third Daughter was married to Martin Reyes a Groom-porter and their Father himself was also beheaded 5. The Earl of Oxon was John Vere the fiftieth of that Name whose Grandchild Edward Earl of Oxon not only utterly wasted the great and most ancient Inheritance of that Earldom but defaced also the Castles and Houses thereof and leaving a Son by his second Wife named Henry the 18th Earl of that Noble Family The same Henry died without Issue and this Male Line thus failing the Office of Great Chamberlain of England which had ever since Hen. the 1st's time gone in this Family was now by the Lady Mary Sister of this Edward being married to the Lord Willoughby of Eresby by Judgment of the Upper House of Parliament Anno ... transposed to her Son and Heir the now Earl of Lindsey 6. The Earl of South-Hampton was William Fitz-Williams who being Lord Privy Seal and Admiral of England was created Earl of South-Hampton at Hampton-Court Anno 29 Hen. 8. He married Mabell Daughter of Henry Lord Clifford of Westmorland and Sister and Heir of Henry the first Earl of Cumberland but died without Issue Anno 34 H. 8. 7. The Earl of Arundel was William Fitz-Alam who died 35 Hen. 8. He had a Son and by two Wives four Daughters which died without Issue His Son Henry Fitz-Alam succeeded in the Earldom a Man of great Dignities He was twice married by Catharine his first Wife he had Issue H. Lord ... who being married died without Issue in the life of his Father An. 1556. And so ended the Noble Family and Male line of these Earls of Arundel But he had also by that Wife two Daughters and Heirs whereof Jane the eldest was married to the Lord Lumley who had Issue by her Thomas Charles and Mary who died all without Issue Mary his second Daughter and Co-heir was married to Tho. Howard the last Duke of Norfolk and by her the Earldom Castles and Honours of Arundel were transported to Philip Howard her Son and so to her Grandchild Tho. Earl of Arundel and Earl Marshal of England now living in whose line God hold them 8. The Earl of Shrewsbury was Francis Talbott who by his first Wife Mary Daughter of Tho. Lord Dacres of Gilsland had Issue George his eldest Son the sixth Earl of Shrewsbury and Tho. who died at Sheffield without issue Earl George had two Wives and four Sons besides three Daughters by his first Wife no Issue by his second Francis Lord Talbott his eldest Son was married but died without Issue Gilbert his second Son was the 7th Earl of that Family married and had Issue two Sons John and George but both of them died in their Infancy without other Issue-Male of their Father whose Heirs therefore were three Daughters Edward 3d. Son of George was the 8th Earl he married but died without Issue 2 Feb. 1617. Henry the 4th's Son married and died without Issue-Male Thus was all the Issue-Male of Francis Earl of Shrewsbury one of the Peers of the Upper-House at the passing of the Act aforesaid utterly extinct and the Earldom translated to another Family of that Name the Talbotts of Grafton descending from John Talbott the second Earl of Shrewsbury who died Anno 39. Henry VI. by his 3d. Son Sir Gilbert Talbott Captain of Calice York in Tit. Shrewsbury 9. The Earl of Essex Henry Bourchier that was a Peer of Parliament at the Act of Dissolution in 27. Henry VIII broke his Neck by a fall from an Horse about 10 Weeks before this Parliament viz on the 12th of March in 31. Henry VIII and having no Issue-Male the King gave his Earldom to Thomas Lord Cromwell who in his Bipartite Dignity sate among the Ecclesiastical Peers and first of the Rank as the King's Vicegerent in Spiritualibus and here among the Lay-Peers as in his own Right a Temporal Earl and Temporal indeed for not long after he was turned out of all his Offices attainted and beheaded as we have formerly shewed He brought in the Bill the 3d. time and it was expedited the 23d of May but within two Months following viz 29. July himself was attainted in the same Parliament and condemned so that vengeance fell speedily upon him 10. The Earl of Darby was Edward Lord Stanley a Peer of the Realm both in this and in 27. of the King he had divers Sons and Daughters his eldest Son Henry was Earl after him and left two Sons Ferdinando and William Ferdinando succeeded in the Earldom and died without Issue-Male 1594. leaving 3 Daughters and Heirs who shared so deep in the Patrimony of his goodly Earldom as they not only pulled the Feathers from the Wings of it whereby in times past it hath been so powerfull but the Wings from the very Body 11. The Earl of Worcester was Henry Somerset Lord Herbert a Peer also in 27. This honourable Family seems more fortunate than any of the precedent for their lineal descent remains entire and without blemish having at this day many Noble Branches Yet was not the Issue of Earl Henry free from the Hand of God for his 3d. Son Thomas Somersett died in the Tower of London Francis his 4th and youngest Son was slain at Massellborough-Field and his Son-in-Law the Earl of Northumberland that married his Daughter the Lady Anne was beheaded at York 1572. 12. The Earl of Rutland was Tho. Manours both in this Parliament and the 27th He had 5 Sons and 6 Daughters and died in 35. Henry VIII his eldest Son Henry was Earl after him and had Issue Edward the 3d. Earl of that Family who had only a Daughter an Heir and died without Issue-Male John Brother of Edward was the 4th Earl he had 3 Sons Edward that died an Infant Roger and Francis Roger succeeded and was the 5th Earl he had only one Daughter his sole Heir married to Sir Philip Sydney slain at Zutphen and died without Issue-Male Francis after his Brother Roger was the 6th Earl he was twice married by his first Wife he had Issue only the Lady Catherine married to the Duke of Buckingham who was murthered by Felton And two Sons by his second Wife Henry Lord Rosse and Francis Lord Rosse of Homelake who died both young without Issue 13. The Earl of Cumberland both in 27 and 31. Henry VIII was Henry Clifford who died 34. of the King He had Issue Henry the 2d Earl of Cumberland who had Issue George the 3d. Earl a valiant Soldier successfull in his Enterprizes He had Issue two Sons Francis Lord Clifford and Robert that died young and a Daughter the Lady Anne married to Richard Sackvill Earl of Dorsett who died as did also this Earl of Cumberland without Issue-Male Francis Brother of George was the 4th Earl who had Issue Henry Lord Clifford 14. The Earl of Sussex was Robert Ratcliff created 8. Decemb. 21. Henry 8. He had three Wives and more Sons besides Daughters and died 28. Nov. 1541. 34. Henry 8. his Son and Heir Henry
Earl of Sussex had five Sons whereof Egremont his Son by the second Wife was attainted of Treason Thomas the third Earl Son and Heir of Henry had two Wives but died without Issue 15. The Earl of Huntington was George Lord Hastings created 21. Henry 8. He had Issue Francis the 2d Earl and Sir Edward Hastings whom Queen Mary made Baron of Loughborough that died without Issue Sir Thomas Hastings also who died without Issue And Henry and William besides three Daughters Francis the 2d Earl had Issue Henry the third Earl who died without Issue and four other Sons whereof William died without Issue Sir George Hastings Brother of Francis succeeded in the Earldom and left many Male-branches whereof Henry the Issue of his eldest Son Francis was the fifth Earl and had Issue Ferdinando 16. The Earl of Hertford was Edward Seymour created Anno 29. Henry 8. made Duke of Somerset c. Edw. 6. He was committed to the Tower in the third Year of the King for divers great Offences but then obtained a Pardon and being arraigned of Treason and Felony 1 o Decemb 5. Regis was quit for the Treason and condemn'd for the Felony and therefore beheaded the 22d of July following He had two Sons by his first Wife that died without Issue Edward his 3d. Son or eldest by his 2d Wife the Lady Anne Daughter of John Stanhope Esq succeeded in all his Fathers Honours for a short time namely from the Death of his Father on 22 June 5. Edw. 6. to the End of the next Session of Parliament which was the 25th of April following But the Honours being entail'd upon him and therefore not forfeited for his Father's Attaindure for Felony Misfortune and the Malice of his Adversaries yet so wrought upon him as in this Session they were all taken from him by Parliament with most of his Inheritance which gracious Queen Elizabeth commiserating restor'd him to the Earldom of Hertford and Barony of Seymour To let pass his other Off-spring his Grandchild Edward the 3d. Earl of Hertford fell into King James's displeasure by marrying the Lady Arabella Stuart for which both of them were committed to the Tower 17. The Earl of Bridgwater was Henry Lord Daubeney created 20 July 30. Hen. 8. He died without Issue Anno Edw. 6. and so his Name Family and Dignity was extinct This Earl of Bridgwater was reduc'd to that extremity that he had not a Servant to wait on him in his last sickness nor means to buy Fire or Candles or to bury him but what was done for him in Charity by his sister Cicely married to John Bourchier the first of that Name Earl of Bathe Verba