reigne of King Henrie the first the King him self and a great many of the Nobilitie and Bishops being there present and assembled for the consecration as they call it of the great Churche of Sainct Andrewes the whiche was euen then newly finished And it was againe in manner wholy consumed with flame about the latter ende of the reigne of King Henrie the seconde at whiche time that newely builded Churche was sore blasted also But after all these calamities this Citie was well repaired ditched about in the reigne of King Henrie the third As touchinge the castle at Rochester although I finde not in wryting any other foundation therof then that which I alledged before recon to be mere fabulous yet dare I affirme that ther was an old Castle aboue eight hundreth yeres agoe in so much as I read that Ecgbert a king of Kent gaue certeine landes within the walles of Rochester castle to Eardulfe then Bishop of that See And I coniecture that Odo the bastard brother to king William the Conqueror whiche was at the first Bishop of Borieux in Normandie and then afterwarde aduaunced to the office of the chiefe Iustice of Englande and to the honour of the Earledome of Kent was eyther the first authour or the best benefactour to that which now standeth in sight and herevnto I am drawne somewhat by the consideration of the time it selfe in whiche many Castles were raysed to kéepe the people in awe and somewhat by the regarde of his authoritie whiche had the charge of this whole Shyre but most of all for that I reade that about the time of the Conquest the Bishop of Rochester receiued lande at Ailesford in exchaunge for grounde to builde a Castle at Rochester vpon Not long after whiche time when as William Rufus our Englishe Pyrrhus or Readhead had stepped betwéene his elder brother Robert and the crowne of this realme and had giuen experiment of a fierce and vnbridled gouernment the Nobilitie desirous to make a chaunge arose in armes againste him and stirred his brother to make inuasion And to the ende that the King shoulde haue at once many yrons as the saying is in the fire to attende vpon some moued warre in one corner of the Realme and some in another But amongst the reste this Odo betooke him to his castle of Rochester accompanied with the best both of the English and the Norman nobilitie This whē the king vnderstood he sollicited his subiects specially the inhabitants of this country by al faire meanes and promises to assist him so gathering a great armie besieged the Castle and strengthened the Bishop and his complices the defendants in suche wise that in the ende he and his company were contented to abiure the Realme and to leade the rest of their life in Normandie And thus Odo that many yeres before had béene as it were a Viceroy and second person within this realme was now depriued of al his dignitie driuē to kéepe residence vpon his benefice till suche time as Earle Robert for whose cause he had incurred this daūger pitying the cause appointed him gouernour of Normandie his owne countrie After this the Castle was much amended by Gundulphus the Bishop who in consideration of a Manor giuen to his Sée by King Williā Rufus bestowed thrée score poundes in building that great Towre whiche yet standeth And from that time this Castle continued as I iudge in the possession of the Prince vntill King Henrie the first by the aduice of his Barons graunted to William the Archebishop of Canterburie and his successours the custodie and office of Constable ouer the same with frée libertie to builde a Towre for him selfe in any part therof at his pleasure By meanes of which cost done vpon it at that time the Castle at Rochester was muche in the eye of suche as were the authors of troubles folowing within the realme so that from time to time it had a parte almost in euery Tragedie For what time King Iohn had warre with his Barons they gotte the possession of this Castle and cōmitted the defence therof to a noble man called William Dalbinet whome the king immediatly besieged through the cowardise of Robert Fitz Walter that was sent to rescue it after thrée monethes labour compelled him to render the péece The next yere after Lewes the Frenche Dolphine by the ayde of the Englishe Nobilitie entered the same Castle and tooke it by force And lastly in the reigne of King Henrie the thirde Simon Mountford not long before the battaile at Lewes in Sussex girded the citie of Rochester about with a mightie siege and setting on fire the wooden bridge a Towre of timber that stoode thereon wanne the firste gate or warde of the Castle by assaulte and spoyled the Churche and Abbay But being manfully resisted seuen dayes together by the Earle Warren that was within and hearing soudainly of the Kings comming thitherwarde he prepared to méete him in person and lefte others to continue the siege all whiche were soone after put to flight by the kings armie This warre as I haue partly shewed before was specially moued against strangers whiche during that kings reigne bare suche a sway as some write that they not onely disdayned the naturall borne