Civil Matters the words of this last King's Law run thus Ex omni Comitatu bis quotannis conventus agitor cui quidem illius Dioecesis Episcopus Senator intersunto quorum Alter Jura Divina humana alter populum edoceto IN every County let there be twice a Year an Assembly of the People whereat the Bishop of the Diocess and the Earl shall be present the one to direct in Divine the other in humane Matters WHICH so continued the Bishop and Earl sitting therein together until King William the Conqueror in a full Convention of his Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots and Temporal Lords commanded that Ecclesiastical Matters should thenceforth be handled by the Bishops in Courts of their own and not any more be discust amongst Secular Affairs IN this Court as well as in that of the Country according to the Laws of King Henry I. these Persons following were to be present as may appear by this Clause Intersint autèm Episcopi Comites Vicedomini Vicarii Centenarii Aldermanni Preafecti Praepositi Barones Vavassores Tungrevii caeteri terrarum Domini diligentèr intendentes nè malorum Impunitas aut Gravionum pravitas vel Judicum subversio solita miseros laceratione confiniant AGANTVR itâque primò debita verae Christianitatis Jura secundò Regis placita postremò Causae singulorum dignis satisfactionis expleantur Scil. Ecclesiastical Causes and Pleas of the Crown in the Turn but Private Causes in the County Court Vid. Coke 's 4 th Instit. 259 260. where you will find that THE Tourn is a Court of Record holden before the Sheriff the Antient Institution thereof was before Magna Charta to hear and determine all Felonies Death of Man excepted and Common Nusances See the Stat. Mag. Chart. c. 17. and the Exposition of the same in the 2 d. Instit. THE Stile of this Court is Curia Visus Franc. Domini Regis apud B. coram Vicecomite in Turno suo c. ibid. THE reason of which is because in this Court the Pledges or Sureties of every Decennary or Tithing were entred before the Court Leets were taken out of it and granted to particular Lords of Mannors which Sir H. Spelman in his Glossary supposes to have been done in the Reign of King Alfred but since I find nothing concerning these Court Leets till after the Conquest I shall defer the farther treating of them to that time I have no more to say of this Court but that it was also called the Folcmote and in which by Edward the Confessor's Laws all Freemen were to take the Oath of Allegiance or Fidelity to the King as appears by the Law it self Omnes Proceres Regni milites Liberi Homines totius Regni BRITANNIAE facere debent Fidelitatem Domino Regi in Pleno FOLCMOTO corà m Episcopis Regni c. YOU will likewise find in the same Law just preceding this an extraordinary Assembly of this Folcmote upon any sudden Danger which met on ringing of the Bells called in English Motbel and there they were to consult how to prevent the Danger THE second of these Courts was called the County-Court and was also very Antient and to be held once every Month by the Shireeve as from K. Edward the Elder 's Laws appeareth Praepositus quÃsque ad quartam circitèr quamque septimanam frequentem populi concionem celebrato cuÃque jus dicito aequabile Litesque singulas cum dies condicti advenerint dirimito EVERY Shireeve shall convene the People once a Month and do equal Right to all putting an end to Controversies at Times appointed TO this Court were antienly Appeals made from the Hundred-Court as appears by the Laws of Canutus Et nemo namium capiat in Comitatu vel extra Comitatum priusquam ter in Hundredo suo rectum sibi perquisierit si tertia vice rectum non habeat eat quarta vice ad Conventum totius Comitatus quod Anglicè dicitur Scyremot c. No Man by a Distress shall compel another to the County-Court unless he have thrice complained in the Hundred-Court But if he have not Right the third Time he may then sue in the County-Court which is called the Scyregemot AND besides says Sir William Dugdale Regis placita Causa singulorum debita verae Christianitatis jura were first determined here where interesse debent Commissarii Episcopi Comites Ecclesiae potestates and the Presbyter Ecclesiae as well as quatuor de Melioribus villae were obliged to attendance qui Dei Leges as well as Seculi negotia justâ consideratione definirent AND a little after he further proceeds thus Now let us see of what things the Sheriff here antienly held Plea Ad Vicecomites pertinent ista saith Glanvile Placitum de Recto de liberis Tenementis per Breve Domini Regis ubi Curia Dominorum probatur de Recto defecisse Placitum de Nativis sed per Breve Domini Regis ID est It belongeth to the Shireeve to hold Plea in this Court upon a Writ of Right concerning Freehold in Cases where the Lord of the Mannor wherein the Land lieth hath not done Justice as also to hold Plea concerning Bondmen but by the King 's Writ I shall say no more of this Court but refer the Reader to the said Book from whence I have taken most of those things I have here given you concerning all these Courts wherein he may find at large how great the Power of this Court was not only before but after the Conquest And I have also reserved the treating of these two Courts by themselves because tho the 3 former are supposed by some to be of K. Alfred's Erection upon his new Reformation of the Kingdom but these two were not so for notwithstanding Ingulf tells us that this King Alfred first divided the Provinces of England into Counties yet we find Mr. Selden Learnedly makes it out That Alfred was not the first that divided the Kingdom into Shires or Counties for saith he before Alfred's Time those Provinces had their Ealdormen in them Thus we read of Ethelwolfus Barocensis Pagae Comes and Ceorle Domnaniae Comes and Eanulf Somersetensis Pagae Comes for the Earldoms of Barkshire Devonshire and Somersetshire under King Ethelwolf Father to King Alfred are remembred in Asserius Menevensis that lived in King Alfred's Time Two of them are also in Ethelwerd a Writer of the Saxon Times besides Osric Dorsetum Dux for Eolderman of Dorset Eâ—lchere or Alchere was at the same Time Ealdorman of Kent and Auda or Wuda of Surrey as we have it in Hoveden Huntingdon and in that Asserius also And Ingulphus hath the Charter of King Ethelbald's Foundation of Crowland whereunto the Comites of Leicester and of Lincoln both subscribe TO which I may also add divers Examples that you will meet with of the same kind in the following History out of the Saxon Annals HAVING thus dispatched these inferior
what degrees of Consangâ—iâ—ity Men and Women may Marry I shall omit as being impertinent to our purpose and shall proceed to the Eighth Question which is this If for the great distance of places Bishops cannot easily meet Whether a Bishop may be ordain'd without the presence of other Bishops The Answer of Pope Gregory is to this effect Certain it is That in the English Church wherein as yet there is no other Bishop but your self you can ordain a Bishop no other way than without Bishops for how can Bishops come from Gaul that may assist at the Ordination of a Bishop in Britain But we would have you so to appoint Bishops that they be not too far asunder from one another that there may be no hinderance but that at the Ordination of a Bishop others may be present and such other Presbyters also whose presence is requisite 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 c. Augustine's Ninth Question was this How ought we to behave our selves towards the Bishops of Gaul and Britain The Pope's Answer was to this purpose for being somewhat long we shall also contract it In the first place The Pope allows him no Authority over the Bishops of Gaul any further than by Advice or Spiritual Admonition if they should happen to be guilty of any faults because they were no ways subject to his Authority and concludes thus But all the Bishops of Britain we commit to your Brotherhood That the Ignorant may be Taught the Weak by perswasions strengthned and the perverse corrected by our Authority The remaining Questions concerning Women with Child and other unnecessary if not immodest things I omit This Year also according to Florence of Worcester Ceolric King of the West-Saxons dying Ceolfus or Ceulphus succeeded him and Reigned Twenty Four Years This Year Redâ—ald King of the East Angles dying his Son Eorpenwald Reigned in his stead as Mat. Westminster reâ—ates But Bede proceeds to tell us That Augustine having settled his Archiepiscopal See at Canterbury rebuilt that old Church which had been first erected by the Christian Romans and having dedicated it in the Name of Christ our Saviour he appointed it as a See for himself and his Successours he likewise founded a Monastery towards the East not far from the City where also Ethelbert by his perswasion built the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in which the Bodies of St. Augustine himself and of all the other Bishops of Canterbury as also of the Kings of Kent should be interred Peter a Presbyter was made the first Abbot of this Monastery who was drown'd going on a Message into France but Augustine never lived to to finish this Church which was afterwards Consecrated by Arch-Bishop Laâ—rence his Successour But the Reader is desired to take notice That according to a fair but indifferent ancient Manuscript concerning the Foundation of the Church and Monastery of St. Peter and S. Paul afterwards called St. Augustine's in Canterbury which is now preserved in the Library of Trinity Hall in Cambridge part of which is printed in Sir H. Spelman's Vol. of Councils it appears that though the Cathedral of Christ Church be first mentioned by Bede yet that according to the same Author it was not the first built but rather the Church of St. Pancrace which from a Heathen Temple was turned into a Christian Church where King Ethelbert himself was Baptized and upon the ground belonging to which the Church and Monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul were first founded as hath been already related from Bede Augustine having about this time sent the Pope word that the Harvest indeed was great but the Labourers few he therefore sent him more Preachers of the Word among whom the chiefest were Mellitus Justus Paulinus and Rufinian and with them all those things which were necessary for the Service or Ornament of the Church such as Holy Vessels and Altar-Cloaths as also Sacerdotal Vestments together with divers Relicts and a great many Books he also signified to him in his Letters That he had sent him an Archiepiscopal Pall and thereby he gives him power to ordain Twelve other Bishops in several places all which should be subject to his jurisdiction only the Bishop of London was to be chosen by his own Synod and should receive his Pall from the Apostolic See for it seems the Pope then intended London for an Arch-bishoprick but as for York when converted he gives him power to ordain whom he pleased Bishop there who should likewise ordain Twelve Bishops more and should enjoy the honour of a Metropolitan yet so that as long as Augustine lived he should be subject to him but after his Decease he should not be at all subject to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury or any other Bishop only that he should have the precedence who was first ordained then exhorts him to transact all things by a common consent yet gives him a jurisdiction over all the Bishops of Britain that they might learn how to perform their duties as well by his Instruction as Example this Letter bears date in the Eighteenth Year of the Emperour Mauritius which falls out in the Year of our Lord Sixty with which also the Saxon Annals agree for under this very Year They place Pope Gregory's sending to the Pall to Arch Bishop Augustine with many holy Teachers to assist him Sometime after the sending these Messengers with these Letters the Pope also writ other Letters to Mellitus Wherein he gives him Instructions concerning the Temples of Idols which the Pope would not have pull'd down but only new Consecrated by the sprinkling of Holy Water and erecting of new Altars and as for the Oxen that used to be sacrificed to their false Gods he would have such kind of Solemnities so to be observed That on the days of the Dedication of their Churches or of the Holy Martyrs whose Relicts were there preserved Booths should be made up of boughs near the said Churches where having kill'd those Oxen that were formerly wont to be sacrificed they might make merry in giving God thanks since it was certain that it should be impossible to take away all vain and Superstitious customs at once out of Men's minds so prejudiced by long Education At the same time also the Pope returned an Answer to other Letters which Augustine had before wrote to him wherein having congratulated his great success in the Conversion of the English Nation and also taking notice of the great Miracles that Almighty God had done by him he tells him That though he may rejoyce in some measure for that Heavenly gift yet with such a joy as ought to be allay'd with fear for as he might rejoyce that the Souls of the English were through Miracles drawn to an inward Grace so he ought to be
