Churches was not then received in England And this Year also according to the same Author Osred late King of Nortbumberland being deceived by the Oaths of some great Men returned privately from the Isle of Man when his Souldiers deserting him and being taken Prisoner by King Ethelred he was by his Command put to Death at a Place called Aynsburg but his Body was buried at the famous Monastery at the mouth of Tine and the same Year King Ethelred betrothed Elfrede the Daughter of King Offa. In whom also there was found as little Faith as Mercy for this Year according to our Annals Will. of Malmesbury and Mat. Westminster Ethelbert the Son of Ethelred King of the East-Angles notwithstanding the disswasions of his Mother going to the Court of King Offa in order to Wooe his Daughter was there slain by the wicked instigations of Queen Quendrith so that out of an Ambition to seize his Kingdom Offa was perswaded to make him away but by what means it is not agreed The Annals relate him to have been beheaded But the same Annals and Florence of Worcester agree That his Body was buried in the Monastery at Tinmouth But the Chronicle ascribed to Abbot Bromton as also Mat. Westminster have given us long and Legendary Accounts of the Death of this Prince and the latter of these as well as other Monks who were favourers of this King Offa would have this Murther to be committed without this King's knowledge and Mat. Westminster has a long Story about it but not all probable especially since the King was so well pleased with the Fact when it was done that he presently seized the Kingdom of this poor Murthered Prince and added it to his own Dominions This Year as Mat. Paris and his Namesake of Westminster relate King Offa was warned by an Angel to remove the Reliques of St. Alban into a more noble Shrine and so either for this cause or else which is more likely to expiate the several Murthers he had committed began to build a new Church and Monastery in honour of St. Alban and thither removing his Bones into a Silver shrine all gilt and adorned with precious Stones he placed them in the new Church that he had built without the Town where as the Monks pretended they wrought great Miracles This King having made a journey on purpose to Rome obtained of Pope Adrian to have him Canonized King Offa also conferred upon this Monastery very great Privileges and vast Possessions all which he confirmed by his Charter which you may find in the first Volume of Monast. Anglic. as that also Anno. Dom. 1154. One Nicholas having been first a Servant in this Abbey and afterwards was Bishop of Alba Elected Pope by the name of Adrian IV he by his Bull ordained that as St. Alban was the first Martyr of England so this Abbot should be the first in Dignity of all the Abbots in England and Pope Honorius did by a Bull in the Year 1118 not only ratifie all the Privileges made and confirmed by former Popes but also granted to the Abbot and his Successours Episcopal Rights together with the Habit and that he and his Monks should be exempt from all Jurisdiction to the Bishop of Lincoln with other Exemptions too long here to be set down Also this Year there appeared strange Prodigies in the Country of Northumberland which mightily terrified the People of that Province viz. immoderate Lightnings there were also seen Meteors like fiery Dragons flying in the Air after which signs followed a cruel Famine and a little after the same Year 6 o Idus Jan. certain Heathens i.e. Danes miserably destroyed the Church of God in Lindisfarne committing great Spoils and Murthers Simeon of Durham says These Danes not only pillaged that Monastery but killing divers of the Friers carried away the rest Captive sparing neither Priests nor Laymen This Year also Sicga died he who killed the good King Alfwold who now as Roger Hoveden relates slew himself And the same Year according to Florence of Worcester Ethelard was ordained Arch-Bishop of York and as Simeon of Durham relates the same Year died Alric Third Son to Withred King of Kent after a long Reign of Thirty Four Years in whom ended the Race of Hengist Thenceforth as Will. of Malmesbury observes whomsoever Wealth or Faction advanced took on him the Title of King of that Province This Year both Pope Adrian
them reaching the Shore were presently slain at the Mouth of the same River But Simeon of Durham imputes this to a Judgment inflicted on them by St. Cuthbert for thus spoiling his Monastery The Moon was Eclipsed 5 o Kal. Aprilis from the Cock crowing till the Morning Eardwulf also began to reign over Northumberland 1 o Idus Maii and was afterwards Consecrated and placed on the Throne 7 o Kal. Junii at York by Eanbald the Arch-Bishop and by the Bishops Ethelbert Higbald and Badewulf This Eardwulf as Florence of Worcester informs us was he who 5 Years before had so strangely escaped Death at Ripun after he had been carried out to be buried but the Chronicle of Mailross does here give great Light of the Saxon Annals for it tells us that now the Northumbers murthered their King Ethelred the Son of Moll Simeon places it a Year after but says The Murther was committed on the 14th of the Kalends of May at a Place called Cobene but they both agree that immediately after his Death one Osbald a Nobleman of that Country was made King but reigned only 27 Days and that then being forsaken by the Chief Men of his Kingdom he was driven into the Isle of Lindisfarne with a few Followers from whence he fled by Sea to the King of the Picts where he became a Monk And this Eardwulf reigned of his stead William of Malmesbury further adds that Alcuin writing to King Offa tells him That King Charles so soon as he heard of this Murther of King Ethelred above-mentioned and of the Perfidiousness of the Northumbrian Nation not only stopt the Gifts he was then sending but falling into a Passion against them called them a perverse and perfidious Nation and worse than Pagans so that if Alcuin had not interceded for them he would have done them all the Mischief he could About this time also the Welsh Chronicles relate there was a great Battle fought at Ruthlan between the Saxons and the Britains where Caradoc ap Gwin King of North Wales was slain But as Dr. Powel observed in his Notes upon Caradoc's Chronicle in those Times there was no settled Government in Wales therefore such as were Chief Lords of any Country there are in this History called Kings This Year died Eanbald Arch-bishop of York the 4th of the Ides of August whose Body was there buried also the same Year Bishop Ceolwulf died and another Eanbald was Consecrated in his stead This Year likewise Cenwulf King of the Mercians destroyed Kent to the Borders of Mercia and took Eadbert or Ethelbert Sirnamed Praen and carryed him Prisoner into Mercia and there caused his Eyes to be put out and his Hands to be cut off Also Ethelheard Arch-bishop of Canterbury called a Synod which by the Command of Pope Leo established and confirmed all those things relating to God's Church which had been before constituted in the Reign of King Withgar and then the Arch-bishop said thus I Ethelheard Arch-bishop of Canterbury with the Unanimous Consent of the whole Synod and of the whole Body of all the Monasteries to whom Exemption hath been granted of Old Times by Believers in the Name of GOD and by his fearful Judgments and as I have received Command from Pope Leo do Decree That for the future none shall presume to Elect themselves Covâ—rnours amongst Lay-men over GOD's Heritage but as it is contained in the Charter or Bulls which the Pope hath granted or Holy Men to wit our Kings and Ancestors have ordained concerning the Holy Monasteries so let them remain inviolate without any gain-saying and if there be any one who shall refuse to obey this Command from GOD the Pope and Us but shall despise it and count it as nothing let him know that he shall give an Account of it before the Tribunal of GOD. And I Aethelheard the Archbishop with Twelve Bishops and Three and Twenty Abbots do hereby establish and confirm this Decree with the Sign of the Cross. This Council thô the Annals do not expresly mention it under that Title is that great Council of Becanceld placed in Sir H. Spelman's Collection under Anno 798 being held under Cenwulf King of the Mercians Aethelheard Arch-bishop of Canterbury with 17 Bishops more who all subscribed to this Decree thô the Annals mention no more than 12 Bishops to have been there This Year the Romans took Pope Leo and cut out his Tongue and put cut his Eyes and deposed him but presently after if it may be believed he could both see and speak by the help of GOD as well as he could before and was also restored to the Papacy by the Emperour Charles Also Eanbald the Arch-bishop of York received the Pall and Ethelbert Bishop of Hagulstad deceased 3 o Kal. Nov. This Year was a bloody Battle in the Province of Northumberland in Lent-time at Wealaege now called Whalie in Lancashire where was slain Alric the Son of Heardbert and many others with him The occasion of which Civil War Simeon of Durham hath thus given us â—iz That besides Alric there were divers others in Northumberland who had formerly conspired against King Ethelred and now raising a Rebellion against Eardwulf under Wadâ— their Captain after much slaughter on both sides at Billangahoth near Whalie in Lancashire the Conspirators being at last put to flight King Eardwulf returned home Victorious The same Year London according to the same Author with a great multitude of its Inhabitants by a sudden Fire was Consumed And now according both to Simeon of Durham and Roger Hoveden was held the Second Council of Pinchinhale in the Kingdom of Northumberland under Eanbald Arch-bishop of York and divers other Principal and Ecclesiastical Men where many things were ordained for the Profit of GOD's Church and of the Northumbrian Nation as concerning the keeping Easter and other Matters not particularly mentioned The same Year also according to Monasticon Anglicanum Kenwulf King of the Mercians founded a stately Abbey at Winchelcomb in Glocestershire for 300 Benedictine Monks and when it was Dedicated in the Presence of Wilfrid Arch-bishop of Canterbury and 13 other Bishops he then set free before the High Altar Eadbert King of Kent who was then his Prisoner of War But having before most cruelly put out his Eyes and cut off his Hands and disposed of his Kingdom to another I doubt that Liberty proved but a small Satisfaction to his poor injured Prince But such was the Superstitious Zeal of that Age the Foundation of a Monastery was counted a sufficient Atonement to GOD for whatsoever Cruelties or Injustice Princes hath then committed This Year Ethâ—lheard the Arclt-bishop and Cynebriht Bishop of the West Saxons went to Rome the latter to take the Habit of a Monk and Bishop Alfwin deceased at Southburg now Sutbury in Suffolk and was buried at Domuc now Dunwich in the same County being then the Seat of that Bishoprick and Tidfrith was chosen in his Room
Also this Year the Body of St. Wihtburh was found at Durham entire and uncorrupt after she had been dead 55 Years And the same Year according to Roger Hoveden Osâ—ald who had been before King of Northumberland died an Abbot and was buried in York Minster and Alred the Ealderman who slew King Aethelred was also killed by one Thormond in Revenge of the Death of his Lord. Also the Moon was Eclipsed in the second Hour of the Night 17 o Kal. Feb. Also this Year Beorthric or Brihtrick King of the West Saxons deceased As also Worre an Ealderman Then also Ecgbriht began to Reign over the West Saxons and the same Day or Year as Florence of Worcester hath it Aethelmond Ealderman of Wiccon that is Worcestershire pass'd the River Severne at Cynesmeresford suppose to be Kemsford in Glocestershire and there met him Weoxton the Ealdormen with the Wiltshire Men who gained the Victory I cannot find in any Author the occasion of this Quarrel only that it was fought between these Earls one of the West Saxons and the other of the Mercians but such Bickerings we often meet with in these Writers and so related are of no more use to Human Life than to Chronicle the Skirmishes of Crows or Jack daws flocking together and Fighting in Air. The same Year is very remarkable because as our Annals relate Charles the Great was first made Emperour and saluted Augustus by the Romans he then condemned those to Death who had before outraged Pope Leo but by the Pope's Intercession they were pardoned as to Life and only banished but Pope Leo himself anointed him Emperour Also this Year according to the Welsh Chronicles Publisht by Arthen ap Sitsilt King of Cardigan and Run King of Divet and Cadel King of Powâ—s all three died Now also according to Florence and Simeon Alchmaid Son to Ethelred late King of Northumberland being taken by the Guards of K. Eardulf was by his Command slain but without telling us any Reason why Also about this time according to Sir H. Spelman's First Volume of Councils was held the Third Council of Cloveshoe under Kenwulf King of the Mercians and Athelherd or Ethelhard Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with all the Bishops Ealderman Abbots and other Dignified Persons of that Province in which few Things were transacted concerning the Faith only the Lands of a certain Monastery called Cotham which had been given by Ethelbald King of the Mercians to the Monastery of St. Saviours's in Canterbury and had been upon the Embezeling the Deeds unjustly taken away by King Kenwulph but he now repenting of it desired they should be restored whereupon Cynedrith his Daughter then Abbess of that Monastery gave the said Arch-Bishop other Lands in Kent there mentioned in exchange for the same But since I am come to the Conclusion of this Period I cannot omit giving you a fuller Account of the Character and Death of Brithric King of the West Saxons and of the Succession of Egbert who afterwards became the Chief or Supreme King of this Kingdom and to whom all those Kings that remained were forced to become Tributary As for King Britric he is noted by Will of Malmesbury to have been more desirous of Peace than War and to that end courted the Friendship of Foreign Princes to have been easie to his Subjects in such Things as did not weaken his Government yet being jealous of Prince Egbert who afterwards succeeded him he forced him to flee to King Offa for Refuge but upon the coming of certain Ambassadours to Treat of a Marriage between King Brithric and the Daughter of King Offa he retired into France till that King was made away by the means of his Wife Aeadburga the Daughter of King Offa who having prepared a Cup of poisoned Wine for one of his Favourites whom she hated the King coming in by chance tasted of it and so pined away After whose Death Asser in his Annals relates That when this Queen could live no longer among the English being so hated by them for her violent and wicked Actions she went into France where she was kindly Entertained by Charles the Great and there making that Emperour many great Presents for which he bidding her chuse whom she would have for a Husband himself or his Son she foolishly chose his Son whereupon the Emperour laughing said If thou hadst chosen me thou shouldest have had my Son but now thou shalt have neither A just Return for her desiring to marry one so much younger than her self So the Emperour put her into a Monastery where she lived for some Years as an Abbess but being Expelled thence for her Incontinency she wandred about with only one Servant and begged her Bread in Pavia in Italy till she died But as for Egbert above mentioned when he had been for about three Years banished into France where as William of Malmesbury tells us he polished the Roughness of his own Country Manners the French Nation being at that time the most Civilized of any of those Gothic and German Nations who had some Ages before as hath been already related settled themselves in this side of Europe But upon the Death of King Brihtric without any Issue as the same Author relates he was recalled by the Nobility of the West Saxon Kingdom and being there ordained King reigned with great Glory and Honour exceeding all the English Saxon Kings that went before him as shall be declared in the ensuing Book But before I conclude this I cannot forbear mentioning a Learned English-man who flourished about this time called Alcuinus or Albinus who going into France was in great Favour with Charles the Great whom he taught the Liberal Arts and by his means erected the University of Paris where he read Logic Rhetoric and Astronomy being the most Learned Man of all the English-men if not of all others in his Time He died Abbot of St. Martins at Tours which that King bestowed upon him He wrote elegantly in Verse as well as Prose considering the Age he lived in as appears by his Poem De Pontificibus Sanctis Ecclesiae Eboracencis lately Published by the Reverend and Learned Dr. Gale in his last Volume of English Historians So having arrived to the end of this Period I shall in the next Book shew how King Egbert obtained not only the Crown of the West Saxon Kingdom but also the Supreme Dominion of the English Nation The End of the Fourth Book A Continuation of the Succession of the English-Saxon Kings contaiâ—ed in the former Book from the Saxon Annals Florence of 〈◊〉 and Simeon of Durham Note That the last King of each Column in the former Table is again repeated in this that the 〈◊〉 the better see how the Series is continued This Account differs sometimes from the Annals some few Years wherein they are certainly mistakâ—n The Chronology of the Kings of Wales is according to the Account of Mr Robert Vaughan and 〈◊〉 Maâ—uscript Welsh Châ—onicle
England and sojourned with the most Holy and Religious Monks in the City of Winchester Helmestan Abbot of the said Cathedral Church and the Venerable Swithune Praepositus i. e. Bishop of the same who had been before in Professione sacrae Theologiae in Studio Canterbriggiensi Cathedratus i. e. Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge had often relieved him during the many Hardships he suffered in his Banishment with special Favour he desired always should be acknowledged If we were assured that this Epistle was Genuine it would advance the Antiquity of this University far higher than the time we are now treating of and would make it Ancienter than the time of King Alfred in the latter end of whose Reign St. Swithune sate Bishop of Winchester But since we have not the Originals but only Citations from these ancient Pieces I shall not take upon me to determine of their Validity but leave that as also this Authors Credit to the Reader 's Judgment But to return to our Annals This Year Egbriht the innocent Abbot was slain on the 16th Kal. of July a little before the Summer Solstice and about three Days after Aethelfleda sent an Army against the Welsh which took Brecenanmere supposed to be either Brecknock Castle or else some place near it and there she took the King's Wife and about thirty four Prisoners The Danes marching now on Horseback after Easter from Hamtune i. e. Northampton and Lygraceaster now Leicester slew many Men at Hocneratune now Hoocnorton in Oxfordshire and the places adjoyning and as soon as they had returned home again they sent out another Company of Robbers which marched towards Ligtune most likely to be Leighton in Bedfordshire but the People of that Country being forewarned of their coming fought with them and not only put them to flight but also recovered whatsoever they had taken away so that they left a great many of their Horses and Arms behind them Now a great Fleet sailed from the Southern Parts of Armorica under the Command of two Earls Ohtor and Rhoald and sailing about toward the East entred the Mouth of the River Severne and there spoiled all the Coasts of North Wales toward the Sea as far as they could and they also took Cumeleac the Welsh Bishop in Yrcingafield now Archenfield in Herefordshire and carried him Prisoner to their Ships but King Edward within some time Ransomed him for Forty Pounds but after this the Danes quitting their Ships marched again towards Yrcingafeild where the Men of Hereford and Gleawcester and the neighbouring Towns fought them and put them to flight and there slew Rhoald and a Brother of Earl Ohtor's with a great part of their Army and drove them into a certain Wood where they besieged them till they made them give Hostages to depart out of King Edward's Kingdom But at last it seemed advisable for the King to place a good Guard from the South part of the Mouth of Severne and from the West of Wales toward the East as far as the River Avon that so the Danes might not Land any more on that side nevertheless leaving their Ships they stole away privately by Night in two Companies to plunder the one to Weced now Watchet in Somersetshire and the other to Portlocan now Portlochbay in the same County but they were routed in both places insomuch that few of them escaped alive unless it were those who swam off to their Ships Then they besieged an Island at Bradanrelic Florence calls it Reoric which is supposed to be a little Island now called Shepholm in the Mouth of Severne where they were in such great want of Victuals that many died with Hunger because they could get no Provisions there After this they went to Deomed supposed to be South Wales from whence they passed into Ireland All this happened in Autumn And the same Year a little before Martinmass King Edward marched with his Army to Buckingaham and there stayed a Month building two Forts on each side the River Ouse before he parted thence Thurkytel the Danish Earl owned him for his Lord as also all their chief Commanders and almost all their Noblemen who were at Bedanford now Bedford with many of them that belonged to Hamptune This Year also Ethelfleda Lady of the Mercians before Whitsontide took the Town of Deorby where within the Gates were killed four Thanes who were very dear to her Also we read in the Collections of that Learned Antiquary Mr. Lambert and by him given to the Cottonian Library that it is found in an Ancient Chronicle once belonging to the Monastry of Rochester and collected by one Edmund de Hadenham That this Year the Lady Elfleda by the Assistance of the King her Brother besieged the City of Canterbury and taking it slew a great many Danes that were therein King Edward marching with his Army to Bedanford about Martinmass had the Town surrendred to him and then all the Inhabitants who were his Subjects returned thither and there he stayed a Month and before he departed he commanded a Castle to be built there on the South-side of the River After this King Edward went to Maeldune now Maldon and rebuilt the Town and saw it fortified whilst he was there Also Earl Thurkytel passed over into France by K. Edward's Leave and Convoy with all those Danes that would follow him as likewise Aethelfleda brought under her Dominion the Town of Legracester now Leicester and a great many of the Danes belonging to that place became subject to her as also those who were at York nay some of them confirmed it both with an Oath and by giving of Hostages that they would continue so but as soon as this was done she departed this Life twelve days before Midsummer at Tammeworth it being the Eighth Year of her Government over the Mercians after her Husband's Death with great Moderation and Justice Her Body lies buried at Gleawcester in the East Isle of St. Peter's Church This Lady's Death is placed in our printed Annals under the Year 918 and that more rightly for the Cottonian Copy of these Annals is certainly mistaken in putting the Death of this Princess two Years later than this viz. 920. though they all agree in Substance viz. that she died at Tamworth about a Fortnight before Midsummer and that thereupon King Edward going thither the whole Nation of the Mercians submitted to him But whenever this Princess died she was certainly a Woman of great Virtue Prudence and Courage and truly resembled her worthy Father King Alfred as far as the Difference of Sex would permit But to return again to our Annals The same Year the Daughter and Heir of Ethered Lord of the Mercians called Aelfwinna whom her Mother had left her Heir was deprived by the King of that Dominion and she was about three weeks before Christmas brought into West-Seax John Bevour who calls himself Castoreus in his Manuscript History of the Kings
Friends not only to marry her but also to fulfil the Covenants made between them and shall also engage to maintain her After that the Bridegroom is to declare what he will give his Bride besides that which she formerly made choice of with his good liking if she survive him In case they so agree it provides that after his Decease she shall have the one half of all his Estate and if they have a Child betwixt them the whole till such time as â—he marry again Then when they have agreed on all things the Kindred of the Bride shall contract her to him and engage for her Honesty and at the same time they shall give Caution for the Celebration of the Marriage The rest being not very material I omit and have only set down these to let the Reader see the Antiquity of Covenants before Marriage and of Bonds for the performance of them as also of Jointures the Thirds of the Estate not being then settled by Law as Dower by what I can find Having now finished the Reign of King Edmund I have no more to observe but that though he left two Sons by the Queen his Wife viz. Edwi and Edgar yet notwithstanding his Brother Edred succeeded to him as Next Heir for so Ethelwerd as well as Florence of Worcester stiles him King EDRED THIS year according to our Annals Eadred Aetheling after his Brother's Decease was made King and presently reduced all Northumberland under his Obedience Upon which the Scots also swore to perform whatever he would require of them But the Manuscript Life of St Dunstan written by a Monk of those times and which is now in the Cottonian Library is much more particular concerning this King's Succession saying That King Edmund being slain Eadred took the Kingdom succeeding to his Brother as his Heir Which is also confirmed by Florence of Worcester who says That Edred being Next Heir to his Brother succeeded him And Ethelwerd gives us the reason of it more fully That he succeeded him quippe ejus Haeres because he was Next Heir And Simeon of Durham further adds That this King was Crowned at Kingston by Odo Archbishop of Canterbury H. Huntington and Mat. Westminster give us the Particulars of this War against the Northumbers and Scots more at large viz. That he subdued the Northumbrians with a powerful Army they refusing to submit to his Dominion and that the Scots thereupon being afraid submitted themselves to him without any War at all and that the King of the Scots swore Fidelity to him It seems here by Ingulph that this Submission of the Northumbers was wrought by the means of Turketule Chancellor to King Edred and afterwards Abbot of Croyland who was now sent Ambassador to the Northumbers to reduce them to their Duty which he upon his Arrival at York performed with that Prudence and Diligence that he brought back the Archbishop and all the People of that City to their former Allegiance But R. Hoveden places the Oath taken by the Northumbrians under this year and that Wulstan Archbishop of York and all the Northumbrian Lords swore Fealty to King Edred in a Town called Tadencliff though they did not long observe it Under this year most of the Welsh Chronicles place the death of that Worthy Prince Howel Dha and say That he left his four Sons Owen Run Roderic and Edwin his Heirs of all his Territories in South-Wales But as for North Wales it returned to the two Sons of Edwal Voel called Jevaf and Jago because Meyric their Elder Brother was not thought fit to govern These as being of the Elder House would have had the Supreme Government of all Wales which being denied them by the Sons of Howel caused great and long Wars between them Yet nothwithstanding other of the Welsh Chronicles place the death of Howel Dha much later for they make him Contemporary with our King Edgar as shall be shewn when we come to the History of his Reign in the next Book Also the same year according to R. Hoveden King Edred being much provoked by the Treachery of the Northumbers laid all Northumberland waste in which devastation the Monastery of Ripun which had been built by Bishop Wilfrid was burnt But our Annals defer this Rebellion of the Northumbers to the year following When Anlaf again returned into the Countrey of the Northumbers This is also confirmed by Florence of Worcester and H. Huntington viz. That King Edred being returned into the Southern parts of the Kingdom Anlaf who had been formerly expell'd the Kingdom of Northumberland reâ—urned thither with a great Navy and being received with joy by the people was again restored to his Kingdom About this time Jago and Jevaf Princes of North-Wales entred South-Wales with a great and powerful Army against whom came over the Eldest Son of Howel with his Brethren and fought a Battel at the Hills of Carne where Jevaf and Jago obtained the Victory And the year following the same Princes twice invaded South-Wales and spoiled Dyvet and slew Dunwallon Lord thereof And to place these Welsh Wars together in the year 952. the said Sons of Howel Dha gathered their Forces together against Jevaf and Jago and entred their Countrey as far as the River Coâ—â—y where they fought a cruel bloody Battel at a place called Gwrhustu or Llanrwst Multitudes being slain on both sides as Edwin the Son of Howel Dha with other Welsh Princes and the Sons of Howel being vanquish'd Jevaf and Jago pursued them as far as Curdigan destroying their Countrey with Fire and Sword This year according to the Annals Aelfeag Bishop of Winchester deceased at the Feast of St. Gregory The Northumbers again expelled King Anlaf and set up Eric the Son of Harold for their King This is the same with Eric mentioned by Hoveden who yet did not immediately enter upon the Throne as that Author supposes till Anlaf had been expell'd but Florence of Worcester and the Chronicle of Mailrosse place the expulsion of Anlaf and the setting up of Eric two years sooner and perhaps with better reason For the same year according to Hoveden King Edred made Wulstan Archbishop of York close Prisoner at Witharbirig because he had been often accused to him upon divers accounts Yet Will. Malmesbury tells us expresly it was for favouring or conniving at his Countreymen in their late Rebellion But after he had kept him a long time in Prison he thought fit to pardon him out of reverence to his Function And the year following the Chronicle of Mailrosse relates that Archbishop Wulstan being set free was restored to his Episcopal Function at Doncacester But this is certain King Edred could not have done this till after Eric had been driven out as this Author more truly reckons tho our Annals do it the next year saying That The Northumbers drove out King Eric and King Eadred again possessed himself of that Kingdom With which also H.
But tho the King's violence to Abbot Dunstan and the Monks is by no means to be justified yet this rudeness to the King and pressing upon his privacy and carrying him by force out of the Room from his Mistress or Wife for some Historians tell us that he had been privately married to her can as little be excused So that no wonder if a young King and an enraged Woman did all they could to revenge so great an Affront Yet it seems by the same Author of St. Dunstan's Life that Archbishop Odo was severely revenged on this Lady for he not only sent Armed men to take her out of the Court by force but also branded her with a hot Iron on the Cheeks to take off the King's Affections from her and then caused her to be sent into Ireland but whether this was done by the Great Council of the Kingdom or by his own Authority I do not find But it seems upon her return thence again being on her way to the King the said Archbishop's Officers met her and cut her Hamstrings so that not being able to stir she is supposed to have died not long after of this cruel Treatment But however this did not happen immediately but some time after for this Year all the People North of Humber together with the Mercians as far as the River Thames rose against King Edwi with an intention to expel him the Kingdom for his violence done to the Monks so that as Osborne in the Life of Dunstan relates he was forced to fly with his Adulteress to the City of Glocester But Florence of Worcester and Simeon of Durham are more particular in this Relation saying that the Mercians and Northumbrians hating and despising King Edwi for his Evil Government deserted him and having deposed him they elected his Brother Prince Edgar King over them which it seems was also confirmed by the Common Council of the Kingdom for the above-cited Author of the Life of St. Dunstan saith it was done by the Common Consent of all the Wise men of the Kingdom So that Edwi having no more left him than the Kingdom of the West Saxons for his share the River Thames was made the Boundary between their two Kingdoms Henry de Knighton out of some Ancient Chronicles then preserved in the Abbey of Legcester here farther relates That after the Expulsion of King Edwi for his Evil Life and the Enormous Deeds which he committed against the Church the Throne was vacant for above a year and many Murthers and Robberies and other Mischiefs were committed in the Kingdom for want of Government till some Good men of the Clergy and Laity seeking God by frequent Prayers heard at last a Voice from Heaven commanding them to Crown Prince Edgar being yet a Youth their King which they immediately obeyed But this sounds like a Monkish Legend only to enhance the Excellency of King Edgar's Reign which with them must owe its Original to no less an Author than Heaven it self but no other Historians mention any such thing but agree that King Edwi was never deprived of more than the Kingdoms of Mercia and Northumberland and there was no Vacancy of the Throne that Division being made presently upon the aforesaid Defection of the People of these Kingdoms and immediately confirmed by an Act of the Witena Gemote as hath been already related But however it happened King Edwi was forced to rest contented with this unequal division since not having the good-will of his Subjects it was well he could keep what he had From whence we may observe how dangerous a thing it was for Princes to provoke the Ruling Part of the Priests and People of those times who could so easily turn the hearts of their Subjects against them Our Annals though they are very short in this Relation yet confirm the deposing of King Edwi viz. That this Year Edgar Atheling took upon him the Kingdom of the Mercians and also adds That not long before Wulstan Archbishop of York deceased Although the printed Copy of the Saxon Annals place the Death of King Edwi under the year 957 yet it appears by the Manuscript Laudean Copy of these Annals as also by Florence of Worcester that he died not till this very year for we cannot otherwise make up the space of near four years which all our Historians allow to this King's Reign Of whom they give us this Character That though he was extraordinary Handsome yet he abused that Comeliness of his Person by his excessive Lust and yet we do not hear of above one Mistress he kept and that too whom he was either married to or else lived withal like a Wife But it is no wonder if he have a very bad Character of them when the Monks his Enemies are the only persons that have given it to us But H. Huntington who was a Secular Priest and no Monk is more moderate by telling us that this King did not uncommendably hold the Scepter But when in the beginning of his Reign his Kingdom began to flourish an Untimely Death put a stop to those happy Expectations from him His Body was buried at Winchester with his Uncle's And with this King's Reign I shall also put a Period to this Book lest it should swell beyond a due proportion The End of the Fifth Book THE General History OF BRITAIN NOW CALLED ENGLAND As well Ecclesiastical as Civil BOOK VI. Containing the General History of England from the Reign of King EDGAR to the Death of King HAROLD being One hundred and seventeen Years King EDGAR I Have begun this Period with this Prince's Reign for though it does not exactly divide the Space of Time between King Egbert and the coming in of King William sirnamed the Conqueror into two equal parts yet will it much better suit with the Proportion of the Books into which we have divided this Period Besides King Edgar by again reuniting the Kingdom and enjoying by his Valour as well as his good Fortune a happy and peaceable Reign though he was not the first Prince who took upon him the Title of Monarch of all Albion or England as hath been already shewn yet since all the Kings of this Island did willingly submit themselves to his Dominion he seems to have best deserved that Title of any I can find King Edwy being now dead as our Annals have related King Edgar his Brother began to reign not only over the Mercians and Northumbers but also over all the West-Saxon Kingdom that is as the Manuscript Author of St. Dunstan's Life relates he succeeded in his Brother's Kingdom as Heir and was elected by the Clergy as well as Laity over both Kingdoms Which is also confirmed by Florence of Worcester and R. Hoveden who expresly tells us he was elected King by the whole English Nation in the Sixteenth Year of his Age So that as the Annals observe In his days all things succeeded prosperously God giving him Peace as long as he lived
p. 174 176. Had after Redwald's death the Kingdom of the East-Angles delivered up to him by the People Id. p. 175. Causes Brass-Pots to be set upon Posts at Fountains near the High-ways for Travellers to drink in and had a Banner carried before him as he went through the streets Ibid. Chief King over all the English-Saxons overcomes Cadwallo King of the Britains and conquers almost all his Countrey Id. p. 176. His Head brought to York and deposited in St. Peter's Church there which he had begun to build Ibid. He was the fifth King that ruled over all Britain l. 5. p. 254. Edwin and Ethelwin Sons of Prince Ethelwerd are slain in a fight against Anlaff King of the Danes and buried in the Church of the Abbey of Malmesbury l. 5. p. 311. Edwin Aetheling drowned with an Account how the greatest Blot in King Athelstan's Reign l. 5. p. 331 337. Edwin the Brother of Leofric Earl of Mercia is overcome by Griffyth ap Lewellin ap Sitsylt and slain at Pencadair l. 6. p. 64 65. Edwold Brother to St. Edmund the Martyr lived and died a Hermit in the Abbey of Cerne in Dorsetshire l. 6. p. 22. Egbert succeeds his Father Ercenbryht in the Kingdom of Kent l. 4. p. 189. Gives Reculf to Basse the Priest and at his Death bestows part of the Isle of Thanet to build a Monastery for expiating the Murther of his Cousins whom he had caused to be slain His decease Id. p. 192 193. Egbert the Priest a Venerable Person coming out of Ireland converts the Monks of Hij to the right Faith so that they afterwards observed the Catholick Rites and when he had lived with them here thirteen years dies l. 4. p. 217 220. Egbert made Bishop of York and the next year after receives a Pall from the Pope whereby he became an Archbishop and so Metropolitan of all the Northumbrian Provinces and had supreme Jurisdiction over all the Bishops in Deira and Bernicia l. 4. p. 222 223. His Death and Burial He was base Brother to the King of the same Name who regained the Pall to that See Built a Noble Library in York accounted then one of the best in Europe Id. p. 223 229. Egbert the Son of Aealmond was the Father of Athulf or Athelwulf l. 4. p. 233. Egbert or Egferth the Son of Offa King of the Mercians is anointed King with him l. 4. p. 233 235. When he began his Reign but within a few Months after dies Id. p. 240. Egbert or Ecgbryht King of the West-Saxons when he began to reign l. 4. p. 242. His Succession to Brihtric and afterwards Chief or Supreme King of this Kingdom Id. p. 243. l. 5. p. 254. Through Brihtric's jealousy he is forced to fly to King Offa for Refuge from him he retires into France where he tarries three years and so polishes the roughness of his own Countrey Manners Id. p. 243. But is upon Brihtric's Death without Issue recalled by the West-Saxon Nobility and ordained King and reigned with great Glory and Honour Id. p. 244. He unites all the Heptarchy into one Kingdom to the lasting Peace of the English Nation l. 5. p. 245. Leaves the Mercians Northumbrians and East-Angles to be held by their respective Princes as Tributaries to his Crown Id. p. 2 46 253 254 255. Is ordained King which Ethelwerd expresly terms his Election as being the only surviving Prince of the Blood-Royal of the West-Saxon Kings as great Nephew so Ina by his Brother Inegilds Id. p. 247 255. And in a Parliament at Winchester by the Consent of his People he changes the name of this Kingdom into that of England Id. Ibid. Makes up a Peace between Eardulf and Kenwulf and hath it confirmed by Oath l. 5. p. 248. Absolutely subdues Cornwall and adds it to his own Kingdom Id. p. 249. Subdues the Northern Welsh-men making them Tributary to him and enters again their Borders upon a fresh Rebellion and lays them wast from North to South with Fire and Sword Id. p. 250 251 254 255. Obtains a great Victory over Beornwulf King of the Mercians the Kentish and Surrey men the South and East-Saxons all submit to him Id. p. 253 254 255. Subdues the Kingdom of Mercia and all the South of Humber He was the Eighth King that ruled over all Britain the Seven before him are there enumerated Id. p. 254. Is offered Peace and due Subjection by the Northumbers having led an Army against them as far as Dore a place supposed to be beyond Humber He was the greatest King that till then had ever reigned in England He expels Withlaff King of Mercia and adds it to his own Kingdom Id. Ibid. Vanquishes Switherd King of the East-Saxons and drives him out of the Kingdom which ever after that Expulsion the West-Saxon Kings possessed He wastes Northumberland and makes Eanred the King thereof his Tributary Is crowned King of Britain by the Consent of the Clerus and Populus in a Great Council which he summoned to meet at Winchester Ibid. Encounters Thirty Ships of Danish Pyrates at Carrum in Gloucestershire but after a great slaughter the latter kept the field being the only time that Fortune ceased to favour his Undertakings Id. p. 256. Fights the Danes and Cornish-men at Hengston in Cornwall and beats them His Death having reigned thirty seven years and seven months and Character For nine years reigned Supreme King over all Britain Id. p. 257. His Burial at Winchester Id. p. 258. Egbert King of the Northumbers is by them expelled His Death and who succeeded to him l. 5. p. 277. Egelfleda sirnamed the Fair the Daughter of Earl Ordmar whether King Edgar's Wife or Concubine uncertain l. 6. p. 12. Egelnoth Vid. Ethelnoth Egfrid or Ecverth succeeds Oswi in the Kingdom of Northumberland l. 4. p. 192. Wages War with Wulfher and wins from him all the Countrey of Lindsey Id. p. 193 196. Gives Abbot Benedict as much Land as served Seventy Families lying near the Mouth of the River Wir in the Bishoprick of Durham Id. p. 194. Had a great Contention with Bishop Wilfrid who was expelled his Bishoprick Id. p. 196 197. Fights with Ethelfred near Trent Id. p. 198. Sends a great Army to Ireland which miserably wastes that Nation Id. p. 201. He and his Army through rashness are all cut off by the Picts Id. p. 202 211. Eglesburh now called Alesbury in Buckinghamshire l. 3. p. 145. Egonesham now Enisham in Oxfordshire Id. Ib. Egric upon King Sigebert's Resignation and turning Monk becomes King of the East-Angles l. 4. p. 179. His Death Id. p. 181. Egwin Bishop of Worcester founds the Abbey of Evesham and upon what occasion râ—ported l. 4. p. 216 217. Egwinna a Lady the Daughter of a Noblâ—man whose Name is not certainly known Her strange Dream and how she came afterwards to yield to the Importunities of Prince Edward the Elder on whom he begot Athelstan that is The most Noble that succeeded him in the Kingdom l.
Battel by the Kentish men l. 5. p. 313. After his Death the Danes there yielded themselves up to Edward the Elder l. 5. p. 322 323. The Ecclesiastical Laws made between this Eoric who succeeded Gutherne in the Government of East-England and King Edward Id. p. 326. Eorpenwald King of the East-Angles Son to Redwald when he began his Reign l. 4. p. 157. Is succeeded by his Brother Sigebert whom formerly he had Banished Id. p. 179. Eorpwald or Eorpald King of the East-Saxons Baptized but not long after is slain by one Richbert a Heathen l. 4. p. 175. Eowils slain in battel with many thousands of his Danes at a place called Wodnesfield by King Edward the Elder 's Army l. 5. p. 315. Ercenbright or Ercombert Vid. Earcombert Eric the Son of Harold whom the Northumbers set up for their King and about a year or two after drove him out again l. 5. p. 350. Erkenwald Younger Son to Anna King of the East-Angles is Consecrated Bishop of London by Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury He founded Two Monasteries before he came to be Bishop and for whom l. 4. p. 196. Continued Bishop thereof till after the Reign of King Ina Id. p. 201. Ermenred The Eldest Son of Eadbald craftily supplanted by his Younger Brother Earcombert who got the Kingdom from him He had Two Sons who were cruelly Murthered by Thunore one of the King's Thanes whom he employed in that Execucution l. 4. p. 180 185. Esylht Daughter to Conan King or Prince of North-Wales Marries Merwyn Urych a Nobleman the Son of Gwyriad who afterwards was King in her Right l. 5. p. 251. Ethelard Ordained Archbishop of York l. 4. p. 238. Ethelbald succeeds Ceolred in the Kingdom of Mercia and holds it One and Forty years l. 4. p. 217. Ethelbald after his Father's Death succeeds him in West-Saxony l. 5. p. 265. Marries his Father's Widow but afterwards Repenting of the Incest puts her away from him His Character Reign Death and Burial Id. p. 266. Vid Aethelbald Ethelbert King of Kent in his time Pope Gregory made the English-Saxons Christians l. 3. p. 143 153. Beaten by Ceawlin and Cutha his Brother his double Character and Alliance l. 3. p. 145. The most powerful Prince that had Reigned in Kent having extended the bounds of his Dominions as far as Humber he Marries Bertha a Christian Lady the King of France his Sister and upon what Conditions l. 4. p. 153. By Augustin's persuasion builds the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Canterbury Id. p. 157. Is Baptized in St. Pancrace Church there which before had been a Heathen Temple Ibid. Had many noble Presents sent him by Pope Gregory with a Letter full of Sanatory Advice Id. p. 158 159. Builds the Church of St. Andrew at Rochester and endows it Id. p. 160. Confirms in a Great Council both of Clergy and Laity all the Grants and Charters whereby he had settled great Endowments on both Christ-Church and that of St. Pancrace Ibid. But his Charters are very suspitious of being Forged in many respects Id. p. 163. The Secular Laws that were Enacted in the Great Council in his time Id. Ibid. His Death and Burial in St. Martin's Porch in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul He was the First English King that ever received Baptism and lived above Twenty years after his Conversion Id. p. 168. He was the Third King that Ruled over all Britain l. 5. p. 254. Ethelbert is Consecrated Bishop of Witerne called in Latin Candida Casa at York l. 4. p. 231. One of his Name Bishop of Hagulstad Deceases l. 4. p. 241. Ethelbert the Son of Ethelred King of the East-Angles is slain in the Court of King Offa and by whose Instigations l. 4. p. 237. Ethelbert or Aethelbryht after his Brother Ethelbald's Decease takes the Kingdom and holds it in great Peace and Quiet from Domestick Commotions l. 5. p. 266. His Death lamented after having Governed Five years to general satisfaction buried at Shireburne and is supposed to have a Son called Ethelwald Id. p. 267. Ethelbryht the Son of King Withred succeeds Eadbryht King of Kent l. 4. p. 225. Nothing remarkable but that the City of Canterbury was Burnt in his Reign Id. p. 228. His Death Ibid. Ethelburgh Vid. Aethelburga Etheldrethe twice married but would let neither of her Husbands enjoy her which was accounted in those days a great piece of Sanctity l. 4. p. 193 198. Is Foundress of the Monastery of Ely in which she her self became the First Abbess Id. p. 193. Daughter to Anna King of the East-Saxons her Death and after Sixteen Years Burial her Body being taken up as whole as at first she was Canonized and called St. Audrey of Ely Id. p. 198 199. Etheldrith Daughter to King Offa and once the Spouse of Ethelbert King of the East-Angles a holy Virgin that lived in a Cell wherein Withlaff King of the Mercians found a safe Retreat from the high Displeasure of Egbert for Four Months till he was reconciled to him l. 5. p. 254. Etheler King of the East-Angles taking part with Penda against Oswy is slain l. 4. p. 185. Ethelfleda the Lady of Mercia builds many Castles to secure the Mercian Frontiers against the Danes and Welsh l. 5. p. 316. Sends an Army against the Welsh which took Brecenanmere supposed to be Brecknock Castle and the King's Wife and about Four and thirty Prisoners Id. p. 319. Takes the Town of Derby and the City of Canterbury Reduces Leicester under her Dominion and the Danes become subject to her Dies at Tamworth in the Eighth Year of her Government and lies buried at Gloucester in the East-Isle of St. Peter's Church Her Character Id. p. 320. Vid. Ethelred Duke of Mercia her Husband Ethelfred the Son of Ethelric the Son of Ida reigns over both the Northumbrian Kingdoms l. 3. p. 148. l. 4. p. 159. A Warlike Prince that wasted the Britains more than any other Saxon Kings l. 4. p. 159. Leads his Army to Leger-Ceaster and theâ—e slays a great multitude of Britains Id. p. 164. His Pursuit of Edwin after his Banishment though he was of the Blood-Royal Id. p. 169. Is slain by Redwald King of the East-Angles and his Sons banished by Edwin Id. p. 170. Ethelfreda or Elfreda Daughter to Earl Ordgar and Widow of Ethelwald Earl of the East-Angles married to King Edgar and her Children by him l. 6. p. 5 6. The Trick her first Husband plaid to obtain her and the return she made him for it Id. p. 9 10. Builds a Nunnery in the place where her first Husband was slain Id. p. 10 20. She is crowned Queen to the great displeasure of Archbishop Dunstan Id. p. 10. Contrives the Death of Edward the Martyr and how but being convinced of her wickedness for it she betook her self to very severe Penalties Id. p. 17 18. Her violent Passion to her Son Ethelred a Youth in beating him unmercifully with a Wax-Taper and why Id. p. 19. Takes
likely propagated here by some Apostle of the Eastern or Asiatick Church Id. p. 162. The state of it here before the coming in of William the Conqueror l. 6. p. 116. Religious Houses Vid. Monasteries Resignation of Bishopricks and why l. 3. p. 149. l. 4. p. 224 232. Restitutus Bishop of the City of London is sent with others to the Council of Arles in Gallia l. 2. p. 88. Revenge none to take it for any Injury done him before publick Justice be demanded and the Penalty on those that do l. 4. p. 208. Rhine fortified with Garisons by Constantine l. 2. p. 102. Richard the Elder took upon him the Dukedome of Normandy and Governed it Two and fifty Years l. 5. p. 343. His Enmity to and War with Pope John l. 6. p. 24. His Death and who succeeded him in that Dutchy Id. p. 26. Richbert a Heathen slays Eorpwald not long after he had received the Christian Faith l. 4. p. 175. Ricsige succeeded Egbert in the Kingdom of Northumberland l. 5. p. 277. His Death and who his Successor Id. p. 278. Ripendune alias Hrepton Abbey now Repton in Derbyshire Founded by King Aethelbald the most famous one of that Age l. 4. p. 227. l. 5. p. 277. Ripon in Yorkshire the Monastery Burnt which had been Built by Bishop Wilfrid l. 5. p. 350. Ritheric ap Justin on the Death of Llewelyn ap Sitsylt Seizes upon South-Wales and holds it by Force l. 6. p. 53. Is slain in Battel by Howel and Meredyth with the assistance of the Irish Scots l. 6. p. 56. Ritherch and Rees the Sons of Ritheric ap Justin their Engagement with Griffith Prince of Wales and the Success thereof l. 6. p. 71. Robber his Punishment who called Robbers l. 4. p. 209. Robert Duke of Normandy sends Ambassadors to King Cnute to demand that his Nephews viz. Edward and Alfred King Ethelred's Two Sons might be restored to their Right and upon his refusing he prepares a great Navy to force him to it and what happened thereupon l. 6. p. 54. To whom he recommends his Son William a Child of Seven Years Old afterwards King of England whilst he undertakes his Pilgrimage to Jerusalem where he Dies Ibid. p. 56. Robert a Norman Monk made Bishop of London by Edward the Confessor l. 6. p. 73. And upon the Death of Eadsige made Archbishop of Canterbury He immediately went to Rome to obtain his Pall Id. p. 75. Accuses Queen Emma of being too Familiar with Alwin Bishop of Winchester Id. p. 79. His flight out of England variously reported Id. p. 80 81. Is Banished and Outlawed for being a Chief Incendiary in the Quarrel between Edward the Confessor and Earl Godwin Id. p. 81. But having made his Peace King Edward sends him Ambassador to Duke William to acquaint him That he had designed him his Successor Id. p. 96 97 Rodoric or Rodri when he began to Reign over the Britains in Wales l. 4. p. 218. Another Rodoric one of the Sons of Edwal Voel Prince of Wales is slain by Irishmen l. 6. p. 6. Rodri Maur that is Rodoric the Great succeeds his Father Merwyn Urych in the Kingdom of the Britains and divides Wales into three Territories His Wars and Death l. 5. p. 260 278. His Wife and Children and Bequests amongst them Id. p. 278 279. Esteemed by all Writers to be sole King of all Wales and in what Right His Laws Id. p. 279. The several Ordinances he made about paying the Ancient Tribute to the King of London and acknowledging his Sovereigâ—ty as also about who should decide the differences that might arise between any of his Children Id. p. 279. l. 6. p. 3. Rofcaester or Hrofcester now Rochester l. 4. p. 159. l. 5. p. 259. St. Andrew's Church there built by Ethelbert King of Kent l. 4. p. 160. Tobias the Bishop there dies Id. p. 219. Dun consecrated Bishop here after the Death of Eadulph Id. p. 224. Rollo the Dane or Norman wastes Neustria afterwards called Normandy and not long after made an entire Conquest of it reigning there fifty years His Dream l. 5. p. 278. Roman Affairs when they became desperate in Britain l. 2. p. 105 106. Empire what fell with it in Britain l. 3. p. 113. Language Gaâ—â— and Gown came to be in fashion among the Britains in Agricola's time l. 2. p. 57. Romans left the â—ritains at their departure Paterns of the Arms and Weapons they would have them make to defend themselves l. 2. p. 100. Though they subdued Britain to their Empire yet they used their Victory with Moderation l. 5. p. 246. Romanus Bishop of Rochester drowned in going on a Message to Rome l. 4. p. 176. Rome taken by Alaric King of the Goths l. 2. p. 104. Romescot said to be first given to the Pope by King Ina but much doubted l. 4. p. 219. Then by King Offa supposed to be confirm'd by the great Council's consent Id. p. 239. Aethelwulf by his Last Will orders to be sent every year to Rome Three hundred Mancuses l. 5. p. 264 265. Vid. Peter-pence Rowena Hengest's Daughter her Arrival into Britain c. l. 3. p. 125. Rufina Claudia Wife of Pudens a Senator famous for her Beauty in the Elegant Epigram of Martial Some assert she was the same St. Paul makes mention of in his second Epistle to Timothy l. 2. p. 66. Run or Reyn the pretended Son of Meredyth ap Owen a vile Scotch Impostâ—r thâ—t sets up for Prince of Soâ—th Waleâ— but he is soon rouâ—ed and all his Paâ—â—y l. 6. p. 52. Runick Characters found upon a few Stones in England l. 3. p. 113. Runkhorne in Cheshire anciently called Run-cafan l. 5. p. 316. Rusticus Decimius from Master of his Offices is advanced by Constans to â—e Praefect l. 2. p. 103. Ryal in Rutlandshire anciently called Rehala where St. Tibba's â—ody lay entomb'd l. 6. p. 5. S SAcriledge what Punishments to be inflicted on those who commit it l. 4. p. 156 163. Salaries usually allowed to those that hâ—d been Proconsuls l. 2. p. 64. Safe of Goods c. Vid. Traffick Sampson Scholar to Iltutus and afterwards Archbishop of Dole in Britain l. 3. p. 149. Sanctuaries very ancient in England l. 4. p. 208 209. l. 5. p. 296 â—97 Their Design primitively very good only to stay there for a time till the Offender could agree with his Advâ—rsary l. 5. p. 297. The Punishment of him who 〈◊〉 â—ny one that sâ—es to a Church The Knigâ—t Hoâ—se no shelâ—er to him thâ—â— sheds bloâ—d l. 5. p. 347. Graâ—ted 〈◊〉 Westminster â—y Edward â—he Confessor Charter and confirmed by the Great Council l. 6. p. 94. The Laws concerning them confirmâ—d Id. p. 99. Sandwicâ— anciently câ—â—led Rutipae l. â— p. 90. and Sandwiâ— l. 5. p. 261. The Port given by King Cnute in Christ-Church in Canterbury with all the Issues c. l. 6. p. 54. Saragosa in Spain anciently called Caesar Augustâ— a corrupted Compouâ—d of thâ—se two words destroyed by
the Monk that wrote this Chronicle for Asser himself in his Life of King Alfred tells us of Hemeid Prince of South-wales That Nobis Archiepiscopum Propinquum meum me expulit viz. from the Church of St. Davids which word Nobis the Learned Dr. Gale reads Novis and so makes it good Sense that otherwise seems Non-sense in the printed Copies The false reading of which Word as well as this Chronological mistake of Florence abovementioned led Bale into the belief that the Arch-bishop above-mentioned must have been that Asser whom Caradoc's Chronicle publish'd by Dr. Powel makes to have died Anno Dom. 906. and which Authority led the Lord Primate Usher into that small Mistake in his Index Chronologicus at the end of his Britan. Eccles. Antiquitat of supposing this Asser to have been the Author of the History of King Alfred and not he who was Bishop of Shireburn AND the right reading of this word Nobis in Asser also proves the falshood of that Welsh Annal but now mentioned for if Novis was expell'd his Bishoprick not long before Asser was sent for by King Alfred which was about Anno 885. then Novis could not be dead in Anno 872. as that Chronicle makes him nor yet could Asser succeed Novis Anno Dom. 909. for then there would have been a Vacancy of near 40 Years in that See whereas the Saxon Annals rightly place the Death of our Asser Bishop of Shireburn under this very Year SO that upon the whole Matter it is the Judgment of the Reverend and Learned the now Lord Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry That there never was but one Asser who was also Bishop of Shireburn and that as for this Asser Bishop of St. Davids he had never any Being in Nature but in the Brain of some ignorant Monks who would for the Honour of their Church have made this Asser to have been Bishop not only of St. Davids but of Britain contrary to the Truth of all Chronology as well as Matter of Fact I have no more to remark of this Asser but that Ingulph not only says he was Bishop of Shireburn but also Abbot of Bangor which I find not related by Asser himself nor by any other Author and therefore I look upon it as a Mistake either in Ingulph or his Transcriber in writing Bangor instead of Banwell which was one of those Abbeys that Asser says King Alfred bestowed upon him FROM this Asser to Ethelwerd who calls himself Quaestor i. e. Treasurer and wrote in the beginning of the Reign of King Edgar being descended from the Saxon Blood-Royal by King Alfred his Great-Grandfather there flourished no Historian nor are we indeed so much the better for him as I could wish for unless it be in the right settling of the Reigns and Deaths of some of our Saxon Kings who lived not long before him about which the several Copies of the Saxon Annals do differ there is not much to be learnt from him but what is in the Annals themselves or else in the last mentioned Author from both which one may perceive that he had borrowed the most part of what he there writes So that partly from the affected Obscurity of his Stile and partly from the bad Copy from which it was printed being that which is now in the Cottonian Library in many Places we do not understand his meaning but as far as we are able to do it we have given you a true Account of what he has added to this History BVT either from the Laziness or Ignorance of the Monks who were almost the only Writers of that Age from the Time that Ethelwerd left off to some Years after the Conquest we meet with no Historians except Osbern and another Monk that is Anonymous the former of whom writing the Lives of St. Dunstan and St. Alphege has afforded us some Passages relating to this History as has also the latter in his Life of St. Dunstan which is still in Manuscript in the Cottonian Library But as for Osbern he is published in the first Volume of Anglia Sacra And from these that Age gives us none unless the Author whose Name we know not that wrote that short Account of the Times immediately preceding the Reign of Edward the Confessor called Encomium Emmae until Ingulph Abbot of Croyland finished the History of that Abbey about the latter end of the Reign of William the First And tho he did not take upon him to write a History of more Affairs than those of his own Monastery yet he hath by the by interspersed many considerable Passages relating to the Publick Transactions of this Kingdom which I likewise have here inserted FROM him to Eadmerus we find no Historian and He only relating the Ecclesiastical History during the Reign of William the First and his Sons William Rufus and Henry is of no use to us in this Volume here published IN the beginning of the Reign of Henry the First we find a most Laborious and Diligent Chronologer viz. Florence of Worcester who continuing and enlarging the History of Marianus Scotus hath among the various Transactions of the rest of Europe given us at the end of almost every Year out of the Saxon Annals an exact Account of the Affairs of England to which he hath also added divers very curious Memoirs and Illustrations of his own and besides what is printed there is also in Manuscript in the Bodleian Library a fair and perfect Copy of this Author which once belonged to the Monastery of St. Edmundsbury to which I have been much beholding not only for some things concerning that Abbey but also for several choice Passages relating to this our History which are neither to be found in the printed Editions of this Author nor any where else that I know of therefore where-ever the Reader shall meet with any thing cited from Florence which is not found in Print he may be assured it is in that Manuscript under the Year there set down in the Margin this I mention that the Reader may not be startled if he does not find the Passage I cite in the printed Copies since I had not always time to compare them together FLORENCE was immediately followed by Simeon of Durham who did not only Copy from him but also added several Remarkable things particularly relating to the Northumbrian Kingdom as well before as after it came under the Government of Earls Tho Mr. Selden in his Preface to the Decem-scriptores will not allow this Simeon to have been the Author of this Work but that he was a Plagiary and stole it from Turgot a Monk of the said Church who was also afterwards ordained Bishop of St. Andrews in Scotland and Simeon only adding some things to it of his own took the whole Honour to himself his History reaches no farther than 1129. but was continued by John Prior of Hagulstad to Anno 1154. TO whom we may adjoin Richard a Monk of the same Monastery
we here omit several other Pieces of less Bulk and Note published since that Volume last mentioned containing the Chronicles and Histories of divers Cathedrals and Abbeys such as are the Annals of the Abbey of Winchester c. which have been published from the Cottonian and other Libraries in Monasticon Anglicanum and the first Volume of Anglia Sacra lately published by the late Learned and Industrious Mr. Wharton TO these likewise may be added the Histories of the Monasteries of Ely and Ramsey as also of Glastenbury by William of Malmesbury from whom we have taken several Things not only relating to that Abbey but the General History of England nor can I omit the History of John of Wallingford whom Matthew Paris mentions in his Lives of the Abbots of St. Albans as the 21st Abbot of St. Albans he wrote the History of the Kings of England as far as the 42d of King Henry the Third the first Part of which down to the Norman Conquest hath been published in the aforesaid last Volume at Oxford by the Learned Dr. Gale From all which last mentioned tho mingled with abundance of Monkish Trash we have here and there excerpted several excellent Remarks WE have also sometimes made use of Ranulph Higden his Polychronicon who was a Monk of Chester the first Part of which is published also by the said Dr. Gale as far as the Conquest and Matthew a Monk of Westminster his Flores Historiarum these Authors being Cotemporaries and collecting to the Reign of Edward the Third from all the rest of the Antient Writers abovementioned I have seldom used but as subsidiary Helps when the Passages they relate are not to be found any where else several other Authors they borrowed from being now lost or very rare to be met with HAVING now done with our printed Authors I proceed to those that continue still in Manuscript in the Bodleian and Cottonian Libraries and also in those of Lambeth Gresham's College and the Heraulds Office such as are John of Tinmouth his Historia Aurea Johannes Castorius in English Beaver his History of the Kings of England and John Rouse of Warwick his Collections on the same Subject together with above forty or fifty nameless Authors which I have perused to see what I could find in any of them that had not been taken notice of by others but how little they have answered in my Expectations the small Additions I have made from them I hope will satisfy the unprejudiced Reader and for any that are otherwise if they please to take the same Pains that I have done I wish their Labours may be better requited BVT as for the Extracts of Ecclesiastical Canons and Laws which I have inserted at the end of divers King's Reigns I have faithfully transcribed them ou◠of Sir Henry Spelman's first Volume of British Councils and Mr. Lambard's Archaionomia under their respective Years and have also compared and corrected them in a great Part from the Manuscript Notes of the Learned Junius at the end of the Cambridg Edition of Bede which is in the Bodleian Library or else by another Latin Manuscript Version of the Industrious Mr. Somner's And I do not know of any other Saxon Laws unless there be some of King Cnute's which remain as yet in Manuscript untranslated in the Bodleian Library as also in the Hands of Dr. Gale as I am well informed I hope they may be one day added to a new Edition of Mr. Lambard's most useful Work THVS having gone through all the chiefest English Historians both in Print and Manuscript that I know of relating to the Times before the Conquest which I think are as many and of as good Credit as any Countrey in Europe can shew in the like space of Time it may be expected I should say something in their Vindication since I find they have been attacked in a post-humous Treatise long since written by a Learned Civilian Sir Thomas Craig in Latin in answer to what Mr. Hollingshead has published concerning the Homage that was due from the Kings of Scotland to those of England and is lately translated into English by the Ingenious Mr. Ridpath and as I shall here faithfully give you his Arguments against the Antiquity and Credit of our Writers so I hope I shall return such Answers to them as will satisfy all impartial Readers HIS first Objection is That from the Death of Bede whose Credit he says he will every where preserve entire the English have no certain History nor Writer to the Reign of King Henry the First except that Fragment of Ethelwerd's for says he I do not acknowledg that Fragment of Ingulphus who preceded Ethelwerd twenty Years as an History nor Asserius Menevensis who wrote only concerning the Transactions of his own King Alfred And lest he should be thought to affirm any thing rashly He brings William of Malmesbury to witness the Matter saying That all the Memorials of Transactions from the Death of Bede to his own Time which was in the Reign of Henry I. about 1142. were utterly lost nor was there any who followed that Study or indeavoured to pursue the thread of History till himself NOW to give an Answer to this Learned Advocate and take him Point by Point as he goes on in the first Place I am sorry to find a Person otherwise every ways Able and Skillful in his own Profession so ignorant in our English Historians since if he had not been so he could not have committed almost as many Mistakes as he hath wrote Lines for in the first Place he calls Ingulph and Ethelwerd two Fragments whereas if he had been pleased to have looked upon either of them he would have found them entire Pieces so far as they went and we call Polybius Diodorus Siculus Salust Livy Historians not Fragments altho each of them be imperfect only the Edition that was then published of Ingulph wanted the Laws of William the Conqueror and some few Sheets at the Conclusion which have been since added AND whereas he says that Ingulph preceded Ethelwerd twenty Years he is so far from being in the right of that that the direct contrary is true for Ingulph lived and wrote above one hundred Years after Ethelwerd had finished his History with King Edgar's Reign whose Eulogy he only gives us in barbarous Verse AND as for what the Advocate says concerning William of Malmesbury he much misrepresents the Sense of this Author who does not affirm that there were no Memorials from the Death of Bede to his Time but the contrary for he mentions the Saxon Annals in his Proem in these words Sunt sanè quaedam vetustatis Indicia patrio Sermone chronico more per annos Domini ordinata also in his Book de Antiquitate Glastoniae published by Dr. Gale as above he citeth them as good Authority Tradunt Annales bonae credulitatis c. Nay Sir Thomas Craig himself I suppose through Forgetfulness has allowed
no less than three Writers of part of our History who lived before Malmesbury as you may see above and therefore he must also be understood only in this Sense that till himself there was none had undertaken an entire Latin Body of English History for he distinguishing between an History and Annals did not reckon it seems these Saxon Annals as such though he often mentions them by the Name of the English Chronicles being as I said before the ground-Work upon which that Author as well as others that followed him built their History and these Annals remaining in Manuscript till long after Sir Thomas Craig's Death gave him perhaps occasion to affirm in the same Place That there is nothing of certainty to be found in the British History from 734. which was the Year of Bede's Death to the Year 957. but all things were founded upon the Rumours of Antient Men and it may be old Wives Fables which being collected together into one Book and put in a Latin Dress made up as it were the shadow of a History from whence Hollingshead does nevertheless bring most certain Arguments to establish his fictitious Homage THIS Point concerning the Homage I shall not take upon me here to decide but tho I confess there is no express mention of it in the Annals yet I must needs say there is somewhat to be met with in them that comes very near it for under Anno 924. they relate thus of King Edward the Elder That the King and whole Nation of the Scots chose him in Patrem Dominum in the Latin Version i. e. for their Father and Lord which is word for word the same with the Saxon Original which I omit because not commonly understood or read in that Character But because he supposes that Florence of Worcester was the first Author that wrote this Homage and Fealty therefore he must be the first that ever mentioned the Submission of the Scotish King to the King of England I desire those of Sir Thomas his Opinion to tell me tho the formal Ceremonies of Homage and Fealty which in different Ages and divers Countries even where the Feudal Law was obtained were very different were not brought up till after the Norman William came hither yet what could those words in Patrem Dominum signify but such an Acknowledgment or Dependance upon a Superior Lord as was tantamount And it is the more remarkable because this is mentioned above 20 Years before The same Annals relate that King Edmund the Younger Son to King Edward bestowed Cumberland upon Malcolm King of Scots viz. Anno 945. on condition that he should serve him in his Expeditions by Sea and Land for which alone the Scotish Writers will allow this Homage to have been due AND in the Year following we find in the same Annals that K. Eadred Brother to Edmund having reduced all Northumberland into his Power which then took in almost all the Low-Lands of Scotland as far as Edinburgh thereupon Scoti etiam ei juramenta praestiterunt sese velle quiâ—quid is vellet i. e. the Scotish Nation by which I suppose must be understood the King as well as the People took an Oath to King Eadred to perform whatsoever he should please to command them But that Florence of Worcester understood this to be an Oath of Fealty appears by his Paraphrase of these words in the Annals thus Edredus à Scotis ut sibi fideles essent juramentum accepit BVT that if not Homage yet somewhat very like it was rendered in that Age by the Kings of Scotland to those of England for the best part of what is now called the Lowlands may appear from the Testimony of John of Wallingford who in his History relates that Keneth King of Scots received Lothian from King Edgar under the Condition of doing Homage to himself and his Successors which if it had not then the direct Ceremony of Homage which perhaps came in with the Normans yet that it was somewhat very near it John Fordun the antientest Scotish Historian acknowledges in these words That King Edmund viz. of England gave the Province of Cumberland to Malcolm King of Scots sub fidelitate Juramenti and it was afterwards agreed between the said King Edmund and King Malcolm that Prince Indulf his next Heir and all the future Heirs of Scotland successively should pay to King Edmund and his Successors for the same Homagium fidelitatis Sacramentum so that if our English Writers have been mistaken in calling that Submission which the Kings and Princes of Scotland then payed to England Homage you may here see the most Antient Scotish Historian guilty of the same Error which was indeed an Oath of Fidelity if not the same yet very like what the Scotish Kings afterwards took when they did Homage to our Kings of England after the Conquest HAVING said thus much I shall now leave it to the Reader 's Judgment when he has gone through our Annals to consider whether this Author's Censure of our English History from the Year 734. when Bede ended his to the Year 957. be just that they were only things as he says founded upon the Rumours of Antient Men and it may be old Wives Fables and so being collected together in one Book dress'd up in Latin made up as it were the shadow of a History AS also whether what Florence is cited by the Author to say That after Bede's Death the English History ceased and that for his own part he had left things to Posterity either as he found them in the Text of the English Chronicles or as he had them from the relations of Men worthy of Credit or heard and saw them himself deserves that rash Censure not only concerning these Annals now published but of Florence himself viz. as to what concerned the Text of the English Chronicles he mentioned them that he might deceive his Reader with the greater Facility whereas Florence was accounted always a Writer of unquestionable Diligence and Veracity as appears by the several Testimonies of Learned Men before his History BVT the reason of this Author's Triumph before the Victory was that he did not believe any such thing as a Saxon Chronicle could be found for says he immediately after If there were any Chronicles of those Times seeing Florence lived about the Year 1148. they must still remain in the Archives which hitherto no English Author did ever alledg or hath been able to demonstrate for that Chronicle as is observed by the Prologue did only set down the number of Years And so he proceeds to invalidate the Credit of Florence of Worcester as if he had had no Voucher to warrant his Chronicle BVT I hope this Translation I here present you with will satisfy all ordinary Readers that the Saxon Annals do contain much more than the bare numbers of Years and the Edition first published by Mr. Wheelock in Saxon and Latin from two Copies in
for near 100 Years tho without the Title of Kings but only as subordinate Lords or Earls under the Kings of Kent till this Ida obtained the Kingdom but whether by Succession or Election William of Malmesbury cannot tell us but rather inclines to the latter and tho it be true that these Annals mention no other Kingdoms of the Heptarchy than these three last yet it appears from very good Testimonies in the ensuing History that Norfolk Suffolk and Cambridgshire being the Countrey of the East-Angles were conquered by them under several petty Princes that ruled there long before Vffa who was made the first King of that whole Countrey THE like I may say for the Mercian Kingdom where Creoda or Crida began his Reign about Anno 585. above 60 Years after the East-Angles first settled in those Parts HAVING now I hope sufficiently proved this Point against the Learned Dr. Howell I think it will plainly follow that all those Kings above-mentioned could have no other Title to their Crowns besides Election who from Captains and Generals in time of War became Kings in time of Peace over the Countries they had conquered I will here therefore leave it to the Impartial Reader to consider whether what Dr. Howell asserts is at all likely to be true viz. That the Power of these Kings commencing by the Sword was as absolute in Time of Peace as in that of War for we plainly see that these were a free People and it is in no ways probable that they should contrary to the Genius of so noble and free a Nation submit themselves to the absolute Dominion of one Man who owed his delegated Power to themselves BESIDES this the original Constitution of all these several Kingdoms speaks the quite contrary for we find in the following History frequent mention made of great Councils of the Wites i. e. the chief or wise Men of the whole Kingdom which Councils were established to curb the exorbitant Power of their Kings since by these they were elected and by these too they were likewise often deposed when ever their Tyranny rendered them insupportable as you will see in several Instances when you peruse the following Books in this Volume AND thus having traced as far as we are able the Original of the first English-Saxon Kings we shall now in the next Place treat of the manner of their Succession to the Crown which some of our Modern Authors fancy to have been by a Lineal Succession because we find the Son to have often succeeded the Father in most of these Kingdoms for several Descents But if this should be granted yet is it no good Argument to prove a Lineal Succession by Blood for tho I am sensible that the Saxon Annals as well as all other Historians are very obscure in this Point not declaring which way those Princes came to the Crown whether by Succession or Election because it was omitted in the old Saxon Annals out of which they wrote and which we find very short in that particular yet this will by no means warrant those Kingdoms to have been only Successive as some Men fondly suppose seeing we may observe that in the German Empire which every one knows to be Elective the Son hath succeeded the Father or a younger Brother the Elder for above 150 Years ever since the Time of the Emperor Ferdinand Brother to Charles the Fifth however I hope no Body will have the Confidence to affirm that the Empire hath been only Successive and not Elective all this while THE same I may say concerning the Succession of our English-Saxon Kings in which tho we find the Son often succeeded the Father or one Brother another yet does not this prove that the Succession went by right of Inheritance as it does at this day I MAY say the like as to Denmark and Sweden the latter of which has been by Succession but little above fourscore Years from Charles the Ninth and as for the former it has become so even in our own Memories and yet for many Successions in both these Kingdoms he that was the next Heir by Lineal Descent was most commonly chosen King after the Death of his Father Uncle or Brother but before this Election he could claim no Legal Right to the Crown by the Laws of these Kingdoms of which I shall give you divers Instances And I think we may affirm this of all the Kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy where tho the Mycel-Gemots commonly obliged themselves to choose one of the Blood-Royal and the next Heir rather than any other provided he were equally fit to govern especially if he were recommended or designed for Successor by the Will of the last King however in this they took a great Latitude as will evidently appear in the pursuit of this Discourse BUT I must confess the manner how the Saxon Kings came to the Throne is but darkly expressed by the words FENG to RICE in Saxon in Latin Regnum capessit which we have commonly rendered succeeded in or to the Kingdom yet those words do not signify any Lineal Succession but are often promiscuously used when the next Successor could have no Title but Election as shall be farther shewn by and by NOW the best way to prove this I think will be briefly to survey the Successions of each Kingdom and the several Breaches and Alterations that were made therein upon this supposed Lineal Succession And first to begin with the Kingdom of Kent of which we indeed have scarce any more than the bare Names of the Kings with but very little of their Actions for about four Descents till Ethelbert the first Christian King there began to reign only that the Son still succeeded the Father SO likewise from this Ethelbert to Earcombert his Grandson for two Descents more we find the like seeming Lineal Succession yet for all this doth it not therefore follow that there might not have been either elder Brothers or the Sons of them who were excluded during that Time seeing that we only meet with the next Successor mentioned without telling us whether there were not such Heirs put by for under the Year 640. we learn from our Annals that Earcombert King of Kent succeeded Eadbald his Father abovementioned who yet left an elder Son named Ermenred that according to the Course of Lineal Descent ought to have succeeded to the Kingdom before his younger Brother Earcombert but whether he was disinherited by his Father or rejected by the People our Annals mention not only that this Ermenred left two Sons who afterwards were made away by one Thunor Servant to King Earcombert AFTER him Egbert his Son succeeded leaving a Son called Eadric yet he did not succeed as he ought to have done according to our Modern Opinions by Hereditary Right but Lothaire his Uncle that kept the Kingdom twelve Years from him But whether he came in by the Testament of his Brother or Election of the People or by both neither Bede
