in this manner not only our Streets but our Shops and Houses shall never be free from violence and wrong this we neither will nor can endure for it doth not become us And hereupon they approached the Gates with great Fury But the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs having notice hereof came to them and told them That this â—as not Courage but Outrage which they shewed whereby they would procure both danger to themselves and displeasure against the whole City and that though wrong had been done yet they were not the Persons neither was this the way to redress the same Thus partly by perswasion and partly by their Presence and Authority they suppressed the Riot and sent every man home with strict charge to keep the Peace Hitherto there was no great mischeif done and the quarrel might have been ended without any further trouble had not the Bishops stirred in it and kindled the Coals of Contention afresh For the Londoners were at that time not only secretly suspected but openly noted to be Favourers and Followers of Wickliffs Opinions which were contrary to the Pope and Church of Rome and upon that account the Bishops were malicious against them and most of their Actions were interpreted to proceed from other Causes and to tend to worse Purposes than they outwardly seemed to bear yea many accidental matters were charged upon them to be done out of Design and on purpose Whereupon John Waltham Bishop of Salisbury and Lord Treasurer of England made a grievous Complaint against them for this last Attempt to Thomas Arundel Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor alledging That if upon every slight pretence the Citizens should be suffered in this manner to affront the Bishops without reproof or punishment they would endanger not only the Dignity and State but the Liberty of the whole Church also For said he did they not lately take upon them the punishment of Adulteries and other Crimes appertaining to Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction maliciously alledging That either the Bishops and their Officers were infamous for those Vices themselves and did therefore Connive at the same in others Or else by Covetous Commutation and taking of Money did rather set those sins to Sale than endeavour carefully to suppress them Did they not said he rudely and irreverently break open the doors upon the Archbishop of Canterbury and interrupt his Proceedings against John Aston an open Disciple of Wickliff and do we imagine that this is the last Indignity they will offer no certainly nor yet the least for if this boldness and Insolence be not supprest our Authority will soon fall into Contempt and Scorn and will be made a Common Football for every base and unworthy Citizen to kick at Armed with these furious Arguments they went together to King Richard and so incensed him against the Londoners his Mind being before prepared by former Provocations that he was once resolved to have utterly ruined and destroyed the whole City But being perswaded to use more Moderation he in Revenge first caused the Lord Maior Sheriffs and many of the Principal Citizens to be committed to several Prisons the Lord Mayor to Windsor Castle and others to other Places and then seized the Liberties of the City into his hands declaring that no Lord Mayor should for the future be Elected any more but that the King should at his Pleasure appoint a Warden or Governour over the City And this Office was first committed to Sir Edward Darlington who for his kindness toward the City was soon removed and Sir Baldwin Radington put in his place The King was likewise perswaded by Arundel Archbishop of York to remove the Terms and Courts that is the Chancery Exchequer Kings Bench the Hamper Office and the Common-pleas from London to York where they continued from Midsummer 1393. till Christmas next following to the great dammage and loss of the City of London But at last upon the earnest intreaty of the Dukes of Lancaster and Glocester his Uncles the King sent for the Londoners before him to Windsor where having first terrified them with the sight of a great Number of Souldiers he caused all the Priviledges and Charters of the City both old and new to be produced some of which he restored to them and detained others Yet were not the Citizens received fully into favour neither did they recover the Person or Dignity of their Lord Mayor at that time Shortly after the King went to London at whose coming the Citizens turned all their Greif into Joy the Vulgar being without measure in both entertaining him with such joyful Triumphs and Rich Presents as if it had been the day of his Coronation thinking by all these costly preparations to have pacified all former Anger and displeasure against them but they found themselves much deceived there being no Reconciliation to be made without Money for they were not absolutely restored to their Liberties till they had paid Ten Thousand pound to the King as a Fine Thus did the Londoners shew a strange diversity of Disposition in rashly committing an Offence and patiently induring punishment yet upon this Account as soon as the first occasion was offered against King Richard they shewed themselves either his earnest Enemies or faint Friends as by the sequel appears In 1387. King Richard II. held his Feast of Christmas in the Tower of London And in the year 1399 the same King was sent Prisoner to the Tower which being a very remarkable Transaction it may be necessary to give a breif Account thereof Richard the II. was the only Son of a Renowned Father Edward Sirnamed the Black Prince who died before his Father Edward III. and thereupon Richard was by his Grandfather in his Life-time declared to be his Heir and lawful Successor and accordingly after his Death was Crowned King of England at Westminster July 16. 1377. But being of tender age only eleven years old several Persons were commissioned to be his Protectors or Guardians and soon after a Parliament was called at Westminster wherein Alice Peirce the late Kings Concubine was banished and all her Goods Confiscate and two Tenths of the Clergy and two Fifteenths of the Temporality were granted but so as that two Citizens of London William Walworth and John Philpot should receive and keep it to see it bestowed for defence of the Realm At which time Sir Hugh Calverly Deputy of Callice burnt 26 French Ships in the Haven of Bulloigne But one Mercer a Scottish Pyrate came to Scarborough and took divers Ships committing likewise many Outrages and no Order being taken to repel them John Philpot set out a Fleet at his own Charge and encountring him in his own Person took Mercer and all his Ships and returning home instead of being rewarded for his Service he was questioned for presuming to fit out a Navy without Advice of the Kings Council While the King was in his Minority matters were carried indifferent well but in the year 1387 King Richard begins to enter as we