now repaired it and made it habitable and then committed it to the Custody of his Son-in-Law Ethered Earl of the Mercians and now all the English viz. the Mercians and Kentishmen as also the East and West Saxons who had been before dispersed or made Prisoners with the Danes being now returned home put themselves under King Alfred's Protection But these Danish Storms being pretty well blown over King Alfred began now to make some use of the Learned Men he had sent for from abroad for as Mr. Camden shews us in his Britannia we have a large account of the University of Oxon. Under the Year of our Lord 886 viz. That in the Second Year of St. Grimbald's coming over into England the University of Oxford was founded the first Regents there and Readers in Divinity were St. Neot an Abbot an Eminent Professor of Theology and St. Grimbald and Eloquent and most Excellent Interpreter of the Holy Scriptures whilst Grammer and Rhetorick were Taught by Asser a Monk a Man of extraordinary Learning Logick Musick and Arithmetick were Read by John a Monk of St. Davids Geometry and Astronomy were professed by John another Monk and Collegue of St. Grimbald one of a sharp Wit and Immense Knowledge These Lectures were often honoured with the presence of the most Illustrious and Invincible Monarch King Aelfred which is also asserted by Will of Malmesbury who tells us a constant Tradition of his time that King Alfred by the Advice of Neot the Abbot first founded publick Schools of various Arts at Oxford which is further confirm'd by an Ancient Manuscript Copy of Randolph Higden's Polychron in Bayliol College Library which in the beginning treating of all the Kings of England when he comes to King Alfred says thus That he first founded the University of Oxford John Rouse in his Manuscript Treatise de Regibus Angliae Lib. 1. seems also to have seen this passage in Winchester Annals and adds Three Halls to have been thus built The one for Grammar near the East Gate the Second near the North-Gate for Logicians and the Third in the High-Street for Divines But since this only proves that King Alfred first founded publick Schools here and not that there was any such thing here before I shall recite also what follows as it is quoted by the said Mr. Camden out of an ancient Copy of Asser de Gestis Alfredi which I could wish may clear this point About this time says he there arose a sharp and grievous dissention between Grimbald and those learned Men whom he brought hither with him and the old Scholars whom he found here at his coming for these absolutely refused to comply with the Statutes Institutions and Forms of Reading perscribed by Grimbald the difference proceeded to no great height for the space of Three Years yet there was always a private Grudge and Enmity between them which soon after broke out with the utmost violence imaginable to appease these Tumults the most Invincible King Aelfred being informed of the Faction by a Message and Complaint from Grimbald came to Oxford to accommodate the matter and submitted to a great deal of Pains and Patience to hear the Cause and Complaint of both Parties The Controversie depended upon this The Old Scholars maintain'd that before the coming of Grimbald to Oxford Learning did here flourish thô the Students were less in number than they had formerly been because very many of them had been Expell'd by the cruel Tyranny of the Pagans They farther declar'd and proved by the undoubted Testimony of their ancient Annals that good Orders and constitutions for the Government of that place had been already made by Men of great Piety and Learning such as Gildas Melkin Ninnias Kentigern and others who had there prosecuted their Studies to a good old Age All things being then managed in happy Peace and quiet and that St. German coming to Oxford and residing there half a Year after he had gone through all England to Preach down the Pelagian Heresie did well approve of their Rules and Orders The King with incredible Humility and great attention heard both parties exhorting them with Pious and Importunate entreaties to preserve Love and Amity with one another upon this he left them in hopes that they both would follow his Advice and obey his Instructions But Grimbald resenting these proceedings retired imediately to the Monastery of Winchester which King Aelfred had lately founded and soon after he got his Tomb to be removed thither to him in which he had designed his Bones should be put after his Decease and laid in a Vault under the Chancel of the Church of S. Peters in Oxford which Church the said Grimbald had raised from the ground of Stones hewn and carved with great Art But since it must be confessed that this passage of the quarrel of St. Grimbald and the Old Scholars of Oxford is not to be found in that ancient Copy of Asser which Arch-Bishop Parker first published in Saxon Characters like those in which it is written being still Extant in the Cottonian Library yet though it was published by Mr. Camden in that Edition of Asser which was printed at Frankford in 1603. The Original of which the Lord Primate Usher in his Ant. Brit. Eccles. expresly tells us Mr. Camden never saw from whence Sir John Spelman in his History of the Life of King Aelfred hath made a very hard inferences as if that clause was not to be found in any of the ancient Copies of that Authour but had been foisted in either by the Publisher or else by Mr. Camden himself thô this Authour does not say so in express terms I shall therefore repeat in short what Mr. Ant. Wood hath answered to this Objection in the Antiquities of the University of Oxford from a Manuscript Testimonial under the hand of the learned Mr. Twyne viz. That he himself long after discoursing with Mr. Camden on this Subject and asking him expresly about this passage whose authority began to be then questioned His Answer was that he very well knew that he had truly transcribed that passage from an ancient Manuscript of Asser which he had then by him and which as the said Mr. Wood in his Notes tells us then belonged to Sir Henry Savile of Banke near Halifax in York-shire But I shall not now take upon me to Answer the rest of the Objections which the said Sir John Spelman does there produce against the validity of the above cited passage which supposes publick Schools to have been at Oxford before King Alfreds time for they are all reduceable to these two heads First the express words of the Annals of the Abbey of Hyde above-mentioned as also that of Polychronicon That King Alfred was the first King who founded a University there all which may be answered by allowing that to be true in respect of a University endow'd with Priviledges and distinct Halls and Colledges built on purpose and
and instead thereof engaged the Prince of Wales to send him a Yearly Tribute of so many Wolves Heads in lieu of that Tribute which the said Prince performed till within some Years there being no more Wolves to be found either in England or Wales that Tribute ceased But to proceed with our Annals This Year deceased Aelfgar Cousin to the King and Earl also of Devonshire whose Body lies buried at Wilton Sigeferth likewise here called a King though he was indeed no more than Vice-King or Earl of some Province now made himself away and was buried at Winborne The same Year was a great Mortality of Men and a very Malignant Feaver raged at London Also the Church of St. Pauls at London was this Year burnt and soon after rebuilt and Athelmod the Priest went to Rome and there died I have nothing else to add that is remarkable under this Year but the Foundation of the Abby of Tavistock by Ordgar Earl of Devonshire afterwards Father-in-law to King Edgar though it was within less than fifty years after its foundation burnt down by the Danes in the Reign of King Ethelred but was afterwards rebuilt more stately than before This Year Wolfstan the Deacon deceased and afterwards Gyric the Priest These I suppose were some men of remarkable Sanctity in that Monastery to which this Copy of these Annals did once belong The same Year also Abbot Athelwald received the Bishoprick of Winchester and was consecrated on a Sunday being the Vigil of St. Andrew The second year after his Consecration he repaired divers Monasteries and drove the Clerks i. e. Canons from that Bishoprick because they would observe no Rule and placed Monks in their stead He also founded two Abbies the one of Monks and the other of Nuns and afterwards going to King Edgar he desired him to bestow upon him all the Monasteries the Danes had before destroyed because he intended to rebuild them which the King willingly granted Then the Bishop went to Elig where St. Etheldrith lieth buried and caused that Monastery to be rebuilt and then gave it to the care of one of his Monks named Brightnoth and afterwards made him Abbot of the Monks of that Monastery where there had been Nuns before Then Bishop Athelwald went to the Monastery which is called Medeshamstead which had also been destroyed by the Danes where he found nothing but old Walls with Trees and Bushes growing among them but at last he spied hidden in one of these Walls that Charter which Abbot Headda had formerly wrote in which it appeared that King Wulfher and Ethelred his Brother had founded this Monastery and that the King with the Bishop had freed it from all secular servitude and Pope Agatho had confirmed it by his Bull as also the Archbishop Deus Dedit Which Charter I suppose is that the Substance of which is already recited in the Fourth book Anno 656. and which I have there proved to be forged for the Monks had then a very fair opportunity to forge that Charter and afterwards to pretend they found it in an old Wall But letting that pass thus much is certain from the Peterburgh Copy of these Annals That the said Bishop then caused this Monastery to be rebuilt placing a new Set of Monks therein over whom he appointed an Abbot called Aldulf Then went the Bishop to the King and shewed him the Charter he had lately found whereby he not only obtained a new Charter of Confirmation of all the Lands and Privileges formerly granted by the Mercian Kings but also many other Townships and Lands there recited as particularly Vndale with the Hundred adjoining in Northamptonshire which had formerly been a Monastery of it self as may be observed in the account we have already given of the Life of the Archbishop Wilfrid The King likewise granted That the Lands belonging to that Monastery should be a distinct Shire having Sac and Soc Tol and Team and Infangentheof which terms I shall explain in another place the King there also grants them a Market with the Toll thereof and that there should be no other Market between Stamford and Huntington and to the former of these the King also granted the Abbot a Mint But as for the Names of the Lands given together with the Limits and the Tolls of the Market there mentioned I refer the Reader to the Charter it self Then follows the Subscription of the King with the Sign of the Cross and next the Confirmation of the Archbishop of Canterbury with a dreadful Curse on those that should violate it as also the Confirmation of Oswald Archbishop of York Athelwald Bishop of Winchester with several other Bishops Abbots Ealdormen and Wisemen who all confirmed it and signed it with the Cross This was done Anno Dom. 972. of our Lord's Nativity and in the sixteenth year of the King's Reign which shews this Coppy of the Annals to be written divers years after these things were done as does also more particularly that short History concerning the Affairs of this Abby and the Succession of its Abbots for many years after this time As how Abbot Adulf bought many more Lands wherewith he highly enriched that Monastery where he continued Abbot till Oswald Archbishop of York deceased and he succeeded him in the Archbishoprick and then there was another chosen Abbot of the said Monastery named Kenulph who was afterwards Bishop of Winchester he first built a Wall round the Monastery and gave it the name of Burgh which was before called Medeshamested but he being sometime after made Bishop of Winchester another Abbot was chosen from the same Abby called Aelfi who continued Abbot fifty years He removed the Bodies of St. Kyneburge and St. Cynesuith which lay buried at Castra and St. Tibba which lay entomb'd at Rehala i. e. Ryal in Rutlandshire and brought them to Burgh and dedicated them to St. Peter keeping them there as long as he continued Abbot I have been the more particular in the Account of this so Ancient and Famous Monastery as having been the Episcopal See of the Bishops of Peterburgh almost ever since the Dissolution of that Abby in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth This Year also according to Simeon of Durham King Edgar married Ethelfreda the Daughter of Ordgar Earl of Devonshire after the Death of her Husband Ethelwald Earl of the East-Angles Of her he begot two Sons Edwald and Ethelred the former of whom died in his Infancy but the latter lived to be King of England But before he married this Lady it is certain he had an Elder Son by Elfleda sirnamed The Fair Daughter of Earl Eodmar of whom he begot King Edward called the Martyr But whether King Edgar was ever lawfully married to her may also be doubted since Osbern in his Life of St. Dunstan says That this Saint baptized the Child begotten on Ethelfleda the King's Concubine with whom also agrees Nicholas Trevet in his Chronicle though I confess the Major
the Monk that wrote this Chronicle for Asser himself in his Life of King Alfred tells us of Hemeid Prince of South-wales That Nobis Archiepiscopum Propinquum meum me expulit viz. from the Church of St. Davids which word Nobis the Learned Dr. Gale reads Novis and so makes it good Sense that otherwise seems Non-sense in the printed Copies The false reading of which Word as well as this Chronological mistake of Florence abovementioned led Bale into the belief that the Arch-bishop above-mentioned must have been that Asser whom Caradoc's Chronicle publish'd by Dr. Powel makes to have died Anno Dom. 906. and which Authority led the Lord Primate Usher into that small Mistake in his Index Chronologicus at the end of his Britan. Eccles. Antiquitat of supposing this Asser to have been the Author of the History of King Alfred and not he who was Bishop of Shireburn AND the right reading of this word Nobis in Asser also proves the falshood of that Welsh Annal but now mentioned for if Novis was expell'd his Bishoprick not long before Asser was sent for by King Alfred which was about Anno 885. then Novis could not be dead in Anno 872. as that Chronicle makes him nor yet could Asser succeed Novis Anno Dom. 909. for then there would have been a Vacancy of near 40 Years in that See whereas the Saxon Annals rightly place the Death of our Asser Bishop of Shireburn under this very Year SO that upon the whole Matter it is the Judgment of the Reverend and Learned the now Lord Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry That there never was but one Asser who was also Bishop of Shireburn and that as for this Asser Bishop of St. Davids he had never any Being in Nature but in the Brain of some ignorant Monks who would for the Honour of their Church have made this Asser to have been Bishop not only of St. Davids but of Britain contrary to the Truth of all Chronology as well as Matter of Fact I have no more to remark of this Asser but that Ingulph not only says he was Bishop of Shireburn but also Abbot of Bangor which I find not related by Asser himself nor by any other Author and therefore I look upon it as a Mistake either in Ingulph or his Transcriber in writing Bangor instead of Banwell which was one of those Abbeys that Asser says King Alfred bestowed upon him FROM this Asser to Ethelwerd who calls himself Quaestor i. e. Treasurer and wrote in the beginning of the Reign of King Edgar being descended from the Saxon Blood-Royal by King Alfred his Great-Grandfather there flourished no Historian nor are we indeed so much the better for him as I could wish for unless it be in the right settling of the Reigns and Deaths of some of our Saxon Kings who lived not long before him about which the several Copies of the Saxon Annals do differ there is not much to be learnt from him but what is in the Annals themselves or else in the last mentioned Author from both which one may perceive that he had borrowed the most part of what he there writes So that partly from the affected Obscurity of his Stile and partly from the bad Copy from which it was printed being that which is now in the Cottonian Library in many Places we do not understand his meaning but as far as we are able to do it we have given you a true Account of what he has added to this History BVT either from the Laziness or Ignorance of the Monks who were almost the only Writers of that Age from the Time that Ethelwerd left off to some Years after the Conquest we meet with no Historians except Osbern and another Monk that is Anonymous the former of whom writing the Lives of St. Dunstan and St. Alphege has afforded us some Passages relating to this History as has also the latter in his Life of St. Dunstan which is still in Manuscript in the Cottonian Library But as for Osbern he is published in the first Volume of Anglia Sacra And from these that Age gives us none unless the Author whose Name we know not that wrote that short Account of the Times immediately preceding the Reign of Edward the Confessor called Encomium Emmae until Ingulph Abbot of Croyland finished the History of that Abbey about the latter end of the Reign of William the First And tho he did not take upon him to write a History of more Affairs than those of his own Monastery yet he hath by the by interspersed many considerable Passages relating to the Publick Transactions of this Kingdom which I likewise have here inserted FROM him to Eadmerus we find no Historian and He only relating the Ecclesiastical History during the Reign of William the First and his Sons William Rufus and Henry is of no use to us in this Volume here published IN the beginning of the Reign of Henry the First we find a most Laborious and Diligent Chronologer viz. Florence of Worcester who continuing and enlarging the History of Marianus Scotus hath among the various Transactions of the rest of Europe given us at the end of almost every Year out of the Saxon Annals an exact Account of the Affairs of England to which he hath also added divers very curious Memoirs and Illustrations of his own and besides what is printed there is also in Manuscript in the Bodleian Library a fair and perfect Copy of this Author which once belonged to the Monastery of St. Edmundsbury to which I have been much beholding not only for some things concerning that Abbey but also for several choice Passages relating to this our History which are neither to be found in the printed Editions of this Author nor any where else that I know of therefore where-ever the Reader shall meet with any thing cited from Florence which is not found in Print he may be assured it is in that Manuscript under the Year there set down in the Margin this I mention that the Reader may not be startled if he does not find the Passage I cite in the printed Copies since I had not always time to compare them together FLORENCE was immediately followed by Simeon of Durham who did not only Copy from him but also added several Remarkable things particularly relating to the Northumbrian Kingdom as well before as after it came under the Government of Earls Tho Mr. Selden in his Preface to the Decem-scriptores will not allow this Simeon to have been the Author of this Work but that he was a Plagiary and stole it from Turgot a Monk of the said Church who was also afterwards ordained Bishop of St. Andrews in Scotland and Simeon only adding some things to it of his own took the whole Honour to himself his History reaches no farther than 1129. but was continued by John Prior of Hagulstad to Anno 1154. TO whom we may adjoin Richard a Monk of the same Monastery
Mr. Camden derives the Names of Cimmerii and Cimbri whom be supposes to be one and the same Nation and by whom the ancient Galliâ— was first Inhabited and from whom he brings the present Welsh called in their own Language Cymra which if true nothing is more certain and easie to believe than that this Island was first Inhabited at least as to its more Southern Parts from the Continent of Gaul as is delivered by Bede in his first Chapter as a current Tradition in his Time and Mr. Camden farther proves it out of Caesar's Commentaries For thô be there tells us that the Inland Parts of Britain were Inhabited by those who called themselves the Natives yet that the Maritime Parts were possessed by such who to make War and get Prey had passed over from Belgium and Gaul which were then called by the same Names as those People from whence they came Which may be also proved from other Arguments as their Affinity in Customs Language and Religion with those of Gaul as they are there described by Caesar and also by other Roman Authors Thô Tacitus in his Life of Agricola does not wholly agree with Caesar as to this Particular for he there tells us That the Northern Parts of Britain seem to have been Peopled by the Germans as the Eastern Coasts by their opposite Neighbours the Gauls and the South Part by the Iberi or Spaniards This he gathers from the different Complexion of the People the Northern Britains says he are Fair having large Limbs and long yellow Hair like the Germans but the Silures or Southern Britains were Swarthy and had curled Hair like the Spaniards whereas the Coast lying over-against Gaul agreed in Language Customs and in every thing else with the Gauls It was not from the Continent of Gaul alone that this Island was first Inhabited but also from Ireland and the North Parts of Germany or else from Scandinavia now called Sweden for Bede tells us in the First Chapter of his History That after the Brâ—tains the Picts came out of Scythia in long Ships and landed first in the North of Ireland but being there refused Habitation by the Scots who then possessed that Island they were advised to plant themselves in the North part of Britain which they then thereupon performed and when the Picts wanting Wives desired the Scots to bestow some on them they consented to it on this condition That when there was any dispute about the Succession to the Crown they should rather chuse a King from the Feminine than Mâ—sculine Line of their former Kings which is still observ'd says he among the Picts to this day Now that this Country which Bede here calls Scythia could be no other than the more Northern Parts of Germany or else Gothia now called Sweden at the farthest seems highly probable since the best Writers of the middle Ages do all agree that these parts were in those times called by the general Name of Sâ—ythia And you may see Authorities sufficient for this cited by Arch-Bishop Usher in the 15th Chapter of his learned work Dâ— Antiquitate Britannica um Ecclesiarum and by the reverend Dr. Stillingfleet now Lord Bishop of Worcester in his Origines Britannicae who allows Hector Boethius his Conjecture not to be be improbable who derives them from the Agathyrsi who came out of Sarmatia into the Cimbuca Châ—rsonesus and from thence into Scotland But that the Scots came into this Island many Ages after out of Ireland is also as certain Since Bede tells us in the same place that in process of time Britain receiv'd a Third Nation viz. of the Scots besides the Britains and Picts which Scots going out of Ireland under the conduct of one Reuda took those Territories which they have among the Picts either by terms or agreement with them from which Reuda even to this day they are called Daâ—reudini for Dal in their language signifies a share or portion which Reuda in what Age he lived and brought over this Colony out of Ireland since it hath bred a great dispute among our Modern Antiquaries I shall not take upon me now to decide But that the Scots came at first from Ireland is acknowledged by John Fordon and John Major their two eldest Historians extant the latter of whom tells us That as yet that is in his time almost half Scotland spoke the Irish Tongue which they had brought over with them from Ireland To return to the matter in hand it is evident from Bede that in his time God was served in five several Languages in this Island viz The English the British the Scotish or present Irish the Latin which they commonly used in Divine Service and the Pictish though what that Language was we cannot now tell for the Picts being totally subdued by the Scots and thereby incorporated into the body of that Nation that Tongue is quite extinct though if it had not been at least different in Dialect from that of the Britains it seems improbable that Bede who was so near a neighbour to them should mention it as a distinct Tongue from all the rest And yet notwithstanding by all the relicts we can now find of it in the Names of places in the South and West parts of Scotland they are purely British as Mr. Camden hath learnedly proved in his said Introduction and therefore since the name of Pict is indeed Latin and signifies no more than painted Men and that no Roman Author makes mention of them before Ammianus Marcellinus who lived about the end of the fourth Century and is the first who calls the Inhabitants of the Northern parts of Britain by the name of Picti distinguishing them into Dicalidonii perhaps it should be Deucaldonii and Vecturiones which the learned Dr. Lloyd late Lord Bishop of St. Asaph and now of Coventry and Litchfield in his Historical account of Church Goverment in Britain probably enough derives from the British Deucilyddion and Câ—withwrion that is Southern Caledones or Borderers and Northern Men. It is probable that these Picts were no other than the remainder of those Britains who preserved their Liberty by resisting the Roman Arms and were at last divided from the Roman Britains by a Wall now called the Picts Wall the Vestiges of which are to be seen to this Day drawn between the mouths of the Rivers Tine and Eske to hinder their farther Incursions into those parts which were then under the Roman Empire But having said enough concerning this Island in general together with its first Inhabitants and their Languages It is now high time to come to our main design the History of that part of it called at this day England and which was in the Romans time divided into several Provinces or Governments as Britannia Prima Secunda and Maxima Caesariensis c. they may â—e seen in the Antient Notitia of the Roman Empâ—re We must therefore in the first place ingenuously confess that till the coming in of the Romans there
remained Master there the Army in Gaul then taking part with him against Honorius and withaâ— Gildas saith That the Roman Legion having driven out the Picts and Scots returned in Triumph And so much is confessed by Bâ—de But at what time can we suppose that to have happen'd Is it likely that after the Usurpation of Constantine a Roman Legion should return in so much Triumph For immediately aftâ—r Constantine's Usurpation the Roman Empire begâ—n extreamly to decline in those parts through which they were to pass Gaul being upon Composition not long after delivered up to the Goths by Honorius and besides the Franks and Burgundians making continual incursions there I conclude it therefore most probable that the first supplies sent to the Britains were not after Constantine's Usurpation but between the Death of Maximus and the setting up of Gratianus Municeps Now let us see if we can hence discover when the second Assistance was sent to the Britains for which we must own our selves beholding to the aforesaid learned Doctor in the same place where he thus makes it out The Second time the distressed Britains were forced to sollicite the Romaâ—s for supplies is placed by Arch-bishop Usher Anno Dom. 426 when Gallio of Ravenâ—a was sent hither as he supposes because the next Year Prosper saith that Gallio was sent against Bonifacius in Africa but then the Arch-bishop makes the first supplies to have been sent in the latter end of Honorius's Reign for which the Doctor says he can see no reason for the Lord Primate grants that immediately after the Death of Maxâ—mus the Scots and Picts did waste Britain and that then Stillico did send assistance to them Why then should the first wasting of the Island mentioned by Gildas and the Legion sent thereupon be that in the latter end of Honorius his Reign and not rather in the beginning since the latter was very perplexed and troublesome the Alani Swevi and Vandali having possessed themselves of great part of Spain whil'st the Franks Burgundians and Goths had all Gaul so that Honorius the Year before his Death was forced to send his Forces under Castinus into Spain against the Vandals as Prosper in his Chronicle affirms And that also prov'd the occasion of new Troubles in Africa by the difference between Castinus and Bonifacius who for his own security sent over the Vandals thither Is it not therefore most probable that the first Supplies of the Britains should be sent in the latter end of Honorius's Reign especially since the learned Primate confesseth that Honorius did not in his time recover the Province of Britain and he proves it against Sabellicus from Procopius's Authority a much more ancient Authour besides that of Bede so that the single testimony of Sigebert that Honorius sent assistance to the Britains at the same time that he did to the Spaniards when Prosper Idatius and Cassiodore who all mention the latter say not one word of the former cannot bear down the more weighty Reasons on the other side But it is certain that in this interval between the sending of the two supplies the Roman Affairs became so desperate That the Saxon Annals as well as Ethelward in his Chronicle relates that now the Romans hid their Treasures in the Earth or else carried them away with them into Gaul so that it seems most likely during all the rest of the Reign of the Emperour Honorius the Britains did no more return to his Obedience thô notwithstanding they did again endeavour to put themselves under the protection of the Roman Empire in the time of his Successour Valentinian III. as the learned Dr. above cited makes it more than probable in the same place from divers other Circumstances too long to be here particularly set down So that the second supplies which were sent upon the mighty importunity of the Britains were in all probability in the beginning of the Reign of Valentinian III. after that Aetius had somewhat recovered the credit of the Roman Empire in Gaul for after his success there both against the Goths and Franks he had liberty enough to send over a Legion to the assistance of the Britains who were again miserably harassed by the Scots and Picts And at this time it was that Gildas saith the Romans