Earl Guy who lived in the Year of Christ 929. This King Ethelstane by the insinuation of his Cup-bearer became incensed against his Brother as if he had contrived Treason against him who therefore ordered him to be put into a small Vessel without Tackle or Oars and so be exposed to the mercy of the Sea wherewith the young Prince was so overwhelm'd with Sorrow that he threw himself headlong into the Sea whose Ghost the King endeavoured to appease by a voluntary Penance of seven years and building two Monasteries Neither did the treacherous Cup-bearer escape Vengeance for on a Festival-day as he was busie in waiting one of his Feet slipping he recovered himself by the help of the other and thereupon pleasantly said You may see now how one Brother can help another This Speech suddenly recalled to the Kings Mind the Death of his Innocent Brother whereupon he caused the Cup-bearer who was the Procurer thereof to be immediately executed Edmund the fifth Son of King Edward succeeded and after him Edred his sixth Son Then Edwy or Edwin the eldest Son of Edmund was Crowned at Kingston upon Thames who was of a lascivious temper for it is related That on the very Day of his Coronation he suddenly left his Nobility and went into a private Room to debauch a great Lady his near Kinswoman whose Husband he soon after slew St. Dunstan who was present and then Abbot of Glastenbury followed the King into his Chamber and leading him out by the Hand accused him before Odo Archbishop of Canterbury by whom he was severely reproved and forbid the Company of that woman The King was hereat enraged against Dunstan and banished him out of the Land and became so great an Enemy to the Order of Monks that he expelled many of them out of their Monasteries and put married Priests in their Places The People having a great Opinion of the Holiness of Dunstan and being offended at the Kings severity toward him and other Irregularities they turned their Affections to Edgar his Brother and removing Edwin from his Princely Dignity Edgar was made King in his stead for very grief whereof he soon wasted away and died in 959. Edgar was called the Peaceable He maintained the Kingdom in great Glory and Prosperity His Navy Royal is said to consist of three thousand six hundred Ships with which he every Summer sailed round his Land to secure the Sea from Pyrats He caused Ludwall Prince of Wales to pay him three hundred Wolves yearly in stead of a former Tribute in Money whereby England and Wales which were formerly very much over-run were now so freed that there was scarce a Wolf to be found alive He was very severe upon his Judges if he found them guilty of Bribery and Partiality riding the Circuit himself every Year for that purpose Yet among all these Vertues he is said to be very Voluptuous especially toward Women not sparing the very Nuns which sounded so ill that Dunstan took the boldness to reprove him for it and coming into his Presence the King in Courtesie rose from his Royal Throne to take him by the Hand and seat him by him But Dunstan refusing the King his Hand with a stern Countenance and contracted Brow spake thus to him You that have not been afraid to corrupt a Virgin dedicated to Christ how can you presume to touch the Consecrated Hands of a Bishop You have defiled the Spouse of your Maker and do you now think by your flattering Service to pacifie the Friend of the Bridegroom No Sir do not mistake your self for I will be no Friend to him who hath Christ for his Enemy The King thunder-struck with these dreadful Words and touched with remorse of Conscience fell down at the Feet of Dunstan who raising him up began to aggravate his Crime and finding the K. pliable to his Instruction he enjoyned him the following Penance for satisfaction That he should wear no Crown for the space of seven years That he should fast twice a Week That he should distribute his Treasure lest him by his Ancestors liberally to the Poor That he should build a Monast for Nuns at Shaftsbury that since he had robbed God of one Virgin by his Transgression so he should restore to him many again for the time to come Likewise That he should expel Clerks or Priests of evil Life meaning those who were married out of the Churches and place Monks in their room All this Edgar performed and the seven years being past Dunstan saith the Historian calling the Nobility with the Bishops Abbots and Clergy together he before all the People set the Crown upon the Kings Head at Bath in the thirteenth year of his Reign Dunstan who it seems rul'd all having hither to hindred it The Nun here mentioned was Wilfrid a D's Daughter by whom he had a Daughter called Editha He had a Son likewise by Elfrida the Earl of Devonshire's Daughter which Dunstan being now grown good natured Christned The words of the Historian are these The Child also which was gotten of the Harlot he Baptized in the Holy Fountain of Regeneration and giving him the Name of Edward adopted him to be the Kings Son There are abundance of ridiculous Miracles related of this Dunstan One among many others was That a Vision appearing to him required him to take up the Body of Editha the Bastard and Canonize her fol a Saint a her Tomb being accordingly opened in the Church of Wilton where she was buried her whole Body saith the Monkish Historian was consumed to Dust save onley her Thumb her Belly c. whereof she her self shewed the meaning declaring That her Thumb remained intire because she so often used to cross her self therewith and the other Parts did signifie the extraordinary Abstinence and Chastity With such stuff were the People then abused and persuaded to worship for Saints the dead Carcases of those that were many times of very profligate Lives while on Earth In King Edgar's Reign there was a great Famine wherein Ethelwald Bishop of Winchester sold away all the Church-Plate and Vessels of Gold and Silver to relieve the Poor saying There was no reason that the senseless Temples of God should abound in Riches and the lively Temples of the Holy-Ghost to be in want of them After the Death of Edgar there was great Division many of the Nobility being for Etheldred the true and only legitimate Heir of Edgar but the other Nobles and the Clergy especially Dunstan fearing the Married Clergy should again prevail he with several other Bishops meeting together and carrying the Cross before Edward brought him to the Lords and by many Perswasions prevailed with them to accept him for their King He was accounted a just meek Prince and very charitable to the Poor Yet enjoyed he the Crown but a short space for in the fourth Year of his Reign as he was Hunting near Corf Castle where his Brother Etheldred and Queen Elfrida his Mother resided while
so deeply wounded the Kings Mind that he resolved immediately to make use of the Popes Bulls and thereupon caused them to be solemnly proclaimed in England Wales and Ireland adding That all who did any way support those Laws or the Twelve Peers should be committed to Prison He likewise took an Oath of all above twelve years old in and about London to be true to him and his Heirs But the Lords were not to be frighted declaring That they were resolved rather to die than recede from the Acts of that Honourable Assembly And judging that the King was designing something against them they went into the Marches of Wales where they raised a strong Army and then humbly addressed themselves to the King by Letters protesting their Fidelity to him and beseeching his Majesty That for the Honour of God the Good of his Soul and the Welfare of his People he would renounce and forsake those Counsels which were given him to suppress the Ordinances of Oxford and the Twelve Peers The King was much displeased with these Letters but returned no Answer Whereupon the Barons marched with a strong Army toward London carrying a Banner wherein the Kings Arms were curiously wrought As they passed they destroyed and burnt the Houses and Estates of those that favoured the Popes Bulls as undoubted Enemies to the King and Kingdom and then approaching to London they were joyfully received by the Citizens The King desâ—â—ing to divide the Lords caused it to be published That himself and the greatest part of the Barons were agreed and therefore required that all Arms might be laid aside and Peace restored But the Barons marched to Windsor where finding many Strangers in the Kings Palace they rifled and removed them but at length upon the Kings Motion all Differences were referred to Lewis the French King who upon hearing of both Parties declared That all the new Laws and Ordinances should be made void and the Power of the Twelve-Peers dissolved This Sentence the Lords judged Partiality and therefore fly again to Arms on th Marches destroying all that belonged to Sir Roger Mortimer who counselled the King to withstand them Prince Edward likewise raises an Army and marches against them but is overthrown After this they marched to London in Triumph hut King Henry hearing that Peter and Simon Montfort had raised Forces at Northampton he levied a strong Army and took the Town by Assault making the two Commanders and many others Prisoners The Barons being powerful were herewith nothing discouraged yet still sent Letters to the King with humble Protestations of their Fidelity if the new Laws were observed But Henry his Brother Richard King of the Romans and Prince Edward sent the Barons an absolute Defiance and wi h their Armies they met at Lewes in Sussex where after a bloody Fight the two Kings Prince Edward and several other Persons of Quality were taken Prisoners above 20000 being slain After which both Sides inclined to heaâ—â—en to Peace and at length it was agreed That the King by new Articles and Oaths should confirm the Power of the Twelve Peers and the other new Laws yet that two Spiritual and two Temporal Lords should review them and alter what they thought fit and if they could not agree the Duke of Britain was to be Uâ—pire This being concluded the two Kings eldest Sons were delivered as Hostages to the Barons where they continued above nine Months The King then called another Parliament wherein the Oxford Ordinances were again confirmed and the King again swore to maintain the Authority of the Twelve Peers and those Laws till any thing were found amiss in them and all who had defended them in the late Wars were pardoned by the King whereupon the two Princes were enlarg'd Yet soon after the two great Earls of Glocester and Leicester differed about these Laws and Prince Edward joyning with Glocester a cruel Battel was sought at Evesham in Worcestershire wherein Simon Montford Earl of Leicester and his Son Sir Hugh Spencer were slain and the Power of the Barons was utterly defeated And a Parliament being called no Man durst then contradict the Kings Will so that all the Laws made at Oxford the Authority of the Twelve Peers all Patents Commissions and Instruments whatsoever relating to what was Enacted in that called The Mad Parliament were brought forth and publickly damned cancelled and made void And thus King Henry regained his former Power and Authority to do as he pleased After which he humbled the City of London but upon their Submission received them again into Favour When Pope Innocent the Fourth offered the Kingdoms of Sicily and Naples to Richard King of the Romans aforementioned with many impossible Conditions You might as well said the Kings Agent at Rome say to my Lord and Master I sell or give you the Moon climb up catch and take it Pope Alexander his Successor desired to borrow a great Sum of Money of Richard to whom he replied I will lend no Money to my Superiors whom I cannot oblige to repay me again This Richard is said to be so very rich that he was able to spend 100 Marks a day for ten years together which was a great Sum in that Age. Wicked rather than witty was that of a Dean and High Treasurer of England about this time who it seems had carried himself so well in his Office that when he died he made this wicked Will I bequeath all my Goods and Possessions to my Sovereign Lord the King my Body to the Earth and my Soul to the Devil Prince Edward full of Heat and Courage now resolves to make himself famous and transporting an Army into the Holy Land he there wrought Wonders the Turks not daring to engage in that Quarter wherein he was and raising the Siege of Acon which they had long lain before with above 100000 Men But since Force would not they resolved to dispatch him by Treachery a villainous Saracen wounding him unawares with a venomous Knife though after much Pain and Danger and the extreme Love of his Queen Eleanor who suckt out the Poyson with her Mouth he recovered thereof But in his absence King Henry died when he had reigned above Fifty six years in the Year 1272. EDWARD the FIRST King of England c. MY Glorious Victories and Valour try'd My Mighty Actions And ne'er dying Fame Were all proclaim'd throughout the World so wide By gallant Deeds I won Immortal Fame Rebelliouis Wales I utterly subdu'd And made them Vassals to my Princely Son I Scotland entered with Fire and Blood And almost all that Kingdom over-run Still where I fought triumphantly I won Through Wounds and Death my Glory I obtain'd Yet when I these renowned Deeds bad done A costly Sepulchre was all I gain'd For though Grandees contend for Earthly Sway Death binds them to the Peace and parts the Fray EDward sirnamed Longshanks from the Properness of his Person being informed of his Father's Death by great Journeys arrived
THIRD King of England c. IN Peace and War I still Triumphant stood Fortune for me seemed to fix her Wheel I did revenge my Fathers Death and Blood And forced France my valiant Arm to feel I warr'd on Scotland with victorious Steel The slaughtring Sword and Fire did all devour A Kingdom so divided needs must reel Betwixt the Bruces and the Baliols Power Thus every day my Grandeur mounted higher With Black Prince Edward my victorious Son Vnto the top of Honour we aspire By glorious Victories and great Actions done But all my Triumphs Fortunes Force and Strength Old Age and Death to Nothing brought at length AT the Age of Fifteen years Edward the Third was Crowned King his deposed Father being then alive He was chiefly counselled in his younger years by Queen Isabel his Mother Edmond Earl of Kent and Sir Roger Mortimer which Knight to ingratiate himself with the Queen was a chief Instrument in the Murder of the late King In his second year the Scots proclaimed War against England whereupon King Edward with an Army of fifty four thousand Men and attended with Sir John Heynault the L. Beamont and five hundred Lords and Gentlemen marched into Scotland where he pursued his lurking Enemies who fled into Woods Mountains and Hills and thereby tired the English Army so that he returned without any memorable Action and then married Philip the Daughter of William Earl of Heynault and calling a Parliament at Northampton the two Spencers and Walter Stapleton were attainted of High Treason at which time by the advice of the Queen and Mortimer a dishonourable Peace was made with the Scots whereby that King was discharged from doing homage to Edward and the great Charter called Ragman whereby the late King of Scotland and all his Nobility under their Hands and Scals did acknowledge their Subjection to the Kings of England was delivered up and the Kings Sister Jane was married to David Son and Heir to K. R. Bruce Roger Mortimer was now made Earl of March which did much discontent the Nobility especially after they saw that by his power with the King and Familiarity with the Queen he had trecherously procured the Earl of Kent the Kings Uncle to be beheaded but by Divine Vengeance Mortimer himself was charged by the State with these Trayterous Articles 1 That he had wickedly procured the murther of the late King 2. That by false and malicious accusations he had caused the King to cut off the Head of his Vncle who was Noble Religious Valiant and a main Pillar of the Commonwealth 3. That he had too familiarly conversed with the Queen Mother to her just reproach and the Kings dishonour 4. That for a Bribe of twenty thousand pound he had procured the release of the Scots Homage Lastly That he had cheated the King of his Jewels and Treasure converting them to his own use For these horrid Treasons he was condemned and Executed in the same manner as young Spencer and Q. Isabel was committed to a strong Castle where she continued above thirty years after and then died In his fifth year Philip the French King sent to require King Edward to do Homage for the Dutchy of Guyen which he unwillingly performed his Lords being therewith offended alledging That in the Right of Queen Isabel his Mother the Crown of France belonged to him and that he therefore ought not to have acknowledged any Fealty at all The King then sent to David King of Scotland to restore the Castle of Berwick and do him Homage for the Kingdom but David stoutly answered That his Father won that Castle by Conquest and he would hold it by the Sword and That his Father never acknowledged any Subjection and if any had been due yet King Edward had released him from it The King being of a great Spirit was resolved to revenge these Affronts by conquering both Scotland and France and to that end he presently sent an Army against the Scots and over-run the better part of that Country without resistance taking Berwick and Crowning Edward Baliol King of Scotland to whom he committed the Government of Berwick Castle and two years after he again marched into Scotland and setled this new King on his Throne receiving his Homage and restored several English Lords to their Estates which by the Peace with King Bruce they were deprived of David the deposed King fled into France and after two years by the assistance of the French King landed some Forces in Scotland but King Edward soon encountred and routed them and then returned victoriously into England In his tenth year Philip the French King gave the Earldom of Artois away by Sentence from Robert Artois to Maud Countess of Burgundy and Aunt to this Robert which so incensed him that he said By me Philip was made King and by me he shall be again deposed For these Words he was proclaimed a Traytor to the Crown throughout all France so that to save his Life he fled into England where for his former Service to Queen Isabel and her Son when in France he was honourably received and entertained by King Edward who knew him to be a wise and valiant Man and therefore made him Earl of Richmond and loved him so entirely that he never undertook any Matter of Consequence without his Advice This Noble Knight continually informed the King of his Right to the Crown of France by his Mother Queen Isabel and that with such convincing Reasons and Persuasions that Edward began now in earnest to contrive the attaining thereof negotiating privately with the Earl of Heynault his Wives Father and Brother-in-Law to the French King and with Sir John of Heynault Lord Beaumont his Brother and several other Princes and States of Germany who encouraged and assisted him therein creating him Vicar-General of the Empire by which he had Power to command the Nobility and Commons of those Countries to aid him in his Enterprise Whilst these things were secretly consulting in England Philip of France little suspected he was to fight for his Crown with the English and therefore at the Importunity of Pope Benedict the Eleventh he had prepared a greater Army for the Holy Land than ever any Christian Prince did before him which were provided with all Necessaries for three years and the Government of his Kingdom he committed to his eldest Son John Duke of Normandy Being just ready to depart he had News of the Pretensions and Preparations of the English and therefore thought it more necessary to defend his Kingdom at home than to go upon such a frivolous Errand abroad In the mean time King Edward having by many Politick Devices drained his Subjects Purses insomuch that for want of Money a fat Ox was sold for a Noble a fat Sheep for Six pence six Pigeons for a Penny and a Quarter of Wheat for Two shillings he with his Queen sailed to Antwerp where he concluded the Methods of the War with the Princes of Germany and
