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B18452 Camden's Britannia newly translated into English, with large additions and improvements ; publish'd by Edmund Gibson ...; Britannia. English Camden, William, 1551-1623.; Gibson, Edmund, 1669-1748. 1695 (1695) Wing C359 2,080,727 883

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person still living had done the same in Oxford for the Northern Languages in general but that a sudden change of Affairs prevented him This place has been lately honour'd by giving the title of Marquess to the Right Honorable William Earl of Bedford now created Duke of Bedford This town has given several great Lawyers to the State as Sir John Glanvill a Judge Serjeant Glanvill his son and Sir John Maynard who was lately one of the Commissioners of the Great Seal of England Two miles from hence is Lamerton Lamerton parish in the Church whereof is an ancient monument of the Tremaines where may be seen the effigies or Nicholas and Andrew Tremaine twins alike in all lineaments suffer'd like pain tho' at a distance desir'd to sleep walk eat and drink together and were slain together at New-haven in France An. 1663. Nearer to the sea is Beare-Ferris Beare-Ferris so nam'd from the family call'd De Ferrariis anciently famous in this County In this parish there were Silver-mines in the reign of K. Hen. 6. which were lately re-enter'd by Sir John Maynard but have since been discontinu'd e From hence the river carries us down to Plimouth Plimouth mention'd by our Author as a town lately risen and a haven well fortify'd We may add that it had anciently but one Church till the 16 of Ch. 1. when a new one was erected and consecrated in the time of Ch. 2. Here is also a Royal Cittadel built by that King consisting of five regular Bastions and 165 guns The guns of the other fortifications added to these make up in all 253. There are two Docks begun in 1691. and finish'd in 1693. As Sir Francis Drake was born here so both he and Mr. Candish began their voyage from this town for discovery of the unknown parts of the world By his contrivance and his own proper chargo there was brought to this town a large stream from a great distance through many windings and turnings which is a great benefit to the Town carrying several Mills and serving for other common uses of the Inhabitants This place has been honour'd since Mr. Camden's time by giving the title of Earl to Charles Fitz-Charles natural son of K. Ch. 2. created July 29. in the 27th of that King f Eastward from hence is Modbery Modbery and of the Fortescues of Wimpston in that Parish was descended Chancellour Fortescue Author of the famous book De Laudibus Legum Angliae Between Modbery and Kings bridge there is a fair bridge over the river Avon about a quarter of a mile long At the mouth of the river stands S. Michael's Rock several acres over in which are to be seen the remains of an old Chappel This ancient Rhyme seems to refer to it Where Avon's waters with the sea are mixt St. Michael firmly on a rock is fixt Kings-bridge Kingsbridge is a pretty market town pleasantly situated and particularly deserves our notice for the benefaction of Mr. Crispin a late citizen of Exeter who founded here a Free-school and endow'd it Near which is Dodbrooke Dodbrooke singular for a custom of paying tithe to the Parson for a certain sort of liquor call'd White-Ale g The river Dert first runneth thro' Dertmore Dertmore a large Forest 20 miles long and 14 broad It was first made a Forest by K. John and had anciently in it many tinn-works It now yields pasture every summer to near 100000 sheep with a proportionable number of other cattle and supplies the North West and South with variety of pleasant rivers h Then to Totnes Totnes which in K. Charles the first 's time gave the title of Earl to George Lord Carew of Clopton son of Dr. George Carew Dean of Windsor Torr bay i Directly East-ward lies Torr-bay memorable for the landing of the Prince of Orange now K. William on the 5th of November An. 1688. Where we must not pass by Mary-Church being the first Church founded in this County according to tradition Near this bay is a remarkable well call'd Lay-well which ebbs and flows several times in an hour and bubbles up sometimes like a boiling pot the water as clear as crystal very cold in summer and never freezing in winter accounted by the neighbours to be medicinal in some fevers Farther up in the country is Moreley Mo●●ley remarkable for it's Church built upon this occasion In the time of Edw. 1. Sir Peter Fishacre Knight upon a controversie between him and the Parson of Woodley about tythes kill'd the Parson in a rage and being constrain'd to answer the same at Rome was by the Pope condemn'd to build this Church where he lies bury'd From hence towards Dertmore lies Wythicombe Wythicombe where in the 14 Car. 1. in a violent storm of thunder and lightning a ball of fire came into the Church in divine Service kill'd three persons wounded 62. turn'd the seats upside down c. the damages amounting to above 300 l. A like storm hapn'd at Crews Morthard Crews Morthard in this County An. 1689. which rent the steeple melted the bells lead and glass and nothing escap'd but the Communion Plate k Returning to the shore we meet with Teignmouth Teignmouth which as it formerly suffer'd by the Danes so was it of late burnt by the French l North-east from which is the river Ex upon it stands Tiverton Tiverton where Peter Blundell a Clothier built a free-school and endow'd it with a liberal maintenance for a s●hool-master and usher He gave also two fellowships and as many scholarships to Sidney College in Cambridge and one fellowship and two scholarships to Baliol College in Oxford for scholars bred up in this school m Upon the river Creden lies Kirton Kirton now no more famous for the Bishop of Exeter's house than it was in Camden's time for the College of Prebendaries For the house together with the mannour was alienated to the Killigrews so that now there do not remain the least footsteps of the Bishop's having any thing there except the name of a great meadow call'd My Lord's Meadow n The river Ex carries us to Exeter Exeter the Cathedral Church whereof our Author observes to have been enlarg'd by several hands 'T was for a long time no bigger than our Lady's Chappel An. 1112. William Warlewast Bishop of Exon. laid the foundation of the present Quire Two hundred years after Peter Quivell Bishop began the Nave of the present Church to which John Grandison Bishop made an Isle on each side An. 1450. Edmund Lacy Bishop built the Chapter-house and about the same time the Dean and Chapter built the Cloyster So that this Church was about 400 years in building and yet the symmetry of it such as one might easily imagine it the work of a single man The organ of this Church is accounted the largest in England the greatest pipe being 15 inches diameter which is two more than that of
to Winchester so is there another that passes westward thro' Pamber a thick and woody forest then by some places that are now uninhabited it runs near Litchfield that is the field of carcasses and so to the forest of Chute pleasant for its shady trees and the diversions of hunting where the huntsmen and foresters admire it 's pav'd rising ridge which is plainly visible tho' now and then broken off Now northward in the very limits almost of this County I saw Kings-cleare Kingscleare formerly a seat of the Saxon Kings now a well-frequented market town 11 By it Fremantle in a Park where King John much hunted Sidmanton Sidmanton the seat of the family of Kingsmils Knights and Burgh-cleare Bu gh-cleare that lies under a high hill on the top of which there is a military camp such as our ancestors call'd Burgh surrounded with a large trench and there being a commanding prospect from hence all the country round a Beacon is here fix'd which by fire gives notice to all neighbouring parts of the advance of an enemy These kind of watch-towers we call in our language Beacons from the old word Beacnian i.e. to becken they have been in use here in England for several ages sometimes made of a high pile of wood and sometimes of little barrels fill'd with pitch set on the top of a large pole in places that are most expos'd to view where some always keep watch in the night and formerly also the horsemen call'd Hobelers by our Ancestors were settled in several places to signifie the approach of the enemy by day s This County as well as all the rest we have thus far describ'd belong'd to the West-Saxon Kings and as Marianus tells us when Sigebert was depos'd for his tyrannical oppression of the subject he had this County assign'd him that he might not seem intirely depriv'd of his government But for his repeated crimes they afterward expell'd him out of those parts too and the miserable condition of this depos'd Prince was so far from moving any one's pity that he was forc'd to conceal himself in the wood Anderida and was there killed by a Swine-herd This County has had very few Earls besides those of Winchester which I have before spoken of At the coming in of the Normans one Bogo or Beavose a Saxon had this title who in the battel at Cardiff in Wales fought against the Normans He was a man of great military courage and conduct and while the Monks endeavour'd to extol him by false and legendary tales they have drown'd his valiant exploits in a sort of deep mist From this time we read of no other Earl of this County till the reign of Henry 8. who advanc'd William Fitz-Williams descended from the daughter of the Marquess of Montacute in his elder years to the honours of Earl of Southampton and Lord High Admiral of England But he soon after dying without issue King Edward 6. in the first year of his reign conferr'd that honour upon Thomas Wriotheosley Lord Chancellour of England and his grandson Henry by Henry his son now enjoys that title who in his younger years has arm'd the nobility of his birth with the ornaments of learning and military arts that in his riper age he may employ them in the service of his King and Country There are in this County 253 Parishes and 18 Market Towns ISLE of WIGHT TO this County of Southamton belongs an Island which lies southward in length opposite to it by the Romans formerly call'd Vecta Vectis and Victesis by Ptolemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Britains Guith by the Saxons Wuitland and Wicþ-ea for they call'd an Island Ea we now call it the Isle of Wight and Whight 'T is separated from the Continent of Britain by so small a rapid channel which they formerly call'd Solent that it seems to have been joyn'd to it whence as Ninnius observes the Britains call'd it Guith which signifies a Separation t For the same reason the learned Julius Scaliger is of opinion that Sicily had it's name from the Latin word Seco because it was broken off and as it were dissected from Italy Whence with submission always to the Criticks I would read that passage in the sixth of Seneca's Natural Quaest. Ab Italia Sicilia resecta and not rejecta as 't is commonly read From the nearness of it's situation and the likeness of it's name we may guess this Vecta to be that Icta which as Diodorus Siculus has it at every tide seem'd to be an Island but at the time of the ebb the ground between this Island and the Continent was so dry that the old Britains us'd to carry their tinn over thither in Carts in order to transport it into France But I cannot think this to be Pliny's Mictis tho' Vecta come very near the name for in that Island there was white lead whereas in this there is not any one vein of metal that I know of This Island from east to west is like a Lentil or of an oval form in length 20 miles and in the middle where 't is broadest 12 miles over the sides lying north and south To say nothing of the abundance of fish in this sea the soil is very fruitful and answers the husbandman's expectation even so far as to yield him corn to export There is every where plenty of rabbets hares partridge and pheasants and it has besides a forest and two parks which are well stock'd with deer for the pleasures of hunting Through the middle of the Island runs a long ridge of hills where is plenty of pasture for sheep whose wool next to that of Lemster and Cotteswold is reckon'd the best and is in so much request with the Clothiers that the inhabitants make a great advantage of it In the northern part there is very good pasturage meadow-ground and wood the southern part is in a manner all a corn country enclos'd with ditches and hedges At each end the sea does so insinuate and thrust in it self from the north that it makes almost two Islands which indeed are call'd so by the inhabitants that on the west side Fresh-water Isle the other on the east Binbridge Isle Bede reckon'd in it in his time 1200 families now it has 36 towns villages and castles and as to its Ecclesiastical Government is under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester but as to it 's Civil under the County of South-hamton The inhabitants facetiously boast how much happier they are than other people since they never had either p 'T is strange why they should add Monks since S. Mary's in Caresbrooke particularly was a Cell of Black Monks belonging first to Lyra in Normandy afterwards to the Abbey of Montgrace in Yorkshire and then to the Cistercians of Sheen Besides this there were in the Island three Priories * Cu 〈…〉 tos 〈◊〉 c●●os Newpo●● Monks Lawyers or Foxes The places of greatest note are these Newport
the Church is roof'd with lofty Arches of square work † Pari commissura the joints answering one another but on both sides it is enclos'd with a double Arch of stones firmly cemented and knit together Moreover the Cross of the Church made to encompass the middle Quire of the ‖ Canentium Domino Singers and by its double supporter on each side to bear up the lofty top of the middle tower first rises singly with a low and strong arch then mounts higher with several winding stairs artificially ascending and last of all with a single wall reaches to the wooden roof well cover'd with lead But 160 years after Henry the third demolish'd this Fabrick of Edward's and erected a new one of curious workmanship supported by several rows of marble Pillars and leaded over which was fifty years in building This the Abbots very much enlarg'd towards the west and Henry the seventh for the burial of himself and * Suorum his children added to the east part of it a Chapel of a most neat and admirable contrivance call'd by Leland the miracle of the world for you 'd say that all the Art in the world is crowded into this one work wherein is to be seen his own most splendid and magnificent Monument made of solid brass q After the expulsion of the Monks it had several revolutions first it had a Dean and Prebenda●ies next one single Bishop Thomas Thurlbey who after he had squander'd away the revenues of the Church gave it up and surrender'd it 42 Surrender'd it to the spoil of Courtiers to the Dean Presently after the Monks and their Abbot were restor'd by Queen Mary but they being quickly ejected by Authority of Parliament Queen Elizabeth converted it into a Collegiate Church nay I may say a Nursery of the Church For she settl'd twelve Prebendaries as many old Souldiers past service forty Scholars calld King's Scholars sent successively to the Universities and thence transplanted into Church and State c. Over all these she constituted a Dean 43 Over these she plac'd Dr. Bill Dean whose Successor was which dignity not long since was honourably bore by Dr. Gabriel Goodman a person of singular worth and integrity and a particular Patron both to me and my studies There were bury'd in this Church to run over those likewise in order Princes bury'd in Westminster-Abbey and according to their Dignity and the time when they dy'd Sebert first 44 And first Christian King of the East-Angles Harold bastard-son of Canutus the Dane King of England St. Edward King and Confessor with his Queen Editha Maud wife to King Henry the first and daughter to Malcolm King of Scots Henry the third Edward the first his son with Eleanor his wife daughter to Ferdinand third King of Castile and Leon. King Edward the third and Philippa of Hanault his wife Richard the second and Anne his wife sister of the Emperour Wenzelaus Henry the fifth with his wife Catharine daughter of Charles the sixth King of France Anne wife of Richard the third and daughter of Richard Nevil Earl of Warwick Henry the seventh with his wife Elizabeth 45 Daughter to King Edward 4. and his mother Margaret Countess of Richmond K. Edward the sixth Anne of Cleve fourth wife to K. Henry 8. Queen Mary and one not to be mention'd without the highest expressions both of respect and sorrow I mean our late most serene Lady Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory the darling of England a Princess endow'd with heroick Vertues Wisdom and a greatness of Mind much beyond her Sex and incomparably skill'd both in Things and Languages Here she lyes bury'd in a stately Monument erected for her out of a pious veneration by King James But alas how inconsiderable is that Monument in comparison of the noble qualities of so great a Lady She her self is her own Monument and a more magnificent and sumptuous one too than any other For let those noble actions recommend her to the praise and admiration of Posterity RELIGION REFORM'D PEACE ESTABLISHT MONEY REDUC'T TO ITS TRUE VALUE A MOST COMPLEAT FLEET BUILT NAVAL GLORY RESTOR'D REBELLION SUPPRESS'D ENGLAND FOR XLIIII YEARS TOGETHER MOST PRUDENTLY GOVERN'D ENRICHT AND STRENGTHEN'D SCOTLAND FREED FROM THE FRENCH FRANCE IT SELF RELIEV'D THE NETHERLANDS SUPPORTED SPAIN AW'D IRELAND QUIETED AND THE WHOLE WORLD TWICE SAIL'D ROUND The Dukes and Lords that have been bury'd here are Edmund Earl of Lancaster younger son to King Hen. 3. Avelina de Fortibus Countess of Albemarle his wife William and Audomar de Valentia of the family of Lusignia Earls of Pembroke Alphonse John and other Children of K. Edward 1. John de Eltham Earl of Cornwall son of K. Edward 2. Thomas de Woodstock Duke of Glocester youngest son of Edw. 3. with others of his children Eleanor daughter and heir of Humfrey Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex wife to Thomas de Woodstock the young daughters of Edw. 4. and Hen. 7. Henry young son of Hen. 8. who dy'd at 2 months old Sophia daughter of K. James 1. who dy'd ‖ Primo aetatis diluculo almost assoon as born Philippa Dutchess of York Lewis Viscount Robsert of Hanault in right of his wife Lord Bourchier Anne the young daughter and heir of John Moubray D. of Norfolk betroth'd to Rich. D. of York younger son to K. Edw. 4. 46 Sir Giles Daubeney Giles Daubeney Lord Chamberlain to K. Hen. 7. and his wife of the family of the Arundels in Cornwall Viscount Welles Frances Brandon Dutchess of Suffolk Mary her daughter Margaret Douglas Countess of Lenox grand-mother to James K. of Great Britain with Charles her son Winefrid Bruges Marchioness of Winchester Anne Stanhop Dutchess of Somerset and Jane her daughter Anne Cecil Countess of Oxford daughter of Baron Burghley Lord high Treasurer of England with her mother Mildred Burghley Elizabeth Berkley Countess of Ormond Frances Sidney Countess of Sussex 47 James Butler instead of Thomas Butler Thomas Butler Viscount Thurles son and heir of the Earl of Ormond Besides Humfrey Bourchier Lord Cromwell another 48 Sir Humfrey Bourchier Humfrey Bourchier son and heir of the Lord Berners both slain in Barnet-fight 49 Sir Nicholas Carew Baron Carew instead of Nicholas Baron Carew Nicholas Baron Carew the Baroness of Powis Thomas Baron Wentworth Thomas Baron Wharton John Lord Russel Thomas Bromley Lord Chancellour of England Douglasia 50 H. Howard Howard daughter and heir of Viscount Bindon wife of 51 Sir Arthur Gorges Arthur Gorge Elizabeth daughter and heir of Edward Earl of Rutland wife of William Cecil 52 Sir John Puckering John Puckering Keeper of the Great Seal of England Frances Howard Countess of Hertford Henry and George Cary father and son Barons of Hunsdon and Lord Chamberlains to Q. Elizabeth the heart of Anne Sophia the young daughter of Christopher Harley Count de Beaumont Embassador in England from
between Fife and Strathern with old barbarous verses upon it and had a certain privilege of a Sanctuary that any Homicide ally'd to Mac-duff Earl of Fife within the ninth degree if he came to this cross and gave nine cows with a * Colpinda●h Heifer he should be acquitted of the manslaughter When his Posterity lost this title I cannot yet learn but it appears by the Records of that Kingdom that King David 2. gave this Earldom to William Ramsay with all and every the immunities and the law which is called Clan Mac-duff And it is lookt upon as undeniable that the families of Weimes and Douglas and that great Clan Clan-Hatan whose head is Mac-Intoskech descended from them I find also by the learned J. Skene Clerk Register of Scotland in his Significations of words that Isabella daughter and heir to Duncan Earl of Fife granted upon certain conditions to Robert King of Scotland in trust for Robert Steward Earl of Menteith the Earldom of Fife who being afterwards Duke of Albany and eagerly affecting the Crown put David the King 's eldest son to one of the most miserable deaths that of hunger But his son Murdac suffered a punishment due to the wickedness both of his father and his own sons being put to death by King James the first 7 For their violent oppressions when a decree passed That the Earldom of Fife should for ever be united to the Crown But the authority of Sheriff of Fife belongs by inheritance to the Earl of Rothes Earl of Rothes m Vid. Hect. Boeth lib. 12. c STRATHERN ●●●●h-ern ●●●attry AS far as the River Tay which bounds Fife on the North side Julius Agricola the best of all the Propraetors of Britain under Domitian the worst of the Emperors carried his victories in the third year of his Expedition having so far wasted the Kingdom Into this aestuarie falls the noted River Ern ●●e River 〈◊〉 which rising out of a Logh of the same name bestows it on the Country it runs through for it is called Straith-ern which in the antient British signifies a Valley upon Ern. The Banks of this Ern are adorned with Drimein-Castle ●●●●ein belonging to the family of the Barons of Dromond ●●●●ns ●●●mond who have risen to great honours since King Robert Steward the 3. married a wife out of this family For the Women of that family for charming beauty and complexion are beyond all others insomuch that they have been most delighted in by the Kings 〈◊〉 of ●●●●r●● And upon the same bank Tulibardin-Castle shews it self aloft and that with more honour since by the favour of K. James 6. John Murray Baron of Tulibardin was advanced to the title and dignity of Earl of Tulibardin Upon the other bank lower stands Duplin-Castle Duplin the seat of the Barons Oliphant Baron Oliphant and still remembers how great an overthrow not to be equalled in former Ages the English that came to assist King Edward Balliol gave the Scots there insomuch that the English writers of that time attribute the victory wholly to God's power and not to any valour of man and the Scots report that there fell of the family of Lindsay 80 persons and that the name of Hays had been quite extinct had not the head of the family left his Wife big with child at home Not far off stands Innermeth Lords of Innermeth well known for its Lords the Stewards of the family of Lorn 8 Inch-chafra i.e. in the old Scottish tongue the Isle of Masses hereby may be remembred whenas it was a most famous Abbey of the Order of St. Augustin founded by the Earl of Strathern about the year 1200. But after the conflux of the Ern and the Tay by which the latter more expatiates it self he looks up upon Aberneth Abernethy standing upon his banks antiently the Royal Seat of the Picts and a populous city which as we read in an old fragment Nectanus K. of the Picts gave to God and S. Brigid until the day of judgment together with the bounds thereof which lie from a stone in Abertrent to a stone near Carful that is Loghfol and from thence as far as Ethan But a long time after it fell into the possession of the Douglasses Earls of Angus who are called Lords of Aberneth and are some of them there interred The first Earl of Strathern Earls of Strathern that I read of was 9 Malisse who in the time of K. Henry 3. of England marry'd one of the heirs of Robert Muschamp a potent Baron of England Long afterward c. Robert Stewart in the year 1380. then David a younger son of K. Robert 2. whose only daughter being given in marriage to Patrick Graham was mother of Mailise or Melisse Graham from whom K. James 1. took the Earldom after he had found by the Records of the Kingdom that it had been given to his * Avo paterno Mother's Grandfather and his Heirs Male This Territory as also Menteith adjoyning is under the government of the Barons Dromond hereditary Stewards of it Menteith Menteith Stewartry as they say hath its name from the River Teith called also Taich and thence in Latin they name this little Territory Taichia Upon the bank of which lies the Bishoprick of Dunblain Dunblain erected by K. David the first of that name * See the Addition● Kird-bird At Kirk-Bird that is St. Brigid's Church the Earls of Menteith have their principal residence as also the Earls of Montross l. Montross is now a Marquisate of the same family not far off at Kin-kardin This Menteith as I have heard reaches to the Mountains that enclose the East side of Logh-lomond The antient Earls of Menteith were of the family of Cumen anciently the most numerous and potent in all Scotland but ruin'd by its own greatness The later Earls are of the House of Graham Earls of Mente●th ever since Mailise Graham attain'd to the honour of Earl d ARGATHELIA or ARGILE BEyond Logh-Lomond and the western part of Lennox near Dunbritton-Forth Argile lays out it self call'd in Latin Argathelia and Arogadia commonly Argile but more truly Argathel and Ar-Gwithil that is near to the Irish or as some old Records have it the brink or edge of Ireland for it lies towards Ireland whose inhabitants the Britains call'd Gwithil and Gaothel A Countrey much running out in length and breadth all mangled with Lakes well stock'd with fish and rising in some places into mountains very commodious for feeding of cattle wherein also wild Cows and Deer range up and down But along the coast what with rocks and what with blackish barren mountains it makes a horrid appearance In this tract as Bede observes Britain received after the Britons and Picts a 3d Nation the Scots into the Picts territories who coming out of Ireland with Reuda their Leader got either by force or friendship the habitation
being still Justiciary as before His Wife died this year MCCLXXXI Adam Cusak younger kill'd William Barret and many others in Conaught Frier Stephen Fulborn was made Justiciary of Ireland The Lord Robert d'Ufford return'd into England MCCLXXXII This Year Moritagh and Arte Mac-Murgh his Brother were slain at Arclowe on S. Mary Magdalen Eve And Roger Lord Mortimer died MCCLXXXIII The City of Dublin was in part burnt and the Belfrey of Trinity Church upon the third day before the Nones of January MCCLXXXIV The Castle of Ley was taken and burnt by the petty Kings of Offaly the morrow after S. Barnaby's Day Alphonsus the King's Son twelve years old departed this Life MCCLXXXV The Lord Theobald le Botiller died on the 6th of the Kalends of October in the Castle of Arclowe and was buried there in the Convent of the Friers Predicants Gerald Fitz Maurice was taken Prisoner by his own Irish Subjects in Ofaly with Richard Petit and S. Deget and many others and at Rathode was a great slaughter MCCLXXXVI Le Norragh and Arstol with other Towns were successively burnt by William Stanton on the 16th of the Kalends of December About this time Eleanor Queen of England mother of King Edward took a religious habit at Ambresbury upon the day of S. Thomas's translation having her dower confirmed by the Pope and assur'd to her for ever Calwagh was taken Prisoner at Kildare The Lord Thomas Clare departed this Life MCCLXXXVII This year died Stephen Fulborn Archbishop of Tuam and was succeeded in the Office of Justiciary for a Time by John Sampford Archbishop of Dublin This year the King of Hungary renounc'd Christianity and turned Apostate and having fraudulently assembled his Nobility under pretence of a Parliament Miramomelius a potent Saracen came upon them with an Army of 20000 men and took the King and all the Christians there away prisoners on S. John Baptist's eve As the Christians were carried along the weather turn'd cloudy and a tempest of Hail fell suddenly and killed many thousands of the Infidels So the Christians return'd to their own homes and the Apostate King went alone with the Saracens The Hungarians crown'd his Son King and continued in the Catholick Faith MCCLXXXIX Tripoly a famous City was demolish'd after great effusion of Christian blood by the Sultan of Babylon Who commanded the Images of the Saints to be dragg'd at the horses tails through the ruinous City in contempt of Christ MCCXC Inclyta stirps Regis sponsis datur ordine legis The issue of the King becomes a Spouse The Lord Gilbert Clare took to Wife the Lady Joan de Acon a daughter of our Lord King Edward in the Abby of Westminster and the marriage was celebrated in May And John the Duke of Brabant's son married Margaret the said King's daughter also in the Church aforesaid in July This year the Lord William Vescie was made Justiciary of Ireland and enter'd upon the Office on S. Martin's day Item O Molaghelin King of Meth was this year slain MCCXCI Gilbert Clare the son of Gilbert and the Lady Joan de Acon was born on the 11th of May betimes in the morning Item there was an army led into Ulster against O Hanlan and other Princes that had broke the Peace by Richard Earl of Ulster and William Vescie Justiciary of Ireland Item The Lady Eleanor formerly Queen of England and mother of King Edward died this year on S. John's day after a laudable life spent four years eleven months and six days in a religious habit as she had desir'd in the Abby of Ambresbury where she was a profess'd Nun. Item the news came to our Lord Pope Martin on the eve of S. Mary Magdalen concerning the city of Acon in the Holy Land which was the only place of refuge for the Christians that it was besieg'd by Mislkadar the Sultan of Babylon with a numerous army He besieg'd it hotly for about forty days viz. from the 8th day before the Ides of April till the 15th before the Kalends of July At last the Wall was pull'd down by the Saracens and they entred the city in great numbers many Christians being slain and some drown'd in the sea for fear Among whom was the Patriarch and his Train The King of Cyprus and Oto de Grandison escap'd in a ship with their followers Item This year the Lord Pope Martin granted our Lord King Edward the tenth of all Ecclesiastical Benefices in Ireland for seven years together as a supply towards a relief for the Holy Land Item the eldest son of the Earl of Clare was born the same year MCCXCII Edward King of England again entred Scotland and was chosen King John Lord Balliol of Gallweya obtain'd the whole Kingdom of Scotland by right of inheritance and did homage to our Lord Edward King of England at Newcastle upon Tine on S. Stephen's day Florentius Earl of Holland Robert Brus Earl of Carrick John Hastings John Comin Patrick de Dunbar John Vescie Nicholas Souls and William Roos who were then at difference in the said Kingdom submitted themselves to the judgment of King Edward Item A fifteenth of all the Goods of Laymen in Ireland was granted to our Lord the King of England to be collected on the Feast of S. Michael Item Sir Peter Genevile Knight died this year Item Rice ap Meredyke was brought to York and there dragg'd at the horses tails c. MCCXCIII A general and open war was this year waged at sea with the Normans Item no small number of the Normans was cut off in a sea-engagement by the Barons of the Ports of England and others their coadjutors between Easter and Whitsuntide For this a war broke out between England and France whereupon Philip King of France directed his letters of citation to the King of England to appear in person at his Parliament to answer what the King had to say to him but finding no compliance with this order he forthwith by the counsel of his Parliament declar'd him outlaw'd and condemn'd him Item Gilbert Clare Earl of Glocester and his wife came into Ireland about the feast of S. Luke MCCXCIV William Montfort in the King's Council holden at Westminster before the King died suddenly He was Dean of S. Paul's in London The Bishops and Clergy who doubted what the King would expect from every one of them had instructed him as a person whom the King would confide in what to signifie from them to him as soon as he return'd to the King and was addressing himself to speak as he had design'd he grew speechless fell down and was carried out by the King's servants in a miserable condition Upon this sight people grew fearful and began to take him for the great procurer of the tenths of ecclesiastical benefices to the King and of the scrutiny and search after the fold of Christ as also of the contributions granted the King afterward Item The city of Bordeaux with the adjacent country of Gascoign was taken
