this as in the most part of their historie which is to seeke great honor by lieng great renowme by prating and craking Indeed they haue doone great mischéefe in this Iland with extreme crueltie but as for any conquest the first is yet to heare of Diuers other conquests also haue béene pretended by sundrie princes sithence the conquest onelie to the end that all pristinate lawes and tenures of possession might cease and they make a new disposition of all things at their owne pleasure As one by king Edw. the 3. but it tooke none effect Another by Henrie the 4. who neuerthelesse was at the last though hardlie drawne from the challenge by William Thorington then cheefe Iustice of England The third by Henrie the 7. who had some better shew of right but yet without effect And the last of all by Q. Marie as some of the papists gaue out and also would haue had hir to haue obtained but God also staied their malices and hir challenge But beside the six afore mentioned Huntingdon the old historiographer speaketh of a seuenth likelie as he saith to come one daie out of the North which is a wind that bloweth no man to good sith nothing is to be had in those parts but hunger much cold Sée more hereof in the historie of S. Albons and aforsaid author which lieth on the left side of the librarie belonging now to Paules for I regard no prophesies as one that doubteth from what spirit they doo procéed or who should be the author of them Whether it be likelie that any giants were and whether they inhabited in this I le or not Cap. 5. BEsides these aforesaid nations which haue crept as you haue heard into our Iland we read of sundrie giants that should inhabit here Which report as it is not altogither incredible sith the posterities of diuers princes were called by the name so vnto some mens eares it séemeth so strange a rehersall that for the same onelie cause they suspect the credit of our whole historie reiect it as a fable vnworthie to be read They also condemne the like in all other histories especiallie of the North where men are naturallie of greatest stature imagining all to be but fables that is written of Starcater Hartben Angrine Aruerode c of whom Saxo Iohannes Magnus and Olaus doo make mention whose bones doo yet remaine to be seene as rare miracles in nature Of these also some in their life time were able to lift vp as they write a vessell of liquor of 1000. weight or an horsse or an oxe cast it on their shoulders wherein their verie women haue beene likewise knowne to come néere vnto them and of the race of those men some were séene of no lesse strength in the 1500. of Grace wherein Olaus liued and wrote the same of his owne experience and knowledge Of the giant of Spaine that died of late yeares by a fall vpon the Alpes as he either went or came from Rome about the purchase of a dispensation to marrie with his kinswoman a woman also of much more than common stature there be men yet liuing and may liue long for age that can saie verie much euen by their owne knowledge Wherfore it appeareth by present experience that all is not absolutelie vntrue which is remembred of men of such giants For this cause therfore I haue now taken vpon me to make this breefe discourse insuing as indeuouring therby to prooue that the opinion of giants is not altogither grounded vpon vaine and fabulous narrations inuented onelie to delight the cares of the hearers with the report of maruellous things but that there haue beene such men in déed as for their hugenesse of person haue resembled rather high towers than mortall men although their posterities are now consumed and their monstruous races vtterlie worne out of knowledge I doo not meane herein to dispute whether this name Gigas or Nephilim was giuen vnto them rather for their tyrannie and oppression of the people than for their greatnesse of bodie or large steps as Goropius would haue it for he denieth that euer men were greater than at this present or bicause their parents were not knowne for such in old time were called Terrae filij or whether the word Gigas dooth onlie signifie Indigenas or homelings borne in the land or not neither whether all men were of like quantitie in stature and farre more greater in old time than now they be and yet absolutelie I denie neither of these sith verie probable reasons may be brought for ech of them but especiallie the last rehearsed whose confirmation dependeth vpon the authorities of sundrie ancient writers who make diuers of noble race equall to the giants in strength and manhood and yet doo not giue the same name vnto them bicause their quarels were iust and commonlie taken in hand for defense of the oppressed Examples hereof we may take of Hercules and Antheus whose wrestling declareth that they were equall in stature stomach Such also was the courage of Antheus that being often ouercome and as it were vtterlie vanquished by the said Hercules yet if he did estsoones returne againe into his kingdome he foorthwith recouered his force returned and held Hercules tacke till he gat at the last betwéene him and home so cutting off the farther hope of the restitution of his armie and killing finallie his aduersarie in the field of which victorie Politian writeth thus Incaluere animis dura certare palaestra Neptuni quondà m filius atque Iouis Non certamen erant operoso ex aere lebetes Sed qui vel vitam vel ferat interitum Occidit Antaeus Ioue natum viuere fas est Estque magistra Pales Graecia non Lybia The like doo our histories report of Corineus and Gomagot peraduenture king of this I le who fought a combat hand to hand till one of them was slaine and yet for all this no man reputeth Hercules or Corineus for giants albeit that Hanuile in his Architrenion make the later to be 12. cubits in height which is full 18. foot if poeticall licence doo not take place in his report and assertion But sith I say againe it is not my purpose to stand vpon these points I passe ouer to speake any more of them And whereas also I might haue procéeded in such order that I should first set downe by manie circumstances whether any giants were then whether they were of such huge and incredible stature as the authours doo remember and finallie whether any of them haue beene in this our Iland or not I protest plainlie that my mind is not here bent to deale in any such maner but rather generallie to confirme and by sufficient authoritie that there haue beene such mightie men of stature and some of them also in Britaine which I will set downe onelie by sundrie examples whereby it shall fall out that neither our Iland nor any part of the maine
Gardsey full 21. miles or therabouts and made notable by meanes of a bloudie fact doone there in Queene Maries daies whereby a woman called Perotine Massie wife vnto an honest minister or préest being great with childe by hir husband was burned to ashes through the excéeding crueltie of the Deane and Chapiter then contending manifestlie against God for the mainteinance of their popish and antichristian kingdome In this hir execution and at such time as the fire caught holde of hir wombe hir bellie brake and there issued a goodly man-childe from hir with such force that it fell vpon the cold ground quite beyond the heate and furie of the flame which quicklie was taken vp and giuen from one tormentor and aduersarie to an other to looke vpon whose eies being after a while satisfied with the beholding thereof they threw it vnto the carcase of the mother which burned in the fire whereby the poore innocent was consumed to ashes whom that furious element would gladlie haue left vntouched wherevnto it ministred as you heare an hurtlesse passage In this latter also there haue béene in times past fiue religious houses and nine castels howbeit in these daies there is but one parish-church lest standing in the same There are also certeine other small Ilands which Henrie the second in his donation calleth Insulettas beside verie manie rocks whereof one called S. Hilaries wherein sometime was a monasterie is fast vpon Iardsey another is named the Cornet which hath a castel not passing an arrow shot from Gardsey The Serke also is betwéene both which is six miles about and hath another annexed to it by an Isthmus or Strictland wherein was a religious house therwithall great store of conies There is also the Brehoc the Gytho and the Herme which latter is foure miles in compasse and therein was sometime a Canonrie that afterward was conuerted into an house of Franciscanes There are two other likewise neere vnto that of S. Hilarie of whose names I haue no notice There is also the rockie I le of Burhoo but now the I le of rats so called of the huge plentie of rats that are found there though otherwise it be replenished with infinit store of conies betwéene whome and the rats as I coniecture the same which we call Turkie conies are oftentimes produced among those few houses that are to be seene in this Iland Some are of the opinion that there hath béene more store of building in this I le than is at this present to be seene that it became abandoned through multitudes of rats but hereof I find no perfect warrantise that I may safelie trust vnto yet in other places I read of the like thing to haue happened as in Gyara of the Cyclades where the rats increased so fast that they drauc away the people Varro speaketh of a towne in Spaine that was ouerthrowne by conies The Abderits were driuen out of Thracia by the increase of mice frogs and so manie conies were there on a time in the Iles Maiorca and Minorca now perteining to Spaine that the people began to starue for want of bread and their cattell for lacke of grasse And bicause the Ilanders were not able to ouercome them Augustus was constreined to send an armie of men to destroie that needlesse brood Plin. lib. 8. cap. 55. A towne also in France sometime became desolate onelie by frogs and todes Another in Africa by locustes and also by grashoppers as Amicla was by snakes and adders Theophrast telleth of an whole countrie consumed by the palmer-worme which is like vnto an huge caterpiller Plinie writeth of a prouince vpon the borders of Aethiopia made void of people by ants and scorpions and how the citizens of Megara in Grecia were faine to leaue that citie through multitudes of bées as waspes had almost driuen the Ephensians out of Ephesus But this of all other whereof Aelianus intreateth is most woonderfull that when the Cretenses were chased out of a famous citie of their Iland by infinit numbers of bees the said bees conuerted their houses into hiues and made large combes in them which reached from wall to wall wherein they reserued their honie Which things being dulie considered I doo not denie the possibilitie of the expulsion of the inhabitants out of the I le of Burho by rats although I say that I doo not warrant the effect bicause I find it not set downe directlie in plaine words Beside this there is moreouer the I le of Alderney a verie pretie plot about seuen miles in compasse wherin in a préest not long since did find a coffin of stone in which lay the bodie of an huge giant whose fore téeth were so big as a mans fist as Leland dooth report Certes this to me is no maruell at all sith I haue read of greater and mentioned them alreadie in the beginning of this booke Such a tooth also haue they in Spaine wherevnto they go in pilgrimage as vnto S. Christophers tooth but it was one of his eie teeth if Ludouicus Viues say true who went thither to offer vnto the same S. August de ciuit lib. 15. cap. 9. writeth in like sort of such another found vpon the coast of Vtica and thereby gathereth that all men in time past were not onlie far greater than they be now but also the giants farre exceeding the huge stature and height of the highest of them all Homer complaineth that men in his time were but dwarfes in comparison of such as liued in the wars of Troy See his fift Iliad where he speaketh of Diomedes and how he threw a stone at Aeneas which 14. men of his time were not able to stirre and therewith did hit him on the thigh and ouerthrew him Virgil also noteth no lesse in his owne deuise but Iuuenall bréefelie comprehendeth all this in his 15. Satya where he saith Saxa inclinatis per humum quaesita lacertis Incipiunt torquere domestica seditione Tela nec hunc lapidem quali se Turnus Aiax Et quo Tytides percussit pondere coxam Aeneae sed quem valeant emittere dextrae Illis dissimiles nostro tempore nata Nam genus hoc viuo iam decrescebat Homero Terra malos homines nunc educat atque pusillos Ergo Deus quicunque aspexit ridet odit But to returne againe vnto the I le of Alderney from whence I haue digressed Herein also is a prettie towne with a parish-church great plentie of corne cattell conies and wilde foule whereby the inhabitants doo reape much gaine and commoditie onelie wood is their want which they otherwise supplie The language also of such as dwell in these Iles is French but the wearing of their haire long the attire of those that liued in Gardsey and Iardsey vntill the time of king Henrie the eight was all after the Irish guise The I le of Gardsey also was sore spoiled by the French 1371. and left so desolate that onlie one castell remained therein vntouched Beyond this and neere vnto the coast of England for
excuses to auoid so manifest a title all men may see that read their bookes indifferentlie wherevnto I referre them For my part there is little or nothing of mine herein more than onelie the collection and abridgement of a number of fragments togither wherein chéeflie I haue vsed the helpe of Nicholas Adams a lawier who wrote thereof of set purpose to king Edward the sixt as Leland did the like to king Henrie the eight Iohn Harding vnto Edward the fourth beside thrée other whereof the first dedicated his treatise to Henrie the fourth the second to Edward the third and the third to Edward the first as their writings yet extant doo abundantlie beare witnesse The title also that Leland giueth his booke which I haue had written with his owne hand beginneth in this maner These remembrances following are found in chronicles authorised remaining in diuerse monasteries both in England and Scotland by which it is euidentlie knowne and shewed that the kings of England haue had and now ought to haue the souereigntie ouer all Scotland with the homage and fealtie of the kings there reigning from time to time c. Herevnto you haue heard alreadie what diuision Brute made of this Iland not long before his death wherof ech of his children so soone as he was interred tooke seisure and possession Howbeit after two yeares it happened that Albanact was slaine wherevpon Locrinus and Camber raising their powers reuenged his death and finallie the said Locrinus made an entrance vpon Albania seized it into his owne hands as excheated wholie vnto himselfe without yéelding anie part thereof vnto his brother Camber who made no claime nor title vnto anie portion of the same Hereby then saith Adams it euidentlie appeareth that the entire seigniorie ouer Albania consisted in Locrinus according to which example like law among brethren euer since hath continued in preferring the eldest brother to the onelie benefit of the collaterall ascension from the youngest as well in Scotland as in England vnto this daie Ebranke the lineall heire from the bodie of this Locrine that is to saie the sonne of Mempris sonne of Madan sonne of the same Locrine builded in Albania the castell of Maidens now called Edenborough so called of Aldan somtime king of Scotland but at the first named Cair Minid Agnes 1. the castell on mount Agnes and the castell of virgins and the castell of Alcluith or Alclude now called Dunbriton as the Scotish Hector Boetius confesseth whereby it most euidentlie appeareth that our Ebranke was then thereof seized This Ebranke reigned in the said state ouer them a long time after whose death Albania as annexed to the empire of Britaine descended to the onelie king of Britons vntill the time of the two sisters sonnes Morgan and Conedage lineall heires from the said Ebranke who brotherlie at the first diuided the realme betwéen them so that Morgan had Lhoegres and Conedage had Albania But shortlie after Morgan the elder brother pondering in his head the loue of his brother with the affection to a kingdome excluded nature and gaue place to ambition and therevpon denouncing warre death miserablie ended his life as the reward of his vntruth whereby Conedage obteined the whole empire of all Britaine in which state he remained during his naturall life From him the same lineallie descended to the onelie king of Britons vntill and after the reigne of Gorbodian who had issue two sonnes Ferrex and Porrex This Porrex requiring like diuision of the land affirming the former partitions to be rather of law than fauor was by the hands of his elder brother best loued of queene mother both of his life and hoped kingdome beereaâ—ed at once Wherevpon their vnnaturall mother vsing hir naturall malice for the death of hir one sonne without regard of the loosing of both miserablie slue the other in his bed mistrusting no such treason Cloten by all writers as well Scotish as other was the next inheritour to the whole empire but lacking power the onelie meane in those daies to obteine right he was contented to diuide the same among foure of his kinsmen so that Scater had Albania But after the death of this Cloten his sonne Dunwallo Mulmutius made warre vpon these foure kings and at last overcame them and so recouered the whole dominion In token of which victorie he caused himselfe to be crowned with a crowne of gold the verie first of that mettall if anie at all were before in vse that was worne among the kings of this nation This Dunwallo erected temples wherein the people should assemble for praier to which temples he gaue benefit of sanctuarie He made the law for wager of battell in cases of murder and felonie whereby a théefe that liued and made his art of fighting should for his purgation fight with the true man whom he had robbed beléeuing assuredlie that the gods for then they supposed manie would by miracle assigne victorie to none but the innocent partie Certes the priuileges of this law and benefit of the latter as well in Scotland as in England be inioied to this daie few causes by late positiue laws among vs excepted wherin the benefit of wager of battell is restreined By which obedience to his lawes it dooth manifestlie appéere that this Dunwallo was then seized of Albania now called Scotland This Dunwallo reigned in this estate ouer them manie yeares Beline and Brenne the sonnes also of Dunwallo did after their fathers death fauourablie diuide the land betweene them so that Beline had Lhoegres Brenne had Albania but for that this Brenne a subiect without the consent of his elder brother and lord aduentured to marrie with the daughter of the king of Denmarke Beline seized Albania into his owne hands and thervpon caused the notable waies priuileged by Dunwallons lawes to be newlie wrought by mens hands which for the length extended from the further part of Cornewall vnto the sea by north Cathnesse in Scotland In like sort to and for the better maintenance of religion in those daies he constituted ministers called archflamines in sundrie places of this Iland who in their seuerall functions resembled the bishops of our times the one of which remained at Ebranke now called Yorke and the whole region Caerbrantonica whereof Ptolomie also speaketh but not without wresting of the name whose power extended to the vttermost bounds of Albania wherby likewise appeareth that it was then within his owne dominion After his death the whole Ile was inioied by the onelie kings of Britaine vntill the time of Uigenius Peridurus lineall heires from the said Beline who fauourablie made partition so that Uigenius had all the land from Humber by south and Peridurus from thence northwards all Albania c. This Uigenius died and Peridurus suruiued and thereby obteined the whole from whom the same quietlie descended and was by his posteritie accordinglie inioied vntill the reigne of Coell the first of that name In his time an obscure nation by most
