Peace he had found most faithfull for his Warres and so arriued at the Mount Grampius where the Britaines had lodged themselues before and as men nothing deiected by the vnfortunate chance of the former battaile had now prepared themselues attending only for Reuenge or Seruitude And being taught that common danger must be repelled with mutuall Concord by Leagues and Embassages they assembled the power of all their Cities together aboue thirtie thousand armed men as by view was taken besides an endlesse number of youth which daily flocked vnto them and many lustie Old men renowmed in the former warres and bearing the Badges due to their honour at what time Galgacus for vertue and birth of all the Leaders the Principall man seeing the multitude hotly demaund the Battell is said to haue vsed this or the like speech 8 When I behold this present Assemblie and consider the cause of this instant necessitie I haue reason to presume that this day and this our agreement in consent will giue a happie beginning to our freedome and an end of troubles vnto our Iland For wee which inhabite these furthest Promontories know no Land beyond vs whereunto wee may flie nor no Seas left vs now for safetie the Romane Nauie thus as you see surueying our Coasts So that combat and armes which men of valour desire for honour the very dastard of force must now vse for his securitie Wee that are the flower of the British Nobilitie and are seated here in the vttermost part of the I le saw neuer yet the borders of those Countries which serued in slauerie our eies being vnpolluted and free from all contagion of Tyrannie Our former Battailes fought with the Romanes had their euents yet so that refuge and hope rested still in our hands wee haue hitherto liued in libertie whereas none beside vs are free vs hitherto this Corner and secret recesse hath defended now the Vttermost point of our Land is laid open and things the lesse they haue beene within knowledge the greater the glorie is to atchieue them But what Nation is there now beyond vs what else see we but Water and Rocks and the Romanes within Land-lords of all nay rather Robbers of all both in Land and Sea whose intollerable pride by humble subiection in vaine shall wee seeke to auoid If the Country bee rich they seeke to winne wealth if poore to gaine glorie but neither East nor west can satisfie their greedie affection much lesse this cold North can set an end to their desires To kill to spoile and take away by force that falsely they terme Empire and Gouernement and when all is made a waste wildernesse that they call Peace Most deare vnto man are his Children and blood but those are pressed for their warres and serue as their slaues we know not where our Goods are their tributes our Corne their prouision our Wiues Sisters and Daughters in Warre violently forced in Peace vnder title of friends and guests shamefully abused and our own Bodies worne consumed in pauing of Bogs and other seruile drudgeries with thousands of stripes and many indignities more Slaues which are borne to bondage are sold but once and after are fed at their Owners expences but Britanie daily buyeth daily feedeth and is at charges with her owne Bondage We are the last to be conquered and therefore is our destruction most sought as being the most vile in account No Fields we haue to manure no Mines to be digged no Ports to trade in and to what purpose then should they reserue vs aliue Besides the Manhood and fierce courage of the subiect pleaseth not much the iealous Soueraigne and this Corner being so secret and out of the way the more securitie it yeeldeth vs in them it workes the greater suspition Then seeing all hope of sauour is past let vs take courage to defend and maintaine our owne safetie as well as our honour The Icenians led by a Woman fired the Colonie forced the Castles and if that luckie beginning had not beene ended in a carelesse security the Southerne Britaines might with ease haue shaken off the yoake We as yet neuer touched neuer subdued and borne to bee free not slaues to the Romans wee I say now are to make proofe of our valour and to shew in this encounter what men Caledonia hath reserued for her selfe And do you thinke that the Romanes are as valiant in Warre as they are wanton in Peace I assure you nothing lesse for not by their Vertues but by our Iarrings they are growne into fame and of the enemies faults they make vse to the glory of their owne Armie composed we know most of diuers Nations and therefore as in prosperitie they hold not alalwaies together so doubtlesse if fortune turne aside their seruices will appeare vnlesse you suppose the Gauls and Germanes and to our shame be it spoken many of our owne Nation which now lend their liues to establish a forraine Vsurper bee lead with hearts affection whereas contrariwise it is apparant that Terrour and Distrust weake workers to conserue loue are the onely cause which once remoued then those that haue made an end to feare will soone begin to hate All things that may incite vnto victorie are for vs the Romanes haue no Wiues to harten them on if they faint no Parents to vpbraid them if they flie most of them haue no Countrie at all or if they haue it is by intrusion taken from others A few fearefull persons stand here before vs trembling and gazing at the strangenesse of the heauen it selfe at the Sea and at the Woods whom the Gods haue deliuered mewed vp and fettered into our hands Let not their braue shewes of glistering Gold or Siluer any way dismay you which of themselues neither offend nor defend And be you well assured amongst our enemies wee shall finde many on our side The Britaines will agnize their owne Cause The Gauls will remember their wonted libertie and former estate And the rest of the Germanes will leaue and forsake them as of late the Vsipians did What then shall we feare The Castles are emptie the Colonies peopled with aged and impotent persons the free Cities discontent and in factions whilest those which are vnder obey with ill will and they which doe gouerne rule against right Here you see before vs is the Generall and the Armie on each side Tributes Seruitudes and other miseries inseparable which whether we shall continue for euer or cast off subiection as free-borne Britaines it lyeth this day in this Field and your approued manhoods Wherefore I beseech you in ioyning Battell beare in your Minds your worthy Ancestors your Selues and following Posterities which if you faile shall for euer liue in subiection and slauerie 9 This speech was so vehemently deliuered and so cheerefully of them all receiued that with songs and confused acclamations after
was a Saxon in whose behalfe his penne hath somewhat passed the bounds of equitie if not veritie in charging this most valiant Conqueror with tyranny and his Martiall Sword with crueltie that was drawne and strucke in defence of his natiue Country wherein the Saxons claime stood only vpon vniust intrusion So likewise himselfe being a Monke and Priest hath euery where blamed the Britaines for dissenting from the Roman Church in celebration of Easter and other Ceremonies whereas in doctrine they were as sincere which is the true substance of the Gospell But the Britaines record that this valiant Cadwallâ—… died not in Heuenfeild neither by the hand of King Ofwald but that he raigned in great honour the space of eight and fortie yeeres and in peace died 22. of Nouember in the yeere of Christ Iesus six hundred seuentie seuen His body the Britaine 's buried in S. Martins Church in London neere Ludgate whose Image great and terrible triumphantly riding on horsebacke being artificially cast of Brasse they placed vpon the same West gate to the further feare and terror of the Saxons as Vortimer before had commanded his at Stonar But this relation as also that he married the sister of King Penda as my often named Manuscript reporteth I leaue to the best liking of my Reader About this time the most blasphemous doctrine of Mahomet began to infect all the Easterne World For although himselfe liued some nine yeeres before the gouernment of this Cadwallo yet presently after his death his doctrine was more publikely imbraced He was borne in Arabia of a poore and base stocke and being fatherlesse was sold for a bondslaue vnto an Ismaelite whose name was Abdemonaples a man of exceeding great riches and in great trade of merchandizing and Mahomet for his subtiltie in wit was his fit instrument and greatly in his fauor The Master dying left Mahomet his chiefe Factor who hauing great riches in his keeping married his Mistris and so became heire of all with whom consorted one Sergius a Monke which for heresie was fled into Arabia who instructed Mahomet in the heresie of the Nestorians and now for his wealth and Magicall Arts wherewith hee bewitched the minds of the people assumed to himselfe the name of the great Prophet of God and began to be famously published for the doctrine which he taught the which was none other but a confused Chaos of all the heresies that had been before him for with the Sabellians he denied the Trinitie with the Manichies he affirmed but two persons to bee in the Deity with Eunomius hee denied