Henrici Bourchier manu sua scripta A Catalogue of the Barons present in Parliament 1. Audley Then John Tonchet Lord Audley who had Issue George Tonchet Lord Audley who had Issue Henry Tonchet Lord Audley who had Issue George Tonchet Lord Audley and Earl of Castle-Haven attainted and beheaded and the Barony of Audley being in see extinguisht 2. Zouche Was John Lord Zouche who had Issue Richard Lord Zouche who had Issue Edward Lord Zouche Son of George Lord Zouche Lord St. Maur and Cantelupe of Harringworth in Northamptonshire who sold his ancient Inheritance died without Issue-Male and his Barony extinct 1 Caroli His first Wife proving disloyal she was divorced from him that he regarded not the two Daughters which he had whom therefore he suffered to marry far below his Degree and Honour as himself saith in his Will upon Record The Eldest being married to Sir William Tate in Northamptonshire the other to in Worcestershire 3. De-laware Tho. Nest Lord De-laware Son of Tho. Lord De-laware that died the 16th Henry 8. married Eliz. Daughter and Co-heir of John Bonvill died without Issue William Nest Son of George Nest Brother of Tho. Lord De-laware being of the Age of 18 Years 1 Edw. 6. was disabled by Parliament to succeed his Uncle as conceiv'd to have imagined his Death and 2 or 3 of Philip and Mary was attainted of Treason by Commission in London Restored in Blood as Heir to Sir George his Father about 3 or 5 Eliz. and created a new Baron De-laware in 8. and had Issue Tho. De-laware Father or Grandfather of him now living 4. Morley Henry Parker made Lord Morley in right of Alice his Mother Daughter and Heir of William Lovell Lord Morley died 27 Novemb. 4. Mar. had Issue Henry who died in the Life of his Father leaving Issue Hen. Lord Morley that died at Paris 1578. Had Issue Edw. Lord Morley who died April 1618 and had Issue William Lord Morley and made Montegle 1 Jacobi and died 1622. and had Issue Henry Lord Morley and Montegle now living and Francis 5. Dacres Thomas Fines Lord Dacres of the South being in company with certain Gentlemen hunting in Nicholas Potham's Park there committed a Riot and Murther of Bransrigg He was hang'd at Tyburn on St. Peters Day 33 Hen. 8. He had issue Thomas Lord Dacres who died within age and Gregory Lord Dacres who died without issue 1594 and his Family so extinct Margery his Sister and Heir was married to Sampson Leonard who had issue Henry Lord Dacres who had issue Richard Lord Dacres Father of now Lord Dacres a Child 6. Dacres of Gilsland William died 1563 had issue Thomas Lord Dacres Leonard George S. P. Edward Francis George Lord Dacres Son of Thomas Lord Dacres being but 7 Years old and granted Ward to the Duke of Norfolk brake his Neck by a fall from a Vaulting-horse at Charterhouse Anno ... Eliz. And his Barony and Family extinct he dying without issue Male his two Sisters and Heirs were married to the Dukes Sons Philip Earl of Arundel and the Lord William Howard Thomas Lord Dacres Son of William Lord Dacres had issue William slain at Thetford 1569 his Sisters and Heirs Anne married to Philip Howard Mary married to Thomas Howard Elizabeth to Lord William Howard 7. Cobham George Brook Lord Cobham Son of Thomas Lord Cobham who died 1529 died 1558 had Issue William Lord Cobham He died 1597 and five other Sons which William had Issue Henry Brook Lord Cobham attainted and died 1618 S. P. and Sir William Brook S. P. and George Brook attainted and executed at Winchester An. 1603 the Barony extinct 8. Maltravers Henry Fitz-Alam Son of William Fitz-Alam the 10th Earl of Arundel which William died 35 H. 8. was in the life of his Father Lord Maltravers and Baron of Parliament and after the death of his Father the last Earl of Arundel of that Name 9. Ferrers Walter Lord Devreux Lord Ferrers of Chartley Son of John Devreux Lord Ferrers was created Vicount Hereford 1 Edward 6. had Issue Richard that died in the life of his Father and had Issue Walter Devreux Earl of Essex suspected to be poison'd and had Issue Robert Devreux Earl of Essex attainted and executed 1601 and Walter Devreux slain at the Siege of Roan Earl Robert had
issue Robert restor'd 1. Jacobi 10. Powis Edward Grey of Northumberland Lord Powis Son of John Grey Lord Powis married Anne the base Daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and died without issue and his Family extinct 11. Clinton Edw. Lord Clinton whose Father died 9 Hen. 8. was made Earl of Lincoln 14 Eliz. and died 27th Eliz. and had Issue Henry Earl of Lincoln who had Issue Thomas Earl of Lincoln Father of Theophilus now Earl 12. Scroope John Lord Scroope of Bolton Son of Henry Lord Scroope of Bolton which John in Henry 8's time married the Daughter of the Earl of Cumberland had Issue Henry Lord Scroope who died 1592 and had Issue Thomas Lord Scroope who died 1609 who had Issue Emanuel Lord Scroope Earl of Sunderland that died without lawful Issue and both Barony and Earldom extinct 13. William Sturton had Issue Charles Lord Sturton who for murthering Mr. Argile and his Son was hang'd at Salâ—sbury 6. March 1565. He had Issue John Lord Sturton S. P. and Edw. now Lord Sturton 14. Latimer John Nevil Lord Latimer lived 23 Hen. 8. and had Issue John Nevil Lord Latimer who died 1577 19 Eliz. without Issue Male and his Family and Barony extinct notwithstanding his four Daughters 15. Montjoy Charles Blunt Lord Montjoy who succeed his Father William Blunt Lord Montjoy and died 38 Henry 8. had Issue James Lord Montjoy who died 1581 had Issue William Lord Montjoy S. P. 1594 and Charles made Earl of Devon 1603 and died 1606 without lawful Issue so the Family and Barony was extinct but for a base Son of his Montjoy Blunt was created Lord Montjoy 3 Jacobi and afterwards Earl of Newport Anno 4. 16. Lumley John Lord Lumley marry'd Jane the eldest Daughter and Co-heir of Henry Fitz-Alam the last Earl of Arundel of that name and had by her Charles Thomas and Mary who died all without Issue so his line was extinct 17. Montegle Sir Edward Stanley created Lord Montegle 6 Henry 8. had Issue Thomas Stanley Lord Montegle who married Mary Daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and had issue William Stanley Lord Montegle who died without issue Male and his Barony extinct till King James Anno 1. conferr'd it on William Parker after Lord Morley for revealing the Gunpowder-Treason having married Elizabeth Daughter and sole Heir of the aforesaid William 18. Windsor Andrew Windsor made 21 Henry 8. and died 33 and had issue William Lord Windsor q. ob 1558 who had issue Edward Lord Windsor who died 1575 who had Fredrick Lord Windsor who died Sept. 28 Eliz. and Henry Lord Windsor who died 1605 who had issue Thomas now Lord Windsor yet without issue 19. Wentworth Thomas Lord Wentworth made 21 Henry 8. had issue Thomas Lord Wentworth who died 1590 who had issue William Wentworth who died 1582 S. P. and Henry Lord Wentworth who died 1593 who had issue Thomas Lord Wentworth created Earl of Cleveland 1 Caroli and had issue Thomas his Son and Heir apparent 20. Burrough Thomas Lord Burrough had issue Edward that married Qu. Catherine now S. P. William who had issue Henry eldest Son slain by Sir Tho. Holcroft near Kingston Anno 1578 and Thomas Lord Burrough Deputy of Ireland and Sir John Burrough slain by Sir John Gilbert 1594. Thomas Lord Burrough had Issue Robert Lord Burrough that died a Child without issue 1601 and the Barony extinct The first Thomas had issue besides Edward and William Sir Thomas Burrough S. P. and Henry Father of Nicholas who had issue Sir John Burrough ut creditur slain at Rees 21. Bray Sir Edmund made Baron 21 Hen. 8. and had issue John Lord Bray died without issue and so the Barony and Line extinct but he had six Sisters 22. Walter Hungerford made Baron of Hatsbury 28 Hen. 8. was beheaded for Buggery and his Barony extinct yet he had issue Sir Walter Hungerford Knight who died without issue Male and so this Family extinct 23. St. John William Paulet was created Lord St. John of Basing 30 Hen. 8. and made Earl of Wiltshire 3 Edward 6. and 5 Edward 6. Marquess of Winchester who had issue John Marquess who had issue William Marquess who had issue William Marquess Father of William Lord St. John that died S. P. and of John now Marquess 24. Sir John Russel was made Baron 30 Hen. 8. and Earl of Bedford 3 Edw. 6. he had Woburn Abby for his Dwelling-house with the Church turned to a strange use even the Stable he had Francis the second Earl of Bedford his sole issue who had four Sons and three Daughters 1. Edmund Lord Russel died without issue 2. John Lord Russel died without issue Male. 3. Francis Lord Russel treacherously slain by the Scots in time of Truce but left two Sons who died without issue Edward the 4th Earl of Bedford and then Sir William 4th Son of the first Francis was by King James made Lord Russel of Thornhaugh whose Son Francis is now the 5th Earl and long may he live and prosper 25. William Parr made Baron Parr of Kendall 9. March 30 H. 8. after Earl of Essex and lastly Marquess Nortston had three Wives was divorced from his first and died without issue York 186. Leonard Lord Gray Lord Lieutenant of Ireland