of their Ancestors do advance even these young Men to the Degree and Honour of being a chief Man FROM hence we may observe that all Nobility among the antient Germans was at first Military as being derived from the Noble and Valiant Acts of their Ancestors in War and thence proceed all the present Ensigns of it videlicet the Shield on which our Coats of Arms are now depicted as also the Helmet and Crest that stand for an Ornament over them for until some Brave and Worthy Act was performed it was not lawful among the Germans for a young Warriour to paint any Device upon his Shield which was only Personal to himself and extended not to his Posterity THE fifth is That Dotem non Vxor Marito sed Vxori Maritus offert viz. THE Husband settles a Dower upon the Wife and not vice versâ the Wife upon the Husband Which shews the Antiquity of Doweâ— among the Germans and English-Saxons and as Mr. Selden upon this Law observes it was called antiently MORGANGHEB among them THE sixth shews that Accisis Crinibus nudatam adulteram coram propinquis expellit domo Maritus ac per omnem vicum verbere agit viz. FOR Adultery the Husband turned the Wife out of his House in the presence of her Relations having first cut off her Hair and being then strip'd whip'd her through the Town BUT the Severity of this Punishment if ever it was in use here was quite abolished by the English-Saxons as you will find from the Laws about it THE seventh is that Haeredes successoresque sui cuique Liberi nullum Testamentum viz. EVERY Man's Heirs and Successors are his Children and no Testament is allowed BUT in this the English-Saxon Law differed much from those of the Germans for it was lawful in England for Men of Quality to dispose of their Land by Will if they pleased provided it were Bocland that is Free-Tenure grantable by Deed as you may find by some Laws in the ensuing Volume otherwise in Lands held in Socage every Man's Sons inherited all alike But this law was changed after the Conquest and no Will could be made of Lands held by Military Service but they descended entirely to the eldest Son which Law continued so low as the Reign of King Henry the 8 th when the Statute was first made which gives the Tenant by Knights Service Power to bequeath his Estate by Will provided there were enough left to perform the Service THE eighth says that Suscipere Inimicitias seu patris seu propinqui quà m amicitias necesse est viz. IT is absolutely necessary to continue the Enmities of a Father or near Kinsman as well as Friendships FROM whence as Mr. Selden well observes arose those Family-Quarrels called in the North of England DEADLY FEUDS which you will also find mentioned in the ensuing Collection of Saxon Laws and which are continued in Scotland even to this Day BUT to proceed with Tacitus he says Nec implacabiles durant Luitur enim etiam homicidium certo Armentorum as Pecorum numero recipÃtque satisfactionem universa Domus viz. THAT they do not remain implacable for the Homicide is recompensed with a certain Number of great and small Cattel and the whole Family thereupon receives Satisfaction THIS Custom continued long not only among the Germans but also English-Saxons The Price of Blood being to be redeemed at a certain Rate according to each Man's Condition which you will hereafter often find in the said Laws to be mentioned under the Title of WIREGILD and in the Laws of King Aethelstan you will meet with the particular Prices of each Man's Head from the Clown even to the King himself the Estimation of whose Life is likewise there set down thô at a much higher Rate as it ought to be than that of other Mens But of this we shall speak more anon THE ninth Law bears that Frumenti modum Dominus aut pecoris aut vestis Colono injungit viz. THE Lord of the Soil prescribes to the Husbandman what quantity of Corn Cattel or Clothes he shall pay him FROM whence we may take notice of the Antiquity of Rent reserved upon Farms which was chiefly in Provision and not in Money as it continued for a long Time after the Conquest here in England and remains so in Scotland even to this Day HAVING thus done with the Laws we shall next descend to the People who practised them The antient Saxons as Adam of Bremen from Einhardus relates were like the Germans divided into these four sorts viz. Noblemen Freemen Slaves that were Manumized and lastly those that continued Slaves But Nithardus speaking of his Time makes them but of three sorts scilicet Ethelings Frilingues and Lazzi that is Noblemen Freemen and Slaves and it was established as a Law among them that none of these should transgress the Bounds of their own Condition by matching with those who were either a Degree above or below them THIS Custom was also long observed in England after the Conquest and gave Original to those Statutes of Mag. Char. and Merton by which the Lord was to lose the Benefit of his Wardship in case he married the Ward to his Disparagement that is To the Daughter of a Villain or a Tradesman in case that the Kindred complained of it BUT before we come to treat of the several Degrees of People abovementioned it is fit we should say something of the Head of the Saxon Common-Weal viz. their King who though he was chosen in all the Kingdoms of the Heptarchy out of the Blood-Royal of Woden their first Leader of this Gothick Colony into Europe as appears by their Pedigree at the end of the Book yet were they at first no better than Generals in War and in time of Peace they had little or no Power as we may see in Bede FOR he speaking of the Province of the Hither i. e. East Frizeland from whence he supposes our Saxon Ancestors to have come and to which the two Hewalds the White and the Black went to preach the Gospel and were there martyr'd for their Pains he hath this remarkable Passage Non enim habent Regem iidem antiqui Saxones sed Satrapas plurimos suae Genti praepositos qui ingruente Belli Articulo mittunt aequalitèr sortes quemcunque sors ostenderit hunc tempore Belli Ducem omnes sequuntur huic obtemperant peracto autèm Bello rursum aequalis potentiae omnes fiunt Satrapae i. e. For the Antient Saxons says he have no King but several Noblemen of their own Nation set over them who on the breaking out of any War cast Lots and on whomsoever the Lot happened to fall all the People during that War follow and obey him as their General but when the War was over and at an end all these Lords again became of equal Power AND it is likewise very observable that neither Bede nor any other German Author who relates the Story of
Great Lords or Senators then presently he is with the Doctor a trifling old Monk very little curious in observing the Constituent Parts or Members of our Saxon Great Councils HAVING thus shewn some of Dr. Brady's erroneous and inconsiderate Glosses concerning the English-Saxon Nobility before the Conquest which he vainly supposes to have been the same as it is at this day I shall now endeavour to settle some truer Notions relating to those Great Councils which as to the Lay-Members besides the Ealdormen above-mentioned I conceive consisted of the whole Body of Thanes or Free-holders who were then all Gentlemen either by Birth or Estates for I have already proved from the Laws of King Athelstan that a meer Ceorl's Man if he had purchased five Hides of Thane Land did thereby become equal in all respects to a Thane NOW if the word Thane before the Conquest signified the same with the word Baro which came into common use after that time as Sir Henry Spelman and Mr. Selden both grant it did and Mr. Camden in his Introduction to his first Edition of his Britannia in 4 o is yet more express as to this word Baro as you may see by this remarkable Passage Verùm Baro ex illis nominibus videatur quae tempus paulatìm meliora molliora reddidit nam longò post tempore non milites sed qui LIBERI erant DOMINI Thani Saxonibus dicebantur Barones vocari coeperunt nec dum magni honoris erant paulò autem posteà viz. some time after the Conquest eò honoris pervenit ut nomine Baronagii Angliae omnes quodammodo Regni Ordines continuerentur tho it must be confest that Mr. Camden because he found this Passage had given some Offence to the higher Nobility he in his next Edition in Folio restrained it by adding the word Superiores before Ordines as if none but the higher Barons might be thought to have once made part of the Baronage of the Kingdom And likewise Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary under the Title of Barones Comitatus i. e. the Barons of Counties who are frequently mentioned in the Laws of our first Norman Kings has this remarkable Passage and he being so great a Man I shall not offer to abridg it HOC Nomine scilicet Barones Comitatus saith he contineri videtur Antiquis paginis omnis Baronum feodalium species in uno quovis Comitatu degentium Proceres nempè Maneriorum Domini nec non liberè quique Tenentes hoc est fundorum proprietarii Anglicè FREEHOLDERS Notandum autèm est liberè hos Tenentes nec tà m exiles olìm fuisse nec tà m Vulgares ut hodiè deprehenduntur nam Villas Dominia in minutas haereditates nondùm distrahebant Nobiles sed ut vidimus in Hiberniâ penès se retinentes agros per precarios excolebant adscriptitios Vid. LL. Edw. Confess cap. 15. Quod per Hundredum colligerentur 46 Marcae Sigillo alicujus Baronum Comitatus sigillarentur ad Thesaurum Regis deportarentur In Domesd. habiti sun◠Barones Comitatus Magnates Nobiles qui in Curiis praesunt Comitatuum hoc est ipsarum Curiarum Judices quos Hen. 1. LL. suarum cap. 30. esse liberè Tenentes Comitatûs demonstrat Regis inquit Judices sunt Barones Comitatus qui liberas in eis terras habent per quos debent causae singulorum alterna prosecutione tractari Which I shall give you thus in English Under this Title of Barones Comitatus seems to be contained in our antient Writers all sorts of Feudal Barons dwelling in any one County viz. the chief Men and Lords of Mannors as also all free Tenants that is Proprietors of Lands in English FREE-HOLDERS And it is also to be considered that these free Tenants were not antiently so mean and pitiful as they are accounted at this day For Gentlemen had not as yet parcell'd out their Townships and Lordships into small Estates but as we see in Ireland keeping them themselves by their hired Servants and Villains husbanded their own Lands In the Laws of Edward the Confessor cap. 15. it is appointed that 46 Marks should be collected out of the Hundred and sealed up with the Seal of one of the Barons of the County and be lodged in the King's Treasury In Dooms-day Book those Noblemen and Gentlemen are called Barons of the County who presided in County-Courts that is who were Judges of those Courts whom Hen. 1. in the 30 th Chapter of his Laws shews to be the free Tenants of the County The King's Judges says he are the Barons of the County who have Freehold Lands in them by whom the Causes of each of them ought to be tried and adjudged in their respective turns AND there also immediately follows in the same Law of Henry the First another Clause whereby Villains and all such mean and beggarly Fellows called there Cocsetti or Perdingi are not to be reckoned amongst the Judges of the Laws for they neither in the Hundred nor in the County forfeit their own Money nor that of their Masters THIS I think is sufficient to prove that all such base and indigent People such as Dr. Brady calls Tag Rag and Bobtaile were excluded from having any thing to do in these inferior Courts and if so then much more to be sure were they shut out of the most August Assembly of the Kingdom the Wittena-Gemot Mycel-Synoth or what we now call the Parliament AND this I have brought to shew that I do as much disown the Thoughts of introducing any Degrees or Orders of Men less than those of Quality or Estates into the Great Councils of those Times as the Doctor himself does BUT in the first part of his Compleat History he asserts that not only the King's Thanes but also all the Middle and Lesser Thanes were both after as well as before the Conquest Military Men who held their Lands by Military or Knight's Service which he would prove from the Heregeat or Heriots that by the Laws of King Cnute were to be paid to their Lords by their Heirs in Horses and Money and certain Arms. Well let this for once be admitted but I would then have the Doctor never to urge Military or Knight-Service as a Badg of the Norman Conquest any more and in the next Treatise which he shall please to publish I would desire him to make it out that none but the King's Thanes who were all one with his Tenants in Capite after the Conquest had any Place in the Great Council of the Kingdom for without this he does nothing yet thus much I must say for him that in the beginning of his Answer to Mr. Petyt he seems to be somewhat more good-natured making the Saxon Wittena Gemotes more large and diffusive for in them he owns were Arch-Bishops Bishops Masse-Thegnes or Dignified and Great Clergy-Men Aldermen or Comites King's Gereves or Praepositi King 's Thegnes Thanes or Ministers his Counsellors
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
