toward Sennocke Holmes Dale that is to say the Dale betweene the wooddie hilles THere are as yet to be séene at Reigate in Surrey the ruines of an auncient Castle somtime belonging to the Earles of Surrey whiche Alfrede of Beuerley calleth Holme and whiche the Countrie people do yet terme the Castle of Holmesdale This tooke the name of the Dale wherin it standeth whiche is large in quantitie extending it selfe a great length into Surrey and Kent also and was as I coniecture at the first called Holmesdale by reason that it is for the moste part Conuallis a plaine valley running betwéene two hilles that be replenished with stoare of woode for so muche the very woord Holmesdale it selfe importeth In this Dale a part of whiche we nowe crosse in our way to Sennocke the people of Kent being encouraged by the prosperous successe of Edward their King the Sonne of Alfrede and commonly surnamed Edward the Elder assembled thēselues and gaue to the Danes that had many yeares before afflicted them a moste sharpe and fierce encountre in the which after long fight they preuailed and the Danes were ouerthrowne and vanquished This victorie the like euent in an other battaile giuen to the Danes at Oxford which stādeth in this same valley also begate as I gesse the cōmon by word vsed amongst the inhabitants of this vale euen till this present day in whiche they vaunt after this manner The vale of Holmesdale Neuer wonne nor neuer shal Sennocke or as some call it Seauen oke of a number of trees as it is coniectured ABoute the latter end of the reigne of King Edward the third there was foūd lying in the stréetes at Sennocke poore childe whose Parents were vnknowne and he for the same cause named after the place where he was taken vp William Sennocke This Orphan was by the helpe of some charitable persons brought vp and nourtured in such wise that being made an Apprentice to a Grocer in London he arose by degrées in course of time to be Maior and chiefe Magistrate of that Citie At whiche time calling to his minde the goodnes of Almightie God and the fauour of the Townesmen extended towardes him he determined to make an euerlasting monument of his thankfull minde for the same And therefore of his owne charge builded bothe an Hospitall for reliefe of the poore and a Frée Schoole for the education of youthe within this Towne endowing the one and the other with competent yearely liuing as the dayes then suffered towards their sustentation maintenance But since his time the Schoole was much amended by the liberalitie of one Iohn Potkyn whiche liued vnder the reigne of King Henrie the eight now lately also in the reigne of our souereigne Ladie through the honest trauaile of diuers the inhabitants there not only the yearely stipend is much increased and the former litigious possessions quietly established but the corporation also chaunged into the name of two Wardeins and foure assistants of the frée Schoole of Quéene Elizabeth in Sennocke The present estate of the Towne it selfe is good and it séemeth to haue béene for these many yeares together in no worse plight And yet finde I not in all hystorie any memorable thing concerning it saue onely that in the time of King Henrie the sixt Iack Cade and his mischeuous meiny discomfited there Syr Humfrey Stafford and his Brother two Noble Gentlemen whome the King had sent to encounter them Eltham ANthonie Becke that Bishop of Durham whiche in the reignes of King Henrie the third of King Edward his Sonne builded Aucland Castle in the Bishopricke of Durham Somerton Castle in Lincolneshyre and Durham place at London was by the report of Iohn Leland either the very Author or the first beautifier of this the Princes house here at Eltham also It is noted of that man that he was in all his life and Port so gay glorious that the Nobility of the Realme disdained him greatly therefore But they did not consider belike that he was in possession Bishop of Durham which had Iura Regalia the Prerogatiues of a petie Kingdome and that he was by election Patriarche of Ierusalem whiche is néere Cousin to a Popedome in whiche respectes he might well inoughe be allowed to haue Domus splendidas luxu Regali his houses not only as gay as the Noble mens but also as gorgeous as the Kinges To say the trueth this was not to builde vp the spirituall house with liuely stones resting on the chiefe corner to Heauen and to Godward but with Mammon and Material stuffe to erect warrelyke Castles for the nourishment of contention and stately Palaces for the maintenaunce of worldly pride and pleasure towardes Hell and the Deuill Howbeit this was the whole studie of Bishops in the Popishe Kingdome and therefore letting that passe let vs sée what became of this piece of his building King Henrie the third saith Mat. Parise toward the latter end of his reigne kept a Royall Christmas as the manner then was at Eltham being accompanied with his Quéene and Nobilitie and this belike was the first warming of the house as I may call it after that the Bishop had finished his worke For I doe not hereby gather that hitherto the King had any property in it forasmuch as the Princes in those days vsed commonly both to soiourne for their pleasures and to passe their set solemnities also in Abbaies and Bishops houses But yet I beléeue verely that soone after the deathe of that Bishop the house came to the possession of the Crowne for proofe wherof I pray you heare and marke what followeth The wyfe of King Edward the second bare vnto him a Sonne at this house who was therof surnamed Iohn of Eltham What time King Iohn of Fraunce whiche had béen prisoner in England came ouer to visite King Edward the third who had moste honourably intreated him the King and his Quéene lay at Eltham to entertaine him King Henrie the fourth also kept his last Christmas at Eltham And King Henrie his Sonne and successour lay there at a Christmas likewise when he was faine to depart soudainly for feare of some that had conspired to murder him Furthermore Iohn Rosse writeth plainely that King Edward the fourthe to his greate cost repaired his house at Eltham at whiche time also as I suppose he inclosed Horne parke one of the thrée that be here and enlarged the other twaine And it is not yet fully out of memorie that king Henrie the seauenth set vp the faire front ouer the mote there since whose reigne this house by reason of the néerenesse to Greenewiche whiche also was muche amended by him and is through the benefite of the Riuer a seate of more commoditie hath not béen so greatly estéemed the rather also for that the pleasures of the emparked grounds here may be in manner as well enioyed the Courte lying at Greenewiche as if it were at this house it selfe These be
speake of the fall you shall heare out of William Thorne one that made an appendix to the hystorie of Thomas Spot both Monkes of Saint Augustines the occasion of the first fabulous beginning of this Abbay Certain seruaunts or officers saith he of Egbright the third King of Kent after Ethelbert had done great iniurie to a noble woman called Domneua the mother of Saint Mildred in recompence of whiche wrongs the King made an Herodian othe and promised vpon his honour to giue her whatsoeuer she would aske him The woman instructed belike by some Menkishe counselour begged of him so muche ground to build an Abbay vpon as a tame déere that she nourished would runne ouer at a breathe Hereto the King had consented forthwith sauing that one Tymor a counseler of his standing by blamed him of great inconsideration for that he woulde vpon the vncertaine course of a Deare departe to his certaine losse with any part of so good a soyle but the earth sayth William Thorne immediatly opened and swalowed him aliue in memorie whereof the place till his time was called Tymor sleape Well the King and this Gentlewoman procéeded in their bargaine the Hynde was put foorth and it ranne the quantitie of fourtie and eight ploughlands before it returned And thus Domneua by the help of the King builded at Mynster within that precinct a Monasterie of Nonnes vpon suche like discretion you may be sure as Ramsey Abbay was pitched euen where a Bull by chaunce scraped with his foote and as Rome it selfe for whose fauour these follies be deuised was edified where the she Woulfe gaue Romulus and Remus sucke Ouer this Abbay Mildred of whome we spake the daughter of Meruaile that was sonne to Penda King of midle England became the Lady and Abbasse who bicause she was of noble linage and had gotten together seuentie women all whiche Theodorus the seuenth Bishop veiled for Nonnes she easily obteyned to be registred in our Englishe Kalender to be worshipped for a Saint both at Tanet while her body lay there and at S. Augustines after that it was translated And no maruell at all for if you will beléeue the authour of the worke called Noua Legenda Angliae your self wil easily vouchsafe her the honour This woman sayth he was so mightily defended with diuine power that lying in a hote ouē thrée houres together she suffered not of the flame She was also endued with suche godlyke vertue that comming out of Fraunce the very stone whereon she first stepped at Ippedsflete in this Isle receiued the impression of her foote and reteined it for euer hauing besides this propertie that whether so euer you remoued the same it woulde within short time and without helpe of mans hande returne to the former place againe And finally she was so diligently garded with Gods Angel attending vpon her that when the diuell finding her at prayers had put out the candel that was before her the Angel forthwith lighted it for her againe And this no doubte was the cause that the Religious persons of S. Augustines and of S. Gregories at Cāterbury fell at great dissention for her eche affirming that after the spoyle of Tanet her bones were remoued to their Monasterie the one clayming by King Canutus as we sayd before and the other deriuing from Archebishop Lanfranc who as they affirmed at the dotation of their house bestowed vpon it amongest other things of great price the translated reliques of Mildred and Edburgaes bodyes Howsoeuer that were they bothe made marchandize of her myracles and the Monkes of S Augustines perceiuing that by the dissolution of the Monasterie and the absence of the Saintes their towne of Minster in Tanet was falne to decay of verie conscience and for pities sake by the meane of Hughe their Abbat procured at the handes of King Henrie the first the graunt of a Market to be holden there whiche I wote not whether it inioyeth to this day or no. Thus much of the Isle and Mynster Abbay Now a worde or two touching Ippedsflete wherof I spake before and of Stonor another place within the Isle and then I will leaue Tanet and procéede in my iourney This Ippedsflete is the place wher Hengist and Hors◠the Saxon captaines came first on lande and it is of diuers Chronicles diuersly termed some calling it Ippinesflete others Heoppinesflete and others Wippedsflete These of the last sorte write that it tooke the name of one Wipped a noble man amongest the Saxons who onely was slaine on that parte when Aurel. Ambrose the leader of the Britons lost twelue of his principall chiefteins in one conflict In déede the name soundeth the place where Wipped or Ipped swymmed whiche I coulde haue agréed to be the same that is at this day called Wapflete in Essex the rather for that Ralph Higdē writeth that the Britons neuer inuaded Kent after the battayle at Craforde whiche was before this ouerthrowe that I last spake of Howbeit since the writer of our holy Legend layeth it in Tanet I am contented to subscribe In this Isle lyeth Stonor sometime a hauen towne also for in the reigne of William Rufus there arose a suite in lawe betwéene the Londoners and the Abbat of S Augustines then owner of the place as touching the right of the hauen of Stonor wherein by the fauourable aide of the Prince the Monkes as Thomas Spot their own Chronicler reporteth preuayled and the Citizens had the ouerthrowe Not long after whiche time they obteined of King Henrie the first a fayre to be holden yerely at this towne fiue dayes together before and after the feast of the translation of S. Augustine Nowe woulde I foorthwith leade you from the Isle of Tanet to the ruines of Richeborow sauing that the Goodwine is before myne eye whereof I pray you first hearken what I haue to say The Goodwine or Goodvvine Sandes THere liued in the time of King Edwarde commonly called the Confessour a noble mā named Godwine whose daughter Edgithe the same King by great instance of his nobilitie being otherwise of him selfe disposed to haue liued sole tooke vnto his wife By reason whereof not onely this Godwine him selfe being at the first but a Cowheards sonne and afterward aduaunced to honour by King Canutus whose sister by fraude he obteined to wife became of great power and authoritie within this Realme but his sonnes also being fiue in nomber were by the kings gyfte aduaunced to large liuelyhoodes and honourable possessions For Goodwine was Earle of Kent Sussex Hamshire Dorsetshire Deuonshire and Cornwal His eldest sonne Swane had Oxfordshire Barkeshire Gloucestershire Herefordshire and Somerset Harold helde Essex Norfolk Suffolke Cambridgeshire Huntingdonshire Tosti had Northumberland And Gurte Leoswine possessed other places c. But as it is hard in great prosperitie to kéepe due temperance for Superbia est vitium rebus solenne secundis So this man and his sonnes being puffed vp with the pryde of
Martins night the Englishe men should all at once set vpon the Danes before they had disgested the surfaite of that drunken solemnitie and so vtterly kyll and destroy them This his commaundement was receaued with suche liking entertained with such secreacie and executed with such spéede and celeritie that the Danes were sodainly in a manner wholly bothe men women and children like the Sonnes in Lawe of Danaus oppressed at once in a night only a fewe escaped by Sea into Denmarke and there made complaint of King Etheldreds boucherie For reuenge whereof Sweyn their King bothe armed his owne people waged forreigne aide and so preparing a houge armie tooke shipping and arriued first here at Sandwiche and after in the Northe Countrie the terrour of whose comming was suche that it caused the Countrie people on all sides to submitte them selues vnto him in so muche that King Etheldred séeing the cause desperate and him selfe destitute fled ouer into Normandie with his wife and children friendes familie After whiche his departure although both he him selfe returned and put Canutus the next King of the Danes to flight and Edmund his Sonne also fought sundrie great battailes with him yet the Danes preuailed so mightely vpon them that thrée of them in succession that is to say Canutus Haroldus and Hardicanutus reigned Kings here in England almoste by the space of thirtie yeares together so muche to the infamous oppression slauery and thraldome of the English Nation that euery Dane was for feare called Lord Dane and had at his commaundement wheresoeuer he became bothe man and wyfe and whatsoeuer else he found in the house At the lengthe God taking pitie vpon the people tooke sodainly away King Hardicanute after whose death the Nobilitie CoÌ„mons of the Realme ioyned so firmely and faithfully both hartes and hands with their naturall and Liege Lord King Edward that the Danes were once againe and for euer expulsed this Countrie in so much that soone after the name Lord Dane being before tyme a woord of great awe and honour grewe to a terme and bywoord of foule despight and reproche being tourned as it yet continueth to Lourdaine besides that euer after the common people in ioye of that deliuerance haue celebrated the annuall day of Hardicanutus deathe with open pastime in the streates calling it euen till this oure time Hoctuesday in steade as I thinke of Hucxtuesdaeg that is to say the skorning or mocking Tuesday And nowe thus muche summarily being saide as concerning the trueth of the Danes being here who ruled in this land almoste thirtie yeares and raged without all rule aboue three hundreth and fiftie I will returne to Sandwiche disclosing therein suche occurrents of the Danishe doings as perteine to my purpose In the yeare eight hundreth fiftie and one after Christ Athelstane the Sonne of Ethelwulfe King of Kent whome Mathewe of Westminster taketh or rather mistaketh for a Bishop fought at the Sea before Sandwiche against a great Nauie of the Danes of whiche he tooke nine vessels discomfited the residue Against another Fléete of the Danes whiche landed at Sandwiche in the yeare one thousand and sixe King Etheldred made this prouision that euerie thrée hundreth and ten Hydes of Land whiche Henrie Huntingdon Mathewe Parise and others expound to be so many plowlands should be charged with the furniture of one ship and euery eight Hydes should finde one iacke and sallet for the defence of the Realme By whiche meane he made redy a mighty nauie to the Sea But what through the iniurie of sudaine tempest and what by the defection of some of his Nobilitie he profited nothing King Canutus also after that he had receaued the the woorse in a fight in Lincolneshyre whiche drewe to his ships that laye in the hauen at Sandwiche there moste barbarously behaued himselfe cutting of the handes and féete of suche as he had taken for hostage and so departed al wrothe and melancholike into Denmarke to repaire his armie The same man at his returne hither tooke land with his power at this towne and so did Hardicanutus his sonne after him Furthermore in the dayes of King Edward the confessour two Princes or rather principall Pirates of the Danes called Lochen and Irlinge landed at Sandwiche and laded their ships with riche spoyle wherewith they crossed ouer the seas to Flaunders and there made money of it At this place landed Lewes the FreÌ„ch Dolphine that ayded the Englishe Nobilitie against King Iohn as we shall hereafter haue cause to shewe more at large Finally in the reigne of King Richard the seconde certeine Frenche ships were taken at the Sea whereof some were fraught with the frame of a timber Castle suche another I suppose as WilliaÌ„ the Conquerour erected at Hastings so soone as he was arriued whiche they also ment to haue planted in some place of this Realme for our anoyaunce but they failed of their purpose for the Engyne being taken from them it was set vp at this Towne vsed to our great safetie and their repulse Eastrye HAuing somewhat to say of Eastrye I trust it shal be no great offence to turne oure eye a little from the shoare and talke of it in our way to Deale It is the name of a Towne and Hundreth within the Last of Sainct Augustines and hath the addition of East for difference sake from Westrye coÌ„monly called Rye nere to Winchelsey in Sussex Mathewe of Westminster maketh report of a murther done at it which because it tendeth much to the declaration of the auncieÌ„t estate of the town I will not sticke to rehearse so shortly as I can After the deathe of Ercombert the seuenth King of Kent Egbert his Sonne succéeded in the kingdome who caused to be vertuously brought vp in his Palaice which was then at this Towne two young Noble men of his own kinred as some say or rather his owne Brethren as William of Malmesbury writethe the one being called Ethelbert and the other Etheldred these Gentlemen so prospered in good learning courtlike manners feates of actiuitie méete for men of their yeares and parentage that on the one side they gaue to all wel disposed persons and louers of vertue great expectation that they would become at the length men worthie of muche estimation and honour and on the other side they drewe vpon them the feare mislyking and vtter hatred of the naughtie wicked and malicious sort Of the whiche nuÌ„ber there was one of the Kings owne houshold called Thunner who as vertue neuer wanteth her enuiers of a certaine diuelishe malice repyning at their laudable increase neuer ceassed to â—lowe into the Kings eare moste vntrue accâ—sations against them And to the end that he might the rather prouoke the King to displeasure he persuaded him of great daunger toward his estate and person by them and for as muche as the common people who more commonly worship the Sunne rising then going downe
