you to the Laws of King Cnute and those of the Confessor the former of which you will find at the end of his Reign in the ensuing Volume wherein is set down what the Heirs of each of those Feudatary Tenants were to pay to their Lords at the Death of their Ancestors BUT that these could not be near all the Lands of England appears by what hath been already said of Lands held in Allodio And I have known some Learned Antiquaries who have not without good Cause believed that all Tenure by Knight-Service in England was derived from the Danes and Norwegians who upon their Conquests and settling here first brought in that sort of Tenure out of Denmark and Norway from whence the English Saxon Kings might by Degrees impose it upon several Lands by them granted to their Ealdormen or Earls and chief Thanes by Military or Knights Service who likewise granted them to their inferiour Thanes under the like Tenures and yet it would have been very unreasonable that such inferior Thanes should have so far been deprived of their antient English Freedom as that the Earls and King's Thanes should have it in their Power to make what Laws and impose what Taxes they pleased upon them as their under Tenants without their Consent AND if meer Tenure alone could have done this I would fain know why the English Kings before the Conquest by the same reason might not as well have made Laws and taxed their Tenants in Capite without their Consent as these could have done their Tenants that held under them But this is altogether false in Matter of Fact as all the Histories of those Times shew Danegelt it self being first imposed by the Consent of the King and his Wites as appears by the Saxon Annals NOT but that I grant all the Lands of England were then held under those three great Services called in Latin Trinoda Necessitas viz. 1. Expedition that is the finding of Men to defend the Kingdom in case of Invasion 2. The Repair of Bridges and 3. Fortifying of Castles from which even Lands granted to the Church were not exempted as appears by the Charters to several Monasteries But these were Services due and to be performed by the Common Law and Custom of the Kingdom and did not concern one sort of Tenure more than another I have no more to observe concerning this Bocland but that it passed by Deed called by Ingulphus Chirographa until the Confessor's time and was confirmed by the Subscriptions of the Fideles or Subjects there present with golden Crosses and some other holy Marks only this methinks ought not to be passed over that the Ceremony of Livery or Seizin of Lands is very antient as appears by the Charter of Ceadwalla King of the West-Saxons preserved among the Evidences belonging to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the Year DCLXXXVII made to Theodore then Arch-bishop of that See of certain Lands with this Subscription Ad cumulum autèm Confirmationis ego Cedwalla Cespitem terrae praedictae supèr sanctum Altare Salvatoris posui propriâ manu pro ignorantia Literarum signum sanctae Crucis expressi subscripsi that is For the farther Confirmation thereof I Ceadwalla have put this said Turf of Earth upon the holy Altar and for want of Learning have with my own Hand made and subscribed the Sign of the holy Cross. The like also hath Camden out of a Patent made by Withered King of Kent to a Nunnery in the Isle of Thanet So much for Bocland CONTRARY to which was that called Folkland which Sir Henry Spelman says was Terra popularis scilicet quae jure communi possidetur vel sine scripto that is Land belonging to the ordinary sort of People which they enjoyed of common Right without any Writings or Deeds as we see in Copy-hold Lands at this day for which the Tenants have seldom any other Evidences than the Copy of the Court-Rolls of the Mannor which Copy-hold Lands were antiently either held by Sockmen that is Free-men holding by the Plow to perform mean and villain Services or else by those who were Villains appendant to the Mannor THESE might be ousted of their small Estates at the Will of the Lord which a Farmer could not be so long as he honestly performed his Services and these were they who after the Conquest were called Tenants in Antient Demesne either of the King or of some other Lord as you will find in the old Natura Breviam OF the like sort also as Dr. Brady very well informs us were Lands and Possessions mentioned by other Names in our Saxon Laws as Gaffolland Rent-Land or Farm-Land Foedus Alured and Guthr c. 2. Gafogyldenhus an House yielding or paying Rent or Gable LL. Inae c. 6. There are also mentioned Inland or the Lords Demesnes which he kept in his own Hands and Neatland which is called Vtland or Outland in Byrthric's Will Terra Villanorum and was let out to Country-men or Villagers Aegder of Thegnes inlandge of Neatland i. e. either of the Lords or Thanes Inland or Demesnes or else the Country-mans Villagers or Villan's Land Gafolland Neatland and Vtland as Mr. Somner truly informs us were opposed to Inland or Demesne-Lands and were Lands granted out for Rent or Service or both and reducible to Folkland and 't is very probable they were the same or of the same Nature for that in the Laws where they are mentioned it appears they were always occupied by Ceorls Churles Country-men Colons or Clowns by Gebures Boors Rustics Plough or Husbandmen or by Neates and Geneates Drudges Villanes or Villagers These three Saxon words being almost of the same Signification tho very different in Sound were always applied to the ordinary sort of People called by us Folk at this day Thus far the Doctor which I will not contradict tho he here makes all Ceorles Men to have been meer Drudges which was not so since those that held Land by Socage-Services were as free as to all things else from the Power of their Lords as our Tenants are at this day BUT I desire by the way that this may not be unobserved that I can no where find the word Colonus used for a Husbandman or Clown in any of our antient Saxon Laws tho Sir Henry Spelman gives us some Examples of the use of it in the German Laws there signifying Liberi Ecclesiastici quos Colonos vocant and the King had also his Coloni but this learned Author supposes that these Coloni answered our Sockmen who were certainly Freemen and not Villains Nor did Villanus signify a Villain but a Country-man or Villager in general till after the Conquest and then it was not from the Latin but French Idiom that a Villain came to signify a Slave or Drudg HAVING now given you what I thought fit to say concerning the several Tenures and ways of Conveyance of Lands in the
he had founded at Oundale in Northamptonshire being there seized with the same Sickness which had often attacked him before thô what it was this Author does not tell us he there died having before made his Will and given a great deal both in ready Money and Jewels to the Monasteries he had founded His Body was carried with great Pomp and Attendance of many Abbots and Monks to his Abbey of Rypon and there buried This Year Acca the principal Chaplain of Bishop Wilfred succeeded him in his Bishoprick of Hagulstad To this Bishop Florence of Worcester gives the Character of a skilful Singer and Learned in the Scriptures Also this Year Beorthfrith the Ealderman fought against the Picts between Haefe and Caere supposed to be Carehouse and Hatfeild in Northumberland and also King Ina and Nun his Kinsman fought with Gerent King of the Britains and the same Year Hygbald was slain Mat. Westminster places this Action in Anno 708 and makes this Hygbald to have been killed in the beginning of the Fight by the Welsh King above mentioned and He being there put to flight left great spoils behind him to the English who as Florence adds obtained the Victory This British Prince here mentioned is supposed to have been King of Cornwall for we can find no such name in the Catalogue of the Princes of North or South-Wales About this time according to Bede Naitan King of the Picts being convinced by the frequent reading of divers Ecclesiastical Writers renounced his Error concerning the Celebration of Easter and that he might likewise reclaim his Subjects with greater Authority he desired the assistance of the English Nation and therefore sent Messengers to Ceolfrid Abbot of the Monastery of Wyremouth desiring some Exhortatory Letters from him whereby he might confute those who presumed not to keep Easter at the due time as also concerning the true manner of shaving of Priest's Crowns he likewise desired some Architects that might build a Church for him after the Roman fashion which he promised to Dedicate in honour of St. Peter To which Pious requests Ceolfrid assenting did not only send him the Architect he desired but also writ him a long Epistle upon those two Questions in which he desired to be satisfied which you may see at large in Bede where besides many notable Arguments for keeping Easter on the first Sunday after the first Full Moon that follows the Vernal Equinox and besides some others there is this doughty Reason against the Scotch way of shaving Crowns that it was the Tonsure of Simon Magus and then what good Christian could not but abhor it as much as Magick it self This Year Guthlac dyed as also Pipin King of France this Guthlac here mentioned was at first a Monk at Repandun Abbey but afterwards professing himself an Anchorite he retired into the Fens and built himself a Cell at Croyland of him the Monkish Writers of those times relate incredible Miracles of his Temptations Sufferings by and Victories over Evil Spirits which then haunted that place at which some Years after the Abbey of Croyland was founded The same Year also Egwin Bishop of Worcester founded the Abbey of Evesham upon this occasion the Virgin Mary as the Monks relate had appeared about this place to one Eoves a Shepheard and not long after to the Bishop himself having a Book in her hand bringing two Female Attendants with her though who they were it seems she did not declare whereupon the Bishop there founded this Monastery testifying this Vision in the Charter of the Foundation which you may see at large in Monast. Anglic. as also in Sir H. Spelman's first Volume of Councils but as for the Story related by the Magdeburg Centuriators that the Virgin Mary did then Command her Image to be set up and worshiped in that Church there being no colour for it in the pretended Charter of the Bishop himself that must be certainly forged for as Sir H. Spelman has very well observed Arch-Bishop Brightwald is said to have writ this Charter by the command of the Pope whereas this Arch-Bishop was never at Rome nor was the Council in which it is said to have been confirmed held till after Bishop