his Cousin-German succeeded him in Deira whilst Eanfrid the Son of Ethelfrith was made King of Bernicia but he soon after being killed by Cadwallo King of the Britains Oswald his Brother succeeded him who being also slain by the said Penda Oswin his younger Brother was made King whilst Oswy the Son of Osric reigned in Bernicia and having cruelly murdered Oswin made himself Master of both Kingdoms but whether it was done by the Power of the Sword or by Election since our Authors are silent in this Matter I will not determine I have only set down the Succession of these first Kings to shew that there was not often any Hereditary Lineal Right to the Crown observed among them AS for the Kingdom of the East-Angles the Antient Annals and Histories of that Countrey having been all destroyed by the Danes we have little more than the Names and Successions of their Kings left us nor yet of those higher than Vffa tho it is certain the East-Angles had fixed themselves in those Parts long before he began to reign and those but very lame and defective For from Ethelbert who was murdered by King Offa for above threescore Years we have no Account of what Kings reigned in that Kingdom and it is certain that upon the Death of Offa and his Son Egfert the People of the East-Angles freed themselves from the Mercian Yoke but about the Year 855. as Asser in his Annals and Florence of Worcester assure us Edmund after called the Martyr being then but fifteen Years old was Elected and Crowned King of the East-Angles by the general Consent of the People of that Kingdom but they do not inform us who was his Father yet if we may give Credit to John of Tinmouth in his Sanctilogium he makes him to be the Son of one Alcmond a Nobleman of the Blood Royal. I have given you this Instance to let you see that they were no Strangers to Elective Kings for if his Blood alone would have fixed in him any Title there would have been no need at all of his Election but this King being afterwards murdered by the Danes they also seized on his Kingdom and held it till it was reconquered by King Edward the Elder NOR have we much to remark of the manner of the Succession of the Mercian Kings for tho the Son very frequently succeeded the Father or one Brother or Cousin to another yet it is as certain that it must have been chiefly by an Elective Right notwithstanding the Annals and our Historians do not expresly mention it For Beornred having in the Year 755. treacherously slain Ethelbald King of the Mercians Offa a young Man of the Blood Royal raising Forces against him and having driven him out of the Kingdom he was as Ingulph relates made King in his room by the General Consent of the Nobles of Mercia or as Matthew Westminster words it He was by the unanimous Consent of the Clergy and Laiety of that Kingdom Elected and Crowned King which without doubt was done in a Great Council of that Nation for we find that to secure the Crown to his own Family Matthew Paris in his Life of King Offa tells us that in a Great Council assembled at Calcuith Anno 787. he caused Egfrid his eldest on a comely and valiant Youth to be crowned King who jointly reigned with him as long as he lived and that this could not be done without the Consent and Election of this Great Council appears by the twelfth Law or Decree made therein entituled De ordinatione Regum viz. That at the Election or Ordination of Kings no Man should permit the Assent or Vote of evil Men to prevail but Kings shall be lawfully Elected by the Clergy and Elders i.e. chief Men of the Kingdom and not begotten of Adultery or Incest because an Adulterer according to the Canons cannot arrive to the Priesthood so neither can he be the Lord 's Anointed and Heir of his Countrey or King of the whole Kingdom who is not begot of Lawful Matrimony FROM hence the Reader may observe that he who is appointed to be Elected is also called Haeres Patriae to let us see that he who was to come in by an Elective Right was also accounted the Right Heir of the Kingdom AFTER Egfrid succeeded Kenwulfe who certainly came in by Election being himself very remote from the Crown for William of Malmesbury says he was in the fifth Descent from Cenwalch the Brother of Penda one of the first Mercian Kings a Title too stale in that Age to give a Right without a new Election since his Predecessor King Offa could not be admitted to obtain the Crown without it tho he was in Blood almost as near to it being in the fifth Descent from Wibba or Wippa who was the Father of the aforesaid Penda BUT were there no other Proof of this the Decree of the Council abovementioned sufficiently evinces this Kingdom to have been elective at that Time TO Kenwulf abovementioned succeeded Kenelme a Child and he is the first Example of an Infant 's succeeding when there was a Male Heir of full Age alive viz. Ceolwulf the Brother of the said Kenwulf which I suppose proceeded from the great Love they bore to their late deceased King and some Aversion they had to his Brother as you will see by and by BUT if John of Tinmouth in his Historia Aurea still in Manuscript in several Libraries may be credited tho he wrote long after those Times yet out of antient Manuscripts not now extant he says expresly Kenelmum aetate parvulum sed animo pietate magnificum ad Regem elegerat Amor Populi sui i. e. the Love of the People had elected Kenelm to be their King tho an Infant in Years yet remarkable for Spirit and Piety BUT King Kenelme being murdered by his Sister Quendride and she frustrated in her expectations of the Crown our Annals tell us that then Ceolwulf was advanced to it without making any mention at all of King Kenelme and the next Year expelled his Kingdom by the Faction and Contrivance of Bernulph a potent Nobleman but however no way related to the Blood-Royal and so consequently could have no other Title or Pretence but Election however unjustly he came by it THE like I may say of his Successors Ludican Wiglaff Bertwulf and Burhed the former of whom was only a remote Kinsman of Bernulph's and the three latter were all of them of quite different Families but as for Ceolwulf who was the last that bore the Title of King of Mercia he deserves not to be mentioned being only for a Time made King by the Danes to serve their turns and was quickly after deposed by them I have but lightly run over the Succession of these Kings and refer you for the farther Proof to the following History where you will find all the Authors fairly quoted BUT now I come to the Succession of
Antient Historians only he cites a Scrap in the Margin as he thinks ouâ— of Brompton but it should be Simeon of Durhaâ— for no such thing is to be found in the former Author viz. That Harold quasi just us haeres coepit regnare nec tamen ità potentèr ut Canutus quia justior haeres expectabatur Hardicanutus i. e. as just Heir but yet not so absolutely as Cnute because the juster Heir Sâ—il Hâ—rdecanute was expected which he is pleased to call him because he falsly supposes that none could have a Right to the Crown but one of Queen Emma's Children But this Writer cunningly leaves out the preceding Words with a dash because they make against him which I shall here add 〈◊〉 consentientibus quamplurimis MAJORIBVS natu Aâ—glia quasi Justus haeres c. So that it seems his Right to reign proceeded from the Consent of the Estates of the Kingdom SO that granting as this Author supposes That Hardecnute had been left Heir by his Father King Cnute's Testament yet you see this could only give him a Precedency of being first Proposed and Elected HAROLD dying after a few Years Reign Hardecnute was sent for out of Elanders to succeed him yet this could not be as his Heir being but of the half Blood and his supposed Brother only by his Father's side and therefore Henry of Huntington says expresly that Post Mortem Harolds Hardecnute filius Regis Cnuti illicò susceptus est ELECTVS in Regeni ab Anglis DACIS i. e. After the Death of Harold Hardecnute the Son of King Cnute was presently received and Elected King by the English and Danes HARDECNVTE dying suddenly after about two Years Reign the abovecited Antient Chronicle in the Cottonian Library proceeds to tell us that Mortuo Hardecanuto Eadwardus Annitentibus maximè Comite Godwino Wigornensi Livingo levatar Londoniae in Regem i. e. that Hardecnute being dead Edward by the Assistance chiefly of Earl Godwin and Living Bishop of Worcester was advanced to the Throne at London WILLIAM of Malmesbury words it thus speaking of Earl Godwin Nec mora congregato concilio Londoniae rationibus suis explicitis Regem effecit From whence it appears that by Godwin's means he was made King at a Common-Council of the Kingdom BUT Ingulph is yet more express who says Post ejus Sâ—il Hardecanuti obitum Omnium Electione in Edwardum concordatur maximè cohortante Godwino Comite i. e. that after the Death of Hardecnute it was unanimously agreed upon to Elect Prince Edward Earl Godwin chiefly advising it AND Henry Huntington goes yet a step higher and writes thus Edwardus cum paucis venit in Angliam Electus est in Regem ab omni populo Prince Edward coming into England with but a few Men was Elected King by all the People which is also confirmed by an Antient Manuscript Chronicle of Thomas of Chesterton Canon of Litchfield in the Cottonian Library who under Anno 1042. says thus Edwardus filius Athelredi Regis ab omni Populo in Regem Electus Consecratus est BUT the Doctor very cunningly conceals all this concerning his Election and only gives us a shred out of Guilielmus Gemeticensis in these words Hardecanutus Edwardum totius Regni reliquit haeredem that is left Edward Heir of the whole Kingdom but so far indeed the Doctor is in the Right That he could be no other than a Testamentary Heir there being other Heirs of the Right Line both of Saxon and Danish Blood before him But it may well be doubted whether the Author last mentioned being a Foreigner may not be mistaken if he means the words haeredem reliquit for a Bequest by Will since no English Historian that I know of mentions any such thing and indeed it is highly improbable that this Prince made any Will at all since all Writers agree that he died suddenly at a Drunken Feast in the very Flower of his Age and as it is not likely he made any Will before so it was impossible he could do it at his Death BUT this Election of King Edward farther appears from the mean and abject Carriage which this Prince shewed as you will find William of Malmesbury towards Earl Godwin when he was so far from claiming the Crown that he only desired he would save his Life till the Earl encouraging him put him in hopes of obtaining the Kingdom upon Promise of marrying his Daughter which he would never have done had he had so â—air a Pretence as the last Will of his Brother Hardecnute to recommended him to the favour of the Estates of the Kingdom and if that alone would have done to what purpose should he need afterwards to be Elected THIS is in part acknowledged by the Doctor but to palliate it he will have Godwin a Council being immediately called by his Reason and Rhetorick to make him King it seems then he was to be made so but he dares not say one word of his Election for fear it would betray the Cause which he has so strenuously laboured to advance AND therefore he thinks he has now nothing more to do but to expose and ridicule the Legend of the Abbot of Rievalle in making Edwards the Confessor to be elected King in his Mother's Womb which tho I grant to be as absurd as to drink Prince of Wales his Health before he is born yet the Abbot had certainly no ground for this Story unless he had been sufficiently convinced that this was an Elective Kingdom in the Time of King Ethelred his Father BUT if the Reader desires further Satisfaction concerning the Circumstances of this King's Election I shall refer him to the Antient Annals of the Church of Winchester which I have faithfully transcribed out of the first Volume of Monasticon Anglicanum and inserted into this Volume under Anno 1041. where he will find the whole History of this Prince's Election and Coronation written by a Monk of that Church not long after the Conquest these Annals are also in Manuscript in the Cottonian Library to which I must likewise by the Favour of its honourable Possessor own my self highly obliged for several considerable Remarks in this History of the Succession of our Saxon Kings BUT to draw to a Conclusion upon this Subject King Edward as appears by our Annals in the Year 957 sent over for his Cousin Prince Edward sirnamed the Out-Law Son of King Edmund out of Hungary as Simeon of Durham relates Illum se Regni haeredem constituere that he might appoint him Heir of the Kingdom which had been a very idle Thing had the Kingdom been Hereditary and that it had been his undoubted Right by Proximity of Blood THIS Prince dying soon after his coming over we no where find that King Edward ever offered to do the like for his Cousin Edgar Atheling but on the contrary forgetting his own Family Ingulph tells us that the Year before his Death
Courts I come now to the chiefest next to that of the Great Council of the Kingdom viz. that which was called Curia Domini Regis Because oftentimes as Sir Wil. Dugdale informs us the King himself sate here in Person having several Justices à latere suo residentes as Bracton expresseth it and in his Absence the Ealdorman or Chief Justiciary of all England supplied his Place CONCERNING this Court tho we have not many Memorials left of it before the Conquest yet it was certainly at that Time in Being since it seems to have been then the Great Court of all Appeals as well Criminal as Civil long after the Conquest before the Court of Common-Pleas was taken out of it for here it was that K. Alfred is supposed to have re-heard and examined the false Judgments of his inferior Judges in the Hundred and County-Courts and here it was also that he condemned above forty of them to be executed in one Year for their erroneous Sentences in Matters of Life and Death as you will find in the Mirror of Justices I need say no more of this Great Court whose Power now resides in that of the King's-Bench and Common-Pleas neither the Chancery nor Exchequer having then any Being the former of which commenc'd long after the Conquest and the latter was erected by King William the First I have but two Observations to make concerning our Antient English Saxon Courts of Justice the FIRST of which is that strict Union there then was as well in the Folk-mote and County-Court as in the Hundred-Court between the Ecclesiastical and Civil State in both which the Bishop and the Sheriff sitting together all Causes both Spiritual and Secular were equally and at one time dispatched to the great Ease and Satisfaction of the Subject who were taught by the Bishop in the Folk-mote what was their Duty towards God and the Church as they were by the Ealdorman or Sheriff what Common Laws they were bound to observe in order to their Honest and Peaceable Living one among another a Custom which when reading of Books was not generally in use among the Laiety was absolutely necessary for the acquainting them with their Duty in imitation of which I suppose our Common Charges at Assizes and Sessions are continued to this Day THE SECOND is the great Ease the Subject must needs find in having Justice administred to him in smaller Actions in the Court of Decenary or Tything even at their own Doors or else in Appeals and greater Actions at the Court of the Trihing or Lathe from whence they might remove it to the County-Court and if they thought themselves aggrieved there then they might bring it before the King himself or his chief Justiciary in the Great Court abovementioned An Admirable and an Excellent Constitution this whilst the Laws of England were few easy and plain before the Partiality and Corruption of Countrey Juries came in and the bandying and Factions of Rich and Powerful Men in the Countrey against each other together with the vast varieties of Determinations of Cases in Law had rendered those inferior Courts not only perplexed but unsafe and vexatious to the Subject I come now to the Supream Court of the whole Kingdom called in Saxon the Wittena-Gemot or Mycel-Synoth in Latin Magnum or Commune Concilium Regni the Great or Common-Council of the Kingdom consisting of the King and the three Estates which we now call our Parliament which Court the Author of the Mirror of Justices expresly tells us That King Alfred ordained for a perpetual Custom that twice in the Year or oftner in Time of Peace if Business so required they should assemble at London to treat of the good Government of God's People and how Folks should be restrained from Offending and live in Quiet and should receive Right by certain Antient Usages and Judgments c. From whence you may observe that in this Author's Time viz. that of Edward I. it was held for Law That the great Council of the Kingdom antiently met of Course twice in the Year without any express Summons from the King and this it seems was afterwards altered to thrice in the Year viz. at the three great Feasts of Christmass Easter and Whitsontide when the King met his Estates with great Solemnity wearing his Crown upon all solemn Days of Entertainment and when the Feasting was over they fell to dispatch the publick Affairs as Sir H. Spelman well observes THESE stated Councils which were then held ex More as our Historians term it i. e. according to antient Custom continued long after the Conquest as shall be farther shewn hereafter but if this Council happened to meet at any other extraordinary Time then the King 's special Summons was requisite as you may find in Ingulf under Anno Dom. 948. where he tells us King Edred summoned the Arch-bishops Bishops and all the Proceres and Optimates i. e. Chief Men of the Kingdom to meet him at London at the Purification of the Virgin Mary Whence we may observe that this Summons was thus issued because this Council was extraordinary as not being held ex more at any of the usual great Feasts abovementioned CONCERNING the Original of this great Assembly since Sir Robert Filmer in all his Works and particularly in his Patriarcha and Dr. Johnston in his Excellency of Monarchical Government Would have this as well as all our other Liberties and Privileges to have been only Royal Abatements of Power and gracious Indulgences and Condescensions of our Kings for the Benefit and Security of the Subject who were pleased to condescend to call some Persons of each of the three Estates it being left to their Discretion whom to summon and whom not and tho many of our Kings have made use of such great Assemblies to consult about important Affairs of State and by their Consent and Approbation to make Laws as well as at their Prayers and Petitions to redress their just Grievances yet they owed their being to our first Monarchs since till about the time of the Conquest there could be no General Assembly of the Estates of the whole Kingdom because till those Times we cannot learn it was entirely united into one but it was either divided into several Kingdoms or governed by several Laws I confess this looks at first like a specious Hypothesis and may serve perhaps to prevail upon some ignorant and unwary Readers who will not or cannot give themselves the trouble of searching to the Bottom to find out the Truth of things But I desire the Favour of those who believe and maintain this Opinion to answer me these few Queries FIRST How it came to pass that in all the Kingdoms of Europe erected out of the Ruines of the Roman Empire as well as those that were not but yet had been constituted according to the same Gothick Model the like General or Great Council of Estates consisting of the same Degrees
this Charter not only by the Consent but by the Decree of the Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots Earls and all his other faithful Subjects which word in the Latin Fideles tho Dr. Brady understands it only of Military Tenants in Capite yet I doubt not but it is there to be taken in a much larger sense and must comprehend all the lesser Thanes or Freeholders above-mentioned as also the Deputies or Representatives of Cities and Towns of which Fideles Sir Henry Spleman understands omnes qui in Principis alicujus ditione sunt vulgò subjecti Hi sunt qui in Historiis dicuntur Fideles Regis And also in the same sense it is to be understood in the Oath of Fidelity taken antiently in the Court-Leets as the same Author shews us Tu J. S. jurabis quod ab ista die in anteà eris Fidelis Legalis Domino nostro Regi suis Haeredibus Fidelitatem Legalitatem ei portabis de vita membro de Terreno honore quod tu eorum Malum aut Damnum nec noveris nec audiveris quod non defendes id est prohibes pro posse tuo c. AND tho I grant this word Fideles is after the Conquest frequently used for a Military Tenant or Vassal yet does it likewise even then often extend further than to Tenants in Capite only as I am able to prove from the very Authorities he gives us in his own Glossary under the Title Fideles were it now worth while to dispute that Point But in the mean time it lies upon him to make out that the Fidelium Multitudo mentioned in King Athelwolf's Charter abovecited and the Omnium Fidelium in these were no other than his Tenants in Capite which when ever he does to make use of his own Phrase Erit mihi Magnus Apollo I could also give you some Instances to the same Effect out of the Saxon Annals under the Years 994 and 1002. in both which it is said expresly THA GAEREDDE SE KYNG AND HIS WIT AN that is it was Decreed by the King and his Wites or Wisemen to make Peace with the Danes and to raise a Tax for that end SO that to conclude I think this Dispute about the King's Authority in making of Laws may easily be reconciled to that which the two Houses of Parliament now exercise that is the King makes the Laws yet by and with the Assent of the Lords and Commons as is declared in the Year-Book of Edward the Third And if such their Assent be absolutely necessary can any Man in reason deny their Authority to be Essential in the making of these Laws AND therefore Bracton understood well enough what he wrote when he tells us Cam Legis Vigorem habeat Quicquid de Consilio Consensu Magnatum Reipublicae Communi sponsione Authoritate Principis praecedente jaste fuerit Definitum Approbatum i. e. That whatsoever hath been rightly decreed and approved of by the Advice and Consent of the Chief Men and the General Agreement of the Common-Wealth the Prince's Authority preceding carries thenceforth the Force of a Law WHEREBY it appears that in this Great Man's Time the King gave his Consent to Laws first by ordering them to be drawn up by his Council and proposed to the Parliament when they met and that it was in their Power either to accept or refuse them as we see it is in Charters and Acts of Pardon at this Day when they are Passed and Confirmed by both Houses and for this see the Preface to the Statute of Westminster the Third AS for the Judicial Power of this Witena-Gemote in Banishing great and notorious Offenders against the King and Kingdom whose Crimes were either not directly Treason according to the strict Letter of the Law or else their Persons being too great for any other less Court of Judicature you may find divers Examples in our Annals and Historians viz. under the Years 1048 1052 1055. But I do not find any great Lord or Nobleman condemned to Death or attainted by Authority of this Council till long after the Conquest HAVING now shewn the Antient Authority of the Estates of the Kingdom to have been always necessary and concurrent I do not say co-ordinate with that of the King and also what other Powers they constantly then used in the next Place I come to observe the near Conjunction and Union of both Church and State in their Mycel-Synods or Witena-Gemotes which lets us see what kind of Supremacy our English-Saxon Kings then exercised in Church Matters as also who they were that at that Time made Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Laws and I shall give it you in the Words of a very Learned Lawyer lately deceased I mean Mr. Joseph Washington since I own I am not able to mend what hath been wrote by so excellent a Pen his words are these IN the second Place for in the precedent Pages he had given some Instances before the entry of the Saxons which being not to my present Design I omit to make appear in some Measure how the Law stood in those Times with respect to the King's Supremacy I will exhibit says he a very few Instances of the Saxon Times during the Heptarchy The Reader may consult many more at his Leisure NO marvel if we find this People submitting to nothing in Religion but what was ordained by themselves De Majoribus Omnes was one of their Fundamental Constitutions before they came hither and it is continued here to this Day And Matters of Religion were amongst their Majora even before they received Christianity ACCORDINGLY Edwin King of Northamberland habito cum Sapientibus Consilio renounced his Paganism and he and they embraced the Christian Faith This is described in Bede and Huntington to have been done in such an Assembly of Men as the Parliaments of those Days are generally mentioned to consist of AFTER the Christian Religion had spread among the Saxons the Bishops and Clergy frequently held Synods without the Laity for Church-Visitation and made Constitutions for the Regulation of the Clergy which they obeyed and submitted to by reason of their Oath of Canonical Obedience but as nothing transacted in those Assemblies of the Clergy bound the People so can no Instance be produced of the Clergy's being bound by any Act of the King not assented to in the Provincial Synods of those Times THESE Synods may easily be distinguished from our Mycel-Synods or Witena-Gemotes not only by the Matters transacted in them but by the Persons that therein presided and subscribed them viz. the Pope's Legate or else the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury or York and the Bishops Abbots c. without the Names of any Temporal Persons present thereat when they were meer Ecclesiastical Synods but if they were mixt as well for Temporal as Ecclesiastical Matters both the King and Arch-Bishop are said to preside otherwise the King alone and before the Union of the
Alba then King of Italy to be provided with Husbands because he had heard that the Sabines would not give their Daughters in Marriage to the Latins which is so very ridiculous that it needs no Confutation This Prince dying after he had reign'd about Forty Years left the Kingdom to Brute Sir-named Greenshield from the colour of his Target he revenged those Indignities which had been put upon his Father by Brunchild Prince of Hannonia or Hainault Conquering him near the banks of the Scaldis i. e. the Scheld but the modern names of Hainault and Brunchild sufficiently betray the Novelty of this Fable He hath the Character of an Excellent Prince Just Merciful and a most exact observer of his Word and reigned Twelve Years to whom succeeded Leil his Son who built the City of Carlisle in the Days of Solomon after called by the Romans Lugubalia and did also repair Caerleon now called Chester he was a good Prince till the latter end of his days when falling into several Vices he occasioned great dissentions in the Kingdom which did not end with his life but after he had reigned Twenty five Years left the Kingdom to Rudhudibras or Hudibras who compos'd the disturbances begun in his Fathers days and studying nothing more than to strengthen and adorn his Kingdom built several Cities as Caerkin now Canterbury likewise Caer Guent now Winchester as also Mount Paladur after Septonia or Shaftsbury and having reigned Twenty nine Years was succeeded by Bladud his Son who is said to have been skill'd in Magick and thereby to have found out those Medicinal Waters now called the Bath where he also built a City called Caer Baden he is said to be a Man of a good Invention and having made himself Wings to flye fell down from the Temple of Apollo in Trinovant and broke his Neck having governed Britain Twenty Years To him succeeded Leir his Son who built Caer Leir now called Leicester He had only Three Daughters Gonnilla Râ—gana and Cordiella his darling but in his old Age being jealous of their Affections he called them before him and demanded that they would give him some assurance of their Love the two Eldest called Heaven and Earth to witness that they loved him Ten thousand times dearer than their own Souls and that they were not able to Express their infinite kindness for him and at last concluded their flatteries with horrid Oaths and asseverations of their Sincerity but Cordiella the Youngest though having before her Eyes the present reward of an easie flattery yet could not be moved from giving him this downright honest Answer Father saith she my Love toward you is as my Duty bids What should a Father seek What can a Child promise more They who pretend beyond this flatter This short Answer not at all satisfied the old suspicious King for he shewed his resentments by his neglect of her and the suddain advancement of her Sisters Marrying Regana to the Duke of Cornwall and Gonarilla to the Duke of Albania reserving no portion at all for Cordiella but it so happen'd that Aganippus a Prince of Gaul however he came by this Greek Name hearing of her Vertue and Beauty desired her in Marriage to whom she was welcome without any other Dower but her own Vertues King Leir having thus disposed of his two Eldest Daughters and dividing half his Kingdom between them they within some time by their subtile practices work him out of all so that he was forced to sojourn with his Daughters by turns who being set on by their Husbands put so many affronts and Indignities upon him needless here to be recited that in the end he was constrained to leave the Realm and take refuge with Cordiella This rejected Daughter received him with all the Duty and Affection imaginable and then appeared the difference between the down-right Love of some Children to their Parents and the over talkative obsequiousness of others while the hopes of a large Inheritance obliges their Tongues to Express more Duty than ever they mean to perform but what was more significant than Words she assisted her Father with powerful aids and in Person went to revenge his wrongs So that bringing a great Army into Britain she destroyed his Enemies and restored him to his Crown which he held but for the space of Two Years whose Reign in all is computed to be about Forty Years and then dying left the Throne to Cordilla who Governed the Kingdom for Five Years but in the mean time her Husband Aganippus dying Morgan and Cunedage her Nephews by her Sisters Gonorilla and Regana disdaining to be under the Government of a Woman rebelled against her and so prevailed that they took her Prisoner but she being a Woman of a high Spirit slew her self rather than to live under their Tyranny Whereupon Cunedage and Morgan possessing the whole Government divided the Island between them to Morgan fell Albania to Cunedage all the Land on this side Humber Morgan not being content with his Portion Invaded his Brother but being driven by him into Wales and there Slain gave the Name of Glan-Morgan to that Country Cunedage now Ruling alone built many Temples to his Gods and dying was buried at Trinovant after he had Ruled Thirty three Years to whom succeeded Rivallo the Son of Cunedage in his time it rain'd Blood for Three Days together from whose Putrefaction Noisom and Venemous Flies were bred which in Swarms infested the whole Land and brought great Contagion both upon Men and Beasts He after he had Ruled Forty six Years was succeeded by Gurgust his Son of whom nothing is recorded worth mentioning he is said to have Reign'd Thirty seven Years Nor is there more left of Jago his Nephew Nor yet of Sillius or Sicillius thô how related to the former is not said But to him after Forty nine Years Reign succeeded Kâ—nemare said to be Brother of Jago of whom there is nothing Recorded but that he was Buried at York To whom succeeded Gorâ—odug the Son of Kinemare he is noted for Tyranny But dying he left behind him two Sons Ferrex and Porrex who Reigning joyntly at first did within a few Years begin to contend who should have the whole Kingdom in which Contention after a great Battle Fought between them Ferrex was Slain whose Death affected his Mother with so great a Grief that transported by Revenge she by the help of her Maidens Slew her other Son Porrex whilst he was a Sleep an unheard of Example and too strange to be true After his Death the Blood Royal of Brute being extinguished by his Death there happned cruel Wars so that the Kingdom was rent into five parts one Pinnor made himself King of Loegria or England Stator seized Albania Rudock Cambria and Cloten Cornwall But as to the fifth division the Story is silent this Pentarchie is supposed to have lasted above Fifty Years the Kingdom in the mean time being miserably harrassed by Civil Wars until Dunwallo Molmutius Son
of Cloten King of Cornwall excelling in Valour and Comliness of Person by subduing the other four Princes reduced the whole Island again into a Monarchy and is said to be the First in Britain that wore a Crown of Gold and therefore by some reputed the first King But what he got by Force he managed with great Prudence and Moderation Enacting several excellent Laws which Geoffrey says were translated into Latin by Gildas and in Saxon afterwards by King Alfred But since no such work of his is any where extant I shall not give them so much Credit as to recite them though Mr. Selden hath not thought them unworthy of a place in his learned Treatise called Janus Anglorum But this King after he had governed Forty Years died and was buried at Tâ—inovant to whom succeeded his two Sons Belinus and Brennus who after some Controversies divided the Kingdom between them Brennus being to have all that lay North of Humber and Bâ—linus the rest but the Younger being not long so contented did upon new designs Sail into Norway and enter into a League with Elsing King of that Country and Married his Daughter which Belinus hearing of did in his absence dispossess him of his Kingdom Brennus with a Fleet of Norwegians makes toward Britain but is encounter'd by Guithlac a Danish King who laying claim to his Bride pursued him at Sea and being there vanquish'd in a Fight was forced to get away with a few Ships but Brennus nevertheless recollecting his shattered Navy landed in Albania and gave Battle to his Brother who totally routed him and forced him to fly into Gaul with no more than one single Vessel But Belinus being now rid of his Brother turns his Thoughts to Arts of Peace and amongst other things they reckon his making the Four great Ways or Streets which are still to be seen to run cross the Kingdom which they will have him and not the Romans to have first laid Brennus in the mean while having been kindly received by Seguinus King of Armorica now Britagn in France and having Married his Daughter was by him assisted with a powerful Army to regain his Kingdom and Landing in Britain was now ready to give Battel to his Brother when their Mother Conwenna mediated between them and so perswaded them that embracing each other they were perfectly reconciled so that going to Trinovant they resolved to turn their united Forces on Foreign Parts and then Sailing into Gaul the Author tells us that under these two not only all that Country but also Italy was Conquered as you may find in the Roman Authors If those were Britains and not Gauls which took Rome which is not worth our while to Dispute Some say that Belinus went not into Gaul with his Brother or if he did that he soon returned After which he made it his Business to adorn his Kingdom Building some Cities of which Caer-Uske now Caer-Leon upon Uske was one and he also adorn'd Trinovant with a Gate called to this Day Belin's Gate having a Tower on the Top of it at the Foot of which he made a Harbour for Ships He is also said to be the first Founder of the Tower of London After he had Reigned Twenty-six Years died and his Body being burnt on a Funeral Pile his Ashes were put in a golden Urn and placed on the Top of the Tower that he himself had Built Gurguint Sirnamed Brabtruc his Son succeeded him in whose Reign the Danes refused the Payment of the Tribute which had bin imposed by Belinus when their King Guithlac being driven by force of Weather upon the Coast of Northumberland was made a Prisoner nor could be set free without an Engagement to pay Tribute for himself and Successors which being now denied Gurguint now Sailed into Denmark and by force of Arms obliged the Danes to renew their Treaty and received Homage of their King and Chief Nobility and then Embarqued again for Britain In his return he met with a Fleet of Thirty Sail about the Isle of Orkeney these he encountred and having taken their Captain Bartholain he demanded of him what he was and the Reason of his coming into those Parts Bartholain answered that he and his Followers were named Balences being banished from Spain their Country with their Wives and Children and thereupon had put to Sea to seek out new Habitations whereupon it is said this King assigned them Ireland being a Place not then Peopled This King is supposed to have Built Caer-Werith or Lancaster Caer-Peris or Portchester in Hampshire and Caer-Gaurvie now Warwick where he was buried after he had Reigned Nineteen Years to whom succeeded Guintelin his Son he was a Prince Learned Prudent and of singular Justice and Moderation he is said to have had a Wife of as great Vertue named Martia to whom Geoffrey falsly Attributes the making of the Laws called Merceuenlage which was indeed so called not from her but but from the Mercians by whose Kings they were first enacted This King is also said to have Reigned Twenty-six Years and was succeeded by Sicilius the II. his Son being about Seven Years of Age but under the Government of his Mother Martia he is supposed to have Reign'd Fifteen Years Seven under the Tuition of his Mother and Eight after his full Age and having given all the Signs of a hopeful Prince he was suddenly snatched away by Death and then the Crown fell to Kimarus the Son of Sicilius but he being of a wild and ungovernable Temper and wholly given up to all manner of Exorbitances was killed in the Woods in pursuit after his Game some say by an Ambush others by wild Beasts He Reigned but three Years then Elanius or Danius his Brother succeeded This King was not Inferior to his Predecessor in Wickedness of Life insomuch that some make them the same Person so exactly did these two Princes correspond in their Vices He held the Scepter about Ten Years the succeeded his Son Morvidus or Morindus by a Concubine a Man of great strength and Comeliness as to the Qualities of his Mind he was Liberal but withal exceeding Passionate In his Days the Moriani or rather Morini a People of Gaul Landing in Northumberland with Fire and Sword wasted that Country which Morindus hearing of with all Expedition gathered his Forces and with long and wearifom Marches made up to them and in one Baâ—tel utterly defeated them and then put all the Prisoners to Death with exquisite Torments but not long after hearing of an hideous Monster which coming out of the Irish Sea seized and devoured many that lived near the Shore The King beholding the lamentable Destruction of his Subjects fought the Monster himself the Contest held for a while doubtful but at last the Monster prevailed and devoured the King This is said to have happened in the Ninth Year of his Reign to whom succeeded Gorbonian his eldest Son a religious Prince which he evidenced to the World by repairing decay'd Temples
speak with him in private he then seemed more suspicious and having examin'd them by Torture forced them to confess the whole design and then having punished these Conspirators he immediately declared War against Severus and took upon him the Titles of Emperour and Augustus Which as soon as Severus heard he was extreamly incensed and thought it not fit any longer to conceal his Anger but having made a sharp Oration to his Army against Albinus and which was received with great Acclamations he presently began his Expedition against him who to defend himself with the flower of Britain entred Gaul and marching as far as Lyons he and Severus there met at the head of their Armies when the Battle being joyned Albinus had at first the better the British Souldiers not yielding to the Illyrians either in strength or courage so that part of the Army which Severus Commanded being routed he himself was knocked down from his Horse and casting away his Purple Robe was for some time supposed to be slain when Laetus Severus Lieutenant General supposing him to have been killed came in with fresh Forces with an intention to gain the Victory for himself for which treachery he was afterwards by Severus put to Death However at present by his assistance he won the Victory and put his Enemies to flight pursuing and killing them with great slaughter whereupon the City of Lyons being taken Albinus was forced to fly from thence but being pursu'd by Severus's Souldiers and driven into a House near the River Rhosne was there forced to run himself through with his own Sword or as others relate caused one of his Servants to do that office for him but however he was taken and brought to Severus before he was quite dead who quickly dispatched him and cutting of his head sent it to Rome to be set over the place of publick Execution but he let the Body lye before the Praetorium till it stunk and was devoured by Dogs A mean revenge for so great an Emperour to take upon so Valiant a Person But now Sevâ—rus having by this Victory obtained the whole Roman Empire and finding that Britain was a Province too great and powerful to be trusted in the hands of one Man he divided it into two Governments committing the North part thereof to Virius Lupus as Pâ—opraetor and Lieutenant whom Ulpian nameth President of Britain and to Heraclitus the Southern parts as Mr. Speed gathereth by a Coyne of Severus Minted in his Second Consul-ship which fell in the Year of our Lord 198 from whence it appears that after the Death of Albinus Britain was not reduced under the subjection of Severus until he had won it by the Sword the memory of which he left to posterity in this Medal wherein is the Goddess of Victory represented as sitting upon spoils with this Inscription Victoria Britanniae but this Victory must have been then won by his Lieutenant and not by himself But Virius Lupus who had the Government of the Northern parts was forced to buy Peace of the Meatae aâ— a great rate because the Caledonians who had promised to check the Incursions of the Meatae had not performed that Article of their Agreement This Author likewise tells us that the former of these Nations lived next the Wall that divided the South of the Island from the North so that Lupus finding himself unable alone to curb their Inroads after great losses suffered from them sent for Severus but he being at that time taken up with other Wars Lupus was forced to buy this Peace of the Meatae as we have said only some Roman Prisoners were then set free The Memory of this Virius Lupus is preserved in an Altar dug up dedicated to the Goddess Fortune upon the occasion of his repairing a Bath or Hot house at a Town called Levatriae now Bows upon Stanmoor in Richmond shire This was done for the sake of the Thracian Cohorts who lay there in Garison with the Romans But Lupus hearing that Severus had at last put an end to his other Wars he wrote him plainly the state of things here that the Britains of the North made War upon him broke into the Province and harrassed all the Countries nigh them that there needed suddenly either more aid or himself to come in person Severus was not much displeased at this news being in his own nature greedy of Glory and being also desirous after so many Victories in the East to raise also new trophies for the Britains and besides he thought at best to withdraw his Two Sons from the pleasures of Rome and inure the Young Men to hardship and Military Discipline So this Emperour though Old and much troubled with the Gout yet with as great Courage as any Young Man made this expedition into Britain and taking his Journey for the most part in a Litter staid long in no place so that having finished his Journey by Land and having crossed the Sea sooner than could be expected he entred Britain and having Muster'd his Soldiers and brought great Forces together he prepared for War But the Northern Britains daunted with the Report of so great Forces brought over with him and that more were preparing sent Ambassadours to treat of Peace and to excuse their former doings The Emperour now loath to return home without some memorable Action whereby he might assume to his other Titles the addition of Britannicus delay'd his Answer but quickens his preparations till in the end when all things were in a readiness to follow them they were dismissed without effect when he arrived his principal care was to have many Bridges and Causeways laid over Bogs and Moors that his Souldiers might fight on firm ground for many parts of Britain were at that time over run with Bogs and Marshes as Ireland was some Years ago now the Britains used to wade through these Marshes up to the middle not valuing it because they went naked But Severus prepared all things which might be of any use for the Souldiers or a damage to the Britains And when he found all were ready to his Mind having his Younger Son Geta to govern the more Southern part of the Island by the help of Papinian the great Lawyer taking his Eldest Son Bassianus along with himself he marched against the Britains and having passed the Wall that divided their Territories there only happen'd some tumultuary Skirmishes in which thô the Romans were still Conquerours yet the Britains found an easie retreat by hiding themselves in the Woods and Bogs which were well known to them which contributed very much to prolong the War Yet did not Severus desist till he had passed to the very farthest part of the Island and had compell'd the Enemies to make Peace upon this Condition That they should give up great part of their Territory although he lost in this Expedition by the sudden Assaults and Ambushes of the Britains as well as by Diseases near
Son were made Emperors by the Army in Africa but being in a â—hort time both made away Pupienus Maximus and Clodius Balbinus were both together elected Emperors by the Senate and were both slain by the Praetorian Bands during whose short continuance in Power we find not the least Remembrance of them in our Island These two before their Deaths adopted M. Anton. Gordianus the Grand-son of Gordian the Elder who was also elected Emperor by the Praetorian Bands by whom though we find nothing done in Britain yet that he had an Army here under the Command of Nonnius Phillipus his Lieutenant appears by an Altar-Stone found in Cumberland at a place then called Castra Exploratorum with a votive Inscription for the Health of this Emperor Marcus Julius Phillipus an Arabian having deposed and murthered Gordian succeeded in the Empire but was himself also made away by his Army He is said by Eusebius Orosius and other Authors to have been the first Christian Emperor but this hath been confuted and sufficiently exploded by Scaliger and other learned Men. His Memory is preserved in Britain by an Inscription upon a Pyramidal Stone dug out of the Earth not far from Carlifle which is dedicated to this Emperor as also to his Son Philip then Caesar. I shall here omit two other Emperors which are mentioned by Zozimus to have reigned at the same time with this Philip one in the East and the other in Panonia And shall pass on to Quintus Trujanus Decius who was elected Emperor by the Persian Legions He was a great Enemy of the Christians and raised the Seventh Persecution against them but having seen his Son Decius whom he had made his Associate in the Empire slain by the Goths with whom he fought being betray'd by Hostilian his General in his Flight he fell into a Bog or whirle Pool To whom succeeded Trebonianus Gallus Hostilianus who had betrayed him into that ruin but he being in a short time depos'd and slain by the same Soldiers that had advanced him to the Imperial Throne Then Aemilianus succeeded him but enjoyed the Imperial Throne but three months and then the Legions near the Alps created Publius Licinius Valerianus Emperour who being taken Prisoner in a Battel against Sapores King of Persia for 7 Years lived in a most miserable Captivity being made the Foot-stool of that Tyrant till at last by being flead alive he died But before his Death Publius Licinius Galienus his Son Governed in his stead his elder Brother of the same Name who had been Associate in the Empire with his Father being dead long before this Galienus being given up to Lust Gluttony and Riot and careless of the common Danger and through a haughty Ignorance unapprehensive of his own met with that Fate which commonly attends such Princes So that in his time the Empire was on all sides invaded by the barbarous Nations bordering upon it and had been utterly ruined through his careless Neglect had not divers Generals in several places undertaken the Defence of it they were near Thirty together who all assumed the Imperial Purple and are call'd by Historians the Thirty Tyrants Six of them namely Lollianus Victorianus Posthumus the two Tetrici Father and Son with Marius are conjectured to have ruled in this Island as appeareth by many of their Coins found in England but especially about Colchester whence Porphirius the Philosopher who lived in those Times said That Britain was a Soil fruitful of Tyrants Gallienus being slain by the Treachery of three of his own Captains Mar. Aurel. Flau. Claudius was chosen Emperor in his stead who having performed several great Actions and intending to reduce the Roman Empire again under one Head died suddenly as he was making Preparations against Tetricus who then held the Western Provinces together with Britain To whom succeeded L. Domitius Aurelianus who being chosen Emperor by the Souldiers and confirmed by the Senate set himself immediately to reduce the Empire again under one Head a Work wherein Claudius his Predecessor had been prevented by Death which was at last worthily performed by this Emperor for Tetricus who ruled in Gaul and Britain by the Terror of his Arms being brought to submit himself was led in Triumph through Rome Aurelian was afterwards killed by Mnesttheus his Secretary This Emperor raised the Ninth Persecution against the Christians After him M. Claudius Tacitus descended from Tacitus the Historian was elected Emperor by the Senate and Army though much against his Will He reigned but Six Months and died of a Fever but before his Death he adopted M. Aurelius Valer. Probus who succeeded him in whose Reign Bonosus the Son of a Pretorian Souldier bred in Spain though by Descent a Britain and a matchless Drinker not so much to be blamed if as they write he were still wisest in his Cups having attained by the course of War to great military Honours thô at last in his Charge over the German Navy having willingly as was thought suffered the Ships to be burnt trusting on his Interest with the Western Legions he joined with one Proculus and seizing upon Spain Gaul and Britain made himself as Emperor for a time but after a long and bloody Fight near Collen being vanquished by Probus he hang'd himself and gave occasion of that sharp Epitaph made upon him for his great Drinking Here hangs a Tankard After this Probus prevented a new Rebellion in Britain by the severe Loyalty of Victorinus a Moor one of his Ministers at whose Recommendation he had placed a Lieutenant here whom Mr. Camden supposes to have been Cornelius Lallianus since his Coins are found in this Island but in no other Countrey who rebelled and set up for Emperor but Probus upbraiding Victorinus with the Disloyalty of him whom he had recommended he undertook to rectifie this Mistake so hastning over hither and finding the Governor in actual Rebellion by some Contrivance not mentioned by our Historians he privately in the Night found means to kill him Eutropius also relates that Probus was the first Emperor who gave leave to the Spaniards Gauls and Britains to plant Vines and to make Wine But he having subdued the Vandals and Burgundians in a great Battel sent over many of them to inhabit in Britain where they did good Service to the Roman Empire when any Insurrection hapned in this Isle They are supposed to have had their Camp upon those Hills near Cambridge commonly called Gogmagog-Hills where on the top of a Hill may be seen at this day a Plain encompassed round with Trenches of a large Circumference with only one Entrance But though this Emperor well deserved the Name of Probus yet could he not avoid the Fate of his Predecessors being slain by his own Army the occasion whereof was that worthy Saying of his That in a short time he hoped to bring it to
Geoffery for it Though indeed Archbishop Usher proves it not to have been he but one of as little Credit viz. the Author of the Acts of King Lucius However this is the only Authority for this Legend thô the Bones of these Virgins are pretended to be shown at Cologne to this day After the Death of Maximus Valentinian II. was again restor'd to the Empire of the West by Theodosius though he held it not long Eugenius being set up against him by Arbogastes his chief Comes or General and by whom this Young unfortunate Emperor was afterwards strangled at Vienne in Gallia but Eugenius was soon overcome by Theodosius and put to Death as he deserv'd and Arbogastes made himself away upon which Theodosius took the whole Empire to himself both of East and West thô after this we find little mention made of the Affairs of Britain more than that during this Emperour's Reign this Isle having been so lately bereft of its choicest Men by Maximus had for some time lain open to the Incursions of the Picts and Scots who took this opportunity to invade it so that Chrysanthius the Son of Marcian a Novation Bishop is supposed to have been sent over about this time by Theodosius as his Lieutenant to suppress them and governing with great reputation he did very much settle and restore this Island but not long after this Emperour dyed unexpectedly in the prime of his Years leaving the Eastern Empire to his Eldest Son Arcadius and the Western to his Second Son Honorius during whose Minority Stilico was appointed for his Governour a Man of great Reputation having been an intimate Councellour to his Father and after his Death defended Britain and is supposed by some to have sent a Legion over hither under the command of Victorinus to repress the incursions of the Scots and Picts in the beginning of Honorâ—ius's Reign as appears from Claudian the Poet's Panegyrick upon Stilico's first Consulship where he introduceth Britain thus speaking in his praise Me quoque vicinis pereuntem gentibus inquit Munivit Stilico totam quum Scotus Iernem Movit infesto spumavit remige Tethys Illius effectum curis ne bella timerem Scotica ne Pictum tremerem nec littore toto Prospiscerem dubiis venientem Saxona ventis Me to ill Neighbours long a Prey exposed With safety now hath Stilico inclosed Whil'st the fierce Scots the Irish shoar Alarms And with these Vermin all the Ocean swarms 'T is through his Care no longer Wars I fear The Scots and Picts alike now dreadless are No longer on the Coasts I quivering stand Nor fear a Fleet of Saxons on the Strand From which words totam quum Scotus Iernem movit c. divers of our English Antiquaries have inferr'd that the Scots were not at this time planted in Britain since tota Ierne here mentioned seems too large a place for one single Province viz. Strathern in Scotland which the Scotish writers will have to be understood by the word Ierne nor is that Province or the River that gives name to it called Ierne in any Ancient Author But this is a Controversie which I shall not take upon me to decide being beyond the bounds of our History However this seems much more certain That about this time according to the most Ancient Scotish Historians now extant the Scots returned again into Britain For the Scots says Fordun in his Scotichron now made a strict Alliance with the Picts in order to the recovering their Country since as they relate Maximus had made use of the Picts to drive the Scots out of Britain and had put also Garisons among the Picts to keep them under so that upon this agreement Anno Dom. 403 in the Sixth Year of Arcadius and Honorius Fergus the Son of Erk the Son of Ethodius Brother of that Eugenius who was driven out by Maximus came with his Two Brothers Loarnus and Cenegus in all probability Loarn and Aengus being the names the Irish Annals give to the Brothers of this Fergus bringing great supplies of the Scots from Ireland and Norway whither they had been driven by the Romans and then the Picts to prevent all suspicion of Treachery surrender'd up many of their Forts and strong places to Fergus Who thus became King of that part of Scotland called anciently Albany North-west of the Mountains of Braid-Albain though the same Author confesseth it doth not appear whither he obtained these places by the Sword or by any other right since none of his Predecessours had any power there before but the Picts and Scots being thus united their first work was to drive out the Romans and Britains from their Country and then to Invade the Roman Province which was at that time left destitute of any defence And so by their incursions they either killed the Common People or made them Slaves From which supposed return of Fergus with his Scots Jo. Fordun begins to date the certain Years of their Kings Reigns for before that time he confesses he had not found them any where set down so that it seems he either had not so good Intelligence or else not so good an Invention as Hector Boethius who hath given us the Succession of Forty Five Scotish Kings Reigning in Britain before this Fergus together with the Years of their Reigns and the exact time when they began and this he says he had from the writings of Uteremundus a Spanish Priest who is reported by him to have writ the History of Scotland as also from one Cornelius Hybernicus Authours whom none but himself have seen as I can yet hear of But in a certain old Latin Manuscript cited in Camden's Britannia in Scotland this Action of Fergus is thus related Fergus the Son of Eric was the first of the Seed of Chonare that enter'd upon the Kingdom of Albany from Brun Albin or Drum Albin that is the Ridge of Scotland to the Irish Sea and Inch-Gal and that after him the Kings of the Race of Fergus Reigned in Brun Albin or Brunhere unto Alpinus the Son of Eochal So that according to this Author the Antient Scotish Kingdom of Albany reach'd from the farthest ridge of Mountains called Braid Albain all along those Countries of Argile and Loghquhaber c. now called the Western Highlands And from whence the Genuine Scots still call all Scotland Albin pâ—rhaps from the Ancient Name of Albion once given to the whole Island But to return to our History from whence we have made too long a digression it must be confessed that the History of this Island is very obscure and uncertain especially in point of time when things were done from the Death of Maximus to the coming in of the Saxons for Gildas and Nennius either being wholly ignorant of the Emperours that Rul'd here from that time to the Reign of Vortigern suppose the Britains to have from that very time cast off all Subjection to the Roman Empire which is
places of his History he plainly shews that by the Wall of Severus he meant that which is now called the Picts Wall which began from the River Tyne but since the Passages in which he shews this to have been his meaning are too long here to be set down I have put them in the Margin for which the Reader may consult the Author if he pleases So that Bede is only mistaken in this that being deceived with the equivocal use of the words Murus and Vallum which as Arch-Bishop Usher very well proves were used promiscuously in Roman Authors either for a Trench or a Wall when he supposes that of Severus to have been no more than a Vallum or Trench cast up of Earth and Turfs whereas it was indeed a Wall of solid Stone as hath been already shewn nor does the Arch-Bishop think this Author less mistaken in supposing the first Wall of Turfs to have been in Scotland but this last of Stone to have been in England whereas it was not at all likely as the Arch-Bishop very well observes that the Britains should have retreated above 100 Miles backward and have quitted so great an extent of Ground as lies between the two Walls if it could have been as easily maintained and fortified as the other much more when it was so much easier to be done the space between the two Rivers Tine and Esk being above thrice as large as that between the two Friths above-mentioned had they not found that they could not keep those Countries and therefore were resolved to give those Nations that invaded them as much Elbow room as possible so that they might have no occasion to invade their Territories But to return to our History from which I hope we have not made too long a Digression since it hath served not only to confute a Mistake in so eelebrated an Historian as Buchanan but also to settle so considerable a Point in Antiquity I suppose it was to this second departure of the Roman Legions that Claudian designed these Verses in his Poem De Bello Getico when describing the Forces which were mustered together for that VVar to the General Rendezvous he also mentions who came from this Island Venit extremis Legio praetenta Britannis Quae Scoto dat frena truci ferroque notatis Perlegit exangues Picto moriente figuras Hither the Legion too from Britain came VVhich curbs the Scots and does fierce Nations tame VVho whilst the painted Picts expiring lie Surveys those bloodless Figures as they die But before I dismiss the History of these Affairs give me leave to take notice of a great Errour in Hector Boetius and Buchanan as concerning this last VVar between the Romans and the Britains where in the Year of our Lord 403 he does not only make one Maximinian to have then commanded the Roman Legion last mentioned but also to have fought against Fergus King of the Scots and Durstus King of the Picts together with one Dionethius a Britain whom against all Reason and Probability he makes to have brought them Aids against his own Country-men and a Fight ensuing that the Scots were repelled and yet that this Maximinian having but few Souldiers then in his Army was forced to retreat into the inland parts of his Province whilst Dionethius made himself King of the Britains without any Subjects to make him so but that Maximinian being vexed at this Disgrace reinforcing his Troops with fresh Supplies marched against the Scots and Picts where a great Battel ensuing Fergus and Durstus were slain but King Dionethius whom I suppose to be the same with Geoffery's Dionatus Duke of Cornwal already mentioned was carried off much wounded But of this King neither Gildas Nennius nor Bede no nor so much as Geoffery says any thing and therefore not being to be found in any Historian before Hector all this Tale concerning this imaginary King is to be looked upon as a pure Invention of his own But this is certain that the Britains being thus deserted by the Romans for 19 Years after the Death of Maximus as Zosimus relates viz. about the Year 406 or 407 the British Army all in a mutiny Elected one Marcus to be their Emperour a Man of great Power in this Island and perhaps Lieutenant here whom not answering their Expectations they soon took off and then set up one Gratianus making him put on the Imperial Purple who seems to be a Native of Britain for so much Orosius his words imply when he calls him Municeps ejusdem Insulae but he not pleasing them after 4 Months Reign they deprived him both of his Life and Empire Of him Nennius saith nothing but mentions one Severus between Maximus and Constantius whom others omit but Geoffery of Monmouth makes this Gratian to have assumed the Royal Authority as soon as he heard of the Death of Maximus and that he was so Cruel and Tyrannical that the common People rose up and killed him and that after his Death the Britains sent to Rome to beg Help against the Picts and Scots But Zosimus and Orosius both relate That after the Death of this Gratian the Roman Britains set up one Constantine an ordinary Souldier chiefly for the good Omen of his Name yet Procopius differs somewhat from the former Authors and calls this Constantine no obscure Man but whether he meant for Valour or Nobility I will not determine but however he being by them declared Emperour gathered what Forces together he could being the remainder of those that had been carried away before by Maximus and putting to Sea from Britain landed at Boloigne and by the Terrour of his Name and the Numbers of his Followers easily brought over to his Party all the Roman Forces on this side the Alps Valentia in France he manfully defended against the Puissance of Honorius the Rhine which long time before had been neglected he fortified with Garisons and even upon the very Alps and towards the Sea-Coasts wherever the Passages lay open he built Forts and Castles whilst in Spain under the Conduct of his Son Constans whom of a Monk he had made Caesar he waged War with the like good Fortune And now grown Insolent by this constant Current of Success not content that Honorius had admitted him his Partner in the Empire and upon an Embassy sent to him on purpose accepted his Excuse That the Souldiers had advanced him to the Throne against his Will in hostile manner he passed the Alps intending to march directly against Rome but on the sudden he returned to Arles where he settled his Imperial Seat and commanded that City to be called Constantia after his own Name Whilst with the like Success his Son Constans by the Conduct of Gerontius his General he brought all Spain under his Obedience But when Constans upon some Suspicions turned Gerontius out of his Command for the Cause is not expressed the Affairs both of the Father and Son
presently declined for as he returned from Constantine out of Gaul into Spain by the way he received the unwelcome News of Gerontius's having revolted from his Obedience and set up one Maximus one of his own Creatures for Emperour and that having raised a powerful Army consisting of divers barbarous Nations that he was upon his march against him Constans allarmed with these Tydings immediately dispatched away one Eddobeccus unto the Germans whilst himself attended with Decimius Rusticus who of the Master of his Offices was advanced to be Praefect and accompanied with an Army of Francks Almans and other Nations passed into Gaul intending with all speed to return again to his Father but being intercepted by Gerontius and by him besieged in Vienna in Dauphine the City being taken he was there slain Then Gerontius marching to meet Constantine found him at Arles against which City he laid close Siege but was hindred from taking it by the sudden coming of Constantius Comes whom the Emperour Honorius had newly made his General at whose arrival with an Army out of Italy Gerontius being deserted by his own Souldiers retired into Spain where growing also into Contempt and Hatred with those few that remained his House in the Night being beset by them he with his own Servants manfully defended himself and slew above 300 of them and when his Darts and other Weapons were spent thô he might have escaped at a back Door as his Servants had done yet out of kindness to his Friend Allan and his Wife Nunnichia he refused it and having first cut off the Head of his Friend as was agreed between them he then slew his Wife thô with great Reluctancy being prevailed upon by her Importunity so to do refusing to out live her Husband and desiring to be freed from the Violence of the inraged Multitude for which her Resolution Sozomen the Ecclesiastical Historian gives her great Commendations This done Gerontius turned his Sword against himself but failing in his Design he finished it with his Dagger This Man being supposed to be a Britain I have been the more particular in his History and Humphrey Lloyd in his Discourse concerning Britain makes him to have been so famous here as to be celebrated by the British Bards whose Verses upon his Death he there gives you But in the mean while Constantine now streighten'd on all sides and discouraged with the ill Success of Eddobeccus who was slain but a little before after having been besieged 4 Months with his other Son Julian in the City of Arles there flings off his Purple Robes and entred into Priests Order hoping under that Protection to secure his Life and so not long after surrendred the Town But his new Habit proved no Sanctuary to him for he was carried into Italy and there beheaded by the Emperour's Order together with his Son Julian and Brother named Sebastian Whilst these Things were acting the Scots Picts and Vandals taking advantage of the Negligence of Constantine who whilst he stayed at Arles and minded his Pleasures more than publick Affairs invaded his Territories the latter breaking into Gaul and then invading Britain but the Britains now destitute of the Roman Aids and kept under by them who had not Power to protect them as Zosimus relates as well the Gauls as Britains forthwith took Arms and resolving to stand on their own Defence renounced all further Obedience to the Roman Empire which they believed they might justifie being then left without its Protection Being thus harrassed by their wonted Enemies having before sent Messages to Honorius for Relief but all to no purpose for he at that time not being able to defend Rome it self which the same Year was taken by Alaric King of the Goths the Emperour permitted them by his Letters to provide for their own safety acquitting them of the Roman Jurisdiction They therefore being thus deserted the Government of course devolved to the People who thenceforth betook themselves to live after their own Laws and to defend their Country as well as they were able But since the Chronology of these Times we are now Treating of is very perplexed and obscure by reason of the great scarcity of good Authors and since some Writers place the Britains casting off their Subjection to the Roman Empire immediately after the Death of this Constantine above-mentioned and others defer it 20 Years later give me leave here to subjoyn what the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet hath said in his above-cited Treatise concerning the time when this great Change happened in this Island for it hath been already proved for though all Authors agree that the Britains petitioned the Emperour Honorius for the first Supplies against the Picts and Scots that then invaded them yet they differ about the time I shall therefore first take notice what Bede saith concerning this matter who makes Gratianus Municeps to be set up two Years before the sacking of Rome by Alaric which happened Anno Dom. 410 and he also therein follows Orosius's Relation concerning Constantine and his Son Constans without ever mentioning their continuing to Govern here and much less losing their Lives in Britain as Nennius falsly supposes but then he applies that Passage in Gildas concerning that lamentable condition of the Britains and there first demanding Help from the Romans to the Times immediately following the Death of Constantine whereas Gildas indeed mentions it as happening upon the Usurpation of Maximus and his withdrawing the Forces from hence and that therefore this first Invasion of the Picts and Scots was between the Death of Maximus and the setting up of Gratianus Municeps when the Britains so earnestly suing for Assistance had a Roman Governour and a Legion sent to their Relief And Mr. Camden in his Introduction to his Britannia supposes that Claudius Rutilius mentions Victorinus as a Roman Governour here about that time but this is very uncertain when he there only speaks of the taking Tholouse by the Goths which was done by Ataulphus some time after the Death of Alaric and therefore could not be before the time of Gratian and Constantine Now that the first Supplies that were sent over into Britain were all of them sent before the Death of Stilico the said Learned Dr. Stillingflâ—et in his above-cited Treatise goes on to prove in the same place It is evident says he from many Passages in Claudian that Stilico took particular care of sending Supplies to the Britains against the Scots and Picts but Stilico was killed by the Army when Bassus and Philippus were Consuls Anno Dom. 408 before the first Siege of Rome by the Goths and therefore the Roman Forces sent by him must be before the Usurpatâ—on of Gratianus and Constantine Stillico being killed the same Year that these Usurpers were set up in Britain it is not possible he should do it after their Death and it seems not probable that any Supplies should be sent through Gaul while Constantine
remained Master there the Army in Gaul then taking part with him against Honorius and withaâ— Gildas saith That the Roman Legion having driven out the Picts and Scots returned in Triumph And so much is confessed by Bâ—de But at what time can we suppose that to have happen'd Is it likely that after the Usurpation of Constantine a Roman Legion should return in so much Triumph For immediately aftâ—r Constantine's Usurpation the Roman Empire begâ—n extreamly to decline in those parts through which they were to pass Gaul being upon Composition not long after delivered up to the Goths by Honorius and besides the Franks and Burgundians making continual incursions there I conclude it therefore most probable that the first supplies sent to the Britains were not after Constantine's Usurpation but between the Death of Maximus and the setting up of Gratianus Municeps Now let us see if we can hence discover when the second Assistance was sent to the Britains for which we must own our selves beholding to the aforesaid learned Doctor in the same place where he thus makes it out The Second time the distressed Britains were forced to sollicite the Romaâ—s for supplies is placed by Arch-bishop Usher Anno Dom. 426 when Gallio of Ravenâ—a was sent hither as he supposes because the next Year Prosper saith that Gallio was sent against Bonifacius in Africa but then the Arch-bishop makes the first supplies to have been sent in the latter end of Honorius's Reign for which the Doctor says he can see no reason for the Lord Primate grants that immediately after the Death of Maxâ—mus the Scots and Picts did waste Britain and that then Stillico did send assistance to them Why then should the first wasting of the Island mentioned by Gildas and the Legion sent thereupon be that in the latter end of Honorius his Reign and not rather in the beginning since the latter was very perplexed and troublesome the Alani Swevi and Vandali having possessed themselves of great part of Spain whil'st the Franks Burgundians and Goths had all Gaul so that Honorius the Year before his Death was forced to send his Forces under Castinus into Spain against the Vandals as Prosper in his Chronicle affirms And that also prov'd the occasion of new Troubles in Africa by the difference between Castinus and Bonifacius who for his own security sent over the Vandals thither Is it not therefore most probable that the first Supplies of the Britains should be sent in the latter end of Honorius's Reign especially since the learned Primate confesseth that Honorius did not in his time recover the Province of Britain and he proves it against Sabellicus from Procopius's Authority a much more ancient Authour besides that of Bede so that the single testimony of Sigebert that Honorius sent assistance to the Britains at the same time that he did to the Spaniards when Prosper Idatius and Cassiodore who all mention the latter say not one word of the former cannot bear down the more weighty Reasons on the other side But it is certain that in this interval between the sending of the two supplies the Roman Affairs became so desperate That the Saxon Annals as well as Ethelward in his Chronicle relates that now the Romans hid their Treasures in the Earth or else carried them away with them into Gaul so that it seems most likely during all the rest of the Reign of the Emperour Honorius the Britains did no more return to his Obedience thô notwithstanding they did again endeavour to put themselves under the protection of the Roman Empire in the time of his Successour Valentinian III. as the learned Dr. above cited makes it more than probable in the same place from divers other Circumstances too long to be here particularly set down So that the second supplies which were sent upon the mighty importunity of the Britains were in all probability in the beginning of the Reign of Valentinian III. after that Aetius had somewhat recovered the credit of the Roman Empire in Gaul for after his success there both against the Goths and Franks he had liberty enough to send over a Legion to the assistance of the Britains who were again miserably harassed by the Scots and Picts And at this time it was that Gildas saith the Romans upon the sad representations of the British Ambassadours sent them speedy supplies So far we have been beholding to the learned Dr. Stillingfleet now Lord Bishop of Worcâ—ster but if I may interpose my own Opinion I should assign the sending of these last supplies by the Romans to have been in the Year of our Lord 435 when Aetius had good sucess against the Burgundians in Gaul To which Year also the Saxon Annals refer the ceasing of the Roman Empire in Britain only the Compiler was mistaken in two things the first in making Rome to have been taken this Year by the Goths the other in supposing the time of the Romans ruling here to be but 470 Years whereas indeed it was 488 Years as I shall presently make out So that from this last departure of the Roman Legion which no doubt was done by the Emperour 's express Order I think I may very well date the total dereliction of Britain by the Romans who now by refusing them their protection left them by the Laws of Nature to provide for and defend themselves And from hence I may also date the final period of the Roman Empire in this Island which had now lasted from Julius Caesar's second landing in Britain in the 53d Year before Christ to this Year being the 435th Year after Christ the space of 488 Years but if you account from the more absolute Conquest of it by Claudius in the Forty Fourth Year after Christ it continued but 391 Years But that the Britains were at last very unwillingly cut off from being any longer a part of the Roman Empire appears by the last message they sent to Aetius again imploring assistance which the Emperour not being able to grant they had no other way left but to provide for themselves as well as they could which since it happened after the time that I suppose the Roman power to have ceased in this Island I shall refer the further Relation of it to the next Book But before I conclude this I shall give you a short account of Ecclesiastical Affairs in this Island in these Two last Centuries where after the last Persecution under Dioclesian Bede tells us the British Church enjoyed a perfect Peace till the Arrian Heresie over-ran the whole World and at last infected this Island though divided from the rest of it but though neither Gildas nor Bede hath set down the Year when this Heresie first began to spread it self here yet he seems to refer it to the Reign of Constantius when this Pestilent Opinion carried the face of Authority as having been confirmed in several pretended Councils But in the beginning of this Century though the Year