aureis alijs signaculis sacris in Anglia firmari solitam in cerae impressionem mutant modumque scribendi anglicum reijciunt The Normans doe chaunge the making of writinges which were woont to be firmed in Englande with Crosses of golde and other holie signes into the printing with wax and they reiect also the manner of the English writing Howbeit this was not done all at once but it incresed came forward by certen steps degrées so the first and for a season the King onely or a few other of the Nobilitie besides him vsed to seale Then the Noble men for the most parte and noâ—e other whiche thinge a man may sée in the Hystorie of Battell Abbie where Richard Lucy chiefe Iustice of Englande in the time of King Henrie the second is reported to haue blamed a meane subiect for that he vsed a priuate seale when as that perteined as he saide to the King and Nobilitie onely At which time also as Iohn Rosse noteth it they vsed to ingraue in their seales their owne pictures and counterfeits couered with a longe coate ouer their armours But after this the Gentlemen of the better sort tooke vp the fashion and because they were not all warriours they made seales of their seueral cotes or shéelds of armes for difference sake as the same author reporteth At the length about the time of King Edwarde the third Seales became very common so that not onely suche as bare armes vsed to seale but other men also fashioned to them selues signetes of their owne deuise some taking the letres of their owne names some flowers some knots flowrishes some birds or beastes and some other things as we now yet dailye beholde in vse I am not ignoraunt that some other manner of sealings besides these hath béene hearde of amongst vs as namely that of King Edward the third by which he gaue To Norman the Hunter the hop and the hop towne withe all the boundes vp side downe And in wittnes that yt was soothe He bi tt the wax withe his fong toothe And that of Alberie de veer also conteining the donation of Hatfield to the which he affixed a short black hafted knife like vnto an olde halpeny whitle in stead of a seale and such others of which happely I haue séene some heard of moe But all that notwithstanding if any man shall thinke that these were receiued in common vse and custome and that they were not rather the deuises and pleasures of a few singular persons he is no lesse deceaued then such as déeme euery Chartre and writing that hath no seale annexed to be as ancient as the Conquest wheras indeede sealing was not commonly vsed tyl the time of King Edward the third as I haue alreadie tolde you Thus farre by occasion of this olde Chartre I am straied from the hystorie of Halling of which I fynde none other report in wryting saue that in the reigne of king Henrie the second Richard the Archbishop of Canterburie and imediat successour to Thomas the Archtraytour of this Realme ended his lyfe in the mansion house there which then was and yet continueth parcell of the possessions of the See of Rochester The circumstaunce and cause of which his death and departure I wyll reserue tyll I come to Wrotham where I shall haue iust occasion to discouer it ¶ Ailesforde or Eilesforde called in some Saxon copies Egelesford that is the Foorde of passage ouer the Riuer Egle or Eyle In others Angelesford which is the passage of the Angles or Englishe men It is falsly tearmed of some Alencester Allepord Aelstrea by deprauation of the writers of the sundrie copies as I suspect and not otherwise WIthin a few yeares after the arriuall of the Saxons the Britons perceiuing that Vortiger their Kinge was withdrawne by his wyfe from them and drawne to the parte of their enemies made election of Vortimer his sonne for their Lorde and leader by whose manhood and prowesse they in short time so preuailed against the Saxons that sleying Horsa one of the Chieftaines in an encounter geuen at this place discomfiting the residue they firste chased them from hence as farre as Tanet in memorie of whiche flight happely this place was called Anglesford that is the passagâ— of the Angles or Saxons and after that compelled them to forsake the land to take shipping toward their countrie and to seeke a new supplie And truly had not the vntimely death of Kinge Voâ—timer immediately succéeded it was to be hoped that they should neuer haue returned But the want of that one man both quayled the courage of the Britons gaue new matter of stomack to the Saxons to repaire their forces and brought vpon this Realme an alteration of the whole Estate and Gouernment There landed within the Realme in the time of Alfred two great swarmes of Danish Pyrates wherof the one arriued neare Winchelsey with two hundreth and fiftie sayle of Shippes and passing along that Riuer fortified at Apledore as we haue shewed before The other entred the Thamise in a fléete of eighty saile wherof parte encamped themselues at Midleton on the other syde of Kent and part in Essex ouer against them These latter King Alfred pursued and pressed them so hardly that they gaue him both othes hostages to depart the Realme and neuer after to vnquiet it That done he marched with his army against those other also And because hee vnderstoode that they had diuided themselues and spoyled the Countrie in sundrie partes at once he lykewise diuided his army intending the rather by that meane to méete with them in some one place or other which when they harde of and perceiued that they were vnméete to incounter him in the face they determined to passe ouer the Thamise and to ioyne with their countremen in Essex of whose discomfiture they had as yet receiued no tideings But when they came at a place in this parish called both now and aunciently Fernham that is the ferny Towne or dwelling one part of the Kings power couragiously charged them and finding them geuen to flight folowed the chase vppon them so fercely that they were compelled to take the Thamise without Boat or Bridge in which passage there were a great number of theÌ„ drowned the residue hauing inough to doe to saue their owne liues and to conuey ouer their Capitaine that had receiued a deadlye wounde No lesse notable was that other chase wherein many yeares after Edmond Ironside most fiercely pursued the Danes from Otforde to this towne in whiche also as some write he had geuen them an irreparable ouerthrow had he not by fraudulent and trayterous persuasion of one Edric then Duke of Mercia or midle England and in the Saxon speach surnamed for his couetousnesse Streona that is to say the Getter or gatherer withdrawne his foote spared to follow them No doubte but that it is many times a part of good wisdome and warlyke policie
of the first and second point of their assertion doe builde vpon the wordes of our written Custome where it is saide Del heure que ceux heirs de Gauelkinde soient ou ount passe lage de 15. ans list a eux lour terres tenementes Doner Vender in whiche the wordes Ceux Heires doe restraine the Infant that commeth in by Purchase And Doner Vender in the copulatiue for so they lye in déede though the imprinted booke haue thē disiunctiuely doe of necessitie implye a recompence for as muche as Vendere cannot be Sine precio And for maintenance of the third matter they haue on their part besides the common vsage of their owne Countrie the common lawe of the whole Realme also which expoundeth the word Doner to meane a Feoffment as I haue before shewed and whiche not onely disaloweth of any gifte made by an infant but also punisheth the taker in trespas vnlesse he haue it by liuerie from the infantes owne handes Thus haue I runne ouer suche customes as by meane of this Gauelkinde tenure doe apperteine eyther to the Lorde or the Tenant the husbande or the wife the childe or the Gardein To these I will adde as I promised confusedly a fewe other things of the whiche some belong generally to the Kentishe man throughout the whole Shyre Some to the inhabitants of some particular quarter of the countrie and some to the tenants in Gauelkinde onely and to none other It appeareth by claime made in our auncient treatise that the bodyes of all Kentishe persons be of frée condition whiche also is confessed to be true .30 E. 1. in the title of Villenage 46. in Fitzherbert Where it is holden sufficient for a man to auoide the obiection of bondage to say that his father was borne in the Shyre of Kent But whether it will serue in that case to saye that him selfe was borne in Kent I haue knowne it for good reason doubted It séemeth by the same treatise that suche persons as helde none other lande then of Gauelkinde nature be not bounde to appeare vpon Sommons before the Iustices in Eire otherwise then by their Borsholder and foure others of the Borowe a fewe places only excepted The like to this Priuilege is inioyed at this day in the Sherifes Lathe where many whole Borowes be excused by the onely apparance of a Borsholder and two foure or sixe other of the inhabitants Furthermore I haue read in a case of a written report at large of .16 E. 2. whiche also is partly abridged by Fitzherbert in his title of Praescription that it was tried by verdite that no man ought to haue commen in landes of Gauelkinde Howbeit the contrarie is well knowne at this day and that in many places The same booke sayeth that the vsage in Gauelkind is that a man maye lawfully inchase or driue out into the highe way to their aduenture the beastes of any other person that he shal finde doing damage in his land and that he is not compellable to impounde them which custome séemeth to me directly against the rule of the common lawe But yet it is practised till this present daye The Parleament 15. H. 6. 3. minding to amplifie the Priuileges of Gauelkinde graunted to the tenants of that lande exemption in Attaints in suche sort as the inhabitants of auncient demeane and of the Fiue Ports before had But within thrée yeares after vpon the complaint of some of the Gentz of the Countrie whiche infourmed the Parleament house that there was not in the whole Shyre aboue the number of 30 or 40. persons that helde to the value of 20. li. land out of Gauelkinde who in default of others and by reason of that exemption were continually molested by returnes in Attaintes that Acte was vtterly repealed The Satute .14 H. 8. Cap. 6. giueth libertie to euery man hauing high way through his Land in the Weald that is worne déepe and incommodious for passage to lay out an other way in some suche other place of his land as shal be thought méete by the viewe of two Iustices of the Peace and twelue other men of wisedome and discretion Finally the generall Lawe made 35. H. 8. 17. For the preseruation of Copies woodes thorough out the Realme maketh plaine exception of all woodes within this Weald vnlesse it be of suche as be common Thus muche concerning the customes of this oure Countrie I thought good to discourse not so cunningly I confesse as the matter required nor so amplie as the argument would beare for so to doe it asketh more art and iudgement then I haue attained But yet sufficiently I truste for vnderstanding the olde treatise that handleth them and summarily inough for comprehending in manner whatsoeuer the common or Statute lawe of the Realme hath litterally touching them whiche is as muche as I desired Now therefore to the end that neither any man be further bound to this my discourse vpon these customes then shal be warranted by the Customes thēselues neither yet the same customes be henceforth so corruptly caried about as hitherto they haue béene but that they may at the length be restored to their auncient light and integritie I will set downe a true and iust transcript of the very text of them takē out of an auncient and faire written roll that was giuen to me by Maister George Multon my Father in lawe and whiche some time belonged to Baron Hales of this Countrie I wil adioyne also mine owne interpretation in the English not of any purpose to binde the learned vnto it but of a desire to infourme the vnlearned by it Kent Ces These sount are les the vsages vsages les and custumes customes les the ques which le the comunaute comunalty de of Kent Kent cleiment claimeth auer to haue en in the tenementz Tenements de of Gauylekende Gauelkinde e en in gentz the men of Gauilekendeys Gauelkind * allowes en Eire Iohn de allowed in Eire before Iohn of Berewike Berwike e sos compagnions and his cōpanions Iustices the Iustices en in Eire Eire en in Kent Kent le the 21. 21. an yeare le of Roy Ed. fitz le Roy Henrie * Cestascauoir que toutes les King E. the Sonne of King Henrie * That is to say that all the cors bodies de of Kenteys Kentishe seyent men frācz be free auxi aswell come as les the autres other fraūz free bodies cors of Dengleterre England Et que ilz ne duiuent le eschetour le Roy And that they ought not the Eschetor of the King to elire chuse ne nor vnkes euer en in nul any temps time ne fesoint mes le Roy prengne ou did they But the King shall take or face prendre tiel come luy plerra de ceo qui soit cause to be taken suche an one as it shall please him to serue him mistier a luy seruir Et
Gregorie the Pope had appointed Mathew of Westminster saith that Merlin had prophecied Dignitas Londoniae adornabit Dorobriniam William Malmesbury writeth that he did it Sedulitate Regis hospitis meaning King Ethelbert châ—ritate ciuium captus But I thinke verely that he ment thereby to leaue a glorious monument of his swelling pride vanitie wherevnto I am the rather led by the obseruation of his stately behauiour vsed towards the Bryttish Bishops and some other of his acts that sauour greatly of vaineglory ambition and insolence Whatsoeuer the cause were that moued him thus to apparell Canterbury with the Archebishop of Londons Palle at Canterbury hath it continued euer sithence sauing that at one time Offa the King of Mercia or midle England partly of a disposition to honour his owne countrie and partly of a iuste displeasure conceaued againste Lambright or Ianbright as some copies haue it the thirtéenth Archebishop for matter of treason translated the honour of the See eyther wholly or partly to Lichefield But there it remained not long for after the death of King Offa Kenulsus his successour restored Ethelard to his place at Canterbury againe The whole Prouince of this Bishopricke of Canterbury was at the firste diuided by Theodorus the seuenthe Bishop into fiue Diocesse only howbeit in processe of tyme it grewe to twentie and one besides it selfe leauing to Yorke which by the first institution should haue had as many as it but Durham Carleil and Chester only And whereas by the same ordinance of Gregorie neither of these Archebishoppes ought to be inferiour to other saue only in respect of the prioritie of their consecration Lanfranc thinking it good reason that he should make a conquest of the Englishe Clergie since his maister King William had vanquished the whole nation conteÌ„ded at Windsore with Thomas Norman Archebishoppe of Yorke for the primacie and there by iudgement before Hugo the Popes Legate recouered it from him so that euer since the one is called Totius Angliae primas and the other Angliae primas without any further addition Of which iudgement one forsooth hathe yeelded this great reason that euen as the Kentish people by an auncient prerogatiue of manhoode doe chalenge the first fronte in eache battaile from the inhabitants of other countries So the Archbishop of their shyre ought by good congruence to be preferred before the rest of the Byshops of the whole Realme Moreouer whereas before time the place of this Archebishop in the generall Counsell was to sit next to the Bishop of sainct Ruffines Anselmus the Successour of this Lanfranc for recompence of the good seruice that hee had done in ruffling againste Priestes wyues and resisting the King for the inuestiture of clerkes was by Pope Vrbane endowed with this accession of honour that hee and his successours should froÌ„ thencefoorth haue place in all generall counsels at the Popes right foote who then said withall Includamus hunc in orbe nostro tanquam alterius orbis Papam And thus the Archebishops of Canterbury by the fraude of Augustine by the power of Lanfranc and by the industrie of Anselme were muche exalted but how much that was to the greeuous displeasure and pining enuie of the Archbyshops of Yorke you shall perceiue by that whiche followeth King Henry the firste kept vpon a time a stately Christmas at Windsore where the maner of our kings then being at certeine solemne times to weare their crownes Thurstine of Yorke hauing his crosse borne vp before him offered to set the crowne vpon the kings head But William of Canterbury withstoode it stoutly and so preuayled by the fauoure of the king and the helpe of the standers by that Thurstine was not onely disappointed of his purpose but he and his crosse also thrust cleane out of the doores William of Yorke the next in succession after Thurstine both in the Sée and Quarell perceiuing that the force of his predecessor preuayled nothing attempted by his own humble meanes first made to the king and after to the Pope to winne the coronation of king Henry the seconde from Theobald the nexte Archbyshop of Canterbury But when he had receiued repulse in that sort of suite also and found no way left to make auengement vpon his enemie he returned home al wrothe and mixing poyson in the chalice at his Masse wreaked the anger vpon himselfe After this another hurley burley happened in a Synode assembled at Westminster in the time of king Henry the second before Cardinal Hugo Pope Alexanders Legate betwéen Richard and Roger then Archbishops of these two Sées vpon occasion that Roger of York comming of purpose as it should séeme first to the assembly had taken vp the place on the right hande of the Cardinall which when Richard of Canterbury had espyed he refused to sit downe in the second roome complayning greatly of this preiudice done to his Sée whervpon after sundry replies of speache the weaker in disputation after the maner of shrewd schole boyes in LoÌ„don streats descended froÌ„ hote words to hastie blowes in which encounter the Archbyshop of Canterburie through the multitude of his meiney obteined the better So that he not onely plucked the other out of his place and trampling vpon his body with his his féete al to rent and tare his Casule Chimer and Rochet but also disturbed the holy Synode therwithal in suche wise that the Cardinall for feare betooke him to his féete the company departed their businesse vndone and the Byshops themselues moued suite at Rome for the finishing of their controuersie By these such other successes on the one side the Byshops of Canterburie following tooke suche courage that from thencefoorth they woulde not permit the Byshops of Yorke to beare vp the crosse either in their presence or prouince And on the other side the Byshops of Yorke conceiued suche griefe of heart disdaine and offence that from time to time they spared no occasion to attempt both the one the other Wherevpon in the time of a Parleament holden at LondoÌ„ in the reigne of King Henrie the third Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury interdicted the Londoners bycause they had suffered the Byshop of Yorke to beare vp his crosse whiles he was in the citie And much to doe there was within a few yeeres after betwéene Robert Kylwarby of Canterburie and Walter Giffard of Yorke bycause he of Yorke aduaunced his crosse as he passed through Kent towardes the generall Counsell The like happened also at two other seuerall times betwéene Friar Peckam Archebyshop of Canterburie and William Winkewane and Iohn de Roma Archbyshops of Yorke in the dayes of King Edwarde the firste At the length the matter being yet once more set on foote betwéene Simon Islepe the Archebishop of this countrie and his aduersarie the incumbent of Yorke for that time King Edward the third in whose reigne that variance was reuined resumed the matter into his owne hande and made a finall
