dyed M. ccccc.xxxi Cheston Quem tegit iste lapis Radcliffe cognomine functus .... et in cineres vertitur vnde fuit Icy gist Damoselle Iohanne clay que trespassa l'an de Grace M. cccc.le xxii iour Octobre iour Saint M. lun Euesque Here sometime stood a little Nunnery I know not by whom founded but thus it is confirmed in the Catal. of religious houses Henr. Rex Anglie Dominus Hibernie Dux Normannie Aquitanie et comes Angedauie c. Shestrehunt Monial totam terram Dom. ten cum pertinentijs suts que canonicis de cathele c. quos amoueri fecimus dat apud West xi Aug. Anno Regni nostri xxiiii This Nunnery was valued in the Exchequer to be yeerely worth twenty seuen pound sixe shillings eight pence This village is called in old Writings Chesthunte Shestrehunte and Norden saith cur non Chestin Castanetum of Chesnut Trees Bishops Hatfield This Church is much honoured by the Sepulture of that prudent great Statesman Robert Baron Cecill Earle of Salisbury Lord Treasurer of England father of William Lord Cecill Earle of Salisbury one of the honourable priuy Councell now liuing Anno 1630. and keeping royall hospitality at his Mansion house hereunto adioyning which sometimes did belong to the Bishops of Ely whereupon it was named Bishops Hatfield Of Robert this Earle here interred I shall speake more when I come to let downe his Epitaph Harding Hic iacent Wilielmus Seabroke qui obijt 2 April 1462. et Ioana vxor eius ...... quorum ... Orate pro animabus Mathei Cressy et Iohanne vxoris eius quondam filie Edmundi Peryent Ar. et Anne dicti Mathei vxoris quondam filie Thome Vernon Armigeri que Iohanna obijt xxix Nouemb. M. cccc.lxxviii Hic iacent Wilielmus Anabul et Isabella vxor eius qui quidem Wilielmus obiit 4 die Octob. 1456. Saint Albans Abbey I thinke it not much amisse to speake a little of this Protomartyr of England Saint Alban whose reliques lie here interred to whose name and for his eternall commemoration both this Towne and Monastery werâ— built and consecrated He was a Citizen and a Knight of that famous Citie Verulam which stood hereby beyond the little riuer who giuing entertainement at his own house to Amphibalus a Christian and one of the Clergie was by him his guest conuerted from Paganisme to the true profession of Iesus Christ and when Dioclesian who made Maximian his companion in the Empire went about by exquisite torments to wipe Christian Religion quite out of the memory of men was the first in Britaine that with inuincible constancie and resolution suffered death for Christ his sake of which persecution â—s also of his Martyrdome my often alledged Author Robert of Glocester shall tell you in his old verse Two Emperors of Rome wer on Dioclesian And anoder hys felaw that het Maximian And wer both at on tym the on in the Este ende The oder in the west of the world alle cristendom to shende For the luther Maximian westwarde hider soughte And christen men that he fonde to strang deth he broughte Churchen he pulde a doun ther ne moste non stonde And al the bokes that he myghte fynde in eny londe He wolde late berne echon amydde the heygh strete And the christenmen asle and non alyue lete Such God was yvor vpon cristendom Such persecucion as ther was hadde ther be non For yunâ—a monethe ther wer seuentene thou send and mo I martred for our Lordes Loue nas ther a grete wo Wyth oute oder grete halwen that hii heold longe in torment As Seynt Cristene and Seynt Feye and also Seynt Uincent Fabian and Sebastian and othur as men rede That heold faste in the fey and hadde non drede And among men of this londe ther wer many on I martred at thulke tym Seint Albon was on He was the furste Martir of Brutayn that com Muche was the shome men dude in Christendom Undyr this Luther Emperor Another not so ancient hath it thus The Emperour Dioclesyan Into Britayne then sent Maximian This Maximian to surname Hercelius A Tyraunte false that Christente anoyed Through all Britayne of werke malicious The christoned folke felly and sore destroyed And thus the people with him foule accloyed Religyous men the Prests and Clerkes all Wemen with chylde and bedred folkes all Chyldren soukyng vpon the mothers pappis The mothers also withouten any pytee And chyldren all in their mothers lappis The crepyls eke and all the christentee He killed and slewe with full grete cruelte The Churches brent all bokes or ornaments Bellys reliquys that to the Churche appendes He slew that tyme and martyred Saint Albone Now when neither perswasions nor cruell torments could make him forsake the true faith such was the sentence of his death as I finde it in a legend of his passion and martyrdome which to giue your palate variety I will set downe in such English as I haue in the said Legend or Agon In the tyme of the Emperoure Dioclesyan Albone Lorde of Uerolamye Prynce of Knyghts and Stewarde of all Brutayne durynge his lif hath despysyd Iubyter and Apollyn oure Goddes and to them hath doo derogacyon and disworschyp wherfor by the Lawe he is iudged to be deed by the honde of somme knyght and the body to be buried in the same place where his heed shal be smyten of and his sepulture to be made worshcipfully for thonoure of knyghthode wherof he was Prynce and also the crosse whych he bare and Sklauin that he ware shold be buried wyth hym and his body to be closyd in a Cheste of leed and so layed in his sepulture This sentence hath the Lawe ordeyned by cause he hath renyed our principall Goddes His iudgement being giuen after this manner he was brought from the Citie Veralam to this his place of execution which as then was an hill in a wood called Holme-hurst where at one stroke his head was smitten off But his Executioner saith venerable Bede had short ioy of his wicked deede for his eyes fell to the ground with the head of the holy Martyr of which will you heare another writer Thousands of torments when he had endur'd for Christ his sake At length he died by dome thus giuen his head away to take The Tortor proudly did the feat but cleere he went not quit That holy Martyr lost his head this cruell wretch his sight He suffered martyrdome in the yeare of Christ saith Stow 293. the twentieth day of Iune saith Bede howsoeuer the two and twentieth day of the same moneth was appointed by the Church to be kept holy to his memory as we haue it in our English Calender Many Miracles are said to be wrought by this sacred Martyr both liuing and dead but I will leaue them for that they will be thought incredulous in this age and come to the foundation of this Abbey The Sepulchres of
in you exciteth and serueth you till the vsurped poure of that man of Rome be clene abolished and put out of the hartes of the kyngs subiects And I shall with all my diligence applie my self to thaccomplishment of this his so godly commandement by Goddes grace And for as moche as I haue taken my leue of the Kyng and Quene and tarry for noothing now but only for the instrument called Custodias temporalium I eftsones beseche your mastirship to haue that in your remembraunce whan ye shall next repaire vnto the Court together with a discharge for takyng of any othe of the residentiaries of Sarum which suyrly they will exact of me oneles I bryng some thyng outher from the Kyng his highnes or elles from you his chefe Counsellor for to stopp their mouthes And as for seallyng of new obligacions if itt like you to commande your servaunt to send me them to morow by this brynger I shall seale them and send them to you without any tariaunce by the grace of God who preserue you and prosper you in all your godly purposes and interprises Murtelack the iiii daye of Iuin Yorn owne to comaunde Nic. Sarum But howsoeuer the honour of this act as also of the dissolution of Abbeys be principally attributed to Cromwell and his complotments yet at the same time there was others of the priuie Councell as forward and as able for their singular endowments to conclude a matter of that consequence as euer was Cromwell I meane Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury whose zeale and abilities are generally knowne to all that euer heard of the booke of Martyrs Sir Thomas Audley Knight speaker of the Parliament for his demerits created by Henry the eighth Baron Audley of Walden and also aduanced to the honour of the Chancellorship of England Sir William Pawlet Knight Comptroller of the Kings house who for his wisedome the said King created Lord S. Iohn of Basing and Knight of the Garter whom Edward the sixt made great Master of his houshold President of his Councell and Lord Treasurer of England whom he created Earle of Wiltshire and Marquesse of Winchester to whom Queene Elizabeth committed the keeping of the great Seale Who liued to see one hundred and three persons issue out of his loynes who died at Basing in Hampshire the tenth of March 1571. where hee was honourablie buried when he had liued eightie seuen yeares Another pillar of the State at that time was that wise and iudicious gentleman Sir Richard Rich Lord Chancellour of England vnder King Edward the sixth who in the first yeare of his raigne aduanced him to this office and created him Baron Rich of Leez in Essex These and other more of the Nobilitie had both their hands and heads in this businesse yet Cromwell Audley and Rich were thought to be the onely men who for their religious paines ranne into great obloquie with the common people insomuch that the Commons of Lincolnshire finding themselues fore troubled with this strange alteration and rising in rebellion presented diuers articles of aggrieuances to the Kings Maiestie Amongst the said Articles and demands of Robert Askâ— and his rebellious crew the Commons of Yorkeshire Cumberland Westmerland Northumberland and the countries adiacent at the conference holden at Doncaster betwixt Thomas Duke of Norfolke Generall of the Kings Armie and certaine Commissioners on the partie of the said Captaine Aske and his fellow rebels Thus it was propounded by their Speaker Sir Thomas Hylton Knight The fowrt that Thomas Cromwell nor any of his bande or secte be not at our metinge at Doncastre but abcent themselfe from the Councell Also to haue the Lord Cromwell the Lord Chancellor and Sir Ryc Rich to haue condigne punyshment as subuerters of the gud lawes of the â—eame and ouetemers of the slese secte of theys fals Heretykes first inuenters and brengers of them Likewise Doctor Leyton and Doctor Leâ— who had bene loyned in commission with Cromwell for the visitation of religious Foundations of which hereafter were maliciouslye detracted by this demand of the Commons in the foresaid conference Also that Doctor Lee and Doctor Leyton may haue condigne punyshment for theyr extortions in time of visitation in brybes of some religyous houses x. lib. xx lib. and for other summes besyde horsys vowsens leases vndre Couent Seallys by them taken