holdeth a Parliament in Ireland 1. Maii 28 Hen. 8. at Dublin wherein he passeth an Act for the suppressing of Abbies Chron. of Ireland pag. 100. In the 32 of the King he is called home and sent to the Tower and in the 25th of June 33 he was to be arraigned in the King's Bench at Westminster and to be try'd by a Jury of Knights being no Lord of Parliament but confessing the Indictment had his Judgment and was beheaded at Tower-Hill the third Day following a Man of singular Valour that had formerly serv'd his Prince and Country most honourably in France and Ireland Stow 32 Hen. 8. and 33. Now I labour in observing the Particulars seeing the whole body of the Baronage is since that fallen so much from their ancient lustre magnitude and estimation I that about 50 Years agoe did behold with what great respect observance and distance principal Men of Countries apply'd themselves to some of the meanest Barons and so with what familiarity inferiour Gentlemen often do accost many of these of our times cannot but wonder either at the Declination of the one or at the Arrogance of the other but I remember what an eminent Divine once said in a Sermon he compared Honour among Dignities to Gold the heaviest and most precious Metal but Gold saith he may be beaten so thin as the very Breath will blow it away so Honour may be dispers'd so popularly that the Reputation of it will be pretermitted To say what I observe herein as the Nobility spoiled God of his Honour by putting those things from him and communicating them to lazy and vulgar Persons so God to requite them hath taken the ancient Honours of Nobility and communicating them to
Barkenham a Miller who sold it to Mr. John Rivett now living The Augustine Friars came from Eyer to one Shavington a Bastard who died without Issue and by his Will gave it to one Waters other than the former and to the Heirs of his Body This Waters died without Issue whereupon the Augustine Friars was to revert to his Heir but having none because he was a Bastard great Suit ensued about it But John Ditefield being then in Possession of it left it by Descent as it seemeth to his Son John Ditefield who gave it in Marriage with Thomasin his sister to Christopher Pickering brother of the then Lord Keeper and he then recovered it in Chancery and sold it to John Lease John Lease pulling down the Buildings selleth first the Stones and then dividing the Ground into divers Garden-rooms sold the same to divers Persons The Cell of Priests was near the Guild-hall and the Prior's House was somewhat remote from it by St. Margaret's Church The College was sometime Mr. Houghton's after Parker's then Ball 's lately Sendall's and now Hargott's all of them save Hargott are extinct and gone and Mr. Hargott is on the declining Hand the Site of the Prior's House was lately consecrated and annexed to St. Margaret's Church-yard for a Burying-place Shouldham-Abbey Sir Francis Gaudy of the Justices of the King's Bench was owner of it he married the Daughter and Heir of Christopher Cunningsby Lord of the Manour of Wallington and having this Manour and other Lands in right of his Wife induced her to acknowledge a Fine thereof which done she became a distracted Woman and continued so to the day of her Death and was to him for many Years a perpetual affliction He had by her his only Daughter and Heir Eliz. married to Sir William Hatton who died without Issue-Male leaving also a Daughter and Heir who being brought up with her Grandfather the Judge was secretly married against his Will to Sir Robert Rich now Earl of Warwick The Judge shortly after being made chief Justice of the Common-pleas at a dear Rate as was reported was suddenly stricken with an Apoplexy or double Palsie and so to his great loss died without Issue-Male e'er he had continued in his Place one whole Michaelmas Term and having made his appropriate Parish-Church a Hay-house or a Dog-kennel his dead Corps being brought from London unto Walling could for many days find no Place of Burial but in the mean time growing very offensive by the Contagious and ill Savours that issued through the Chinks of Lead not well soder'd he was at last carry'd to a poor Church of a little Village there by called Runcto and buried there without any Ceremony lieth yet uncovered if the Visitors have not reformed it with so small a Matter as a few paving Stones Sir Robert Rich now Earl of Warwick succeeded in the Inheritance by his Wife of this Abby with the Impropriation and his great Possessions amounting by Estimation to 5000 l. a Year and hath already sold the greatest part of them together with this Abbey and Impropriation unto the Family of Mr. Nich. Hare the Judge's Neighbour and chiefest Adversary For among divers other goodly Manours that Sir John Hare hath purchased of him or his Feoffees he hath also bought this Abbey of Shouldham and the Impropriation there with the Manour belonging to the Abbey valued together at 600 l. yearly Rent Binham-Priory Binham Priory a Cell of St. Albans was granted by King Henry 8. to Sir Thomas Paston he left it to Mr. Edward Paston his Son and Heir who living above 80 Years continued the Possession of it till Caroli R. and having buried ... his Son and Heir apparent left it then unto his Grandchild Mr. Paston the third Owner of it and thereby now in the Wardship to the King Mr. Edward Paston many Years since was desirous to build a Mansion-house upon or near the Priory and attempting for that purpose to clear some of that Ground a Piece of Wall fell upon a Workman and slew him perplexed with this Accident in the beginning of this Business he gave it wholly over and would by no means all his Life after be perswaded to re-attempt it but built his Mansion-house a very fair one at Appleton Castle-Acre-Abbey Sir Tho. Cecil Earl of Exeter was owner of it and of the impropriate Personage here he had Issue Sir William Cecil Earl Exeter who married Eliz. the Daughter and Heir of Edw. Earl of Rutland and had Issue by her dying as I take it in Child-bed his only Son William Lord Rosse This William Lord Rosse married Anne the Daughter of Sir Tho. Lake and they living together in extreme Discord many infamous Actions issued thereupon and finally a great Suit in the Star-Chamber to the high Dishonour of themselves and their Parents In this Affliction the Lord Rosse dyeth without Issue and the Eldest Male-line of his Grandfather's House is extinguished Sir Richard Cecil was second Son of Sir Thomas Cecil Earl of Exeter and had Issue David who married Eliz. the Daughter of John Earl of Bridgewater and is now in expectation to be Earl of Exeter His third Son was Sir Edw. Cecil Knight his 4th and 5th Tho. Cecil and Christopher drowned in Germany Sir Tho. the Grandfather Earl of Exeter made a Lease of this Monastery and Impropriation to one Paine as I take it by whose Widow the same came in Marriage to Mr. Humfrey Guibon Sheriff of Norfolk Anno 38. Eliz. whose Grand-child and Heir Tho. Guibon consumed his whole Inheritance and lying long in the Fleet either died there a Prisoner or shortly after Sir Edw. Coke Lord Chief Justice married for his second Wife the Lady Eliz. Hatton one of the Daughters of the said Earl Tho. and afterwards bought the Castle of Acre with this Monastery and Impropriation of his Brother-in-Law Earl William Son of Earl Thomas since which time he hath felt abundantly the Change of Fortune as we have partly touched in Flitcham-Abbey West-Acre-Abbey This also belonged to Sir Tho. Cecil of whom we have now spoken he sold both it and the Impropriation of West Acre to Sir Horatio Palvicini an Italian that before his coming into England had dipt his Fingers very deep in the Treasure of the Church Being in his Youth in the Low-countries as his Son Edward affirmed to me he there secretly married a very mean Woman and by her had Issue him this Edward but durst never discover it to his Father as long as they lived together his Father being dead he came into England and here married a second Wife by whom he had Issue his Son Toby and for his Wive's sake disinherited him his eldest Son Edward and conferred all his Lands with the Abbey and Impropriation of West Acre to Toby and his Heirs Edward after the Death of his Father grows into contention with his Brother Toby and in a Petition to King James accuseth both his Father and his Brother for
