pure from all unlawful things What necessity is there of making a long discourse of dividing Portions of shewing Hospitality and of doing Mercy to those that live a Common life when all that is overplus is to be bestowed upon Pious and Religious uses the Lord our Master teaching us all what remains bestow in Alms and hold all things are clean unto you Luke the 11th The third Question of Augustine Since there is but one Faith why are there divers customes of Churches One custome of Mass in the holy Roman Church and another in those of Gaul The Answer of Gregory Your Brotherhood knows the Custome of the Roman Church in which you may remember you were bred but it is my pleasure that if you can find either in the Roman Church or those of Gaul or in any other Church any thing more pleasing to God carefully choose it and what things soever you can gather from many Churches of honest Institution introduce them into the English Church which as yet is young in the Faith for things are not to be beloved for the places but places for the good things in them Out of every Church therefore choose what is Pious Religious and Right and gather them together as it were in a bundle and by practice infuse them into the minds of the English The fourth Question of Augustine I beseech you what punishment ought to be inflicted on him that commits Sacriledge The Answer of Gregory This your Brotherhood may understand from the person of the Thief how he ought to be corrected for there are some that have found ways to commit thest and there are others that offend in this nature out of necessity From whence it follows that some are to be punished with fines others with stripes some more severely others more gentily and when you proceed against any with more rigour than ordinary you must do it out of charity not fury because 't is done to him that is punished with this intent that he might not be committed to Holl fire For we ought to instruct the Faithful so as good Fathers are wont their carnal Children whom for their faults they whip and yet they desire that those whom they thus afflict should be their heirs and carefully keep for them whatsoever they possess whom angrily they thus seem to torment Alwales therefore keep in your mind this charity which suggests a mean in chastizing so that the mind can do nothing without the rule of Reason Perhaps you way ask How these things that are taken by stealth from the Church may be restored but God forbid that the Church should receive with increase for the loss of Earthly things or go about to make advantage of vain trifles The fifth Question of Augustine Whether two own Brothers may marry two own Sisters which are removed from them by many degrees The Answer of Gregory This is certainly lawful for we find nothing in inholy Writ that seems to contradict this point in the least The sixth Question of Augustine To what degree the Faithful may marry with their kindred and whether it be lawful for Stepmothers and their kindred in Law to be joyned in wedlock Gregory's Answer A certain Secular law in the Roman Common wealth permits that whether Brother and Sister or the son and daughter of two own Brothers or two own Sisters may marry but we haue learnt by experience that from such kind of Marriages no issue can be produced and holy Writ forbids the uncovering of the Nakedness of our near kindred from whence it follows that the third and fourth generation of the Faithful may lawfully marry To be joyned in marriage with ones mother-in-Mother-in-law is a great sin for 't is written in the Law Thou shalt not uncover thy Father's nakedness neither indeed may a Son discover the nakedness of his Father but because 't is written they shall be two in one flesh he that shall presume to uncover the nakedness of his Stepmother which was one flesh with his Father hath certainly uncovered his Father's nakedness 'T is forbidden also to marry a near Relation-in-law because by the former it was made as the flesh of the Brother for which thing John the Baptist was beheaded and ended his life in holy Martyrdom on whom it was not imposed to deny Christ and yet he was slain for confessing Christ but because our Lord Jesus Christ had said I am the Truth and because John was killed for the truth he poured out his blood for Christ. The seventh Interrogation of Augustine I desire to know whether a Divorce may be issued out against those that are married unlawfully and whether they may be denied the benefit of the Communion The Answer of Gregory Because there are many in England which still remain in Infidelity that are reported to be joyned in wicked and unlawful Matrimony when they shall come to the Faith they are to be admonished that they abstain and made to understand that it is a grievous sin Let them stand in fear of the terrible Judgment of God lest for a little carnal pleasure they incur eternal torments nevertheless they are not for this thing to be deprived of the Communion of the body and blood of our Lord lest we should seem to punish those things in them in which they had bound themselves through ignorance before the Laver of Baptism For in these times the holy Church corrects some things with rigour some things out of mildness it tolerates and other things it wisely dissembles and so bears with some faults and winks at them as at last what it disliketh by forbearances and seeming connivance it overcometh and all that are brought to the Faith are to be admonished that they commit no such thing and if any shall they are to be deprived of the Communion of the body and blood of our Lord because as in those things which they did through ignorance the fault in some measure is to be born withal so it ought resolutely to be prosecuted in those that are most afraid knowingly to offend The eight Interrogation of Augustine If for the great distance of places Bishops cannot easily meet whether a Bishop may be ordained without the presence of other Bishops The Answer of Gregory Certain it is in the Church of the English in which as yet there is no other Bishop but your self you can ordain a Bishop no other way than without Bishops for when can Bishops come from Gaul that may assist as witnesses at the ordination of a Bishop But we would that your Brotherhood should so ordain Bishops that they be not too far disjoyned from one another that there may be no hindrance but that at the ordination of a Bishop others may be present other Pastors also whose presence is very requisit ought to have easie means of access When therefore Bishops shall be so ordained in places near one another the ordination of a Bishop ought never to be without three or four Bishops assisting
Colony whereby they may enjoy it more secure But suppose the Athenians themselves were not acquainted with these Parts yet the Phoceans being of their Colony very probable were inclined to the same form of Government and did retain in general many of their Customes though they differed in some circumstances wherefore it is hoped that this present account may not altogether prove ineffectual especially to those whose education or business has not given them full opportunity of being acquainted with the Customes of the Athenians After all these several Defeats the Athenians grew so proud and conceited with the strange notions of their own Merits that now every private Citizen lookt upon himself able enough to be a States-man and nothing but Democracy would please their palate as if Themistocles had managed the War against the Persian not so much by his own cunning as by the direction of the Athenian Commonalty Now they began to oppress and insolently Lord it over their Allies now it is that we hear no mans Vertue or Innocency was sheilded strong enough against the malicious darts of an envious Tongue The People condemned rather by reports or events than by a just enquiry and search into the matter This made Alcibiades when he was commanded to return from Sicily and answer for his life at home refuse to go as a thing very dangerous and uncertain for being asked Wilt thou not trust thy Country which begat thee to be thy Judge No not her said he that brought me forth least she not receiving the Truth mistake the black for the white Stone The Greeks formerly Condemned by Black Stones and Absolved by White But these two things viz. Pride towards their Confederates and an over hasty Condemnation of their best Captains in the end proved their Ruine the one weakning their Army the other alienating the affections of their Friends the Lacedaemonians who had long lain still but ever jealous of the aspiring Greatness of the Athenians and consequently watchful in taking all advantages of them at last entred into the War which was called the Peloponnesian It was fought a long while between them with various success but at last the Athenians through the sudden and frequent revolt of their Allies the banishment of the old and neglect and inadvertency of the new Captains were totally beaten at the Battle of AEgos Potamos by the fortunate Conduct of Lysander and were at last forced to submit to these Conditions That the long Walls leading from the Town to the Port should be thrown down That all the Cities subject to that State should be set at liberty That the Athenians should be Lords only of their own Territories and the Fields adjoyning to their Town That they should keep no more than twelve Ships That they should hold as Friends or Enemies the same whom the Lacedaemonians did and follow the Lacedaemonians as Leaders in the Wars After this Athens was Governed by thirty Tyrants who under the notion of compiling a body of Law and Governing the People accordingly soon abused their Authority to the grievance of that City which at first they had governed with great Moderation and to the good liking of the People but afterwards they Condemned any Citizens if by them suspected as they had formerly done the lewdest and worst without due tryal or legal proceeding from which Tyranny they were delivered by Thrasibulus and his Party after which they continued free till the death of Alexander Who were the first Attick Legislators is very much doubted amongst the best Authors I ever conversed with some make Solon the Chief founder of their Laws others have given that honour to Theseus from a passage in Plutarch where he saies That after Theseus had gathered together the dispersed People of Attica and setled a Democracy he received to himself only the chief Command in War and the custody and preservation of the Laws which in my mind rather intimates That they had Laws amongst them in force before this their Incorporation of which he desired the keeping For if he was their first Legislator and his Laws easie reasonable and just whom can it be supposed the People could better entrust with their Laws than their King who is most able to see them put in execution and would be sure to keep them most free from corruption and alteration every Change unless upon mature deliberation implying impotency and weakness at first in the Author Triptolemus who taught them first to Till and sow Lands was the first that delivered Laws unto them Porphyrie lib. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is saies he affirmed that the most ancient of the Attick Legislators was Triptolemus And Hermippus in his second Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They say that Triptolemus gave Laws to the Athenians And Xenocrates the Philosopher writes That there remains in the Eleusine Temple three of his Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Parents are to Honoured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Gods are to be worshipped with the Fruits of the Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that flesh was not to be eaten before Solon Draco gave Laws to the Athenians but he was too much above Humanity to be a good Law-giver not considering in the least the frailty of humane Nature for he punisht with death almost every peccadillo or little slip prosecuting him that had stole a Pin or any inconsiderable trifle with as great rigour as he would have done a Murtherer and Aristotle saies They ought to be remembred for nothing but their Severity But the Athenian Laws were never exact and compleat till Solons time who abrogating what old Laws he thought inconvenient and useless and adding what new ones he thought necessary most of which he brought out of Egypt made so excellent a composure that Athens for many years was happily governed by them and afterwards they became the ground of the Roman Government These Laws of Athens were engraven in Wood and kept in the Acropolis translated afterwards to the Prytaneum by Ephialtes besides there were Decrees established by the Senate to which the consent of the People was not required these were in force but for a year only but those Decrees to the ratisying and confirming of which the peoples Votes were necessary remained firm for a longer time Before any Decree came out the Senate sate in Consultation to weigh and consider of the advantages and disadvantages it might bring upon the State then the Prytanies wrote upon certain Tables on such a day and about such a time will be an Assembly to Consult of these and these Affairs The People being gathered together and purified the Decree is read which if approved by the People was confirmed if otherwise of no force But least through variety of Circumstances and in length of time Inconveniences might arise which at the making of them could not be fore-seen they appointed a day of examination and inspection into their Laws which was on the Eleventh of July
Let therefore the case of Brute remain as it did in Mr. Cambdens daies to be decided by the Senate of Antiquaries and great Clerks to the number of which cited by him namely are Boccace Ludovicus Vives Hadrian Junius Polidore Buchanan Vignier Genebrad Molinaeus Bodine who all reject this story I will now add that famous Antiquary Mr. Selden who askes this Question If the right of Primogeniture invested the eldest Son absolutely in the Kingdom according to the Custome of Troy as it is found in the succession of the Trojan Kings How comes it to pass that this Custome was not brought over into Britain a Question not hitherto fully Answered no not by Mr. Taylour Author of the History of Gavelkind who will have Mr. Selden to be in jest and merriment when he demands upon this account How our Britains claim their descent from the Trojans when as this Question was but sober and rational and hath true reference to the Custome of Troy where the Eldest Son alwaies Inherited the entire Dominion of his Father which by many of the British Kings was not observed Nay this usage of Troy was Religiously observed by the Successors of AEnaeas in the Kingdom of the Latins for when Silvius Posthumus and Iulus contended about the Right of Government Iulus was utterly deposed and invested only with the Priesthood and there was no thoughts of sharing the Kingdom By this it is manifest Mr. Selden had relation to the Custome of Troy and not to any Gavel-kind among the Welch And now I will proceed to the second British King LOCRINE the eldest Son of Brute began his Reign Anno Mundi 2874 over this part of the Island since called England which Portion was allotted to him by the division of his Father as being the fairest parcel of his Empire During his Reign his Brother Albanact was Invaded by Humber King of the Hunns or Scythians and finally by him slain Locrine and Camber raised Forces to revenge the death of their Brother and so marched into the North to seek out Humber and finding him upon the borders of Scotland then called Albania they gave him battle and speedily vanquisht him so as himself and Army after a hot Chase were drowned in a River and from that time the River was named HUMBER In this pursuit he took three fair Ladies the most beautiful of which named Estrild a Scythian Princess he most doted on that notwithstanding a former Contract between him and Guendolaena Corinaeus his Daughter resolved to take this Lady to wife but the power and authority of Corinaeus forced him to lay aside that present Resolution so that marrying Guendolaena nevertheless privately enjoyed his beloved Estrild keeping her in secret during the life of his Father in Law Corinaeus which he performed saith the Count Palatine by the help of a Vault to which under pretence of sacrificing to the Infernal Gods he often resorted No sooner Corinaeus was dead but he owned her for his Queen which so incensed Guendolaena that although Locrine was strengthened by the accession of Cambria upon the death of his Brother yet she goes into Cornwal and by powerful Sollicitations in the behalf of her self and young Son Madan the Cornish are brought to assist her With these Forces she marched again Locrine and in a pitcht Battle nigh the River Stour he is overcome and slain upon this according as she would have it the Kingdom fell to her Son MADAN the Son of Locrine by Guendolaena although a Child yet succeeded his Father Anno Mundi 2894. During his Minority his Mother was made Regent of the Kingdom which she administred with all Justice until the full Age of her Son and after the resignment of her Power she retired into Cornwal This Kings severity in putting the Laws in Execution was esteemed a Tyrant and after he had Reigned forty years he was devoured with Wild Beasts He built Madancaster now Dancaster but Dancaster or Doncaster took its Name as Mr. Cambden supposes from the River Dona upon which it standeth This Madan left two Sons behind him Mempricius and Manlius MEMPRICIUS the eldest Son of Madan began his Reign Anno Mundi 2949 over the whole Island but Manlius his younger Brother rebelled against him To suppress this Rebellion Mempricius signified a desire to Treat with his Brother who consenting to it was treacherously at a meeting Murthered The King having put an end to that trouble wallowed in Ease and Luxury and not content with his Wives and Concubines he falls to horrid Rapes and at last to unnatural Sodomy but in the conclusion of all was slain by wild Beasts after his Government had lasted about twenty years EBRANCKE the Son of Mempricius by his lawful Wife began to Rule Anno Mundi 2969 he had two and twenty Wives of whom he had Issue twenty Sons and thirty Daughters the Eldest of which was named Guales or Gualea These Daughters under the Conduct of their Brothers he sent to Silvius Alba the Eleventh King of Italy and the sixth King of the Latins and this he did because he heard the Sabines would not give their Daughters in Marriage to the Latins What a ridiculous Prolepsis is this of an Action that happened many years after in the daies of Romulus and how without any sense or reason is it ascribed to these Times The Sabines denied their Daughters to that scum of People Romulus by his Asylum had pickt up but why should they do it while the Kingdom of the Latins was in splendour under the Kings of Alba. In making of Silvius Alba the sixth King of the Latins Jeoffery of Monmouth is in the right and now we have a Clue to lead us in to the understanding of this Genealogy of AEnaeas namely he makes the Kings of Alba to succeed lineally from Father to Son and therefore because Silvius Posthumus followed Ascanius in the Kingdom he is ignorantly supposed his Son whereas Iulus was the Son of Ascanius who being deposed by the People Silvius the Son of AEnaeas by Lavinia was advanced to the Crown succeeding Ascanius his half Brother not his Father in the Kingdom By the same Mistake we find in the British History One and twenty Kings from Porrex to Minnegen to be made of a Lineal descent and yet but Ninety two years allowed for all their Reigns so that they begat one another at four or five years old whereas if there be any truth in the Lives of those Kings they ought to have been made Contemporary and to have Ruled different parts of the Island as the Government thereof was found divided in the daies of Julius Caesar when Kent alone had four Princes a little before whose time these KINGS are supposed But to return to Ebrancke After that his Sons had conducted their Sisters under the Conduct of their Brother Assaracus to Silvius Alba being provoked by the Germans they entred that Nation and by the assistance of Silvius Conquered it Some write
