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
made their letters patents sealed with their seales and then the king of England made William Warreine earle of Surrie and Southsax lord Warden of Scotland Hugh of Cressingham treasuror and William Ormesbie iustice of Scotland and foorthwith sent king Iohn to the Tower of London and Iohn Comin and the earle Badenauth the earle of Bohan and other lords into England to diuerse places on this side of the Trent And after that in the yeare of our Lord 1297 at the feast of Christmas the king called before him the said Iohn king of Scots although he had committed him to ward and said that he would burne or destroie their castels townes and lands if he were not recompensed for his costs and damages susteined in the warres but king Iohn and the other that were in ward answered that they had nothing sith their liues their deaths and goods were in his hands The king vpon that answer mooued with pitie granted them their liues so that they would doo their homage and make their oth solemnelie at the high altar in the church of the abbeie of Westminster vpon the eucharist that they and euerie of them should hold and keepe true faith obedience and allegiance to the said king Edward and his heires kings of England for euer And where the said king of Scots saw the kings banner of England displaied he and all his power should draw therevnto And that neither he or anie of his from thencefoorth should beare armes against the king of England or anie of his bloud Finallie the king rewarding with great gifts the said king Iohn and his lords suffered them to depart But they went into Scotland alwaie imagining notwithstanding this their submission how they might oppresse king Edward and disturbe his realme The Scots sent also to the king of France for succour and helpe who sent them ships to Berwike furnished with men of armes the king of England then being in Flanders In the yeare of our Lord 1298 the king went into Scotland with a great host and the Scots also assembled in great number but the king fought with them at Fawkirke on S. Marie Magdalens daie where were slaine thréescore thousand Scots Willain Walleis that was their capteine fled who being taken afterward was hanged drawen quartered at London for his trespasses After this the Scots rebelled againe and all the lords of Scotland chose Robert Bruse to be king except onelie Iohn Commin earle of Carrike who would not consent thereto bicause of his oth made to the king of England Wherefore Robert Bruse slue him at Dumfrise and then was crowned at Schone abbeie Herevpon the king of England assembled a great hoast and rode through all Scotland discomfited Robert Bruse slue eight thousand Scots tooke the most part of all the lords of Scotland putting the temporall lords to deth bicause they were forsworne Edward borne at Carnaruan sonne of this Edward was next king of England who from the beginning of his reigne enioied Scotland peaceablie dooing in all things as is aboue said of king Edward his father vntill toward the later end of his reigne about which time this Robert Bruse conspired against him and with the helpe of a few forsworne Scots forswore himselfe king of Scots Herevpon this Edward with Thomas earle of Lancaster and manie other lords made warre vpon him about the feast of Marie Magdalene the said Bruse and his partakers being alreadie accurssed by the pope for breaking the truce that he had established betwixt them But being infortunate in his first warres against him he suffered Edward the sonne of Balioll to proclame himselfe king of Scots and neuerthelesse held foorth his warres against Bruse before the ending of which he died as I read Edward borne at Windsore sonne of Edward the second was next king of England at the age of fifteene yeares in whose minoritie the Scots practised with Isabell mother to this Edward and with Roger Mortimer earle of the March to haue their homages released whose good will therein they obteined so that for the same release they should paie to this king Edward thirtie thousand pounds starling in three yeares next following that is to saie ten thousand pounds starling yeerelie But bicause the nobilitie and commons of this realme would not by parlement consent vnto it their king being within age the same release procéeded not albeit the Scots ceased not their practises with this quéene and earle But before those thrée yeares in which their menie if the bargaine had taken place should haue béene paied were expired our king Edward inuaded Scotland and ceassed not the warre vntill Dauid the sonne of Robert le Bruse then by their election king of Scotland absolutelie submitted himselfe vntohim But for that the said Dauid Bruse had before by practise of the quéene and the earle of March married Iane the sister of this king Edward he mooued by naturall zeale to his sister was contented to giue the realme of Scotland to this Dauid Bruse and to the heires that should be be gotten of the bodie of the said Iane sauing the reuersion and meane homages to this king Edward and to his owne children wherewith the same Dauid Bruse was right well contented and therevpon immediatlie made his homage for all the realme of Scotland to him Howbeit shortlie after causelesse conceiuing cause of displeasure this Dauid procured to dissolue this same estate tailée and therevpon not onelie rebelled in Scotland but also inuaded England whilest king Edward was occupied about his wars in France But this Dauid was not onelie expelled England in the end but also thinking no place a sufficient defense to his vntruth of his owne accord fled out of Scotland whereby the countries of Annandale Gallowaie Mars Teuidale Twedale and Ethrike were seized into the king of Englands hands and new marches set betwéene England and Scotland at Cockbuâ—nes path Sowtrie hedge Which when this Dauid went about to recouer againe his power was discomfited and himselfe by a few Englishmen taken brought into England where he remained prisoner eleuen yeares after his said apprehension During this time king Edward enioied Scotland peaceablie and then at the contemplation and wearie suit of his sorowfull sister wife of this Dauid he was contented once againe to restore him to the kingdome of Scotland Wherevpon it was concluded that for this rebellion Dauid should paie to king Edward the summe of one hundred thousand markes starling and there to destroie all his holdes and fortresses standing against the English borders and further assure the crowne of Scotland to the children of this king Edward for lacke of heire of his owne bodie all which things he did accordinglie And for the better assurance of his obeisance also he afterward deliuered into the hands of king Edward sundrie noble men of Scotland in this behalfe as his pledges This is the effect of the historie of Dauid touching his delings Now let vs sée what was doone
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
obeisance to this Cadwallo during eight and twentie yeares Thus Cadwallo reigned in the whole monarchie of great Britaine hauing all the seuen kings thereof as well Saxons as others his subiects for albeit the number of Saxons from time to time greatlie increased yet were they alwaies either at the first expelled or else made tributarie to the onelie kings of Britons for the time being as all their owne writers doo confesse Cadwallader was next king of the whole great Britaine he reigned twelue yeares ouer all the kings thereof in great peace and tranquillitie and then vpon the lamentable death of his subiects which died of sundrie diseases innumerablie he departed into little Britaine His sonne and cousine Iuor and Iue being expelled out of England also by the Saxons went into Wales where among the Britons they and their posteritie remained princes Upon this great alteration and warres being through the whole dominion betwéene the Britons and Saxons the Scots thought time to slip the collar of obedience and therevpon entred in league with Charles then king of France establishing it in this wise 1 The iniurie of Englishmen doone to anie of these people shall be perpetuallie holden common to them both 2 When Frenchmen be inuaded by Englishmen the Scots shall send their armie in defense of France so that they be supported with monie and vittels by the French 3 When Scots be inuaded by Englishmen the Frenchmen shall come vpon their owne expenses to their support and succour 4 None of the people shall take peace or truce with Englishmen without the aduise of other c. Manie disputable opinions may be had of warre without the praising of it as onlie admittable by inforced necessitie and to be vsed for peace sake onelie where here the Scots sought warre for the loue of warre onelie For their league giueth no benefit to themselues either in frée traffike of their owne commodities or benefit of the French or other priuilege to the people of both What discommoditie riseth by loosing the intercourse and exchange of our commodities being in necessaries more aboundant than France the Scots féele and we perfectlie know What ruine of their townes destruction of countries slaughter of both peoples haue by reason of this bloudie league chanced the histories be lamentable to read and horrible among christian men to be remembred but God gaue the increase according to their séed for as they did hereby sowe dissention so did they shortlie after reape a bloudie slaughter and confusion For Alpine their king possessing a light mind that would be lost with a little wind hoped by this league shortlie to subdue all great Britaine and to that end not onelie rebelled in his owne kingdome but also vsurped vpon the kingdome of Picts Whervpon Edwine king of England made one Brudeus king of Picts whom he sent into Scotland with a great power where in battell he tooke this Alpine king of Scots prisoner and discomfited his people And this Alpine being their king found subiect and rebell his head was striken off at a place in Scotland which thereof is to this daie called Pasalpine that is to saie the head of Alpine And this was the first effect of their French league Osbright king of England with Ella his subiect and a great number of Britons and Saxons shortlie after for that the Scots had of themselues elected a new king entered Scotland and ceassed not his war against them vntill their king and people fled into the Iles with whome at the last vpon their submission peace was made in this wise The water of Frith shall be march betwéene Scots and Englishmen in the east parts and shall be named the Scotish sea The water of Cluide to Dunbriton shall be march in the west parts betwéene the Scots and Britons This castell was before called Alcluide but now Dunbriton that is to say the castle of Britons and sometimes it was destroied by the Danes So the Britons had all the lands from Sterling to the Ireland seas and from the water of Frith Cluide to Cumber with all the strengths and commodities thereof and the Englishmen had the lands betwéene Sterling and Northumberland Thus was Cluide march betwéene the Scots and the Britons on the one side and the water of Frith named the Scotish sea march betwéene them and Englishmen on the other side and Sterling common march to thrée people Britons Englishmen and Scots howbeit king Osbright had the castle of Sterling where first he caused to be coined Sterling monie The Englishmen also builded a bridge of stone for passage ouer the water of Frith in the middest whereof they made a crosse vnder which were written these verses I am free march as passengers may ken To Scots to Britons and Englishmen Not manie yeares after this Hinguar and Hubba two Danes with a great number of people arriued in Scotland and slue Constantine whom Osbright had before made king wherevpon Edulfe or Ethelwulfe then king of England assembled his power against Hinguar and Hubba and in one battell slue them both but such of their people as would remaine and become christians he suffered to tarie the rest he banished or put to death c. This Ethelwulfe granted the Peter pence of which albeit Peter Paule had little need and lesse right yet the paiment thereof continued in this realme euer after vntill now of late yeares But the Scots euer since vnto this daie haue and yet doo paie it by reason of that grant which prooueth them to be then vnder his obeisance Alured or Alfred succéeded in the kingdome of England and reigned noblie ouer the whole monarchie of great Britaine he made lawes that persons excommunicated should be disabled to sue or claime anie propertie which law Gregour whome this Alured had made king of Scots obeied and the same law as well in Scotland as in England is holden to this daie which also prooueth him to be high lord of Scotland This Alured constreined Gregour king of Scots also to breake the league with France for generallie he concluded with him and serued him in all his warres as well against Danes as others not reseruing or making anie exception of the former league with France The said Alured after the death of Gregour had the like seruice and obeisance of Donald king of Scots with fiue thousand horssemen against one Gurmond a Dane that then infested the realme and this Donald died in this faith and obeisance with Alured Edward the first of that name called Chifod sonne of this Alured succéeded his father and was the next king of England against whome Sithrtic a Dane and the Scots conspired but they were subdued and Constantine their king brought to obeisance He held the realme of Scotland also of king Edward and this dooth Marian their owne countrieman a Scot confesse beside Roger Houeden and William of Malmesberie In the yeare of our Lord 923 the same king Edward was president and gouernour of
domini papae cognoscetis non tepidè non lentè debitum finem imponatis ne tam nobilis ecclesia sub occasione huiusmodi spiritualium quod absit temporalium detrimentum patiatur Ipsius námque industria credimus quòd antiqua relligio formadisciplinae grauitas habitus in ecclesia vestra reparari si quae fuerint ipsius contentiones ex pastoris absentia Dei gratia cooperante eodem praesente poterint reformari Dat. c. Hereby you sée how king Stephan was dealt withall And albeit the archbishop of Canturburie is not openlie to be touched herewith yet it is not to be doubted but he was a dooer in it so far as might tend to the maintenance of the right and prerogatiue of holie church And euen no lesse vnquietnesse had another of our princes with Iohn of Arundell who fled to Rome for feare of his head and caused the pope to write an ambitious and contumelious letter vnto his fouereigne about his restitution But when by the kings letters yet extant beginning thus Thomas proditionis non expers nostrae regiae maiestati insidias fabricauit the pope vnderstood the botome of the matter he was contented that Thomas should be depriued and another archbishop chosen in his sted Neither did this pride state at archbishops and bishops but descended lower euen to the rake-helles of the clergie and puddels of all vngodlinesse For beside the iniurie receiued of their superiors how was K. Iohn dealt withall by the vile Cistertians at Lincolne in the second of his reigne Certes when he had vpon iust occasion conceiued some grudge against them for their ambitious demeanor and vpon deniall to paie such summes of moneie as were allotted vnto them he had caused seizure to be made of such horsses swine neate and other things of theirs as were mainteined in his forrests They denounced him as fast amongst themselues with bell booke and candle to be accurssed and excommunicated Therevnto they so handled the matter with the pope and their friends that the kings was faine to yéeld to their good graces insomuch that a meeting for pacification was appointed betwéene them at Lincolne by meanes of the present archbishop of Canturburie who went oft betweene him and the Cistertian commissioners before the matter could be finished In the end the king himselfe came also vnto the said commissioners as they sat in their chapiter house and there with teares fell downe at their feet crauing pardon for his trespasses against them and heartilie requiring that they would from thencefoorth commend him and his realme in their praiers vnto the protection of the almightie and receiue him into their fraternitie promising moreouer full satisfaction of their damages susteined and to build an house of their order in whatsoeuer place of England it should please them to assigne And this he confirmed by charter bearing date the seauen and twentith of Nouember after the Scotish king was returned into Scotland departed from the king Whereby and by other the like as betweene Iohn Stratford and Edward the third c a man may easilie conceiue how proud the cleargie-men haue beene in former times as wholie presuming vpon the primassie of their pope More matter could I alledge of these and the like brotles not to be found among our common historiographers howbeit to seruing the same vnto places more conuenient I will ceasse to speake of them at this time and go forward with such other things as my purpose is to speake of At the first therefore there was like and equall authoritie in both our archbishops but as he of Canturburie hath long since obteined the prerogatiue aboue Yorke although I saie not without great trouble sute some bloudshed contention so the archbishop of Yorke is neuerthelesse written printate of England as one contenting himselfe with a péece of a title at the least when all could not be gotten And as he of Canturburie crowneth the king so this of Yorke dooth the like to the quéene whose perpetuall chapleine he is hath beene from time to time since the determination of this controuersie as writers doo report The first also hath vnder his iurisdiction to the number of one and twentie inferiour bishops the other hath onlie foure by reason that the churches of Scotland are now remooued from his obedience vnto an archbishop of their owne whereby the greatnesse and circuit of the iurisdiction of Yorke is not a little diminished In like sort each of these seauen and twentie sées haue their cathedrall churches wherein the deanes a calling not knowne in England before the conquest doo beare the chéefe rule being men especiallie chosen to that vocation both for their learning and godlinesse so néere as can be possible These cathedrall churches haue in like maner other dignities and canonries still remaining vnto them as héeretofore vnder the popish regiment Howbeit those that are chosen to the same are no idle and vnprofitable persons as in times past they haue béene when most of these liuings were either furnished with strangers especiallie out of Italie boies or such idiots as had least skill of all in discharging of those functions wherevnto they were called by vertue of these stipends but such as by preaching and teaching can and doo learnedlie set foorth the glorie of God and further the ouerthrow of antichrist to the vttermost of their powers These churches are called cathedrall bicause the bishops dwell or lie néere vnto the same as bound to keepe continuall residence within their iurisdictions for the better ouersight and gouernance of the same the word being deriued A cathedra that is to saie a chaire or seat where he resteth and for the most part abideth At the first there was but one church in euerie iurisdiction wherinto no man entred to praie but with some oblation or other toward the maintenance of the pastor For as it was reputed an infamie to passe by anie of them without visitation so it was a no lesse reproch to appeare emptie before the Lord. And for this occasion also they were builded verie huge and great for otherwise they were not capable of such multitudes as came dailie vnto them to heare the word and receiue the sacraments But as the number of christians increased so first monasteries then finallie parish churches were builded in euerie iurisdiction from whence I take our deanerie churches to haue their originall now called mother churches and their incumbents archpréests the rest being added since the conquest either by the lords of euerie towne or zealous men loth to trauell farre and willing to haue some ease by building them neere hand Unto these deanerie churches also the cleargie in old time of the same deanrie were appointed to repaire at sundrie seasons there to receiue wholesome ordinances and to consult vpon the necessarie affaires of the whole iurisdiction if necessitie so required and some image hereof is yet to be seene in the north parts
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