Egwin's Return home into England and as for the Kings Kenred and Offa who are made to witness and confirm it they had both of them resigned their Crowns and gone to Rome Five Years before the date of this Charter which is Anno Dom. 714 therefore I shall pass it by as a mere Fable since it is certain that the worship of Images was not then not long after introduced into the English-Saxon Church But before I dismiss this Subject concerning the foundation of the Abby of Evesham I cannot forbear taking notice of another Charter pretended to be made Anno Dom. 709 by King Kenred and King Offa above mentioned wherein they grant those Lands in which the Virgin Mary was supposed to appear to Bishop Egwin for the building of a Monastery according to the Rule of St. Benedict in which Charter thô the Lands are particularly named and set out yet it is as justly suspicious as the other to have been forged by the Monks of that Abby in after times as Sir H. Spelman very well observes who hath Printed both these Charters in his first Volume of Councils the former of which is dated at Rome Five Years before the other of Bishop Egwin's and is supposed to be subscribed by the Pope this Bishop himself and the two Kings who there stile themselves the former by the Title of King of Mercia and the latter by that of King of the East-Angles whereas it is apparent both from our Annals and Historians that they had both then resigned their Kingdoms to their Successours before they went to Rome and which is worse Offa was not King of the East-Angles but of the East-Saxons as Bede expresly relates nor can the fault be laid upon the Transcribers since the Error is in the Original Charter it self neither do we read of any King of the East-Angles all that time till King Offa upon the Murther of King Ethelbert seized that Kingdom but enough if not too much of these Monkish Forgeries we shall now return to our Annals King Ina and Ceolred fought at Wodensburh in Wiltshire a great and bloody Battle and now also Dagobert King of the French deceased This Year was founded at Theoewkesbury in Glocester-shire a noble Monastery for Bendictine Monks by Odo and Dodo Ealdermen of Mercia The same Year Osred King of Northumberland was killed near the Southern borders Mat. Westminster relates it was in a Fight near the Sea but names not the Enemy with whom he fought This Osred held the Kingdom Eleven Years then Cenred took it and held it Two Years and after him Osric who held it Eleven Years The same Year also Ceolred King of the Mercians Dyed and lyeth Buried in Licetfield now Lichfield Then Ethelbald succeeded
there was likewise now a Synod at Aclea But under what King this Council was held or whereabouts the place is or what Decrees were there made our Histories are altogether silent in but Sir H. Spelman in his first Volume of Councils supposes it to have been at a place of that Name in the Bishoprick of Durham where there are two places so called the one Alca and the other Scole Aclea This Year Cyneheard slew Cynewulf King of the West-Saxons but Cyneheard himself was there slain and Eighty Four Men with him but these Annals in the beginning of this King's Reign under Anno Dom. DCCLV have given us a full account of this King 's unfortunate end which I rather chuse to insert in its proper place and was thus That he endeavouring to Expel Cyneheard Brother to the late King Sigebert out of the Kingdom in the mean time when he knew that the King with a small Company was gone to Merinton now called Merton in Surrey to visit a certain Woman he there besieged him and beset the Chamber where he was before the King 's Attendants could know any thing of it which as soon as the King perceived he got out of Doors and Manfully defended himself but all of them assaulting the King at once they in the end slew him thô as Florence relates he first sorely wounded Cynheard but when the King's Thanes who were then in the same House heard the noise they all ran thither as fast as they could get themselves ready but Cyneheard Aetheling promised them great Rewards and Pardon if they would take his part which none of them would agree to but presently all fought against him till they were all killâ—d except one British Hostage who was grievously wounded but the next morning the King's Thanes that remained at home coming to know that he was kill'd viz. Osric the Ealderman and Wiverth his Thane and all those whom he had left behind him they all came thither on Horseback and when they found Cyneheard Aetheling in the Town where the King lay dead and having the doors fast locked upon them as they approached and endeavoured to break in Cynheard promised to grant them all their Liberties and all their Lands and Goods with great Riches and Honours if they would deliver up the Kingdom to him peaceably telling them moreover That he had some of their Kinsmen with him who would never desert him but they answered That none of their Relations were dearer to them than their own Lord and they would never obey his Murderers and they then farther told their Kinsmen That if they would leave their Leader they should all be safe from whom they also received this Answer That the like had been already promised to those who were of the King's Party and said That as they then refused their promise so themselves should now refuse the like from them then they fought at the Gates until they were broken open and the Conspirators forced to retire within them but there Cyneard Aetheling was Slain and all those that were with him except one who was the Ealderman's God-son to whom being grievously wounded he granted his Life This King Cynwulf Reigned One and Thirty Years and his Body lyes buried at Wintencester but that of the Aetheling at Axanmister now Axminster in Devon-shire being both of them descended from Cerdic the first King of that Kingdom This same Year also Brihtic began his Reign over the West-Saxons whose Body lyes buried at Werham and he was also descended from Cerdic in a right Line In those times King Aealmond Reigned in Kent he was the Father of King Egbert and Egbert was the Father of Athulf or Athelwulf But the Authour of these Annals is here mistaken for thô one Aealmond was Father of King Egbert yet was there never any of that Name King of Kent Bothwin Abbot of Ripun deceased this Year and the same Year was held that troublesome Synod at Cealchythe where Arch-Bishop Janbryht lost part of his Province to the See of Litchfield also Higebryht was this Year chosen Arch Bishop of Litchfield by King Offa and Egbert his Son was anointed King with him and in those times there were Legates sent from Pope Adrian to renew the Faith which had been sent us by Augustine Note the Pope had before granted the Pall to Litchfield and thereby made it an Arch-Bishoprick but it was not till the following Year confirmed in a general Synod of the Kingdom This Year that great Synod or Council of Calcuith above mentioned was held by Gregory Bishop of Ostia and Theophilact Bishop of Tudertum then the Pope's Legates in England at which were also present Offa King of the Mercians and Cinwulf King of the West-Saxons where not only the Nicene Creed was again received and confirm'd as also the Seven first General Councils but many Canons were made concerning Matters of Religion and Ecclesiastical Discipline of all which I shall here recite some that I think proper The second of these Decrees is That Baptism be performed at the times appointed by the former Canons of the Church and no other and that all Men in general learn the Creed and the Lord's Prayer that Godfathers shall be answerable for those Children for whom they stand till they come to Years capable of learning the Creed and the Lords Prayer The Twelfth Canon is That in the Election or Ordination of Kings no Man should permit the Assent or Vote of Evil Men to prevail but Kings shall be Lawfully Elected by the Clergy and Elders of the People not begot of Adultery or Incest because as in our times an Adulterer according to the Canons cannot arrive to the Priest-hood so neither can he be the Lord 's Anointed and the Heir of his Country and King of the whole Kingdom who is not begot of Lawful Matrimony The rest of it is for rendering Honour and Obedience to Kings without speaking Evil of them and the chief Texts out of St. Peter and St. Paul are cited to that purpose It is also there forbid That any Man should conspire the Death of the King because he is the Lord 's Anointed and if any shall be guilty of that wickedness if he be a Bishop or one in Priest's Orders he shall be deprived as Judas was cast out from his Apostleship There is also here likewise cited out of Scripture several examples of those that have been punished either for conspiring the Death of Kinsg or having actually kill'd them The Sixteenth Canon is That Bastards and those begotten of Nuns shall not inherit which is the first Decree we find of this kind The Seventeenth Canon is That Tythes shall be paid according to the Scriptures viz. Thou shalt bring the Tenth part of all thy encrease when thou bringest thy first fruits into the House of the Lord thy God there is likewise cited the Text in Malachi Chap. 3. concerning the paying of Tythes and therefore says the Canon