his Thoughts of Education 8o. Dr. Hody of the Resurrection of the same Body 8o. Machiavel's Works compleat Fol. Boethius de Consolatione made English with Annotations by Richard Lord Viscount Preston 8o. Mr. Talent's Chronological Tables of Sacred and Prophane History from the Creation to the Year 1695. Bishop Wilkins of Prayer and Preaching enlarged by the Bishop of Norwich and Dr. Williams 8o. Mr. Tannner's Notitia Monastica 8o. Two Treatises of Government The first an Answer to Filmer's Patriarchae The latter an Essay concerning the true Original Extent and End of Civil Government 8o. The Fables of Aesop and other Mithologists made English by Sir Roger L'strange Kt. Fol. Three several Letters for Toleration Considerations about lowering the Interest and raising the Value of Money 8o. Sir William Temple's History of the Netherlands 8o. Miscellanea 8o. Mr. L'Clerc Logica 12o. Dr. Gibson's Anatomy of Human Bodies with Additions 8o. Dr. Patrick's new Version of the Psalms of David in Metre 12o. Mereton's Guide to Surveyers of the High-ways 8o. Sir Paul Ricaut's Lives of the Popes Fol. Sir Simon Dews's Journal of Parliaments Fol. Gentleman's Religion 12o. Two Treatises of Rational Religion 8o. Reprinting Leland De Viris Illustratibus and Boston of Bury from the MSS. with large Improvements and a Continuation by Mr. Tanner Sir Richard Baker's Chronicle of the King 's of England continued down to this time Cambridge Concordance Fol. THE LIFE OF M R. CAMDEN WILLIAM CAMDEN was born in the Old-Baily in London May 2. 1551 Diarie His father Sampson Camden was a Painter in London whither he was sent very young from Lichfield the place of his birth and education His mother was of the ancient Family of the See that County under the title Wirkinton and a MS. in Cott. Lib. sub Effigie Jul. F. 6. Curwens of Workinton in the County of Cumberland Where or how he was brought up till twelve years of age we must content our selves to be in the dark since his own Diarie gives us no insight into that part of his Life There is a tradition that he was Scholar of the Blew-coat Hospital in London which if true assures us that his Father left him very young because the particular constitution of the place admits of none but Orphans But the Fire of London which consum'd the Matriculation-books with the whole House has cut off all possibility of satisfaction in that point When he came to be twelve years old he was seiz'd by the Plague Peste correptus Islingtoniae Diar and remov'd to Islington near London Being fully recover'd he was sent to Paul's School where he laid the foundation of that niceness and accuracy in the Latin and Greek to which he afterwards arriv'd The meanness of his circumstances gave him no prospect of any great matters and yet his Friends were unwilling that such fine Parts should be lost and a Youth in all respects so promising be thrown away for want of encouragement Nothing was to be done without a Patron whose Favour might countenance him in his Studies and whose Interest might supply the narrowness of his Fortune At that time Dr. Cooper afterwards promoted to the Bishoprick of Lincoln and then to that of Winchester was Fellow of Magdalen-College in Oxford and Master of the School belonging to it To his care he was recommended and by his means probably admitted Chorister No project could have a better appearance upon all accounts For as his gradual advancement in that rich and ample Foundation would have been a settlement once for all so one in the Doctor 's station must on course carry a considerable stroke in the business of Elections But as promising as it look'd when it came to the push he miss'd of a Demie's place So defeated of his hopes and expectations in that College he was forc'd to look out for a new Patron and to frame a new Scheme for his future fortunes The next encouragement he found was from Dr. Thomas Thornton By him he was invited to Broad gate-Hall since call'd Pembroke-College where he prosecuted his Studies with great closeness and the Latin Graces us'd by the College at this day are said to be of his compiling Among his other acquaintance he was peculiarly happy in the two Carews Richard and George both of this Hall both very ingenious and both Antiquaries For tho' the first was a Member of Christ-church Wood's Athen. vol 1. p. 384. he had his Chamber in Broad gate-hall and Sir Baronage T. ●● 41● B●own's add●tional notes to a catalogue of Scholars in University-Co●leg● William Dugdale's affirming the second to have been of University-College seems occasion'd by two of the sirname being Members of this house about the same time I know not whether we may date his more settl'd inclination to Antiquities from this lucky familiarity and correspondence 'T is certain that nothing sets so quick an edge as the conversation of equals and 't is by some such accidents that men are generally determin'd in their particular Studies and Professions Here he continu'd almost three years in which time by his diligence and integrity he had settl'd himself so firmly in the good opinion of his Patron that when the Doctor was advanc'd to a Canonry of Christ-church See his Britannia p. 140. he carry'd him along with him and entertain'd him in his own Lodgings He was then scarce 20 years old an age wherein the study of Arts and Sciences and the want of a judgment solid enough excuse men from much application to the deep points of Religion and Controversie And yet even then his reputation upon that account cost him a very unlucky disappointment He stood for a Fellowship of All-Souls College but the Popish party such at least whose inclination lay that way whatever their Profession was out of an apprehension how little his advancement was like to make for their cause oppos'd it so zealously that it was carry'd against him Many years after upon an imputation of Popery which we shall have occasion to speak to by and by Epist 195 among other testimonies of his fidelity to the Church of England he urges this instance as one For the truth of it he appeals to Sir Daniel Dun then Fellow of the College and a person whose prudence and integrity recommended him more than once to the choice of the University in their Elections for Parliament-men After five years spent in the University and two remarkable disappointments in his endeavours towards a settlement his poor condition put him under a necessity of leaving that place Whether he had taken the Degree of Batchelour does not certainly appear That in June 1570. he supplicated for it is evident from the K K. fol. 95. b. Register of the University but no mention made of what answer he had Three years after he supplicated again for the same Degree and seems to have took it but never compleated it by Determinations However in the year 1588. Wood's Athen vol. 1. p. 409. he
pure effects of his ignorance He was now too old and infirm to endure the fatigue of close study and thought he had too little time before him to bestow any of it upon quarreling and controversie But Mr. Vincent a person admirably skill'd in the business of Families then only Poursuivant under the title of Rouge Croix but afterwards made Windsor-Herald and Clerk Wood's Athenae Keeper of the Records in the Tower undertook upon this occasion to convince Mr. Brooke that he had not such a share of infallibility as he had flatter'd himself withal He publish'd this Answer in the year 1622. With what success and applause I appeal to the commendations of Mr. Selden and of other learned men which appear in the beginning of the Book Another branch of Mr. Brooke's accusation against Mr. Camden was Plagiarism He consider'd likely that drawing down of Families was no part of Mr. Camden's Office when he first publish'd his Britannia that it was also an accidental thing to the design of a Survey that therefore the World would make allowance for little mistakes in Genealogies and upon the whole matter was afraid that the objections he had rais'd upon that head would not be much damage either to the reputation of the Book or the credit of the Author To strike home he endeavours to insinuate that how gay soever the composition might look and how uniform soever the work appear'd yet if men would be at the trouble to examine they might find the summe and substance of all that was said in the posthumous papers of Glover and Leland So that if this suggestion did but take Mr. Camden had no farther share in it than ranging a parcel of loose papers into a little method and order Methinks by the way it might have been some excuse that possibly Glover and Leland whom forsooth he follow'd so close had lead him into some of those many Errors he pretends to correct in his Britannia Why should not they share in the mistakes as well as they do in the useful discoveries The former of these Mr. Glover was Somerset-Herald Smith p. 27. and so eminent a master of his Profession that in Sir William Dugdale's opinion Mr. Camden and He were the two greatest men that had ever been of the College Had he liv'd out the common term he would have made a greater figure in the world and we at this day might have enjoy'd the fruit of his Labours Apr. 14. 1588. But he was cut off at 45 years of age and left behind him a confus'd mass of Collections which were purchas'd afterwards by my Lord Burleigh and communicated to Mr. Camden Of what use they were to him any one may be easily convinc'd by comparing his Britannia with those Papers which were reposited in the Archives of the College Miscellanies of that nature are generally no more than short hints to carry us to something further and are heap'd up together without any thing of consideration So that 't is impossible for any but the collector to dive into the true meaning of most things and unbecoming a person of common judgment and curiosity to lay much stress upon any But if they had been as serviceable to him as his Adversary would perswade us I cannot see how he could be fairly charg'd with ingratitude or injustice after he has more than once afforded Mr. Glover such an Defence against Brooke p. 6. Britannia in Barkshire honourable character As the Itinerary of Mr. Leland has gain'd a greater name and esteem so it will be harder to remove the objection rais'd upon that bottom Far be it from me to injure the memory of that great man He was the first that turn'd the eyes of the Kingdom upon that part of Learning and let it be said to his immortal honour What he did was faithful and what he design'd was glorious In the year 1533. 25 Hen. 8. he had a Commission under the Broad Seal whereby he was impower'd to search the Libraries of all Cathedrals Abbies Priories Colleges c. And in the 28. year of the same King he obtain'd a special dispensation to keep a Curate at Poppeling where he was Rector having represented to his Majesty the great advantage might be made by travelling over England When he had got together large Collections he fix'd in London with a design to fall about such Books as he had encourag'd the King to expect when he obtain'd his Dispensation Also in the 37 of Hen. 8. he presented that King with a Scheme of the several projects he had laid under the title of a New-years-gift wherein he promises a description of Britain as under the Romans a survey and history of each County in 60 Books a survey of the British Isles in 6 Books and a work concerning the Nobility of Britain in 3 Books But the very next year out of an apprehension as most think that he should never be able to compleat what he had undertaken he fell distracted continu'd so to his dying day and left his Papers in confusion The greatest part of them are now in the publick Library at Oxford presented to it by Mr. William Burton Author of the Antiquities of Leicestershire into whose possession they had at last come through several other hands The only work I think that he left compleat was his Lives of the British Writers in Latin wherein he has been but coarsly us'd by Bale Pits and some others who 't is said have made up their Volumes upon that subject in a great measure out of Leland's store But now at last he is like to have justice done him by a diligent and judicious Author from whom we may shortly expect an accurate edition of that part with suitable improvements But the main charge against Mr. Camden is grounded upon the Survey of Britain and of the Isles for I think any one will excuse him in what relates to the Romans that does but consider what mad work they made of it who undertook to settle the old Towns in Britain before Mr. Camden Now giving these posthumous Papers the splendid title of an Itinerary flourishing upon the number of Books proportionable to the Counties of England and to back these observing that Mr. Leland roundly affirms that he had ample materials ready by him all this looks very big and is an admirable handle to any one that has a mind to employ his ill nature But men would do well to consider at what a low ebb Learning was then and what a plausible figure several things make in the infancy which after a little growth and improvement appear to be very inconsiderable To describe the course of a River and the distance of one Town from another to tell you whether a bridge was of wood or of stone or how many arches it had was an useful piece of instruction at that time when travelling was not much in fashion And perhaps one may safely affirm That the Counties of England were then more strangers
when he dy'd but had this answer return'd That no man should have commanded them more freely if they had not been promis'd to Dr. Bancroft Archbishop of Canterbury Upon his death he translated the right of them to his Successor Dr. George Abbot who had undertook to publish them and the Bishop tells us in the same Manuscript that he had heard Archbishop Laud say they were deposited in the Palace at Lambeth 'T is probable these were only such as related to the Ecclesiastical Affairs of that time which Mr. Camden did not think himself so immediately concern'd in But what they were cannot now be known they must have been destroy'd in that havock and confusion made in the Library of Archbishop Laud by Prinne Scot and Hugh Peters for upon a diligent search made by the late Dr. Sancroft at his first promotion to the See of Canterbury not one scrap of them appear'd From the end of Queen Elizabeth to his own death he kept a Since publisht with his Epistles Diary of all the remarkable passages in the reign of King James Not that he could so much as dream of living to make use of them himself at that age and under those many infirmities which a laborious life had drawn upon him But he was willing however to contribute all the assistance he could to any that should do the same honour to the reign of King James which he had done to that of Queen Elizabeth If this were practis'd by Persons of Learning and Curiosity who have opportunity of seeing into the Publick Affairs of a Kingdom what a large step would it be towards a History of the respective times For after all the short hints and strictures of that kind do very often set things in a truer light than regular Histories which are but too commonly written to serve a Party and so draw one insensibly out of the right way Whereas if men are left to themselves to make their own inferences from simple matters of fact as they lay before them tho' perhaps they may often be at a loss how to make things hang together yet their aim shall be still true and they shall hardly be mistaken in the main One single matter of fact faithfully and honestly deliver'd is worth a thousand Comments and Flourishes Thus the interest of the Publick was the business of Mr. Camden's life and he was serviceable to Learning till his dying day For so much merit one would think the greatest rewards too mean but a little serv'd his turn who always thought it more honourable to deserve than to have preferments Ep. 195. He never made application to any man for promotion but so long as he faithfully discharg'd the office he had was content to trust Providence for what should follow The first step he made was the second Mastership of Westminster-School in the year 1575. In this station he continu'd till the death of Dr. Grant Head-Schoolmaster which hapned in 1593. whom he succeeded But before that two years after the first edition of his Britannia he had the Prebend of Ilfarcomb belonging to the Church of Salisbury bestow'd upon him by Dr. John Piers Bishop of that See What satisfaction it was to him to see the fruits of his industry in the School learn from his own expression of it in a Letter to Archbishop Usher At Westminster says he God so blessed my labours that the now Bishop of London Durham and St. Asaph to say nothing of persons imploy'd in eminent place abroad and many of especial note at home of all degrees do acknowledge themselves to have been my Scholars What a comfortable reflexion was this That he had laid the foundation of those pillars which prov'd so considerable supports both to Church and State Here he liv'd frugally and Epist 195. by his long labours in the School gather'd a contented sufficiency for his life and a supply for all the charitable benefactions at his death Epist ead He refus'd a mastership of Requests when offer'd and kept to his School See above till the place of King at Arms was conferr'd upon him without his own application or so much as knowledge These were all the Preferments he was ever possest of We might have reckon'd another if the following project had but succeeded In the year 1609. Dr. Sutcliff Dean of Exeter resolv'd upon building a College at Chelsey for a certain number of Divines who should make it their only business to confute the Errors of the Church of Rome The Proposal was highly approv'd of by King James who accordingly nominated the Doctor first Provost of the College May 10. 1610. and seventeen very eminent Divines under the title of Fellows And because it was evident that matters of History would of course fall in with Controversies in Religion they concluded it necessary to be arm'd against all such cases and so pitch'd upon two excellent Historians Mr. Camden and John Hayward Doctor of the Civil Law See Middlesex under Chelsey They fell to building but found their Revenues fall short and so the whole design drop'd To be particular in his Acquaintance would be to reckon up almost all the learned men of his time When he was young Learned men were his Patrons when he grew up the Learned were his intimates and when he came to be old he was a Patron to the Learned So that Learning was his only care and learned men the only comfort of his life What an useful and honourable correspondence he had settl'd both at home and abroad does best appear from his Letters and with what candour and easiness he maintain'd it the same Letters may inform us The work he was engag'd in for the honour of his native Country gain'd him respect at home and admiration abroad so that he was look'd upon as a common Oracle and for a Foreigner to travel into England and return without seeing Mr. Camden was thought a very gross omission He was visited by six German Noblemen at one time and at their request wrote his Lemma in each of their Books as a testimony that they had seen him Brissonius Prime Minister of State in the French Court when he was sent into England by his master K. Hen. 3. to treat of a match between his brother the Duke of Anjou and Queen Elizabeth would not return a stranger to Mr. Camden who tho' but second School-master of Westminster and not full thirty years of age had yet those qualities which effectually recommended him to the friendship and conversation of that great man Some of the Servants of the Elector Palatine who came over about the match with Elizabeth eldest daughter to King James were severely reprov'd by Gruter for neglecting to do themselves that piece of honour He wonder'd with what face they could stay so many months in England and all the while Neque consulere ejus oraculum unicum neque adspicere ejus astrum primum not consult its only Oracle nor see the brightest Star in it
more fees to give away For nothing could be more effectual to excite brave men and lay an obligation upon their best and most deserving Subjects such as were nobly descended and men of great estates than as an istance of their good will and favour to bestow the honourable title of Knights upon them which before was always a name of great dignity For when the Prince conferr'd advisedly upon merit it was thought a great reward and favour and look'd upon as a badge of honour Those that were thus Knighted esteem'd this as the price of Virtue as an encomium upon their family a memorial of their race and the glory of their name So that it is said by our Lawyers Miles a name of dignity that Miles is a name of dignity and not Baro. For a Baron in ancient times if he was not a Knight was written barely by his Christian name and the proper name of his family without any addition unless of Dominus which is likewise applic●ble to Knights But the name Knight seems to have been an additional title of honour in the greatest dignities seeing Kings Dukes Marquesses Earls and Barons were ambitious both of the name and dignity And here I cannot but insert what Matth. Florilegus writes concerning the creation of Knights in Edward the first 's time For the sake of his expedition into Scotland the King publish'd a Proclamation lately throughout England to the end that whoever were by hereditary succession to be Knights and had wherewithall to support that dignity should be present in Westminster at the feast of Whitsontide there to receive all Knightly accoutrements save Equipage or Horse-furniture out of the King's Wardrobe Accordingly there assembled thither 300 young Gentlemen the sons of Earls Barons and Knights and had purple liveries silk-scarves and robes richly embroided with gold bestow'd upon them according to their several qualities And because the King's Palace though very large was too little to receive this concourse they cut down the apple-trees about the † Novum Tempium new Temple in London ras'd the walls and set up Pavilions and tents wherein these young Gentlemen might dress themselves in garments embroider'd with gold and all that night as many of them as the Temple would hold watch'd and pray'd in it But the Prince of Wales by his father's order with the chief of them watch'd in the Church of Westminster And so great was the sound of trumpets minstrels and acclamations of joy there that the chaunting of the Convent could not be heard from one side of the Quire to the other The day following the King knighted his Son in his palace and gave him the Dukedom of Aquitain The Prince therefore being thus knighted went to the Church of Westminster that he might likewise confer the same honour upon them And such was the press and throng about the high Altar that two Knights were kill'd and many fainted though every Knight had at least three or four Soldiers to conduct and defend them The Prince himself the throng was so great was forc'd to knight them upon the high altar having made his way thither * Per dextrarios bellicosos by his war-horses At present he that is knighted kneels down and in that posture is lightly struck upon the Shoulder with a naked sword by the Prince saying thus in French Sois Chevalier au nom de Dieu i.e. Be thou a Knight in the name of God and then he adds avancez Chevalier i.e. Rise up Sir Knight What relates farther to this order how famous how glorious and how brave a reward this dignity was look'd upon by men of honour among our Forefathers with what exactness they practis'd fidelity and plain-dealing when it was sufficient surety if they promis'd as Knights or upon their Honour lastly how far they were above the sordid humour of scraping and how they contributed upon the account of their fees when the King 's eldest son was honour'd with this dignity these things I leave to other Writers Degradations of Knights As also when they had committed any crime that was capital how they were strip'd of their ornaments had their military belt took from them were depriv'd of their sword had their spurs cut off with a hatchet their glove took away † Clyp●o gentilitio in verso and their arms inverted just as it is in degrading those who have listed themselves in the Spiritual warefare the Ecclesiastical ornaments the book chalice and such like are taken from them I leave it likewise to be consider'd by them whether these Knights have been by some rightly term'd Knights Bacchallers and whether Bacchallers were not a middle order between Knights and Esquires For some Records run Nomina Militum Baccalaureorum Valectorum Comitis Glocestriae In d●● so Pat. 51. H. 3. Hence some will have Bachallers to be so call'd quasi Bas Chevaliers though others derive the same from Battailer a French word which signifies to fight Let them farther examine whether these dignities which formerly when very rare were so mighty glorious and the establish'd rewards of virtue became not vile as they grew common and prostitute to every one that had the vanity to desire them Aemilius Probus formerly complain'd of the same thing in a like case among the Romans Next in order to these Knights were the Armigeri E●● 2. Esquires call'd also Scutiferi Homines ad arma and among the Goths Schilpor from bearing the Shield as heretofore Scutarii among the Romans Who had that name either from their coats of Arms which they bore as badges of their nobility or because they really carry'd the armour of the Princes and great men For every Knight was serv'd by two of these formerly they carry'd his helmet and buckler and as his inseparable companions adher'd to him For they held lands of the Knight their Lord in Escuage as he did of the King by Knights-service Esquires are at this day of five sorts for those I but now treated of are at present out of use The chief are they who are chosen to attend the King's person Next them are the eldest sons of Knights and their eldest sons likewise successively In the third place are counted the eldest sons of the youngest sons of Barons and others of greater quality and when such heir-male fails the title dies likewise The fourth in order are those to whom the King himself together with a title gives arms or makes Esquires adorning them with a collar of S. S. of a white silver colour and a pair of silver spurs whence at this day in the west parts of the Kingdom they are call'd White-spurs to distinguish them from Knights or Equites Aurati who have spurs of gold of these the eldest sons only can bear the title In the fifth place are to be reputed and look'd upon as Esquires all such as are in any great office in the Government or serve the King in any honourable station But