all the people of England Cumberland Scots Danes and Britons King Athelstane in like sort conquered Scotland and as he laie in his tents beside Yorke whilest the warres lasted the king of Scots feined himselfe to be a minstrell and harped before him onelie to espie his ordinance and his people But being as their writers confesse corrupted with monie he sold his faith and false heart together to the Danes and aided them against king Athelstane at sundrie times Howbeit he met with all their vntruthes at Broningfield in the west countrie as is mentioned in the ninth chapter of the first booke of this description where he discomfited the Danes and slue Malcolme deputie in that behalfe to the king of Scots in which battell the Scots confesse themselues to haue lost more people than were remembred in anie age before Then Athelstane following his good lucke went throughout all Scotland and wholie subdued it and being in possession thereof gaue land there lieng in Annandale by his deed the copie wherof dooth follow I king Athelstane giues vnto Paulam Oddam and Roddam al 's good and al 's faire as euer they mine were and thereto witnesse Mauld my wife By which course words not onelie appeareth the plaine simplicitie of mens dooings in those daies but also a full proofe that he was then seized of Scotland At the last also he receiued homage of Malcolme king of Scots but for that he could not be restored to his whole kingdome he entered into religion and there shortlie after died Then Athelstane for his better assurance of that countrie there after thought it best to haue two stringes to the bowe of their obedience and therefore not onelie constituted on Malcolme to be their king but also appointed one Indulph sonne of Constantine the third to be called prince of Scotland to whome he gaue much of Scotland and for this Malcolme did homage to Athelstane Edmund brother of Athelstane succéeded next king of England to whome this Indulph then king of Scots not onelie did homage but also serued him with ten thousand Scots for the expulsion of the Danes out of the realme of England Edred or Eldred brother to this Edmund succéeded next king of England he not onelie receiued the homage of Irise then king of Scots but also the homage of all the barons of Scotland Edgar the sonne of Edmund brother of Athelstane being now of full age was next king of England he reigned onelie ouer the whole monarchie of Britaine and receiued homage of Keneth king of Scots for the kingdome of Scotland and made Malcolme prince thereof This Edgar gaue vnto the same Keneth the countrie of Louthian in Scotland which was before seized into the hands of Osbright king of England for their rebellion as is before declared He inioined Keneth their said king also once in euerie yéere at certeine principall feasts whereat the king did vse to weare his crowne to repaire vnto him into England for the making of lawes which in those daies was doone by the noble men or péeres according to the order of France at this daie He allowed also sundrie lodgings in England to him and his successours whereat to lie and refresh themselues in their iourneies whensoeuer they should come vp to doo their homages and finallie a péece of ground lieng beside the new palace of Westminster vpon which this Keneth builded a house that by him and his posseritie was inioied vntill the reigne of king Henrie the second In whose time vpon the rebellion of William king of Scots it was resumed into the king of Englands hand The house is decaied but the ground where it stood is called Scotland to this daie Moreouer Edgar made this law that no man should succéed to his patrimonie or inheritance holden by knights seruice vntill he accomplished the age of one and twentie yéeres because by intendment vnder that age he should not be able in person to serue his king and countrie according to the tenor of his deed and the condition of his purchase This law was receiued by the same Keneth in Scotland and as well there as in England is obserued to this daie which prooueth also that Scotland was then vnder his obeisance In the yeere of our Lord 974 Kinald king of Scots and Malcolme king of Cumberland Macon king of Man and the Iles Duuenall king of Southwales Siferth and Howell kings of the rest of Wales Iacob or Iames of Gallowaie Iukill of Westmerland did homage to king Edgar at Chester And on the morrow going by water to the monasterie of saint Iohns to seruice and returning home againe the said Edgar sitting in a barge and stirring the same vpon the water of Dée made the said kings to row the barge saieng that his successors might well be ioifull to haue the prerogatiue of so great honour and the superioritie of so manie mightie princes to be subiect vnto their monarchie Edward the sonne of this Edgar was next king of England in whose time this Keneth king of Scots caused Malcolme king of Scotland to be poisoned Wherevpon king Edward made warre against him which ceased not vntill this Keneth submitted himselfe and offered to receiue him for prince of Scotland whome king Edward would appoint Herevpon king Edward proclamed one Malcolme to be prince of Scotland who immediatlie came into England and there did homage vnto the same king Edward Etheldred brother of this Edward succéeded next ouer England against whome Swaine king of Denmarke conspired with this last Malcolme then king of Scots But shortlie after this Malcolme sorrowfullie submitted himselfe into the defense of Etheldred who considering how that which could not be amended must onelie be repented benignlie receiued him By helpe of whose seruice at last Etheldred recouered his realme againe out of the hands of Swaine and reigned ouer the whole monarchie eight and thirtie yéeres Edmund surnamed Ironside sonne of this Etheldred was next king of England in whose time Canutus a Dane inuaded the realme with much crueltie But at the last he married with Emme sometime wise vnto Etheldred and mother of this Edmund Which Emme as arbitratrix betweene hir naturall loue to the one and matrimoniall dutie to the other procured such amitie betwéene them in the end that Edmund was contented to diuide the realme with Canutus and keeping to himselfe all England on this side Humber gaue all the rest beyond Humber with the seigniorie of Scotland to this Canutus Wherevpon Malcolme then king of Scots after a little accustomable resistance did homage to the same Canutus for the kingdome of Scotland Thus the said Canutus held the same ouer of this Edmund king of England by the like seruices so long as they liued togither This Canutus in memorie of this victorie and glorie of his seigniorie ouer the Scots commanded Malcolme their king to build a church in Buchquhan in Scotland where a field betweene him and them was fought to be dedicated to Olauus patrone
of Norwaie and Denmarke which church was by the same Malcolme accordinglie performed Edward called the Confessour sonne of Etheldred and brother to Edmund Ironside was afterward king of England he tooke from Malcolme king of Scots his life and his kingdome and made Malcolme soone to the king of Cumberland and Northumberland king of Scots who did him homage and fealtie This Edward perused the old lawes of the realme and somewhat added to some of them as to the law of Edgar for the wardship of the lands vntill the heire should accomplish the age of one and twentie yeeres He added that the marriage of such heire should also belong to the lord of whom the same land was holden Also that euerie woman marrieng a free man should notwithstanding she had no children by that husband enioie the third part of his inheritance during hir life with manie other lawes which the same Malcolme king of Scots obeied and which as well by them in Scotland as by vs in England be obserued to this day and directlie prooueth the whole to be then vnder his obeisance By reason of this law Malcolme the sonne of Duncane next inheritor to the crowne of Scotland being within age was by the nobles of Scotland deliuered as ward to the custodie also of king Edward During whose minoritie one Makebeth a Scot traitorouslie vsurped the crowne of Scotland Against whome the said Edward made warre in which the said Mackbeth was ouercome and slaine Wherevpon the said Malcolme was crowned king of Scots at Scone in the eight yeere of the reigne of king Edward aforesaid This Malcolme also by tenor of the said new law of wardship was married vnto Margaret the daughter of Edward sonne of Edmund Ironside and Agatha by the disposition of the same king Edward and at his full age did homage to this king Edward the Confessour for the kingdome of Scotland Moreouer Edward of England hauing no issue of his bodie and mistrusting that Harald the son of Goodwine descended of the daughter of Harald Harefoot the Dane would vsurpe the crowne if he should leaue it to his cousine Edgar Eatling being then within age and partlie by the petition of his subiects who before had sworne neuer to receiue anie kings ouer them of the Danish nation did by his substantiall will in writing as all our clergie writers affirme demise the crowne of great Britaine vnto William Bastard then duke of Normandie and to his heires constituting him his heire testamentarie Also there was proximitie in bloud betwéene them for Emme daughter of Richard duke of Normandie was wife vnto Etheldred on whom he begat Alured and this Edward and this William was son of Robert sonne of Richard brother of the whole bloud to the same Emme Whereby appeareth that this William was heire by title and not by conquest albeit that partlie to extinguish the mistrust of other titles and partlie for the glorie of his victorie he chalenged in the end the name of a conquerour and hath béene so written euer since the time of his arriuall Furthermore this William called the Bastard and the Conquerour supposed not his conquest perfect till he had likewise subdued the Scots Wherfore to bring the Scots to iust obeisance after his coronation as heire testamentarie to Edward the Confessour he entred Scotland where after a little resistance made by the inhabitants the said Malcolme then their king did homage to him at Abirnethie in Scotland for the kingdome of Scotland as to his superiour also by meane of his late conquest William surnamed Rufus sonne to this William called the Conquerour succéeded next in the throne of England to whome the said Malcolme king of Scots did like homage for the whole kingdome of Scotland But afterward he rebelled and was by this William Rufus slaine in plaine field Wherevpon the Scotishmen did choose one Donald or Dunwall to be their king But this William Rufus deposed him and created Dunkane sonne of Malcolme to be their king who did like homage to him Finallie this Dunkane was slaine by the Scots and Dunwall restored who once againe by this William Rufus was deposed and Edgar son of Malcolme and brother to the last Malcolme was by him made their king who did like homage for Scotland to this William Rufus Henrie called Beauelerke the sonne of William called the Conqueour after the death of his brother William Rufus succéeded to the crowne of England to whome the same Edgar king of Scots did homage for Scotland this Henrie Beauclerke maried Mawd the daughter of Malcome II. of Scots and by hir had issue Mawd afterward empresse Alexander the sonne of Malcolme brother to this Mawd was next king of Scots he did like homage for the kingdome of Scotland to this Henrie the first as Edgar had doone before him Mawd called the empresse daughter and heire to Henrie Beauclerke and Mawd his wife receiued homage of Dauid brother to hir and to this Alexander next king of Scots before all the temporall men of England for the kingdome of Scotland This Mawd the empresse gaue vnto Dauid in the marriage Mawd the daughter and heire of Uoldosius earle of Huntingdon Northumberland And herein their euasion appeareth by which they allege that their kings homages were made for the earledome of Huntingdon For this Dauid was the first that of their kings was earle of Huntingdon which was since all the homages of their kings before recited and at the time of this mariage long after the said Alexander his brother was king of Scots doing the homage aforesaid to Henrie Beauclerke son to the aforesaid ladie of whome I find this epitaph worthie to be remembred Ortu magna viro maior sed maxima partu Hic iacet Henrici filia sponsa parens In the yeere of our Lord 1136 and first yeere of the reigne of king Stephan the said Dauid king of Scots being required to doo his homage refused it for so much as he had doone homage to Mawd the empresse before time notwithstanding the sonne of the said Dauid did homage to king Stephan Henrie called Fitz empresse the sonne of Mawd the empresse daughter of Mawd daughter of Malcolme king of Scots was next king of England He receiued homage for Scotland of Malcolme sonne of Henrie sonne of the said Dauid their last king Which Malcolme after this homage attended vpon the same king Henrie in his warres against Lewis then king of France Whereby appeareth that their French league was neuer renewed after the last diuision of their countrie by Osbright king of England But after these warres finished with the French king this Malcolme being againe in Scotland rebelled wherevpon king Henrie immediatlie seized Huntingdon and Northumberland into his owne hands by confiscation and made warres vpon him in Scotland during which the same Malcolme died without issue of his bodie William brother of this Malcolme was next king of Scots he with all the nobles of
Scotland which could not be now for anie earledome did homage to the sonne of Henrie the second with a reseruation of the dutie to king Henrie the second his father Also the earledome of Huntingdon was as ye haue heard before this forfeited by Malcolme his brother and neuer after restored to the crowne of Scotland This William did afterward attend vpon the same Henrie the second in his warres in Normandie against the French king notwithstanding their French league and then being licenced to depart home in the tenth of this prince and vpon the fiftéenth of Februarie he returned and vpon the sixtéenth of October did homage to him for the realme of Scotland In token also of his perpetuall subiection to the crowne of England he offered vp his cloake his faddle and his speare at the high altar in Yorke wherevpon he was permitted to depart home into Scotland where immediatlie he mooued cruell warre in Northumberland against the same king Henrie being as yet in Normandie But God tooke the defense of king Henries part and deliuered the same William king of Scots into the hands of a few Englishmen who brought him prisoner to king Henrie into Normandie in the twentith yeere of his reigne But at the last at the sute of Dauid his brother Richard bishop of saint Andrews and other bishops and lords he was put to this fine for the amendment of his trespasse to wit to paie ten thousand pounds sterling and to surrender all his title to the earldome of Huntingdon Cumberland Northumberland into the hands of king Henrie which he did in all things accordinglie sealing his charters thereof with the great seale of Scotland and signets of his nobilitie yet to be seene wherein it was also comprised that he and his successours should hold the realme of Scotland of the king of England and his successours for euer And herevpon he once againe did homage to the same king Henrie which now could not be for the earledome of Huntingdon the right whereof was alreadie by him surrendred And for the better assurance of this faith also the strengths of Berwike Edenborough Roxborough and Striueling were deliuered into the hands of our king Henrie of England which their owne writers confesse But Hector Boetius saith that this trespasse was amended by fine of twentie thousand pounds sterling and that the erledome of Huntingdon Cumberland and Northumberland were deliuered as morgage into the hands of king Henrie vntill other ten thousand pounds sterling should be to him paid which is so farre from truth as Hector was while he liued from well meaning to our countrie But if we grant that it is true yet prooueth he not that the monie was paid nor the land otherwise redéemed or euer after came to anie Scotish kings hands And thus it appeareth that the earledome of Huntingdon was neuer occasion of the homages of the Scotish kings to the kings of England either before this time or after This was doone 1175. Moreouer I read this note hereof gathered out of Robertus Montanus or Montensis that liued in those daies and was as I take it confessor to king Henrie The king of Scots dooth homage to king Henrie for the kingdome of Scotland and is sent home againe his bishops also did promise to doo the like to the archbishop of Yorke and to acknowledge themselues to