century and tithing or if he could not should expect the severity of the laws But if any one standing thus accused should make his escape either before or after the bail was given that whole Hundred and Tithing was liable to be fined by the King By this project he settled peace in the Kingdom so that even upon the high-roads where four ways met he commanded golden bracelets to be hung up which might expose the avarice of travellers whil'st there was none durst venture to take them away Wappentacks Tithings and Laths These Centuries are in some parts of the Kingdom called Wappentaches if you desire to know the reason I will give it you out of Edward the Confessor's Laws When any one received the government of a Wappentach on a set day and in the place where the meeting used to be held all the elder sort met him and when he was got off his horse rose up to him Then he held up his spear and took security of all there according to custom for whoever came touched his spear with theirs and this touching of armour confirmed them in one common interest and was a publick league In English arms are called wepun and taccare is to confirm as if this were a confirmation of weapons or to speak more agreeably to the English tongue b See Sir Henry Spelman's Glossary under the word Wapentachium Wepentac is a touching of armour for wepun signifies armour and tac is touching There were also other Jurisdictions above those of Wapentaches which they called Ãrihingas including the third part of the Province and those who were Lords over them were termed Ãrihingerefas To these were appeals made in such causes as could not be determined in the Wapentaches So that what the English named a Hundred these called a Wapentach and what was in English three or four hundreds they called c Of which the Ridings in Yorkshire are a corruption Ãrihinge But in some Provinces what they called Trihing was in English term'd Lew and what could not be determined in the Ãrihinge was carried into the Shire These Counties which if you would express in proper Latin Shirâ— may be term'd either Conventus or Pagi we call by the peculiar name of Shyres from the Saxon word Scyre signifying to branch and divide By the first division there were only 32. for in the year 1016. in the Reign of Aethelred Malmsbury assures us there were no more In the life of Aethelred he writes thus At this time the Danes invaded 16 Counties whereas there are but 32 in all England And in those days these Counties were divided according to the variety of the laws Div'faâ— Englaâ—â— acc râ—â—â— to Laâ— For the Laws of England were threefold those of the West-Saxons called West-saxenlage those of the Danes called Denelage and those of the Mercians called Merchenlage Under the West-Saxon-Law were comprehended nine Counties Kent Sussex Surrey Berkshire Hamshire Wiltshire Somersetshire Dorsetshire and Devâ—â—shire To the Dane-Laws belonged fifteen Counties Yorkshire Derbyshire Nottinghamshire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Northamptonshire Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Hertfordshire Essex Middlesex Norfolk Suffolk Cambridgeshire Huntingdonshire The other eight were judged after the Mercian-Law Lib. â— S. Eâ—â— di those were Glocestershire Worcestershire Herefordshire Warwickshire Oxfordshire Cheshire Shropshire and Staffordshire But when William the first made his Survey of this Kingdom Domâ— book there were reckoned 36 Counties as the Polychronicon tells us But the publick records wherein he registred that Survey reckon up no more than 34. For Durham Lancashire Northumberland Westmorland and Cumberland did not come into the number the three last as some wouâ—d have it being then under the Scots and the other two either exempt from taxes or included under Yorkshire But all these being afterwards added to the number made it as it is to this day 39. Besides which there are 13 moâ—e in Wales d But thâ— Statute of 34 and 35 of Hen. 8. Cap. 26. tells us That eight Shires were of ancient and long time to wit those of Glemorgaâ— Caeâ—mâ— then Pembroke Cardigan Flint Caernarvon Anglesey and Merioneth and other foâ—r were made by the Statute of 27 Hen 8. Cap. 26. beâ—des Monmouthshire namely Radnor Brecknock Montgomery and Denbigh So that in Edward's time there seem to have been eight whereof six were in Edward the first 's time Wal◠〈…〉 Câ—â—â— the rest Henry the eighth settled by Act of Parliament In each of these Counties in troublesome times especially there is appointed a Deputy under the King by the name of Lieutenant who is to take care that the State suffer no damage The first institution hereof seems to be fetch'd from King Alfred who settled in every County the Custodes regni or keepers of the kingdom These afterward were restored by Henry the third under the title of Capitanei For in the fiftieth year of his Reign he as John of London has it held a Parliament wherein this wholsome Law was enacted That in every County there should be one Capâ—nâ—â—â— Captain maintained by the King who by the assistance of the Sheriff should restrain the insolence of robbers Upon which many were so affrighted that they left that trade and the Royal power began to revive This was wisely enough ordered but whether Canutus the Dane when he made a Tetrarchy in a Monarchy 89 〈◊〉 Wâ—â— did not act more prudently let our Politicians determine For he as Hermand the Archdeacon says being an exceeding sagacious man so contriv'd the government of the Kingdom He 〈…〉 that it should fall under Tetrarchs such as he had found faithful to him The government of the West-Saxons which was the greatest he took to himself â—rcha Mercia the second part he committed to one Edrick the third called Northumbre to Yrtus and Earl Turkille had the fourth i.e. East Anglia a very plentiful country This account I owe to the diligence of Fr. Thinne who hath prosecuted this study of Antiquities with great honour and particularly communicated this to me 〈◊〉 of Shire But every year some one inhabitant of the Lesser Nobility is set over the County and stil'd Vice-Comes i.e. a deputy of the Comes or Earl and in our language he is called Shiriff i.e. one set over the County and may very well be term'd the Quaestor of the County or Province For 't is his business to get up the publick revenues of the County to gather into the Exchequer all Fines even by destraining to attend the Judges and to execute their orders to empannel twelve men â—â—elve 〈◊〉 who are to judge of matters of fact and bring in their Verdict to the Judges who are with us only Judges of law and not of fact to take care that such as are condemned be duly executed and to give judgment in petty causes There are also in every County certain Eirenarchae or Justices of the Peace settled by King Edward III. and those
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 applicâ—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 †Clypâ—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 dâ—â— 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 Eâ—â— 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
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 〈◊〉 câ—â—os Newpoâ—â— 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 Prebendaâ—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
they hanged him upon a tree 39 For in a reverent awe of the Church they durst not bury him because he died excommunicated To him succeeded his 2 sons 40 Geoffrey his son who was restored by Hen. 2. to his father's Honours and Estate for him and his heirs William who by his wife was also Earl of Albemarle Geoffrey and William both taken off without issue Afterwards K. John in consideration of a good sum of money 〈◊〉 Pierz 〈◊〉 Fâ—â—z-â—â—â—re promoted Geoffrey Fitz-Pierz L. Ch. Justice a very prudent and grave man to this dignity He had took to wife Beatrice eldest daughter to William de Say descended from the sister of Geoffrey de Magnavil first Earl of Essex A great mony'd man saith an old Author and very rich who with a round sum of money and many entreaties made his application to the Bishop of Ely the King's Justice and laid claim to this Earldom in right of his wife daughter of William brother to Geoffry de Say eldest son by an hereditary title Who admitted him into full seizin thereof and demanded the promis'd sum which he receiv'd within a little time to put into the King's Exchequer He being thus admitted and confirm'd by the King's Letters Patents held and possess'd this honour and receiv'd the Homage of those that held of him by Knight's service 41 And so was girt with the sword of the Earldom of Essex by King John at the solemnity of his Coronation This Geoffrey Fiz-Petre was advanced to the high Estate of Justicer of England by King Richard 1. when he removed Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury from that office by the Pope's peremptory command for that Bishops ought not to intermeddle in secular affairs This place the said Geoffrey Fitz-Petre executed with great commendation preserving by his wisdom the Realm from that confusion which it after fell into by King John's unadvised carriage Geoffrey and William the two sons of this Geoffrey Fitz-Piers taking the sirname of Magnavil or Mandevil enjoy'd this honour The former of these 42 By his wife was Earl of Glocester also and c. died young Register of Walden-Abbey being unfortunately kill'd at a publick Tilting The other took part with Prince Lewis of France against King John and died without issue So that the honour now fell to 43 Their sisters son Humfrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford and Constable of England For thus writes the Chronologer of Walton-Abbey In the year 1228. the 6th of the Ides of January William de Mandevil Earl of Essex died c. In the same year Humfrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford the Constable of England espoused Maud daughter to Geoffrey Earl of Essex and so succeeded in that honour But from the Archives it is evident that Henry de Bohun father to this Humfrey married the said heiress And such a mistake might easily creep in for in the Writers of that age the Christian-names are only marked with great Letters as See the Earls of Hereford H. for Henry or Humfrey G. for Gilbert or Geoffrey c. Of this family the male heirs succeeded in the dignity of Earls of Hereford and Essex for several years whom I have already reckon'd up among the Earls of Hereford because they wrote themselves Earls of Hereford and Essex Eleanor eldest daughter to the last of the Bohuns given in marriage with the honour to Thomas de Woodstock Duke of Glocester had by him one daughter Anne first married to Edmund Earl of Stafford from whom sprang the Dukes of Buckingham and then to 44 Sir William William Bourgchier to whom K. Henry 5. gave the County of Ewe in Normandy This last had by her a son of his own name advanced to the dignity of Earl of Essex by Edw. 4. 45 In regard he had married his Aunt and was descended from Thomas of Woodstock He was succeeded by another Henry his son's son who died in his old age by a fall from his horse leaving issue only one daughter Anne who being laid aside King Henry 8. that he might make new additions to his honours and preferments created Thomas Cromwell who had been his main assistant in baffling the Pope's authority at the same time Earl of Essex High Chamberlain of England and Knight of the Garter Before this for his extraordinary prudence he had made him Master of the Rolls Secretary of State Baron Cromwell of Okeham Vicar General to the King in spiritual concerns and Lord Keeper and all this in five years time But after five months enjoyment of his Earldom he like most great favourites in the State concluded his scene of life with a most tragical end losing his head for treason The same King promoted to the Earldom of Essex 46 Sir William William Par to whom he had given in marriage Anne the only daughter and heir of Henry Bourgchier But he too at last dying without issue Walter Devreux Viscount Hereford whose great grandmother was Cicely Bourgchier sister to Henry Bourgchier of whom we spoke but now receiv'd the honour of Earl of Essex by the favour of Queen Elizabeth and left it to his son Robert who being for his excellent natural endowments highly in favour with that admirable Princess sail'd with such a smooth and prosperous gale into honours and preferments as to make it the common hope and expectation of the Kingdom that he would equal if not exceed the greatest characters of his Ancestors But at last being carried away with vain ambition and popularity and endeavouring to get the start of his own hopes he hurried himself into a sad destruction As several persons who condemn slow methods though secure choose sudden ones to their utter ruin But his young son Robert was restor'd to full possession of his father's honour by authority of Parliament through the special favour of our present most Serene Soveraign King James There are reckoned in this County 415 Parish-Churches ADDITIONS to ESSEX a THE County of Essex is so bounded with waters that by the help of the Ocean on one side and Rivers on others it makes a Peninsula As to Viscountile Jurisdiction it seems formerly to have been annext to Hertfordshire for in the 8th of Edward 3. John de Cogshall was Sheriff of them both about which time also one Escheator discharg'd the office in both b Our Author begins with Waltham-forrest Waltham-forrest which might very well be call d as he observes the Forrest of Essex reaching formerly through this County as far as the Sea * Norden's Essex MS. as appeareth by Edward the Confessor's gift to one Randolph Peperkin It still is so large as to thrust it self out into a great many Hundreds c Near the Thames is Leyton Leyton where Mr. Camden is enclin'd to settle the Durolitum Durolitum of Antoninus though he professes himself altogether at a loss for the places mention'd hereabouts by the Ancients And 't is no wonder that