and other abomynable acts by them committed and done I might haue occasion here to speake of the abrogation of the Popes authoritie of the subuersion of religious foundations of the suppression of religious Votaries and of the reformation of Religion in that neuer-conquered Nation of Scotland where at this time Religion is double refined pure and spotlesse without ceremonie and plaine as a pike staffe without a surplise But I will reserue this narration till I come to speake of the conuersion of Scotland to the Christian faith As also of the Funerall Monuments which are there to be found which will be but a few if Sir Robert Cottons Librarie do not helpe me for by my owne obseruation in the famous maiden-citie of Edenborough and in the Parish Churches of other Townes the Sepulchres of the dead are shamefully abused or quite taken away yea and the Churches themselues with religious houses and other holy places violated demolished or defaced CHAP. XV. The policie vsed by the King and his Councell for the dissolution and extirpation of Religious Foundations and Religious Orders within this Realme of England and Wales The reformation of Religion of Inscriptions in Churches The Kings warrant of the surrender of Religious Houses An information made to Queene Elizabeth of the seuerall abuses done vnto the State generall and Crowne by the corruption of such as were imployed by her Father vpon the suppression of Abbeyes HEnry the eighth hauing as ye haue heard thus setled the Supremacy where he would haue it either by the aduise of politick Cromwell or by the example of proud Wolsey or else of himselfe hee being nothing so scrupulous in conscience nor so stayed in sacred resolutions as was Henry the fourth vpon a greedie desire to enrich his coffers began now to lay plots deuises and proiects for the vtter subuersion of all Abbeyes Priories Nunneries and other religious foundations within this his kingdome of England and Wales and first for an induction to the businesse He put in Commission his seruant Cromwell Thomas Lee and Richard Laiton Doctors of the Ciuill Law Thomas Bedell Deane of Cornwall Thomas Bartlet publike Notarie and others to visit all the foresaid religious Houses and to make inquirie of their Orders Founders values debenters reliques pilgrimages and other Queres but most especially they were to make diligent scrutinie and to learne vijs modis omnibus by all manner of meanes the wicked abuses of those times practised amongst the Fraternitie and Sisterhood of each seuerall Couent Which with their Commission they returned making a shamefull discoueriâ— of the bestiall sensualitie of Monasticke profession This
errour in point of Diuinitie these sacred structures howsoeuer consecrated to the seruice of Almighty God could not stand fast nor continue in one and the same state for many ages therefore I thinke it meete and expedient to discouer and lay open to the world the manifold enormities of the professed votaries residing in such religious foundations that it may euidently appeare that it was not the sinnes of the Founders of whose pious intentions we ought to haue a more reuerend opinion that their donations were of no longer continuance but that the delinquencies of the religious Orders themselues were the sole cause of their owne vtter subuersion I may perhaps be sound fault withall because I doe not chorographically and according as Churches stand neare or further remote in one and the same Lath hundred or wapentack emprint and place the Funerall Monuments in this my booke but slip sometimes from one side of a County to another before I emprint and Epitaph To which giue me leaue to make this answer that hauing found one or two ancient Funerall inscriptions or obliterated Sepulchers in this or that Parish Church I haue ridden to ten Parish Churches distant from that and not found one Besides I haue beene taken vp in diuers Churches by the Churchwardens of the Parish and not suffered to write the Epitaphs or to take view of the Monuments as I much desired for that I wanted a Commission which would greatly haue encouraged me and still it would as that of Henry the eight did Iohn Leyland in the prosequution of this businesse I conclude the Epitaphs and Funerall inscriptions in this booke as I finde them engrauen with a cuius anime propitietur Deus or with God pardon his soule which some may say might haue beene as well left out of my booke as they are in many places scraped out of the brasse And I write the Latine in the same manner as I finde it either written or imprinted as capud for caput nichil for nihil and the like as also E vocall for E dipthong dipthongs being but lately come into vse And now I hope that neither the conclusion of the one nor termination of the other will seeme any way offensiue to my intelligent Reader I likewise write the Orthographie of the old English as it comes to my hands and if by the copying out of the same it be any manner of wayes mollified it is much against my will for I hold originalls the best whereby some may obiect the simplicitie of my vnlaboured stile and the rough hewen forme of my writing To which I reply that this my kinde of Argument is incapable of all eloquent speech When I cite Ouid or Lucan I vse those exquisite translations of George Saâ—dys and Thomas May Esquires Some will say that the Epitaphs of London are already printed and true it is that some are especially such as are of later times with which I do not meddle at all onely I set downe those of more antiquitie which haue either beene omitted in the collection or for which I haue some historicall elucidations for the better vnderstanding of the qualities of the parties defunct and interred Hauing had the helps and collections of many my Reader may finde errours in some which hereafter I shall studie to amend intreating in the meane time a fauorable construction Many are the errataes I am afraid which will be found in the printing the greatest I haue met withall I haue amended not doubting but some also of consequence haue escaped mee and for those of lesser note I haue passed them ouer desiring my Reader to correct and pardon Thus curteous Reader submitting my selfe and this worke to thy learned and friendly censure I take my leaue From my House in Clerkenwell Close this 28. of May 1631. Chytraeus Te moneant Lector tot in vno funera libro Tempore quod certo tu quoque funus eris So many burials Reader in one booke Warne thee that one day thou for death must looke A TABLE OF THE DISCOVRSE summed into certaine Chapters or Heads bearing these following Contents The first Chapter Fol. 1. DIscusses and treates of Monuments in generall Chap. 2. fol. 5. Of Funerall Monuments Graues Tombes or Sepulchers of the ancient custome of Burials of Epitaphs and other Funerall Honours Chap. 3. fol. 10. Of Sepulchers answerable to the degree of the person deceased The diuers manner of bearing man and woman to the graue When both sexes began to be borne alike Chap. 4. fol. 12. Of the excessiue expences bestowed vpon Funerals in former times Chap. 5. fol. 18. The reasons wherefore so many haue made their own Sepulchers or Tombes in their life time Of the care that all or most of all men haue of decent buriall The burying of the dead a worke acceptable vnto God A Funerall Hymne of Aurelius Prudentius to the like purpose Chap. 6. fol. 29. Of the care and cost anciently vsed in the preseruing whole and entire the bodies of the dead Strange waies customes and fashions of buriall Chap. 7. fol. 32. Of Cenotaphs Honorarie and Religious of the reuerence attributed to these emptie Monuments Chap. 8. fol. 37. Of the sanctitie ascribed sometimes to ancient Funerall Monuments and of the ardent desire most men haue and euer had to visite the Tombes and Sepulchres of eminent and worthy persons Chap. 9. fol. 42. Of the punishments both by humane lawes and Gods seuere iustice inflicted vpon such malefactors in foregoing ages who violated Sepulchers Of Church-Robbers Chap. 10. fol. 50. Of the rooting vp taking away erazing and defacing of Funerall Monuments in the seuerall raignes of K. Henry the eight and Edward the sixt Of the care Queene Elizabeth of famous memory had for the preseruation of the same Her proclamation in the second yeare of her raigne against breaking or defacing of Monuments of Antiquity being set vp in Churches or other publike places for memory and not for superstition Chap. 11. fol. 57. The conuersion of this our Nation from Paganisine to Christianitie including generally the Foundations of Religious Structures in the same The piety in the primitiue times both of Religious and Lay persons Chap. 12. fol. 66. Of the fall or backsliding as well of Religious Votaries as of Lay people from the foresaid zealous ardour of pietie Chap. 13. fol. 78 Of the abrogation abolition and extinguishment of the Popes supreame and exorbitant authoritie within the King of Englands dominions Chap. 14. fol. 89. The policie vsed by Henry the eight and his Councell in the expelling of the Popes foresaid authoritie out of his dominions Chap. 15. fol. 104. The policie vsed by the King and his Councell for the dissolution and extirpation of Religious foundations and religious orders within this Realme of England and Wales the reformation of religion of Inscriptions in Churches the Kings warrant for the surrender of Religious Houses an information to Queene Elizabeth of the seuerall abuses done vnto the state generall
