seruiens Abbati et Conuentui de Lesnes qui obiit primo die mensis Ianuarij 1425. Cuius anime Lesnes Abbey In the yeare of our Lord 1178. the third of the Ides of Iune Richard Lucie a Councellour of State and chiefe Iustice of the Realme began the foundation of an Abbey at Lesnes or Westwood neare vnto this Towne of Eâ—â—th The extent of whose yearely reuenue as it was prized by the Commissioners at the suppression amounted to one hundred eighty sixe pounds and nine shillings When this his goodly fabricke was in all parts finished he presently forsooke and surrendred into the kings hands all both his offices and honours And betooke himselfe to the habite and profession of a Canon Regular in this house of his owne foundation where within a short while after euen in the same yeare to wit the fourteenth of Iuly 1479. he exchanged his Conuentuall blacke coole for a glorious bright heauenly crowne And here in the Quire of his Church hee was sumptuously entombed vpon whose Monument this Epitaph was engrauen Rapitur in tenebras Richardus lux Luciorum Iusticie pacis dilector vrbis honorum Christe sibi requies tecum sit sede piorum Iulia tunc orbi lux bis septena nitebat Mille annos C. nouem et septuaginta mouebat Now giue me leaue to go a little further with him and his heires as I finde the words in the Collection of Englands Protectours by Francis Thinne Lancaster Herald Sir Richard Lucie knight chiefe Iustice of England saith he was Protectour of England in the twelfth yeare of the raigne of king Henry the second in the absence of the king when hee was in Normandie and in the parts beyond the Seas Which Lucie in the thirteenth yeare of the same King did valiantly resist and politikely driue backe the Earle of Bolloigne inuading this kingdome He built the Abbey of Leosnes or Westwood in the Parish of Erith in Kent and not in Southfleet as some haue written in the yeare of Christ 1178. and the Castle of Chipping Augre in Essex He had issue Godfrey Bishop of Winchester and three daughters who after the death of Godfrey their brother were his heires Maude the eldest daughter was married to Robert the first called Fitzwater Aueline the second daughter was married to Richard Riuers of Stanford Riuers in Essex Rose the third daughter was married to Richard de Warren the naturall sonne of king Iohn as appeareth by a deed belonging to my selfe who had the Rectory of Leosnes beginning thus Rosa de Douer quondam vxor venerabilis viri Richardi filij Regis de Chillam And king Iohn by his Charter grants to another Rose her grandfathers lands in these words Rex reddidit Roesie de Douerita totam terram suam cum pertenenc qua eam contingit de heredit Richardi de Lucy avi sui tenend sibi hered c. Cart. 24. Reg. Iohannis numero 37. in Archi. Turris London The foresaid Godfrey de Lucy was consecrated Bishop of Winchester the first of Nouember 1189. And died Ann. 1204 hauing gouerned that See fifteene yeares He purchased of king Richard the first the Mannors of Wergraue and Menes which in times past had belonged to his Bishopricke he was a great Benefactour to this Religious house of Leosnes founded by his father wherein according to his will hee was enterred To whose memory this Epitaph was engrauen vpon his Tombe Lux mea lux Christi si terre ventre quiesco Attamen in celo sanctorum luce lucesco Presul de Winton fueram quondam Cathedratus Multum resplendens alto sanguine natus Nunc id sum quod eris puluis rota non retinenda Voluitur inuigila prudens nec differ agenda M. C. bis quatuorque annos his insuper addas Carnis vincla dies soluit secunda Decembris Vos qui transitis ancillam poscite Christi Sit Dominus mitis pulso purgamine tristi Wolwich Orate pro anima Iohannis Colin et Mathilde vxoris eius qui Iohannes obiit 27. Ianuar ..... Mathilda 25. Octob. 1397. Hic tacet Dominus Will. Prene quondam Rector huius Ecclesie viz. tempore Regis Edwardi quarti et postea Rector Ecclesie de Lymming qui fieri fecit istam Capellam et Campanile huius Ecclesie et in uita sua multa alia bona .... ob I. die Decemb. 1464. Willelmus Prene me fecit in honorem sancte Trinitatis Eltham Pray for the sowl of Dame Margerie Roper late wyff of Iohn Roper Suier daughter and one of the heires of Iohn Tattersall Suier who dyed 2. Februar 1518 Roper a name of eminent respect in this County honoured with the title of Baron Roper of Tenham by our Soueraigne Lord Iames late King of England giuen to Iohn Lord Roper now liuing Pray for the sowl of Iohn Morton sonne and heire of Margaret Morton of Asheby de la Zouch in the County of Leicester late wife to Tho. Squier who dyed 23. Aug. Prier pur l'alme Thomas Pierle qi morust le primer iour de Iuyl l'an de Grace Mil. ccc.lxix ..... Here lyeth Iohn Pasley yeoman Porter to king Henry the eighth and Agnes his wife which Iohn dyed .... 1509. Hen. 8.1 West Peckham Iohn Culpeper one of the Iustices of the Common Pleas in the raigne of king Henry the fourth founded here a Preceptorie or free-Schoole which he endowed with threescore and three pounds sixe shillings eight pence of yearely allowance Bromley In the Church wall lyeth the pourtraiture as I learne by tradition of Richard Wendouer Bishop of Rochester and Parson of this Towne He was consecrated 1238. and dyed 1250. yet it is said that his body was buried in Westminster by the kings speciall commandement for that he was accounted a very holy and vertuous man which I cannot much contradict Icy gist Mestre Water de Henche Qi fut Persone de Bromleghe 1360. Lewsham Hic iacet Georgius Hatecliffe Ar. Thesaurarius Domini Regis in Hibernia ac vnus clericorum compoti Hospitii regis obiit 1. Aug. 1514. Iohn Norbury founded a Priory in this Towne of Lewsham which hee replenished with blacke Monkes Aliens belonging to the Abbey of Gaunt in Flanders and thereupon called Aliens because they were Celles to some Monastery or other beyond the Seas The first foundation of these houses I do not finde but in the raigne of king Edward the third they were encreased to the number of one hundred and ten in England besides them in Ireland Aquitane and Normandy The goods of all which Priories the said king Ann. Reg. 12. because of his warres with France caused to be confiscated to his owne vse letting out their houses to farme with all their lands and tenements for the space of three and twenty yeares At the end of which Terme Peace being concluded betweene the two Nations he restored to the Priors Aliens their
of England who went with him into the holy land in which voyage her husband was stabbed with a poysoned dagger by a Sarazen the rankled wound whereof was iudged incurable by his Physitians yet shee daily and nightly sucked out the ranke poison and so by aduenturing her owne saued her husbands life She was the onely daughter of Ferdinando the third King of Castile and Leons she died at Herdby in Lincolnshire 29 Nouember 1290. hauing beene King Edwards wife 36 yeares who erected to her honour those Crosses as Statues at Lincolne Grantham Stanford Geddington Northampton Stony Stratford Dunstable now destroyed Saint Albans Waltham and Westminster called Charing-Crosse all adorned with the armes of Castile Leon and the Earldome or Countie of Ponthieu which by her right was annexed to the Crowne of England Moreouer the said King Edward so ardent was his affection to the memory of his deceased Eleanor gaue twelue Mannors Lordships and Hamlets to Walter then Abbot of Westminster and his successors for euer for the keeping of yeerely Obits for his said Queene and for money that should be geeuen to the poore that came to the solemnization of the same Her Epitaph Nobilis Hispani iacet hic soror inclita Regis Eximij consors Eleanora thori Edwardi primi Wallorum principis vxor Cui pater Henricus tertius Anglus erat Hanc ille vxorem gnato petit omine princeps Legati munus suscipit ipse bono Alfonso Fratri placuit felix Hymeneus Germanam Edwardo nec sine dote dedit Dos preclara fuit nec tali indigna marito Pontino Princeps munere diues erat Femina consilio prudens pia prole beata Auxit amicitijs auxit honore virum Disce mori Here lieth gloriously entombed the most mighty Monarch that euer ware the Crowne of England who conquered Calis recouered Aquitaine and Normandy tooke Iohn King of France and Dauid King of Scots prisoners added the armes and title of France to his owne declaring his claime in this kind of verse thus Rex sum regnorum bina ratione duorum Anglorum Regno sum Rex ego iure paterno Matris iure quidem Francorum nuncupor idem Hinc est Armorum variatio facta meorum To which the French answered scornefully in verses to the same temper but some what touching Edward with ill grounded vanitie pretending right to the Crown of France by Queen Isabell his mother before whom if Daughters should succeed in the sacred Lillies of France her eldest Sister must march Madam Margaret of France wife to Ferdinand fourth of that name King of Castille Praedo Regnorum qui diceris esse duorum Francorum Regno priuaberis atque Paterno Matris vbique nullum Ius Broles non habet vllum Iure Mariti carens alia est Mulier prior illa Succedunt Mares huic Regno non Mulieres Hinc est Armorum variatio stulta tuorum He excelled his Ancestors also in the victorious valour of his children in their obedience to him and loue among themselues and one of his greatest felicities was that he had a Lady to his wife the fruitfull mother of a faire issue of such excellent vertue and gouernement as that then King Edwards Fortunes seemed to fall into Eclipse when she was hidden in her Sepulchre He was the sonne of Edward the second by Isabel daughter to Philip the Faire King of France his father being amoued from the kingdomes gouernement against whom he had no guilty thought he was by publike Sanction thereupon established in the royall Throne being of the age of fourteene yeeres and when he had raigned 50 yeeres died at his Manor of Shine Iune 21. 1377. these verses are annexed to his monument Hic decus Anglorum flos Regum preteritorum Forma futurorum Rex clemens pax populorum Tertius Edwardus regni complens Iubileum Inuictus Pardus pollens bellis Machabeum Tertius Edwardus Fama super ethera notus pugna pro patria Foure of these verses are thus translated by Speed in his History of the said King where vpon the words Pollens bellis Machabeum he giues this marginall note as followeth He meanes saith he more able in battaile then Machabeus you must beare with the breaking of Priscians head for it is written of a King that vsed to breake many Here Englands grace the flower of Princes past Patterne of future Edward the third is plaste Milde Monarch Subiects peace warres Machabee Victorious Pard his raigne a Iubilee Take with you if you please another translation of these Meters by one who liued neerer to those times Of English kynges here lyth the beauteous floure Of all before passed and myrrour to them shall sue A mercifull kynge of peace conseruatour The third Edward The deth of whom may rue Alle Englyssh men for he by knyghtehode due Was Lyberd inuict and by feate Marciall To worthy Machabe in vertu peregall Hic erat saith an old Mss. speaking of this King flos mundane militie sub quo militare erat regnare proficisci proficere confligere triumphare Cui iure maternali linea recta descendente Regnum cum corona Francie debetur Pro cuius regni adipiscenda corona que maris euasit pericula quos bellorum deuicit impetus quas Belligerorum struit audacias scriptor enarrare desistit sue relationis veritatem adulationis timens obumbrari velamine Hic vero Edwardus quamuis in hostes terribilis extiterat in subditos tamen mitissimus fuerat et gratiosus pietate et miserecordia omnes pene suos precellens antecessores A late writer saith hee was a Prince the soonest a man and the longest that held so of any we reade he was of personage comely of an euen stature gracefull respectiuely affable and well expressing himselfe A Prince who loued Iustice Order and his people the supreme vertues of a Soueraigne First his loue of Iustice was seene by the many Statutes hee made for the due execution thereof and the most straight-binding oath hee ordained to be ministred vnto his Iudges and Iusticiars the punishment inflicted on them for corruption in their offices causing some to be thrust out and others grieuously fined He bettered also that forme of publique Iustice which his Grandfather first began and which remaines to this day making also excellent Lawes for the same His regard to the obseruation of Order among his people so many Lawes do witnesse as were made to restraine them from Excesses in all kinds His loue to his Subiects was exprest in the often easing of their grieuances and his willingnesse to giue them all faire satisfaction as appeares by the continuall granting of the due obseruation of their Charters in most of his Parliaments And when Ann. Reg. 14. they were iealous vpon his assuming the title of the kingdome of France lest England should thereby come to bee vnder the subiection of that Crowne as being the greater he to cleare them of that doubt
Chappell and for the Sepulchre the body of Henry the seuenth King of England the first begotten Sonne of Edmund Earle of Richmond by Margaret daughter and heire to Iohn Duke of Somerset This glorious rich Tombe is compassed about with verses penned by that Poet Laureat as he stiles himselfe and Kings Orator Iohn Skelton I will take onely the shortest of his Epitaphs or Eulogiums and most to the purpose Septimus hic situs est Henricus gloria Regum Cunctorum ipsius qui tempestate fuerunt Ingenio atque opibus gestarum nomine rerum Accessere quibus nature dona benigne Frontis honos facies augusta heroica forma Iunctaque ei suanis coniux perpulchra pudica Et secunda fuit felices prole parentes Henricum quibus octauum terra Anglia debes He deceased at Richmond the 22. of Aprill 1509. when hee had raigned 23. yeares and somewhat more then seuen moneths and liued fifty two yeares Whosoeuer would know further of this king let him reade his History wherein hee is delineated to the life by the matchlesse and neuer enough admired penne of that famous learned and eloquent knight Sir Francis Bacon not long since deceased Lord Verulam and Viscount Saint Alban Here lieth entombed by her Husband Henry the seuenth Elizabeth the first childe legitimate and eldest daughter of king Edward the fourth to whom she was married the eighteenth of Ianuary 1488. whereby was vnited the long contending Families of Lancaster and Yorke and the Roses red and white ioyned into one to the great ioy of the English Subiects She was his wife eighteene yeares and twenty foure dayes and died in child-bed in the Tower of London the eleuenth of February euen the day of her owne Natiuitie the eighteenth of her Husbands raigne and yeare of our Saluation 1503. I haue an Epitaph of this good Queene borne for Englands happinesse which I transcribed out of a Manuscript in Sir Robert Cottons Library Extinctum iacet hic genus a Plantagine ductum Et Rosa purpureis candida nupta Rosis Elisabet claris Anglorum Regibus orta Regina Patrij gloria rara soli Edwardi soboles quarti tibi septime coniux Henrice heu populi cura benigna tui Exemplex vite qua nec prestantior altra Moribus ingenio nec probitate fuit Reginam Deus eterno dignetur honore Et Regem hic annos viuere Nestoreos Here lieth magnificently entombed Margaret Countesse of Richmond and Darby daughter and onely heire to Iohn Duke of Somerset by Margaret daughter to the Lord Beauchampe of Powicke first married to Edmund the sonne of Owen Tedder who begat Henry the seuenth King of England and afterwards to Thomas Stanley Earle of Derby Two Colledges namely of Christ and Saint Iohn Baptist she erected for Students in Cambridge Shee instituted also two Diuinitie Lectures one at Cambridge and the other at Oxenford who hauing liued so long to see her Grandchilde Henry the eight crowned King died the twelfth of Iuly 1509. in the first yeare of his raigne Here is a long Elegie made to her memorie by the foresaid Skelton with this terrible curse to all those that shall tread spoile or take it away Qui lacerat violatue rapit presens Epitoma Hunc laceretque voret cerberus absque mora Hanc tecum statuas Dominam precor O Sator orbis Quo regnas rutilans Rex sine fine manens Here lieth Margaret one of the daughters of King Edward the fourth by Elizabeth his royall Queene and wife She died an Infant the eleuenth of December 1472. Nobilitas forma decorque tenella inuentus Insimul hic ista mortis sunt condita cista Vt genus nomen sexum tempus quoque mortis Noseas cuncta tibi manifestat margo Sepulchri Here lieth Elizabeth the second daughter of King Henry the seuenth by his louing consort and Queene Elizabeth who was borne the second day of Iuly 1492. and died the 14. day of Nouember 1495. Vpon her Tombe this Epitaph Hic post sata iacet proles regalis in isto Sarcophago inuenis nobilis Elizabeth Princeps illustris Hen. Sept. filia Regis Qui bini regni florida sceptra tenet Atropos hanc rapuit seuissima nuntia mortis Sit super in celo vita perhennis ei Here lieth interred without any Monument Anne the second daughter and coheire to Richard Nevil the stout Earle of Warwicke and Salisbury who was first married to Edward Prince of Wales the sonne and onely childe of king Henry the sixth and after remarried to Richard Duke of Gloucester who at the battell of Tewxbury had stabbed her husband into the heart with his dagger afterwards by vsurpation king of England surnamed Crook-backe She died not without suspition of being poysoned the 16. of March 1485. Here lieth entombed Edmund the second sonne of King Henry the third Earle of Lancaster Leicester and Darby surnamed Crouch-backe of his bowing in his backe because he is neuer found saith Vincent in his discouery of Brookes errours title Lancaster with any other addition and indeed with no other Epithite then Gibbosus which signifieth crooked crump-shouldred or Camell-backed But others say he was so denominated of wearing the signe of the Crosse anciently called a Crouch vpon his backe which was vsually worne of such as vowed voyages to Ierusalem as he had done Further confirming their opinions from the name of Crouched-Friers that wore a Crosse vpon their garments And Io. Harding speaking of him and his elder Brother Edward afterwards king of England and of their voyage to Ierusalem hath these verses to the same effect His brother Edward and he associate To Ierusalem their voyage them avowed Two semely Princes together adioynate In all the world was none them like alowed So large and faire thei were eche man he bowed Edward aboue his menne was largely seen By his shulders more hie and made full clene Edmond next hym the comeliest Prince aliue Not croke backed ne in no wyse disfigured As some menne wrote the right lyne to depriue Through great falsehed made it to be scriptured For cause it should alwaye bee refigured And mentioned well his yssue to prevaile Vnto the Crowne by such a gouernaile I cannot let passe although I do somewhat digresse the cunning sleights and deuises the Popes of Rome vsed in these times to empouerish this kingdome and enrich their owne coffers First they combine and confederate with the king to the vtter vndoing of all his loyall Subiects And now Pope Alexander the fourth puts a tricke vpon the king himselfe a Prince more pious then prudent which exhausts his Treasure and leaues him for a laughing-stocke to all other Nations This Pope forsooth inuested this Edmund his sonne into the kingdomes of Sicilia and Apulia Conradus king thereof still liuing by a ring conditionally that hee should sustaine the charges and maintaine the warres that should happen thereupon In which regard he suckt
Nottingham Yorke and Northumberland where without respect of age or sexe they laid all wast and left the Land whence they departed like to a desolate wildernesse From thence they came with the like furie into Edmunds territories and sacked Thetford a frequent citie in those daies but hee not able to withstand their violence fled into â—his Castle at Framingham wherein he was of them besieged and lastly taken in a village then called Heglisdune of a wood bearing the same name or rather yeelded himselfe to their torments to saue more christian bloud for it is recorded that because of his most constant Faith and profession those Pagans first beat him with bats then scourged him with whips he still calling vpon the name of Iesus for rage whereof they bound to a stake and with their arrowes shot him to death and cutting off his head contemptuously threw it into a bush after he had raigned ouer the East Angles the space of sixteene yeares Camden out of Abbo Floriacensis saith that the bloudy Danes hauing bound this most christian King to a tree for that he would not renounce christianity shot him with sharpe arrowes all his body ouer augmenting the paines of his torment with continuall piercing him with arrow after arrow and thus inflicted wound vpon wound so long as one arrow could stand by another as a Poet of midle time versified of him I am loca vulneribus desunt nec dum furiofis Tela sed hyberna grandine plura volant Though now no place was left for wound yet arrowes did not faile These surious wretches still they flie thicker then winter haile His body and head after the Danes were departed were buried at the same royall Towne as Abbo termes it where Sigebert the East Anglean King and one of his predecessors at his establishing of Christianity built a Church and where afterwards in honour of him was built another most spatious and of a wonderfull frame of Timber and the name of the Towne vpon that occasion of his buriall called vnto this day Saint Edmundsbury This Church and place to speake more fully to that which I haue written before Suenus the Pagan Danish King in impiety and fury burned to ashes But when his sonne Canute or Knute had made conquest of this Land and gotten possession of the English Crowne terrified and afrighted as saith the Legend with a vision of the seeming Saint Edmund in a religious deuotion to expiate his Fathers sacriledge built it anew most sumptuously enriched this place with Charters and Gifts and offered his owne Crowne vpon the Martyrs Tombe of whom for a conclusion take these verses following Vtque cruore suo Gallos Dionisius ornat Grecos Demetrius gloria quisque suiâ— Sic nos Edmundus nulli virtute secundus Lux patet patrie gloria magna sue Sceptra manum Diadema capud sua purpura corpus Ornat ei sed plus vincula mucro cruor The 20. day of Nouember in our Calender was kept holy in remembrance of this King and Martyr Puer Robertus apud Sanctum Edmundum a Iudeis fuit Martirazatus 4. Id. Iunij An. 1179. et illic sepultus Alanus Comes Britannie obijt An. 1093. his iacet ad hostium australe Sancti Edmundi ex eod lib. de chateris This Allan here buried or as some will haue it in the monastery of Rhedon sirnamed the Red or Fergaunt was the sonne of Eudo Earle of Britaine and entred England with William the Conquerour his Father in Law To whom the said Conquerour gaue the honour and County of Edwyn within the County and Prouince of Yorke by his Charter in these words I William sirnamed Bastard King of England giue and grant to thee my Nephew Allan Earle of Britaine and to thy heyres for euer all those Villages Townes and Lands which were late in possession of Earle Edwin in Yorkeshire with knights fees Churches and other liberties and customes as freely and honourably as the said Edwyn held them Giuen at the siege before Yorke Alban being a man of an high spirit and desirous to gouerne the Prouince entirely which he had receiued built a strong Castle by Gillingham a village which he possessed by which he might defend himselfe not onely against the English who were spoiled of their goods and lands but also against the fury and inuasions of the Danes When the worke was finished he gaue it the name of Richmond of purpose either for the greatnesse and magnificence of the place or for some Castle in little Britaine of the same name Here sometimes vnder a goodly Monument in the Quire of this Abbey Church lay interred the body of Thomas surnamed of Brotherton the place of his birth the fifth sonne of Edward the first after the Conquest king of England by Margaret his second wife the eldest daughter of Philip king of France surnamed the Hardy He was created Earle of Norfolke and made Earle Marshall of England by his halfe brother King Edward the second which Earledomes Roger Bigod the last of that surname Earle of Norfolke and Earle Marshall leauing no issue left to the disposition of the king his Father This Earle died in the yeare of our redemption 1338. Here lay buried the body of Thomas Beauford sonne of Iohn of Gaunt begotten of the Lady Katherine Swyneford his third wife who by King Henry the fourth was made Admirall then Captaine of Calis and afterwards Lord Chancellour of England He was created by the said King Earle of Perch in Normandy and Earle of Dorlet in England And lastly in the fourth yeare of King Henry the fifth he was created Duke of Exceter and made knight of the order of the Garter He had the leading of the Rereward at the battell of Agincourt and the gouernment of king Henry the sixth appointed to that office by the foresaid Henry the fifth on his death-bed He valiantly defended Harflew in Normandy whereof he was gouernour against the Frenchmen and in a pitched field encountring the Earle of Armiguar put him to flight He died at his House of East Greenwich in Kent vpon Newyeares day the fifth of Henry the sixth for whom all England mourned saith Milles The body of Mary Queene of France widow of Lewis the twelfth daughâ—er of King Henry the 7. and sister to king Henry the eight was here in this Abbey Church entombed After the death of Lewis with whom she liued not long shee married that Martiall and pompous Gentleman Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolke She died on Midsomer Eeue 1533. Iohn Boon Abbot of this Monasterie had his tombe and interrement here in this Church who died in the beginning of February in the ninth yeare of the raigne of king Edward the fourth as appeares by the said kings Conged'eslire or permission royall to the Prior and Couent of this House to make choise of another Abbot as followeth Edwardus Dei gratia Rex Anglie Francie