the equalitie of the Father and the Sonne and with Macedone taught that the Holy Ghost was a creature He borrowed of the Iewes Circumcision of the Nicholaitans pluralities of wiues and of the Gentiles much Superstition and more to cloake his diuellish inuented fantasies somewhat he tooke from the veritie of the Gospell Of these compounded he deuised a Law and wrote this his Religion in the booke called his Alcaron and those his Professors he named Saracens from Sara the wife of Abraham Hee died of the falling sicknesse which long time hee had dissembled saying forsooth after his trances that the Angell Gabriel had conference with him the brightnesse of whose glorie hee could not behold CADWALLADER 13. CAdwallader the sonne of Cadwallo and last King of the Britaines after the death of his Father succeeded him in his dominions and with great valour fought against the Saxons as hee of Monmouth affirmeth of whom heare him speake in his owne words Cadwalader saith he raigning victoriously the time of twelue yeeres fell lastly into a dangerous sicknesse with despaire of recouery and vnable to gouerne Much debate and strife arose among his great Lords and others of high estate insomuch that they warred each against others to the no small annoiance and detriment of the whole Country At which very time likewise so great a dearth of corne and victuall raigned that herbes and roots were the Commons chiefest sustenance whos 's third calamitie was mortalitie and pestilence raigning so sore and so suddenly that in their eating drinking walking and speaking they were surprised with death and in such number that the liuing were scarce able to bury the dead which miseries lasted no lesse then eleuen yeeres continuance whereby the Land became desolate and brought forth no fruit at all insomuch that the King and many of his Nobles were driuen to forsake their natiue Country and to seeke releefe in forraine parts Cadwallader repaired to the Court of Alan his cosen the King of Little Britaine in France where he was honourably receiued and maintained But now the Angeâ—… 〈◊〉 God sheathing his sword from slaughter and 〈◊〉 earth answering man againe with her former abundance those Saxons that were escaped sent for more of their Nation to their further supplie who replenished the Cities and manured the Countrey at this day called Lhoyger containing all the Land that lay on the East of Seuerne and Dee dispossessing the poore Britaines of their rightfull inheritance and diuiding their Lands vnto their owne vse Cadwallader hearing of their daily arriuage and their vniust intrusion vpon his home-bred subiects minded their redresse by his present returne and to that end had wrought King Alan for his succour assistance But see how it chanced He being now ready to imbarke his Host and to hoise vp his sailes for Britaine and in the silent night much spent in praier supplication that God would prosper with good successe these his great affaires behold an Angell appeared to him or at leastwise to his seeming he heard a voice that forbade him the enterprise declaring that it was not Gods will that hee should vndergoe that Voiage or that the Britaines should rule their Land any longer but contrariwise bade hie him to Rome and of Pope Sergius receiue the habit of Religion wherein hee should die and rest in peace This dreame for I hold it no other being told vnto Alan search was made into the Bookes of both the Merlines as also into the speech of the Eagle at Shaftesbury pronounced eight hundred and eighty yeeres before the birth of our Sauiour Christ if wee doe beleeue these to be true wherein it was prophecied forsooth that the Britaines should lose their Kingdome and that the same should be possessed of others vntill the time that the bones of Cadwallader should bee brought from Rome By such toies and illusions in those daies of darknesse the euer-erring minds of men were content to be lead for not onely Cadwallader a quiet and meeke-spirited man was possessed with this conceit that it came vnto him by a diuine prouidence but also King Alan perswaded him to obey his Oracle and thereupon preparing for his Pilgrimage gaue ouer his expedition for Britaine and left his distressed Subiects to bee ouer-runne by strangers and the Land to bee enioied by a forraine Nation and receiuing the habit of seeming Religion
Inhabitants saith hee haue also consented to the word which is planted in euery heart in honour whereof they haue erected their Temples and Altars And againe Those Britaines saith hee which had formerly fed vpon humane flesh making no difference betwixt the blood of man and beast now through the power of the word by them embraced haue learned the law of true pietie and giue themselues to a religious abstinence and holy fasts Of which Barbarisme S. Ierome also complained that some of those Nations vsed to eat the buttocks of boies and Paps of Virgins which in their Feasts were serued for the daintiest dishes But elsewhere speaking of the Britaines conuersion he saith that they had turned themselues from their westerne Paganisme and now had diâ—…ected their faces towards Ierusalem in the East whose beautie shined in the word of God 13 And thus wee see by the planting of the Gospell in this Iland the saying of the Psalmist accomplished that God would giue his sonne Christ the Heathen for his inheritance and the Ends of the Earth the proper attribute of this our Britaine to be his possession And the successe in Historie most apparantly sheweth these parts by an especiall prerogatiue to bee Christs Kingdome For albeit that Ierusalem and Antioch may rightlie claime the precedencie of all other places the one being as it were the chamber where Christians were first borne and the other the font where they were first Christened with that most sacred name yet britaine in some other graces hath outstript them all hauing the glory to be graced with the first Christian King that euer raigned in the world which was our renowned Lucius the first fruits of all the Kings that euer laid their Crownes at the foot of our Sauiours Crosse as also for producing the first Christian Emperour that euer by publike authoritie established the Gospell thorow the world which was Constantine the Great borne and brought vp heere in Britaine by Queene Helena a most vertuous and religious British Lady vnto whose daies the succession of Christianitie did heere continue as by the martyrdomes of many Saints vnder Dioclesian is apparant Heerein also raigned the King that first vncrowned the head of the vsurping Beast and triple-headed Cerberus and freed the Land from his deuouring Locusts putting downe Idolatrie with Hezekiah that brake the Brasen Serpent and with Isaack new digged the Wels that those Philistines had stopped And lastly hath this Iland produced that most royall and Christian Monarke whose learned pen hath first depainted Antichrist and pierced the heart of all Papall Supremacie as the sword of Gedeon did Zalmunna the Image of trouble King of Madiaâ—… And as a Lion hath he met that crooked Serpent in the way of his vsurped authoritie whereby in short time vndoubtedly the Kall of his heart will be broken if other Potentates likewise by his most godly example cast off the yoke of vassallage and in their seuerall Dominions gouerne as free Princes ought the people that GOD hath committed to their charge So that in those and many other the like Princes of this happy Iland most properly is performed that propheticall promise made vnto the Church of Christ that Kings should become her nursing Fathers and Queenes should be her nursing Mothers Of both which may be truly said to Britaine in imitation of that of Salomon Many kingdomes haue done gloriously but thou hast surmounted them all 14 And of such power hath Christ beene in these His Possessions that euen the Hostile Kings and Conquerours thereof were they neuer so sauage and Idolatrous at their first entrance yet when they here had seated for a time they became milde and religious and gladly submitted their hearts to the Religion of those whose necks themselues held vnder the yoke of subiection 15 Such were the Romans in this Iland whose Deputies at the day-spring almost of Christianitie were conuerted as Trebellius Pertinax and others which submitted themselues to that profession and were motiues to King Lucius more publikely to maintaine the same as also Constantius the father of great Constantine that here in Britaine permitted the profession of the Gospell with the erections of Churches for the true seruice of God and prohibited the superstitious worships of the Gentiles 16 The Saxons after them in time but not in Idolatrie had neuer tasted the liuing waters of Siloh till they were here seated in Christs Possession where they changed their affections as farre from their wonted manners as did the Messengers to Iehu which turned after his Chariot to destroy the Altars of Baal or as Saul and his seruants who no sooner had entred Naioth in Ramah but that their spirits were ioined to the Prophets and the heat of their furie with their garments cast downe at Samuels feet 17 The Danes likewise their Conquerours and Successors in this Royall Throne