fiue thousand pounds and one Herbert Prior of Fiscane in Normandy bought for his father whose name was Losinge the Abbacie of Winchester and for himselfe the Bishopricke of Norwich Whereupon a versiâ—ier of that age made these rythmes Surgit in Ecclesia monstrum genitore Losinga Symonidum secta Canonum virtute resecta Petre nimis tardas nam Symon ad ardua tentat Si praesens esses non Symon ad alta volaret Proh dolor Ecclesiae nummis venduntur aere Filius est Praesul pater Abbas Symon vterque Quid non speremus si nummos possideamus Omnia nummus habet quid vult facit addit aufert Res nimis iniusta nummis sit Praesul Abba Thus translated by Bale in his Votaries A monster is vp the sonne of Losinga Whiles the law seeketh Simony to flea Peter thou sleepest whiles Simon taketh time If thou wert present Simon should not clime Churches are prised for syluer and gold The sonne a Bishop the father an Abbot old What is not gotten if we haue richesse Money obteineth in euery businesse In Herberts way yet it is a foule blot That he by Simony is Bishop and Abbot But Simonie was not so common now as other sinnes for the Clergie in generall gaue themselues strangely to worldly pleasures and pompous vanities they wore gay rich garments gilt spurres embroidered girdles and bushie locks The Monkes of Canterbury as well nigh all other Monkes in England were not vnlike to secular men they vsed hawking and hunting playing at dice and great drinking thou wouldest haue taken them to haue beene great Magnificoes rather then Monkes they had so many seruants and attendance of goodly aray and dignity Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury by the permission of King Henry the first assembled a great Councell of the Clergie at Westminster wherein he depriued many great Prelates of their promotions for their seuerall offences and many Abbots for other enormities forbidding the farming out of Church dignities In the raigne of King Henry the second the abuses of Church-men were growne to a dangerous height saith well the Monke of Newborough lib. 2. cap. 16. for it was declared saith he in the Kings presence that Clergie men had committed aboue an hundred murthers in his raigne Of which nine yeares were as then scarcely expired And in the 23 of his raigne the Nunnes of Amesbury were thrust out of their house because of their incontinent liuing Rog. Houed Richard Cordelion king of England being told by a certaine Priest called Fulco a Frenchman that he kept with him three daughters namely pride couetousnesse and lechery which would procure him the wrath of God if he did not shortly rid himselfe of them answered That he would presently bestow his three daughters in marriage the Knights Templers said he shall haue my eldest daughter Pride the white Monkes of the Cisâ—â—ux order Couetousnesse and my third daughter Lechery I commit to the Prelates of the Church who therein take most pleasure and felicitie And there you haue my daughters bestowed among you In the raigne of Henry the third the Templars in London being in great glory entertained the Nobilitie forraine Embassadours and the Prince himselfe very often insomuch that Matthew Paris Monke of Saint Albans who liued in those dayes cried out vpon them for their pride who being at the first so poore as they had but one horse to serue two of them in token whereof they gaue in their seales two men vpon one horsebacke yet suddenly they waxed so insolent that they disdained other orders and sorted themselues with Noblemen But this their insulting pride had a quicke period for shortly after to wit in the beginning of King Edward the seconds raigne in the Councell at Vienna this their so highly esteemed order was vpon cleare proofe of their generall odious abhominable sins and incredible Atheisticall impieties by them practised vtterly abolished throughout all Christendome And by the consent of all Christian Kings depoâ—ed all in one day taken all and committed to safe custody And thus being politâ—kely apprehended their lands and goods were seised vpon the heires of the Donours here in England and such as had endowed these Templars with lands entred vpon those parts of their ancient patrimonies after this dissolution and detained them vntill not long after they were by Parliament wholly transferred vnto the Knights of the Rhodes or of S. Iohn of Ierusalem A littâ—e before the vniuersall extinguishment of this order of the Templars Philip the French King caused 54. of that Order with their great Master to be burnt at Paris for their hainous vngodlinesse In the raigne of Edward the third the Clergie of England exceeded all other Nations in the heaping vp together of many Benefices and other spirituall promotions besides at that time they held the principall places both of trust and command in the kingdome Some of them had twenty Benefices with cure and some more and some of them had twenty Prebends besides other great dignities William Wickham at the death of William Edington Bishop of Winchester was made generall Administratour of spirituall and temporall things pertaining to that Bishopricke and the next yeare was made Bishop of Winchester This Wickham besides the Archdeaconry of Lincolne and Prouostship of Welles and the Parsonage of Manihant in Deuonshire had twelue Prebends Simon Langham was Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancelour of England Iohn Barnet Bishop of Bath and Treasurer of England The foresaid Wickham Keeper of the priuie Seale Master of the Wards and Treasurer of the Kings reuenues in France Dauid Wellar Parson of Somersham Master of the Rolles seruing King Edward in the Chancery fortie yeares and more Ten beneficed Priests Ciuilians and Masters of the Chancery William Muâ—se Deane of S. Martins le Grand chiefe Chamberlaine of the Exchequer Receiuer and Keeper of the Kings Treasure and Iewels William Ashby Archdeacon of Northampton Chancellour of the Exchequer William Dighton Prebendary of Saint Martins Clerke of the priuie Seale Richard Chesterfield Prebendary of S. Stephens Treasurer of the Kings house Henry Snatch Parson of Oundall Master of the Kings Wardrobe Iohn Newenham Parson of Fenistanton one of the Chamberlaines of the Exchequer and keeper of the Kings Treasurie and Iewels Iohn Rouceby Parson of Hardwicke Surueior and Controuler of the Kings works Thomas Britingham Parson of Ashby Treasurer to the King for the parts of Guisnes and the marches of Caleis Iohn Troys Treasurer of Ireland diuers wayes beneficed in Ireland Pope Vrban the first made a decree against the heaping together of many Benefices or spirituall promotions by one man for the execution whereof he sent commandement to the Archbishop of Canterbury and by him to all his Suffragans to certifie in writing the names number and qualities of euery Clerke Benefices or liuings within their seuerall Diocesse Whereupon this or the like certificate was brought in I finde inter Breuiâ—
and spreders abrode of suche brutes tydings and rumors touching vs in honor or suretie of the state of our Realme or any matacion of the lawes or customes therof or any other thing which might cause any sedicion And the same with ther setters forthe maintenors counsaylors and fautors with all dilygence to apprehend and commytt to warde and prison without bayle or maynprise till vpon euidence to be geuen against them at tharriuall of our Iustices in that cuntrey or otherwise vpon yowr advertisement to vs or our Counsaill to be geuen and our further pleaser knowen they may be punyshed for their seditious demerites accordyng to the law to the fearfull example of all other Imploying and endeuoring yowr selfes therunto so ernestly and with soche dexterite as we may haue cause to thinke that ye be the men which aboue all things desyre the punyshment of evill doers and offendors And will lett for no trauaile to sett forthe all things for the commen peace quiet and tranquillite of this our Realme And like as the daunger is imminent no lesse to your self and your neighbours then to other so ye of yowr owne mynd shuld procure and see with celerite our Iniunctions lawes and Proclamations aswell touching the Sacramentaries and Anabaptists as other to be sett forthe to the good instruction and conservacion of our people and to the confusion of those which wold so craftely vndermine our common welth and at the last destroye bothe yow and all other our louing subgiects although we shuld geue vnto yow no such admonicion Therfore faile ye not to follow the â—ffect admonicion and commaundement both in our said letters and in these presents conteyned and to communicate the hole tenor of these our letters with soche Iustices of our Peace your neighbors and other in that shire and to geue vnto them the trewe copye thereof exhorting them like as by these presents we desyre and pray them and neuerthelesse straytly charge and commaund them and euery of them that they will shew their diligence towardnes and good inclinacion to ioyne with you and other of your sorte And that euery of yow for his own parte see the same put in execucion accordingly as ye and they tendre our pleasur and will deserue our condigne thankes Y euen vndre our Signet at our Manor of Hampton Corte the day of December CHAP. XIIII Of the policie vsed by King Henry the eighth and his Councell in the expelling of the Popes authoritie out of his Dominions THus you haue seene the abrogation and extinguishment of the Popes vsurped authoritie here in England the establishment of that power in the Crowne imperiall which was not rashly attempted by his Maiestie but vndertaken vpon mature deliberation and proceeded in by the aduise consultation and iudgement of the most great and famous Clerkes in Christendome amongst which number was that pure Orator and learned diuine Philip Melanchton whose presence here in England after his opinion the king much desired as by this letter following sent to Secretarie Cromwell from the Duke of Norfolke and Viscount Rocheford appeareth Master Secretary after our most harty commendacions ye shall vnderstand that hauing receyued the letters sent vnto yow from Sir Iohn Wallop and shewed the same vnto the Kings Maiestie his pleasure therevpon was that we should dispatch these owr letters incontynently vnto youe concernyng thaccomplishment and doing of these things ensuing First his graces pleasure is that youe shall immediatly vpon the receipt hereof dispatch Barnes in Post with Deryk in his company into Germany commanding him to vse such diligence in his iournay that he may and it be possible mete with Melanchton before his arryuall in France and in case he shall so mete with him not onely to disuade his going thither declaring how extremely the French king doth persecute all those that will not grant vnto the Bishop of Romes vsurped power and iurisdiction vsyng in this parte all persuasions reasons and meanes that he canne deuise to empeach and let his said iornay thither layeng vnto him how moche it shuld be to his shame and reproche to vary and goo nowe from that true opinnion wherein he hath so long continued But also on thother side to persuade him all that he may to conuert his said iournay hither shewing aswell the conformity of his opinnion and doctrine here as the nobilitie and vertues of the Kings Maiestie with the good entretaynement which no doubt he shall haue here at his grace hand And if percase the said Barnes shall not meetâ— with him before his arriuall in France thenne the said Barnes proceding himselfe forth in his Iournay towards the Prynces of Germany shall with all diligence returne in post to the Kings highness the said Derik with the advertisement of the certainty of Melanchtons commyng into France and such other occurrants as he shall then knowe And if the said Derik be not now redy to go with him the Kings pleasure is you shall in his stede appoint and sende suche onn other with the said Barnes as you shall thinke mete for that purpose And when the said Barnes shall arriue with the said Princes of Germany the Kings pleasure is he shall on his grace behaulfe aswell persuade them to persist and continue in their former good opinion concerning the denyall of the Bishop of Romes vsurped authoritie declaring their owne honor reputacion and surety to depend thereon and that they nowe may better mayntain their said iust opinion therein then euer they might having the kings Maiestie oon of the moost noble and puissant Princes of the world of like opinion and iudgement with them who having proceeded therein by great aduise deliberacion consultacion and iudgement of the most parte of the greate and famous Clerkes in Christendome will in no wise relent vary or alter in that behalfe as the said Barnes may declare and shew vnto them by a booke made by the Deane of the Chappell and as many of the Bishops Sermons as ye haue whiche booke ye shall receyue herwith the copies wherof and of the said Sermons ye must deliuer vnto the said Barnes at his departure for his better remembrance and instruction To whom also his graces pleasure is ye shall shew as moche of Sir Iohn Wallops letter which we send you also again as ye shall see drawne and merkt with a penne in the mergent of the same As also exhorte and moue them in any wise to beware howe they commyt any of their affayres to thorder direction or determinacion of the French King consideryng he and his counsail be altogether Papist and addict and bent to the mayntenance and confirmacion of the Bishop of Romes pretended authoritie Furthermore the Kings pleasure is ye shall vpon the receipt herof immediatly cause Master Haynes and Christofer Mount in post to repaire into France to Sir Iohn Wallop in as secrete maner as they canne as cummyng like his friends to visite him and not as sent by
of Rome vnto the generall Councell may also be transumed impressed published and set vp on euery Church-doore in England to the intent that if any censures should be fulminate against the king or his realme that then it may appeare to all the world that the censures be of none effect considering that the king hath already and also before any censures promulged both prouoked and appealed Item like transumpts to bee made and sent into all other realmes and dominions and specially into Flanders concerning the kings said prouocations and appellations to the intent falsehood iniquitie malice and iniustice of the Bishop of Rome may thereby appeare to all the world And also to the intent that all the world may know that the Kings highnes standing vnder those appeales no censures can preuaile neither take any effect against him and his realme Item a letter to be conceiued from all the Nobles as well Spirituall as Temporall of this Realme vnto the Bishop of Rome declaring the wrongs iniuries and vsurpations vsed against the kings highnes and this realme Item to send exploratours and espies into Scotland and to see and perceiue their practises and what they intend there And whether they will confederate themselues with any other outward Princes Item to send letters for that purpose to the Earle of Northumberland my Lord Daves and Sir Thomas Clyfford Item certaine discreete and graue persons to bee appointed to repaire into the parts of Germany to practise and conclude some lege or amitie with the Princes and Potentates of Germany that is to say the King of Pole Iohn of Hungary the Duke of Saxony the Duke of Bauyere Duke Fredericke the Landegraue Van Hesse the Bishop of Magous Bishop of Treuers the Bishop of Collene and other the Potentates of Germany and also to ensearch of what inclination the said Princes and Potentates be of towards the King and this realme Item like practise to be made and practised with the Cities of Lubeke Danske Hambourgh Bromeswicke and all other the steads of the Haunse Tuâ—onyk and to ensearch of what inclination they bee towards the King and this realme Item like practise to be made and practised with the Cities of Norimbourgh and Aughsbrough Item to remember the Merchants aduenturers haunting the dominions of Braband and to speake with them Item to set order and establishment of the Princes Dowagers house with all celeritie and also of my Lady Maryes house To these or some of these purposes the King dispatched messengers to all his Embassadours and Agents beyond seas hauing before that sent the Duke of Norfolke Viscount Rocheford Sir William Pawlet afterwards Marquesse of Winchester and others to the Pope the Emperour and the French King being all three together at Nice He also caused his Secretarie to write in this manner to Iames the fifth King of Scotland Moste excellent myghtye and victorious Prynce Pleâ—sâ—th your Magestie that by the commaundment of my most dread Lord and Soueraigne Kyng of England your graces moste dere Vncle I haue in charge vndre commyssion certeyn specyall maters concernyng his highnes pleasure secreatly to be signyfyed vnto your grace wherein not only as a naturall Cousyne of your royall consanguinity but as a moste loueing Father entierly tendryng your worthye honor no lesse desirous hereof then regardyng his owne peculyer prosperyte vnfaynedly accomptyng your graces aduancement his moste conformable consolacion In consideracyon whereof sith it hath so pleasyd God of his infynyte fauour to revele vnto his highnes as well by studyous endeuor of good letters as by erudyte consultacyon of famous estemyde Clerke Also by long attempted experience ensearchyng truyth chyeflye in Christs doctryne who saith Iohn the fourteenth Ego sum veritas now clerely to perceive the thrall captyvyte vndre the vsurpyd power of the Busshop of Rome and his vngodly lawes Wherein his highnes and other many of his noble progenitors were moste wyckedly abusyde to their intollerable calamity and excedyng molestacion of their Subiects ouer whom God had yeuon them auctoryte and gouernaunce to rule as by all storyes of the olde testament and informacyon of the new playnely apperith Which groundly knowen to his highnes wisshith lykewise the same to be persuadyd vnto your grace wherby your honorable renoune and royall auctoryte shuld be moche enlargyd with no lesse felycitye of soule pryncipally to be regardyd then with aboundant comoditie of riches and vnfayned obeysaunce of faythfull Subiects ferr from the comeberous calamyte of the Popysshe myserable molestacyon What more intollerable calamyte may ther be to a Christian Prynce than vniustlye to be defeatyd of his righteous iurisdiction within his realme to be a King by name and not indede to be a ruler without regyment ouer his owne liege people what more greuous molestacion can chaunce to true harted Subiects than to be seuerâ—d from the alliegiaunce due to their naturall Soueraigne ther annoyntyd King grauntyd by Gods lawes and to become servile slaues to a foreyn Potentat vsurpyng to reigne ouer them agaynste the lawe of God as by the violent tyrannye of the Bushop of Rome hathe many yeres hitherto bene practysed throughout all regions to the ruynous desolacyon of the hole Christentie what Realme is ther but that the Busâ—shop of Rome hath planted therein his kingdome and established his regiment after soche a subtiell way that he and his craâ—tye creatures were obeyd of Prynces to whome of dutye they ought to haue bene subiect 1. Pet. 2. siue Regi tanquam praecellenti c. of whome all Romayn Busshops haue presumyd to be successors but not folowers contrarye to his example Qui non venit ministrari sed ministrare In all Realmes the Popisshe practise hath had soche confederacye of false forsworne factious and trayterous Titinylks vntrue to ther Soueraigne that nothyng was so secreatly in counsaill of any Prynce but forthwith it was caried by relacion to the Popes care And if ought were attemptyd agaynste his owne person or any crookyd creature of his creation in restraynyng of ther extortionate claymes as ther was nothyng but they claymed to haue auctoryte vpon incontynent they bouncyd out their thunderbolts and currsyng fulminations with soche intollerable force of vnmercyfull crudelyte that they made the greatiste personages of the world to trymble and quake for feare For by the negligente soufferaunce of Prynces thrughe dâ—faute of knowlege of Goddes worde the Popisshe pride was so haught his auctoryte so preemynent his power so puisaunte his strengthe so myghtye his displeasure so daungerous his Tyrrannye so terrible that scarse any durst resiste to coutrevaill none was able Example of many excellente Prynces as Iohn the furst and Henry the second of gracyous memory Kings of England here in their liffe times moste cruelly vexyd and after there disseas by forged leasyngs and slaunderous ympechements mysreportyd and faulselye belied with dispitfull dishonor of ther excellent progenye After like fasshion the victorious Emperor Lodovicus enterprysing
which I haue read depicted round about the Cloister of the Carthusians at Paris doth shew sent for the foresaid Bruno to Rome whose disciple hee had beene where he remained for a time and did much helpe to pacifie the troubles there at that time by his prayers he parted from Rome and taking his way by Calabria he came into a desart called the Tower in the Diocesse of Squilace where he stayed with his compaâ—ions making their residence in certaine caues vnder the ground The which when one Roger the Prince of that countrey vnderstood he went to visit this holy man Bruno and gaue to him and his societie all that desart whereas they built a Church in the which Bruno remained alone where his companions liued and in that place hee died ann 1102. and there was buried Vpon whose Sepulchre this Epitaph was insculped Primus in hac Christi fundator ouilis Eremo Promerui fieri qui tegor hoc lapide Bruno mihi nomen Genetrix Germania meque Transtulit ad Calabros grata quies nemoris Doctor eram Preco Christi virnotus in orbe Desuper illud erat gratia non meritum Carnis vincla dies Octobris sexta resoluit Ossa manent tumulo spiritus astra petit He was canonized in the yeare 1520. Priors of their grand Monasterie at Carthusia from Bruno the first till Bruno d' Affrinques who gouerned that house ann 1611. haue beene fourty and foure This order came into England about the yeare 1180. and at Witham in Somersetshire built their first cloister Afterwards they came to London and had a faire sumptuous house neare vnto Smithfield London which is now Suttons Hospitall another they had called Sein or Shene in the countie of Surrey now best knowne by the name of Richmond There were foure Orders here in England of begging Friers who did challenge for their Patrons S. Augustine S. Francis S. Dominicke and Saint Basill but in their discipline and rule of life they came farre short of their first Institutors who both tooke paines with their hands as labourers and as learned writers as their workes do testifie of all Orders these Mendicants haue euer been most bitterly inueighed against by their owne writers as I shall shew hereafter Quidam nouus ordo Fratrum Londini apparuit incognitus