Turr. Lond. Fabians Ballad Royall * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Queen of England Edward the third King of England Remaines Fauine in the orders of England * Alluding to the â—eopardâ— in the 〈…〉 Cron. Compend Cant. in bib Col. His Character Sam. Daniel His Iustice. His regard of Order His loue to his people His Prouidence His works of Pietie His buildings Walsing in vit Ed. 3. Add. Rob. Glocest * Bohemia Philip Queene of England Richard the second King of England Ranulph Monke of Chester Lib. vltimo Folio 166. 〈…〉 * Bohemia * Anne Queene of England Stow. Annal. Henry the fift King of England Add to Robert of Glocester Katherine the wife of Henry the fifth Henry the seuenth king of England Elizabeth the wife of king Hen. the seuenth Margaret CouÌ„tesse of Richmond Margaret the daughter of King Ed. 4. Elizab. the daughter of king Hen. 7. Anne Queene of England Edmund Earle of Lancaster Harding c. 147. Mat. Paris Pageant of Popes Aueline Countesse of Lancaster William de Valence Earle of Penbroke Stow Annal. Harding ca. â—56 Simon Langham Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Waldby Archbishop of Yorke Ex Mss. in bib Cot. * Sodorensis B. of Man In bib Cot. Iohn Waltham Bishop of Salisbury Caâ—al of Bishops In vita R 2. Richard Wendouer Bishop of Râ—châ—ster Sir Humphrey Bourchier Lord Cromwell Sir Humphrey Bourchier * Cup. bearer Tho. Milling Bishop of Hereford Godwin Hugolin Chamberlaine to S. Edward king and Confessor Remaines William Bedell and Cicely his wife Rob. Haule 〈◊〉 vit R. 2 Tho. Ruthall Bishop of Durham Sir William Trussell knight Tho. dela More Lib. 7. cap. 43. Rich. de Ware Abbot Francis Thinne in Catal. Thes. Aug. Walter Wenlocke Abbot The Abbots of this house were Barons of the Parliament Ric. de Barking Abbot Gervaise de Bloys Abbot Vitalis Abbot Laurence the first mâ—â—erd Abbot of West Gislebert Crispin Abbot Edmund Kirton Abbot Iohn Islip Abbot Remaines In bib Cot. Raph Selby Io Windsore Geffrey Chaucer Ex Mss. in bib Cot. Iohn Bedel Walter Garden Ioan Pymichum Io. Den and Agnes his wife * Eijcitâ— Io. Skelton Poet Laureat Specul Brit. 2. King 1.14 Ioh. â— 2 Stow Suruay S. Giles Bowle The Bishop of Rochesterâ— letter to 〈◊〉 S. amongst the letters 〈…〉 In bib Cotton Cromwell principalâ— Secretary * â—il Warbam In part Anno 2â— Hen. 8. ca. 10. Ex lit in Bib. Cotton Robert Fisher. Ex Mss. in bib Cot. The Tenor of Bishop Fishers Indictment Ex Mss. in bib Cotton Eras. Vid. Bal. cent 5. Oputer opus Cronog orbis Vniuersi pag. 477. Sir Tho. Moore In parl Anno 26 Hen. 8. ca. 2. Ex lit in Bib. Cotton Scrip. Bâ—â—t Cent. 5. De Iâ—ust Angie Scriptoribus In Epist. ad Vldric Huttenum de vita Mori Io. Lelandi Moriades siue charitaea corâ—na Camd. Remaines in wise speeches Ex lit in bib Cott. Nich. Grudius Tho. Cromwell Earle of Essex Ex Mss. in bib Cotton M. Drayton in the Legend of great Cromwell M. Drayton M. Drayton Some say no such Act was deuised by him to cause his owne death Speed chap. 21. Iohn Fox M. Drayton Sir Tho. Moore to Master Cromwell Ex lit in bib Cot Stow. Annal. Queene Anne Bullein Speed cap. 21. George Bullein Lord Rochford Speed cap. 21. Sleidan com l. 10. Queene Katherine Howard Ed. and Iohn Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland Hen. Southworth Geff. Hewet Ioane his wife In Miâ—lesex Suruay in Bishopsgateward Sicilius king of Britaine Song 3. Cap 25. * a man decked in feâ—hers Voâ—tâ—mer king of Britaine Speed Hist. cap. 12. Sigibert I Speed Hist. ca. xi Rob Glocest. * men taken * they * commanded Ca. 68. Videsis Speed Hist. ca. 17. and Vincent Catal. Chestâ—r Mill. Catal. Yorke Speed Hist. â— â—â— * Vncle. The Continuer of Hardings Chronicle The guilty conscience of King Richard Pers. Sat. 3. trans by â—erten Holyday Sir Thomas Moore Lord Chancelor Sir Iohn More the father of Sir Thomas his death Ioan and Alice the wiues of Sir Tho. Morâ— in bib Cot. Edmund Lord Bray Mawd Berford Philip Meawtis Ric. Scardebrugh and Elis. his wife Adwin Lauerocke Tho. Essex The office of Remembrancers D. Cowell lic R. The Kings Remembrancer The Treasurers Remembrancer Remembrancer of the first-fruits Io. Fisher. Sir Raph Butâ— knight Iohn Long Katherin Alice his wiues Io. Sherburne Sir Sampson Norton and Elis. his wife Master of the Ordnance Io. Thorley Will. Harvey George Chauncy Mar. Suanden * Arcuarij the Kings Bowyer Anne Sturton Lora Blunt Mawde Lady Salueyne Will. Boydale Christopher Carhill king at Armes Hen. Redman Ione his wife Ric. Parker and Marg. his wife William Clauell The foundation of Sion Nuns and Priests Augustines Ex lit in Bib. S. Dewes Ecclesia omnium Angetorum Antony Sutton Henâ—y Archer Io Robinson Katherine and Ioane his wiues Clement Câ—lyns Io. Holt Margery and Elizabâ—th his wiues Audrie Aundesham Io. Sampoll Sir Io. Payne Priest The Friery of Hounslow George Windsore William Iacob Stanes Priory Ex Lib. Abbat de Croxden in Bib Cotton Iohn Lord Sâ—â—ange Camd. in Shrop. George Lord Strange Iames Lord Strange Io. Flambard Edmund Flambard and Elis. his wife Io. Birkhed Sir Thomas Cornwall Camden in Shropshire Io. Bird Priest Io. Brent Specul Brit. Fowke de Brent Mat Westminst Mat. Pariâ— Tho. Iacob and Ioan his wife Io. Downmeer Ioan his wife Peter Goldesbrough Tho. Sanny Sir Tho. Frowicke knight Tho. Frowicke Ioane his wife Tho. Aldenham Io. Goodyere Ioane his wife Remaines 〈◊〉 Lady 〈◊〉 Hist of Wales â— â—â—ord Specul Britan. Norden Io. Skeuington Peter Fabell the merâ—y deuil of Edmunton Tho. Carleton Elis. his wife 〈◊〉 and Anne his wife Io. Innocent oâ— Incent vnder Treasurer of England Nic. Borne and Elis. his wife Io. Daniel Ioan and Alice his wiues Mawd Ekington Tho. Heningham George Heningham Elis. Turnant Margaret Compton Tho. Billington Grand Seargeantâ—e Kilborne Nunnery Hen. Lord Percy Earle of Northumberland Camd. in Surfex Alexander a Sergeant at Law Ioan Only Alice Ryder a Milke-maid Heron the founder of Hackeney Tho Hert Vicar Ione Curteys Roger Ford. Io. Butterfield Tho. Symonds Io. Catcher Hen. Therket Will. Henneage D. Cowell lit â— Io. Iennings Io. Elrington Cowell lit F. Will. Lowthe Rob. Walsingham Chr. Vrswicke the K. Almoner of Amuer Io Fowler Alice Fowler Tho. Sauill 〈…〉 Robert Middleton and his wife Katherine Mistelbrooke .... Grey and his wife Suruay Lond. Rob. Eve and Laurence his sister Hosp. of S. Giles founded S. Giles Bowle Hen. Steward Lord Darle Io. Kitt or Kite Bishop of Carlell Sir Hen. Câ—lleâ— Lord Maâ—â—r Rich. Paâ—e Deaâ—e of Sâ— Pauls Stow Annal. Cent. â— Nic. Gibson Sheriffe of London Iohn â—â—â—le oâ— Hereford Sir Io Chappalaine Priest Isabell Newmarche Camd. in Somerset Lewis Bâ—ysbury Wiâ—l Waâ—e and Ioâ—ne his wife Iohn Preâ—st Alice 〈◊〉 Io. Chandry Io Ingleby Foundation of the Priory in Hert. Raph Lord Limsey here buâ—â—ed Robert Saddington Mat Paris Francis Thinne Sir
ordeyne and mak him my Executor of my Testament foreseyd kalling to him soche as him thinkyth in his discrecion that can and will labor to the sonrest spede of my will comprehended in this myn Testament And to fulfill trwly all things foresaid y charge my foreseyd Son vpon my blessyng Wetnessyng my welbelouyd Cousins Thomas Erchbyshop of Caunterbury foreseyde and Edward Duke of Yorke Thomas Bishchop of Duresme Richard the Lord Grey my Chamberlaine Iohn Tiptost myn Treasuror of Englond Iohn Prophete Wardeine of my priuie seale Thomas Erpingham Iohn Norbery Robert Waterton and meny oder being present In witnessyng wherof my priuy Seele be my commaundement is set to this my Testament I yeue at my manere of Grenwich the xxi dey of the moneth of Ianuer the yere of owr Lord M. CCCC.VIII and of our Reigne the tenth He departed this world the twentieth of March as aforesaid some three yeares and odde moneths after the making of this his last Will and Testament in a Chamber belonging to the Abbot of Westminster called Ierusalem hauing beene prophetically foretold that hee should die in Ierusalem The words saith Harding that the King said at his death were of high complaint but nought of repentance of vsurpement of the Realme ne of restorement of right heires to the Crowne Which he thus versifies O Lorde he sayd O God omnipotent Now se I well thy Godhede loueth me That suffered neuer my foes to haue their entent Of myne person in myne aduersitie Ne in myne sicknesse ne in myne infyrmyte But ay hast kept it fro theyr maleuolence And chastised me by thy beneuolence Lorde I thanke the with all my herte With all my soule and my spirites clere This wormes mete this caryon full vnquerte That some tyme thought in world it had no pere This face so foule that leprous doth appere That here afoâ—e I haue had such a pryde To purtray oft in many place full wide Of which right now the porest of this lande Except onâ—y of their benignite Wolde lothe to â—â—oke vpon I vnderstande Of which good Lorde that thou so visyte me A thousande tymes the Lord in Trinyte With all my herte I thanke the and commende Into thyne handes my soule withouten ende And dyed so in fayth and hole creance At Cauntorbury buryed with great reuerence As a kyng shulde be with all kynde of circumstance Besyde the Prynce Edward with grete expence His funerall Exequies were solemnised here in all pompe and state his Sonne Henry the fifth and his Nobilitie being present vpon Trinitie Sonday next following the day of his death The reason as I take it wherefore King Henry made choice of this Church for his buriall place was for that his first wife the Lady Mary one of the daughters and coheires of Vmphrey de Bohun Earle of Hereford Essex and Northampton was here entombed who died before hee came to the Crowne Ann. Dom. 1394. leauing behinde her a glorious and faire renowned issue of children to the comfort of her husband and good of the common-wealth viz. Henry afterwards King of England Thomas Duke of Clarence Iohn Duke of Bedford Humphrey Duke of Glocester Blanch married to William Duke of Bauaria and Emperour and Philip married to Iohn King of Denmarke and Norway Here in the same Sepulchre lies the body of Ioane his second wife daughter of Charles the fifth King of Nauarre who died without issue at Hauering in the bower in the County of Essex the tenth of Iuly Anno Dom. 1437. Reg. H. 6.15 hauing continued widow 24. yeares This Queene endured some troubles in the raigne of her Stepsonne King Henry the fift being charged that shee should by witchcraft or sorcerie seeke the Kings death a capitall offence indeed if the accusation was true vpon which furmise her goods and lands were forfeited by Act of Parliament and shee committed to safe keeping in the Castle of Leedes in Kent and from thence to Pemsey attended onely with nine of her seruants but belike her innocency within a little time deliuered her from imprisonment and she liued a long time after in all princely prosperitie Here betweene her two husbands Iohn Beaufort Marquesse Dorset and Thomas Plantaginet Duke of Clarence Margaret daughter of Thomas and sister and one of the heires to Edmond Holland Earles of Kent lieth gloriously entombed by her first husband she had issue Henry Earle of Somerset Thomas Earle of Perth Iohn and Edmund both Dukes of Somerset Ioane Queene of Scots and Margaret Countesse of Deuonshire she died full of yeares the last of December Ann. Dom. 1440. Iohn her first husband lieth on her left side as appeares by his armes and portraiture for I finde no inscription at all vpon the Monument who was the eldest sonne of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster by his last wife Katherine Swinford and surnamed Beaufort of Beaufort a Castle in Aniou where he was borne He was created first Earle of Somerset and after Marquesse Dorset by Richard the second being but of small meanes to support such a swelling title He made therle of Somerset Marques Of Dorset then Sir Iohn Beaufort that hight Of poore liuelode that was that tyme doubtles But hee was depriued of this title of Marquesse Dorset by Act of Parliament in the first of Henry the fourth his halfe brother for whom afterwards the Commons became earnest petitioners in Parliament for his restitution But he himselfe was altogether vnwilling to be restored to this kinde of newly inuented honour being but begun in the ninth yeare of this Kings raigne and giuen to Robert de Vere his mignion the first stiled Marquesse of England as it is obserued by that most learned Antiquarie and Lawyer Io. Selden Esquire I finde little of him remarkable being belike sore weakened both in power and spirit by the foresaid Parliament whereby with others of the Nobilitie he was reduced to the same estate of honour and fortune which was but weake in which he stood when first Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Glocester was arrested and besides it was not lawfull for him nor any of the rest to giue liueries to retainers or keepe any about him but necessarie seruants Hee died on Palmesonday the 16. of March Ann. Dom. 1409. On her right side is the pourtraiture of her second husband Thomas Duke of Clarence second soune of King Henry the fourth Lord high Steward of England Constable of the Kings Host and Lieutenant Generall of his Armie in France who after his many fortunate euents in warre was the first man that was slaine in the battell of Baugy vpon Easter Eue An. Do. 1420. by one Iohn Swinton a Scot who wounded him in the face with his Launce as he was remounting hauing giuen singular demonstration of his great valour and so threw him to the ground And with him that day were slaine many of exemplarie note besides 4500. common Souldiers This Duke had borne forth his youth
fashion in former times fetched from the French which they call rebus or name-deuises examples of the same are frequent Neare to this Church sometime stood that goodly Abbey founded by Stephen king of England grandchilde to the Conquerour dedicated to Saint Sauiour replenished with blacke Monkes of Cluni valued at the suppression to be well worth according to the fauourable rate of such endowments in those dayes 286. l. 12. s. 6. d. ob yearely such was the charter of his donation Stephanus Rex c. Archiepiscopis Episcopis c. salutem Sciatis me pro salute anime mee Matildis Regine vxoris mee Eustachij filij mei aliorum puerorum meorum antecessorum Regum Anglie dedisse c. Manerium meum de Fauresham ad fundand Abbatiam vnam ibidem ae ordine Monachorum Cluniacensium c. Sciatis etiam quod dedimus ego et Matildis Regina mea Willelmo de Ipra in Escambium pro eodem Manerio de Fauresham Lillechire cum pertinencijs suis de hereditate Regine Teste H. Episcopo Winton fratre meo Rogero Episcopo de London Richardo de Lucy Hen. de Essex c. This king died at Douer of an Iliack passion mixed with his old disease the Emrods Octob. 25. 1154. hauing raigned 18. yeares ten moneths and odde dayes and was buried in this Church of his owne foundation Of which heare these ancient rimes Aftur king Harry euyn Then regnyd king Stevyn The Erlys son Bloys he was truly He wedded Mold the doghter of Mary A good man he was bedeme I trow king Harry was his Eme He regnyd here XUIII yere And to Feuersham in Kent men him bere He deyed without issue truly Then regnyd his cosin Harry Stephen was a most worthy Souldier saith one and wanted nothing to haue made him an excellent king but a iust title but that was wanting The whiche he found whyles he was liuing so And reigned here in much trouble and wo. And had this Realme without any ryght Fro th'emprise Maude that faire Lady bryght And this was the cause that he was driuen perforce to defend his vsurâ—ped authoritie by the sword which must needs procure him the hatred of many who thus speake of him in old English King Stephen his luthenesse withdrew yers a fewe But er Uyer were goo he ganne to wex a shrewe For he wende aboute and robbyd the lond and to grownd broght Then the toune of Wyrcester he brent all to noght But to conclude with the words of a late writer This Stephen was a man so continually in motion saith he that we cannot take his dimension but onely in passing and that but on one side which was warre on the other we neuer saw but a glaunce on him which yet for the most part was such as shewed him to be a very worthy Prince for the gouernment Hee kept his word with the State concerning the relieuement of Tributes and neuer had Subsidy that we finde But which is more remarkable hauing his sword continually out and so many defections and rebellions against him hee neuer put any great man to death Besides it is noted that notwithstanding all these miseries of war there were more Abbeyes built in his raigne then in an 100. yeares before which shewes though the times were bad they were not impious the king himselfe being mente piissimus as he was miles egregius His body rested here in quietnesse vntill the dissolution when for the gaine of the lead wherein it was encoffined it was taken vp and throwne into the next water So vncertaine is man yea greatest Princes of any rest in this world euen after buriall Here sometime likewise lay interred Maud his wife the daughter of Eustace Earle of Bulloigne the brother of Godfrey and Baldwin of Bulloigne kings of Ierusalem by her mother Mary sister to Maud Queene of England wife of Henry her predecessour who dyed at Heueningham Castle in Essex the third of May 1151. Whose Epitaph I found in a namelesse Manuscript Anno milleno C. quinquagenoque primo Quo sua non minuit sed sibi nostra tulit Mâ—thildis selix coniux Stephani quoque Regis Occidit insignis moribus et titulis Cultrix vera Dei cultrix et pauperiei Hic subnixa Deo quo frueretur eo Femina si qua Polos conscendere queque meretur Angelicis manibus diua hec Regina tenetur Eustace the sonne and heire apparant of Stephen and Queene Maud liued not long after his mother for being highly displeased with the agreement betwixt his father and Henry Fitzempresse afterwards king of England by which he was made hopelesse euer to haue the Crowne as his fathers Successour in a fury he departed the Court purposing to raise himselfe by his owne meanes and so marched along destroying the countrey alwayes as he went vntill he came to Saint Edmundsbury where he was honourably receiued of the Monkes of that Monastery But hee came not for meat but money and thereupon vngratefully vrged them for a great summe to set forward his heady designes yet the wiser amongst them vnwilling to be wagers of new warres which though ill for all sorts yet proued euer worst for the Clargie mens possessions denyed his request Wherewith eâ—raged be commanded his owne men to carry their corne and other prouision into his owne Castle situated hard by But being set at dinner the very first morsell he put into his mouth draue him into a Frensie whereof shortly after he dyed His body was brought to this Abbey and here interred by his mother His death happened the tenth day of August 1152. He was married to Constance sister of Lewis the seuenth king of France daughter of king Lewis the Grosse by whom he had no issue In this Abbey saith Robert of Glocester is a pece of ye hely croys which Godfrey Boylon forkyndred had sent to king Stephene Tunstall Hic iacet Margareta filia Iacobi Cromer militis vxor Iohannis Rycils heredis de Elsingham .... qui obiit ... 1496. Sittingborne Here lyeth Iohn Crowmer Esquire and Ione his wife who died Ann. Dom. 1539 .... on whose soules A family of knightly descent and ample reuenues one of which house called William Crowmer Esquire sonne of Sir William Lord Maior of London high Shiriffe of Kent in the fury of Iack Cade and the Kentish and Essex rebells was sacrificed at Mile-end and cut shorter by the head like as the day before they had serued Sir Iames Fienes Lord Say and Sele and Treasurer of England in Cheape-side whose onely daughter this Crowmer had married Whose heads giue me leaue to go a little further pitched vpon high poles were carried by the villaines through the Citie of London who caused their trunklesse faces in spight and mockerie to kisse one the other at euery street-corner as they marched along in this their damnable triumph and