Valuasor is now growne out of vse wherefore it sufficeth to haue said thus much of that function Knights be not borne neither is anie man a knight by succession no not the king or prince but they are made either before the battell to incourage them the more to aduenture trie their manhood or after the battell ended as an aduancement for their courage and prowesse alreadie shewed then are they called Milites or out of the warres for some great seruice doone or for the singular vertues which doo appeare in them and then are they named Equites aurati as common custome intendeth They are made either by the king himselfe or by his commission and roiall authoritie giuen for the same purpose or by his lieutenant in the warres This order seemeth to answer in part to that which the Romans called Equitum Romanorum For as Equites Romani were chosen Ex censu that is according to their substance and riches so be knights in England most commonlie according to their yearelie reuenues or aboundance of riches wherewith to mainteine their estates Yet all that had Equestrem censum were not chosen to be knights and no more be all made knights in England that may spend a knights lands but they onelie whome the prince will honour Sometime diuerse ancient gentlemen burgesses and lawiers are called vnto knighthood by the prince and neuerthelesse refuse to take that state vpon them for which they are of custome punished by a fine that redoundeth vnto his cofers and to saie truth is oftentimes more profitable vnto him than otherwise their seruice should be if they did yeeld vnto knighthood And this also is a cause wherfore there be manie in England able to dispend a knights liuing which neuer come vnto that countenance and by their owne consents The number of the knights in Rome was also vncerteine and so is it of knights likewise with vs as at the pleasure of the prince And whereas the Equites Romani had Equum publicum of custome bestowed vpon them the knights of England haue not so but beare their owne charges in that also as in other kind of furniture as armorie méet for their defense and seruice This neuerthelesse is certeine that who so may dispend 40 pounds by the yeare of frée land either at the coronation of the king or mariage of his daughter or time of his dubbing may be inforced vnto the taking of that degrée or otherwise paie the reuenues of his land for one yeare which is onelie fortie pounds by an old proportion and so for a time be acquited of that title We name him knight in English that the French calleth Cheualier and the Latins Equitem or Equestris ordinis virum And when any man is made a knight he knéeling downe is striken of the king or his substitute with his sword naked vpon the backe or shoulder the prince c saieng Soyes cheualier au nom de Dieu And when he riseth vp the king saith Aduances bon cheualier This is the maner of dubbing knights at this present and the tearme dubbing is the old tearme for that purpose and not creation howbeit in our time the word making is most in vse among the common sort At the coronation of a king or queene there be other knights made with longer and more curious ceremonies called knights of the bath But how soeuer one be dubbed or made knight his wife is by and by called madame or ladie so well as the barons wife he himselfe hauing added to his name in common appellation this syllable Sir which is the title whereby we call our knights in England His wife also of courtesie so long as she liueth is called my ladie although she happen to marie with a gentleman or man of meane calling albeit that by the coÌ„mon law she hath no such prerogatiue If hir first husband also be of better birth than hir second though this later likewise be a knight yet in that she pretendeth a priuilege to loose no honor through courtesie yéelded to hir sex she will be named after the most honorable or worshipfull of both which is not séene elsewhere The other order of knighthood in England and the most honorable is that of the garter instituted by king Edward the third who after he had gained manie notable victories taken king Iohn of France and king Iames of Scotland and kept them both prisoners in the Tower of London at one time expelled king Henrie of Castile the bastard out of his realme and restored Don Petro vnto it by the helpe of the prince of Wales and duke of Aquitaine his eldest sonne called the Blacke prince he then inuented this societie of honour and made a choise out of his owne realme and dominions and throughout all christendome of the best most excellent and renowmed persons in all vertues and honour and adorned them with that title to be knights of his order giuing them a garter garnished with gold and pretious stones to â—â—eare 〈◊〉 on the left leg onlie also a kirtic gowne cloke chaperon collaâ— and other solemne and magnifiâ—â—â— apparell both of stuffe and fashion exquisite hereâ—call to weare at high feasts as to so high and princelie an order apperteineth Of this companie also he and his successors kings and queenes of England be the souereignes and the rest by certeine statutes and lawes amongst themselues be taken as brethren and fellowes in that order to the number of six and twentie as I find in a certeine treatise written of the same an example whereof I haue here inserted word for word as it was deliuered vnto me beginning after this maner I might at this present make a long tractatioâ— of the round table and estate of the knights thereof erected sometimes by Arthur the great monarch of this Iland and therevnto intreat of the number of his knights and ceremonies belonging to the order but I thinke in so dooing that I should rather set downe the latter inuentions of other men than a true description of such ancient actions as were performed in deed I could furthermore with more facilitie describe the roialtie of Charles the great his twelue péeres with their solemne rites and vsages but vnto this also I haue no great deuotion considering the truth hereof is now so stained with errours and fables inserted into the same by the lewd religious sort that except a man should professe to lie with them for companie there is little sound knowledge to be gathered hereof worthie the remembrance In like maner diuerse aswell subiects as princes haue attempted to restore againe a round table in this land as for example Roger lord Mortimer at Killingworth but such were the excesiue charges apperteining therevnto as they did make allowance and so great molestation dailie insued therevpon beside the bréeding of sundrie quarrels among the knights and such as resorted hitherto from forreine countries as it
he awaked out of sléepe and had called his dreame to remembrance he first doubted whether it were a verie dreame or a true vision the goddes hauing spoken to him with liuelie voice Wherevpon calling such of his companie vnto him as he thought requisite in such a case he declared vnto them the whole matter with the circumstances whereat they greatlie reioising caused mightie bonfixes to be made in the which they cast wine milke and other liquors with diuers gums and spices of most sweet smell and sauour as in the pagan religion was accustomed Which obseruances and ceremonies performed and brought to end they returned streightwaies to their ships and as soone as the wind serued passed forward on their iournie with great ioy and gladnesse as men put in comfort to find out the wished seats for their firme and sure habitations From hence therefore they cast about and making westward first arriued in Affrica and after kéeping on their course they passed the straits of Gibralterra and coasting alongst the shore on the right hand they found another companie that were likewise descended of the Troian progenie on the coasts nere where the Pyrenine hils shoot downe to the sea whereof the same sea by good reason as some suppose was named in those daies Mare Pyrenaeum although hitherto by fault of writers copiers of the British historie receiued in this place Mare Tyrrhenum was slightlie put downe in stead of Pyrenaeum The ofspring of those Troians with whom Brute and his companie thus did méet were a remnant of them that came away with Antenor Their capteine hight Corineus a man of great modestie and approoued wisedome and thereto of incomparable strength and boldnesse Brute and the said Troians with their capteine Corineus doo associat they take landing within the dominion of king Goffarus he raiseth an armie against Brute and his power but is discomfited of the citie of Tours Brutes arriuall in this Iland with his companie The third Chapter AFter that Brute and the said Troians by conference interchangeablie had vnderstood one anothers estates and how they were descended from one countrie and progenie they vnited themselues togither greatlie reioising that they were so fortunatlie met and hoising vp their sailes directed their course forward still till they arriued within the mouth of the riuer of Loire which diuideth Aquitaine from Gall Celtike where they tooke land within the dominion of a king called Goffarius surnamed Pictus by reason he was descended of the people Agathyrsi otherwise named Picts bicause they vsed to paint their faces and bodies insomuch that the richer a man was amongst them the more cost he bestowed in painting himselfe and commonlie the haire of their head was red or as probable writers say of skie colour Herodotus calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bicause they did weare much gold about them They vsed their wiues in common and because they are all supposed to be brethren there is no strife nor discord among them Of these Agathyrsi it is recorded by the said Herodotus that they refused to succour the Scythians against Darius giuing this reason of their refusall bicause they would not make warre against him who had doone them no wrong And of this people dooth the poet make mention saieng ¶ Cretésque Dryopésque fremunt pictique Agathyrsi To paint their faces not for amiablenesse but for terriblenesse the Britons in old time vsed and that with a kind of herbe like vnto plantine In which respect I sée no reason why they also should not be called Picts as well as the Agathyrsi séeing the denomination sprang of a vaine custome in them both And here by the way sithens we haue touched this follie in two seuerall people let it not séeme tedious to read this one tricke of the Indians among whom there is great plentie of pretious stones wherewith they adorne themselues in this maner namelie in certein hollow places which they make in their flesh they inclose and riuet in pretious stones and that as well in their forheads as their chéekes to none other purpose than the Agathyrsi in the vse of their painting The countrie of Poictou as some hold where the said Goffarius reigned tooke name of this people likewise a part of this our Ile of Britaine now conteined within Scotland which in ancient time was called Pightland or Pictland as elsewhere both in this historie of England and also of Scotland may further appeare But to our purpose When Goffarius the king of Poictou was aduertised of the landing of these strangers within his countrie he sent first certeine of his people to vnderstand what they ment by their comming a land within his dominion without licence or leaue of him obteined They that were thus sent came by chance to a place where Corineus with two hundred of the companie were come from the ships into a forrest néere the sea side to kill some veneson for their sustenance and being rebuked with some disdainfull speach of those Poictouins he shaped them a round answer insomuch that one of them whose name was Imbert let driue an arrow at Corineus but he auoiding the danger thereof shot againe at Imbert in reuenge of that iniurie offered and claue his head in sunder The rest of the Poictouins fled therevpon and brought word to Goffarius what had happened who immediatlie with a mightie armie made forward to encounter with the Troians and comming to ioine with them in battell after sharpe and sore conflict in the end Brute with his armie obteined a triumphant victorie speciallie through the noble prowesse of Corineus Goffarius escaping from the field fled into the inner parts of Gallia making sute for assistance vnto such kings as in those daies reigned in diuers prouinces of that land who promised to aid him with all their forces and to expell out of the coasts of Aquitaine such strangers as without his licence were thus entred the countrie But Brute in the meane time passed forward and with fire and sword made hauocke in places where he came and gathering great spoiles fraught his ships with plentie of riches At length he came to the place where afterwards he built a citie named Turonium that is Tours Here Goffarius with such Galles as were assembled to his aid gaue battell againe vnto the Troians that were incamped to abide his comming Where after they has fought a long time with singular manhood on both parties the Troians in fine oppressed with multitudes of aduersaries euen thirtie times as manie mo as the Troians were constreined to retire into their campe within the which the Galles kept them as besieged lodging round about them and purposing by famine to compell them to yéeld themselues vnto their mercie But Corineus taking counsell with Brute deuised to depart in the darke of the night out of the campe to lodge himselfe with thrée thousand chosen
Danes vpon the sea they sweare to him that they will depart out of his kingdome they breake the truce which was made betwixt him and them he giueth them battell and besides a great discomfiture killeth manie of their capteines the Danes and English fight neere Abington the victorie vncerteine seuen foughten fieldes betwixt them in one yeare the Danes soiourne at London The xiij Chapter AFter the decease of king Ethelred his brother Alured or Alfred succéeded him and began his reigne ouer the Westsaxons and other the more part of the people of England in the yeare of our Lord 872 which was in the 19 yeare of the emperour Lewes the second and 32 yeare of the reigne of Charles the bald king of France and about the eleuenth yeare of Constantine the second king of Scotland Although this Alured was consecrated king in his fathers life time by pope Leo as before ye haue heard yet was he not admitted king at home till after the decease of his thrée elder brethren for he being the yoongest was kept backe from the gouernement though he were for his wisdome and policie most highlie estéemed and had in all honour In the beginning of his reigne he was wrapped in manie great troubles and miseries speciallie by the persecution of the Danes which made sore and greeuous wars in sundrie parts of this land destroieng the same in most cruell wise About a moneth after he was made king he gaue battell to the Danes of Wilton hauing with him no great number of people so that although in the beginning the Danes that day were put to the woorse yet in the end they obteined the victorie Shortlie after a truce was taken betwixt the Danes and the Westsaxons And the Danes that had lien at Reading remoued from thence vnto London where they lay all the winter season In the second yeare of Alured his reigne the Danish king Halden led the same armie from London into Lindseie and there lodged all that winter at Torkseie In the yeare following the same Halden inuaded Mercia and wintered at Ripindon There were come to him thrée other leaders of Danes which our writers name to be kings Godrun Esketell Ammond so that their power was greatlie increased Burthred king of Mercia which had gouerned that countrie by the space of 22 yéeres was not able to withstand the puissance of those enimies wherevpon he was constreined to auoid the countrie and went to Rome where he departed this life and was buried in the church of our ladie néere to the English schoole In the fourth yeare of king Alured the armie of the Danes diuided it selfe into two parts so that king Halden with one part thereof went into Northumberland and lay in the winter season néere to the riuer of Tine where hee diuided the countrie amongest his men and remained there for the space of two yeares and oftentimes fetched thither booties and preies out of the countrie of the Picts The other part of the Danish armie with the thrée foresaid kings or leaders came vnto Cambridge and remained there a whole yeare In the same yeare king Alured fought by sea with 7 ships of Danes tooke one of them chased the residue In the yeare next insuing the Danes came into the countrie of the Westsaxons and king Alured tooke truce with them againe and they sware to him which they had not vsed to doo to anie afore that time that they would depart the countrie Their armie by sea sailing from Warham toward Excester susteined great losse by tempest for there perished 120 ships at Swanewicke Moreouer the armie of the Danes by land went to Excester in breach of the truce and king Alured followed them but could not ouertake them till they came to Excester and there he approched them in such wise that they were glad to deliuer pledges for performance of such couenants as were accorded betwixt him and them And so then they departed out of the countrie and drew into Mercia But shortlie after when they had the whole gouernment of the land from Thames northward they thought it not good to suffer king Alured to continue in rest with the residue of the countries beyond Thames And therefore the thrée foresaid rulers of Danes Godrun Esketell and Ammond inuading the countrie of Westsaxons came to Chipnam distant 17 miles from Bristow there pitched their tents King Alured aduertised hereof hasted thither and lodging with his armie néere to the enimies prouoked them to battell The Danes perceiuing that either they must fight for their liues or die with shame boldlie came foorth and gaue battell The Englishmen rashlie incountered with them and though they were ouermatched in number yet with such violence they gaue the onset that the enimies at the first were abashed at their hardie assaults But when as it was perceiued that their slender ranks were not able to resist the thicke leghers of the enimies they began to shrinke looke backe one vpon an other and so of force were constreined to retire and therewithall did cast themselues into a ring which though it séemed to be the best way that could be deuised for their safetie yet by the great force and number of their enimies on each side assailing them they were so thronged togither on heaps that they had no roome to stir their weapons Which disaduantage notwithstanding they â—lue a great number of the Danes and amongest other Hubba the brother of Agner with manie other of the Danish capteins At length the Englishmen hauing valiantlie foughten a long time with the enimies which had compassed them about at last brake out and got them to their campe To be briefe this battell was foughten with so equall fortune that no man knew to whether part the victorie ought to be ascribed But after they were once seuered they tooke care to cure their hurt men and to burie the dead bodies namelie the Danes interred the bodie of their capteine Hubba with great funerall pompe and solemnitie which doone they held out their iournie till they came to Abington whither the English armie shortlie after came also and incamped fast by the enimies In this meane while the rumor was spread abroad that king Alured had béene discomfited by the Danes bicause that in the last battell he withdrew to his campe This turned greatlie to his aduantage for thereby a great number of Englishmen hasted to come to his succour On the morrow after his comming to Abington he brought his armie readie to fight into the field neither were the enimies slacke on their parts to receiue the battell and so the two armies ioined and fought verie sore on both sides so that it séemed by Englishmen had not to doo with those Danes which had béene diuerse times before discomfited and put to flight but rather with some new people fresh and lustie But neither
of them by his Westsaxons and Mercians what lands came to king Edward by the â—eath of Edred duke of Mercia he recouereth diuers places out of the Danes hands and giueth them manie a foile what castels he builded he inuadeth Eastangles putteth Ericke a Danish king therof to flight his owne subiects murther him for his crueltie his kingdome returneth to the right of king Edward with other lands by him thereto annexed his sister Elfleda gouerned the countrie of Mercia during hir life The xvij Chapter AFter the deceasse of Alured his sonne Edward surnamed the elder began his reigne ouer the more part of England in the yeare of our Lord 901 which was in the second yeare of the emperor Lewes in the eight yeare of the reigne of Charles surnamed Simplex king of France and about the eight yeare of Donald king of Scotland He was consecrated after the maner of other kings his ancestors by Athelred the archbishop of Canturburie This Edward was not so learned as his father but in princelie power more high and honorable for he ioined the kingdome of Eastangles and Mercia with other vnto his dominion as after shall be shewed and vanquished the Danes Scots and Welshmen to his great glorie and high commendation In the beginning of his reigne he was disquieted by his brother Adelwold which tooke the towne of Winborne besides Bath and maried a nun there whome he had defloured attempted manie things against his brother Wherevpon the king came to Bath and though Adelwold shewed a countenance as if he would haue abidden the chance of warre within Winborne yet he stole awaie in the night and fled into Northumberland where he was ioifullie receiued of the Danes The king tooke his wife being left behind and restored hir to the house from whence she was taken ¶ Some haue written that this Adelwold or Ethelwold was not brother vnto king Edward but his vncles sonne After this king Edward prouiding for the suertie of his subiects against the forraies which the Danes vsed to make fortified diuers cities and townes and stuffed them with great garrisons of souldiers to defend the inhabitants and to expell the enimies And suerlie the Englishmen were so invred with warres in those daies that the people being aduertised of the inuasion of the enimies in anie part of their countrie would assemble oftentimes without knowledge of king or capteine and setting vpon the enimies went commonlie awaie with victorie by reason that they ouermatched them both in number and practise So were the enimies despised of the English souldiers and laughed to scorne of the king for their foolish attempts Yet in the third yeare of king Edwards reigne Adelwold his brother came with a nauie of Danes into the parties of the Eastangles and euen at the first the Essex men yeelded themselues vnto him In the yéere following he inuaded the countrie of Mercia with a great armie wasting and spoiling the same vnto Crikelade and there passing ouer the Thames rode foorth till he came to Basingstoke or as some bookes haue Brittenden harieng the countrie on each side and so returned backe vnto Eastangles with great ioy and triumph King Edward awakened héerewith assembled his people and followed the enimies wasting all the countries betwixt the riuer of Ouse and saint Edmunds ditch And when he should returne he gaue commandement that no man should staie behind him but come backe togither for doubt to be forelaid by the enimies The Kentishmen notwithstanding this ordinance and commandement remained behind although the king sent seuen messengers for them The Danes awaiting their aduantage came togither and fiercelie fought with the Kentishmen which a long time valiantlie defended themselues But in the end the Danes obteined the victorie although they lost more people there than the Kentishmen did and amongst other there were slaine the foresaid Adelwold and diuerse of the chiefe capteins amongst the Danes Likewise of the English side there died two dukes Siwolfe Singlem or Sigbelme with sundrie other men of name both temporall and also spirituall lords and abbats In the fift yéere of his reigne king Edward concluded a truce with the Danes of Eastangle and Northumberland at Itingford But in the yéere following he sent an armie against them of Northumberland which slue manie of the Danes and tooke great booties both of people and cattell remaining in the countrie the space of fiue weekes The yéere next insuing the Danes with a great armie entered into Mercia to rob spoile the countrie against whome king Edward sent a mightie host assembled togither of the Westsaxons them of Mercia which set vpon the Danes as they were returning homeward and slue of them an huge multitude togither with their chiefe capteins and leaders as king Halden and king Eolwils earle Uter earle Scurfa and diuerse other In the yéere 912 or as Simon Dunel saith 908 the duke of Mercia Edred or Etheldred departed this life and then king Edward seized into his hands the cities of London and Oxford and all that part of Mercia which he held But afterwards he suffered his sister Elfleda to inioy the most part thereof except the said cities of London and Oxford which he still reteined in his owne hand This Elfleda was wife to the said duke Edred or Etheldred as before you haue heard of whose woorthie acts more shall be said heereafter In the ninth yéere of his reigne king Edward built a castell at Hertford and likewise he builded a towne in Essex at Wightham and lay himselfe in the meane time at Maldon otherwise Meauldun bringing a great part of the countrie vnder his subiection which before was subiect to the Danes In the yéere following the armie of the Danes departed from Northampton and Chester in breach of the former truce and slue a great number of men at Hochnerton in Oxfordshire And shortlie after their returne home an other companie of them went foorth and came to Leighton where the people of the countrie being assembled togither fought with them put them to flight taking from them all the spoile which they had got and also their horsses In the 11 yéere of king Edward a fleet of Danes compassed about the west parts came to the mouth of Seuerne and so tooke preies in Wales they also tooke prisoner a Welsh bishop named Camelgaret at Irchenfield whome they led to their ships but king Edward redéemed him out of their hands paieng them fortie pounds for his ransome After that the armie of Danes went foorth to spoile the countrie about Irchenfield but the people of Chester Hereford and other townes and countries thereabout assembled togither and giuing battell to the enimies put them to flight and slue one of their noble men called earle Rehald and Geolcil the brother of earle Uter with a great part of their armie draue the residue into a
