eight and lived fifty nine years and was murthered in the Tower of London in 1472. VII Edward the only Son of King Henry VI. by Queen Margaret Daughter to the King of Sicily was the seventh Prince of Wales of the Royal Blood of England He Married Anne the Daughter of Richard Nevil called the Great Earl of Warwick After his Father's Army was defeated by King Edward IV. at Tauton Field in Yorkshire he with his Mother were sent into France to pray aid from that King This Battel was the bloodiest that ever England saw King Henry's Army consisting in threescore thousand and King Edward's in about forty thousand men of which there fell that day thirty seven thousand seven hundred seventy six Persons no Prisoners being taken but the Earl of Devonshire Afterward the Queen returns from France with some Forces but before her coming King Edward had defeated the Earl of Warwick who with some other Lords had raised a Party for her assistance at Barnet wherein near ten thousand were slain So that when it was too late she landed at Weymouth and from thence went to Bewly Abbey in Hampshire where the Duke of Somerset the Earl of Devonshire and divers other Lords came to her resolving once more to try their Fortune in the Field The Queen was very desirous that her Son Edward Prince of Wales should have returned to France there to have been secure till the success of the next Battel had been tried but the Lords especially the Duke of Somerset would not consent to it so that she was obliged to comply with them though she quickly repented it From Bewly she with the Prince and the Duke of Somerset goes to Bristol designing to mise what men they could in Glocestershire and to march into Wales and join Jasper Earl of Pembroke who was there assembling more Forces K. Edward having intelligence of their Proceedings resolves to prevent their conjunction and follows Queen Margaret so diligently with a great Army that near Tewksbury in Glocestershire he overtakes her Forces who resolutely turn to ingage him The Duke of Somerset led the Van and performed the part of a Valiant Commander but finding his Soldiers through weariness begin to faint and that the Lord Wenlock who commanded the main Battel moved not he rode up to him and upbraiding his treachery with his Pole-ax instantly knockt out his Brains but before he could bring this Party to relieve the Van they were wholly defeated the Earl of Devonshire with above three thousand of the Queens Men being slain the Queen her self John Beufort the Duke of Somerset's Brother the Prior of St. John's Sir Jervas Clifton and divers others were taken Prisoners All whom except the Queen were the next day Beheaded At which time Sir Rich. Crofts presented to King Edward King Henry's Son Edward Prince of Wales To whom King Edward at first seemed indifferent kind but demanding of him how he durst so presumptuously enter into his Realm with Arms The Prince replied though truly yet unseasonably To recover my Father's Kingdom and my Inheritance Thereupon King Edward with his hand thrust him from him or as some say struck him on the Face with his Gauntlet and then presently George Duke of Clarence Thomas Grey Marquess Dorset and the Lord Hastings standing by fell upon him in the place and murthered him Others write that Crook-back'd Richard ran him into the Heart with his Dagger His Body was Buried with other ordinary Corps that were slain in the Church of the Monastery of the Black Friars in Tewksberry VIII Edward eldest Son of King Edward IV. was the eighth Prince of Wales of the English Royal Blood Of whose short Reign and miserable Death there is an account in a Book called England's Monarchs IX Richard only Son of King Richard III. was the ninth Prince of Wales His Mother was Ann the second Daughter of Richard Nevil the Great Earl of Warwick and Widow of Prince Edward Son of King Henry VI. aforementioned who was Married to King Richard though she could not but be sensible that he had been the Author both of her Husband's and Father's Death but womens Affections are Diametrically opposite to common apprehensions and generally governed by Passion and Inconstancy This Prince was born of her at Midleham near Richmond in the County of York At four years old he was created Earl of Salisbury by his Uncle King Edward IV. At ten years old he was created Prince of Wales by his Father King Richard III. but died soon after X. Arthur eldest Son to King Henry VII was the tenth Prince of Wales of the Royal English Families He was born at Winchester in the second year of his Father's Reign When he was about fifteen years old his Father proposed a Marriage for him with the Princess Katherine Daughter to Ferdinando King of Spain which being concluded the Lady was sent by her Father with a gallant Fleet of Ships to England and arrived at Plymouth Soon after the Princess was openly espoused to Prince Arthur they were both clad in white he being fifteen and she eighteen years of age At night they were put together in one Bed where they lay as Man and