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
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
discourse in that exquisite History of Henry the seuenth penned by that learned and iudicious Statesman Sir Francis Bacon Viscount Saint Alban lately deceased The last Earle that I finde to be here entombed of ancient times is Iohn de Vere the fourth of that christian name Earle of Oxford Lord Bulbeck Samford and Scales Lord great Chamberlaine of England and Knight of the Garter he was commonly called little Iohn of Campes Castle Campes in Cambridgeshire being the ancient seate of the Veres where this Earle vsed much to reside He married Anne daughter of Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke and died without issue the 14 of July 1526. I finde in a booke of Dunmow in bib Cot. that Maud the wife of Iohn de Vere the seuenth Earle of Oxford lyeth here intombed shee was the daughter of Bartholomew Lord Badelismere Baron of Leedes in Kent and one of the heires of Giles Lord Badelismere her brother She was first married to Robert sonne of Robert Fitz-Paine She outliued her later husband some few yeares and died the 24. of May 1365. ... Coggeshall ....... Coggeshale ...... mil. .... M. ccc ..... For which of the name this broken inscription should be engrauen I cannot learne but I finde that these Coggeshals in foregoing ages were Gentlemen of exemplarie regard and knightly degree whose ancient habitation was in this Towne one of which familie was knighted by King Edward the third the same day that hee created Edward his eldest sonne Earle of Chester and Duke of Cornwall Anno 1336. Hic iacet Thomas Paycocke quondam Carnifex de Coggeshal qui obijt 21 Maij 1461. et Christiana vxor eius quorum animabus Prey for the sowl of Robert Paycock of Coggeshale cloth-maker for Elizabeth and Ioan his wyfs who died 21. Octob. 1520. on whos soul. Here lyeth Thomas Paycock cloth-worker Margaret and Ann his wyfs which Tho. died the 4. of September 1518. Orate pro anima Iohannis Paycock et Iohanne vxoris eius qui quidem Iohannes obijt 2 Aprilis 1533. The Creede in Latine is all curiously inlaid with brasse round about the Tombestone Credo in Deum patrem c. Orate pro animabus Iohannis Kebulet Isabelle et Iohanne vx eius Quorum c. About the verge of the stone in brasse a Pater noster inlaid Pater Noster qui es in celis sanctificetur nomen tuum and so to the end of the praier Vpon the middest of the marble this Aue Maria. Aue Maria gratia plena Dominus tecum Benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus sit fructus ventris tui Iesus Amen I haue not seene such rich monuments for so meane persons Orate pro anima Gulielmi Goldwyre et Isabelle et Christiane vxorum qui quidem Gulielmus obijt ... 1514. Mary Moder mayden clere Prey for me William Goldwyre And for me Isabel his wyf Lady for thy Ioyes fyf Hav mercy on Christian his second wyf Swete Iesu for thy wowndys fyf Here in this towne of Cogshal was sometime an Abbey built and endowed by King Stephen and Maud his Queene in the yeare 1140. the fift of his raigne according to the booke of Saint Austins in Canterbury Anno M. c. xl facta est Abbathia de Cogeshal a Rege Stephano et Matilde Regina qui primo fundauerunt Abbathiam de Furnesse Abbatiam de Longeleyrs et postea Abbathiam de Feuersham c. this house was dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary wherein were placed white Monkes â—luniackes the reuenues of which were valued to be yearely worth 298. l. 8. s. it was surrendred the 18. of March 29. Hen. 8. Adioyning to the Rode called Coccill-way which to this towne leadeth was lately found an arched Vault of bricke and therein a burning lampe of glasse couered with a Romane Tyle some 14 inches square and one Vrne with ashes and bones besides two sacrificing dishes of smooth and pollished red earth hauing the bottome of one of them with faire Romane letters inscribed COCCILLI M I may probably coniecture this to haue beene the sepulchrall monument of the Lord of this towne who liued about the time of Antoninus Pius as by the coyne there likewise found appeareth the affinitie betweene his and the now townes name being almost one and the same These remaine in the custody of that iudicious great Statesman Sir Richard Weston Knight Baron Weston of Nealand Lord Treasurer of England and of the most honourable Order of the Garter companion Who for his approued vertues and industrie both vnder father and sonne doth to the publique good fully answere the place and dignity Before these times in a place called Westfield three quarters of a mile distant from this towne and belonging to the Abbey there was found by touching of a plough a great brasen pot The ploughmen supposing to haue beene hid treasure sent for the Abbot of Cogeshall to see the taking vp of it and he going thither met with Sir Clement Harleston and desired him also to accompany him thither The mouth of the pot was closed with a white substance like past or clay as hard as burned bricke when that by force was remoued there was found within it another pot but that was of earth that being opened there was found in it a lesser pot of earth of the quantity of a gallon couered with a matter like Veluet and fastened at the mouth with a silke lace in it they found some whole bones and many pieces of small bones wrapped vp in fine silke of fresh colour which the Abbot tooke for the reliques of some Saints and laid vp in his Vestuary Bocking Dorewards So denominated of the Dorewardes sometimes Lords of this towne and Patrons of this fat Parsonage which is xxxv l x. s. in the Kings bookes as I am perswaded by relation and these Inscriptions vpon ancient Tombes Hic iacet Iohannes Doreward Armig. filius Willelmi Doreward mil .... qui obijt .... 1420. et Isabella vxor eius .... Hic iacet Iohannes Doreward Armiger qui obiit xxx die Ianuar. Anno Dom. Mil. cccc lxv et Blancha vxor eius que obiit ... die mens .... An Dom. Mil. cccc lx quorum animabus propitietur dens Amen Clauiger Ethereus nobis sis Ianitor almus Haulsteed The Lordship of Stansteed within this Parish was the ancient inheritance of the noble family of the Bourchiers in which they had a mansion house many of which surname lie here entombed to continue whose remembrance in the south side of the Quire is a Chappell which to this day is called Bowsers Chappell wherein they lie interred the inscriptions which were vpon their monuments are quite gone this one following excepted Hic iacet Bartholomeus quondam Dominus de Bourgchier qui obiit viii die mens Maii Anno Dom. M. cccc.ix et Margereta Sutton ac Idonea Louey vxores eius Quorum animabus propitietur Deu S. Amen Vnder another of these monuments lieth the
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
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
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
Cherch of Ockley In the Cherch of Thâ—endeston In the Cherch of Battam In Codnam Cherche In the Cherch of Belyngs magna In S. â—aâ—â—ance Cherche as Ipsewyche Shotley Cherche In the Cherch of Belstede Eston Cherch In Mâ—tleâ—dâ— Cherch In Lackefelde Cherch In Debnam Cherch Kenton Cherch Playford Cherche Knotfall Cherch In the Cherche of Walderswyke In Beckelles Cherche More in Beckelles Coue Cherche Leystoâ—t Cherche Somerleton or Somorley Cherche Olton Cherch Soterley Chercheâ— The diuision of the Diocesse of the East-Angles Elmham the Bishops â—eate Baldwin the first Bishop Godwin Catal. Theâ—ford the Bishops seate Arfastus the first Bishop Godwin out of Maâ—msbury William the â—â—st Bishop of Thetford and the first of Norwich The foundation of the Bishops See at Norwich Herbert the first Bishop of Norwich Cart. Antiq. in Arch. Turris Lond. Godwin de 〈◊〉 Ang. Maâ—â—s de gest Regum Ang. lib. 4. â—â— vet Mss in bib Cot. Euerard Bishop of Norwich Will. Turbus Bishop of Norwich Io. Oxford Bishop of Norwich Pits aetat 13. Io. Grey Bishop of Norwich De praesul Angl. Walter de Sufield Bishop of Norw The foundation of Saint Giles Hospitall Si. de Wanton Bishop of Norw Rog. 〈…〉 Bishop of Norw Iohn Salmon Bishop of Norw Will. Ayremin Bishop of Norw Câ—p â—â—3 Tho. Piercy Bishop of 〈◊〉 Hen. Spenser Bishop of 〈◊〉 Tho. Walsing in vita R. 2. 〈◊〉 Arch. Turris 〈…〉 Alexander Bishop of Norwich 〈◊〉 Arch. Tur. 〈◊〉 Io. Wakering Bishop of Norwich Hollins A. 2. H. 5. Walter Lyghart Bishop of Norâ—wich Ia. Goldwel Bishop of Norwich Tho. Ian. Bishop of Norwich 〈…〉 of Norwich Richard Brome 〈◊〉 Boswell The â—amilie of Bosvile oâ— Boswell Clere and his wife Elis. Waters Beauchampâ— Chappell His buriall Simon Folkarde Baconthorpe Prior. Io. Baconthorpe the resolute little Doctor Pit Ann 1346. Baconthorpe a Dwarfe Mss. in custod And. Treswell Sir William Bolen knight of the Bath Tho. a Priest who paued a part of the Church Tho. Helby Io. Knapton S. Peters picture The bragge of the clocke Tho. Scot Philo. Anne Flint * thiâ— * them * that Osbornes Elis. Ellis Iohn Mers Tho. Ellis Maior of Norwich and Marg. his wife Henry Wilton and Mar. his wife Rich. Ailmer and Ioan his wife Judge Windam Ioan London Izod Read Sir Peter Read knighted by Charles the fift Emperour Tho. Sheffe and his wife Marion Iohn Prince Priest Margery Hore Verst in our english names of contempt Rob. Thorpe Tho. Warnys Priest Io. Asker oâ— Alger Maior The Gâ—ey Frieâ—s The Blâ—â—ke Friers The 〈…〉 Burialls in the whâ—te Friers Carmeliâ—â—s Vmphrey Necton Ro. â—alsyngham 〈◊〉 Folsham Rob. Rose Lady Emma 2 Recluse or Anchoresse and of this order Sir Hugo Vuedal knight Sir Will. Crongethorpe knight Philip Cowgate the Founder A grieuous great plague in Norwich A prayer for the deliueraÌ„ce of certaine Carmes out of Purgatory Ex Mss. Balei de Carmelitis The praise of Norwich Vide Camden The foundation of the Colledge of Attilborrough Burials at Attilborrough Sir Alex. Radcliffe of Ordsall now owner of Attilborroâ— Anu 1031. The foundation of the Priory of 〈◊〉 Ex 〈…〉 Lond. The Priory made an Abbey Io. Wheâ—onsseaâ— Mss. in bâ—b Câ—t Burials at 〈◊〉 Ex Annal. de Wauerley in bib Cot. Romaines â—pon 〈◊〉 None Io. Townsend Sir Rog Towneshead knight Bardolfe Anne Lady Higham Lib. 2. cap. 16. Lord Montaigne surnamed Higham Sir William Butts knight and his Lady Sir Nicholas Bacon knight and Baronet Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper Sir Francis Bacon Lord Chancellour Sir Raph Shelton and Alice his wife The foundation of Blackney Priory Camd in Norf. The Resolute Doctor Iohn Vnctâ—n Iohn Câ—â—â—ll Iohn Bocher and Marg. his wife Tho. Drake Io. Waith and Marg. his wife Io. Darosse and his wife Io Avelyn Vicar Io. Glouer Vicar Williâ—m Roys Isabell Tilney Iane Kneveâ—t Io. Styward Marg. his wife George Linsted Will. Davy Marg. Thorne Sir Roger Harsicke knight The foundation of the Abbey of Castle Acre 〈◊〉 Brâ—â—d and Agnes his wiâ—â— In a glâ—â—â—e Window Margaret White Alice Burnham Io. Bokenham George Bokenham Sir Oliuer Ingham knight Stow Annal. Hollins Spâ—ed cap. 1â— Sir Will. Woodhouse The foundation of Hickling Priory Rochfords Thomas Sutton Rob. Goddard Ric. Zorke Sir Fredericke Tâ—lney knight a man of high stature Sixteene knights of the Tilneys successiuely Tilneys inheritance deuolued to the Howards by marriage Io. Fincham Eliz. Fincham Io. Fincham The foundation of S Benets in the Holme An Abbot of Holme hanged Camd. in Norf. Iohn Clipesby Iohn Clipesby Catherine Clipesby Hen Spelman Hen. â—pelman and Ela his â—â—â—e Sir Iohn Spelman knight Elis. his wife Sir Hen. Spelman knight Io Spelman and Marg. his wife Will. Spelman Sir Will. Yeluerton knight and Iohn his sonne Hen. Nottingham and his wife * that made * Quire Hen. Le Strange Sir Roger Le Strange knight for the body to â—ing Henry the â—â—â—enth Camd. in Norf. Stow Annal. Ex Arch. Turris London The foundation of Penteney Abbey Ex. lib. Abb. de Langley Ric. Baxter cowardly slain Tho. Baxter Tho. Drake and Elis. his wife The foundation of Wendling Priory Shernburne Shernbâ—rn the second Christian Church of â—i is Country 〈◊〉 by 〈…〉 The foundation of the Monastery of Langley Out of 〈◊〉 of Annalâ— belonging to this Priory 〈…〉 Collâ—â—s Io. 〈◊〉 and Alice his wife Christopher Calthorpe Io. Symonds and Agnes his wife Symonds Anne and Margaret his wiues Io. â—â—umsted Ed. Braunche and Anne his wife Henry Berney and Alice his wife Io. Berney and his wiues Another Iohn Berney and his wiues Io Berney Io. Berney Sir Raphâ— Fulmerston and Alice his Lady Will. Knigton Peter Larke and his wife The foundation of the Friers Preachers Arfastus Bishop of Thetford Ex Mss Anâ—n in bib Cot. Iâ—â— Colledge 〈◊〉 Thetford The foundatioÌ„ of the 〈◊〉 Monastery at Thetford Caâ—â—d in Norf. Hugh Bigot Earle of Norf. Orderie Vital Vtic. Ecclesiast Hist. lib. 11. Roger Bigot Sewer to king Hen. the 〈◊〉 Stow 〈…〉 Roger Bigot Earle of Norf. Hugh Bigot Earle of Norf. Roger Bigot Earle of Norf. Marshall of England His Will out of Camdens collections in bib Ceâ—â— Roger Bigot Earle of Norf. and Marshall of England the last and Alina his wife Io Mowbray Duke of Norfolke and Eleanor his wife Iohn Lord Mowbray Duke of Norfolke Iohn Lord Howard Duke of Norfolke Ex Arch Turr. Lond. Hollins pa. 759. Sir Iohn Beaumont Baronet deceased in his Poeme of Bosworth field Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke Henry Fitz Roy Duke of Richmond Henry Howard Earle of Surrey and Frances his wife Camd. in Norf. Pit de illust Ang. scriptoribus pag. 923. Hen. How Poem Sir Anthony Denny Leâ—and â—n suis Nâ—ijâ— The death of Sir Tho. Wiat. Annal. Stow. Hollinâ— Hali. Speed Hâ—â—â— Alice 〈◊〉 〈…〉 Rob. Seman Will. Pyllis Kneuetâ— Camd. in Nors Tho. Browne â—uckenham â—riory Sir Iohn Erâ—â—â—â—ham Knight â—â—undation of the Nunnery Sir Will. Chamberlaine knight of the Garter The foundation of S. Andrewes at Bromholme 〈…〉 The holy Crosse of Bromholme Capgraue in the life of S. Edâ—â—â—d King and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compertorum Camd. 〈…〉 â—aphe 〈◊〉 Robert 〈◊〉 Nâ—â—â— Io Deynes and Katherine his wife Io. Shildgate George Lord Audley The foundation of the Chappell and Priory at Walsingham out of a 〈…〉 increasing Librarie of Sir 〈…〉 Camd. in Norf. Erasmus of the pilgrimage to Wâ—lsingham Queene Isabels seruant Flytham Priory The Foundation of the Priory of Yngham Burials in the Priory Church Leland in his Commentaries The foundation of the Friers Carmelites The blacke and white Friers in Linne S. Iohns Hospitall Sir Iames Hobart knight the builder of this Church 〈◊〉 lit I. Margaret Laâ—â— Hobart Bishop Herbert the builder of the Church Elinâ—â—â—â—â—ker Stow Annal. ex lib. priorat de Tur. Burials of such as â—â—ed of the plague The white Friers The Blacke Friers The Grey Friers The Colledge of S. Iohn Baptist Sir Iohn Falstolfe knight of the Garter Burials and persons to be prayed for in religious houses in about Yarmouth Ed. de Hengraue a renowned Lawyer Sir Raph Shalton knight and Alice his wife 〈…〉 Lady 〈◊〉 Ioâ— Shelton 〈◊〉 Sir Raph Shelton 〈◊〉 â—unnery In bib Cott. Mss. in bib 〈◊〉 monds 〈◊〉 Eq. aurâ—t Shuldâ—◠〈◊〉 Priory of Nunnes The foundatioÌ„ of the Chappell in the Field The foundatioÌ„ of Raueningham Colledge Ex Arch. â—uâ—r Lond. Cart. Antâ—q The foundatioÌ„ of a Chantrie at Tomeston The foundatioÌ„ of the Priory of Cockford â—en Spâ—hmanni 〈◊〉 aurat â—â—nia â—he story of Hikifrick here 〈◊〉 The strange 〈…〉 of 〈◊〉 Camâ— in Perth Hayâ—s Earles of Arrol or Eâ—tol Io. Ionston Heroes Scoâ— â—aâ—graâ—e in vi◠〈…〉 confessoria S. 〈◊〉 his 〈…〉 places Godwin de presul Aug.