Doomsday-book and is kepâ— to this day in the Kings Exchequer at Westminster Yet he was kind to the Londoners suffering then to enjoy their Rights and Priviledges which the had in Edward the Confessors time by the procurement of William Bishop of London who waâ— buried in St. Pauls Church and this Epitaph pâ—â— upon his Grave-stone in Latine and English To William a man famous in wisdom and holiness of life who first with St. Edward the King and Confessor being familiar of late preferred to be Bishop of London and not long after for his prudence anâ— sincere fidelity admitted to be of Council with 〈◊〉 most victorious Prince William King of England of that name the first who obtained of the same greâ— and large Priviledges to this famous City The Senâ— and Citizens of London of him having well deserâ—ave made this He continued Bishop twenty Years â—nd died in the Year after Christs Nativity 1070. These Marble Monuments to thee Thy Citizens assign Rewards O Father far unfit To those deserts of thine Thee unto them a faithful Friend Thy London People found And to this Town of no small weight A stay both sure and sound Their Liberties restor'd to them By means of thee have been Their publick weal by means of thee Large Gifts have felt and found The Riches Stock and Beauty brave One hour hath them supprest Yet these thy Vertues and good deeds With us for ever rest The Lord Mayor of London and Aldermen upon the day of his coming into his Office used â—ll of late days to walk round the Grave-stone â—f this Bishop in remembrance of their former Priviledges obtained by him And there was â—n Inscription fastned to a Pillar near his Grave â—ntituled The Recital of a most worthy Prelates Reâ—embrance which was erected at the charge of Sir Edward Barkham Lord Mayor 1622. which speaks thus to the Walkers in S. Pauls Walkers whosoe're you be If it prove your chance to see Vpon a solemn Scarlet day The City Senate pass this way Their grateful memory to shew Which they the Reverend ashes owe Of Bishop Norman here inhum'd By which this City hath assum'd Large Priviledges those obtain'd By him when Conquerour William reign'd This being by Barkhams thank ful mind renew'd Call it The Monument of Gratitude King William brought with him from Roan in Normandy certain Jews whose posterity inhabiting in London and several other chief Cities they were accused that they used to steal Christian male children from their Neighbours which they would circumcise crown with thorns whip torture and crucifie in mockery despite and scorâ— of our Lord Jesus Christ William Rufus his Son appointed a Disputation to be held in London between the Christians and the Jews but before the day came the Jewâ— brought the King a present to the end they might be heard impartially The K. received their gift encouraging them to quit themselves like menâ— and swore by S. Lukes face his usual Oath Theâ— of they prevailed in Disputation he would himself turâ— Jew and be of their Religion A young Jew was as that time converted to the Christian Faith whose father being much troubled at it he presented thâ— King with threescore Marks intreating him tâ— perswade his son to return to his Judaisin where upon the King sent for his son and commandeâ— him without more ado to return to the Religioâ— of his Nation But the young man answered Hâ— wondred His Majesty would use such words for beinâ— a Christian he should rather perswade him to Christiâ—nity with which answer the King was so confourâ—ded that he commanded the young man out of hâ— presence But his father finding the King could do no good upon his son required his money aâ— gain Nay saith the King I have taken pains enough for it and yet that thou mayest see how kindly I will deal you shall have one half and you cannot in conscience deny me the other half and so dismist him And now we are Treating of the Jews it may not be amiss to add all at once what we read concerning them in this City In the year 1235. the 19 of H. 3. seven Jews were brought before the King at Westminster who had stolen a Boy and kept him private from the sight of any but their own Nation for a whole year and had circumcised him intending also to have crucified him at the solemnity of Easter as they themselves confest before the K. upon which they were convicted and their bodies and goods remained at the Kings pleasure In the 39 of this K. Nov. 22. 102 Jews were brought from Lincoln to Westminster and there accused for crucifying a child of 8 years old named Hugh These Jews were upon examination sent to the Tower of London the murther being discovered by the diligent search of the Mother of the child Upon which eighteen of them were hanged and the other remained long in Prison In the Reign of Henry 2. the number of the Jews throughout England was very great yet whereforever they dwelt they were commanded not to bury their dead any where but in London which being many times inconvenient to bring dead bodies from remote Places the K. gave them liberty to bury in the same place where they lived In 1189. at the Coronation of R. 1. Son of H. 2. at Westminster a great disaster befel the Jews for King Richard not favoring them as his Father had done had given a strict charge that no Jew should be spectator of the solemnity yet several Jews as though it had been the Crowning of King Herod would needs be pressing in and the Officers appointed refusing they should enter there arose a Quarrel which proceeded from words to blows whereby many Jews were hurt and some slain and thereupon a report was suddenly spread abroad that the King had commanded to have all the Jews destroyed upon which it is incredible what rifling there was in an instant of the Jews Houses and cutting their throats and though the King fignified by publick Declaration that he was highly displeased with what was done yet there was no quieting of the multitude till next day and many of the Mutineers were afterward punished by the Law In the Reign of King John 1202. Great sums of money were exacted and gathered from the Jews among whom there was one who would not pay the money charged upon him till the King caused one of his great Teeth to be pulled out every day for seven days together upon which he was at last compelled to give the King Ten Thousand Marks of silver that no more might be pulled out since he had but one left in his head K. Henry 3. being very profuse was brought so low for want of money that he was forced to borrow nay almost beg it of his Subjects but the Jews who were ever exposed to his will felt the weight of his necessities and one Abraham a Jew in London being found a Delinquent was constrained to redeem himself for