William Becley in the reigne of King Henrie the sixt But nowe lately to repaire the losse of that dissolution Maister Roger Manwoode a man borne in the Towne and aduaunced by vertue and good learning to the degrée of a Serieant at the Lawe hathe for the increase of Godlinesse and good letters erected and endowed a faire Free Schoole there from whence there is hope that the common wealth shall reape more profite after a fewe yeares then it receaued commoditie by the Carmelites since the time of their first foundation This only is that whiche I had to say either of the present or passed estate of this place whiche done I will procéede to the narration of suche other thinges as long since happened thereaboutes partly for the illustration of the antiquitie of the towne partly for the setting forth of the cōmoditie of the hauen but chiefly for the obseruation of the order whiche I haue beegonne whiche is to pretermitte nothing woorthie note that I finde in stoarie concerning the place that I take in hand But bycause that whiche I haue to say dependeth altogether or for the greater parte vpon the Hystorie of the Danes whiche many yeares together disquieted this land it shal bée fitte aswell for the better explication of the thinges presently in hand as also for the more easie vnderstanding of other matters that must hereafter followe to disclose so compendiously as I may the first beginning procéeding and ending of the Danishe affaires warres and troubles within this Realme Aboute the yeare after Christe seuen hundreth foure score and seuen thrée vessels of the Northe East Countrie men whose ancestors had before within the compasse of one hundrethe and fourtie yeares sacked Rome in Italie foure seuerall times and whose ofspring afterward wonne Normandie from the Frenche King shewed them selues vpon the westerne shoare of England being sent before hand as it is supposed to espie the cōmoditie of the hauens the aduauntage of arriual the wealthe and force of the inhabitants to the end to prepare the way for greater powers then were appoin to followe These had no sooner set some of their men on lande but the Reeue or officer or Beorhtricke or Brictricke then King of the West Saxons had knowledge therof who came vnto them and demaunding the cause of their arriual would haue carried them to the Kings presence but they in their resistance slewe him wherevpon the people of the Countrie adioyning addressed themselues to reuenge and assembling in great numbers beate them backe to their ships not without the losse of some of their company And this was the first attempt that euer the Danes for so our hystories cal by one general name the Danes Norwais Gottes Vandals others of that part made vpon England after whiche tyme what horrible inuasions miseries calamities and oppressions followed shall appeare anone Not long after this enterprise a fewe ships of them made the lyke assay in Scotland and within short space after that also some other of them entred Tynemouth Hauen in the North parte of England and taking some small booties retourned to their vessels Now by this experiment they had gained sufficient knowledge of that for whiche they first came therefore thinking it fit tyme to assay further they rigged vp a greater numbre of ships armed more store of chosen souldiers entred the Riuer of Thamise with fiue and thirtie sayle landed in despight of the people fired spoyled herried and preuailed so farre that Egbert who then had the Monarchie ouer all England was faine to come with all his power to the reliefe and rescue But suche was the will of God for the punishement of Idolatrie and superstition which then ouerwhelmed this Realme that the Danes in stead of being discomfited by the Kings repaire were merueilously encouraged by his misfortune For after that they had once gotten the better in the field against him they were so embouldened therby that notwithstanding he afterward and some other valiant Princes following by great prowesse abated their furie in parte yet adioyning themselues to the Britons that then were in great emnitie with the Saxons and swarming hither out of their owne Countrie in such flightes that the number of the slaine was continually supplied with greate aduauntage they neuer ceassed to infeste the Realme by the space of thrée hundreth yeares and more during the reignes of fiftéene seuerall Kings till at the last they had made Etheldred flye ouer into Normandie leaue them his Kingdome During all whiche time howe mightely their forces increased vnder Hinguar Hubba Halfden Guthrum Aulaf and Hasten their Nauie being rysen from thrée ships to thrée hundrethe and fiftie at the least howe pitiously the East West Southe and Northe parts of the Realme were wasted the townes Cities religious houses and Monasteries of eache quarter being consumed with flames howe miserably the common people were afflictted men women and children on all sides going to wracke by their tempestuous furie howe marueilously the Kings were amased the arriualles of these their enemies being no lesse sudaine then violent howe barbarously the monuments of good learning were defaced the same suffering more by the immanitie of this one brutishe Nation then by all the warres and conquestes of the Pictes Scots Romanes and Saxons and finally how furiously fire and swoord famine and pestilence raged in euery place God and men Heauen and the elements conspiring as it were the fatall destruction of the Realme I may not here stand to prosecute particularly but leauing eache thing to fitte place I will procéede with King Etheldred and so to my purpose This man aboue all other was so distressed by their continual inuasions that since he wanted force to make his longer defence he thought it best to giue money for their continuall peace And therefore charging his people with importable tributes he first gaue them at fiue seuerall payes 113000. l. afterward promised thē 48000. yearely hoping that for asmuch as they seemed by the manner of their warre rather to séeke his coyne then his kingdome to rob then to rule at the least this way to haue satisfied their hunger but like as the stone called Syphinus the more it is moisted the harder it waxeth so no giftes could quenche the golden thirste of these gréedie raueners but the more was brought to appease them the more stonie and inexorable they shewed thēselues neuer ceassing euen against promises othes hostages to execute their accustomed crueltie Herevpon King Etheldred hauing nowe exhausted the whole treasure of his Realme and therefore more vnable then euer he was either by power or praier to help himself or to relieue his subiectes determined by a fine policie as he thought to deliuer bothe the one and the other For whiche purpose by the aduise of one Huna the generall of his armie he wrote letters to eache part of the Realme commaunding that vpon S. Brices day which is the morowe after Sainct
had them in great admiration and reuerence hee desired the King that either he would send them out of the Realme or be contented to winke at the matter if any his friends for the loue of him and suertie of his estate should procure to dispatche them The King somewhat prouoked by feare of his owne peril though nothing desirous of their destruction eueÌ„ as a litle water throwen into the fire increaseth the flame so by a colde denial gaue courage to the attempt therfore Thunner espying fitte time slewe the children and buried their bodies in the Kings Halle vnder the clothe of his estate But it was not long but there appâ—ared in the house a bright shining piller replenishing eache corner with suche terrible and fearefull light that the seruauntes shriked at the sight thereof and by their noyse awaked the King who as soone as hee sawe it was touched with the conscience of the murther wherevnto he had a litle before in hart consented calling in great haste for Thunner examined him straightly what was become of the children and when he had learned the trueth he became moste sorowfull and penitent therfore charging himselfe with the whole crime of their deathes for that it lay wholly in him to haue saued their liues Then sent he for Deodat the Archebishop and desired to vnderstand by him what was best to be done for expiatioÌ„ of the fault this good father thinking to haue procured some gaine to his Church by veneration of the dead bodies if happely he might haue gotteÌ„ them thither persuaded the King to incoffen them to commit them to honourable buriall in Christeschurche at Canterbury but saith mine Author when the hearse was readie it would not be moued by any force toward that Church as truly I thinke as the crosse of Waltham with twelue Oxen and so many Kyne could not be stirred any other way but toward the place appointed or as the Image of Berecinthia which the Romanes had brought out of Asia could not be remoued till the Vestal virgin Claudia had set to her hand Hereupon the companie assayed to conuey it to Sainct Augustines but that all in vaine also at the last they agreed to leade it to the Monasterie of Watrine and then forsoothe it passed as lightly saith he as if nothing at al had béene within it The obsequies there honourably perfourmed the King gaue the place where this vision appeared to his sister Ermenburga who hauing a longing desire to become a veiled Nonne had a litle before abandoned her housbands bed and chusing out seuentie other women for her companie erected there a Monasterie to the name and honour of these two murthered Brethren William of Malmesbury addeth moreouer that the King gaue the whole Isle of Thanet also to his Mother to appease the wrathe that she had conceaued for the losse of her Children Dele Dela in Latine after Leland I coniecture that it tooke the name of the Saxon woord þille whiche is a plaine flooer or leuel by reason that it lyeth flat and leuel to the Sea. THe Chronicles of Douer as Leland reporteth for I neuer sawe them haue mencion that Iulius Caesar being repulsed from Douer arriued at this place and arraied his armie at Baramdowne whiche thing how wel it may stand with Caesars owne reporte in his coÌ„mentaries I had rather leaue to others to decide then take vpon me to dispute being wel contented where certentie is not euident to allowe of coniectures not altogether vehement Only of this I am well assured that King Henrie the eight hauing shaken of the intollerable yoke of the Popishe tyrannie and espying that the Emperour was offended for the diuorce of Queene Katherine his wife and that the Frenche King had coupled the Dolphine his Sonne to the Popes Niece and maried his daughter to the King of Scots so that he might more iustly suspect them all then safely trust any one determined by the aide of God to stand vpon his owne gardes and defence and therefore with all spéede and without sparing any cost he builded Castles platfourmes and blocke-houses in all néedefull places of the Realme And amongest other fearing least the ease and aduauntage of descending on land at this part should giue occasion and hardinesse to the enemies to inuade him he erected neare together thrée fortifications whiche might at all tymes kéepe and beate the landing place that is to say Sandowne Dele and Wamere This whole matter of Dele Iohn Leland in Cygnea cantione comprehendeth feately in these two verses Iactat Delanouas celebris arces Notus Caesareis locus Trophaeis Renowmed Dele doth vaunt it selfe with Turrets newly raisd For monuments of Caesars hoste A place in stoarie praisd But what make I so long at Dele since Douer the impreignable Porte and place so muche renouned for antiquitie is not many myles of I will haste me thither therefore and in the sight thereof vnfolde the singularities of the place Douer called in Latine Dorus Durus Doueria Dubris and Dorubernia In Saxon Sofra All whiche names be deriued either of the Brittishe word Dufir whiche signifieth water or of the word Dufirha whiche betokeneth highe or steepe for the situation of the place beeing a highe rocke hanging ouer the water might iustly giue occasion to name it after either THe treatise of this place shall consist of thrée speciall members that is to say the Towne the Castle and the Religious buildings The Towne was long since somewhat estimable howebeit that whiche it had as I thinke was both at the first deriued from the other two and euer since also continually conserued by them But whether I hitte or misse in that coÌ„iecture certaine it is by the testimonie of the recorde in the Exchequer commonly called Domesday booke that the Towne of Douer was of abilitie in the time of King Edward the Confessour to arme yerely 20. vessels to the Sea by the space of 15. dayes together eache vessell hauing therein 21. able men For in consideration thereof the same King graunted to the inhabitants of Douer not onely fréedome from payment of Tholl and other priuileges throughout the Realme but also pardoned them all manner of suite and seruice to any his Courts whatsoeuer The Towne it selfe was neuerthelesse at those dayes vnder the protection and gouernauÌ„ce of Godwine the Earle of Kent for I read that it chauÌ„ced Eustace the Earle of Bolloine who had maried Goda the Kings sister to come ouer the seas into EnglaÌ„d of a desire that he had to visite the King his Brother and that whiles his herbenger demeaned him selfe vnwisely in taking vp his lodgings at Douer he fel at variance with the Townesmen and slewe one of them But Nocuit temeraria virtus For that thing so offended the rest of the inhabitants that immediatly they ranne to weapon and killing eightéene of the Earles seruauntes they compelled him and all his meiney to take their feete and to séeke redresse
at the Kings handes The King hearing the complaint ment to make correction of the fault but the Townesmen also had complained themselues to Godwine who determining vnaduisedly to defend his clients and seruauntes opposed himselfe violently against the King his Leige Lord and Maister To bee short the matter waxed within a while so hote betwéene them that either side for maintenance of their cause arraied and conducted a great armie into the field Godwine demaunded of the King that Eustace might be deliuered vnto him the King cōmaunded Godwine that armes laide aside hee would answere his disobedience by order of the Lawe and in the ende Godwine was banished the Realme by the sentence of the King and Nobilitie wherevpon hee and his Sonnes fled ouer the Sea and neuer ceassed to vnquiet the King and spoyle his subiects til they were reconciled to his fauour and restored to their auncient estate and dignitie This towne was so sore wasted with fire soone after the comming in of King William the Conquerour that it was wholly saue onely nine and twentie dwelling houses consumed and brought to ashes And in the time of King Edward the first also whiles two of the Popes Cardinales were here in the treatie of an attonement to be made betwéene England and Fraunce the Frenchemen landed at Douer in a right and burned a great part of the towne and some of the religious buildings So that in those times it was muche empayred by those misfortunes But nowe in our memorie what by decay of the hauen whiche King Henrie the eight to his great charge but that all in vayne sought to restore and what by the ouerthrowe of the religious houses and losse of Calaice it is brought in maner to miserable nakednesse and decaye whiche thing were the lesse to be pitied if it were not accompanyed with the ruine of the Castell it selfe the decay whereof is so much the more grieuous as the fame therof is with our ancient stories aboue al other most blasing glorious The Castell of Douer sayth Lidgate and Rosse was firste builded by Iulius Caesar the Romane Emperour in memorie of whome they of the Castell kept till this day certeine vessels of olde wine and salte whiche they affirme to be the remayne of suche prouision as he brought into it As touching the whiche if they be natural and not sophisticate I suppose them more likely to haue béene of that store whiche Hubert de Burghe layde in there of whome I shall haue cause to say more hereafter But as concerning the building bycause I finde not in Caesar his owne Commentaries mention of any fortification that he made within the Realme I thinke that the more credible reporte whiche ascribeth the foundation to Aruiragus a King of the Britons of whome Iuuenal the Poet hath mention saying to the Emperour Nero in this wise Regem aliquem capies aut de temone Britanno Excidet Aruiragus c. Some King thou shalt a captaine take or els from Bryttishe wayne Shall Aruiragus tumble downe And of whome others write that he founde suche fauour in the eye of Claudius the Emperour that he obtained his daughter to wife But whosoeuer were the authour of this Castell Mathewe Parise writeth that it was accounted in his time which was vnder the reigne of King Henry the third Clauis Repagulum totius Regni the very locke and key of the whole Realme of England And truly it séemeth to me by that which I haue read of King William the Conquerour that he also thought no lesse of it For at suche time as Harold being in Normandie with him whether of purpose or against his will I leaue as I finde it at large made a corporall othe to put him in possession of the Crowne after the death of King Edwarde It was one parcell of his othe that he should deliuer vnto him this castell and the Well within it The same King had no soner ouerthrowne Harolde in the fielde and reduced the Londoners to obedience but foorthwith he marched with his armie towarde Douer as to a place of greatest importaunce and spéede in that iourney as is already declared Not long after whiche time also when he had in his owne opinion peaceably established the gouernment of this Realme and was departed ouer into Normandie of purpose to commit the order of that countrie to Robert his sonne diuers of the shyre of Kent knowing right well howe muche it might annoy him to lose Douer conspired with Eustace the Earle of Boloine for the recouerie and surprise of the same And for the better atchieuing of their desire it was agréed that the Earle should crosse the seas in a night by them appointed at whiche time they woulde not faile with all their force to méete him and so ioyning handes soudainly assayle and enter it They met accordingly and marched by darke night toward the Castell well furnished with scaling ladders but by reason that the watch had discried them they not only fayled of that whiche they intended but also fell into that whiche they neuer feared for the Souldiours within the Castell to whome Odo the Bishop of Borieux and Hughe Mountfort which then were with the King in Normandie had committed the charge thereof kept them selues close and suffered the assaylants to approche the wall and then whiles they disorderly attempted to scale it they set wide open their gates and made a soudaine salie out of the péece and set vpon them with suche furie that they compelled Eustace with a fewe others to returne to his Shippe the reste of his companie béeing eyther slayne by the sworde destroyed by fall from the Clyffe or deuoured by the Sea. The same King also béeing worthely offended with the disobedience auarice and ambition of Odo his bastarde brother whome he had promoted to the Bishopricke of Borieux and to the Earldome of Kent for that he had not onely by rauine and extortion raked together greate masses of Golde and treasure whiche he caused to be grounde into fine pouder and filling therewith dyuers pottes and crockes had sounk them in the bottomes of Riuers intending therwithall to haue purchased the Papacie of Rome But also bycause he refused to render vnto him the Countie of Kent and was suspected for aspiring to the Crowne of this Realme consulted with Lanfranc the Archebishop of Canterburye and a professed enemie to Odo howe hée might safely and without offence to the Ecclesiasticall estate for that hée was a Bishoppe bothe conteyne that treasure within the Realme and also deteyne hys person from going into Italie whether warde he bothe addressed him selfe with all speede and gathered for his trayne great troupes of valiaunt and seruiceable men out of euerie quarter Lanfranc counseled the King to commit him to safe custodie and for his defence armed him with this pretie shift If it be layde to your charge quoth he that you haue layde violent handes vpon a sacred Bishop Say that you