the Off-spring of AEnaeas or the Reliques of Troy if he could make out their Title to that Original by any other means than Brute THE CHRONICLE AND HISTORY OF Ancient Britain CHAP. XII SILVIUS the First King of BRITAIN who descended from the Kings of ALBA and not from BRUTE SILVIUS the first King of Britain is supposed to descend from the Kings of Alba and to have forsaken his Country under one of those two great Revolutions of State the former of which was caused by the Usurpation of Amulius upon his Brother Numitor the latter by the vindication of Numitor's Right by his Nephews Romulus and Remus The truth is Silvius seems rather to proceed from Amulius than Numitor upon the account that Numitor's Issue was destroyed by Amulius and his Daughter Ilia made a Vestal Nun so that none of Numitor's Male-Issue surviving this Silvius appears the Son of Amulius who upon the deprivation of his Father might seek out new Fortunes The Reasons that make this seem probable to me are these 1. The Intercourse of the British Histories mentioned between the Kings of Alba and Britain and that very Intercourse must needs be about this time by the very Circumstances produced by those Histories themselves For by their own confession it was in those daies when the Sabines denied their Daughters in Marriage to the House of AEnaeas which happened not according to the Roman Histories till the daies of Romulus and Remus 2. There hath been such an Intercourse between both Nations that they seem to allow it who have derived Britain from a Country in Italy of the same Name as in Polybius and other Authors is seen 3. The time of Silvius his Reign salleth about the Greeks first coming into Britain namely about the daies of Pythagoras at the beginning of the Historical Age nigh the first Olympiad Then it is that we find Silvius mentioned in the British Histories just upon the dissolution of the Line of the Alba Kings called SILVII 4. It is probable the Family of AEnaeas might by Ancient Tradition be delivered down to Govern this Island in Ancient times which Tradition by BRUTE cannot possibly be made out nor so likely by any King as this SILVIUS 5. We find that the Transmigration of the Soul was taught by the Druids of this Island insomuch that Lipsius saith That he knoweth not whether they learnt it of Pythagoras or he of them Now Pythagoras lived by the consent of most Writers not long after those daies of Silvius if not equal with him for who in things of so vast a distance can calculate Time exactly 6. There are many words in the British Language taken notice of which in great reason seem to be derived from the Kingdom of the Latins and shew from thence their Original which words were out of use before Julius Caesars time and so could not be introduced by him The Old Latins called Deformed persons Meriones the Cambro-Britains at this day do call ugly and Rustick Women Metrtones The Old Latins call Deceit Falla the Cambro-Britains Faell The Old Latins called a Great eater Glutton and Gluvia the Cambro-Britains Glwth The Old Latins called a Dug Ruma the Cambro-Britains Rhumen The Old Latins called the Chief Magistrate of the Osci Meddix and with the Cambro-Britains Meddu signifieth to be in Authority and Power The Old Latins called a Fool Dalivus the Cambro-Britains say Delff a stupid Fellow The Old Latins said Clueo I hear the Cambro-Britains call Hearing Clyn and to hear Clywed to which are added many Ancient Names of the Old Latins which have some signification in the British Clodius Clod Praise Drusus Drws a Door Sylla Syllu to See Celius Celu to Hide Cornelius Cornel a Corner Marcus March a Horse Silanus Silyn an Off-spring Cinna Cynne or Cynnew to Burn. The Names of Women Mammea Man Mother Livia Lliw Colour and many more which are left to the Britains to find out who best understand their own Language The Introduction of all which words into Britain cannot so well be attributed to Brutus had there ever been such a Person as to this Silvius upon the account that Brute was not so long in Italy to learn the Latin Tongue neither can the Latin Tongue be supposed to have been in those daies as most Learned persons do think any other than a Dialect of the Greek which mixing afterwards with the Sabins and Etruscans became to be the Original of that Tongue afterwards most in use in Italy so that Brute being excluded none can be found so likely as Silvius to be the Introducer of it into Britain 7. Seventhly and lastly The Cassiterides we find are called Scilly Islands whether from the first Arrival of this Prince which may be supposed in those parts upon the account of Trade or from the Rock Sylla upon the Coast of Italy is uncertain but the former Opinion seems most likely so that I shall conclude seeing that the time doth very well accord of the Expulsion of Silvius Amulius and the Landing of this Silvius in Britain and seeing an Alliance between the two Kingdoms of Alba and Britain is absurdly imagined before this time and with great Reason may be referred hither for seeing Varro's Historical Age now beginneth and some Records of the Greeks remain relating to these daies I will venture to begin the Historical Age with Silvius not condemning all the Traditions of the Britains about AEnaeas and Troy nor yet justifying every thing in those Histories of the following Kings But this I will say That many things in them contained may be Truth although Fabulously written For about this time as I said before the Grecians began to keep Records and much about the same time began their Voyages into Britain as may be seen in the fore-going Antiquities This King SILVIUS in the British History is also named SILIUS Nothing is Recorded of his fifteen years Reign but Brawls and Tumults and Harding calls him also Sicilius and the Son of Gurgust when as others make him his Brother which difference demonstrates the Line of Brute but loosly fastned about this place SICILIUS his Son then did succeed In whose time each man did other oppress The Law and Peace was exil'd so indeed That Civil wars and slaughter of Men express Was in every part of the Land without redress And Murtherers foul through all his Land daily Without redress or any other remedy Most agree that this King reigned nine and forty years some say but two a vast difference and not econcileable unless the distinction of Entrance and Conquest be allowed But of this I shall say no more but proceed to his Cozin Jago JAGO Cozin to Silvius although in all likelyhood not akin at all this being a Phoenician name began his Reign in the year of the World 3336 and died of a Lethargy without Issue after he had reigned twenty eight years leaving nothing memorable behind him but his Tyranny KINIMAGUS or Kimmacus according to most
likelyhood Son of Silvius but others will needs have him Brother of Jago succeeded Anno Mundi 3364. There is nothing Recorded of this Prince but that he was buried at York after he had reigned four and fifty years GORBODUG the Son of Kinimacus the fourth from Silvins An. Mundi 3418 is stigmatized with the same reproach of Tyranny and was buried at Troy-novant after he had Ruled rather to compleat the account of Histories than in truth sixty three years He left behind him two Sons Ferrex and Porrex FERREX and PORREX began joyntly to reign Anno Mundi 3476. This is the third time that the Kingdom fell not entirely to the Elder Brother As after the Laws of Troy the Sovereignty And all resort of Right doth appertain To the Eldest Brother in Property The Eldest Sisters right so by right should have been Soveraign Lady and over them all Queen By equitee of that ilk Law and Right In place where it is holden Law perfeight These Brothers for five years in great Amity ruled the Island until Porrex the younger inflamed with the Ambition of being sole Governour attempts privately upon the life of Ferrex But it seems Ferrex had notice given him of his Brothers design thought it proved not so timely as to give opportunity to avoid the stroak by any other way than flight Gallia was esteemed the nighest and securest retirement where Arriving he sollicits the Princes of that Realm and especially Gunhardus or Suardus to assist him in vindicating his Right to the Crown This just Request being obtained he returns into Britain and with a mighty Army gives his Brother battle Fortune not favouring the just and equitableness of his cause his Army was defeated and in the Battle himself lost his life Porrex enjoyed not long his unnatural Conquest for his own Mother Idone or Widen looking upon him as the bloody murtherer of her Son Ferrex by a deed no less Barbarous prosecutes her Revenge for finding Porrex asleep privately murthered him neither could Motherly pity asswage her Anger until she had cut and mangled his Body in a thousand pieces For this unnatural and much admired Cruelty she was slain by the sury of the Multitude This extinguisht the House of Gorboduc and periodized the Line of AEnaeas insomuch as the Kingdom fell into innumerable divisions from thence into a Heptarchy One seized Loegria another Cambria a third Cornwal a fourth Albania and the fifth division is not specified distinctly by any Authors but is supposed to be Northumberland or Kent which in old Pedigrees their names are cited to be these RUDAUCUS King of Wales CLOTENUS King of Cornwal PINNOR King of Loegria STATORIUS King of Scotland YEVAN King of Northumberland Histories make particular mention of Pinnor otherwise called Pireman King of Loegria and of Rudacus King of Cambria Staterus King of Albania Cloten King of Cornwal but are silent in the other Princes names This Heptarchy is conjectured to have continued One and fifty years until Dunwallo Son of Cloten King of Cornwal whether by the clearest Right and Title or the longest Sword obtained the whole Kingdom is uncertain According to the foregoing Computation we need not with Polidore Virgil invert the Order of the British History in this place but continue the succession of Monarchy from this Period with Guintolin and not Donvallo Molmutius For allowing Molmutius to follow immediately after the Heptarchy his two Sons Belinus and Brennus will