upon the sad representations of the British Ambassadours sent them speedy supplies So far we have been beholding to the learned Dr. Stillingfleet now Lord Bishop of Worcâ—ster but if I may interpose my own Opinion I should assign the sending of these last supplies by the Romans to have been in the Year of our Lord 435 when Aetius had good sucess against the Burgundians in Gaul To which Year also the Saxon Annals refer the ceasing of the Roman Empire in Britain only the Compiler was mistaken in two things the first in making Rome to have been taken this Year by the Goths the other in supposing the time of the Romans ruling here to be but 470 Years whereas indeed it was 488 Years as I shall presently make out So that from this last departure of the Roman Legion which no doubt was done by the Emperour 's express Order I think I may very well date the total dereliction of Britain by the Romans who now by refusing them their protection left them by the Laws of Nature to provide for and defend themselves And from hence I may also date the final period of the Roman Empire in this Island which had now lasted from Julius Caesar's second landing in Britain in the 53d Year before Christ to this Year being the 435th Year after Christ the space of 488 Years but if you account from the more absolute Conquest of it by Claudius in the Forty Fourth Year after Christ it continued but 391 Years But that the Britains were at last very unwillingly cut off from being any longer a part of the Roman Empire appears by the last message they sent to Aetius again imploring assistance which the Emperour not being able to grant they had no other way left but to provide for themselves as well as they could which since it happened after the time that I suppose the Roman power to have ceased in this Island I shall refer the further Relation of it to the next Book But before I conclude this I shall give you a short account of Ecclesiastical Affairs in this Island in these Two last Centuries where after the last Persecution under Dioclesian Bede tells us the British Church enjoyed a perfect Peace till the Arrian Heresie over-ran the whole World and at last infected this Island though divided from the rest of it but though neither Gildas nor Bede hath set down the Year when this Heresie first began to spread it self here yet he seems to refer it to the Reign of Constantius when this Pestilent Opinion carried the face of Authority as having been confirmed in several pretended Councils But in the beginning of this Century though the Year
Pope as well as the English did afterwards therefore it is most likely according to the Traditions given you in the Second Book that it was first preached and propagated here by some Apostle or Disciple of the Eastern or Asiatick Church And thô a late Romish Writer very much arraigns the Credit of this Manuscript as made since the Days of King Henry the Eighth and cavils at the Welsh thereof as Modern and full of false Spelling yet is not this any material Exception against it since the Welsh used in it is not so Modern as he would make it as I am credibly informed by those who are Criticks in that Language and as for the Spelling that may be the fault of the Transcribers And thô the Archiepiscopal See was then removed from Caer-Leon to St. David's yet it might still retain the former Title as of the first and most famous Place About which time Arch-Bishop Augustine is supposed by the best Chronologers to have departed this Life thô the certain Year of his Death is not to be found either in Bede or the Saxon Chronicle His Body was buried abroad near the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul till that could be finished and dedicated which as soon as that was done was decently buried in the Porch on the North-side of the Church in which were also buried all the succeeding Arch-Bishops except two viz. Theodore and Birthwald who were buried in the Church because the Porch would contain no more but his Epitaph thô it mentions his being sent by the Pope to convert the English Nation and his being the first Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and that he died in the 7th of the Kalends of June in the Reign of King Ethelbert yet omits the Year of that King's Reign as well as that of our Lord in which he died I suppose because the Year of Christ was not then commonly made use of either in the Ecclesiastical or Civil Accounts of that Time but of this we shall treat further hereafter Under this Year Bede also places the Death of Pope Gregory the Great of whose Life and Actions he gives us a long Account to which I refer you but the Saxon Chronicle puts off the Death of this Pope to the next Year but I rather follow Bede as the ancienter and more authentick Author The same Year is also very remarkable for Civil as well as Ecclesiastical Affairs in this Island for now King Ethelbert summoned a Mycel Synod or Great Council as well of the Clergy as Laity wherein by their common Consent and Approbation all the Grants and Charters of this King whereby he had settled great Endowments on Christ-Church and that of St. Pancrace in Canterbury were confirmed which had been before the old ruinous Church of St. Martin without the City already mentioned but the Charters now made and confirmed by King Ethelbert in this Council are almost word for word the same with those he had made by himself before with heavy Imprecations against any who should dare to infringe them as you may see in Sir H. Spelman's First-Volume of British Councils where this Learned Author in his Notes farther shews us that these Charters above-mentioned are very suspicious of being forged in many respects as First That this King there stiles himself King of the English in general whereas indeed he was no more than King of Kent Secondly Because the Year of our Lord is expressed at their Conclusion which was not in use till long after Besides an old Manuscript of the Church of Canterbury says expresly That the Monks of the Monastery had their Lands and Priviledges by a long and peaceable Possession according to Custom until King Wightred Anno Dom. 693 made them a confirmation of all their Priviledges by a Charter under his Soul There are also other Exceptions against the Bull that is there recited to be Arch-Bishop Augustine's which you may see at large in those Learned Notes above-mentioned In this great Council or Synod among many other Secular Laws and Decrees these deserve particularly to be taken notice of the first Law assigns the Penalty of Sacriledge appointing what Amends is to be made for Things taken from a Bishop by a Restitution of nine times the value from a Priest by a Ninth and from a Deacon by a Threefold Restitution The Second Law is That if the King summon'd his People and any Man should presume then to do them Injury he shall make double Amends to the Party and besides shall pay Fifty Shillings to the King The Third Law is That if the King shall drink in a Man's House and there be any Injury done in his Presence the Party so doing it shall make double Satisfaction the rest that follow since they belong only to the Correction of Manners are omitted To these Laws Bede relates when he says That King Ethelbert amongst other good Things which he conferr'd upon his Nation appointed certain Laws concerning Judgments by the Councel of his wise Men according to the Example of the Romans which being written in the English Tongue were yet kept and observed by them to this time and then mentions some of those Laws to the same effect as they are already expressed This Year was fulfilled Arch-Bishop Augustine's Prediction upon the Britains for as Bede and the Saxon Annals relate Ethelfrid King of Northumberland now led his Army to Leger-Ceaster and there killed a great multitude of Britains and so was fulfilled the Prophecy of Augustine above-mentioned and there were then killed 200 Priests or Monks who came thither to prey for the British Army but in Florence of Worcester's Copy it was 2200 but Brockmaile who was to be their Protector escaped with about 50 Men. H. Huntington gives a more particular account of this Action and says That King Ethelfrid having gathered together a powerful Army made a great Slaughter of the Britains near the City of Legions which is called by the English Lege Cestre but more rightly by the Britains Caerlegion so that it is evident it cannot be Leicester as our common Historians write but West-Chester which lay near the Borders of King Ethelfrid's Kingdom where this Battle was fought This Author further adds That when the King saw those Priests or Monks of the Abby of Bangor who came out to pray for the Army ranged by themselves in a place of Safety having one Brockmaile for their Defender and that the King knew for what end they came thither he presently said If these Men pray to their GOD against us though they do not make use of Arms yet do they as â—eally fight against us as if they did And so he commanded his Forces to be first turned upon them who being all cut off he presently defeated the rest of the Army without any great difficulty and he also agrees with Florence of Worcester's Relation of the number of the Monks there slain and accuses their Defender Brockmaile of Cowardice
Saxons marching in an Hostile manner into Cornwal absolutely subdued it and added it to his own Kingdom many being there slain on both sides The same Year also according to Caradoc's Chronicle Run King of Dyvet and Cadhel King of Powis deceased Charles the Emperour made Peace with Nicephorus Emperour of Constantinople This Year also according to the same Caradoc Elbods Arch-Bishop of North Wales i. e. of St. Asaph deceased before whose Death was a great Eclipse of the Sun But as the Reverend Lord Bishop of Bangor in his Catalogue of the Welsh Kings which he has been pleased to communicate to me well observes That Eclipse falling out Anno 810 the Bishops Death must do so likewise and therefore in this the Chronicles must needs be mistaken Also according to Mat. Westminster Aelfwold King of Northumberland dying Earnred succeeded him and held it for 32 Years which is also confirmed by Simeon of Durham thô this can by no means agree with the Chronicle of Mailross which says That Eardulf being expelled his Kingdom it continued without any King for many Years but William of Malmesbury makes this Anarchy to have begun from the murther of King Ethered Anno 794 as hath been already observed in the last Book and that this Confusion lasted for about 33 Years during which time that Province became a Scorn to its Neighbours But it seems they still had Kings thô very obscure and but of small Account But of greater certainty is that which Mat. Westminster relates under this Year viz. That King Egbert subdued the Northern Welsh-men and made them Tributary to him But it is wholly incredible what Buchanan in his Scotish History relates in the Year following to wit That Achaius King of Scots having reigned 32 Years and had formerly aided but in what Year of his Reign he tells us not Hungus King of the Picts with 10000 Scots against one Athelstan then wasting the Pictish Borders and that Hungus by the Aid of those Scots and the Help of St. Andrew their Patron in a Vision by Night and the Appearance of a Cross by Day routed the astonished English and slew this Athelstan in Fight But who this Athelstan was I believe no Man knows Buchanan supposes him to have been some Danish Commander on whom King Alured or Alfred had bestowed Northumberland Yet of this I find no Foot-steps in our ancient Writers and if any such Thing were done in the time of Alfred it must be above 60 Years after for King Alfred began not to Reign till Anno 871. And John Fordun in his Scotish History is also as much mistaken making this Athelstan to be the Son of King Ethelwulf who then governed the Northern Provinces under his Father which also fails almost as much in point of time this Prince Athelstan here mentioned being as appears by the Saxon Annals alive and engaged in a Sea-Fight against the Danes above 40 Years after as you will find in its due place set down This Athelstan therefore and this great Overthrow seems rather to have been a meer Fancy of some idle Monk And this Year according to Mat. Westminster as King Egbert had the Year before subdued the Welsh-men so it seems upon some fresh Rebellion of theirs he again entred their Borders and laid them waste from North to South with Fire and Sword and then returned home Victorious But notwithstanding the Wars the Welsh had from abroad it seems they had also time enough for Civil Wars at home for now according to Caradoc's Chronicle Conan Prince of Wales and his Brother Howel could not agree insomuch that they tried the Matter by Battle where Howel had the Victory to which Dr. Powel hath here added this Observation That this Howel the Brother of Conan King or Prince of North Wales did claim the Isle of Mon or Anglesey for part of his Father's Inheritance which Conan refusing to give him thereupon they fell at Variance and consequently made War the one against the other And here says he I think fit to say somewhat of the old Custom and Tenure of Wales from whence this Mischief grew that is the Division of the Father's Inheritance amongst all the Sons commonly called Gauel kind Gauel is a British Term signifying a Hold because every one of the Sons did hold some portion of his Father's Lands as his lawful Son and Successour This was the Cause not only of the Overthrow of all the ancient Nobility of Wales for by that means the Inheritance being continually divided and subdivided amongst the Children and Children's Children it was at length brought to nothing but also of much Bloodshed unnatural Strife and Contention amongst Brethren as we have here an Example and many others in this History This kind of Partition is very good to plant and settle a Nation in a large Country not inhabited but in a populous Country already furnished with Inhabitants it is the utter Decay of great Families and as I said before the cause of constant Strife and Debate But some Years after Howel gave his Brother Conan another Defeat and slew a great many of his People Whereupon Conan levied an Army in the Year 817 and chased his Brother Howel out of the Isle of Anglesey compelling him to flee into that of Man and a little after died Conan chief King of the Britains or Welsh-men leaving behind him a Daughter named Esylht who was married to a Nobleman called Mâ—rvyn Vrych the Son of Gwyriad who was afterwards King in her Right This Year also as the Manuscript Annals of the Abbey of Winchelcomb relate the Charter of this Monastery was granted by King Kenulph as appears by a Copy there inserted which shews what Orders of Men were summoned by that King to be present at the Council in which this Charter was confirmed viz. Merciorum optimates Episcopos Principes Comites Procuratores meosque i. e. Regis Propinquos which Terms having already been explained in the Introduction to this Book I need noâ—â—ere repeat There were also present Cuthred King of Kent his 〈…〉 King of the East-Saxons with all others who should be present at those Synodal Councils Then follow the Subscriptions of K. Kenulph as also of both the said Kings and of Wilfred Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with the rest of the Bishops and Ealdermen there stiled Duces This Year according to our Annals the Emperour Charles the Great departed this Life when he had Reigned Forty Five Years also Wilfred the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Wigbright the Bishop of the West-Saxons went to Rome But here our Annals are mistaken for this Emperour dyed not till the Year 814. Mat. Westminster also adds that these Bishops above-mentioned went to Rome about the Affairs of the English Church Arch-Bishop Wilfred having received the Benediction of Pope Leo returned again to his Bishoprick and the same Year King Egbert wasted the Western Welsh from the South to the West This seems but to have been the