of this gallant brought to shame and confusion his Pecockes feathers pulled his black féete bewraied his fraude vnfoulded his might abated and him selfe in the ende suffered to sayle ouer with sorowe and ignominie Besides this Pryorie of S. Martines which was valued at a hundreth fourscore and eight poundes by yeare there was lately in Douer also an Hospitall rated at fiftie nyne poundes An other house of the same sorte called Domus Dei or Maison Dieu reputed worth one hundreth and twentie pounds And long since a house of Templers as they call it the which together with al other of the same kind throughout the Realme was suppressed in the reigne of King Edwarde the seconde The foundation of any of these I haue not hitherto founde out and therefore can not deliuer therof any certaintie at all Onely as touching this Temple I dare affirme that it was erected after the time of Conquest for as muche as I am sure that the order it selfe was inuented after that Godfrey of Bolein had wonne Ierusalem whiche was after the cōming in of the Conquerour To these also may be added for neighbourhoode sake if you will the Monasterie of S. Radegundes on the hyll two myles off valued at fourescore and eightéene pounds by yeare And here hauing perused the Towne Castle and religious buildings I woulde make an ende of Douer saue that Mathewe Parise putteth me in mynde of one thing not vnworthy rehearsall that was done in this Temple I meane the sealing of that submission whiche King Iohn made to Pandulphe the Popes Legate wherin he yealded his Realme tributarie and him selfe an obedienciarie and vassall to the Bishop of Rome And bycause this was almost the last acte of the whole Tragedie and can not well be vnderstoode without some recourse to the former parts and beginning and for that some men of late time haue taken great holde of this matter to aduaunce the Popes authoritie withall I will shortly after my manner recount the thing as it was done and leaue the iudgement to the indifferent Reader After the death of Hubert the Archebishop of Canterbury the Monkes of Christes Church agréed among them selues to chose for their Bishop Reginald the Subpryor of their house King Iohn hauing no notice of this election wherein no doubt he receiued greate wrong since they ought to haue of him their Conge deslier recommended vnto them Iohn Graye the Bishop of Norwiche a man that for his wisedome and learning he fauoured muche Some part of the Monkes taking soudaine offence at Reginalde for that he had disclosed a secrete out of their house and being glad to satisfie the Kings desire elected this Graye for their Bishop also Hereof grewe a great suite at Rome betwéen the more part of the Monkes on the one side and the Suffraganes of Canterbury and the lesse number of the Monkes on the other side The Pope vpon the hearing of the cause at the first ratifieth the election of Iohn Graye Howbeit afterwarde he refuseth bothe the electes and preferreth Stephan Langton whom the Monkes bycause the matter was not before litigious enough elected also Nowe King Iohn hearing that not only the election of Graye contrarie to the Popes owne former determination was made frustrate but that there was also thruste into his place a man familiarly entertained by the Frenche King his great enemie disliked much of the choice forbad Stephan the elect to enter the Realme The Pope againe who as Mathewe Parise writeth sought chiefly in this his choice Virum strenuum a stoute man that is in plaine speache a man that could exact of the Clergie kéep in awe the Laitie and encounter the King and Nobilitie séeing his champion thus reiected beginneth to startle for anger first therefore he moueth the King by minacing letters to admitte Stephan not so preuailing he enterditeth him his whole Realme And finally bothe prouoketh al Potentates to make open warre vpon him and also promiseth to the King of Fraunce full and frée remission of all his sinnes and the kingdome of England it self to inuade him this done he solliciteth to rebellion the Bishops nobilitie and cōmōs of the Realme loosing thē by the plenitude of his Apos to like power from al duetie of allegiaunce toward their Prince By this meanes diuine seruice ceassed the King of Fraunce armed the Bishops conspired the nobilitie made defection and the common people wauered vncertaine to what part to incline To be short King Iohn was so pressed with suspition feare of domesticall forreigne enemies on al sides that notwithstāding he was of great and noble courage and séemed to haue forces sufficient for resistance also if he might haue trusted his souldiers yet he was in the end compelled to set his seale to a Chartre of submissiō wherby he acknowleged himselfe to holde the Crowne of England of the Popes Mitre promised to pay yerely for the same and for Ireland 1000. Markes to the holy father his successours for euer this Chartre because it was afterward with great insultation and triumph closed in Golde was then commonly called Aurea Bulla the Bull of Golde Thus omitting the residue of this storie no lesse tragical and troublesome then that which I haue alreadie recited I report me to all indifferent men what cause Paulus Iouius or any other popishe parasite hathe by colour of this Bull to claime for the Pope superioritie Dominion ouer the King of this Realme since Iohn without the assent of the estates I meane his nobilitie and commons could not in such a gifte either binde his successours or charge the kingdome And for plaine declaration that his submission proceaded not with their consent I read in a treatise of one Simon de Boraston a Frier Preacher in the time of King Edward the third the which he wrote concerning the Kings right to the Crowne of Ireland that in the reigne of Henrie the third whiche next of all succeaded King Iohn there were sent from the King the nobilitie and the commons of England these Noble men Hughe Bigod Iohn Fitz Geffray William Cantlowe Phillip Basset and a Lawier named William Powicke to the generall Counsel then assembled at Lions in Fraunce of purpose and with commission to require that the saide Bull sealed by King Iohn might be cancelled for as muche as it passed not by the assent of the Counsel of the Realme and the same Authour writeth that the Pope for that tyme did put them of by colour of more waightie affaires whiche the Counsel had then in hand I know that it may wel be thought néedlesse to labour further in confuting a litle so weightles for it is true that Aristotle saith Stultum est absurdas opiniones accuratius refellere It is but a follie to labour ouer curiously in refelling of absurdities And therefore I will here conclude the treatise of Douer and procéede particularly to the rest of the places that lye on
to Rotherfield thence to Hichingham and so to Roberts bridge corruptly so termed for Rothersbridge frō whence it descendeth to Bodyam Castell to Newendene Oxney and Apultree and soone after openeth into the Sea. The place is not notable for any other thing then that it harboured the first Carmelite Fryars that euer were in this Realme For about the midst of the reigne of King Henrie the thirde that order came ouer the Sea arriued in this lande and made their neste at Newendene whiche was before a wooddy and solitarie place and therefore in common opinion so much the more fit for Religious persons to inhabite They of that profession were called Carmelites of a hill in Syria named Carmelus where at the first a sort of men that liued solitarily were drawne into companies by one Ioan the Patriarche of Ierusalem in the dayes of King Henrie the firste And after that comming into Europe were by Honorius Quartus the Pope appointed to a rule and order by the name of the Brothers of Mary whiche title liked them selues so well that they procured the Pope Vrbane the sixte thrée yeares pardon for all suche as would so call them But certaine merry felowes seing their vanitie and knowing how litle they were of kin to Mary the blessed Virgine called them the brothers of Mary Aegiptiaca the harlot whereat the Pope was so offended that he plainly pronounced them Heretikes for their labour I read that in the reigne of King Richard the seconde one William Starnefeld was Pryor of this house and that he committed to writing the originall and beginning of the same But hitherto though to no great losse it hath not chaunced me to sée it The Weald so named of 〈◊〉 on worde peald which signifieth A woodie countrie The Britons called it Andred of which worde the Saxons called it AnSreSesleag in Latine Saltus Andred the chase of Andred This latter name was imposed for the exceeding greatnesse of it for Anrhsed in Brittish is as much as great or wonderfull NOwe then we are come to the Weald of Kent which after the common opinion of men of our time is conteined within very streight and narrowe limits notwithstanding that in times paste it was reputed of suche excéeding bignesse that it was thought to extende into Sussex Surrey and Hamshyre and of suche notable fame withall that it left the name to that part of the Realme thorough which it passed for it is manifest by the auncient Saxon Chronicles by Asserus Meneuensis Henrie of Huntingdon and almost all others of latter time that beginning at Winchelsey in Sussex it reached in length a hundreth and twentie myles towarde the West and stretched thirtie myles in breadth towarde the Northe And it is in mine opinion moste likely that in respecte of this wood that large portion of this Islande whiche in Caesars time contained foure seuerall Kings was called of the Bryttish word Caine Cancia in Latine and now cōmonly Kent Of which deriuation one other infallible monumēt remaineth euen til this day in Staffordshyre where they yet call their great woodie Forrest by the name of Kanc also On the edge of this wood in Sussex there stoode somtime a Citie called after the same Andredes Chester whiche Ella the founder of the Southsaxon kingdome after that he had landed with his thrée sonnes and chased the Brytons into the wood raced and made equall with the grounde And in this wood Sigbert a King of Westsex was done to death by this occasion following About the yeare after the Incarnation of Christe seuen hundreth fiftie fiue this Sigbert succéeded Cuthred his cousine in the kingdom of the Westsaxons and was so puffed vp with the pride of his dominion mightely enlarged by the prosperous successes of his predecessour that he gouerned without feare of God or care of man making lust his lawe and mischiefe his minister Wherevpon one Cumbra an Earle and Counselour at the lamentable suite of the Commons moued him to consideration But Sigbert disdaining to be directed commaunded him most dispitefully to be slayne Hereat the Nobilitie and Commons were so muche offended that assembling for the purpose they with one assent depriued him of his crowne and dignitie and he fearing worse fled into the wood where after a season a poore Hogheard sometime seruaunt to Cumbra founde him in a place which the Saxon Hystories cal Prifetsflode and knowing him to be the same that had slaine his Master slue him also without all manner of mercy The Hystorie of this Hoghearde presenteth to my minde an opinion that some men mainteine touching this Weald whiche is that it was a great while together in manner nothing else but a Desert and waste Wildernesse not planted with Townes or peopled with men as the outsides of the shyre were but stoared and stuffed with heardes of Deare and droues of Hogs onely whiche conceit though happely it may séeme to many but a Paradoxe yet in mine own fantasie it wanteth not the féete of sounde reason to stande vpon For besides that a man shall reade in the Hystories of Canterbury and Rochester sundry donations in whiche there is mention onely of Pannage for Hogges in Andred and of none other thing I thinke verely that it cannot be shewed out of auncient Chronicles that there is remayning in Weald of Kent or Sussex any one monument of great antiquitie And truly this thing I my selfe haue obserued in the auncient rentalles and surviewes of the possessions of Christes Church in Canterbury that in the rehearsall of the olde rentes and seruices due by the Tenaunts dwelling without the Weald the entrie is commonly after this forme De redditu vij s̄.vj d. De viginti ouis j.d. De gallinis benerth xvj.d. Summa viij s̄.xj.d quieti redditus But when they come to the Tenauntes inhabiting within the Wealdy countrey then the stile and Intituling is first Redditus de Walda Then after that followeth De tenementis Ioāis at Stile in loose iij. s̄.iiij.d Without shewing for what auncient seruice for what manner of custome or for what speciall cause the same Rent grew due and payable as in the first stile or entrie is expressed Wherevpon I gather that although the propertie of the Weald was at the firste belonging to certaine knowen owners as wel as the rest of the countrey yet was it not then alotted into Tenancies nor Manured like vnto the residue But that euen as men were contented to inhabite it and by péecemeale to rid it of the wood and to breake it vp with the ploughe So this latter rent differing from the former bothe in quantitie and qualitie as being greater than the other and yealded rather as recompence for fearme then as a quiterent for any seruice did long after by litle and litle take his beginning And hereout also springeth the diuersitie of opinions touching the true limits of this Weald Some men affirming it to beginne at one place and some at another
The Monkes lothe to loose so beneficiall a stray at the first make some denyal but afterwarde being assured by all signes that he was the very Proprietarie they graunt him to take it with him The carpenter then taketh the horse by the heade and first assayeth to leade him out of the Churche but he woulde not stirre for him Then beateth he and striketh him but the Iade was so restie and fast nayled that he would not once remoue his foote from the piller At the laste he taketh off the Image thinking to haue carried it out by it self and then to haue led the horse after but that also cleaued so fast to the place that notwithstanding all that euer he and the Monkes also which at the length were contented for pities sake to helpe him coulde doe it woulde not be moued one inche from it So that in the ende partely of wearinesse in wrestling with it and partely by persuasion of the Monkes whiche were in loue with the Picture and made him beléeue that it was by God him selfe destinate to their house the Carpenter was contented for a péece of money to go his way and leaue the Roode behinde him Thus you sée the generation of this the great God of Boxley comparable I warrant you to the creation of that olde beastly Idol Priapus of whiche the Poet sayth Olim truncus eram ficulnus inutile lignum Cum faber incertus SCAMNVM FACERETNE PRIAPVM MALVIT ESSE DEVM Deus inde ego furum c. A Figtree blocke sometime I was A log vnmeete for vse Til Caruer doubting with him selfe WER T BEST MAKE PRIAPVS OR ELSE A BENCHE resolude at last To make a God of me Thencefoorth a God I am of birdes And theeues most drad you see But what I shall not néede to report howe leudely these Monkes to their owne enriching and the spoyle of Gods people abused this wooden God after they had thus gotten him bycause a great sorte be yet on liue that sawe the fraude openly detected at Paules Crosse and others maye reade it disclosed in bookes extant and commonly abroade Neyther will I labour to compare it throughout with the Troian Palladium whiche was a picture of woode that coulde shake a speare and rolle the eyes as liuely as this Roode did and whiche falling from heauen chose it self a place in the Temple as wisely as this Carpenters horse did and had otherwise so greate conuenience and agréement with this our Image that a man woulde easily beléeue the deuice had béene taken from thence But I will onely note for my purpose and the places sake that euen as they fansied that Troy was vpholden by that Image and that the taking of it awaye by Diomedes and Vlysses brought destruction by sentence of the Oracle vpon their Citie So the towne of Boxley whiche stoode chiefly by the Abbay was through the discouerie and defacing of this Idol and another wrought by Cranmer and Cromwel according to the iust iudgement of God hastened to vtter decay and beggerie And nowe since I am falne into mention of that other Image whiche was honoured at this place I will not sticke to bestowe a fewe wordes for the detection thereof also as well for that it was as very an illusion as the