same Author observes in some Antient Charters I suppose whilst the Ealdorman exercised the whole Power of the County as well Civil as Military the same Title of Ealdorman signified the latter Dignity of which he gives us this Instance from a Charter out of the Antient Book of the Church of Worcester where Earl Aelfhere is stiled Mercna Heretogan BUT in the Time of Edward the Confessor and I suppose also before they were certainly distinguished as appears by the Thirty fifth Auctuary of that King's Laws where after the Offices of the Ealdormen and Greve the Duty of Heretochs is thus described which I will give you here in English And there were other Powers and Dignities constituted through all the Provinces and Counties of the whole Kingdom which were by the English called Heretochs to wit Noble Wise Faithful and Stout Barons These sate our Armies in Battel Array and raised others as they thought fit for the Honour of the Crown and Service of the Kingdom They were elected by the Common-Council for the publick Benefit of the Realm in all Provinces and Counties at a full Folk-mote as the Sheriffs of the same also were and ought to be And in every County there was always one Heretoch thus elected to conduct the Militia of his County according to the King's Orders for the Honour and Profit of the Crown of the said Kingdom whenever there was Occasion FROM whence we may observe That before as well as sometime after the Conquest when this Auctuary was made the King had not the Nomination either of the Heretoch or Sheriff which were then the two Great Officers of the County the one Military the other Civil HAVING thus dispatched the Military I proceed to the Civil Magistrate viz. the Sheriff in Saxon Scire-Gerefa or more contractedly Greve in the Laws of King Edward who is called by Ethelwerd Exactor Regius i.e. the King's Receiver This Officer as Asser shews us in his Life of Alfred before that King made his new Reformation of the Kingdom was appointed by the Ealdorman and therefore called Vice-Dominus and was much what the same with our Vice-Comes or Sheriff at this Day But whether he had the Title of Sheriff before as well as after that Alteration by King Alfred I will not determine BUT it appears by both these Latin Titles that he was the Officer who instead of the Ealdorman or Earl sat as Judge in those we now call the County-Court and Sheriff's Tourn But these being so well known at this Day I shall not further enlarge only that this Officer was also to answer to the King's Exchequer for all Fines Amerciaments and other Duties arising out of the County the third Penny of which the Earl had granted him by the King pro sustentatione Dignitatis AND now I come at last to that great extensive Dignity of a Thane called in Saxon Thegne being derived from the old word Theowian to serve because they that had this Honour conferred on them were at first the King's Officers or Servants and in our Antient Latin Charters subscribed by the Name of Ministri Regis and are called in the Version of our Saxon Annals as also in Florence of Worcester Ministri Regii not that they were really always the King 's Domestick Servants tho they were so originally on whom he likewise bestowed several Lands in lieu of those Services Wages in Money being not then in use which Lands descended to their Heirs if the King pleased THIS Title of Thane was of two sorts the one Spiritual the other Temporal the former were called in Saxon Messe-Thegnes i.e. Mass-Thanes Priests or Parsons of Churches and other dignified Clergy-Men of whom I shall now say nothing but that they were then of so great Note that in our Saxon Laws they are ranged before the Werold-Thegnes i. e. Temporal Thanes and their Weregilds rated at the same Value with them viz. two thousand Thrymsa's AND tho the word denoted a Servant or Minister in general and so divers had the Title as it were meerly Officiary and Personal yet as Mr. Selden informs us those that were the King 's immediate Tenants of fair Possessions which they held by personal Service as of his Person or as we say by Grand-Serjeanty or Knight's Service in chief were I conceive the Thanes that had the Honorary Dignity and were part of the greater Nobility of that Time howsoever those Officiary Dignities of Holde and Highgereue had then precedence of them that is they were all the King 's Feudal Thanes and the Land held so was called Tainland or Thaneland as afterwards the Lands held that made a Baron were called a Barony as also they are called to this day This Title continued all the Saxon times until the coming in of the Normans and it was in some use also after that Time and then was succeeded by that of Barons This Title being of Norman Extraction we rarely meet with it before the Conquest THERE were also besides these Chief Thanes others who were called middle or under Thanes being the same with the less sort of Barons or Lords of Mannors who holding of other great Lords and not of the King were those that after the Conquest were called Vavasors inferior to whom there were likewise a third Sort who seemed to have been made up of the least or meanest Degree of Gentry or Freeholders which were then all one none but the Gentry or less Nobility then enjoying Lands by Freehold Tenure And in this sense is to be understood that Law of King Cnute whereby it is appointed That if the Master of a Family who by that Law was to have all his Houshold under his Pledg were accused of suffering any of them by his Privity to escape being guilty of any Crime he was then to wage Law with five other Thanes i. e. in Latin Nobilibus himself making the sixth Now it was impossible that there should be so many Chief Thanes who held immediately of the King in any one Hundred or Tything out of which those Thanes or Gentlemen that were to make this Purgation were to be taken BUT of all these Thanes or less Nobility I shall speak more at large by and by when I come to consider the Members that composed the Mycel-Gemot or Common-Council of the Kingdom of which these made up the great and principal Part. AND next to them I find another Title tho not commonly used yet as antient as the Laws of King Ina as also mentioned in several other King's Laws viz. a Sithcund Man who if he refused his Service in the Army or a Military Expedition he forfeited his Land THIS Name Mr. Somner in his Glossary derives from Sith or Giseth Comes vel Socius a Ruler or Governour and Cund Kind as it signifies the Condition and Quality of any one and Mon Man that is a sort of Comes Governour Judg or Praefect he was esteemed equal to a Thane by
the valuation of his Life in Aethelstan's Laws THIS Comes is not to be taken in that Sense as if he was a Count or Lord as now understood being only a Comes or Companion in respect of those of his own Rank or Degree and interpreted by Mr. Lambard by Custos-paganus and so seems to have been the chief Man or Captain in a Town or Village and was to head all those he brought with him from thence into the Field and therefore the Penalty was the more severe on him if he ran away lest he should infect others by his bad Example SINCE I have been so large in this Introduction I have chosen but slightly to mention these Dignities and Offices for they having been so learnedly and fully handled by Mr. Selden in his Titles of Honour as also by Dr. Brady in his first Part of the Saxon History and by Dr. Howel in his Discourse of the Polity of the English Saxons I shall refer the Reader to them for his farther Satisfaction and will only speak of two Degrees of Men more of whom it seems being below their Notice they give us but a short Account THE first is that of Ceorle or Countrey-man from whence our word Carle or Churle is derived indeed he could not be possessed of what was called Bockland or Free-land conveyable by Deed but however he was as free as to his Person and Property as the greatest Thane of them all And therefore we find in the Laws of King Alfred divers pecuniary Penalties enacted against those who should commit Adultery with a Country-man's Wife or should endeavour to vitiate the Chastity of his Servant or Slave or should break the Peace by fighting either in his House or Yard And as for his Person by the last of those Laws it is appointed what Satisfaction in Money shall be paid by any who wound or maim him even to Nail of his little Finger And this Law as equally extended to him as to those of the greatest Quality And because the Nobility or Gentry were too apt to abuse these poor Countrymen who were their Tenants and Vassals the thirty first Law of King Alfred ordains what Satisfaction a Man was to make for any ways injuring and misusing a Ceorle's Man by binding him beating him or cutting off his Hair Frolicks I suppose too often then in fashion among some ill-natured domineering Gentlemen which made this merciful and good King provide such a necessary Law for their future Security AND further to prove their Freedom it is likewise enacted in the Laws of King Ina that if a Ceorlesman should refuse going out to War he was to forfeit thirty Shillings which shews that he was such a Man as was to have Weapons of his own for the Defence of himself and Service of his Country Which is also required by the Laws of Edward the Confessor in Title Greve And therefore Dr. Brady is very much out in limiting the Title of Freemen mentioned in King Edward's Laws only to such as were Tenants by Military Service for that Law says no such thing but only that all the Freemen in the whole Kingdom according to their several respective Estates Goods and Possessions and to their Fees and Tenements ought to have Arms and keep them ready for the Defence of the Kingdom c. Where you may observe that all Estates Goods and Possessions of what kind soever do hereby capacitate Men to keep Arms and consequently give them the Title of Freemen and therefore are not limited to Tenants by Knights Service alone As also appears from the Assize of Arms appointed by King Henry the Second THE highest Degree of these Ceorles were those called Liberi Socmanni i. e. Free Socmen so called from Soc which in the Saxon Tongue signifies a Plow Of these we find no mention till the Laws of Edward the Confessor where the Manbote i. e. Satisfaction for a Servant slain is by Danelage i. e. the Danish Law due from a Villane or Villager and a Socman twelve Ores from a Freeman three Marks Not that this Socman here put as distinct from Freeman was really a Slave but only as Freemen were then taken properly for Gentlemen or Freeholders for that these Sockmen were free as to their Persons tho not Lands appears by the old Natura Brevium where it defines a Socman to be such a Tenant who holds of the King or any other Lord Lands and Tenements by Villain or base Services and was privileged in this manner that none could eject him from those Lands and Tenements so long as he could do the Services belonging to the same THIS I have taken notice of because Dr. Brady in his Preface before his Norman History as also indivers other Places of his Works has laboured all he can to make the Condition of the common People of this Kingdom before the Conquest as well as after to have been little better than that of Slavery and seems to repine very often that it is not so still as I could easily shew if I would go about it BUT certainly those could not be Slaves who had Slaves under them and were entrusted with the highest Badg of Freedom not being forced or pressed thereunto viz. a voluntary Service in War which the greatest were alike subject to with these for the Defence and Safety of the Kingdom and which was part of the old Oath of Fidelity that was taken as well before as after his pretended Conquest BUT before I dismiss this Subject I cannot omit taking notice that the Laws or Rules of Gentility were not so strictly observed under the English Saxon as afterwards they were under the Norman Kings for Mr. Seldâ—n hath given us a Law of King Athelstane which he took from an Antient Manuscript in the Library at St. James's in these words Si Villanus excrevisset ut haberet plenariè V. Hidas terrae suae propriae Ecclesiam Coquinam Timpanarium Januam Sedem Sundernotam in Aula Regis deinceps Taini Lege dignus sit Which is also confirmed by Mr. Lambard in his Itinerary of Kent concerning the same Law and is there set down in Saxon which I shall here translate thus That if a Ceorl or a Country-man so thrived that he had fully five Hides of his own Land a Church a Kitchin a Bell-house a Borough-gate with a Seat and any distinct Office in the King's Court then was he thenceforth of equal Honour or Dignity with a Thane Where by the Church the Kitchin the Bell-house the Borough-gate with a Seat c. Mr. Selden understands The State or Fashion of a Lord of that Time in having a Church for his Family and Tenants in keeping a Court for them which may well be meant in the Burhgate setl or Town-gate with a Seat and in keeping a House or Entertainment competent to that Dignity which may be understood in the Cycenan and Belhuis i.e. Kitchin