thereof was extreamly displeased at so great an affront and secretly contrived mischief against him to whom the Duke of Clarence who had been disobliged by his Brother joyned himself and married Warwick's Daughter and soon after with other great Lords and Confederates they raised a Rebellion in York-shire and were so strong that at Banbury King Edwards Forces were overthrown and 5000 of them slain the Lord Rivers the Queens Father and the Lord Strafford being beheaded Yet King Edward preparing another great Army marched toward the Rebels but many of the Nobility endeavouring to procure a Peace obtained a Parley during which King Edward being less watchful of himself was seized in his Bed by the treacherous Earl of Warwick and secretly sent Prisoner to Middleham Castle in York-shire to be there kept Prisoner by his own Brother the Archbishop of York who likewise joined with Clarence and Warwick against him from whom either accidentally or willingly he soon after made his escape and at last came safe to London where by the procurement of the Lords the King the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clarence met upon security given in Westminster Hall where Warwick used such high Language to the King upbraiding him for his Ingratitude that all parted in high discontent and soon after at the Battel of Loosecoats the Rebels were beaten by King Edward throwing off their Coats for haste to make their escape in which fight were slain 10000 men The Earl of Warwick and Duke of Clarence hearing of this misfortune fled in despair with their Ladies and other Gentlewomen to Callice but were denied entrance by the Governour though the Dutchess of Clarence was then in Labour and delivered on Shipboard whereupon they went to Deip in France and were kindly entertained by that King where divers others repairing to them they consulted to restore King Henry and Prince Edward Henry's Son married the Earl of Warwicks second Daughter whereat the Duke of Clarence was much concerned and resolved to submit to his Brother upon the first opportunity All things being in readiness Warwick and his Confederates imbark for London and land at Dartmouth where his Forces soon increased very much and he then made Proclamation in all places for all men to come to his aid against the Duke of York who falsely and traiterously called himself King In the mean time Edward levied a strong Army wherewith he marched toward the Rebels but being informed of the general love of the People to Warwick and hearing me then loud shouts of King Henry King Henry a Warwick a Warwick he suspected the fidelity of his own Forces and with 800 of his best Friends left his Army and fled in the Night to Lincolnshire and from thence to Holland to the Duke of Burgundy As soon as it was known that Edward was gone the Earl of Warwick câ—me to London and taking Henry out of the Tower carried him triumphantly through the City to Pauls and from thence to the Bishops Pallace where he kept his Court. Then a Parliament being called Edward and his Adherents were attainted of High Treason and their Estates confiscate to the King the Duke of Clarence is declared Heir of the Dukedom of York and the Crown is intailed upon Henry and his Heirs and in default of his issue to the Duke of Clarence and his In a short time Edward by the assistance of the Duke of Burgundy lands in England with small Forces and few joyning with him he declared he came not to challenge the Crown but only his inheritance of the Dutchy of York upon which the People flock't in to him and at last the Lords told him They durst not joyn with him unless he would stile himself King which he did accordingly and the Earl of Warwick with other Nobles coming against him with a strong Army got into Coventry they suspecting the Duke of Clarence who joining accordingly with King Edward they defied the Earl of Warwick who durst not venture without the Walls King Edwar'd hereupon leaves Coventry and marches toward London where he was again joyfully received and King Henry was again committed to the Tower and was soon after followed by the Earl of Warwick who at Barnet was slain with his Brother the Marquess and 10000 men slain After this Queen Margaret landeth from France and some Nobles joyning with her the two Armys met at Teuksbury in Glocestershire where King Edward again remained Victor killing 3000 of his Adversaries and the Queen and her Son Edward were taken Prisoners the Prince being then cruelly murdered by Richard Duke of Glocester and soon after King Henry was found dead in the Tower being wickedly stabbed by the same bloody Richard After this King Edward makes his claim to France and to gain it craved aid of his Subjects by way of Benevolence and among others a covetous Widdow gave him twenty pounds which the King who was there present unknown to her observing not only gave her Thanks but came and kissed her telling her That she should have a kiss from a King for her Money whereat the old Woman was so transported that she told him a Kings kiss was worth more Money and thereupon gave him twenty pound more The King having got an Army together sailed to France but the French King fearing his power chose rather to buy his Peace of the Kings Courtiers which he did accordingly with great Sums of Money paid yearly to the English Nobility Among others he sent two thousand Crowns to the Lord Hastings Lord Chamberlain the Messenger desiring a Receipt for his own security which the Lord Chamberlain scrupling at said Sir What you desire is very reasonable but the Gift comes from the good Will of your King and not from my Request If you please to give it put into the Pocket of my Sleeve and no other Acquittance shall you have of me for it shall never be said that the Lord Chamberlain of England was a Pensioner to the King of France neither shall my Acquittances be ever found in the Chamber of Accounts in France After this the Lord Chamberlain was more esteemed by the French and had his Money paid without a Receipt About this time the Duke of Clarence being sent to the Tower for High Treason was drowned in a Butt of Malmsey and soon after King Edward himself died after he hid lived 40 years and reigned twenty two 1483. He was a very compleat Person exceeding Valiant but too wanton he used to say he had three Mistresses of different Qualities one of them the Fairest another the Merriest and a third the Holiest Harlot alive whom he could never send for to his Bed but she was always at Prayers with her Beads EDWARD the FIFTH King of England c. IF Birth or Beauty Innocence or Youth Could Pity raise within a Tyâ—ants Heart Then surely Richard would have found it Truth And not have acted such a bloody Part. What Glory then to be of Royal Race What Joy is there in
saith the famous Eusebius after our Conversation was through too much Liberty and Licentiousness degenerated and Holiness of Life neglected whilst we did envy bite and backbite each other raising intestine War and wounding one another with opprobrious Words whilst nothing but Hypocrisie was in the Face Deceit in the Heart and Guile on the Tongue whereby Vengeance and Wrath was come to the height even then it was that the heavy Hand of God began to visit us Nevertheless when God had done using these his Rods of Correction he cast them into the Fire for these two Emperours having renounced the Empire and being again become Private Men. Dioclesian poysoned himself and Maximinian hanged himself Marcus Antoninus was another of the Roman Emperours who commanded here in whose Reign the Christian Religion was first professed by Publick Authority under Lucius the first Christian King in the World At which time Elutherius then Bishop of Rome sent Faganus and Damianus to him upon whose Preaching the Heathenish Flamens and Arch-Flamens being twenty eight in number were converted to so many Bishops Sees whereof London York and Caerleon upon Vsk in Wales were made the Metropolitans The first Archbishop of London was Theanus This Marcus Aurelius raised a horrid Persecution against the Christians wherein those famous Worthies Polycarpus and Justin Martyr suffered with many other zealous Christians But in the Wars with the Germans what with the Pestilence and want of Water his Army was very sorely distressed but by the Prayers of the Christian Soldiers in his Host such plenty of Rain fell that after five days parching Drowth and Thirst the whole Army was refreshed and strengthened and at the same time his Enemies on the contrary were utterly discomfited and overthrown by Thunder and Lightning from Heaven Whereupon the Emperour abated his Persecution and named that Legion of the Christians the Thundring Legion Theodosius was the last of the Roman Emperours that had Power in Britain which was in the Year of Christ 423. For about this time the Goths who had faithfully served the Romans above twenty years being disobliged and slighted to revenge their Wrongs they chose for their Leader a violent Goth called Alaricus who shortly after proved the Scourge of Rome For the Vandals Alans and Suecians joyning with him they began a fierce War in Austria and Hungary increasing their Forces into such vast Multitudes that the World stood amazed and trembled at them For soon after two hundred thousand Goths more resorted to them who with these united Forces over-run Thracia Hungary Austria Sclavonia and Dalmatia ruining and destroying all things in so dreadful a manner that it seemed rather the Ravage of Devils than Men. The Roman Empire thus declining they drew their Forces out of Britain But a while after the Britans were extremely distressed by the continual Disturbers of their Peace the Scots and Picts therefore they sent their Ambassadors to Rome with their Garments rent and Dust upon their Heads bewailing their most miserable Condition and begging Assistance whereupon the Emperour sent a Regiment of Soldiers into Britain under Gallio who for a while secured them but was soon called back with his Legion into France to secure the Country about Paris At his departure he advised the Britans to stand upon their Guard and for the future to provide for their own Safety and not to depend upon any Succours from the Romans who had their Hands full of Troubles nearer home Thus the Romans after they had commanded in Britain about five hundred years took their last Farewel thereof During their continuance here they had levied so many Companies of stout Britans for their Wars in Armenia Egypt and other Frontier Countries that they had much dispeopled the Nation Some of these British Soldiers after they were worn out in the Wars had Armorica in France assigned them by Constantine the Great for their good Service in the Wars from whom it was called Little-Britain Unto this Country in the time of Gratian the Emperour was Vrsula the Daughter of Dinoth Regent of Cornwal sent with eleven thousand Virgins who were to have been married to their Countrymen the Britans but they all perished e're they arrived some being drowned in the Sea by Tempest and the Remainder put to the Sword by the barbarous Huns and Picts because they would not yield to their filthy Lusts THE GOVERNMENT of the SAXONS THe Southern or more Civiliz'd Britans being extremely weakned by the Romans exporting so many of their valiant Soldiers and then forsaking them and likewise by Scarcity and Famine their inveterate Foes the Scots and Picts take this unhappy Opportunity to infest them with all manner of Cruelties and Barbarities So that being no longer able to defend and secure themselves they supplicate for Aid from Germany inviting the Jutes Angles and Saxons who then inhabited Jutland Holstein and the Coasts along the River Rhene to come to their Assistance Their Proposal was readily embraced and nine thousand of them under the Command of two Brethren Hengist and Horsa entred the Land at Ebsfleet in the Isle of Thanet in Kent where they were received with great Joy and entertained with Songs according to the Custom of the Britans who allotted them that Island to inhabit and a while after Vortigern then King of the Britans allowed Hengist so much Land as he could encompass within a Bull-hide cut out into Thongs wherein he built a Castle which from thence had the Name of Thong-Castle When it was finished Hengist invited the King to see it who there fell in love with Rowena the Daughter or Niece of Hengist upon which Match Hengist grew more bold contriving to make the Island his Inheritance and thereupon sent for fresh Forces who at their arrival caused several Quarrels among the Natives dispossessing the People of their Estates every Commander reckoning that part of the Country his own where he could over-match the Britans where they commanded as absolutely as Princes whereby the Country was burdened with seven Kings at once each of them having Sovereign Command within his own Limits though still one seemed to be Supreme over all the rest This was usually called the Saxon Heptarchy or Seven Kingdoms The first and chiefest was that of Kent onely governed by Hengist and his Successors for three hundred seventy two years The next was the Kingdom of the South Saxons containing the Counties of Sussex and Surrey continuing a hundred and thirteen years 3. That of the West Saxons comprehending the Counties of Cornwal Devon Dorset Somerset Wilts Berks and Hampshire it lasted three hundred years 4. The East Saxons Kingdom which was Essex Middlesex and part of Hartfordshire 5. The Kingdom of Northumberland containing the Counties of Northumberland Westmorland Cumberland Durham York and Lancaster continuing three hundred seventy nine years 6. The Kingdom of Mercia which was compos'd of the Counties of Oxford Glocester Worcester Salop Cheshire Stafford Warwick Buckingham Bedford Huntington part of Hartfordshire