Cities and having called the dispersed Citizens together went about the repairing of it all his design being the restoring the Church and Kingdom from thence he went to Winchester and to Salisbury doing there as he had done at other places But in the passage thither Geoffrey launches out to purpose in his History of Stonehenge translated says he by Merlin out of Ireland to make a Monument for the British Nobles slain there by Hengists Treachery Which is such an Extravagancy that it is to be wondered any should follow him in it and yet Mat. Westminster transcribes the main of it and Walter of Coventry sets it down for Authentick History but he adds two Circumstances which make it seem probable that Stonehenge had some relation to Ambrosius viz. that here Ambrosius was Crowned and was not long after buried Polydore Virgil makes it the Monument of Ambrosius and John of Tinmouth in the Life of Dubricius calls it Mons Ambrosii and the name of Ambresburg a Town near it doth much confirm the probability of its being founded by Ambrosius rather than either by the Romans or Danes as some of our late Antiquaries and Architects have supposed But I shall not insist any longer on this Subject Geoffery adds yet further concerning Ecclesiastical Matters in his time that at a solemn Council he appointed two Metropolitans for the two Sees at that time vacant viz. Samptson one of Eminent Piety for York and Dubricius for Caer-leon but Mathew Westminster saith that Samptson was afterward driven into Armorica and there was made Arch-bishop of Dole among the Britains which is very likely to be true being confirmed by Sigebert in his Chronicle Anno Dom. 566. It is observed by H. of Huntington that after the Britains had a little respite from their Enemies they fell into Civil dissentions among themselves which is very agreeable to what Gildas hath said of this Geoffrey gives us no improbable account when he relates that one of Vortigerns Sons called Pascentius raised a Rebellion in the North against Ambrosius among the Britains who were overcome by him and put to flight what became of Vortigern is uncertain nor can the British Writers themselves agree â—ither about the time or the manner of his Death Nennius hath two several stories about it the one certainly false and the other very improbable The first is that St. German followed him into a Country in South Wales which was called by his own Name Guorthigernian where he lay hid with his Women in a Castle which he had built called Din Guortigern near the River Thebi to which Castle when St. German came he prayed and fasted there with his Clergy three whole Days and Nights it seems without any intermission when the Castle about Midnight was set on Fire from Heaven and Vortigern with his Wives and Family were all burnt and this Nennius says he found in the Book or Legend of St. German yet he declares That others relate how that Vortigern becoming hateful to all sorts and degrees of Men none would keep him company from the greatest to the least till at last as he wandred from place to place his Heart was broken I suppose for grief but Geoffery of Monmouth with more probability relates that Vortigern being again deposed was besieged and burnt in this Castle by his Successour Aurelius Ambrosius who set it on Fire But now it is time to return to our Saxon Chronicle where after Eight Years interval without any action mentioned We now find Hengist and Aesc joyned Battel with the Britains and took many Spoils and the Welshmen vanish'd before the English like Stubble before the Fire as the Saxon Chronicle words it After this there is no more said of any Victories gained by Hengist but now after Four Years interval began the Kingdom of the South Saxons for Aella with his Three Sons Cymen Wlencing or Pleting as Huntington calls him and Cissa landing in Britain at a place called Cymens ora which signifies in the Saxon Tongue Cymens Shore or Coast there they slew a great many Britains and made the rest fly into the Wood or Forrest called Andredes Leage supposed to be part of the wild of Kent and the Woody parts of Sussex where now are or were lately Aishdowne and Arundel Forrests with several others now disforrested Henry Huntington giveth a large account of this Action and tells us that upon the Saxons first landing a great many Britains immediately drew together at the Alarm and streight ways a great Fight was begun but the Saxons being taller and stronger Men received them couragiously and the Britains coming on very rashly in small stragling Parties were killed by the Saxons who were drawn up in close Order and so the Britains were routed upon the first encounter whereupon these Saxons possessed themselves of all the Sea Coast of Sussex enlarging their Territories more and more until the Eighth Year after their coming when Aella fought against the Britains near Mearcredes Burnamstede or Mecredesburne but where it lies is uncertain now it seems as H. Huntington relates all the Kings and Princes of the Britains were got together and fought with Aella and his Sons where the Victory remained doubtful for both Armies returned home very much weakned whereupon Aella sent unto his own Country for fresh supplies The same Year also Aurelius Ambrosius is supposed by the Welsh Chronicles to be chosen King having been before only General of the Britains and to have Reigned Nineteen Years Nennius tells us That he being King of all Britain bestowed Buelt and another Country in South Wales upon Pascent Son to Vortigern About Three Years after this Hengist King of Kent dyed For this Year as the Saxon Annals relate Aesc who is also called Oisc and by our Historians called Osric his Son began his Reign which continued Twenty Four Years but of Hengist his Father Will. of Malmesbury very well observes that he obtained a Crown by Craft as much as Valour but Aesc his Son who succeeded him maintained his Kingdom by the Valour of his Father rather than his own Merit and did not much encrease his Dominions This happened in the Time of Zeno the Emperour Nor can I here omit what Geoffery of Monmouth and from him Matheâ— of Westminster falsly relate concerning the Death of Hengist That fighting against Aurelius Ambrosius he was taken Prisoner near Coninsburgh in Yorkshire and not long afterwards beheaded by Eldol a feigned Duke of Gloucester which since it is not found in the Saxon Chronicle nor in any other Authentick Historian deserves little credit Aella and Cissa having now received fresh recruits out of Germany wherein they much confided did this Year besiege Andredesceaster supposed to be that we now call Newenden in Kent and took it by Force putting all the Britains to the Sword but H Huntington is very particular in the manner of this Siege and tells us that the Britains raised a great
fought near the Mouth of the River which is called Glein or Gleni which is supposed by some to have been in Devonshire but by others and that more likely to have been Glein in Lincolnshire the Second Third Fourth and Fifth Battels were near another River called Duglâ—s which is in the Country of Linvis or Linnis by some supposed to be the River Dug or Due in Lincâ—lnshire but others place it in Lancashire where there is a River called Dugles near Wigan the Sixth Battel was by a River called Bassas which is supposed to run by Boston in Lincoln-shire the Eighth Battel was near the Castle of Gunion or Guinion in which Arthur carried the Picture of Christ's Cross and of the Virgin Mary upon his back or as Mat. Westminster has it painted on his Target and the Pagans were that day put to flight and many of them slain so that they received a very great overthrow the Ninth Battel was fought near the City of Legions that is in the British Tongue Kaer-Leon now Chester the Tenth was near a River called Ribroit or Arderic the Eleventh was upon the Mountain which is called Agâ—ed Cath Reginian which is some place in Somerset-shire but by Humphrey Lloyd it is supposed to have been Edinburgh H. Huntington confesses these places to be unknown in his time and therefore can be only guessed at in ours As for the Twelfth Battel since the certain time of it is fixed we shall speak of that by and by but the learned Dr. Gale to whom we are beholding for this last Edition of Gildas and Nennius printed at Oxon as also for the various readings and Notes at the end of him supposes that all the Battels here reckoned up were performed in the space of Forty Years aforegoing and althô they may be here attributed to King Arthur yet might be fought under Vortigern Ambrosius and others but that some of these Battles were really fought by King Arthur against the Saxons is acknowledged by all our English Writers and Ranulph Higden in his Polychronicon expresly relates that it is found in some ancient Chronicles that K. Cerdic fighting often with Arthur thô he were overcome yet still came on again more fiercely until Arthur being quite wearied out after the Six and Twentieth Year of Cerdic's coming over gave him up Hampshire and Somersetshire which Countries he then called West-Sexe And Thomas Rudburne in his greater Chronicle about this time we now treat of relates That Cerdic fought oftentimes with King Arthur who being at last weary of War made a League with Cerdic who thereupon granted to the Cornish-men to enjoy the Christian Religion under a Yearly Tribute which is likely enough to be true supposing as we have already said that he was only King of Cornwal and which shews this Prince not to have been such a mighty Monarch as Geoffery of Monmouth would make him Which is likewise confessed by the Welsh Historian Caradoc of Lancarvan in his Life of Gildas where he relates That Glastenbury was in Gildas his time besieged by King Arthur with a great Army out of Cornwal and Devonshire because Queen Gueniver his Wife had been ravish'd from him by Melvas who then Reigned in Somersetshire and that she was there kept by him because of the Strength of that Place whereupon King Arthur raising a great Army out of Cornwal and Devonshire marched to take the Town when the Abbot of Glastenbury accompanied with Gildas went between the two Armies and perswaded Melvas his King to restore the ravish'd Wife which being done both Kings were reconciled Which plainly shews this Arthur to have been but of small Power as well as Reputation who could thus tamely swallow such an Affront But to return to the Saxon Annals which relate That Stufe and Withgar Nephews to King Cerdic arrived in Britain with three Ships at the Port called Cerdics-Ora and fighting against the Britains put them to flight H. Huntington makes a long Description of this Battel which since it is not much to the purpose I omit only he tells us That the British Army was drawn up on a Hill side as also in the Valley which at first put the Saxons in much fear till recovering themselves they put them all to the Rout. Under this Year also Ranulph Higden in Polychron places the Death of Aesc the Son of Hengist to whom succeeded Otta his Son who Reigned 22 Years without any thing related of him either in the Saxon Annals or any other History About this time also thô without assigning the Year the same Author places the Death of Aella King of the South-Saxons who had all the Kings and chief Men in Britain under his Command to whom succeeded his Son Cyssa but in a short time his Posterity whose Names are no where mentioned grew weaker and weaker till they became subject to other Kings This Year Cerdic and Cynric took upon them the Title of Kings of the West-Saxons and the same Year fought against the Britains at a place called Cerdice's-Ford now Charford in Hampshire from which time the Royal Race of the Saxon Kings have reigned there and the same Year the Emperour Justin the Elder began to reign It seems King Cerdic was hitherto very modest for tho he had now been a Conquerour for 24 Years yet did he never take upon him the Title of King till now when he had gained a very large Territory and his Affairs were well established by this great Victory at Cerdice's-Ford but the Time when this Kingdom began is the more observable because at last it conquered all the other six Saxon Kingdoms and so obtained the sole Command of all England so that says H. Huntingdon the Times of all other Kingdoms being applied to these Kings may be by them the better distinguished In this Year as all the best British Manuscripts as well as printed Chronicles relate was fought the great Battel of Badon-Hill which is supposed to be the same with Banesdown near Bathe where the British Writers suppose King Arthur to have Commanded in Person thô divers of our Authors make him to have been only General to Aurelius Ambrosius which is not at all likely since according to the best British Accounts Aurelius died above 20 Years before this Battel This Nennius makes to be the twelfth Battel he had fought with the Saxons yet since Mr. Milton as well as others have been pleased to question whether there was ever any such King who Reigned in Britain it were not amiss if we did a little clear and establish that Point before we proceed any further since so great and remarkable a part of the History of the British Kings depends upon it The Objections that are made against Arthur's being a King in Britain are these First That Gildas makes no mention of him Secondly That he is not so much as mentioned by any ancient British Historian except Nennius who lived near 300 Years after and whom all
grant to have been a very credulous trivial Writer and to have vented a great many Fables Thirdly That thô William of Malmesbury and H. Huntington both make mention of this Arthur and his Victories over the Saxons yet that the latter took all he has written concerning him from Nennius as the former did either from him or else from some Monkish Legends in the Abby of Glastenbury and that he knew no more of this Arthur above 500 Years ago when he wrote his History than we do at this day Lastly That the pretended History of Geoffâ—ry of Monmouth hath made such incredible Romances concerning this Prince's Actions and Conquests not only in Britain but in France Scotland Ireland Norway and other Countries as are sufficient to shock the Credit of his whole History It being a likely matter that he who could not maintain his own Country should have Forces and Leisure sufficient to conquer the Kingdoms of so many Foreign Princes To each of which Objections we shall return these Answers That in the first place as to Gildas his not mentioning him it is at the best but a Negative Argument since it is evident that he did not design any exact History of the Affairs of his Country but only to give a short Account of the Causes of the Ruine of it by the Scots Picts and Saxons the chief of which he ascribes to GOD's Vengeance upon the Britains for their great Wickedness and corruption of Manners nor does he mention any Kings or Commanders of those Times except Vortigern and Aurelius Ambrosius As for Nennius thô what is objected against him be true yet since he lived near 300 Years after Arthur's Death as appears by the Preface to his History it is highly probable he set down what he there wrote if not from some other more ancient Writers yet at the least from the general Tradition of his Country-men at that time who can never be supposed to have been able to forge this whole Story of K. Arthur and the Battles he fought and thô it be true that the Saxon Annals make no mention of this King yet if these were also written from Traditions long after these Things were done being not put into the Form we now have them till long after the Saxons became Christians it is no wonder if there be no mention made of him especially since they could not do it without Recording to Posterity the many Defeats he gave them but notwithstanding this divers of our best and most ancient English Historians as Radulphus de Diceto and Thomas Rudburn do mentiâ—n King Cerdio's fighting divers Battles with King Arthur But as for William of Malmesbury and H. Huntington thô it might be true they neither of them knew any thing of them but what they had from Nennius or the Legends of Glastenbury yet are not the ancient Registers of that Monastery to be wholly slighted as false since King Arthur was there buried But William of Malmesbury in his Book of the Antiquities of that Church makes King Arthur to have begun his Reign over the Britains in the Tenth Year of King Cerdic in which he is also followed by Ran. Higden in Polychronicon and Joh. Tinmuth in his Golden History and thô the Tomb of King Arthur was not found in the time of William of Malmesbury yet was it some Years after discovered about the end of the Reign of Henry the Second as Giraldus Cambrensis relates at large both in his Book De Institutione Principis and in his Speculo Ecclesiastico where he gives a large Account of the manner of finding his Coffin which was made out of a solid Oak as also of the largeness of his Bones which he saw and handled together with an Inscription upon a Leaden Cross of about a Foot long fixed to the lower side of a broad Stone laid three Foot above the Coffin on which was inscribed this Epitaph Hic jacet sepultus inclytus Rex Arthurus in Insula Aualonia which Cross being preserved in the Monastery of Glastenbury till Leland's time he saw and took a Copy of it and is the very Inscription which Mr. Camden hath given us the Draught of in his Britannia But as for the last Objection thô it be true what William of Malmesbury very well observes that the Britains had vented a great many Fables of him yet he still acknowledges him to have been a Prince more worthy to be celebrated in true Histories than Romances and thô it must be confessed that the Stories the Welsh had then made of him encouraged Geoffery of Monmouth to write those incredible Fables of his Conquests yet does it not therefore follow that all that is written of him must be Lies since a true History may be corrupted and yet the Substance of it remain true But whoever desires to see more in justification of the History of King Arthur how much of it is true and what most likely to be false may if they please consult Dr. Stillingfleet's Antiquities of the British Churches But to return to our Saxon Annals in which for the space of 7 Years there is nothing at all mentioned until the time When Cerdic and Cenric fought against the Britains in a place called Cerdics-Leah To which Year also H. Huntington refers the beginning of the East-Saxon Kingdom by Erchenwin the Son of Offa. He seems to be the only Prince who is derived from one Saxnat and not from Woden thô of this Prince they tell us nothing except his Name and Pedigree relating neither the Number of his Forces the Place of his Landing nor so much as the least Encounter he had with the Britains In the same Obscurity we might have also passed over Sledda his Son had he not married Ricicla Daughter of Emerick King of Kent and Sister to Ethelbert the first Christian King so that this Kingdom being at first Tributary to that of Kent and then to that of the Mercians never came to be very considerable thô it had London the chief City of England under its Dominion But in the Year· 530 Cerdic and Cenric conquered the Isle of Wight and slew a great many Men in Withgarabyrig But 4 Years after Cerdic King of the West-Saxons died and Cenric his Son succeeded him and Ruled 26 Years These two Kings bestowed the Isle of Wight on Stuf and Withgar who were Nephews to Cerdic This according to H. Huntingdon happen'd in the time of Justinian the Emperour Offa King of Kent dying his Son Ermeric succeeded him Ran. Higden places it thô falsly An. 544. This Year the Sun was Eclipsed the 14th of the Calends of March from early in the Morning to the third Hour i. e. till nine of the Clock And the Year following The Sun was again Eclipsed the 12th of the Calends of June and the Stars shewed themselves for near half an hour after nine in the Morning But to take a View of the British History
King Arthur died this Year as all the British Writers agree but as for the manner of his Death it is uncertain The British Chronicles suppose him to have been slain in a Fight at Camala against his own Nephew Mordred who had usurped the Crown in his absence It is more uncertain who succeeded him Geoffery of Monmouth makes Arthur at his Death to have bequeath'd the Crown to one Constantine his Cousin Son of Cador Duke of Cornwal whom he makes to have fought several times with the Sons of Mordred that he slew them and after 4 Years Reign died But divers of the ancientest British Chronicles we have seen make no mention of this Constantine but leave here an Inter-regnum of near 11 Years But to return to our Saxon Annals Withgar died and was buried at Withgarasbyrig which Place being called after his own Name was certainly some Place in the Isle of Wight and is supposed to be the same with Caresbrook Castle in the same Island Let us now look back to the British Affairs King Constantine being supposed by Geoffery to have died about this time he makes his Nephew Aurelius Conan to have succeeded him who Reigning about two Years was followed by Vortipore who also dying four Years after was succeeded by Malgo called by Gildas Malgoclunus and is supposed to be the same with Maelgwn Guined so often mentioned in the Welsh Annals so that according to Geoffery these three Princes reigned successively after one another which can by no means to reconciled with Gildas's Epistle who speaks to all of them as living and reigning at one and the same time so that it is most likely that Malgo or Malgocunus was only King of North-Wales or else of the Northern Parts of Britain as some of the Welsh Chronicles affirm but that Vortipore was King of that part of South-Wales called Demetia Gildas himself relates whilst Aurelius Conan ruled in Powis Land or some other Southern Province as Arch-Bishop Usher with preat probability supposes but Gildas's Epistle wherein he so sharply inveighs against all these British Kings above-mentioned is to this effect Britain has Kings yet Tyrants it has Judges but preying upon and oppressing the Innocent their Kings have Wives of their own yet are Whoremongers often Swearing yet as often Perjuring themselves often making Wars but those unjust or Civil Ones prosecuting Thieves yet having the greatest near them even at their own Tables sitting in the Seat of Justice yet not observing the Rules of right Judgment despising the Innocent and Peaceable and countenancing the Bloody and Adulterous keeping Men in Prison whom they have put there rather out of Malice than Desert And then proceeds particularly to all the Kings then reigning beginning with Constantine whom he calls The Tyrannical Whelp of an impure Damonian Lioness and accuses him this very Year in which he wrote that Letter to have been guilty of murdering two innocent Youths of Royal Blood at the very Altar and under the Cope of the holy Abbot These are supposed to have been the two Sons of Mordred He likewise accuses this Prince that being polluted with frequent Adulteries he had contrary to Christ's Precept put away his own Wife In the next place applying himself to Aurelius Conan he accuses him of the like if not worse Parricides besides Fornications and Adulteries and that hateing the Peace of his Country he had out of desire of Prey fomented Civil Wars In the third place he comes to Vortipore whom he calls The wicked Son of a good Father and Tyrant of the Demetae that is South-Welshmen and whom he accuses of the like Faults and that thô his Head were then grey yet he was guilty of Adultery his Wife being put away him he also advises to Repentance Next he proceeds to Cuneglasus who is supposed by some Antiquaries to have been King of the Northern or Cambrian Britains but this is to be observed that Geoffery of Monmouth takes no notice of him which shews that either he never saw this Copy of Gildas or else if he did knew not where to place this Prince having already made as many Kings to succeed each other as the Time he had to bestow upon them would allow But whoever he was Gildas accuses him for fighting both against GOD and Men against Men by taking Arms against his own Country-men against God by infinite Wickedness and besides his other Faults that having put away his own Wife he had married her Cousin who had vowed perpetual Chastity Then he concludes with a sharp Reproof of Maglocunus whom he calls the Island Dragon and the Expeller of many other Tyrants he also accuses him of Sodomy asking him Why being taller in Stature and greater in Power than all the rest of the Princes in Britain he had made himself in stead of being better far worse than they Upbraiding him that in his Youth he had murdered the King his Uncle with many of his Men. After many other Reproofs threatens him with speedy Destruction unless he repent This is the Substance of Gildas's Reproof to the British Princes from which all that we can gather is First that there were no less than five Kings at this time in Britain thô by what Means or Title they came to the Crown is uncertain more than that it seems probable some of these Princes here mentioned were descended from Aurelius Ambrosius thô as Gildas observes highly degenerated from the Virtue of their Ancestors But what great Actions these Kings did during their Reigns or what good Qualities they were indued with is not known so that there is but a slender Account of them in the Rolls of Fame which may make us suspect they were guilty of but very few good Qualities because we here find a large Catalogue of their bad Ones Who succeeded each of these Kings in their distinct Territories the most authentick British Chronicles do not mention and therefore thô Geoffery makes one Careticus to have now governed that part of Britain which was still left unconquered by the Saxons and whom he will have to succeed Malgo and that thereupon the Saxons sent for one Gormund an African King with a great Army of his Country-men who making a League with the Saxons set upon Careticus and besieged him in the City of Circester and taking and burning it afterwards fought with Careticus and forced him to flie beyond the Mountains of Wales Yet since neither in our Saxon Annals nor any other good Historian there is any thing to be found concerning these Kings or any Africans that ever invaded Britain it is to be looked upon as no better than one of the bold Inventions of this Author But as I have given you Gildas's Character of their Kings so I shall now give you that of their Clergy whom he thus reproves Britain says he hath Bishops but without Discretion many Ministers but those Impudent many Clerks but subtle Prowlers Pastors in Name but indeed Wolves
iâ—tent upon all Occasions not to feed the Flock but to pamper and well line themsâ—lves making use of their Churches only for Lucre's sake teaching the People sound Doctrine but they themselves shewing evil Example rarely Officiating at the Altar and then scarce ever standing there with pure Hearts not correcting the People for their Sins as guilty of the same themselves despising the Precepts of Christ and fulfilling their own Lusts usurping the Chair of Peter but through the blindness of their own worldly Lusts stumbling upon the Seat of Judas deadly haters of Truth and lovers of Lies looking upon the poor Christians with Eyes of Pride and Contempt but fawning upon the wickedest rich Men without Shame great Promoters of other Men's Alms with set Exhortations but themselves ever contributing least concealing or slightly touching the reigning Sins of the Age but highly aggravating their own Injuries as done to Christ himself seeking Preferments and Dâ—grees in the Church more than Heaven and having so gained them make it more their study how to keep than to illustrate them by their good Examples dull and stupid to the Reproofs of holy Men if ever they hear them at all but shew themselves very attentive to the trivial Discourses of the Laity ready to act any unlawful Things carrying their heads a loft but having their affections nothwithstanding the checks of their own Consciences as low as Hell sad at the loss of a penny but joyed if they can get one in Apostolical Censures either through their own Ignorance or the greatness of the Sins Dull and Mute but very skillful in the cheating Tricks of Worldly business from which wicked sort of Conversation many run into Priests Orders which they buy for Money taking the Priesthood without observing its Rules and Institution or knowing what belongs to matters of Faith or Manners And then proceeding in a tedious invective against Simony he at last thus addresses himself to the Laity What can ye expect O unhappy People from these Beasts all Bellies Shall these amend thee who as the Prophet says weary themselves in commiting Iniquity Shalt thou sâ—e with their Eyes which regard only those ways that lead to Hell leave them rather as bids our Saviour least ye fall both blindfold into the same Perdition But are all thus Perhaps not all or not so grosly But what did it avail Eli to be himself blameless whil'st he connived at his Sons that were wicked Who of these hath been envied for his better Life Who of them have hated to consâ—rt with such or withstood their entring into the Ministry or zealously endeavoured their casting out This is the Sense of what he there says it being not only tedious but impossible to Translate Verbatim so barbarous and obscure a Writer thô otherwise he seems to have been a Man of great Wit and ardent Piety above what that Age would admit of But hence we may learn what the State of the Government and Religion among the Britains was in that long Calm of Peace which the Victory at Badon Hill had produced Also at the end of his History he gives a farther account of the sad state of Affairs and great corruption of Manners in those Times And complains That the Cities of his Country were not then inhabited as before but lay ruined and deserted for though Foreign Wars were ceased for a time yet so were not the Civil so that there did still remain upon the face of the Island evident marks of so miserable a destruction but that also as long as the memory of that unlooked for assistance lasted their Kings as well as their Bishops and Priests did pretty well observe due Orders but those deceasing as the next Generation succeeded which had not seen the former Calamities and were only sensible of the present Prosperity all the Principles of Truth and Justice were totally shaken and subverted So that scarce any footsteps remained of them in all the Orders and Degrees of Men above mentioned except some and those but few very few in respect of those who go to Hell so that although they are the only true Sons of our Mother the Church yet by reason of the smallness of their number she can scarce take any notice of them albeit they lye in her very Bosome This much may suffice to give an account as well of this Epistle of Gildas as of his History which Caradoc of Lancarvon in his Legendary Life of this Author supposes to have been writ whil'st he lived at Glastenbury But these passages I thought good to Transcribe from him as not unuseful to be inserted in these Annals not out of any desire to rip up or expose the faults of the ancient British Clergy or Nation much less to insult over their Calamities but rather to serve as a warning to us who live in this loose and corrupt Age that we may avoid the like Sins lest we provoke God to send the like Judgments upon us But to return to the Saxon Chronicle This Year began the Northumbrian Kingdom or in the Words of our Annals Ida began to Reign from whom is derived the Royal Family of the Northumbrian Kings the Saxon Annals here give us a long pedegree of this Ida who reigned Twelve Years and built Bebbanburgh now Bamborough Castle in Northumberland which was at first encompassed only with a Trench and afterwards with a Wall H. Huntington says This Prince was always in War and Will of Malmesbury and Mat. Westminster make him to have had Twelve Sons partly by Wives and partly by Concubines And the latter also tells us that he together with his Sons came into Britain and landed at Plensburgh with Forty Ships But though Ida was the first that took upon him the Title of King yet there were Princes of the Saxons in that Country many Years before for the same Authors tell us That Hengist had long before sent his Brother Ottha and his Son Ebusa Men of great Experience in War to Conquer the North Parts of Britain who pursuing his directions met with a success answerable to their endeavours for fighting often times with the Natives of the Country and conquering all those who indeavoured to resist them they received the rest into their Protection and so enjoyed the fruits of Peace But though they had by their own industry as well as the consent of their Subjects gained some Power in those Parts yet did they never till now take upon them the Title of Kings the same moderation descending also to their Posterity So that for near an Hundred Years the Princes Earls or Dukes of Northumberland lived like Vassals under the Protection of the Kings of Kent But this Nation being naturally haughty in the Year above recited that is Sixty Years after the Death of Hengist this Principality was changed into a Kingdom Ida first reigning there who without doubt was a very gallant Man being then in the prime of his Youth but whether he
till then a Terror to the Welsh or British About this time Geoffry of Monmouth makes Careticus above mentioned to have succeeded Malgo who perhaps was the same with Mael Gwineth in the Kingdom of the Britains whom he describes to have been a lover of Civil Wars and to be hateful to God and all the Britains so that the Saxons seeing his weakness invited Gormund an African King out of Ireland to Invade England with Six thousand Africans who joining with the Saxons invaded the Territories of Careticus and beating him in many Battels at last besieged him in the City of Cirencester which being taken and burnt he again joined Battel with Careticus and forced him to fly beyond Severne into Wales and then Gormund destroying all the Neighbouring Cities never left till he had destroyed the whole Island from Sea to Sea and so for a time obtained the Supreme Dominion of the whole Kingdom But of these Kings Gareticus and Garmund since not only the most Authentick Welsh Chronicles but the Saxon Annals are wholly silent I suppose them to have been only Romances and invented by Geoffrey to fill up this Gap in his British History not that I will deny that one Gormund a Danish King might reign in Ireland about this time but that he ever reigned in England is utterly false no other Historian but himself and those that borrow from him making any mention of it This year Gregory was made Bishop of Rome Ceawlin late King of the West Saxons died in Banishment and the same year died Cwichelm his Brother together with Cryda King of the Mercians to whom succeeded his Son Wipha or Wippa and Ethelfred began also to reign over both the Northumbrian Kingdoms being the Son of Ethelric the Son of Ida. This Prince did not only defend his own Territories but also invaded and seized those of others But the third year after was very remarkable For now Pope Gregory sent Augustine into Britain with many Monks to preach the Word to the English Nation As for the British Affairs we have but little more to remark ever since the Death of Maelgwin Gwineth for the space of 24 years only we find in the Book of Landaffe that about this time Tudric King of Glamorgan who was still Victorious is said to have exchanged his Crown for an Hermitage till going in Aid of his Son Mouric whom the Saxons had reduced to great extremity taking up Arms again he defended him against them at Tinterne by the River Wye but he himself received a Mortal Wound But about the end of this Century as Geoffry of Monmouth relates when the Britains could not agree for 24 years who should be their Governor at last they chose Cadwan Prince of North Wales to be King of all the Britains but the year of this Election is not set down by Geoffry nor is this Prince mentioned by any other British Author or Chronicle before he wrote But I shall defer speaking farther of this Prince till I come to the next Book Ceolwulf began to reign over the West-Saxons who making continual Wars all his time fought sometimes against the other English-Saxons sometimes against the Britains or else against the Picts and Scots but what is more remarkable this year Augustine the Monk with his Companions arrived in Britain But before I conclude this Period I cannot omit taking some further notice of the Civil as well as Ecclesiastical Affairs in that part of Britain now called Wales where the Remainders of Christianity in this side of our Island were now wholly confined Bangor in the North and Caer-Leon upon Vsk in South-Wales being the chief Places for Learning as well as Religion the last of these being also the See of an Archbishop where was likewise a College of Philosophers of which as Alex. Elsebiensis relates Dubritius Archbishop of that City was the Founder who resigning his Bishoprick became an Anchoret in the Isle of Bardsey to whom succeeded David afterwards Sainted who flourished about the year 509 and is said to have been Uncle by the Mother's side to King Arthur he removed the Episcopal See from Caer-Leon to Menevia now called St. David's in Pembrockshire Nor can I pass by several Learned and Holy Men among the Britains of this Age as first Daniel the most Pious Bishop of Bangor Cadocus Abbot of Lancarvan in Glamorganshire whose Life is written by John of Tinmouth In the same Age also flourished Iltutus a Pious and Learned Man of that Countrey to whom we may also add Sampson his Scholar consecrated Bishop by Dubritius Successor to St. David this Sampson was afterwards Archbishop of Dole in Britain having upon his leaving Britain carried away the Pall along with him as hath been already mentioned Not to omit Patern and Petroc the former a Preacher at Llan Patern in Cardiganshire and the other in Cornwal besides Congal Abbot of Bangor and Kentigern the famous Bishop of Ellwye in North-Wales as also Asaph his Scholar and Successor in the same See now from him called St. Asaph to whom I may also add Taliessen the famous British Poet whose Verses are preserved to this day All these flourished from the beginning till the middle of the Sixth Century which now as much abounded in Learned and Pious Men as the former Age was wanting of them Thus omitting Fables we have given you a View of whatever we find can be relied on for Truth transacted in Britain since the Romans first conquered and then forsook it Wherein we may observe the many Miseries and Desolations brought by Divine Providence on a wicked and perverse Nation driven when nothing else would reform them out of a Rich Countrey into a Mountainous and Barren Corner by Strangers and Heathens So much more intolerable in the Eye of Heaven is the dishonouring the Christian Faith and Religion by Unchristian Works than downright Infidelity Yet am I not of Bede's Opinion That the Britains omission to preach the Gospel to the English-Saxons though they inhabited the same Island was any of their crying Sins since it was not to be expected that they could either Preach or the Saxons would ever Receive the Gospel from those who were their utter Enemies and had taken their Countrey from them by Violence Yet God was not wanting to this Nation but appointed other Preachers to convert it to the Christian Faith which how it was brought about shall be the Subject of the ensuing Book The End of the Third Book Least the Names of the English-Saxon Kings which have been in tâ—â— former Book set down promiscuously according to the Years in which they began to reign should render their Succession perplexed and hard to be remembred I have from the Saxon Annals Florence of Worcester and Mat. Westminster placed the several Kingdoms of the Saâ—â—n Heptarchy together with their Kings in a Chronological Order as far as the End of this Period viz. Anno Dom. 597. Note The Years in
this Table do not always follow the Printed Text of the Saxon Annâ—â— since the Copies often differ sometimes one year and sometimes more and then I have always followed that which I thought to be the best Account The Succession of British Kings is accâ—â—â—ing to the Account I received from the Most Reverend Father in God Humphrey Lord Bishop of Bangor Anno Dom. Kings of Kent Anno Dom. Kings of the South-Saxons Anno Dom. Kings of the West-Saxons Anno Dom. Kings of the East-Saxons Kâ—â—gs of Northumberland in the Provinces called Anno Dom. Kings of the East-Angles Anno Dom. Kings of Mercia Anno Dom. Kings of the Britains         〈…〉 Bernicia Anno Dom. Deira       457 Hengist reigned 31 years               445 Vortiger                 454 Vortimer his Son his Father being Deposed 488 Aesk or Oric his Son 24 years 491 Aella reigned 24 years             458 Vortiger again restored after the Death of his Son 512 Otha or Oisc his Son 20 years               465 Aurelius Ambrosius made General of the Britains Vortiger still living 532 Ermenric his Son 29 years 515 Cissa reigned uncertain how many years 519 Cerdic reigned 15 years 527 Erkenwin or Escwin 〈◊〉 Ida Son of Eoppa reigned over both Kingdoms 12 years       481 Aurelius chosen King after the Death of Vortiger     534 Cynric his Son reigned 26 years  Sigebert 〈◊〉 Adda or Odda his Son reigned 5 years 559 Aella the Son of Yffi reigned near 30 years          After whom reigned divers Kings whose Names are not to be found in our Annals or Historians   535 Swithelm 〈◊〉 Clappa 7 years    Uffa reigned uncertain how long   508 Nazaleod or Nathanleod Chief King of the Britains who whether he was not the same with Aurelius Ambrosius is doubtful 561 Ethelbert his Son   560 Ceawlin his Son 31 years   〈◊〉 Theodwulf 1 year                 〈◊〉 Freothwulf 7 years   578 Titylus or Tytila his Son reigned uncertain too how long           587 Sledda 9 years 〈◊〉 Theodoric 7 years     585 Crida or Creoda how long he reigned is uncertain  Here follows an Inter-regnum of about six years         〈◊〉 Aethelric 2 years                 These two last were Sons of Ida and rul'd here whilst Aella reigned in Deira 589 Edwin his Son who being soon expell'd by Aethelfrid King of Bernicia reigned over both Kingdoms 14 years till Edwin was again restored     515 K. Arthur reigned twenty seven years     591 Ceolric his Kinsman 5 years    This Aethelric last mention'd began also to reign over both these Kingdoms after the death of Aella and reigned in all 5 years      Wippa or Pybba his Son the like 542 After whose Death followed Nine years Interregnum            593 Redwald his Son   551 Mailgwin Gwined was elected King of all the Britains     597 Ceolwulf 14 years 596 Seaber◠〈◊〉 Aethelfred his Son reigned 24 over both Kingdoms      Ceorl the like 586 Mailgwin died after whom was a 17 years Interregnum THE General History OF BRITAIN NOW CALLED ENGLAND As well Ecclesiastical as Civil BOOK IV. From the Preaching of the Christian Religion by AUGUSTINE the Monk to ECBERT the first Chief or Supreme King of ENGLAND containing Two Hundred and Three Years THIS Fourth Period will give us a new and more pleasant Prospect of the Affairs of Britain For as the Gospel of Christ did now dispel that Egyptian Darkness of Paganism under which it had so long laboured so together with Christianity Human Learning and consequently the Art of composing Histories or Annals entred also with it the Monasteries which were not long after founded being then the only Universities in which the Liberal Arts and Sciences were in those times chiefly taught and professed which though it was not without a great mixture of that Gothic Barbarism that had then overspread all Europe and even Italy it self yet was it sufficient in some measure to instruct men not only in Divine but Civil Knowledge the Monks of that Age possessing the greatest share of Learning and being almost the only Historians as well as Divines Therefore we must be beholding to them for what Accounts we have not only of the Ecclesiastical but Civil Affairs of those Times for Bede our first English Historian was himself a Monk And the Saxon Annals which we here give you were first collected and written in divers Monasteries of England and to which is to be ascribed that difference which is found between the Copies of that Chronicle as to the Dates of Years and other Matters for before there was scarce any thing remembred by Tradition but the great Wars and Battels fought by the Saxon Kings against the Britains so after the Monks came to commit things to writing they began to make us understand somewhat of their Civil Constitutions and the Acts of Peace as well as War tho it must be confessed they are not so exact in the former as they might and ought to have been minding more the relating of Visions and Miracles which they supposed to have happen'd and been done in those times for the Confirmation of some new Doctrines then not fully received Yet however I doubt not but from those Remains they have left us both the Constitution of their Governmâ—nt and the manner of the Succession of their Kings may be clearly made out of both which in the former Period we were wholly ignorant But for this we are chiefly beholding to those English-Saxon Laws that are left us which were made by the Sâ—preme Aâ—thority of each Kingdom â—n their Wittenâ— Geâ—ot Myceâ— Gemot or great Counâ—il which we now caâ—â— a Parliament from which times most of the Laws made in those Councils were carefully preserv'd and would have been convey'd to us more entire had it not been for the loss of so many curious Monuments of Antiquity at the suppression of Monasteries in the Reign of King Henry VIII But since it must be confessed that it was to the Learning which Christianity brought in that we owe
Pope as well as the English did afterwards therefore it is most likely according to the Traditions given you in the Second Book that it was first preached and propagated here by some Apostle or Disciple of the Eastern or Asiatick Church And thô a late Romish Writer very much arraigns the Credit of this Manuscript as made since the Days of King Henry the Eighth and cavils at the Welsh thereof as Modern and full of false Spelling yet is not this any material Exception against it since the Welsh used in it is not so Modern as he would make it as I am credibly informed by those who are Criticks in that Language and as for the Spelling that may be the fault of the Transcribers And thô the Archiepiscopal See was then removed from Caer-Leon to St. David's yet it might still retain the former Title as of the first and most famous Place About which time Arch-Bishop Augustine is supposed by the best Chronologers to have departed this Life thô the certain Year of his Death is not to be found either in Bede or the Saxon Chronicle His Body was buried abroad near the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul till that could be finished and dedicated which as soon as that was done was decently buried in the Porch on the North-side of the Church in which were also buried all the succeeding Arch-Bishops except two viz. Theodore and Birthwald who were buried in the Church because the Porch would contain no more but his Epitaph thô it mentions his being sent by the Pope to convert the English Nation and his being the first Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and that he died in the 7th of the Kalends of June in the Reign of King Ethelbert yet omits the Year of that King's Reign as well as that of our Lord in which he died I suppose because the Year of Christ was not then commonly made use of either in the Ecclesiastical or Civil Accounts of that Time but of this we shall treat further hereafter Under this Year Bede also places the Death of Pope Gregory the Great of whose Life and Actions he gives us a long Account to which I refer you but the Saxon Chronicle puts off the Death of this Pope to the next Year but I rather follow Bede as the ancienter and more authentick Author The same Year is also very remarkable for Civil as well as Ecclesiastical Affairs in this Island for now King Ethelbert summoned a Mycel Synod or Great Council as well of the Clergy as Laity wherein by their common Consent and Approbation all the Grants and Charters of this King whereby he had settled great Endowments on Christ-Church and that of St. Pancrace in Canterbury were confirmed which had been before the old ruinous Church of St. Martin without the City already mentioned but the Charters now made and confirmed by King Ethelbert in this Council are almost word for word the same with those he had made by himself before with heavy Imprecations against any who should dare to infringe them as you may see in Sir H. Spelman's First-Volume of British Councils where this Learned Author in his Notes farther shews us that these Charters above-mentioned are very suspicious of being forged in many respects as First That this King there stiles himself King of the English in general whereas indeed he was no more than King of Kent Secondly Because the Year of our Lord is expressed at their Conclusion which was not in use till long after Besides an old Manuscript of the Church of Canterbury says expresly That the Monks of the Monastery had their Lands and Priviledges by a long and peaceable Possession according to Custom until King Wightred Anno Dom. 693 made them a confirmation of all their Priviledges by a Charter under his Soul There are also other Exceptions against the Bull that is there recited to be Arch-Bishop Augustine's which you may see at large in those Learned Notes above-mentioned In this great Council or Synod among many other Secular Laws and Decrees these deserve particularly to be taken notice of the first Law assigns the Penalty of Sacriledge appointing what Amends is to be made for Things taken from a Bishop by a Restitution of nine times the value from a Priest by a Ninth and from a Deacon by a Threefold Restitution The Second Law is That if the King summon'd his People and any Man should presume then to do them Injury he shall make double Amends to the Party and besides shall pay Fifty Shillings to the King The Third Law is That if the King shall drink in a Man's House and there be any Injury done in his Presence the Party so doing it shall make double Satisfaction the rest that follow since they belong only to the Correction of Manners are omitted To these Laws Bede relates when he says That King Ethelbert amongst other good Things which he conferr'd upon his Nation appointed certain Laws concerning Judgments by the Councel of his wise Men according to the Example of the Romans which being written in the English Tongue were yet kept and observed by them to this time and then mentions some of those Laws to the same effect as they are already expressed This Year was fulfilled Arch-Bishop Augustine's Prediction upon the Britains for as Bede and the Saxon Annals relate Ethelfrid King of Northumberland now led his Army to Leger-Ceaster and there killed a great multitude of Britains and so was fulfilled the Prophecy of Augustine above-mentioned and there were then killed 200 Priests or Monks who came thither to prey for the British Army but in Florence of Worcester's Copy it was 2200 but Brockmaile who was to be their Protector escaped with about 50 Men. H. Huntington gives a more particular account of this Action and says That King Ethelfrid having gathered together a powerful Army made a great Slaughter of the Britains near the City of Legions which is called by the English Lege Cestre but more rightly by the Britains Caerlegion so that it is evident it cannot be Leicester as our common Historians write but West-Chester which lay near the Borders of King Ethelfrid's Kingdom where this Battle was fought This Author further adds That when the King saw those Priests or Monks of the Abby of Bangor who came out to pray for the Army ranged by themselves in a place of Safety having one Brockmaile for their Defender and that the King knew for what end they came thither he presently said If these Men pray to their GOD against us though they do not make use of Arms yet do they as â—eally fight against us as if they did And so he commanded his Forces to be first turned upon them who being all cut off he presently defeated the rest of the Army without any great difficulty and he also agrees with Florence of Worcester's Relation of the number of the Monks there slain and accuses their Defender Brockmaile of Cowardice
who left the poor Monks whom he was to defend to be cut to pieces But William of Malmesbury relates this Matter somewhat otherwise thô he says expresly that this Fight was at Chester then in the hands of the Britains which when King Ethelfrid went about to besiege the Townsmen resolving to suffer any thing rather than a Siege trusting in their Numbers sallied out to fight whom when by an Ambush laid near the City he had easily overcome he then falling upon the Monks who were come in great Numbers to pray for the Success of the British Army of which says this Author there must certainly have been an incredible Number since even in his time there were left such vast Remains of Churches and Cloysters and so great a heap of Ruines as you can scarce says he find any where else The Place is called Bangor which was then an Abby of Monks but is now turned into a Bishoprick yet here our Author was mistaken for this Bangor where the Monastery was is in Flintshire not far from the River Dee whereas that which is the Seat of the Bishoprick is in Caernarvanshire not far from the River or Streight of Menai which parts that Country from the Isle of Anglesey But of all these great Ruines mentioned by Malmesbury there is now nothing left save those of the two principal Gates of this old City the one of which is on that side towards England and the other towards Wales being about a Mile asunder the River Dee running betwixt them But before we proceed further it is fit we enquire into the Truth of that Story of Geâ—ffeâ—y of Monmouth who will needs have Arch-Bishop Augustine to have perswaded King Ethelbert to incite Ethelfrid King of Northumberland thus to make War upon the Britains and to destroy these Monks as you have heard in which he is also followed by other later Writers and particularly by Nicholas Trivet an ancient Author in his History lately printed at Paris among the Collections of Monsieur Dachery as also by Arch-Bishop Parker Author of the Latin History De Antiquitate Ecclesiae Anglicanae and likewise in Bishop Jewel's Apology the former of which thô Bede hath expresly told us that Augâ—stine was dead long before this happened yet will have these Words of Bede to have been foisted in contrary to the old Saxon Manuscripts which is not so for it is found in them all thô not in the Saxon Version but besides the Respect which we ought to have for so good a Man as Augustine is supposed to have been and which inclines us to believe that it was not likely he should have a Hand in so cruel an Action I doubt not but to prove from other Arguments supposing this Passage of Bede not to be his that Augustine died about the Year 605 where I have already placed it In the first place therefore I shall not deny that William of Malmesbury in his First Book De Gest. Pontif. Anglor as well as divers other Historians of later Times suppose Augustine to have sate Arch-Bishop 15 and in some Copies 16 Years and then he must certainly have survived this Massacre of the Monks of Bangor but if I can prove they were mistaken in this Account all that had been said to prove Augustine guilty of it will signifie nothing For First Bede relates that Augustine being yet alive ordained Laurence for his Successor lest himself being dead the yet weak State of that Church if vacant thô for never so small a time might happen to suffer which it must be supposed he did when he found himself in a declining condition and not like long to survive Now that this happened in the Year 605 may be also proved by these Circumstances Bede hath already told us that Augustine in the Year 604 had ordained Mellitus and Justus Bishops immediately after which Relation follows that concerning Augustine's Death which he would scarce have mentioned there had not one followed the other within a short time and that it was so appears in the Manuscript Text of Adrian the Abbot of Canterbury who lived within less than 60 Years after and who obtained a Priviledge from Pope Deusdedit concerning the Free Election of the Abbot of that Monastery at the end of which there is this Passage Anno Dom. 605. died the holy Bishop Gregory IV o Idus Martii and in the same Year also Bishop Augustine VII o Kal. Junii with whom also agree Marianus Scotus and Florence of Worcester in their Chronicles the former of whom under Anno Dom. 605 hath these Words Augustine having ordained Laurence the Presbyter Arch-Bishop in his stead after a short time departed to the Heavenly Kingdom thô in Florence's Copy it is placed under the Year 604 which Difference might easily happen by the carelesness of Transcribers This is also observed by Will. Thorne the Historian and Monk of Canterbury from an old Book of the Life and Miracles of this St. Augustine that now is lost who in his Chronicle says expresly That many have erred concerning the Death of St. Augustine thinking him to have died Anno Dom. 613 The cause of which Errour is owing to the false Dates of some Chronicles who make him to have sate Arch-Bishop Sixteen Years whereas Bede in his second Book says That he ordained Mellitus and Justus to be Bishops a little before his Death and there gives us the same reason as I have already done with whom also agrees an ancient Anonymous Chronicle in the Library at Lambeth as also the short Annals of the Church of Rochester which contain the Successions of the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury both which place the Death of Arch-Bishop Augustine and the Succession of Laurentius in Anno Dom. 604 but of this you may see more in the First Volume of Anglia Sacra published by the learned Mr. Wharton deceased wherein you may also find a short dissertation on this Subject and to whom I own my self obliged for the light I have had towards settling this obscure Question Now having cleared Arch-Bishop Augustine's Memory of that Crime which is laid to his Charge I shall proceed to the Ecclesiastical History of this time Laurentius who succeeded Augustine in the See of Canterbury having seen the English Church not only foundâ—d but much encreased began about this time to bestow his Pastoral care not only upon the English and British Inhabitants of this Island but also upon the Scots who inhabited Ireland because he knew that at that time they as well as the Britains did not observe Easter according to the Nicene Canon the occasion of which Controversie I have already given you Therefore the new Arch-Bishop thought it fit to write an Epistle on purpose to the Irish Bishops wherein he exhorted them to maintain the Catholick Unity in the observation of Easter in which Letters this is remarkable That they are directed to all the Bishops per Universam Scotiam That is through out
all Ireland for so it was then commonly called for near Four Hundred Years after this and he therein complains of Draganus an Irish Bishop who coming over hither would not so much as Eat in the same House with him at which time also Laurentius wrote Letters not only to his fellow Bishops in Ireland but also to the British Clergy in Wales to the same purpose as the former but how well he succeeded therein the present time says Bede declares about which Year also Mellitus Bishop of London was sent to Rome to confer with Pope Boniface concerning the necessary Affairs of the English Church when the Pope held a Synod at Rome with the Bishops of Italy concerning the Life and Conversation of the Monks where he sate with them This Synod was held in the Eighth Year of Emperour Phocas and the Bishop at his return brought back the Decrees of that Council together with the Pope's Letters to Arch-Bishop Laurence and all the Clergy as also to King Ethelbert and the whole English Nation This Year also Sebert King of the East-Saxons Founded the Church and Abbey of Westminster and Mellitus the Bishop Dedicated it to St. Peter thô for what Order of Monks is uncertain since they were driven out after the Death of Sebert by his Successours who continued Pagans for many Years after This Year according to Florence Ceolwulf dying Cynegils began to Reign over the West Saxons for Thirty One Years being the Son of Ceolric who was the Son of Cutha who as we have heard was slain fighting against the Britains some Years before Cynegils and Cwichelme fought against the Britains at Beamdune now Bindon in Dorsetshire and there slew Two Thousand and Forty Six Men which Battel H. Huntington thus describes The Saxon and British Troops being drawn up in Battel Array the Fight immediately began when the Britains fearing the weight of the Saxon Battel Axes and long Launces turn'd their backs and fled so that the Saxons obtain'd the Victory without any great loss on their side and he also agrees pretty near in the number of the slain with our Saxon Annals This Cwichelme here mentioned is by Will of Malmesbury said to be Brother of Cynegils and to be by him taken as his Partner in the Royal Power But Florence of Worcester and Mat. Westminster do make Cwichelme to have been the Son of Cinegils thô the former Opinion be the more likely but let it be either of them it is certain that they were both of them Stout and good natured Persons who governed with that mutual Love and Concord as it was a wonder to the Age in which they liv'd so ought it to be an example to all future times Thô the Cathedral of Christ Church in Canterbury had been already built about Twenty Years yet it seems the Monastery adjoyning to it was not founded till this Year as appears not only from the Manuscript above mentioned once belonging to the Monastery of St. Augustine but also from Will of Malmesbury that in the time of Arch-Bishop Laurence and about this very Year that it was first replenished with Monks as appears by a Letter of Pope Boniface to King Ethelbert whereby he approves of and confirms the Foundation of the said Abby by the said Arch-Bishop which Letter though Will. of Malmesbury had promised to recite yet being by him forgot or else ommitted in our Printed Copies is to be found at large in the said Manuscript concerning which Monastery the afore-cited Author farther adds That though some had said that Arch-Bishop Aelfric had thrust out the Clerks i. e. secular Chanons out of that Church and had placed Monks in their rooms yet was it not at all probable since it appeared by the said Epistle of Pope Boniface that there had been Monks in the Church of St. Saviour from the first foundation of that Monastery in the time of Arch-Bishop Laurence who succeeded St. Augustine But it hath been denyed by Cardinal Baronius in his Annals as also by some later Antiquaries of what Order these Monks were whom Augustine and Laurentius placed in these two Monasteries above mention'd and that a late ingenious Authour in his Preface to a Treatise called Notitia Monastica hath questioned whether they were of the Benedictine Order since he rather supposes That the Benedictine Rule was scarce heard of in England till some Hundreds of Years after and never perfectly observed till after the Conquest but he should have done well to have told us what other Order they were of since the general Tradition in most of the Ancient English Monasteries of the Benedâ—ctine Order was That they had observed that Rule from their first foundation And the Saxon Annals under the Year 509 do expresly affirm That St. Benedict the Father of all the Monks dyed that Year And he had long before his Death founded his Order in Italy and of which Augustine himself is supposed to have been and though I also acknowledge that all the ancient Monasteries of England were not at first of that Order since those that were founded in the Kingdom of Northumberland by the Bishops Aidan and Coleman followed the same Rule with the Monks of Ireland and Scotland viz. That of St. Basil which all the Eastern Monks did then and do to this day observe yet even these did about an Hundred Years after quit that Rule and follow the more Modern one of St. Benedict and therefore Stephen Heddie in his Life of St. Wilfred Bishop of York lately published by the learned Dr. Gale hath expresly told us That the said Bishop returning home into his own Country i. e. the Kingdom of Northumberland and carrying along with him the Rule of St. Benedict very much improved the Constitutions of God's Churches by which he meant the Monasteries of those Parts And therefore the Chronology once belonging to the Abby of St. Augustine's in Canterbury printed in the Decem scriptores after Will. Thornes Chronicle under Anno 666 upon very good grounds thus observes That this Year Bishop Wilfred caused the Rule of St. Benedict to be observed in England That is in the North Parts into which he then went for if that Rule had not been observed in the Southern Parts before How could it be said that he carried it out from thence along with him but to conclude there having been a dispute among the Roman Catholicks beyond the Seas about Seventy Years ago concerning this matter some of them affirming that all the ancient English Monks before the Conquest were of the Order of St. Equitus or else of some other Order whereupon those of the Benedictine Order wrote over to our Antiquaries in England viz. Sir Robert Cotton Sir H. Spelman Mr. Camden and Mr. Selden appealing to their Judgment herein From whom they received a Letter under all their Hands wherein they expresly certified that there was never any such Order as that of St. Equitus and further
went to destroy the Idol Temples the People at first thought him mad because it was not lawful for their Priests either to bear Arms or ride on Horse-back But as soon as Coifi came to the Idol Temple he commanded those that came with him to burn and utterly destroy it and the place where it stood was shewn in Bede's time lying not far from York Eastward near the River Darwent being then called Godmundingham where this Priest by thus demolishing the Altars of his former Gods made some Amends for his teaching Men to adore them But the Year following King Edwin with all his Noblemen and a great many common People of his Kingdom received Baptism the King himself being baptized at York on Easter Day in the Church of St. Peter which he had commanded with all speed to be built of Wood for that purpose in which City he also settled the Episcopal See Paulinus being the first Bishop there but not long after the King had received Baptism he himself took care to build a large and noble Church of Stone round about the former which was still left standing till the other was finished but before the Walls of it could be raised the King being killed left the Work to be perfected by Oswald his Successor So Paulinus continued during all the rest of this King's Reign which was about the space of 6 Years to preach the Word of GOD in that Kingdom in which Church there were also baptized divers others of Note as Osfrid and Eadfrid the Sons of King Edwin both which his former Wife Quenburga the Daughter of Ceorle King of Mercia had brought forth in their Banishment There were likewise afterwards baptized divers others of the King's Children by his last Queen who not long after dying were buried in York Minster Besides these there were baptized Iffi the Son of Prince Osrid and several other Noblemen and it is reported that the People's Desires to receive Baptism were then so fervent that when on a time Paulinus came with the King and Queen to a certain Town of the King 's called Adefrin he there spent a Month in doing nothing else but Catechising and Baptizing those that came to him from far and near to that end for after his Instructing them they were strait baptized in the River Gleni which he made use of as being convenient for that purpose These Things were transacted in the Province of Bernicia but in that of Deira where he used to remain most commonly with the King he baptized in the River of Swale for in that present Infancy of the Church Oratories and Fonts were not yet erected But in the Country of Done he built a Church which was burnt not long after by the Pagans when they killed King Edwin These Things thô happening in several Years Bede here relates all at once But to return to Civil Affairs This Year Cynegils and Cwichelm Kings of the West-Saxons fought with Penda King of Mercia at Cirencestâ—r where also a League was made between them H. Huntington is larger in the Relation of this Fight and tells us that when both Armies had fought from Morning till Sun-set neither of them giving Ground the next Morning perceiving they should be both ruined if they stood another Fight they treated of a Peace and so parted Friends It were to be wished that the Monkish Writers who have left us the only Relations of these Wars would also have told us the particular Causes and Grounds on which they were madâ— for want of which we are left to guess in general that Revenge or Ambition the common Incentives to War among Princes did also produce these we now treat of but within two Years after as the Saxon Annals relate Eorpwald King of the East-Saxons was baptized This Bede relates to have been done by the Persuasion of King Edwin who after the Death of Redwald had the Kingdom of the East-Angles voluntarily delivered up to him by the People of that Province but he out of Gratitude to his old Benefactor permitted his Son Eorpwald quietly to hold that Kingdom tho as his Tributary who now casting away his Idols was baptized together with many of his Subjects His Father King Redwald had been also baptized in Kent by the means of King Eadbald tho in returning home he was again perverted by his Wife and some others of her Superstition from the true Faith so that he had at once in the same Temple one Altar for Christ and another for Devils But King Eorpwald not long after his receiving the Faith was slain by one Richbert a Heathen but who he was or why he did it is not told us so that the Kingdom for three years returned to Paganism until Sebert Brother to the last King a most Learned and Christian Prince obtained the Crown who whilst his Brother lived being banished into France did there receive Baptism of which as soon as he began his Reign he made his Subjects also Partakers But to this Prince we shall speak more largely anon About this time Paulinus also preached the Word to the Province of Lindissi now Lincolnshire and converted the Governor of Lincoln whose Name was Blecca with all his Family to the Christian Faith In which City he built a Church of Stone of curious Workmanship whose Roof being fallen down either by length of Time or Hostile Incursions the Walls were only standing in Bede's time And concerning the Propagation of the Christian Faith in this Province a certain Priest and Abbot of the Monastery of Barteneu told Bede That he himself was baptized by the Bishop Paulinus together with a great Multitude of people in the River Trent near a City then called Tiowulfingceaster where it was we know not King Edwin being present of whom Bede also tells us That in his time a Woman with a Child in her hand might have gone from Sea to Sea and that the King at certain Fountains near the Highways caused Drinking-Pots of Brass to be set upon Posts for the refreshment of Travellers which none either out of Love or Fear would presume to meddle with he also caused to be carried before him when he went through the streets a sort of Banner which the Romans called Tufa and which the English then called a Tuff About this time too Pope Honorius succeeded Boniface in the Roman See and as soon as he heard that the Nation of Northumbers had received the Christian Faith by the Preaching of Paulinus he sent him an Archiepiscopal Pall together with Exhortatory Letters to King Edwin persuading him to persevere in the Faith which he had received which Letter you may find at large in Bede wherein it also appears that Honorius Archbishop of Canterbury and Paulinus of York had this Trust lodged jointly in them That whensoever one of them died the Survivor should immediately consecrate another Archbishop in his stead for not long before Archbishop Justus deceasing Honorius had been elected in
his room who coming to Paulinus as far as Lincolne was there by him ordained Archbishop of Canterbury Cadwallo King of the Britains having been as Geoffrey of Monmouth relates conquered by King Edwin lost so great a part of his Kingdom that he was forced to fly into Ireland from whence soon after returning with a great Army of Irish he overcame Penda King of the Mercians in fight and then made him join his Forces against King Edwin All which is probable enough for Bede also tells us That Cadwallo this year rebelling against King Edwin together with Penda invaded the Kingdom of Northumberland when King Edwin raising an Army met them at a place called Hethfield now Hatfield in Yorkshire and there fought a bloody Battel wherein King Edwin himself was slain and his whole Army quite routed in which Fight Osfrid his Son a Warlike Young Prince also fell but Edfrid the Younger being compelled by necessity to surrender himself to Penda was afterwards by him murthered contrary to his Oath This happen'd in the 17 th year of King Edwin's Reign having till now been successful in all his Undertakings But there now ensued a very sad Destruction of the English Nation of the Northumbers since of these two Generals the one was a professed Pagan and the other though a Christian in Name yet shewed himself worse than a Pagan for Cadwallo altho he professed Christianity yet was so barbarous that he spared neither Age not Sex but put all to death with great Cruelty tyranizing for a long while over all those Provinces and seeming resolved quite to extirpate the English Nation nor did he shew any respect to Churches or other Sacred Places it being then the custom of the Britains in Bede's time to set at nought the Faith and Religion of the English-Saxons neither would they have any thing to do with them more than with Pagans But the Head of the slain King was brought to York and there deposited in the Church of St. Peter which he himself had begun and Oswald his Successor finished All things being thus in confusion in those parts and no Refuge or Safety any where to be expected Queen Aethelburga returned by Sea into Kent together with Paulinus the Archbishop and was there received with great Honour by King Eadbald and Archbishop Honorius she was conducted thither by Basse a Valiant Captain of King Edwin's who also brought with him Eanfrede the King's Daughter as also Vscfrea his Son and Iffi his Grandson by Osfrid whom their Mother afterward for fear of the Kings Eadbald and Oswald sent into France to King Dagobert to be brought up where they both died in their Infancy At which time also the Church of Rochester wanting a Pastor Romanus the Bishop having been drowned in going on a Message to Rome Paulinus at the request of King Eadbald and Archbishop Honorius took upon him the care of that Church which he held as long as he lived After the Death of King Edwin Osric the Son of Elfric his Uncle by the Father's side obtained the Kingdom of Deira who had been before received by Paulinus whilst Eanfrid of the same Blood-Royal as being the Son of Ethelfrid the last King before Edwin ruled the Kingdom of Bernicia so that during the Reign of Edwin all the Sons of Ethelfrid with many more of the Young Nobility of that Country lived in Exile either with the Scots or Picts by whom they were instructed in their Religious Rites whilst both these Kings last mentioned abjured the Christian Religion which they had before learnt and professed and relapsing to their old Idolatry were shortly after cut off by Cadwalla King of the Britains for the next Summer Osric having besieged him in a certain Town Cadwallo sallying out with his Men cut him off on a sudden with all his Army and then when he had ravaged the Northumbrian Provinces nor as a King but a cruel Tyrant and that at length Eanfrid came to him imprudently with only Twelve Select Knights in his Company to treat of Peace he put him to Death as he had done his Cousin before That Year saith Bede Is still at this day accounted unlucky and hateful to all good Men both in respect of the Apostacy of these Princes who renounced their Baptism as also for the Tyranny of this British King Whereupon it was agreed by those who computed the Reigns of the Northumbrian Kings to abolish the Memory of these Infidels and to cast this Year into the Reign of the Pious King Oswald who succeeding after the Death of his Brother Eanfrid and marching with a small Force but fortified by Faith in Christ routed Ceadwalla that Prince of the Britains with his vast Army which nothing could resist as he boasted and who was slain in a place which in the English Tongue is called Denisesbourn or Brook the place saith our Authour is shewn at this day and had in great Veneration where Oswald being to give Battle erected a large Wooden-Cross and he himself laboured in setting of it up which when he had finished he thus spoke to his Army Let us now kneel down and joyntly pray unto the Omnipotent and only true God that he would mercifully defend us from this proud Enemy for he knows that we undertake a just War for defence of our Nation and Religion The place is in the English Tongue called Heofenfield or Heavenfield lying near to the Wall which the Romans built from Sea to Sea which we now call the Pict's Wall The rest of Bede's Miracles concerning this place and Cross I omit as very incredible and Superstitious But before we leave this great Action of the Death of Cadwallo I cannot omit taking notice of the Confidence of Geoffrey of Monmouth who notwithstanding this express Testimony of Bede to the contrary will make this Cadwallo not only to have overcome Edwin and other Saxon Kings in divers Battles and to have forced them to submit themselves to him and do him Homage at London and that living and dying Victorious he was there buried and his Body being put into a Brasen Statue of a Man on Horse-back was set over Ludgate for a terror to the Saxons having Reigned Forty Eight Years all which is notoriously false for London had been part of the East-Saxon Kingdom for above One Hundred Years when this King was kill'd who did not Reign Twenty Years in all But the same King Oswald as soon as ever he came to the Kingdom desiring that all his Subjects might profess the Christian Faith sent to the Scotch Bishops for so I suppose the Words Majores natu in Bede are to be rendered among whom whil'st he was in Banishment he had together with his followers received Baptism desiring them that a Bishop might be sent him by whose Preaching the People whom he Govern'd might be grounded in the Christian Religion and receive Baptism nor was he long without an answer to his request