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
Credo quod redemptor meus viuit et ..... Orate pro anima Iohannis Burgoine filij Iohannis Burgoine de Impington in Com. Cantab. ... Cuius These Burgoines were â—ometime Lords of Caxton in Cambridgeshire by whom it came to the Iermins Orate pro anima Richardi Ieames ... huic Ecclesie Benefac .... qui obiit 15. Sept. 1501. Cuius This man say the Inhabitants was a speciall Benefactor to this Church a Tradesman and a Smith as appeares by the picture of a paire of Pinsers vpon his Monument Marmoreo lapide Thomas Gawge subtumulatur Qui vero dum vixit residens Doctor Thelogie Sistebat etiam tum Cancellarius ille Prenobilis Ducisse fuit pariter Eboraci Quem Deus euexit nuper ad agamatha regni Octobris mensis X. bina dieque secunda M. Domini quater hiis addito septuagena Hic iacet Iacobus Peckham Ar. et Margareta vxor eius filia Thome Burgoine de Impington in Com. Cant. Ar. qui ob 28. Febr. 1500. et Margareta ob die quorum Of yowr cherity pray for the sowls of Reynald Peckham the elder Squire for the body of the most excellent Prince king Henry the eight who decesed 27 Feb. 1525. and for the sowl of Ioice Colepeper his wife which decesed 20. March 1523. Hic iacet Willelmus Peckham Ar. Cironomon Tho. Bourchier Episcopi Cant. et Cardinalis qui obiit 28. Iunij 1491. et Katherina vxor que obiit 23. Aug. 1491. Quorum animabus Hic iacet Thomas Peckham et Dorothea qui ob .... die .... An. Dom ..... et Dorothea ob 19. Decemb. 1512. quorum c. Of yowr .... of Iames Peckham Esquire and Agnes his wife the which Iames decesed 5. Aug. 1532. on whos soule and al Christian souls Iesu haue mercy Here are two tombes in the Church-yard and neare to the Church-doore the one of which saith Francis Thinne Lancaster Herald was erected to the memory of Martin Peckham Esquire the other to Margerie Peckham his wife by the marriage of which Margerie ample reuenues came to the family of the Peckhams she being daughter and heire to Yaldham Lord of the Mannor of Yaldham Glouer Somerset Herald in his Collections saith that Iohn Peckham did hold the Mannor of West-Peckham in the first of Henry the third But certaine it is that Iohn Peckham Archbishop of Canterbury in the raigne of Edward the first was the first man that aduanced his name to those great possessions which his posteritie enioyed euen till these our times Chidingston Orate pro animabus Thome Willughby militis vnius Iusticiar domini Regis de Banco filij Christoferi Willughby militis ac etiam Domini Willughby in Com. Suffolk et domine Brigitte vxoris Thome Willughby predicti vnius filiarum heredum Roberti Read militis ac primatis de communi loco Iusticiar qui quidem Thomas obijt 28. die Sept. Ann. 1545. Pray for the sowle of Iohn Lofte Master of Arts Preest for my Lord Read the .... of Aug. 1500. on whos sowl and all Christian sowls Iesu haue mercy Amen Hic iacet Iohannes Alphegh .... Isabella filia .... qui quidem Iohannes obijt An. 1489. predicta Isabella obijt 23. Sept. 1479. quorum animaâ—â—â— This Iohn Alphegh built Bore place here in Chidingston which 〈◊〉 Robert Read enlarged and after that it was enlarged by Sir Thomas Willoughby knight and then by Thomas Willoughby now liuing 1575. Among the Willoughbeis saith learned Clarentieux one excelled all the rest in the reigne of Henry the fifth named Sir Robert Willoughbey who for his martiall prowesse was created Earle of Vandosme in France and from these by the mothers side descended Peregrine Berti Baron Willoughby of Ere 's by a man for his generous minde and militarie valour renowned both in France and the Low-countreys whos 's Robert Berti Lord Willoughby of Eresby Earle of Lindsey and Lord great Chamberlaine of England Orate pro anima Iohannis Wood Decretorum Baccalarij nuper Rectoris huius Ecclesie ac Prebendarii de Hastings qui ob 7. Maii 1487. Orate pro anima Edmundi Read filii Roberti Read militis ac vnius Iusticiar Domini Regis de Banco qui quidem Edmundus obiit 10. Iunii 1501. Sir Robert Read built the North Chappell of this Church Ann. 1516. in honorem Dei et Sancte Katherine he was made chiefe Iustice 22. of Henry the seuenth and dyed about the tenth of Henry the eight Itham or Igtham Of your charity .... of Sir Richard Clement knight and Anne his wife daughter of Sir William Catesby of Northamptonshire knight which Anne decesed 3. Nouemb. 1528. and the said Sir Richard decesed day of Ann. Dom. on whos sowls ... Of your cherite prey for the sowl of Richard Astall Master of Arte of Camb. and late Parson of Itame and Cheuening and Prebendarie of Wingham The which Richard decesed 21. Aug. 1546. on whos Here is a Tombe of Marble which is supposed by most of the neare Inhabitants to be made for Sir Richard Hawte sometime owner and founder of the Mote and Lieutenant of the Tower of London Some say to Sir Nicholas some one knight of that name some another for an ancient family they were of knights degree and Lords of many faire Mannors all which by the marriage of Iane and Elizabeth daughters and coheires of Sir William Hawte knight by Mary his wife the daughter of Sir Richard Guilfora knight came to be the inheritance of Sir Thomas Wiat and Sir Tho. Culpepper yet some more iudicious say that this Monument was erected for one Cawne who was likewise owner of the Mote who married with Morrant Lord of Morrants Court Cobham In this Church are many faire Monuments fouly defaced vnder which the Cobhams and Brookes Lords and Barons of this Towne of Cobham with many of their kindred Allies and progenie lie interred who for many descents did flourish in honourable reputation euen vntill these our times Vousque passericy .... pries pur l'alme le curteis ..... Iohan de Cobham auat a nom dieux luy fari verray Pardon qe trespassa lendemayne de Seynt Mathy le passent oustre a demorer one lay en l'an de Grace 1354. Icy gist Margerie de Cobham iadis Femme a tresnoble cheualier ....... Regni .... ordre .... que morust le IIII iour de Sept. l'an de Grace 1375. de .... dieu et mercy To make this maymed inscription more perfectly to bee vnderstood let me tell you that this Margerie or Margaret for I can hardly discerne whether by the engrauement was the wife of that braue warriour Reynold Baron Cobham Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports knight of the Garter and Admirall of the Sea coasts from Thames mouth Westward who dyed of the second Pestilence in theraigne of king Edward the third An. Dom. 1361. Vous q par icy
Io. Stow Ann. 1369. She ordained for her husband and her selfe a solemne Obit to bee kept yearely in this Church where the Maior being present at the Masse with the Sheriffes Chamberlaine and Swordbearer should offer each of them a pennie and the Maior to take vp twentie shillings the Sheriffes either of them a Marke the Chamberlaine ten shillings and the Sword-bearer sixe shillings eight pence and euery other of the Maiors officers there present two and twenty pence a peece the which Obyte saith Fabian to this day is holden She also founded foure Chantrees in this Church for the soules of her selfe and her husband and was greatly beneficiall vnto the Deane and Canons His second wife Constance died in the yeare 1395. whom hee solemnly and Princely interred by his first wife Blanch. She was saith Walsingham mulier super feminas innocens deuota A Lady aboue Ladies innocent deuout and zealous Of his third wife Katherine when I come to Lincolne Minster where she lieth entombed Henry Lacy Earle of Lincolne lieth here entombed in the new worke which was of his owne foundation vnder a goodly Monument with his armed pourtraiture crosse-legged as one that had professed his vttermost endeauour for defence of the holy Land Hee was stiled Earle of Lincolne Baron of Halton Constable of Chester Lord of Pomfret Blackburnshire Ros in Wales and Rowennocke Hee was Protectour of England whilest King Edward the second was in Scotland and Viceroy sometime in the Duchie of Aquitaine Vir illustris in consilio strenuus in omni guerra prelio Princeps militie in Anglia in omni regno ornatissimus saith the booke of Dunmow By his first wife Margaret daughter and heire of William Longspee grandchilde of William Longspee Earle of Salisbury he had two sonnes Edmund drowned in a Well in Denbeigh Castle and Iohn who died young both of them dead before their father And one daughter named Alice married to Thomas Plantaginet Earle of Lancaster He died at his house now called Lincolnes Inne in Chancerie-lane London Feb. the fifth 1310. being threescore yeares of age as I haue it out of the booke of Whalley in these words Iste Henricus Comes Lincol. obijt Anno etat is lx Ann. Domini M. CCC X. in festo Sancte Agathe Martyris circa gallicinium In the same Chappell dedicated to S. Dunstan lieth Laurence Allerthorp sometimes Canon of this Church and Lord Treasurer of England with this Inscription Hic iacet Laurentius Allerthorp quondam Thesaurarius Anglie Canonicus Stagiarius istius Ecclesie qui migrauit ex hoc seculo mens Iulij die 21. 1406. This Allerthorp being a man of no more eminencie in the Church then a Canon resident was neuer thought of or not beleeued by the Collector of the Lord Treasurers to haue ascended to such an honour so that he lies here in a darksome roome as a sacrifice to obliuion small notice taken of him except by some few of the Churchmen Now giue mee leaue to tell you by way of digression that howsoeuer this Allerthorp was but one of the Canons resident yet he was solely the one and had most or all the reuenues of the rest in his hands for as the Records of this Church doe approue those thirtie Canons vpon the primarie institution called Canons Regular because they led a regular life and were perpetually resident and afterwards liuing abroad and neglecting the businesse of their Church became to be called Canons secular contenting themselues with the title of Canon and some prebend assigned vnto them Which annexing of lands to the Prebendarie was not till a long time after the first foundation whereupon Pope Lucius by his Bull ordained that the Canons non-resident should not partake of the profits of the lands assigned to the common affaires of the Church but onely such as were resident the diuision of the Churches lands hauing beene made before in the time of the Conquerour and this Laurence Allerthorp at and before the time of his Treasurship was solus residentiarius and had the whole reuenue of the rest at his owne disposing by way of Option as it is called in the Lieger booke But of this enough if not too much Then to conclude howsoeuer this Allerthorp be altogether excluded out of the Treatise of the Treasurers and Sir Iohn Northberie knight keeper of the priuie Garderobe in the Tower said to be Lord Treasurer in the first second and third of king Henry the fourth in which time the said Allerthorp should enioy that office or not at all Yet these words in his Patent together with this Epitaph do approue him to haue beene adorned with the honourable Office of a solicitous Lord Treasurer Laurentius de Allerthorp Clericus habet officium Thesaurarij Anglie quamdiu T.R. apud W. 31. Maij. 9. pars pat 2. Hen. 4. membrana 14. Hic requiescit Simon Burly Banerettus quinque Portuum prefectus Ordinis Garterij Miles Ricardo 2. Consiliarius longe charissimus connubio sibi coniunctas habuit ex amplissimis familijs duas vxores alteram Staffordie alteram Baronis de Roos filiam Verum difficillimo illo tempore cum inter Anglie Proceres omnia sub iuuene Principe simultatibus agitarentur in tantum nonnullorum odium incurrit vt Parlamentaria authoritate capite plecteretur Anno Dom. 1388. Posteri autem eadem postea authoritate sub Rege Henrico quarto sunt restituti Edward the blacke Prince tooke such affection to this Sir Simon Burley for his valour wisedome and true seruice that he committed to his gouernance his onely sonne then liuing Richard of Burdeux who being afterwards king of England by the name of Richard the second aduanced him to high honours offices and promotions and nothing was done in matters of State without his appointment and direction Thus hee continued alwayes loyall to his Soueraigne Lord the king yet liued in the hatred of the Peeres of the Land as also of the common people for that he leaned to the partie of Robert de Veere Earle of Oxford Duke of Ireland and the kings fauorite and was an oppressour of the poore Commons insomuch that by the sentence of that Parliament which wrought wonders An. 11. Ric. secundi hee was condemned of treason and beheaded on the Tower hill as in the Inscription He was first Vicechamberlaine to king Richard who made him Constable of Douer Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports deliuering the keyes of the said Castle to the said Simon in signe of possession so much would he grace him with his presence thus recorded Simon de Burley Miles subcamerarius Regis haebt officium Constabularij Castri Douer custodie 5. Portuum ad totam vitam suam sicut Robertus de Assheton Chr. iam defunctus nuper habuit Rex super hoc ipso Simoni in dicto Castro in presenti existens claues tradidit in signum possessionis earundem
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 lastly put out the Almesmen from their houses appointing them xii d. the weeke to each person The Church of this Hospitall is now a preaching place for the French Nation Saint Martins Outwich Ecclesie Rector huius Iohn Breux tumulatus Artibus doctor vermibus esca datus Prebendam quondam cicestrensem retinebat Quem Petronille lux tulit e medio M. C. quater quinquageno nono sociato Sic predotatus vertitur in cinerem Augustine Fryers This religious house was founded in the well meaning deuotion of former times by Humphrey Bohun the fift of that name Earle of Hereford and Essex 1253. and was afterward reedified by Humphrey Bohun the ninth of that name Earle of Hereford and Essex Lord of Brecknocke and Constable of England who died Anno 1361. and was buried in the Quire of this Church This Frierie dedicated to the honour of Saint Augustine was valued vpon the surrender to King Henry the eight to 57 l. 4 s. per annum Here sometime did lie entombed the body of Richard Fitz-Alan the fourth of that name Earle of Arundell and Surrey who with Thomas Duke of Glocester Thomas Earle of Warwicke Henry Earle of Derby afterwards King of England and others combined and sware each to other against Robert Vere Duke of Ireland and Michael de la Pole Duke of Suffolke for abusing and misleading the King for which and some other causes which Richard the second obiected against them some of them were banished others condemned to perpetuall imprisonment and this Richard beheaded on the Tower hill Septemb. Anno 1397. the constancie of whose carriage at his arraignement passage and execution in all which he did not once discolour the honour of his bloud with any degenerous word looke or action encreased the enuy of his death vpon his prosecutors Here likewise lay sumptuously interred Iohn Vere the xii Earle of Oxford and Aubrey his eldest sonne who with Sir Thomas Tudensa knight who was also here buried and others their Councellors either through malice of their enemies or some offence conceiued by King Edward the fourth were attainted by Act of Parliament anno primo Edward 4 and put to Execution vpon the Tower hill the 26 of February 1461. William Lord Berkeley of Berkeley Castle honoured with the tâ—tâ—es of Viscount and Marquesse Berkely Earle of Nottingham and Earle Marshall of England was here inhumed who died Ann. 1492. This William as I had it from my deceased friend Aug. Vincent by his deed dated the third of Nouember Ann. 6. Hen. 7 gaue one hundreâ— pounds to the Prior of this house for two Masses to be said presently and for euer at the Altar of our Lady and Saint Iames. Betweene which Altars the body of his wife Ioan who liued but a few dayes with him and is not at all mentioned in the Catalogues of Honour was buried who was the widow of Sir William Willoughbie before the marriage with the Marquesse And to pray for the prosperous estate of the said Marquesse and of Anne his then wife and of Edward Willoughby Richard Willoughby Anne Beauchampe and Elisabeth Willoughbie with all the issue of the said William and Ioane and especially for the soules health of the said Ioane and of Katherine her mother Duchesse of Norfolke Here sometime lay sumptuously entombed the body of Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham who by the sleights and practises of Cardinall Wolsey fell into displeasure with king Henry the eight and being condemned of high Treason for that among other matters hee had consulted with a Monke or wizard about succession of the Crowne was beheaded on the Tower hill May the 17. 1521. He was a noble Gentleman exceedingly much lamented of good men Of whose death when the Emperour Charles the fifth heard he said that a Butchers dogge meaning the Cardinall a Butchers sonne had deuoured the fairest Buck alluding to the name of Buckingham in all England Here was interred the bodie of Edward the eldest sonne of Edward the blacke Prince by Ioan his wife surnamed the faire Maide of Kent who was borne at Angolesme Ann. 1375. and died at 7. yeares of age Many of the Barons slaine at Barnet-field vpon Easterday 1471. were buried here in the bodie of the Church but now their bodies with these before remembred and the bodies of an hundred more mentioned by Stow of exemplarie note and knights degree are not onely despoiled of all outward funerall ornaments but digged vp out of their Requietories and dwelling houses raised in the place which was appointed for their eternall rest Some part of this Church is at this day yet standing but in that no monument of this kinde is remaining for it is conuerted into a Church for the Duch-Inhabitants of this Citie who in that kinde can hardly brooke any reuerend Antiquitie Saint Botolphs Bishopsgate Hic iacet Cardina vxor Richardi Shoder militis Iohanna filia eorundem ...... 14. April 1471. Sub hoc marmore iacet corpus Iohannis Redman quondam huius Ecclesie Rectoris benemerentissimi qui ab hac luce migrauit tertio die Iulij Ann. Dom. 1523. Neare to this gate if wee giue credit to our owne ancient Chronicles Nennius the sonne of Hely and brother of Lud and Cassibelane kings ouer the warlike Britaines was interred A man of a magnanimous spirit heroicall and valiant Who in the warres betweene Iulius Cesar and the Britaines sought couragiously in defence of his countrey causing Cesar to flie backe with the losse of his sword which Nennius tooke from him in single encounter and with which he slew Labienus Tribune of the Romane Nobilitie But the fifteenth day after this single opposition hee died of a wound receiued at the hands of Cesar in the same conflict the yeare of the worlds creation 3913. before the birth of our alone Sauiour 51. And here as I haue said was entombed with all funerall state and solemnitie and with him the sword which he tooke from Cesar the Emperour as he himselfe commanded Which sword was called Reddeath or rather Readie-death wherewith if any one had beene neuer so little wounded he could neuer escape with life Which you shall haue in such old verse as came to my hands At the north yate of London hii buriede this gud knyght And buriede in hys chest the swerd that was so bryght That he wan of the Emperor wythe grete honor enough That Reddedeth was ycluped whar with he hym slough I buriede wyth hym hit was as in tokneyinge Of hys Proesse that he hit wan of on so heigh a kyng I haue some other of the same subiect but of later times if you will reade them But Neminus brother of Cassybalayne Full manly fought on Iulius tymes twayne With strokes sore ayther on other bette But at the last this Prince syr Iulius Crosea mors his swerde in shelde sette Of the manly worthy Sir Neminus Whiche of manly
force and myght vigorous The swerde he brought away oute of the felde As Iulius it set faste in his shelde Through whiche stroke Sir Neminus then died And buried was at the North gate certayne Of London then where now is edified London Citee royall of all Britayne Thus this worthy knyght in his graue befayne Crosea mors his swerde layd by his syde Whiche he brought from Iulius that tyde By the testimonie of Iohn Bale this his manly prowesse was embellisht and adorned with all good literature who affirmeth that he writ an excellent Historie of the originall pedigree and progresse of his owne Nation Of yowr cherite sey a Pater Noster and an Ave For the soul of William Pratte somtym of Pekerle On whos soul Iesu haue mercy Saint Helens This was the Church to the Nunnerie founded first by William Basing Deane of Pauls who lieth here buried about the yeare 1212. and afterwards by another William Basing one of the Sheriffes of London in the second yeare of Edward the second augmented both in building and reuenue For which he is also holden to bee a Founder This religious house was dedicated to the honour of Saint Helen and replenished with blacke Nunnes There was a partition betwixt the Nunnes Church and the Parish-Church but now the whole Church belongeth to the Parish It was surrendred the 25. of Nouember the 30. of Henry the 8. being valued at 314. l. 2. s. 6. d. of yearely reuenues Orate pro animabus Iohannis Crosby Militis Ald. atque tempore vite Maioris Staple ville Caleis Agnetis vxoris sue ac Thome Richardi Iohannis Iohannis Margarete Iohanne liberorum eiusdem Iohannis Crosby militis ille obiit 1475 illa 1466. quorum animabus propitietur Deus This Crosby was Sheriffe of London the yeare 1470. He was the builder of Crosby house He gaue fiue hundred Markes towards the reforming of this Church which was bestowed saith Stow with the better As appeareth by his Armes both in the stone-worke roofe of timber and glasing it is a fable said of him to be named Crosby of being found by a Crosse. Not long after the second foundation of this house by William Basing the second I finde one Henry Gloucester Citizen and Goldsmith of London descended by the mothers side from the second Founder to be here interred approued by his last Will and Testament written in the Latine tongue which was vsuall in former times with which for forme and Antiquities sake I thinke it not much amisse to acquaint my Reader In nomine patris silij Spiritus sancti Amen Ego Henricus de Gloucestre ciuis Aurifaber London condo Testamentum meum in hunc modum Lego corpus meum ad sepeliendum apud Sanctam Elenam London vbi priorissa et conuentus eiusdem domus ibidem eligere voluerint Item lego Elisabeth filie mee Moniali eiusdem domus Sancte Elene sex solid Item lego Priorisse et Conuentui Sancte Elene vndecim Marcas Argenti annuatim ad inueniend duos Capellanos Diuina celebrare in eadem Ecclesia Sancte Elene pro anima mea et anima Margarete quondam vxoris mee ac pro animabus Willeâ—mi patris mei et Willelme matris mee sil Thome de Basings fratris Willelmi de Basings Fundatoris c. Residuum vero lego ad sustentationem Iohannis filij mei Et si idem Iohannes filius meus sine prole obierit integre remaneat Iohanne filie mee et heredibus de corpore suo legitime procreatis Item lego Elisabeth silie me duas Schopas ahenas Item lego Iohanne Adynet nepte mee quinque solidos Dat. et act London die Iouis prox post festum Sancti Andree Apostoli Ann. Dom. 1332. Reg. Regis Ed. 3.6 Probatum fuit hoc presens Testamentum xv Kal. Ianuarij Ann. Dom. 1332. Ann. 6. Ed. 3. Saint Trinities in Leaden-Hall This Chappell was first built by Simon Eyre before remembred who left liuelihood to the Drapers sufficient and withall a charge That they should within one yeare after his decease establish perpetually a Master or Warden fiue secular Priests sixe Clarkes and two Queristers to sing daily diuine Seruice by note in the same for euer which was neuer performed Not long after this in the yeare 1466. Ed. 4.6 William Rouse Iohn Râ—sby and Thomas Ashby Priests founded a Fraternitie in the same Chappell dedicated to the blessed Trinitie for threescore Priests some of which euery Market day in the forenoone did celebrate diuine Seruice to such Market people as would repaire to prayer The Priory of Christ-Church by Aldgate This Priory was founded by Matilda Queene wife to Henry the first the yeare 1108. for Canons Regular The first Prior hereof was one Norman and he was the first Canon Regular in all England This house was founded saith Stow in the Parishes of Mary Magdalene S. Michael Saint Katherine and the holy Trinitie All which are now but one Parish of Christ-Church in old time called Holy Roode Parish She gaue vnto this Church and those that serued God therein the Port of Aldgate and â—he Soke thereunto belonging with two parts of her rent which she receiued out of the Citie of Exceter It became in processe of time rich in lands and ornaments and passed all the Priories in London This Priory was surrendred to the king in the moneth of Iuly 1532. The Canons were sent to other houses of their owne order and the said Priory with the appurtenances King Henry gaue to Sir Thomas Audley Baron Audley of Walden and Lord Chancellour of England which came by marriage of the Lord Audleies daughter and heire vnto Thomas not long since Duke of Norfolke and was then called the Dukes place The Monuments which sometimes were in this Church are set downe by that laborious Antiquarie Io Stow in his Suruay Saint Dunstans in the East Clausus in hoc tumulo Gulielmus Payne requiescit Quem sacer edituum fouerat iste locus Clarum cui virtus Ars et cui Musica nomen Edwardi quarti Regis in Ede dabat Si tibi sit pietas Tumuli si cura viator Hoc optesilli quod cupis ipse tibi Ob. 1508. Here lieth Clement Towne .... 1540. ... whos obiit shall for euer be observyd in this church and his Masse alwayes vpon the day followyng whos soul and his two wyfs souls Elisabeth and Elisabeth and al their chyldrens souls Iesus take to his glorious mercy Amen Saint Olaues Hart street Qu. A. D. T. D. P. os nguis irus risti ulcedine auit H S M Ch M L As I was so be ye as I am you shall be What I gaue that I haue what I spent that I had Thus I count all my cost what I left that I lost Within this parish was a Friery or Brotherhood founded by Raph Hosiar and William Sabernes Anno 1298. These Friers by their order were called Fratres sanctae crucis Brethren of