Nobilitie of the Realme But did also what in them lay to abolishe the auncient lawes and customes of the same In déede the fire of that displeasure was long in kindeling therfore so much the more furious when it brast foorth into flame But amongst other things that ministred nourishment therto this was not the least that vpon a time it chaunced a Torneament to be at Rochester in which the English men of a set purpose as it should séeme sorted them selues against the strangers and so ouermatched them that following the victory they made them with great shame to fly into the Towne for couert But I dwel to long I feare in these two parts I will therefore nowe visite the Religious building and so passe ouer the bridge to some other place The foundation of the Churche of S. Andrewes in Rochester was first layd by King Ethelbert as we haue touched before at suche time as he planted the Bishops chaire in the Citie and it was occupyed by Chanons till the dayes of Gundulphus the Bishop who bycause he was a Monke and had hearde that it was sometimes stored with Monkes made meanes to Lanfranc the Archebishop and by his ayde and authoritie both builded the Churche and Pryorie of newe threwe out the Chanons and once more brought Monkes into their place following therein the example that many other Cathedrall Churches of that time had shewed before And this is the very cause that William of Malmesburie ascribeth to Lanfranc the whole thanke of all that matter for in déede bothe he and Anselme his successour were wonderfully busied in placing Monks and in diuorcing Chanons and Secular Priests from their wiues the whiche in contempte
William Becley in the reigne of King Henrie the sixt But nowe lately to repaire the losse of that dissolution Maister Roger Manwoode a man borne in the Towne and aduaunced by vertue and good learning to the degrée of a Serieant at the Lawe hathe for the increase of Godlinesse and good letters erected and endowed a faire Free Schoole there from whence there is hope that the common wealth shall reape more profite after a fewe yeares then it receaued commoditie by the Carmelites since the time of their first foundation This only is that whiche I had to say either of the present or passed estate of this place whiche done I will procéede to the narration of suche other thinges as long since happened thereaboutes partly for the illustration of the antiquitie of the towne partly for the setting forth of the cōmoditie of the hauen but chiefly for the obseruation of the order whiche I haue beegonne whiche is to pretermitte nothing woorthie note that I finde in stoarie concerning the place that I take in hand But bycause that whiche I haue to say dependeth altogether or for the greater parte vpon the Hystorie of the Danes whiche many yeares together disquieted this land it shal bée fitte aswell for the better explication of the thinges presently in hand as also for the more easie vnderstanding of other matters that must hereafter followe to disclose so compendiously as I may the first beginning procéeding and ending of the Danishe affaires warres and troubles within this Realme Aboute the yeare after Christe seuen hundreth foure score and seuen thrée vessels of the Northe East Countrie men whose ancestors had before within the compasse of one hundrethe and fourtie yeares sacked Rome in Italie foure seuerall times and whose ofspring afterward wonne Normandie from the Frenche King shewed them selues vpon the westerne shoare of England being sent before hand as it is supposed to espie the cōmoditie of the hauens the aduauntage of arriual the wealthe and force of the inhabitants to the end to prepare the way for greater powers then were appoin to followe These had no sooner set some of their men on lande but the Reeue or officer or Beorhtricke or Brictricke then King of the West Saxons had knowledge therof who came vnto them and demaunding the cause of their arriual would haue carried them to the Kings presence but they in their resistance slewe him wherevpon the people of the Countrie adioyning addressed themselues to reuenge and assembling in great numbers beate them backe to their ships not without the losse of some of their company And this was the first attempt that euer the Danes for so our hystories cal by one general name the Danes Norwais Gottes Vandals others of that part made vpon England after whiche tyme what horrible inuasions miseries calamities and oppressions followed shall appeare anone Not long after this enterprise a fewe ships of them made the lyke assay in Scotland and within short space after that also some other of them entred Tynemouth Hauen in the North parte of England and taking some small booties retourned to their vessels Now by this experiment they had gained sufficient knowledge of that for whiche they first came therefore thinking it fit tyme to assay further they rigged vp a greater numbre of ships armed more store of chosen souldiers entred the Riuer of Thamise with fiue and thirtie sayle landed in despight of the people fired spoyled herried and preuailed so farre