received Schoolmasters out of Kent but two Years after this King being weary of Worldly Affairs resigned the Kingdom to his Cousin Egric and became a Monk in a Monastery of his own founding Nor can I here omit taking notice that from Bedâ—'s thus mentioning King Sigebert's founding this School Polâ—dore Virgil and Leland conclude that this School was in Cambridge and that it gave Being to that University and all the reason they have for it is only because Cambridge was in the Kingdom of the East-Angles whereas neither Bede nor any other ancient Author specifies the Place where it was erected And so it might be any where else as well as in Cambridge or if there it was no better than a School to teach Boys the Latin Tongue And it is certain that in the time of King Alfred there was no School much less an University there But before I leave this King's Reign I cannot forbear mentioning what Bede there tells us That in his Reign one Furseus or Fursee came out of Ireland and preached the Gospel to the East-Angles converting many and confirming divers others in the Faith and having had a terrible Vision of the Pains of Hell did by the Assistance of King Sigebert erect a Monastery in a Town called Cnobsbury which afterward Anna King of the East-Angles enriched with noble Buildings and Revenues This Year is remarkable for Byrinus baptized King Cuthred at Dorceaster and at the Font received him for his Godson This Cuthred thô here called King yet was only a Prince of the Blood Royal the Title of Cyning being often given to those Princes in our Saxon Annals This Year Eadbald King of Kent departing this Life having reigned 25 Years left the Kingdom to Earcombert his Son who held it 24 Years and some Months The Saxon Annals say This King Eadbald had two Sons Ermeâ—red and Earcombert but Mat. Westminster I know not from what Author adds That the Younger craftily supplanted the Elder and got the Kingdom from him This Earcombert was the first English King who commanded Idols to be destroyed throughout his whole Kingdom and who also by his Authority ordained That the Forty Days before Easter now called Lent should be observed and that it should not be contemned appointed competent Punishments for those that should dare to transgress it This seems to have been the First Lent that was observed in England by a Law this King's Daughter called Earcongath or Earcongota being a Virgin of great Piety constantly served God in a Monastery in the Kingdom of the Franks founded by a noble Abbess in the Town called Brige now Bruges in Flanders for there being at that time not many Monasteries in Britain many who desired to undertake those Vows used to go over to the French Monasteries or else sent their Daughters to be taught and professed there chiefly in the Monasteries of Brige Cale and Andelegium The Saxon Annals here also mention one Ermenred to have been Brother to King Earcombert and to have begot two Sons Ethelbert and Ethelred who afterwards suffered Death by the Hands of Thunâ—re one of his Thanes whom the King employed in this cruel Execution When Oswald the Most Christian King of Northumberland had now reigned 9 Years taking in that Year in which the two Apostate Kings were killed who were left out of the Catalogue as has been already said he fought a great Battle with Penda the Pagan King of the Mercians in a place called Maser-Field now Oswestre in Shropshire and was there unfortunately slain in the 38th Year of his Age the Greatness of whose Faith and Devotion towards GOD appeared saith Bede by the many Miracles there wrought after his Death which being both tedious and improbable I omit and refer those that are Curious in such Matters to the Author himself but that they were long after generally believed appears by these Passages in the Saxon Chronicle viz. That his Holiness and Miracles were afterwards highly celebrated through the whole Island and that his Hand was still preserved at Bebban-burg uncorrupt For Penda had most inhumanly caused his Body to be dismembred and his Head and Arms being cut off to be set upon a Pole for a Trophie of his Victory The same Year also Penda King of Mercia making War against the East-Angles and still getting the better of them they urged Sigebert who had been formerly their King but was now retired into a Monastery to come out to Battle to encourage the Souldiers and so fetching him out whether he would or no as hoping that the Souldiers would be less apt to fly having with them one who had been so stout a Commander But he being mindful of his Vow carrying nothing but a Staff in his Hand was there slain together with Egric the present King and all the whole Army was routed and dispersed But Anna the Son of Eni of the Royal Stock succeeded them being an excellent Man but who also underwent the same Fate from this Pagan King as shall be shewn in due time This Year Cenwall or Cenwalc succeeded Cynegils his Father in the Kingdom of the West-Saxons and reigned 31 Years This King commanded the old Church of Winchester to be built which had been designed by his Father Cynegils thô he never lived to finish it but Hedda sate there as the first Bishop This King also gave to this Church and Bishoprick all the Lands lying about Winchester for the space of 7 Leucas or Leagues which Grant was also confirmed by King Kenwalk Note That at the first Foundation this Monastery was for Secular Chanons till the Year 963 that Bishop Ethelwold by the Command of King Edgar turned out these Chanons and placed Benedictine Monks in their rooms This Year Paulinus deceased at Rochester who had been first Arch-Bishop of York and afterwards Bishop in this City and was Bishop 21 Years 2 Months and 12 Days Oswin the Son of Osric the Cousin of Edwin was made King of Deira and reigned 7 Years The next Year In the room of Paulinus Arch-Bishop Honorius consecrated Ithamar a Kentish Man who was equal to his Predecessors in Learning and Piety Cenwalc was driven out of his Kingdom by Penda King of the Mercians Of which Bede gives us a more particular Account That refusing to receive the Christian Faith he not long after lost his Kingdom for having divorced his Wife the Sister of Penda King of the Mercians he had therefore not only War made upon him but was driven out of his Kingdom upon that account so that he was forced to retire to Anna King of the East-Angles with whom remaining 3 Years in Banishment he came first to the knowledge of and there received the true Faith for that King was a good Man and happy in a pious Issue ' This Year King Cenwalc was baptized And as William of Malmesbury relates after 3 Years banishment gathering fresh Forces
recovered his Kingdom and proved the greatest of the West-Saxon Kings that had reigned hitherto as shall be in due time related But Bede tells us That after this King had been some time restored there came out of Ireland a certain Bishop called Agelbert a French Man who offered himself to the King to preach the Gospel whose Learning and Industry when the King understood he offered him the Bishoprick of that Province and consenting to the King's Desires he remained there Bishop several Years till the King finding he could not learn English and growing weary of his bad Pronunciation introduced another Bishop one Wini of his own Nation over his Head who had been ordained in France and so dividing the Province into two Diocesses settled the latter in his Episcopal See at Winchester at which Agelbert being offended because the King had done it without his Knowledge and Consent he returned into France and there accepting of the Bishoprick of Paris died an old Man but not many Years after his daparture Wini being driven from his Bishoprick retired to Wulfer King of Mercia and buying of him the Episcopal See of the City of London for a Sum of Money sate there Bishop as long as he lived thus Simony crept very early into the English Saxon Church So the Kingdom of the West-Saxons was no small time without a Bishop whereupon King Cenwalc being afflicted with great losses in his Wars sent Messengers into France to Bishop Agelbert desiring him to return and reassume the Bishoprick he had left but he excused himself that he could not return being already engaged in another Charge yet to comply as far as he could to the King's desires he sent him his Nephew Elutherius a Priest to be ordained Bishop if he pleased who being Honourably received by the King and People and having been ordained Bishop by Theodorus Arch-Bishop of Canterbury did for many Years Govern alone the Diocess of the West-Saxons This thô happening in a course of some Years is by Bede related as one continued Story This Year Cenwalc King of the West-Saxons gave Cuthred his Cousin Three Thousand Hides of Land near Aescasdune now called Aston near Wallingford This Cuthred was the Son of Cwichelme and he the Son of Cynegils But two years after Aegelbyerth a Bishop who came from France after Byrinus undertook the Bishoprick of the West-Saxons as has been already related at large by Bede This Year K. Oswin was slain xii Kal. of September And within twelve days afterwards died also Aidan the Bishop But the manner of this King's Death is by Bede thus related That King Oswin who succeeded K. Oswald his Brother had from the beginning of his Reign a Consort or Sharer of the Royal Dignity of the Northumbrian Kingdom called Oswi the Son of Usric of the Posterity of King Edwin whilst Oswin govern'd the Province of Dâ—ira for Seven Years with great Happiness and Love of his Subjects But Oswy who reigned in the Kingdom of Bernicia would not long maintain Peace with him 'till at last fresh Dissentions still arising between them he destroyed Oswin by Treachery for both their Armies now lying near each other as ready to fight when Oswin saw that being weaker in Force he was not able to wage Battle with him who came against him with a much greater Army he judged it better to lay aside all Thoughts of fighting and to preserve himself and his Men for some better Opportunity So he sent home his Army from a place called Wilfers Dun and himself retired with only one faithful Follower to lie concealed in the House of Earl Hunwald whom he supposed to have been faithful to him but it proved far otherwise for by him he was betray'd and there slain by the Command of K. Oswi together with his faithful Servant Tondhere in the ninth year of his Reign at a place called Iâ—gerlingum This Fact of King Oswy as it was detestable to all Men so it afterwards proved most hateful to himself who repenting of it built there a Monastery to expiate the Crime and to pray as well for his own Soul as for that of the King he had kill'd This King Oswin was a Man of a beautiful Aspect tall of Stature affable and very bountiful all which excellent Endowments both of Mind and Body procured him such Reputation that he was generally beloved and many Noble Persons out of all the English Provinces thought themselves happy if they could get into his Service but above all his Humility and singular Modesty were most remarkable whereof Bede gives us this Instance K. Oswin had bestowed an excellent Horse upon Aidan that charitable B of Lindisfarne but the Bishop when a poor Man ask'd an Alms gave him the Horse with all the rich Furniture upon him The King hearing of this as they were going to Dinner said to him My Lord Bishop Why would you give that Noble Horse that I bestowed upon you for your own Saddle to a poor Man Have we not many worse Horses and other Things which would better serve the Poor instead of this Horse I made choice of for your own riding The Bishop instantly replied Sir What do you say Is that Son of a Mare more dear to you than the Son of GOD With that they went to Dinner the Bishop took his Seat but the King being newly come in from Hunting fate down by the Fire with his Attendants but remembring what the Bishop had said he rose suddenly up and giving his Sword to his Servant ran hastily to the Bishop and falling down at his Feet besought him not to be angry affirming he would never after speak or concern himself whatever he gave to the Children of GOD. The Bishop being wonderfully amazed and rising hastily from his Seat raised him up telling him he was very well pleased if he would but sit down to Dinner and be chearful The King then at his Request began to be merry but the Bishop to be sad in so much that he shed Tears of which his Priest taking Notice and in their own Language being the Scottish which neither Oswin nor his Servants understood demanded the Reason I know saith he that the King will not live long for till now I never beheld an humble King whence I apprehend that he will speedily be taken away from us for this Nation is not worthy of such a Governor Not long after this Prelage of the Bishop was fulfilled in the Murther of Oswin as you have heard But Aidan lived 'till the twelfth day after his Death and then died himself on the last of August Of the Miracles of which Bishop Bede gives uâ— too long and 〈◊〉 incredible Account either to be believed or inserted here This Year Cenwal King of the West-Saxons fought at Bradenford near the River Aftâ—ne in Wiltshire but it is pity that our Annals had not told us against whom he fought which I cannot find in any Author thô it is
most likely to have been against the Mercians for Ethelward in his Chronicle says That Conwal about this time was engaged in a Civil War which must be understood with those of his own Country and the Mercians were his next Neighbours The next Year The Mid-land English or Mercians under Peadda their Eolderman or Governour received the Faith of Christ Which Conversion Bede relates more at large when speaking of this Peadda the Son of Penda as being a young Man most worthy of the Name of a King was by his Father set over a Province of that Nation Will. of Malmesbury calls it part of that Kingdom and that this Prince went to Oswy desiring Alfreda his Daughter to Wife but could by no means obtain her unless he together with his whole Nation would receive Baptism but he having heard the Preaching of the Gospel through the Hope of a future Immortality voluntarily professed that he would be a Christian whether he had married the Virgin or not being chiefly persuaded to receive the Faith by Alcfrid the Son of King Oswy who was his Friend and Relation having married Cymburge his Sister So that King was baptised by Bishop Finan together with all his Train in that famous Town of the King 's which Bede calls Admurum that is Walltown near the Picts Wall and taking with him four Priests to teach and baptise his Nation he return'd home with much Joy these Priests coming with the King into this Province preach'd GOD's Word and were as willingly heard and receiv'd and both the Noble as well as the inferior sort renouncing their Idolatry were baptised nor did King Penda himself prohibit them from preaching in his own Kingdom if they would if they would but rather hated and despised those whom professing the Faith of Christ he found not to perform Works suitable to it calling them miserable and contemptible Wretches who failed to obey that GOD in whom they believed These Things fell out two Years before the Death of King Penda About the same time the East-Saxons at the Instance of King Oswy again received the Christian Faith which they had formerly rejected having as you have heard driven away Mellitus their Bishop for Sigebert who was now King of that Nation having succeeded Sigebert Sirnamed The Little This Prince being a Friend to King Oswye and using to come sometimes to visit him into the Kingdom of Northumberland he was wont often to tell him That those could not be GODS that were the Works of Mens Hands but that GOD was an Incomprehensible Being Invisible Omnipotent and Eternal who governed all Things both in Heaven and Earth and would judge the World in Equity and that all those who would learn and do His Will should receive Eternal Rewards These and many other such Things when King Oswy had often inculcated with a Brotherly Affection at last by the Persuasion of that King and of divers of his Friends he also Believed and was baptised with all his Followers at the same place where Peadda had been Christned before viz. at Wall-Town above-mentioned King Sigebert being thus made a Christian returned to his own Kingdom only asking of King Oswy to appoint him some Teachers who might convert and baptise his Nation into the Faith of Christ so the King sent to the Kingdom of the Mercians and called back Cedda who had been before sent thither and giving him a certain Priest for his Companion sent him to preach the Word to the East-Saxons When these had passed through all places and had gathered a very large Church it hapned some time after that Cedda returning home went to Lindisfarne to confer with Bishop Finan who when he found the Work of the Gospel to have so well prospered under his Ministery calling to him Two other Bishops ordained Cedda Bishop over the Nation of the East-Saxons who thereupon returned into his own Province and finishing the Work he had begun with greater Authority Built Churches in many places and ordained Priests and Deacons who might help him in the Preaching of the Word and Baptism especially in a City which is called in the English Tongue Iâ—hancestir as also in that which is called Tylabury the former of which places was upon the Bank of the River Pent and the other is near the Thames now called Tillbury in which having gathered together a small company of Christ's Servants he taught them the Discipline of a Monastick Life as far as they were capable to receive it This Year according to the Saxon Annals Anna King of the East-Angles was Slain being overcome in Fight by King Penda of whom H. Huntington gives us but a slender Account only that Anna and his whole Army perished in a moment by the edge of the Sword so that scarce any of them remained This Year also one Bottulf began to Build a Monastery at Icanho supposed to be Boston in Lincoln-shire As also Honorius Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Deceased on 20. Kal. Octob. The same Year likewise according to Mat. Westminster Ercombert King of Kent Deceasing Egbert his Son Succeeded him in the beginning of whose Reign Aethelbert and Aethelred the Sons of his Unkle Ermenred being but Youths were cruelly Murdered by one Thanor the King's Servant without his privity whose Bodies were strangely discovered where they were buried by a Light from Heaven whereupon their Bodies were removed to the Monastery of Warinens The Miracles that followed in the doing of which I omit as incredible This Year King Penda was Slain at Winwidfeld with Thirty others of the Royal Blood Of which Battle Bede gives us a particular account That Oswi having long endured the Ravages and Devastations of his Country by the Inroads of King Penda and having had his strong City of Bebbanburg now Bamburrough Castle assaulted and set on Fire and thereby very near taking found himself too weak to resist and offering him many Rich Presents desired to buy a Peace which Penda proudly refusing and resolving nothing less should satisfie him than this King's destruction Oswi upon that turning his Gifts into Vows to God implored the Divine Assistance devoting his Daughter then but one Year Old to be a Nun and with Twelve Portions of Land whereof each maintained Ten Families to build and endow Monasteries So it seems his Vows proved more successful than his Treaties for hereupon he with Alfred his Son gathering a small Army therewith encountred and discomfited the Mercians having then Invaded and wasted the Northumbrian Kingdom thô they were Thirty times more in number and led by experienced Captains This Battle was fought near a place called Loyden now Leeds in York-shire besides this Ethelwald the Son of Oswald who ruled in Deira took part with the Mercians but in the Fight withdrew his Forces and in a safe place waited for the Event with which unseasonable Retreat the Mercians perhaps being terrified and misdoubting greater danger fled their Commanders together with Penda himself being almost all
Slain amongst whom was Ethelher King of the East-Angles who forgeting the Death of his Brother K. Anna formerly Slain by Penda now took part with him and was the chief Authour of this War many as they were flying were drown'd in the River Winved then swoln above her Banks The death of Penda that Cruel and Heathen King caused a General rejoycing among the Christians according to the Old English saying mentioned by Mathew Westminster at Winved So that after Penda had been the death of no less than Four or Five Christian Kings whom he slew in Battle he himself underwent the same Fate so little Difference is there between the deaths of Good and Bad Princes only the former are called God's Corrections but the latter his Judgments But to Ethelher succeeded Ethelwald his Brother and to Penda his Son Peadda who being a Christian and Son in Law to Oswi himself he allowed him to hold the Province of South Mercia divided from the Northern by the River of Trent then containing according to Bede Five Thousand Families to be held as Tributary to the Northumbrian Kingdom After this the Mercians became all Christians by the means of King Oswi and Peadda and here that Copy of the Saxon Chronicle Written in the Abby of Peterburgh gives us a large account of the Foundation of that Abby which is thus That in the Time of this Peadda he and Oswi the Brother of King Oswald met and conferred about building a Monastery in honour of Christ and St. Peter which they afterwards did and gave it the Name of Medeshamsted from a certain Well which is there called Medeswell so they laid the Foundations and when they had near finished the Work they committed it to the Care of a certain Monk called Saxulf who was dear to God and beloved of all the Nation for he was a Rich and Noble Person in his time but is now much richer in Christ. This Year also Honorius the Archbishop deceasing on the 7th of the Calends of April Ithamer Bishop of Rochester Consecrated Deus Dedit to be Arch-Bishop of Canterbury This was the first English Monk that had ever been chosen Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and was also the first that was Consecrated but by one Bishop for the better sound sake he changed his Name to Deus Dedit having been before called Fridonà or Fridon This Year was Peadda Slain about Easter by the Treachery of his Wife the Daughter of K. Oswy and Wulfher his Brother the Son of Penda succeeded him Thô not until some Years after for upon the Death of Peadda King Oswi seized also that part of the Kingdom and held and laid it to his own Dominions Here the Saxon Chronicle proceeds to give us a further account concerning the finishing of the aforesaid Monastery of Peterburgh but thô it was done some Years after and the Relation be somewhat long yet because it shews more plainly than any other History the Form and Manner of erecting such a Foundation I shall give you the substance of it omitting what is not pertinent to our purpose The said Chronicle proceeds thus That in his viz. Wulfher's Reign the Abby of Medeshamsted was greatly encreased in Riches for that King favoured it very much for the sake of his own Brother Peadda and of Oswie his Brother in the Christian Faith as also of Saxulf the Abbot wherefore he said that he would render it yet more famous and would highly adorn it being thereunto perswaded By his Brothers Ethelred and Merwalla and his Sisters Kyneburg and Kyneswith as also by Arch-Bishop Deus Dedit and all his Wise Men both Clerks and Laicks that were in his Kingdom then the King sending for the said Abbot told him that since his Bâ—other Peadda and his Friend Oswie had begun this Monastery and that he was Departed this Life therefore the Abbot should take diligent care to see it finished and he would provide all things as both Gold and Silver Lands and possessions and whatever else was needful for it whereupon the Abbot went home and setting to the Work so far advanced it that in few Years it was finished which when it was told the King he was very joyful and sent to give notice of it to all his Thanes throughout the whole Nation as also the Arch-Bishop Bishops Earls and all who loved God that they should come to him so he appointed them a day when the Monastery should be Consecrated at which Consecration King Wulfer and his Brother Ethelred and his Sisters were all present as was also Arch-Bishop Deus Dedit and Ithamer Bishop of Rochester together with Wina Bishop of London and several other Bishops There were also present all the Thanes that were in his Kingdom when this Monastery was Consecrated in the Names of St. Peter St. Paul and St. Andrew Then the King rising up from his Chair spoke thus with a loud Voice before all his Thanes Thanks be to the most High and Omnipotent GOD for this honour which he hath done me and I will That you all confirm my Words I Wulfer do give this Day to St. Peter and to Saxulf and to the Monks of this Monastery all these Lands Waters c. and all the Territories lying round about them which are of my Royal Patrimony so freely that no Man shall have thence any Tribute or Revenue besides the Abbot and Monks which Gift is this Then the King proceeded to declare the Meets and Bounds of the Lands which he had given which because they are not to our purpose I omit only that they reach'd as far as Stamford and were above Threescore Miles about then said the King The Gift indeed is small but I will that they hold it so freely that none may exact any Gueld or Tribute out of it but what is paid to the Monks and I do hereby free this Monastery from being subject to any but the See of Rome but I will also That all those who cannot go thither should here implore to St. Peter When the King had spoke these things the Abbot made a request to him in the behalf of certain Religious Monks who desired to lead the Lives of Anchorites and therefore prayed that on a certain Island a small Monastery should be Built wherein they might live in Peace and Solitude which was presently granted by the King then he also desired his Brothers and Sisters that for the good of their Souls they would be witnesses to his Charter conjuring all thosâ— who should succeed him to preserve his Gift Inviolate as they hoped to be partakers of Eternal Life and would escape Eternal Torments then follow the Names of the Witnesses who were present and who subscribed and with the sign of the Cross confirmed it by their consents that is King Wulfer who first of all confirmed it with his Word and then sign'd it with the Cross and then spake thus I King Wulfer with the Earls Heoretoghs and Thanes being Witnesses of my
Coleman that he was resolved to quit his Bishoprick and depart into Scotland to the Isle of Hye from whence he cam◠rather than to comply with it from whence he also departed into Ireland here called Scotland where he built a Monastery in that Country and lived all the rest of his days and in which only English Men were admitted at the time when Bede wrote his History But after the departure of Coleman one Tuda who had been ordained Bishop among the Southern Scots was made Bishop of Lindisfarne but he enjoyed that Bishoprick but a very little while But after the Death of Bishop Tuda according to the Life of Bishop Wilfrid King Oswi held a great Council with the Wise Men of his Nation whom they should chuse in the vacant See as most fit for that holy Function when they all with one Consent nominated and chose Abbot Wilfrid as the fittest and worthiest Person to succeed him but being to be Consecrated he refused it from any Bishop at home because he look'd upon them all as Uncanonical being all ordained by Scotish Bishops who differed from the Roman Church about this Point of keeping Easter so that he would needs go over into France for Ordination where staying too long the King put Ceadda who had lately come out of Ireland into his Place which Wilfred upon his return much resenting retired to his Monastery at Ripon and there resided as also sometimes with Wulfher King of Mercia or else with Ecghert King of Kent till he was restored to his See Bede tells us that the above-mentioned Eclipse was followed by a sudden Pestilence the same Year which first depopulating the Southern Parts of Britain then proceeded to the Northern wherein Bishop Tuda deceased it also invaded Ireland and there took off many Religious as well as Secular Persons The same Year also according to Florence Ercombert King of Kent dying left that Kingdom to Egbert his Son Also Ethelwald King of the East Angles dying this Year Aldulf succeeded him About this time according to Bede Siger and Sebba succeeding Swidhelm in the Kingdom of the East Saxons being unsteady in the Faith and supposing the late great Pestilence to have fell upon them for renouncing their old Superstition relapsed again to Idolatry and rebuilt the Idol-Temples hoping by that means to be defended from the present Mortality but as soon as Wulfher King of the Mercians to whom this Kingdom was then subject heard of it he sent Bishop Jaruman to them who together with their Fellow-Labourers by their sound Doctrine and gentle Dealing soon reclaimed them from their Apostacy This Mortality is also partly confirmed by Mat. Westminster who the next Year relates so great a Mortality to have raged in England that many Men going in Troops to the Sea-side cast themselves in headlong preferring a speedy Death before the Torments of a long and painful Sickness thô this seems to be no other than the great Pestilence which raged the Year before unless we suppose it to have lasted for 2 Years successively The same Year also according to the Account of an ancient British Chronicle lately in the Possession of Mr. Robert Vaughan Cadwallader last King of the Britains having been forced by a great Famine and Mortality to quit his Native Country and to sojourn with Alan King of Armorica finding no hopes of ever recovering his Kingdom from thence went to Rome where professing himself a Monk he died about 8 Years after Now thô the British History of Caradoc Translated by Humphrey Lloyd and Published by Dr. Powel places Cadwallader's going to Rome Anno 680 which Mr. Vaughan in the Manuscript I have by me and which is already cited in the former Book proves can neither agree with the Account of the said old Chronicle nor yet with the Time of the great Mortality above-mentioned for Caradoc and Geoffery of Monmouth do both place Cadwallader's going to Rome in the Year of the great Pestilence which as Bede and Mat. Westminster testifie fell out in the Year 664 or 665 and therefore that learned Antiquary very well observes That as for their Calculation who prolong Cadwallader's Life to the Year 688 or 689 and place his going to Rome in Pope Sergius's time he thinks they had no better Warrant for it than their mistaking Ceadwalla King of the West Saxons who then indeed went to Rome and there died for this Cadwallader who lived near 20 Years before whereby they have confounded this History and brought it into a great deal of uncertainty whereas that ancient Appendix annex'd to the Manuscript Nennius in the Cottonian Library whose Author lived above 300 Years before either Geoffery or Caradoc doth clearly shew that this Monastery above-mentioned and consequently Cadwallader's going to Rome happened in the Reign of Oswi King of Northumberland who according to the Saxon Annals began to Reign Anno 642 and died Anno 670 and therefore no other Mortality ought to be assigned for Cadwallader's going to Rome than this in King Oswi's Reign Anno 665 for the Words of the said old Author are these Oswi the Son of Ethelfred reigned 28 Years and 6 Months and whilst he reigned there happened a great Mortality of Men Catwalater so he spells it then reigning over the Britains after his Father and therein perished Now the Case is clear if these Words in the Latin Et in ea periit have relation to Cadwallader as most likely they have considering Oswi lived 5 Years after the Year 665 wherein this Mortality raged then Cadwallader never went to Rome at all but died of this Plague but of this I dare not positively determine since the greater part of the Welsh Chronicles are so positive in Cadwallader's dying at Rome But to return to our Annals This Year Oswi King of Northumberland and Ecgbrith King of Kent with the Consent of the whole English Church as Bede relates sent Wigheard the Presbyter to Rome to be there made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury but he died almost as soon as he arrived So that Theodorus being the next Year consecrated Arch-Bishop was sent into Britain Of which Transaction Bede gives us this particular Account About this time also as Bede relates Wina Bishop of Winchester being driven from his See by King Kenwalch went and bought the See of London of King Wulfher This is the first Example of Simony in the English Church The See of Canterbury had been now vacant for above 3 Years for the Pope was resolved himself to Ordain an Arch-Bishop and at last at the Recommendation of one Adrian a Greek Monk who might have been Arch-Bishop himself but refused it the Pope chose this Theodorus then a Monk and a Native of Tharsus in Cilicia who being an excellent Scholar brought the knowledge of the Greek Tongue as also Arithmetick Musick and Astronomy in use among the English Saxons This Arch-Bishop immediately upon his coming into England made a thorough Visitation of
his Province and as Bede tells us surveyed all Things and ordained Bishops in fit Places and those Things which he found less perfect than they should be he by their Assistance corrected among which when he found fault with Bishop Ceadda as not having been rightly Consecrated he humbly and modestly replied If you believe that I have not rightly undertook the Episcopal Charge I willingly quit it since as I never thought my self worthy so I never consented to accept it but in obedience to the Commands of my Superiours But the Arch-Bishop seeing his Humility answered That he would not have him lay aside his Episcopacy and so he again renewed his Ordination according to the Catholick Rites From whence it appears that this Arch-Bishop then thought the Ordination of the English and Scotish Bishops who differed from the Church of Rome as to the time of keeping Easter to be Uncanonical and for this reason Bede here also tells us That Bishop Wilfrid was sent into France to be Ordained But as for this Bishop Ceadda Florence of Worcester informs us That he was now also deprived of his Bishoprick and Wilfrid restored to it as having been unduly Elected thereunto which thô Bede doth not tell us in express Words yet he confirms it in the very next Chapter where he tells us That Jaruman Bishop of the Mercians being now dead King Wulfher did not ask Arch-Bishop Theodorus to Ordain a new One but only desired of King Oswi that Bishop Ceadda the Brother of Cedda should be sent to him to take that Charge who lived privately at his Monastery of Lestinghen where he was then Abbot Wilfrid then not only Governing the Diocess of York and all the Northumbers but also Picts as far as King Oswi's Dominions extended But to return again to the Saxon Annals This Year King Ecgbert gave to Basse the Priest Reculf where he built a Monastery This was afterwards called Reculver in Kent Oswi King of Northumberland died xv Kal. Martij and was buried at Streanshale Monastery and Ecverth or Egfrid his Son reigned after him also Lothaire Nephew of Bishop Agelbert took upon him the Episcopal Charge over the West Saxons and held it 7 Years Arch-Bishop Theodorus Consecrated him He whom these Annals call Lothair was the same with Leutherius Bishop of Winchester Bede tells us further of King Oswi That being worn out with a long Infirmity he was so much in love with the Roman Rites that if he had recovered of the Sickness of which he died he had resolved to go to Rome and end his Days at the Holy Places having engaged Bishop Wilfrid to be the Guide and Companion of his Journey promising him no small Rewards for his Pains ' This Year was a great slaughter of Birds H. Huntington renders it a great Fight of Birds which seems to have been some remarkable Combat of Crows or Jackdaws in the Air of which we have several wonderful Relations in our Histories Mat. Westminster relates that the strange Birds seemed to flie before those of this Country but that many Thousands were killed This next Year Cenwalch King of the West Saxons died and Sexburga his Wife held the Kingdom after him for one Year Of whom William of Malmesbury gives this Account That this King dying left the Kingdom to Sexburga his Wife nor did she want Spirit or Courage to discharge all the Functions of a King for she straitways began to raise new Forces as also to keep the Old to their Duty to govern her Subjects with moderation and to keep her Enemies in awe and in short to do such great Things that there was no Difference but the Sex between Her and a King But as she aimed at more than Feminine Undertakings so she left this Life when she had scarce Reigned a Year about But Mat. Westminster says she was expelled the Kingdom by the Nobles who despised Female Government But what Authority he had for this I know not for I do not find it in any other Author whereas if what William of Malmesbury says of her be true it was not likely they should Rebel against so good a Governess who seems to have been the perfect Pattern of an Excellent Queen After the Death of King Cenwalch and as I suppose Queen Sexburga likewise Bede relates That the Great Men or Petty Princes of that Kingdom divided it among them and so held it for 10 Years in which time Eleutherius Bishop of the West Saxons i. e. of Winchester dying Heddi was Consecrated by Arch-Bishop Theodorus in his stead in whose time those Petty Princes being all subdued Ceadwalla took the Kingdom but this does not agree with the Saxon Annals About this time thô Bede does not set down the Year King Egfrid of Northumberland waging War with Wulfher King of Mercia won from him all the Country of Lindsey About this time also died Ceadda Bishop of Litchfield according to Ran. Higden's Polychron but Bede does not tell us the time of his Death thô he mentions it and there gives a large Account of the great Humility and Piety of that good Bishop and of the Pious End he made He is called by us at this day St. Chad. This Year Egber◠King of Kent deceased according to Bede's Epitome who as says Math. Westminster gave part of the Isle of Thanet to build a Monastery to explate the Murder of his Cousins whom he had caused to be slain as you have already heard The same Year was a Synod of all the Bishops and great Men of England held at Heartford now Hartford which Synod as Bede tells us was called by Arch-Bishop Theodorus where Wilfred Bishop of York with all the rest of the Bishops of England were either in Person or by their Deputies as Florence relates and in which divers Decrees were made for the Reformation of the Church the first and chiefest of which was That Easter should be kept on the first Lord's Day after the Fourteenth Moon of the First Month i. e. 〈◊〉 which thô it had been before appointed by the Synod at Streanshale above-mentioned yet that being not looked upon as a General Council of the whole Kingdom it was now again renewed the rest of them concerning the Jurisdictions of the Bishops and the Priviledges and Exemptions of Monasteries I pass over and refer you to Sir H. Spelman's First Volume of Councils for farther satisfaction But I cannot omit that it was here first Ordained That thô Synods ought to be held twice a Year yet since divers Causes might hinder it therefore it seem'd good to the whole Council that a Synod should be assembled once a Year at a place called Cloveshoe This Year also the Saxon Annals relate That Etheldrethe late Wife to Egfrid King of Northumberland founded the Monastery of Ely in which she her self became the first Abbess She as Bede tells us had been twice married but would never let either
assistance to revenge their quarrel which happen'd the next Year as the same Authour relates For This Year not long before the Death of King Egfrid that Holy Man Cuthbert was by the same King ordered to be ordained Bishop of Lindisfarne thô he was at first chosen to be Bishop of Hagulstaed instead of Trumbert who had been before deposed from that Bishoprick yet because Cuthbert liked the Church of Lindisfarne better in which he had so long convers'd Eatta was made to return to the See of Hagulstad to which he was at first ordained whilest Cuthbert took the Bishoprick of Lindisfarne But I shall now give you from Bede a farther account of the Life of this good Bishop he had been first bred in the Monastery of Mailross and was afterwards made Abbot of the Monastery of Lindisfarne retiring from whence he had for a long time lived the Life of an Anchorite in the Isle of Farne not far distant but when there was a great Synod assembled King Egfrid being present at a place called Twiford near the River Alne where Arch-Bishop Theodore presiding Cuthbert was by the general consent of them all chosen Bishop who when he could not by any Messages or Letters be drawn from his Cell at length the King himself with Bishop Trumwin and other Noble and Religious Persons sailed thither where they at last after many intreaties prevailed upon him to go with them to the Synod and when he came there thô he very much opposed it yet he was forced to accept the Episcopal Charge and so was consecrated Bishop the Easter following and after his Consecration in imitation of the blessed Appostles he adorned his calling by his good Works for he constantly taught the People commited to his Charge and incited them to the love of Heaven by his constant Prayers and Exhoâ—tations and which is the chief part of a Teacher whatsoever he Taught he himself first practised so having lived in this manner about Two Years being then sensible that the time of his Death or rather of his future Life drew near he again retired to the same Island and Hermitage from whence he came The same Year also King Egfrid rashly lead out his Army to destroy the Province of the Picts thô his Friends and principally Bishop Cuthbert did all they could to hinder it and having now entred the Country he was brought before he was aware by the feigned flight of his Enemies between the streights of certain inaccessible Mountains where he with the greatest part of his Forces he had brought with him were all cut off in the Fortieth Year of his Age and the Fifteenth of his Reign And as the Year aforegoing he refused to hear Bishop Cuthbert who diswaded him from invading Ireland which did him no harm so Bede observes it was a just Judgment upon him for that Sin that he would not hear those who would then have prevented his Ruine From this time the Grandeur and Valour of this Kingdom of the Northumbers began to decline for the Picts now recovered their Country which the English had taken away and the Scots that were in Britain with some part of the Britains themselves regain'd their Liberty which they did enjoy for the space of Forty Six Years after when Bede wrote his History But Alfred Brother to this King succeeding him quickly recovered his Kingdom thô reduced into narrower bounds He was also a Prince very well read in the Holy Scriptures The same Year as the Saxon Annals relate Kentwin King of the West-Saxons dying Ceadwalla began to Reign over that Kingdom whose Pedegree is there inserted which I shall refer to another place and the same Year also died Lothair King of Kent as Bede relates of the Wounds he had received in a Fight against the South Saxons in which Edric his Brother Egbert's Son Commanded against him and reigned in his stead This Year also according to the Annals John was consecrated Bishop of Hugulstad and remained so till Bishop Wilfrith's return but afterwards Bishop Bosâ— dying John became Bishop of York but from thence many Years after retired to his Monastry in Derawnde now called Beverlie in York-shire This Year it rained Blood in Britain and also Milk and Butter were now turned into somewhat like Blood You are here to take notice that this Bishop John above mentioned is the famous St. John of Beverlie of whom Bede in the next Book tells so many Miracles But our Annals do here require some farther Illustration for this Ceadwalla here mentioned was the Grandson of Ceawlin by his Brother Cutha who being a Youth of great hopes was driven into Banishment by his Predecessour and as Stephen Heddi in Bishop Wilfrid's Life relates lay concealed among the Woods and Desarts of Chyltern and Ondred and there remained for a long time till raising an Army thô Bede does not say from whence he slew Aldelwald King of the South-Saxons and seized upon his Province but was soon driven out by two of that King's Captains viz. Bertune and Autune who for some time kept that Kingdom to themselves the former of whom was afterwards slain by the same Ceadwalla when he became King of the West-Saxons but the other who reigned after him again set it free from that servitude for many Years from whence it happen'd that all that time they had no Bishop of their own for when Wilfrid return'd home they became subject to the Bishop of the West-Saxons that is of Dorchester which return as the Author of Wilfrid's Life relates happen'd this Year being the Second of King Alfred's Reign who then invited him home and restored him to his Bishoprick as also to his Monastery at Rypun together with all his other Revenues according to the Decree of Pope Agatho and the Council at Rome above mentioned all which he enjoyed till his second Expulsion as you will hear in due time After Ceadwalla had obtain'd the Kingdom he subdued the Isle of Wight which was as yet infected with Idolatry and therefore this King resolved to destroy all the Inhabitants and to Plant the Island with his own Subjects obliging himself by a Vow althô he himself as it is reported was not yet baptized that he would give the Fourth part of his Conquests to God which he made good by offering it to Bishop Wilfrid who was then come thither by chance out of his own Country The Island consisted of about Two Thousand Families and the King bestowed upon this Bishop as much Land there as then maintained Three Hundred Families the Care of all which the Bishop committed to one of his Clerks named Bernwin his Sisters Son who was to Baptize all those that would be saved Bede also adds That amongst the first Fruits of Believers in that Island there were two Royal Youths Brothers who were the Sons of Arwald late King thereof who having hid themselves for fear of King Ceadwalla were at last discovered and by
him ordered to be slain which when the Abbot of Reodford heard as having his Monastery not far from thence he went to the King who then lay private in those Parts to be cured of the Wounds he had received in taking of the Island and desired of him if the Youths must needs dye that they might first received Baptism which the King granted whereupon the Abbot immediately instructed and then Baptized them so when the Executitioner came to put them to Death they chearfully underwent it because they hoped thereby to obtain an Eternal Kingdom Thus the Isle of Wight did thô last of all receive the Christian Faith and that upon very harsh terms as if God would make them suffer for their so long refusal of the Gospel The same Year also Ceadwalla and Mollo or Mull his Brother wasted Kent And W. Malmesbury adds That the occasion of this War was to be revenged of King Edric who had killed Lothair his Predecessour and that falling upon that Province now grown Esseminate with long Peace he committed a great deal of Spoil throughout the Country but at last meeting with the Kentish Men was repulsed with loss This Year also according to Stephen Hâ—ddis's Life of Bishop Wilfrid he was re-called home by King Alfred and restored to his Sees of York and Hagulstad the Bishop that then enjoyed them being turned out The same Year also Cuthbert that Pious Bishop of Lindisfarne having resigned his Bishoprick and retired again to Farne-Island there deceased but his Body was translated to Lindisfarne which being taken up Eleven Years after was found as entire as when it was first buried This Year Mollo or Mull the Brother of King Ceadwalla but now mentioned was burnt in Kent and Twelve others with him but Ceadwalla afterwards wasted Kent the same Year which action Will. of Malmesbury and H. Huntington relate more at large That Ceadwalla in the second Year of his Reign sent his Brother Mollo at his own request to Ravage and Pâ—under the Province of Kent out of a Desire of Spoil and Ambition of Glory so marching into Kent then divided into divers Factions and finding none there to resist him he laid all the Country waste but when he despised his Enemies and thought he might do what he pleased with them going about to plunder a certain House and having no more thâ—n Twelve Men in his Company being there encompassed on the sudden with far greater Forces and not daring to sally out upon them they set the House on Fire about his Ears where He with Twelve Knights were burnt And thus this brave Army consisting of the Flower of the West-Saxon Youth came to nothing But Will. Thorne in his Chronicle of the Abbots of St. Augustine Cant. relates the Death of this Prince with more Circumstances vâ—z That he invading and spoiling Kent and coming before the City of Canterbury and being there stoutly resisted by the Citizens till almost all his Men were killed was at last constrained to flee to a certain House where the Men of Canterbury burnt him to Death as hath been already related but it seems his Body not being reduced to Ashes was taken up and buried in the Church of the Abby of St. Augustine with the Kings of Kent this I thought fit to add as not being found elsewhere But when Ceadwalla heard this news being extremely enraged at it he again entred Kent and there satiating himself with Spoil and Slaughter when he had left nothing worth carrying away returned home Victorious This Year King Ceadwalla after he had Reign'd 2 Years perhaps having some remorse for his former Cruelties went to Rome and there received Baptism from Pope Sergius who gave him the Name of Peter where he not long after dyed and was buried in the Church of St. Peter to whom Ina succeeded in the Kingdom of the West-Saxons and Reigned Thirty Seven Years He also built the Monastery at Glastingabyrig now Glastenbury and also went to Rome and there remained until his Death Bede who has given us a long Epitaph on Ceadwalla both in Verse and Prose places this Prince's Baptism by the Pope in Anno 689 which might very well be for he resigned his Kingdom the Year above mentioned and it was ended by that time he could be baptized and so the Saxon Annalist might well place both that and his Baptism under one and the same Year The British Historians confounded this Ceadwalla with their King Ceadwallo who slew King Edwin but he lived above Twenty Years before this time as hath been already observed But Dr. Powel and Mr. Vaughan in their Learned Notes upon Caradoc's Welsh Chronicle do suppose with great probability that this Cadwallo was Edwal sirnamed Ywrch Prince of Wales who about this time began to Reign being the Son of Cadwallader and may also very well agree with what Guidonius writeth of one Ethwal Prince of Wales who about this time went to Rome and there dyed for in proper Names it is an easie matter for a Capital C to creep in since it was commonly used in old hands at the beginning of a Paragraph and might by an Ignorant Copier be added to the Name it self and so of Edwal make Cadwal and from thence Cadwallader But the Year after Ceadwalla dyed at Rome according to Bede as well as our Annals Theodorus Arch-Bishop of Canterbury also deceased being Eighty Eight Years of Age having sate Arch-Bishop Twenty Two Years and was buried in the Church of St. Peter in Canterbury Bede tells us That the English Church never attained to that height of perfection under any Arch-Bishops Government as it did under his he being the first Arch-Bishop who Exercised his Metropolitan Jurisdiction over all the Bishops as well beyond as on this side of Humber Berthwald who now succeeded Theodore in the Arch-Bishoprick had been Abbot of a certain Monastery called Raculf now Reculver in Kent near the Isle of Thanet and was a Man well read in the Scriptures and skil'd in Ecclesiastical Discipline but yet he ought not to be compared to his Predecessours he was Elected this Year but it seems his Consecration was deferr'd till near Three Years after when the Saxon Chronicle likewise recites it This Year also according to Florence Ina a Prince of the Royal Blood took the Kingdom of the West-Saxons being the Son of Kenred the Son of Ceolwald Yet it seems he had no right by Succession for Will of Malmesbury tells us expresly That it was more in respect to his own Natural Vertue than to the Right of a successive descent that he was now made King and indeed How could it be otherwise his Father Kenred being then alive This Year also Abbot Benedict above-mentioned dyed after a long Sickness of whom Bede in his Life already cited gives us a large Account that having been at first a Servant to King Oswin and receiving from him a competent Estate for his Quality he quited
held it Thirty Three Years William of Malmesbury makes him to have been Elected King by the General Consent of his Subjects and that he did not deceive their expectation in governing them well The Saxon Chronicle here also proceeds and gives us his Pedegree which being not to our purpose I omit only you may take notice that he was the Son of one Ecbert and not of the last King that Reigned As soon as ever he was made King he commanded a Great Council to be summoned at a place called Becanceld which though it be somewhere in Kent yet no body certainly knows where it lay unless it were Beckanham which lies near Surry at which Council Withred Himself was present as also the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Rochester and with them all the Abbots and Abbesses together with many Wise and Prudent Men who were there assembled that they might all take Council about the repairing of the Churches in Kent then the King began to speak thus I will That all Churches and Monasteries which have been given and endow'd for God's Glory in the Days of the Faithful Kings my Predecessours shall remain so to God's Honour for ever Therefore I Withred being an Earthly King yet moved by the Heavenly one have learnt from our Ancestours that no Lay-man ought to have right to meddle with any Church or any of those things that belong to it Wherefore we do firmly Decree and appoint and in the Name of the Omnipotent God and all his Saints do straitly forbid all the Kings our Successours with all Ealdermen i. e. Governours or Judges and other Laymen to exercise any Lordship or Dominion over those Churches and their possâ—ssions which either I or my Predâ—cessours have given for the Honour of Christ and our Lady St. Mary and all the Saints but when it shall happen that a Bishop or any Abbot or Abbess shall depart this Life let it be told the Arch-Bishop that by his command one may be chosen who is most worthy Moreover let the Arch-Bishop make good tryal of his Life who shall be elected to so Holy a Function neither let any one be Elected or Consecrated without the consent of the Arch-Bishop for as it is the King's duty to appoâ—nt Ealdermen Sheriffs and Judges so it is the Arch-Bishop's to Govern the Church of God and to take care of it as also to appoint and elect Bishâ—ps Abbots and Abbesses Presbyters and Deacons as also to Consecrate Coâ—firm and Instruct them by his good Precepts and Example least any of God's Flock should wonder out of the way and perish This passage being found in the Cottonian Copy of the Saxon Annals I thought good to insert as a Monument of the ancient power of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as Governour of the Church of England though then under the power of the Pope in Ecclesiastical Matters These are the chief heads of this famous Council not do the other Copies in Sir H. Spelman's Collection differ much from this in the Saxon Annals only there follows the Subscriptions of King Wythred and Werburge his Queen who Subscribed for her self and the Prince her Son then follow those of the Bishops and Abbots and after them of Five Abbesses of that Kingdom which shews them to have been present at this Council but whether as consenters or voters or else as bare witnesses I shall not determine but it is observable that their Names are written not only before all the Presbyters but also before Botred a Bishop though of what Diocess is not specified But to return to Civil affairs About this time also as Bede relates though no Historian hath given us the Year Sebbi King of the East-Saxons being fitter for a Bishop than a King and being at last taken with a great bodily Infirmity preferred a private Life before a Crown and took upon him the Habit of a Monk with the Benediction of Waldhere then Bishop and Successour to Erkenwald in the See of London so this pious King after he had bestowed a great Sum of Money in Charity soon departed this Life leaving his Sons Sighard and Senfrid to succeed him This Year the Southumbers that is the Mercians killed Ostrythe the Wife of Ethelred their late King and the Sister of King Egfrid H. Huntington calls it a vile Wickedness but would not or could not give us the reason why they did so nor what punishment was inflicted upon them for it This Year likewise was held the Council of Berghamsted in Kent Bertwald Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Gibmund Bishop of Rochester and all the Ecclesiastical Order of that Kingdom together with all the Lay or Military Men being there assembled by the Common and Unanimous Assent of All they decreed these Laws should be added to the Laws and Customs of the Kentish Men the Constitutions of this Council are called in the Saxon Title the Judgments or Doomes of King Wightred But thô they relate chiefly to Ecclesiastical Matters yet I shall here insert some of the chief of them The First Law is That the Church shall be free and enjoy her own Judgments Rents and Pensions and that Prayer be made for the King and his Commands obeyed not of necessity or Compulsion but out of good will Secondly If any Military Man called there a Gesithcund-man in the Saxon Original shall after this Council is ended despising the King's Law and the Judicial Sentence of the Bishop's Excomunication be taken in Adultery let him pay to his Lord an 100 Shillings By which Law it appears there was at this time Knights Service in England and also that slighting of Excomunication had no further Temporal Penalty than a pecuniary Mulct And that it was to the Lord of whom he held his Land That he was to pay it appears by the next Law by which it is appointed that if the Adulterer were a Country Man or Villager called there Ceorlesman he shall pay Fifty Shillings to his Lord yea thô he do Pennance for that Sin Thirdly If on Saturday in the Evening after the Sun is set or on Sunday Evening after the same time a Servant shall at the Command of his Master do any work let his Master redeem the offence with paying Eighty Shillings Fourthly If a Layman kill a Theif let him lye without any Wiregild that is without making any satisfaction to the Friends of the party slain This Year also the Picts slew Bert the Ealderman H. Huntington ascribes this to the Curse of the Irish Nation whose Churches he had in the late Invasion destroyed for as King Egfrid Invading the Country of the Picts was there cut off so entering their Country to revenge the Death of his Master he was likewise slain Mat. Westminster calls this Ealderman Brithric Earl of the Northumbers but from what Authority I know not I shall conclude this Century with a very remarkable Transaction out of Bede that happen'd about the latter end of it Egbert an English Priest living
in Ireland being hindred by a Storm that forced him back from Preaching the Gospel as he intended in Germany he perswaded one Wilbrode his Country man to do it who having obtain'd the Pope's License to Preach to the Heathen Nations he performed it first by preaching the Gospel in old Frizeland which then included not only those Provinces called East and West Frizeland to this day but also Holland and Zealand and divers others of the Belgic Provinces where he converted all those Nations to the Christian Faith and was afterwards at the desire of Pipin father to King Charles ordained by the Pope Arch-Bishop of the Frisons Anno Dom. 596 and upon his return to Rome Pipin being then Major of the Palace or General of France gave him for his Episcopal See that famous Castle which is called in the Old Language of that Nation Wiltaburg but in the Gallic Tongue Trajectum at this day Utrecht But not long after two Priests each of them named Henwald and for distinction Sirnamed from the colour of their Hair the Black and the White being by his Example piously affected to the Souls of their Country-men the Old Saxons at their coming into Old Saxony to convert them met with much worse Entertainment for being in the House of a Farmer who had promised to convey them as they desired to the Governour of that Country and being discovered by their daily Ceremonies to be Christian Priests and the cause of their coming also known they were by him and his Heathen Neighbours cruelly butcher'd and their Bodies flung into the Rhine but the Governour coming to the knowledge of it being enraged at such Violence offered to two Strangers sent Armed Men and slew all those wicked Inhabitants and burnt their Village About this time Sir H. Spelman in his first Volume of Councils records a Charter of Priviledge granted by King Wythred in a General Council or Synod of Kent whereby with the Consent of the Chief Men of his Kingdom he freed all the Churches thereof from all Publick Payments or Tributes whatsoever provided they yielded the King and his Successours the same Honour and Obedience as they had done his Predecessours under whom hitherto they had enjoyed all Justice and Liberty This was done in the Eighth Year of his Reign at a Place called Cylling which seems to be no more than a Confirmation of what had been done 6 Years before in the Council of Becanceld But to return to our Annals ' This Year Cenred began to Reign over the Southumbers i. e. the Mercians as has been already said Hedda the Bishop departed this Life he held the Bishoprick of Winchester 27 Years This Hedda is he of whom Bede gives the Character of an Excellent Bishop and one who Adorn'd the Episcopal See converting more by his Example than Preaching Ethelred the Son of Penda King of the Mercians became a Monk at Bardeney Abbey having reigned 29 or rather 30 Years and Cenred succeeded him who was his Cousin-German William of Malmesbury further adds That from a Monk he came to be Abbot of that Monastery wherein he died and that of Osgilde the Sister of Egfrid King of Northumberland he begat a Son called Ceolred yet for all this Ethelred passing him by he appointed Cenred the Son of his Brother Wulfher for his Successour who reigned with great Love to his Country and a singular Probity of Manners till in the Fifth Year of his Reign he went to Rome and as Bede tells us taking upon him the Habit of a Monk during the Papacy of Pope Constantine there ended his Days in Prayers Fasting and Alms. Ealfert or Alfred King of the Northumbers deceased on the 19 o Kal. Jan. at Driffeild in the 12th Year of his Reign Osred his Son succeeding in that Kingdom But Stephen Heddi in his Life of Bishop Wilfrid and who lived at that time hath given us a more accurate Account of the Death of this King and of his Successours viz. That King Alfred lying now sick upon his Death-bed repented of what he had done toward Bishop Wilfrid and promised That if ever he recovered of that Sickness he would restore the Bishop and in all Things observe the Decree of the Apostolick See but if he died he enjoyn'd who ever should succeed him to be reconciled with that Bishop for the good of both their Souls but this King dying one Eardwulf succeeded him thô but for a small time and the Bishop going to him and carrying that King's Son along with him he sent Messengers before supposing him to be his Friend but the King being perswaded by his Councellors and also prompted by his own natural Wickedness sent the Bishop word binding it with an Oath That unless he departed his Kingdom within the space of six Days whosoever he found of his Company should be put to Death Not long after which harsh Message a Plot being laid against him he was driven out of the Kingdom which he had scarce enjoyed two Months and so the Royal Youth Osred Son of the late King Alfred succeeded in the Kingdom and became Bishop Wilfrid's adopted Son In the first Year of which King the Author above-mentioned hath given us the following Account concerning the Restitution of the said Bishop viz. That Berthwald Arch-Bishop of Canterbury came about this time from the South together with all the Bishops Abbots and Chief Men of the whole Kingdom by the Precept of the Apostolical See to hold a Synod at a Place lying on the East-side of the River Nid in Northumberland where the King with his Bishops and Chief Men being met the Arch-Bishop made a Speech to them setting forth the Letters from the Pope which Bishop Wilfrid had brought directed to himself and which he desired might be read the Purport whereof was to the same effect as you have already heard Then Aelfleda the Abbess Daughter to the late King as also Berechtfrid the second Man in the Kingdom set forth the Will of the late King and therefore that it was fit to obey it as well as the Commands of the Apostolical See whereupon the King with his Great Men and all the Bishops upon mature Deliberation resolved to be reconciled to Bishop Wilfrid and that his two Monasteries of Rypon and Hagulstad together with all their Revenues should be restored to him and so a firm Reconciliation being made all the Bishops departed in Peace But yet for all this by what Richard Prior of Hagulstad hath left us of this matter it appears that Wilfrid did not carry the Cause so clearly as this Author would make it for he only was restored to the Bishoprick of Hagulstad and Bishop John above-named was from thence translated to York which Bishop Wilfrid had held before only Bishop John parted with Hagulstad for Peace-sake I have been the more exact in this Transaction because it has never been done by any body in our Language before Also
it is to this Year we are to refer the great Council which Bede tells us was held in the Kingdom of the West Saxons in which after the Death of Bishop Hedda the Bishoprick of that Province became divided into two one whereof was conferred on Daniel who held it at the time when Bede wrote his History and the other was bestowed upon Aldhelm above-mentioned then Abbot of Malmesbury who was now made Bishop of Shireburn and when he was only an Abbot did at the Command of a Synod of the whole Nation write an excellent Book against that Errour of the Britains in not keeping Easter at the due time whereby he converted many of those Britains which were then subject to the West Saxons to the Catholick Observation thereof Of whose other Works likewise Bede gives us there a Catalogue being a Person says he admirable in all Civil as well as Ecclesiastical and Divine Learning and as William of Malmesbury further informs us was the first of the English Saxons who wrote Latin Verses with a Roman Genius There is here in the Saxon Annals a Gap for the space of 3 Years in which I think we may according to H. Huntington's Account place what Bede relates in the Chapter and Book last cited viz. That Daniel and Aldhelm yet holding their Sees it was ordained by a Synodal Decree That the Province of the South Saxons which had hitherto belonged to the Diocess of Winchester should now be an Episcopal See and have a Bishop of its own and so Ceadbert who was then Abbot of the Monastery of Selsey was consecrated first Bishop of that Place who dying Ceolla succeeded in that Bishoprick but he likewise dying some Years before Bede wrote his History that Bishoprick then ceased This Year the Saxon Annals began with the Death of Bishop Aldhelm whom it calls Bishop of Westwude for so Shireburne was then called after whom one Forther took the Bishoprick and this year Ceolred succeeded in the Kingdom of the Mercians for now Kenred King of the West Saxons went to Rome and Offa with him and Kenred remained there to his Live's end and the same year Bishop Wilferth or Wilfred deceased at Undale his Body was brought to Rypon in Yorkshire This is the Bishop whom King Egferth long since forced to go to Rome There being divers Things put very close together under this Year they will need some Explanation This Offa here mentioned was as Bede and William of Malmesbury relate the Son of Sigher King of the East Saxons who being a young Man of a sweet Behaviour as well as handsom Face in the Flower of his Youth and highly beloved by his People and having not long before succeeded to the Kingdom after Sighard and Senfrid above-mentioned he courted Keneswith the Daughter of King Penda whom he desired to marry but it seems not long after their Marriage she over-perswaded him to embrace a Monastick Life so that he now went to Rome for that End And Bede tells us expresly that both these Kings left their Wives Relations and Countries for Christ's sake But to this Offa succeeded Selred the Son of Sigebert the Good in the Kingdom of the East Saxons H. Huntington proposes King Offa as a Pattern to all other Princes to follow and makes a long Exhortation to them to that purpose as if a King could not do GOD better Service nor more Good to Mankind by well-governing his People than by renouncing the World and hiding his Head in a Cell But such was the Fashion or rather Humour of that Age and the Affairs as well as Consciences of Princes being then altogether Govern'd by Monks it is no wonder if they extoll'd their own Profession as the only One wherein Salvation could certainly be obtained But since I have already given you from Bede and Stephen Heddi a large Account of Bishop Wilfred's Life and Actions above-mentioned I shall not need to add any more to it He was certainly a Man who had tried all the Vicissitudes of an adverse as well as a prosperous Fortune having been no less than three times deprived of his Bishoprick the first time unjustly but whether we may say the same of both the other seems doubtful for let his Friends say what they will it is evident he was at first deprived for opposing a very good Design viz. That of dividing the Northumbrian Kingdom into more Diocesses and he having the rich Monastery of Hagulstad under his Charge would not permit it to be made a Bishoprick thô the Diocess was more than he could well manage and this seems to have been the true Original of that great Quarrel between him and the two Kings Egfrâ—d and Alfred as you have already heard so it should seem the Wrong pretended to have been done him was none at all or else such holy Men as St. Cuthbert St. John of Beverlie and Eatta are described to be would never have accepted of the Bishopricks of York and Hagulstad during the time of his Deprivation and it is very strange that two Arch-Bishops successively with the greater part of the Bishops of England should have agreed to his Deprivation if there had not been great Cause for it nor would so holy and knowing a Woman as the Abbess Hilda have been so much against him had not there been some substantial Reason to justifie it but he had the Pope on his side who always encouraged Appeals to Rome and then it was no wonder if he prevailed but he was certainly a Prelate of a high Spirit and great Parts and who building a great many Monasteries by the Benevolence of the Kings and Princes of that Time and himself thô a Bishop being Abbot of two of them at once it was no wonder if he grew very rich which together with his high way of Living being the first Bishop of that Age who used Silver Vessels it procured him the Envy of those Princes but he was a grand Patron of the Monks and therefore it is not to be wondred at if they cried him up for a Saint of whom the Writer of his Life which he Dedicates to Acca his Successour relates too many Miracles to be believed raising the Dead cuting the Lame being very ordinary Feats but the Monks being the only Writers of that Age we must be contented with what Accounts they will give us thô thus much must be acknowledged in his Commendation That he converted great Multitudes to the Christian Faith and caused the Four Gospels to be written in Letters of Gold But having given you this Account of Bishop Wilfred's Life it is fit I say somewhat further of his Death concerning which the Author above-mentioned tells us That having lived 4 Years in Peace after his last Restitution he at last went to visit the Monasteries which he had founded in the South Parts of England where he was received by his Abbots whom he had put in with great Joy till coming to a Monastery which
relates Swebriht King of the East-Saxons died this Year Eadbriht or Egbert the Son of Eatta who was the Son of Leodwald began to Reign in the Kingdom of the Northumbers and held it One and Twenty Years Egbert Arch-Bishop of York was his Brother who were both buried in the City of York in the same Church-Porch But it there is an over-sight in these Annals for this Eadbriht above mentioned must be the same with Eadbriht under the former Year This Year also according to Simeon of Durham Swebright King of the East-Saxons died Ceolwulf late King of Northumberland died this Year according to Mat. Westminster in the Monastery of Lindisfarne Also as Simeon of Durham relates Nothelm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury deceased but the Saxon Annals defer his Death two Years longer This Year Acca Bishop of Hagulstad deceased who as the same Author relates was had in great Reverence not only during his Life but also after his Decease for his great Sanctity and supposed Miracles King Ethelred deceased and Cuthred his Cousin succeeded in the Kingdom of the West Saxons and held it 16 Years This King made sharp War against Ethelbald King of the Mercians and that with various Success as H. Huntington tells us sometimes making Peace and then again renewing the War This Year also Nothelm the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury deceased and Cuthbriht was Consecrated in his stead as was also Dun Bishop of Rochester after the Death of Eadulph ' This Year also the City of York was burnt together with the Monastery as Simeon has it Now was held the great Synod at Cloveshoe where were present Ethelbald King of the Mercians and Cuthbert the Arch-Bishop with many other wise Men. Where this Cloveshoe was is now very uncertain since the Name is wholly lost some suppose it to have been Cliffe in Kent near Gravesend but it is not likely that Ethelbald being now the chief King of England would permit this Council to have been held out of his own Dominions so that others suppose it to have been Abingdon in Berkshire which was anciently called Secvesham where as the old Book of that Abbey tells us was anciently a Royal Seat of the Kings and where there used to be great Assemblies of the People concerning the arduous Affairs of the Mercian Kingdom But thô we are more certain of the Decrees of this Council than of the Place where it was held yet since it was a meer Ecclesiastical Synod and no great Council of that Kingdom and that its Decrees were chiefly made in Confirmation of the Charter of King Withred concerning free Elections to Monasteries in Kent according to the Directions of the Archbishop of Canterbury I shall refer you to the Canons themselves as they are to be found in the Decem Scriptores and Sir H. Spelman's British Councils and shall only take notice of this one that now Bishops were first ordered to visit their Diocesses once a Year This Year Ethelbald King of the Mercians and Cuthred King of the West Saxons fought against the Britains H. Huntington tell us That these two Kings now joyning their Forces brought two great Armies into the Field against the Welsh-men who not being able to defend themselves were forced to flie leaving great Spoils behind them so both the Kings returned home Victorious According to Florence of Worcester Wilfred the second Bishop of York of that Name died after he had fate 30 Years Also this Year according to the Annals Daniel resigned the Bishoprick of Winchester being worn out by Age and Hunferth succeeded him and they say the Stars seemed to fall from Heaven But Simeon of Durham calls them with more probability such Lightnings as those of that Age had never before seen About this time also according to Simeon there happened a great Fight between the Picts and the Britains I suppose he means those of Camberland for no other Britains lay near the Picts This year Bishop Daniel above-mentioned deceased after he had been 43 years Bishop ' This year Selred King of the East-Saxons was slain But by whom or which way is not here said This Selred was Sirnamed The Good and reigned 38 years Switheard King of the East-Angles dying Elfwold succeeded him as the Chronicle of Mailros relates This Year also was held the second Council at Cloveshoe under Cuthbert Arch-Bishop of Canterbury there being present beside the Bishops Abbots and many Ecclesiasticks Ethelbald King of the Mercians with his chief Men and Ealdermen In which besides many Decrees concerning the Unity of the Church and for promoting Peace which you may see at large in Sir H. Spelman's First Volume of Councils and after the reading of Pope Zachary's Letters to the People of England to live more continently These among other Decrees were likewise passed viz. 1. That the Reading of the Holy Scriptures be more constantly used in Monasteries 2. That Priests receive no Reward for baptizing Children or for other Sacraments 3. That they learn the Creed and the Lord's Prayer in English and are likewise to understand and interpret into their own Tongue the Words of Consecration in the Celebration of Mass and also of Baptism c. This year Cynric Aetheling that is Prince of the Blood-Royal of the West Saxons was slain and Eadbriht King of Kent died after six Years Reign and Ethelbryht the Son of King Withred succeeded him This Cynric was he whom H. Huntington relates to be Son of Cuthred King of the West Saxons who thô young in Years was a great Warriour for his time yet perished in a sudden Sedition of his own Souldiers but where he does not say Simeon affirms That Elfwald King of the East Angles now dying Hunbeanna and Albert divided that Kingdom between them but what relation they had to the late King he does not tell us This year Cuthred King of the West Saxons in the 12th Year of his Reign fought against Ethelune that couragious Ealderman H. Huntington calls him a bold Earl who moved Sedition against his Lord and thô he were inferiour in the number of his Souldiers yet maintained the Fight a great while by his sole Courage and Conduct but while he was ready to get the Victory a Wound he then unfortunately received so disabled him and disheartened his Men that the King's being the stronger as well as the juster Side did thereby prevail Also the same Year according to Simeon of Durham and the Chronicle of Mailros Eadbert King of Northumberland led Kynwulf Bishop of Lindisfarne Prisoner to the City of Beban who it seems had some ways rebelled against him for he then also caused the Cathedral Church of Lindisfarne to be besieged The same Year as Bede's Continuator relates Eadbert King of Northumberland made War upon the Picts and subdued all the Country of Kyle with other Territories joyning them to his own Dominions This Year according to the Saxon Annals King
Cuthred fought against the Britains But of this the Welsh Chronicles are silent as well as other Authors The same Year also being the 12th Year of his Reign King Cuthred fought against Aethelbald King of the Mercians at Beorgford now Burford in Oxfordshire and there put him to flight But H. Huntington gives us this Battle more at large That King Cuthred being not any longer able to bear the Insolencies and Impositions of that proud King Ethelbald took Arms and met him with an Army in the Field preferring his Liberty before his Life being encouraged by Earl Ethelune above-mentioned who it seems was now cured and reconciled to the King relying upon whose Courage and Council he resolved to undertake this War but Ethelbald as a King of Kings had brought along with him besides his own Mercians the Kentish Men with the East Angles and Saxons which made all together a very great Army and being both drawn up on the Spot they approached each other whilst Earl Athelune marching before the West Saxons carried the Royal Standard being a Golden Dragon and in the beginning of the Battle challenging him to a single Combat there slew the Standard-bearer of the Enemy upon which a great Shout being given Cuthred's Souldiers were very much encouraged then both Armies engaging there followed a great and bloody Fight of which our Author gives us a long and pompous Relation Pride and Ambition says he inciting the Mercians and fear of Servitude provoking the West Saxons to fight it to the last but wherever Earl Ethelune charged the Enemies he with the force of his invincible Battle-Axe destroyed all before him but at last K. Ethelbald and the Earl meeting they fought together with great Obstinacy and Resolution till GOD who resisteth the Proud so discouraged this King that he turned his Back and fled whilst his Men still fought on yet at last they were all routed nor from that time to the day of his Death did GOD give him any more Success Cuthred King of the West Saxons departed this Life and according to Simeon Sigebert his Cousin succeeded him Also Cyneheard succeeded in the Bishoprick of Winchester after Hunferth and the same year the City of Canterbury was burnt This Year was very remarkable for now as our Annals inform us Cynwulf with the Wife and Noble Men of the West Saxons deprived King Sigebert of the whole Kingdom for his Cruelty and Injustice except Hampshire which he kept for some time until he slew one Cumbran an Ealderman who had continued longest with him so that at last Sigebert was driven into Andred's Wood where he remained till such time as a certain Hogheard ran him through with a Lance at Pruutes-Flood and thereby revenged the Death of Cumbran the Ealderman This King Cynwulf often overcame the Britains in Fight but after he had governed the Kingdom about 30 Years he was slain by Cyneheard Aetheling brother to Sigebert as shall be shewn hereafter H. Huntington is very particular in the Reasons and manner of King Sigebert's Deposition and tells us That being puff'd up with the good Succâ—ss of his Predecessours he grew intollerable to his Subjects for he had oppressed them by all manner of ways and wrested the Laws for his own Advantage insomuch that this Cumbran one of his noblest Earls at the Desire of the People represented their Grievances to this cruel King who because he perswaded him that he should govern them more gently and thereby become more beloved both by God and Man he presently commanded him to be slain and so daily increased in his Tyranny till in the beginning of his Second Year the Great Men and People of the whole Kingdom being gathered together by the Provident Deliberation and Unanimous Consent of them All he was expell'd the Kingdom and Cinewulf a notable young Man of the Blood Royal was Elected King in his room This is the first Example we have in our English History of the Solemn Deposition of a King by the Authority of the Great Council of the Kingdom concerning whom our Author bids us remark the manifold Justice and Providence of God how sometimes it doth not only recompence Kings according to their Merits in the World to come but also in this for oftentimes setting up Wicked Kings for the Deserved Punishment of their Subjects he lets some of them Tyrannize a great while that so a wicked People might be punished and the King becoming more wicked may be tormented for ever as may be seen in Aethelbald King of Mercia above-mentioned whilst God cuts others short by a speedy Destruction lest his People being oppress'd by too great Tyranny should not be able to subsist under it so that the immoderate Wickedness of a Prince does often accelerate his Punishment The same Year according to Caradoc's Chronicle published by Dr. Powel Conan Tindaethwy Son of Rodri Molwynoc began his Reign over the Britains in Wales This Year also according to the Saxon Annals Aethelbald King of the Mercians was slain at Seccandune now Secington in Warwickshire after he had reigned 41 Years and then Beornred usurped the Kingdom and held it but a little while and that with great Trouble for the same year King Offa expelled Beornred and taking Possession of the Throne held it 39 Years but his Son Egberth no more than 140 Days This Offa was the Son of Thincerth and he the Son of Eanwulf The rest of his Pedigree as far as Woden I omit Abbot Bromton's Chronicle farther adds concerning the Death of King Ethelbald That he was slain in a Fight at the Place above-mention'd yet was it not by the Enemy but by the Treachery of this Beornred Ingulph in his History of Croyland tells us That King Ethelbald having founded the Abby of Ripendune now Repton in Derbyshire being the most famous of that Age was there buried and also of this Beornred whom he calls a Tyrant that he did not long enjoy his Usurpation for it seems he was not of the Blood Royal of the Mercian Kings but when he was Expelled Offa succeeded him by the General Consent of the Nobles of Mercia but Mat. Westminster who puts the Succession of King Offa two Years later is more particular in this Transaction and relates That this Beornred governing very Tyrannically the whole Nation of the Mercians rose up against him so that both the Nobility and Commons joyning together under the Conduct of Offa a valiant young Man Nephew to the late King Aethelbald they expelled Beornred the Kingdom and then Offa by the General Consent of the Clergy and Laity of that Kingdom was crowned King This was that King Offa who afterwards became a Terrour to all the Kings of England Eadbert King of Northumberland and Unust King of the Picts brought an Army against the City Alkuith which the Britains delivered upon Conditions This is from the Authority of Simeon of Durham and lets us see that this City now in Scotland was then in the Hands