Edmund But it seems R. Hoveden and Mat. Westminster make this latter Anlaf a quite different person from the former who is supposed to have reigned in Ireland whereas this was the Son of Sihtric late King of Northumberland and whom we shall meet with again more than once in the following History But John of Walingford's Chronicle makes this King whom he calls Olaf a Norwegian whom the Northumbers had called in and bestowed upon him the Title of King and under him rebelled against K. Edmund As for this Reginald her mentioned in our Annals I suppose he is the same whom H. Huntington calls King of York because he had conquered the Countrey But tho the History of these Transactions are very short and obscure yet that which has been already related from these Authors will serve to explain what would have been otherwise in the dark viz. how the Cities and Towns above-mentioned now came to be recovered from the Danes as having been taken by their King Anlaf aforesaid This year Queen Aelgiva was brought to Bed of Prince Edgar afterwards King as Florence relates Yet she lived not long after but died the year following according to Ethelward's Chronicle King Edmund reduced all the Countrey of Northumberland under his own Dominion expelling thence the two Kings Anlaf the Son of Sihtric and Reginald the Son of Guthferth But Ethelwerd relates this action to have been done by this King's Lieutenants viz. Bishop Wulstan and the Ealdorman of Mercia whose Name he does not give us only that these two expelled certain Deserters viz. Reginald and Anlaf out of the City of York and reduced it wholly under this King's Power John of Wallingford also makes this Anlaf to be the King's Nephew and different from Anlaf the Norwegian King Eadmund subdued the whole Countrey of Cumberland and gave it to Malcolme King of Scots upon condition that he should assist him in his Wars both by Sea and Land For the Reader is to observe that hitherto the Britains though much disturbed by their Neighbours the Picts Scots and English had ever since the coming in of the Saxons still there continued a distinct Principality and after several of them had been wearied out they retired into North Wales and there erected the Colony of Straetcluyd as we formerly said though the History and Succession of these Kings are wholly lost unless it be such scattered Remains as we have given you in the former Book But Mat. Westminster though under the next year adds that which is very unlikely to be true that King Edmund conquered this Countrey by the Assistance of Lewellyn Prince of Wales and put out the Eyes of the two Sons of Dunmaile King of that Province though what he adds further appears somewhat more probable That he granted it to the King of Scots upon this condition viz. To defend the North-parts of England from the Invasion of Enemies both by Sea and Land To which Bromton's Chronicle adds likewise That he was also to attend the King of England at several Great Feasts in the year when he held his Common Council and that the King of Scots had for that end several Houses assigned him to lye at by the way Also this year Mat. Westminster relates that King Edmund gave one of his Royal Towns then called Beadricesworth with divers other Lands to build a Church and Monastery in Memory of St. Edmund the Martyr whose Body was there enshrin'd This year likewise as Florence relates King Edmund sent Ambassadors to Prince Hugh of France for the Restitution of King Lewis whereupon the said Prince held a Solemn Council with all the Chief Men of the Kingdom concerning it But not long after King Edmund deceased at the Feast of St. Augustin having held the Kingdom Six Years and an half But the Laudean or Peterburgh Copy of these Annals as also Ethelwerd's Chronicle place the Death of this King Anno Dom. 948 which without doubt is the truest Account So that he died in the very Flower of his Age being not yet Five and twenty years old But we shall give you the manner of his Death from William of Malmesbury as well as from other Authors since he met with such an End the like to which I have not read of any other Prince taking all the Circumstances together And thus we find it He having made a Great Entertainment at a place called Pucklekirk upon the Holiday of St. Augustin Archbishop of Canterbury for all his Nobility and Chief Men and there spying towards the end of Dinner a certain Notorious Thief called Leof sitting at the Table whom he had before banished commanded Leon his Sewer to lay hold on him But the Thief not only resisted him but was also like to have killed the Sewer Whereupon the King leaping from the Table and going to rescue him out of the Villain 's hands and having now laid hold on him and thrown him on the ground he twisted his hands in his hair upon which the Thief pulling out a Dagger stabbed the King who lay upon him into the Breast so that he immediately expired but the King's Servants presently coming in soon cut the Villain to pieces though some of them were first wounded by him The King's Body was thereupon carried to Glastenbury and there buried and the Town wherein he was killed was bestowed on the same Monastery to sing Masses for his Soul To this Place the Prince as well as his Brother was a great Benefactor as appears by his recited Charter in William of Malmesbury whereby he confers divers large Privileges upon that Abby of which St. Dunstan was then the Abbot And it is also to be observed that He there stiles himself in the beginning of his Charter Edmund King of the English and Governor and Ruler of the other Nations round about and says That with the Advice and by the Consent of his Chief Men and for the Remission of his Sins He made that Grant to the Church of St. Mary at Glastenbury This Charter bore date Anno 944. in Letters of Gold and was written at the end of a Book of Gospels which he had given to the same Church most curiously bound So that it is no wonder if he had the good words of the Monks though he might also very well deserve them yet this last Action speaks him to have been extremely transported with Passion thus to debase the Majesty of a King in going about to seize a common Malefactor with his own hands and indeed he paid too dear for thus acting below his Character This King made divers good Laws which since the Title does not recite in what year they were made I have referred to this place some of which I shall here give you translated from the Latin Copies in Abbot Bromton's Chronicle as well as from Mr. Lambard's Collection In the Preface of which we are told That at the solemn Feast of Easter the King had held a Great
and instead thereof engaged the Prince of Wales to send him a Yearly Tribute of so many Wolves Heads in lieu of that Tribute which the said Prince performed till within some Years there being no more Wolves to be found either in England or Wales that Tribute ceased But to proceed with our Annals This Year deceased Aelfgar Cousin to the King and Earl also of Devonshire whose Body lies buried at Wilton Sigeferth likewise here called a King though he was indeed no more than Vice-King or Earl of some Province now made himself away and was buried at Winborne The same Year was a great Mortality of Men and a very Malignant Feaver raged at London Also the Church of St. Pauls at London was this Year burnt and soon after rebuilt and Athelmod the Priest went to Rome and there died I have nothing else to add that is remarkable under this Year but the Foundation of the Abby of Tavistock by Ordgar Earl of Devonshire afterwards Father-in-law to King Edgar though it was within less than fifty years after its foundation burnt down by the Danes in the Reign of King Ethelred but was afterwards rebuilt more stately than before This Year Wolfstan the Deacon deceased and afterwards Gyric the Priest These I suppose were some men of remarkable Sanctity in that Monastery to which this Copy of these Annals did once belong The same Year also Abbot Athelwald received the Bishoprick of Winchester and was consecrated on a Sunday being the Vigil of St. Andrew The second year after his Consecration he repaired divers Monasteries and drove the Clerks i. e. Canons from that Bishoprick because they would observe no Rule and placed Monks in their stead He also founded two Abbies the one of Monks and the other of Nuns and afterwards going to King Edgar he desired him to bestow upon him all the Monasteries the Danes had before destroyed because he intended to rebuild them which the King willingly granted Then the Bishop went to Elig where St. Etheldrith lieth buried and caused that Monastery to be rebuilt and then gave it to the care of one of his Monks named Brightnoth and afterwards made him Abbot of the Monks of that Monastery where there had been Nuns before Then Bishop Athelwald went to the Monastery which is called Medeshamstead which had also been destroyed by the Danes where he found nothing but old Walls with Trees and Bushes growing among them but at last he spied hidden in one of these Walls that Charter which Abbot Headda had formerly wrote in which it appeared that King Wulfher and Ethelred his Brother had founded this Monastery and that the King with the Bishop had freed it from all secular servitude and Pope Agatho had confirmed it by his Bull as also the Archbishop Deus Dedit Which Charter I suppose is that the Substance of which is already recited in the Fourth book Anno 656. and which I have there proved to be forged for the Monks had then a very fair opportunity to forge that Charter and afterwards to pretend they found it in an old Wall But letting that pass thus much is certain from the Peterburgh Copy of these Annals That the said Bishop then caused this Monastery to be rebuilt placing a new Set of Monks therein over whom he appointed an Abbot called Aldulf Then went the Bishop to the King and shewed him the Charter he had lately found whereby he not only obtained a new Charter of Confirmation of all the Lands and Privileges formerly granted by the Mercian Kings but also many other Townships and Lands there recited as particularly Vndale with the Hundred adjoining in Northamptonshire which had formerly been a Monastery of it self as may be observed in the account we have already given of the Life of the Archbishop Wilfrid The King likewise granted That the Lands belonging to that Monastery should be a distinct Shire having Sac and Soc Tol and Team and Infangentheof which terms I shall explain in another place the King there also grants them a Market with the Toll thereof and that there should be no other Market between Stamford and Huntington and to the former of these the King also granted the Abbot a Mint But as for the Names of the Lands given together with the Limits and the Tolls of the Market there mentioned I refer the Reader to the Charter it self Then follows the Subscription of the King with the Sign of the Cross and next the Confirmation of the Archbishop of Canterbury with a dreadful Curse on those that should violate it as also the Confirmation of Oswald Archbishop of York Athelwald Bishop of Winchester with several other Bishops Abbots Ealdormen and Wisemen who all confirmed it and signed it with the Cross This was done Anno Dom. 972. of our Lord's Nativity and in the sixteenth year of the King's Reign which shews this Coppy of the Annals to be written divers years after these things were done as does also more particularly that short History concerning the Affairs of this Abby and the Succession of its Abbots for many years after this time As how Abbot Adulf bought many more Lands wherewith he highly enriched that Monastery where he continued Abbot till Oswald Archbishop of York deceased and he succeeded him in the Archbishoprick and then there was another chosen Abbot of the said Monastery named Kenulph who was afterwards Bishop of Winchester he first built a Wall round the Monastery and gave it the name of Burgh which was before called Medeshamested but he being sometime after made Bishop of Winchester another Abbot was chosen from the same Abby called Aelfi who continued Abbot fifty years He removed the Bodies of St. Kyneburge and St. Cynesuith which lay buried at Castra and St. Tibba which lay entomb'd at Rehala i. e. Ryal in Rutlandshire and brought them to Burgh and dedicated them to St. Peter keeping them there as long as he continued Abbot I have been the more particular in the Account of this so Ancient and Famous Monastery as having been the Episcopal See of the Bishops of Peterburgh almost ever since the Dissolution of that Abby in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth This Year also according to Simeon of Durham King Edgar married Ethelfreda the Daughter of Ordgar Earl of Devonshire after the Death of her Husband Ethelwald Earl of the East-Angles Of her he begot two Sons Edwald and Ethelred the former of whom died in his Infancy but the latter lived to be King of England But before he married this Lady it is certain he had an Elder Son by Elfleda sirnamed The Fair Daughter of Earl Eodmar of whom he begot King Edward called the Martyr But whether King Edgar was ever lawfully married to her may also be doubted since Osbern in his Life of St. Dunstan says That this Saint baptized the Child begotten on Ethelfleda the King's Concubine with whom also agrees Nicholas Trevet in his Chronicle though I confess the Major