Wolstan archbishop of Yorke that liued in his daies for whose sake he greatlie inriched that bishoprike His fame spread ouer all the parties of Europe so that sundrie princes thought themselues happie if they might haue his friendship either by affinitie or otherwise by meanes whereof he bestowed his sisters so highlie in mariage as before ye haue heard He receiued manie noble and rich presents from diuers princes as from Hugh king of France horsses and sundrie rich iewels with certeine relikes as Constantines sword in the hilt whereof was set one of the nailes wherewith Christ was fastened to the crosse the speare of Charles the great which was thought to be the same where with the side of our sauiour was pearced the banner of saint Maurice with a part of the holie crosse andaffinitie or otherwise by meanes whereof he bestowed likewise a part of the thorned crowne yet Mandeuile saw the one halfe of this crowne in France and the other at Constantinople almost 400 yeares after this time as he writeth Of these iewels king Adelstane gaue part to the abbie of saint Swithon at Winchester and part to the abbie of Malmesburie Moreouer the king of Norwaie sent vnto him a goodlie ship of fine woorkmanship with gilt sterne and purple sailes furnished round about the decke within with a rowe of gilt pauises ¶ In the daies of this Adelstane reigned that right worthie Guy earle of Warwike who as some writers haue recorded fought with a mightie giant of the Danes in a singular combat and vanquished him Edmund succeedeth Adelstane in the kingdome the Danes of Northumberland rebell against him a peace concluded betwene Aulafe their king and king Edmund vpon conditions Aulafe dieth another of that name succeedethwithin with a rowe of gilt pauises ¶ In the daies him king Edmund subdueth the Danes aud compelleth them to receiue the christian faith Reinold and Aulafe are baptised they violate their fealtie vowed to king Edmund they are put to perpetuall exile why king Edmund wasted all Northumberland caused the eies of king Dunmails sonnes to be put out and assigned the said countrie to Malcolme king of Scots the Scotish chroniclers error in peruerting the time order of the English kings king Edmunds lawes by what misfortune he came to his end how his death was foreshewed to Dunstane in a vision a tale of the vertue of the crosse Dunstane reproueth duke Elstane his dreame and how the interpretation thereof came to passe The xxj Chapter AFter that Adelstane was departed this life without leauing issue behind to succéed him in the kingdome his brother Edmund sonnedeath was foreshewed to Dunstane in a vision a tale of Edward the elder borne of his last wife Edgiue tooke vpon him the gouernement of this land and began his reigne in the yeare of our Lord 940 which was in the fift yeare of the emperor Otho the 1 in the 13 of Lewes surnamed Transmarinus king of France and about the 38 yeare of Constantine the third king of Scotland The Danes of Northumberland rebelled against this Edmund and ordeined Aulafe to be their king whom they haddeath was foreshewed to Dunstane in a vision a tale called out of Ireland Some write that this Aulafe which now in the beginning of Edmunds reigne came into Northumberland was king of Norwaie hauing a great power of men with him marched foorth towards the south parts of this land in pupose to subdue the whole but king Edmund raised a mightie armie and incountred with his enimies at Leicester Howbeit yer the matter came to the vttermost triall of battell through the earâ—est sute of the archbishop of Canturburie and Yorke Odo and Wolstan a peace was concluded so as Edmund should inioy all that part of the land which lieth from Watling stréet southward Aulafe should inioy the other part as it lieth from the same street northward Then Aulafe tooke to wife the 〈◊〉 Alditha daughter to earle Ormus by whoâ—e counsell and assistance he had thus obteined the vpper hand But this Aulafe in the yeere following after he had destroied the church of saint Balter and burned Tinningham departed this life Then the other Aulafeof the archbishop of Canturburie and Yorke Odo that was sonne to king Sithrike tooke vpon him to gouerne the Northumbers After this in the yeare 942 king Edmund assembling an armie first subdued those Danes which had got into their possession the cities and towns of Lincolne Leicester Darhie Stafford and Notingham constreining them to receiue the christian faith and reduced all the countries euen vnto Humber vnder his subiection This doone Aulafe and Reinold the sonne of Garmo who as you haue heard subdued Yorke as a meane the sooner to obteine peace offered to become christians to submit themselues vnto him wherevpon he receiued them to his peace There be that write that this Aulafe is not that Aulafe which was sonne to king Sithrike but rather that the other was he with whom king Edmund made partition of the realme but they agree that this second Aulafe was a Dane also being conuerted to the faith as well throughvnder his subiection This doone Aulafe and constraint of the kings puissance as through the preaching of the gospell was baptised king Edmund being godfather both vnto him and vnto the foresaid Reinold to Aulafe at the verie fontstone and to Reinold at his confirmation at the bishops hands Neuerthelesse their wicked natures could not rest in quiet so that they brake both promise to God and to their prince and were therefore in the yeare next following driuen both out of the countrie and punished by perpetuall exile And so king Edmund adioined Northumberland without admitting anie other immediat gouernor vnto his owne estate Moreouer he wasted and spoiled whole Cumberland because he could not reduce the people of that countrie vnto due obeisance and conformable subiection The two sonnes of Dunmaile king of that prouince he apprehended and caused their eies to be put out Herewith vpon consideration either of such aid as he had receiued of the Scots at that time or some other friendlie respect he assigned the said countrie of Cumberland vnto Malcolme king of Scots to hold the same by fealtie of him and his successors The Scotish chronicles peruerting the time and order of the acts and doings of the English kings which reigned about this season affirme that by couenants of peace concluded betwixt Malcolme king of Scotland and Adelstan king of England it was agréed that Cumberland should remaine to the Scots as in their chronicles you may find atsuch aid as he had receiued of the Scots at that full expressed And againe that Indulfe who succéeded Malcolme in the kingdome of Scotland aided king Edmund against Aulafe whom the same chronicles name Aualassus but the time which they attribute vnto the reignes of their kings will not alow the same to stand
in their roomes by authoritie of pope Iohn the 13. This reformation or rather deformation was vsed by king Edgar in many other places of the realme He was as appeareth by diuers writers namelie in his beginning cruell against his owne people and wanton in lusting after yoong women as you haue heard before Of stature proportion of bodie he was but small and low but yet nature had inclosed within so little a personage such strength that he durst incounter and combat with him that was thought most strong onelie doubting this least he which should haue to doo with him should stand in feare of him And as it chanced at a great feast where oftentimes men vse their toongs more liberrallie than néedeth Kenneth the king of Scots cast out certeine words in this maner It may saith hée séeme a maruell that so manie countries and prouinces should be subiect to such a little silliehe was but small and low but yet nature had inclosed bodie as Edgar is These words being borne awaie by a â—ester or minstrell and afterwards vttered to Edgar with great reproch he wiselie dissembled the matter for a time although he kept the remembrance thereof inclosed within his breast and vpon occasion at length feigned to go on hunting taking the king of Scots forth with him and hauing caused one of his seruants to conuey two swords into a place within the forrest by him appointed in secret wise of purpose he withdrew from the residue of his companie and there accompanied onelie with the Scotish king came to the place where the swords were laid and there taking the one of them deliuered the other to the Scotish king willing him now to assaie his strength that they might shew by proofe whether of them ought to be subiect to the other Start not but trie it with me saith he for it is a shame for a king to be full of brags at bankets and not to be readie to fight when triall should be made abroad The Scotish king herewith being astonied and maruellouslie abashed fell downe at his féet and with much humilitie confessed his fault desired pardon for the same which vpon such his humble submission king Edward easilie granted This noble prince had two wiues Egelfrida or Elfrida surnamed the white the daughter of a mightie duke named Ordiner by whome he had issue a sonne named Edward that succéeded him His second wife was called Alfreda the daughter of Orgar duke of Deuon or Cornewall as some saie by whome he had issue Edmund that died before his father and Egelred which afterwards was king Also he had issue a base daughter named Editha begotten of his concubine Wilfrid as before ye haue heard The state of the realme in king Edgars daies was in good point for both the earth gaue hir increase verie plentiouslie the elements shewed themselues verie sauorable according to the course of times peace was mainteined and no inuasion by forraine enimies attempted For Edgar had not onelie all the whole I le of Britaine in subiection but also was ruler souereigne lord ouer all the kings of the out Iles that lie within the seas about all the coasts of the same Britaine euen vnto the realme of Norwaie He brought also a great part of Ireland vnder his subiection with the citie of Dublin as by authentike records it dooth and may appeare Contention amongest the peeres and states about succession to the crowne the monkes remoued and the canons and secular priests restored by Alfer duke of Mercia and his adherents a blasing starre with the euents insuing the same the rood of Winchester speaketh a prettie shift of moonks to defeat the priests of their possessions the controuersie betweene the moonks and the priests ended by a miracle of archbishop Dunstane great hope that Edward would tread his fathers steps the reuerent loue he bare his stepmother queene Alfred and hir sonne Egelred hir diuelish purpose to murther Edward hir stepsonne accomplished his obscure funerall in respect of pompe but famous by meanes of miracles wrought by and about his sepulture queene Alfred repenting hir of the said prepensed murther dooth penance and imploieth hir substance in good woorkes as satisfactorie for hir sinnes king Edwards bodie remoued and solemnlie buried by Alfer duke of Mercia who was eaten vp with lice for being against the said Edwards aduancement to the crowne queene Alfreds offense by no meanes excusable The xxv Chapter AFter the deceasse of king Edgar there was some strife and contention amongst the lords péeres of the realme about the succession of the crowne for Alfred the mother of Egelredus or Ethelredus and diuers other of hir opinion would gladlie haue aduanced the same Egelredus to the rule but the archbishop Dunstan taking in his hands the baner of the crucifix presented his elder brother Edward vnto the lords as they were assembled togither and there pronounced him king notwithstanding that both queene Alfred and hir friends namelie Alfer the duke of Mercia were sore against him especiallie for that he was begot in vnlawfull bed of Elfleda the nun for which offense he did seuen yeares pâ—nance and not for lieng with Wilfrid as maister Fox thinketh But Dunstane iudging as is to be thought that Edward was more fit for their behoofe to continue the world in the former course as Edgar had left it than his brother Egelred whose mother and such as tooke part with hir vnder hir sonnes authoritie were likelie inough to turne all vpside downe vsed the matter so that with helpe of Oswald the archbishop of Yorke and other bishops abbats and certeine of the nobilitie as the earle of Essex and such like he preuailed in his purpose so that as before is said the said Edward being the second of that name which gouerned this land before the conquest was admitted king and began his reigne ouer England in the yeare of our Lord 975 in the third yeare of the emperour Otho the second in the 20 yeare of the reigne of Lothar king of France and about the fourth yeare of Cumelerne king of Scotland He was consecrated by archb Dunstane at Kingston vpon Thames to the great griefe of his mother in law Alfred and hir friends ¶ About the beginning of his reigne a blasing starre was seene signifieng as was thought the miserable haps that followed And first there insued barrennesse of ground and thereby famine amongest the people and morraine of cattell Also duke Alfer or Elfer of Mercia and other noble men destroied the abbies which king Edgar and bishop Adelwold had builded within the limits of Mercia The priests or canons which had beene expelled in Edgars time out of the prebends and benefices began to complaine of the wrongs that were doone to them in that they had beene put out of possession from their liuings alleging it to be a great offense and miserable case that a
woorthie punishment for within one yéere after he was eaten to death with lice if the historie be true King Edward came to his death after he had reigned thrée yéeres or as other write thrée yéeres and eight moneths ¶ Whatsoeuer hath béene reported by writers of the murther committed on the person of this king Edward sure it is that if he were base begotten as by writers of no meane credit it should appéere he was in déed great occasion vndoubtedlie was giuen vnto quéene Alfred to seeke reuenge for the wrongfull keeping backe of hir son Egelred from his rightfull succession to the crowne but whether that Edward was legitimate or not she might yet haue deuised some other lawfull meane to haue come by hir purpose and not so to haue procured the murther of the yoong prince in such vnlawfull maner For hir dooing therein can neither be woorthilie allowed nor throughlie excused although those that occasioned the mischiefe by aduancing hir stepsonne sonne to an other mans right deserued most blame in this matter Thus farre the sixt booke comprising the first arriuall of the Danes in this land which was in king Britricus his reigne pag. 135 at which time the most miserable state of England tooke beginning THE SEVENTH BOKE of the Historie of England Egelred succeedeth Edward the martyr in the kingdome of England the decaie of the realme in his reigne Dunstane refusing to consecrate him is therevnto inforced Dunstans prophesies of the English people and Egelred their king his slouth and idlenes accompanied with other vices the Danes arriue on the coasts of Kent and make spoile of manie places warre betwixt the king and the bishop of Rochester archbishop Dunstans bitter denunciation against the king because he would not be pacified with the bishop of Rochester without moncie Dunstans parentage his strange trance and what a woonderfull thing he did during the time it lasted his education and bringing vp with what good qualities he was indued an incredible tale of his harpe how he was reuoked from louing and lusting after women whereto he was addicted his terrible dreame of a rough beare what preferments he obteined by his skill in the expounding of dreames The first Chapter IN the former booke was discoursed the troubled state of this land by the manisold and mutinous inuasions of the Danes who though they sought to ingrosse the rule of euerie part and parcell therof in to their hands yet being resisted by the valiantnesse of the gouernors supported with the aid of their people they were disappointed of their expectation and receiued manie a dishonorable or rather reprochfull repulse at their aduersaries hands Much mischiefe doubtlesse they did and more had doone if they had not béene met withall in like measure of extremitie as they offred to the offense and ouerthrow of great multitudes Their first entrance into this land is controuersed among writers some saieng that it was in the daies of king Britricus other some affirming that it was in the time of king Egbert c about which point sith it is a matter of no great moment we count it labour lost to vse manie woords onelie this by the waie is notewoorthie that the Danes had an vnperfect or rather a lame and limping rule in this land so long as the gouernors were watchfull diligent politike at home and warlike abroad But when these kind of kings discontinued and that the raines of the regiment fell into the hands of a pezzant not a puissant prince a man euill qualified dissolute slacke and licentious not regarding the dignitie of his owne person nor fauoring the good estate of the people the Danes who before were coursed from coast to coast and pursued from place to place as more willing to leaue the land than desirous to tarrie in the same tooke occasion of stomach and courage to reenter this I le waxing more bold and confident more desperate and venturous spared no force omitted no opportunitie let slip no aduantage that they might possiblie take to put in practise and fullie to accomplish their long conceiued purpose Now bicause the Danes in the former kings daies were reencountred and that renowmedlie so often as they did encounter and séeking the totall regiment where dispossessed of their partile principalilie which by warlike violence they obteined and for that the Saxons were interessed in the land and these but violent incrochers vnable to keepe that which they came to by constreint we haue thought it conuenient to comprise the troubled estate of that time in the sixt booke the rather for the necessarie consequence of matters then in motion and héere déeme it not amisse at so great and shamefull loosenesse speciallie in a prince ministring hart and courage to the enimie to begin the seuenth booke Wherin is expressed the chiefest time of their flourishing estate in this land if in tumults vprores battels and bloudshed such a kind of estate may possiblie be found For héere the Danes lord it héere they take vpon them like souereignes héere if at anie time they had absolute authoritie they did what they might in the highest degrée as shall be declared in the vnfortunate affaires of vngratious Egelred or Etheldred the sonne of king Edgar and of his last wife quéene Alfred who was ordeined king in place of his brother Edward after the same Edward was dispatched out of the waie and began his reigne ouer this realme of England in the yéere of our Lord 979 which was in the seuenth yéere of the emperor Otho the second in the 24 of Lothaine K. of France and about the second or third yéere of Kenneth the third of that name king of Scotland This Egelred or Etheldred was the 30 in number from Cerdicus he first king of the Westsaxons through his negligent gouernment the state of the commonwealth fell into such decaie as writers doo report that vnder him it may be said how the kingdome was 〈◊〉 to the vttermost point or period of old 〈…〉 age which is the next degrée to the graâ—e For wheras whilest the realme was diuided at the first by the Saxons into sundrie dominions it grew at length as it were increasing from youthfull yeeres to one absolute monarchie which passed vnder the late remembred princes Egbert Adelstane Edgar and others so that in their daies it might be said how it was growne to mans state but now vnder this Egelred through famine pestilence and warres the state thereof was so shaken turned vpside downe and weakened on ech part that rightlie might the season be likened vnto the old broken yéeres of mans life which through féeblenesse is not able to helpe it slefe Dunstane archbishop of Canturburie was thought to haue foreséene this thing and therfore refused to annoint Egelred king which by the murther of his brother should atteine to the gouernment but at length he was compelled vnto it and so he consecrated him at Kingston vpon Thames as the