seu foliis gramineis ramosum An gramineum ramosum C. B. J. B. Park Millefolium tenuifolium Ger. emac. ico Fine or Fennel-leav'd Pondweed In the river Cam plentifully Pulsatilla Anglica purpurea Park parad flore minore Ger. minore nigricante C. B. flore clauso caeruleo J. B. Common or English Pasque-flower On Gogmagog-hills on the left hand of the way leading from Cambridge to Haveril just on the top of the hill also about Hildersham six miles from Cambridge Ranunculus flammeus major Ger. palustris flammeus major Park longifolius palustris major C. B. longo folio maximus Lingua Plinii J. B. Great Spear-wort In some ditches at Teversham-moor and abundantly in many great ditches in the fens in the Isle of Ely Ribes nigrum vulgò dictum folio olente J. B. fructu nigro Park Grossularia non spinosa fructu nigro C. B. Black Currans Squinancy-berries By the river-side at Abington Rorella sive Ros soliis folis oblongis J. B. Park folio oblongo C. B. Long-leav'd Rosa solis or Sun-dew On Hinton-moor about the watery places plentifully Salix humilior foliis angustis subcaeruleis ut plurimum sibi invicem oppositis Salix tenuior folio minore utrinque glabro fragilis J. B. The yellow dwarf-willow By the horse-way-side to Cherry-hinton in the Close just by the water you pass over to go thither Scordium J. B. C. B. Ger. legitimum Park Water Germander In many ditches in the Isle of Ely and in the Osier-holts about Ely-city Also in a ditch on the left hand of the road leading from Cambridge to Histon about the mid-way S. Sesamoides Salamanticum magnum Ger. The greater Spanish Catchfly Near the Gravel-pits as you go to the nearest Windmill on the North-side of Newmarket-town This place may be in Suffolk Solanum lethale Park Ger. melanocerasos C. B. manicum multis sive Bella donna J. B. Deadly Nightshade or Dwale In the lanes about Fulborn plentifully Thalictrum minus Ger. Park C. B. minus sive Rutae pratensis genus minus semine striato J. B. The lesser Meadow-Rue About Newmarket and also about Bartlow and Linton in the chalky grounds Trifolium echinatum arvense fructu minore C. B. Medica echinata minima J. B. echinata parva recta Park malè non enim erigitur The smallest Hedgehog-Trefoil In an old gravel-pit in the corn-field near Wilborham Church also at Newmarket where the Sesamoides Salamanticum grows Trifolium sylvestre luteum siliquâ cornutâ vel Medica frutescens C. B. Medica sylvestris J. B. frutescens sive flavo flore Clusii Park Yellow-medick with flat wreathed cods In many places among the corn as between Linton and Bartlow by the road sides between Cambridge and Trumpinton near the river about Quoy Church and Wilborham c. Verbascum nigrum flore è luteo purpurascente C. B. nigrum flore luteo apicibus purpureis J. B. nigrum Ger. nigrum salvifolium luteo flore Lob. Sage-leav'd black Mullein In many places about Gogmagog-hills towards Linton as by the lanes sides and in the closes about Abington Shelford c. Veronica picata recta minor J. B. Spicata minor C. B. mas erecta Park assurgens sive spica Ger. Upright male Speedwell or Fluellin In several closes on Newmarket-heath as in a close near the beacon on the left hand of the way from Cambridge to Newmarket HVNTINGDONSHIRE AT the back of Cambridgeshire lyes the County of Huntingdon by the Saxons call'd huntedunescyre by the common people Huntingdonshire situated so as to have Bedfordshire on the South Northamptonshire on the West as likewise on the North where it is parted by the river Avon and Cambridgeshire on the East a It is a very good Corn Country and for feeding ground the fenny part of the East is fatter than ordinary the rest mighty pleasant by reason of its swelling hills and shady groves in ancient times woody all over according to the report of the Inhabitants That it was a Forest till the beginning of Henry 2. is evident by an old Survey All except Waybridge Sapple and Herthei which were Woods of the Lords demain is still Forest b HUNTINGTON SHIRE By Robt. Morden It is the same place that J. Picus an ancient writer speaks of when he says That King Alfred gain'd such advantages over the Danes that they gave what security he demanded either to leave the Land or turn Christians Which was put in execution for Guthrum the King whom they call Gormond thirty of his Nobility and almost all his people were baptiz'd and himself adopted Alfred 's God-son and call'd by the name of Athelâ—â—an Upon this he settl'd here and had the Provinces of the East-Angles and Northumbers bestow'd on him now to protect them as their lawful Soveraign which before he had wasted as a Robber Nor must it be pass'd over that some of these old writers have call'd this city Gumicester and Gumicastrum positively affirming that Machute had his Episcopal See at this place d 1 And by the name of Gumicester King Henry 3. granted it to his son Edmund Earl of Lancaster Ouse hastning its course frâ—m hence nigh Cambridgeshire glides through pleasant meadows where is a pretty neat town formerly by the Saxons call'd Slepe now St. Ives St. Ives from Ivo a Persian Bishop who they write about the year 600 travell'd over England with a great reputation of sanctity all the way carefully preaching the Gospel and left his name to this place where he left his body too Soon after the Religious remov'd that from hence to Ramsey-Abby e Turning almost three miles on one side I saw Somersham Somersham a large Palace of late belonging to the Bishop of Ely given to the Church of Ely by Earl Brithnot in the year 991 and enlarg'd with new buildings by that every-way-prodigal Bishop James Stanley d It is now in the possession of Anthony Hamond Esq of the ancient family of that name in Kent A little higher stood the famous rich Abby of e In Saxon Ramesige Ramsey among the fenns where the rivers stagnate in a soft kind of grounds For a description of this place you may have it in short out of the private History of the Abby Ramsey Ramsey that is the Rams Isle on the West-side for on all others there are nothing but impassible fens for a great way together it is separated from firm ground almost two Bow shots by rough Quagmires Which place formerly up a shallow river us'd to receive Vessels into the midst of it by gentle gales of wind but now with great pains and cost these clay Quagmires are stopped with large quantities of wood gravel and stone and footmen may pass upon a firm Causey almost two miles long but less in breadth surrounded with Alders which with fresh green Reeds intermix'd with Bulrushes make a beautiful shew long before it was inhabited it was all cover'd over with several sorts of trees but with wild Ashes in
had call'd in Lewis of France to take upon him the Government of England however he did not do it much damage Since that 't is incredible how much it hath sunk and decay'd under the weight of time and antiquity for of fifty Churches that were remembred in it by our grandfathers there are scarce now eighteen remaining t 'T is distant that I may also make that remark 53 degrees and 12 minutes from the Equator and 22 degrees and 52 minutes from the farthest point Westward As that Roman high-way leads us directly from Stanford to Lincoln High-dike so from hence it goes Northward in a high and streight but yet here and there discontinued Causey for about 10 miles as far as a little village call'd The Spittle in the street and somewhat farther When I was about three miles from Lincoln I also observ'd another military high-way calld Ouldstreet going very plainly out of this towards the West I suppose 't is that which led to Agelocum the next garrison to Lindum But I will follow the road I am upon The Witham being now past Lindum runs down near Wragbye a part of the Barony call'd Trusbutt Barons of Trusbutt which title was by the Barons of Roos convey'd to the Manours now Earls of Rutland After it passes by the old ruin'd walls of Beardena or Peartaneu commonly call'd Bardney Bardney heretofore a famous Monastery Oswald's Banner here King Oswald was interr'd and had a banner of gold and purple over his tomb as Bede writes The Historians of the foregoing ages did not account it enough to extol this most Christian Hero Oswald unless to his glorious exploits they added ridiculous miracles which I willingly omit But that his hand remain'd here uncorrupted for many hundred years our ancestors have believ'd and a very ancient Poet has thus told us Nullo verme perit nulla putredine tabet Dextra viri nullo constringi frigore nullo Dissolvi fervore potest sed semper eodem Immutata statu persistit mortua vivit Secure from worm and rottenness appears The wondrous hand nor cold nor heat it fears Nor e're dissolv'd with cold or parch'd with heat Lives after death and keeps it 's former state This Monastery as Petrus Blesensis writes Appendix to Ingulphus being sometime burnt down by the fury of the Danes and for many years together not inhabited Gilbert de Gaunt the noble and devout Earl of Lincoln rebuilt it and very bountifully annex'd to it the tithes of all his manours wheresoever in England besides many other possessions Afterwards Witham is encreas'd by the little river Ban which rising in the middle of Lindsey runs first by Hornecastle Horn-castle sometime belonging to Adeliza de Conde but laid even with the ground in King Stephen's reign after that it was a Barony of Gerard de Rodes but now as I have been inform'd of the Bishops of Carlisle u And then by Scrivelby a manour of the Dimocks Dimock Inq. 23 E. 3. who had this by descent from the Marmions by 14 Sir John J. Ludlow King's Champion Fines Mic. An. 1 H. 6. and hold it by service of grand Serjeanty I speak in the Lawyers terms viz. that whensoever any King of England is to be crown'd the Lord of this manour for the time being or some in his name if he should be unable shall come well arm'd for war upon a good war-horse in the presence of our Lord the King on the day of his Coronation and shall cause it to be proclaimed That if any one shall say that our said Lord the King has not a right to his Crown and Kingdom he will be ready and prepar'd to defend with his body the right of the King and Kingdom and the dignity of his Crown against him and all others whatsoever The Ban a little lower at Tatteshall Tatteshall a small town pretty commodiously situated in a marshy Country built for the most part of brick as is also its castle and noted for it's Barons runs into the Witham 'T is related that Eudo and Pinso Norman Noblemen having entred into a kind of mutual brotherly alliance had by the bounty of William 1. many possessions given them in these parts which they so divided that Tatteshall fell to Eudo who held it by Barony from whose posterity it came by Dryby and the Bernakes to 15 Sir Ralph Ralph de Cromwell Cromwell whose son of the same name was Lord Treasurer of England in Henry 6.'s reign and dyed without issue And Eresby Eresby which is not far off fell to Pinso from whose children the inheritance came by the Bekes to the Willoughbies Willoughbies who had very large inheritances by their wives not only from the Uffords Earls of Suffolk but also from the Lords de Welles Lords Welles who brought with them the great estate of the de Engains Lâ—rds Engain an ancient noble family and of great power in this County from the first coming in of the Normans The most eminent man of those Willoughbies was 16 Sir Robert Robert Willoughby in Henry 5.'s reign who for his great courage and bravery was made Earl of Vandosme in France From these by the mother's side descended Peregrine Berty Baron Willoughby of Eresby a man famous for his great soul and warlike gallantry x Witham being now near the sea receives out of the north another nameless little river Lib. Stanlow at the spring-head of which in a very low ground y lies Bollingbroke-Castle Bolling-broke built by William de Romara Earl of Leicester of a brittle sandy stone taken from Alice Lacy by Edward 2. for that she married against his consent 't is famous for the birth of Henry 4. who from it had the name of Henry de Bollingbroke in whose time it began to be counted one of the honorary manours call'd Honors z The Witham having receiv'd this river below Boston aa as we have said discharges it self into the sea From the mouth of Witham as far as Humber-frith the shore lies out with a great bent into the German Ocean chop'd every where so as to admit little arms of the sea It has but few towns by reason there are but few havens in it and many shelves of sand along the shore Yet some of them are remarkable particularly Wainfleet Wainfleet as being the birth-place of William Wainfleet Bishop of Winchester founder of Magdalen College in Oxford and a great patron of learning Next is Alford Alford memorable for its market for which it is beholden to Leon Lord Welles Barons Welles who obtain'd it this privilege of Henry 6. This family of the Welles was indeed very ancient and very honourable but the last of them married King Edward 4.'s daughter and was made Viscount Welles by Henry 7. He died without issue so that the inheritance came by females to the Willoughbies Dimoes De la launds Hois c.