700 Marks And Aaron another Jew protested the K since his last being in France had taken from him at several times 30000 Marks of Silven beside 200 Marks of Gold given to the Queen At another time this King Henry squeez'd a sum out of the Jews and then let them out to farm to his brother Richard for a considerable sum which he payd him and he was to make what more of them he could He likewise built a Church for Converted Jews in London It happened about this time that a Jew fell into an House of Office upon Saturday and would not be taken out that day because it was the Jews Sabbath Whereupon the Earl of Gloucester said He should not then be taken out on the Sunday because it was the Christian Sabbath So that when Monday came he was taken out dead In the 7. of Edward the First the Jews at Northampton crucified a Christian Boy upon Good-fryday but did not throughly kill him for which fact many Jews at London were after Easter drawn at the horse tails and hanged The same year King Edward called in all the old money and coined new because it had been much clipped and defaced by the Jews for which 297 were at one time executed in London And in the eighteenth year of his Reign all the Jews were banished out of London and England there being at that time above fifteen thousand in the kingdom who had all their Goods seized and confiscate to the Kings use and onely so much money left them as would bear their charges out of the kingdom But before this he ordained that the Jews should wear a Mark or Cognizance upon their upper Garments whereby to be known and restrained their excessive taking of Usury In the Year 1656. several Proposals were made to Oliver Cromwel by Manasseh Ben Israel a Jewish Merchant in behalf of the Hebrew Nation for their free admission to trade and exercise their Religion in England and a Conference was held about it several days at Whitehall by divers Members of the Council and certain Ministers of the most eminent then in esteem and many arguments were urged some for and others against their admission but those that were against it so far prevailed that the Proposals took no effect And so much concerning the Jews To return now to the series of the Story King William Rufus was taxed with great Prodigality because when his Chamberlain brought him a new pair of Hose he asked what they cost and was told three shillings Away base Fellow quoth he are these beseeming a King Bring me a pair of a Mark. His Chamberlain went and bringing him another pair not so good as the former and telling him they cost a Mark I marry saith the King these are something like and was better satisfied with hearing what they cost than with seeing what they were worth and yet this was no disrepute to his wisdom for to say truth it is no defect of wisdom in a King not to know what his clothes are worth And though the Monks that writ in those times charge this King with covetousness yet by the following instance it doth not appear For when two Monks came to Court and offered large gifts to out-vie each other in obtaining an Abbots place lately dead a third Monk who was very sober and mean in attire came with them and stood by whom the King asked what he would give to be Abbot Nothing said the Monk for I entered my Profession to be poor and have hitherto little esteemed the Pomp and Riches of the World Then thou art the man replied the King and art more worthy to he their Abbot for thy Poverty than they for their Presents and conferring the place upon him checked the others But however there arose a great difference between him and Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury because he required the Bishop to give him a Thousand Marks for preferring him to that See which Anselm refused to give as judging it no less Simony to give after the preferment than before but yet afterward offering five hundred pound the King refused to accept it as being worth he said five times as much Whereupon Anselm told him Your Grace may have me and all that is mine to serve your turn in a friendly manner but in the way of servitude and bondage you shall neither have me nor mine Which-words so angred the King that they could never after be reconciled And Anselm often threatning to go to Rome the King told him plainly He would not thrust him out of the Realm but if he would go without his leave he would keep him out during his pleasure and besides he should carry nothing out of the Kingdom with him Yet Anselm ventured it and the King performed it for William Walwerst was sent to rifle him of all he had in his passage to Sea neither was he suffered to return as long as the King lived during all which time the King took the Profits of his Bishoprick to his own use This King enlarged the Tower of London and compassed it with new Walls he also built the great Hall at Westminster being 270 foot in length and 74 in breadth but thinking it too little he intended to have built another Hall which should have reached from the Thames to Kingstreet In the fourth Year of his Reign on St. Lukes day so great a Tempest of Wind happened that above six hundred Houses in London were thrown down therewith and the Roof of S. Mary le Bow Church in Cheapside was blown off which with the Beams were carried into the Air a great height and in the fall six of the Beams being 27 foot long were driven so deep into the Ground the streets not being then paved with stone that not above four foot remained in sight and yet stood in such rank and order as the Workman had placed them on the Church In the ninth Year of his Reign a blazing Star appeared with two Bushes or Tails and other Stars seemed to shoot darts at each other The last of his Reign the Sea breaking over its Banks destroyed a multitude of People and overwhelmed the lands sometime of Earl Goodwin in Kent which are yet called Goodwins Sands There was likewise a Well that cast out bloud instead of water for 15 days together and great flames of fire were seen at divers times and places All which Prodigies seemed to foretel the Kings death approaching for having kept his Christmas at Gloucester his Easter at Winchester and his Whitsuntide at Westminster notwithstanding he was forewarned by many signs of some great disaster as his own dream the night before wherein it seemed to him that the Veins of his arms were burst and abundance of blood streaming on the floor And of a certain Monk who dreamed that he saw the King gnaw the Image of a Crucifix with his Teeth and that as he was about to bite away the Legs of it the Crucifix with his feet spurn'd him