made away the worthiest bodie of the world I shall raise thy head aboue all the lords of England and so caused him to be put to death Thus haue some bookes Howbeit this report agreeth not with other writers which declare how Cnute aduanced Edrike in the beginning of his reigne vnto high honor and made him gouernor of Mercia and vled his counsell in manie things after the death of king Edmund as in banishing Edwin the brother of king Edmund with his sonnes also Edmund and Edward But for that there is such discordance and variable report amongst writers touching the death of king Edmund and some fables inuented thereof as the manner is we will let the residue of their reports passe sith certeine it is that to his end he came after he had reigned about the space of one yéere and so much more as is betwéene the moneth of Iune and the latter end of Nouember His bodie was buried at Glastenburie neere his vncle Edgar With this Edmund surnamed Ironside fell the glorious maiestie of the English kingdome the which afterward as it had beene an aged bodie being sore decaied and weakened by the Danes that now got possession of the whole yet somewhat recouered after the space of 26 yéers vnder king Edward surnamed the Confessor and shortlie therevpon as it had béene falne into a resiluation came to extreame ruine by the inuasion and conquest of the Normans as after by Gods good helpe and fauorable assistance it shall appeare So that it would make a diligent and marking reader both muse and moorne to see how variable the state of this kingdome hath béene thereby to fall into a consideration of the frailtie and vncerteintie of this mortall life which is no more frée from securitie than a ship on the sea in tempestuous weather For as the casualties wherewith our life is inclosed and beset with round about are manifold so also are they miserable so also are they sudden so also are they vnauoidable And true it is that the life of man is in the hands of God and the state of kingdoms dooth also belong vnto him either to continue or discontinue But to the processe of the matter Cnute vndertaketh the totall regiment of this land he assembleth a councell at London the nobles doo him homage he diuideth the realme into foure parts to be gouerned by his assignes Edwin and Edward the sonnes of Edmund are banished their good fortune by honorable mariages King Cnute marieth queene Emma the widow of Egelred the wise and politike conditions wherevpon this mariage was concluded the English bloud restored to the crowne and the Danes excluded queene Emma praised for hir high wisedome in choosing an enimie to hir husband Cnute dismisseth the Danish armie into Denmarke Edrike de Streona bewraieth his former trecherie and procureth his owne death through rashnesse and follie the discordant report of writers touching the maner cause of his death what noble men were executed with him and banished out of England Cnute a monarch The xj Chapter CAnute or Cnute whome the English chronicles doo name Knought after the death of king Edmund tooke vpon him the whole rule ouer all the realme of England in the yéere of our Lord 1017 in the seuentéenth yeere of the emperour Henrie the second surnamed Claudus in the twentith yéere of the reigne of Robert king of France and about the 7 yeere of Malcolme king of Scotland Cnute shortlie after the death of king Edmund assembled a councell at London in the which he caused all the nobles of the realme to doo him homage in receiuing an oth of loiall obeisance He diuided the realme into foure parts assigning Northumberland vnto the rule of Irke or Iricius Mercia vnto Edrike and Eastangle vnto Turkill and reseruing the west part to his owne gouernance He banished as before is said Edwin the brother of king Edmund but such as were suspected to be culpable of Edmunds death he caused to be put to execution whereby it should appeere that Edrike was not then in anie wise detected or once thought to be giltie The said Edwin afterwards returned and was then reconciled to the kings fauor as some write but shortlie after traitorouslie slaine by his owne seruants He was called the king of churles Others write that he came secretlie into the realme after he had béene banished and kéeping himselfe closelie out of sight at length ended his life and was buried at Tauestocke Moreouer Edwin and Edward the sonnes of king Edmund were banished the land and sent firt vnto Sweno king of Norweie to haue bin made away but Sweno vpon remorse of conscience sent them into Hungarie where they found great fauor at the hands of king Salomon insomuch that Edwin maried the daughter of the same Salomon but had no issue by hir Edward was aduanced to marie with Agatha daughter of the emperour Henrie and by hir had issue two sonnes Edmund and Edgar surnamed Edeling and as many daughters Margaret and Christine of the which in place conuenient more shall be said When king Cnute had established things as he thought stood most for his suertie he called to his remembrance that he had no issue but two bastard sonnes Harold and Sweno begotten of his concubine Alwine Wherefore he sent ouer to Richard duke of Normandie requiring to haue quéene Emma the widow of king Egelred in mariage and so obteined hir not a little to the woonder of manie which thought a great ouersight both in the woman and in hir brother that would satisfied the request of Cnute herein considering he had beene such a mortall enimie to hir former husband But duke Richard did not onelie consent that his said sister should be maried vnto Cnute but also he himselfe tooke to wife the ladie Hestritha sister to the said Cnute ¶ Here ye haue to vnderstand that this mariage was not made without great consideration large couenants granted on the part of king Cnute for before he could obteine queene Emma to his wife it was fullie condescended agréed that after Cnuts decease the crowne of England should remaine to the issue borne of this mariage betwixt hir Cnute which couenant although it was not performed immediatlie after the deceasse of king Cnute yet in the end it tooke place so as the right séemed to be deferred and not to be taken away nor abolished for immediatlie vpon Harolds death that had vsurped Hardicnute succéeded as right heire to the crowne by force of the agréement made at the time of the mariage solemnized betwixt his father and mother and being once established in the kingdome he ordeined his brother Edward to succéed him whereby the Danes were vtterlie excluded from all right that they had to pretend vnto the crowne of this land and the English bloud restored thereto chieflie by that gratious conclusion of this mariage betwixt king Cnute and quéene Emma For the
POSSIDETE ANIMAS VESTRAS NH THE First and second volumes of Chronicles comprising 1 The description and historie of England 2 The description and historie of Ireland 3 The description and historie of Scotland First collected and published by Raphaell Holinshed William Harrison and others Now newlie augmented and continued with manifold matters of singular note and worthie memorie to the yeare 1586. by Iohn Hooker aliàs Vowell Gent. and others With conuenient tables at the end of these volumes Historiae placeant nostrates ac peregrinae 1574 To the Right Honorable and his singular good Lord and Maister S. William Brooke Knight Lord Warden of the cinque Ports and Baron of Cobham all increase of the feare and knowledge of God firme obedience toward his Prince infallible loue to the common wealth and commendable renowme here in this world and in the world to come life euerlasting HAuing had iust occasion Right Honorable to remaine in London during the time of Trinitie terme last passed and being earnestlie required of diuers my freends to set downe some breefe discourse of parcell of those things which I had obserued in the reading of such manifold antiquities as I had perused toward the furniture of a Chronologie which I haue yet in hand I was at the first verie loth to yeeld to their desires first for that I thought my selfe vnable for want of skill and iudgment so suddenlie with so hastie speed to take such a charge vpon me secondlie bicause the dealing therein might prooue an hinderance and impechment vnto mine owne Treatise and finallie for that I had giuen ouer all earnest studie of histories as iudging the time spent about the same to be an hinderance vnto my more necessarie dealings in that vocation function wherevnto I am called in the ministerie But when they were so importunate with me that no reasonable excuse could serue to put by this trauell I condescended at the length vnto their yrkesome sute promising that I would spend such void time as I had to spare whilest I should be inforced to tarie in the citie vpon some thing or other that should satisfie their request and stand in lieu of a description of my Countrie For their parts also they assured me of such helps as they could purchase and thus with hope of good although no gaie successe I went in hand withall then almost as one leaning altogither vnto memorie sith my books and I were parted by fourtie miles in sunder In this order also I spent a part of Michaelmas and Hilarie termes insuing being inforced thereto I say by other businesses which compelled me to keepe in the citie and absent my selfe from my charge though in the meane season I had some repaire vnto my poore librarie but not so great as the dignitie of the matter required and yet far greater than the Printers hast would suffer One helpe and none of the smallest that I obtained herein was by such commentaries as Leland had somtime collected of the state of Britaine books vtterlie mangled defaced with wet and weather and finallie vnperfect through want of sundrie volumes secondlie I gat some knowledge of things by letters and pamphlets from sundrie places shires of England but so discordant now and then amongst themselues especiallie in the names and courses of riuers and situation of townes that I had oft greater trouble to reconcile them one with an other than orderlie to pen the whole discourse of such points as they contained the third aid did grow by conference with diuers either at the table or secretlie alone wherein I marked in what things the talkers did agree and wherin they impugned ech other choosing in the end the former and reiecting the later as one desirous to set foorth the truth absolutelie or such things in deed as were most likelie to be true The last comfort arose by mine owne reading of such writers as haue heretofore made mention of the condition of our countrie in speaking wherof if I should make account of the successe extraordinarie cōming by sundrie treatises not supposed to be extant I should but seeme to pronounce more than may well be said with modestie say farder of my selfe than this Treatise can beare witnes of Howbeit I refer not this successe wholie vnto my purpose about this Description but rather giue notice thereof to come to passe in the penning of my Chronologie whose crums as it were fell out verie well in the framing of this Pamphlet In the processe therefore of this Booke if your Honor regard the substance of that which is here declared I must needs confesse that it is none of mine owne but if your Lordship haue consideration of the barbarous composition shewed herein that I may boldlie claime and challenge for mine owne sith there is no man of any so slender skill that will defraud me of that reproch which is due vnto me for the meere negligence disorder and euill disposition of matter comprehended in the same Certes I protest before God and your Honour that I neuer made any choise of stile or words neither regarded to handle this Treatise in such precise order and method as manie other would haue done thinking it sufficient truelie and plainelie to set foorth such things as I minded to intreat of rather than with vaine affectation of eloquence to paint out a rotten sepulchre a thing neither commendable in a writer nor profitable to the reader How other affaires troubled me in the writing hereof manie know and peraduenture the flacknesse shewed herein can better testifie but howsoeuer it be done whatsoeuer I haue done I haue had an especiall eye vnto the truth of things and for the rest I hope that this foule frizeled Treatise of mine will prooue a spur to others better learned more skilfull in Chorographie and of greater iudgement in choise of matter to handle the selfe same argument if in my life time I doo not peruse it againe It is possible also that your Honour will mislike hereof for that I haue not by mine owne trauell and eysight viewed such things as I doo here intreat of In deed I must needs confesse that vntill now of late except it were from the parish where I dwell vnto your Honour in Kent or out of London where I was borne vnto Oxford Cambridge where I haue bene brought vp I neuer trauelled 40. miles foorthright and at one iourney in all my life neuerthelesse in my report of these things I vse their authorities who either haue performed in their persons or left in writing vpon sufficient ground as I said before whatsoeuer is wanting in mine It may be in like sort that your Honour will take offense at my rash and retchlesse behauiour vsed in the composition of this volume and much more that being scambled vp after this maner I dare presume to make tendour of the protection therof vnto your Lordships hands But when I consider the singular affection that your
Robert but following the authoritie of an English préest then liuing in the court the English Peeres began to shew their disliking in manifest maner Neuerthelesse the Normans so bewitched the king with their lieng and bosting Robert the Archbishop being the chéefe instrument of their practise that he beléeued them and therevpon vexed sundrie of the nobilitie amongst whom Earle Goodwijn of Kent was the chéefe a noble Gentleman and father in law to king Edward by the mariage of his daughter The matter also came to such issue against him that he was exiled and fiue of his sonnes with him wherevpon he goeth ouer the sea and soone after returning with his said sonnes they inuaded the land in sundrie places the father himselfe comming to London where when the kings power was readie to ioine with him in battell it vtterlie refused so to doo affirming plainelie that it should be méere follie for one Englishman to fight against another in the reuenge of Frenchmens quarels which answer entred so déeplie into the kings mind that he was contented to haue the matter heard and appointing commissioners for that purpose they concluded at the vpshot that all the French should depart out of England by a day few excepted whom the king should appoint and nominate By this means therfore Robert the Archbishop of secret counsell with the king was first exiled as principall abuser seducer of the king who goeth to Rome there complaineth to the Pope of his iniurie receiued by the English Howbeit as he returned home againe with no small hope of the readeption of his See he died in Normandie whereby he saued a killing Certes he was the first that euer tendered complaint out of England vnto Rome with him went William Bishop of London afterward reuoked and Vlfo of Lincolne who hardlie escaped the furie of the English nobilitie Some also went into Scotland and there held themselues expecting a better time And this is the true historie of the originall cause of the conquest of England by the French for after they were well beaten at Douer bicause of their insolent demeanour there shewed their harts neuer ceased to boile with a desire of reuenge that brake out into a flame so soone as their Robert possessed the primacie which being once obteined and to set his mischéefe intended abroch withall a contention was quicklie procured about certeine Kentish lands and controuersie kindled whether he or the Earle should haue most right vnto them The king held with the priest as with the church the nobilitie with the Earle In processe also of this businesse the Archbishop accused the Earle of high treason burdening him with the slaughter of Alfred the kings brother which was altogither false as appeareth by a treatise yet extant of that matter written by a chaplaine to king Edward the Confessour in the hands of Iohn Stow my verie fréend wherein he saith thus Alfredus incautè agens in aduentu suo in Angliam a Danis circumuentus occiditur He addeth moreouer that giuing out as he came through the countrie accompanied with his few proud Normans how his meaning was to recouer his right vnto the kingdome and supposing that all men would haue yéelded vnto him he fell into their hands whome Harald then king did send to apprehend him vpon the fame onelie of this report brought vnto his eares So that to be short after the king had made his pacification with the Earle the French I say were exiled the Quéene restored to his fauour whom he at the beginning of this broile had imprisoned at Wilton allowing hir but one onlie maid to wait vpon hir and the land reduced to hir former quietnesse which continued vntill the death of the king After which the Normans not forgetting their old grudge remembred still their quarell that in the end turned to their conquest of this Iland After which obteined they were so cruellie bent to our vtter subuersion and ouerthrow that in the beginning it was lesse reproch to be accounted a slaue than an Englishman or a drudge in anie filthie businesse than a Britaine insomuch that euerie French page was superiour to the greatest Peere and the losse of an Englishmans life but a pastime to such of them as contended in their brauerie who should giue the greatest strokes or wounds vnto their bodies when their toiling and drudgerie could not please them or satisfie their gréedie humors Yet such was our lot in those daies by the diuine appointed order that we must needs obey such as the Lord did set ouer vs and so much the rather for that all power to resist was vtterlie taken from vs and our armes made so weake and feeble that they were not now able to remooue the importable load of the enimie from our surburdened shoulders And this onelie I saie againe bicause we refused grace offered in time and would not heare when God by his Preachers did call vs so fauourablie vnto him Oh how miserable was the estate of our countrie vnder the French and Normans wherein the Brittish and English that remained could not be called to any function in the commonwealth no not so much as to be constables and headburowes in small villages except they could bring 2. or 3. Normans for suerties to the Lords of the soile for their good behauiour in their offices Oh what numbers of all degrées of English and Brittish were made slaues and bondmen and bought and sold as oxen in open market In so much that at the first comming the French bond were set free and those that afterward became bond were of our owne countrie and nation so that few or rather none of vs remained free without some note of bondage and seruitude to the French Hereby then we perceiue how from time to time this Iland hath not onelie béene a prey but as it were a common receptacle for strangers the naturall homelings or Britons being still cut shorter and shorter as I said before till in the end they came not onelie to be driuen into a corner of this region but in time also verie like vtterlie to haue beene extinguished For had not king Edward surnamed the saint in his time after greeuous wars made vpon them 1063. wherein Harald latelie made Earle of Oxenford sonne to Goodwin Earle of Kent and after king of England was his generall permitted the remnant of their women to ioine in mariage with the Englishmen when the most part of their husbands and male children were slaine with the sword it could not haue béene otherwise chosen but their whole race must needs haue susteined the vttermost confusion and thereby the memorie of the Britons vtterlie haue perished among vs. Thus we see how England hath six times beene subiect to the reproch of conquest And wheras the Scots séeme to challenge manie famous victories also ouer vs beside gréeuous impositions tributs dishonorable compositions it shall suffice for answer that they deale in
in Wales the greatest number as I said retaine still their owne ancient language that of the north part of the said countrie being lesse corrupted than the other and therefore reputed for the better in their owne estimation and iudgement This also is proper to vs Englishmen that sith ours is a meane language and neither too rough nor too smooth in vtterance we may with much facilitie learne any other language beside Hebrue Gréeke Latine and speake it naturallie as if we were home-borne in those countries yet on the other side it falleth out I wot not by what other meanes that few forren nations can rightlie pronounce ours without some and that great note of imperfection especiallie the French men who also seldome write any thing that sauoreth of English trulie It is a pastime to read how Natalis Comes in like maner speaking of our affaires dooth clip the names of our English lords But this of all the rest dooth bréed most admiration with me that if any stranger doo hit vpon some likelie pronuntiation of our toong yet in age he swarueth so much from the same that he is woorse therein than euer he was and thereto peraduenture halteth not a litle also in his owne as I haue séene by experience in Reginald Wolfe and other whereof I haue iustlie maruelled The Cornish and Deuonshire men whose countrie the Britons call Cerniw haue a speach in like sort of their owne and such as hath in déed more affinitie with the Armoricane toong than I can well discusse of Yet in mine opinion they are both but a corrupted kind of British albeit so far degenerating in these daies from the old that if either of them doo méete with a Welshman they are not able at the first to vnderstand one an other except here and there in some od words without the helpe of interpretors And no maruell in mine opinion that the British of Cornewall is thus corrupted sith the Welsh toong that is spoken in the north south part of Wales doth differ so much in it selfe as the English vsed in Scotland dooth from that which is spoken among vs here in this side of the Iland as I haue said alreadie The Scottish english hath beene much broader and lesse pleasant in vtterance than ours because that nation hath not till of late indeuored to bring the same to any perfect order and yet it was such in maner as Englishmen themselues did speake for the most part beyond the Trent whither any great amendement of our language had not as then extended it selfe Howbeit in our time the Scottish language endeuoreth to come neere if not altogither to match our toong in finenesse of phrase and copie of words and this may in part appeare by an historie of the Apocripâ—a translated into Scottish verse by Hudson dedicated to the king of that countrie and conteining sixe books except my memorie doo faile me Thus we sée how that vnder the dominion of the king of England and in the south parts of the realme we haue thrée seuerall toongs that is to saie English British and Cornish and euen so manie are in Scotland if you accompt the English speach for one notwithstanding that for bredth and quantitie of the region I meane onelie of the soile of the maine Iland it be somewhat lesse to see to than the other For in the north part of the region where the wild Scots otherwise called the Redshanks or rough footed Scots because they go bare footed and clad in mantels ouer their saffron shirts after the Irish maner doo inhabit they speake good Irish which they call Gachtlet as they saie of one Gathelus whereby they shew their originall to haue in times past béene fetched out of Ireland as I noted also in the chapiter precedent and wherevnto Vincentius cap. de insulis Oceani dooth yéeld his assent saieng that Ireland was in time past called Scotia Scotia eadem saith he Hibernia proxima Britanniae insula spatio terrarum angustior sed situ foecundior Scotia autem à Scotorum gentibus traditur appellata c. Out of the 14. booke of Isidorus intituled Originum where he also addeth that it is called Hybernia because it bendeth toward Iberia But I find elsewhere that it is so called by certeine Spaniards which came to seeke and plant their inhabitation in the same wherof in my Chronologie I haue spoken more at large In the Iles of the Orchades or Orkeney as we now call them such coasts of Britaine as doo abbut vpon the same the Gottish or Danish speach is altogither in vse and also in Shetland by reason as I take it that the princes of Norwaie held those Ilands so long vnder their subiection albeit they were otherwise reputed as rather to belong to Ireland bicause that the verie soile of them is enimie to poison as some write although for my part I had neuer any sound experience of the truth hereof And thus much haue I thought good to speake of our old speaches and those fiue languages now vsuallie spoken within the limits of our Iland Into how manie kingdoms this Iland hath beene diuided Cap. 7. IT is not to be doubted but that at the first the whole Iland was ruled by one onelie prince and so continued from time to time vntill ciuill discord grounded vpoÌ„ ambitious desire to reigne caused the same to be gouerned by diuerse And this I meane so well of the time before the comming of Brute as after the extinction of his whole race posteritie Howbeit as it is vncerteine into how manie regions it was seuered after the first partition so it is most sure that this latter disturbed estate of regiment continued in the same not onelie vntill the time of Caesar but also in maner vnto the daies of Lucius with whome the whole race of the Britons had an end and the Romans full possession of this Iland who gouerned it by Legats after the maner of prouince It should séeme also that within a while after the time of Dunwallon who rather brought those foure princes that vsurped in his time to obedience than extinguished their titles such partition as they had made of the Iland among themselues each great citie had hir fréedome and seuerall kind of regiment proper vnto hir selfe beside a large circuit of the countrie appertinent vnto the same wherein were sundrie other cities also of lesse name which owght homage and all subiection vnto the greatter sort And to saie truth hereof it came to passe that each of these regions whereinto this Iland was then diuided tooke his name of some one of these cities although Ciuitas after Caesar doth sometime signifie an whole continent or kingdome whereby there were in old time Tot ciuitates quot regna and contrariwise as may appeare by that of the Trinobantes which was so called of Trinobantum the chiefe citie of that portion whose territories conteined all