Wife all that Night When morning appeared the Prince as his Servants about him reported called for Drink which was not usual with him Whereof one of his Bed-Chamber asking him the cause he merrily replied I have been this Night in the midst of Spain which is a hot Country and that makes me so dry Though some write that a grave Matron was laid in Bed between them to hinder actual Consummation The Ladie 's Dowry was two hundred thousand Duckets and her Jointure the third part of the Principality of Wales Cornwal and Chester At this Marriage was great Solemnity and Roval Justings Prince Arthur after his Marriage was sent into Wales to keep his Country in good Order having several prudent and able Counsellors to advise with but within five Months after he died at his Castle at Ludlow and with great solemnity was Buried in the Cathedral of Worcester He was a very ingenious and learned Prince for though he lived not to be sixteen years old yet he was said to have read over all or most of the Latin Fathers besides many others Some attribute the shortness of his Life to his Nativity being born in the eighth month after Conception XI Henry the second Son to King Henry VII was the eleventh Prince of Wales of the Royal English Line He was born at Greenwich in Kent After the Death of his eldest Brother Prince Arthur the Title of Prince of Wales was by his Father's Order not given to him but his own only of Duke of York till the Women could certainly discover whether the Lady Katherine were with Child or not But after six months when nothing appeared he had his Title bestowed upon him and King Henry being loth to part with her great Portion prevailed with his Son Henry though not without some
Edward called the Confessor succeeded next in 1042. who was an absolute Englishman and the youngest Son of Etheldred and Queen Emma being invited from Normandy by all the English Nobility who disdained the Danish Subjection and was entertained with great Joy He first remitted that heavy Danish Tax of Forty thousand pound a year called Dane gilt imposed by his Father and paid forty years by all but the Clergy who are exempted Because the Kings reposed more confidence in the Prayers of the Holy Church than in the Power of Armies It is reported Edward forgave that Tax upon this occasion A great Sum of that Treasure being brought into his Chamber and laid in a heap he being called to see it was at first sight much affrighted protesting he saw the Devil dancing with great Joy upon the same and therefore commanded it should be again restored to his Subjects and released them from it for ever after He married Editha Earl Godwin's Daughter but never had any Conjugal Society with her though she was a Lady accomplished with all excellent Endowments both of Mind and Body so that this old Veâ—â—â—â—â— written on her Sicut Spina Rosam Genuit Goduinus Editham From prickled Stalk as sweetest Rose So Editha fair from Godwin grows Edward himself confessed upon his Death-bed That openly she was his Wife but in secret Embracings as his own Sister But whether it were Infirmity or Chastity it seems he was willing to have her accused of Incontinency whereof if she were guilty he could not be innocent it being a great injury to put his Wives vertue to so Tyrannical a trial After this some differences arose between him and Earl Godwin and Forces were raised on both sides but by the Intercession of the Nobility an Agreement was made Yet Godwin escaped not Divine Vengeance for being charged by the King for the Munder of Alfred he wished if he were guilty he might never swallow down a bit of Bread again which happened accordingly for the first bit of Bread he put into his Mouth choaked him as he sate with the King at Table A dreadful Instance of God's Severity against Perjury This King is blamed for his Cruelty to his Mother in forcing her to pass over nine burning Plow shares bare-foot and blind-fold for a Trial of her Continency which yet she performed without the least damage He is said to be the first King that cured the Disease called the King's-Evil It is related that this King lying on his Bed one Afternoon with the Curtains drawn a pilfering Courtier coming into his Chamber and finding the King's Casket open which Hugoline his Chamberlain had forgot to shut he took out as 〈◊〉 Money as he could well carry and went away But finding success he came a second and a third time still carrying off more At which the King who had observed all called to him to be gone with all speed since he had enough if he could be contented For said he if Hugoline should come and catch thee thou wilt go nigh to lose all thou hast got and may'st get a Halter into the Bargain The Fellow was no sooner gone but Hugoline came in and finding the Casket open and a great deal of Money taken out he was much incensed But the King bid him not be moved For said he he that hath it hath more need of it than we When this King Edward was hastning out of Normandy with a great Army to recover England from the Danes being