the People Tacitus Tacitus imagines them to have come first from Iberia upon account of their * Colorati vultus ruddy complexion their curl'd hair and their situation over against Spain But Florianus del Campo a Spaniard is very positive in that matter and takes a great deal of pains to find the Silures in Spain and to obtrude upon us I know not what stories about Soloria and Siloria among the old Astures However this Country was very large for it seems probable from Pliny and Tacitus that they were possess'd of all South-Wales and the Inhabitants were hardy stout warlike averse to servitude of great boldness and resolution term'd by the Romans †Pervicacia obstinacy and stubbornness not to be wrought upon either by threats or kindness and their posterity have not degenerated in any of these particulars When the Romans out of an itching desire of enlarging their Empire made attempts upon them See pag. xlvii they partly reposing a confidence in the courage and conduct of King Caratacus and partly incens'd by a saying of Claudius the Emperour That they were to be as entirely routed as the Sugambri had been engag'd the Romans in a very troublesome and difficult war For having intercepted the Auxiliary Troops cut off the Legion under Marius Valens and wasted the territories of their Allies P. Ostorius Propraetor in Britain was quite wore out with all these crosses and dy'd of grief Veranius too who govern'd Britain under Nero was baffled in this enterprize against them For where Tacitus says Tacit. Annal L. XIV Illum modicis excursibus Sylvas populatum esse that he destroy'd and wasted the woods with slight excursions instead of Sylvas with the Learned Lipsius only read Siluras and all 's right Nor could an end be made of this war before Vespasian's reign For then Julius Frontinus subdu'd them and kept them quiet by garisons of the Legions A certain Countryman of ours has wrested that verse of Juvenal upon Crispinus to these Silures magnâ qui voce solebat Vendere municipes fractâ de merce Siluros Who with hideous cry Bawl'd out his broken Sturgeon in the streets As if some of our Silures had been taken prisoners and expos'd to sale at Rome But take it upon my word he has mistook the genuine sense of the Poet. For any one that reads that passage with attention will quickly perceive that by Siluros he designs to express a sort of Fish and not a People HEREFORDSHIRE HErefordshire call'd by the Britains Ereinuc is in a manner of a circular form bounded on the East with the Counties of Worcester and Glocester on the South with Monmouth on the West with Radnor and Breknock and on the North with Shropshire A Country besides its pleasantness both for feeding of Cattel and produce of Corn every where of an excellent soil and admirably well provided with all necessaries for life Insomuch that it may scorn to come behind any County in England for fruitfulness of soil 1 And therefore says that for three W. W. W. Wheat Wooll and Water it yieldeth to no Shire of England To which excellencies are to be added its fine rivers the Wye the Lug and the Munow which after they have water'd the verdant flow'ry meadows and rich and fruitful corn-fields at last have their conflux and in one chanel pass to the Severn-Sea a 〈◊〉 River 〈◊〉 The Munow has its rise in Hatterell-hills which shooting up aloft look as it were like a Chair and are a sort of wall to this Shire on the South-west-side Hence the river descending first struggles Southward along the foot of these hills 〈◊〉 to Blestium a town so plac'd by Antoninus that both for situation and distance it can be no other than that which standing upon this river 〈◊〉 Town is by the Britains call'd Castle Hean that is the Old Castle by us The old Town An inconsiderable village but nevertheless this new name makes much for its antiquity for in both tongues it sounds an Old Castle or Town Next to this lyes Alterynnis surrounded with water Alterynnis the Seat of the Cecils as it were an Island in a river the seat in former ages of the ancient and knightly family of the Sitsilters or Cecils whence my right honourable Patron highly accomplisht with all the Ornaments of Virtue Wisdom and Nobility Sir William Cecil Baron of Burghley and Lord High Treasurer of England is descended From hence the Munow turning Eastward for a good way parts this Province from Monmouthshire and is augmented by the river Dore at Map-Harald or Harald Ewias Harald-Ewias a Castle This Ewias-Castle to give you the words of King William the first 's Book was repair'd by Alured of Marleberg The Family of Ewias Afterwards it belonged to one Harald a Nobleman who Their Arms. in a Shield Argent bore a Fess Gules between three Estoiles Sable from whom it first took the name of Harold Ewias but Sibyll his Great-grand-daughter and one of the heirs transferr'd it by marriage to the Lords Tregoz Tregoz and Grandison from whom it came at length to the Lords of Grandison originally of Burgundy of whom elsewhere Now the Dore above-mentioned falling down from the North by Snotthill a castle Gidden Vale. and sometimes the Barony of Robert Chandois where there is a Quarry of excellent Marble cuts through the middle of the valley which the Britains from the river call Diffrin Dore but the English that they might seem to express the force of that word have term'd it The Golden Vale. Which name it may well be thought to deserve for its golden rich and pleasant fertility For the hills that encompass it on both sides are clothed with woods under the woods lye corn-fields on each hand and under those fields lovely and gallant meadows In the middle between them glides a clear and crystal river on which Robert Earl of Ewias erected a fine Monastery wherein most of the Nobility and Gentry of these parts were buried Part of this County which bends towards the East now call'd Irchenfeld Irchenfeld in Domesday Archenfeld was as Historians write laid waste with fire and sword by the Danes in the year 715 Camalac a British Bishop being then carried away captive Herein once stood Kilpec a noted castle the seat of the noble family of the Kilpec's Kilpec who as some report were Champions to the Kings of England in the beginning of the Normans which I am very willing to believe In the reign of Edward the first Robert Wallerond liv'd here whose ‖ Nepos nephew Alane Plugenet was honourd with the title of a Baron In this Archenfeld likewise as we read in Domesday-book certain Revenues by an old custom were assigned to one or two Priests on this condition that they should go in Embassies for the Kings of England into Wales and to use the words of the said Book The men
The Church of York was by the Princes of that time endow'd with many large possessions especially by Ulphus the son â—f Toraldus which I the rather note from an old bâ—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 â— qui corpoâ—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 Aâ—â—bishâ—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 Aâ—fâ—â—◠〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 Burleâ—â— Treasâ—â— of Eâ—gâ— 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 Deciâ—â—â—â—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 citizeâ—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
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 * Colpindaâ—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 â—â—â—â—h-ern â—â—â—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 â—â—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 â—â—â—â—ein belonging to the family of the Barons of Dromond â—â—â—â—ns â—â—â—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 â—â—â—â—râ—â— 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 Additionâ— 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 Menteâ—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
any expence or writing by certain judges whom they choose among themselves and call Deemsters Deemsters For the Magistrate taketh up a stone and after he has mark'd it gives it to the plaintiff by virtue whereof he summons in his witnesses and the defendant If the case is difficult and of great consequence it is referred to the hearing of twelve men whom they call the Keys of the Island Keys of the Island Annos They have also certain Coroners these they call Annos who are instead of Sheriffs and execute their office As for the Ecclesiastical Judge he hears and determines all causes within eight days from the citation and the party must either stand to his sentence or go to gaol As their language is peculiar so likewise are their laws and money as I have heard which are both signs of a distinct soveraignty The Ecclesiastical laws in force here next after the Canon law come nearest to the civil Neither the Judge nor the Clerks of the Court have any fees either for the process or instruments As for those mischievous effects of witchcraft of which English writers tell us there 's nothing in it The richer sort and those that have estates imitate the gentry of Lancashire in splendid living and integrity The women never stir abroad but with their winding sheets about them to put them in mind of mortality If a woman be tried and receives sentence of death she is sow'd up in a sack and thrown from a rock into the sea Stealing and begging from door to door is universally detested The people are wonderful religious and all of them zealously conformable to the Church of England They are likewise great enemies to the disorders as well Civil as Ecclesiastical of their neighbour Countreys And whereas the whole Isle is divided into two parts south and north the Inhabitants of this speak like the Scots and those of the other like the Irish If I should here subjoin a short history of the affairs of this Island it would be worth my while and truth it self seems to challenge it that hereby I may preserve the memory of such actions as are if not already buried in oblivion yet next door to it That this Island as well as Britain was possessed by the Britains is granted on all sides But when the northern nations broke in like a violent tempest upon these southern parts it became subject to the Scots In the time of Honorius and Arcadius Orosius says that it was as much inhabited by the Scots as Ireland was * By others Built and Ninius tells us of one Binle a certain Scot that held it Yet the same author observes that they were driven out of Britain and the Isles belonging to it by Cuneda the Grandfather of Maglocunas who from the cruel ravages he made in this Island is call'd the Dragon of the Isles by Gildas Afterwards this Island and likewise Anglesey aforesaid was subjected to the English Monarchy by Edwin King of the Northumbrians if we suppose them both to be signified by the word Menaviae as Writers would have us think At this time it was reputed a British Island At last when the north overswarming a second time sent out another Brood of Normans Danes and Norwegians to seek their fortune in the world the Norwegians who most sadly infested this sea by their piracies possessed themselves of this Island and the Hebrides and set up petty Princes over them of whom I will here add this Historical Account as it is word for word in an old Manuscript lest it should perish by some unlucky accident The title it bears is Chronicon Manniae i.e. A Chronicle of Man It seems to have been written by the Monks of Russin-Abbey the most eminent Monastery that was in this Island A CHRONICLE of the KINGS of MAN IN the year of our Lord 1065. died Edward King of England of pious memory to whom Harold son of Godwin succeeded Harold Harfager King of Norway rais'd war against him and was so beaten at a battle at Stainfordbridge that his men ran away In this flight one Godred sirnamed Crovan the son of Harold the black escaping out of Iseland came to Godred the son of Syrric King of Man at that time and was honourably entertained by him The same year William the Bastard conquered England and Godred the son of Syrric King of Man died and was succeeded by his son Fingall An. 1066. Godred Crovan got a numerous fleet together and arrived at Man where he fought with the inhabitants but was overcome and put to flight Having rallied his forces and his fleet he landed again at Man fought the inhabitants and was routed by them Having rais'd a great army the third time he came by night to the port called Ramsa and laid an ambuscade of three hundred men in a wood upon the hollow brow of a hill call'd Scacafel As soon as the sun was up the inhabitants drew themselves up in battalia and fell upon Godred with great violence When both parties were close engaged the three hundred men that lay in ambush behind came out to the assistance of their Countrymen and put the Islanders to flight When they saw themselves overcome and no place to retreat to for the tide was in so that there was no passing the river Ramsa and the enemy was at their heels pursuing them in a moanful manner they petitioned Godred to spare their lives Godred being moved with compassion at the calamitous condition of a people among whom he had himself been brought up for some time recall'd his army and hindred them from making any farther pursuit The next day Godred gave his army their choice whether they would divide the lands of the Isle among them and live there or seise upon the wealth and substance of the Country and return home with it But his army was rather for spoiling the Island and enriching themselves with the goods of it and so for departing However Godred himself with some of the Islanders that stayed with him settled in the south part of the Island and granted the north part to the remains of the natives upon condition that none of them should ever presume to claim any part of it as their inheritance Hence to this very day the whole Island is the King 's and all the rents that arise in it belong to him Godred then reduced Dublin and a great part of Laynestir As for the Scots he brought them to such subjection that if any of them built a ship or a boat they durst not drive * Plus quam tres clavos inscrere above 3 nails in it He reigned sixteen years and died in the Island call'd Yle leaving three sons Lagman Harald and Olave Lagman being eldest seised upon the Kingdom and reigned seven years His brother Harald continued a long time in rebellion against him but being at last taken he had his privy members cut off and his eyes put out Afterwards Lagman
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
part I think he has no occasion for an Apology but if he had his performance in other places where the Original comes up to the just Rules of Poetry would make it for him Of all in the Book the Wedding of Tame and Isis seems to run in the best vein whether we look upon the Smoothness the Thought or the Composition Who the Author of it was is not certainly known but if we should fix upon Mr. Camden himself perhaps there would be no occasion for a second conjecture One argument is because he never names the Author whereas he could not but know him when the Poem was publish'd in his own time Then if we compare the subject of it with what he has said of the several places it touches upon we shall find them to be much the same Very often also upon the mention of that fancy about the Tamisis being deriv'd from the meeting of Tame and Isis he seems to be pleas'd with it more than ordinary And which in my opinion puts it beyond all exception he never quotes the Poem with any the least commendation but always ushers it in with a sort of coldness Now this is by no means agreeable to Mr. Camden's temper who is always careful to allow every thing its just character Let it be a Monkish Rhyme he never omits to mention it favourably if there appears the least dram of wit or if it has nothing of that to recommend it he 'l endeavour to excuse it and tell you 'T is tolerable for the age he liv'd in By this rule one may be sure that such a Poem should never have pass'd without a particular mark of honour if Mr. Camden himself had not been so nearly concern'd in it but so far is he from approving it that he brings it in with a sort of caution or rather contempt Pag. 147 Let it not be thought troublesome to run over these Verses P. 157. If you can relish them P. 324. If you vouchsafe to read them P. 241 264. You may read or omit them as you please Expressions becoming Mr. Camden's modesty when he speaks of himself but very unlike his candour in the characters of other men and their works The Maps are all new engrav'd either according to Surveys never before publish'd or according to such as have been made and printed since Saxton and Speed Where actual Surveys could be had they were purchas'd at any rate and for the rest one of the best Copies extant was sent to some of the most knowing Gentlemen in each County with a request to supply the defects rectifie the positions and correct the false spellings And that nothing might be wanting to render them as complete and accurate as might be this whole business was committed to Mr. Robert Morden a person of known abilities in these matters who took care to revise them to see the slips of the Engraver mended and the corrections return'd out of the several Counties duly inserted Upon the whole we need not scruple to affirm that they are by much the fairest and most correct of any that have yet appear'd And as for an error here and there whoever considers how difficult it is to hit the exact Bearings and how the difference of miles in the several parts of the Kingdom perplex the whole may possibly have occasion to wonder there should be so few Especially if he add to these inconveniencies the various Spellings of Places wherein it will be impossible to please all till men are agreed which is the right I have heard it observ'd by a very Intelligent Gentleman that within his memory the name of one single place has been spell'd no less than five several ways Thus much of the Work For the Vndertakers I must do them this piece of justice to tell the world that they spar'd neither pains nor expence so they might contribute to the perfection of the Book and the satisfaction of the Curious That they have fail'd in point of time was occasion'd chiefly by the Additions which are much larger than either they at first intended or any one could reasonably expect from the Proposals A Glossary had been added but that Mr. Camden himself has made it needless by explaining the more obscure Words as he had occasion to mention them A Catalogue of the Seats of the Nobility was also design'd but upon second thoughts was judg'd unnecessary because the greatest part of them have their place in the body of the Book ADVERTISEMENT There are now in the Press and will speedily be publish'd A Compleat History of England written by several hands of approv'd ability containing the Lives of all the Kings their Effigies engraven in Copper several Coins Medals Inscriptions c. for illustration of matters of fact A Map of England noting the Battels Sieges and remarkable places mention'd in the History And at the end large Index's and a Glossary explaining all difficult words and terms of art occurring in the work The whole to be contain'd in two Volumes in folio the first whereof will be publish'd in Trinity-Term 1695. A more particular account of this Work may be seen in the Proposals for printing this Book by Subscription to be had of the Undertakers R. Chiswell B. Aylmer A. Swall c. Booksellers in London as also of all other Booksellers in London and the Country A new Volume of du Pin's History of Ecclesiastical Writers being the History of the Controversies and other Ecclesiastical Affairs transacted in the Church during the Ninth Century English'd with great care Will be speedily publish'd by A. Swall and T. Child Books lately printed for A. Swall and T. Child at the Unicorn in St. Paul s Church-yard Viz. A New History of the Lives and Writings of the Primitive Fathers and other Ecclesiastical Writers together with an exact Catalogue also an Abridgment of all their Works and an account of their various Editions together with a Judgment upon their Stile and Doctrine and a History of the Councils Written in French by L. E. du Pin and English'd with great Additions In six small Volumes in folio containing the History of the Church and of the Authors that flourish'd from the time of our Saviour to the end of the Eighth Century Theatrum Scotiae containing a short Description and Prospects curiously engraven in Copper as large as the sheet of the Castles Palaces and most considerable Towns and Colleges as also the remains of many ancient Churches and Monasteries of the Kingdom of Scotland Written by John Sleezer Captain of the Artillery Company and Surveyor of His Majesty's Stores in that Kingdom and printed in Folio on Royal Paper T. Lucretii Cari de Rerum Natura Libri sex quibus Interpretationem Notas addidit Thom. Creech Col. Omn. anim Soc. cui etiam accessit Index Vocabulor omnium 8o. BOOKS lately printed for A. and J. Churchil in Pater-noster-Row BUchanan's Chronicle of the Kings of Scotland Folio Mr. Locke of Human Understanding Fol.