barnacls questioned with diuers persons about the same I haue red also whatsoeuer is written by forren authors touching the generation of that foule sought out some places where I haue béene assured to sée great numbers of them but in vaine Wherefore I vtterlie despaired to obteine my purpose till this present yeare of Grace 1584. and moneth of Maie wherein going to the court at Gréenewich from London by bote I saw sundrie ships lieng in the Thames newlie come home either from Barbarie or the Canarie Iles for I doo not well remember now from which of these places on whose sides I perceiued an infinit sort of shels to hang so thicke as could be one by another Drawing néere also I tooke off ten or twelue of the greatest of them afterward hauing opened them I saw the proportion of a foule in one of them more perfectlie than in all the rest sauing that the head was not yet formed bicause the fresh water had killed them all as I take it and thereby hindered their perfection Certeinelie the feathers of the taile hoong out of the shell at least two inches the wings almost perfect touching forme were garded with two shels or shéeldes proportioned like the selfe wings and likewise the brestbone had hir couerture also of like shellie substance and altogither resembling the figure which Lobell and Pena doo giue foorth in their description of this foule so that I am now fullie persuaded that it is either the barnacle that is ingendred after one maner in these shels or some other sea-foule to vs as yet vnknowen For by the feathers appearing and forme so apparant it cannot be denied but that some bird or other must proceed of this substance which by falling from the sides of the ships in long voiages may come to some perfection But now it is time for me to returne againe vnto my former purpose There hath sometime beene and yet is a bishop of this I le who at the first was called Episcopus Sodorensis when the iurisdiction of all the Hebrides belonged vnto him Whereas now he that is bishop there is but a bishops shadow for albeit that he beare the name of bishop of Man yet haue the earles of Darbie as it is supposed the cheefe profit of his sée sauing that they allow him a little somewhat for a flourish notwithstanding that they be his patrons and haue his nomination vnto that liuing The first bishop of this I le was called Wimundus or Raymundus and surnamed Monachus Sauinensis who by reason of his extreame and tyrannicall crueltie toward the Ilanders had first his sight taken from him then was sent into exile After him succéeded another moonke in king Stephens daies called Iohn and after him one Marcus c other after other in succession the sée it selfe being now also subiect to the archbishop of Yorke for spirituall iurisdiction In time of Henrie the second this Iland also had a king whose name was Cuthred vnto whome Vinianus the cardinall came as legate 1177. and wherin Houeden erreth not In the yeare also 1228. one Reginald was viceroy or petie king of Man afterward murthered by his subiects Then Olauus after him Hosbach the sonne of Osmond Hacon 1290. who being slaine Olauus and Gotredus parted this kingdome of Sodora in such wise that this had all the rest of the Iles the other onelie the I le of Man at the first but after the slaughter of Gotredus Olauus held all after whom Olauus his sonne succeeded Then Harald sonne to Olauus who being entered in Maie and drowned vpon the coastes of Ireland his brother Reginald reigned twentie and seuen daies and then was killed the first of Iune whereby Olauus aliàs Harald sonne to Gotred ruled in the I le one yeare Next vnto him succéeded Magnus the second sonne of Olauus and last of all Iuarus who held it so long as the Norwaies were lords thereof But being once come into the hands of the Scots one Godred Mac Mares was made lieutenant then Alane thirdlie Maurice Okarefer and fourthlie one of the kings chapleines c. I would gladlie haue set downe the whole catalog of all the viceroyes and lieutenants but sith I can neither come by their names nor successions I surcesse to speake any more of them and also of the I le it selfe whereof this may suffice After we haue in this wise described the I le of Man with hir commodities we returned eastwards backe againe vnto the point of Ramshed where we found to the number of six Ilets of one sort and other whereof the first greatest and most southwesterlie is named the Wauay It runneth out in length as we gessed about fiue miles and more from the southeast into the northwest betwéene which and the maine land lie two little ones whose names are Oldborrow and Fowlney The fourth is called the Fouldra and being situate southeast of the first it hath a prettie pile or blockhouse therin which the inhabitants name the pile of Fouldra By east thereof in like sort lie the Fola and the Roa plots of no great compasse and yet of all these six the first and Fouldra are the fairest and most fruitfull From hence we went by Rauenglasse point where lieth an Iland of the same denomination as Reginald Wolfe hath noted in his great card not yet finished nor likelie to be published He noteth also two other Ilets betwéene the same and the maine land but Leland speaketh nothing of them to my remembrance neither any other card as yet set foorth of England and thus much of the Ilands that lie vpon our shore in this part of my voiage Hauing so exactlie as to me is possible set downe the names and positions of such Iles as are to be found vpon the coast of the Quéenes Maiesties dominions now it resteth that we procéed orderlie with those that are séene to lie vpon the coast of Scotland that is to saie in the Irish the Deucalidonian the Germans seas which I will performe in such order as I may sith I cannot do so much therin as I would Some therefore doo comprehend and diuide all the Iles that lie about the north coast of this I le now called Scotland into thrée parts sauing that they are either occidentals the west Iles aliàs the Orchades Zelandine or the Shetlands They place the first betwéene Ireland and the Orchades so that they are extended from Man and the point of Cantire almost vnto the Orchades in the Deucalidonian sea and after some are called the Hebrides In this part the old writers in déed placed the Hebrides or Hemodes which diuers call the Hebudes and the Acmodes albeit the writers varie in their numbers some speaking of 30 Hebudes and seuen Hemodes some of fiue Ebudes as Solinus and such as follow his authoritie Howbeit the late Scottish writers doo product a summe of more than 300 of these Ilands in all which
the lake Lewin vnto whose streame two other lakes haue recourse in Fifland and then the Firth or Fortha which some doo call the Pictish and Scotish sea whither the kingdome of the Northumbers was sometime extended and with the riuer last mentioned I meane that commeth from Londors includeth all Fife the said Fortha being full of oisters and all kinds of huge fish that vse to lie in the déepe How manie waters run into the Firth called by Ptolomie Loxa it is not in my power iustlie to declare yet are there both riuers rills lakes that fall into the same as Clacke Alon Dune Kerie Cambell Cumer Tere Man Torkeson Rosham Mushell Blene and diuerse other which I call by these names partlie after information and partlie of such townes as are neere vnto their heads Finallie when we are past the Haie then are we come vnto the Twede whereinto we entred leauing Barwike on the right hand and his appurtenances wherein Halidon hill standeth and conteineth a triangle of so much ground beyond the said riuer as is well néere foure miles in length and thrée miles in bredth in the broad end except mine information doo faile me The Twede which Ptolomie nameth Toualsis or Toesis betwéene which and the Tine the countie of Northumberland is in maner inclosed and watred with sundrie noble riuers is a noble streame and the limes or bound betwéene England Scotland wherby those two kingdomes are now diuided in sunder It riseth about Drimlar in Eusbale or rather out of a faire well as Leland saith standing in the mosse of an hill called Airstane or Harestan in Twede dale ten miles from Pibble and so comming by Pibble Lander Dribiwgh Lelse Warke Norham and Hagarstone it falleth into the sea beneath Barwike as I heare Thus saith Leland But I not contented with this so short a discourse of so long a riuer briefe description of so faire a streame will ad somewhat more of the same concerning his race on the English side and rehearsall of such riuers as fall into it Comming therefore to Ridam it receiueth betwéene that and Carham a becke which descendeth from the hilles that lie by west of Windram Going also from Ridam by Longbridgham on the Scotish side and to Carham it hasteth immediatlie to Warke castell on the English and by Spilaw on the other side then to Cornewall Cald streame and Tilmouth where it receiueth sundrie waters in one botome which is called the Till and whose description insueth here at hand Certes there is no head of anie riuer that is named Till but the issue of the furthest water that commeth hereinto riseth not farre from the head of Uswaie in the Cheuiot hilles where it is called Brennich whereof the kingdome of Brennicia did sometime take the name From thence it goeth to Hartside Ingram Branton Crawleie Hedgeleie Beueleie and Bewije beneath which it receiueth one water comming from Rodham by west and soone after a second descending from the Middletons and so they go as one with the Bromish by Chatton to Fowbreie where they crosse the third water falling downe by north from Howborne by Hescibridge thence to Woller there also taking in a rill that riseth about Middleton hall and runneth by Hardleie Whereleie and the rest afore remembred wherby the water of Bromis is not a little increased and after this latter confluence beneath Woller no more called Bromis but the Till vntill it come at the Twede The Till passing therefore by Wetel and and Dedington méeteth soone after with a faire streame comming from by southwest which most men call the Bowbent or Bobent It riseth on the west side of the Cocklaw hill and from thence hasteth to Hattons beneath the which it ioineth from by southeast with the Hellerborne and then goeth to Pudston Downeham Kilham and a little by north of Newton Kirke and betwéene it and west Newton it taketh in another water called Glin comming from the Cheuiot hilles by Heth poole and from thenseforth runneth on without anie further increase by Copland Euart and so in the Till The Till for his part in like sort after this confluence goeth to Broneridge Fodcastell Catall castell Heaton north of Tâ—mouth into the Twede or by west of Wesell except my memoriâ— dooth faile me After this also our aforesaid water of Twede descendeth to Grotehugh the Newbiggins Norham castell Foord Lungridge crossing the Whitaker on the other side from Scotland beneath Cawmill it runneth to Ordo to Barwike and so into the Ocean leauing as I said so much English ground on the northwest ripe as lieth in manner of a triangle betwéene Cawmils Barwike and Lammeton which as one noteth is no more but two miles and an halfe euerie waie or not much more except he be deceiued Being past this noble streame we came by a rill that descendeth from Bowsden by Barington Then by the second which ariseth betwéene Middleton and Detcham or Dereham and runneth by Eskill and the Rosse next of all to Warnemouth of whose backe water I read as followeth The Warne or Gwerne riseth southwest of Crokelaw and going by Warneford Bradford Spindlestone and Budâ—â— it leaueth Newton on the right hand and so falleth into the Ocean after it hath run almost nine miles from the head within the land and receiued a rill beneath Yessington which commeth downe betwéene Newland and Olchester and hath a bridge beneath the confluence which leadeth ouer the same From Warnemouth we sailed by Bamborow castell and came at last to a fall betweene Bedwell and Newton The maine water that serueth this issue riseth aboue Carleton from the foot of an hill which séemeth to part the head of this and that of Warne in sunder It runneth also by Carleton Tonleie Oxford Brunton and Tuggell and finallie into the sea as to his course apperteineth From this water we went by Dunstanbugh castell vnto the Chalne or Alnemouth which is serued with a pretie riueret called Alne the head whereof riseth in the hils west of Alnham towne and called by Ptolomie Celnius From thense also it runneth by Rile Kile Estington and Whittingham where it crosseth a rill comming from by south and beneath the same the second that descendeth from Eirchild at Brone likewise the third that riseth at Newton and runneth by Edlingham castell and Lemmaton all on the southeast side or right hand and so passeth on further till it meet with the fourth comming from aboue Shipleie from by north after which confluence it goeth to Alnewije then to Denntie receiuing there a rillet from by south and a rill from by north and thence going on to Bilton betweene Ailmouth towne and Wooddon it sweepeth into the Ocean The Cocket is a goodlie riuer the head also thereof is in the roots of Kemblespeth hils from whence it goeth to Whiteside and there meeting
the crowne Being risen it hasteth directlie to old Saling Brainctrée crossing a rillet by the waie comming from Raine blacke Notleie white Notleie Falkeburne Wittham and falleth into the Blackewater beneath Braxsted on the south Beside this the said Pant or Gwin receiueth the Chelme or Chelmer which ariseth also in Wimbech aforesaid where it hath two heads of which the one is not farre from Brodockes where master Thomas Wiseman esquier dwelleth the other nigh vnto a farme called Highams in the same paroch and ioining yer long in one chanell they hie them toward Thacsted vnder Prowds bridge méeting in the waie wish a rill comming from Boiton end whereby it is somewhat increased Being past Thacsted it goeth by Tilteie and soone after receiueth one rill which riseth on the north side of Lindsell falleth into the Chelmer by northeast at Tilteie aforesaid another coÌ„ming from southwest rising southeast from Lindsell at much Eiston From thence then holding on still with the course it goeth to Candfield the more Dunmow litle Dunmow Falsted Lies both Waltams Springfield and so to Chelmeresford Here vpon the south side I find the issue of a water that riseth fiue miles or thereabouts south and by west of the said towne from whence it goeth to Munasing Buttesburie there receiuing a rill from by west to Ingatstone Marget Inge Widford bridge Writtle bridge and so to Chelmeresford crossing also the second water that descendeth from Roxford south west of Writtle by the waie whereof let this suffice From hence the Chelmer goeth directlie toward Maldon by Badow Owting Woodham water Bilie and so to Blackwater northwest of Maldon receiuing neuerthelesse yer it come fullie thither a becke also that goeth from Lée parke to little Lées great Lées Hatfield Peuerell Owting and so into Blackwater whereof I spake before as Maldon streame dooth a rill from by south ouer against saint Osithes and also another by Bradwell After which the said streame growing also to be verie great passeth by the Tolshunts Tollesbie and so foorth into the maine sea néere vnto Merseie betwéene which fall and the place where Salute water entreth into the land Plautus abode the comming of Claudius sometime into Britaine when he being hardlie beeset did â—â—nd unto him for aid and spéedie succour who also being come did not onelie rescue his legat but in like manner wan Colchester and put it to the spoile if it be Camalodunum The Burne riseth somewhere about Ronwell and thence goeth to Hull bridge south Fambridge Kirke shot ferrie and so to Foulnesse And as this is the short course of that riuer so it brancheth and the south arme thereof receiueth a water comming from Haukewell to great Stanbridge and beneath Pakesham dooth méet by south with the said arme and so finish vp his course as we doo our voiage also about the coast of England Thus haue I finished the description of such riuers and streames as fall into the Ocean according to my purpose although not in so precise an order and manner of handling as I might if information promised had been accordinglie performed or others would if they had taken the like in hand But this will I saie of that which is here done that from the Solueie by west which parteth England Scotland on that side to the Twede which separateth the said kingdoms on the east if you go backeward contrarie to the course of my description you shall find it so exact as beside a verie few by-riuers you shall not need to vse anie further aduise for the finding and falles of the aforesaid streames For such hath beene my helpe of maister Sackfords cardes and conference with other men about these that I dare pronounce them to be perfect and exact Furthermore this I haue also to remember that in the courses of our streames I regard not so much to name the verie towne or church as the limits of the paroch And therefore if I saie it goeth by such a towne I thinke my dutie discharged if I hit vpon anie part or parcell of the paroch This also hath not a little troubled me I meane the euill writing of the names of manie townes and villages of which I haue noted some one man in the description of a riuer to write one towne two or thrée manner of waies whereby I was inforced to choose one at aduenture most commonlie that séemed the likeliest to be sound in mine opinion and iudgement Finallie whereas I minded to set downe an especiall chapter of ports and créeks lieng on ech coast of the English part of this Ile and had prouided the same in such wise as I iudged most conuenient it came to passe that the greater part of my labour was taken from me by stealth and therefore as discouraged to meddle with that argument I would haue giuen ouer to set downe anie thing therefore at all and so much the rather for that I sée it may prooue a spurre vnto further mischéefe as things come to passe in these daies Neuerthelesse because a little thereof is passed in the beginning of the booke I will set downe that parcell thereof which remaineth leauing the supplie of the rest either to my selfe hereafter if I may come by it or to some other that can better performe the same Of such ports and creeks as our sea-faring-men doo note for their benefit vpon the coasts of England Chap. 17. IT maie be that I haue in these former chapters omitted sundrie hauens to be found vpon the shore of England and some of them serued with backe waters through want of sound and sufficient information from such as haue written vnto me of the same In recompense whereof I haue thought good to adde this chapter of ports and creekes whereby so farre as to me is possible I shall make satisfaction of mine ouersights And albeit I cannot being too too much abused by some that haue béerest me of my notes in this behalfe bring my purpose to passe for all the whole coast of England round about from Berwike to the Solue yet I will not let to set downe so much as by good hap remaineth whereby my countriemen shall not altogither want that benefit hoping in time to recouer also the rest if God grant life and good successe thereto In Northumberland therefore we haue Berwike Holie Iland Bamborow Bedwell Donstanborow Cocket Iland Warkeworth Newbiggin Almow Blithes nuke and Tinmouth hauen In the bishoprijc Sonderland Stocketon Hartlepoole These In Yorkeshire Dapnam sands Steningreene Staies Runswike Robinhoods baie Whitbie Scarborow Fileie Flamborow Bricklington Horneseie becke Sister kirke Kelseie Cliffe Pattenton Holmes Kenningham Pall Hidon Hulbrige Beuerleie Hull Hasell Northferebie Bucke creeke Blacke cost Wrethell Howden In Lincolneshire Selbie Snepe Turnebrige Rodiffe Catebie Stockwith Torkeseie Gainsborow Southferebie Barton a good point Barrow a good hauen Skatermill a good port Penningham Stalingborow a good hauen Guimsbie a good port Clie
