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enemy_n	england_n	king_n	scot_n	1,440	5	9.6798	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91297	The third part of a seasonable, legal, and historical vindication of the good old fundamental liberties, franchises, rights, laws, government of all English freemen; with a chronological collection of their strenuous defenses, by wars, and otherwise: of all great Parliamentary Councills, synods, and chief laws, charters, proceedings in them; of the publike revolutions of state, with the sins and vices occasioning them; and the exemplary judgements of God upon tyrants, oppressors, perjured perfidious traitors, rebels, regicides, usurpers, during the reigns o [sic] four Saxon and Danish Kings, from the year of our Lord 600. till the coronation of William the Norman, anno 1066. Collected out of our antientest, and best historians, with brief usefull observations on and from them. / By William Prynne esq; a bencher of Lincolns Inne.; Seasonable, legall, and historicall vindication and chronologicall collection of the good, old, fundamentall, liberties, franchises, rights, laws of all English freemen. Part 3	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1657 (1657)	Wing P4102; Thomason E905_1; ESTC R207432	279,958	400

he would from thenceforth be a more bitter Enemie towards St. Cuthbert and them all than ever he was before Whereupon the Bishop with all his Monks falling prostrare on the earth earnestly prayed to God and his holy Confessor to annul those proud Tyrants Threats who was then comming into the place where they were praying having one foot within the Door and the other without in which posture he stood there immovably fixed as if both his feet had been nayled being able neither to go out nor come in but standing immovable till being long thus tortured he there gave up his miserable soul in the place with which example all others being terrified would no further presume by any means to invade the Land nor any thing else belonging of right to the Church Anno 941. the Rebellious o Northumberlanders preferring disloyalty before the Fealty which they owed unto Magnificent Edmund King of England elected Anlaff King of the Norwegians for their King Son to the former Anlaff who perishing suddenly for his Sacrilege as aforesaid he and Reginald the Son of Garthfrith after their Baptism breaking their faith and Agreement with King Edmund by invading his Dominions Edmund thereupon by force of Armes expelled them both out of the Realm of Northumberland and united it to his own kingdom and wrested Lincoln Nottingham Derby Leicester and Stamford out of the hands of the Usurping insolent oppressing Danes with all Mercia subduing and reducing the Monarchy of all England unto himself extirpating all the Pagan Danes with their infidelity restoring Christianity to its Lustre and the English to their Possessions and Liberties The year following he wasted and subdued all Cumberland and pillaged the people of all their goods And because the people of that Country were perfidam legibus insolitam perfidious and unaccustomed to Laws so that he could not totally subdue and civilize them having harrowed it with his Army and put out the eyes of the two sons of Dummail King thereof he gave the Country to Malcolm King of Scots to be held of himself upon this Condition that he should assist him and defend the Northern parts of England by Land and Sea from the Incursions of invading Enemies This King Edmund after the Conquest and Expulsion of his Enemies by the advise of Dunston and his Chancellour Turketulus made good Lawes and ordinances Ecclesiastical and Civil for the Government of his Realm for which purpose about the year of our Lord 944 he assembled a Parliamentary Council of the Clergy Laity at London to consult and advise with them in the making of his Lawes Which the Proems to them thus expresse Edmundus Rex ipso solenni Pascatis festo Frequentem Londini tam Ecclesiasticorum quam Laicorum Caetum celebravit as one version out of the Saxon Or Congregavit magnam Synodum Dei ordinis et saeculi as another translation renders it cui interfuit Odo et VVulstanus Archiepiscopi et alii plures Episcopi ut animorum suorum et corum omnium qui eis curae sunt consuleretur saluti And this Proem of King Edmund himself thus seconds Ego Edmundus Rex omnibus qui in ditione ac potestate meâ sunt senibus juvenibus clare significo Me à scientissimis Regni mei in celebri Ecclesiasticorum quam Laicorum frequentiâ studiose requisivi●●e quo tandem pacto Christiana proveheretur fides c. Or Mando praecipio omni populo Seniorum Juniorum qui in Regione mea sunt Ea quae Investigans Investigavi cum Sapientibus Clericis Laicis In this Council there were three parcels of Laws made the one meerly Ecclesiastical the other meerly Civil the third mixt of bo●h And in this Council I conceive the Constitutions of Archbishop Odo were read and ratified The greatest part of the Civil Laws there made were against Murder bloodshed fighting breach of Peace Theft and Perjury In the last parcel of these Laws cap. 5. The King gives God and them thanks for assisting him in making these Laws in these words Maximas autem Deo vobis omnibus ago gratias Qui me auxilio vestro in hac pacis quam nunc ad profligandos sures sancivimus Le ge adjuvistis ac vehementèr confido eo vos propensius Nobis in posterum opitulaturo● quo hujus Decreti observatio magis videbitur necessaria About the same year 944. this King assembled another Parliamentary Council of his Bishops and Wisemen at Culinton where they enacted 7 other Laws Principally against Theeves together with an Oath of Allegiance to king Edmund thus prefaced Haec est Institutio quam Edmunds Rex Episcopi sui cum Sapientibus suis instituerunt apud Culintoniam de pace Juramento faciendo The two first of these Laws I shall transcribe as pertinent to my Theam Cap. 1. Imprimis ut omnes jurent in nomine Domini pro quo sanctum illud sanctum est fidelitatem Edmundo Regi Sicut Homo debet esse fidelis Domino suo sine omni controversiâ seditione in manifesto in occulto in amando quod amabit Nolendo quod nol uit et̄ antequam Iuramentum hoc dabitur ut nemo concelet hoc in fratre vel proximo suo plus quam in extraneo Cap. 2. Vult etiam ut ubi fur pro certo cognoscetur Twelfhindi et Twifhindi that is meu of 600 or 200 s. Land by the year consocientur et exuperent eum vivum vel mortuum alterutrum quod pot●runt et qui aliquem eorum infaidiabit qui in eâ quaestione fuerint sit inimicus Regis et omnium Amicorum ipsius Et si quis adire negaverit et coadjuvare nolit emendat Regi cxx s. vel secundum hoc pernegat quod nescivit et hundredo xxx s. From whence it is apparent That all Oaths of Allegance and Laws against Theeves and other Malefactors were then made and enacted in Parliamentary Councils assembled for that purpose and all fines for offences imposed and reduced to a certainty only by Parliament And by the last parcel of King Edmunds Laws in Bromton it seems the manner of contracting Marriage was then prescribed and setled by a Parliamentary Council This King Edmund as he gave and restored by his Charters to Christ-Church and St. Augustines in Canterbury several Lands unjustly taken away from them by his Predecessors free from all secular services except expedition and building of Bridge and Castle and ratified the Laws and Privileges of St. Cutberts Church at Durham by consent of his Bishops and Nobles So likewise Anno 944. he granted by his Charter written in golden Characters sundry large Liberties together with ●he Mannor of Glastonbury to the Abbey of Glustonbury Consilio et cons●n●u Op imat●m meorum then assembled in a Parliamentary Council at London ratifying the Privileges gr●nted to the Monastery by King Edmund his Father E●frid Ce●twine