that Egbert who then had the Monarchie ouer all England was faine to come with all his power to the reliefe and rescue But suche was the will of God for the punishement of Idolatrie and superstition which then ouerwhelmed this Realme that the Danes in stead of being discomfited by the Kings repaire were merueilously encouraged by his misfortune For after that they had once gotten the better in the field against him they were so embouldened therby that notwithstanding he afterward and some other valiant Princes following by great prowesse abated their furie in parte yet adioyning themselues to the Britons that then were in great emnitie with the Saxons and swarming hither out of their owne Countrie in such flightes that the number of the slaine was continually supplied with greate aduauntage they neuer ceassed to infeste the Realme by the space of thrée hundreth yeares and more during the reignes of fiftéene seuerall Kings till at the last they had made Etheldred flye ouer into Normandie leaue them his Kingdome During all whiche time howe mightely their forces increased vnder Hinguar Hubba Halfden Guthrum Aulaf and Hasten their Nauie being rysen from thrée ships to thrée hundrethe and fiftie at the least howe pitiously the East West Southe and Northe parts of the Realme were wasted the townes Cities religious houses and Monasteries of eache quarter being consumed with flames howe miserably the common people were afflictted men women and children on all sides going to wracke by their tempestuous furie howe marueilously the Kings were amased the arriualles of these their enemies being no lesse sudaine then violent howe barbarously the monuments of good learning were defaced the same suffering more by the immanitie of this one brutishe Nation then by all the warres and conquestes of the Pictes Scots Romanes and Saxons and finally how furiously fire and swoord famine and pestilence raged in euery place God and men Heauen and the elements conspiring as it were the fatall destruction of the Realme I may not here stand to prosecute particularly but leauing eache thing to fitte place I will procéede with King Etheldred and so to my purpose This man aboue all other was so distressed by their continual inuasions that since he wanted force to make his longer defence he thought it best to giue money for their continuall peace And therefore charging his people with importable tributes he first gaue them at fiue seuerall payes 113000. l. afterward promised thē 48000. yearely hoping that for asmuch as they seemed by the manner of their warre rather to séeke his coyne then his kingdome to rob then to rule at the least this way to haue satisfied their hunger but like as the stone called Syphinus the more it is moisted the harder it waxeth so no giftes could quenche the golden thirste of these gréedie raueners but the more was brought to appease them the more stonie and inexorable they shewed thēselues neuer ceassing euen against promises othes hostages to execute their accustomed crueltie Herevpon King Etheldred hauing nowe exhausted the whole treasure of his Realme and therefore more vnable then euer he was either by power or praier to help himself or to relieue his subiectes determined by a fine policie as he thought to deliuer bothe the one and the other For whiche purpose by the aduise of one Huna the generall of his armie he wrote letters to eache part of the Realme commaunding that vpon S. Brices day which is the morowe after Sainct
at the Kings handes The King hearing the complaint ment to make correction of the fault but the Townesmen also had complained themselues to Godwine who determining vnaduisedly to defend his clients and seruauntes opposed himselfe violently against the King his Leige Lord and Maister To bee short the matter waxed within a while so hote betwéene them that either side for maintenance of their cause arraied and conducted a great armie into the field Godwine demaunded of the King that Eustace might be deliuered vnto him the King cōmaunded Godwine that armes laide aside hee would answere his disobedience by order of the Lawe and in the ende Godwine was banished the Realme by the sentence of the King and Nobilitie wherevpon hee and his Sonnes fled ouer the Sea and neuer ceassed to vnquiet the King and spoyle his subiects til they were reconciled to his fauour and restored to their auncient estate and dignitie This towne was so sore wasted with fire soone after the comming in of King William the Conquerour that it was wholly saue onely nine and twentie dwelling houses consumed and brought to ashes And in the time of King Edward the first also whiles two of the Popes Cardinales were here in the treatie of an attonement to be made betwéene England and Fraunce the Frenchemen landed at Douer in a right and burned a great part of the towne and some of the religious buildings So that in those times it was muche empayred by those misfortunes But nowe in our memorie what by decay of the hauen whiche King Henrie the eight to his great charge but that all in vayne sought to restore and what by the