March chappell Saltfléete Wilgripe Mapleford saint Clements Wenfléete Friscon Toft Skerbike Boston Frompton Woluerton Fossedike a good hauen In Northfolke Linne a good hauen Snatchham Hitchham Desingham good Thunstone Thorneham good Brankester good Burnham good with diuers townes and villages thereto belonging Welles good Strikeie Marston Blakeleie towne Withon Claie Blakelie hauen good Salthouse créeke Sheringham hith Roughton Cromer Beston Trinningham Mounsleie Bromwall Haseborow Wakesham Eckelles Winterton Custer Helmesleie Okell Upton Waibridge Yarmouth good all the waie to Norwich with diuerse villages on the riuer side In Suffolke Becles Bongeie Southton Corton Gorton Laistow a good port Kirtill Pakefield Kasseldon Bliborow Coffe hith Eston Walderswijc Donewich Swold hauen Sisewell Thorpe Alborow Orford a good hauen Balseie good Felixstow Colneie Sproten Ypswich Downambridge good Pinnemill Shoteleie Cataweie Barfold In Esseâ— we haue Dedham Maning trée Thorne Wrabbesnes Ramseie Harwich Douercourt Handford Okeleie Kirbie Thorpe Brichwill Walton mill Walton hall Ganfléete Newhauen good S. Osithes Bentleie good Bricleseie Thorlington where good ships of a hundred tun or more be made Alsford Wiuenhall Colchester Cold hith Rough hedge Fingering ho east Merseie west Merseie Salcot Goldanger Borow Maldon Stanesgate Sudmester S. Peters Burnham Crixseie Aldon Clements gréene Hulbridge Pacleston Barling litle Wakering much Wakering south Sudburie Wakeringham Melton Papper hill or Lee Beaâ—â—fléete Pidseie range Fobbing Hadleie good Mucking Stanford and Tilberiâ— ferrie In Kent Harling Cliffe Tanfleete Stokehow Snodlond Melhall Maidston Ailessord New hith Rochester Gelingham Reinham Upchurch Halsted Quinborow Milton Feuersham Whitâ—â—aple Herne Margate Brodestaier Ramsgate and manie of these good créekes also Sandwich Douer Hide reasonable ports although none of the best In Sussex we haue Smalade with the créekes adioining to the same Ridon Appledoure Rie a good hauen and Winchelseie nothing at all inferiour to the same and so manie shires onelie are left vnto me at this time wherefore of force I must abruptlie leaue off to deale anie further with the rest whose knowledge I am right sure would haue beene profftable and for the which I hoped to haue reaped great thankes at the hands of such sea-faring-men as should haue had vse hereof Desunt caetera Of the aire soile and commodities of this Iland Cap. 18. THe aire for the most part throughout the Iland is such as by reason in maner of continuall clouds is reputed to be grosse and nothing so pleasant as that is of the maine Howbeit as they which affirme these things haue onelie respect to the impediment or hinderance of the sunne beames by the interposition of the clouds and oft ingrossed aire so experience teacheth vs that it is no lesse pure wholesome and commodious than is that of other countries and as Caesar himselfe hereto addeth much more temperate in summer than that of the Galles from whom he aduentured hither Neither is there anie thing found in the aire of our region that is not vsuallie seene amongst other nations lieng beyond the seas Wherefore we must néeds confesse that the situation of our Iland for benefit of the heauens is nothing inferiour to that of anie countrie of the maine where so euer it lie vnder the open firmament And this Plutarch knew full well who affirmeth a part of the Elistan fields to be found in Britaine and the Iles that are situate about it in the Ocean The soile of Britaine is such as by the testimonies and reports both of the old and new writers and experience also of such as now inhabit the same is verie fruitfull and such in deed as bringeth foorth manie commodities whereof other countries haue néed and yet it selfe if fond nicenesse were abolished néedlesse of those that are dailie brought from other places Neuerthelesse it is more inclined to féeding and grasing than profitable for tillage and bearing of corne by reason whereof the countrie is woonderfullie replenished with neat and all kind of cattell and such store is there also of the same in euerie place that the fourth part of the land is scarselie manured for the prouision and maintenance of graine Certes this fruitfulnesse was not vnknowne vnto the Britons long before Caesars time which was the cause wherefore our predecessors liuing in those daies in maner neglected tillage and liued by féeding and grasing onelie The grasiers themselues also then dwelled in mooueable villages by companies whose custome was to diuide the ground amongst them and each one not to depart from the place where his lot laie a thing much like to the Irish Criacht till by eating vp of the countrie about him he was inforced to remooue further and séeke for better pasture And this was the British custome as I learne at first It hath béene commonlie reported that the ground of Wales is neither so fruitfull as that of England neither the soile of Scotland so bountifull as that of Wales which is true for corne and for the most part otherwise there is so good ground in some parts of Wales as is in England albeit the best of Scotland be scarselie comparable to the meane of either of both Howbeit as the bountie of the Scotish dooth faile in some respect so dooth it surmount in other God and nature hauing not appointed all countries to yéeld foorth like commodities But where our ground is not so good as we would wish we haue if néed be sufficient helpe to cherish our ground withall and to make it more fruitfull For beside the compest that is carried out of the husbandmens yards ditches ponds doouehouses or cities and great townes we haue with vs a kind of white marle which is of so great force that if it be cast ouer a péece of land but once in thrée score years it shall not need of anie further compesting Hereof also dooth Plinie speake lib. 17. cap. 6 7 8 where he affirmeth that our marle indureth vpon the earth by the space of fourescore yeares insomuch that it is laid vpon the same but once in a mans life whereby the owner shall not need to trauell twise in procuring to commend and better his soile He calleth it Marga and making diuerse kinds thereof he finallie commendeth ours and that of France aboue all other which lieth sometime a hundred foot déepe and farre better than the scattering of chalke vpon the same as the Hedui and Pictones did in his time or as some of our daies also doo practise albeit diuerse doo like better to cast on lime but it will not so long indure as I haue heard reported There are also in this Iland great plentie of fresh riuers and streames as you haue heard alreadie and these throughlie fraught with all kinds of delicate fish accustomed to be found in riuers The whole I le likewise is verie full of hilles of which some though not verie manie are of exceeding heigth and diuerse extending themselues verie far from the beginning as we may see by
Shooters hill which rising east of London and not farre from the Thames runneth along the south side of the Iland westward vntill it come to Cornewall Like vnto these also are the Crowdon hils which though vnder diuers names as also the other from the Peke doo run into the borders of Scotland What should I speake of the Cheniot hilles which reach twentie miles in length of the blacke mounteines in Wales which go from to miles at the least in length of the Cle hilles in Shropshire which come within foure miles of Ludlow and are diuided from some part of Worcester by the Teme of the Grames in Scotland and of our Chiltren which are eightéene miles at the least from one end of them which reach from Henlie in Oxfordshire to Dunstable in Bedfordshire and are verie well replenished with wood and corne notwithstanding that the most part yéeld a sweet short grasse profitable for shéepe Wherein albeit they of Scotland doo somewhat come behind vs yet their outward defect is inwardlie recompensed not onelie with plentie of quarries and those of sundrie kinds of marble hard stone and fine alabaster but also rich mines of mettall as shall be shewed hereafter In this Iland likewise the winds are commonlie more strong and fierce than in anie other places of the maine which Cardane also espied and that is often séene vpon the naked hilles not garded with trées to beare and kéepe it off That grieuous inconuenience also inforceth our nobilitie gentrie and communaltle to build their houses in the vallies leauing the high grounds vnto their corne and cattell least the cold and stormie blasts of winter should bréed them greater annoiance whereas in other regions each one desireth to set his house aloft on the hill not onlie to be seene a farre off and cast forth his beames of statelie and curious workemanship into euerie quarter of the countrie but also in hot habitations for coldnesse sake of the aire sith the heat is neuer so vehement on the hill top as in the vallie because the reuerberation of the sunne beames either reacheth not so farre as the highest or else becommeth not so strong as when it is reflected vpon the lower soile But to leaue our buildings vnto the purposed place which notwithstanding haue verie much increased I meane for curiositie and cost in England Wales and Scotland within these few yeares and to returne to the soile againe Certeinelie it is euen now in these our daies growne to be much more fruitfull than it hath béene in times past The cause is for that our countriemen are growne to be more painefull skilfull and carefull through recompense of gaine than heretofore they haue béene insomuch that my Synchroni or time fellows can reape at this present great commoditie in a little roome whereas of late yeares a great compasse hath yéelded but small profit and this onelie through the idle and negligent occupation of such as dailie manured and had the same in occupieng I might set downe examples of these things out of all the parts of this Iland that is to saie manie of England more out of Scotland but most of all out of Wales in which two last rehearsed verie little other food and liuelihood was woont to be looked for beside flesh more than the soile of it selfe and the cow gaue the people in the meane time liuing idelie dissolutelie and by picking and stealing one from another All which vices are now for the most part relinquished so that each nation manureth hir owne with triple commoditie to that it was before time The pasture of this Iland is according to the nature and bountie of the soile whereby in most places it is plentifull verie fine batable and such as either fatteth our cattell with speed or yéeldeth great abundance of milke and creame whereof the yellowest butter and finest chéese are made But where the blue claie aboundeth which hardlie drinketh vp the winters water in long season there the grasse is spearie rough and verie apt for bushes by which occasion it commeth nothing so profitable vnto the owner as the other The best pasture ground of all England is in Wales of all the pasture in Wales that of Cardigan is the cheefe I speake of the same which is to be found in the mounteines there where the hundred part of the grasse growing is not eaten but suffered to rot on the ground whereby the soile becommeth matted and diuerse bogges and quicke moores made withall in long continuance because all the cattell in the countrie are not able to eat it downe If it be to be accompted good soile on which a man may laie a wand ouer night and on the morrow find it hidden and ouergrowen with grasse it is not hard to find plentie thereof in manie places of this land Neuertheles such is the fruitfulnes of the aforsaid countie that it farre surmounteth this proportion whereby it may be compared for batablenesse with Italie which in my time is called the paradise of the world although by reason of the wickednesse of such as dwell therein it may be called the sinke and draine of hell so that whereas they were woont to saie of vs that our land is good but our people euill they did but onlie speake it whereas we know by experience that the soile of Italie is a noble soile but the dwellers therein farre off from anie vertue or goodnesse Our medowes are either bottomes whereof we haue great store and those verie large bicause our soile is hillie or else such as we call land meads and borowed from the best fattest pasturages The first of them are yearelie often ouerflowen by the rising of such streames as passe through the same or violent falles of land-waters that descend from the hils about them The other are seldome or neuer ouerflowen and that is the cause wherefore their grasse is shorter than that of the bottomes and yet is it farre more fine wholesome and batable sith the haie of our low medowes is not onelie full of sandie cinder which breedeth sundrie diseases in our cattell but also more rowtie foggie and full of flags and therefore not so profitable for stouer and forrage as the higher meads be The difference furthermore in their commodities is great for whereas in our land meadowes we haue not often aboue one good load of haie or peraduenture a little more in an acre of ground I vse the word Carrucata or Carruca which is a waine load and as I remember vsed by Plinie lib. 33. cap. 11. in low meadowes we haue sometimes thrée but commonlie two or vpward as experience hath oft confirmed Of such as are twise mowed I speake not sith their later math is not so wholsome for cattell as the first although in the mouth more pleasant for the time for thereby they become oftentimes to be rotten or to increase so fast in bloud that the garget and other
neither regarding either maners or obedience doo oftentimes come to confusion which if anie correction or discipline had béene vsed toward them in youth might haue prooued good members of their common-wealth countrie by their good seruice and industrie I could make report likewise of the naturall vices and vertues of all those that are borne within this Iland but as the full tractation herof craueth a better head than mine to set foorth the same so will I giue place to other men that list to take it in hand Thus much therefore of the constitutions of our bodies and so much may suffice How Britaine at the first grew to be diuided into three portions Cap. 21. AFter the comming of Brutus into this Iland which was as you haue read in the foresaid treatise about the yeare of the world 2850 or 1217 before the incarnation of Christ although Goropius after his maner doo vtterlie denie our historie in this behalfe he made a generall surueis of the whole Iland from side to side by such means to view and search out not onelie the limits and bounds of his dominions but also what commodities this new atchiued conquest might yéeld vnto his people Ferthermore finding out at the last also a conuenable place wherin to erect a citie he began there euen the verie same which at this daie is called London naming it Trenouanton in remembrance of old Troie from whence his ancestors proceeded and for which the Romans pronounced afterward Trinobantum although the Welshmen doo call it still Trenewith This citie was builded as some write much about the tenth yeare of his reigne so that he liued not aboue fiftéene yeares after he had finished the same But of the rest of his other acts attempted and doone before or after the erection of this citie I find no certeine report more than that when he had reigned in this Iland after his arriuall by the space of foure and twentie yeares he finished his daies at Trenouanton aforesaid being in his yoong and florishing age where his carcase was honourablie interred As for the maner of his death I find as yet no mention thereof among such writers as are extant I meane whether it grew vnto him by defect of nature or force of gréeuous wounds receiued in his warres against such as withstood him from time to time in this Iland and therefore I can saie nothing of that matter Herein onelie all agree that during the time of his languishing paines he made a disposition of his whole kingdome diuiding it into three parts or portions according to the number of his sonnes then liuing whereof the eldest excéeded not eight and twentie yeares of age as my coniecturs giueth me To the eldest therefore whose name was Locrine he gaue the greatest and best region of all the rest which of him to this daie is called Lhoegres among the Britons but in our language England of such English Saxons as made conquest of the same This portion also is included on the south with the British sea on the est with the Germane Ocean on the north with the Humber and on the west with the Irish sea and the riuers Dee and Sauerne whereof in the generall description of this Iland I haue spoken more at large To Camber his second sonne he assigned all that lieth beyond the Sauerne and Dee toward the west which parcell in these daies conteineth Southwales and Northwales with sundrie Ilands adiacent to the same the whole being in maner cut off and separated from England or Lhoegria by the said streams wherby it séemeth also a peninsula or by-land if you respect the small hillie portion of ground that lieth indifferentlie betweene their maine courses or such branches at the least as run and fall into them The Welshmen or Britons call it by the ancient name still vnto this day but we Englishmen terme it Wales which denomination we haue from the Saxons who in time past did vse the word Walsh in such sort as we doo Strange for as we call all those strangers that are not of our nation so did they name them Walsh which were not of their countrie The third and last part of the Iland he allotted vnto Albanact his yoongest sonne for he had but three ill all as I haue said before whose portion séemed for circuit to be more large than that of Camber and in maner equall in greatnesse with the dominions of Locrinus But if you haue regard to the seuerall commodities that are to be reaped by each you shall find them to be not much discrepant or differing one from another for what soeuer the first second haue in plentie of corne fine grasse and large cattell this latter wanteth not in excéeding store of fish rich mettall quarries of stone and abundance of wild foule so that in mine opinion there could not be a more equall partition then this made by Brute and after the aforesaid maner This later parcell at the first tooke the name of Albanactus who called it Albania But now a small portion onelie of the region being vnder the regiment of a duke reteineth the said denomination the rest being called Scotland of certeine Scots that came ouer from Ireland to inhabit in those quarters It is diuided from Lhoegres also by the Solue and the Firth yet some doo note the Humber so that Albania as Brute left it conteined all the north part of the Iland that is to be found beyond the aforesaid streame vnto the point of Cathnesse To conclude Brute hauing diuided his kingdome after this maner and therein contenting himselfe as it were with the generall title of the whole it was not long after yer he ended his life and being solemnelie interred at his new citie by his thrée children they parted each from other and tooke possession of their prouinces But Scotland after two yeares fell againe into the hands of Locrinus as to the chiefe lord by the death of his brother Albanact who was slaine by Humber king of the Scithians and left none issue behind him to succéed him in that kingdome After what maner the souereigntie of this I le dooth remaine to the princes of Lhoegres or kings of England Chap. 22. IT is possible that some of the Scotish nation reading the former chapter will take offense with me for meaning that the principalitie of the north parts of this I le hath alwais belonged to the kings of Lhoegres For whose more ample satisfaction in this behalfe I will here set downe a discourse thereof at large written by diuerse and now finallie brought into one treatise sufficient as I thinke to satisfie the reasonable although not halfe enough peraduenture to content a wrangling mind sith there is or at the leastwise hath beene nothing more odious among some than to heare that the king of England hath ought to doo in Scotland How their historiographers haue attempted to shape manie coloured
altogither passe ouer this chapter without the rehersall of something although the whole summe of that which I haue to saie be nothing indeed if the performance of a full discourse hereof be anie thing hardlie required Of fishes therefore as I find fiue sorts the flat the round the long the legged and shelled so the flat are diuided into the smooth scaled and tailed Of the first are the plaice the but the turbut birt floke or sea flounder dorreie dab c. Of the second the soles c. Of the third our chaits maidens kingsons flath and thornbacke whereof the greater be for the most part either dried and carried into other countries or sodden sowsed eaten here at home whilest the lesser be fried or buttered soone after they be taken as prouision not to be kept long for feare of putrifaction Under the round kinds are commonlie comprehended lumps an vglie fish to sight and yet verie delicat in eating if it be kindlie dressed the whiting an old waiter or seruitor in the court the rochet sea breame pirle hake sea trowt gurnard haddocke cod herring pilchard sprat and such like And these are they whereof I haue best knowledge and be commonlie to be had in their times vpon our coasts Under this kind also are all the great fish conteined as the seale the dolphin the porpoise the thirlepole whale and whatsoeuer is round of bodie be it neuer so great and huge Of the long sort are congers eeles garefish and such other of that forme Finallie of the legged kind we haue not manie neither hane I seene anie more of this sort than the Polypus called in English the lobstar crafish or creuis and the crab As for the little crafishes they are not taken in the sea but plentifullie in our fresh riuers in banks and vnder stones where they kéepe themselues in most secret maner and oft by likenesse of colour with the stones among which they lie deceiue euen the skilfull takers of them except they vse great diligence Carolus Stephanus in his maison rustique doubted whether these lobstars be fish or not and in the end concludeth them to grow of the purgation of the water as dooth the frog and these also not to be eaten for that they be strong and verie hard of digestion But hereof let other determine further I might here speake of sundrie other fishes now and then taken also vpon our coasts but sith my mind is onelie to touch either all such as are vsuallie gotten or so manie of them onelie as I can wel rehearse vpon certeine knowledge I thinke it good at this time to forbeare the further intreatie of them As touching the shellie sort we haue plentie of oisters whose valure in old time for their swéetnesse was not vnknowne in Rome although Mutianus as Plinie noteth lib. 32 cap. 6. preferre the Cyzicene before them and these we haue in like maner of diuerse quantities and no lesse varietie also of our muskles and cockles We haue in like sort no small store of great whelkes scalops and perewinkles and each of them brought farre into the land from the sea coast in their seuerall seasons And albeit our oisters are generallie forborne in the foure hot moneths of the yeare that is to saie Maie Iune Iulie and August which are void of the letter R yet in some places they be continuallie eaten where they be kept in pits as I haue knowne by experience And thus much of our sea fish as a man in maner vtterlie vnacquainted with their diuersitie of kinds yet so much haue I yéelded to doo hoping hereafter to saie some what more and more orderlie of them if it shall please God that I may liue and haue leasure once againe to peruse this treatise and so make vp a perfect péece of worke of that which as you now sée is verie slenderlie attempted and begun Of sauage beasts and vermines Chap. 4. IT is none of the least blessings wherewith God hath indued this Iland that it is void of noisome beasts as lions beares tigers pardes wolfes such like by means whereof our countrimen may trauell in safetie our herds and flocks remaine for the most part abroad in the field without anie herdman or kéeper This is cheefelie spoken of the south and southwest parts of the Iland For wheras we that dwell on this side of the Twed may safelie boast of our securitie in this behalfe yet cannot the Scots doo the like in euerie point within their kingdome sith they haue greeuous woolfes and cruell foxes beside some other of like disposition continuallie conuersant among them to the generall hinderance of their husbandmen and no small damage vnto the inhabiters of those quarters The happie and fortunate want of these beasts in England is vniuersallie ascribed to the politike gouernement of king Edgar who to the intent the whole countrie might once be clensed and clearelie rid of them charged the conquered Welshmen who were then pestered with these rauenous creatures aboue measure to paie him a yearelie tribute of woolfes skinnes to be gathered within the land He appointed them thereto a certeine number of three hundred with free libertie for their prince to hunt pursue them ouer all quarters of the realme as our chronicles doo report Some there be which write how Ludwall prince of Wales paid yearelie to king Edgar this tribute of thrée hundred woolfes whose carcases being brought into Lhoegres were buried at Wolfpit in Cambridgeshire and that by meanes thereof within the compasse and terme of foure yeares none of those noisome creatures were left to be heard of within Wales and England Since this time also we read not that anie woolfe hath béene séene here that hath beene bred within the bounds and limits of our countrie howbeit there haue béene diuerse brought ouer from beyond the seas for gréedinesse of gaine and to make monie onlie by the gasing and gaping of our people vpon them who couet oft to see them being strange beasts in their eies and sildome knowne as I haue said in England Lions we haue had verie manie in the north parts of Scotland and those with maines of no lesse force than they of Mauritania were sometimes reported to be but how and when they were destroied as yet I doo not read They had in like sort no lesse plentie of wild and cruell buls which the princes and their nobilitie in the frugall time of the land did hunt and follow for the triall of their manhood and by pursute either on horssebacke or foot in armor notwithstanding that manie times they were dangerouslie assailed by them But both these sauage cretures are now not heard of or at the least wise the later scarselie known in the south parts Howbeit it this I gather by their being here that our Iland was not cut from the maine by the great deluge or flood of Noah but long after otherwise the generation of those