of the Northern Britains This year Eadbert King of the Northumbers was shorn a Monk and Ofwulf his Son succeeded him yet Reigned but one Year being slain by the Treachery of his own Servants on the 9th of the Kal. August following thô without any just Cause as I can find Concerning this Eadbert Simeon of Durham in his History of that Church tells us That after he had reigned 21 Years and ruled his Kingdom with great Wisdom and Courage so that all his Adversaries being either overcome by force or else submitting themselves to him the English Pictish and Scotish Kings not only maintained Peace and Friendship with him but rejoyced to do him Honour so that the Fame of his Grandeur spreading as far as France King Pipin not only made a League with him but sent him great Presents and the Kings his Neighbours when he was about to resign the Crown had him in that Esteem that they offered him part of their own Dominions on Condition that he would not lay down his Charge but he refused it and resigned his Kingdom to Usulf his Son Also about this time according to the British Chronicles there was a great Battle fought at Hereford between the Britains and the Saxons where Dyfnwal ap Theodore was slain But they do not tell us who obtained the Victory This Year Cathbert Arch Bishop of Canterbury deceased having fate Arch-Bishop 18 Years Also according to Florence about this time Swithred reigned over the East and Osmund over the South Saxons as also Beorne was King over the East Angles This Year Bregowin was consecrated Arch-Bishop of Canterbury at the Feast of St. Michael and Ethelwold Sirnamed Moll began to reign over the Northumbers and at last resigned the Crown ' Ethelbryght King of Kent deceased he was the Son of King Wythred Of this King William of Malmesbury records nothing remarkable but that the City of Canterbury was burnt in his Reign Ceolwulf also late King of Northumberland departed this Life the same Year dying a Monk in the Isle of Lindisfarne But Simeon of Durham prolongs his Life 4 Years longer This Year was a very sharp Winter and Ethelwald Moll King of Northumberland slew Duke Oswin at Edwinsclife on the Eighth of the Ides of August But thô who this Duke was our Annals do not tell us yet Simeon of Durham and Roger of Hoveden relate he was one of those Great Northumbrian Lords that rebelled against the King who gained the Victory over him and those Rebels that took his part ' This Year deceased Bergowine the Arch-Bishop above-mentioned But if he sate 4 Years as these Annals affirm he could not have died till the Year following in which also Janbryht who is also called Lambert was now consecrated Arch-Bishop of Canterbury about 40 Days after Christmas Also Frithwald Bishop of Witherne died on the Nones of May he had been Consecrated in York on the 18th Kalends of September in the Reign of Ceolwulf and sate Bishop 29 Years and then Piyhtwin or Pechtwin was Consecrated Bishop of Witerne at Aelfet on the 16th Kal. of August ' Janbryht the Arch-Bishop received his Pall This was as Florence of Worcester informs us from Pope Paul I. ' This Year also as Simeon of Durham relates there was much Mischief done by Fire at London Winchester and other Places ' Alhred King of Northumberland began to reign and reigned Eight Years Ethelwold Moll having now by Death quitted that Kingdom The manner of which is given us more perfectly by William of Malmesbury and Roger Hoveden viz. That Ethelwold lost the Kingdom of Northumberland at Winchan-hea 1 o Kal. November being murder'd by the Treachery of this Albred who succeeded him and was also of the Race of Ida being his Great Nephew The same Year also according to William of Malmesbury Offa King of the Mercians envying the Greatness of the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury did by most noble Presents made to the Pope obtain a Pall for the See of Lichfield that is That it should be for the future an Arch-Bishoprick and that all the Bishops of the Provinces of the Kingdom of Mercia and the East Angles should be subject to it and this he not only gained notwithstanding the Opposition and Remonstrances of Arch-Bishop Jambert to the contrary but also bereaved the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury of all its Lands which lay within the Mercian Territories which Injustice continued during the whole Reign of King Offa till Kenulph his Successour by the Intercession of Eanbald then Arch-Bishop of York restored the See of Canterbury to its ancient Rights This Year deceased Egbert Arch-Bishop of York 13 o Kal. Sept. who sate Bishop 36 Years This is he who was Base Brother to the King of the same Name and regained the Pall to his See after it had been without it ever since the time of Paulinus He also built a Noble Library at York which was then counted one of the best in Europe for William of Malmesbury relates that Alcuin the greatest Scholar of his time once told the Emperour Charles That if he would give him such Books of exquisite Learning as he had in his own Country by the Pious Industry of his Master Arch-Bishop Eghert then he would instruct and send him back some young Men who should carry over the choicest Flowers of the English Learning into France According to Simeon of Durham Albert was now ordained Arch-Bishop of York ' Eadbert the Son of Eatta deceased on 14 o Kal. September This Eadbert had been formerly King of Northumberland and according to Simeon of Durham died 10 Years after his taking the Habit of a Monk and was buried at York Also this Year as the Welsh Chronicles acquaint us by the means of Flbodius that Learned and Pious Bishop of North Wales it was decreed in a General Synod of the British Nation That Easter should be kept after the Custom of Rome so that all Differences between that Church and the British now ceased ' Charles King of the Franks began his Reign for Pepin his Father died this Year as R. Hoveden informs us Also the fair City of Cataract in Yorkshire was burnt by Bâ—ornred the Mercian Tyrant and He also perished by Fire the same Year This Year according to Simeon of Durham and R. Hoveden Offa King of the Mercians subdued the Nation of the Hestings by force of Arms but who these People were or where they inhabited no Author informs us Mr. Lambert in his Glossary at the end of the Decem Scriptores will have them to be Danes but I see no reason for it here since the Danes were not then settled in England ' This Year died Milred the Bishop Florence says he was Bishop of the Wiccii that is of the Diocess of Worcester and was in great Reputation for his Sanctity This Year Albert Arch-Bishop of York received his Pall from Pope Adrian as Simeon informs us
This Year the Northumbrians expelled their King Albred from York about Easter and chose Ethelred the Son of Moll once King for their Lord He reigned 4 Years Of which Transaction Roger Hoveden gives us this particular Relation That King Alhred being deposed by the Common-Council and Consent of his own Subjects and forsaken of all his Great Men was forced to retire first to the City of Bebban afterwards called Banbarough-Castle from whence he betook himself to Cynoth King of the Picts with but very few Followers The same Year also appeared a Red Cross in the Heavens after Sun-set and the Mercians and Kentish-men fought at Ottanford now Otford in Kent But neither the Saxon Annals nor any other vouchsafe to tell us what was the Quarrel nor who were the Commanders on either side nor yet what was the Success Also strange Serpents were seen in the Province of the South Saxons Mat. Westminster places this Prodigy two Years after and says They seemed to creep out of the Earth This Year Cynwulf King of the West Saxons and Offa King of the Mercians fought at Binsington now Bensington in Oxfordshire but Offa took the Town So it seems Cynwulf had the worst of it Here follows in the Peterburgh Copy another Relation concerning that Abbey which is thus That In the Reign of King Offa there was a certain Abbot of Medeshamstead called Beonna who with the Consent of the Monks of his Monastery leased out to Cuthbriht the Ealderman X Bonde-land that is the Ground of ten Bond-men or Villains at Swinesheafde with the Meadows and Pastures and all other Things thereunto belonging upon this Condition That Cuthbriht should pay the Abbot Fifty Pounds and one Night's Entertainment every Year or else Thirty Shillings in Money and that after his Death the Lands should again revert to the Monastery To which Grant King Offa King Egferth Arch Bishop Higebert the Bishop Ceolwulf the Bishop Inwona with Beon the Abbot and many other Bishops Abbots and Great Men were Witnesses I have inserted this Passage thô it does not relate to the Civil History of these Times because it is the First Example of a Lease of this kind and seems to have been done in a great Council of the Kingdom where these Kings were present which was then necessary for such a Grant Also in the time of this King Offa as the Peterburgh Copies relate there was a certain Ealderman called Brordan who desired of the King That for his sake he would free a certain Monastery of his called Wocingas because he intended to give it to St. Peter and to the Church of Medeshamsted one Pusa being then Abbot of it This Pusa succeeded Beonna and the King loved him very well wherefore he freed the Church of Wocingas by the King's consent with that of the Bishop Earls and all other Men's consents so that no body should from thenceforth have any duty or Tribute besides St. Peter and the Abbot this was done in the King's Town called Freoricburne Pehtwin Bishop of Witerne called in Latin Candida Casa deceased XIII Kal. Octob. he was Bishop Fourteen Years and had been bred under Aldhelm that Pious Bishop of Winchester and the same Year Ethelbert was consecrated Bishop of that See at York XVII Kal. Junii This Year according to the Welsh Chronicle the South-Welshmen destroyed great part of Mercia with Fire and Sword As also The Summer following all the Welshmen both of North and South-Wales gathered themselves together and Invading the Kingdom of Mercia made great spoil by burning and plundering the Country whereupon King Offa was forced to make Peace with the other Saxon Kings and to bend his whole Forces against the Welsh Men who not being able to encounter so great a strength as he then brought against them were forced to quit all the plain Country between the Rivers of Severne and Wye and retired into the Mountains whereupon Offa perceiving this seised upon all the Country and planted Saxons in their places and annexing it to his own Kingdom caused that famous Ditch or Trench to be made from Sea to Sea betwixt his Kingdom and Wales whereby he might the better defend his Country from the Incursions of the Welsh hereafter This Ditch is seen at this day in divers places and is called Welsh Clawdh Offa i.e. Offa's Ditch This Year Aethebald and Hearbert kill'd Three chief Gerifs or Governours Ealdwulf the Son of Bosa at Cyningeselife i. e. Kings Cliffe and Cynwulf and Ecga at Helathyrn XI Kal. Aprilis then Alfwold took the Kingdom Aethelred being Expel'd the Land and Reigned Ten Years But H. Huntington and Simeon of Durham gives us a more exact account of this Matter that Aethelred King of Northumberland having caused Three of his Nobles Aldwulf Kinwulf and Ecga to be treacherously slain by two of the same rank The Year following his Subjects Rebelling against him they first slew Aldwulf General of the King's Army in Flight at the place above mentioned as they also did the two other Commanders in the same manner so that King Aethelred's Captains being all slain and his hopes as well as his Forces defeated he was forced to flee into another Country and so Elfwald the Son of Oswulf succeeded him thô not without Civil Broils He was a Just and Pious Prince yet could not escape the hard Fate of his Predecessors as you will see in due time The same Year as the Laudean Copy relates King Charles entred Spain and destroyed the Citties of Pampelona and Cesar Augusta now called Saragosa and having joined his Army subdued the Saracens and received Hostages from them and then returned by Narbon and Gascony into France This Year the chief Gerifs or Governours of Northumberland burnt Beorne the Ealderman in Seletune 19 Kal. Januarij Roger Hoveden calls these Gerifs Osbald and Aethelheard and H. Huntington says They burnt this Ealderman or Chief Justice of the Kingdom because he was more Rigid and Severe than in Reason he ought to have been The same Year the Ancient Saxons and Franks fought against each other in which Battle Charles King of the Franks gained the Victory having wasted the Saxon Territories with Fire and Sword and laid them to his own Dominions as not only our own but the French Historians relate Also Bishop Aethelheard dyed at York and Eanbald was consecrated to the same See and Cynebald the Bishop resigned his See at Lindisfarne and Alchmuna Bishop of Hagulstead deceased 7 th Id. Sept. and Higbert was consecrated in his stead the 6 th of the Nones of Octob. as likewise Higbald was consecrated at Soccabrig to be Bishop of Lindisfarne Also King Allwold sent to Rome to demand the Pall for Eanbald Arch-Bishop of York This Year Werburh the Wife of King Ceolred late King of the Mercians deceased at her Nunnery of Chester where she was Abbess and where the Church is dedicated to her Memory also Cenwulf Bishop of Lindisfarne died
and Offa King of the Mercians departed this Life the Latter after he had Reigned Forty Years Yet notwithstanding the Printed Copies of the Saxon Annals have placed the King's Death under this Year Yet the rest of the Copies do not agree with this Account for the Laudean Manuscript Copy in the Bodlean Library places this King's Death in Anno. Dom. 896 and that with greater Truth for first Pope Adrian above-mentioned died not till Two Years after the time here specified And it appears farther in a Letter written by the Emperour Charles the Great to this King Offa and which is recited at large by William of Malmesbury in his Life of this King that Pope Adrian was dead some time before the date of that Letter viz. Anno. Dom. 796 Thô it is certain King Offa did not survive long after I thought to give the Reader notice of this because it puts the Death of this King and the Succession of all his Successours just Two Years later than the common Printed Accounts But whenever this King here died he is said by William of Malmesbury to have been buried in a Chapel at Bedford near the River Ouse whose frequent Inundations had in his time carried away both the Chapel and the Tomb into the River So that it could not be seen unless sometimes by those who washed themselves in that River This Prince is also described by the same Author to have had so great a Mixture of Vertues and Vices that he does not know well what Character to give him The Reason that so confounded him was That thô he was a Cruel and Perfidious Prince yet he Built the Monastery of St. Albans as you have heard but for all that he cannot give him many good words because he took away abundance of good Farms from his Abbey This seems to have been the first of our English Saxon Kings who maintained any great correspondence with Foreign Princes for thô he had first great Enmity with Charles the Great which proceeded so far as to the interdicting of all Commerce yet at last it was changed into as much Amity so that a firm League was made between them as appears by a Letter of the said Charles to Offa extant in William of Malmesbury in which also is mentioned that he sent him many Noble Presents Also he granted saith Henry Huntington a perpetual Tribute to the Pope out of every House in his Kingdom and this perhaps for his consenting to translate the Primacy from Canterbury to Litchfield in his own Dominions He also drew a Trench of a wondrous length between Mercia and the British or Welsh Territories thereby to hinder the Incursions of the Welsh-men called to this day in the Welsh Tongue Claudh Offa i.e. Offa's Dike But from the Grant of the above-mention'd Pension some Men of different Perswasions have drawn as different Consequences Pol. Virgil and divers of the Romish Writers have from thence concluded That King Offa by this Act made his Kingdom Tributary to the Pope whereas indeed it was no such Thing for it had been also granted by King Ina long before as hath been already observed for the Kingdom of the West Saxons whose Example King Offa seemed now to follow and indeed was no more than a Voluntary Annual Alms or Benevolence as it is expresly called in our Saxon Annals as shall be shewn further hereafter This is also urged by some high Promoters of the Royal Prerogative to prove this King 's unlimited Power in Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Matters since He as they suppose could without the Consent of the Great Council of the Kingdom charge all the Houses in his Dominions to pay each of them one Penny to the Pope But this if it be closely looked into will prove a Mistake for thô it be true that upon King Offa's going to Rome he is said to have granted this Alms called Rome's Scot or Peter-pence to the Pope yet Anno 794 immediately upon his Return you will find in Sir H. Spelman's Councils he called a Great Council at Verulam now St. Alban's where this Tribute might be confirmed by the Consent of the Estates of his Kingdom Nor is the Silence of our Histories or of the Acts of this Council it self any material Argument to the contrary since that Law might be lost or omitted by which it was confirmed as well as several other Councils of that Age there being no more mention made of this King's Confirmation of the Lands given to this Monastery in the great Council at Verulam than what is cited in Sir H. Spelman's Councils out of a Manuscript History of St. Alban's all the Acts of that Council being now lost But to return to our Annals The same Year Ethelred who had been twice King of Northumberland was slain by his own People 13 o Kal. Maii and that deservedly as R. Hoveden relates as having been the Death of King Osred his Predecessour After Ethelred one Osbald a Nobleman was made King but held the Throne but a small time being deserted by his Subjects and at last forced to flee the Kingdom going by Sea from Lindisfarne and then taking Refuge with the King of the Picts there died an Abbot Who was most in fault in all these frequent Rebellions and Changes of Kings among the Northumbers is hard to decide since all the Annals as well as Historians are very short in their Relations of these Transactions but it is certain that the People as well as Princes must have suffered much by such frequent Revolutions And it is also very well observed by H. Huntington that these frequent Rebellions and Expulsion of their Kings proceeded in great part from the proud and turbulent Temper of the Northumbrian Angles The same Year according to our Annals Bishop Ceolwulf and Bishop Eadbald departed from the Northumbers and Egferth Son to Offa began his Reign over the Mercians and within a few Months after deceased having scarce reigned half a Year It is also further to be noted That this Prince being of great Hopes and Worth had been crowned King 9 Years before in his Father's Life-time and after his Death restored to the Church whatever he had violently seized on but before he died he left the Crown to Kenwulf the next of the Royal Line But the Monks do ascribe the short Reign of this good Prince to his Father's Sins but of these Things it belongs not to us to determine Also this Year Eadbert or Ethelbert Sirnamed Praen began to Reign in Kent and also Ethelred the Ealderman deceased This Man had been a famous Commander in his time but was then a Monk in the City of York and now also according to the Annals the Heathen Danes destroyed Northumberland and robbed the Monastery built by Egbert which is at the Mouth of the River Weri but there one of the Danish Captains was slain and divers of their Ships destroyed by a Tempest and many of their Men drowned but some of
at the end of Domesday-Book Anno Dom. Kings of Kent Anno Dom. Kings of the South-Saxons Anno Dom. Kings of the West-Saxons Anno Dom. Kings of the East-Saxons Aâ—no Dâ—m Kings of Northumberland Anno Dom. Kings of the East-Angles Anno Dom. Kings of Mercia Anno Dom. 〈…〉 560 Ethelbert reigned 56 years   597 Ceolwulf reigned 14 years 566 Sebert 47 years  Ethelfrid reigned 24 years over both Kingdoms 599 Eorpwald or Earpenwald  Ceorl 658 〈…〉 616 Eadbald or Ethelbald his Son 24 years     617 Sexred Seward and Sigebert being brothers 6 years â—17 Edwin Son of Aella reigned likewise over both 17 years but he being slain they became again divided for then in 636 Sigebert the Great         611 Cynegils and     638 Egric his Cousin 627 Penda a Prince of the Royal Blood reigned 30 years   640 Ercombert his Son 24 years  In the Succession of this Kingdom we find a great Chasm until 613 Cwichelm his Son who lived not long but Cynegils reigned 31 years     643 Anna Nephew to Redwald   660 〈…〉 664 Egbriht his Son 9 years     623 Sigebert the little their Cousin 25 years  Deira  Bernicia 654 Ethelthere his Brother   634 〈…〉 673 Lothair his Brother 12 years       â—34 Osric Son to Alfrid reigned one year 634 Eanfred Son to Ethelfrid late King reigned one year 656 Aethelwald his Cousin 655 Peada his Son one year after whom   685 Eadric a Stranger to the Royal Line 680 Ethelwalch or Athelwald who being slain in Battel by Ceadwalla he for some time added that Kingdom to his own till he was driven out by Bertune and Autune two Commanders of the late King Ethelwalch's These divided the Kingdom between them after whom followed divers Kings who being obscure we know not their Names until one 643 Kenewalch his Son 648 Sigebert the Good     664 Aldwulf Son to Ethelhere 656 Oswie King of Northumberland held that Kingdom three years but he being expell'd 665 〈…〉     672 Sexburge his Queen 661 Swithelme his Brother 2 years  Then these being both slain in the same year 683 Aelfwold his Brother     686 Wittred Waebberd these also usurped not being of the Blood-Royal and reigned at once       â—34 Oswald Brother to Eanfrid reigned over both Kingdoms 9 years who being also slain 690 Beorne one of another Family   668 〈…〉     674 Aeskwine Cousin to the late King reigned 2 years 663 Sigher and Sebba Cousins the former reigned a small time the latter 30 years    Note That under An. 749. Sim. of Durham and the Chronicle of Mailross make Hunbean and Albert to have succeeded Aelfwold and divided the Kingdom between them But since Mat. Westm. calls them Beorna and Athelbert I take this Hunbean to be the same with Beorne above-mâ—ntioned and Athelbert to be the same with             â—42 Oswie Brother to Oswald reigned in Bernicia 9 years 644 Oswin Son to Osric reigned in Deira until after 7 years reign being slain by   659 Wulfher Son to Penda was made King   694 Wightred who restored the Royal Line and dying left three Sons that all reigned one after another viz.   676 Centwine Son to Cynegils reigned 9 years         675 Ethelred his Brother 39 Brother 39 years       685 Ceadwalla three years and an half 693 Sigehard and Swenfred 7 years 651 Oswie last mention'd he then united both these Kingdoms into one and so they afterwards continued He reigned 28 years   704 Kenred Cousin 5 years   727 Ethelbert who reign'd 22 years   688 Ina his Cousin reign'd 39 years 700 Offa reigned 9 years 670 Egfrid or Egfert Son to Oswie reigned 15 years   709 Ceolred Son of Ethelred 9 years   749 Eadbert 11 years               760 Alric in whom the Royal Line being extinct sev'ral strangers were advanced to the Throne viz.   728 Aethelheard his Kinsman reigned 14 years and an half 709 Selred his Cousin reigned 37 years and an half 685 Alfred his Brother 20 years     700 〈…〉         705 Osred Son to Alfred 11 years   719 Ethelbald the Proud his Cousin tho far remote 36 years           716 Kenred Son of Cuthelm 2 years     720 〈…〉       746 Swithred 718 Osric Brother to Kenred 11 years           741 Cuthred his Cousin  After whose death as Florence tells us few Kings reigned over the East-Saxons for the same year in which the South-Saxons and Kentish-men submitted themselves to King Egbert the East-Saxons did so likâ—wise 729 Ceolwulf Cousin to Kenred 8 years       764 Heahbert and Sigared these reigned at once and divided the Kingdom between them 725 Aldwin who being slain by Ina King of the West-Saxons he by conquering this Kingdom added it to his own     737 Eadbert 21 years 749 Ethelred Son to Aethelwald who after the death of Beorne reigned alone tho the time when is uncertain 755 Beornred an Usurper half a year 752 〈…〉     754 Sigebert his Cousin 13 years   758 Osulph his Son 1 year               759 Ethelwald sirnamed Moll 6 years   756 Offa Nephew to Ethelbald 40 years       755 Cynewulf reigned 29 years   765 Alhred Great Grandson to Ida 16 years     755 〈…〉 778 Egfert another Usurper       774 Ethelred or Ethelbert Son to Moll 4 years       786 Eadbert or Ethelbert sirnamed Praen taken Prisoner by Kenwulf King of the Mercians who bestowed this Kingdom upon   784 Brihtric his Cousin 18 years   778 Alfwold 11 years  Aethelbert Son to Ethelred murther'd by K. Offa who seized his Kingdom after whom were many Kings of small note for 61 years until 796 Egfert his Son about half a year       802 Egbert his Cousin though far remote   789 Osred his Nephew Son to Alred 1 year 793              790 Ethelred or Ethelbert again restored
Saxons marching in an Hostile manner into Cornwal absolutely subdued it and added it to his own Kingdom many being there slain on both sides The same Year also according to Caradoc's Chronicle Run King of Dyvet and Cadhel King of Powis deceased Charles the Emperour made Peace with Nicephorus Emperour of Constantinople This Year also according to the same Caradoc Elbods Arch-Bishop of North Wales i. e. of St. Asaph deceased before whose Death was a great Eclipse of the Sun But as the Reverend Lord Bishop of Bangor in his Catalogue of the Welsh Kings which he has been pleased to communicate to me well observes That Eclipse falling out Anno 810 the Bishops Death must do so likewise and therefore in this the Chronicles must needs be mistaken Also according to Mat. Westminster Aelfwold King of Northumberland dying Earnred succeeded him and held it for 32 Years which is also confirmed by Simeon of Durham thô this can by no means agree with the Chronicle of Mailross which says That Eardulf being expelled his Kingdom it continued without any King for many Years but William of Malmesbury makes this Anarchy to have begun from the murther of King Ethered Anno 794 as hath been already observed in the last Book and that this Confusion lasted for about 33 Years during which time that Province became a Scorn to its Neighbours But it seems they still had Kings thô very obscure and but of small Account But of greater certainty is that which Mat. Westminster relates under this Year viz. That King Egbert subdued the Northern Welsh-men and made them Tributary to him But it is wholly incredible what Buchanan in his Scotish History relates in the Year following to wit That Achaius King of Scots having reigned 32 Years and had formerly aided but in what Year of his Reign he tells us not Hungus King of the Picts with 10000 Scots against one Athelstan then wasting the Pictish Borders and that Hungus by the Aid of those Scots and the Help of St. Andrew their Patron in a Vision by Night and the Appearance of a Cross by Day routed the astonished English and slew this Athelstan in Fight But who this Athelstan was I believe no Man knows Buchanan supposes him to have been some Danish Commander on whom King Alured or Alfred had bestowed Northumberland Yet of this I find no Foot-steps in our ancient Writers and if any such Thing were done in the time of Alfred it must be above 60 Years after for King Alfred began not to Reign till Anno 871. And John Fordun in his Scotish History is also as much mistaken making this Athelstan to be the Son of King Ethelwulf who then governed the Northern Provinces under his Father which also fails almost as much in point of time this Prince Athelstan here mentioned being as appears by the Saxon Annals alive and engaged in a Sea-Fight against the Danes above 40 Years after as you will find in its due place set down This Athelstan therefore and this great Overthrow seems rather to have been a meer Fancy of some idle Monk And this Year according to Mat. Westminster as King Egbert had the Year before subdued the Welsh-men so it seems upon some fresh Rebellion of theirs he again entred their Borders and laid them waste from North to South with Fire and Sword and then returned home Victorious But notwithstanding the Wars the Welsh had from abroad it seems they had also time enough for Civil Wars at home for now according to Caradoc's Chronicle Conan Prince of Wales and his Brother Howel could not agree insomuch that they tried the Matter by Battle where Howel had the Victory to which Dr. Powel hath here added this Observation That this Howel the Brother of Conan King or Prince of North Wales did claim the Isle of Mon or Anglesey for part of his Father's Inheritance which Conan refusing to give him thereupon they fell at Variance and consequently made War the one against the other And here says he I think fit to say somewhat of the old Custom and Tenure of Wales from whence this Mischief grew that is the Division of the Father's Inheritance amongst all the Sons commonly called Gauel kind Gauel is a British Term signifying a Hold because every one of the Sons did hold some portion of his Father's Lands as his lawful Son and Successour This was the Cause not only of the Overthrow of all the ancient Nobility of Wales for by that means the Inheritance being continually divided and subdivided amongst the Children and Children's Children it was at length brought to nothing but also of much Bloodshed unnatural Strife and Contention amongst Brethren as we have here an Example and many others in this History This kind of Partition is very good to plant and settle a Nation in a large Country not inhabited but in a populous Country already furnished with Inhabitants it is the utter Decay of great Families and as I said before the cause of constant Strife and Debate But some Years after Howel gave his Brother Conan another Defeat and slew a great many of his People Whereupon Conan levied an Army in the Year 817 and chased his Brother Howel out of the Isle of Anglesey compelling him to flee into that of Man and a little after died Conan chief King of the Britains or Welsh-men leaving behind him a Daughter named Esylht who was married to a Nobleman called Mâ—rvyn Vrych the Son of Gwyriad who was afterwards King in her Right This Year also as the Manuscript Annals of the Abbey of Winchelcomb relate the Charter of this Monastery was granted by King Kenulph as appears by a Copy there inserted which shews what Orders of Men were summoned by that King to be present at the Council in which this Charter was confirmed viz. Merciorum optimates Episcopos Principes Comites Procuratores meosque i. e. Regis Propinquos which Terms having already been explained in the Introduction to this Book I need noâ—â—ere repeat There were also present Cuthred King of Kent his 〈…〉 King of the East-Saxons with all others who should be present at those Synodal Councils Then follow the Subscriptions of K. Kenulph as also of both the said Kings and of Wilfred Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with the rest of the Bishops and Ealdermen there stiled Duces This Year according to our Annals the Emperour Charles the Great departed this Life when he had Reigned Forty Five Years also Wilfred the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Wigbright the Bishop of the West-Saxons went to Rome But here our Annals are mistaken for this Emperour dyed not till the Year 814. Mat. Westminster also adds that these Bishops above-mentioned went to Rome about the Affairs of the English Church Arch-Bishop Wilfred having received the Benediction of Pope Leo returned again to his Bishoprick and the same Year King Egbert wasted the Western Welsh from the South to the West This seems but to have been the
same Invasion mentioned by Mat. Westminster under An. 811. This Year Leo that worthy and Holy Pope deceased and Stephanus succeeded in the Popedome but Florence of Worcester more rightly places the Death of this Pope Two Years later Pope Stephanus deceased and Pascalis was consecrated Pope in his stead and the same Year the School or College of the English Nation 〈◊〉 Rome was burnt But Mat. Westminster does more rightly place the Death of Pope Stephanus the Year following At this time was held the Synod at Calcuith under Wilfred Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Kenulph King of the Mercians who was there present but the Decrees being wholly Ecclesiastical I pass them by and refer the curious to Sir H. Spelman's 1. Volume of Councils only shall here take notice of this one passage that now Bishops Abbots and Abbesses were first forbid by the Seventh Canon of this Synod to alien their Lands committed to their trust in Fee or for longer time then one Life and that with the consent of the House Cenwulf King of the Mercians deceased and Ceolwulf began to Reign in his stead also Eadbyrht the Ealderman dyed But the Saxon Annals do here omit that which is very remarkable that not Ceolwulf but Kenelm Son to King Kenwulf being a Child of Seven Years Old succeeded his Father under the tutelage of his Sister Quendride who being tempted by a wicked Ambition of Reigning was by her made away and thereby he obtained the Name of a Martyr The manner of which thô it is certainly but a Legend I shall to divert the Reader relate out of Will of Malmesbury and Mat. Westminster This young Prince was committed by his Sister to an Attendant on purpose to be made away who carrying him into a Wood under pretence of Hunting cut off his Head and threw his Body into a Thicket of Bushes his Sister presently seizing the Kingdom straitly forbad all inquiry to be made after her lost Brother But sure it was Miraculous That a thing done so privately in England should be first known at Rome but so it came to pass by Divine Revelation for upon the Altar of St. Peter a White Dove let fall a certain Paper which discovered both the Death of King Kenelm and also the place of his Burial which being Written in Golden Letters was thus In Clent Cow-batch Kenelme King Bearne lieth under a Thorne heaved bereaved Which being in Saxon may be thus Translated into English Rhime In Clent-cow-pasture under a Thorne Of Head bereft lies Kenelme King Born But it seems the Characters were so hard to be read that all the Roman Clerks there present attempted in vain at the Pope's Command to read this writing but an English Man by chance standing by whom to make the Miracle the greater Mat. Westminster reading Angelus instead of Anglus calls an Angel and Translating this writing into Latin caused the Pope by an Epistle sent by him on purpose to give notice to the English Kings of their Martyr'd Country-man whose Body being thus Miraculously discovered was in a great Assembly of Clerks and Nobles taken out of the hole where it was laid and carried to Winchelcombe in Gloucester-shire and there buried in the Church of that Abbey which his Father had founded which after some time brought no small profit to that Monastery by frequent Pilgrimages made to the Tomb of this little Saint But now my hand is in pray take all the rest of the Story When the Body of this Young Prince was brought home the Murdress his Sister being vexed with the Singing of those Clerks and Laicks that attended the Corps and looking out of her Chamber Window in pure Spite repeated the Psalm backward which they then Sung thereby to disturb the Harmony of the Chorus but as the same Authour adds whilest she was thus singing both her Eyes fell out of her Head upon the Psalter she held in her Hands and the Psalter it self set in Silver and besmeared with the Blood of her Eyes being then to be seen gave a pregnant Testimony of her Crime as well as punishment yet it seems Will. of Malmesbury knew nothing of this Legend of the finding the Body but only says it was discovered by Miraculous Rays of a vast Light which shining all Night over the place where it lay was the occasion of its being found out but no matter for the manner both of them being alike credible This is enough if not too much of this Boy King and Martyr And this is certain that his unnatural Sister did not enjoy the Fruits of her wicked Ambition long for Ceolwulf Brother to King Kenwulf succeeded in the Kingdom thô he likewise Reigned but little more than one Year For the next Year he was deprived of his Kingdom as Ingulphus relates by one Bernulph an Ambitious Man of great Riches and Power thô no way related to the Blood Royal. ' This Year Two Ealdermen were slain Burkelm and Muca but who these were our Annals do not acquaint us There was also this Year held a Synod at Cloveshoe under King Beornwulf and Arch-Bishop Wilfred whose Constitutions relating wholly to Ecclesiastical Affairs you may find in Sir H. Spelman's 1. Vol. The only Civil Business was that of the Abbess Cendrythe's being forced to make satisfaction to Archbishop Wilfred by rendering 100 Manses or Farmes for the wrongs which King Cenwulf her Father had done to the Church of Canterbury This Cendrythe is the same with Quendrithe or Quendrida as she was called by our Latin Authors who made away her Brother K. Kenelme as you have already heard and who to Expiate for the Death of her Brother since she could not be a Queen had professed her self a Nun and was now an Abbess There was a Fight between the Britains and Devonshire Men at Gafulford now Camelford in Cornwall and Florence of Worcester tells us That the Britains were slain by those of Devonshire The same Year also according to our Annals Ecbriht King of the West-Saxons and Beornwulf King of the Mercians fought at Ellendune supposed to be Wilton near Salisbury where Ecbriht obtained the Victory a great slaughter being there made after which King Ecbright sent Aethelwulf his Son and Ealstan his Bishop and Wulfheard his Ealderman with a great Army into Kent where they forced King Baldred to Fly over Thames into the Northern parts then the Kentishmen and those of Surry together with the South-Saxons and East-Saxons submitted themselves to King Egbert which last Nation had been unjustly wrested from his Family and had as Florence relates for the space of several Years been subject to Kings that were strangers the same Year also the King of the East-Angles together with the whole Nation beseeched King Ecbriht to grant them Peace and be their Protector for fear of the Mercians And the same Year the East-Angles slew Beornwulf King of the Mercians because as Mat. Westminster relates he challenged their Kingdom
as his own ever since the time that King Offa took it but now the Mercians tried to recover it by Force The same Year was also held another Synodal Council at Cloveshoe for the Kingdom of Mercia under K. Beornwulf and Wilfred Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with all the Bishops and Chief Men of that Kingdom wherein some disputes about Lands between Heabert Bishop of Worcester and a certain Monastery called Westburgh were determined This Year Ludican King of the Mercians and five of his Ealdermen were slain and Wiglaf began to Reign in his stead Ingulf and Will of Malmesbury tell us That this Ludican was Kinsman to the last mentioned King Beornwulf and leading an Army against the East-Angles to revenge his Death was there overcome and Slain and that both these Tyrants were justly removed who had not only made Kings without any Right but had also by their imprudence been the occasion of the destruction of the Military Forces of that Kingdom which had till then proved Victorious and that thereupon one Withlaf being before Ealderman of Mâ—rcia was by the consent of all the People created King whose Son Wimond had Married Alfleda the Daughter of Ceolwulf the late King This King Withlaf Reigned thirteen Years as Tributary to King Egbert as shall be further related anon The Moon was Eclipsed on Christmass day at Night and the same Year King Egbryht subdued the Kingdom of Mercia and all the Country that lay South of Humber He was the Eighth King who Ruled over all Britain but the First who had so great a Command was Aella King of the South Saxons the Second was Ceaâ—lin King of the West-Saxons the Third was Aethelbryght King of Kent the Fourth was Redwald King of the East Angles the Fifth was Edwin King of Northumberland the Sixth was Oswald who succeeded him the Seventh was Oswi the Brother of Oswald and the Eight was Egbryght King of the West-Saxons who not long after led an Army against the Northumbers as far as Dore which place is supposed to have been in York-shire beyond the River Hâ—mber but the Northumâ—ers offering him Peace and due Subjection they parted Friends From which passage in the Saxon Annals it is apparent that this Supream Dominion of one English King over all the rest was no new thing Bede having taken notice of it long before yet did they not therefore take upon them the Title of Monarchs any more than Egbert who now succeeded them in that Power thô most of our Historians who have written the Saxon History in English have but without any just reason given them that Title which could not properly belong to Kings who had divers others under them with the like Regal Jurisdiction within their own Territories not but that King Egbert was in a more peculiar manner the Supream King of England because by his Absolute Conquest of the Kingdoms of Kent and of the South and East Saxons he was the greatest King who had hitherto Reigned in England all the rest of the Kings that remained Reigning by his permission and paying him Tribute a power which never had been exercised by any other King before him But to return to our History it seems that King Egbert was so highly displeased with the Mercians for setting up a King without his consent that Ingulf and Florence of Worcester tell us That as soon as ever Withlaf was made King before he could raise an Army he was expell'd his Kingdom which Egbert added to his own but Withlaf being search'd for by Egbert's Commanders through all Mercia he was by the industry of Seward Abbot of Croyland concealed in the Cell of the Holy Virgin Etheldrith Daughter of King Offa and once the Spouse of Ethelbert King of the East Angles where King Withlaf found a safe retreat for the space of Four Months until such time as by the Mediation of said Abbot Seward he was reconciled to King Egbert and upon promise of the payment of an Yearly Tribute permitted to return to his Kingdom in Peace which is by him acknowledged in that Charter of his that Ingulf hath given us of his Confirmation of the Lands and priviledges of the Abbey of Croyland It was made in the Great Council of the whole Kingdom in the presence of his Lords Egbert King of West-Saxony and his Son Ethelwulf and before the Bishops and great Men of all England Assembled at the City of London to take Counsel against the Daniâ—h Pyrats then infesting the English Coasts And in the Year 833 as you shall see when we come to that Year This Restoration of King Withlaf to his Kingdom is also mentioned in the Saxon Annals of the next Year where it is said That Withlaf again obtained the Kingdom of the Mercians and Bishop Ethelwald deceased also the same Year King Egbryht led an Army against the Northern Britains and reduced them absolutely to his Obedience For it seems they had again rebelled Now likewise as Mat. Westminster relates King Egbert vanquished Swithred King of the East-Saxons and drove him out of his Kingdom upon whose expulsion the West Saxon Kings ever after possest that Kingdom Now according to the same Authour King Egbert having subdued all the South Parts of England led a great Army into the Kingdom of Northumberland and having grievously wasted that Province made King Eandred his Tributary which is also confirmed by Will of Malmesbury who relates that the Northumbers who stood out the last fearing least this King's anger might break out upon them now giving Hostages submitted themselves to his Dominion but they continued still under Kings of their own as you will further find To this Year I think we may also refer that great Transaction which the Annals of the Cathedral Church of Winchester printed in Monast. Angl. from an ancient Manuscript in the Cottonian Library place under the Year following viz. That King Egbert having thus subdued all the Kingdoms above-mentioned and forced them to submit to his Dominions called a great Council at Winchester whereto were summoned all the Great Men of the whole Kingdom and there by the General Consent of the Clerus Populus i. e. the Clergy and Laity King Egbert was crowned King of Britain And at the same time he Enacted That it should be for ever after called England and that those who before were called Jutes or Saxons should now be called English â—en And this I could not omit because thô William of Malmesbury and other Historians agree of the Matter of Fact yet I think this the truest and most particular Account of the Time and manner when it was performed Also this Year Wilfred the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury deceased and Feologild the Abbot was Elected Arch-Bishop 7 Kal. Maij. and was Consecrated 5. Id. Junij being Sunday and dyed the 3. Kal. Sept. after But here is certainly a mistake in this Copy of the Annals for it was not Feologild but Ceolnoth who was then chosen
Arch-Bishop for in the next Year it is thus corrected viz. This Year Ceolnoth was Elected and Consecrated Arch-Bishop and Feologild the Abbot deceased ' And the Year following Ceolnoth the Arch-BP received his Pall from Rome This Year certain Heathens or Pagans wasted Sceapige now the Isle of Sheppey in Kent But since this is the first time that these Heathens are mentioned in the Saxon Annals it is fit we should tell you a little more exactly who they were and from whence they came for they were indeed no other than that Nation which was before in our Saxon Annals called Northmanna and sometimes Deanscan i. e. Danes the Etymology of which Name since I find writers are so divided about I will not take upon me to determine not that all these People came out of that Country which is at this day called Denmark for it is impossible that so narrow a Region thô you should likewise include whatsoever that Kingdom did then or does now enjoy upon the Continent of Swedeland and Jutland could ever send out such vast Shoales of People as for near Two Thousand Years before the Norman Conquest over-ran and destroyed France the Low Countries and also this Island but you may from what has been already said observe that H. Huntington in the Prologue to his Book above cited does besides the Danes add also the Norwegians together with the Goths Swedes and Vandals to have been those Nations which for so many Years wasted England and that he did not deliver this without Book but had sufficient Authority for what he wrote I shall further make out from the Testimony of those Writers who lived in that very Age when these Nations first infested those parts of Europe For Eginhart who was Son-in-Law and Chancellour to Charles the Great thus writes in his History of that Prince which I shall here faithfully Translate In like manner the Danes and Sweones with those whom we call Normans do possess the Northern Shore of Scandinavia together with all the Islands adjoyning to it whil'st the Sclavi with divers other Nations inhabit the Southern Coasts but the Norwegans or rather Northern Men for so they are called by the Swedes because they lye more Northerly than the greater part of that Nation and indeed all those that inhabit Scanzia are by those People of Europe that lye more remote with very good reason called in the German Tongue i.e. Northland Men. Next to Eginhart Adam of Bremen who lived about Two Hundred Years after does not only insert these very words of the aforesaid Authour but also adds this further that the Danes and Swedes with the other Nations beyond the River Danabius are by the French Historians all called Normans so likewise Albertus Abbot of Stade who wrote about the Year 1250 says likewise that the Danes and other Nations who lived beyond Denmark are all called Normans from which Authorities the learned Grotius in his Prolegomena to his Gothic History lays it down as an undeniable Truth that whatever we find among any writers of that Age concerning the Normans does rightly belong to the Swedes who were then one of the greatest and most powerful of those Northern Nations that were all then called by one general Name of Normans But as for their Religion I need say no more of it since I have already told you in the beginning of the Third Book that all those Nations had the same common Deities viz. Woden and Thor c. whose Names I have there already set down to which last Deities as Ubbo Emmius relates they before any great exepedition sacrificed a Captive by knocking out his Brains and smearing their Faces in his Blood immediately marched against their Enemies but that they were extreamly given to Witchcraft and Inchantments all their own Authours relate which would be too tedious here to repeat since you will meer with some Instances of it in the following History But to return again to our Annals This Year is very remarkable for King Egbert encountred Thirty Five Ships of Danish Pyrates at Carrum now called Charmouth in Dorsetshire where there was a great slaughter but the Danes kept the Field whereby we may guess that they had the advantage yet it seems before this time even in this very Year the Danes had been vanquished and put to flight at Dunmouth now called Tinmouth from whence having now spoiled the Isle of Sheppey they Sail'd to Charmouth above-mentioned This shews us as Will. of Malmesbury well observes the Instability of all Worldly grandeur for now King Egbert being arrived at the height of Empire met with this unlooked for Enemy who harrassed him and his Posterity for divers Generations And thô in this Sea Fight last mentioned he had the better for the greater part of the Day yet towards Night he lost the Victory thô by the help of it he retreated and so saved the disgrace of an entire defeat this was the only time that Fortune ceased to favour King Egbert's Undertakings This Year also according to our Annals Herefrith Bishop of Winchester and Wigen or Sighelm Bishop of Scirborne and also Two Ealdormen Dudda and Osmund deceased The same Year was held that General Council of the whole Kingdom at London at the Feast of St. Augustin the English Apostle Egbert King of West Saxony and Withlaf King of the Mercians with both the Arch-Bishops and all the other Bishops and Chief Men of England being present at which besides a Consultation how to restrain the Invasion of the Danes the Privileges and Concessâ—ons of the said King Withlaf to the Monastery of Croyland were also confirmed by the said Council and were subscribed to by King Withlaf and both the Arch-Bishops and most of 〈◊〉 Bishops of England The next Year a great Fleet of Danes landed amongst the Western Welsh i. e. Cornishmen who being joyned with them in a League against King Egbert offered him Battle which he accepting of streight ways marched against them with his whole Army and at Hengestdune now Hengston in Cornwal put both the Britains and Danes to flight and as Mat. Westminster adds freed his Kingdom at this time from the Invasion of those barbarous Enemies King Egbryht departed this Life having Reigned Thirty Seven Years and Seven Months but the Annals must needs be mistaken either in the time of his Reign or else in the Year of his Death for if he began to Reign Anno Dom. 800 and Reigned Thirty Seven Years and an half it is evident he must have dyed Anno Dom. 838 the Printed Copy of Will of Malmesbury places his Death Anno Dom. 837 and another reading in the Margin in 838 but Florence of Worcester places it according to the Annals in 836. This King as the same Authour relates governed his Subjects with great Clemency and was as terrible to his Enemies and for Nine Years Reigned Supream King over all Britain Before his Death he is
and the Charter of that King to the Abby of Croyland is confirmed under the Rule of St. Benedict and is supposed by Sir H. Spelman in his Councils to be a great Council of that Kingdom because it bears date in the Week of Easter when they were Assembled about the publick Affairs of the Kingdom at which time as also at Whitsontide and Christmass the great Men of the Kingdom were wont of course to attend at the King's Court to consult and ordain what should be necessary for the common Good when also the King used to appear in State with his Crown upon his head which custom of holding great Councils was also continued after the Norman Conquest to the middle of the Reign of Henry the Second as Sir H. Spelman learnedly observes in his Notes at the end of this Council This Year according to the Peterburgh Copy of the Saxon Annals Ceolred Abbot of Medeshamstead and his Monks leased out to one Wulfred the Land of Sempigaham perhaps Sempingham in Lincoln-shire on Condition That after his Death it should again revert to the Monastery he paying in the mean time a Yearly Rent of so many Loads of Wood Coals and Turf and so many Barrels of Beer and Ale and other Provisions with Thirty Shillings in Money as is there specified at which Agreement Burherd King of the Mercians who had now succeeded Beorthwulf was present together with Ceolred the Arch-Bishop with divers other Bishops Abbots and Ealdormen I have inserted this to let you see the form of Leasing out the Abbey Lands in those Days and which it seems required the Solemnity of the Common Council of that Kingdom to confirm it The same Year also according to Florence Berthulph King of the Mercians deceased and Burhed succeeded him Who this next Year together with his Wites that is the Wise Men of his Great Council desired King Aethelwulf that he would assist them to subdue the Northern Welshmen which he performed and marching with his Army through Mercia made the Men of North-Wales Subject to King Burhed but of this the Welsh Chronicles are silent This Year also King Aethelwulf sent his Son Aelfred to Pope Leo to Rome who there anointed him King and adopted him for his Episcopal Son It is much disputed among some of our Modern Historians of what the Pope anointed Alfred King whether of any present or else future Dominions But since an ancient Manuscript in the Cottonian Library containing an History of the Kings of England says expresly That he was anointed In Successorem Paterni Regni and that we do not read of any Territories King Alfred enjoyed till after the Death of his Brethren it is most reasonable to understand it in the plain Literal Sense as it is here set down not only in these Annals but in Asser's Account of this King's Life and Actions that the Pope anointed him King as a Prophetical Presage of his future Royal Dignity And the same Year Ealcher with the Kentish-men and Huda with the Surrey-men fought with the Danish Army in the Isle of Thanet and at first had the better of them but there were many killed and drowned on both sides and both the Ealdormen or Chief Commanders perished Also Burhed King of the Mercians now married the Daughter of King Ethelwulf Asser relates the Marriage to have been kept with great Solemnity at a Town of the King 's called Cippenham now Chipnam in Wiltshire This Year the Danes winter'd in Scepige or Sheppie and the same year King Aethelwulf discharged the Tenth part of his Land throughout his whole Kingdom of all Tribute or Taxes for the Honour of God and his own Salvation This being the famous and solemn Grant of King Aethelwulf concerning Tythes requires a more particular Relation and therefore I shall here give you the Words of the said Grant at large I Aethelwulf King of the West Saxons with the Councel or Consent of my Bishops and Chief Men c. have consented That a certain Hereditary Part of the Lands heretofore possess'd by all Orders and Degrees of Persons whether Men or Women Servants of GOD i. e. Monks or Nuns or meer Laicks shall give their Tenth Mansion and where it is least the Tenth Part of all their Goods free and discharged of all Secular Servitude and particularly of all Royal Tributes or Taxations as well the greater as the less which they call Wittereden which signifies a certain Fine or Forfeiture and that they be free from all other Things as Expedition building of a Bridge or fortifying of a Castle c. And that they may the more diligently pour out their Prayers to GOD for us without ceasing we do in some part discharge their other Service These Things were done in Winchester in the Church of St. Peter in the Year of our LORD's Incarnation 855 the Third Indiction on the Nones of November before the great Altar in Honour of the Glorious Virgin Mary the Mother of GOD St. Michael the Arch-Angel and St. Peter Prince of the Apostles as also of our blessed Father Pope Gregory all the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of England being present and subscribing to it as also Beorhed King of Mercia together with the Abbots Abbesses Earls and other chief Men of the whole Kingdom with an infinite multitude of other Believers who all of them have witnessed and consented to the Royal Grant but the Dignitaries have thereunto subscribed their Names But as Ingulph relates King Aethelwulf for the greater firmness thereof offered this Charter at the Altar of St. Peter at Rome but that the Bishops received it in the Faith of God and transmitted it to be published throughout all the Churches in their several Diocesses Thô this Grant of Tithes is mentioned by the Annals as to be made before the King 's going to Rome yet it appears by the Date as also from Asser and Ingulph not to have been done till after his Return from thence which makes Sir H. Spelman conjecture and not without good Grounds that this Grant was twice made once before his going to Rome it being there confirmed by the Pope and was also regranted by a Great Council of the Kingdom after his Return as appears by the Charter here recited I have been the more exact in reciting this Law concerning Tythes both because it gives us the form of passing an Act in the great Council of the Kingdom at that time and who were the Parties to it as also because this was the first general Law that was ever made in a Mycel Synod of the whole Kingdom for the payment of Tythes thô I do not deny but there had been before some particular Laws of King Ina and King Offa to the same effect yet those could only oblige the West Saxon and Mercian Kingdoms The next Year also according to Florence and Asser's Chronicle K. Aethelwulf went to Rome carrying Aelfred his youngest and best beloved Son along with him but
to what intent having been so lately there before we know not any more than what the King did there unless to repair the English School or Colledge for Youth that had been lately burnt but it is certain he stayed abroad near a Year and in his Return home Charles Sirnamed The Bald King of the Franks gave him his Daughter to Wife who was called Leotheta in French Judith and so together with her he returned into England But as Asser relates there was in the mean time an infamous Conspiracy framed in the Western Parts of England for Prince Aethelbald the King 's eldest Son and Ealchstan Bishop of Scirborne and Aeanwulf Earl of Somerset had plotted together that King Aethelwulf at his Return Home should never be received into his Kingdom most Men laid this to the Charge of this Bishop and Earl only thô many do chiefly attribute it to the Perverseness of this young Prince who was also very obstinate in other Wickedness So the King his Father returning from Rome Prince Ethelbald together with his Councellors contrived this great Villany viz. to expell the King from his own Kingdom thô God would not permit it to take effect neither did all the Noblemen of England consent to it yet lest so great a Mischief should happen that the Father and Son making War on each other the whole Nation should be engaged in mutual Slaughter by the wonderful Clemency of the King and with the Consent of all his Nobility the Kingdom which was before united became now divided between the Father and the Son the Eastern Countries being allotted to the former and the Western to the latter but where the Father ought indeed by Right to have Reigned there Ruled this Rebellious and Undutiful Son for the Western part of the England was always accounted before the Eastern King Ethelwulf therefore coming back from Rom◠the whole Nation as it ought highly rejoyced at his return and would if he had pleased have expelled his wicked Son Aethelbald with all his Adherents out of the Kingdom but the King would by no means suffer it using great Clemency and Prudence lest the Kingdom might thereby be endangered All this Disturbance seems to have been raised by his Son and his Faction because of his marrying this new Wife whom notwithstanding having now brought over with him he placed by him on the Royal Throne as long as he lived without any Dispute or Opposition from his Nobles thô says this Author the Nation of the West Saxons did not permit the Queen to sit by the King or to be called Queen which Custom our Ancestors relate to have proceeded from a certain wicked Queen called Eadburga the Wife of King Bryhtric whose Story Asser in his Annals as also in his De Gestis Alfredi hath given us at large where speaking of the Occasion of this severe Law he tells us it proceeded from the wicked Carriage of that Queen already mentioned at the end of the former Book who abusing her Husband's Affections by untrue Accusations took away many Men's Lives and being hated by the English after that King's Decease they made that Law now mentioned William of Malmesbury and Mat. Westminster do assure us That King Ethelwulf lived but two Years after his return from Rome during which time he thought not only of the World to come but also what should happen in this after his Decease and therefore lest his Sons should quarrel among themselves after his Death he commanded his Testament to be written Asser calls it an Hereditary or Commendatory Epistle in which he ordained his Kingdom should be divided between the two eldest Sons as also his own proper Inheritance between all his Sons and Daughters and near Kinsmen but for his Money he ordered it to be divided between his Sons and his Nobles and what was left to be employed for the good of his Soul to which end he ordained That his Successours throughout all his own Hereditary Lands should maintain out of every Ten Families one Poor Person either Native or Stranger with Meat Drink and Apparel always provided that the Land did not then lie waste but was cultivated by Men and Cattle It is also to be noted That this Grant was wholly different from that of Tythes thô Bromton's Chronicle hath confounded them together and made them all one he also ordered to be sent every Year to Rome 300 Mancuses which William of Malmesbury renders Marks thô what the Sum was is uncertain but it was to be equally distributed between the Churches of St. Peter and St. Paul to provide Lights on Easter Eve and of this 300 Marks the Pope was to have 100 to himself These Grants are supposed by Sir Henry Spelman to have been made in a general Council of the whole Kingdom but after this time we find no more of them for many Years by reason of the frequent Invasions of the Danes But not long after King Ethelwulf died and was buried at Winchester having reigned 20 Years and 5 Months for the Saxon Annals which allow him but 18 Years and an half are certainly mistaken This Year also according to Florence of Worcester Humbert the Bishop anointed that Glorious Martyr Edmund King of the East Angles being then but 15 Years old at a Town called Buram being then the Royal Seat But having no Account of King Edmund's Pedigree or of the Place of his Birth from any of our English Historians you must be content with what Johannes Anglicus of Tinmouth hath told us or in his Legend of Saints called Sanctilogium of this King and Martyr viz. That he was the Son of one Alemond a Nobleman of the Blood Royal of the East Angles who having fled for fear of King Offa into Old Saxony out of which his Family first came had there by his Wife called Cywara a Son whom he named Edmund the pretended Miracles of whose Birth I purposely omit This Prince having been instructed in all Christian and Moral Duties lived in Germany to the 14th Year of his Age and upon his return into England was so acceptable to the East Angles that he was by them Elected King and till his Death continued in the quiet Possession of that Kingdom without any opposition of King Ethelwulf or any of his Sons then Kings of the West Saxons to whose Dominions that Kingdom of the East Angles had lately been made subject and hence it may be reasonably inferred that it was by King Ethelwulf's Consent that Edmund being returned out of Germany took Possession of that Kingdom Being thus made King and by reason of his tender Age not esteeming himself capable of managing the Affairs of the Nation he willingly submitted them and himself to the Direction of the said Bishop of the East Angles by whom he was Crowned and by whose Councel and Direction he behaved himself as became a Prince endued with all Kingly Virtues so that during his Reign his principal Care was to repair
the Ruines which the Mercian Arms and Tyranny had brought upon the Churches of the East Angles reduced by War to extream Poverty and consequently to a Neglect of Piety and Ecclesiastical Discipline And thus he Reigned 14 Years in Peace with the Affection of all his Subjects till GOD was pleased by sending the Pagan Danes as a Scourge to his Country to render this Prince a high Example of Christian Fortitude and Constancy King ETHELBALD and King ETHELRED After the Death of Ethelwulf King of the West Saxons his two eldest Sons divided their Father's Kingdom according to his Will Ethelbald his eldest Son succeeded him in West Saxony whilst his younger Brother Ethelred Reigned in Kent as also over the East and South Saxons And now according to our Annals the Pope hearing of the Death of King Ethelwulf anointed Alfred to be King and also delivered him to a Bishop to be Confirmed If this was so the King his Father must have left him behind at Rome for Asser says expresly That he went thither with him but over what Kingdom the Pope should Anoint him I know not unless foretold by way of Prophecy he would be King after his Brothers But as for King Ethelbald above-mentioned both Ingulph and Will of Malmesbury give him a very bad Character That he married Judeth his Father's Widow and was also besides both Lazy and Perfidious but Thomas Redborne in his larger History of Winchester says That by the Admonition of Swithin Bishop of that Church he repented of his Incest and put away Judeth his Mother-in-Law and observed all Things that the Bishop enjoyned him This Author farther relates from one Gerard of Cornwal's History of the West Saxon Kings not now extant that I know of That he died in a few Years after without doing or suffering any thing that deserves to be mentioned for we do not find that the Danes troubled this Kingdom all his Reign concerning the Length of which there is very different Relations amongst our Historians the Saxon Annals and William of Malmesbury making him to have reigned 5 Years whereas Asser and Ingulph allow him but Two and an half which seems to be the truer Account for if King Ethelwulf returned from Rome in the Year 855 and lived above Two Years after it is plain King Ethelbald could not Reign above Two Years and an half for the Saxon Annals tell us that in the next Year but one viz. King Ethelbald deceased and that his Body was buried at Scireborne King ETHELBERT alone Theâ— Aethelbryght his Brother took the Kingdom and held it in great Concord and Quiet I suppose our Author means from Domestick Commotions for he immediately tells us That in this King's time there came an Army of Danes from the Sea and took Winchester with whom in their return to their Ships Osric and Aethelwulf the Ealdormen with the Hampshire and Berkshire-men fought and put the Danes to flight and kept the Field of Battle but the Annals do not tell us in what Year of his Reign this Invasion happened ' This Year deceased St. Swithune Bishop of Winchester Now concerning this holy Bishop as also Alstan Bishop of Shirbone William of Malmesbury gives us this Character which omitting all the Bedroll of Miracles that follow I shall here set down King Aethelwulf bearing a great Reverence to St. Swithune whom he calls his Teacher and Master desisted not till he had honoured him with the Government of the said Bishoprick so that he was Consecrated with the Unanimous Consent and Joy of all the whole Clergy of that Diocess by Cealâ—oth Arch Bishop of Canterbury hereby Bishop Swithune's Authority encreasing his Councels for the Good of the Kingdom proved of greater weight so that by his Admonitions both the Church and State received great Benefit And indeed he was a rich Treasure of all Virtues but those in which he took most Delight were Humility and Clemency and in the discharge of his Episcopal Function he omitted nothing belonging to a True Pastor By his Assistance principally together with that of the Prudent and Couragious Prelate Alstan Bishop of Shirborne King Aethelwulf was enabled to support the Calamities his Kingdom suffered by the frequent Irruptions of the Danes for these two were his principal Councellours in all Affairs Bishop Swithune who contemned Worldly Things informed his Lord in all Matters which concerned his Soul whilst Alstan judging that Temporal Advantages were not to be neglected encouraged him to oppose the Danes and provided Money for his Exchequer and also ordered his Armies so that thô this King was of a slow unactive Nature yet by the Admonitions of these two worthy Councellours he Governed his Kingdom prudently and happily Many noble Designs for the good of the Church and State being well begun were prosperously executed in his Reign This Year the Danish Army landed in Thanet and wintering there made a League with the Kentish-men who promised them Money provided they would keep the Peace under pretence of which and of the Money promised the Danes stole out of their Camp and wasted all the East part of Kent For as Asser well observes they knew they could get more by Plunder than by Peace Now according to the same Annals King Aethelbryht died to the great Grief of his Subjects having governed the Kingdom 5 Years with a general Satisfaction and was buried at Scyreburne near to his Brother This Prince is supposed to have had a Son call'd Ethelwald whom you will find in this History to have raised a Rebellion against King Edward the elder many Years after King ETHELRED Then according to the Annals Aethelred Brother to the late King began his Reign and the same Year a great Army of Danes landed in England and took up their Winter Quarters among the East Angles and there turned Horsemen and that Nation was forced to make Peace with them Then the Pagan Army sailed from the East Angles and went up the River Humber to the City of York where was at that time great Discord between the People of that Nation I shall here give you Asser's Account of this Transaction being to the same effect thô more particular than that in the Annals themselves For says he the Northumbers had now expelled Osbright their lawful King and had set up a Tyrant or Usurper one Aella who was not descended of the Royal Line but now when the Pagans invaded them by the Intercession of the great Men and for the Common Safety the two Kings joyned their Forces and so marched to York at whose coming the Danes presently fled and endeavoured to defend themselves within the City which the Christians perceiving resolved to follow them to the very Walls and breaking in and entering the Town with them for it seems that City had not in those Times such strong Walls as they had when Asser wrote his History therefore when the Christians had made a Breach in the Wall as
yet there might very well have been before that time a publick School or Studium as it was then call'd where the Liberal Arts were taught as for the other Objection of the improbability of the old Scholars falling out with the new Professors in the very first Year of the Institution of the University that is as soon as ever they came thither this may be also answered by supposing that those Annals were written many Years after the Death of King Alfred from a Common received Tradition and so this transaction might have been dated there or Four Years later than it really happened as John Rouse in his Manuscript History of the Kings of England also places it I confess there is one Objection which I wish I could Answer and that is How Gildas and Nennius could study at Oxford when the latter was not so much as Born till about the Conclusion of this or Beginning of the following Century and much less the Former when even by the best Accounts of those Times the Pagan Saxons were then Masters of that part of England Having said thus much concerning the Antiquity of that Famous University to which I owe my Education I shall not trouble my self with enquiry into the Reality of those supposed Ancient Schools of Creeklad and Leacklade which the Monkish writers suppose to have been anciently called Greeklade and Latinelade the latter of which Derivations thô Mr. Camden justly explodes yet he seems to have more Veneration for the former since in the place from whence I have transcribed the above-cited Quotations he also tells us That the Muses were transported to Oxford from Creeklade now a small Town in Wilt-shire All the Authority for which that I know of beside uncertain Tradition depends upon the Credit of a Manuscript lately in the Liberary of Trinity Hall in Cambridge and is cited by Mr. Wheelock in his Notes upon Bede where speaking of Theodorus Arch-Bishop of Canterbury he says That he held or maintained Schools in a Village near the Water which is called Greekislake but Mr. Somner in his Learned Glossary hath given us a much more likely Derivation of this place viz. from the Old Saxon Word Creek signifying a River or Torrent running either into some River or else into the Sea and Gelad which signified an emptying for it was anciently written Crecca Gelade and not Greeklade as some would now write it This Year the Pagans passing under the Bridge of Paris and from thence by the Seine up the River Meterne now called Marne as far as Cazii now Choisy and which Florence says signified a Royal Village where and at Jona a place we know not they staid Two Years also the same Year Deceased Charles the Grosse King of the Franks but Earnwulf his Brother's Son had expell'd him out of his Kingdom six Weeks before his Death after which it was divided into five Parts over whom were set five Kings but this partition was with Earnewulf's good leave for they all promised to Govern under him because none of them was Heir on the Fathers side besides himself alone therefore Earnwulf fixed the Seat of his Kingdom in the Countries lying on the East side of the Rhine whilst Rodâ—lf took the middle or inward part of the Kingdom and Odo or Otto the Western Part and Beorngar and Witha called in Latine Beringarius and Wido held Lombardy and all the Countries on that side the Mountains all which Kingdoms they held with much Discord Fighting two great Battles and wasting those Countries till such time as each of them had expell'd the other from his Kingdom also the same Year Ethelelm the Ealdorman carried the Alms of King Alfred and the West Saxons to Rome This was the Benevolence called Peter Pence which is here justly termed an Alms and not a Tribute as Modern Popish Writers have termed it But to return to our own Domestick Affairs Asser above-mentioned informs us that the Kingdom being now pretty well at quiet from the Danes the King began to mind his Civil Government to repair his Cities and Castles and also to build others in the most necessary places altering the whole face of the Country into a much better form and having walled several Towers and Castles he made them defensible against the Pagans Nor was he less careful in the Political Affairs of his Kingdom for divers of his own Subjects having under the name of Danes committed great Spoils and Rapines these the King resolving to punish and restrain from these Excesses he first of all divided all the Provinces of England into Counties and those again into Hundreds and Tythings so that every Legal Subject should dwell in some Hundred or Tything whereby if any were suspected of Robbery and being thereof Condemned or absolved by his Hundred or Tything they should either undergo due punishment or else if Innocent be acquitted But the Governours of Provinces who were before called Vice Domini and in English Saxon Geriffs he divided into two Offices That is into Judges whom we now call Justices and into Sheriffs who do yet retain that name and by the Kings care and industry in a short time there was so great a Tranquility through out the whole Kingdom that if a Traveller had happen'd to have lost a Bag of Money in the High-way he might have found it again untouched the next day And Bromton's Chronicle relates That thô there were Gold Bracelets hung up at the parting of several High-ways yet Justice was so strictly executed that no Man durst presume to touch them But in the Distribution of his own Family he followed the Example of King Solomon for dividing it into Three Companies or Bands he set a Chief over each of them so that every Captain with his Band performed his Service in the King's Palace for the space of one Month and then going with his Company to his own Estate he looked after his private Affairs for Two Months and so did each of them in their Order which Rotation of Officers this King observed all the rest of his Reign And to this Year also Sir H. Spelman refers that Great Council wherein King Alfred made those Laws that go under his Name in which after a Preface wherein he first recites and confirms the Ten Commandments as also divers other Laws which are set down in Exodus and Leviticus he concludes to this effect That whatsoever he found worthy of Observation either in the time of K. Ina his Kinsman or Offa King of the Mercians or of Ethelbert the first Christened King he had gathered them all together and committed those to writing which he thought most deserving omitting others which he judged less convenient in doing of which he had taken the Advice and had the Consent of his Wise-Men and having revised the Laws of those Princes he transcribed such of them as he liked into his own and by the Consent of the said Wise-men he thereof made a Collection and