Kenulph After the decease of her father the Tort Feasor 4ly That the same cause and complaint was revived continued ended in succeeding that rested undecided and unrecompensed in former Councils 5ly That Agreements Exchanges and Judgements given upon Complaints in Parliamentary Councils were conclusive and final to the Parties and their Heirs 6ly That Injuries done by the power of our Kings or great Men in one Parliamentary Council as in dividing the Archbishoprick of Canterbury c. were examined redressed by another subsequent Council 7ly That Parliamentary Councils in that Age were very frequently held at least once or twice a year if not interrupted by wars and that usually at Clovesho according to the Decree of the Council of Heartford under Archbishop Theodor That the Bishops once a year should assemble together in a Council at Clovesho as Gervasius Doroberniensis records there being 4 Councils there and elsewhere held in King Beornulfs 4 years reign I find m another Council held at Clovesho in the year 824 the 3. of the Calends of November under Beornulf King of Mercians and Wulfred Archbishop of Canterbury where this King which all his Bishops and Abbots and all the Princes Nobles and many most wise men we●e assembled together Amongst other businesses debated therein there was a sute between Heabere Bishop of Worcester and the Nuns of Berclea concerning the inheritance of Aethelfrick Son of Aethelmund to wit the Monasterie called West-Burgh the Lands whereof with the Books the Bishop then had as Aethelfrick had before commanded that they should be restored to the Church of Worcester This Bishop with 50 Mass Priests and 160 other Priests Deacons Monks and Abbots whose names are recorded in the Manuscript swore that this Land and Monastery were impropriated to his possession and Church which Oath with all these fellow swearers he was ordered to take at Westminster and did it accordingly after 30 nights respire Whereupon It was ordained and decreed by the Archbishop all the Council consenting with him that the Bishop should enjoy the Monastery Lands and Books to him and his Church and so that sute was ended and this Decree pronounced thereupon Quapropter si quis hunc agrum ab illâ Ecclesiâ in Ceastre nititur evellere contra Decreta sanctorum Canonum sciat se facere quia sancti Canones decernunt Quicquid Sancta Synodus universalls cum Catholico Archiepiscopo suo adjudicaverit nullo modo fractum vel irritum esse faciendum Haec autem gesta sunt Hi sunt Testes Confirmatores hujus rei quorum nomina hic infrà notantur à die tertio Calend Novembrium Ego Beornulf Rex Merciorum hanc chartulam Synodalis decreti signo sanctae Christi Crucis confirmavi Then follows the Archbishops Subscription and confirmation in like words with the subscriptions of sundry Bishops Abbots Dukes and Nobles being 32 in number all ratifying this Decree An. 833. Egbert King of West-Saxons Athelwulfe his Son Witlasius king of Mercians both the Archbishops Abbots cum Proceribus majoribus totius Angliae with the greatest Nobles of all England were all assembled together at London in a National Parliamentary Council pro consilio capiendo contra Danicos Piratas Littora Angliae assidne infestantes to take Counsel what to do against the Danish Pirates dayly infesting the Sea-Coasts of England In this Council the Charter of Witlasius king of Mercians to the Abbey of Croyland where he was hid and secured from his enemies was made and ratified wherein he granted them many rich gifts of Plate Gold Silver Land and the Privilege of a Sanctuary for all offenders flying to it for shelter which grant could not be valid without a Parliamentary confirmation for he being elected King omnium consensu after the slaughters of Bernulf and Ludican two invading Tyrants cut off in a short time qui contra fas purpuram induerent regno vehementet oppresso totam militiam ejus quae quondam plurima extiterat victoriosissima sua imprudentia perdiderant as Ingulphus writes was enforced to hold his kingdom from Egbert king of West-Sax●ns under a Tribute And thereupon conferring divers Lands by his Charter to this Abbey for ever to be held of him his heirs and Successors Kings of Mercia in perpetual and pure Frankalmoigne quietae solutae ab omnibus oneribus secularibus exactionibus vectigalibus universis quocunque nomine censeantur That his grant might be sound and valid he was necessitated to have it confirmed in this Parliamentary Council by the consent of King Egbert and his Son and of all the Bishops Abbots et Proceribus Majoribus Angliae and the greater Nobles of England there present most of them subscribing and ratifying this Charter with the sign of the Cross and their names About the year of Grace 838. there was a Parliamentary Council held at Kingston in which Egbert king of the West-Saxons and his Son Aethelwulfe Ceolnoth Archbishop of Canterbury with the rest of the Bishops and Nobles of England were present Amongst many things there acted and spoken Archbishop Ceolnoth shewed before the whole Council That the foresaid Kings Egbert and Aerhelwulfe had given to Christchurch the Mannor called Malinges in Sussex free from all secular service and Regal Tributes excepting only these three Expedition building of Bridge and Castle which foresaid Mannor and Lands King Baldred gave to Christchurch Sed quia ille Rex cunctis Principibus non placuit noluerunt donum ejus permanere ratum But because this King pleased not all his Nobles they would not that this his gift should continue firm To which Sir Henry Spelman adds this Marginal Note Rex non potuit distrahere patrimonium Regni sine assensu Procerum Wherefore the foresaid Kings in this Parliamentary Council with their Nobles assent at the request of the said Archbishop regranted and confirmed it to Christchurch with this Anathema annexed against the infringers of this grant If any shall presume to violate it on the behalf of God and of us Kings Bishops Abbots and all Christians let him be separated from God and let his portion be with the Devil and his Angols Polydor Virgil records that King Athelwulfe in the year 847. going in pilgrimage to Rome repaired the English School there lately burned down and in imitation of King Ina made that part of his Kingdom which Eghert his Father had added Tributary towards it Legeque sancibit and enacted by a Law made in a Parliamentary Council that those who received 30 pence rent every year out of their possessions or had more houses should pay for those houses they inhabited every of them a penny a peece to the Pope for the maintenance of this School at the Feast of Peter and Paul or at least of St. Peters bonds which Law some writes he though falsely ascribr to his Son Alfred which act others refer to the years 855 or 857 and that