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. â—â— 41â— Bâ—own's addâ—tional notes to a catalogue of Scholars in University-Coâ—legâ— 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
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
this new countrey that the whole body of inhabitants began to fall under it and the tract it self to be called Britannia Armorica and to be stiled by the French Britannia Cismarina Hence J. Scaliger Vicit Aremoricas animosa Britannia gentes Et dedit imposito nomina prisca jugo Armorica stout Britain overcame And with her yoke impos'd her ancient name For that they fell upon their friends who had entertained them is manifest among others from the words of Regalis Bishop of * Venetensis Gregor Turon lib. 10. c. g. Vennes concerning himself and friends We are enslaved to the Britains and undergo a hard yoke In after times they courageously defended their lives and liberties against the French at first under the conduct of petty Kings and afterwards under Counts and Dukes though as Glaber Rodolphus has it their whole wealth consisted in being freed from tribute and in having plenty of milk And hence William of Malmesbury who wrote five hundred years ago says thus of them They are a generation of men very needy at home and therefore earn foreign pay in other places by very toilsome methods If they be but well paid they stick not either upon the score of right or kindred at engaging in civil wars but are mercenary and for the side that bids most The BRITAINS of WALES and CORNWALL THE rest of the Britains who were miserably forc'd to seek a Country in their own native one underwent such a weight of calamity as cannot to the full height of it be express'd being not only harrassed by a cruel war carried on far and near against them by the Saxons Picts and Scots but every where oppress'd by the intolerable insolence of wicked Tyrants Who and what these were about the year 500 you shall hear in short from Gildas who liv'd at that time and was himself an eye-witness Constantinus Constantinus among the Damnonii though he had bound himself by an express oath before God and the Saints that he would do the duty of a good Prince yet slew two children of the blood royal and their two Tutors both valiant men in two Churches under the Amphibalus * As an old Glossary interprets it or sacred vestment hary on both sides which the Abbot wore having many years before that put away his lawful wife and defil'd himself with repeated adulteries Aurelius Conanus also called Caninus Aurelius Conanus wallowing in parricides and adulteries and hating the peace of his country was left alone like a tree withering in the open field His father and brothers were carried away with their own wild whimseys and surprised by an untimely death Vortiporius Vortiporius a tyrant of the Dimetâ—â— the unworthy son of a good father in his manners like a Panther being as much spotted with his sins sitting in the throne in his grey hairs full of craft and subtilty and defiled with parricides and adulteries turn'd off his wife committed a rape upon her daughter and then kill'd her Cuneglasus Cuneglasus in Latin Lanio c Otherwise writ furvus fulvus a bear riding upon many and the coachman that drives the chariot which holds the bear a despiser of God and oppressor of the Clergy fighting against God with sins and men with arms turned off his wife industriously sought out holy men to injure them was proud of his own wisdom and confided in the uncertain strength of his riches Maglocunus Maglocunus an Island Dragon who had deprived many tyrants of their Kingdoms and lives would be ever first in at a mischief his strength and malice was generally above that of others he gave largely sinned profusely fought stoutly and excelled all the Commanders of Britain both in extent of Dominions and in the stature and gracefulness of his person In his youth he fell upon his Uncle then a King and his courageous souldiers and destroyed them with fire and sword Afterwards when the fantastick thoughts of reigning in an arbitrary manner were extinguished he fell into such a remorse of conscience that he profess'd himself a monk yet he soon returned to his vomit and breaking his former vows to a monastick life despised his first marriage and fell in love with the wife of his own brothers son then living killing the said brothers son and his own wife after he had lived some time with her and then he married his brothers sons wife on whom he had settled his affections But the relation of these things belongs to Historians who have hitherto falsly made them to succeed one another when at the very same time as appears from Gildas who speaks to them all severally they usurp'd a tyranny in distinct parts of the Island These few remains of the Britains withdrew themselves into the western parts of the Island namely Cornweales Britweales Walsh Welshâ—â— those we call Wales and Cornwall which are fortitified by nature with hills and aestuaries The first of those Countreys was call'd by the Saxons d Britwealas Cornwealas and Galwealas are the true readings Seâ—the b giâ—ning of the â—dditions to Cornwall and Mr. Sommer's Glossary at the end of the X. Scriptores under the tit e Wâ—â—â—a Britweales and the other Cornweales as those in France Galweales For any thing that was exotick and foreign was nam'd by them Walsh and for the same reason the Walloones in Holland and the Vallachi upon the Danube were originally so call'd These Britwales or Welshmen were a warlike people and for many ages maintained their liberty under their petty Kings Although they were shut out from the English by a trench of wonderful make cast by King Offa yet they were ever now and then breaking in and wasting their cities with fire and sword and likewise were repay'd by the Saxons with most grievous outrages At last in the reign of Edw. the first Statutâ—â— Wallâ—a as he writes it of himself The Divine Providence which disposeth all things rightly among other dispensations of his mercy by which he has vouchsafed to adorn us and our Kingdom of England hath now by his mercy subjected the Kingdom of Wales with the inhabitants thereof who held formerly of us wholly and fully without any let or hindrance to our property and dominion having annexed and united the same to the crown of our said Realm as one member of the self same body Notwithstanding in the next age nothing in the world could induce them to endure this servitude no accommodation could be made between them and this spight and hatred upon it between the two nations could never be extinguished till Henry the seventh descended from the Welsh was favourable and easie to them and Hen. VIII admitted them to the same laws and liberties that the English have Since that and some time before the Kings of England have found them to be of untainted loyalty and obedience However the Cornwalli were soon reduced under the dominion of the Saxons in spight of all the
modern Glossary A Chancellor is he whose office is to inspect the writings and answer of the Emperor to cancell those that are wrong and sign those that are right Nor is that of Polidore Virgil true namely that William the Conqueror instituted a College of Scribes to write letters-patents and nam'd the head of that society a CHANCELLOR for it is evident that Chancellors were in England before the Conquest How great the honour and authority of Chancellor is at this day is so very well known that I need not enlarge upon it yet it will not be improper to subjoyn a word or two from an old Author to shew of what note it was formerly Robert Fi z-Stephens who liv'd under Hen. 2. The dignity of the Chancellor of England is this he is reputed the second person in the Kingdom and next unto the King with the King's seal whereof he has the keeping he may seal his own injunctions to dispose of the King's Chapel as he pleases to receive and have the custody of all Archbishopricks Bishopricks Abbies and Baronies vacant and fallen into the King's hands to be present at the King's Counsels and repair thither without summons to seal all things by the hand of his Clerk who carries the King's seal and that all things be disposed of by his advice Also * Ut jâ—â—â— gaâ—â—â—â— eâ— per 〈◊〉 graâ—â—â—â— vita â—â—ritis â—morâ—â—â—â— nisi â—chiâ—â—â— scepâ—◠〈◊〉 vâ—â—uâ—â—â— that by the grace of God leading a just and upright Life he may if he will himself die Archbishop Whereupon it it is that the CHANCELLORSHIP is not to be bought The manner of creating a Chancellor for that I have a mind to take notice of in King Henry the second 's time was by hanging the Great Seal about the neck of the person chosen for that office Yet in Henry the sixth's reign the method was thus Guâ—â— Mâ—â— as it appears from the Records Upon the death of the Chancellor of England the three great Seals one of gold and the other two of silver which were kept by the Chancellor are immediately after his decease shut up in a wooden chest fast lock'd and seal'd by the Lords there present and so convey'd into the Treasury From thence they are brought to the King who in the presence of many of the Nobility delivers the same into the hands of him that is to be the succeeding Chancellor and undertakes the Charge of that office having first took an oath before him that he will duly administer the same First then he delivers up the great silver seal next that of gold and lastly the other of silver in the presence of great numbers of the Nobility After he has thus receiv'd them he puts them into the chest again and so sends them seal'd home where before certain of the Nobility he causes the King's writs and briefs to be seal'd with them When a Chancellor is displac'd he delivers up those three seals into the King's hands in the presence of many of the Nobility first the seal of Gold then the broad seal of silver and next the other of a less size At this day only one seal is delivered to the Chancellor nor is there any mention to be found of these three seals but in the reign of Henry the sixth In process of time much honour and authority was added to this office of Chancellor by Act of Parliament especially since so much niceness and subtilty has crept in among the Lawyers who have made their pleadings so difficult and ensnaring that a Court of Equity was found necessary which was committed to the Chancellors that he might judge according to the rules of right and equity and moderate the rigour of exact justice which is often down-right injustice and oppression There preside in this Court the Lord Chancellor of England and twelve Masters of Chancery as Assessors to him the chief where of is the Keeper of the Rolls belonging to that Court and thence call'd Magister Rotulorum or Master of the Rolls There are also many other Officers belonging to this Court some of them concern'd about the King's Seal namely the Clerk of the Crown the Clerk of the Hamper A Sealer A Chauff-wax A Comptroller of the Hamper twenty four Cursitors and a Clerk for the Sub-poena-writs Others concerned in the Bills there exhibited are a Prothonotary the Six Clerks or Attorneys of the Court and a Register There are also the three Clerks of the petit bag a Clerk of the Presentations a Clerk of the Faculties a Clerk for examining Letters-Patents a Clerk for Dimissions c. There is another Court also arising from the King 's Privy Council call'd the Court of Requests The Câ—â— of Requests from the addresses of Petitioners deliver'd there where private causes are heard as in Chancery if first presented to the King or his privy Council though sometimes otherwise In this Court business is manag'd by the Masters of the Requests and a Clerk or Register with two or three Attorneys As for those Councils held in the Marches of Wales and in the North I will treat of them God willing in another place The Chief Spiritual Courts Spiâ—â—â—â— Coâ—â—â— are the Synod which is call'd the Convocation and is always held at the same time that a Parliament is and the Provincial Synods in both Provinces After these are the Courts of the Achbishop of Canterbury namely the Court of Arches The Câ—â—â— of Aâ—â—â—â— the judge of which is the Dean of the †He is called DEAN for that he hath jurisdiction in 13 Parishes of London exempt from the Bishop of London which number maketh a DEANERIE Hol. Arches so call'd from St. Mary's Church in London famous for its arch'd steeple All Appeals within the province of Canterbury are made to him There are in this Court 16 Advocates or more as the Archbishop shall think fit all of them Doctors of Law two Registers and ten Proctors Court â—udiâ— The Court of Audience where all complaints causes and appeals in this Province are receiv'd Court â—eroâ—e The Court of Prerogative where the Commissary judges of inheritances whether descended without will or devis'd The Court of Faculties manag'd by a * Câ—urt â—culâ— â—fâ—ctus President who takes cognizance of all grievances represented to him by such as desire that the rigour and severity of the Canon-law may be moderated and a Register to record such dispensations as are granted Court â—eculâ—â— The Court of Peculiars which has jurisdiction in certain parishes exempt from the Bishop of the Diocese where they lye and those Peculiars that belong to the Archbishop with other things of less note I willingly omit For I must confess it was imprudent in me to dip at all in a subject of this nature however Guicciardin encouraged me to it by his example in his description of the Netherlands I intended here to have inserted some few things and those chiefly concerning the antiquity