euer vntill then were both bloudy and barbarous and therefore of all our Writers commonly called the Pagan Danes whose many desolations and ruines remaine as records of their cruelties in many places euen vnto this day yet being a while in this Land King Guthurn with thirtie of his chiefe Princes and people were drawen by the valour and vertue of King Alured to receiue the Christian Faith by whose bounty thereupon they enioied the possession of a faire portion of this Kingdome And afterward Canutus their greatest King no sooner almost had this Imperiall Diademe set vpon his head but that hee held it his chiefe Maiestie to be the vassall of Christ confessing him only to be King of Kings and with such religious deuotion as then was taught crowned the Crucifix at Winchester with the Crowne he wore and neuer after thorow all his raigne by any meanes would weare the same and the Danes his Souldiers remaining in England began by little and little to embrace Christianity and in short time were al conuerted to the Faith Thus then we see the happie increase of these holy seeds springing from the furrowes of this blessed ground and the Tents of Seâ—… to be spread vpon the Mountaines of Britaine wherein God according to his promise perswaded vs who are of Iapheth to dwell 18 As hitherto we haue searched the first foundation of our Faith so neither want wee testimonies concerning the continuance of the same in this Land vnto following Posterities although the iniurie of Time and Warre haue consumed many Records For the Britaines that were daily strengthned in their receiued faith by the Doctrine of many learned and godly men left not their first loue with the Church of Ephesus but rather tooke hold of their skirts as the Prophet speaketh vntill the tortures of Martyrdome cut them off by death And those Fathers euen from the Disciples themselues held a succession in Doctrine notwithstanding some repugnancie was made by the Pagans and preached the Gospell with good successe
she abused her body by committing of adultery and was shortly expelled and in beggerly misery ended her life as by manie that so saw her we haue heard it reported saith Asserius mine Author For this her most hainous crime whereby was procured the murther of her Husband the West-Saxons ordained a Law to the great preiudice of all their Queenes succeeding that none of them should haue either title maiestie or place of roialtie which was seuerely executed for many yeeres after In the daies of this Brithrik many prodigies appeared and more perhaps then will be beleeued For it is reported that in his third yeere a shower of bloud rained from heauen and bloudy crosses fell vpon mens garments as they walked abroad And in his tenth yeere were seene fiery Dragons flying in the ayre Which wonders some tooke to be presages of the miseries following both by the Inuasions of the Pagan Danes that in these times were first seene to arriue in this Iland and the extreme Famine that afterwards happened howsoeuer sure it is that the Heptarchy now beganne to set in the West and the rising Monarchy to appeare in King Egbert whose acts and issue shall be further rehearsed when wee shall come to the time of his succession among the English Monarchs THE EAST-SAXONS KINGDOME THE CIRCVIT SVCCESSIONS OF THEIR KINGS THEIR ISSVES AND KINGDOMES CONTINVANCE CHAPTER VIII THe site of the East-Saxons Kingdom was the Country of Essex Middlesex and part of Hartfordshire and the Circuit so far as the Diocesse of London now extendeth It was bounded on the East with the Ocean on the South with the Thames on the West with the Colne and on the North with the Riuer Stowre The Kings thereof claime their descent from Prince Woden not as all the rest of the Saxon Kings but onely by a collaterall line and Erchenwine became the first King which neuerthelesse he held as Feodarie to the Kings of Kent For which cause it seemeth that Malmsbury mentioneth him not in the Catalogue of those Kings but maketh his sonne Sledda the first and tenth in descent from Woden ERchenwine is said to bee the Sonne of Offa the sonne of Bedca the sonne of Sigefuget the son of Sneppa the sonne of Awpig the sonne of Supig the sonne of Seaxnod from whom all these Kings fetch their originall His Kingdome began about the yeere of grace 527. and in the fifteenth of Eske the second King of Kent and his raigne long but yet without any memorable acts dying in the yeere 586. and leauing his sonne to succeede in his place SLedda the sonne of Erchenwine succeeding in the East-Saxons Kingdome raigned peaceablie without mention of any warres for hauing married Ricula the daughter of Imerik King of Kent was thereby the more fauoured of them and feared of others and nothing left besides his quiet raigne to be recorded to posterities neither are many yeeres of successions numbred but as they are gathered from the Computations of other princes with whom they either liued or were linked in action This Sledda died about the yeere of our Redemption 596. and left issue by his wife Queene Ricula Sebert who succeeded him in the Kingdome and Segebald his brother whose Sons afterward were Kings of that Prouince SEbert the sonne of Sledda and of Queene Ricula beganne his Raigne in the yere of Christs Incarnation 596. and in the thirtie six yeere of the raigne of King Ethelbert of Keâ—… his mothers brother at that time Monarch of the English-men who in Seberts chiefe citie London a Princelie Mart Towne saith Beda of many people ariuing thither both by sea and land new built a Church making it the Cathedrall of Bishop Miletus and so wrought with King Sebert that hee conuerted him to Christianitie and assisted him in that Foundation where formerlie say some had stood the Temple of Diana This Church these new Conuerts and Saxon Kings either new reared or inlarged for the honour and seruice of God and dedicated vnder the name of Saint Paul which worke Ethelbert further confirmed with sufficient maintenance as by this his Charter is seene containing these words Aethelbert Rex Deo inspirante pro animae suae remedio dedit Episcopâ—… Mileto terram quae appellatur Tillingham ad Monasterium siue Solatium scilicet S. Pauli Et ego Rex Aethelbert ita firmiter concedo tibi Praesuli Mileto potestatem eius habendi possidendi vt in perpetuum in Monasterij vtilitate permaneat c. And that this was the Temple of Diana some haue further confirmed vnto vs by the incredible number of Oxe-heads there digged vp in the daies of King Edward the First when the east-east-end of that Church was enlarged which were supposed to be of those Beasts that were there sacrificed to this Goddesse Diana These Kings likewise founded the Church of S. Peter in the West of London at a place called Thornye where sometimes stood the Temple of Apollo as Sulcardus affirmeth which being ouerthrowne by an Earth-quake King Lucius new built for the celebration of Gods seruice and that againe being decaied those Kings restored it to a greater beautie where Sebert after thirteene yeeres raigne as some write with Aethelgoda his Queene were buried whose bodies in the daies of Richard the Second saith Walsingh were translated from the old Church to the new and there interred Hee had issue by the said Queene Sered Seward and Sigebert whose liues and deaths were as followeth SEred Seward and Sigbert the sonnes of King Sebert raigned as it seemeth together in the Kingdome of the East-Saxons all three wicked irreligious men and deadly enemies to the Christian Profession These contumeliously presuming to the Lords Table and holy Sacrament of his Body and Bloud were prohibited by Bishop Miletus because they were Idolaters and vnbaptized which repulse they tooke so offensiuely that they expulsed Miletus who therupon fled into France But their impietie was not long vnrewarded for fighting against Kingils and Qinchelinus his sonne Kings of the West-Saxons were by them ouercome and in battle slaine about the yeere of Grace 623. as by the learned Sir Henry Sauile is calculated whose account for these times I altogether follow SIgebert the little the sonne of Seward the second sonne of King Sebert entred his raigne ouer the kingdome of the East-Saxons the yeere of Christ 623. of whose affaires little matter is left for vs to relate sauing that hee hauing both a Brother and a Sonne yet his Kingdome was succeeded by neither but by one Sigibert his Cosen-German once remooued SIgibert the sonne of Segebald the brother of Sebert the sonne of King Sledda and of Ricula his Queene succeeded his kinsman in the Kingdome of the East-Saxons This Sigibert reduced againe his Prouince vnto the embracing of the Christian Faith being daily instigated thereunto by Oswie King of