Prynces in pease most amate In Grece Archbyshop elected worthely And last of Carlyel rulyng pastorally Kepyng nobyl Houshold wyth grete Hospitality On thowsand fyve hundryd thirty and sevyn Invyterate wyth pastoral carys consumyd wyth age The nintenth of Iun reckonyd ful evyn Passyd to hevyn from worldly pylgrâ—mage Of whos soul good pepul of cherite Prey as ye wold be preyd for for thus must ye lie Iesu mercy Lady help Here lieth Sir Henry Collet knight twise Maior of London who died in the yere of our redemption 1510. This Hâ—nry was sonne to Robert Collet of Wendouer in Buckinghamshire and father to Iohn Collet Deane of Pauls in the first time of his Maioraltie the Crosse in Cheape-side was new builded in that beautifull manner as it now standeth Richardus iacet hic venerabilis ille Decanus Qui fuit etatis doctus Apollo sue Eloquio forma ingenio virtutibus arte Nobilis eternum viuere dignus erat Consilio bonus ingenio fuit vtilis acri Facunda eloquij dexteritate potens Non rigidus non ore minax affabilis omni Tempore seu puero seu loquerere sexi Nulli vnquam nocuit multos adiuvit omnes Officij studuit demeruisse bonos Tantus hic et talis ne non deleatur ademptus Flent Muse et laceris mesta Minerua comis Obijt anno 1532. etat circiter 40. This Pace succeeded Collet in the Deanrie of Pauls a man highlie in fauour with king Henry the eight by whom he was employed as Embassadour to Maximilian the Germane Emperour as also to Rome in the behalfe of Cardinall Wolâ—ey who stood in election for the Popedome Hee writ diuers learned treatises yet extant Nam vir erat saith Bale viriusque literaturae peritia praeditus Nemo ingenio candidior aut humanitate amicitior He was a right worthie man and one that gaue in counsell faithfull aduâ—ce learned he was also and indued with many excellent good gifts of nature curteous pleasâ—nt and delighting in Musicke highlie in the Kingsfauour and well heard in matters of weight Here was I borne and here I make myne end Though I was Citizen and Grocer of London And to the office of Schrevalty did ascend But things transitorie passe and vanische sone To God be geeuen thanks if that I haue ought done That to his honowre and to the bringing vp of youth And to the succowre of the Age for sewerly this is soth By Avise my wyff children were left me non Which we both did take as God had it sent And fixed our myndes that ioyntly in on To releue the poore by mutuall consent Now mercifull Iesu which hast assystyd owre intent Have mercy on owre sowles and as for the residew If it be thy will thou mayst owre Act continew Vpon the same marble these verses following The fyve and twentyth day of this monyth of Septembyr And of owre Lord God the fifteenth hundryd and fowrty yeere Master Nicholas Gibson dyde as this tombe doth remembyr Whose wyff aftyr maryed the worschypful Esquier Master William Kneuet on of the kings privy chamber Much for his time also did he endeuer To make this Act to continew for euer This pious act here mentioned in this Epitaph is a free-Schoole founded at Radcliffe in this Parish by the said Nicholas and Avise for the instruction of threescore poore mens children by a Schoolemaster and an Vsher with an Almeshouse for fourteene poore aged persons and this Foundation continues to this day Saint Leonards in Stratford Bow This religious structure was sometime a Monasterie replenished with white Monkes dedicated to the honour of our alone Sauiour Iesus Christ and Saint Leonard founded by King Henry the second in the 23. yeare of his raigne And valued at the suppression to be yearely worth an hundred one and twenty pounds sixteene shillings In this Abbey Church sometime lay entombed the body of Iohn de Bohun eldest sonne and heire of Humfrey de Bohun Earle of Hereford and Essex Which Iohn de Bohun to vse the words of Milles in his Catalogue of Hereford Earles after the death of his father Humfrey was fifth Earle of Hereford Constable of England and Patron of the Abbey of Lanthony fourth Earle of Essex of that Surname and fifth Lord of Brecknock Because this Earle Iohn in regard of his weaknesse of body by a continuall sicknesse was not able to performe this office of the Constableship of England Edward the third at this Earles intreatie did substitute Edward Bohun the Earles younger brother Vice-Constable vnder him for the tearme of his life But Earle Iohn died at Kirby Thore the 20. of Ianuary vpon Saint Fabian and Sebastians day 1136. the tenth of Edward the third leauing no issue and was buried at Stratford Abbey not farre from London This Iohn married first Alice the daughter of Edmund Fitz-alan Earle of Arundell who died in childbed and was buried at Walden with her Infant sonne after it was christened His second wife was Margaret daughter of Raphe Lord Basset of Drâ—yton a Baron of the best ranke in those dayes by whom hee had no issue Hertfordshire For Ecclesiasticall gouernment onely some part of this Shire belongeth to the Diocesse of London the rest to the Bishopricke of Lincolne Now because the Bishop of Lincolne hath so large a Territorie vnder his iurisdiction I wâ—ll be so bold as to borrow a few Funerall Inscriptions which I haue collected in this County and within his charge and imprint them with those which are properly for London Diocesse Alhallowes in the Towne of Hertford Off yowr cherity prayeth to God and Alhalwin hertely For Ser Ion Chappilaine somtym of yis plas Vicary Almighty Iesu resseve his sowl to grase and mercy Icy gist Isabele Newmarche iadis Damosele a tresâ—oble Dame Isabele Roigne d' Engletere This Isabell Newmarch or de nouo Mercatu a name of great reputation in the raigne of King Henry the third was Maide of Honour to that Isabell Queene of England who was second wife to Richard the second daughter of Charles the sixth King of France Hic iacet Lodouicus Baysbury Capell Henrici sexti ac Prebend Ecclesie Cathedral Lincoln .... M. ccccxxviii Here lyeth vndyr this ston William Wake And by him Ione his wyff and Make Somtym yeman of Iohn Duc of Bedfords hors And lat Survayor wyth king Henry the sixt he was Gentylman mad he was at the holy Grav On qwos sowls Almyghty God mercy hav Hic iacet Iohannes Prest quondam Ianitor Hospitii Katherine nuper Regine Anglie ....... This Priest was Porter to that Katherine Queene of England who was the onely wife of that inuincible Conquerour of France Henry the fifth and daughter of Charles the sonne of Charles aforesaid King of France Saint Nicholas Hic iacet Alicia Tymyslow quondam Dominella Domine Ducisse Lankastrie que obiit 17 Septemb. 1396. This faire yong waiting Chamber-maid for so much the word
dyed M. ccccc.xxxi Cheston Quem tegit iste lapis Radcliffe cognomine functus .... et in cineres vertitur vnde fuit Icy gist Damoselle Iohanne clay que trespassa l'an de Grace M. cccc.le xxii iour Octobre iour Saint M. lun Euesque Here sometime stood a little Nunnery I know not by whom founded but thus it is confirmed in the Catal. of religious houses Henr. Rex Anglie Dominus Hibernie Dux Normannie Aquitanie et comes Angedauie c. Shestrehunt Monial totam terram Dom. ten cum pertinentijs suts que canonicis de cathele c. quos amoueri fecimus dat apud West xi Aug. Anno Regni nostri xxiiii This Nunnery was valued in the Exchequer to be yeerely worth twenty seuen pound sixe shillings eight pence This village is called in old Writings Chesthunte Shestrehunte and Norden saith cur non Chestin Castanetum of Chesnut Trees Bishops Hatfield This Church is much honoured by the Sepulture of that prudent great Statesman Robert Baron Cecill Earle of Salisbury Lord Treasurer of England father of William Lord Cecill Earle of Salisbury one of the honourable priuy Councell now liuing Anno 1630. and keeping royall hospitality at his Mansion house hereunto adioyning which sometimes did belong to the Bishops of Ely whereupon it was named Bishops Hatfield Of Robert this Earle here interred I shall speake more when I come to let downe his Epitaph Harding Hic iacent Wilielmus Seabroke qui obijt 2 April 1462. et Ioana vxor eius ...... quorum ... Orate pro animabus Mathei Cressy et Iohanne vxoris eius quondam filie Edmundi Peryent Ar. et Anne dicti Mathei vxoris quondam filie Thome Vernon Armigeri que Iohanna obijt xxix Nouemb. M. cccc.lxxviii Hic iacent Wilielmus Anabul et Isabella vxor eius qui quidem Wilielmus obiit 4 die Octob. 1456. Saint Albans Abbey I thinke it not much amisse to speake a little of this Protomartyr of England Saint Alban whose reliques lie here interred to whose name and for his eternall commemoration both this Towne and Monastery werâ— built and consecrated He was a Citizen and a Knight of that famous Citie Verulam which stood hereby beyond the little riuer who giuing entertainement at his own house to Amphibalus a Christian and one of the Clergie was by him his guest conuerted from Paganisme to the true profession of Iesus Christ and when Dioclesian who made Maximian his companion in the Empire went about by exquisite torments to wipe Christian Religion quite out of the memory of men was the first in Britaine that with inuincible constancie and resolution suffered death for Christ his sake of which persecution â—s also of his Martyrdome my often alledged Author Robert of Glocester shall tell you in his old verse Two Emperors of Rome wer on Dioclesian And anoder hys felaw that het Maximian And wer both at on tym the on in the Este ende The oder in the west of the world alle cristendom to shende For the luther Maximian westwarde hider soughte And christen men that he fonde to strang deth he broughte Churchen he pulde a doun ther ne moste non stonde And al the bokes that he myghte fynde in eny londe He wolde late berne echon amydde the heygh strete And the christenmen asle and non alyue lete Such God was yvor vpon cristendom Such persecucion as ther was hadde ther be non For yunâ—a monethe ther wer seuentene thou send and mo I martred for our Lordes Loue nas ther a grete wo Wyth oute oder grete halwen that hii heold longe in torment As Seynt Cristene and Seynt Feye and also Seynt Uincent Fabian and Sebastian and othur as men rede That heold faste in the fey and hadde non drede And among men of this londe ther wer many on I martred at thulke tym Seint Albon was on He was the furste Martir of Brutayn that com Muche was the shome men dude in Christendom Undyr this Luther Emperor Another not so ancient hath it thus The Emperour Dioclesyan Into Britayne then sent Maximian This Maximian to surname Hercelius A Tyraunte false that Christente anoyed Through all Britayne of werke malicious The christoned folke felly and sore destroyed And thus the people with him foule accloyed Religyous men the Prests and Clerkes all Wemen with chylde and bedred folkes all Chyldren soukyng vpon the mothers pappis The mothers also withouten any pytee And chyldren all in their mothers lappis The crepyls eke and all the christentee He killed and slewe with full grete cruelte The Churches brent all bokes or ornaments Bellys reliquys that to the Churche appendes He slew that tyme and martyred Saint Albone Now when neither perswasions nor cruell torments could make him forsake the true faith such was the sentence of his death as I finde it in a legend of his passion and martyrdome which to giue your palate variety I will set downe in such English as I haue in the said Legend or Agon In the tyme of the Emperoure Dioclesyan Albone Lorde of Uerolamye Prynce of Knyghts and Stewarde of all Brutayne durynge his lif hath despysyd Iubyter and Apollyn oure Goddes and to them hath doo derogacyon and disworschyp wherfor by the Lawe he is iudged to be deed by the honde of somme knyght and the body to be buried in the same place where his heed shal be smyten of and his sepulture to be made worshcipfully for thonoure of knyghthode wherof he was Prynce and also the crosse whych he bare and Sklauin that he ware shold be buried wyth hym and his body to be closyd in a Cheste of leed and so layed in his sepulture This sentence hath the Lawe ordeyned by cause he hath renyed our principall Goddes His iudgement being giuen after this manner he was brought from the Citie Veralam to this his place of execution which as then was an hill in a wood called Holme-hurst where at one stroke his head was smitten off But his Executioner saith venerable Bede had short ioy of his wicked deede for his eyes fell to the ground with the head of the holy Martyr of which will you heare another writer Thousands of torments when he had endur'd for Christ his sake At length he died by dome thus giuen his head away to take The Tortor proudly did the feat but cleere he went not quit That holy Martyr lost his head this cruell wretch his sight He suffered martyrdome in the yeare of Christ saith Stow 293. the twentieth day of Iune saith Bede howsoeuer the two and twentieth day of the same moneth was appointed by the Church to be kept holy to his memory as we haue it in our English Calender Many Miracles are said to be wrought by this sacred Martyr both liuing and dead but I will leaue them for that they will be thought incredulous in this age and come to the foundation of this Abbey The Sepulchres of
holy Saints the reliques of blessed Martyrs and the very places of their martyrdome did kindle in times past no small heate of diuine charitie in the mindes of our first Christian Saxon Kings which made Offa the glorious King of the Mercians to recall himselfe from the trace of bloudy warres in great deuotion to goe to Rome and to obtaine of Pope Adrian the first the canonyzation of this martyr Alban in honour of whom the first to our Lord Iesus Christ he founded this monastery about the yeere 795. the Church whereof still remaineth which for bignesse beautie and antiquity is to be had in admiration in the very place where the foresaid Alban suffered his martyrdome He endowed this his gâ—odly fabricke with sufficient reuenues for the maintenance of one hundred blacke Monkes Benedictins and caused the reliques of his new Saint to be taken vp and put in a shrine adorned with gold and pretious stones of inestimable value which was further enriched by his sonne Egfrid and many other succeeding Kings and Princes but now at this day nothing is remaining of this rich Shrine saue a marble stone to couer his sacred Ashes ouer against which on the wall these verses are lately depicted onely to tell vs that such a man there was to whose memory a Shrine was erected Renowned Alban knight first Martyr of this land By Dioclesian lost his life through bloudy hand Who made him soueraigne Lord high Steward of this Isle And Prince of Britaine knights to dignifie his stile He veritie embrac't and Verulam forsooke And in this very place his martyrdome he tooke Now hath he his reward he liues with Christ aboue For he aboue all things Christ and his truth did loue Here Offa Mercians King did Albans bones enshrine So all things were dispos'd by prouidence diuine Nought but this marble stone of Albans Shrine is left The worke of all forme else hath changing time bereft I haue read in an old Mss. in Sir Robert Cottons Librarie that this following was anciently the Inscription vpon his Shrine Here lieth interred the body of Saint Alban a Citizen of old Verulam of whom this towne tooke denomination and from the ruines of which Citie this Towne did arise He was the first Martyr of England and suffered his martyrdome the xx day of Iune in the yeare of mans redemption 293. Vnder a curious and costly funerall monument here in the Quire lyeth interred the body of Vmfrey Plantaginet surnamed the Good fourth sonne of King Henry the fourth By the grace of God for so begins his stile by Charter sonne brother and vncle of Kings Duke of Glocester Earle of Henault Holland Zeland and Pembroke Lord of Friseland great Chamberlaine of England Protector and defender of the Church and kingdome of England Thus great thus glorious by birth creation and marriage was hee in his honourable titles and Princely attributes but farre more great and illustrious in his vertuous endowments and inward qualities But in his praise may it please you reade learned Clarentieux in his tract of Suffolke where he writes of the Abbey of Bury these are his words That father of his countrey Vmfrey Duke of Glocester a due obseruer of Iustice and one who had furnished his noble wit with the better and deeper kinde of Studies after he had vnder King Henry the sixth gouerned the kingdome fiue and twenty yeares with great commendations so that neither good men had cause to complaine of nor enuill to finde fault with was here in Saint Sauiours Hospitall brought to his 〈◊〉 by the spightfull enuie of Margaret of Lorain who was wife to Henâ—â— the â—ixâ—h his Nephew But his death was the stroke of an euill Angell 〈…〉 ent to punish England and to roote out all her Nobles Fidior in regno regi duce non â—uit isâ—o Plusue fide stabilis aut maior amator honoris Saith the Abbot of this house Io. Whethamsted yet for all this was he arrested of high Treason in the yeare 1446. and within few dayes after strangled to death without any triall Some say he died for sorrow because hee might not come to his answer Hee built the Diuinitie Schoole in Oxford and was an especiall benefactour to this Abbey Here is an Epitaph pensild on the wall neare to his Tombe to the same effect with an Item of the miracle which he wrought vpon the blinde imposture The story is frequent Hic iacet Vmphredus Duxille Glocestrius olim Henrici Regis Protector fraudis ineptae Detector dum ficta notat miracula caeci Lumen erat Patriae columen venerabile Regni Pacis amans Musisque fauens melioribus vnde Gratum opus Oxonio quae nunc scola sacra refulget Invida sed mulier regno Regi sibi nequam Abstulit hunc humili vix hoc dignata Sepulchro Invidia rumpente tamen post funera viuit Vnder a large marble stone thus inscribed lieth Iohn Stoke an Abbot of This Church Hic iacet oblitus Stoke stans velut ardua quercus Semper in adversis perstitit intrepidus Wallingford Prior hic gregis huius pastor Abbas Donet ei requiem celsa dei pietas Celica regna bone mihi dentur queso Patrone Penas compesse requiem da virgula Iesse Me precor Amphibale soluens ad sidera sume This Abbot as it is in this Epitaph and in the golden Register of this house was a stout defender of the lands and liberties of his Church hee adorned Duke Vmfreys Tombe hee gaue money by his Will to make a new bell which after his owne name was called Iohn and also to new glase the Cloisters Sibi igitur saith the booke ea sit merces que dari solet illis qui ad honorem sue Ecclesie laudabilia student opera in temporibus suis. Vir crucis Christi tumulo iacet inclitus isti Carcere de tristi saluetur sanguine Christi Armacrucis sumpsit intrando Religionem Mundum contempsit propter celi regionem Hic studuit claustri Pondus sufferre laboris In stadio studij brauium percepit honoris Flatus fortune grandes patiens tolerabat Gaudia tristitia equalilance librabat Nil aduersa timens nec multum prospera curans Se medio tenuit per ferrea tempora durans Omni gestura constans nil triste timebat Omni pressura Christo laudes referebat Armis Iustitie cinctus deitatis amore Hostibus Ecclesie restitit in facie Ad tumulum Proceres mors impia transferet omnes Vt puerilis amor defluit omnis honor I finde this Inscription following vpon a faire marble vnder the pourtraiture of one of the Abbots who modestly thus suppresseth his name Hic quidem terra tegitur Peccato soluens debitum Cuius nomen non impositum In libro vitae sit inscriptum Hic iacet Dominus Michael quondam Abbas huius Monasterij Bachalaureus in Theol. qui obiit pridie Idus Aprilis Ann. M.ccc xlii Michael Abbas
restored to all his former honours and withall created Earle of Oxford He died in the yeare 1194. the sixth of king Richard the first and was here buried by his father His wife Agnes or Adeliza lieth buried by him who was the daughter of Henry of Essex Baron of Ralegh the Kings Constable Such was the Epitaph or inscription vpon his Tombe as it is in the book of Colne Priory Hic iacet Albericus de Vere silius Alberici de Veer Comes de Guisney primus Comes Oxonie magnus Camerarius Anglie qui propter summam audatiam effrenatam prauitatem Grymme Aubrey vocabatur obiit 26. die Decembris anno Christi 1194. Richardi â— sexto Aubrey de Vere the sonne of the foresaid Aubrey succeeded his father in all his dignities I finde little written of him in our Histories saue that out of his Christian pietie he did confirme the gift of septem librat terre which Aubrey his father gaue to the Chanons of Saint O sith here in Essex adding thereto something of his owne He dyed in the yeare of our Lord 1214. and sleepeth now in the same Bed with three other Aubreyes his Ancestors To whom this Epitaph vpon Conrad the Emperour at Spires in Germany may be fitly applied Filius hic Pater hic Auus hic Proauus iacet istie The great Belsire the Grandsire Sire and Sonne Lie here interred vnder this Grauestone Hugh de Vere the sonne of Robert the first of that Christian name Earle of Oxford and Lord great Chamberlaine of England was here entombed with his Ancestors who died in the yeare 1263. He had the title of Lord Bolebeck which came by his mother Isabell de Bolebeck daughter and heire of Hugh de Bolebeck a Baron who was Lord of Bolebeck Castle in Whitechurch within Buckinghamshire and of Swaffam Bolebeck in Cambridgeshire Hee had to wife Hawisia the daughter of Saier de Quincy Earle of Winchester as appeares by this Inscription sometime insculpt vpon their Tombe Hic iacent Hugo de Veer eius nominis primus Comes Oxonie quartus magnus Camerarius Anglie filius heres Roberti Comitis Hawisua vxor cius filia Saeri de Quincy comitis Wintonie qui quidem Hugo obiit 1263. Quorum animabus propitietur altissimus Robert de Vere the sonne of Hugh aforesaid Earle of Oxford who enioyed his fathers inheritances and honours the space of thirtie and two yeares lieth here entombed with his ancestours who died in the yeare 1295. Alice his wife the daughter and heire of Gilbert Lord Samford Lord of Hormead in Hertfordshire was interred by him who died at Caufeld house neare Dunmow the ninth day of September 1312. Here lieth buried the body of Robert de Vere sonne and successour to the foresaid Robert whose gouernment both in peace and warre was so prudent his hospitalitie and other workes of charitie so wisely abundant and his Temperance with a religious zeale so admirablie conioyned that he was of all surnamed the good Earle of Oxford and the vulgar esteemed him as a Saint He died the 19. of Aprill 1331. Here lyeth entombed Robert de Vere Richard the seconds Mignion who to adde to his honours created him Marquesse of Dublin a title not knowne before that time in England and in the yeare following Duke of Ireland with commission to execute most inseparable prerogatiues royall These Stiles were of too high a nature and therefore infinitely subiected to enuy Whereupon like a second Gaueston he was hated of the Nobilitie especially for that he was a man nec prudentia caeteris proceribus nec armis valentior as Walsingham saith 9. R. 2. But it was not long before he was banished England by the Barons for abusing the Kings eare to the hurt of the State He had to wife a young faire and noble Lady and the Kings neare kinswoman for she was grandchilde to King Edward by his daughter Isabell he put her away and tooke one of Queene Annes women a Bohemian of base birth Sellarij filia saith Walsingham a Sadlers daughter some say a Ioyners an act full of wickednesse and indignitie Yet this intollerable villanie offered to the bloud-royall King Richard did not encounter neither had the power some say who deemed that by witchcrafts and forceries practised vpon him by one of the Dukes followers his iudgement was so seduced and captiuated that he could not see what was honest or siâ— to doe But where Princes are wilfull or slothfull and their Fauorites flatterers or time-seruers there needs no other enchantments to infatuate yea and ruinate the greatest Monarch Vpon his banishment he went into France where he liued about fiue yeares and there being a hunting he was slaine by a wilde Boare in the yeare 1392. King Richard hearing thereof out of his loue caused his body to be brought into England and to be apparrelled in Princely ornaments and robes and put about his neck a chaine of gold and Rings vpon his fingers and so was buried in this Priory the King being there present and wearing blackes After the death of Robert Duke of Ireland who died without issue his Nephew Aubrey de Vere succeeded him in the Earledome of Oxford he enioyed his honours not passing eight yeares but dyed die Veneris in festo Sancti Georgij Ann. primo Hen. quarti 1400. and lieth here entombed with his worthie Ancestors Here lieth buried in this Priorie Iohn de Vere the third of that Christian name and the thirteenth Earle of Oxford Lord Bolebecke Samford and Scales great Chamberlaine and Lord high Admirall of England Who died the fourth of Henry the eight 1512. hauing beene Earle of Oxford full fifty yeares a long time to tugge out in the troublesome raignes of so many kings especially for men of eminent places and high spirits euer apt to take any occasion to shew their manly prowesse which fire of honour flamed in this Earles breast at Barnet field where in a mist the great Earle of Warwickes men not able to distinguish betwixt the Sun with streames vpon King Edwards liuery and the Starre with streames on this Earles liuery shot at this Earles followers and by that misprision the battell was lost After which he fled into Cornwall and seized vpon Saint Michaels Mount But Edward the fourth got him in his power and committed him prisoner to the Castle of Hames beyond the Seas where he remained for the space of twelue yeares vntill the first of King Henry the seuenth with whom he came into England and by whom he was made Captaine of the Archers at Bosworth-field where after a short resistance hee discomfited the Foreward of King Richard whereof a great number were slaine in the chase and no small number fell vnder the victors sword This Earle gaue a great contribution to the finishing of Saint Maries Church in Cambridge His hospitalitie and the great port he carried here in his country may be gathered out of a