of the great Magistrates of this Realm the Chancellor aforesaid the Treasurer the President of the Council the Keeper of the Privy Seal the Lord Chamberlain the Lord High Constable the Lord Marshal the Steward of the King's House c. But since I hear that this is design'd by another hand I am so far from offering to forestall it that I 'll willingly without more ado even impart to the Undertaker whatever observations I have already made upon those heads A posthumous Discourse concerning the Etymologie Antiquity and Office of Earl Marshal of England By Mr. Camden SUCH is the uncertainty of Etymologies that Arguments drawn from them are of least force and therefore called by an ancient Grecian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as proofs only which do nothing but set a good face on the matter Nevertheless when as Plato will have them admitted if there be a consonancy and correspondence between the name and the thing named we will produce three Etymologies of this word Marshall wherein the name is or hath been answerable to the Office in some part or other in signification For the word Marescallus is used for a principal officer in the court in the camp for a Ferrar and an Harbinger The Germans from whom the word was first borrowed called him Marescalk the Latins mollifying the same Marescallus the office Marescalcia The French Marescaux and we Marshall All deduced from the German Marescalk which according to the received opinion is compounded of Mare or mark which do both say they signify an Horse and Scalk which doth not signifie skilful as some will but an Officer Servant or Attendant So Godschalck is interpreted God's servant and in the old German nunc dimittas servum this word Servus is translated Scalk So that joyntly the word notifieth an officer and attendant about horses This Etymology is confirmed first ex legibus Allamannorum si quis Marescallus qui 12 equis praeest occidit 4. solidis componat Then out of Choniates who writing the life of Baldwin Emperor of Constantinople saith that this word Marescaldos noteth him whom the Grecians called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which according to the name doth signifie him which marcheth foremost before the Army To maintain this Etymology they say it may not seem strange that so high an office as it is now should be derived from horses when as all preferment in ancient time as one saith had the first rise from the Stable and such as were there brought up proved most serviceable horsemen and many other names which time hath advanced to high dignity had very mean and small originals But this Etymology lieth open to some objections as that the Marshals now have no command over the horses or stable but certain it is that in divers offices albeit the functions are altered the name remaineth And as Varro writeth Equiso among the Latins doth not only signifie Master and Ruler of the horses but also of all other things committed to his charge so accordingly it is to be supposed this word Marshal not only to signifie an Officer of Horses but also of other Civil and Military matters appropriated to his function It is said also that Mare doth not signifie an Horse in the German tongue but as in ours that which is more ignoble in that kind and that names are to be imposed à potiori And albeit it is most certain out of Pausanias that Mare signified an Horse to the old Gauls as it doth still to our Britains their descendants yet they say it is unfitting to compound one word of two different Languages But Quintilian sheweth the contrary in Epirhedium Anti-cato Biclinium Epitogium being compounded of Greek Latin and other Tongues and to this Etymology do they incline which will have the Marshal to be called in Latin Magister Equitum rather than Tribunus Militum There is also another deduction of Marshal from Maer the Latin word Major and Sala which signifieth a Kings-Court in the High-Dutch for that they were Magistri domus and principal officers for ordering the Court. There is a third derivation of this name from Marke as it signifieth a Marche bound or limit and Scalck which is Minister as we said before From Mark in this sense we have Marchio for a Lord Marcher and Mark-grave in the very same sense and therefore he relieth upon this opinion which calleth the Marshal in Latin Praetor comitatus Augustalis as being the civil Judge within the limits of the Court which we call now the Verse for that the Verge or Rod of the Marshal's authority sretcheth so far and they also which have the Marshal call'd in Latin Designator castrorum for it was incident to his office to be as it were an harbinger and to appoint limits and lodgings both in war and peace Of these Etymologies happily one may be true happily none When this word entred first into England I cannot resolve I do not find that our Saxons used it or any other name equivalent unto it unless it was Stal-here which signifieth Master of the Stable but that may seem rather answerable to the name of Constable yet Esgar who was Stal-here to King Edward the Confessor writeth himself in a donation to Waltham Regiae Procurator aulae whereas William Fitz-Osborne in the Chronicles of Normandy is called the Marshal I believe that William Tailleur the Author spake according to the time he lived in and not according to the time he wrote of Fauchet a learned-man in the French Antiquities saith the name of Marshal was first heard about the time of Lewis le Grosse who was in time equal to our King Henry the first and Stephen of England and from thence doubtless we borrowed that name as many other The first author that used the word in England was Petrus Blesensis Chancellor as he was then called but indeed Secretary to King Henry the second of England who used this word Marescallus for an Harbinger in these words complaining of them Epistolâ 14. Vidi plurimos qui Marescallis manum porrexerunt liberalem hi dum hospitium post longi fatigationem itineris cum plurimo labore quaesissent cum adhuc essent eorum epulae semicrudae aut cum jam fortè sederent in mensâ quandoque etiam cum jam dormirent in stratis Marescalli supervenientes in superbiâ abusione abscissis equorum capistris ejectisque foras sine delectu non sine jactura sarcinalis eos ab hospitiis turpitèr expellebant The first mention that I find of a Marshal in record is in the red book of the Exchequer written in the time of Henry the second which hath reference unto the time of King Henry the first Regis avus that is Henry the first fecffavit Wiganum Marescallum suum de tenementis quae de eo tenuit per servitium Marescalciae suae Rex reddidit ea Radulpho filio Wigani tanquam Marescallo suo What Marshal this was I cannot determine The second mention of
shall add a sort of grain sown plentifully towards the further end of this County that is Avena nuda Ger. J. B. C. B. Park Naked Oats called hereabouts Pillis or Pill-corn from its being naturally as it were pilled or denuded of the husk wherewith the common Oat is covered It is much esteemed and of equal price with Wheat DEVONSHIRE THE hither Country of the Danmonii which I have mention'd is now commonly call'd Denshire by the Cornish-Britains Deunan by the Welsh-Britains Duffneynt that is deep vallies because they live every where here lowly in the bottoms by the English Saxons a The true Saxon name is Defnascyre for the Saxons never set h after c that being a way of writing which we owe entirely to the Normans Deuenschire from whence comes the latin Devonia and that contracted name us'd by the vulgar b I think in most parts of England it is still commonly call'd Devonshire without such a contraction Denshire and not from the Danes as some Pretenders do stifflly hold This Country as it shoots out on both sides with greater breadth than Cornwall so it has more commodious harbours on each side of it nor is it less rich in tinn mines a especially towards the west-part being enamel'd with finer meadows shelter'd with more woods and very full of towns and houses But the soil in some places is as poor and lean on the other side which however makes a good return to the husbandman if he has skill in husbandry a mind to labour and a good purse to bestow upon it Nor indeed are there many places in England where land requires more charge to till it for it is almost quite barren in most parts unless it be over-spread with a c See the Additions to Cornwall and Philosophical Transactions Numb 103. p. 29. certain sand from the sea 〈◊〉 sand which renders it very fruitful and as it were impregnates the glebe and therefore in places more remote from the shore it is bought dear b In describing this County my way shall be first along the west-side bounded by the Tamar then along the south which lies upon the Ocean from hence by the eastern-bounds where it touches upon the County of Dorset and Somersetshire I will return to the north-coast which is bounded by the Severn-Sea The Tamar which divides these counties first on this side from the east receives the small river Lid upon which stands Lidston a little market-town â—ord and Lidford now a small village but formerly a famous town c most sadly shaken by the Danes in the year 997. This town as it appears from that book wherein William 1. took his survey of England was wont to be taxed at the same time and after the same manner that London was This little river Lid being here at the bridge pent up with rocks has made it self so deep a fall continual working that the water is not to be seen but only the murmure of it to be heard to the great admiration of those that pass over Lower down the Teave a little river runs into the Tamar upon which flourishes Teavistoke commonly Tavistoke formerly famous for an Abbey Tavistoke The foundation Charter which Ordulph the son of Ordgar Earl of Devonshire by the admonishment of a vision from heaven built about the year of our Saviour 961. The place says Malmesbury is pleasant for the convenience of wood for fine fishing and an uniform Church the banks of the river lie along just by the shops which by the force of it's current washes away all the rubbish thrown into it Saint Rumon a Bishop is much talk'd of there where he lies bury'd And there is seen in the same Monastery the sepulcher of Ordgar and the huge bulk of Mausolaeus his Son is look'd upon as a wonder he is call'd Ordulf of gigantick growth and prodigious strength For he could break the bars of gates and go along the river ten foot broad stridewise if we may credit the said William But it had hardly continu'd thirty three years from the foundation of it till it was burnt down by the Danes Yet it flourish'd again and by a laudable institution Saxon Lectures here were Lectures of our old mother tongue I mean the Saxon-language which is now grown into disuse continu'd down to the last age lest that which hath almost now happen'd the knowledge of it should be quite lost d The Tamar having receiv'd the Teave comes next to it's mouth where the Plim in conjunction with it rolls into the sea and gives name to the town Plimouth Plimouth seated on it which was formerly call'd Sutton this seems to have been twofold 13 H. 4. for we find mention in the Acts of Parliament of Sutton Vautort and Sutton Prior which partly belong'd to the family of the Valletorts and partly to the Prior. In the last age from a small fisher-village it grew up to a large town and is not inferiour to a city in number of inhabitants as we see it at this day e The convenience of the Haven was the cause of this rise which admits the greatest ships that are without striking sail and yields them safe harbour tho' never so big as well in the Tamar as the Plim besides it is sufficiently fortify'd to withstand the attacques of an enemy For in the very middle the d The name of this Island is S. Nicholas and contains two acres of ground or more Isle S. Michael lies before it which is also fortify'd And then the Haven at the town is guarded on both sides and block'd up with a chain crossing it upon occasion being guarded on the south by a bastion and by a castle on the next hill built as 't is thought by the Valletorts The whole town is divided into four tribes which we in our language call Wards who are all govern'd by a Mayor ordain'd by Henry 6. and under him formerly a * Capitaners Captain was made to every single ward who had each one also his inferior Officers As to that fable of Corinaeus's wrastling with Gogmagog Gogmagog the giant in this place it may suffice to subscribe a verse or two from the Architrenius concerning our giants Hos avidum belli robur Corinaeus Averno Praecipites misit cubitis ter quatuor altum Gogmagog Herculea suspendit in aëra lucta Anthaeumque suum scopulo detrusit in aequor Potavitque dato Thetis ebria sanguine fluctus Divisumque tulit mare corpus Cerberus umbram With those rude Monsters bred in wars and blood Brave Corinaeus clogg'd the Stygian flood High in the air huge Gogmagog he shook And pitch'd the vile Antaeus from his rock His hated carcass on the waves was tost And Cerberus started at his monstrous ghost That Rock from which the Giant is reported to have been thrust off is now call'd the Haw a hill between the town and the sea on the top whereof which is levelled into a delicate
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 Eâ— 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 Thâ—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. Coâ—â—naeus câ—â— 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 Earlâ— 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 Exminâ—â—â—â— 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 Exanâ—â—â— 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 Honniâ—â—â— 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 Iâ— 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 â—â—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 â—â—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 â—his in County â—merset â—â—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
last Office he was able to pay him not to preserve his memory which his many Virtues had made immortal but his body committed to the ground in hopes of a joyful Resurrection As for the River which runs by and has its Spring in the Northern parts of this County it is enlarg'd by the influx of many Rivulets on both sides the most noted of which washes Cowdrey a noble seat of Viscount Montacute 7 Which for building oweth much to the late Viscount and formerly to Sir William Fâ—tz-Williams Earl of Southamton and has on it's other side Midherst 8 That is Middle-wood proud of its Lords the Bohuns who bear for their Arms A Cross Azure in a Field Or and from Ingelricus de Bohun under K. Hen. 1. flourish'd till Hen. 7's days who gave in marriage the Daughter and heir of John Bohun to Sir David Owen Knight the natural Son of Owen Theodore or Tudor with a large inheritance Bohuns of Mâ—dâ—â—â—â— Their Arms Spigurâ—el what a signifies These Bohuns were to note by the by the antiquity of a word now grown out of use for some time the Kings Spigurnels by inheritance that is the Sealers of his Writs which Office together with the Serjeanty of the King's Chapel was resigned to K. Edw. 1. by John de Bohun the Son of Franco as we read in an old Charter made concerning that very matter Next we have a sight of Pettworth Pettwâ—â—th which William D'Aubeney Earl of Arundel gave together with a ‖ large estate to Josceline of Lovain a Brabander Queen Adeliza's brother a younger son of Godfrey Duke of Brabant descended from the stock of Charlemain upon his marriage with Agnes the only daughter and heir of the Percies The Percies Since which time the posterity of that Josceline having assumed the name of Percy as we shall tell you elsewhere have held it See Northumberland in the end A family certainly very ancient and noble which derive their descent from Charlemain more directly and with a series of Ancestors much less interrupted than either the Dukes of Lorrain or Guise who so highly value themselves upon that account This Josceline as I have seen in a donation of his us'd this Title Josceline of Lovain Brother of Queen Adeliza Castellane of Arundel As the shore gives back from the mouth of Arun 9 Inwardly is Michelgrove that is Great Grove the heir general whereof so surnamed was married to John Shelley whereby with the profâ—ssion of the Law and a marriage with one of the Coheirs of Beknap the family of Shelley was greatly enrich'd near Tering lies Offingtons The faâ—â—â— of the Wâ—â—â— the seat of William West Baron De la-ware This of the Wests is a noble and ancient family whose estate being much enlarg'd by matching with the heirs of Cantelupe of Hempston and of Fitz-Reginald Fitz-Herbert was adorn'd also with the title of Baron by the heir general of the Lord De-la-ware Barons de 〈◊〉 Ware Hard by is a sort compass'd about with a bank rudely cast up where the inhabitants believe that Caesar intrench'd and sortify'd his Camp But Cissbury Cissbury the name of the place plainly shews it was the work of Cissa who was the second King of this Kingdom of the Saxon race succeeding Aella his father and with his brother Cimen and no small body of Saxons landed on this coast at Cimen shore Cimeâ—-shore so call'd of the said Cimen a place which now hath lost it's name but that it