the seuenth was taken out of his house and carried into France from whence by ransome he freed himselfe Chart Magna Betweene the Chancell and the North Chappell of this Church is an Altar-Tombe round about the verge of which is engrauen this Epitaph following in brasse and betwixt euery word the figure of a well alluding to the name of the parties there vnderneath interred Anime Willelmi de Goldwelle Auicie vxoris sue per miserecordiam Dei in pace requiescant Qui quidem Willelmus septimo die mensis Maij dicta Avicia octauo die Aprilis Litera Dominicalis B. ab hac luce migrarunt Ann. Domini M. CCCC.LXXXV Quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen Iames Goldwell of this family Bishop of Norwich was a repairer of this Church as appeares by this broken Inscription in the top crosse window ..... Magistro Iacobo Goldwelle ..... Ecclesie sancti Pauli London qui hoc opus repara ...... And in the East window it is thus to be read in the glasse Memoriale reuerendi patris Domini Iacobi Goldwell Episcopi Norwicen In a North window of the North Chappell haue beene sixteene pourtraitures of men in glasse all kneeling whereof most remaine whose names are as followeth Iohannes Webbe Iohannes Hosewyf Thomas Wred Iohannes Turlepyn Willelmus Malemayne Iohannes Litihey Iohannes Bockon Iohannes Chillinton Iohannes Atte Iohannes Yardherst .......... In midst of whom as the Priests then are Dominus Richardus Medhurst and Dominus Walterus Wilcock Now as it goes by tradition from the father to the sonne these were the builders of this Church In the middest of the East-window in the South Chappell of this Church is the picture of the foresaid Bishop Goldwell kneeling and in euerie quarry a golden well or fountaine his Rebus or Name deuise and crosse the window inscribed ..... Iacobo Goldwelle Episcopo Norwicen qui ..... opus fundauit Ann. Christi M. CCCC.LXXVII whereby it appeares that this Bishop was Founder of this Chappell The corner stone of the foundation of this Chappell on the outside is made like a Graue-stone with a Crosse cut thereupon Orate pro anima Iohannis Toke Armigeri nuper de Goddington istius paroch Cuius corpus iacet hic tumulatum ac pro animabus Margarete et Anne vxorum suarum Que quidem Margareta filia fuit naturalis dum vixit Iohannis Walworth nuper in Comitatu Suff. dicta Anna filia etiam naturalis Iohannis Engeham Armigeri nuper de Syngleton istus paroch Qui vero Iohannes Toke obijt vicesimo die Maij Ann. Dom. M. CCCCC.XIII Quorum animabus propitietur Deus Altissimus Hic iacent Thomas Twesden generosus qui obijt 8. die Decembris Ann. Dom. 1500. et Benedicta vxor eius Quorum animabus propitietur Deus Sancta Trinitas Deus miserere nobis Hic iacet Willelmus Sharpe et eius quinque consortes qui Willelmus obijt 29. die Septemb. Ann. Dom. 1499. Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Seuington Hic iacet Margareta Barry Quondam vxor Edwardi Barry Armiger Que quidem Margareta obijt ..... mensis .... Ann. 1400. Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Hic iacet Ioanna Barry quondam vxor Willelmi Barry militis Pater de celis Deus miserere nobis Fili Redemptor mundi Deus miserere nobis Spiritus Sancte Deus miserere nobis Sancta Trinitas vnus Deus miserere nobis Orate pro anima Iohannis Barry militis Orate pro anima Isabelle quondam vxor Willelmi Barry Militis Pater de celis As before about the verge of this and the other Grauestone Here is also a Monument whereupon a man armed is pourtraied the Inscription whereof is altogether perished which in all likelihood was made to the memory of Sir William Barry knight the husband of the fore-remembred Isabell. At the lower end of the Church and neare to the Bellfree lyeth the body of one of these Barryes pourtraied in compleat armour about the Verge of his Monument this Inscription Hic iacet Vmfridus Barre Ar. Quondam Dominus istius ville et Patronus istius Ecclesie Qui obiit in die Sancte Marie Magdalene An. Dom. 1431. Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Camden in his Chorographicall description of Ireland and in the County of Corke writes greatly to the honour of this surname of Barry These are his words as followeth Beneath Corke saith he the riuer parting in twaine enuironeth a large and very pleasant Island ouer against the principall dwelling house of that most ancient and noble family of the Barries which thereupon is called Barry Court For that family is deriued from Robert de Barry an English man a personage of great worth and renowned who notwithstanding chose rather among the first to be chiefe indeed then to seeme chiefe who in the winning of Ireland receiued wounds and hurt and the first man he was in Ireland that manned and brought the Hawke to hand His posterity by their long approued loyaltie and martiall prowesse deserued to receiue of the kings of England first the title of Baron Barry afterwards of Vicount Butiphant and for their great lands and wealth gat among the people the surname of Barry More that is Barry the Great ..... Iohannes Fynch Armiger Qui obiit 19. die Mensis Maij Ann. Dom 1442. Cuius This I conceiue to be some younger branch of the Nobly descended family of the Finches of whom there is mention made among the Monuments in Braborne Church before where they are stiled Herbert vel Finch not vnaptly thereby continuing the memory of their originall name and ancestry as being lineally descended from Hen. Fuz-Herbert Chamberlaine to king Henry the first who married the daughter and heire to Sir Robert Corbert and had issue by her a sonne named Herbert who likewise had issue a sonne named Herbert Fitz-Herbert Who by his first wife Luce daughter and coheire of Milo Earle of Hereford and high Constable of England had issue a sonne named Peter Fitz Herbert from whom the Herberts Earles of Penbrooke are descended and by Matilda his second wife after his death re-married to the Lord Columbarij he had issue Mathew Fitz-Herbert who was one of the Magnates or Barons at the making of Magna Charta and was likewise one of those potent Noblemen for the king that made the accord betweene king Iohn and the Barons at Runnyng Mead betweene Windsore and Stanes his sonne likewise called Herbert Fitz Mathew was the fourth Baron that is mentioned in the Rowl of the Parliament at Tewkesbury The change of this name Finch seemeth to haue beene about the latter end of king Hen. the third at which time many other families suffered like alteration as appeareth by a supersedeas Ann. 8. E. 2. therein mentioning that Herbertus Filius Herberti dicti Finch was a Ward 28. E. primi and so could not personally serue with the king in his warres in Scotland and
Gulielmo de Owre Radulpho de Sauage militibus Thus haue you partly seene the honours and honourable marriages the height and downfall of an eminent and right ancient family Of which no more vntill I come to Lingfield and the Parish Church of Sterborrow in Surrey Hic iacet Iohannes Smith Marioria vxor eius qui ob 20. Feb. 1457. Another of one Iohn Smith qui ob 18. Marcii 1427. Hic iacet Thomas Sharp legis peritus qui ob 20. die Aprilis Ann. 9. H. 7. Ann. Dom. 1493. Cuius Of your charitie pray for the soule of Iohn Herueden who dyed on Saint Nicholas day Ann. 1527. who had one daughter Elenor married to Edmond Page of Shorne Heigham Stephen king of England erected here in this Towne a Religious house wherein he placed blacke veyled Nunnes the valuation and dedication whereof I cannot learne East-Malling Hic iacet Robertus Ereby olim ciuis et Aurifaber de London Ioanna Ioanna vxores sui qui quidem Robertus obiit 15. Aug. An. Dom. 1477. Hic iacet Tho. Ereby filius Roberti Ereby Isodia vxor eius qui ob 1. Sept. 1478. Mepham Simon de Mepham Archbishop of Canterbury who had both his name and natiuitie of this Towne built this Church for the vse of the poore which William Courtney one of his Successours repaired fourescore yeares after and annexed thereunto foure new houses for the same end and purpose Shorham Orate pro bono statu Thome Buckland istius Capelle fundatoris ..... vxoris Codham Here lyeth beryed Alyes Walleys somtym wyff vnto Waltyr Walleys of this Parysh and syster vnto Iohn Alegh of Adyngton in Surrey Squyer Iustice of Quorum Whych Alyes decessyd the second dey of Iuly M. CCCCC.III Who 's sowl swete Iesu pardon Downe Hic iacet Richardus Downe Armiger Margeria consors eius Quorum animabus propitietur Altissimus Hic iacet Iohannes Bederenden quondam ciuis Pannarius Camerarius London qui obiit 27. Septemb. 1445. Hic iacent Thomas Petle Isabella vxor eius Quorum animabus .... Orate pro animabus Iohannis Petle Christiane vxoris eius et Iohannis Petle et Alicie et Thome Philipot ac parentum meorum ...... Aynsford Hic iacet Iohannes Donat generosus et Alicia vxor eius ille obiit ..... 1455. illa obiit .... S. Donate ora pro nobis I neuer heard of such a Saint sauing at S. Donats Castle in Glamorganshire the faire habitation of the ancient and notable family of the Stradlings Ici gis ..... la famme de la Roberg de Eckisford This is enrauen in the North Chappell of this Church in a wondrous antique character Snothland Here in the Church porch lyeth buried William Alisander who gaue a weekly stipend of bread to the poore for euer and dyeth 1469. Here lyeth Iohn Pole sonne of Henry Pole of Hartington in the County of Darby who deceased 1487. Here lyeth .... Palmer of Otford Esquire ..... this Epitaph ensuing I haue by relation of one of that surname Palmers al owr faders were I a Palmer liuyd here And trauyld still till worne wyth age I endyd this worlds pylgramage On the blyst Assention day In the cherful month of May A thowsand wyth fowre hundryd seuen And took my iorney hense to Heuen Northfleete Hic in tumba requiescit corpus Richardi Dauy Ar. et Margeria vxor eius quondam cuslos Iocalium Domini Regis Hen sexti obiit 15. Marcii 1491. Pray for the sowl of Mawd Dauy Who 's corps here vndyr do ly She was dawter of William Dauy On whos soul Iesu haue mercy I pray yow al for cherite Say a Pater-noster and an Aue. Hic iacet Alicia quondam vxor Willelmi Wangdesord que obiit die Lune prox post diem dominicam in ramis Palmarum 1421. Hic sub pede anre altaâ—e iacent Willelmus Rikhill Ar. filius Willelmi Rikhill militis primogenitus et Katherina vxor cius que obiit 27. Aug. 1433. qui quidem Willelmus obiit .... die .... 1400. quorum Rikell the father was one of the kings Iustices an Irishman borne the vehement vrger of accusations against Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Glocester and Thomas Arundell Archbishop of Canterbury Ann. Reg. Regis Ric. 2.21 1397. Hic iacet Dominus Petrus Lacy quondam Rector istius Ecclesie prebend Preb. de Swerdes in Ecclesia Cathedrali Dublin ...... 18. Octob. 1375 via vite mors Hic iacet Willelmus Lye Rector de Northfleete 9. Ian. 1391. Here lyes Thomas Bredon and Ioane his wife ... 1511. Here lyeth Richard Hunt late seruant to my Lord of Canterbury William Warham and Ioane his wife which Richard dyed ... 1518. and Ioane 1531. Hic iacet Willelmus Hesilt vnus Baronum de Scaccario Domini Regis qui obiit 9. April 1425. et Agnes vxor eius quorum c. Chalk Hic iacet Willelmus Martyn Ar. et Isabella vxor eius qui quidem Willelmus obiit 26. Maii Ann. 1416. This Martyn was a good Benefactour to this Church as appeares in diuers places in the glasse as also in the structure Here are two very ancient Monuments in the wall but to whose memory they were made I cannot learne Swanescombe This Church in times past was much haunted by a mad company of Pilgrimes who came hither for Saint Hildeferths helpe a Bishop by coniecture of his picture yet standing in the vpper window of the South Isle to whom such as were distracted ranne for restitution of their wits Which cure was performed by warmth close keeping and strict dyet A cure no more miraculous saith Lambard then is at this day the keepers of Bedlem Pray for the soul of Nicholas Boneuant and Agnes his wife which Nicholas decessyd 20. Octob. 1516. Hic iacet Reginaldus Thomas in Legibus Bacalareus Rector istius Ecclesie qui .... 1494. Stone The whole Fabricke of this Church is vpholden in wondrous good repaire her inside is neatly polisht and the Monuments of the dead which are ancient and many very faire and carefully preserued Preyeth for the sowl in wey of cheritie Of Richard Bontfant late Mercer of London For the Brethren and Sisters of this Fraternitie Owner of the plas callyd Castle of the Ston Remembyr hym that is leyd vnder Ston For hys sowl and al Christian to prey To the merciful Iesew a Pater noster anon An Aue to hys Moder and mak no deley In March whych decessyd the xix dey In the yer of owr Lord God who kepe hym fro pyne A thowsand fowr hundryd fyfty and nyne Hic iacet magister Iohannes Sorewell in Decretis honoratus Rector istius Ecclesie qui ob penult Decemb. 1439. Hic iacet Dominus Iohannes Lumbard quondam Rector istius Ecclesie qui obijt 12. Maij 1408. Vpon a crosse of brasse layed in the marble
I found it in the Collections of Master Camden Hagnes hic iaceo coniux olim Gulielmi Lilia cognomen cui tribuere fui Septem ter denos aetas mea viderat annos Bis septem vixi tres quoque iuncta viro Mater eram foelix ter quinque prole puellae Sex fuerant numero caetera turba mares Me luce octaua mensis Sextilis adorta est Me luce vndecima sustulit atra lues Aeterne vs pateat Lector mihi lumina lucis Authorem lucis supplice mente roga Thomas Linacrus Regis Henrici viii Medicus vir et Grecè et Latine atque in re medica longe eruditissimus multos aetate sua languentes et qui iam animam desponderant vitae restituit Multa Galeni opera Latina lingua mira et singulari facundia vertit Egregium opus de emendata structura Latini sermonis amicorum rogatu paulo ante mortem edidit Medicine studiosis Oxoniae publicas lectiones duas Cantabrigiae vnam in perpetuum stabiliuit In hac vrbe Collegium Medicorum sua industria fieri curauit Cuius et Praesidens primus electus est Fraudes dolosque mirè perosus fidus amicis omnibus ordinibus iuxta charus aliquot annos antequam obierit Presbiter factus plenus annis ex hac vita migrauit multum desideratus Ann. Dom. 1524. die 7. Octob. Somewhat aboue the Tombe in the wall vnder the picture or pourtraiture of the Phoenix this Inscription Viuit post funera virtus Thomae Linacro clarissimo medico Iohannes Caius posuit ann 1557. This old Physitian and young Priest Tho. Linaker borne in the towne of Darby was like William Lilie for none of his works so famous as for his rudiments or instructions to the better vnderstanding of the Latine tongue Hic infra iacet corpus magistri Thome de Eure Legum Doctoris istius Ecclesie S. Pauli quondam Decani qui die nono mens Octobris Ann. Dom. millesimo quadringentesimo sui Decanatus anno duodecimo diem suum clausit extremum Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Hic iacet Magister Thomas Wynterburne Legum Doctor dum vixit Decanus huius Ecclesie S. Pauli qui obijt 7. die mens Decemb. An. Dom. 1478. Anime cuius sis Deus propitius Amen Hic iacet Magister Reymundus Pelegrim Canonicus huius Ecclesie Capellanus Commissalis Domini Pape qui obijt xi die mens Aug. Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Hic iacet Magister Richardus Plessys quondam Can ......... ob M. CCC LX.I Gulielmus Harington Iurisconsultus Protonotarius Apostolicus D. Pauli Canonicus ex illis quos Residentiarios dicunt Patria Eboracensis natus in Pago qui Estryngton vocitatur Patre Gulielmo Haringtono viro claro genere orto in pago commerlandie non ignobili qui Neubyging nuncupatur Matre Iohanna filia Gulielmi Haske aliter Baliui dicti viri generosi in eodem pago Estryngton nata Memor exitus vite qui omnibus horis impendet hoc sibi sepulchrum posuit Anno salutis humane 1523. Here lieth buried in a Chappell built by himselfe wherein he founded three Chaplaines Sir Iohn Poultney foure times Lord Maior of London who founded also a Colledge in the Parish Church of S. Laurence called Poultney He built also the parish Church called little Alhallows in Thames street and the Carmelite Friers Church in Couentrie hee gaue reliefe to the prisoners in Newgate and in the Fleet and ten shillings the yeare to S. Giles Hospitall by Oldborne now Houlborne for euer and other Legacies too long to rehearse And died in the yeare 1348. Here lieth Hamond Chickwell Pepperer who had beene Lord Maior of this Citie sixe times within nine yeares And died about the yeare 1328. Here lieth the body of Anne daughter of Iohn Duke of Burgundie the wife of Iohn Plantaginet third sonne of king Henry the fourth Duke of Bedford Protector of the Realme of England and head of the common weale Who died the yeare 1433. Here in a Monument broken all a peeces lieth entombed the body of Iohn Neuill Lord Latimer whose widow Katherine Parre daughter of Sir Thomas Parre of Kendall and sister to William Lord Parre Marquesse of Northampton was the sixth and last wife to king Henry the eight He died in the yeare 1542. Sir Iohn Beauchampe Constable of Douer Castle Warden of the Cinque Ports knight of the Garter and Lord Admirall of England the second sonne of Guy Beauchampe Earle of Warwicke lieth buried here in the body of the Church within a little Chappell He died Ann. 1360. 34. Ed. 3. He was also Constable of the Tower of London as appeares by ancient Records Cum Rex nuper concesserit Iohanni Darcy de Knayth custodiam Turris London ad vitam suam et idem Iohannes propter alia negotia intendere non possit eidem custodire ex Regis assensu concessit custodiam predictam Iohanni de Bellocampo de Warwic ad totam vitam predicti Iohannis Darcy c. T. R. apud Mortelake 15. Marcij Ann. 26. Ed. 3.1 Pars. pat M. 17. Vpon some displeasure vpon false suggestions which the King had taken against him he was put by this office and to the same the truth being tried restored againe a little before his death For proofe Cum Iohan. Darcy cui nuper Rex custodiaÌ„ Turris London ad totaÌ„ vita suaÌ„ concesserit ob affectioneÌ„ quam habuit ad personaÌ„ Ioh. de Bellocampo de Warwick statuÌ„ quem idem Ioh. Darcy in custodia Turris predicte habuit prefato Ioh. de Bellocampo concesserit et Rex illaÌ„ concessioneÌ„ confirmauit post moduÌ„que ob quendaÌ„ rancoreÌ„ quem Rex erga ipsuÌ„ Ioh. de Bellocampo ex sinistra suggestione ipsi Regi facta concepisset ipsum de custodia illa amoueri fecit et â—andem custodiam primo Bartholomeo de Burghesse postmodum Roberto de Morle concessisset Iamque ijdem Bartholomeus et Robertus viam vniuerse carnis ingressi sunt Rex ad gratum et laudabile obsequium siâ—i per dictum Iohannem diuersimodo impensum et ad hoc quod suggestio predicta minus vera existit sicut plenius Regi constat consideracionem habens ac volens ipsius proinde honori commodo prospicere in hac parte â—undem Iohannem ad dictam custodiam restituit habendam ad totam vitam suam Dat. apud Villam Sancti Georgij iuxta Castrum de Beauford in Francia An. 34. Ed. 3. This deceased Nobleman saith Stow by ignorant people hath beene erroniously mistearmed and said to bee Duke Humphrey the good Duke of Glocester who lieth honourably buried at S. Albans in Hertfordshire In Idle and friuolous opinion of whom some men of late times saith hee haue made a solemne meeting at his Tombe vpon Saint Andrewes day in the morning and concluded on a breakfast or dinner as assuming themselues to be seruants and to hold diuersitie
lieth buried He died Ann. Dom. 1450. Here lieth Giles Dewes who sometime was seruant to king Henry the 7. and king Hen. the 8. Clerke of their Libraries and Schoolemaster for the French tongue to Prince Arthur and to the Lady Mary Who died 1535. Saint Michael Bassishaw or Bassingshall Iohn Burton lyeth vnder here Sometimes of London Citizen and Mercer And Ienet his wife with their progeny Been turned to erth as ye may see Frends free what so yee bee Prey for vs we you prey As you see vs in this degree So shall you be another dey He deceased in the yeere 1460. he was a great benefactor to the building of this Church as appeareth by his marke placed throughout the whole roofe of the Quire and middle Isle of the Church Huc ades atque tuis metire viator ocellis Quam breuis inclusos illigat vrna duos Vt modo tu vir fuit hic hec femina quondam Nunc gelidi pars est huius vterque soli Nomen Abel More erat cognomen Exoniensum Cesarij Doctor iuris in vrbe fuit Agnes alterius nomen coniuxque Iohannis More fuit huius Abel qui modo frater erat Vt cupis ergo tibi faciant post funera viui Has modo tute breues quisquis es ede preces Hic Abel primo hic Agnes releuetur ab Agno Qui prius agnino sanguine lauit oues Obijt Abel 1486. Agnes 1499. quorum animabus Saint Lawrence in the Iewrie Hic incineratur corpus quondam Gaulfridi Bulleyn ciuis merceri Maioris London qui ab hac luce migrauit An. Dom. 1463. cuius anime pax sit perpetua This Sir Geffray or Godfrey Bullen Lord Maior of London was the Sonne of Geffrey Bullen of Salle or Saull in Norfolke Esquire Hee married Anne the eldest daughter and coheire of Thomas Lord Hoo and Hastings by whom he had issue Sir William Bullen of Blickling in Norfolke Knight fâ—ther to Thomas Bullen Viscount Rochford Earle of Wilshire who was father to Anne Bullen Marchionesse of Penbroke the second wife of King Henry the eight and the happy mother of our late Soueraigne Elizabeth Queene of England with all thankefulnesse euer to bee remembred This Lord Maior gaue to poore house holders in London 1000 l and 200 l to the like vse in Norfolke besides many liberall gifts to Prisons Hospitals and lazar houses Hic iacet Thomas Bulleyn de comitatu Norfolcie Armiger qui obijt vltimo die mensis Aprilis An. Dom. 147â— cuius The honorable Merchant Ion Pickering And Elisabyth lie vndyr this ston Of the English merchant Venturers vndyr the kyng In the Martis beyond See gouernor was this Ion Thirty yeere and more that roome he did manteyn To his honor and worschip and died in Nouembyr The xxix day Mcccc fourty and eyght certeyn Who 's soul and al Christians for cherite remembyr Hic Thomas Cressey London mercerus humatur Et Agnes Coniux sua postea suppeditatur M. Domini C quater his x. annoque secundo Sexta luce Iunij iâ—it hic de .... mundo Guild Hall Chappell This Chappell or Colledge of our Lady Mary Magdalen and of all Saints was founded about the yeere 1299. by Peter Fanclore saith Stow Adam Francis and Henry Frowike whose reuenew was much augmented by K. Richard the second K. Henry the sixt and diuers citizens of London so that at the suppression it was endowed with sufficient maintenance for a Custos seauen Chaplaines three Clarkes and foure Quiristers at which time it was valued at xii l xviij s ix d per an Here haue beene many Tombes and marble stones inlaid with brasse whose inscriptions and portraitures are all either worne out with time torne out or quite defaced onely this Epitaph remaining En Thomas Frances pius hic qui lustra per octo Custos extiterat iacet semper requiescat ob Mar. 4. 1488. Ouer the doore of the Councell Chamber in Guild hall was and yet is as I thinke this Distich Carolus Henricus Viuant Defensor vterque Henricus Fidei Carolus Ecclesie Long prosperity To Charles and Henry Princes most puissant The one of the Faith The other of the Church Chosen defendant These verses were depicted here and in other places about this Citie the yeare 1514. when Charles the fift Emperour was here in England to shew in what golden bands of loue these two potent Monarches were enlinked for that amongst other couenants then concluded and confirmed betwixt them by corporall Oathes one was that the Emperour promised to stay for and take to wife the young Princesse Lady Mary King Henries then onely daughter afterwards Queene of England Why the Titles defender of the Church and Faith were attributed vnto these two Princes is vulgarlie knowne because Charles chosen Emperour to purchase the Popes fauour directed forth a solemne Writ of Outlawry against Martin Luther who then had giuen a great blow to the Papall Crowne And King Henry likewise was renowned in Rome for writing a booke against the said Luther vnderpropping the tottering or downe-cast countenance of the Popes Pardons which Luther shrewdly had shaken The Pope therefore to shew himselfe a kinde Father vnto these his sonnes gaue them these Titles which were in truth none other then the same which they sware vnto when the Crownes of their Empires were first set vpon their heads The Hospitall of Saint Tho. of Acars or Mercers Chappell This Hospitall was founded by Thomas Fitz-theobald de Heili and Agnes his wife Sister to Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury in the raigne of Henry the second and dedicated to Saint Thomas of Acon or Acars in the holy land They gaue to the Master and Brethren of this house the lands with the appurtenances that sometimes were Gilbert Beckets father to the said Thomas in the which he was born there to make a Church This Hospitall was valued at the suppression to dispend yeerely 277 l. 3 s. 4 d. it was surrendred the 30 of Henry the 8. the 21 of October and was since purchased by the Mercers by meanes of Sir Richard Gresham Here lyeth entombed Iames Butler Earle of Ormond and Dame Ioane his wife he died Anno Dom. 1428. and she 1430. Hic iacet Thomas filius Iacobi comitis Ormundie ac fratris Iacobi comitis Wilts Ormundie qui quidem Thomas obijt secundo die 1515 anno regni Regis Henrici Octaui 37. cuius The Ancestors of these Earles saith learned Camden were in old time the Butlers an honourable office in Ireland and from thence came this Surname Le Boteler or Butler imposed vpon them and certaine it is that they were linked in most neere alliance vnto Saint Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury as who deriue their descent from his sister which was a great motiue to make them choose this place for their buriall and that after he was murdered they were