Brithnodus Odonis filius veneruut ad Concilium ex ore Regis ut omnis praepositus vadium capiat in suo comitatu de pace servandâ sicut Adelstanus Rex apud Fefresham et quartâ vice apud Thundresfeldam coram Archiepiscopo et Episcopis et Sapientibus quas ipse Rex nominavit qui interfuerunt et judicia conservaverunt Quae in hoc Concilio fuerunt instituta c. Cap. 18. Item quod Adelstanus Rex praecepit Episcopis suis et praepositis omnibus in toto Regno suo ut pacem it a custodiant sicut recitavit et Sapientes sui Cap. 19. Item Rex dixit nunc iterum apud Thitlan birig Sapientibus suis et praecepit ostendi Atchiepiscopo et caeteris Episcopis quod ei miserabile videtur quod aliquis tàm juvenis occidatur vel protàm parvâ re sicut innotuit ei quod ubique fiebat dixit itaque Quod ei videbatur et eis cum quibus hoc egerat ne aliquis occidatur junior quam quindecim Annorum nisise defendere velit vel aufugere et in manus ire velit ut tunc deducatur sir major sit minor qualiscunque sit si se dederit ponatur in Carcere sicut apud Greateleyam dictum est et per idem redimatur c. Praecepit Rex ne aliquis occidatur pro minori precio quam 12 d. nisi fugiat vel repugnet ne dubitetur tunc licet minus Si haec ita conservemus in Domino Deo confidimus quod pax nostra melior erit quam antea fuit As these passages demonstrate the proceedings of the Parliamenrary Councils in that Age unknown to most for which end I have transcribed them at large so they clearly prove that Theeves or Felons much lesse other English Freemen could not be imprisoned killed put to death fined or ransommed but by special Acts and Laws made in General Parliamentary Councils nor any Laws made enacted or altered in such Councils but by the Kings Royal Assent thereto who then frequently summoned them and all the Members ofthem by writ and nomination without the Peoples Election Henry de Knyghton de Eventibus Angliae l. 1. c. 5. and some other fabulous Authors relate that in the eighth year of King Aethelstans reign Olaus King of Denmark Golanus King of Norwey and the Duke of Normandy with 8 Dukes and 5 hundred thousand Souldiers arived in England bringing with them out of Africa A Giant called Colybrand the strongest and most famous at that time throughout the World Whereupon King Aethelstan hearing of their comming Congregavit Magnates assembled his Noblemen at Winchester to advice with them how they might resist the Enemies and fight with them in Battel Thar whiles king Aethelstan vacaret tali Concilio et congregatione populi sui in Wintonia the foresaid kings came upon him with their Army and besieged him Cum Baronia sua with his Batons in that City for two years space Neither durst the English fight with them by reason of their multitude and Power In the mean time they made this Agreement that king Aethelstan should find out one Champion to fight a single Duel with Colybrand that in all future times the Realm of England should be held of the King of Denmark under a Tribute and if Colybrand were conquered by Aethelstans Cham●ion then Olaus should forfeit and disclaim the Realm of England for him and his Heirs for ever and no King of Denmark should afterwards lay claim to the Realm of England nor yet molest it That the king in near one whole years space could not find out a Champion to encounter Colybrand whereupon he and his Nobles were very much troubled At last God by an Angel from Heaven directed the King to find out Guy of Warwick comming thither as a Pilgrim who undertook to encounter Colybrand and after a sharp battel with him in the view of both kings and their Armies cut off one of his hands and after that his head By which Victory the whole Land of England enjoyed the unviolated privilege of rest and Liberty from the Danish king untill Cnute king of Denmark gained the Realm of England from Edmund Ironside But this Relation being contrary to the truth of History and the Stream of all our Historiographers I shall repute it meerly fabulous though I could not well omit it for that Relation it hath to this my Theame an● precedent Propositions William of Malmesbury and others out of him record that Elfrid a Noble man who opposed Aethelstans Title to the Crown though in vain intended to have seized on him at Winchester and put out his eyes but his Treason being discovered before it came to the Accomplishment he was taken and sent to Rome to purge himself by Oath where before the Altar of St. Peter and Pope Iohn the 10th he adjured the fact and thereupon fell suddainly down dead to the Earth and being carried from before the Altar by his Servants to the English School he there died within three daies after Upon this the Pope sent to the king to advise what he should do with him and whether he should allow him burial with other Christia● Corps The king hereupon assembling a Council of his Nobles to advise about it Optimates Regionis the Nobles of the Realm with a great Company of Elfrids kindred earnestly requested of the King with great humility that his body might be committed to Christian Burial The King consenting to their Request acquainted the Pope therewith who granted him Christian Burial though unworthy Hereupon the Nobles adjudged all his Lands and Possessions great and small to the King who by their consent granted and confirmed them all to the Abby of Malmesbury by his Charter wherin he recites Sciant Sapientes regionis Nostrae non has praefatas terr as me injustè Rapuisse Rapinamque Deo Dedicasse sed sic eas accepi Quemadmodum judicaverunt omnes Optimates Regni Anglorum Insuper et Apostolicus Papa Romanae Ecclesiae Johannes After which reciting the Treachery perjury and death of Elfred with his Condescention to his Nobles and friends request aforesaid he concludes thus Et sic Adjudicata est mihi tota possessio ejus in magnis et modicis Sed et haec Apicibus praenotamus literarum ne quamdi● Christianitas regnat aboleatur unde mihi praefata possessio quam Deo et Sancto Petro dedi donatur nec Justius novi quam Deo et sancto Petro hanc possessionem dare qui aemulum meum in conspectu omnium cadere fecerunt et mihi prosperitatem Regni largiti sunt To which Malmesbury subjoyns In his Verbis Regis sapientiam et pietatem ejus in Dei rebus suspicere par est Sapientiam eo quod animadverterat juvenis presertim non esse Dei Gratiosum de Rapinâ Holocaustum Pietatem eo quod Munus ultione divin● collatum Deo potissimum non ingratus rependeret From whence I shall only observe

death with a magnanimous minde without fear or change of countenance but yet confidently pronounced as she was dying That the shedding of her bloud would bring great detriment to England Henry Huntindon thus relates the story of this Massacre In the year 1002. Emma the Jewel of the Normans came into England and received both the Diadem and name of a Queen with which match King Ethelred being puffed up with pride bringing forth perfidiousness caused all the Danes who were with peace in England to be slain by clandestine Treason on one and the same day to wit on the feast of St. Brice concerning which wickedness we have heard in our infancy some honest old men say that the said King sent secret Letters into every City according to which the English on the same day and hour destroyed all the Danes either cutting off their heads without giving them warning with swords or taking and burning them suddenly together with fire Vbi fuit videre miseriam dum quisque charissimos hospites quos etiam arctissima necessitudo dulc●ores effecerat cogeretur prodere et amplexus gladio deturbare writes Malmsbury The News of this bloudy Massacre of the Danes being brought into Denmark to King Swain by some Youths of the Danish Nation who escaped and fled out of England in a ship moved him to tears Vocatisque cunctis Regni Principibus Who calling all the Princes of his Realm together and relating the whole series of what was acted to them he diligently enquired of them what they would advise him to do Who all crying out together as with one mouth DECREED That the bloud of their Neighbours and Friends was to be revenged Whereupon Swain a cruel man prone to shed bloud animated to revenge by his Messengers and Letters commanded all the Warriers of his Kingdom and charged all the souldiers in forein Regions greedy of gain to assist him in this expedition against the English which they cheerfully did