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
at dinner vpon the day of his coronation and whether this be she here buried or not I know not Richard Lions held the said Mannor after her by the seruice of making Wafers vpon the day of the Kings Coronation and of seruing the King with the same Wafers as he sits at dinner the same day Leez Abbey This Abbey of old time was founded by the Gernons now it is the seate of the Right Honourable and one right worthy of all his due honours Robert Lord Rich Baron Leez and Earle of Warwicke now liuing An. 1631. This Abbey or Priory was valued at the time of the suppression as it is in the catalogue of Religious houses to be yearely worth one hundred forty one pound fourteene shillings eight pence Rickling Humfrey Waldene le premer gist icy Dieu de salme eit mercy Amen Hic iacet Henricus Langley Armig. qui obijt xx Sept. M. cccc.lviii et Margareta vxor cius vna filiarum et heredum Iohannis Waldene Armigeri que obijt v. Martii M. cccc.liii Hic tacet Thomas Langley Ar. qui obijt 1 Mar. M. cccc.lii Here lyth Henry Langley Esquyr and Dame Katherin his wyff whych Henry departyd this lyff 11 April M. cccc lxxx viii and Dame Katherine died ..... the yere of our Lord God M. ..... on whos Vpon this last marble stone are the portraitures in brasse of the three daughters of Henry Langley amongst whom his inheritance was diuided as I haue it by tradition as Waldens was before whose chiefe seate was at Langley Wilbores in this parish Thaxted This Church is spatious beautifull and built Cathedrall-like but neither in this Church in Braintrie nor scarcely in any other Church seated within a Market Towne shall you finde either Monument or Inscription onely some two or three Inscriptions are here remaining Her lyth Rychard Dammary and Alys his wyff and Rychard Dammary his sonn Ione Elizabyth and Ann on whos soulys God hau mercy Which Rychard the yongyrgawe a Meide callyd Abel Meide for a perpetual mynd yerly to be kept for ther soulys and al christen soulys Syr Walter Clerk gist icy Dieu de s'alme eit mercy Orate pro animabus Richardi Large et Alicie vxoris eius qui quidem Richardus obijt 27. Martij 1458. The Inhabitants say that this Richard Large was brother to a certaine Lord Maior of London named Large who at his death bestowed wondrous largely vpon the poore and the repairing of high waies which I take to haue beene Robert Large Maior of London Anno 1440. who gaue 120. l. to poore prisoners and euery yeare for fiue yeare 403. Shirts and Smockes 40. paire of Sheetes and one hundred and fifty Gownes of good Frize to poore people To poore Maids marriages one hundred markes to repairing high waies one hundred markes to fiue hundred poore people in London euery one sixe shillings viii d the rest of his bountifull charitie you may reade in Stow Suruay Little Easton Here is a goodly Tombe of marble on the north side of the Chancell â—nder which saith Brooke in his Catalogue of Nobility William Bourchier Earle of Ewe in Normandy lyeth interred but Vincent whom I rather beleeue in his discouery of Brookes Errors approues this Earle as also his wife Anne the daughter of Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Glocester to be buried in the Abbey of Lanthonie by Gloucester If this monument could speake like others by her inscription it might haply decide the controuersie but all the words vpon it are Fili Dei miserere mei Mater Dei miserere mei Which seemingly commeth by a labell from a man and a woman thereupon pourtraied Of this Earle more when I come to Lanthony Betweene the Chancell and the Bowsers Isle or Chappell is a very costly arched Tombe of polished marble inlaid with brasse the picture of a man and a woman and in diuers places of the foresaid Arch on the womans side is the Fetter lock and Bowsers knot but without inscription By supposition made to the memorie of Henry Bourchier sonne of William Bourchier aforesaid Earle of Essex and Ewe and Isabell his wife daughter of Richard Earle of Cambridge and sister of Richard Duke of Yorke Which Henry died quarto Aprilis 1483. a valiant and worthie Nobleman he was fortunate in Martiall enterprises and in matters of peace so learned wise and politicke that he was thought fit by Edward the fourth to be Lord Chancellour of England In the same Chappell on the North side remaineth a very faire Altar Tombe of marble within the which lyeth the body of Henry Lord Bourchier and Louaine and Earle of Essex Sonne and heire of William Bourchier that died before his father and grandchilde to Henry Earle of Essex next before mentioned ouer his Tombe hangeth as yet part of his achieuements as the cote of his Armes Helme Crest and sword This Earle brake his necke by a fall from his horse the twelfth day of March in the one and thirtieth yeare of the raigne of King Henry the eight 1539. His horse was young saith Stow and he the oldest Earle in England for if you will reckon the yeares from the death of his Grandfather who liued after his sonne the father of this Henry as I haue said before vntill the yeare of this his fatall misfortune you shall finde them to be fifty sixe and what age he was at his Grandfathers death you may imagine In the Hall of the Mannor house of Newton in the Parish of little Dunmowe remaineth in old painting two postures the one for an ancestor of the Bourchiers combatant with another being a Pagan king for the truth of Christ whom the said Englishman ouercame and in memory thereof his descendants haue euer since borne the head of the said Infidell as also vsed the surname of Bourchier or Bowser Here are foure wondrous ancient Monuments of the Louaines all the Inscriptions of them are worne out these few words excepted Sire Thomas Louaine ici gist Margarie la file Moun .... This noble familie of the Lovaines in former ages did here inhabite by the name of Fitz-Gilbert one of which house namely Maurice Fitz-Gilbert was surnamed de Louaine as descended from Godfrey of Louaine brother to Henry the sixth of that name Duke of Brabant Who being sent hither to keepe the honor of Eye his posterity flourished among the Peeres of this Realme to the time of Edward the third when the heire generall was married to the house of Bourchier This Bowsers Chappell for it is so commonly called is now the buriall place for the noble familie of the Maynards In Northburne natus Robertus sum vocitatus De terra factus in terram sumque redactus Intercedendo spiritum tibi Christe comendo Propitietur Deus Benefactoribus omnibus Ecclesie pauperis huius The treble Bell in the steeple of this Church is called the Bowsers
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
Regis Ed. 3. Ann. 24. that William Fox Parson of Lee neare Gainsborough Iohn Fox and Thomas of Lingeston Friers Minors of that Couent in Lincolne were indited before Gilbert Vmfreuill and other Iustices in partibus de Lindesey apud Twhancaster die Sabbati post festum sâ—ncti Iohannis Baptiste in the said yeare for that they came to Bradholme a Nunnery in the County of Nottingham the eighteenth of the Kal. of February and then and there rapuerunt abduxerunt inde contra pacem Domini Regis quandam Monialem nomine Margaretam de Euernigham Sororem dicte Domus exeuntes eam habit Religionis induentes eam Rob. virid secular ac etiam diuersa bona ad valenc quadragint solid Violently tooke and forcibly from thence carried away against the peace of their Soueraigne Lord the King a certaine Nunne by name Margaret de Euernigham a sister of the said house stripping her quite out of her religious habit and putting vpon her a greene Gowne Robe or Garment of the secular fashion and also diuers goods to the value of forty shillings In this Kings raigne Robert Longland a secular Priest borne in Shropshire at Mortimers Câ—liberie writ bitter inuectiues against the Prelates and all religious orders in those dayes as you may reade throughout this book which he calls The vision of Piers Plowman Presently after in the raigne of Richard the second Iohn Gower flourished who in his booke called Vox clamantis cries out against the Clergie-men of his time first Quod Christi scholam dogmatizant eius contrarium operantur 2 Quod potentiores alijs existunt 3 Quod carnalia appetentes vltra modum delicatè vinunt 4 Quod lucris terrenis inhiant honore Prelacie gaudent non vt prosint sed vt presint Episcopatum desiderant Quod legibus positiâ—is quae quamuis ad cultum anime necessarie non sunt infinitas tamen constitutiones quasi quotidie ad eorum lucrum nobis grauiter imponâ—â—t Quod bona temporalia possidentes spiritualia omittunt Quod Christus pacem suis discipulis dedit reliquit sed Prelati propter bona terrena guerras contra Christianos legibus suis positiuis instituunt prosequuntur Quod cleri sunt bellicosi Quod scribunt docent ea quae sunt pacis sed in contrarium ea quae sunt belli procurant Quod nomen sanctum sibi presumunt appropriant tamen sibi terrena nec alijs inde participando ex caritate subueniunt Quod intrant Ecclesiam per Symoniam Quod honores non onera Prelacie plures affectant quo magis in Ecclesia cessant virtutes vitia multipliciter accrescunt Quod Rectores in curis residentes cuâ—â—s tamen negligentes venationibus praecipue voluptatibus penitus intendunt Quod Presbyteri sine curis siue stipendarij non propter mundiciâ—m ordinis honestatem sed proptâ—r mundi otia gradum Presbyteratus appetunt assumunt Much more he speakes against the abuses and vices of Church-men as also against the lewd liues of the Schollars in Cambridge and Oxford which he calls the Churches plants concluding thus his third book Sic quia stat cecus morum sine lumine clerus Erramus Laici nos sine luce vagi In his fourth booke hee speakes of Monkes and all other religious Orders Quod contra primi ordinis statuta abstinentie virtutem linquunt delicias sibi corporales multipliciter assumunt Ripping vp their faults in particular Chaucer who was contemporarie and companion with Gower in the Plowmans tale the Romant of the Rose and in his Treatise which hee intitles lacke Vpland writes as much or more against the pride couetousnesse insatiable luxurie hypocrisie blinde ignorance and variable discord amongst the Church-men and all other our English votaries As also how rude and vnskilfull they were in matters and principles of our Christian institutions to whose workes now commonly in print I referre my Reader for further satisfaction In a Parliament holden at Westminster the eleuenth yeare of King Henry the fourth the lower house exhibited a Bill to the King and the Lords of the vpper house in effect as followeth To the most excellent Lord our King and to all the Nobles in this present Parliament assembled your faithfull Commons doe humbly signifie that our Soueraigne Lord the King might haue of the temporall possessions lands and reuenues which are lewdly spent consumed and wasted by the Bishops Abbats and Priors within this Realme so much in value as would suffice to finde and sustaine one hundred and fifty Earles one thousand and fiue hundred Knights sixe thousand and two hundred Esquiers and one hundred Hospitals more then now be But this Petition of spoiling the Church of England of her goodly patrimonies which the pietie and wisedome of so many former ages had congested was by the King who was bound by oath and reason to preserue the flourishing estate of the Church so much detested that for this their proposition he denied all other their requests and commanded them that from thenceforth they should not presume to intermeddle with any such matter This King as also his sonne and grandchilde were wondrous indulgent to the Clergie although they were daily disquieted with the bellowing of the Popes Prouisorie Bulls For Henry the fifth was so deuour and seruiceable to the Church of Rome and her Chaplaines that he was called of many the Prince of Priests And Henry the sixth surnamed the holy wa an obedient childe and no lesse nay more obsequious to the See Apostolicall then any of his predecessours howsoeuer I finde that once he reiected the Popes Bull concerning the restoring of the Temporalities of the Bishoppricke of Ely And now giue me leaue a little to digresse speaking somewhat by the way of the denomination of this word Bulla and why the Bishops of Rome call their leaden Seales by which they confirme their writings Bulls This word Bulla was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est à Consilio of councell For that anciently a golden Bull broach or ornament round and hollow within was vsually fastened about the necks or breasts of young children and semblablie to all their pictures signifying thereby that their render vnbridled age ought to be gouerned by the graue councell and good aduise of others of more maturitie in yeares And from hence the Bishops of Rome borrowed the name for their leaden Seales vpon one part of which the name of the Pope is to be read on the other the head of Saint Paul on the right side of the Crosse and of Saint Peter on the left are to bee seene Honoris tamen non praelationis gratia factitatum hoc ab Ecclesia Nam quanquam S. Petrus sit Princeps Apostolici ordinis tamen Ecclesia voluit eos indiscretae esse excellentiae But this was done of the Church saith my Author in regard of honour not of preheminence For although
and spreders abrode of suche brutes tydings and rumors touching vs in honor or suretie of the state of our Realme or any matacion of the lawes or customes therof or any other thing which might cause any sedicion And the same with ther setters forthe maintenors counsaylors and fautors with all dilygence to apprehend and commytt to warde and prison without bayle or maynprise till vpon euidence to be geuen against them at tharriuall of our Iustices in that cuntrey or otherwise vpon yowr advertisement to vs or our Counsaill to be geuen and our further pleaser knowen they may be punyshed for their seditious demerites accordyng to the law to the fearfull example of all other Imploying and endeuoring yowr selfes therunto so ernestly and with soche dexterite as we may haue cause to thinke that ye be the men which aboue all things desyre the punyshment of evill doers and offendors And will lett for no trauaile to sett forthe all things for the commen peace quiet and tranquillite of this our Realme And like as the daunger is imminent no lesse to your self and your neighbours then to other so ye of yowr owne mynd shuld procure and see with celerite our Iniunctions lawes and Proclamations aswell touching the Sacramentaries and Anabaptists as other to be sett forthe to the good instruction and conservacion of our people and to the confusion of those which wold so craftely vndermine our common welth and at the last destroye bothe yow and all other our louing subgiects although we shuld geue vnto yow no such admonicion Therfore faile ye not to follow the â—ffect admonicion and commaundement both in our said letters and in these presents conteyned and to communicate the hole tenor of these our letters with soche Iustices of our Peace your neighbors and other in that shire and to geue vnto them the trewe copye thereof exhorting them like as by these presents we desyre and pray them and neuerthelesse straytly charge and commaund them and euery of them that they will shew their diligence towardnes and good inclinacion to ioyne with you and other of your sorte And that euery of yow for his own parte see the same put in execucion accordingly as ye and they tendre our pleasur and will deserue our condigne thankes Y euen vndre our Signet at our Manor of Hampton Corte the day of December CHAP. XIIII Of the policie vsed by King Henry the eighth and his Councell in the expelling of the Popes authoritie out of his Dominions THus you haue seene the abrogation and extinguishment of the Popes vsurped authoritie here in England the establishment of that power in the Crowne imperiall which was not rashly attempted by his Maiestie but vndertaken vpon mature deliberation and proceeded in by the aduise consultation and iudgement of the most great and famous Clerkes in Christendome amongst which number was that pure Orator and learned diuine Philip Melanchton whose presence here in England after his opinion the king much desired as by this letter following sent to Secretarie Cromwell from the Duke of Norfolke and Viscount Rocheford appeareth Master Secretary after our most harty commendacions ye shall vnderstand that hauing receyued the letters sent vnto yow from Sir Iohn Wallop and shewed the same vnto the Kings Maiestie his pleasure therevpon was that we should dispatch these owr letters incontynently vnto youe concernyng thaccomplishment and doing of these things ensuing First his graces pleasure is that youe shall immediatly vpon the receipt hereof dispatch Barnes in Post with Deryk in his company into Germany commanding him to vse such diligence in his iournay that he may and it be possible mete with Melanchton before his arryuall in France and in case he shall so mete with him not onely to disuade his going thither declaring how extremely the French king doth persecute all those that will not grant vnto the Bishop of Romes vsurped power and iurisdiction vsyng in this parte all persuasions reasons and meanes that he canne deuise to empeach and let his said iornay thither layeng vnto him how moche it shuld be to his shame and reproche to vary and goo nowe from that true opinnion wherein he hath so long continued But also on thother side to persuade him all that he may to conuert his said iournay hither shewing aswell the conformity of his opinnion and doctrine here as the nobilitie and vertues of the Kings Maiestie with the good entretaynement which no doubt he shall haue here at his grace hand And if percase the said Barnes shall not meetâ— with him before his arriuall in France thenne the said Barnes proceding himselfe forth in his Iournay towards the Prynces of Germany shall with all diligence returne in post to the Kings highness the said Derik with the advertisement of the certainty of Melanchtons commyng into France and such other occurrants as he shall then knowe And if the said Derik be not now redy to go with him the Kings pleasure is you shall in his stede appoint and sende suche onn other with the said Barnes as you shall thinke mete for that purpose And when the said Barnes shall arriue with the said Princes of Germany the Kings pleasure is he shall on his grace behaulfe aswell persuade them to persist and continue in their former good opinion concerning the denyall of the Bishop of Romes vsurped authoritie declaring their owne honor reputacion and surety to depend thereon and that they nowe may better mayntain their said iust opinion therein then euer they might having the kings Maiestie oon of the moost noble and puissant Princes of the world of like opinion and iudgement with them who having proceeded therein by great aduise deliberacion consultacion and iudgement of the most parte of the greate and famous Clerkes in Christendome will in no wise relent vary or alter in that behalfe as the said Barnes may declare and shew vnto them by a booke made by the Deane of the Chappell and as many of the Bishops Sermons as ye haue whiche booke ye shall receyue herwith the copies wherof and of the said Sermons ye must deliuer vnto the said Barnes at his departure for his better remembrance and instruction To whom also his graces pleasure is ye shall shew as moche of Sir Iohn Wallops letter which we send you also again as ye shall see drawne and merkt with a penne in the mergent of the same As also exhorte and moue them in any wise to beware howe they commyt any of their affayres to thorder direction or determinacion of the French King consideryng he and his counsail be altogether Papist and addict and bent to the mayntenance and confirmacion of the Bishop of Romes pretended authoritie Furthermore the Kings pleasure is ye shall vpon the receipt herof immediatly cause Master Haynes and Christofer Mount in post to repaire into France to Sir Iohn Wallop in as secrete maner as they canne as cummyng like his friends to visite him and not as sent by
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
with better respect then Prince Henry his brother had done and was made President of the Councell when his brother was dismissed that office for striking the Lord chiefe Iustice yet for all that his father sore feared that his hastie distempered humour would breed great troubles in the State and questionlesse he was of a violent selfe-willie disposition neglecting now at the last cast the graue aduise of his owne countrey-men his chiefest Commanders by which by all likelihood he might haue escaped all danger and adhering to the trecherous perswasion of a Stranger by which hee was betrayed to present destruction Which fierie-rash temper of his together with the losse of the Battell and the place of his buriall is briefly thus set downe by my Author Iohn Harding And nere at Bawge came Gilbert Vmsreuile Marshall of France with V. horse and no mo And of good wyt counsayled hym that whyle To keepe the Church and Goddes seruice tho And after the Feast to seke vpon his foo And he aunswered him yf thou be aferd Go home thy way and kepe the church yerd Wyth that he sayd my Lorde ye haue no men Wyth the enemyes thus hastely to syght Your menne wot not of this ne how ne whenne To semble to you of power ne of myght For trewly nowe my Cosin Gray nowe ryght And I haue here but ten men and no mo But yet ye shall neuer say we leaue you so So rode they furth ay chyding by the way Tyll they to Bawgy ouer the Bridg were gone When the enemyes were battayled in aray Where then they light and fought wyth them anone The Duke was slayne that day there wyth hys sone Wyth hym were slayne then therle Vmfreuile And Sir Iohn Gray the Erle of Tankeruile The Lord Roos and syr Iohn Lumley Wyth many other were with hym slayne that daye Whose names I cannot wryte nor saye The Earles two of Huntingdon no naye Of Somerset also were taken there I saye For prisoners and put to great raunson And laye full long in France then in prison Thenglish Power came when all was done And rescowed then the deed men where they laye And brought the Lordes home fro thens full sone That there lay slayne vpon the feeld that daye And buryed them in Englond in good araye Eche one in hys Abbaye or Colage Afore founded within his heritage The English power vnder the conduct of Thomas Montacute Earle of Salisbury comming somewhat too late to this ouer-hastie encounter thought to haue requited this losse vpon their enemies heads but at the sight of their forces the French gaue ground whereby the dead bodie of Clarence was recouered and with the rest conueied into England and buried in this Church Att Canterbury the Duke was of Orleance Besyde hys Father King Henry buryed With suche honoure costage and expence As the Duches his wife coulde have signifyed Which neded not to haue bene modifyed She was so well within her selfe avysed Of greate sadnesse and woman hede premised This following I haue read for his Epitaph Hic iacet in tumulo Tho. Dux Clar. nunc quasi nullus Qui fuit in bello clarus nec clarior vllus In the vndercroft of our Ladies Chappell is an ancient Monument thus inscribed Ioane de Borwaschs dame de Moun. thus surnamed of Burwash a towne in Sussex wherein she inhabited which likewise gaue name to Sir Bartholomew Burwash Knight of the Garter Constable of Douer Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque ports Here lieth interred Isabell de Douer Countesse of Assyle as Stow calls her but I thinke there is a mistaking of Assyle for Atholl as will partly appeare by the sequele Fulbert Lord of Chilham had one onely daughter and heire whom Richard the base sonne of King Iohn tooke to wife by whom he had two daughters Lora the wife of William Marmion and Isabell wife to Dauid of Stratbolgy Earle of Atholl and afterwards to Sir Alexander Baliol who was called to Parliament by the name of Lord of Chillham and mother to that Iohn Earle of Athol who being condemned oftentimes for treason was hanged at the last vpon a gibbet fiftie foot high as King Edward the first commanded because he might be so much the more conspicuous in mens eyes as he was of higher and nobler birth being of the Kings bloud Lora was secondly married to one of the Lord Berkeleyes Ancestours if we may giue any credit to these ancient rimes Sir Richard the Fitz-Roy of wham we spak by for Gentilman he was inough though he wer last ibor For the Erles doughter of Warren his good modir was And his fadir Kyng Iohn that by gat hym a perchas Sir Morreys of Berkele wedded suth by cas His doughter and wan on hur the good knyght Sir Thomas This Isabell deceased at Chilham here in Kent in the moneth of February Ann. Dom. 1292. The first Archbishop that I finde to be buried in this Church was Cuthbert or Cudbrict for before him they were alwayes buried at Saint Augustines an Englishman of great parentage translated from Hereford the yeare 742. to this seate of Canterbury In whose time the Laitie were wicked and the Clergie worse the whole land was ouerwhelmed with a most darke and palpable mist of ignorance and polluted with all kinde of impietie Which to reforme hee called together a Synode of Bishops and learned men at Cloueshoo now Cliffe at Hoo beside Rochester and there after long consultation caused one and thirtie Canons to bee decreed one of which was That the Priests were required to reade to their Parishoners the Lords prayer and the Creed in the English tongue which with the rest you may reade in William Malmesbury This Bishop obtained from the Pope a dispensation for making of Coemiteries or Churchyards within Townes and Cities whereas vntill his time within the walls none were buried as I haue it thus in a Manuscript Cutbertus Archiepiscopus Cant. xi ab Augustino cum Rome videret plures intra Ciuitates sepeliri rogauit Papam vt sibi liceret cemiteria facere guod Papa annuit reuersus itaque cemiteria vbique in Anglia fieri constituit He died Ann. Dom. 758. I finde little of any other Bishop here buried vntill the time of Odo Seuerus who lyeth here interred vnder a Tombe of Touchstone surnamed Seuerus of the austeritie of his life and gouernment borne of Danish parents Pagans and vtter enemies of Christ and Christian religion insomuch that they disinherited this their Sonne Odo for keeping companie with Christians so that he was constrained to forsake his fathers house his kindred and countrey and betake himselfe to the seruice of a Nobleman in the Court of King Edward the elder named Ethelelm who set him to schoole where he profited exceedingly He was not baptised till hee was come to mans estate soone after his baptisme by the aduise of Ethelelm