Papale tamen autenticum palam ostendens ita vt tot ordinum confusio videretur A certaine new and vnknowne order of Friers appeared in London shewing openly the Popes authenticall Bull for their admission so that then there seemed to be a confusion of so many Orders saith Paris These were called Fratres de poenitentia Iesu or Fratres de Sacca Friers of the repentance of Iesus or Friers of the Sacke for that they carried sacks and for that they were clad in sackcloth These had their first house a little without Aldersgate London and obtained licence of King Henry the third in the fifth yeare of his raigne to remoue from thence vnto any other place and within some two yeares afterwards hee gaue to them the Iewes Synagogue in Colmanstreet ward which was defaced by the Citizens of London after they had slaine seuen hundred Iewes and taken away all their goods After which time Eleanor wife to King Edward the first tooke into her protection and warranted vnto the Prior and Brethren De poenitentia Iesu Christi of London the said land in Colechurch street in the Parish of Saint Olaue in the old Iury and S. Margaret in Lothbury by her granted with consent of Stephen de Fulborne Vnder-Warden of the Bridge-house and other Brethren of that house for threescore Markes of siluer which they had receiued of the said Prior and Brethren of Repentance toward the building of the said Bridge This Order of Friers gathered many good Schollers and multiplied in number exceedingly vntill by a generall Councell it was decreed that there should no more Orders of begging Friers be permitted but onely the foure Orders and so from that time these Friers decreased and fell to nothing There were also Nunnes of this order which were called Sachettes whether they had any Couent in England or not I do not know But great S. Lewis King of France being stirred vp by Queene Blaunch his mother in the yeare of our saluation 1261. hauing giuen vnto the Brethren of the Sacke or of the repentance of Iesus Christ a certaine house vpon the riuer of Seine a little beneath S. Michaels bridge in the Parish of Saint Andrew des Artes at Paris as by his charter which I haue read appeares gaue also to the Nunnes of the same order another house to inhabite in the said Parish where neither of the orders made there any long abode but were expelled in the time of the said King leauing onely the name of Sachettes vnto the streete About the yeare 1048. the Sarazins being masters of Ierusalem and of the holy Temple which they ruined certaine gentlemen and Italian Merchants vsed to frequent the ports and maritime towns of Syria and Aegypt who for that they brought merchandise which was pleasing vnto those countries were well entertained not onely by the gouernour of the Towne but by the Calife of Aegypt These Christians going often to Ierusalem to visit the holy places and hauing no place of retreat within the citie they obtained leaue to build a Church a Pallace with certaine Monasteries for the lodging of Pilgrimes But in the end they caused an Hospitall to bee built for the receiuing of all sorts of Pilgrimes both sicke and whole and in like manner a Church which was dedicated to S. Iohn Baptist. In the yeare 1099. the citie of Ierusalem being recouered against the impulsions of the Infidels by Godfrey of Bullein Duke of Lorraine this order was instituted the Kings of France were soueraignes of this order who granted them diuers immunities They bare fiue crosses gules in forme of that which is at this day called Ierusalem crosse representing thereby the fiue wounds that violated the bodie of our Sauiour None were to be admitted if of a defamed life or not of the Catholike religion They were to be gentlemen of bloud and of sufficient meanes to maintaine a port agreeable to that calling without the exercise of mechanicall sciences as appeares by these demands propounded by the Pater-Guardian vpon their admission and the Knights answers Guard Quid quaeris Miles Quaero effici Militem sanctissimi Sepulchri Guard Cuius coâ—ditionis es Mil. Nobilis genere Pare 〈…〉 bis Christianis ortus Guard Habes vnde 〈…〉 litaris dignitatis conseruare possis absque mercibus et 〈…〉 Habeo Dei gratia They tooke the Sacrament to heare euery day 〈◊〉 if they might conueniently if warres were commenced against the 〈◊〉 to serue there in person or to lend other in their stead no 〈…〉 To oppugne the persecutours of the Church to shunne vniust warres 〈◊〉 honest gaine and priuate duels Lastly to
non est mihi crede tacendum Anglorum Primas sub primo culmine primas Qui tennit sedes melius dum sperat in edes Hunc Rex compellit eum de sede repellit Dum Simon Rome supplantat federa Thome Hic Thomas natus Comitis fuit intitulatus Clericus aptatus Doctor de iure creatus Legibus ornatus facundus moringeratus Cam Christo gratus in plebe que magnisicatus O quam preclarus tam purus immaculatus Ad Regale latus tandem fuit illaqueatus Tramite subtili latitans plus vulpe senili Rex studet in sine Thomam prostrare ruine De tribus audistis cum Rex scelus intulit istis Presul adiutor fuit hijs quodammodo tutor Non contra legem sed ab ira flectere Regem Nomine pastoris temptauerat omnibus horis Semper erat talis restat dum spes aliqualis Sicanira mortem poterat saluasse cohortem Rex â—â—lit hoc triste quod Cancellarius iste Tempore quo stabat hos tres constanter amabat Sic procurator pius extitit Mediator Cartas quod Regis habuerunt munere legis Pontificis more summi pro Regis amore Sic pacem mittit mortis gladiumque remittit Hec ita fecisset pactum si Rex tenuisset Sed que iurauit hodie cras verba negauit Cernite pro quali culpa magis in speciali Pontiâ—ici tali sine causa materiali Rex fuit iratus sed altera causa reatus Est plus secreta tunc Rome quando moneta Simonis ex parte Papam concludit in aâ—tâ— Ecce per has causas sub Regis pectore clausas Hec scelus obiecit Thome qui nil male secit Regis fautores super hoc tunc anteriores Fraudibus obtentum concludunt Parliamentum Sic de finali Rex pondere iudiciali Exilio demit Thomam nee amore redemit Sic Pater absque pare quem Rex spoliauit auare Partes ignotas tunc querit habere remotas Sic pius Antistes casus pro tempore tristes Sustinet curam sperat reuocare futuram Christus eum ducat saluet que salute reducat Si vt vterque status sit ei cum laude beatus Vpon his restauration to this his Bishopricke by Henry the fourth Duke of Lancaster the same Author thus writes Iustos laudauit iniustos vituperauit Hos confirmauit hos deprimit hos releuauis Regni primatem crudelem per feritatem Quem Rex explantat Dux ex pietate replantat Henry Chichley Bishop of this See lies here on the North side of the Presbitery in a Tombe built by himselfe in his life time hee was borne at Highamâ—errys in Northamptonshire where he began the foundation of a goodly Colledge and an Hospitall which were finished by his two brethren his Executours Hee was brought vp in New Colledge in Oxford where he proceeded Doctor of Law and where he founded two Colledges one called Bernard Colledge renewed by Sir Thomas White and named Saint Iohns Colledge and all Soules Colledge which yet continueth in the same estate he left it one of the fairest in that Vniuersitie Hee was employed much in embassages by King Henry the fourth who preferred him to the Bishopricke of Saint Dauids where he sate fiue yeares and was then translated hither by his sonne King Henry the fifth He was a man happie enioying alwayes his Princes fauour wealth honour and all kinde of prosperity many yeares wise in gouerning his See worthily bountifull in bestowing his goods to the behoofe of the common-wealth And lastly stout and seuere in due administration of iustice When hee had gouerned this Sec. 29. yeares a longer time then euer any did in fiue hundred yeares before him he died April 12. Ann. 1443. Vpon whose Monument I finde this Epitaph Hic iacet Hen Chicheley L. Doctor quondam Cancellarius Sarum â—ui anno 7. Hen. 4. Regis ad Gregorium Papam 12. in Ambassiata transmissus in Ciuitate Senensi per manus eiusdem Pape in Episcopum Meneuensâ—m consecratus est Hic etiam Henricus anno 2. Hen. 5. Regis in hac sancta Ecclesia in Archiepiscopum postulatus à Ioanne Papa 23. ad eandem translatus qui obijâ— anno Dom. 1443. Mensâ—â— Apr. deâ— 12. Cetus sanctorâ—m 〈…〉 iste precetur Vt Deus ipsorum merâ—â—â—s â—â—bâ— propictetur I finde another more vnlearned Epitaph of him by which he is but little honoured being such an especiall furtherer of learning Pauper eram natus post Primas hic â—â—euatus â—am sum prostratus vermiâ—â—◠〈◊〉 paraius Ecce meum tumulum M. CCCC.XLIII Here lies interred in the Martyrdome an Archbishop very noble and no lesse learned one of the honourable familie of the Staffords sonne saith the Catalogue of Bishops vnto the Earle of Stafford but I finde no such thing in all the Catalogues of Honour a man much fauoured by King Henry the fifth wo preferred him first to the Deanrie of Wells gaue him a Prebend in the Church of Salisbury made him one of his priuie Councell and in the end Treasurer of England And then although this renowned King was taken away by vntimely death yet hee still went forward in the way of promotion and obtained the Bishopricke of Bath and Welles which with great wisedome hee gouerned eighteene yeares from whence he was remoued to this of Canterbury in which he sate almost nine yeares and in the meane time was made Lord Chancellour of England which office hee held eighteene yeares which you shall hardly finde any other man to haue done vntill waxing wearie of so painfull a place he voluntarily resigned it ouer into the Kings hands And about three yeares after that died at Maidstone Iuly 6. Ann. 1452. Vpon a flat marble stone ouer him I finde this consabulatorie Epitaph Quis fuit enuclees quem celas saxeâ— moles Stafford Antistes fuerat dictusque Iohannes Qua sedit sede marmor queso simul ede Pridem Bathonie Regni totius inde Primas egregius Pro presule funde precatus Aureolam gratus huic det de Virgine natus Much more may be read of this Bishop in the booke called Antiquitates Britannicae penned by Mathew Parker Archbishop of this place and in the Catalogue of Bishops by Francis Godwin Bishop of Hereford as also in the Catalogues of the Lords Chancellours and Treasurers of England collected by Francis Thinne In a decent Monument on the South side of the Presbitery Iohn Kempe Archbishop of this See lieth interred who was borne at Wye in this County of Kent brought vp at Oxford in Merton Colledge where hee proceeded Doctor of Law Hee was made first Archdeacon of Durham then Deane of the Arches and Vicar generall vnto the Archbishop Stafford Not long after he was aduanced to the Bishopricke of Rochester remoued thence to Chichester from Chichester to London from London to Yorke from Yorke to Canterbury he was first Cardinall of the title of Saint Balbine