he having now a fairer shew to do foully than ever wrong having now made him a right of invasion who had none before Anno 1003. King Swain ariving with a great Navy and Army in England by the negligence and treachery of one Hugh a Norman whom Queen Emma had made Earl of Devonshire took and spoyled the City of Exeter rased the wall thereof to the ground and burnt the City to ashes returning with a great prey to his ships leaving nothing behind them but the ashes After which wasting the Province of Wiltshire a strong Army congregated out of Hamshire and Wiltshire went with a resolution manfully and constantly to fight with the Enemy but when both Armies were in view of each other ready to joyn battel Earl Edric their General a constant Traytor to his Country and secret friend to the Danes feigned himself to be very sick and began to vomit so that he could not possibly fight Whereupon the Army seeing his slothfulness and fearfullness departed most sorrowfull from their Enemies without fighting being disheartned by the Cowardise of their Captain Which Swane perceiving he marched to Wilton and Sarisbery which he took pillaged and burnt to the ground returning with the spoil to his Ships in triumph The next year Swane to whom God had designed the kingdom of England as some old Historians write sailing with his Fleet to Norwich pillaged and burnt it to the ground Whereupon Ulfketel Duke of East-England a man of great valour seeing himself surprized and wanting time to raise an Army to resist the Danes cum Majoribus East-Angliae habito Consilio taking Counsel with the Great men of East-England made peace with Swane which he treacherously breaking within three weeks after suddenly issuing out of his ships surprized pillaged and burnt Thetford to the ground and covering the C●untry like Locusts spoyled all things and slaughtered the Country-men without resistance Which Duke Ulfketel being informed of commanded some of his Country-men to break his ships in pieces in his absence from them which they not dared or neglected to do and he in the mean time raising an Army with as much speed as he could boldly marched against the Enemy retu●ning with great booties to their Ships where after a long and sharp incounter on both sides the English being over-powered by the multitude of the Danes were totally routed and all the Nobles of East-England there slain in their Countries defence who fought so valiantly that the Danes confessed they had never an harder or sharper battel in E●gland than this The great loss the Danes sustained in it though they got the field and an extraordinary famine in England the year following greater than any in the memory of man caused Swane to return into Denmark to refresh and recruit his Army King Ethelred quit of these Enemies Anno 1006 deprived Wulfgate the Son of Leonne whom he had loved more than all men of his possessions and all his honours propter injusta judicia for his unjust judgements and proud works and likewise commanded the eyes of the two Sons of that Arch-Traitor Edric Streona to be put out at Cocham where he kept his Court because Edric had treacherously inticed a bloody Butcher Godwin Porthound whom he corrupted with great gifts to murder the Noble Duke Althelin at Scoborbyrig as he was hunting whom Edric purposely invited to a Feast that he might thus treacherously murder him While these things were acting in the month of July the Danes returning with an innumerable Navy into England landing at Sandwich consumed all things with fire and sword taking great booties sometimes in Sussex sometimes in Kent Whereupon King Ethelred gathered a great Army out of Mercia and the West-parts of England re●o●●ing valiantly to fight with the 〈◊〉 who declining any open fight and returning to their Ships landed sometimes in one place sometimes in another and so pillaging the Country returned with the booty to the Ships before the English Army could encounter them which they vexed all the Autumn in marching after them from place to place to no purpose The English Army returning home when Wintet began to approach the Danes with an extraordinary booty sayled to the Isle of Wight where they continued till the Feast of Christs Nativity which Feast they turned into sorrow For then they marching into Hampshire and Berkeshire pillaged and burnt down Reading Wallingford Colesey Essington and very many Villages Quocunque enim peragebant quae parata erant hilariter comedentes cum discederent in retributionem procurationis reddebant hospiti caedem hospitio flammam as Huntindon Bromton and others story As they were returning another way to their ships with their booty they found the Inhabitants ready to give them battel at Kenet whom the Danes presently fighting with and routing returned with triumph to their ships enriched with the new spoils of the routed English King Ethelred lying all this time in Shropshire unable to resist

Pavillion there came a voice unto him saying William William be thou a good man because thou shalt obtain the Crown of the Realm and shalt be King of England and when thou shalt vanquish the enemy cause a Church to be built in the same place in my name so many hundred foot in length as in number of years the seed of thy bloud shall possess the Government of the Realm of England and reign in England an 150. years But q Matthew Westminster writes this voice was after the battel with Harold not before it and the subsequent words in Knyghton touching his march to London import as much Harold residing in the North after his great victory there when he deemed all his Enemies totally broken in pieces received certain intelligence that Duke William was safely arived at Pevensey with his Fleet and an innnmerable company of valiant Horsemen Slingers Archers and Footmen whom he had hired out of all France Whereupon he presently marched with his army in great haste towards London and although he well knew that most of the valiant men in all England were slain in the two late Battels against Tosti and the Danes that many of the Nobility and Common Souldiers had quite deserted him refusing to march with him in that necssity because he permitted them not to share with him in the great booties they had won with their bloud and that half his Army were not come together yet he resolved forthwith to march into Sussex against the Enemy and fight them with those small forces tired he then had being most of them Mercenaries and Stipendiaries except those English Noblemen Gentlemen and Freemen who enflamed with the love and liberty of their Native Country voluntarily engaged themselves with him in the defence thereof against the common dangerous invading Enemy rather than to support his usurped Diadem and Royalty over them of which number there were very few f Immo vero panoi et manu promptissimi fuere qui charitati corporum renunciantes Propatria animas posuerunt Nampraeter S●ipendiarios et Mercinario● milites paucos admodum ex comprovincialibus habuit Praecipitabant eum nimium fata ut nec auxilia convocari vellet nec si vellet multos parituros invenerat Ita omnes ei erant infensi quod solus manubiis Borealibus incubuerat Unde cum suis quos ductabat astutia Gulielmi ●ircumventus fusus est levi videlicet belli negoti● sed occulto et stupendo Dei consilio quod nunquam posteà Angli Communi praelio in libertatem spiraverint quasi cum Haraldo omne robur deciderit Angliae quae certe Potuit et debuit etiam per inertissimos solvere paenas perfidiae Yet Thomas of Walsingham and some others write that Harold had gathered together an innumerable company of Englishmen against Duke William and the multitudes of the