between King Alfred and Guthrum the Dane together with their Ecclesiastical Laws in a Common Council of the Kingdom l. 5. p. 283 284 285. A great one wherein King Alfred made those Laws that go under his Name Id. p. 291 c. A great one held by King Edward the Elder where Plegmund presided in the Province of the Gewisses about making of Bishops Id. p. 313 314. The Laws made by King Edward the Elder in a Common Council of the Kingdom tho in what or in what year uncertain Id. p. 325 c. A great Council held by King Athelstan at Graetanleage and the Laws past therein Id. p. 339 340 c. King Edmund's great Council where held and the Constitutions of Civil Concernment made therein Id. p. 346 347 348. A great one meets and chuses Prince Edward sirnamed the Martyr for their King l. 6. p. 15. Those at Kirtlingtune Winchester and Calne in Wiltshire called to debate that Great Affair concerning the turning out of the Monks and restoring the Secular Chanons at the last of them the floor of the room failed and killed and hurt abundance there Id. p. 16 17. One called to consult about Pope John's Letters sent to King Ethelred Id. p. 24 25. King Ethelred and his Wise Men in Council ordain to raise an Army both by Sea and Land against the Danes Id. p. 27. Another Council summoned who instead of consulting the Publick Good fall to impeach one another and to spend the whole time in their own private quarrels Id. p. 35. A great one held under King Cnute at Cyrencester wherein Ethelward the Eorlderman is outlaw'd Id. p. 51. Another of his Mycel Synods held at Winchester and what Laws made therein Id. p. 57 58 59 60. In a great Council held at London a Religious Monk of Evesham is chosen Abbot of that Monastery Id. p. 73. A great one held at London in Mid-lent Id. p. 75. Another at Gloucester to determine a Difference between Earl Godwin and the Welshmen Id. p. 77. A great one without London about determining the Quarrel between Edward the Confessor and Eâ—rl Godwin Id. p. 81. One hâ—ld at Westminster to confirm Edward the Confessor's Charter of Endowment of the Church of Westminster Id. p. 94. Counties When England was first thus divided by King Alfred l. 5. p. 291. Countreymen by King Alfred's Law not to be unjustly imprisoned nor any way misused under such and such Penalties l. 5. p. 293 294. Their very Homestalls are secured in Peace and Quietness Id. p. 295. County Court the Antiquity and Power of it held every Month as now l. 5. p. 326. Coway-stakes near Lalam in Middlesex where the Britains placed Piles to hinder Caesar and his Romans Passage to them some of which were lately there to be seen l. 2. p. 34. Crayford in Kent anciently called Crecanford l. 5. p. 313. Creed The Bishops at Ariminun forced by the Emperor to subscribe the New Creed made not long before at the pretended Council of Syrmium wherein the Son of God was declared to be only of like Substance with the Father l. 2. p. 89 90. Priests obliged to learn it and the Lord's Prayer in English l. 4. p. 225. All men in general commanded to learn it and the Lord's Prayer Id. p. 233. Creeklade now a small Town in Wiltshire from whence the Muses are said to be carried to Oxford supposed an Ancient Great School It s Derivation l. 5. p. 290. Creoda or Crida first King of the Mercians one of the lâ—rgest of the English-Saxon Kingdoms and one of the last conquered by the West-Saxons His Death l. 3. p. 147 149. Crimes all redeemable by Fines in Edward the Elder 's time and long after l. 5. p. 326. Punishable rather by Mulcts than by Blood in King Athelstan's time Id. p. 342. For what no satisfaction should be made by way of Compensation l. 6. p. 59. Criminal none knowingly and voluntarily to have Peace with or harbour any one that is condemned and what such forfeit that act contrary to this Law l. 5. p. 326. None to absent themselves from the Gemots or Hundred-Courts and if any do what course shall be taken about him l. 6. p. 14. No petty Offendor to be put to Death by Cnute's Law Id. p. 58. Crown After Cnute had found the weak and bounded Power of Kings by the Tide 's refusing to obey his Majestick Commands he returns home and would wear his Crown no longer but orders it to be hung on the head of the Crucifix at Winchester l. 6. p. 57. Croyland the whole Isle granted by King Ethelbald's Charter to this Monastery l. 4. p. 218. The Lands and Privileges of the Abbey confirmed by King Egbert in a Great Council l. 5. p. 254. The Privileges and Grants of King Withlaff to this Monastery confirmed in a General Council of the whole Kingdom Id. p. 257. The Charter of King Berthwulf to this Abbey confirmed under the Rule of St. Benedict at Kingsbury supposed to be a Great Council of the Kingdom Id. p. 261. The Monastery and Church with a Noble Library of Books and all its Charters burnt and utterly destroyed by the Danes Id. p. 271 272. Is repaired and much enriched by Abbot Turketule who by adding six more to the two Bells there made the first tuneable Ring of Bells in England l. 6. p. 12. Crysanthius sent by Theodosius as his Lieutenant to suppress the Incursions of the Picts and Scots l. 2. p. 97. Cuckamsley-hill in Berkshire by the Saxons called Cwichelmeslaw l. 6. p. 32. Cumbran a most Noble Ealdorman for representing the People's Grievances to cruel King Sigebert at the Request of the Subjects is stain by him l. 4. p. 226 227 Cuneglasus supposed by some Antiquaries to have been King of the Northern or Cambrian Britains l. 3. p. 139 145. Curescot or Cyrescot that is First-Fruits or Money given to the Church l. 6. p. 55 56. Cutha Vid. Cuthwulf Cuthbert ordained Bishop of Lindisfarne His Noble Character and approaching Death l. 4. p. 201 202. Retires after he had resigned his Bishoprick to Farne-Island and there deceases but his Body is translated to Lindisfarne Id. p 204. Called St. Cuthbert and esteemed to have been a very holy man Id. p. 215. l. 5. p. 286. Cuthbryht or Cuthbert upon the Death of Nothelm is consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury l. 4. p. 224. Sate Archbishop eighteen years and then dâ—ceases Id. p. 228. His Body after a hundred years removed by Aldune from Cunecaeaster i.e. Chester to the place where the City of Durham was afterwards built l. 6. p. 26. Cuthred had Three thousand Hides of Land given him by Cenwalc King of the West-Saxons near Aescasdune l. 4. p. 182. He was the Son of Cwichelme Ibid. His Death Id. p. 186. Cuthred Cousin to Ethelred succeeds him in the Kingdom of the West-Saxons Hâ—s War with Ethelbald King of the Mercians with various Successes He and Ethelbald fight against the Britains l. 4. p.
Gratian the Emperor who is killed by him l. 2. p. 95. His Image is sent to Alexandria and set up in the Market-place to be Reverenced l. 2. p. 96. His great concern for the Catholick Religion and Execution of Persons for meer matters of Faith His Death Id. Ib. Meanwari supposed to be People of that part of Hampshire lying over against the Isle of Wight l. 4. p. 188. Medcant now called Turne-Island l. 3. p. 146. Medeshamhamsted a Monastery built in Honour of Christ and St. Peter it had its Name from a Well there called Medeswell l. 4. p. 186. The manner of erecting this Foundation Id. p. 186 187. Pope Agatho's Bull of Priviledges to it supposed to be Forged long after and by whom l. 4. p. 200. l. 6. p. 4 5. Is burnt and destroyed by the Danes who killed all the Abbots and Monks they found there with a Noble Library and all its Charters and they carried away all the rich spoil of that place l. 5. p. 270 271 272. Afterwards the Bodies of above Fourscore Monks with their Abbot there slain were Buried in one Grave in the Church-yard and putting a Pyramidal Stone over them the Images of the Abbot and Monks about him were Carved on it Id. p. 172. Is rebuilt by Athelwald Bishop of Winchester who is said to have found the Charter which Abbot Headda had formerly wrote l. 6. p. 4 5. A new Charter of Confirmation with many other Endowments granted by King Edgar the Lands granted by him to this Monastery to be a distinct Shire having Sac Soc c. Is more enriched in Lands by Abbot Adulf who is succeeded by Kenulf that changed its name into Burgh It has been the Episcopal See of the Bishops of Peterburgh almost ever since the Dissolution of this Abbey in H. VIII's time Id. p. 5. Melgas King of the Picts the Story of the Virgins that were Killed or made Slaves by him a notorious Invention l. 2. p. 96. Mellitus is sent to Preach the Word in Britain and Letters of Instruction sent afterwards by the Pope to him concerning the Idol-Temples l. 4. p. 157 158. Ordained by Augustine Bishop of the East-Saxons he was to fix his Episcopal See at London l. 4. p. 159 165 166. Sent to Rome to confer with Pope Boniface about the necessary Affairs of the English Church Id. p. 166. His departure into France and for what reason Id. p. 169. Succeeâ—s Lawrence in the Archbishoprick of Canterbury stops a great Fire there by his Prayers Id. p. 171. Members loss of any for Crimes of the Party survived it Four Nights he with the Bishops leave might be helped which before was unlawful l. 5. p. 285. Menai a River near to which Bangor was built and by whom l. 3. p. 143. Iâ— parts Caernarvonshire from the Isle of Wight l. 4. p. 165. Menaevia now is called St. David's in Pembrokeshire l. 3. p. 149. Mercevenlage from whence the Laws were so called l. 1. p. 13. Mercia when this Kingdom began it was one of the largest of the English-Saxon Kingdoms and one of the last conquered by the West-Saxons l. 