Old Minster or Cathedral The nearness of these two Monasteries afterwards occasioned great differences between them until the Monks of this new Abbey who were placed here in the room of the Secular Chanons by Bishop Ethelwald Anno Dom. 963. were removed without the Walls to a place called Hyde as you shall hear in due time and here also the Bones of King Alfred were new Buried by King Edward his Son as Will. of Malmsbury relates because of some foolish Stories made by those of the Old Monastery concerning the dead King's Ghost walking in some Houses adjacent to the Church This Year also according to our Annals the Moon was Eclipsed The next Year Prince Ethelwald incited the Danish Forces in East-England to Arms so that they over-ran and spoiled all the Country of Mercia as far as Crekelade now Crekelade in Wiltshire and there passing the Thames they took in Braedene now Braedon Forest in Wiltshire whatsoever they could find and then return'd home In the mean time King Edward so soon as he could get his Army together followed them and destroyed all the Country which lies between the Ditch and the River Ouse as far as the Northern Fens By the Ditch above-mention'd Florence of Worcester understands that bound or limit drawn between the Territories of the late King Edmund and the River Ouse which at this day is known by the name of the Devil's Ditch that formerly divided the Mercian Kingdom from that of the East-Angles And Bromton's Chronicle under this Year further adds That Ethelwold having thus passed the Thames at Crekelade took Brithenden and marched as far as Brandenstoke now Bradenstoke in Wiltshire so that as Mr. Camden well observes in his Britannia our Modern Historians have been much mistaken in supposing that place to be Basing-Stoke in Hampshire But to return to our History As soon as the King resolved to quit those parts he order'd it to be proclaimed throughout the whole Army that they should all march off but the Kentishmen staying behind contrary to his command he sent Messengers to them to come away yet it seems before they could do it the Danes had so hemmed them in that they were forced to fight and there Eadwald the King's Thane and Cenwulf the Abbot with many more of the English Nobility were slain and on the Danes part were kill'd Eoric their King and Prince Ethelwald who had stirred them to this Rebellion and Byrtsig the Son of Prince Beornoth and Ysopa General of the King's Army and abundance of others which it would be too tedious to enumerate But it was plain that there was a great slaughter made on both sides yet nevertheless the Danes kept the Field of Battel Also this Year Queen Ealswithe the Mother of King Edward deceased in which also a Comet appeared Who this Eoric King of the Danes was is uncertain I suppose him to have been the Danish King of the East-Angles whose death according to Will of Malmesbury's Account falls about this time for he says thus That this King was killed by the English whom he treated tyrannically but for all this yet they could not recover their Liberty certain Danish Earls still oppressing or else inciting them against the West-Saxon Kings till the Eighteenth Year of this King's Reign when they were all by him overcome and the Country brought under obedience To this time we may also refer that great Council which was held by King Edward the Elder where Plegmond Archbishop of Canterbury presided though the place where is not specified yet the occasion of it as we find from Will of Malmesbury as well as the Register of the Priory of Christ-Church in Canterbury cited by Sir H. Spelman was thus Pope Formosus had sent Letters into England threatning Excommunication and his Curse to King Edward and all his Subjects because the Province of the West-Saxons had been now for Seven Years without any Bishops whereupon the King summoned a great Council or Synod of Wise men of the English Nation wherein the Archbishop read the Pope's Letters then the King and the Bishops with all his Lay-Subjects upon mature deliberation found out a safe course to avoid it by appointing Bishops over each of the Western Counties dividing what Two Bishops had formerly held into Five Diocesses The Council being ended the Archbishop went to Rome and reciting the King's Decree with the Advice and Approbation of the Chief Men of his Kingdom He thereby and with rich Presents so pacified the Pope that Plegmond obtain'd his confirmation thereof and then returning into his own Country he ordained five Bishops in one day to wit Fridestan to the Church of Winchester Aldestan to Cornwall Werstan to Shireborne Athelm to Wells and Eadwulf to Crediton in Devonshire But Archbishop Parker in his Antiq Britannicae under this very Year thus recites this Transaction out of a very Ancient Manuscript Author whom he does not particularly name viz. That Plegmund Archbishop of Canterbury together with King Edward called a great Council of the Bishops Abbots Chief men Subjects and People in the Province of the Gewisses where these two Bishopricks were divided into five So that you see here was no less than five new Diocesses erected at once by the Authority of both the King and the Great Council of the Nation though it seems the Pope took upon him the confirmation of this Decree The same Authors likewise tell us That Archbishop Plegmond ordained two more Bishops over the Ancient Provinces to wit one Bernod for the South Saxons and Cenwulf for the Mercians whose See was at Dorchester in Oxfordshire Cardinal Baronius in his Annals having given us a Copy of these Letters of Pope Formosus hath found a notable Error in the Date of them for being written Anno Dom. 904 or 905. they could not be sent by that Pope who was dead about 9 or 10 years before and therefore the Cardinal would put the time of this Council back to Anno Dom. 894. but then as Sir H. Spelman in his Notes upon it well observes the fault will be as great this way as the other for King Edward under whom this Council was held was not King till above 10 years after therefore some would place this Council in the latter end of King Alfred's Reign after the Kingdom came to be setled upon the expulsion of the Danes but Sir H. Spelman affirms That these things being written long after the time when they were transacted the name of Formosus might be put into the Copies of these Letters instead of Pope Leo the Fifth and then all things will fall right enough But as to Frithestan Bishop of Winchester this Account of Will of Malmesbury will not hold for our Annals tell us That he was not made Bishop till Anno Dom. 910. upon the death of Bishop Denulph and therefore that See could not be so long void as this Relation would have it The like mistake is in making Werstan to be then
slew Neil his Brother And under this year I suppose we may justly place the total subduing of the Danes and subjection of the East-Angles and consequently their being freed from the Danish Yoak under which they had groaned for above fifty years though what Government they had from the Death of the last Danish King Eoric is hard to determine William of Malmesbury the only Ancient Author that hath mentioned these Affairs telling us in general That after the Death of this Eoric the Danish Earls or Governors either oppressed them or else excited them against the West-Saxon Kings until this King Edward by driving out the Danes restored the English to their Liberties and added this Kingdom to his own Dominions fifty years after the death of King Edmund which falls out much about this time But Polidore Virgil I know not from what Author hath a long Story how King Eoric above-mentioned made War against King Edward and being routed by him in a great Battel and returning home fell so far into the Hatred and Contempt of his Subjects that they rose up against him and being then divided into Factions were forced to submit themselves to King Edward This if it were true would give a great light into this dark part of the History of the East-Angles of which we have but a very imperfect Account But since this Relation is found in no other Author except Polydore and besides expresly contradicting the Testimony of William of Malmesbury a much more Authentick Writer by whose Account as well as by the Saxon Annals it appears that this Eoric was dead long before I think we may justly look upon Polydore's Relation as a mere Fiction either invented by himself or else taken from some Modern Author of no great Credit Therefore I must now warn the Reader concerning this Historian That though he had the Perusal of a great many Rare Manuscripts yet since he very seldom cites any Authors and that we find he sometimes differs from our most Ancient Writers and is plainly mistaken in divers Relations we have great reason to refuse his Testimony where it is not agreeable with more Authentick Authorities I have nothing else to add under this year but that as William of Malmesbury tells us the Body of King Edmund the Martyr having lain for above Fifty Years obscurely buried at a place called Halesdon in Suffolk was now by some devout people removed to a Town adjoining called Badricesworth now St. Edmundsbury where there was quickly a Church built over him and unto which King Edmund Brother to King Athelstan was a great Benefactor though this place was not much taken notice of until King Cnute to gain the Favour of this Saint whom his Countreymen had murthered here afterwards built a Noble Monastery This year also according to Florence of Worcester and Mat. Westminster the King of Scots Reginald the Danish King of Northumberland with the Duke or Earl of the Gallawy Welshmen or Britains came to King Edward and submitting themselves to him made a firm League with him This is the first time we find any Submission of the King of Scots which whether it amounted to a downright Homage and to hold that Kingdom of the Crown of England may be much questioned and is absolutely denied by the Scotish Historians Between Lent and Midsummer King Edward march'd with his Army to Stanford and there commanded a Castle to be built on the South-side of the River Weland so that all the people who dwelt in the Town on the North-side of that River submitted themselves and besought him to be their Lord. Also according to the Cottonian Copy of these Annals Howel and Cledauc and Jeothwell Prince of Wales with all the Nation of the Northern Britains desired to take the King for their Lord. But in this the Welsh Chronicles are wholly silent as commonly they are of any action that tends to the lessening of their Countrey Out of Wales the King marched to Snottingaham and took the Town and commanded it to be repaired and Garison'd with Danes as well as English and then all the people in the Province of Mercia of both those Nations came over to him This year also according to Florence Athelward Brother to King Edward died and was buried at Winchester This is that Learned Prince Son to King Alfred whose Character we have already given This year King Edward carried his Army about the end of Autumn to Thaelwale that is Thaelwalle in Cheshire and which is supposed to have been so called from its being encompassed at first with a Wall made of Bodies of Trees called in the Saxon Tongue Thal where he ordered that Town to be repaired and he commanded another part of his Forces whilst he stayed there to march out of Mercia to Manigeceaster now Manchester in the Kingdom of Northumberland and order'd it to be rebuilt and strengthened with a Garison This year also Plegmond Archbishop of Canterbury deceased and Reginold the Danish King took Eoferwick that is York Before Midsummer King Edward marched with his Army to Snottingaham and ordered a new Town to be built on the South-side of the River Trent over-against that on the other side and made a Bridge over the River between the two Towns from thence the King went into Peakland that is the Peak in that Shire to Bedecanwell which is supposed may be Bakewell in Dâ—rbyshire and commanded a Town to be built near to it and to be fortified with a Garison Then also the King of Scots with all the Scotish Nation and Reginald the Son of Eardulph the Danish King of Northumberland with all the Inhabitants of that Kingdom whether English or Danes together with the King of the Straecled Welshmen and all his Subjects did chuse King Edward for their Patron and Lord. But this year's actions are placed by Florence of Worcester and Mat. Westminster three years sooner which shews the Copies they had of these Annals differ'd from those we have though which of them is the truest I shall not now take upon me to affirm but it sufficiently shews that both these Copies were not written at one and the same time And now King Edward deceased at Fearndune in the Province of the Mercians now called Farrington in Berkshire and Aelsweard his Son also deceased not long after him at Oxnaford i. e. Oxford But the Canterbury Copy of these Annals as also Florence of Worcester place the Death of these two Princes under the foregoing year and indeed they seem to have been in the right But this is most certain that this Prince who is called Aethelward by William of Malmesbury was his Eldest Son by Queen Aelfleda his Wife the Daughter of Earl Aethelune and being very well instructed in Learning did much resemble King Aelfred his Grandfather as well in Face as Disposition yet though he survived his Father he never took upon him the Title of King because he outlived him so
one Egwinna a Lady the Daughter of a Nobleman whose Name though William of Malmesbury does not tell us because he says he had not found it in writing yet the Chronicle ascribed to Abbot Bromton tells us a long and improbable Story of the getting and Birth of this Prince which being no where else to be found as I know of I shall here give you That in the Reign of King Aelfred when his Son Edward was young there was in a Village of the West-Saxons the Daughter of a certain Shephard called Egwinna who falling asleep dreamed that the Moon shone out of her Womb so bright that all England was enlighten'd by its Splendor This Dream she told to a Grave Matron that had been Nurse to several of the King's Children Upon this she takes her into her house and educates her as carefully as if she had been her own Daughter instructing her so to demean her self as might become a Person both of Birth and Breeding In process of time it happen'd that Prince Edward the King 's Eldest Son passing upon some occasion through this Town thought himself obliged in Honour and Good Nature to visit his Nurse by which means he got sight of this Maid and she being exceeding beautiful fell passionately in love with her and by his violent Importunity he got her Consent to lye with him and by one Night's Lodging she proved with Child and being afterwards delivered of a Son in respect to the Mother's Dream the Father gave him the Name of Athelstan which signifies The most Noble If this Story be true that he married this Woman without the Consent of his Father and kept the Marriage private the Authors above-cited had good cause to suppose her to have been rather his Concubine than his Queen though there be also other Historians who make her to have been his Lawful Wife But thus much is more certain That King Edward had Prince Ethelward above-mentioned by his Wife Aelfleda the Daughter of Earl Aethelem as also another Son called Edwin of the manner of whose Death William of Malmesbury says he cannot certainly tell us but gives us an exact account of what became of all the rest of his Children He had also by her six Daughters viz. Edelfleda Edgiva Ethelhilda Ethilda Edgitha and Elgiva of whom the first and third vowed their Virginity to God and both of them lye buried by their Mother in the Monastery of Winchester as for Edgiva her Father bestowed her upon Charles King of France and for Ethilda her Brother King Athelstan bestowed her in Marriage upon Hugo a King or Prince of the French and Edgitha and Elgiva their Brother sent to Henry the German Emperor the Second of which he married to Otho his Son and the Elder to a certain Duke near the Alpes King Edward also begot of his Third Wife Edgiva Edmund and Edred who both reigned successively after their Brother King Athelstan as also two other Daughters Eadburga and Edgiva the former became a Nun but the latter being a great Beauty was bestowed in Marriage by her Brother Athelstan on Lewis Prince or Duke of Aquitain But King Edward had so well bred all his said Daughters from their Infancy that they were wont all of them to bestow their leisure time upon good Letters and after that were wont to exercise both their Distaff and the Needle and in this manner they passed the first years of their Virginity Likewise his Sons were so inured to Learning that not being rude and ignorant in Knowledge they became like Plato's Philosophers fit to Govern the Common-wealth as our Author handsomly expresses it This King seems by his History to have been a Prince of great Mildness and Humility as well as Courage which appears by this Story but tho it be not found in any of our Historians is yet related by Walter Mape in his Nugis Curialium in Manuscript as follows That when K. Edward the Elder came to Austelin I suppose that which we now call Aust where is a Ferry to pass out of Somersetshire into Wales Lewelyn Prince of North-Wales came to Bethesley about a Treaty of Peace he refused first to cross the Severne but when King Edward heard it he took Boat and rowed towards him but the Prince being then by the Water-side when he saw him and knew who he was he cast off the Rich Robe he then had on which he had provided for that meeting and entring the River breast-high taking hold of the end of the Boat submissively said Most Sage King thy Humility hath overcome my Insolence and thy Wisdom triumph'd over my Folly Come pray Sir get upon this Neck which I like a Fool as I am have lifted up against thee and thus enter that Land which thy benign Clemency hath made this day thine own So taking the King upon his Shoulders and setting him on shore he made him to sit down upon his own Royal Robe and putting his own hands between the King 's there did him Homage But this Circumstance only serves to bring all the rest of this Story into question for it is certain this Ceremony of doing Homage was not in use till after the coming in of the Normans Besides the Welsh Chronicles mention no such thing nor can I find any Prince either of North or South Wales called Lewelyn at that time till Anno 1015 in the Reign of King Cnute above a hundred year after the death of King Edward the Elder but perhaps the Story may be true being told by Tradition though the Name of the Prince may be mistaken and Lewelyn put instead of Howel who was now King of South-Wales and in whose Territories this Action must have happen'd But whether this Relation be true or false we may from it draw this Observation That it is not always Wisdom in Princes to insist too nicely upon Circumstances especially in Ceremony but that sometimes to recede from them may tend to the greater Advantage of that Prince that doth it King ATHELSTAN THE same year not long after King Edward's decease the Saxon Annals tell us That Aethelstan was elected King by the Mercians and afterwards Crowned at Kingstune upon Thames being then a Royal Town Note He was crowned in the midst of the Town upon a Scaffold built on purpose whereon the Ceremony of the Coronation was performed in the open view of all men by Athelm Archbishop of Canterbury with great Acclamations of the People Also St. Dunstan was born and Wulfhelme was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury upon the Death of Athelm From whence you may observe the Mercians had not yet lost their Ancient Right of chusing their own King and no doubt but the West-Saxons did so likewise though it be not particularly express'd in the Annals For an Ancient Manuscript Chronicle in the * Cottonian Library says only Electus est in Regem And you may also hence observe That the King's Consecration or Coronation is placed as a different
action from his Election as it is also in the Author last cited and in H. Huntington who therein follow our Annals and say expresly That he was Elected But it seems before his Election one Alfred with some factious men of his Party endeavour'd to hinder King Athelstan's coming to the Crown because he was begot on a Concubine which says William of Malmesbury if it were true as he seems there to doubt yet had he nothing else ignoble in him for he surpassed all his Predecessors as well in his Devotion as his Victories So much better is it as he well observes to excel in good Qualities than in his Ancestors the former only being truly a man 's own Hither we may also refer what the same Author tells us concerning this Alfred above-mentioned out of the Preface to King Athelstan's Charter whereby he confers the Lands once belonging to this Alfred upon the Church of Malmesbury for the Souls of his Cousins Ethelred Edwin and Ethelwin there buried And to testify to the world that he gave what was his own he there at large relates the whole Conspiracy which Alfred had laid together with his Complices to seize him in the City of Winchester and to put out his Eyes but the Plot being happily discovered and Alfred denying it he was sent to Rome there to purge himself before Pope John where coming to take his Oath at the Altar of St. Peter he fell down and being carried by his Servants into the English School there died the third night after but it seems the Pope would not dispose of his Body till he had sent to ask King Athelstan's Judgment what should be done with it when by the Advice and at the Request of the Chief Men the King assented that it should though unworthy of that Honour be laid among the Bodies of other Christians but his whole Estate was adjudged confiscated for so black a Treason But one of the first things this King performed after his coming to the Crown as we find in Florence of Worcester was his bestowing his Sister Edgitha in Marriage to Sihtric the Danish King of Northumberland who desired the Alliance of King Athelstan And as Matthew Westminster relates this Prince professing himself a Christian was a little before his Marriage baptized but did not long continue so for he relapsed again to his former Paganism And the next year According to Florence and Simeon of Durham he deceased after whose death the Lady above-mentioned retiring to her Brother King Athelstan became a Nun at Pollesworth Nor can I here omit the Falshood of the Scotish Historians who out of spight to King Athelstan's Memory make Sihtric to have been poyson'd by this Lady whom they call Beatrix and that at the Instigation of her Brother King Athelstan whereas her Name was not Beatrix but Edgitha or Orgiva and was a Woman of as great Reputation for her Sanctity as the King her Brother was for his Valour and other Noble Virtues which render'd him above the putting his Sister upon so base an Action But before I dismiss this Relation I cannot omit what John of Wallingford adds concerning this King Sihtric whom he calls Sictric viz. That upon this Marriage with King Athelstan's Sister he advanced him to the Title of King that his Sister might not stoop so low as to that of Countess and that Sictric then had for his Kingdom all the Countrey from the River Theys as far as Edinburgh from which time the Danes began to settle in those parts who before rambled about over all England to which Settlement as also to a fresh accession of more the Northerly Situation of that Countrey lying over-against Denmark contributed very much as this Author well observes This year according to Florence of Worcester and Simeon of Durham Sihtric King of the Northumbers departed this life so that it seems that this King survived his Marriage but a small time Also the same year according to Florence Hugh the Son of Robert King of the French married King Athelstan's Sister and after the death of King Sihtric Guthfrith his Son succeeded him though but for a little while for the year following our Annals tell us That King Aethelstan expelled the said Guthfryth King of Northumberland and added his Dominions to his own And the same year Wulfhelm the Archbishop went to Rome From which Conquest of the Kingdom of Northumberland we may observe That as King Edward had before conquered the Danes of East-England and had also added Mercia to his own Kingdom so King Athelstan by the Expulsion of King Guthfrith who was also of the Danish Race became the first King that ruled all England without any King under him Of this Prince also John of Wallingford relates That being a Young Man he was stirred up to this Rebellion by the suggestion of the Northumbers who told him that their Countrey had always enjoyed a King of their own without being Tributary to the Southern English And indeed from the first arrival of the English Saxons they had been never subject to any of the West-Saxon Kings except King Athelstan Therefore this Guithfrith or Gutred moved by these instigations took upon him the Name of King without King Athelstan's consent and casting out the Garisons seized all the Forts and Castles of that Country and flatly denied to pay the Tribute imposed upon his Father with which K. Athelstan being much provoked he not only raised great Forces of his own Subjects but also sent for Aid to his Friends in Neighbouring Kingdoms and so in few days gathering together a great Army totally expell'd him his Kingdom And therefore Alfred of Beverly an Ancient Author still in Manuscript very well observes of this Prince That by subduing the Scots Welsh and all the Kings of Britain he justly deserved the Title of the first Monarch though his Modesty was so great that he never gave himself that Title but left it to his Brother Edred to take as shall be shewn in his Reign This year William Son to Rollo succeeded to the Dukedom of Normandy and held it fifteen years Byrnstan was consecrated Bishop of Winchester and held that Bishoprick two years and an half The year following ' Frithelstan the Bishop deceased Florence of Worcester and Simeon of Durham as also the Chronicle of Mailrosse do all agree that this Bishop Frithelstan did before his death ordain Bishop Byrnstan in his room and if so he resigned the Bishoprick of Winchester to him and lived only one year after it Also the same year according to our Annals Edwin Aetheling was drowned This Edwin here mentioned in our Annals was Brother to King Athelstan whose Death being the greatest Blot of this King's Reign divers Authors have concealed it but notwithstanding it is thus given us by William of Malmesbury and the Chronicle called Abbot Bromton's Alfred above-mentioned having conspired against King Athelstan as you have already heard had several
year according to Florence King Athelstan founded the Abby of Middleton in Dorsetshire to expiate the Death of his Brother Prince Edwin whom through false suggestions he had destroy'd as you have already heard About this time also according to the Welsh Chronicle Howel Dha Prince of South-Wales and Powis after the death of Edwal Voel his Cousin Prince of North-Wales took upon him the Government of all Wales the Sons of Edwal being then in Minority This Howel made that Excellent Body of Laws that go under his Name and which you may find in Sir H. Spelman's first Volume of Councils This Prince for his Discreet and Just Government not only made himself highly beloved but also rendred his Memory very glorious to After-Ages But it seems King Athelstan did not long survive this Victory for as our Annals relate he deceased this year on the 6 th Kal. Novemb. just Forty years after the death of King Alfred his Grandfather having reigned Fourteen Years and Ten Months But there is certainly an Error in this Account for either this King must have reigned a year less or else the King his Father must have died a year sooner than our Annals allow him and perhaps with greater Certainty for Florence of Worcester places his Death in Anno Dom. 924. Nor can we before we finish this King's Life omit taking notice That Bromton's Chronicle and other Modern Writers do place the long Story of the Danes invading England in this King's Reign and that one Guy Earl of Warwick returning home by chance from the Holy Land in the Habit of a Pilgrim just when King Athelstan was in great distress for a Champion to fight with one Colebrand a monstrous Danish Gyant whom the King of the Danes had set up to fight with any Champion the English King should bring into the field that Earl Guy accepted this Challenge and without being known to any man but the King fought the Gyant near Winchester and killing him the Danes yielded the Victory whilst Earl Guy privately retired to a Hermitage near Warwick and there living a Hermit's life ended his days But though John Rouse in his Manuscript Treatise de Regibus Anglorum places this Action under Anno 926 as soon as ever King Athelstan came to the Crown and that Tho. Rudburne in his History of Winchester says That this Gyant 's Sword being kept in the Treasury of the Abby of Winchester was shewn in his time yet since neither the Saxon Annals nor any other Ancient Historian mention any Invasion of the Danes in this King's Reign nor any thing of such a Combat it ought to be looked upon as a Monkish Tale only fit for Ballads and Children But since the Monks are very profuse in the Praises of this Prince I will give you William of Malmesbury's Character of him That as for his Person he did not exceed the ordinary Stature being of a slender Body his Hair as he had seen by his Reliques was Yellow that as for his Natural Temper and Disposition he was always kind to God's Servants i. e. the Monks for there was scarce a Monastery in England but what had been adorned by him with Buildings Books or Reliques And though he was grave and serious amongst his Nobles yet was he affable to the Inferior sort often laying aside the Majesty of a King to converse the more freely with ordinary men This made him as much admired by his Subjects for his Humility as he was fear'd by his Enemies and Rebels for his Invincible Courage and Constancy An Eminent Instance of this was in that he compell'd the Kings of North-Wales for some time standing out to meet him at Hereford and submit themselves to him I wish our Author had told us the Year when it was done since our Annals have wholly omitted it for tho Ran. Higden in his Polychronicon has put it under Anno 937 and also relates from Alfred of Beverly that this King restored both Constantine King of Scots and Hoel King of the Britains to their Kingdoms saying It was more glorious to make a King than to be one yet I do not see any Authority for it But this is agreed upon by all That Athelstan did about that time enter Wales with a powerful Army and effected what no King had ever presumed to think of before for he imposed a Yearly Tribute upon those Kings of Twenty Pounds in Gold and Three hundred Pounds in Silver and Twenty five thousand Head of Cattel Yet the Laws of Howel Dha appointed the King of Aberfraw to pay yearly to the King of London no more than Sixty six Pounds for a Tribute besides Hawks and Hounds John of Wallingford makes this King the first who reduced all England into one Monarchy by his Conquest of Northumberland Cumberland and Wales yet that he was in his own nature a Lover of Peace and whatever he had heard from his Grandfather or observed in his Father he put in practice being Just in his Judgments and by a happy conjunction of many Virtues so beloved by all men that to this day Fame which is wont to be too severe to the Faults of Great Men can relate nothing to his prejudice William of Malmesbury also gives us a short Account of his Life and Actions from his very Childhood wherein he tells us That this Prince when he was but a Youth was highly beloved by his Grandfather King Alfred insomuch that he made him a Knight girding him with a Belt set with Precious Stones and whereat hung a Golden-hilted Sword in a Rich Scabbard after which he was sent to be bred under his Uncle Ethelred Earl of Mercia to learn all those Warlike Exercises that were befitting a Young Prince Nor does he only relate him to have been Valiant but also competently Learned as he had been informed from a certain old Author he had seen who compared him to Tully for Eloquence though as he rightly observes the Custom of that Age might very well dispense with that Talent and perhaps a too great Affection to King Athelstan then living might excuse this Author 's over-large Commendations But this must be acknowledged that all Europe then spoke highly in his Praise and extoll'd his Valour to the Skies Neighbouring Kings thinking themselves happy if they could purchase his Friendship either by his Alliance or their Presents Harold King of Norway sent him a Ship whose Stern was Gilded and its Sails Purple and the Ambassadors by whom he sent it being Royally received in the City of York were rewarded with Noble Presents Hugh King of the French sent Anwulf Son of Baldwin Earl of Flanders Grandson to King Edward by Aethelswine his Daughter as his Ambassador to demand his Sister in Marriage who when in a Great Assembly of the Nobility at Abingdon he had declared the Desires of this Royal Woer besides Noble Presents of Spices and Precious Stones especially Emeralds such as had never been seen in England before
Edmund But it seems R. Hoveden and Mat. Westminster make this latter Anlaf a quite different person from the former who is supposed to have reigned in Ireland whereas this was the Son of Sihtric late King of Northumberland and whom we shall meet with again more than once in the following History But John of Walingford's Chronicle makes this King whom he calls Olaf a Norwegian whom the Northumbers had called in and bestowed upon him the Title of King and under him rebelled against K. Edmund As for this Reginald her mentioned in our Annals I suppose he is the same whom H. Huntington calls King of York because he had conquered the Countrey But tho the History of these Transactions are very short and obscure yet that which has been already related from these Authors will serve to explain what would have been otherwise in the dark viz. how the Cities and Towns above-mentioned now came to be recovered from the Danes as having been taken by their King Anlaf aforesaid This year Queen Aelgiva was brought to Bed of Prince Edgar afterwards King as Florence relates Yet she lived not long after but died the year following according to Ethelward's Chronicle King Edmund reduced all the Countrey of Northumberland under his own Dominion expelling thence the two Kings Anlaf the Son of Sihtric and Reginald the Son of Guthferth But Ethelwerd relates this action to have been done by this King's Lieutenants viz. Bishop Wulstan and the Ealdorman of Mercia whose Name he does not give us only that these two expelled certain Deserters viz. Reginald and Anlaf out of the City of York and reduced it wholly under this King's Power John of Wallingford also makes this Anlaf to be the King's Nephew and different from Anlaf the Norwegian King Eadmund subdued the whole Countrey of Cumberland and gave it to Malcolme King of Scots upon condition that he should assist him in his Wars both by Sea and Land For the Reader is to observe that hitherto the Britains though much disturbed by their Neighbours the Picts Scots and English had ever since the coming in of the Saxons still there continued a distinct Principality and after several of them had been wearied out they retired into North Wales and there erected the Colony of Straetcluyd as we formerly said though the History and Succession of these Kings are wholly lost unless it be such scattered Remains as we have given you in the former Book But Mat. Westminster though under the next year adds that which is very unlikely to be true that King Edmund conquered this Countrey by the Assistance of Lewellyn Prince of Wales and put out the Eyes of the two Sons of Dunmaile King of that Province though what he adds further appears somewhat more probable That he granted it to the King of Scots upon this condition viz. To defend the North-parts of England from the Invasion of Enemies both by Sea and Land To which Bromton's Chronicle adds likewise That he was also to attend the King of England at several Great Feasts in the year when he held his Common Council and that the King of Scots had for that end several Houses assigned him to lye at by the way Also this year Mat. Westminster relates that King Edmund gave one of his Royal Towns then called Beadricesworth with divers other Lands to build a Church and Monastery in Memory of St. Edmund the Martyr whose Body was there enshrin'd This year likewise as Florence relates King Edmund sent Ambassadors to Prince Hugh of France for the Restitution of King Lewis whereupon the said Prince held a Solemn Council with all the Chief Men of the Kingdom concerning it But not long after King Edmund deceased at the Feast of St. Augustin having held the Kingdom Six Years and an half But the Laudean or Peterburgh Copy of these Annals as also Ethelwerd's Chronicle place the Death of this King Anno Dom. 948 which without doubt is the truest Account So that he died in the very Flower of his Age being not yet Five and twenty years old But we shall give you the manner of his Death from William of Malmesbury as well as from other Authors since he met with such an End the like to which I have not read of any other Prince taking all the Circumstances together And thus we find it He having made a Great Entertainment at a place called Pucklekirk upon the Holiday of St. Augustin Archbishop of Canterbury for all his Nobility and Chief Men and there spying towards the end of Dinner a certain Notorious Thief called Leof sitting at the Table whom he had before banished commanded Leon his Sewer to lay hold on him But the Thief not only resisted him but was also like to have killed the Sewer Whereupon the King leaping from the Table and going to rescue him out of the Villain 's hands and having now laid hold on him and thrown him on the ground he twisted his hands in his hair upon which the Thief pulling out a Dagger stabbed the King who lay upon him into the Breast so that he immediately expired but the King's Servants presently coming in soon cut the Villain to pieces though some of them were first wounded by him The King's Body was thereupon carried to Glastenbury and there buried and the Town wherein he was killed was bestowed on the same Monastery to sing Masses for his Soul To this Place the Prince as well as his Brother was a great Benefactor as appears by his recited Charter in William of Malmesbury whereby he confers divers large Privileges upon that Abby of which St. Dunstan was then the Abbot And it is also to be observed that He there stiles himself in the beginning of his Charter Edmund King of the English and Governor and Ruler of the other Nations round about and says That with the Advice and by the Consent of his Chief Men and for the Remission of his Sins He made that Grant to the Church of St. Mary at Glastenbury This Charter bore date Anno 944. in Letters of Gold and was written at the end of a Book of Gospels which he had given to the same Church most curiously bound So that it is no wonder if he had the good words of the Monks though he might also very well deserve them yet this last Action speaks him to have been extremely transported with Passion thus to debase the Majesty of a King in going about to seize a common Malefactor with his own hands and indeed he paid too dear for thus acting below his Character This King made divers good Laws which since the Title does not recite in what year they were made I have referred to this place some of which I shall here give you translated from the Latin Copies in Abbot Bromton's Chronicle as well as from Mr. Lambard's Collection In the Preface of which we are told That at the solemn Feast of Easter the King had held a Great
and instead thereof engaged the Prince of Wales to send him a Yearly Tribute of so many Wolves Heads in lieu of that Tribute which the said Prince performed till within some Years there being no more Wolves to be found either in England or Wales that Tribute ceased But to proceed with our Annals This Year deceased Aelfgar Cousin to the King and Earl also of Devonshire whose Body lies buried at Wilton Sigeferth likewise here called a King though he was indeed no more than Vice-King or Earl of some Province now made himself away and was buried at Winborne The same Year was a great Mortality of Men and a very Malignant Feaver raged at London Also the Church of St. Pauls at London was this Year burnt and soon after rebuilt and Athelmod the Priest went to Rome and there died I have nothing else to add that is remarkable under this Year but the Foundation of the Abby of Tavistock by Ordgar Earl of Devonshire afterwards Father-in-law to King Edgar though it was within less than fifty years after its foundation burnt down by the Danes in the Reign of King Ethelred but was afterwards rebuilt more stately than before This Year Wolfstan the Deacon deceased and afterwards Gyric the Priest These I suppose were some men of remarkable Sanctity in that Monastery to which this Copy of these Annals did once belong The same Year also Abbot Athelwald received the Bishoprick of Winchester and was consecrated on a Sunday being the Vigil of St. Andrew The second year after his Consecration he repaired divers Monasteries and drove the Clerks i. e. Canons from that Bishoprick because they would observe no Rule and placed Monks in their stead He also founded two Abbies the one of Monks and the other of Nuns and afterwards going to King Edgar he desired him to bestow upon him all the Monasteries the Danes had before destroyed because he intended to rebuild them which the King willingly granted Then the Bishop went to Elig where St. Etheldrith lieth buried and caused that Monastery to be rebuilt and then gave it to the care of one of his Monks named Brightnoth and afterwards made him Abbot of the Monks of that Monastery where there had been Nuns before Then Bishop Athelwald went to the Monastery which is called Medeshamstead which had also been destroyed by the Danes where he found nothing but old Walls with Trees and Bushes growing among them but at last he spied hidden in one of these Walls that Charter which Abbot Headda had formerly wrote in which it appeared that King Wulfher and Ethelred his Brother had founded this Monastery and that the King with the Bishop had freed it from all secular servitude and Pope Agatho had confirmed it by his Bull as also the Archbishop Deus Dedit Which Charter I suppose is that the Substance of which is already recited in the Fourth book Anno 656. and which I have there proved to be forged for the Monks had then a very fair opportunity to forge that Charter and afterwards to pretend they found it in an old Wall But letting that pass thus much is certain from the Peterburgh Copy of these Annals That the said Bishop then caused this Monastery to be rebuilt placing a new Set of Monks therein over whom he appointed an Abbot called Aldulf Then went the Bishop to the King and shewed him the Charter he had lately found whereby he not only obtained a new Charter of Confirmation of all the Lands and Privileges formerly granted by the Mercian Kings but also many other Townships and Lands there recited as particularly Vndale with the Hundred adjoining in Northamptonshire which had formerly been a Monastery of it self as may be observed in the account we have already given of the Life of the Archbishop Wilfrid The King likewise granted That the Lands belonging to that Monastery should be a distinct Shire having Sac and Soc Tol and Team and Infangentheof which terms I shall explain in another place the King there also grants them a Market with the Toll thereof and that there should be no other Market between Stamford and Huntington and to the former of these the King also granted the Abbot a Mint But as for the Names of the Lands given together with the Limits and the Tolls of the Market there mentioned I refer the Reader to the Charter it self Then follows the Subscription of the King with the Sign of the Cross and next the Confirmation of the Archbishop of Canterbury with a dreadful Curse on those that should violate it as also the Confirmation of Oswald Archbishop of York Athelwald Bishop of Winchester with several other Bishops Abbots Ealdormen and Wisemen who all confirmed it and signed it with the Cross This was done Anno Dom. 972. of our Lord's Nativity and in the sixteenth year of the King's Reign which shews this Coppy of the Annals to be written divers years after these things were done as does also more particularly that short History concerning the Affairs of this Abby and the Succession of its Abbots for many years after this time As how Abbot Adulf bought many more Lands wherewith he highly enriched that Monastery where he continued Abbot till Oswald Archbishop of York deceased and he succeeded him in the Archbishoprick and then there was another chosen Abbot of the said Monastery named Kenulph who was afterwards Bishop of Winchester he first built a Wall round the Monastery and gave it the name of Burgh which was before called Medeshamested but he being sometime after made Bishop of Winchester another Abbot was chosen from the same Abby called Aelfi who continued Abbot fifty years He removed the Bodies of St. Kyneburge and St. Cynesuith which lay buried at Castra and St. Tibba which lay entomb'd at Rehala i. e. Ryal in Rutlandshire and brought them to Burgh and dedicated them to St. Peter keeping them there as long as he continued Abbot I have been the more particular in the Account of this so Ancient and Famous Monastery as having been the Episcopal See of the Bishops of Peterburgh almost ever since the Dissolution of that Abby in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth This Year also according to Simeon of Durham King Edgar married Ethelfreda the Daughter of Ordgar Earl of Devonshire after the Death of her Husband Ethelwald Earl of the East-Angles Of her he begot two Sons Edwald and Ethelred the former of whom died in his Infancy but the latter lived to be King of England But before he married this Lady it is certain he had an Elder Son by Elfleda sirnamed The Fair Daughter of Earl Eodmar of whom he begot King Edward called the Martyr But whether King Edgar was ever lawfully married to her may also be doubted since Osbern in his Life of St. Dunstan says That this Saint baptized the Child begotten on Ethelfleda the King's Concubine with whom also agrees Nicholas Trevet in his Chronicle though I confess the Major
Edgar was certainly a very Great and Heroick Prince yet questionless that Charter which makes him to have subdued the greatest part of Ireland with the City of Dublin and to be Lord of all the Isles as far as Norway is fictitious and nothing but a piece of Monkish Forgery no Author of that Age making mention of any such thing and instead of a Great Warrior he is usually stiled Edgar the Peaceable for he never made any Foreign Wars that we can learn However such was his mighty Fame that if he did not go himself to Foreigners they came to him out of Saxony Flanders Denmark and other places Though William of Malmesbury observes their coming over did much detriment to the Natives who from the Saxons learned Rudeness from the Flemings Effeminacy and from the Danes Drunkenness the English being before free from those gross Vices and contented themselves to defend their own with a natural Simplicity and not given to admire the Customs and Fashions of other Nations Hereupon the Monk tells us he is deservedly blamed in Story for his too great Indulgence to Strangers This Noble Prince died when he had Reigned about Sixteen Years in the very flower of his Age being scarce Two and thirty years old and with him fell all the Glory of the English Nation scarce any thing henceforth being to be heard of among them but Misery and Disorder He had by Egelfleda sirnamed the Fair the Daughter of Earl Ordmer it 's uncertain whether his Wife or Concubine a Son named Edward who succeeded him By Wilfrida the Nun he had a Daughter named Editha who was also a Nun as hath been already related And by Elfreda the Daughter of Duke Ordgar a Son called Edmund who died five years before his Father and another called Ethelrede who reigned after him but was wholly unlike him in Prudence and Courage I have nothing else to add that is considerable under this year but the death of the Noble Turketule Abbot of Croyland whom from Chancellor to King Edred was at his own desire by him made Abbot He repaired and much enriched that Abby after its being ruined by the Danes and was the first that by adding to the Two Great Bells of that Monastery Six more made the first Tuneable Rings of Bells in England as Ingulph at the end of the account he gives of his Life informs us But before I dismiss this King's Reign it is fit I give you a short account of the chief Laws he made which since neither the time nor place of their enacting are any where mention'd I refer to this place The Preface of these Laws is thus This is the Decree or Law which King Edgar made with the counsel or consent of his Wites or Wisemen for the Honour of God the Confirmation of his Royal Dignity and for the Good of his People The Laws themselves begin with some Ecclesiastical Canons the first of which is concerning the Immunities of the Church and about paying Tythes out of the Lands of the Thanes as well as of those of Ceorles or Countrey-men The Second is concerning payment of Tythes and First fruits as well where a Thane had a Church with a Burying-place as also where he had not The Third appoints the times the Tythes should be paid at and what Remedy was to be had in case they were not paid at the time when they were due The Fourth ordains at what time of the year Peter-pence should be paid and the Penalty that should be incurred by those that should neglect to pay them in accordingly The last ordains every Sunday to be kept holy and to begin at Three a Clock in the Afternoon on Saturday and to end at break of day on Monday upon the penalty appointed by the Judiciary Book From which last Law you may observe how early keeping the Sunday like the Jewish Sabbath began in England Then follow the Secular or Temporal Laws The First of which enjoins that every man poor or rich enjoy the benefit of the Law and have equal Justice done him and for Punishments he would have them so moderated that being accommodated to the Divine Clemency they may be the more tolerable unto men The Second forbids Appeals to the King in Suits except Justice cannot otherwise be obtained And if a man be oppressed he may betake himself to the King for relief and in case a Pecuniary Mulct be inflicted for a fault it must not exceed the value of the man's head The Third imposes a Mulct of an Hundred and twenty Shillings to the King upon a Judge that passes an unjust Sentence against any man except such Judge will take his Oath that he did it not out of any malice but only from Unskilfulness and Mistake in Judgment and in such case he is to be removed from his Place except he can obtain favour of the King longer to retain it and then the Bishop of the Diocess is to send the Mulct imposed upon him to the King's Treasure The Fourth commands That whosoever maliciously shall defame another man whereby he receives any damage either in his Body or Estate so that the defam'd Party can clear himself of those Reports and prove them false then the Defamer's Tongue shall either be cut out or he shall redeem it with the value of his Head The Fifth is to the same effect as in another Law we have formerly cited commanding every one to be present at the Gemote or Assembly of the Hundred and further ordains That the Burghmotes or Assemblies of the great Towns or Cities be held thrice a year and the Shiregemotes or general Meeting of the whole County twice whereat were to be present the Bishop and the Ealdorman the one to teach the people God's Law and the other Man's From whence you may observe the Antiquity of our Charges at our Assizes and Sessions which no doubt do succeed those Discourses which the Ealdorman and Bishop then made to the people upon the subjects above-mentioned The Sixth requires that every man find Sureties for his Good Behaviour and in case any one commit a Crime and fly for it the Sureties should undergo what should be laid upon him If he stole any thing and be taken within a Twelvemonth he should be brought to Justice and then the Sureties should receive back what they had paid on his account Hence we may also take notice not only of the Antiquity of Frank-Pledges which had been long before instituted by King Alfred but also the continuation of this Law by King Edgar from whence it appears that it was no Norman invention introduced to keep under the English Commonalty as some men have without any just cause imagined The Seventh ordains That when any one of evil report is again accused of a Crime and absents himself from the Gemotes or publick Meetings some of the Court shall go where he dwells and take Sureties for his Appearance if they may be had but
if they cannot get them then they should take him alive or dead and seize on all his Estate whereof the Complaining Party having received such a share as should satisfy him the one half of the remainder shall go to the Lord of the Soil and the other half to the Hundred And if any of that Court being either akin to the Party or a stranger to his Blood refuse to go to put this in execution he should forfeit 120 shillings to the King And farther That such as are taken in the very act of stealing or betraying their Masters should not be pardoned during life The Eighth and last ordains That one and the same Money should be current throughout the King's Dominions which no man must refuse and that the measure of Winchester should be the Standard and that a Weigh of Wool should be fold for half a Pound of Money and no more The former of those is the first Law whereby the Private Mints to the Archbishops and several Abbots being forbid the King's Coin was only to pass But to return to our Annals Ten days before the Death of King Edgar Bishop Cyneward departed this life King EDWARD sirnamed the Martyr KING Edgar being dead as you have now heard Prince Edward succeeded his Father though not without some difficulty for as William of Malmesbury and R. Hoveden relate the Great Men of the Kingdom were then divided Archbishop Dunstan and all the rest of the Bishops being for Prince Edward the Eldest Son of King Edgar whilst Queen Aelfreda Widow to the King and many of her Faction were for setting up her Son Ethelred being then about Seven Years of Age that so she might govern under his Name But besides the pretence was which how well they made out I know not That King Edgar had never been lawfully married to Prince Edward's Mother Whereupon the Archbishops Dunstan and Oswald with the Bishops Abbots and many of the Ealdormen of the Kingdom met together in a Great Council and chose Prince Edward King as his Father before his Death had ordained and being thus Elected they presently Anointed him being then but a Youth of about Fifteen Years of Age. But it seems not long after the Death of King Edgar though before the Coronation of King Edward Roger Hoveden and Simeon of Durham tell us that Elfer Earl of the Mercians being lustily bribed by large Presents drove the Abbots and Monks out of the Monasteries in which they had been settled by King Edgar and in their places brought in the Clerks i.e. Secular Chanons with their Wives but Ethelwin Ealdorman of the East-Angles and his Brother Elfwold and Earl Brythnoth opposed it and being in the Common Council or Synod plainly said They would never endure that the Monks should be cast out of the Kingdom who contributed so much to the Maintenance of Religion and so raising an Army they bravely defended the Monasteries of the East-Angles so it seems that during this Interregnum arose this Civil War about the Monks and the above-mentioned Dissention amongst the Nobility concerning the Election of a new King But this serves to explain that Passage in our Annals which would have been otherwise very obscure viz. That then there was viz. upon the Death of King Edgar great Grief and Trouble in Mercia among those that loved God because many of his Servants that is the Monks were turned out till God being slighted shewed Miracles on their behalf and that then also Duke Oslack was unjustly banished beyond the Seas a Nobleman who for his Long Head of Hair but more for his Wisdom was very remarkable And that then also strange Prodigies were seen in the Heavens such as Astrologers call Comets and as a Punishment from God upon this Nation there followed a great Famine Which shews this Copy of the Annals was written about this very time And then the Author concludes with Aelfer the Ealdorman's commanding many Monasteries to be spoiled which King Edgar had commanded Bishop Athelwold to repair All which being in the Cottonian Copy serves to explain what has been already related But the next year ' Was the great Famine in England as just now mentioned About the same time according to Caradoc's Chronicle Aeneon the Son of Owen Prince of South-Wales destroyed the Land of Gwyr the second time This year after Easter was that great Synod at Kirtlingtun which Florence of Worcester and R. Hoveden call Kyrleing but where that place was is very uncertain Florence places it in East-England but Sir H. Spelman acknowledges that he does not know any place in those parts that ever bore that name but supposes it to have been the same with Cartlage now the Seat of the Lord North But had not Florence placed it in East-England that Town whose name comes nearest to it is Kyrtlington in Oxfordshire which is also the more confirmed by that which follows in these Annals viz. That Sydeman the Bishop of Devonshire i. e. of Wells died here suddenly who desired his Body might be buried at Krydeanton his Episcopal See but King Edward and Archbishop Dunstan order'd it to be carried to St. Maâ—ies in Abingdon were he was honourably Interr'd in the North Isle of St. Paul's Church Therefore it is highly probable that the place where this Bishop died was not far from Abingdon where he was buried as Kirtlington indeed is But what was done in this Council can we no where find only it is to be supposed that it was concerning this great Difference between the Monks and the Secular Chanons as the former Council was The same year also were great Commotions in Wales for Howel ap Jevaf Prince of North-Wales with a great Army both of Welsh and Englishmen made War upon all who defended or succoured his Uncle Jago and spoiled the Countries of Lhyn Kelynnoc Vawr so that Jago was shortly after taken Prisoner by Prince Howel's men who after that enjoyed his part of the Countrey in peace Nor can I here omit what some of our Monkish Writers and particularly John Pike in his compendious Supplement of the Kings of England now in Manuscript in the Cottonian Library relates That there being this year a Great Council held at Winchester again to debate this great Affair concerning the turning out of the Monks and restoring the Secular Chanons and it being like to be carried in their favour a Crucifix which then stood in the room spoke thus God forbid it should be so This amazing them they resolved to leave the Monks in the condition they then were But whether these words were ever spoke at all or if they were whether it might not be by some person that stood unseen behind the Crucifix I shall leave to the Reader to determine as he pleases Next year all the Grave and Wise Men of the English Nation being met about the same Affair at Calne in Wiltshire fell down together from a certain Upper Room where they were assembled
in Council unless it were St. Dunstan the Archbishop who fixed his foot upon a certain Beam but some were sadly bruised and hurt whilst others were killed outright But since William of Malmesbury hath given us a larger account of this Council and what was done in it I shall give it you in his words But mens minds being not yet settled another Council was summoned at Calne in Wiltshire but the King was absent by reason of his Youth where the same Affair was again debated with great Heat and Contention But when many Reproaches were cast upon Archbishop Dunstan that Bulwark of the Church who could by no means be shaken upon a sudden the Floor of the Chamber fell down all there present being very much bruised except Dunstan who escaped upon a Beam all the rest being either hurt or killed This Miracle says he obtained quiet for the Archbishop and all the Monks of England who were for ever after of his opinion This Accident is also related by Mat. Westminster and copied by Cardinal Baronius into his Annals and is likewise mentioned by other Authors But it is very probable that this Misfortune did not happen without the fore-knowledge if not the Contrivance of Archbishop Dunstan since he had now persuaded the King not to be there though he was present at the last Council But H. Huntington would have it be a sign from Heaven that they should fall from God's love and be oppress'd by Foreign Nations as followed not long after And according to Florence of Worcester there was a Third Synod at Ambresbury but what was done there he does not tell us But to return to our Annals The same year King Edward was killed at Corfesgeate now Corfe-Castle in the Isle of Purbeck on the 15 th of the Kalends of April and was buried at Werham without any Royal Pomp. There was not since the time that the English Nation came into Britain any thing done more wickedly than this But though men murthered him yet God exalted him and he that was an Earthly King is now a Saint in Heaven and though his Relations would not revenge his Death yet God perform'd it severely The rest to the same effect in these Annals I omit because I would not be tedious But I shall give you a more particular account of the manner of this Prince's Death from William of Malmesbury and the Chronicle called Bromton's the former of which relates it thus That as for King Edward he was of so extraordinary Religious and Mild a Nature that for quietness sake he let his Mother-in-Law order all things as she pleased giving her all Respects as to his own Mother and regarding his Younger Brother with all the tenderness imaginable She on the contrary from his Kindness and Love conceives greater and more implacable Malice against him and with the Sovereignty she already enjoyed was so ill satisfied that she must needs take from him the very Title also This Design she covered with notable dissimulation till a convenient opportunity presented it self for the execution of it At length the poor Innocent Prince being one day wearied with hunting and being very thirsty while his Companions followed the Game and minded not what became of him knowing that the Queen's House was not far off rode thither all alone fearing nothing because of his own Innocence and supposing every one meant as honestly as himself Whereupon the Queen receives him with all the seeming kindness imaginable and fain would have had him to light from his Horse but he refusing that and only asking to see his Brother she caused some Drink to be presently brought him but whilest the Cup was at his mouth one of her Servants privately before instructed stabbed him with a Dagger in the Back He exceedingly astonished at this unexpected ill treatment clapp'd Spurs to his Horse and fled away as fast as he could towards his Company but the Wound being Mortal and he spent with loss of blood fell to the ground and having one foot in the Stirrup was dragged through By-ways but being trac'd by his Blood by those she sent after him they brought back the Dead Corps which they buried privately at Werham where they imagin'd they had also buried his Memory as well as his Body but the place of his Sepulture as it 's said soon grew famous for Miracles Queen Elfreda was upon this so convinced of her Wickedness that from her Courtly and Delicate Way of Living she betook her self to very severe Penances as wearing Hair-cloath sleeping on the ground without a Pillow with such other Austerities as were used in that Age and herein she continued all her life So fell this good King Edward after he had only born the Name of King Three years and an half who for his Innocence and the Miracles supposod to be wrought after his Death obtained the Sirname of Martyr Which opinion of his Sanctity was the more confirmed by other great Miseries which shortly after befel the Land which the people did verily believe were inflicted on them for his Murther This year according to Florence a strange Cloud appeared about Midnight all over England being first seen of the Colour of Blood then of Fire and then like a Rainbow of divers Colours King ETHELRED IMmediately after the unfortunate Murther of King Edward there being no other Male Issue of King Edgar left alive Ethelred his Brother was without any difficulty Elected as the Ancient Annals of Thorney Abby preserved in the Cottonian Library relate and was also Crowned King by the Archbishop Dunstan and Oswald and ten other Bishops at Kingston the 8 th Kal. May he being as R. Hoveden describes him a Youth of a most Comely Aspect but not being above Twelve Years of Age William of Malmesbury gives us this short Character of Him and his Reign That he rather distressed than governed the Kingdom for Seven and thirty years that the course of his Life was cruel at the beginning miserable in the middle and dishonourable in the conclusion To Cruelty he attributes the Death of his Brother which he seemed to approve of because he did not punish he was remarkable for his Cowardice and Laziness and miserable in respect of his Death His Sluggishness was predicted by Archbishop Dunstan when at his Christening he superadded his own Water to that of the Font and thereupon Mat. Westminster makes him to swear By God and St. Mary this Boy will prove a Lazy Fellow But all this looks like a Monkish Story invented by those who did not love his Memory since the same thing though of somewhat a grosser nature is likewise related of the Emperor Constantine from thence named Copronymus Yet sure it was no sign of ill nature if what William of Malmesbury and Bromton's Chronicle relate be true That when he wept at the News of his Brother's Death it put his Mother into such a violent Passion that having not a Rod by her she beat
Letters were privately dispatch'd all over England to make away the Danes in one Night But so much Innocent Blood being thus perfidiously shed cry'd aloud to Heaven for Vengeance and the Clamours of it likewise quickly reached as far as Denmark And Walsingham hath given us in his History a particular Account of the manner of it for on the day when this barbarous Decree was executed at London certain young men of the Danish Nation being too nimble for their Pursuers got into a small Vessel then in the Thames and by that means escaped and fled to Denmark where they certified King Sweyn of what had passed in England who being moved with indignation at this treatment thereupon called a great Council of all the Chief Men of his Kingdom and declaring to them this Cruel Massacre desired their Advice what was best to be done and they being inflamed with Rage and Grief for the loss of so many of their Friends and Kindred decreed with one consent That they ought to revenge it with all the Forces of their Nation Upon which great Preparations were made in the several Provinces and Messengers sent to other Nations to desire their Alliance with him promising them their share in the Spoils of that Countrey which they were going to conquer So King Sweyn having got ready a vast Fleet of above Three hundred Sail arrived in England But as Bromton's Chronicle relates The year following Sweyn King of Denmark hearing of the Death of his Subjects sail'd with a mighty Fleet to the Coast of Cornwall where he landed and marched up to Eaxceaster which as our Annals tell us by the Carelesness or Cowardise of a certain Norman one Count Hugh whom the Queen had made Governor there the Pagans took and quite destroyed the City and carried thence a great Booty Then a Numerous Army was raised from Wiltshire and Hampshire and being very unanimous they all marched briskly against the Danes but Aelfric the Ealdorman who commanded in chief here shewed his wonted tricks for as soon as both Armies were in sight of each other he feigned himself sick and began to vomit pretending he had got some violent Distemper and by that means betray'd those whom he ought to have led to Victory according to the Proverb If the General 's heart fails the Army flies But though this was very ill done of Aelfrick thus to betray his trust yet certainly the King was no less to be blamed himself for trusting a man that had so often betray'd him and whom he had already sufficiently provoked by putting out the Eyes of his Son as you have already heard But to return to our Annals Sweyn now finding the Cowardise or Inconstancy of the English marched with his Forces to Wiltune which Town he burnt from thence he marched to Syrbirig i. e. Old Sarum which they also burnt and from thence to the Sea-side to their Ships After the death of Edwal ap Meyric and Meredyth ap Owen Princes of North-Wales as you have already heard North-Wales having for some years continued under a sort of Anarchy without any Prince Meredyth leaving behind him no Issue Male and Edwal but one Son an Infant it gave occasion as the Welsh Chronicles relate to great disturbances for one Aedan ap Blegored or Bledhemeyd as the Cottonian Copy of the Welsh Annals call him tho an absolute stranger to the British Blood-Royal about this time possessed himself of the Principality of North-Wales and held it about twelve years but whether he came in by Election or Force is not said only that one Conan ap Howel who fought with this Aedan for the Dominion was this year slain in Battel So that Aedan for a time held that Countrey peaceably since we do not read of any other Wars he had till the last year of his Reign This year Sweyn came with his Fleet to Northwick i. e. Norwich the River it seems being navigable up to it in those days and wholly destroyed and burnt that City then Vlfkytel the Ealdorman consulted with the Wise and Great Men of East-England and by them it was judged most expedient to buy Peace of the Danish Army to prevent their doing any more mischief for the Danes had taken them unprovided before they had time to draw their Forces together But these Danes not valuing the Peace which they had newly made stole away with all their Ships and sailed to Theatford which as soon as Vlfkytel had learnt he sent a Messenger with Commands to break or burn all their Ships which notwithstanding the English neglected to do whilst he in the mean time tried to get together his Forces with what speed he could But the Danes coming to Theodford three Weeks after the destruction of Norwich stayed within the Town of Theodford only one night and then burnt and laid it in ashes But the next morning as they returned to their Ships Vlkytel met with them and there began a very sharp Fight which ended in a very great slaughter on both sides and abundance of the English Nobility were there killed but if all the English Forces had been there the Danes had never reached their Ships But notwithstanding these cruel Wars in the Eastern and Southern Parts of England Wulfric Spot an Officer in the Court of King Ethelred now built the Monastery of Burton in Staffordshire and endowed it with all his Paternal Inheritance which was very great and gave that King Three hundred Mancuses of Gold to purchase his Confirmation of what he had done This Monastery though its Rents at the Dissolution were somewhat below the Value of Five hundred Pounds per Annum yet being an Abby of great Note in those Parts and also render'd more famous from its Annals publish'd at Oxford I thought good to take particular notice of it This year Aelfric Archbishop of Canterbury deceased and Aelfeag Bishop of Winchester was made Archbishop But the Laudean and Cottonian Copies place this under the next year So cruel a Famine also raged here as England never suffer'd a worse Florence relates the Famine to be so great that England was not able to subsist The same year also King Sweyn with the Danish Fleet sail'd into Denmark but in a short time return'd hither again This year Aelfeage was now consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury and Brightwald took the Bishoprick of Wiltonshire as also Wulfgeat was deprived of all his Honours and Wulfeath had his Eyes put out These were Noblemen who suffered under the King's displeasure but what the cause of it was I find not And this year Bishop Kenwulph deceased Then after Midsummer the Danish Fleet came to Sandwic and did as they used to do killing wasting and plundering whatever they met with Therefore the King commanded all the West Saxon and Mercian Nations to be assembled who kept watch all the Autumn by Companies against the Danes but all this signified no more than what they had done often before for
City from whence was first brought to us the joyful Tidings of the Gospel But they detain'd the Archbishop Prisoner near Seven Months till such time as they martyr'd him Osbern in his Life of St. Elfeage relates That this Archbishop sent to the Danes when they came before the Town desiring them to spare so many innocent Christians lives but they despising his request fell to battering the Walls and so throwing Firebrands into the City set it on fire so that whilst the Citizens ran to save their Houses Aelmeric the Archdeacon let the Danes into the City Florence here adds That the Monks and Laity were decimated after a strange manner so that out of every Ten Persons only the Tenth was to be kept alive and that only Four Monks and about Eight hundred Laymen remain'd after this Decimation And that not long after above Two thousand Danes perished by divers inward Torments and the rest were admonish'd to make satisfaction to the Bishop but yet they obstinately refused it Florence of Worcester and R. Hoveden also relate That the Danes destroyed many of the Prisoners they had taken with cruel Torments and various Deaths This year Eadric the Ealdorman sirnamed Streon and all the Wise and Chief Men both Clerks and Laicks of the English Nation came to London before Easter which fell out then the day before the Ides of April and there stayed until such time as the above-mentioned Tribute could be paid which was not done till after Easter and was then Eight thousand Pounds In the mean time being about Six Months after upon a Saturday the Danish Army being highly incensed against Archbishop Aelfeage because he would neither promise them Money himself nor yet would suffer any body else to give them any thing for his Ransom for which as Osbern in his Life relates they demanded no less than Three thousand Pounds in Silver a vast Sum in those days which being denied them and many of them being got drunk they laid hold on the Archbishop and led him to their Council on the Saturday after Easter and there knocked him on the head as the Annals relate with Stones and Cows Horns till at last one of them striking him with an Axe on the Head he fell down dead with the Blow Florence says that this was done by one Thrum a Dane whom he had the day before confirmed being thereunto moved by an Impious Piety But John of Tinmouth in his Manuscript History of Saints called Historia Aurea now in the Library at Lambeth relates that when Archbishop Elfeage was thus killed the Danes threw his Body into the River which was soon taken out again by those whom he had converted But our Annals here farther That the Bishops Eadnoth and Aelfhune the former of Lincoln and the latter of London took away his sacred Body early the next morning and buried it in St. Paul's Minster where God now shews the power of this Holy Martyr But as soon as the Tribute was paid and the Peace confirmed by Oath the Danish Army was loosely dispersed abroad being before closely compacted together then Five and forty of their Ships submitted to the King and promised him to defend the Kingdom provided he would allow them Victuals and Apparel The year after Archbishop Aelfeage was thus martyr'd the King made one Lifing Archbishop of Canterbury Also the same year before the Month of August King Sweyn came with his Fleet to Sandwich and soon after sailing about East-England arrived in the Mouth of Humber and from thence up the River Trent till they came to Gegnesburgh now Gainsborough in Lincolnshire Which mischief according to William of Malmesbury proceeded from Turkil a Dane who was the great Inciter of the Death of the Archbishop and who had then the East-English subjected to his will This man sent Messengers into his own Countrey to King Sweyn letting him know that he should come again into England for the King was given so much to Wine and Women that he minded nothing else wherefore he was hated by his Subjects and contemned by Strangers that his Commanders were Cowards the Natives weak and who would run away at the first sound of his Trumpets Though this seems not very probable for Earl Turkil was then of King Ethelred's side as you will see by and by King Sweyn being prone enough to slaughter needed no great Intreaties to bring him over he had been here eight years before and why he stayed away so long I wish our Authors would have told us But William of Malmesbury further adds That one chief end of his coming over was to revenge the death of his Sister Gunhildis who being a Beautiful Young Lady had come over into England with Palling her Husband a powerful Danish Earl and receiving the Christian Religion became her self a Hostage of the Peace that had been formerly concluded But tho the unhappy Fury of Edric had commanded her to be beheaded together with some other of her Countreymen yet she bore her Death with an undaunted Spirit having seen her Husband and a Son a Youth of great and promising hopes slain before her face But to come again to our Annals So soon as King Sweyn arrived in the North Earl Vhtred and all the Countrey of the Northumbers with all the people in Lindesige and the people of the five Burghs or Towns but what these were we now know not lying on the other side Waetlingastreet submitted themselves to him There were also Hostages given him out of every Shire but when he found that all the people were now become subject to him he commanded them to provide his Forces both with Horses and Provisions whilst he in the mean time marched toward the South with great expedition committing the Ships and Hostages to Knute his Son And after he had passed Waetlingastreet they did as much mischief as any Army could do Then they turn'd to Oxnaford whose Citizens presently submitted themselves to him from thence he went to Wincester where the Inhabitants did the same and from thence they marched Eastward towards London near which many of his men were drown'd in the Thames because they would not stay to find a Bridge but when they came thither the Citizens would not submit but sallying out had a sharp Engagement with them because King Ethelred was there and Earl Turkil with him Wherefore King Sweyn departed thence to Wealingaford and then over Thames Westward to Bathe and there sate down with his whole Army whither came to him Aethelmar the Ealdorman of Devonshire with all the Western Thanes who all submitted themselves to him and gave him Hostages When he had subdued all these places he marched Northwards to his Ships and then almost the whole Nation received and acknowledged him for their real King And after this the Citizens of London became subject to him and gave him Hostages because otherwise they fear'd they should be utterly destroy'd for Sweyn demanded that they should give full
Pay and Victuals to his Army and that Winter Thurkil demanded the same for King Ethelred's Forces which lay at Grenawic i. e. Greenwich But both the Armies refrain'd not a jot the less from plundering where they pleased so that the Nation both as well in the North as in the South was no longer able bear it After this the King stayed some time with his Fleet which lay then in the Thames whilst the Queen retired beyond Sea to her Brother Earl Richard in Normandy and Elsige Abbot of Burgh went along with her the King also sent thither the Princes Eadward and Aelfred with Bishop Aelfune to be their Governor Then the King went with his Fleet about Christmass into Wihtland and there kept the Festival and afterwards passed over to Earl Richard and there stayed with him till Sweyn died There is in the Peterburgh Copy of these Annals this following Relation That whilst the Queen thus remained beyond Sea Elsige Abbot of Burgh who was then with her went to the Monastery called Boneval where the Body of Saint Florentine lay buried This place he found almost wholly deserted and the poor Abbot and Monks in a miserable condition having been robbed of all they had then he bought of the Abbot and Monks the whole Body except the Head for Five thousand Pounds and at his return into England dedicated it to Christ and St. Peter that is he placed it in the Church of Peterburgh of which he was then Abbot This was a vast Sum of Money in those days to be given for the Bones of one dead Carkass and not entire neither but such was the Superstition of that Age. This year King Sweyn ended his Life about Candlemas Then all the Danish Fleet and Army chose Cnute his Son to be their King But all the Wise or Chief Men of the English Nation as well of the Clergy as Laity sent to King Aethelred to let him know that there was no Prince dearer to them than their own Natural Lord provided he would govern them better than he had hitherto done Upon this the King sent Prince Edward his Son and several others Attendants into this Kingdom with Orders to recommend him to the whole Nation in his Name promising them to be a faithful and kind Lord to them and that he would redress whatever Grievances they had suffer'd and would also pardon whatsoever had been done against him either by Words or Deeds provided they would all sincerely return to their Allegiance Then a full and firm Amity being concluded on both by Words and Deeds and Hostages being given on both sides they decreed the Danish King for ever banished England After which King Ethelred return'd about Lent into his own Countrey and was chearfully received by all men The Bodleian Copy of Florence here adds That Queen Elfgiva or Emma with the Two Young Princes her Sons remained still in Normandy until she was after the Death of her Husband sent for over by King Cnute and the Common-Council of the Kingdom and being married to him was solemnly crowned at Westminster in the presence of all the Bishops and Great Men of England After Sweyn was dead Cnute his Son staid with his Army at Gegnesburgh until Easter and there agreed with the people of Lindesige that they should provide his Army with Horses and then that all of them should march out together to plunder but King Ethelred came thither with a strong Army before they were ready to execute their Design and spoiled and burnt all places killing all the men they could meet with therefore King Cnute departed thence with his Fleet leaving the poor miserable people to shift for themselves and sail'd Southward till he came to Sandwic and there put the Hostages on shore which had been given to his Father having first cut off their Hands and Noses But for an addition to all these Calamities the King commanded Twenty one thousand Pounds to be paid to the Army that then lay at Grenawic Also this year on the Vigil of St. Michael happen'd a great Inundation of the Sea all along this Coast insomuch that it spread further than ever it had yet done so that it drowned many Towns and an innumerable company of men We have nothing further to add under this year more than to observe the various Relations of our Monkish Writers concerning the sudden death of King Sweyn which they will needs have to be a Judgment upon him for wasting the Lands belonging to the Monastery of Badricesworth and for giving opprobrious language against the Memory of St. Edmund who was then enshrin'd But because their Relation of this matter is very remarkable I shall give you both Florence of Worcester and Simeon of Durham their Account of it which is thus That King Sweyn lying then at Gainsborough there held a General Assembly of his Great Officers and when it grew toward evening being encircled with his Armed Men he cast out Threats that he would send and spoil that Monastery whereupon he presently thought he saw St. Edmund coming all Armed toward him which made him cry out vehemently Help help Fellow-soldiers look here King Edmund comes to kill me and as he uttered these words he received a Mortal Blow by the Saint's hands and so fell from his Horse and lying till the dusk of the evening in great torment he expired on the second of February and was carried to York and there buried So these Writers report from the Legend of St. Edmund Yet John of Tinmouth makes St. Edmund's Ghost to have stabbed him with his Dagger as he sate in his Chair But William of Malmesbury tells us That St. Edmund appeared to him in his sleep and smote him whilst he was in bed because he answered him rudely But they all agree that he died of the Blow which St. Edmund had given him But I do believe that there may be so much Truth in this story that King Sweyn being mortally wounded by some unknown hand who had the good fortune to make his escape gave occasion to the Monks of St. Edmundsbury to invent this Legend for the Honour of their Saint and also to deter others from daring to violate that place which was then accounted sacred But is seems King Ethelred was not much better'd by Affliction nor did he long observe his Promise of governing according to Law for the next year A Mycel Gemot or Great Council being now held at Oxnaford Earl Eadrâ—c there betray'd Sigeferth and Morcar two Danish Thanes of the Seafenburghs that is the Seven Towns but where they lay we know not and inviting them all into his Chamber they were there treacherously slain Then the King seized upon all their Goods and commanded the Widow of Sigeferth to be secured and carried to Meadelnesbyrig i. e. Malmesbury But some short time after Edmund Aetheling coming thither married this Woman against his Father's will For the Prince going as William of Malmesbury relates to see