Nobility Gentry and Commons of England slain in the Battel besides those who fled from it and could not come to fight manifest his Army not to be so small as these Authors would make it only to augment the Englishmens valour and ecclipse the Normans as overcomming them more by stratagem and multitude than true fortitude Whiles Harold was in his march towards William within 9 miles of his Fort in Sussex he sent out Scouts before him to discover the forces and numbers of the Enemy who being intercepted and brought to William he caused them to be led about his tents that they might well view his Army and then being bountisully feasted he commanded them to be sent back to their Master without any harm Who returning to Harold commending the Dukes magnificence martial prowess and clemency seriously affirmed that all his Souldiers seemed to be Priests because their faces and both their lips were shaven which kind of shaving none of the English then used but their Priests only Upon which Harold smiling at the Scouts simplicity replied They were not effeminate Priests but Souldiers of great and valourous minds invincible in arms Whereupon Girth Harolds younger Brother a man of great knowledge and valour beyond his years taking the Speech out of his mouth said Seeing you commend the valour of the Normans to be so great I hold it unadvised rashnesse for you to fight with them to whom you may be reputed inferiour both in merit and valour Neither are you able to gainsay but that you took an Oath to William to reserve the Crown to his use voluntarily or unvoluntarily Wherefore you shall doe more advisedly to withdraw your self out of the field in this instant necessity ne si perjurus decertans vel fugam vel mortem incurras lest fighting perjured you incurre either flight or death and the whole Army perish for your sin of Perjury seeing there is no fighting against God Therefore expect the issue of the battel without danger For we are altogether free from any Oath justum suscipimus bellum pro Patria pugnaturi and have undertaken a just warr to fight for our Country If we fight alone without thee thy cause shall prosper better and thou shalt be more safe whatever befallius For if we fly thou maist be able to succour and restore us and if we be slain thou maist revenge us But such was Harolds unbridled rashness that he would not give a pleasing ear to this admonition esteeming it inglorious and a great dishonour to his former life and valour to turn his back to any Enemy or danger Whiles these discourses passed between them in comes a Monk sent by Duke William claiming the kingdom as his Because King Edward had granted it to him by advice of Archbishop Stigand and of the Earls Godwin and Siward and had sent the Son and Nephew of Godwin hostages thereof into Normandy But to avoid effusion of Christian bloud the Monk brought him these three profers Either to depart with the Realm to William according to his Oath and agreement Or to hold the Kingdom from and reign under him Or finally to determine the controversie between them two by a single Duc● in the view of both their 〈◊〉 But Harold out of a strange imp●udence impudence pride of heart as one whom the heavens would depresse accepting neither domestick counsel nor the Normans offer would neither vouchsafe to look upon the Messenger with a good countenance nor discourse with him in milde terms but sending him away with indignation prayed only thus That God would judge between him and his Master William To whom the Monk boldly replying required that if he would deny the right of William he should either reserr it to the Judgement of the S●e Ap●stolick or else to battel if he had rather by which he asserted that William was ready to trie his Title But Harold answering nothing to those his Proposals but what he had done before went within little of laying violent hands upon the Embassador commanding William with violent terms and menaces to depart his kingdom

The first moity was for Pious uses which he subdivided into three parts The first parcel he bestowed in Almes to relieve the poor both at home and in forein parts The second he bestowed on Religious Houses and Persons The third he gave towards the maintenance of Schools Scholars Doctors and learned Men of all sorts resorting to and liberally rewarded by him according to their merits The other moity was for civil uses which he likewise divided into 3 equal portions The first he gave unto his Souldiers whom he divided into 3 Squadrons The first Squadron which were Horse waited one month on him at his Court as his Life-guard whiles the other two were imployed in military expeditions in the Field And when their month expired they all returned from the wars and then another new Company succeeded them And when their Month was ended they returning to their Houses the other Company succeeded them And so they successively kept their monthly courses during all his Reign being one month in actual service and two months at home about their own affairs The second part he gave to his Workmen and Artificers of all sorts skilfull in all Worldly affairs The third part he gave to Strangers in Royal Gifts and Presents and that as well to the Rich as Poor Besides he had a very great Care Ne à Vicecomitibus et Ministris pauperes opprimere●tur et indebitis exactionibos gravarentur That the poor people should not be oppressed by Sheriffs and other Officers nor burthened with unjust Exactions or Contributions Yea by his large Almes and Gifrs he sent to Rome he procured the English School to be fréed from all Taxes and Tributes by the Popes special Bull. And we never read he imposed the least publick Tax upon his Subjects during all his wars and Exigences by his own Regal Power upon any pretext of publick Necessity Danger Defence or Safety of the Realm against the Numerous Invading plundering Danish forces both by Sea and Land Which our late and present Aegyptian Tax-masters may do well to consider In the year of our Lord 894. this King Alfred and Guthurn the Dane gave to the Church of St. Cutbert in Durham all the Lands between Weor and Tyne for a perpetual Succession free from all Custome and secular Services with all Customes Saca and Socua and infaugtheof thereunto belonging with sundry other Privileges which they ordained to be perpetually observed Non solum Anglorum sed et Danorum consentiente et collaudante exercitu by the consent and approbation of the ARMY not only of the English but Danes also Has Leges haec Statuta which proves that it was done by a Parliamentary Counsell then held in both their Armies Quicunqu● quolibet nisu Infringere praesumpserint eos in perpetuum nisi emendaverint Gehennae Ignibus puniendos anathematizando Sententia omnium contradidit I pretermit the Welsh Synods held under the Bishops of Landaff during King Alfreds Reign as Sir Henry Spelman conjecture● in whom the Reader may peruse them where in the Bishop of Landaff and his Clergy excommunicated some of their petty Welsh Kings for Murder Perjury violating the Churches Patrimony and Injuring the Bishops family who upon their Repentance and Reconciliation gave all of them some parcels of Land to the Church of Landaff The rather because I conceive them fabulous there being no such form of Excommunication used in those daies as Sir Henry Spelman proves nor any such Episcopal Synods held in England under King Alfred himself The barbarous Danes having throughout all England with fire and sword utterly wasted and destroyed all Cities Towns Castles Monasteries Churches put most of the Bishops Abbots Clergy to the Sword and almost quite deleted the knowledge of Learning