him for their Sovereign and so upon St. Stephens day 1135. he was crowned King at Westminster and to ingratiate himself be eased the People of divers Taxes and Impositions Yet Stephen was no sooner set in his Chair of State but David King of Scots enters England with an Army to defend the right of Maud but he was soon compounded with and so was Geoffrey Duke of Anjou Mauds husband Soon after Maud her self comes into England and was received by some Persons for Queen and Stephen hearing that some of her Forces had besieged Lincoln goes thither where his Army was overthrown and himself taken Prisoner and carried to Maud who committed him to Bristol Castle And being flusht with this success she takes her journey toward London and was there received joyfully as well as in other places where Matilda wife of King Stephen made humble suit to her for the Liberty of her Husband and that he might be suffered onely to live a private life The Londoners likewise having received her into the City as their Queen thought now as Subjects usually do with new Princes they might have what they would reasonably ask and therefore humbly besought her that the severe Laws imposed upon them by her Father might be remitted and those of King Edward might wholly be in force But she rejected both these Petitions some say out of Pride others out of mistaken Policy as thinking it most safe to act matters of importance not upon intreaty but freely and to govern the Subject with severity rather than mildness But those harsh and insulting Answers she gave them were at that time very unseasonable and though they might have been more proper in a setled Government yet in this her green and unstable estate they gave a stop to the Current of all her Fortunes For Matilda finding by this how high the Empresses pulses beat sent to her son Eustace to raise Forces in Kent since their suits must be onely obtained by the Sword The Nobles likewise who set up King Stephen finding themselves slighted and the Londoners being as much discontented as they join with them and contrive how to seize upon the Empress in the City and so redeem King Stephen to whom their affections were firm Of which Maud having notice fled secretly out of London and went to Oxford and from thence sent strict command that King Stephen should be laid in Irons and narrowly watched and fed with very mean Commons and sending to David King of Scots for assistance they laid fiege to Winchester Matilda King Stephens wife hearing of this she with her Son Eustace and the assistance of the Londoners came presently to the relief of the place where a fierce Battle was fought and Matilda's Party prevailed and the Empress Maud to make her escape was fain to be laid upon a Horse back like a dead Corps and so conveyed to Glocester But Earl Robert her Brother disdaining to flie was taken Prisoner and used more hardly by Queen Matilda for her Husband King Stephens sake but a while after whether by agreement or connivance both Stephen and Robert also made their escape out of Prison King Stephen being at liberty seeks out the Empress to requite the kindness she had she wed him in Prison and hearing her to be at Oxford he follows her thither and lays siege to the Town and brought the Empress to such distress that she had now no way to save her self but by flight But being a Woman whose Sex hath often deceived wise men she resolved once more to over-reach her Enemy by Craft since she could not do it by Force For it being a very cold Winter the River Thames that runs by the Walls of Oxford was very hard frozen and at the same time a deep Snow covered the ground Maud takes the advantage thereof and clothing her self and four of her company in white linen garments to deceive the eyes of the Centinel she goes secretly in the night out of a Postern Gate and passing the frozen River ran on foot through Ice and Snow Ditches and Vallies for five miles together till she came to Abington the falling Snow beating in their faces all the way and there taking Horse the same night got into Wallingford Castle But though Maud escaped this present danger vet it left such an Impression of fear upon her that she never after had a mind to appear upon the Stage of War but left the prosecution of it to her son Henry who was now about sixteen years of Age. And not long after Eustace King Stephens only son died and being left destitute of Issue to succeed him he was the more easily drawn to conditions of Peace and so it was at last concluded that Stephen should hold the kingdom of England and adopt Henry as his Heir to succeed him This Agreement thus made and confirmed by Parliament Henry accounted King Stephen ever after as his Father and Stephen Henry as his son and well he might if it be true which some write that Maud his Mother when a Battle was to be fought between King Stephen and her son went privately to him asking him How he could find in his heart to fight against him that was his own Son Could he forget the familiarity he had with her in her Widowhood But however it was King Stephen and Henry continued in mutual love and concord as long as they lived together In the eighth year of King Stephen a Synod was held in London by Henry Bishop of Winchester where it was decreed that whosoever should lay violent hands upon any Clergy-man should not be forgiven but by the Pope himself and from this time forward Clergy-men were exempt from the power of the Civil Magistrate In this Kings time there appeared two Children a Boy and a Girl clad in Green in a Stuff unknown of a strange Language and of a strange Diet the Boy being baptized died shortly after but the Girl lived to be an old Woman and being asked from whence they were she answered They were of the Land of St. Martin where there are Christian Churches erected but that no Sun did ever rise unto them but where that Land is or how she came hither she her self knew not This Story is related by many very credible Historians and if true we may thereby learn that there are other parts of the World than those which to us are known In the fifteenth year of this King the River of Thames was so frozen at London that Horse and Cart passed over upon the Ice In his time likewise lived Johannes 〈◊〉 Temporibus of whom it is recorded that he lived Three hundred Sixty one years he was one of Charlemain the Emperours Guard and died in the Reign of Conradus the Third 1139. After the death of King Stephen Henry Duke of Anfou succeeded according to Agreement by the Title of King Henry the Second and was crowned at Westminster in the Year 1155. This King had very much vexation from