and Crispinians Tombe whom they report to haue beene cast vpon this Shore by shipwracke and from hence called into the glorious company of Saints Looke Iacobus de voragine in the Legend of their liues and you may beleeue perhaps as much as is here spoken they were Shoomakers and suffered martyrdome the tenth of the Kalends of Nouember Which day is kept holiday to this day by all our Shoomakers in London and elsewhere Begebury Hic iacet Iohannes filius Iohannis Begebure qui obijt die Sancti Briâ—ij Ann. Dom. 1424. This Iohn was the last Begebury of this house whose daughter and heire was married to Culpepper Orate pro animabus Walteri Culpeper Ar. et Agnetis vxoris sue qui quidem Walterus erat filius Thome Culpeper militis et predicta Agnes erat filia Edmundi Robar iuxta Cantuar. et predicta Agnes obiit 2. die Decemb. Ann. Dom. 1457. et predictus Walt. obiit 24. Nouemb. 1462. quorum animabus Orate ... Iohannis Culpeper militis et Agnes vxor eius qui quidem Iohannes obiit 22. Decemb. 1480. quorum Sir Thomas Culpeper is remembred in our English Chronicles for siding with Thomas the great Earle of Lancaster against his Soueraigne Lord King Edward the second and Thomas Culpeper a gentlemen of the priuie-Chamber is not forgotten for being ouer familiar with his Lord and Master King Henry the eighth the one hanged drawne and quartered at Winchelsey the other beheaded at Tyborne The place fatall to both was Pontefract a familie of exemplarie note both here and sometime in the County of Rutland by the marriage of Sir Tho. Colepeper knight to Eleanor daughter and heire of Nicholas Greene of Rutlandshire The Church of Hedâ—orne sounded by one of the Culpepers â—uechurch Orate pro anima Henrici Atte Capella militis et Iacobi Atte Capella militis in fenestra Now Capells an ancient name and familie in old Latine records written De Capella The Priory neare Rumney The Priory of Regular Canons neare Rumney was founded by Iohn Mansell Prouost of Beuerley in the yeare that God tooke vpon him the forme of a Seruant 1257. the 41. of king Henry the third of the which foundation as also of the Founder reade if you please these words out of Mathew Paris In the same yeare saith he Sir Iohn Mansell Prouost of Beuerley the Kings Chaplaine and of his especiall Councell a man prudent circumspect and rich wisely considering that the fauour of a king is not hereditarie nor the prosperitie of the world alwayes permanent founded a Religious house of Regular Canons neare by Rumney two miles from the sea and endowed it with very ample reuenues which he replenished with Canons by the example of Peter Chareport who as hee was enformed not many dayes before had piously and prosperously founded an house of the same order that so passing by temporall goods they might not loose eternall Bilsington A Priory likewise built by the said Iohn Maunsell for King Henry the third and Eleanor his wife and dedicated to the blessed Virgine Mary wherein he placed blacke Canons which was valued amongst the rest of the suppressed houses at 8. l. 1. s. 6. d. of yearely commings in This house was surrendred 19. Ianuar. 36. Hâ—n 8. But to proceed a little further with this Iohn Maunsell his Ecclesiasticall and Temporall dignities who besides being Prouost of Beuerley was Treasurer of Yorke Parson of Maidstone in this County and Parson of Wigan in Lanchishire to whom king Henry the third did grant that his Towne of Wigan should be a Burrow Hee was chiefe Iustice of England one of the priuie Councell to the said King his Chaplaine his Embassador into Spaine a worthy Souldier In armis strenuus animo imperterritus who with his owne hands in a battell betwixt the English and the French neare to Tailborge in France tooke Prisoner one Peter Orige a gentleman of eminent place and qualitie He was crossed to go to Ierusalem He feasted at his house in Tole-hill field at one time two kings two Queenes with their dependances 700. messe of meate scarce seruing for the first dinner About the 31. yeare of King Henry the third at the instance of the said king he was first made keeper of the great Seale as Vicechancellour For saith Paris Custodiam Sigilli regij accepit Cancellarij vices acturus et officium and afterwards Lord keeper in plenarie office and authoritie yet for all this glorious pompe and great promotions I finde his end to be poore wretched and miserable beyond Seas but I finde no place of his death nor buriall of all which may it please you to reade thus much out of an old Manuscript in the fame language it was to me deliuered Ann. 1268. obijt Iohannes Mansel in partibus transmarinis in paupertate et dolore maximo Hic miser tot obtentus Ecclesiasticos habuit vt annuatim ex illis XVIII millia Marcarum poterat expendere vnde maiores Episco Anglie recusauit tum quia in pluralitate permultarum preditissimarum EcclesiaruÌ„ habundauit tum quia lubricus erat Hic ait de vna Ecclesia modici census scilicet 20. librarum Ad canes nostros valet ista Ecclesia innuens per hoc quod surfures et farina et alia canibus necessaria ex prouentu istius Ecclesie deberent comparari Hic autem cum esset Simonis aduersarius scilicet Mounteforti et consiliarius precipuus suaset Regi vt iuramentum quod fecerat cum Baronibus pro fidelitate Anglie seruanda omnino dimitteret factumque est ita Mittitur igitur ad curiam summi Pontificis pro absolutione petenda ne Rex teneretur prestito Baronibus iuramento obtinuitque mox regia supplicatio absolutionem petitam vnde bellum de quo dictum est accepit post illius absolutionis obtentum c. Of this man so many times double beneficed Mathew Paris doth thus descant Admirabantur autem cum stupore qui ea quae Dei sunt sapiunt hominem tam circumspectum tot animarum curam suscepisse non formidare cum de omnibus coram summo Iudice vt reddat rationem sihi se constiterit obligatum sed vt verificetur Multi multa sciunt seipsos penitus nescientes I haue seene a pedigree of the Mansels from Philip de Mansel who came in with the Conquerour vntill these our times Of this name and familie is that orthodoxall sound Diuine and worthy Master of Queenes Colledge in Cambridge Iohn Mansel Doctor of Diuinitie and a generall Scholler in all good literature Boughton vnder Bleane Orate pro anima Iohannis Colkin Ar obijt 18. April 1405. Orate pro anima Willelmi Colkin de Colkin et pro anima Agnetis vxoris eius qui obierunt 1460. Pray for the soule of Iohn Best and Ioane his wife who deceased the 20. day of Iuly 1408. Swynfeeld
Amen This Thomas Kempe was Nephew to Iohn Kempe Archbishop of Canterbury at whose hands hee receiued Consecration at Yorke place now called White hall Ann. 1449. Febr. 8. his Vnkle being as then Archbishop of Yorke This Bishop and not Duke Vmphrey as it is commonly beleeued by report built for the most part the Diuinitie Schooles in Oxford as they stood before Bodleyes foundation with walls Arches Vaults doores towers and pinnacles all of square smooth polisht stone and artificially depainted the Doctors Chaire to the liuely representation of the glorious frame of the celestiall globle He built also Pauls Crosse in forme as as it now standeth Here lieth Iohn Stokesley Bishop of this Church brought vp at Magdelene Colledge in Oxford and here enthronized Iuly 19. 1530. Who died Septemb. 8. 1539. A part of his Epitaph as yet remaines inlaid in brasse which approues him to haue beene a good Linguist and a great Schollar Huius in obscuro tumuli interiore recessit Stokesley cineres ossaque tecta iacent Cuius fama patens vite decus ingenijque Dexteritas ..... luce tamen Iste Deo Regique suo populoque fideli Viueret vt charus perpetuo studuit Exterius siquidem potuit regionibus .... .................... Qui Latias lustrauit opes intrauit hebreas Huic grecorum palma parata fuit Artes quid memorem vanas ad quas penetrauit Quum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 auctus honore fuit .............. Virginis matris cultori certa supremum Natalem Marie fata dedere diem I reade in the Catalogue of Bishops and other writers for all the Inscriptions of any Antiquitie made to the memory of other Bishops here interred are altogether erazed or stolne away that William a Norman who enioyed this Bishopricke in the Conquerours time lieth here interred in the body of the Church Vnto whom the City of London acknowledgeth it selfe greatly beholding for that the king by his meanes and instant suite granted vnto them all kinde of liberties in as ample manner as they enioyed them in the time of his predecessour Ed. the Confessour These are the words of the Conquerours grant written in the Saxon tongue and sealed with greene waxe Williem king grets Williem Bisceop and Godfred Porterefan and ealle ya Burghwarn binnen London Frencisce and Englise frendlice and ickiden eoy yeet ic wille yeet git ben ealra weera lagay weore ye get weeran on Eadwards daege kings And ic will yeet aelc child by his fader yrfnume aefter his faders daege And i◠nelle ge wolian yeet aenig man coy aenis wrang beode God coy heald Which in English is to this effect following William king greetes William Bishop and Godfrey Portgraue and all the Burrow of London French and English friendly And I make knowne to you that ye be worthy to enioy all that Law and priuiledge which ye did in the dayes of King Edward And I will that euery childe bee his fathers heire after his fathers decease And I will not suffer that any man doe vnto you any iniurie God you keepe In thankfulnesse hereof the Citizens caused to bee engrauen an Epitaph vpon his Tombe in Latine thus Englished by Iohn Stow. To William a man famous in wisedome and holinesse of life who first with Saint Edward the king and Confessour being familiar of late preferred to be Bishop of London and not long after for his prudencie and sincere fidelitie admitted to be of Councell with the most victorious Prince William king of England of that name the first who obtained of the same great and large priuiledges to this famous City The Senate and Citizens of London to him hauing well deserued haue made this Hee continued Bishop twenty yeares and dyed in the yeare after Christ his natiuitie 1070. These marble Monuments to thee thy Citizens assigne Rewards O father farre vnfit to those deserts of thine Thee vnto them a faithfull friend thy London people found And to this Towne of no small weight a stay both sure and sound Their liberties restorde to them by meanes of thee haue beene Their publike weale by meanes of thee large gifts haue felt and seene Thy riches stocke and beauty braue one houre hath them supprest Yet these thy vertues and good deeds with vs for euer rest But this Tombe was long since either destroyed by time or taken away vpon some occasion yet howsoeuer the Lord Maior of London and the Aldermen his brethren vpon those solemne dayes of their resort