ouerthrowe of the religious houses and losse of Calaice it is brought in maner to miserable nakednesse and decaye whiche thing were the lesse to be pitied if it were not accompanyed with the ruine of the Castell it selfe the decay whereof is so much the more grieuous as the fame therof is with our ancient stories aboue al other most blasing glorious The Castell of Douer sayth Lidgate and Rosse was firste builded by Iulius Caesar the Romane Emperour in memorie of whome they of the Castell kept till this day certeine vessels of olde wine and salte whiche they affirme to be the remayne of suche prouision as he brought into it As touching the whiche if they be natural and not sophisticate I suppose them more likely to haue béene of that store whiche Hubert de Burghe layde in there of whome I shall haue cause to say more hereafter But as concerning the building bycause I finde not in Caesar his owne Commentaries mention of any fortification that he made within the Realme I thinke that the more credible reporte whiche ascribeth the foundation to Aruiragus a King of the Britons of whome Iuuenal the Poet hath mention saying to the Emperour Nero in this wise Regem aliquem capies aut de temone Britanno Excidet Aruiragus c. Some King thou shalt a captaine take or els from Bryttishe wayne Shall Aruiragus tumble downe And of whome others write that he founde suche fauour in the eye of Claudius the Emperour that he obtained his daughter to wife But whosoeuer were the authour of this Castell Mathewe Parise writeth that it was accounted in his time which was vnder the reigne of King Henry the third Clauis Repagulum totius Regni the very locke and key of the whole Realme of England And truly it séemeth to me by that which I haue read of King William the Conquerour that he also thought no lesse of it For at suche time as Harold being in Normandie with him whether of purpose or against his will I leaue as I finde it at large made a corporall othe to put him in possession of the Crowne after the death of King Edwarde It was one parcell of his othe that he should deliuer vnto him this castell and the Well within it The same King had no soner ouerthrowne Harolde in the fielde and reduced the Londoners to obedience but foorthwith he marched with his armie towarde Douer as to a place of greatest importaunce and spéede in that iourney as is already declared Not long after whiche time also when he had in his owne opinion peaceably established the gouernment of this Realme and was departed ouer into Normandie of purpose to commit the order of that countrie to Robert his sonne diuers of the shyre of Kent knowing right well howe muche it might annoy him to lose Douer conspired with Eustace the Earle of Boloine for the recouerie and surprise of the same And for the better atchieuing of their desire it was agréed that the Earle should crosse the seas in a night by them appointed at whiche time they woulde not faile with all their force to méete him and so ioyning handes soudainly assayle and enter it They met accordingly and marched by darke night toward the Castell well furnished with scaling ladders but by reason that the watch had discried them they not only fayled of that whiche they intended but also fell into that whiche they neuer feared for the Souldiours within the Castell to whome Odo the Bishop of Borieux and Hughe Mountfort which then were with the King in Normandie had committed the charge thereof kept them selues close and suffered the assaylants to approche the wall and then whiles they disorderly attempted to scale it they set wide open their gates and made a soudaine salie out of the péece and set vpon them with suche furie that they compelled Eustace with a fewe others to returne to his Shippe the reste of his companie béeing eyther slayne by the sworde destroyed by fall from the Clyffe or deuoured by the Sea. The same King also béeing worthely offended with the disobedience auarice and ambition of Odo his bastarde brother whome he had promoted to the Bishopricke of Borieux and to the Earldome of Kent for that he had not onely by rauine and extortion raked together greate masses of Golde and treasure whiche he caused to be grounde into fine pouder and filling therewith dyuers pottes and crockes had sounk them in the bottomes of Riuers intending therwithall to haue purchased the Papacie of Rome But also bycause he refused to render vnto him the Countie of Kent and was suspected for aspiring to the Crowne of this Realme consulted with Lanfranc the Archebishop of Canterburye and a professed enemie to Odo howe hée might safely and without offence to the Ecclesiasticall estate for that hée was a Bishoppe bothe conteyne that treasure within the Realme and also deteyne hys person from going into Italie whether warde he bothe addressed him selfe with all speede and gathered for his trayne great troupes of valiaunt and seruiceable men out of euerie quarter Lanfranc counseled the King to commit him to safe custodie and for his defence armed him with this pretie shift If it be layde to your charge quoth he that you haue layde violent handes vpon a sacred Bishop Say that you