be of his prouince and iurisdiction By vertue also of this composition the said Robert saith that Rex Angliae dabat honores episcopatus abbatias alias dignitates in Scotia vel saltem eius consilio dabantur that is The king of England gaue honors bishopriks abbatships and other dignities in Scotland or at the leastwise they were not giuen without his aduise and counsell At this time Alexander bishop of Rome supposed to haue generall iurisdiction ecclesiasticall through christendome established the whole cleargie of Scotland according to the old lawes vnder the iurisdiction of the archbishop of Yorke In the yeare of our Lord 1185 in the moneth of August at Cairleill Rouland Talmant lord of Galwaie did homage and fealtie to the said king Henrie with all that held of him In the two and twentith yeare of the reigne of king Henrie the second Gilbert sonne of Ferguse prince of Galwaie did homage and fealtie to the said king Henrie and left Dunecan his sonne in hostage for conseruation of his peace Richard surnamed Coeur de Lion because of his stoutnesse and sonne of this Henrie was next king of England to whome the same William king of Scots did homage at Canturburie for the whole kingdome of Scotland This king Richard was taken prisoner by the duke of Ostrich for whose redemption the whole realme was taxed at great summes of monie vnto the which this William king of Scots as a subiect was contributorie and paied two thousand markes sterling In the yeare of our Lord 1199 Iohn king of England sent to William king of Scots to come and doo his homage which William came to Lincolne in the moneth of December the same yeare and did his homage vpon an hill in the presence of Hubert archbishop of Canturburie and of all the people there assembled and therevnto tooke his oth and was sworne vpon the crosse of the said Hubert also he granted by his charter confirmed that he should haue the mariage of Alexander his sonne as his liegeman alwaies to hold of the king of England promising moreouer that he the said king William and his sonne Alexander should keepe and hold faith and allegiance to Henrie sonne of the said king Iohn as to their chiefe lord against all maner of men that might liue and die Also whereas William king of Scots had put Iohn bishop of saint Andrew out of his bishoprike pope Clement wrote to Henrie king of England that he should mooue and induce the same William and if néed required by his roiall power and prerogatiue ouer that nation to compell him to leaue his rancor against the said bishop and suffer him to haue and occupie his said bishoprike againe In the yeare of our Lord 1216 and fiue twentith of the reigne of Henrie sonne to king Iohn the same Henrie and the quéene were at Yorke at the feast of Christmasse for the solemnization of a marriage made in the feast of saint Stephan the martyr the same yeare betwéene Alexander king of Scots and Margaret the kings daughter and there the said Alexander did homage to Henrie king of England for all the realme of Scotland In buls of diuerse popes were admonitions giuen to the kings of Scots as appeareth by that of Gregorie the fift and Clement his successor that they should obserue and trulie kéepe all such appointments as had béene made betwéene the kings of England and Scotland And that the kings of Scotland should still hold the realme of Scotland of the kings of England vpon paine of cursse and interdiction After the death of Alexander king of Scots Alexander his sonne
being nine yeares of age was by the lawes of Edgar in ward to king Henrie the third by the nobles of Scotland brought to Yorke and there deliuered vnto him During whose minoritie king Henrie gouerned Scotland and to subdue a commotion in this realme vsed the aid of fiue thousand Scotishmen But king Henrie died during the nonage of this Alexander whereby he receiued not his homage which by reason and law was respited vntill his full age of one and twentie yeares Edward the first after the conquest sonne of this Henrie was next king of England immediatlie after whose coronation Alexander king of Scots being then of full age did homage to him for Scotland at Westminster swearing as all the rest did after this maner I. D. N. king of Scots shall be true and faithfull vnto you lord E. by the grace of God king of England the noble and superior lord of the kingdome of Scotland and vnto you I make my fidelitie for the same kingdome the which I hold and claime to hold of you And I shall beare you my faith and fidelitie of life and lim and worldlie honour against all men faithfullie I shall knowlege and shall doo you seruice due vnto you of the kingdome of Scotland aforesaid as God me so helpe and these holie euangelies This Alexander king of Scots died leauing one onelie daughter called Margaret for his heire who before had maried Hanigo sonne to Magnus king of Norwaie which daughter also shortlie after died leauing one onelie daughter hir heire of the age of two yeares whose custodie and mariage by the lawes of king Edgar and Edward the confessor belonged to Edward the first whervpon the nobles of Scotland were commanded by our king Edward to send into Norwaie to conueie this yoong queene into England to him whome he intended to haue maried to his sonne Edward and so to haue made a perfect vnion long wished for betwéene both realmes Herevpon their nobles at that time considering the same tranquillitie that manie of them haue since refused stood not vpon shifts and delaies of minoritie nor contempt but most gladlie consented and therevpon sent two noble men of Scotland into Norwaie for hir to be brought to this king Edward but she died before their comming thither and therefore they required nothing but to inioie the lawfull liberties that they had quietlie possessed in the last king Alexanders time After the death of this Margaret the Scots were destitute of anie heire to the crowne from this Alexander their last king at which time this Edward descended from the bodie of Mawd daughter of Malcolme sometime king of Scots being then in the greatest broile of his warres with France minded not to take the possession of that kingdome in his owne right but was contented to establish Balioll to be king thereof the weake title betwéene him Bruse Hastings being by the humble petition of all the realme of Scotland cōmitted to the determination of king Edward wherein by autentike writing they confessed the superioritie of the realme to remaine in king Edward sealed with the seales of foure bishops seuen earles and twelue barons of Scotland and which shortlie after was by the whole assent of the three estates of Scotland in their solemne parlement confessed and enacted accordinglie as most euidentlie dooth appeare The Balioll in this wise made king of Scotland did immediatlie make his homage and fealtie at Newcastell vpon saint Stéeuens daie as did likewise all the lords of Scotland each one setting his hand to the composition in writing to king Edward of England for the kingdome of Scotland but shortlie after defrauding the benigne goodnesse of his superiour he rebelled and did verie much hurt in England Herevpon king Edward inuaded Scotland seized into his hands the greater part of the countrie and tooke all the strengths thereof Whervpon Balioll king of Scots came vnto him to Mauntrosse in Scotland with a white wand in his hand and there resigned the crowne of Scotland with all his right title and interest to the same into the hands of king Edward and thereof made his charter in writing dated and sealed the fourth yeare of his reigne All the nobles and gentlemen of Scotland also repaired to Berwike and did homage and fealtie to king Edward there becomming his subiects For the better assurance of whose oths also king Edward kept all the strengths and holdes of Scotland in his owne hands and herevpon all their lawes processes all iudgements gifts of assises and others passed vnder the name and authoritie of king Edward Leland touching the same rehearsall writeth thereof in this maner In the yeare of our Lord 1295 the same Iohn king of Scots contrarie to his faith and allegiance rebelled against king Edward and came into England and burnt and siue without all modestie and mercie Wherevpon king Edward with a great host went to Newcastell vpon Tine passed the water of Twéed besieged Berwike and got it Also he wan the castell of Dunbar and there were slaine at this brunt 15700 Scots Then he proceeded further and gat the castell of Rokesborow and the castell of Edenborow Striuelin and Gedworth and his people harried all the land In the meane season the said king Iohn of Scots considering that he was not of power to withstand king Edward sent his letters and besought him of treatie and peace which our prince benignlie granted and sent to him againe that he should come to the towre of Brechin and bring thither the great lords of Scotland with him The king of England sent thither Antonie Becke bishop of Durham with his roiall power to conclude the said treatise And there it was agreed that the said Iohn and all the Scots should vtterlie submit themselues to the kings will And to the end the submission should be performed accordinglie the king of Scots laid his sonne in hostage and pledge vnto him There also he made his letters sealed with the common scale of Scotland by the which he knowledging his simplenes and great offense doone to his lord king Edward of England by his full power and frée will yeelded vp all the land of Scotland with all the people and homage of the same Then our king went foorth to sée the mounteins and vnderstanding that all was in quiet and peace he turned to the abbeie of Scone which was of chanons regular where he tooke the stone called the Regall of Scotland vpon which the kings of that nation were woont to sit at the time of their coronations for a throne sent it to the abbeie of Westminster commanding to make a chaire therof for the priests that should sing masse at the high altar which chaire was made and standeth yet there at this daie to be séene In the yeare of our Lord 1296 the king held his parlement at Berwike and there he tooke homage singularlie of diuerse of the lords nobles of Scotland And for a perpetuall memorie of the same they
by Edward Balioll wherof our chronicles doo report that in the yéere of our Lord 1326 Edward the third king of England was crowned at Westminster and in the fift yeare of his reigne Edward Balioll right heire to the kingdome of Scotland came in and claimed it as due to him Sundrie lords and gentlemen also which had title to diuerse lands there either by themselues or by their wiues did the like Wherevpon the said Balioll and they went into Scotland by sea and landing at Kinghorns with 3000 Englishmen discomfited 10000 Scots and flue 1200 and then went foorth to Dunfermeline where the Scots assembled against them with 40000 men and in the feast of saint Laurence at a place called Gastmore or otherwise Gladmore were slaine fiue earls thirtéene barons a hundred and thrée score knights two thousand men of armes and manie other in all fortie thousand and there were staine on the English part but thirtéene persons onelie if the number be not corrupted In the eight yeare of the reigne of king Edward he assembled a great hoast and came to Berwike vpon Twéed and laid siege therto To him also came Edward Balioll king of Scots with a great power to strengthen aid him against the Scots who came out of Scotland in foure batels well armed araied Edward king of England and Edward king of Scots apparrelled their people either of them in foure battels and vpon Halidon hill beside Berwike met these two hoasts and there were discomfited of the Scots fiue and twentie thousand and seauen hundred whereof were slaine eight earles a thousand and thrée hundred knights and gentlemen This victorie doone the king returned to Berwike then the towne with the castell were yéelded vp vnto him In the eight yeare of the reigne of king Edward of England Edward Balioll king of Scots came to Newcastell vpon Tine and did homage for all the realme of Scotland In the yeare of our Lord 1346 Dauid Bruse by the prouocation of the king of France rebelled and came into England with a great hoast vnto Neuils crosse but the archbishop of Yorke with diuerse temporall men fought with him and the said king of Scots was taken and William earle of Duglas with Morrise earle of Strathorne were brought to London and manie other lords slaine which with Dauid did homage to Edward king of England And in the thirtith yeare of the kings reigne and the yeare of our Lord 1355 the Scots woone the towne of Berwicke but not the castell Herevpon the king came thither with a great hoast and anon the towne was yéelded vp without anie resistance Edward Balioll considering that God did so manie maruellous and gratious things for king Edward at his owne will gaue vp the crowne and the realme of Scotland to king Edward of England at Rokesborough by his letters patents And anon after the king of England in presence of all his lords spirituall and temporall let crowne himselfe king there of the realme of Scotland ordeined all things to his intent and so came ouer into England Richard the sonne of Edward called the Blacke prince sonne of this king Edward was next king of England who for that the said Iane the wife of the said king Dauid of Scotland was deceassed without issue and being informed how the Scots deuised to their vttermost power to breake the limitation of this inheritance touching the crowne of Scotland made foorthwith war against them wherein he burnt Edenbrough spoiled all their countrie tooke all their holds held continuallie war against them vntill his death which was Anno Dom. 1389. Henrie the fourth of that name was next king of England he continued these warres begun against them by king Richard and ceassed not vntill Robert king of Scots the third of that name resigned his crowne by appointment of this king Henrie and deliuered his sonne Iames being then of the age of nine yeares into his hands to remaine at his custodie wardship and disposition as of his superiour lord according to the old lawes of king Edward the confessor All this was doone Anno Dom. 1404 which was within fiue yeares after the death of king Richard This Henrie the fourth reigned in this estate ouer them fouretéene yeares Henrie the fift of that name sonne to this king Henrie the fourth was next king of England He made warres against the French king in all which this Iames then king of Scots attended vpon him as vpon his superiour lord with a conuenient number of Scots notwithstanding their league with France But this Henrie reigned but nine yeares whereby the homage of this Iames their king hauing not fullie accomplished the age of one twentie yeares was by reason and law respited Finallie the said Iames with diuerse other lords attended vpon the corps of the said Henrie vnto Westminster as to his dutie apperteined Henrie the sixt the sonne of this Henrie the fift was next king of England to whome the seigniorie of Scotland custodie of this Iames by right law and reason descended married the same Iames king of Scots to Iane daughter of Iohn earle of Summerset at saint Marie ouer Ise in Southwarke and tooke for the value of this mariage the summe of one hundred thousand markes starling This Iames king of Scots at his full age did homage to the same king Henrie the sixt for the kingdome of Scotland at Windsore in the moneth of Ianuarie Since which time vntill the daies of king Henrie the seuenth grandfather to our souereigne ladie that now is albeit this realme hath béene molested with diuersitie of titles in which vnmeet time neither law nor reason admit prescription to the preiudice of anie right yet did king Edward the fourth next king of England by preparation of war against the Scots in the latter end of his reigne sufficientlie by all lawes induce to the continuance of his claime to the same superioritie ouer them After whose death vnto the beginning of the reigne of our souereigne lord king Henrie the eight excéeded not the number of seauen and twentie yeares about which time the impediment of our claime of the Scots part chanced by the nonage of Iames their last king which so continued the space of one and twentie yeares And like as his minoritie was by all law and reason an impediment to himselfe to make homage so was the same by like reason an impediment to the king of this realme to demand anie so that the whole time of intermission of our claime in the time of the said king Henrie the eight is deduced vnto the number of thirteene yeares And thus much for this matter Of the wall sometime builded for a partition betweene England and the Picts and Scots Chap. 23. HAuing hitherto discoursed vpon the title of the kings of England vnto the Scotish kingdome I haue now thought good to adde here vnto the description of two walles that were in times past limits vnto both the said regions and therefore to