be found to be Kings of Britain about the time when Rome was sackt and so may not be obliged to set those two Princes any farther backward as Polidore hath done three hundred years but rather a little more forward For from the Entrance of Brute Anno Mundi 2850 to Belinus and Brennus Anno Mundi 3574 are 724 years whereas Rome is supposed to be sackt in the seven hundred and tenth year after Brutes Arrival as is gathered by Polidore Virgil out of Eusebius This Controversie with some others relating to the same Belinus and Brennus is particularly managed by Sr. John Price against Polidore Virgil as also by many others But seeing the true evidence of this matter is to be made out by Computations which account in seven hundred years according to diversity of Authors differ half in half it is the safer way in my Judgment to follow the usual method in the Succession of the British Kings than by the dependance of the uncertainty of Chronology in things of so vast a distance to invert the whole Order of their Reigns and so like Witches who would conjure them out of the World read them backwards MOLMUTIUS called Dūnvallo Son of Cloten King of Cornwal either judging himself to have the better Right or longer Sword invaded his Neighbour Princes First he began with Pinnor King of Loegria whom he overcame and slew before he could joyn with his Confederates Rudacus King of Cambria and Staterius King of Albania After this success he sets upon the fore-mentioned Princes with an Army of thirty thousand Men but the Victory hanging too long for his eager expectation he made use of a stratagem for counterfeiting the Arms of his Enemies he gave them a terrible overthrow in the Encounter The King of Northumberland or Kent is not mentioned in this Battle wherefore he is supposed beforehand to have surrendred his Kingdom By thismeans Molmutius Dunvallo called also Donebant became the sole Monarch of this Island Anne Mundi 3529. If he got the Crown by Oppression he managed it with no less prudence and moderation enacting several excellent Laws translated out of the British Speech into the Latin by Gildas and afterwards out of the Latin into the English Tongue by Alfred King of England And these Laws are Recorded by Count Palatine and are taken notice of by Mr. Sheringham and particularly recited by Mr. Selden in his Janus Anglorum They were to this effect 1. Ut Templa Deorum c. That the Temples of the Gods should enjoy such Priviledges and Immunities that no Malefactor flying to them for Sanctuary could be seized or by force drawn from them before he had obtained pardon 2. That High-waies leading to Temples or Roads to great Cities should have the like Priviledges 3. That Ploughs Oxen and other Labouring Cattle should enjoy the same Immunities and the reason of this Law is given because otherwise the Ground might lie untill'd and the People perish for want of Bread 4. He set out the number of Ploughs that should be in every Shire and Hundred with severe Penalties upon all that should be the occasion of lessening the Number 5. The fifth is the same almost with the third only it seems a little to restrain it namely That no Oxen or Labouring Beast should be seized for Debt unless there were no other Goods or Chattels to make satisfaction 6. He ordained set Weights and Measures for buying and selling 7. A Law against Thieves and Robbers These are the Molmutian Laws
to Southampton The fourth Hekencldis-street or Kikeneldis-street which goeth forth by Worcester Wickham Bermingham Leichfield Darby Chester-field and by York to Tinmouth By this time Brennus had got so sar into favour with Seginus the Duke of Armorica that he married his Daughter and by the consent of his Nobles in case he failed of Issue-Male the same Duke was admitted Heir of the Crown and not long after by the death of the said Prince he was accordingly received as their lawful Prince all States of the Realm swearing Fealty to him Being now in the possession of a Kingdom Brennus raiseth a powerful Army and Lands in Britain intending to revenge the wrongs done him by his Brother Belyn And now was it that both Armies were ready to give Battle when their Mother Conwenna interposed as a Mediatress between them and by her many tears and powerful perswasions brought them to a Friendly accord so that embracing each other they were heartily Reconciled to the exceeding joy of all Spectators After their Arrival at Troy-Novant they consulted which way best to employ their Armies where the motion was made by Brennus and accepted by Belinus to joyn Forces and undertake the Conquest of all Gallia which Enterprize was attended with a Fortune beyond expectation For they did not only Conquer all Gallia but Italy and great part of Germany also and in the end sacked Rome it self where some say Brennus lost his life others that he survived that great and general Overthrow Some make Belinus a Partner with him in his Greatness others say he went not into Gallia with him or if he did that he soon returned leaving the management of all those Forreign employments to the Conduct of his Brother Brennus whom we will leave to the Histories of the Romans as if so be this were the same Brennus that sackt Rome to receive what Fate in most probability is assigned to him Vitus maketh him to have killed himself at his Repulse before Delphos BELYN now absolute Monarch of Britain sets himself to the beautifying of his Dominions He built Caerleon upon Uske called from thence Caer Uske and Caer Huth where he placed an Arch-Flamen He also adorned Troy-novant with a Gate called to this day Belings-Gate on the top of which he caused a Tower to be made and at the Basis or Foundation thereof an Harbour for Ships to Ride in He is said to be the first Founder of the Tower of London After he had Reigned two and twenty years he died being the first of all the British Kings whose Corps was consumed in a Funeral-pile and his Ashes carefully gathered in a Brazen some say a Golden Urne and preserved on the highest Pinnacle of the Gate or Arch he had built as some think for that purpose GURGUINT Sir-named Brabtruc according to others Barbarous i. e. the Red-beard the English Chronicle calleth him Corinbratus and was the Son of Belyn and succeeded him Anno Mundi 1596. In his daies the Danes refused the payment of their Tribute whereupon he sailed into Denmark and by sorce of Arms obliging them to renew their Treaty received Homage of their Kings and Chief Nobility then Embarked again for Britain In his Return he met with a Fleet of thirty Sail about the Isle of Orkney these he Encounter'd and having taken their Captain Bartholoin or Partholoin he demanded of him what he was and the reasons of his Adventures into those Parts Partholoin answers That He and his Followers were named Balences or Basclenses and were Exiles of Spain and banished their Country with their Wives and Children and thereupon struck out to Sea to seek out an Habitation It is said the King gave them Ireland being a place not then Peopled After his Arrival into Britain the King made it his business to establish and confirm the Laws of his Ancestors and in his Reign that Famous University of Cambridge was Founded by Cantaber Brother of Bartholin This King also built Caer-werith or Lancaster Caer-Peris or Porchester in Hampshire the Seat of a Flamen and Caer-Gaurvie now Warwick where he was buried after he had reigned nineteen years GUINTELINUS or Guintellus the Son of Gurguint was Crowned King Anno Mundi 3615 He was a Prince learned prudent and of singular Justice and Moderation and that which conduceth more to the Glory of his Reign was that he was blest with a Lady with no less Endowments and Excellencies her names was Martia From this Lady that Law called Mathehelage or Marchenelaghe had its beginning and Name translated by King Alphred out of the British into the Saxon Tongue Mr. Hollinshead wonders and admires at Providence that two such wise Princes should come at once to the management of the Kingdom especially at a time when so many Civil Discords were reigning But I find none of these Civil Discords reigning either in his own his Fathers Grandfathers or Great-Grandfathers daies 'T is true Belyn had War with his Brother but in a few years it was wholly ended to the great satisfaction of them both Where then are these Civil Discords Indeed Polidore Virgil out of his great Providence placeth this King before his Great-Grandfather which I suppose he did for the wonderful wisdom of this Prince and his Wife whom he thought best able to end the Civil dissensions caused by the Pentarchy and therefore where Polidore admires the wonderful Providence of God we ought to take him as applauding his own Invention for never before him was ever such an Invention made for the stating of the British Kings But Mr. Hollinshead who followeth on the Received course of the Succession ought not to complain of Civil Discords in this Kings Reign because they had been long since ended And this I take notice of more especially because I find the same Errour in other Authors who have written after Polidore which was grounded from the delight of their own Fancies rather than to deliver the truth exactly down to the People This King Reigned twenty six years and was Interr'd at Troy-Novant now London SICILIUS the second and Son of Guintolin being about seven years of Age was received as King under the Regency of his Mother Martia Anno Mundi 3641 and it seemeth that those Laws called Martiae were exacted by this Queen during the Minority of her Son rather than in the life of her Husband The Count Palatine will have this King to have reigned fifteen years alone but it is generally thought he Governed not above fifteen in all seven under the Tuition of his Mother and eight after his full Age and having given the signs of a hopeful Prince he was suddenly snatcht out of this World by Death and then the Government fell to KIMARUS the Son of Sicilius who began his Reign over Britain A. M. 3656 and being of a wild and ungoverned disposition as given up to all manner of Lusts and Exorbitances was kill'd in the Woods in his pursuit after his game of Hunting some say by