this name of Esquire which in ancient times was a name of charge and office only crept first in among the titles of honour as far as I can find in the reign of Richard the second Gentlemen Gentlemen are either the common sort of nobility who are descended of good families or those who by their virtue and fortune have made themselves eminent Citizens Citizens or Burgesses are such as are in publick offices in any City or elected to sit in Parliament The common people or Yeomen are such as some call ingenui the Law homines legales i.e. freeholders Yeom● Gem●● 〈◊〉 Saxo● 〈◊〉 common people those who can spend at least forty shillings of their own yearly Labourers are such as labour for wages sit to their work are Mechanicks Artizans Smiths Carpenters c. term'd capite censi and Proletarii by the Romans The Law-Courts of ENGLAND AS for the Tribunals or Courts of Justice in England there are three several sorts of them some Spiritual others Temporal and one mixt or complicate of both which is the greatest and by far the most honourable call'd the Parliament Parliament a French word of no great antiquity The Saxons our fore-fathers nam'd it a Witen● gemot ●s the true Saxon word Ƿittenagemot that is an assembly of wise-men and Geraedniss or Council and Micil Synod from the greek word Synod signifying a great meeting The Latin writers of that and the next age call it Commune Concilium Curia altissima Generale Placitum Curia Magna Magnatum Conventus Praesentia Rogis Praelatorum Procerumque collectorum Commune totius regni concilium c. And as Livy calls the general Council of Aetolia Panetolium so this of ours may be term'd very properly Pananglium For it consists of the King the Clergy the Barons and those Knights and Burgesses elected or to express my self more plainly in Law-language the King the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons who there represent the body of the Nation This Court is not held at certain set times but is call'd at the King's pleasure when things of great difficulty and importance are to be consider'd in order to prevent any danger that may happen to the State and then again is dissolv'd when-ever he alone pleases Now this Court has the sovereign power and an inviolable authority in making confirming repealing and explaining laws reversing Attainders determining causes of more than ordinary difficulty between private persons and to be short in all things which concern the State in general or any particular Subject ●he Kings ●●urt The next Court to this immediately after the coming in of the Normans and for some time before was the King's Court which was held in the King's Palace and follow'd the King where-ever he went For in the King's Palace there was a peculiar place for the Chancellor and Clerks who had the issuing out of Writs and the management of the great Seal and likewise for Judges who had not only power to hear pleas of the Crown but any cause whatsoever between private persons There was also an Exchequer for the Treasurer and his Receivers who had charge of the King's revenues These each of them were counted members of the King's family and had their meat and cloaths of the King Hence Gotzelin in the life of S. Edward calls them Palatii Causidici and Joannes Sarisburiensis Curiales But besides these and above them likewise ●●e Chief ●●●tice was the Justitia Angliae and Justitiarius Angliae Capitalis i.e. the Lord Chief Justice who was constituted with a yearly stipend of 1000 marks by a Patent after this form The King to all the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Counts Barons Viscounts Foresters and all other his faithful subjects of England greeting Whereas for our own preservation and the tranquillity of our Kingdom and for the administration of justice to all and singular of this our Realm we have ordain'd our beloved and trusty Philip Basset Chief Justice of England during our will and pleasure we do require you by the faith and allegiance due to us strictly enjoyning that in all things relating to the said office and the preservation of our peace and Kingdom you shall be fully obedient to him so long as he shall continue in the said Office Witness the King c. But in the reign of Henry the third it was enacted that the Common Pleas should not follow the King's Court but be held in some certain place and awhile after the Chancery the Pleas of the Crown and the Exchequer also were remov'd from the King's Court and establisht apart in certain set places as some how truly I know not have told us Having premis'd thus much I will now add somewhat concerning these Courts and others that sprung from them as they are at this day And seeing some of them have cognizance of ●uris Law namely the King's Bench Common Pleas Exchequer Assizes Star-Chamber Court of Wards and the Court of Admiralty others of Equity as the Chancery the Court of Requests the Councils in the Marches of Wales and in the North I will here insert what I have learnt from others of each of them in their proper places The King's Bench ●●e Kings ●●●ch so call'd because the Kings themselves were wont to preside in that Court takes cognizance of all pleas of the Crown and many other matters relating to the King and the well-being of the publick it has power to examine and correct the errors of the Common-pleas The Judges there besides the King himself when he is pleas'd to be present are the Lord Chief Justice of England and four others or more as the King pleases ●●mmon ●●●as The Common-Pleas has this name because the common pleas between subject and subject is by our law which is call'd the Common law there triable The Judges here are the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and four others or more to assist him Officers belonging to this Court are the Custos Brevium three Prothonotaries and many others of inferior rank ●●●hequer The Exchequer deriv'd that name from a table at which they sat For so Gervasius Tilburiensis writes who liv'd in the year 1160. The Exchequer is a squar● table about ten foot long and five broad contriv'd lik● a table to sit round On every side it has a ledge of four fingers breadth Upon it is spread a cloath of black colour with stripes distant about a foot or span● it bought in Easter term A little after This Court 〈◊〉 report has been from the very Conquest of the Realm by King William the design and model of it being taken ●●m the Exchequer beyond Sea Here all matters belongi●●● to the King's revenues are decided The Judges of it are the Lord Treasurer of England the Chancellor of the Exchequer the Chief Baron and three or four other Barons The Officers of this Court are the King's Remembrancer the Treasurer's Remembrancer the Clerk
Walter his brother Earl of Pembroke Anselme his brother Earl of Pembroke Roger Bigot Earl of Norfolk Roger his brother's son Earl of Norfolk Roger Lord Clifford Nicolas Lord Segrave Thomas Brotherton son to King Edward the first Earl of Norfolk William Montacute Earl of Sarisbury Thomas Beauchamp the elder Earl of Warwick Edmund Mortimer Earl of March Henry Lord Percye John Fitz-Alan Lord Maltravers Thomas Holland Earl of Kent half Brother to King Richard the second Thomas Mowbray Earl of Nottingham Thomas Holland Duke of Surrey John Montacute Earl of Sarisbury Ralph Nevill Earl of Westmoreland Thomas Mowbray Earl of Nottingham John his brother Duke of Norfolk John Holland Earl of Huntingdon John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk John Mowbray his son Duke of Norfolk Richard son of King Edward the fourth Duke of York and Norfolk Thomas Grey Knight John Howard Duke of Norfolk William Marquiss Berkeley and Earl of Nottingham Henry Duke of York son to King Henry the seventh Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey afterwards Duke of Norfolk Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset John Dudley Duke of Northumberland Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk restored Thomas Howard his Nephew late Duke of Norfolk George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury Robert Devreux Earl of Essex descended from Eva de Breosa daughter and co-heir of William Marshal Earl of Pembroke by the Bohunes Earls of Hereford and Essex and from Ralph Bigot brother unto Roger Bigot Marshal by Lacy Verdon and Crophul Under what Sign Bri ain lyes SOme will perhaps expect to be informed under the influence of what sign and planet this Britain of ours lyes To satisfie such curious inquirers for I have took some pains about those learned errors I will say something though the conjectures of Astrologers is so different in this point that the variety of opinions may seem to shake the reality of the thing it self and leave no room for truth M. Manilius an ancient Poet intimates that Capricorn presides here in that verse of his Tu Capricorne regis quicquid sub sole cadente Expositum Thou Capricorn presidest o're What e're lyes on the Western shore Ptolemy Albumazar and Cardan make Aries John de Muris would have Saturn the Frier Perscrutator Esquidus and Henry Silen make the Moon the ruling Planet because it is as they say in the seventh Climate Roger of Hereford Thomas of Ravenna a Philosopher and Hispalensis prefer Pisces To conclude Schonerus and Pitatus so that there 's no consent in this matter subject us to Gemini upon no better grounds than the rest Now by God's assistance I will begin my journey through the Counties of England in which according to the old way of prefacing before any work of difficulty was begun I wish good luck happiness success and fortune may attend me The ●●thod In my Treatise of each County I will shew with as much plainness and brevity as I can who were the ancient inhabitants what was the reason of the name what are the bounds of the County the nature of the soil the places of greatest antiquity and most eminent at present and lastly who have been Dukes or Earls of them since the Norman Conquest In this succession I have here drawn of the Earls to own ingenuously what assistance I have had from others I must freely acknowledge that Thomas Talbot who has been very accurate in perusing the Records of the Tower and is really a compleat master of our Antiquities has given me great light And now I will begin this work at the remotest point westward that is at Cornwall and thence will proceed to a survey of the other Counties in imitation of Strabo Ptolemy and the most ancient Geographers who in their descriptions always begin at the most Western parts as first from the great Meridian THE COUNTIES OF ENGLAND AND WALES CORNWALL By Robert Morden DANMONII THAT Tract which according to Geographers is as it were the first of all Britain reaching out a long way towards the West is contracted by little and little and bounded on the North by the Severn-Sea on the South by the British Ocean and on the West by S. George's Channel It was formerly inhabited by those Britains called in Solinus Dunmonii in Ptolemy Damnonii or as they are more correctly term'd in other Copies Danmonii Which * The most natural Original is from dun which from several instances of Towns ending in dunum appears to have signified a Hill and Moina Mines as if one should say Hills of Tinn-mines for which no doubt it was anciently much more noted than upon any other account and so most like to take its name from thence name if it be not deriv'd from the inexhaustible mines of tinn found in those parts and call'd by the Britains Moina does probably come from dwelling under mountains For through the whole County they live low and in valleys a way of dwelling which the Britains call Danmunith in which sense the very next Shire is term'd by them Duffneint i.e. low valleys at this day But whether the Ostidamnii Ostidamnii called also Ostaei and Ostiones and mention'd by Strabo out of Pithaeas of Marseills be the same with our Danmonii I would desire the Antiquaries to consider a little more narrowly For as they tell us they were seated in the remotest parts of Europe upon the Western Ocean over against Spain not far from the Island Ushant or Uxantissa All which circumstances do exactly agree to this country of the Danmonii And further since by Artemidorus those Ostiones are called Cossini as Stephanus in his Book De Urbibus has hinted I would entreat them to consider whether instead of Cossini Cossini we ought not to read Corini for this Country is also call'd Corini After the same manner † Quintil. Institut l. 1. cap. 4. And to the same purpose Livy lib. 3. Et Titum Veturium Geminum sive ille Vetusius fuit Fusii is read for Furii and Valesii or Valerii If the Geographers exclude the Ostidamnii and Cossini from this place it will be extreme hard to find any other upon the Western Ocean to settle them in Their bounds however are divided at this day into two parts Cornwal and Devonshire of which in their turns ‖ Pancirollus in his Comment upon the Notitia p. 177. thinks that the Tribunus Cohortis Cornoviorum should be read Cornubiorum and so would make that one of the Roman names of this place how truly let other judge CORNWALL CORNWALL call'd also by modern Writers in Latin Cornubia reaches out to the West the farthest of all Britain and is inhabited by those remains of the Britains which Marianus Scotus calls Western Britains By them in the British tongue for they have not yet quite lost their ancient language it is call'd Kernaw as lessening by degrees like a horn and on every side running out into Promontories like so many horns For the Britains call
breadth of it Stow S●●● stands upon the sea-coast the ancient seat of the family of the Grenvills G●●● famous for the antiquity and nobility of their pedigree y They are now made Earls of Bathe and the present Earl hath lately built here a very stately house lookt upon to be the finest in the West of England Amongst the rest Richard in the time of William Rufus signaliz'd his courage in the Conquest of Glamorganshire in Wales and lately another of the same Christian-name exceeding the nobility of his birth by his own bravery lost his life gallantly in an engagement with the Spaniard at the Azores 23 As I shall shew more fully in my Annals A clause which is not any Latin Edition I have seen and if they all want it he must have had this intimation from Mr. Camden and so by him might be encourag'd in his Translation Near to this is Stratton a market town noted for gardens and its garlick and next to it Lancells a new seat of the ancient family of the z They are now extinct Chaumonds r ●o The river Tamara now Tamar rising not far from the Northern shore runs swiftly and violently towards the South and after it is encreas'd with many little rivulets passes by Tamara a town mention'd by Ptolemy now Tamerton 24 By Tamar an ancient mannour of the Trevilions to whom by marriages the Inheritance of Walesborough and Ralegh of Netlested descended and at a little distance from it is Lanstuphadon i.e. the Church of Stephen commonly call'd Launston 〈…〉 a pretty little town situate upon a rising which out of two other burrows Dunevet and Newport is now grown into one Town In the beginning of the Normans William Earl of Moriton built a a The moles of this castle upon which the Kepe stands Leland tells us is large and of a terrible height and the Arx of it having three several wards is the highest but not the biggest that ever he saw in any ancient work in England castle here and had a College of Prebendaries as appears by Domesday where it is call'd Launstaveton which name it had doubtless from a College there dedicated to S. Stephen and about the year 1150. converted into a monastery b Leland in his Itinerary says that William Warwist Bishop of Exeter suppressing the Collegiate Church of S. Stephen erected a Priory there and gave best part of the College-lands to it taking the residue himself by Reginald Earl of Cornwall This change the Bishops of Exeter too much hurry'd forward by passion and interest did vehemently oppose fearing it might come to be a Bishop's-See and so lessen their jurisdiction At this day it is most remarkable for the publick Gaol and the Assizes being c At present the Assizes are always kept there often kept there Tamar going from hence has the view of a high mountain stretch'd out a great way in length call'd by Marianus d The Saxon Annals call it more distinctly and truly Hengistes dun Hengesdoun and by him interpreted the mountain of Hengist the name it has at present is Hengston-hill 〈◊〉 ●ll It was formerly pretty rich in veins of tinn 25 So that the Country-people had this by-word of it Hengston down well ywrought Is worth London deer ybought and the place where the Tinners of Cornwall and Devonshire met every seventh or eighth year to concert their common interests At this place also in the year 831 the Danmonian Britains with the assistance of the Danes breaking into Devonshire to drive out the English who had then got possession of it were totally routed by King Egbert and cut off almost to a man 26 Beneath it Tamar leaveth Halton formerly the habitation of the Rouses anciently Lords of Little-Modbery in Devonshire Lower down near Saltesse a little market town as I observ'd before plac'd upon a rising and having a Mayor with certain Privileges Tamar receives the river Liver upon which stands that Town of S. Germans mention'd above With this increase it passes to the sea and makes a haven call'd in the Life of Indractus Tamerworth after it has divided Cornwall from Devonshire For King Athelstan who was the first King of England that entirely subdu'd those parts made this the bound between the Cornish Britains and his own English after he had remov'd the Britains out of Devonshire as we learn by Malmesbury who calls the river Tambra Whereupon Alexander Necham in his Hymns upon the Divine Wisdom Loegriae Tamaris divisor Cornubiaeque Indigenas ditat pinguibus isiciis Cornwall from England Tamar's streams divide Whence with fat Salmon all the land 's supply'd e Of this see Drayton's Polyolbion p. 131. where the story is deliver'd at large ●●d ●o This place seems to require something concerning Ursula a Virgin of great sanctity born here and those 11000 British Virgins But whilst some hold them to have been drown'd under Gratian the Emperor in the year 383. upon the coast of Germany as they were sailing to Armorica and others tell us that in the year 450. at Cologn upon the Rhine in their return from Rome they suffer'd Martyrdom from Attila the Hunne that instrument of God's vengeance this difference among Authors has made some instead of believing it an historical truth suspect it to be a mere fable But as to that Constantine call'd by Gildas the tyrannous whelp of an unclean Danmonian Lioness and the disforesting of all this County under K. John f That it was so is undoubtedly true for I have seen a Copy of an Instrument to that purpose dated 22. March An. Reg. Joh. 5. which begins thus Johannes Dei gratia Sciatis nos deforestasse totam Cornubiam c. for before that 't is thought to have been a forest of these matters let the Historians give an account for 't is beside my business As to the Earls Candorus call'd by others Cadocus Earls of Cornwall is mention'd by the modern writers as the last Earl of Cornwall of British extraction his Arms as the Heralds tell you were 15 besants 27 Five four three two and one in a field sable The first Earl of Norman descent was Robert Moriton brother to William the Conqueror as son of Herlotta to whom succeeded William his son This William siding with Robert the Norman against Henry 1. King of England was taken prisoner and lost both his liberty and honors 28 And at last turn'd monk at Bermondsey to whose place Henry 2. whilst he was making preparations for war against Stephen advanc'd Reginald natural son to Henry 1. 29 By the daughter of Sir Robert Corbet for that King was so very incontinent that he had no less than 13 bastards Reginald dying without lawful issue male Rob. de Monte 1175. Henry 2. assigning certain lands to the daughters reserv'd this Earldom for his young son John then but nine years of age upon
cause probably was to improve his own mannour of Topesham to which one of the Hughs of this family perhaps the same procur'd a weekly market and a yearly fair which Edward Courtney Earl of Devonshire in an out-fall with the citizens threw into the chanel of the river Isc which hinders ships from coming to the town so that all merchandize is brought thither by land from Topesham a little village three miles from the city Nor are these heaps remov'd tho' it is commanded by Act of Parliament o From these a small village hard by is call'd Weare Weare but formerly Heneaton which belong'd heretofore to Austin de Baa from whom by right of inheritance it came to John Holand Ch. 24 E● who in a seal that I have seen bore a lion rampant gardant among flower de luces The government of this City is administer'd by 24. of whom u Th●s City was incorporated by K. John and made a County by K. Henry 8. one yearly is chosen Mayor who with four Bayliffs manages all publick affairs As for the position the old Oxford-Tables have defin'd it's longitude to be 19 degrees 11 minutes It 's latitude 50 degrees 40 minutes This City that I may not omit it has had it's Dukes For Richard 2. King of England of that name made John Holand Earl of Huntingdon and his brother by the mother's side first Duke of Exeter Dukes of Exeter Henry 4. depriv'd him of this honour and left him only the title of Earl of Huntingdon which being beheaded soon after 6 For conspiracy against the King he lost together with his life Some few years after Henry 5. supply'd this Dukedom with Thomas Beaufort Earl of Dorset descended from the house of Lancaster an accomplish'd Souldier He dying without issue John Holand the son of that John already mention'd as heir to Richard his brother that dy'd without issue and to his father was restor'd to all again having his Father's honours bestow'd upon him by the bounty of Henry 6. and left the same to his son Henry who whilst the Lancastrians stood flourish'd in great honour but after when the house of York came to the Crown his example might well shew us how unsafe it is to rely upon the smiles of fortune For this was that Henry Duke of Exeter who notwithstanding his marriage with the sister of Edward 4. was reduc'd to such misery Phil. Co●●naeus c●● 50. that he was seen to beg his bread ragg'd and bare-footed in the Low-countries And at last after Barnet-fight where he behav'd himself stoutly against Edward 4. he never was seen more till his body was cast upon the shore of Kent as if he had been shipwrack'd Long after this Exeter had it's Marquess namely Henry Courtny descended from Catherine the Daughter of Edward 4. rais'd to that honour by Henry 8 7 And design'd heir-apparent But to this Marquess as well as to the first Duke a great fortune did but raise great storms which as presently sunk him endeavouring a change of Government For among other things because with mony and counsel he had assisted Reginald Poole that was afterwards Cardinal and had left England to intriegue with the Emperor and the Pope against his King and Country who had then withdrawn from the Romish Communion he was arraign'd found guilty and beheaded with some others But now by the bounty of K. James Thomas Cecil Lord Burghley enjoys the title of Earl of Exeter Earl● of Exeter a man truly good and the worthy son of a most excellent father being the eldest son of William Cecil Baron Burghley Lord Treasurer of England whose wisdom has long supported the peace of this Kingdom nn From hence to the very mouth there is nothing of antiquity besides Exminster Exmin●●●● formerly Exanminster bequeath'd by King Alfred to his younger son and Pouderham Pouderham a castle built by Isabel de Ripariis now for a long time the seat of a very noble family the Courtnies Knights who being descended from the Earls of Devonshire and related to the best families are to this day flourishing and most worthy of such noble ancestors 8 Under Pouderham Ken a pretty brook enters into Ex which riseth near Holcombe where in a park is a fair place built by Sir Thomas Denis whose family fetcheth their first off-spring and surname from the Danes and were anciently written Le Dan Denis by which name the Cornish call'd the Danes Upon the very mouth on the other side as the name it self witnesses stands Exanmouth Exan●●● known for nothing but it's bare name and the fisher-hutts there More eastward Otterey Otterey that is a river of otters or water-dogs which we call Otters as the name it self implies runs into the sea it passes by Honniton Honni●●● well known to such as travel these parts 9 And was given by Isabel heir to the Earls of Devonshire to K. Edward the first when her issue fail'd p and gives it's name to some places Of which the most remarkable above Honniton is Mohuns-ottery which belong'd formerly to the Mohuns from whom it came by marriage to the Carews below Honniton near Holdcombe where lives the family of Le Denis Knights who take their original and name from the Danes S. Mary's Ottery so call'd from the w I● was suppress'd by a Parliament held at Leicester in the reign of Henry 5. College of S. Maries which John de Grandison Bishop of Exeter founded who had got the wealth of all the Clergy in his Diocese into his own hands For he had persuaded them to leave him all they had when they dy'd as intending to lay it all out in charitable uses in endowing Churches and building Hospitals and Colleges which they say he perform'd very piously From the mouth of this Ottery the shore goes on with many windings to the eastward by Budly q Sidmouth r and Seaton s formerly fine havens but now so choak'd with sand heap'd before the mouth of them by the flux and reflux of the sea that this benefit is almost quite lost Now that this Seaton is that Moridunum ●●idunum in Antoninus which is seated between Durnovaria and Isca if the book be not faulty and is lamely call'd Ridunum in the Peutegerian Table I should conjecture both from it's distance and the signification of the name For Moridunum is the same in British that Seaton is in English namely a town upon a hill by the sea Near this stands Wiscombe ●●omb memorable upon the account of William Baron Bonevill who liv'd there whose heir Cecil brought by marriage the titles of Lord Bonevill and Harrington with a brave estate in those parts ●his in County ●merset ●●ster to Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset Under these the river Ax empties it self from a very small chanel 10 After it hath pass'd down by Ford where Adelize daughter to Baldewin of Okehampton founded an Abbey for
Corn-market weekly kept here on Wednesday How long it has been a market-town does not precisely appear but in the 35 Henr. 6. William de Beauchamp Lord St. Amond bequeath'd his body to be bury'd in the Chappel of the Chantry of this place and at his death which happen'd in the same year was seiz'd among several other Lordships in Wiltshire of Cheping Lavington which according to Mr. Camden's observation in Chippenham is the same with Market-Lavington and if so it has been a market above these 200 years at least The manour belongs now to the Right honourable James Earl of Abingdon as doth also the next village call'd West-Lavington or Lavington Episcopi where his Lordship hath a very pleasant seat finely accommodated with a park gardens a grotto and several other conveniences It came to him by marriage with the late incomparable Lady Eleonora one of the daughters of Sir Henry Lee by Ann his wife to whom it descended as heiress to the Danvers's and Danteseys who had been Lords of this manour for many generations two of whom founded and liberally endow'd the Free-school and Almshouses in this town In this Parish is Littleton-Painell L●ttl●●●●-Pain●●● now an obscure village tho' heretofore a market-town which privilege was obtain'd for it 12 Edward 2. by John Lord Paganel or Painel The next river the Avon receives is the Were which runs not far from Westbury Westb●●● a small Mayor-town that probably arose out of the ruines of the old Roman one about half a mile north which without doubt was once very famous as appears by the great quantities of Roman coins that have been here found If the Verlucio of Antoninus were settl'd here the distances from Aquae Solis and Cunetio better agreeing in this town than any other would justifie such a conjecture And Holinshed calls the rivulet that runs near it Were which might give name to the town seated upon it Verlucio The new name Westbury is purely Saxon and it was natural enough for them to give this name to a town which they found to be the most considerable in these western parts calling it by way of eminency Westanbyrig in the same manner as they did the great neighbouring wood known by the name of Selwood for some Copies of the Saxon Annals read it simply Westanpuda others Westan-Sele-puda k Near Westbury is a village call'd Leigh or Ley Ley. which is most probably the place where K. Alfred encamp'd the night before he set upon the Danes at Eddington For the name comes very near it it being an easie mistake for the Saxon Scribe to write Æglea for aet Lea here is also a field call'd Courtfield and a garden adjoyning encompass'd with a moat and a tradition goes that here was a palace of one of the Saxon Kings Clay-hill by the sound might bid fair enough for this Aeglea Aeg●● but then it would have been a piece of very ill conduct in King Aelfred to have pitcht his tent upon such a high place visible from all parts of the Country when he intended to surprize the enemy So that it is more likely he march'd along this vale which was then over-spread with woods that were a part of Selwood-forest Beside Clay-hill shows no marks of any trenches or such like and is too far from Eddington where the fight was in the fields between the town and Bratton-castle which without doubt was the fortification whither the Danes fled after their rout and held out a siege of 14 days For it is seated upon the extremity of a high hill which commands all the country being encompass'd with two deep ditches and rampires proportionable The form of it is oval in length 350 paces and almost 200 broad in the widest part Near the middle of it is a large oblong barrow 60 paces long prabably the burying-place of some of the Danish Nobility here slain Within this vast Entrenchment there have been several pieces of old Iron-armour plough'd up It hath but two entrances fortify'd with out-works the one toward the south-east opening to the plain the other toward the north-east leading directly down to Eddington l North from hence is Trubridge ●●●●●dge the Saxon name whereof our Author tells us is Truþabrig and upon that interprets it a firm or true bridge Where he met with the name I know not but 't is much more probable that the right name is Trolbridge for beside the natural melting of l into u there is a Tithing in the Liberty and Parish call'd Trol and a large Common near it of the same name Also in a Manuscript History of Britain which is a Compendium of Geffrey of Monmouth the place is written Trolbridge where 't is said to have been built by Molmutius m Next is Bradford ●●dford a town of good note for the cloathing trade which beside the fight mentioned by Mr. Camden was famous in the Saxon times for the Monastery built here by Aldhelm and destroy'd in the Danish wars as also upon the account of a Synod probably held here A. D. 964. in which S. Dunstan was elected Bishop of Worcester n The west limit of this Shire runs by Farley-castle ●ley-●tle which tho' in Somersetshire yet part of the Park belonging to it lyes in Wiltshire and in this part not many years ago there was dug up a Roman pavement of Chequer-work a piece whereof was given to Ashmole's Musaeum in Oxford by Mr. Aubrey o Southward from hence upon the western limit we go by Longleat ●gleat the noble seat of the honorable Thomas Thynne Lord Viscount Weymouth to Mere ●e so call'd probably from being a Mearc or Land-mark for it is near the borders of Wiltshire Somersetshire and Dorsetshire In the neighbourhood of this town and Stourton are 4 Entrenchments one of which in Stourton-park is double-ditch'd and call'd by Leland Whiteshole-hill probably the Camp of the Danes in one of the battels at Pen. ●min● p Upon the little river Deverill is Werminster by Camden thought to be the Verlucio of Antoninus but that opinion is not back'd with Coins or other remains of the Romans that have been discover'd there and beside we have shewn before that Westbury is a more probable place Concerning it's state in the Saxon times I think our Historians are silent only we may observe that upon the Downs on the east-side of the town there are two Camps the one call'd Battle-bury having double-double-works and so probably Danish the other Scratchbury a square single trench'd fortification q About 3 miles to the east is Heitsbury ●sbury where Walter Lord Hungerford Lord High Treasurer of England founded an Hospital for 12 poor men and one woman with an allowance for a Chaplain who was likewise to be Warden and to teach a Free-school But this being not fully perform'd in his life-time Margaret his son Robert Lord Hungerford's widow effected it and it remains to this day r Farther down upon the river Willey