to supplie those turnes with no lesse skill than their husbands which is an hard worke for the poore butcher sith he through this means can seldome be rich or wealthie by his trade In like sort the flesh of our oxen and kine is sold both by hand and by weight as the buier will but in yoong ware rather by weight especiallie for the stéere and heighfer sith the finer béefe is the lightest wheras the flesh of buls and old kine is of sadder substance and therefore much heauier as it lieth in the scale Their hornes also are knowne to be more faire and large in England than in anie other places except those which are to be séene among the Paeones which quantitie albeit that it be giuen to our bréed generallie by nature yet it is now and then helped also by art For when they be verie yoong manie grasiers will oftentimes annoint their budding hornes or tender tips with honie which mollifieth the naturall hardnesse of that substance and thereby maketh them to grow vnto a notable greatnesse Certes it is not strange in England to sée oxen whose hornes haue the length of a yard or thrée foot betweene the tips and they themselues thereto so tall as the heigth of a man of meane and indifferent stature is scarse equall vnto them Neuerthelesse it is much to be lamented that our generall bréed of catell is not better looked vnto for the greatest occupiers weane least store bicause they can buie them as they saie far better cheape than to raise and bring them vp In my time a cow hath risen from foure nobles to foure marks by this means which notwithstanding were no great price if they did yearelie bring foorth more than one calfe a péece as I heare they doo in other countries Our horsses moreouer are high and although not commonlie of such huge greatnesse as in other places of the maine yet if you respect the easinesse of their pase it is hard to saie where their like are to be had Our land dooth yéeld no asses and therefore we want the generation also of mules and somers and therefore the most part of our cariage is made by these which remaining stoned are either reserued for the cart or appointed to beare such burdens as are conuenient for them Our cart or plough horsses for we vse them indifferentlie are commonlie so strong that fiue or six of them at the most will draw thrée thousand weight of the greatest tale with ease for a long iourneie although it be not a load of common vsage which consisteth onelie of two thousand or fiftie foot of timber fortie bushels of white salt or six and thirtie of baie or fiue quarters of wheat experience dailie teacheth and I haue elsewhere remembred Such as are kept also for burden will carie foure hundred weight commonlie without anie hurt or hinderance This furthermore is to be noted that our princes and the nobilitie haue their cariage commonlie made by carts wherby it commeth to passe that when the quéenes maiestie dooth remooue from anie one place to another there are vsuallie 400 carewares which amount to the summe of 2400 horsses appointed out of the countries adioining whereby hir cariage is conueied safelie vnto the appointed place Hereby also the ancient vse of somers and sumpter horsses is in maner vtterlie relinquished which causeth the traines of our princes in their progresses to shew far lesse than those of the kings of other nations Such as serue for the saddle are commonlie gelded and now growne to be verie déere among vs especiallie if they be well coloured iustlie limmed and haue thereto an easie ambling pase For our countriemen séeking their ease in euerie corner where it is to be had delight verie much in these qualities but chieflie in their excellent pases which besides that it is in maner peculiar vnto horsses of our soile and not hurtfull to the rider or owner sitting on their backes it is moreouer verie pleasant and delectable in his eares in that the noise of their well proportioned pase dooth yéeld comfortable sound as he trauelleth by the waie Yet is there no greater deceipt vsed anie where than among our horssekeepers horssecorsers and hostelers for such is the subtill knauerie of a great sort of them without exception of anie of them be it spoken which deale for priuat gaine that an honest meaning man shall haue verie good lucke among them if he be not deceiued by some false tricke or other There are certeine notable markets wherein great plentie of horsses and colts is bought and sold and wherevnto such as haue néed resort yearelie to buie and make their necessarie prouision of them as Rippon Newport pond Wolfpit Harborow and diuerse other But as most drouers are verie diligent to bring great store of these vnto those places so manie of them are too too lewd in abusing such as buie them For they haue a custome to make them looke faire to the eie when they come within two daies iourneie of the market to driue them till they sweat for the space of eight or twelue houres which being doone they turne them all ouer the backs into some water where they stand for a season and then go forward with them to the place appointed where they make sale of their infected ware and such as by this meanes doo fall into manie diseases and maladies Of such outlandish horsses as are dailie brought ouer vnto vs I speake not as the genet of Spaine the courser of Naples the hobbie of Ireland the Flemish roile and Scotish nag bicause that further spéech of them commeth not within the compasse of this treatise and for whose breed and maintenance especiallie of the greatest sort king Henrie the eight erected a noble studderie and for a time had verie good successe with them till the officers waxing wearie procured a mixed brood of bastard races whereby his good purpose came to little effect Sir Nicholas Arnold of late hath bred the best horsses in England and written of the maner of their production would to God his compasse of ground were like to that of Pella in Syria wherin the king of that nation had vsuallie a studderie of 30000 mares and 300 stallions as Strabo dooth remember Lib. 16. But to leaue this let vs sée what may be said of sheepe Our shéepe are verie excellent sith for sweetnesse of flesh they passe all other And so much are our woolles to be preferred before those of Milesia and other places that if Iason had knowne the value of them that are bred and to be had in Britaine he would neuer haue gone to Colchis to looke for anie there For as Dionysius Alexandrinus saith in his De situ orbis it may by spinning be made comparable to the spiders web What fooles then are our countrimen in that they séeke to bereue themselues of this commoditie by practising dailie how to transfer the same to other nations in
other like creatures could not haue extended into our Ilands For that anie man would of set purpose replenish the countrie with them for his pleasure and pastime in hunting I can in no wise beléeue Of foxes we haue some but no great store and also badgers in our sandie light grounds where woods firzes broome and plentie of shrubs are to shrowd them in when they be from their borrowes and thereto warrens of conies at hand to féed vpon at will Otherwise in claie which we call the cledgie mould we sildom heare of anie bicause the moisture and toughnesse of the soile is such as will not suffer them to draw and make their borrowes déepe Certes if I may fréelie saie what I thinke I suppose that these two kinds I meane foxes and badgers are rather preserued by gentlemen to hunt and haue pastime withall at their owne pleasures than otherwise suffered to liue as not able to be destroied bicause of their great numbers For such is the scantitie of them here in England in comparison of the plentie that is to be seene in other countries and so earnestlie are the inhabitants bent to root them out that except it had béene to beare thus with the recreations of their superiors in this behalfe it could not otherwise haue béene chosen but that they should haue béene vtterlie destroied by manie yeares agone I might here intreat largelie of other vermine as the polcat the miniuer the weasell stote fulmart squirrill fitchew and such like which Cardan includeth vnder the word Mustela also of the otter and likewise of the beuer whose hinder féet and taile onlie are supposed to be fish Certes the taile of this beast is like vnto a thin whetstone as the bodie vnto a monsterous rat the beast also it selfe is of such force in the téeth that it will gnaw an hole through a thicke planke or shere thorough a dubble billet in a night it loueth also the stillest riuers it is giuen to them by nature to go by flockes vnto the woods at hand where they gather sticks wherewith to build their nests wherein their bodies lie drie aboue the water although they so prouide most commonlie that they tailes may hang within the same It is also reported that their said tailes are a delicate dish and their stones of such medicinable force that as Vertomannus saith foure men smelling vnto them each after other did bleed at the nose through their attractiue force procéeding from a vehement sauour wherewith they are indued ther is greatest plentie of them in Persia chéefelie about Balascham from whence they and their dried cods are brought into all quarters of the world though not without some forgerie by such as prouide them And of all these here remembred as the first sorts are plentifull in euerie wood and hedgerow so these latter especiallie the otter for to saie the truth we haue not manie beuers but onelie in the Teisie in Wales is not wanting or to séeke in manie but most streams and riuers of this I le but it shall suffice in this sort to haue named them as I doo finallie the marterne a beast of the chase although for number I worthilie doubt whether that of our beuers or marterns may be thought to be the lesse Other pernicious beasts we haue not except you repute the great plentie of red fallow déere whose colours are oft garled white and blacke all white or all blacke and store of conies amongst the hurtfull fort Which although that of themselues they are not offensiue at all yet their great numbers are thought to be verie preiudiciall and therfore iustlie reprooued of many as are in like sort our huge flocks of shéepe whereon the greatest part of our soile is emploied almost in euerie place and yet our mutton wooll and selles neuer the better cheape The yoong males which our fallow deere doo bring foorth are commonlie named according to their seuerall ages for the first yéere it is a sawne the second a puckot the third a â—â—rell the fourth a soare the fift a bucke of the first head not bearing the name of a bucke till he be fiue yéers old and from hencefoorth his age is commonlie knowne by his head or horns Howbeit this notice of his yéers is not so certeine but that the best woodman may now and then he deceiued in that account for in some grounds a bucke of the first head will be so well headed as another in a high rowtie soile will be in the fourth It is also much to be maruelled at that whereas they doo yéerelie new and cast their horns yet in fighting they neuer breake off where they doo grife or mew Furthermore in examining the condition of our red déere I find that the yoong male is called in the first yéere a calfe in the second a broket the third a spaie the fourth a stagon or stag the fift a great stag the sixt an hart and so foorth vnto his death And with him in degrée of venerie are accounted the hare bore and woolfe The fallow déere as bucks and does are nourished in parkes and conies in warrens and burrowes As for hares they run at their owne aduenture except some gentleman or other for his pleasure doo make an inclosure for them Of these also the stag is accounted for the most noble game the fallow déere is the next then the roe whereof we haue indifferent store and last of all the hare not the least in estimation because the hunting of that seelie beast is mother to all the terms blasts and artificiall deuises that hunters doo vse All which notwithstanding our custome are pastimes more méet for ladies and gentlewomen to exercise whatsoeuer Franciscus Patritius saith to the contrarie in his institution of a prince than for men of courage to follow whose hunting should practise their armes in tasting of their manhood and dealing with such beasts as eftsoones will turne againe and offer them the hardest rather than their horsses féet which manie times may carrie them with dishonour from the field Surelie this noble kind of hunting onelie did great princes frequent in times past as it may yet appéere by the histories of their times especiallie of Alexander who at vacant times hunted the tiger the pard the bore and the beare but most willinglie lions because of the honorable estimation of that beast insomuch that at one time he caused an od or chosen lion for force and beautie to be let foorth vnto him hand to hand with whome he had much businesse albeit that in the end he ouerthrew and killed the beast Herevnto beside that which we read of the vsuall hunting of the princes and kings of Scotland of the wild bull woolfe c the example of king Henrie the first of England who disdaining as he termed them to follow or pursue cowards cherished of set purpose sundrie kinds of wild beasts as bears libards ounces lions at Woodstocke one
be a let but that when a bishop should be consecrated there might be thrée or foure present Also touching the bishops of France he willed Augustine in no wise to intermeddle with them otherwise than by exhortation and good admonition to be giuen but not to presume anie thing by authoritie sith the archbishop of Arles had receiued the pall in times past whose authoritie he might not diminish least he should séeme to put his sickle into another mans haruest But as for the bishops of Britaine he committed them vnto him that the vnlearned might be taught the weake with wholesome persuasions strengthened and the froward by authoritie reformed Moreouer that a woman with child might be baptised and she that was deliuered after 33 daies of a manchild and after 46 daies of a woman-child should be purified but yet might she enter the church before if she would The residue of Augustines demands consisted in these points to wit 1 Within what space a child should be christened after it was borne for doubt to be preuented by death 2 Within what time a man might companie with his wife after she was brought to bed 3 Whether a woman hauing hir floures might enter the church or receiue the communion 4 Whether a man hauing had companie with his wife might enter the church or receiue the communion before he was washed with water 5 Whether after pollusion by night in dreames a man might receiue the communion or if he were a priest whether he might say masse To these questions Gregorie maketh answere at full in the booke and place before cited which for bréefenesse we passe ouer He sent also at that time with the messengers aforesaid at their returne into England diuers learned men to helpe Augustine in the haruest of the Lord. The names of the chiefest were these Melitus Iustus Paulinus and Ruffinianus He sent also the pall which is the ornament of an archbishop with vessels and apparell which should be vsed in churches by the archbishop and other ministers He sent also with the pall other letters to Augustine to let him vnderstand what number of bishops he would haue him to ordeine within this land Also after that Melitus and the other before mentioned persons were departed from Rome he sent a letter vnto the same Melitus being yet on his way toward Britaine touching further matter concerning the churches of England wherein he confesseth that manie things are permitted to be vsed of the people latelie brought from the errors of gentilitie in keeping feasts on the dedication daies which haue resemblance with the old superstitious rites of the Pagan religion For to hard and obstinate minds saith he it is not possible to cut away all things at once for he that coueteth to the highest place goeth vp by steps and not by leaps At the same time Gregorie did send letters vnto Augustine touching the miracles which by report he vnderstood were shewed by the fame Augustine counselling him in no wise to glorie in the same but rather in reioising to feare and consider that God gaue him the gift to worke such signes for the wealth of them to whom he was sent to preach the gospell he aduised him therefore to beware of vaine-glorie and presumption for the disciples of the truth faith he haue no ioy but onlie that which is common with all men of which there is no end for not euerie one that is elect worketh miracles but euerie of the elect haue their names written in heauen These letters with the other which Gregorie sent at this time vnto Augustine were dated the tenth day of the kalends of Iulie in the yéere of our Lord 602 which was the 19 yeere of the emperour Mauricius Moreouer he sent most courteous letters by these messengers to king Ethelbert in the which he greatlie commended him in that he had receiued the christian faith and exhorted him to continue in that most holie state of life whereby he might worthilie looke for reward at the hands of almightie God What reparations and foundations Augustine finished for clergimen to the supportation of the church the building of Paules in London and saint Peters in Westminster vncerteine a prouinciall councell called by Augustine he restoreth a blind man to his sight the Britains are hardlie weaned from their old custome of beliefe an heremits opinion of Augustine he requireth three things to be obserued of the Britains he ordeineth bishops at London and Rochester Sabert reigneth ouer the Eastsaxons Augustine dieth and is buried The xxj Chapter THus farre we haue waded in the forme and maner of conuerting the English nation to christianitie by the labours of Augustine and his coadiutors now therefore that we may orderlie procéed it remaineth that we say somewhat of the acts and déeds of the said Augustine of whom we read that after he was established archbishop and had his sée appointed him at Canturburie he restored another church in that citie which had béene erected there in times past by certeine of the Romans that were christians and did dedicate the same now to the honour of Christ our Sauiour He also began the foundation of a monasterie without that citie standing toward the east in the which by his exhortation king Ethelbert built a church euen from the ground which was dedicated vnto the holie apostles Peter and Paule in the which the bodie of the said Augustine was buried and likewise the bodies of all the archbishops of Canturburie and kings of Kent a long time after This abbie was called saint Austins after his name one Peter being the first abbat thereof The church there was not consecrated by Augustine but by his successor Laurence after he was dead Moreouer king Ethelbert at the motion of Augustine built a church in the citie of London which he latelie had conquered and dedicated it vnto saint Paule but whether he builded or restored this church of saint Paule it may be doubted for there be diuers opinions of the building thereof Some haue written that it was first builded by king Lud as before is mentioned Other againe write that it was builded afterward by Sigebert king of the Eastsaxons Also king Ethelbert builded the church of saint Andrews in Rochester It is likewise remembred by writers that the same king Ethelbert procured a citizens of London to build a church to S. Peter without the citie of London toward the west in a place then called Thorney that is to say the I le of thorns and now called Westminster though others haue written that it was built by Lucius king of Britaine or rather by Sibert king of the Eastsaxons This church was either newlie built or greatlie inlarged by king Edward surnamed the Confessor and after that the third Henrie king of England did make there a beautifull monasterie and verie richlie indowed the same with great possessions and sumptuous iewels The place was ouergrowne with vnderwoods as thornes and brambles before that the church was begun to be builded there in this king Ethelberts