miserable Fugitives saith the Story pa. 79 80. Dom. Touching their Issue I find that Fitz-Vrs fled into Ireland and I heard there that the Wild-Irish and Rebellious Family of Mac-Mahunde in the North Parts is of that Lineage The Family of another of them is at this Day prosecuted with a Fable if it be so that continueth the Memory of this Impiety for in Gloucestershire it is yet reported that wheresoever any of them Travelleth the Wind is commonly in their Faces The Quadripartite History call'd Quadrilogus printed at Paris An. 1495. saith The Murderers after this Horrible Fact rode that Night to a Manour of the Archbishops named there corruptly Sumantingues forty Miles Leucas distant from Canterbury lib. 3. c. 20. and that being Men of great Possessions active Soldiers and in the strength of their Age yet now they became like Men beside themselves stupid amaz'd and distracted repenting entirely of what they had done and for Penance took their way to the Holy-Land But Sir Will. Tracy being come to the City of Cossantia in Sicily and lingring there fell into an horrible Disease so that the parts of his Body rotted whilst he lived and his Flesh being dissolved by the Putrefaction himself did by piece-meal pull it off and cast it away leaving the Sinews and Bones apparent In this misery this wretched Murderer as it was testified by the Bishop of that City who was then his Confessor ended his Days but very penitently His other Complices lived not long after for all the four Murderers were taken away within three Years after the Fact committed Dicti Libri lib. 4. c. 71. RICHARD I. IT appeareth by a MS. Copy of Mat. Paris which I have wanting much of that which is Published and having much which the Published wanteth that King Richard I. had spoiled some Church of the Chalice and Treasure and that it was thereupon conceived that the revengeful Hand of God pursued him to his Death First by tickling his covetous Mind with the report of hidden Treasure found by one Vidomer a Viscount of Britain in France which he the King claim'd to belong to him by his Prerogative And then in stirring him to raise War against the Viscount for it and to besiege him in the Castle and Town of Chalus in the Countrey of Limosin whither the Viscount was fled and had carried the Treasure as it were to train the King to that fatal place importing the name of a Chalice But here it so fell out that the King being repelled in his Assault and surveying the Ground for undermining the Town-Walls one Peter Basil struck him in the left Arm or about the Shoulder with a Quarrel from a Cross-Bow out of the Castle The King little regarding his Wound pursued the Siege so as within twelve Days he took the Town and found little Treasure in it But his Wound in the mean time â—estering deprived him of his Life April 9. in the tenth Year of his Reign being about 44 Years old Hereupon a Satyrist of that time wrote this tart Dystichon related in the MS. Mat. Par. Christe tui Chalicis praedo fit praeda Chalucis Aere brevi rejicis qui tulit aera Crucis i. e. He that did prey upon thy Chalices Is now a prey unto the Chaluces And thou O Christ rejectest him as Dross That robb'd thee of the Treasure of thy Cross. King Edward I. Anno Regni 23. took all the Priories Aliens and their Goods into his Hands allowing every Monk 18 d. a Week reserving the overplus to his Treasury and Wars And in Anno 1295. Regni ejusdem caused all the Monasteries in England to be search'd and the Money in them to be brought up to London He also seiz'd into his Hands all the Lay-Fees because they refused to pay to him such a Tax as he demanded Stow in dicto An. p. 317. Mat. Westm. in An. 1296. saith it was a fifth part of their Revenues And for that being prohibited by the Council of Lions upon pain of ... they refused he seiz'd all their Lands and Goods as well of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Robert Winchelsea as other and put them out of his Protection c. Godwin p. 148. Presently after this the King's Forces were overthrown in Gascony Mat. Westm. p. 408. And tho' he prosper'd in his Wars against Scotland and wholly subdued it yet shortly after Rob. le Bruce recovered it from him and overthrew his Son Edward II. with a mighty Army at Burnocksbourne from whence escaping by flight he after suffer'd great Afflictions and Calamities by means of his own Wife and Barons and was at last Deposed Imprisoned and Murther'd Giraldus Cambrensis a good Author reporteth that one Hur Chaplain to William de Bruce a great Lord in Wales in the time of King John of his Chapel of St. Nicholas in the Castle of Aberhodni did Dream in a Night that one bid him tell his Lord that had taken away the Land given in Alms to that Chapel and presumed to detain it that Hoc aufert fiscus quod non accipit Christus Dabis impio Militi quod non vis dare Sacerdoti The King's Exchequer shall take that from thee that thou wilt not suffer Christ to enjoy and the impious Soldier that which thou wilt not permit unto the Priest The Words are St. Austin's in Serm. de Temp. spoken against them that invade Tithes and Church Rights and that which is there threatned against them saith Giraldus hapned most certainly in a very short time to this With-holder Vidimus quippe nostris diebus c. For we have seen saith he in our own Days and found certainly by undoubted verity that Princes and great Men Usurpers of Ecclesiastical Possessions and chiefly by name King H. II. Reigning in our time and tainted above others with this Vice a little Leven corrupting the whole Lump and new Evils falling thereby daily upon them to have consum'd all their whole Treasure giving that unto the hired Soldiers which they ought to have given unto the Priest He mentioneth not what it was particularly that hapned to Bruce but commiserating him as a singular good Man runneth out into a long Commendation both of him and his Wife The rest therefore of this Tragedy I must supply out of Mat. Par. who in An. 1209. reporteth thus That King John doubting the Fidelity of his Nobles sent a Troop of Soldiers to require of them their Sons or Nephews or near Kinsmen for Hostages Coming to Will Bruce's and demanding his Sons the Lady Maud his Wife in the humor of a Woman preventing her Husband said I will deliver no Sons of mine to your King John for that he beastly Murdered his Nephew Arthur whom he ought to have preserved Honourably Her Husband reproved her and offer'd to submit himself to the Tryal of his Peers if he had offended the King but that would not serve The King understanding it sent his Soldiers in all haste a privily as he could to
Clergy had so disproportionable a share by way of excess in the Lands of the Kingdom yet when in 17 Edw. II. it came to the point that the Order of the Templars for their wickedness was overthrown the Parliament then wherein many of those no doubt that made the Statute of Mortmain were present would not give the Lands and Possessions of the Templars to the King or the Lords of whom they were holden but ordain'd that they should go to the Order of the Hospital of St. John's of Jerusalem then lately erected for the defence of Christendom and the Christian Religion Edward le Bruce brother to Robert le Bruce King of Scots invadeth the North parts of Ireland with 6000 Men and accompanied with many great persons of the Nobility conquer'd the Earldom of Ulster gave the English many overthrows and prevail'd so victoriously that he caus'd himself to be crown'd King of Ireland His Soldiers in the mean time burn Churches and Abbies with the People whom they found in the same sparing neither Man Woman nor Child And most wickedly entring into other Churches spoil'd and defac'd the same of all such Tombs Monuments Plate Copies and other Ornaments as they found there He thus prevailing and the Irish much revolting to him the Archbishop of Armagh blesseth and encourageth the English Army against him Whereupon they joyn'd battle overthrew the whole Power of the Scots slew 2000 of their Men and amongst them this their King Edward le Bruce himself King Edw. III. to begin his Wars with France in An. 1337. taketh all the Treasure that was laid up in the Churches throughout England for the defence of the Holy Land Speed p. 190. And whereas there were anciently in England many Cells and Houses of Religion 110 they were counted and more belonging to greater Monasteries beyond the Seas fraught with Aliens and Strangers especially French-men and those of the Orders of Clunis and Cistertien King Edward III. at his entry into his French Wars An. 1337 Regni 12. partly fearing that they might hold intelligence with his Enemies but seeking chiefly to have their Wealth toward the payment of his Soldiers confiscated their Goods and Possessions letting their Priories and Lands to farm for Rent and selling some of them right out to others of his Subjects Yet like a Noble and Religious Prince touch'd with remorse when the Wars were ended viz. An. 1361 regni 35. he granted them all save those few that he had put away back again unto them by his Letters Patents as freely as they had formerly enjoy'd them And divers of those that were purchas'd by his Subjects were by them new-founded and given back to Religious Uses This act of the King 's was a precedent of singular Piety yet was it but a lame Offering not an Holocaust He gave back the Possessions but he retain'd the Profits which he had taken for 23 Years Speed p. 211. King John whom they so much condemn did more than this if he had done it as willingly He restor'd the Lands with the Damages But let not this good King want the charitable Commendation due unto his Piety though having dipt his Hands in this We be driven by the course of our Argument to observe what after befell to him and his Off-spring There be some things saith ... are sweet in the Mouth but bitter in the Belly pleasant at the beginning but woful in the end If these Priories and their Churches were of that nature the sequel verifies the Proverb The middle part of the King's Life was most fortunate and victorious yea all the while that these things were in his Hands even as if God had bless'd him as he did Obed-Edom 1 Sam. 6. 