ready to give Battel his Captains assured him of Victory and that they would not leave one Dane alive God forbid said Edward that the Kingdom should be recovered for me who am but one Man by the death of so many thousands better it is that I should live a private and unbloody Life than to be a King by such a Slaughter and Butchery This King having no lisue of his own sent for Edward the Son of Edmund Ironside out of Hungary who for his long absence was called the Outlaw but he dying soon after he declared Edgar the Outlaw's Son to be Heir and sirnamed him Atheling or Adeling a Term appropriated to the presumptive Heirs of the Crown He had also a Daughter named Matilda who was married to the King of Scots and was Mother to David King of Scotland and Maud Queen of England When King Edward was on his Death-bed he observed all present weeping and lamenting for him to whom he said If you loved me you would forbear weeping and rejoyce because I go to my Father with whom I shall receive the Joys promised to the Faithful not through my Merits but by the free mercy of my Saviour who sheweth mercy on who he pleaseth After the Death of Earl Godwin Harold his Son grew into great Favour with King Edward and was by him made Lieutenant of his Army against the Welch who with his Brother Tosto or Toston utterly subdued that Rebellion After which Harold still increasing more in favour with the King there grew such hatred between the two Brethren that Tosto coming to Hereford slew all his Brother's Servants and cutting them in pieces salted them and put them into powdering-tubs It hapned afterward that Harold going beyond Sea was by Tempest â—â—â—ven into Normandy and being seised and carrâ—â—d before Duke Wiliam he made him promise That after the death of King Edward he would secure the Kingdom for him according to King Edward's Will Which Oath having taken Harold came back and told King Edward what he had done who seemed well content therewith saith the Historian which if it were true he had surely forgot his former Declaration concerning Edgar Atheling However after the death of King Edward Harold neither regarding his Oath to Duke William nor Edgar's Right whom he dispised for his tender Age caused himself to be Proclaimed King without any great Ceremony or Celebration none much approving or disapproving thereof and to ingratiate himself with the People he eased them of several severe Taxes laid upon them by his Predecessor and was affable and kind to all But this was a short calm before a great storm for soon after Duke William sent his Ambassadors to him to mind him of his Oath but he returned answer That it was extorted from him in his Imprisonment and therefore was no way obliging At this Answerthe Duke was much inraged and prepared Forces for gaining the Kingdom by force Neither was Harold idle but made provision to withstand him At which time a dreadful Comet appeared in the Heavens which was then judged and after proved to be a fatal Omen During these Preparations Tosto Brother to Harold and Harfager King of Denmark with three hundred Ships invaded the Country landing in Yorkshire Harfager claiming the Crown as Son of Canutus but the Nobility of those parts opposing them were routed which Harold hearing march'd against them and at Stamford-Bridge he encountred them where his whole Army was withstood by one single Dane who slew forty of
Grandfather Griffith whom he intimated was murdered in the Tower of London and not kill'd by accident yet he sent a message to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York That if the King pleased to appoint Commissioners to receive his Oath and Homage he was very ready to give it or if he would name some indifferent place and give Prince Edward the Earl of Glocester and the Lord Chancellor as Hostages for his safe return he would wait upon him in Person The King dissembled his anger at these arrogant demands but a while after coming to the Castle of Chester on the Border of Wales he again sent for him and Leoline again denied to come At which the King resolved for preventing all future disturbances on that side to make an absolute Conquest of the Countrey And on the contrary the Welsh having always a custom at every change of Princes in England to try conclusions expecting one time or other to change their Yoke of Bondage into Liberty were in great hopes of doing it at this time having now a valiant Prince to command them But an accident happened which somewhat took off their edge for the Lady Eleanor Daughter of Simon Earl of Montfort whom Prince Leoline extreamly loved Sailing out of France into Wales was by the way taken by some English Ships and brought to King Edward and for the Love of her Prince Leoline was willing to submit to any conditions so that besides his Promise of submission to the Government he agreed to pay down Fifty thousand pounds Sterling and a thousand pound a year during life Upon these Terms he Married his beloved Lady and the Wedding was solemniz'd in England the King and