and odious to the Lords and the People as the other was for they inclined the King to a lewd and wanton course of life among Whores and Concubines and to forsake the company of his modest and vertuous Queen which made him a Scorn to Foreign Princes and hateful in the sight of all honest men yet the King in despight of his Lords supported the Spencers in whatever they did Whereupon the Lords rise in Arms and the King likewise raiseth Forces where a great Battle was fought and the Barons were overthrown and after the Fight two and twenty of the Lords were beheaded which increased the pride and insolence of the Spencers Yet the Queen who fled to Germany soon after returned accompanied with 300 Knights and select men at Arms with whom the Lords and the Londoners joined and seizing upon the Spencers the Father who was fourscore and ten years old was cruelly executed having his heart pulled out and his body left hanging on the Gallows while he was alive and the Son with the King himself were imprisoned and soon after young Spencer was drawn hanged and quartered his Head set upon London Bridge and his four Quarters bestowed in several Cities Then was a Parliament called wherein it was agreed to depose the King and set up his Son which he because they threatned to exclude both him and his Son and set up a King of another Race consented to And thereupon the Bishop of Hereford and other Commissioners came and sate at a place appointed to take his Resignation and the King coming forth in mourning Robes upon a sudden fell down in a swound and could hardly be recovered After which the Bishop of Hereford declared the cause of their coming To which the King answered That as he much grieved his People should be so hardened against him as utterly to reject him so iâ— was some comfort to him that they would yet receive his Son to be their Sovereign Whereupon Sir William Trussel Speaker of the Parliament in the name of the whole kingdom renounced Homage to the King in these words I William Trussel in the name of all the Men of the Land of England and of all the Parliament Procurator do resign to thee Edward the Homage that was made to thee sometimes and from this time forward now following I defie thee and deprive thee of all Royal Power and I shall never be tendant to thee as for King after this time Not long after this King was murthered by Sir John Matravers and Thomas Gourney by thrusting an hot Spit up his Fundament into his Bowels after he had reigned nineteen Years and 6 months 1327. In the eighth year of his reign was so great a Dearth that Horses and Dogs were eaten and Thieves in Prison pulled in pieces those that were newly brought in amongst them and eat them half alive Which continuing three years in the end brought such a Pestilence that the living scarce sufficed to bury the dead In this Kings time digging the Foundation of a Work about St. Pauls were found above an hundred Heads of Oxen and Kine which confirmed the opinions that of old time it had been the Temple of Jupiter and that there was the Sacrifice of Beasts Edward of Windsor eldest Son of King Edward the second by the order of Parliament upon his Fathers Resignation was proclaimed King of England Jan. 25. 1327. and soon after a Parliament was called wherein Edmund Earl of Kent the Kings Uncle is accused for intending to restore his Brother upon which he was condemned and brought to the Scaffold but was so generally beloved of the People that he stood there from one of the Clock till five in the Afternoon before any Executioner could be found to do the Office till at last a silly Wretch in the Marshalsey was gotten to cut off his head But the authors of his death escaped not long themselves for in the third year of the Kings Reign another Parliament is holden wherein the Queen hath all her great Jointure taken from her and is put to her Pension of a thousand pound a Year and her self confined to a Castle where she remained the rest of her days no fewer than thirty years Time long enough to convince her that her being the daughter of a King the wife of a King and the mother of a King were glorious Titles but all not worth the Liberty of a mean Estate And Roger Mortimer her great Minion and Favourite lately created Earl of the Marches of Wales was seized on this manner The King taking others with him went secretly one night by Torch-light through a private way under ground till they came to the Queens chamber where leaving the King without some of them went in and found the Queen with Mortimer ready to go to bed and laying hands on him they brought him out after whom the Queen followed crying Good Son good Son take pity upon the gentle Mortimer suspecting her Son had been amongst them This way was taken to apprehend him to prevent Tumult he having no less than ninescore Knights and Gentlemen besides other meaner Servants about him continually Being thus seized he is committed to the Tower and accused of divers crimes and amongst the rest that he had been too familiar with the Queen by whom she was thought to be with child Of which Articles he was found guilty and condemned and thereupon is drawn and hanged at the common Gallows at the Elms now called Tyburn where his body remained two days an opprobrious spectacle to all beholders This King Edward the third was a victorious Prince and with the assistance of his Son Edward called the Black Prince won many considerable Victories against the French and Scetch taking both their Kings prisoners who were committed to the Tower of London This King instituted the Order of the Garter upon what cause is uncertain the common opinion is that a Garter of his own Queen or as some say of the Countess of Salisbury slipping off in a dance King Edward stooped and took it up whereat some of his Lords that were present smiling as at an amorous action he seriously said It should not be long ere sovereign honour were done to that Garter Whereupon he added that French Motto Honi soit qui maly pense Evil to him that evil thinks therein checking his Lords sinister suspicion In the fourth year of his Reign the Sea Banks were overflown through all England but especially in the River Thames so that all the Cattle and Beasts near thereunto were drowned There was likewise found a Serpent having two heads and two faces like a Woman one face drest after the new fashion and another like the old with Wings like a Bat and men and women perished in divers places by Lightning and Thunder Fiends Devils and Apparitions were likewise seen by men and spoke to them as they travelled At this time upon the Petition of the Londoners an Act was made that no common Whore