was maried to Hugh surnamed the Great Earle of Paris Grand-master and Constable of France in the yeere of our Lord 926. being the third of her brother King Ethelstanes raigne This Hugh was the sonne of Robert brother to Endes King of France and father of King Hugh Capet progenitor of the Kings of France eueâ—… sithence vnto this day but shee died before him without any issue by him 22 Edgith the sixth daughter of King Edward and the fifth of Queene Elfleda was the first wife of Otho the first surnamed the Great Emperour of the West sonne to the Emperor Henry surnamed the Falconer By him she had issue Ludolfe Duke of Swabe William Arch-bishop of Mentz Ludgard married to Comâ—…d Duke of Lorrayn and Mechthild Abbesse of Quedlingburg in Saxonie in which Citie she deceased the seuen and twenty of August in the yeere of Christs Natiuity 947. the eleuenth of her husbands Empire and the first of her brother King Edreds raigne in England She was buried at the East end of the North side of a Chapell which her selfe had founded in the same Citie 23 Elgiua the seuenth daughter of King Edward and the sixth of Queene Elfleda his second Wife was by King Ethelstan her brother with her sister Egith sent to the Court of the Emperor Henry the first King of the Saxons in Germany who honourably entertained her brought her vp with his owne daughters and after he had maried her elder sister to his eldest sonne he placed her also in marriage with a Duke of Italy obout the Alpes who is not named of our Writers but may easily be coniectured by the honourable disposition of the maker of the match to haue been a Prince of note and account worthy of her estate and parentage 24 Edmund the fifth sonne of King Edward and the first of Queene Edgiua his third and last Wife was borne in the twentieth yeere of his fathers raigne being the yeere of the worlds saluation 921. and at his fathers death little more then three yeeres of age was notwithstanding by the carefull prouision of his mother brought vp with all princely education conuenient for his yeeres and estate insomuch as there was generally a great expectation amongst the people conceiued of him in the life of his brother King Ethelstan vnder whom he learned some experience of seruice in warre and after whom hee succeeded in the Kingdome of England 25 Edred the sixth sonne of King Edward and the second of Queene Edgiua his third Wife and the youngest sonne of them both was borne about the two and twentieth yeere of his fathers raigne and yeere of grace 923. which was not long before the death of his father who left him a little infant in the custody of his mother by whom hee was carefully brought vp and prooued a Prince of so great vertue and valour as after the death of King Edmund his brother in regard of the minority of his Nephews hee was with the generall consent and liking of the whole nation chosen to be his brothers successor in the kingdome and gouernment ouer them 26 Edburg the eight daughter of King Edward and the first of Queene Edgiua in her child-hood had her disposition tried and her course of life disposed by her Father in this manner he laid before her gorgeous apparrell and rich Iewels in one end of a chamber and the new Testament and Bookes of princely instruction in the other willing her to make her choise of which she liked best she presently tooke vp the bookes and he her in his armes and kissing her said Goe in Gods name whither God hath called thee and thereupon placed her in a Monastery at Winchester wherein shee did most vertuously spend 〈◊〉 whole life and in that Abbey was bariâ—…d 27 Edgiua the ninth daughter of King Edward and the second of his last Queene whose name thee bare is reported in the history of the Monastery of Hyde by Winchester and other Writers of our Country to haue beene married to Lewes Prince of Aquitane in France which not long before had beene a Kingdome of it selfe sometime allotted to the portion of Lewes the third sonne of the Emperour Charles the Great of which house it seemeth this Lewes was afterward it became a Dukedome and the possession of an other Family by whom it came to be the inheritance after the Conquest to the Kings of England which were descended of the house of Angeow ETHELSTAN THET VVENTIE FIFT KING OF THE VVEST SAXONS AND THE TWENTIE SIXT MONARCH OF THE ENGLISHMEN HIS RAIGNE ACTS AND SVPPOSED ISSVE CHAPTER XXXVIII EThelstan the eldest sonne of King Edward as hath beene said for the great hopes conceiued of him was crowned with a greater solemnity then any of his ancestors euer before him The place was Kingston vpon Thamesis in the County of Surrey the yeer of Christ Iesus 924. where in the midst of the town a high Scaffold was built and thereon the coronation performed to the open view of all by Athelmus Archbishop of Canterbury with shouts of ioy as that of Salomon 2 His beginnings were with troubles and that rather by reason of friends then force of foes for it is recorded that Elfred a nobleman either in fauour of King Edwards other sonnes holding Ethelstan a Bastard or else vpon an ambitious hope blinded of himselfe intended at Winchester to haue pluckt out the eyes of his Soueraine but his treason being knowne before the seed could shew blade he was apprehended sent to Rome to purge himselfe by oth where before the Altaâ—… of S. Peter and Pope Iohn the tenth he there abiured the act and thereupon fell sodainly down to the earth so that his seruants tooke and bare him into the English Schoole where within three dayes after he died the Pope denying him christian buriall vntill he knew King Ethelstans pleasure 3 These stormes ouerpast as great a cloud seemed to arise vnto Ethelstans sight whose eye of iealousie euer followed the ascent and his eare euer opened vnto the instillations of Parasites amongst whom his Cup-bearer was a chiefe who brought daily more and more suspition into the Kings head that lastly as wee haue shewed hee consented to young Edwins death though with too late a sorrow hee repented the same for besides his seauen yeares penance voluntarily vndergone to pacifie the ghost of his betraied brother hee built the two Monasteries of Midleton and Michelnesse as for the most part such seed-plots were euer sowne in the furrowes of bloud which hapned vpon this occasion It chanced his Cup-bearer in his seruice vpon a festiuall to stumble with the one foote and recouering himselfe with the other pleasantly to say you see how one brother helpeth another vpon which speech the King with griefe and touch of heart called to mind the death of his innocent brother and forthwith commanded execution to
secure and guard his person also bands of Souldiers to attend his commaund amongst which were 200. the choice Knightsof France all which in very pompous Troupes followed him with Philips directions and also supply of great summes of money into Poictou to reduce those partes to his Allegiance which was no hard matter to effect the greater part of Commaunders there being fore-wrought expecting nothing more and the better part suspecting nothing lesse then these perfidious assaults 17 Queene Eleanor Regent of those prouinces attended with a very slender guard yet strong inough for daies of quiet which both her Age did now desire and her Homage done to Philip and Philips faire shewes to her did promise hauing no speedier notice of those incursions then the vnpleasing effects thereof for on Arthurs good successes K. Philip proclaimed him Lord of those Dominions betooke her selfe into Mirabeau one of the most tenable townes in Poictou sending to King Iohn whose forceâ—… were then in Normandy and Mayne repressing or preuenting Philips attempts for present aids Which yet could not so speedily come but Arthur who knew that vpon seisure of such a prize as Eleanour hee might draw her sonne to any conditions had preuented them besieged her and possessed himselfe of her towne though not of her person as some by mis-understanding haue mis-related For she retiring into the Castle made it good against her Grandchilds incessant batterie about which whiles he with his continuall supplies of Poitâ—…ine and Anioâ—…ine princes was indefatigably busied King Iohns Army neere at hand for his expedition both by day and night to his mothers rescue is recorded as admirable brought the newes of their owne approch which caused the great Army of the Leagers so industrious before to impeach others no lesse sollicitous now to defend themselues Both Armies martially ranged Arthurs Battalions not onely vndauntedly but also very pompously comming on to the shocke the fight proued most fierce and terrible each side resoluing by reason of both the Competitors presence in the field that the End and vpshot of all their designes depended on that dayes succese which in the end by the fortunate prowesse of King Iohn and his English fell disastrouslie on Arthur his French and other Assistants who after a great slaughter made amongst them turning their backs to him from whom they had before turned their Faithes tooke their flight towards the Towne to shelter their liues within those walles which so late the Seat of their triumphes became now the cage of their captiuation and the Toombe of all Arthurs ambitious hopes though himselfe so vnhappy as to suruiue them for together with the tumultuary flyers the victorious King his Armie entred renued a most bloudy fight repossessed the Town freed his mother enthralled his Enemies and recouered all the prouinces which had reuolted 18 This victory was so glorious to King Iohn and so dreadful to his Enemies for King Philips two chiefe confederates Arthur and Hugh Brun Raymund Father to Guido the husband of Constancia all