Queen being present thereat Three years Leoline continued faithful and obedient in which time David one of his Brothers staying in England and being found by the King to be of a stirring Spirit was much honoured by him Knighted and Match to a Rich Widow Daughter of the Earl of Derby to which the King added the gift of the Castle of Denbigh with a thousand pound a year though it was at length discovered that he lived here only as a Spy For Prince Leoline's Lady dying soon after and he contrary to his engagements taking up Arms his Brother David notwithstanding these favours from the King went and joined with him and they together enter into England seizing the Castles of Flint and Ruthland with the Person of the Lord Chief Justice Clifford who was sent thither as a Judge and in a great Battel the Welsh overthrew the Earls of Northumberland and Surrey with the Slaughter of many English King Edward was at the Vizes in Wiltshire when news coming of this revolt and overthrow he raises an Army to revenge it In his way he goes to visit his Mother Queen Eleanor who lay at the Nunnery of Almesbury with whom while he was discoursing a Person was brought into the Chamber who pretended that being formerly blind he had received his Sight at the Tomb of King Henry III. When the King saw him he knew him and that he was a most notorious lying Villain and intreated his Mother not to give the least credit to him but the Queen who was glad to hear of this Miracle for the glory of her Husband finding her Son unwilling that his Father should be a Saint fell suddenly into such a rage that she commanded him out of her sight which the King obeys and going forth meets with a Clergyman to whom he tells the story of this Impostor adding merrily That he knew the Justice of his Father to be such that he would rather pluck out the Eyes being whole of such a wicked wretch than restore him to his sight In the mean time the Archbishop of Canterbury went of himself to Prince Leoline and his Brother David endeavouring to persuade them to submission but in vain for Leoline was so animated with an old British Prophecy of Merlin's That he should shortly be Crowned with the Diadem of Brute that he had no Ear for Peace and shortly after no head for the Earl of Pembroke first took Bere Castle which was his usual residence from him he then gave him Battel and his Party being defeated his Head was cut off by a Common Souldier and sent to King Edward who caused it to be Crowned with Ivy thereby in some part unluckily fulfilling his Welsh Prediction And this was the end of Leoline the last of the Welsh Princes betrayed as some write by the men of Buelth Soon after his Brother David flying into Wales and being destitute of help or relief he was at length taken with two of his Sons and seven Daughters as some Authors write all which were brought before the King David was committed to Chester Castle and afterward in a Parliament at Shrewsbury was convicted of Treason and sentenced to an ignominious death namely to be first drawn at a Horse Tail about the City of Shrewsbury then to be beheaded and quartered his Heart and Bowels burnt His Head to accompany his Brothers was put upon the Tower of London and his four Quarters were set up in four Cities Bristol Northampton York and Winchester A manifold Execution and the first shewed in this kind in this Kingdom in the Person of the Son of a Prince or any other Nobleman that we read of in our History Some have observed that upon King Edward's thus totally subjecting Wales he lost his Eldest Son Alphonsus a Prince of great hopes about twelve years of Age and had only left to succeed him his Son Edward lately born at Carnarvan and the first of the English Royal Families that was Intituled Prince of Wales but no Prince worthy either of Wales or England After this the rest of the Welshmen as well Nobles as others submitted themselves to King Edward and all the Countrey and Castles therein were surrendred to him who then annexed that Country to the Crown of England and built two strong Castles at Aberconway and Carnarvan to secure their obedience He also gave several Lands and Castels to Englishmen as the Lordship of Denhigh to Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln Of Ruthen to Reginald Lord Grey and divided Wales into Counties and Hundreds establishing the Government thereof agreeable to the Laws of England This happened in the twelfth year of his Reign 1284. Remarks upon the Lives of the Princes of Wales of the Royal Families of England PART II. THough King Edward I. had subjected the Principality of Wales and afterward annexed it to the Crown of England yet he could never induce that People freely to own him as their King but upon condition that he would come and reside among them or at least appoint them a Prince of their own Nation to Govern them for the Welchmen having experienced the rigorous and severe Treatment of the English Governours and being sensible that the King would rule them by an English Deputy they could not with patience bear the thoughts of it so that