Northampton Rutland Lincoln Leicester Derby and Nottingham continuing two hundred and two years 7. The last Kingdom was that of the East Angles containing the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk which lasted three hundred fifty three years Yet during the time of this Heptarchy many of the British Princes valiantly defended their lawful Inheritances and with great Courage endeavoured to prevent the Saxon Yoke from being imposed upon their Necks Among whom was Vortimer the Son of Vortigern afore-mentioned for Vortigern being after sixteen years Reign deposed from the Government for his Kindness to the Saxons his Son Vortimer was chosen King of the Britans and presently engaged against the Saxons gaining so much in four famous Victories over them that they were almost extirpated He erected a Monument in the Isle of Thanet in the Place where the Saxons were overthrown which to this day is called the Stowers wherein he commanded his Body to be buried that the Saxons might be terrified with the sight thereof He restored the Christian Religion then much decayed and rebuilt the Churches destroyed by the Pagan Saxons Rowena procured his Death by Poyson after which his Father Vortigern was re-established in the Government But being oppressed by the Saxons and pursued by Aurelius he fled into Wales where in a Castle which he built by Merlin's Directions in the Mountains he with his Daughter whom he had taken to Wife were burnt to Ashes Aurelius Ambrosius was likewise very successful against the Saxons He is said to have built Stonehenge near Salisbury in remembrance of the Massacre of three hundred of the British Nobility who were there slain by the Treachery of the Saxons Vter Pendragon who succeeded him was no less fortunate He was named Pendragon either because at his Birth there appeared a fiery Comet like a Dragons Head or from his Royal Banner wherein was the Picture of a Dragon with a Golden Head He died of Poyson put into a Well wherein he used to drink Arthur his Son and Successor won twelve Battels against the Saxons and chased Colgern their Captain from his Camp in Northumberland to York from whence he escaped into Germany The Relicks of Arthur's Round Table are to this time shewn at Winchester with the Twenty four Seats After him reigned Constantine Aurelius Conanus Vortiporus Malgo Canonus and Careticus This last King raised a Civil War among his own Subjects the Britans which made them forsake him and leave him to the Mercy of the Saxons who pursuing him he fled to Cirencester in Berkshire for safety but his Enemies taking several Sparrows fastned Fire to their Feet and let them fly into the City who lighting upon Straw and thatcht Houses burnt the City to the Ground but Careticus escaped and fled for security to the Mountains of Wales where he died After twenty four years Civil Dissention Cadwan was made King During these Troubles Austin the Monk who was sent hither by Pope Gregory to convert the Britans carrying himself very insolently at a Meeting with the British Bishops at a Place thence named Austins Oak in Worcestershire they could come to no Agreement whereupon it is thought Austin contrived this cruel Revenge There was a Monastery at Bangor in North Wales situated in a fruitful Valley now called The English Mailor containing in compass about a Mile and an half of Ground This Monastery saith my Author was the Mother of all others in the World the Monks whereof divided themselves into several Companies every one consisting in about three hundred Souls and all maintaining themselves by the Labour of their Hands Many of these Monks met at Caer Legion now Chester to assist their Brethren the Britans with their Prayers against Ethelfrid the wicked King of Northumberland who with his Pagan Soldiers by the Procurement of Austin as was judged slew two thousand of these Christian Monks and discomfited the British Host Cadwallo his Son reigned after him and was victorious over the Saxons slaying Edwin King of Northumberland and his Son Osfride in a bloody Battel He died in peace say the British Writers and was buried at St. Martins Church in London his Statue on Horseback in Brass being set upon Ludgate for a Terrour to the Saxons Cadwalloder the Son of Cadwallo fought manfully against the Saxons but the Distractions amongst his Nobility much hindred his Proceedings There was likewise a dreadful Famine in his Reign so that the Common People reckoned Roots and Herbs to be dainty Food This was followed by a woful Mortality which was so raging and sudden that great numbers of People were surpriz'd by Death while they were eating drinking walking and speaking These Calamities lasted near eleven years so that the Country was almost depopulated the King and his British Peers being forced to leave the Land who went to his Cousin Allan King of Little Britain in France The Saxons taking advantage of these severe Miseries lamentably oppressed the wretched Britans to whose Aid Cadwallader with the Assistance of his Cousin Allan did once design to return but being diverted by a Dream which he had he went on Pilgrimage to Rome and according to the Superstition of that Age he there turned Monk where he soon after died and was buried with whom died all the Hopes of the Britans he being the last King of the British Blood whereby the Saxons became Sovereign Lords and Masters of this Island And thus was this unhappy Country a second time conquered by Strangers which hapned about the Year of our Lord 689. Yet the Saxons according to the common Fate of Conquerours after they had subdued their Enemies disagreed among themselves and several of their Princes incroached upon the Territories of each other and so became petty Monarchs of some part of Britain These were reckoned to be fourteen in number till at last Egbert the eighteenth King of the West Saxons got command over all the seven Kingdoms of the Saxons and so became sole Monarch of England which none of his Predecessors before ever obtained He had War fourteen Years with the Cornish and Welch and took Westchester their chief Hold from them making a strict Law against any Welchman that should pass over Offa's Dike or set one Foot within his English Dominions He slew Bernulf King of Mercia in Battel and drove the King of Kent out of his Kingdom The East Angles and East Saxons submitted to him and likewise the South Saxons whereupon he caused himself to be crowned absolute Monarch at Winchester And this Monarchy continued in the Saxons till the Danes first got and then lost it again and the Saxons Issue failing upon their next entrance it then fell to the Normans as by the Sequel will appear In the fourteenth year of Egbert the Danes with thirty three Ships landed in England to whom he gave Battel but had the worst of the Day losing two of his chief Captains and two Bishops but the Danes returning two years after into Wales and joyning with the Welch
Egbert overcame both Danes and Welch together Ethelwolph his Son succeeded after whom reign'd Ethelbald Ethelbert Ethelred and then Alfred in whose time the Danes under Rollo a Nobleman came over with a great Army but by the Valour of Alfred were beaten This virtuous Prince divided the twenty four Hours of the Day and Night into three equal Parts which he observed by the burning of a Taper set in his Chappel Clocks and Watches being not then in use Eight Hours he spent in Contemplation Reading and Prayer other eight for his Repose and the Necessaries of Life and the other eight in Affairs of State He divided the Kingdom into Shires Hundreds and Tythings for the better Administration of Justice and suppressing of Robbers and Felons which had so good effect that the People might travel with all manner of security yea saith my Author if Bracelets of Gold had been hung in the High-ways none durst have presumed to have taken them away He commanded all his Subjects who possessed two Hides of Land to bring up their Sons in Learning till they were at least fifteen years old asserting That he accounted a Man Free-born and yet Illiterate to be no better than a Beast a Sot and a Brainless Creature Neither would he admit any into Office that were not so He translated the Holy Gospel into the Saxon Tongue was devout in the Service of God and a great Protector of Widows and Orphans Edward his eldest Son succeeded him against whom his Nephew Ethelwald rebelled His Sister Elfleda had very hard Travel of her first Child whereupon she ever after forbore the Nuptial Embraces alledging it to be an over-foolish Pleasure which occasioned such bitter Pains and listing her self a Soldier under her Brother she performed many valiant Exploits against the Danes against whom Edward obtained a great Victory near Wolverhampton wherein two of their Kings were slain with many of the Nobility and a Multitude of Common Soldiers which procured him both Fear and Love from the People After his Death Ethelstane reigned who is said to be the first Anointed King of this Island He enlarged his Dominions farther than he received them He overthrew Godfrey the Danish King of Northumberland Howell King of Wales and Constantine King of Scotland forcing them to submit to his Pleasure after which he again restored them to their Dignities glorying That it was more Honour to make a King than to be a King These Actions procured him much Renown from his Neighbour-Princes who courted his Friendship and sent him curious Presents Otho the Emperour who married his Sister sent him a Curiosity richly set with Precious Stones very artificially contrived wherein were Landskips with Vines Corn and Men seeming so naturally to move as if they had been real The King of Norway sent him a sumptuous Ship richly gilt with Purple Sails The King of France sent him a Sword which was said to have been Constantine's the Great the Hilt whereof was all of Gold and therein as they said was one of the Nails which fastned Christ to the Cross He likewise sent the Spear of Charles the Great reported to be the same wherewith our Saviours Side was pierced also a part of the Cross a piece of the Crown of Thorns and the Banner of St. Maurice It is related That this King Ethelstane or Athelstane in the third Year of his Reign was so harassed by the Danes that he was forced to shut himself up in Winchester City who propounded to him either to submit and hold the Realm of them or to determine the Quarrel between two Champions of each side The King was much perplexed at these Propositions because his three valiant Knights Guy Earl of Warwick who lived in his Reign or not at all one Herand another courageous Knight and Earl Rohand Guy's Father-in-Law were gone to the Holy Land In this Strait after he had prayed for Deliverance it is said he had a Vision wherein he was directed to rise early the next Morning and taking two Bishops with him to get up to the top of the North Gate of that City where he should see a likely Man clothed as a Pilgrim bare-foot and on his bare Head a Chaplet of White Roses and that this should be the Man that should conquer Colebrand the Danish Giant for so was his Name and free the English from the Danish Bondage The next Day the King thus attended at the Gate sees Earl Guy so habited being newly arrived from Jerusalem whereupon Athelstane addressing himself to him desires him to accept the Combate as being ordained by Heaven to acquit this Realm from Tyranny Guy replied My Lord you may easily perceive that I am not in a Condition to take upon me this Fight being harassed and weakned by daily Travel lay this Task therefore upon your stout and hardy Soldiers whom you were wont v ry much to esteem Ah said the King such indeed I had but they are gone some to the Holy Land as one valiant Knight called Guy who was Earl of Warwick I had also a courageous Servant named Sir Herand de Ardene Would to God they were now here for then would this Duel be soon undertaken and the War quickly finished In speaking which Words the Tears trickled down his Cheeks which made such impression upon the Pilgrim that he engaged to undertake the Combate Upon the Day appointed Guy putting on the King's best Armour the Sword of Constantine the Great St. Maurice his Lance and one of the Kings best Coursers he rode through Winchester appearing like a most accomplish'd Knight and went to the Place appointed which was in a Valley called Chiltecumb where Colebrand soon after came so loaded with Armour that his Horse could scarce bear him and a Cart driven before him filled with Danish Axes great Clubs with Knobs of Iron squared Bars of Steel and Iron Hooks to pluck his Adversary to him Thus marching disdainfully along and seeing Sir Guy in the height of Pride he commanded him to come off his Horse and throw himself with submission at his Feet But the gallant Pilgrim disregarding his Words commending himself to Heaven put Spurs to his Horse and at the first Encounter pierced the Giants Shield with such Force that his Lance broke into Shivers which so enraged the Giant that coming up furiously he killed Guy's Horse who being dismounted dangerously wounded Colebrand The Combate having lasted for some time the Giant fainted and fell with loss of Blood and Guy immediately cut off his Head thereby freeing England at present from the insulting Dane After all which he offered his Sword in the Cathedral of Winchester which was long after kept in the Vestry and called Colebrand's Ax. The other Reliques of Guy Mr. Drayton thus describes Thy Statue Guy Cliff keeps the Gazers Eyes to please Warwick thy mighty Arms thou mighty Hercules Thy strong and massy Sword that never was controll'd Which as her ancient Right her Castle still doth hold Thus much for
all possible haste to England accompanied with divers Norman Gentlemen and arriving at Southampton was received by the villainous Earl Godwin with much pretended Kindness and Friendship who made as if he would bring him to London but being come to Gilford in Surrey Godwin commanded his Men to kill all Alfred's Company and then carrying him to the Isle of Ely ordered his Eyes to be put out Then opening his Body they took out his Bowels and fastning one end of his Guts to a Stake they drove him round it with Iron Darts and Needles till all his Bowels came clear away Thus died innocent Alured or Alfred the true Heir to the Crown by the Treachery of Godwin to the great disgust of the English Nobility who vowed Revenge This Harold called Harefoot for his great swiftness did not long enjoy his usurped Dominion for after four years he died After which Hardiknute the Son of Canutus and Queen Emma who was by his Father made King of Denmark is now by the States of the Land both Danes and English invited over hither to take upon him the Government He was a great Oppressor of the English by heavy Taxes which so enraged them that two of his Collectors were slain at Worcester for which their City was burnt and their Bishop Alfred expelled his Office till with Moâ—◠〈◊〉 had purchased his Peace Though this King 〈◊〉 it cry vicious yet it is said he was more kind to Edward his Half-brother and made Earl Godwin purge himself for the Death of Prince Alfred though it is thought his bountiful Gifts to the King prevailed much more for clearing him than his Innocence One Present especially is very remarkable that is A Ship whose Stern was of Gold and fourscore Soldiers all richly habited within her on their Heads they all wore gilt Burgonets and on their Bodies a triple-gilt Habergeon about their Wastes Swords girt richly gilt a Danish Battel-ax on their left Shoulders a Target with gilt Bosses on their left Hand a Dart in their right and upon their Arms Bracelets of Gold of great Value After two years Reign Hardiknute died in the midst of his drunken Debaucheries and in him ended the Danish Race in England three Kings onely of that Nation reigning here This third Conquest was but of a short continuance yet were the Danes very insolent toward the English during that time for if an Englishman and a Dane met at a Bridge or at a Door the Englishman must stand still till the Dane past by and if he did not then bow down very low to the Dane he was certainly beaten and abused Yea it is related That while the English were drinking the Danes would stab them or cut their Throats to prevent which when the Englishman drank he desired his next Companion to be his Surety or Pledge from whence it is said the Custom of Pledging one another did first arise For these and abundant greater Insolencies after the Death of Hardiknute the Danes were utterly driven out of Engand and never again returned THE GOVERNâ—â—NT of the SAXONS RESTOR'D EDward called the Confessor succeeded next in 1042. who was an absolute Englishman and the youngest Son of Etheldred and Queen Emma being invited from Normandy by all the English Nobility who disdained the Danish Subjection and was entertained with great Joy He first remitted that heavy Danish Tax of Forty thousand pound a year called Dane-gilt imposed by his Father and paid forty years by all but the Clergy who were exempted Because the Kings reposed more confidence in the Prayers of the Holy Church than in the Power of Armies It is reported Edward forgave that Tax upon this occasion A great Sum of that Treasure being brought into his Chamber and laid in a heap he being called to see it was at first sight much affrighted protesting he saw the Devil dancing with great Joy upon the same and therefore commanded it should be again restored to his Subjects and released them from it for ever after He married Editha Earl Godwin's Daughter but never had any Conjugal Society with her though she was a Lady accomplished with all excellent Endowments both of Mind and Body so that this old Verse was written on her Sicut Spina Rosam Genuit Goduinus Editham From prickled Stalk as sweetest Rose So Edith fair from Godwin grows Edward himself confessed upon his Death bed That openly she was his Wife but in secret Embracings as his own Sister But whether it were Infirmity or Chastity it seems he was willing to have her accused of Incontinency whereof if she were guilty he could not be innocent it being a great Injury to put his Wives Virtue to so Tyrannical a trial After this some Differences arose between him and Earl Godwin and Forces were raised on both sides but by the Intercession of the Nobility an Agreement was made Yet Godwin escaped not Divine Vengeance for being charged by the King for the Murder of Alfred he wished if he were guilty he might never swallow down a bit of Bread again which hapned accordingly for the first bit of Bread he put into his Mouth choaked him as he sate with the King at Table A dreadful Instance of Gods Severity against Perjury This King is blamed for his Cruelty to his Mother in forcing her to pass over nine burning Plow-shares bare-foot and blind fold for a Trial of her Continency which yet she performed without the least damage He is said to be the first King that cured the Disease called the Kings-Evil It is related That this King lying on his Bed one Afternoon with the Curtains drawn a pilfering Courtier coming into his Chamber and finding the Kings Casket open which Hugoline his Chamberlain had forgot to shut he took out as much Money as he could well carry and went away But finding such Success he came a second and a third time still carrying off more At which the King who had observed all called to him to be gone with all speed since he had enough if he could be contented For said he if Hugoline should come and catch thee thou wilt go nigh to lose all thou hast got and mayst get a Halter into the Bargain The Fellow was no sooner gone but Hugoline came in and finding the Casket open and a great deal of Money taken out he was much incensed But the King bid him not be moved For said he he that hath it hath more need of it than we When this King Edward was hastning out of Normandy with a great Army to recover England from the Danes being ready to give Battel his Captains assured him of Victory and that they would not leave one Dane alive God forbid said Edward that the Kingdom should be recovered for me who am but one Man by the death of so many thousands better it is that I should live a private and unbloody Life than to be a King by such a Slaughter and Butchery This King having no Issue of his own