his Master he entred into orders yet before he came to bee a Clergie man he serued in the warres which is not vnlikely saith mine Authour for after he was Bishop he was thrice in the field and did his Prince notable seruice He was first preferred to the Bishopricke of Wilshire whose See was then seated at Ramsbury by the speciall fauour of King Athelstan who being dead his brother Edmund who succeeded him in his kingdome louing him no lesse procured him to be chosen Archbishop In which pastorall charge hee continued many yeares in great fauour and authoritie vnder diuers Princes till towards the latter end of his time that Edwin a young King was sore exasperated against him for that this Bishop had caused him to be diuorced from his Queene for consanguinitie or some other reasons and excommunicated his Concubines causing one of them whom the king doted vpon to be fetcht out of the court by violence to bee burnt in the forehead with an hote iron and banished into Ireland But not long after he was taken away by death from the Kings displeasure in the yeare of our redemption 958. hauing sate Archbishop 25. yeares or thereabouts He writ diuers Tractates both in verse and prose mentioned by Bale and Capgraue will haue him in the Kalender of our English Saints and Confessours But to conclude such was his Epitaph Stemmate serenus iacet hic sacer Odo Seuerus Moribus excellens acriter peccata refellens Presul at indulgens omni pictate refulgens Ecclesie Christi Pugil inuictissimus isti O bone nunc Christe quia sic tibi seruijt iste Celi solamen sibi des te deprecor Amen The life and death of this Archbishop Lanfranck is set downe at large by William Malmsbury Io. Capgraue Nicholas Harpsfeild Archdeacon of Canterbury Mathew Parker Archbishop with others and out of them all by Francis Godwin now Bishop of Hereford Yet for method sake thus much because I find his body by a Table inscribed which hangs vpon his Tombe to be here interred He was borne in Italy at Pauia some twenty miles from Myllaine brought vp in the Monasterie of Becco in Normandie vnder Herlewin the learned Abbot of that house of which he became Prior from whence in regard of his singular wisedome and great knowledge in all good literature he was called by William the Duke of Normandie to be Abbot of Saint Stephens in Cane a Monasterie that the said Duke had founded And in the fifth yeare after his conquest of England he promoted him to this Archbishopricke which he laudablie gouerned the space of eighteene yeares It is said an action which much obscured all his former praises that he perswaded the Conquerour to leaue the kingdome of England to his younger sonne William Rufus which they said William thus requited the Bishop as the King thought being somewhat too busie in reprehending his manifold vices and exhorting him to godlinesse and vertue he so bitterly fell out with him that he banished him the Realme the poore old bishop trauelled to Rome and wandred vp and downe many countries till by intercession of friends hee was suffered to returne home and soone after died of an ague according to his owne desire Solebat enim Deum rogare vt velex dissenteria vel ex febri diem suum obiret propterea quod hi morbi nec memoriam nec loquelam auferant He would often desire God that he might take his end either by a fluxe or an ague for that in those kinde of infirmities men are wont to haue the vse both of speech and memorie to the last cast His death happened the 24. of May Ann. Dom. 1089. He bestowed much vpon the fabricke of this Church and the housing of the Monkes he built in a manner all the Archbishops pallace hee founded two Hospitals adioyning to this Citie hee gaue great summes of money and also a Mannor toward the building of the Cathedrall Church of Rochester and did much for the Abbey of Saint Albons Hee encreased the number of the Monkes of this Church from thirty to fourty restored the dignities and offices of old belonging to the Monasterie and recouered vnto the same 25. Manors that had beene taken from it wrongfully in times past by Odo Bishop of Bayon and Earle of Kent Hee was a profound Scholler for those times he writ the noble acts of the Conquerour he made learned Comments and Expositions of many parts of the Bible and tooke great paines in reforming the same the copies whereof were much corrupted throughout all England by the negligent ouer-sight of the writers To his memorie this Epitaph was composed Vixisti venerande Pater sapienter egens Vixisti vivens mors quoque vita tibi Inter diuitias pauper Lanfrance fuisti Diuitijs manans pauperum amator eras Per te florentes artes valuere latine Grecia sis nobis ecce triumphat ouans Tu Laios ortu Gallosque docendo leuasti Te sibi Primatem cardo Britannus habet In terra degens celestia regna petebas Exemptus terra sider a liber adis Sol geminos denis obsiderat igne diebus Promsit Luna diem nocte solutus abis Here is the Tombe of Archbishop Anselme borne in Augusta a Citie of Burgundie who followed his predecessours steps almost foot by foot First he came to Becco vpon the like errand as Lanfrank had done which was to obtaine knowledge in all good learning Lanfrancke being called away to Cane he was made Prior of Becco in his place and afterwards Abbot in which he continued 15. yeares vntill at the request of Hugh Earle of Chester he came ouer into England and had this Bishopricke bestowed vpon him some foure yeares after the decease of Lanfrancke for so long the king pursed vp the profits thereof by William Rufus who presently after his consecration fell out with his new Bishop and banished him the kingdome in which he trauelled vp and downe as an exile during the Kings life vntill by his brother King Henry the first he was called home and restored to all his former dignities But not long after he was likewise banished the Realme by the said Henry falling out with him concerning the disposing of Bishoprickes at the Kings pleasure giuing inuestiture and possession of them by the staffe and the ring within three yeares by the meanes and mediation of Adela or Alice Countesse of Blois the Kings sister he was restored not onely to his place but to all his goods and fruits gathered in the time of his absence Some two yeares after this his last returne falling sicke of a languishing disease hee died Aprill 21. Ann. Dom. 1109. in the sixteenth yeare of his gouernment Some 400. yeares after by the procurement of Iohn Morton one of his Successours he was canonized a Saint and one as worthy that honour as any that euer since his 〈◊〉 was canonized by the Pope for as his life
most of his yearely reuenues he euer bestowed in almes-deeds and liberall house keeping he gaue to this Church of Canterbury who lâ—st to know more of his life may reade the Catalogue of Bishops and the perambulation of Kent He died at Otford his Mannor house May 〈…〉 1313. Here lieth entombed Walter Reynolds a man but of meane learning brought vp a Courtier preferred to the Bishopricke of Worcester to the offices of Lord Chancellour and Treasurer of England and to this Metropolitane honour of Canterbury by King Edward the second all which he most disloyally and like a Traitour requited aiding vnderhand the Queene Mortimer and their complices with great summes of money and forsaking his lawfull Soueraigne his Master his Patron that had aduanced him by so many degrees vnto an estate so gratiously honourable but it pleased God that vnthankfull timerousnesse should be his destruction for being by the said Queene of whom he stood so greatly in awe commanded to consecrate one Iames Berkley Bishop of Exceter and performing the same he was so reuiled taunted and threatned by the Pope that for griefe and anger together he died when he had sate Archbishop thirteene yeares nine moneths and three weekes the 16. of Nouember Ann. 1327. as appeares by this inscription vpon his Tombe in the South wall now hardly to be read Hic requiescit Dominus Walterus Reynolds prius Episcopus Wigorniensis Anglie Cancellarius deinde Archiepiscopus istius Ecclesie qui obijt 16. die mens Nouembris Ann. gratie 1327. Vpon the North side of Saint Anselmes Chappell in a marble Tombe lieth Simon Mepham Archbishop of this See borne in this countrey Doctor of Diuinitie and very well learned as learning went in those dayes of whom I finde little worthy of relation for all the time hee sate which was but fiue yeare and somewhat more he was euer a wrangling with his Monkes of this Church and with Io. Graundison Bishop of Exceter and getting the worse by both he fell sicke and died October 12. 1333. Here in a goody Tombe of Alabaster on the South side of the high Altar lieth the body of Iohn Stratford Archbishop of this Diocesse borne at Stratford vpon Avon a man famous for his learning and good gouernment of his iurisdiction He was called from the See of Winchester to this place he was Lord Chancellour of England and protector of the Realme in the absence of Edward the third in France but neuer man enioyed such great honours with lesse comfort It is written that hee was consecrated vpon the Sonday called then Multae tribulationes iustorum which hee thought boaded or foretold vnto him how in the whole course of his life he should finde nothing but trouble which sell out according to his ominous conceit For neuer any Archbishop either before or after him giuing so little cause and doing his endeuour to please was more encombred with vndeserued and often crosses The story is ouer-long here to relate I must referre my Reader to the Catalogue of Bishops Yet before his end which happened Anno 1348. hauing beene Archbishop 15. yeares he had made an end of all his troublesome crosses and liued certaine yeares quietly they writ of him that he was a very gentle and mercifull man rather too remisse then any way rigorous to offenders and a pitifull man to the poore He founded a Colledge at Stratford vpon Avon and endowed the same largely Here lieth obscurely buried Iohn Vfford brother to that illustrious Knight of the Garter Robert de Vfford Earle of Suffolke brought vp in Cambridge and made Doctor of Law promoted first vnto the Deanrie of Lincolne then to the Chancellourship of England and lastly to this Archbishopricke Which he neuer enioyed being cut off by that plague which consumed nine parts of the men in England before hee receiued either his pall or consecration Iune the seuenth Ann. 1348. His next successour Thomas Bradwardin lieth buried in the South wall somewhat darkly preferred to his grace and dignitie without his owne seeking or any of his friends endeuours which he likewise enioye but a very little time For within fiue weekes and foure dayes after his consecration he died at Lambeth being neuer enthronised at all Ann. 1349 This man was borne at Heathfeild in Sussex and brought vp in the Vniuersitie of Oxford where he proceeded Doctor of Diuinitie and so exquisite a Diuine he was that he was commonly enstiled Doctor Profundus He was a good Mathematician a great Philosopher and a generall Scholler in all the liberall Sciences as his workes not yet perished do testifie In whole praise thus Chaucer speakes in the Nunnes Priests tale But I ne cannot boult it to the bren As can the holy Doctor Saynt Austin Or Boece or the Bishop Bradwardin But aboue all he is especially commended for his sinceritie of life and conuersation He was Confessour to Edward the third and in all his warres of France was neuer from him and though he might haue had many preferments of the King yet he was so farre from ambitious desire of promotion as it was long before he could be perswaded to take a Prebend of Lincolne when it was offered him Well we will leaue him to his rest onely remembred with this Epitaph Doctor Doctorum Bradwardin hac iacet vrna Norma Pastorum laudabilis diuturna Qui inuidia caruit vitam sine crimine duxit Et ex ore suo quicquid sit scibile fluxit Nullus sub sole est cui sic fuere omnia nota Cantia nunc dole tristeris Anglia tota Vos qui et transitis hic omnes atque reditis Dicite quod Christi pietas sit promptior isti Simon Islip brought vp in Merton Colledge in Oxford being Doctor of Law became Canon of Paules then Deane of the Arches after that was chosen to be of the priuie Councell to King Edward the third first in the place of Secretarie and then Keeper of the priuie Seale And lastly by the Monkes election the Popes approbation and the Kings good liking hee was aduanced to this grace and dignitie Wherein hee continued sixteene yeares foure moneths and twelue dayes and died April 26. 1366. he lieth buried in the middle of the Church vnder a marble Tombe inlaid with brasse whereon is engrauen this Epitaph Simon Islip oriens vir bina lege probatus Vt nascens moriens sic nunc iacet arcte locatus Arcem qui tenuit hic quondam Pontificatus Clero quique fuit regno toti quoque gratus Princeps Pastorum fac Simon Apostolorum Simon vt iste chorum per eos pertingat eorum Mil. trecenteno sexageno modo seno Eius septeno pastoratus quoque deno Hic Kal. Maij seno rupto carnis nece freno Flos cadit e feno celo peto qui sit ameno O spes sanctorum decus et pie Christe tuorum Cetibus ipsorum preâ—e tungas hunc
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
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
they caused to bee brought vp in Vniuersity Colledge in Oxford Hauing attained to reasonable perfection in the knowledge of Diuinitie whereunto his study was chiefly addicted hee applyed himselfe to preaching wherein he tooke great paines namely in the Counties of Oxford Glocester and Worcester vntill such time as hee was called to the Treasureship of Salisbury From whence little knowing of any such matter and much against his minde he was chosen at the Popes request to the Monkes of Christ-Church being as then at Rome to be Archbishop of this See and consecrated at Canterbury with all honour possible by Roger Bishop of London the fourth of the Nones of Aprill about the yeare 1230. King Henry the third thirteene Bishops one and fourty Lords and Earles and others innumerable being there present as it is thus recorded in the Annalls of the Monastery of Wauerley in Surrey Edmundus Thesaurarius Sarum a Domino Rogero Episcopo London consistentibus et congratulantibus XIII Episcopis Domingo Rege et XLI Comitibus et ceteris in numeris communiter congregatis In Ecclesia Cant. in Archiepiscopum honorifice consecratur Dominica qua canitur Letare Iherâ—salem IIII. viz. Nonas Aprilis But howsoeuer he was thus solemnly consecrated he presently fell into the kings displeasure by opposing himselfe against the marriage of Elianor the kings sister with Simon Mountfort Earle of Leicester because vpon the death of the Earle Marshall her first husband she had vowed chastity To haue this vow dispensed withall the King procured the Pope to send a Legate into England his name was Otto a Cardinall Him also this Archbishop offended and that so grieuously by reprehending his monstrous couetousnesse his bribery and extortion as euer after he sought to worke him all the mischiefe that he might The Monkes of Rochester had presented vnto this Archbishop one Richard de Wendouer demanding of him consecration vnto the Bishopricke of their Church which he vtterly denyed to affoord knowing the presented to bee a very vnlearned and vnsufficient man Hereupon the Monkes appealed to Rome which the Archbishop vnderstanding of hasted him thither also Otto the Legate endeauoured to stay him at home and failing thereof did his errand so well at Rome as not onely in that suite but another also which hee had against Hugh Earle of Arundell in another cause of appeale he was ouerthrowne and condemned in a thousand Markes charges to his great disgrace and impouerishment Being at Rome hee had complained of many great abuses in England and amongst the rest of the long vacancie of Bishoprickes The Pope seemed willing to redresse these things and namely concerning that matter set downe this order That if any Cathedrall Church continued voide aboue sixe moneths it should be lawfull for the Archbishop to conferre it where he list as well as any smaller Benefice The procuring of this order cost him a great summe of money Yet no sooner was his backe turned but the Pope at the kings request reuoked the same Being thus continually vexed thwarted and disgraced hee departed into voluntary exile and there bewayling the misery of his countrey spoyled and wasted by the tyranny of the Pope spent the rest of his dayes in continuall teares Through extreame griefe and sorrow or as some thinke too much fasting hee fell first into a Consumption and after into a strange kinde of Ague Whereupon he thought good to remoue from the Abbey of Pontiniac in France where he had layen euer since his comming out of England and there departed this life the sixteenth of the Kalends of December 1242. His heart and entrailes were buried at Soissy his body at Pontiniac Sanctus Edmundus Cantuarie Archiepiscopus plenus virtutibus et sanâ—titate migrauit ab hoc seculo XVI Kal. Decemb. et apud Pontiniacum sepultus est Cuius merita miracula testantur Hic erat Edmundus anima tum corpore mundus Quem non immundus poterat peruertere mundus Anglorum Genti faueas Edmunde petenti Within six yeares after his death he was canonized a Saint by Innocentius the fourth who appointed the foresaid day of his death for euer to be kept holy in memory of him Lewes the French king caused his body to be translated to a more honourable Tombe then it was first laid in and bestowed a sumptuous Shrine vpon him couered with gold siluer and richly adorned with many pretious stones where our Lord saith his Legend hath shewyd many a fayre myracle for his holy servaunt Saynte Edmonde This Edmund is the last Archbishop of Canterbury that I finde to haue beene canonized howsoeuer I dare pronounce that since his dayes to these present times wherein we liue we haue had many Archbishops both for life and learning as worthy the honour of canonization as was himselfe or any of these by me before remembred Thus much of this Diocesse vntill I be further stored of funerall Monuments or other matters therein according to my method either by my selfe or my friends onely let me tell you for a conclusion that the whole Prouince of this Bishopricke of Canterbury which first of all was apparelled by Austin the Monke with the Archbishop of Londons Pall as I haue in part touched before was at the first diuided by Theodore seuenth Bishop into fiue Diocesses onely howbeit in processe of time it grew to twentie and one besides it selfe leauing to Yorke which by the first institution should haue had as many as it but Durham Carleil and Chester onely except you reckon the Isle of Man And whereas by the ordinance of Pope Gregory either of these Archbishops should haue vnder him twelue inferiour Bishops and that neither of them should bee subiect or of lesse grace and dignitie then other Lanfrancke thinking it good reason that he should make a Conquest of the English Clergie since his Master King William had vanquished the whole Nation contended at Windsore with Thomas Norman Archbishop of Yorke for the Primacie and there by iudgement before Hugo the Popes Legate recouered it from him so that euer since the one is called Totius Angliae Primas and the other Angliae Primas without any further addition Moreouer whereas before time the place of this Archbishop in the generall Councell was to sit next to the Bishop of Saint Ruffines Anselme the successour of this Lanfranke for recompence of the seruice hee had done in oppugning the marriage of Priests and resisting the king for the inuestiture of Clerkes was by Pope Vrbane endowed with this accession of honour that hee and his Successours should from thenceforth haue place in all generall Councels at the Popes right foote who then said withall Includamus hunc in orbe nostro tanquam alterius orbis Papam Let vs include this Bishop in our owne Orbe as it were the Pope or Father of another world In former ages saith Camden in this tract during the Romane Hierarchie the Archbishops of Canterbury were