3. p. 147. The People received the Christian Faith under Peadda their Ealdorman l. 4. p. 183 186. The Province of the Mercians is divided into Five Diocesses Id. p. 199 200. The Mercians or Southumbers Kill Ostrythe the Wife of Ethelred their late King Id. p. 210 212. A great part of it destroyed with Fire and Sword by the South-Welshmen Id. p. 231. Anciently was called Merscwarum l. 5. p. 259. Is forced to come to a Peace with the Danes Id. p. 269. Mercy King Cnute's Law to have it used and that none should die for small Offences l. 6. p. 58 59. Meredyth Conquers the whole Countrey of North-Wales for himself l. 6. p. 22. Others laying waste his Countrey of South-Wales Id. p. 23. Cast off by the Inhabitants of the Isle of Anglesey for not well Protecting them but afterwards resolving if he could to recover so considerable a part of his Dominions he Fights with Edwal ap Meyric who had Usurped upon him but is worsted by him in a set Battel Id. p. 24. Meredyth and Howel the Sons of Edwin or Owen how they got the Government of South-Wales but were afterwards slain by the Sons of Conan ap Sitsylt Brother to Prince Lewelin l. 6. p. 56. Merehwit Bishop of Somersetshire that is Wells Deceases and is Buried at Glastenbury l. 6. p. 56. Meresige now Mercey in Essex an Island near the Sea l. 5. p. 301. Merton in Surrey anciently called Merinton l. 4. p. 232. Merwina an Abbess of the Nunnery of Rumsey in Hampshire l. 6. p. 6. Midletune in Kent where the Danes built a Fort to infest the English l. 5. p. 298 300. Militia King Athelstan's Law that for every Plow a man shall keep Two well-furnished Horsemen is one of the Ancientest of this kind in England being laid according to the rate of Estates l. 5. p. 341. Milred Bishop of the Wiccij that is of the Diocess of Worcester his Character and death l. 4. p. 230. Milton his History of England commended by the Author l. 2. p. 20. Mints places appointed for them by King Athelstan's Law l. 5. p. 341. One granted to the Abbot of Stamford by King Edgar l. 6. p. 5. The first Law whereby the private Mints to the Archbishops and Abbots were forbid Id. p. 14. Miracles Germanus and Lupus two French Bishops recover a Magistrate's Daughter Aged Ten Years of Blindness which the Pelagians refused to attempt l. 2. p. 107 108. A great Fire in Canterbury suddenly stopp'd by the Prayers of Mellitus the Archbishop which caused the Wind to blow directly contrary to what it had done before l. 4. p. 171. Of Oswald King of Northumberland after his Death Id. p. 180. Of one Eardulf who after he was commanded to be put to death was found alive Id. p. 236. On Pope Leo who received his Sight and Hands after the one was put out and the other cut off Id. p. 241. About Kenelm King of the Mercians whom Quedride his Sister made away out of an Ambition of Reigning her self l. 5. p. 251. A Pillar of Light reaching up to Heaven stood over Wiglaff's Tomb in Repton-Monastery where Wulstan was Buried for Thirty days which procured him the Title of a Saint l. 5. p. 261. Of the Earth's Opening and swallowing up a whole Army of Scots who came to fight with King Cuthred l. 5. p. 286. Of Athelstan's striking a Rock with his Sword near the Castle of Dunbar which made a Gap in it an Ell deep Id. p. 337. Of St. Dunstan's Horse falling down dead under him at the Hearing of a Voice from Heaven which the Horse it seems perfectly understood Id. p. 351. Of his Harp Playing a whole Psalm as it hung against the Wall without any hands to touch it and his taking the Devil by the Nose with red hot Tongs l. 6. p. 3. Of the speaking of a
Westmoreland I suppose they are omitted in this Catalogue because in the Times not long before the Conquest the first was under the Power of the Scots and consequently under their Laws as the two latter were under that of their own Earls who ruled those Counties as Feudatary Princes under the Kings of England tho thus much is certain that the Danish Laws took Place there as well as in Yorkshire BUT after King Edward the Confessor came to the Crown he reduced the whole Kingdom under one General for thus says Ranulph Higden as he is cited by Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary Tit. Lex Ex tribus his Legibus Sanctus Edwardus unam Legem Communem edidit quas Leges Sancti Edwardi usque hodie vocant Brompton says the like Iste Supradictus Rex Sanct. Ed. Conf. dictus est Edwardus Tertius qui Leges Communes Anglorum Genti tempore suo ordinavit quia proantè Leges nimìs partiales editae fuerant But Roger Hoveden carries them up higher in his History of Henry the Second for he says Quod istae Leges primùm inventae institutae erant tempore Edgari Avi sui sed postquam Edwardus venit ad Regnum Consilio Baronum Angliae Legem per 48. Annos sopitâ—m excitavit excitatam reparavit reparatam decoravit decoratam confirmavit confirmata verò vocata est Lex Edwardi Regis non quià ipse invenisset eam prius sed cum praetermissa fuerat Oblivioni penitùs data è Diebus Avi sui Edgari qui primus Inventor ejus fuisse dicitur usque ad sua tempora quià justa honesta erant è profundo Abysso extraxit eam revocavit ut suam observandam tradidit But the true Reason why it is called the Common Law is because it is the Common or Municipal Law of this Kingdom so that Lex Communis or Jus Patriae is all one with Lex Patriae or Jus Patrium and it is also called the Common Law in other Countries as Lex Communis Norica Burgundica Lombardica c. And from this latter they were so called by William the First in his Confirmation of them HAVING now given you the Original of our Laws in General we will next proceed to shew you what they were in particular as far as they concern those two great Branches of all Municipal Laws viz. the Civil or the Criminal The former oâ— which concerns Lands and Goods and the latter the Nature and Punishments of Criminal Offences TO begin with the former as far as it concerns Lands I shall satisfy my self with what Dr. Brady hath with great Industry and Exactness extracted in the first part of his Compleat History of England out of those Learned Authors you will find there cited in the Margin which is as follows Mr. Somner says there were but two sorts of Tenures here in the Saxon times before the Conquest Bocland and Folkland to which two all other sorts of Land might be reduced Bocland as Lambard says was Free and Hereditary and was a Possession by Writing the other without That by Writing was possessed by the Free or Nobler sort that without called Folkland was holden by paying Annual Rent or performance of Services and was possessed by the Rural People Rusticks Colons or Clowns in those Times these Writings were called in Latin Libelli Terrarum Landboc's and Telligraphia and Livery and Seizin was then made and given by delivery of a Turf taken from the Land with the Writings This was called Terra Testamentalis hereditaria Land Inheritable and devisable by Will unless the first Purchaser or Acquirer by Writing or Witness had prohibited it and then it could not be sold or disposed of from the nearest Kindred This Bocland was of the same Nature with Allodium in Doomsday holden without any Paiments nor chargeable with Services to any Lord or Seignory and though the Name was almost quite lost yet the thing remained under the Name of Allodium and the Lands possessed by the Allodiarii frequently mentioned in Doomsday I have been the more exact in putting down this Passage because it plainly proves from the learned Doctor 's own shewing that if the greatest part of the Lands before the Conquest held by Men of any Quality were Bocland and that this Bocland was the same as he grants with Lands held in Allodio and I have already proved that such Lands were held without any Paiments or Services other than such publick Taxes as were imposed by the Great Council of the Kingdom that is Danegelt with such other Duties as all Lands whatsoever were liable to then is it also as evident that these Lands which were far the greatest part of the Lands in the Kingdom were not held by Knight's Service and consequently their Owners could not be Tenants in Capite as this Author is pleased in other Places to suppose and therefore these Tenants in Allodio could never be so represented by such Military Persons as that they alone could either make Laws for them or lay Taxes on their Estates without their Consents either by themselves or Representatives in the Great Councils or Parliaments of those Times and therefore such free Tenants must have either appeared for themselves in Person or have chosen others to represent them AND if any Man doubt whether these Lands held in Allodio were before the Conquest the greatest part of the Lands of the Kingdom I must refer them for their Satisfaction to Mr. Somners and Mr. Taylor 's Treatises upon Gavelkind as also to Mr. Lambard's Discourse of the Customs of Kent at the end of his Perambulation of that County who there fully prove that the Antient Bocland descending to all the Male Issue alike was not meer Socage Tenure but Allodial 2 dly That this was the general Tenure of all Lands not held by Knights Service before the Conquest as well Gavelkind as others and that not only at the Common Law but confirmed by divers Saxon Kings as by that Law of King Edmund Si quis intestatus obierit Liberi ejus haereditatem aequalitèr dividant So likewise by the 68 th and 75 th Laws of King Cnute as also by those of Edward the Confessor confirmed by William the Conqueror Cap. 36. And therefore Mr. Somner in his said Treatise of Gavelkind farther proves that this was a Liberty left to the Kentish Men by William the Conqueror when all the rest of England changed its Antient Tenure and Mr. Taylor in his History of Gavelkind Chap. 6 7 8. hath proved this to have been a general Custom not only in Kent but in Wales and several parts of England I shall not any further pursue what the Doctor has said of Lands holden by Military Service before the Conquest or of the Herriots or Reliefs that were due upon them which were payable out of the Feudal Lands of the Ealdormen middle and less Thanes but shall refer