or Halberts in the Van the Battel began both Parties fighting bravely one for the Liberty of their Country and the other for a Kingdom The Normans perceiving they could not break the united Strength of the English pretended to fly which the English believing pursued them in disorder whereupon the Normans taking the advantage rallied and charging them furiously in that disjoynted Posture made a very great Slaughter among the English and among the rest King Harold his Brother and most of the English Nobility fell that day and of the Common Soldiers Sixty seven thousand nine hundred seventy four Others report an hundred thousand were slain Duke William had three Horses killed under him yet received not the least Wound his Loss being onely as is said Six thousand Men. Thus died King Harold after onely nine Months Reign and was buried at Waltham Abby in Essex And it is very remarkable That whereas Harold with his Father Godwin had cruelly murdered Alfred the true Heir to the Crown and his Normans he was now by a Norman wounded in the left Eye with an Arrow whereof he immediately died This great Battel was fought at Hastings in Sussex on Saturday October 14. 1066. The English after this vast Loss had designed to make Edgar Atheling King but it was prevented by their private Animosities And thus ended the Saxon Monarchy in England which from Hengist in 475. to this Year had continued save onely some short Interruptions by the Danes Five hundred ninety one Years And here we shall begin to give a more particular Account of all the Monarchs who have Reigned in England till His present Majesty King CHARLES the Second whom God preserve WILLIAM the FIRST SIRNAMED THE CONQVEROVR King of England and Duke of Normandy BY bloody Battels Conquest and by Fate Rich Englands Crown and Kingdom I surpris'd I topsie-turvie turn'd the English State And Laws and Customs strange and new devis'd And where I Conquer'd there I Tyranniz'd In stead of Love making the People fear In raising Taxes I was exercis'd And Tributes greater than the Land could bear Yea and the Normans Fame the more to rear The English I forbid the English Tongue French Grammar Schools I instituted here And ' gainst this Nation added Wrong to Wrong At last my Crown Sword Scepter Conquests brave I left I lost and scarce could find a Grave DUke William after the Fight which from that time was called Battel-Field and an Abby of that name built there hastned toward London wasting the Counties of Kent Sussex Surrey Hantshire and Berkshire and crossing the Thames at Wallingford marched through Oxfordshire Bucks and Hartford hire and on Christmas day following was Crowned King at Westminster by the inforced Consent of the English Nobility who with outward Applause though with inward Grief and Discontent acknowledged themselves to be his Subjects the Kentish-men onely excepted by whom as he went to possess himself of the strong Castle of Dover he was intercepted in his March being encompassed by many valiant Soldiers who carrying green Boughs in their Hands seemed to be a moving Wood suddenly environed him and his Followers protesting That rather than they would basely lose their Privileges and be deprived of their ancient Laws and Customs they were resolved every Man to die in the Place The King considering his own Danger and their Resolution consented to their Demands and for their bold and generous Resolution he ever after honoured them with this Preheminence That the Men of Kent should lead the Van in the Field And thereupon the Earldom and Castle of Dover was delivered to King William Now what the Kentish-men obtained by Arms the Citizens of London procured by Art for one William a Norman being their Bishop they so prevailed with him and he with the King that he confirmed their former Charter written in the Saxon Tongue and sealed with Green Wax to this Effect William King greeteth William Bishop and Godfrey Portreeve and all the Burgesses that in London be French and English Friendly And I do you to wit That I will that you enjoy all the Law which you did in the Days of Edward King And I will That each Child be his Fathers Inheritor after his Fathers Days And I will not suffer that any Man any Wrong you offer God keep you King William having thus conquered the Kingdom used several Policies for securing it to himself For presuming that he was obeyed by the Natives more out of Fear than Love 1. He took Hostages of those that were dearest to the English either Sons or Nephews whom he sent into Normandy for securing their Fidelity 2. He deprived the English of all Offices both of Honour and Profit conferring them on his Normans 3 Because the Clergy were much reverenced by the People and concerned themselves in Temporal Affairs he ordained That they should concern themselves onely in Spiritual Matters 4. To take away all Hopes of regaining their Liberty he disarmed all the Natives and left them utterly disabled to make any Resistance 5. To prevent all Concourse or Meetings where they might have opportunity to condole their Miseries especially in the Night he commanded a Bell to be hung up in every Town Village and City to be rung at Eight a Clock every Night at which every Englishman was to put out his Fire and to keep himself within his House 6. To diminish the English Nobility he sent them to fight his Battels in Normandy and if any of them returned Victorious they were much discountenanced in stead of being rewarded The Common People were likewise used in the same manner being still ordered to endure the hottest Service in Fight both in France and Normandy 7. He erected strong Forts and Castles in several places of the Realm commanded by his Countrymen who made the least Crime committed by the English to be Capital to them 8. He deprived the Gentry and Clergy of their Plate and Money yea even that used in Churches alledging That Thieves Traytors and Rebels had hid them there to deceive him of his Forfeitures and support themselves against his Authority 9. He published divers severe Laws in the French Tongue whereby many English of great Estates did ignorantly transgress and the smallest Offences were made sufficient to seise their Estates which were violently taken from them without any Commiseration 10. He declared the Patents Grants and Charters of former Kings to be void and having seised them into his own Hands he sold them again to the true Owners for great Sums of Money which if they could not procure he gave them to his French and Normans 11. He took a general Survey of the Natives Lands and Cattel and then laid unreasonable Taxes upon them not regarding their Cries or Poverty 12. He erected new Courts of Justice for administring his new Laws and caused his Judges constantly to follow his Court that they might never act any thing which should displease him or gratifie the English 13. To give
the freer Access to the French and Normans if the English should rebell he plucked down and ruined Thirty six Churches with many Towns and Villages for many Miles even from Salisbury to the Sea making his New Forest there But this Offence did not escape unpunished for in this very Forest Richard the Kings second Son was goared by a Deer and died William Rufus his third Son was slain by an Arrow shot at an Hart and his Grandchild Robert Curtoyse being in pursuit of the Game was struck by a Bough into the Jaws and died there 14. His chief Pleasure being in Hunting he seised all Chases and Forests of the Kingdom into his Hands making very cruel Laws against such as presumed to hunt in them without License as the loss of Eyes Limbs and the like 15. He gave large Territories and Farms to his Favourites who leased them out to their Slaves and Servants creating them into Mannors and calling themselves Lords thereof He reserved some Tenures to himself whereby his Tenants were obliged to serve him in the Wars or attend his Person to which they were sworn in Publick Courts by which Tenure he disposed of their Heirs in Marriage having Possession of their Estates till they were Twenty one years of age By which Example other Great Lords did the like This was the Model of King William's sharp and severe Government wherein he rather used the Power of an insolent and lawless Conquerour than the Legal Administration of a gracious King whereby he was feared by many but loved by few and such as were most in favour with him were discountenanced upon every slight occasion These violent Proceedings especially in raising such intolerable Taxes occasioned a Rebellion in Devonshire and another in Northumberland the second Year of his Reign but his good Fortune soon suppressed them as it also did the next Year the Invasion of Swanus King of Denmark who was incited thereto by the English that fled thither for Succour from the Cruelty of King William but he no sooner saw them almost e're he made them fly back to their Ships and to revenge the Infidelity of the English he utterly destroyed their fruitful Lands about York and Durham so that the Ground lay waste nine years after and abundance of People died with Want and Famine The next year he summoned a general Convocation of the Clergy wherein he bitterly accused several grave and learned Bishops Abbots Priors and others of many pretended Crimes and Offences for which he absolutely deprived them of their Dignities and Estates which he bestowed on others either for Love or Money These insufferable Acts provoked Marcarus and Edwin the Earls of Northumberland and Mercia with Egilwyn Bishop of Durham to raise an Insurrection But the King quickly drove Edwyn into Scotland Marcarus was taken and imprisoned in the Tower of London where he long continued and the Bishop was inhumanely famish'd to death in Abington Abby At this time great difference arose about the Primacy of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York but at last it was adjudged in favour of the first and York submitted accordingly In his fifteenth year his eldest Son Robert by the instigation of Philip the French King rebelled against him in Normandy which occasioned his Father to go thither with an Army where he was so stoutly encountred that he was unhorsed and in great danger of his Life by his Son unknown but he hearing his Fathers Voice rescued him again and was after reconciled and received Pardon of his Father and the King with great loss returned again to England Soon after William to revenge divers Injuries and Affronts offered him by King Phi ip in Normandy went with a gallant Army into France where finding Odo Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux his Brother by the Mother to hold secret Correspondence with the French King he complained thereof to the Lords whereupon Lanfrank Archbishop of Canterbury advised the King to commit him to Prison What says the King are you for committing a Clergy-man You need not said Lanfrank commit the Bishop of Bayeux but you may very justly imprison the Earl of Kent Which was done accordingly Sometime before this Pope Hildebrand dying a Magician told Odo That he foresaw he should succeed him upon which Odo having already swallowed the Papacy in thought sent Money the most prevailing Messenger to Rome before-hand and purchased himself a Palace there providing likewise for his Journey thither but King William for his Presumption and other Misdemeanours staid and committed him saying Offensive foolhardiness must be restrained in time While the King was in Normandy he fell sick and the French King hearing his Distemper was in his Belly scoffingly said Our Cousin William is now in Childbed Ah what a number of Candles must I offer at his going to Church Sure an hundred thousand will hardly be enough King William hearing of this Jest said Well I hope our Cousin of France shall be at no such Cost for after this my Childbirth at my going to Church I will saith he swearing by the Resurrection and Brightness of God find him a thousand Candles and light them all my self Alluding to the Candles that Women used to carry in that Age when they went to be Churched And soon after he performed his Word destroying the People Towns and Cities on the Frontiers of France with Sword and Fire but in burning the City of Mantz he came so near the flames that with the heat of his Harness he got a Sickness which being increased by the Leaping of his Horse burst the inner Rim of his Belly he being very Corpulent of which he soon after died at Roan Upon his Death-bed he said I appoint no Successor to the Kingdom of England but I commend it to the Eternal God whose I am and in whose Hands all things are He much lamented his Severity and Cruelty to the English Nation He was buried in the Abby of St. Stephen at Caen in Normandy though his Funerals were interrupted by a Norman Gentleman who would not permit him to be buried till he had received Satisfaction for that Ground which the Conquerour had unjustly taken from him Thus this victorious Conquerour whose Mind could not be confin'd to one Kingdom while he lived being dead could hardly get a place to be buried in The Charters and Conveyances in his Reign were not so tedious as now adays but very short and plain as appears by this following transcribed out of an Authentick Record I William King the third of my Reign give to Norman Hunter to me that art both leif and dear the Hop and the Hopton and all the Bounds up and down under the Earth to Hell above the Earth to Heaven from me and mine to thee and thine as good and as fair as ever they mine were To witness that this is sooth I bite the white Wax with my Tooth Before Jug Maud and Margery and my youngest Son Henry For a Bow and a broad
replied It was he By St. Luke 's Face saith the King thou art a brave Fellow and shalt be inrolled my Knight with a Maintenance suitable to thy great Valour The Siege continuing long Henry was much distressed for Water desiring the Favour of Robert not to deny him what Heaven had made common to all Upon which Robert ordered him to be supplied whereat William being inraged What says Robert dost thou more value a little Water which is to be found every where than the Life of a Brother having onely my self and him In a short time Peace was made and all the Brethren were reconciled After which Duke Robert resolving to go to Jerusalem accompanied with several other Christian Princes he mortgaged his Dukedom to the King for Six thousand six hundred sixty six Pound to raise which Sum King William laid heavy Taxes upon his Subjects neither were Churches and Monasteries Privileges he forcing the Clergy to bring in vast Sums Upon the Kings return to England the Welch rebell and secure themselves so strongly in their Marshes and thick Woods that the Army wherewith â—he marched against them could not prevail to suppress them At the same time Robert Mowbray E. of Northumberland judging himself not sufficiently rewarded for his Service against Malcolm King of Scots raised a Rebellion against whom William marched with great fury and as soon as he met with his revolted Subjects he quickly put them to flight and for terrour to others he cut off the Ears Hands Noses Feet of several of the Prisoners putting out the Eyes of others and Mowbray being taken was sent Prisoner to Windsor-Castle King William still continued his Exactions upon the People selling all Offices in Church and State for ready Money and keeping many Bishopricks and Abbies vacant a long time that he might receive the Revenues thereof saying That Christ's Bread meaning church-Church-Lands is sweet dainty and most delicate Food for Kings These things were sharply reprehended by Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury but finding no Redress he appealed to Pope Vrban the Third which the King prohibited him to do The Custom saith he from my Fathers time hath been That no Person in England should appeal to the Pope without the King's License He that violateth the Customs of the Realm violateth the Crown and Power of the Kingdom and he that violateth and taketh away the Crown is a Traytor and an Enemy against me Yet the Bishop upon pretence of Conscience and Obedience to St. Peter's Successors in Spiritual Matters was resolved to go and went accordingly though the King would not suffer him to carry any thing with him ordering all his Goods to be seised as he was travelling to embarque himself King William while he was at Dinner in New-Forest had Advice sent him That the French King had besieged the City of Constantia in Normandy and that it was in great danger to be lost Whereupon he swore his usual Oath by St. Luke's Face That he would not turn his Back till he had relieved them and thereupon commanded the Wall of the House wherein he was to be pulled down and leaving his Sports bidding his Nobles follow him he posted with great expedition to the Sea without any Preparations for such a Voyage and finding a Ship it hapned to be a very great Tempest yet he commanded the Mariners to set Sail immediately which they dissuaded him from as a thing extremely desperate but the King replied Hoise up your Sails in God's Name for I never yet heard of a King that was drowned in a Tempest you shall see both the Winds and Waves will be favourable to us Which hapned accordingly and arriving unexpectedly the French were so extremely surprised that they presently raised the Siege and departed Such was the Courage and Resolution of this fortunate Prince which further appears by this Instance Being suddenly