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england_n	king_n	time_n	year_n	19,963	5	5.0438	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09898	The life of Alfred, or, Alvred: the first institutor of subordinate government in this kingdome, and refounder of the Vniversity of Oxford Together with a parallell of our soveraigne lord, K. Charles untill this yeare, 1634. By Robert Povvell of Wels, one of the Society of New-Inne.	Powell, Robert, fl. 1636-1652.; Alfred, King of England, 849-899.	1634 (1634)	STC 20161; ESTC S115025	29,645	188

I shall conclude with a thankefull remembrance of some living Authors to whom this Treatise of Alfred must especially ascribe a part of its being Mr. Bryan Twyne sometimes Fellow of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford for his learned and laborious work touching the Antiquity of Oxford out of which I excerpted many things conducible to my purpose and to Mr. Noel Sparks Fellow and Greek Lecturer of the same house for his faithfull and carefull collections out of Asser. These and many more I consulted with before I brought it to that contexture and forme wherein it now presents it selfe to publike view And so beseeching the Almighty to direct all our actions for his glory and the common good and to blesse us with true piety towards him unfeigned loyalty to our Soveraigne and Christian charity one towards another I rest Yours howsoever you censure me ROBERT POWELL THE LIFE OF ALFRED OR ALVRED THE light of the Lawes of this vertuous magnanimous Prince drawne from the first and best patterne of all Lawes did not onely minister the occasion of compiling a Treatise to be hereto annexed but a just encouragement with my unworthy and unpolish't Pensil to limbe out the life of him who though he died seven hundred thirty three yeares since doth by the moderne practise and imitation of his Lawes and Government still live To speak sufficiently as one saith of so noble a Prince as Alfred was might require eloquence learning and a large Volume I must truly say that tota vita luctamen all his life was a perpetuall warfare against the enemies either of outward or inward peace men or vices And in this short breviary of his life I intend not any long discourse of the various and troublesome affaires of his twenty eight yeares raigne but what concernes his valour vertue and religion his pious and memorable deeds his orderly in the times of war and disorder course and method of a well disposed government This good King who is stiled by one the Mirror of Princes by another Moses his imitator was the Grand-childe of Egbert who first gave this Kingdome the name of England and the fourth and youngest son of Aethelwolphe by the Lady Ogburgh In his child-hood he was a carefull observer and celebrator of peculiar houres in prayers and service of God and so dextrously studious that he had many Psalmes and Prayers by heart which afterwards being gathered into a booke he did continually night and day carry about with him in his bosome as his inseparable companion and as a supply or provision for the worship of God amidst the manifold changes of those times he was a sedulous frequenter and visitor of holy places Etiam ab infantia orandi eleëmosynam dandi gratia diu in oratione tacita prostratus saith mine Author wherein hee followed his Fathers steps who by reason of his monasticke education under Swithun a Monke whom he afterwards made Bishop of Winton was a man zealously and piously addicted And of all his sonnes Alfred was most heire apparant to his fathers devotion and vertues though not to his Crown and Kingdome When he was not above five yeares old yet senior virtutibus quàm annis Aethelwolphe his father being warned thereto in a dreame by the voice of an Angell Adulphe Rex dilecte Dei quid moraris mitte filium postgenitum c. did upon this vision if it may receive any credite by an honourable Convoy of Swithun Bishop of Winton other Nobles send this blessed youngling to the Bishop of Rome to be anointed King of England certaine it is he was there and was humbly presented by Swithun to Pope Leo the fourth who as if divining and presaging his future fortune and succession to his fathers Crown did in the yeare of Christ eight hundred fifty five annoint him a King in the presence of his Father saith Rossus and it was about the time that Lewis the second succeeded Lotharius in the Empire of Rome Aethelwolphe not many yeares after his return from Rome died and his three elder sonnes Ethelbald Ethelbert and Etheldred successively raigned and dying left the Kingdome distracted by continuall conflicts with the Danes and Alfred having faithfully served his brothers as Viceroy in each of their sev●ral raignes survived and in the twenty second yeare of his age and the nineteenth yeare of the Emperour succeeded in his Kingdome in a yeare wherein eight severall battels had beene given to the Danes by the Saxons and himself within one moneth after his Coronation forced into the field by the Pagan Danes at Wilton where the end of the fight was more successefull than the beginning and procured the first truce betweene the Danes and Saxons yet so implacable were those Heathens against this pious Prince that like wilde and savage Boares