the Peeres of Poictou and Aniou aboue 200. French Knights and others of command besides the vulgar multitudes were taken prisoners that both then King Philip though very hote in the siege of Argues in Normandy presently cooled and confounded with newes thereof brake vppe his fortnights fiege and returned home and since the French fawning fauourites and King Iohns maligners haue sought to extenuate the matter auerring against all truth of record that it was exploited before the French were come to Arthurs aide and when all his Souldiers were both vnarmed and vnordered But as others highly extolling king Iohns valour herein interprete those fore-doomes of Merlin to haue beene ment of him that hee should hee crowned with the head of a Lion should cut out the tongues of Bulles and lay yron chaines on the backes of râ—…ring Beasts and indeed hee chained them hand and foot and so conuayed them away in Carts a kind of riding till then vnusuall with them so King Iohn himselfe duely acknowledging the greatnesse of Gods goodnesse therein sent his Letters to all his Barons wheresoeuer thereby to encourage the loiall and hold in awe the tomultuous inciting them so render all prayse vnto God for so admirable a worke and so gratious assistance and soone after hee dispersed his noblest Captiues into sundrie Castles in Normandy and England Arthurs sister Eleanor called the Damosell of Britaine being committed to Bristow Castle where shee long liued with very honour able vsage And though the kings displeasure was iustly incensed against her brother Arthur for so frequent wauering in his faith yet meaning to trie all meanes of winning him who had thus lost himselfe hee sent for him being then at Falaise in the custody of Hubert L. Chamberlain and entreated him very gently promising him all honourable respects if as yet he would resolue to forsake the French kings amity and frame both his mind for hearty loue and his Actions for peaceable obseruance towardes him his vncle and Leege Lord. Which exceeding clemency the ill-aduised young Gentleman for what wisedome is it to shew pride where wee neede mercy and to giue threates beyond possibility of performance requited onely with arrogâ—…nt and vndutifull language furiously obraiding the king with violent and fraudulent detention of the English Crowne which menacingly he there required of him and allother King Richards Countries as his lawfull inheritance affirming with an Oath that vnlesse he did forthwith restore them hee should not long line in peace With which incorrigible pertinacy the King prouoked as seeing no place left to better hopes committed him to stricter custody vnder Robert de Veypont in the Castle of Roan 19 The Britaines fury and conspiracies which King Iohn hoped to abate by this their Princes durance were thereby much more augmented like Serpents most strugling with their traines when they feele their head in pressure Which moued the King who was now returned into England and in triumph of his late victory wore his crowne againe at Canterbury at the cost of his former host to take aduise of his Councell touching his troubled affaires whose sentence was if wee will credite the reporter that Arthur should loose his eyes But the escaping of such tortures is by some ascribed to the commiseration of Lord Hubert by others to the mediation of Queene Eleanor who interceded with her Sonne for her Grandchild as long as she liued which was not long Deathes vnpartiall hand and griefe of heart some say laying that great prudent Queen the wife of two mighty Kings and mother of three where Princes and Pesants are all equals Her Nephew much behind
King made humble supplications to the Lord Pope that hee would vouchsafe in a touch of pious compassion to support the English Church being at the point of ruine At whose earnest sollicitation the tender-hearted Pope grieuously lamenting the desolation of the Kingdome of England decreed by solemne sentence That King Iohn should bee deposed from his Kingdome and that the Pope should prouide some other who should bee deemed worthyer to succeed To effectuate the former clause Innocentius eagerly pursued the latter sending speedy letters to whom but King Iohns most mortall enemy Philip King of France requiring him to vndertake the labour of the dethroning King Iohn with no lesse reward then pardon for all his sins and enioying of the English Crowne to him and his heires for euer A goodly large patent both for a Spiritual and Temporall Kingdome which more like Mars his Priest then Christs Vicar he meanes to seale with a deluge of Christians bloud For not thus yet satiated hee transmits his Letters generall To all Potentates Souldiers men of warre of all nations to signe themselues with the Crosse and to follow their Captaine Philip for the deiection of King Iohn assuring all that their assistance whether in Person or Contribution shall bee no lesse meritorious then if they visited our Sauiours Sepulchre That this Pope vnder colour of such Crusadoes did formerly cloake his own Auarice his owne Monkes auerre but here hee cloakes therewith both his Pride and a far more sauage vice the thirst not of mens gold but of their bloud In which seruice with King Philip hee vsed the same English Prelates for his Negotiators which were before his Solicitors thereunto with whom also he sent his Factour Pandulph giuing him in priuate secret instructions how to manage euery particular of the whole designe to the most behoofe of the holy See 47 The French King likewise receiuing from the Archbishoppe and his Associates in a councel the Apostolike sentence was very apprehensiue of that imployment whereto not so much the Papall commaund as his owne ancient malignity and the English Barons traiterous requests had prepared him both which he was now willing to maske with the speous pretext of iustice and deuotion Vnder which colors hee had speedily marshalled an immense Army at Roan drew a mighty Nauy richly furnished to the mouth of Seyn al his Dukes Earls Barons Knights souldiers being sūmoned to the exploit vnder pain of hie Treason and disherizing who therforeboth in feare hope of spoile came flocking without number 48 A preparation of so great importance that all Christendom tooke notice of could not long be hidden from King Iohn whose care by reason of his now doubled opposition forrain domestick could be no lesse for his owne and his Kingdoms safety then was his Enemies for impugning both Wherfore his Summons being sent to all his officers both for Sea and land for speedy furnishing both of a Nauie an Army equiualent to encounter so powerfull an Inuasion such innumerable multitudes swarmed to Douer and other harbours for landing that the Chiefe-leaders for want of prouision dismissing the rest encamped at Barham-Downes onely with 60000. choice valiant and well appointed men who if they had carried all one mind and true affection towards their King and safegard of their Country there breathed not any Prince vnder heauen whose assault England had not beene able to repell And being no worse appointed for a Sea-fight his intent was to graple first with the French Fleet making no doubt of sinking them all so secure and confident was he in expectation of all Inuaders In which braue addresse whiles both shores of the Sea are thus belaid with both those Kings puissant Armies the one waiting for the Enemy the other for faire windes and more forces behold Pandulphus the Popes Pragmaticke hauing first desired safe conduct of King Iohn arriues at Douer to put in execution those secret Instructions which his Lord who made his aduantage of the Foxe-skinne as well as of the Lions had expresly prescribed He there vnfoldes to the King the innumerable multitude both of King Philips shippes and of his Souldiers Horse and Foote all in readinesse to passe and yet more expected to follow to bereaue him of his Kingdome by Apostolicall authority and to enioy it himselfe with his Heires for euer That with him were also comming all the English Exiles both Clergy and Lay they by his forces to repossesse their estates maugre the king and hee from them to receiue allegiance as from his sworne Subiects That hee had the fealty of almost all the English Peeres obliged to him by their owne Charters which made him distrustlesse of attayning easily his wished successe which calamities the more vnsufferable because imposed by his insulting enemie and his owne Subiects he might yet euade and retaine his Crowne which by Sentence hee had already lost if penitently hee would submit himselfe to the Churches iudgement Doubtlesse the straites whereinto the King saw himselfe plunged were very dreadfull so many deadly enemies abroad to assault him so few trustie friends at home to guard him which droue him into this sad cogitation that those his perfidious Peeres would now with their followers abandon him in the field or betray him ouer to the Sword of his Enemies Yet not vnlikely other motiues also might forcibly perswade him to relent the remembrance of the Emperour Otho whom this very Pope not without foule blot of Iniustice and Leuity had both eagerly aduanced and furiously dis-empyred the boundlesse furies of the Crusado promulged against him wherewith this Pope vsed to ouerflow as with a mercilesse Ocean all such Princes as withstood his will which once broken in would neuer end but with the end and ruine of all Thus thinking it better to yeeld to the time with assurance both of his Crowne and of the Popes fauour then desperatelie to hazard Life Crowne and all to his immortall foes hee redeemes his safety on such conditions as tiable that with money eyther paid or promised hee might be wrought like waxe and made plyable to all wicked actions Thus hauing the true length of the Popes foot he fittes him accordingly with rich presents and golden promises crauing by such mouing Rhetoricke not his aide onely but his Curse also against the Archbishoppe and Barons who so vncessantly distressed him But Innocentius forward of himselfe without any Motiues to put in vre those his Papall vertues and the execution of his late-vsurped power vpon the first gladsome newes of Englands Vassallage to his See had presently dispatched for England an Agent of greater port then Pandulph a Subdeacon Nicholas Bishoppe of Tusculum with no meaner credence and instructions for preseruing what the Pope had guilefully gotten then Pandulph had to purchase what hee ambitiously gaped