England and sojourned with the most Holy and Religious Monks in the City of Winchester Helmestan Abbot of the said Cathedral Church and the Venerable Swithune Praepositus i. e. Bishop of the same who had been before in Professione sacrae Theologiae in Studio Canterbriggiensi Cathedratus i. e. Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge had often relieved him during the many Hardships he suffered in his Banishment with special Favour he desired always should be acknowledged If we were assured that this Epistle was Genuine it would advance the Antiquity of this University far higher than the time we are now treating of and would make it Ancienter than the time of King Alfred in the latter end of whose Reign St. Swithune sate Bishop of Winchester But since we have not the Originals but only Citations from these ancient Pieces I shall not take upon me to determine of their Validity but leave that as also this Authors Credit to the Reader 's Judgment But to return to our Annals This Year Egbriht the innocent Abbot was slain on the 16th Kal. of July a little before the Summer Solstice and about three Days after Aethelfleda sent an Army against the Welsh which took Brecenanmere supposed to be either Brecknock Castle or else some place near it and there she took the King's Wife and about thirty four Prisoners The Danes marching now on Horseback after Easter from Hamtune i. e. Northampton and Lygraceaster now Leicester slew many Men at Hocneratune now Hoocnorton in Oxfordshire and the places adjoyning and as soon as they had returned home again they sent out another Company of Robbers which marched towards Ligtune most likely to be Leighton in Bedfordshire but the People of that Country being forewarned of their coming fought with them and not only put them to flight but also recovered whatsoever they had taken away so that they left a great many of their Horses and Arms behind them Now a great Fleet sailed from the Southern Parts of Armorica under the Command of two Earls Ohtor and Rhoald and sailing about toward the East entred the Mouth of the River Severne and there spoiled all the Coasts of North Wales toward the Sea as far as they could and they also took Cumeleac the Welsh Bishop in Yrcingafield now Archenfield in Herefordshire and carried him Prisoner to their Ships but King Edward within some time Ransomed him for Forty Pounds but after this the Danes quitting their Ships marched again towards Yrcingafeild where the Men of Hereford and Gleawcester and the neighbouring Towns fought them and put them to flight and there slew Rhoald and a Brother of Earl Ohtor's with a great part of their Army and drove them into a certain Wood where they besieged them till they made them give Hostages to depart out of King Edward's Kingdom But at last it seemed advisable for the King to place a good Guard from the South part of the Mouth of Severne and from the West of Wales toward the East as far as the River Avon that so the Danes might not Land any more on that side nevertheless leaving their Ships they stole away privately by Night in two Companies to plunder the one to Weced now Watchet in Somersetshire and the other to Portlocan now Portlochbay in the same County but they were routed in both places insomuch that few of them escaped alive unless it were those who swam off to their Ships Then they besieged an Island at Bradanrelic Florence calls it Reoric which is supposed to be a little Island now called Shepholm in the Mouth of Severne where they were in such great want of Victuals that many died with Hunger because they could get no Provisions there After this they went to Deomed supposed to be South Wales from whence they passed into Ireland All this happened in Autumn And the same Year a little before Martinmass King Edward marched with his Army to Buckingaham and there stayed a Month building two Forts on each side the River Ouse before he parted thence Thurkytel the Danish Earl owned him for his Lord as also all their chief Commanders and almost all their Noblemen who were at Bedanford now Bedford with many of them that belonged to Hamptune This Year also Ethelfleda Lady of the Mercians before Whitsontide took the Town of Deorby where within the Gates were killed four Thanes who were very dear to her Also we read in the Collections of that Learned Antiquary Mr. Lambert and by him given to the Cottonian Library that it is found in an Ancient Chronicle once belonging to the Monastry of Rochester and collected by one Edmund de Hadenham That this Year the Lady Elfleda by the Assistance of the King her Brother besieged the City of Canterbury and taking it slew a great many Danes that were therein King Edward marching with his Army to Bedanford about Martinmass had the Town surrendred to him and then all the Inhabitants who were his Subjects returned thither and there he stayed a Month and before he departed he commanded a Castle to be built there on the South-side of the River After this King Edward went to Maeldune now Maldon and rebuilt the Town and saw it fortified whilst he was there Also Earl Thurkytel passed over into France by K. Edward's Leave and Convoy with all those Danes that would follow him as likewise Aethelfleda brought under her Dominion the Town of Legracester now Leicester and a great many of the Danes belonging to that place became subject to her as also those who were at York nay some of them confirmed it both with an Oath and by giving of Hostages that they would continue so but as soon as this was done she departed this Life twelve days before Midsummer at Tammeworth it being the Eighth Year of her Government over the Mercians after her Husband's Death with great Moderation and Justice Her Body lies buried at Gleawcester in the East Isle of St. Peter's Church This Lady's Death is placed in our printed Annals under the Year 918 and that more rightly for the Cottonian Copy of these Annals is certainly mistaken in putting the Death of this Princess two Years later than this viz. 920. though they all agree in Substance viz. that she died at Tamworth about a Fortnight before Midsummer and that thereupon King Edward going thither the whole Nation of the Mercians submitted to him But whenever this Princess died she was certainly a Woman of great Virtue Prudence and Courage and truly resembled her worthy Father King Alfred as far as the Difference of Sex would permit But to return again to our Annals The same Year the Daughter and Heir of Ethered Lord of the Mercians called Aelfwinna whom her Mother had left her Heir was deprived by the King of that Dominion and she was about three weeks before Christmas brought into West-Seax John Bevour who calls himself Castoreus in his Manuscript History of the Kings
Friends not only to marry her but also to fulfil the Covenants made between them and shall also engage to maintain her After that the Bridegroom is to declare what he will give his Bride besides that which she formerly made choice of with his good liking if she survive him In case they so agree it provides that after his Decease she shall have the one half of all his Estate and if they have a Child betwixt them the whole till such time as â—he marry again Then when they have agreed on all things the Kindred of the Bride shall contract her to him and engage for her Honesty and at the same time they shall give Caution for the Celebration of the Marriage The rest being not very material I omit and have only set down these to let the Reader see the Antiquity of Covenants before Marriage and of Bonds for the performance of them as also of Jointures the Thirds of the Estate not being then settled by Law as Dower by what I can find Having now finished the Reign of King Edmund I have no more to observe but that though he left two Sons by the Queen his Wife viz. Edwi and Edgar yet notwithstanding his Brother Edred succeeded to him as Next Heir for so Ethelwerd as well as Florence of Worcester stiles him King EDRED THIS year according to our Annals Eadred Aetheling after his Brother's Decease was made King and presently reduced all Northumberland under his Obedience Upon which the Scots also swore to perform whatever he would require of them But the Manuscript Life of St Dunstan written by a Monk of those times and which is now in the Cottonian Library is much more particular concerning this King's Succession saying That King Edmund being slain Eadred took the Kingdom succeeding to his Brother as his Heir Which is also confirmed by Florence of Worcester who says That Edred being Next Heir to his Brother succeeded him And Ethelwerd gives us the reason of it more fully That he succeeded him quippe ejus Haeres because he was Next Heir And Simeon of Durham further adds That this King was Crowned at Kingston by Odo Archbishop of Canterbury H. Huntington and Mat. Westminster give us the Particulars of this War against the Northumbers and Scots more at large viz. That he subdued the Northumbrians with a powerful Army they refusing to submit to his Dominion and that the Scots thereupon being afraid submitted themselves to him without any War at all and that the King of the Scots swore Fidelity to him It seems here by Ingulph that this Submission of the Northumbers was wrought by the means of Turketule Chancellor to King Edred and afterwards Abbot of Croyland who was now sent Ambassador to the Northumbers to reduce them to their Duty which he upon his Arrival at York performed with that Prudence and Diligence that he brought back the Archbishop and all the People of that City to their former Allegiance But R. Hoveden places the Oath taken by the Northumbrians under this year and that Wulstan Archbishop of York and all the Northumbrian Lords swore Fealty to King Edred in a Town called Tadencliff though they did not long observe it Under this year most of the Welsh Chronicles place the death of that Worthy Prince Howel Dha and say That he left his four Sons Owen Run Roderic and Edwin his Heirs of all his Territories in South-Wales But as for North Wales it returned to the two Sons of Edwal Voel called Jevaf and Jago because Meyric their Elder Brother was not thought fit to govern These as being of the Elder House would have had the Supreme Government of all Wales which being denied them by the Sons of Howel caused great and long Wars between them Yet nothwithstanding other of the Welsh Chronicles place the death of Howel Dha much later for they make him Contemporary with our King Edgar as shall be shewn when we come to the History of his Reign in the next Book Also the same year according to R. Hoveden King Edred being much provoked by the Treachery of the Northumbers laid all Northumberland waste in which devastation the Monastery of Ripun which had been built by Bishop Wilfrid was burnt But our Annals defer this Rebellion of the Northumbers to the year following When Anlaf again returned into the Countrey of the Northumbers This is also confirmed by Florence of Worcester and H. Huntington viz. That King Edred being returned into the Southern parts of the Kingdom Anlaf who had been formerly expell'd the Kingdom of Northumberland reâ—urned thither with a great Navy and being received with joy by the people was again restored to his Kingdom About this time Jago and Jevaf Princes of North-Wales entred South-Wales with a great and powerful Army against whom came over the Eldest Son of Howel with his Brethren and fought a Battel at the Hills of Carne where Jevaf and Jago obtained the Victory And the year following the same Princes twice invaded South-Wales and spoiled Dyvet and slew Dunwallon Lord thereof And to place these Welsh Wars together in the year 952. the said Sons of Howel Dha gathered their Forces together against Jevaf and Jago and entred their Countrey as far as the River Coâ—â—y where they fought a cruel bloody Battel at a place called Gwrhustu or Llanrwst Multitudes being slain on both sides as Edwin the Son of Howel Dha with other Welsh Princes and the Sons of Howel being vanquish'd Jevaf and Jago pursued them as far as Curdigan destroying their Countrey with Fire and Sword This year according to the Annals Aelfeag Bishop of Winchester deceased at the Feast of St. Gregory The Northumbers again expelled King Anlaf and set up Eric the Son of Harold for their King This is the same with Eric mentioned by Hoveden who yet did not immediately enter upon the Throne as that Author supposes till Anlaf had been expell'd but Florence of Worcester and the Chronicle of Mailrosse place the expulsion of Anlaf and the setting up of Eric two years sooner and perhaps with better reason For the same year according to Hoveden King Edred made Wulstan Archbishop of York close Prisoner at Witharbirig because he had been often accused to him upon divers accounts Yet Will. Malmesbury tells us expresly it was for favouring or conniving at his Countreymen in their late Rebellion But after he had kept him a long time in Prison he thought fit to pardon him out of reverence to his Function And the year following the Chronicle of Mailrosse relates that Archbishop Wulstan being set free was restored to his Episcopal Function at Doncacester But this is certain King Edred could not have done this till after Eric had been driven out as this Author more truly reckons tho our Annals do it the next year saying That The Northumbers drove out King Eric and King Eadred again possessed himself of that Kingdom With which also H.