after many overthrowes they would continually whet their tuskes to give new onsets After this truce about the yeare eight hundred seventy five Halden the Danish King having the fresh supply and aide of Guthrun and other Danish Leaders Viceroyes at least did both by Sea and Land continually exercise this gracious Prince in a defensive warfare but not without some perillous imbroylements he did inforce them to the treatie of a second peace and then more than ever they did before to any they tooke a solemn● Oath to depart the Countrey but eft-soones perfidiously violated the same and for further preparation of warre marched with an Armie towards Exeter Alfred approached them in such wise and so fiercely encountred them as that they were enforced to deliver pledges for performance of their former agreement of departure for no oathes would serve to binde the consciences of those lawlesse Miscreants Hence they departed and drew into Mercia and having usurped the government of the Kingdome from the River of Thames forward no termes nor tyes of truce could containe them from continuall incursions and invasions upon this noble Prince under the conduct of Guthrun called by some Gurmund The remnant of those disbanded Atheists mustered up themselves and about the first yeare of his raigne invaded the Countrey of West-saxia and pitched their Tents about Chipnam in Wiltshire where they infested the whole Countrey and so overlaid King Alfred with their united forces that by extremity hee was necessitated to make his recesse into obscure places almost inaccessible for fennes and marshes having nothing of his great Monarchie left unto him but that part of the Kingdome since knowne and distinguished by the Counties of Hampton Wilts and Somerset In this distresse one of his greatest Courts for residence was an Iland now knowne by the name of Athelney in the County of Somerset anciently in the Saxon called Aethelingarg that is Nobilium insula so termed by reason of the Kings abode and the concourse of his Nobles unto him this place is as famous to us for the shelter of Alfred from the Danish pursuit as the Minturnian

great Emperour of Rome who rescued the Christians of his time from the persecution would have owned and honoured for a Compeere if he had lived in his time Alfred or as some name him Aelfred or Alvred the 23. King of the West-Saxons and the first Monarch of England who not only rescued and defended his Christian Subjects from Pagan persecutions but was the Author of reconciling and adopting a Danish King and many Nobles and others to the Christian faith To the Christian and Courteous READER THere are who will expect from mee some reasons why I inter minores minimus should adventure the laboures of my shallow and slender judgement upon a Subject so Princely and Paramount Let such accept some few for many In that degree of profession and imployment in the Common lawes of this kingdome which I now injoy have done these twenty five yeares I had ever a desire to improve my knowledge not only by traditionall and ordinarie rules of practice but by a more exact inquirie Petere fontes potius quàm rivulos to looke into the antiquities and originall grounds of those lawes wherewith I was to deale My first incouragement therein I received by versing in a learned worke compiled and published Anno 1609. by Master Iohn Skeny a great Senator and privy Counsellor in Scotland to our late blessed Soveraigne of famous memory KING Iames intituled Regiam Majestatem c. with his marginall annotations touching the Concordance of the divine law the lawes of this land and the latter Parliamentary lawes of Scotland which ministred an occasion unto me to bestow some stolne houres amidst many distracting businesses in the studie of our Brittish Saxon and English histories wherein I observe notwithstanding the many and often permutations of State and government in the time of the heptarchie as also before and after a constant observation of the fundamentall rules of our Nationall lawes in Tanto though not in Toto and I tooke no meane felicity therein heartily wishing that they were not so much neglected and undervalued as they are by many who are more conversant in Turkish and other forraigne histories than in our owne in sua republica hospites in aliena Gives Aliens at home and Citizens abroad From the studie of those lawes I learned that the bodie of the common weale subsisteth by an ancient monarchicall government and that the KING is Vicarius Dei and Caput reipublicae GODS Vicegerent and the head of the Common-wealth The members which make up the structure of our Republike are the LORDS spirituall and temporall and the commons the common-wealth hath an interest in every mans actions In praemium or paenam either to reward the good or to punish the bad actions of men crimes of omission or commission Interest rei-publicae ne quis re sua malè utatur It hath such a power over the actions and estates of men that no man must abuse or mis-imploy the talent of his minde body or meanes And by the rules of contraries Every man must well and rightly order and imploy them for the aid and defence of the head and of that great body Master Crompton in the dedication of his learned Irenarcha rendereth