10. whilst the Ark was in his House and had the King then dy'd he had been a most glorious pattern of earthly Felicity But the Wheel turn'd and his Oriental Fortunes became Occidental The Peace he had concluded with France for the solace of his Age brake out again into an unfortunate War Many of his Subjects there rebell Gascony in effect is lost Afflictions at home fall upon him in sequence his Son Lionel Duke of Clarence dieth without Issue-male and when he had greatest need of his renowned Son the Prince of Wales miracle of Chivalry and the Anchor of his Kingdom him even then did God take from him his Court and Nobles discontented and in Faction himself and all things much misgovern'd by his Son the Duke of Lancaster and others of that part who by the Parliament are therefore remov'd from him and by him recall'd notwithstanding to the grief of all the Kingdom Thus he dieth leaving his unweildy Scepters to the feeble Arms of a Child of Eleven Years old King Richard II. whose lamentable History for the honour of Kings is best unspoken of But so unfortunate he was among his other Calamities that he was not only deposed by his unnatural Subjects but imprison'd and murther'd dying without Issue and leaving an Usurper possessor of his Kingdoms which kindled such Fuel of Dissention as consum'd almost all the Royal Line and Ancient Nobility of the Kingdom by the Civil War between the Houses of York and Lancaster To return to the Restitution made by King Edw. III. of the Priories-Alien An Historian termeth it A rare Example of a just King it being seldom seen that Princes let go any thing whereon they have once fasten'd But this King having made a Door in this manner into the freedom and possession of the Church all the Power he had either ordinarily or by Prerogative could not now so shut it up but that this Precedent would for ever after be a Key to open it at the pleasure of Posterity which was well seen not long after For in the Parliament An. 9. of King Richard II. The Knights and Burgesses with some of the Nobility being in a great rage as John Stow saith against the Clergy for that William Courtney the Archbishop would not suffer them to be charged in Subsidy by the Laity exhibited a Petition to the King that the Temporalities might be taken from them saying That they were grown to such Pride that it was Charity and Alms to take them from them to compell them thereby to be more meek and humble And so near the Parliament-men thought themselves the point of their desire that one promised himself thus much of this Monastery another so much of another Monastery And I heard saith Tho. Walsingham one of the Knights deeply swear that of the Abbey of St. Albans he would have a thousand Marks by the Year of the Temporalities But the King hearing the inordinate crying out on the one side and the just defence on the other deny'd his consent and commanded the Bill to be cancell'd Stow p. 479. Two valiant Esquires John Shakel and Robert Hauley having taken the Earl of Dene Prisoner at the Battel of Nazers in Spain and receiv'd his Son Hostage for performing Conditions between
at Noon Then the storm being ended the Irish by Boats fetch'd them to their Houses and reliev'd them It is said That Sir John Arundel lost in this storm besides his Life 52 Suits of very rich Apparel much princely stuff with his great Horse and other Horses and things of price to the value of Ten thousand Marks and twenty five other ships which followed him with Men Horses and other Provision all perishing with him Touching the residue not guilty of this Out-rage and Sacrilege Sir Thomas Piercy Sir Hugh Calverley Sir William Elmham and the rest of the Army they were far and near dispers'd on the Seas with the same dangers but it pleased God to preserve them Yet as soon as the storm was ended a new Misfortune fell upon Sir Tho. Piercy for being weak and weather-beaten with all his Company a Spanish Man of War now setteth upon him singled from the rest of the Navy and drives him to bestir himself as he could which he did so happily as at last he took the Spaniard and bringing him home brought also the occasion of double Joy one for his safety the other for his victory And then pawning that ship for 100 l. he presently furnish'd himself forth again and with as great Joy arriv'd safely at Brest whereof he was one of the Captains with Sir Hugh Calverly and thus supply'd that charge also very fortunately Sir Hugh Calverley also and Sir William Elmham with the rest of those Ships return'd safely into other parts and by the great Mercy of God lost not either Man Horse or any other thing in all this so furious a Tempest All this is much largerly related by Tho. Walsingham in An. 1379 p. 231. seq Though the Attempts of Rebels and Traitors be usually suppress'd by the Power of the Prince yet that notorious Rebel Wat Tyler and his Confederates prevail'd so against King Richard II. that neither his the King's Authority nor the Power of the Kingdom could resist them insomuch as they became Lords of the City and Tower of London and had the King himself so far in their disposition as they got him to come and go to do and forbear when and what they requir'd But after they had spoil'd and burnt the Monastery of St. John's of Jerusalem beheaded the Archbishop of Canterbury and done some other acts of Sacrilege their Fortune quickly chang'd and their Captain Wat Tyler being in the greatest height of his Glory with his Army behind him to do what he commanded and the King fearfully before him not able to resist was upon the sudden wounded and surpriz'd by the Mayor of London his prosperous Success over-turn'd and both he and they whom an Army could not earst subdue are now by the Act of a single Man utterly broken and discomfited and justly brought to their deserved Execution Holinshed and Stow in 4 Rich. II. CHAP. VI. The Attempt and Project upon the Lands of the Clergy in the Time of Henry IV. disappointed BY that Time King Henry IV. was come to the Crown the Clergy of England had passed the Meridian of their greatness and were onward in their declination For the People now left to admire them as before they had done and by little and little to fall off from them in every Place being most distracted though not wholly led away by the prime Lectures Sermons and Pamphlets of them that laboured for an alteration in Religion The Commons also of Parliament which usually do breath the Spirit of the People not only envied their greatness but thought it against reason that those whom the Laity had raised fed and fatted by their Alms and Liberality should use such rigorous Jurisdiction so they accounted it over their Patrons and Founders and against Religion also that they who had devoted themselves to Spiritual contemplation should be so much intangled with the Secular affairs But above all that they who laboured not in the Common-wealth nor were the hundredth part of the People should possess as great a Portion almost of the Kingdom as the whole Body of the Laity For an Estimate hereof had been taken anciently by the Knight's Fees of the Kingdom which in Edward I. Time were found to be 67000 and that 28000 of them were in the Clergy's hands So that they had gotten well towards one half of the Knight's Fees of the Kingdom and had not the Statutes of Mortmain come in their way they were like enough in a short time to have had the better part Yet did not the Statutes otherwise hinder them but that with the King's Licence they daily obtained great accessions and might by the Time of King Henry IV. be thought probably enough to have half the Kingdom amongst them if not more considering that out of that part which remained to the Laity they had after a manner a tenth part by way of Tithe and besides that an inestimable Revenue by way of Altarage Offerings Oblations Obventions Mortuaries Church-Duties Gifts Legacies c. The Parliament therefore 6 Henry IV. called the Laymen's Parliament that all Lawyers were shut out of it casting a malevolent Eye hereon did not seek by a Moderate course a Reformation but as may be observed in other cases to cure a great excess by an extreme defect and at one blow to take from the Clergy all their Temporalities This was propounded to the King by Sir John Cheiney their Speaker who in former time had been himself a Deacon and lapping then some of the Milk of the Church found it so sweet as he now would eat of the Breasts that gave it He inforced this proposition with all the Rhetorick and Power he had and tickled so the Ears of the King that if the Archbishop of Canterbury had not that day stood like Moses in the gap the evils that succeeded might even then have fallen upon the Clergy But the Archbishop declaring that the Commons sought thereby their own enriching knowing well that they should be sharers in this Royal prey assured the King that as he and his Predecessors Edward III. and Richard II. had by the Counsel of the Commons confiscated the Goods and Lands of the Cells or Monasteries that the Frenchmen and Normans did possess in England being worth many thousands of Gold and was not that day the richer thereby half a Mark so if he should now which God forbid fulfill their wicked desire he should not be one Farthing the richer the next Year following This demonstrative and prophetical Speech pronounced with great vehemency by the Archbishop it so wrought upon the Heart of the King that he professed he would leave the Church in better State than he found it rather than in worse And thus that Hideous Cloud of Confusion which hung over the Head of the Clergy vapoured suddenly at this time into nothing Yet did it lay the Train that Henry V. did make a sore Eruption and in Henry VIIIth's Time blew up at the Monasteries The event of which