him to govern as a Conqueror From which also you may observe the flourishing Trade and Wealth of that City in those days since it could even at that time pay above a Seventh of this excessive Taxation Then also a great part of the Danish Army return'd into Denmark and only forty Ships remain'd with King Cnute the Danes and English were likewise now reconciled and united at Oxnaford Bromton says it was done at a Great Council or Parliament at Oxford where King Cnute ordained the Laws of King Edgar i. e. of England to be observed The same year also Aethelsige Abbot of Abbandune deceased and Aethelwin succeeded him This year King Cnute returned into Denmark and there stayed all the Winter Bromton's Chronicle says he went over to subdue the Vandals who then made War against him and carried along with him an Army both of English and Danes the former being commanded by Earl Godwin set upon the Enemies by surprize and put them to flight after which the King had the English in as much as esteem as his own Danish Subjects But the year following He returned into England and then held a Mycel Gemot or Great Council at Cyrencester where Ethelward the Earldorman was outlaw'd The same year also King Cnute went to Assandune the place where he had before fought the great Battel with King Edmund and there caused a Church to be built of Lime and Stone for the souls of those men that had been slain there Which being as R. Hoveden relates consecrated in the King's presence by Wulstan Archbishop of York and divers other Bishops was committed to the care of his Chaplain whose Name was Stigand Also Archbishop Living deceased and Ethelnoth a Monk and Dean of Canterbury was consecrated Bishop by Wulstan Archbishop of York But before we proceed farther I will give you some account of the Affairs of Wales in these times Where after the death of Kynan or Conan the Usurping Prince of South-Wales above-mentioned Lewelyn Prince of North-Wales had according to Caradoc's Chronicle possessed himself of South-Wales and had for some years governed both those Countries with great Peace and Prosperity so that from the North to the South Sea there was not a Beggar in the whole Countrey but every man had sufficient to live of his own insomuch that the Countrey grew daily more and more populous But this year produced a notable Impostor for a certain Scot of mean Birth came now into South-Wales and called him self Run or Reyn as the Manuscript Copies have it the Son of Meredyth ap Owen late Prince of Wales as you have already heard Upon which the Nobility of that Countrey who loved not Lewelyn set up this Run or Reyn to be their Prince But Lewelyn hearing of it assembled all the Forces of North-Wales and marched against this Run who had now also got all the strength of South-Wales together and going as far as Abergwily i. e. the mouth of the River Gwily there waited the coming of Lewelyn but when he arrived and both Armies were ready to join Battel Run full of outward confidence encouraged his men to fight yet no sooner was the Battel begun but this Impostor soon discovered what he was by withdrawing himself pâ—â—â—ly out of the fight whereas on the contrary Lewelyn like a Couragious Prince standing in the Head of his Army called out aloud for this base Scot Run who durst so belye the Blood of the British Princes Both Armies then meeting fought for a while with great Courage and Malice to each other but it seems the South-Wales men being not so resolute in the Quarrel of this Impostor as those of North-Wales were to defend the Right of their Lawful Prince the latter being also encouraged by the Speeches and Prowess of their Prince put the former to the Rout and pursued this Run so closely that he had much ado to escape Prince Lewelyn having got thus a great deal of Spoil return'd home and for a short time govern'd these Countries in Peace But to return to our Annals This year about Martinmass King Cnute outlaw'd i. e. banished Earl Thurkyl But they tell us not the Crime Yet William of Malmesbury makes it a Judgment for being the principal Promoter of the Murther of Archbishop Aelfeage and that as soon as he return'd into Denmark he was killed by some Noblemen of that Nation This year also according to an Old Manuscript belonging to St. Edmundsbury and cited by the Lord Chief Justice Coke in the Preface to the 9 th Book of his Reports King Cnute held a Parliament at Winchester wherein were present the two Archbishops and all the other Bishops as also many Ealdormen and Earls with divers Abbots together with a great many Knights and a vast multitude of People and there in pursuance of the King's desires it was decreed That the Monastery of St. Edmund the King should be free and for ever exempt from all Jurisdiction of the Bishops and Earls of that Country But Sir H. Spelman here very well observes that this Manuscript could be no Ancienter than the Reign of Henry the Third because the word Parliament was not in use before that time Though thus much is certain That King Cnute the year before founded this Monastery afterwards called St. Edmundsbury but then known to the Saxons by the name of Beadrichesworth where there had been a Church built before and King Edward the Elder in the year 942 had also given several Lands to it and upon which Foundation King Cnute had lately built and endowed the said Abby which was one of the Largest and Richest in all England Lewelyn ap Sitsylt Prince of Wales but a short time enjoyed the fruits of his late Victory for this year the Welsh Chronicles tell us he was slain by Howel and Meredyth the Sons of Prince Edwin or Owen above-mentioned who yet did not succeed in the Principality for Jâ—go Son to Edwal late Prince of Wales was now advanced to the Throne as Lawful Heir having been long debarr'd of his Right But it seems he could not do the like in South-Wales which one Rytheric ap Justin seiz'd upon and held by force This year King Cnute sail'd with his Fleet to the Isle of Wight but upon what account our Annals do not shew us Also Archbishop Aethelnoth went to Rome and was there received by Pope Benedict with great Honour who put on his Pall with his own hands and being so habited celebrated Mass as the Pope commanded him and then after he had dined with him return'd home with his Benediction Also Leofwin the Abbot who had been unjustly expell'd from the Monastery of Elig was his Companion and there cleared himself of those Crimes of which he had been accused before the Pope the Archbishop and all the Company that were there present testifying on his behalf Wulstan Archbishop of York deceased and Aelfric succeeded Edelnoth the Archbishop consecrating him at Canterbury Also this
the Bishops and Monks from whom she was sure to have their good word yet however she did not escape Scandal for she had several Enemies that incensed the King against her but especially Archbishop Robert the Norman who had accused her some years before her death of being too familiar with Alwin Bishop of Winchester Whereupon she was sent to the Abby of Werewell having first of all her Goods taken from her whilst the Bishop was committed to Prison Archbishop Robert crying out That such Villany ought not to go unpunished for fear it should be an encouragement for others to do the like but she not being kept very strictly wrote to all the Bishops of England whom she knew to be her Friends professing that she was more troubled at the Disgrace offered to the Bishop than that which was done to her self and that she was ready to clear his Innocency by the Fire Ordeal Upon this the Bishops met and had easily prevailed with the King to put up the business had not Archbishop Robert stifly opposed them demanding of his Brethren How they could have the confidence to take upon them the Defence of that Beast rather than Woman meaning the Queen Mother who had so detracted from the King her Son and yet had called her Paramour The Anointed of the Lord But said he this Woman will purge the Bishop but who shall purge her that consented to the Death of her Son Alfred and prepared Poyson for his Brother now King Edward But if she desires to be acquitted let her accept of her own Proposal and walk barefoot over Nine Red-hot Plowshares four for her self and five for the Bishop and then if she escape untouch'd let her pass for Innocent Upon this the Day for Trial was appointed and she having the night before at his Shrine earnestly invoked the Assistance of St. Swithin she came to the place where the King and all the Bishops except Robert were present and there passed unhurt over all the Red-hot Plowshares to the great Joy and Wonder both of her self and all the Spectators especially of the King her Son that she had so well cleared her self then he was very sorry that he had been so credulous as to admit those Calumnies against his own Mother whose Pardon he now begged as also the Bishops and as divers of the Monkish Writers relate received Penance from them on his bare back Queen Emma for this signal Deliverance gave to St. Swithin Nine Mannors and the Bishop of Winchester as many the Innocency of them both being hereby absolutely cleared Moreover the King is said to have bestowed on the Church of Winchester the whole Isle of Portland and other Possessions The substance of this Story is both delivered by John Bromton and Henry de Knighton but Dr. Harpesfield hath embellished it with divers other trivial Circumstances whilst our more Ancient Authors as Malmesbury and others say nothing of it But methinks that which follows spoils all the rest viz. That Archbishop Robert whom some will have Bishop and others Archbishop at this time thereupon fled out of the Land whereas indeed he continued here much longer and fled out of England upon another occasion as we shall shew hereafter But to return again to our Annals The same year it was also decreed by the King and his Chief Men That Ships should be sent to Sandwich and that Earl Rolfe and Earl Odda should command them in the mean time Earl Godwin departed from Brycge with his Ships to Ysera a place we know not and then landing the next day but one to Midsummer-Eve he came to the Head or Point lying on the South side of Rumenea now Rumney in Kent which when it was told the Earls at Sandwic they immediately sail'd out in pursuit of him and also commanded the Land-Forces to be in a readiness to join them But is seems Earl Godwin had timely notice of it and so he fell back to Pevensea i. e. Pensey in Sussex and then so violent a Tempest arose that the Earls could not inform themselves which way Godwin was gone but afterwards he returned and came to Brycge and the King's Ships went to Sandwic and from thence they were order'd back to London and other Captains to command them but the matter was so long delay'd that all the Seamen left their Ships and returned to their own homes As soon as Earl Godwin heard this he set out his Fleet again to Sea and sail'd directly Westward to the Isle of Wight where his men going ashore plundered so long till at last the people would give them what Contributions soever they demanded Then they sail'd further Westward till they came to the Isle of Portland and there going again on shore they did all the damage they could to the Inhabitants In the mean time Harold return'd from Ireland with Nine Ships and landed at Portloc Bay in Somersetshire where much people were got together against him but he not being at all afraid of them marched out to seek Provisions and there killed all before him taking Men Cattel and Money whatsoever he met with From thence he sail'd Eastward towards his Father whom having met they went together to the Isle of Wight and there plunder'd whatsoever was left and thence coasted to Pevensea where they took all the Ships that were in that Harbour afterwards they went to the Naesse Point and carried away all the Ships that were in Rumenea Hythe and Folcestane now Folcston in Kent Thence they sail'd Eastward again to Dofra and going on shore took there as many Ships and Hostages as they could and then went to Sandwic where also they did the like so that they had Hostages and Provisions given them where ever they came as much as they required then again they sail'd to Northmuthe supposed to be that which we call now the Buoy in the Nore and thence up towards London they also sent some Ships to Scepige and there did a great deal of mischief then they turn'd to Middle-tune a Town of the King's in Essex and burnt it down to the ground and afterwards the Earls went towards London but when they came thither they found the King with all his Great Men ready to receive them with Fifty Sail. Then the outlaw'd Earls sent to the King beseeching him that they might be restor'd to their Estates of which they had been unjustly deprived but for a long time the King would not hearken to them by any means till at last the men who were with the Earl were so enraged against him and his people that the Earl had much a-do to appease them Then were assembled by God's assistance Bishop Stigand and other Prudent Men as well within the City as without and there they agreed upon a Peace to be made Hostages being first given on both sides which when Archbishop Rodbert and the other Frenchmen understood they took Horse and fled some Westward to Pentecost's Castle but where it was we