this motive for the publication of that book For that saith hee the body of the Common-wealth doth consist of divers parts and every member ought to indevour himselfe according to his calling for the maintenance thereof I have studied how I might put my poore talent into the treasury for the more safe conservation of that body The same reason raised up some courage in me to enterprise that work which is mentioned in the precedent nuncupation I had no sooner finished and devoted that to the view and examination of an honourable person eminently learned in the lawes but my meditations fell amaine upon the lives lawes and memorable actions of our Royall paire of peerelesse Princes and especially of our Brittish Alfred and afterwards perusing that most accurate and learned worke of Sir Henrie Wootton Provost of Eaton Colledge for the gratulation of his Majesties happy returne from Scotland It bred a wonder in me that two Subjects the one noble the other plebeian should at one and the same time as neare as may be conjectured concord for most things in their meditations upon the noble acts and deeds of their most glorious Soveraigne It seemes to me a strong argument to prevent the sinister conceits and criticke opinions of those who will bee too censorious upon my publishing of this worke and amongst them some of my owne calling who never had their breeding in any Innes of Court or Chauncery such I must passe by with the Poet Carpere nostra voles potes hinc jam lector abire Quo libet I heare some already censure me for writing some part of the life of our renowned Monarch in his life time two presidents instar multorum shall serve to vindicate me therein Asser who wrote the life of Alfred whilst he lived And our ever honoured Cambden who wrote part of the life of blessed Queene Elizabeth before her death I shall adde a reason that sithhence by nature wee are apt to imitate the worst things dociles imitandis Turpibus pravis omnes sumus It is most expedient that the lives of good and gracious Princes being gods on earth should be set forth unto their people as specula a super-eminent watch-Tower whom their subjects every where might behold afar off and learne to obey their supreme power and as speculum a mirrour wherin they might gaze on and strive to imitate their Soveraigne in vertue and goodnesse Two points in my Parallell I heare are already quarrelled with One concerning genuflexion at the saving name of IESVS the Canonicall discipline of our Church ratified by regall authority injoynes it and I will obey it and if there were no such injunction my conscience would warrant me to doe it with freedome from Idolatry The other concerning recreations on the Lords day after the end of Evening prayer for which I refer the Reader to the late translated worke of the reverend Divine Dr. Prideux In either of these I have not presumed to use any arguments neither needed I for then I should have walked ultra crepidam and needlesse it is to argue or dispute for that which authority hath commanded and most insufferable insolence to speake or write against it know good Reader that I have learned the fifth Commandement which teacheth us that subjection must attend on superiority and commands not onely a naturall obedience from children to parents but a civill obedience from subjects to their Prince who is Pater Patriae and to all subordinate Ministers and Magistrates under him How can any man thinke himselfe religious who will contemptuously violate that Commandement not onely in not obeying the Ordinances and Edicts of their Christian King but in oppugning them and perverting others from yeelding obedience to them Let this suffice for matter of apologie

never spake in such an Auditorie never should againe What would he have said if hee had beene living upon his Majesties second comming to the blessing of that place when the birth of his and our hope the most illustrious Prince Charles ushered into the world by a light from Heaven Stella oriens in oriente manifested in the Meridian of the day was not without a solemne thankesgiving in such a confluence and throng of all sorts of Subjects as no eye ever saw the like in this land And as it was said of the first so may it be of this last worthy to adde a Rubrick more to our Almanacke and make a new holy day amongst us for such a Prince borne to the union of so many Kingdomes was here never knowne non sic contigit ulli The pretious ointment of his Majesties zeale doth not onely fall upon and drench the beard of this aged Hermon but descends and runs downe upon all the skirts of Sion all other Churches within his Majesties Realme of England whereof hee hath given an evident remonstrance aswell by his proclamation edicted in the first yeare of his raigne for preventing the decayes of Churches and Chappels for the time to come and prescribing and commanding thereby a speedy reformation in all such cases as also by his Highnesse late letters and directions to his Bishops within their severall Diocesses that either by themselves in person or by their officials or other persons of worth and trust they take view and survey of the Churches and Chappels in their severall jurisdictions and where they finde ought amisse to cause a speedy