And besides Geruasius Dorobernens or Geruis a Monke in Canterbury who flourished in the raigne of king Henry the first affirmeth that the fore-ward in all battels belongeth to them by a certaine preheminence in right of their manhood And it is agreed by all men that there were neuer any bondmen or villaines as the law calleth them in Kent Neither bee they here so much bounden to the Gentrie by Copyhold or customarie tenures as the Inhabitants of the westerne Countries of the Realme be nor at all indangered by the feeble hold of Tenant Right which is but a descent of a tenancie at will as the Common people in the Northerne parts be for Copyhold tenure is rare in Kent and Tenant Right not heard of at all But in place of these the custome of Gauelkinde that is Giue all Kinne preuailing euery where in manner euery man is a Free-holder and hath some part of his owne to liue vpon And in this their estate they please themselues and ioy exceedingly in so much as a man may finde sundrie Yeomen although otherwise for wealth comparable with many of the gentile sort that will not yet for all that change their condition nor desire to be apparrelled with the titles of Gentrie Neither is this any cause of disdaine or of alienation of the good minds of the one sort from the other For no where else in all this Realme is the common people more willingly gouerned To be short they be most commonly ciuill iust and bountifull so that the estate of the old Franklyns and Yeomen of England either yet liueth in Kent or else it is quite dead and departed out of the Realme for altogether Thus farre in effect out of Lambard Briefly saith Selden it had the first English King in it was the first Christianity among the English and Canterbury then honoured with the Metropolitique See all which giue note of Honourable Prerogatiue But I will conclude this commendation of Kent with these verses following taken out of the foresaid Author of Polyolbion in the same Song When as the pliant Muse straight turning her about And comming to the Land as Medway goeth out Saluting the deare soyle O famous Kent quoth she What countrey hath this Isle that can compare with thee Which hast within thy selfe as much as thou canst wish Thy conies Venson Fruit thy sorts of Fowle and Fish And what with strength comports thy hay thy corne thy wood Nor any thing doth want that any where is good Now here before I take my leaue of this little See of Rochester it shall not seeme impertinent I hope to shew with what great courage and happinesse this Church hath euer vpholden her rights and priuiledges not onely against the Monkes of Canterbury which laboured much to bring it vnder but also against the See it selfe of the Archbishops For example in the raigne of king Henry the third and after the death of Benedict the Bishop of Rochester the Monkes made choise of one Henry Sanford that great wise Clerke which preached at Sittingbourne that such a day the soules of king Richard the first Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury and another Priest were deliuered out of Purgatory and no more soules that day but onely they three as God had reuealed it vnto him three seuerall times whereof when the Monkes of Christ-Church had intelligence they resisted the election challenging that the Pastorall staffe or Crosyer of Rochester ought of very right to be brought to their house after the decease of the Bishop and that the election ought to be made in their Chapiter The Monkes of Rochester maintained their owne choise and so the matter waxing warme betweene them it was at the length referred to the determination of the Archbishop he againe posted it ouer to certaine Delegates who hearing the parties and weighing the proofes gaue sentence with the Monkes of Rochester and yet lost as they thought good loue and amity among them But as the Poet saith Male sarta gratia nequicquam coit sed rescinditur Fauour that is euill peeced will not ioyne close but falleth asunder And therefore this their opinion failed them and their cure proued but to be patched for soone after the sore brake out anew and the Canterbury Monkes reuiued their displeasure with such a heat that Hubert of Burgh Earle of Kent and chiefe Iustice of England was driuen to come into the Chapter house and coole it and to worke a second reconciliation betweene them Neither for all that as it may seeme was that flame quite extinguished For not long after viz. Ann. 1238. the Monkes of Christ-Church seeing that they themselues could not preuaile intituled their Archbishop Edmund with whom also the Rochester Monkes waged law at Rome before the holy Father as touching the election of Richard Wendeouer whom they would haue had Bishop by the space of three whole yeares together and at the length either through the equitie of the cause or the weight of their purse saith my Author ouerthrew him vpon Saint Cuthberts day in ioy whereof they returned home with all hast and enacted in their Chapter house that from thenceforth for euer Saint Cuthberts feast as a Trophey of their victory should be holden double both in their Church and Kitchin And not thus onely but otherwise also hath the See at Rochester well holden her owne for during the whole succession of fourescore Bishops and one as I haue said before which in right line haue followed Iustus she hath continually maintained her chaire at this one place whereas in most parts of the Realme besides the Sees of the Bishops haue suffered sundrie translations by reason that in the Conquerours time order was taken that such Bishops as before had their Churches in countrey Townes and Villages should forthwith remoue and from thenceforth remaine in walled Townes and Cities which ordinance could not by any meanes touch Rochester that was a walled Citie long time before king Williams gouernment Here endeth the Diocesse of Rochester ANCIENT FVNERALL MONVMENTS WITHIN THE Diocesse of LONDON AS before I haue said somewhat of the Cities of Canterbury and Rochester so giue me leaue to speak a little of this great Citie of London collected out of as well ancient as moderne writers And first I will borrow a few lines from Iohn Iohnston before remembred sometimes Professour of Diuinitie in the Vniuersitie of S. Andrewes in Scotland who in a graue note and serious stile compiled certaine Latine verses in praise of this our Metropolis or soueraigne Citie of this Island Which I finde to be translated by Philemon Holland thus This Citie well Augusta call'd to which a truth to say Aire Land Sea and all Elements shew fauour euery way The weather no where milder is the ground most rich to see Doth yeeld all fruits of fertile soile that neuer spent will be And Ocean that with Tams streame his flowing tide doth blend Conueyes to it commodities all that
Rotulorum et Recordorum in Turri London remanentium qui obijt vltimo die Feb. Anno 1523. cuius Clericus paruae Bagiae or Clarke of the Petit Bagge is an Officer in the Chancerie of which sort there be three and the Master of the Rolles is their chiefe Their Office is to record the returne of all Inquisitions out of euery Shire all Liueries granted in the Court of Wards all ouster les maines to make all Patents of Customers Gawgers Controllers and Aulnegers all Conge d'eslires for Bishops all Liberateis vpon extent of Statute Staples the recouery of Recognisances forfeited and all Elegits vpon them the summons of the Nobilitie Clergie and Burgesses of the Parliament Commissions directed to Knights and other of euery shire for seassing of the Subsidies Writs for the nomination of Collectors and all trauerses vpon any Office bill or otherwise and to receiue money duel to the King for the same This Officer is mentioned Anno 33. Hen. 8. cap. 22. and it is like hee had first this denomination and stile of Petie Bagges because hauing to doe with so many Records of diuers kindes as aboue mentioned they were put in sundry leather Bagges which were not so great as the Clarke of the Hamper now vseth and therefore might be called Petits Bagges small or little bagges This Iohn Gyles was also keeper or Clerke of the Rolles and Records in the Tower of London an Office generally well knowne throughout all England the master whereof at this day is that learned Gentleman Sir Iohn Borrowes Knight vnder whom my vnderstanding friend Will. Collet and my industrious country-man Will. Riley alias Rouge-Rose Pursiuant at Armes doe officiate the place Dona requiem miserecordissime Iesu anime famuli tui Laurentij Bartlâ—t nuper Registrarij Episcopi Lincol. qui obijt ... die octob An. 1470. Quisquis ades vultumque vides sta perlege plora Iuditij memor esto tui tua nam venit hora Sum quod eris fueramque quod es tua posteriora Commemorans miseris miserans pro me precor ora Te mediante tuus viuam post funera seruus Qui te dilexi Michael bene dummodo vixi Non Homo leteris tibi copia si fluat eris Hic non semper eris memor esto quod morieris Corpus putrebit quod habes alter habebit Es euanebit quod agis tecum remanebit The Temple Church The first Founder hereof is not certainely recorded some hold that it was built by Dunwallo Mulmutius about the yeare of the worlds creation 4748 the precincts whereof he made a Sanctuary or a place of refuge for any person therein to be assured of life liberty and limbs of which I haue spoken elsewhere Besides these priuiledges vnto Temples hee constituted diuers good lawes Of which he writ two bookes the one called Statuta municipalia the other Leges iudiciariae which is as much to say as the statute Law and the common Law Cooke Reports 3 part ad Lect. out of Bale cent 1. Hauing reduced his Realme into one Monarchie being before by ciuill warres and dissention seuered and brought into diuers dominions Hee raigned 40. yeares died the yeare of the worlds creation 4768. and was buried in this place with other of the British Kings But it appeareth by this inscription following ouer the Church doore in the stone worke that this holy Structure was newly founded of farre later times and dedicated to the honour of the blessed Virgine yet I thinke it is farre more ancient Anno ab incarnatione Domini M.C.lxxxv dedicata hec Ecclesia in honorem beate Marie a Domino Eraclio dei gratia Sancte Resurrectionis Ecclesie Patriarcha 11 Idus Februarij Qui eam annatim petentibus de iniuncta sibi Penitentia lx dies indulsit Knights Templers were the last Founders of this house which at the first were certaine noble Souldiers religiously bent who bound themselues by vow in the hands of the Patriarke of Ierusalem to serue Christ after the manner of Regular canons in chastitie and obedience and to defend Christian Religion the holy land and Pilgrimes going to visite the Lords Sepulchre they flourished for a time in high reputation for pietie and deuotion but as they increased in wealth so they fell to wickednesse insomuch that in the yeere 1308. all the Templers in England as also in other parts of Christendome were apprehended and committed to diuers Prisons and in the yeare 1312. all their lands were giuen to the Knights Hospitalers of the order of Saint Iohn Baptist called Saint Iohn of Ierusalem as I haue said elsewhere There are in this Temple many very ancient monuments of famous men for out of what respect I know not King Henry the third and many of the Nobility desired much to be buried in this Church shaped in marble armed their legges crosse whose names are not to be gathered by any inscriptions for that time hath worne them out vpon the vpper part of one of their portraitures Camden saith that hee hath read Comes Penbrochie and vpon the side this verse Miles eram Martis Mars multos vicerat armis Of Mars I was a doughty knight Mars vanquisht many a man in fight Vnder which monument lieth William Marshall the elder Earle of Penbroke a most powerfull man in his time being the Kings Marshall Generall of his Armie and Protector of the kingdome in the minority of King Henry the third vntill such time as he the said William died which was in the yeare 1219. 27 die Martij This Epitaph following goes also currant for this glorious and triumphant Earle as an Epitome of his noble vertues Sum quem Saturnum sibi sensit Hibernia Solem Anglia Mercurium Normannia Gallia Martem Irelands Saturne Englands Sunne am I The Mars of France and Normans Mercury or thus Whom Ireland once a Saturne found England a Sunne to be Whom Normandy a Mercury and France Mars I am he This William had fiue sonnes William Richard Gilbert Walter and Anselme all Earles of Penbroke and Marshals of England Here by his father vnder the like monument lieth William the eldest sonne Earle of Penbroke Lord of Strighull Chepstow Caerwent Leigh or Liege Weshford Kildare Ossorie and Carlogh who died the sixt of Aprill 1231. as it is in the booke of Wauerly wherein this Epitaph is made to his memory Militis istius mortem dolet Anglia ridet Wallia viuentis bella minasque timens England laments the death of this braue Knight Wales laughs he liuing did her so affright The Annales of Ireland will haue him to be buried by his brother Richard in the Quire of the Friers Predicants in Kilkennie of whom it was thus written Cuius sub fossa Kilkennia continet Ossa Whose bones bestowed in graue so deep Kilkenny Towne doth safely keep Wheresoeuer he was buried a Martiall braue Earle he was which hee worthily shewed when as he set vpon Lehwellin Prince of Wales
who inuaded his Territories in his absence whilst he was prosecuting the warres in Ireland and returned from that battell a triumphant Conquâ—rour Vnder another Monument lieth the body of Gilbert Marshall Earle of Penbroke and Marshall of England Lord of Longevile in Normandy Leinster in Ireland and of Chepstow Strighull and Caerwent in Wales This Potent Peere of the Realme saith Mathew Paris in Ann. 1241. proclaimed a Turnament in scorne of the kings authoritie whereby such disports were forbidden to be holden at Hertford in the County of Hertford to which place when many both of the Nobilitie and Gentrie were assembled it happened that himselfe running by the flinging of his horse was cast out of his sadle and the horse gaue him such a blow on the breast that he died the same day being the fifth of the Kalends of Iuly 1241. as aforesaid His bowels were interred in the Abbey Church in the Towne of Hertford with the bowels of one Sir Robert de Say knight a gallant gentleman slaine in the same exercise These kinde of Iusts or Turnaments were brought in with king Stephen and practised in many places of England in such an outragious manner and with such slaughter of Gentlemen that to suppresse such an heathenish disport it was decreed by Parliament that whosoeuer therein were slaine should want Christian buriall and their heires be disinherited Hic requiescit ..... R ... Ep .... Quondam Visitator generalis ordinis Milicie Templi in Anglia in Francia in Italia .... This was a fragment of a funeralâ— Inscription insculped vpon one of these crosse-legged Monuments as I found it amongst other Collections by one studious in Antiquities in Sir Robert Cottons voluminous Librarie which he proues by the pedegree of the said Lord Rosses to haue beene made to the memory of one Robert Rosse a Templer who died about the yeare 1245. and gaue to the Templars his Mannor of Ribston William Plantaginet the fifth sonne of king Henry the third lieth here interred who died in his childhood about the yeare 1256. En Iacobus templo Bayle requiescit in isto Qui fuerat gratus medio Templo sociatus Cui Deus esto pius eius miserando reatus Vitam mutauit in mensis fine secundi M. C. quater que dato Lxx quater annumerato Cui sit solamen Christus dic protinus Amen Robertus iacet hic Thorne quem Bristollia quondam Pretoris merito legit ad officium Huic etinim semper magne Respublica cure Charior cunctis Patria duitijs Ferre inopi auxilium tristes componere lites Dulce huic consilio quosque iuuare fuit Qui pius exaudis miserorum vota precesque Christe huic in celis des regione locum Orate pro anima Richardi Wye socij comititiui interioris Templi ob 9. Mar. 1519. Cuius anime Domine secundum delictum meum noli me iudicare Deprecor maiestatem tuam vt tu deleas iniquitatem meam Ecce quid eris Hic iacet Willelmus Langham quondam custos huius Templi qui obijt ......... 1437. Tu prope qui transis nec dicis aueto resiste Auribus et corde hec mea dicta tene Sum quod eris quod es ipse fui derisor amare Mortis dum licuit pace manente frui Sed veniente nece postquam sum raptus amicis Atque meis famulis orba ...... domus Me contexit humo deplorauit que iacentem Inque meos cineres vltima dona dedit Vnde mei vultus corrosit terra nitorem Queque fuit forme ......... Ergo Deum pro me cum pura mente precare Vt mihi perpetua pace frui tribuat Et quicunque rogat pro me comportet in vnum Vt mecum meneat in regione Poli. William Burgh iadis Clerk de Chancelleri Gist icy Dieu de s'alme eyt mercy Amen Saint Clement Danes So called because Harold surnamed Harefoot for his swift footmanship king of England of the Danish line and other Danes were here buried This Harold was the base sonne of king Canut by his concubine Alice of Woluerhampton in Staffordshire a Shoomakers daughter His body was first buried at Westminster but afterwards Hardicanut the lawfull sonne of Canut being king commanded his body to bee digged out of the earth and to be throwne into the Thames where it was by a Fisherman taken vp and buried in this Churchyard He died at Oxford 1040. hauing raigned three yeares and eight moneths Hic iacet .... Iohannes Arundell .... Episcopus Exon. qui ob die mens Maij 15 ... 1503. This maymed Inscription would tell vs thus much that Iohn Arundell descended of the ancient and most worshipfull house of the Arundels of Lanherne in Cornwall Bishop of Exceter lieth here vnder interred who died March 15. 1503. Hic iacet corpus venerabilis .... Io ..... Booth Legum Bacalaureus Episcopus Exon ..... ob primo April 1478. This Bishop gouerned his Church wondrous well and builded as some suppose the Bishops See in the Quire but being weary of the great troubles which were in his countrey betweene king Edward the fourth and the Earle of Warwicke he remoued from thence to his house of Horsleigh in Hampshire where he died Orate pro anima Willelmi Booth militis fratris Episcopi Exon. qui ob 6. April 1478. Hic iacet Edmundus Arnold postremus Aprilis Quem dolor heu rapuit tristis atroxque dies Istius Ecclesie Rector meritissimus olim Et summus Mâ—dice Doctor in arte fuit Non Ipocrate minor erat nec doctior vllus Non Opifex mirum vincit Apollo virum M. D. deme ter .x. semel v. Christi anno Cui vitam Medicus det sine sine Deus Sauoy So called of Peter Earle of Sauoy the first builder thereof which being ouerthrowne by the Rebels of Kent it was againe raised and beautifully rebuilded by king Henry the seuenth for an Hospitall and dedicated to the honour of Saint Iohn Baptist for which he purchased lands for the reliefe of an hundred poore people Of which you may reade this Inscription engrauen ouer the Gate towards the Street 1505. Hospitium hoc inopi Turbe Sauoia vocatum Septimus Henricus fundauit ab imo solo Henry the seuenth to his merite and honor This Hospitall foundyd pore people to socor Many officers ordinances orders and rules were appointed by the Founder for the better gouernment of this Hospitall some of which I haue read briefly extracted out of the Grand Charter viz. Per nomen Magistri et Capellanorum Hospitalis Henrici Regis Anglie septimi de Savoy Duo Presbiteri seculares conductitij Duo homines seculares honesti ac literati quorum alter Subsacrista alter Subhospitalarius Quatuor homines honesti qui Alteriste vocentur Quinque alij honesti homines viz. 1. Clericus Coquine 2. Panetarius 3. Coquus 4. Ortulanus 5. Ianitor Duo alij alter subcoquus
For whiche Commons him hated both free and bond Iohn Gower concludes his cronica tripartita annexed to his booke entituled Vox Clamantis with these riming verses concerning the said King Cronica Richardi qui sceptra tulit Leopardi Vt patet est dicta populo sed non benedicta Vt speculum mundi quo lux nequit vlla resundi Sic vacuus transit sibi nil nisi culpa remansit Vnde superbus erat modo si preconia querat Eius honor sordet laus culpat gloria mordet Hoc concernentes caueant qui sunt sapientes Nam male viuentes Deus odit in orbe regentes Est qui peccator non esse potest dominator Ricardo teste finis probat hoc manifeste Post sua demerita perijt sua pompa sopita Qualis erat vita cronica stabit ita He was murdered at Pomfret Castle in the bloudie Tower so called from that time vpon that bloudie act to this day on Saint Valentines day 1399. the first of Henry the fourth when hee had raigned 22 yeares That beautifull picture of a King sighing crowned in a chaire of estate at the vpper end of the Quire in this Church is said to be of him which witnesseth how goodly a creature he was in outward lineaments but I will conclude with these rimes out of my old Manuscript the Addition to Robert of Glocester This Rychard than regnyd sone Aftur his Belsire as was to done Atte x yere of age crownyd was he He was a man of grett beute In hys tym the Comynte of Kent Up arysin and to London went And Sauoy the brent that ilke plas The whych the Dukes of Lancastre was Thurgh euel councel was slayn ful suel The Duke of Glocestre and the erle of Arundel He regnyd xxii yer and mor And to Longeley was he bor But in the v King Herry is tym He was leyde at VVestmynstre by Anne the Quene Anne his first wife here entombed with him was the daughter of Wenceslaus King of Bohemia and Emperour of the Germanes she died in Anno 1394. the seuenth of Iune at Sheene in Surrey whom her husband so feruently loued yea vsque ad amentiam euen to a kinde of madnesse that for very griefe and anger besides cursing the place wherein shee died hee ouerthrew the whole house Her Epitaph Sub petra lata nunc Annaiacet tumulata Dum vixit mundo Richardo nupta secundo Christo deuota fuit hec facilis bene nota Pauperibus prona semper sua reddere dona Iurgia sedauit et pregnantes releuauit Corpore formosa vultu mitis speciosa Prebens solamen viduis egris medicamen Anno milleno ter cent quarto nonageno Iulij septeno mensis migrauit ameno forma Fragilis Henry the fift sonne of Henry the fourth King of England and conquerour of France died at Boyes de Viscenna not farre from Paris the last of August 1422. hauing raigned 9 yeares 5 moneths and odde daies from thence his body was conuaied to this Abbey vpon whose Tombe Katherine his wife caused a royall picture to be layed couered all ouer with siluer plate gilded the head whereof was all of massie siluer all which at the suppression when the battering hammers of destruction as Master Speed saith did sound almost in euery Church were sacrilegiously broken off and by purloyning transferred to farre prophaner vses where at this day the headlesse monument is to be seene and these verses written vpon his Tombe Dux Normanorum verus Conquestor eorum Heres Francorum decessit et Hector eorum Here Normans Duke so stil'd by conquest iust True heire of France Great Hector lies in dust Gallorum mastix iacet hic Henricus in vrna Domat omnia virtus So many vertues are attributed by all writers to this heroicall King Henry the renowne of England and glory of Wales that where to begin or when to make an end in his deserued praise I know not so I will leaue him amongst the many Monarchs of this most famous Empire none more complete relating onely a few rimes which in some sort doth particularize his memorable exploits Aftur hym regnyd his son than The v Herry truly a gracious man Atte his begynnyng verament He stroyd Loliers and thei wer brent Aftur he made Relygyous at Shene Sion Ierusalem and eke Bedlem The thurd yer he went truly And gat Hartlett in Normandy Atte Egyncourt he hadde a batayle ywis Hamwardys and ther had the prys He tooke ther the Duc of Orleaunce The Duc of Burbon and meny of Fraunce And aftur that he wan Lane toun Rone and al Normandy as was to don Also he wan Parys worschypfully And meny mo tounes wyth Meaux in Bry. Ther he took to hys Quene Katterin the kyng dawghtyr shene He hadde a Son of hur y bore That ys callyd Herry of Wyndsore In Fraunce he departyd goodly thurgh Goddâ—s grase And was broght into Engelond in short spase Then was his Son Herry of age suerly But only viii monyths wyth odde deyes truly His Eme Iohn Duc of Bedford as yow see Is now Regent of Fraunce sykerly He regnyd x yer in hevyn he hath reward Lith at Westmynstre noght fer fro Seynt Edward Here lieth Katherine Queene of England wife to the foresaid King Henry the fifth in a chest or coffin with a loose couer to be seene and handled of any that will much desire it and that by her owne appointment as he that sheweth the Tombes will tell you by tradition in regard of her disobedience to her husband for being deliuered of her Sonne Henry the sixth at Windsore the place which he forbad But the truth is that she being first buried in our Ladies Chappell here in this Church her corps were taken vp when as Henry the seuenth laid the foundation of that admirable structure his Chappell royall which haue euer since so remained and neuer reburied She was the daughter to Charles the sixth king of France she died at Bermondsey in Southwarke the second of Ianuary Ann. Dom. 1437. Her Epitaph Hic Katherina iacet Francorum filia Regis Heres Regni Carole Sexte tui Henrici quinti thalamo bis leta iugali Nam sic vir duplici clarus honore fuit Iure suo Anglorum Katherine iure triumphans Francorum obtinuit ius decus imperij Grata venit letis felix Regina Britannis Perque dies celebrant quatuor ore Deum Edidit Henricum gemebunda puerpera Regem Cuius in imperio Francus Anglus erat Non sibi sed Regno felici sidere natum Sed Patri Matri Religione parem Post ex Owino Tiddero tertia proles Nobilis Edmundus te Katherina beat Septimus Henricus quo non prestantior alter Filius Edmundi gemma Britanna fuit Felix ergo vxor mater ter filia felix Ast Auia hec felix terque quater que fuit Here lieth buried in one of the stateliest Monuments of Europe both for the