faile in the time of Richard de la Wich bishop of Chichester and that afterwards by his intercession it was restored to the profit of the old course such is the superstition of the people in remembrance whereof or peraduenture for the zeale which the Wich men and salters did beare vnto Richard de la Wich their countriman they vsed of late times on his daie which commeth once in the yeare to hang this salt spring or well about with tapistrie and to haue sundrie games drinkings and foolish reuels at it But to procéed There be a great number of salt cotes about this well wherein the salt water is sodden in leads and brought to the perfection of pure white salt The other two salt springs be on the left side of the riuer a pretie waie lower than the first and as I found at the verie end of the towne At these also be diuerse fornaces to make salt but the profit and plentie of these two are nothing comparable to the gaine that riseth by the greatest I asked of a salter how manie fornaces they had at all the three springs and he numbred them to eightéene score that is thrée hundred and sixtie saieng how euerie one of them paied yearelie six shillings and eight pence to the king The truth is that of old they had liberties giuen vnto them for thrée hundred fornaces or more and therevpon they giue a fee farme or Vectigal of one hundred pounds yearelie Certes the pension is as it was but the number of fornaces is now increased to foure hundred There was of late search made for another salt spring there abouts by the meanes of one Newport a gentleman dwelling at the Wich and the place where it was appéereth as dooth also the wood and timber which was set about it to kéepe vp the earth from falling into the same But this pit was not since occupied whether it were for lacke of plentie of the salt spring or for letting or hindering of the profit of the other three Me thinke that if wood and sale of salt would serue they might dig and find more salt springs about the Wich than thrée but there is somewhat else in the wind For I heard that of late yeares a salt spring was found in an other quarter of Worcestershire but it grew to be without anie vse sith the Wich men haue such a priuilege that they alone in those quarters shall haue the making of salt The pits be so set about with gutters that the salt water is easilie turned to euerie mans house and at Mantwich verie manie troughs go ouer the riuer for the commoditie of such as dwell on the other side of the same They séeth also their salt water in fornaces of lead and lade out the salt some in cases of wicker through which the water draineth and the salt remaineth There be also two or thrée but verie little salt springs at Dertwitch in a low bottome where salt is sometime made Of late also a mile from Cumbremere abbaie a peece of an hill did sinke and in the same pit rose a spring of salt water where the abbat began to make salt but the men of the citie compounded with the abbat couent that there should be none made there whereby the pit was suffered to go to losse And although it yéelded salt water still of it selfe yet it was spoiled at the last and filled vp with filth The Wich men vse the cōmoditie of their salt springs in drawing and decocting the water of them onlie by six moneths in the yeare that is from Midsummer to Christmas as I gesse to mainteine the price of salt or for sauing of wood which I thinke to be their principall reason For making of salt is a great and notable destruction of wood and shall be greater hereafter except some prouision be made for the better increase of firing The lacke of wood also is alreadie perceiued in places néere the Wich for whereas they vsed to buie and take their wood neere vnto their occupiengs those woonted springs are now decaied and they be inforced to seeke their wood so far as Worcester towne and all the parts about Brenisgraue Alchirch and Alcester I asked a salter how much wood he supposed yearelie to be spent at these fornaces and he answered that by estimation there was consumed about six thousand load and it was round pole wood for the most which is easie to be cleft and handsomelie riuen in péeces The people that are about the fornace are verie ill coloured and the iust rate of euerie fornace is to make foure loads of salt yearelie and to euerie load goeth fiue or six quarters as they make their accounts If the fornace men make more in one fornace than foure loads it is as it is said imploied to their owne auaile And thus much hath Leland left in memorie of our white salt who in an other booke not now in my hands hath touched the making also of baie salt in some part of our countrie But sith that booke is deliuered againe to the owner the tractation of baie salt can not be framed in anie order bicause my memorie will not serue to shew the true maner and the place It shall suffice therfore to haue giuen such notice of it to the end the reader may know that aswell the baie as white are wrought and made in England and more white also vpon the west coast toward Scotland in Essex and else where out of the salt water betwéene Wire and Cokermouth which commonlie is of like price with our wheat Finallie hauing thus intermedled our artificiall salt with our minerals let vs giue ouer and go in hand with such mettals as are growing here in England Of our accompt of time hir parts Chap. 14. AS Libra is As or Assis to the Romans for their weight and the foot in standard measure so in our accompt of the parts of time we take the daie consisting of foure and twentie houres to be the greatest of the least and least of the greatest whereby we keepe our reckoning for of the houre to saie the truth the most ancient Romans Greeks nor Hebrues had anie vse sith they reckoned by watches and whereof also Censorinus cap. 19. sheweth a reason wherefore they were neglected For my part I doo not sée anie great difference vsed in the obseruation of time hir parts betwéene our owne any other forren nation wherfore I shall not néed to stand long on this matter Howbeit to the end our exact order herein shall appéere vnto all men I will set downe some short rehearsall thereof and that in so briefe manner as vnto me is possible As for our astronomicall practises I meane not to meddle with them sith their course is vniformelie obserued ouer all Our common order therefore is to begin at the minut which conteineth part of an houre as at the smallest part of time knowne vnto the people notwithstanding that in
to Wigam 14. miles From Wigam to Warington 20. miles From Warington to Newcastell 20. miles From Newcastell to Lichfield 20. miles From Lichfield to Couentrie 20. miles From Couentrie to Daintrie 14. miles From Daintrie to Tocester 10. miles From Tocester to Stonistratford 6. miles From Stonistratford to Brichill 7. miles From Brichill to Dunstable 7. miles From Dunstable to saint Albons 10. miles From saint Albons to Barnet 10. miles From Barnet to London 10. miles The waie from Yarmouth to Colchester and so to London FRom Yarmouth to Becclis 8. miles From Becclis to Blibour 7. miles From Blibour to Snaphridge 8. miles From Snaphridge to Woodbridge 8. miles From Woodbridge to Ipswich 5. miles From Ipswich to Colchester 12. miles From Colchester to Eastford 8. miles From Eastford to Chelmesford 10. miles From Chelmestford to Brentwood 10. miles From Brentwood to London 15. miles The waie from Douer to London FRom Douer to Canturburie 12. miles From Canturburie to Sittingborne 12. miles From Sittingborne to Rochester 8. miles From Rochester to Grauesend 5. miles From Grauesend to Datford 6. miles From Datford to London 12. miles The waie from saint Burien in Cornewall to London FRom S. Burien to the Mount 20. miles From the Mount to Thurie 12. miles From saint Thurie to Bodman 20. miles From Bodman to Launstone 20. miles From Launstone to Ocomton 15. miles From Ocomton to Crokehornewell 10. miles From Crokehornewell to Excester 10. miles From Excester to Honiton 12. miles From Honiton to Chard 10. miles From Chard to Crokehorne 7. miles From Crokehorne to Shirborne 10. miles From Shirborne to Shaftsburie 10. miles From Shaftsburie to Salisburie 18. miles From Salisburie to Andeuor 15. miles From Andeuor to Basingstocke 18. miles From Basingstocke to Hartford 8. miles From Hartford to Bagshot 8. miles From Bagshot to Stanes 8. miles From Stanes to London 15. miles The waie from Bristowe to London FRom Bristow to Maxfield 10. miles From Maxfield to Chipnam 10. miles From Chipnam to Marleborough 15. miles From Marleborough to Hungerford 8. miles From Hungerford to Newburie 7. miles From Newburie to Reading 15. miles From Reading to Maidenhead 10. miles From Maidenhead to Colbrooke 7. miles From Colbrooke to London 15. miles The waie from saint Dauids to London FRom saint Dauids to Axford 20. miles From Axford to Carmarden 10. miles From Carmarden to Newton 10. miles From Newton to Lanburie 10. miles From Lanburie to Brechnocke 16. miles From Brechnocke to Haie 10. miles From Haie to Harford 14. miles From Harford to Roso 9. miles From Roso to Glocester 12. miles From Glocester to Cicester 15. miles From Cicester to Farington 16. miles From Farington to Habington 7. miles From Habington to Dorchester 7. miles From Dorchester to Henleie 12. miles From Henleie to Maidenhead 7. miles From Maidenhead to Colbrooke 7. miles From Colbrooke to London 15. miles Of thorowfares from Douer to Cambridge FRom Douer to Canturburie 12. miles From Canturburie to Roschester 20. miles From Rofchester to Grauesend 5. miles From Grauesend ouer the Thames to Hornedon 4. miles From Hornedon to Chelmesford 12. miles From Chelmesford to Dunmow 10. miles From Dunmow to Thaxsted 5. miles From Thaxsted to Radwinter 3. miles From Radwinter to Linton 5. miles From Linton to Babrenham 3. miles From Babrenham to Cambridge 4. miles From Canturburie to Oxford FRom Canturburie to London 43. miles From London to Uxbridge or Colbrooke 15. mile From Uxbridge to Baccansfield 7. miles From Baccansfield to east Wickham 5. miles From Wickham to Stocking church 5. miles From Stocking church to Thetisford 5. miles From Thetisford to Whatleie 6. miles From What leie to Oxford 4. miles From London to Cambridge FRom London to Edmondton 6. miles From Edmondton to Waltham 6. miles From Waltham to Hoddesdon 5. miles From Hoddesdon to Ware 3. miles From Ware to Polcherchurch 5. miles From Pulcherchurch to Barkewaie 7. miles From Barkewaie to Fulmere 6. miles From Fulmere to Cambridge 6. miles Or thus better waie From London to Hoddesdon 17. miles From Hoddesdon to Hadham 7. miles From Hadham to Saffron Walden 12. miles From Saffron Walden to Cambridge 10. miles Of certeine waies in Scotland out of Reginald Wolfes his annotations From Barwijc to Edenborow FRom Barwijc to Chirneside 10. miles From Chirneside to Coldingham 3. miles From Coldingham to Pinketon 6. miles From Pinketon to Dunbarre 6. miles From Dunbarre to Linton 6. miles From Linton to Haddington 6. miles From Haddington to Seaton 4. miles From Seaton to Aberladie or Muskelborow 8. mi. From thence to Edenborow 8. miles From Edenborow to Barwijc another waie FRom Edenborow to Dalketh 5. miles From Dalketh to new Battell Lander 5. miles From Lander to Ursildon 6. miles From Ursildon to Driburg 5. miles From Driburg to Cariton 6. miles From Cariton to Barwtjc 14. miles From Edenborow to Dunbrittaine westward FRom Edenborow to Kirkeliston 6. miles From Kirkeliston to Lithco 6. miles From Lithco to Farekirke ouer Forth 6. miles From thence to Striuelin vpon Forth 6. miles From Striuelin to Dunbrittaine 24. miles From Striuelin to Kinghorne eastward FRom Striuelin to Downe in Menketh 3. miles From Downe to Campskenell 3. miles From Campskenell to Alwie vpon Forth 4. miles From Alwie to Culrose on Fiffe 10. miles From Culrose to Dunfermelin 2. miles From Dunfermelin to Euerkennin 2. miles From Euerkennin to Aberdore on Forth 3. miles From Aberdore to Kinghorne vpon Forth 3. miles From Kinghorne to Taimouth FRom Kinghorne to Dissard in Fiffe 3. miles From Dissard to Cowper 8. miles From Cowper to S. Andrews 14. miles From S. Andrews to the Taimouth 6. miles From Taimouth to Stockeford FRom Taimouth to Balmerimoth abbeie 4. mil. From thence to Londores abbeie 4. miles From Londores to S. Iohns towne 12. miles From S. Iohns to Schone 5. miles From thence to Abernithie where the Erne runneth into the Taie 15. miles From Abernithie to Dundée 15. miles From Dundee to Arbroth and Muros 24. miles From Muros to Aberden 20. miles From Aberden to the water of Doneie 20. miles From thense to the riuer of Spaie 30. miles From thence to Stockeford in Rosse and so to the Nesse of Haben a famous point on the west side 30. miles From Carleill to Whiteherne westward FRom Carleill ouer the Ferie against Redkirke 4. miles From thence to Dunfrées 20. miles From Dunfrées to the Ferie of Cre 40. miles From thence to Wigton 3. miles From thence to Whitherne 12. miles Hitherto of the common waies of England and Scotland wherevnto I will adioine the old thorowfaires ascribed to Antoninus to the end that by their conference the diligent reader may haue further consideration of the same than my leisure will permit me In setting foorth also thereof I haue noted such diuersitie of reading as hath happened in the sight of such written and printed copies as I haue séene in my time Notwithstanding I must confesse the same to be much
began his reigne ouer the Britains about the yeare of our Lord 180 as Fabian following the authoritie of Peter Pictauiensis saith although other writers seeme to disagrée in that account as by the same Fabian in the table before his booke partlie appeareth wherevnto Matthaeus Westmonasteriensis affirmeth that this Lucius was borne in the yeare of our Lord 115 and was crowned king in the yeare 124 as successor to his father Coillus which died the same yeare being of great age yer the said Lucius was borne It is noted by antiquaries that his entrance was in the 4132 of the world 916 after the building of Rome 220 after the comming of Cesar into Britaine and 165 after Christ whose accounts I follow in this treatise This Lucius is highlie renowmed of the writers for that he was the first king of the Britains that receiued the faith of Iesus Christ for being inspired by the spirit of grace and truth euen from the beginning of his reigne he somewhat leaned to the fauoring of Christian religion being moued with the manifest miracles which the Christians dailie wrought in witnesse and proofe of their sound and perfect doctrine For euen from the daies of Ioseph of Arimathia and his fellowes or what other godlie men first taught the Britains the gospell of our Sauiour there remained amongest the same Britains some christians which ceased not to teach and preach the word of God most sincerelie vnto them but yet no king amongst them openlie professed that religion till at length this Lucius perceiuing not onelie some of the Romane lieutenants in Britaine as Trebellius and Pertinax with others to haue submitted themselues to that profession but also the emperour himselfe to begin to be fauorable to them that professed it he tooke occasion by their good example to giue eare more attentiuelie vnto the gospell and at length sent vnto Eleutherius bishop of Rome two learned men of the British nation Eluane and Meduine requiring him to send some such ministers as might instruct him and his people in the true faith more plentifullie and to baptise them according to the rules of christian religion ¶ The reuerend father Iohn Iewell sometime bishop of Salisburie writeth in his replie vnto Hardings answer that the said Eleutherius for generall order to be taken in the realme and churches héere wrote his aduice to Lucius in maner and forme following You haue receiued in the kingdome of Britaine by Gods mercie both the law and faith of Christ ye haue both the new and the old testament out of the same through Gods grace by the aduise of your realme make a law and by the same through Gods sufferance rule you your kingdome of Britaine for in that kingdome you are Gods vicar Herevpon were sent from the said Eleutherius two godlie learned men the one named Fugatius and the other Damianus the which baptised the king with all his familie and people and therewith remoued the worshipping of idols and false gods and taught the right meane and waie how to worship the true and immortall God There were in those daies within the bounds of Britaine 28 Flamines thrée Archflamines which were as bishops and archbishops or superintendents of the pagan or heathen religion in whose place they being remoued were instituted 28 bishops thrée archbishops of the christian religion One of the which archbishops held his sée at London another at Yorke and the third at Caerleon Arwiske in Glamorganshire Unto the archbishop of London was subiect Cornewall and all the middle part of England euen vnto Humber To the archbishop of Yorke all the north parts of Britaine from the riuer of Humber vnto the furthest partes of Scotland And to the archbishop of Caerleon was subiect all Wales within which countrie as then were seuen bishops where now there are but foure The riuer of Seuern in those daies diuided Wales then called Cambria from the other parts of Britaine Thus Britaine partlie by the meanes of Ioseph of Arimathia of whome ye haue heard before partlie by the wholesome instructions doctrines of Fugatius and Damianus was the first of all other regions that openlie receiued the gospell and continued most stedfast in that profession till the cruell furie of Dioclesian persecuted the same in such sort that as well in Britaine as in all other places of the world the christian religion was in manner extinguished and vtterlie destroied There be that affirme how this Lucius should build the church of saint Peter at Westminster though manie attribute that act vnto Sibert king of the east Saxons and write how the place was then ouergrowne with thornes and bushes and thereof tooke the name and was called Thorney They ad moreouer that Thomas archbishop of London preached read and ministred the sacraments there to such as made resort vnto him Howbeit by the tables hanging in the reuestrie of saint Paules at London and also a table sometime hanging in saint Peters church in Cornehill it should séeme that the said church of saitn Peter in Cornehill was the same that Lucius builded But herein saith Harison anno mundi 4174 dooth lie a scruple Sure Cornell might soone be mistaken for Thorney speciallie in such old records as time age euill handling haue oftentimes defaced But howsoeuer the case standeth truth it is that Lucius reioising much in that he had brought his people to the perfect light and vnderstanding of the true God that they néeded not to be deceiued anie longer with the craftie temptations and feigned miracles of wicked spirits he abolished all prophane worshippings of false gods and conuerted all such temples as had béene dedicated to their seruice vnto the vse of christian religion and thus studieng onlie how to aduance the glorie of the immortall God and the knowledge of his word without seeking the vaine glorie of worldlie triumph which is got with slaughter and bloudshed of manie a giltlesse person he left his kingdome though not inlarged with broder dominion than he receiued it yet greatlie augmented and inriched with quiet rest good ordinances and that which is more to be estéemed than all the rest adorned with Christes religion and perfectlie instructed with his most holie word and doctrine He reigned as some write 21 yeares though other affirme but twelue yeares Againe some testifie that he reigned 77 others 54 and 43. Moreouer here is to be noted that if he procured the faith of Christ to be planted within this realme in the time of Eleutherius the Romane bishop the same chanced in the daies of the emperour Marcus Aurelius Antonius and about the time that Lucius Aurelius Commodus was ioined and made partaker of the empire with his father which was seuen yéere after the death of Lucius Aelius Aurelius Uerus and in the 177 after the birth of our Sauiour Iesus Christ as by some chronologies is easie to be collected For Eleutherius began to gouerne the sée of