which we omit The said Monasteries were given to the King by authority of divers Acts of Parliament but no provision was herein made for the said Project or any part thereof Only ad favendum populum these Possessions were given to the King his Heirs and Successors to do and use therewith his and their own Wills To the Pleasure of Almighty God and the Honour and Profit of the Realm Now observe the Catastrophe In the same Parliament of 32. Henry VIII when the great and opulent Priory of St. Johns of Jerusalem was given to the King he demanded and had a Subsidy both of the Clergy and Laity and the like he had in 34. Henry VIII and in 37. Henry VIII he had another Subsidy And since the dissolution of the said Monasteries he exacted divers Loans and against Law receiv'd the same Thus the great Judge the Lord Coke doth severely censure the ill-doings under Henry VIII and sheweth that notwithstanding the infinite Wealth in Money Lands and other Riches which came to the King by the dissolutions yet the People were burthen'd with more Taxes Subsidies and Loans than ever in former Times That it fully appeareth that as the goodly pretences to free the People from Subsidies and several Payments were but empty and vain pretences only ad favendum populum to deceive and abuse the People So in our late long Parliament many publick Projects and Pretences were propos'd and the Presbyterian party were zealous to advance the Throne of Christ and the Tribunal of Christ with all his holy Ordinances in full force as their Language did propose it But it was quickly discover'd that no such Matters were truly intended but only the Land of the Church must be taken to maintain Armies to bring in the Scots-Highlanders Red-shanks Goths and Vandals to subvert the King his Crown and Dignity and in the end to take all the Crown-lands and to divide them amongst the Soldiers and others at their pleasures But the dismal Events and tragical Mischiefs that have happen'd might have been foreseen and prevented but that most Men are ignorant of our own Histories and Chronicles as well as of foreign Histories and Examples wherein they might easily have observ'd the fearfull ends that have follow'd upon the like doings both in our own Kingdoms and other neighbouring Nations as France Germany and Bohemia especially within these last forty Years For as Solomon saith There is no new thing under the Sun For the like hath happen'd often both at home and abroad but that Men will take no warning by any Examples but persist in their wicked and sacrilegious Attempts tho' in the end they bring confusion and destruction upon themselves Whereas it is said that when Henry V. suppress'd the Priories Aliens a good part of their Lands was given to other Religious Houses both by that King and his Son Henry VI. who bestow'd a great part of those Lands upon Colleges in the Universities it is true but in our Reformation there is no such care taken to convert any part of the Church-lands to pious and publick Uses but the Cormorants devour all They spake also of maintaining many Hospitals for relieving of maim'd Soldiers in our present time there is an infinite Number of maim'd Soldiers but no Hospitals provided for them whereas they should have provided some good Number and withall an hundred Bedlams to entertain pious zealous and outragious Puritans who have lost their Wits and Senses and are become extremely mad with distemper'd Zeal as the Anabaptists and Fifth-Monarchy-men Quakers and the rest of the Rabble Humfrey Duke of Glocester coming to the Parliament at St. Edmundsbury and lodging there in a place as Leland saith sacred to our Saviour he was by the Lord John Beaumont then High-Constable of England the Duke of Buckingham the Duke of Somerset and others arrested of High-Treason suggested and being kept in Ward in the same place was the Night following viz. 24. Febr. cruelly murther'd by De la Pole Duke of Suffolk Some judg'd him to have been strangled some to have a hot Spit thrust up his Fundament some to be smother'd between two Feather-beds But all indifferent Persons saith Hall might well understand that he died some violent Death Being found dead in his Bed his Body was shewed to the Lords and Commons as though he had died of a Palsie or Imposthume which others do publish But it falleth out that this Lord John Vicount Beaumont and the Duke of Buckingham were both slain in the Battle of Northampton 38. Henry VI. The Duke of Somerset taken Prisoner at the Battle of Exham An. 1462. and there beheaded The Duke of Suffolk being banisht the Land was in passing the Seas surpriz'd by a Ship of the Duke of Exeter's and brought back to Dover-Road where in a Cock-boat at the Commandment of the Captain his Head was stricken off and both Head and Body left on the Shore CHAP. VII Of the great Sacrilege and Spoil of Church-lands committed by Henry VIII His promise to employ the Lands to the advancement of Learning Religion and Relief of the Poor The preamble of the Statute 27. Henry VIII to that purpose which is omitted in the printed Statutes The neglect of that Promise The great increase of Lands and Wealth that came to the King by the Dissolution Quadruple to the Crown-lands The Accidents which happen'd to the King and his Posterity to the Agents under him as the Lord Cromwell and others to the Crown and the whole Kingdom and to the new Owners of the Lands A View of the Parliaments that passed the Acts of the 27 and 31 of Henry VIII and of the Lords that voted in them and what happened to them and their Families The Names of the Lords in the 27 of Henry VIII omitted in the Record but those of the 31 Henry VIII are remaining being most the same Men. The Names of the Lords Spiritual in those Parliaments and the great Spoil of Libraries and Books The Names of the Lords Temporal in those Parliaments with the Misfortunes in their Families and Dignity abated What hath happened to the Crown it self by the loss of Crown-lands What hath happened to the Kingdom in general and the great Injury done to the Poor The Mischief of the Tenure of Knights-service in Capite which by Act is to be reserved upon all Church-lands that pass from the Crown The ancient Original of Wardship from the Goths and Lombards the abuse of it amongst us The prediction of Egebred an old Hermite The unfortunate Calamities of the Palsgrave and other Princes of Germany by invading the Patrimony of the Church How carefull the Heathens were not to misuse the things consecrated to their Gods King James's Letter to the University of Oxon about Impropriations I Am now come off the Rivers into the Ocean of Iniquity and Sacrilege where whole thousands of Churches and Chappels dedicated to the Service of God in the same manner that
1555. Concerning the Bishops it doth not appear how they gave their Voices but it may well be suppos'd that divers of them were against a total suppression and seeing in other Acts it is recorded after that when a Bill was granted with an unanimous consent of all parties none dissenting that then it was past Nemine dissentiente yet it is not so recorded upon this but although many might dissent and that publickly yet there was a major part of Temporal Lords present and so carried it by Voices It is testify'd of Bishop Latimer that he much desir'd that two or three Abbies of the greater sort might be preserv'd in every Shire for pious and charitable Uses Which was a wise and godly motion and perhaps the occasion that the King did convert some in part to good purposes Yet the Desolation was so universal that Jo. Bale doth much lament the loss and spoil of Books and Libraries in his Epistle upon Leland's Journal Leland being imploy'd by the King to survey and preserve the choicest Books in their Libraries If there had been in every Shire of England saith Bale but one solemn Library to the preservation of those Noble Works and Preferment of good Learning in our Posterity it had been yet somewhat but to destroy all without consideration it is and will be unto England for ever a most horrible Infamy amongst the grave Seniors of other Nations Adding further that they who got and purchased the Religious Houses at the Dissolution of them took the Libraries as part of the Bargain and Booty reserving of those Library Books some