his to be about 80 miles distant from that sea which washes the east part of Kent where he landed Now this ford we mention is at the same distance from the sea and I am the first that I know of that has mention'd and settl'd it in it's proper place Some few miles from hence towards the east the little river Mole hastens into the sea Mole riv after it has cross'd the County from the southern bound but stop'd at last in it's way by the opposition of hills b See several instances of this kind as they are reckon'd up by the learned Selden in his Notes upon Drayton's ●olyelbion p. 267. with their several Authorities like that noble river of Spain Anas Anas a river in Spain it forces open a passage under ground as if it were some mole from whence it has it's name that subterraneous animal being call'd in English a Mole But there is nothing famous upon this river only at some distance from it's head near the old military way of the Romans call'd Stanystreat is the town Aclea commonly nam'd Ockley Ockley from the Oaks Here Aethelwolph son of Egbert who notwithstanding he had enter'd in to Holy Orders yet by a dispensation from the Pope succeeded his father hereditarily in the kingdom engag'd the Danish army with good success for he kill'd most of their brave men tho' with no great advantage to his country that Danish Hydra still sprouting up a-new d A little from the head of this river stands Gatton Gatton now hardly a village tho' formerly a famous town As an argument of it's antiquity it shews Roman coins dug up there and sends two Burgesses to Parliament Lower is Rhie-gat Rhie-gat i.e. according to our ancient language the course or chanel of a small river in a vale running out a great way eastward call'd c The Holm-trees abound very much through all this tract Holmesdale Holmesdale the inhabitants whereof because once or twice they defeated the plundering Danes have this rhime in their own commendation The vale of Holmesdall Never wonne ne never shall This Rhie-gate is more considerable for it's largeness than buildings on the south-side of it is a park growing thick with little groves and in this the most noble Charles Earl of Nottingham Baron of Effingham and Lord High Admiral of England has his seat where formerly the Earls of Warren and Surrey built a small Monastery On the east-side is a Castle standing upon a high-ground now neglected and decay'd with age it was built by the same Earls and is commonly call'd Holmes-castle from the vale in which it stands Under this there is a wonderful vault under-ground of arched work made of free-stone the same with that of the hill it self and hollow'd with great labour The Earls of Warren as it is in the book of Inquisitions held it in chief of the King in his Barony from the Conquest of England In Bar●●● sua de C●questa Anglia From thence it runs by Bechworth's-castle for which 6 Sir Thomas Thomas Brown procur'd the privilege of a Fair from Henry the 6th For it is the seat of the family of the Browns B●owns Knights of which in the memory of our grandfathers after 7 Sir Anthony Anthony Brown had marry'd Lucy fourth daughter of John Nevil Marquess of Montacute with whom he had a pretty great fortune Queen Mary honour'd his grandchild by a son with the title of Viscount Montacute A few miles hence to the west we see Effingham formerly the possession of William Howard that Conquerour of the Scots son to Thomas Duke of Norfolk who was created Baron Howard of Effingham Effingha● by Queen Mary and being made Lord High Admiral of England was first Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory and afterwards Keeper of the Privy Seal His son Charles is now in a flourishing condition and is Lord High Admiral of England whom the same Elizabeth in the year 1597. for his valour and great services advanced to the dignity of Earl of Nottingham 8 Of whom more in my Annals But to return to the River The Mole coming to Whitehill upon which box-tree grows in great abundance hides it self or is rather swallow'd up at the foot of it and for that reason the place is call'd Swallow The Swa●low but after about the space of two miles it bubbles up and rises again f so that the inhabitants of this tract no less than the Spaniards A bridge upon whi● flocks of sheep 〈◊〉 may boast of having a bridge that feeds several flocks of sheep For the Spaniard has made this a common proverb in relation to the place where the river d Seld. Comment in Polyolb p. 267. Anas now call'd Guadiana hides it self for ten miles together Our river Mole thus recovering it self from under ground goes with a slow current 9 By Stoke Dabernoun so nam'd of the ancient Possessors the Dabernouns Gentlemen of great note Afterwards by inheritance from them the possession of the Lord Bray And by A●sher sometimes a retiring place belonging to the Bishops of Winchester towards the Thames and enters it hard by Molesey to which it communicates the name After our Thames has receiv'd the Mole it posts forward directly to the North Kingst●● Matth. P●ris running by Kingstone formerly call'd Moreford as some would have it a little market-town of very great resort and once famous for the castle of the Clares Earls of Glocester having it's rise out of the ruins of a more ancient little town of the same name situate in a level ground and much expos'd to inundations In this town when the Danish wars had almost quite blown up England Athelstan Edwin and Ethelred the Kings were inaugurated 10 Upon an open stage in the market-place whereupon from the Kings it came to be call'd Kingston i.e. a Royal Town g In this neighbourhood also the Kings of England e By this means it was an usual Nursery for our late Princes and Princesses when children upon account of the wholesomness of its air chose them a seat which from its shining or splendour they call'd Shene Richmon● the p●ace and v●●●● call'd Sh● before Hen. ● Edward but now it has the name of Richmond Here it was that the most powerful Prince K. Edward 3. after he had liv'd enough both to glory and nature dy'd of grief for the loss of his warlike son whose death was so great an affliction both to him and all England as made the methods of consolation altogether ineffectual And indeed if ever England had a just occasion for sorrow then it was For in the space of one year it was entirely bereav'd of it's ornaments of true military discipline and untainted courage Both of these carry'd their conquering swords through France and put such a terrour into that Kingdom as might deservedly give the father with Anticchus the
about the year of Christ 1183. Baldwin Archbishop of Canterbury by an exchange with the Bishop of Rochester got a mannour in this place wherein he began a palace for him and his successors and this by little and little was enlarg'd But when the Archbishops began to have thoughts of building a small Collegiate Church here Good God what numbers of Appeals were packt to Rome by the Monks of Canterbury and what thundrings threatnings and censures were level'd by the Pope against the Archbishops For the Monks were jealous that this might prove an encroachment upon their Privileges and deprive them of their right to elect the Archbishop Nor could these disturbances be quieted till the little Church they had began was at the instance of the Monks levell'd with the ground Near to this is the most famous mart-town of all the County call'd at this day the Burrough of Southwork in Saxon Suþƿerke South● i.e. a work or building to the south situated so to the south over against London as that it seems to be a sort of suburbs to it but yet so large is it and populous that it may vie with most Cities in England being as it were a Corporation of it self Within the memory of our fathers it had it 's own Bailifs but in the reign of Edward 6. it was annext to the City of London and is at this day reckon'd a branch of it For which reason we will defer the further examination of this place till we come to London Beneath this the Thames leaves Surrey the eastbound whereof runs down in a direct line to the south almost by Lagham which in the reign of Edward 1. had it's Parlamentary Barons Barons S. John 〈◊〉 Lag●●● call d S. John de Lagham whose estate came at last to J. Leodiard by a daughter and heiress Somewhat lower almost in the very corner where it takes a view both of Sussex and Kent is Sterborrow-castle formerly the seat of the Lords de Cobham who from this place were nam'd de Sterborrow Sterborr● and descending from John de Cobham Lord of Cobham and Couling and the daughter of Hugh Nevil flourish'd a long time together in great splendour and reputation For Reginald in the reign of Edward 3. was made Knight of the Garter and Admiral of the Sea-coasts from the Thames mouth Westward But Thomas the last of them marrying Anne daughter to 15 Humphry Duke the Duke of Buckingham had by her one only daughter Anne marry'd to Edward Burgh descended from the Percies and Earls of Athol His son Thomas was created Baron Burgh by K. Henry 8. and left a son William father to Thomas Barons ●rough 〈◊〉 Burgh who was a great encourager of Learning Governour of Briel made by Queen Elizabeth Knight of the Garter and Lord Deputy of Ireland where he expos'd himself to death in defence of his country As to Eleanor Cobham of this family wife to Humphrey Duke of Glocester whose reputation was something tainted I refer you to the English Histories We must now reckon up the Earls Earls 〈◊〉 Surre● who were 〈◊〉 call'd 〈◊〉 of W●● Arms 〈◊〉 Earls 〈◊〉 Warr●● William Rufus King of England first made William de Warren Governour of Surrey 16 Who had marry'd his Sister under the honorary title of Earl whose Arms were Checky Or and azure For in his Foundation-Charter of the Priory of Lewis we read thus I have given c. for the good of my master K. William who brought me over into England and for the good of my Lady Queen Mawd my wife's mother and for the good of my master K. William his son after whose coming into England I made this Charter and who created me Earl of Surrey c. To him succeeded his son 17 And marry'd the daughter of Hugh Earl of Vermandois whereupon his posterity as some suppose us'd the Arms of Vermandois His son William dying in the Holy Land about 1142. and his grandchild by a son of the same name But this last had only a daughter who brought the same title first to William King Stephen's son and afterwards to Hamelin base son of Geoffrey Plantagenet Earl of Anjou But the first husband dying without issue Hamelin had by her William Earl of Surrey whose posterity taking the name of Warrens bore the same title This William marry'd the eldest daughter and coheir of William Marshal Earl of Pembroke widow of Hugh Bigod and had by her John 18 Who slew Alan de la Z●rich in presence of the Judges of the Realm and John by Alice daughter of Hugh le * Earls of March in ●●●nce Brune sister by the mother's side to K. Henry 3. had William who dy'd before his father and had by Joanna Vere daughter of the Earl of Oxford John who was born after the death of his father and was last Earl of this family He was as I learnt from his seal Earl of Warren Surrey Strathern in Scotland Lord of Bromfeld and Yale and Count Palatine But he dying without lawful issue in the 23d of Edward 3. his sister and heiress Alice was marry'd to Edmund Earl of Arundel and by that marriage brought this honour into the family of the Arundels 19 For Richard their son who marry'd in the House of Lancaster after his father was wickedly beheaded for siding with his Sovereign King Edward 2 by the malignant envy of the Queen was both Earl of Arundel and Surrey and left both Earldoms to Richard his son who contrariwise lost his head for siding against his Sovereign K. Richard 2. But Thomas his Son to repair his Father's dishonour lost his life for his Prince and Country in France leaving his sisters his heirs for the lands not entailed who were marry'd to Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk c. to Sir Rowland Lenthall and Sir William Beauchampe Lord of Abergavenny from which it came at last by the Mowbrays to the Howards For Thomas Mowbray marry'd the eldest sister and coheir of Thomas Fitz-Alan Earl of Arundel and Surrey In the mean time 20 After the execution of Richard Earl of Arundel Richard 2. conferr'd the title of Duke of Surrey upon Thomas Holland Earl of Kent who notwithstanding did not long enjoy that honour For secretly endeavouring to rescue the same Richard then taken prisoner and to restore him to his Crown his plot unexpectedly was discover'd and himself making his escape was seiz'd by the town of Cirencester and beheaded Next Thomas de Beaufort who was the King's Chancellor bore this honour if we may believe Thomas Walsingham For he tells us that in the year 1410. The Lord Tho. Beaufort Earl of Surrey dy'd But let Walsingham make good his assertion for there is no such thing appears in the King's Records only that Thomas de Beaufort was about that time made Chancellor 'T is evident however from the publick Records of the Kingdom that King Henry 6. in the 29th year of
necessity of contriving a pond to water their cattel and this rubbish was thrown out of that place The foremention'd river rising out of a hill hereabouts runs to Albury Albury which when but a mean structure was yet the delight of that excellent person Thomas Earl of Arundel a great lover of Antiquities who purchasing this place of the Randylls made it his darling Henry his grandson Duke of Norfolk had no less affection for it he began there a magnificent Pile cut a Canal planted spacious Gardens and Vineyards adorn'd with Fountains Grots c. But what is above all singular and remarkable is an Hypogaeum or Perforation made through a mighty hill and large enough at one end for a coach to pass being about a furlong or more in length and so leads o'er into an agreeable and pleasant valley It was at first intended for a way up to the house but a rock at the south-end hinder'd that design This noble seat is enclos'd with a park and much improv'd by the honourable Heneage Finch Esq late Sollicitor-General who having purchas'd it of the father of the present Duke of Norfolk is daily adding to its beauty Nor is this place less celebrated for that famous Mathematician William Oughtred who liv'd and dy'd Rector of this Parish At a little distance from hence is St. Martha's Chapel St. Martha's Chapel seated conspicuously on a copp'd mountain This seems to have been thrown up by some fiery Eruption or Vulcano as several other such Elevations towards the edge of Sussex confirm Beneath this hill is Chilworth the seat of Morgan Randyl Esq owner of the most considerable powder-Powder-works brought first into England by George Evelyn Esq and best Hop gardens in England Not far off is Tower-hill the seat of Edward Bray Esq of a very ancient and honourable family e Returning to the Mole we see Beechworth Beechworth the feat as our Author observes of the Browns But now that name after a long series of Knights is at last extinguish'd in a daughter 'T is at the foot of the Castle here that the river Mole bending to the precipice of Box-hill is swallow'd up Between Beechworth and Darking stands Deepden Deepden the situation whereof is somewhat surprising by reason of the risings and uniform acclivities about it which naturally resemble a Roman Amphitheatre or rather indeed a Theatre it is open at the north-end and is of an oval form Now it is most ingeniously cast and improv'd into gardens vineyards and other plantations both on the Area below and sides of the environing hills with frequent grotts here and there beneath the terraces leading to the top from whence one has a fair prospect of that part of Surrey and of Sussex as far as the South-downs for near 30 miles out-right The honourable Charles Howard Uncle to the present Duke of Norfolk and Lord of half the mannour of Darking is solely entitl'd to this ingenious contrivance Going along Holmesdale which extends it self to the foot of that ledge of Mountains which stretch and link themselves from the utmost promontory of Kent to the Lands end we have on the right hand White-down White-down where is a vast Delf of chalk which in summer time they carry with great labour as far as the middle of Sussex as they bring of the same material from the opposite hills by the sea-coast of that County and these two being mingl'd together are burnt into lime for the enriching of their grounds Here are likewise dug up cockle-shells and other Lusus naturae with pyrites bedded an incredible depth within the bowels of the mountains upon which many Yew-trees grow spontaneously tho' of late they are much diminish'd and their places taken up with corn Not far from the bottom of this hill stands an ancient seat of the Evelyns of Wotton Wotton among several streams gliding thro' the meadows adorn'd with gentle risings and woods which as it were encompass it And these together with the gardens fountains and other hortulane ornaments have given it a place and name amongst the most agreeable seats It is at present with many fair Lordships about it the possession of that worthy and hospitable Gentleman George Evelyn Esq who having serv'd in many Parliaments from 1641. is perhaps the most ancient member thereof now living In opening the ground of the Church-yard of Wotton to enlarge a Vault belonging to Mr. Evelyn's family they met with a skeleton which was 9 foot and 3 inches long as the worthy Mr. John Evelyn had it attested by an ancient and understanding man then present and still living who accurately measur'd it and mark'd the length on a pole with other workmen who affirm the same They found it lying in full length between two boards of the coffin and so measur'd it before they had discompos'd the bones But trying to take it out it fell all to pieces for which reason they flung it amongst the rest of the rubbish after they had separately measur'd several of the more solid bones Hereabouts is a thing remarkable tho' but little taken notice of I mean that goodly prospect from the top of Lith-hill which from Wotton rises almost insensibly for 2 or 3 miles south but then has a declivity almost as far as Horsham in Sussex 8 miles distant From hence it is one may see in a clear day the goodly Vale and consequently the whole County of Sussex as far as the South-downs and even beyond them to the sea the entire County of Surrey part of Hamshire Barkshire Oxfordshire Buckinghamshire and Hartfordshire as also of Middlesex Kent and Essex and farther yet as is believ'd into Wiltshire c. could one well distinguish 'em without the aid of a Telescope The whole circumference cannot be less than 200 miles far exceeding that of the Keep at Windsor over which as also over the City of London 25 miles distant one sees as far as the eye unarm'd with the glass is able to distinguish land from sky The like I think is not to be found in any part of England or perhaps Europe besides and the reason why it is not more observ'd is partly its lying quite out of any road and partly its rising so gently and making so little show till one is got to the very top of it from the side thereof a great part of the brow is slidden down into the grounds below caus'd by a delf of stones dug out of the sides of the mountain and the bare places from whence the earth is parted being of a reddish colour plainly appear above 40 miles off But here we must not forget Darking Darking memorable for a very large Camp in that Parish near Homebury-hill and not far from the road between Darking and Arundel It is double trench'd and deep containing by estimation about 10 acres at least f Where the Mole comes from under ground Mole ri●● it spreads it self so very wide as to require a
humane frailty promises them money fixing a time against which he would procure it that if within that no acceptable ransom offer'd it self whereby he might escape a momentary death he might however purge himself by frequent groans to be offer'd a lively sacrifice to the Lord. When the time appointed was come this greedy gulf of Pirates calls forth the servant of the Lord and with many threatnings presently demands the tribute he had promis'd His answer was Here am I like a meek lamb ready to undergo all things for the love of Christ which you presume to inflict upon me that I may be thought worthy of being an example to his servants This day I am no way disturb'd As to my seeming a lier to you it was not my own will but the extremity of want that brought me to it This body of mine which in this exile I have lov'd but too much I surrender to you as criminal and I know it is in your power to do with it what you please but my sinful soul over which you have no power I humbly commit to the Creator of all things While he spake thus a troop of profane villains encompass'd him and got together several sorts of weapons to dispatch him Which when their Captain Thurkil perceiv'd at some distance he ran to them in all haste crying I desire you would not by any means do so I freely divide among you my gold silver and whatever I have or can procure except the ship only on condition you do not offend against the Lord 's ‖ Ci●●● Anointed But this fair language did not soften the unbridled anger of his fellows harder than iron and rocks nor could it be appeas'd but by the effusion of innocent blood which they presently and unanimously spilt by pouring upon him Ox-heads and showres of stones 8 And to the memory of this S. E●lpheg is the Parish-Church here consecrated and sticks Now the place is famous for being a Royal seat built by Humfrey Duke of Glocester and call'd by him Placentia K. Hen. 7. very much enlarg'd it added to it a small house of Friers Mendicants and finish'd that tower 9 Famous in Spanish fables which Duke Humfrey had begun on the top of a high hill from which there is a most pleasant prospect down to the winding river and the green meadows that lie below 10 To the City of London and the country round about It is now much enlarg'd and beautify'd for which it is indebted to it 's new inhabitant Henry Howard Earl of Northampton 11 Lord Privy-Seal c. But the greatest ornament by far that Greenwich has is our Elizabeth who being born here by a happy providence did so enlighten Britain nay and even the whole world with the rays of her royal virtues that no praise can equal her merit But as to what concerns Greenwich take the verses of our Antiquary Leland Ecce ut jam niteat locus petitus Tanquam sydereae domus cathedrae Quae fastigia picta quae fenestrae Quae turres vel ad astra se efferentes Quae porro viridaria ac perennes Fontes Flora sinum occupat venusta Fundens delicias nitentis horti Rerum commodus aestimator ille Ripae qui variis modis amoenae Nomen contulit eleganter aptum How bright the lofty seat appears Like Jove's great palace pav'd with stars What roofs what windows charm the eye What turrets rivals of the sky What constant springs what smiling meads Here Flora's self in state resides And all around her does dispence Her gifts and pleasing influence Happy the man who'ere he was Whose lucky wit so nam'd the place As all it's beauties to express I have nothing else to observe in this place unless it be not to let the memory of deserving and worthy persons perish that William Lambard a person of great learning and singular piety built a hospital here for relief of the poor which he call'd Queen Elizabeth's College for the poor 12 And as the prying Adversaries of our Religion then observ'd was the first Protestant that built an Hospital ●m Behind this at scarce three miles distance lies Eltham a retiring place also of the Kings 13 But unwholsomly by reason of the moate built by Anthony Bec Bishop of Durham and Patriarch of Jerusalem and bestow'd upon Eleanor wife to K. Edward 1. after he had craftily got the estate of the Vescies to whom it formerly belong'd For 't is said that this Bishop whom the last Baron of Vescy made his Feoffee in trust 〈◊〉 of ●am that he might keep the estate for William de Vescy his young son but illegitimate scarce dealt so fair with this Orphan as he should have done 14 But despoil'd him of Alnwick Castle this and other fair lands breach Below Greenwich the Thames throwing down it's banks has laid several acres of ground under water and some for many years endeavouring to keep it out at vast expence scarce find their works and walls able to defend the neighbouring fields against the incursions of the Tide 15 Which the Canons of Liesnes adjoyning kept sweet and found land in their times This Abbey was founded 1179. by Lord Richard Lucy Chief Justice of England and by him dedicated to God and the memory of Thomas of Canterbury whom he so admired for his piety while others condemned him for pervicacy against his Prince as he became here a devoted Canon to him There is great plenty of Cochlearia or Scurvygrass ●●ygrass growing here which some Physicians will have to be Pliny's Britannica and upon that account I mention it in this place f But take Pliny's own words In Germany when Germanicus Caesar remov'd his Camp forward beyond the Rhine in the maritime tract there was one fountain and no more of fresh water which if one drank of his teeth would drop out in two years time and the joynts of his knees become loose and feeble Those evils the Physicians term'd Stomacace and Scelety●be The herb Britannica For remedy hereof the herb call'd Britannica was found out not only good for the sinews and mouth but also against the Squinsie and stinging of serpents c. The Frisians where our Camp was show'd it to our soldiers and I wonder what should be the reason of that name unless the Inhabitants of the sea-coasts dedicated it to the name of Britain as lying so near it But the learned Hadrianus Junius in his Nomenclator brings another See in the British liles concerning the Armamentarium Brita●n●●cum and indeed more probable reason of the name whom for your satisfaction please to consult for this word Britannica has drawn me out of my road The Thames afterwards growing narrower is met by the river Darent which coming out of Surrey flows with a gentle chanel not far from Seven-oke Seven-oke so call'd as they say from seven Oaks of an exceeding height