in the Preachers mouth and should haue moued the people euen then to crie King Richard King Richard that it might haue beene after said that he was specially chosen by God and in manner by miracle But this deuise quailed either by the Protectors negligence or by the Preachers ouer much diligence for while the Protector found by the way tarrying lest he should preuent those wordes and the Doctor fearing least he should come ere his sermon could come to these wordes hasted his matter thereto who was come to them and past them and had entred into other matter ere the Protector came Whom when hee beheld comming he suddainly left the matter with which he was in hand and without anie deduction thereunto out of all order and out of all frame began to repeate those wordes againe This is the verie Noble Prince the speciall paterne of Knightly prowesse which aswell in all Princely behauiour as in the lineaments and fauour of his visage representeth the very face of the Noble Duke of Yorke his father this is the fathers owne figure this is his owne countenance the very print of his visage the sure vndoubted Image the plaine expresse likenesse of the noble Duke whose remembrance can neuer die while he liueth While these wordes were in speaking the Protector accompanied with the Duke of Buckingham went through the people into the place where the Doctors commonly stand in an vpper story where he stood to heare the sermon But the people were so farre from crying King Richard that they stood as if they had beene turned into stones for wonder of this shamefull sermon After which once ended the Preacher got him home and neuer after durst looke out for shame but kept himselfe out of sight like an Owle And when he once asked one that had beene his old friend what the people talked of him albeit that his own conscience well shewed him that they talked no good yet when the other answered him that there was in euery mans mouth spoken of him much shame it so strucke him to the heart that within few daies after he withered and consumed away 56 On the tuesday following this sermon there came into the Guild-hall in London the Duke of Buckingham accompanied with diuers Lords Knights more perchance then knew the message which they brought And there in the East end of the Hall where the Maior keepeth the hustings the Maior and Aldermen being assembled about him and all the commons of the City gathered before him after silence commanded in the Protectors name vpon great paine the Duke stood vp and as he was neither vnlearned and of nature maruellously well spoken hee said vnto the people with a cleare and loud voice in this manner Friends for the zeale and harty fauour that we beare you we be come to breake vnto you a matter of great weight and no lesse weighty then pleasing to God and profitable to all the Realme nor to no part of the Realme more profitable then to you the Citizens of this noble City For why the thing that we wot well you haue long time lacked and so longed for that you would haue giuen great good for that you would haue gone farre to fetch that thing we be come hither to bring you without your labour paine cost aduenture or ieopardie What thing is that Certes the surety of your owne bodies the quiet of your wiues and your daughters the safeguard of your goods of all which things in times past you stood euermore in doubt For who was there of you all that could account himselfe Lord of his owne goods among so many snares and traps as were set therefore among so much pilling and polling among so many taxes and tallages of which there was neuer end and often times no need or if any were it rather grew of riot and vnreasonable wast then any necessary or honorable charge So that there was daily pilling from good men and honest great substance of goods to be lashed out among vnthrifts so farre forth that fifteens sufficed not nor any vsual maner of known taxes but vnder an easie name of beneuolence and good will the Commissioners so much of euerie man tooke as no man could with his good will haue giuen As though that name of beneuolence had signified that euery man should pay not what himselfe of his owne good will list to grant but what the King of his good will list to take Who neuer asked little but euery thing was haunsed aboue the measure amercements turned into fines fines into ransomes small trespasses into misprision misprision into treason Whereof I thinke no man looketh that we should remember you of examples by name as though Burdet were forgotten who was for a worde in haste spoken cruely beheaded by the misconstruing of the Lawes of this Realme for the Princes pleasure with no lesse honour to Markham then chiefe Iustice that left his office rather then hee would assent to that iudgement then to the dishonesty of those that eyther for feare or flattery gaue that iudgement What Cooke your owne worshipfull neighbour Alderman and Maior of this noble Citie who is of you either so negligent that hee knoweth not or so forgetful that hee remembreth not or so hard hearted that hee pittieth not that worshipfull mans losse What speake we of losse His vtter spoile and vndeserued destruction only for that it happened those to fauour him whom the Prince fauoured not Wee need not I suppose to rehearse of these any mo by name sith there be I doubt not many heere present that either in themselues or in their nigh friends haue knowen aswell their goods as their persons greatly indangered either by fained quarrels or small matters agrieued with heinous names And also there was no crime so great of which there could lacke a pretext For sith the King preuenting the time of his inheritance attained the Crowne by battel it sufficed in a rich man for a pretext of treason to haue beene of kindred or aliance neer familiaritie or longer acquaintance with any of those that were at any time the Kings enemies which was at one time or other more then halfe the Realme Thus were your goods neuer in suretie and yet they brought your bodies in ieopardie beside the common aduenture of open warre which albeit that it is euer the will and occasion of much mischiefe yet it is neuer so mischieuous as where any people fall at distance among themselues not in no earthly nation so deadly so pestilent as when it happeneth among vs and among vs neuer so long continued distention nor so many battels in that season not so cruell and so deadly fought as was in that Kings dayes that dead is God forgiue it his soule In whose time and by whose occasion what about the getting of the Garland keeping it loosing it and winning againe it hath cost more English blood then hath twice