Saxon Times I shall proceed in the next place to discourse somewhat of the manner of the disposing of their Goods and Personal Estates which they might do either by Deed or last Will in Writing as at this day But if they happened at any time to die intestate then their Goods were equally divided between the Wife and Children of the Deceased tho by a Law of King Edmund the Relict or Widow was to have half her Husband's Goods yet by the Laws of Edward the Confessor it was declared that in case any one died Intestate then the Children were equally to divide the Goods which I take to be understood with a Salvo of the Wife's Dower or Portion As yet therefore the Ordinaries had nothing to do with the Administration for Goods passed by Descent as well as Lands and upon this Custom the Writ de Rationabili parte Bonorum was grounded at the Common Law as well for the Children as the Wife's Part according as by the Body of the Writ may appear THE antientest Will that Mr. Selden says he hath observed before the Conquest is one of King Edgar's time which Mr. Lambard has given us in his Perambulation of Kent and that is of one Brithric a Gentleman or Thane and his Wife Elswithe wherein they devised both their Lands and Goods and also gave his chief Lord and the Lady his Wife several noble Legacies to prevail with him that his Will might stand good By which it should seem the Lands bequeathed were Feudal Lands held by Knights Service which could not be alienated without the Lord's Consent But Mr. Selden there further takes notice That the Protection or Execution of this Testament as well as the Probate were within the Jurisdiction of the Lord's Court and that especially because divers Lords of Mannors have to this day the Probate of Testaments by Custom continued against that which is otherwise regularly settled in the Church BUT as for Intestates Goods he says The Disposition or Administration of them was in the Saxon times in the chief Lord of him that died in case the Intestate were an immediate Tenant and died at home in Peace But in case he were no Tenant or died in his Lord's Army then it was it seems as other Inheritance under the Jurisdiction of that Temporal Court within whose Territory the Goods were This may be proved out of the Laws of that Time which ordain that upon the Death of an Intestate whom they call CWIALE AWE the Lord is only to have the Heriots due to him which are also appointed by the Laws of the same time that by his the Lord's Advice or Judgment his the Intestate's Goods be divided among his Wife and Children and the next of kin according as to every one of them of right belongs that is according to the nearness of Kindred if no Children or Nephews from them be for it must I suppose be understood that the Succession was such that the Children excluded all their Kindred and of their Kindred the next succeeded according to that in Tacitus of his Germans whose Customs were doubtless mixed with our English-Saxons Haeredes says he successorésque sint cuique liberi nullum Testamentum But it seems Christianity afterwards brought in the free Power of making Testaments amongst them Si liberi non sunt proximus gradus in possessione Fratres Patrui Avunculi BUT this is express'd only in case the Tenant died at home and in Peace for if he died in his Lord's Army both the Heriot was forgiven and the Inheritance both of Goods and Lands was to be divided as it ought which was it seems by the Jurisdiction of the Temporal Court within whose Territory the Death of the Intestate or Goods were for in that case it is not said that the Lord's Judgment was to be used but that the Heirs should divide all or as the words in the Confessor's Law are habeant Haeredes ejus pecuniam terram ejus sine aliqua Diminutione rectè dividant inter se where the Right of the Heir both to Lands and Goods is expresly designed but the Judg that should give it them not mentioned Therefore it seems it remained as other Parts of the Common Law under the Temporal Jurisdiction as by the Civil Law it was under the Praetors Thus far this learned and great Author FROM whence we may make this Note that the Probate of Wills was a Matter of Civil Cognizance before the Conquest and for some time after till the Canon Law being more generally received in England the Bishops Courts took this Power to themselves supposed by Mr. Selden in his 6 th Chapter of his said Treatise to be about the time of Henry the Second WE shall now in the last place go on to the Criminal part of the English-Saxon Laws viz. the manner of Trial Judgment and Execution pass'd and inflicted on Offenders in those Times ALL Trials for Criminal Matters were then either in the Court-Leets the Sheriffs-turn or the County-Courts in which last the greater Offenders were commonly tried and that most antiently by Witnesses and Juries as at this day for we find in the Mirror of Justices that King Alfred commanded one of his Justices to be put to death for passing Sentence upon a Verdict corruptly obtained upon the Votes of the Jurors whereof three of the Twelve were in the Negative And the same King put another of his Justices to death for passing Sentence of Death upon an Ignoramus return'd by the Jury BUT the first Law we read of that defined the Number of Jury-men to be Twelve was that of Aetheldred I. above two hundred Years before the Conquest which says In singulis Centuriis c. in English thus In every Century or Hundred let there be a Court and let Twelve Antient Freemen together with the Lord of the Hundred be sworn that they will not condemn the Innocent nor acquit the Guilty BUT whether there were any such thing as a Grand Jury or Inquest we do not particularly find only we may reasonably conclude there was because in the same Mirror we read that a Justice suffered Death for passing Sentence only upon the Coroner's Record and another Justice had the same Punishment for condemning one without any preceding Appeal or Indictment YET the first time that we find any mention of a Jury by Mens Peers or Equals is in the Agreement between Alfred and Guthrune the Dane in these words in English viz. That if a Lord or a Baron be accused of Homicide he shall be acquitted by twelve Lords but if of inferiour Rank he shall be acquitted by eleven of his Equals and one Lord. BUT in Cases very doubtful and where there was not sufficient Evidence by Witnesses but only strong Presumptions of Guilt in the times after King Alfred Trials by Ordeal came in which Somner in his Glossary says was
year the same Archbishop translated the Reliques of St. Aelfeage his Predecessor from London to Canterbury The King himself as William of Malmesbury tells us removed them with his own hands paying them all due Veneration and further adds that his Body remain'd as uncorrupt as if he had been but lately kill'd Richard the Second Duke of Normandy died and Richard his Son ruled after him one year and then Rodbert his Brother succeeded him and ruled eight years This year King Cnute sail'd with his Fleet into Denmark to a Plain near the Holy River but where that was I know not and there came against him Wulf and Eglaf with a very powerful Army out of Sweden both by Land and Sea and many on King Cnute's side were there killed both Danes and English the Swedes keeping the field of Battel After which Cnute returning into England I find no mention made of any Action here in any Author for the two succeeding years But then King Cnute sail'd with fifty Ships of English Thanes into Norway and drove King Olaf out of that Countrey and conquer'd it for himself Bromton's Chronicle relates That this Olaf being a Soft and Easy Prince was already in a manner driven out by his own Subjects and so Cnute only went as it were to receive the Kingdom from the Nobility and People who submitted themselves presently to him ' King Cnute came back into England And as R. Hoveden adds upon his Return banished Hacun a Danish Earl that had married his Niece Gunhilda who was his Sister's Daughter sending him away under pretence of an Embassy for the King was afraid lest otherwise he might deprive him both of his Kingdom and Life King Olaf return'd again into Norway to regain his Right but the People rising up against him he was there slain This is he who was afterwards canoniz'd under the Title of King Olaf the Martyr About this time as Guil. Gemeticensis and John of Walingford do both relate Robert Duke of Normandy pitying the long Exile of his Nephews Edward and Alfred sent Ambassadors to King Cnute requiring him to restore them to their Right but he not at all valuing his threatning sent the Ambassadors back with a Repulse whereat the Duke conceiving great indignation assembled his Nobles and by their Advice caus'd a great Navy to be prepar'd which in a short time came to Anchor at Fescam then the Duke with his Army put to Sea but by Tempest was driven into the Isle of Guernsey and so shatter'd that he was forced to return home where they were detain'd a long time by contrary Winds which was an extreme mortification to him But not long after Ambassadors came over to him from King Cnute signifying That he was contented to resign to the Young Princes half the Kingdom which they should peaceably enjoy during his life and that was not like to be long for he then laboured under a languishing Distemper Wherefore the Duke thought good for some time to defer his Expedition till he should be come back from Jerusalem whither he had vowed to undertake a Pilgrimage And when he had recommended to Robert Archbishop of Rouen and other Nobles his Son William then a Child of Seven Years old and received from them Assurances of their Fidelity to him he began the said Voyage and having perform'd it as he was returning homewards the next year he fell sick and died about the Alpes But of this William his Son by Harlotte his Concubine 〈◊〉 not only succeeded his Father but was also afterwards King of England as you shall hear when we come to his Reign This year as soon as King Cnute return'd into England he gave the Port of Sandwic to Christ's Church in Canterbury with all the Issues and Profits arising from thence on both sides the Haven according to an Extract from his Charter preserved among the Evidences of that Church and that as far as when the Tide of Flood was highest and a Ship lying near the Shore a man could from thence cast a little Axe on land so far the Christ-Church Officers should receive all Rights and Dues This year also according to Monast. Angl. King Cnute founded another Monastery for Benedictines in Norfolk which from its being seated in a Woody Place was called by St. Bennet's in Holme the Lands and Scite of which Abby being by King Henry the VIII th after the Dissolution of the Monasteries exchanged with the Bishop of Norwich for other Lands he is the only Bishop of England who has still the Title of an Abbot Also under this year I find a Charter in the Manuscript Copy of Florence of Worcester in the Bodleian Library made to the Monastery of St. Edmundsbury granting and confirming all its Lands and Privileges the beginning of which Charter being somewhat remarkable I shall here recite Cnute Rex Totius Albionis Insulae aliarumque Nationum adjacentium in Cathedra Regali promotus cum Consilio Decreto Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Abbatum Comitum