to Pauls do still vse to walke to the grauestone where this Bishop lyeth buried in remembrance of their priuiledges by him obtained And now of late yeares an Inscription fastened to the pillar next adioyning to his graue called The reuiuall of a most worthy Prelates remembrance erected at the sole cost and charges of the right honourable and nobly affected Sir Edward Barkham knight Lord Maior of the Citie of London Ann. 1622. thus speakes to the walkers in Pauls Walkers whosoere you be If it proue your chance to see Vpon a solemnes skarlet day The Citie Senate passe this way Their gratefull memory for to show Which they the reuerend ashes owe Of Bishop Norman here inhum'd By whom this Citie hath assum'd Large priuiledges Those obtain'd By him when Conquerour William raign'd This being by thankfull Barkhams mynd renewd Call it the Monument of Gratitude Here lieth buried Fulk Basset Bishop of this Church preferred hither from the Deanrie of Yorke a Gentleman of an ancient great family second brother of that Gilbert Basset who through the stumbling of his horse fell in a certaine wood as hee went a hunting in the haruest time Ann. 1241. and brake so his bones and sinewes that within a few dayes after he dyed and shortly after euen in the same moneth the onely sonne of this Gilbert being a childe died whereby that lordlie inheritance came to this Fulk Basset who as he was a man of great linage and also of ample both temporall and Ecclesiasticall possessions so was hee a Prelate of an inuincible high spirit stout and couragious to resist those insupportable exactions which the Popes Legate Rustandus went about to lay vpon the Clergie and at such a time when the Pope and the king like the Shepheard and the Woolfe ioyned both together to destroy the Sheepfold Much what about which time to the same effect certaine rimes were scattered abroad as I haue before set downe in the Diocesse of Canterbury Such were the Popes rapines and enormous proceedings in those dayes all which this stout Bishop withstood to the vttermost of his power Hee died of the plague here in London Ann. 1258. hauing gouerned this See 14. yeares odde moneths A Monument was made to his eternall memory whereupon this Distich was inlaid in brasse Prudens fortis iacet hac Episcopus arca Bone Iesu. Bassettis ortus cui parcas summe Hierarcha Bone Iesu. Here lieth entombed in the
For whiche Commons him hated both free and bond Iohn Gower concludes his cronica tripartita annexed to his booke entituled Vox Clamantis with these riming verses concerning the said King Cronica Richardi qui sceptra tulit Leopardi Vt patet est dicta populo sed non benedicta Vt speculum mundi quo lux nequit vlla resundi Sic vacuus transit sibi nil nisi culpa remansit Vnde superbus erat modo si preconia querat Eius honor sordet laus culpat gloria mordet Hoc concernentes caueant qui sunt sapientes Nam male viuentes Deus odit in orbe regentes Est qui peccator non esse potest dominator Ricardo teste finis probat hoc manifeste Post sua demerita perijt sua pompa sopita Qualis erat vita cronica stabit ita He was murdered at Pomfret Castle in the bloudie Tower so called from that time vpon that bloudie act to this day on Saint Valentines day 1399. the first of Henry the fourth when hee had raigned 22 yeares That beautifull picture of a King sighing crowned in a chaire of estate at the vpper end of the Quire in this Church is said to be of him which witnesseth how goodly a creature he was in outward lineaments but I will conclude with these rimes out of my old Manuscript the Addition to Robert of Glocester This Rychard than regnyd sone Aftur his Belsire as was to done Atte x yere of age crownyd was he He was a man of grett beute In hys tym the Comynte of Kent Up arysin and to London went And Sauoy the brent that ilke plas The whych the Dukes of Lancastre was Thurgh euel councel was slayn ful suel The Duke of Glocestre and the erle of Arundel He regnyd xxii yer and mor And to Longeley was he bor But in the v King Herry is tym He was leyde at VVestmynstre by Anne the Quene Anne his first wife here entombed with him was the daughter of Wenceslaus King of Bohemia and Emperour of the Germanes she died in Anno 1394. the seuenth of Iune at Sheene in Surrey whom her husband so feruently loued yea vsque ad amentiam euen to a kinde of madnesse that for very griefe and anger besides cursing the place wherein shee died hee ouerthrew the whole house Her Epitaph Sub petra lata nunc Annaiacet tumulata Dum vixit mundo Richardo nupta secundo Christo deuota fuit hec facilis bene nota Pauperibus prona semper sua reddere dona Iurgia sedauit et pregnantes releuauit Corpore formosa vultu mitis speciosa Prebens solamen viduis egris medicamen Anno milleno ter cent quarto nonageno Iulij septeno mensis migrauit ameno forma Fragilis Henry the fift sonne of Henry the fourth King of England and conquerour of France died at Boyes de Viscenna not farre from Paris the last of August 1422. hauing raigned 9 yeares 5 moneths and odde daies from thence his body was conuaied to this Abbey vpon whose Tombe Katherine his wife caused a royall picture to be layed couered all ouer with siluer plate gilded the head whereof was all of massie siluer all which at the suppression when the battering hammers of destruction as Master Speed saith did sound almost in euery Church were sacrilegiously broken off and by purloyning transferred to farre prophaner vses where at this day the headlesse monument is to be seene and these verses written vpon his Tombe Dux Normanorum verus Conquestor eorum Heres Francorum decessit et Hector eorum Here Normans Duke so stil'd by conquest iust True heire of France Great Hector lies in dust Gallorum mastix iacet hic Henricus in vrna Domat omnia virtus So many vertues are attributed by all writers to this heroicall King Henry the renowne of England and glory of Wales that where to begin or when to make an end in his deserued praise I know not so I will leaue him amongst the many Monarchs of this most famous Empire none more complete relating onely a few rimes which in some sort doth particularize his memorable exploits Aftur hym regnyd his son than The v Herry truly a gracious man Atte his begynnyng verament He stroyd Loliers and thei wer brent Aftur he made Relygyous at Shene Sion Ierusalem and eke Bedlem The thurd yer he went truly And gat Hartlett in Normandy Atte Egyncourt he hadde a batayle ywis Hamwardys and ther had the prys He tooke ther the Duc of Orleaunce The Duc of Burbon and meny of Fraunce And aftur that he wan Lane toun Rone and al Normandy as was to don Also he wan Parys worschypfully And meny mo tounes wyth Meaux in Bry. Ther he took to hys Quene Katterin the kyng dawghtyr shene He hadde a Son of hur y bore That ys callyd Herry of Wyndsore In Fraunce he departyd goodly thurgh Goddâ—s grase And was broght into Engelond in short spase Then was his Son Herry of age suerly But only viii monyths wyth odde deyes truly His Eme Iohn Duc of Bedford as yow see Is now Regent of Fraunce sykerly He regnyd x yer in hevyn he hath reward Lith at Westmynstre noght fer fro Seynt Edward Here lieth Katherine Queene of England wife to the foresaid King Henry the fifth in a chest or coffin with a loose couer to be seene and handled of any that will much desire it and that by her owne appointment as he that sheweth the Tombes will tell you by tradition in regard of her disobedience to her husband for being deliuered of her Sonne Henry the sixth at Windsore the place which he forbad But the truth is that she being first buried in our Ladies Chappell here in this Church her corps were taken vp when as Henry the seuenth laid the foundation of that admirable structure his Chappell royall which haue euer since so remained and neuer reburied She was the daughter to Charles the sixth king of France she died at Bermondsey in Southwarke the second of Ianuary Ann. Dom. 1437. Her Epitaph Hic Katherina iacet Francorum filia Regis Heres Regni Carole Sexte tui Henrici quinti thalamo bis leta iugali Nam sic vir duplici clarus honore fuit Iure suo Anglorum Katherine iure triumphans Francorum obtinuit ius decus imperij Grata venit letis felix Regina Britannis Perque dies celebrant quatuor ore Deum Edidit Henricum gemebunda puerpera Regem Cuius in imperio Francus Anglus erat Non sibi sed Regno felici sidere natum Sed Patri Matri Religione parem Post ex Owino Tiddero tertia proles Nobilis Edmundus te Katherina beat Septimus Henricus quo non prestantior alter Filius Edmundi gemma Britanna fuit Felix ergo vxor mater ter filia felix Ast Auia hec felix terque quater que fuit Here lieth buried in one of the stateliest Monuments of Europe both for the
God and then after vnto me Vpon which religious and Princely lesson he grounds a reason and pleads a libertie to vse his owne proper conscience in the Kings most weightie affaires as you may perceiue by this part of a letter following written to Cromwell Right worshipfull c. it pleased the Kyngs highnes to send me in the companie of my Lord of London now of Duresme in embassiate aboute the Peace that at our being there was concluded at Cameray betwene his highnes and themperour and the French Kyng And after my comyng home his highnes of his onely goodnes as far my vnworthy I was thereto made me as you well knowe his Chauncelor of this Realme sone after which time his grace moued me agayne yit-eftsonys to loke and considre his great matter and well and indifferently to pondre such things as I should fynde therin And if it so were that therevpon it shoulde happen me to se such things as sholde persuade me to that parte hee wolde gladly vse me among other of his Counsailors in that matter neuerthelesse gracyousely declared vnto me that he wolde in no wise that I sholde other thing do or say therin than vpon that that I shold perceiue myn owne conscience shold serue me and that I sholde fyrst loke vnto God and after God vnto hym Which moost gratiouse wordys was the fyrst lesson also that euer his grace gaue me at my fyrst comyng into his noble servyce c. This learned Chancellour with much labour and earnest suite to the King got leaue to leaue his office before hee had continued therein fully three yeares Vpon his last speech to his three daughters and to the people present at his decollation thus one writes Ne lugete meo confusae funere natae Ipse ego mutari non mea fata velim Truncum terra teget si Rex non abnuet vrnam Et mea iam terris nomina nota volant Libera mens superos repetet neque seruiet vnquam In partem hanc quod agat nulla securis habet Tu quoque spectator tranquillum si cupis aeâ—um Exigere letho fortior esse tuo Qui tibi membra cadanâ— nullo in discrimine pone Quum sint naturae lege caduca suae Another of his death by way of Dialogue thus Hospes Quis iacet hic truncus cuius caput ense rescissum