and Bell-house The Bell-house may denote the Hall which was the place of ordinary Diet and Entertainment in the Houses of Lords It may well so signify if the Saxons used the like Reason in imposing the Name on the Lord's Hall as some say the Italian Spanish and French have done in calling it Tinello Tinello and Tinel which in our Laws also is retained in Tinel le Roy for the King's Hall They would have it therefore so named because the Tin or tinkling of a Bell at the Times of Dinner and Supper were signified by it BUT Sundernota mentioned in the Latin Copy of this Law seems to denote the distinct Office which he was to hold in the King's Court to make him equal to a Thane And it is also observable that by the same Laws of King Athelstane abovementioned such a Ceorlsman so advanced and having five Hides of Land ad Vtwarum Regis that is as Mr. Selden in the same place interprets held by Knights Service Si occidatur reddentur 2 Millia Thrymsarum so that his Wiregyld shews him to have been every way equal to a Thane BUT the most considerable Observation that may be made from this Law is that V. Hides of Land were at that time reckoned a sufficient Estate to constitute a Thane But as to the Quantity of Land that then went to make a Hide it was sometimes more and sometimes less according to the Goodness or Quality of the Soil but was certainly no more than what one Plow could well manure together with Pasture Meadow and Wood competent for the Maintenance of that Plow and the Servants of the Family So that the Estate of such a Thane could not be much more than what an ordinary Gentleman has at this day NOR can I here pretermit what follows in the same Law above recited where after having shewn us by what means an Under Theyn might come to be a Chief Thane and from thence attain to the Dignity of an Earl it thus proceeds And if a Merchant so thrived that he had passed thrice over the wide or broad Sea by his own Cunning or Craft as it is in the Saxon he was thenceforth a Thane's Right-worthy i. e. was every way equal to him Where you may observe that Wealth and Industry conferred Nobility in the Saxon Times as well as at this Day I come now to the lowest Rank of Men viz. that of Slaves who were called in Latin Servi and in Saxon Freortorlings and there were two sorts of them viz. such as were Personal possessing no Estates but all that they earn'd was their Lords by whom therefore they were maintained The others were Praedial such as were of Servile Condition and Original but possessed their small Holdings and Goods at the Will of their Lord doing all those Servile Countrey Works that were set them and from thence in the more modern Norman Dialect were called Villains from those Villages where they lived and wrought But before as well as after the Conquest that the Latin word Villanus did not signify a Villain or Servant I could prove from many Instances both out of Records and Histories if I thought it would not be too tedious in this Place AS for the Original of these Slaves among the Saxons there is some doubt about them some supposing them to have been derived from the remainder of those meaner sort of Britains who were either taken Prisoners or else never forsook the Land and so their Lives being saved they were made servile by their Conquerors or else such as were descended from those who came over in the nature of Slaves to the English Saxons that first landed here but it is not much material how they began since they might proceed from both or either of these Originals nor had their Lords Power of Life or Death over them for if they killed any of them they were to pay the Value of their Heads to the King THESE Slaves if they were set free at any time by their Masters were what the Romans called Liberti and in Saxon Freolaetan but being then resolved into the Body of Ceorles or Countrey-men they did not as among the Romans constitute any new Order of Men. HAVING now gone through all the Sorts and Degrees of Men who either lived in or were maintained out of the Countrey I shall in the next Place say somewhat of another distinct Body of Men called in Saxon Burh-witan or Burh-wara that is Citizens or Townsmen who had Privileges peculiar to themselves and living in Cities or great Towns were governed by their own particular Magistrates called Ealdormen or Portgerefan i. e. Port-Reeves assisted by the Chief Men of the Place called in Saxon Yldist-Burh-wara who were much the same with what we now call Aldermen or Common-Council Men for as for the Title of Mayor it came not in use here till long after the Conquest BUT as for these Magistrates and Members of Cities and Towns I shall speak more by and by when I come to treat of the constituent Parts of the Great Council of the Kingdom FROM the different Orders of Men we shall now descend to speak of the different Courts where these Persons abovementioned all except the Villains were bound to appear and there either to do or receive Justice for which it will be necessary to look back to the Reign of King Alfred who after the first Invasion of the Danes when he began to resettle the Kingdom found his Subjects so far corrupted by a long and hazardous War that all Places being full of Robberies and Murders there was an absolute necessity for the making of more severe Laws to restrain them so that omitting the Division of Counties or Shires which I shall speak to hereafter he Canton'd his Kingdom 1 st into Trihings or Lathes as they are still called in Kent and other Places consisting of three or four Hundreds in which the Freeholders being Judges such Causes were brought as could not be determined in the Hundred Court concerning the Proceedings in which Court of the Trihing or Lathes you may see divers Precedents in Sir William Dugdale's Origines Juridiciales NEXT to which there was also the Hundred-Court in Saxon Hundred-Gemot and in Latin Centuriata Because it originally consisted of an hundred Hides of Land as an Hide usually of an hundred Acres or else because super decem Decanos centum Friburgos judicabat that is it had Jurisdiction over ten Decennaries or an hundred Friboroughs THIS Court before the Conquest was held twelve times a Year and afterwards was increased by Henry I. to once a Fortnight and then by Henry the Third reduced to once in three Weeks IN this Court antiently Vnus de melioribus qui vocatur Aldermannus one of the principal Inhabitants called the Alderman together with the Barons of the Hundred id est the Freeholders was Judg as may seem by the Register of Ely which saith that Aegelwynnuâ—
for want of a better Expression signified the Study of the Law and therefore the word SAPIENTES and WITES where-ever he meets with them in our Saxon Laws or Great Councils must forsooth sigâ—ify Lawyers or Judges And his Design in it is evident that he might thereby confound the Law-makers with the ordinary Counsellors or Advisers whom those Law-makers might often imploy in the drawing of the Laws but he is indeed at last so modest as to tell us That at this day the Judges and King's Counsel and other great Lawyers that sit in the Lord's House are assistant to the Parliament when there is occasion But that he would here as well as elsewhere insinuate that no body else had any more right to appear there than they you may see more plainly in his Notes to his Compleat History of England where upon the words Sapientes or Witen made use of in the Saxon Laws he says That if they only signified Men skilled in the Laws then were none of the Temporal Nobility present at the making of those Laws unless perhaps they were the Lawyers meant by that word as being many of them Judges and Justiciaries at that time But yet he is at last forced with Justice in the same place to acknowledg upon the words that Witan Sapientes or wise Men must be taken for or meant of the Bishops and Nobility or else they were not present at the making of these Laws which no Man can believe that considers how many Ecclesiastical Laws there are amongst them and Laws relating to the Worship of God and a holy Life that were never made without at least the Advice of the Bishops IT is well my Lords the Bishops were concern'd here or else sure he would never have been so free as to make the word Witan signify not only great Lawyers but Divines too and thus by the same liberty of paraphrasing studia Sapientiae may signify the Study of Divinity BUT enough of these Trifles for the Author himself hath some Lines above in the same Notes granted as much as I can desire because he confesses That in our Saxon Laws the Sapientes or Witan were divers times taken for the whole Baronage or Nobility as I may so say And in this sense it is used in the 49 th Chapter of the Preface to Alured's Laws And I desire the Doctor to shew me any Instance out of the Saxon Laws or Annals if he can where the words Witan or Witena-Gemot are used in any other sense But what was the true meaning of that word Baronage we shall reserve to another place it suffices at present to let you see he owns they were somewhat more than great Lawyers and that it comprehended others besides Noble-men by Birth I shall prove by and by IN the mean time I shall shew by what Words and Phrases the Witena Gemot consisting of these Wites is called in the Latin Version of our Annals as also of our Historians who have wrote in the same Language IN the first of these it is rendered Concilium PROCERVM how truly I have said somewhat in the Preface by Florence of Worcester in his Version of the same Annals it is commonly render'd Concilium PRIMATVM and sometimes but more rarely PROCERVM But when this Author would distinguish the Laity from the Clergy at these Assemblies he words it thus ARCHIEPISCOPOS EPISCOPOS ABBATES Angliae OPTIMATES sometimes thus EPISCOPOS DVCES nec non PRINCIPES OPTIMATES Gentis Angliae AS for the Signification of all these Words I shall give it you anon only thus much may be agreed upon that besides the Arch-bishops Bishops and Abbots the chief or best Men of England were present and assisted at these Councils and who as appears by the Subscriptions to several Saxon Councils and Charters were either the Ealdormen who writ themselves in Latin sometimes Sub-Reguli but more often Duces or Comites of whom we have already spoken enough But this I would have remembred that the Office of Ealdormen not being then hereditary it was bestowed for Merit and Nobility by Blood was no necessary Condition to it since their Places in this great Assembly were only ratione Officii and not by Right of Inheritance as at this day THE next Order whose Subscriptions we find at the Conclusion of such Councils and Charters are the Thanes the highest Degree of which was called Thanus Regius the King's Thane because he held immediately of him and tho I grant it answered the Title or Dignity of the greater Barons after the Norman Conquest yet however neither Mr. Selden nor any other Learned Antiquary that I know of does any where exclude the two other Degrees of Thanes viz. the Middle and Lesser from appearing and having places in those great and general Councils as well as the chief Thanes themselves AND besides these we find at the end of several Charters others who write themselves Milites who I suppose ought to be rendered Knights but whether they were Thanes that held by any Military Tenure or such as held their Lands in Allodio that is freely under no Services I will not here take upon me to determine THESE are the only Degrees mentioned at the end of those Councils and Charters above-mentioned BUT perhaps it will now be told me that according to my own shewing there were no Commons summoned to these Assemblies since neither in the Titles before those Councils nor at the Conclusions of them is there any mention made of this Order of Men now called Commons distinct from that of the Bishops and great Noble Men and therefore from hence Dr. Brady in his Answer to Mr. Petyt will have none but Bishops and great Noble-men to have had any thing to do there and to make this seem the more plausible he renders that great Council where Plegmund Arch-bishop of Canterbury together with King Edward the Elder presided viz. CONCILIVM MAGNVM EPISCOPORVM ABBATVM FIDELIVM PROCERVM POPVLORVM IN PROVINCIA GEWISORM c. in these words A great Council of the Bishops Abbots Tenants in Capite or Military Service Noble-men and People in the Province of the West-Saxons AND here before I go any further I would desire the Doctor to answer these two Questions FIRST By what Authority he here translates the word Fideles Tenants in Capite or Military Service since I am sure he is not able to prove from any History or Record that this Tenure had any being in England at that time SECONDLY How he can make it out that the word Proceres always signifies great Noble-men by Birth without which Supposition all he is able to say on this Subject will fall to the Ground BUT the Doctor thinks he has a great Advantage from what Archbishop Parker says in the same Page EDWARDVS REX SYNODVM PRAEDICTAM NOBILIVM ANGLORVM CONGREGAVIT CVI PRESIDEBAT PLEGMVNDVS i. e. King Edward called the foresaid Synod of the English
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
held it Thirty Three Years William of Malmesbury makes him to have been Elected King by the General Consent of his Subjects and that he did not deceive their expectation in governing them well The Saxon Chronicle here also proceeds and gives us his Pedegree which being not to our purpose I omit only you may take notice that he was the Son of one Ecbert and not of the last King that Reigned As soon as ever he was made King he commanded a Great Council to be summoned at a place called Becanceld which though it be somewhere in Kent yet no body certainly knows where it lay unless it were Beckanham which lies near Surry at which Council Withred Himself was present as also the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Rochester and with them all the Abbots and Abbesses together with many Wise and Prudent Men who were there assembled that they might all take Council about the repairing of the Churches in Kent then the King began to speak thus I will That all Churches and Monasteries which have been given and endow'd for God's Glory in the Days of the Faithful Kings my Predecessours shall remain so to God's Honour for ever Therefore I Withred being an Earthly King yet moved by the Heavenly one have learnt from our Ancestours that no Lay-man ought to have right to meddle with any Church or any of those things that belong to it Wherefore we do firmly Decree and appoint and in the Name of the Omnipotent God and all his Saints do straitly forbid all the Kings our Successours with all Ealdermen i. e. Governours or Judges and other Laymen to exercise any Lordship or Dominion over those Churches and their possâ—ssions which either I or my Predâ—cessours have given for the Honour of Christ and our Lady St. Mary and all the Saints but when it shall happen that a Bishop or any Abbot or Abbess shall depart this Life let it be told the Arch-Bishop that by his command one may be chosen who is most worthy Moreover let the Arch-Bishop make good tryal of his Life who shall be elected to so Holy a Function neither let any one be Elected or Consecrated without the consent of the Arch-Bishop for as it is the King's duty to appoâ—nt Ealdermen Sheriffs and Judges so it is the Arch-Bishop's to Govern the Church of God and to take care of it as also to appoint and elect Bishâ—ps Abbots and Abbesses Presbyters and Deacons as also to Consecrate Coâ—firm and Instruct them by his good Precepts and Example least any of God's Flock should wonder out of the way and perish This passage being found in the Cottonian Copy of the Saxon Annals I thought good to insert as a Monument of the ancient power of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as Governour of the Church of England though then under the power of the Pope in Ecclesiastical Matters These are the chief heads of this famous Council not do the other Copies in Sir H. Spelman's Collection differ much from this in the Saxon Annals only there follows the Subscriptions of King Wythred and Werburge