dayes lay naked and vnburied his remembrance being as odious to all as his person deformed and lothsome to be looked vpon for whose further despite the white Bore his cognizance was torne downe from euery Signe that his monument might perish as did the monies of Caligula which were all melted by the decree of the Senate Lastly his body without all funeral solemnity was buried in the Gray-Friers Church of that City But King Henry his Successor of a princely disposition caused afterward his Tombe to bee made with a picture of Alablaster representing his person and to be set vp in the same Church which at the suppression of that Monastery was pulled downe and vtterly defaced since when his graue ouergrowne with nettles and weedes is very obscure and not to be found Onely the stone chest wherin his corpes lay is now made a drinking trough for horses at a common Inne and retaineth the onely memory of this Monarches greatnesse His body also as tradition hath deliuered was borne out of the City and contemptuously bestowed vnder the end of Bow-Bridge which giueth passage ouer a branch of Stowre vpon the west side of the Towne Vpon this Bridge the like report runneth stood a stone of some height against which King Richard as hee passed toward Bosworth by chance strucke his spur and against the same stone as he was brought backe hanging by the horse side his head was dashed and broken as a wise woman forsooth had foretold who before Richards going to battell being asked of his successe said that where his spurre strucke his head should be broken but of these things as is the report so let be the credite Dead he is and with his death ended the factions a long time continued betwixt the Families of Lancaster and Yorke in whose bandings to bring set keep the Crown on their heades eight or nine bloudy set battels had beene fought and no lesse then fourescore persons of the bloud-royall slaine as Philip Câ—…ines the French Writer saith many of them being wel knowne to himselfe after which stormes and this Tirants death a blessed vnion ensued by ioining those houses in Henry of Lancaster and Elizabeth of Yorke 60 Hee was of Stature but little and of shape deformed the left shoulder bunching out like a Mole-hill on his backe his haire thinne and face short a cruell countenance in whose aspect might bee perceiued both malice and deceit When hee stood musing as hee would doe oft his vse was to bite and chaw the nether lip his hand euer on his dagger which euer hee would chop vp and down in the sheath but neuer draw it fully out Pregnant in wit hee was wily to faine apt to dissemble and haughty of Stomacke an expert Souldier and a better King then a man He founded a Colledge at Middleham beyond York and a Collegiat Chauntery in London neere vnto the Tower called Our Lady of Barking he endowed the Queenes Colledge in Cambridge with fiue hundred Marks of yeerely reuenew and disforrested the great Field of Wichwood which King Edward his brother had inclosed for his game he raigned two yeeres two moneths and one day and was buried as we haue said His Wife 61 Anne the second daughter and Coheire to Richard Neuil the stout Earle of Warwicke and Salesbury was first married to Edward Prince of Wales the sonne to King Henry the sixth and after his death was remarried to Richard Duke of Gloucester Anno 1472. afterwards by vsurpation King of England with whom in great State and solemnity shee was Crowned Queene the sixth of Iuly and yeere of Saluation 1483. She was his wife to the last yeere of his Raigne and then leauing her husband to choose another Queene was laid at rest in the Abbey of Westminster in this thing happy that she saw not the death of the Tyrant His Issue 62 Edward the sonne of King Richard and of Queene Anne his Wife and the onely childe of them both was borne in the Castle of Middleham neere Richmund in the Countie of Yorke Anno 1473. and being vnder foure yeeres of age was created Earle of Salisbury by his Vncle King Edward the fourth the seuenteenth of his Raigne but his father King Richard in the first of his vsurpation created him Prince of Wales the foure twentieth of August and yeere of Christ 1483. he then being about ten yeeres of age vnto whom also the Crowne was intailed by Parliament but this Prince dying before his father and much vpon the time of his mothers decease saw not the reuenge that followed the Tyrants Raigne whose bad life no doubt hath made doubtfull the place of this Princes buriall and other Princely offices done him in his life and at his death HENRIE THE SEVENTH KING OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE AND LORD OF IRELAND THE FIFTIE SEVENTH MONARCH OF THE ENGLISH HIS RAIGNE ACTS AND ISSVE CHAPTER XX. HENRIE of that name the seauenth hauing by such mixt meanes of valor and practise as are alreadie described obtained the possession of Englands Crown we must now present vnto you his actions in the person and state of a King maintained by him with like mixture of courage and skill as it was atchieued to the verification of that rule That things are kept by the same Arts whereby they were gained In describing whereof wee meane nothing lesse then for humoring the vaine admirers of phrase and conceit to mount vp into Panegyricall flourishes in honor of the man though his excellent vertues would worthily beare if not duely also exact them yet may wee not omiâ—…to obserue that as in his attaining to the Crowne there was through diuine prouidence a concurring disposition of all important Circumstances without which his attempt might haue proued disasterous so hee hauing now possessed the Soueraigne power and mastered the State in the maine pointes easily made circumstances waite vpon his wisdom and to take their forme from his directions Of the first kind wherein his felicity deserues to be celebrated were these That he by the Male-line a meere stranger to both the roiall houses as descended from the Welsh and French and by the female springing out of such a family of Lancaster the Beanfords as by the same law which enabled it to inherite in ordinary estates was made incapable of succeâ—…n in the Regalitie should so safely be conuaied away into forraine parts there to continue an head of expectation and reuolt during the intestine troubles and dangers to him ineuitable here at home Secondly that the Realme of England should bee so auerted from Richard though a very honorable wise iust and necessary Prince after hee was somewhat setled as for his sake to neglect in a sort so many naturall heires of the house of Yorke some of them in right preceding Richard such were the children of Edward the fourth and George Duke of Clarence Richards elder brethren and all of
Saxons enter Britaine vnder Hengist Horsa W. Malmesbury Beda 1. 15. Saxons ouercome the Enemie and free the Britains A composition betwixt Saxon and Britaine * Britaines Witichindas Hengist had the whole possession of Kent Fabian The King giueth himselfe to securitie Ioâ—… Stow. Hengist seasteth the King The King in loue with Rowena In the Fictious of Virg. 〈◊〉 1. Caxton 〈◊〉 Mark 10. Vortigern would needs haue Rowena to wife Will. Malmesb. de Regibus Verstegan Restit cap. 〈◊〉 Tacit. destri Cer. cap. 2. Crantzius Pagan Germans account of tyrannoâ—…s beasta Hengist and Horse their Atâ—… The 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arâ—… The Duke of Sauoy his Armes Chron. Sax. Hengist his Country and parentage Floren. Wigoru Beda hist. Ang. li. 2. ca. 15. Hengist his first rising Ninius Octa and Ebissa a tettor to the Britaines The Nobilities complaint Vortigern reproued by the Bishop of London He continueth in his folly His subiects disclaime their obedience They chuse Vortimer Catigern and Horsa their single fight Iohn Stowe Cits-Cotihouse Catigern his Monument Beda hist. Aug. lib 1 cap. 15. Horsted the place of Horsa his Monument The Battels betweene Britaines and Saxons The Saxons driuen ouer Seas Vortimer poisoned by Rowena Leiden Castle in Holland begunne by Hengist Iohn Dousa Hengists landing resisted by the Britaines Matth. Westm. Hengist vseth treacherie At Salisbury-Plain the Britaines and Saxons treat of agreement Will. Malmesb. de regibus The Saxons suddenly murder the Britaines Randulp Higden Polychr li. 5. cap. 1. Diuers countries deliuered to the Infidels Beda hist. Angl. lib. 1. cap. 15. Great spoile and desolation ouer all the Land The Britaines abandoned the Land Beda hist. Angl. lib. 1. cap. 17. Pelagianisme brought into Britaine by Agricola The Heritikes conuicted The principall cause of the Britaines miseries Vortigern flieth into Wales Merlin the Welsh Wizard He builded a Castle there The differing opinions where this Castle was built Faustus spent his life in continuall praier Aurelius Ambrosius Captaine of the Britaines Beda hist. Eccles. Angl. lib. 1. ca. 16. Aurelius Ambrosius and Vter Pendragon returne out of Britaine Armorica A Battle at Maesbell Hengist discomfited Geffry ap Arthur Matth. Westminst Polydore Hengist raigne Geffry ap Arthur Arthurs acts augmented with fables The Saxons often at dissension among themselues The mightiest of the Saxon Kings alwaies King of the Englishmen Onely the East-Saxons intruded not on their neighbours dominions 1. An. Do. 455. Kent in the daies of Iulius Caesar the Seat of foure Kings Hengist his raign and death Of Hengist see more in the succession of the English Monarchy cap. 12. 2. An. Do. 488. Petrus Albinus Eske the second King of Kent Retained prisoner in Yorke His raigne and death Beda hist. Angl. lib. 2. cap. 5. 3. An. Do. 512. Octa his raigne 4. An. Do. 532. Florent Wigâ—… Iâ—…erik the sonne of Eske Iâ—…erik his children 5. An. Do. 561. Ethelbert the sonne of Iâ—…erik Cheulin inâ—…adeth his Territors Ethelbert the fifth Monarch of the Englishmen His first wife and children by her In the life of Saint Weâ—…rg His second wife 1. Cor. 5. 1. Repetition auoided in this Historie Beda Hist. Eccles Angl. lib 2. cap. 5. Heâ—…r 〈◊〉 6. An. Do. 617. Beda hist. â—…ccles Aug. lib. 〈◊〉 cap. 5. Edbald his sâ—… ther dead refused the doctrine of Christ. He married his Mother in Law Edbald often plagued Reclaimed from Idolatry by the Archbishop His Wife His Daughter His Sonnes and their issue Edbald his liberalitie to the Church Beda hist. Angl. lib. 1. cap. 6. His raigne and buriall 7. An. Do. 641. His care of Gods worship Beda hist. lib. 2. c. 