not through want of strength kéepe pace with their fellowes as they marched in order of battell they were slaine by their owne fellowes least they should be left behind for a prey to the enimies Héereby there died in this iournie of the Romane armie at the point of fiftie thousand men but yet would not Seuerus returne till he had gone through the whole I le and so came to the vttermost parts of all the countrie now called Scotland and at last backe againe to the other part of the I le subiect to the Romans the inhabitants whereof are named by Dion Cassius Meatae But first he forced the other whom the same Dion nameth Caledontj to conclude a league with him vpon such conditions as they were compelled to depart with no small portion of the countrie and to deliuer vnto him their armour and weapons In the meane time the emperour Seuerus being worne with age fell sicke so that he was constreined to abide at home within that part of the Ile which obeied the Romans and to appoint his sonne Antoninus to take charge of the armie abroad But Antoninus not regarding the enimies attempted little or nothing against them but sought waies how to win the fauour of the souldiers and men of warre that after his fathers death for which he dailie looked he might haue their aid and assistance to be admitted emperour in his place Now when he saw that his father bare out his sicknesse longer time than he would haue wished he practised with physicians and other of his fathers seruants to dispatch him by one meane or other Whilest Antoninus thus negligentlie looked to his charge the Britains began a new rebellion not onlie those that were latelie ioined in league with the emperour but the other also which were subiects to the Romane empire Seuerus tooke such displeasure that he called togither the souldiers and commanded them to inuade the countrie and to kill all such as they might méet within anie place without respect and that his cruell commandement he expressed in these verses taken out of Homer Nemo manus fugiat vestras caedémque cruentam Non foetus grauida mater quem gessit in aluo Horrendam effugiat caedem But while he was thus disquieted with the rebellion of the Britains and the disloiall practises of his sonne Antoninus which to him were not vnknowne for the wicked sonne had by diuers attempts discouered his traitorous and vnnaturall meanings at length rather through sorrow and griefe than by force of sicknesse he wasted awaie and departed this life at Yorke the third daie before the nones of Februarie after he had gouerned the empire by the space of 17 yeares 8 moneths 33 daies He liued 65 yeres 9 moneths 13 daies he was borne the third ides of April By that which before is recited out of Herodian and Dion Cassius of the maners vsages of those people against whome Seuerus held warre here in Britaine it maie be coniectured that they were the Picts the which possessed in those daies a great part of Scotland and with continuall incursions and rodes wasted and destroied to the borders of those countries which were subiect to the Romans To kéepe them backe therefore and to represse their inuasions Seuerus as some write either restored the former wall made by Adrian or else newlie built an other ouerthwart the I le from the east sea to the west conteining in length 232 miles This wall was not made of stone but of turfe and earth supported with stakes and piles of wood and defended on the backe with a déepe trench or ditch and also fortified with diuerse towers and turrets built erected vpon the same wall or rampire so néere togither that the sound of trumpets being placed in the same might be heard betwixt and so warning giuen from one to another vpon the first descrieng of the enimies Seuerus being departed out of this life in the yere of our Lord 211 his son Antoninus otherwise called also Bassianus would faine haue vsurped the whole gouernment into his owne hands attempting with bribes and large promises to corrupt the minds of the souldiers but when he perceiued that his purpose would not forward as he wished in that behalfe he concluded a league with the enimies and making peace with them returned backe towards Yorke and came to his mother and brother Geta with whome he tooke order for the buriall of his father And first his bodie being burnt as the maner was the ashes were put into a vessell of gold and so conueied to Rome by the two brethren and the empresse Iulia who was mother to Geta the yonger brother and mother in law to the elder Antoninus Bassianus by all meanes possible sought to maintaine loue and concord betwixt the brethren which now at the first tooke vpon them to rule the empire equallie togither But the ambition of Bassianus was such that finallie vpon desire to haue the whole rule himselfe he found meanes to dispatch his brother Geta breaking one daie into his chamber and slaieng him euen in his mothers lap and so possessed the gouernment alone till at length he was slaine at Edessa a citie in Mesopotamia by one of his owne souldiers as he was about to vntruffe his points to doo the office of nature after he had reigned the space of 6 yeares as is aforesaid Where we are to note Gods iudgment prouiding that he which had shed mans bloud should also die by the sword Of Carausius an obscure Britaine what countries he gaue the Picts and wherevpon his death by Alectus his successor the Romans foiled by Asclepiodotus duke of Cornewall whereof Walbrooke and the name the couetous practise of Carausius the vsurper The xxxiij Chapter CArausius a Britan of vnknowne birth as witnesseth the British histories after he had vanquisht slaine Bassianus as the same histories make mention was of the Britains made king and ruler ouer them in the yeare of our Lord 218 as Galfridus saith but W. H. noteth it to be in the yeare 286. This Carausius either to haue the aid support of the Picts as in the British historie is conteined either else to be at quietnesse with them being not otherwise able to resist them gaue to them the countries in the south parts of Scotland which ioine to England on the east marshes as Mers Louthian and others ¶ But here is to be noted that the British writers affirme that these Picts which were thus placed in the south parts of Scotland at this time were brought ouer out of Scithia by Fulgentius to aid him against Seuerus and that after the death of Seuerus and Fulgentius which bother died of hurts receiued in the batell fought betwixt them at Yorke the Picts tooke part with Bassianus and at length betraied him in the battell which he fought against Carausius for he corrupting them by such subtile practises as
and Lumbards the Saxons from Woden before they were mixed with the Danes and Normans the Frenchmen at this day from the Thracians the Germans from the children of Gwiston and other people from their farre fetcht ancestrie To conclude of this Ethelwulfe it is written that he was so well learned deuout that the clerks of the church of Winchester did chuse him in his youth to be bishop which function he vndertooke and was bishop of the said see by the space of seuen yéeres before he was king Bertwolfe king of Mercia tributarie to the Westsaxons the fame of Modwen an Irish virgine she was a great builder of monasteries she had the gift of healing diseases Ethelbald and Ethelbright diuide their fathers kingdome betwixt them Ethelbald marieth his mother he dieth Winchester destroied by the Danes they plaied the trucebreakers and did much mischiefe in Kent Ethelbright dieth Ethelred king of the Westsaxons his commendable qualities his regiment was full of trouble he fought againt the Danes nine times in one yere with happie successe the kings of Mercia fall from their sealtie and allegiance to Ethelred Hungar Vbba two Danish capteines with their power lie in Eastangle Osbright and Ella kings of Northumberland slaine of the Danes in battell they set Yorke on fire a commendation of bishop Adelstan his departure out of this life The eleuenth Chapter AFter Wightlafe king of Mercia one Bertwofe reigned as tributarie vnto the Westsaxons the space of 13 yeeres about the end of which tearme he was chased out of his countrie by the Danes and then one Burthred was made king of that kingdome which maried Ethelswida the sister of Ethelwolfe king of Westsaxons In this season one Modwen a virgine in Ireland was greatlie renowmed in the world vnto whome the forenamed king Ethelwolfe sent his sonne Alfred to be cured of a disease that was thought incurable but by hir meanes he recouered health and therefore when hir monasterie was destroied in Ireland Modwen came ouer into England vnto whom king Ethelwolfe gaue land to build two abbeies and also deliuered vnto hir his sister Edith to be professed a nun Modwen herevpon built two monasteries one at Pouleswoorth ioining to the bounds of Arderne wherein she placed the foresaid Edith with Osith and Athea the other whether it was a monasterie or cell the founded in Strenshall or Trentsall where she hir selfe remained solitarie a certeine time in praier and other vertuous exercises And as it is reported she went thrice to Rome and finallie died being 130 yéeres of age Hir bodie was first buried in an Iland compassed about with the riuer of Trent called Andresey taking that name of a church or chappell of saint Andrew which she had built in the same Iland and dwelled therein for the space of seuen yéeres Manie monasteries the builded both in England as partlie aboue is mentioned and also in Scotland as at Striueling Edenbrough and in Ireland at Celestline and elsewhere Ethelbald and Ethelbright diuiding their fathers kingdom betwixt them began to reigne Ethelbald ouer the Westsaxons and the Southsaxons and Ethelbright ouer them of Kent and Essex in the yéere of our Lord 857 which was in the second yéere of the emperor Lewes the second the 17 of Charles surnamed Caluus or the bald king of France and about the first yéere of Donald the fift of that name king of Scots The said Ethelbald greatlie to his reproch tooke to wise his mother in law quéene Iudith or rather as some write his owne mother whom his father had kept as concubine He liued not past fiue yéeres in gouernement of the kingdome but was taken out of this life to the great sorrow of his subiects whome he ruled right worthilie and so as they had him in great loue and estimation Then his brother Ethelbright tooke on him the rule of the whole gouernment as well ouer the Westsaxons them of Sussex as ouer the Kentishmen and them of Essex In his daies the Danes came on land and destroid the citie of Winchester but duke Osrike with them of Hamshire and duke Adelwolfe with the Barkeshire men gaue the enimies battell vanquishing them slue of them a great number In the fift yeere of Ethelbrights reigne a nauie of Danes arriued in the I le of Tenet vnto whome when the Kentishmen had promised a summe of monie to haue a truce granted for a time the Danes one night before the tearme of that truce was expired brake foorth and wasted all the east part of Kent wherevpon the Kentishmen assembled togither made towardes those trucebreakers and caused them to depart out of the countrie The same yéere after that Ethelbright had ruled well and peaceably the Westsaxons fiue yeeres and the Kentishmen ten yéeres he ended his life and was buried at Shireborne as his brother Ethelbald was before him AFter Ethelbright succéeded his brother Ethelred and began his reigne ouer the Westsaxons and the more part of the English people in the yéere of our Lord 867 and in the 12 yéere of the emperour Lewes in the 27 yéere of the reigne of Charles Calnus king of France and about the 6 yéere of Constantine the second king of Scots Touching this Ethelred he was in time of peace a most courteous prince and one that by all kind of meanes sought to win the hearts of the people but abroad in the warres he was sharpe and sterne as he that vnderstood what apperteined to good order so that he would suffer no offense to escape vnpunished By which meanes he was famous both in peace and warre but he neither liued any long time in the gouernement nor yet was suffered to passe the short space that he reigned in rest and quietnesse For whereas he reigned not past six yeeres he was continuallie during that tearme vexed with the inuasion of the Danes and speciallie towards the latter end insomuch that as hath béene reported of writers he fought with them nine times in one yéere and although with diuers and variable fortune yet for the more part he went away with the victorie Beside that he oftentimes lay in wait for their forragers and such as straied abroad to rob and spoile the countrie whom he met withall and ouerthrew There were slaine in his time nine earles of those Danes and one king beside other of the meaner sort without number But here is to be vnderstood that in this meane time whilest Ethelred was busied in warre to resist the inuasions of the Danes in the south and west parts of this land the kings and rulers of Mercia and Northumberland taking occasion thereof began to withdraw their couenanted subiection from the Westsaxons and tooke vpon them as it were the absolute gouernment and rule of their countries without respect to aid one another but rather were contented to susteine the enimies within their dominions than to preuent the iniurie with dutifull assistance to those whom
them sleaing a great number of them and chasing the residue In the morning earlie when as Cnute heard that the Englishmen were gone foorth of their lodgings he supposed that they were either fled awaie or else turned to take part with the enimies But as he approched to the enimies campe he vnderstood how the mater went for he found nothing there but bloud dead bodies and the spoile For which good seruice Cnute had the Englishmen in more estimation euer after and highlie rewarded their leader the came carle Goodwine When Cnute had ordered all things in Denmarke as was thought be hoofefull he returned againe into England and within a few daies after he was aduertised that the Swedeners made warre against his subiects of Denmarke vnder the loding of two great princes Ulfe and Ulafe Wherefore to defend his dominions in those parts he passed againe with an armie into Denmarke incountred with his enimies and receiued a sore ouerthrow loosing a great number both of Danes and Englishmen But gathering togither a new force of men he set againe vpon his enimies and ouercame them constreining the two foresaid princes to agrée vpon reasonable conditions of peace Matth. West recounteth that at this time earle Goodwine and the Englishmen wrought the enterprise aboue mentioned of assaulting the enimies campe in the night season after Cnute had first lost in the day before no small number of his people and that then the foresaid princes or kings as he nameth them Ulfus and Aulafus which latter he calleth Eiglafe were constrained to agrée vpon a peace The Danish chronicles alledge that the occasion of this warre rose hereof This Olanus aided Cnute as the same writers report against king Edmund and the Englishmen But when the peace should be made betweene Cnute and Edinund there was no consideration had of Olaus whereas through him the Danes chieflie obteined the victorie Herevpon Olanus was sore offended in his mind against Cnute and now vpon occasion sought to be reuenged But what soeuer the cause was of this warre betwixt these two princes the end was thus that Olnus was expelled out of his kingdome and constreined to flée to Gerithaslaus a duke in the parties of Eastland and afterward returning into Norwaie was slaine by such of his subiects as tooke part with Cnute in manner as in the historie of Norwaie appeareth more at large with the contrarietie found in the writings of them which haue recorded the histories of those north regions But here is to be remembred that the fame and glorie of the English nation was greatlie aduanced in these warres as well against the Swedeners as the Norwegians so that Cnute began to loue and trust the Englishmen much better than it was to be thought he would euer haue doone Shortlie after that Cnute was returned into England that is to say as some haue in the 15 yeare of his reigne he went to Rome to performe his vow which he had made to visit the places where the apostles Peter and Paule had their buriall where he was honorablie receiued of pope Iohn the 20 that then held the sée When he had doone his deuotion there he returned into England In the yeare following he made a iournie against the Scots which as then had rebelled but by the princelie power of Cnute they were subdued and brought againe to obedience so that not onelie king Malcolme but also two other kings Melbeath and Ieohmare became his subiects Finallie after that this noble prince king Cnute had reigned the tearme of 20 yeares currant after the death of Ethelred he died at Shaftsburie as the English writers affirme on the 12 of Nouember and was buried a Winchester But the Danish chronicles record the he died in Normandie and was buried at Rone as in the same chronicles ye may reade more at large The trespuissance of Cnute the amplenesse of his dominions the good and charitable fruits of his voiage to Rome redounding to the common benefit of all trauellers from England thither with what great personages he had conference and the honour that was doone him there his intollerable pride in commanding the waters of the flouds not to rise he humbleth himselfe and confesseth Christ Iesus to be king of kings he refuseth to weare the crowne during his life he reproueth a gentleman flatterer his issue legitimate and illegitimate his inclination in his latter yeares what religious places he erected repaired and inriched what notable men he fauoured and reuerenced his lawes and that in causes as well ecclesiasticall as tempoporall he had cheefe and sole gouernement in this land whereby the popse vsurped title of vniuersall supremasie is impeached The xiij Chapter THis Cnute was the mightiest prince that euer reigned ouer the English people for he had the souereigne rule ouer all Denmark England Norwaie Scotland and part of Sweiden Amongest other of his roiall acts he caused such tolles and tallages as were demanded of way-goers at bridges and stréets in the high way betwixt England and Rome to be diminished to the halfes and againe got also a moderation to be had in the paiment of the archbishops fées of his realme which was leuied of them in the court of Rome when they should receiue their palles as may appeare by a letter which he himselfe being at Rome directed to the bishops and other of the nobles of England In the which it also appeareth that besides the roiall interteinment which he had at Rome of pope Iohn he had conference there with the emperour Conrad with Rafe the king of Burgongne and manie other great princes and noble men which were present there at that time all which at this request in fauour of those Englishmen that should trauell vnto Rome granted as haue said to diminish such duties as were gathered of passingers He receiued there manie great gifts of the emperour and was highlie honored of him and likewise of the pope and of all other the high princes at that time present at Rome so that when he came home as some write he did grow greatlie into pride insomuch that being néere to the Thames or rather as other write vpon the sea strand néere to South-hampton and perceiuing the water to rise by reason of the tide he east off his gowne and wrapping it round togither threw it on the sands verie neere the increasing water and sat him downe vpon it speaking these or the like words to the sea Thou art saith he within the compasse of my dominion and the ground whereon I sit is mine and thou knowest that no wight dare disoboie my commandements I therefore doo now command thée not to rise vpon my ground nor to presume to wet anie part of thy souereigne lord and gouernour But the sea kéeping hir course rose still higher and higher and ouerflowed not onelie the kings féet but also flashed
bread is verie ill kept or not at all looked vnto in the countrie townes and markets Browne bread Panis Cibarius Summer wheat and winâ—er barâ—eie verie rare in England Drinke Malt. Making of malt Bruing of beere Charwoore Cider Perrie Metheglin Mead. Hydromel Lesse time spent in eating than heretofore Canutus a glutton but the Normans at the last excéeded him in that vice Long sitting reprehended * That is at thrée of the clocke at afternoone Li. 4. epig. 8. Andrew Boord Strange cuâ—s Much cost vpon the bodie and little vpon the soule Beards Excesse in women Ezeâ—h 16. Attire of merchants The parlement house diuideth the estate of the realme into nobilitie and the commons Time of summons Of the vpper house Places of the peeres Of the lower house Speaker Petitions of the speaker Clerke of the parlement Of the nether house Samothes Albion Brute Mulmutius The praise of Dunwallon Martia Martian law Saxon law Dane law Ordalian law Fire Water The cup yet in vse Water Ciuill law Canon law Lawiers of England not alwaies constant in iudgment Parlement law Number of congregates in the parlement Common law Customarie law Prescription Terme Deceipt Manie of our lawiers stoope not at small fées Poore men contentious Promooters séeke matters to set lawiers on worke withall The times of our termes no hinderance to iustice Thrée sorts of poore A thing often séene At whose hands shall the bloud of these men be required Thomas Harman Halifax law Mute Cleargie Pirats Three things greatlie amended in England Chimnies Hard lodging Furniture of household This was is the time of generall idlenesse By the yeare Six and twentie cities in England Sitomagus Nouiomagus Neomagus Niomagus Salisburie of Sarron Sarronium Sarrous burg Greater cities in times past when husbandmen also were citizens The cause of the increase of villages Leouitius placeth yorke in Scotland de eclipsibus A legion conteined sixtie centuries thirtie manipuli thrée cohortes Cair Segent stood vpon the Thames not farre from Reding When Albane was martyred Asclepiodotus was legat in Britaine Sullomaca and Barnet all one or not far in sunder This soundeth like a lie The best keepers of kingdomes The wandles in time past were called windles King Hen. 8. not inferior to Adrian and Iustiman White hall S. Iames. Oteland Ashridge Hatfield Enuéeld Richmond Hampton Woodstocke 〈◊〉 Gréenewich Dartford Eltham Of the court 〈…〉 Traines of attendants Striking within the court and palace of the prince 〈…〉 The Britons fasted all the while they were at the sea in these ships Suborned bodgers Bodgers licenced Tillage and mankind diminished by parkes The decaie of the people is the destruction of a kingdome Gipping of going vp to anie place Pegened Lespegend Nunc sortè Tringald Ealdermen Tineman Michni Hundred law Warscot Muchehunt Ofgangfordell Purgatio ignis triplex ordaliâ— Pegen Forathe Helfehang Pere Pite Gethbrech Ealderman Staggon or Stagge Frendlesman Bubali olim in Anglia Ilices aliquando in BritaÌ„nia nisi intelligatur de quercu Greihounds Uelter Langeran Ramhundt Pretium hominis mediocris Pretium liberi hominis Great abundance of wood sometime in England Desire of much wealth and ease abateth manhood ouerthroweth a manlie courage The like haue I séene where hens doo féed vpon the tender blades of garlike * This gentleman caught such an heate with this sore loade that he was faine to go to Rome for physicke yet it could not saue his life but hée must néeds die homewards Marises and tennes Chap. 25. The Pyritis is found almost in euerie veine of mettall in great plentie diuersities and colour and somtimes mixed with that mettall of whose excrements it consisteth Crosse bath Common bath King bath Hot houses in some countâ—res little â—etter than brodels Colour of the water of the baths Taste of the water Fall or issue of the water Hot good to enter into baths at all seasons Sterbirie a place where en armie hath lien Copper monie Siluer restored Old gash New gold Oxen. Athenaeus lib. 10. cap. 8. Horsses Geldings Shéepe Shéepe without hornes Goats Swine Bores Brawne of the bore Baked hog Flat fish Round fish Long fish Legged fish Woolfes Tribute of woolfes skins Foxes Badgers Beuers Marterns Stags Hinds haue béene milked * Galenus de Theriaca ad Pisonem * Plin. lib. 10. cap. 62. Adder or viper Sée Aristotle Animalium lib. 5. cap. vltimo Theophrast lib. 7. cap. 13. Snakes Sol. cap. 40. Plin. lib. 37. cap. 11. Todes Frogs Sloworme Efts. Swifts Flies Cutwasted whole bodied Hornets Waspes Honie Sée Diodorus Siculus Homelie kind of dogs Tie dogs Some 〈…〉 Some bite and barke not Occasion of the name Paung Gathering Sée 〈◊〉 Raising The lord Mountioy Gold Siluer Tin Lead Iron Copper Stéele Geat Laon. Chalchonvtle Triall of a stone Lib. 7. A common plague in all things of anie great commoditie for one beateth the bush but another catcheth the birds as we may see in batfowling Priuileges doo somtimes harme Night Vesper Crepusculum Concubium Intempestum Gallicinium Conticinium Matutinum Diluculum Watches Houre weeke * Ferias Moneth Triuethus in Antartico Britannia Pag. 5 6 7 8 15. 16 28 29 of the description and pag. 202 of the historie of England The originall of nations for the most part vncerteine whither Britaine were an Iland at the first Geog. com lib. No Ilands at the first as some coniecture In the first part of the acts of the English votaries Britaine inhabited before the floud Genesis 6 Berosus ant lib. â— Noah In comment super 4. lib. Berosus de antiquit lib. 1. Annisus vt supr Iaphet and his sonnes Iohannes Bodinus ad fac hist. cogn Franciscus Tarapha Britaine inhabited shortlie after the floud Theophilus episcop Antioch ad Anâ—ol lib. 2. The words of Theophilus a doctor of the church who liued an Dom. 160. Gen. 2. De migr gen Cent. 1. Anti. lib. 1. Bale script Brit. cent 1. Caesar commenâ— lib. 8. In epithes temp De aequiuocis contra Appionem Lib. de Magic success lib. 22. Script Brit. cent 1. De ant Cant. cent lib. 1. This I le called Samothes Magus the son of Samothes Lib. 9. Annius in coâ— men super â—â—dem Geogr. De diui lib. 1. DE fastis li. 5. H. F. Sarron the sonne of Magus De ant Cant. lib. 1. Bale script Brit. cent 1. Lib. 6. Druis the son of Sarron De morte Claud Anti. lib. 5. Annius super euâ—ndem De bello Gallico lib. 9. De belio Gallico 6 Hist. an lib. 1. De diui lib. 1. Hiâ—t Sâ—oti li. 2. Demigr gen 〈◊〉 2. Marcellinus Anna. B oiorum lib. 22. De ant Caut. Bardus the sonne of Druis Berosus ani lib. 2. Annius in comâ—en super eurâ—dem Ant. Cant. li. 1. script Britain cent 1 Nonnius Marcel Strabo Diodor. Sicul. lib. 6. â—arol Stepha â—n dict hist. Bale Iohn Prise Lucan lib. 1. H. F. Iohn Bale script Britan. cent 2. Iohn Prise defen hist. Brit. Caius de ant Cant lib. 1. Iohn Leland syllab an