build an Hospital in the place of it for the maintenance of wounded and superannuated Soldiers which being begun by him was carried on by his Successor King James the second and is finisht and furnisht with all sorts of Necessaries and Conveniencies by their present Majesties 'T is indeed a Structure well suiting the munificence of its Royal Founders being more nobly accommodated with all sorts of Offices and adorned with more spatious walks and gardens perhaps than any Nobleman's house or College in the Kingdom h Hence our Author brings us to London London the capital city of England where he first give us an account of it's various names and etymologies of them to which I shall only add * Chron. Sax. that it was also call'd by the Saxons Lundone Lundune and Lundenburh and has another etymology given us of it's Latin name by the judicious Mr. Somner † Glossar ad X. Script who derives it from the British Llawn plenus frequens and dyn homo or din the same with dinas urbs civitas either of which joyned wit Llawn will signifie a populous place as London has always been i As to the original of the City tho' we have no certain account City bui●● it not being clear that there was any such place in Caesar's time and yet a great town of trade in Nero's as Tacitus witnesses doubtless it must be founded within that little compass of time between those Emperours and in all probability as the learned ‖ Orig. B●●t p. 43. Bishop of Worcester thinks about the time of Claudius and inhabited by the Romans and Britains together being a trading tho' not a military Colony as Camulodunum was from the very beginning But it flourish'd not long for in the very next reign of the Emperour Nero upon that grand revolt of the Iceni and Trinobantes under Boodicia his Lieutenant Suetonius Paulinus judging it not tenible and taking away from it to his aid the choicest of the Citizens it was quickly sack'd by the Britains and the remaining inhabitants barbarously massacred without any regard to sex or age So that I cannot so fully agree with our Author when he asserts that this has been a City vix unquam magnis calamitatibus conflictata Suffer'd several Calamities that scarce ever engag'd any great calamity For not only in it's infancy but when grown to a greater bulk in the year 839. in the reign of King Ethelwolf it was surprized by the Danes and the Citizens inhumanly butcher'd Quickly after in the year 851. it was again sack'd by the Danes the army of Beorhtwulf King of Mercia who came to it's defence being totally routed Again in the year 872. in the days of King Ethelred the Danes took it and winter'd in it And so again An. 1013. after a great fight with Swane King of Denmark who besieg'd it the Citizens were at last forc'd to admit him and his army to winter in it and to pay him such tribute as he demanded Lastly in the year 1016. it was twice besieg'd and so much streighten'd by Canutus that they were necessitated in fine to receive him into the city give him winter quarters and to buy their peace with a sum of money * Ch●●● Sax. 〈…〉 An●● Not to mention the grievous insults that were made upon it of later years by Wat Tyler and Jack Straw temp Rich. 2. An. 1381. of Jack Cade otherwise call'd by his followers John Mend-all An. 1450. temp Hen. 6. and the bastard Falconbridge temp Edw. 4. An. 1481. Nor has it suffer'd only by the sword it being much wasted by fire as ‖ Poly● Lib. ● Ranulph Higden tells us An. 983. And in the year 1077 in the days of William the Conquerour it was also consumed by so great a fire as had not happen'd to it as the Saxon Chronicle expresses it since it's foundation † Ch●●● Sax p ● Quickly after again in the same King's reign An. 1086. the Church of S. Paul was quite burnt down with the greatest and most splendid part of the City ‖ Stow's Survey p. 2●● Again in the year 1135. the first of King Stephen by a fire which began in Cannon-street near London-stone the City was consumed from thence to the Eastward as far as Aldgate to S. Paul's Church Westward and to the South as far as Southwark the bridge then of timber being quite burnt down It was afterwards rebuilt of stone and houses set upon it but within four years after it was finish'd An. 1212. upon occasion of a fire in Southwark whilst a multitude of people were passing the bridge either to extinguish or to gaze at it on a sudden the houses on the North end of the bridge by a strong South wind were set on fire So that the people thronging betwixt two fires could now expect no help but from the vessels in the river which came in great numbers to their assistance but the multitude so unadvisedly rush'd into them that they were quickly overset and the people drown'd and betwixt fire and water there perish'd above 3000 persons † G alt 〈…〉 L● D●n● 〈…〉 S. Also Feb. 13. An. 1033. a third part at least of the same bridge was again burnt down S●●w's 〈◊〉 p. ● 〈◊〉 of L●●don But the most dreadful fire that ever befell this great City was that which happen'd within our own memory viz. on Sunday Sept. 2. An. 1666. which beginning in Pudding-lane in three days time being driven by a fresh easterly wind consumed no less than 89 Churches the Guild-hall Hospitals Schools and Libraries 15 entire Wards of the 26 leaving 8 of the rest half burnt and miserably shatter'd In this compass were 400 streets and in them 13200 houses which cover'd no less than 436 acres of ground It destroying all on the Thames-side from that of Allhallows Barkin to the Temple Church and all along from the North-east walls of the City to Holburn-bridge and when all artificial helps fail'd it languish'd and went out of it self tho' amongst as combustible buildings as any it had burnt before In memory whereof near the place where the fire began is erected a magnificent Pillar somewhat resembling except the Imagery those of Trajan and Antonine at Rome of 202 foot high which equals exactly the distance of the Pillar from the place where the fire first began k In which Conflagration the magnificent Church of St. Pauls S Pa●l's did not escape the foundation whereof was laid so very large that as our Author notes tho' the whole revenues of the Bishoprick for 20 years together were given toward it by Richard Beaumes successor to Mauricius the first founder yet they seemed so little to advance the work that his successors and all others despaired of its ever being finish'd at least by private hands Wherefore they were forced to apply themselves to the bounty of all good people throughout the Realms both of England and Ireland as appears by
without issue was succeeded by his brother Roger whose son Richard marry'd Amicia daughter and coheir of William Earl of Glocester and in right of her his posterity were Earls of Glocester whom you may find in their proper place But at last upon default of heir-male Leonel third son of Edw. 3. who had marry'd Elizabeth daughter and sole heir of William de Burgo Earl of Ulster by Elizabeth Clare was honour'd by his father with the new title of Duke of Clarence But he having only a daughter call'd Philippa wife of Edmund Mortimer Earl of March King Henry 4. created his younger son Thomas Duke of Clarence Dukes of Clarence who was Governour of Normandy 7 As also Lord High Steward of England and Earl of Albemarle and in the assaults of the Scots and French was slain in Anjou leaving no issue behind him A considerable time after Edward 4. conferr'd this honour upon George his brother whom after bitter quarrels and a most inveterate hatred between them he had receiv'd into favour yet for all that he at length dispatch'd him in prison ordering him to be drown'd as the report commonly goes † In dolio vini Cretici in a butt of Malmesey And thus 't is planted in the nature of man to hate those they fear and those with whom they have had quarrels for life even tho' they be brethren e From Clare the Stour runs by Long-Melford a beautiful Hospital lately built by that excellent person Sir William Cordall Knight Master of the Rolls to Sudbury Sudbury i.e. the Southern burrough which it almost encompasses The common opinion is e For Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction it has still something of preheminence the County being divided into the two Archdeaconries of Suffolk and of Sudbury that this was once the chief town of the County and that it had the name given it with respect to Norwich i.e. the northern village And indeed at this day it has no reason to give place to it's neighbours For 't is populous and thrives exceedingly by the Cloth-trade it 's chief Magistrate also is a Mayor who is annually chosen out of the seven Aldermen Not far from hence is Edwardeston Edwardeston a place of no great repute at present but had formerly Lords and inhabitants of great honour call'd de Monte Canisio and commonly Mont-chensy Barons de Montchensy Of which family Guarin marry'd the daughter and co-heir of that most powerful Earl of Pembroke William Marshal and had by her a daughter Joanna who brought to her husband William de Valentia of the family of Lusigny in France Minor Hist Matth. Par. the title of Earl of Pembroke That Guarin Mont-chensy as he had great honours so likewise had he a very plentiful fortune insomuch that in those times he was call'd the Crassus of England his Will amounting to no less than two hundred thousand marks f 8 No small wealth as the standard was then From a younger brother or cadet of this house of Montchensie issu'd by an heir-general the f●●●ly of the Waldgraves who having long flourisht in Knightly degree at Smaltbridge nearer to Stour as another family of great account in elder age 〈◊〉 Buers which was thereof sirnamed A few miles from hence the Stour is encreas'd by the little river Breton which within a small compass washes two towns of Antiquity At the head of it we see Bretenham a little inconsiderable town without almost any appearance of a City and yet that it is the Combretonium Combretonium mention'd by Antoninus in those parts is evident both from the affinity and signification of the name For as Bretenham Bretenham in English implies a town or mansion upon the Breton so does Combretonium in Welsh a valley or low place upon the Breton But this place in the Peutegerian Tables is falsly call'd Comvetronum and Ad Covecin A little way from hence to the east is seen Nettlested 9 Whence was Sir Thomas Wentworth whom King Henry 8. honour'd with the title of Baron Wentworth from whence are the Wentworths Ba●ons Wentworth whom King Henry the eighth honour'd with the dignity of Barons and neighbour to it is Offton i.e. the town of Offa King of the Mercians where upon a chalky hill there lye the ruins of an old Castle which they tell you was built by King Offa after he had villanously cut off Ethelbert King of the East-Angles and seiz'd upon his kingdom 10 But to return to the river Breton on the banks of another brook that is joyn'd thereto stands Lancham a ●air market-town and near it the manour of Burnt-Elleie to which King Henry 3. granted a market at the request of Sir Henry Shelton Lord thereof whose p●sterity flourisht here for a long time Below this is Hadley in Saxon headlege famous at this day for making of woollen Cloaths but mention'd by our ancient Historians upon the account of Guthrum or Gormo the Dane's Guthrum or Gormo the Dane being buried here For when Alfred had brought him to such terms as to make him embrace Christianity and be baptiz'd he assign'd him this tract of the East-Angles that he might to use the words of my g Selden has observ'd it to be taken out of Malmesbury Not. MS. Author by a due Allegiance to the King protect those Countries he had before over-run with ravage and plunder From hence the Breton runs 11 Runs swiftly by Higham whence the family of Higham takes its name to Stour c. into the Stour whose united streams flowing not far from Bentley Bentley where the Talmaches a famous and ancient family have a long time flourisht within a few miles run near Arwerton Arwerton formerly the seat of the famous family of the Bacons 12 Who held this manour of Brome by conducting all the Footmen of Suffolk and Norfolk from St. Edmund's-dike in the wars of Wales now of the Parkers who by the father's side are descended from the Barons Morley and by the mother from the Calthrops a very eminent family Then they flow into the Ocean and the river Orwell or Gipping joyning them just at the mouth discharges it self along with them This rises about the very middle of the County out of two Springs one near Wulpett Wulpett the other at a little village call'd Gipping Wulpett is a Market-town and signifies in Latin Luporum fossa i.e. a den of Wolves if we believe Neubrigensis who has patcht up as formal a story about this place as is the * Vera narratio True Narrative of Lucian Namely how two little green boys † Ex Satyrorum genere born of Satyrs after a long tedious wandering through subterraneous Caverns from another world i.e. the Antipodes and the Land of St. Martin came up here If you would have more particulars of the story I refer you to the Author himself ‖ Omnibus rihonibus ridenda pr●pinabit who
Yardley Hastings Yardley so sirnam'd of the Hastings once Earls of Pembroke to whom it belong'd 3 And to turn a little aside I may not omit Horton when as King Henry 8. created Sir W. Par Lord thereof Uncle and Chamberlain to Queen Catharine Par Baron Par of Horton which honour shortly vanish'd with him when he left only daughters who were married into the families of Tresham and Lane But to return to Willingborow a market anciently Wedlingborough 4 And Wodlingborough made a Market by King John at the suit of the Monks of Crowland Here a rivulet from the east runs into it coming down by Rushton and Newton belonging to the Treshams by Geddington where there was a Castle of the Kings and where there yet remains a Cross erected in honour of Queen Eleanor King Edward 1.'s Consort by Boughton belonging to the family of Montacutes Knights e Lib. in 〈◊〉 in sca●cario by Kettering Kettering a well-traded market-town near which stands Rouwell a noted Horse-fair f by Burton the Barony likewise if I mistake not the name of Alan de Dinant for King Henry 1. gave him a Barony of that name in this County for killing the French King's Champion in single Combat at Gizors and by Harrouden the Lord whereof * Sir N. Nicholas Vaulx Baron Vaulx Governour of Guines in Picardy K. Hen. 8. created Baron Vaulx of Harrouden Hence the Nen keeps his course to Higham a town 5 In times past of the Peverells and after by them of the Ferrers formerly belonging to the Ferrers from whom it took the name of Higham-Ferrers Higham Ferrers who had here also their Castle the ruins whereof are yet to be seen near the Church But the chief ornament of this place was Henry Chicheley Archb. of Canterbury who founded here a fine College for Secular Clerks and Prebendaries Founder of All-souls in Oxford Matth. Parker as likewise an Hospital for the Poor Thence it runs by Addington anciently belonging to the Veres and washes Thorpston commonly call'd Thrapston † Belonging likewise to them and it 's opposite Drayton the seat in the last age of H. Green but afterwards by his daughter of John and Edward Stafford Earls of Wiltshire Now 't is the Lord Mordaunt's to whom it descended hereditarily from the Greens Gentlemen of great reputation in this County Thence it runs almost round about a pretty little town which takes it's name from it Oundale Oundale they call it corruptly for Avondale where there is nothing worth seeing but a fine neat Church a Free-school for the education of youth and an Alms-house founded by Sir William Laxton sometime Lord Mayor of London In the neighbourhood stands Barnwell Barnwell a little Castle lately repair'd and beautified with new buildings by the worthy Sir Edward Mont-acute Knight of the ancient family of the Mont-acutes as appears by his Coat of Arms. It formerly belong'd to Berengarius le Moigne that is Monk and not as some think to that Berengarius of Tours whose opinion concerning the Eucharist was condemn'd in a Synod ‖ Of 113 Bishops held by the Bishop of Rome After this it salutes Fotheringhay-Castle Fotheringhay environ'd on every side with very pleasant Meadows which in Henry 3.'s time when the Strong-holds encourag'd the Nobility to revolt was surpris'd by William Earl of Albemarle who laid all the Country round about waste as Matth. Paris informs us At which time it seems to have belong'd to the Earls of Huntingdon 6 Who were of the Royal race of Scotland A good while after K. Edw. 3. assign'd it † Quast in h●eredicatem as it were for an inheritance or Appennage as they call it to his son Edmund of Langley Duke of York who rebuilt the Castle and made the highest Fortification or Keep thereof in form of a Horse-Fetter 7 Which hath of it self and with a Falcon in it was his Devise or Exprese as implying that he was locked up from all great hope as a younger brother which was the family of York's Device His son Edward Duke of York in the second year of Hen. 5. An. 1415. as appears by an Inscription there in barbarous verse founded a very fine Collegiate Church wherein himself after he was slain at the Battel of Agincourt as also Richard Duke of York his Brother's son who lost his life at Wakefield and his Wife Cicely Nevil had all magnificent monuments which were thrown down and ruin'd together with the upper part or Chancel of the Church 8 In King Edward the sixth's time But Queen Elizabeth commanded two monuments to be set up in memory of them in the lower end of the Church now standing which nevertheless such was their pinching and sparing who had the charge of the work are look'd upon as very mean and unworthy such great Princes descended from Kings and from whom the kings of England are descended 9 The form of the Keep beforesaid built like a Fetterlock occasioneth me to digress a little and I hope with your pardon when the gravest Authors in as small matters have done the like Edmund of Langly Duke of York who built that Keep and garnish'd the Glass-windows there with Fetter-locks when he saw his sons being young scholars gazing upon the painted windows ask'd them what was Latin for a Fetter-lock They studying and looking silently one upon another not able to answer If you cannot tell me says he I will tell you Hic ha●c hoc Taceatis that is Hic haec hoc be silent and quiet and therewithal added God knoweth what may happen hereafter This King Edward the fourth his great grand-child reported publickly when he having attained the Crown created Richard his younger son Duke of York and then commanding that he should use for his badge the Fetter-lock open to verifie the presage of his great grand-father But this by the way The said Cicely Cicely Dutchess of York saw plainly within the compass of a few years what pastime † Impotens unruly and unconstant Fortune if I may so say creates her self out of the miseries of the mighty For she saw her husband Duke Richard even then when he thought himself sure of the kingdom and her son the Earl of Rutland slain together in a bloody battel and some few years after her eldest son Edward the fourth advanc'd to the * Deprived of the same recovering it again Crown and taken away by an untimely death having before made away † Her second son and c. his brother George Duke of Clarence After this she saw her son Richard K Rich. 3. forcing his way to the Crown by the lamentable murder of his Nephews and slander of her his own Mother for he charg'd her openly with incontinency then she saw him possess'd of the kingdom and soon after slain in battel These her miseries were so link'd together too that
Confessor's Charter In consideration of 4000 Eeles in Lent the Monks of Ramsey shall have out of the Territory of St. Peter so much square stone as they need at Berneck and of rough stone for walls at Burch Beneath Berneck that Roman way which the neighbouring Inhabitants call the Forty-foot way from its breadth cuts this Shire in two between Caster and Stamford and appears in an high Causey especially by the little wood of Berneck where it has a Beacon set upon the very ridge and so runs along by Burghley-Park-wall Some few miles hence the Welland runs down by Maxey-Castle Maxey formerly belonging to the Barons of Wake and by Peag-Kirke Peag-Kirk Ingu phus where in the infancy of Christianity in England Pega a holy woman who gave name to that place sister of St. Guthlac with other devout Virgins by their life and example gave excellent documents of Piety and Chastity and so comes to the Fenns so often mention'd And by reason the bank on the South-side thereof is neglected the river over-flows the adjacent Lands to the great damage of the proprietors and having broken thus out of it's chanel which went formerly by Spalding it falls into the Nen and extreamly overcharges it The lesser Avon which is the other boundary as I said of this Shire northward but serves for a limit only about 5 or 6 miles breaking out of the ground near the springs of the Welland runs westward by 11 Suleby sometimes an Abby of black Monks and by c. Stanford Stanford upon Avon seat of the family of Cave Cave out of which several branches of good note have dispers'd themselves in all the neighbouring Tract also by Lilburne the seat in former ages of the Canvils That this hath been anciently a Roman Station I am persuaded by it's situation upon one of their Military ways by the ancient Trenches there and a little piked Hill cast up which some dug of late days in hopes of finding old hidden treasures but instead of Gold they met with Coals And thus this little river after it 's passing under Dowbridge leaves Northamptonshire and enters Warwickshire Bounds of the Ancients From the digging up of those Coals what if I should give a guess that this Hill was thrown up for a mark or Boundary since Siculus Flaccus tells us that either Ashes or Coals or Potsherds or broken Glasses or Bones half burnt or Lime or Plaister were wont to be put under such marks or limits and St. Augustin writes thus of Coals Lib. de Civ Dei 21. c. 4. Is it not a wonderful thing considering Coals are so brittle that with the least blow they break with the least pressure they are crush'd in pieces yet no time can conquer them insomuch that they that pitch'd Land-marks were wont to throw them underneath to convince any litigious fellow whatsoever that came never so long time after and should affirm that no Land-mark was there made And so much the rather am I inclined to this conjecture because they that have written of limits do inform us that certain Hillocks which they termed Botontines Boton tines Hence perhaps come our Buttings were plac'd in the limits So that I suppose most of these Mounts and round Hillocks which we see all hereabouts 12 And call Burrows were raised for this purpose and that Ashes Coals Potsherds c. might be found under them if they dug deeper into the ground Earls of Northampton The first Earl that this County had at least that I know of was Waldeof son of the warlike Siward who being also Earl of Huntingdon lost his head for treason against William the Conquerour leaving only two daughters behind him which he had by Judith the Conquerour's niece by a sister on the mother's side The Life 〈…〉 Simon * De S. 〈…〉 Sylvaneciens●● Sinlis being scornfully rejected by Judith the mother upon account of being lame in his legs married Maud the eldest daughter and built St. Andrew's Church and the Castle at Northampton After him succeeded his son Simon 2. who was a long time at law about his mother's estate with David King of Scots his mother's second husband and having sided with King Stephen in the year of our Lord 1152. died with this ‖ Elogia elogy A youth full of every thing that was unlawful every thing that was unseemly His son Simon 3. going on with the suit against the Scots for his right to the Earldom of Huntingdon wasted his whole estate but thro' the favour of King Hen. 2. married the daughter and heir of Gilbert de Gant Earl of Lincoln and having at last recover'd the Earldom of Huntingdon and disseis'd the Scots died issueless in the year 1185. Many years after King Edw. 3. created William de Bohun a person of approved valour Earl of Northampton and when his elder brother Humfrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex and High Constable of England was not able in that warlike Age to bear the charge of Constable he made him also High Constable of England After him his son Humfrey succeeding in the Earldom of Northampton as also in the Earldoms of Hereford and Essex upon his Uncle's dying issueless had two daughters the one married to Thomas of Woodstock youngest son to King Edw. 3. the other to Henry of Lancaster Duke of Hereford afterwards King of England The daughter of Thomas of Woodstock brought by her marriage this her grandfather's title of Northampton together with others into the family of the Staffords But when they had lost their honours King Edw. 6. honour'd William Par Earl of Essex a most accomplish'd Courtier with the title of Marquiss of Northampton who within our memory died issueless And now while I am upon this work our most serene Sovereign King James in the year of our Lord 1603. at one and the same time has advanced Henry Howard Brother of the last Duke of Norfolk a person of excellent wit and fluent eloquence a complete master of Arts and Sciences exceeding prudent and provident to the degree and stile of Baron Howard of Marnehill and the honour of Earl of Northampton There belong to this Shire 326 Parishes ADDITIONS to NORTHAMPTONSHIRE a THE County of Northampton at the time of the Conquerour's Survey was something larger than now it is For all the south part of Rutlandshire must have been taken out of it because in Domesday-book we meet with the towns in this tract under the title of Northamptonshire 'T is a County so plentiful in all things necessary to life that it does not need nor indeed will allow much of manufacture the ground abundantly maintaining and fully employing the Inhabitants * Full Wor. pag. 279. It is said that of Cloathing has been attempted with great application but at last came to nothing The thinness of it's woods observ'd by our Author and it 's distance from the sea so that no Coal can
mark of infamy by wickedly conspiring with those wretched Incendiaries who design'd with one single charge of Gun-powder to have destroy'd both their Prince and Country d 2 More eastward upon the river Welland I saw nothing remarkable unless it be Berohdon now Barodon which Thomas Beauchamp Earl of Warwick held with South-Luffenham and other hamlets by service to the King's Chamberlain in the Exchequer Fi● 14 Ed. 3. In the furthermost division beyond the river encompass'd with hills lyes the pleasant and fruitful valley now call'd The Vale of Catmose perhaps from Coet maes which in the British tongue signifies a woody field or ground In the midst of which vale stands Okeham Okeham that seems for the same reason to have taken it's name from Oaks Near the Church 3 Which is large and fair are still remaining the ruinous walls of an old castle built as is reported by a He was a younger son to William de Ferrers Earl of Derby and held Okeham by the service of one Knights fee and a half 12 Hen. 2. Wright pag. 95. Walkelin de Ferrariis in the beginning of the Normans And that it was the habitation of the Ferrars besides the authority of tradition is sufficiently evident from the Horse-shoes which that family gave for their Arms nail'd on the ●●tes and in the hall Afterwards this town belong'd to the Lords of Tatteshall But when King Richard 2. advanced Edward son of the Duke of York to the title of Earl of Rutland he also gave him this Castle In the memory of the last age it came to Thomas Cromwell Barons Cromwell and as I have read b He was Baron Cromwell of Wimbledon but not of Okeham See the printed Stat. of 31 Hen. 8. concerning Gavelkind gave him the title of Baron Henry 8. advanc'd this person to the highest dignity but soon after when by his many projects he had expos'd himself to the storms of envy on a sudden he depriv'd him both of life and honours e Eastward from hence is Burley Burly most pleasantly situated overlooking the Vale. This is now the magnificent seat of the Harringtons who by marriage with the daughter and heir of Colepeper came to so large an inheritance in those parts that ever since they have been a flourishing family in like manner as the Colepepers were before them to whom by N. Green the great estate of the Bruses did in part descend Which Bruses being of the chief Nobility of England match'd into the Royal family of Scotland from whom by Robert the eldest brother the Royal Line of the Scots and by Bernard a younger brother the Cottons of Connington in the County of Huntingdon of whom I have already spoken and these Harringtons are descended Upon which account K. James dignify'd Sir John Harrington Barons Harringt●● 4 Branch'd from the stem of the ancient Lords Harington a most famous and worthy Knight with the title of Baron Harrington of Exton 5 A town adjacent where be hath also another fair house f On the east-side of this County near the river Guash lye Brigcasterton of which more hereafter and Rihall where when superstition had so bewitched our Ancestors that it had almost remov'd the true God by the multiplicity of Gods one Tibba a Saint of the lesser rank was worship'd by Falconers The Falco●ers Saint as a second Diana and reputed a kind of Patroness of Falconry g Next adjoyning is Essenden whose Lord Robert Cecil the excellent son of an excellent father who was the support of our kingdom was lately created by King James Baron Cecil of Essenden Baron C●●● of Essend●n This little County Edward the Confessor devised by his last Will to his wife Eadith conditionally that after her death it should go to St. Peter's at Westminster These are the words of the Testament I will that after the decease of Queen Eadgith my wife Roteland with all things thereunto belonging be given to my Monastery of the most blessed Peter and that it be surrender'd without delay to the Abbot and Monks there serving God for ever But this Testament of his was vacated by William the Norman who keeping a great part of this estate to himself divided the rest to Judith the Countess whose daughter marry'd David K. of Scots to Robert Mallet Oger Gislebert of Gaunt Earl Hugh Alberic the Clerk and others But to Westminster he left indeed at first the tithes but afterwards only the Church of Okeham with the Appendices or Chapelries thereunto belonging Oppida Mercatoria per Ichnographiam Villae Parochiales per Pagi minores per Sedes vel loca devastata Olim Villae per Denotantur COMITATUS ROTELANDIAE Tabula Nova Aucta This little County is adorn'd with 48 Parish-Churches ADDITIONS to RVTLANDSHIRE a WHat the original of this County's name was we are in a great measure in the dark for as Mr. Camden's Roet and Rud will not do because we are assur'd there is nothing in the County to justifie such a conjecture so Mr. Wright's Rotelandia quasi Rotunda-landia will hardly pass till we can give some probable account how it came by a Latin name more than other parts of England The Conquest could not bring it in because we find it call'd so in the time of Edward the Confessor and beside so much of it as belong'd to Nottinghamshire to which the name Roteland was given before the rest came to be part of it is far from making a circular figure how round soever it may be when all together b When the County of Rutland came to be distinct or upon what occasion is altogether unknown Mr. Camden says that Authors 300 years old make no mention of it as of a separate Shire but that it was distinct before is certain for in the 5th of King John Isabel his new Queen had at her Coronation assigned her in Parliament for her dowry among other lands * Wright ●g 3. Com. Roteland villam de Rokingham in Com. Northampt. c. And in 12 Johan the Custos did account for the profits of this County in the Exchequer Which Custos can relate to nothing but the Sheriff of the County who was and still is as it were a Guard and his office is imply'd in his name Scyre-gerefa from which Sheriff is contracted signifying no more than a Keeper of the County ●i●g 〈◊〉 c In the south part of this County lies Uppingham the site whereof will hardly bear Mr. Camden's derivation from an ascent † Wright ● 130. the ground upon which it stands being something above a level but hardly amounting to a hill Johnson who is said to have built the school was call'd Robert and beside that built two Hospitals one at Okeham and another here at Uppingham Near this place is Lydington where about the year 1602. Thomas Lord Burgley settl'd an Hospital or Alms-house for a Warden 12 poor men and 2 poor women