former as also for that the vse of them was so lincked together that the one can not throughly be vnderstoode without the other for this was the order If you minded to haue benefit by the Roode of Grace you ought firste to be shryuen of one of the Monkes Then by lifting at this other Image whiche was vntruly of the common sorte called Sainct Grumbald for Sainct Rumwald you shoulde make proofe whether you were in cleane life as they called it or no and if you so founde your selfe then was your waye prepared and your offering acceptable before the Roode if not then it behoued you to be confessed of newe for it was to be thought that you had concealed somewhat from your ghostly Dad and therefore not yet worthy to be admitted Ad Sacra Eleusina Nowe that you may knowe howe this examination was to be made you must vnderstande that this Sainct Rumwald was a preatie shorte picture of a Boy Sainct standing in the same Churche of it selfe so small hollow and light that a childe of seuen yeares of age might easily lift it and therefore of no moment at all in the hands of suche persons as had offered frankly But by meane of a pyn of wood stricken through it into a poste whiche a false knaue standing behinde coulde put in and pull out at his pleasure it was to suche as offered faintly so fast and vnmoueable that no force of hande coulde once stirre it In so muche as many times it moued more laughter then deuotion to beholde a great lubber to lift at that in vayne whiche a young boy or wenche had easily taken vp before him I omit that chaste Virgines and honest marryed matrones went oftentimes away with blushing faces leauing without cause in the myndes of the lookers on suspicion of vncleane life and wanton behauiour for feare of whiche note and villanie women of all other stretched their purse strings and sought by liberall offering to make Sainct Rumwalds man their good friend and Maister But marke here I beséeche you their prettie policie in picking playne folkes purses It was in vaine as they persuaded to presume to the Roode without shrifte yea and money lost there also if you offer before you were in cleane life And therefore the matter was so handled that without trebble oblation that is to say first to the Confessour then to Sainct Rumwald and lastly to the Gracious Roode the poore Pilgrimes coulde not assure them selues of any good gayned by all their laboure No more then suche as goe to Parisgardein the Bell Sauage◠or some other suche common place to beholde Beare bayting Enterludes or Fence playe can account of any pleasant spectacle vnlesse they first paye one penny at the gate another at the entrie of the Scaffolde and the thirde for a quiet standing I my selfe can not coniecture what reason shoulde moue them to make this Sainct Rumwald the Touchstone of cleane life and innocencie vnlesse it be vpon occasion of a myracle that he did in making two holy Priestes to lift a greate stone easily whiche before diuers laye persons coulde not stirre with all their strength and abilitie Whiche thing as also his whole life and death to the ende that the tale shall want no part of due credite I will shortly recite as in the worke called Noua Legenda Angliae I finde reported A Pagan or vnchristened King of Northumberland had married a Christian woman daughter to Penda the King of Midle Englande who woulde not by any meanes be known carnally of her husband til such time as he had condescended to forsake Idolatrie and to become a Christian with her The husband with much to doe consented to
the condition and she not long after waxed great with chylde and as vpon a time they were ryding towarde their Father Kyng Penda she fell into trauayle of chylde byrthe and was deliuered by the waye in a faire medowe at Sutton of a man childe whiche so soone as he was come out of his mothers belly cried with a loude voice thrée seueral times Christianus sum Christianus sum Christianus sum I am a Christian I am a Christian I am a Christian And not ceassing thus made foorthwith plaine profession of his faith desired to be baptised chose his Godfathers named himselfe Rumwald and with his finger directed the standers by to fetche him a great hollowe stone that he would haue to be vsed for the Fonte herevpon sondrie of the Kings seruaunts assayed to haue brought the stone but it was so farre aboue al their strengthes that they could not once moue it when the Childe perceaued that he commaūded the two Priestes his appointed Godfathers to goe and bring it whiche they did foorthwith moste easily This done he was Baptised and within thrée dayes after hauing in the meane while discoursed cunningly sundrie misteries of Popishe religion and bequeathing his bodie to remaine at Sutton one yeare at Brackley two and at Buckingham for euer after his Spirit departed out of his bodie was by the hands of the Aungels conueied into heauen Mylton in Saxon Midetun so called of the situation for it lyeth in the midst betweene two places the termination of whose names be in tun also that is to say Newentun and Marstun EVen at suche time as King Alfred diuided this Shyre into Lathes and hundrethes the Towne of Midleton or Milton as we now call it by our common manner of contraction was in his owne hands therefore set foorth in our auncient Hystories by the name and title of Regia Villa de Midleton In whiche respect of like he gaue to the hundreth the name of the same Towne as of a place more eminent then any other within that precincte Kemsley Towne in the Parishe of this Midleton is the verie place wherein the time and reigne of the same King Alfred Hasten the Dane that so muche annoyed Fraunce arriued and fortified as we haue at ful disclosed in Apledore before This Towne continued of good estimation vntill the Reigne of King Edward the Confessour in whose dayes and during the displeasure betwéene him and Earle Godwine suche as were of the deuotion of the Earle at home burned the Kinges house at Midleton while he and his Sonnes abroad ransacked herried and spoiled the skirts and out sides of the whole shyre besides after whiche time I haue not read neither is it likely that the place was of any price or estimation Sedingbourne in Saxon Saetungburna that is the Hamlet along the Bourne or small Riuer One interpreteth it as if it were Seethingbourne Riuus Feruiens aut Bulliens but howe likely let others see FOr want of pertinent matter touching either the beginning increase or present estate of this place I am driuen to furnishe the roome with an impertinent Sermon that a Mytred Father of Rochester long since bestowed vpon his auditorie there In the time of King Henrie the third and after the death of Richard the Archebishop of Canterbury surnamed the great The Monkes of Christes Churche were determined to haue chosen for their Archebishop Ralfe Nouille the Bishop of Chichester and Chancellour to the King but Gregorie the Pope fearing that Ralfe would haue trauailed earnestly for release of the tribute whiche his innocent predecessour had gained by King Iohns submission for the storie sayeth that Nouille was a good man and true harted in his Countrie bare the Monkes in hand that he was rashe in woorde and presumptious in acte and therefore muche vnworthie of suche a dignitie Neuerthelesse bicause he would not séeme vtterly to infringe the libertie of their election he gaue them frée licence to take any other man besides him Wherevpon the Monkes agréed and chose one Iohn the Pryor of their owne house Now when this man should go to Rome as the manner was for to buie his confirmation Henrie then Bishop of Rochester addressed himselfe to accompanie him to his Ship and when they were come to this Towne the Bishop of Rochester stept into the Pulpit like a pretie man and gaue the Auditorie a clerkly collation and Preachement after many other thinges he braste foorth into great ioye as a man that had béene rapt into the third Heuen and said Reioice in the Lord my brethren all and knowe ye assuredly that now of late in one day there departed out of purgatorie Richard sometime King of England Stephan Langton the Archebishop of Canterbury and a Chaplein of his to goe to to the diuine Maiestie And in that day thereissued no moe but these three out of the place of paines and feare not to giue full and assured faith to these my woordes for this thing hathe beene now the third time reuealed vnto me and to another man that so plainly as from mine owne minde all suspicion of doubt is farre remoued These fewe words I haue in manner translated out of Thomas Rudburne and Mathewe of Westminster to the end that you might sée with what wholesome and comfortable bread the preaching Prelates of that time fedde their Auditories and that you might hereby consider that Si lux sit tenebrae If the Bishops the great torches of that time were thus dimme Ipsae tenebrae quantae What light was to be looked for at the litle candels the soule Priestes and séely Syr Iohns Beléeue me if his Fatherhood had not plainly confessed that he came to the knowledge of this matter by reuelatiō I would easily haue beléeued that he had béene with Anchises in Hell as Aeneas sometime was where he learned what soules should come next to life and where he hard the liuelyest description of Poetical or Popish Purgatorie for all is one that is any where to be found Whiche to the end that you may sée what agréement there is betwéene the olde and the newe Romanes touching this article of religion I will shewe it you in a fewe of Virgils owne verses Quin supremo cum lumine vita reliquit Non tamen omne malum miseris nec funditus omnes Corporeae excedunt pestes penitusque necesse est Multa diu concreta modis inolescere miris Ergo exercentur paenis veterumque malorum Supplicia expendunt Aliae panduntur inanes Suspensae ad ventos alijs sub gurgite vasto Infectum eluitur scelus aut exuritur igni Quisque suos patimur manes Exinde per amplum Mittimur Elysium pauci laeta arua tenemus Donec longa dies perfecto temporis orbe Concretam exemit labem purumque reliquit Aetherium sensum atque aurai simplicis ignem Whiche Thomas Phaer translated after this manner Moreouer when their end of life and light doth them forsake Yet
abiured should not be molested while they be in the highe wayes may euidently appeare I finde in Hystorie that this Watlingstreete hath heretofore not onely serued for the frée passage of the people but that it hath béen at times also a marke and bounder betwéene some Kings for the limits of their iurisdictions and authoritie For so it was betwéene Edmund and Anlaf Alfred and Guthrum and others But bycause these matters reache further then this Shyre extendeth I will reserue them to fit place and shew you in the meane while what I count note worthy on both sides of this way till I come to the Diocesse of Rochester Lyminge ON the South side of Watlingstreete and vnder the Downes Lyminge is the first that offereth it selfe concerning the which I haue found a note or twaine that make more for the antiquitie then for the estimation of the place for I reade in the Annales of S. Augustines of Canterbury that Eadbald the sonne of King Ethelbert the firste Christened King of Kent gaue it to Edburge his sister who foorthwith clocked together a sorte of simple women whiche vnder her wing there tooke vpon them the Popishe veile of widowhood But that order in time waxed colde and therefore Lanfranc the Archebishop at suche time as he builded Sainct Gregories in Canterbury as we haue touched in Tanet before reckoning it no small ornamēt of his dotation to bestowe some renouned Relique that might procure estimation to his worke translated the olde bones of Edburge from Lyminge to Sainct Gregories and verefied in Papistrie the olde Maxime of Philosophie Corruptio vnius generatio alterius Baramdowne in the Saxon BarHamdune That is to say the hill where the Bores do abide AS this place is of it selfe very fit by reason of the flat leuel and playnesse therof to array an heast of men vpon So haue we testimonie of thrée great armies that haue mustred at it The one vnder the conduict of Iulius Caesar who landing at Dele as we haue before shewed surueyed his hoast at Baramdowne and marching from thence against the Britons so daunted their forces that he compelled them to become tributarie No lesse infortunate but muche more infamous to this countrie was the time of the seconde muster whiche happened in the reigne of King Iohn who hearing that Philip the king of Fraunce had by incitation of the Pope as hath already appeared in Douer prepared a great army to inuade him and that he was ready at Calaice to take shipping determined to incounter him vpon the Sea and if that assay succéeded not then to giue him a battaile on the lande also For whiche seruice he rigged vp his shippes of warre and sent to the Sea the Earle of Salisburie whome he ordeined Admirall and calling together fit men from al the parts of the Realme he found by view taken at this place an armie of sixtie thousande men to incounter his enemies besides a sufficient number of able and armed souldiours to defende the lande withal Now whilest he thus awaited at Baramdown to heare further of his aduersaries comming Pandulph the Popes Legate sent vnto him two Knightes of the order of the Temple by whose mouthe he earnestly desired the King to graunt him audience The King assented and the Legate came vnto him and sayde in summe as followeth Beholde O Prince the King of Fraunce is in armes against thée not as against a priuate enemie to him self alone but as an open and common aduersarie bothe to the Catholike Church to the Popes holynesse to whole Christendome and to God him self Neyther commeth he vpon opinion of his owne power and strength but is armed with great confidence of Gods fauourable ayde accompanied with the consent of many great Princes furnished with the presence of suche as thou haste banished out of thy Realme and assured by the faythful promises of sundry of thyne owne Nobilitie whiche nowe are present in person with thée Consider therefore in what daunger thou standest and spare not to submit thée while space is leaste if thou persist there be no place left of further fauour The King hearing this and being vpon causes knowne to him selfe more distrustfull of Traitours at home then fearefull of enemies abroade agréed to serue the time and taking the Legate to Douer with him sealed the Golden Bull of submission whereby Englande was once againe made a tributarie Prouince to the Citie of Rome and that in so muche the more vile condition then it was before as an vsurped Ierarchie is inferiour to a noble lawfull and renoumed Monarchie For it is truely sayd Dignitate domini minus turpis est conditio serui Now when the Frenche King on the other side of the Seas had worde hereof he retired with his armie in a great choler partely for that he was thus deluded but chiefly bycause he had lost his Nauie whiche the Earle of Salisbury had set on fire in the hauen at Calaice Simon Mountfort the Earle of Leycester that was elected by the Barons of this Realme general of that armie which they raysed against King Henrie the thirde arrayed thirdly a very great hoast of men here at suche time as he feared the arriuall of Eleonar the Quéene who being daughter to the Earle of Prouince and then lefte in Fraunce behinde the King and the Earle whiche also had béen bothe there a litle before to receiue the Frenche Kings rewarde touching their controuersie ceassed not by all possible meanes to sollicite the King of Fraunce and to incite other her friendes and allies to ayde King Henrie against the Nobilitie But whether it were that presently they could not for their owne affaires or that at al they durst not knowing that their comming was awayted they serued not her desire by meanes whereof the Lordes waxed strong and soone after gaue the King a battayle in Sussex wherein they bothe tooke him and his brother Richard and his eldest sonne prisoners But as touching the originall procéeding and euent of these warres I willingly spare to speake muche in this place knowing that I shall haue opportunitie often hereafter to discourse them Nowe therefore let vs consider a few other places and then haste vs to Canterbury Charteham AFter suche time as King Iohn had made him selfe the Popes tenant of the Crown and Realme of England as euen now I tolde you the Clergie of this countrie was so oppressed with Romishe exactions that they were become not onely vnable but thereby vnwilling also to relieue the necessitie of the Prince with any prest of money as in times paste they had accustomed to do Wherat the King on the one side taking offence pressed them many times very hard not ceasing till he had wroong somewhat from them And on the other side appealing to their holy fathers ayde procured by their great coste many sharp prohibitions and proud menacies against him So that sundry times in the reigne of King Henrie the thirde this Balle