was near Wittering King Cedwalla's Charter of Donation made to the Church of Selsey is a very convincing proof There is another fort likewise to be seen two miles from Cissbury which they commonly call Chenkbury Thence near the sea lies Broodwater the Barony of the Lords de Camois Câ—mâ—â—s who flourish'd here from the time of King Edward 1. till * Heâ—â—â— time our Grandfathers remembrance when by female heirs the estate fell to the Lewkenors and Radmilds Of this family John Camois son of Lord Ralph Camois by a president not to be parallel'd in that nor our own age out of his own free will I speak from the Parliament Rolls themselves gave and demised his own wife Margaret daughter and heir of John de Gaidesden A Wâ—â—e given 〈◊〉 grantâ—◠〈◊〉 another Paâ—l â—â— Edw. â— to Sir William Painel Knight and to the same William voluntarily gave granted released and quit claimed all the goods and chattels which she hath or otherwise hereafter might have and also whatsoever was in his hands of the aforesaid Margaret 's goods and chattels with their appurtenances So that neither he himself nor any man else in his name might claim or challenge any interest nor ought for ever in the aforesaid Margaret from henceforth or in the goods or chattels of the said Margaret Which is as much as what the Ancients said in one word Ut omnia sua secum haberet that she should have away with her all that was hers By vertue of which grant when she demanded her dowry in the mannour of Torpull an estate of John Camois her first husband there commenc'd a memorable suit But she was cast in it and sentence pass'd That she ought to have no dowry from thence Upon a Statute made against Women absenting themselves from their Husbands c. This I mention with a sort of reluctancy but I perceive Pope Gregory had good reason to write to Archbishop Lanfrank that he heard there were some amongst the Scots that not only forsook their Wives but sold them too since even in England they so gave and demis'd them Upon the shore a little lower appears Shoreham Shoreham anciently Score-ham which by little and little has dwindled into a poor village now call'd Old Shoreham having given rise to another Town of the same name the greatest part whereof is ruin'd and under water and the commodiousness of it's Port by reason of the banks of sand cast up at the mouth of the river wholly taken away whereas in former ages it was wont to carry ships under sail as high as Brember Brember-Castâ—e at a pretty distance from the sea This was a castle formerly of the Breoses for K. William 1. gave it to William de Breose from whom the Breoses Lords of Gower and Brechnock are descended and from them also the Knightly Families of the Shirleys in this County and Leicestershire But now instead of a castle there is nothing but a heap of ruins beneath which lies Stening on set-days a well-frequented market which in Aelfred's Will if I mistake not is called Steyningham 10 In latter times it had a Cell of Black Monks wherein was enshrin'd St. Cudman an obscure Saint and visited by Pilgrims with Oblations e â—â—â—tus Ad â—ni 〈◊〉 Proâ—â—â—rum That ancient port also call'd Portus Adurni as it seems is scarce 3 miles off the mouth of the river where when the Saxons
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. Râ—â—â—-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 †Aâ—â—â—â— Mâ—◠〈◊〉 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 Gonâ—hâ—â—â— 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 Bâ—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 â—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 〈◊〉 Eâ—rls â—â—iâ—â—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 â—â—â—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
k The Notitia adds reliquos officiales comprehending all the Under-Officers c. And I no way doubt but it was in imitation of this method of the Romans that our Ancestors set over this coast a Governour or Portreve commonly call'd Warden of the Cinque-ports Warden of the Cinque-ports because as the Count of the Saxon-shore presided over nine so does he over five ports Kent deliver'd to the Saxons But after the Romans had quitted Britain Vortigern who had the command of the greatest part of it set over Kent a Guorong i.e. a Vice-Roy or Freeman without whose knowledge he frankly bestow'd this Country as Ninnius and Malmesbury have it upon Hengist the Saxon on the account of his daughter Rowenna with whom he was passionately in love a. Thus was the first kingdom of the Saxons settled in Britain in the year of Christ 456. call'd by them CantÆ¿ara-ryc i.e. the kingdom of the Kentish-men which after 320 years upon Baldred the last King 's being conquer'd came under the jurisdiction of the West-Saxons and continu'd so till the Norman Conquest For then if we may believe Thomas Spot the Monk no ancient Writer having any thing of it the Kentish men carrying boughs before them 4 And representing afar off a moving wood surrendred themselves to William the Conquerour at Swanescomb a small village where they tell us that Suene the Dane formerly encamp'd upon condition they might have the Customs of their Country preserv'd entire that especially which they call Gavel-kind Gavel kind b By which 5 By which they are not so bound by Copy hold Customary tenures or Tenant-right as in other parts of England but in a manner every man is a Free-holder and hath some part of his own to live upon all lands of that nature are divided among the males by equal portions or upon defect of issue-male among the females By this they enter upon the estate at 15 years of age and have power to make it over to any one either by gift or sale without consent of the Lord. By the same the sons succeed to this sort of lands tho' their parents be condemn'd for theft c. So that what we find in an ancient Book is very true tho' not elegantly written The County of Kent urges that that County ought of right to be exempt from any such burthen because it affirms that this County was never conquer'd as was the rest of England but surrender'd it self to the Conqueror's power upon Articles of agreement provided that they should enjoy all their liberties and free customs which they then had and us'd from the beginning William the Conqueror afterwards to secure Kent which is look'd upon to be the Key of England set a Constable over Dover-castle and constituted the same in imitation of the ancient Roman custom Governour of 5 ports stiling him Warden of the Cinque-ports Lord Warden of the 5 Ports Those are Hastings Dover Hith Rumney and Sandwich to which Winchelsey and Rie are annext as Principals and some other little towns as members only And because they are oblig'd to serve in the wars by sea they enjoy many and large immunities For instance from payment of Subsidies See in Sussex p. 177. from Wardship of their children as to body not to be su'd in any Courts but within their own town and such of their inhabitants as have the name of Barons at the Coronation of the Kings and Queens of England support the Canopy and for that day have their table spread and furnish'd upon the King 's right hand c. And the Lord Warden himself who is always some one of the Nobility of approv'd loyalty has within his jurisdiction in several cases the authority of 6 A Chancellor and c. Admiral and other privileges But now to the places The Thames chief of all the British rivers runs as I observ'd but now along the north part of this County which leaving Surrey and by a winding course almost retiring into it self c. 7 Doth there admit into his chanel into the first limit of this shire Ravensburne a small water and of short course which riseth in Keston-heath hard under the pitching of an ancient Camp strange for the height as double rampiers and depth as double ditches of all that I have seen doubtless the work of many labouring hands Of what capacity it was I could not discover for that the greatest part thereof is now several and overgrown with a thicket but verily great it was as may be gather'd by that which is apparent We may probably conjecture that it was a Roman Camp but I might seem to rove if I should think it that Camp which Julius Caesar pitch'd when the Britains gave him the last battel with their whole forces and then having bad success retir'd themselves and gave him leave to march to the Thames side And yet certes Keston the name of the place seemeth to retain a parcel of Kaesar's name for so the Britains call'd him and not Caesar as we do As for the other small intrenchment not far off by W. Wickham it was cast in fresh memory when old Sir Christopher Heydon a man then of great command in these parts trained the Country people This water having passed by Bromeley a Mansion-house of the Bishops of Rochester when it hath gathered strength the depth of his ford giveth name to Dâ—râ—ford c. first sees Depford Depfoâ—d a most noted Dock where the Royal Navy is built and when shatter'd repair'd there is also settled a famous Store house and a place or incorporation something like a * Hâ—â—naâ—â—â— College for the use of the navy It was formerly call'd West Greenwich and upon the Conquest of England feâ—l to the share of Gislebert de Mamignot a Norman Maâ—igâ— whose grandchild by the son Walkelin it was that defended Dover-castle against King Stephen and he left behind him one only daughter who upon the death of her brother brought by marriage a large estate call'd the Honour of Mamignot into the family of the Says d From hence the Thames goes to Grenovicum Gâ—â—aâ— commonly Greenwich i.e. the green creak for the creak of a river is call'd in German Wic formerly famous for being a harbour of the Danish fleet and for the cruelty that people exercis'd upon Ealpheg Archbishop of Canterbury whom they put to death by most exquisite torments in the year 1012. Whose death and the cause of it Ditmarus Mersepurgius who liv'd about that time has thus describ'd in the eighth book of his Chronicle By the relation of Sewald I came to know a very tragical and therefore memorable act How a treacherous company of * 〈…〉 Dueâ— Northern men whose Captain Thurkil now is seized upon that excellent Archbishop of Canterbury Ealpheg with others and according to their barbarous treatment fetter'd him put him to endure famine and other unspeakable pains He overpower'd by
Stony-Stratford from the stones the publick street and the ford because the buildings are of Free-stone which is dug plentifully at Caversham hard by and because 't is seated on the publick street or high-way commonly term'd Watlingstreet which was a military way of the Romans Some remains of it are plainly to be seen beyond the town There was too a ford though it be now scarce passable The town is of a considerable largeness beautified with two Churches In the middle stands a Cross though not very splendid erected in memory of Queen Eleanor of Spain wife to Edw. 1. and adorn'd with the Arms of England Castile and Leon and of the County of Ponthieu to which she was heiress n Where formerly the Ford was the Ouse is now kept in by a stone-bridge whereas before it us'd in winter-floods to break out into the neighbouring fields with great violence On the other side of the bank which is something higher the inhabitants report the town to have heretofore stood Hard by is Pasham Pasham so call'd from passing the river so that it may probably be that pass which Edward the Elder maintain'd against the plundering Danes while he was fortifying Torcester But after the building of the bridge at Stony-Stratford this pass was wholly neglected If I should guess this town to have been the Lactorodum Lactorodum of Antoninus not only it's situation on a military way and the exact distances would favour my conjecture Leach in British signifies Stones Ri and Ryd a Ford. but the signification too of Lactorodum fetch'd from the British tongue agreeing excellently with this modern name for the words in both languages are deriv'd from Stones and a Ford. Passing hence the Ouse washes Wolverton Wolverton 18 Anciently Wolverington the seat of an ancient family so sirnam'd whose lands are nam'd in Records The Barony of Wolverington from whom it came to the house of Longvilles of ancient descent in these parts the seat of the Longavils and Newport-Paynel Newport-Paynel so call'd from the Lord of it Fulk Paganel From whom it descended to the Barons Somers of Dudley who had here their castle Thence thro' Terringham Terringham giving name and habitation to an ancient family o it runs to Oulney Oulney a small market-town Thus far and a little farther reaches the County of Buckingham limited by the Ouse The first Earl of Buckingham as far as I can yet understand was Walter sirnam'd Giffard son to Osbern de Bolebec a most famous man among the Normans whom in a Charter of Hen. 1. we find among the witnesses by the name of the Earl of Buckingham He was succeeded in this honour by a son of the same name who in the book of Abingdon-Monastery is stil'd Earl Walter the younger and is said to have dy'd 19 Issucless in the year 1164. In the reign of Hen. 2. Richard Strang-bow Earl of Pembroke 20 Call'd Conquerour of Ireland descended from the sister and heiress of Walter Giffard the second in some publick instruments made use of the same title But it afterwards lay vacant for a long time till conferr'd by Rich. 2. in the year 1377. on his Uncle Thomas of Woodstock of whom we have spoke before among the Dukes of Glocester Of his daughter married to Edmund Earl of Stafford was born Humphry Earl of Stafford created Duke of Buckingham by Hen. 6. 21 With an invidious precedence before all Dukes in England for whom valiantly fighting he was slain at the battel of Northampton To him succeeded his grandson Henry by his son l This Humphrey was slain in the life-time of his father the Duke at the battel of S. Albans 34 Hen. 6. Humphry who was the chief means of bringing that tyrant Rich. 3. to the Crown though he presently after endeavour'd to depose him because he would not restore him the estate of the Bohuns to which he was lawful heir p But being intercepted he lost his head and found too late that Tyrants commonly pull down those Scaffolds by which they ascended to their grandeur His son Edward being restor'd to all by the kindness of Hen. 7. through the wicked practices of Cardinal Wolsey lost the favour of Hen. 8. and was at last beheaded for treason for that among other things he had consulted a Wizzard about the Succession He dy'd much lamented by all good men When the Emperour Charles 5. heard of his death he is reported to have said 22 As 't is written in his life that a Butchers Dog had tore down the finest Buck in England 23 To the name Buckingham and c. alluding to Cardinal Wolsey's being the son of a Butcher Afterwards the splendour of this family so decay'd that they enjoy'd only the bare title of Earls of Stafford 24 Whereas they were stil'd before Dukes of Buckingham Earls of Stafford Hereford Northampton and Perch Lords of Brecknock Kimbolton and Tunbridge There are in this County 185 Parishes ADDITIONS to BVCKINGHAMSHIRE THIS County is in length reckon'd to be 39 miles in breadth 18. and the whole circumference about 138. a Though Beeches may grow here in great plenty yet I cannot conceive the name of the shire or its principal town drawn from them For the Saxons did not call those trees bucken but as appears by Aelfrick's Glossary bocas and any thing made of it becen Now our most ancient records showing neither Bockingham nor Beckingham but constantly retaining the second Letter u it is much more natural to derive it from the Saxon buc which the same Aelfric interprets cervus a buck or hart nothing being more probable than that those woody parts abounded with Dere As to the Buckenham in Norfolk urg'd by Mr. Camden to justifie his conjecture being as he says full of beeches we have the authority of * Iceni MS. Sir Henry Spelman that no such trees grow thereabouts which enclin'd him rather to choose the Saxon buc cervus for its original b Chiltern Chiltern by the Saxon Annals call'd Clitern our Author tells us comes from cylt or chylt being a chalky soil In the language of the Saxons there does not appear to be any such word they always expressing that by cealc and 't is certain that in their time it had this name Mr. Somner interprets it locus gelidus upon what grounds I know not unless he have respect to our present Chil. In the year 1009. the Danes pass'd over these hills in their journey out of Kent into Oxfordshire upon the mention whereof Florence of Worcester has it Saltus qui dicitur Clitern by which it appears that in those days this tract of hills was one continued wood as perhaps were a great many in other parts of England which are since converted to better uses c To go along with our Author through the County at Wickham Wickham was an hospital of St John Baptist the revenue whereof upon the general