Englishmen that after the conquest when the Normans oftentimes went about to abrogate the same there chanced no small mutinies and rebellions for reteining of those lawes But heere is to be noted that although they were called saint Edwards lawes they were for the more part made by king Edgar but now by king Edward restored after they had bin abrogated for a time by the Danes About this time earle Goodwine died suddenlie as some haue recorded as he sat at table with the king and vpon talke ministred of the death of Alfred the kings brother to excuse himselfe he tooke a peece of bread and did eate it saieng God let me neuer swallow this bread downe into my chest but that I may presentlie be choked therewith if euer I was weetting or consenting vnto Alfreds death and immediatlie therewith he fell downe starke dead Other say that he ended his life at Winchester where being suddenlie surprised with sicknesse as he sat at the table with the king vpon an Easter monday yet he liued till the Thursday following and then died His earledome was giuen vnto his sonne Harold and Harolds earledome which was Oxford was giuen vnto Algar the sonne of Leofrike This Goodwine as he was a man of great power wise hardie and politike so was he ambitious desirous to beare rule and loth that anie other person should passe him in authoritie But yet whether all be true that writers report of his malicious practises to bring himselfe and his sonnes to the chiefe seat of gouernement in the kingdome or that of hatred such slanders were raised of him it may of some perhaps be doubted because that in the daies of king Edward which was a soft and gentle prince he bare great rule and authoritie and so might procure to himselfe euill report for euerie thing that chanced amisse as oftentimes it commeth to passe in such cases where those that haue great dooings in the gouernement of the common wealth are commonlie euill spoken of and that now and then without their guilt But truth it is that Goodwine being in authoritie both in the daies of king Edward and his predecessors did manie things as should appeare by writers more by will than by law and so likewise did his sonnes vpon presumption of the great puissance that they and their father were of within the realme He had to wife Editha the sister of king Cnute of whome he begat thrée sonnes as some write that is to say Harold Biorne Tostie also his daughter Editha whome he found meanes to bestow in mariage vpon K. Edward as before ye haue heard But other write that he had but one son by Cnutes sister the which in riding of a rough horsse was throwen into the riuer of Thames and so drowned His mother also was stricken with a thunderbolt so perished worthilie as is reported for hir naughtie dooings She vsed to buy great numbers of yoong persons and namelie maids that were of anie excellent beautie and personage whome she sent ouer into Denmarke and there sold them to hir most advantage After hir deceasse as the same authors record Goodwine maried another woman by whome he had issue six sonnes Swanus or Swaine Harrold Tostie or Tosto Wilnot Girth and Leofrike of whom further mention is shall be made as places conuenient shall serue thereto Edward earle of Northumberland discomfiteth Mackbeth the vsurper of the Scotish kingdome and placeth Malcolme in the same a controuersie whether Siward were at this discomfiture or no his stout words when he heard that one of his sonnes was slaine in the field bishop Aldred is sent to fetch home Edward the sonne of K. Edmund Ironside into England earle Algar being banished ioineth with the Welshmen against the English and Normans and getteh the victorie Harold the son of earle Goodwine putteth earle Algar his retinue to their shifts by pursute pacification betweene the generals of both armies their hosts Siward earle of Northumberland dieth his giantlike stature his couragious heart at the time of his deceasse why Tostie one of Goodwins sonnes succeeded him in the earledome The fift Chapter ABout the thirteenth yeare of king Edward his reigne as some write or rather about the nineteéenth or twentith yeare as should appeare by the Scotish writers Siward the noble earle of Northumberland with a great power of horssemen went into Scotland and in battell put to flight Mackbeth that had vsurped the crowne of Scotland and that doone placed Malcolme surnamed Camoir the sonne of Duncane sometime king of Scotland in the gouernement of that realme who afterward slue the said Mackbeth and then reigned in quiet Some of our English writers say that this Malcolme was king of Cumberland but other report him to be sonne to the king of Cumberland But héere is to be noted that if Mackbeth reigned till the yeare 1061 and was then slaine by Malcolme earle Siward was not at that battell for as our writers doo testifie he died in the yeare 1055 which was in the yeare next after as the same writers affirme that he vanquished Mackbeth in fight and slue manie thousands of Scots and all those Normans which as ye haue heard were withdrawen into Scotland when they were driuen out of England It is recorded also that in the foresaid battell in which earle Siward vanquished the Scots one of Siwards sonnes chanced to be slaine whereof although the father had good cause to be sorowfull yet when he heard that he died of a wound which he had receiued in fighting stoutlie in the forepart of his bodie and that with his face towards the enimie he greatlie reioised thereat to heare that he died so manfullie But here is to be noted that not now but a little before as Henrie Hunt saith that earle Siward went into Scotland himselfe in person he sent his sonne with an armie to conquere the land whose hap was there to be slaine and when his father heard the newes he demanded whether he receiued the wound whereof he died in the forepart of of the bodie or in the hinder part and when it was told him that he receiued it in the forepart I reioise saith he euen with all my heart for I would not wish either to my sonne nor to my selfe any other kind of death Shortlie after Aldred the bishop of Worcester was sent vnto the emperour Henrie the third to fetch Edward the sonne of Edmund Iron side into England whome king Edward was desirâ—us to sée meaning to ordeine him heire apparant to the crowne but he died the same yeare after he came into England This Edward was surnamed the outlaw his bodie was buried at Winchester or as an other saith in the church of S. Pauls in London ¶ About the same time K. Edward by euill counsell I wot not vpon what occasion but as it is thought without cause banished Algar the sonne of earle Leofrike wherevpon he got him into
Ireland and there prouiding 18 ships of rouers returned landing in Wales ioined himselfe with Griffin the king or prince of Wales and did much hurt on the borders about Hereford of which place Rafe was then earle that was sonne vnto Goda the sister of K. Edward by hir first husband Gualter de Maunt. This earle assembling an armie came forth to giue battell to the enimies appointing the Englishmen contrarie to their manner to fight on horssebacke but being readie on the two twentith of October to giue the onset in a place not past two miles from Hereford he with his Frenchmen and Normans fled and so the rest were discomfited whome the aduersaries pursued and slue to the number of 500 beside such as were hurt and escaped with life Griffin and Algar hauing obteined this victorie entered into the towne of Hereford set the minster on fire slue seuen of the canons that stood to defend the doores or gates of the principall church and finallie spoiled and burned the towne miserablie The king aduertised hereof gathered an armie ouer the which Harold the sonne of earle Goodwine was made generall who followed vpon the enimies that fled before him into Northwales staied not till hauing passed through Stratâ—luid he came to the mountaines of Snowdon where he pitched his field The enimies durst not abide him but got them into Southwales whereof Harold being aduertised left the more part of his armie in Northwales to resist the enimies there with the residue of his people came backe vnto Hereford recouered the towne and caused a great and mightie trench to be cast round about it with an high rampire and fensed it with gates and other fortifications After this he did so much that comming to a communication with Griffin and Algar at a place called Biligelhage a peace was concluded and so the nauie of earle Algar sailed about and came to Chester there to remaine till the men of warre and marriners had their wages while he went to the king who pardoned his offense restored him to his earledome After this in the verie same yeare being the 15 of king Edwards reigne as some writers affirme Siward the noble earle of Northumberland died of the slix of whom it is said that when he perceiued the houre of death to be néere he caused him selfe to be put in armour set vp in his chaire affirming that a knight and a man of honour ought to die in that sort rather than lieng on a couch like a féeble and fainthearted creature and sitting so vpright in his chaire armed at all points he ended his life and was buried at Yorke O stout harted man not vnlike to that famous Romane remembred by Tullie in his Tusculane questions who suffered the sawing of his leg from his bodie without shrinking looking vpon the surgeon all the while hauing no part of his bodie bound for shrinking The said Siward earle of Northumberland was a man of a giantlike stature thereto of a verie stout and hardie courage because his sonne Walteif was but an infant and as yet not out of his cradell the earledome was giuen vnto earle Tostle one of Goodwins sonnes Edward the sonne of Edmund Ironside is sent for to be made heire apparant to crowne his death the deceasse of Leofrike earle of Chester the vertues and good deeds of him and his wife Gudwina Couentrie free from custome and toll churches and religious places builded and repared Algar succeedeth his father Leofrike in the earledome he is accused of treason and banished he recouereth his earledome by force of armes Harold is sent with a power against Griffin king of Wales the countrie wasted and the people forced to yeeld they renounce Griffin their king kill him and send his head to Harold Griffins brethren rule Wales after him by grant of king Edward Harolds infortunate going ouer into Normandie the earle of Ponthieu taketh him prisoner and releaseth him at the request of William duke of Normandie for whose vse Harold sweareth to keepe possession of the realme of England the duke promiseth him his daughter in mariage The sixt Chapter NOt long after in the yeare 1057 Aldred bishop of Worcester was sent ouer vnto the emperour Henrie the third to fetch Edward the sonne of Edmund Ironside into England whome king Edward was desirous to sée meaning to ordeine him heire apparant to the crowne but he died the same yeare after that he was returned into England This Edward was surnamed the outlaw his bodie was buried at Westminster or as others say in the church of S. Paule within London The same yeare that is to say in the seuentéenth yeare or in the sixtéenth yeare of king Edwards reigne as some write Leofrike the noble earle of Chester or Mercia that was sonne to duke Leofwine departed this life in his owne towne of Bromelie on the last day of August and was buried at Couentrie in the abbeie there which he had builded This earle Leofrike was a man of great honor wise and discréet in all his dooings His high wisdome and policie stood the realme in great stéed whilest he liued He had a noble ladie to his wife named Gudwina at whose earnest sute he made the citie of Couentrie frée of all manner of toll except horsses and to haue that toll laid downe also his foresaid wife rode naked through the middest of the towne without other couerture saue onlie hir haire Moreouer partlie moued by his owne deuotion and partlie by the persuasion of his wife he builded or beneficiallie augmented and repared manie abbeies churches as the said abbeie or priorie at Couentrie the abbeies of Wenlocke Worcester Stone Euesham and Leof besides Hereford Also he builded two churches within the citie of Chester the one called S. Iohns and the other S. Werbrough The value of the iewels ornaments which he bestowed on the abbeie church of Couentrie was inestimable After Leofriks death his sonne Algar was made earle and intituled in all his lands and seigniories In the yeare following to wit 1058 the same Algar was accused againe through malice of some enuious persons of treason so that he was exiled the land wherevpon he repaired againe vnto his old friend Griffin prince of Northwales of whome he was ioifullie receiued shortlie after by his aid also by the power of a nauie of ships that by chance arriued in those parts at that selfe same season vnlooked for out of Norwaie the said Algar recouered his earledome by force as some haue written King Edward about the twentith yeare of his reigne as then remaining at Glocester appointed earle Harold to inuade the dominions of Griffin king of Wales Harold taking with him a power of horssemen made spéed and came to Rutland and there burned Griffins palace and also his ships and then about Midlent returned againe into England After this about the
Oswy Egfrid Alfrid Osred Kinred Osrijc Kilwulf Edbert Offulse Ethelwold Elred Ethelred Alswold Osred Ethelred Osbald Eardulf Aldeswold Eandred Edelred Redwulf Edelred againe Osbright Ecbert Ricisiuus a Dane Ecbert againe ¶ Alfride king of the westsaxons subdueth this kingdome in the 878. after our sauiour Christ and 33. after Ida. Deira 7. ¶ Ella brother to Adda is ouer the south Humbers whose kingdome reched from Humber to the These in the 590. after the incarnation of Iesus Christ our sauiour ELla Edwijn Athelbright Edwijn againe Osrijc Oswald Oswijn ¶ Of all the kingdomes of the Saxons this of Deira which grew by the diuision of the kingdome of the Northumbers betwéene the sons of Ida was of the smallest continuance it was vnited to the Northumbers wherof it had bene I saie in time past a member by Oswijn in the 91. after Ella when he had most traitorouslie slaine his brother Oswijn in the yéer of the world 4618. or 651. after the comming of Christ and conteined that countrie which we now call the bishoprike Estanglia 8. ¶ Offa or Vffa erecteth a kingdome ouer the Estangles or Offlings in the 561. after the natiuitie of Christ and 114. after the deliuerie of Britaine OFfa Titellius Redwaldus Corpenwaldus The seat void Sigebert Egricus Anna. Adeler Ethelwold Adwulf Beorne Ethelred Ethelbert ¶ Offa of Mercia killeth Ethelbert and vniteth Estanglia vnto his owne kingdome in the 793. of Christ after it had continued in the posteritie of Offa by the space of 228. yéers and yet of that short space it enioyed onelie 35. in libertie the rest being vnder the tribute of the king of Mercia aforesaid Mercia 9. ¶ Creodda beginneth his kingdome of Mercia in the 585. of our sauiour Christ and 138. after the captiuitie of Briteine ended CReodda Wibba Cherlus Penda Oswy Weada Wulferus Ethelred Kinred or Kindred The seat void Kilred Ethebald Beorred Offa. Egferth Kinwulf Kenelme Kilwulf Bernulf Ludicane Willaf Ecbert Willaf againe Bertulf Butred Kilwulf ¶ Alfride vniteth the kingdome of Mercia to that of the westsaxons in the 291. after Creodda before Alfred the Dane had gotten hold thereof and placed one Clcolulphus therein but he was soone expelled and the kingdome ioyned to the other afore rehearsed The succession of the kings of England from William bastard vnto the first of Queene ELIZABETH WIlliam the first William his sonne Henrie 1. Stephen Henrie 2. Richard 1. Iohn Henrie 3. Edward 1. aliàs 4. Edward 2. Edward 3. Richard 2. Henrie 4. Henrie 5. Henrie 6. Edward 4. aliàs 7. Edward 5. Richard 3. Henrie 7. Henrie 8. Edward 6. Marie his sister Elizabeth ¶ Thus haue I brought the Catalog of the Princes of Britaine vnto an end that in more plaine and certeine order than hath béene done hertofore by anie For though in their regions since the conquest few men haue erred that haue vsed any diligence yet in the times before the same fewer haue gone any thing néere the truth through great ouersight negligence Their seuerall yéeres also doo appéere in my Chronologie insuing Of the ancient religion vsed in Albion Cap. 9. IT is not to be doubted but at the first and so long as the posteritie of Iaphet onelie reigned in this Iland that the true knowledge and forme of religion brought in by Samothes and published with his lawes in the second of his arriuall was exercised among the Britans And although peraduenture in proces of time either through curiositie or negligence the onelie corruptors of true pietie and godlinesse it might a little decaie yet when it was at the woorst it farre excéeded the best of that which afterward came in with Albion and his Chemminites as may be gathered by view of the superstitious rites which Cham and his successours did plant in other countries yet to be found in authors What other learning Magus the sonne of Samothes taught after his fathers death when he also came to the kingdome beside this which concerned the true honoring of God I cannot easilie say but that it should be naturall philosophie and astrologie whereby his disciples gathered a kind of foreknowledge of things to come the verie vse of the word Magus or Magusaeus among the Persians dooth yéeld no vncerteine testimonie In like maner it should seeme that Sarron sonne vnto the said Magus diligentlie followed the steps of his father and thereto beside his owne practise of teaching opened schooles of learning in sundrie places both among the Celts and Britans whereby such as were his auditors grew to be called Sarronides notwithstanding that as well the Sarronides as the Magi and Druiydes were generallie called Samothei or Semnothei of Samothes still among the Grecians as Aristotle in his De magia dooth confesse and furthermore calling them Galles he addeth therevnto that they first brought the knowledge of letters and good learning vnto the Gréekes Druiyus the son of Sarron as a scholer of his fathers owne teaching séemed to be exquisit in all things that perteined vnto the diuine and humane knowledge and therefore I may safelie pronounce that he excelled not onlie in the skill of philosophie and the quadriuials but also in the true Theologie whereby the right seruice of God was kept and preserued in puritie He wrote moreouer sundrie precepts and rules of religious doctrine which among the Celts were reserued verie religiouslie and had in great estimation of such as sought vnto them How and in what order this prince left the state of religion I meane touching publike orders in administration of particular rites and ceremonies as yet I doo not read howbeit this is most certeine that after he died the puritie of his doctrine began somewhat to decaie For such is mans nature that it will not suffer any good thing long to remaine as it is left but either by addition or subtraction of this or that to or from the same so to chop and change withall from time to time that in the end there is nothing of more difficultie for such as doo come after them than to find out the puritie of the originall and restore the same againe vnto the former perfection In the beginning this Druiyus did preach vnto his hearers that the soule of man is immortall that God is omnipotent mercifull as a father in shewing fauor vnto the godlie and iust as an vpright iudge in punishing the wicked that the secrets of mans hart are not vnknowne and onelie knowne to him and that as the world and all that is therein had their beginning by him at his owne will so shall all things likewise haue an end when he shall see his time He taught them also with more facilitie how to obserue the courses of the heauens and motions of the planets by arithmeticall industrie to find out the true quantities of the celestiall bodies by geometricall demonstration and thereto the compasse of the earth and hidden natures of things contained in the same by