set upon by three armed Soldiers who had just before unhorsed him he defended himself with his Saddle in stead of a Buckler in one Hand and his Sword in the other till his own Men came to his Relief who blamed him for taking too much care to save his Saddle By St. Luke said he I had rather have lost my Life than left my Saddle to the scorn of the Enemy Another Instance is That in the late Surprise of the French before Constans he took Helias Earl of Flescia their Commander in Chief Prisoner who when he saw himself captivated imputed this his Misfortune to the unlooked-for Arrival of the King threatning great matters if he were again at liberty Whereupon the King commanded him to be immediately set at liberty and bid him do the utmost he was able In the second year of his Reign a great Earthquake hapned and in his fourth year a very terrible Lightning which left an intolerable Stink behind and burnt the Steeple of the Abby of Winchester rending the Rafters on the Roof and throwing down the Image of the Virgin Mary and a Crucifix breaking one of the Legs thereof In his thirteenth year several other Prodigies hapned which were judged Forerunners of his Death In the Morning before he was slain he told his Attendants That he dreamed the last Night an extreme cold Wind passed thorow his Sides Whereupon some perswaded him not to hunt that day but he resolving on the contrary answered They are no good Christians that regard Dreams That very day while he was hunting in New-Forest afore-mentioned he was slain with an Arrow which being shot at a Deer unfortunately glanced upon him and struck him dead Thus ended the Troublesom though Victorious Reign of William Rufus so called from his ruddy Complexion He was the third Son of William the Conquerour He was of a wanton disposition very much delighting himself among his Concubines and died without any Legitimate Issue He was comely strong active and healthy of Body of an high Courage and Constancy not shaken with any Frowns of Fortune and withal very covetous so that what with the Pestilence and his great Exactions the Ground lay untilled from whence proceeded great Famine and Scarcity thorow England Thus he lived and after he had reigned Thirteen years and ten months thus he died in 1100. getting much and suddenly leaving all HENRY the FIRST SIRNAMED BEAVCLARKE MY Father and my Brother Kings both gone With joyful Acclamations I was Crown'd And having gain'd the Scepter and the Throne I with the Name of Beauclark was renown'd The English Laws long lost I did restore I made false Weights and Measures to hold true The Power and Strength of Wales I triumph'd o're And Normandy my Valour did subdue Yet I unmindful whence these Glories grew My eldest Brother Robert did surprise Detain'd him and usurp'd his Royal Due And most unnaturally pluck'd out his Eyes Kings live like Gods but yet like Men they die All must pay Natures Debt and so did I. AT the Death of William Rufus Robert Duke of Normandy the elder Brother was fighting victoriously
with several other Christian Princes against the Infidels in the Holy Land being fortunate in all his Proceedings save onely in his Succession to the Crown for his Success was so great there that he was freely offered to be made King of Jerusalem which he as generously refused By reason of his Absence his youngest Brother Henry without the least trouble or difficulty ascended the English Throne with the universal Approbation of the Nobility and Commons whose Inclinations were the stronger toward him because he was born in England after his Father was Crowned King and from the great Opinion they had of his singular Vertues Learning and good Temper Yet before his Coronation the Nobles obliged him to swear That he would ease the People of the great Taxes and many other Pressures under which they suffered which he accordingly performed After he was Crowned for the better ensuring his Estate and Title against the Claim of his Brother Robert he freely distributed the great Treasures left by King William among those who upon all Occasions he judged would stand by his Interest He dignified the Wealthy with high Offices and Titles of Honour He abated the Rigour of the New Laws and promised restitution of their old Privileges He regulated Weights and Measures bringing them all to one Standard He freed the People from the heavy Tribute of Danegilt and from all other unjust Taxes and Payments imposed by the former Kings He gave liberty to the Nobility and Gentry to enclose Parks and Chases with Game for their Recreation He banished from his Court all Flatterers as Traytors to his State and Government and all Luxury Sumptuousness in Apparel and Superfluity in Diet he utterly discountenanced He ordained That Thieves and High-way Robbers should be punished with Death With all manner of diligence and Application he endeavoured to reform the monstrous Pride intolerable Covetousness and extreme Sloth and Negligence of the Clergy He recalled Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury from Banishment and restored him to his Bishoprick giving him full Power to call Convocations and Synods at his Pleasure for regulating the intolerable Abuses of the Church yet leaving to the Pope his Authority to invest Bishops by giving them the Ring the Pall and the Pastoral Staff All such Ecclesiastical Dignities and Revenues which his Brother by the lewd Advice of Reynulph Bishop of Durham had seised into his Hands he freely conferred upon Grave and Learned Persons and committed Reynulph Prisoner to the Tower of London from whence he afterward escaped and earnestly invited Duke Robert who was now returned with great Honour from the Holy Land to recover the Kingdom with his Sword who thereupon raised a great Army with a Design to transport them to England In the mean time Henry having by his Proceedings endeared himself to his People confirmed them now further by marrying Maud Sister of Edgar King of Scots and Daughter of Malcolm by Margaret his Wife Sister to Edgar Atheling and Daughter to King Edward the Son of Edmund Ironside the victorious and valiant King of the Saxons Soon after Duke Robert arrived with his Army at Portsmouth many English joyning with him and great Expectations and Fears arose of a bloody War but by the discreet Mediation of Friends to both Sides a loving Agreement was concluded upon almost the same Conditions as with William Rufus namely That Henry should enjoy the Crown during Life paying to Robert Three thousand Marks a year Whereupon Robert returned back to the great discontent of his own Nobility Afterward Robert returned again to England to congratulate his Brothers good Fortune where he was Royally entertained and at the Request of his Sister Queen Maud he forgave the Payment of the Three thousand Marks a year Yet after a while the Ambition of Dominion caused Henry upon some slight occasion to quarrel with his Brother which proceeded so far that he went over to Normandy with an Army where being assisted by many of the Duke's discontented Nobility and Gentry he so prevailed against Robert that he took the Cities of Roan Caâ—n and Valois from him who being forsaken of all fled from one Place to another to secure himself King Henry returning victoriously into England and Robert perceiving that his Lords and People had utterly forsaken him and refused their Assistance and Henry's Strength and Riches increasing he came privately into England and presented himself to his Brother referring himself and all his Concerns to his own Determination But the King either knowing the Inconstancy of the Duke or being prepossessed by some Whisperers that he did not intend uprightly turned from his distressed Brother with a scornful and disdainful Countenance refusing to accept of this his humble Submission The Duke being struck to the Heart returns back to his own Country resolving to die like a Man in the Field but Henry soon routed his weak Forces and brought him Prisoner into England committing him to Cardiff Castle in Wales where endeavouring his Liberty his Eyes by Henry's Command were put out after which he lived miserably Twenty years and was buried at Glocester About this time Robert Belasme Earl of Shrewsbury raised a Rebellion but being soon vanquished he fled into Normandy where finding William of Mortaigne and Cornwal who was offended with the King for keeping from him the Earldom of Kent he soon perswaded him to raise another Insurrection and joyning their Forces they designed great matters but were presently routed by the King's Forces and kept Prisoners during their Lives The King being now freed from fear of Enemies resolved to take the same Advantages his Predecessors had done as to the Investiture of Bishops and taking vacant Bishopricks into his Hands whereat Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury was so displeased that he refused to Consecrate such new Bishops as had received their Investitures from the King But Girald Archbishop of York freely performed it upon the King's Command Hereupon Anselm went to complain at Rome and prevailed at last against the King by a Synod of the Clergy held at London Three years after Anselm died and King Henry seised the Revenues of his Bishoprick into his Hands which he kept five years and if at any time he were intreated by the Bishops to bestow it he still answered That he onely kept it for an able and sufficient Man Having enjoyed a few years of Peace he was again rowsed out of it by Lewis the French King who joyning with Fulk Earl of Anjou and Baldwyn Earl of Flanders they all made great Preparations for Invading the Dutchy of Normandy But Henry raising an Army of valiant Commanders and Soldiers landed there and soon engaged with them in Battel which continued nine hours with so great fury on each side that though King Henry won the Field and chased his flying Enemies a long way yet he would often say That he then fought not for Victory but Life Quickly after a Reconciliation was made between these four Princes and William King Henry's eldest Son
my Glory in the Dust And compass'd me with cruel Wars and Woes They poyson'd my sweet beauteous tainted Rose By the Contrivance of my furious Queen My Children their own Father did oppose Such Fruit hath Lust such Malice jealous Spleen Crosses and Troubles made me curse my Birth In them I liv'd reign'd and was turn'd to Earth PRince Henry was in Normandy besieging a Castle injuriously seised by the French King when the News of the Death of King Stephen arrived whereupon his Friends and Followers earnestly persuaded him to raise the Siege and expedite his Voyage into England to prevent any Usurpation which might be designed To which Henry discreetly and courageously replied The Kingdom of England shall henceforth be at my command in despite of all that dare oppose me and so I will make these intruding Frenchmen understand before I go from hence This Resolution gained him Honour among his Friends and Terrour to his Enemies who understanding his Determination and fearing the worst quietly surrendred the Castle and submitted to Mercy which he graciously granted and then setling his Affairs there attended with many Lords and Gentlemen of Quality he arrived in England where he was soon after Crowned King and then employed himself in setling the Kingdom by making good Laws banishing Strangers who in Multitudes resorted hither and by their sparing Diet and extraordinary Industry enriched themselves and beggar'd the Natives He likewise exiled many of the Nobility who contrary to their Oaths adhered strongly to King Stephen judging them faithless and unuseful to him He caused all the Forts and Castles built by the order or permission of his Predecessor to be demolished as giving occasion of Insurrections upon the least Discontent He resumed into his Hands all Lands belonging to the Crown as also the Counties of Cumberland Northumberland and Huntington which had been given to David King of Scots by Stephen to hinder them from disturbing him in his Usurpation He chose himself a Council out of the gravest and wisest Nobility and restrained the Insolencies of some Grandees which raised Discontents among them and Hugh Lord Mortimer raised Forces at Bridgenorth in Wales against whom the King went in Person where he had been shot with an Arrow had not Hubert de Clare interposed and received it into his own Body In his thirteenth year he married Jeffry his younger Son to Constance the Daughter and Heir Apparent of the Duke of Britain his Son Richard to Adela Daughter of Lewis King of France and his Daughter Maud to Henry Duke of Saxony about which time his Mother Maud the Empress died Having quieted the Rebels at home he went into Normandy where he did Homage to Lewis for his French Provinces Normandy Anjou Aquitain Main and Lorrain some of them his own by Inheritance and others by his Wife Queen Eleanor and then made an Agreement between himself and his Brother Jeffry In his nineteenth year he sailed into Ireland with a mighty Army and fought victoriously against five Kings who at that time reigned there and at last conquered them all and became sole Lord of that Country which he annexed to the Crown of England After his return both out of fondness and for securing the Succession he caused his eldest Son Henry and his Wife Margaret Daughter of the French King to be solemnly Crowned in his presence at two several times in the last of which he for that day degraded himself from being King by waiting as a Servant upon his Son while he sate at Table which young Henry did little regard boasting That his Father did not hereby dishonour himself since he was onely the Son of an Empress whereas himself was Son both of a King and Queen Which proud Speech the unfortunate Father hearing said privately to the Archbishop then present I repent I repent me of nothing more than untimely Advancements In his latter days many Quarrels hapned between him and Lewis of France in all which Henry Jeffry and John his own Sons Robert Earl of Leicester Hugh Earl of Chester most unnaturally joyned with the French against him and likewise William King of Scots notwithstanding which the Courage of King Henry prevailed against them all and upon submission he pardoned his Sons and all the rest Yet were they justly punished by Heaven Henry dying before his Father in the flower of his Age and John after King was poysoned by a Monk The History of this Kings Reign declares him to be Learned Wise Just and Valiant and though he were concerned in many great Affairs and Wars both in France Normandy Anjou Ireland and other Places and never received any extraordinary Tax or Subsidy from his Subjects yet he left to his Successor above Nine hundred thousand Pound in Money besides Jewels rich Housholdstuff and all manner of Warlike Provisions And though in most Transactions he was prosperous and successful yet in three things he was very unhappy First In the unnatural Disobedience and Rebellions of his own Sons Secondly In his inordinate Love to Rosamond his endeared Concubine who was admirably fair but exceeding wanton and thereby wholly alienated his Affections from Eleanor his renowned Queen and enslaved himself to her Will and Pleasure so that while she lived she was seldom from his Right-hand and after her Death which Eleanor procured by Poyson he caused her with great Pomp to be solemnly buried at Godstow near Oxford fixing this Epitaph on her Tomb Hic jacet in Tumba Rosa Mundi non Rosa Munda Non redolet sed olet quae redolere solet Within this Tomb lies the Worlds fairest Rose Though once most sweet she 'll now offend your Nose The third Infelicity of his Reign was the great Dissention between him and Thomas Becket the proud and insolent Archbishop of Canterbury which continued full seven years with all manner of asperity and fierceness For Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury had so great a favour for Thomas Becket a Londoner of mean Parentage that he made him Archdeacon of his own Church and still advancing him at last by the Power he had with the King made him Lord Chancellor of England which so pufft up Becket that he grew extreme haughty yet still shewed great Respect to the King who thereupon constantly encreased his Lands and Revenues which daily heightned him more Theobald dying the King preferred Becket to be Archbishop after which he began to discover his ungrateful Humour For going privately to Rome he was there invested in his Bishoprick by the Pope of whom he received the Pall and was made Legate and then returning into England he was much discountenanced by the King but Becket slighting it on a sudden surrendred his Chancellorship and Great Seal of which the King desiring a Reason he obstinately refused to give any These Quarrels encouraged the debauched part of the Clergy to commit many Insolencies and Villanies for which they received small Punishment though their Crimes were Murder Theft and Robbery for not being