his Queen who Subscribed for her self and the Prince her Son then follow those of the Bishops and Abbots and after them of Five Abbesses of that Kingdom which shews them to have been present at this Council but whether as consenters or voters or else as bare witnesses I shall not determine but it is observable that their Names are written not only before all the Presbyters but also before Botred a Bishop though of what Diocess is not specified But to return to Civil affairs About this time also as Bede relates though no Historian hath given us the Year Sebbi King of the East-Saxons being fitter for a Bishop than a King and being at last taken with a great bodily Infirmity preferred a private Life before a Crown and took upon him the Habit of a Monk with the Benediction of Waldhere then Bishop and Successour to Erkenwald in the See of London so this pious King after he had bestowed a great Sum of Money in Charity soon departed this Life leaving his Sons Sighard and Senfrid to succeed him This Year the Southumbers that is the Mercians killed Ostrythe the Wife of Ethelred their late King and the Sister of King Egfrid H. Huntington calls it a vile Wickedness but would not or could not give us the reason why they did so nor what punishment was inflicted upon them for it This Year likewise was held the Council of Berghamsted in Kent Bertwald Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Gibmund Bishop of Rochester and all the Ecclesiastical Order of that Kingdom together with all the Lay or Military Men being there assembled by the Common and Unanimous Assent of All they decreed these Laws should be added to the Laws and Customs of the Kentish Men the Constitutions of this Council are called in the Saxon Title the Judgments or Doomes of King Wightred But thô they relate chiefly to Ecclesiastical Matters yet I shall here insert some of the chief of them The First Law is That the Church shall be free and enjoy her own Judgments Rents and Pensions and that Prayer be made for the King and his Commands obeyed not of necessity or Compulsion but out of good will Secondly If any Military Man called there a Gesithcund-man in the Saxon Original shall after this Council is ended despising the King's Law and the Judicial Sentence of the Bishop's Excomunication be taken in Adultery let him pay to his Lord an 100 Shillings By which Law it appears there was at this time Knights Service in England and also that slighting of Excomunication had no further Temporal Penalty than a pecuniary Mulct And that it was to the Lord of whom he held his Land That he was to pay it appears by the next Law by which it is appointed that if the Adulterer were a Country Man or Villager called there Ceorlesman he shall pay Fifty Shillings to his Lord yea thô he do Pennance for that Sin Thirdly If on Saturday in the Evening after the Sun is set or on Sunday Evening after the same time a Servant shall at the Command of his Master do any work let his Master redeem the offence with paying Eighty Shillings Fourthly If a Layman kill a Theif let him lye without any Wiregild that is without making any satisfaction to the Friends of the party slain This Year also the Picts slew Bert the Ealderman H. Huntington ascribes this to the Curse of the Irish Nation whose Churches he had in the late Invasion destroyed for as King Egfrid Invading the Country of the Picts was there cut off so entering their Country to revenge the Death of his Master he was likewise slain Mat. Westminster calls this Ealderman Brithric Earl of the Northumbers but from what Authority I know not I shall conclude this Century with a very remarkable Transaction out of Bede that happen'd about the latter end of it Egbert an English Priest living
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
Civil Matters the words of this last King's Law run thus Ex omni Comitatu bis quotannis conventus agitor cui quidem illius Dioecesis Episcopus Senator intersunto quorum Alter Jura Divina humana alter populum edoceto IN every County let there be twice a Year an Assembly of the People whereat the Bishop of the Diocess and the Earl shall be present the one to direct in Divine the other in humane Matters WHICH so continued the Bishop and Earl sitting therein together until King William the Conqueror in a full Convention of his Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots and Temporal Lords commanded that Ecclesiastical Matters should thenceforth be handled by the Bishops in Courts of their own and not any more be discust amongst Secular Affairs IN this Court as well as in that of the Country according to the Laws of King Henry I. these Persons following were to be present as may appear by this Clause Intersint autèm Episcopi Comites Vicedomini Vicarii Centenarii Aldermanni Preafecti Praepositi Barones Vavassores Tungrevii caeteri terrarum Domini diligentèr intendentes nè malorum Impunitas aut Gravionum pravitas vel Judicum subversio solita miseros laceratione confiniant AGANTVR itâque primò debita verae Christianitatis Jura secundò Regis placita postremò Causae singulorum dignis satisfactionis expleantur Scil. Ecclesiastical Causes and Pleas of the Crown in the Turn but Private Causes in the County Court Vid. Coke 's 4 th Instit. 259 260. where you will find that THE Tourn is a Court of Record holden before the Sheriff the Antient Institution thereof was before Magna Charta to hear and determine all Felonies Death of Man excepted and Common Nusances See the Stat. Mag. Chart. c. 17. and the Exposition of the same in the 2 d. Instit. THE Stile of this Court is Curia Visus Franc. Domini Regis apud B. coram Vicecomite in Turno suo c. ibid. THE reason of which is because in this Court the Pledges or Sureties of every Decennary or Tithing were entred before the Court Leets were taken out of it and granted to particular Lords of Mannors which Sir H. Spelman in his Glossary supposes to have been done in the Reign of King Alfred but since I find nothing concerning these Court Leets till after the Conquest I shall defer the farther treating of them to that time I have no more to say of this Court but that it was also called the Folcmote and in which by Edward the Confessor's Laws all Freemen were to take the Oath of Allegiance or Fidelity to the King as appears by the Law it self Omnes Proceres Regni milites Liberi Homines totius Regni BRITANNIAE facere debent Fidelitatem Domino Regi in Pleno FOLCMOTO corà m Episcopis Regni c. YOU will likewise find in the same Law just preceding this an extraordinary Assembly of this Folcmote upon any sudden Danger which met on ringing of the Bells called in English Motbel and there they were to consult how to prevent the Danger THE second of these Courts was called the County-Court and was also very Antient and to be held once every Month by the Shireeve as from K. Edward the Elder 's Laws appeareth Praepositus quÃsque ad quartam circitèr quamque septimanam frequentem populi concionem celebrato cuÃque jus dicito aequabile Litesque singulas cum dies condicti advenerint dirimito EVERY Shireeve shall convene the People once a Month and do equal Right to all putting an end to Controversies at Times appointed TO this Court were antienly Appeals made from the Hundred-Court as appears by the Laws of Canutus Et nemo namium capiat in Comitatu vel extra Comitatum priusquam ter in Hundredo suo rectum sibi perquisierit si tertia vice rectum non habeat eat quarta vice ad Conventum totius Comitatus quod Anglicè dicitur Scyremot c. No Man by a Distress shall compel another to the County-Court unless he have thrice complained in the Hundred-Court But if he have not Right the third Time he may then sue in the County-Court which is called the Scyregemot AND besides says Sir William Dugdale Regis placita Causa singulorum debita verae Christianitatis jura were first determined here where interesse debent Commissarii Episcopi Comites Ecclesiae potestates and the Presbyter Ecclesiae as well as quatuor de Melioribus villae were obliged to attendance qui Dei Leges as well as Seculi negotia justâ consideratione definirent AND a little after he further proceeds thus Now let us see of what things the Sheriff here antienly held Plea Ad Vicecomites pertinent ista saith Glanvile Placitum de Recto de liberis Tenementis per Breve Domini Regis ubi Curia Dominorum probatur de Recto defecisse Placitum de Nativis sed per Breve Domini Regis ID est It belongeth to the Shireeve to hold Plea in this Court upon a Writ of Right concerning Freehold in Cases where the Lord of the Mannor wherein the Land lieth hath not done Justice as also to hold Plea concerning Bondmen but by the King 's Writ I shall say no more of this Court but refer the Reader to the said Book from whence I have taken most of those things I have here given you concerning all these Courts wherein he may find at large how great the Power of this Court was not only before but after the Conquest And I have also reserved the treating of these two Courts by themselves because tho the 3 former are supposed by some to be of K. Alfred's Erection upon his new Reformation of the Kingdom but these two were not so for notwithstanding Ingulf tells us that this King Alfred first divided the Provinces of England into Counties yet we find Mr. Selden Learnedly makes it out That Alfred was not the first that divided the Kingdom into Shires or Counties for saith he before Alfred's Time those Provinces had their Ealdormen in them Thus we read of Ethelwolfus Barocensis Pagae Comes and Ceorle Domnaniae Comes and Eanulf Somersetensis Pagae Comes for the Earldoms of Barkshire Devonshire and Somersetshire under King Ethelwolf Father to King Alfred are remembred in Asserius Menevensis that lived in King Alfred's Time Two of them are also in Ethelwerd a Writer of the Saxon Times besides Osric Dorsetum Dux for Eolderman of Dorset Eâ—lchere or Alchere was at the same Time Ealdorman of Kent and Auda or Wuda of Surrey as we have it in Hoveden Huntingdon and in that Asserius also And Ingulphus hath the Charter of King Ethelbald's Foundation of Crowland whereunto the Comites of Leicester and of Lincoln both subscribe TO which I may also add divers Examples that you will meet with of the same kind in the following History out of the Saxon Annals HAVING thus dispatched these inferior
great Easiness and Remissness in Discipline and thereupon by the Appointment and Assent of his Barons he caused him to retire to the Cure of his former Church of Dorchester By which it is evident that this Author living in the Reign of Henry the Third was very well satisfied that the Temporal as well as the Spiritual Barons were concerned in this Deprivation I was likewise from the Authority of the Saxon Annals as also of William of Malmesbury about to have here also added the Deprivation of one Siward who is reported by the Annals An. 1043. to have been privately Consecrated to the See of Canterbury with the King 's good liking by Arch-bishop Eadsige and who then laid down that Charge and of which Siward William of Malmesbury farther tells us that he was afterwards deprived for his Ingratitude to Arch-Bishop Eadsige in denying him necessary Maintenance but since there is no such Person as this Sâ—â—ard in the Catalogues of the Arch-bishops of Canterbury and that upon a more nice Examination I find in the Learned Mr. Wharton's Treatise De Successione Archiepis Cantuar. that this Siward who was also Abbot of Abingdon was never Consecrated Arch-Bishop but only Chorepiscopus or Substitute to Arch-bishop Eadsige who was then unable to perform his Function by reason of his Infirmities which upon a review of this Passage in William of Malmesbury I find also confirmed by him in calling him no more than Successor Designatus and who being put by for his Ingratitude was preferred no higher than to be Bishop of Rochester but this is denied by the abovecited Mr. Wharton who says expresly that this Siward Abbot of Abingdon and Substitute to the Arch-bishop was never Bishop of that See but died at Abingdon of a long Sickness before Arch-Bishop Eadsige So much I thought fit to let the Reader know because in this History under Anno 1043 being deceived by the express words of the Annals I have there made this Siward to have been Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and deprived for his Ingratitude to his Predecessor which I am upon better Consideration now convinced to have been a Mistake I shall conclude with our Saxon Annals which under the Year 1052. relate that Earl Godwin having in a Great Council held at London purged himself and his Sons of the Crimes laid to their Charge and being thereupon restored Arch-Bishop Robert the Norman his Enemy having just before fled away into his own Country was not only by a Decree of this Council banisâ—ed but also deprived of his Arch-bishoprick and Stigand then was advanced to that See in his stead which certainly was done by the same Authority as deprived the former and if so then I think none can deny but that Power might also have deprived any other inferior Bishop and yet we do no where find there was any Schism in England among the Clergy at that Time because these two Primates of the Church had been deprived without their own Consent by the Lay as well as Spiritual part of the Great Council HAVING now finished all I had to say concerning the Power of the King and the Witena-Gemote in Ecclesiastical Matters I would not be thought to assert that they have the like Authorities in Matters of meer Spiritual Cognizance since I am very well satisfied of the Primitive Institution of the Episcopal Order from the first Preaching of Christianity in the Time of the Romans to the Restoration of it in this Island upon the Conversion of the Saxons which is not liable to be abrogated by any Temporal Power and which has been continued among the Britains or Welsh without any Interruption from thence even to our own Times BUT as for the Ecclesiastical Power it was at first settled under the two Arch-bishops of Canterbury and York who had then no Jurisdiction or Preheminence the one over the other the former being Primate