were instantly defeated slain and put to flight and the Romans became Masters both of the Field of Battel and the whole Island also yet were they not wholly subdued till the Reign of Julius Agricola When the Roman Empire in Britain began to decline several Irish came secretly over and setled here and certain sinall Hills and Mounts are yet to be seen intrenched about which are called the Irish-men's Cottages and another place named of the Irish-men Hiercy Gwidil because it is said they here put the Britains to flight under the conduct of Sivigus Afterward the Normans ost infested this Isle but in the year 1000 King Etheldred set out a Fleet which scoured the Seas round about it and wasted the Countrey in a more hostile manner than either the Irish or Norwegians Then Hugh Earl of Chester and Hugh Earl of Shrewsbury both Normans did grievously afflict Anglesey at which very time Magnus the Norwegian arriving here shot Hugh Earl of Shrewsbury through with an Arrow and after he had plundred the Island departed Next the English continually vext the Inhabitants making several descents upon them even to the time of King Edward I. when they were totally subjected to that Crown The chief Town Beumaris formerly called Bonover built by this King Edward I. together with a strong Castle is governed by a Mayor two Bailiffs two Sergeants at Mace and a Town Clerk At Llanvais not far from hence was formerly a Monastery of Friars Minors richly endowed by the Kings of England where a Daughter of King John and the Son of a Danish King with several other persons of Dignity were Buried that were slain in the Wars between the English and Welsh Guido de Mona or of Anglesey was Bishop of St. David's and Lord Treasurer of England to King Henry IV. though the Parliament moved that no Welshman should be a State Officer in England He died 1407. Arthur Bulkley Bishop of Bangor though bred Doctor of the Laws either never read or else he had forgot the Chapter against Sacrilege for he spoiled the Bishoprick and sold the five Bells of the Cathedral being so over officious that he would go down to the Sea to see them shipt away He was suddenly deprived of his sight and died 1555. William Glyn D. D. bred in and Master of Queen's College was made Bishop of Bangor in the second year of Queen Mary an excellent Schollar being constant to his own and not cruel to the Professors of the Protestant Religion there being no Persecution in his Diocess He died the first year of Queen Elizabeth whose Brother Jeffery Dr. of Laws Built and Endowed a Free School at Bangor Madoc Son to Owen Gwineth Brother to David Prince of North-Wales was born probably at Aberfrow in this County then the principal Palace of their Royal Residence who upon the Civil Dissentions in his own Countrey in 1170 adventured to Sea and leaving Ireland on the North came to a Land unknown where he saw many wonderful things this by Dr. Howel and Mr. Humfry Lloyd is judged to be the main Continent of America being confirmed therein as well by the saying of Montezuma Emperor of Mexico who declared his Progenitors were strangers as well as the rest of the Mexicans as by the use of divers Welsh words among them as Cape de Breton Norwinberg Penguin a name they give to a bird with a White Head The story adds that Madock left several of his People there and coming home returned back with ten Sail full of Welshmen who continued there and Peopled the Country Which relation if true redounds much to the Glory of Madoc who discovered this vast Region near three hundred years before the renowned Columbus first Sailed thither This Isle had antiently three hundred sixty three Villages therein and is still well Peopled having two Market Towns seventy four Parish Churches and is divided into six Hundreds It gives the Title of Earl to James L. Annesly BRECKNOCK-SHIRE so called say the Welsh from Brechanius the Father of an Holy off-spring whose twenty four Daughters were Saints It hath Radnorshire on the North Caermarthen West Glamorgan South and Hereford and Monmouthshire East in breadth twenty eight and in length twenty Miles It is full of Hills and difficult in Travelling The Mountains of Talgar and Ewias on the East seem to defend it from the excessive heat of the Sun which makes an wholesome and temperate Air from whence likewise rise many curious Springs that render the Valleys fruitful both in Corn and Grass and thereby make amends for their own barrenness The Silures were the antient Inhabitants of this County who valiantly opposed the Roman servitude and were first subdued by Julius Frontinus who found it more difficult to encounter with the Hills Streights and Mountains than with the People whereof one Mountain in the South is of such an height and occult quality that faith Mr. Speed I should blush to relate it had I not the Aldermen and Bayliffs of the Town of Brecknock for my Vouchers who assured me that from this Hill called Mounch-denny they had oft-times cast down their Hats