and Religion out of the whole Nation insomuch that there were very few spiritual persons on this side Humber who could either understand the Common prayers in the English tongue or translate anywriting out of latine into English yea so few that there was not so much as one man on the South-side of the Thames that could do it till King Alfred after his Conquest of the Danes in the latter part of his Reign restored Learning and Religion again by Degrees as this King himself records in expresse terms in his Epistle to Bishop Wulsug by way of Preface to his own Translation of Gregories Pastorals into the English Saxons Language King Alfred deceasing his Son Edward surnamed the Elder succeeding his Father in the year of Christ 901 thereupon Prince Aethelwald his Uncles Son aspiring to the Crown without the consent of the King and Nobles of the Realm seised upon Oxlie and Winburne whereupon King Edward marching with his Armie against him to Bath he fled from Winburne to the Danes in Northumberland for assistance who being glad thereof they all make him King and Prince over all their Kings and Captains Whereupon they invading Essex and Mercia King Ed. raised a great Army chased them into Northumberland and harrowed the whole Country to the Lakes of Northumberland where the Kentishmen remaining contrary to the Kings Command and Messengers sent to them after the retreat of the rest of the Army The Danish Army upon this advantage setting upon them they gallantly defending themselves slew their new King Aethelwald with King Eorit and sundry of their chief Commanders and many of their Souldiers though they lost the field This King and Edelfled his Sister Queen of Mercians to prevent the frequent eruptions plunders the Danes repaired many old ruinated Towns and built many new ones in convenient places which they replenished with Souldiers to protect the Inhabitants and repell the Enemies whereby the Common people we●e so incouraged and became such good Souldiers that if they heard of the Enemies approach they would fight and rout them Rege etiam Ducibus inconsultis in certamen ruerent eisque semper numero scientia praeliandi praestarent ita hostes contemptui milit●bus Regi risui erant as Malmesbury writes The Country people themselves fighting with the Danes at Ligetune put them to flight recovered all the prey they had taken and likewise the Danes Horses as they likewise did in some other parts Amongst other places this King repaired the walls of Colchester put warlike men in it certum eis stipendium assignavit and assigned them a certain stipend as Mat Westm records neither he nor other our Historians making mention of assigned wages to any other Garrisons or Souldiers in that age At last the Danes in most places throughout England perceiving King Edwards power and wisdom submitted themselves unto him elected him for their King and Patron and swore homage and fealty to him as likewise did the Kings of Scotland Northumberland and Wales In the year of Grace 905. This King Edward assembled a Synod of the Senators of the English Nation as Malmesbury or a great Council of Bishops Abbots and faithfull people

as Matthew Westminster and others stile it in the Province of the Gewisii which by reason of the Enemies incursions had been destitute of a Bishop for 7 years space Whereupon the King and Bishops in this Council taking good advice made this wholsom constitution That instead of 2 Bishops whereof one had his Sea at Winchester the other at Schireburn 5 Bishops should be created ne Grex Domini absque cura Pastorali luporum incursionibus quateretur Whereupon they in this Council elected 5 Bishops to wit Frithstan for Winchester Athelin for Schireburn Aedulfe for Wells Werstan for Crideton and Herstan for Cornwal assigning them their several Sees and Diocess and two other Bishops for Dorchester and Cirencester all consecrated by Archbishop Plegmond at Canterbury in one day Wil. of Malmesb. and some others write that this Council was summoned upon the Letter of Pope Formosus who excommunicated king Edward with all his Subjects for suffering the Bishopricks of Winton and Scireburn to be void for 7 years space together But this must needs be a great mistake since Pope Formosus was dead ten years before this Council and before these Bishopricks became void and his pretended Epistle to the Bishops of England makes no mention at all of the king as Sir Henry Spelman well observes In the year 906. king Edward made a Peace and firm agreement with the Danes of Northumberland and East-England at Intingford when as some think he and Guthurn the Dane reconfirmed the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws formerly made and ratified by his Father King Alfred and Guthurn But Guthurn dying in the year 890 full eleven years before this Edward was king could not-possibly ratifie these Laws at the time of this Accord being 16 years after his decease as the Title and Prologue to those Laws in Mr. Lambard and Spelman erroneously affirm wherefore I conceive that this confirmation of these Laws was rather made in the year 921. when all our Historians record that after king Edward Anno 910. had sent an army into Northumberland against the perfidious and rebellious Danes slain and taken many of them Prisoners and miserably wasted their Country for 4 days space for breaking their former Agreement with him after his Sister Aegelfled An. 919. had forced the Danes at York to agree and swear that they would submit to her and her Brothers pleasure in all things and after Edward had vanquished the other Danes Scotch and Welsh in many Battles thereupon in the yeat 921. the king of Scots with all his Nation Stredded king of Wales with all his people et Regnaldus or Reginaldus Reginald King of the Danes with all the English and Danes inhabiting Northumberland of which Reginald then was King comming to King Edward An. 921. submitted themselves unto him elected him for their Father and Lord and made a firm Covenant with him And therefore I conjecture that Guthurnus in the Title and Preface of these Laws is either mistaken or else mis-written for Reginaldus then King of these Northern Danes who had no King in the year 906 that I can read of in our Historians Abbot Ethelred gives this Encomium of this Kings transcendent modesty and justice Rex Edwardus vir mansuetus et pius omnibus am abilis et affabilis adeò omnium in se provocabat affectum ut Scotti Cumbri Walenses Northumbri et qui remanserant Daci eum non tàm in Dominum ac Regem quam in Patrem eum omni devotione eligerent Tanta dehinc Modestia regebat Subditos tanta Justitia inter proximum et proximum judicabat ut contra veritatem non dico nihil velle sed nec posse videretur unde fertur quibusdam iratus dixisse dico vobis si possem vicem vobis redidissem Quid non posset Rex in Subditos Dominus in Servos Potens in infirmos Dux in milites Sed quicquid non dictabat aequitas quicquid veritati repugnabat quicquid non permittebat Justitia quicquid Regiam mansuetudinem non decebat Sibi credebat impossibile I wish all our modern domineering Grandees would imitate his presidential Royal Example Yet I read of one injurious Act done by him After the decease of his renowned Sister Elfleda Queen of Mercia Anno 920. he dis-inherited her only Daughter Alfwen or Elwyn his own Neece of the Dominion of all Mercia who held that Kingdom after her Mother seising and Garrisoning Tamesworth and Nottingham first and then disseising her of all Mercia uniting it to his own Realms and removing her thence into West-Sex Magis ●urans an utili●èr vel in utilitèr Quan an juste vel injustè Writes Henry Humingdon which innrious