of the Southern as the latter was of the Northern parts of England only I cannot but observe that the Church of St. Martin's without the City of Canterbury was till after the Conquest the See of a Bishop called in Latin Core Episcopus who always remaining in the Countrey supplied the Absence of the Metropolitan that for the most part followed the Court and that as well in governing the Monks as in performing the Solemnities of the Church and in exercising the Authority of an Arch-Deacon AND no doubt had also the Episcopal Powers of Ordination and Confirmation or else he could have been no Bishop I observe this to let you see that the English were not then so strictly tied up as not to allow of more than one Bishop in one City BUT since I have chiefly designed to speak of Civil Affairs I shall not here meddle with the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Bishops or their Courts or the Officers belonging to them but will leave them to those to whose Province it does more peculiarly appertain HAVING thus dispatched what I had to say concerning the Synods and Great Councils of the Kingdom in the Saxon Times I shall in the next Place treat of the English Laws before the Conquest and they were of two kinds viz. either the particular Customs or Laws of the several divisions of the Kingdom in which those Customs were in use or else such Additions to or Emendations of them as were made from time to time by the Great Council of the whole Kingdom concerning the Punishment of Crimes the manner of holding Men to their good Behaviour or relating to the Alteration of Property either in Lands or Goods with divers other particulars for which I refer you to the Laws themselves as I have extracted them from Sir Henry Spelman and Mr. Lambard their Learned Collections and some concerning each of these particulars I have given you in the following Work BUT to shew you in the first place the Original of the Saxon Customary Laws they were certainly derived from each of the Great Nations that settled themselves in this Island before the Heptarchy was reduced into one Kingdom but indeed after the Danes had settled themselves here in England we find they were divided into these three sorts of Laws in the beginning of Edward the Confessor's Reign according to the several parts of the Kingdom wherein they prevailed as 1. MERCHEN-LAGE or the Mercian Law which took place in the Counties of Glocester Worcester Hereford Warwick Oxon Chester Salop and Stafford 2. WEST-Saxon-Lage or the Law of the West-Saxons which was in use in the Counties of Kent Sussex Surrey Berks Southampton Somerset Dorset Devon and Cornwal I mean that part of it which spoke English the rest being governed by their own i. e. the British Laws 3. DANE-Lage or the Laws which the Danes introduced here into those Counties where they chiefly fixed viz. in those of York Derby Nottingham Leicester Lincoln Northampton Bucks Hertford Essex Middlesex Suffolk and Cambridg BUT as for Cumberland Northumberland and
Interest Education or Course of Life and I cannot but observe that there are a sort of Men whose Heads seem framed for such a set of Notions rather than others which make them that they cannot easily digest any thing that clashes with them BUT I do not pretend to be infallible or to propose my sense as a Rule and Standard to all others Homo sum nihil humanum à me alienum puto as the Comick Poet hath long since well observed ONE thing indeed I think I may pretend to in this Undertaking and that is Integrity for I look upon it a much viler thing either to falsify or conceal part of an Authority that makes against one and use only so much as shall serve a present Turn that it is to pick a Pocket and as it is of far more dangerous Consequence to the Publick if not found out I must say it is likewise more easily to be discovered since every Man may if he please consult the Authors that such Writers make use of and so detect the Fraud BUT for those who think they may differ from me in some things with good Reason and Authority and will please by their learned Labours to give the World any better Information and Account of these Matters than I have done I shall be so far from being displeased at them that I shall upon full Satisfaction readily own my self very much in their Debt for making the World and me so much the Wiser only I must desire to be treated as one who if I chance to be under any Error am not so wilfully nor as I think without great appearance of Reason and Authority on my side since I call God to witness that neither from a vain Ambition of Glory nor prospect of any Temporal Advantage nor design of gratifying any Party or Faction have I wrote any thing that may disgust Men of different Principles and Notions AND I thank God for this great Blessing to us that we live in a Time when we may not only think or speak but also safely write what we believe to be the Truth to which all Mankind do owe Allegiance and therefore I hope I never shall abuse that invaluable Liberty to the Prejudice of the Government or that excellent constituted Church of which I own my self a Member being fully satisfied that the main End of all our Writings ought to be for the Honour of God and the Common Good of Mankind THE TABLE to the Preface and Introduction A. ACtions on the Case how antient page 126 Adultery its Punishment 125 Aetheling the Title what it was 72 St. Albans his Sufferings most probably a Legend 24 25 26 King Alfred his Preface to Pope Gregory's Pastoral 11. His Testament with Observations upon it 51 52 Allodium Lands hâ—ld in Allodio 118 119 Annals Saxon a brief Account of them and their Translation 10 11 Antient Demesne Tenants therein 121 Antiquity of the Ordeal 124. Of the Distinction between Manslaughter and Murder 126 Arch-bishops of Canterbury and York antiently of equal Dignity and Power 116 Asser Menevensis an Account of him and his Writings 12 13 B. BAro its antient Signification 93 94. When it came first in common use 102 Barones Comitatûs what they were 96 Bede the first English Historian 10 Bishopricks and Abbeys often bestowed by the Election of the great Council of the Kingdom in the Saxon-Times 113 114 Bishops sometimes deprived by the same Councils 115 116 Blasphemy vid. Swearing and Cursing Bocland what it was 118. The same with Lands in Allodio 119 Dr. Brady his Errors concerning the English-Saxon Succession 50 51 c. Britain how divided under the Romans pag. 31 32 Bromton John an Account of the Chronicle that passes under his Name 16 Burglary how punishable 126 Burhwitan or Burhwara who they were 80 C. CAradoc of Lancarvon his Welsh Chronicle 15 Ceorl or Ceorl's Man i. e. Country-man his Privileges 77 Chancellor whence derived and the Antiquity of that Office 73 Clipping and Coining of Money its Punishment 126 Coining of Money a Prerogative of the Crown 67 Colonus its Signification 121 Combat single or Duel 125 Comes Littoris Saxonici who he was 33 Commons present in the great Councils of the Kingdom 88-101 To have been also present there in the Reign of K. William I. 97. Prov'd also to have a Right by Prescription before his time 98 Compurgators who 125 Conquests of the Danes and Normans which were no more than Invasions never altered this Government or Laws in any of its substantial parts 127 Contract or Compact Original between the first English Saxon Kings and their Subjects proved 69 70. and that more antient than the Coronation-Oath 71 72 Coronation of our Kings whence derived 16 Coronation-Oath its Form before the pretended Conquest 58 Costs recovering of Costs and Damages how antient pag. 126 Great Council of the Wites for what ends they were established 41 Great Council or Parliament its Original 86-88 The Persons of whom it consisted 87-102 These Councils often met in the open Air 104. It s Power in making Laws 105-08 Counties their Division more antient than the Reign of K. Alfred 84 The County-Court what 84 Courts of Justice in England how many they were under the Saxon Kings 80 85 Court-Barons their Original 82 Craig Sir Thomas his Objections against the Truth and Antiquity of our English Historians considered 18-23 Crown of England not bequeathable by the Testament of the English-Saxon Kings 51 52 Curia Domini Regis its Signification 85 D. DAnegelt first imposed by Authority of the King and his Wites 120 The Decennary or Tything-Court what 81 Defamation how punishable 126 Degrees of Men that constituted the Common-weal 72-80 Demesnes of the Crown could not be granted away even to pious Vses by the English-Saxon Kings without the Consent of the Great Council 68 Deprivation of English Saxon Kings 68. Of Bishops by the Great Council 115 116 Deputies of Cities and great Towns how antient 95 Disposition of Goods and Personal Estates either by Deed or last Will 121 Doom or Judgment-Book 127 Durham Simeon who he was 15 Dux Britanniae what he was 33 E. EAdmerus his History pag. 14 Ealdorman the Title 73 East-Angles the Succession of their Kings 45 East-Saxon Kings their Succession 43 Ecclesiastical Laws by whom made 108-113 Ecclesiastical Power settled at first under the two Arch-bishops of Canâ—erbury and York 116 Eddi Stephen Author of the Life of Bishop Wilfred with a brief account of him 10 Edward the Confessor the manner of his Election 61 Electus eligerunt their true Signification 55 56 Encomium Emmae 14 English-Saxons vid. Saxons Eorl 74 Ethelwerd sirnamed Quaestor an account of him and his Work 14 F. FEng to Rice the meaning of that Saxon Phrase 55 Feudal Lands what 122 Fideles who they were in the Saxon Government 107 Fidelium multitudo in the Charter of King Ethelwulf what it signified 104 105 Fines and Mulcts their difference set down in a
pass that the Empire should want no more standing Armies He was thus made away M. Aurelius Carus was advanced to the Empire by the Army he created his two Sons Carinus and Numerianus Caesars to Carinus he gave the Charge of Britain with the rest of the Western Provinces but taking Numerianus along with him into the East he invaded the Persians where he died suddenly as some relate being struck with Lightning thô Vospiscus saith he died a natural Death and that the Souldiers firing his Tent gave occasion to the former Report His pious Son Numerianus was slain by Aper one of his Captains and he again underwent the same Fate by Dioclesian who also in a set Battle not long after slew Carinus who by his Riot and Luxury had much wasted Britain and the other Provinces All these Transactions happened within the space of two Years C. Aurel. Dioclesian being advanced to the Empâ—re by the Choice of the Eastern Army adopted Mar. Aurel. Maximinianus Sirnamed Herculius his Associate in the Empire five Years after which the former of these Emperours nominated Galâ—rius and the latter adopted Constantius Clorus Caesars constraining them to divorce their former Wives and to marry their Daughters In the beginning of this Emperour's Reign Carausius a Man of mean Parentage born in Menapia that is about the Parts of Cleves and Juliers who through all Military Degrees was advanced at length to be Governour of Bononia Admiral of the Belgic and Armoric Seas then much infested by the Francks and Saxons but what he took from the Pirats he neither restored to the Owners nor accounted to the Publick whereby he much enriched himself not so much as guarding the Seas but rather conniving at those Pirats till at length he grew too great a Delinquent to be less than an Emperour therefore hearing that Maximinian had ordered him to be slain he then took upon him the Imperial Robe and hearing that this Emperour was marching against him with the Fleet under his Command passed over into Britain where he built a new Fleet after the Roman fashion getting into his Power the Legion that was left here in Garison with other Outlandish Cohorts he detained and listed the very Merchants and Factors of Gaul and with the Allurements of Spoil invited great numbers of other barbarous Nations to take his part and trained them to Sea-Service wherein the Romans had so much lost their Skill that Carausius with his Navy at Sea did what he listed robbing on all the Sea-Coasts whereby Maximinian not able to come nearer than the Shore of Bononia now Boloigne was forced to conclude a Peace with Carausius and yield him up Britain as one fittest to guard that Province against the Incursions of the Northern Britains This is the reason that in all Carausius's Silver Coins we find two Emperours taking hands with this Inscription on the Reverse CONCORDIA AUGG. But not long after Maximinian sent Constantius Chlorus now Caesar against Carausius who in the mean while had made himself strong both within the Land and without Geoffery of Monmouth writes that he made the Picts his Confederates to whom as being lately come out of Scythia he gave Albania now called Scotland to inhabit And it is indeed observable that about his time the Picts are found to be first mentioned by Eumenius in his Panegyrick to Maximinian where he also mentions the Hiberni together with Picts both which he there calls Half-naked Enemies But whether by those Hiberni are to be understood Irish-men as that word Gramatically imports and as our English Antiquaries understand it or else Scotch-men called Hiberni because they first came out of Ireland as Buchanan and Scaliger would have it since it depends upon so nice a Criticism in the Latin Tongue as whether the words Soli Britanni were intended by the Author for the Nominative Case Plural or else for the Genitive of the Singular Number I shall not take upon me to decide only the Reader may please to take notice that those who understand these words in the former sense do suppose the Scots to have first come out of Ireland into Britain after this time but I have given you the words themselves in the Margin that you may pass what Judgment you please upon them But as Nennius relates Carausius repaired and fortified the Walls of Severus with Castles and a round House of polish'd Stone on the Bank of Carron which River he saith was from him so called also in Gaul he kept Bononia with a Garison and