The Church of York was by the Princes of that time endow'd with many large possessions especially by Ulphus the son ●f Toraldus which I the rather note from an old b●ok that a strange way of endowing heretofore may be took notice of This Ulphus govern'd in the west parts of Deira and by reason of a difference like to happen between his eldest son and his youngest about the Lordships after his death he presently took this course to make them equal Without delay he went to York and taking the horn wherein he was wont to drink with him he fill'd it with wine and kneeling upon his knees before the Altar bestow'd upon God and the blessed S. Peter Prince of the Apostles all his Lands and Tenements This horn was kept there to the last age as I have been informed It would seem to reflect upon the Clergy if I should relate the emulations and scuffles which ambition has raised between the two Sees of York and Canterbury whilst with great expence of money but more of reputation they warmly contended for pre-eminence T. 〈◊〉 r This Controversie was determin'd in Arch-bishop Thoresby's time A. D. 1353. at the special solicitation of King Edward ● qui corpo●um animarum pericula considerans ac pacem quietem populi sui affectans dictos Archiepiscopos ad pacis concordiam invitavit Yet so as that the Arch-bishops of York might legally write themselves Primate of England Anglia Sacra par 1. p. 74. For as one relates it the See of York was equal in dignity tho' it was the younger and the poorer sister and this being raised to the same power that the See of Canterbury was and endowed with the same Apostolical privileges took it very heinously to be made subject by the decree of P. Alexander declaring that the Arch-bishoprick of York ought to yield to that of Canterbury and pay an obedience to her as Primate of all Britain in all her Constitutions relating to the Christian Religion It falls not within the compass of my design to treat of the Arch-bishops of this See many of whom have been men of great virtue and holiness 'T is enough for me to observe that from the year 625. when Paulinus the first Arch-bishop was consecrated there have succeeded in it threescore and five Arch-bishops The 〈◊〉 sixth A●●bish●p to the year 1606. in which D. Tobias Matthews Venerable for his virtue and piety for his learned eloquence and for his indefatigable industry in teaching was translated hither from the Bishoprick of Durham mm This City very much flourish'd for some time under the Saxon Government till the Danish storms from the North began to rush on and spoil'd its beauty again by great ruins and dismal slaughter Which Alcuin in his Epistle to Egelred King of the Northumbrians seems to have foretold For he says What can be the meaning of that shower of blood which in Lent we saw at York the Metropolis of the Kingdom near St. Peter's Church descending with great horrour from the roof of the North part of the House in a clear day May not one imagine that this forebodes destruction and blood among us from that quarter For in the following age when the Danes laid every thing they came at waste and desolate this City was destroy'd with continual sufferings In the year 867. the walls of it were so shaken by the many assaults made upon them that Osbright and Ella Kings of Northumberland as they pursued the Danes in these parts easily broke into the City and after a bloody conflict in the midst of it were both slain leaving the victory to the Danes who had retired hither Hence that of William of Malmesbury York ever most obnoxious to the fury of the northern nations hath sustained the barbarous assaults of the Danes and groaned under the miseries it hath suffered But as the same author informs us King Athelstan took it from the Danes and demolish'd that castle wherewith they had fortified it Nor in after-ages was it quite rid of those wars in that especially which was so fatal for the subversion of Cities But the Normans as they put an end to these miseries so they almost brought destruction to York For when the sons of Sueno the Dane arrived here with a fleet of two hundred and forty sail A●f●●● 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 Burle●● Treas●● of E●g● and landed hard by the Normans who kept garrison in two castles in the city fearing lest the houses in the suburbs might be serviceable to the enemy in filling up the trenches set them on fire which was so encreased and dispersed by the wind that it presently spread about the whole city and set it all on fire In this disorder and hurry the Danes took the town putting the Townsmen and the Normans to the sword with great slaughter yet sparing William Mallet and Gilbert Gant the principal men among them for a Decimation Deci●●●●on among the soldiers afterwards For every tenth prisoner of the Normans on whom the lot fell was executed Which so exasperated William the Conquerour that as if the citize●s had sided with the Danes he cut them all off and set the City again on fire and as Malmesbury says so spoiled all the adjacent territory that a fruitful Province was quite disabled and useless that the country for sixty miles together lay so much neglected that a stranger would have lamented at the sight of it considering that formerly here had been fine cities high towers and rich pastures and that no former inhabitant would so much as know it The ancient greatness of the place may appear from Domesday In the time of Edward the Confessor the City of York contained six Shires or Divisions besides the Shire of the Archbishop One was wasted for the castles in the five remaining Shires there were 1428 houses inhabited and in the Shire of the Archbishop two hundred houses inhabited After all these overthrows Necham sings thus of it Visito quam foelix Ebraucus condidit urbem Petro se debet Pontificalis apex Civibus haec toties viduata novisque repleta Diruta prospexit moenia saepe sua Quid manus hostilis queat est experta frequenter Sed quid nunc pacis otia longa fovent There happy Ebrauk's lofty towers appear Which owe their mitre to St. Peter's care How oft in dust the hapless town hath lain How oft it's walls hath chang'd how oft it's men How oft the rage of sword and flames hath mourn'd But now long peace and lasting joy 's return'd For in his days these troublesome times being followed with a long and happy peace this city began to revive and continued flourishing notwithstanding it was often marked out for destruction by our own Rebels and the Scotch Yet in King Stephen's time it was most sadly ruined again by a casual fire which burnt down the Cathedral St. Mary's Monastery and other Religious houses and also as 't is supposed that
Rhodes when the great Mahomet was worsted It is now in the hands of Mr. Ralph Thoresby of Leeds East from Knaresbrough stands Ribston-hall ●●●ston-●all the pleasant Seat of the Right Honourable Sir Henry Goodrick Baronet Ambassadour from King Charles the second to the King of Spain now Privy-Councellor and Lieutenant of the Ordnance of the Tower of London hh Another river call'd Ure must be our next direction carrying us to Rippon ●●ppon where in the Minster-yard is this modest Inscription for a two thousand pound Benefactor Hic jacet Zacharias Jepson cujus aetas fuit 49. perpaucos tantum annos vixit ii It brings us next to Burrowbridge ●●rrw●dge where the Pyramids call'd by the common people the Devil's Arrows are most remarkable That they are artificial we have the opinion of Mr. Camden and the Devil's Coits in Oxofrdshire confirm it which Dr. 〈◊〉 of ●f ●●th 〈◊〉 Plot affirms to be made of a small kind of stones cemented together whereof there are great numbers in the fields thereabout But whether our Author's conjecture of their being set up as Trophies by the Romans may be allow'd is not so certain A ●ct S●aff 〈◊〉 later Antiquary seems inclin'd to conclude them to be a British work supposing that they might be erected in memory of some battel fought there but is rather of opinion that they were British Deities agreeing with the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet and grounding upon the custom of the Phoenicians and Greeks Nations undoubtedly acquainted with Britain before the arrival of the Romans who set up unpolish'd stones instead of images to the honour of their Gods kk Hard by this is Aldburrow confirm'd to be the Is-urium Is urium of the Ancients from several Roman Coyns and chequer'd Pavements digg'd up there some of which are now in the Musaeum of the ingenious Mr. Thoresby But to be a little more particular upon the remains of Antiquity they meet with take the following account which is the substance of a Letter from Mr. Morris Minister of the place Here are some fragments of Aquiducts cut in great stones and cover'd with Roman tyle In the late Civil wars as they were digging a Cellar they met with a sort of Vault leading as 't is said to the river if of Roman work for it has not yet met with any one curious enough to search it it might probably be a Repository for the Dead The Coyns generally of brass but some few of silver are mostly of Constantine and Carausius tho' there are two of Maximian Dioclesian Valerian Severus Pertinax Aurelius and of other Emperours as also of Faustina and Julia. They meet with little Roman heads of brass and have formerly also found coyn'd pieces of gold with chains of the same metal but none of late About two years ago were found four signet polisht stones three whereof were Cornelians The first had a horse upon it and a stamp of Laurel shooting out five branches the second a Roman sitting with a sacrificing dish in one hand and resting his other on a spear the third a Roman if not Pallas with a spear in one hand wearing a helmet with a shield on the back or on the other arm and under that something like a quiver hanging to the knee the fourth of a purple colour has a Roman head like Severus or Antonine Several Pavements have been found about a foot under-ground and compass'd about with stones of about an inch square but within are little stones of a quarter that bigness wrought into knots and flowers after the Mosaick-fashion No Altars are met with but pieces of Urns and old Glass are common In the Vestry-wall of the Church is plac'd a figure of Pan or Silvanus in one rough stone nyched ll From hence the Ure or Ouse runs to York York in the Antiquities whereof our Author has been so particular that we have little to add This ancient and noble City might have had an agreeable light if Sir Thomas Widdrington a person accomplisht in all Arts as well as his own profession of the Laws after he had wrote an entire History of it had not upon some disgust prohibited the publication The original Manuscript is now in the possession of Thomas Fairfax of Menston Esq Near the Castle stands the shell of Clifford's Tower which was blown up the 24th of April 1684. In the year 1638. in a house near Bishop-hill was found this Altar which is now at the Duke of Buckingham's house in York I. O. M. DIS DEABVSQVE HOSPITALIBVS PE NATIBVSQ OB. CON SERVATAM SALVTEM SVAM SVORVMQ P. AEL MARCIAN VS PRAEF COH ARAM. SAC f. NCD mm Dr. Tobias Matthews was Archbishop of this place * Inscript of the Church of York whose wife Frances a prudent Matron daughter of Bishop Barlow a Confessor in Queen Mary's time was a great Benefactress to the Church bestowing upon it the Library of her husband which consisted of above 3000 Books She is memorable likewise for having a Bishop to her father an Archbishop Matthew Parker of Canterbury to her father-in-law four Bishops to her brethren and an Archbishop to her husband nn The Cathedral Church after it had been burnt down in K. Stephen's time by little and little reviv'd The Thoresby mention'd by our Author was a great benefactor to it and the 29th of July 1631. laid the first stone of the new Quire to which at 16 payments he gave so many hundred pounds besides many other less sums for particular uses towards c●●●ing on that work As he was Archbishop of 〈◊〉 so also was he Lord Chancellour of England and Cardinal Spelm. G● in Cancellarius which I the rather take notice of here because he is omitted by Onuphrius as the Inscription of his seal testifies S. Johis Sci P. ad vincula presbyteri Cardinalis The dimensions of this Cathedral were exactly taken by an ingenious Architect and are as follows   Feet Length beside the buttresses 524 ½ breadth of the east-end 105 breadth of the west-end 109 breadth of the Cross from north to south 222 breadth of the Chapter-house 058 ½ he●●ht of the Chapter-house to the Canopy 086 ½ height of the body of the Minster 099 height of the Lanthorn to the Vault 188 height to the top-leads 213 oo Southward from York is Nun-Apleton Nun-Apleton so call'd from a Nunnery founded there by the Ancestors of the Earls of Northumberland afterwards the seat of Thomas Lord Fairfax General of the Parliament-army who merits a memorial here upon account of the peculiar respect he had for Antiquities As an instance whereof he allow'd a considerable pension to that industrious Antiquary Mr. Dodsworth to collect those of this County which else had irrecoverably perish'd in the late wars For he had but just finish'd the transcript of the Charters and other Manuscripts then lying in St. Mary's tower in York before the same was blown up and all those sacred remains
mix'd with common dust * Fasti●●on pa●● p. 765. And when that garrison was surrender'd to the Parliament he took great care for the preservation of the publick Library and bequeathed to it many MSS. with the Collections aforesaid which of themselves † Ibid. p. 69● amounted to 122 Volumes at least pp Our next place upon the river is Selby part of which ancient and beautiful Church with half of the steeple fell down suddenly about 6 a clock on Sunday morning 30 March 1690. From hence our Author carries us to Escricke Escricke which gave the title of Baron to Sir Thomas Knivet He was Gentleman of the Privy-Chamber to King James 1. and the person intrusted to search the vaults under the Parliament-house where he discover'd the 36 barrels of gun-powder and the person who was to have fir'd the train qq Afterwards the Ouse passeth by Drax where the benefaction of Charles Read Esq a native of the place and Judge in Ireland ought not to be omitted He erected here a Hospital as also a School-house and endow'd them with 100 l. per an EAST-RIDING EAst-Riding East-Riding or the east part of Yorkshire a where the Parisi Parisi are seated by Ptolemy makes the second division of this County lying east of York The north and west sides of it are bounded by the winding course of the river Derwent the south by the aestuary of Humber and the north by the German Ocean That part of it towards the sea and the river Derwent is pretty fruitful but the middle is nothing but a heap of mountains called a Wold in Saxon signifies a large plain without woods Yorkeswold which signifies Yorkshire hills The river Derventio or as we call it Derwent rises near the shore and runs towards the west but then turns again towards the south and passes by Aiton and Malton which because they belong to the North-Riding of this County I shall reserve for their proper places As soon as the river has enter'd this quarter it runs near the remains of that old castle Montferrant Montferrant Historia Meauxensis which belonged formerly to the Fossards men of great honour and estates But William Fossard of this family being in ward to the King and committed to the guardianship of William le Grosse Earl of Albemarle enraged the Earl so by debauching his sister tho' he was then but very young that in revenge he demolished this castle and forced the noble young Gentleman to forsake his country Yet after the death of the Earl he recovered his estate and left an only daughter who was married to R. de Tornham by whom she had a daughter afterwards married to Peter de Malo-lacu whose posterity being enriched with this estate of the Fossards became very famous Barons b Not far from hence stands a place seated upon a bank of the river called Kirkham i.e. the place of the Church for here stood a College of Canons founded by Walter Espec a very great man whose daughter brought a vast estate by marriage to the family of the Rosses Next but somewhat lower upon the Derwent there stood a city of the same name which Antoninus calls Derventio Derventio and tells us it was seven miles distant from York The Notitia makes mention of a Captain over ‖ No●● Der●●●en●● the Company Derventienses under the General of Britain that lived here and in the time of the Saxons it seems to have been the Royal Village situated near the river Doreventio says Bede where Eumer that Assassin as the same Author has it pushed with his sword at Edwin King of Northumberland and had run him through if one of his retinue had not interpos'd and sav'd his master's life with the loss of his own Where this place is I could never have discover'd without the light I have received from that polite and accurate scholar Robert Marshall He shewed me that at the distance from York I mention'd there is a little town seated upon the Derwent called Auldby which signifies in Saxon the old habitation where some remains of antiquity are still extant and upon the top of the hill towards the river is to be seen the rubbish of an old castle so that this cannot but be the Derventio From hence the river flows through Stanford-bridge which from a battel fought there is also called Battle-bridge Ba●●●●-bridge c For here Harald Haardread the Norwegian who with a fleet of 200 sail had infested this Kingdom and from his landing at Richal had marched thus far with great outrage and devastation was encountred by King Harold of England who in a fair battel here slew him and a great part of his army and took so much gold among the spoil that twelve young men could hardly bear it upon their shoulders as we are told by Adam Bremensis This engagement was fought about nine days before the coming in of William the Conquerour at which time the dissolute luxury of the English seems to have foretold the destruction of this Kingdom b See the General part under the title Normans But of this we have spoke already THE EAST RIDING of YORKSHIRE by Robert Morden Cum patre Radulpho Babthorpe jacet ecce Radulphus Filius hoc duro marmore pressus humo Henrici sexti dapifer pater Armiger ejus Mors satis id docuit fidus uterque fuit The two Ralph Babthorps father and his son Together lye interr'd beneath this stone One Squire one Sew'r to our sixth Henry was Both dy'd i' th field both in their master's cause Now the Derwent with a larger stream glides on near Howden ●wden a market town remarkable not for it's neatness or resort but for giving name to the neighbouring territory which from it is called Howdenshire and not long since for having a pretty Collegiate Church of five Prebendaries to which a house of the Bishops of Durham is adjoyned who have a vast estate hereabouts Walter Skirlaw one of them who flourish'd about the year 1390. as we find in the book of Durham built a huge tall steeple to this Church that in case of a sudden inundation the inhabitants might save themselves in it Not far distant from hence is Metham ●●●m which gives a name and seat to the famous and ancient family of the Methams d The Ouse grown more spacious runs with a swift and violent stream into the Aestuary Abus ●tuary of ●s the name by which it is expressed in Ptolemy e but the Saxons 〈◊〉 and we at this day call it Humber 2 Whereof also the Country beyond it by a general name was call'd Northumberland and from it all that part of the country on the other side was in general termed Nordan humbria Both names seem to be derivatives from the British Aber which signifies the mouth of a river and was perhaps given to this by way of excellence because the Urus or Ouse with all those
for their great bulk and branchy heads are very remarkable and extraordinary The river Ure which we have often mention'd has its rise here out of the western mountains and first runs through the middle of the vale Wentsedale Wentsedale which is sufficiently stock'd with cattel and has a great deal of lead in some places Not far from the first spring while it is yet but small 't is encreased by the little river Baint from the south which issues from the pool Semur with a great murmur At the confluence of these two streams where some few cottages call'd from the first bridge over the Ure Baintbrig was formerly a Roman garison Bracchium of which some remains are yet extant For upon the hill which from a burrough they now call Burgh there are the groundworks of an old fortification about five acres in compass and under it to the east the signs of many houses are yet apparent Where among several proofs of Roman Antiquity I have seen this fragment of an old Inscription in a very fair character with a winged Victory supporting it IMP. CAES. L. SEPTIMIO PIO PERTINACI AVGV IMP CAESARI M. AVRELIO A PIO FELICI AVGVSTO The name o● 〈…〉 eras'd BRACCHIO CAEMENTICIVM VI NERVIORVM SVB CVRA LA SENECION AMPLISSIMI OPERI L. VI SPIVS PRAE LEGIO From which we may conjecture that this fort at Burgh was formerly called Bracchium which before had been made of turf but then was built with stone and mortar that the sixth Cohort of the Nervii garison'd here who also seem to have had a Summer Camp upon that high hill trenched round which is hard by and is now called Ethelbury It is not long since a Statue of Aurelius Commodus the Emperour was dug up here Statue of Commodus the Emperour who as Lampridius has it was stil'd by his flatterers Britannicus even when the Britains were for chusing another against him This Statue seems to have been set up when through an extravagant esteem of himself he arriv'd to that pitch of folly that he commanded every one to call him The Roman Hercules son of Jupiter For it is formed in the habit of Hercules his right-hand armed with a club and under it as I am inform'd was this broken and imperfect Inscription which had been ill copied and was quite decay'd before I came hither CAESARI AVGVSTO MARCI AVRELII FILIO SEN IONIS AMPLISSIMI VENTS _____ PIVS This was extant in Nappa Napp● a house built with turrets and the chief seat of the Medcalfs The 〈…〉 which is counted the most numerous family this day in England For I have heard that Sir Christopher Medcalf Knight the chief of the family being lately Sheriff of the County was attended with 300 Knights all of this family and name and in the same habit to receive the Justices of the Assize and conduct them to York From hence the Ure runs very swiftly with abundance of Crey-fishes Crey-● ever since C. Medcalf within the memory of this age brought that sort of fish hither from the south parts of England l and between two rocks from which the place is called Att-scarre it violently rolls down its chanel not far from Bolton Bolton the ancient seat of the Barons de Scrope Barons 〈◊〉 Scr●p● and a stately castle which Richard Lord le Scrope Chancellour of England in Richard the second 's time built at very great charge Now taking its course eastward it comes to the town of Midelham Mid●eh●● the Honour of which as we read in the Genealogy of the Nevils Alan Earl of Richmond gave to his younger brother * By 〈◊〉 Ribaa Rinebald with all the lands which before their coming belonged to Gilpatrick the Dane His grandchild by his son Ralph Lords of Mid●eh●● called Robert Fitz-Ralph had all Wentsedale bestowed on him by Conanus Earl of Bretagne and Richmond and built a very strong castle at Midleham Ranulph his son built a small Monastery for Canons at Coverham now contractedly called Corham in Coverdale Geneal●●● antiqu●●● and his son Ralph had a daughter Mary who being married to Robert Lord Nevill brought this large estate for a portion to the family of the Nevils This Robert Nevill having had many children by his wife was taken in adultery unknown and had his privy members cut off by the adulteress's husband in revenge which threw him into such excessive grief that he soon dy'd From hence the Ure having pass'd a few miles washes Jervis or Jorvalle-Abbey 1 Of Cistertians founded first at Fo rs add after translated hither by Stephen Earl of Britain and Richmond which is now decay'd then runs by Masham Masha● which belonged to the Scropes of Masham who as they are descended from the Scropes of Bolton fo are they again grafted into the same by marriage On the other side of this river but more inward stands Snath Snath the chief seat of the Barons de Latimer whose noble extraction is from G. Nevill younger son of Ralph Nevill first Earl of Westmorland who had this honourable title conferr'd on him by K. Henry the sixth of that name when the elder family of the Latimers had ended in a female Barons Latime● and so in a continu'd succession they have flourished till our time when for want of heirs-male to the last Baron this brave inheritance was parted among his daughters who were married into the families of the Percies the Cecils the D'anvers and Cornwallis There is no other place in these parts remarkable upon the Ure but Tanfeld Tanfe●● formerly the seat of the Gernegans Knights from these it descended to the Marmions Marm●●● l● q. 6. ● the last of these left Amice his heir the second wife of John Lord Grey of Rotherfeld whose two children taking the name of Marmion were heirs to their mother 2 John that assum'd the sirname of Marmion and dy'd issueless and Robert who left behind him one only daughter and sole heir Elizabeth wife to Sir Henry Fitz-H●gh a n●ble Baron and one of them left an only daughter and heiress Elizabeth the wife of Fitz-Hugh a famous Baron The Ure now receives the Swale Swal● sacred ●●ver so called as Thom. Spott has it from its swiftness which enters it with a great leaping and hurry of waters This also rises out of the western mountains hardly five miles above the head of the river Ure and runs to the eastward It was very sacred among the ancient English because when the Saxons were first converted to Christianity there were baptiz'd in it on one day with great joy by Paulinus Archbishop of York above ten thousand men besides women and children The course of the Swale lies through a pretty large vale which is called Swaldale from it and has grass enough but wants wood and first by Marricke ●●rricke where stood a Cloister built by the Askes men of great note heretofore
Falkirk but we need not here be particular in the Description of it designing a separate discourse upon that subject at the end of this Kingdom SELGOVAE BEneath the Gadeni to the South and West where now lie the small Territories of Liddesdale Eusdale Eskdale Annandale and Nidisdale q To which add Wachopdale so called from Rivulets running through them which all lose themselves in Solway-Frith were anciently seated the Selgovae the reliques of whose name seem to me whether to others too I kn●w not to remain in the name Solway IN Liddesdale ●●dd●s●●●e we have a high prospect of Armitage so called because anciently dedicated to a solitary life But now it is a very strong Castle which belonged to the Hepburnes who deduce their Original from a certain English Captive whom the Earl of March for delivering him out of a danger much enriched They were Earls of Bothwell ●●rls of ●●thwell and for a long time Admirals of Scotland by inheritance But by a sister of James Earl of Bothwell last of the Hepburnes ●●pburnes married to John Prior of Coldingham a natural son of K. James 5. who had several such issue both title and estate devolved to his son Hard by is Brakensey ●●akensey the seat of the warlike Family of Baclugh ●●●d ●●clugh sirnamed Scot with many other little Forts of men of Arms up and down the Country In Eusdale Eusdale I should be apt to think from the affinity of the name that the ancient Uzellum Uzellum mentioned by Ptolemy lay upon the River Euse In Eskdale Eskdale some are of opinion that the Horesti Horesti dwelt into whose borders Julius Agricola after he had subdued the Britains that inhabited this Tract led the Roman Army especially if we read Horesci for Horesti For the British Ar-Esc signifies a place by the River Eske As for Aesica in Eskdale I have spoken of it before in England and need not repeat it here a ANNANDALE JOined to this on the west-side lies Annandale Annandale that is the Valley or Dale upon the river Annan into which the access by land is very difcult The places of greatest note are a Castle upon Lough-Maban Lough-Maban which is three parts surrounded with water and strongly walled And Annandale Town almost upon the very mouth of the river Annan divested of all its glory by the English War in the reign of Edward 6. In this Territory the Jonstons The Jonstons are men of greatest name a family born for Wars between whom and the Maxwells who by ancient right preside over the Stewartry The Stewartry of Annandale for so 't is term'd there hath been too long an open enmity and defiance even to bloodshed This Valley Edgar King of the Scots upon his restoration to his Kingdom by the Auxiliaries he had out of England gave for his good services to Robert Brus The Bruses Lord of Cleaveland in the County of York who bestowed it by the King's permission upon Robert his younger son being unwilling himself to serve the King of Scots in his Wars From him are branched the Bruses Lords of Annandale of whom Robert Bruse married Isabella the daughter of William King of Scots by the daughter of Robert Avenel his son likewise Robert the third of that name married the daughter of David Earl of Huntingdon and Garioth whose son Robert sirnamed the Noble upon the failure of the issue of Alexander the third King of Scotland challenged in his mother's right the Kingdom of Scotland before Edward I. K. of England as the direct and superior Lord of the Kingdom of Scotland as the English give out or as an Honorary Arbitrator as the Scots will have it as being more nearly related in degree and bloud to King Alexander the third and to Margaret daughter to the King of Norway although a second sister's son Who soon after resigning up his own right granted and gave over to his son Robert Brus Earl of Carrick and to his heirs I speak out of the very Original all the right and claim which he had or might have to the Kingdom of Scotland But the point was determined in favour of John Baliol who sued for his right as descended from the eldest sister though in a more remote degree in these words Because the person more remote in the second degree descending in the first line is to be preferred before a nearer in the second line in the succession of an inheritance that cannot be parted Nevertheless the said Robert son to the Earl of Carriot by his valour possess'd himself of the Kingdom and establish'd it in his posterity A Prince who as he was illustrious for his glorious Actions so did he successfully triumph over Fortune so often his Adversary with a courage and presence of mind invincible b NIDISDALE CLose to Annandale on the West lies Nidisdale abounding in arable and pasture grounds so named from the River Nid The River Nid by Ptolemy falsely written Nobius for Nodius or Nidius of which name there are other Rivers in Britain full of muddy shallows as this Nid is It springs out of the Lake Lough-Cure upon which stood anciently Corda Corda a Town of the Selgovae It takes its course first by Sanqhar a Castle of the Creightons The Creightons Barons of Sanqhar who were long honoured with the Title of Barons of Sanqhar and the authority of hereditary Sheriffs of Nidisdale next by Morton Earls of Morton which gave the Title of Earl to some of the family of Douglass of which others are seated at Drumlanrig upon the same River near the mouth whereof stands Dunfreys Dunfreys between two Hills the most flourishing Town of this Tract which still shews its ancient Castle a Town famous for its woollen Manufacture and remarkable for the murder of John Commin a man of the greatest Interest amongst the Scots whom Robert Brus lest he should oppose his coming to the Crown ran through in the Church and easily got a pardon of the Pope for a murder committed in a sacred place Nearer to its mouth Solway a Village still retains somewhat of the old name of Selgovae Upon the very mouth is situated Caer-Laverock Caer-Laverock Ptolemie's Carbantorigum a Fort looked upon as impregnable when K. Edw. I. accompanied with the flower of the English Nobility besieged and took it But now 't is a weak Mansion-House of the Barons Maxwell who being of ancient Nobility were long Wardens of these Western Marches and lately advanced by a marriage with a Daughter and Coheir of the Earl of Morton whereby John Lord Maxwell was dec●ared Earl of Morton as also by the Daughter and Heir of Hereis Lord Toricles whom J. a second son took to wife and had by her the title of Baron Hereis Barons Hereis In this valley also upon the lake lies Glencarn Glenca●● of which the Cunninghams about whom I shall speak