after the flood if we diuide therefore the said 133. by seauen you shall find the quotient 19. without any ods remaining From hence also vnto the comming of Samothes into Britaine or rather his lawes giuen vnto the Celts and with them vnto the Britons in the second of his arriuall in this land we find by exact supputation 126. yeares which being parted by nine or seauen sheweth such a conclusion as maketh much for this purpose Doubtlesse I am the more willing to touch the time of his lawes than his entrance sith alteration of ordinances is the cheefe and principall token of change in rule and regiment although at this present the circumstances hold not sith he dispossessed none neither incroched vpon any From Samothes vnto the tyrannie of Albion are 335. yeares complet so that he arriued here in the 335. or 48. septenarie which also concurreth with the 590. after the flood In like sort the regiment of Albion continued but seauen yeares and then was the souereingtie of this I le restored againe by Hercules vnto the Celts The next alteration of our estate openlie knowne happened by Brute betweene whose time and death of Albion there passed full 601. yeares for he spent much time after his departure out of Grecia before he came into Albion so that if you accompt him to come hither in the 602. you shall haue 86. septenaries exactlie From Brute to the extinction of his posteritie in Ferrex and Porrex and pentarchie of Britaine are 630. yeares or 70. nouenaries than the which where shall a man find a more precise period after this method or prescription for manie and diuers considerations The time of the pentarchie indured likewise 49. yeares or seauen septenaries which being expired Dunwallo brought all the princes vnder his subiection and ruled ouer them as monarch of this I le After the pentarchie ended we find againe that in the 98. yeare Brennus rebelled against Beline his brother wherevpon insued cruell bloodshed betwéene them So that here you haue 14. septenaries as you haue from those warres ended which indured a full yeare more before Brennus was reconciled to his brother to the comming of Caesar into this Iland whereat our seruitude and miserable thraldome to the Romans may worthilie take his entrance 48. or 336. yeares than the which concurrences I know not how a man should imagine a more exact After the comming of Caesar we haue 54. or sixe nouenaries to Christ whose death and passion redoundeth generallie to all that by firme and sure faith take hold of the same and applie it vnto their comfort From the birth of Christ to our countrie deliuered from the Romane yoke are 446. yeares at which time the Britains chose them a king and betooke themselues to his obedience But neither they nor their king being then able to hold out the Scots and Picts which dailie made hauocke of their countrie the said Vortiger in the third yeares of his reigne which was the 63. septenarie after Christ did send for the Saxons who arriued here in the 449. and 450. yeares of Grace in great companies for our aid and succour although that in the end their entrances turned to our vtter decaie and ruine in that they made a conquest of the whole I le and draue vs out of our liuings Hereby we sée therefore how the preparatiue began in the 449. but how it was finished in the tenth nouenarie the sequele is too too plaine In like sort in the 43. nouenarie or 387. after the comming of the Saxons the Danes entred who miserablie afflicted this I le by the space of 182. yeares or 46. septenaries which being expired they established themselues in the kingdome by Canutus But their time lasting not long the Normans followed in the end of the 49. yeare and thus you sée how these numbers do hold exactlie vnto the conquest The like also we find of the continuance of the Normans or succession of the Conquerour which indured but 89. yeares being extinguished in Stephen and that of the Saxons restored in Henrie the second although it lacke one whole yeare of ten nouenaries which is a small thing sith vpon diuers occasions the time of the execution of any accident may be preuented or proroged as in direction and progression astronomicall is often times perceiued From hence to the infamous excommunication of England in king Iohns daies wherevpon insued the resignation of his crownes and dominions to the pope are eight septenaries or 56. yeares Thence againe to the deposition of Richard 2. and vsurpation of Henrie 4. are 77. yeares or 11. septenaries From hence to the conspiracie made against Edward 2. after which he was deposed murdered are 117. yeares or 13. nouenaries From hence to the beginning of the quarell betwéene the houses of Yorke and Lancaster wherein foure score and od persons of the blood roiall were slaine and made awaie first and last and which warres begunne in the 1448. and the yeare after the death of the Duke of Glocester whose murther séemed to make frée passage to the said broile are 72. yeares or eight nouenaries From hence to the translation of the crowne from the house of Lancaster to that of Yorke in Edward the 4 are 14. yeares or two septenaries and last of all to the vnion of the said houses in Henrie the eight is an exact quadrat of seuen multiplied in it selfe or 49. yeares whereof I hope this may in part suffice Now as concerning religion we haue from Christ to the faith first preached in Britaine by Iosephus ab Aramathia and Simon Zelotes as some write 70. yeares or 10. septenaries Thence also to the baptisme of Lucius and his nobilitie in the yeare after their conuersion 12. nouenaries or 108. yeares After these the Saxons entred and changed the state of religion for the most part into paganisme in the yeare 449. 39. nouenarie and 273. yeare after Lucius had beene baptised which is 39. septenaries if I be not deceiued In the 147. or 21. septenarie Augustine came who brought in poperie which increased and continued till Wicklif with more boldnesse than anie other began to preach the gospell which was Anno. 1361. or 765. yeares after the comming of Augustine and yeeld 85. nouenaries exactlie From hence againe to the expulsion of the pope 175 yeares or 25. septenaries thence to the receiuing of the pope and popish doctrine 21. yeares or 3. septenaries wherevnto I would ad the time of restoring the gospell by Quéene Elizabeth were it not that it wanteth one full yeare of 7. Whereby we may well gather that if there be anie hidden mysterie or thing conteined in these numbers yet the same extendeth not vnto the diuine disposition of things touching the gift of grace and frée mercie vnto the penitent vnto which neither number weight nor measure shall be able to aspire Of such Ilands as are to be seene vpon the coasts of Britaine Cap. 10. THere are néere
it selfe beareth witnesse notwithstanding that the papists prefer S. Osmond as they call him because he builded the minster there and made the portesse called Ordinale ecclesiastici officij which old préests were woont to vse The bishops also of this sée were sometimes called bishops of Sunning of their old mansion house neere vnto Reading as it should seeme and among those that liued before the said Iuell one Roger builded the castell of the Uies in the time of Henrie the first taken in those daies for the strongest hold in England as vnto whose gate there were regals and gripes for six or seuen port cullises Finallie this sée paid vnto Rome 4000 florens but vnto hir maiestie in my time 1367 pounds twelue shillings eight pence as I did find of late Excester hath Deuonshire and Cornewall sometime two seuerall bishopriks but in the end brought into one of Cornewall and from thence to Excester in the time of the Bastard or soone after It began vpon this occasion Anno Gratiae 905 in a prouinciall councell holden by the elder Edward Plegimond archbishop of Canturburie among the Gewises wherein it was found that the see of Winchester had not onelie béene without hir pastor by the space of seuen yéeres but also that hir iurisdiction was farre greater than two men were able well to gouerne therefore from the former two to wit Winchester and Shirburne three other were taken whereby that see was now diuided into fiue parts the latter thrée being Welles Kirton and Cornwall this of Cornwall hauing hir sée then at saint Patroks not farre from north-Wales vpon the riuer Helmouth he of Deuon holding his iurisdiction in Deuonshire Kirton or Cridioc and the bishop of Welles being allowed Dorset and Barkshires for his part to gouerne and looke vnto according to his charge Finallie these two of Deuon and Cornwall being vnited the valuation thereof was taxed by the sée of Rome at six thousand ducats or florens which were trulie paid at euerie alienation but verie hardlie as I gesse sith that in my time wherein all things are racked to the verie vttermost I find that it is litle worth aboue fiue hundred pounds by the yéere bicause hir tenths are but fiftie Bath whose see was sometime at Welles before Iohn the bishop there annexed the church of Bath vnto it which was 1094 hath Summersetshire onlie and the valuation thereof in the court of Rome was foure hundred thirtie florens but in hir maiesties books I find it fiue hundred thirtie and three pounds and about one od shilling which declareth a precise examination of the estate of that sée Of the erection of this bishoprike mentioned in the discourse of Excester I find the former assertion confirmed by another author and in somewhat more large maher which I will also remember onelie because it pleaseth me somewhat better than the words before alleged out of the former writer This bishoprike saith he was erected 905 in a councell holden among the Gewises whereat king Edward of the west-Saxons and Plegimond archbishop of Canturburie were present For that part of the countrie had béene seuen yéeres without anie pastorall cure And therfore in this councell it was agréed that for the two bishoprikes whereof one was at Winchester another at Shireburne there should be fiue ordeined whereby the people there might be the better instructed By this meanes Frithstan was placed at Winchester and Ethelme at Shireburne both of them being then void Shireburne also susteined the subdiuision so that Werstane was made bishop of Cridioc or Deuonshire whose sée was at Kirton Herstan of Cornwall and Eadulfe of Welles vnto whome Barkshire and Dorsetshire were appointed But now you sée what alteration is made by consideration of the limits of their present iurisdictions Worcester sometime called Episcopatus Wicciorum that is the bishoprike of the Wiccies or Huiccies hath Worcester part of Warwikeshires And before the bishoprike of Glocester was taken out of the same it paid to the pope two thousand ducats of gold at euerie change of prelat but now the valuation thereof is one thousand fortie nine pounds seauen pence halfe penie farthing except my remembrance doo deceiue me This sée was begunne either in or not long before the time of Offa king of the east-Angles and Boselus was the first bishop there after whome succéeded Ostfort then Egwine who went in pilgrimage to Rome with Kinredus of Mercia and the said Offa and there gat a monasterie which he builded in Worcester confirmed by Constantine the pope In this sée was one of your lordships ancestors sometime bishop whose name was Cobham and doctor both of diuinitie and of the canon law who during the time of his pontificalitie there builded the vault of the north side of the bodie of the church and there lieth buried in the same as I haue béene informed Certes this man was once elected and should haue béene archbishop of Canturburie in the roome of Reginald that died 1313 vnder Edward the second but the pope frustrated his election fearing least he would haue shewed himselfe more affectionate towards his prince than to his court of Rome wherefore he gaue Canturburie to the bishop of Worcester then being And furthermore least he should seeme altogither to reiect the said Thomas and displease the king he gaue him in the end the bishoprike of Worcester whereinto he entred 1317 Martij 31 being thursdaie as appeereth by the register of that house after long plée holden for the aforesaid sée of Canturburie in the court of Rome wherein most monie did oftenest preuaile This is also notable of that sée that fiue Italians succéeded ech other in the same by the popes prouision as Egidius Syluester Egidius his nephue for nephues might say in those daies Father shall I call you vncle And vncles also Son I must call thée nephue Iulius de Medices afterward pope Clement and Hieronymus de Nugutijs men verie likelie no doubt to benefit the common people by their doctrine Some of these being at the first but poore men in Rome and yet able by selling all they had to make a round summe against a rainie daie came first into fauor with the pope then into familiaritie finallie into orders and from thence into the best liuings of the church farre off where their parentage could not easilie be heard of nor made knowne vnto their neighbours Glocester hath Glocestershire onelie wherein are nine deanries and to the number of 294 parish churches as I find by good record But it neuer paid anie thing to Rome bicause it was erected by king Henrie the eight after he had abolished the vsurped authoritie of the pope except in quéene Maries if anie such thing were demanded as I doubt not but it was yet is it woorth yeerelie 315 pounds seauen shillings thrée pence as the booke of first fruits declareth Hereford hath Herefordshire and part of Shropshire and it paid to Rome at euerie
Clare hall Richard Badow chancellor of Cambridge 1459 13 Catharine hall Robert Woodlarke doctor of diuinitie 1519 14 Magdalen college Edw. duke of Buckingham Thom. lord Awdlie 1585 15 Emanuell college Sir Water Mildmaie c. The description of England Of colleges in Oxford Yeares Colleges  Founders 1539 1 Christes church by King Henrie 8. 1459 2 Magdalen college William Wainflet first fellow of Merton college then scholer at Winchester and afterward bishop there 1375 3 New college William Wickham bishop of Winchester 1276 4 Merton college Walter Merton bishop of Rochester 1437 5 All soules college Henrie Chicheleie archbishop of Canturburie 1516 6 Corpus Christi college Richard Fox bishop of Winchester 1430 7 Lincolne college Richard Fleming bishop of Lincolne 1323 8 Auriell college Adam Browne almoner to Edward 2. 1340 9 The queenes college R. Eglesfeld chapleine to Philip queene of England wife to Edward 3. 