Epitaph is engrauen Abbas Richardus de Wara qui requiescit Hic portat lapides quos hic portauit ab vrbe After the death of Richard de Ware Walter Wenlocke was chosen Abbot and preferred to the honour of Lord Treasurer by King Edward the first Hee was Abbot sixe and twenty yeares lacking sixe dayes died vpon Christmas day at night in the yeare 1307. And lieth buried vnder a marble stone whereupon this Epitaph to his high commendation is inlayed in brasse Abbas Walterus iacet hic sub marmore tectus Non fuit austerus sed mitis famine rectus Here lieth Richard de Barking Abbot of this Monastery who was an especiall Councellour to King Henry the third chiefe Baron of the Exchequer and Treasurer of England Who hauing beene Abbot 24. yeares died the 23. day of Nouember 1246. He was first buried in our Ladies Chappell in a Tombe of marble which was pulled downe by Frier Combe a Sacrist of this house Who layed a faire plaine marble stone ouer him with this Epitaph thus inscribed Richardus Barking Prior est post inclytus Abbas Henrici Regis prudens fuit ille minister Huius erat prima laus Insula rebus opima Altera laus eque Thorp census ocham decimeque Tertia Mortone castrum simili ratione Et Regis quarta de multis commoda charta Clementis festo mundo migrauit ab isto M. Domini C. bis xl sextoque sub anno Cui detur venia parte pia virgo Maria. Here in the Cloister vnder a flat stone of blacke marble lie the remaines of Gervais de Bloys so called of the place or Earledome which his father possest in France who was Stephen Earle of Bloys and Champaigne afterwards king of England He was his base sonne begotten of one Dameta a gentlewoman of Normandy He was brought into England by his father the fifth yeare of his raigne and in the same yeare made Abbot of this place In which gouernment he continued for the space of twenty yeares He deceased the 26. of August 1160. His Epitaph De Regem genere Pater hic Gervasius ecce Monstrat de functus mors rapit omne genus Euen father Gervase borne of kings race Loe is dead thus death all sorts doth deface Here lieth the body of Nicholas Litlington Abbot of this house who in the time of his gouernement which was for the space of 〈◊〉 yeares built the Abbots hall and the faire roome now called Ierusalem the West and South part of the Cloister and a Granary now the Schollers long Bed-chamber with the Tower adioyning as also the Water-Mill and many other Edefices He died Anno 1386. I found his Epitaph in a namelesse Manuscript in that neuer enough admired Librarie of Sir Robert Cotton Hacce Domo Ductor Nicholaus erat quoque structor Et sibi tunc sedem celo construxit edem M. semel C ter erat annus sex octuagenus Cum perit iste Abbas diuino flamine plenus Quinta dies fit ei requies in fine Nouembris Detur ei pietate Dei merces requici Amen Here lieth in the Cloister one Vitalis Abbot of this Couent preferred thereunto by William the Conquerour in the 16. of whose raigne 1082. he died vpon whose Tombe this Epitaph was engrauen alluding to his name like as for Laurence his successor Qui nomen traxit a vita morte vocante Abbas Vitalis transijt hicque iacet Here lieth the body of one Lawrence Abbot of this Monastery who obtained of Alexander the third that ambitious Bishop of Rome to himselfe and his successors the vse of the Miter the Ring and the Gloues the Pastorall Staffe before his time being their onely comportment as by the differing portraitures of the Abbots vpon their Tombestones may be easily discerned He died Anno 1176. to whose memory this allusiue Epitaph was made Clauditur hoc tumulo vir quondam clarus in orbe Quo preclarus erat hic locus est et erit Pro meritis vite dedit illi laurea nomen Detur ei vite laurea pro meritis Here lieth Gislebert Crispine Abbot who flourished in the raigne of King Henry the first and died in the yeare of our redemption 1114. His picture is vpon the graue stone inlaid with brasse with his Pastoral staffe onely without Miter Ring or other ornament with these verses Hic Pater insignis genus altum virgo senex que Gisleberte iaces lux via duxque tuis Mitis eras iustus prudens fortis moderatus Doctus quadriuio nec minus in triuio Sic tamen ornatus nece sexta luce Decembris Spiramen celo reddis ossa solo Here lieth interred the body of Edmund Kirton Abbot of this Monastery Doctor of Diuinity and a profound learned man he adorned Saint Andrewes Chappell wherein he lieth buried with the armes of many of the English Nobility These verses are inscribed vpon his monument Pastor pacisicus subiectis vir moderatus Hac sub marmorea Petra requiescit humatus Edmundus Kirton hic quondam qui fuit Abbas Bis denis annis cum binis connumerandus Sacre Scripture doctor probus immoprobatus Illustri stirpe de Cobildic generatus Coram Martino papa proposuit iste Ob quod multiplices laudes habuit honores Qui obijt tertio die mensis Octobris An. Dom. M. cccc.lx.vi Eleison Kyry curando morbida mundi Iohn Islip Abbot of Westminster a man of great authoritie and speciall trust with King Henry the seuenth lieth here interred He built the Deanes house as now it is and repaired many other places in this Monasterie in the windowes whereof saith Camden he had a quadruple deuice for his single name for somewhere he set vp an eye with a slip of a tree in another place one slipping boughes in a tree in other places an I with the said slip and in some places one slipping from a tree with the word Islip I cannot learne the time of his death by his Tombe yet I finde in a Manuscript wherein are diuers funerall collections and other Inscriptions of this Abbey which were gathered about the time of the dissolution that he died the second of Ianuary in the yeare 1510. the second of Henry the eight and also that in the Chappell of Saint Erasmus where he lieth buried vpon the wall ouer his Tombe was the picture of our Sauiour Christ hanging on the Crosse seeming to call and to giue good councell vnto mankind in these rimes Aspice serue Dei sic me posuere Iudei Aspice deuote quoniam sic pendeo pro te Aspice mortalis pro te datur Hostia talis Introitum vite reddo tibi redde mihi te In cruce sum prote qui peccas desine pro me Desine do veniam dic culpam corrige vitam Vnder this Crucifixe was the picture of the Abbot holding vp his hands and praying thus in old Poetrie En cruce qui pendis Islip miserere Iohannis
full of honours and yeares ended his life here at his Castle of Berkamsted but was buried at his Abbey of Hales Of whom hereafter Here are diuers Tombes to the memory of the name of Waterhouse whose inscriptions of antiquitie are all taken away with the brasse and the carefull preseruing of the rest altogether neglected Hic iacent Iohannes Waterhouse Margaret vxor eius ..... Ecce sub hoc tumulo coniux vxorque iacemus Eternam pacem donet vterque Deus Nil vnquam abstulimus si quid benefecimus vlli Est qui pro meritis premia digna dabit Est tamen vna salus Christi miseratio quam qui Transis ambobus sepe precâ—re Deum Hic iacet Richardus Westbroke qui obiit 29. Septemb. 1485. supplicans vobis ex charitate vestra pro anima sua dicere Pater Noster Ave. Here lieth Katherin the wyfe of Robert Incent the father and mother to Iohn Incent Doctor of the Law who hath done many benefytes and ornaments to this Chappell of St. Iohn Baptist ..... the twelâ—th yeere of Henry the eight This Iohn Incent Doctor of the Law was Deane of Saint Paules London who built in this Towne a free-Schoole allowing to the Master a stipend of twenty pound per annum And to the Vsher ten pound which was confirmed by Act of Parliament Here lyeth Robert Incent late Servant to that noble Princesse Cicely Duchesse of Yorke who dyed of the sweating sicknesse the first yeere of Henry the seuenth Hic iacet Edwardus de le hay ... 1510. This is an ancient name flourishing euer since the raigne of Hen. the second Stow. Annal. Hic iacet Margarita Briggs que ob 17. Aug. 1374. Here is an ancient monument to the memory of one Iohn Rauen Esquire who died in the yeere 1395. Vnder the Armes of King Edward the sixth painted vpon a table these verses Quid sextum dicis nulli virtute secundus Ingenio nulli nullus in arte prior Edwardi insignis sunt haec insignia Iudiâ— In Signis illum deliniare nequis Vnder the cote and crest of Doctor Incent these Hexameters Mira cano nondum denos compleuerat annos Cum Pater est Patriae Edwardus Musisque Patronus Ille tuis avibus sublatas reddidit alas Incenti obtusis aciem pugionibus ille Ille cruci vires Infanti adiecit amictum Ille Rosam suavi perfudit odore caducam Kings Langley So named of the Kings house thereunto adioyning wherein Edmund Plantaginet the fifth sonne of King Edward the third was borne and thereupon surnamed Edmund of Langley Hereby was a religious House for preaching Friers founded by Roger the sonne of Robert Helle an English Baron valued to be yeerely worth at the suppression one hundred and fifty pound fourteene shillings eight pence in the Church of this monasterie the foresaid Edmund was interred He was Lord of Tindale Earle of Cambridge and Duke of Yorke He married Isabell second daughter and one of the heires of Peter King of Castile and Leon who died before him in the yeare 1393 and was buried in this Friery by whom hee had issue Edward Earle of Rutland Duke of Albamarle and Yorke Richard Earle of Cambridge and a daughter whose name was Constance He had a second wife whose name was Ioane daughter of Thomas Holland Earle of Kent who after his death was married to William Lord Willoughby of Eresby to Henry Lord Scroope and to Henry Bromflet Lord Vescy He is reckoned for one of the Knights of the Garter and in the absence of his father in France is said to be Protectour of the Realme of England Hee is much commended for his affabilitie and gentle deportment as also for his valour of which will you heare my often alledged Author Io. Harding Sir Edmond Langley full of gentylnesse Sir Thomas Woodstok full of corage For his valour in another Chapter thus At whiche battaill duke Iohn of Gaunt indede And his brother Edmond then faught full sore Were neuer twoo better knightes then thei indede That better faught vpon a feld afore It was but grace that thei escaped thore Thei putte theimselfes so fer furth ay in prees That wounded wer thei bothe full sore no lees This renowned Duke deceased saith Stow in the yeare 1402. the third of Henry the fourth and was here buried neare to his wife with two of his brethren who died young Here sometime lay entombed the body of Pierce Gaueston a Gascoigne borne Lord of the Isle of Man and Earle of Cornwall A man in such fauour with Edward the second hauing before ensnared his youth by the allurements of a corrupt life that hee had from the said King whatsoeuer could be poured vpon him For though it might seeme incredible saith Speed out of the booke of Dunstable he both gaue him his Iewels and ancestors treasure and euen the Crowne it selfe of his victorious father not sticking to professe if it lay in him hee should succeed him in the kingdome But his insolencie and presumption vpon the kings fauour made him so farre to forget himselfe as that he scorned the best of the Nobilitie as much as they hated him miscalling and giuing them scoffes with bitter iests which left behinde them a sowre remembrance and the sting of reuenge Of all which my old timer who flourished about those dayes thus speaketh more seriously in Prose Perys went into the kyngys Tresorye in ye Abbey of Westminstre saith he and yer toke away a tabil of gold wyth the tressel and oyer ryche Iuwels the whyche wer sumtym king Arthurys and hem he toke to a merchant yat het Aymery of Friscomband and bar hem ouer the see into Gascoigne and yay wer neuer brought ayen yat was gret harme to yet Reme And this Sure Perys gretly despysyd the Lordys of ye londe and atte yat tym Sure Perys clupyd Robard of Clare ye Erle of Gloucetre Hore sone and ye Erle of Penbrok Ioseph ye Iew and ye Erle of Nycol Sure Henry de Lacy Brokbely and Gowy of Warwike Blak hound of Ardern and also he clupyd ye nobiâ— and gentyl Erle of Lancastre Eherle and oyer meny despytes he sâ—yd to ye Lordys of Englonde wherfor yay weryn sore agreuyd And so much agrieued they were that they surprised him in the night at a viliage or mannour called Dathington or Deddington betweene Oxford and Warwick from whence Guy Earle of Warwick tooke him to his Castle of Warwicke where in a place called Blacklow afterward Gaueshead his head was stricken off the nineteenth of Iune 1311. at the commandement and in the presence of the Earles of Lancaster Warwicke and Hereford as of one that had beene a subuerter of the Lawes and an open Traitour to the kingdome A violent and vnaduised part of these Lords to put to death an Earle so dearly loued of the King without any iudiciall proceeding by triall of his Peeres
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
quingentesimo decimo nono In the hall of the Mannor house of Newton Hall in this Parish remaineth in old painting two postures th' one for an Ancestor of the Bourchiers combatant with another being a pagan king for the truth of Christ whom the said Englishman ouercame and in memory thereof his descendants haue euer since borne the head of the said Infidell as also vsed the surname of Bowser as I had it out of the collections of Augustine Vincent Windsore Herald deceased Boreham The inheritance and honours of this famous and right noble race of the Fitz-waters came at length by mariage into the stocke of the Radcliffes for in the pedegree of Sir Alexander Radcliffe of Ordsall in the county of Lancaster knight of the Bath descended as the Earle of Sussex is from the Radcliffes anciently of Radcliffe in the said County the sonne of that valiant and generally beloued Gentleman Sir Iohn Radcliffe Lieuetenant Colonell slaine fighting against the French in the Isle of Rhee the 29. day of October in the yeare of our Lord one thousand sixe hundred twenty and seuen I finde that Sir Iohn Radcliffe Knight sonne of Sir Iohn Radcliffe knight who married Katherine the daughter and heire of Edward Lord Burnell of Acton Burnell in the county of Salop married Elizabeth the daughter and heire of Walter Lord Fitz-water of Woodham a Baron of great riches as of ancient nobility the father of Iohn who was Father of Robert Radcliffe the first of that sirname Earle of Sussex Viscount Fitz-water Lord Egremont and Burnell who with other two Earles his Sonne and Grandchilde lie here interred vnder a sumptuous monument as appeareth by their seuerall inscriptions and liuely portraitures To the memory of the first Earle for I am tied by my method onely to his at this time these funerall lines following are engrauen Robertus Radcliffe miles Dominus Fitz-water Egremond et Burnel Vicecomes Fitz-water magnus Camerarius Anglie Camerarius Hospitij Regis Henrici octaui ac eidem a consilijs Prelijs in Gallia commissis aliquoties inter primos ductores honoratus in alijs belii pacisque consultationibus non inter postremos habitus aequitatis Institiae constantiae magnum aetatis suae columen obijt xxvii die Nouemb. Anno Dom. M. ccccc.xlii aetat This Earle had three wiues whose portraitures are cut here vpon the Tombe by all of which he had issue By his first wife Elizabeth who was the daughter of Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham hee had Henry after him Earle of Sussex here intombed George Radcliffe and Sir Humfrey Ratcliffe of Elnestow By Margaret his second wife daughter of Thomas Lord Stanley Earle of Darby he had Anne married to Thomas Lord Wharton who lieth here buried by her father and Iane maried to Sir Antony Browne Knight Viscount Mountague By his third wife the daughter of Sir Iohn Arundell of Lanherne in Cornwall Knight he had issue Sir Iohn Radcliffe Knight who died without issue in the yeare 1566. and lieth buried in Saint Olaues Hart-streete London Henry Radcliffe Earle of Sussex sonne of this Robert as aforesaid was one of the priuie Councell to Queene Mary as I finde it in her Grant of liberty made vnto him for the wearing of Coyfes or Cappes in her presence which I coppied out of the Originall amongst the Euidences of Robert late Earle of Sussex deceased expressed in these words following Mary the Queene Mary by the grace of God Quene of Englonde France and Irelonde defendor of the Feythe and in Earthe of the Church of Englonde and Irelonde supreme Hede. To all to whom this present wryting shall come sendeth greting in our Lord euerlasting Know ye that wee do gyue and pardon to our welbeloued and trusty Cosen one of oure priuey Counsell Henry Earle of Sussex Viscount Fitz-water Lord Egremond and Burnell liberty licens and pardon to were his Cappe Coyf or night Cappe or twoo of them at his pleasor as well in oure presens as in the presens of any other person or persons within this our Relme or any other place of our dominion wheresoeuer during his life And these oure lettres shall be his sufficient warrant in this behalfe Yeuen vndre oure Signe Manuell at oure Palaes of Westminstre the second dey of October in the first yere of oure Reigne Her Seale with the Garter about it is fixed to this Grant with a labell of silke and so are the Armes of the Kings of England and E. R. the Seale manuell of Edward the sixt not altered This Henry departed this life at Sir Henry Sidneyes house in Chanon Row at Westminster on wednesday morning the 17. of February betweene fiue and sixe a clocke in the third and fourth yeare of Philip and Mary Anno 1556. as Vincent in his Discouerie of Brookes Errors verifieth by a certificate thereof in the booke of Burials in the Office of Armes Fol. 225. He was buried first by his Father in Saint Laurence Poultney Church in London from whence their remaines were remoued hither as you shall vnderstand by the present sequele That braue-spirited politicke-wise Lord Thomas Earle of Sussex Lord Chamberlaine of the Houshold to Queene Elizabeth of famous memory built or began to build a Chappell in this Church wherein this glorious Tombe is erected as a place of buriall for himselfe and his worthy progeny and commanded by his last Will and Testament as I was told that the honourable remaines of his Father and Grandfather Henry and the foresaid Robert Earles of Sussex should be remoued from the parish Church of Saint Laurence Poultney London where their bodies lay buried to this his Chapbell at Boreham wherein hee desired to be entombed all which was accordingly performed This Tombe was made by one Richard Stephens an outlandish man and finished with all furniture as gilding colouring and the like thereunto belonging the xxviii of May M.D. lxxxxix the whole charge thereof amounting to the summe of cclxxxxii l xii s. viii d. as appeares by the account which I haue seene This Thomas Earle of Sussex saith Camden was a most worthy and honourable personage in whose minde were seated ioyntly both politicke wisedome and martiall prowesse as England and Ireland acknowledged but more of him hereafter These Earles of Sussex of this sirname from Robert the first to Robert the last who died An. Dom. 1629. haue euer beene Knights of the Garter Hic iacet Thomas Coggeshale Ar. filius Thome Coggeshale Armigeri Iohanna vxor eius que quidem Iohanna obijt xvii Iulij M.ccc.xv Thomas obiit ..... Newport Her lyeth Thomas Brown Who 's sowl God pardown ......... M. ccccc.xv Her vndyr this marble ston Lyeth the body of master Ion Heynes Bacheler of Law And somtym Vycar of this Chirch I traw Who passyd out .......... ...... M. cccc Here sometime stood an hospitall in this Towne by whom founded I cannot reade Valued at the fatall destruction of all such houses at 23.
l. 10. s. 8. d. per annum Pleshy This Collegiate Church was founded by Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Glocester for Canons regular which was valued in the Kings bookes to be yearely worth one hundred thirty nine pounds three shillings ten pence The vpper part of which Church within these few yeares was taken downe and as I was told in the Towne the Parishioners being either vnwilling or vnable to repaire the decayes carried away the materials which were employed to other vses This part of the Church was adorned and beautified with diuers rich funerall Monuments which were hammered a peeces bestowed and diuided according to the discretion of the Inhabitants Vpon one of the parts of a dismembred Monument carelesly cast here and there in the body of the Church I found these words Here lyeth Iohn Holland Erle of Exceter Erle of Huntington and Chamberleyne of England Who dyed ....... This Iohn was halfe brother to King Richard the second and Duke of Exceter From which dignitie he was deposed by Act of Parliament in the first yeare of King Henry the fourth whose sister he had married and in the same yeare beheaded in this Towne for a seditious conspiracie saith Camden and in the very place where the Duke of Glocester was arrested by King Richard which was in the base court of the Castle of Pleshie now quite ruined that he might seeme saith he to haue beene iustly punished by way of satisfaction for the foresaid Duke of Glocester of whose death he was thought to be the principall procurer He was beheaded the third day after the Epiphanie 1399. 1. Hen. 4. Vpon a broken peece of a faire marble stone reared to the side of a pillar whereupon were the pictures in brasse of an armed knight and his Lady this ensuing disticke was engrauen Militis o miserere tui miserere Parentum Alme deus regnis gaudeat ille tuis Vnder this stone if Tradition may go for truth Sir Edward Holland Earle of Mortaigne sonne of the foresaid Iohn Holland beheaded with his Lady were entombed Orate pro anima Iohannis Scot primi Magistri huius Collegij qui obijt primo die Ianuar. M. cccc.x Qui me psalmasti miserere mei Qui me pretioso tuo sanguine redimisti miserere mei Qui me ad Christianitatem vocasti miserere mei Here lyeth Robert Frevyt a man letterd sowndyt For hys sowl and for all christine sey a Pater Noster and an Ave. But I shall forget the Founder Thomas of Woodstocke the sixth sonne of King Edward the third and Vncle to King Richard who was taken by force from this his Castle of Plessy by Thomas Mowbray Earle Marshall and conuayed to Callis where he was smothered vnder a Featherbed 1397. His body was afterwards conueyed with all funerall pompe into England and buried here in this Church of his owne foundation in a goodly sepulchre prouided by himselfe in his life time Whose reliques were afterwards remoued and laid vnder a marble inlaid with brasse in the Kings Chappell at Westminster In which Church Elianor his wife of whom I haue spoken before lieth entombed with this French inscription who after the death of her husband became a Nunne in the Abbey of Barking within this County Cy gist Aleonore de Bohun aysue fille et vn des heirs l'hounrable seignour Mons. Humfrey de Bohun Counte de Hereford d'Essex et de Northampton et Constable d'Engleterre Femme a puissant et noble prince Tho. de Woodstock Fitz a tresexcellent et tre puisant seignour Edward Roi d'Engleterre puis le Conquest tiers Duc de Glocestre Counte d'Essexie et de Buchingham et Constable d'Engleterre quemorust le tierz iour a'October ban du grace 1399. de gi aisme Dieux face mercy Amen But againe to returne to the Duke her husband touching whose life and death with the manner thereof thus writeth Gower in his booke called Vox clamantis O quam Fortuna stabilis non permanet una Exemplum cujus stat in ordine carminis hujus Rex agit et Cygnus patitur de Corde benignus Ille prostratus non est de Rege levatus Ad Plessye captus tunc est velut Hostia raptus Rex jubet arma geri nec eo voluit misereri Cum Sponsa nati lugent quasi morti gravati Plusque Lupo sevit Rex dummodo Femina flevit Nil pietas munit quem tunc manus invida punit Rex stetit obliquus nec erat tunc unus amicus O Regale genus Princeps quasi pauper egenus Turpiter attractus jacet et sine iure subactus Sunt ibi Fautores Regis de sorte Priores Qui Cygnum pendent vbi captum ducere tendent Sic ducendo ducem perdit sine lumine lucem Anglia que tota tenebrescit luce remota Trans mare natavit regnum qui semper amavit Flent centum mille quia Cygnus preterit ille Calisij portus petit unde dolus latet ortus Error quem Regis genuit putredine legis Carcere conclusus subito fuit ille reclusus Nescit quo fine sit vite sive ruine Tunc Rex elatum sumpsit quasi Falco volatum Vnde suas gentes perdit Custode carentes A little after follow these verses touching the deniall of buriall to bee granted vnto him among the rest of his honourable and royall Ancestors Sic nece devictum sic corpus ab hoste relictum Clam de conclavi susceperat Anglia navi Per mare regreditur corpus nec adhuc sepelitur Namque sepulturam defendit Rex sibi puram Desuper a latere patris loca justa tenere Dummodo quesivit vix bassa sepulchra subivit Of the manner of his death these three verses following Hen quam tortorum quidam de sorte malorum Sic Ducis electi plumarum pondere lecti Corpus quassatum jugulant que necant jugulatum Such was the end of this royall Prince sonne to a King and vncle to a King who by our writers is discommended in this that he was euer repining against the King in all things whatsoeuer he wished to haue forward Erat enim vir ferocissimus precipitis ingenij as Polidor censures him a most fierce man and of an headlong wit who thinking still that those times wherein he had mastred the King were nothing changed though the King was aboue thirty yeeares old forbare not roughlie not so much to admonish as to check and schoole his Soueraigne Hatfield Peuerell So denominated of one Randolph Peuerell the owner thereof to whom Edward the Confessor was very munificent for that hee had married his kinswoman the daughter of Ingelrick a man of great Nobilitie among the English Saxons A Lady of that admirable beautie that with her lookes she conquered the Conquerour William who desired nothing more then to be her prisoner in Armes which to effect hee begins to expresse a kinde of loue to the remembrance of