by King Henry the second remoued into Ireland who supposed that he should disburden himselfe of the worlds hatred for that fact in case hee aduanced the Kinsfolke and Allies of the said Thomas to rich reuenues and high honours The first Earle of Ormond saith he in this familie was Iames sonne to Edmund Earle of Caricke who wedded the daughter of Humphrey Bohun Earle of Hereford whom he had by a daughter of King Edward the first And here was his first step vnto this honour hereupon Iames his sonne by this marriage came to be commonly named among the people The noble Earle The fifth Earle of these named Iames that I may not stand particularly vpon euere one receiued at the hands of King Henry the sixth the title and honour of Earle of Wiltshire to him and to the heires of his body who being Lord Deputie of Ireland as diuers others of this race and Lord Treasurer of England standing attainted by King Edward the fourth was streight waies apprehended and beheaded but his brethren Iohn and Thomas likewise proclaimed Traitors kept themselues close out of the way Iohn died at Ierusalem without issue Thomas here entombed through the speciall fauour of King Henry the seuenth was in the end restored to his bloud who departed this life as before in his Epitaph An. 1515. leauing behinde him two daughters Anne married to Sir Iames de Sancto Leodegario called commonly Sellenger and Margaret vnto Sir William Bullein who bare vnto him Sir Thomas Bollein whom King Henry the eight created first Viscount Rochford afterwards Earle of Wiltshire and Ormund the father of Anne Bollein as I haue written before Here lyeth ..... Iohn Riche .... the sonne of Richard Riche Sheriffe .... 1469. Respice quid prodest presentis temporis euum Omne quod est nihil est preter amare deum Richard Rich one of the Sheriffes of London Anno 1442. and the father of this Iohn founded certaine Almes-houses at Hodsdon in Hertfordshire He lieth buried in Saint Laurence Church old Iewrie with the like Distich vpon his monument Vndyr this ston lyeth in the holy plas Ambros Cressacre ...... he was Late of Dedington in Huntington shyre Passyd fro this world worshcipfull Esquyre The yere of our Lord God M. cccc.lxxvii it is Iesu for his mercy grant his sowl bliss Iohn Peris and Margaret his wyf The whych late departyd fro this present lyf Here beryed and ther sonn vndyr this ston And ther soulys to God ben passyd and gon To thee for help of mercy thou blessyd Saint Ion And to Saint Margarite also I mak my mon. Here lieth Raph Tilney Grocer sometyme Alderman and Sheriffe of this City and Ioan his wyff who dyed 1503 and Ioan died 1500 .... on whos soulys Clausa sub bac fossa pacis hic Yerford pronus ossa ............... Prudens pacificus in omnes pacis amicus Vixit Mercerus in promissis cuique verus Mors properata nimis dum floruit impia primis Annis vanescit et à nobis sicque recessit Anno milleno quater cccc octuagenâ— Migrat ab hac vita sua spes succurre Maria. Siste precorque legas Alleyneia et eâ—ce Iohannes Londini quondam Pretor erat celebris Confilio Regis summa probitate probatus Inclytus et miles nobilitate valens Quem Deus omnipotens secum dignetur Olympo Et precor eternam donet ei requiem obijt An. 1544. This Lord Maior who for his singular wisedome was made a Priuie Councellour to King Henry the eight built a beautifull Chappell here wherein he was first buried but since his Tombe is remoued thence into the body of the Hospitall Church and his Chappell diuided into Shops He gaue to the city a rich coller of gold to be worne by the Maior he gaue a stocke of 500 markes to be employed for the vse of the poore of London besides the rents of certaine lands by him purchased of the King To Prisons Hospitals and Lazer houses within and two miles without the Citie he was abundantly charitable Saint Mary Bow Magnificus sed iustificus misâ—ris et amicus Vir speciosus vir generosus virque pudicus Et peramabilis et venerabilis atque piarum Vis dux lex lampas flos Maior Londoniarum In terre ventre iacet hic Iohn rite Couentre Dictus quem necuit veluti decuit lue plenus Bis septingenus tricenus citra his et vnus Martius in sole triceno si trahis vnum Virginis a partu carnis modo mortuus artu Viuus erit celis tuba clanxerit vt Gabrielis Amen This Iohn was the sonne of William Couentrie of the Citie of Couentrie in Warwickshire He was Lord Maior of this Citie An. 1425 a man much commended he is in our English Chronicles for his discreet carriage in the debate betwixt Humphrey Duke of Glocester and Henry Beaufort that wealthy Bishop of Winchester One William Copeland Church-warden gaue the great Bell which is rung nightly at nine of the clocke which had this inscription cast in the mettall An. 1515. Dudum fundabar Bowbel campana vocabar Sexta sonat bis sexta sonat ter tertia pulsat No maruaile death in childhood tooke from men This roiall Prince he was a father then Three Hospitalls erected this rate gem And ended praising God for ending them Saint Anthonies commonly called Saint Antlins Here lyth grauyn vndyr this ston Thomas Knowles both flesh and bon Grocer and Alderman yeres fortye Sheriff and twis Maior truly And for he shold not ly alone Here lyth wyth him his good wyff Ione They weren togeder sixty yere And nineteen chyldren they had in feer Now ben they gon wee them miss Christ haue here sowlys to heuen bliss Amen ob Ann. 14 ...... This Lord Maior with the Aldermen his brethren began to new build the Guild Hall he reedified this Church gaue to the Grocers his house neare vnto the same for reliefe of the poore for euer and caused water to be conuayed to the gate of Newgate and Ludgate for reliefe of the prisoners He was Lord Maior Ann. 1. of Hen. the fourth and againe An. 12. eiusdem Regis Thomas Knowles sonne of the foresaid Thomas a great benefactour to this Church was buried here in the North Isle by his father vnder a faire marble stone thus sometimes engrauen but now quite taken away for the gaine of the brasse Thomas Knolles lyeth vndre this ston And his wyff Isabell flesh and bon They weren togeder nyntene yere And x. chyldren they had in fere His Fader and he to this Chyrch Many good dedys they did wyrch Example by him ye may see That this world is but vanitie For wheder he be smal or gret All sall turne to wormys mete This seyd Thomas was leyd on Bere The eighth dey the moneth Fevrer The date of Iesu Crist truly An. M. CCCC fiue and forty Wee mey not prey hertely
and vowed virginitie cast off all care of hauing issue and exposed the kingdome to the prey of ambitious humours Yet some that would excuse him in this affirme that this holy king was not willing to beget any heires that should succeed him out of a treacherous race Here lieth without any Tombe Maude daughter to Malcolm Camoir king of Scots and wife to king Henry the first who brought vnto him children William Richard and Mary which perished by shipwracke and Maud Empresse who was wise to Henry the fift Emperour She died the first day of May Maij prima dies nostrorum nocte dierum raptam perpetua fecit inesse die 1118. She had an excellent Epigram made to her commendation whereof these foure verses onely remaine Prospera non laetam fecere nec aspera tristem Aspera risus erant prospera terror erant Non decor effecit fragilem non sceptra superbam Sola potens humilis sola pudica decens Thus paraphrastically translated No prosperous state did make her glad Nor aduerse chances made her sad If Fortune frown'd she then did smile If Fortune smil'd she fear'd the while If Beauty tempted she said nay No pride she tooke in Scepters sway She onely high her selfe debast A Lady onely faire and chast She went euery day in the Lent time to this Church bare-foot and bare-legd wearing a garment of haire she would wash and kisse the feet of the poorest people and giue them bountifull Almes For which being reprehended by a Courtier shee gaue him a short answer which I haue out of Robert of Glocester Madame for Goddes love is this wel i doo To handle sich vnclene â—ymmes and to kisse so Foule wolde the kyng thynk if that hit he wiste And ryght wel abyse hym er he your mouth kiste Sur sur qd the Quene be stille why sayste thow so Owr Lord hymself ensample yaf so for to do She founded as I haue said before the Priory of Christ-church within Aldgate and the Hospitall of S. Giles in the Fields She builded the Bridges ouer the Riuer of Lea at Stratford Bow and ouer the little Brooke called Chanelsebridge shee gaue much likewise to the repairing of high-wayes But I will take my leaue of her with these words of Paris Obijt eodem anno Matildis Regina Anglorum cuius corpus apud Westmonasterium quietem sepulturae accepit anima eius se coelum possidere evidentibus signis et miraculis crebris ostendit Here lieth vnder a rich Monument of Porphery adorned with precious stones the body of Henry the third king of England In the fifth yeare of whose raigne and the Saturday next before his second time of Coronation the New worke the old being ruinous and pulled downe of this Church of Westminster was begun To which sacred Edifice this king was a perswader he was the Founder and laid the first stone in the ground-worke of the building The Newerke atte Westmynstre ye kyng tho ganne anone Aftyr hys coronyng and leyde the fyrst stone As if he meant the world should know his intention was to consecrate his future actions to the glory of God He gaue to this Church royall gifts of Copes Iewels and rich vessels and for the holy Reliques of Edward the Confessor he caused a coffin to be made of pure gold and pretious stones and so artificially by the most cunning Goldsmiths that could be gotten that although the matter it was made of was of an inestimable valew tamen Materiam superabat opus yet the workmanship excelled the matter saith Mathew Paris A Prince he was as our histories affirme of greater deuotion then discretion in permitting the depredation of himselfe and his subiects by papall ouerswayings This King saith Robert of Glocester as in worldlich doyng was not hald ful wyse but mor deuout to spiritual things he was euery dey woned to here thre Masses by note Quante innocentie quante patientie quanteque deuotionis et quanti meriti in vita sua erat apud Deum testantur post ipsius mortem miracula subsecuta Of how much integrity of how much patience of how much deuotion and of how much merite he was in his life time before God the miracles which followed after his death doe testifie saith the compendious chronicle of Canterbury He died the 16 of Nouember 1273. when he liued sixty fiue yeares and raigned fiftie sixe yeares and eighteene daies this Epitaph following is annexed to his Tombe Tertius Henricus iacet hic pietatis amicus Ecclesiam strauit istam quam post renouauit Reddet ei munus qui regnat trinus et vnus Tertius Henricus est Templi conditor huius Dulce bellum inexpertis Which is thus Englished by Robert Fabian The frende of pyte and of almesse dede Henry the thyrde whylome of Englande Kyng Who thys Church brake and after hys mede Agayn renewed into this fayre buylding Now resteth in here whiche did so great a thinge He yelde his mede that Lord in Deyite That as one God reygneth in persones thre Henry the thyrde is the buylder of thys Temple War is pleasant to those that haue not tryed it In the additions to Robert of Glocester a Manuscript in the Heralds Office these rimes are written to his remembrance Aftur hym regnyd the thurd Harry A good man and eke an hely In hys tym werrys were full strong And eke mickle stryf in Englond The Batayl of Lewys was than And alsoo the Batayl of Euesham And that tym alsoo ther was The Translacyon of Sent Thomas In hys tym as I vndyrstond Come Freres Menores into thys lond He regnyd Kyng lvi yere And to Westmynstre men hym bere At the head of the foresaid King Henry his sonne Edward surnamed Long-Shanks lieth entombed King of England the first of that Christian name since the Conquest and as he was the first of his name so was he the first that setled the law and state deseruing the stile of Englands Iustinian and freed this kingdome from the wardship of the Peeres shewing himselfe in all his actions after capable to command not the Realme onely but the whole world At the time of his Fathers death he was abroad in Palestine pursuing his high desires for the Holy Warres and after sixe yeares from his first setting out he returnes into England receiues the Crowne without which he had beene a King almost three yeares at the hands of Robert Archbishop of Canterbury and with him is Eleanor his vertuous Queene likewise crowned at Westminster To the which their magnificent pompous Coronations the presence of Alexander King of Scotland who had married Margaret his eldest sister was required as appeares by this Record following Rex dilectis et fidelibus suis Iohanni Louetot et Galfrido de Newbald Custodibus Episcopatus Deunelm Salutem Mandamus vobis quod de primis denarijs prouenientibus de exitibus Episcopatus predicti habere faciatis Alexandro
imperious wicked persons wondrous much offensiue and malicious to the Abbey tooke vp their priuie lodgings saying that they were the Kings faithfull seruants and keepers of the peace of the countrie when as to the contrary they rather ouerthrew and disquieted all peaceable gouernment and the whole countrey Here end the Monuments in the Countie of Hartford Essex West Ham. QVeene Mawd wife to king Henry the first passing ouer the riuer of Ley at Ouldford hardly escaped danger of drowning after which shee gaue order that a little beneath at Stretford there should be a bridge made ouer the water going ouer which towards West Ham I saw the remaines of a Monasterie pleasantly watered about with seuerall streames which William Montfichet a Lord of great name of the Norman race built in the yeare of our Lord 1140. The reuenues of this house were much augmented and confirmed by king Richard the second in the tenth yeare of his raigne as by his charter amongst the Records in the Tower appeareth Dedicated it was to the honour of Christ and Mary his blessed mother replenished with blacke Monkes And valued at the suppression to be worth 573. l. 15. s. 6 d. ob q. Diuers other beside the founder endowed this religious Structure Some of whose donations I finde to be confirmed by the said William Montfichet in this manner Willelmus de Montefixo omnibus prepositis ministris hominibus suis tam Francis quam Anglis Salutem Sciatis quod ego concedo et confirmo donationem quam fecerunt Ecclesie Sancte Marie de Ham Matheus Geron de tota terra sua de Cambridg cum pertinenciis absque omni servicio Geraldus de Hamma de vno prato per concessum Martini filia sui aliorum siliorum suorum Donationem etiam quam fecit ergo Capellanus meus â—ecime Dominii mei c. Quod si quis hominum meorum Elemosinam de terra facere voluerit quod de feodo meo sit non concedo vt alibi det nisi ad Abbatiam meam de Ham. Et insuper si quis hominum meorum quicquam beneficii deinceps eidem Ecclesie facere voluerit in terra prato vel quacanque re libere donet hec omnia que et ego concedo confirmo Abbatic Monachis de Ham â—â—perpetuum Precor igitur omnes homines meos vt islam meam Elemosinam manuteneant et conseruant Hiis testibus Margareta vxore mea Richardo de Poylei Humfrido filio Eustachii Willelmo filio Richardi Willelmo de Byron The Seale of this deed is in blouddy waxe The Baronie or habitation of this familie de Monte Fixo or Montfichet was Stansted in this County from whom the Towne is called Stansted Montfichet to this day They were reputed men of very great Nobilitie vntill that their ample inheritance was diuided among three Sisters One of which progenie namely Richard was in the raignes of king Iohn and Henry the third famous for his high prowesse and chiualrie Three the most forcible and valiant knights of England saith Stow in those dayes were Robert Fitz-water Robert Fitz Roger and Rich. Mont-Fichet Here lieth Iohn Hamerton Esquvr Sergeant at Armes to kyng Henry the eyght and of Edith his wife and Richard Hamerton his brother of the Parysh of Fedston in the County of Yorke Which Iohn and Richard fell both sicke in an houre and died both in one houre Ann. Dom. M. ccccc.xii on whose Sowles Iesu haue mercy Amen Hic iacet Henricus Ketleby quondam Serviens illustrissimi Principis Henrici filii metuendissimi Regis Hen. septimi qui obiit 8. die Augusti 1508. Hic sub pede iacet Margareta quondam vxor Iohannis Ketleby de Com. Wigorn. Armig. que obiit 10. die Iunii .... Of your cheritie prey for the sowles of Io. Eglesfeeld who died 13. of August 1504. and for the sowl of Edith his wyf Who died 22. of Iune 1533. Of your cherite prey for the soul of Walter Froste of West Ham Esquyr and Sewar to kyng Harry the eyght and of Anne his wyff doughter of ..... and widow of Richard Caly Merchant of the Staple of Calis Which Anne died the xxiii of October 1527. For the word Sewar saith Minshew I haue heard of an old French book containing the Officers of the king of Englands Court as it was anciently gouerned that he whom in Court we now call Sewar was called Asseour which commeth from the French Asseoir to set setle or place wherein his Office in setting downe the meate is well expressed Or Sewar saith he is deriued perhaps from the French word Esquire id est a Squire because he goeth before the meat as a Squire or Gentleman Vsher. The Fees allowed to this Officer in the raigne of Queene Elizabeth as I haue it out of a generall collection of all the Offices of England in her dayes was thirtie and three pounds thirteene shillings foure pence Orate pro anima Valentini Clerke Elisabethe vxoris eius qui quidem Valentinus obiit 6. die Iunii 1533. et dicta Elisabetha .... Waltham Stow. Here lyeth Sir Georg Monox knight somtym Lord Maior of London and Dame Ann his wyfe whych Sir Georg dyed ..... 1543. and Dame Ann 1500. This Lord Maior reedified the decayed Steeple of this Church and added thereunto the side Isle with the Chappell wherein he lieth entombed He founded here a faire Almeshouse in the Churchyard for an Almesse Priest and thirteene poore Almesse people which he endowed with competent reuenues He also made a cawsey of timber for foot Trauellers ouer the marshes from this Towne to Lock-bridge Ilford Hic iacet Thomas Heron filius heres Iohannis Heron militis Thesaurar Camere Domini Regis qui obiit in Alderbroke 18. Martii 1517. et Ann. Reg. Regis Henrici 8. nono The valiant Familie of the Herons or Heiruns in foregoing ages were the warlike possessors of very large reuenues in the County of Northumberland parcels of whose Baronie was Chipches Tower Swinborne and Foard Castles belonging now to the houses of the Woderingtons and Carrs Raynam Hic iacet Richardus Pasmer generosus quondam Scriba communis Thesauri pro Magistro et conventu Rhodi in Prioratu Sancti Iohannis Ierusalem in Anglia nec non Seneschallus Hospitii Sancti Iohannis tempore reuerendi Patris fratris Willelmi Tournay Prioris ac etiam Superuisoris omnium Maneriorum terrarum et tenementorum infra regnum Anglie ad Priorem dicti Prioratus pertinentium tempore presati Prioris ac tempore reuerendorum Patrum fratrum Io. Longstrother Io. Weston Io. Kendall .... obiit vii die Octob. Ann. Dom. M. ccccc Barking Here lyeth Rychard Cheyney and Ioane his wyf Whych Rychard dyed 1514. on whos ... Iohn Scot and Ioane his wyf ... 1519. Vnder the picture of a Ship sailing in the haven this Inscription Desiderata porta Inveni Portum spes et
body of Robert Bourchier Lord Chancelor of England in the fourteenth yeare of King Edward the third from whom saith the light of great Britaine Clarentieâ—x sprang a most honourable progenie of Earles and Barons of that name Here stands a monument vnder which one of the right honourable familie of the Veres lieth interred it is much defaced .... Georgio Vere filio Georgii Vere .... militis ....... 1498. High Esterne Here lyeth Dame Agnes Gate the wyf of Sir Geffrey Gate knight the which Sir Geffrey was six yeares Captane of the Isle of Wyght and after Marshal of Caleys and there kept with the Pykards worschipul warrys and euyr entendyd as a good Knyght to please the Kyng in the partyes of Normandy wyth al his myght which Agnes dyed the ix of Decembyr M. cccc.lxxxvii on whos soul Iesu haue mercy Amen Prey for the sowl al ye that liue in sight Of Sir Geffrey Gate the curtesse knight Who 's wyff is beryed here by Goddys might He bowght the Manor of Garnets by right Of Koppeden gentylman so he behight Of this Witnesses his wyff and Executors This yer ...... delihowrs xxii Ian. M. cccc lxxvii Pater de celis Deus miserere nobis Fili redemptor mundi Deus miserere nobis Sancta Trinitas vnus Deus miserere nobis This Manour of Garnets here mentioned and all his other inheritance as I haue it by relation from the Inhabitants about fourescore yeares after the death of this Sir Geffray was forfeited to the Crowne by the attaindour of Sir Iohn Gate Knight beheaded on the Tower hill with Iohn Dudley Duke of Northumberland and Sir Thomas Palmer Knight for that they had endeuoured to haue made Lady Iane the daughter of Henry Grey Duke of Suffolke by Frances his wife who was the daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolke by Mary his wife second sister to King Henry the eight and the wife of Guilford Dudley the fourth sonne of the said Duke of Northumberland Queene of England the xxii of August M. ccccc 53. the first of Queene Mary Barmiston Of your cherite prey for the sowl of Peter Wood Who died the thirtyth dey of May Vnto hym that was crucified on the rood To send hym ioyes for ay Castle Heningham Here lieth interred vnder a Tombe of marble and Tuch now ruinous Iohn de Vere the fift of that Christian name Earle of Oxford Lord Bulbeck Samford and Scales and great Chamberlaine of England Vpon which monument I finde nothing engrauen but the names of his children which he had by his wife Elizabeth daughter heire of Edward Trussell of Staffordshire knight Banneret Which were three sonnes and three daughters namely Iohn de Vere the sixth of that Christian name Earle of Oxford Aubrey de Vere second sonne Geffrey Vere the third sonne Father of Iohn Vere of Kirbey Hall of Sir Francis Vere knight the great Leader in the Low countries and of that renowned Souldier Sir Horatio Vere knight Lord Baron of Tilbery in this County Elizabeth married to Thomas Lord Darcy of Chich Anne wife to Edmund Lord Sheffield and Francis married to Henry Howard Earle of Surrey This Earle Iohn was knight of the Garter and Councellour of State to king Henry the eight Who died here in his Castle at Heueningham the 19. of March 1539. Prey for the soul of Dorethy Scroop dawghter of Richard Scroop brother to the Lord Scroop of Bolton .... who .... 1491. This Dorothie was sister of Elisabeth the widow of William Lord Beaumont and daughter of Richard Scroope knight the second wife of Iohn de Vere the third of that Christian name Earle of Oxford In a parchment Roll without date belonging to the Earle of Oxford I find that one Lucia belike some one of that right honourable house founded a Priory in this Parish for blacke veyled Nunnes Which she dedicated to the holy Grosse and the blessed Virgine Mary Of which religious foundation she her selfe was the first Prioresse whose death was wondrously lamented by Agnes who did next succeed her in that office and the rest of the Couent who desire the prayers and suffrages of all the religious houses in England for her soules health The forme whereof to transcribe cannot seeme much impertinent to the subiect I haue in hand nor tedious to the iudicious Reader Anima domine Lucie prime Fundatricis Ecclesie Sancte Crucis et Sancte Marie de Heningham et anime Ricardi et Sare Galfridi et Dametre et Helene et anime omnium defunctorum per miserecordiam Dei requiescant in pace Amen Vniuersis sancte Matris Ecclesie filiis ad quos presens scriptum peruenerit Agnes Ecclesie sancte crucis Sancte Marie de Henigeham humilis Ministra eiusdemque loci conuentus eternam in Domino salutem Post imbres lacrimarum et fletuum innundacionem quam in transitu karissime Matris nostre venerande Lucie prime Priorisse ac fundatricis Domus nostre fudimus que vocante Domino tertio Idus Iulij viam vniuerse carnis ingressa terre debitum humani generis persoluit manum misimus ad calamum vniuersitati vestre scripto denunciantes calamitatem quam patimur subtracta enim tam felici matre in hac valle miserie simul cor nostrum dereliquit nos ec mirum cum eadem tot virtutum polleret moribus tantis gratiarum rutilaret honoribus tot meritorum fragaret odoribus vt merito illi congruat hoc nomen Lucia quod est lucis scientia Recte ideo Lucia dicta quia nomen beate virginis Lucie sortita illius pro viribus imitabatur exempla Illa meritis precibus fluxum sanguinis in Matre deleuit Ista in se omnis motus concupiscentie carnalis restringens fluxum in aliis incontinentie contaminationis per ariditatem sancte conuersationis sobrie vite radicitus extirpauit Illa sponso suo carnalem copulam nutu diuino subtraxit Ista vt nouimus vinculo Matrimonij septies constricta consortii virilis ignara incontaminata semper illesa permansit ita de laqueo venantium temporaliter est erepta Et hoc fecit diuina prudentia vt nullum preter eum admitteret amatorem Ista etiam discreta fuit in silentio vtilis in verbo verecundia grauis pudore venerabilis singulis compassione proxima pre cunctis contemplatione suspensa sicque studuit bene agentibus esse per humilitatem socia vt per zelum iusticie delinquentium corrigeret errata Vnde in titillatione carnis ex ea didicimus habere prudentiam in aduersitate fortitudinem in tribulatione patientiam in desperatione solatium in periculo refugium in estu refrigerium in asperitate lenitatem Et suit nobis ipsius exemplo lectio frâ—quentior oratio pinguior feruentior affectus Quid multa tanta efflorâ—â—â— in hac benignissima virgine pia matre nostra virtus abstinentie tanta ieiuniorum vigiliarum nec non