1263 10 Balioll college Iohn Balioll king of Scotland 1557 11 S. Iohns Sir Thomas White knight 1556 12 Trinitie college Sir Thomas Pope knight 1316 13 Excester college Walter Stapleton bishop of Excester 1513 14 Brasen nose William Smith bishop of Lincolne 873 15 Vniuersitie college William archdeacon of Duresine  16 Glocester college Iohn Gifford who made it a cell for thirteene moonks  17 S. Marie college  18 Iesus college now in hand Hugh ap Rice doctor of the ciuill law There are also in Oxford certeine hostels or hals which may rightwell be called by the names of colleges if it were not that there is more libertie in them than it to be séen in the other I mine opinion the liuers in these are verie like to those that are of Ins in the chancerie their names also are these so farre as I now remember Brodegates Hart hall Magdalen hall Alburne hall Postminster hall S. Marie hall White hall New In. Edmond hall The students also that remaine in them are called hostelers or halliers Hereof it came of late to passe that the right reuerend father in God Thomas late archbishop of Canturburie being brought vp in such an house at Cambridge was of the ignorant sort of Londoners called an hosteler supposing that he had serued with some inholder in the stable and therfore in despite diuerse hanged vp bottles of haie at his gate when he began to preach the gospell wheras in déed he was a gentleman borne of an ancient house in the end a faithfull witnesse of Iesus Christ in whose quarrell he refused not to shed his bloud and yéeld vp his life vnto the furie of his aduersaries Besides these there is mention and record of diuerse other hals or hostels that haue béene there in times past as Beefe hall Mutton hall c whose ruines yet appéere so that if antiquitie be to be iudged by the shew of ancient buildings which is verie plentifull in Oxford to be séene it should be an easie matter to conclude that Oxford is the elder vniuersitie Therin are also manie dwelling houses of stone yet standing that haue béene hals for students of verie antike workemanship beside the old wals of sundrie other whose plots haue béene conuerted into gardens since colleges were erected In London also the houses of students at the Commonlaw are these Sergeants In. Graies In. The Temple Lincolnes In. Dauids In. Staple In. Furniuals In. Cliffords In. Clements In. Lions In. Barnards In. New In. And thus much in generall of our noble vniuersities whose lands some gréedie gripers doo gape wide for and of late haue as I heare propounded sundrie reasons whereby they supposed to haue preuailed in their purposes But who are those that haue attempted this sute other than such as either hate learning pietie and wisedome or else haue spent all their owne and know not otherwise than by incroching vpon other men how to mainteine themselues When such a motion was made by some vnto king Henrie the eight he could answer them in this maner Ah sirha I perceiue the abbeie lands haue fleshed you and set your téeth on edge to aske also those colleges And whereas we had a regard onelie to pull downe sinne by defacing the monasteries you haue a desire also to ouerthrow all goodnesse by subuersion of colleges I tell you sirs that I iudge no land in England better bestowed than that which is giuen to our vniuersities for by their maintenance our realme shall be well gouerned when we be dead and rotten As you loue your welfares therfore follow no more this veine but content your selues with that you haue alreadie or else seeke honest meanes whereby to increase your liuelods for I loue not learning so ill that I will impaire the reuenues of anie one house by a penie whereby it may be vpholden In king Edwards daies likewise the same sute was once againe attempted as I haue heard but in vaine for saith the duke of Summerset among other spéeches tending to that end who also made answer there vnto in the kings presence by his assignation I flerning decaie which of wild men maketh ciuill of blockish and rash persons wise and godlie counsellors of obstinat rebels obedient subiects and of euill men good and godlie christians what shall we looke for else but barbarisme and tumult For when the lands of colleges be gone it shall be hard to saie whose staffe shall stand next the doore for then I doubt not but the state of bishops rich farmers merchants and the nobilitie shall be assailed by such as liue to spend all and thinke that what so euer another man hath is more meet for them and to be at their commandement than for the proper owner that hath sweat and laboured for it In quéene Maries daies the weather was too warme for anie such course to be taken in hand but in the time of our gratious quéene Elizabeth I heare that it was after a sort in talke the third time but without successe as mooued also out of season and so I hope it shall continue for euer For what comfort should it be for anie good man to sée his countrie brought into the estate of the old Gothes Uandals who made lawes against learning and would not suffer anie skilfull man to come into their councell house by meanes whereof those people became sauage tyrants and mercilesse helhounds till they restored learning againe and thereby fell to ciuilitie Of the partition of England into shires and counties Chap. 4. IN reding of ancient writers as Caesar Tacitus and others we find mention of sundrie regions to haue béene sometime in this Iland as the Nouantae Selgouae Dannonij Gadeni Oradeni Epdij Cerones Carnonacae Careni Cornabij Caledonij Decantae Logi Mertae Vacomagi Venicontes Texali or Polij Denani Elgoui Brigantes Parisi Ordouici aliàs Ordoluci Cornauij Coritaui Catieuchlani Simeni Trinouantes Demetae Cangi Silures Dobuni Atterbatij Cantij Regni Belgae Durotriges Dumnonij Giruij Murotriges Seueriani Iceni Tegenes Casij Caenimagni Segontiaci
Romans found out and knew the waie vnto our countrie our predecessors fed largelie vpon flesh and milke whereof there was great aboundance in this I le bicause they applied their chéefe studies vnto pasturage and féeding After this maner also did our Welsh Britons order themselues in their diet so long as they liued of themselues but after they became to be vnited and made equall with the English they framed their appetites to liue after our maner so that at this daie there is verie little difference betwéene vs in our diets In Scotland likewise they haue giuen themselues of late yeares to speake of vnto verie ample and large diet wherein as for some respect nature dooth make them equall with vs so otherwise they far excéed vs in ouer much and distemperate gormandize and so ingrosse their bodies that diuerse of them doo oft become vnapt to anie other purpose than to spend their times in large tabling and bellie chéere Against this pampering of their carcasses dooth Hector Boetius in his description of the countrie verie sharpelie inueigh in the first chapter of that treatise Henrie Wardlaw also bishop of S. Andrewes noting their vehement alteration from competent frugalitie into excessiue gluttonie to be brought out of England with Iames the first who had béene long time prisoner there vnder the fourth fift Henries and at his returne caried diuerse English gentlemen into his countrie with him whome he verie honorablie preferred there dooth vehementlie exclame against the same in open parlement holden at Perth 1433 before the three estats and so bringeth his purpose to passe in the end by force of his learned persuasions that a law was presentlie made there for the restreint of superfluous diâ—t amongest other things baked meats dishes neuer before this mans daies seene in Scotland were generallie so prouided for by vertue of this act that it was not lawfull for anie to eat of the same vnder the degrée of a gentleman and those onelie but on high and festiuall daies but alas it was soone forgotten In old time these north Britons did giue themselues vniuersallie to great abstinence and in time of warres their souldiers would often féed but once or twise at the most in two or thrée daies especiallie if they held themselues in secret or could haue no issue out of their bogges and marises through the presence of the enimie and in this distresse they vsed to eat a certeine kind of confection whereof so much as a beane would qualifie their hunger aboue common expectation In woods moreouer they liued with hearbes and rootes or if these shifts serued not thorough want of such prouision at hand then vsed they to créepe into the water or said moorish plots vp vnto the chins and there remaine a long time onelie to qualifie the heats of their stomachs by violence which otherwise would haue wrought and béene readie to oppresse them for hunger and want of sustinance In those daies likewise it was taken for a great offense ouer all to eat either goose hare or henne bicause of a certeine superstitious opinion which they had conceiued of those three creatures howbeit after that the Romans I saie had once found an entrance into this Iland it was not long yer open shipwracke was made of his religious obseruation so that in processe of time so well the north and south Britons as the Romans gaue ouer to make such difference in meats as they had doone before From thencefoorth also vnto our daies and euen in this season wherein we liue there is no restreint of anie meat either for religions sake or publike order in England but it is lawfull for euerie man to féed vpon what soeuer he is able to purchase except it be vpon those daies whereon eating of flesh is especiallie forbidden by the lawes of the realme which order is taken onelie to the end our numbers of cattell may be the better increased that aboundance of fish which the sea yeeldeth more generallie receiued Beside this there is great consideration had in making of this law for the preseruation of the nauie and maintenance of conuenient numbers of sea faring men both which would otherwise greatlie decaie if some meanes were not found whereby they might be increased But how soeuer this case standeth white meats milke butter cheese which were neuer so deere as in my time and woont to be accounted of as one of the chiefe staies throughout the Iland are now reputed as food appertinent onelie to the inferiour sort whilest such as are more wealthie doo féed vpon the flesh of all kinds of cattell accustomed to be eaten all sorts of fish taken vpon our coasts and in our fresh riuers and such diuersitie of wild and tame foules as are either bred in our Iland or brought ouer vnto vs from other countries of the maine In number of dishes and change of meat the nobilitie of England whose cookes are for the most part musicall headed Frenchmen and strangers doo most exceed sith there is no daie in maner that passeth ouer their heads wherein they haue not onelie béefe mutton veale lambe kid porke conie capon pig or so manie of these as the season yeeldeth but also some portion of the red or fallow déere beside great varietie of fish and wild foule and thereto sundrie other delicates wherein the swéet hand of the seafaring Portingale is not wanting so that for a man to dine with one of them and to tast of euerie dish that standeth before him which few vse to doo but ech one feedeth vpon that meat him best liketh for the time the beginning of euerie dish notwithstanding being reserued vnto the greatest personage that sitteth at the table to whome it is drawen vp still by the waiters as order requireth and from whome it descendeth againe euen to the lower end whereby each one may tast thereof is rather to yéeld vnto a conspiracie with a great deale of meat for the spéedie suppression of naturall health then the vse of a necessarie meane to satisfie himselfe with a competent repast to susteine his bodie withall But as this large feeding is not séene in their gests no more is it in their owne persons for sith they haue dailie much resort vnto their tables and manie times vnlooked for and thereto reteine great numbers of seruants it is verie requisit expedient for them to be somewhat plentifull in this behalfe The chiefe part likewise of their dailie prouision is brought in before them commonlie in siluer vessell if they be of the degrée of barons bishops and vpwards and placed on their tables wherof when they haue taken what it pleaseth them the rest is reserued and afterward sent downe to their seruing men and waiters who féed thereon in like sort with conuenient moderation their reuersion also being bestowed vpon the poore which lie readie at their gates in great numbers to receiue the same This is spoken of the principall tables whereat the nobleman
he they teach you to repent too late of your great gentlenesse Caietanus in his common-wealth hath finallie no liking of them as appéereth in his eight booke of that most excellent treatise But what haue I to deale whether they be profitable or not sith my purpose is rather to shew what plentie we haue of them which I will performe so far as shall be néedfull There haue béene in times past great store of castels places of defense within the realme of England of which some were builded by the Britons manie by the Romans Saxons and Danes but most of all by the barons of the realme in about the time of king Stephan who licenced each of them to build so manie as them listed vpon their owne demeasnes hoping thereby that they would haue imploied their vse to his aduantage and commoditie But finallie when he saw that they were rather fortified against himselfe in the end than vsed in his defense he repented all too late of his inconsiderate dealing sith now there was no remedie but by force for to subdue them After his decease king Henrie the second came no sooner to the crowne but he called to mind the inconuenience which his predecessour had suffered and he himselfe might in time sustaine by those fortifications Therefore one of the first things he did was an attempt to race and deface the most part of these holds Certes he thought it better to hazard the méeting of the enimie now and then in the plaine field than to liue in perpetuall feare of those houses and the rebellion of his lords vpon euerie light occasion conceiued who then were full so strong as he if not more strong and that made them the readier to withstand and gainesaie manie of those procéedings which he and his successours from time to time intended Herevpon therefore he caused more than eleuen hundred of their said castels to be raced and ouerthrowne whereby the power of his nobilitie was not a little restreined Since that time also not a few of those which remained haue decaied partlie by the commandement of Henrie the third and partlie of themselues or by conuersion of them into the dwelling houses of noble men their martiall fronts being remooued so that at this present there are verie few or no castels at all mainteined within England sauing onelie vpon the coasts and marches of the countrie for the better kéeping backe of the forren enimie when soeuer he shall attempt to enter and annoie vs. The most prouident prince that euer reigned in this land for the fortification thereof against all outward enimies was the late prince of famous memorie king Henrie the eight who beside that he repared most of such as were alreadie standing builded sundrie out of the ground For hauing shaken off the more than seruile yoke of popish tyrannie and espieng that the emperour was offended for his diuorce from quéene Catharine his aunt and thereto vnderstanding that the French king had coupled the Dolphin his sonne with the popes neece and maried his daughter to the king of Scots whereby he had cause more iustlie to suspect than safelie to trust anis one of them all as Lambert saith he determined to stand vpon his owne defense and therefore with no small spéed and like charge he builded sundrie blockehouses castels and platformes vpon diuerse frontiers of his realme but chieflie the east and southeast parts of England whereby no doubt he did verie much qualifie the conceiued grudges of his aduersaries and vtterlie put off their hastie purpose of inuasion But would to God he had cast his eie toward Harwich and the coasts of Norffolke and Suffolke where nothing as yet is doone albeit there be none so fit and likelie places for the enimie to enter vpon as in those parts where at a full sea they may touch vpon the shore and come to land without resistance And thus much brieflie for my purpose at this present For I néed not to make anie long discourse of castels sith it is not the nature of a good Englishman to regard to be caged vp as in a coope and hedged in with stone wals but rather to meet with his enimie in the plaine field at handstrokes where he may trauaise his ground choose his plot and vse the benefit of sunne shine wind and weather to his best aduantage commoditie Isocrates also saith that towres walles bulworkes soldiers and plentie of armour are not the best kéepers of kingdomes but freends loue of subiects obedience vnto martiall discipline which they want that shew themselues either cruell or couetous toward their people As for those tales that go of Beston castell how it shall saue all England on a daie and likewise the brag of a rebellious baron in old time named Hugh Bigot that said in contempt of king Henrie the third and about the fiftith yeare of his reigne If I were in my castell of Bungeie Vpon the water of Waueneie I wold not set a button by the king of Cockneie I repute them but as toies the first méere vaine the second fondlie vttered if anie such thing were said as manie other words are and haue béene spoken of like holds as Wallingford c but now growen out of memorie and with small losse not heard of among the common sort Certes the castell of Bungeie was ouerthrowen by the aforesaid prince the same yeare that he ouerthrew the walles and castell of Leircester also the castels of Treske and Malesar apperteining to Roger Mowbraie and that of Fremlingham belonging likewise to Hugh Bigot wherof in the chronologie following you may read at large I might here in like sort take occasion to speake of sundrie strong places where camps of men haue lien and of which we haue great plentie here in England in the plaine fields but I passe ouer to talke of any such néedlesse discourses This neuerthelesse concerning two of them is not to be omitted to wit that the one néere vnto Cambridge now Gogmagogs hill was called Windleburie before time as I read of late in an old pamphlet And to saie the truth I haue often heard them named Winterburie hilles which difference may easilie grow by corruption of the former word the place likewise is verie large and strong The second is to be séene in the edge of Shropshire about two miles from Colme betwéene two riuers the Clun or Colunus and the Tewie otherwise named Themis wherevnto there is no accesse but at one place The Welshmen call it Cair Carador and they are of the opinion that Caractatus king of the Sillures was ouercome there by Ostorius at such time as he fled to Cartimanda quéene of the Brigants for succour who betraied him to the Romans as you may sée in Tacitus Of palaces belonging to the prince Chap. 15. IT lieth not in me to set down exactlie the number names of the palaces belonging to the prince nor to make anie description of hir graces