and goodly Thames so farre as ere he could With kingly houses crownd of more then earthly pride Vpon his either Bankes as he along doth glide With wonderfull delight doth his long course pursue Where Otlands Hampton Court and Richmond he doth view Then Westminster the next great Tames doth entertaine That vaunts her Pallace large and her most sumptuous Fane The Lands tribunall seate that challengeth for hers The crowning of our kings their famous Sepulchres Then goes he on along by that more beautious Strand Expressing both the wealth and brauery of the Land So many sumptuous Bowres within so little space The All-beholding Sunne scarse sees in all his race And on by London leads which like a Crescent lies Whose windowes seeme to mocke the Star-befreckled skies Besides her rising Spyres so thicke themselues that show As doe the bristling reedes within her bankes that grow There sees his crouded Wharfes and people-pestred shores His bosome ouerspread with shoales of labouring ores With that most costly Bridge that doth him most renowne By which he cleerely puts all other Riuers downe Midlesex saith Camden is for aire passing temperate and for soile fertile with sumptuous houses and prety Townes on all sides pleasantly beautified and euery where offereth to the view many things memorable Whereupon a Germane Poet thus versified Tot campos syluas tot regia tecta tot hortos Artifici dextrâ excultos tot vidimus arces Vt nunc Ansonio Tamisis cum Tibride certet So many fields and pleasant woods so many Princely Bowres And Pallaces we saw besides so many stately towres So many Gardens trimly drest by curious hand which are That now with Romane Tiberis the Tames may well compare This County is comprised within short bounds being in length where it is the longest not passing twenty miles and in the narrowest place not passing twelue miles The length thereof saith Speed extended from Stratford in the East to Morehall vpon Colne in the West is by measure nineteene English miles and from South Mims in the North to his Maiesties Mannour of Hampton Court in the South are little aboue sixteene miles the whole circumference extending to ninety In forme it is almost square for aire passing temperate for soile abundantly fertile and for pasturage and graine of all kindes yeelding the best so that the wheat of this County hath serued a long time for the Manchet to our Princes table It lieth seated in a vale most wholsome and rich hauing some hills also and them of good ascent from whose tops the prospect of the whole is seene like vnto Zoar in Egypt or rather like a Paradise and Garden of God Fiue Princely houses inheritable to the English Crowne are seated in this Shire which are Enfield Hanworth Whitehall S Iames and Hampton Court a City rather in shew then the Pallace of a Prince and for stately port and gorgeous building not inferiour to any in Europe A worke of admirable magnificence saith Camden built out of the ground by Thomas Wolsey Cardinall in ostentation of his riches when for very pride being otherwise a most prudent man he was not able to manage his minde But it was made an Honor enlarged and finished by king Henry the eight so amply as it containeth within it fiue seuerall inner Courts passing large enuironed with very faire buildings wrought right curiously and goodly to behold Of which Leyland writeth thus Est locus insolito rerum splendore superbus Alluiturque vaga Tamisini fluminis vnda Nomine ab antiquo iam tempore dictus Avona Hic Rex Henricus taleis Octauius aedes Erexit qualeis toto Sol aureus orbe Non vidit A stately place for rare and glorious shew There is which Tames with wandring streame doth dowsse Times past by name of Avon men it knew Heere Henry th' Eight of that name built an house So sumptuous as that on such an one Seeke through the world the bright Sunne neuer shone And another in the Nuptiall Poeme of Tame and Isis. Alluit Hamptonum celebrem quae laxior vrbis Mentitur formam spacijs hanc condidit Aulam Purpureus pater ille grauis grauis ille Sacerdos Wolsaeus fortuna sauos cui felle repletos Obtulit heu tandem fortunae dona dolores He runs by Hampton which for spatious seat Seemes Citie-like Of this faire courtly Hall First founder was a Priest and Prelate great Wolsey that graue and glorious Cardinall Fortune on him had pour'd her gifts full fast But Fortunes Blisse Alas prou'd Bale at last The ancient Inhabitants of Middlesex as also of Essex were called by Caesar the Trinobantes whom hee nameth to be the most puissant in the Land with whom he and his armie had many bloudie bickerings nere and vpon the bankes of the riuer of Tames wherein many were slaine on either side which lie interred in the fields twixt Shepperton and Stanes Some affirme Stanes saith Norden to be so called of the Stakes called Goway Stakes which were fixed in the Thames by the Britons to preuent Iulius Caesar of passing his armie through the riuer Of which and of the conflicts and skirmishes betwixt the Britaines and Romanes thus venerable Bede writes Caesars Horsemen at the first encounter were ouerthrowne of the Britaines and Labienus one of his Colonels slaine At the second encounter with great losse of his Army he put the Britaine 's to flight From thence he went vnto the riuer of Tames which men say cannot bee waded ouer but in one place where on the farther side a great number of the Britaine 's warded the bankes vnder Cassibelan their Captaine who had stucke the bottome of the riuer and the bankes also thicke of great stakes whereof certaine remnants vnto this day are to be seene of Piles of the bignesse of a mans thigh couered with lead sticking fast in the bottome of the riuer which when the Romanes had espied and escaped the Britaines not able to withstand the violence of the Roman Legions hid themselues in the woods out of the which they often breaking forth greatly endamaged the Army of the Romanes In and about Brainford or Brentford the bodies of many a warlike Commander and expert Souldier lie inhumed which were slaine in that fierce and terrible battaile betwixt Edmund Ironside and the Danes which he had driuen from the siege of London at a place now called Turnham Greene thereunto adioyning in which battaile he gaue the Danes a bloudy ouerthrow losing few of his armie saue such as were drowned in the riner of Tames as they passed ouer In the yeare 7141. and the day being the Paschall whereon Christ rose from death which with due reuerence is celebrated in all the Christian world vpon Gladmore heath halfe a mile from Barnet was foughten a most fierce and cruell Battaile betwixt King Edward the fourth and Richard Neuill the great Earle of Warwicke the Mars and Make-King of England contending
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
to be found amongst the said Lelands written Epigrams Ad illustrissimum Henricum Ducem Richmontanum Quo Romana modo maiuscula littera pingi Pingi quo possit littera parua modo Hic liber ecce tibi signis monstrabit apertis Princeps Aonij spâ—s et alumne gregis Qui tibi si placeat quod certe spero futurum Maxima proparuo munere dona dabis Now for that I haue here found such ample relation of the worthy atchieuements of the Howards I will goe forwards with that illustrious family as I finde them in this tract either intombed or otherwise remembred in Churches Middleton Although no Subscription now remaineth vnder this portraiture yet by the impalement of the Armes of Howard and Scales on the side thereof it is manifest that this was made for Robert Lord Scales whose daughter and Co-heire Margaret was married vnto Sir Robert Howard Knight eldest sonne of Sir Iohn Howard Knight who in the one and twentieth of Edward the Third was made Admirall ab ore Aquae Thamesis versus partes Boriales quamdiu Regi placuerit And this Sir Robert was great Grandfather to Iohn Howard Duke of Norfolke East Winch. On the South side of the Chancell of East-Winch Church is an ancient Chappell called Howards Chappell in which are these Monuments following In the South Wall of the said Chappell this enarched Monument as it is here set forth diuers of the Escocheons being decaied which are left blanke and onely this inscription now remaining thereon ..... animabus Domini Roberti Howard militis et Margerie vxoris sue ..... On the Pauement of the said Chappell be these two stones as they are here defigured whose inscriptions through time are decayed or rather stolne away by some sacrilegious persons a crime as I haue said elsewhere too frequent and too little punished but without doubt these Monuments were here placed for some of the Ancestors of this most honourable family this being their peculiar Chappell and place of Buriall In the East Window of the foresaid Chappell this ancient effigies of late was perfectly to be seene the portraiture of the same being exactly taken by the learned Gent. Sir Henry Spelman the memory thereof as of diuers other Monuments an by him preserued in relation to which this worthy Knight writ these verses Creditur has sacris candentem ardoribus aedes Quas dicat hic supplex instituisse Deo This ancient Chappell of the Howards hath of late yeeres beene most irreligiously defaced by vncouering the same taking off the Lead and committing it to sale whereby these ancient Monuments haue layne open to ruine But now in repairing by the order of the most Honourable preseruer of Antiquities as well in generall as in his owne particular Thomas Earle of Arundell and Surrey Earle Marshall of England and the Chiefe of that most Honourable family To this I also offer in obseruation both that the Posture fashion of the Armour and coate of Armes wherwith it is habited denotes great antiquitie and it should seeme by the Banner-fashiond Shield that this was the portraiture of some Banneret Ancestor of this Illustrious family for that Banners and the manner of this bearing of Armes was onely proper to Bannerets Knights of the Garter Barons and higher nobility In this Church of East Winch is a very faire Font of ancient times erected by some of this family as appeareth by their Armes being disposed in diuers places of the same the which for the curiosity of the work considering the antiquity giues me occasion here to present the true forme of one part thereof vnto your view Weeting In the South Window of the Church of Weeting S. Maries is this portraiture following the which by the Armes doth seeme to be the picture of Sir Iohn Howard Knight made in the time that he was married to Margaret the daughter and heire of Sir Iohn Plays Farsfield In the East Window of the South part of this Church is the resemblance of one of the most noble Family of the Howards as appeareth by his Coate of Armes but the subscription being wanting obscures the meanes to discouer which of them he was Framlingham Howsoeuer this Towne stands in Suffolke yet I hope it comes not in impertinently in this place Vnder a goodly rich Monument in this Parish Church lye interred the honourable remaines of Henry Howard Earle of Surrey and knight of the Garter the sonne of Thomas Duke of Norfolke as also of Frances his wife the daughter of Iohn Vere Earle of Oxford as appeares by the Inscription thereupon engrauen as followeth Henrico Howardo Thomae secundi Ducis Norfolciae filio primogenito Thomae tertij Patri Comiti Surriae et Georgiani ordinis Equiti â—urato immature anno salutis 1546. abrepto Et Franciscae vxori eius filâ—ae Iohannis Comitis Oxoniae Henricus Howardus Comes Northamptoniae filius secundo genitus hoc supremum pietatis in Parentes monumentum posuit A.D. 1614. This Henry Earle of Surrey saith Camden was the first of our English Nobilitie that did illustrate his high birth with the beauty of learning and his learning with the knowledge of diuers languages which hee attained vnto by his trauells into forraine Nations He was a man elegantis ingenij politaeque doctrinae saith Pitseus He writ diuers workes both diuine and humane he was exquisite as well in Latine as in English verse Of his English take this Essay being an Epitaph which he made to the memory of Sir Anthony Denny Knight a Gentleman whom King Henry the eight greatly affected Vpon the death of Sir Anthony Denny Death and the King did as it were contend Which of them two bare Denny greatest loue The King to shew his loue gan farre extend Did him aduance his betters farre aboue Nere place much wealth great honour eke him gaue To make it knowne what power great Princes haue But when death came with his triumphant gift From worldly carke he quit his wearied ghost Free from the corpes and straight to heauen it lift Now deme that can who did for Denny most The King gaue welth but fading and vnsure Death brought him blisse that euer shall endure Leland our English Antiquary speaking much in the praise of Sir Thomas Wiat the elder as well for his learning as other his excellent qualities meete for a man of his calling calls this Nobleman the conscript enrolled heire of the said Sir Thomas Wiat being one delighted in the like Studies with the said Sir Thomas Wiat. As it is in his Naeniae or Funerall Songs as followeth Bella suum meritò iactet Florentia Dantem Regia Petrarchae carmina Roma probet Hiâ— non inferior patrio sermone Viattus Eloquij secum qui decus omne tulit Transtulit in nostram Dauidis carmina linguam Et numeros magna reddidit arte pares Non morietur opus tersum spectabile sacrum Clarior hac fama parte Viattus â—rit Vna dies geminos Phaenices
Raph Astry Iohn Grey Tho. Cornwallis Henry Gisors 〈◊〉 Lions The Foundation of Whittinâ—â—on Câ—lledge â—nd Hospitall Stow Suruey Richard Whitâ—ing thrice buried William Lichfield Doctor of Diuinity Io. Brickles and Isabell his wife In Chamberlaiâ—e Agnes and Ioan his wiues William Greene. Robert Chichley Lord Maior The Colledge of S. Michael founded by W. Walworth Io Loâ—ekin of Losken Lord Maior founder of this Church William Wray The foundation of Corpus Christi Colledge in Candlewickestreet Rob. Radcliffe and his sonne Henry Earles of Sussex Gilbert Melits and Christian his wife The fraternity of S. Katherine The foundation of our Ladies Chappell of Barking Sir Io. Arundell knight Vincent Catal. Simon Eyre Lord Maior The Foundation of Leaden Hall and the Chappell Stow Suruay Ric. Payne and Elisabeth his wife Sixteene children Ric. Nordell Margorie his wife * that * this * they * the holy Communion * thinke of this An Inscription vpon a table sometime chained in this Church Malmes lib 1. de Pont. 1. Selden Rob Glocest. 3 Cadar 4 Oâ—iâ—us 5 Conan 6 Palladius 7 Stephanus 8 Ilâ—ut 9 Dedwin 10 Thedred 11 Hillary 12 Restitutus Harpsfeeld Sex prim secul c. 16. 13 Gwitelin or Guitelnius Scots euer valiant Rob. Glocest. Fastidius Priscus 4. cent 1. Ternckine 15. Lib. in bib Cott. Mss. Vedinus 16. Godwin de praeful Ang. Theon the last Archbishop Robert Fabian Sheriffe Hugh Dauset Doctor of Diuinity Robert Barnes Iohn Bootes Henry Denne and Ioane his wife Tho. Pike Alsâ—rman Sir William Capell Lord Maior Water Knyght The foundation of Saint Anthonies Hospitall Io. Breux The foundation of the Augustine Friers Riâ—hard Earle of Aâ—undell Iohn Vere Earle of Oxford and Aubrey his sonne 〈…〉 his wife Mss. 〈…〉 Duke 〈…〉 Edward the eldest sonne of Edward the black Prince Cardina Shoder and Ioan her daughter Io. Redman Rector Nennius Helius Duke of Loegria â—lores Hist. aetal s. ca. 26. Cui nomen erat Crâ—â—â—a Mors quia nullâ—s ab eo vulneratus vinus eâ—adebaâ— Id. eod Rob. Glocest. Io. Harding c 44 Bale Câ—nt prima Will. Pratt The foundation of the Nunnery of S. Helen Sir Io. Crosby Maior of the Staple Mss. in bib Cot The Foundaâ—ion of a Brotherhood of 〈◊〉 Priests in â—eâ—den-Hall Chappell The foundation of the Priory of Christ-Church Aldgate Will. Payne Clement Towne The foundation of the Câ—oucâ—â—d Friers Ex quibusel Collect in sepe dict bib Cot. The Priore of Crouched Friers found in bed with hiâ— wench Foundation of S. Katherines Hospitall Iohn Holland Duke of Excester Caâ—al of honour â—tow Annal. Harding Anne the first wife of Iohn Duke of Exceter Anne the second wife of Iohn Duke of Exceter Constance Dutchesse of Norfolke Catal. of Hon. Vincent The foundation of East-minster to the honour of God and our Lady of Grace Stow Suruay The foundation of the Abbey of S. Clare Nunnes called the Minories The buriall place of sâ—me of the honourable family of the Darcies Stow. Annal. Cardinall Poole Io Clerke Bishop of Bath and Welles Godwin Catal. of Bishops The foundation of a Knightengild or Confrery without Aldgate The foundation of S. Mary Bethlem The foundation of S. Mary Spiâ—le Sir Io. Sordich Lord of Sordich Ex Mss. in â—ib Cott. Sir Humphrey Starky knight and Isabell his wife Sir Iohn Erlington and Margaret his wife The foundation of Holywell Sir Thomas Louelâ— Knight In â—ib Cott. Lib in lib. Câ—ll Isabell Sackvile Prioresse of S. Maries Clerkenwell Iordan Briset Muriell his wife Mss. in bib Cot. In bib Cott. Camd. in Aâ—dl Robertus Botill Prior Hospitaâ—u Sancti Iohanâ—â— Ierusalem in Anglia primus Baro regni Angliae consiliarius Rogâ—◠〈◊〉 Arch Turris London secundâ— parspat Aâ—â—o 10. Ed 4 â— 13. The foundation of â—he Charterhouse Stow Suruay Ex Mss. in bib Cot. The death of the Founder Margaret Lady Many and Duâ—chesse of Norfolke Suruay 〈◊〉 Vinâ—eâ—t Câ—tâ—l Norf. Philip Morgan Bishop of Ely Suttons Hospitall The foundation of great Saint Bartholomewes 〈◊〉 Arch Tuvrâ— London Caâ—t Ant. hier â— l. â—illiam Bolton the last Prior of S Bartholomewes Roger Walden Bishop of London Godwin de praesulibus Angl. Vpodigma Neustricae 2. Pars. Pat. An. 6 H. 4. M. 20. The foundation of Saint Bartl Hospital Sir Tho Malilant or Neufant Margaret his wiâ—e Sir Will. Knight Priest Sir Rob. Greuil Priest Philip Lewis Agnes his wife Io. Stafford 〈◊〉 Annal. â—â— Goodfâ—llowes 〈◊〉 Will. â—euer and Elizabeth his wife The foundation of the white Friers Carmelites Stow Sâ—â—â—uay Lamb peramb. Lamb. peramb. Rob Mascall Bishop of Hereford Will. Montagâ—â— Earle of Salisbury Ypodâ—g 〈◊〉 Penes 〈◊〉 Tâ—â—swell Stephen Patrington Bishop of S. Dauids Nich. Kenton Io. Miluerton Iohn Loney Pits de illust Aug. Scriptoribus Hubert de Burgo Earle of Kent Iohn Gyles Clerke of the petit Bagge Cowell lit c. Lawrence Bartelet Vnder the picture of Saint Michael The first Sanctuary The death and buriall of Muâ—muâ—â—us Donwallo The Foundation of the Temple Church Cant. in Midlesex London William Marshall Earle of Penbroke William Marshall the yonger Earle of Penbroke Gâ—lbeâ—â— Maâ—â—shall Earle of Penbroke Paris 1â—4â— Hastiludium Paris Sir Rob. Rosse knight Will. Plantaginet Iames Bayle Rob. Thorne Ric. Wye Will. Langham Master of the Temple Will. Burgh Harold king of England Stow Annal. Io. Arundel Bishop of Exceter Io. Booth Bishop of Exceter Sir Will. Booth knight Ed. Arnold Parson The foundation of the Hospitall of Sauoy Ex Mss. in bib Cot. The second foundation of Sauoy Hospitall Tho. Halsal Gowin Douglase Bishops Hist. of Scot. Ann. 1521. Humphrey Gosling Sir 〈…〉 Tho. 〈…〉 The Hospitall of Saint Mary Rounciuall Hospitall of Saint Iames. In Archiuis Turrâ—s London â—â—desâ—s Caâ—al Cancell per Franâ—iscum â—hin collect Iohn Yong Master of the Rolles The foundation of S. Stephens Chappell Charta Regis Ed. tetijs ex Record turrâ—s London The foundati 〈…〉 Westâ—inster Abbey In Arch. turris London Iohn Harding ca. 88. Rob. Glocest. Hist. Ecclesiast Angl. vndeâ— â—aecul ca. 16. Sebert king of the East SaxoÌ„s with his Queene Aethelgoda Edward king of England surnamed the Confessor 〈◊〉 â—arnâ—r â—lb Engl. Mss. in bib Cot. Rob. Glocest. The first â—oure of the â—iâ—gs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 king Edwards wife Rob. Glocest. Maud wife to king Henry the first Ex Mss. in bib Cot. The Courtiers speech The Queenes answer Mat. Paris ad Ann. 1118. King Henry the third Mat. West Rob. Glocest. Mss. in bib Cot King Edward the 〈◊〉 Sir Rob. 〈◊〉 Ex. Arch. Turr. Lond. King Ed. Coronation Chron. Compend Cant. Mss. in bib Cot. Fabian * Kept Caâ—ton Fabian S. Daniel The battaile of Dunbarre The battaile of Foukirke Munster Vniuers Cosm. lib. 2. Walsing Ypodig Hard. cap. 162. * Henry the third * Henry the third The fatall Marble The cruelty of the Scots Rich Southwell Hoâ—â—inshead â—ro May. Polychron l. 7. cap. 40. 〈◊〉 of â—aâ—singham Walsing The dead bodies of our English kings anciently preserued from corruption Ex Arch.
which caused a lasting hatred betwixt the King and his Nobles and was the beginning of the second ciuill warre of England Some two yeares after this Tragedie King Edward caused the bodie of his Gaueston to be transferred with great pompe from the place of his former buriall which was among the Friers Preachers at Oxford to this Friery of his owne foundation saith Stow. Where he in person with the Archbishop of Canterbury foure Bishops many Abbots and principall Churchmen did honour the Exequies but few were present of the Nobilitie whose great stomacks would not giue them leaue to attend This was the end of that fatall great Fauourite Gaueston who for that hee was the first Priuado saith Sam. Danyel in the life of Ed. the second of this kinde euer noted in our History and was aboue a King in his life deserues to haue his character among Princes being dead Which is thus deliuered Natiue he was of Gascoine by birth a Gentlman and for the great service his father had done to this Crowne intertained and bred vp by king Edward the first in companie with his sonne this Prince which was the meanes that inuested him into that high fauour of his Hee was of a goodly personage of an haughtie and vndauntable spirit braue and hardie at Armes as he shewed himselfe in that Turneament which he held at Wallingford wherein he challenged the best of the Nobilitie and is said to haue foiled them all which inflamed the more their malice towards him In Ireland where he was Lieutenant during the short time of his banishment he made a iourney into the mountaines of Dublin brake and subdued the Rebels there built Newcastle in the Kernes country repayred castle Keuin and after passed vp into Munster and Thomond performing euery where great seruice with much valour and worthinesse Hee seemes to haue beene a Courtier which could not fawne nor stoope to those he loued not or put on any disguise vpon his Nature to temporize with his enemies But presuming vpon his fortune the misfortune of such men grew in the end to that arrogancie as was intollerable which the priuacie of a Kings fauour usually begets in their Minions whose vnderstanding and iudgement being dazed therewith as is their sight who stand and looke downe from off high places neuer discerne the ground from whence they ascended And this extraordinarie fauour shewed to one though he were the best of men when it arises to an excesse is like the predomination of one humour alone in the body which endangers the health of the whole and especially if it light vpon vnworthinesse or where is no desert and commonly Princes raise men rather for appetite then merit for that in the one they shew the freedome of their power in the other they may seeme but to pay their debt This old Latine rime was made in those dayes vpon the death of this Gaueston by a Monke of S. Maries Yorke Dum Petrus seuit propriam mortem sibi neuit Nunc patet vt nevit truncatus ense quieuit Besides his honours before remembred he was Protector or Gardian of the Realme during the Kings aboad in France about his marriage with Isabell the daughter of Philip the faire French King which indeed was an office but of eighteene dayes continuance as appeares by the sequele Petrus de Gaueston comes Cornubie constituitur Custos Anglie quandiu Rex fuerit in partibus transmarinis c. Teste R. apud West 26. Decemb. Ann. 1. Ed. 2.1 pars pat Hic transfretauit Rex ad partes transmarinas prout patet in rotulis clansarum sinium circa 20. Ianuar. et redijt circa 8. Feb. Ann. 1. Ed. 2. The same yeare he honoured him with the Lieutenancie of Ireland Rex misit Petrum de Gaueston comitem Cornubie ad partes Hiberâ—ie constituit ipsum Locumtenentem in partibus eiusdem quamdiu c. Teste R. apud Redings 16. Iunij Ann. 1. Ed. 2. To conclude then with a late writer .... Great men too well grac'd much rigor vse Presuming Fauorites mischiefe euer bring So that concluding I may boldly speake Minions too great argue a king too weake Richmansworth In the Chappell or buriall place of the ancestors of the Ashbyes now liuing this Inscription Here lieth Anne Ashby wyf of Iohn Ashby of Herfeld Esqwyre dawghter of Thomas Peyton of Iselham Esqwyre who dyed 22. Oct. 1503. on whos sowl Iesu have mercy Amen Herely beried vndyr this stone Thomas Davy and his too wyfs Alis and Ione Watford Hic iacet Hugo de Holes miles Iâ—sticiarius Banci Regis tempore regui 〈◊〉 Ann. 1415. Hic iacet Margareta que fuit vxor Hugonis Holes ..... ob 1416.5 die Marcij Here lyeth Iohn Heydon of the Groue Esquyre who dyed ... 1400. Here lyeth .... William Heydon of Newstreere Esquyre and Ioane his mother who buylded the south Isle of this Church and dyed Ann. 1505. Here lyeth .... William Heydon .... 1500. The rest of the inscriptions for these Heydons are quite gone a name of singular note and demerit in other parts of this kingdome the losse of one of which name is at this houre much lamented namely of Sir William Heydon knight a worthy gentleman a valiant Souldier and an expert Enginer who came vnfortunately to his end at the Isle of Rhee An. Dom. 1027. Hic iacet Iohannes de Hakom Matildis vxor eius qui obiit 4. die Aug. Ann 1365. Ed. 3.39 In this Church are diuers funerall Monuments to the memorie of the much honoured families of the Russels and Morisins Of whom I shall haue occasion by order of method to speake hereafter Aldenham Here lyeth beried the body of Iohn Long saltyr Cityzen and Aldyrman of London and Dame Margaryt hys wyff whych Iohn dyed the vi dey of Iuly M. Vc.xxxviii Who 's sowl Iesu pardon This man was Sheriffe of London in the yeare 1528. borne he was at Berkamsted in this County being the sonne of William Long of the same gentleman anciently descended from the Longs of Wilshire and father he was to Iohn Long of Holme Hall in the County of Derby gentleman who was father to George Long Esquire now liuing Clerke of the office of Pleas in his Maiesties Court of Exchequer and one of his Maiesties Iustices of Peace within the County of Midlesex He liued after he was made free of London which was in the eleuenth of Hen. the seuent 43. yeares Augusti ter quingeni si dempseris vnum Et ter tres decies vt erat verbum caro factum Trux lux vndena miseris subtraxit Asylum Patronum patrie decus orbis lampada morum Quem decorant Latria sapientia spesque fidesque Scilicet Edmund Brook saluetur vt ipse precemur If you will take my construction of this intricate Epitaph this man here so much commended died the eleuenth day of August M. cccc lxxxx Here lyeth Iohn Penn who