was busily tossed betwéene the King the Pope the Clergie in the mean while looking vpon but nothing laughing at the game Amongst other things done for the manifestatiō of the Popes rauine the same King at one time cōmaunded a generall suruiew to be made of the Popes yerely reuenue within this realme foūd it to surmoūt the yearely receipt of his owne Eschequer in very rent besides innumerable secret gifts and rewardes wherof no account could be made Herevpon the Prince by aduise of his Realme sent special messingers to the generall counsell that was then holden at Lions in Fraunce with commission to sue for redresse The like complaint also was at the same time and for the same cause exhibited by the King of Fraunce Neither was the state of the Empire frée from the heauy yoke of that Popish oppressiō for M. Parise reporteth that euen thē the Emperour him self wrote an earnest letter to the King Nobility of this realme solliciting thē to ioyne with him in withstanding the tyranie of the Romish Sée Howbeit all this could not help but that the Popes labouring daily more more with this incurable disease of Philargyrie cōtinually pilled the English Clergie and so encountred King Henrie that in the end he was driuen to vse the meane of the Popes authoritie whensoeuer he néeded aide of his owne spiritualtie After Henrie folowed his Sonne Edward the first who being more occupied in Martiall affaires then his Father was And thereby more often inforced to vse the helpe of his subiectes for the raising of some necessary Masses of money nowe and then borowed of his Clergie till at the length Pope Boniface the eight treading the path of his predecessours pride toke vpon him to make a constitution That if any Clerke gaue to a lay man or if any lay person should take of a Clerke any spirituall goods he should forthwith stand excommunicate By colour of whiche decrée the Clergie of England at suche time as the King next desired their cūtribution towards his warres made answere with one assent That they would gladly but they might not safely without the Popes licence agre to his desire Hereat the King waxed wrothe and calling a Parleament of his Nobilitie and Commons from which he excluded the Bishops and Clergie enacted that their persons should be out of his protection and their goods subiect to confiscation vnlesse they would by submitting themselues redéeme his fauour It was then a world to sée howe the welthie Bishops fatte Abbats and riche Pryors in eache quarter be stirred them each man contending with liberall offer to make his raunsome in so much as the house of Saint Augustines in Canterbury as the Annales of their own Abbay report gaue to the King two hundrethe and fiftie poundes in money for their peace hauing lost before notwithstanding al their haste two hundreth and fiftie quarters of their wheat whiche the Kings Officers had seised to his vse shipped to be sent into Gascoin for the victualing of his men of warre Onely Robert of Winchelsey then Archebishop of Canterbury refused to aide the King or to reconcile himselfe in so muche as of very stomacke he discharged his familie and abandoned the Citie and withdrewe himselfe to this Towne from whence as mine Author saith he roade each Sonday and Holyday to the Churche adioyning and preached the woord of GOD. Polidore in his own opinion giueth him an apt Theme writing that he preached vpon this text Melius est obedire Deo quam hominibus It is better to obey God then men whiche if he will haue to serue the turne he must construe it thus It is better to obey the Pope then the King and so make the Pope a God and the King no more then a common man But Peter the Apostle of God from whome the Pope would séeme to deriue and Polidore the Apostle of the Pope for he first sent him hither to gather his Peter pence were not of one minde n this point For he inioyneth vs plainly Subditi estote omni humanae ordinationi propter Dominum siue Regi tanquam praecellenti c. Be ye subiect to all humane ordinance for the Lordes sake whether it be to the King as to the moste excellent c. making the King the moste excellent vnder God who no doubt if he commaund not against God it is to be obeyed before the Pope concerning whome we haue no commaundement at all in Gods Scripture Howbeit since Polydore and the Bishop serued one common Maister namely the man of Rome it is the lesse meruaile if he commend his endeuour in this part and that is of the lesse credit also which he writeth of him in an other place where he bestoweth this honourable Elogium vpon him Quantum in eo fuit de Religione iuxta atque de Repub. promereri studuit a qua nunquam discessit nunquam oculos deiecit ita officio suo atque omnium commodis sibi seruiendum censuit As much as in him was he studied to deserue well bothe of religion and of the common wealth from the whiche he neuer departed ne turned away his eyes so thought he it meete to serue his owne duetie and the profit of all men As concerning his desert in religion I will say nothing bycause it may be thought the fault of that age not of the person only but as touching his behauiour toward his Prince and Countrie wherein also consisteth no small part of religion and feare of God since our lawe alloweth of the trial De vicineto I will bring you one of his next neighbours to depose for him a man that liued in the same time with him I meane the writer of the Annales of Saint Augustines who vpon the yeare 1305. hathe this note following Eodē an 7. Kal. Maij cū saepe dictus Archiepiscopus Robertus super multis Articulis enormibus praecipue super proditione quam cū quibusdam comitibus proceribus multis pactus erat in dolo vt Regem a Regni solio deijcerent silium eius Eduardum ipsius in trono subrogarent patrem perpetuo carceri manciparent a Rege calumniaretur inficiari non posset obiecta vltra quam credi potest timore percussus ad Regis pedes pronus cadens in terrā vt eius mereretur assequi clementiā sese per singula flens eiulans Regis subdidit voluntati Sic igitur humiliatus est ille Deo odibilis superbus qui per totum Anglorū orbem oris sui flatu more meretricio Sacerdotium deturpauit Clerum in populo tyrannidē exer cuit inauditam Et qui Regem Dominum suum literatorie ei scribens nominare renuit superbiendo nunc humiliatus Regem Dominum suum facit nominat obediens factus sedinuitus ei deuotius seruiendo The same yeare the 25. of April when as the often named Robert the Archebishop was chalenged by the
King for many pointes of great enormitie and especially for the treason whiche he had imagined with certaine Earles and Noble men to the end that they should displace the King from the seate of his Kingdome and place his sonne Edward in his throne and cast the Father into perpetuall prison and when he could not deny the things obiected against him being stroken with an incredible feare and falling downe prostrate vpon the earth at the Kings feete that he might deserue to obtaine his fauour with weeping and wayling he submitted himselfe wholly to the Kings pleasure thus was that proude most hateful man to God brought lowe and humbled the whiche defiled throughout all England with the breath of his mouthe like an harlot the state of the Priesthode and Clergie and exercised intollerable tyrannie ouer the people and he whiche before writing vnto the King refused in his letters for pride to call him his Lord nowe being humbled both acknowledgethe and calleth him his Lord and King being made obedient and to serue him with great deuotion but yet against his will. Againe when as in the same yeare he was cited to appeare at Rome vpon complaint that he had wastfully spoyled the goods of his Churche and came to the Court to sue for licence to passe ouer the Seas the King as soone as he came to his presence and had moued his suite caused the presence chamber dore to be set wide open willed the standers by to giue eare and spake a loude to the Bishop in this manner as the same author reporteth Licentiam transfretandi quam a nobis postulare venisti libenter tibi concedimus reuertendi autem licentiam nullam damus memores doli ac proditionis quas in Parlemento Lincolniae cum Baronibus nostris in Regiam machinatus es Maiestatem cuius rei litera signo tuo sigillata testis est testimonium perhibet contra te euidenter Sed propter amorē beati Thomae Martyris Ecclesiae cui praees reuerentiam vindictam hucusque distulimus reseruantes eam Papae qui nostras iniurias vlciscetur vtpote speramus A protectione vero nostra te prorsus excludimus omnem gratiam negantes miserecordiam quia re vera semper immisericors fuisti Cumque Wintoniensis Episcopus pro eo intercederet Archiepiscopum Dominum suum esse diceret Rex affirmauit se omnium Praelatorum regni Regem Dominum esse principalem Wee willingly graunt you licence to passe ouer the Seas according as you are come to desire but to retourne again we giue you no licence at al being mindfull of the deceit and treason whiche you did practise with our Barons against our Kingly Maiestie in the Parleament at Lincolne of the whiche thing your letter signed with your owne seale is a witnes and euidētly giueth testimonie against you Howbeit for the loue of Saint Thomas the Martyr and for the reuerence of the Church ouer the which you are set we haue hither to differred the reuēge reseruing it to the Pope which as we hope wil make reuenge of our iniuries But we vtterly exclude you frō our protectiō denying you all grace mercy because in dede you haue alwais ben an vnmerciful mā And whē as the Bishop of Winchester made intercession for him said that the Archbishop was his Lord the King affirmed that he himself was the King and cheif Lord of al the Prelats of the Realm This I haue exemplified the more at large bothe to the end that you may sée how great a traitour to his Prince howe vnmercifull a tyrant to the Common people and howe foule a blemishe to the Ecclesiasticall order this Bishop was quite contrary to that which M. Polydore affirmeth of him and also that you may vnderstand what authoritie King Edward the first in plaine termes chalenged ouer his Cleargie not such as Anselme offered King William Rufus when he tooke Canterbury of his gifte saying Summo pontifici debeo obedientiam tibi consilium I owe my obedience to the highe Bishop and my counsel to you But suche as a true subiect oweth to his Liege King and lawful souereigne and suche as differeth no more from that which we at this day attribute to our Prince then Principalis Dominus and supremus Gubernator do varie in sunder And yet beholde the madnes of the time after the deathe of this Bishop the common people forsoothe resorted to his tumbe and would néedes haue made a Sainct of him had not the Sepulchre béen defaced and their follie staied by publique ordinance Chilham Castle in Saxon Cyleham that is the colde dwelling IN the allotment of Landes for the defence of Douer Castle whereof we haue before spoken Chilham fell to Fulbert of Douer who in consideration thereof vndertooke to finde at his owne charge fiftéene able Souldiours whereof thrée should warde in the Castle euery moneth by the space of 20. wéeks in the yeare I suspect that it came afterwardes to the possession of the Archebishop For I remember that I once read that King Iohn came thither to treate with Stephan Langton the Archebishop for reconciliation to be had betweene them Wye the word in Brittish signifieth an Egge WHat time king William the Conquerour endowed his Abbay of Battel in Sussex he gaue thervnto amongst other his Manour of Wye conteining at that time seuen hydes or ploughe landes and being before that time of the Demeasnes of the Crowne The Chronicles of Battell Abbay affirme that there were sometimes two and twentie Hundrethes subiect to the iurisdiction of this Towne whiche if it be true then as farre as I can reache by coniecture the territorie of Wye was the very same in compasse that nowe the Last of Screy or Sherwinhope describeth that is to say the fift part of this whole Shyre consisting of two and twentie Hundrethes in number The same King graunted to his Monks of Battel wrek of the Sea falling vpon Dengemarishe a portion of Wye and willed further by his Chart of donation that if any fish called a Craspeis that is Crasse pisse a great or royall fishe as whales or suche other which by the Lawe of Prerogatiue perteined to the King himselfe should happen to be taken there that the Monkes should haue it wholly And if it fortuned to arriue in any other mans land lying betwene Horsmede and Withburn that yet the Monkes should enioy the whole tongue and two third partes of the rest of the body Nowe in the Reigne of King Henrie his Sonne it fortuned that a shippe laden with the Kings owne goods was wrecked within the precinct of this libertie which his Officers would haue taken and saued to his vse but Geffray then Abbat of Battell withstoode them that so stoutly that the matter by complaint came to the Kings owne hearing who to make knowen how muche he valued his fathers graunt yéelded the matter wholy into the Abbats owne courtesie The same Storie
people to forsake it which if they will not God in time either graunt vs the lawe of the Heluetians whiche prouided that no man shoulde prouoke other in drinking or else if that may for courtesie be permitted bycause as the prouerbe is Sacra haec non aliter constant yet God I say styrre vp some Edgar to strike nayles in our cuppes or else giue vs the Gréekishe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Potandi arbitros Cup Censors as I may call them that at the leaste we maye be dryuen to drinke in some manner of measure For it is not sufferable in a Christian Countrie that men shoulde thus labour with great contention and striue for the maistrie as it were to offende God in so wilfull waste of his gratious benefits In this Hystorie is couched also as I haue already tolde you the firste cause of the displeasure receyued by the Normanes against this Realme and consequently the cause of their inuasion succéeding the same For whereas after this crueltie executed by the instigation of Godwine it happened Harolde his sonne to arryue at Pountion against his will by occasion of a soudaine perry or contrarie winde that arose while he was on seaboorde whether for his owne disporte onely as some write or for the execution of the Kings message as others say or of purpose to visite Wilnote and Hacun his brother and kinseman as a thirde sorte affirme or for what so euer other cause I will not dispute But vpon his arriuall taken he was by Guy the Earle of Pountion and sente to William the Duke of Normandie where being charged with his fathers faulte and fearing that the whole reuenge shoulde haue lighted vpon his owne heade he was dryuen to deuise a shifte for his deliueraunce He put the Duke in remembraunce therefore of his neare kinred with Edwarde the King of Englande And fed him with greate hope and expectation that Edwarde shoulde dye without issue of his body by reason that he had no conuersation with his wife So that if the matter were well and in season séene vnto there was no doubte as he persuaded but that the Duke through his owne power and the ayde of some of the Englishe Nobilitie might easily after the Kings deathe obtaine the Crowne For the atchieuing wherof he both vowed the vttermost of his owne help and vndertooke that his brethren his friends and allies also should do the best of their indeuour The wise Duke knowing wel Quam malus sit custos diuturnitatis metus How euil a keper of cōtinuance feare is And therfore reposing much more suretie in a frendly knot of alliance thē in a fearful offer procéeding but onely of a countenaunce accepted Haroldes othe for some assuraunce of his promise but yet withall for more safetie affied him to his daughter to be taken in marriage And so after many princely gifts and much honorable enterteinement bestowed vpon him he gaue him licence to depart But Harolde being nowe returned into England forgetteth cleane that euer he was in Normandie and therefore so soone as King Edward was deade he violating both the one promise and the other reiecteth Duke Williams daughter and setteth the Crowne vpon his owne heade Hereof followed the battaile at Battel in Sussex and consequently the Conquest of this whole Realme and Countrie In contemplation whereof we haue likewise to accuse the olde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inueterate fiercenesse and cancred crueltie of this our English nation against foreignes and straungers which ioyning in this butcherly sacrifice with bloudie Busyris deserued worthely the reuenging club of heauenly Hercules whiche fearing without cause great harme that these fewe might bring vnto them did by their barbarous immanitie giue iust cause to a great armie to ouerrunne them And whiche dreading that by the arriuall of this small troupe of Norman Nobilitie some of them might lose their honorable roomes and offices prouoked the wrath of God to sende in amongst them the whole rable of the Norman slauerie to possesse their goods inheritances It were worthy the consideration to call to memorie what great Tragedies haue béene stirred in this Realme by this our naturall inhospitalitie and disdaine of straungers both in the time of King Iohn Henrie his sonne King Edward the seconde Henrie the sixte and in the dayes of later memorie But since that matter is parergon and therefore the discourse woulde proue tedious and wearisome and I also haue beene too long already at Gillingham I will rather abruptly end it onely wishing that whatsoeuer note of infamie wee haue heretofore contracted amongst Forreigne wryters by this our ferocitie against Aliens that now at the least hauing the Light of Gods Gospell before our eyes and the persecuted partes of his afflicted Church as Guestes and Straungers in our Countrie wée so behaue our selues towards them as we may both vtterly rubbe out the olde blemishe and from hencefoorth staye the heauie hand of the iuste Iupiter Hospitalis whiche otherwise must néedes light vpon such stubburne and vncharitable churlishnesse Chetham ALthoughe I haue not hytherto at any time read any memorable thing recorded in hystorie touching Chetham it self yet for so muche as I haue often heard and that constātly reported a Popish illusion done at the place for that also it is as profitable to the keping vnder of fained superstitious religiō to renew to minde the Priestly practises of olde time which are declining to obliuiō as it is pleasāt to reteine in memorie the Monuments antiquities of whatsoeuer other kinde I thinke it not amisse to commit faithfully to writing what I haue receiued credibly by hearing concerning the Idols sometime knowen by the names of our Lady and the Roode of Chetham and Gillingham It happened say they that the dead Corps of a man lost through shipwracke belike was cast on land in the Parishe of Chetham and being there taken vp was by some charitable persons committed to honest burial within their Churchyard which thing was no sooner done but our Lady of Chetham finding her selfe offended therewith arose by night and went in person to the house of the Parishe Clearke whiche then was in the Stréete a good distance from the Churche and making a noyse at his window awaked him This man at the first as commonly it fareth with men disturbed in their rest demaunded somewhat roughly who was there But when he vnderstoode by her owne aunswere that it was the Lady of Chetham he chaunged his note and moste mildely asked the cause of her comming She tolde him that there was lately buryed neere to the place where she was honoured a sinfull person whiche so offended her eye with his gastly grinning that vnles he were remoued she could not but to the great griefe of good people withdrawe her selfe from that place and ceasse her wonted miraculous working amongst them And therefore she willed him to go with her to the