slain and with the execution of eight more though five hundred were found guilty this Insurrection is suppressed It was a custom that upon St. Bartholomews day the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London should go to the Wrestling-place near More-fields where at this time the Prior of St. Johns likewise was to see the sport and a Servant of his being ashamed to be foiled before his Master desired to Wrestle again contrary to custom which the Lord Mayor denied whereupon the Prior fetched Bowmen from Clerkenwel against the Mayor and some slaughter was made the Mayors Cap was shot through with an Arrow yet he would have the sport go on but no Wrestlers came whereupon he said He would stay a while to make Trial of the Citizens respect to him and presently after a great party of them came with Banners displaid and fetched him home in triumph Soon after another Quarrel happened in Holborn between the Gentlemen of the Inns of Chancery and some Citizens in appeasing whereof the Queens Attorney and three more were slain The year after the Apprentices of London upon a very slight occasion fall upon the Foreign Merchants rifling and robbing their houses but the Lord Mayor by his discretion appeased the Tumult punishing some of the Offenders with Death and others by Fine and all things are quieted and appeased The Kings Resloration 1660. The Regicides of Exec at Charingcross The Insurection of Venner c. 1660. As soon as this Parliament was dissolved the Duke sends for the Queen and some others to come out of Scotland But they had raised an Army there and the Duke of York met them with another and at Wakefield Green the Duke is flain with the loss of three thousand of his men and leing dead had his head crowned with a Paper Crown together with many other Circumstances of disgrace However his Son Edward Earl of March prosecutes the Quarrel and puts the Queens Forces to flight which she endeavoured to recruit but some of her Northern Army having robbed the People as they came along the Country saying It was their Bargain to have all the Spoil in every place The Londoners would not suffer any Provision to be sent to them the Commons rising about Cripplegate and stopping the Carts which the Lord Mayor was sending to the Army In the mean time the Earls of March and Warwick having got a considerable Army march to London and were joyfully received there And soon after the Earl of Warwick drawing all his Forces into St. Johns Field by Clerkenwel and having cast them in a Ring he read to them the Agreement of the last Parliament and then demanded Whether they would have King Henry to reign still Who all cryed out No No. Then he asked them Whether they would have the Earl of March Eldest Son of the Duke of York by that Parliament proclaimed King to reign over them Who with great shouting answered Yes Yes Then several Captains and others of the City went to the Earl of March at Baynards Castle to acquaint him what had passed who at first seemed to excuse himself as unable to execute so great a charge but encouraged by the Archbishop of York the Bishops of London and Exeter and the Earl of Warwick he at laft consented to take it upon him and soon after he was generally proclaimed King And here Writers end the Reign of King Henry the sixth though there were several changes For sometimes he was a King and sometimes none yet he was never well setled though he lived twelve years after King Henry was then in the North and raise an Army to oppose Edward but is defeated by the Lord Falconbridge Upon which Henry and his Queen go to Scotland and raise more Forces but are again beaten And now King Edward sits three days together in the Kings Bench in Westminster Hall to hear Causes and regulate Disorders And the Earl of Warwick is sent into France to treat of a Marriage with that Kings daughterâ— but in the mean while the King marries the Lady Elizabeth Gray At which Warwick grows discontented and joins against King Edward and surprizing him takes him Prisoner but he soon made his escape King Henry was taken in disguise and sent to the Tower of London some years before And now Warwick going to France brought a great Army over and proclaimed Edward an Usurper who thereupon endeavoured to raise an Army but could not and therefore fled out of England into the Duke of Burgundies Country and King Henry is taken out of Prison where he had been nine years and again proclaimed King But King Edward by the assistance of the Duke of Burgundy lands an Army in Yorkshire and marches towards London where he was joyfully received And in the year 1471 and the 11 year of his Reign K. Edward made his entry into the City and had King Henry delivered into his hands The Earl of Warwick having notice thereof marcheth with his Army toward St. Albans and King Edward follows him carrying King Henry along with him where the Earl of Warwick and many others are slain and Henries Parry utterly routed And now was the time for King Henry to be delivered out of all his Troubles for the bloudy Duke of Glocester entering the Tower of London where he sound King Henry nothing at all troubled for all his Crosses struck him into the heart with his Dagger and there slew him And now within half a years space we find one Parliament proclaimed Edward an Usurper and Henry a lawful King and another proclaiming Edward a lawful King and Henry an Usurper that we may know there is nothing certain in humane Affairs but uncertainty In the fifth year of King Henry the sixth it rained almost continually from Easter to Michaelmas In his seventh year the Duke of Norfolk was like to have been drowned passing through London Bridge his Barge being set upon the Piles so overwhelmed that thirty persons were drowned and the Duke with others that escaped were fain to be drawn up with Ropes In his seventeenth year was so great a Dearth of Corn that people were glad to make Bread of Fearn roots Next year all the Lions in the Tower died In the thirty third year of his Reign there was a great Blazing Star and there happened a strange sight a monstrous Cock came out of the Sea and in the presence of a multitude of people made a hideous crowing three times beckening toward the North South and West There were also many prodigious Births and in some places it rained bloud About this time the Draw-bridge on London Bridge was made and Leaden Hall was built to be a Storehouse of Grain and Fewel for the poor of the City In the first year of this Kings Reign a Parliament was held at London where the Queen-Mother with the young King in her lap came and sate in the House of Lords In this Kings Reign Printing was first brought into England by William Caxton of