omniumque meorum Fidelium elegi sanciendum perpetuo stabilimento ab omnibus confirmandum quod Monasterium quod Badriceswerde nuncupatur c. which is also printed from the Original at the end of Mr. Petyts Treatise of the Rights of the Commons c. King Cnute having performed these great Deeds of Charity and Devotion not long after in the same year as our Annals inform us ' began his Journey to Rome But since our Annals do not tell us what he did there I shall give it you in short from his own Letter as I find it in William of Malmesbury which upon his return from Rome he wrote and sent into England by Living Abbot of Tavistock and begins thus Cnute King of Denmark Norway and all Swedeland to Ailnoth or Egelnoth the Metropolitan and to Alfric of York with all the Bishops and Primates and to the whole English Nation as well Noblemen as Plebeians Health Wherein he gives an account of his Journey as also the reason of his undertaking it then how honourably he was received at Rome and what he had there negotiated for the benefit of his Subjects Then he gives Directions and Commands to his Officers to do all Justice and Right to the People in his Absence a thing to which he resolved on as he says long before but never could till now accomplish what he had designed for the Pardon of his Sins and the Safety of all his Subjects he further signifies that he was received by all the Princes who at that time were with Pope John solemnizing the Feast of Easter with extraordinary Respect and Honour but especially by Conrade the German Emperor that he had dealt with them all about the concernments of his people both English and Danes that their Passage to Rome might be more free and open and had obtained that as well Merchants as others should with all safety pass and repass without any Toll
at Byferstane i. e. Beverston in Gloucestershire together with a great many in their Retinue to attend on the King their Natural Lord and all the Chief and Wise Men that waited on him whereby they might have the King's Consent and Assistance as also that of his Great Council to revenge the Affront and Dishonour which had been lately done to the King and the whole Nation But the Welshmen getting first to the King highly accused the Earls insomuch that they durst not appear in his presence for they said they only came thither to betray him But then there came to the King the Earls Syward and Leofric with many others from the North parts being as William of Malmesbury relates almost all the Nobility of England who had been summoned by the King to come thither But whilst according to our Annals it was told Earl Godwin and his Sons that the King and those that were with him were taking Counsel against them they on the other side stood resolutely on their own defence though it seem'd an hard thing for them to act any thing against their Natural Lord. But William of Malmesbury adds farther That Earl Godwin commanded those of his Party not to fight against the King yet if they were set upon that they should defend themselves so that there had then like to have happen'd a Cruel Civil War if calmer Counsels had not prevailed By this you may see the great Power of Earl Godwin and his Sons who could thus withstand the King and all the Nobility that were with him But to proceed with our Annals Then it was agreed by the chief men on both sides that they should desist from any further violence and thereupon the King gave them God's Peace and his own Word After this the King and his Great Men about him resolved a second time to summon a Witena Gemot or Great Council at London at the beginning of September He also commanded an Army to be raised as great as ever had been seen in England both from the North and South side of Thames When this Council met Earl Sweyn was declared outlaw'd and Earl Godwin and Earl Harold were cited to appear at the Council with all speed As soon as they were come there they desired Peace i. e. Security and also Pledges to be given them whereby they might have safe ingress and regress to and from the Council But the King required all the Earl's Servants to deliver them up into his hands after which the King sent to them commanding them to come with Twelve men to the Great Council but the Earl again demanded Securities and Pledges to be given him and then he promised to clear himself from all Crimes laid to his charge But the Pledges were still denied him and there was only granted him a five days Peace or Truce in which he might depart the Land Then Earl Godwin and Earl Sweyn his Son went to Bosenham in Sussex and their Ships being brought out of the Harbour they sail'd beyond the Seas and sought the Protection of Earl Baldwin staying with him all that Winter but Earl Harold sailed Eastward into Ireland and there took up his Residence under that King's Protection Soon after this the King sent away his Wife who had been crown'd Queen and suffer'd all her Money Lands and Goods to be taken from her and then committed her to the Custody of his Sister at the Nunnery of Werwell But note that Florence of Worcester places this Quarrel with Earl Godwin and his Sons three years later viz. under Anno 1051 and farther adds That the reason why Earl Godwin fled thus privately away was that his Army had forsook him so that he durst not plead the matter with the King but fled away the night following with his five Sons carrying away all their Treasure with them into Flanders This is the Relation which Florence and the Printed Copy of these Annals give us of this great difference between the King and Earl Godwin and his two Sons in the carriage of which both Parties are to be blamed the King in yielding so easy an ear to the false Accusations brought against them and they in refusing to stand to the Determination of the Great Council of the Kingdom without Pledges first given them by the King which is more than any Subject ought to require from his Prince But certainly the King shewed himself a very Weak Man in being persuaded to deal thus severely with his Innocent Queen for the Faults of her Father and Brothers which it was not in her power to help But to conclude the Affairs of this unhappy year our Annals proceed to tell us That About the same time the Abbot Sparhafoc was deposed from the Bishoprick of London and William the King's Chaplain ordained to that See Also Earl Odda was appointed Governor of Defenascire Somersetscire and Dorsetscire and of all the Welsh and the Earldom which Earl Harold lately held was given to Aelfgar the Son of Earl Leofric About this time the Bishoprick of Credington in Cornwal was as we find in the Monasticon at the Request of Pope Leo removed from thence to Exeter where the Monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul was made a Bishop's See the Monks being removed from thence to Westminster and Secular Chanons placed in their stead Which shews that the humour of Monkery did not so much prevail now as in the days of King Edgar And this year Leofric Bishop of that Diocess was enthron'd at Exeter after a solemn Procession where the Bishop walked to Church between King Edward and Queen Editha his Wife This year according to Florence of Worcester the King released the Nation from that cruel Burthen of Danegelt under which it had for so many years groaned but I will not pass my word for the truth of the occasion why he did it though related by Ingulph viz. That King Edward going into his Treasury where this Tax had been laid up saw the Devil capering and dancing upon the Money-bags which it seems no body else could see but himself at which he was so concerned that he ordered all the Money to be restored to the right Owners and forbad its being gathered any more Not long after according to the same Author William Duke of Normandy the King's Cousin coming over into England was honourably received here and had Noble Presents made him and as some relate too that King Edward promised to make him his Successor in the Kingdom This year also according to Florence of Worcester Alfric Archbishop of York deceased and Kinsing the King's Chaplain succeeded him This year deceased Aelgiva alias Ymma the Mother of King Eadward and King Hardecnute She hath a various Character given her by our Historians William of Malmesbury represents her to be very Covetous and Unkind to her first Husbands Children which seems to have been true enough But then she was very Devout and had a great Respect for
well as on the Holidays themselves as also in Parishes when the Feast of the Saint to whom the Church is dedicated is kept so that if any one come devoutly to the Celebration thereof he was to have security in going staying and returning home and besides in many other cases too long here to set down From whence we may observe the Antiquity of those Parish Feasts called in several parts of England Wakes The fourth appoints That where ever the King's Justice or any other Person shall hold Civil Pleas if the King's Deputy or Attorney comes thither to open any Cause concerning Holy Church that shall be first determined for it is just God be served before all others The fifth ordains That whosoever holds any thing of the Church or hath his Mansion on the Church's Land he or they shall not be compell'd to plead out of the Ecclesiastical Courts for Contumacy or otherwise nay though he forfeit unless Justice be wanting in those Courts which says the Law God forbid By which all the Tenants of the Church were exempted from pleading or appearing at the King's Courts which though a strange and unreasonable Privilege yet it seems it continued in the time of William the First The sixth confirms the Laws of Sanctuaries ordaining That no man shall be taken out of any Church to which he hath fled for any offence unless it be by the Bishop or his Officers The like Privilege is also allowed to the Priest's House provided it stand upon the Ground of the Church but if a Thief went out of the Sanctuary to rob he was to forfeit that Privilege The seventh leaves those to the Justice of the Bishop who violate the Peace of Holy Church and if any Offender shall despise his Sentence either by flying or contemning it and Complaint thereof be made to the King after forty days he shall give Pledges to reconcile himself to God the King and the Church and if he cannot be found he shall be outlaw'd and if then he be found and can be laid hold on he shall be delivered up to the King if he defends himself he shall be slain For from the day of his Outlawry he is said in English to have Wulfsheofod i.e. a Wolfs-head or as we now commonly say in Latin gerere Caput Lupinum This is the common Law of all Outlaws The eighth and ninth appoint what things small Tythes should