their capacities and moulds It shall not be amisse therefore to begin at the nauie of Xerxes of which ech meane vessell as appéereth by Herodot was able to receiue two hundred and thirtie souldiers and some of them thrée hundred These were called triremes and were indéede gallies that had thrée rowes of ores on euerie side for the word Nauis is indifferentlie applied so well to the gallies as ship as to the conuersant in histories is easie to be found In old time also they had gallies of foure rowes fiue rowes six seauen eight nine twelue yea fifteene rowes of ores on a side iudge you then of what quantitie those vessels were Plinie lib. 7. noteth one Damasthenes to be the first maker of the gallies with two rowes called biremes Thucidides referreth the triremes to Ammocles of Corinthum the quadriremes were deuised by Aristotle of Carthage the quinquiremes by Nestchthon of Salamina the gallie of six rowes by Xenagoras of Syracusa from this to the tenth Nesigiton brought vp Alexander the great caused one to be made of twelue Ptolomeus Soter of fiftéene Demetrius the sonne of Antigonus of thirtie Ptolom Philad of fortie Ptol. Triphon of fiftie all which aboue foure were none other in mine opinion than vnweldie carts and more seruing for pleasure and to gaze vpon than anie vse in the wars for which they should be deuised But of all other I note one of fortie rowes which Ptolo. Philopater builded conteining 200 and eightie cubits in length and eight and fortie cubits in breadth it held also foure thousand ores foure hundred mariners and three thousand souldiers so that in the said vessell were seauen thousand and foure hundred persons a report incredible if truth and good testimonie did not confirme the same I must needs confesse therefore that the ancient vessels far exceeded ours for capacitie neuerthelesse if you regard the forme and the assurance from perill of the sea and therewithall the strength and nimblenesse of such as are made in our time you shall easilie find that ours are of more value than theirs for as the greatest vessell is not alwaies the safest so that of most huge capacitie is not alwaies the aptest to shift and brooke the seas as might be seene by the great Henrie the hugest vessell that euer England framed in our times Neither were the ships of old like vnto ours in mould and maner of building aboue the water for of low gallies in our seas we make small account nor so full of ease within sith time hath ingendred more skill in the wrights and brought all things to more perfection than they had in the beginning And now to come vnto our purpose at the first intended The nauie of England may be diuided into three sortes of which the one serueth for the warres the other for burden and the third for fishermen which get their liuing by fishing on the sea How manie of the first order are mainteined within the realme it passeth my cunning to expresse yet sith it may be parted into the nauie roiall and common fleete I thinke good to speake of those that belong vnto the prince and so much the rather for that their number is certeine well knowne to verie manie Certes there is no prince in Europe that hath a more beautifull or gallant sort of ships than the quéenes maiestie of England at this present and those generallie are of such exceeding force that two of them being well appointed and furnished as they ought will not let to encounter with thrée or foure of those of other countries and either bowge them or put them to flight if they may not bring them home Neither are the moulds of anie forren barkes so conuenientlie made to brooke so well one sea as another lieng vpon the shore in anie part of the continent as those of England And therefore the common report that strangers make of our ships amongst themselues is dailie confirmed to be true which is that for strength assurance nimblenesse and swiftnesse of sailing there are no vessels in the world to be compared with ours And all these are committed to the regiment and safe custodie of the admerall who is so called as some imagine of the Gréeke word Almiras a capiteine on the sea for so saith Zonaras in Basilio Macedone Basilio Porphyriogenito though other fetch it from Ad mare the Latine words another sort from Amyras the Saracen magistrate or from some French deriuation but these things are not for this place and therefore I passe them ouer The quéenes highnesse hath at this present which is the foure and twentith of hir reigne alreadie made and furnished to the number of foure or fiue and twentie great ships which lie for the most part in Gillingham rode beside thrée gallies of whose particular names and furnitures so far foorth as I can come by them it shall not be amisse to make report at this time The names of so manie ships belonging to hir maiestie as I could come by at this present The Bonaduenture Elizabeth Ionas White Beare Philip and Marie Triumph Bull. Tiger Antlope Hope Lion Victorie Marie Rose Foresight Swift sute Aid Handmaid Dread nought Swallow Genet Barke of Bullen Achates Falcon. George Reuenge It is said that as kings and princes haue in the yoong daies of the world and long since framed themselues to erect euerie yeare a citie in some one place or other of their kingdoms and no small woonder that Sardanapalus should begin finish two to wit Anchialus and Tharsus in one daie so hir grace dooth yearelie build one ship or other to the better defense of hir frontiers from the enimie But as of this report I haue no assured certeintie so it shall suffice to haue said so much of these things yet this I thinke worthie further to be added that if they should all be driuen to seruice at one instant which God forbid she should haue a power by sea of about nine or ten thousand men which were a notable companie beside the supplie of other vessels apperteining to hir subiects to furnish vp hir voiage Beside these hir grace hath other in hand also of whom hereafter as their turnes doo come about I will not let to leaue some further remembrance She hath likewise thrée notable gallies the Spéed well the Trie right and the Blacke gallie with the fight whereof and rest of the nauie roiall it is incredible to saie how greatlie hir grace is delighted and not without great cause I saie sith by their meanes hir coasts are kept in quiet and sundrie forren enimies put backe which otherwise would inuade vs. The number of those that serue for burden with the other whereof I haue made mention alreadie and whose vse is dailie séene as occasion serueth in time of the warres is to mée vtterlie vnknowne Yet if the report of one record be anie thing at all to be credited there are 135 ships that exceed 500 tun topmen vnder 100
roots also as grow yéerelie out of the ground of seed haue béene verie plentifull in this land in the time of the first Edward and after his daies but in processe of time they grew also to be neglected so that from Henrie the fourth till the latter end of Henrie the seuenth beginning of Henrie the eight there was litle or no vse of them in England but they remained either vnknowne or supposed as food more meet for hogs sauage beasts to feed vpon than mankind Whereas in my time their vse is not onelie resumed among the poore commons I meane of melons pompions gourds cucumbers radishes skirets parsneps carrets cabbages nauewes turneps and all kinds of salad herbes but also fed vpon as deintie dishes at the tables of delicate merchants gentlemen and the nobilitie who make their prouision yearelie for new séeds out of strange countries from whence they haue them aboundantlie Neither doo they now staie with such of these fruits as are wholesome in their kinds but aduenture further vpon such as are verie dangerous and hurtfull as the verangenes mushroms c as if nature had ordeined all for the bellie or that all things were to be eaten for whose mischiefous operation the Lord in some measure hath giuen and prouided a remedie Hops in time past were plentifull in this land afterwards also their maintenance did cease and now being reuiued where are anie better to be found where anie greater commoditie to be raised by them onelie poles are accounted to be their greatest charge But sith men haue learned of late to sow ashen keies in ashyards by themselues that inconuenience in short time will be redressed Madder hath growne abundantlie in this Iland but of long time neglected and now a little reuiued and offereth it selfe to prooue no small benefit vnto our countrie as manie other things else which are now fetched from vs as we before time when we gaue our selues to idlenesse were glad to haue them other If you looke into our gardens annexed to our houses how woonderfullie is their beautie increased not onelie with floures which Colmella calleth Terrena sydera saieng Pingit in varios terrestria sydera flores and varietie of curious and costlie workmanship but also with rare and medicinable hearbes sought vp in the land within these fortie yeares so that in comparison of this present the ancient gardens were but dunghils and laistowes to such as did possesse them How art also helpeth nature in the dailie colouring dubling and inlarging the proportion of our floures it is incredible to report for so curious and cunning are our gardeners now in these daies that they presume to doo in maner what they list with nature and moderate hir course in things as if they were hir superiours It is a world also to sée how manie strange hearbs plants and annuall fruits are dailie brought vnto vs from the Indies Americans Taprobane Canarie Iles and all parts of the world the which albeit that in respect of the constitutions of our bodies they doo not grow for vs bicause that God hath bestowed sufficient commodities vpon euerie countrie for hir owne necessitie yet for delectation sake vnto the eie and their odoriferous sauours vnto the nose they are to be cherished and God to be glorified also in them bicause they are his good gifts and created to doo man helpe and seruice There is not almost one noble man gentleman or merchant that hath not great store of these floures which now also doo begin to wax so well acquainted with our soiles that we may almost accompt of them as parcell of our owne commodities They haue no lesse regard in like sort to cherish medicinable hearbs fetched out of other regions néerer hand insomuch that I haue séene in some one garden to the number of three hundred or foure hundred of them if not more of the halfe of whose names within fortie yéeres passed we had no maner knowledge But herein I find some cause of iust complaint for that we extoll their vses so farre that we fall into contempt of our owne which are in truth more beneficiall and apt for vs than such as grow elsewhere sith as I said before euerie region hath abundantlie within hir owne limits whatsoeuer is needfull and most conuenient for them that dwell therein How doo men extoll the vse of Tabacco in my time whereas in truth whether the cause be in the repugnancie of our constitution vnto the operation thereof or that the ground dooth alter hir force I cannot tell it is not found of so great efficacie as they write And beside this our common germander or thistle benet is found knowne to bée so wholesome and of so great power in medicine as anie other hearbe if they be vsed accordinglie I could exemplifie after the like maner in sundrie other as the Salsa parilla Mochoacan c but I forbeare so to doo because I couet to be bréefe And trulie the estimation and credit that we yéeld and giue vnto compound medicines made with forren drugs is one great cause wherefore the full knowledge and vse of our owne simples hath bene so long raked vp in the imbers And as this may be verified so to be one sound conclusion for the greater number of simples that go vnto anie compound medicine the greater confusion is found therein because the qualities and operations of verie few of the particulars are throughlie knowne And euen so our continuall desire of strange drugs whereby the physician and apothecarie onelie hath the benefit is no small cause that the vse of our simples here at home dooth go to losse and that we tread those herbes vnder our féet whose forces if we knew could applie them to our necessities we wold honor haue in reuerence as to their case behooueth Alas what haue we to doo with such Arabian Grecian stuffe as is dailie brought from those parties which lie in another clime And therefore the bodies of such as dwell there are of another constitution than ours are here at home Certes they grow not for vs but for the Arabians and Grecians And albeit that they maie by skill be applied vnto our benefit yet to be more skilfull in them than in our owne is follie and to vse forren wares when our owne maie serue the turne is more follie but to despise our owne and magnifie abou◠measure the vse of them that are sought and brought from farre is most follie of all for it sauoureth of ignorance or at the leastwise of negligence and therefore woorthie of reproch Among the Indians who haue the most present cures for euerie disease of their owne nation there is small regard of compound medicins lesse of forren drugs because they neither know them nor can vse them but worke woonders euen with their owne simples With them also the difference of the clime dooth shew hir full effect For whereas they will heale one another in short
viewed and wherein the compasse of the verie wall with the places where the gates stood is easie to be discerned the like also is to be séene at a place within two miles south of Burton called the Borow hils In these therefore and such like and likewise at Euolsburg now S. Neots or S. Needs and sundrie other places especiallie vpon the shore and coasts of Kent as Douer Rie Romneie Lid c is much of their coine also to be found and some péeces or other are dailie taken vp which they call Borow pence Dwarfs monie Hegs pence Feirie groats Iewes monie by other foolish names not woorthie to be remembred xsAt the comming of the Saxons the Britons vsed these holds as rescues for their cattell in the daie and night when their enimies were abroad the like also did the Saxons against the Danes by which occasions and now and then by carieng of their stones to helpe forward other buildings néere at hand manie of them were throwne downe and defaced which otherwise might haue continued for a longer time and so your honour would saie if you should happen to peruse the thickenesse and maner of building of those said wals and borowes It is not long since a siluer saucer of verie ancient making was found néere to Saffron Walden in the open field among the Sterbirie hils and eared vp by a plough but of such massie greatnesse that it weighed better than twentie ounces as I haue heard reported But if I should stand in these things vntill I had said all that might be spoken of them both by experience and testimonie of Leland in his Commentaries of Britaine and the report of diuerse yet liuing I might make a greater chapter than would be either conuenient or profitable to the reader wherefore so much onelie shall serue the turne for this time as I haue said alreadie of antiquities found within our Iland especiallie of coine whereof I purposed chiefelie to intreat Of the coines of England Chap. 25. THe Saxon coine before the conquest is in maner vtterlie vnknowne to me howbeit if my coniecture be anie thing I suppose that one shilling of siluer in those daies did counterpeise our common ounce though afterward it came to passe that it arose to twentie pence and so continued vntill the time of king Henrie the eight who first brought it to thrée shillings and foure pence afterward our siluer coine vnto brasse copper monies by reason of those inestimable charges which diuerse waies oppressed him And as I gather such obscure notice of the shilling which is called in Latine Solidus so I read more manifestlie of another which is the 48 part of a pound and this also currant among the Saxons of our Ile so well in gold as in siluer at such time as 240 of their penies made vp a iust pound fiue pence went to the shilling and foure shillings to the ounce But to procéed with my purpose After the death of K. Henrie Edward his sonne began to restore the aforesaid coine againe vnto fine siluer so quéene Marie his successour did continue his good purpose notwithstanding that in hir time the Spanish monie was verie cōmon in England by reason of hir mariage with Philip king of Spaine After hir decease the ladie Elizabeth hir sister and now our most gratious quéene souereigue and princesse did finish the matter wholie vtterly abolishing the vse of copper and brasen coine and conuerting the same into guns and great ordinance she restored sundrie coines of fine siluer as péeces of halfepenie farding of a penie of three halfe pence péeces of two pence of thrée pence of foure pence called the groat of six pence vsuallie named the testone and shilling of twelue pence whereon she hath imprinted hir owne image and emphaticall superscription Our gold is either old or new The old is that which hath remained since the time of king Edward the third or béene coined by such other princes as haue reigned since his deceasse without anie abasing or diminution of the finesse of that metall Therof also we haue yet remaining the riall the George noble the Henrie riall the salut the angell and their smaller peeces as halfes or quarters though these in my time are not so common to be séene I haue also beheld the souereigne of twentie shillings and the peece of shirtie shillings I haue heard likewise of péeces of fortie shillings three pounds fiue pounds and ten pounds But sith there were few of them coined and those onelie at the commandement of kings yearelie to bestow where their maiesties thought good in lie of new yeares gifts and rewards it is not requisit that I should remember them here amongst our currant monies The new gold is taken for such as began to be coined in the latter daies of king Henrie the eight at which time the finesse of the mettall began to be verie much alaied is not likelie to be restored for ought that I can see and yet is it such as hath béene coined since by his successors princes of this realme in value and goodnesse equall and not inferiour to the coine and currant gold of other nations where each one dooth couet chiefelie to gather vp our old finer gold so that the angels rials and nobles are more plentifullie seene in France Italie and Flanders than they be by a great deale within the realme of England if you regard the paiments which they dailie make in those kinds of our coine Our peeces now currant are of ten shillings fiue shillings and two shillings and six pence onelie and those of sundrie stamps and names as halfe souereigns equall in weight with our currant shilling whereby that gold is valued at ten times so much siluer quarters of souereigns otherwise called crownes and halfe crownes likewise angels halfe angels and quarters of angels or if there be anie other in good sooth I know them not as one scarselie acquainted with any siluer at all much lesse then God it wot with any store of gold The first currant shilling or siluer péeces of twelue pence stamped within memorie were coined by K. Henrie the eight in the twentith yeare of his reigne those of fiue shillings and of two shillings and six pence the halfe shilling by king Edward the sixt but the od péeces aboue remembred vnder the groat by our high and mightie princesse quéene Elizabeth the name of the groat penie two pence halfe penie and farding in old time the greatest siluer monies if you respect their denominations onelie being more ancient than that I can well discusse of the time of their beginnings Yet thus much I read that king Edward the first in the eight yeare of his reigne did first coine the penie and smallest péeces of siluer roundwise which before were square and woont to beare a double crosse with a crest in such sort that the penie might easilie be broken either into halfes or