highly commends this Wulfkytel and says that he deserved perpetual Honour because he was the first in the time of Sweyn who set upon the Danish Pyrates and gave some hopes that they might be conquered But as for Eadnoth Bishop of Lincoln and the Abbot above-mentioned they came not to fight but as Simeon says to pray to God for those that did so that the English Nation never yet received a greater Blow But King Edmund being left almost alone got to Gloucester and there rallied and recruited his shatter'd Troops but thither according to our Annals King Cnute with all his Army pursued him Then Eadric the Ealdorman and all the Great Men on both sides advised the Two Kings to come to Terms of Peace Whereupon they both met together at Olanege an Island in the River Severn now called the Eighth and there concluded a League between them Hostages and Oaths being mutually exchanged and agreed That the Danish Army should be paid A Peace being thus concluded the two Kings parted from each other Eadmund going into West-Saxony and Cnute to the Mercians But since other Authors have more particularly related the Cause and Manner of making this Peace I shall give you a larger account of it from Simeon of Durham and R. Hoveden the first of whom says That the Traytor Edric and some others when King Edmund would have fought again with Cnute would by no means suffer him to do it but advised him rather to make a Peace and divide the Kingdom with him to whose Persuasions the King at last though unwillingly consented and Messengers passing between them and Hostages being interchanged the two Kings or rather their Commissioners as Bromton's Chronicle relates it met at a place called Deorhurst on the Severne and there concluded a Truce Then King Edmund with his men being on the West side Severne and Cnute with his Followers sitting down on the East side thereof they passed over in Ferry-boats to the Island above-mentioned where they met and agreed upon the Terms of Peace But Ethelred Abbot of Rieval tells the Story somewhat different viz. That both Armies growing weary of the War at last compelled the Great Men on each side to come to a Conference where one of the most Elderly among them is brought in making a long Speech I suppose to shew the Wit of those Authors and therein he very pathetically represents the Mischiefs the Soldiers lay under in thus exposing their Lives and Fortunes for Two Princes of equal Courage and so advised them before it was too late That since King Edmund could not endure a Superior nor Cnute an Equal they should leave it to them two to fight by themselves for that Crown which they both so much desired to wear left by this desperate way of fighting the Soldiers should be all kill'd and then there would be none left to defend the Nation against Foreign Invaders Which Speech being highly approved of by all there present both Armies cried out with one voice Let them either Fight or Agree This Sentence of the Chief Commanders and Soldiers being brought to both the Kings pleased them so well that they met in the Island above-mentioned and there fought singly in the sight of both Armies where having broken their Spears and then drawn their Swords there follows in these Authors a long and Tragical Relation of this mighty Combat which yet it seems happened without any Wounds on either side but Cnute beginning at last to be out of breath and fearing the greater Strength and Youth of King Edmund proposed a Peace to be made by division of the Kingdom between them and they give us also the fine Speech made by King Cnute upon this Subject which Proposal being willingly received by King Edmund they kissed and embraced each other both Armies wondering and weeping for joy at this so happy and unexpected agreement So mutually changing both their Arms and Apparrel in token of Friendship they each return'd to their own men and there drew up the Conditions of the League viz. That King Edmund should enjoy West-Saxony and Cnute the Kingdom of Mercia but what was to become of the rest of England they do not speak one word But tho so many of our Writers seem pleas'd with this Romantick Story yet I rather assent to the Testimony of our Annals and the Encomium Emmae as also William of Malmesbury Florence of Worcester and several Manuscript Authors in the Cottonian Library who all agree this Peace to have been made at the place aforesaid without any Combat at all between the two Kings Only William of Malmesbury relates that when King Edmund had challenged Cnute to fight with him single to save the further Effusion of their Subjects Blood this Challenge being carried to King Cnute he utterly declined it saying Though he had as great a Courage as his Antagonist yet he would not venture his own small Body against a man of so great Strength and Stature but since both their Fathers had enjoyed a share of the Kingdom it was more agreeable to prudence to divide it between them Which Proposal being joyfully received by both Armies as a thing most just and equal in it self and which most tended to the good of both Nations now harass'd out by long and cruel Wars King Edmund accepted of and agreed though with some reluctancy to a Peace upon the terms above-mentioned Thus we find what a great uncertainty there is in most of the Relations of those times But to proceed with our Annals The Danes as soon as this Peace was concluded went to their Ships with all the Plunder they had taken and from thence fail'd to London and there took up their Winter-Quarters For that City as being part of the Mercian Kingdom had now submitted it self to them Not long after this viz. at the Feast of St. Andrew King Eadmund departed this life and was buried with his Grandfather King Eadgar at Glaestingabyrig The same year also deceased Wulfgar in Abbandune whereof he was Abbot and Aethelsige succeeded him But since our Annals tell us only of the sudden Death of this Prince without relating the manner of it we shall give it you more at large from other Authors who almost generally agree that he was murthered by that Traytor Edric though they differ somewhat in the Actors or Instruments by whom it was committed some will have him to be taken off by Poyson others with an Arrow shot by an Image made on purpose which discharged it self upon the King as soon as he touched it but this is too improbable to beget any credit And therefore what William of Malmesbury and Bromton relate is most likely to be true viz. That this Aedric above-mentioned suborned two of this King's Servants to lye under the House-of-Office and to thrust up a sharp piece of Iron into his Fundament as one night he sate down to ease himself Tho the Chronicle last-mentioned says this Murther was committed at Oxford by
or Imposition He had also complained to the Pope that his Archbishops paid vast Sums of Money before they could obtain their Palls which Grievance was by the Pope's Decree taken off All these Immunities procured from the Pope the Emperor Rodolph King of France and all other Princes throughout whose Territories he travelled were confirmed by Oath under the Testimonies of Four Archbishops and Twenty Bishops with an innumerable Company of Dukes and other Noblemen there present Then follows a Thanksgiving to Almighty God for giving him such Success in what he had undertaken After this he desires it might be published to all the world that having devoted his Life to Godâ—s service he resolved to govern the People subject to him in all Piety Justice and Equity And in case any thing blameworthy had been done by him in his Youth by the help of God he was now ready to make full amends for it Therefore he charges all his Ministers whatsoever as well Sheriffs as others That for fear of him they should not pervert Justice because there was no necessity that Money should be raised by any unjust exactions And at last after great Asseverations how much he studied the Profit and Conveniency of his People he adjures all his Ministers before he arrived in England that they should procure all Dues to be paid according to the ancient Custom as the Alms of the Plow the Tythes of all Cattel brought forth in the same year Peter-Pence in August with the Tythes of Corn and at Martinmass the First fruits of the same called Curcescot or Cyrescot i.e. Money given to the Church in case this was not paid before his Return he threatens severely to animadvert upon every one according to the Laws William of Malmesbury further adds That at his Return he was as good as his word for he commanded all the Laws which had been made by former English Kings and chiefly by Ethelred his Predecessor to be observed under great Penalties for the true observation whereof our Kings says he are at this very day sworn under the name of the Good Laws of King Edward not that he only ordain'd them but because he observed them So that from hence we may take notice That Kings who have the least of Hereditary Title if they mean to reign happily ought in Policy as well as Conscience to observe the Laws of that Kingdom to which they have been advanced without any Right of Blood But to return again to our Annals they further tell us That upon the King's return from Rome where it seems he staid not long after he marched into Scotland and there King Malcolm became subject to him with two other Kings of the Isles called Maelbaerth and Jehmarc The same year also Robert Earl of Normandy went to Jerusalem and there died and William who was afterwards King of England began to reign being an Infant From whence we may plainly see that the Cottonian Copy of these Annals was wrote in the form we have them after the Conquest and though the other Copies do not expresly call him King of England yet they give him the Title of King William which is all one About this time as the Welsh Chronicles relate the Irish Scots invaded South-Wales by the means of Howel and Meredyth the Sons of Edwin above-mentioned who hired them against Rythaerch ap Jestyn the Usurping Prince of that Countrey whom by the assistance of these Scots they slew in Battel and by that means got the Government of South-Wales which they ruled jointly but with small quiet for the Sons of Rythaerch gathered together a great number of their Father's Friends to revenge his death with whom Prince Howel and Meredyth meeting at Hyarthwy after a long Fight routed them and made them fly but the year following Prince Meredyth himself was slain by the Sons of Conan ap Sitsylt Brother to Prince Lewelyn to revenge their Father's death whom Meredyth and his Brother Howel had slain This year appeared a strange kind of Wild-Fire such as no man ever remembred and did a great deal of mischief in divers places The same year also deceased Aelfsige Bishop of Winchester and Aelfwin the King's Chaplain succeeded in that See Merehwit Bishop of Somersetshire i. e. Wells deceased and was buried at Glastingabyrig ' Aetheric the Bishop died the Annals tell us not of what See But Simeon of Durham and R. Hoveden add That Malcolm King of Scots died this year to whom succeeded Mactade The same Authors farther tell us That King Cnute before his Death appointed Swane his Eldest Son to be King of Norway and Hardecnute his Son by Queen Aemma to be King of Denmark and Harold his Son by Aelgiva a Hampshire Lady to be King of England after himself This year King Cnute deceased at Scaeftesbyrig and was buried at the new Monastery at Winchester having been King of England almost twenty years There is no King that can deserve a more various Character than this since none who came in so roughly after govern'd more mildly He was naturally Cruel and very Ambitious and stuck not at any thing to gain a Kingdom as appears by his dealing with his Predecessor's Children and Brothers but more particularly with Olaf King of Norway whom Simeon of Durham relates to have been turn'd out of it by the secret Practices and Bribes which he liberally bestow'd upon the Great and Factious men of that Kingdom but however toward his latter end he reigned both prudently and moderately and we may say of him what a Roman Author does of one of his Emperors That it had been well for this Kingdom if he had never reign'd at all or else had continued longer none of his Sons resembling him either in Valour or Wisdom But to let you see that this King was really sensible before his death of the Vanity of Worldly Empire I shall to divert the Reader give you this story of him out of H. Huntington who thus relates it viz. That King Cnute being once at Southampton caus'd his Royal Seat to be plac'd on the shore while the Tide was coming in and with a Majestick Air said thus Thou Sea belongest to me and the Land whereon I sit is mine nor hath any one unpunished resisted my Commands I charge thee therefore come no further upon my Land neither presume to wet the Feet of thy Sovereign Lord. But the Sea as before came rowling on and without any Reverence at all not only wet but dashed him whereupon the King quickly rising up bade those that were about him to consider the weak and bounded Power of Kings and how none indeed deserved that Title but He whose Eternal Laws both Heaven and Earth and Seas obey A Truth so evident of it self that were it not to shame his Court-Flatterers who would not else be convinced Cnute needed not to have gone wet-shod home From thenceforth he would never afterwards wear his Crown but commanded it to
Midsummer being joyfully received both by the Danes and English and as H. Huntington relates was by both of them elected King though afterwards the Great Men that did it paid dearly for it for not long after it was decreed That a Tax of Eight Marks should be again paid to the Rowers in Sixty two Sail of Ships The same year also a Sâ—ster i. e. a Horse-load of Wheat was sold for Fifty five Pence and more This year Eadsige the Archbishop went to Rome and also another Military Tax was paid of Twenty nine thousand twenty nine pounds And after this was paid Eleven thousand forty eight pounds for two and thirty Sail of Ships But whether these Taxes were raised by Authority of the Great Council of the Kingdom our Authors do not mention but I believe not for this Danegelt was now by constant usage become a Prerogative The same year came Eadward the Son of King Aethelred into this Kingdom from Wealand by which our Annals mean Normandy After which time Prince Edward returned no more thither but staid in England till his Brother died But the same year not long after his Coronation he sent Alfric Archbishop of York and Earl Godwin and divers Great Men of his Court to London attended by the Hangman and out of Hatred to his Brother Harold and Revenge of the Injuries done to his Mother as he pretended commanded his Body to be dug up and the Head to be cut off and flung into the Thames but some Fishermen afterwards pulling it up with their Nets buried it again in St. Clement's Church-yard being then the Burying-place of the Danes The same year also according to Bromton's Chronicle King Hardecnute sent over his Sister Gunhilda to the Emperor Henry to whom she had been in her Father's life-time betroth'd But before she went the King kept the Nuptial Feast with that Magnificence in Cloaths Equipage and Feasting that as Mat. Westminster relates it was remembred in his time and sung by Musicians at all great Entertainments But this Lady was received and treated by the Emperor her Husband with great kindness for some time till being accused of Adultery she could find it seems no beter a Champion to vindicate her Honour than a certain little Page she had brought out of England with her who undertaking her defence fought in a single Combat against a man of a vast Stature named Rodingar and by cutting his Hamstrings with his Sword and falling down he obtained the Victory and so cleared his Lady's Honour of which she yet received so little satisfaction that she forsook her Husband and retired into a Monastery where she ended her days About this time also as Simeon of Durham Bromton's Chronicle and other Authors inform us King Hardecnute was highly incensed against Living Bishop of Worcester and Earl Godwin for the death of his Half Brother Alfred Son to King Ethelred Alfric Archbishop of York accusing them both of having persuaded King Harold to use him so cruelly as you have already heard The Bishop and Earl being thus accused before King Hardecnute the former was deprived of his Bishoprick and the latter was also in very great danger But not long after the King being appeased with Money the Bishop was again restored and as for Earl Godwin he had also incurred some heavy Punishment had he not been so cunning as to buy his peace as these Authors relate by presenting the King with a Galley most magnificently equipp'd having a gilded Stern and furnished with all Conveniences both for War and Pleasure and mann'd with Eighty choice Soldiers every one of whom had upon each Arm a Golden Bracelet weighing sixteen Ounces with Helmet and Corslet all gilt as were also the Hilts of their Swords having a Danish Battel-Axe adorned with Silver and Gold hung on his Left Shoulder whilst in his Left Hand he held a Shield the Boss and Nails of which were also gilded and in his Right a Launce in the English-Saxon Tongue called a Tegar But all this would not serve his turn without an Oath That Prince Alfred had not his eyes put out by his Advice but he therein merely obeyed Harold's Commands being at that time his King and Master This year according to Simeon of Durham King Hardecnute sent his Huisceorles i. e. his Domestick Servants or Guards to exact the Tax which he had lately imposed But the Citizens of Worcester and the Worcestershire men rising slew two of them called Feadar and Turstan having fled into a Tower belonging to a Monastery of that City Thereupon Hardecnute being exceedingly provoked to hear of their deaths sent to revenge it Leofric Ealdorman of the Mercians Godwin of the West-Saxons Siward of the Northumbrians and others with great Forces and orders to kill all the men plunder and burn the City and waste the Countrey round about On the evening preceding the thirteenth of November they began to put his Commands in execution and continued both wasting and spoiling the City and Countrey for four days together but few of the Inhabitants themselves could be laid hold of the Countrey-men shifting for themselves every man as well as they could and the Citizens betaking themselves to a little Island in the Severne called Beverege which they fortified and vigorously stood upon their Defence till their Opposers being tired out and spent were forced to make Peace with them and so suffered them to return quietly home This was not done till the fifth day when the City being burnt the Army retreated loaded with the Plunder they had got Simeon next after this cruel Expedition places the coming over of Prince Edward but our Annals with greater probability put his Return under the year before This year also King Hardecnute deceased at Lambeth 6. Id. Junii He was King of England two years wanting seven days and was buried in the New Monastery of Winchester his Mother giving the Head of St. Valentine to pray for his Soul But since our Annals are very short in the Relation of his Death we must take it from other Authors who all agree That the King being invited to a Wedding at the place above-mentioned which with great Pomp and Luxury was solemnized betwixt Tovy sirnamed Prudan a Danish Nobleman and Githa the Daughter of Osgod Clappa a great Lord also of that Nation as he was very jolly and merry carousing it with the Bridegroom and some of the Company he fell down speechless and died in the Flower of his Age. He is to be commended for his Piety and Good Nature to his Mother and Brother Prince Edward But the great Faults laid to this Prince's charge are Cruelty Gluttony and Drunkenness For the first of these you have had a late Example and for the latter take what H. Huntington relates That Four Meals a day he allowed his Court and it must be then supposed he loved eating well himself though this Author attributes it to his Bounty and how he rather desired that
the Bishops and Monks from whom she was sure to have their good word yet however she did not escape Scandal for she had several Enemies that incensed the King against her but especially Archbishop Robert the Norman who had accused her some years before her death of being too familiar with Alwin Bishop of Winchester Whereupon she was sent to the Abby of Werewell having first of all her Goods taken from her whilst the Bishop was committed to Prison Archbishop Robert crying out That such Villany ought not to go unpunished for fear it should be an encouragement for others to do the like but she not being kept very strictly wrote to all the Bishops of England whom she knew to be her Friends professing that she was more troubled at the Disgrace offered to the Bishop than that which was done to her self and that she was ready to clear his Innocency by the Fire Ordeal Upon this the Bishops met and had easily prevailed with the King to put up the business had not Archbishop Robert stifly opposed them demanding of his Brethren How they could have the confidence to take upon them the Defence of that Beast rather than Woman meaning the Queen Mother who had so detracted from the King her Son and yet had called her Paramour The Anointed of the Lord But said he this Woman will purge the Bishop but who shall purge her that consented to the Death of her Son Alfred and prepared Poyson for his Brother now King Edward But if she desires to be acquitted let her accept of her own Proposal and walk barefoot over Nine Red-hot Plowshares four for her self and five for the Bishop and then if she escape untouch'd let her pass for Innocent Upon this the Day for Trial was appointed and she having the night before at his Shrine earnestly invoked the Assistance of St. Swithin she came to the place where the King and all the Bishops except Robert were present and there passed unhurt over all the Red-hot Plowshares to the great Joy and Wonder both of her self and all the Spectators especially of the King her Son that she had so well cleared her self then he was very sorry that he had been so credulous as to admit those Calumnies against his own Mother whose Pardon he now begged as also the Bishops and as divers of the Monkish Writers relate received Penance from them on his bare back Queen Emma for this signal Deliverance gave to St. Swithin Nine Mannors and the Bishop of Winchester as many the Innocency of them both being hereby absolutely cleared Moreover the King is said to have bestowed on the Church of Winchester the whole Isle of Portland and other Possessions The substance of this Story is both delivered by John Bromton and Henry de Knighton but Dr. Harpesfield hath embellished it with divers other trivial Circumstances whilst our more Ancient Authors as Malmesbury and others say nothing of it But methinks that which follows spoils all the rest viz. That Archbishop Robert whom some will have Bishop and others Archbishop at this time thereupon fled out of the Land whereas indeed he continued here much longer and fled out of England upon another occasion as we shall shew hereafter But to return again to our Annals The same year it was also decreed by the King and his Chief Men That Ships should be sent to Sandwich and that Earl Rolfe and Earl Odda should command them in the mean time Earl Godwin departed from Brycge with his Ships to Ysera a place we know not and then landing the next day but one to Midsummer-Eve he came to the Head or Point lying on the South side of Rumenea now Rumney in Kent which when it was told the Earls at Sandwic they immediately sail'd out in pursuit of him and also commanded the Land-Forces to be in a readiness to join them But is seems Earl Godwin had timely notice of it and so he fell back to Pevensea i. e. Pensey in Sussex and then so violent a Tempest arose that the Earls could not inform themselves which way Godwin was gone but afterwards he returned and came to Brycge and the King's Ships went to Sandwic and from thence they were order'd back to London and other Captains to command them but the matter was so long delay'd that all the Seamen left their Ships and returned to their own homes As soon as Earl Godwin heard this he set out his Fleet again to Sea and sail'd directly Westward to the Isle of Wight where his men going ashore plundered so long till at last the people would give them what Contributions soever they demanded Then they sail'd further Westward till they came to the Isle of Portland and there going again on shore they did all the damage they could to the Inhabitants In the mean time Harold return'd from Ireland with Nine Ships and landed at Portloc Bay in Somersetshire where much people were got together against him but he not being at all afraid of them marched out to seek Provisions and there killed all before him taking Men Cattel and Money whatsoever he met with From thence he sail'd Eastward towards his Father whom having met they went together to the Isle of Wight and there plunder'd whatsoever was left and thence coasted to Pevensea where they took all the Ships that were in that Harbour afterwards they went to the Naesse Point and carried away all the Ships that were in Rumenea Hythe and Folcestane now Folcston in Kent Thence they sail'd Eastward again to Dofra and going on shore took there as many Ships and Hostages as they could and then went to Sandwic where also they did the like so that they had Hostages and Provisions given them where ever they came as much as they required then again they sail'd to Northmuthe supposed to be that which we call now the Buoy in the Nore and thence up towards London they also sent some Ships to Scepige and there did a great deal of mischief then they turn'd to Middle-tune a Town of the King's in Essex and burnt it down to the ground and afterwards the Earls went towards London but when they came thither they found the King with all his Great Men ready to receive them with Fifty Sail. Then the outlaw'd Earls sent to the King beseeching him that they might be restor'd to their Estates of which they had been unjustly deprived but for a long time the King would not hearken to them by any means till at last the men who were with the Earl were so enraged against him and his people that the Earl had much a-do to appease them Then were assembled by God's assistance Bishop Stigand and other Prudent Men as well within the City as without and there they agreed upon a Peace to be made Hostages being first given on both sides which when Archbishop Rodbert and the other Frenchmen understood they took Horse and fled some Westward to Pentecost's Castle but where it was we
this matter among themselves some were for giving Judgment for the King but others differed from them saying That Earl Godwin had never been obliged to the King by either Homage Service or Fealty and therefore could be no Traytor to him and besides that he had not kill'd the Prince with his own hands But others replied That no Earl Baron nor any other Subject of the King could by Law wage Battel against him in his Appeal but ought upon the whole matter to submit himself to the King's Mercy and offer him reasonable Amends Then Leofric Earl of Chester who was an upright and sincere man both with respect to God and the world spoke thus Earl Godwin who next to the King is indeed a Person of the best Quality in England cannot deny but that by his Counsel Alfred the King's Brother was killed and therefore my opinion is That both he himself and his Sons and Twelve of us Earls that are his Friends and Kinsmen should appear humbly before the King each of us carrying as much Gold and Silver as he can bold in his Arms and offering it to him most humbly supplicate for his Pardon and then the King should remit to the Earl all Rancor and Anger whatsoever against him and having received his Homage and Fealty peacebly restore him to all his Lands To this the Assembly agreed and those that were appointed loading themselves with Treasure after the manner aforesaid went unto the King shewing him the order and manner of their Judgment which he being unwilling to contradict complied with and so ratified whatever they had before decreed This tho written a long time after the Conquest as appears by the Words there used viz. Parliament Baron Homage and Fealty yet it might be true in the main as being transcribed out of some Ancient Records of the Great Councils of those times which are now lost and if so would be a Notable Precedent of the large Authority of the Witena Gemot or Great Council of the Nation not only in assenting to new Laws but also of their Judicial Authority in giving Judgment upon all Suits or Complaints brought before them as well in Appeals between Subject and Subject as also where the King himself was a Party and if Authentick would also shew not only that this Tenure of the King by Homage and Fealty was in use before the Conquest but also according to the Judgment of this Great Council that there was no Allegiance due by Birth nor until a man had actually performed his Homage or sworn Fealty to the King and lastly that a satisfaction made by Money was looked upon as sufficient for the Death even of the King 's own Brother Yet to deal ingenuously with the Reader notwithstanding this fair story Bromton himself seems to doubt the truth of it for after he hath there told us from some nameless Author that Earl Godwin out of fear of some of the English Nobility who had sworn to be revenged of him for the murther of Prince Alfred retired into Denmark during the Reign of King Hardecnute but returning in the beginning of King Edward's Reign he appeared at a Parliament at London where the King impeached him of the Death of his Brother in the manner as you have already heard and if so this could not fall out as Mr. Selden supposes in this Great Council after this last return of Earl Godwin which happen'd not in the beginning but the middle of this King's Reign With which Relation also agree two Ancient Chronicles in French written in the time of Edward the Third and are both in the Cottonian Library And Bromton himself acknowledges that according to most Authors Earl Godwin never went into Denmark at all nor left England during the Reign of King Hardecnute so that this Transaction if it ever happen'd at all seems most likely to have fell out in the Reign of King Hardecnute when that King charged Earl Godwin with his Brother's Death and made him redeem it with a great Present as we have above told you But to conclude this year From the Peterburgh Copy of these Annals it appears that about this time Arnwy Abbot of Burgh resigned his Dignity by reason of his bad Health and conferred it with the King's License and the Consent of the Monks upon Leofriâ— a Monk of that Abby But Abbot Arnwy lived eight years after During which time Abbot Leofric so adorned that Monastery with rich Guildings that it was called the Golden Burgh he also endowed it very much with Lands as well as other Treasures This year according to Florence of Worcester Griffyn Prince of Wales entring England spoiled great part of Hâ—refordshire against whom many Inhabitants of that County marched together with the Norman Garison of Hereford Castle but Prince Griffyn meeting with them killed a great many and putting the rest to flight carried away a great deal of Booty This year Earl Godwin deceased 17 th Kal. of May and was buried in the Old Monastery of Winchester Of the manner of whose Death though our Annals are silent yet I shall here set down what I find concerning it by almost all our Historians and it is thus That King Edward celebrating the Feast of Easter at Winchester or at Windsor as some will have it Earl Godwin as his Custom was sitting at Table with him was suddenly seized with so violent a Distemper that it struck him speechless and made him fall off from the Chair on which he sate and his Three Sons Harold Tosti and Gyrth being present they immediately removed him into the King's Chamber hoping it was but a sudden Fit and would be speedily over but he lay in that languishing condition four days and died on the fifth This is the account of his Death to which the Norman Monks and such as write in favour of them add other Circumstances which shew either his Guilt or their Malice since they relate That mention being made by somebody at the King's Table of Alfred his late Brother he thereupon looked very angrily at Earl Godwin when he to vindicate himself told King Edward He perceived that upon the least mentioning of that Prince he cast a frowning Countenance upon him But saith he let not God suffer me to swallow this Morsel if I am guilty of any thing done either toward the taking away his Life or against your Interest After which words being presently choaked with the Bit he had just before put into his Mouth he sunk immediately down and never recovered more But let the manner of his death be as it will he was a Man of an Active and Turbulent Spirit not over-nicely conscientious either in getting or keeping what he could not to be excused for his too much forcing his Sovereign to whatever he listed But had he not been so great a Lover of his Countrey and an Enemy to Strangers those that wrote in the Norman times and who durst not write any thing but
what they knew would please their Masters would have passed him over without this Story and have given him a fairer Character His first Wife was the Sister of King Cnute by whom he had a Son but in his Infancy happening to mount an unruly Horse that was presented him by his Grandfather he was run away with into the Thames and there drowned His Mother was kill'd by Thunder which as then was believed fell upon her as a Judgment on the account of her great Cruelty for she made a Trade of selling handsome English Boys and Girls into Denmark After her Death Earl Godwin married another Wife and by her had Six Sons viz. Harold Sweyn Wined Tosti Gyrth and Leofwin His Earldom of West-Seaâ— was given to his Son Harold and the Earldom that Harold had before viz. Essex was conferred on Alfgar the Son of Leofric Earl of Mercia which is also confirmed by our Annals And the same year according to Simeon of Durham Rees the Brother of Griffyn King of South-Wales being taken Prisoner for the many Insolences he had committed against the English was by the Command of King Edward put to death at a place called Bulendun and his Head sent to the King then lying at Gloucester on the Vigil of Epiphany But this is omitted in the Welsh Chronicles as commonly every thing is that makes to the disadvantage of their own Nation This year Leo that Holy Pope of Rome deceased and Victor was elected in his stead And there was also so great a Murrain of all sorts of Cattel in England that none could ever remember the like And now according to the Welsh Chronicles Griffyth the Son of Ratherch ap Justin raised a great Army both of Strangers and others against Griffyth Prince of North Wales who delaying no time but getting all the Forces of that Countrey together and meeting the other Griffyth fought with him and slew him on the place though none of these Chronicles have told us where that was This was the last Rebellion or Welsh Civil War that happened in this Prince's Reign The same year according to Simeon of Durham and Roger Hoveden Siward that Valiant Earl of Northumberland at the Command of King Edward being attended with a powerful Army and a strong Fleet marched into Scotland to restore Malcolm the Right Heir to the Crown of that Kingdom where joining Battel with Macbeth the then Usurping King of Scots many both of that Nation and of the Normans who took their part were slain and the Earl put the Usurper to flight But in this Battel the Earl's Son and several of the English and Danes were slain H. Huntington further adds That when the News was brought to the Earl of the Death of his Son he presently asked Whether he had received the Wound behind or before And being told it was before he only replied I am glad to hear that for so it became my Son to dye He says also That this Son of his whom he does not name had been sent into Scotland before his Father and was there killed and that Earl Siward did not subdue Macbeth till the second Expedition in which he differs from all the rest of the English and Scotish Historians Buchanan indeed acknowledges that this Prince Malcolm having taken Refuge in the Court of England obtain'd of King Edward the Assistance of Ten thousand men under the Conduct of Earl Siward and that the rest were raised for him by Macduf and others of his Party that took Arms on his behalf But John Fordun in his History writes much more improbably and though he allows that King Edward offered Malcolm an Army sufficient to place him on the Throne yet that he refused it with Thanks and only took Earl Siward of all the English Lords along with him as if this Earl's single Might though he was a Man of great Strength and Stature signified any thing against the Forces of Macbeth unless he had also brought a powerful Army along with him Mat. Westminster also adds That Scotland being thus conquered by the Forces of King Edward he bestowed it upon King Malcolm to be held of himself But since this is not found in any of our Ancient Historians and this Author does not acquaint us from whence he had it I do not look upon it as worthy of any great Credit About this time according to Simeon Aldred Bishop of Worcester was sent Ambassador to the Emperor with Noble Presents and being received with great Honour by him as likewise by Herman Archbishop of Cologne he staid in Germany a whole year to prevail with the Emperor on the King's behalf to send Ambassadors into Hungary to bring back Prince Edward the King's Cousin Son of King Edmund Ironside into England The same year also according to the Latin Copy of the Annals ' Was a Battel at Mortimer in Normandy But though they do not tell us by whom it was fought yet from others we learn it was between William Duke of Normandy and the King of France where the former obtain'd a most signal Victory This year Siward Earl of Northumberland deceased and the King gave that Earldom to Tostig Son of Earl Godwin Of this Siward's death our Historians give us divers remarkable Circumstances That being near his End by a Bloody-Flux he said He was asham'd to dye thus like a Beast so causing himself to be compleatly Armed and taking his Sword in his hand as if he would have fought even Death it self he in this Posture expired as he supposed like a Man of Honour King Edward not long after this summoned a Witena Gemot or Great Council seven days before Midlent wherein Earl Aelfgar was outlaw'd upon a Charge of being a Traytor to the King and the whole Nation and of this he was convicted before all there assembled Then Earl Aelfgar went to the Castle of Prince Griffyn in North-Wales and the same year they both together burnt the City of Hereford with the Monastery of St. Aethelbert once King of the East-Angles whose Bones were here enshrin'd This Earl had the greater reason to do what he did having been unjustly banish'd as most of our Historians write Simeon of Durham is somewhat larger in his account of this Affair and says That this Earl Aelfgar first went to Ireland and there procuring Eighteen Pyrate-Ships sail'd with them into Wales to assist Prince Griffyn against King Edward where joining with the Welshmen they laid waste the Countrey about Hereford with Fire and Sword against whom was sent that Cowardly Earl Rodolph King Edward's Sister's Son who gathering an Army and meeting with the Welshmen about two miles from that City he commanded the Englishmen contrary to their custom to fight on Horseback but so soon as they were ready to join Battel Rodulph with all his Frenchmen ran away which the English seeing quickly followed By which you may see that it is no new thing for a Cowardly General to make Cowardly Soldiers The
the English being now full had provoked the Divine Vengeance for that the Priests despising God's Law treated Holy Things with corrupt hearts and polluted hands and not being true Pastors but Mercenaries exposed the Sheep to the Wolves seeking the Wool and the Milk more than the Sheep themselves That the Chief Men of the Land were Infidels Companions of the Thieves and Robbers of their Countrey who neither feared God nor honoured his Law to whom Truth was a Burthen Justice a Maygame and Cruelty a Delight And that therefore since neither the Rulers observed Justice nor the Ruled Discipline the Lord had drawn his Sword and bent his Bow and made it ready for that he would shew this People his Wrath and Indignation by sending Evil Angels to punish them for a year and a day with Fire and Sword But when the King replied to them That he would admonish his People to repent them of the evil of their ways and doings and then he hoped God would not bring these dreadful Judgments upon them but would again receive them into his Mercy To this they answered That now it could not be because the hearts of this people were hardened and their eyes blinded and their ears stopped so that they would neither hear those that would instruct them nor be advised by those that should admonish them being neither to be terrified by his Threatnings nor melted by his Benefits And the King asking them when there would be an end of all these Judgments and what comfort they might be like to receive under all these great afflictions those holy men only answered him in a Parable of a certain Green Tree that should be cut down and removed from the Root about the distance of Three Acres and when without any human hand the Tree should be restored to its Ancient Root and flourish and bear Fruit then and not till then was there any Comfort to be hoped for But this Author's application of the Tree that was to be cut down to the English-Saxon Royal Family's being for a time destroyed and its Separation to the distance of three Acres to Harold and the two first Norman Kings and its Restitution again to King Henry the first by his marrying of Queen Mathildis and its flourishing again in the Empress her Daughter and then its bearing Fruit to the Succession of Henry the second do sufficiently shew that great part of this Vision was made and accommodated for the Reigns of these Princes William of Malmesbury indeed recites the same Vision though in fewer words but without any Interpretation of the Parable But be this Vision true or false I think we may have reason to pray to God that neither our Clergy nor Laity by falling into the like wicked and deplorable state above described may ever bring the like Judgments upon this Nation But when the Queen Robert the Lord Chamberlain and Earl Harold who are said to have been present at the Relation of this Vision seemed very much concern'd Archbishop Stigand received it with a Smile saying That the good Old Man was only delirous by reason of his Distemper But says Malmesbury we have too dearly tried the Truth of this Vision England being now made the Habitation of Strangers and groaning under the Dominion of Foreigners there being says he at this day i. e. at the time when he wrote no Englishman either an Earl a Bishop or an Abbot but Strangers devour the Riches and gnaw even the very Bowels of England neither is there a prospect of having any End of these Miseries This it seems was written in the beginning of the Reign of Henry the First and before he had seen the more Happy Times that succeeded in that of Henry the Second when the Abbot above-mentioned tells us That England had then a King of the Ancient Blood Royal as also Bishops and Abbots of the same Nation with many Earls Barons and Knights who as being descended both from the French and English Blood were an Honour to the One and a Comfort to the Other But to come to the Death and Last Words of this most Pious King The Abbot above-mentioned gives us an Excellent Discourse which he made before his Death recommending the Queen to her Brother and the Nobility there present and highly extolling her Chastity and Obedience who though she appeared publickly his Wife yet was privately rather like a Sister or Daughter desiring of them That whatsoever he had left her for her Jointure should never be taken from her He also recommended to them his Servants who had followed him out of Normandy and that they should have their free choice either of returning home to their own Countrey or staying here After which he appointed his Body to be buried in St. Peter's Church at Westminster which he had so newly dedicated and so having received the Blessed Eucharist and recommended his Soul to God he quietly departed this Life having reigned Three and twenty Years Six Months and Seven and twenty Days It is very observable That this Abbot does not tell us that he said any thing concerning who should be his Successor whereas many of the Monks of those Times make him to have bequeathed the Crown at his Death to his Cousin William Duke of Normandy and Ingulph further says That King Edward â—â—me years before his Death had sent Robert Archbishop of Canterbury as an Ambassador to him to let him know that he had design'd him his Successor both because he was of his Blood and also Eminent for his Virtue What Pretences the Duke might have to the Crown by the latter I know not but it is certain the former could give him no Title to it since all the Relation that was between King Edward and Duke William was by Queen Emma who was Mother to the King and Aunt to the Duke so that it is evident on the score of this Relation that Duke William could have no pretence by Blood to the Crown of England But it is very suspicious that this Story of Archbishop Robert's being sent into Normandy upon this Errand was but a Fiction since he sate but three years in that See before his Expulsion and that happened near ten years before after which King Edward sent over for his Cousin Edward sirnamed The Outlaw to make him his Heir King Edward being dead they made great haste to bury him for his Funerals were performed the next day with as great Solemnity as the shortness of that time would admit of but it was sufficient that all the Bishops and Nobility of the Kingdom attended his Body to the Grave in the Church aforesaid where his Tomb is at this day to be seen behind the Altar and his Body was afterwards preserved in a Rich Shrine of Gold and Silver till the Reign of Henry the Eighth As for the Character which the Writers of the following Age give this Prince it is such as they thought was due to One whom they took to be
and Decisive Battel which yet is very imperfect since no Historians that I know of either English or Normans have given us the Number of the Armies on both sides or how many were slain perhaps because both had a mind to conceal what they thought did not make for their Credit Only it is acknowledged on all hands that they were so many on the Normans side as well as the English that nothing but the over-ruling Providence of God by the Death of their King could have given it away from them to their Enemies In this Battel King Harold and his two Brothers Gyrth and Leofwin with most of the English Nobility were slain and an Ancient Manuscript in the Cottonian Library farther relates That the King's Body was hard to be certainly known by reason of its being so much disfigured by Wounds yet was at last discovered by one who had been formerly his Mistress and that by the means of certain private Marks known only to her self and being taken up and wash'd by two of the Chanons of Waltham which Monastery he had founded was ordered by Duke William to be delivered to his Mother and that without any Ransom though she would have given a considerable Sum for it but it was not long after buried in the Abby-Church of Waltham Yet notwithstanding Henry de Knyghton from Giraldus Cambrensis gives a quite different account what became of this Prince for he says that he was not slain in this Battel but retiring privately out of it lived and died an Anchoret in a Cell near St. John's Church in Chester as was owned by himself at his last Confession when he lay a dying and farther that in memory thereof they shewed his Tomb when that Author wrote But the concurrent Testimony of so many English Writers concerning his being slain and buried at Waltham is certainly to be preferred before one single Evidence not but that it might be true that somebody might thus personate Harold and have his Tomb afterwards shewn as his But where or however he died he was certainly a Prince of a Noble Presence and of as Great a Mind and had he not by a preposterous Ambition of gaining a Kingdom to which he had no Right as well as by a Notorious Violation of his Solemn Oath given Duke William a just Occasion of making War upon him wherein he not only lost his own Life but also was the occasion of the Ruin of so many of his Countreymen he might have had as great a Character in History as any Prince of his time He had two Wives the first he buried long before he was King but none of our Writers mention her Name His second was Algithe Widow of Griffyth ap Lhewelyn King of North-Wales Sister of Edwi and Morchar Earls of Yorkshire and Chester By the former it is recorded that he had Children then of such an Age that they waged War against K. William in the second year of his Reign The first was Godwin who with his Brother Edmund after his Father's Death and Overthrow fled into Ireland but returning again into Somersetshire slew Ednoth one of his Father's Ealdormen who encounter'd him and then making great spoil in Devonshire and Cornwal departed The next year fighting with Beorne an Ealdorman of Cornwal he afterwards returned into Ireland and from thence went to Denmark to King Sweyn where he continued the Residue of his Life The second was Edmund who engaged with him in all his abovesaid Brother's Invasions and Wars depending absolutely upon him whilst he lived and died as he did in Denmark Magnus his third Son went with his two Brothers into Ireland and came back with them the first time into England but we find nothing of him after this unless he was that Magnus who afterwards became an Anchoret Wolfe his fourth Son seems to be born of Queen Algithe and probably at King William's Entrance here he was but an Infant yet after his Death he is named among his Prisoners but by William Rufus was released and by him honoured with the Order of Knighthood Gunhilde a Daughter of Harold's is mentioned by John Capgrave in the Life of Wolstan Bishop of Worcester and that she was a Nun but where is not mentioned and being in most mens opinion's wholly blind this Wolstan if you will believe it from Capgrave by a Miracle restor'd her absolutely to her Eyesight Another Daughter of Harold's is mentioned by Saxo Grammaticus in his Danish History to have been well received by her Kinsman King Sweyn the younger and afterwards married to Waldemar King of the Russians and to have had a Daughter by him who was the Mother of Waldemar the first King of Denmark of that Name from whom all the Danish Kings for many Ages after succeeded This Account I have borrowed from Mr. Speed who is very exact in the Pedigrees of our English-Saxon Kings We find no Laws made in this King's time only this mentioned by Ingulph viz. That King Harold made a Law that whatever Welshman were found without leave on this side Offa's Ditch he should have his Right-hand cut off by the King's Officers Which Law I suppose was made to restrain the pilfering Incursions of the Welsh who were wont to come in small Companies into the English Borders to rob and carry away Cattel But as for the Earls Syward of Mercia and Morchar of Northumberland Brothers it is said they withdrew themselves out of the Battel with their Followers almost as soon as it began either because they liked not the streightness of the Place where they were drawn up or else were discontented with the King's Conduct so marching immediately up to London they there met with Aldred Archbishop of York and Edgar Atheling with divers other Noblemen and Bishops and consulted whom they should make King divers of them were for Edgar Atheling as the only remaining Branch of the Saxon Blood-Royal under whom they resolved to renew the War but he being young and unexperienced and the Major Part of the Bishops being against it nothing was done William of Malmesbury relates That the two Earls above-mentioned solicited the Londoners to make one of them King which when they found they could not prevail upon them so to do taking their Sister the Widow of King Harold along with them and leaving her for security at Chester they retired into Northumberland supposing that Duke William would never march so far that Winter But how much they were mistaken and how they were forced to submit themselves to him when the City of London and all the rest of the Kingdom had acknowledg'd him must be reserved for the next Volume In the mean time the Nobility and Clergy being thus divided in their sentiments all their designs came to nothing Thus as the same Author well observes that as the English if they had been all of one mind might have prevented the Ruin of their Countrey so since they could not agree to have one of
their own Nation to reign over them they were thereby brought under the subjection of Strangers Indeed Guilel Gemeticensis and Ordoricus Vitalis relate That the Noblemen and Bishops who had retired to London actually chose Edgar Atheling King but this seems not at all probable since none of our own Writers mention it and had Edgar been once elected it is not likely that King William would have been so easily reconciled to him and have not only given him his Liberty but preferred him Having from our Historians of best Credit given you this Account of our English Monarchs most of whom mixing Piety with Civil Prudence reigned gloriously for many Generations it will not be amiss for a Conclusion to let the Reader see how not long before this sad Catastrophe all sorts and degrees of men were now much degenerated from the Simplicity and Sobriety of their Ancestors And first as for the state of Religion in this Island for some Ages before the coming in of the Normans William of Malmesbury observes that Piety and all good Literature were commonly grown so much out of fashion even amongst the Clergy that resting content with a very small share of Devotion as well as Learning they could scarce read Divine Service nay the very Monks were clad in fine Stuffs and made no difference of Days and Meat which tho perhaps no fault in it self yet to them who were under other Principles it was certainly much otherwise Also that the Great Men being given up to Gluttony and a dissolute Life oppressed and made a Prey of the Common People debauching their Daughters whom they had in their Service and then turning them off to the Stews Whilst the meaner sort sat tipling night and day and spent all they had in Rioting and Drunkenness and those attended with other Vices which effeminate men's minds Therefore it came to pass through the just Judgment of God that King Harold and those of his Party being carried away with Rashness and Fury rather than any True Valour or Military Experience gave Duke William this great Advantage over them as hath been but now set forth Not says he but that some few of the Clergy as well as Laity were much better yet for the most part they were as hath been here described But as the long-suffering of God often permits the Bad as well as the Good to enjoy the like Prosperity so likewise his Justice in punishing oft-times does not exempt even Good Men from partaking in the common Calamities of their Countrey Therefore I shall conclude this Volume with the like Admonition as Mr. Milton does his Saxon History viz. That if these were in all probability the Causes of God's heavy Judgments on our Ancestors surely every man ought in this corrupt Age to take care to avoid them lest in the height of a seeming Security their long continuance in a course of Vice and Luxury should without a speedy Amendment meet with as severe if not much worse Punishment FINIS A TABLE of the Succession of the remaining English-Saxon Kings in this last Period The Northumbrian Kings being supplied from Simeon of Durham and the Chronicles of Mailrosse and the Welsh Princes are taken from Caradoc's Chronicle and the old Annals at the end of the lesser Volume of Domes-day Book Tab. 3. Anno Dom. Kings of Kent Anno Dom. Kings of England Anno Dom. Kings of Northumberland Anno Dom. Kings of the East-Angles Anno Dom. Kings of the Mercians Anno Dom. Kings of Wales  Cuthred eight Years 802 Ecgbert reigned 36 Years  Eardulf was expelled his Kingdom Anno Dom. 806. then succeeded 859 St. Edmund reigned 11 Years who being martyr'd by the Danes that Kingdom remain'd without a King until  Kenwulf 22 Years  Caradoc King of North Wales         819 Kenelm a Child his Son murdered by his Aunt Quendrida then 806 Conan Tyndaethwy King of South Wales and afterwards King of North Wales 805 Baldred eighteen Years He being the last King of Kent was expelled his Kingdom by King Egbert 837 Ethelwolf his Son 18 Years and an half 806 Aelfwold who reigned two Years then           808 Eanred Son of Eardulph reigned 32 Years         857 Ethelbald his Son two Years and an half 840 Ethelred his Son reigned 9 Years 870    817 Mervyn-wrych and Esylht his Wife the Daughter of Conan     849 Osbert 13 Years whom was driven out by   820 Ceolwulf his Uncle reigned one Year     860 Ethelbert his Brother reigned five Years and an half 862 Aella an Usurper but both these Kings being slain by the Danes they seized upon that Kingdom and made     843 Rodoric the Great Son or Grandson to Mervyn last mentioned         821 Beornwulf 3 Years           824 Ludican one Year and an half 877 Anarawd Son of Rodoric Prince of North Wales   866 Ethered his Brother five Years 866 Egbert King who was soon expelled by them and then they made 878 Guthrum the Dane was made King by the Concession of K. Alfred and reigned 12 Years 825 Wiglaf 14 Years 913 Edwal Voel Son to Anarawd 838 Athelstan natural Son to K. Ethelwolf made K. of Kent Eastsex and Surry by his Father he died without Issue after which it was again united to the rest of King Ethelwolf's Dominions 871 Alfred his Brother reigned 29 Years and an half  Ricsig a Dane their King who reigned 10 Years then   839 Bertwulf 13 Years These four last Kings were all of them tributary to the Kings of the West Saxons as was also 940 Howel-Dha King of South Wales and after the Death of Edwal he took upon him the Government of all Wales     872 Another Egbert was by them made King who dying the Danes Northumbers remained without any Kâ—ng till         901 Edward his Son sirnamed the Elder 24 Years             883 Guthred a poor Slave was chosen King he reigned over Yorkshire about 11 Years then     948 Jevaf and Jago Sons of Edwal Voel Princes of North Wales whilst the Sons of Howel-Dha ruled South Wales at the same time   925 Athelstan his Son 16 Years     852 Burhed who reigned 22 Years and being expell'd his Kingdom by the Danes they then gave it to one       894 King Alfred seized his share of that Kingdom whilst in the morâ— Northern Parts reigned at the same timâ— Osbert a Dane who was expelled his â—ingdom 890 Eoric the Dane was by Guthrum made his Successor after whose Decease K. Edward the Elder
Wigheard Wight Wightred Wigmore Wilbrode Wilfreda St. Wilfrid Wilfrid 2. William Wills Last Vid. Testament Wilton Wiltshire Wina Vid. Wini Winandermere Winchelcomb Winchester Winchester-Measure Winfrid Winâ— Wipâ—â— or Wippa Wir Wiregild Wiremouth Witchcraft Wite Witena-Gemote Witerne St. Withburg Wiâ—hgar Withlaff Withred Wittereden Woden Wodensbeorge Wolves Woodstock in Mercia Worcester Wounds and Maims Wulfheard Wulfhelme Wulfher 2. Wulfnoth Wulfric Vid. Spoâ— Wulstan 3. Y YArrow Year Year and Day York Yric Yrling Ywrch Edwal Z ZEal Directions to the BINDER PLace the Table beginning Least the Names c. between P. 150 and 151. Place Table 2. between P. 244 and 245. Place Table 3. at the End of the Sixth Book Place the Two Pedegrees of Kings immediately after it and just before this Index Viz. That first beginning with Geat AN ALPHABETICAL TABLE OF THE Principal Matters contained in this History A ABbey Vid. Monastery Abbey-Lands the form of leasing them out which required the Solemnity of the Common-Council of the Kingdom to confirm it Lib. 5. Pag. 261 262. Abbot The Bishop of Norwich notwithstanding the Dissolution of Monasteries retains still the Title of an Abbot l. 6. p. 54. An Abbot of Evesham was chosen in a Great Council held at London Id. p. 73. Seldom chosen out of Monks of the same Abbey Id. p. 74. Aberfraw now a small Village in the Isle of Anglesey but anciently the chief Seat of the Princes of Gwyneth or North-Wales l. 5. p. 279. Tribute due from the King hereof to the King of London l. 6. p. 3. Destroyed by the Irishmen who landed in Anglesey Id. p. 6. Abingdon the Abbey when and by whom founded at first called Sheovesham l. 4. p. 196. Or Secvesham Id. p. 224. Burnt by the Danes rebuilt by Ordgar and had great Endowments Ibid. Anciently a Royal Seat of the Kings of Mercia l. 4. p. 224. Abjuring the Realm the Antiquity of this Law for such great Offences to which the King's Pardon did not in Edward the Confessor's time absolutely extend l. 6. p. 103. Acca succeeds Wilfrid in the Bishoprick of Hagulstade l. 4. p. 215. Is driven out as supposed by the King of Northumberland Id. p. 221. His Death Had in great Reverence both before and after it for his Sanctity c. l. 4. p. 223 224. Achaius King of Scots having aided Hungus King of the Picts with Ten thousand men against one Athelstan he routed the English and killed Athelstan but this is look'd upon as a mere idle Monkish Fancy l. 5. p. 250. Adda King of Bernicia the Eldest Son of Ida l. 3. p. 143. His Death Id. p. 144. Vid. p. 147 148. Adelphius Bishop of the City of Colchester is sent to the Council of Arles in Gallia and for what l. 2. p. 88. Adian or Aedan or Aegthan coming against Ethelfrid is routed l. 4. p. 159. Admurum that is Wall-Town near the Picts Wall l. 4. p. 184. Adrian the Abbot of Canterbury l. 4. p. 165 194. The Pope when he departed this life l. 4. p. 238. Vid. Hadrian Adulf or Eadulf Abbot of Medeshamstead enriched that Monastery with divers Lands that he added to it l. 6. p. 5. Succeeds Oswald in the Archbishoprick of York Ibid. His Decease l. 6. p. 29. Adultery King Withred's Law against it under a Punishment and what a Military what a Countrey-man was to pay that was guilty of it l. 4. p. 211. Alfred's Law increased the Fine according to the Estate or Quality of him against whom the Offence was committed l. 5. p. 293. Vid. Fornification Aeadsige after the death of Ethelnoth made Archbishop of Canterbury l. 6. p. 65. Went to Rome to obtain his Pall Id. p. 66. Crowned Edward the Confessor and made the first Sermon that is to be found at any King's Coronation Id. p. 70. Resigned his Archbishoprick by reason of his great Infirmities Id. p. 72. Resumes it p. 74. His Death p. 75. Aealmond Father of King Egbert when he began to reign in Kent The Annals mistaken as to his ever being King thereof l. 4. p. 233. Aealhstan Bishop of London his decease l. 5. p. 303. Vid. Alstan Aedan Vradog i. e. the Treacherous a Prince of the North parts of Britain l. 3. p. 146. Aedan ap Blegored or Bledhemeyd an absolute Stranger to the British Blood-Royal got the Principality of North-Wales and held it about twelve years but whether it was by Election or Force uncertain l. 6. p. 30 31. Is killed with his four Sons in a bloody Fight by Lhewelyn ap â—itsylt Id. p. 40. Aedric made Ealdorman over all the Kingdom of Mercia Married the King's Daughter His Treachery l. 6. p. 32. By that he kept the King's Army from falling 〈…〉 Dâ—nâ—s when it had hâ—mmed theâ— in and were just ready to give them Battel Id. p. 34. Siâ—named Streon Id. p. 36. Treacherously in his own Chamber caused to be stai◠〈◊〉 Danes of great Riches and Power in the Northern parts and why Id. p. 40. His going over to King Cnute with forty of the Royal Navy and submitting to him l. 6. p. 41 45. The many other perfidious Tricks he plays Id. p. 45 46 47. Traiterously murthers his Natural King and Lord Edmund Ironside and salâ—ting Cnute first sole King of all England he met with a just reward if true Id. p. 48 49. His death occasioned by his upbraiding King Cnute with his Services telling him how that for his sake he had bâ—trayed one King and made away another Id. p. 50. Aegelbyerâ—h or Agebert after Byrinâ—s took upon him the Bishoprick of the West-Saxons l. 4. p. â—82 192. Vid. Agelbert Aegelric a Monk of Christ-Church consecrated Bishop of Chichester l. 6. p. 88. Aelfeage Vid. Elfeage Aelfer Vid. Elfer Aelfgar Vid. Elfgar Aelfleda Wife to King Edmund the Elder the Daughter of Earl Aethelune her numerous Children and how educated and bestowed l. 5. p. 324 327. Aelfred Vid. Alfred Aelfric upon the death of his Father Aelfer was Ealdorman of Mercia and two years after banished the Land l. 6. p. 21. Vid. Ealfric Aelfric Bishop of Winchester elected Archbishop of Canterbury by King Ethelred and all his Wise Men l. 6. p. 25. Went to Rome to obtain his Pall Id. p. 26. Deceased and who succeeded him Id. p. 31. Aelfric succeeds Wulstan in the Archbishoprick and by whom consecrated l. 6. p. 53. His accusing Bishop Living and Earl Godwin of persuading Harold to use Prince Alfred so cruelly as he did Id p. 67. His decease Id. p. 79. Aelfweard Son of King Edward the Elder died at Oxnaford not long after his Father who his Mother and what his Character l. 5. p. 324 327. Aelfwinna Vid. Elfwinna Aelfwold drove Eardulf out of the Kingdom of the Northumbers and reigned two years in his stead l. 5. p. 249. His Death But his Successor somewhat doubtful Ibid. Aelgiva Queen brought to bed of Prince Edgar and died the year after l. 5. p. 344. Aelgiva married to King Ethelred l. 6. p. 29. 〈◊〉
Glastenbury and for what reason Id. Ib. Commands in Person at the great Battel of Badon Hill which is said to be the twelfth Battel he had fought with them Id. p. 136. He began his Reign over the Britains in the tenth year of King Cerdic Id. p. 137. Objections against his ever being a King in Britain answered His Death but the manner uncertain his Burial at Glastenbury His Tomb found about the end of the Reign of Henry the Second and the many Fables the Britains invented of him Id. p. 136 137 138. Arviragus doubtful whether any such person but if there was he lived in the Reign of Domitian l. 2. p. 56. Under his Conduct the Britains receive fresh Strength and Courage Id. p. 65. Is supposed to have deceased towards the end of Domitian's Reign Id. p. 66. Arwald King of the Isle of Wight his two Sons executed by the Order of Ceadwalla but were first made Christians by Baptism by Abbot Reodford l. 4. p. 203. Arwan a River where uncertain but several Conjectures about it l. 6. p. 46. Asaph Scholar to Kentigern and his Successor in the See of Ellwye in North-Wales now from him called St. Asaph l. 3. p. 149. Asclepiodotus Praefect to Constantius his Slaughter of the Franks and Victory over London l. 2. p. 84 85. Ashdown in Essex called in the Saxon times Assandum l. 6. p. 46 47. Cnute builds a Church here to pray for the Souls that were slain in the Battel he had fought there with Edmund Ironside he consecrates and bestows it Id. p. 51. Assault upon any one the Punishment of it by King Alfred's Law l. 5. p. 292 295. Asser Bishop of Shireburne his Decease l. 5. p. 286 315. Assize-charges the Antiquity of them l. 6. p. 13. Asterius Bishop of Genova ordains Byrinus an Italian l. 4. p. 179. Ataulphus takes Tholouse sometime after the Death of Alaric l. 2. p. 104. Athelgiva Mistress or Wife to King Edwi for it is variously reported the story of her l. 5. p. 353. The Revenge that was taken on her by Odo Archbishop of Canterbury Her being sent into Ireland from the King with her Return and Death Id. p. 354. Athelm Archbishop of Canterbury performed the Office of Athelstan's Coronation His Death l. 5. p. 329. Athelney in Somersetshire anciently called Aetheling-gaige l. 5. p. 282 298. That is the Isle of Nobles where Alfred had lain concealed Id. p. 298. A Monastery built there by King Alfred for Monks of divers Nations Id. p. 298 307. Athelric King of all Northumberland reigned two years over Bernicia married Acca Daughter to Aella King of Deira l. 3. p. 148. Athelstan slain in fight by Hungus King of the Picts with the assistance of Ten thousand Scots sent him by Achaius King of that Countrey all an idle story l. 5. p. 250. Who this Athelstan was 't is supposed none knows Ibid. Athelstan supposed to be Natural Son to King Ethelwulf often mentioned in this History but our Writers are silent as to his Death l. 5. p. 258. Fought with the Danes at Sea and routed them taking nine Ships and patting the rest to flight Id. p. 261. Athelstan Son to Edward the Elder commanding one Division of his Father's Army against Leofred a Dane and Griffyth ap Madoc the Success thereof l. 5. p. 321. The Name signifies The most Noble Appointed by his Father's Testament to succeed him in the Kingdom not born of the Queen but of one Egwinna l. 5. p. 326 327. His Election by the Mercians and the manner of his Coronation Id. p. 329. Marries his Sister Edgitha to Sihtric a Danish King of Northumberland with an account of him and his Death Id. p. 330. Adds the Kingdom of Northumberland to his own Id. Ib. 331. His seven years Penance on the account of his Brother Edwin's being drowned Id. p. 331 332. The great Victory he obtained over the Scots and what was the occassion of his warring with them He demolishes the Castle the Danes had fortified at York and taking great Booty there distributes it among his Soldiers Drove the Welsh cut of Exeter and built new walls about it Id. p. 332 333. The great Victory he gain'd over the Scotch Irish and Danes Id. p. 334 335 336. Took Cumberland and Westmorland from the Scots and recovered Northumberland from the Danes Pawn'd his Knife at the Altar as he went to make War against the Scots promising to redeem it at his return with Victory Founded the Abbey of Middleton in Dorsetshire and upon what account Reign'd fourteen years and tâ—n months and then died at Gloucester Id. p. 337. Is said to be the first that reduced all England into one Monarchy Imposeth a Yearly Tribute upon Constantine King of the Scots and Howell King of the Britains of 20 l. in Gold and 300 l. in Silver and 25000 Head of Cattel Id. p. 337 338. The Rich Presents were sent to him from divers Kings Id. p. 339. Made many good Laws and some of the most remarkable may be seen in p. 339 340 341. Buried in the Abbey of Malmesbury bred up under his Uncle Ethelred Earl of Mercia His Character Id. p. 329 338 339. Athelwald King of the South-Saxons had the Isle of Wight given him by Wulfher l. 4. p. 188. Is slain by Ceadwalla who seized on his Province Id. p. 203. Athelward Vid. Ethelward Athelwold Vid. Ethelwald Attacotti who these were that Ammianus joins with the Scoti has very much perplexed the Modern Criticks l. 2. p. 91 92. Atticus Vid. Aurelius Augusta that ancient City now called London l. 2. p. 92. Augustine sent into Britain with many Monks to preach the Gospel l. 3. p. 148. His Arrival in Britain in the year 597. Id. p. 149. l. 4. p. 153. How he came to be sent and the Accidents that happen'd to him by the way with his Landing in the Isle of Thanet on the East part of Kent l. 4. p. 152 153. Residence appointed by King Ethelbert's Order for him and his Monks at Canterbury which was the Metropolis of his Kingdom How his preaching to him and his Nobles there was received Id. p. 154. Ordained Archbishop of the British Nation and by whom as also his sending to the Pope to desire his Opinion about certain Questions Wherein is seen the state of Religion in the Western Church at his coming over Id. p. 155. Rebuilt an old Church first erected by the Christian Romans appointing it a See for himself and his Successors Id. 154 157. Had an Archiepiscopal Pall sent him with power to ordain twelve Bishops l. 4. p. 157 158. His Legantine Authority over all the Bishops of Britain Id. p. 160. Summons a Synod at Augustine's Ake or Oak in Worcestershire Ib. p. 161. His miraculous Cure of a Blind Man upon which the Britains believed his Doctrine to be true Id. Ib. His Death and place of his Burial Id. p. 162 165. His Prediction on the Britains fulfilled Id. p. 164. Supposed to be of
Historian l. 3. p. 114. l. 4. p. 151. Lived and died a Monk in the Monastery of St. Paul at Girwy now Yarrow l. 4. p. 194. Where born and bred his course of Life and Writings which gave him the Title of Venerable Id. p. 222. Own'd himself beholding to Nothelm when a Presbyter of the Church of London for divers Ancient Monuments relating to the English Church Id. p. 223. Bedicanford now Bedford where Cuthwulf fought against the Britains and the Towns he took from them l. 3. p. 146. Surrendred to King Edward the Elder l. 5. p. 320. Belinus Son of Dunwallo said to make the four great Ways or Streets that run cross the Kingdom and not the Romans built the Gate called Belin's gate our now Billingsgate and said to be the first Founder of the Tower of London l. 1. p. 13. Bells The first Tuneable Ring of Bells in England was in Croyland-Monastery set up there by Abbot Turketule l. 6. p. 12. Benedict the Father of all the Monks in what year he died but long before his death he founded his Order in Italy l. 4. p. 167. Sirnam'd Biscop made Abbot of the Monastery of St. Peter in Canterbury Id. p. 194. His Death with some short account of his Life Id. p. 205. Consecrated Pope upon the death of Stephanus expell'd and who made Pope in his room l. 6. p. 88. Benedictines the Monks of that Order l. 4. p. 167 168. Placed in the Nunnery at Bathe by King Edgar Id. p. 196. Turn out the Sicular Chanons at Worcester Id. p. 200. The Abbey of Winchelcomb in Gloucestershire by whom founded for 300 of these Monks Id. p. 242. St. Dunstan made a Collection of Rules for this Order l. 6. p. 22. Vid. Monks and Chanons Secular St. Bennet's in Holme a Monastery founded by King Cnute in Norfolk for Benedictines l. 6. p. 54. Bennington now called Bensington l. 3. p. 145. A Battel fought there between Cynwulf and Offa and who got the better l. 4. p. 230. Beonna Abbot of Medeshamsted leases Lands to Cuthbright upon Condition Id. Ib. Beormond when consecrated Bishop of Rochester l. 5. p. 248. Beorne when he was King over the East-Angles l. 4. p. 228. Beorne the Ealdorman burnt in Seletune by the Governors of Northumberland l. 4. p. 231. Beorne King Edmund's Huntsman murthers Lothbroke one of the Danish Royal Family l. 5. p. 272 273. Beorne Earl Cousin to Earl Sweyn how made away by him on Shipboard and where buried l. 6. p. 75. Beornred when he usurped the Kingdom of the Mercians l. 4. p. 227. Burnt the fair City of Cataract in Yorkshire and he himself is burnt the same year Id. p. 229. Beornwulf or Bertwulf or Beorthwulf King of the Mercians and Archbishop Wilfrid held two Synods at Clovesho Fought with Egbert and was beaten and afterwards slain by the East-Angles l. 5. p. 253. Was routed with his whole Army by the Danes Id. p. 261. Held the Council of Kingsbury who were present at it and what done there Id. Ib. His Death and who succeded him Id. p. 262. Berferth Son of Bertwulf King of Mercia wickedly slays his Cousin Wulstan l. 5. p. 261. Berkshire anciently called Bearrockshire l. 5. p. 274. l. 6. p. 32. Bernicia and Deira two Kingdoms of Northumberland united into one l. 4. p. 178. All the Low-Lands of Scotland as far as the English-Saxon Tongue was spoken were anciently part of the Bernician Kingdom l. 5. p. 249. Bertha the King of the Franks's Daughter married to King Ethelbert l. 3. p. 145. Brought a Bishop over with her to assist and strengthen her in the Faith l. 4. p. 153. Bertulf King of the Mercians honourably receives Egbert King of the Northumbers and Wulfher Archbishop of York whom the Northumbers had expell'd l. 5. p. 277. Beverlie in Yorkshire anciently called Derawnde l. 4. p. 202. Beverstone in Gloucestershire anciently Byferstane l. 6. p. 77. Billingsgate the ancient Port of London and what Customs to be paid there upon unlading l. 6. p. 43. Vid. Belinus Birds A great Fight and Slaughter of Birds in the Air l. 4. p. 192. Birth Supposititious Vid. Harold the Son of Cnute Birthwald Archbishop of Canterbury who succeeded Theodore was buried in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul l. 4. p. 162. Formerly an Abbot of Raculf now Reculver in Kent near the Isle of Thanet but not consecrated Archbishop till nigh three years after his Election His Character Id. p. 205. He and King Alfred held a Synod about Bishop Wilfrid who was therein excommunicated Id. p. 206. Is reconciled to the Bishop tho King Alfred is not so Id. p. 207. His Death being worn out with Age and Infirmities Id. p. 220. Bishops how to be ordained in the English Church l. 4. p. 156. How to behave themselves towards one another and towards those that are not under their Authority Id. p. 157. Of London to be chosen by his own Synod but to receive the Pall from the Pope Id. p. 157 158. When the Primitive Christian Temper had not left the Bishops of the Roman Church Id. p. 159. Two Bishops in one Diocess viz. One had his See at Dunmoc now Dunwich in Suffolk and the other at Helmham in Norfolk l. 4. p. 193. By a Bishop's Son was meant his Spiritual not Conjugal Son for they were not married in the Saxon times Id. p. 209. Ordered in the Synod of Clovesho to visit their Diocesses once a year l. 4. p. 224. Five Bishops ordained in one day by Archbishop Plegmund and over what Sees but it was by the Authority of the King and his Council l. 5. p. 314. Blecca with all his Family converted to the Christian Faith builds a Stone-Church of curious Workmanship in Lincoln l. 4. p. 175. Blood When it rained Blood for three days together l. 1. p. 12. l. 4. p. 202. Milk and Butter turned into somewhat like Blood l. 4. p. 202. The Moon appeared as it were stained with Blood for a whole hour l. 4. p. 222. Boadicia the Wife of Prasutagus a British Lady of a Royal Race violated with Stripes and her Daughters ravished l. 2. p. 47. Being left a Widow she raised an Army and makes a gallant Speech to them l. 2. p. 49 50. But being overcome and her Army utterly routed she poisons her self Id. p. 50. Bocland King Alfred's Thirty seventh Law concerning it l. 5. p. 295 296. Edward the Elder 's second Law of any one's denying another man his Right therein l. 5. p. 325. That is Land conveyed to another by Deed to whom it was forfeitable l. 6. p. 58 60. Bodotria Vid. Glotta Boetius Hector his great Error concerning the last War between the Romans and the Britains l. 2. p. 101 102. Bolanus Vid. Vectius Bonagratia de Villa Dei his Epistle to the Black Monks of England Wherein is shewn the Antiquity of the University of Cambridge l. 5. p. 318. Bondland that is the Ground of Bondmen or Villains l. 4. p. 230.