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 fâ—â—â—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 Baâ—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 â—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 pâ—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 prâ—pinabit who
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. 〈…〉 Sylvaneciensâ—â— 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 Fiâ— 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 â—â—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 Harringtâ—â— 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 Falcoâ—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 Câ—â—â— of Essendâ—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 â—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 â—iâ—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 â— 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
from the Bretons by Loudham to the Foliambs a great name in these parts to the east lyes Sutton â—â—â—ton where the Leaks have long flourish'd in the degree and honour of Knighthood At some small distance from hence stands Bolsover an old castle seated upon a rising which formerly belong'd to the Hastings Lords of Abergevenny by exchange with King Henry the third who being unwilling that the County of Chester which belong'd to him should be parcell'd out among distaffs gave other lands in lieu here and there to the sisters of John Scot the last Earl The west part on the other side the Derwent which is nothing but hills and mountains for which reason perhaps it was heretofore call'd Peac-lond in Saxon and is call'd Peake â—â—e Peak at this day for the word signifies eminence with us is sever'd by the Dove a very swift and clear river of which in its proper place from Staffordshire This part tho it is rough and craggy in some places yet 5 By reason that under the upper crust of the earth there is Lime-stone which yields a fruitful slugh or humour are there grassy hills and vales in it which feed many cattel and great flocks of sheep very safely For there 's no danger of wolves â—â—lves now in these places tho' infested by them heretofore for the hunting and taking of which some held lands here at Wormhill from whence they were call'd Wolvehunt as is clearly manifest from the records of the Tower Inq. 2 Ed. 2. It produces so much lead Lead that the Chymists who condemn the planets to the mines as if they were guilty of some great crime tell us ridiculously as well as falsly that Saturn Brodaeus whom they make to preside over Lead is very gracious to us because he allows us this metal but displeas'd with the French as having deny'd it to them However I am of opinion that Pliny spoke of this tract in that passage of his In Britain in the very upper crust of the ground lead is dug up in such plenty that a law was made on purpose to stint them to a set quantity Out of these mountains Lead-stones as the Miners call them are daily dug up in great abundance which upon those hills expos'd to the West-wind near Creach and Workesworth taking its name from the Lead works at certain times when that wind begins to blow which they find by experience to be the most constant and lasting of all winds they melt down with great wood fires and from those canals which they make for it to flow in they work it up again into masses which they call Sowes And not only Lead but Stibium also which is call'd Antimony Antimony in the shops is found here in distinct veins us'd formerly in Greece by the women to colour their eye-brows upon which account the Poet Ion calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mill-stones Mill-stones are likewise digg'd up here and Grind-stones Grind-stones for sharpning Iron-tools and sometimes there is found in these mines a kind of white Fluor for those stones in mines like jewels are call'd Fluores Fluores by the metal-men which is in all respects like Crystal Crystal Besides this Workesworth there is nothing here to be met with worth mentioning but Haddon seated upon the river Wye for many years the seat of the Vernons not only an ancient but a very famous family in those parts insomuch that Sir George Vernon Vernon Kt. who liv'd in our time for his magnificence for his kind reception of all good men and his great hospitality gain'd the name of King of Peak among the vulgar Yet by the daughters and heirs of that man this brave inheritance was transferr'd to John Mannours descended from the Earls of Rutland and to Thomas Stanley the off-spring of the Earls of Derby e 6 Son of Thomas Earl of Rutland and to Sir Thomas Stanley son of Edward Earl of Derby Near this lies Bakewell upon the same river which makes it self a passage among these hills into Derwent This was call'd by the Saxons e Bedecanwylla Chron. Sax. BaddecanÆ¿ell and Marianus tells us that Edward the Elder made a burrough of it Whether or no it takes this name from the Baths there which the old English call'd Bade and Baden as the Germans likewise did in their language from whence Baden in Germany and Buda in Hungary I cannot tell This is certain that at the rise of the river Wye not far from hence there are nine Springs of hot water call'd at present Buxton-well Buxton which being found by experience very good for the stomach the nerves and the whole body the most honourable George Earl of Shrewsbury has lately adorn'd them with buildings and they begin to be frequented by great numbers of the Nobility and Gentry About which time the unfortunate and heroick Princess Mary Queen of Scots took her farewell of Buxton in this distich which is nothing but an alteration of Caesar's verses upon Feltria Buxtona quae calidae celebrabere nomine lymphae Fortè mihi post hac non adeunda vale Buxton whose fame thy Baths shall ever tell Whom I perhaps shan't see again farewell But this is besides my business That these Baths were anciently known that Cart-road or Roman Causey call'd Bathgate which continues seven miles from hence to the little village Burgh does plainly shew us f Near this Burgh there stands an old castle upon the top of a hill formerly belonging to the Peverells call'd the Castle in the Peake and in Latin De alto Pecco which King Edw. 3. 46 Edw. 3. gave with this manour and honour to John Duke of Lancaster his son after he had restor'd the Earldom of Richmond to the King Below this there is a den or cave under ground call'd if I may be pardon'd the rudeness of the expression the Devil's Arse Devils Arse in Peake very wide and gaping and having many apartments in it wherein Gervasius Tilburiensis either out of downright ignorance or a lying humour tells us a shepherd saw a spacious country with small rivers running here and there in it and vast pools of standing water Yet from such stories as these this Hole is look'd upon as one of the prodigies of England The same sort of fables are likewise told of another Cave in this neighbourhood call'd Elden-hole Elden-hole which is wonderful for nothing but the vast bigness steepness and the depth of it g But that winds have their vent here is a mistake in those that have writ so nor are those verses of Necham's concerning the miracles of England applicable to either of these Caves Est specus Aeoliis ventis obnoxia semper Impetus è gemino maximus ore venit Cogitur injectum velamen adire supernas Partes descensum impedit aura potens Vex'd with perpetual storms a cave there lies Where from two holes the strugling blasts arise
mix'd with common dust * Fastiâ—â—on paâ—â— 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. 69â— 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 ‖ Noâ—â— Derâ—â—â—enâ—â— 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 Baâ—â—â—â—-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 â—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 â—â—â—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 â—tuary of â—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 Nappâ— 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-â— 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 〈◊〉 Scrâ—pâ— 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 Midâ—ehâ—â— 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 Midâ—ehâ—â— 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 Genealâ—â—â— antiquâ—â—â— 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 Mashaâ— 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 Latimeâ— 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 Tanfeâ—â— formerly the seat of the Gernegans Knights from these it descended to the Marmions Marmâ—â—â— lâ— q. 6. â— 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-Hâ—gh a nâ—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 Swalâ— sacred â—â—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 â—â—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 knâ—w not to remain in the name Solway IN Liddesdale â—â—ddâ—sâ—â—â—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 â—â—rls of â—â—thwell and for a long time Admirals of Scotland by inheritance But by a sister of James Earl of Bothwell last of the Hepburnes â—â—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 â—â—akensey the seat of the warlike Family of Baclugh â—â—â—d â—â—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 decâ—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 Glencaâ—â— of which the Cunninghams about whom I shall speak
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 Thâ— Râ—ver Raâ—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 â—â—â—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 Câ—ayks a 〈◊〉 of Gâ—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 â—ppend 〈◊〉 Librum â— Part 3. â—â—atiae Ilâ—â—â—atae Dr. Sibbalds has largely proved in his Scotia Illustrata only he is now convinced that thâ—y are not informis mâ—ssa carnosa as he there câ—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 Beaumorâ— 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 â—â—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 â—â—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. Elâ—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
Queen Elizabeth had such great hopes of the Earl that out of her Royal clemency upon his penitence and suit for mercy she pardoned him this barbarous and inhuman fratricide notwithstanding the dissuasion of some good men about her There was also somewhat else gall'd him at this time the Lord Deputy had extinguished the name of the Mac-Mahons in the next County and to suppress the power of that great family had subdivided the County among several whereupon the Earl was apprehensive he would go on and serve him and the other Lords of Ulster after the same manner The dissentions between the Earl and 6 Sir Henry Henry Bagnall Marshal of Ireland broke out likewise at this time for the Earl had marry'd Bagnall's Sister by force The Earl complained that whatever he had reduced in Ulster to the subjection of the Queen at the expence of his own blood and labour was no ways advantageous to him but to the Marshal that the Marshal by subornation of profligate vile fellows to witness against him had impeach'd him of high treason that by his instigation he had made 7 Sir William William Fitz-williams the Lord Deputy his bitter enemy and that he had lain in ambush for his life This is certain that all the Lord Deputy had writ upon that subject was believed in the Court of England till such time as the Earl to clear himself writ into England that he would either stand to a fair trial there or here in Ireland upon that point And it is also plain that he and the other Lords of Ulster enter'd into a secret combination and league about this time that they would defend the Roman catholick religion for rebellion is never set afoot now but under the pretence and colour of religious ends that they would suffer no Sheriffs nor Garisons to be within the compass of their territories that they would stand to one another in maintaining their rights and resist the English in any injury they should offer them The first that stood out to give the allarm hereupon was Mac-Gwire a man of a turbulent spirit who ravaged the country about him and enter'd Conaght accompanied with one Gauran a Priest whom the Pope had made Primate of Ireland who exhorted him to depend upon God and try his fortune and success would answer his expectation Yet it happen'd quite otherwise for Mac-Gwire was routed by the valour of 8 Sir Richard Richard Bingham and the Primate himself was cut off with many others Soon after Mac-Guire broke out into open Rebellion and was pursued by the Marshal and the Earl himself under pretence of loyalty who received a wound in the thigh and great applause for his valour Yet at the same time he was so wholly intent upon his own safety that he intercepted the sons of Shan O-Neal to prevent the mischief they might after do him and though the restitution of them was demanded yet he answer'd nothing to that purpose but made heavy complaints of the injuries done him by the Lord Deputy the Marshal and the Garison Soldiers which notwithstanding he dissembled so well that he came afterwards to the Lord Deputy as if he had forget them submitted himself and promising loyalty and an intire obedience return'd again 9 Sir William William Fitz-Williams being recalled out of Ireland 10 Sir William William Russel was made Lord Deputy in his place The Earl voluntarily went to him 11 Exhibited an humble submission upon his knees to the Lord Deputy wherein he dolefully expressed his great grief that the Queen had conceived indignation against him as of one undutiful and disloyal He acknowledged that the late absenting himself from the state was disagreeable to his obedience albeit it was occasioned by some hard measures of the late Lord Deputy as though he and the Marshal had combined for his destruction He acknowledged that the Queen advanced him to high title and great livings that she ever upheld him and enabled him that