people to forsake it which if they will not God in time either graunt vs the lawe of the Heluetians whiche prouided that no man shoulde prouoke other in drinking or else if that may for courtesie be permitted bycause as the prouerbe is Sacra haec non aliter constant yet God I say styrre vp some Edgar to strike nayles in our cuppes or else giue vs the Gréekishe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Potandi arbitros Cup Censors as I may call them that at the leaste we maye be dryuen to drinke in some manner of measure For it is not sufferable in a Christian Countrie that men shoulde thus labour with great contention and striue for the maistrie as it were to offende God in so wilfull waste of his gratious benefits In this Hystorie is couched also as I haue already tolde you the firste cause of the displeasure receyued by the Normanes against this Realme and consequently the cause of their inuasion succéeding the same For whereas after this crueltie executed by the instigation of Godwine it happened Harolde his sonne to arryue at Pountion against his will by occasion of a soudaine perry or contrarie winde that arose while he was on seaboorde whether for his owne disporte onely as some write or for the execution of the Kings message as others say or of purpose to visite Wilnote and Hacun his brother and kinseman as a thirde sorte affirme or for what so euer other cause I will not dispute But vpon his arriuall taken he was by Guy the Earle of Pountion and sente to William the Duke of Normandie where being charged with his fathers faulte and fearing that the whole reuenge shoulde haue lighted vpon his owne heade he was dryuen to deuise a shifte for his deliueraunce He put the Duke in remembraunce therefore of his neare kinred with Edwarde the King of Englande And fed him with greate hope and expectation that Edwarde shoulde dye without issue of his body by reason that he had no conuersation with his wife So that if the matter were well and in season séene vnto there was no doubte as he persuaded but that the Duke through his owne power and the ayde of some of the Englishe Nobilitie might easily after the Kings deathe obtaine the Crowne For the atchieuing wherof he both vowed the vttermost of his owne help and vndertooke that his brethren his friends and allies also should do the best of their indeuour The wise Duke knowing wel Quam malus sit custos diuturnitatis metus How euil a keper of cōtinuance feare is And therfore reposing much more suretie in a frendly knot of alliance thē in a fearful offer procéeding but onely of a countenaunce accepted Haroldes othe for some assuraunce of his promise but yet withall for more safetie affied him to his daughter to be taken in marriage And so after many princely gifts and much honorable enterteinement bestowed vpon him he gaue him licence to depart But Harolde being nowe returned into England forgetteth cleane that euer he was in Normandie and therefore so soone as King Edward was deade he violating both the one promise and the other reiecteth Duke Williams daughter and setteth the Crowne vpon his owne heade Hereof followed the battaile at Battel in Sussex and consequently the Conquest of this whole Realme and Countrie In contemplation whereof we haue likewise to accuse the olde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inueterate fiercenesse and cancred crueltie of this our English nation against foreignes and straungers which ioyning in this butcherly sacrifice with bloudie Busyris deserued worthely the reuenging club of heauenly Hercules whiche fearing without cause great harme that these fewe might bring vnto them did by their barbarous immanitie giue iust cause to a great armie to ouerrunne them And whiche dreading that by the arriuall of this small troupe of Norman Nobilitie some of them might lose their honorable roomes and offices prouoked the wrath of God to sende in amongst them the whole rable of the Norman slauerie to possesse their goods inheritances It were worthy the consideration to call to memorie what great Tragedies haue béene stirred in this Realme by this our naturall inhospitalitie and disdaine of straungers both in the time of King Iohn Henrie his sonne King Edward the seconde Henrie the sixte and in the dayes of later memorie But since that matter is parergon and therefore the discourse woulde proue tedious and wearisome and I also haue beene too long already at Gillingham I will rather abruptly end it onely wishing that whatsoeuer note of infamie wee haue heretofore contracted amongst Forreigne wryters by this our ferocitie against Aliens that now at the least hauing the Light of Gods Gospell before our eyes and the persecuted partes of his afflicted Church as Guestes and Straungers in our Countrie wée so behaue our selues towards them as we may both vtterly rubbe out the olde blemishe and from hencefoorth staye the heauie hand of the iuste Iupiter Hospitalis whiche otherwise must néedes light vpon such stubburne and vncharitable churlishnesse Chetham ALthoughe I haue not