him so kept seal'd up for a year and a day within which time if the Murtherer was found out upon his being delivered to the King's Justice they were to be repaid but in case within that time he could not be discovered then were the Kindred of the Murthered Party to have six of the said Marks and the King the other forty if he had no Kindred his Lord was to receive it and if he had no Lord then his sworn Friend and Companion but if there were none of these then the King should have the whole Sum to himself The sixteenth Article shews us how this way of discovering Murther and punishing the Hundred came to be in use where the Murtherer could not be found viz. That King Cnute when he had gotten England and settled it in Peace and at the request of the English Barons had sent back his Army into Denmark those Barons became Sureties that all the Danes that staid behind with him should in all things enjoy perfect Peace so that in case an Englishman kill'd any of them if he could not clear himself by the Judgment of God that is by Water or Iron meaning the Ordeal Justice was to be executed upon him and in case he ran away Payment was to be made as is aforesaid This Law to prevent the killing of the Normans was likewise continued by King William the Conqueror for in case a man were found slain he was to be taken for a Norman and his Death to be more grievously punished than that of an Englishman unless the Englescherie of him that was killed could be made out before the King's Justices that is that he was an Englishman as Bracton hath particularly shewn us But I shall reserve the speaking further of this Law to the next Volume The seventeenth declares the Office of a King in these words The King who is the Vicegerent of the Supreme King is appointed to this very end That he may Govern and Defend his Earthly Kingdom and the People of the Lord and above all things should reverence his Holy Church and extirpate evil doers out of it which unless he shall do not so much as the Name of a King shall remain to him but he shall utterly lose it as Pope John witnesses Then follows the occasion of this opinion of Pope John's viz. His having given it in answer to the Letter which Pepin and Charles his Son wrote concerning a foolish King of France whether they should still continue him on the Throne or not which being no material part of the Law I omit And then there is somewhat concerning Barons which have Courts and Customs of their own in these words The Archbishops Bishops Earls Barons and all those who have Sac Soc Thol Team and Infangâ—heof shall have their Knights Servants and all other sorts of Dependants under their Friburg that is should either have them forth coming or else should answer for them that if they shall forfeit to any one and a Complaint be made by the Neighbours against them they must bring them forth to have Justice done them in their own Court The eighteenth nineteenth twentieth and one and twentieth are explanations of the Saxon terms in the above-mentioned Law which being explained already in the Introduction I thither refer you The two and twentieth declares all Jews that were in the Kingdom to be under the Protection of the King so that none of them could put himself in the service of any great man without the King's leave for that the Jews and all that are there are the King 's By the three and twentieth King Edward forbad all Usurers to continue in his Kingdom and if any one were convicted that he exacted Usury he should forfeit his Goods and be looked upon as out-law'd After which follows in Mr. Lambard's Copy another Law declaring the King's Power by Virtue of his Royal Dignity to pardon Life and loss of Member but with this Proviso That the Male-factor make satisfaction to such as he hath injured according to his power and besides find Sureties for his good Behaviour which if he did not he was to be banished From whence you may observe That this Prerogative of pardoning in the King was not to extend to the prejudice of the Party injured or his Kindred to whom an Appeal was hereby reserved Concerning which The nineteenth in like manner declares his Royal Prerogative to be such that the King may set at liberty any Captive or Prisoner whenever he comes in any City Borough Castle c. or if he meet him in the way by his mere Word or Command Yet was he that was thus set at liberty bound to make satisfaction to the injured Party But a Murtherer Traytor or one guilty of such like Crimes altho the King should pardon him as to Life and Member according to Law he shall in no wise stay in the Countrey but shall swear that he will depart to the Sea-coast within a stated time set him by the Justice and pass over as soon as he can get opportunity of a Ship and Wind and in case any such prove perjured and shall stay in the Land beyond the time any one that meets them may do Justice upon them i. e. take away their lives From whence you may observe the Antiquity of the Law for abjuring the Realm for such great Offences to which the King's Pardon did not then absolutely extend The rest of this Law which only recites the Penalties for the harbouring or favouring such Malefactors I omit The twenty seventh Article gives leave to harbour a Stranger or Foreigner whom in English they termed Couth or Vncouth that is known or unknown as a Guest for two nights in which space if he transgress he that harboured him shall not be answerable for him but if any one be injured and complaint is made that it was by the Counsel and Advice of him that lodged him he shall with two honest Neighbours by Oath purge himself as to the Advice and Fact or otherwise shall make satisfaction The reason whereof was because after the third night the Law then was such that this stranger was to be looked upon as one of the Family and the Master of it was to answer for him if he transgressed The twenty eighth appoints how Money or Cattel brought into a Town and said by him who brought them that they were found shall be disposed of and who shall have the Custody of them The thirtieth enjoins That those who have the King's Peace either by his Hand or Letters shall take care not to injure others under a double Penalty The thirty first declares the particular Mulcts or Penalties of those who shall violate the King's Peace above-mentioned and especially that of the eight days of his Coronation or of any of the Feasts aforesaid and who should have the Forfeitures arising from thence how much the King and how much the Earl and how much the Dean or the Bishop in whose
Jago the Sons of Edwal Voel and the Sons of Howel Dha and the Danes l. 5. p. 349 350. l. 6. p. 6 7 16 20 21 22 23 26 27 53 64. The Irish-Scots invade it by the means of Howel and Meredyth l. 6. p. 56. Is molested by Conan the Son of Jago who had fled into Ireland for the safety of his life Id. p. 70. So infested by the Danish Pyrates that the Sea-Coasts were almost deserted Id. p. 74. Sparhafock a Monk of St. Edmundsbury made Abbot of Abandune and afterwards Bishop of London upon the Translation of Robbyrd to the See of Canterbury l. 6. p. 74 75. But the Archbishop refused to consecrate him tho he came to him with the King's Letters and Seal because the Pope had forbad him However he held his Bishoprick Id. p. 76. Sometime after is deposed from it Id. p. 78. Spot Wulfric a Courtier builds the Monastery of Burton in Staffordshire with his own Paternal Inheritance and gets King Ethelred to confirm it l. 6. p. 31. Stamford a Castle commanded by King Edward the Elder to be built on the South-side of the River Weland l. 5. p. 323. Standing-Army no War possibly to be maintained long either at home or abroad without one l. 6. p. 33. Stanmore Battel in Westmorland between Marius the British King and the Caledonians l. 2. p. 66. Stealing Vid. Theft Stephanus the Pope succeeds Leo and the next year dies l. 5. p. 251. Another of this name Abbot of Mountcassin is consecrated Pope in the room of Victor l. 6. p. 87. Deceases the next year and who succeeds him Id. p. 88. Stigand Cnute's Chaplain had the care of the Church of Ashdown which the King caused to be built there committed to him l. 6. p. 51. Is consecrated Bishop of the East-Angles i. e. Helmham Id. p. 71 73. Receives again his Bishoprick from which it seems by the Simoniacal Practices of Bishop Grymkitel he had been before deprived Id. p. 72. And upon the death of Alfwin is promoted to the See of Winchester Id. p. 73. At last is made Archbishop of Canterbury Id. p. 81. Had the Pall sent him by Pope Benedict William of Malmesbury his Character of him He consecrates Aegelric a Monk of Christ-Church Bishop of Chichester and Syward the Abbot Bishop of Rochester Id. p. 88. Stilico Governor to the Emperor Honorius during his Minority his Character l. 2. p. 97. By a Legion sufficiently furnished with Arms dispatched to Britain delivered the Inhabitants both from spoil and inevitable Captivity Id. p. 99 104 105. Is killed by the Army when Bassus and Philippus were Consuls Id. p. 104. Stone in Staffordshire whence it had its name l. 4. p. 195. Stonehenge here Aurelius Ambrosius was crowned and not long after buried l. 3. p. 131. Is called Mons Ambrosij said to be the Monument of Ambrosius and thought by the latter Antiquaries to be founded by him Ibid. Straetcluyd the Colony erected by the Britains l. 5. p. 344. Strangers as soon as they landed the Merchants are to declare their number and bring them before the King's Officers in Folcmote l. 5. p. 294. The Law against buying and receiving Strangers Cattle Id. p. 346. A Law to harbour them for two nights as Guests but no longer so l. 6. p. 103. Strathern the Scotish Writers will needs have this Province understood by the word Jerne l. 2. p. 98. Streanshale Monastery founded by Hilda l. 4. p. 188. Is now Whitby in Yorkshire Id. p. 189. Strikers in open Court before the King's Ealdormen their Punishment l. 5. p. 295. Stufe and Withgar Nephews to King Cerdic fight against the Britains and put them to flight l. 3. p. 135. Succession to the Crown how settled between the Picts and Scots l. 1. p. 4 5. The Britains had no Notion of any Right the Eldest Brother had to command all the rest not even after they became Christians Id. p. 17. Suetonius Paulinus in his time the Romans received a great Blow in Britain and the Account of it l. 2. p. 46 47 48. Afterwards he gained a mighty Victory over Boadicia and them Id. p. 49 50. Carries it too haughtily towards those that submit Id. p. 50 51. Is succeeded by Petronius Turpilianus Id. p. 51. Sunday Vid. Lord's-Day Supposititious Birth said to be put upon King Cnute viz. the Son of a Shoemaker then newly born by Aelgiva one of his Wives l. 6. p. 61. Suretyship concerning the Breach of the King 's and Archbishops c. what Fine was to be paid upon it by Alfred's Law l. 5. p. 295. Every one to find Sureties for his good Behaviour l. 6. p. 14. Every Lord to be Surety for the appearance of every person in his Family Id. p. 42. Whosoever refuses to give it to be put to death Id. p. 42 43. For the Danes that stay in England to enjoy in all things perfect Peace Id. p. 101. Sutbury in Suffolk anciently called Southburg where Bishop Alfwin deceased l. 4. p. 242. Swale a River but where is not mentioned l. 4. p. 174. Swanawic now Swanwick in Hampshire near the place where the Danes lost 120 of their Ships in a violent Storm as they were going towards Exmouth l. 5. p. 278. Swebryht King of the East-Saxons his Death l. 4. p. 223. Sweden anciently called Scandinovia l. 1. p. 4. And Gothia Id. p. 5. Swedes and Danes called Normans by the French Historians an Account of their Religion and the Deities they worshipped l. 5. p. 256. Sweyn the Son of Harold the Dane slays Edwal ap Meyric in Battel and destroys the Isle of Man He and Anlaff besieges London endeavouring to burn it but are forced to march off the Ravage and Murthers they committed in Essex Kent and Sussex c. l. 6. p. 25. Ousted his Father both of his Kingdom and Life was afterwards expelled himself and wander'd up and down without relief but plagues England after this all he could for refusing to receive him Id. p. 26. Sweyn King of Denmark receiving news of the Massacre of his Countreymen in England by the Advice of his Great Council comes with Three hundred Sail of great Ships and revenges this barbarous piece of Treachery l. 6. p. 30 31. His frequent Returns home and Incursions and Ravages here Id. p. 32 37 38. His Return into England and upon what occasion Id. p. 37. His Decease and the Monk's Relation of the Suddenness of it Id. p. 38 39 40. Sweyn Eldest Son of King Cnute he appoints before his death to be King of Norway l. 6. p. 56. Is driven out of his Kingdom by Harold sirnamed Hairfax but he recovered it again Id. p. 74. Sweyn Earl Son of Godwin goes over to Baldwin Earl of Flanders and stays there all Winter being in disgrace at Court for deflowring an Abbess l. 6. p. 73 74. Makes a League with Edward the Confessor and the King's Promises to him How he decoys his Cousin Beorne on Shipboard and causes him afterwards