to serve their Jakes some to scour their Candlesticks and some to rub their Boots some they sold to the Grocers and Soap-sellers and some they sent over Sea to the Book-binders not in small numbers but at times whole Ship-fulls to the wondering of foreign Nations And after he also addeth I know a Merchant-man which all this time shall be nameless that bought the Contents of two noble Libraries for 40s a piece a shame it is to be spoken this stuff hath he occasioned instead of Grey Paper by the space of more than these ten Years and yet he hath enough for many Years to come a prodigious Example is this and to be abhorred of all men who love their Nation as they should do And well he might exclaim a prodigious Example it being a most wicked and detestable injury to Religion and Learning Yet thus are Men often transported with Passion in the heat of Reformation and fiery Zeal without Wisdom The Temporal Lords present in Parliament 23 Maii 31 Hen. VIII 1. Thomas Lord Audley of Walden Lord Chancellour died without Issue-male 30. Apr. 1544 3 â…š Hen. 8. Margaret his sole Daughter and Heir being first marry'd to Henry Dudley Son of John Duke of Northumberland slain at St. Quintins without Issue Anno 1557. After a second Wife to Thomas Duke of Norfolk who was beheaded in June 1572. By him she had Issue Thomas created by King James Lord Howard of Walden and after Earl of Suffolk and made Lord Treasurer but put out of his place and fined in the Star-Chamber termino ... Anno ... for miscarriage thereof and grievously afflicted by the wicked and odious practices of his Daughter Frances first marry'd to the Earl of Essex then divorc'd and marry'd to the Earl of Somerset and they both attainted and adjudg'd to death for the murther of Sir Thomas Overbury 2. The Duke of Norfolk at that time viz. in both Parliaments of 31 and 27 was Thomas Howard the third Duke of that renowned Family who suffering the spight of Fortune was upon the 12th of December in the 28th of the King committed to the Tower with his magnanimous Son and Heir apparent Henry Earl of Surrey Upon being first arraign'd and attainted the King lying on his Death-bed caused him to be beheaded 19. Jan. and deceasing himself on the 28th of the same Month left the sorrowfull Duke in Prison where he remained as I take it till Queen Mary set him at liberty to go against Wyat and being nothing fortunate in that imployment the Earl of Pembroke was put in his room and had the glory of the Service Thomas Howard Son of Henry Earl of Surrey beheaded and Grandchild of the last Duke was restor'd by Q. Mary and made the 4th Duke of Norfolk but affecting Marriage with the Qu. of Scots was heretofore attainted and beheaded in June 1572. Philip his eldest Son was in right of his Mother and by conveyance of the Castle and Honour of Arundel unto him Earl of Arundel and after restor'd in Blood 23d of Eliz. yet byfate of his Noble Family after long imprisonment and Attainder died in the Tower where his most honourable Son after restitution to his Earldom and other Dignities with a reinvesting of the great Office of Earl Marshal of England but now by God's Blessing and his own singular Wisdom hath gotten the upper hand of Fortune and is likely to leave it to a temperate and virtuous Son 3. The Duke of Suffolk both in this Parliament and in that of 27 was Charles Brandon and tho' he was not present at the passing of the Bill yet being a principal Parliament-man the King's Brother by Marriage and his minion in Affection it is very credible that he was a very great advancer of the business He had four Wives no Issue by the first a base Daughter and another by a second born in Wedlock A Son Henry that was Earl of Lincoln by his 3d Wife the King's Sister and Qu. of France and two Daughters and two Sons Henry and Charles by his fourth Wife His Son Henry Earl of Lincoln died without Issue in the life time of his Father the Duke His other Son Henry was Duke of Suffolk after his Father but both he and his Brother Charles died together of the Sweating Sickness the 14th of July 1551 without Issue Frances his eldest Daughter by the Qu. of France was married to Henry Grey Marquess of Dorset who in her Father's Title was created Duke of Suffolk and was beheaded the 23d of Febr. 1 Mariae leaving no Issue by a former Wife but three Daughters by this Frances whereof Jane marry'd to the Lord Guilford Dudley together with her Husband were beheaded without Issue 1 Mar. Catharine his second Daughter was marry'd to the Lord Herbert and divorced Mary the 3d Daughter was marry'd to Martin Reyes a Groom-porter as I have heard and died without Issue 4. The Marquess of Dorset in this Parliament of 31 H. 8. was Henry Grey that married Frances the eldest Daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk by the Qu. of France King Henry's Sister he had Issue by her a Son and 3 Daughters His Son Henry Lord Harrington died before him without Issue The Lady Jane eldest Daughter as we said before was married to the Lord Guilford Dudley and together with her Husband was beheaded Catharine his second Daughter ... Mary the
Abbey-Stone Breast-high the Wall reft from the Corner Stones though it was clear above ground which being reported to me by my Servant Richard Tedcastle I viewed them with mine own Eyes and found it so Sir Roger utterly dâ—smayed with these Occurrents gave over his begun Foundation and digging a new wholly out of the ground about 20 Yards more forward toward the North hath there finished a stately House using none of the Abbey-Stone about it but employed the same in building a Parsonage-House for the Minister of that Town and about the Walls of the Church-yard c. Himself also shewed me that as his first Foundation reft in sunder so the new Bridge which he had made of the same Stone at the foot of the Hill which ascendeth to his House settled down with a Belly as if it would fall But if there be any Offences or ominous Consequences depending upon such Possessions he hath very nobly and piously endeavoured to expiate it for he hath given back to the Church three or four Appropriations Burnham Priory It was sometime the Southwells of St. Faith's whose Family is either extinct or gone out of the County It was afterwards Francis Cobbes Gent. who likewise is gone then Sir Charles Cornwallis Kt. wasted and by him sold to Alderman Soame who let the same to John Soame Esque his 2d Son deceased Peterston About the latter Years of Q. Eliz. was Rich. Mansers Gent. who had much suit and Quarrel with Firmine Gray about a Lease of it and died without Issue disposing it by a Will as was reported to one Roger Manser his Brother but they were of it by Armiger of Creake who married Richard Manser's Sister and left it to William Armiger his Son and Heir who sold it to my Lord Cooke to secure the Title Carbrocke a Monastery of Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem Sir Richard Southwell Knight a great Agent in spoiling the Abbeys was Owner of it he married Thomasin the Daughter of Sir Roger Darcy of Dambury and living together had no Issue by her but in the mean time he had by Mary Darcy Daughter of Tho. Darcy also of Dambury Richard Southwell of St. Faiths and Tho. Southwell of Mowrton Mary and Dorothy all born in Adultery and Katherine married to Tho. Audeley of Beer-Church in Essex Cousin and Heir Male to the Lord Audley born as it seems after the Death of Thomasin his Wife by the said Mary who then and before was by Sir Richard married to one Leech a Swallowman of Norwich that had been his Servant and now his Lady dying he took this Mary from Leech her Husband and married her himself alledging that she could not be Leech's Wife for that he had another former Wife then living hereupon a great Suit ensued in the high Commission Court where Sir Richard prevailed and enjoyed her with shame enough Sir Richard dieth without other Issue than by this Mary leaving the Abbey of St. Faiths to his base born Son Richard and Mowrton to his base Son Thomas His Son Richard marries Bridget Daughter of Sir Roger Copley Knight and had Issue by her Richard Thomas and Robert This last Richard married the Daughter of Sir Tho. Cornwallis and having Issue by her Sir Tho. Southwell and 2 or 3 other Sons dyeth in the life-time of his Father who for his 2d Wife marrieth his Maid the Daughter of one Styles Parson of Ellingham and by her had Issue Sir Henry Southwell and Dunsarry Southwell now owner of Mowrton and some Daughters whereof Ann was in London And this Richard the Father having wasted his Estate and sold the Abbey of St. Faiths to the Lord Chief Justice Hobart died a Prisoner in the Fleet. Tho. Southwell the other base Son of Sir Richard dieth without Issue and having given by his Will the Mannor of Mowrton to his Sister Audley for Life the Remainder to Thomas her younger Son Sir Tho. Southwell Nephew of the Testator seeketh to overthrow the Will and to have the Mannor as Heir at common Law to Thomas the Testator hereupon the Heir of Leech strikes in against them both labouring with Sir Thomas to falsifie the Will against Mrs. Audley and excluding Sir Tho. by alledging bastardy against him