be paid out of and recites that they had been granted long before a Rege Baronibus Popâ—lo that is by the King the Barons and the People And though the word Barons was not commonly used till the time of King William the First when these Laws were drawn up in the form we now have them upon an Inquisition granted to the Ancient and Wise Men of all the Counties in England as Rog. Hoveden informs us yet is this but a Recital of the Ancient Law of Tythes in the Dialect of those times when the word Baron came to be used instead of Thane The tenth appoints after what manner the Ordeal or Judgment by Fire or Water should be executed by the Bishop's Officer and the King's Justice upon those that deserved it From which you may observe that this Law of Ordeal was in force some time after the coming in of the Normans This Law also ordains in what Cases and over what Persons the Courts Baron should have Jurisdiction but it being somewhat large I refer you to it The Eleventh again reinforces the payment of Romescot or Peter-pence which iâ— denied the King's Justice shall compel the payment because it is the King 's Alms. From whence we may observe how much those Romish Writers are mistaken who will needs make these Peter-pence to have been a Tribute from the Kings of England to the Pope The twelfth shews what Danegelt was and on what occasion it was first imposed That the payment of Danegelt was first ordained because of the frequent Invasions of the Danish Pyrates to repress which there was Twelvepence imposed upon every Hide of Land throughout England to be paid yearly Which also shews us about what time these Laws were collected into the form we now have them by this Clause viz. That the Church was excused from this payment until the time of William Rufus who as is here recited asking an Aid of his Barons for the obtaining Normandy from his Brother then going to Jerusalem there was granted to him not by any standing Law but only for the present necessity Four Shillings upon every Hide of Land the Church not excepted The thirteenth sets forth That the Peace of the King is manifold as sometimes it is given by his own hand which the English call Cyninges honde sealde gryth This Protection was granted not only to Persons but Places also by way of Privilege as likewise to Churches or Churhmen within their own Walls as appears by the League betwixt King Edward and Guthrum in which it is termed Cyninges honde gryth Another sort of Peace was on the Coronation-day which lasted eight days that at Christmass which held also eight days and so on the Feast of Easter and Whitsuntide Another sort was given by his Brief or Letters and another there was belonging to the Four great Highways viz. Watlingstreet Foss Hickenildstreet and Ermingstreet whereof two are extended to the Length and two to the Breadth of the Kingdom Another still there was belonging to the Rivers of Note which conveyed Provisions to Towns and Cities From whence it appears that this Peace of the King was a Priâ—ilege or Exemption granted to Persons not to be sued or answer at Law in any Action â—rought against them during certain solemn and stated Times and in certain of the most famous and frequented Highways of the Kingdom The fourteenth declares That all Treasure prove should be the King 's unless it were found in a Church or Church-yard in which case if it were Gold it was all the King 's but if Silver one half was to go to him and another to the Church The fifteenth treateth of Murther and declares if any one was murthered the Murtherer should be enquired after in the Village or Town where the Body was found and if he was discovered to be delivered up to the King's Justice within eight days after the Fact committed and in case he could not be found a month and a day was allowed for search after him within which term if he could not be seiz'd on forty six Marks were to be collected out of that Town and if it was not able to pay so much then the Hundred was liable to make it good And forasmuch as this Payment could not be made in the Towns and great inconveniences arose the Barons i.e. the Freeholders of the County took care that six and forty Marks should be paid out of the Hundred which being seal'd up with the Seal of some one Baron of the County they were to be sent to the Treasurer and by
whereby he converted many of the Britains then Subject to the West-Saxons Id. p. 213. Naitan King of the Picts concerns himself about the Celebration of Easter and it is appointed to be kept on the First Sunday after the First Full Moon that follows the Vernal Equinox l. 4. p. 216. Decreed to be kept after the Custom of Rome in a General Synod of the British Nation Id. p. 229. Ordinances touching the Keeping of Easter made at the Second Council of Pinchinhale Id. p. 242 East-Saxons the beginning of this Kingdom 〈◊〉 Erchenwin the Son of Offa according to H. Huntington l. 3. p. 13â— It had London the Chief City of England under its Dominion Ibid. This Kingdom was divided from that of Kent by the River Thames c. l. 4. p. 159. Upon the Death of Sebert his Three Sons whom he left Heirs to the Kingdom all relapse to Paganism and great part of the Nation with them Id. p. 168. But between Thirty and Forty years after at the Instance of King Oswy they again receive the Christian Faith Id. p. 184. Eatta Bishop of the Province of Bernicia had his Episcopal See at Hagulstad l. 4. p. 197. Reckoned to be a very Holy Man Id. p. 215. Ebba a Queen is Converted and Baptized in the Province of the Wectij but what Queen Bede says not l. 4. p. 197. Ebba Abbess of Coldingham-Nunnery in Yorkshire an Heroine Example of Chastity in her and all her Sisters l. 5. p. 269. Eborius Bishop of the City of Eboracum is sent with others to the Council of Arles in Gallia as one of the Deputies for the rest of the Bishops of Britain l. 2. p. 88. Eclipses of the Sun one from early in the Morning till Nine a Clock another where the Stars shewed themselves for near half an hour after Nine in the Morning l. 3. p. 138. Of the Sun which was so great that it 's whole Orb seemed as it were covered with a black Shield Another of the Moon appearing first as stained with Blood which lasted a whole hour and then a Blackness following it returned to its own Colour l. 4. p. 222. One of the Moon From the Cock Crowing till the morning Id. p. 240. One of the Moon In the Second hour of the night 17. Kal. Feb. Id. p. 242. One of the Moon On the 13th Kal. of January l. 5. p. 248. One of the Moon And on the Kal. of September l. 5. p. 248. Of the Sun on the 7th Kal. of August about the fifth hour of the day Id. p. 249. Of the Moon on Christmas-day at night Id. p. 254. Of the Sun About the sixth hour of the day on the Kal. of October Id. p. 260. Of the Sun For one whole hour Id. p. 283. One of the Moon appeared Id. p. 313. Eddobeccus is dispatched away by Constans to the Germans with an Account of Gerontius his Revolt l. 2. p. 103. Edelwalch King of the West-Saxons when he was baptized l. 4. p. 195. Gives Wilfrid Commission to convert and baptize in his Province Id. p. 197. Edgar Son of Edmund and Elgiva afterwards King his Birth l. 5. p. 344. Is elected by the Mercians and Northumbrians their King and confirmed so by the Common Council of the Kingdom Id. p. 354. On the death of his Brother Edwi is elected by the Clergy and Laity King of the West-Saxons and though he was not the first yet he was the best that deserved the Title of First Monarch of all England l. 6. p. 1. And so he stiles himself in his Charter to the Abbey of Glastenbury Id. p. 9. His great Charity and the Nation 's happiness under him Id. p. 2 11. Seven years Penance is imposed upon him by Archbishop Dunstan part of which was That he should not wear his Crown all that time and that for taking a Nun out of a Cloyster and then debauching her Id. p. 3. Harasses North-Wales with War till he forces a Peace upon this Condition That the Tribute in Money should be turned into that of so many Wolves-Heads yearly Id. p. 3 4 11. Grants a New Charter of Confirmation with divers additional Endowments of Lands and Privileges to the Monastery of Medeshamsted Id. p. 5. Marries Ethelfreda or Elfreda Daughter of Ordgar Earl of Devonshire and his Issue by her Id. p. 5 6. Hath an Elder Son by Elfleda sirnamed The â—air Daughter of Earl Eodmar who is called afterwards Edward the Martyr but doubtful whether he was married to her or not Id. p. 6. Places Nuns in the Monastery of Rumsey in Hampshire commands all the Countrey of Thanet to be laid waste and for what reason Ibid. Causes the Chanons to be driven out of all the greatâ—r Monasteries in Mercia and Monks to be put in their places Id. p. 7. Is crowned King in the ancient City of Ackmanceaster called Bathan by the Inhabitants with Remarks about his Coronation then for he was crowned before And founds a new Church at Bangor dedicating it to the Virgin Mary Id. p. 7 8. Six Kings make League with him promising upon Oath their Assistance both by Sea and Land An Account who they were and of his Fleet at West-Chester where they all met him He is the first that was truly Lord of our Seas Id. p. 8. His Death and Burial at Glastenbury and Character The great Kindnesses he shewed to Ethelfreda's first Husband's Son Id. p. 9 10 11. A mighty Lover of the Fair Sex Id. p. 3 5 6 9 10 11. A Famous Instance of his great Courage and Strength though but little of Stature Id. p. 11. His Charter about having subdued all Ireland c. much suspected to be fictitious With this King fell all the Glory of the English Nation Id. p. 12. The Laws he made with the Council by the Consent of his Wise-Men Id. p. 12 13 14. Great Dissention amongst the Nobility after his Death about the Election of a New King Id. p. 15. Edgar sirnamed Aetheling the Son of Prince Edward by Agatha Id. p. 49. Edgar Aetheling how he was put by from the Throne though the only surviving Male of the Ancient Royal Family l. 6. p. 105 106. Is proposed to be made King upon Harold's Death but his Party were not prevalent enough to carry it Id. p. 115 116. Edgitha Daughter of King Egbert is first bred up under an Irish Abbess and then made Abbess her self of the Nunnery of Polesworth l. 5. p. 257. Another of this Name King Athelstan's Sister her Marriage with Sihtric the Danish King of Northumberland and being afterwards a Widow she became a Nun at Polesworth Her Character and the False Story of the Scots upon her Id. p. 330. Edgitha or Editha Daughter of Earl Godwin married to Edward the Confessor a Lady not only Beautiful and Pious but Learned above her Sex in that Age l. 6. p. 72 73 96. An improbable Story of her causing Gospatrick to be murthered upon the Account of her Brother Tostige l. 6. p. 90.