all the Franoks which had by his permission seated themselves in Belgia were at his command but Constantius hasting into Gallia besieged Bononia now called Boloigne as I said before and with Stones and Timber blocking up the Harbour kept out all Relief that could be sent in by Carausius but before Constantius with the Fleet which he had prepared could arrive thither Carausius was slain in Britain by the Treachery of Allectus one of his chief Friends and Commanders who likewise for three Years usurped the Empire when Carausius worthily as some say or as others Tyrannically had Ruled this Island 7 Years But Constantius presently took hold of that Opportunity before Allectus should settle his Affairs therefore thô the weather were ill he put his Army to Sea with all expedition and that from several Havens the more to spread the Terrour of his Landing and render it doubtful where to expect him so in a Mist passing by Allectus with the British Fleet unseen that lay cruising near the Isle of Vecta now Wight he no sooner got on shore but he fired his own Ships to leave his Men no hopes of Safety but in Victory then forthwith the poor oppressed Britains came flocking in to Constantius offering themselves together with their Wives and Children to him as their Deliverer sent them from Heaven which when Allectus heard being much dismayed at this News he passed over to the British Shore where landing he resolved to try his Fortune in a Battle on the Land where being encountred by Asclepiodotus Captain of the Praetorian Bands and desperately rushing on being unmindful both of the well-ordering of his Men and of bringing them all in to fight except the noted Accessories of his Treason and his Outlandish Hirelings He was overthrown and slain with little or no loss to the Romans but great Execution on the Francks Allectus having before flung away his Imperial Robes that he might not be known his Body was found almost naked in the Field the rest of his Men flying to London and purposing with the Pillage of that City to escape by Sea were met by another part of the Roman Army whom the late mentioned Mist at Sea had separated and now by chance had brought up the Thames where landing they killed almost all the rest even in the very City whilst the Citizens had the pleasure to behold their own Deliverance By this Victory
Also this Year the Body of St. Wihtburh was found at Durham entire and uncorrupt after she had been dead 55 Years And the same Year according to Roger Hoveden Osâ—ald who had been before King of Northumberland died an Abbot and was buried in York Minster and Alred the Ealderman who slew King Aethelred was also killed by one Thormond in Revenge of the Death of his Lord. Also the Moon was Eclipsed in the second Hour of the Night 17 o Kal. Feb. Also this Year Beorthric or Brihtrick King of the West Saxons deceased As also Worre an Ealderman Then also Ecgbriht began to Reign over the West Saxons and the same Day or Year as Florence of Worcester hath it Aethelmond Ealderman of Wiccon that is Worcestershire pass'd the River Severne at Cynesmeresford suppose to be Kemsford in Glocestershire and there met him Weoxton the Ealdormen with the Wiltshire Men who gained the Victory I cannot find in any Author the occasion of this Quarrel only that it was fought between these Earls one of the West Saxons and the other of the Mercians but such Bickerings we often meet with in these Writers and so related are of no more use to Human Life than to Chronicle the Skirmishes of Crows or Jack daws flocking together and Fighting in Air. The same Year is very remarkable because as our Annals relate Charles the Great was first made Emperour and saluted Augustus by the Romans he then condemned those to Death who had before outraged Pope Leo but by the Pope's Intercession they were pardoned as to Life and only banished but Pope Leo himself anointed him Emperour Also this Year according to the Welsh Chronicles Publisht by Arthen ap Sitsilt King of Cardigan and Run King of Divet and Cadel King of Powâ—s all three died Now also according to Florence and Simeon Alchmaid Son to Ethelred late King of Northumberland being taken by the Guards of K. Eardulf was by his Command slain but without telling us any Reason why Also about this time according to Sir H. Spelman's First Volume of Councils was held the Third Council of Cloveshoe under Kenwulf King of the Mercians and Athelherd or Ethelhard Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with all the Bishops Ealderman Abbots and other Dignified Persons of that Province in which few Things were transacted concerning the Faith only the Lands of a certain Monastery called Cotham which had been given by Ethelbald King of the Mercians to the Monastery of St. Saviours's in Canterbury and had been upon the Embezeling the Deeds unjustly taken away by King Kenwulph but he now repenting of it desired they should be restored whereupon Cynedrith his Daughter then Abbess of that Monastery gave the said Arch-Bishop other Lands in Kent there mentioned in exchange for the same But since I am come to the Conclusion of this Period I cannot omit giving you a fuller Account of the Character and Death of Brithric King of the West Saxons and of the Succession of Egbert who afterwards became the Chief or Supreme King of this Kingdom and to whom all those Kings that remained were forced to become Tributary As for King Britric he is noted by Will of Malmesbury to have been more desirous of Peace than War and to that end courted the Friendship of Foreign Princes to have been easie to his Subjects in such Things as did not weaken his Government yet being jealous of Prince Egbert who afterwards succeeded him he forced him to flee to King Offa for Refuge but upon the coming of certain Ambassadours to Treat of a Marriage between King Brithric and the Daughter of King Offa he retired into France till that King was made away by the means of his Wife Aeadburga the Daughter of King Offa who having prepared a Cup of poisoned Wine for one of his Favourites whom she hated the King coming in by chance tasted of it and so pined away After whose Death Asser in his Annals relates That when this Queen could live no longer among the English being so hated by them for her violent and wicked Actions she went into France where she was kindly Entertained by Charles the Great and there making that Emperour many great Presents for which he bidding her chuse whom she would have for a Husband himself or his Son she foolishly chose his Son whereupon the Emperour laughing said If thou hadst chosen me thou shouldest have had my Son but now thou shalt have neither A just Return for her desiring to marry one so much younger than her self So the Emperour put her into a Monastery where she lived for some Years as an Abbess but being Expelled thence for her Incontinency she wandred about with only one Servant and begged her Bread in Pavia in Italy till she died But as for Egbert above mentioned when he had been for about three Years banished into France where as William of Malmesbury tells us he polished the Roughness of his own Country Manners the French Nation being at that time the most Civilized of any of those Gothic and German Nations who had some Ages before as hath been already related settled themselves in this side of Europe But upon the Death of King Brihtric without any Issue as the same Author relates he was recalled by the Nobility of the West Saxon Kingdom and being there ordained King reigned with great Glory and Honour exceeding all the English Saxon Kings that went before him as shall be declared in the ensuing Book But before I conclude this I cannot forbear mentioning a Learned English-man who flourished about this time called Alcuinus or Albinus who going into France was in great Favour with Charles the Great whom he taught the Liberal Arts and by his means erected the University of Paris where he read Logic Rhetoric and Astronomy being the most Learned Man of all the English-men if not of all others in his Time He died Abbot of St. Martins at Tours which that King bestowed upon him He wrote elegantly in Verse as well as Prose considering the Age he lived in as appears by his Poem De Pontificibus Sanctis Ecclesiae Eboracencis lately Published by the Reverend and Learned Dr. Gale in his last Volume of English Historians So having arrived to the end of this Period I shall in the next Book shew how King Egbert obtained not only the Crown of the West Saxon Kingdom but also the Supreme Dominion of the English Nation The End of the Fourth Book A Continuation of the Succession of the English-Saxon Kings contaiâ—ed in the former Book from the Saxon Annals Florence of 〈◊〉 and Simeon of Durham Note That the last King of each Column in the former Table is again repeated in this that the 〈◊〉 the better see how the Series is continued This Account differs sometimes from the Annals some few Years wherein they are certainly mistakâ—n The Chronology of the Kings of Wales is according to the Account of Mr Robert Vaughan and 〈◊〉 Maâ—uscript Welsh Châ—onicle
Saxons marching in an Hostile manner into Cornwal absolutely subdued it and added it to his own Kingdom many being there slain on both sides The same Year also according to Caradoc's Chronicle Run King of Dyvet and Cadhel King of Powis deceased Charles the Emperour made Peace with Nicephorus Emperour of Constantinople This Year also according to the same Caradoc Elbods Arch-Bishop of North Wales i. e. of St. Asaph deceased before whose Death was a great Eclipse of the Sun But as the Reverend Lord Bishop of Bangor in his Catalogue of the Welsh Kings which he has been pleased to communicate to me well observes That Eclipse falling out Anno 810 the Bishops Death must do so likewise and therefore in this the Chronicles must needs be mistaken Also according to Mat. Westminster Aelfwold King of Northumberland dying Earnred succeeded him and held it for 32 Years which is also confirmed by Simeon of Durham thô this can by no means agree with the Chronicle of Mailross which says That Eardulf being expelled his Kingdom it continued without any King for many Years but William of Malmesbury makes this Anarchy to have begun from the murther of King Ethered Anno 794 as hath been already observed in the last Book and that this Confusion lasted for about 33 Years during which time that Province became a Scorn to its Neighbours But it seems they still had Kings thô very obscure and but of small Account But of greater certainty is that which Mat. Westminster relates under this Year viz. That King Egbert subdued the Northern Welsh-men and made them Tributary to him But it is wholly incredible what Buchanan in his Scotish History relates in the Year following to wit That Achaius King of Scots having reigned 32 Years and had formerly aided but in what Year of his Reign he tells us not Hungus King of the Picts with 10000 Scots against one Athelstan then wasting the Pictish Borders and that Hungus by the Aid of those Scots and the Help of St. Andrew their Patron in a Vision by Night and the Appearance of a Cross by Day routed the astonished English and slew this Athelstan in Fight But who this Athelstan was I believe no Man knows Buchanan supposes him to have been some Danish Commander on whom King Alured or Alfred had bestowed Northumberland Yet of this I find no Foot-steps in our ancient Writers and if any such Thing were done in the time of Alfred it must be above 60 Years after for King Alfred began not to Reign till Anno 871. And John Fordun in his Scotish History is also as much mistaken making this Athelstan to be the Son of King Ethelwulf who then governed the Northern Provinces under his Father which also fails almost as much in point of time this Prince Athelstan here mentioned being as appears by the Saxon Annals alive and engaged in a Sea-Fight against the Danes above 40 Years after as you will find in its due place set down This Athelstan therefore and this great Overthrow seems rather to have been a meer Fancy of some idle Monk And this Year according to Mat. Westminster as King Egbert had the Year before subdued the Welsh-men so it seems upon some fresh Rebellion of theirs he again entred their Borders and laid them waste from North to South with Fire and Sword and then returned home Victorious But notwithstanding the Wars the Welsh had from abroad it seems they had also time enough for Civil Wars at home for now according to Caradoc's Chronicle Conan Prince of Wales and his Brother Howel could not agree insomuch that they tried the Matter by Battle where Howel had the Victory to which Dr. Powel hath here added this Observation That this Howel the Brother of Conan King or Prince of North Wales did claim the Isle of Mon or Anglesey for part of his Father's Inheritance which Conan refusing to give him thereupon they fell at Variance and consequently made War the one against the other And here says he I think fit to say somewhat of the old Custom and Tenure of Wales from whence this Mischief grew that is the Division of the Father's Inheritance amongst all the Sons commonly called Gauel kind Gauel is a British Term signifying a Hold because every one of the Sons did hold some portion of his Father's Lands as his lawful Son and Successour This was the Cause not only of the Overthrow of all the ancient Nobility of Wales for by that means the Inheritance being continually divided and subdivided amongst the Children and Children's Children it was at length brought to nothing but also of much Bloodshed unnatural Strife and Contention amongst Brethren as we have here an Example and many others in this History This kind of Partition is very good to plant and settle a Nation in a large Country not inhabited but in a populous Country already furnished with Inhabitants it is the utter Decay of great Families and as I said before the cause of constant Strife and Debate But some Years after Howel gave his Brother Conan another Defeat and slew a great many of his People Whereupon Conan levied an Army in the Year 817 and chased his Brother Howel out of the Isle of Anglesey compelling him to flee into that of Man and a little after died Conan chief King of the Britains or Welsh-men leaving behind him a Daughter named Esylht who was married to a Nobleman called Mâ—rvyn Vrych the Son of Gwyriad who was afterwards King in her Right This Year also as the Manuscript Annals of the Abbey of Winchelcomb relate the Charter of this Monastery was granted by King Kenulph as appears by a Copy there inserted which shews what Orders of Men were summoned by that King to be present at the Council in which this Charter was confirmed viz. Merciorum optimates Episcopos Principes Comites Procuratores meosque i. e. Regis Propinquos which Terms having already been explained in the Introduction to this Book I need noâ—â—ere repeat There were also present Cuthred King of Kent his 〈…〉 King of the East-Saxons with all others who should be present at those Synodal Councils Then follow the Subscriptions of K. Kenulph as also of both the said Kings and of Wilfred Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with the rest of the Bishops and Ealdermen there stiled Duces This Year according to our Annals the Emperour Charles the Great departed this Life when he had Reigned Forty Five Years also Wilfred the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Wigbright the Bishop of the West-Saxons went to Rome But here our Annals are mistaken for this Emperour dyed not till the Year 814. Mat. Westminster also adds that these Bishops above-mentioned went to Rome about the Affairs of the English Church Arch-Bishop Wilfred having received the Benediction of Pope Leo returned again to his Bishoprick and the same Year King Egbert wasted the Western Welsh from the South to the West This seems but to have been the