of the Northern Britains This year Eadbert King of the Northumbers was shorn a Monk and Ofwulf his Son succeeded him yet Reigned but one Year being slain by the Treachery of his own Servants on the 9th of the Kal. August following thô without any just Cause as I can find Concerning this Eadbert Simeon of Durham in his History of that Church tells us That after he had reigned 21 Years and ruled his Kingdom with great Wisdom and Courage so that all his Adversaries being either overcome by force or else submitting themselves to him the English Pictish and Scotish Kings not only maintained Peace and Friendship with him but rejoyced to do him Honour so that the Fame of his Grandeur spreading as far as France King Pipin not only made a League with him but sent him great Presents and the Kings his Neighbours when he was about to resign the Crown had him in that Esteem that they offered him part of their own Dominions on Condition that he would not lay down his Charge but he refused it and resigned his Kingdom to Usulf his Son Also about this time according to the British Chronicles there was a great Battle fought at Hereford between the Britains and the Saxons where Dyfnwal ap Theodore was slain But they do not tell us who obtained the Victory This Year Cathbert Arch Bishop of Canterbury deceased having fate Arch-Bishop 18 Years Also according to Florence about this time Swithred reigned over the East and Osmund over the South Saxons as also Beorne was King over the East Angles This Year Bregowin was consecrated Arch-Bishop of Canterbury at the Feast of St. Michael and Ethelwold Sirnamed Moll began to reign over the Northumbers and at last resigned the Crown ' Ethelbryght King of Kent deceased he was the Son of King Wythred Of this King William of Malmesbury records nothing remarkable but that the City of Canterbury was burnt in his Reign Ceolwulf also late King of Northumberland departed this Life the same Year dying a Monk in the Isle of Lindisfarne But Simeon of Durham prolongs his Life 4 Years longer This Year was a very sharp Winter and Ethelwald Moll King of Northumberland slew Duke Oswin at Edwinsclife on the Eighth of the Ides of August But thô who this Duke was our Annals do not tell us yet Simeon of Durham and Roger of Hoveden relate he was one of those Great Northumbrian Lords that rebelled against the King who gained the Victory over him and those Rebels that took his part ' This Year deceased Bergowine the Arch-Bishop above-mentioned But if he sate 4 Years as these Annals affirm he could not have died till the Year following in which also Janbryht who is also called Lambert was now consecrated Arch-Bishop of Canterbury about 40 Days after Christmas Also Frithwald Bishop of Witherne died on the Nones of May he had been Consecrated in York on the 18th Kalends of September in the Reign of Ceolwulf and sate Bishop 29 Years and then Piyhtwin or Pechtwin was Consecrated Bishop of Witerne at Aelfet on the 16th Kal. of August ' Janbryht the Arch-Bishop received his Pall This was as Florence of Worcester informs us from Pope Paul I. ' This Year also as Simeon of Durham relates there was much Mischief done by Fire at London Winchester and other Places ' Alhred King of Northumberland began to reign and reigned Eight Years Ethelwold Moll having now by Death quitted that Kingdom The manner of which is given us more perfectly by William of Malmesbury and Roger Hoveden viz. That Ethelwold lost the Kingdom of Northumberland at Winchan-hea 1 o Kal. November being murder'd by the Treachery of this Albred who succeeded him and was also of the Race of Ida being his Great Nephew The same Year also according to William of Malmesbury Offa King of the Mercians envying the Greatness of the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury did by most noble Presents made to the Pope obtain a Pall for the See of Lichfield that is That it should be for the future an Arch-Bishoprick and that all the Bishops of the Provinces of the Kingdom of Mercia and the East Angles should be subject to it and this he not only gained notwithstanding the Opposition and Remonstrances of Arch-Bishop Jambert to the contrary but also bereaved the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury of all its Lands which lay within the Mercian Territories which Injustice continued during the whole Reign of King Offa till Kenulph his Successour by the Intercession of Eanbald then Arch-Bishop of York restored the See of Canterbury to its ancient Rights This Year deceased Egbert Arch-Bishop of York 13 o Kal. Sept. who sate Bishop 36 Years This is he who was Base Brother to the King of the same Name and regained the Pall to his See after it had been without it ever since the time of Paulinus He also built a Noble Library at York which was then counted one of the best in Europe for William of Malmesbury relates that Alcuin the greatest Scholar of his time once told the Emperour Charles That if he would give him such Books of exquisite Learning as he had in his own Country by the Pious Industry of his Master Arch-Bishop Eghert then he would instruct and send him back some young Men who should carry over the choicest Flowers of the English Learning into France According to Simeon of Durham Albert was now ordained Arch-Bishop of York ' Eadbert the Son of Eatta deceased on 14 o Kal. September This Eadbert had been formerly King of Northumberland and according to Simeon of Durham died 10 Years after his taking the Habit of a Monk and was buried at York Also this Year as the Welsh Chronicles acquaint us by the means of Flbodius that Learned and Pious Bishop of North Wales it was decreed in a General Synod of the British Nation That Easter should be kept after the Custom of Rome so that all Differences between that Church and the British now ceased ' Charles King of the Franks began his Reign for Pepin his Father died this Year as R. Hoveden informs us Also the fair City of Cataract in Yorkshire was burnt by Bâ—ornred the Mercian Tyrant and He also perished by Fire the same Year This Year according to Simeon of Durham and R. Hoveden Offa King of the Mercians subdued the Nation of the Hestings by force of Arms but who these People were or where they inhabited no Author informs us Mr. Lambert in his Glossary at the end of the Decem Scriptores will have them to be Danes but I see no reason for it here since the Danes were not then settled in England ' This Year died Milred the Bishop Florence says he was Bishop of the Wiccii that is of the Diocess of Worcester and was in great Reputation for his Sanctity This Year Albert Arch-Bishop of York received his Pall from Pope Adrian as Simeon informs us
This Year the Northumbrians expelled their King Albred from York about Easter and chose Ethelred the Son of Moll once King for their Lord He reigned 4 Years Of which Transaction Roger Hoveden gives us this particular Relation That King Alhred being deposed by the Common-Council and Consent of his own Subjects and forsaken of all his Great Men was forced to retire first to the City of Bebban afterwards called Banbarough-Castle from whence he betook himself to Cynoth King of the Picts with but very few Followers The same Year also appeared a Red Cross in the Heavens after Sun-set and the Mercians and Kentish-men fought at Ottanford now Otford in Kent But neither the Saxon Annals nor any other vouchsafe to tell us what was the Quarrel nor who were the Commanders on either side nor yet what was the Success Also strange Serpents were seen in the Province of the South Saxons Mat. Westminster places this Prodigy two Years after and says They seemed to creep out of the Earth This Year Cynwulf King of the West Saxons and Offa King of the Mercians fought at Binsington now Bensington in Oxfordshire but Offa took the Town So it seems Cynwulf had the worst of it Here follows in the Peterburgh Copy another Relation concerning that Abbey which is thus That In the Reign of King Offa there was a certain Abbot of Medeshamstead called Beonna who with the Consent of the Monks of his Monastery leased out to Cuthbriht the Ealderman X Bonde-land that is the Ground of ten Bond-men or Villains at Swinesheafde with the Meadows and Pastures and all other Things thereunto belonging upon this Condition That Cuthbriht should pay the Abbot Fifty Pounds and one Night's Entertainment every Year or else Thirty Shillings in Money and that after his Death the Lands should again revert to the Monastery To which Grant King Offa King Egferth Arch Bishop Higebert the Bishop Ceolwulf the Bishop Inwona with Beon the Abbot and many other Bishops Abbots and Great Men were Witnesses I have inserted this Passage thô it does not relate to the Civil History of these Times because it is the First Example of a Lease of this kind and seems to have been done in a great Council of the Kingdom where these Kings were present which was then necessary for such a Grant Also in the time of this King Offa as the Peterburgh Copies relate there was a certain Ealderman called Brordan who desired of the King That for his sake he would free a certain Monastery of his called Wocingas because he intended to give it to St. Peter and to the Church of Medeshamsted one Pusa being then Abbot of it This Pusa succeeded Beonna and the King loved him very well wherefore he freed the Church of Wocingas by the King's consent with that of the Bishop Earls and all other Men's consents so that no body should from thenceforth have any duty or Tribute besides St. Peter and the Abbot this was done in the King's Town called Freoricburne Pehtwin Bishop of Witerne called in Latin Candida Casa deceased XIII Kal. Octob. he was Bishop Fourteen Years and had been bred under Aldhelm that Pious Bishop of Winchester and the same Year Ethelbert was consecrated Bishop of that See at York XVII Kal. Junii This Year according to the Welsh Chronicle the South-Welshmen destroyed great part of Mercia with Fire and Sword As also The Summer following all the Welshmen both of North and South-Wales gathered themselves together and Invading the Kingdom of Mercia made great spoil by burning and plundering the Country whereupon King Offa was forced to make Peace with the other Saxon Kings and to bend his whole Forces against the Welsh Men who not being able to encounter so great a strength as he then brought against them were forced to quit all the plain Country between the Rivers of Severne and Wye and retired into the Mountains whereupon Offa perceiving this seised upon all the Country and planted Saxons in their places and annexing it to his own Kingdom caused that famous Ditch or Trench to be made from Sea to Sea betwixt his Kingdom and Wales whereby he might the better defend his Country from the Incursions of the Welsh hereafter This Ditch is seen at this day in divers places and is called Welsh Clawdh Offa i.e. Offa's Ditch This Year Aethebald and Hearbert kill'd Three chief Gerifs or Governours Ealdwulf the Son of Bosa at Cyningeselife i. e. Kings Cliffe and Cynwulf and Ecga at Helathyrn XI Kal. Aprilis then Alfwold took the Kingdom Aethelred being Expel'd the Land and Reigned Ten Years But H. Huntington and Simeon of Durham gives us a more exact account of this Matter that Aethelred King of Northumberland having caused Three of his Nobles Aldwulf Kinwulf and Ecga to be treacherously slain by two of the same rank The Year following his Subjects Rebelling against him they first slew Aldwulf General of the King's Army in Flight at the place above mentioned as they also did the two other Commanders in the same manner so that King Aethelred's Captains being all slain and his hopes as well as his Forces defeated he was forced to flee into another Country and so Elfwald the Son of Oswulf succeeded him thô not without Civil Broils He was a Just and Pious Prince yet could not escape the hard Fate of his Predecessors as you will see in due time The same Year as the Laudean Copy relates King Charles entred Spain and destroyed the Citties of Pampelona and Cesar Augusta now called Saragosa and having joined his Army subdued the Saracens and received Hostages from them and then returned by Narbon and Gascony into France This Year the chief Gerifs or Governours of Northumberland burnt Beorne the Ealderman in Seletune 19 Kal. Januarij Roger Hoveden calls these Gerifs Osbald and Aethelheard and H. Huntington says They burnt this Ealderman or Chief Justice of the Kingdom because he was more Rigid and Severe than in Reason he ought to have been The same Year the Ancient Saxons and Franks fought against each other in which Battle Charles King of the Franks gained the Victory having wasted the Saxon Territories with Fire and Sword and laid them to his own Dominions as not only our own but the French Historians relate Also Bishop Aethelheard dyed at York and Eanbald was consecrated to the same See and Cynebald the Bishop resigned his See at Lindisfarne and Alchmuna Bishop of Hagulstead deceased 7 th Id. Sept. and Higbert was consecrated in his stead the 6 th of the Nones of Octob. as likewise Higbald was consecrated at Soccabrig to be Bishop of Lindisfarne Also King Allwold sent to Rome to demand the Pall for Eanbald Arch-Bishop of York This Year Werburh the Wife of King Ceolred late King of the Mercians deceased at her Nunnery of Chester where she was Abbess and where the Church is dedicated to her Memory also Cenwulf Bishop of Lindisfarne died