head shoulders others vsed the staues of their crosses behauing themselues like pretie men others made pykes of their banner poles And others flying in to their aduersaries wrested their weapons out of their hands amōgst the rest one sauing his charitie laide lode vpon a married Priest absoluing him as mine author saith A culpa but not A paena Another draue one of the Brethren into a déepe diche a third as big as any Bul of Basan espied at the lēgth the postern or back doore of the Orchyard wherat he ran so vehemently with his head shoulders that he bare it cleane downe before him and so both escaped him selfe and made the way for the rest of his fellowes who also with all possible haste conueyed them selues out of the iurisdiction of the Hospital and then shaking their ears fel a fresh to their Orgia I should haue said to their former Orisons After this storme thus blowen or rather born ouer I do not meruail if the Mōkes as the reporter saith neuer sought to carrie thir procession through Stroud Hospital for auoiding of the winde for indéed it could not lightly blow more boisterously out of ani quarter And thus out of this tragical hystorie arose the bywoord of Frendsbury Clubs a terme not yet forgotten The land of Frendsbury was long since giuen by Offa the King of Midle England to Eardulph then Bishop of Rochester vnder the name of Eslingham cum appendicijs although at this day this other beareth countenance as the more woorthie of the twaine The benefice of Frendsbury togeather with that of Dartford was at the suite of Bishop Laurence and by graunt of the Pope conuerted to an appropriation one amongst many of those monstruous byrthes of couetousnes begotten by the man of Rome in the dark night of superstition and yet suffered to liue in this day light of the Gospell to the great hinderance of learning the empouerishment of the ministerie and the infamie of our profession Rochester is called in Latine Dorobreuum Durobreuum Dorubernia and Durobriuis in Brittishe Dourbryf that is to say a swift streame in Saxon Hrofesceastre that is Rofi ciuitas Rofes citie in some olde Chartres Rofi breui SOme men desirous belike to aduaunce the estimation of this Citie haue left vs a farre fetched antiquitie concerning one péece of the same affirming that Iulius Caesar caused the Castle at Rochester as also that other at Canterbury and the Towre at London to be builded of common charge But I hauing not hitherto read any such thing eyther in Caesars own Commentaries or in any other credible Hystorie dare not avow any other beginning of this citie or castle then that which I find in Beda least if I shuld aduenture as they do I might receiue as they haue I meane The iust note of more reading industrie thē of reason or iudgement And although I must wil fréely acknowledge that it was a Citie before that it had to name Rocester for so a man maye well gather of Beda his wordes yet seing that by the iniurie of the ages betwéen the monuments of the first beginning of this place and of innumerable suche other be not come to our handes I had rather in suche cases vse honest silence then rashe speache and doe preferre plaine vnskill and ignorance before vaine lying and presumptuous arrogance For truely the credite of our Englishe Hystorie is no one waye somuche empayred as by the blinde boldnesse of some which taking vpon them to commit it to wryting and wanting either throughe their owne slothfulnesse or the iniquitie of the time true vnderstanding of the originall of many things haue not sticked without any modestie or discretion to obtrude newe fantasies and folies of their owne forgerie for assured truthes and vndoubted antiquitie As for examples of this kinde although there be at hand many in number and the same most fond and ridiculous in matter yet bicause it should be both odious for the authors tedious to the readers and grieuous for my selfe to enter into them I will not make enumeration of any But staying my selfe vpon this general note I will procead with the treatise of the place that I haue taken in hand the which maye aptly as me thinketh be broken into foure seuerall portions The Citie it selfe The Castle the Religious buildings and the Bridge The Citie of Rochester tooke the name as Beda writeth of one Rof or rather Hrof as the Saxon boke hath it which was sometyme the Lorde and owner of the place This name Leland supposeth to haue continuaunce in Kent till this our time meaning as I suspect Rolf a familie well inough knowne What so euer the estate of this Citie was before the comming in of the Saxons it séemeth that after their arriuall the mayntenaunce thereof depended chiefly vpon the residence of the Bishop and the religious persons And therefore no meruaile is it if the glory of the place were not at any time very great Since on the one side the abilitie of the Bishops and the Chanons inclined to aduaunce it was but meane and on the other side the calamitie of fyre and sworde bent to destroye it was in maner continuall For I read that at suche time as the whole Realme was sundred into particular kingdomes and eche parte warred for superioritie and inlarginge of boundes with the other Eldred then King of Mercia inuaded Lothar the king of this Countrie and findinge him vnable to resiste spoyled the whole Shyre and layd this Citie waste The Danes also whiche in the dayes of king Alfred came out of Fraunce sailed vp the ryuer of Medwey to Rochester and beseiging the towne fortified ouer against it in suche forte that it was greatly distressed and like to haue ben yelded but that the king Paeonia manu came spéedely to the reskewe and not onlye raysed the siege and deliuered his subiectes but obtayned also an honourable bootie of horses and captiues that they besiegers had left behind them The fame people hauing miserably vexed the whole Realme in the dayes of King Ethelred came at the laste to this Citie where they founde the inhabitaunts ready in armes to resiste them but they assayled them with suche furie that they compelled them to saue them selues by flight and to leaue the place a pray to their enemies The whiche was somewhat the lesse worthy vnto them bycause King Ethelred him selfe not long before vpon a displeasure conceiued against the Bishop had besieged the Citie and woulde by no meanes depart thence before he had an hundreth pounds in ready money payd him And these harmes Rochester receiued before the time of king William the Conqueror in whose reigne it was valued in the booke of Domesday at .100 s̄ by the yere after whose dayes besides sundry particular damages done to the citie during the sieges layd to the castle as shall appeare anon it was muche defaced by a great fire that hapned in the
reigne of King Henrie the first the King him self and a great many of the Nobilitie and Bishops being there present and assembled for the consecration as they call it of the great Churche of Sainct Andrewes the whiche was euen then newly finished And it was againe in manner wholy consumed with flame about the latter ende of the reigne of King Henrie the seconde at whiche time that newely builded Churche was sore blasted also But after all these calamities this Citie was well repaired ditched about in the reigne of King Henrie the third As touchinge the castle at Rochester although I finde not in wryting any other foundation therof then that which I alledged before recon to be mere fabulous yet dare I affirme that ther was an old Castle aboue eight hundreth yeres agoe in so much as I read that Ecgbert a king of Kent gaue certeine landes within the walles of Rochester castle to Eardulfe then Bishop of that See And I coniecture that Odo the bastard brother to king William the Conqueror whiche was at the first Bishop of Borieux in Normandie and then afterwarde aduaunced to the office of the chiefe Iustice of Englande and to the honour of the Earledome of Kent was eyther the first authour or the best benefactour to that which now standeth in sight and herevnto I am drawne somewhat by the consideration of the time it selfe in whiche many Castles were raysed to kéepe the people in awe and somewhat by the regarde of his authoritie whiche had the charge of this whole Shyre but most of all for that I reade that about the time of the Conquest the Bishop of Rochester receiued lande at Ailesford in exchaunge for grounde to builde a Castle at Rochester vpon Not long after whiche time when as William Rufus our Englishe Pyrrhus or Readhead had stepped betwéene his elder brother Robert and the crowne of this realme and had giuen experiment of a fierce and vnbridled gouernment the Nobilitie desirous to make a chaunge arose in armes againste him and stirred his brother to make inuasion And to the ende that the King shoulde haue at once many yrons as the saying is in the fire to attende vpon some moued warre in one corner of the Realme and some in another But amongst the reste this Odo betooke him to his castle of Rochester accompanied with the best both of the English and the Norman nobilitie This whē the king vnderstood he sollicited his subiects specially the inhabitants of this country by al faire meanes and promises to assist him so gathering a great armie besieged the Castle and strengthened the Bishop and his complices the defendants in suche wise that in the ende he and his company were contented to abiure the Realme and to leade the rest of their life in Normandie And thus Odo that many yeres before had béene as it were a Viceroy and second person within this realme was now depriued of al his dignitie driuē to kéepe residence vpon his benefice till suche time as Earle Robert for whose cause he had incurred this daūger pitying the cause appointed him gouernour of Normandie his owne countrie After this the Castle was much amended by Gundulphus the Bishop who in consideration of a Manor giuen to his Sée by King Williā Rufus bestowed thrée score poundes in building that great Towre whiche yet standeth And from that time this Castle continued as I iudge in the possession of the Prince vntill King Henrie the first by the aduice of his Barons graunted to William the Archebishop of Canterburie and his successours the custodie and office of Constable ouer the same with frée libertie to builde a Towre for him selfe in any part therof at his pleasure By meanes of which cost done vpon it at that time the Castle at Rochester was muche in the eye of suche as were the authors of troubles folowing within the realme so that from time to time it had a parte almost in euery Tragedie For what time King Iohn had warre with his Barons they gotte the possession of this Castle and cōmitted the defence therof to a noble man called William Dalbinet whome the king immediatly besieged through the cowardise of Robert Fitz Walter that was sent to rescue it after thrée monethes labour compelled him to render the péece The next yere after Lewes the Frenche Dolphine by the ayde of the Englishe Nobilitie entered the same Castle and tooke it by force And lastly in the reigne of King Henrie the thirde Simon Mountford not long before the battaile at Lewes in Sussex girded the citie of Rochester about with a mightie siege and setting on fire the wooden bridge a Towre of timber that stoode thereon wanne the firste gate or warde of the Castle by assaulte and spoyled the Churche and Abbay But being manfully resisted seuen dayes together by the Earle Warren that was within and hearing soudainly of the Kings comming thitherwarde he prepared to méete him in person and lefte others to continue the siege all whiche were soone after put to flight by the kings armie This warre as I haue partly shewed before was specially moued against strangers whiche during that kings reigne bare suche a sway as some write that they not onely disdayned the naturall borne Nobilitie of the Realme But did also what in them lay to abolishe the auncient lawes and customes of the same In déede the fire of that displeasure was long in kindeling therfore so much the more furious when it brast foorth into flame But amongst other things that ministred nourishment therto this was not the least that vpon a time it chaunced a Torneament to be at Rochester in which the English men of a set purpose as it should séeme sorted them selues against the strangers and so ouermatched them that following the victory they made them with great shame to fly into the Towne for couert But I dwel to long I feare in these two parts I will therefore nowe visite the Religious building and so passe ouer the bridge to some other place The foundation of the Churche of S. Andrewes in Rochester was first layd by King Ethelbert as we haue touched before at suche time as he planted the Bishops chaire in the Citie and it was occupyed by Chanons till the dayes of Gundulphus the Bishop who bycause he was a Monke and had hearde that it was sometimes stored with Monkes made meanes to Lanfranc the Archebishop and by his ayde and authoritie both builded the Churche and Pryorie of newe threwe out the Chanons and once more brought Monkes into their place following therein the example that many other Cathedrall Churches of that time had shewed before And this is the very cause that William of Malmesburie ascribeth to Lanfranc the whole thanke of all that matter for in déede bothe he and Anselme his successour were wonderfully busied in placing Monks and in diuorcing Chanons and Secular Priests from their wiues the whiche in contempte
that chaunced in the time of King Richard the second whereof you heard some what in Blackheath before was giuen at this Towne by occasion that a naughtie fellowe being appointed to leuye the groates that were by Parleament taxed vpon euery Polle dishonestly intreated a young Damosel Daughter to one Iohn Tyler that dwelt in Dartford which thing when the Father heard of he fell at wordes with the Officer and from woordes to worse so that in the end he slewe him This done the Cōmon people of the Towne partly for grudge at the imposition partly for maintenance of the thing whiche they thought well done and partly to eschewe the punishment that by execution of Iustice might fall vpon them assembled their neighbours and growing to some number made this Tyler their Capitaine named him Iacke Strawe and did further as you in part heard before and may at more large read almost in euerie English Chronicle This Towne as Crayford before hath the name of the water running by cōmonly called Derent but corruptly after the opinion of Lelande who thinketh the true name to be Dorquent which in Brittish soundeth the Cleere water It springeth at Titsey in the edge of Surrey and taketh in the way Westram where Iohn Frith was borne Otford Ainsford and Darent wherto it leaueth the name and comming to this Towne carrieth Craye with it into the Thamise ¶ Grauesende in Saxon Gerefesend in Latine Limes Praetorius THe originall cause of the name of this place lyeth hidde in the vsuall name of the officer lately created in the Towne He is commonly called Portreue but the worde aunciently and truely sounded is Portgereue that is to say the Ruler of the Towne For Porte descending of the Latine woorde Portus signifieth a Porte Towne and Gereue being deriued of the Saxon verbe gereccan to rule was first called gerecfa and then gerefa and betokeneth a Ruler So that Portreue is the Ruler of the Towne and Greuesend is as much to saye as the Limit Bounde or Precinct of such a Rule or Office. Of the very same reason they of the lowe and high Germanie whence our language first discended call one ruler Burgreue another Margreue and the thirde Landsgreue And of the same cause also our Magistrat nowe called a Sherif or to speake more truely Shyrereue was at the first called Shyre gereue that is to say Custos Comitatus the Reue or Ruler of the Shyre The head officer of Maydston long since had this name yea the chiefe gouernour of the citie of London likewise before the time eyther of Maior or Baylife there was knowne by the name of Portreue as in the Saxon Chartre of King William the Conqueroure sundry examples wherof be yet extant may appeare It began thus pilliam cyng greit ƿilliam bisceop godfreges portgerefan ealle þa burHƿaren þe on lunden beon William the King greeteth William the Bishop and Godfrey the Portreue and all the Citizens that in London be c. To make short in auncient time almost euery Manor had his Reue whose authoritie was not onely to leuie the Lords rents to set to worke his seruaunts and to husbande his Demeasnes to his best profit and commoditie but also to gouerne his tenants in peace and to leade them foorth to warre when necessitie so required And although this name and so muche of the authoritie as remained was after the comming in of the Normanes transferred to another whiche they called Baylife yet in sundry places of the Realme especially in Copiholde Manors where old custome preuaileth the worde Reue is yet well inoughe knowne and vnderstanded Neyther ought it to séeme any what the more straunge bycause I call nowe Reue that whiche in olde time was Gereue for as muche as this particle Ge was in processe of time in some places chaunged in sounde to y and in some other partes cleane lost and forgotten As for example wheras the Saxons vsed to say he was Geboren they of the West countrie pronounce it he was yborne and we of the countries nearer London he was borne Thus farre the Etymon of the name Greues end hath carried me out of the Hystorie whereto I did the rather yealde bycause I had not muche to write concerning the place it selfe Howbeit I reade that in the beginning of the reigne of King Richarde the seconde whilst the Lorde Neuel was by the Kings appointmēt entred into Fraunce with a great company of English souldiours the Frenchmen entred the Thamise with their Gallies and brent diuers townes and at the last comming to Grauesend spoyled and set it on fire also The feare of the like harme to followe caused the noble King Henrie the eight to builde a platforme at the same towne and thrée or foure others in places adioyning euen at suche time as he fortified along al the coastes of the Realme vpon suche cause as we haue already opened ¶ Cliffe at Hoo written commonly in auncient Bookes Cloueshoo for CliofesHoo which is as much to say as Clifs hoo or Cliffe at Hoo. THeodore the seuenth Archebisshop of Canterburie and the first in the opinion of William Malmsb that exercised the autoritie of an Archbishop which appeared as others say in that he tooke vpō him to depose Wilfrid of Yorke called together a Synode of bishops at Hereford in which it was agreed amongst them that for the more spéedie reformation of abuses that might créepe into the Churche they should all assemble once euery yeare at Cloueshoo vpon the Kalends or first day of August By vertue of which decrée Cuthbert the eleuenth Archbishop somoned the bishops of his Prouince to the same place and there amongst other things worthy note it was enacted that priests themselues should first lerne and then teach their parishoners the Lords prayer and the Articles of their beléefe in the English tongue To which decrée if you list to adde the testimonie of King Alfred who in his preface vpon the Pastoral of Gregorie that he translated saith that whē he came first to his kingdome he knew not one prieste on the South side of the riuer of Humber that vnderstoode his seruice in Latine or could translate an Epistle into English And if you wil adioyne the also which Alfric writeth in his Proeme to the Grammar that is to say that a litle before the time of Dunstane the Archebishop there was neuer an english priest the could other endite or vnderstād a latine epistle Then I doubt not but you shall euidently see howe easie it was for the Diuell and the Pope to créepe into the Churche of Englande when whole ages together the Clergie was so well fed and so euill taught But to our matter againe By vertue of the same decrée and ordinance also two other Councelles were holden at Cliffe at Hoo one vnder Kenulph the King of Mercia or midle England and the other in the reigne of Beornwulfe his successour This place would I haue coniectured