action Si violanda sit fides regni causâ violanda will not excuse The Chronicle of Bromton records that King Edward as he inlarged the bounds of his Kingdom more than his Father So Leges condidit he likewise made Laws to govetn it which are there registred to Posterity in two parcels as made at several times but in what year of his Reign this was it informs us not The first of these Laws declaring his zeal to publick Justice according to the Laws then in Force is this Edwardus Rex mandat et praecipit omnibus Praefectis et Amicis suis ut Justa judicia judicent quam rectiora possint Et in judiciali Libro stant nec parcant nec dissimulent pro aliqua Re Populi Rectum et jus publicum recitare et unum quodque placitum terminum habeat quando peragatur quod tunc recitabitur The first Chapter of the second part of his Laws intimates that they were made by his Wtse men assembled in a Parliamentary Council at Exeter witness the contents thereof Edwardus Rex admonuit Omnes Sapientes quando fuerunt Exoniae ut investigarent simul et quaererent quomodo pax eo rum melior esse possit quàm anteà fuit quia visumest ei quod hoc impletum sit aliter quam deceret et quam aute à praecepisset Inquisivit it aque qui ad emendationem velint redire et in societate permanere quâ ipse sit et amare quod amat et nolle quod nolit in Mari in Terrâ Hoc est tunc Ne Quisquam rectum difforceat alicui Siquis hoc faciat emendet sicut supra dictum est In his first Laws then either made or rehearsed prima vice 30 s. secundâ similitèr ad tertiam vicem 120 s. Regi The last Chapter being the VIII in Bromtons translation but the XI in the Saxon Coppy is this Volo ut omnis Praepositus habeat Gemotum an Hundred Court semper ad quatuor hebdomadas et efficiat ut omnis homo rectum habeat et omne placitum capiat terminum quando perveniat ad finem Siquis hoc excipiat emendet sicut antè dictum est King Edward deceasing Aethelstan his eldest Son designed by his Fathers Will to succeed him was

their Coronation Oaths and not arbitrarily or tyrannically according to their pleasures 5. That no Freemen in that age could be justly imprisoned banished or put to death but for some hainous misdemeanors and that by a legal trial and conviction 6. That the Subjects of England then held it their bounden duties in times of forein invasion to defend the Realm their Lives Liberties Properties both by Land and Sea against forein Enemies yet they held themselves dis-obliged and were generally averse to defend the person or Title of any Usurper of the Crown against any forein Prince or other Person who had a better right and title to it 7. That our English Ancestors in that age esteemed their hereditary Liberties good antient Laws and Customs more dear and pretious to them than their very lives and would rather die fighting for their Laws and Liberties like freemen than live under slavery or bondage to any Soveraign whatsoever 8. That the Kings of England in that age could neither give away nor legally dispose of their Crowns Kingdoms or Crown Lands to others without the privity and free consent of their Nobles and Kingdom in general Parliamentary Council as is evident by Harolds answers to VVilliams Embassadours the recited passage of Matthew Paris upon that occasion and this of Samuel Daniel p. 34. So much was done either by King Edward or Harold though neither act if any such were was of power to prejudice the State or alter the course of right succession as gave the Duke a colour to claim the Crown by a donation made by Testament which being against the Law and Custom of the Kingdom could be of no validity at all For the Crown of England being held not as patrimonial but in succession by remotion which is a succeeding to anothers place it was not in the power of King Edward to collate the same by any dispositive and Testamentary Will the right descending to the next of blood only by the Laws and Custom of the Kingdom For the successor is not said to be the Heir of the King but of the Kingdom which makes him so and cannot be put from it by any Act of his Predecessors 9. That the Nobilities Clergies and peoples free-Election hath been usually most endeavoured and sought after by our Kings especially Intruders as their best and surest Title To these Legal I shall only subjoyn some Political and Theological Observations naturally flowing from the premised Histories of King Edward Harold and William not unsuitable to nor unseasonable for the most serious thoughts and saddest contemplations of the present age considering the revolutions and postures of our publike affairs 1. That it is very unsafe and perillous for Princes or States to intrust the Military and Civil power of the Realm in the hands of any one potent ambitious or covetous person who will be apt to abuse them to the peoples oppression the kingdoms perturbation and his Sovereigns affront or danger as is evident by Earl Godwin and his Sons 2. That devout pious soft-natured Princes are aptest to be abused and their people to be oppressed by evil Officers 3. That it is very dangerous and pernicious to heditary kingdoms for their King to die without any certain known and declared right Heirs or Successors to their Crowns yea an occasion of many wars and revolutions as is evident by King Edwards death without issue or declared right heir 4. That right heirs to Crowns who are of tender years weak judgement or impotent in Friends and Purse are easily and frequently put by their rights by bold active and powerfull Intruders as Edgar Atheling was both by Haroid and William successively Yet this is remarkable in both these Invaders of his royal Right 1. That Harold who first dethroned him to make him some kind of recompence and please the Nobles of his party created Edgar Earl of Oxford and held him in special favour 2ly That King Willam the first to whom he submitted himself and did homage and fealty used him very honourably and entertained him in his Court not only at first but even after he had twice taken up armes against him joyning first with the English Nobilitie then with the Danes and Scots against his interest For Edgar coming to him into Normandy Anno 1066. out of Scotland where he lived some years where nihil ad praesens commodi nihil ad futurum spei praeter quotidianam stipem nactus esset he not only pardoned his fore-past offences but magno donativo donatus est pluribusque annis in Curia manens Libram Argenti quotidie in stipendio accipiebat writes Malmesb. receiving a great donative from him and a pound of silver for a stipend every day and continuing many years in his Court. After which Anno 1089. He went into Apulia to the Holy wars by King Williams licence with 200 Souldiers and many Ships whence returning after the death of Robert son of Godwin and the loss of his best Souldiers he received many benefits from the Emperours both of Greece and Germany who endeavoured to retain him in their Courts for the greatness of his birth but he contemning all their proffers out of a desire to enjoy his Native Country returned into England and there lived all Kings Williams reign In the year 1091. Wil. Rufus going into Normandy to take it by force from his brother Robert deprived Edgar of the honour which his Brother with whom he sided had conferred upon him and banished him out of Normandy whereupon he went into Scotland where by his means a peace being made between VVilliam Rufus and Malcholm king of Scots he was again reconciled to Edgar by Earl Roberts means returned into England being in so great favour with the king that in the year 1097. He sent him into Scotland with an Army Ut in ea consobrinum suum Eadgarum Malcholmi Regis filium patruo suo Dufenoldo qui regnum invaserat expulso Regem constitueret Whence returning into England he lived there till after the reign of king Henry the first betaking himself in his old age to a retired life in the Country as Malmesbury thus records Angliam rediit ubi diverso fortunae ludioro rotatus nunc remotus tacitus canos suo in agro consumit Where most probably he died in peace since I find no mention of his death No less than 4 successive kings permitting this right heir to their Crowns to live both in their Courts and Kingdom of England in peace and security such was the Christian Generosity Charity and Piety of that age without reputing it High Treason for any to relieve or converse with him as the Charity of some Saints in this Iron age would have adjudged it had they lived in those times who have quite forgotten this Gospel Lesson of our Savior they then practised But I say unto you love your Enemies do good to those that hate you