Bondman he that is cast by the Ordeal to be branded with a hot Iron for the first Offence and for the second to be put to death l. 6. p. 42. Bonosus a matchless Drinker made himself as Emperor for a time but being vanquished by the Emperor Probus he hanged himself He was by Descent a Britain l. 2. p. 82. Bosa Bishop of Dunmoc now Dunwich in Suffolk deprived by reason of his great Infirmities l. 4. p. 193. Governed the Province of Deira having his Episcopal See at the City of York l. 4. p. 197. Bosenham that is Bosham in Sussex where Sweyne made a League with Edward the Confessor l. 6. p. 74. Boston in Lincolnshire supposed anciently to be called Icanho l. 4. p. 185. Bottulf when he began to build a Monastery at Icanho Id. Ib. Bounds The old ones continued in the year 395. between the Picts and the Britains l. 2. p. 100. Bracelets The Oath the Danes took to King Alfred upon a Sacred Bracelet they had which Oath they would never take to any Nation before immediately to depart the Kingdom l. 5. p. 278. Of Gold if hung up at the parting of several Highways in Alfred's time none would dare to touch them Justice was so strictly observed Id. p. 291. Bradanford in Wiltshire now Bradford l. 4. p. 183. Brandanrelie supposed to be a little Island now called Shepholm in the mouth of Severn l. 5. p. 319. Breach of the Peace Alfred's Laws about it l. 5. p. 292 295 297. What he shall forfeit that sets upon a man in his own house l. 5. p. 347. The Punishment of this Offence in several Instances l. 6. p. 43. Brecklesey-Island whither the Danes fled when they were beaten by King Alfred l. 5. p. 300. Brecknock-Castle supposed by Brecenanmere which Aethelfleda took with her Army l. 5. p. 319. In Wales destroyed by Earl Alfred who joined with Howel the Son of Edwal l. 6. p. 21. Bregowin consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury but enjoyed that See not long for his Death happen'd about three years after l. 4. p. 228. Brennus and Belinus divided the Kingdom between them and what happen'd afterwards l. 1. p. 12 13. Brigantes supposed to be the Inhabitants of Yorkshire Lancashire and the other Northern Countries l. 2. p. 42. Their State attack'd by Petilius Caerialis most of which he conquered Id. p. 54. Under the Conduct of a Woman had almost quite destroy'd the Romans Id. p. 60. Breaking in upon Genoani or North-Wales were driven back by Lollius Urbicus Id. p. 68. No mention of them beyond the River Tweed Id. p. 91. Brige now Bruges in Flanders where Earcongota the Daughter of Earcombert a Virgin of great Piety went to be a Nun in a Monastery built there by a Noble Abbess there being at that time not many Monasteries in Britain l. 4. p. 180. Bridgenorth in Shropshire anciently Bricge and the Town is generally called by the common people Brigge at this day l. 5. p. 316. Brightnoth a Monk made Abbot of Elig Monastery where there had been Nuns before l. 6. p. 4. Brihtric when he began to reign over the West-Saxons when he died and where he was buried l. 4. p. 233 242. Married Eadburghe the Daughter of King Offa and for what reason of State Id. p. 235 243. A fuller Account of his Death and Character Id. p. 243. Brihtric accuses Wulfnoth to King Ethelred and pursuing him by Sea loses all his part of the Fleet and how l. 6. p. 33. Britain briefly described anciently called Albion and whence its Name l. 1. p. 1 2. First discovered by the Phoenicians known to the Greeks though Mr. Cambden seems to deny it Who the first Inhabitants l. 1. p. 2 3 4 6 7. Generally speaking no body came hither besides Merchants l. 2. p. 24. Was divided into many Petty States or Principalities in the Romans time and subject to divers Kings l. 1. p. 6. Id. p. 33 39. Invaded by the Emperor Claudius in the Reign of Togodumnus supposed to be the same with Guidar or Guinder Id. p. 38 39. During the Reigns of the succeeding Emperors to Domitian as far as the Friths of Dunbritton and Edinburgh it was entirely redated into the Form of a Roman Province Id. p. 65. Hadrian though he restrained the Limits yet by no means would part with this Province Id. p. 67. Is divided into two Governments by Severus the Emperor Id. p. 73. Continued a Roman Province in Opilius Macrinus his time and had its Propraetors Id. p. 80. The Occasion of Porphyrius the Philosopher's saying That Britain was a Soil fruitful of Tyrants Id. p. 81 91. The Province wholly recovered to the Roman Empire by Constantius and Asclepiodotus after it had been Ten Years in Rebellion Id. p. 84. Great store of good Workmen and excellent Builders in those times of Publick Disturbance Id. p. 85. The ancient Divisions of it alter'd by Constantine Id. p. 88. Reduced to the last Extremities in Valentinian's time Id. p. 92. The Northern Province of it being by Theodosius restored to its former condition he ordered it for the future to be called Valentia in honour of Valentinian the Emperor Id. p. 93. It s History very obscure and uncertain espâ—cially as to the times when things were done from the Death of Maximus to the coming in of the Saxons Id. p. 99. Ow'd its first Ruin to Maximus his carrying over so many Britains and Romans into Gaul Ibid. Bede ascribes the chief Causes of its Ruin to God's Vengeance on the Inhabitants for their great Wickedness and Corruption of Manners l. 3. p. 137. By what means she was brought to the Knowledge of Christ l. 4. p. 152. The present state of it when Bede wrote his History l. 4. p. 221. Though subdued to the Roman Empire yet they used their Victory with moderation making the conquer'd partakers both of their Laws and Civility l. 5. p. 246. Great Britain Edred was the first who stiled himself King of Great Britain in a Charter to the Abbey of Croyland l. 6. p. 351. Britains had no Notion of the Unalterable Right of Succession in the Eldest Brother over all the rest no not after they became Christians l. 1. p. 17. An Account of the Inhabitants their Religion Customs and Manner of living l. 2. p. 21 22 23. Would not suffer their Kings by becoming Tyrants to make their people Slaves l. 1. p. 18 l. 2. p. 22. Not much different in several respects from the naked Indians of some parts of America l. 2. p. 23. Hinder'd the Romans from landing though with much difficulty but being afterwards worsted by them they desired Peace which was granted and Hostages sent but they soon again take up Arms Id. p. 26 27 28. Treat of Peace but now a double number of Hostages being required only two Estates of all Britain sent them Id. p. 29. Their Engagement with Caesar and his Romans in his second Expedition Id. p. 33. Cassibelan is forced to make Peace with
154. When the See remained void for four years l. 4. p. 189. The Ancient Power of the Archbishop of this See as Governor of the Church of England when under the Power of the Pope in Ecclesiastical Matters l. 4. p. 209 210. The City is burnt Id. p. 226 228. The Violence done to it by removing the See from thence to Litchfield Id. p. 234 235. Is restored to its ancient Rights which it had been deprived of by King Offa's taking away all its Lands which lay within the Kingdom of Mercia Id. p. 229 235. By the See of Litchfield's being made an Archbishoprick no more were under this Jurisdiction than the Bishops of London Winchester Rochester and Shireburne Id. p. 235. Forbid on pain of Damnation if not repented of for any one hereafter to violate the Rights of this Ancient See l. 5. p. 248. Is taken by the Danes who then routed Beorthwulf the King of the Mercians and his whole Army Id. p. 261. And is retaken by the Lady Aethelfleda with the Assistance of the King her Brother wherein a great many Danes were killed Id. p. 320. Humbly beseeches a Peace of the Danes which at the Price of Three thousand Pounds is concluded l. 6. p. 33. Is besieged again and taken by the Treachery of the Danes Id. p. 35 36. Caractacus and Togodumnus the Sons of Kynobelin overcome by the Romans l. 2. p. 39. His Engagement with Ostorius Scapula and the Success of it Id. p. 42 43. Though he was taken Prisoner yet his Fame was celebrated as far as Italy Id. p. 43. His Manly Procession at Rome and the Noble Speech he made to Caesar His Pardon and Acknowledgment Id. p. 44. Caradoc or Cradoc Son to Gryffin Prince of South-Wales his barbarous Cruelty and Ill Usage both of the House of Harold Earl of West-Saxony and of his Servants l. 6. p. 93. Carausius a man of mean Parentage who through all Military degrees advanced himself to be Governor of Bononia now Buloigne c. takes on him the Imperial Purple and makes Maximilian to conclude a Peace and yield him up Britain making the Picts his Confederates l. 2. p. 83. Repairs the Pict's-Walls with Castles c. and at last is slain by the Treachery of Allectus Id. p. 84. Carehouse in Northumberland supposed to be Caere in the time of the Saxons l. 4. p. 215. Careticus succeeds Malgo in the Kingdom of the Britains His Character l. 3. p. 148. Carlisle built by Leil in the days of Solomon l. 1. p. 10. Was afterwards by the Romans called Lugubalia Ib. l. 2. p. 66. Carron a River which had its name from Carausius where it is l. 2. p. 84. Carrum now Charmouth in Dorsetshire where a Battel was fought between Egbert and the Danes and the latter kept the field l. 5. p. 256. Another Battel sought there between Ethelwulf and the Danes Id. p. 259. Cartismandua Queen of the Brigantes to whose fidelity Caractacus having committed himself she delivered him up bound to the Roman Victors l. 2. p. 43. Despises her Husband Venutius and a Civil War arising between them the issue of it Id. p. 45 46. Carus Marc. Aurel succeeds Probus in the Empire and invading the Persians dies suddenly l. 2. p. 83. He created his Son Carinus Caesar and gave him the Charge of Britain and the rest of the Western Provinces Is slain by Dioclesian Ibid. Cassibelan by his worthy Demeanour so wrought upon the people that he easily got the Kingdom for himself l. 1. p. 16. But he was not sole King of this Island only a small Inland Prince l. 2. p. 33. In his Reign Caesar landed in Britain but he engaging with him and his Romans was forced to submit to Caesar and to give him Hostages l. 1. p. 19. l. 2. p. 33 34 35. After the departure of the Romans he is said to reign ten years which time he spent in taking revenge on the Citâ—es and States that had revolted from him during his Wars with Caesar Id. p. 36. Cassiterides these Western Islands were so called by the Greeks l. 1. p. 2 3. Castinus sent into Spain by Honorius against the Vandals l. 2. p. 105. Castor the Worthiest Man in Severus his Court and Chief of his Bed-Chamber the same as Lord-Chamberlain with us l. 2. p. 75. Castra Exploratorum a place in Cumberland l. 2. p. 81. Cataract a fair City in Yorkshire burnt by Beornred the Mercian Tyrant l. 4. p. 229. Cattle that are brought into a Town and said to be found how to be disposed of and who to have the Custody of them l. 6. p. 103. Caedda is consecrated Bishop of Litchfield l. 4. p. 189 195. Renews his Ordination according to the Catholick Rites Id. p. 191. Is deprived of his Bishoprick as being unduly elected Id. p. 192. His Death and Character called by us at this day St. Chad Id. p. 193. Ceadwalla Vid. Cadwallo with whom he is confounded as he is also with Cadwallader l. 3. p. 145. l. 4. p. 204. Subdues the Petty Princes of the West-Saxons and takes the Kingdom to himself according to Bede Id. p. 193. Succeeds to the Kingdom of the West-Saxons after the death of Kentwin He was the Grandson of Ceawlin by his Brother Cutha Id. p. 202. Subdues the Isle of Wight and gives the fourth part of his Conquests to God Id. p. 203. He and Moll his Brother waste Kent l. 4. p. 203 204. Goes to Rome and is there baptized by Pope Sergius by the name of Peter but dies soon after and is buried in the Church of St. Peter Id. p. 204 205. Ceawlin and Cutha fight with and drive Ethelbert into Kent l. 3. p. 145 146. And Cuthwi kill three other Kings and take there three Cities Id. p. 145. Fights against the Britains and takes away several Towns from them but is driven out of his Kingdom after one and thirty years reign His Banishment and Character Id. p. 147 148. His Death in Exile Id. p. 149. Vid. Cuthwulf Ceawlin King of the West-Saxons and Ethelfrid fight with Adian wherein Cutha Ceawlin's Son is slain l. 4. p. 159. Ceawlin the second King of the West-Saxons that ruled over all Britain l. 5. p. 254. Cedda ordained a Bishop over the Nation of the East-Saxons l. 4. p. 184. Baptizes Swidhelm King thereof in the Province of the East-Angles Id. p. 189. Cendrythe an Abbess is forced to make satisfaction to Archbishop Wilfrid for the wrongs that King Kenwulf her Father had done to the Church of Canterbury l. 5. p. 253. The same with Quendride where see more of her Cenered King of Mercia or Southumbers succeeds Ethelred by his own appointment who himself resigned and turned Monk l. 4. p. 207 212. Cenwall or Cenwalch succeeds his Father Cynegils in the Kingdom of the West-Saxons and being soon after driven out of it by Penda King of the Mercians he retires to Anna King of the East-Angles and there receives Baptism l. 4. p. 181.
of the Lands and Privileges of Croyland Monastery in a Great Council Id. p. 254. Of King Berthwulf to the Abbey of Croyland confirmed under the Rule of St. Benedict in a Great Council of the Kingdom at Kingsbury Id. p. 261. Of King Edgar about his subduing the greatest part of Ireland with the City of Dublin and to be Lord of all the Isles as far as Norway doubtless fictitious l. 6. p. 12. By an Extract from King Cnute's Charter preserved in the Evidences of that Church the Port of Sandwich is given to Christ-Church in Canterbury with all the Issues c. Id. p. 54. Of King Cnute's to the Monastery of St. Edmundsbury grants and confirms all its Lands and Privileges The Beginning of it somewhat remarkable Ibid. Of the Foundation of the Monastery of Coventry ratified by the Charter of King Edward and a Bull of Pope Alexander Id. p. 72. Of Edward the Confessor to confirm the Foundation of Waltham-Abbey Id. p. 89. The Curia or Great Council of the Kingdom confirm his Charter of Endowment of the Monastery of Westminster part of which is there set down Id. p. 94. Charters and other Writings when they began to be made after the French way Id. p. 98. Chastity Queen Etheldrith though twice married yet would not suffer either of her Husbands to know her l. 4. p. 198 199. An Heroick Example of it in the Abbess of Coldingham Nunnery in Yorkshire l. 5. p. 269. King Edgar perhaps loved it in others though he did not mucâ— practise it himself l. 6. p. 11. Edward the Confessor highly extols his Wife for her Chastity Id. p. 96. Cherbury in Shropshire anciently called Cyricbyrig l. 5. p. 316. Chertsey in Surrey anciently called Ceortesige l. 6. p. 6. Chester anciently called Legions l. 4. p. 164. Legacester l. 5. p. 301. l. 6. p. 8. Concacestre l. 5. p. 286. Called also Caerlegion l. 5. p. 315. And Cunaeceaster l. 6. p. 26. The Place where the Danes took up their Quarters against King Alfred's Forces which made them suffer great extremities l. 5. p. 301. Repaired by the Command of Earl Ethelred and his Wife Ethelfleda Id. p. 315. The Heads of Leofred a Dane and Gryffyth ap Madoc set up on the top of the Tower there Id. p. 321. The Province much spoiled and ruined by the Norwegian Pyrates l. 6. p. 20. Chichester the Bishop's See was formerly at Selsey l. 4. p. 198. Anciently Cisseancester in Sussex where the Danes carried their Prey from Alfred l. 5. p. 300. The Bishoprick was called that of the South-Saxons l. 6. p. 88. Chiltern the Woody Countrey of Bucks and Oxfordshire anciently called Clytern l. 6. p. 34. Chipnam Vid. Cippenham Choisy anciently Cazii signifies a Royal Village it is in France l. 5. p. 290. Christianity first preached in this Island when and by whom l. 2. p. 51 52. When and by whom first preach'd in Germany l. 4. p. 211. Christ-Church in Canterbury had the Port in Sandwich given to it by King Cnute with all the Issues and Profits c. l. 6. p. 54. Chrysanthius the Son of Marcian a Novatian Bishop supposed to be sent into Britain by Theodosius as his Lieutenant l. 2. p. 97. Church Pope Gregory's Determination concerning the Customs of the Church l. 4. p. 156. When their Dues ought to be brought in and the Punishment for Non-Payment of them A Sanctuary to those that fly to it who are guilty of a Capital Crime The Punishment those are to undergo that fight in a Church Id. p. 208. Withred's great care of the Churches in Kent Id. p. 210 211. Are freed from all Publick Payments and Tributes whatsoever Id. p. 212. With how bright a Lustre Religion shined in the Primitive Church l. 5. p. 24â— Alfred's Law entituled The Immunity of the Church Id. p. 292 296 297. The Forfeiture for stealing any thing from thence Id. p. 297. How necessary it was in ancient times for Princes themselves to be blindly obedient to the Discipline of it l. 6. p. 3. Edgar's Law concerning the Immunities of the Church l. 6. p. 13. When Churches in Wales began to acknowledge the Superiority of the Archbishops of Canterbury Id. p. 21. The Original of Coat-Armour its being hung up in Churches from whence supposed Id. p. 57. In all Courts of Civil Pleas Causes concerning Holy Church were to be first determined Id. p. 99. Those that hold of the Church not to be compelled to plead out of the Ecclesiastical Courts unless Justice be wanting there Ibid. The Law concerning those who violate the Peace of it Ibid. When the Church was not excused from paying of Danegelt Id. p. 100. In what cases the Church was to have one Moiety of Treasure-trove Id. p. 101. Cimbric Chersonese now called Jutland l. 3. p. 121. Cimerii and Cimbri derived from Gomer by whom the Ancient Gallia waâ— first inhabited l. 1. p. 4. Cippenham now Chipnam in Wiltshire l. 5. p. 262 283. Cirencester the City besieged taken and burnt and by whom l. 3. p. 148. Civilis sent for by Theodosius to govern Britain as Vice-Praefect l. 2. p. 93. Civil War between Cartismandua and Venutius l. 2. p. 45 46. Between Otho and Vitellius Id. p. 53. Claudia Rufina Wife of Pudens a Senator of Rome l. 2. p. 66. Vid. Rufina Claudian his Verses in De Bello Getico supposed to be designed for the second Departure of the Roman Legions l. 2. p. 101. Claudius the Emperor as he was coming to invade the Britains had twice like to have been cast away by Foul Weather but at last obtains a Victory over them and at his Return to Rome the Senate decree him a Triumph and Annual Games with two Triumphal Arches l. 2. p. 39 40. Lived about three years after his sending Aulus Didius into Britain His Death supposed of Poyson given him by his Wife Agrippina Id. p. 45. A Temple dedicated to him looked on as a Badge of their Eternal Slavery Id. p. 47. Claudius Marc. Aurel. Flav. elected Emperor Gallienus being slain performed several great Actions and dies suddenly l. 2. p. 82. Clergy the British Gildas his Character and Reproof of them l. 3. p. 140. May marry if out of Holy Orders and that they cannot otherwise contain Great care was to be had of their Stipends to make them more diligent in Service And of their Hospitality l. 4. p. 155. To receive no Reward for baptizing or for the other Sacraments Id. p. 225. Several Constitutions made against their committing Offences l. 5. p. 284 285. Their Goods and Possessions established to them by Edward the Confessor's Laws l. 6. p. 99. Chlodius Balbinus Vid. Balbinus Chlorus Constantius adopted Caesar by Maximinian is sent by him against Carausius l. 2. p. 83. Fires his own Ships that so his Soldiers might have no hopes left them of Safety but in Victory Id. p. 84. Chuses the Empire of the Western Provinces whereof Britain was one and puts a stop to the Persecution here raised
by Dioclesian Id. p. 87. Died at York Ibid. Vid. Constantine the Great Cloveshoe a Synod appointed to be assembled there once a year l. 4. p. 193. The Great Synod where were present Ethelbald the Mercian King and Archbishop Cuthbert where the place was is uncertain several Supposals and Conjectures about it Id. p. 224. The second Council held here and what was decreed in it Id. p. 225. The third Council held here under King Kenwulf and what was transacted therein Id. p. 243. l. 5. p. 248. A Synod held here under King Beornwulf and Archbishop Wilfrid whose Constitutions wholly relate to Ecclesiastical Affairs l. 5. p. 253. Another Synodal Council held here by Beornwulf c. wherein some Disputes about Lands between Heabert Bishop of Worcester and the Monastery of Westburgh are determined Ibid. Cnobsbury a Town wherein Fursaeus by the help of King Sigebert erects a Monastery which afterwards Anna King of the East-Angles richly endows l. 4. p. 180. Cnute having obtained the Crown of England restores its ancient Laws and Liberties l. 5. p. 246. Builds a Noble Monastery at Beadricesworth now St. Edmundsbury whither the Body of Edmund the Martyr was removed some time before l. 5. p. 323. Is chosen King by all the Danish Fleet and Army after the Death of his Father Sweyn l. 6. p. 39. Puts the Hostages on Shore at Sandwich that were given to his Father but first cuts off their Hands and Noses Ibid. Plunders all about Wiltshire Dorsetshire and Somersetshire c. and Aedric and the West-Saxons Submission to him Id. p. 40 41 42. Is chosen King by several of the Bishops Abbots and Noblemen of England upon which he comes up with his Fleet to Greenwich to besiege London and the Battels he fought with King Edmund and those that espoused his Interest Id. p. 45 46 47. A Peace concluded on between him and Edmund Ironside with an Account of the Particulars of it Id. p. 47 48. The Council he summoned to London about making him King of all England and setting aside his Children and Brethren from the Kingdom of the West-Saxons Id. p. 49. When he began his Reign divides all England into four Parts or Governments râ—serving West-Saxony to himself Id. p. 50. Marries Emma Widow of the King his Predecessor and the Reason of State for it Goes to Denmark to subdue the Vandals carrying along with him an Army of English and Danes the former behaving themselves so bravely against the Enemy that after that Battel he had the English in as much esteem at his own Native Subjects Holds a Great Council at Cyrencester and what is â—ransacted therein Id. p. 51. A Parliament called by him at Winchester and who present and what decreed therein l. 6. p. 52. Founds the Monastery of Beadricesworth where a Church had been built before and endows it which was one of the Largest and Richest in England Ibid. Goes again into Denmark with his Fleet and engages with the Swedes both by Land and Sea the latter getting the Victory Two years after he drives Olaf out of Norway and conquers it for himself Ranishes Hacun a Danish Earl his Nephew by Marriage under pretence of an Embassy Id. p. 53. Agrees with Robert Duke of Normandy That King Ethelred's two Sons should have half the Kingdom peaceably during his life Gives the Port of Sandwich to Christ-Church in Canterbury with all the Issues c. And founds a Monastery for Benedictines in Norfolk called St. Bennet's in Holme Id. p. 54. Goes to Rome and what he does there he declares in a Letter he sent upon his return from thence into England to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York Id. p. 55. Goes into Scotland and there King Malcolme becomes subject to him Before his Death he appoints Swayn his Eldest Son King of Norway Hardecnute his Son by Queen Emma King of Denmark and Harold his Son by Elgiva King of England after him Id. p. 56 61. Dies at Shaftsbury and is buried at the new Monastery of Winchester having reigned almost Twenty Years His Character A pretty Story about the sense he had of the Vanity of Worldly Empire Id. p. 57. The Laws he ordains with the Consent of his Wise Men at Winchester Id. p. 57 58 59 60. His Laws afterwards confirm'd and renew'd by King Edward the Confessor at the Request of the Northumbers Id. p. 90. Coelestine the Pope sends Palladius the Bishop to the Scots to confirm their Faith l. 2. p. 109 110. Cogidunus held several British Cities of Ostorius Scapula as Tributary to the Roman Empire l. 2. p. 41. Coifi chief of King Edwin's Idol Priests consents to receive the Christian Religion confessing his own to be good for nothing l. 4. p. 173. Burns the Idol Temples and demolishes the Altars of his former Gods Id. p. 174. Coil the Son of Marius succeeds him in Britain loves the Romans and is honoured by them and governs the Kingdom long and peaceably l. 2. p. 67. Dies towards the end of Marcus Aurelius the Emperor's Reign Id. p. 68. Coinage King Athelstan's Law That no Money be coined out of some Town no embasing to be of the Coin under Forfeiture of the loss of the Hand c. l. 5. p. 340. Though not Treason in King Ethelred's time yet punishable at the King's discretion either by Fine or Death l. 6. p. 44. Vid. Money Colchester anciently called Colnaceastre taken from the Danes by the men of Kent Surrey and Essex and the neighbouring Towns The Wall rebuilt and all ruinous places repaired by the Command of King Edward the Elder l. 5. p. 322. Coldingham the Monastery Vid. Monastery of Coludesburgh Coleman Bishop of Lindisfarne departs to Scotland and upon what account l. 4. p. 189. Coludesburgh a great Monastery of Monks and Nuns together called afterwards Coldingham in the Marches of Scotland burnt and how l. 4. p. 198 199. Columba the Priest or Presbyter comes out of Ireland to preach the Word of God to the Northern Picts and receives the Island of Hy to build a Monastery in l. 3. p. 143. Comets one appeared in King Egfrid's time that continued three Months carrying with it every morning a large Tail like a Pillar l. 4. p. 196. Another in Ethelheard's time l. 4. p. 220. One appeared some time after Easter in the year 891. l. 5. p. 298. Another appeared about the time of Queen Ealswithe's Death Id. p. 313. Another was seen in the year 995. l. 6. p. 26. A dreadful one appeared which was visible in all these parts of the world Id. p. 106. Commodus succeeds his Father Marcus Aurelius in the Empire l. 2. p. 68. In his Reign the Britains and other Countries were much infested with Wars and Seditions Id. p. 70. Makes Helvius Pertinax Lieutenant in Britain but was soon dismissed of his Government there Id. p. 70 71 He was odious to the Commonwealth because of his Vices by which he not only destroyed it but disgraced himself Id. p. 71.
Was not long after poysoned by Martia his Concubine Id. p. 72. Commons of England highly probable that they had now their Representatives in the Great Council of the Kingdom and why l. 5. p. 294. Compurgators the Antiquity of them and of what number l. 6. p. 43. Conan Duke of Britain Geoffrey of Monmouth's story of him l. 2. p. 96. Conan Aurelius King of Powis-Land or some other Southern Province l. 3. p. 139 146. Conan King or Prince of North-Wales fights with Howel upon his claiming the Isle of Mon or Anglesey but loses the Victory l. 5. p. 250. Afterwards chases his Brother out of the Isle of Anglesey and compells him to fly into that of Man and a little after dies Id. p. 251. Conan or Kynan a Prince in Possession of South-Wales l. 6. p. 40. The Son of Jago his Enterprize upon North-Wales and the Success of it Id. p. 70. Conan Tindaethwy when he began his Reign over the Britains in Wales l. 4. p. 227. Congal an Abbot of Bangor l. 3. p. 149. Constans the Son of Constantine his Success Declension and Death l. 2. p. 103. Constantine the Great Son of Constantius Chlorus succeeding his Father is saluted Emperor by the whole Army Probably born in Britain Overthrows near Rome the Tyrant Maxentius and declares himself a Christian l. 2. p. 87. Subdues the Britains that had revolted from him Id. p. 87 88. His death and how be divided the Empire Id. p. 88. His Example proposed to King Ethelbert by Pope Gregory l. 4. p. 159. Constantine an Usurper declared Emperor by the Britains for the good Omen of his Name but of what Birth uncertain His Actions and Successes l. 2. p. 102 103. Makes his Son Constans from a Monk Caesar. Settles his Imperial Seat at Arles and hath it called Constantia Id. p. 103. Flings off his Purple Robes and takes Priests Orders in hopes thereby to save his life but all in vain for being carried into Italy he was there beheaded Ibid. The story of his being elected King in Britain very Fabulous and False l. 3. p. 116. Constantine called The Tyrannical Whelp of an Impure Damonian Lioness accused of murthering two Innocent Royal Youths at the very Altar l. 3. p. 139. Builds a Monastery in Ireland and takes on him the Habit of a Monk Id. p. 148. Constantine King of Scots beaten by Athelstane and his Army renews the War with him but is again most miserably beaten l. 5. p. 332 333 334. And at last killed by Singin a Captain of the Worcestershire-men though his Death is denied by the Scotch Historians but he became a Monk and was Abbot among the Culdees of St. Andrews Id. p. 335 336. Constantine the Black Son to Prince Jago hires Godfryd the Dane to engage with him against his Cousin ap Jevaf and what success they met with l. 6. p. 20. Constantius overcomes Magnentius and what Blot is cast upon his Reign by the Severities of Paulus a malicious Inquisitor and Oppressor Calls the Council of Ariminum the most numerous that had ever yet appeared l. 2. p. 89. Dies of a Feaver at Mopsvestia on the borders of Cilicia Id. p. 91. Constantius Comes General to the Emperor Honorius hinders Gerontius from taking of Arles l. 2. p. 103. Corfesgeate now Corfe-Castle in the Isle of Purbeck l. 6. p. 17. Cornwall bestowed by Brute on Corinaeus a Trojan l. 1. p. 9. And Devonshire conquered by Ivour and the various stories of it l. 3. p. 145. Coronation None either before or long after the Conquest took upon them the Title of King till they were crowned And the Ceremony of Coronation was often in ancient times repeated upon some great occasion l. 6. p. 8. Corrodies came first from King Aethelwulph's Last Will whereby he ordained That his Successors through all his own Hereditary Lands should maintain out of every Tâ—n Families one Poor Person with Meat Drink and Apparrel l. 5. p. 264. Coventry derives its Name from the Convent built there by Earl Leofric and his Lady Godiva l. 6. p. 71. How the Town came to be freed from all Taxes imposed upon it by this Lady's riding through it naked at Midnight Id. p. 71 72. Councils of Arles in Gallia when held and what British Bishops were sent to it l. 2. p. 88. Of Nice a great one assembled Anno Dom. 325. at which it appears plain that some of the Bishops of Britain assisted Ibid. Of Sardica when called and wherein appeared the Bishops of Britain Id. p. 89. Of Ariminum called by Constantius the most numerous that ever yet appeared wherein were above Four hundred Bishops of the Eastern and Western Churches The Bishops that were sent to it from Britain Id. p. 89 90. Of Bourdeaux wherein Priscilla and other Hereticks of Maximus his Party being condemned and excomunicated upon their appeal to the Emperor's Tribunal are by him sentenc'd to be beheaded Id. p. 96. Sâ—veral Councils in France and Africa condemn Pelagianism Id. p. 107. A great one called by King Ethelbert of both Clergy and Laity and what transacted therein l. 4. p. 163. Held by King Edwin and his Wise Men concerning the Christian Doctrine and Worship Id. p. 173. Ina's great one of all the Bishops with the Great and Wise Men of the Kingdom the first whose Laws are come down to us entire Id. p. 208. Another great one at Becanceld and what done therein and who present thereat Id. p. 209 210 241. Another held at Berghamsted in Kent and what Laws made therein by the Common and Unanimous Consent of them All they are called the Judgments or Dooms of King Wightred Id. p. 210 211. One in the Kingdom of Kent at a place called Cylling to confirm what had been done in that of Becanceld six years before Id. p. 212. A great one held in the Kingdom of the West-Saxons in which after the death of Bishop Hedda that Bishoprick was divided into two Id. p. 213. A great one called at Verulam now St. Albans wherein the Tribute of Romescot or Peter-pence is confirmed to be paid to the Pope by their general Consent Id. p. 239. Of Cloveshoe under Kenwulf King of the Mercians and what is transacted therein Id. p. 243. Croyland-Abbey its Lands and Privileges confirmed by King Egbert in a great Council l. 5. p. 254. A General one of the whole Kingdom at London under King Egbert and King Withlaff and what done therein Id. p. 257. A Common Council of the whole Kingdom under Egbert King of the West-Saxons where the Grant of the Mannor of Mallings in Sussex formerly bestowed on Christ-Church in Canterbury was confirmed Ibid. The Council of Kingsbury under Berthwulf King of the Mercians who present and what done therein l. 5. p. 261. The Famous and Solemn Grant of King Aethelwulf concerning Tythes and the Form of passing it into an Act in the Great Council of the Kingdom and who the Parties to it Id. p. 262 263. The League or Agreement made
p. 38 39. But he was not very long mindful of his Promise to his Subjects Id. p. 40. Through his Cowardice or Ill Fortune he was constantly attended with ill success Id. p. 41. He is called THE UNREADY and justly by our English Historians His Decease and Burial at St. Paul's Church in London Id. p. 42. His Character and excellent Laws Id. p. 19 42 43. The Issue he had by his Queen Id. p. 38 42. Ethelwald succeeds his Brother Etheler in the Kingdom of the East-Angles l. 4. p. 186. His Death and who succeeds him Id. p. 190. Ethelwald Earl of the East-Angles by what Trick he got Ethelfreda for his Wife from King Edgar but which cost him his Life l. 6. p. 9 10. Ethelward the Third Synod at Cloveshoe was held undâ—r him and twelve Bishops of his Province and what was therein transacted The next year he dies l. 5. p. 248. Ethelwerd King Alfred's Youngest Child bred up at Oxford his Death and Issue l. 5. p. 311. Was learned above that Age. He was buried at Winchester Id. p. 324. Ethelwin Vid. Edwin and Ethelwin Ethelwold Bishop by King Edgar's Command turns out the Chanons at Winchester and places Benedictines in their rooms l. 4. p. 181. His Decease when Id. p. 223. Ethelwold sirnamed Moll when he began to reign over the Northumbers Slays Duke Oswin in a Fight at Edwinscliffe l. 4. p. 228. Is murthered by the Treachery of Alhred who succeded him Id. p. 229. Ethelwulf the Son succeeds Egbert in the Kingdom of the West-Saxons who gave him good Advice how he might be happy in his Kingdom l. 5. p. 257 258. Comes to the Crown by virtue of his Father's Testament His Education and Tutors during his Elder Brother's life His Character and what Kingdoms he made over to Athelstan his Son Id. p. 258. Fights against Five and thirty Danish Ships at Charmouth Id. p. 251. A Son called Aelfred is born to him by Osberge his Wife Id. p. 261. He and Ethelbald his Son with the Forces of the West-Saxons fight with the Pagan Danes and make a greater slaughter of them than ever before Ibid. Assisting Burhred makes the men of North-Wales subject to him Id. p. 262. His Famous and Solemn Grant of Tythes throughout his Kingdom Id. p. 262 263. Goes to Rome carrying Aelfred his Son along with him Id. p. 263. In his return marries Leotheta the Daughter of Charles the Bald King of the Franks Ibid. A most infamous Conspiracy is formed in the West of England against him on the account of his new Wife Id. p. 263 264. Divides the Kingdom which was before united with the Consent of all his Nobility between him and his Son Ethelbald And to prevent Quarrels between his Sons he orders by his Will how his Kingdom should be enjoyed amongst them l. 5. p. 264. By his Last Will grants Corrodies for the Maintenance of Poor People a Yearly Allowance of Three hundred Mancuses to Rome and one hundred of them to the Pope His Death and Burial at Winchester after he had reigned Twenty Years Id. p. 264 265. St. Swithune Bishop of Winchester and Alstan Bishop of Shireborne were this King 's two Principal Counsellors in all Affairs Id. p. 267. Evesham-Abbey concerning the Forging of the Charters about it l. 4. p. 216 217. Is repaired by Leofric with the Consent of his Lady Godiva l. 6. p. 72. Eugenius set up against Valentinian the second by Arbogastes the former's General but he was soon after put to death by Theodosius l. 2. p. 97. Eugenius Prince of Cumberland assists Anlaff against King Athelstan l. 5. p. 334 335. The Scotch call him King of Deira and own he died in this Battel Id. p. 336. Evil Councils bring all the Miserie 's imaginable on a Nation l. 6. p. 23 27 32 35. Europe first peopled by the Posterity of Japhet either from one Alanus supposed to have been his Grandson or from Gomer his Son l. 1. p. 4. Eustatius Earl of Boloigne Edward the Confessor's Brother-in-Law with his Retinue entring Dover and resolving to quarter where they pleased was resisted by the Townsmen upon which ensued a great deal of Bloodshed on both sides l. 6. p. 76. Eutherius Archbishop of Arles Augustine and the Monks recommended to his Care and Protection l. 4. p. 153. Ordains Augustine Archbishop of the English Nation Id. p. 154. Excommunication had in King Withred's time no other Temporal punishment than a pecuniary Mulct l. 4. p. 211. Exeter anciently Exancester Besieged and where King Alfred pursued the Danes l. 5. p. 300 306. The removal of the See from Crediton to this City l. 5. p. 333. Is made a Bishops See instead of Credington in Cornwal at the request of Pope Leo l. 6. p. 78. Exmouth anciently called Exanmuthan l. 6. p. 28. F FAith the first People that were ever Executed by any Christian Prince for meer matters of Faith l. 2. p. 96. False News the spreaders of it against the Government to be punished with loss of Tongue or to Redeem themselves by the value of their Head and to be of no credit afterwards l. 5. p. 294. Famine a dreadful one about the Year CCCCXLVI in Britain l. 3. p. 115. Another among the South-Saxons wherein multitudes of the poorer People perished daily it being said not to have rained in that Countrey for Three years before l. 4 p. 198. A cruel one followed strange Prodigies in the Countrey of Northumberland Id. p. 238. A little after the Death of King Edgar a very great Famine happened l. 6. p. 15 16. In Ethelred the Unready's time so great a Famine raged as England never underwent a worse Id. p. 31. And in the Reign of Edward the Confessor there was another so great here that a Sester of Wheat was sold for Sixty Pence and more Id. p. 72. Farrington in Berkshire anciently called Fearndune where King Edward the Elder died l. 5. p. 324. Fealty or Fidelity the Oath required by Law to be taken by all Persons to King Edmund l. 5. p. 346. King of the Scots Swears Fidelity to King Edmund and all the Northumbrian Lords do the same Id. p. 349. Two joint Princes of North-Wales upon his Grant of it to them Swear Fealty to Edward the Confessor and likewise to Earl Harold l. 6. p. 90. Fee or Feuds the first footsteps of Military Feuds afterwards so much in use amongst the Goths Normans and other Nations l. 2. p. 80. Fee-tayl-Estate much more Ancient than the Thirteenth of Edward the First appears by the Thirty seventh Law of King Alfred concerning Bockland l. 5. p. 295 296. Feologild the Abbot his being said to be chosen Archbishop of Canterbury but certainly a mistake His Death l. 5. p. 255. Fergus the Son of Erk bringing great Supplies of the Scots from Ireland and Norway they came to recover their Countrey With a Relation of Fergus his Action l. 2. p 98. King of the Scots is slain in Battel and by whom
Goths by Honorius l. 2. p. 105. Gemote or Hundred-Court every one ought to be present at it l. 6. p. 13 14. General if his heart fails the Army flies A Cowardly General often makes Cowardly Soldiers l. 6. p. 30 87. Gentlemen of ordinary Estates had in King Alfred's time Villages and Townships of their own as well as the King and the Great Men and they received the Penalties due for Breach of the Peace l. 5. p. 295. Geoffrey of Monmouth is the chief if not the only Author of Brutus and his Successors and his History cried out against almost as soon as published l. 1. p. 6. His story of the British War in Claudius the Emperor's time different frrom the Roman Accounts and wherein l. 2. p. 39 40. A notorious Falshood in him about Severus his Death Id. p. 78. His story of Constantine's being elected King by the Britains proved false l. 3. p. 116. His story as to its truth enquired into of Augustine's persuading King Ethelbert to incite Ethelfrid King of Northumberland to make War on the Britains l. 4. p. 164 165. His Account of Cadwallo's being buried at London and his Body put into a Brazen Statue of a Man on Horseback and set over Ludgate for a Terror to the Saxons all false Id. p. 177. Gerent King of the Britains fights with King Ina and Nun his Kinsman l. 4. p. 215. Is supposed to have been King of Cornwall and why Id. p. 216. Germanus and Lupus sent from France to confirm Britain in the Catholick Faith l. 2. p. 107. His second Voyage to Britain upon the renewed Addresses of the Britains to defend God's Cause against Pelagianism l. 3. p. 117. The Miracle he wrought upon a Magistrate's Son the Sinews of whose Legs had been long shrunk up which by his stroking he restored whole as the other Id. Ibid. Gerontius General to Constans brings all Spain under his Obedience l. 2. p. 103. But being turned out of his Command revolts and sets up Maximus one of his Creatures for Emperor His cruel End Id. Ib. Gessoriacum Portus Iccius in Caesar's time afterwards Bononia and now Buloigne l. 2. p. 31 40. Geta Severus the Emperor's Younger Son Governor of the Southern part of this Island l. 2. p. 75. Is killed by the Treachery of his Brother Bassianus in his Mother's Arms Id. p. 77. And Bassianus had taken the Sirname of Antonini Ib. 79. His Name commanded to be razed out of all Monuments by this his wicked Brother which was done accordingly Id. p. 79. Gethic the ancient Scythic or Gethic Tongue the Mother of the German l. 3. p. 122. Gewisses the Nation of the West-Saxons anciently so called received the Christian Faith in the Reign of Cynegils by the preaching of Byrinus an Italian who came hither by the order of Pope Honorius l. 4. p. 179. Gildas designed not any exact History of the Affairs of his Countrey but only to give a short Account of the Causes of the Ruin of it by the Scots Picts and Saxons l. 3. p. 137. His sharp Invective against the British Kings accusing Five of them of very heinous Enormities Id. p. 139. His severe Character of the British Clergy Id. p. 140 141. That he could not Study at Oxford as is supposed by some for the Pagan-Saxons were then Masters of that part of England l. 5. p. 290. Girwy now Yarrow near the mouth of the River Tyne where a Monastery was built in Honour of St. Paul l. 4. p. 194 205 222. Gisa succeeds Duduc in the Bishoprick of Somersetshire i. e. Wells l. 6. p. 88. Glan-Morgan in Wales had its Name from one Morgan who was driven thither by his Brother Cunedage and there slain l. 1. p. 11. Glappa King of Bernicia Reigned for Two years but who he was or how Descended the Authors are silent in l. 3. p. 144. His Death Id. p. 145. Osgat Glappa the Danish Earl when he was Expelled England l. 6. p. 73. Glass when the Art of making it was first taught the English Nation l. 4. p. 194. Glastenbury Besieged by King Arthur in Gildas his time with a great Army out of Cornwal and Devonshire because Queen Gueniver his Wife had been Ravished from him by Melvas who then Reigned in Somersetshire l. 3. p. 135. The Ancient Registers of this Monastery are not to be wholly slighted as false since King Arthur was there Buried and his Tomb discovered about the end of the Reign of King Henry the Second Id. p. 137. This Ancient Monastery was new built by King Ina with large Endowments and Exemptions from Episcopal Jurisdictions c. l. 4. p. 218 219. King Edmund's Body was brought from a place called Pucklekirk where he was killed hither and here buried l. 5. p. 345. And so likewise King Edgar's with great Solemnity for he had been a very liberal Benefactor to this Monastery l. 6. p. 9. As was Edmund Sirnamed Ironside his Grandson's This was by all the Saxons called Glaestingabyrig Id. p. 48. Gleni a River but where is not by our Authors mentioned l. 4. p. 174. Glewancester now called Gloucester l. 3. p. 145. Glotta and Bodotria two Streights now the Fâ—iths of Edinburgh and Dunbritton in Scotland l. 2. p. 99. God in Bede's time was served in Five several Languâ—ges l. 1. p. 5. Goda Earl of Devonshire marching out with one Strenwald a Valiant Knight to fight the Danes they were both killed l. 6. p. 22. Godfathers answerable for those Children for whom they stand till they come to years capable of Learning the Creed and the Lord's Prayer l. 4. p. 233. Godfred Son of Harold the Dane subdues the whole Isle of Anglesey and spoils all the Land of Dywet with the Church of St. David's c. l. 6. p. 7.20 Godiva a Foundress with her Husband Leofrick Earl of the Mercians of the Monastery of Coventry and how she freed the said Town from the Grievous Taxes imposed on it l. 6. p. 71. Godmundingham the place where an Idol-Temple stood in King Edwin's time not far from York Eastward near the River Darwent l. 4. p. 174. Godwin Earl Governor or Lord Lieutenant of West-Saxony l. 6. p. 61. His Treachery to Alfred one of King Ethelred's Sons whom by a Forged Letter in the Name of Queen Emma his Mother he enticed over into England then made him Prisoner at Guilford and sent him up to Harold and what afterwards became of him and his Six hundred followers his Eyes put out and he not long survived their loss and most of them suffered various kinds of cruel Deaths Id. p. 62 63. Is accused of the Villany by Aelfrick Archbishop of York and how he purchased his Reconciliation to King Hardecnute Id. p. 67. By his Interest gets Edward the Confessor the Brother of the abovementioned Alfred to be Elected and afterwards Crowned King at Westminster Id. p. 69 70. His own and his Son 's great Power in being able to withstand the King and all the Nobility that
very well skill'd in the Holy Scriptures sent to King Alfred out of Mercia l. 5. p. 305 306. West-burgh a Monastery in Worcestershire l. 5. p. 253. West-Chester Vid. Chester Westminster Church and Abbey founded by King Sebert Mellitus the Bishop dedicating it to St. Peter l. 4. p. 166. But being destroyed by the Danes it had ever since lain in Ruins till Edward the Confessor built it anew and had it re-consâ—crated l. 6. p. 93 94 95. The Legend of this Church her having been anciently consecrated by St. Peter Id. p. 93. Charter of Endowment and Privileges of this Church confirmed by the Great Council The Greatest and Noblest of any Foundation in England Id. p. 94. West-Saxons when this Kingdom first began l. 3. p. 133. Were conquered by Cerdic and his Sâ—ns Id. Ib. Who first took upon them the Title of the Kings of the West-Saxons and at last they overcome all the other six Kingdoms Id. p. 136. They fight with Ivor and are put to flight Id. p. 145. Cut off Sebert's three Sons who were all Heirs to the East-Saxon Kingdom l. 4. p. 168 169. Their Conversion by the preaching of Byrinus an Italian Id. p. 179. Anciently called Gewisses Id. Ib. Bishop of the West-Saxons that is of Dorchester Id. p. 203. Their Royal Standard a Golden Dragon Id. p. 226. Are forced to maintain the Danes and what Money they give them besides l. 6. p. 25. Submit to King Cnute and give him Hostages and likewise provide Horses for his Army Id. p. 41. Westwude since called Shireburne l. 4. p. 214. Whalie in Lancashire anciently called Wealaege where a bloody Battel was fought and with whom l. 4. p. 241. Wheat at what rate sold in Hardecnute's time Vid. Sester Whipping a Punishment to be inflicted only on Villains l. 5. p. 285. Whitby in Yorkshire anciently called Streanshale l. 4. p. 189. Whitchurch in Hampshire anciently called Whitcircan l. 6. p. 28. Whitsand an ancient Port Five hundred years before Caesar's time l. 2. p. 31. About the Fourteenth Century was made unserviceable being stopp'd up by the Sands Id. Ib. Wibbendon now Wimbledon in Surrey l. 3. p. 145. Wiccon now Worcestershire l. 4. p. 242. l. 5. p. 247. Widow to remain so a Twelvemonth by King Cnute's Law and if she marry within that time to lose her Dower and all that her Husband left her l. 6. p. 60. Wigbryht Bishop of the West-Saxons goes to Rome about the Affairs of the English Church l. 5. p. 251. Wigheard the Presbyter sent to Rome there to be made Archbishop of Canterbury but died almost as soon as he arrived there l. 4. p. 195 205. Wight is brought under subjection by Titus Vespatian l. 2. p. 41. The Isle anciently called Vecta l. 2. p. 84. Is conquered by Cerdic and Cynric who bâ—stow it on Stufe and Withgar Nephews to the former l. 3. p. 138. Is taken by Wulfher King of Mercia l. 4. p. 188. Received at last the Christian Faith though upon hard terms l. 4. p. 203. The Danes quartering here made it their old Sanctuary l. 6. p. 27 31. Wightred confirms all the Privileges of the Monks of the Church of Canterbury by a Charter under his Hand l. 4. p. 163. Wigmore in Herefordshire anciently called Wigingamere l. 5. p. 321. Wilbrode an English Priest converts several Nations in Germany to the Christian Faith is ordained by the Pope Archbishop of the Frisons l. 4. p. 211. His Episcopal See was the famous Castle anciently called Wiltaburg now Utrecht Id. p. 211 212. Wilfreda a Nun taken out of a Cloyster at Wilton by King Edgar by whom he had a Beautiful Daughter that was afterwards Abbess of the said Monastery l. 6. p. 3 12. St. Wilfrid Bishop of York when he caused the Rule of St. Benedict to be observed in England l. 4. p. 167 168. Wilfrid Abbot chosen unanimously by Oswi's Great Council Bishop of Lindisfarne and how he came to lose it upon his refusing Consecration here at home l. 4. p. 190. Is sent into France to be ordained Id. p. 192. A great Contention between King Egfrid and him so that he was expell'd his Bishoprick Id. p. 196. He appeals to Rome and what the success thereof Id. p. 197. By his preaching converts the South-Saxons Id. p. 198. Receives of Ceadwallo as much Land in the Isle of Wight as maintain'd 300 Families Id. p. 203. Is recalled home by King Alfred and restored in a General Synod to his Sees of York and Hagulstad Id. p. 204 213. Is a second time expelled by Alfred and why Id. p. 205 206. Three times deprived the first time unjustly but whether so the other two is doubtful His Decease at Undale and Burial at Ripon in Yorkshire Id. p. 214 215. His Character Is the first Bishop in that Age that ever used Silver Plate Id. p. 215. An Account of his building the Monastery of Ripon l. 5. p. 350. The second Bishop of York of that name his Death l. 4. p. 224. Wilfrid or Wulfred consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in the room of Ethelward deceased and the next year received his Pall l. 5. p. 248. Goes to Rome about the Affairs of the British Church Id. p. 251. His Death and the different Account who succeeded him Id. p. 255. William the Son of Robert Duke of Normandy by Harlotte his Concubine afterwards King of England to whom recommended whilst his Father made his Pilgrimage to Jerusalem l. 6. p. 54. When he began to reign in Normandy Id. p. 56. The great Battel at Vallesdune in Normandy upon his account Id. p. 74. His coming over into England and noble Reception here with Edward's promising to make him his Successor Id. p. 79. Takes the City of Man l. 6. p. 89. Sets Harold at liberty who was detained by the Earl of Ponthieu contracts Friendship with and betroths his Daughter to him Id. p. 92. Harold promises upon King Edward's death to deliver up Dover-Castle to him and procure his Succession to the Throne Id. Ib. Could have no pretence to the Crown of England by Blood Id. p. 96 97. His great Preparations to invade England and the reasons why first acquainting the Pope with his Design and receiving his Answer with the account of his craving Aid of his People and Neighbour Princes Id. p. 107 108 109. His coming over and landing at Pevensey and Preparations for a Battel but first sends a Monk to Harold with Proposals which he by no means would hearken to Id. p. 110 111. The manner how he drew up his Army in order to fight him Id. p. 112. By seeming to retreat he gets the Victory wherein Harold is slain Id. p. 212 213. Having got Harold's Standard which was curiously embroider'd he sends it to the Pope Id. p. 113. Sends Harold's Body as soon as it was found to his Mother Id. p. 114. Wills Last Vid. Testament Wilton near Salisbury supposed anciently to be Ellendune where a great Battel was fought between
Egbert King of the West-Saxons and Beornwulf King of the Mercians the latter being beaten l. 5. p. 253. Both Town and County take their names from the River Willie Id. p. 276. Wiltshire-men gain the Victory over the Worcestershire-men or Mercians l. 5. p. 247. Wina Vid. Wini. Winandermere anciently called Wonwaldermere a Village by the great Pool in Lancashire l. 4. p. 236. Winchelcomb a Monastery in Gloucestershire for Three hundred Benedictine Monks founded by Kenwulf King of the Mercians and its Consecration l. 4. p. 242. l. 5. p. 251. Kenelm his Son martyr'd by his Sistâ—r Quendride after his Body was found was brought hither and buried in the Church of this Abbey l. 5. p. 252. Winchester anciently called Caer-Guent by whom it is first pretended to be built l. 1. p. 10. The Old Church there commanded to be built by King Cenwall l. 4. p. 181. The Bishoprick is resigned by Daniel by reason of his Old Age to Hunferth Id. p. 224. Is taken from King Ethelbert by the Danes l. 5. p. 266. The Consecration of the New Monastery here l. 5. p. 312. A Great Council held here concerning the turning out of the Monks l. 6. p. 16. Winchester-Measure to be the Standard l. 6. p. 14. Winfrid Bishop of the Mercians deposed by Archbishop Theodore and why l. 4. p. 194. Wini or Wina made Bishop of the West-Saxons and the Province being divided into two Diocesses he is settled in that of Winchester l. 4. p. 182 188. But being driven from his See by King Kenwalch goes and purchases the See of London of King Wulfher The First Example of Simony here Id. p. 191. Wipha or Wippa the Son of Cryda succeeded his Father in the Kingdom of the Mercians l. 3. p. 148. Wir a River in the Bishoprick of Durham l. 4. p. 194. Wiregild is a satisfaction made by a Murtherer to the Friends of the Party slain l. 4. p. 211. The Valuation of a Man's Head l. 5. p. 341. Wiremouth a Monastery built by Abbot Benedict l. 4. p. 194 205. Witchcraft King Athelstan's Law against it l. 5. p. 340. Wite a Fine or Mulct to be paid by the English and Danes upon the violating of their Laws l. 5. p. 284 285. Witena-Gemote their large Authority not only in assenting to new Laws but in their Judicial Power in giving Judgments upâ—n all Suits or Complaints brought before them as well in Appeals between Subject and Subject as when the King himself was a Party l. 6. p. 83. It outlaws and convicts Earl Aelfgar upon a Charge of being a Traytor to the King and the whole Nation Id. p. 86. Witerne a Bishopriâ—k called in Latin Candida Casa belonging to the Kingdom of Northumberland l. 4. p. 201 231. St. Withburg her Body found at Durham entire and uncorrupt after she had been Fifty five years buried l. 4. p. 242. Withgar Nephew to King Cerdick with Stufe put the Britains to flight l. 3. p. 135. His Death and Burial at Withgarasbyrig supposed Caresbrook-Castle in the Isle of Wight Id. p. 138. His Constitutions of the Church confirmed in the Synod called by Archbishop Ethelheard l. 4. p. 241. He and Stufe first Princes of the Isle of Wight l. 5. p. 261. Withlaff an Ealdorman of Mercia created King by the Consent of all the People l. 5. p. 253. Reigns Thirteen Years as Tributary to King Egbert Id. p. 254. Is expelled and upon what account where he lay concealed till he procured Egbert's Reconciliation upon which he was restored paying a Yearly Tribute Ib. Ib. The Privileges and Concessions of this King to the Monastery of Croyland confirmed in a General Council held at London and who were present in it Id. p. 257. His Decease and who succeeded him Id. p. 259. Withred by his Piety and Industry freed Kent from Foreign Invasions l. 4. p. 205. King of Kent elected by the General Consent of his Subjects and held it thirty years l. 4. p. 209. Holds a great Council at Becancelde and who were there present and what was transacted Id. p. 210. Another at Berkhamsted in Kent and what Laws were made there Id. p. 211. His Death His Children and Character Id. p. 218. Wittereden signifies a certain Fine or Forfeiture l. 5. p. 262. Woden King of a City in Asia called Asgard dies in Swedeland counted a great Magician and after his Death is worshipped as a God l. 3. p. 121. Brought back the Goths out of Asia into Europe Ib. p. 122. Wodensbeorge now Wodensburg a little Village in Wiltshire l. 3. p. 148. Wolves a Tribute of so many Wolves Heads to be paid to King Edgar instead of that in Money for his concluding a Peace with North-Wales l. 6. p. 4. Woodstock in Mercia where King Ethelred made several Excellent Laws with the Assistance of his Great Council l. 6. p. 42 43. Worcester anciently was called Vectij l. 4. p. 160 230. Bofel being ordained Bishop of the Wiâ—ij had his See here Id. p. 199 200. The First Bishop hereof was Talfride a Learned Monk but he died before Ordination Id. p. 200. Thiâ— Church was first founded by Athelred King of the Mercians Id. Ib. The City plunder'd and burnt and the Countrey wasted by Hardecnute and why l. 6. p. 67. The Shire anciently called Wicon l. 4. p. 242. l. 5. p. 247. Wounds and Maims King Alfred's Law concerning them l. 5. p. 296. Wulfheard an Ealdorman at Southampton fights 33 Danish Pyrates and makes there a terrible slaughter of them Id. p 258. Wulfhelme consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury l. 5. p. 329. His Decease and who succeeds him Id. p. 333. Wulfher succeeds his Brother Peadda and greatly enriches the Abbey of Medeshamsted with Lands and other Endowments l. 4. p. 186 187. Is proclaimed King by the Ealdormen of Mercia takes the Isle of Wight with the Countrey of the Meanvari Id. p. 188. Fights with Aescwin at Bedanheafde Id. p. 195. Concerning his Baptism and the ridiculous story of his murthering his two Sons with his own hands as also his Death Id. Ib. Wulfher Archbishop of York is expelled by the Northumbers but restored to it the next year after l. 5. p. 277. His Decease Id. p. 299. Wulfnoth Father of Earl Godwin being impeached before King Ethelred and escaping and running away with some of his Ships turns Pyrate and does a world of mischief by burning the rest of the Fleet that had escaped Shipwreck l. 6. p. 33. Wulfric Vid. Spot Wulstan is wickedly slain by his Cousin Berthferth Son of Bertwulf King of Mercia and his Body buried at the Monastery of Rependun in Derbyshire l. 5. p. 261. Wulstan Archbishop of York is made a close Prisoner at Witharbyrig by King Edred and for what but because of his Function he is afterwards pardoned and restored l. 5. p. 350. His Decease Id. p. 355. Wulstan Archbishop of York consecrates Ethelnoth a Monk and Dean of Canterbury Bishop l. 6. p. 51. His Decease and who succeeds him Id. p.