hytherto at any time read any memorable thing recorded in hystorie touching Chetham it self yet for so muche as I haue often heard and that constātly reported a Popish illusion done at the place for that also it is as profitable to the keping vnder of fained superstitious religiō to renew to minde the Priestly practises of olde time which are declining to obliuiō as it is pleasāt to reteine in memorie the Monuments antiquities of whatsoeuer other kinde I thinke it not amisse to commit faithfully to writing what I haue receiued credibly by hearing concerning the Idols sometime knowen by the names of our Lady and the Roode of Chetham and Gillingham It happened say they that the dead Corps of a man lost through shipwracke belike was cast on land in the Parishe of Chetham and being there taken vp was by some charitable persons committed to honest burial within their Churchyard which thing was no sooner done but our Lady of Chetham finding her selfe offended therewith arose by night and went in person to the house of the Parishe Clearke whiche then was in the Stréete a good distance from the Churche and making a noyse at his window awaked him This man at the first as commonly it fareth with men disturbed in their rest demaunded somewhat roughly who was there But when he vnderstoode by her owne aunswere that it was the Lady of Chetham he chaunged his note and moste mildely asked the cause of her comming She tolde him that there was lately buryed neere to the place where she was honoured a sinfull person whiche so offended her eye with his gastly grinning that vnles he were remoued she could not but to the great griefe of good people withdrawe her selfe from that place and ceasse her wonted miraculous working amongst them And therefore she willed him to go with her to the
of ouerthrowne Houses and Mynsters were called Knolles Miters he returned into England and meaning some way to make himselfe as well beloued of his Countrie men at home as he had béen euery way dread and feared of Straungers abroade by great policie maistred the Riuer of Medwey and of his owne charge made ouer it the goodly work that now stādeth with a chappel Chauntrie at the end died ful of yeares in the midst of the Reigne of King Henrie the fourth Stroude aunciently called Strodes of the Saxon worde Strogd which signifieth Scattered bicause it was a Hamlet of a few houses that lay scattered from the Citie ABout the beginning of the Reigne of King Henrie the third Gilbert Glāuille the Bishop of Rochester of whom you haue already heard foūded an Hospitall at Stroude whiche he dedicated to the name of the blessed Virgin and endowed with liuelyhode to the value of fiftie and two pounds by yeare A name or familie of men sometime inhabiting Stroude saith Polydore had tailes clapped to their breeches by Thomas Becket for reuenge and punishment of a dispite done to him in cutting of the taile of his horse The Author of the new Legend saith that after Saint Thomas had excomunicated two Brothers called Brockes for the same cause that the Dogges vnder the table would not once take Bread at their handes Suche belike was the vertue of his curse that it gaue to brute beastes a discretion and knowledge of the persons that were in daunger of it Boetius the Scotishe Chronicler writeth that the lyke plague lighted vpon the men of Midleton in Dorsetshyre Who bicause they threwe Fishe tailes in great contempt at Saint Augustine were bothe themselues and their posteritie stricken with tailes to their perpetuall infamie and punishment All whiche their Reportes no doubt be as true as Ouides Hystorie of Diana that in great angre bestowed on Acteon a Deares head with mightie browe anthlers Muche are the Westerne men bound as you sée to Polydore who taking the miracle from Augustine applieth it to S. Thomas and remouing the infamous reuenge frō Dorsetshyre laieth it vpō our men of Kent But litle is Kent or the whole English Nation beholdding either to him or his fellowes who amongst them haue brought vpon vs this ignominie note with other Nations abrode that many of them beleue as verely that we haue long tailes be monsters by nature as other men haue their due partes and mēbers in vsual nūber Polydore the wisest of the company fearing that issue might be taken vpon the matter ascribeth it to one speciall stocke and familie whiche he nameth not and yet to leaue it the more vncertain he saith that that family also is worne out long since and sheweth not when And thus affirming he cannot tel of whome nor when he goeth about in great earnest as in sundrie other things to make the world beléeue he cannot tell what he had forgotten the Lawe wherevnto an Hystorian is bound Ne quid falsi audeat ne quid veri non audeat That he should be bolde to tell the trueth and yet not so bolde as to tell a lye Howbeit his Hystorie without all doubte in places not blemished with suche folies is a worthie work but since he inserteth them many times without all discretion hee must of the wiser sorte be read ouer with great suspicion wearines For as he was by office Collector of the