〈◊〉 His Wife and issue Kent diuided into Parishes His raigne and death 8. An. Do. 665. Egbert his murther The fact reuealed Wil. Malmesbury de gestiâ—… rerum Anglorum Their bodies solemnly buried Dopnena their sister Her religiousnes Egbert his raigne and death Beda hist. eccles Ang. lib. 4. cap. 5. 9. An. Do. 673. Lothaire intrudeth into the Kingdome Matt. Westminst Lothaire slaine Beda hist. Eccles. Angl lib. 4. ca. 5. 26. His raigne Lothaire maketh but a â—…est of murder His buriall 10. An. Do. 686. Beda hist. Angl. lib. 4 cap. 26. Edrik his raigne His death Ceadwalla and Mollo inuade Kent Mollo burned to death 11. An Do. 693. Wigtred his meanes of attaining the Kingdome His bounty to the Church Beda Hist. Eccles. Angl. lib. 4. c. 26. lib. 5. cap. 9. His raigne and death 12. An. Do. 726. Edbert a vertuous prince His raigne Two blazing Starres His Buriall 13. An. Do. 749. Ethelbert his raigne His death His buriall 14. Alrik the last of lincall succession All the Kings of Kent after Alrik vsurpers 15. An. Do. 794. His imprisonment His releasement His raigne 16. An. Do. 797. His raigne 17. An. Do. 805. Baldred tooke vpon him the kingdome of Kent Egbert Monarch of the English-men This kingdomes beginning continuance and end The limits of this kingdome An. D. 488. The Inhabitants chased into a wood The diuers opinions of Ellas first entrance Maâ—… omitteth this Kingdome Ella his raigne and death 2. An. Do. 514. Cissa Succeeded Chichester and Chisburis founded by Cissa Stow. Cissaes Raigne 3. Liber Historialis S. Swithune VVâ—…ion Beda lib. 4. ca. 13. 〈◊〉 Edilbâ—…es Godfather Ebba the wife of VVolfere Beda loâ—…o ciâ—…ato Selsee in Sussex Cap. 15. His raigne and death Beda hist. l. 4. c. 13. Ceadwald driuen backe Beda Hist. Eccles. Angl. lib. 4. cap. 15. The continuance and end of this Kingdome The VVest Saxons the first that brought the Heptarchy to a Monarchy Florent Wâ—… 2. An. Do. 495. The time when Cherdik entred into Britaine An. Do. 508. The circuit of this kingdome The first Kings raigne issue and death 3. An. Do. 535. Kenrik his battels â—…anbery in Oxsordshire His issue Cheaulin Cuthwolfe and Cuâ—… Cearlike the son of Cuthwolfe rebelleth against his Vncle. Chedwall the most renowned King of the West-Saxons 4. An. Do. 561. Cheaulin the time when he began to raigne An vnquiet and ambitious neighbour Wimbledon cap. 5. Sect. 5. Stowe Ouerthrowne by Cealrik His raigne His issue Cuth and Cuthwin Cuth a vaâ—…nt vvarrior Slaine 〈◊〉 Fethanleygh 5. An. Do. 592. Cearlik the 〈◊〉 King of the West-Saxons His raignes continuance 6 Chelwolfe when he began to raigne VVest-Saxons inusded by three sundry Enemies Hen Huntingd. His death 7. An. Do. 611. Kingils his comming to the Kingdome Quinchelinus his associate Wil. Malmsbury Marianus Florent Wigorn. Their victorie ouer the Britaines Kingils conuerted to Christianitie the first of all the VVest-Saxons Kings Beda hist. Angl. lib. 3 cap. 7. Oswald a witnes at his baptizing His gift to Kingils 8. An. Do. 643. Beda hist. Angl. lib. 3. cap. 7. Kenwald reâ—…th the Christian faith He 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of his Kingdome Roâ—… ald wonne to the faith of Châ—…ist His vvorks of deuotion 〈◊〉 Malmsbury His raigne and death Vita Alel His Wife gouerneth the kingdome An. Do. 674. She becomes a Nunne
King Richards raigne r Pol. Virgil. l. 15. * Dâ—…is promissis ad defectioâ—…em Ibid. s Paul Aâ—…il t Polydor. u Rog. Wend. Suis detrectantibus militiam x Paul Aâ—…il is Phil. August Roan lost circa omn. Sanct fest Mat. West y Caput totius Normaniae Rothomagum Polydor. Normandy fallen from English allegiance z Ioh. de Serres so that Aemyl much erreth in saying Rollo had it but 270. yeeres before a Waling Ypod. ad An. 1203. Triuet MS. b Triuet MS. Walsing c Ypod. Neust. Ann. 1205. * Involuntate obsequentium potestâ—…s Principum Triuet MS. dNic Triuet MS c Cirea Pentecost Paris f Hollinsh g VVend MS. Paris hist. min. M. S. h Cogshall i Wendouer Paris k Cogshal Hollin * Hub. de nimia familiaritate Philippi suspectus 〈◊〉 Paris l Supra S. m Cogshal Stow. n Hollinsh o Ibidem p Rog. de Wend. * Idiâ—…us Iulij Paris q Mat. Paris ma. hist. r Mat. Paris hist. min. MS. s apud Mat. Par. Archbishoppe Hubert dyeth at his Manor of Tenham Paris t Windouer Paris u Polydo x Vit. Arch. Cant. y Ibidem z Paris hist. ma. a Mat. Paris min. hist. MS. b Idem Archbishoppe Huberts end the beginning of greater troubles to King Iohn The Monks of Canturbury the seedmen of Englands troubles * 〈◊〉 Paris min. MS Wendouer MS. c Mâ—… Westmin * Triuet MS. 〈◊〉 him 〈◊〉 d Wend. MS. Paris West c. e Paris hist. 〈◊〉 * Prastita cautione iâ—…toria VVestmin f Vit. Arch. Cant. g VVendou MS. h VVestmin i M. Fox mistaketh saying it was the next day after Reginald went also Polydor Holinsh and Mils saying it was not till they heard from Rome k In vit Arch. Cant. l Godwins Catal. m Paris hist. ma. n Graâ—… Hollin o VVend MS. p Mat. VVestm q VVendouer MS * Dated 6. Idâ—… 〈◊〉 r Paris hist. 〈◊〉 An. 1206. 〈◊〉 Mat. VVestmin Wendouer MS. Paris hist. min. MS. t Mat. Parri hist. ma. ad an 1207. u Ibidem x Prastito iuramento ib. y Mat. Westmin z 12 Calen. Ian. Weâ—…r Paris a Polydo b Hollinsh c P. Virgil. King Iohn strengthneth himselfe with new Leaguers d Paul Aemil. e Polyd. Aemil. * They vvere taken when Artbur was 〈◊〉 f Polid. g Mat. Pâ—… * 7. Id. Iulij King Iohns successes h Paris hist. 〈◊〉 l Wend. MS. k VVestmin l Paris m Mat. Westmin n VVend MS. o Les Annales de Franc. Polyd. p Paul Aemil. Polydor. q Idem r P. Aemil. * Infidijs excepti * Fractus animo Anglus saith Aemil. s Polyd. Uerg. t Mat. Paris * Infesto om Sanct. Westmin K. Iohn returns to England u Wend. MS. Ann. 1207. x Mat. Paris hist. Min. MS. * Paul Aemil. y In Phillppo Augusto * Mat. VVestm z Paris * Io. de Florentia Triuet MS. * Paris a ferendo Hollinsh a Mat. West Mat. Paris MS. b Idem The Emperours entertainement The Popes beginning of wrongs towardes King Iohn * Qâ—…abco inter Nolan Neapolit arbiter c Cicer. offic l. 1. * Hoc decipere est non indicare ibid. * 12. Cal. Iun. d Paris e Wendouer M. S. f Dated 〈◊〉 Cal. Ian. Paris g Mat. Paris The Popes present and letter to King Iohn * Iohn Stow in Annal. * Epist. Innocent apud Paris * Geâ—… Gemiâ—… ib. g Paris * Being by night h Wend. MS i apud Mat. Par. hist. ma. k Mat. Paris min. hist. MS l Mat. West Paris * Nor Wendouer MS. Westminster saith vos as of the Monkes m Idem * 10 Cal. Iul. Paris 25. Mat. Westmin n Rog. Wend. MS. o Blandus Decad. 2. l. 6. Pope Innocentius his three strange lawes The wrongs offered vnto King Iohn * Publiâ—… inimicâ—… Regi Franc. ffamiliariss Mat. Paris hist. min MS. * In regno secundum ibid. p Mat. VVestâ—… q apud 〈◊〉 Paris r Paris in H 2 s Baron An. 1169. t Literae Innocentij apud Paris u VVend MS. An. 1208. * BB. Lond. Ely Wigorn. x Paris hist. ma. y The Munday in Passion week Paris on Easter day saith Polyd. Chron. Angl. MS. * Caiphus Iohn c. 11. v. 50. 2 Rog. Houed 456. * Vide apud Wend. Paris * More Canum Mat. Paris b Mat. Paris * Hollinish Stow. c. c Ex libro S. Alban 〈◊〉 vita Iob. Abbot MS. * Debit Deus 〈◊〉 quoque â—…nem a cunning speech indifferently touching the Kings end or his anger d Mat. Paris Godwins Catalog of BB. Lib. S. Alban in vit Abb. Ioh. MS. e Mat. VVest * Balam * Literatum plenitudine imbutuâ—… Mat. West f VVend MS. * He was depriued of his dignity and liuings g Persons against Cooks part 2. c. 9. h Paris Omnimodis viuentâ—…s in delicijs Ann. 1209. i Mat. Paris VVestmin k Paris hist. ma. * Supra in H. 2. l Trinet MS. * Not Alexander as Polyd. mistaketh m Paris hist. ma. n Mector Boet. l 13 o Boet. ibid. p Wend. MS. q Paris hist. mi. M. S. but VVendou MS. saith xi not ix millia r Mat. Paris The King excommunicated by name s Rog. de Wend. MS. t Paris hist. ma. * Caâ—…d Plumbed Paris u VVestmin Ann. 1210. * Non obstante Sentenâ—…a ibidem The King setleth the State of Ireland x Gyrald in Proem ad Reg. Ioh. y Idem Hibern expug lâ—… c. 26. z Paris hist. ma. * 8 Idus Iulij Paris * Walter Hugh the sonnes of Hugh Campians hist. of Ireland a Annales Hib. Campians hist. of Ireland * S. Tauriâ—… * Hist. Cambrâ—…a * Wend. MS. * Famished some say in Windsor Castle Paris * Old Chron. of Flaunders Helliâ—… b Ypod. Neust. c Walsing Paris Annales Hiber Campian hist. of Ireland * Iusticiariâ—… Paris * Redâ—… 3. Col. Septemb. * Walsingham Ypodig So the Pope sent Tyrone a Phâ—…nix feather Cambden in Hiber An. 1211. King Iohn subdueth Wales * 140000. l. wherby they redeemed their possessions from Laymens custody Lib. S. Albon MS. d Hist. of Cambria e Ibidem f Paris hist. mi. MS. g Hist. of Camb. h Pol. Virgil. i Paris hist. ma. k Rog. de Wend. MS. l English Chron. MS. compared with Paris his min. hist. MS m Rog. Wend. MS. The Kings offers reiected n English Chro. MS. o Paris hist. ma. The Pope absolues the kinges people from allegiance p Paris min MS Ann. 1212. * Paris hist. min. MS. q Hector Boet. â—…13 r Lib. de Bernwel s Paris hist. ma. t Lib. de Bernwel Cothred hanged by King Iohn Fruites of the Popes curse * Mat. Paris 28 Welsh hostages hanged at Nottingham Paris u VVend MS. * Mat. Paris Idem * Fitzwalter Vesci Ridel apud Paris Triuet MS. * Apud Mat. Par. Wendou alios * Peter of Pom-frait VVend MS. * Polyd. Verg an magicis artibus * Wendouer Paris y Paris Triuet Westmin Polydor. Sentence of deposition of King