under the Jurisdiction of the Civil Magistrate but tried by those of their own Profession their greatest Offences were connived at or very slightly examined whereby many grievous Enormities hapned in the Kingdom Whereupon the King summoned a Parliament wherein that Law of King Stephen exempting the Clergy from the Authority of the Temporal Judge for any Crime whatsoever was repealed and the ancient Laws again revived and enforced This was very much opposed by Becket and some few Bishops more of his Faction but after several Conferences these Laws were confirmed and subscribed by all the Bishops but Becket who would by no means assent thereto without inserting this Clause Salvo Ordine suo Saving the Order of the Clergy which would have utterly invalidated all those Laws At which the King being enraged by the persuasion of the other Bishops who dreaded the Consequence Becket took a solemn Oath to allow of those Laws whereat the King turned his Fury into Kindness toward Becket and immediately caused an Indenture to be drawn betwixt himself and the two Archbishops testifying their Submission to this Oath which was subscribed by the King and the Archbishop of York but Becket again relapsing into his former Obstinacy not onely refused it but expressed much sorrow for his former Oath and desired to be absolved there from by the Pope which was done accordingly some private Penance onely being enjoyned him who required him not to yield but to persist constantly in his opinion Upon which the King being again incensed against Becket seises all his Estate and Promotions into his Hands and required an Account of 30000 Marks which he had received when Chancellor but Becket boldly affirmed That the King had given it him freely and therefore he would give no Account thereof Then Becket went again privately to Rome without License and the King being sensible that his Des gn was to incense the Pope against him sent his Ambassadors with Letters to Rome declaring how reasonaâ—le his Demands were and the extraordinary Perverseness of Becket desiring the Pope he might be deprived of his Dignities and promising to provide for him some other way But the Pope not onely denied his Request but in thundring Terms threatned to send two Legats into England who should curse the King and Kingdom unless Becket were presently restored to his Honours and Estate and in the mean time the Pope recommended Becket to be entertained as a Monk in the Abby of Poâ—tiniack in France The King observing how Matters went grew more exasperated and sent to the Abbot to turn Becket out of his House and threatned upon refusal not to leave one Monk of his Order in France He also published certain Injunctions against the Pope and all Cardinals or Legats who should presume to enter into his Kingdom without his License He then deprived all Becket's Friends and Favourers of their Dignities and Estates banishing them out of the Kingdom as Abettors and Encouragers of Becket in his Obstinacy against the King These Proceedings and especially his being turned out of the Abby for fear of the Kings Anger much troubled Becket yet then Lewis of France though young King Henry had married his Daughter cherisht and entertained him But the King being tired with these Turmoils goes privately into France and in the presence of the French King confers with Becket offering him That if he would now take the Oath and subscribe the Instrument he should return into England and be restored to his Favour and Dignities with all his Friends But he proudly answered That if the King would let him swear and subscribe with this Exception Salvo Honore Dei Saving the Honour of God he would then consent This angred the King more than ever as intimating That those Laws were dishonourable to Almighty God and therefore he would obey no farther than he pleased but Becket undauntedly persisted alledging That he feared none but God and since those Laws did derogate from ancient Customs and Privileges of the Church and robbed God of his Honour the King should never establish them by his Consent as long as he lived The King thus disappointed soon after two Legats came from Rome to curse him and the Realm Whereupon he again goes to Becket into Normandy but finds him the very same Man and therefore he being willing to be quiet consented that Becket should return into England which he did accordingly but the King being much discontented was heard repiningly to say That among all those whom he had advanced there was none would free him from such an insolent and dangerous Enemy He likewise received mean Welcome from the young King Henry because Becket had suspended three or four Bishops who assisted at Henry's Coronation for doing it without a License from him upon which young Henry now banished him his Court and confined him to his own House in Canterbury But a few days after Becket being in the Cathedral of Canterbury standing before the High Altar four Knights and Courtiers fell upon him and slew him there of which Fact King Henry was accused by the Pope but stoutly denied it yet because of his former Murmurings he was forced to submit to the Popes Censure which was To war three years in Person in the Holy Land which he redeemed by building three Monasteries and to go to Becket's Tomb bare-footed which he did and suffered himself to be scourged with Rods by every Monk there And thus the King made a bad end of these Troubles But others soon succeeded for about this time the young King Henry died and his Sons Richard and Jeffry again rebelled against him but the younger was soon after trod to death under the Horses Feet at a Turnament at Paris But Richard yet lived to the further Grief of his Father for joyning himself with Philip King of France he forced his Father out of the City of Mantz the Place where he was born and loved above all others which caused the old King to say That since his Son Richard had taken from him that day the thing which he most loved in the World he was resolved to requite him for after that day he would deprive him of that which ought best to please a Child and that was his Fathers Heart And afterward finding his Son John the very first in the Conspiracy against him in that Action he bitterly curst the Hour of his Birth wishing Gods Curse and his own upon his Sons which he would never recal by any Persuasions But coming to Chiron he fell mortally sick and causing himself to be carried to the Church before the High Altar after humble Confession of his Sins he gave up the Ghost 1189. having reigned Thirty four years and eight months RICHARD the FIRST King of England c. called Coeurdelion THrough the Almighty's Mercy and his Aid Jerusalem I conquer'd and set free The Turks and Saracens who waste it laid I 〈◊〉 from Judea soon to flee The Isle of Cyprus was subdu'd by me
Sicily trembled at my Courage bold King Tancred bought his Peace and did agree To pay me Threescore ounces of pure Gold Whilst I abroad won Honour many ways Ambitious John my Brother vext my Realm In Austria I was Pris'ner many days Thus Floods of Troubles did me overwhelm At length I home return'd my Ransom paid But soon my Glory in the Grave was laid RIchard the eldest Son living of King Henry was in Normandy at the time of his Fathers Death and because there were many things amiss he was resolved to continue there some time but yet gave immediate Order for the Release of his Mother Queen Eleanor who was closely imprisoned by her Husband for the Death of Rosamond and her continual reproving him for his lascivious Course of Life And because she was very discreet virtuous and wise King Richard committed the whole Government of the Kingdom in his absence to her management who having experimentally known the Troubles and Sorrows of Prisoners and Captives she released such as were committed for small Offences and paid the Debts of divers others that they might be freed and in all things used great Moderation and Justice till the return of her Son who was received and Crowned King with much Joy and Solemnity And he imitating the mild Disposition of his Mother commiserating the Afflicted provided in the whole Course of his Government that Justice should be extended with Mercy toward all He conferred many Honours upon his Brother John whom he created Earl of Lancaster and gave him the Counties of Nottingham Devon and Cornwal marrying him to the Daughter and Heir of the Earl of Glocester from whom he had the Lordship of that County also but in stead of obliging him these Favours made him Ambitious and ingratefully to affect the Crown and to boast that his Parts and Endowments were sufficient to make him a King This King for his invincible Courage was the greatest Heroe at that time in the Christian World so that he was called Coeurdelion or the Lions Heart who would attempt any thing though never so difficult if it were honourable His Fathers great Treasure which he left behind him furnished him sufficiently with Gold and Silver but such was his contempt of Riches that he freely bestowed Gifts upon all deserving Persons and in a little time by his extreme Bounty had disposed of most of it not considering that future Occasions might cause great Expences as it soon appeared For in the beginning of his Reign the Pope by many strong Sollicitations and Promises of his Blessings persuaded him to go in his own Person and fight against the Saracens in the Holy Land and to recover Jerusalem from the Infidels which he at length undertook being assisted therein by Frederick Emperour of Germany Philip Augustus King of France Leopold Archduke of Austria and many other Christian Princes who had raised Men and Money and made all other Provisions to that purpose All entring into Covenants That their Rendezvouz should be in Sicily and that all the Wealth and Booty they should meet with should be equally divided among them These things being concluded though the Kings Liberality and Expences had made him necessitous yet he was resolved not to burden his People with any Tax to supply himself but raised great Sums of Money out of his own Estate and among others he sold the Castles of Berwick and Roxborough to the King of Scots for 10000 l. and the Lordship of Durham to Hugh Pudsey the Bishop thereof creating him likewise Earl of it laughing heartily while he was investing him and saâ—ing I think I am very cunning and a Crafts master in my Business that can make a young Earl of an old Bishop He likewise sold divers Honours Mannors Offices Privileges and Royalties and many other things protesting That for performing that great and honourable Service â—â— would be willing to sell his City of London if he could find any able to buy it rather than he would be chargeable to others Having thus provided himself with all Necessaries for his Journey and raised a gallant Army wherein were many Lords Knights and Gentlemen and gathered a Sum of no less than 1100000 l. he left the Principal Command of the Kingdom to William Longchampe Bishop of Ely the Popes Legat and Lord Chancellor of England concluding a firm Friendship with William King of Scots he then set sail for the Holy Land with a Royal Navy to the Island of Cyprus where Isacius the discourteous King in stead of relieving them with Necessaries pillaged and abused them whereat King Richard being enraged landed his Men and soon conquered the whole Kingdom carrying away the King and his Daughters Prisoners and selling the Country to the Knights Templars for 30000 Marks From thence according to Agreement he sailed to Sicily where he met Philip the French King Upon their first Enterview there was great Familiarity and Endearment betwixt them but Philip being denied any part of the Spoil of Cyprus both because he was absent and likewise King Richard affirming That the Agreement extended onely to such things as they should gain in the Holy Land Philip thereupon grew angry and discontented which Richard disregarded declaring publickly That let the French King do what he durst he should never be a Partner in that Booty Yet Philip knowing the Eyes of all Christendom were upon him would make no open Breach and so they again embarqued Tancred the Usurping King of Sicily having either out of love or fear given King Richard above 6000 Ounces of Gold before his departure Sailing from thence with a Navy of above 300 Ships they met with a rich Argosey or Ship with French Flags but Manned with no less than 1500 Turks and Saracens and all manner of Warlike Provisions as Fire-works Barrels and Cages of venomous Serpents all designed for the Relief of the City of Acon formerly called Ptolemais this Vessel he took drowning 1300 Saracens and then landing at Acon in company with King Philip they sate down before it there being already Christians of divers Nations as Genoways Florentines Flemings Almains Danes Dutch Pisans Friezelanders Lumbards and some English under Hubert Bishop of Sarum wich the Knights Templars and several Asians During the Siege Sultan Saladine beheaded 1500 Christian Slaves in revenge whereof King Richard killed 2500 Tarks in sight of their Army After a long and sharp Siege the City of Acon was taken upon the entring whereof a forward Knight advanced the Banner and Ensign of Leopold Archduke of Austria but King Richard seeing it he himself ran up to the Wall pluck'd them down and trampled them under his Feet whereat the French King was still more incensed speaking high Words but Richard slighting his Anger affirmed That if any were offended thereat they might do what they pleased since he had onely righted himself in those Injuries done against him and that he was ready to maintain what he had acted with his Sword in the Field King
Pope sent two proud Legats into England Pandulphus and Durandus who persuaded the King to agree with Langton and restore the Prior and Monks of St. Austins to their Lands and Offices To which John for fear of the Popes Curse and to prevent any further Quarrels yielded onely desiring to be excused as to the Election of the Archbishop yet protesting That if another might be chosen he would prefer Langton to some other Bishoprick But the Legats in stead of gratifying the King in his Request proceeded immediately to excommunicate him pronouncing the Popes Curse against him and absolving all his Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance toward him Yea he required all Christian Princes to make War upon him as the Arch and Grand Enemy of the Church of God Nay he published the Sentence of Deprivation against him and gave his Crown and Kingdom to Philip the French King of which he was to take Possession as soon as he could expel or murder John either by some secret Plot or by open Violence and Hostility Thus did this Unholy Father out of his Usurping Arrogance and Hellish Pride presume to dispose of Kings and Kingdoms at his pleasure and all on the cursed Pretence of the Honour of God and Holy Church But the King not fearing these Thunderbolts was resolved to stand his Ground and to that end took a solemn Oath of his Subjects for his Defence and their Fidelity And then raising a strong Army he entred Scotland against King Alexander for supporting divers Rebellious Clergymen and others who adhered to the Popes Authority against him but the King of Scots finding he should gain nothing but Ruine and Destruction by Opposition humbly submitted himself to King John and an entire Friendship and Amity was concluded betwixt them The French King resolving to take Possession of the Popes Gift provided great Forces to invade the Kingdom but by the diligence of King John 300 of his Ships loaden with Corn Victuals and other Warlike Provisions were seised and thereby Philip's vain Hopes at that time prevented However the Pope accursed the King again and again so that despairing of ever bâ—ing quiet without the Advice of his Council or Nobility he all on a sudden submitted himself upon his Knees to Pandulphus the Popes Legat confessing his Disobedience and begging Pardon and by a Publick Instrument in Writing under his Hand and Seal he resigned his Crown and Scepter to the Pope which Pandulphus kept four days for the Popes Use and then gave them both back to John and his Heirs upon Condition to hold his Kingdom from the Pope and pay 1000 Marks a year to him as a Tribute This base Submission so alienated the Affections of his Nobility and Men of War that they revolted from him and fled to his Enemy the French King who resolved to make his Son Lewis Monarch of this Realm and sent him hither with a numerous Army where he did much mischief though often encountred But the Pope being now for King John forbid Philip to proceed any further against him since he and his Kingdom were now reconciled to him and the Church and that the Crown was held from the See of Rome But the French King refused to obey affirming That no King could give away his Kingdom nor the Protection of his Subjects which were committed to him by God without the Consent of the Nobility Gentry and Commons and that therefore this Kingdom could not be holden of the Church of Rome nor protected by her This Answer so vexed the Pope that he presently sent Cardinal Guallo into England who cursed King Philip and Lewis his Son with all the English Nobility who took part with them Though the wiser sort little regarded what the Cardinal did yet the Common People and Soldiers who were ignorantly devout were so amazed that they fled to their Houses and Ships and others entred into the Houses and Grounds of the Excommunicate Lords and Gentry robbing and spoiling all before them supposing that their Robberies were pleasing and meritorious before God by which means the Lords were much distressed and even ready to starve for want of Sustenance none daring to relieve them so that they were at last necessitated to throw themselves at the Kings Feet and crave his Mercy who though by their means he had been reduced to the utmost Extremities yet being of a merciful Disposition he easily pardoned them and restored them to their Honours and Lands By which means the French finding themselves forsaken were forced to return back to France and all their vast Designs perished in a moment But the Pope intending to make his Proceedings against King John a President to other Princes assembled a General Council at Lateran wherein he gave a full Account of all Transactions with the Kings Grant of his Kingdom and the Tenure whereby it was held from the Church of Rome And in the same Council Otho the Emperour Peter King of Arragon Raymond Earl of Tholouse and divers other Sovereign Princes were Excommunicated and others Interdicted with their Kingdoms and Provinces for Heresie as was pretended though the real Design was to make Princes Slaves and Vassals to the Will and Pleasure of the Pope and to enrich himself with their Ruine For in this Council wherein they say were 1215 Catholick Doctors it was positively concluded That the Pope might depose Kings absolve their Subjects from their Allegiance and give away their Kingdoms Likewise That such as spoke evil of the Pope should be damned in Hell and that none should be Emperour till he had sworn Homage to the Pope and had received his Crown from him Also Auricular Confession and Transubstantiation were then decreed and established And thus all these Troubles which had continued ten years came now to an end But the Clergy would by no means be reconciled to King John for such was their inveterate Hatred toward him that under pretence of Kindness he was poysoned by a Monk at Swinstead Abby near Lincoln who to make all sure poysoned himself that he might not fail to do the same to the King And thus died King John when he had reigned Seventeen years in 1216. and lies buried at Winchester He was Politick and exceeding Valiant Bountiful and Liberal to Strangers not given to Revenge for when he was shewed how Honourably one of his Rebellious Barons was Intombed and advised to deface the Monument No by no means says he I wish all 〈◊〉 Enemies were as honourably buried When several Greeks came hither and offered to prove that there were several Errours in the Church of Rome at that time he rejected them saying I will not suffer our Faith which is established to be called in question with doubtful Disputations He left behind him four Sons Henry who succeeded him Richard created King of the Romans William of Valentia and Guido Disnay with three Daughters one married to the Emperour Frederick a second to William Marshal Earl of Worcester and the third