an ambush of Men others by Wild Beasts He reigned but three years and was buried at Caer-leon ELANIUS or Danius his Brother succeeded Anno Mundi 3659 this King was not inferiour to his Predecessor in wickedness of his life in so much as some Chronicles make him one and the same Person sor so exactly did these two Princes correspond in their Vices He held the Scepter ten years then MORINDUS bastard Son of Elanius by his Concubine Tonguestula was admitted to the Crown A. M. 3669 a Man of great strength neat proportion of Body and of beautiful Features As to the quality of his mind he was liberal and bountiful but withal exceeding passionate In his daies the Moriani or rather Morini a People of Gaul Landing in Northumberland with fire and sword wasted that Country which Morindus hearing of with all expedition gathered up his Forces and with long and wearisom Marches made up to them and in one battle utterly defeated them It is said in this Encounter Morindus shewed all the signs of personal Courage Anger and Revenge lifting him up beyond the common ability of Humane nature The Captives that were taken felt the severity of his wrath being every one of them by several exquisite and new devised Tortures sacrificed to his severe Resentments so that in the punishment of these Miserable wretches it is a question whether he shewed more his Skill or his Cruelty Going along the Sea-coast for his Recreation he espied a hideous Monster arising out of the Irish Sea which immediately seized and devoured many who for their pleasures were walking upon the shoar The King beholding the lamentable destruction of his Subjects put Spurs to his Horse and with great fury and haste assailed this Devourer The Contest held a long time doubtful but at last great was the joy and shoutings of the Spectators to see this Monster fall but in the end greater was their sorrow when they saw the King with his fall overwhelmed and destroyed This happened in the ninth year of his Reign He left five Sons behind him Gorbomannus Archigallo Elidurus Vigenius and Peridurus GORBOMANNUS the eldest Son of Morindus possest himself of the Kingdom Anno Mundi 3678 a Religious Prince he evidenced himself to the World for repairing of decayed Temples and erecting New ones in several places in his Dominions in which he placed Flamens He is said to build Grantham in Lincolnshire and some say Cambridge Anciently called Granta Caer-Grant and Grant-chester although others will have it built by Cantaber and walled about by a Count named Grantinus see Cambria Triumphans page 68. He reigned ten years c. ARCHIGALLO the second Son of Morindus succeeded his Brother Gorbomannus Anno Mundi 3688. He endeavoured to depress theNobility by depriving them of all Power and Command to which purpose he contrived Plots and then discovered them having his Engins secretly employed who at any time would accuse whom they pleased of Delinquency or at least dissatisfaction to the present Government These pretended Crimes they redeemed with great Fines and intollerable Compositions for their Estates Many other things he committed as the advancing of Unworthy persons to Dignities and Offices and the spoiling and robbing of his Richest Subjects for all which he was Deposed after one years Government Upon this ELIDURE his Brother was with the general consent and applause of the whole Realm chosen King Anno Mundi 3689. He was called by his Subjects Elidure the Meek Hunting one day in the Wood Calater in the Thicket of the Wilderness he espied his Brother Archigallo and being struck with pitty of his Misfortune he secretly conveighed him home to his House at the City Aldud or Acliud where feigning himself sick he assembled by his Writ all the Nobles of his Realm and there partly by Perswasions and partly by Commands he engaged them to receive again his Brother Archigallo for their lawful Soveraign afterwards calling an Assembly of his Commons at York he there publickly resigned his Crown and taking it off his own Head placed it on his Brother Archigallo's after he had Reigned three years ARCHIGALLO being restored to his Crown Anno Mundi 3692 by his wise and sober deportment he redeemed the Affections of the Nobility and the love of his People He discards his former Favourites and adheres to the sage and prudent Advice of the best of his Nobility and Reigning to the general liking of all his Subjects for the space of ten years he died and was buried at Caerbranck at York Elidurus after the death of his Brother was lawful King of this Island and so with much Honour and Reputation received the second time the Crown An. Mundi 3702 but was soon deposed by the Ambition of his Brothers Vigenius and Peridurus after one years Government when being seized by them and his Person confined to the Tower of London they divided the Kingdom Peridurus received Albania and Vigenius the Country on this side Humber Vigenius died after he had reigned seven years so that the whole Kingdom came to Peridurus who managed it as some write with great Moderation and Justice as others say with Tyranny and Oppression but he died not till after he had Governed nine years in all and then was buried at Pykering a Town he himself had built Elidurus again resumed the Crown being delivered out of Prison where some say he was confined by his own Election and not by the Injustice of his Brothers This was in the year of the World 3712 and after he had Reigned four years to the general applause of all men He died and was buried at Caerlisle GORBONIANUS the Son of Regni and Grand-child to Elidure was Crowned King of Britain Anno Mundi 3716. He reigned with the general approbation of all People for the space of ten years Jeoffery of Monmouth maketh this Regni the Son of Gorbonian a worthy Prince MORGAN or Margan succeeded Anno Mundi 3726 he was the Son of Archigallo he ruled fourteen years with great peace and tranquility After him EMERIANUS another Son of Archigallo was advanced to the Crown Anno Mundi 3740. He was of a quite contrary disposition to his Brother so that Governing by Will and Pleasure and not according to Law he was laid aside after he had sat in the Throne seven years YDWALLO the Son of Vigenius followed Anno Mundi 3747. By the Example and Misfortune of his Predecessor he avoided Tyranny and held the Scepter twenty years RINCO the Son of Peridurus an Heroick Prince and a great Warriour assumed the Royal Dignity Anno Mundi 3767 and reigned sixteen years GERUNTIUS the Son of Elidurus followed him Anno Mundi 3783. He gave life to the Laws of his Predecessor and Governed with Justice and Moderation for the space of twenty years CATELLUS his Son reigned after him in the year of the World 3803 he was the great Patron of the Poor and Distressed insomuch as he hanged all such as were their Oppressors
of Eleutherius And the first is the Date it bears which in the Text is dated 169 in the Margin 156 yet neither agree with the time of Eleutherius his Popedom if we will follow the most approved Authors For although Bede saies he was made Bishop of Rome in the year of our Lord 167 yet Eusebius in his Chronicle places the beginning of his Popedom in the sixteenth year of the Emperour Antoninus that is in the year of our Lord 179 But in his History and indeed truer to the following year of Antonium which is of our Lord 180. Baronius is of the same Opinion also and confirms it by the Letters of the Martyrs at Lyons which were presented to Eleutherius himself 2. Besides if this Epistle be true it makes King Lucius to take a very preposterous course in sending so far as Rome to Eleutherius for the Roman Laws when he might sooner and with less trouble have procured them at home from the Roman Governour for from the time of the Emperour Claudius who subdued most part of Britain the Roman Laws were in force here nay very well known to the further parts of Yorkshire And Tacitus saies he had erected here Roman Courts and Tribunals which was about an hundred years before Lucius came to the Government But we shall pursue this discourse no further it being plain and obvious to any that are but meanly acquainted with those Histories 3. This Epistle makes no mention of any Power or Authority the Romans had in these parts but makes Lucius an absolute Monarch as in nothing subject to the Roman Governour You are Gods Vicegerent in your own Kingdom not Claudius Caesars or any other Emperour Contrary to the Customes of those times Among the Jews King Herod was under Pilate and King Agrippa under Faelix and Festus and so it was likewise usual in other Provinces but without doubt Lucius was a British King as he is rightly so stiled in the Life of Eleutherius but it was but of some part of it not of the whole Island or that part which separated from Scotland by a Wall which was under the Romans yet it is not to be doubted but that in some part of it he had a Power under the Romans neither is it any hard matter to describe the Places of his Government for he being the Son and Successour of King Coile and Coile the Son of Marius and Marius of Arviragus which some report to be Togenus others the same with Tacitus his Prasutagus King of the Iceni The Iceni inhabited that part of Britain which the East Angles did under the Saxons it comprehended Norfolk Suffolk and at some time Cambridge Their Royal City was Venta of the Iceni now called Castor in Norfolk near to the City of Norwich but this place is too far distant from Glastonia a little Village of the Belgae in the Kingdom of the West Saxons which Arviragus as they say gave to Joseph of Arimathea and his Companions that came with him But this seems to intimate that Arviragus was rather King of the Belga and Dobuni that is of the West Saxons than of the Iceni and that which promotes this Opinion is his being most usually in those parts and his entertainment in Claudiocestria if we will credit Gaufridus but that which takes away the doubt unless we will suspect the Author himself is the testimony of Hector Boethius Scotus who shews that Arviragus was by Birth an Icene and was substituted by Claudius Caesar King of Britain furthermore the Iceni first received the Christian