in Richard his Father for that Mary Darcy the Mother of this Richard was Wife to the Father of this Leech when Richard and Thomas the Testator was born This brought all the filthiness aforementioned to be raked over again and when all were notoriously defamed by it they all sit down without any recompence Tho. Audley that was in remainder died without Issue in the Life of his Mother whereby Mowrton came to his Brother Sir Henry Audley Anthony Southwell and Southwell Brothers of Sir Thomas were in the Robbery of Mrs. Grave and fled into Ireland Sir Henry Southwell married the Daughter of the Lord Hor in Ireland without Issue After the Death of Sir Richard Southwell his Nephew Sir Robert succeeded in the great Inheritance and the Hospital of Carbrock he married the Daughter of the Earl of Nottingham and died in the Flower of his Age leaving his Son the now Sir Thomas an Infant who about his full Age had a base Daughter by Dr. Corbett's Maid and marrying her privily liveth now in dis of her and keepeth the Daughter of one Eden in a poor House at Notton and hath consumed the greatest part of his Estate His Sister Mrs. Eliz. Florence liveth at Florence in Adultery with Sir Robert Dudley having another Wife before he married her and both of them still living Marham Sir Nicholas Hare Knight and John Hare Citizen and Mercer of London 3 Jul. Anno 38 H. 8. purchased of the King ... totum fitum circuitum ambitum praecinctum nuper Monasterii sive domus De Marham in ac totum sundum situm terram Ecclesiam Campanile domus aedificiorum c. ... necnon manerium nostrum de Marham cum omnibus terris ... c. Sir Nicholas Hare married the Daughter and Heir of Bassingbourn and had Issue Michael that died without Issue Robert that died without Issue and Richard that died without Issue and his Inheritance went away to his two Daughters the one married to Rouse the other to Timperley See more of this Sir Nicholas in the Speaker of Parliament Anno 31 H. 8. where he prophesied this ruin of his Family John Hare the Citizen had Issue Nicholas the Lawyer that died without Issue Ralph that died without Issue Edmund Lunatick at a Lodge in Enfield-Chase Hugh that died without Issue Rowland and John that had Issue and Thomas of Oxford that married and died without Issue Richard the elder married Eliz. Daughter of ... and had Issue Sir Ralph Hare Knight of the Bath and he married ... the Daughter of Alderman Hambden and John Son of John and Brother of Richard was Clerk of the Court of Wards and had Issue Nicholas who was Lunatick and died without Issue and Hugh now Lord
Colrane in Ireland Sir Ralph Hare to expiate this Sin of his Family gave the Parsonage impropriate of Marham worth 100 l. yearly to St. John's College in Cambridge Anno 16 and died leaving one only Child Sir John Hare who married Sir Thomas Coventry the now Lord Keeper's Daughter and hath by her she not being ... Years old ... Sons and Daughters with hope of a numerous Posterity God bless them Crab-House I have yet gotten little Intelligence of this Abbey but I hear that it was not long since John Wright's of Wigen-Hall in Marseland and that he had two Sons whereof ... his eldest Son consumed his Estate and sold the Abbey with the greatest part of the Land and died without Issue It came after to Mr. William Guybon of Watlington and is now in the hands of his Son and Heir Bromill Abbey Sir Thomas Woodhouse of Wapham 38 H. 8. purchased Bromill Abbey of the King he died without Issue and Sir Henry Woodhouse his Nephew succeeded who utterly consumed his whole Estate and selling the Abbey to John Smith Esq Suits arose thereupon which lasted many Years till the Death of Sir Henry in Nov. 1624. Mr. Smith hath only Daughters and no Son so that the Abbey is not like to continue in his Name Ex inform ipsius Jo. Smith 11 o. Nov. 1624. The Impropriation of Besthurst in Lancashire as I take it is worth 1600 l. per Annum being Sir Vrion Lea's Dereham Abbey Tho Dereham in the 33 H. 8. bought it of the King shortly after he was fetch'd out of it to the Tower about the Treason of his Brother Francis Dereham who was executed Thomas at length was delivered out of Prison he had Issue Thomas Robert John and Baldwin and a Daughter Thomas married ... and died without Issue Male Robert and John died without Issue Baldwin a decayed Merchant of London had Issue four Sons Thomas Dr. of Divinity John and Martha a Daughter non compos mentis Thomas succeeded his Uncle in the Inheritance and is now Knighted having Issue Thomas Thomas eldest Son of Sir Thomas married ... daughter of ... Scot Esque of ... in Kent she fell Lunatick in Child-Bed upon the Death of her Son ... 1623 and so continueth having yet only a Daughter Thetford Hitherto I have kept my self within my Circle let us see for our further satisfaction whether the like fortune haunted the Monasteries without it we will begin with Thetford The Monastery of the Black Nuns of St. Gregory in Thetford being the Benedictines was the Duke of Norfolk's whose Misfortunes are here before in other places too often mentioned He sold the same to Sir Richard Fulmarston Knight who died without Issue Male leaving it to his Daughter and her married to Sir Edward Clark Knight Sir Edward Clark had two Sons by her and a Son by his second Wife Sir Edward Clark Knight of St. Michael the eldest Son spent most of his Life in one Prison or other had Issue a Son Sir Henry Clark Baronet that died without Issue Male in the Life of his Father who consuming his whole Inheritance sold the chief Seat of his Blickling to the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Henry Hobart and this Monastery upon Exchange and Money to Mr. Godsalve for Buckingham-Ferry which he ... Mr. Godsalve put over the Monastery among other Lands to Mr. John Smith and Owen Shepheard and having consumed all his Estate went beyond Sea Mr. Smith and Mr. Shepheard had a long and chargeable Suit about Mr. Godsalve's Estate and sold the Monastery to Sir William Campion who now hath it but with Suit and Trouble Sir Edw. ... the elders second Son Francis died without Issue This great and eminent Family is wholly extinct as those also of Fulmarston's Godsalve's and Smith's for Smith hath no Issue Male. I must here note that this Sir Edward ... the Elder was one of the greatest Hunters by way of Concealment after Church Goods and Lands that was in his time and that sowing these unfortunate Pieces of new gotten Cloth into the Garment of his old Inheritance the new hath not only rent away the old Garment but the Family it self to which it served Pentney Priory Pentney Priory was purchased of the Kâ—ng Anno 37 H. 8. by Thomas Mildmay the Auditor whose Son Sir Thomas sold it to Francis Windham one of the Justices of the King's-Bench he entailed it first upon his own Issue then to his Brother 's Roger and Thomas the Dr. after to his Sister Coningsby and after that to Edmund and Edmund's natural Brothers all which dying without Issue it came to Thomas Windham Esq Son of Sir Henry Windham who in Anno 1622 sold it to Sir Richard Ballache Knight and he in Anno 1631 to Judge Richardson The Abbey of Radegundis at Bradefalk in Kent by Dover is now Sir Tho. Edolph's Knight who did lately build a fair House upon the Site of the Monastery and it hath fallen down three times his two Brothers lunatique Ex relat Mrs. Meares qui duxit Vxorem Edw. Pegton Baronet St. Lawrence-Abbey by Canterbury now in the hands of Edolph lunatique whose Grandfather was also lunatique his Grandfather first purchased the Abbey Shirburn Shirburn-Abbey some time a Cathedral-Church yet belonging to the Bishop of Salisbury saith Cambden p. 214. impres 1610. Sir John Horsey having no Issue left for Name sake to Sir Ralph Horsey of Cambridgeshire the Monastery and Parsonage of Shirburn who wasting much his Estate sold them to Mr. Stikles and he to my Lord Digby about 1620. The Castle and the Manner was assigned from the Bishop of Salisbury to Queen Elizabeth and by her to Sir Walter Rawleigh after beheaded then it came to Prince Henry who died shortly after then it came to the Earl of Somerset who being attainted the King granted it to my Lord Digby The Bishoprick being void Toby Matthew should have had it but would not take it upon Sir Walter Rawleigh's conditions but Henry Cotton accepting and performing them his Son was born blind who notwithstanding was made a Minister had 3 or 4 Parsonages and was Canon in Salisbury yet died a Beggar Hale's-Abbey Hale's-Abbey and Manour for the most part viz. 500 Acres granted to the Lord Admiral Seymor in fee 19 Aug. 1. Edw. 6. He beheaded it returned to the King Edw. who 12 June reg 4. granted all with the 500 Acres to the Lord Marquiss who 16 June eodem Anno leased it to Hodgkins for 21 Years at 159 l. 16 s. but as it seems came again to the Crown for Q. Eliz 18 July reg 7. leased it again to Hodgkins for 21 Years at 159 l. 16 s. Woods Regalities c. excepted ut videtur Hodgkins had three Sons all died poorly but he gave his Estate to his Daughter married to Hobby St. Ousey given by King Edward to Thomas Lord Darcy and ... slain at St. Quintins John had Issue Thomas Lord Darcy whose