routed by them many of them being slain in the field and the rest inforced to fly into York for shelter which the Enemies besieging was presently surrendred up to them and hostages delivered them after the slaughter of many Citizens Nobles and Clergy-men Upon this King Harold recollecting his disband●d Army and Navy marched with all speed towards York against the Danes Norwegeans and his brother Tosti but coming to Hamford Bridge one valiant Dane with his Battle Axe slew 40 of his men and made good the Bridge against the whole Army for a long space till at last some going under the Bridge in a Boat slew him with a spear Both Armies joyning battel after a long and bloudy fight Harfager and Tosti with may other of Note were slain their whole Army routed all their Ships taken with the loss of many of the bravest English Souldiers and 20 of their Ships only permitted to depart into Denmark with their wounded men and Olaus Harfagers Son who to save his life took an Oath never from thenceforth to attempt any hostility or invasion against the English This victory Abbot Ailred aascribes to the merits of Edward the Confessor who promised to be the Captain and Protector of the English Nation against those Enemies who invaded the Realm contrary to right and Law and promised them the victory over them But Harold ascribing it to his own valour instead of rewarding his Souldiers with the spoils of the vanquished enemies as the price of their bloud out of a base unworthy a varice converted all the spoils and booty to his own private use giving no part of them to any other Wherewith many of the Nobles and common Souldiers were so incensed that detesting the covetousness of their Prince they unanimously departed from his service and refused to march with him against the Normans This triumphant victory so puffed up Harold that he thought himself secure in the Throne beyond the fear or reach of any adversity and instead of a King became a TYRANT Whilst Harold with all his Land and Sea forces were thus busied in the North of England Duke VVilliam in August assembled all his Land Army and Navy consisting of 900 ships at the Port of S. Valerie to invade England in the South then wholly destitute of all Guards by Land and Navy by Sea to resist his landing And to satissie his Souldiers and all others of the justice of his undertaking he alleged these three causes thereof which Henry de Knyghton devides into four The first was to revenge the cruel murther of his Cousin Prince Alfred King Edmunds brother and of the Normans who came with him to assist him to recover the Crown of England to which he was right heir whom Godwin and his Sons had shamefully dishonoured treacherously betrayed and barbarously murdered which fact he ascribed principally to Harold The second was because Godwin and his Sons by their cunning had injuriously banished Robert Archbishop of Canterbury Earl Odo and all the French and Normans out of England which wrong he would revenge on Harold as done principally by his means and labour The third and chief ground was because Harold falling headlong into perjury had without any right usurped the Crown and Realm of England which of due belonged unto him both by right of Kinred to and gift by King Edward his Nephew and by Harolds own solemn Oath and promise made to him in Normandy to preserve the Kingdom for his use after King Edwards death without children according to King Edwards command While Duke William with his ships and Army lay many days together at S. Valerie expecting a fair gale for England the winds being cross many of the common souldiers there lying in Tents thus muttered one to another That the man was mad who would by force invade and make another mans Country and Realm his own That God did fight against them in withdrawing the winds That his Father attempted the same thing in the same manner and was hindered and inhibited therein That it was fatal to his family that aspiring to things above their power they should find God opposite to them These speeches bruted abroad which might enfeeble the strength and ahate the courage even of valiant men The Duke thereupon taking Counsel with his Senators caused the Corps of St. Valerie to be brought forth to procure a wind presently a prosperous gale filling their sayles the Duke himself first took ship and launched forth and all the rest after him then casting Anchor till the Fleet came round about him they all sailing with a gentle course landed at Hastings and Pevemsy The Duke stepping forth of the ship upon the shore one of his feet slipped so that he fell down into the mud one of his hands being filled with sand whch he interpreted as an ill omen and sinister event But one of his Souldiers who stood next him lifting him up from his fall whiles he held the mud in his hand changed this event into a better interpretation saying Most happy Duke thou already possessest England and plowest it up Behold the land is in thy hand Lift up thy self with good hope thou shalt be King of England ere long No sooner was the Army landed m but the King strictly charged them to forbear plundering and take no booties seeing they ought to spare the things that should be his own nor to wrong any of their persons who should ere long become his Subjects Richard Vestegan records out of a French Historian that Duke VVilliam the same day he landed in England caused divers of his chief Officers and Friends to dine with him and chancing at dinner to talk of an Astrologer who by the conjunction of the Planets had assured him at St. Valerie That Harold should never withstand him but submit himself unto him and yeeld him faith and homage willed now that the said Astrologer should be brought unto him whom he had caused to be imbarqued for that voyage But it was told him that the Ship where in the said Astrologer sailed was cast away at Sea and he drowned in it Whereunto the Duke replyed That man was not wise who had more regard to the good or ill fortune of another than unto his own I am now thanks be to God come over I know not how the rest will succeed How false this Star-gazers prediction proved the sequel will manifest Duke VVilliam after his arrival rested quietly 15. days without acting any thing as if he minded nothing less than war After which to cut off all occasion or hopes of return from his Souldiets he fired all his ships or as some write drew them all a shore and intrenched them as others erecting only a Castle on the shore for a retiring place for his Souldiers if need were From Pevensy he marched to Hastings where he built another Fort. Henry de Knyghton records that the first night he lodged in England in his