Faith in Britain 4. This word Manutenere which we translate Maintain was not in use in Eleutherius his time but smells rather of the Norman Latin from which it crept into our Country Laws 5. Those places which are quoted out of the Holy Scripture are taken out of the Translation of St. Hierom who lived two hundred years after Eleutherius 6. This Epistle never came out in the World till almost a thousand years after the death of Eleutherius but out of what Monks Cell it came is uncertain but that which ought to be most observed is that it is no where to be found in Gaufridus Monumuthentis contemporary with Hovedenus who was always diligent in the Collection of the British Antiquities This Answer of the Pope by Letter to Lucius was sent by Fugatius and Damianus Men of sound doctrine and holy life by whose hands the King with all his Nobles received Baptisme and shortly after by their industry and the earnest desire and endeavours of King Lucius the Doctrine was so far propagated that the Temples and Altars of the Heathen Gods were in most places flung down and demolished the Christian worship set up in their places and the Church established under Form and Government In the Seats of twenty eight Flamens and three Arch Flamens which presided over the whole Nation being all of them either converted or expulied were constituted twenty eight Bishops and three Arch-bishops whose Chairs for the greater convenience of Government were continued in the same places the Archi-Flamens resided in The first and Metropolitan Seat was at London and the Cathedral St. Peters in the memory of that Saint from whose Successour Eleutherius they had received the Faith The second was at York The third at Carlile but of the particular extent of these places I shall treat more fully anon The Succession of Bishops in the See of London THe first to the Times of the Saxons is thus Theanus who was in the daies of Lucius consecrated the Church of St. Peters Cornhill and by the assistance of Ciranus the Kings Cup-bearer performed all the Rites thereunto belonging Some report he built the Church The second Eluanus he added a Liberary to it The third was Cadar the fourth Obinus the fifth Conanus the sixth Palladius the seventh Stephanus the eighth Iltutus or Iltutius the ninth Deduinus the tenth Theodredus the eleventh Hilarius the twelfth Vitelinus the thirteenth Vodinus Mr. Cambden calls him Theonus But before we proceed any further it will be necessary to say who and what these Flamens were and of their being changed into Bishops and Arch-bishops What these Flamens and Arch-flamens were and their being changed into Bishops and Arch-bishops I Wish we had seen the Book of Gildas for it can hardly be found in ancient Authority that there was ever any distribution of Flamens and Arch flamens into their particular Provinces or that the words Arch-flamens and Arch-bishops were in use in the time of Lucius or that Metropolitical Jurisdiction and the Ceremony of the Pall had any being in those daies For Flamens among the Romans were no other than their Priests so called from a Thred or String as Varro saith with which they bound their Head as Flamines some Pileamines from a Cap they wore and from Sacrificing commonly called Priests and every one of these lookt after the proper Offices and Duties of their particular Gods at first
Gentry of Rome of restoring the Tarquin's and that his own Sons had a hand in it he brought them to the Market-place where they were publickly whipt and asterwards to the Block where they lost their Heads It was not lawful for any Person to sue for the Consulship till he had first past through successively the Offices of Quaestor Aedile and Praetor and arrived to the forty third year of his Age that is past the extravagances of Youth and free from the infirmities of Old Age the greatest concerns of Peace and War depending solely on their management The Romans had alwaies so great a respect and honour for this place of Dignity by vertue of which their Empire was enlarged their Liberties strongly upheld that to encrease the Majesty of it changed the Ancient date of things which before was ab Urbe condit à in favour of them into L. AE T. V. Consulibus viz. John Anoaks and John Astiles being Consuls The Ensigns of their Office was the Sella Eburnea the Ivory Chair which was carried about in a Charriot where the Consul sate administring justice The great Gown of State called Trabea was worn first by their Kings asterwards by the Consuls Lastly twelve Lictors or Serjeants which went before one Consul one Month the second another with bundles of Rods in their hands and Axes bound up in the middle the one gently to correct small offenders the other to lop off from Humane society those that were otherwise incurable These Consuls had power of stopping any proceedings in the Senate as may be seen by Ambitious Lentulus who passionately desired Africa then the seat of the War and of Glory for his Province threatning the Senate that unless he had his will he would have nothing to pass in the House In the time of Sedition or any sudden danger from abroad they chose a Dictator to whom was committed an Arbitrary Power and different in nothing from a KING but in Name and the continuance of six months in the Office From him lay no appeal to the People twenty four Lictors went before him as if they intended by the greatness and Majesty of his Authority he should affright the Seditious into their wonted Obedience and having no equal to dispute his Commands the consequence of equality in Arms may be learnt from the fate of Paulus AEmitius and Ter. Varro at the Battle of Cannae might by the suddenness of his directions prevent the Storm before it grew too blustering and violent or if it did he might be in a better capacity of opposing it the strength of an Army consisting in the Union of their Forces under one Commander Besides the opinions of a Senate or an Assembly commonly are very inconstant great diversity and mutability arising from such numbers or from the wranglings of two adverse Factions we seldom finding any such irresolutions in a single Person From hence and from their sending single Persons as Governours of their Provinces however the Senate and wiser sort of the People dissembled we may conclude on their approbation of Monarchy as the fittest form of Government to expel danger and enlarge their Dominions although their Judgments were perverted and blinded by Ambition Passion being most commonly stronger than Reason for in Aristocratical and Democratical Common-wealths most Men are capable of a share in the Government which under Monarchy was impossible for them to attain to And we may easily see how much they esteemed Monarchy in the latter Ages Viz. their Government of Great Britain by Vice-Roy's not in the Name of the Senate but Emperours in possession From the root of the Consulship sprung those two great branches of the Censorship and Praetorship the Consuls in whose Power they were formerly included being for the most part employed in the Wars were forced to confer them on other persons for the regulation of Manners and distribution of Justice at home The Censors took cognizance of all Ill-manners they had power to degrade both Senatour and Roman-Knight from the Honour of their constituted Order and remove the People in case they deserved it from a more honourable Tribe to a less from whence they were called the Masters of Manners Besides these things they also took care of all Publick-works as mending High-waies Bridges and Water-courses the reparations of Temples and several other Buildings If any man encroached upon the Streets High-waies or other places that were in use for the Publick good the Censors compell'd him to make satisfaction for the injury committed They had also the letting out of Lands Customes and other Publick Revenues to Farm so that most of the Citizens of Rome were beholding to this Office as maintaining themselves by some of the Trades thereunto belonging and this was no small help to preserve the Dignity of the Senate the Commonalty being obnoxious to the Censors which were alwaies of that Order and careful to uphold the Reputation thereof They also took notice of those that mis behaved themselves in the Wars or went about to discourage any of the Souldiers after any notable defeat Thus we see Marcus Attilius Regulus and P. Furius Philus called L. Caecilius Metellus to an account for that after the Battle of Cannae he held discourse with some of his Companions about flying beyond the Seas as if Rome and all Italy had been no better than lost They also pronounced Infamous those that having brought to Rome the Message of their Fellows made Prisoners at Cannae returned not back to Hannibal as they were bound by Oath but thought themselves thereof sufficiently discharged in that they had stepped back once into his Camp with pretence of taking better notice of the Captives Names as also all those that had not served in the Wars after the term the Law appoints In their keeping was the Censual-Roll or Doomsday-Book wherein was the true Estate and value of what every Man was worth that the People might be the better Governed and the easier distinguisht They continued in their Office five years and yet if one of them died his place was lookt upon as ominous yea dangerous to the Common-wealth one of the Censors dying that very year that Rome was sackt and almost destroyed by the fury of the Gauls There were two Praetors or Lord Chief Justices the one for judging and examining matters between Citizen and Citizen whom they called Praetor Urbanus the other for adjusting the Controversies of Strangers and was termed Praetor Peregrinus and Praetor Minor but afterwards Law-suits increasing there were many more added to the former who were to sit in the Court of Life and Death The two Chief Praetors took notice of all matters concerning Equity and Wrong between Man and Man and under them the Centum Viri but especially all Crimes Capital as Treason Murther buying of Voices for the obtaining of Magistracy c. which were at first heard by the Kings and Consuls and afterwards by certain Persons appointed by the People for that purpose who