Cloaks and Staves which yet would never fall to the bottom but were with the Air and Wind still returned back and blown up again neither will any thing but a stone or hard Mettal fall from thence and the Clouds are oft seen lower than the top of it There is likewise Cadier Arthur or Arthur's Chair a Hill so called on the South side of this Country the top thereof somewhat resembling the form of a Chair proportionate to the dimensions which the Welsh imagine that great and mighty Person to be of Upon the top thereof riseth a Spring as deep as a Well four square having no streams issuing from it and yet there are plenty of Trouts to be found therein They also told him that when the Meer Lynsavathan two Miles from Brecknock hath its frozen Ice first broken it yieldeth a dreadful Noise like Thunder And it is reported that where this Meer now spreadeth its Waters there formerly stood a fair City which was swallowed up by an Earthquake and it seems probable both because all the Highways of this County lead thither And likewise the Learned Camden judgeth it might be the City Loventrium which Ptolomy placeth in these parts and Mr. Camden could not discover and therefore likely to be Drowned in this Pool which the River Levenny running hard by farther confirms the Waters whereof run through this Meer without mixing with them as appears by the colour and breadth of the Stream which is the same through the whole length of the Pool This Shire had formerly two Towns called Hay and Bealt pleasantly scituated both which in the Rebellion of Owen Glendour were unwalled depopulated and burnt under whose ruins many Roman Coins are found and therefore thought to be two of their Garrisons Bealt was formerly possest by Aurelius Ambrosius and Vortigern and afterward Leoline the last Prince of the
Invading England his Army is routed and himself taken Prisoner King Edward III. was of Stature indifferent tall with sparkling Eyes and of a comely and manly countenance no man was more mild when there was submission nor none more fierce if opposed He had a command over his Passions as well as People being never so loving as to be fond nor so angry as to be irreconcileable But this must be understood of him when he was a man for in his old age he became a Child again and was Master of neither He was Fortunate and Valiant both which were heightened in the estimation of the World as reigning between two unfortunate Princes his Father to whom he was Successor and his Grandson Richard II. to whom he was Predecessor His disposition was so martial that his very Recreations were Warllke for he delighted in none more than in Justs and Turnaments and among the rest in the fourth year of his Reign a solemn Turnament was held in Cheapside between the great Cross and the great Conduit which lasted three days where his Queen Philippa with many Ladies fell from a Stage erected for them to behold the Justing and though they were not hurt at all yet the King threatned to punish the Carpenters for their negligence till the Queen intreated pardon for them upon her Knees as she was always ready to do all good Offices of mercy to all People To discover his Devotion one example may be sufficient for when neither Cardinals nor Counsellors could move him to make Peace with France a Tempest from Heaven did it To which may be added That he never won a great Battel but he presently gave the Glory of it to God by publick Thanksgiving He outlived the best Wife and the best Son that ever King had and to say the truth he out-lived the best of himself leaving all Action and bidding adieu to the World Ten Years before he went out of it declining so fast from the Fortieth year of his Government that it may rather be said his Son the Prince Reigned than he and happy 't was for him that when his own Understanding failed him he had so good a supporter And the grief for the loss of him besides the Fatigues of War was thought to hasten his Death together with the trouble for the loss of the benefit of his Conquests in France of all which he had at last little left but the Town of Callice Being oppressed thus in Body and Mind he was drawing his last breath when his Concubine Alice Pierce who was so confident sometime before as to sit in Courts of Justice and overawe the Judges packing away what she could catch even to the Rings of his Fingers left him and by her example others of his Attendants seize on what they could meet with and march away yea all his Counsellors and Courtiers forsook him when he had most occasion for them leaving his Bed-Chamber quite empty Which a poor Priest in his Palace observing approached to his Bed-side and finding him yet Breathing called upon him to remember his Saviour and to beg Mercy for his Offences which none about him before would do But now moved by the Voice of this Priest he shews all signs of Contrition and at his last Breath he pronounceth the Name of Jesus Thus died this Victorious King at his Manour of Sheen now Richmond June 21. 