was furnished formerly with Towers and Bulwarks in due distance from each other and the River of Thames with its Ebbing and Flowing had overthrown the Walls and Towers on the Banks thereof whereupon William the Conquerour for the defence of the City which lay open to the Enemy having taken down the second Bulwark in the East part of the Wall toward the Thames built the Great White Tower which hath been since enlarged at several times with buildings adjoining thereto This Tower in the 4th of William Rufus 1092. was much shaken and defaced by a great Tempest of Wind but was again repaired by William Rufus and Henry the first who likewise built a Castle on the South-side thereof toward the Thames intrenching the same round about Historians say of this William Rufus That he challenged the Investiture of Prelates He pilled and shared the People with Tribute especially to spend about the Tower of London and the Great Hall at Westminster The four first Constables or Keepers of the Tower were Othowerus Acolinillus Otto and Jeffry Magnaville Earl of Essex who was also Sheriff of London Middlesex Essex and Hertfordshire He fortified the Tower of London against K. Stephen but the King seizing him at his Court at St. Albans would not discharge him till he had delivered it up together with the Castles of Walden and Plashey in Essex In 1153 the Tower of London and Castle of Windsor were delivered by the King to Richard de Lucie to be safely kept In 1155 Thomas Becket Chancellor to Hen. 2. caused the Flemings to be banished out of England their Castles lately built to be demolished and the Tower of London to be repaired In the 2. of Rich. first 1190. William Longshamp Bishop of Ely Lord Chancellor by reason of some difference between him and Earl John the Kings Brother who was in Rebellion inclosed the Tower and Castle of London with an outward Wall of Stone embatailed and likewise caused a deep ditch to be made about the same designing as is aforementioned to have invironed it with the River of Thames This inclosure and Ditch took away some ground from Trinity Church in London which King Edward recompenced And a great quantity of Ground likewise was taken from the City upon this Account yet the Citizens had no recompence nor were offended thereat since it was done with their liking as being for the defence of the City But another Historian saith that in 1239 Hen. 3. Fortified the Tower of London to another Purpose and the Citizens fearing it was intended to their detriment complained to the King who answered That he had not done it to their hurt but saith he I will do from henceforth as my Brother doth in building and fortifying Castles who beareth the name of being wiser than I. But the next year all these Noble Buildings of the Stone Gate and Bulwark were shaken as with an Earthquake and fell down which the King commanded to be again built better than before And in the year 1241. Though the King had bestowed above 12000 Marks in the work yet the Wall and Bulwarks irrecoverably fell down at which the Citizens were very well pleased for they were threatned that when this Wall and Bulwarks were built if any of them should contend for the Liberties of the City they should be Imprisoned therein Yet were they again rebuilt and finished by Edward the 1. and the Bulwark at the West-gate now called the Lyon Tower added the Original of which name and of Lyons in England we read was thus Henry the 1. built the Mannor of Woodflock and walled the Park about with stone seven Miles in compass destroying to that purpose divers Villages Churches and Chappels and this was the first Park in England and as the Record saith He appointed therein besides great store of Deer divers strange beasts to be kept and nourished such as were brought to him from far Countreys as Lyons Leopards Linxes Porpentines and such other for such was his Estimation among Outlandish Princes that few would willingly offend him In the year 1235 we read that Frederick the Emperour sent Henry 3. three Leopards in token of his Regal sheild of Arms wherein they were pictured since which time the Lyons and other Creatures have been kept in a part of this Bulwark now called the Lyons Tower In the 16 of Edward 3. One Lyon One Lyonefs One Leopard and two Cattes Lyons were committed to the custody of Robert Boure Edw. 4. Fortified the Tower of London and inclosed a peice of Ground West from the Lyon Tower upon Tower-bill with brick now called the Bulwark And in the 6th year of his Reign he ordered a Scaffold and Gallows to be set upon the Hill for the Execution of Offenders upon which the L. Mayor and Aldermen complained to the King but were answered That it was not done in Derogation of the Cities Liberties and caused Proclamation to be made thereof accordingly Richard the 3. and Henry the 8. repaired this Tower but in the 2. of Edward 6 1548. Nov. 22. A Frenchman lodging in the round Bulwark between the Westgate and the Postern by setting fire to a Barrel of Gunpowder in the night blew up that Bulwark yet burnt none but himself this Bulwark was soon rebuilt again This west Gate of the Tower is the Principal Gate for receiving and delivering all manner of Carriages and without it there are divers Bulwarks and Gates turning to the North within this Gate to the South is a strong Postern for Passengers by the VVard-house over a Drawbridge which is let down and pull'd up at pleasure Next to this on the South side East-ward is a large VVater-gate commonly called Traytors Gate because some have been carried in that way this Gate is partly under a strong Stone Bridge from the River of Thames Beyond which was a small Postern with a Drawbridge seldom let down but for receiving in some Great Persons Prisoners Further to the East was a Great and strong Gate called the Iron Gate but not usually opened And so much for the Foundation building and repairing of the Tower with the Gates and Posterns There are many Fair Houses within the walls of the Tower wherein the Officers belonging thereto and other Inhabitants live there is also a Chappel In the year 1196 William Fitz Ozbet a Citizen seditiously moving the People to stand up for their Liberties and not to be subject to the Rich and Mighty was taken and brought before the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Tower where he was condemned by the Judges and being drawn thence by the Heels to the Elms in East-Smithfield he was there hanged In 1214. King John writ to Jeffery Magnaville to deliver the Tower of London with the Prisoners Armour and all other things found therein belonging to the King to William Archdeacon of Huntington In the first of Henry 3. 1216. the Tower was delivered to Lewes of Franse and the Barons of England In 1206 Pleas of the