to the Earl of Leicester HENRY the THIRD King of England AMidst great Troubles and Confusions I In Youth ascended to the English Throne England was then opprest with Misery By Frenchmen who by me were overthrown For the brave English under my Command Did soon expell those their insulting Foes My Barons did my Sovereignty withstand And brought upon themselves and me great Woâ—â— For in each Battel none but I did lose I lost my Subjects Lives on every Side From Civil Wars no better Profit grows Friends Foes my People all that beat or died My Gain was Loss my Pleasure was my Pain These were the Triumphs of my troublous Reign AFter the Death of King John Henry his eldest Son of nine years old was Crowned King the Earl of Glocester who had married one of his Aâ—â—â—s and was Learned Wise and Valiant being made Protector of him and the Kingdom who administred Justice faithfully among the People The Youth of the King and the Treachery of many of the English Nobility encouraged Philip of France and Lewis his Son to land fresh Forces in the Realm to whom the Welch likewise joyned all the Forces they could raise But the new Protector raised an Army against them and in many Encounters defeated them And Pope Honorius finding the French slighted his Thunderbolts sent out new Curses more sharp and severe than any of his Predecessors whereupon Prince Lewis seemed at present to be affrighted and to prepare for his Departure though his Father Philip still sent new Forces over But Hugh de Burgh Governour of the Ciâ—â—uâ—-Ports preparing a gallant Fleet valiantly encountred them at Sea and took all their Ships This great Victory brought Lewis to treat of Peace and being absolved by Guallo the Popes Legat and receiving a considerable Sum of Money he surrendred all the Forts Towns and Castles he had taken and with all his Forces sailed back to France leaving his English Friends who had assisted him all these Wars to the rigour of the Law whereby they were cut off by miserable and cruel Deaths The Kingdom having now time to breathe a Parliament was called wherein the Laws of King Edward were revived and the Grand Charter called then Magna Charta containing several Laws for the Liberty Ease and Security of the Subject was confirmed and a Tax granted for sending an Army into France to recover Poictiers and Gascoigne under Richard the Kings Brother which had been injuriously seised by the French for some years Those Provinces were soon regained wholly back to the English which in a short time produced a Peace between both Nations But then worse Troubles succeed it at home for the King confiding onely in some leud Officers about him disregarded his Nobility and most Loyal Subjects invading their Liberties and Estates and vexing them with many grievous and unnecessary Taxes which were levied upon them by his Officers with all manner of severity At length a Parliament was called at Oxford wherein his Designs were altogether crossed and the Proceedings therein of such ill Consequence that it was stiled Insaâ—um Parliamentum or the Mad Parliament For when Multitudes came to complain of their Wrongs and Oppressions the Lords and Commons for redress thereof established many things which they judged necessary but highly intrenching upon the Kings Prerogative for they chose Twelve of the most Considerable Persons in the Kingdom whereof the Earl of Glocester and Simon Montfort Earl of Leicester were Chief who were called Les Douze Pieres or The Twelve Peers to whom full and absolute Power was granted by a Patent sealed by the King though unwillingly to support and maintain the Laws they had made The Parliament being ended the Commissioners began strictly to put those Statutes into Execution whereby they dismissed most of the Kings Menial Servants from their Attendance on him placing others of their Mind in their State This above all other things did most disturb the King and thereupon he grew extreme melancholy But hoping for better Success he summoned another Parliament wherein he with extreme Passion and Grief complain'd of his hard Usage by the Twelve Peers but the Lords and Commons were so far from remitting any thing that they further ratified all that had been done and the Archbishop with nine other Bishops publickly denounced a solemn Curse against all that by Advice or Assistance should oppose those Laws or the Authority of the Twelve Peers This still encreased the Kings Discontent who could take no delight in any thing he enjoyed and therefore went over to divert himself with Lewis King of France who treated him with all manner of Kindness and Magnificence About this time Hugh de Burgh Earl of Kent was accused by the Bishop of Winchester and others That he had scandalised and abused the King That he had enticed and trayterously defiled the King of Scots Daughter whom he married in hope to succeed her Brother in her Right That he stole out of the Jewel-house a Jewel of such excellent Vertue as to make those who had it Invincible which he had bestowed upon Llewellin Prince of Wales the King's Enemy These and many other Articles was he charged with who doubting the Power of his Enemies retired into Essex where he was seised by Soldiers who sent for a Smith to make Shackles for him to prevent his escape but the Smith understanding who they were for fetching a deep Sigh said Do with me what you pl ase and God have mercy on my Soul but as sure as the Lord lives I will never make Iron Shackles for him but will rather die for most cruel Death imaginable For is not this the most Loyal and Courageous Hubert who hath so often preserved England from being destroyed by Strangers and restored England to England Let God be Judge between him and you for using him so unjustly and inhumanely requiting his most excellent Deserts with the worst of Recompences However the Commander bound him and carried him Prisoner to the Tower of London from whence by the means of the Bishop of London he was a while after released The King being continually tormented with the diminishing of his Regal Authority endeavoured to procure some Remedy from abroad and to that end with great expence of Money he secretly obtained twâ— Bulls from Pope Alexander the Third whereby the King and all those who had sworn to maintain the new Laws and Ordinances and to support the Authority of the Twelve Peers were freely absolved and discharged from keeping those Oaths But this being kept private the Twelve Peers ruled all and were so diligent in their Business that they left the King nothing to do so that he was King in Name onely not in Power Soon after Hugh Spencer being Lord Chief Justice and a great Favourite with the King was removed by the Twelve Peers being charged with Corruption and Arbitrary Proceedings They likewise dismissed such Sheriffs and Justices as the King had made chusing others in their Places which
in a short time from the Holy Land to England where he was joyfully received both by the Peers and People and soon after Crowned King in the One and thirtieth year of his Age at which 500 Great Horses were let loose for any to take that would in honour of so Martial a Prince After the Battel aforementioned wherein Simon Montford Earl of Leicester his Son Henry and many other Lords were stain and the Lady Eleanor his Daughter was banished but kindly received by Philip the Hardy of France thereby to gain the Good-will of many English Lords who being discontented with the last Kings Government were not well pleased with his Son who constantly assisted his Father against them Philip being likewise sensible of the Courage of King Edward to prevent his own danger he secretly incited Lluellin Prince of Wales to rebell promising him likewise the Lady Eleanor in Marriage But Edward having private notice of this Contract and that the Lady was coming over to Wales he intercepted her at Sea and kept her Prisoner upon which Lluellin took the Field with many thousand Men but mean and thievish Fellows On the other side King Edward resolving to make himself terrible to the Welch raised a very formidable Army but Lluellin being sensible or his inability to resist and out of his extreme Love to the Lady submitted himself to the King and made many solemn Oaths of his Fidelity to the King against France and all others whereupon Edward who was inclinable to Mercy freely granted him his Pardon his Favour and his beloved Lady so that all was ended without a drop of Blood But a few years after David his Brother of a mutinous Temper and yet one much in favour with the King persuaded Lluellin to put himself again into Arms and many sharp Conflicts passed between him and Sir Roger Mortimer but at length they were both taken and their Heads sent to the King who caused them to be set upon the Tower of London Yet were the Welchmen so perversely bent to ruine themselves that within a few Months after they twice rebelled but were soon subdued by many terrible Slaughters and severe Executions And because they maintained their Wars more by hiding and shifting among vast Woods and Forests the King caused all the Woods to be cut and burnt down by which means they were reduced to more Civility and applied themselves to Arts and Trades like other Men. In his eighteenth year Alexander King of Scots fell from his Horse and broke his Neck leaving no Issue behind him He had three Sisters the eldest married to John Baliol Lord of Galloway the second to Robert Bruce Lord of Valley Andrew and the third to John Hastings Lord Abergaveny in England These three contended for the Crown losing many Men on all sides and the Country much ruined whereupon King Edward as their Sovereign Lord went into Scotland to compose those Differences and in the end they were all contented to refer themselves to his Judgment by an Instrument under their Hands and Seals Whereupon King Edward chose Twenty Englishmen and as many Scots of good Understanding and Discretion who consulted thereof and upon their Determination he declared John Baliol who had married the eldest Sister to be King who thereupon received the Crown from King Edward and did him Homage for the same And now the French King wrongfully invading the English Territories in Gascoign and Guyen the King to supply his Necessities seised upon all the Plate Jewels and Treasure of the Churches and Religious Houses within the Kingdom being advised thereto by William March Lord Treasurer who alledged That it were better this money should be stirring and according to the Name Currant and go abroad to the Use of the People than to lie rusting in Chests without any Use or Advantage whatsoever The King likewise compelled the Clergy to give one half years Revenue of all their Ecclesiastical Dignities which when they scrupled at affirming That by a Canon lately made at the Council of Lions they were excused from all Temporal Supplies he told them plainly Since you refuse to help me I will also refuse to help you If you deny to pay Tribute to me as your Prince I will deny to protect you as my Subjects And therefore if you be spoiled robbed or murdered expect no Succour nor Defence from me nor mine But to get some Amends they humbly petitioned the King to repeal the Statute of Mortmain or the Will of a Dead Mans Hand which forbad all Persons to give any Houses or Lands to the Church either at their Deaths or before without leave from the King But he resolving never to gratifie them in any thing replied That it was not in his Power without the Consent of a Parliament to make void any Law whatsoever So that they were forced to be contented though with much inward Vexation Having thus fleec'd the Clergy he laid a new Tax upon Wooll and Hides exported out of the Kingdom and required the tenth part of every Mans Estate to be paid him to maintain his Wars He caused the Clergy to bring into his Treasury all such Sums of Money as they had promised to pay the Pope for the War against the Turks and took up 100000 Quarters of Wheat which he sent to his Armies in Normandy where they fought with doubtful Success sometimes winning and then again losing In his Twenty fifth year 1296. John Baliol King of Scots by the secret incitement of the French King and some others about him sent a proud Defiance to King Edward and a Renunciation of his Fealty and Homage and with a tumultuous Army entred the Northern Borders cruelly destroying all with Fire and Sword Whereupon Edward upbraiding him with his many Favours and Honours received from him resolved to revenge his Ingratitude and with strong Forces marched thither taking the Castle of Berwick with the Slaughter of 25000 Scots He likewise won Dunbar Edinburgh and all other Places of Strength The King of Scots observing no Safety in Resistance humbly submitted himself to the King and surrendred the Kingdom into his Hands who with a strong Guard sent him Prisoner to the Tower of London but with large allowance of Liberty and Attendance and then committed the Government of Scotland to John Warren Earl of Sussex Sir Hugh Cressingham High Treasurer and Wistiam Earnly Lord Chief Justice of that Kingdom Having so happily performed this he then turned his Arms to France who to divert him animated the Scots again to rebell but King Edward resolving not to leave the French if possible without fighting continued still in Normandy sending Orders to the Earl of Northumberland and others to suppress that Rebellion which they did with a very bloody slaughter Upon which the French King perceiving himself disappointed would not venture to engage the English Army but sent honourable Propositions of Peace which were accepted by the King and a general Peace was proclaimed After his return
discovered his anger against the Lords who had forced his consent to their Banishment which he made appear upon this occasion The younger Spencer having got a few Ships together robbed and pillaged the Merchants of England and all other Nations in the Narrow Seas upon which they Petitioned that a Fleet might be set out to seize and Execute him as a Pyrate and notorious Thief the King smiled seeming to rejoyce thereat and instead of punishing him pardoned them both recalled them from Banishment to despight the Barons and raised them to higher Honour and Offices than before The Lords inraged hereat especially since the Spencers affronted them openly upon all occasions they resolved on revenge and to that purpose immediately raise a strong Army and take the Field and the King with the two Spencers and some other of the Nobles did the like and many sharp encounters passed between them the Lords forgetting they undutifully fought against their Soveraign and the King that his Cruelty had compelled them to take Arms In the end when many of the Barons and thousands of their adherents were slain they fled and were pursued by the King who took the Earls of Lancaster Hereford and many other Lords two and twenty of whom were beheaded in diverse parts of the Realm to the great terror of the People This success made the Spencers yet more insolent so that now they made their Will a Law in all things and presuming that all would be done they desired they persuaded the King to call a Parliament at York in which he created his eldest Son Edward Prince of Wales and Duke of Aquitan Old Hugh Spencer was made Earl of Winchester and Sir Andrew Harkly who was very active against the Lords Earl of Carlisle he likewise exacted the sixth penny of all Mens Estates in England Wales and Ireland whereat the People grievously complained alledging that they were quite impoverished by Famine and Dearth but especially by reason of the disorders in the Government The Scots having notice that K. Edward resolved to revenge the wrongs committed against his Subjects under Robert Bruce their usurping King to divert him invaded Ireland with strong Force but the King being forewarned had sufficiently provided against their landing so that most of them were slain and the rest forced to fly to their Ships and return shamefully home The King now thinking himself invincible marches with a brave Army into Scotland where the Scots being well-armed and many thousands in number pretended to give him Battel when they intended nothing less for as Edward approached they withdrew into the Woods Forrests and Mountains whereby the English Army were soon extreamly distressed by Storms Rain Frost Snow and Hail and likewise with want of Provisions which caused great