1377. in the 64 year of his Age having reigned above 50 years His Body was conveyed from Sheene by his four Sons having had seven in all and five Daughters and the Nobility and solemnly interred in Westminster Abbey where his Monument is to be seen and likewise his Sword which it is said he used in Battel being eight pound in weight and seven foot in length III. The Third Prince of Wales of the Blood Royal of England was Edward commonly called the Black Prince but why so named is uncertain for to think it was because of his dreadful actions as Speed saith has little probability neither do the Historians of that Age ever give him that name nor mention that he was so called He was eldest Son to King Edward III. by the fair Philippa Daughter to William Earl of Henault and Holland and born at Woodstock July 15. 1329. in the third year of his Father's Reign He was afterwards created Prince of Wales Duke of Aquitain and Cornwall and Earl of Chester He was likewise Earl of Kent in the right of his Wife Joan Daughter of the Earl of that Name and Brother by the Father's side to King Edward II. the most admired beauty of that Age. King Edward was very careful of his Education providing him the most able Tutors to educate him both in Arts and Arms. When he was but fifteen years old his Father passing over into France with a gallant Army took his Son along with him making him a Souldier before he was a Man being willing to try his Metal and loth to omit any thing that might give reputation to that Battel wherein two Kingdoms were laid at Stake In 1345. King Edward with a Fleet of about a Thousand Sail landed an Army of Two Thousand Five Hundred Horse and Thirty Thousand Foot most of them Archers in Normandy making devastation of all before him even to the very Walls of Paris In the mean time Philip the French King was not idle having raised as brave an Army as France had ever seen consisting in near an Hundred and Twenty Thousand Fighting Men K. Edward's Army being loaden with the rich Spoils of the ruined Countrey he was unwilling to retreat neither indeed was he able being got into the Heart of the Enemies Countrey between the two fine Rivers of Scin and Soan so that he began to inquire how he might find a passage out of these straits which the French having notice of looked upon as an intended flight and King Edward was willing they should nourish that opinton The River Soan between Abbeville and the Sea was fordable when the Tyde was out of which the French were aware and therefore guarded the passage with a Thousand Horse and Six Thousand Foot commanded by Gundamar de Foy a Valiant Norman Lord. King Edward coming to this place plunges into the River crying out He that loves me will follow me as resolving either to pass or dye This so animated his Souldiers that the Passage was won and Du Foy defeated by the undaunted courage of the English almost before he was fought with carrying back to King Philip. Two Thousand less than he brought beside the terror of the English Arms the Souldiers resolving to live and dye with such a gallant Soveraign King Edward was now near Crescy in the Province of Pontheiu between the Rivers Soam and Anthy a place unquestionably belonging to him in right of his Mother where he provided all necessaries for a Battel King Philip inraged at the late defeat and by his numerous Forces growing confident of success marches furiously to fall upon
her name From whence at length the name of Severn came The antient Inhabitants were the Ordovices who also peopled the Counties of Merioneth Carnarvan Denhigh and Flint whose Hearts and Hills kept them free a long time both from the Roman and English Yoke opposing themselves against the first till the reign of Domitian and the other till their total Conquest by King Edward I. They are a generous and affable People comely and fair of body courteous to strangers and very Loyal to the English Crown Montgomery is the chief Town and is one of the new Shires taken out of the Marches of Wales and made a County of King Henry VIII so called from Roger de Montgomery a Noble Nâ—rman Earl of Shrewsbury who gaining much Land hereabout from the Welsh first built it to secure his Conquests as likewise a very fine Castle standing not far from the banks of the River Severn upon the rising of a Rock from whence it hath a very pleasant prospect into a curious Plain that lyeth beneath it There is a Proveb in this County Y Tair Chiwiorydd in English The three Sisters whereby was meant the three Rivers of Wye Severn and Rhiddial arising all three in this County The Tradition is That these three Sisters were to run a Race which should be first Married to the Ocean Severn and Wye having a great Journey to go chose their way through soft Meadows and kept on a Travellers pace whilst Rhiddial presuming on her short journey staid before she went out and then to recover her lost time runs furiously in a distracted manner with her mad stream over all opposition It is applicaple to Chidren of the same Parents but of different dispositions and