luxus non Infula tantum Ornavit diri quae tibi causa mali Glottiadae quantum decorant Te Glascua Musae Quae celsum attollunt clara sub astra caput Glotta decus rerum piscosis nobilis undis Finitimi recreat jugera laeta soli Ast Glottae decus vicinis gloria terris Glascua faecundat flumine cuncta suo Not haughty Prelates e'er adorn'd thee so Nor stately Mitres cause of all thy woe As Cluyd's muses grace thy blest abodes And lift thy head among the deathless gods Cluyd great flood for plenteous fish renown'd And gentle streams that cheer the fruitful ground But happy Glascow Cluyd's chiefest pride Glory of that and all the world beside Spreads round the riches of her noble tide On this side the Cluyd upon its banks lies the Barony of Reinfraw Barons of Renfraw so called from its principal Town which may seem to be Ptolemy's Randvara Randvara on the River Cathcart upon which the antient Baron of Cathcart Barons Cathcart hath his habitation Near adjoyning for this little Province is full of Nobility lies Cruikston Cruikston antiently the seat of the Lords of Darley from whom by right of marriage it came to the Earls of Lenox whence Henry the Father of King James the 6. was call'd Lord Darley Halkead the residence of the Barons of Ros Barons of Roos descended originally of English bloud as deriving their Linage from that Robert Roos of Warke who left England and came under the Allegiance of the King of Scots Paslay Paslay formerly a famous Monastery founded by Alexander the 2d High Steward of Scotland inferior to few for its noble Church and rich furniture * See the Additions But now by the favour of K. James 6. it gives a seat and the title of Baron to Claud Hamilton a younger son of the Duke of Castle-Heralt And Sempill whose Lord is Baron Sempill Barons Sempil and by antient right Sheriff of this Barony But I have read that the title of Baron of Reinfraw by a peculiar right belongs to the Prince of Scotland b LENNOX ALong the other side of the Cluyd above Glascow Levinia or Lennox runs a long way Northward amongst a continued series of hills taking its name from the River Levin Ptolemy's Lelanonius ●●●●noni●● which falleth into the Cluyde out of Logh-lomund ●●gh ●●●●nd a Lake that dilates it self under the mountains twenty miles long and eight miles broad excellently well stocked with fish especially one sort peculiar to it ●●e fish they call it Pollac It hath likewise many Islands in it concerning which there use to be many Traditional stories amongst the ordinary sort of people As for the Floating-Island here I shall not call the truth of it in question for what should hinder a body from swimming that 's dry and hollow like a pinace and lighter than ordinary ●●●i 〈◊〉 20. Pliny tells us that certain green Islands cover'd with reeds and rushes float up and down in the lake of Vadimon But I leave it to the Neighbours that know the nature of this place to be Judges whether this old Distick of our Nech●m be true or no Ditatur fluviis Albania saxea ligna Dat Lomund multa frigiditate potens Scotland's enrich'd with Rivers Timber thrown Into cold Lomund's waters turns to stone There are many Fishermens Cottages round about upon the banks of the Logh but nothing worth our notice except Kilmoronock ●●●●oro●●●k a fine House of the Earl of Cassil seated upon the East side which hath a delicate prospect into the Logh But at the influx of the Levin out of the Logh into the Cluyde stands Al-Cluyd ●●cluid so called by the antients Bede observes that it signifies the Rock Cluyde but I know not in what language Ar-Cluid in the British certainly signifies upon Cluid and Cluid in old English signify'd a Rock Succeeding ages call'd it Dunbritton ●●●brit●●● that is the Britains Town and corruptly by a transposition of letters ●●●●no●●m Dunbarton because the Britains held it a long time against the Scots Picts and Saxons For both by nature and situation it is the strongest Castle in all Scotland fixt upon a craggy two-headed Rock at the confluence of the Rivers in a green plain Upon one of its heads stands a high Watch-Tower on the other which is somewhat lower many strong Towers It hath but one ascent to it and that on the North-side between the two heads having scarce room enough to pass one by one by steps cut out of the rock crosswise with a world of labour Upon the West-side the Levin upon the South the Cluyde serve instead of ditches Eastward lies a Morass which every Tide is wholly under water Towards the North it is very well secur'd by the steepness of its situation Here some remains of the Britains who as Gildas writes generally retreated for shelter and entrench'd themselves upon the tops of craggy inaccessible mountains in thick Forrests and Rocks upon the Sea shore presuming upon the natural strength of the place and their own Courage defended themselves after the departure of the Romans for 300 years in the very midst of their Enemies For in Bede's time as he himself writes it was the best fortify'd City the Britains had R. Hoveden But in the year 756. Eadbert King of Northumberland and Oeng King of the Picts with their joynt Forces shut it up on every side and drove it to that extremity that it was surrender'd upon Articles Of this place the Territory round about is called the Sheriffdom of Dunbarton and hath long had the Earls of Lennox for Sheriffs by inheritance Now as for the Earls of Lennox The Earls of Lennox not to mention those more antient one Duncan was Earl of Lennox in the Reign of Robert the 2. who died and left two only Daughters behind him One of which was marry'd to Alan Stewart Stewart who was descended from Robert a younger son of Walter the 2. High Steward of Scotland and a Brother of Alexander Stewart the 2. founder of the royal line of Scotland For this illustrious Family took its name from that Honourable Office of High Steward of the Kingdom that is he that had the charge of the Revenues of the Crown This Alan had issue John Earl of Lennox and Robert made Captain of the Scotch Guard du Corps Scot●h Guard du Corps in France first rais'd by the French King Charles the 6. in recompence of the good services that nation had done the Crown of France as also Lord of Aubigny in Auvergne by the same King as a reward of his valour John had issue Matthew Earl of Lennox who marry'd the daughter of James Hamilton by Mariona daughter to King James the 2. by whom he had John Earl of Lennox who taking up arms to deliver King James the 5. out of the hands of the Douglasses and Hamiltons was kill'd by
towards the Ocean there were anciently seated the Taizali Some derive this later name from Boves Oxen whereas the ground is fitter to feed sheep whose wooll is highly commended Notwithstanding the Rivers in this Coast every where breed abundance of Salmon yet they never enter into the River Ratra Th● R●ver Ra●ra as Buchanan hath told us Neither let it prove to my disadvantage if I cite his Testimony although his books were prohibited by authority of Parliament in the year 1584. because many passages in them were fit to be dash'd out He there reports also That on the bank of Ratra there is a Cave near Stany 's Castle whose nature seems worth our taking notice of A strange ●●●er The water distilling by drops out of a natural vault is presently turned into pyramidal stones and if people did not take the pains to clear the cave now and then the whole space in a little time would be fill'd up to the top of the vault Now the stone thus made is of a middle nature betwixt Ice and hard stone for it is friable and never arrives to the solidity of Marble It is hardly worth my while to mention the Clayks C●ayks a 〈◊〉 of G●ese a sort of Geese believed by some with great admiration to grow upon trees here in this coast and in other places and when they are ripe to fall down into the sea because neither their nests nor eggs cou'd ever any where be found But those that have seen the ship in which Sir Francis Drake sailed round the world laid up in the river Thames can testifie that little birds breed in the old rotten keels of ships since a great number of such without life and feathers stuck close to the outside of the keel of this ship Yet I should think that the generation of these birds was not from the logs of wood but from the sea term'd by the Poets the Parent of all things a Hector Boetius first spread this errour but that it is such ●ppend 〈◊〉 Librum ● Part 3. ●●atiae Il●●●atae Dr. Sibbalds has largely proved in his Scotia Illustrata only he is now convinced that th●y are not informis m●ssa carnosa as he there c●lls them And a Discourse concerning the late worthy Sir Andrew Balfour to be prefixt to the Catalogue of his Books will in a short time give further light into it A mighty mass likewise of Amber Amber as big as the body of a Horse was not many years since thrown up upon this shore This the learned call Succinum Glessum and Chryso-electrum and Sotacus was of opinion that it was a juice which amongst the Britains distill'd from trees ran into the sea and was there hardned Tacitus had the same sentiments of it in this passage of his I should believe De moribus Germanorum that as there are trees in the secret parts of the east which sweat out frankincense and balm so in the Islands and other countreys of the west there are woods of a more fatty substance which melting by the hot beams of the near-approaching sun run into the sea hard by and being driven by tempestuous weather float to the opposite shores But Serapio and the modern Philosophers will have it to work out of a bituminous sort of earth under the sea and by the sea-side that the waves in stormy weather cast part of it upon the shore and that part of it is devoured by the fish But I have digressed too far and will return into my way hoping my ingenuous confession will purchase me a pardon In the reign of Alexander the 2d Alexander Comin had conferr'd upon him the honour of Earl of Buquhan Earls of Baquhan who married a daughter and one of the heirs of Roger de Quircy Earl of Winchester in England and his grand child by a son brought the same title to Henry Beaumor● her husband For he in the reign of Edw. the 3d sat in the Parliament of England under the name of Earl of Buquhan Afterwards Alexander Stewart son to King Robert the 4th was Earl of this place succeeded by John a younger son of Robert Duke of Albany who being sent for into France with 7000 Auxiliary Scots by the French King Charles the 7th did extraordinary good service against the English and had so great a reputation there that after he had killed Thomas Duke of Clarence K. Henry the 5th's brother at Baugy and got as great a victory over the English as ever was obtained he was made Constable of France But 3 years after when the fortune of the war turned he with other valiant Commanders The valour of the Scots in the Wars of France Archibald Douglas Earl of Wigton and Duke of Tours c. was routed at Vernoil by the English and there slain Whom yet as the Poet said Aeternum memorabit Gallia cives Grata suos titulos quae dedit tumulos Those grateful France shall ever call her own Who owe to her their graves and their renown The French cannot but confess that they owe the preservation of France and recovery of Aquitain by thrusting out the English in the reigns of Charles the 6th and 7th in a great measure to the fidelity and valour of the Scots But afterwards K. James the first out of pity to Geo. of Dunbar whom by authority of Parliament he had before divested of the Earldom of March for his father's crimes gave him the Earldom of Buquhan And not long after James son of James Stewart of Lorn sirnamed the Black Knight 14 Whom he had by Queen Joan sister to the Duke of Somerset and widow to King James I. c. whom he had by Joan of Somerset obtained this honour and left it to his posterity but not long since for default of heirs male it went by a daughter to Douglas a younger brother of the House of Lochlevin Beyond Buchan in the bending back of the shore northwards lies Boen Boen and a Now a Barony in the family of Ogilby Bamff a small Sheriffdom * See the Additions and Ainza a little tract of less consideration as also Rothamy Castle the seat of the Barons of Salton Barons Salton sirnamed b Now Frazer Abernethy Beneath these lies Strath-bolgy Strath-bolgy that is the Valley upon the Bolgy formerly the seat of the Earls of Athol sirnamed from thence but now the chief residence of the Marquess of Huntley c Now from the Marquisate of Huntley rais'd to the Dukedom of Gordon Marquess of Huntley For this title K. James the 6th conferred upon Geo. Gordon Earl of Huntley Lord Gordon and Badzenoth eminent for his ancient nobility and his many followers and dependants Whose ancestors are descended from the Setons and by authority of Parliament took upon them the name of Gordon upon Alexander Seton's marrying the daughter of Sir John Gordon with whom he had a very noble estate and received
antient and noble family have flourished from the first conquest of this country by the English who were afterwards advanced to the honour of Barons o Now Earl of Tyrone Curraghmore Upon the bank of the river Suire stands Waterford ●●terford the chief City of this County Of which thus old Necham Suirius insignem gaudet ditare Waterford Aequoreis undis associatur ibi Thee Waterford Suir 's streams with wealth supply Hasting to pay their tribute to the sea This City which the Irish and Britains call Porthlargy the English Waterford was first built by certain Pirats of Norway Though 't is situated in a thick air and on a barren soil and close built yet by reason of the convenience of the haven p It was once but now Cork may claim that honour 't is the second City in Ireland for wealth and populousness and has ever continued q It s motto was Intacta manet Waterfordia But in the course of the Irish rebellion begun An. 1641. by means of the Popish Clergy it became exceeding faulty Now that the English Inhabitants daily encrease we may expect it will recover its former reputation particularly loyal and obedient to the Crown of England For since it was first taken by Richard Earl of Pembroke it has been so faithful and quiet that in our Conquest of Ireland it has always secur'd us from any attempts on this side Upon this account the Kings of England have endowed it with many and those considerable privileges which were enlarged and confirmed by Henry 7. for behaving themselves with great valour and conduct against Perkin Warbeck a sham-Prince who being but a young fellow of mean extraction had the impudence to aim at the Imperal Diadem by pretending to be Richard Duke of York the second son of King Edward 4. King Henry 6. gave the County of Waterford 〈◊〉 of ●●terford together with the City to John Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury in words which so clearly set forth the bravery of that warlike man that I cannot but think it worth the while and perhaps some others may think it so too to transcribe them from the Record We therefore says the King after a great deal more wherein one sees the defect both of the Latin and eloquence of the Secretaries of that age in consideration of the valour of our most dear and faithful Cousen John Earl of Shrewsbury and Weysford Lord Talbot of Furnival and Lestrange sufficiently shewn and proved in the wars aforesaid even to his old age not only by the sweat of his body but many times by the loss of his blood and considering how our County and City of Waterford in our Kingdom of Ireland with the Castle Seigniory Honour Lands and Barony of Dungarvan and all the Lordships Lands Honours and Baronies and their appurtenances within the same County which by forfeiture of rebels by reversion or decease of any person or persons by escheat or any other title of law ought to vest in Us or our progenitors which by reason of invasions or insurrections in these parts are become so desolate and as they lye exposed to the spoils of war so entirely wasted that they are of no profit to us but have done and now do many times redound to our loss and charge and also that the said lands may hereafter be better defended against the attempts and incursions of enemies or rebels do ordain and create him Earl of Waterford with the stile title name and honour thereunto belonging And that all things may correspond with his state and greatness we hereby of our special grace certain knowledge and free motion that the Grandeur of the Earl may be supported more honourably do give grant and by these presents confirm unto the said Earl the County aforesaid together with the aforesaid title stile name and honour of Earl of Waterford and the city of Waterford aforesaid with the fee-farm castles lordships honours lands baronies and all other appurtenances within the County as also all mannors hundreds wapentakes c. along the sea-coast from the town of Yoghall to the city of Waterford aforesaid To have and to hold the said County of Waterford the stile title name and honour of Earl of Waterford and likewise the city of Waterford aforesaid with the castle seigniory honour land and barony of Dungarvan and all other lordships honours lands and Baronies within the said County and also all the aforesaid mannors hundreds c. to the abovesaid Earl and to the heirs males of his body begotten to hold of us and our heirs by homage fealty and the service of being our Seneschal and that he and his heirs be Seneschals of Ireland Seneschal of Ireland to us and our heirs throughout our whole land of Ireland to do and that he do and ought himself to do in the said office that which his predecessors Seneschals of England were wont formerly to do for us in that office In witness whereof c. However while the Kings of England and their Nobility who had large possessions in Ireland were either took up with foreign wars in France or civil dissentions at home Ireland was quite neglected so that the English interest began to decay r See the Statute of Absentees in the County of Caterlogh and the power of the Irish grew formidable by reason of their absence and then it was enacted to recover their interest and to suppress this growth of the Irish strength that the Earl of Shrewsbury for his absence and carelesness should surrender the Town and County of Waterford to the King and his successors and likewise that the Duke of Norfolk the Baron Barkley Ann. 28. H. 8 the Heirs Female of the Earl of Ormond and all the Abbots Priors c. of England who held any lands there should surrender them to the King and his successors for the same faults The County of LIMERICK THus far we have surveyed the maritime counties of Mounster two remain that are inland Limerick and Tipperary which we are now come to The County of Limerick lies behind that of Cork Northward between Kerry the river Shanon and the county of Tipperary fruitful and well inhabited but it has few remarkable towns The West part of it is called Conilagh Conilagh where among the hills Knock-Patrick Knock-Patrick that is St. Patrick's hill is most eminent for its height from the top whereof one has a pleasant prospect into the sea and along the river Shanon which at a great distance falls from a wide mouth into the Vergivian Ocean At the bottom of this hill the Fitz-Giralds liv'd for a long time in great honour Knight of the Vally Qu. El●z An. 11. till Thomas call'd the Knight of the Valley or de Glin when his graceless son was put to death for Arsony for 't is treason by the laws of Ireland to set villages and houses a fire was also found an Accessary and had his estate
and his Sister Isabel de Albeny Countess of Arundel Isabel the second Sister was married to Gilbert Clare Earl of Glocester she had Richard de Clare Earl of Glocester and the Lady Anise Countess of * Perhaps ●evonia Averna ●●●e uxoris who was Mother of Isabel the † Mother of the Lord Robert Brus Earl of Carrick in Scotland afterwards King of that Nation ●is place 〈◊〉 corrup●●d From Eva Brus the third Sister descended Maud the Mother of the Lord Edmund Mortimer Mother of the Lady Eva de Cauntelow Mother of the Lady Milsoud de Mohun who was Mo●●er to Dame Eleanor Mother to the Earl of Hereford Joan ●arshall the fourth Sister was married to the Lord Guarin of Mount ●hinsey and had Issue Joan de Valens Sybil Countess of Fer●●s the fifth Sister had Issue seven Daughters the eldest call'd ●●gnes Vescie Mother of the Lord John and the Lord William Ves●●e the second Isabel Basset the third Joan Bohun Wife to the ●ord John Mohun Son of the Lord Reginald the fourth Sibyl ●ohun Wife to the Lord Francis Bohun Lord of Midhurst the fifth Eleanor Vaus Wife to the Earl of Winchester the sixth * Agatha Agas Mortimer Wife to the Lord Hugh Mortimer ●●e seventh Maud Kyme Lady of Karbry These are all both ●ales and Females the Posterity of the said William Earl Marshal MCCXX. The Translation of S. Thomas of Canterbury The ●●me year died the Lord Meiler Fitz-Henry founder of Connal ●nd was buried in the Chapter-House of the said Foundation MCCXXIV The Castle of Bedford was besieg'd and the Castle ●f Trim in Ireland MCCXXV Died Roger Pippard and in the year MCCXXVIII ●●ed William Pippard formerly Lord of the Salmon-leap This ●ear died likewise Henry Londres alias Scorch-Villeyn Archbishop ●f Dublin and was buried in Trinity-church there MCCXXX Henry King of England gave Hubert Burk ●●e Justiceship and the Third Penny of Kent and ●ade him also Earl of Kent Afterward the same Hubert was ●●prison'd and great Troubles arose between the King and his ●●bjects because he adher'd to Strangers more than to his own na●●ral Subjects MCCXXXI William Mareschall the younger Earl Marshal and ●arl of Pembrock departed this life and was buried in the Quire ●f the Friers Predicants in Kilkenny MCCXXXIV Richard Earl Mareschall Earl of Pembrock and ●rogull was wounded in a Battel in the Plain of Kildare on the ●●st day before the Ides of April and some few days after died in Kilkeny and there was buried hard by his * Girmanum natural Brother viz. William in the Quire of the Friers Predicants Of whom this was written Cujus sub fossa Kilkennia continet ossa MCCXL Walter Lacy Lord of Meth died this year in Eng●●nd leaving two Daughters to inherit his Estate of whom the ●●rst was married to Sir Theobald Verdon and the second to Gef●ery de Genevile MCCXLIII This year died Hugh Lacy Earl of Ulster and ●as buried in Cragsergus in the Convent of the Friers Minors ●eaving a Daughter who was married to Walter Burk Earl of Ulster The same year died Lord Gerald Fitz-Maurice and Lord ●ichard de Burgo MCCXLVI An Earthquake about nine of the Clock over all ●he West MCCXLVIII Sir John Fitz-Geffery came Lord Justiciary into ●reland MCCL. Lewis King of France and William Long-Espee were ●aken Prisoners with many others by the Saracens In Ireland Maccanewey a Son of Belial was slain in Leys as he deserv'd In the year MCCLI. The Lord Henry Lacy was born Upon Christmas-day likewise Alexander King of Scots in the 11th year of his Age was then contracted with Margaret the daughter of the King of England at York MCCLV Alan de la Zouch was made and came Justiciary into Ireland MCCLVII This year died the Lord Maurice Fitz-Gerald MCCLIX Stephen Long-Espee came Justiciary into Ireland The green Castle in Ulster was demolish'd William Dene was made Justiciary of Ireland MCCLXI The Lord John Fitz-Thomas and the Lord Maurice his Son were slain in Desmond by Mac Karthy Item William Dene Justiciary dy'd and Sir Richard Capel put in his room the same year MCCLXII Richard Clare Earl of Glocester died this year as also Martin de Maundevile on the morrow of S. Bennet's day MCCLXIV Maurice Fitz-Gerald and Maurice Fitz-Maurice took Prisoners Richard Capel the Lord Theobald Botiller and the Lord John Cogan at Tristel-Dermot MCCLXVII David de Barry was made Justiciary of Ireland MCCLXVIII Comin Maurice Fitz-Maurice was drown'd The Lord Robert Ufford was made Justiciary of Ireland MCCLXIX The Castle of Roscoman was begun this year Richard of Exeter was made Justiciary MCCLXX The Lord James de Audley came Justiciary into Ireland MCCLXXI Henry the son of the King of Almain was slain in the Court of Rome Plague Famine and Sword rag'd this year particularly in Meth. Nicholas de Verdon and his Brother John were slain Walter de Burgo Earl of Ulster died MCCLXXII The Lord James Audley Justiciary of England was kill'd by a fall from his Horse in Tothomon and was succeeded in this Office by the Lord Maurice Fitz-Maurice MCCLXXIII The Lord Geffery Genevile return'd from the Holy Land and was made Justiciary of Ireland MCCLXXIV Edward the son of King Henry was anointed and crown'd King of England by Robert Kilwarby a Frier-Predicant Archbishop of Canterbury upon S. Magnus the Martyr's day in the Church of Westminster in the presence of all the Nobility and Gentry His Protestation and Oath was in this form I Edward son and heir of King Henry do profess protest and promise before God and his holy Angels from this time forward to maintain without partiality the Law Justice and Peace of the Church of God and the People subject unto me so far as we can devise by the counsel of our liege and legal Ministers as also to exhibit due and canonical Honour to the Bishops of God's Church to preserve unto them inviolably whatsoever has been granted by former Emperors and Kings to the Church of God and to pay due Honour to the Abbots and the Lord's Ministers according to the advice of our Lieges c. so help me God and the holy Gospels of the Lord. This year died the Lord John Verdon and the Lord Thomas de Clare came into Ireland And William Fitz-Roger Prior of the Hospitallers was taken Prisoner at Glyndelory with many others and more slain MCCLXXV The Castle of Roscoman was built again The same year Modagh was taken Prisoner at Norragh by Sir Walter le Faunte MCCLXXVI Robert Ufford was made Justiciary of Ireland upon the surrender of Geffery de Genevill MCCLXXVII O Brene slain MCCLXXVIII The Lord David Barry died this year as also the Lord John Cogan MCCLXXIX The Lord Robert d'Ufford went into England and appointed Frier Robert de Fulborne Bishop of Waterford to supply his place In whose time the Mony was chang'd A Round Table was also held at Kenylworth by Roger Lord Mortimer MCCLXXX Robert d'Ufford return'd from England