it descending to William Clopton his sonne and heire and he dying without issue as did also Sir William Clopton the sonne of the aboue mentioned Sir William The said Mannor of Newenham passed by Conueyance dated at Ashdon 6. die Iunij an 13. Hen. 4. as did most of all the other large possessions of the Cloptons in Suffolke and Cambridgeshire to William Clopton of Melford the sonne and heire of Sir Thomas Clopton Knight who lyeth buried with his wife the daughter and heire of Mylde vnder a faire Tombe in the north Isle of the said Church of Melford called the Cloptons Isle as doth also the said William Clopton his sonne lie buried vnder the same Tombe and Margery his wife the daughter and heire of Elias Francis Esquire in the same Isle whose Epitaph is there found on her Graue-stone as followeth Hic iacet Margeria Clopton nuper vxor Willielmi Clopton Armig. filia et heres Elie Francis Armigeri que obijt ....... Iunij Anno Dom. M. cccciiii euius anime propitietur Deus And on this grauestone is there an Escutcheon of Clopton with an Ermine on the bend empaled with the Armes of Francis being gules a Salteire betweene foure crosses formie Patees Or from which said William and Margerie haue the three seuerall Families of Cloptons of Kentwell Castelins and Liston descended and the first beene much enobled by the marriage of the daughter and heire of Roydon descended likewise from the seuerall heires or coheires of Knyuet Belhous Fitz-warren Basset of Welledon and diuers other ancient families as was that familie of Lyston by the marriage of the daughter and heire of Say whose ancestors had beene long owners of that mannor and held it in Capite as Clopton now doth by the seruice of making Wafers at the Kings Coronation And because these foresaid three Families of Clopton did descend as I haue alreadie noted and were at once branched forth from Sir William Clopton of Lutons in the Countie of Suffolke Knight it shall not be impertinent to set downe his Epitaph as it is now to bee seene on his grauestone in the North Isle of the said Chappell of Melford Church amongst diuers others of his Ancestors being as followeth Orate pro animabus Willielmi Clopton militis et Iohanne Consortis sue Qui quidem Willielmus obijt vicesimo die Febrarij Anno Dom. millesimo quingentesimo tricesimo quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen And on the grauestone aboue this Epitaph is the Cloptons coate before mentioned empaled with Marrow which is Azure a fesse nebulee inter three Maydens heads coupes by the Shoulders Ar the periwiggs Or. Thus much of the Cloptons I had from that studious learned gentleman Sir Simond D'Ewes Knight of which much more when I come to Melford and Tallo-wratting Church in Suffolke Here lyth Nicholas Inglefield Esquyr sometime Controler of the hous to King Rychard the second who dyed the first of April in the yere of Grase M. cccc.xv whos soul Iesu perdon Amen Amen Amen Here end the Monuments in the Countie of Essex Additions or certaine Epitaphs and Inscriptions vpon Tombes and Grauestones within certaine Churches in the Citie of London Collected by my selfe and others not many yeares agoe of which few or none of any Antiquity are remaining in the said Churches at this present day such is the despight not so much of Time as of maleuolent people to all Antiquities especially of this kind In Saint Pauls IN this Cathedrall Church and neere vnto Sir Iohn Beauchamps Tomb commonly called Duke Vmfreys vpon a faire marble stone inlaid all ouer with brasse of all which nothing but the heads of a few brazen nailes are at this day visible and engrauen with the representation and cote-Armes of the party defunct Thus much of a mangled funerall Inscription was of late time perspicuous to be read as followeth Hic iacet Paganus Roet miles Guyenne Rex Armorum Pater Catherine Ducisse Lancastrie ...... This Sir Payne Roet had issue the aforesaid Dutchesse and Anne who was married to Geffrey Chaucer our famous English Poet who by her had issue Sir Thomas Chaucer whose daughter Alice was married to Thomas Montacute Earle of Salisbury by whom she had no issue and after to William de la Pole Duke of Suffolke and by him had Iohn Duke of Suffolke and others The abouesaid Katherine eldest daughter of this King of Armes was first married to Sir Otes Swynford Knight and after to Iohn of Gaunt the great Duke of Lancaster of whose issue by her is obserued to be descended a most royall and illustrious of spring videlicet Eight Kings foure Queenes and fiue Princes of England Sixe Kings and three Queenes of Scotland two Cardinals aboue twenty Dukes and almost as many Dutches of the kingdome of England diuers Dukes of Scotland and most of all the now ancient Nobilitie of both these Kingdomes besides many other potent Princes and eminent nobility of forraigne parts Saint Giles Criplegate Here vnder a large marble stone whereupon no Inscription is at this day remaining neither any Effigies of the deceased left both of which were inlaid and engrauen vpon the monument as I was credibly informed lieth interred the body of Sir Iohn Wriothesley Knight alias Garter principall King at Armes Father of William Wriothesley Yorke Herald who had issue Thomas Wriothesley Knight of the Garter Lord Chancellor of England and the first of that sirname Earle of Southampton His creation was the eighteenth yeare of the raigne of King Ed. 4. as appeares by this his Patent following Pat. 18. Ed. 4. m. 28. part 2. Rex omnnibus ad quos c. Salutem Sciatis quod cum non sit noâ—uÌ„ set iam diu ab antiquis teÌ„poribus vsitatuÌ„ quod inter ceteros Officiales Ministros quos PrincipuÌ„ lateribus pro coruÌ„ magnificencia atque gloria adherere decet eoruÌ„ officij ArmoruÌ„ cura coÌ„mittitur copiaÌ„ habere debeat vt nec teÌ„pus belloruÌ„ quibus neque pacis sine coÌ„uenientibus aptis Ministris debeat preteriri Nos igitur coÌ„siderationis acteÌ„ in laudabilia seruicia que delectus nobis Iohannes Wrythe alias nuper dictus Norrey Rex ArmoruÌ„ parciuÌ„ BorialiuÌ„ Regni nostri Anglie in hijs que ad officium illud spectare intelliguntur exercuit dirigentes eund propterea non minus ob solerciam et sagacitatem quas in eo satis habemus exploratas in principalem Haraldum Officiarium incliti nostri Ordinis Garterij Armorumque Regem Anglicorum ex gracia nostra speciali ereximus fecimus constituimus ordinauimus creauimus et coronauimus ac per presentes erigimus facimus constituimus ordinamus creamus coronamus ac ei officium illud nec non nomen le Garter Stilum titulum libertates preeminencias huiusmodi officio conueniencia et concordancia ac ab antiquo consueta damus et concedimus ac ipsum in eisdem realiter
dwarfe to death saith my foresaid Author Much more might bee said of this little-great man but I am called for my selfe to the Presse and to speake more then I haue done in the praise of little men I may be thought to flatter my selfe He died in the yeare 1346. in the twentieth of the raigne of King Edward the third I read in a booke of the order of Carmelites of which Fraternitie he was one as also Prouinciall of them all throughout all England penned by Iohn Bale before his conuersion a part of an Eulogium composed to the memory of this Baconthorpe which may serue for an Epitaph Thus. Iohannes de Bachonethorpe Doctor resolutus Carmelita Hic Bachone fuit Iohannes natus in vrbe Anglica quo felix terra priore fuit Parisio dulces hausit de fonte liquores Post tamenin patrio claruit ipse solo Exposuit libros Petri sed sanccius esse Est ratus in quartum peruigilare librum Fecit Aristotelem clarum inclitumque legenti Dans Testamentum clarius omne navum .......... Vpon a faire marble stone in the Quire this Inscription following is engrauen in brasse Hic iaces corpus Willelmi Boleyn militis qui obijt x. Octobris Anno Dom. M. ccccc.v Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Let it be the greatest honour to this noble deceased Knight for that he was great Grandfather to the most renowned and victorious Princesse Elizabeth late Queene of England which will best appeare by the Light of Great Britaine learned Camden in his Introduction to the History which he writ of her long and prosperous raigne beginning as followeth The Linage and descent of Elizabeth Queene of England saith he was by her Fathers side truly Royall for daughter she was to King Henry the eight grand daughter to Henry the seuenth and great grand-daughter to Ed the fourth By the Mothers side her descent was not so high howbeit noble it was and spread abroad by many and great Alliances throughout England and Ireland Her great grand-fathers father was Ieffrey Bolen a man of Noble birth in Norfolke Lord Maior of the Citie of London in the yeare 1457. and at the same time honoured with the dignitie of Knighthood An vpright honest man of such estimation that Thomas Lord Hoo and Hastings Knight of the Order of Saint George gaue him his daughter and one of his heires to wife and of such wealth as he matched his daughters into the Noble houses of the Cheineys Heydons and Fortescues left his sonne a goodly inheritance and bequeathed a thousand pounds of English money to bee bestowed vpon the poore in the Citie of London and two hundred in Norfolke This mans sonne William Bolen was chosen amongst eighteene most choice Knights of the Bath at the Coronation of King Richard the third to whom Thomas Earle of Ormond who was in such fauour with the Kings of England that hee alone of all the Nobleman of Ireland had his place and voice in the Parliaments of England and aboue the Barons of England also gaue his daughter and one of his heires in marriage By her besides daughters married to Shelton Calthorp Clere and Sackvill men of great wealth and noble descent and other children hee begat Thomas Bolen whom being a young man Thomas Howard Earle of Surry who was afterward Duke of Norfolke a man much renowned for his worthie seruice and atchiuements in the warres chose to be his sonne in law giuing vnto him his daughter Elizabeth in marriage and Henry the eight after he had performed one or two very honourable Embasies made him first Treasurer of his Houshold Knight of the Order of Saint George and Viscount Rochford and afterwards Earle of Wiltshire and Ormond and made him Lord Keeper of the priuie Seale This Thomas among other children begat Anne Bolen who in her tender yeares being sent into France attended on Mary of England wife to Lewis the twelfth and then on Claudia of Britaine wife to Francis the first and after she was dead on Margaret of Alencon who with the first fauoured the Protestants Religion springing vp in France Being returned into England and admitted amongst the Queenes Maides of Honour and being twenty two yeares of age King Henry in the thirtie eight yeare of his age did for her modestie â—empered with French pleasantnesse fall deeply in loue with and tooke her to wife by whom he had issue Elizabeth aforesaid Queene of England Thome Presbyteri ..... lapis iste retentum Funus habet .... qui sumptu dedit hoc pauimentum Anno milleno quater et C septuageno Octauo Stephani liquit terrestria festo Vt celi detur requies sibi quisque precetur En iacet hic stratus Helby Thomas vocitatus Saluet eum Christus tribuens sibi gaudia lucis Vnder this ston Ligs Iohn Knapton Who died iust The twenty eight of August M. ... xc and on Of thys Chyrch Peti-Canon Vnder the picture of Saint Peter is portraied the Sea a Ship Nets and Fishes with this distichon Ecclesiam pro naue rego mihi climata mundi Sunt mare Scripture Retia piscis homo The figures of the Sunne and Moone are painted here vpon the Frontispiece of the Clocke to whom the Clocke comparatiuely seemes to speake in this Hexastich vpon the same place likewise depicted Horas significo cunctas quas Phebe diebus Quas solet atque tua pallida nocte Soror Nec magis errarem Rector mihi si foret idem Vos qui et queque regit motibus astra suis. Tempora nam recte designo si mihi doctus Custos assiduam conferat artis opem In English Phoebus I tell all th' houres and all as right As thou or thy pale Sister day and night Nor I no more then you in ought should erre If he ruld mee who guides you and each starre For times I rightly tell to me of 's Art If my learnd keeper will his helpe impart In imitation of this it may bee that Thomas Scot in his Philomythie makes a Clocke to compare with a Diall and the difference to be partly decided by the Wethercocke of which a little although not much to the purpose I confesse Vpon a Church or steeples side neere hand A goodly Clocke of curious worke did stand Which ouerpaysde with lead or out of frame Did time miscall and euery houre misname The Diall hearing this aloud gan crye Kind neighbour Clocke your glib tongue tels a lye Reforme your errour for my Gnomon saith You gad too fast and misse an houres faith Foole quoth the Clocke reforme thy selfe by me The fault may rather in thy Gnomon be Had'st thou told euer truth to what end then Was I plac'd here by th' art of cunning men The Weathercocke vpon the steeple standing And with his sharpe eye all about commanding Heard their contention wild them to appeale To him the chiefe of all that common weale Told them that he was
erexit ... Transit sicut Fulmerston gloria mundi Propitietur Deus animabus Mortuorum Saint Peters Hic iacet Willelmus Knighton ... M. cccc.lxix .... Peter Larke and Elisabeth his wyff on whos souls sweet Iesu haue pite Saint Cuthberts ...... Iohannes Bernard et Elis ..... M. ccccc.xi Here in this towne was a Religious house of Friers Preachers dedicated to the holy Trinitie and Saint Mary which Arfast Bishop of the East-Angles made his Episcopall chaire Afterwards Henry Duke of Lancaster made it a societie of Friers Preachers it was valued at thirty nine pounds sixe shillings nine pence Arfast who died circa annum 1092. was herein buried with this Epitaph vpon his monument Hic Arfaste pie pater optime et Arca Sophie Viuis per merita virtutum laude perita Vos qui transitis hic omnes atque reditis Dicite quod Christi pietas sit promptior isti 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ers Augustines in this I owne was founded by Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and Blanch his wife others say by Henry Earle of Lancaster and Leicester It was valued at three hundred twelue pounds foureteene shillings foure pence Here lye buried Dame Margery Todenham Dame Elisabeth wife of Sir Thomas Hâ—ngraue daughter of Sir Iohn Harling with many other you may imagine whose names I haue not The blacke Friers here was founded by Sir Edmond Gonvile Lord of â—irâ—ingford in this County Parson of Terington and Steward with Iohn Eâ—â—e Warren and with Henry Duke of Lancaster It was dedicated to S. Sepulchre The value I haue not learned Buried in the Church of this monâ—sterâ— were Sir Iohn Bretâ— knight Dame Agnes Honell Dame Maud Talâ—â—e wife of Peter Lord of Rickinghill Dame Anastisia wife of Sir Richard Walsingham A Priory of blacke Canons dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Iohn was here founded by one of the Bigods or Bigots Earle of Norfolke Valued at fourty nine pounds eighteene shillings and a penny Surrendred the 16. of February 31. Hen. 8. Here was a religious structure for blacke Nunnes consecrated to the honour of God and Saint Gregory but by whom sounded I do not know It was valued in the Exchequer at fifty pound nine shillings eight pence Here sometimes stood a Colledge or gild dedicated to the blessed Virgine Mary valued at the suppression to be yearely worth one hundred nine pounds seuen shillings Hugh Bigod or Bigot Steward of the House to King Henry the first built and endowed a religious House here for blacke Monkes Benedictines or Cluniacks These words following are in the Instrument of his Foundation I Hugh Bigod Steward to King Henry by his grant and by the aduice of Heâ—bert Bishop of Norwich haue ordained Monkes of the Order of Cluny in the Church of S. Mary which was the Episcopall seate of Thetford which I gaue vnto them and afterwards founded another more meet for their vse without the Towne This Monastery was found at the suppression to be in the Kings bookes foure hundred eighteene pounds sixe shillings three pence halfe penny of yearely reuenues This Hugh the Founder was created Earle of Norfolke by King Stephen in the first yeare of his raigne He died very aged in the 24. yeare of King Henry the second and was buried in this Priory of his owne foundation to whose memory this Inscription was engrauen vpon his Funerall Monument Orate pro anima religiosissimi viri Hugonis Bigod Fundatoris huius Monasterij Seneschalli Hospitij prepotentissimo Principi Henrico Conquestoris filio Anglie Regi et Comitis Norfolcie qui quidem Hugo obiit pridie Kalend. Martii anno milesimo centesimo septuagesimo octauo Propter miserecordiam Iesu requiescat in pace Anno 1107. Optimates Angliae Richardus de Radvarijs Rogerius cognomento Bigotus mortui sunt in Monasteriis Monachorum sepulti sunt quae in propriis possessionibus ipsi condiderunt Rogerius autem apud Thetfordum in Anglia Richardus vero tumulatus apud Montisburgum in Normannia Super Rogerium Cluniacenses Alonax di tale scripserunt Epitaphium Clauderis exiguo Rogere Bigote sepulchro Et rerum cedit portio parva tibi Diuitiae sanguis facundia gratia Regum Intereunt mortem fallere nemo potest Diuitiae mentes subuertunt erigat ergo Te pietas virtus consiliumque Dei Soli moerebat virgo ter noctibus octo Cùm soluis morti debita morte tua It should seeme by the premisses that this Roger Bigot who was Sewer to King Henry the first and Father of the foresaid Hugh was the first founder of this religious Edifice or at least wise of some other in this Towne for Monkes of the order of Cluny And Stow in his Annalls agrees with my Author Ordericus This yeare saith he Maurice Bishop of London Robert Fitzhamon Roger Bigot founder of the Monastery of Monkes at Thetford Richard Redvers Councellours to the King Milo Crispen and many other Noblemen of England deceased Roger Bigot the second of that surname Earle of the East Angles or Norfolke He died about the yeare 1218. and was here interred Hugh Bigot sonne of the foresaid Roger Earle of Norfolke lay here buried who died the ninth of Henry the third 1225 Roger Bigot sonne and heire of Hugh aforesaid Earle of Norfolke and first Marshall of England of that Family was here entombed if his last will and Testament was performed Of which so much as tends to that purpose In Nomine Patris et Filij et Spiritus Sancti Amen Ego Rogerus Bigot Comes Norfolcie et Mareschallus Anglie in bona prosperitate constitutus condo Testamentum meum sub hac forma Inprimis commendo animam meam Christo c. et corpus meum in Ecclesia beate Marie Thetfordie sepeliendum Postea lego c. Huius Testamenti Executores constituo Dominum Symonem de Monteforti Com. Lecestren Dominum Richardum de Clara Com. Glouern Hertford Dominum Willelmum Malberbe Dominum Thomam Denebanke Dominum Hugonem de Tudeham c. Dat. apud Cestreford die Mercurij proximo ante festum Sancti Barnabe Apostoli anno Domini M.cclviii He died about eleuen yeares after the making of his will without issue of a bruise running at Tilt anno 1269. Roger Bigot the last of that Familie Earle of Norfolke and Marshall of England was here buried together with his first wife Alina Alyva or Adeliza daughter of Philip Lord Basset and widow of Hugh de Spenser Iustice of England she died in Aprill in the ninth yeare of Edward the first and he in the 35. of the said Kings raigne Iohn Lord Mowbray Duke of Norfolke Earle Marshall of England Earle of Nottingham Lord and Baron of Segraue and of Gower sonne and successour of Iohn the first Duke of Norfolke in the dignities aforesaid was here entombed with his wife Elianor daughter of William Lord Bourchier and sister of Henry Bourchier Earle of
Omnem hominem qui secundum Deum viuit remunerari à Deo sperat optat oportet vt puris precibus consensum hilariter ex animo prebeat Quoniam certum est tanto facilius ea que ipse à domino poposcerit consequi posse quanto ipse libentius Deo aliquid concesserit Quocirca ego Ethelbertus Rex Cantie cum consensu venerabilis Archiepiscopi Augustini ac Principum meorum do concedo in honorem Sancti Petri aliquam partem terre inris mei que iacet in oriente ciuitatis Dorobernie ita duntaxat vt monasterium ibi construatur â—es quam supra memoraui in potestate Abbatis sit qui ibi sucris ordinatus 〈◊〉 adinro precipio in nomine Domini Dei omnipotentis qui est omnium Rex Iudex iustus vt presata terra subscripta donatione sempiternaliter sit confirmata ita vt nec mihi nec alicui successorum meorum Regum ant Principum siue cuiuslibet conditionis dignitatibus Ecclesiasticis gradibus de ea aliquid fraudare liceat Si quis vero de hac donatione aliquid imminuere ant irritum facere tentauerit sit in presenti seperatus à sancta communione corporis sanguinis Christi in die Iuditij ob meritum malitie sue à consortio Sanctorum omnium segregatus Dorobernie Anno ab incarnatione Christi Sexcentesimo qâ—into Indictione octaua Ego Ethelbertus Rex Cantie sana mente integroque consilio donationem meaâ—â— signo sancte Crucis propria 〈◊〉 nu roboraui conâ—irmanique Austin did also confirme and strengthen King Ethelberts donation by his owne Bull or charter and exempted this Abbey from all Archiepiscopall iurisdiction Varijsque reliquijs Diuorum quas Roma auexerat ornaâ—il Inter quas suit pars inconsutilis Domini tunicae et virge Aaron And enriched it with diuers reliques of Saints which hee had brought with him from Rome amongst which was a part of Christs seamelesse Cote and of Aarons Rod. And here by the way obserue that Austin sealed his deeds or charters bulla plumbea with a leaden Bull which many ages afterwards Richard Archbishop of Canterbury went about to infringe and infirme Quod is signandi modus Romanis Pontificibus proprius esset Because that manner of signing was proper to the Bishops of Rome About which time Philip Earle of â—landers sent ouer into England the like Bull of a certaine Bishop by which he and the Bishops before him vsed to seale their writings The reuenues of this Monasterie were augmented by King Edgar of which will it please you reade his Charter In nomine Trino diuino Regi regâ—anti in perpetuum Domino Deo Sabaoth cui patent cuncta penetralia cordis ei corporis c. Ego Eadgarus Rex Anglorum do et concedo Sancto Augusti o Anglorum Apostolo et Fraâ—◠〈◊〉 in illo sancto Cenobio conuersantibus terram quatuor aratrorum que nominatur Plumstede Hanc ergo terram â—um consensu Archiepiscopi Dunstant optimatumque meorum libenti animo concedo pro redemptione anime mee vt cam teneant perhenniterque habeant Si quis vero heredum Successorumquâ— meorum hanc meam donationem seruare vel amplificare staduerit seruetur ei benedictio sempiterna Si autem sit quod non optamus quod alicuius Persone Homo diabolica temeritate insligatus surreperit qui vel hanc meam donationem infringere in aliquo temptauerit Sciaâ— se ante Tribunal summi et eterni Iudicis rationem esseredditurum â—isi ante digna et placabili satisfacti one Deo et sancto Augustino Fratribusque emendare voluerit Ego Edgarus Anglorum Monarchus hoc donum roboraui Ego Dunstanus Archiepiscopus consensi c. These lands being taken away by Earle Godwin and giuen to his sonne Tostic were restored backe againe to this Abbey by the Conquerour Whose letters patents ranne in this forme In nomine sancte et indiuidue Trinitatis patris et silij et spiritus sancti Ego Wilhelmus Dei gracia Rex Anglorum statum Ecclâ—siarum Regne mei corroborans et vacillata hactenus in melius confirmans atque iniuste ablata restituens Concedo et annuo sancto Augustino et Fratribus suo Cenobio commorantibus terram que dicitur Plumstede Hanc terram à prâ—memorato Sancto Augustino et Fratribus loci antiquitus possessam Godwynus comes fraude et vi iniuste abstulerat et suo filio Tostit dederat quam tamen Rex Edwardus postea Sancto reddiderat sit varijs euentibus possessa ablata restituta neiam vlterius calumpnie pateat aut cuiusquam querimonia à Cenobio Sancti Augustini supradictam villam auferat inde Cyrographum hoc confirmo vt cam habeant tencant possideant Monachi Sancti Augustini in perpetuum Si quis antem huic nostre authoritati contrarius boc violare presumpserit eterna maledictionis dampnatione se mulctandum nouerit et regie vindicte subiâ—cebit Ego Wilhelmus gratia Dei Rex Angloram hanc cartam confirmo et meis firmandam committo Ego Odo Archiepiscopus Baiocensis Calumpniam quam in ipsa terra habebam relinquo et lubens subscribo Ego Wilhelmus Londonens Episcopus subscribo c. But this Abbey was endowed with ample reuenues by many others so that being valued at the dissolution like the rest of all such religious foundations at a fauourable and farre vnder-rate it amounted to bee yearely worth 1412. l. 4. s. 7 d. ob q. It was surrendred 4. Decemb. 29. Hen. 8. Saint Austine replenished this house with blacke Monkes Benedictines and ordained it to be the place of Sepulture for the kings of Kent for himselfe and all succeeding Archbishops The first king here interred was the foresaid Ethelbert who after hee had gloriously raigned the space of 56. yeares and had enlarged the frontiers of his Empire as farre as the great Riuer Humber entred into the eternall blisse of the kingdome on heauen The yeare of our redemption 616. and in the 13 yeare after he had receiued the Christian faith As I finde it in this old Manuscript Ethelbert cleped the hely king of Kent In the yer of grace six hundryd and sixtene Deide and of Christendome the xxi y wene Six and fifty Wynter he had regnyd her And aftur Edbald hys son regne gan ther. He was buried on the North side of the Church vpon whose Monument this Epitaph was engrauen Rex Ethelbertus hic clauditur in Polyandro Fana pians certe Christo meat absque Meandâ—â— King Ethelbert lieth here closde in this Polyander For building Churches sure he goes to Christ without Meander Berta his wife was here likewise interred who was the daughter of Chilperick king of France who was grandchilde to Clouis the first Christian king of that famous nation this woman was conuerted to Christianity before she came out of her owne countrey and before Austins