Peter pence to the Popes gaine and lucre so sheweth he himselfe throughout by profession a couetous gatherer of lying Fables fained to aduaunce the Popish Religion Kingdome and Myter ¶ Halling in Saxon Haling that is to say the holsome lowe place or Meadowe I Haue séene in an auncient booke conteining the donations to the See of Rochester collected by Ernulphus the Bishop there intituled Textus de Ecclesia Roffensi a Chartre of Ecgbert the fourthe christened King of Kent by the which he gaue to Dioram the Bishop of Rochester ten ploughlandes in Halling together with certeine Denes in the Weald or common wood To the which Chartre ther is amongst others the subscription of Ieanbert the Archbishop and of one Heahbert a King of Kent also as is in that booke tearmed Which thing I note for two speciall causes the one to shewe that aboute that age there were at one time in Kent moe Kinges then one The other to manifest and set fourth the manner of that time in signing subscribing of Déedes and Charters a fashion much differēt from the insealing that is vsed in these our dayes and as touching the firste I my selfe woulde haue thought that the name King had in that place béen but onely the title of a second Magistrate as Prorex or viceroy substituted vnder the very King of the countrie for administratiō of iustice in his aide or absence sauing that I read plainly in an other Chartre of another donation of Eslingham made by Offa the king of Mercia to Eardulfe the Bishop of the same See that he proceeded in that his gift by the consent of the same Heahbert the king of Kent and that on Sigaered also by the name of Rex dimidiae partis prouinciae Cantuariorum both confirmed it by writing and gaue possession by the deliuery of a clod of earth after the maner of seison that we yet vse Neither was this true in Heahbert onely for it is euident by sundrie Chartres extant in the same Booke that Ealbert the King of Kent had Ethelbert another Kinge his fellowe and partener who also in his time was ioyned in reigne with one Eardulfe that is called Rex Cantuariorum as well as hée So that for this season it should séeme that eyther the kingdome was diuided by discent or els that the title was litigious and in controuersie though our hystories so farre as I haue séene haue mencion of neyther This old manner of signing and subscribing is in my fantasie also not vnworthy the obseruation wherein we differ from our auncestors the Saxons in this that they subscribed their names commonly adding the signe of the crosse togeather with a great number of witnesses And we for more suertie both subscribe our names put our seales and vse the help of testimonie besides That former fashion continued throughout vntill the time of the conquest by the Normans whose manner by litle and litle at the length preuailed amongst vs For the first sealed Chartre in England that euer I read of is that of King Edward the confessours to the Abbey of Westminster who being brought vp in Normandie brought into this Realme that and some other of their guises with him And after the comming of William the Conquerour the Normans liking their owne countrie custome as naturally all nations doe reiected the maner that they found héere and reteyned their owne as Ingulphus the Abbat of Croyland which came in with the conquest witnesseth saying Normanni cheirographorū confectionē cum crucib
so vsed the matter that he obteined iudgemēt for his part but he for all that neuer had execution by reasō that he died in his returne toward home yet you may here sée by the way that in those dayes there was no Lawe in England to rule the proude Prelacie withall no not so muche as in things méere Lay and temporall To be short the same King Hērie not long before the battel at Lewes in Sussex burned the Citie of Rochester and tooke this Castle by a soudaine surprise wherein he found amongst other the Countesse of Gloucester But it was not long before he stored the Castle with men of warre and restored the Ladie to her former libertie There was somtime neare to this Castle a Pryorie whereof the Earles of Gloucester and their Heires were reputed the first Authors and Patrones And in our memorie there was erected a faire Frée Schoole by the honest liberalitie of Syr Androw Iudde a Citizen and Maior of London whiche submitted the same to the order and ouersight of the company of Skinners there whereof himselfe had béene a member Round about the Towne of Tunbridge lyeth a territorie or compasse of ground commonly called the Lowy but written in the auncient Recordes and Hystories Pencata or Lenga and being in déede a French League of ground whiche as I finde in the Chronicles of Normandie was allotted at the first vpon this occasion following There was in Normandie a Towne and land therevnto adioyning called Bryonnie whiche was of the auncient possession of the Dukedome and had continually remained in the handes of the Dukes there till suche time as Richard the second Duke of that name gaue it amongst other Landes to Godfrey his natural brother for his aduauncement in liuing This Godfrey