courses of life so that their Cradles were not so near but their Coffins are as far asunder There is another Proverb Pywys Paradwys Cymri that is Powis is the Paradice of Wales This Proverb referreth to Teliesten the Author thereof that Powis contained all that pleasant Land lying betwixt Wye and Severn A third Proverb is Gwan di Brwlin Hafren Plafren fydd hifel cynt that is Fix thy Pale in Severn with intent to fence out his Water Severn will be as before that is run its course applied to those who undertake projects above their power to perform Hawis Gadarn a Lady of remark sole Daughter and Heir to Owen ap Griffith Prince of Powis-land was justly Sirnamed Gadarn that is The Hardy Her four Uncles Leoline Griffith Vaughan and David detained her inheritance from her Give said they A Girl a little Gold and Marry her God and Nature made Land for men to manage Hereupon Hawis complained to King Edward II. who commiseraring her condition consigned his Servant John Charlton born at Apple in Shrepshire a vigorous Knight to Marry her creating him in her right Baron of Powis Being assisted with the King's Forces he took three of her Uncles Prisoners and brought the fourth to composition And finally recovered all his Wives Estate procuring also the Lands of her Uncles in default of their Issue Male to be setled on her George Herbert born at Montgomery-Castle was bred Fellow of Trinity-College in Cambridge and Orator of the University where he made a Speech of the return of Prince Charles out of Spain Waving Wotldly Preferment he served at God's Altar Of so Pious a Life that as he was a Copy of Primitive Christianity so he might be a Pattern of Sanctity to Posterity He never mentioned the name of Jesus but with this addition My Master Next God the Word he loved the Word of God being heard often to protest That he would not part with one leaf thereof for the whole World By his good example he gained much to the Church He was Preacher at Bemmerton nigh Salisbury where he built a fair House for his Successor and Prebendary at Leighton in the Diocess of Lincoln where he built a fair Church with the assistance of some Friends free Offerings When a tfriend of his went about to comfort him with the remembrance hereof as a good work he returned It is a good work if sprinkled with the Blood of Christ Edward Herbert his Brother was Knighted by King James I. who sent him over Ambassador to France King Charles I. created him Baron of Castle-Island in Ireland and after Baron of Cherbury in this County He was a most excellent Artist and a rare Linguist Studied both in Books and Men. He wrote a Treatise of the Truth in French extant with great honour in the Vatican Library at Rome He Married the Daughter of Sir William Herbert of St. Julian's in Monmouthshire with whom he had a large Inheritance both in England and Ireland He died in 1648. and was buried in St. Giles's in the Fields London A fair Monument of his own Invention was begun and almost sinisht in the Church of Montgomery In the Year 1661. Dec. 20. about Sunsetting the Inhabitants of Weston in Montgomeryshire discovered a great number of Horsemen about 400 paces from them marching two a breast in Military order upon the Common and were half an hour before the Reer came up seeming to be about 500 in all the spectators were amazed thinking them to be an Army of Roundheads going to release the Prisoners at Montgomery there being at that time several Ministers and Gentlemen in Prison and therefere several of them went to the top of the next Hill where they had another full view of them and could distinguish their Horses to be of several Colours as white grey black c. and that they marched in three Companies and betwixt every Division they had two Horse colours flying but as they drew toward them they still marched from them so that they could not come nearer than 100 Yards they asked a man who was thatching a House all that day which they judged the Horsemen went by whether he saw all those Souldiers which marched by who said that he saw none neither was there any Tract of the Horses to be seen that night nor the next morning so that they concluded it to be a wonderful Apparition and deposed the Truth of these particulars before the Lord Herbert and several other Justices of the Peace of this County at the same time a Women coming from Bishops Castle over the same Common fell off her Horse being much terrified with the sight of a blazing Star which she and six men with her saw sometimes white and sometimes red with a Tail like an Arrow which seemed to hang just over their heads from Bishops Mount to this Common being three Miles and the People of the house where the VVoman fell when they came out saw the Star also This County is very plentiful of Cattle especially Horses which for their shape and swiftness are much valued It is divided into seven Hundreds wherein are six Market Towns and forty seven Parish Churches and gives the Title of Earl to Thomas Lord Herbert who is likewise Earl of Pombroke Cherbury