the celebrated Organ at Ulme This city gave birth to Henrietta Maria youngest daughter to K. Charles 1. to William Petre ●ho was Secretary and Privy-Counsellor to K. Henry 8. Edward 6. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth and seven times Embassadour in foreign parts and lastly to Sir Thomas Bodley employ'd by Queen Elizabeth to several foreign Courts but especially famous for his founding the Publick Library in the University of Oxford call'd after his own name nn Thomas the last Earl of Exeter mention'd by our Author was succeeded by William his son and heir who dying without issue-male The Ea●●s continu'd left that honour to David Cecil Son of Sir Richard Cecil who was second son to Thomas Earl of Exeter This David was succeeded by John his son and heir and he by his son of the same name o At the confluence of Ex and Clist is Topesham Tophesha● an ancient town that hath flourish'd much by the obstructions of the river Ex. Several attempts have been made to remove these dammes but none so effectual as the new works in the time of King Charles 2. at the vast expence indeed of the City of Exeter but to such advantage that Lighters of the greatest burden come up to the city-key On the east of Exeter is a parish call'd Heavy-tree Heavy-t●●● memorable for the birth of Hooker the judicious Author of the Ecclesiastical Polity and of that great Civilian Dr. Arthur Duck. The next parish is Pinhoe Pinhoe remarkable for bringing forth the two Rainolds John and William brothers zealous maintainers both of the Reform'd and the Popish Religion in their turns Not far from hence is Stoke-Canon Stoke-C●non given by K. Canute to the Church of Exeter a representation of which gift was to be seen not long ago in a window of the Parish-Church there viz. a King with a triple Crown and this Inscription Canutus Rex donat hoc Manerium Eccles Exon. Four miles east of Exon we pass the river Clyst near which upon Clyst-heath Clyst-heath the Cornish rebels were totally defeated An. 1549. by John Lord Russel afterwards Earl of Bedford p Next is Honnyton Honny●●● where the market was anciently kept on Sundays as it was also in Exeter Launceston and divers other places till in the reign of K. John they were alter'd to other days Over the river Ottery is Vennyton bridge Vennyt●●-bridge at which in the time of Edw. 6. a battle was fought against the Cornish rebels q And upon the same river stands Budley Budley famous for being the birth-place of that great Statesman and Historian Sir Walter Rawleigh r From whence to the north east is Sidmouth Sidmou●● now one of the chiefest fisher-towns of those parts s And Seaton Seaton where the inhabitants formerly endeavour'd to cut out a haven and procur'd a Collection under the Great Seal for that purpose but now there remain no footsteps of that work t The river Ax passeth by Ford Ford. to which Abbey the Courtneys were great benefactours it is now in the hands of Edmund Prideaux Esq Baldwin Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of K. Richard 1. was first Monk and then Abbot here Ax empties it self into the sea at Axmouth Axmo●●● formerly a good harbour for ships Several attempts have been made to repair this decay'd haven by the family of the Earles but all in vain u Crossing the country to the north-west we meet with Hartland Hart●●●● the possessions of which Monastery were confirm'd by Richard 1. with the grant of great immunities particularly of a Court holding plea of all matters saving life and member arising in their own lands In the time of Q. Elizabeth a Bill was preferr'd in the house of Commons for finishing that port Not far from this is Clovelly-harbour Clo●●●●● secur'd by a Piere erected at great charges by the Carys who have had their seats here from the time of Richard 2. 'T is now the most noted place in those parts for herring-fishing At a little distance lies Hole or South-hold S●●th-hold the native place of Dr. John Moreman Vicar of Maynhennet in Cornwall towards the latter end of Henry 8. memorable upon this account that he was the first who taught his Parishioners the Lord's Prayer Creed and ten Commandments in the English tongue By which we learn in how short a time that language has entirely prevail'd against the native Cornish w Upon the river Ock is Okehampton ●kehampton which as it had formerly 92 Knights fees belonging to it so it is at present a good market town incorporated by K. James 1. sends Burgesses to Parliament and gives the title of Baron to the family of the Mohuns More to the north lies Stamford-Courtney Stamford-Courtney where began a great insurrection in the time of K. Edward 6. by two of the inhabitans one of whom would have no Gentlemen the other no Justices of Peace x At a little distance is North-Tawton North-Tawton where there is a pit of large circumference 10 foot deep out of which sometimes springs up a little brook or bourn and so continues for many days 'T is taken by the common people as a fore-runner of publick sorrow as that Bourn in Hertfordshire call'd Woobournmore Directly towards the north upon the river Moule lieth South-moulton ●outh-●oulton an ancient town incorporate formerly call'd Snow-moulton when it was held by the Martyns by Sergeanty to find a man with a bow and three arrows to attend the Earl of Gloucester when he should hunt thereabouts x From hence to the south-west is Torrington ●●rrington call'd in old Records Chepan-Torrington an ancient Borough which sent Burgesses to Parliament But that privilege hath been long discontinu'd both here and in other places in this County It was incorporated by Queen Mary by the name of Mayor Aldermen and Burgesses and hath yielded the title of Earl to George Duke of Albemarle the great Restorer of K. Charles 2. as after him to Christopher his only son and since to Arthur Herbert the present Earl late Lord Admiral y The river goes next to Bediford ●ediford mention'd by our Author for it's bridge It is so high that a ship of 50 or 60 tunn may sail under it For which and for number of arches it equals if not exceeds all others in England 'T was begun by Sir Theobald Granvill and for the finishing of it the Bishop of the Diocese granted out Indulgences to move the people to more liberal contributions and accordingly great sums of money were collected This place hath been in the possession of the Granvills ever since the Conquest a family famous particularly for Sir Richard Granvill's behaviour in Glamorganshire in the reign of W. Rufus and another of the same name under Q. Elizabeth who with one ship maintain'd a sea-fight for 24 hours against 50 of the Spanish Galeons and at last yielded upon
of the Cistercian Order That part of it which is now standing is a farm-house belonging to my Lord of Leicester from whom many noble persons still remain Echingham next adjoyning had also a Baron in the time of K. Edward 2. Baron Echingham William de Echingham whose ancestors were * Seneschalli Stewards of this Rape But the Inheritance by heirs females came to the Barons of Windsor and the Tirwhitts Then the Rother dividing his waters into 3 chanels Robertsbridge or Rotherbridge Bodiam passes under Robertsbridge where in the reign of Hen. 2. Alured de St. Martin founded a Monastery m Call'd S. Mary's of Robertbridge and of the Cistercian Order That part of it which is now standing is a farm-house belonging to my Lord of Leicester and so running by Bodiam a Castle belonging to the ancient and famous family of the Lewkneys built by the Dalegrigs here falls into the sea Now I have pass'd along the sea-coast of Sussex As for the Mediterranean parts there is nothing worth taking notice of unless I shou'd reckon up the Woods and Forests of great extent both in length and breadth the remains of the vast and famous wood Anderida Among which to begin at the west the most noted are these the Forest of Arundel S. Leonard's Forest Word Forest 31 And not far off East-Grensted anciently a parcel of the Barony of Eagle and made a Market by King Henry 7. Ashdown Forest under which lies Buckhurst Baron Backhur●t the seat of the ancient family of the Sackvils of which Q Elizabeth in our memory advanced Thomas Sackvil 32 Her Alley by the Bullens a Gentleman of great wisdom to be Baron of Buckhurst took him into her Privy Council elected him into the most honorable Order of the Garter and made him Lord Treasurer of England whom also of late K. James created Earl of Dorset Waterdown Forest 33 Where I saw Bridge a lodge of the Lord Abergavenny and by it craggy rocks rising up so thick as tho' sporting Nature had there purposed a sea Hereby in the very confines of Kent is Groomebridge an habitation of the Wallers whose House there was built by Charles Duke of Orleans father to K. L●wis 12. of France when he being taken Prisoner in the Battel at Agincourt by Richard Waller of this place was here a long time detained Prisoner and that of Dallington the least of all Earls of Sussex See the E●●ls ●f Arundel Sussex has had 5 Earls of the family of D'Aubeney who were likewise called Earls of Arundel 34 the first of them was William D'Aubeney the son of William Butler to King Hen. 1. and Lord of Buckenham in Norfolk who gave for his Arms Gules a Lion rampant Or and was call'd sometimes Earl of Arundel and sometimes Earl of Chichester because in those places he kept his chief residence He had by Adeliza daughter of Godfrey Barbatus Duke of Lorrain and Brabant Queen Dowager to King Hen. 1. William the 2d Earl of Sussex and Arundel Father of William the 3d. Earl unto whom Mabil sister and one of the heirs of the last Ranulph Earl of Chester bore William the 4th Earl and Hugh the 5th Earl who both died issueless and also 4 Daughters married to Robert Lord of Tateshall John Fitz-Alan Roger de Somery and Robert de Mount-hault Afterwards the title of Arundel sprouted forth again as I said before in the Fitz-Alans But that of Sussex lay as it were forgotten and lost till our age which hath seen 5 Ratcliffs descended of the most noble house of the Fitz-Walters that fetch'd their original from the Clares bearing that honour viz. Robert created Earl of Sussex by K. Hen. 8. 21 H●●t who married Elizabeth daughter of Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham by whom he had Henry the 2d Earl to whom Eliz. the daughter of Tho. Howard Duke of Norfolk bore Thomas who was Lord Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth and dy'd without issue a Heroe of very great worth and honour in whose mind were joyntly seated both the wisdom of a Statesman and the courage of a Soldier as England and Ireland had reason to acknowledge Henry his brother succeeded him after Henry Robert his only son an honourable young Gentleman who now enjoys the Earldom This County contains 312 Parishes So much for Sussex which together with Surrey was the seat of the Regni afterwards the Kingdom of the South-Saxons The kingdom of the South-Saxons called in Saxon † The true reading is Suth-seaxna ric Suþ-seaxan-ric which 31 years after the coming in of the Saxons was begun by Aella who according to Bede First amongst the Kings of the English Nation ruled all their southern Provinces which are sever'd by the River Humber and the adjacent limits The first Christian King was Edilwalch baptiz'd in the presence of Wulpher King of Mercia his Godfather who gave him in token of adoption two Provinces the Isle of Wight and the Province of the Meanvari But in the 306th year from the beginning of this Kingdom upon Aldinius the last King 's being slain by Ina it came wholly under the Dominion of the West-Saxons ADDITIONS to SVSSEX a THE County of Sussex as in the north part it still abounds with wood so as our Author observes the greatest part of it seems to have been formerly in the same condition For I can never believe but that vast Weald being 30 miles in breadth and beginning in the south part of Kent must in it's way to Hamshire take up a considerable tract of this Shire And if so we may inferr from hence this account of it that the inhabitants could be but very few and thin-plac'd for a long time Which is plain from the two * Lambard Perambulat p. 224. Somner's Forts and Forts p. 107. Kentish Antiquaries affirming that for a great while the whole Weald was scarce any thing else besides a desert and vast wilderness not planted with towns or peopl d with men but stuff'd with herds of deer and droves of hogs only Which account may be very rationally grounded upon this bottom that no part of the Weald appears by the several Grants to have been let out by the King the only Lord and Proprietor of it in Manours but in so many Dens which imply'd only a woody place yielding covert and feeding for cattel and that there is no other use of them express'd but only Pannage for hogs From which hint is gather'd the primitive state of the greatest part of this County b In after times our Author observes among other things that they dea●t in the Glass-trade Put that lasted not long for whether it was that it turn'd to little account or that they found themselves out-vy'd by other places there are now no Glass-houses in the whole County At present as in our Author's time they are most famous for the iron-Iron-works which are in several places of this County some whereof have both
a Furnace and Forge others a Forge only and others only a Furnace Near Hastings also are two powder-mills where is made as good Gun-powder as any in England And in that end of the County where the Iron-works are namely the East Char-coal is made in great abundance c To go along now with Mr. Camden St. R●●●-hill North of Chichester which has given the title of Earl to Francis Leigh Lord Dunsmore and after him to Charles Fitz-Roy natural son to K. Charles 2. is a place call'd St. Rook's hill † A●●●● M●● 〈◊〉 MS. and upon it is still to be seen an old camp the diameter whereof is two furlongs and better The form of it is circular from which thus much may be undoubtedly gather'd that it is not Roman but probably Danish Those who have an opportunity of searching into the Records of the place would do well to consider whether the true name of it is not S. Roch's hill for he was patron of the pilgrims and here was formerly a Chapel which might possibly enough be dedicated to him A mile and a half from this place to the west is a Camp call'd Gonshill Gon●h●●● Ibid. which being of a different form must be made by some other people The figure of it is an oblong square which comes nearest to the Roman way of encamping The B●ile Hard by Chichester towards the west ‖ there has been also another large Roman Camp call'd the Brile of an oblong form 4 furlongs and 2 perches in length and 2 furlongs in breadth It lies in a flat low ground with a great rampire and single graff and in such a place as renders it probable enough to have been that of Vespasian's after his landing d Eastward from hence is Arundel ●rundel which our Author observes to be of more fame than real note tho' it is now a market-town and a borough sending 2 Burgesses to Parliament The famous high-way Stanesstreet-causeway which is in some places 10 yards broad but in most 7 comes to this town out of Surrey by Belinghurst It is a yard and a half deep in stones which they discover by cutting passages to let in water and runs in a streight line It is made of flints and pebbles tho' no flints are found within 7 miles of it As the story of Bevis's horse call'd Arundel ought not to be altogether rejected so neither ought our Author's name of the river Arun and derivation of the town from thence be too securely clos'd with For that Bevis was founder of the Castle is a current opinion handed down by tradition and there is a tower in it still known by the name of Bevis's tower which they say was his own apartment Besides 't is natural enough to imagine that the name of a horse might be Arundel from his swiftness since that word in French signifies a Swallow and the present Arms of the town which is corporate by Prescription are a Swallow Now why might not Bevis's Arundel as well have the honour of naming a town wherein his master had a particular interest as Alexander's Bucephalus had of a city But whatever approbation this conjecture may meet with 't is certain that Mr. Camden's fetching it from Arun will not hold For that river is call'd High-stream to distinguish it from the other small rivulets or streams and seems to have bore the same name as to the sense at least all along The Norman English call'd it Hault-rey and answerably the middle-aged Latin writers Alta ripa so Mr. Camden tells us that Rhie in this County is call'd in Latin Ripa and several branches breaking out of the High-stream are at this day call'd Ripes or Rifes There was also an ancient family of Knights owners of much land in these parts even in the bosom of this great river in the parish of Hardham otherwise Feringham call'd from it de Hault Rey and their posterity remains in these parts to this day under the name of D'Awtrey in Latin De alta Ripa But our Author's interpretation Aruntina vallis will not by any means suit either the name of the place or the circumstances of it For tho' it be writ several ways yet no one makes it end in dale nor is a low tract of ground ever express'd by that word in this County as it is in other parts of England but by a Level as Pevensey-Level Lewes-Level Bramber-Level Arundel-Level with many others And the Commissioners of Sewers call the Imposition laid upon Land for repair of publick banks and sluces a Level-tax 〈◊〉 E●rls ●●i●●ed Thomas Howard being restor'd in blood 1 Jac. 1. and dying An. 1646. was succeeded in his honours by his son Henry who in the life-time of his father was summon'd to Parliament by the titles of Lord Moubray and Maltravers By whose death An. 1652. this title came to Thomas his eldest son restor'd also 13 Car. 2. to the title of Duke of Norfolk which had been forfeited by the Attainder of Thomas the last Duke By which means the title of Duke of Norfolk came to Henry his brother along with the Earldoms of Arundel and Surrey who now among other honours enjoys them e Towards the north-east lies Findon ●●●don within a mile of which is an ancient Camp at about 2 miles distance from the sea 'T is call'd Caesar's-hill because the people imagine it was Caesar's Camp and they pretend to shew the place where Caesar's tent was Notwithstanding which the form of it shews that opinion to be an error for being roundish it seems rather to have been a British work f And farther eastward near Lewes Lewes there is another Camp From whence going forwards we meet with Pemsey Pemsey which * Forts and Ports in Kent Mr. Somner disallowing Camden's Lambard's and Selden's conjecture of Newenden thought to be the ancient Anderida where was the band of the Abulae grounding partly upon Gildas's words expressing the situation of these garrisons In littore Oceani ad meridiem on the sea-shore to the south and the design of them to ken and spy out the invading enemy and partly upon the antiquity of the place which Archbishop Usher makes the old Caer Pensavelcoit of the Britains by the coit i.e. wood the former condition of this County being hinted to But tho' he seems most inclin'd to this place yet he is not altogether so positive but either Hastings or even Newenden may lay claim to this piece of Antiquity g Not far from hence is Ashburnham Ashburnham of which place and family John Ashburnham Esquire Grandfather to the present Lord Ashburnham built there a handsome Church with 3 Chancels There is also a noble house of the present Lord Ashburnham's which for stately buildings and convenient garden-room is one of the best in this County North-east from hence lies Breede Breede the Court whereof is a branch of that at Battle and hath the same privilege and process The Lands
they destroy'd every thing they could meet with burnt to the ground From that time they began to build nearer a green hill by the river upon which stands a castle not very great nor ancient but fair built and strong and upon the very hill stands a Church the only one in the town where the Monks aliens had a cell heretofore 7 Founded by Roger of Poictiers Below this at a very fine bridge over the Lone on the sto●pest side of the hill there hangs a piece of a very ancient wall which is Roman they call it Wery-wall probably from the later British name of the town for they nam'd this town Caer Werid that is a green 〈◊〉 from the green hill perhaps but I leave the f●r●her discovery of this to others John Lord of Mo●iton and Lancaste who was afterwards King of ●ng●and confirmed by charter all the liberties which he ●ad granted to the Burgesses of Bristow Edward the third in the 36th year of his reign granted to the M●yor and Bailiffs of the village of Lancaster that Pleas and Sessions should be held no where else but there The latitude of this place not to omit it is 54 degrees 5 minutes and the longitude 20 degrees 48 minutes From the top of this hill while I look'd all round to see the mouth of the Lone which empties it self not much lower I saw Forness ●ournesse the other part of this County on the west which is almost sever'd from it by the sea for whereas the shore lay out a great way from hence westward into the ocean the sea as if it were enrag'd at it ceased not to slash and mangle it Nay it swallow'd it quite up at some boisterous tide or other and the●eby has made three large bays namely Kentsand which receives the river Ken Levensand Duddensand between which the land shoots o●t so much like a promontory into the sea that this 〈◊〉 o● the county takes its name from it 〈…〉 and Foreland signifie the same with us that pro●●●●tort●● anterius that is a fore-promontory does in lati● l The whole tract except by the Sea-side is all high mountains and great rocks they call them Forn●ss-f●lls ●●rn●s●e-Fells among which the Britains liv'd securely for a long time relying upon the fortifications wherewith nature had guarded them tho' nothing prov'd impregnable to the Saxon Conquerors For in the 228th year after the coming in of the Saxons we may from hence infer that the Britains lived here because at that time Egfrid King of the Northumbrians gave to S. Cuthbert the land called Carthmell Carthmell and all the Britains in it for so it is related in his life Now Carthmell every one knows was a part of this County near Kentsand and a little town in it keeps that very name to this day wherein William Mareschal the elder Earl of Pembroke built a Priory and endow'd it If in Ptolemy one might read Setantiorum S●t●●●●●ru● Lacus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lake as some books have it and not S●tantiorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a haven I would venture to affirm that the Britains in these parts were the Setantii for among those mountains lies the greatest lake in England now call'd Winander-mere Winam●●rmere in Saxon Winƿadremer perhaps from the windings in it about ten miles in length the bottom pav'd as it were with a continued rock wonderful deep in some places as the neighbouring Inhabitants tell you and well stor'd with a sort of fish no where else bred See the A●d●●●●ns t● W●●tm●●land C●are a fi●h Hi●t●ry ●f Ma●●● which they call Chare m Upon this lake stands a little town of the same name where in the year 792. Eathred King of the Northumbrians slew the sons of King Elfwold after he had taken them from York that by his own wickedness and their blood he might secure himself in the Kingdom Between this lake and the river Dudden is the promontory we commonly call Forness with the Island Walney like a Counterscarp lying along by it and a small arm of the sea between The entry to it is d This fort is quite ruinated defended by a Fort call'd The Pile of Fouldrey Pi●e 〈◊〉 F●uld●e● situate upon a rock in the middle of the water and built by the Abbot of Forness in the first year of King Edward the third Upon the promontory there is nothing to be seen but the ruins of Forness-Abbey 8 Of C●stercian Monks L●b F ●●s●●n● which Stephen Earl of Bullen afterwards K. of England built in the year 1127. in a place formerly call'd Bekensgill or translated it rather from Tulket in Anderness Out of the Monks of this place and no where else as they themselves have related the Bishops of the Isle of Man which lyes over against it were wont by an ancient custom to be chosen this being the mother as it were of several Monasteries both in that Island and in Ireland n More to the East stands Aldingham Ald●●gh●● the ancient estate of the family of the Harringtons H●●●●gt●●s to whom it came from the Flemmings by the Cancefelds and whose inheritance by a daughter went to William Bonvill 9 Of Somersetshire of Devonshire and by him at last to the Greys Marquisses of Dorset Somewhat higher lyes Ulverston Ul●●●● to be mention'd upon this account that Edward the third gave a moiety of it to John Coupland one of the most warlike men of that age whom he also advanc'd to the honour of a Banneret for taking David the second King of Scots prisoner in a battel at Durham After his death the said King gave it with other great estates in these parts and with the title of Earl of Bedford to Ingleram Lord Coucy a Frenchman he having married his daughter Isabel and his Ancestors having been possess'd of great Revenues in England in right of Christian de Lindsey ●o As for those of the Nobility who have bore the title of Lancaster 〈…〉 there were three in the beginning of the Norman Government who had the title of Lords of the Honour of Lancaster namely Roger of Poictou the son of Roger Montgomery sirnam'd Pictavensis as William of Malmesbury says because his wife came out of Poictou in France But he being depriv'd of this honour for his disloyalty King Stephen conferr'd it upon his own son William Earl of Moriton and Warren Upon whose death King Richard the first bestow'd it upon John his brother who was afterwards King of England For thus we find it in an ancient History 〈…〉 King Richard shew'd great affection for his brother John For besides Ireland and the Earldom of Moriton in Normandy he bestow'd upon him such great preferments in England that he was in a manner a Tetrarch there For he gave him Cornwal Lancaster Nottingham Derby with the adjacent Country and many other things A pretty while after King Henry the third son of King John
raised Edmund Crouchback his younger son to whom he had given the estate and honours of Simon Montfort Earl of Leicester of Robert Ferrars Earl of Derby and of John of Monmouth for rebelling against him to the Earldom of Lancaster Ea●●●● Lancast●● giving it in these words The Honour Earldom Castle and the Town of Lancaster with the Cow-pastures and Forests of Wiresdale Lownsdale Newcastle under Lime with the Manour Forest and a Castle of Pickering the Manour of Scaleby the Village of Gomecestre and the Rents of the Town of Huntendon c. after he had lost the Kingdom of Sicily with which the Pope by a ring invested him to no purpose and what expos'd the English to the publick scoff and laughter of the world he caus'd pieces of gold to be coyn'd with this Inscription AIMUNDUS REX SICILIAE 〈…〉 having first chous'd and cully'd the credulous King out of much money upon that account The said Edmund his first wife dying without issue who was the daughter and heir of the Earl of Albemarle 10 Of William de Fortibus Earl c. yet by her last Will made him her heir had by his second wife Blanch of Artois of the 〈…〉 Royal Family of France Thomas and Henry and John who dy'd very young Thomas was the second Earl of Lancaster who married Alice the only daughter and heir of Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln she convey'd this and her mother's estate who was of the family of the Long Espee's Earls of Salisbury as likewise her father Henry Lacy had done before with his own Lands in case Alice should dye without issue as indeed it afterwards hapen'd over to the family of Lancaster But this Thomas for his Insolence and disrespect to his Prince Edward the second and for imbroiling the State was at last taken prisoner in the field and beheaded having no issue However his Sentence was afterwards revers'd by Act of Parliament because he was not try'd by his Peers and so his brother Henry succeeded him in his estate and honours He was also enrich'd by his wife Maud daughter and sole heir of Patrick Chaworth and that not only with her own but with great estates in Wales namely of Maurice of London and of Siward from whom she was descended He dying left a son Henry 〈…〉 whom Edward the third rais'd from Earl to a Duke and he was the second of our Nobility that bore the title of Duke But he dy'd without issue-male leaving two daughters Mawd and Blanch between whom the Inheritance was divided Mawd was married to William of Bavaria Earl of Holland Zeland Friseland Hanault and of Leicester too in right of his wife But she dying without issue John of Gaunt so call'd because he was born at Gaunt in Flanders fourth son of Edward the third by marriage with Blanch the other daughter of Henry came to the whole estate And now being equal to many Kings in wealth and created Duke of Lancaster by his father he also obtain'd the Royalties of him The King too advanc'd the County of Lancaster into a Palatinate by this Rescript wherein after he has declar'd the great service he had done his Country both at home and abroad he adds We have granted for us and our heirs to our son aforesaid that he during the term of life shall have within the County of Lancaster his Chancery and his Writs to be issued out under his own Seal belonging to the Office of Chancellor his Justices likewise as well for Pleas of the Crown as for other Pleas relating to Common Law to have cognisance of them and to have power of making all Executions whatsoever by his Writs and Officers And to have all other Liberties and Royalties of what kind soever appertaining to a County Palatine as freely and as fully as the Earl of Chester within the said County is known to have c. Nor was he only Duke of Lancaster but also by marriage with Constantia daughter of Peter King of Castile John of Gaunt K. of Castile for some time bore the title of King of Leon and Castile But by contract he parted with this title and in the 13th of King Richard the second was created by consent of Parliament Duke of Aquitain 11 To have and to hold the same title for term of life of the King of England and Monarch of France but to the general disgust of the inhabitants of the Province of Aquitain who gave it out that their Seigniory was inseparably annext to the Crown of England to the great dissatisfaction of that Country At that time his titles were John son to the King of England Duke of Aquitain and Lancaster Earl of Derby Lincoln and Leicester and high Steward of England After this John Henry de Bullingbroke his son succeeded in the Dutchy of Lancaster 12 Who when he had dispossess'd Richard the second and obtain'd the Kingdom of England he considering that being now King he could not bear the title of Duke of Lancaster and unwilling that the said title should be discontinu'd ordain'd by assent of Parliament that Henry his present son should enjoy the same and be stil'd Prince of Wales Duke of Aquitain Lancaster and Cornwall and Earl of Chester and also that the Liberties and Franchises of the Dutchy of Lancaster should remain to his said son sever'd from the Crown of England who having deposed Richard the second obtain'd the Crown and conferr'd this honour upon Heny his son K. Henr. 4. afterwards King of England And that he might entail it upon him and his heirs for ever he had an Act of Parliament made in these words We being unwilling that our said inheritance or its liberties by reason of our now assuming the Royal state and dignity should be any ways chang'd transferr'd diminish'd or impair'd but that our said inheritance with its rights and liberties aforesaid should in the same manner and form condition and state wherein they descended and fell to us and also with all and singular liberties franchises and other privileges commodities and profits whatsoever which our Lord and Father in his life time had and held it withal for term of his life by the grant of the late King Richard be wholly and fully preserv'd continu'd and enjoy'd by us and our heirs specified in the said Charters And by the tenure of these presents we do upon our certain knowledge and with the consent of this our present Parliament grant declare decree and ordain for us and our heirs that as well our Dutchy of Lancaster as all and singular Counties Honours Castles Manours Fees Advowsons Possessions Annuities and Seigniories whatsoever descended to us before the Royal Dignity was obtain'd by us how or in what place soever by right of inheritance in possession or in reversion or other way remain to us and our said heirs specified in the Charters abovesaid after the said manner for ever Afterwards King Henry the fifth by Act