as his own ever since the time that King Offa took it but now the Mercians tried to recover it by Force The same Year was also held another Synodal Council at Cloveshoe for the Kingdom of Mercia under K. Beornwulf and Wilfred Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with all the Bishops and Chief Men of that Kingdom wherein some disputes about Lands between Heabert Bishop of Worcester and a certain Monastery called Westburgh were determined This Year Ludican King of the Mercians and five of his Ealdermen were slain and Wiglaf began to Reign in his stead Ingulf and Will of Malmesbury tell us That this Ludican was Kinsman to the last mentioned King Beornwulf and leading an Army against the East-Angles to revenge his Death was there overcome and Slain and that both these Tyrants were justly removed who had not only made Kings without any Right but had also by their imprudence been the occasion of the destruction of the Military Forces of that Kingdom which had till then proved Victorious and that thereupon one Withlaf being before Ealderman of Mâ—rcia was by the consent of all the People created King whose Son Wimond had Married Alfleda the Daughter of Ceolwulf the late King This King Withlaf Reigned thirteen Years as Tributary to King Egbert as shall be further related anon The Moon was Eclipsed on Christmass day at Night and the same Year King Egbryht subdued the Kingdom of Mercia and all the Country that lay South of Humber He was the Eighth King who Ruled over all Britain but the First who had so great a Command was Aella King of the South Saxons the Second was Ceaâ—lin King of the West-Saxons the Third was Aethelbryght King of Kent the Fourth was Redwald King of the East Angles the Fifth was Edwin King of Northumberland the Sixth was Oswald who succeeded him the Seventh was Oswi the Brother of Oswald and the Eight was Egbryght King of the West-Saxons who not long after led an Army against the Northumbers as far as Dore which place is supposed to have been in York-shire beyond the River Hâ—mber but the Northumâ—ers offering him Peace and due Subjection they parted Friends From which passage in the Saxon Annals it is apparent that this Supream Dominion of one English King over all the rest was no new thing Bede having taken notice of it long before yet did they not therefore take upon them the Title of Monarchs any more than Egbert who now succeeded them in that Power thô most of our Historians who have written the Saxon History in English have but without any just reason given them that Title which could not properly belong to Kings who had divers others under them with the like Regal Jurisdiction within their own Territories not but that King Egbert was in a more peculiar manner the Supream King of England because by his Absolute Conquest of the Kingdoms of Kent and of the South and East Saxons he was the greatest King who had hitherto Reigned in England all the rest of the Kings that remained Reigning by his permission and paying him Tribute a power which never had been exercised by any other King before him But to return to our History it seems that King Egbert was so highly displeased with the Mercians for setting up a King without his consent that Ingulf and Florence of Worcester tell us That as soon as ever Withlaf was made King before he could raise an Army he was expell'd his Kingdom which Egbert added to his own but Withlaf being search'd for by Egbert's Commanders through all Mercia he was by the industry of Seward Abbot of Croyland concealed in the Cell of the Holy Virgin Etheldrith Daughter of King Offa and once the Spouse of Ethelbert King of the East Angles where King Withlaf found a safe retreat for the space of Four Months until such time as by the Mediation of said Abbot Seward he was reconciled to King Egbert and upon promise of the payment of an Yearly Tribute permitted to return to his Kingdom in Peace which is by him acknowledged in that Charter of his that Ingulf hath given us of his Confirmation of the Lands and priviledges of the Abbey of Croyland It was made in the Great Council of the whole Kingdom in the presence of his Lords Egbert King of West-Saxony and his Son Ethelwulf and before the Bishops and great Men of all England Assembled at the City of London to take Counsel against the Daniâ—h Pyrats then infesting the English Coasts And in the Year 833 as you shall see when we come to that Year This Restoration of King Withlaf to his Kingdom is also mentioned in the Saxon Annals of the next Year where it is said That Withlaf again obtained the Kingdom of the Mercians and Bishop Ethelwald deceased also the same Year King Egbryht led an Army against the Northern Britains and reduced them absolutely to his Obedience For it seems they had again rebelled Now likewise as Mat. Westminster relates King Egbert vanquished Swithred King of the East-Saxons and drove him out of his Kingdom upon whose expulsion the West Saxon Kings ever after possest that Kingdom Now according to the same Authour King Egbert having subdued all the South Parts of England led a great Army into the Kingdom of Northumberland and having grievously wasted that Province made King Eandred his Tributary which is also confirmed by Will of Malmesbury who relates that the Northumbers who stood out the last fearing least this King's anger might break out upon them now giving Hostages submitted themselves to his Dominion but they continued still under Kings of their own as you will further find To this Year I think we may also refer that great Transaction which the Annals of the Cathedral Church of Winchester printed in Monast. Angl. from an ancient Manuscript in the Cottonian Library place under the Year following viz. That King Egbert having thus subdued all the Kingdoms above-mentioned and forced them to submit to his Dominions called a great Council at Winchester whereto were summoned all the Great Men of the whole Kingdom and there by the General Consent of the Clerus Populus i. e. the Clergy and Laity King Egbert was crowned King of Britain And at the same time he Enacted That it should be for ever after called England and that those who before were called Jutes or Saxons should now be called English â—en And this I could not omit because thô William of Malmesbury and other Historians agree of the Matter of Fact yet I think this the truest and most particular Account of the Time and manner when it was performed Also this Year Wilfred the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury deceased and Feologild the Abbot was Elected Arch-Bishop 7 Kal. Maij. and was Consecrated 5. Id. Junij being Sunday and dyed the 3. Kal. Sept. after But here is certainly a mistake in this Copy of the Annals for it was not Feologild but Ceolnoth who was then chosen
there declare their number that they may be ready to produce them to answer any thing that shall be demanded of them in the said Folcmote and if it happen that they bring many strangers on shore that they also certifie this to the King's Officer in that said Assembly that so they may be forth coming Now considering the Times wherein King Alfred lived when there was such flocking of Strangers being Enemies into England this Law was very justly and seasonably made The Thirty First inflicts upon him that shall put a Ceorles's Man that is an ordinary Country-Man without any fault into Bonds viz. A Mulct of Ten Shillings upon him that beats such a one Twenty Shillings if he hang him up a-loft Thirty Shillings if he cut off his Hair to expose him like a Fool Ten Shillings if he shave his Head like a Priest yet bind him not Thirty Shillings and in case he only cut off his Beard Twenty Shillings but if he bind him and shave his Hair like a Priest then Sixty Shillings Which Law was no doubt made to restrain the Tyranny and Insolence of the English Nobility who were wont before that Law too much to domineer over poor Country-Men here called Ceorles-men and therefore it seems highly probable that the Commons of England had then Representatives in the Great Council or else it is not likely the Nobility would ever have lost that Power they then Usurped over them Wherefore I shall leave it to the Indifferent Reader to Consider whether the Common People of England were then such Slaves as some late Writers would fain make them since not only satisfaction was to be made for their Lives but also for the least injury or abuse that might be committed against their Persons The Thirty Fourth Law imposes upon him that shall strike or fight in open Court before the King 's Ealdorman both the value of his own head and such a Fine besides as shall be thought fit and also 120 Shillings to be paid to the Ealdorman by him that by thus drawing his Weapon shall make any disturbance in the Folcmote or County Court if the Ealdorman were not present but the fact was done before his Substitute or the King's Priest then a Were or Amerciament of Thirty Shillings Here by the King's Priest is meant either the King's Chaplain or Bishop I will not determine whether who as we formerly said in those times presided also in the Folcmotes and there dispatched all business relating to the Church The Thirty Fifth ordains What satisfaction shall be made for breach of the Peace in any other place as for Example he that fights in the home-stall of a Country-man shall pay the said Country-man Six Shillings if he drew his Sword but struck not half as much which Penalty also was to be encreased according to the Estate or Quality of him upon whose ground the Assault was made So that if he fought in the House of one worth 600 Shillings he was to pay Three times as much if of one worth 1200 Shillings then the Amends was to be twice as much as the former The Thirty Six Law of Bâ—rhbrice or breach of the Peace in a Town confirms that part of King Ina's Law concerning that matter in imposing upon the Offender for the breach of the Peace in the King's Town or City by setting the Mulct of an Hundred and Twenty Shillings but if it be done in the Arch-Bishop's Town then Ninety Shillings in that of a Bishop or Ealdorman Sixty Shillings in the Town of a Man valued at 1200 Shillings Estate Thirty Shillings but half as much if done in a Village of one worth but half that Sum. From whence we may observe That in those times not only the King and the Great Men such as Bishops and Ealdormen but also Gentlemen of ordinary Estates had Villages or Townships of their own and they themselves received the Mulcts or Penalties imposed for the breach of the Peace within their Precincts which priviledge they lost I suppose after the coming of King William I. The Thirty Seventh is That Law concerning Bocland by vertue whereof he that holds Lands left him by his Ancestors was forbid to alienate it from his Kindred to others in case it could be proved by Writing or Testimony before the King or the Bishop his Kindred being present that the Man who first granted them forbid him all Alienation and laid on him this Condition From the making of this Law Mr. Selden informs us that we may here find an Estate in Fee-Tail much more ancient than the thirteenth Year of Edward the First The 38th Law is concerning Quarrels or deadly Feuds which since it gives a strange Licence for Men to take Satisfaction on their Enemies even without the Presence of any Officer I shall likewise set down First It forbids any Man to attack his Enemy if he find him in his own House except he first demand of him Satisfaction But if he have force enough he may besiege the House for seven days yet he shall not assault him if he will stay within but if he then surrender himself and his Arms into the Defendant's hands he may keep him thirty Days without hurt but then shall leave him so to his Kindred or Friends In case he flie to a Church the Honour of the Church is to be preserved But if the Demandant have not Strength enough to besiege him in his House he may desire the Assistance of the Ealderman which if he cannot obtain he must appeal to the King before he can assault him If any one by chance light upon his Adversary not knowing that he keeps himself at home and he will deliver up his Arms to him he shall keep him safe thirty Days and then deliver him to his Friends But in case he will not deliver up his Arms then he may fight with him but if he be willing to deliver up himself and his Arms to his Enemy and any other Man sets upon him such a Man shall pay the value of his Head if he kills him or give Satisfaction for his Wounds if any be given him according to the Fact besides which he shall be fined and lose all that may fall to him by reason of Kindred From whence you may observe that the nature of that Rough and Martial Age did allow Men a greater Liberty of righting themselves against those that had injured them than was afterwards thought fit to be allowed in more settled and peaceable Times The last of King Alfred's Laws is concerning Wounds and Maims which being very long I shall only give you an Abstract of it It is in short to appoint what Satisfaction in Money any Man shall pay for wounding or maiming another or for cutting off any Member or part of his Body even to the Nail of his little Finger All which was ascertained according to the particular Sums there set down and I shall leave it to wiser Judgments to consider whether