were called Quaesitores Parricidii But in time the hearing of these Publick or Capital Causes was confirmed and transferred unto certain Magistrates who continued in their Office a whole year Others had their Office no longer than they sat in Judgment which were for distinctions sake called Praetores Quaesitores and their Causes Quaestiones perpetuae because in their Causes there was one set form of giving Judgment constantly used whereas in Private and Civil causes the Praetor yearly changed the form by hanging up new Fdicts and Laws by which he intended to administer Justice that year to the People for as the Causes were different so were the signs and distinctions of their Courts a Spear erected denoting the Nisi Prius Court and a Sword hung out in token of that which related to the sentence of Life and Death The Praetor Urbanus was wont at the entrance into his Office to collect a set form of Administration of Justice out of the former Laws and Edicts of other Praetors according to which he would distribute Justice all the year following And lest the People might be ignorant of the contents thereof he caused it to be hung up in publick view This form of Justice was termed Edictum because he did thereby forbid or command something to be done This Edict being delivered out the administration of Justice consisted in the use of one of these three words Do Dico Addico he is said Dare actionem when he grants an Action or Writ against any man Dicere jus when he passeth Judgment on him Addicere res aut personas as when he in the Court doth see and allow the delivery of the thing or the Person on which Judgment is passed The form of Addiction was thus After Judgment had been pronounced in Court the Party which prevailed laid his hand on the thing or person against which Sentence was pronounced using this form of words Hunc ego hominem five hanc rem ex jure Quiritium meum esse dico then did the Lord Chief Justice Addicere i. e. approve the challenge and grant a present possession But these forms and waies of proceeding being uncertain and the Law it self unknown to most of the Roman Commonalty as lying for the most part in the Breast of the Praetor to avoid this incontroulable power and the infinite disadvantages that daily ensued Three men were deputed by the Senate to go to Athens and other Greek Cities to make a collection of what Laws they thought convenient by which they were resolved the City should be governed At their return the Consuls were deposed and the Government of the Common-wealth put into the hands of Ten Men all of Consular dignity to whose wisdom and Integrity was referr'd the new modelling of the Laws contained in the Ten Tables having power of curtailing what was superfluous and unnecessary and of interpreting any thing that was dark or obscure and of adding any thing where they found a necessity or occasion From the addition of two Tables they were called the Laws of the twelve Tables the Fountain from whence the Civil Law proceeded These Men were allowed the same Ensigns of Majesty and the same power and Authority as the Consuls formerly had as of calling together the Senate ratifying and confirming their Decrees and managing the chief business of State Nevertheless but one at a time took this Power upon him the others in the mean while differing little from private Men. The People at first were so in love with this Decem-Viral way of Governing that they willingly diminished and abated their own Priviledges to advance the Credit and Honour of their new laid Greatness These Ten abrogated the Statute of Appeal made by Valerius Publicola to the Judgment of the People and they not much grumbling at it expected that the Greatness they allowed them in Majesty would be sufficiently recompenced by the happiness and infinite advantages they should receive from the Justice and Moderation of their Government But they now they had gotten the Reins in their hands began to contrive how to make that Government perpetual which before was but Annual They agreed among themselves that every one should take upon him the grandeur and Authority of a Consul intending by Cruelty and Oppression to force the People into a certain fear and dread of their Authority rather than by Mild usage to let them fall gently and by degrees in love with their own Slavery and bondage 'T is strange that they having all formerly proved good Consuls should when they came to be good Lawyers prove such ill Governours For they instead of Instructing the People by their Laws by their insolent Oppression and Incontinency gave occasion daily of their Complaint and Murmur making the Law rather a share than a help or ease to the People as hath often appeared to the grief of other Nations in successive Ages punishing the faults of the Commonalty which for the most part proceeded from Necessity by the same Laws they desended the extravagances of their own Passions These Oppressions and Injuries were patiently endured by the People but Appius Claudius a Man of a bolder and wickeder Nature than the rest lusting after the fair but vertuous Verginia whom according to the Law 't was below him to marry and purposing to leave no kind of means unattempted for the enjoyment of his Love and the more speedier easing of his tormented mind resolved not reflecting upon Tarquinus his fate to have recourse to strength and Authority where the interposition of Love was ineffectual hoping by the Law to justifie his Rape as well as his other Brethren had sormerly their Oppressions and Wrongs This his project proved very unsuccessful for the Father of the Lady though of a low Degree yet of a great and generous Spirit killed his Daughter in an open assembly to secure her Honour This last fault of Appius was so unparallel'd an Indiginity that 't was like a great spot of Oyl upon Cloth which seems to have diffused and spread it self abroad to that degree of inhumanity and ugliness that they lookt upon the Ravisher rather as a Monster then a Man Appius was forced through shame and fear of the fury and anger of the Multitude to be his own Executioner in Person his Companions in the Government on the same account quitting their Offices also This was the second time that in the Honour of the Female Sex they changed the form and manner of their Polity The Consuls after this were restored to Soveraignty again and although the storm seemed to have ceased yet the Waters kept on rowling still for not withstanding the People had fully satisfied themselves for the asfront put upon Verginia and the deposing the rest yet now as their Courage was elevated and their Party strong they were resolved to petition the Fathers to lay aside all distinctions of Marriage making it lawful for the Nobility and Commonalty to marry with one another if the Parties could
Aurelian whose right he had usurped After this Massacre few or none being left in Britain whose wisdom in Councel or policy in War was able to do much for their Country Hengist had the leasure to establish his new Dominions And although we read of some few bickerings between him and the Britains afterwards yet by the consequences we shall find that these last were alwaies the loosers and the Saxons the only gainers And now about the year 477 Ella another Saxon Prince with his three Sons Cymen Pletig and Cissa entered the Island at a place in Sussex called Cymenshore and made great slaughter of the Britains but of his actions as being the founder of the Kingdom of the South Saxons there will be occasion to speak in that History It is sufficient here to be hinted that so fair a gap being laid open by Hengist not long after as if Britain was the field of Fortune many other Princes out of Saxony and those parts came flocking into the Island and soon after one another settled Seven distinct Kingdoms leaving to the Poor Britains no more than what nature seemed to provide for them namely inaccessible Mountains and Rocks scarcely passable where defending themselves and enjoying the use of their Religion they sometimes to little purpose as in the main appears made sallies upon the Saxons who not withstanding all resistance still more and more increased Some of them fled over to their Brethren in Armorica others into Holland where yet remains the Ruines of Brittenburg not far from Leyden to be seen at Low-water either built as the Dutch Writers affirm or seized by the Britains in their flight from Hengist Hengist reigned thirty four years and then as Marianus Scotus reports died honourably but Peter de Ikam Polydore and others say he was slain in Battel or taken by Edol Earl of Gloucester and beheaded at Conesborow He was a Prince of the chief Blood of the Saxons by birth of Angria in Westphalia and supposed Lord of that Territory called at this day Hengster-holt He is thus derived from the deified Woden Hengist the Son of Wetgisse the Son of Wecta the Son of Woden When Hengist came first into Britain he is said to have built Thong-Castle near Sydingborn in Kent so called because he had begged as much ground of the King to build it on as he could compass about with an Ox-hide Here he feasted Vortigern and here the fair Rowena in broken language drunk to him that fatal Wassal that for ever after like a strong yet lingring poyson stuck close to his side Thus Hengist obtained the Kingdom by Craft as much as Courage and established it in blood by Treachery yet there are who excuse that Massacre of the British Nobility and lay it upon chance not design alledging that in Saxony not long before there had been a meeting of Thuringers and Saxons where if the Saxons suspecting fraud had not come privily armed the Thuringers had dispatched them all fearing the like Treachery from the Britains they prepared for the worst in this Treaty and in the midst of their Cups as drink is quarrelsom they were provoked beyond the measure Wine is able to bear Thus Verstegan OERIC OERIC Sirnamed Oisc the Son of Hengiss succeeded in the Kingdom At the Battel of Creganford or Craford he gave signal proof of his Valour in assisting his Father in gaining that most remarkable Victory not long