arriuall here in England and was married to king Ethelbert with these conditions made by her parents That it should be lawfull for her to keepe inuiolable the rites of her Religion and enioy the presence and instructions of her learned Bishop Luitharde whom they appointed to assist and helpe her in matters of her faith She was a woman of vertuous and holy inclination spending much of her time in prayer almes-deeds and other workes of charitie frequenting daily her Oratorie within Saint Martins a Church built in former times by the beleeuing Romanes wherein her reuerend assistant Luitardus vsed also to instruct and exhort the people to newnesse of life and Religion so that by her example and his preaching many of the Kentish Paynims were brought in to beleeue the glad tydings of the Gospell These proceedings with his wiues perswasions wrought so effectually with good king Ethelbert that his heart was softned and his eares already opened to receiue and embrace the doctrine of S. Austine Whereupon some do gather that the happinesse of his and his Subiects conuersion may as well be attributed to Berta and her French attendants as to Austine and his fellow-disciples Of which an old namelesse Rimer very ancient Whan Ethilbert hadde regned bot a yer Sent Awstyn hym to Cristen feyth conuert Thrughe goddys grase as clerly dyd apere Who hadde to wyffe Berta that was advert To Cristen feyth in Fraunce afore convert That helpt therto wyth all hur dylygens As Awstyn dyd wythe all benyvolens She was likewise an earnest parswader and a pertaker with her husband Ethelbert in and for the propagating and erecting of Religion and religious structures as I obserue out of the same Authour Kynge Ethilbert wythe ryall gret expens Gret Mynsters made of hyghe reuyrens In Rochestre and eke in Canterbery For Bysschoppys sees that wer ful necessary Atte London eke sent Pawles edyfyed In whyche so then shuld be the Bysschoppys Se Thus hely Câ—yrch tha Pâ—yns ther fortyfyed Wythe alle kynde thynge that was necessary For sustenauns of the Christyante So dydde hys wyff hur part wythe all hur myght To fortefy the cristen in thâ—yr ryght This blessed Queene died before her husband neare vnto whom he desired to be buried ann 622. for whom this Distich was composed Moribus ornata iacet hic Regina beata Berta Deo grata fuit ac homini peramata Here sometime lay the body of Edbald entombed king of Kent the sonne and heire of the before named Ethelbert by his Queene Berta who began his raigne as wickedly as his father ended his worthily for hee refused to entertaine the doctrine of Christ and polluted himselfe by the marriage of his mother in law his owne fathers second wife but at length being conuerted by Archbishop Lawrence from his idolatrie and incestuous matrimonie hee endeuoured by all meanes possible to propagate and maintaine the state of the Gospell The king of Kent Edbald his furst wyf forsoke And held hym to hys Christendom yat he furst toke And built a Chappell within this Monasterie in honour of Mary the blessed mother of God endowing it with sufficient maintenance wherein after the continuance of 24. yeares raigne hee was buried ann 640. His wife Emma the daughter of Theodebert king of Lorraine was buryed by him Here lieth Ercombert the sonne of the said Edbald king of Kent a religious king who suppressed all the Temples of the heathen Idols and commanded the fast of Lent to be obserued His wife Sexburgh daughter of Anna king of the East Angles was layed by him This King hauing raigned foure and twentie yeares and odde monethes finished his dayes ann 664. Egbert succeeded his father Ercombert and if the murther of his two cosin-Germans had not much blemished his peaceable gouernment he might well haue holden place with the worthiest of the Kentish kings He died in the tenth yeare of his raigne anno 673. and was buried here by his predecessours And so in like manner this Church was honoured with the sepulchres of Lothaire Withred Edelbert and other Kentish kings and also with the shrines of many English Saints whose sacred Reliques as they were then esteemed brought both great veâ—â—ration and bencht to this religâ—ouâ— Structure The first man of eminencie that I finde to haue bâ—ene eâ—shrined in this Abbey was Saint Augustine the first Archbishop of this See of Canterbury a Romane borre and a Monke of Saint Benets order who with others was sent hither out of Italie by Gregory the great Pope of Rome to preach the word of God to this our English nation hee with his fellowes to the number of fourty persons landed in the Isle of Tenet within this County where they were shortly after visited of king Ethelbert But the story is frequent and I shall be often touching vpon it by the way and hiâ— Legend is too long for my intended short discourse therefore I hope the Reader will rest contented with this abbreuiation for both Whils Ethelbert was reignyng kyng of Kent Sainct Austin sent by Gregory of R. bishop Landed in Tenet with Clerkes of his assent And many Monkes to teache the saith I hope That clothed were vnder a blacke cope Whiche in Procession with crosses and Bells came The Latinies syngyng in Iesus his name In the yere of Chryst his incarnacion Fiue hundreth fourescore and sixtene King Ethelbert had in his dominacion Alâ— Kent throughout with greate ioy as was seen Were baptised then in holy water clene To whome Gregory sent Mellito and Iusto With other Clerkes and Doctors many mo Gregory him made Archbishop of Canterbury Of all Englande hiest then Primate And had the Paule with hiest legacye By Gregory sent to him and ordinate Fro London then thus was that tyme translate To Canterbury the sea Metropolitan And London sette as for his suffrigan Saynt Augustine then with helpe of Ethelbert Saynt Augustines made and Christes Church also That Christes Church hight as it was adverte And sacred so by hym and halowed tho For the chiefe Sea Metropolitan so Of all England by Gregory ordinate And Saynt Augustine of all England Primate This man was of an exceeding tall stature well fauoured of a very amiable countenance but of his learning I finde little worthy of remembrance sine doctrina sana docebat saith one ac sine perceptibili lingua ignotae praedicabat genti He died the 26. of May in the thirteenth yeare of his first entrance into England and was buried first without doores neare to the Church of this Monastery because the Church was not finished and afterwards his body was remoued into the North Porch of the said Church in which place fiue of his Successours were likewise interred Vpon the Tombe of this Austine this Epitaph was insculped in Latine thus translated Here resteth the body of Augustine the first Archbishop of Canterbury that was sent into this Land by Saint
the Chapter house with this Epitaph vpon his Monument En paruus Abbas hic parua clauditur arca In gestis magnus maior nec erat Patriarcha Willelmus Druleg illustri dignus honore Conuentum claustri qui multo rexit amore Pro dilectoris anima tui dulciter ora Sancti Augustini conuentus qualibet hora. I finde little or indeed nothing at all of such Abbots as succeeded little Drulege sauing their names thus recorded Iohn Deueniche the 57. Thomas Colwell 58. Michaell Peckham 59. William Wâ—ld 60. Thomas Hunden 61. Marcellus Dandlyon 62. Iohn Hawlherst 63. George Pensherst 64. Iacob Seuenoke 65. William Selling 66. Iohn Dunster 67. Iohn Dygon 68. Thomas Hampton 69. and Iohn Essex 70. So that by this account there hath beene more Archbishops of Christ-Church then Abbots of Saint Austins by the number of three reckoning those sixe Bishops which haue beene since the dissolution The Abbot of this house was euer a Baron of the Parliament In S. Anns Chappell within the Church of this Monastery lay sometime buried the body of Iulian the daughter and heire of Sir Thomas Lâ—yborne knight The widow saith Vincent of Iohn Lord Hastings of Aburgaueny and mother of Lawrence Hasting Earle of Pembroke and after that wife of William de Clinton Earle of Huntington and Lord high Admirall of England who dyed about the yeare 1350. But of all these and thousands more here interred whose names I cannot learne not one bone at this time lies neare another nor one stone almost of the whole fabricke stands vpon another therefore I will take my leaue of this Abbey with these words of a late writer This Monasterie saith he as all the rest did came to her fatall period in the dayes of king Henry the eight whose vncouered walls stood so long languishing in time and stormes of weather that daily increased the aspect of her ruines till now lastly they are made subiect to other publicke vses and the whole tract of that most goodly foundation in the same place no where appearing Onely Ethelberts Tower in memorie and honour of the man as yet hath escaped the verdict and sentence of destruction whose beauty though much de faced and ouerworne will witnesse to succeeding ages the magnificence of the whole when all stood compleate in their glory together The reuenues yearely of this house were in the Exchequer 1412. l. 4. s. 7. d. ob q. it was surrendred 4. Decemb. 29. H. 8. At Harbaldowne not farre from this Monastery Archbishop Lanâ—rank built an Hospâ—tall and dedicated the same to the honour of Saint Iohn to the which he annexed a Priorie of blacke Canons valued both together at the dissolution to 266. l. 4 s. 5. d. ob of yearely reuenue it was ordained for the lame and diseased which as yet is not altogether suppressed although much abated as I heare of her annuall possessions In which house was reserued the vpper leather of an old shoe which had beene worne as they gaue it out by Saint Thomas Becket this shoe as a sacred Relique was offered to all passengers to kisse faire set in copper and christall Hackington commonly called S. Stephens by Cant. This Church in former times was honoured with the sepulture of Lora or Lorâ—atta Countesse of Leicester daughter of William Lord Brews of Brember in Suffex and wife of Robert de Beâ—lemont surnamed Fitzpâ—rnell Earle of Leicester and Lord high Steward of England a most honourable Lady who hauing abandoned all worldly pleasures sequestred her selfe wholly from the world to serue God deuoutly in this place who dyed about the yeare 1219. The manor and Towne of Elham was her inheritance Hic iacet Dominus Iohannes Gower nuper Vicarius istius Ecclesie qui obijt Decemb. 27. 1457. Cuius anâ—â—e Hic iacet Dominus Iohannes â—â—ne quondam Vicarius istius Ecclesie qui obijt 8. Aug. 1457. Cuius anime pâ—â—pittetur altissimus Sir Christopher Hales and Sir Roger Manwood lie here fairely entomâ—ed of whom hereafter according to my method But I must not let passe seuen almes houses here built by the said Sir Roger Manwood chiefe Baron of the Exchequer ann 1573. for aged honest poore folkes which he endowed with a yearely allowance of foure pounds in money bread and fewell for euery one of those almes-men It was called S. Stephens fâ—r that the image of Saint Stephen standing where the garden now is belonging to Sir Manwoods great house was sought vnto by many pilgrimes Reculuer At the vpper end of the South isle in this Church I saw a Monument of an antique forme mounted with two spires Wherein as the Inhabitants haue it by tradition the body of one Ethelbert a Saxon king who had his pallace royall here in Reculuer lieth entombed and the Anuals of Canterbury affirme as much And true it is that Ethelbert the first and first Christian king built here a Princely mansion for himselfe and his successours wherein diuers of the Kentish kings sometimes kept their courtly residence But whether he be this Ethelbert the second or Ethelbert surnamed Pren that lieth here interred it is not much materiall for they both dyed without any memorable act either of themselues or their kingdomes affaires and so dyed Cuthred and Baldred their next successours and the last kings of Kent Which kingdome erected by Hengist the yeare of mans happinesse 455. continued her gouernment 372. and ended her glory in the yeare 827. being made a Prouince to the West-saxons Egbert or Egbright the seuenth king of Kent in succession after Hengist gaue to one Bassa an English Saxon some land here in Reculuer whereupon he built him a Minster or a Monastery whereof Brightwald afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury was the first Abbot so that of this man and the Minster the poore Townes men may make great vaunts Here lyeth ..... Sandwey Esquire and â—oane his wife who dyed 1437. Hen. sex 16. Hic iacet Dominus Thomas .... qui ob ..... Vos qui transitis Thomam deslere velitis Per me nunc scitis quid prodest gloria ditis Minster in the Isle of Tenet Here in this Church lyeth a Lady entombed in a Monument vpreared after a strange fashion inscribed with a Saxon-like character Ici gist Edile de Shornerepust Dame del espire I thinke her name was rather Thorne then Shorne one letter being mistaken for another in the engrauing My reason is this for that in this Parish there is a place called Thorne Neare vnto this Monument lie three flat Tombe-stones vnder which as I coniecture by the effigies vpon them three vailed Nunnes of the Saxon Nobilitie and of S. Mildreds Monasterie lye interred but the Inscriptions are gone Which Monasterie was founded vpon this occasion Egbert king of Kent aspiring to the Crowne by the traiterous murder of his two young Nephewes Ethelred and Ethelbert to pacifie Domneua sister to the said murdered Princes
the holy crosse so denominated of wearing a Crosse anciently called a Crouch vpon their garments and of bearing the crosse for the badge and Armes of their house This house was valued at the suppression to 52 l. 13 s. 2 d. of annuall profits A Petition to Secretary Cromwell against the Prior of this house a little before the dissolution thereof Pleasethe it your honourable mastoreship to be aduertesid that in the time of Lent last past your continuall orator Iohn Bartelote with others to the number of fiue persons of good conuersation found the Priore of the Crossyd Friores in London at that time being in bed with his whoore both naked about xi of the clocke in the forenoone vpon a Friday at which time the said Priore to the intent his misdemeanour and shamefull fact should not be knowne whereby he should sustaine open shame kneeled vpon his knees and not onely desired your said orator and his company to keepe secret his said act and not to disclose in any wife the same but for the same intent freely and of his owne motion gaue amongst them about xxx l. which he then was possessed of of the which summe your Orator had by the said gift about vii l. And also the said Priore promised to giue amongst the said company xxx l. more by a certaine day and after by mediation of friends of the said Priore the said xxx l. was released to the summe of vi l. which sixe pounds the said Priore bound himselfe to pay to the said Orator by his Bill obligatory at a certaine day in the same limeted Yet this notwithstanding for by cause your said Orator for non paiment of the said vi l. did arrest the said Priore he hath so hainously informed the Lord Chancelour against your Orator that he will onely put him to shewertie making the premisses a hainous Robbery saying openly that your Orator is worthy to be hanged but also will by his high authoritie compell your Orator to repay agen to the said Priore the some of xxx l. vnlesse your most charetable goodnesse bee therein otherwise shewed It may therefore plese your good Mastershipe of your abundant goodnesse to prouide that the premeses may be duly examined according to equitie for this is the very and hole truth in the same And your seid Oratore shall prey to God for your honor and preseruation long to endure By your humble Oratore to his power during his life Iohn Bartelote Saint Katherines by the Tower This was the Church belonging to the Hospitall dedicated to the honour of Saint Katherine founded by Queene Maud the wife of King Stephen and much augmented by Eleanor the wife of King Edward the first and Philip wife to King Edward the third who left to it sufficient liuelihood for a Master 3 Brethren Chaplaines and 3 Sisters tenne poore women and sixe poore Clarkes This house was valued at the generall suppression at 315 l. 14 s. 2 d. per annum Here vnder an Ancient monument â—ouly defaced lieth entombed the body of Iohn Holland Duke of Exceter Earle of Huntington and of Iuory in Normandy Lord of Sparre Admirall of England Ireland and Aquitaine Lieuetenant Generall of the Duchie of Aquitaine Fellow of the honourable order of the Garter and Constable of the Tower of London as he writ in his stile when Henry the fift in the fift of his raigne was to goe ouer into Normandy this puissant Iohn Holland as then but Earle of Huntington was sent before to scoure the seas who meeting with nine Carrickes of Genoa which were going to aide the French King fought with them and sunke sixe of them and tooke the other three with great store of money and treasure and brought them with his prisoners to the King This battaile was fought nere Harflew vpon the fall of the Riuer Seyne into the narrow seas of which an old versifier They faught full sore afore the water of Sayn With Carrickes many well stuffed and arayed And many other shippes great of Hispayn Barges Balyngers and Galleys vnfrayed Whiche proudly came vpon our Shippes vnprayed And by th'euen their sailes aualed were set Their enemies slaine in battayll and sore bet And many dryent were that daye in the Sea That as our flete rode there then alway Vnto the feast next of his Natiuitee The Bodies flete among our Shippes eche daye Full piteous was and to see theim ay That thousandes were twenty as they then told That taken were in that same batayll bold This valiant braue Duke died full of yeares the fift of August in the 25. yeere of King Henry the sixt Anno 1447. Here lye entombed by him his two wiues the first was Anne daughter of Edmund Earle Stafford by his wife Anne the heire of Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Glocester by whom hee had issue Henry Duke of Exceter She had bin formerly married vnto Edmund Mortimer Earle of March and Vlster I cannot finde the time of her death His second wife here entombed was also Anne daughter of Io. Mountague the third of that name Earle of Salisbury who formerly had bin twise married to Sir Richard Hanckford to Sir Iohn Fitz-Lewis Knights She died the 27 of Nouember 1457. Here lieth likewise entombed the body of Constance sister of the foresaid Iohn Duke of Exceter daughter of Iohn Holland first of that name Duke of Exceter married to Thomas Lord Mowbray the sonne of Thomas who died in banishment Duke of Norfolke Earle of Nottingham and Earle Marshall of England and remarried to Sir Iohn Grey Lord Grey of Ruthin she died the sixteenth of Henry the sixt New Abbey in East-Smithfield Before the foundation of this Abbey there stood in the same place a little Chappell within a Coemitorie or Church-yard dedicated to the honour of God by Raph Stratford Bishop of London wherein were interred innumerable many of such persons as died in the first great Pestilence the 23 of King Edward the third Now the said King liking well this plot of ground and hauing before in a tempest on the sea and perill of drowning made a vow to build a Monastery to the honour of God and our Lady of Grace if God would grant him grace to come safe to land builded here a Monastery wherein he placed white Monkes of the Cistercian order which house at the generall suppression was valued at 546 l. 10 d. yearely The Kings store-house for victuall and for baking of Biskets to serue his Maiesties Ships is built in the same place where this Abbey stood The Minories Here was an Abbey of Nunnes of the order of Saint Clare founded by Blanch Queene of Nauarre and her husband Edmund Earle of Lancaster Leicester and Darby brother to King Edward the first in the yeere 1293. This house was valued to dispend yeerely 418 l. 8 s. 5 d. and was surrendred by Dame Elizabeth Sauage the last Abbesse there vnto King Henry
laid his foundation 137â— His death was much lamented by the King the Nobilitie and commons of all England for with singular commendations hee had for a long time serued vnder Edward the third in the French warres and was employed by him vpon seuerall Embasies and his truth and good councell was euer much auailable to the whole state of the kingdome His obsequies were performed with great solemnity King Edward the third and all his children with the greatest Prelates and Lord Barons of the kingdome being there present His wife Margaret was here entombed with him by whom he had issue Thomas Manye who in his youth was drowned in a Well at Detford in Kent and Anne then his onely daughter and heire married to Iohn Lord Hastings Earle of Penbroke Margaret Lady Manye saith Iohn Stow here interred yet the Catalogue of Honour will haue her to be buried in the Minories died the 24. of March 1399. she was the onely daughter of Thomas of Brotherton Earle of Norfolke and Marshall of England second sonne of King Edward the first and her fathers onely heire after the death of her brother Edward which happened in the same yeare that his father departed the world She was for the greatnesse of her birth her large reuenewes and wealth created Dutchesse of Norfolke for terme of life she had beene first married to Iohn Lord Segraue and her last husband was the foresaid Sir Walter Manny Here sometime was interred the body of Philip Morgan Doctor of Law Chancelour of Normandy and Bishop of Ely a very wise man who with great commendations gouerned that See nine yeeres sixe moneths and foure daies and departed this life at Bishops-Hatfield October 25. 1434. Many funerall monuments were in this Church as you may finde them mentioned in the Suruay of London This religious house is now turned into an Hospitall consisting of a Master a Preacher a Free-Schoole with a Master and an Vsher fourescore decaied gentlemen Souldiers and forty schollers maintained with sufficient cloathing meate drinke lodging and wages besides Officers and Ministers to attend vpon them all so that the whole number now in the house with the attendants is one hundred and fourescore The greatest gift that euer at any time in England no Abbey at the first foundation thereof excepted or therewith to bee compared being the gift of one man onely whose name was Thomas Sutton of Castle Campes in the County of Cambridge Esquire borne at Knaith in the County of Lincolne who liued to the age of 79 yeares and deceased the 12. day of December 1611. somewhat before this his famous Foundation was fully accomplished Great Saint Bartholomewes This Priorie was founded by one Rahere a pleasant conceited wittie gentleman and a Courtier in the raigne of King Henry the first which he dedicated to the honour of God and Saint Bartholomew and placed therein blacke Canons or Canons regular himselfe became their first Prior his foundation was confirmed in these words Henricus Rex c. Sciatis me concessisse presenti carta me confirmasse Ecclesie beati Bartholomei London que est Dominica Capella mea et canonicis dominicis in ea Domino seruientibus quod sint ab omni subiectione terrena seruitute liberi vt sic aliqua Ecclesia in tota Anglia magis libera c. dat per manum nostram apud Winton 15 Iunij Anno reg 37. Here he died and was here buried in a faire monument renewed by Prior Bolton which Bolton was the last Prior of this house a great builder and repairer of the Priorie and the Parish Church and of diuers lodgings belonging to the same as also of new he builded the Mannor of Canonbury now called Canbury at Islington which belonged to the Canons of this house This Bolton and the rest of his brethren were portraied vpon a Table sometimes hanging in this Church now it is in Sir Robert Cottons Librarie holding vp their hands to the Crucifixe vnder whom these verses were depensiâ—d Gulielmo Bolton precibus succurrite vestris Qualis erat pater hic Domus hec cetera monstrant He died at his Parsonage house at Harrow vpon the hill as I haue it by relation the fourth of Edward the sixt and was there interred He surrendred vp this his Priorie the 30 of Henry the 8. which was then valued at 757 l. 8 s. 4 d. ob q. by yeere Here sometime lay entombed the body of Roger Walden Bishop of London Neuer had any man better experience of the variable vncertaintie of worldly felicity then he for from the estate of a very poore man he was suddenly raised to be Treasurer of England hauing beene first Secretarie to the King Deane of Yorke and Treasurer of the towne of Calis and then made Archbishop of Canterbury which honour he enioyed not past two yeares but was remoued from the same and forced to leade a priuate life a long time At last being once more lift vp to the honour of this Bishopricke of London he left this present life within the compasse of the yeere following Of this man thus writeth Thomas Walsingham who liued in those times and much what to the same effect I will vse his owne language Anno 1406. Dominus Rogerus de Waldene debitum Naturae soluit qui varia fortuna vectus expertus est sub breui tempore Quam sit inconstans incerta volubilis ipsa Errans instabilis vaga quae dum stare putatur Occidit et falso mutatur gaudia vultu Nempe ex pauperculo factus est Regni Thesaurarius and so proceeds on forwards with his story Vpon his monument this Epitaph was inlayd in brasse Hic iacet Rogerus de Walden Episcopus Londinens qui cum in vtraque fortuna plurimuÌ„ laborauit ex hac vita migrauit 2 die Nouem an dom 1406 Vir cultor verus Domini iacet intra Rogerus Walden Fortuna cus nunquam steterat vna Nunc requiem tumuli Deus omnipotens dedit illi Gaudet et in celis plaudet vbi quisque fidelis He denied his preferment to the Bishoppricke of London being preferred vnto him by the Pope saying that he would not accept of it from any but from the king As I finde thus recorded in the Tower Cum summus Pontifex nuper prouidisset Rogero Walden de Ecclesia Cathedral London prefatus tamen Rogerus dominicum beneficium sine Regis assensu et licentia acceptare noluit nec vult ni presenti Rex concedit eidem Rogero licentiam quod ipse tanquam verus Pastor et Episcopus dicte Ecclesie Cathedralis eandem ecclesiam capere valeat et acceptare T. R. apud W. 24. Iunij Little Saint Bartholomewes This Hospitall for the poore and diseased was founded by the forenamed Rahere Prior of great Saint Bartholomewes to be gouerned by a Master and eight Brethren being Priests for the Church and foure Sisters to see the poore