to haue lien in the hart of England both bycause it séemeth likely that the common place of méeting should be most fitly appointed in the midst of the Realme and for that it is manifest by the hystorie that it was in the domini of the King of Mercia whiche I feare not to call midle England But for as much as I once read a note made by one Talbot a Prebendarie of Norwiche and a diligent trauayler in the Englishe hystorie vpon the margine of an auncient written copie of William Malmsburies booke De Pontificibus in whiche he expounded Clouesho to be Cliffe at Hoo neare Rochester and for that I doe not finde the expresse name Cloueshoo in all the catalogue of that precinct whiche was sometime the kingdome of Mercia although there be diuers places therin that beare the name of Cliffe as wel as this I am contented to subscribe to Talbots opinioÌ„ but with this protestation that if at any time hereafter I finde a better I will be no longer bounde to followe him And thus haue I now visited the places of chief note that lye in the skirtes of the Diocese whervnto if I had added a fewe other that be within the body of the same I would no lesse gladly then I must necessarily finishe and close vp this winters trauayle Swanscombe called in Saxon Spegenscomb that is the camp of Sweyn the Dane that encamped at Grenehithe hard by AS the whole Shyre of Kent oweth to Swanscomb euerlasting name for the fruition of her auncient franchises obtained there So I for the more honourable memorie of the place can gladly afoord it roome both at the beginning and towarde the ende of my labour The matter for the whiche it is especially renowmed is already bewrayed in the discourse of the auncient estate of this Shyre wherevnto I will referre you And at this time make note of a thing or twaine besides and so passe ouer to the residue The Manor of Swanscombe is holden of Rochester Castle and oweth seruice towarde the defence of the same being as it were one of the principall Captaines to whome that charge was of auncient time committed and hauing subiect vnto it sundry Knightes fees as petie Captaines or inferiour souldiours bound to serue vnder her banner there The Churche at Swanscombe was muche haunted in times past for Sainct Hildeferthes helpe a Bishop by coniecture of his picture yet standing in the vpper windowe of the Southe I le although his name is not read in all the Catalogue of the Sarons to whom suche as were distracted ranne for restitution of their wits as thicke as men were wont to sayle to Anticyra for Hellâ—borus This cure was perfourmed by warmth close kéepeing and good diet meanes not onely not straunge or miraculous but méere naturall ordinarie and resonable And therefore as one the one side they might truely be thought mad men and altered in their wits that frequented this pylgrymage for any opinion of extraordinarie woorking So on the other side S. Hildeferth of all the Saintes that I knowe might best be spared séeing we haue the keper of Bethleem who ceaseth not euen tyll this day to woorke mightely in the same kinde of Myracle ¶ Mepham aunciently written MeapaHam SImon Mepham the Archebishop that performed the solemnities at the inauguration of King Edward the third had both his name natiuity of this towne although Polydore Virgil hath no mencion of the man at all in his hystorie or catalogue of Archebishops either not finding or forgetting that euer there was any suche It is probable also that the same Bishop built the church at Mepham for the vse of the poore which William Courtney one of his Successours repaired fowre score yeares after and annexed therunto fowre new houses for the same ende and purpose Besides these notes it hath chaunced mée to sée an antiquitie of Mepham whiche both for the profite and pleasure that I conceiued therof I think méete to insert thoughe happely some other man may say that I doe therein and in many others also nothinge els but Antiquiora Diphtera loqui Neuerthelesse to the ende that it may appeare what the auncient forme and phrase of a Testament was how the Husbande and the wife ioyned in making their Testamentes how landes were deuisable by testament in olde time by what wordes estates of inheritaunce were wont to be created how the Lordes consent was thought requisite to the testament of the tenaunt and how it was procured by a guift of Heriot which as Bracton sayeth was done at the first Magis de gratia quam de iure Furthermore that you may sée how this Towne of Mepham and sundry others came at the first to Christes church Saint Augustines and Rochester and finally that you may know as well what aduauncement to Gentrie was then in vse as also what weapons iewels and ornaments were at that time worne and occupied I wyll set before your eye the last will and testament of one Byrhtric and his wife which was a man of great wealth and possessions within this Shire and had his abideing at Mepham more then sixe hundreth yeares agoe Ãis This is is ByrHtrices Birtricks and and AelfsÆ¿yðe Elfswithes His his Æ¿ifes wyues niHsta last cÆ¿ide þe Hi cÆ¿aedon on MeapaHam on Heora maga testament declaration whiche they declared at Mepham in their kinsfolks geÆ¿itnesse hearing witnesse ê§ Æ¿aes Æ¿ulfstan Vcca that was Wulstan Vcca and and Æ¿ulfsie Wulfsie His his broðor brother and and sired Syred Aelfrides Elfrides suna sonne and and Æ¿ulfsie Wulfsie se the blaca blacke and and Æ¿ine wyne preost the priest and and Aelfgar Elsgar on of MeapaHam Mepham and and Æ¿ulfeH Wulfey ordeges Ordeys suna sonne and and AelfeH Elfey His his broðor brother and and byrHtÆ¿ara Birtwar Aelfrices laf Elfrices widowe and and bryHtric Britric Hise maeg her cousine and Aelfstan bisceop Elfstane the Bishop Aerest His cyne Hlaford aenne First to his naturall Lord beaH on HundeaHtotigan one bracelet of foure score mancysen Markes of goldes golde and and ane one Handsecs hatchet dagger handknife of on as eal sÆ¿a miclan muche and and feoÆ¿er Horse and foure horses tÆ¿a geraedede two of them trapped and and tÆ¿a two sÆ¿rd swordes gefetelsode trimmed and and tÆ¿egen two Hafocas hawkes and and ealle all His his Heador Hundas houndes hedgehoundes And þaere And to the Lords wife Hlaefdian Ladie aenne one beaH bracelet on of þrittigan thirtie mancusan markes of goldes golde and and aenne one stedan horse stede palfrey to to forespraece intreate ê§ se cÆ¿yde standan moste that this testament stande maye And And for for His his saÆ¿le soule and and His his yldrena elders auncestors into Sct. Andree to Sainct Androes Rochester tÆ¿a two sulung plowland aet at denetune Dentun And Hio for Hire saÆ¿le and Hyre yldrena And they bothe for their soules and their elders tÆ¿a aet langafelda two at Longfield ploughlande And And þider in
for Hy ðrittig to the thither same place for them thirtie mancys goldes markes of golde and and aenne one sÆ¿eor collar neckbracelet beaH on of feoÆ¿ertig fourtie mancysan markes and and a ane cuppan Cuppe seolfrene of syluer and and Healfne a halfe head band couered with golde baend gyldenne bend gilden And And caelce euerie geare yeare to at Heora their gemynde mynde yeares mynde tÆ¿egra two daga feorme dayes ferme from rent corne and victuall of of HaeslHolte Haselholte and and tÆ¿egra of Æ¿oðringaberan and ij of baerlingan two dayes of from Watringbery and two dayes out of Berling and ij of HaeringeardesHam and two dayes out of Hertesham And to cristes circan And to Christes church lx 60. mancys goldes markes of golde xxx þam biscope thirtie to the Bishop Archebishop and and xxx þam Hirode thirtie to the Couent And And aenne a sÆ¿eor necke beaH bracelet collar on of lxxx 80. mancys markes and and tÆ¿a two cuppan cuppes seolfrene of syluer and and þaet the land aet land at MeapaHam Mepham And And to to Sct. Sainct Augustine Augustine xxx 30. mancys markes goldes of golde and and ij two cuppan cuppes seolfrene of syluer and and Healfne halfe a baend bend gyldene gilt And And þaet the land land aet at derentan Darnt byrHÆ¿ara to Byrware His for daeg his life dayes And And aefter after Hire his daege dayes into to Sct. Sainct Andree Androes for for unc vs and and uncre our yldran elders auncetors And And barlâ—ngas Berling to Æ¿ulfeHe Wulfee and and He he selle .x. shall giue a Hund peninga thousand pence into Sct. to Sainct Andree Androes for for unc vs and and uncre our yldran elders And And Æ¿ulfsie to Wulfsie Æ¿oðringabiras Wateringbyrye innon within ê§ that gecynde kinred And And syrede HeselHolt innon ê§ gecende to Syred Haselholt within that And Æ¿ulfege and Aelfege And to Wulfei and Elfey His his breðer brother HerigeardesHam Hartesham innon within ê§ that gecynde kinred to to Æ¿ulfege Wulfee ê§ the inland inland demeanes and and Aelfege to Elfey ê§ Ã»tland the outland tenancie And And Æ¿ulfstane to Wulfstane uccan Vcca Æ¿olcnestede Walkenstede innon within ê§ that gecynd kinred And And an a Hanðsecs hatchet dagger on of ðrym three pundan pounds And þa tyn Hyda on Straettune And those ten plowlands at Streiton into to þaem the mynstre mynster church to at Æ¿olcnestede Walkenstede And ê§ land aet fealcanHam And the land at Falcham aftre after byrHÆ¿ara Byrwares daege dayes into to Sct. Sainct Angree Androes for for Aelfric Elfrices Hire soule Hlaford their Lord and His yldran and his auncetors sÆ¿a euen Heora as their cÆ¿ide will Æ¿aes was And And bromleaH Brumley aeftre after briHtÆ¿ara Britwares daege into dayes to life Sct. Sainct Andree Androes sÆ¿a as Aelfric Elfric Hyre their Hlaford Lorde it Hit becÆ¿aeð bequeathed for for Hine him and and His yldran his elders auncetors And And Snodingeland Snodland eac also into to S. Andree aeftre Hire daege sÆ¿a Aelfere Hit becÆ¿aeð Sainct Androes after their dayes euen as Elfere it bequethed Aelfrices faeder and He seoðan on geÆ¿itnesse Eadgife being Elfrices father and he afterward in the witnesse hearing presence of Edgiue ðaere the Hlaefdian Ladie and and Odan of Odo Aercebisceopes the Archebishop and and Aelfeges of Elfey Aelfstanes Elfstanes sunu sonne and and Aelfrices of Elfric His his broðor brother and and Aelfnoþes pilian of Elfnothe pilia and godÆ¿ines aet faecHam and of Godwine of Facham and and of Eadrices Eadric aet of Ho. Hoo and and Aelfsies of Elfsie the preostes priest on of Crogdaene Croyden And And Æ¿ulfstane to Wulfstane lx 60. mancas markes goldes of gold to to daelanne deale for for unc vs and and uncre our yldran and elders and oðer other sÆ¿ile suche 60. mâ—rkes Æ¿ulfsige to Wulfsie to to daelanne deale betweene God and them be it and and Haebban haue Heom they Æ¿ið with god God gemaene together gif if Hy they Hit it ne do don not And And Æ¿ulfsige tydices eg to Wulfsie Titaesey and and ðam boc the writing innon within ê§ that gecynde kindred ij spuran on iij pundaÌ„ And ic bidde and two spurres of three pound And I pray for for godes Gods lufan loue minne my deere leofan leefe Hlaford ê§ He ne Lorde that he doe not þafige suffer ê§ aenig man uncerne cÆ¿ide aÆ¿ende that any man our testament doe breake turne aside And And ic I bidde praye ealle all godes Gods freond friendes ê§ Hi Æ¿Hrto filstan that they thereto helpe Haebbe Æ¿ið god gaemaene Æ¿e Hit brece god Haue they it with God together Betweene them and God be it that it do breake and God sy Him symle milde þe Hit Healdan be to them alwayes mylde mercifull that it holde keepe Æ¿ille will. It shall suffice for the moste parte of the matters worthy obseruation in this Testament that I haue already poynted at them with the finger as it were for that they appeare and shew themselues manifestly at the firste sight Onely therefore touching the estate and degree of this Testator I wyll for the more light and discouery thereof borrow a few wordes of you He himself here calleth Aelfric his Lord natural Lord saieth further that Aelfere was Father to this Aelfric Now what Aelfere Aelfric were it is not hard to finde for all our auncient Hystorians tell vs that in the dayes of King Edgar of King Edward the Martyr of King Ethelred these men were by birth cousines of the bloud royall by state Eorles which word we yet reteine in English and which we commonly cal Comites in Latine for that at the first they were parteners and companions as I may say with the King in takeing the profits of the Shyre or Countie that they were also by dignitie Ealdormen that is Senators and Gouernours of all Mercia or midle England And finally that they were of such great power and credit that Alfer the Father immediatly after the death of King Edgar restored al such priests thorowout midle England to their houses as the King by aduice of Dunstane the Monke had in his lyfe expulsed for the placeing of his Monks And that Aelfric the sonne resisted king Ethelred in that siege of Rochester whereof you heard when we were there For as much therefore as Aelfric was Hlaford or Lorde to our Testator and that Hlaford and Ãegn that is to say Lorde and Seruiteur be woordes of relation I gather that he was Ãegn which signifieth properly a Minister or frée Seruiteur to the Kinge or some great personage but vsually at those times taken for the verie same that we call now of the Latine woord Gentilis a Gentleman that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man wel borne or of a good stock and familie Neither doth it detract any thing from his Gentrie at al that I said he was a Minister or Seruiteur For I meane not thereby that he was Seruus whiche woord straightly
S. Iohn Champneys Iohn Baker Esquier Reignold Scot. Iohn Guldeford Thomas Kempe Edward Thwaites William Roper Anthonie Sandes Edwarde Isaac Perciuall Harte Edward Monyns William Whetnall Iohn Fogg Edmund Fetiplace Thomas Hardres William Waller Thomas Wilforde Thomas Moyle Thomas Harlakenden Geffrey Lee. Iames Hales Henrie Hussey Thomas Roydon ¶ The names of suche as be likewise prouided for E. 6. Ca. Syr Robert Southwell S. Iames Hales S. Walter Hendley S. George Harper S. Henrie Isley S. George Blage. Thomas Colepeper of Bedgebirie Iohn Colepeper of Ailesforde William Twisden Tho. Darrell of Scotney Robert Rudston Thomas Roberts Stephan Darrell Richard Couarte Christopher Blower Thomas Hendley Thomas Harman Thomas Louelace Thomas Colepeper The names of suche as be specified in the acte made for the like cause 5. Elizabeth Cap. Thomas Browne of Westbecheworthe in Surrey George Browne It were right woorthie the labour to learne the particulars and certeintie if it may be of all suche possessions as these men had at the times of these seuerall Statutes for that also wil be seruiceable in time to come Alexander Neuil Norwicus Sir Thomas Moore Knight in the hystorie of King Richard the thirde Mathewe Parker Archebishop of Canterbury in his Preface to the Booke de rebus gestis Aelfredi Regis The Brytaines The Scots pictes The SaxoÌ„s Iutes and Angles The Normans The seuen kingdomes Three sorts of Lawes in olde time The Lawes of our time These thinges be all handeled in the induction to the Topographical Dictionarie The author determined to haue written this treatise in latine Scituation of Kent Kent why so named The Aire The Soyle The Corne The Poulse The Pasture The woods fruits The Cattel Deere and Conyes No mynes The fishe The people Socage and Knightes seruice The Gentlemen The yeomeÌ„ The Artificers The first in habitation of England The errour of those whiche say that the Brytons weare Indigenae That is to say Ryders and to Ride An. mundi 2219. An. ante Christum 1142. Kent the first inhabited part of England Foure Kings in Kent But one King in Kent The first wasseling cuppe The issue of an vngodly mariage The Kings of Kent Ethelbert the King of Kent Eadric the King of Kent First name of Englishmen Beginning of Shires Lathes Hundreds Tythings Bosholder Tithingman Kent keepeth her olde customes Gauelkyn Meeting 〈◊〉 Swanescombe The Lathe of S. Augustines The Lathe of Scray or Sherwinhope The Late of Aylesford The Lathe of Sutton at Hone. Geffray of Monmouth Polydore The order of this description Flamines turned into Bishops LondoÌ„ spoiled of the Archebishopricke The increase of the Archebishopricke ConttentioÌ„ for the Primacie The Archebishoppes place in the generall counsell Wrastling for the primacie The end of the strife for the supremacie The ordre of this description of Kent No snakes in Tanet For Seax in their language signifieth a sword or axe or hatchet The occasion of the building of Minster Abbay For it was called Roma of Ruma a pappe or dugge S. Mildredâ— miracles Ippedsflete Stonor Earle Godwine and his sonnes The cause of Goodwyn Sandes The death of Earle Godwyne 1. Cursed bread The visions of Edward the confessour Epimenides did slepe 75 yeares 1. Loue Ly. or game for the whetstone Richeborow was sometime a Citie Sandwiche is not Rutupi The antiquitie of the Portes Whiche be the Fiue Portes â—â—iâ—â— wâ—re â—â—led 〈◊〉 â—lde 〈◊〉 ContentioÌ„ betweene Yarmouth and the fiue Portes Winchelsey first builded The good seruice of the .5 ports Muris ligneis querendam salutem The priuiledges of the 5. Ports The names of the Wardeins of the Fiue Portes Reliques of great price The auncient estate of Sandwiche Sandwiche spoyled brent The schole at Sandwiche The whole hystorie of the Danishe doings in England The continuance of the Danes in England The Danes all slaine in one night Saint Martins drunkeÌ„ feast Sweyn the Dane Hoctuesday Prouision of armour A Courtlie Sycophant A right popishe miracle King Henrie the 8. fortifieth his Realme Sandowne walmere The towne of Douer Godwine resisteth the King. Douer Castell Iuuenal in the ende of his 4. Satyre Odo the Earle of Kent Fynes the first Constable of Douer Castell and the beginning of Castlegard Estimatioâ— of Douer Castell Hubert of Brough a noble captaine Reparation of Douer Castell S. Martines in Douer ContentioÌ„ betweene the Râ—ligious persons for trifles Longchamp the lustie bishop of Ely. Religious houses in Douer The order of the Templers when it began The Pope and king Iohn fall our for Stephan Langton The Golden Bull. S. Eanswide and her miracles A popishe policie Folkestone spoiled The Hundred The Manor The Pontifical iusice of William Courtney the Archbishop Ostenhangar The Cause of the decay of Hauens in Kent Hyde miserably scourged The shortest passage betweene England Fraunce Thomas Becket grauÌ„teth a petition after his death Lord Wardein of the Portes Shipwey sometime a Hauâ—n towne The HaueÌ„ Limene the Towne Lymne The Riuer Limen now Rother Apledore The holy Maide of Kent Chap. 12. Butler the CoronatioÌ„ Pryorie at Bylsington Thomas Becket The Popes authoritie was abolished in England in the time of King Henrie the second Rumney Marâ—he The three steppes of Kent The order of this description The Danes doe spoile Fraunce England at one time The course of the Ryuer Lymen nowe Rother The first Carmelites in England Kent why so called The Weald was sometime a wildernesse This Benerth is the seruice which the tenaÌ„t doth with his Carte Ploughe The boundes of the Weald Fermes why so termed Townes named of the Riuers The College The Palaicâ— The Schole The Riuer of Medway and wherof it tooke the name The Riuer Aile or Eile The name of Harlot whereof it beganne Odo the Earle of Kent The auncient manner of the triall of right The Cleargie haue in croched vpon the Prince in the punishment of adulterie Abbaies do beget one another The vngrations Rood of Grace S. RuÌ„wald and his miracles For none might enter into the Temple of Ceres in Eleusis but such as were innocent The Natiuitie of S. Rumwald Kemsley Downe The Popish manner of preaching Popish purgatorie is deriued out of Poetrie Doncaster in the North CouÌ„trie The English shepe and wooll King Henry the eight fortfieth his Realme Monkes do contend with the King forceably The names of Townes framed out of the mouthes of Riuers The corruption of our English speach The Riuer called WaÌ„tsume The order of this description The decay of the olde Englishe tongue The Archebishops were well housed Prouision of armourâ— The names of Lathes and of Wapentakes The Priuileges of high waies The order of this description S. Gregories in Canterburi first builded Reliques King Iohn yealdeth to the Pope The Barons warre The Popes reuenue in England A ParleameÌ„t without the Cleargie The traiterous behauiour of Robert of Winchelsey the Archebishop Polidore was the Popes creature King Edward the first claymeth supremacie ouer the Clergie The olde and newe manner of wrecke