est Quae natat in tetro sanguine canities Ciuis Hic est ille Thomas Morus sic fata rependunt Tristia multa bonis bona multa malis Hospes Quae circumsistunt Diuae lugubre cadauer Diua tenax veri sancta Fides Nemesis Ciuis Harum prima odij caussa fuit altera mortis Vltrix iniustae tertia caedis erat Anno Domini M. D.XXXV.vi Non. Iulij Thus much of Sir Thomas More in this place you may know more of him hereafter by his Epitaph in Chelsey Church Cromwell surnamed the great whom Wolsey first raised from the forge to eminent good fortunes whom Henry the eight vsed as his instrument to suppresse the Popes supremacie and to dissolue religious Structures whom he aduanced to the highest pitch of honour and authoritie whom he cast downe suddenly and bereft both of life and dignitie lies here interred He followed the same steps to the same Stage vpon the said Tower-hill and acted there the same part which his two friends More and Fisher had done before him and that within fiue yeares after This Cromwell this pillar of the State was borne in Putney a Village in Surrey by Thames side foure miles distant from London hee was sonne to a Blacksmith in his later dayes a Bruer Whose mother after his fathers decease was remarried to a Shereman Of whose birth a late writer thus sings Putney the place made blessed by my birth Whose meanest cottage simply me did shrowd To me as dearest of the English Earth So of my bringing that poore village proud Though in a time when neuer lesse the dearth Of happie wits yet mine so well allow'd That with the best she boldlie durst prefer Me that my breath acknowledged from her He was a man of an actiue and forward ripenesse of nature ready and pregnant of wit discreet and well aduised in iudgement eloquent of tongue faithfull and diligent in seruice of an incomparable memory of a reaching politicke head and of a noble and vndaunted spirit Whose good parts being perceiued by Cardinal Wolsey he took him straight into his seruice made him his Sollicitor and emploied him in matters of great importance after whose fall hee was presently aduanced to the Kings seruice wherein he so industriously and wisely demeaned himselfe as that he was thought worthie by the said King to haue the ordering of all weightie affaires Whereupon at seuerall times he heaped these seuerall offices and honours vpon him he made him Master of his Iewell-house Baron Cromwell of Okeham principall Secretarie Master of the Rolles Chancellour of the Exchequer Keeper of the priuie Seale Iustice of the Forrests and Chases from the Riuer of Trent Northward great Chamberlaine of England Earle of Essex Knight of the Garter Vicegerent or Vicar generall Of which my fore remembred friend thus writes For first from knighthood rising in degree The Office of the Iewell-house my lot After the Rolles he frankly gaue to me From whence a priuie Counsellor I got Then of the Garter and then Earle to be Of Essex yet sufficient these were not But to the great Vicegerencie I grew Being a title as supreme as new Thus Fortune raised him a short time for a sudden fall For vpon the eighteenth day of Aprill 1540. hee was inuested with the honour of the Earledome of Essex and high Chamberlainship of England vpon which day the King also made his sonne Gregory Lord Cromwell Vpon the ninth of Iuly next and immediately following being enuied of many for his honour and authoritie he was suddenly arrested in the Councell-chamber and committed to the Tower vpon the nineteenth of the said moneth he was attainted by Parliament of heresie and high Treason and vpon the 28. of the said moneth hee was beheaded on the Tower-hill More succinctly thus his precipitate downfall is versified The Councell-chamber place of my arrest Where chiefe I was when greatest was the store And had my speeches noted of the best That did them as high Oracles adore A Parliament was lastly my Enquest That was my selfe a Parliament before The Tower hill Scaffold last I did ascend Thus the great'st man of England made his end And such bloudie ends most men haue who are busie managers of the greatest matters He was condemned to death and yet neuer came to his answere by an act as it is said which he himselfe caused to be made of which my fore-remembred Author M. Drayton Those lawes I made my selfe alone to please To giue me power more freely to my will Euen to my equals hurtfull sundrie waies Forced
Office will it please reade thus much out of the Interpreter as followeth Master of the Court of Wards and Liueries saith he is the chiefe and principall Officer of the Court of Wards and Liueries named and assigned by the King to whose custody the Seale of Court is committed He at the entring vpon his Office taketh an Oath before the Lord Chancellour of England well and truly to serue the king in his Office to minister equall Iustice to rich and to poore to the best of his cunning wit and power diligently to procure all things which may honestly and iustly be to the kings aduantage and profit and to the augmentation of the right and prerogatiue of the Crowne truly to vse the Kings Seale appointed to his office to endeuour to the vttermost of his power to see the King iustly answered of all such profits rents reuenues and issues as shall yearely rise grow or be due to the King in his office from time to time to deliuer with speed such as haue to doe before him not to take or receiue of any person any gift or reward in any case or matter depending before him or wherein the King shall be partie whereby any preiudice losse hinderance or disherison shall be or grow to the King Ann. 33. Hen. 8. cap. 33. Buers Hic iacet Andreas de Buers Robertus de Buers filius eiusdem Andree militis qui Andreas obijt 12. die Aprilis Anno Dom. 1360. et dictus Robertus obijt 7. die mens Octob. Ann. Dom. 1361. quorum animabus Hic iacet Richardus Waldegraue miles qui obijt 2. die Maij Anno Dom. 1400. Ioanna vxor eius que obijt 10. Iunij 1406. Quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen Qui pro alijs oras pro se laborat Hic iacet Richardus Waldegraue miles qui obijt 2. Maij An. Dom. 1434. Iohanna vxor eius filia Thome de Montecamisij militis que obijt in festo Sancti Dionisij Anno Dom. 1450. Quorum animabus Amen Hic iacet Thomas Waldergraue miles Elisabetha vxor eius prima filia vna beredum Iohannis Fraye militis nuper capitalis Baronis Scaccarij qui quidem Thomas obijt 28. die 1500. Of your cherite prey for the souls of Edward Waldergraue and Mabell his wyff doughter and heyre of Iohn Cheney of Pynehoo in Deuonshyre and one of the heyres of Iohn Hill of Spaxton in the County of Somerset The which Edward decessyd the yere of our Lord God 1506. and the said Mabell ..... on whose souls Iesu haue mercy Amen Orate pro animabus Willelmi Waldegraue militis Margerie consortis sue qui quidem Willelmus obijt ... This Church of Buers is very neatly kept Out of the pedegree of the Waldegraues this story following was collected by Iohn Rauen Richmond Herald On a time a Gentleman of Northampton being at the signe of the Growne in Sudbury and hauing conference with master Edward Waldgraue of Bilston in Com. Suss. Esquire did make vnto him a very credible report of one Waldegraue in Northamptonshire affirming that he heard it reported of old time that these Waldgraues were of a very ancient antiquitie before William the Conquerours raigne and that his name should be Iohn who hauing one onely daughter and meeting with one Waldgraue which came out of Germany and was employed in the Conquerors seruices the said Germane Waldgraue related with Waldgraue of Northamptonshire concerning the marriage of his said daughter told him that if he would giue his consent that he might haue his daughter in marriage that then he would procure him a pardon from the Conquerour for the quiet enioying of his lands and liuings By which meanes he obtained the Conquerours grant with his owne hand and Seale for confirmation of all his lands vnto him and his posterity The which Pardon and grant remayneth to be seene at this day 1612. in the French tongue and is in the possession of the Lords of that Mannour Iohn Rauen Richmond Herald Thebarton Hic iacet Willelmus Iermey miles vnus Iusticiar Domini Regis de Banco suo et Elisabeth vxor eius qui quidem Willelmus obijt xxiij die Decembris Anno Domini M. cccclxxxiij Quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen Wingfield Here sometimes stood a Colledge or Chantrie by whom founded I haue not yet found out But the de la Poles Earles of Suffolke were the Patrons of it Valued it was at the dissolution to amount to fifty pounds three shillings fiue pence halfe penny of yearely reuenues Surrendred 36 H. 8. In this Colledge was buried the body of William de la Pole Lord Wingfield Earle Marquesse and Duke of Suffolke as also Earle of Penbroke After all these honours giuen him he was banished England for fiue yeares for being too familiar with Queene Margaret priuy and consenting to the yeelding and losse of Aniou and Mayne as also to appease the murmuring of the people for the murthering of the Duke of Glocester and as he was â—aking of ship to passe for France he was surprised and taken on the sea by a ship of warre called the Nicholas belonging to the Duke of Exceter then Constable of the Tower of London and there presently beheaded and his body cast into the sea which was after found and taken vp againe at Douer brought to this Colledge and here honourably interred saith Hall as also the Catalogue of Honour by Brooke This happened in the yeare 1450. Iohn de la Pole sonne and heire of William aforesaid after the death of his Father Duke of Suffolke was likewise buried here at Wingfield Of which he was Lord and owner He died in the yeare 1491. In the Parish Church are these Inscriptions or Epitaphs Hic iacet Richardus de la Pole filius Domini Michaelis de la Pole nuper Comitus Suff. qui obijt 18. die Decembris Ann. Dom. 1403. Cuius anime propritietur Deus Hic iacet Magister Iohannes de la Pole silius Domini Michaelis de la Pole quondam Comitis Suffolcie Baccalaureus vtriusque iuris Canonicus in Ecclesia Cathedrali Ebor. ac in Ecclesia Collegiata de Beuerley qui ob 4. die mens Februarij Anno Dom. 1415. Hen. 54. These two were the sonne of Michaell de la Pole the first Earle of Suffolke of that surname Hic iacet Dominus Wingfild de Letheringham ....... Cuius anime This towne of Wingfield hath giuen name to a familie in this tract that is spread into a number of branches and is besides for knighthood and ancient gentilitie renowned and thereof it was the principall seat Donnington Hic iacet tumulatus Dominus Willelmus Wingfeld miles Dominus istius ville ac patronus istius Ecclesie qui obijt 1 Iunij Ann. Dom. 1398. Cuius anime propitietur Deus Hic iacet Willelmus Wingfeld Armiger Katherina vxor eius Dominus et Patronus istius