suorum Deus omnipotens pro sua magna miserecordia propitietur Amen This French Epitaph following was not long since to be read engraued vpon the monument of one of the Argentons Reignauld de Argentein ci gist Que câ—st Chappell feire fist Fu't cheualier sainct Mairie Chescinipardon pour l'alme prie Englished Regnald de Argentyne here is laid That caused this Chappell to be made He was a Knight of Seynt Mary the Virgin Therfor prey pardon for his sin The foundation of the Priory of Wymley or Wymondley Within this ancient and famous Lordship of Wymley held by the most honourable tenure with vs saith Camden which our Lawiers terme Grand Seargeanty namely that the Lord thereof should serue vnto the Kings of England vpon their Coronation day the first cup one Richard de Argâ—nton descended from Dauid de Argenton a Norman and a martiall Knight who vnder King William the Conquerour serued in the warres Lord of this Mannor diuolued now by marriage to the Alingtons Founded a Priorie for Canons regular valued at the suppression to to be yeerely worth thirtie seuen pounds ten shillings sixe halfe penny Within the Towne of Hitching was a little Priorie called New-bigging valued to bee worth fifteene pounds one shilling eleuen pence of yeerely reuenue Ashwell Of yowr cheritie sey for the soul of Elizabeth Annstell a Pater Noster and an Aue .... 1511. Presbiter egregius prostratus morte Radulphus Howel Grammaticus iacet hic sub marmore pressus Tullius ore fuit Prisciani dicta resoluens Multos instruxit in Christo vota reuoluens Erat in Ecclesia pianumina semper honorans Mane sero Bacchi sugiens loca crimina plorans Dulcia frustrauit fercula plena fugauit Sepe ieiunauit Christo mentem reperauit Mundum despexit sic multa volumina scripsit Que regit rexit saluet Deus hunc rogo sic sit Anno Mil. C quater octogeno quoque sumpto Monsis Aprilis decessit ille secundo Here in the north Isle Iohn Hinxworth and Martina his wife lie buried vnder a monument defaced which seemeth to be of great antiquitie Perpetuis annis memores estote Iohannis Henrici dictus proles hic â—acet arbore strictus Bursa non strictus hoc Templo gessit amicus Et meritis morum fuerat ... sociorum Sic prece verborum scandet precor alta polorum M. C quater septenis ter tres minor vno Prima luce Iunij nunc vermibus hic requiescit Hic iacet magister Thomas Colby in Decretis Bachalarius istius Ecclesie nuper vicarius qui ob 19. die mens Septemb. Ann. 1489. Cuius Orate pro .... Walteri Summoner ..... I reade that one Walter Sumner whether this here interred or no I know not held the Mannor of Ashwell of the King by pettie Sergeantie viz. to finde the King Spits to rost his meate vpon the day of his Coronation And Iohn Sumner his Sonne held the same Mannor by Seruice to turne a Spit in the Kings Kitchin vpon the day of his Coronation Ann. 6. Ed. 2. Ann. 35. Ed. tertij Hinxworth Orate pro animabus Iohannis Lambard ciuis et Merceri ac Aldermanni London qui obiit 1487. et Anne vxoris sue que obiit ..... 1400 quorum anime per miserecordiam dei in pace eterna requiescant Amen Orate pro ... Symonis Ward Elene vxoris sue Qui quidem Symon ob xi Decemb. 1453. Elena obiit 21. Augusti 1483. Quorum .... Orate pro anima Iohannis Ward Maioris London qui istam fenestram .... This Ward was Lord Maior in the second of Richard the third in which yeare were three Lord Maiors and three Sheriffes of London by reason of a sweating sicknesse whereof they dyed This Iohn Ward was sonne to Richard Ward of Holden in the Countie of Yorke Barley Edward Chamberleine Clerk gist icy Dieu de salme eit mercy Amen Qi morust en August le xxii Ior M.ccc.lxxv de nostre Seignor Orate pro salubri statu Domini Willelmi Warham Legum Doctoris Pauli London Canonici magistri Rotulorum Cancellarii Regis ac Rectoris de Barley This Warham remembred here in the glasse window was sometime Archbishop of Canterbury Of whom I haue spoken before in Christ-church Canterbury the place of his buriall Sum Rosa pulsata mundi Maria vocata Roiston Rohesia the daughter of Aubrey de Vere chiefe Iustice of England vnder Henry the first sister to Aubrey de Vere the first Earle of Oxford and wife to Geffrey Magna-ville or Mandevill the first Earle of Essex erected where now this Towne of Roiston standeth a Crosse in the high-way which was thought in that age a pious worke to put passengers in minde of Christs passion whereupon it was called Crux Rohesiae before there was either Church or Towne But afterwards saith Vincent out of the Records in the Tower when Eustach de Merch knight Lord of Nauells in this tract had adioyned thereunto a little Monasterie of Canons regular in honor of S. Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury then were Innes built here So that in processe of time by little little it grew to be a Towne which in stead of Rohesiaes Crosse was called Rohesiaes Towne and now contracted into Roiston This Priory was augmented in her reuenues and renewed by Radulphus de Runcester and others Richard the first giues and confirmes Monasterio Sancti Thome Martyris apud crucem Rohesie Canonicis ibidem locum ipsum in quo idem Monasterium fundatum est cum pertinentiis suis que Eustachius de Merc fundator ipsius Monasterii Radulphus de Roucester et alii fideles rationabiliter dedere eis Anno Reg. 1. In Arch. Turris London Cart. antiq R. So that at the suppression the same was valued at eightie nine pounds sixteene shillings The Catalogue of Religious houses saith one hundred sixe pound three shillings and a pennie In a ruinous wall of this decayed Priory lies the proportion of a man cut in stone which say the Inhabitants was made to the memorie of one of the Founders who lieth thereby interred Here in this Towne was also an Hospitall by whom founded I cannot learne dedicated to the honour of Saint Iohn and Saint Iames Apostles suppressed and valued but at 5. l. sixe shillings and ten pence by yeare Pelham Furnix Vpon an old Tombe wherein a Priest lieth interred Hic iacet elatum corpus maris fore reatum Indignus Flamen Christi matris posco leuamen Of yowr cherite pray for the sowl of Iohn Daniell of Felsted Esquoyr and Margery his wife Which Iohn died the vii of October M. ccccc.xix Orate pro anima Iohannis Newport Armig. heredis Roberti Newport Ar. Marie vxoris eius vnius filiarum Iohannis Alington de Horsheth in Com. Cantab. Ar. qui quidem Iohannes Newport obiit primo
Maria miserere nobis Ioanna Sancta dei genetrix virgo virginum miserere nobis Here lieth interred vnder an ancient monument very ruinous the body of one Leche a great benefactor to this Church as appeareth by this his broken Epitaph ................... Quo non est nec erit nec clarior extitit vllus .... clausum hoc marmore .... habet Huic Lech nomen erat diuine legis amator Huius quem Templi curam habuisse palam est Iste huic multa dabat sacro donaria Fano Inceptique operis sedulus Author erat Pauperibus fuit inde pius pauit miserosque Et me qui temere hec carmina composui Sit Huius ergo anima ..... celum .... vt altum Huc quiades instanti pectore funde preces Prey for the soul of Katerin Semar Walter Coke Roger Pirke and Thomas Semar husband to the seyd Katerin principall founder of the preest which singeth before the Trinity For thees soulys sey a Pater noster and an Aue of cherite Who so hym bethoft ful inwardly and oft How hard t is to flit from bed to the pit From pit vnto peyne which sal neuer end certeyne He wold not do on sin al the world to win Orate .... Hugonis Price Abbatis Monasterij de Conwey Cicestrens ordinis Assauens Dioces qui ab hac vita migrauit ad Christum viii Iulij M. ccccc.xx.viii Conditur hoc tumulo corpus Chynt ecce Iohannis Doctrine speculum plebi qui fulfit in annis Istius Ecclesie regimen contraxerat ipse Atque cacumine Doctorali vixit ille M. C quater anno sexagenoque secundo Martini festo decessit ab orbe molesto Autor Sophie suffragia facta Marie Per te Magdelena sint mihi remedia Vicarius gratus Robertus Wylde vocitatus Hic iacet et mundus prudens fuit atque facundus Pacem seruauit et oues proprias bene pauit Et residens annis bis denis plus quoque trinis Anno milleno sic C quater octuageno Quarto lux dena septena fuit sibi pena Ianuar. .... cuius celo sit amena This Towne was famous in times past saith Clarentieux for a Castle of the Magnauilles which now is almost all vanished out of sight and an Abbey adioyning founded in a place very commodious in the yeare 1136. wherein the Magnauilles founders thereof were buried The principall and first founder hereof was Geffrey Magnauile or Mandeuill the first Earle of Essex with Rohesia or Rose his wife daughter of Aubrey de Vere chiefe Iustice of England who consecrated this their religious Structure to the honour of God the blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Iames the Apostle endowed it with large reuenues and placed therein blacke Monkes to which effect will it please you reade a few words out of his deed of Grant Gaufridus de Mandeuilla comes Essex c. salutem Ad vniuersitatis vesire noticiam volo peruenire me fundasse quoddam monasterium in vsus Monachorum apud Waldenam in honore Dei et sancte Marie et beati Iacobi Apostoti pro salute anime mee et omnium parentum antecessorum successsorum meorum c. To which by the same deed hee giueth the Churches of Walden Waltham Estrene Sabridgworth Thorley and others This house was valued at the suppression to be yearely worth foure hundred sixe pounds fifteene shillings and eleuen pence This place is now called Audley End of Sir Thomas Audley Lord Chancelour of whom I haue spoken before who changed the Abbey into his owne dwelling house whose sole daughter and heire Margaret was second wife to Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke and mother of Thomas Lord Howard of Walden Earle of Suffolke lately deceased who liued to finish here a most magnificent building belonging at this present to that worthy gentleman Theophilus his sonne and heire Lord Walden and Earle of Suffolke Geffrey de Mandeuill the founder aforesaid a man both mighty and martiall was shot into the head with an arrow a quodam pedite vilissimo saith Houeden out of the Castle of Burwell in Cambridgeshire of which wound after certaine daies hee died being at that time excommunicated Lying at the point of death ready to giue his last gaspe saith Camden out of the Register booke of Walden there came by chance certaine Knights Templars who laid vpon him the habit of their religious profession signed with a red crosse and afterwards when he was full dead taking him vp with them enclosed him within a coffin of lead and hung him vpon a tree in the Orchard of the old Temple at London in the yeare 1144. for in a reuerend awe of the Church they durst not bury him because he died excommunicated so fearefull in those daies was the sentence of excommunication a violent inuader he was of other mens lands and possessions and therefore iustly incurred saith the same Author the worlds censure and this heauy doome of the Church but I must leaue him where buried or where not buried God knowes As the Church of this monasterie was honoured with the funerall monuments of the Mandeuills so was it with those of the Bohuns Earles of Hereford and Essex of which you may reade in the Catalogues of Nobility It was also honoured with the Sepulture of Humfrey Plantaginet Earle of Buckingham the onely sonne of Thomas Earle of Buckingham and Duke of Glocester commonly called Thomas of Woodstocke the yongest sonne of King Edward the third who after the vntimely death of his father was banished into Ireland by King Richard the second and being recalled backed againe by King Henry the fourth in the first yeare of his raigne in his returne died of the plague in Chester from whence his mother Elianor daughter and coheire of Humfrey de Bohun Earle of Hereford Essex and Northampton caused his body to be conueyed to this Abbey which shee sumptuously here interred amongst his and her noble progenitors his mother the said Elianor liued not long after him but died the third of October in the same yeare as in a French Inscription vpon her monument in Westminster you may reade and scarce two yeares after the murder of her husband at Callis of whose deaths thus writeth that old Poet Sir Iohn Gower Knight in his booke intituled Vox Clamantis Interea transit moriens nec in orbe remansit Humfredus dictus redit ille Deo benedictus Defuncto nato cito post de fine beato Mater transiuit dum nati funera sciuit Primo decessit Cignus dolor vnder repressit Matrem cum pullo sibi mors nec parcit in ullo Liston Hic iacet ..... Liston de Ouerhal .... que ob .... All that I can make of this maimed inscription is that Ioane the wife of William Liston held the Mannor of Ouerhall in this parish by grand Sergeantie namely by the seruice of paying for bringing in and placing of fiue Wafers before the King as he sits
Bell on which is cast a peece of coine of siluer of King Edward the fourth it was giuen by one of the Countesses of Essex as one may partly gather by an old Inscription vpon it is the Bowsers knot Tiltey Here sometime stood a Monastery founded by Maurice Fitz-Gilbert before remembred not long after the Conquest which he dedicated to the honour of the Virgine Mary and therein placed white Monkes of the Cistertian order The donations to this religious house are confirmed in the Records of the Tower Cart. Antiq. lit S. The valuation of it at the suppression was 177. l. 9 s. 4. d. This Monasterie is not altogether ruinous in the little Church whereof I found these Funerall Inscriptions following Bruntingthorpe neare to Leicester hath long beene the habitation of the ancient familie of Dannet saith Master Burton who beareth sable Guttee Argent a Canton Ermine one of which familie lieth here interred with this Epitaph Hic iacet sepultus cum coniuge Maria Gerardus Dannet de Bruntingthorp in Com Lecestr Ar. serenissimi Regis Henrici octaui Consiliarius qui obijt Anno Christi M. ccccc.xx mensis Maij quarto The armes afore blazoned are ouer the Monument of this Councellour to king Henry Abbas famosus bonus viuendo probatus In Thakley natus qui iacet hic tumulatus Thomas dictatus qui Christo sit sociatus Rite gubernauit istumque locum peramauit Great Easton Orate .... Willelmi Moigne Ar .... qui obiit .... M.ccc.v This William Moigne or Monke held this Mannor of Easton ad montem for so it was anciently called with Winterborne and Maston in the Countie of Wilts by seruice of being Clarke of the Kings Kitchin and keeper of his Lardarie tempore Coronationis Hatfield Brad-oke So called saith Camden of a broad spread Oake in which Towne Robert de Vere the third Earle of Oxford and great Chamberlaine of England founded a Priorie for blacke Monkes About the beginning of the raigne of King Henry the third valued at the suppression at 157. l. 3. s. 2. d. ob per annum which Priory Aubrey de Vere the third of that Christian name Earle of Oxford enfeoffed with the Tithes of this Towne and to the instrument of his donation he affixed by a harpe string as a labell to the bottome of the parchment a short blacke hafted knife like vnto an old halfe penny whitle instead of a Seale These are the words in his Grant Per istum cultellum Albericus de Vere tertius feoffauit Prioratum et Conventum de Hatfeeld Regis alas Brodoke cum omnibus decimis in villa predicta Habend c. a festo Assumptionis beate Marie virginis in puram perpetuam Eleemosinam c. Of this old manner of signing and sealing of deeds you may read Lambard in his perambulation of Kent pag. 318. This Robert was first entombed in the Church of his owne foundation and at the dissolution remoued into the Quire of this Parish Church where he lieth crosse-legged with this inscription now almost worne out Sire Robert de Veer le premier count de Oxenford le tierz git ci Dieux del alme si luy plest sace merci Oi pur lame priera xl iors de pardonn anera Pater Noster Sir Robert Vere the first and third Earle of Oxford lieth here God if he please have mercy of his soule whosoeuer shall pray for his soule shall obtaine fourty dayes Pardon He died in the yeare 1221. Hic iacent Thomas Barington Ar. Anna vxor eius qui quidem Thomas obijt v. Aprilis M. cccc lxxij Anna obiit proximo die sequenti Quorum animabus propitietur Altissimus At Barington Hall within this Parish saith that learned delineator of Great Britaine M. Camden dwelleth that right ancient familie of the Baringtons which in the raigne of King Stephen the Barons of Montfitchet inriched with faire possessions since which time this house is much enobled by the marriage of Sir Thomas Barington knight with Winifred the daughter and coheire of Sir Henry Pole knight Lord Montague sonne of Margaret Plantaginet Countesse of Salisbury descended of the bloud royall being the daughter of George Duke of Clarence Great Dunmow Exoretis miserecordiam Dei pro anima Walteri Bigod Armigeri qui obijt 17. die mens Mar. 1397. Simon de Regham iadis Parson de Dunmow gist icy Dieu de son alme eit mercy Amen Of yowr cherite prey for the sowls of Iohn Ienone Esquyr somtym on of the Common Pleas of Westmynstre and Alys his wyff Whych Iohn dyed xvii Septembyr M. Vc.xlii Little Dunmow Iuga the wife of one Baynard a Nobleman that came in with the Conquerour the builder of Baynards Castle in London founded the Priority in this village in the beginning of the raigne of Henry Beauclerke and entreated Mauricius Bishop of London to dedicate the Church to the honour of the virgine Mary to which the same day she gaue halfe a Hide of land Her sonne and heire Geffrey Baynard placed blacke Chanons therein by the consent of Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury This house was valued at the suppression to be yearely worth 173. l. 2. s. 4. d. The Church of this monastery is as yet standing in the Quire whereof betweene two pillars lieth the body of Matilda the faire entombed who was the daughter of Robert Fitz-water the most valiant knight of England About the yeare 1213. saith the booke of Dunmow there arose a great discord betwixt king Iohn and his Barons because of Matilda surnamed the faire daughter of Robert Fitz-water whom the King vnlawfully loued but could not obtaine her nor her fathers consent thereunto Whereupon and for other like causes ensued warre through the whole Realme The king banished the said Fitz-water amongst other and caused his Castle called Baynard and other his houses to be spoiled Which being done he sent a messenger vnto Matilda the faire about his old Suit in Loue Et quia noluit consentire toxicauit eam And because she would not agree to his wicked motion the messenger poisoned a boiled or potched Egge against she was hungrie and gaue it vnto her whereof she died the yeare 1213. In the yeare following after her death her banished father was restored to the kings fauour vpon this occasion It happened in the yeare 1214. king Iohn being then in France with a great armie that a truce was taken betwixt the two Kings of England and France for the terme of fiue yeares and a riuer or arme of the Sea being betwixt either host there was a knight in the English host that cried to them of the other side willing some one of their knights to come and iust a course or two with him Wherupon without stay Robert Fitz-water being on the French part made himselfe ready ferried ouer got on horseback and shewed himself ready to the face of