Crown were pleaded in the Tower and divers times afterward In 1222 the Citizens having made a Tumult against the Abbot of Westminster Hubbert of Burg Cheif Justice of England sent for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen to the Tower of London to enquire who were Principal Authors thereof Amongst whom one named Constantine Fitz Aelufe boldly avowed That he was the man and had done much less than he thought to have done whereupon the Cheif Justice sent him with two others to Falks de Brent who with armed men brought them to the Gallows and hanged them In 1244 Griffith Prince of Wales being a Prisoner in the Tower attempted an escape and having in the night tyed the Sheets and hangings together he endeavoured thereby to slide from the top of the High Tower but being a Fat man the weight of his Body brake the Rope and he fell The next morning he was found dead his head and neck being driven into his Breast between the Shoulders In 1253 K. Hen. 3. imprisoned the Sheriffs of London in the Tower above a Month about the escape of a Prisoner out of Newgate as is aforementioned In 1260 this King with his Queen for fear of the Barons lodged in the Tower And the next year he sent for his Lords and held his Parliament there In 1263 As the Queen was going by water from the Tower toward Windsor several Citizens got together upon London Bridge under which she was to pass who not only used reproachful words against her but threw stones and dirt at her forcing her to go back again but in 1265. they were forced to submit themselves to the King for it and the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffs were sent to several Prisons Othon Constable of the Tower being made Custos or keeper of the City About this time Leoline Prince of Wales came down from the Mountain of Snowdon to Montgomery and was taken at Bluith Castle where using reproachful words against the English Roger le Strange fell upon him and with his own sword cut off his head leaving his dead body on the Ground Sir Roger Mortimer caused this Head to be set upon the Tower of London crowned with a wreath of Ivy And this was the end of Leoline who was betrayed by the Men of Bluith and was the last Prince of the Brittish bloud who Ruled in Wales In 1290 Several Judges as well of the Kings Bench as the Assize were sent Prisoners to the Tower and with great Sums of Money obtained their Liberty Sir Thomas Weyland had all his Estate confiscated and himself banished Sir Ralph Hengham Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench paid 7000 Marks Sir John Lovet Cheif Justice of the Lower Bench 3000 Marks Sir William Brompton 6000 Marks Yea their Clerks were fined also as being confederate with their Masters in Bribery and Injustice Robert Littlebury Clerk paid 1000 Marks and Roger Leicester as much But a certain Clerk of the Courts called Adam de Straton paid thirty two thousand Marks of Old and new Money besides Jewels without number and precious vessels of Silver which were found in his House together with a Kings Crown whiâ—h some said was King Johns After this the King constrained the Judges to swear That for the future they should take no Pension Fee or Gift of any man except a breakfast or some such small kindness In the 14 of Edw. 2. The King allowed to the Prisoners in the Tower two pence a day to a Knight and a peny a day to an Esquire for their Diet. In 1320. The Kings Justices sate in the Tower for Trial of divers matters at which time John Gissors late Lord Mayor of London and several others fled to the City for fear of being charged with things they had presumptuously done The next year the Mortimers yeilding themselves to King Edw. 2. he sent them Prisoners to the Tower where they were condemned to be drawn and hanged But Roger Mortimer of Wigmore by giving his Keepers sleepy drink made his escape but his Uncle Mortimer died there above 5 years afterward In 1326. The Citizens of London took possession of the Tower and taking away the keys from the Constable they discharged all the Prisoners and kept both the City and Tower for the use of Queen Isabel and her son Edward who was afterward Edw. the III. In 1330 Roger Mortimer Earl of March was taken and committed to the Tower from whence he was drawn to the Elmes and their hanged on the Common Gallows where he hung two days and two nights by the Kings Command and was then buried in the Gray Friers Church This Earl was condemned by his Peers and yet was never brought to make his Defence before them He himself having procured a Law to that purpose by which the Earls of Lancaster Winchester Glocester and Kent were put to death and now he himself suffered by the same Law In the 3. of Edw. 3. 1344. The King commanded Florences of Gold to be coyned in the Tower Perceval de Port of Lake being then Master of the Mint and this is the first coining we read of there we read likewise that the same year the King appointed his Exchange of Money to be kept in Sernes Tower being part of the Kings House in Buckles or Bucklers Bury And we find that in former times all great Sums were paid by weight that is so many pounds or Marks of Gold or Silver cut into blank peices without any stamp upon them and smaller Sums were paid in Starlings which were pence so called for they had no other Moneys This Starling or Easterling money took its name as it is judged from the Easterlings which first made it in England in the Reign of Hen. 2. though others imagine it so called from a Star stamped in the Ring or Edge of the Peny or of a Bird called a Starling stamped on it others yet more unlikely of being coyned at Striveling or Sterling a Town in Scotland but the first Opinion seems the most probable In 1360. A Peace being concluded between England and France Edward the 3d. came back into England and went to the Tower to visit the French King who was Prisoner there setting his Ransome at three Millions of Florences which being paid he was discharged from his Imprisonment and the King conducted him with Honour to the Seaside In the 4th of Rich. 2. 1381. A grievous Tax was laid upon the Subjects which caused much Trouble For the Courtiers greedy to inrich themselves informed the King that the Tax was not so carefully gathered as it ought And therefore they would pay a great Sum of Money to Farm it which they would raise above what it was before by being more severe in gathering it This Proposition was soon accepted so that having the Kings Authority and Letters these Farmers or Commissioners met in several Places in Kent and Essex where they levied this Tax of Groats or Polemoney with all manner of severity which so discontented the