enioyed it all his lyfe and left it to one Gislebert his Sonne whiche happely was Gilbert the Capitain of Tunbridge Castle of whom we had mention before who also held it so long as he liued But after the death of Gislebert Robert the Duke of Normandie and Eldest Sonne to King William the Conquerour beeing earnestly laboured to bestowe it vpon on Robert Earle Mellent whose ofspring were sometimes Earles of Leycester within this Realme seazed it into his owne hands pretending to vnite it to the Dukedome againe But when Richard the Sonne of Gislebert vnderstoode of this he put to his claime and making his title by a long continued possession euen from Godfrey his graundfather so encountred the suite of Earle Mellent that to stoppe Richards mouthe withall it was by the deuice of the Earle and by the mediation of Duke Robert which he made to his Brother William Rufus brought to passe that Richard should receaue in recompence the Town of Tunbridge in England and so much land about it as Bryonnie it selfe conteined in circuit And to the end that the indifferencie of the dealing might appeare and his full satisfaction be wrought they caused Bryonnie and the land about it to be measured with a line whiche they afterward brought ouer with them into England and applying the same to Tunbridge and the land adioyning laide him out the very like in quantitie in so much that long time after it was a common and receaued opinion in Normandie that the Leagues of Bryonnie and Tunbridge were all one in measure and compasse This together with the Towne and Castle came at the length as you haue séene to the handes of the Earles of Gloucester betwéene whome and the Archebishops of Canterbury there arose oftentimes contention bothe for the limits of this league and for the preeminence of their priuileges At the last Boniface the Archebishop next but one in succession after Richard of whome we spake before and Richard the Earle and Heire to Gilbert agréed in the reigne of King Henrie the third vpon a perambulatiō to be made betwéene them and so the strife for their boundes was brought to an end But as touching their priuileges and iurisdiction in the place it fell out by inquisition in the time of King Edward following that the Archebishop had nothing to do within the league that the Earle had returne of writtes creation of certain Officers an especiall sessions in Eire c most of whiche things the Towne hath not these many yeares enioyed But yet it was agréed after the perambulation so made betwéene Boniface and the Earle Richard that the Earle and his heires should holde the Manors of Tunbridge Vielston Horsmund Melyton and Pettys of the Archebishop and his successours by the seruice of 4. Knightes fées and to be highe Stewardes and highe Butlers to the Archebishops at the great feast of their inthronizations taking for their seruice in the Stewardship seuē competent Robes of Scarlet thirtie gallons of wyne thirtie pound of waxe for his light liuery of Hay and Oates for fourescore Horse by two nights the dishes and salt which should stand before the Archebishops in that Feast and at their departure the dyet of thrée days at the costes of the Archbishops at foure of their next Manors by the foure quarters of Kent wheresoeuer they would Ad minuendum sanguinem So that they repaired thither but with fiftie Horses only And taking also for the Office of Butlership other seuen like Robes 20 Gallons of wyne fiftie pound of waxe like liuery for thréescore Horses by two nights the cuppe wherewith the Archebishops should be serued all the emptie hogsheads of drinke and for sixe tunne of wyne so many as should be dronke vnder the barre also The Articles of whiche their composition were afterward accordingly perfourmed firste betwéene Gilbert Earle of Gloucester and Robert Winchelsey the Archebishop next betwéene the same Earle and the Archebishop Reignoldes Then betwéene Hughe Audley the Earle of Gloucester and the Archebishop Iohn Stratford After that betwéene the Earle of Stafford to whome the Lordship of Tunbridge at the length came and Simon Sudbury Archebishop in that Sée and lastly betwéene William Warham the Archebishop and Edward the late Duke of Buckingham who also executed the Stewardship in his owne person and the Butlership by his deputie Syr Thomas Burgher Knight the whole pompe and Ceremonie whereof I haue séen at greater length set forth and described then is méete for this time place to be recounted Asherst in Saxon Acsehyrst that is the Wood consisting of Ashes IN the Southwest corner of this Shyre towarde the confines of Sussex and Surrey lyeth Asherst a place now a daies so obscure for it is but a Towne of two houses that it is not worthy the visiting but yet in olde time so glorious for a Roode that it had of rare propertie that many vouchsafed to bestowe bothe their labour and money vpon it It was beaten forsooth into the heades of the common people as what thing was so absurde which the Clergie coulde not then make the world to beleeue that the Roode or Crucifix of this church did by certaine incrementes continually