for his sapience In citees all he held well vnitees Greate Iustes ay and ioyous tournements Of Lords and knightes he made great assemblees Through all the lande by his wise regimentes They purposed hole by their common assentes To croune hym kyng of all great Italy Within halfe a yere for his good gouernaly But Stow out of Paulus Iouius writes more fully of this marriage In the moneth of Aprill saith he Leonell Duke of Clarence with a chosen companie of the English Nobilitie went towards Millaine there to marrie with Violentis the daughter of Galeasius the second of that name Duke of Millaine at whose comming to Millaine such abundance of treasure was in most bounteous manner spent in making most sumptuous feasts setting forth stately sights and honouring with rare gifts aboue two hundred Englishmen which accompanied his sonne in law as it seemed to surpasse the greatnesse of most wealthie Princes for in the banquet whereat Francis Petrarch was present amongst the chiefest guests there were aboue thirtie courses of seruice at the table and betwixt euery course as many presents of wondrous price intermixed all which Iohn Galeasius chiefe of the choise youth bringing to the table did offer to Leonell There were in one onely course seuenty goodly horses adorned with silke and siluer furniture and in the other siluer vessells Falcons hounds armour for horses costly coates of mayle breast plates glistering of massie steele helmets and corselets decked with costly crestes apparell distinct with costly Iewells souldiers girdles and lastly certaine gemmes by curious Art set in gold and of purple and cloth of gold for mens apparell in great abundance And such was the sumptuousnesse of that banquet that the meates which were brought from the table would sufficiently haue serued ten thousand men But not long after Leonell liuing with his new wife whilest after the manner of his owne countrey as forgetting or not regarding his change of ayre he addicted himselfe ouer-much to vntimely banquetings spent and consumed with a lingring sicknesse died at Alba Pompeia called also Languvill in the Marquisat of Mont-ferrat in Piemont on the Vigill of Saint Luke the Euangelist 1368. in the two and fortieth yeare of his fathers raigne First he was buried saith Camden in the Annalls of Ireland in the Citie of Papie hard by Saint Augustine the Doctor and afterward enterred at Clare in the Couent Church of Austin Friers in England He had issue onely by his first wife one daughter named Philip. Of which you may reade before in the printed copie of the parchment Roll and in the Chronicle of Iohn Harding as followeth His wife was dedde and at Clare was buried And none heire he had but his doughter faire Philip that hight as Cronicles specified Whom quene Philip cristened for his heire Tharchbishop of Yorke for his compeire Hir godmother also of Warwyk the countesse A Lady was of all greate worthynes And in another place Chyldren had he noone but Philip heire By Elizabeth his first wyfe which the kyng Edward maryed to Edmond Mortymer Th erle of Marche that was his warde full yyng Who gate on hir Roger their derelynge Philip the onely daughter of Leonel Plantagenet Duke of Clarence saith Milles agreeing with the former yet going a little further was married vnto Edmund Mortimer Earle of March vpon whom the said Edmund begot Roger and Roger Anne who being married vnto Richard Earle of Cambridge thereby transported the right of the kingdome vnto the House of Yorke I finde in my notes of Burialls in Monasteries that these persons following were also interred in this Priory Church Richard Earl of Clare whom some will haue to bee Founder Dame Alice Spencer Sir Iohn Beauchamp knight Iohn Newborne Esquire who amongst others brought the body of the foresaid Leonell Duke of Clarence into England Iohn Wiborough William Golderich William Capell and Eleanor his wife The Lady Margaret Scroope daughter of .... Westmerland Iohn Kempe Esquire Robert Butterwyke Esquire Ione Candishe daughter of Clopton Dame Eleanor Wynkepery Stoke Clare Here at Stoke adioyning to Clare was a Colledge founded by one of the Mortimers Earle of March valued in the kings bookes to bee yearely worth three hundred twenty foure pounds foure shillings penny halfe penny In this Colledge was entombed the body of Sir Edmund Mortimer the last Earle of March and Vlster of that house Lord of Wigmore Trim Clare and Conaught the Grandchilde of that Edmund Earle of March who married the daughter and onely heire of Leonell Duke of Clarence as it is in the Roll. This Edmund saith Camden in regard of his royall bloud and right to the Crowne stood greatly suspected to Henry the fourth who had vsurped the kingdome and by him was first exposed vnto dangers in so much as he was taken in a battell fought at Pelale in Wales by Owen Glendowr a Rebell and afterward whereas the Percies purposed to aduance his right he was conueyed into Ireland kept almost twenty yeares prisoner in the Castle of Trim suffering all miseries incident to Princes of the bloud while they lye open to euery suspicion and there through extreame griefe ended his dayes the nineteenth day of Ianuary 1424. in the third yeare of the raigne of Henry the sixth Of the foresaid battell his taking and miserable imprisonment thus much out of Harding as followeth Syr Edmonde then Mortimer warred sore Vpon Owen and did hym mekyll tene But at laste Owen laye hym before Where in batell they faught as well was sene Where Owen toke hym prisoner as then full kene With mekell folke on eyther syde slayne And set Edmonde in prysone and great payne He wrote vnto the kyng for great socoure For he had made with Owen his fynaunce To whom the kyng wold graunt then no fauoure Ne nought he wold then make him cheuesaunce For to comforte his foes disobeysaunce Wherfore he laye in fetters and sore prisone For none payment of his great raunsone Here also lay buried the bodies of Sir Thomas Grey knight and his first wife Luce the wife of Walter Clopton Sir Thomas Clopton and Ade his wife Sudbury Saint Gregories In this Church I saw a marble stone some foure yards long and two broad sometimes inlayd all ouer with brasse vnder which the Inhabitants say that Simon Theobold alias Sudbury lyeth interred which may bee true for howsoeuer he hath his Tombe in the Cathedrall Church at Canterbury of which he was Archbishop as I haue written before yet that may be perhaps onely his Cenotaph or honorarie funerall Monument This Simon built whilest hee was Bishop of London the Chappell or vpper end of the Church where this spatious Grauestone lies couched As appeares by this Inscription in the glasse window Orate pro Domino Symone Thepold alias Sudbury qui istam Capellam fundauit Anno Domini M. cccclxv in commemoracione omnium animarum dedicat dat consecrat In
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
was a Priory dedicated to the honour of Saint Austin the first Archbishop of Canterbury founded by one Theobald de Vallencia as some say others by William de Albeny the second of that name Earle of Arundell valued at one hundred thirty seuen pounds pennie halfe penny qua Wallpoole ... Radulphus Rochford miles .... Willelmus filius Domini Iohannis de Rochford Constabularii castri de VVisbiche .... Tirrington Hic iacet Thomas Sutton filius Thome Sutton nuper de Milton filii Domini Iohannis Sutton Domini de Dudley ..... Hic iacet Elizabeth Sutton filia Roberti Goddard ..... que obiit ..... Hic iacet Robertus Goddard armiger qui obiit anno Dom. M. cccc.xlviii Hic iacet Ricardus Zorke quondam Burgeni ville Berwic super Tweed ...... I reade in Hackluits first volume of Voyages that Sir Fredericke Tilney a great Commander in the holy warres was interred in this Church of Tirrington take it as he sets it downe A note out of a Booke in the hands of Thomas Tilney Esquire touching Sir Fredericke Tilney his ancestor knighted at Acon in the Holy Land by King Richard the first Pertinuit iste liber prius Frederico Tylney de Boston in Com. Lincoln militi facto apud Acon in terra sancta anno Regis Richardi primi tertio Vir erat iste magnae staturae et potens corpore qui cum patribus suis dormit apud Tirrington iuxta villam sui nominis Tylney in Mershland cuius altitudo in salua custodia permanet ibidem vsque in hunc diem Et post eius obitum sexdecem Militibus eius nominis Tylney haereditas illa successiue obuenit quorum vnus post alium semper habitabat apud Boston praedict dum fratris senioris haereditas haeredi generali deuoluta est quae nupta est Thome Duci Norsolciae Eorum miles vltimus suit Philippus Tylney nuper de Shelleigh in Com. Suff pater et genitor Thomae Tylney de Hadleigh in Com. praedict Armigeri cui modo attinet iste liber anno aetatis 64.1556 Fincham S. Martins Orate pro anima Iohannis filii et heredis Iohannis Fincham filii Symonis Fincham qui obiit vltimo die Aprilis M. cccc lxxxxix Orate pro anima Elizabethe quondam vxoris Symonis Fincham Armigeri et vnius filiarum et heredum Iohannis Tendering de Brokedyn in Com. Suff. Ar. que quidem Elizabetha obiit ... M. cccc.lxiiii Orate pro anima Iohannis Fincham filii et heredis Symonis Fincham de Fincham Ar. qui obiit vi die Septembris anno Domini M. cccc.lxxxxvi Saint Benets in the Holme The foundation of this religious structure is thus set downe by learned Camden in his chorographicall description of this County Then passeth the riuer Thirn saith hee neere the great decayed Abbey called Saint Benet in the Holme which Knute the Dane built the Monks afterward so strengthened with most strong wals and bulwarkes that it seemed rather a castell then a Cloister In so much that William the Conquerour could not winne it by assault vntill a Monke betraied it into his hands vpon this condition that himselfe might be made Abbot thereof which was done accordingly but forth with this new Abbot for being a traitour as the inhabitants make report was hanged vp by the Kings commandement and so iustly punished for his treason After the first foundation of this Abbey by King Knute her reuenues were greatly augmented and her building enlarged by Edward the Confessor and Editha his Queene with the consent of fiue Dukes and of all or the most of the Lords spirituall and temporall within his kingdome as it appeares by his Charter in Arch Turris Lond. Cart. Ant. It was dedicated to the honour of Christ and Saint Benedict replenished with blacke Monkes Benedictines and valued in the Exchequer at sixe hundred seuenty seuen pounds nine shillings eight pence qua Clipesby Not farre from the foresaid Abbey is the Parish and Lordship of Clipesby which gaue name saith Camden to a familie of ancient note in this tract whereof there hath beene diuers Knights where after it had passed in the names of Algar Elfled and Odberd all sirnamed de Clipesby as appeareth by many vndated Deedes which I haue seene it came about the first of King Iohn to Iohn de Clipesby and from him lineally to the last Iohn heire male of that line On whose Monument in this Church of Clipesby are empaled the Armes of Ierningham Woodhouse Spelman Paston all Knightly families of that countrey with whom the Clipesbies had formerly matched By Iulian a daughter and coheire of this last Iohn married to Sir Randall Crewe of Crewe in the County of Chester Knight after Lord chiefe Iustice of England the old surname of the Lord of this Mannor was changed but not the bloud For she left besides a daughter two sonnes the eldest her heire christened with the name of her paternall familie Clipesby now Sir Clipesby Crew Knight She the said Iulian died at Kewe in the County of Surrey in the yeare 1603. and was in the Chancell of the Church of Richmond decently interred with this Inscription vpon her Monument Antiqua fuit orta domo pia viuit iniuit Virgo pudica Thorum Sponsa pudica polum In this Church are diuers other Funerall Monuments for the Clipesbies but so defaced as neither Inscription nor coate-armes are remaining vpon them to giue me any further light Oby Orate pro anima Katerine filie Iohannis Spelman Armigeri quondam vxoris Clipesby Armigeri postea vxoris Edmundi Paston Armigeri que obijt xviii die Aprilis anno Domini M. cccclxxxxi Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Elingham Orate pro anima Henrici Spelman Armigeri filij et heredis Thome Spelman Armigeri qui obiit primo die mensis Martii anno Dom M. cccccxxv Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen The Armes of Spelman and Mortimer of Attilborough Narborough Orate pro animabus Henrici Spelman Legis periti ac Recordatoris ciuitatis Norw Ele vxoris eius qui quidem Henricus obiit xxiii die Septembris anno Domini M. cccclxxxxvi Vpon this Monument are his Armes and his two wiues Christian daughter and coheire of Thomas Manning Esquire and of Elisabeth his wife daughter and coheire of Sir Thomas Ienny Knight The second Ela daughter and coheire of William Narburgh of Narburgh Esquire a family of great antiquitie that bare gules a chiefe Ermin Here vndre lieth buried the body of Sir Iohn Spelman knyght and Secundary Iustice of the Kyngs Bench and Dame Elis. his wyffe whych had xiii sonnes and vii doughters of theire bodyes betwene them begottyn The which Sir Iohn decessed the xxvi day of February in the yere of our Lord God M. cccccxliv and the said Dame Elizabeth decessed the v day of Nouembre the yere of our Lord M. ccccclvi on whos
and them in case the sâ—â—d kyng wold invade thys hys Realme whiche he dide in deede contrary to hys oth and promyse with the hoole power of the Realme of Scotlond Whiche when the seid Erle hard of he made as greatt haste towardis hym as he coude with the kyngs power of the North partys And toke hys lodgyng in the Campe or playn caâ—â—yd Wollar haugh in the Countie of Northumbrelond which was in the â—ight of the kyng of Scottis and of all hys army then â—ying on Floddon hyll a ground more lyke a campe or forteres than any meete ground to gyve batayle on contrary to hys promes made to Rogeâ—ras Purseuaunte at armys before sent vnto hym from the seid Erle with message that the said Erle with the Lord Howard then Admerall of Englond hys Son And the no 〈◊〉 men of the North partis with other the kyngs Subgettis of the same North partis was come thedir to represse and resiste hys Invasyons of hys souerayn Lordis Realme desyryng the said kyng of Scottis to gyve hym bataile which his message the same kyng of Scottis toke very thankfully and ioyusly promysyng hym to abide ther on the same grounde wher he than was whiche hys promys he brake as is aforesaid and tooke Floddon hilâ—ys a ground unprengnable and shot at hym hys great Ordenaunce where as he lay like one mynded to kepe it like a forteres And whan the said Erle dide perceyve that he had brokyn hys promys and takyn so stronge â— grounde as Floddon hillys he than the said Erle remoued all his Batail vnto a playn besydis Barmer wood to thentente to get betwene hym and hys owne Realme of Scotlond and ther leygeed but one nyght and on the next mornyng toâ—e hys passage ouer the water of at Twyfull forthe and than he marched the said kyng and hys oste in suche maner as he gat betwene hym and hys aune reame of Scotlond be force wherof the said kyng was fayn to leue his Campe and to prepare hymself to bataile witthe seid Erle on a hyll besydis Bramston in Northumbrelond very neer vnto Sandyford Wher the said Erle witthe good assistauns of the Nobull men and the power of the said North partys fought witthe said kyng and hym â—anquâ—sshed and slewe in playn bataile derectely before his owne Standard In which bataile ware slayne on the Scottysshe parte ii Bysshoppes xi Eâ—lys xvii Barons CCCC knyghtis besydys other Gentilmen with xvii M in nombre which ware nombred asweel by Scottysshe men as by them that dyd bury the moste parte of them And of trouth dyvers Gentylmen and others aswell of the said Erlys servantys as of the North partyes and of Chesshir and Lankasshir war ther slayne for hard it ys and half impossible in suche a conflicte and bataile to be wonne without losse of men whoys deth may be ioyed among ther frendis to dye in so hygh a servys doon to ther Prynce And this noble acte was don by the helpe of almyghty God to the highe honour of the kyngis hyghnes Honor and prays to the said Erle and to all other Noble men and otheres the kyngs Subgettis that war ther with hym at the bataile the ix daye of Septembir in the v yeer of our souerayn Lord kyng Henry the viii And this doon the said Erle went to Barwyke to establysshe all thyngys well and in good order And sent for the dede body of the kyng of Scottis to Barwyke And whan the Ordenaunce of the kyng of Scottis was brouth of the feld and put in good suertie and all other thyngys in good order Than the seid Erle toke hys Iorney toward Yorke and ther abode duryng the kyngis pleasur and caryed with hym the dede body of thafforesaid kyng of Scottis And ther laye vnto suche tyme as the kyngis hyghâ—es cam from beyond the See after his wynnyng of Tyrwyn and Tomey And than hys highnes sent for the seid Erle to mete hym at Rychemond and so he dide and ther delyvered vnto his highnes the dede body of the kyng of Scottis whiche deâ—â— bodye was delyuered in to the Charter hous ther and ther to abide duryng the kyngs plesur And for the servyce that the seid Erle dide he was honorably restored vnto his right name of Duke of Norffolk and also had geuen vnto hym greatt possessyons by the kyngis highnes And whan the warre betwixt the kyng our souerayn Lord and the Frenche Kyng was eended than the said Duke was sent into Fraunce as chieff Commyssyoner with Lady Marye the Kyngis Suster to be maryed vnto the Frenche Kyng Lewes And after when the kyng and the Quene were both out of the Reame to mete witthe Frenche kyng Frauncys at Guynes and the Prynces remaynyng in the Reame beyng a childe the said Duke was left behynde as protector and defender to mynyster Iustice and to see good Rule and Gouernaunce in the Reame in the absence of the kyngis highnes and so contynued aboute the kyng and of his preuye Counsayle tyll he wâ—s of age of fourescore yeeris and then the kyngis highnes was content that the said Duke shulde go home in to hys owne countrey vnto the Castell of Framlyngham wher he contynued and kepte an honorable howse vnto the houre of his deth And ther he dyed lyke a good Cristen Prynce I now to wytnes Whose sowle Iesu pardon And at his depertyng out of Framlyngham Castell toward hys buryall he coude nat be asked one grote for his dette nor for restitucion to any person and so was had to this present Abbay of Thetford with moche honor Accompanyed with many greatt Lordis and the Noble men of both Schires of Norffolk and Suffolk Leuyng then lyuyng these his children herafter named that is to seye his son and heyre the Lord Thomas Duke of Norffolk the Lord Edmond Howard the Lord Willyam Howard and the Lord Thomas Howard witthe Ladye Elysabeth wiffe to the Uicount Rocheford the Lady Agnes Countes of Oxenford the Lady Kateryne espoused to the heyre of Sir Rice app Thomas of Walys the Lady Elysabeth espoused vnto the Uicount Fitzwaters son and heyr And the Lady Dorathie then beyng not maryed but lefte for hir Right good substance to marry hyrwyth Henry Fitz-Roy the naturall sonne of King Henry the eight begotten of the Lady Talboys daughter of Sir Iohn Blount knight Duke of Richmond was here interred as Graston Stow Hollinshed and other writers affirme howsoeuer some will haue him to bee buried at Framingham in Suffolke Hee married Mary daughter of the foreremembred Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke Earle Marshall and Lord high Treasurer of England with whom he liued not long but dyed at Saint Iames by Westminster the 22. of Iuly in the yeare of Christ Iesus 1536. He was a Prince very forward in Martiall actiuities of good literature and knowledge in the tongues vnto whom the learned Antiquarie Leland dedicated a booke as appeareth by this Hexastichon following which is
Essex He died in the first yeare of King Edward the fourth Iohn Mowbray sonne of Iohn aforesaid who in his Fathers dayes was created Earle Warren and Surrey and hauing enioyed these and his fathers Honours for the space dyed without issue at his Castle of Framingham in Suffolke in the fifteenth yeare of King Edward the fourth and was here entombed Sir Iohn Howard knight sonne of Sir Robert Howard knight and of Margaret his wife daughter and coheire of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke first made Baron by king Edward the fourth 1461. Quia postea constituit eum Capitaneum Armate potentie super mare Test. Rege apud West Pat. anno 10. Ed. 4. M. 13. was here interred as I finde in the Collections of Francis Thinne Lancaster Herald In the yeare 1483. he was created Duke of Norfolke by King Richard the third in whose aide he was slaine at Bosworth field on Monday the two and twentieth of Aug. 1485. He was warned by diuers to refraine from the field insomuch that the night before he should set forward toward the King one wrote this rime vpon his gate Iack of Norffolk be not too bold For Dikon thy Master is boght and sold. Yet all this notwithstanding he regarding more his oath his honour and promise made to King Richard like a gentleman and as a faithfull subiect to his Prince absented not himselfe from his master but as he faithfully liued vnder him so he manfully died with him to his great fame and laud. And therefore though his seruice was ill employed in aide of a Tyrant whom it had beene more honourable to haue suppressed then supported yet because he had vpon his fealtie vndertaken to fight in his quarrell he thought it lesse losse of life and liuing then of glory and honour so that he might haue said in respect of his loyaltie and promised truth testified with constancie to the death Est mihi supplicium causa fuisse pium This passage is wondrously well deliuered to vs in verse by an honourable late writer thus Long since the King had thought it time to send For trustie Norfolke his vndaunted friend Who hasting from the place of his abode Found at the doore a world of papers strow'd Some would affright him from the Tyrants aide Affirming that his Master was betraide Some laid before him all those bloudy deeds From which a line of sharpe reuenge proceeds With much compassion that so braue a Knight Should serue a Lord against whom Angels fight And others put suspitions in his minde That Richard most obseru'd was most vnkinde The Duke a while these cautious words reuolues With serious thoughts and thus at last resolues If all the Campe proue traytors to my Lord Shall spotlesse Norfolke falsifie his word Mine oath is past I swore t'vphold his Crowne And that shall swimme or I with it will drowne It is too late now to dispute the right Dare any tongue since Yorke spread forth his light Nortâ—umberland or Buckingham defame Two valiant Cliffords Roos or Beaumonts name Because they in the weaker quarrell die They had the King with them and so haue I. But euery eye the face of Richard shunnes For that foule murder of his brothers sonnes Yet lawes of Knighthood gaue me not a sword To strike at him whom all with ioynt accord Haue made my Prince to whom I tribute bring I hate his vices but adore the King Victorious Edward if thy soule can heare Thy seruant Howard I deuoutly sweare That to haue sau'd thy children from that day My hopes on earth should willingly decay Would Glouster then my perfect faith had tried And made two graues when Noble Hastings died This said his troopes he into order brings A little after he giues vs a touch of the Dukes valour and deciphers the manner of his death in these matchlesse numbers which follow Here valiant Oxford and fierce Norfolke meete And with their speares each other rudely greete About the aire the shiuer'd peeces play Then on their swords their Noble hands they lay And Norfolke first a blow directly guides To Oxfords head which from his helmet slides Vpon his arme and biting through the steele Inflicts a wound which Vere disdaines to feele He lifts his Fauchion with a threatning grace And hewes the Beuer off from Howards face This being done he with compassion charm'd Retires asham'd to strike a man disarm'd But straight a deadly shaft sent from a bow Whose master though far off the Duke could know Vntimely brought this combat to an end And pierc'd the braine of Richards constant friend When Oxford saw him sinke his noble soule Was full of griefe which made him thus condole Farewell true Knight to whom no costly graue Can giue due honour would my teares might saue Those streames of blood deseruing to be spilt In better seruice had not Richards guilt Such heauie weight vpon his fortune laid Thy glorious vertues had his sinnes outwaighd Sir Thomas Howard Knight of the Garter Earle of Surrey and Duke of Norfolke sonne and heire of the foresaid Iohn thus slaine was here likewise entombed who died in the sixteenth yeare of the raigne of King Henry the eight 1524. This Thomas was with his father in the forefront of the foresaid Battell where he had the leading of the Archers which King Richard so placed as a bulwarke to defend the rest The martiall prowesse of this Earle in the pight field and his resolute braue carriage being taken prisoner are delineated to the life by my said Author Sir Iohn Beaumont the particulars wherof if they may seeme as pleasing to you in the reading as they were to me in the writing cannot be any way tedious here to set downe for they are sinnewy strong liues and will draw you no doubt with them along Couragious Talbot had with Surrey met And after many blowes begins to fret That one so yong in Armes should thus vnmoou'd Resist his strength so oft in warre approou'd And now the Earle beholds his fathers fall Whose death like horrid darkenesse frighted all Some giue themselues as captiues others flie But this yong Lion casts his gen'rous eye On Mowbrayes Lion painted in his shield And with that King of beasts repines to yeeld The field saith he in which the Lyon stands Is blood and blood I offer to the hands Of daring foes but neuer shall my flight Dye blacke my Lyon which as yet is white His enemies like cunning Huntsmen striue In binding snares to take their prey aliue While he desires t' expose his naked brest And thinkes the sword that deepest strikes is best Yong Howard single with an Army fights When mou'd with pitie two renowned knights Strong Clarindon and valiant Coniers trye To rescue him in which attempt they dye Now Surrey fainting scarse his sword can hold Which made a common souldier grow so bold To lay rude hands vpon that noble flower Which he disdaining anger giues him power Erects his