before he had been taken prisoner by the Britains and was held in custody at York but by secret workings he made his escape and came up to his Father before the fight began Being seated in the Throne like a wise Prince he set himself to the establishing his Kingdom by good Laws contracting his Dominions within the Province of Kent as most tenable and neglecting those Out-skirts of Essex Sussex and Middlesex left him by Hengist as not well bounded nor throughly subdued Sussex and Surry which touched him on the West he gave up to the Conquest of Ella the Saxon and Essex and Middlesex on the North he left free for Enchinwine another Saxon Adventurer to exercise his Valourin Thus whilst on all sides of his Kingdom the Britains were kept off by other hands he had leasure to follow the Arts and Methods of Peace like Numa to settle the Kingdom left him by his warlike-Predecessor And this is the reason that we hear little of his Son and Grand-son saving their Names and Issues till the time of Ethelbert For the Britains taken up with higher Wars had not opportunity or means to reach Kent and till Ethelbert's daies the other Saxons were so well imployed by the Britains that they had no leasure to fall out among themselves In memory of this Prince the founder of their Laws and Priviledges the Kentish Men afterwards called themselves Oiscings He reigned 24 years but hath not the honour by our Historians to be accounted the second Monarch of the English Men they giving that place to Ella founder of the South Saxons a more active and bustling Prince OCTA OCTA the Son of Eske or Oisc began his Reign about the year 513 What his Father peacably left he quietly enjoyed for twenty two years in which he had the pleasure to see many other Principalities of the Saxons begun in the Island He left the Kingdom to Ermiric ERMIRIC ERMIRIC the Son of Octa Reigned twenty nine years more honourable in his Posterity than any actions of his own He gave his Daughter Rikel in marriage to Sledda Son of Erchinwine first founder of the Kingdom of the East-Saxons by which alliance he endeared to himself the neighbouring Provinces of Essex and Middlesex his Kingdom he left to his Son Ethelbert ETHELBERT ETHELBERT the Son of Ermiric succeeded in the Kingdom of Kent He equalled in length of Reign both his Predecessors and as Bede rockoneth exceeded them three years At his first coming to the Crown he was very young and unexperienced by which means hastily aiming above his reach he fell almost beneath the contempt of his Neighbours The causes of his Ambition seem to be these We read that Hengist by leave of Vortigern had placed Octa and Ebissa in the North to keep off the Scots and Picts from molesting the Southern borders they and their Successors settling there a kind of Principality had held it for one hundred and eighty years yet as in subjection to Kent the elder Family and owning its Protection though far distant But Ida coming to govern in those parts about the year five hundred forty seven in the daies of Ermiric cast off all manner of obedience to that Crown and assumed an Absolute Royalty to himself which Indignity Ermeric as may probably be guessed resenting by making strong Alliances intended to revenge but being snatched away by untimely death the quarrel was left intire to young Ethelbert his Son who partly instigated by this affront whereby the honour of his Kingdom seemed to be
twelve daies this murther dying as some report for grief having not long before foretold the death of that Prince upon this account because he was a man the World was not worthy of being an Humble King Aidan was buried in the Isle of Lindesfarn and Finan succeeded him in that See This fact of King Oswy was odious to all and therefore to explate the guilt a Monastery was erected upon the place where the murther was committed and prayers daily offered for the Souls of both Kings the slayer and the slain But notwithstanding Oswyn was thus removed the Kingdom of Deira or part of it was seized by Ethelwald the Son of King Oswald But Oswy was still infested with the incursions of King Penda and had long endured many sore devastations Once he had almost lost his strongest City Bebanburge now Bamborow Castle which Penda with fire and sword had assaulted And now weary of continual standing on his defence he resolves if possible by any means to buy his Peace and to that end sends large gifts and presents to Penda with humble suit desiring League and Amity But these being with scorn refused he prepares for War and first imploring divine assistance if God would grant him Victory he vows his Daughter a Nun and twelve Lordships for the building of Monasteries which done he raises an Army and meets Penda at a place called Loyden now Leeds in Yorkshire The Army of Penda as is reported exceeded Oswy's thirty times over and was commanded by expert Captains nevertheless they were utterly routed and put to flight and many of them swallowed up in the River Winwed which at that time was unusually swelled with Rains Penda himself was slain in the battel and Ethelhere King of the East-Angles the contriver of the War Ethelwald the Son of Oswald was in the field upon the Mercian side and is said to have been the cause of their desear for withdrawing his Forces at the first Onset and meaning to expect the event he discouraged the Mercians who misdoubted there was treachery in it The death of Penda was received with great joy through all the neighbouring Provinces as the Song witnesseth At the River Winwed Anna was Avenged Oswy after this Victory enters Mercia with an Army which he presently reduced to his obedience but unto Peada the Son of Penda as his near Kinsman he gave the Principality of the South Mercians containing five thousand Families and separate from the 〈◊〉 Mercians by the River Trent 〈◊〉 But him slain by the treachery of his wife 〈◊〉 and Eadbert three Mercian Earls set up Vulfer and fling off the Government of Oswy who was now employed in a Pictish War and had subdued the greatest part of that Nation This Oswy had in him a strange mixture of Vertues and Vices in his beginning bloody and tyrannous towards his latter end just and moderate Highly addicted he was to Roman Superstitions and resolved a Pilgrimage thither had not he been taken off by death for in the twenty eighth year of his Reign and fifty eighth of his Age he departed this life having vowed that Journey as some write to expiate the murther of King Oswyn Under this Oswy was held a Councel about the observation of Easter which because it is much celebrated by all our Writers I shall put it down as it is originally related The Synod of Streanshalch now Whitby at the request of Hilda Abbess of that place under Oswy the Father and Alchfrid the Son Kings of Northumberland in the year of Christ 664. In which is controverted the Celebration of Easter and other Ecclesiastical Rites There being present on the side of the Romans and English King Alchfrid the Son Agilbert Bishop of the West-Saxons Abbot Wilfrid Agatho Presbyter James a Deacon and Romanus On the side of the Scots and Britains King Oswy the Father Colmanne Bishop of Lindisfarne with other Scottish Bishops Cedda Bishop of the East Saxons Hilda Abbess of Streanshalch with a great many others of the Clergy on both sides Bede's Preface to this Synod IN these times was startled a common and great question concerning the observation of Easter Those that came from Kent or Gaul affirming that the Scots keep the Lord's day of Easter contrary to the custom of the Catholick Church Among these was one Romanus by name a stiff defender of the true Easter by Nation a Scot but had learned the true rules Ecclesiastick in Gaul or the Confines of Italy who disputing with one Finan made many sensible of their errour or at least perswaded them to a deeper search into the truth but he could not in the least stir Finan who being of a fiery nature was rather made worse by his instructions and an open enemy to truth But James formerly Deacon under the worshipful Archbishop Paulinus observed the true and Catholick Easter with those whom he had taught the true and correct way Queen Eanfeld also observed it with her houshold according to what she had seen performed in Kent having with her a Priest from Kent named Romanus of the Catholick opinion from whence they report in those daies it sometimes happened that Easter should be kept twice in one year For when the King 's Lent being done was keeping Easter then the Queen with hers Lent with them not being yet ended was celebrating Palm-Sunday But this different observancy of Easter Aidan living was patiently born with by all men who understood thus much That though he could not celebrate Easter contrary to the custom of those that had sent him yet he took care that the works of faith charity and love in which all Saints agree should be diligently performed so that he was deservedly beloved by all men nay even of those that thought otherwise of Easter and was not only respected by the meaner sort but by Bishops themselves Honorius of Canterbury and Foelix of the East-Angles But Finan being dead who succeeded Aidan when Colman came into the Bishoprick for he also was sent from Scotland there arose a more solemn controversie concerning the observing of Easter and other Precepts relating to an Ecclesiastical life so that this question justly moved the hearts of many lest peradventure the name of Christianity being only retained they should run or had run in vain It came at last to the ears of the Court to wit of King Oswy and his Son Alchfrid for Oswy was taught and baptized by the Scots and was well skilled in their Language and esteemed nothing truer than what they had taught him But Alchfrid had for his Instructour in Christianity Wilfrid a right learned man who had made a Journy to Rome on purpose to learn of the Law Ecclesiastick and had lived many years with Dalphin Archbishop of Lions in Gaul from whom he had received the right custom of Church-shaving He therefore thought this Man's Doctrine to be preferred before all the Traditions of the Scots for which reason he had lately given him a Monastery of