redresse thereof Our Saxon Alfred was never more gratefull nor more studious to prefer his Plegmund Grimbald Asser Scotus and others his learned Chaplaines than our Brittish Alfred hath beene and is to advance and priviledge his sacred Hierarchie of Bishops and others of the Tribe of Levi. Who was ever more tender and indulgent unto them Who more sedulous and speedy in the donation of Ecclesiasticall dignities scarce doe any fall but presently he fits a person for the place no Episcopall Sees have as in former times seene any triennial vacancies His Princely gratitude hath not onely honoured some of them in their lives but survived after their death That late dead Bishop of Winton a man of most ample and eminent learning shall witnesse instar omnium his accurate workes published by the reviewing of two his reverend Colleagues by his Majesties speciall command have raised up an eternall monument of his goodnesse and not for his glory onely but as in the dedication utilitati simul honori tum Ecclesiae tum Reipublicae futura and what is there further said of him I cannot conceale Non habuit Regia majestas servum fidelem magis non habuit Ecclesia antistitem magis eruditum It is to be wished that his Highnesse honourable gratefulnesse to him might incite others to deserve the like His Majesties frequent and fervent exercise of piety in his owne person is not inferiour to that of Alfred The often and serious frequenting his Chappels his reverend attention in hearing his unfeigned devotion in praying and his religious comportment every way conformable may be deservedly proposed to our little world an optative rule that in this as in other things Regis ad exemplum totus componeret orbis Let my meditations of his unmatchable goodnesse in and to his Church passe unto his workes of Iustice in the Common wealth behold him in the chaire of Moses sitting amidst his people nay his selected ones è sacris arcanis consiliis Iethro his Counsellors men of courage timentes Deum amantes veritatem and there you shall observe his meeknesse and patience in hearing his acutenesse in discerning and his maturity in deciding whatsoever comes before him The two edged sword of justice Ecclesiasticall and Saecular one side whereof was heretofore scarce an age since elapsed rebated by papall accroachment is full and absolute in his hands and vailes power to none but the supreme head of all Looke upon his unspeakable wisdome in the sincere and upright swaying of that sword his royall care to fence and conserve his Ecclesiasticall and municipall lawes from collisions and contestations and to binde and bound them up in judgement and justice prohibiting in cases for reparation of Gods houses and such like the too much profusenesse of prohibitions The concurrence of both these Lawes is necessarily required in the supportation of his regal government And therefore his excellency as a regall pillar doth his office in ballancing and upholding their jurisdictions as in a just and impartiall equilibre he fits his Iudges for the places of his Iudicature where he findes vertue and goodnesse hee is not sparing of his honourable guerdons where he findes any aberration out of the way of righteousnesse his discerning judgement hath beene and is as ready to reprove even the greatest of them with as heroicke increpations as ever Alfred did his Iudges with his quapropter aut terrenarum potestatum ministeria quae habetis illico dimittatis aut sapientiae studiis multo ut devotius studeatis impero His grave and learned Iudges for preventing the causes of such rebukes want not sufficient premonitions either from his owne sacred mouth or from his honorable Lord Keeper by his directions of cautionary dictates and remembrances for the due execution of his Lawes aswell in their semestriall circuits as at other Iudicatory times and at this time I dare boldly say that his Majesties solium or tribunal justiciae his Cathedra chorus Ecclesiae can more glory of their learned able and incorrupt possessors than in former ages But Ministers and Magistrates are mortall statutum est omnibus semel mori and therefore a continuall succession must be supplied from Schooles and Seminaries of Arts and learning whereof the two most famous seed-plots are Oxford and Cambridge His soveraignety hath had a most speciall regard not onely to preserve the respective priviledges order and government of these renowned Sisters but their peace and unity each with the other in the laborious Antigraphies for their eldership hee hath owned no side vetustas virtute honaratur vertue crownes antiquity with honour Grimbald a great Divine but a stranger was the first Chancellor of Oxford created by Alfred A greater than hee and of our owne Nation and of her education was the first Chancellor there and the first Metropolitan of Canterburie that was invested by King CHARLES since his raigne Alfred and Grimbald were not more zealous in appeasing the civill broyles of that honorable Academie Anno 886. than our now living Alfred and his most reverend and honourable Chancellor in the yeare 1631. Amidst his Highnesse many acts of preventing justice I shall onely insist on two and but perfunctorily The first a Proclamation in pursuance of his Fathers wise and just