she who by grace had advanced him was able by her force to subvert him and therefore if he were void of gratitude yet he could not be so void of reason as to word his own ruine promising a perfect obedience to his Lordships commands in every thing and sent his letters to some of the Queen's Council to the same effect entreating earnestly that he might be received again into the Queen's favour which he had lost by no demerit or disloyalty but purely by the false suggestions of his adversaries Bagnal the Martial at the same time exhibited articles of accusation against him that the Earl himself had sent Mac-Gwire with the Primate above named into Conaght that he was in the combination of Mac-Gwire O-Donell and other Conspirators had assisted them in wasting Monaghan and in the siege of Inis-Kellin by his brother Cormac Mac-Baron and his bastard son Con and had seduced the Captains of Kilulto and Kilwarny from their allegiance to the Queen by the terrour of his threatnings Upon this it was warmly debated by the Council whither or not the Earl should be detained to answer this Information The Lord Deputy was for detaining him but 12 But when it was put to question generally most of his Council either out of fear or favour to the Earl were for dismissing him at present and deferring the tryal to another opportunity 13 Pretending certain weighty considerations and that the Articles exhibited were without proof or time whereupon the Lord Deputy in respect to the majority and the small experience he had in the affairs of that state in comparison with them desisted though much against his own inclination and the Earl was dismissed without so much as hearing his accusers The Queen was much concerned at this oversight for his dangerous designs and actions began to appear plain enough to every body by this time and the more because she had cautioned the Lord Deputy to detain the Earl in such case till he answer'd the crimes that were charged upon him As soon as the Earl had got home again and heard of a reinforcement now coming from England and that 1300 veterans who had served under the command of 14 Sir John John Norris in Bretagne were now also transporting thither from Holland as also that the English had some design upon Ballishannon and Belyk two castles upon the mouth of the lough Ern his own conscience flash'd him in the face with light enough to discern which way these proceedings tended so he surprized the Fort upon Black-water which opened a passage into his County of Ter-Oen and forced it to surrender His resolutions however were so various and wavering about the same time that he writ to the Earl of Kildare to offer his assistance against the injuries of the Lord Deputy to the Earl of Ormond and 15 Sir Henry Henry Wallop Treasurer of the Kingdom assuring them of his intention to continue loyal and to 16 Sir
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 â—evonia Averna â—â—â—e uxoris who was Mother of Isabel the †Mother of the Lord Robert Brus Earl of Carrick in Scotland afterwards King of that Nation â—is place 〈◊〉 corrupâ—â—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 Moâ—â—er to Dame Eleanor Mother to the Earl of Hereford Joan â—arshall the fourth Sister was married to the Lord Guarin of Mount â—hinsey and had Issue Joan de Valens Sybil Countess of Ferâ—â—s the fifth Sister had Issue seven Daughters the eldest call'd â—â—gnes Vescie Mother of the Lord John and the Lord William Vesâ—â—e the second Isabel Basset the third Joan Bohun Wife to the â—ord John Mohun Son of the Lord Reginald the fourth Sibyl â—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 â—â—e seventh Maud Kyme Lady of Karbry These are all both â—ales and Females the Posterity of the said William Earl Marshal MCCXX. The Translation of S. Thomas of Canterbury The â—â—me year died the Lord Meiler Fitz-Henry founder of Connal â—nd was buried in the Chapter-House of the said Foundation MCCXXIV The Castle of Bedford was besieg'd and the Castle â—f Trim in Ireland MCCXXV Died Roger Pippard and in the year MCCXXVIII â—â—ed William Pippard formerly Lord of the Salmon-leap This â—ear died likewise Henry Londres alias Scorch-Villeyn Archbishop â—f Dublin and was buried in Trinity-church there MCCXXX Henry King of England gave Hubert Burk â—â—e Justiceship and the Third Penny of Kent and â—ade him also Earl of Kent Afterward the same Hubert was â—â—prison'd and great Troubles arose between the King and his â—â—bjects because he adher'd to Strangers more than to his own naâ—â—ral Subjects MCCXXXI William Mareschall the younger Earl Marshal and â—arl of Pembrock departed this life and was buried in the Quire â—f the Friers Predicants in Kilkenny MCCXXXIV Richard Earl Mareschall Earl of Pembrock and â—rogull was wounded in a Battel in the Plain of Kildare on the â—â—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 Engâ—â—nd leaving two Daughters to inherit his Estate of whom the â—â—rst was married to Sir Theobald Verdon and the second to Gefâ—ery de Genevile MCCXLIII This year died Hugh Lacy Earl of Ulster and â—as buried in Cragsergus in the Convent of the Friers Minors â—eaving a Daughter who was married to Walter Burk Earl of Ulster The same year died Lord Gerald Fitz-Maurice and Lord â—ichard de Burgo MCCXLVI An Earthquake about nine of the Clock over all â—he West MCCXLVIII Sir John Fitz-Geffery came Lord Justiciary into â—reland MCCL. Lewis King of France and William Long-Espee were â—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
into possession by the King of France upon certain conditions but was detain'd unjustly and treacherously John Archbishop of Dublin and some other great men were sent to the Kinâ— in Almain upon this account After they had receiv'd their answer in Tordran the Archbishop return'd into England and died oâ— S. Leodegarys day The bones of which John Sampford werâ— interr'd in S. Patrick's Church in Dublin on the 10th day beforâ— the Kalends of March. The same year there arose a debate between William Lord Vescy then Justiciary of Ireland and the Lord John Fitz Thomas and the said Lord William Vescy went into England and lefâ— Sir William de la Hay to officiate as Justiciary But when botâ— them were before the King for combat upon an appeel for treason William Vescy fled into France and would not fight Whereupon the King of England gave all the Seigniories that belong'd to him to Sir John Fitz Thomas viz. Kildare Rathemgan and manâ— others The same year Gilbert Clare Earl of Glocester return'd ouâ— of Ireland into England Likewise Richard Earl of Ulster sooâ— after S. Nicholas's day was taken prisoner by Sir John Fitz Thomas and kept within the castle of Ley till the feast of S. Gregory Pope but was then set at liberty by the Council of our Lord thâ— King in a Parliament at Kilkenny John Fitz Thomas gave aâ— his lands for taking him viz. Slygo with other Possessions belonging to him in Conaght Item this year the castle of Kildare was taken but Kildarâ— and the Country round it was wasted by the English and the Irish Calvagh burnt all the Rolls and Tallies of the said Earl This yeaâ— and the two next following there was much dearth and Pestilencâ— throughout Ireland Item William Lord Dooddyngzele was made Justiciary of Irelanâ— MCCXCV Edward King of England built the Castle de Beâ— Marisco i.e. Beaumaris in Venedocia which is call'd the motheâ— of Cambria but commonly Anglesey and enter'd it immediatelâ— after Easter subduing the Venedotes i.e. the able men of Anglesey and making them subject to him Soon after this viz. about thâ— Feast of S. Margaret Madock at that time Prince elect of Waleâ— submitted himself to the King's mercy and was brought to Londoâ— by John de Haverings where he was clapt in the Tower to waâ— the King's grace and favour This year died William Dooddingzeâ— Justiciary of Ireland the day after S. Mary of Egypt Sir Thomas Fitz-Maurice succeeded him Also about the same time thâ— Irish in Leinster destroy'd that Province burning the new Castâ—â— with other Villages Item Thomas de Torbevile a seducer oâ— the King and betrayer of his Country was drawn through the middle of London lying out at length and guarded with four Toâ—mentors in Vizards who revil'd him as we went along At lasâ— he was gibbeted and deny'd the privilege of Burial having nonâ— to attend his Funeral but Kites and Crows This Thomas waâ— one of them who in the Siege of the Castle of Rions was takeâ— and carry'd to Paris Whereupon he promis'd the Nobility oâ— France that he would deliver to them the King of England anâ— leaving his two Sons as Pledges came over and told the King oâ— England and his Council how narrowly he escap'd out of Prisoâ— When he had inform'd himself of the designs of the King anâ— state of the Kingdom he sent the whole in writing to the Provoâ— of Paris Of which being convicted he was executed iâ— the manner aforesaid About the same time the Scoâ— having broken the Peace which they had covenanted with oâ—â— Lord King of England made a new league with the King oâ— France and conspiring together rose up in Arms against their owâ— sovereign Lord and King John Baillol and shut him up in the midland parts of Scotland in a Castle encompass'd with Mountain This was done in pure spight and contempt to the King of England because he had set the said John over them without theâ—â— will and consent The King of England brought another Army 〈◊〉 Scotland the Lent following to chastise the Scots for their presumption and arrogance against their own Father and King Sâ— John Wogan was made Justiciary of Ireland and the Lord Thomas Fitz-Maurice give place to him This Wogan made a Trucâ— for two years between the Earl of Ulster and John Fitz-Thomas and the Geraldines About Christmas-day this year Gilbert Clarâ— Earl of Glocester departed this life Item the King of Englanâ— sent his Brother Edmund with an Army into Gascoign MCCXCVI The Lord Edward King of England on the thirâ— day before the Kalends of April viz. upon Friday that fell oâ—â— then to be Easter-week took Berwick with the slaughter of seveâ— thousand Scots and not of above one of the English Knights viâ— Sir John of Cornwall and seven Footmen more Shortly after abouâ— the 4th of May he enter'd the Castle of Dunbar and took abouâ— forty of the Enemy Prisoners who submitted themselves to thâ— King's mercy having before defeated the whole Army of the Scots that is to say slain seven hundred Horse with the loss of Footmeâ— only on the English side Item upon S. John's-day before Port-latin about 15000 Welchmeâ— were sent to invade Scotland by the King's Order At the same timâ— the Nobility of Ireland viz. John Wogan Justiciary Richard Bourâ— Earl of Ulster Theobald Butler and John Fitz-Thomas witâ— others came to assist in this Expedition to Scotland The Kinâ— of England also entertain'd them with others of the English Nobility upon the third day before the Ides of May viz. Whitsuâ—day with a great Feast in the castle of Rokesburgh Item on thâ— next Wednesday before S. Barnabas he enter'd the Town of Edinburgh and won the castle before the Feast of S. John Baptist shortly after in the same Summer all the castles in Scotland were surrender'd up to him Item John Balliol King of Scotland came tho' much against his will to the King of England upon the Sunday next after the Translation of S. Thomas the Archbishop attended with many Earls Bishops and Knights and they surrender'd all to the King but their lives and limbs and their Lord John Balliol gave up all his Right and Title in Scotland to the King of England who sent him under a safe guard towards London Item Edmund Brother to the King of England died this year in Gascoign MCCXCVII Our Lord Edward King of England sail'd into Flanders with an Army against the King of France where after much expence and altercation a form of Peace was concluded between them upon condition they should stand to the award and judgment of the Pope From the one side and the other certain Messengers were sent to the Court of Rome but while the King was in Flanders William Walleis according to a general Resolution of the Scots came with a great Army to Strivelin-bridge to engage John Earl of Warren in which Battel many were slain on both sides and many drown'd but however the English were
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 Moâ—â—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 sâ—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
the celebrated Organ at Ulme This city gave birth to Henrietta Maria youngest daughter to K. Charles 1. to William Petre â—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 Eaâ—â—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 Topheshaâ— 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-tâ—â—â— 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-Câ—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 Honnyâ—â—â— 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 Vennytâ—â—-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 Sidmouâ—â— 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 Axmoâ—â—â— 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 Hartâ—â—â—â— 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 Cloâ—â—â—â—â— 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 Sâ—â—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 â—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 â—outh-â—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 â—â—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 â—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
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 stoâ—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 fâ—râ—her discovery of this to others John Lord of Moâ—iton and Lancaste who was afterwards King of â—ngâ—and confirmed by charter all the liberties which he â—ad granted to the Burgesses of Bristow Edward the third in the 36th year of his reign granted to the Mâ—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 â—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 theâ—eby has made three large bays namely Kentsand which receives the river Ken Levensand Duddensand between which the land shoots oâ—t so much like a promontory into the sea that this 〈◊〉 oâ— the county takes its name from it 〈…〉 and Foreland signifie the same with us that proâ—â—â—â—tortâ—â— anterius that is a fore-promontory does in latiâ— l The whole tract except by the Sea-side is all high mountains and great rocks they call them Fornâ—ss-fâ—lls â—â—rnâ—sâ—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 Sâ—tâ—â—â—â—â—ruâ— Lacus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lake as some books have it and not Sâ—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 Winamâ—â—rmere in Saxon WinÆ¿adremer 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 Aâ—dâ—â—â—â—ns tâ— Wâ—â—tmâ—â—land Câ—are a fiâ—h Hiâ—tâ—ry â—f Maâ—â—â— 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 Piâ—e 〈◊〉 Fâ—uldâ—eâ— 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 Câ—stercian Monks Lâ—b F â—â—sâ—â—nâ— 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 Aldâ—â—ghâ—â— the ancient estate of the family of the Harringtons Hâ—â—â—â—gtâ—â—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 Ulâ—â—â—â— 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 â—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 Eaâ—â—â—â— Lancastâ—â— 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