Mortality so that without performing any thing Honourable he began to retire which the Scots perceiving they pursued him with all cruelty and violence and falling upon his Army forced the King to save himself by flight and leave behind him his Treasure Ordinance and Provisions This disaster happened by the treachery of Sir Andrew Harkley who having privately received Money of the Scots designed to betray the King for which Treason he after lost his Head The Queen being sensible of the malice of the Spencers against her who estranged the King from her Company and Bed and lamenting the late slaughter of many of the Nobility and the continued misery of the Nation she with her Son Prince Edward fled into France to her Brother King Charles where she was at first received with great joy and Promises of assistance the Barons likewise by Letters assuring her of their Service to her self and Son But the Spencers by unvaluable Presents to K. Charles and his Courtiers soon took him off that instead of assistance he reproved his Sister for leaving her Husband the Pope being likewise obliged by the same means required the French King upon pain of his Curse to send the Queen and Prince to Edward and she hardly escaped being betray'd by her own Brother but privately getting into the Empire by means of Sir Robert Artois her kinsman she was joyfully entertained by the Lord Beaumont and his Brother who accompanied her and her Son with three hundred Knights and Gentlemen and landed in England at which the Barons rejoycing soon joyned with her increasing hourly so that the King hastened to Wales to raise Forces leaving the Government of London to Walter Stapleton L. Treasurer and Bishop of Exeter a great Favourite of the Spencers and an Enemy to the Queen and therefore generally hated by the Citizens who abhorring his proud and insolent Government caused his head to be struck off at the Standard in Cheapside without any Legal Tryal and then violently rushing into the Tower slew all they found there keeping that and the City for the Queen and Prince K. Edward upon this revolt chang'd his purpose and posting to Bristow fortified the Town and Castle Sir Hugh Spencer the Father and Son being with him and the Earl of Arundel was made Governour resolving to defend it with all their might but soon after the City was besieged and taken by the Queen and Lords and the Earl of Arundel and Spencer the Father taken Prisoners but the King and Young Spencer being besieged in the Castle not trusting to the strength thereof got out privately in the Night and put themselves in a small Fisherboat but every day for a whole week when the Boat went to Sea it was driven back again near the Castle which the L. Beaumont observing he with a small Vessel chased the Boat and took her wherein he found the King and young Spencer whom they so much desired and brought them to the Queen who presenting them before the besieged in the Castle they presently surrendred Old Spencer the Earl of Winchester and the Earl of Arundel whose Daughter was married to the younger Spencer were beheaded and the King being in an honourable restraint the Queen Prince and Barons with a strong Army marched toward London carrying young Spencer in Triumph before whom several Fidlers and Pipers sung danced and play'd scornfully upon Reeds through every Town and Village as they past where being come he was bound to the top of an high Ladder and his Heart and Privy-members being burnt his Head was set on London Bridge After which the Queen nobly treated and rewarded Sir John of Heynault the Lord Beaumont and their followers who departed home and were there received with great honour The Queen and young Prince to redress all disorders assembled a Parliament in which the King by general consent was deposed and committed to Killingworth Castle with honourable atttendance and Prince Edward his Son Crowned King not long after Edward was removed to Cors-Castle where he was barbarously murdered by his Keepers who through a Horn thrust a burning Spit into his Fundament after he had reigned almost nineteen years and in the forty first of his Age 1307. EDWARD the
therefore proclaimed War against France upon which occasion and for writing against Martin Luther the Pope stiled him Defender of the Faith Henry sending a Fleet and an Army thither took the Towns of Tyrwin and Tournay At the same time James the Fourth King of Scots though he had married Margaret King Henry's eldest Sister contrary to his Oath and Articles invaded England with an Army of 100000 Fighting Men but the Earl of Surrey with 26000 Men marching against them utterly routed the whole Scotch Army at Flodden field King James himself being slain valiantly fighting After this succeeded a Peace and the French King married King Henry's second Sister Mary And now Cardinal Wolsey of mean Parentage grew extreme Great by the Kings extraordinary Affection toward him and among other extravagant Actions he procured a License from the Pope to pluck down several small Abbies and Priories and to settle the Lands upon two Colleges which he had built one in Ipswich and another in Oxford which President occasioned King Henry some years after to pull down all the rest In his eighth year a Riot hapned in London against Merchant-Strangers and Artificers for which many were condemned of High Treason but were all pardoned by the King The Truce with France was soon broken by the French King whereupon King Henry sent an Army thither who won and burnt Morlaix and several other Towns returning home with great Booty In his twentieth year the Kings Marriage with Queen Katherine of Spain is questioned which was thought to be cunningly contrived by Cardinal Wolsey whereupon the King refrained her Bed and it was judged unlawful by six Foreign Universities so that notwithstanding the Popes Opposition who would have had it referred to him it was made null and void by the next Parliament upon which the Pope caused his Curse to be set up at Dunkirk against the King pronouncing the Marriage lawful But Henry little regarded those Paper Pellets for hereby the Pope lost his Supremacy in England and Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More were beheaded for defending it The King soon after married Ann Bullein Daughter to the Lord Rochford who was judged a Favourer of Protestants and therefore disliked by Cardinal Wolsey who for abundance of Misdemeanours was found guilty of a Praemunire and all his Estate and Honours were taken from him for grief whereof he soon after died In his twenty sixth year the King was by Parliament declared Supreme Head of the Church within all his own Dominions in all Ecclesiastical Causes and all Popish Bulls and Indulgences were made void and several Religious Houses of Nuns and Monks whose Revenue exceeded not 200 l. a year were suppressed The next year Queen Ann the Kings dearly-beloved Wife was beheaded though she protested her Innocency at her death being accused for prostituting her Body to her own Brother the Lord Rochford who with some others were put to death for the same This Tragedy being over the King within twenty days married Jane the Daughter of Sir John Seymour by whom he had the Virtuous Prince Edward who succeeded him but within few days after the good Queen died James King of Scotland being slain as aforementioned his Queen Margaret eldest Sister to King Henry was afterward married to Archibald Dowglas Earl of Angus who had a Daughter by her called Margaret this young Lady the Lord Howard married without the Kings leave for which she being of the Blood Royal he was beheaded as a Traytor The Kings Proceedings against the Pope caused a Rebellion in Lincolnshire but they were soon dispersed and Captain Cobler their Leader with others executed This was no sooner supprest but an Insurrection begun in the North of above 40000 who called themselves The Holy Pilgrims but upon the Kings Pardon they all quietly departed â—ome A third Rebellion succeeded in Westmorland upon the same account but was likewise defeated and seventy of the principal Conspirators executed In his twenty eighth year several Persons were executed for denying the Kings Supremacy and the Lord Cromwel is made Vicegerent in all Spiritual Matters by whom all Images and Shrines in Churches were taken down and destroyed and the Houses and Lands of Abbots Priors Monks and Nuns for their many Misdemeanours were all taken away and their yearly Revenues amounting to above 200000 l. setled on the King who freely exchanged them for other Lands with divers of his Nobles and Gentry thereby preventing as much as possible the restoring them to their former Uses After the Lord Cromwel had performed this great Business he persuaded the King to marry Ann of Cleve whom he never liked so that though he was married to her four Months he never conversed with her as a Wife the Clergy soon after dissolving the Marriage and the King married Katherine Howard Daughter to the Lord Howard Brother to the Duke of Norfolk The King then began to frown upon Cromwel which his Enemies who were many observing procured his Downfal for he was attainted in Parliament and without being suffered to defend himself was condemned and executed for High Treason and about this time the Lord Hungerford and the Lord Leonard Gray were put to death King Henry was very unfortunate in his Wives for soon after his last Marriage he was informed that his Queen Katherine had before Marriage lived very lasciviously with one Francis Derham and Thomas Culpeper whereupon the Queen and the Lady Rochfort who was privy thereto were soon after attainted of Treason by Parliament and beheaded and the other two hanged at Tyburn About this time an Act of Parliament was made declaring it High Treason to deny the Oath of Supremacy or to acknowledge the Authority of the Pope Yet though the Discipline of the Church was altered the Doctrine remained almost the same for there were six bloody Articles likewise enacted and it was made Heresie and thereupon burning to deny any of them They were these 1. That after speaking the Words of Consecration by the Priest the real and natural Body and Blood of Christ as he was conceived and crucified was in the Sacrament and no other Substance 2. That the Communion in both Kinds is not necessary to Salvation 3. That Priests may not marry 4. That Vows of Chastity ought to be observed by the Law of God 5. That Private Masses ought to be continued 6. That Auricular Confession is necessary and expedient to be retained in the Church of God The refusal of these Articles caused the Death of very many Protestants as the denying the Kings Supremacy cut off several Papists so that at the same time Protestants were burnt on one side of Smithfield and Papists hanged on the other which made Foreigners admire not understanding what Religion King Henry was of In his thirty third year the King married Katherine Parr Sister to the Marquess of Northampton and Widow to the Lord Latimer who was likely to have lost her Head if her Virtue and the Kings sudden Death had not
Son of K. Henry the 8. by Q. Jane Seymour his third wife who died soon after her delivery He was very carefully educated by his Father and had such a happy Genius that in a short time he attained to a perfect use knowledge of the ancient and modern Languages and was exceedingly skilled in all the liberal Arts He was of a beautiful body a mild and gracious disposition and an Heavenly wit so that the renowned Cardan calls him a Miracle of Nature After K. Henrys Death Edward by unquestionable right succeeded him his Father having appointed twenty eight Councellours to assist him in the Government till he came of Age who chose the Earl of Hartford afterward Duke of Somerset to be Protector of the King and Kingdom After his Fathers funerals were past several Persons were advanced to honours in order to his Coronation which was performed February 20 1547. At which three Swords were delivered to him as King of England France and Ireland and having received them he said There was yet another Sword to be delivered to him whereat when the Lords wondred I mean said he the sacred Bible which is the Sword of the Spirit without which we are nothing neither can do any thing King Henry before his death strictly charged the Lords of the Council to use their utmost endeavour for perfecting the marriage of his Son Edward with the young Queen of Scots in prosecution whereof the Protector entred Scotland with a considerable Army by Land and a fleet of sixty Ships under the Lord Clinton scoured the Seas upon which the Governour of Scotland erected the Firecross which was two firebrands set in the fashion of a Cross and pitched upon the point of a spear with a Proclamation that all above sixteen years of Age and under sixty should resort forthwith to Musselborough and bring provision of victuals with them upon which so many came in that the most serviceable only were retained the English approaching a Fierce Battle ensued but at last the English remained victors wherein were slain fourteen thousand cots with the L. Fleming and other Persons of Quality and of English only Fifty one Horsemen and one Footman though many wounded this sight was at Edmonstone Bridge near Musselborough there were fifteen hundred Prisoners taken the chief whereof were the Lords Yester Hobley and Hamilton the Master of anepool the Lord Weems and the Earl of Huntley who being demanded how they were stood affected to the Marriage answered That they liked the match well enough but did not approve of this kind of woing After this the English plundred and fired â—eith and took several other places so that the Earl Bothwell and other Gentry of Tiviotdale came and submitted to the Protector entring into Terms of Peace with him The Protector returning to London called a Parliament wherein the six Articles were repealed and those Colledges and Chappels that K. Henry had not seized were given to the K. the Churches were ordered to be purged of Images no Beads Processions Prayers to Saints or for the Dead or in an unknown Tongue to be used Masses and Dirges were likewise abolished upon this divers Bishops refusing to comply with the Injunctions in Religion were removed and committed to Prison It was likewise ordained that the Eucharist should be received in both kinds that Bishops should be made by the King under his Letters Patents without any other pretended Authority and that all persons exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction should have the Kings Arms in the eals of their Office after which they confirmed the Kings Supremacy In the mean time the young Queen of cots was conveyed into France and married to Francis the Dauphin at six years old These Alterations of Religion caused divers Insurrections for the Commissioners going into the Country to execute the aforementioned orders as Mr. Body one of the Commissioners was performing his office in the West of England by plucking down Images he was stabbed to the heart by a Popish Priest and the Common People joining with the Priest upon the instigation of other Papists they took Arms to the number of ten thousand refusing the pardon offered them and besieging Exeter which was Gallantly defended but at length the King sending his Forces soon dispersed them several of the Ringleaders being taken and executed in London This was succeeded by another Insurrection in Norfolk under one Ket a Tanner who issued out warrants in his Majesties name acting the part of the Kings Deputy without his Authority and calling the Tree near Norwich wherein he pretended to administer Justice The Oak of Reformation but the Earl of Warwick marching against them upon offer of a General Pardon they laid down their Arms sixty of them being before executed by Martial Law and nine hanged upon the Oak of Reformation A third Insurrection happened upon the neck of this in Yorkshire raised by one Ombler a Gentleman Dale a Parish Clerk and Stephenson a Priest who gathered four or five thousand to assist them upon conceit of a Prophecy That the time should come wherein there would be no King the Nobility and Gentry should be destroyed and the Land ruled by four Governours elected by the Commons holding a Parliament in Commotion which should begin at the North Seas of England And this they thought to be the time and that the Rebels in Devonshire Yorkshire and Norfolk should join together to accomplish this Prophesy but hearing of the bad success of their friends and having a pardon sent them by the King they forsook their Leaders who were taken and executed at York At this time some heats arose at Court between the Wives of the two Brothers the Lord Protector and L. High Admiral about precedency whereupon the Admiral was accused of attempting to get the Kings Person and Government into his hands with divers other matters for which he was condemned by the contrivance of the Earl of Warwick and by his Brothers Warrant beheaded upon Tower-hill And now Cardinal Pool was upon the Death of Paul the third elected Pope which being told him he desired them to consider well whether they were swayed by no passion of mind or did any thing for favour or affection but only for the honour of God and the Church they taking this for a kind of denial presently chose Cardinal Montanus who took the name of Julius the third During these domestick troubles the French had divers times attempted Bulloign and had now got seven thousand men and all other provisions necessary to surprize it but being come within a quarter of a Mile of the Fort the Garrison had notice thereof who put themselves into such a posture to receive them that they were repulsed with a great slaughter fifteen Waggons being laden with the dead bodies afterward they attempted Guernsey and Jersey with no better success being beaten off with the loss of a thousand men upon this succeeded a Peace whereby it was agreed that Bulloign should be surrendred