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
by Dioclesian Id. p. 87. Died at York Ibid. Vid. Constantine the Great Cloveshoe a Synod appointed to be assembled there once a year l. 4. p. 193. The Great Synod where were present Ethelbald the Mercian King and Archbishop Cuthbert where the place was is uncertain several Supposals and Conjectures about it Id. p. 224. The second Council held here and what was decreed in it Id. p. 225. The third Council held here under King Kenwulf and what was transacted therein Id. p. 243. l. 5. p. 248. A Synod held here under King Beornwulf and Archbishop Wilfrid whose Constitutions wholly relate to Ecclesiastical Affairs l. 5. p. 253. Another Synodal Council held here by Beornwulf c. wherein some Disputes about Lands between Heabert Bishop of Worcester and the Monastery of Westburgh are determined Ibid. Cnobsbury a Town wherein Fursaeus by the help of King Sigebert erects a Monastery which afterwards Anna King of the East-Angles richly endows l. 4. p. 180. Cnute having obtained the Crown of England restores its ancient Laws and Liberties l. 5. p. 246. Builds a Noble Monastery at Beadricesworth now St. Edmundsbury whither the Body of Edmund the Martyr was removed some time before l. 5. p. 323. Is chosen King by all the Danish Fleet and Army after the Death of his Father Sweyn l. 6. p. 39. Puts the Hostages on Shore at Sandwich that were given to his Father but first cuts off their Hands and Noses Ibid. Plunders all about Wiltshire Dorsetshire and Somersetshire c. and Aedric and the West-Saxons Submission to him Id. p. 40 41 42. Is chosen King by several of the Bishops Abbots and Noblemen of England upon which he comes up with his Fleet to Greenwich to besiege London and the Battels he fought with King Edmund and those that espoused his Interest Id. p. 45 46 47. A Peace concluded on between him and Edmund Ironside with an Account of the Particulars of it Id. p. 47 48. The Council he summoned to London about making him King of all England and setting aside his Children and Brethren from the Kingdom of the West-Saxons Id. p. 49. When he began his Reign divides all England into four Parts or Governments râ—serving West-Saxony to himself Id. p. 50. Marries Emma Widow of the King his Predecessor and the Reason of State for it Goes to Denmark to subdue the Vandals carrying along with him an Army of English and Danes the former behaving themselves so bravely against the Enemy that after that Battel he had the English in as much esteem at his own Native Subjects Holds a Great Council at Cyrencester and what is â—ransacted therein Id. p. 51. A Parliament called by him at Winchester and who present and what decreed therein l. 6. p. 52. Founds the Monastery of Beadricesworth where a Church had been built before and endows it which was one of the Largest and Richest in England Ibid. Goes again into Denmark with his Fleet and engages with the Swedes both by Land and Sea the latter getting the Victory Two years after he drives Olaf out of Norway and conquers it for himself Ranishes Hacun a Danish Earl his Nephew by Marriage under pretence of an Embassy Id. p. 53. Agrees with Robert Duke of Normandy That King Ethelred's two Sons should have half the Kingdom peaceably during his life Gives the Port of Sandwich to Christ-Church in Canterbury with all the Issues c. And founds a Monastery for Benedictines in Norfolk called St. Bennet's in Holme Id. p. 54. Goes to Rome and what he does there he declares in a Letter he sent upon his return from thence into England to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York Id. p. 55. Goes into Scotland and there King Malcolme becomes subject to him Before his Death he appoints Swayn his Eldest Son King of Norway Hardecnute his Son by Queen Emma King of Denmark and Harold his Son by Elgiva King of England after him Id. p. 56 61. Dies at Shaftsbury and is buried at the new Monastery of Winchester having reigned almost Twenty Years His Character A pretty Story about the sense he had of the Vanity of Worldly Empire Id. p. 57. The Laws he ordains with the Consent of his Wise Men at Winchester Id. p. 57 58 59 60. His Laws afterwards confirm'd and renew'd by King Edward the Confessor at the Request of the Northumbers Id. p. 90. Coelestine the Pope sends Palladius the Bishop to the Scots to confirm their Faith l. 2. p. 109 110. Cogidunus held several British Cities of Ostorius Scapula as Tributary to the Roman Empire l. 2. p. 41. Coifi chief of King Edwin's Idol Priests consents to receive the Christian Religion confessing his own to be good for nothing l. 4. p. 173. Burns the Idol Temples and demolishes the Altars of his former Gods Id. p. 174. Coil the Son of Marius succeeds him in Britain loves the Romans and is honoured by them and governs the Kingdom long and peaceably l. 2. p. 67. Dies towards the end of Marcus Aurelius the Emperor's Reign Id. p. 68. Coinage King Athelstan's Law That no Money be coined out of some Town no embasing to be of the Coin under Forfeiture of the loss of the Hand c. l. 5. p. 340. Though not Treason in King Ethelred's time yet punishable at the King's discretion either by Fine or Death l. 6. p. 44. Vid. Money Colchester anciently called Colnaceastre taken from the Danes by the men of Kent Surrey and Essex and the neighbouring Towns The Wall rebuilt and all ruinous places repaired by the Command of King Edward the Elder l. 5. p. 322. Coldingham the Monastery Vid. Monastery of Coludesburgh Coleman Bishop of Lindisfarne departs to Scotland and upon what account l. 4. p. 189. Coludesburgh a great Monastery of Monks and Nuns together called afterwards Coldingham in the Marches of Scotland burnt and how l. 4. p. 198 199. Columba the Priest or Presbyter comes out of Ireland to preach the Word of God to the Northern Picts and receives the Island of Hy to build a Monastery in l. 3. p. 143. Comets one appeared in King Egfrid's time that continued three Months carrying with it every morning a large Tail like a Pillar l. 4. p. 196. Another in Ethelheard's time l. 4. p. 220. One appeared some time after Easter in the year 891. l. 5. p. 298. Another appeared about the time of Queen Ealswithe's Death Id. p. 313. Another was seen in the year 995. l. 6. p. 26. A dreadful one appeared which was visible in all these parts of the world Id. p. 106. Commodus succeeds his Father Marcus Aurelius in the Empire l. 2. p. 68. In his Reign the Britains and other Countries were much infested with Wars and Seditions Id. p. 70. Makes Helvius Pertinax Lieutenant in Britain but was soon dismissed of his Government there Id. p. 70 71 He was odious to the Commonwealth because of his Vices by which he not only destroyed it but disgraced himself Id. p. 71.
Wulfher Archbishop of York Id. p. 277. Rebel against King Athelstan and the Event of their so doing Id. p. 330. Beat the Scotchmen many of whose Heads were afterwards set upon Poles round the Walls of Durham l. 6. p. 27. Take Arms against their Earl Tostige slaying his Servants and seizing his Treasures committing a world of Outrages and Desolations And what the ground of this Insurrection Id. p. 90 91 Northumbrian Kingdom began in Ida and when l. 3. p. 142. Becomes divided into Two viz. Deira and Bernicia Id. p. 143. The Custom of this Nation was anciently to sell their own Children or other near Relations to Foreign Merchants l. 4. p. 152. A perverse and perfidious Nation worse than Pagans Id. p. 240. A certain Youth is made King hereof by the joint Consent of both the English and Danes King Alfred himself confirming the Election l. 5. p. 286. North-Wales a part of the Roman Province anciently called Genoani or Guinethia l. 2. p. 68. l. 5. p. 317 All the Coasts thereabouts spoiled by the Danes l. 5. p. 319. Upon the Death of Howel Dha it returned to the Two Sons of Edwal Voel l. 5. p. 349. Is sorely harrassed by King Edgar and the cause of the War l. 6. p. 3 4. War is made upon it by Eneon who subdues all the Countrey of Gwin or Gwir Id. p. 6 16. Is Conquered by Meredyth Prince of South-Wales for himself Id. p. 22. On the Death of Edwal ap Meyric it was under an Anarchy for some time l. 6. p. 25. It gave occasion to great disturbances till Aedan got and held it for Twelve Years but whether by Election or Force uncertain Id. p. 30 31. Blithen and Rithwallen made Joint Princes thereof by King Edward the Confessor Id. p. 90. Norway Harold Harfager their King coming with a great Fleet to Invade England Lands in Yorkshire but is slain in Battel with most of his Men l. 6. p. 109. Norwich the only Bishop in England since the Dissolution of Monasteries that has still the Title of an Abbot l. 6. p. 54. Nothelm receives his Pall from Rome and is made Archbishop of Canterbury after Tatwin l. 4. p. 223. His Death and who is Consecrated in his room Id. p. 224. Numerianus the Son of the Emperor Carus made Caesar by him whom he takes with him into the East but this pious Son was slain by Aper one of his Captains l. 2. p. 83. Nunnery Vid. Monastery Nunnichia the Wife of Gerontius her extraordinary Courage and Affection to her Husband who was prevailed upon to slay her by her own Importunity rather than she would be left behind him exposed to the violence of an enraged Multitude l. 2. p. 103. O OAkly in Surrey anciently called Aclea where the Danes were beaten by King Aethelwulf l. 5. p. 261. Oath of Fidelity Vid. Fealty The Oath the Danes took to King Alfred which they ne'er would take before to any Nation upon a Sacred Bracelet to depart the Kingdom l. 5. p. 278. Or Pledge i. e. a man's Promise to observe the Law and keep the Peace to be strictly kept and the Punishment in breaking it made by King Alfred Id. p. 292. To give Security by Oath at twelve years of Age and for what l. 6. p. 58. Vid. Purgation Odo Bishop of Wells succeeds Wulfhelme in the Archbishoprick of Canterbury His Character l. 5. p. 333. Is severely revenged on the Lady Athelgiva for causing King Edwi to turn all the Monks out of divers Monasteries and putting Secular Channons in their rooms Id. p. 354. His Decease l. 6. p. 2. Offa the Son of Sigher King of the East-Saxons marries Keneswith but not long after through her persuasions takes upon him a Monastick Life and goes to Rome for that end l. 4. p. 214. Vid. 217. Is proposed as a Pattern for all other Princes to follow Id p. 214. Offa expels the Usurper Beornred King of the Mercians His Pedigree and succeeds him by the General Consent of the Nobles and afterwards becomes a Terror to all the Kings of England Id. p. 227. Obtains of the Pope a Pall for the See of Litchfield to become an Archbishoprick Id. p. 229. Subdues the Nation of the Hestings but who they were is not known Id. p. 230. And Cynwulf King of the West-Saxons fight at Bensington in Oxfordshire where Offa prevails Id. Ib. p. 236. Is forced to make a Peace with the Saxon Kings Id. p. 231. Seizes on the whole Countrey of North and South-Wales planting Saxons in their places and annexes them to his own Kingdom making a famous Ditch from Sea to Sea to defend his Countrey from the Incursions of the Welsh called Offa's Ditch Ibid. p. 239. His Eldest Son Egfred or Egbert as in the Saxon Annals is anointed and crowned King with him l. 4. p. 233 235. Builds a new Church and Monastery in honour of St. Alban Id. p. 237. His Death after he had reigned forty years and Burial in a Chappel at Bedford near the River Ouse He had a great mixture in him of Virtues and Vices and seems to have been the first of our English-Saxon Kings who maintained any great Correspondence with Foreign Princes Id. p. 238. His Enmity with Charles the Great and afterwards his firm League with him Id. p. 239. Offerings at the Altar Pope Gregory determines how they were to be divided l. 4. p. 155. Olaff is driven out of Norway Cnute conquering that Countrey for himself l. 6. p. 53. Returning to regain his Right he was slain by the people but afterwards was canonized under the Title of a Martyr Id. p. 54. Olanaege an Island in the River Severne now called the Eighth l. 6. p. 47. Old Saxony Vid. Northalbingia Orcades the Islands in the Northern Ocean near Scotland l. 2. p. 94. Governed long by English and Danish Kings l. 5. p. 259. Ordeal not to be used to a person accused of a Crime unless there be no direct proof against him l. 5. p. 285. A simple and a threefold Ordeal Id. p. 340. l. 6. p. 59. A Danish Custom and grew more in request in the Reign of King Cnute l. 6. p. 43. After what manner this Judgment was to be executed by the Bishop's Officer Id. p. 100. Order that of St. Basil l. 4. p. 167. That of St. Benedict Id. p. 167 168. Of St. Equitus Id. p. 168. Ordgar the Abbot rebuilds the Abbey of Abingdon which had been destroyed by the Danes l. 4. p. 196. Ordgar Earl of Devonshire and afterwards Father-in-Law to King Edgar founded the Abbey of Tavistock which was not long after burnt by the Danes l. 6. p. 4. Ordination of a Bishop whether without the presence of other Bishops or not l. 4. p. 156. Ceadda renews his Ordination and upon what account Id. p. 191. Bishop Wilfrid is sent into France to be re-ordained Id. p. 192. Ordovices those people now of North-Wales l. 2. p. 42. Almost destroyed a whole Squadron of Roman